Category: News

Jokes were flying when Dennis Schroder signed a one-year deal for less than $6 million with the Boston Celtics. Schroder reportedly turned down a lucrative offer from the Los Angeles Lakers, worth as much as $84 million in total, before the veteran guard’s market seemingly dried up and he inked the pact with Boston. In mid-September, Schroder was seemingly self-aware in steering into the “fumbled the bag” jokes about his apparent contractual mishap but, on Monday, the 28-year-old was singing a bit of a different tune in saying that he did not, in fact, have that famed $84 million deal “in front of” him to sign.

“The Lakers told us we are not talking during the season, and at the end of the day, I never had that contract in front of me,” Schröder indicated to reporters at Media Day (via Boston.com). “That’s one thing. But they wanted to talk and at the end of the day, me and my agent decided not to sign their contract.”

Of course, this could be semantics about whether the deal was actually placed in front of him, but Schroder’s message didn’t seem to be that willingly turned down a deal of that size. Obviously, there is some potential gray area here and, without first-person knowledge, specifics are sometimes tough to come by. Still, the $84 million reporting has been quite strong throughout, and even if it was something shy of that, the contract Schroder ended up signing was a financial disappointment in comparison.

Fortunately, Schroder has operated under contracts with the Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Lakers totaling more than $70 million, and he is set up pretty well. Schroder indicated that “money is not everything at all times” and he cited being “comfortable” in his employment situation.

“For me and my family, I signed a pretty good contract after my fourth year, and my family and myself, we’re going to be good,” Schroder said on Monday. “I’m 28 years old, and I’m still playing in the NBA for a long time.”

It will be interesting to see what kind of contract Schroder can land after this season, but he’ll have every opportunity to prove himself in Boston. The Celtics were able to land him on a bargain contract for what he has been able to produce, and there is a path to success for all parties involved in Boston.

A lot of pitfalls can come with having an open marriage. When a partner allows the other to stray it can create jealousy and ruin the ties that bind a couple together.

But some believe it can improve a marriage by allowing both partners to find temporary sexual fulfillment outside the relationship. That gives frustrated partners a chance to fulfill their needs without having to leave a marriage that’s satisfying otherwise.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith recently admitted they have experimented with an open relationship and it nearly ended them for good. The couple tied the knot in 1997 and have two children, son Jaden, 23, and daughter Willow, 20. Will also has a son Trey, 28, from his marriage to Sheree Zampino.

“The general consensus—among the lay public and professional marriage counselors alike—seems to be that” consensual non-monogamy (CNM) “can only lead to more harm than good in a marriage,” writes David Ludden Ph.D. in Psychology Today. “And yet, studies of couples actually engaged in CNM relationships find that these people report being just as happy in their marriages as strictly monogamous couples are—and they’re more satisfied sexually,” Ludden continues.

for next month’s GQ cover: i talked with Will Smith about his life, his marriage, his forthcoming projects and abou… https://t.co/ATlO97MyLm

— Wesley (@WesleyLowery)
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“Jada never believed in conventional marriage,” Will said in a recent interview with GQ. “Jada had family members that had an unconventional relationship. So she grew up in a way that was very different than how I grew up.”

The two came to the decision after having long discussions about what it meant to have a perfect relationship.

“There were significant endless discussions about, what is relational perfection? What is the perfect way to interact as a couple? And for the large part of our relationship, monogamy was what we chose, not thinking of monogamy as the only relational perfection,” Will continued.

“We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way. And marriage for us can’t be a prison,” Will said. “And I don’t suggest our road for anybody. I don’t suggest this road for anybody. But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love.”

The couple separated a little over a year ago and at that time Jada had an affair with singer August Alsina and it nearly drove the couple to divorce. “I wasn’t sure I was ever going to speak to you again. The fact that I’m speaking to you again is a miracle,” Will said in a candid interview on Jada’s Red Table Talk show.

But somehow, the couple pulled it through.

Will and Jada Pinkett Smith opened up about their relationship on ‘Red Table Talk’ | GMA

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“I’m just happy ’cause I definitely believe that you and I, we never, ever, ever thought that we would make it back,” Jada said.

The story of Will and Jada shows that even though the couple was able to make an open marriage work for a period of time, it also drove a wedge between the two.

However, the couple is back together because their relationship is about much more than just sex.

“There’s a real power in just knowing somebody’s riding with you no matter what. And you really can’t know that until you’ve been through some stuff,” Will admitted.

“We have really gotten to that new place of unconditional love,” said Jada.

We are accustomed to seeing heads of state from large, economically powerful nations making headlines, but this week we’re getting a taste of the powerhouse leadership some smaller countries can offer.

Mia Motley, the prime minister of Barbados, gave a speech to the United Nations General Assembly that is earning her accolades across the internet and around the world.

A two-minute clip was shared by Twitter user Ben Phillips in which Motley quoted Bob Marley and asked who will “get up” and “stand up” for the people suffering around the world from the pandemic, climate change, poverty and food insecurity.

“It is not because we do not have enough,” she said. “It is because we do not have the will to distribute that which we have.”

Prime Minister Motley called for the leaders of the world to go beyond words and take collective action.

“It is not beyond us to solve this problem,” she continued. “If we can find the will to send people to the moon and solve male baldness, we can solve simple problems like letting our people eat at affordable prices.”

At last, our world has a leader. She is Mia Motley, Prime Minister of Barbados, and *this* is a speech: https://t.co/Xotc0qj9M5

— Ben Phillips (@benphillips76)
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Motley’s whole speech is worth watching, but the viral clip comparing our push to cure baldness with our efforts to feed people is timely, as it comes a few days after the first U.N. Food Systems Summit. The U.N. describes the inaugural summit as “a historic opportunity to empower all people to leverage the power of food systems to drive our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and get us back on track to achieve all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.”

Next to water, food is our most basic human need. Having inadequate food and nutrition hinders people’s ability to function, which in turn impacts our ability to address every other global challenge we face.

The term “food system” refers to every process and person involved in cultivating, making and distributing food, from farmers to pickers to truck drivers to supermarket workers. Unsustainability in any part of a food system can keep people from getting the nutrition they need. Tackling food systems is crucial if we hope to meet goals such as eradicating poverty, providing universal education, creating sustainable communities and achieving peace on our planet.

Such collective action has to take place at the leadership level, of course, but there are also actions each one of us can take toward a more equitable, sustainable world. One simple thing we can all do is participate in Sustainable Sundays—enjoying a climate-friendly meal and supporting sustainable food systems wherever we live. That means choosing locally grown foods that are in season, perhaps from a farmer’s market, community food cooperative or your own garden. It might mean eating sustainably sourced seafood or finding a simple plant-based recipe to try.

Many of the challenges facing humanity require bold, high-level action on the part of the world’s governments, but that doesn’t mean we don’t all have a part to play in creating a better world for all. Small steps lead to big strides, and it’s up to each of us to do what we can individually to make progress toward our collective goals.

As Prime Minister Motley said in her final words to her fellow leaders, “We cannot solve every problem of the world, but we must solve those within our purview immediately.”

🇧🇧 Barbados – Prime Minister Addresses United Nations General Debate, 76th Session (English) | #UNGA

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Did you even realize Archer has been on for 12 seasons? The FX favorite launched in 2009, all the way back during the first year of the Obama administration. Somehow it’s kept the quality control in tact across three separate decades. And surely they’ll try to keep it going with the newly greenlit 13th season, with one new hurdle: They’ll have to do with without one of their key cast members, Jessica Walter.

The acclaimed actress and Arrested Development alum passed away in March at the age of 80. She’s long voiced Malory Archer, mother to H. Jon Benjamin’s sorta-hero Sterling Archer and at one point head of the show’s covert but bumbling intelligence agency. Though it may be hard to imagine the show without her withering line readings, the show won’t simply move on. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the loss will be “creatively addressed” in the 13th season. Whatever that means — repurposing unused Walter recordings? Something truly outside the box? — is something fans will have to wait another year to see.

As it happens, new Archer episodes are currently airing, with Walters in-tact. The 12th season began its run in late August, with two more episodes left to debut. The seventh of eight episodes airs on Wednesday, September 29.

(Via THR)

Over the past few years, 21 Savage has grown from an underground act to a star. But he has some perspective. The rapper sat down on DJ Akademiks’ Off The Record podcast and explained that, while he has the utmost respect for Drake, people in his hometown may not consider him to be the town’s biggest rapper. That title, he says, could be given to someone like Future.

“If I wasn’t a rapper, I don’t feel like I still would listen to Drake, forreal,” Savage said during the podcast. “It’s just, I’m a rapper so I understand the work he put in and how hard he goes. Like, when you ain’t no rapper, all those statistics don’t mean sh*t. A regular street n**** don’t give a f*ck how many times you went No.1, how many white people listen to your sh*t, because the farthest they think is the club.”

He added, “In Atlanta, there’s a lot of n****s who you really can’t tell them that Future ain’t bigger than Drake. I used to think that… Drake ain’t really no big mixtape artist out there.”

In short, what Savage seems to be saying is big sales doesn’t always mean you have a big cultural impact.

You can watch the full interview above.

Last week, rumors arose about new music from Eminem. Some believed it would be a new project. Some guessed The Marshall Mathers LP 3 was en route. Others believed it was just a song that involved the rapper’s frequent collaborator Skylar Grey. For those who went with the latter, there’s great news for you: you’re partially correct. As confirmed by those who saw an advance screening of the upcoming film Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, Eminem and Skylar Grey have a song on the soundtrack, and it’s also features rappers Polo G and Mozzy.

The untitled song can reportedly be heard during the end credits of the film. One fan took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the upcoming collaboration, writing, “Dawg. That Polo g, Mozzy, Eminem, Skylar Grey song on the venom sound track [three fire emojis].”

Rumors about the upcoming track first began earlier this month, when Mozzy’s manager teased a collaboration with Eminem. Polo G followed suit and told people to keep an eye out for something coming in October. Meanwhile Skylar Grey had a similar message of her own. “This month has been hellish,” she tweeted. “But I see the light at the end… can’t wait for October 1st… mark your calendar.”

There has not been a James Bond movie since 2015, which is partially due to normal “movie stuff” like finding a new director and negotiating with the person who plays James Bond who, for awhile there, did not seem interested in playing James Bond ever again. And, then, of course, there’s that whole other thing going on in the world. But at six years now, this is the second longest gap in films – barely short of the time in-between License to Kill and GoldenEye – and, by far the longest gap in-between James Bond movies when the actor playing James Bond did not change. (Mr. Craig had the previous record for that as well, in-between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.)

(Also, here’s a wild fact: from the years 1962 until 1974 there were only four full calendar years that didn’t have a James Bond movie. In less time than the gap between Spectre and No Time to Die, Sean Connery made Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice.)

Now Daniel Craig is back in No Time to Die, a movie with a plot so ridiculous it reaches Roger Moore-era absurdness. Though, to be fair, I love Roger Moore Bond movies and (it’s been a long many months) was pretty much in the perfect mood for something absurd.

Like the last few 007 entries, James Bond is tired of being a spy. He’s old and has lost a step. The only difference now is MI6 seems perfectly fine with James being retired as well.

When the film opens, James is on vacation in Italy with Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) and they are enjoying the quiet life. I found myself being pretty happy for James. He deserves a nice time! Keep in mind, this is a fellow who once had to sit in a chair with no seat so he could be hit with a swinging rock … down there. Look, the guy has seen some tough times. Anyway, the vacation is cut short after Spectre tries to kill James, setting in motion the “convoluted for a normal movie,” “middle of the road convolution for a James Bond movie,” plot.

So here’s my best attempt to explain what’s going on without spoiling anything: Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) is basically sitting in prison, pulling strings, with a goal of trying to make James distrust everyone he’s close with. The plan here truly seems to be to just mess with James Bond and drive him nuts.

At the same time, a fellow named Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) is seeking revenge against Blofeld and Spectre (which is explained in an early flashback), which confuses Bond even more because he seems to be just caught in the middle — as Lyutsifer doesn’t seem to have much interest in Bond other than as a pawn.

As I said already, MI6 and M (Ralph Fiennes) also don’t have much interest in James, having already given his 007 callsign away to another agent, Nomi (Lashana Lynch). They’d just wish James Bomd would stay out of it all and mind his own business. But, as we know, James Bond can’t do that and accepts an offer from Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) to come work for the CIA and look into everything going on?

And what’s going on? Well, Lyutsifer Safin has gotten his hands on a nanobot technology that has the ability to infect, or not infect, anyone he wants. So what’s harmless to one person can still kill a target standing right beside. So we’ve got the James Bond-less MI6, James and Felix and the CIA, Spectre, and Lyutsifer Safin (who, yes, has a lair on a secret island used only to make different poisons) all fighting for this nanobot technology. It’s all pretty fun and pretty ridiculous.

The problem is the movie doesn’t always realize this should be a hoot. Rami Malek and Christoph Waltz realize what movie they are in. And I love Craig’s Bond, but there are times when he’s trying to be a Connery Bond in a clearly Roger Moore Bond movie. (When Craig let’s himself have some fun, the movie is better for it. There’s one truly terrific one-liner.) And then the end, which I won’t spoil … let’s just say it doesn’t end on the typical James Bond high note.

After waiting so long for No Time to Die — and truly, after all we’ve been through, just wanting to see a throwback fun action movie — it almost delivers, but then sends us on to the streets in, let’s say, not the best mood. I want to watch James Bond and feel good after. That feels like the point of these movie. Not feel … forlorn. There’s been enough of that lately. I guess not even our old pal James is here to make us happy these days.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

I don’t know about you, but I really, really missed music festivals. And after a year and a half without them, music festivals returned big time this summer, and are now in full swing. Some favorites, like Lollapalooza, Rolling Loud, and Pitchfork Music Festival, all already welcomed fans back to their grounds (and you can look at what’s still to come in our handy hub that we built for you). But there is no festival quite like Life Is Beautiful in Las Vegas.

Taking over Downtown Vegas for the weekend, LiB shows visitors a different side of the desert oasis. It’s not held on the more popular strip area, but in what is commonly referred to as Old Vegas, featuring some of the classic area casinos and hotels as a backdrop and abundant street art on the side of nearly every building. In a city that already feels like a playground, Life Is Beautiful ups the anti, imparting fans with stunning views, top-tier cuisine, educational seminars, and, of course, music. This year saw an impressive slate, including Tame Impala, Green Day, Glass Animals, St. Vincent, Young Thug, ASAP Rocky, and many more. Check out some of the highlights, shot by our own Paul L. Carter, below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Thaddeus Young found himself on the move this offseason. After spending each of the last two years as a member of the Chicago Bulls, Young was part of the package that the team put together to send to San Antonio in exchange for DeMar DeRozan. Now, Young is getting used to a new place, and the early returns on his teammates seem promising.

Young was asked about the group around him in San Antonio, and he was very complimentary of the collection of players around him in his new digs. In particular, Young loves the mentality possessed by his new teammates, and he made this clear by using the word “buttholes.”

The Spurs have, for quite some time, had a pretty well-defined culture that has revolved around a bunch of guys who seem like they’re nice enough — Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, DeRozan, etc. Now, Young is prepared to take the franchise’s apparent no jerks policy and be the latest player to follow in this strong tradition. He should also help on the court, too, as San Antonio looks to make it back to the postseason for the first time since the 2018-19 season. Young averaged 12.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.1 blocks in 24.3 minutes per game as a steady veteran hand for the Bulls last year.

The Law & Order-verse is a large and prolific one, having birthed numerous spin-offs, to say nothing of its connections to other shows, from Homicide: Life on the Street through Chicago P.D. But it all began with one show: the original called simply Law & Order, which premiered in 1990 with a simple premise: The first half would cover the many-handed police investigation of a crime; the second would move into the courts. Now, 11 years after the original at the dust, it’s being exhumed, presumably after the success of the franchise’s most recent addition, Organized Crime.

According to The Wrap, NBC won’t completely reboot the show. Instead, it will pick up where it left off in 2010, when the show was abruptly axed by NBC. What does that mean exactly? It’s not clear. The show had untold cast members over its 20 seasons, some of whom, like Jerry Orbach, Fred Dalton Thompson, and Dennis Farina, have since passed on.

For the record, the cast for the final season included Sam Waterston, Anthony Anderson, Jeremy Sisto, S. Epatha Merkerson, Linus Roache and Alana De La Garza. How many of these would come back is, again, not known. Or maybe they’ll reach farther back into the show’s long past. Chris Noth, who already did the Sex and the City revival, ought to be courted. And if they nab him, maybe they can also ask for the return of Cynthia Nixon, who played essentially a female version of subway shooter Bernhard Goetz in one of the most famous first season episodes. But they should definitely find some space for SVU star Christopher Meloni.

(Via The Wrap)