Category: News

Final Jeopardy is, of course, an incredible test of a person’s ability to get an extremely difficult trivia question correct, but it’s also a test of a person’s ability to game out how things can go based on certain wagers. It takes some assuming how things will go elsewhere in the game, but making the right bet based on how much money you/your competitors have and understanding your limitations about the topic at hand better than everyone else can tilt the game.

An all-time great example of this occurred earlier in the week, when the Final Jeopardy category was “European Landmarks.” The situation heading in: Tim and Jon, the latter of whom was a two-day champion, were tied at $14,200, while Melis was way behind with $2,000. No one ended up getting the question right, but thanks to Melis making an ultra-savvy bet — both in terms of her dollar amount and her understanding that Tim and Jon had to go for broke due to the fact they were tied — she ended up coming out on top.

In a fun twist, a person claiming to be Melis went onto Reddit and explained how things played out, saying that the wording of the question tripped the contestants up and that there was some added drama in the proceedings.

For final J! I discarded the Louvre because of IM Pei, originally thought La Sagrada Familia but knew it had to be French, thought maybe it had something to do with national pride and wrote something incorrect knowing it was incorrect, since my response didn’t matter anyway.

Yes there was a mess up during FJ where Mike couldn’t read Tim’s answer and we had to pause taping a for a good 5-10 minutes before the camera rolled again and Tim’s answer was revealed to be incorrect, increasing the tension even more.

Considering how dramatic this was for those of us at home after it got cut up and aired, another 5-10 minutes to wait seems particularly wild. But hey, to the winner goes the spoils, and that includes getting to flex a bit on Reddit.

A month and a half after Joe Biden took office, his sweeping pandemic relief package, totaling $1.9 trillion, was passed by the Senate. Hooray! It’s now scheduled to go through the House one more time before it winds up on Biden’s desk, but if it passes with flying colors it won’t be thanks to Republican senators. Every single one of them voted against it, while every Democrat in the chamber was for it, even Krysten Sinema.

The bill is called the American Rescue Plan, and it’s designed to benefit working class Americans far more than the previous two packages passed under the watch of Donald J. Trump. (Although the first one, passed last March, was slightly more expensive, at a total of $2.2 trillion.) As per The New York Times:

It would inject vast amounts of federal resources into the economy, including direct payments of up to $1,400 for hundreds of millions of Americans, jobless aid of $300 a week to last through the summer, money for distributing coronavirus vaccines and relief for states, cities, schools and small businesses struggling during the pandemic.

The previous packages were largely fixated on corporations, but this one goes above and beyond to save those in need:

It would potentially cut child poverty in half, through a generous expansion of tax credits for low-income Americans with children, increases in subsidies for child care, a broadening of eligibility under the Affordable Care Act and an expansion of food stamps and rental assistance.

And again, every single Republican senator was against it. Perhaps they were too busy reading Dr. Seuss books. It’s a reminder about the deep division in Congress — and about how the Democrats are, albeit narrowly, in charge. When the news hit, social media was quick to pounce on those that tried to stop the bill from passing.

But again, conservatives are a little busy right now.

(Via The New York Times)

Joel Embiid was an obvious choice for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game. The Philadelphia 76ers’ superstar big man is the best center in the Eastern Conference and very well could up winning the league’s MVP award when it’s all said and done. As a result, he was a shoe-in for a starting nod this year, and Kevin Durant made sure to take him as he assembled his team for Sunday’s game.

The game will have its annual charitable element based on the teams that win each quarter and, ultimately, the game itself, but this time around, Embiid is adding his own twist to the proceedings. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Embiid will take his $100,000 purse from the game and donate it to a trio of homeless shelters throughout the City of Brotherly Love.

Embiid’s charitable contributions to Philadelphia have been well-documented, most notably when he offered to cover the salaries of stadium workers who were going to see their salaries cut earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic and when he got in on a fund to get antibody testing for Philly healthcare workers last April. Embiid has made it clear that he really appreciates how the city has taken him in and embraced him from day one, and this is the latest way that he is showing his appreciation.

Back in September Beyonce sent flowers to a 13-year-old girl after the singer saw a video of her singing one of her songs. Her name was Lyric Chanel, and she was in the midst of what would be a two-year battle with brain cancer and anaplastic ependymoma. That fight came to a sad end on Friday after news arrived that Chanel unfortunately passed away.

In response Beyonce shared a moving medley of her hits to honor Chanel. The two-minute tribute finds her singing “Brown Skin Girl,” “Halo,” and “Love on Top.” She also replaced the word “baby” with “Lyric” while singing the chorus of the latter song. The medley also comes with a video that shows many pictures and clips from Chanel’s life, including one of her rocking some of Beyonce’s Ivy Park gear, which the singer sent her back in October. “Thank you so much @beyonce this couldn’t have come at a better time,” Chanel wrote in a post celebrating the package. “Just got back from getting Chemo and look at the surprise that was waiting. I love you so much.”

The Go Gold For Childhood Cancer Instagram account shared the sad news on Friday. “Lyric gained her angel wings this morning at the age of 13 years old,” they wrote. “Lyric bravely battled Anaplastic Ependymoma and endured more than a child ever should. She loved singing, listening to music, and dancing. I know she most definitely dancing with all the angels right now. Watch over your family baby girl! You are forever missed!”

You can listen to the medley in the video above.

When those in the far right were kicked off Twitter, they went to Parler. When Parler died, they went to Gab, the “free speech” social media site that has become a nest of violent extremists, including the domestic terrorist responsible for the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. By and large, though, Gab tends to not attract the same attention as Parler did. That changed on Saturday, when its main Twitter account posted an image some found to be pretty bizarre.

The image the Gab account dropped — an All-American (read: white and middle-class) family hanging in the backyard, surrounding a grill, all of them holding guns, even the dog — wasn’t an original. It’s actually the cover for the video game The American Dream, which is actually a satire about gun culture. Did the Gab team not know this? Or were they trying to reclaim a patently ridiculous image, one that overtly makes fun of their way of thinking? Who knows!

Whatever the case, the tweet went viral, although perhaps not in the way the Gab folks intended.

A lot of people fixated on the image of the dog wielding a gun, despite its lack of opposable thumbs.

Some pointed out its noted dearth of logic.

Or made Lana Del Rey jokes.

Others pointed out the source of the image.

And some pointed out this fun fact: The Twitter account for the social media service that boasts about unlimited free speech no matter what had turned off the post’s public replies.

Eminem has had his fair share of controversy since his breakout 1998 album, The Slim Shady LP. Now he’s caught the ire of young TikTokers who’ve recently discovered his older songs. But their complaints have been brushed off by older fans, who were more acquainted with his catalog.

In a series of TikTok videos that were posted earlier this week, Eminem supporters declared that it’s a bit too late to try and cancel the rapper. The back and forth was labeled as a war between Millennials and Gen-Z, with the former coming to Eminem’s defense as the latter aimed to bring him down. As all of this went on, Eminem himself kept quiet, even as his name trended on Twitter. That changed on Friday when the rapper released a lyric video for his Music To Be Murdered By track “Tone Deaf,” which serves as a pretty obvious shot at his critics.

He announced the video on Twitter by using a pair of lines from the song. “I won’t stop even when my hair turns grey (I’m tone-deaf) / ‘Cause they won’t stop until they cancel me,” he wrote in the tweet.

Two months ago Eminem said he wasn’t worried about cancel culture. “With me, it’s literally like every f*cking every other day,” he said during an appearance on Shade45. “I understand some of the sh*t but for the most part like for people who just sit online and they feel like they need to b*tch about whatever it is to feel like they’re a part of something. With cancel culture, it’s like no one ever really gets canceled though.”

You can watch the lyric video above and see some tweets from Millennial Eminem fans below.

Conservatives have spent the last week up in arms about a very pressing issue. No, they’re not desperately trying to get stimulus checks to struggling Americans in the middle of a pandemic. They’re worried about Dr. Seuss books. After the late author’s estate announced they would no longer be publishing six (out of over 60) of his books, not wanting kids to be exposed to racist content, Republicans went ballistic. Now House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has recorded a video in which he reads Green Eggs and Ham…which isn’t one of the books that have been pulled from circulation.

What was the point of a five-minute video in which one of the top-ranking Republicans read a children’s book? Beats us! Again, Green Eggs and Ham contains no racist content and is one of the many, many Dr. Seuss books one can still purchase. Whatever McCarthy’s reasoning, it got a lot of people wondering what he was thinking.

Some pointed out that McCarthy seemed to intentionally choose one of the non-racist Seuss books, and not, say, If I Ran the Zoo or And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.

He also failed to point out that it wasn’t some progressive “cancel” campaign that got the books yanked from shelves. It was the Dr. Seuss company itself.

Others pointed out that he was reading children’s books on the taxpayer’s dime.

And that he probably has other things to do — like get that $1.9 trillion relief package passed.

Some suggested McCarthy read other books.

Some pointed out that Republicans will only listen to “doctors” who aren’t real doctors.

And others reminded McCarthy that Republicans don’t tend to listen to the message of Green Eggs and Ham, which is to be open to new experiences.

The NBA had the night off on Friday, as players, coaches, and other league personnel head to Atlanta for the All-Star Game, while the rest of the league enjoys some well-deserved time off from a season that has been in perpetual flux as it navigates the many challenges of the ongoing pandemic.

We were led to believe that the rosters for Sunday’s game had been set, but news emerged on Friday night that Mike Conley was reportedly set to replace Devin Booker in both the game itself and the three-point contest, as Booker recovers from a knee sprain. It was a feelgood moment for Conley and his fans, who have long heralded him as one of the league’s most underappreciated players.

Of course, Conley’s selection means that other arguably worthwhile players were once again overlooked, and if we are to read into a certain cryptic but well-timed tweet, it appears DeMar DeRozan isn’t too happy that the league didn’t peg him as Booker’s injury replacement.

Gets to a point where you just gotta laugh at the bullshit!!

— DeMar DeRozan (@DeMar_DeRozan) March 6, 2021

Now, to be fair, he could be referring to anything. There’s a lot going on in the world. But again, the timing is convenient, and if you were to look at a side-by-side comparison, DeRozan has the edge over Conley in several key statistical categories. Conley, however, has other factors working in his favor.

He’s been instrumental to a Jazz team that currently holds the best record in the NBA, while the Spurs are clinging to the No. 7 seed, with just two games separating them from the 10th place Grizzlies. What’s more, the conversation around of late Conley has centered on how he’s been perpetually overlooked as an All-Star throughout his career.

After all, there are only so many slots available each year, and it’s inevitable that a whole slew of players will feel slighted. Conley should enjoy this honor, regardless of how it came about or who disagrees with it.

Lil Nas X has come a long way since uploading his first song to SoundCloud in 2018. The musician has gone on to break chart records, become a best-selling author, and have the most-certified song in music history. Now, Lil Nas X can check another major milestone off his list.

At just 21 years old, Lil Nas X is officially a first-time homeowner. The rapper recently closed a deal on the first house he purchased with his own money, and to celebrate, Lil Nas X shared some photos in his new crib. “bought my first house today,” he wrote on social media alongside selfies with his house keys, inside his kitchen, and beside a massive hot tub.

While he bought this house off the market, Lil Nas X informed a follower that he plans on designing a future house himself. “this the first one! the next one i’ll create myself,” he wrote.

Buying a house is a huge accomplishment for Lil Nas X, as he wasn’t able to move into his own apartment until 2019. The rapper discussed a handful of his memorable life moments in a series of recent TikTok videos, where he got real about depression and family issues during his rise to fame. The rapper revealed that his mother has been in-and-out of rehab while battling addiction and, at one point, he was forced to move in with his abusive brother. But despite his personal struggles, the rapper still managed to become a Grammy-winning artist and continues his successful career.

Check out photos of Lil Nas X in his first house above.

It’s no secret that Blackpink, along with several other international artists, took pop’s center stage in 2020. The K-pop supergroup were able to collaborate with big-name artists like Cardi B and Selena Gomez, grace late-night US television with show-stopping performances, and even star in their own Netflix documentary. Keeping up their successful momentum, Blackpink have partnered with Adidas to star in a brand new ad campaign.

Blackpink flaunted their best poses in a commercial for Adidas’ “Watch Us Move” activewear campaign. The video sees each member of the K-pop group wearing a different sporty look, from a floral windbreaker to a sleek two-toned denim set. The collection is meant to coincide with International Women’s Day, where Adidas aims to celebrate all the strides that Blackpink have made in the music industry.

Ahead of the campaign’s rollout, Blackpink joined together for a clever and unique livestream titled “The Show.” The event was high-budget and cinematic, with the four singers leaning on a legion of dancers and multiple costume changes to perform several of their songs for the first time ever.

Watch the Adidas “Watch Us Move” video above.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.