After reaching the proverbial top of the mountain in 2016 to claim the bantamweight championship against Dominick Cruz, Cody Garbrandt’s career came crashing down to the tune of three consecutive losses. He admittedly lost his passion for fighting and wasn’t interested in watching what was happening across the division. So in October 2019, Garbrandt, in search of a jolt to his career, mixed it up when he began working with famous boxing trainer Mark Henry while splitting time with the Team Alpha Male squad in California.

In preparation for his return to the Octagon, Garbrandt encountered yet another setback back in February when he suffered a staph infection that turned into strep and attacked his kidneys, putting ‘No Love’ in the hospital with a kidney infection. He returned to training in mid-March, but faced an uphill battle to work his way back into contendership for the now-vacant bantamweight title.

It’s that build up, the hardships and the struggles that made Saturday night’s win against Raphael Assuncao so special. From the moment the first round started, Garbrandt held a laser-focused demeanor. He flew around the Octagon, popped in and out, threw lightning quick strikes and landed with precision. He connected on 19 of 43 significant strike attempts, but none was heavier than Garbrandt’s fight-sealing right hand that came right at the buzzer of the second round to put Assuncao’s lights out.

Garbrandt leaned down, waited for Assuncao to throw a hook and popped up with a blistering right hand to give him the win.

That sequence was emblematic of Garbrandt’s renewed strategy and focus. Over his career, Garbrandt became a fan-favorite for his willingness to throw hands, but after three consecutive knockouts, the fear was Garbrandt’s chin was gone. On Saturday, he remained poised, never leaving himself too open and consistently finding openings.

“I know I’m a skilled fighter, but I give these fights away when I brawl,” Garbrandt admitted in his post-fight interview.

For Garbrandt, this win was more than just snapping a losing streak. It was what he perceives as the start of something bigger.

“It’s been a journey. Went from the top of the world to a three-fight skid. I’ve got the passion back in my heart,” Garbrandt continued. “I’m here to be the best and get that championship strap back.”

Ranked No. 9 in the division, Garbrandt’s return to title contention won’t be easy. But after knocking out the No. 5-ranked Assuncao, the former champion is ready for whatever comes next in a suddenly stacked division not lacking in contenders.

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In the past couple of weeks, some celebrities have not only made it a point to emphasize that Black Lives Matter, but also highlighting the overall influence of black culture on American institutions. While those who are apart of black culture do both on a regular basis more times than not, its outsiders have stepped up to deliver these reminders as well.

Billie Eilish aimed to shut down the use of the “All Lives Matter” slogan in order to stress that Black Lives Matter in an Instagram post. “This is not about you. Stop making everything about you. You are not in need. You are not in danger,” she said. In a recent Instagram post, Justin Bieber also stepped forward to highlight the influence black culture had on his career and promised to use his platform to speak on the many systemic and racial issues.

“I am inspired by black culture. I have benefited off of black culture,” Bieber said. Continuing with his message, Bieber went mentioned how black culture has specifically benefited him. “My style, how I sing, dance, perform, and my fashion have all been influenced and inspired by black culture,” Bieber says in the post.”

Concluding his message, Bieber delivered a promise to his fans. “I am committed to using my platform from this day forward to learn, to speak up about racial injustice and systemic oppression, and to identify ways to be a part of much needed change.”

Bieber’s message arrives after the singer began using his page shortly after the police killing of George Floyd to bring awareness to racial inequalities taking place all over the country.

During the current worldwide pandemic, movie studios are no longer providing box-office figures because theaters have been shut down around the nation and the world. Because we are less interested in the actual figures themselves and more interested in what people are watching over the weekends, each week we will dive into Most Streamed and Bestseller Lists on Fandango, iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu to pinpoint the weekend’s most watched films.

It is June 7th, which is hopefully one month and 10 days from the theatrical release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and a return to a more normal box-office report (assuming AMC theaters can make it). It’s still unclear whether Tenet will be released on time, and doubly unclear about whether anyone will attend. I am more than ready to return to movie theaters (as long as it is safe, of course).

In the meantime, the VOD charts continue to remain fairly stagnant (although, that should change next weekend with a big new release). Fandango’s chart sees four of the five usual cadre of movies in the top five: Scoob!, Trolls World Tour, Invisible Man, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Last week’s release, High Note, which stars Dakota Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross, is in at number four (it’s at number ten on the iTunes rental chart). For reasons that aren’t clear to me, The Hunt leapt back up to number six after dancing around in the teens and 20s since the beginning of the pandemic. I recently watched it; it wasn’t great, but I also watched it twice, so it is that kind of movie (and Betty Gilpin is terrific).

There’s some excitement on the iTunes rental chart beyond Invisible Man (#1), Sonic (#2), and Scoob! (#4). Harriet, the Harriet Tubman biopic, which has been out for several months, has jumped to number three, while Just Mercy shot up to number five. The Michael B. Jordan film is currently available to rent on iTunes for free for the entire month in response to peaceful protests. (It’s good, too.) It’s worth noting that Ava DuVernay’s phenomenal Selma is also currently free on iTunes. Check them both out.

Elsewhere, on Netflix, The Help — which is not nearly as good as Just Mercy or Selma — jumped up to number three this week, thanks to the Netflix algorithm.

The top film of the weekend on Netflix, however, was The Last Days of American Crime, a movie that is not only getting panned for being bad but for being a whopping two-and-a-half hours long. It does, however, feature Michael Pitt, a name some may have forgotten his behind-the-scenes reputation may have hurt his career post Boardwalk Empire. With 17 reviews in, so far (screeners were not offered to critics), the film sits at 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Meanwhile, the other three movies in the top five for Netflix were two older movies made newly available to the service — Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Clueless, along with the 2017 faith-based film, The Healer, which sits at 17 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. A couple other notables in the top ten: The fantastic 1996 action movie Twister, and a big awards winner in 2017, Lady Bird.

Next weekend should be a big one. Judd Apatow and Pete Davidson’s The King of Staten Island arrives on VOD; Artemis Fowl comes out on Disney+; and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is on Netflix. That’s basically the closest thing we may have to a big summer movie weekend until Tenet hopefully arrives.

Source: Netflix, Fandango, iTunes

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Reusable straws, mold remover, a tool kit, and more useful things.

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“She tapped a police officer’s bike, apparently, so now they’re saying she assaulted a police officer.”

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Calls to defund the police were a common refrain at many of the protests, which seem unparalleled in modern memory in their scale and sweep.

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