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The wildest moment of the 2023 NBA Playoffs came with about seven minutes to go in Game 2 of Warriors-Kings in Sacramento, when Domantas Sabonis grabbed Draymond Green’s ankle and then promptly got stomped in the chest by Green in retaliation.

Sabonis would stay on the ground for much of what became a lengthy review at the monitor by the officials, who decided on a technical foul for Sabonis’ ankle lock, while Green was ejected for a Flagrant 2 for his stomp to the chest. Green spent the review doing Hulk Hogan ear gestures to the crowd and then screamed at fans behind the Kings bench that were giving it right back to him.

After the game, Green said his foot “had to land somewhere,” calling out the Kings for grabbing his leg in each game — Malik Monk was the offender in the opener. On the other side, Sabonis called out Green for a dangerous play and then someone made sure ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski got the word out that he was having X-rays to see if there was any damage to his ribs or lungs.

Four hours later, there was an effort to combat that by getting Green’s injury concerns out to the public by doing the same, as Marc Spears reported there will be X-rays on the Warriors star’s ankle.

The showmanship on display from both is incredible here. We literally saw Draymond jumping around to hype up his team during the review and after the ejection, certainly not looking any worse for wear on that ankle, while Sabonis played the last seven minutes of the game and tried to take a charge in the chest and popped up after. I have no doubt the stomp hurt and Sabonis is probably quite sore, but the X-ray thing certainly seems to be an effort to further sway public (and the league’s) opinion on the altercation. As for Green, this is just incredible trolling.

There’s a real professional wrestling quality to this feud that’s building between the two, as they have spent an inordinate amount of time tangled up, baiting one another into fouls, and flopping on contact at every turn. Everything is embellished to an almost comical degree, and now they’re posturing over who hurt the other worse with a dirty play. That hasn’t been lost of fans, one of whom fired up WWE 2K to create a Draymond-Sabonis match in the ring, complete with chest stomps from Green.

The posturing from both sides only adds fuel to the fire, and I really do appreciate how over the top the display from both sides. I hope it only continues and Draymond comes into Game 3 getting taken to the bench in a wheelchair like Kevin Nash with a fake leg in a cast.

Dr. Seuss is one of the most enduring and endearing children’s books writers of all time. His work has been around for over sixty years, and while certain titles certainly fall short of today’s standards, kids continue to enjoy the unique use of wordplay, illustration style and abounding optimism of his beloved classics.

But how exactly did Dr. Seuss came up with such an impactful idea in the first place? That’s a story unto itself, and one that, much like his fictional works, still feels relevant today.

As explained in a Twitter thread by writer and research assistant Billy Oppenheimer, it all began when another award winning author, John Hershey, started investigating the looming question of 1954: “Why can’t children read?”

After two years of reading children’s books, meeting with experts and observing how reading was taught in schools, Hershey ultimately came to a rather simple conclusion—children didn’t want to read, because children’s books were boring.

Even in an age pre-TikTok and Snapchat, reading had to “compete for the interest of children with television, radio, movies, comic books, magazines, and sports,” and children’s books by and large just weren’t entertaining enough to hold short attention spans in comparison to their instantly stimulating counterparts.

In 1954, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Hersey investigated the question everyone was asking, “Why can’t children read?”

Hersey found the answer and then wrote about it in a piece published in Life Magazine.

Which led to one of the bestselling children’s books of all time.… pic.twitter.com/SZmTw88b3j

— Billy Oppenheimer (@bpoppenheimer) April 16, 2023

Henry would end up publishing his findings in an issue of “LIFE” Magazine, along with the call to action for writers to create something more compelling than what the current market provided. The article would be read by an editor at Houghton Mifflin, who would then challenge an illustrator friend of his to “write me a story that first graders can’t put down.”

That illustrator was, you guessed it, Theodor Seuss Geisel.

Seuss has the added obstacle of only being able to write a story using a vocabulary list of 300 “accepted” words. So his strategy, as is with many brilliant creatives, was to just play around, combining different rhyming words until something resonated. Eventually the words “cat” and “hat” caught his attention…

…And in 1957, we’d have “The Cat in the Hat,” a blockbuster of a book that used 236 unique words, which Hershey himself hailed as “masterpiece” and a “gift to the art of reading.” It would also remain the book that Suess was proudest of, “because [it] proved to a number of million kids that reading is not a disagreeable task.”

A lack of interest in reading, particularly reading for pleasure, is still a widely discussed topic among parents and educators. And much like in Dr. Seuss’ time, an overwhelming amount of competing tech-media is largely to blame. A 2021 survey from Common Sense Media revealed that in just two years after the pandemic (between 2019 and 2021) kids ages 8 to 18 increased their time on social media 17 percent, amounting to somewhere between a little more than five and half hours to just over eight and half hours a day.

We might not be able to grab even shorter attention spans with rhyming tales of Whoville, but we can still take a page from Dr. Seuss’ book by making reading seem more “interesting.” Perhaps it entails a wider selection of book titles, or joining forces with the power of social media to form communities like #BookTok to make reading still feel fresh and modern—these are two strategies that have already proven successful. Or perhaps it’ll be something altogether different.

The solution might not be completely solidified, but like Dr. Seuss, we have to maintain a curious spirit and incorporate a sense of play in our approach. Keeping something fun is akin to keeping something alive more often than not. Take it from the guy who brought us Grinches and Loraxes and Whovians that still lift our spirits today.

Speaking of reading, if you care to check out Seuss’ biography, which Oppenhemier cited in his thread, you can find it here.

Back when Donald Trump was an active Twitter user, he only had 280 characters to share his nonsensical ramblings. Now he has unlimited space to call Elon Musk a liar.

“I don’t believe Elon Musk voted for Biden, not for a minute!” the former president ranted on Truth Social. “He told me that he voted for me, but who knows about that, and who cares? Elon is just trying to make friends with the absolutely horrible Biden Administration because of all the government subsidies he gets, and all the permits he needs. His space company, car company, battery company, tunnel company, and even Twitter, which was illegally controlled by the FBI, need government HELP & SUBSIDIES.” Trump added, with heavy sarcasm, that Musk is “MENDING FENCES.”

Trump is referring to Musk’s interview with Tucker Carlson (cursed sentence) on Monday night, where the Twitter destroyer revealed that he voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. “I’m not saying I’m a huge fan of Biden, since that would be inaccurate,” he said. “I would prefer, frankly, that we put just a normal person as president. A normal person with common sense. Whose values are in the middle of the country.”

And maybe they can be super funny, and look really good in a cowboy hat, and of course they need thick skin. A real man of the people, always looking out for the working class. That’s the kind of president Elon can get behind.

(Via Mediaite)

Do you feel like you are settlin’? Are you livin’ the life that you expected? Has the “G” key on your laptop stopped workin’? If so, you might be eligible to attend a free seminar led by noted public speaker Matthew McConaughey. Or you should get a new computer.

McConaughey has been hinting at a special event for the past few weeks (perhaps to distract fans from his mysterious Yellowstone future), and the Texan has announced that he will be hosting a free virtual event known as “The Art Of Livin.” Note: this is no “G” in living, but there isn’t an apostrophe either. It’s unclear what the grammar style guide is for this particular event, but that’s what makes it so mysterious and slightly terrifyin.’

The Art Of Livin will take place virtually on April 24th at 10 AM PT and is described as an “intimate one-time event to create a future you can look forward to.” There is already so much to look forward to this year, but he seems so excited about it, so we might as well let it play out.
Many are asking:

And the answer is unclear. The event will feature guest stars Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, Marie Forleo, and Trent Shelton, who will allegedly share some of their wisdom about creating your own path in life. You might be confused or even slightly afraid that you are getting roped into a cult-like initiation ceremony, so here is how McConaughey explains it, in “simple” terms:

Did that help? Are you on board? Is this Goop for men? Again, it’s unclear. The only way to find out is to register for The Art Of Livin and hope that it’s not some sort of scheme to fund Fools Gold 2. Actually….that might be a good idea.

Weekend one of Coachella kicked off this weekend, with most of the prominent acts bringing along some surprise guests to join them on stage. Sometimes, there was even more than one at the same show.

Here are all the surprise guest performances from Coachella 2023… So far.

Friday started off with Muna bringing out Boygenius, where they performed the hit song, “Silk Chiffon,” together.

Kaytranada had Kali Uchis join to play “10%” and Aminé to perform the duo’s new song together. Later, on Sunday, Uchis would perform her own Coachella set, where she brought out Tyler The Creator for “See You Again,” Don Toliver for “Fantasy,” and Omar Apollo for “Worth The Wait.”

Metro Boomin had a wild lineup, with The Weeknd, Mike Dean, Future, John Legend, 21 Savage, and Diddy all joining him for various songs.

In typical fashion, Gorillaz brought quite a few surprises, including De La Soul, Del The Funky Homosapien, Thundercat, Slowthai, Peven Everett, Jamie Principle, and Bootie Brown.

Bad Bunny, who headlined Friday night, brought along Ñengo Flow, Jowell & Randy, Post Malone, and Jhayco as surprise guests performances during his set.

On Saturday, Rosalía brought out her fiancé, Rauw Alejandro, as they performed their “Beso” collaboration.

Labrinth also had Billie Eilish join him for a performance of their collab, “Never Felt So Alone,” which was recently released.

Latto‘s Sunday set included appearances from Lola Brooke for the “Don’t Play With It” remix and Saweetie on “Bitch From Da Souf.”

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

Lil Dicky has taken a lot of flak over the years for his comedic approach to hip-hop. He’s been seen as a gentrifier and interloper, an opportunist, and even as problematic for some of his antics over the years. This has given him plenty of content for his semi-autobiographical FX show Dave, but while the show benefits from being able to laugh at the critics and Dicky himself, it also gives Dicky the platform to prove one thing about his artistry: He can rap like nobody’s business.

He pointed out as much in a new story in The Hollywood Reporter, addressing the criticism from rap gatekeepers while also noting that many of his contemporaries and inspirations have mad respect for his mic skills. Of the detraction, he says it mostly comes from “elitist, hipster journalists who thought that it was their place to speak on behalf of hip-hop,” while the praise comes when “I’m meeting the all-time great rappers and they’re telling me, like, man, I’m a rapper’s rapper.” According to THR, some of those names include 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes, while his show has featured comedic turns from Young Thug, Doja Cat, Rick Ross, and Killer Mike.

Speaking with Uproxx about Dave‘s third season, now airing weekly on FX, Dicky talked about how splitting time between the show and music has forced fans to wait for more of the latter. “I just know that my fans are starving for music,” he said. “I’m well aware of that. And the show takes up so much of my time that I didn’t want people to think that I’m just an actor playing a rapper now. I just want to remind people that I do make music. And I love music, and I think it’s really cool and unique to the show. And I don’t think any other show could do that.”

This story would be funny if it also wasn’t so awful. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has led to so much death that Russia can’t keep its army stocked up with enough troops, so they’ve lengthened recruitment contracts and have been looking for volunteers in the bizarrest of places. As well, troops began abandoning their tanks, which led to a shortage there as well and forced Russia to cancel annual parades meant to mark the victory over Nazi Germany.

Putin, for his part, seems to be ignoring reality and eschewing cell phones and the Internet while being “pathologically afraid for his life.” So, one cannot reasonably expect him to read the room. In that spirit, his regime reportedly sent over “an Easter care package” to soldiers, who were “delighted” until they opened the boxes. According to The Daily Beast, they got so mad when “they realized it contained a quasi-religious icon featuring the face of the Russian leader.” Yep, that’s some” bullsh*t” right there:

When the package arrived, “We thought, they sent us something, they haven’t forgotten [about us], the [Easter] holiday is coming soon. But it turned out that it’s not about the holiday after all. No matter how much of a patriot of my homeland I may be, this is already complete bullshit,” one soldier told the local outlet Perm 36.6.

The Daily Beast published an image that shows the gift, which carries a “Saint Putin” vibe, and it’s no wonder that troops were said to be incensed. A note also pointed towards “prayers,” which cannot possibly go over well when these soldiers essentially signed away their lives. For sure, Putin’s military train wreck simply won’t stop.

(Via The Daily Beast)

It appears new music from Foo Fighters is on the way. Last week, the band shared a teaser on their social media pages. Then, they shared another one today (April 18). In the video teaser is a white screen, as text moves about the screen.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Are you feeling what I’m feeling? This is happening now?,” reads the text, as a sound clip from an apparent new song plays throughout.

As it looks like new music is underway, this, of course, raises the question of if the band’s former drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died unexpectedly over a year ago, will be featured in the band’s new music.

“Can’t imagine them releasing a new album so (relatively) soon after Taylor Hawkins passed, but something is coming,” said one fan. “With the great drums going in this video I’d guess it’s going to be some sort of tribute album, maybe unreleased tracks or some cool Taylor stuff.”

Some fans are hoping Hawkins still had some leftover material in the vault, and insist that it be featured on the band’s new album.

“new album with taylor on drums,” said another fan. “pls be it.”

While most are excited for Foo Fighters to make a return, some are less than pleased.

Another fan wrote that he felt the band “shouldn’t exist post-Taylor.”

Beginning next month, Foo Fighters will embark on a North American tour, their first since Hawkins’ passing.

Check out the teaser above.

Fans on Twitter are buzzing about Chance The Rapper, sending his name onto the trending topics list. However, it wasn’t because of new music. Instead, fans were enthralled by a video of the Chicagoan artist, who was seen enjoying a Carnival vacation in Jamaica. In the video, a pair of women playing mas twerk in front of the rapper for a few seconds before all three burst into laughter.

The reason for the controversy, though, stems from Chance’s well-known reputation as hip-hop’s foremost “wife guy.” Chance famously married his longtime girlfriend, Kirsten Corley, with whom he shares two daughters, in 2019. He even went as far as naming his debut album The Big Day — a fact that drew the amusement of fans and generated the meme of Chance as an inveterate simp for his spouse (which… isn’t exactly a bad thing, but the audience loves a scumbag more than a square).

So, seeing Chance living it up in Jamaica with scantily-clad women had some Twitter users up in arms. “Chancellor where is yo wifeeee,” wrote one. However, others seemingly backed him up, pointing out that dancing in public should hardly be considered grounds for divorce. Some fans even pulled up the lyrics to his Coloring Book house party anthem “Juke Jam,” in which he says, “I mean, it’s just dancing, it’s harmless as f*ck.”

There are plenty of other reactions but they typically seem to fall into one of the three categories. America is such a strange place. Check out a few more responses below.

We’ve all been hearing urgent warnings from scientists, government, and corporate leaders on the need to limit the planet’s global temperature warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change.

Several studies, including research from the National Academy of Sciences indicate if we continue on the path we are on, we will likely hit that pivotal moment of global warming in the early 2030s. It’s clear that more needs to be done —and faster—to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and secure a thriving and sustainable economy for everyone.

Broader research is also showing people care more than ever about what companies are doing to address this challenge. In a 2022 global survey from IBM, 51% of respondents said environmental sustainability is more important to them now than it was the year before. And a 2022 Yale survey found that 51% of U.S. business students would even take lower pay to work for a company with better environmental practices — a signal of the topic’s importance.

T-Mobile is an example of a company that has led the wireless industry in these efforts starting with its pledge in 2018 to source 100% of its total electricity usage with renewable energy and being the first in U.S. wireless to set science-based carbon reduction goals and then reach them in 2021. This year, T-Mobile stepped up even more by becoming the first U.S. wireless provider to announce a net-zero target for its entire carbon footprint.

Mike Sievert, T-Mobile’s CEO, is encouraging others to join in on developing bold sustainability commitments because its critical companies lead by example with real action. “We’ve made the decision as a company to move beyond managing risks and begin to take intentional measures — bigger than ever before — that will ensure a sustainable future for us all,” Sievert said in his recent blog. “I’d like to see even more businesses like ours do the same. There is strength in numbers, and more important, there are common practices that we could jointly develop and share.”

These efforts are not just good for the planet, it’s also good business. Independent nonprofit, JUST Capital, recently found that companies like T-Mobile that are recognized on its annual list of America’s Most JUST Companies on average have a 4.5% higher profit margin, 2.4% higher return on equity, and paid 5 times more in dividends than those that didn’t. Environmental sustainability is a significant factor defining whether a company is “JUST.”

With T-Mobile taking bold steps, how will the company reach its net-zero goal?

Upworthy spoke with Brigitta Witt, T-Mobile’s vice president of social impact and sustainability, and she explained the path the company is taking to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.

“We are taking definitive actions and have already made considerable progress by decommissioning old or unneeded network equipment, upgrading to eco-friendly

cooling systems and implementing energy-efficient software across about half of our network

sites,” Witt told Upworthy. “We’re diversifying our renewable energy investments and transitioning to electricity sources that have lower emissions, while also ramping up investments in community solar projects across the country to help generate clean energy to reduce the use of fossil fuels with solar and wind power.”

The company’s transition to 5G also plays a big role in the road to net-zero. Even though the equipment uses more energy than previous generations, it uses less per bit of data it transmits, making it much more efficient.

“According to Accenture, 5G technologies could help enable up to one-fifth of the carbon reductions required under the U.S. climate change target by 2025,” Witt told Upworthy.

The biggest challenge to T-Mobile’s ambitious climate goals are the emissions generated by its value chain.

“We are working with our suppliers and engaging customers to help reduce their carbon footprints, which in turn helps us reduce our scope 3 emissions,” Witt said. “We will also continue to look at emerging trends, innovative solutions and global landscape evolution as we build out our strategy over the next two decades.”

T-Mobile reinforced its commitment by joining The Climate Pledge, which encourages companies to work together to accelerate climate action across all industries. “It aligns our company with nearly 400 like-minded companies and organizations that believe investing in sustainability is key to long-term success,” Witt said.

In addition to leading the wireless industry and committing to a net-zero goal T-Mobile is also encouraging customers to help through a Device Reuse and Recycling Program, which led to 11.6M customer devices being reused, resold, or recycled for free in 2021.

Ultimately, T-Mobile’s is committed to to being an even greater force for good in wireless and the world in which we live and is all in on its relentless pursuit of progress in sustainability. “

“We know we can’t be the best at connecting customers to their world without also taking on the challenge of our changing our industry, for the better, and making a positive impact on the world around us,” Witt told Upworthy. “And sustainability commitments are no exception—and we won’t stop using our expanded network, scale and resources to help create a connected world where everyone can thrive.