Category: Worldwide

Game 3 in Miami was a must-win for the Boston Celtics after dropping both games at home to the Heat to fall into a 2-0 hole in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Despite being in a desperation situation, the Celtics came out flat and promptly got run out of the building by the Heat. Miami’s defense stifled Boston’s stars — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 26 points on 12-of-35 shooting — and the Heat continued their terrific shooting from long-range to build a 15-point lead at halftime. Things would not improve for Boston in the third quarter, as Miami would double that advantage as they outscored the Celtics 32-17 after halftime to open up a 30-point advantage.

Early in the third, there was a sequence that saw Bam Adebayo finish a nasty alley-oop over Grant Williams followed by a Gabe Vincent pull-up three that pushed Miami’s lead to 23, prompting an early Boston timeout.

As the Celtics retreated to their bench, dejected, Jimmy Butler took the opportunity to troll them (and specifically Al Horford) by taking a knee and doing the timeout symbol, just as Horford did after a three in Game 1.

It’s sensational stuff, as Butler mimic’s Horford’s taunt perfectly and it’s made even more painful given Horford did it in what became a loss for Boston and it still came back to bite him two games later. The funniest part is that the Heat were hit with a technical foul for taunting after the timeout, but it wasn’t Butler who earned it. Instead, Max Strus was apparently talking so much trash to the Celtics bench in the midst of a blowout that the refs had to step in and hit him with a T, which is maybe a low point in Celtics franchise history.

Last week’s Succession Report Card from Brian Grubb passed judgment upon the Roy siblings’ subpar showing while the election night stressed out the audience, and this week, it was time for Logan’s funeral. This will make it possible for him to turn in his grave in the future, but he may have actually been turning in his coffin at his funeral — because of the seating arrangements of his ladies past and present.

Oh sure, Roman also gave us a rare display of emotion by actually beginning the grieving process during the funeral, but first, Caroline did an unexpected thing by inviting Kerry up to the front row. Then Kerry was seated next to Marcia, who actually (and quite warmly) clutched her hand in support. With all of the viciousness that frequently goes on display in this show, it was a rare sight to see “water under the bridge” from anyone, let alone these characters. HBO even saw fit to showcase the moment on Twitter during the episode.

In fact, people couldn’t believe they were seeing Marcia, Caroline, Kerry, and Sally together in the front row. “God, Logan would hate this” couldn’t have been more accurate, and people loved to see it.

One more episode to go, and we’ll see who ends up in charge of the joint.

HBO’s ‘Succession’ airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST.

The college softball postseason got under way this past week, with Regionals coming to an end on Sunday. In Baton Rouge, where 10-seed LSU was hosting, disaster struck for the home team as they lost back-to-back games against Louisiana with a chance to advance to the Super Regionals.

After Louisiana won the opener on Sunday 7-4, the two teams met again in a winner take all matchup, where the two teams traded leads with the Tigers holding an 8-7 advantage heading into the 7th (and final) inning. After getting their first two batters on base, Louisiana used a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position with one out. LSU tried to get a double play back in order by intentionally walking the next batter. Unfortunately, they could not deliver the pitch out, with the ball ending up going over the inside corner for a strike, but getting by the catcher allowing the runner from third to score and tie the game — and the runner on second to advance to third.

Then, again, LSU tried to issue an intentional walk to set up a double play and again threw the ball over the plate, with Jourdyn Campbell roping a line drive into right center for a single that scored the go-ahead (and ultimately, game-winning) run.

It’s hard to imagine a more devastating way to have your season end, as LSU was two outs away from the Supers only to see a pair of botched intentional walks lead to the game-tying and game-winning runs for the other team. For the Ragin’ Cajuns, it was an incredible job of taking advantage of mistakes, both as baserunners and hitters, but for the Tigers it will be really hard to move on from this one.

One of the best stories of the week at Oak Hill Country Club has been the play of Michael Block, one of the 20 PGA club professionals in the field at the 2023 PGA Championship.

Block shot 70 on each of the first three days of the tournament to arrive at Sunday’s final round at even par, putting him T10 entering the final round where he found himself paired with Rory McIlroy. Block has become a legend in Rochester with his play over the course of the week, and that only grew on Sunday afternoon as he stepped onto the 15th tee and took aim at the par 3. Block fired a 7-iron directly at the pin and flew the ball into the cup, dunking home an ace that sent the crowd into a frenzy and had Block stunned on the tee.

“Rory, did it go in?!” is a sensational line, as he seemed to think he was getting pranked by everyone going nuts.

It’s an all-time moment at the PGA Championship, where club pros rarely find themselves making the cut, much less near the top of the leaderboard come Sunday. For Block, who was two-over on his final round coming into the 15th, it wasn’t just the moment of his career, but it also pushed him back to even for the championship and into a tie for 14th — with a top-15 finish guaranteeing him a spot in next year’s PGA Championship.

When he first appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s second season, Spike, the charming but nefarious British vampire, was an instant sensation. What was supposed to be a quickie gig for actor James Marsters turned into a long-term job he held over two separate TV shows, spanning some seven years. But if it was up to Marsters, he would have fired him pretty quickly.

In an interview with Radio Times (as caught by Entertainment Weekly), Marsters argues that by introducing another fun vampire, on top of David Boreanaz’s Angel, it changed fan perspectives about the show’s portrayl of vampires.

“I mean, the whole thing is, how do we get this guy on without having him ruin the theme? If it had been me producing that show, I would have killed Spike off in a heartbeat,” Marsters said while celebrating the 20th anniversary of Buffy’s series finale. “As soon as the audience said, ‘Oh, we want him. Oh, have him with Buffy. Oh, we love that character.’ Like, uh-uh. He’s ruining the whole thing. I would have killed me off after probably three episodes.”

Marsters added, “I’m kind of a bastard when I’m producing! I’m heartless! So I’m very lucky that they had more imagination and courage than I would have shown, frankly.”

During the chat, Marsters said that, from his perspective, the writers “never really knew what to do” with Spike. “The original idea for Buffy was that vampires were just metaphors for the challenges of high school, or the challenges of life,” Marsters said. “They were designed to be overcome; they were designed to die. Buffy is not an Anne Rice kind of thing, where you’re supposed to feel for the vampires. It’s why we’re hideously ugly when we bite someone. They did not want that to be a sensual kind of thing. It was supposed to be horrific.”

Marsters concludes that making Spike a major character was always “a weird fit,” adding, “They were always, like, coming to me at the beginning of every season saying, ‘We don’t know what to do with you!’” he recalled. “‘We have a plan for the season, we have a plan for all the other characters, we have all the arcs of all the other characters, we just don’t know what to do with you again.’”

(Via EW)

Foo Fighters’ quest to find a new drummer has come to an end. On Sunday, May 21, during their pre-tour live stream, Foo Fighters: Preparing Music For Concerts, the band shared the news that Josh Freese is their new live drummer.

After the tragic death of the group’s beloved drummer, Taylor Hawkins, fans of the band were interested to see how the Foo Fighters would adjust. Back in March, there was talk that Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron would step up to the plate. Alas, he quickly shot down the rumor. However, now that it has been revealed that Freese would be joining the musicians as their live drummer, this seems like a much better fit.

Jokingly nicknamed the “King Of Replacements” by some music fans, Freese has a history of stepping in for fellow rockers. In the past, he’s played with the Vandals, Devo, Nine Inch Nails, and Sting, to name a few.

After releasing a comedic skit featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, Tool’s Danny Carey, and Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe, supporters were surprised to find that the position was ultimately filled by Freese.

The band’s calendar is filled to the brim with tour dates and music festival appearances around the world.

There are quite a few Miley Cyrus-centered rumors floating around. However, there’s one thing the “Flowers” singer is setting the record straight about: Her latest album, Endless Summer Vacation, will not be receiving an extensive tour. Well, not anytime soon, according to the singer.

During a recent interview with Vogue UK, Cyrus detailed what lead to her decision. When asked about touring, she said, “It’s been a minute. After the last [headline arena] show I did [in 2014], I kind of looked at it as more of a question. And I can’t. Not only can’t, because can’t is your capability, but my desire. Do I want to live my life for anyone else’s pleasure or fulfillment other than my own?”

She added, “Like singing for hundreds of thousands of people isn’t really the thing that I love. There’s no connection. There’s no safety. It’s also not natural. It’s so isolating because if you’re in front of 100,000 people then you are alone.”

Although Cyrus has appeared at several festivals over the last year and even hosted and performed at her own televised concert for New Year’s Eve, fans of her new album will have to hold their breath in hopes that she’ll change her mind.

All eyes are on Olivia Rodrigo. This week the singer celebrated the second birthday of her Grammy Award-winning debut album, Sour. Now according to her the wait for her sophomore album will be over soon.

Back in December, Rodrigo shared a fun holiday track, called “The Bels,” with fans via her private Discord channel. But after she revealed that she had been working on “so many new songs” at the top of the year, fans have patiently waited for the day when her new works would hit streaming platforms. Now, thanks to a sweet handwritten note shared via her newsletter, her forthcoming album, referenced to as OR 2, might be dropping before you know it.

In her note, the “Drivers License” singer wrote, “Hi! I cannot believe it’s been two years since Sour came out. That album will always be so so special to me and I’m so grateful to you guys for embracing it the way you have. I’m taking today to reflect on all the amazing things that have happened since Sour and looking fORward 2 all the things to come.”

Closing the note, “All my love always, Liv.”

No further information about the pending project is known at this time.

The Writers Guild of America have been on strike since for nearly three weeks now, and it’s likely it won’t end any time soon. At heart of the matter are major studios’ unwillingness to meet a slew of guild members’ demands, among them fairer pay and better regulation of AI technology. Amidst all this, Boston University announced that one of the big studio heads, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, would be giving the commencement speech this weekend. The college didn’t cancel the appearance, so when Zaslav showed up, he was in for a bit of a surprise.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, as soon as Zaslav’s name was mentioned, the crowd of students and family members erupted into loud boos. Certain phrases could reportedly be heard amongst the din, among them “We don’t want you here!”, “Pay You Writers!”, “Shut Up Zaslav,” and “F*ck you, you piece of sh*t.”

The boos didn’t stop when Zaslav took to the lectern. When he joked about giving students life advice, they erupted again. It happened again when he talked about “making good money” as a lawyer before pivoting to Hollywood.

It wasn’t just students who gave Zaslav a hard time. WGA members picketed outside the commencement building.

There was also a plane that circled, carrying the message “David Zaslav — Pay Your Writers.”

It’s likely that the WGA strike wasn’t the only reason Zaslav was jeered. Since taking over Warner Bros. Discovery, he’s been a controversial figure. Among his polarizing moves is cancelling movies that were close to completion, messing with the perfectly cromulent HBO Max (soon to be simply Max, confusingly), and taking CNN in new and alarming directions. Indeed, him facing public opprobrium comes on the same day CNN revealed they want to cover “both sides” of divisive issues rather than investigate whether or not one is closer to the truth.

(Via THR)

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Fast X.

If you saw Fast X this weekend, you were in for not one but two big surprises. The first: Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs reunited with Vin Diesel’s Dom during the end credits. The second: Gal Gadot’s Gisele was also there. They’re surprising for two different reasons. For Johnson, it’s because of his long-time (and allegedly now over) feud with Diesel. For Gadot, it’s because Gisele ate it in Furious 6. The cameos are so surprising that when Michelle Rodriguez, who’s long played Letty, first learned about them, she had an appropriate reaction.

“I was laughing my butt off. I was like, ‘Ha, ha, you try getting away with something like that in your franchise!’” Rodriguez told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s crazy what we get away with.”

Rodriguez sad she wasn’t that shocked by the Gadot cameo. “The whole Gal storyline had been in the works for a while, a couple of movies in, and there’s even footage shot already so it didn’t surprise me as much as Dwayne coming back,” she said. “That was like really cool,”

The Fast and Furious films long ago departed from the constraints of reality, though it’s up for debate when it officially jumped the shark. With F9 they even started bringing characters back from the dead, namely Sung Kang’s Han, who was was also offed in Furious 6.

THR also spoke with Diesel. He didn’t outright say that he and Johnson, who once called him a “candy ass,” had fully patched things up. He even intimated that they agreed to a truce for the fans.

“The conversations are what makes the best movie? What feels right for a franchise? How do you make as many people happy in this world? And both of them clearly make people happy,” Diesel said. “Underscore that with this running theme of unity that prevails in the Fast and Furious saga, and it’s a match made in heaven.”

(Via THR)