Category: Worldwide

The Air Jordan XXXV is on its way at some point in the near future. While Jordan hasn’t announced anything official with regards to a release date, the latest in the Air Jordan signature line has made its way to the Orlando NBA Bubble for weartesting.

Jayson Tatum was the first to show off a pair in hand on Wednesday, but wore his Taco Jay 34s on the court for Game 6 against the Raptors.

On Thursday night, Jeff Green became the first NBA player to debut the sneaker on court as he wore the 35s for Game 4 of the Rockets series with the Lakers, showing off the upcoming release on foot for the first time.

Given it’s on-court debut, one would expect some further details on the sneaker to be released soon. It keeps what looks to be the same midsole tech and design from the 34, while also bringing in some design details to pay homage to the Jordan V with the tongue design and the back half of the upper (complete with the 23 on the side of the heel). That was how the 31s and 32s began, was with spinning forward a modern take on the original lineup, but they quickly moved away from that with the 33 and 34. Now that effort seems to be back, at least for this year’s edition.

Throughout his career, Lil Wayne has given fans a number of potential answers to what the “F” in “Weezy F Baby” stands for since he introduced the nickname back in 2004, from “front door,” off of his and Drake’s “Miss Me” collaboration, to “finisher,” off “6 Foot 7 Foot.” One of the more popular answers happens to be a word that doesn’t start with the letter “F.” In his 2009 song “Yes,” Wayne raps “Weezy F. Baby, and the F is for phenomenal.” According to his longtime manager Cortez Bryant, the line was not intentional.

“The word starts with ‘ph,’ but he said ‘f,’ right?” Bryant said in an interview on Andrew Barber’s Fake Shore Drive show. “He was like, ‘Oh sh*t, I gotta change that.’ We released it. We had an argument about that. He not understanding the concept about digital, and it’s gone now…We had pressed tons of CDs, but he didn’t realize he spelled it wrong, and I didn’t catch it.”

Bryant then touched on Wayne’s passion for lyrics and wordplay. “Wayne is a perfectionist about that, using his words and prepositions in [the] correct way,” Bryant continued. “He might misspell something on purpose for lyrical exercise and wordplay, but he’s really precise about his wordplay. He was really down, pissed, ‘F*ck the whole mixtape’ just because of that one damn line.”

Bryant’s interview comes days after he discussed the possibility of a second Drake Vs. Lil Wayne tour on Brian “B.Dot” Miller’s Art of Facts Instagram show. “They talked about it,” he said. “I do think we need to do it again.”

You can watch Bryant’s interview in the video above. The “F for phenomenal” bit starts around the 19:11 mark.

The NFL season kicks off on Thursday night with a rematch of the AFC Divisional Round game between the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs and the Houston Texans.

It will not just be the first game of the season but the first look at the NFL’s new pregame process, which now features “Lift Every Voice And Sing” (known as the Black national anthem) being played along with the national anthem. That, along with the new “End Racism” text on the end line behind the end zone are part of the NFL’s push to appease players amid calls for the league to do more for social justice, but the league is learning some words painted on the field and playing an extra song isn’t going to do that.

The Miami Dolphins announced as a team that they will not be coming out of the locker room for either anthem prior to games, calling on the league to actually use its power and voice to impact change by calling local and national politicians and wielding their immense wealth and influence to create real change instead of “empty gestures.”

It’s a powerful statement from the team and illustrates the frustration players in many leagues have shown to the “efforts” of leagues in listening to their calls to do something and being given lip service and some words tucked behind the end zones on the field. The league did announce a new $1 billion endowment for Black businesses on Thursday in a partnership with Alicia Keys, but players want more than just words and money. They want leagues to use their influence and connections to those in power, both at state and national levels, to push for change.

The Dolphins video lays out many of the things they want to see done and does so powerfully, calling on owners and the league to do more and providing those things that need to be done to avoid the “well what’s the plan” response. If nothing else, they show they don’t want to be used as pawns to garner good PR while not doing enough of the work in the areas that they can to make a real difference, and so this season they’ll remain in the locker room before games.

Parents, teachers, and students have had to dig deep into their creativity and flexibility as back-to-school time hits, pandemic-style. From Zoom classes to hybrid models to plexiglass desk barriers, school simply does not—and cannot—look normal in 2020.

I’ve seen many parents fret over how and where their kids will do their online schooling. Do they need a desk? What about a quiet space? What if we don’t have separate rooms for each kid? And those are just the worries about space.

With everyone’s concern levels being sky high, it’s no wonder the reactions to one dad’s school-at-home setup were mixed. A Reddit user shared this video to the r/nextfuckinglevel subreddit, and while we don’t know who the dad is, his classroom building skills truly are next level.

Father converted his garage into a classroom for his daughter

www.youtube.com

But not everyone agreed over whether or not it’s a good thing.

Clearly there’s no question that this dad cares. Fathers who don’t take their parenting responsibility don’t do things like this.

But some people remarked that, while impressive, the classroom also felt “dystopian,” “apocalyptic,” and “creepy.” Some responded that, umm yeah, we’re kind of in a global pandemic here. Others pointed out that this setup may actually be better than what some government-funded schools have.

A couple of commenters explained in detail what was good about this dad’s efforts:

zeke-apex wrote:

“For the people that don’t understand why this is praiseworthy: The environment is supposed to emulate what she is used to. We don’t know this family’s situation, so for all we know there could be a bunch of people in and out of the house all day, causing a distraction to the child, thus being detrimental to her learning. Imo too much comfortability in a learning space can be bad because it encourages laziness. There could be a million reasons for why he did what he did. Going above and beyond for his child and her learning is deserving of all the praise. This man is a great father.”

Gangreless chimed in with:

“I can’t believe how shitty the comments are here. This is some terrific parenting and is such a great way to help his daughter adjust to remote learning. It’s also fantastic that she’s able to have a dedicated, quiet space without distractions to learn. People forget that kids go to school for 7 to 8 hours a day, it’s literally a job, and they deserve the same environment that you’d expect to have in a home office.”

Most agreed that the dad should be praised for his efforts, but some also pointed out that while this setup is great, it also highlights the privilege some families have. There are lots of kids for whom nothing like this is even remotely possible, either because of money or space limitations. That doesn’t mean this dad shouldn’t do it, but it’s a reminder that the pandemic is only serving to widen the gap between those with means and those with need.

At any rate, kudos to this dad for trying to make pandemic schooling a little better for his daughter. We all need all the help we can get to make it through this.

As society has become more accepting of LGBTQ people, the average age people come out of the closet has dropped significantly, from 37 among those in their 60s to 21 for those in their 30s.

However, many people, especially those who are older, are never able to come out because of societal or familial pressures.

An adorable new video that went viral on TikTok shows it’s never too late to be your true self. A woman named Aimee was having a conversation with her grandmother — who she assumed was straight — when she admitted to being attracted to women.

Aimee thought it was so important that she had to capture the conversation on video.

Aimee wanted to know if it was just a sisterly love or sexual attraction. “Do you like prefer women’s bodies?” Aimee asked.

“I think so, yeah” the grandmother answered. “I think boobs are nice. I think the penis, not that keen on it,” she said with a grimace.

Aimee asked her grandmother what age the perfect woman would be and she said, “late 60s,” and Aimee jokingly called her a “cougar.”

“I just like women anyhow,” the grandma said. “I’ve never liked men that much.”

However, Aimee’s grandma isn’t quite ready to hit the dating scene yet. “At the moment Aimee, all I want to do is survive,” she admitted.

A sense of humor is a characteristic that many of us assume is only found among humans. However, according to Live Science, our primate relatives — chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans — all produce laughter-like sounds when tickled.

Koko, the gorilla that knew sign language, would tie her trainer’s shoes together, sign, “chase,” and then laugh.

So, who knows? Ants and spiders may share their own jokes that we have no idea about. And it’d be hard for a giraffe or puffer fish not to laugh from time to time given their looks.

Don’t get me started on hyenas.

The photographers and wildlife conservationists from the Comedy and Wildlife Awards do a great job that humans aren’t the only animals that enjoy having a laugh.

Every year, they hand out an award to the funniest wildlife photo and they’ve just released their top 44 finalists for the 2020 awards. So, we’re sharing our top 21 favorites.

The winners will be announced on October 22 with the top photographer winning an incredible one-week safari with Alex Walker’s Serian in the Masai Mara, Kenya as well as a unique handmade trophy from the Art Garage in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

What’s your favorite photo? You can vote on the People’s Choice winner on their website.

Here are 21 of our favorite finalists.

Wait up mommy, look what I got for you© Kunal Gupta / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Just chillin’© Jill Neff / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Untitled© Mark Fitzpatrick / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

It’s the last day of school holidays© Max Teo / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Hide and seek© Tim Hearn / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Socially uninhibited© Martin Grace / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Boredom© Marcus Westberg / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Macaque striking a pose© Louis Marti / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

The inside joke© Femke van Willigen / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Hi y’all© Erik Fisher / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Crashing into the picture© Brigette Alclay Marcon / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Smiley© Arthur Telle Thiermann / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Social distance, please© Petr Sochmanmn / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

The race© Yevhen Samuchenko / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

So hot© Wei Ping Pen / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Monkey business© Megan Lawrenz / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

I think this tires gonna be flat© Kay Kotzian / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Peekaboo© Jagdeep Rajput / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Almost time to get up© Charlie Davidson / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

I could puke© Christina Holfelder / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Spreading the wildlife gosspi© Bernhard Esterer / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving shocked the basketball world last summer. While the pair joining forces to go to New York was reported for some time prior to the announcement at the start of free agency, the assumption was that they’d head to Manhattan and suit up for the Knicks. Instead, they opted to head to Brooklyn and become members of the Nets.

While the pair have yet to suit up with one another — Durant missed all year rehabbing the ACL tear he suffered in his final game as a member of the Golden State Warriors — there’s a whole lot of anticipation for when they eventually take the floor. Before we get to that point, there’s a question Durant wanted to answer during a cameo on J.J. Redick’s podcast: Why Brooklyn?

As Durant explained, the decision stemmed from the fact that while he wanted to go to New York City, he thought there was something special about Brooklyn that matched up with what he valued. And besides, the way he tells it, he never planned on going to the Knicks, anyway.

No, I never planned on it — going to the Knicks. That was just the media putting that out there, especially when I decided to take that — I didn’t sign that three-year deal that previous summer. So once I signed that 1+1, the noise got louder about me going to the Knicks for some reason. The Knicks needed a savior and you know how that goes, every time there’s a big free agent, ‘the Knicks are going to get him.’ So it just took off, and then once the media infiltrated our locker room with that Draymond situation, they ran with the rumors even more. It just got so loud every single day, and I mean, players hear it and they go on HoopsHype every day and see rumors, they start to believe it. I think the media just hyped it up and wanted to create drama around our team so much and around me that they made up this Knicks thing.

So around February, as I was thinking, I didn’t want to be the savior of the Knicks or New York. I didn’t care about being the King of New York, that never really moved me. I didn’t care about being on Broadway or that sh*t, I just wanted to go ball, go to the crib, and chill. So I felt like that’s what Brooklyn embodied, and I wanted to live in New York. So I felt like Brooklyn was what I’m all about: chill, on the low, all black everything. We quiet, just focused on basketball. There’s no show when you come to our games. No Madison Square Mecca, all of that sh*t. We just gonna hoop and build something new in Brooklyn. I felt that way in February, leading up to March and then once free agency hit it was time.

It is interesting to hear Durant say that he never wanted to go to the Knicks, because there was a ton of smoke connecting him to them for months. Still, it’s evident there was something about going to Brooklyn that really appeared to Durant, and as a result, he’ll ply his trade at Barclays Center for the next few years.

Fast & Furious 9 may or may not head into space. According to Ludacris a few months ago, it sure sounded like it was happening, as he told SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle and Julia Cunningham when asked: “I will say that you are very intuitive, because you said something right, but I’m not going to give it away.” And when Michelle Rodriguez appeared on the same program this week, that same question (of course) popped up.

Rodriguez either played along or confirmed, and it’s a tough call to make. Do we really want Vin Diesel to beat Tom Cruise into space? I mean, sure. It would also be great if Vin catapulted into the cosmos (why? who cares), and Cruise just flew by, waving with a massive grin. Cruise runs alone, but does he fly alone? So many questions. Yet here’s what Rodriguez said, via Collider:

“Oh, no way! How did you guys find that out? See what happens? People start talking behind the scenes, man. When a movie doesn’t come out and forget about it, things get out. Nobody was supposed to know that… Oh, well, no, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not lucky enough to hit space, but we did get a female writer and showed a lot of love, I think, on this one.”

Rodriguez also threw out appreciation for Justin Lin on the female-writer note. Heck, let’s combine these two pieces of excitement and knock Vin and Ludacris out of the space business and put Michelle and Helen Mirren out there. I doubt anyone would be opposed to seeing MRod and a dame beating the Cruise to something. We should find out the truth when F9 arrives on April 2, 2021.

(Via SiriusXM & Collider)

Even though you may have never traveled to Munich for Oktoberfest, you were probably pretty bummed to learn that it was canceled this fall. This year, the beer-filled celebration was supposed to take place from September 19th to October 4th. And even if you hadn’t booked a flight, you can feel the pain a year without this beloved bacchanal.

But don’t lose hope. You can enjoy this lager and sausage filled celebration on your own with a few brats and the right German beers. Maybe even throw on your lederhosen and crank up that oom-pah music. To help pick the Oktoberfest beers, we enlisted some of our favorite bartenders. From Spaten to Augustiner to Paulener, they didn’t leave any of the classic brands out.

Weihenstephaner Festbier

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Weihenstephaner Festbier is a fall back for me. Typically not too hard to find, spot-on for Oktoberfest, and very drinkable. This brewery never disappoints. It shouldn’t be a surprise though because it’s the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world having been founded in 1040.

Löwenbräu Oktoberfestbier

Kurt Bellon, general manager and beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

Löwenbräu Oktoberfestbier (or even the Original) from Munich is a perfect beer to set off some lederhosen vibes without having to go all out and crack out the lederhosen.

Spaten Oktoberfestbier

Andrew DeShane, bartender at Del Pez Mexican Gastropub in Wilmington, Delaware

Spaten Oktoberfestbier. It’s my go-to at the Delaware Saengerbund Oktoberfest every year. Rich, sweet, and perfect for the season.

Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen

Veronica Flores, bartender in Austin, Texas

I had to do some research for this one. I’ve been on a dad beer kick for a while. However, I’m lucky enough that one of my bosses came in to save the day seeing as he’s from Germany. I did get my hands on Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen and found that one to be tasty. It should have nation-wide distribution from what I looked up.

Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier

Jon Joseph, director of food and beverages at JL Bar Ranch, Resort & Spa in Sonora, Texas

Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier is true to Germany. This beer also has a higher alcohol content for those in need of a little more punch.

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen

Gloria Otley, bartender at The Brewer’s Art in Baltimore

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen. Not technically a Oktoberfest beer but it is a märzen. Rauchbier is a smoked beer and this is a robustly smoky beer. Deep brown with little smoke on the nose, this beer opens up to flavors of cured meat and barbeque char. Extremely savory and almost salty. The ABV is a surprisingly low 5%, so this would pair excellently with food without weighing down your appetite.

Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Marzen

Zachary Shore, bartender at The Nest in Seattle

There will always be a long debate about which German-made beers are the best, and when it comes to Oktoberfest styles there is plenty of loyalty. That being said, Hacker-Pschorr is one of the best in my opinion. It made its appearance at the first Oktoberfest in Munich in 1810. With an exclusive house yeast strain, Hallertau hops, Bavarian summer barley, and fresh Alpine spring water, the cleanliness, crispness, and easy drinkability makes this my favorite.

Paulaner Oktoberfest-Marzen

Sean Stroehlein, bartender at Paul’s Landing at the Vinoy Renaissance in St. Petersburg, Florida

I believe Paulaner Oktoberfest-Marzen is the best Oktoberfest German beer. With the notes of toffee, bread, and some bitterness as its finish, this is not only a German classic, but also a fall season favorite.

Warsteiner Oktoberfest

Christopher Carlsson, founder of SpiritsReview.com in Rochester, New York

My pick for German-made Oktoberfest beer is Warsteiner. This dark amber-colored marzen is full of caramel sweetness with a great malt backbone.

Writer’s Pick:

Augustiner Bräu Oktoberfestbier

Made by the oldest independent brewery in Munich, Augustiner’s take on the Oktoberfest-style beer is a 6 percent, highly crushable lager. It’s crisp, subtly hoppy, and pairs perfectly with spätzle, sauerkraut, bratwurst, and accordion music.

One great thing about living in New York City and Los Angeles is the unprecedented access to movies. Or at least that used to be the case, in the before-time. Movie theaters have been closed since March, and even with restrictions loosening, they aren’t among the places coming back any time soon. That means things have reversed: right now, NYC and LA are among the only places in the nation where you can’t see Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which opened in the U.S. on August 31 but with one restriction. It can’t play at drive-ins, at least in locations where it isn’t also playing in theaters.

But now there’s some flip-flopping going on, at least in Los Angeles. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. (and presumably Nolan, who’s been adamant about it being seen in a giant movie theater) have given the green-light for LA drive-ins to play his latest super-sized brainteaser, even though theaters remain, wisely, closed.

Tenet’s box-office haul last weekend was Nolan’s lowest opening tally since 2002’s Insomnia. But of course: Movie theaters are operating at severely reduced capacity, and a great number of people are still wary of sitting in enclosed spaces with strangers. But since drive-ins are incredibly pandemic-friendly, at least Los Angelinos — who, unlike New Yorkers, live in a car-friendly metropolis — can finally see the movie the rest of the country already can.

(Via THR)