Category: Worldwide

Welcome back to our various stages of reopening reunion! Phase (insert whatever numerical reopening stage where you live is at) friend? Testing out new things to call you, dear reader, as well as what we’re seeing from players in this column.

I have to level with you: It was my hope to cover everything in NBA isolation until that isolation ended, either with the season being called, resuming, or, in a perfect world, shifting directly into NBA summer vacation. But starting this, there was no way to see ahead to now with messy things have gotten. We’ve lost the initial equalizing experience of the pandemic, and in their return to play and staggered arrivals to Orlando or seasons ending, basketball players have, too.

So how long does this go now? Will you trust me when I say until it feels right to gently close the gilded cover on this scrapbook of basketball in a pandemic? Yes? Thank you.

Bradley Beal

Beal marched on Juneteenth in Washington this week. John Wall, Rui Hachimura, and Ian Mahinmi all went with him. Beal also spoke about the significance of Juneteenth and called for accountability from police all the way up through every level of government. Without getting too ahead of ourselves, and shifting attention from where it needs to stay (justice and equality for Black lives), this tragic and powerful past spring into summer has amplified player’s voices in a very tangible and necessary way, and there’s no going back from it.

Rating: It has also shown there is no way in good conscience to ever trash talk the Washington Wizards again.

Lou Williams

Williams hit the water on Juneteenth and offered some advice for anyone feeling overwhelmed, worn down, or otherwise carrying a lot of psychic weight. It’s good advice. There are plenty of studies that show even a prolonged bath, if you can’t make it to open water or a pool, is good for the human brain as a stress regulator. So take it from Williams and science, please.

Rating: And stay hydrated.

Terry Rozier

I couldn’t tell you if Rozier just got this, or he’s had it all along and only now decided to match his outfit to this gigantic jeep and strike a pose on it in the sunshine, but both are well beside the point. Take it from Terry and find joy where you can, folks.

Rating: And include your friends if you can, even if it is them pointing at you like, “Get a load of this guy.”

Fred VanVleet

For Father’s Day, VanVleet carefully curled his one year old son as a very cute and powerful weight. Fred Jr. was born last year during the Eastern Conference Finals. Everyone knows the boost he gave to his dad in slaying the Bucks, and he is putting forth that protection now as VanVleet heads to Orlando early with the Raptors.

Rating: Cute and strong, a motto for living.

JaVale McGee

McGee marched this week in a Juneteenth rally in L.A., masked up with a pair of the most expressive eyes in the league imploring you, the viewer, to keep the pressure and support on where it counts.

Rating: I question greatly your capacity for compassion if you are able to ever let JaVale McGee down and sleep at night.

Tobias Harris

Have we shared posts of players sharing astrology memes here yet? It was a matter of time. If you hadn’t — how? — heard, it’s Cancer season. Overall that means it’s a sensitive time where a groundswell of change is possible but only if we are open about our vulnerabilities and shortcomings. Cancers, how do I put this, not always the best as embodying this? Anyway this is a pretty good meme.

Rating: Column of NBA players going deep into astrology forthcoming?

D’Angelo Russell

D’Angelo Russell took a trip to Mexico this week and despite the caliber of his on camera expressions, seems to be having fun. He arrived, greeted “rum,” took a plane ride, piloted the small craft (apologies for this very stretched out version of his face, maybe something to do with flight speed and Instagram?), and attempted to s’more.

I hope he was successful in that attempt because this is one dude who could use some sweetness in his life, don’t you think?

Rating: Hello Rum.

Tim Hardaway Jr.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it ten million more times until you listen to me, but man, does Tim Hardaway Jr. know how to ride out a pandemic. This time, poolside with a loaded bagel made just for him.

Rating: Petition to demote the old, angry, quite short Bagel Boss and replace them with relaxed, quite tall Tim.

Rudy Gobert

Ever since he went and got the league shut down, Gobert has been facing some warranted criticism and what seems like more than the pandemic-mandated social distancing. Like, he doesn’t seem to have many friends, I mean. This fact was exemplified anew this week when Gobert befriended a tiny bee. We get the sense from his caption that they have already been spending a fair amount of time together when this was recorded, we also get the sense that Gobert is trying to get something called “Bee Energy” off the ground.

Rating: It won’t fly and I have to wonder how long this new friendship lasts before Gobert is told, once again, to buzz off.

Delon Wright

Confession: I miss Delon Wright. He was part of Toronto’s inaugural Bench Mob and thrived alongside the once-upstart Raptors now at the core of the team. I’ve watched his career, since he was sent to Memphis and now Dallas, with a lot of hope and a little anxiety. Seeing these photos of Wright atop his convertible in a pink shirt was like finally getting a postcard that’s been lost in the mail…

Rating: …but like one of those ancient portrait photographs on a postcard where people didn’t smile in pictures yet.

Norman Powell and Malcolm Miller

Powell headed to Orlando this week to join the Raptors as the first team entering the bubble and/or “mesh hat.” Partway into his journey, he realized he was seated beside Malcolm Miller, who did not yet recognize Powell. It’s one thing if the mask on Norm’s face confused Miller but the Understand The Grind t-shirt really should have given it away.

Before this flight, just to further break your heart, Miller had to say goodbye to his very cute dog, North. She was bummed out.

Rating: Proof that it’s not just you, it really has been 80 years since basketball. Championship teammates no longer recognize one another.

Otto Porter Jr.

Porter Jr. got up bright and early and put his kit on to watch the match, this week. Do you think he enjoyed a nice jambon and potato bombas? Do you think he pronounces Barcelona with a th every time he cheers?

Rating: Look, this isn’t La Liga Self-Isolation Watch, I do what I can.

Enes Kanter

After a couple weeks away from destroying his appliances Kanter is up to his freak test kitchen tricks again. I would not consider injecting peanut butter into a ball of cookie dough with a medical-grade syringe “starting slow” for everyone, but trust me, he’s easing back into it here.

Rating: Maybe he finally ran out of waffle irons to wreck.

Marco Belinelli

Like the longest day of sunshine signifies the solstice and the official start of summer, Marco Belinelli submerging himself into an ice bath marks the Spurs entering into the preparations for the closing of another just fine season in the western conference.

Rating: Something about Belinelli’s very reliable legs encased in a loose ice bath is very comforting, though.

Kelly Oubre Jr.

The Tsunami Papi was seen out and about this week but the thing he wants us to note most closely, by the pointing and the several photo gradual zoom in, is that his sunglasses spell “NO”..

Rating: Contrarian shades, maybe even a sporty wraparound version that says NOPE, here for it.

Terence Davis

In continuing Raptors-heavy content this week, Davis did a friendly spy sesh from his balcony upon arrival in Florida. He peered birdseye down at assistant coach Jim Sann (thanks to prominent Raptors insider, Blake Murphy, for the help on positive ID via top of head shape), doing some stretches, who eventually sensed he was being watched and looked up to be cheered on by Davis. This team is full of angels and if anything happens to them, I can’t even let myself go there.

Rating: Squad full of sweet grinders, indeed.

Robert Covington

Excuse the blurry capture but reptiles in repose are difficult to display. Covington showed off the new digs for his two pet pythons, Max and Elle, as well as for his geckos? Medium sized lizards? The “4 brothers.” If cold-blooded creatures can be happy, then these ones are stoked.

Rating: Or should I say, sssssstoked.

Jodie Meeks

Meeks had a good mail day this week.

Rating: Champs deserve all the bubble gum they want!

Josh Okogie

Okogie took to the links this week in a great big little convoy of golf carts really ripping around. His summer vacation begins somewhat abruptly now and I hope he enjoys himself.

Rating: How fast can your standard golf cart typically go? This is a question for Dime Deputy Editor and resident benevolent golf expert, Robby Kalland.

Chris Boucher

Boucher is in Florida and already having a good time, indoors, thank god. He tested out a few Instagram filters before he settled on this one, which he really liked, because he recorded three videos simultaneously, his dancing growing more unrestrained by the second.

Rating: Keep this energy and self-containment please Chris, no sneaking out to go to the grocery store this time.

In April of 2019, Blackpink dropped “Kill This Love,” and they haven’t shared a new single since then (although they feature of Lady Gaga’s new album). That changed this morning, though, when the Korean group finally shared a new song, “How You Like That.”

The numbers make it clear how eagerly anticipated their return was: 1.65 million people tuned in to the clip’s YouTube premiere this morning, which set the record for the biggest video premiere ever on the platform. As of this post, the video has about 25 million views, around five hours after its debut.

As for the song itself, it begins as a swelling pop ballad before transforming into a bouncy hip-hop track. Blackpink’s Jisoo said of the single at a press conference, “This might seem large-scale, but I want to deliver a positive and hopeful message. We sang to give the message of not being daunted by dark situations and to not lose the confidence and strength to stand up again.”

The group also had another strong premiere today: They just created their first dedicated Twitter account (having previously only had a Twitter presence via the @ygofficialblink account), and in under six hours since their first tweet on @BLACKPINK, the account already has over 442,000.

Watch the “How You Like That” video above.

Kid Cudi and Kanye West are known for their animated personalities and live performances but they’re about to get animated in a more literal sense. Cudi just shared a teaser trailer for the duo’s Kids See Ghosts animated show based on their 2018 joint album of the same name. The show is directed by Takashi Murakami and features the voices of the two hip-hop stars as well as the return of the Kanye Bear mascot as designed by Murakami for Kanye’s 2007 album Graduation.

The cartoon clip sees Kanye as Kanye Bear and Cudi as Kid Fox getting swept up in an epic adventure. They are pursued by the titular ghosts through a nightmarish dreamscape before being rescued by an anime-inpsired, dryad/mecha who transforms into a spaceship before swooping in to save the day. The teaser doesn’t provide much in the way of plot — or even in their voice acting, as Kanye’s character just vocalizes reactions to being terrified by the ghosts and Cudi mostly speaks in monosyllables. However, it’s enough to get their fans excited for the show and the rest of us just intrigued enough to stay tuned for more information.

The trailer arrives after some big news from both artists. After Kid Cudi announced he would be starting a new podcast, Kanye West shared news of his new partnership with Gap.

Watch the Kids See Ghosts teaser trailer with Kid Cudi and Kanye West above.

Ask any Scrubs fan what their favorite episode of Scrubs is, and they will invariably tell you that it is the 14th episode of season three, an episode called “My Screw-Up.” That is the episode where Dr. Cox thinks he is at his son’s first birthday party, but in the end, there’s a Sixth Sense twist, and both the audience and Dr. Cox simultaneously realize that we are at the funeral of Ben Sullivan, Dr. Cox’s brother-in-law and best friend, played by Brendan Fraser. It is a gut punch of an episode, the top-ranked episode in even our own ranking of the all-time best Scrubs episodes. It is also the episode that launched the career of musician Joshua Radin, whose song, “Winter,” played during the reveal in that episode. It was how the rest of the world discovered Radin.

In fact, Brendan Fraser appeared in three episodes of Scrubs and all three — out of 182 episodes, in total — appeared in the top 15. That’s how well regarded Brendan Fraser was on the series, which had a lot of great guest stars over the years: Heather Graham, Scott Foley, Markie Post, John Ritter, Tom Cavanagh, Michael J. Fox, Mandy Moore, Matthew Perry, and even Ryan Reynolds. Brendan Fraser, however, was the only actor to appear on Scrubs during the time in which he was also a big movie star. Fraser’s three episodes of Scrubs, in fact, coincided with the peak of his career, during his run of The Mummy movies.

Given Fraser’s popularity during a time in which movie stars did not often appear on television — much less as guest stars on sitcoms — why would he take a role on Scrubs, in its freshman season, no less? Is it because he’s just a really nice guy? That is certainly part of it, but Bill Lawrence — the creator of Scrubs — also managed to convince Fraser with a personal touch.

As Fraser tells it on this week’s episode of the Scrubs rewatch podcast, Fake Doctors, Real Friends, Bill Lawrence got is foot in the door with Fraser, so to speak, because Lawrence’s wife (and Scrubs cast member), Christa Miller, was friends with Fraser’s then wife, Afton Smith. Fraser, however, had never met Lawrence.

Bill Lawrence phoned up Fraser and asked him to be on the show. Fraser replied by asking for Lawrence to send him the script. However, “I mentioned something about feeling a little tired or jet lagged and that I needed to get back to the gym,” Fraser said. And Lawrence said, “Well, alright. I’ll send the script over.”

“And when he sent the script over,” Fraser continued, “he sent a bunch of gym shorts. I mean, like, nice ones, too! So I thought, alright. I’m in! When one man sends another man gym shorts, there is no other love.”

It was those gym shorts that would entice Fraser to appear in two episodes in the opening season, and a return trip for the best episode ever of Scrubs in season three. The Polaroid cameras in Fraser’s episodes were also a little nod to Fraser, a longtime amateur photographer who even got Zach Braff into Polaroid photography. Moreover, when Fraser picks up Braff’s character, J.D., and J.D. says, “EAGLE,” it would become a running joke throughout the rest of the series. Fraser, meanwhile, would go on to become the guest actor most associated with the sitcom, and all because Bill Lawrence sent him some gym shorts!

Source: Fake Doctors, Real Friends

St. Louis rapper Huey, best known for his 2006 hit “Pop, Lock & Drop It,” has been shot and killed at 32, according to Fox 2 St. Louis. Huey, born Lawrence Franks, was shot just after 11:00pm and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. Another person was shot at the same time, arriving at the Ferguson Police Department and treated for injuries at an area hospital. He is expected to survive.

Huey was a staple of the video countdown show 106 & Park in its heyday, helping “Pop, Lock & Drop It” climb the Billboard Hot 100 throughout early 2007 to peak at No. 6 in June. A remix of the track features Bow Wow and T-Pain. The track was the lead single from Huey’s debut album Notebook Paper, which was released when he was just 18 years old. Notebook Paper reached No. 26 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

In 2010, Huey followed up with Redemption on EMI, the last album he completed in his lifetime. He had just returned to music in April this year, releasing a new single, “Pulled Away,” for which he was looking forward to shooting a music video on Saturday. Even without more recent new music, the news of Huey’s death sparked an outpouring of grief on social media — a testament to his pop culture dominance in the mid-2000s.

Huey is survived by a 13-year-old daughter.

Nerds are starved for new content this summer (Black Widow would have already arrived, if not for you-know-what), and although HBO’s announcement that the Snyder Cut of Justice League would be coming, it’s still gonna be a wait (2021) until the movie arrives. Yes, it’s true that we can all still be entertained by Jason Momoa being the happiest man alive; however, fans do need something else to keep their interest levels occupied, and they’ve channeled that energy for a worthy cause.

That cause, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, is also close to Snyder’s heart, given that his daughter, Autumn, took her own life in 2017, which is why he stepped down from finishing production, and Joss Whedon was hired to complete the movie. To date, Justice League fans have come together to raise over $200,000 for the charity. Snyder has tweeted his gratitude for their incredible gesture and the reaching of a milestone.

The 300 director’s work on the whole new take (likely a “four-hour director’s cut,” but possibly a six-chapter limited series) of Justice League continues, so that he can finish his vision of the film. Earlier this month, Snyder unleashed a first teaser that shows the arrival of Darkseid with Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor ominously whispering in the background. We can expect the Snyder Cut’s arrival sometime in 2021, hopefully sooner rather than later.

With just a couple of weeks left until the official halfway mark in the calendar, it is safe to say that Guapdad 4000 has been one of the most active artists in 2020. With a pandemic halting all physical movement in the world, Guapdad still kept things going as he introduced his “Rona Raps And Falcon Fridays” series to the world. The former found him collaborating with a number of his industry friends, bringing a total of 10 episodes for fans to enjoy. The latter served as a setup for his Platinum Falcon Vol. 1 tape which was released at the end of the “Falcon Fridays” series.

Moving full-steam ahead, Guapdad returns with another single featuring help from Denzel Curry. The video is a wild one, as it features things like human plants and Guapdad as a Thomas The Tank Engine-style train.

Working their magic once again, the song follows their “Izayah” collab from Guapdad’s 2019 Dior Deposits album. On “Lil Scammer That Could,” Guapdad and Curry lay off a verse each surrounded by a hook from Guapdad that finds him flexing his array of women, money, and jewels. Guapdad continues his braggadocios behavior throughout his verse, before handing the mic off to Curry who delivers his own ambitious raps of wanting to elevate his current living situation to one that allows him to enjoy the finer things in life.

The single arrives weeks after Guapdad and Curry flaunted their rap skills in Episode 3 of the “Rona Raps” series alongside Wiz Khalifa.

Watch the “Lil Scammer That Could” video above.

Kanye West has long had an admiration for Gap, which he has been public about over the course of his career. The clothing retailer has earned mentions on Kanye’s music as far back as The College Dropout, as he used to work there as a high school kid. In a 2015 Vogue interview, Kanye said, “One of my dreams was to be the head creative director of the Gap,” adding that he’d “like to be the Steve Jobs of the Gap.”

Now, the rapper is getting closer to that goal: This morning, he started teasing a collaboration with the retailer. He shared an image of a person reaching into a bag that reads, “YZY Gap, developed by Yeezy and Gap.” From there, he got a little less opaque, sharing an image of a Gap-style Yeezy logo and writing, “YEEZY AND GAP FORM PARTNERSHIP.” Both posts were hashtagged #WESTDAYEVER.

More details on this partnership were laid out in The New York Times. They report that Yeezy Gap, a new clothing line from Yeezy and Gap, will be available in Gap stores and online during the first half of 2021. The deal reportedly has a term of ten years, with the option to renew after five years, “according to a person familiar with the negotiations, who was not authorized to speak publicly.”

The goal for the collaboration is to make “modern, elevated basics for men, women and kids at accessible price points.” It is also noted that Kanye’s “design vision” will also apply to how the line is presented in-store and online.

Earlier this week, former-The Daily Show host Jon Stewart expressed regret for not having done more to make the Comedy Central series more diverse during his tenure. “The river that we were getting the material from [was] polluted by the same inertia. And you had to say to them, send me women, send me black people. And all of a sudden, women got funny… but they’d been funny all along. We just hadn’t actively done enough to mine that,” he said on The Breakfast Club. Hiring more non-white males is one of the reasons why Stewart thinks The Daily Show is “better” under Trevor Noah.

Stewart recently appeared on The Howard Stern Show to promote his new movie, Irresistible, as well as discuss his time on The Daily Show, which he hosted from 1999 through 2015. “When we started, it was [that] sort of Harvard Lampoon school of pasty white guys sitting in a room… Evolving the show past that took a really long time. It was a lot of work and oftentimes it came with defensiveness,” he said. Stewart explained that one of the issues was that The Daily Show, and many shows both then and now, would often hire interns, but “any intern who could afford to take three months off on college and spend that time polishing your grapes is gonna to come from a wealthy background. So, all the people you were hiring were all socioeconomically at a very high level.”

Stewart admitted “it took us a long time to fix” that and one way was by paying interns.

“By paying the interns, suddenly you’re getting a much more diverse group of people that are coming in,” he added. “What we did before was diversity for diversity sake. It was ‘We don’t have enough women writers, let’s hire a woman. We don’t have enough black writers, let’s hire a black person.’ But what we realized is we weren’t changing the system, we were just granting access to a club everybody should have had access to in the first place.”

Stewart added, “It took 16 years to change it at a glacial pace. Because that kind of mindset to me, because I didn’t grow up in it… it’s not a part of me. For Trevor, it’s a part of him. It flows from him naturally… It makes it better. The show is better.” And wouldn’t you know? Stewart was on last night’s episode, being interviewed by Noah.

Earlier this week, Justin Bieber defended himself against one of the recent sexual assault allegations made against him, saying that it is “factually impossible.” In a series of tweets explaining his position, he concluded that he “will be working with Twitter and authorities to take legal action.” Now, legal action has been taken: TMZ and The Blast report that Bieber has filed a defamation lawsuit against his two accusers — known on social media as Danielle and Kadi — for $20 million, or $10 million each.

The suit says the alleged victims “fraudulently schemed to seek attention and fame by maliciously posting despicable, blatantly false, fabricated, defamatory accusations that Justin Bieber engaged in sexual assault.” The document continues, “It is abundantly clear that these two individuals are trying to capitalize on the climate of fear permeating the entertainment industry.”

The legal documents echo what Bieber tweeted about the accusation from Danielle. She claimed the alleged assault took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas in 2014, but Bieber said he was never there, showing receipts for his stays at other locations as proof.

The lawsuit also addresses the accusation from Kadi, who alleged that Bieber assaulted her at New York City’s Langham Hotel at around 2:30 a.m. on May 5, 2015. Like the accusation from Danielle, Bieber claims Kadi’s story isn’t possible and called it “an elaborate hoax.”

TMZ says the lawsuit refers to Kadi as “a superfan who waits outside hotels for him, is desperate to meet him and desperate for fame.” The suit says, though, that Bieber and Kadi have never met, which Kadi apparently admitted in her tweets after the date the alleged assault occurred.

The lawsuit claims Kadi’s allegation was fabricated based on the knowledge that Bieber attended the Met Gala. Bieber did attend, but the suit says he attended a private after-party afterwards, at which he stayed until nearly 4 a.m. before visiting a hot dog stand, a visit of which Bieber says there is photographic evidence and witnesses. The suit calls the allegation an “impossibility — a poor, but damaging, fabrication.”

The suit suggests the two social media accounts that published the accusations against Bieber may be run by the same person, or they are working together to smear Bieber’s reputation. Bieber has not offered a public comment about this situation since the tweet in which he said he would “take legal action.”