GoneTrending

The Memphis Grizzlies continue to struggle at the start of the 2023-24 NBA season. The team lost Friday night’s In-Season Tournament game against the Utah Jazz, 127-121, to fall to 1-8 on the year. They’re still searching for their first win at home during the campaign, and between long-term injuries and the suspension to Ja Morant, it’s hard to see help coming any time soon.

Friday featured things boiling over a bit. During the third quarter, Jaren Jackson Jr. played through some contact and scored but did not get a call. While expressing some frustration, Jackson received a pair of technical fouls, which led to his night coming to an early end.

This moment, along with a pretty stark free throw disparity, came up in Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins’ postgame press conference. Jenkins did not mince his words, as he called the officiating “f*ckin’ atrocious,” made it a point to defend Jackson, and stressed that he understands the league office is not going to be happy about how he’s going about expressing his frustration.

“Our guys are competing their tails off, and we gotta play better,” Jenkins said. “We gotta coach better, we gotta play better. But I don’t get tonight whatsoever.”

In particular, Jenkins pointed out his frustration between the interactions between his team and the officials, which led to him using the words “stern, nothing, stonewall, ignoring.”

James Harden‘s going to go down as one of the strangest players in NBA history. While he is unquestionably one of the most efficient offensive players to ever live and his best years led to him being named league MVP multiple times, his postseason shortcomings and the ways his stints with multiple teams ended have led to him receiving a whole lot of criticism.

Most recently, Harden left the Philadelphia 76ers and got his long-awaited trade to the Los Angeles Clippers. The team dropped its first two games with Harden in town, and on Friday night, L.A. went up against the Dallas Mavericks in an In-Season Tournament contest. Before the start of the game, Mavericks broadcaster Brian Dameris took some time to address Harden directly by staring directly into the camera and spending nearly two uninterrupted minutes laying out why, in his words, “you’re not The Beard, you’re not the system, you’re the problem.”

It’s all criticisms that you’ve probably heard of Harden before, and they go back to the early days of his tenure with the Houston Rockets. Still, the whole thing ends with a pretty stark warning for Harden, who is slated to hit unrestricted free agency at the end of the 2023-24 season.

“If this doesn’t work, this year, in this system, with this team, then you’re gonna go and point fingers at everybody else,” Dameris said. “And you’re gonna go back home, and you’re gonna start swiping right for another team, and there’s not gonna be anybody left.”

After this rant, the Clippers fell to the Mavs, 144-126. Harden had 14 points on 3-for-6 shooting with five rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 29 minutes of work.

Lana Del Rey, like a lot of musicians earlier this morning, got some great news when the 2024 Grammy nominations were unveiled. After releasing her album, Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, earlier this year, she is now up for five awards. Well, as she points out in an interview with Rolling Stone, technically seven — as she sings on both Taylor Swift’s and Jon Batiste’s albums that are also in the running for Album Of The Year.

“It’s just such a fun day,” Del Rey said. “It’s really just about how excited everybody else is. And everybody calling and getting in touch and saying hi. So, all about the process. It’s just one more exciting thing that’s happening so genuinely touched.”

Then, in typical Del Rey fashion, she revealed that she might have only just found out she had to submit her work to get a nomination from the Recording Academy.

“Thank you to everybody who nominated us,” she added. “I, in fact, only learned this year that you have to submit now if you want to be nominated, so even that was out of my wheelhouse, but I did do that. The best part of all of it is just even being able to put yourself out there, which I did. And that sounds so cheesy, but all the same.”

Fans will be able to tune back in on February 4, 2024 to see if Del Rey wins.

Over the past few years, book bans have been happening in public libraries and schools across America. In the 2022-2023 school year alone, over 3,300 books were banned in 182 school districts in 37 states.

Most books that have been banned deal with LGBTQ and racial themes. According to a report from PEN America, Florida has been the most aggressive state regarding book bans, accounting for about 40% of those taken off the shelves.

On November 5, Collier County, Florida, announced that it was banning 300 books from its school libraries out of an effort to comply with state law HB 1069, which says books that depict or describe “sexual content” can be challenged for removal.

---

Among the books banned by the school district was “Shopgirl,” a novella by author Steve Martin published in 2000. Martin is also the star of the hit Hulu show, “Only Murders in the Building,” featuring Martin Short and Selena Gomez.

Upon hearing about his book being banned, Martin responded with his iconic wit on Instagram, saying, “So proud to have my book Shopgirl banned in Collier County, Florida! Now, people who want to read it will have to buy a copy!”

See on Instagram

“Shopgirl” is a story about a young woman who works in a luxury department store and has an affair with a wealthy older man. It was made into a movie in 2005 starring Claire Danes and Martin. It’s believed the book was banned for its mild sexual content. On Amazon, the book is recommended for readers ages 13 and up.

As the nominations for the 2024 Grammy Awards were rolled out today, Victoria Monét shared an emotional video of her watching the livestream with her loved ones. Given that her debut album, Jaguar II, dropped in August, she was a strong contender for at least one nod — and she very much surpassed that.

Each time Monét’s name was called over the television, she gasped in shock as those around her cheered. At times, she falls on the floor and is crying at a different moment. The video then cuts to an image of “On My Mama” being nominated for Record Of The Year.

At the end, one of Monét’s group members reads off that she was nominated for seven total Grammys, including Best New Artist, Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, Best Traditional R&B Performance, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

She hugs members of her group and as expected, is extremely happy about the results. Since seeing the video on social media, fans have loved just how pure the joy is from Monét and those finding out she is nominated a ton.

“I am in complete shock and total gratitude for what has happened for us today!!!!” she captioned on Instagram.

Check out Victoria Monét‘s Grammy nomination reveal video below.

You know, it’s been a few days since we’ve done a post about something silly that Victor Wembanyama did during an NBA game. Let’s change that, shall we? Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs played host to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night in their first game during the Play-In Tournament, and while the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft did plenty of incredible stuff on the night, one stuck out above the rest.

San Antonio tried to make their way back into the game in the fourth quarter while trailing by double-digits. Getting the ball to your best players is normally a pretty good way to do that, and Doug McDermott managed to do just that when he got the ball on the wing and saw Wembanyama dive to the rim. McDermott decided to just lob the ball towards the paint, presumably because he thought Wembanyama would get it and go up with it.

Instead, Wembanyama decided to skip a step. With his back turned to the basket, he grabbed the ball while he was in air and converted a reverse alley-oop.

Maybe one day watching him do this stuff will become more normal. Until then, I highly recommend just enjoying the ride.

Over the past few years, book bans have been happening in public libraries and schools across America. In the 2022-2023 school year alone, over 3,300 books were banned in 182 school districts in 37 states.

Most books that have been banned deal with LGBTQ and racial themes. According to a report from PEN America, Florida has been the most aggressive state regarding book bans, accounting for about 40% of those taken off the shelves.

On November 5, Collier County, Florida, announced that it was banning 300 books from its school libraries out of an effort to comply with state law HB 1069, which says books that depict or describe “sexual content” can be challenged for removal.

---

Among the books banned by the school district was “Shopgirl,” a novella by author Steve Martin published in 2000. Martin is also the star of the hit Hulu show, “Only Murders in the Building,” featuring Martin Short and Selena Gomez.

Upon hearing about his book being banned, Martin responded with his iconic wit on Instagram, saying, “So proud to have my book Shopgirl banned in Collier County, Florida! Now, people who want to read it will have to buy a copy!”

See on Instagram

“Shopgirl” is a story about a young woman who works in a luxury department store and has an affair with a wealthy older man. It was made into a movie in 2005 starring Claire Danes and Martin. It’s believed the book was banned for its mild sexual content. On Amazon, the book is recommended for readers ages 13 and up.

Taylor Swift was supposed to perform for her second night at Argentina’s Estadio River Plate tonight (November 10), but has since postponed the show until Sunday, November 12 — due to concerns about the intense weather and keeping fans safe. Unlike Swift’s previous Eras Tour concerts, this round of shows has started using a General Admission floor, which would add to the safety concerns.

“I love a rain show but I’m never going to endanger my fans or my fellow performers and crew,” Swift shared in a statement. “We’ve rescheduled tonight’s Buenos Aires show for Sunday due to the weather being so truly chaotic it would be unsafe to try and put on this concert. Good news is I get to stay in Argentina longer!”

Throughout Swift’s career, she also has very rarely postponed or canceled a show. When it rained a bunch earlier in the tour’s run, the show was only delayed by a few hours — and she eventually took the stage later that night, still completing her three-hour run.

However, fans have since shared videos that were apparently taken from inside the stadium tonight, and it is very clearly flooded with rain.

Fans who did have tickets to tonight’s original Argentina show should automatically have theirs transferred with the same seating arrangements, just on Sunday.

If refunds are needed, more information should be available from the point of purchase.

T-Pain and Snoop Dogg are entering a land of wonder on their new single, “That’s How We Ballin.” The duo honored the late Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) by including some gag recreations in the music video, which was directed by T-Pain himself.

The video kicks off with T-Pain nearly getting into a fight with a bunch of bikers at the bar, one of which is played by AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys. Later on, Snoop Dogg appears, as the two try navigating a funhouse that gives the Pee-Wee vibes.

T-Pain spoke to Rolling Stone about how he first got the inspiration.

“I was on a flight from LA to Atlanta and couldn’t sleep, so I looked for movies to keep me entertained,” T-Pain said. “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure came up and I couldn’t help myself. After watching the movie, I put on my personal headphones to listen to the recent music I had done. ‘That’s How We Ballin’ came on first and I immediately made the connection. I texted my NappyBoy Films crew and let them know ‘We have to do this!’”

“What’s crazier is, four days later is when Paul passed away,” he added. “That was when I knew I had to do this right, which is why it took so long to film, but I feel good that we took our time.”

Check out the video for T-Pain and Snoop Dogg’s “That’s How We Ballin.”

If you need proof standardized testing is setting students up for failure, just ask the students.

Sydney Smoot has a bone to pick with the Hernando County School Board. The issue? The Florida Standards Assessment Test, or FSA for short. On March 17, 2015, Sydney bravely stood up at her local school board meeting to share how she felt about the test and why she believes it’s failing students and teachers.

---

“This testing looks at me as a number. One test defines me as either a failure or a success through a numbered rubric. One test at the end of the year that the teacher or myself will not even see the grade until after the school year is already over. I do not feel that all this FSA testing is accurate to tell how successful I am. It doesn’t take in account all of my knowledge and abilities, just a small percentage.” — Sydney Smoot

Can we give this little girl a medal? She was speaking right to my soul with that speech!

I reached out to Sydney and her mom, Jennifer, via email to find out more about what prompted this passionate speech.

What inspired you to write your letter?

“What inspired me to speak all started one day when I came home. My mom asked me how the testing went, and I told her I was told not to speak about the test to anyone. I had not felt comfortable signing something in the test. I had concerns about this test because there was a lot of stress put on students and myself. I was a little nervous before the speech, but when I was called up to the podium, I did not feel nervous because I knew this speech was going to help a lot of people.”

Have you ever thought about running for president? Cause I’d vote for you!

“I’ve thought about running for president because if I’m president, I will be considerate about the people in this state.”

You gotta admit, she looks pretty good up there, right?

Parents have a right to be concerned about standardize testing regulations.

One thing that really stuck out to me in Sydney’s speech was that the FSA prohibits students from talking to their parents about the test. So I was anxious to hear what Sydney’s mom thought about the stipulation. She had this to say:

“When my daughter came home telling me she had to sign a form stating she couldn’t talk to anyone including her parents, I got concerned. Not only that I didn’t like the fact that the last four of her Social Security number was on the test labels along with other personal information. In today’s world of identity theft, it doesn’t take much for people to get a hold of these things and use them.

I would like to tell other parents to learn more before these tests start in your children’s school and know what they are testing. They have options, you can opt out so to speak, and the child can complete alternative testing if they are in the retention grades; or, if the child wants to take the test, support them and let them know that no matter how they do, it does not define them as a person.

It’s a test and a poorly designed one at best.”

Standardized tests are changing the classroom. And not for the better.

As Sydney shared in her speech, she and her classmates are feeling the pressure when it comes to preparing for the FSA. But they aren’t the only ones. Teachers are also struggling to get students ready and are often forced to cut corners as a result.

What standardized tests also fail to take into account is that in many ways, test-taking is a skill, one that not every student is ready for. When I was in school, we spent months gearing up for the dreaded FCAT, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. And if months of test prep wasn’t bad enough, if you didn’t pass the FCAT, you couldn’t graduate high school. Talk about stressful! The pressure of your high school career rides on one test, combined with the fact that standardized tests don’t accurately measure what students have learned. Plenty of capable students fail these tests due to increased anxiety and stress. If high school students are struggling to handle the pressure of standardized testing, imagine how difficult it must be for elementary school students like Sydney!

Young Sydney is a testament to how important it is that we listen to students and create curriculum that challenges and educates them, rather than scaring them into “learning.” I think Sydney’s suggestion of three comprehensive tests throughout the year makes way more sense than one big statewide test that interferes with teachers’ schedules and stresses students out. And let’s be real, when’s the last time you heard a kid ask for MORE tests?! Clearly standardized tests aren’t the answer or at least need some serious work. Hopefully Sydney’s message will make an impact and get her school board and schools across the nation to rethink how we measure students’ success.

This article originally appeared on 03.27.15