Michael Mann recently made his book debut with Heat 2, the sequel to his 1995 classic crime thrillerHeatstarring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Val Kilmer. The movie was obviously a hit, so it only made sense that Mann would want to continue the story where it left off, and turn it into a novel, so he could have some creative control (and not have to re-cast various characters who are, let’s say, a little older now).
While promoting the book, which dropped this week, Mann has been giving various interviews surrounding the iconic ’90s era of crime films, when it was revealed that it was actually Leonardo DiCaprio that inspired him to work on Heat.
Mann was interested in making a biopic about James Dean and even went as far as to screen-test a fresh-faced young actor before settling on making Heat instead. That actor turned out the be DiCaprio, who was deemed too young for the part and made Mann leave the project to work on the crime film instead. Mann explained:
It was a brilliant screenplay. And then it’s who the hell could play James Dean? And I found a chap who could play James Dean, but he was too young. It was Leo. We did a screen test that’s quite amazing. I think he must’ve been 19 at the time. And from one angle, he totally had it with him. I mean, it’s brilliance. He would turn his face in one direction and we see a vision of James Dean, and then he’d turn his face another direction and it’s no, that’s a young kid. I found the absolutely perfect act of the play, in about three years from that.
If you’re thinking to yourself, hey, why didn’t they just wait a few years and cast DiCaprio? Mann added that DiCaprio “respectfully undid the James Dean bio for me.” It ended up being okay for Leo, though, who was then cast in the little-known movie Titanic a little over a year later. He turned out fine!
Bannon hopped on to chat with, who else, Alex Jones during a recent episode of Infowars where he threw out some batsh*t conspiracy theories about the FBI’s search and seizure warrant against Trump. Even though he’s already earned his pardon from his old buddy-in-chief, Bannon went all in on his theory that FBI agents involved in the raid planted evidence against Trump and the government had plans to assassinate him soon.
“I do not think it’s beyond this administrative state and their deep state apparatus to actually try to work on the assassination of President Trump,” Bannon said. “I think – I think everything’s on the table.”
We’re not exactly sure who the “deep state” he’s referring to here is since the current Director of the FBI is Christopher Wray, a man appointed by Trump but we do know that Bannon has got his knickers in a twist over what he calls the “desecration” of one of America’s landmark buildings. (The golf resort. He’s talking about a golf resort.)
“So many important things happened there – to go and desecrate it the way they did, particularly over this administrative issue at the National Archives… clearly they’re, as you know, Alex, on a fishing expedition or on a planting expedition, I wouldn’t put it past [them] to have planted stuff … this is criminal,” Bannon continued. “They did it on purpose. They understand how Mar-a-Lago resonates with not just Maga but to the American people.”
That must be why Trump is already sending out newsletters using his latest brush with the law as a fundraising opportunity — because he knows how the middle class worships his mega-mansion filled with gold-plated toilets. Of course, Bannon paused his proverbial pearl clutching long enough to suggest a strategy for Trump moving forward should he want to avoid jail time. Just run for office again.
“I think security ought to be at the highest it’s ever been. And honestly, I think he ought to and I think he should have flown down in Mar-a-Lago this morning, walked out there at noon today, and said, hey, I’m running for president, United States. Suck on that.”
Sports can be isolating. Through their framework, their schedules and storylines, they provide a wholly separate space where the real world doesn’t always get in. Some fans embrace the detachment, treating sports as a willful escape. Where this approach gets troublesome is when it attempts a forced cleaving of real-world issues from the real people whose day jobs happen to be elite athletes.
In the NBA especially, where Black men represent the majority of athletes, a disconnect from the social, economic, and political issues impacting the world is largely impossible. We’ve seen it in recent seasons through social justice movements and player protests, as well as in the honest and raw expressions of grief and frustrations from players when real-world tragedy overlaps the everyday minutia of a basketball season.
It’s why Dis/Mantle — an Afro-futuristic immersive exhibition featuring the work of visual artist Gordon Shadrach that the Toronto Raptors worked with the City of Toronto’s Awakenings program as a community partner to present — makes such a compelling case for overlap. Co-curated by Umbereen Inayet and Shadrach, the exhibition is staged throughout Toronto’s historic Spadina Museum, an estate and sprawling grounds built in 1866 that remains intact in the heart of the city. The show presents an alternate history where Louisa Pipkin, a freedom seeker who fled enslavement in the United States and worked as a laundress for the estate’s former homeowners, instead owned the property herself.
Most of the rooms in the house’s two-floor footprint were converted with installations and live components, like a culinary feature by Toronto chef Roger Mooking that showcased Afro-Caribbean ingredients in the house’s kitchen and served dishes across the grounds. Herbalist Alessandra De Oliveira set up a small apothecary with plants and tinctures traditional to Afro Caribbean culture; ceramic artists Sharon Norwood and Christine Nnawuchi had work featured in table settings and imaged objects that may have been meaningful in Mrs. Pipkin’s life.
The most prominent and striking work on display, however, were the large-scale portraits by Shadrach. Of the 17 oil and acrylic panels, seven featured current Raptors players. Shadrach, who worked in a studio to complete the works, induced nods to decor features — wallpaper patterns, lighting — in every painting so that it looked as if each had been where it was hung for decades.
John Wiggins, the Raptors vice-president of organizational culture and inclusion, admitted he’d walked by a few of the paintings on his initial walkthrough. “I walked right past Dalano’s painting,” Wiggins chuckles, “because he looks like he’s been here since 1866.”
Gordon Shadrach/Toronto Raptors
All paintings feature the continuity of a stark red line to represent redlining, the discriminatory practice that withheld services to residents of certain neighborhoods based on their race or ethnicity.
“The idea with the house is it’s meant to be a house where people of note might have come through, and people would have spoken, or maybe their direct descendants of the extended family of the Pipkins, so the idea is that these are characters that would have been in the narrative of what we’re trying to create here,” Shadrach told Dime at Dis/Mantle’s opening. “So whether they’re grandchildren, or nieces and nephews, or whether they would’ve been people that would’ve come to fight with the abolitionists, it’s up to the viewer to decide, but that was the inspiration for the portraits.”
The inclusion of young Raptors players was the hope of the Wiggins, who’d heard about Shadrach’s work and had gone to visit the artist in his studio pre-Covid.
“I loved the way he was talking about Black history and Canadian history through the vision and images of athletes,” Wiggins recalls. “As I sat there, listening to him talk about where he came up with the inspiration and the artwork, it was just a captivating piece not just of understanding someone’s perspective, but also hearing the history that he was showing. And I just thought, everybody needs to hear this, and they need to hear from him.”
Gordon Shadrach/Toronto Raptors
The Raptors included in the show — Chris Boucher, Dalano Banton, Justin Champgnie, Gary Trent Jr., Malachi Flynn, and Precious Achuwa — are some of the team’s youngest, and newest (as of the 2021-22 season) players. Shadrach says he had the sense that the team wanted to find and help these athletes immerse themselves in the local community.
“So the focus was on including these players as a stepping stone to building something,” Shadrach says.
Wiggins chuckles when he admits “the Raptors bring people to the party,” but knowing he could leverage the popularity of the franchise, especially its younger fans in the city, with the show meant a tangible means of support the team could lend to an important subject.
“I think this is just going to show how powerful art and culture is in helping talk and teach and explain stories,” Wiggins says, confirming that the partnership with Shadrach has made the Raptors franchise keen to continue exploring the contemporary art space.
Gordon Shadrach/Toronto Raptors
“Everyone doesn’t just come to a basketball game, everyone doesn’t just learn by listening, learn by you shouting at them, so we knew that there are other people who are basketball fans that also enjoy art and culture, the same way we know there are different types of fans within the different demographics we have,” Wiggins continues. “Youth learn through art as well. So this was very important for us.”
The ongoing COVID pandemic complicated Shadrach’s typical process for his portraits. Because of the city’s restrictions, Toronto players were unable to sit with the artist in his studio and later, when restrictions eased, schedules didn’t allow for it. Even photoshoots were prohibited. Shadrach came to get to know each of his subjects through their social media presences, or the photos they were sending through to him, where little glimmers of their personalities were able to come out. For all the pivoting and flexibility required, Shadrach says he now can’t imagine the portraits, or the process, being different.
Given the opening of Dis/Mantle coincided with the now-infamous summer runs in L.A. put together by Toronto’s own development coach, Rico Hines, none of the players in the show were able to be there. Wiggins, however, is emphatic that when the time comes, whether prior to Raptors training camp or after, the team will make arrangements “for our entire organization — coaches, staff, front office — to come out and really just take some time to experience it.”
Gordon Shadrach/Toronto Raptors
Shadrach lights up at the question of whether he’ll be in attendance, “I hope so!” He echoes the sentiment of Wiggins in what the show, which runs until the end of 2022, can mean for the team’s involvement in contemporary art in Toronto, specifically when it comes to the broader impact on local communities.
“What’s really fascinating is to develop something with a really strong arts lens. It’s not always about the sports,” Shadrach says with a chuckle. “Not that sports is bad. I’m just saying, it’s nice to see a wider scope of entrance and accessibility for different people in the community.”
That sports, and basketball in a city that loves it, can provide a gateway into art — and that art, in turn, can turn history into something viscerally, experientially accessible — shows the power and necessity not just in examining the past, but reimagining the future. Basketball becomes a bridge, art the vehicle. Isolation goes out the window and new communities, and fans, come in.
When Mark Zuckerberg looks back on the many ways he changed the world with Facebook and Meta, and how his social media site personally impacted the lives of millions, he can remember that it was because of Facebook that a pregnant teenager was prosecuted — along with her mother — for an abortion.
Motherboard reports that authorities in Nebraska are prosecuting a 17-year-old and her mother for a variety of felonies and misdemeanors after the two obtained Pregnot, a medication that is used to induce abortion. Much of the case is reportedly relying on the teen’s Facebook DMs, which the authorities obtained directly through Meta — Facebook’s parent company — via a court order.
Pregnot — a kit containing a mix of the mifepristone, a progesterone blocker, and misoprostol, which helps to prevent stomach bleeding and ulcers — has regularly been used to safely end pregnancies during the first trimester. In this case, according to Motherboard, the teen “was 28-weeks pregnant, which is later in pregnancy than mifepristone and misoprostol are recommended for use. It’s also later than Nebraska’s 20-week post-fertilization abortion ban, which makes allowances only if the pregnant person is at risk of death or ‘serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.’ (Nebraska’s abortion laws have not changed since Roe v Wade was overturned).”
After taking the medication, the young woman reportedly gave birth to a stillborn fetus, which they buried with the help of a 22-year-old man, who has been charged with attempting to conceal the death of another person. She discussed the matter via private messages on Facebook, and it’s those messages that will form the basis of much of the case against her and her mom. Both women were arrested and held on $10,000 bail, with jail records indicating that they have since been released.
While the teenager has been charged with one felony and two misdemeanors, her mother is facing three felonies (including one performing/attempting an abortion at greater than 20 weeks when not a licensed doctor) and two misdemeanor offenses.
Motherboard obtained the court documents, which indicate that the activities in question took place before the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v Wade in June. What makes the case a precedent-setting one, however, write Jason Koebler and Anna Merlan, are how the documents “show in shocking detail how abortion could and will be prosecuted in the United States, and how tech companies will be enlisted by law enforcement to help prosecute their cases.”
Harrison Patrick Smith has great experience under his belt, whether it’s touring with acts like Porches and Strange Ranger or putting out his own material as Turtlenecked. Now, though, he’s at the start of a new chapter with the project The Dare. He recently kicked things off with the new single “Girls,” a two-minute, in-your-face, electro-pop-rock romp cut from the same cloth as LCD Soundsystem and early Calvin Harris.
Smith says of the songs video, “Jake Lazovick (Powered by Wind) shot the video at Home Sweet Home, where I DJ weekly, in order to capture a real downtown NYC party. We invited all of our friends and told them to go crazy while I DJ’d and ran around. A lot of the people in it are fellow musicians or collaborators! And some of them are girls.”
Smith previously said of “Girls,” “Just wanted to make something like ‘F*ck The Pain Away’ by Peaches, ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’, or something off Paul’s Boutique. Whipped it up in like 30 minutes at 3am in my bedroom.”
Smith also said of The Dare more broadly, “The Dare is my foray into the worlds of electroclash, techno, and house. For a long time I kept everything I made under the umbrella of Turtlenecked, but the name didn’t fit the aesthetic of the new material and I feel like a different person from the 18 year old who formed Turtlenecked. As far as separation between indie rock / club music, I love the early 2000s so much because there was so much fluidity — the Maison Kitsune remix EPs, the DFA remixes of Le Tigre or The Rakes, Diplo remixing Bloc Party etc. There’s a feeling of optimism and openness in underground music from that time that I feel faded into genre camps again in the mid 2010s. I wanna bring that feeling back.”
Last night, fans of The Breakfast Club radio show were nearly sent into a panic after longtime co-host Angela Yee posted a tweet implying that the New York-based show would be coming to an end: “The breakfast club as you know it is officially over,” her tweet read.
The breakfast club as you know it is officially over
Her post left listeners divided, with some sad about the show coming to a potential end, many sharing clips of the show’s most iconic moments, while others celebrated the implied end of the show, calling the collective comprised of Yee, Charlamagne Tha God, and DJ Envy “toxic.”
What happened to The Breakfast Club and what’s next?
Yee clarified this morning on today’s episode that The Breakfast Club is not actually coming to an end, but she will, in fact, be leaving the show. She will later launch her own nationally syndicated daily program for iHeartRadio. She also confirmed that she won’t officially exit The Breakfast Club for at least another month.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show will be called Way Up With Angela Yee, and will broadcast on over 30 iHeartMedia stations across the country. On the show, Yee will interact with celebrities and conduct interviews, while also discussing contemporary topics.
As of now, it is not confirmed whether Yee will be replaced on The Breakfast Club, or if Envy and Charlamagne will host the show by themselves.
In a self-own for the ages, Donald Trump could be facing five years in prison for a bill he signed in an effort to stick it to Hillary Clinton over her email scandal, which turned out to be nothing. According to reports, Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified information is the focus of the recent FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago, which prior to 2018, might not have been that big of a deal. However, thanks to Trump imposing harsher punishments through a national security bill that broadened the scope of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, he potentially screwed himself.
It upgraded the seriousness of wrongly moving classified material, turning it from a misdemeanor into a felony — and increasing the maximum punishment from one year to five.
[National Security attorney Bradley P.] Moss noted that it was passed in the wake of Trump’s relentless attacks during the 2016 presidential campaign on Hillary Clinton for allegedly mishandling classified information.
Hilarious. To add insult to self-injury, Newsweek recently reported that the Mar-a-Lago investigationwas sparked after a confidential source informed the FBI that Trump was still holding on to classified documents. Not only that, but the informant reportedly know the exact location of said documents, which prompted the Department of Justice to plan the Mar-a-Lago raid.
Unfortunately, the plan was to also avoid a “media circus” by conducting the search while Trump was away, but that blew up immediately when the former president took it upon himself to announce to the world that Mar-a-Lago has been raided. Like clockwork, Republican politicians and Fox News pundits lined up to defend Trump. Russia even got in on the act, which is exactly what the former president needs right now. Thanks, Putin!
The Brooklyn Nets have yet to figure out a Kevin Durant trade. Despite weeks of rumors and speculation ever since Durant requested that the team sends him elsewhere, Brooklyn has not found a team that’s been able to meet their considerable asking price for the two-time NBA Finals MVP.
Basically, while a number of teams have made offers, the door is open for someone to come in and acquire Durant while Boston, or Miami, or Phoenix, or any of the reported main suitors are left at the alter. In a new piece by Ian Begley of SNY, it was reported that there are “high-ranking members of the Sixers who’ve felt strongly about engaging with Brooklyn on a Durant trade.”
Beyond that, Begley reports that Durant “sees Philadelphia as another desired landing spot.” It’s not hard to see why Durant would be interest in going to the Sixers, as he’s praised Joel Embiid in the past, nearly got to the conference finals in 2021 with James Harden as his primary running mate in Brooklyn, and shares a close friendship with offseason acquisition P.J. Tucker. Plus the two teams have worked on a high-profile move recently, as the Sixers got Harden from the Nets at the trade deadline for a package that included Ben Simmons.
As Begley laid out, Philly could build a package around young standout guard Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris. There might be an issue with draft capital that heads out — the Sixers’ 2023 first-round pick is already owned by the Nets and their 2027 pick is in Brooklyn’s hands with some protections on it, while their 2025 pick is owned by Oklahoma City — but if they can get that all sorted out, perhaps there is a way that the team can get in on the race to acquire Durant.
Missy Elliott is one of the most beloved and accomplished rappers of all time, and through it all, she has made her hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia proud. So proud, in fact, that yesterday, the Portsmouth city council unanimously voted to rename a portion of the city’s McLean Street to Missy Elliott Boulevard.
Elliott is pretty pumped about the news, as she reacted on Twitter, “I am forever GRATEFUL P-TOWN VA #757 LOVE.”
In another celebratory tweet, she wrote, “I am so Humbly Grateful #757 VA 2 up 2 down. i been through many ups & downs & times I wanted to give up but Gods plan was different! & all I can do is say Thank you & Thank you to everyone on the City Counsel I am so GRATEFUL for EVERYTHING.”
I am so Humbly Grateful #757 VA 2 up 2 down i been through many ups & downs & times I wanted to give up but Gods plan was different! & all I can do is say Thank you & Thank you to everyone on the City Counsel I am so GRATEFUL for EVERYTHING https://t.co/LHUFunQIoc
It is currently unclear when or if any sort of ceremony to mark the name change will be held.
According to WTKR, the name change was set in motion by Erin Carter, a friend of the Elliott family. They also note that Elliott has done plenty of good for the community, like donating $25,000 to Manor High School (then named Woodrow Wilson High School). Some of her 2005 reality show The Road To Stardom With Missy Elliott was filmed in nearby Norfolk.
When Michael Jackson died 13 years ago, the pop music world lost a legend. However markedly mysterious and controversial his personal life was, his contributions to music will go down in history as some of the most influential of all time.
Part of what made him such a beloved singer was the uniqueness of his voice. From the time he was a young child singing lead for The Jackson 5, his high-pitched vocals stood out. Hearing him sing live was impressive, his pitch-perfect performances always entertaining.
No one could ever really be compared to MJ, or so we thought. Out of the blue, a guy showed up on TikTok recently with a casual performance that sounds so much like the King of Pop it’s blowing people away.
Brandon Conway posted his first TikTok video ever on July 24, and in less than three weeks it’s been viewed more than 27 million times. It’s just him standing in a parking lot snapping his fingers and singing “The Way You Make Me Feel,” but when he opens his mouth, whoa.
As he keeps going, it gets even more whoa. Then he hits Jackson’s signature “he he” and the whoa turns into what?!?
First post on tiktok let me know what you guys think! More videos coming soon feom mj to country to rock so yall be sure to stay tuned!#fyp #singer #usherchallenge @usher @tpain #letsgo #firstvideo
Uncanny, right? If you need a reminder of how Jackson himself sounded when he sang it, here’s a live performance from Auckland during his 1996 world tour.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
P-TOWN
VA #757 LOVE
