Lizzo has been rolling out her highly anticipated new album Special, going on Carpool Karaoke and revealing her interesting tracklist. Now, the “Truth Hurts” singer has announced a crossover with American Express for what she’s called Lizzoverse.
As per a press release, Lizzoverse will be an “immersive planetarium-esque lightshow experience produced by Superfly,” and it will take place in New York City. All fans will have access to the Lizzoverse experience on Saturday, July 16 and Sunday, July 17. There will be an exclusive album playback performance with Lizzo herself and the Big Grrrls on Friday, July 15, with only 100 pairs of complimentary tickets being given away to American Express Card Members.
“Lizzo has been a longtime partner of American Express. From celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall Pride in New York to headlining the final performance of our American Express UNSTAGED digital music series in 2021 live from the beach in Miami, we know how much our Card Members love epic experiences with her!,” said Shiz Suzuki, Vice President, Global Experiential Marketing & Partnerships at American Express. “We are so excited to continue collaborating with her to bring one-of-a-kind album release experience of her new album ‘SPECIAL’ to our Card Members, as there’s always an epic story to tell when you are #withAmex.”
One of the early standouts of Las Vegas Summer League has been the No. 1 overall pick for the Orlando Magic, Paolo Banchero. The former Duke star has been dominant in his first two appearances, showing off his impressive abilities on both ends of the floor, making clear why Orlando took him first in June.
Banchero averaged 20 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2.5 assists in 30 minutes per in the first two games, flashing his strength, range, ball-handling, and passing on offense, and his impressive length and athleticism on defense. On Monday night, Paolo was scheduled to face off with the No. 2 overall pick, Chet Holmgren, in the marquee matchup on the night, but a few hours before tip, Marc Stein reported that Banchero was being shut down after being seen limping after the thrilling win over the Kings over the weekend.
The anticipated Paolo Banchero vs. Chet Holmgren summer league showdown tonight in Las Vegas is indeed off.
The Magic have decided to halt Banchero’s summer league debut after two games and plan to prioritize minutes for others now.
It wouldn’t be a surprise given how well Banchero has played and how important he’s going to be for the Magic that they wouldn’t want to put him at risk, even if it’s disappointing not to get the matchup between the top two players in the Draft that everyone wants to see. Banchero certainly doesn’t have anything left to prove in Summer League and given we’ve seen a few top 10 picks suffer injuries in the first few days of action, the Magic need to protect their young star with an eye on the season. Still, it’s a shame we won’t see Paolo vs. Chet in the desert, but we’ll just have to wait for the first Magic-Thunder game of the regular season to see them face off.
For most of his life, Donald Trump has never had to pay the consequences of his actions. He’s lived in a bubble in which he can do whatever he wants, where he’s infallible, where he didn’t lose the 2020 election. But that may change. The Jan. 6 hearings have been damning and shocking. Then there’s that probe by the New York State attorney general’s office, which will find him testifying under oath for probably the first time in his long life. And it’s already causing him some inconvenience.
As per Raw Story, Trump had to cancel one of his rallies because it coincides with the day not only he but also his children Ivanka and Don Jr. are set to testify in the probe, which is examining his finances. The big day is July 15, and that was also supposed to be when he was set to appear in Greensboro, North Carolina. The event has since been quietly removed from the American Freedom Tour site.
The Trump Organization has been accused of “significant” fraud by AG Letitia James, who has doggedly sought materials he’s been reluctant to provide. He was even slapped with a $10,000 daily contempt fine for a while there after claiming he couldn’t find some of the items James and company had requested.
What will it be like for a man who mostly only tells the truth by accident to have to be on the level under penalty of law? Alas, we may never see the footage, but it will surely be something for those in the room.
It’s been nearly a year since the passing of Norm Macdonald, and even now wild stories (and even specials) are still being shared. On an episode of the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Dana Carvey told a brief but hilarious story about how the late comic once drove an audience batty by repeating a certain word until they couldn’t take any more.
The host — who has his own share of incredible Norm moments, including an iconic one involving Carrot Top — was talking about Kevin Nealon, his SNL colleague who’s known for his off-the-cuff, nonchalant delivery. For instance, one time he was talking about how Macdonald was a “brave” comic, but Nealon joked that he wasn’t, telling a crowd, “I think of it more as a lack of judgment.”
That got Carvey talking about Macdonald’s fearlessness, about his “not caring” about pleasing an audience. He could clear the room,” he recalled, then told a story about how one time he did. It was at the Comedy Store, on a night when Bill Burr was doing a set. But Macdonald decided his set would largely consist of him saying a single word, ad nauseam.
“He just said the word ‘c*ck’…200 times?” Carvey remembered. “He just knew how funny it was to say that over and over and over.” That, Carvey said, was a very comedian’s comedian moment, where they respect a colleague who will go there, who will intentionally alienate and enrage an audience, just because they can.
Is there a sound on Earth that fills people with more rage than the following:
“We’ve been trying to reach you concerning your car’s extended warranty. You should have received something in the mail about your car’s extended warranty. Since we have not gotten a response, we are giving you a final courtesy call before we close out your file. Press 2 to be removed and put on our Do-Not-Call list. Press 1 to speak with someone about extending or reinstating your car’s warranty.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says there have been more than 8 billion unlawful prerecorded message auto warranty scam calls sent to American consumers since at least 2018.
The scammers lure people in with the lie that they’re calling about a car warranty and then ask for sensitive financial information to defraud them. Unfortunately, even though Americans lost out on $39.5 billion last year to phone scammers, the government has not been very effective at stopping the calls.
A recent study published by The Ascent revealed that last year, 68.4 million Americans fell victim to phone scams with 20% being victimized on multiple occasions. The scams are more likely to defraud younger people and men.
The sheer number of annoying robocalls has driven many people to stop picking up the phone altogether.
u201cI love that there was a period of time when it was like ‘grrr someone should fix these robocalls’ and then they never really did and now we just don’t answer phones anymoreu201d
In 2019, Congress passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (or TRACED) Act but the audio-dialing industry has been able to keep a step ahead of the law. Fortune says that blame can also be placed on federal agencies whose inaction has allowed scammers to get off scot-free and big businesses for their “tacit support for robocalling.”
On July 7, the FCC announced that it is actively investigating the calls for formal legal violations. This step could mean the end of years of foot-dragging.
“Billions of auto warranty robocalls from a single calling campaign. Billions! Auto warranty scams are one of the top complaints we get from consumers and it’s time to hold those responsible for making these junk calls,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.
u201cIn the past 2 years, auto warranty scam #robocalls have resulted in more consumer complaints to us than any other unwanted call category. These calls usually claim your insurance or warranty is about to expire, and they often use PII to make it seem legit. https://t.co/Rc6t4ioUvnu201d
It also sent cease-and-desist letters to top phone carriers asking them to stop carrying the calls within 48 hours from Roy Cox Jr., Aaron Michael Jones, their Sumco Panama companies and other international associates.
“The Enforcement Bureau will use all the tools at its disposal to protect consumers and U.S. telecommunications networks from the scourge of illegal robocalls,” Acting FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal said in a statement.
Let’s hope that the new regulations passed by the FCC are successful at stopping these fraudsters who are annoying at best and at their worst, take advantage of the most vulnerable. A phone should be a means for communication, not an open hotline for scammers around the globe to try to take advantage of people.
Then, just maybe, we’ll feel free to pick up the phone again.
Optical illusions are always fun to play with, but some can be particularly challenging on the old eyes and brain. It’s fascinating to see how different people process them and how quickly or slowly—or sometimes not at all—people see things that aren’t really there or see images hidden within other images.
Not to brag, but I’m kind of an optical illusion savant. It usually doesn’t take me longer than a few seconds to see whatever it is people say they are seeing. But occasionally an illusion comes along that stumps me to the point where I wonder if people are actually lying about what they are seeing.
This rectangle/circle illusion is one of those.
It’s called the coffer illusion and was created by Stanford University psychologist and vision scientist Anthony Norcia. The image is made up of a pattern of black, white and gray lines of various shades that create the illusion of rectangles. It’s easy enough to see the rectangles.
What’s not so easy to see are the 16 circles in the image. Yes, they really are there.
Take a look:
u201cLook closely.nnThere are actually 16 circles in this image.nnAnd once you see them, the image appears changed forever. nnThe wonderful coffer illusion, by Anthony Norciau201d
Seriously, at first my brain said, “Nope.” How could there be circles? All I see are straight lines. Straight lines horizontally. Straight lines vertically. Not a single curved line anywhere in sight. How can there be circles if there are nothing but right angles in the image?
So I did what any self-respecting social-media-savvy person would do and started scrolling the comments to see if anyone explained how they saw circles.
(Warning: Spoilers ahead if you’re still trying to see the circles on your own.)
One way to see the circles is to focus on the vertical bars between the rectangles. For some, that makes the circles suddenly pop off the screen.
u201c@DeVore @adamgreatkind @DrGBuckingham Thanks, I was staring and staring, following your advice, nothing, still just rectangles, and then I blinked and the circles were there. Magic!u201d
Once you see them, it’s pretty easy to switch back and forth, but hoo boy, does it take a while to actually see them the first time.
Why is that?
According to an explanation from a professor and student from the University of Sydney, the reason we have a hard time seeing the circles at first is because of our brain’s strong tendency to identify objects in what we’re seeing. The lines come together to form edges, contours and shapes, and our brains fill in the objects.
“For most people, the grouping into rectangles initially dominates,” the authors write. “This may be because rectangles (including the ones we see in door panels) are often more common than circles in our daily environment, and so the brain favours the grouping that delivers rectangular shapes.”
I figure it’s also likely due to the rectangles looking more 3D (therefore like a real object) while the circles appear as 2D.
Since Better Call Saul’s “midseason finale” in May, I’ve been in denial about the show ending. If the show never ends, I will be happy. I could watch Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler have weird sexual tension while doing pranks and watching old movies in their extremely early aughts apartment endlessly. But, sadly, Better Call Saul is coming to an end, and the end starts when it returns for its final episodes on Monday, July 11.
The first half of the final season was not kind to those who get emotionally attached to fictional characters. First, they took sweet Nacho Vargas which was expected but excruciating. Then, in the last episode to air in May, they took the heavily tanned, blonde, and annoying lawyer Howard Hamlin. For a majority of the series, Hamlin was an antagonist to Jimmy (and by association Kim), but his death was distressing and gutting. If it could happen to Howard, it could happen to anyone on this show.
It’s possible that at this point, Better Call Saul has no more characters left to kill off, especially given that much of the cast has to live to experience the events of Breaking Bad. Despite that, here are some theories about the fate of the three major characters left (who do not live and then die in Breaking Bad, like Gus Fring and Mike Ehrmantraut).
Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman/Gene
AMC
Death Forecast: 85% chance of death
How? Lalo Salamanca hunts down Gene in Nebraska.
Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad display the true nature of Jimmy McGill. As much as he tries to be earnest throughout the prequel series, he eventually acts selfishly, cuts corners, and brings others down to get ahead (and get rich). Essentially, Better Call Saul has not been leading to a happy ending for the man once known as Jimmy McGill. As much as I would like to think that the final shot of the show will be Jimmy and Kim skipping on the beach at sunset holding hands, it’s more likely that Jimmy will meet a permanent end, a violent consequence of years of greed. If Lalo Salamanca is still alive (more theories on that if you keep reading this!), he could come to haunt him. It could also be Kim or former client Jesse Pinkman.
Kim Wexler
amc
Death Forecast: 30% chance of death
How? I don’t want to think about it, but it would most likely be at the hands of Lalo Salamanca.
After years of wondering, “why the hell is Kim Wexler completely absent from Breaking Bad?” we are weeks away from the answer. Season after season, people agonized over Kim’s fate. Her notable absence from Breaking Bad suggests she’s dead, but that’s unlikely. Kim is the kind of person who takes matters into her own hands, including facing off with dangerous people like Lala Salamanca. Kim knows how to get herself out of precarious situations, and she also, despite herself, always sticks by Jimmy. Either it is revealed that Kim was married to Saul Goodman throughout the entire run of Breaking Bad, or Kim pays a visit to the Disappearer years before Jimmy does (a Best Quality Vacuum Repairs business card was introduced earlier this season). The alternative is that Lalo Salamanca kills her but he already killed Howard, so while Lalo is a murderous asshole, at this point, Kim’s fate is likely sad, but not fatal.
Lalo Salamanca
amc
Death Forecast: 40% chance of death
How? Gustavo Fring.
Lalo Salamanca is terrifying, but Tony Dalton has so much natural charisma that it’s hard to root against him, even when he’s breaking into people’s apartments and shooting their former bosses in the head. Like Kim, Lalo’s absence from Breaking Bad indicates ill fate. But like Kim, I think it’s quite the opposite. Saul Goodman mentions Lalo by name in Breaking Bad using the present tense, indicating that he’s still alive. If he dies, it will be at the hands of Gustavo Fring (or more likely Mike Ehrmantraut) who has been coming for him ever since he showed up on the show. If Lalo is alive, which he probably is, he’s probably hiding from Gustavo Fring thanks to Best Quality Vacuum Repairs, which would explain his absence from Breaking Bad. Saul Goodman is corrupt, but he is a damn good and criminal lawyer, loyal to even his worst clients.
Over the weekend, Ja Morant made some waves in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks when he said he would’ve “cooked” Michael Jordan like he does today’s stars, making the point that he has to have that level of self confidence to believe no one could stop him.
That very real quote was juicy enough to become fodder for sports radio and sports television shows in the A-block on Monday, but unfortunately for ESPN’s This Just In, they didn’t talk about that Ja Morant quote but instead a different one — one that wasn’t real. As David Jacoby filled in for Max Kellerman, he read Kendrick Perkins a fake quote from Ballsack Sports, a Twitter account that exists solely to produce fake quotes and try to get people to believe them — which they succeed at an upsetting amount of the time.
i know ESPN did not just do an entire segment based on a ja morant “quote” from ballsack sports pic.twitter.com/UqihKpMddW
It’s fairly embarrassing and sadly not the first time ESPN has run a TV segment off a fake quote making the rounds on social media. As someone who is in the business of writing about quotes that often come from other interviews and sources, I’m fairly empathetic to how you can initially be duped by one of these, but for it to make it to air (or in my case print) requires far too many people to sign off on running with something without ever putting in the relatively mild amount of work to find the original source. There are dozens of accounts that exist solely to try and get aggregated — with ending up on national TV the greatest reward of all — and at this point it has to be standard practice to find the actual source of the quote before you’re willing to run with it.
That can be time consuming, but in the process it it will assure that you don’t run a fake quote if you can’t find the original source. ESPN didn’t do that and in the process ended up making Jacoby and Perk foolish in the process.
Over the course of six different hearings, testimonies from Trump White House insiders like Attorney General William Barr, Ivanka Trump, and, most recently, Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, have exposed the absolute chaos governing Trump’s bid to overthrow the 2020 Presidential Election. But, according to Rep. Jamie Raskin, Tuesday’s hearing will be the most damning yet. That’s because the Jan. 6th panel plans on exposing an Oval Office meeting held on Dec. 18th, 2020 by members of Trump’s “Team Crazy,” AKA former attorney Rudy Giuliani, conspiracy theorist Sydney Powell, and retired general Michael Flynn.
“Donald Trump was, of course, the central figure who set everything into motion,” Raskin told CBS News’ Face The Nation. But, according to witness testimony, the panel intends to share with the public, Giuliani, Flynn, and Powell were the ones who encouraged the “seizure of voting machines around the country,” despite senior advisors in the administration trying to convince Trump that no evidence of voter fraud had been found. The divide between the two groups — the White House officials urging Trump to accept defeat and Giuliani’s team — led to insiders dubbing the trio “Team Crazy.” They’re the ones who, according to Raskin, prompted Trump to tweet to his followers, demanding they mobilize in protest of the election results.
That tweet, and the meetings between Giuliani, Powell, Flynn, and Trump, will be the subject of the next hearing with testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone expected to play a big role in showcasing Trump’s involvement in the planning stages of the Jan. 6th insurrection.
“He was the White House counsel at the time. He was aware of every major move … that Donald Trump was making to try to overthrow the 2020 election and essentially seize the presidency,” Raskin said of Cipollone adding that this was the “first time in American history when a president of the United States called a protest against his own government, in fact, to try to stop the counting of Electoral College votes in an election he had lost. [This was the] greatest political offense against the union by a president of the United States in our history. Nothing comes close to it.”
R. Kelly may be going to prison for a very, very long time, but that doesn’t mean the saga of his mistreatment of women is over yet. According to TMZ, one of his alleged victims, Joycelyn Savage, wrote to the judge in his New York case ahead of his sentencing to ask for a more lenient sentence. In her letter, she introduces herself as “Robert Kelly’s fiancee,” suggesting that at some point in the past nine years — Savage is currently 26 years old and met Kelly when she was 17 — the pair became engaged.
She also asserts that “I’m not the victim that the government has portrayed me to be,” writing that the relationship between the two is “amazing” despite the near-30-year difference in age (Kelly is 55) and the disturbing circumstances under which they met. However, Savage’s parents, Timothy and Jonjelyn, are not convinced. They told TMZ through their attorney that Joycelyn never made any engagement known to the family, and wonder why she put it in a letter to the judge rather than mentioning it in court while under oath.
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(@RonFilipkowski) 