A couple of years ago, Kanye West took to Twitter to call out his label Def Jam: “90% of the record contracts on the planet are still on a royalty,” he wrote. “A standard record deal is a trap to NEVER have you recoup, and there’s all these hidden costs like the ‘distribution fees’ many labels put in their contracts to make even more money off our work without even trying.” Logic quickly backed him up, writing that they “owe a few of my folks they money honestly.” Now the “1-800-273-8255” rapper is joining BMG after leaving Def Jam.
With BMG, he has a multi-album partnership, but this time he owns his sound recordings. “There’s a lot of bullsh*t in the music industry,” Logic said in a statement. “I’m just glad to move on to a place where I can be independent and respected as an artist, and feel like I’m in control of my career.”
Senior VP of repertoire and marketing at BMG Tim Reid added, “As an artist, creator and entrepreneur, Logic is the perfect fit for BMG and we are excited to join forces. He has a unique authenticity that has consistently enabled him to remain among the best in the business.”
Logic’s new album, Vinyl Days, is his last under Def Jam. You can get it here.
When the internet is full of dreary headlines, it’s even more important to balance it all out with things that spark joy.
Whether it comes from cute kids and animals, amazing art or wholesome acts of kindness, things that make us smile help remind our hearts that the world is indeed a big place, containing both the bad and the good. Sometimes it might take a little extra scouring to find what makes us smile, but Upworthy is here to make the search a little bit easier.
Without further ado, let’s get uplifted:
1. Benny the guide pup fell asleep at his own photoshoot and Twitter loved him for it.
This is Benny. He fell asleep during his guide dog initiation photoshoot. 12/10 we still think he has what it takes pic.twitter.com/s5Juhz7SP2
Sometimes being adorable is just so exhausting, wouldn’t you agree?
2. Orchestra conductors got gloriously pranked on their birthdays.
Maestros Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Roger Norrington and Lahav Shani were in for a delightful symphonic surprise. Who knew that “Happy Birthday” could be such a moving tune?
3. People rallied around an honest teen who went out of his way to return a woman’s purse.
Seventeen-year-old Adrian Rodriguez found Eliana Martin’s abandoned purse in a shopping cart. Rodriguez found an address where Martin lived, and dropped it off while she wasn’t home. His act of kindness was caught on the doorbell camera, and Martin’s former roommate was so moved she started a GoFundMe campaign to reward him. People raised nearly $10,000. You can read the full story here.
4. The crowd at a baseball game had the most wholesome reaction to a little girl’s bottle flip.
Brothers Marcus and Michael Griffin, also known as The Griffin Brothers, are rolling through social media showing off their impressive skate skills. With smooth moves, fun outfits and an inspiring story, there’s just so much to love about these two.
8. A 1991 blooper clip of Robin Williams and Elmo resurfaced, and everyone’s in stitches.
Williams was a comedy master. Elmo is adorable. It’s a pretty unbeatable combo.
9. Did you know that an octopus can use jet propulsion?
Perhaps I’m biased because octopi are my favorite animals of all time, but it was cool to learn that octopuses have two sets of gills inside their mantle to extract oxygen from their ocean environment. They bring water into their mantle and exhale through their “siphon”—that snorkel-like tube sticking out of the mantle. If an octopus needs a speedy getaway from a predator, it can use jet propulsion—inhale with a powerful exhale—to swim away!
10. Kentanji Brown Jackson made history as the first Black woman to serve on the highest court of the nation.
Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn in as an associate justice to the United States Supreme Court, making history as the first Black woman on the highest court in the nation https://t.co/udbQDO3algpic.twitter.com/4R6U6rIFgi
As the world slowly spins into chaos, more and more celebs have been actively speaking out about Roe v. Wade being overturned, and some are taking action. Actress Busy Philipps was arrested outside the Supreme Court on Thursday while protesting the court decision alongside Planned Parenthood and a handful of other celebs, including Orange Is The New Black’s Alysia Reiner and author Julia Haart.
The capitol police tweeted that the group was “crowding, obstructing or incommoding” the street, which led to their arrest Thursday afternoon. Vice News asked Philipps why she was arrested, and she appropriately replied, “equality!”
.@BusyPhilipps was arrested at a protest in front of the Supreme Court today, and tells VICE News that she’s getting arrested for “equality.” pic.twitter.com/MOm6ZyY6Cl
After the arrest, Philipps took to Instagram to post a lengthy statement about the ordeal, saying “we will not back down, we will not give in and we will not stop fighting until there is equality for all Americans.” Philipps has been open in the past about her history with abortions and how vital they are.
On Friday, the right to make decisions about our own bodies and lives – a right we’ve had for almost 50 years – was ripped away from us by this new Supreme Court, a Court whose personal belief’s are NOT shared by the vast majority of Americans. I am one of those Americans.
I was proud to stand today alongside Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the Working Family’s Party, Reverend Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign, Catholic’s for Choice, The National Council of Jewish Women, mi Familia Vota, the Center For Popular Democracy Action and NARAL in an action of peaceful civil disobedience to let lawmakers but more importantly, the people who will be most impacted by this outrageous decision, know that we will not back down, we will not give in and we will not stop fighting until there is equality for all Americans. I can think of no better way to use my privilege and voice than to amplify the message that bodily autonomy IS a human right, as it is ACTUALLY the exact same thing as the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We must ensure that it applies to all of us. This is the fight of a lifetime, y’all. It’s not gonna be short, easy or without setbacks. But we must MUST MUST keep showing up and taking action. *YOU* must. I promise I will. These horrible hateful small people who have been hiding behind “the will of God” and indoctrinating new believers every day aren’t reflective of ANYTHING- not the greatness or compassion of humanity and certainly not God. I’m pretty sure God has no interest in this bullshit, honey. And fyi, if Jesus were alive today, you KNOW his DMs would be filled with death threats from the followers of F*cker Carlson and the rest of these assholes. ENOUGH OF THIS. ENOUGH OF BEING BULLIED BY PEOPLE WHO DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU OR ME. WE HAVE TO ALL SHOW THE F*CK UP. I DON’T KNOW WHO NEEDS TO HEAR THIS BUT WE NEED TO SHOW THE F*CK UP NOW.
Other celebs have been supporting the Girls5EVer actress in the comments, including Hilarie Burton and Jenny Mollen. The news comes after actress Jodie Sweetin was thrown to the ground by police while protesting in California. As Philipps states, now is the time to show up, and we will likely see more and more protests in the coming weeks.
David Harbour is an easy laugh and someone who keeps off the auto-pilot in an interview. That’s clear in our earlier conversations tied to season 3 and his recent ’90s music-laden confession to us about his own Vecna song. Long story short, I knew I’d get a great answer from Harbour when I mentioned gripes about this season of Stranger Things being too long, and he didn’t disappoint. “You psychopaths, listen,” he began in mock outrage, urging fans to “shut up and love” the new season (dammit) while failing to mask his incredulity at people complaining about getting too much of a good thing, especially when the show is heading toward its end.
Though he’s having fun with the response, Harbour would be forgiven if he was actually ticked off considering the time he spent freezing his ass off in Lithuania for fans of the show. All in an effort to portray Jim Hopper many many miles away from his recliner and snacks. A Jim Hopper who is also isolated from Eleven, Joyce, and everything else familiar as the world spins on, thinking he died at the end of season 3.
We spoke with Harbour about that sense of isolation (both the positives and negatives), Hopper’s continuing evolution as a style icon, a vague but not too vague preview of season 4 volume 2 (two super-sized episodes that are available to stream on Netflix now following the release of the first volume on May 27), playing a kick-ass Santa Claus, and whether Hopper could gain 70lbs with 3 weeks of dedicated cheeseburger training.
netflix
We talked about Hopper’s floral print shirt from last season. I was like, man, I’d love to find that shirt. To update: I did find the shirt and I did buy it. And in a big and tall size, which I appreciate. That’s a rare thing. But I returned it a couple of days later. I couldn’t do it.
[Laughs] I know, I know. It was a great idea. I did see somebody the other day on the street wearing it and that’s always a gratifying thing. There are people out there that are braver than you, Jason. People that are out there wearing that shirt. So I want you to feel bad about yourself.
I do. I do.
All right, good. Good.
So, there has been some complaining about the run time of the show. What are your thoughts on that?
It’s so funny. What, people are thinking it’s too long?
Oh my God. I don’t understand that. You psychopaths, listen, we spend so much time making this damn show and then you binge it in one goddamn day and then you complain about how it’s going to be two years! So if we made you 14 hours of content, space it out over 14 months, it won’t feel so long. Look, I think that’s ridiculous. More content is better, for me, in terms of the show. The other thing is, it doesn’t feel long to me.
No, it doesn’t. I didn’t feel it at all, this was perfect to me.
I can’t tell you where it drags. I have to say, for me, each season has its own arc and I remember the first season, it being episode five and six, there sort of was a lull, and then you got into episode seven and eight. I felt like for this season, episode one and two, you’re setting up a lot of new stuff. Then once you get to episode four, it takes off like a train and it doesn’t stop. The only reason why it had to stop was that I think we needed a little extra time to make those last two episodes perfect, and so they got pushed to July.
I felt like it flew by and the concepts and the ideas were so big, what they’re explaining about life in the upside-down, the parallels of those worlds, time in the upside-down, how that exists. There’s so much information on the sci-fi aspect and then there’s so much fun action. Then there’s also just so much character development. There’s also a lot of fan service, stuff that you guys have wanted to see that the Duffers are putting in there and giving you. Why are you guys looking a gift horse in the mouth? We’re giving you 14 hours of content. Just shut up and love it, dammit. [Laughs]
Just remember this when the show’s over and people are like, “we want more!”
That’s what I’m saying! I’m like, guys, it’s going to be over before you know it. You’re gonna binge it in a day.
With the first volume, with you at the prison before you got a chance to reunite with Winona [Ryder] and Brett [Gelman], did you just feel completely disconnected from the normal ebb and flow of the thing? Like you were on a different show from everyone else?
Oh yeah, absolutely. For most of the beginning of the shoot, we were on location in Lithuania. It was me, our first AD, a couple of our camera guys, the Duffers, and then an entire Lithuanian crew, most of whom didn’t speak very much English. All the background players were Lithuanians and didn’t speak much English. It was me and Tom [Wlaschiha], who plays Enzo in it. So we were on a different planet in a different movie, running barefoot in the snow, in 20 below weather. There was something very weird about it. Vilnius, where we shot, was pretty much shut down [due to COVID]. But there was also something really exciting. It was like the Duffers and I were on location making an entirely new movie. Also, Hopper got to do and reveal all these new things about himself. So yeah, it felt very isolated and in some ways lonely, and then in some ways exciting to do this new thing.
Netflix
What can you say about volume two and these new episodes? Let’s push the boundaries.
Okay. Certainly, at the end of [episode] seven of this season, I’ll talk about me. Well, it’s spectacular in a way that it’s never been before. I think we push the boundaries on every finale. I remember the first season finale, just the beauty of Hopper resurrecting Will, Eleven destroying the Demogorgon, Mike crying there. The beauty of that, and then you go into the season two finale with me and Eleven on that thing, closing the gate. Season three, the star court mall, Hopper’s death. It’s just epic and huge. They just keep pushing it and they keep making it more and more epic and more emotional and moving. You will not be disappointed. These guys really know how to stick the landing in a way that I think is rare for big sci-fi and I love that about them.
In terms of Hopper, you’ve seen him and Joyce sort of reconnect at the end of episode seven. So you’ll see, she made a profound sacrifice to get him, she’s his knight in shining armor. You’ll see more about that relationship. You’ll also see a new vulnerability to Hopper. You’ve already seen him in the darkest place he’s ever been when he gives that speech. Just this dark despair where he really lets out these secrets. So going forward, you’ll see a new vulnerability about him. He’s shedding some skin and becoming a new guy who has this power and this vulnerability that’s very interesting going forward. You’ll see that start to come out.
Also, we’ve got these big old new villains. We got a lot of problems and we’ll start to solve those problems, but also it’ll open up new doors. So I think you’ll see the rush to the finish. You’ll get a very satisfying conclusion, but in the sense of Empire Strikes Back, you’ll still see that there’s a finish ahead. We have to deal with “Vader” and this evil. You’ll see where that path is headed and I think you’ll be very excited about that. So you’ll have a nice big epic conclusion and also you’ll feel like, oh, wow, I can’t wait until season five. That was my sense when I watched.
So we’ve seen in the trailer, a little bit of a wardrobe change. I think everyone, myself obviously included, is a little obsessed with Hopper’s look. The Hulk Hogan T-shirt with a really cool jacket.
[Laughs] Oh shit, you’ve seen that? Yeah. I didn’t know that was in the tease.
Yeah, it was in the teaser. You can see. I paused it, went frame by frame. Okay, a Hulk Hogan T-shirt. So is Hulk Hogan Hopper’s wrestler of choice from the ’80s? I would have thought Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage, but I’m curious, what’s the thinking there?
You know what the song was that they used to play when Hulk Hogan used to come in the arena?
[Singing] “I am a real American” — I remember these things, yep.
[Laughs] So Hopper is the American. I think there are all kinds of shades of that. We play with these tropes of the American in Russia and the Cold War. I think that Hulk Hogan beautifully expressed that [in the ’80s]. It was funny, that shirt in particular. There was another one that was great with him ripping his shirt off and it had the American flag behind it, and we realized that one was actually a mock-up that someone had done. The original shirt was the one that I’m wearing, the one that was in 1980, whatever. It’s not quite as dynamic. But yeah, not only does he have the Hulk Hogan shirt, but he’s also got the American flag puffer jacket, blue jeans. Yeah, he’s the American in Russia in the pit with a monster.
You’ll see in the finale the cowboy that he is. I think that the Duffers are very sophisticated and yet fun at doing these things. There was a great sequence last year where Eleven was sitting in front of the Eggos with her shirt and an American flag wrapped around her eyes and she was blindfolded. They do these really fun, iconic looks. Also, I’m convinced that they do them just for the Funko Pops every year at this point. But I do think there’s an amazing Funko of Hopper in the puffer and the Hulk Hogan shirt going forward.
There’s also one other thing, which I can’t tell you because it’d be a spoiler. I don’t know if it’s a spoiler. There’s another very iconic weapon. Once we finish the season and I get to talk to you again, we’ll talk about this weapon because it’s pretty extraordinary.
Okay. I’m going to make a guess and we can check this later, but I’m guessing The Thing, flame thrower. That’s my guess.
Okay. That’s one of them, but there’s also another one that has been slightly set up, not as set up as the flame thrower. Flame thrower thing, you’re good. That’s one aspect, but there’s another one that’s been semi-set up in a concept, but it hasn’t been actually explored, but you’ll see it in the end. But yeah, it’s bigger than a flame flower by a mile.
Now I’ll watch. Even though it’s two hours, now I’ll watch.
At least I’ve convinced one person to sit through the long runtime. [Laughs]
So, you’re playing Santa Claus in a movie. Is this a Santa Claus that kicks ass?
Yeah. So, you know the John Wick universe, and Bob Odenkirk did a movie called Nobody. Charlize Theron did a movie called Atomic Blonde. There’s the 87North Productions division of Universal where they have these kick-ass universes of these people that are just like John Wick, and who have you always needed to have in the John Wick universe? Santa Claus. That’s who you’ve been asking for and so we’ve given it to you. You know you want it, so we’re going to give it to you.
This feels like The Day The Reindeer Died from Scrooged.
Exactly, exactly [laughs]. The thing is, it’s actually a really clever movie. It’s a Santa Claus origin story in the same way as Batman or whatever. But sometimes you got to do a little more for the nice and the naughty list than just give out some coal. You know? So I think that our Santa Claus is going to show you what it takes when you’re being naughty. It’s actually a really fun movie. I can’t wait for you to see this movie. When they initially pitched it to me, I was like, this is crazy. Then I read the script and I was like, this is actually kind of genius and I love this. Then when we were shooting it, it just is wild. I can’t wait for people to see it. It comes out in December, right around the time for the holidays. You will not be able to take your kids, even though they will beg you to go. Yeah. It’s going to be hilarious.
I remember you had excitedly recounted to me bulking up to play Hopper in season three before. Did you get to take that same journey this time? Did you get to just eat whatever you wanted to bulk up as Santa Claus? Or is it unfortunately all prosthetics?
You’ve seen it already, but you’ll see even more as we go forward that I lost a lot of weight for season four. So I’m very thin in season four. So for Santa Claus, which I shot just a little bit after that, I just gained a ton of weight. I was doing jujitsu training, I’m doing all these martial arts and Grecco-Roman wrestling training while I was putting on all this weight. So I got really big. Now I got to take it off again and it’s a fucking nightmare.
You don’t have to. Trust me, you don’t have to.
I really don’t know that I’ll ever do it again because I had some meeting with my doctor who’s talking about all kinds of different levels in my blood. I was like, yeah. He’s like, “I think we’re done with this,” and I was like, all right, I’m going to get that prosthetics team in place for the sequel.
I’m just saying, health stuff aside, they do have the Hopper shirt in the big and tall sizes. You’re good to go.
[Laughs] Yeah, you’re right. But depending upon where we pick up after season four though, right? Let’s say we pick up three weeks later. Does it strain reality that Hopper’s eaten that many cheeseburgers since he’s gotten back to Hawkins that he’s put on 70 pounds? Maybe not.
He’s been through a lot. Maybe he started eating his feelings.
He has been through a lot. He is hungry, yeah. Amen. I’ll talk to the Duffers. I’ll tell them what you said.
‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 Volume 2 is available to stream on Netflix. You can also find Harbour on stage in Mad Season in the West End (UK).
After being laid to rest (aka canceled) by CBS last month, fan-favorite reboot Magnum P.I. was rescued by NBC for not one but two more seasons with a 20-episode order split over the two seasons of the reboot. The move came after an extensive social media campaign from the show’s stars and dedicated fanbase.
The cast has been reacting to the stellar news, thanking NBC for taking a chance on the show, which stars Jay Hernandez as Thomas Magnum, the former Navy Seal who is now a private investigator. The series also stars Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, Amy Hill, and Tim Kang. Season five is expected to begin shooting later this summer.
The stars shared their excitement on social media, with Hernandez joking that he will have to “dust off the Aloha shirt.” Stephen Hill also tweeted “aloha nui loa a hui hou,” which translates to “love you so much.”
It was a bit circuitous but we did it!Your love & support helped get us over the finish line, thank you & thanks to @nbc for stepping up!Time to dust off the Aloha shirt! #ohanahttps://t.co/wJqoJ64lEh
The series is a reboot of the classic 1980s drama starring Tom Selleck that ran for eight seasons. As fans know, NBC infamously cancels most of their sci-fi shows: Manifest, Debris, The Event, and the cute little alien show Surface from 2005 that will NEVER be forgotten! But a two-season order is pretty optimistic, and the fans are undoubtly ready for it.
It is an exciting time for Cardi B as she has released her first single in two years, “Hot Sh**,” featuring Kanye West and Lil Durk–or, at least it should be. The Grammy-winning rapper sat down for an Apple Music 1 interview with Zane Lowe and kept it very honest about the struggles she endured with this record, specifically its music video.
“Oh my goodness, I don’t want to talk about the video” the Invasion of Privacyartist reveals in the interview, “because this video has brought me so much drama. So this is the first time I ever do CGI. I’m very particular on how I like my things, and I really like when things look super realistic. I like building sets, or I like to be in a place.
She continued later saying “I couldn’t maneuver or move how I wanted to, because I was very confused. After I finished the video, I find out that this s**t takes so long. I did this video around March, and it’s still not even ready yet. And it’s just so frustrating that I’m like, ‘You know what? Just put the f***ing song out. I don’t even give a f**k anymore. I’m over it.’”
Elsewhere, she spoke on connecting with Kanye West and why she enjoyed his verse so much. “Kanye gave me this verse a couple of months ago when he was just all over the media, because of all of the things that were going on,” Cardi stated in reference to his drama with ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her new beau Pete Davidson. “I like how his verse, it’s personal, but it’s not that personal.”
Despite the negativity surrounding Ye, Cardi sees more within him. “I’m so happy that he gave me this verse,” she continued. “And I had a lot of conversations with Kanye West. I learned so much about him and he’s such an amazing, sweet person. I’ve been feeling like, I wish a lot of people have conversations with him so they could just see the real him.”
“Hot Sh**” is the lead single for Cardi B’s forthcoming album, though no title or release date is set yet as she last announced there were some technical difficulties to work out. In the meantime, check out her new single above.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Ever since former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson gave her explosive testimony to the January 6th committee last week, all anyone can really talk about is the story she told about a very petulant President Donald Trump really, really wanting to follow his fans to the Capitol.
According to Hutchinson, when the then-president was told in no uncertain terms that he was being taken back to the White House, he allegedly attempted to choke out a Secret Service agent and commandeer the presidential limo, a.k.a. The Beast, by grabbing the steering wheel.
In some ways, the idea of Trump acting like a James Bond villain (Goldlittlefingers) actually makes him seem a little bit more badass than most people thought. But several people have decried Hutchinson’s testimony as absolute hogwash (she, however, “stands by all” of it). While Trump himself threw cold water on the story by claiming he’s far too weak to take on a Secret Service agent—”These guys lift 350 pounds. I don’t,” he told Newsmax—another ex-Secret Service agent has a different idea about why it would be nearly impossible for the former president to manage such feats of strengths: he’s too damn fat.
Insider spoke with several former Secret Service agents, many of whom questioned Trump’s physical wherewithal to actually accomplish the superhero-ish moves Hutchinson described. And while they did remain anonymous, they didn’t mince words when it came to why they weren’t so sure about Hutchinson’s testimony, with one agent—in the understatement of the year—claiming Trump is “not the most agile human being.” Then he took it even further:
“Trump’s not a little guy, right? And the space to actually be able to lunge towards the wheel is not that big. I don’t mean to sound disparaging to the former president, but just his girth would prevent him from actually getting to the steering wheel.”
While Hutchinson’s retelling of the story was compelling, and her testimony has since come under scrutiny by a handful of Trump insiders, the idea of the portly former president trying and failing to take control of The Beast might be even more juicy (and could explain why he purportedly threw his ketchup-loaded lunch plate at a White House wall later on).
UPDATE: As it turns out, Trump was not shuffled around in the Beast on Jan 6th — he was transported around via an armored SUV, so it is actually possible for the obese former president to have grabbed the steering wheel after all, it appears.
Everything really is bigger in Texas—including the jackassery of its lawmakers. Not content with simply being the state that waited more than TWO F**KING YEARS to acknowledge the Emancipation Proclamation and finally tell enslaved Black people that they were free, the Lone Star State now wants to whitewash the brutality of its past misdeeds altogether, lest its young people get the exact right idea about the atrocities of slavery.
As Raw Story reports, a group of state educators have submitted a proposal to the Texas State Board of Education that when second-grade social studies students get to that part of American history where our lawmakers thought it was totally cool to violently capture African people from their home country, ship them halfway across the world, then trade them like chattel, we might want to use a less damning word than “slavery.” Their choice? “Involuntary relocation.”
The proposed language change comes in response to a recently passed state law which instructs educators to avoid discussing topics that could make students “feel discomfort” and that, as Raw Story writes, “slavery can’t be taught as part of the true founding of the United States and that slavery was nothing more than a deviation from American values.” As such, the proposal actually states that teachers should “compare journeys to America, including voluntary Irish immigration and involuntary relocation of African people during colonial times.”
Ummmm…
Fortunately, not everyone in Texas is as apathetic or as ignorant as its top lawmakers like governor Greg Abbott, who thought it would be funny to bus migrants to Washington, DC; lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, who’s currently attempting to push a “Don’t Say Gay” bill similar to Florida’s in the state; or senator Ted “The Ooze” Cruz, who, well, just—yuck.
Stephanie Alvarez, a University of Texas Rio Grande Valley professor who is a member of the group that’s pushing this change—but was not at the meetings where this language switcheroo was decided—says she finds the whole idea of attempting to erase this tragic part of history “extremely disturbing.”
Harvard University history professor Annette Gordon-Reed, meanwhile, sees it as disturbing and dangerous—and a way to set the country back. “Tell children the truth,” she told Raw Story. “They can handle it.”
Following a disastrous 2021-22 season in which the team won only 27 games, the Portland Trail Blazers are aiming to retool around Damian Lillard. The first step was a deal to acquire Jerami Grant prior to the 2022 NBA Draft and, in searching for long-term upside, the Blazers and newly hired front office voice Mike Schmitz tapped Shaedon Sharpe with the No. 7 overall pick. However, the Blazers still had work to do, and one task was a decision on the status of veteran big man Jusuf Nurkic.
On Friday, we learned that the team wasn’t going to let him get away. Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Nurkic will stay in Portland on a 4-year, $70 million contract.
Free agent C Jusuf Nurkic has agreed on a new four-year, $70 million deal to stay with the Portland Trail Blazers, @KlutchSports CEO Rich Paul tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/6vmHrdOZI3
Nurkic has faced injury issues in the recent past, appearing in only 101 games over the last three seasons. The 27-year-old big man did take the floor on 56 occasions in 2021-22 and, while the Blazers did take steps to indicate Nurkic was banged up late in the campaign, it is possible he could’ve exceed that 56-game mark.
While Nurkic is not an elite defender, he brings an adequate skillset on that end of the floor, and he averaged 15 points and 11.1 rebounds per game in his final season under contract. Nurkic also entered the offseason as Portland’s best and most natural target at the center position and, with the Blazers seemingly wanting to win now, his return was paramount. It remains to be seen what the future holds, but this has been a fruitful partnership between player and team that will continue.
Sometimes you come across something that makes you smile out of sheer uncontrollable delight. Oftentimes when that feeling takes over, it’s about something small but sweet. These world famous orchestras pranking their conductors on their birthdays is the wholesome dose of serotonin you need right now.
In this short video clip from British classical radio station Classic FM, three separate orchestras prepare like they’re about to play the piece when their conductors—maestros Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Roger Norrington and Lahav Shani—come onto the stage. But what each of the three conductors is expecting is not what the orchestras play, delighting all with surprise renditions of “Happy Birthday.” One orchestra, the SWR Sinfonieorchester, got very creative with its birthday serenade, masterfully remixing it with the first movement of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. It was an incredible mashup, and the 84-year-old Norrington looks truly impressed and moved to a few tears.
Music moves people in a way that not many things can. It connects with a piece of our soul that requires closed eyes to get the full effect. Hearing these professional musicians play their instruments just as beautifully when playing “Happy Birthday” as when they play the classical masters is a delight. The crowds cheered when the orchestras completed their tributes, just as loudly as they would’ve with a masterfully executed symphony.
Life can be hard sometimes and a little levity can lift just about anyone’s spirits. Seeing the audience join in on the birthday fun added to the joyful atmosphere. May all of these conductors enjoy their birthdays, and have many more to come. This was such a sweet moment to be captured on film and shared with others.
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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.
