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The Phoenix Suns and the Toronto Raptors played an intriguing, back-and-forth game on Tuesday evening at Scotiabank Arena. Toronto led after a strong first quarter and, after a Phoenix rally, both teams held leads in the fourth quarter in what became a 99-95 road win for Phoenix. Down the stretch, the Raptors were forced to foul the Suns to keep the game alive, with Phoenix attempting six free throws in the final 6.5 seconds. One such sequence involved Devin Booker at the line, and that is where things got particularly interesting.

Booker converted the first free throw, giving the Suns a 94-92 lead. As the ball fell through the net, however, Booker began gesturing in frustration, with the broadcast eventually revealing that he did not take kindly to the Raptors mascot distracting him behind the basket.

As you can see, the mascot was removed by the officials from behind the basket, and Booker went on to make the second free throw. It is already a bit of a bizarre situation in Toronto with no fans in the building, but this brings thing to even a wilder level, with a mascot prompted to move in the height of crunch time for, essentially, doing its job.

Granted, Booker is within his rights to complain, and the setting is odd, but this might be a first. One might wonder if there is any rule on the books here, but in the moment, the officials stepped in and everyone got a little bit of amusement about a mascot playing a part in the proceedings.

On Tuesday, Twitter was taken over by a music meme that asked people to “pick a house” based on the bands or groups that would be in it. A total of nine houses appeared in the meme, with each featuring six acts. The list of musicians included Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Greta Van Fleet, NWA, Wu-Tang Clan, Blink-182, Rage Against The Machine, Nine Inch Nails, and more. While many everyday people shared their responses, some artists also chimed in, sometimes critiquing the prompt.

Rock band Eve 6 felt there was a pair of options missing from the houses altogether. “There’s no power pop or cocaine rock house i’ll die from exposure,” they wrote. Questlove was caught between two choices but was able to make a pick. “My blood is in house 5,” he wrote. “But for history sake I’ll see you at house 3.” Lastly, rapper Open Mike Eagle went with three picks in his response. “Sleep in 1, cook in 5, shower in 9,” he wrote.

Alex Skolnick, who is the lead guitarist of Testament, who appear in house No. 2, also shared his picks. “I’m already in 2 but I’d be happy in 3 or 9,” he wrote. “Or more recently, 5!”

Others who chimed in were rapper Soul Khan, who asked, “Uh is there a housing covenant in this neighborhood.” On the other hand, singer-songwriter Liz Phair wrote simply, “Burn the neighborhood down.”

You see more replies below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A new year brings with it a bevy of breathless — and quickly ignored — resolutions. (Or at least jokes about same.) But this year, like last year, is a little different. Since 2020, we’ve been living amidst a once-in-a-century public health crisis that some people keep help making worse. We’ve developed, and nurtured, a lot of bad habits. So when 2022 rolled along, some celebrities offered people their own resolutions, to help people lead healthier lives in the face of unimaginable horror. But in the case of Reese Witherspoon, that do-goodery led to them being hilariously mocked.

On Monday — a few days after being dragged for supporting cryptocurrency — the Oscar-winning actress posted a list of life-changing activities she’s “working towards” in 2022. They were:

1. Start the day with a big glass of water
2. Get 10 minutes of outdoor light. [Stanford neuroscience professor Andrew Huberman] recommends morning light.
3. Spend 30-60 mins reading without distraction everyday.
4. In bed by 10pm. *no late night TV binges. Try to get 8 hours of rest!”

This is all basic but sage advice. Water, natural light, a good night’s sleep — all important. Reading is better for you than binge-watching, late night or any other time of day. You’re right, Reese.

But someone wasn’t having it. That person was Ina Garten, host of The Barefoot Contessa and serial cookbook author. In the post’s comments, Garten told Witherspoon that her advice may “sound great.” Alas, she also wrote, “Probably not doing any of those things!” She instead offered her own four tips that are…well, maybe not healthier but certainly more fun.

1. Drink more large cosmos
2. Stay up late watching addictive streaming series
3. Stay in bed in the morning playing Sudoko instead of reading a good book
4. Spend more time (safely) with people you love.”

She added, “In a pandemic, I do what I can.”

Since the pandemic began two years ago, Garten has been a cheerleader for cosmos, the tasty cocktail made famous on Sex and the City two decades back. Last month she went on TODAY with Hoda and Jenna, where she told the hosts, “At the beginning of the pandemic I thought we all needed a treat so I did the largest cosmo anybody’s ever had.” They then all shared super-sized cocktails, during a morning chat show. Living one’s best life, for sure.

(Via People)

The first-ever 18-week regular season of NFL football is over and the playoffs have arrived. Unfortunately, that means that Sundays aren’t jam-packed with double-digit games anymore, but we have a few more weeks of glorious professional gridiron action. Overall, Week 18 was a handicapping success in this space. That gives us a nice push into the playoffs, but we aren’t done yet.

Here’s a look at the regular season data before we roll through the Wild Card slate.

• Last Week: 4-1
• 2021 Season: 52-37-1

Come get these winners.

Las Vegas Raiders (+5.5) over Cincinnati Bengals

I can’t emphasize enough that lines are tight in the playoffs and there isn’t always a board full of massive edges. For example, the Raiders opened +6 or +6.5 in many places, but this column doesn’t run until later in the week. I still like the Raiders at +5.5, as I would have this game as Bengals -4, but proceed with overall caution.

Buffalo Bills (-4) over New England Patriots

This isn’t a game I’d give out under regular season circumstances. I don’t love favorites and this line isn’t crazy. I do lean to Buffalo, though, as the Bills have considerably more talent, and they seemed to find something in this last matchup against the Pats. Bill Belichick is terrifying, but I can’t get to the Patriots in this spot when looking at the rosters and numbers.

Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers UNDER 49 points

Another game I don’t absolutely love, but we lean under. The Eagles are almost certainly going to try play keep-away in this game, and Philadelphia leans heavily on the run. They probably won’t have a ton of success with that, though, and getting the key number of 49 would be wise.

Dallas Cowboys (-3) over San Francisco 49ers

This line shouldn’t be three, even if I’m not overjoyed to bet the Cowboys as a favorite here. San Francisco’s passing game is in flux, to say the least, and Dallas unquestionably has the more explosive offense. In a rarity, we’re getting a discount with the “public” team of the Cowboys. We’ll take it.

Pittsburgh Steelers (+12.5) over Kansas City Chiefs

This is hideous. Pittsburgh is a team I flat-out don’t believe in. Kansas City is the AFC favorite. The Chiefs just throttled the Steelers in the same building three weeks ago. Take the points away. It’s a lot.

It’s hard to have not heard of Wordle by now. Anyone who uses Twitter has likely seen the assortments of yellow and green blocks filling up their timeline as people rush to post their scores and let their friends know how quickly they figured out the latest puzzle. It’s a simple and fun enough game, one that has led to rip-offs popping up by folks looking to make some money.

Right now, Wordle is free. Any PC, phone, or tablet can access the game at no cost. Many steps of how it came to be, and how it got so popular, have been documented across the internet. It was a passion project and creator Josh Wardle made it with no real intentions of making money, so he didn’t trademark it.

Unfortunately, this led to many copycats of the game appearing on app stores to try and cash in on its popularity. Not only did these apps outright steal the Wordle name, but they promised that for a cost, players could gain extra perks such as unlimited plays. One touted its “excellent customer support.”

At first, it felt like this was going to be an example of how people can ruin a good thing. Then, Apple removed the more blatant clones from its App Store. There are still a couple of games that use the same name, but these games at least play differently, unlike the clones that were removed.

While stealing ideas is in the very nature of video games itself — it’s possible the first Pong from Atari was a rip-off of the Magnavox Odyssey, for example — seeing techies try to cash in on someone else’s surprise success of a free game was extremely discouraging. Word association games like Wordle are not new, Wordle just happened to be what everyone jumped on. Thankfully, Apple removed these clones and word of mouth about them got around quickly, so hopefully there weren’t too many people who got caught up in one of these rip-offs.

Andrew Garfield has it pretty good right now. He just won a Golden Globe — for the awards body’s first-ever tweeted-out ceremony — for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tick, Tick… Boom! And right now he’s in what is already one of the highest-grossing movies ever, Spider-Man: No Way Home, dusting off the superhero he himself played less than a decade ago. But in a recent interview, he recalled missing out on another (albeit now long dead) franchise when he was younger, all because the producers somehow didn’t think he was good-looking enough.

That film, as he told Entertainment Tonight (as caught by Variety), was 2006’s’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first in the quickly aborted Narnia series. After a successful kick-off, the series limped with its first sequel Prince Caspian and further nose-dived with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. But at the time, hopping on the C.S. Lewis train seemed like a good idea.

“I remember I was so desperate. I auditioned for Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia and I thought, ‘This could be it, this could be it,’” Garfield recalled. “And that handsome, brilliant actor Ben Barnes ended up getting the role. I think it was down to me and him, and I remember I was obsessed.”

After he lost the role, he bugged his agent for a reason why. “She eventually just broke under my incessant nagging,” he said, “and she was like, ‘It’s because they don’t think you’re handsome enough, Andrew.’”

He pointed out that Barnes is “a very handsome, talented man,” adding that “in retrospect, I’m not unhappy with the decision and I think he did a beautiful job.”

While the Narnia series slowly collapsed, Garfield earned acclaim for smaller fare like Boy A, The Other Boelyn Girl, and Never Let Me Go, which led to The Social Network, two Spider-Man films, even working for no less than Martin Scorsese in 2016’s Silence. So it all worked out in the end, albeit not for the Narnia films.

(Via Entertainment Tonight and Variety)

The NBA trade deadline is less than a month away, and as of now, Ben Simmons is still on the Philadelphia 76ers. Trade rumors about the disgruntled All-Star who had yet to play in a game this season are heating back up, though, with a recent report indicating that Philly’s desire is to find a Simmons deal that would let them offload Tobias Harris and the remainder of his contract.

According to a new report by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, having Harris on the books has caused the Sixers to not be interested in some of the players that are ostensibly available in a Simmons trade. Specifically, Woj pointed out a trio of power forwards who don’t make much sense if they join a team with Harris, and reiterated that Philly is happy to play the long-game on a Simmons deal here.

“Right now, you look at Philadelphia and the kind of players available to them in a Ben Simmons trade: Harrison Barnes in Sacramento, Domantas Sabonis in Indiana, John Collins in Atlanta,” Wojnarowski said. “That’s not gonna move the needle at this point for Ben Simmons — especially positionally with those players, power forwards. For Philly, it doesn’t make any sense, hypothetically, if they took any of those guys on in big deals, and to still have Tobias Harris on your roster, at the same position, making closer to $40 million a year over the following two seasons.

“So unless they can expand the deal, make it bigger, listen, Atlanta is not taking Tobias Harris back in a deal for Ben Simmons,” he continued. “Could they route Tobias Harris somewhere else? Listen, it is a lot of money on his contract. Right now, Philadelphia continues to be content to wait, and their philosophy all along has been if we get a trade package back that doesn’t make us a championship contender, doesn’t get us back to that level that we felt we were with with Ben Simmons, we’re not doing it. I think even with a month to the deadline, there’s a real chance this goes on beyond the deadline.”

It was reported earlier in the week that Collins, who is disgruntled in Atlanta, could be available in a move for Simmons, while Sabonis was among the players on the Pacers who were mentioned as potentially available if the team wants to blow it up.

A suspect in the November murder of Young Dolph has been arrested in Indiana, according to TMZ. The publication reports that Justin Johnson, who was identified over the weekend as a suspect in the case, was taken into custody on Tuesday, nearly two months after the shooting. He faces charges for first-degree murder, criminal attempt first-degree murder, and theft of property between $10,000-$60,000. According to Stereogum, a second suspect in the case, 32-year-old Cornelius Smith, was previously indicted on several charges, including first-degree murder. Smith was already in jail after he was arrested for an incident that involved the white car that was believed to be the gateway vehicle in Dolph’s murder.

After U.S. Marshals, Memphis Police Department, and the Tennessee Bureau Of Investigation (TBI) identified Johnson as a suspect in Dolph’s shooting and issued a warrant for his arrest, Johnson claimed he was not involved in the crime. Nevertheless, in a post to his Instagram account @straightdroppp, he said he would surrender to police while vouching for his innocence. “Turning myself in Monday @201, I’m innocent,” he wrote. “I’ll be back sooner than you can blink.” Despite this, Monday came and went without him surrendering to the police, as Memphis’ FOX 13 confirmed he was still on the run.

When images of Johnson were shared by U.S. Marshals, Memphis Police Department, and TBI, people quickly noticed that he appeared near Dolph in multiple pictures. In some instances, Johnson was seen wearing a chain that read “PRE,” which is the acronym for Dolph’s Paper Route Empire label.

There’s a certain etiquette that audience members generally adhere to while watching a live performance, and that goes doubly for the opera world. But you don’t have to be an opera-goer to know that it’s generally frowned upon—to put it lightly—for a member of the audience to stand up and start singing right in the middle of an opera singer’s performance.

It ain’t Lollapalooza, for crying out loud.

But an audience member adding his voice to an opera performance was exactly what happened at the Verdi Festival in Parma, Italy this past fall. According to Classic FM, renowned soprano Lisette Oropesa was performing an encore at the end of her recital, singing the female part from “Sempre Libera” (Always Free) from Verdi’s “La traviata.” The song is a duet, usually sung between a female soprano and a male tenor, but she was performing it solo. So when the tenor part arrived and no one sang opposite her, 24-year-old Liu Jianwei, a fan of Oropesa and a student of opera at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Nicolini di Piacenza, stood up and filled in the gap.

No one expected it. Not Oropesa. Not even Liu himself, apparently. But the pianist kept playing and Oropesa appeared to be delighted as the young man beautifully filled in the tenor part. Oropesa’s initial “Oh,” is written into the piece (though you can see her searching the audience for where the man’s voice was coming from), but the “Oh, grazie,” she added herself to say thank you.

It’s a good thing he had a lovely voice. Watch:

According to Classic FM, Liu took to the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo to explain himself—and to warn others not to do what he did.

“I stood up to sing because Lisette Oropesa is a musician I love very much and I happened to have learned this opera before,” he said. “It is definitely not something worthy of pride, nor something worthy of being advocated. Please don’t interrupt singers when they are singing on stage. It’s impolite behavior. Don’t imitate me and I will never do this again in the future.”

Many disagree with him on the “worthy of pride” part at least, and most people commenting on the video were thrilled with both the unexpected singing and the reaction from the opera star.

“She was so gracious and kind!! The shock and delight on her face was so wonderful!! This is beautiful,” wrote one commenter.

“I love how her face just lights up, it’s so sweet!!!” wrote another.

“That is the reaction of when a musician does it for the love of music,” added another “They are both amazing!”

And regarding the “impolite” bit:

“Look I know it would technically be considered rude but he shot his shot and was successful 😂. Can’t blame him one bit.”.

This is definitely wholesome

— Florence Jay Munar ud83dude04 (@Florence Jay Munar ud83dude04)
1640515517

Liu approached Oropesa after the concert to apologize. She took photos with him and gave him her autograph.

Brava and bravo to them both.

中國男高音外國音樂會“救場”？視頻走紅當事人回應：千萬別學我

當地時間10月8日，一名女歌唱家在意大利演出時，臨時返場演唱。當演唱進行到男高音部分時，一位來看演唱會的中國男高音加入了演唱，視頻走紅網絡被網友稱為“救場”。近日，當事人回應：請大家別學我！On October 8 local time, a female singer temporarily returned …

Gal Gadot has always had classic Hollywood energy, but now she’ll take that next level. According to Variety, the Wonder Woman actress is attached to star in a remake of To Catch a Thief, the Alfred Hitchcock classic from 1955 pairing Cary Grant with Grace Kelly, two icons of the Golden Age at their arguable movie star height.

The redo, set to be written by Eileen Jones (Prodigal Son), is said to be a “substantially updated” take on the original, which has long been described as one of Hitchcock’s fizzier films, including by the legendary director himself. It came in the midst of some of his most challenging and innovative works, such as Rear Window, Vertigo, and The Wrong Man, as well as The Trouble with Harry, an ahead-of-its-time pitch black comedy that revolves around a mysterious corpse.

To Catch a Thief, meanwhile, is light on plot and heavy on French Riviera scenery (though most of it was shot, of course, on Paramount’s Hollywood lot). Grant plays a retired jewel thief wrongly accused of a string of burglaries. To clear his name, he does some snooping of his own, all while hob-nobbing with Kelly’s noveau riche widow, with whom he shares some canoodling intercut with nudge-nudgey shots of fireworks exploding.

In which ways the update will be substantial has not yet been made public. Perhaps Gadot will take the Grant role. Perhaps she’ll take the Kelly role and be even more assertive (though Kelly wasn’t exactly meek). Either way it will join the recent revamp of Rebecca in the Hitch remake canon. Perhaps it will even atone for her “Imagine” video debacle.

(Via Variety)