Category: Worldwide

Continuing his streak of ramped-up activity, which includes his Yeezy Gap partnership, a Kids See Ghost animated show, a presidential campaign, and recent single “Wash Us In The Blood,” Kanye West returned with a new announcement for fans late Saturday night. Set to arrive next week, July 24, West apparently announced his upcoming Donda album in a tweet, which was quickly deleted, even revealing a handwritten tracklist.

According to the handwritten tracklist, Donda will come attached with 20 songs including “Wash Us In The Blood” and “New Body.” The latter track was previously leaked to fans and features Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign. Soon becoming a fan favorite among fans of Minaj and others thanks to TikTok, they quickly called for its release, requests that Nicki told fans to pester Kim Kardashian for in order to receive it.

The album announcement also comes after West shared a preview of its title track on Twitter on his late mother’s birthday. The track begins with his mother reading lyrics from KRS-One’s “Sound Of Da Police” and samples The Clark Sisters’ 1980 song “They Were Overcome By The Word.” No official release date for Donda has been revealed, and Kanye’s last album was plagued by release delays and claims that didn’t come true. It’s also not confirmed that the tracklist is what most assume it is, but it seems increasingly clear that more Kanye is on the way.

During the current worldwide pandemic, movie studios are no longer providing box-office figures because theaters have been shut down around the nation and the world. Because we are less interested in the actual figures themselves and more interested in what people are watching over the weekends, each week we will dive into Most Streamed and Bestseller Lists on Fandango, iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu to pinpoint the weekend’s most watched films.

Technically, we’re still a month away now from the release of Tenet, which is tentatively set for August 12th, although no one actually believes that the Christopher Nolan film will open this summer (in fact, it’s too long to open in China, where theaters are set to reopen). With the way things are going in the States, it’s looking more and more likely that not only will the summer be wiped out, but potentially the fall, as well. Sitting in an inside space for two and a half hours with others is how the virus is spread.

However, over in Asia, where the curve has been flattened and beaten to submission, movies theaters are beginning to open up. In fact, South Korean zombie action film Peninsula, set four years after director Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan, is burning up the box office over there, scoring the highest ever opening day for a Korean film in Singapore.

Meanwhile, back in the States, we’re still feasting on VOD and streaming platforms from inside our homes, including … Trolls World Tour, released back in the beginning of April, and still the top film on Fandango’s charts, and the second most popular film on iTunes. Meanwhile, The Outpost — in only its third weekend — is the top film on iTunes and the second most popular film on Fandango.

While the Fandango VOD charts are more of the same (Pete Davidson’s King of Staten Island, Kevin Bacon’s You Should Have Left, and Mel Gibson’s Force of Nature), there are at least some new titles on the iTunes charts. Arkansas, starring Liam Hemsworth, was the top film a few weeks ago and has jumped back to number three thanks to a $.99 rental fee. Meanwhile, Archive, the solid sci-fi flick starring Theo James, joins one of the best horror films of the year, Relic starring Emily Mortimer, to round out the top five. Relic is sitting at 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and has been described by more than a few critics as the best horror film of the year, so far.

We don’t have figures or even charts for some of the other streaming services, but HBO Max says that Scoob, is the top trending movie on their service, and Hamilton, no doubt, is still getting all the views on Disney Plus. Meanwhile, over on Hulu, Andy Samberg’s Palm Springs has broken Hulu’s record — it has officially netted more hours watched over its first three days than any other film on Hulu during the same period. Hulu spent $17.5 million on the film out of Sundance, a record itself, and it was apparently worth the price.

Over on Netflix, ’90s royalty Omar Epps and Nia Long, reunite for the thriller A Fatal Affair, which is the top film on the streaming service this weekend. Neither critics (17 percent on RT) nor audiences (21 percent on RT) have been kind to the film. Last week’s top film, Charlize Theron’s The Old Guard, falls to number two, although I expect that it will be around in the top five for awhile. It’s very good. In at number five on Netflix is a French comedy making its debut on the streaming service called MILF. It’s getting very bad reviews (17 percent), but I suspect that the title is a big draw (see also The F**k It List at number 9). In at number three is Lorax and at number four, strangely, is How Do You Know, a thoroughly mediocre Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, and Reese Witherspoon rom com that I was really excited about in 2010, but that ended up being a huge disappointment.

Next weekend looks to be a slow-ish one for new releases. Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout starring Rosamund Pike will be released on Amazon Prime Video, while The Kissing Booth 2 debuts on Netflix.

Source: Netflix, Fandango, iTunes

It’s tempting to say that the future is bright in Memphis. It’s more accurate to say that the future is now. With Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies have one of the most talented young duos in the NBA — not to mention a slew of intriguing prospects surrounding them — and they’re already showing more than just a few glimpses of what they’re capable of.

Prior to the shutdown, they were the prohibitive favorite to secure the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. And before Zion Williamson made his much-anticipated debut and proceeded to destroy everything in his path, Morant was the frontrunner to win Rookie of the Year. With awards voting now encompassing only games played through March 11, the young point god should still be ahead of the pack.

The Grizzlies go as Morant goes, and as the 20-year-old sensation continues to discover his immense powers, their trajectory should remain on a steady incline. Playoff experience this early in a team’s development can grease the wheels on their growth and propel them into the upper echelon of the West sooner than we might’ve expected.

ROSTER

As of July 3, the Grizzlies were expected to bring a full roster to Orlando, according to head coach Taylor Jenkins.

Ja Morant
Jaren Jackson Jr.
Dillon Brooks
Justise Winslow
Josh Jackson
Grayson Allen
Jonas Valunciunas
Brandon Clarke
Tyus Jones
Jontay Porter
Kyle Anderson
De’Anthony Melton
Anthony Tolliver
Gorgui Dieng
Yuta Watanabe (two-way contract)
John Konchar (two-way contract)

SCHEDULE

Fri. 7/31 POR 4:00 PM
Sun. 8/2 SAS 4:00 PM
Mon. 8/3 NOP 6:30 PM
Wed. 8/5 UTA 2:30 PM
Fri. 8/7 OKC 4:00 PM
Sun. 8/9 TOR 2:00 PM
Tue. 8/11 BOS 6:30 PM
Thu. 8/13 MIL TBD

STANDINGS

1. Los Angeles Lakers: 49-14
2. Los Angeles Clippers: 44-20 (5.5)
3. Denver Nuggets: 43-22 (7.0)
4. Utah Jazz: 41-23 (8.5)
5. OKC Thunder: 40-24 (9.5)
6. Houston Rockets: 40-24 (9.5)
7. Dallas Mavericks: 40-27 (11.0)
8. Memphis Grizzlies: 32-33 (18.0)
9. Portland Trail Blazers: 29-37 (21.5)
10. New Orleans Pelicans: 28-36 (21.5)
11. Sacramento Kings: 28-36 (21.5)
12. San Antonio Spurs: 27-36 (22.0)
13. Phoenix Suns: 26-39 (24.0)

WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?/WHAT TO EXPECT

Securing a playoff berth is the No. 1 goal. If you ask a certain contingent of Grizzlies fans, the powers-that-be are conspiring against them in this endeavor, as they face one of the most difficult slates of any team in Orlando, along with the perception that many people would rather see Zion and the Pelicans or Damian Lillard and the Blazers in the postseason. For an up-and-coming squad like them, it will surely be an uphill battle, and there’s little margin for error. But doing so will be sweet vindication for a team with a perpetual chip on its shoulder, and it’ll send their confidence levels off the charts going into next season.

X-FACTOR

Recent addition Justise Winslow is the player who could swing things their way in Orlando. At 6’7, Winslow is a versatile wing and a tenacious defender, able to guard four positions and capable of logging time at the point to help spell Morant for key stretches. Last season in Miami, Winslow made significant progress as a playmaker with Goran Dragic injured for most of the year and shown hints at improved efficiency from behind the arc.

But Winslow has been dealing with his own injuries this season. Therein lies the catch: Winslow hasn’t actually played for the Grizzlies yet. He was set to make his debut right before the shutdown, so the eight-game stretch in Orlando will represent a trial-by-fire. To be certain, Winslow still has some big question marks in key aspects of his game, namely his shooting and his ability to finish at the rim.

Still, Jenkins is confident that he can unlock his immense potential, and they’ll definitely need it if they want to hang on to their postseason spot.

BIGGEST ON-COURT QUESTION

One of the team’s key features is a balanced attack. Before the hiatus, they led the league in points in the paint, while also being top five in fast break points. Still, they’ve been a middling offensive team this season and not much better on defense. Their saving grace has been a pair of budding superstars who are capable of making good things happen amid the chaos that is sometimes self-created.

Inexperience and extended time off are the two biggest challenges for these Grizzlies in Orlando. This is a team that was starting to find its stride and establish its identity before the shutdown, and they’ll have to figure out a way to replicate that chemistry and momentum in a very short period of time and under surreal circumstances. In this light, their youth and resilience might prove to be their biggest asset.

The death of John Lewis and C.T. Vivian on Friday, both legendary civil rights leaders in the United States, drew a variety of tributes to their contributions to justice and equality. Not all of those tributes were well received, mind you, but many in the NBA community paid their respects to Lewis in particular, starting with LeBron James.

James, preparing for the NBA’s postseason in the bubble, tweeted both about justice for Breonna Taylor and paid respects to Lewis, who died at age 80 of pancreatic cancer.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul was particularly eloquent in his words on the subject of Lewis and Vivian’s passing, speaking of the impact the men had on equality in America and the continued struggle for equity today.

via The Oklahoman:

“Today is a sad day in that we lost two of the most powerful activists that we’ve ever had in C.T. Vivian and John Lewis,” Paul said. “The impact that they had on America I think is unbelievable. And for me as a Black man, I think it’s more important for me to do my job better as a parent. I think a lot of times people look at us athletes as heroes, what we can do as far as dunking a basketball or throwing a touchdown, but the things that they did as human beings … John Lewis was one of the original 13 freedom riders, was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington, did the walk from Selma to Montgomery, and all of these things I don’t think we do enough learning and teaching about.

“I know that’s a lot, but that’s my truth. I think that’s more important than any of the stuff that’s going on down here.”

Paul tweeted a tribute as well.

Paul is the latest NBA player to minimize the league’s bubble and a return to play amid coronavirus in favor of addressing racial equality and injustice, and a number of other people throughout the league also honored Lewis in the wake of his death. Bill Russell, a civil rights icon in his own right, tweeted his thoughts as well.

They were certainly not alone in honoring the legacy of Lewis on Saturday, something that will continue for many as various members of the league have given significant attention to the struggle for civil rights in recent months.

Baseball is nearly back, or at least it will be next week when Major League Baseball’s abridged 60-game season gets underway in earnest. We still don’t know where the Blue Jays will play their home games, as Toronto is now out of the question. But we do know that at least some of the league’s players will be wearing masks when they take the field.

New York Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier had been vocal about mask wearing all summer, even when on the field. And he had been pretty eloquent as to why he would wear it even with Yankees and other MLB players routinely getting tested for COVID-19.

But on Saturday, the visuals were pretty stunning when he not only wore several kinds of masks, but smashed a home run into the second deck of Citi Field in an exhibition game against the Mets.

Frazier isn’t the only masked slugger who went yard on Saturday night. His former teammate and current Philadelphia Phillies infielder Didi Gregorious launched one to right field against Max Scherzer while covering his face.

Wearing a mask is both for an individual’s safety and the safety of others, which is something that needs to be stressed as much as possible, especially following CDC director Robert Redfield saying the United States can get a handle on things if people masked up for 4-8 weeks. Regardless, it is a nice moment to see two players do the coolest thing you can in baseball while being responsible for the health and safety of those around them.

The United States lost a hero on Friday when John Lewis, US House of Representatives member from Georgia, died. His office announced in December that the Representative had Stage IV pancreatic cancer, and despite a false report earlier in the month that he had died, it was confirmed Friday that the civil rights stalwart had died at age 80.

Lewis was an instrumental member of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, and his beating at the hands of a state trooper in Selma in 1965 was one of the shocking images that helped push through support for the Civil Rights Act. He was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, and his long list of accomplishments has made him one of the most celebrated congressmen of the modern era.

His death, along with news of fellow civil rights leader C.T. Vivian’s passing on Friday as well, drew an outpouring of grief and tributes for Lewis and Vivian from across the political spectrum and the world at large. But one tribute was a complete disaster, and it came from Florida’s Marco Rubio. The state senator from Florida was one of two Republican lawmakers who tweeted a “tribute” to John Lewis that actually included an image of another Black lawmaker, former Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings, who died in 2019.

Those particularly of Rubio made the implication of Rubio’s apparent confusion very clear.

The tweet and the blatant error got a lot of reaction on Twitter.

The other lawmaker who made the same gaffe, Dan Sullivan, was also criticized for posting a picture of Cummings. But Rubio certainly took the brunt of the criticism, especially because the photo he shared was of him standing next to Cummings. If there is a defense of Rubio to be had, apparently the photographer who took the image also got the lawmaker’s name wrong.

Still, it was an embarrassing tribute that even Rubio’s “apology” did little to correct.

After successfully fending off Yoel Romero in his first UFC middleweight title defense, the unbeaten Israel Adesanya (19-0) has agreed to fight the returning Paulo Costa on September 19, per ESPN.

Costa (13-0) suffered a torn left biceps in a separate decision win over Romero, but the top contender for the belt isn’t waiting around for a tuneup bout before taking on the champ in a fight scheduled for UFC 253. Costa’s decision victory ended a stretch of five-consecutive knockout victories for the heavy-handed Brazilian.

Adesanya’s move to fight Costa presents one of the toughest fights to date. While he’s not exactly unchallenged, having wrapped up an impressive 2019 that saw him knock off Anderson Silva, Kelvin Gastellum and Robert Whittaker, the champ’s only real test against someone with the sheer strength of Costa is against Romero.

What the timing of this fight means for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s planned showdown with Justin Gaethje is unknown at this time. But ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reports the plan is to push that fight to later in the fall.

UFC 253 does not have an announced location yet, but Helwani reports is will “likely” take place in either Las Vegas or Fight Island in Abu Dhabi as the coronavirus pandemic continues on. This undisputed title fight will be just the second to take place between two unbeaten men.

The Renegade is a dance that took over Tik Tok and also NBA All-Star Weekend in the before times. And now it’s in Fortnite, perhaps marking a notable turning point in the battle royale title’s use of dances in the process.

On Friday, Fortnite‘s officially Twitter account announced that the Renegade dance would be added to the game as a purchasable emote. Importantly, Fortnite credited the dance’s creator, Jalaiah Harmon, on Twitter and showed a Fortnite character doing the dance in the tweet promoting the addition.

This dance getting added to Fortnite is much different than some of the other ones that have made it into the game. Crediting Harmon, first and foremost, is a significant step, as other dances invented by others haven’t initially been credited to their creators in the past. With the Renegade itself, that’s been a problem as well. The dance’s ubiquity on social media initially saw other more popular social media stars credited for and asked to perform it, including at NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago before a social media outcry saw Harmon’s performance of the dance at the All-Star Game itself.

Copyrighted material in video games is still a field that’s getting sorted out in real time. In March, a judge dismissed a lawsuit involving tattoos in games like NBA 2K, specifically from the tattoo artist who designed works on players like LeBron James. Earlier lawsuits about dances in Fortnite saw Epic claim that you can’t own a dance. And despite the apparent legal agreement from the U.S. copyright office when it comes to dances like The Carlton, Fortnite apparently avoided any issues here and gave Hanson credit where it was most certainly due.

Travel plans have been scuttled for many by COVID-19, as the American passport has become as useful in leaving the country as a receipt from the airport food court. There’s still some adventure to be had staying away from large groups of people in hiking, heading to the beach and exploring forgotten places nearby, but what America really needs in these trying times is a kayak-fueled million-dollar Michigan treasure hunt.

Which perhaps is why a retiring jeweler has apparently dug holes all over America’s Great Lakes Glove to bury treasure for a statewide gold and gem hunt. According to Fox 2 Detroit, a retiring jeweler named Johnny Perri decided to close up J&M Jewelers for good in Michigan’s Macomb County. But instead of liquidating his stock, he and his wife Amy hid it all over the greater Detroit and Upper Peninsula area and soon he intends to hand out clues about where everything might be found.

“I said Amy, we can take everything out and retire or we can bury it across the state of Michigan,” said according to Fox 2. Though he hasn’t revealed where all the treasure is, he said the project started out of boredom and dropped some hints about where to look and what tools they’ll need to hunt. Namely, a kayak.

“We went through waterfalls, streams, we kayaked everywhere,” he said.

“As soon as I release the clues the race is on,” he said.

It won’t be a free-for-all, though. The retiree is selling tickets for $49 for the first hunt, the prizes of which he estimated are worth about $4,000. And there’s a GPS in the prize itself — two 100-ounce bars of pure .999 silver hidden somewhere in Oakland County — so he’ll know if it gets moved.

“You follow the riddle, you got a little wit, a little adventure in you, you’ll find it quick,” Perri said. “I don’t expect it to go more than a week.”

It’s certainly a fun distraction if you live in the Michigan area, and the first hunt is set to kick off on August 1. Just be mindful about getting too close to others as you try to strike it rich in Michigan.

[via Fox 2 Detroit]

The world of English soccer got a huge bit of news on Friday afternoon. Leeds United, once regarded as one of the top clubs in all of European football, completed a 16-year journey back to the Premier League on Friday afternoon. Thanks to West Brom failing to get a result against Huddersfield Town, Leeds secured a top-2 finish in the EFL Championship, which means they earned automatic promotion to the English top flight.

Leeds is quite the story — the gist of it is that due to financial issues that led to an all-out implosion, they fell all the way down to the English third division, League One, and have spent 16 years trying to get back to the Prem. The club opted to hire Marcelo Bielsa, viewed as one of the most innovative and influential minds in all of football, as manager in 2018, and after coming excruciatingly close in 2018-19, managed to get over the hump this year.

The club also has some of the most proud and passionate supporters in the world, so the reaction to Leeds’ promotion was a sight to behold. Among these supporters is former Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who recorded a video for BBC in which he thanked Bielsa — who Coster-Waldau says became “immortal” with the accomplishment — and celebrated the club’s promotion with a quick poem.

Coster-Waldau also retweeted a video from an appearance he did on Jimmy Kimmel Live! ahead of the Game of Thrones finale in which he said the chosen one is not Jon Snow, but rather, “a guy called Bielsa.”

We still need to figure out who will join Leeds in the top flight, which should happen sometime soon. Regardless, Friday was a day Leeds supporters have been counting down the days until, and while we do not know when next season will begin or whether fans will be allowed into stadiums or not, it is probably safe to assume that Coster-Waldau will make his way to the club’s revered ground, Elland Road, for a Premier League match as soon as he can get in.