Five talking points from Westworld S3E06 – Buzz.ie

The latest episode of Westworld was explosive and it sets things up well for the penultimate episode of season three.

Before you read on, be warned this post is full of spoilers if you're not up to date with Westworld.

'Decoherence' followed several of our main characters and it did so well.

The Man In White

Woah!

Anyone who thought William was finished was very wrong.

The cruel technological therapy he was put through was another example of the grim future that Dolores is trying to plunge into anarchy.

The most striking scene saw him sit down for 'group therapy' with three past versions of himself, and his father-in-law James Delos.

He learns from painful memories from his past, namely that he can't blame his abusive childhood for the monster he became.

His solution? To brutally bludgeon the past versions of himself to death of course.

This brutal interlude is interrupted by Stubbs and Bernard.

We previously thought it was team Dolores vs team Serac but we may now have a third major grouping in play, led by the 'Man In White'.

Maeve 2.0

Maeve tellsEngerraundSerac she wants what Dolores has an he appears to grant her that wish by reincarnated her with some added ruthlessness.

This is demonstrated when she returns to the World War Two simulation and single-handedly takes down a horde of Nazi soldiers.

She also gets the allies she asked for but is powerless as Dolores Charlotte Hale, puts an end to her favourite one, Hector.

The result of this is a very angry Maeve.

Before that she had appeared to find some common ground with the consciousness of Dolores that Serac introduced her to.

That goodwill is gone now and we're looking forward to seeing her up against Dolores in the real world.

A brilliant showing from Tessa Thompson

Tessa Thompson has been brilliant throughout Westworld but she's shined in season three.

She's playing a character who is pretending to be someone else, while the imposer grapples with the real Charlotte Hale's emotions, and she pulls this off expertly.

Her action packed sequence in this episode made for great viewing as Hale successfully retrieved the host data, which could be crucial as Serac had all of the host bodies destroyed.

She also stole the corrupted Dolores pearl and destroyed Hector's pearl.

It's been very interesting to see Hale fighting with the 'inner Charlotte' and it proves to be her undoing as Serac realises something is up as the 'real Hale' wouldn't have bothered to check up on her son.

Just when it appears she's succeeded in her mission and rescued her family....BOOM!

Will Charlotte survive?

Hale was already becoming disillusioned with the original Dolores as she challenged her on Martin Connells' death.

Her charred body somehow made it out of the burning car and stood up.

If she is to survive, there are plenty of questions? Will the death of Charlotte's family drive her crazy? Will she still trust Dolores? And will she be given a new skin or walk around like a terrifying corpse.

We're betting on the latter.

Is William human, host, or both?

Thompson's wasn't the only outstanding performance in episode six.

Ed Harris' William became even more fascinating as we got an insight into his troubled life.

Whether he's fully human has been questioned before and we basically got confirmation that there's at least some host in him as his blood test revealed an 'unknown protein'.

Could William have used some of the knowledge from the experiments on James Delos to enhance his own life or look for immortality? Delos' appearance could hint at that and it will certainly make things very interesting if William is now part host.

Sign up to our amazing newsletter!:

Read the original post:
Five talking points from Westworld S3E06 - Buzz.ie

2010 Texas Rangers: Where are they now? – Dallas Sports Fanatic

Normally at this time of year, Texas Rangers fans would be flocking to Fox Sports Southwest with regularity to watch the teams nightly games. Even with the delay of the season and overhaul of sports programming as a result of Major League Baseballs pause on the 2020 season, some arent divulging from that routine.

Yesterday, the channel aired Texas Game 1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2010 American League Division Series. Texas would go onto win the series and the pennant that fall, their first in franchise history.

That replay brought history to life, and surely some asked: what are they doing now? Heres a look at what some of the contributors on that postseason roster are up to in 2020.

Active players

Elvis Andrus is currently the only Ranger on the 2020 roster. 2010 was his second full big-league season. Mitch Moreland still mans first base for Boston after departing Texas in the 2016 offseason. Chris Davis was traded to Baltimore in 2011, and rose to national prominence with a 54-homer season in 2013, only to face-plant into one of the leagues worst offensive players not long after singing a $154 million contract.

Perhaps Nelson Cruz has carved out the strongest post-Ranger career. After leaving the team in disgrace in 2013 after a PED scandal and disappointing regular season finish, he signed with Baltimore in 2014 and since then has slugged 244 homers over six years playing for the Orioles, Mariners and Twins- averaging a whopping 40 per year.

Justin Smoak was a highly-touted prospect in Texas system that year, and was ultimately what moved the needle on the July Cliff Lee acquisition from Seattle. Smoak has stitched together a solid career- he signed with Milwaukee in the offseason, and made the All-Star team in 2017 with Toronto. 36-year old infielde Andres Blanco signed a minor league deal with Milwaukee over the offseason. Derek Holland is still clinging onto whats left in his career- he signed a minor-league contract with Pittsburgh for 2020.

Relievers Darren ODay and Tommy Hunter, who both played small roles with the 2010 team, are both currently signed to National League clubs, pitching for the Braves and Phillies respectively.

The big names

Michael Young has risen to Rangers immortality after retiring in 2013. He took on a front office role in 2016, and even became the fifth Ranger to have his number retired in 2020. Aside from Young, pitcher Cliff Lee perhaps was the biggest name on that club. Texas swung a deal for the lefty from Seattle in the aforementioned trade, and it helped push the club to a division title down the stretch. Lee pitched four strong years after returning to Philadelphia in the 2010 offseason, retiring in 2016.

Ian Kinsler was traded to Detroit for Prince Fielder in 2014, and after initial animosity between he and Texas, is likely the next Ranger to be honored in the teams Hall of Fame. He put together a solid final stretch in his career, winning a world series with Boston in 2018 after solid postseason contributions. He played as recently as last year with San Diego and has since joined their front office. Vladimir Guerrero played one more MLB season with Baltimore in 2011 after a strong campaign with Texas,

CJ Wilson and Josh Hamilton both had awkward exits from Texas. Both left for division rival Los Angeles in the 2012 offseasons. Wilson put together four mediocre seasons with the Angels and retired in 2017 to pursue his racing career. Currently, he is the general manager of the Porsche Fresno racing team.

Hamilton returned to the team in a 2015 trade and repaired the relationship despite a minimal on-field impact due to injuries. Unfortunately, his off-field issues continue to plague him- he was indicted in early April on a felony charge assaulting his oldest daughter.

Other key contributors include Colby Lewis, Neftali Feliz and Matt Harrison. Lewis pitched with the team through 2016, and currently serves as a special assistant to general manager Jon Daniels. Texas attempted to move Feliz, the 2010 AL Rookie of the Year, after a 40-save season to the starting rotation, and it failed miserably. He was never the same after several elbow surgeries, and although technically not retired, hasnt pitched in the MLB since 2017 with Kansas City. Harrison was traded to Philadelphia as part of the Cole Hamels trade in 2015, but never played a game with the Phillies, and is currently an organic chicken farmer in North Carolina.

Stars of the screen

Darren Oliver, David Murphy and Jeff Francouer all currently serve in broadcast roles. Oliver serves as an analyst for FSSWs pre and post-game coverage of Ranger home games. Murphy fills the same role for road contests. Francouer, an Atlanta fan-favorite, currently fills in as a color commentator on select Braves broadcast on Fox Sports South. He even served the same role on TBS broadcast of the 2019 National League Wild Card game.

Coaches

The 2010 Rangers roster is littered with Major League coaches. Bench Coach Clint Hurdle was hired by Pittsburgh in the offseason, and was one of the leagues longest-tenured managers before resigning his post in October.

Three players on the 2010 roster moved onto MLB coaching careers. Reliever Doug Mathis was hired as the teams bullpen coach for the 2020 season. Disgraced 2018 World Series champion manager Alex Cora played sparingly for Texas in 2010. Third base coach Gary Pettis currently serves the same role for Houston. Catcher Bengie Molina served as Texas catching instructor and first base coach in 2014.

Manager Ron Washington resigned his post amid questionable circumstances in 2014, and has bounced around the league as a third-base coach, serving that post with Oakland from 2016-17, and Atlanta since 2018. Pitching coach Mike Maddux serves the same post for St. Louis, and still is highly regarded after earlier stints with Washington.

Names you mightve forgotten about

Many Rangers fans forgot him, but amazingly, 38-year old first baseman Jorge Cantu still plays professionally in Mexico after a stint in the Korean Baseball League. Texas traded for him in July to platoon with the then-rookie Moreland. Catcher Matt Treanor is still married to volleyball star Misty-May. They have three children. Pitcher Mark Lowe played as recently as last year with the independent Sugar Land Skeeters.

Staff Writer covering the Texas Rangers for Dallas Sports Fanatic. Current journalism student at the University of Missouri. Christ follower, sports fanatic, easy-going cat who isn't picky.

Read this article:
2010 Texas Rangers: Where are they now? - Dallas Sports Fanatic

Netflix Modernizing The Sandman Offers Big Opportunities | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

The updated setting of Sandman presents a lot of new opportunities when it comes to the plot and the gender of a few characters.

Neil Gaiman provided a rare update on the status of the upcoming live-action Netflix adaptation of Sandman at DC FanDome. The live-action series was greenlit back in 2019, and the first season will consist of 11 episodes, comprising the first graphic novel collection ("Preludes and Nocturnes"). Gaiman has described the series as a "slightly looser, but still faithful adaptation," with the setting of the original graphic novel having been updated for the modern-day.

Gaiman also addressed Netflix's adaptation of Sandman and how the show's updated setting will have ramifications on characters and the plot. "What we're doing with Netflix is saying 'Okay, it's still going to start in 1916 but the thing that happens in Sandman #1 the point where it starts is not 1988, it's now,'" he explained. "How does that change the story? What is that going to do to the gender of characters? What is that going to do to the nature of characters? What is it going to do to the story? That is going to be a delight... it gives us tremendous freedom. If we were doing it now, what would Sandman be? That is very liberating." When looking at Gaiman's comments, it's clear the series has some big opportunities with its new setting.

RELATED:Neil Gaiman Explains How He Got DC to Let Him Break All the Rules With Sandman

Sandman has always been a series ahead of its time when it came to its depiction of gender, the graphic novel captured a significant female readership mostly due to its imaginative storytelling and large female supporting cast. If gender identity is an aspect of that's going to be more highlighted in the live-action series, then there area few ways it can be reflected.Dream and his six siblings in the Endless (Death, Destiny, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium) are personifications of ideasthat can take whatever form they wish to appear as, with different cultures conceptualizing them quite differently. Since the Endless are personifications of abstract ideas, it makes sense they could be re-evaluated over time and have a different appearance or gender. Desire, the younger sibling of Morpheus, is the embodiment of want and appears as an androgynous figure capable of gender-fluidity, appearing either male, female, both or neither depending on the situation.

Aside from the obvious changes to technology and the clothing trends, the updated setting will also change aspects of the plot. After the events of Sandman: Overture, a greatly weakened Morpheus was captured by Roderick Burgess and was imprisoned in a glass box in 1916. Roderick was attempting to capture Death in order to gain immortality but ended capturing Dream instead. Dream was imprisoned for nearly seven decades, being inadvertently released in 1988 by Alex Burgess, the elderly son of the long-deceased Roderick. Since his father was long dead at this point, Dream enacts his revenge on the Burgess family by cursing Alex with an unending series of nightmares.

Now that the setting has been changed to our contemporary period, Alex would have to be significantly younger if he is going to be used the exact same way he was in the source material. Other characters like Doctor Destiny, the son of Roderick's former mistress and Rose Walker will have to have their ages adjusted as well in order to match with the story. Another consequence of the updated setting is that as a result of Morpheus' century-long capture, a worldwide epidemic of sleeping sickness affected large swathes of the population, with people not being able to wake up until Dream was freed from his imprisonment. This plot point was especially important for Rose's grandmother UnityKinkaid, as she was one of the individuals who suffered through the sickness.

RELATED:Neil Gaiman and G. Willow Wilson Discuss the Effect of Their Nightmares on Writing Sandman

The nature of Dream, the protagonist of the series will also be fundamentally changed due to the updated setting. He was imprisoned for over a century, and immediately after being released, he went on a quest to reclaim his stolen items and repair the state of The Dreaming. After finishing his quest, Dream felt dejected and aimless until his older sister Death reminded him of his responsibilities. However, with today's world being even more directionless than the original setting, it's unclear how Morpheus will recover from his century-long incarceration and find meaning. This aspect of the updated settingis surely one that Gaiman is interested in exploring in the live-action series.

Netflix's modernization of Sandman offers a lot of new opportunities for the series to explore. However, even the smallest change could have massive effects on the overall story and theme. Luckily, with Gaiman on board as executive producer, the live-action series will have to remain faithful to its source material.

KEEP READING:DC: The 5 Best & 5 Worst Vertigo Stories, Ranked

Masters of the Universe: Kevin Smith Says the First Trailer Is a Long Way Off

See original here:
Netflix Modernizing The Sandman Offers Big Opportunities | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

A Year of Free Comics: Immortality isnt all that it seems in LIVE FOREVER – Comics Beat

In Live Forever Sarahs world gets knocked off its axis when her mother suddenly dies of cancer, and as the young girl struggles with the loss, the temptation of finding a way to never lose someone again becomes too strong. When she discovers a formula that will lead to eternal life, she doesnt realize at first the dangerous problem shes triggering.

Written and illustrated by Raul Trevino, the story brings to life what anyone who has lost someone they care about struggles with. Why did that person have to die? Whether they were too young or their illness or accident too devastating, or even if they had lived a full life and you were just not ready to let them go, death is a hard pill to swallow. It is not uncommon to wish for immortality, at least for those closest to you, but as Sarahs mysterious neighbor Samuel explains, if every fish kept on living in the sea, thered be no room for new little ones.

The black and white art features splashes of red here and there to accent specific elements, mainly blood, which, as the story unfolds, is a key part of a formula that challenges death. For Sarah, is her grief so intense that she is tempted to mess with the natural order of things? She soon learns that while her grief can be quelled and shell keep those she cares for, the results of this action will lead to a much larger crisis.

Live Forever functions on a few levels, which is why it is such an appealing story. It taps into the pain and emotions we all face when someone dies. It is also a fantastic thriller/horror tale filled with mysterious characters and details that slowly reveal themselves as the story progresses.

The complete series is available to read on Webtoons now. Click here to begin.

Related

Read the original post:
A Year of Free Comics: Immortality isnt all that it seems in LIVE FOREVER - Comics Beat

Jorge Masvidal is one win from immortality and a Conor McGregor payday – Insider – INSIDER

FIGHT ISLAND It's 2003 and backyard fights are one of the most watchable things on the internet, providing you're into barbaric, skull-cracking violence, like me.

A fresh-faced Jorge Masvidal had been training at the same Florida gym as the late Kimbo Slice, a barrel-chested brawler who was as bald as he was beardy, and who had been developing a cult hero status because of his knockout prowess in underground bouts.

Masvidal, an unknown entity even at a local level, received a call to see if he was interested in competing bareknuckle. He remembers ordering a McDonald's at the drive-thru when his phone rang at the time.

"Hell yeah," he said. "Damn right. Let's do it." Masvidal was always down to scrap.

One week later the teenager was trading blows with a mid-20s Miami bouncer called Reynoldo Fuentes, who had already knocked one guy out cold in Kimbo's backyard earlier that day.

Masvidal proved to be a far greater challenge, ESPN reported, as Fuentes lost.

Dressed in baggy jean shorts, Nike sneakers, and with long and thick hair tied behind his head in a ponytail, a shirtless Masvidal went to work on Fuentes.

He left his exhausted opponent needing two men to help him walk after it was called off, before slumping to the floor, beaten, with a concerned Kimbo watching on.

Kimbo, though, was so entertained he demanded to see a rematch a couple of months later.

Fuentes, known as "Rey," received $500 for the do-over, one he wanted to win so bad he had a "structured" fight camp as if it were an organized, sanctioned event, according to the UFC.

Masvidal, in contrast, had no stable income. He lived on his own, and with ready-cash hard to come by, he was sometimes forced to sleep in his car which he parked in the lot of Kimbo's gym, ESPN said.

A teenage, street-fighting Masvidal. Photos by Jorge Masvidal / YouTube

"It was a tough, soul-searching moment," Masvidal said on his YouTube channel. "It wasn't easy. There were no time limits on that, so we were just going. His shots were a little heavier than mine, especially back then at that time."

The structured camp Rey endured was obvious to Masvidal, who noticed he was tougher when taking shots to the body. Rey also floored Masvidal with a heavy straight right punch to the jaw. "Oh man, my head was spinning," Masvidal said. "And this f------ gorilla was still coming at me."

Though Rey knocked Masvidal down in the rematch, he couldn't knock him out and failed to keep up with the pace set by Masvidal, who varied his punch selection throughout the bout. Rey lost once again, this time with his hands on his knees, unwilling or just physically unable to go on.

Little did Rey know, but Kimbo had been interested in Masvidal for a while, identifying him from his gym as a potentially exceptional young striking talent.

Almost two decades later, after far surpassing Kimbo's fame level, Masvidal has once again taken a fight on a week's notice.

The stakes, this time, are much higher.

If victorious, Masvidal will wrest the UFC welterweight championship belt away from current ruler Kamaru Usman's waist, adding it to the "Baddest Mother F-----" belt he won after beating Nate Diaz, last year.

Masvidal enjoyed a breakout 2019 in which he was thrust from the consciousnesses of hardcore combat audiences and placed in front of the broader sports fan.

A title triumph at UFC 251 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi this weekend would amplify Masvidal's crossover appeal so much, he may coax Conor McGregor out of the Dubliner's abrupt retirement, a retirement few in the industry seem to believe anyway.

Coronavirus-induced chaos has marooned multiple athletes from "Fight Island" this weekend, so it's a good job Masvidal, a man also known as "Street Jesus," washed ashore with much acclaim to save the show and, in words he would likely use, "baptize a fool."

Event staff disinfects a UFC Octagon next to Bruce Buffer getting ready to announce a fight. Photo by Getty Images

COVID-19 threatened to dilute the quality of UFC's signature summer showcase to the world, a four-event residency in a 25 square kilometer region on Yas Island which is quarantined from the rest of Abu Dhabi.

The greatest event is Saturday's pay-per-view, UFC 251, which features three championship fights and many other significant showdowns.

Throughout the pandemic era in sports, one name or, rather, one acronym has stood above the rest in the wild west of combat sports landscapes.

After a three-month hiatus, the UFC returned to operations mid-May in Jacksonville, Florida, a month before Top Rank boxing restarted its own gig in Las Vegas, with around a third and sometimes as low as a quarter of the viewing figures which MMA's market-leader has been enjoying.

UFC continues to fine-tune how it navigates the prospect of live events behind-closed-doors, but no matter how much planning the company puts into health, safety, and card construction, nobody can predict who or how many athletes will test positive for the novel coronavirus.

Just ask Gilbert Burns, a 33-year-old ground game expert from Brazil, who has already excelled in one pandemic show so far one in which he tested negative for the coronavirus throughout. But he is now positive, and he is not alone.

Burns out-pointed the former welterweight champ, Tyron Woodley, on May 30 and was given the nod to take on Usman at "Fight Island."

But on Saturday, July 4, MMA Fighting reported that Burns tested positive for the coronavirus. Burns would not fly to "Fight Island," and the UFC's main event was in jeopardy.

Within hours, though, the UFC entered negotiations with Masvidal as decision-makers sought to save the company's marquee month of the year.

One day later, a deal was struck. Shortly after that, Masvidal tested negative for the coronavirus and so his representatives, First Round Management, could make plans to get their client from Las Vegas to Abu Dhabi by private jet.

Jorge Masvidal finally got a UFC title shot after 48 fights in MMA.

Though it was not the UFC's first choice for a "Fight Island" main event, an Usman-Masvidal match is the most significant pairing of fighters since Justin Gaethje upset Tony Ferguson in a dominant lightweight thriller, May 9.

UFC 249's main event two months ago showcased two of the very best athletes not only in the 155-pound weight class but in all MMA.

UFC 251, like the 249 event, showcases two of the very best athletes in a division, this time at welterweight. And both feature prominently in Insider's list of the 15 best MMA fighters today.

It rarely gets bigger, better, or badder not when a "Bad Mother F-----" is involved.

Some athletes enter the UFC with collegiate-wrestling backgrounds in America, with great ground game foundations in Brazil, or with a striking pedigree from Europe.

Being a bonafide badass may well be Masvidal's base style as street-fighting has been in his DNA since childhood when he roamed West Miami neighborhoods getting into rucks.

Jorge Masvidal knocked a guy out in front of Hugh Hefner. Photos by Getty Images

"I don't know how many heads I cracked," he said to Fightland of his developmental years as a child from 7 to 14. Armed with a knife, one kid even tried to mug him, he said.

But being known for cramming his knuckles into a random thug's mouth was not something he wanted as a reputation. He wanted to be a boxer, a wrestler. And when he found MMA, he realized he could be both.

Masvidal earned an $18,000 check for knocking someone out in front of Hugh Hefner.

It's 2007 and Masvidal finds himself in another man's backyard, punching another opponent in the face for the entertainment of an exclusive audience.

But this fight wasn't organized by Kimbo, and this wasn't underground.

This was a legitimate MMA operation called Strikeforce, promoted by eventual Bellator MMA boss Scott Coker, and this was the first cagefighting event held at the $200 million Playboy mansion in Beverly Hills.

Strikeforce had only held seven events at that point, and Coker viewed the opportunity as a no-brainer as it would see his brand placed alongside Playboy's.

"Hugh Hefner represented pop culture in a way that no else could," Coker later told Uproxx.

Tickets sold for a thousand bucks a pop, and one writer observed plenty of scantily-clad Playboy bunnies at cageside.

Masvidal walked into the cage at 10:11 p.m. armed with good-form having won five in a row.

One minute and 33 seconds after the opening bell, he left that same cage with another win this one was devastating.

Matt Lee, a lightweight, barely knew what hit him as Masvidal attacked him with his knees and elbows. It was not long before Lee wilted, falling half-beaten on the canvas.

Masvidal forced the referee to separate the pair after dispatching an avalanche of fists. Game over.

Who knows how inspiring it was for Masvidal to win, in style, at the Playboy mansion while Hefner sat a dozen feet away, wearing silk pajamas underneath a burgundy smoking jacket, clapping and smiling with his blonde girlfriends.

Fight night is a Versace robe night if you're Jorge Masvidal. Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

But 13 years later, many months after he had knocked out Darren Till, scored a 5-second highlight-reel KO over Ben Askren, and made Nate Diaz bleed in the "BMF" bout, Masvidal, at the height of his popularity, watched Conor McGregor destroy Donald Cerrone in January sporting his own bedroom style a black Versace robe.

Earlier this week, he boarded a private jet wearing a bright, Miami pink Versace robe, and looked relaxed while heading for Abu Dhabi to take on Usman, his greatest challenge to date.

While Masvidal may have been training for an opportunity like this, to step-in at late notice during a time in which the coronavirus can scupper a bout at any time, Usman will have been training only for Burns a jiu-jitsu specialist.

As Masvidal is a multi-dimensional striker with good wrestling, he is a significantly different style match-up for Usman than Burns was.

Usman is unbeaten in a five-year stretch with the UFC, a time in which he has scalped some of the top names in the division including Leon Edwards, Demian Maia, Rafael dos Anjos, Tyron Woodley, and Colby Covington.

Beating "The Nigerian Nightmare" would punctuate an unconventional career for Masvidal, and could well earn him a mega-money payday against Conor McGregor, should the Irishman return to the sport once again.

That the welterweight title would be on the line, and McGregor would be gunning for a championship belt in a third weight class, could be enough to coax him into the cage and it's something Masvidal told us he wants, too.

Masvidal would relish defending a title against McGregor, and he even told us earlier in the year that he'd happily put his "Baddest Mother F----" belt on the line, providing McGregor put something in the pot, too like a stake in Proper no. Twelve.

"If I put my [BMF] belt up, someone has to put something else up. Cash, money. Something that makes sense to me," Masvidal told Insider.

We piqued Masvidal's interest when we mentioned McGregor could offer shares in one of his companies, like his whiskey brand.

"If the company is worth any money, we can do something," he said.

McGregor may well be keen, telling the Las Vegas media ahead of his sole bout this year a UFC 246 smash-and-grab win over Donald Cerrone in January that he "would like that BMF title."

McGregor coined the phrase "red panty night," which is something the Dubliner says each of his opponents enjoys when they learn they've hit the jackpot a fight with him.

"You ring back home, you ring your wife, 'Baby, we've done it. We're rich, baby. Conor McGregor made us rich, break out the red panties'," McGregor said to Rafael dos Anjos at the "Go Big" press conference in 2015.

If Masvidal defeats Usman, which no man has yet done in the UFC, and you add a legacy-defining victory to the Floridian's escalating fame, a McGregor match would be a red panty night.

But it would likely be a Versace robe night, too.

Read more:

Dustin Poirier's blood and guts victory on Saturday puts him in the Conor McGregor conversation even though the Irishman is 'retired'

A bruised, bloodied and stitched-up Dan Hooker offered 'no excuses' after his loss to Dustin Poirier in an all-time UFC slobberknocker

UFC boss Dana White says he hasn't spoken to Conor McGregor for weeks, suggesting the Irishman's shock retirement is real

An MMA coach is being rebuked for failing to withdraw his fighter from a bout when the fighter begged him 9 times to stop it

Watch an American UFC fighter kick his opponent so hard in the calf that he couldn't even stand, let alone walk, straight after

Read more:
Jorge Masvidal is one win from immortality and a Conor McGregor payday - Insider - INSIDER

Aug. 19, 1951: Before Eddie Gaedel went to the plate, the Post-Dispatch got a heads-up – Houston Herald

Even the hapless St. Louis Browns had a few big baseball moments and one of the biggest stood only 3 feet 7 inches tall.

He was Eddie Gaedel, who was sent to the plate to bat leadoff at Sportsman's Park in the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 19, 1951.

Gaedel (pronounced guh-DELL) wore a uniform belonging to Bill DeWitt Jr., the 9-year-old son of the Browns' vice president and currently chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals. The jersey had the number "1/8" on the back.

Gaedel drew a walk on four pitches from Bob Cain and was promptly lifted for a pinch-runner. Although he never set foot in another baseball game, he became an instant legend at age 26.

Using a 3-foot-7 pinch-hitter was the brainchild of owner Bill Veeck, who tried to make up in showmanship what his team lacked in talent. This was different from Veeck's other stunts because, potentially, it could have affected the outcome of a game. As a result Veeck received criticism from some sportswriters.

The night before Gaedel's game, Veeck tipped off Post-Dispatch baseball writer Bob Broeg. In turn, Broeg made sure that Post-Dispatch photographer Jack January stuck around for the second game and Gaedel's appearance in the first inning.

Typical of the Browns: In the inning Gaedel started by drawing a walk, the Brownies loaded the bases. But they failed to score. In fact, they lost the doubleheader.

January's photo gave Gaedel baseball immortality. Gaedel died 10 years later in a saloon beating in his hometown of Chicago.

Eddie Goedel with other Browns baseball players in the dugout in 1951, featured in "Lost Treasures of St. Louis." Photo by Dorrill Photographers, Missouri Historical Society Photographs and Prints Collections

See more here:
Aug. 19, 1951: Before Eddie Gaedel went to the plate, the Post-Dispatch got a heads-up - Houston Herald

Words from the Heart: The Message | Columnists | thesuntimes.com – Heber Springs Sun-Times

There is one Message, many sermons with one Theme. Jesus is the Message. All people desire the revelation of God and His expectations. All desire freedom from guilt and immortality and make altars of sacrifice to God, or some god, to appease anger and obtain favor.

In Eden after being deceived by Satan, Adam and Eve were promised a Seed who would bruise Satan. That Seed is Jesus. Exodus tells of a Passover Lamb that saves from death. Christ is our Passover whose blood covers our sins. Leviticus points to Him as our High Priest who makes atonement for us, reconciling us to God after sin has separated us. Numbers portrays God in a covenant relationship with His people giving guidance, protection and food for them until they reach the land of milk and honey. Jesus is the Word, our Power for victory and the Bread of Life. In Deuteronomy Gods people are exhorted to be faithful and the laws are repeated for them and future generations. They would conquer by faith and obedience. By faith and obedience to Christ we, too, are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37).

The Book of Joshua speaks of Moses, a conqueror who typifies our conquering Savior Jesus Christ. Judges tells of the sins of the nation and the penalties they suffered by oppressing nations. When they repented, God raised up judges, ruling leaders, to deliver them. Gods people repented and offered sacrifices in Shiloh. Now Christ is Shiloh (Genesis 49:10), our place of meeting God, our altar, our Sacrifice and our High Priest. The Book of Ruth gives the beautiful story of the acceptance of a Gentile woman into the nation of Israel and the lineage of Christ. Here we see the mystery (Colossians 1:27) of God unfolding. He will save all Israel, that good olive tree (Romans 11:24) with grafted Gentile branches.

The historical Books tell us of a people and their God, their spiritual and moral warfare, their sins and their judgments. That glorious ministration was the classroom where the coming of Christ was taught. Job tells of the struggles of a righteous man and his longing for a daysman (Job 9:33) to plead his case. Job knew that one day that One would stand on the earth (Job 19:25). The Books of Poetry and Wisdom sing Gods praises, describe our struggles and prophesy of Christ. The Prophets spoke of Gods law and the blessings promised for obedience and the curses for disobedience throughout the history of Israel. They prophesied of Christ, longing and waiting for Him. Then there was a 400-year silence.

One day John the Baptist, breaking the silence, came preaching repentance in the name of Jesus. As his ministry decreased another began to increase. The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29) had come and people were being gathered to Shiloh. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, Jude. They have a word for you! Here comes the preacher! God-sent! We cant hear without a preacher. How beautiful the sight of a preacher with the Message from God! Hear, believe, call upon the name of Jesus and forgiveness and immortality are yours! Jesus is the final message from God. I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

Continued here:
Words from the Heart: The Message | Columnists | thesuntimes.com - Heber Springs Sun-Times

Alfredsson has earned his rightful place in the Hockey Hall of Fame – OttawaMatters.com

By the numbers, Alfredssons candidacy might not be a slam-dunk or scream induction, but they speak in a clear, firm voice to his HHOF worthiness, at first blush and even more so with closer scrutiny.

The esteemed Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee has a penchant for digging deep and finding inductees who escape detection on conventional radar.

Look no further than last year, when the committee unveiled Vaclav Nedomansky and Guy Carbonneau among their selections. Jimmy Shapiro would have given them long odds, if hed considered them at all, as betting shots beforehand.

There is a Hall of Fame candidate who has been right in front of their noses since 2017, a tenacious player and proven leader with lasting legitimacy in the NHL arena as well as international play.

His name is Daniel Alfredsson. He is the most important player in the modern history of theOttawa Senators, and he gets his fourth shot at hockey immortality on June 24 when selectors will again do their thing.

By the numbers, Alfredssons candidacy might not be a slam-dunk, or scream induction, but they speak in a clear, firm voice to his HHOF worthiness, at first blush and even more so with closer scrutiny.

His 1157 points in 1246 regular season games rank Alfredsson 54th on the all-time list, with Hall of Famers and future members, above and below him. With 444 goals, Alfredsson ranks 63rd all-time. In his first 1,001 NHL games, Alfredsson was virtually a point-per-game player, with 992 points. Injuries and age slowed him, but only as he approached age 40. In 2009-10, as he turned 38 and nudged past 1,000 games played, Alfredsson produced 71 points in 70 games for Ottawa, still a huge factor in the Eastern Conference.

Adjusted for the era in which he played (Hockey Reference uses a statistical measure to help compare goal scorers from Dead-Puck eras versus the Wild Westof the 1980s, etc.), Alfredssons numbers shine a little brighter.

Had he started his NHL career earlier than 1995 (hello, Mats Sundin), Alfredssons stat line might have looked like this, according to Hockey Reference: 1261 points (40th), 492 goals (47th).

More to the point, lets compare Alfredsson to his peers. A look at the top scorers of the first decade of the millennium isilluminating.

If he was an album, the decade of 2000-09 would represent Alfies Greatest Hits.

In that stretch of years, encompassing 674 games in his case, Alfredsson ranks third among all NHL scorers with 723 points (1.073 pts/game), behind only Joe Thorntons 823 points and Jarome Iginla with 724. Both of those players are expected to be in the Hall Iginla as early as this year.

It was during that decade that Alfredsson became the first European captain to lead his team to the Stanley Cup final, a five-game loss to the Anaheim Ducks in 2007. Alfredsson was a beast that spring. His 14 goals in 20 games led all scorers and doubled the output of Dany Heatley, considered the sniper of the famed Alfredsson-Heatley-Jason Spezza trio. Coincidentally, each member of the line produced 22 points to tie for the NHL playoff scoring lead. It was Alfredssons goal in overtime against the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference final that launched the Senators into the Cup final for the first time in the modern history of the franchise.

Alfie has more points than the Sedin twins individually, not combined! and more points than Marian Hossa, though fewer goals (Hossa has 525).

We could play this game all day, finding Hall of Fame players, or candidates, with numbers comparable to Alfredsson. The overriding sentiment has to come from the gut. Is he a HHOFer? My gut says, Yes.

Playoff-proven

Alfredsson didnt just lead his teams to the post-season, he blazed a path when they got there. In his 18 NHL seasons (including one year in Detroit, 2013-14), Alfredsson was in the playoffs 15 times. He was part of a spectacular run in Ottawa, 11-straight playoff appearances from 1997-2008. In 121 playoff games, Alfredsson scored 51 goals and 49 assists for 100 points.

Of those 51 goals, 11 were game-winners (21.5 per cent!), proving his clutch-iness. In the 2007 march to the final, Alfredsson scored four game-winning goals.

Awards

Had he won a Conn Smythe or Hart Trophy, Alfredsson would have already shown his wife Bibbi and their four boys his Hall of Fame plaque by now. Major awards impress selectors and Alfredssons career was better described as consistently excellent, rather than marked by one killer year. Alfredsson did win the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1995-96, a stunning achievement for a player drafted 133rd in 1994. He also won the 2011-12 King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership on and off the ice and the 2012-13 Mark Messier Leadership Award. Alfredsson is an advocate for mental health issues in Ottawa and beyond. If character matters to the Hockey Hall of Fame (there are certainly some characters in there), then Alfredssons bid moves up a notch.

That Alfredsson was not part of a Stanley Cup winner saddens the storyline but does not stain the legacy. He wasnt the one who let the Devils Jeff Friesen get away to steal Game 7 of the 2003 Eastern Conference final on Ottawa ice, when the Senators would have stood a great chance in the final against Anaheim. (The New Jersey Devils won the Cup). Nor was it Alfredssons fault that goaltender Dominik Hasek tore his adductor muscle (an anatomical reference that still resonates in the Nations Capital 14 years later) at the Turin Olympics and wasnt available for the NHL playoffs. The 2005-06 roster was arguably Ottawas best.

Stellar international resume

His fans and the most casual of hockey observers pretty much recognize his NHL career story. But my sense is that Alfredssons contributions to the broader game are vastly underappreciated. Put your hand up if you knew that Alfredsson participated in five Olympic tournaments for Sweden and is second all-time in Swedish Olympic scoring with 16 goals and 28 points. At the 2006 Olympics, Alfredsson was the best Swedish forward by far, outscoring his Toronto Maple Leafs rival Mats Sundin (a Hall of Famer). Alfredsson produced five goals and five assists in eight games to lead the Tre Kronor to the gold medal. Alfredsson was also part of a silver-medal Swedish effort at Sochi in 2014. Over the course of his career, Alfredsson, a product of the Frolunda HC, took part in 14 internationaltournaments for Sweden, including seven world championships (winning two silver medals, two bronze) and two world cups. In 88 international games, Alfredsson registered 74 points. Alfredsson was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2018.

Time for a Senator

After nearly 30 years, it is time to consider the moment when the modern Senators put their first player in the Hall of Fame. If not now, when? If not Alfie, then who? No other player who has suited up for Ottawa since 1992 has even close to Alfredssons stature in the organization. Alfredssons No. 11 was retired by the Senators on Dec. 29, 2016.

Beyond players, the late Bryan Murray deserves posthumous consideration as a Hockey Hall of Fame builder.

Murray coached the 2007 Senators team to the Cup final and went on to be a successful general manager in Ottawa as part of a lifetime in the game. Murray said of Alfredsson prior to the jersey retirement ceremony:

Ive been really fortunate to coach a lot of great players, a number of Hall of Famers over my career, and I can tell you theres none better than Daniel Alfredsson: work ethic, character, the way he played the game. He played right and he led the right way for many of the younger players.

It needs to be emphasized, Alfredsson was a complete player, not just an opportunistic forward. Though he didnt win a Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward, he did finish fourth in the Selke voting in 2006, an indication of his all-around excellence.

When the game was big and on the line, it was Alfie we wanted to have the puck, former Senators defenceman Wade Redden said. He was a part of all the biggest moments in franchise history.

Daniel Alfredsson deserves to be part of Hockey Hall of Fame history.

View original post here:
Alfredsson has earned his rightful place in the Hockey Hall of Fame - OttawaMatters.com

‘A billboard with 50 years of layers’: readers on Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways – The Guardian

Paul G, Devon

Sometimes, its good to sit on the porch with ol Bob. He was quite the hurricane back in the day, but now he likes to sip whiskey and tell tales, some of them tall enough. He knew some fine and beautiful women, and he talks tenderly, as if they were still beautiful even now. Hes sailed some stormy seas, been up that creek without a paddle, and he has some old-time wisdom to impart. But he wraps it up in smoke and wind, , though, so you never can tell whether youve been tricked or treated. It just annoys the hell out of some people. I cant take the way he sings, but I love to hear him talk.

This is a triumphant performers album. The vocal cadences and rhythms, the hesitations and delays, the foregrounding and entropy all add up to a magnificent and, to be honest, unexpected development of his singular take on the musical traditions he has been working in for decades. Rough and Rowdy Ways [RARW] is like nothing hes created before comparisons to previous albums, especially those in his renaissance golden age post-1997, are pointless. As ever, there is a deft precision with language; the confidently understated vocal delivery (maybe with the exception of Key West) clearly shows the period of American Songbook covers was not for nothing. Beneath it all is some exquisite music (has Charlie Sexton ever played guitar so well?), which helps define the melodies Dylan eschews in a true blues manner. There is simply no one like him who is producing music of this quality, challenging us, framing a view of the world you just have to take seriously. A performers masterpiece, and to do it at almost 80 years old. Dylan continues to bring such joy to my life.

For me Dylan is like an old girlfriend: beautiful and engaging, who took you travelling down the open roads. Then you hear shes back in town. You go to the bar, keeping to the shadows to catch a glimpse and its like watching your granny pole-dancing. You leave, sadder, wiser. Crossing the Rubicon took me to Tower of Song, and with Leonard I remained.

Oh its good alright, but hard to tell how good because theres no precedent for it. We have a man of almost 80 years speaking about the human condition in ways that pop music hasnt seen before. Look at other elder statesmen to have bothered the upper ends of the chart Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett, Tom Jones, even Vera Lynn! all with collaborative or retrospective work. Dylan sounds nothing like he has in the past. I want to hear what music hell be making at 100.

This album has been bigged up by professional critics over the age of 50, but they are all closet fans. A true reading of the album reveals that it is pretty slapdash, has no real purpose or form, is melodically weak and derivative, and lyrically shallow. All the songs are about Dylan himself, who promises to contain multitudes on the albums opener but can only do so in a titular way, name-checking icons from a random past and developing no ideas or insights beyond two lines. The Dylan who speaks the songs (they are barely sung) is, of course, the famous Wanted Man from 1969, who has been so famous for so long that every word he speaks is hung on to like a papal encyclical to be interpreted and applied in the lives of the faithful for years to come. But he also has a half-hearted line in using personae so that he can pretend none of the songs are really about himself. If he contains multitudes, it is only in a shallow sense. This is indeed a shallow album. A shallow grave.

Its impossible to express in words the strength of my feeling for this album. It has surpassed my expectations by several orders of magnitude. Sure, the reviews were universal raves, but you never know until you see (or hear) for yourself. In fact, the 5 star reviews actually undersold this record. This isnt the patchy, posturing Tempest, or the bloated, turgid Modern Times. No, this is a real Dylan album, his best since Love and Theft; indeed, many of the songs here would not disgrace that masterpiece, which is really saying something. I also hear echoes of Highway 61 Revisited. That said, its unique in the Dylan canon, in all of popular music in fact. Musically varied, lyrically rich, strange, and fascinating. Its funny; its sad. It rocks; it mesmerises. It excites; it soothes. Feels like a continuation, but also a culmination. Key West will join the pantheon of great, late Bob, up there with Red River Shore, Mississippi, Trying to Get to Heaven, Highlands, etc. By the time you get about halfway through Murder Most Foul, youre practically tripping. Blessed are we to be living in the Dylan era. Everything else in popular music is just dust beneath the soles of his Cuban heeled boots. Mind blowing. I was in tears this morning when I first played this CD. What else can anyone say? Thanks, Bob once again you have enhanced our lives.

The Amazon drone shot this contact-free through my letter box this morning. Pouring a large glass of Johnnie Walker Blue and settling back and diving in. Bob is still very funny. My Own Version of You is Mary Shelley recast as Edgar Allan Poe in a creepy midnight graveyard somewhere down south. False Prophet is an angry Trump takedown, and theres bluesy streams of consciousness and leaps of urban poetry. Theres sundown romance and a ragged charm. And the usual quota of Dylanesque one-liners. His band, seasoned by a thousand nights on the road, fit him like a well-worn black coat. Hes still driving through that old weird America. Rough and rowdy, but in true style.

Those cover albums werent for naught. Some of the Frank Sinatra charm rubbed off You dont know me darling, you never would guess, he flirts at one point. He cant croon, but he can rasp with style. The instrumentation flutters around him, letting the words breathe. This isnt Bob the poet, this is Bob the entertainer having fun with his own legacy. A joy.

As a self-confessed Dylanologist, I am very happy with this record. For those paying attention, Dylan has been busy for some time creating, or perhaps curating, a new language of expression. The incessant inter-textualisation of pop culture allusions and literature, the love and, often blatant, theft of pre-war blues, Japanese pulp novels, civil war poets, New Orleans travel guides, and frankly anything not tied down. A means to solve a dilemma of how you still write great songs when admittedly you cant quite do it as freewheelingly as you used to. Allen Ginsberg once questioned Dylan as to whether he worried about being hung one day as a thief but it has clearly never bothered Dylan. Over time its become clear the theft was part of the the act itself. A means of expression to which Rough and Rowdy Ways might be the most exquisite artefact to date.

Here the whole of human history is on the chopping block. Anne Frank sits beside Indiana Jones and Martin Luther King beside Calliope. All of time recycled, regurgitated, reborn and lurching into life with grace and violence of the De Niro/Brando robot commando from My Own Version of You. Its a book of answers but not to all questions. Is this a political record? What does he think about Trump? Or the pandemic? This record isnt about one terrible person or one terrible time but instead about all people and all time. A map of the human condition in all its complexities and shadow and delights. A reminder of our multitudes, our tributaries, rivers and ravines. In a time of polarisation, truth-twisting and binary debate, its liberating.

In double good news, the record sounds great: warm and intimate with just enough reverb to let those Dylanesque lines linger, delivered in that knowable and unknowable, Mona Lisa-esque, both deadpan and expressive delivery, that lingers with you days, months, years afterwards. For those of us who care (perhaps a little too much), its a rich velvety stew that will sustain us for some time. However, theres enough here for anyone that listens, all of life even, rough and rowdy, and impossible to ignore.

This record is a line in the metaphorical sand. What we are all lucky enough to be hearing is a serious intellect at work here, a very big brain sold to us all as a simple song and dance man. This may in one way be the most accurate description of Bob Dylan, but for mine, who else could have the high prose and music chops to cut through the ever thickening fog of this tormented world and show us despair and hope so openly in a single musical setting. There isnt another recording artist alive who has laid down art their own way for so long and so magnificently. There will never be another quite like this man, so lets sit back and bask in the wonder of this record, an artist, the real song and dance man, at the top of his game the game again.

Hes stayed true to his values throughout his career, from Blowing in the Wind and With God on Our Side, to Lenny Bruce and Murder Most Foul. He didnt sell his soul to gain greater advantage. With a recording career that spans almost 60 years, and contains numerous masterpieces, this is an uncommon achievement. On Rough and Rowdy Ways, his fusing of insightful language within a variety American song traditions blues, jazz, spoken word, swing advocates for a cold, hard look at the injustices of everything from lost love to failed states. Murder Most Foul, his longest song ever, strips misinformation from the mythology of the Kennedy assassination, implicating a small cabal of plotters, and functions as a kind of metaphor for the corrupt and crumbling America of today. This is an extraordinary use of his notoriety.

His songwriting is like a billboard with 50 years of layers. Showing through the parts that have fallen away are the many things that have been before, the analogues of history, references to the past and the seeds for the future. Its songwriting in the most collage way possible and its great.

I had listened to three tracks and knew this would be a powerful album. Then I found out the release date to be Juneteenth. By then I was giddy because of the timing. Three weeks ago, I completely lost my mind in grief and rage. OK, so heres what I think about Rough and Rowdy Ways: a masterpiece and, once more, he expresses how I feel, which helps me wrestle with these worst of times.

This is as comfortable as hes ever sounded. Even the blues stomps are loose and easygoing. Its his goal of having the past, present and future all in the same place, fully realised. Hes done with being lovesick, resigned to building his own version. Even the love songs (such as Ive Made Up Mind to Give Myself to You) seem to be more about life on the road than a commitment to a newly found relationship. The singing is as good as its been since Time Out of Mind. I wasnt all that interested in his recent run of covers records, but it obviously inspired a softness in his vocal approach and, with the music, it gives off a feeling of continuous drift. In the end, hes content sitting on the beach, watching it all burn.

Its his best writing in years. Bob Dylan writes like hes 1,000 years old. Hes in the pantheon. This is Shakespeare after his Tempest. Hes gone a step further into song, more expansive, and wider. He said he wrote it like trance writing or something like that, like he wrote before his accident in 1966. Key West is elsewhere, somewhere ahead and after, hes speaking from somewhere and sending back something. And his voice! Its clear and expressive and very briefly vulnerable. The musicians sustain this beautiful mood without overstepping, and theres so much love in it.

The great new songs here are as literature a mixture of (blended) John Ashbery-like textual collages and a librarians shopping list of books and CDs; the violently vivid narratives hinting at Joseph Conrad and Larry Brown. What is more fascinating is the restrained background music which continues from what Dylan presented in his recorded Nobel prize speech, while his confident phrasing (and recording technique: its new intimacy) seems to have developed from what he learned doing the Sinatra covers. Overall, a glorious concoction that is an achievement for any artist of any age living at any time.

Much like the release date of Love and Theft, which was released on September 11, 2001 and uncannily mentioned a sky full of fire, pain pourin down in its song Mississippi, the release of Bob Dylans new album is uncanny. With everything blowing in the wind from a corrupt presidency, to a pandemic raging through the country to Black Lives Matter protests against systemic racism and murder, nothing less than the soul of America is up for grabs and will be decided in the US election in November. With this as the background, Bob Dylan releases his new music into the social maelstrom that is 2020. Prophet. Poet. Musician and Nobel laureate. Dont miss it.

The killing frost is on the ground and autumn leaves are gone: a simple line from this new record that contains the proverbial multitudes. Time rolls on, there are threats from every corner, and all we can do is stand, or make our stand. But as any Dylan fan knows, the words dig deeper than that: Autumn Leaves, the standard performed with such delicacy by Dylan in recent years; the poetry of Robert Frost, and those roads less travelled; Howlin Wolfs savage, primal Killin Floor.

Dylans best work of recent years offers paths into older works of song and literature and history, and this new record, with its singular unity of purpose presents a world where Frankenstein creates his monster, Caesar founds his empire, and Whitman crafts his epic poetry all at the same time, and all for the same reasons: either immortality or stubbornness. Dylan has always been masterful at combining the imagery of the old west with that of the New Testament, but with this work he has succeeded in bringing it all back to the classics, and all the way up to the great American novel, where the story of a new empire can be told through the tale of those who struggle within it: Thats my story, but not where it ends, shes still cute, and were still friends, Dylan tells us as the utterly gorgeous Key West comes to a close. Simple words and simple language again suggesting something far larger, far more multitudinous. This album is a quiet, humble masterpiece from an artist at the peak of his powers.

I have a theory that all the rock dad guys from way back release some ignorable stuff in their 50s and 60s, but when they are nearing the winter of their life, they knock it out of the park. Bowie with Blackstar, Leonard Cohen with You Want It Darker, even Springsteen with Western Stars (although I hope that doesnt mean well be losing him any time soon); the closer to death, the better it gets. This is definitely what weve received from Dylan this time. Doing what he wants for a few years recording Sinatra standards, hes pulled his socks up and gifted us this. Its really great. I just hope my theory means Paul McCartney has another Band on the Run in him.

I loved the standards trilogy, unlike many, but still I couldnt wait for new original material. Murder Most Foul came out of the blue, or should I say out of the darkness of lockdown. Between online appointments one early afternoon I was informed of its existence, and put it on in my 10-minute break. It had me bawling after about 10 minutes, and I had to postpone my appointment and straighten up. I really dont cry often. But I find that song almost overwhelming every time I hear it. Its very tasteful to have made it not only the final track of the album, but also a separate CD its the second act of a two-act piece. As for the first act, Im still digesting it. Ive already listened to it three times, twice last night on Spotify, before crawling to bed, desperately trying not to awaken my family with my bursting joy and tears. I maintain that Dylans genius is not his songs, not his lyrics. It is his voice, his presentation of his worlds. It has changed more times than any musical style or costume of his contemporaries. And now that finally, truly he cannot sing, it moves and beguiles me more than ever. When he was a young man, he tried to sound like what a young man thinks an old wise man sounded like. Now hes old, he doesnt try to sound wise at all. And thats what sounds pretty wise to me and ol Socrates.

When I saw that the Guardian was taking reviews from the public for Bob Dylans latest album, I was ecstatic. Finally, my inner agent thought, a chance to break out that dusty literature degree and say something clever. I was going to say something deep, meaningful, heartless about the lost soul and moral decay of America. Yawn. Then I remembered something someone who was actually clever must have told me: good writing comes from the heart. One song from Rough and Rowdy Ways moved my heart. Ive Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You is a beautiful song and a breath of fresh air. Love songs arent hard to come by, but not this kind.

Here Dylan struck my heart with another kind of love. Its the kind of forgotten love that really makes the world go round: the love that keeps the doctors and nurses checking in day-in, day-out; the love that keeps the food banks open; the love that makes the planets spin; a love so real, a love so true. Ive Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You is inspired by a confidence that goes beyond mere logic. In our world of number-crunching, box-ticking, deadline-beating, objective-hitting productivity, why would this kind of love ever need mention? But isnt this exactly the kind of love we need? A love that says, here I am, and when we ask but why? it replies simply: Just because.

This has been with me all day. Soaking slowly into my memory jukebox, like charred oak in a whiskey barrel. Bobs recent runs of original albums had some real highlights, but I dont revisit them all that often. I gave that whole Sinatra thing a miss (if I really want to hear some old feller murdering a standard, I can go to any city-centre boozer at closing time), and I stopped seeing him live about 15 years ago, after another truly, embarrassingly awful 75-minute growl fest. But this is Bob back on familiar territory, with laid-back, well-played bluesy songs, that suit his weathered croak. A tour through a world gone wrong, a rusting Empire Burlesque on the slide, possibly after the misguided election of a false prophet. Theres dark graveyard humour, aching love songs to old flames that still flicker, a long scene by scene musical version of Oliver Stones best film mixed in with a flick through Bobs vinyl collection. It feels like going for a ride in an old Cadillac through an America of Hemingway and Hopper, all the way to Key West, with Howlin Wolf and Jimmy Reed on the transistor radio.

Alexis Petridis: Rough and Rowdy Ways review a testament to Bob Dylans eternal greatness.

Go here to read the rest:
'A billboard with 50 years of layers': readers on Bob Dylan's Rough and Rowdy Ways - The Guardian

Virtual U.S. Open: Palmer, Boros and other challengers – Pro Golf Now

Use your (arrows) to browse

The field of contenders for the 2020 virtual U.S. Open is sufficiently deep that as many as two dozen players stand at least a plausible chance of winning. After all, there have been a lot of great national champions since the tournament came into being in 1895.

Beyond the 11 favorites whose profiles were outlined yesterday, at least 14 others could seriously contend. Between 1902 and 2018, those 14 have accounted for 19 championships. Their ranks are populated by some of the games immortals: Palmer, Player, and Watson among them.

At the very top of the list of second-tier candidates, though, is a name rarely thought of when golf immortality is measured. Julius Boros was a trained accountant, not a product of a golf academy, who approached the game with the faculties an accounting background brings.

Walking to the ball, Boros gait was deliberate to the point of indifference. During that walk up, it was as if he was calculating in his mind the various ramifications of each aspect of the shot. Once over the ball, though, Boros was both precise and decisive, never spending more than a second or two in his setup.

That pre-set approach led Boros to a pair of U.S. Open titles, at Northwood in Dallas. Eleven years later, Boros beat Arnold Palmer and Jackie Cupit in a playoff for the 1963 title at the Country Club in Brookline.

Between 1951 and 1960 the peak of his Open performance Boros was seven times among the top 10, finishing third in 1958 and 1960. Never in that period was he outside the top 25, and it is his consistency at peak level that accounts for the -1.24 average standard deviation of his peak Open performance. Thats outside the best 11, but only barely.

Here are profiles of the other 13 in the second tier of serious contenders.

Use your (arrows) to browse

Visit link:
Virtual U.S. Open: Palmer, Boros and other challengers - Pro Golf Now

Dream Team missed date with immortality – The Herald

The Herald

Allan Muchibwa

Sports Correspondent

THE task of comparing teams across generations is never easy, largely due to the fact conditions are never uniform.

One thing I admit becomes apparent, during these discussions is that success, indeed, means different things to different people.

For some, the consideration has to be more than just cold, bare trophy hauls.

Football is also about intangibles the aura, the style and the effects of a team on generations to come.

The intangibles should be considered in tandem with the tangibles.

To be regarded as the best team has to come along with some measure of success, otherwise, it becomes easy to dismiss as a classic case of nostalgia, as opposed to a matter of fact.

Perhaps the fact that the greatness, or lack of it, of the Dream Team, has generated this debate, confirms we are in a new age in football, and sport, where the generation is obsessed with statistics and tangibles.

Every generation believes subsequent generations have it easier than they did.

The hallmark of great teams is always balance, demonstrated by significant contribution from all team members across the pitch.

The great teams of the world have standout players but they also had other members contributing in equal measure across the park.

The great AC Milan side of Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiolas Barcelona, Jupp Heynckes Bayern Munich, and Jurgen Klopps current Liverpool were all characterised by incredible balance right across the park.

The responsibility was distributed among the entire squad.

One could argue this was the case with Reinhard Fabischs Dream Team minus the success.

You would be hard pressed to single out a misfit from back to front.

They had the genius of Peter Ndlovu and the grace of Vitalis Takawira, but the supporting cast were no sloths either.

Can the same be said of the Warriors team, for example, which qualified for the 2017 AFCON finals under Callisto Pasuwa? Hardlife Zvirekwi was an honest, hardworking fullback, but is he in the class of Mercedes Rambo Sibanda?

How does the centre half pairing of Costa Nhamoinesu and Elisha Muroiwa compare to Ephraim Chawanda and Francis Shonhai?

One could argue that the Warriors teams that have come through since have been characterised by a marked and distinct reliance on individuals to carry the fortunes of the team.

It was Peter Ndlovu, for the most part, it has become Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat lately.

But even when a team is gifted and balanced, how do we measure greatness if it does not translate into some form of achievement or success?

The Dream Team had the second highest number of points amassed in a single qualifying campaign.

We are limited to comparing qualifying campaigns number of points versus number of games played.

Was the Dream Team a great team?

Absolutely!

However, for many, they missed an opportunity to become a truly iconic team to create a dynasty, which explains how the younger generation perceives them.

Unfortunately, people do not consider how many runs a striker makes in a game they are more concerned by how many goals he bags.

It is the nature of sport, and life, in general. Will history remember Saul Chaminukas ZPC team or Callisto Pasuwas Dynamos team who actually won the title on that final day?

Charles Mhlauris CAPS United thrilled and delighted but continental history will record that David Mandigoras less fancied Dynamos got to the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League.

Manchester United won the Premier League title in the 1996/97 with 75 points, whilst Liverpool were runners-up in 2018-19 with 97 points.

In fact, this Liverpool team was so good Guardiola said it was probably the most difficult team he has had faced as a player or coach.

Under Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham Hotspur made huge strides both as a team and as a club.

However, they never won trophies they did not achieve the tangible and Pochettino was fired just months after reaching Champions League final.

Instead, Claudio Ranieris direct football at Leicester won them the league in the 2015/16 season.

Again, you can only beat what is in front of you.

The Warriors teams which have gone on and qualified for the AFCON finals have been exposed to possibly the some of the worst possible conditions in their qualifying campaign.

They travelled to Swaziland and Malawi by road, they have had hastily-arranged camps, they were not paid their bonuses, the environment was not conducive for them to do well.

The Dream Team had it better in this regard. Having an expanded format is no guarantee that a team qualifies.

Ghana missed out in 2004, Mali in 2006, Algeria in 2008, Morocco in 2010, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria in 2012, Cameroon in 2013, Nigeria in 2015 and 2017.

In all these instances, these teams had some top, world-class talents in their respective setups.

The reason the Dream Team are still part of the discussion, decades later, is that the generation they thrilled are still present to add to the discussion.

The 2004 team will become more symbolic 40 years on, with a new generation, because they will be the first Warriors side to qualify for the AFCON finals whatever the circumstances.

What the Dream Team did can be eroded by time, because they are just memories, what the Warriors of 2004 did cannot, because they will always be backed by facts.

Memories fade as generations pass, but trophies, milestones and achievements stand the test of time.

The reality is that the Dream Team will be a favourite team, especially for the older generation, but years from now, they may not be as iconic as the 2004 Warriors team.

They will not have a place in the CAF records of participants like the Warriors of 2006, 2017 and 2019.

All teams encounter challenges and hurdles and they have to find ways to confront them.

Conditions are never perfect, teams will be judged against the conditions of their day, the Dream Team had a limited qualifying quota.

In an expanded format, some argue they would have qualified for the AFCON but, we will never know.

Meanwhile, the Warriors teams, post-2000, have had to deal with diabolical planning and organisation of colossal proportions.

One could argue with better administration, they would have done even better in qualifying, as well as at the competition finals.

The underlying reality, however, and a lesson for any sportsman, is that entertaining alone is not enough.

The Dream Team missed an opportunity to become the immortals of Zimbabwean football no one can question that.

Allan Muchibwa is a part-time guest sports analyst at Capitalk 100.4 FM and briefly worked as Dynamos media liaison officer.

See more here:
Dream Team missed date with immortality - The Herald

On Trevor Ariza and the NBA Season Restarting – Blazer’s Edge

Portland Trail Blazers forward Trevor Ariza has decided to sit out the 2019-20 NBA season restart in Orlando, Florida next month. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Ariza was opting to spend the month with his son, in accordance with his pre-scheduled visitation program.

Reactions to the news were varied, depending largely on perspective. Among them was this Blazers Edge Mailbag question.

Dear Dave,

Ariza is skipping the rest of the season. Kudos to him for thinking of family first. I assume thats your take too? Id still like to hear you say it and how you feel about the re-starting season.

Kimberly

I am fully supportive of Trevor Ariza skipping the season restart in Orlando this summer. This isnt because of an affinity for family, specifically. Id be supportive of him staying home if his family unit consisted of nothing but himself. I support him because hes a human being. For that same reason I support Arizas son and the need to see his dad. I also support his ex and the need/right to negotiate over childcare.

One of the things that disturbed me about the initial news breaking was the claim that Arizas co-parent wouldnt switch the visitation time. Not only do I wonder how we know the full story on that, I wonder why it should matter. She gets to be a whole human being too, not just an ex-partner of a pro ballplayer bound eternally to external demands that we all place upon him. Both the phrasing and the implication were poor, in my estimation.

I am absolutely against reducing human beings to objects, considering them important only to the extent they deliver things we, the public, need from them. Part of Arizas identity is professional basketball player. That tells us something about his particular expression of humanity. So does being a father. So do a million other things. His personhood is wrapped up in all of them, but not predicated on any.

Were free to feel however we wish about a player missing games for the Blazers. If were sad or disappointed, so be it. We can own those feelings. But those are our feelings. Like every basketball player, Ariza has a life and purpose beyond them. His personal validity isnt predicated on giving us what we want.

The golden rule: All people are human first, everything else second. Signing an NBA contract doesnt change that.

As a follow up, I feel the need to talk about something with you all.

Blazers Edge will cover the NBA season restart. Not doing so would have little practical effect. National and local outlets will surely be following whether or not we do. And hey, there are probably good reasons to write about the event.

As we cover the games, our site will speak the language of basketball, with all the enthusiasm and professionalism youve come to expect. Again, theres little point in doing otherwise. Writing about the sport while lamenting writing about the sport is self-defeating. It wouldnt erase the problematic parts, itd simply drain out the good.

That doesnt mean that Im happy that the NBA is restarting at this time and in this manner. Personally, Im not. Because of who they are and whats at stake, we knew they were going to do something. I think they could have proceeded in safer, saner fashion. I would have been fine with them skipping the whole thing, having a tournament of four, or just letting the Lakers and Bucks play it out for the 2020 title.

I dont care as much about the basketball aspects of this as the human aspects. Basketball significance will fade over time. The validity of this restart will probably last until the moment observers figure out that the championship is being decided not just by talent and team play, but by which rosters remain least affected by COVID-19. Even if we get a relatively unstained process, people will always put an asterisk on this season. In time, itll blend into a hundred other championships, significant mostly to the team who ends up winning it.

Human beings are supposed to mean more than that. I get the human urge to gain immortality by achieving unique acts remembered long after they pass. I understand that the effect of a life can outlive the individual who lives it. Im just not sure anything that happens on a court this summer in Orlando will achieve that. Anybody remember any of the winners of the ancient Grecian Olympic festivals? How about medalists from the 1950s modern Olympics?

When achieving that kind of immortality comes by risking real, human lives, Im not sure weve done anything worth remembering. Lives matter more. Health matters more. I could make an argument that every career on the line in Orlando matters more than the actual title this year. If my glory costs you your lungs and your ability to continue the career youve dedicated your life to, is that glory worth celebrating? What if that title alters the lives of coaches, trainers, or families, referees or staff at the event?

During normal seasons, we dont have to ask these questions...at least not on this kind of system-wide scale. Were forced to this year, but it still feels like were pretending otherwise. It feels like as long as we have an NBA Champion and some sense of completion, all other problems will solve themselves. As anyone whos had a friend or relative suffer, let alone die, from this virus will tell you, thats not even close to true.

Lets be honest. Were now participating in a reality where a national news figure has encouraged us to critique the decisions of a players ex-partner regarding visitation for her son, the results of which will keep a relatively minor small forward on a low-contention team out of an abbreviated season that maybe shouldnt be played anyway. Were also participating in a reality where those same news-breakers release COVID-19 information like it was free agency or draft news. Maybe this reality is necessary? That doesnt mean its good, or anything short of ridiculous.

So yes, well cover this. Thats what we do when the NBA plays. Please dont mistake that for approval. If, God forbid, something should happen to a player or a family member, let our voice be registered before the ball ever tipped on Game 1 of the restart. Were writing about this because we have to, not because we think its right. As human beings, myself and the members of the Blazers Edge Staff are entitled to opinions too, even if those include incredulity that the season is restarting in this manner.

I guess if you pushed me, Id say I hoped everyone stays healthy in Orlando (obviously) and that fans of the NBA are able to enjoy it. The fact that we even have to address agonizing family and health issues more than a month before the first game commences might already indicate that the restart experiment, as constructed, was not worth it either way. Even in the best-case scenario, the final game of the 2020 NBA Playoffs wont bring a sense of pleased accomplishment as much as relief.

Dave Deckard (blazersub@gmail.com / @DaveDeckard / @blazersedge)

Original post:
On Trevor Ariza and the NBA Season Restarting - Blazer's Edge

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. Appoints Andrea Park as Chief Financial Officer – Yahoo Finance

AgeX Therapeutics , Inc. ("AgeX": NYSE American: AGE), a biotechnology company developing therapeutics for human aging and regeneration, announced today that Andrea Park has been appointed Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Park replaces Russell Skibsted who served in that role since the Company was organized in 2017.

Andrea Park served as our Vice President of Finance and Controller since October 2019. Her career includes over 24 years of public accounting and finance experience. Before joining AgeX, she served as Vice President of Finance and Controller of Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. While at Lineage from August 2009 to September 2019, Ms. Park was directly involved in the accounting and financial reporting of the public spin-off and eventually the deconsolidation of three of its then subsidiaries including Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc., OncoCyte Corporation and AgeX. Earlier in her career she has worked in the audit and assurance practice at Deloitte. Ms. Park has a B.A. in Business Economics with Concentration in Accounting from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mr. Skibsted will continue to provide services to the company as a consultant.

About AgeX Therapeutics

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AGE) is focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics for human aging. Its PureStem and UniverCyte manufacturing and immunotolerance technologies are designed to work together to generate highly defined, universal, allogeneic, off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell-derived young cells of any type for application in a variety of diseases with a high unmet medical need. AgeX has two preclinical cell therapy programs: AGEX-VASC1 (vascular progenitor cells) for tissue ischemia and AGEX-BAT1 (brown fat cells) for Type II diabetes. AgeXs revolutionary longevity platform induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR) aims to unlock cellular immortality and regenerative capacity to reverse age-related changes within tissues. AGEX-iTR1547 is an iTR-based formulation in preclinical development. HyStem is AgeXs delivery technology to stably engraft PureStem cell therapies in the body. AgeXs core product pipeline is intended to extend human healthspan. AgeX is seeking opportunities to establish licensing and collaboration arrangements around its broad IP estate and proprietary technology platforms and therapy product candidates.

For more information, please visit http://www.agexinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not historical fact including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as "will," "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates" should also be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in more detail in the "Risk Factors" section of AgeXs most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commissions (copies of which may be obtained at http://www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. AgeX specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005241/en/

Contacts

Michael D. West, Ph.D.mwest@agexinc.com (510) 671-8370

Read more here:
AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. Appoints Andrea Park as Chief Financial Officer - Yahoo Finance

Cyberpunk 2077 Xbox One X Limited Edition Console Is A Sight To Behold In These New Images – Wccftech

The limited-edition Cyberpunk 2077 Xbox One X console is now in the hands of some lucky players, and new images of the console have emerged online.

The new images, which can be found on Imgur, have been shared by Reddit user Arasaka, who is among the first that managed to buy the limited edition console. Needless to say, the console looks amazing.

Xbox Store Redesign Leaks, Videos Shows Super Responsive Navigation

The Cyberpunk 2077 Xbox One X bundle includes a 1TB custom Xbox One X console, a digital copy of the game and a limited-edition controller.

New Cyberpunk 2077 details were supposed to come in just a few days in the Night City Wire event, but CD Projekt Red confirmed yesterday that the event has been postponed to June 25th due to the protests that have erupted in the United States late last month.

We decided to move Night City Wire to Jun 25th. We still look forward to sharing new information about CP77, but more important discussions are happening right now and we want them to be heard. We wholeheartedly stand against racism, intolerance and violence. Black Lives Matter.

Cyberpunk 2077 launches on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on September 17th.

obsessed with power, glamour and body modification. You play as V, a mercenary outlaw going after a one-of-a-kind implant that is the key to immortality. You can customize your characters cyberware, skillset and playstyle, and explore a vast city where the choices you make shape the story and the world around you.

Read the original post:
Cyberpunk 2077 Xbox One X Limited Edition Console Is A Sight To Behold In These New Images - Wccftech

‘The Old Guard’ Teaser: Charlize Theron has been an immortal warrior for generations, but now she’s in trouble – MEAWW

Considering the film industry is on an indefinite pause owing to the pandemic, fans are just surviving on all the streaming platforms for the moment. On May 7, Netflix gave an insight into their upcoming projects in a big way, with a first look at the Charlize Theron-led adaptation of 'The Old Guard'. Apart from that, the streaming platform also shared a brief teaser, which explains a little about Theron's character, Andy. In the teaser, there is a montage of photos of people and the narrator says he has finally learnt the secret about them they're immortal.

The Old Guard was created by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez. In the comic, we are introduced to Andromache of Scythia, a woman who is seemingly immortal, and just can't seem to die, even with the most fatal of wounds. Her name literally means "Man-Fighter" or "Battler Of Men". Andy has met others like her and realized that at some point death will come for them, with no warning and no apparent explanation. Why did that arrow, bullet or stone kill them, when nothing else didn't?

She was born thousands of years ago and has been through generations. "It was important to feel the weight of thousands and thousands of years on her," Theron told Vanity Fair. "The worst part for her is just feeling like shes not doing anything. So what is the point, you know? Shes lost faith, not just in herself but in humanity. I think a lot of people can relate to that at this moment in time. We go through periods in life where we just look at the world and go, oh my God You just feel like youre pushing a rock up a mountain."

Others like her, are exhausted and weary with this immortality. Nevertheless, together, they work as a small mercenary group. They have managed to keep their existence discreet for ages, but it's the era of technology, and soon, they find there's a threat to their existence, especially when the discovery of a new immortal, a woman serving in the Marines, forces them out into action when an organization with deadly intent is waiting to capture their deeds on camera.

The cast of 'The Old Guard' also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor ('Doctor Strange'), Marwan Kenzari ('Aladdin') and Kiki Layne ('If Beale Street Could Talk'). The film is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood ('Cloak & Dagger', 'Beyond the Lights').

The film will release on Netflix on July 10.

Continued here:
'The Old Guard' Teaser: Charlize Theron has been an immortal warrior for generations, but now she's in trouble - MEAWW

Michael Jordan is Becoming the Villain Just as He Predicted – msnNOW

Click to expand

UP NEXT

Video by FOX Sports

In the immortal words of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight Rises, you either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain. And so it has gone for Michael Jordan over the last five weeks, just as he predicted.

In case you forgot, before The Last Dance documentary was released by ESPN, Jordan prophesied that viewers were "going to think I'm a horrible guy" after watching the behind-the-scenes footage of him and the Bulls. Instead, the opposite happened( at least initially), with the majority of people focused on how impressive his singular focus on winning was and forgiving him for any misdeeds in the pursuit of immortality.

Now that the documentary is over, however, I've noticed a shift. All of a sudden the conversation isn't about how great of a player Jordan was, but rather focused on the negative, both on him as a teammate and how the documentary portrayed others. Remember, Jordan had control over how this documentary was produced.

Yesterday the top story on ESPN (and many other outlets) was Jordan's former teammate Horace Grant calling him a snitch. Today Jay Williams said he understands why Scottie Pippen would be upset by the doc and former Bulls player Stacey King said he was disappointed by how Jerry Krause was portrayed. Even Skip Bayless, he of Michael Jeffery Jordan reverence, discussed the negative side of Jordan today.

This shouldn't be a surprise. Once all the positive things were written about Jordan, which they were ad nauseam as the doc was running, the only thing left to do was focus on the negatives. Betting is popular now and Jordan's history there was written about enough already. So now the focus is on the other things that made/make him a distasteful person, like spitting on food so others don't eat it. Gotta get those clicks, right?

As a society, we often build up sports heroes and then revel as they fall. It's a time-honored tradition going all the way back to gladiators and continuing today with the Lance Armstrongs and Tiger Woods and Mike Tysons of the world. We build them up because it makes us feel good to cheer for someone doing something we wish we could. Then we knock them down because it makes us feel good to know they're just human.

Nearly 20 years after his playing career ended, we're still doing that with Michael Jordan. He knew that going into this doc. Now his prediction has become reality.

Related slideshow: Michael Jordan career retrospective (provided by Yardbarker)

Here is the original post:
Michael Jordan is Becoming the Villain Just as He Predicted - msnNOW

Charlize Theron’s Netflix film The Old Guard to premiere on 10 July; actress unveils first look images – Newsjok

Hollywood star Charlize Therons much-awaited Netflix venture, The Old Guard shall be premiering on 10 July.

The 44-year-old actor shared the information in a put up on Twitter, sharing 4 stills from the film.

Here is Therons tweet

Written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the film is predicated on the comedian e-book sequence of the identical title by Greg Rucka.

The story is a couple of small group of immortal troopers, led by a girl named Andy, whove been working as mercenaries for hundreds of years.

But the group will get a shock once they discover a new immortal lady, not lengthy after they uncover an evil group has video proof of their immortality.

Besides Theron, The Old Guard additionally options Kiki Layne, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Harry Melling, Van Veronica Ngo, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Theron has additionally produced the venture via her firm Denver and Delilah, alongside Skydances David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger.

Find newest and upcoming tech devices on-line on Tech2 Gadgets. Get expertise information, devices evaluations & scores. Popular devices together with laptop computer, pill and cellular specs, options, costs, comparability.

Updated Date: May 08, 2020 15:44:19 IST

; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '259288058299626'); fbq('track', 'PageView');

See original here:
Charlize Theron's Netflix film The Old Guard to premiere on 10 July; actress unveils first look images - Newsjok

The Russos On Their "Hercules" Remake – Dark Horizons

As we know, Avengers: Endgame helmers Joe and Anthony Russo are developing a live-action remake of 1997s iconic animated film Hercules with the project still very much in the early development phase.

In a recent interview with Collider, the pair have opened up about the highly-anticipated project saying both us and our kids are Hercules fanatics and they personally met and pitched the higher ups at Disney on the idea which they will produce.

Anthony Russo says the originals memorable music numbers will certainly be a part of it, but say they will definitely feature a different story which wont be a literal translation of the original:

Well, I think you always have to bring something new to the table because from our perspective as storytellers, its not compelling for us to do a literal translation. Weve already done that with our Marvel films.

We dont do literal translations of the comics because we feel like if you want that story you can go read that story. Were going to give you a different story. I think well do something thats in the vein of the original and inspired by it, but we also bring some new elements to the table.

Tate Donovan, James Woods, Danny DeVito and Susan Egan led the cast of the musical retelling of the Greek Myth in which the son of Zeus is stripped of his immortality by Hades whose plans dont go as successfully as he intended. Hercules is ultimately left with his superhuman strength intact and the hero goes on a journey to protect his home along with humanity.

No director or additional producers are attached at this time.

Link:
The Russos On Their "Hercules" Remake - Dark Horizons

You can pick your flavor, and you can pick your tea but you should let an expert pick your mushrooms – Seattle Times

DO NOT PICK your own mushrooms.

Not alone, anyway, and I bother to say this because you probably want to. Tromping through the fecund woods, you would see little trumpets and toadstools winking at you from under every dripping leaf and at the base of every moss-covered tree, and youd want to pick them and take them home because mushrooms are kind of a big deal right now.

But without the help of a knowledgeable member of, say, the Puget Sound Mycological Society, trying to harvest your own mushrooms is a dangerous activity as in, you could die. Still, thanks to the tireless efforts of people like mycologist/entrepreneurPaul Stamets, the world is awakening, wide-eyed, to the vast network of mycelium beneath our feet and all around us. And like all things sacred, this naturally makes modern humans want to turn it into something they can stick in a travel mug.

Luckily, this is an ideal way to consume fungi.

The most readily available medicinal mushroom tea is reishi tea, from the reishi mushroom, aka lingzhiin China, aka Ganoderma lucidum for academics. Reishi mushrooms are fanlike in shape and look like giant land clams growing on the sides of trees. Harvested practically since time immemorial in the mountains of northern China, reishi mushrooms have been graced with many flowery monikers, like the soul mushroom, the king of mushrooms, queen healer and the mushroom of immortality, among others.

Reishi mushrooms are revered in Chinese medicine as a veritable panacea, prescribed for everything from boosting the immune system to curing cancer and alleviating depression. There is not much hard evidence for any of those effects, but there are dribblings of research into using it as an antiviral and anti-inflammatory, and in support of fighting prostate cancer. Wild reishi is rare, as befits something with such a poetic reputation, but it can be grown commercially on wood chips and in sawdust, and because mushroom tea has achieved mainstream superfood status, these days you can buy it in a regular grocery store in tea bags.

Frequently found in teas are somewhat less-princessy mushrooms like chaga, which appears as a giant, warty, charred-looking lump on the side of a birch tree. If you cut into it, the flesh is spongy and orange, more like a horror-movie villain than something you want to harvest. Also frequently found in tea are cordyceps mushrooms, some of which parasitize the brains of insects, turning them into zombies. But they are said to revitalize human adrenal glands, among other benefits so, you know, more for us.

In its purest form, mushroom tea is easy to prepare: Just add the mushrooms to boiling water, strain and sip. Most mushrooms are rather bitter by themselves, so theyre often packaged with other ingredients, like the reishi tea/hot cocoa mixture by Republic of Tea. Finnish company Four Sigmatic makes a whole suite of powdered mushroom drinks mixed with coffee for the morning and cacao for the evening. MUDWTR bills its mixture as an invigorating alternative to morning joe, and Seattle-based Choice Organic Teas makes a series of mushroom blends now as well, including a reishi matcha blend that will wake you up as readily as any coffee.

While the quintessential Seattle drink is coffee, this is a seriously moist climate, and there is something very Pacific Northwest-y about sipping on a hot mug of brewed fungus.

Tantri Wija is a Seattle-based freelance writer. Reach her at the.twija@gmail.com.

Visit link:
You can pick your flavor, and you can pick your tea but you should let an expert pick your mushrooms - Seattle Times

Johnson’s back, and this time his message is: all aboard for the sunlit downlands – The Guardian

How maddening to learn the Nigerian president has appointed a dead man to run a government agency. This is what happens when youre in a global procurement race for resources. If the UK had only acted quicker, that guy could have chaired our public inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus. Of course, we already boast an estimated 45,000 of what our insanely euphemistic government might describe as resources, in the form of those who have gone to a better place, is it? Been selected for immortality? Ascended to virus Valhalla?

Either way, its great to see the government ramping up the positivity, now that returning prime minister Boris Johnson has replaced broken Pez dispenser Dominic Raab. Judging by the prime ministers Thursday press conference, youll hear a lot more emphasis on the fact that the NHS has not been overwhelmed, and a lot less emphasis on those of our loved ones who may have been overwhelmed. The UK is on course to have the worst continental death toll, which you should expect the government to characterise as winning the Euros. The one thing its hard to understand is the supposed crisis in fruit- and veg-picking, given how many people have recently gone to live on a farm.

If that dead Nigerian cant whitewash all this for us, then, the inquiry is the perfect one to be chaired by his lordship Alan Sugar. Like me, you probably prefer to get all your news analysis/conspiracy theories/desktop email phones from this booster-seated biz-troll so youll be delighted by the fact that Sugar has really leaned in to a self-appointed consultancy role during the virus crisis.

Alas, defects in our political system, compared with that of the United States, mean the route from the Apprentice boardroom to Downing Street remains obscure. Though lets be encouraged that Lord Sugar has, in his time, been made a business tsar by both Labour and Conservative governments. He is currently pushing his theory that the media should not ask the government negative questions, but instead promote hope, optimism and faith.

In one sense, its understandable. Alan lives what passes for his professional life surrounded by misplaced positivity. He heads up a show where people spend 12 weeks being exposed as obnoxiously unemployable on primetime national television, then mark their exit by saying Thank you for the opportunity. For the next series, Im sure hell take a leaf out of his own book and retire his negative Youre fired catchphrase. Id go with something like Youre downsized or Youre being offered a universal credit opportunity, or Youre being made assistant editor (of something in brackets).

For those worrying Sugar himself might be somehow downsized for his other contribution posting dangerous misinformation and refusing to delete it until many hours after it was revealed as a hoax please dont be. He can never be let go by the BBC as Apprentice frontman, because there is simply no other business visionary so desperate for attention that they would give large amounts of their own money, every year, to one of 15 missing links between the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, chosen simply for their ability to make hatewatchable television. Sugars job couldnt be safer if he was a funeral director. (Having said all that is Richard Branson soon to be a lot freer, timewise? I hope not. The last thing Lord Suralan could handle is the emergence of a peer group of even one.)

Happily, the government is obliging his desire for taking the positives. Johnsons rose-tinted address on Thursday reminded me of the speech at the end of Tom Stoppards play Jumpers, where a distinctly immoral man looks on the bright side with lines such as: Millions of children grow up without suffering deprivation, and millions, while deprived, grow up without suffering cruelties, and millions, while deprived and cruelly treated, none the less grow up.

That is, naturally, 45,000 times better written than the fare served up by Johnson. We are coming through the peak, he wibbled yesterday, or rather we are coming over what could have been a vast peak, as though we have been going through some huge Alpine tunnel. And we can now see the sunlight and the pastures ahead of us

Ah, sunlight. Mountains. You may recognise these from such Johnson metaphors as the sunlit uplands of Brexit. Is he saying were finally in the sunlit uplands? No, hang on these pastures are very much not up. Are they the sunlit downlands? And we access them via a tunnel over a semi-vast peak, yes? Could you give me directions toward your point, prime minister, as Im afraid Google Maps doesnt seem to be working at this altitude/depth?

The one thing no one ever says is: Who writes this shit for him? Such metaphors are all very much models own. Its an almost unique form of self-confidence. Once you become actual prime minister, and have a paid talent pool to draw upon, most holders of the position get themselves a speechwriter. But not Johnson. In terms of an individual refusing to take advantage of the vast wherewithal on offer, I cant think of a more horrifying example of anyone thinking they can do a better job themselves. Not even Celine Dions fashion sense. Johnsons refusal to get himself a (prose) stylist means the nation now is going to have to board these verbal funiculars at 5pm daily, and hope they cling to the traction cable tightly enough to deposit us at the but no. Sorry, I cant do this. Maybe next week.

For now, lets play out with the prime ministers assertion that being on course for one of the worst death tolls in the world means weve avoid[ed] the tragedy that engulfed other parts of the world. What can you say? Other than: thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian journalist

Read this article:
Johnson's back, and this time his message is: all aboard for the sunlit downlands - The Guardian