Imagine Dragons - Roots Even rapper T.I., who has a role in the series as a slave named "Cyrus," told the Huffington Post that he was initially leery.
"I will admit that I was one of the ones to say, "Man, I don"t know if that needs to be remade,"" he said. "It was just a huge undertaking for him as a producer and for me as an actor to sign up to remake such a classic and to tell a story that has so much pain and just so much turmoil involved in it."
So it"s no surprise that after the initial airing on Monday, there were some cheers and jeers about the rebooted "Roots."
Rapper Snoop Dogg took to Instagram for an expletive-filled rant against it and urged a boycott.
"How the f*** they gonna put Roots on Memorial Day," the rapper asked after saying he no longer can watch slave narratives including the film "12 Years A Slave." They going to just keep beating that s*** into our heads as to how they did us, huh?"
Saying "I don"t understand America," Snoop went on to opine that "They just want to keep showing the abuse that we took hundreds and hundreds of years ago."
"But guess what? We"re taking the same abuse," he said. "Think about that part. When you all going to make a [expletive] series about the success that black folks is having. The only success we have is Roots and 12 Years A Slave?"
The pain of watching a miniseries about slavery in America was evident as one person tweeted "I"m sorry, but I can"t bring myself to watch #Roots. I"m glad it"s been remade and I hope many people watch. But I can"t."
A few tweeted their disappointment with the remake.
And yet others were delighted with the updated version as a slice of history they felt should be shared with younger generations. The original aired in 1977.
Producer Will Packer tweeted his thanks to the audience and urged people to tune into the remaining episodes saying "I have never been more proud to be involved with a project."
NBA 2K16 - NBA Finals Promo Updated May 31, 2016 1:34 p.m. ET
Seattle
The Golden State Warriors improbable comeback from a 3-1 series deficit in the Western Conference finals Monday night gripped basketball fans everywhere. But it left three distinct groups feeling especially overjoyed.
One was the Warriors themselves, who found a way to keep their record-breaking season alive. The second was the NBA, which is all but guaranteed sky-high ratings for Golden States Finals rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The third was a collection of NBA fans more than 600 miles from the site of Monday nights game, who were openly and enthusiastically rooting for the Oklahoma City Thunder to lose: the people of the scorned basketball city of Seattle.
If they had gotten swept, sure, we wouldve liked that they lost, said Paul Rogers, an editor and senior writer with Sonics Rising, a blog dedicated to bringing the NBA back to Seattle. But the fact that they were up 3-1, then lost? It will sound petty, but to me, its almost better that way,
For fans of the Seattle SuperSonics, who lost their franchise when it relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008, the feelings of anger and resentment havent dimmed much with the passing of time. For some, they may have only gotten stronger.
Rogers, who is 47 years old, didnt try to hide his satisfaction at the Thunders season-ending loss. In fact, he acknowledged that hed only really begun to pay attention to the Western Conference finals once Oklahoma City lost control of its commanding 3-1 lead in the series.
He wasnt alone in feeling that way. On Saturday, Mariners fans at Safeco Field saved their loudest cheers of the night for when the final score from the Thunders Game 6 loss flashed on the jumbotron.
Monday night at Stout, a bar in Seattles Capitol Hill where 33-year-old salesman Miles DeCaro watched Game 7, about two-thirds of the 300 patrons were wearing Sonics or Warriors gear.
There mightve been one person in the room cheering for the Thunder, DeCaro said. More than anything, we all just feel relieved. Im happy the Warriors succeededand the Thunder did not.
All of which underlines that many Seattle fans are far from over the franchises abrupt relocation to Oklahoma, which followed the sale of the team in 2006 to Oklahoma City businessman Clayton Bennett, who subsequently failed to secure the public funding necessary to build a new stadium for the Sonics.
For eight years, a rabidly passionate fan base here has been without a franchise, leaving a legion of former Sonics followers in the NBA wilderness. Rachel Engrissei, a 33-year-old recruiter for a staffing agency, said the citys basketball fans face a dilemma: They want a team to replace the Sonics, but they dont want it to come at the expense of another city that would have to endure a similar heartache.
The situation came up in Sacramento a couple years ago, and we had a chance to get another team, said Engrissei, whose father stopped watching the NBA after the Sonics vanished. Everyone wants another team, but I didnt want to take that away from them, because I know how that feels. Theyd view us the same way we view Oklahoma City now.
Golden States victory derailed what wouldve been a matchup between a pair of cities that have lived through the consequences of relocation. While Oklahoma City got the Thunder from Seattle in 2008, Cleveland lost its NFL team, the Browns, to Baltimore 20 years ago, in 1996.
Both situations were especially tough for the vacated cities because of how quickly the teams found success after moving. The Ravens won the Super Bowl five seasons after leaving Clevelanda city that hasnt won a major championship since 1964while Oklahoma City has become a perennial NBA power with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on the roster, reaching the Finals just four seasons after relocating.
Seattles feelings about Durant, who won Rookie of the Year during the Sonics final season in Seattle, are complicated. Fans seem to like and root for him personally, though those sentiments are generally overridden by a stronger desire to see the Thunder lose by any means necessary.
When I see disappointment in his face, Im not happy about it, because we like Kevin. He even came back here a few years ago to play in a charity basketball game, said Rogers, the Sonics Rising editor. Its just really hard to separate him from Oklahoma City. Thats why wed like to see him move to another team, so we can cheer for him again.
This ambivalence isnt reserved for Durant. Engrissei says she essentially refused to talk about the Thunder with a cousin who lived in Oklahoma because the issue remains such a sore spot for her.
DeCaro says he still wont buy Starbucks because he resents the companys chief executive, Howard Schultz, for selling the team to Bennett in 2006. He once turned down a free ticket to watch a playoff game in Oklahoma City in 2012 because of his feelings about the move, though he did buy a ticket to Game 2 of the Warriors-Thunder series and posed for photos wearing Sonics gear in the crowd.
The Thunders collapse from 3-1 up in the series meant Seattle fans were saved the pain of 2012, when they had to watch their former team reach the Finals just four years after leaving. But the fact that Seattleites continue to cringe each time Oklahoma Cityor Choklahoma City, as its known heremakes a deep playoff run shows how much some people still care.
Spencer Hawes is a perfect example. Hes from Seattle and though he now plays in the NBA as a center for the Charlotte Hornets, he remains as anti-Oklahoma City as any other resident of his city. Its gonna be an open wound until we get another team, Hawes said at a Seattle bar days before Game 7. It hurts to see them play.
But it didnt hurt on Monday night. Hawes went to Game 7 in Oakland, and he was spotted after the game, outside the Warriors locker room, wearing a huge smileand a Seattle SuperSonics shirt.
Its official Dwayne The Rock Johnson has signed up for Doc Savage.
Its been rumoured for some time, but now it appears that The Rock has confirmed he will star in the upcoming Doc Savage adaptation directed by Shane Black.
Its official, he said via Instagram. For all comic book fans you already know the worlds first superhero (pre-dating Superman) is the Man of Bronze himself Clark Doc Savage.
Want to thank my bud director/writer Shane Black and his writing team Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry for flying in from LA and sitting with me and our @sevenbucksprods producer @hhgarcia41 on this Memorial Day weekend to chop up creative and break story on this very cool project.
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But who is Doc Savage?
Simply put, hes the worlds first superhero.
Doc Savage appeared in American pulp magazines throughout the 1930s and 1940s, and as The Rock himself explains, Doc Savage even predated Superman and provided much of the inspiration behind DCs iconic hero.
Comic book fans around the world know that the cool thing about Doc Savage is that hes the inspiration for Superman, he explained. First name Clark, called Man of Bronze, retreats to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic etc etc.
In fact, the only thing that differs is Docs origins story
According to the magazines, Doc was trained (both physically and mentally) to near-superhuman levels by his father and a team of scientists. Their goal? To create the perfect human specimen and this granted Doc some incredible powers.
Savage is said to possess genius level intellect as well as heightened senses, immense strength and endurance, and a photographic memory. On top of this, he has mastered martial arts, the sciences as well as the art of disguise and imitation.
Essentially, hes an all-round incredible guy.
And perhaps thats why The Rock has been cast in the role.
But heres the #1 reason Im excited to become Doc Savage, he revealed. HES A F*CKING HILARIOUS WEIRDO! Confidently, yet innocently he has zero social graces whatsoever due to his upbringing so every interaction he has with someone is direct, odd, often uncomfortable and amazingly hilarious.
After speaking for hours w/ Shane Black I can see why the creator of Superman took only the best parts of Doc Savage and leaving the weirdo part behind. But to us, its that weirdo part that makes Clark Doc Savage dope! Cant wait to sink my teeth into this one of a kind character.
Could this be the most perfect casting of all time?
For now, well have to wait and see but we definitely cant wait.
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Memorial Day (History for Kids) Educational Videos for Students (Learning Cartoon Network)
First Posted: May 30, 2016 02:14 AM EDT
The Memorial Day weekend has become a time to both pay homage to the departed and mark the arrival of what"s to come.
The holiday started to commemorate the dead of the Civil Warand is observed on the last Monday in May, but it wasn"t always that way, as the day was initially set for May 30, no matter what day it fall on.
Day Now Celebrated in Several Ways
With that, the day has become a paid, national holiday for many and a time for vacation and travel for even more.
"This loss of memory and shift into recreation and leisure is a trend in American history," says Matthew Dennis, a history professor at the University of Oregon. "It was a tumultuous time in American history, and the levels of patriotism were quite low at this point in the wake of Vietnam."
The history of the day dates all the way backto the time immediately following the Civil War, a time during which more American soldiers died than any other war in U.S. history.
In the beginning, the day was known as Decoration Day because of the tradition of decorating graves with flowers, flags and wreaths. During the first Memorial Day celebration, former Union Gen. and Ohio Congressman James Garfield made an impassioned speech at Arlington National cemetery to a crowd of at least 5,000.
"We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens," said Garfield. "For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue."
New York First State to Celebrate Day as State Holiday
The event inspired patriotic feelings among others and in 1983 New York became the first state to make Memorial Day a state holiday. After World War I, the day was expanded to honor the deaths of all those who have died fighting American wars after World War I. With that, came its declaration as a national holiday.
In 1971, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established that Memorial Day would be celebrated nationally on the last Monday in May and each year now the president or vice president lays a wreath at Arlington at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Among the national events scheduled for the dayis the National Memorial Day Parade down Constitution Ave. in Washington D.C.
TagsMemorial Day, Civil War, James Garfield, Tomb of Unknown Soldier
2015 Latin Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Golden State Warriors vs Oklahoma City Thunder - Game 3 - Full Highlights | 2016 NBA Playoffs
OAKLAND, Calif. After 27 quarters of some of the most dramatic and compelling basketball the NBA has seen, the Golden State Warriors found themselves 12 minutes away from a return trip to the NBA Finals, an escape from a three-games-to-one deficit in these Western Conference finals and a chance to stake a claim as the greatest team in the history of the sport.
Then they handed the ball to Stephen Curry, and the NBAs two-time defending MVP carried his team home.
Behind 36 points and eight assists from Curry including 15 points in the fourth quarter and 24 in the second half Golden State emerged with a thrilling 96-88 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in front of an enthralled sellout crowd of 19,596 inside Oracle Arena. With the victory, the Warriors will get two days to rest and prepare for a rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the championship round, which will begin here Thursday night.
Steph is gonna Steph, Warriors center Festus Ezeli said. He came out and showed why he is the MVP.
[Posting Up: NBA podcast: Sam Amick on Game 6 of Warriors-Thunder]
The final outcome, however, was far from a formality, as the Thunder continued to push the Warriors far harder than anyone would have expected. It didnt become official until Curry scored six straight points in the final 90 seconds after the Thunder had closed within four on a Kevin Durant jumper with 1 minute 40 seconds remaining.
But after Curry was fouled on a three-point attempt by Serge Ibaka with 1.8 seconds remaining on the shot clock and 1:18 remaining in the game, and made all three free throws to push Golden States lead to 93-86, Curry sealed the game with signature aplomb a few seconds later.
When Durant missed a three-pointer with 43.8 seconds left, Curry brought the ball up on a fast break, brought the ball out to the three-point line and put on a dribbling exhibition.
After getting away from Thunder guard Andre Roberson, Curry pulled up and let fly with a three-pointer his seventh of the game with 26.8 seconds that dropped through the bottom of the net, giving the Warriors a 96-86 lead and ensuring that their chase for history would live on. As Thunder Coach Billy Donovan called a timeout, Curry let out a primal scream and exhorted the Warriors fans to get on their feet and celebrate a command they were all too glad to comply with.
It was a cool moment, Curry said later. Obviously there was still time on the clock, but that was a moment to kind of just take in the atmosphere.
It was just a very cool moment to enjoy that fan noise, and understand we were on the brink of doing something very special and coming back from down 3-1, and that was it.
That this series came down to the final seconds of the seventh and final game was a testament to the resiliency the Thunder showed after giving up a fourth-quarter lead and losing at home in Game 6 Saturday night a loss that happened only because of a pair of historic performances from Curry and Klay Thompson.
Durant finished with 27 points on 10-for-19 shooting in Game 7, scoring 12 points of his own in the fourth to try to drag the Thunder over the finish line. But every time the Thunder made a shot or a play, the Warriors and usually Curry were there with an answer.
It was an equation that proved destined to end with a Warriors victory.
It is a lot of what-ifs, said Durant, who said he hadnt begun to think about his impending free agency this summer, though the widespread belief is that he will re-sign with Oklahoma City on a one-year deal. We could have said a lot of what-ifs throughout the whole playoffs.
[But] youve got to credit them. They came out and played well the last three games of the series, and won three in a row. Youve got to give them credit.
After two weeks of playing one another, there was little left to figure out about either team heading into this final game. The one lingering question, however, was whether the Warriors would keep Andre Iguodala in the starting lineup in place of Harrison Barnes, a change they made at the start of the second half of Game 6.
It turned out, however, that one of those alterations was, in fact, to leave Iguodala in the starting five, allowing him to match up even more regularly with Durant. He also is a better ballhandler and distributor than Barnes, which he proved by hitting a cutting Draymond Green for a basket to open the scoring.
[Responsible for Klay Thompsons Game 6 performance, Yoda socks were]
That wound up being a rare positive moment for the Warriors offensively early on. Oklahoma City raced out to its latest hot start in this series, taking a five-point lead after the first quarter that it pushed to as much as 13 at one point and 12 at another in the second. But in an eerily similar way to how Game 6 played out, the Warriors managed to hang around despite being significantly outplayed for large portions of the opening 24 minutes.
Once Steven Adams hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 45-33 with 2:21 remaining in the second quarter, though, the Warriors closed the half with a 9-3 run capped by a Curry circus layup over three defenders that kissed high off the glass and fell through the hoop at the buzzer to send Golden State into the break trailing 48-42.
After that strong first half, though, Oklahoma City fell apart in the third quarter. The Warriors outscored the Thunder 29-12, including closing the quarter with a 13-2 run as the Thunder missed its final five shots of the quarter to go from leading by one to down 11 heading into the fourth.
With everything on the line, Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said, our guys all came through.
Led by one guy in particular, of course. In those final 12 minutes, with everything on the line, Curry did what hes done time and again these past two seasons and carried the Warriors home and on to the NBA Finals.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2 Trailer | Out of the Shadows 2016
WonderCon took place in Los Angeles over the weekend andMegan Fox,Stephen Amell, and ProducersBrad FullerandAndrew Formtook the time to meet fans and talk about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Check out this interview where the four talk about the new characters and how much fun and heart the movie is in this interview:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadowsreleases on June 3, 2016.
Veteran told he can"t fly American flag in yard
A 33-year-old man set himself and a building on fire during Pilsen"s Mole de Mayo Festival Sunday night, according to police. View Full Caption
Chicago Fire Department
PILSEN Pilsen"s Mole de Mayo Festival was cut short Sunday night when a man wrapped in an American flag set himself on fire on 18th Street and injured himself.
The 7:30 p.m. Sunday fire spread to a nearby Metro PCS store, and firefighters cleared the area to put out the fire.
The33-year-old man survived the fire. He was wearing just underwear and was wrapped in an American flag, according to Fox.
Police said hewas standing in the 1500 block of West 18th Street at 7:30 p.m. when he set a fire, said Officer Bari Lemmon, Chicago Police spokeswoman.
It is not clear what the man was trying to ignite, but police believe he at least accidentally set himself ablaze and likely didn"t mean for the building to ignite.
The fire in the cell phone store was extinguished and one person was taken to University of Illinois-Chicago Hospital for a cut, according to the Fire Department"s Twitter account.
The man was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, Lemmon said.
Two officers were taken also taken to Stroger Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Lemmon said.
At the recommendation of police, Festival organizers shut down the Mole de Mayo festival about a half hour early Sunday night, according to ABC7 Chicago.
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