News World 212

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Bucks: Mirza Teletovic, Matthew Dellavedova headed to Milwaukee; Dwyane Wade next?

Matthew Dellavedova Be Like…

The Milwaukee Bucks headed into free agency desperately needing to add some shooting to an athletic young core that plays hard-nosed defense and gets to the rim.

And when backup point guard was added to the list of needs with Jerryd Bayless"s departure to Philadelphia, Bucks GM John Hammond moved quickly to address that issue as well.

The Bucks agreed to terms with free agent shooter Mirza Teletovic on a three-year deal worth $30 million, Teletovic"s agent announced on Friday.

The team also agreed to terms on a four-year, $38.4 million offer sheet with restricted free agent Matthew Dellavedova, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not announced the move.

And with an eye toward a much splashier acquisition, the Bucks are in talks with free agent guard Dwyane Wade, ESPN and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Wade, who played college basketball at Marquette, is in discussions with the Bucks and Knicks, according to ESPN. The Journal Sentinel said the 34-year-old Chicago native, a perennial All-Star who has played his entire 13-year career in Miami, has set up a meeting with Bucks officials next week.

No contracts can be signed until Thursday, after next seasons salary cap is set and a league-imposed moratorium is lifted.

The Cavaliers will have three days to match the offer sheet for Dellavedova. But with so much money already devoted to Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert while needing to re-sign LeBron James, J.R. Smith and possibly Richard Jefferson, it appears that they will be content to let the backup point guard leave for big money elsewhere.

"Congrats to my brother! @matthewdelly on his deal!" James tweeted on Friday. "Good luck in Milwaukee! Very deserving to you and your family."

The Cavaliers extended a qualifying offer to Dellavedova earlier this week to make him a restricted free agent. But the Bucks will make it very difficult for them to match that offer to retain him.

The 25-year-old Australian was undrafted but has played three years in Cleveland and forged a reputation as a hard-nosed competitor who could occasionally rankle opponents with his play. He averaged 7.5 points and 4.4 assists in 24.6 minutes per game last season, but was not much of a factor in the playoffs as the Cavaliers captured the city"s first sports championship in 52 years.

But Dellavedova was vital for Cleveland during the finals a year ago when Kyrie Irving shattered his kneecap. The 6-foot-4 guard is a relentless defender, James joked during a rally last week that if Dellavedova was battling a bear for a loose ball that "Delly would tear that d**n bear up."

That mentality will fit nicely in Milwaukee, where the Bucks boast a roster that takes pride in the defensive end.

What the team needed as much as anything was a shooter to open up the offense and spread the opposing defense out. Teletovic should fit that bill after hitting 39 percent of his 3-pointers for Phoenix last season.

Teletovic is reuniting with Bucks coach Jason Kidd, who coached him in Brooklyn. He missed half of the season in 2014-15 because of a blood clot in his lungs, but was able to return to play in the playoffs for the Nets.

He then delivered a bounce-back year with the Suns, averaging a career-high 12.0 points in 79 games. His presence on the perimeter should give dynamic youngsters Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker more room to work and also draw some attention away from sharpshooter Khris Middleton.

O.J. Mayo banned for 2 years

O.J. Mayo, who spent the past three seasons with the Bucks,was dismissed and disqualified from the NBA on Friday for violating the terms of the league"s anti-drug program, the first player to receive that punishment in a decade.

The league said the No. 3 overall pick in the 2008 draft out of USC is eligible to apply for reinstatement in two years.

Mayo, 28, averaged 7.8 points in 41 games last season, including 24 starts.

According to rules of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program, information regarding the testing or treatment of a player can"t be disclosed by the league, his team or the union. However, there are only a few violations that would lead to Mayo"s punishment.

A player can be dismissed or disqualified from the NBA for testing positive for a drug of abuse, or if he is convicted of or pleads guilty to the use, possession or distribution of a drug of abuse.

The list of drugs of abuse includes amphetamines, cocaine, LSD and opiates such as heroin, codeine and morphine.

A third positive test for a performance-enhancing drug also leads to a player being dismissed and disqualified, as does being convicted of or pleading guilty to a crime involving the use, possession or distribution of one.

The last player to receive the penalty was Chris "Birdman" Andersen in January 2006, when he was playing for the New Orleans Hornets. He was reinstated in March 2008, won a championship with Miami in 2013 and spent last season with the Heat and Memphis Grizzlies.

Mayo was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves but his rights were dealt to Memphis in exchange for Kevin Love"s. Mayo played four seasons for the Grizzlies and one for the Dallas Mavericks before joining the Bucks. He has averaged 13.8 points in 547 career games.

Source: http://host.madison.com/wsj/sports/basketball/professional/bucks-mirza-teletovic-matthew-dellavedova-headed-to-milwaukee-dwyane-wade/article_17052af7-ba40-50e8-a542-18dd51e09223.html

Weather NYC: Freezing temperatures expected for start of the week

New York City"s Weather Forecast
Complete weather Have you crossed everything off your winter bucket list?

The biting cold of the last two days will only last through Tuesday, forecasters said, and the rest of the week will bring warmer temperatures.

The National Weather Service was forecasting a high of 29 degrees at Central Park, said meteorologist Adrienne Leptich. But the wind chill could make it feel at least 10 degrees lower. The temperature at about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday was 9 degrees with a 10-degree wind chill. The city had already hit its low at 8:37 a.m. at Central Park when the temperature was 11 degrees.

Temperatures will be back in the 40s by Wednesday, Leptich said. They will stay that way through the weekend.

But she said it appears that the city may get some rain on Sunday, when thousands of New Yorkers celebrate "No Pants Subway Day" by riding the rails in their undies. Her advice to participants: "They should wear pants."

The immediate cause of the frigid temperatures since Monday is an Arctic airmass moving in from Canada.

The icy weather was a shockto New Yorkers at the start of the work week.

The city has been enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures for much of the winter so far. The high on Christmas Eve was a record-breaking 72 degrees.

Source: http://www.amny.com/news/weather-nyc-freezing-temperatures-expected-for-start-of-the-week-1.11286428

Drake and Rihanna Are Reportedly Dating Again

Are Drake And Rihanna Back Together?

The sexiest couple on earth is reportedly back together.

An anonymoussource dished to E! News that Drake and Rihanna are dating again, and that the "Views From the 6" rapper"s love for the Barbadian pop star never flamed out in the first place.

"He still loves her and never stopped. Rihanna is the one that"s been not wanting to settle down in the past," the source said. "They are having fun spending time with each other. Their music together got them close again."

Rumors began swirling again after the couple, whose on-again, off-again romance reportedly began in 2009, was spotted partying together in a London nightclub until the early hours of the morning.

Later that day, the pair took the stage together during Rihanna"s concert at Emirates Old Trafford, where they performed their songs "Work" and "One Dance".

Drake commemorated the moment by taking time to compliment his duet partner, seemingly confirming the romantic underpinnings of the pair"s long friendship.

"Shout out to the most beautiful, talented woman I"ve ever seen," he told the crowd. "She goes by the name of Rihanna ... I"m gettin" my heart broken."

Last April, Drake gushed about his musical relationship with Rihanna in an interview with Beats 1"s Zane Lowe.

"It wouldn"t be a record without Rihanna, would it?" he said. "We do well as a team. We"re not forcing some story on people. A lot of the music and energy we have is genuine. We have a genuine energy."

Read more:This Singer Took the Rhythm Out of Rihanna"s "Work." Now White People Actually Love ItDrake Just Passed Another Music Milestone That Even Beyonc Hasn"t ReachedRihanna Fan Steals the Show Singing "FourFiveSeconds" During "Anti" World Tour Concert

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNGVhcT2N8w4Yz3GaDjXQRvKg4eGsQ&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779146665772&ei=GgB4V-gHhI_cAbiVivgK&url=https://mic.com/articles/147698/drake-and-rihanna-are-reportedly-dating-again

In wake of fatal Tesla crash, BMW is in slow lane to roll out self-driving vehicles

Was the man who died in an autonomously driving Tesla really watching Harry Potter?

A day after the disclosure of the first death in a crash involving a self-driving vehicle, BMW on Friday announced plans to release a fleet of fully autonomous vehicles by 2021.

In a partnership with Intel and Mobileye, the German automaker said its plannediNEXT model wontrequire a human in the drivers seat.

That marks a different course toward self-drivingvehiclesthan Tesla, which offers aself-drivingautopilot feature to those participating in apublic beta phase-- though drivers are supposed to stay engaged and keep their hands on the steering wheel.

Thatsystem was in use during a fatalcrash in Florida in May inwhich a Tesla Model S failed to detect a big-rig in its path and apply the brakes.

BMW Chief Executive Harold Krueger addressed the Tesla crashduring a news conference in Munich, Germany, on Friday, saying his company is not yet ready to roll outpartially or fully autonomous vehicles.

Thats why we announced we would take the step to autonomous driving in 2021, he said. We believe by today, the technologies are not ready for serious production.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is investigating the Tesla crash, ranks self-driving cars based on the level of control the driver cedes to the vehicle, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest.

Teslas autopilot feature is classified as level 2, as it is capable of staying in the center of a lane, changing lanes and adjusting speed according to traffic.

BMW is focusing on levels 3, 4 and 5. At level 3, the car can drive itself without human intervention under certain traffic or environmental conditions. At level 4, the driver will input destination and navigation instructions, but is not expected to drive at any point during the trip. Level 5 autonomy does not involve a driver at all.

BMW and its partners say their level 5 fully autonomous vehicles could be used by ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft.

Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said Friday hes fairly confident we can do this in the five-year time frame. He added his company intends to dedicate several hundred people and several hundred million dollars to the self-driving project.

Amnon Shashua, Mobileyes co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer, said his computer vision company will devote about 100 of its 700 employees to the undertaking.

Though Mobileye counts Tesla among its clients,Shashua suggested companiesmust do more to inform customers of potential dangers.

I think its very important given this accident that we hear about in the news that companies be very transparent about limitations of the system, Shashua said. Its not enough to tell the driver you need to be alert. Tell the driver why you need to be alert.

helen.zhao@latimes.com

Twitter: @zhaomeow

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UPDATES:

2:50 p.m.:This article was updated to include information about Mobileyes business relationship with Tesla.

This article was originally published at 10:36 a.m.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-bmw-self-driving-20160701-snap-story.html

Friday, July 1, 2016

Spielberg"s "The BFG" Parallels Another Friendly Outcast

Disney"s The BFG - "Surprise Appearance"

Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) gets a look into Giant Country thanks to a Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance). Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures hide caption

toggle caption Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) gets a look into Giant Country thanks to a Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance).

Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

1982: a big year for initials. Steven Spielberg releases E.T., and Roald Dahl publishes The BFG. The former stands for Extra-Terrestrial, the latter for Big Friendly Giant characters who are similarly positioned as outsiders in a child"s world where adults are mostly absent.

Spielberg has told interviewers he read The BFG to his children when they were small, knowing that, to them, he was kind of a big friendly giant. Now, with a digitally transformed (spindly neck, elephant ears) and greatly enlarged Mark Rylance in the part, we all get to hear how Spielberg tells the story. Turns out, it"s a little scary, and also pretty charming,

Melissa Mathison, who wrote the screenplay for E.T., penned the screenplay for Spielberg"s The BFG, and there are some parallels. E.T. is about a boy who encounters an outcast an alien in his back yard; The BFG about a girl who encounters an outcast a giant in her back alley. The alien eats Reese"s Pieces and speaks with some difficulty. The giant eats snozzcumbers and speaks with great originality.

"There"d be a great rumple dumpus," he tells Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) when she wonders why he doesn"t show himself to humans. "And all the human beans"d be rummaging and whiffliffning and they"d be lockin" me up to be looked at with all the squiggling hippodumplings and crocadowndillies, and giggyraffs."

Where the girl is kidnapped by The BFG, the boy kind of does the kidnapping of E.T. But in each case, when child and outcast join forces, they triumph over bullies, adversity, and any adult silliness that might otherwise complicate a common-sensical resolution to problems.

This is not to suggest that the two stories offer equivalent levels of enchantment as films. E.T. is a masterpiece, and while The BFG may well be one on the page, on screen it comes across as an attractively produced but overblown fable. Spielberg"s good at harnessing film technology in the service of fantasy, and at finding the visual magic in sequences that might in other hands feel like time-wasters an evening of dream catching that will make adults recall nights spent chasing fireflies, say, or a Buckingham Palace breakfast with the Queen (Penelope Wilton) that feels, in terms of scale, like a child"s tea-party in reverse.

But at close to two hours, the story drags, possibly because it"s more a collection of incidents than a narrative with forward momentum. Rylance brings subtlety to what Dahl called the big guy"s "gigantiousness," and Spielberg makes the rumple dumpus" technical effects pretty...um, fantabulous. Which will doubtless enchant the kids. even if it strikes their folks as it did me....as somewhat strenuous whimsy.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2016/06/30/484186664/spielbergs-the-bfg-parallels-another-friendly-outcast

Platten conquers self-doubt with empowering "Fight"

Rachel Platten - Better Place (Lyric)

Rachel Platten has proved she is more than all right with one song.

The singer-songwriter seemingly became an overnight success with her breakout hit Fight Song last year. But the 35-year-old has been performing her music independently for more than a dozen years.

The song has been embraced as an empowering anthem across the globe, selling more than 3 million copies and charting in the Billboard Top 10 in the United States and United Kingdom, to Australia and beyond. She has shared the stage with Taylor Swift and is now headlining her own shows. She will open the Stanislaus County Fair on Friday, July 8.

Yet Platten said going through those leaner years playing to small crowds and in smaller clubs gave her time to find out who she was first, and just as importantly what she was willing to fight for.

Every step I had to fight for. I drove around the country in moms car and played to 10, 15, 20 people, watched it grow so slowly. I am incredibly grateful when I am in front of any audience now, she said in a recent phone interview. Im so proud to have done it with a message and song I believe in so much.

She is also pleased that instead of listening to some early advice given to her about making it in the business, she stuck to her convictions and her own style of music. (They) said put out whatever you think is popular, then you can write what you want later, she said. I thought Id better listen to my heart and see for myself, she said. Im grateful that worked, that was a thing I can continue to do now.

Not that it has always been easy. Fight Song took a year and a half to write. She said the process involved writing and rewriting. She said she came up with several different verses and choruses.

It was a really hard process of trying things and then feeling doubts. But by the time it was done, I did feel a sense of relief and pride, she said. Yeah, I had doubts like, Is this it? But I had deep in my heart a feeling it could be big and help people.

The songs powerful message of believing in ones self has turned Platten into a role model for many, particularly young girls and women. She said she feels overwhelmed and grateful for all the people who tell her stories about how her music has touched or helped them.

They include teenage cancer survivor Calysta Bevier, who performed the song on the new season of Americas Got Talent, earning her a surprise duet later with Platten herself on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Theres also 5-year-old Chloe Herrington, an Instagram star with Down Sydrome who is a fan and has been helped by Plattens music.

And last fall, she gave a live concert for Christine Luckenbaugh from Virginia. The 50-year-old suffered from an inoperable brain tumor and Platten arranged a special performance of Fight Song for her with a chorus of her family and friends. Luckenbaugh died in December.

There are so many stories like that where people have used the song to inspire them to keep fighting an illness or to try to overcome odds. It is such an incredible feeling, Platten said. I love what they seem to get from the song, which is the idea that I can do it, too. I can do anything.

Thats a really special thing that maybe we dont have enough of in this world. A lot of stuff on social media is telling everyone they arent good enough. I hope that my message is you are.

Source: http://www.modbee.com/entertainment/article86667407.html

Logic Drops Surprise Mixtape "Bobby Tarantino"

Logic Talks BOBBY TARANTINO, Battling Anxiety, Not Smoking Any More
Def Jam

Logic comes out of nowhere and releases a surprise mixtape titled Bobby Tarantino. The project, released via Def Jam Recordings/Visionary Music Group, isavailable on all streaming platforms. Just days after the first week of hisThe Endless Summer Tour with G-Eazy, YG and Yo Gotti started, the Maryland native treats fans to more new music.

The 11-song projects only feature is Pusha T on Wrist, which was released last week and easily one of the best songsin recent days. The other single that was droppedwas the boisterous Flexicution that had Logic going off about why hes not the rapper to mess with. The 26-year-old is also currentlyworking on his third LP.

Bobby Tarantinois entirely produced by Logic and his go-to producer 6ix. The title is a play off the name of famous filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, a person who Logic has routinely referenced all throughout his music. You can peep the complete tracklist forBobby Tarantinobelow. The mixtape follows up Logics sophomore album The Incredible True Story, which released November 2015 and debutingat No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 135,000 records sold in its first week.

You can listen toBobby Tarantino mixtape via Apple Music or stream it aboveon Spotify. Check out the Endless Summer tour dates here. The roadtripwillhit 25 cities across North America this July and August.