The News

Monday, September 9, 2024

The Detroit Lions got the season started off right with a 26-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams in a thrilling finish.

September 09, 2024 0

 The Detroit Lions got the season started off right with a 26-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams in a thrilling finish.



Detroit got the ball first in the extra period and didn’t allow Los Angeles to have an offensive play. Two run plays set the tone for the drive. Khalif Raymond picked up a first down on the first jet sweep carry. Then, David Montgomery took the ball 21 yards and into Rams territory.

Jared Goff then threw a pass to Jahmyr Gibbs for a 10-yaad gain. At this point, the Lions could smell the end zone.

Montgomery had a few more carries and eventually found the end zone for the score. He finished with 91 rushing yards. Gibbs added 40 yards on the ground and a touchdown.

Goff was 18-for-28 with 217 passing yards, a touchdown pass and an interception.

The Lions had a pretty commanding lead early in the third quarter. Goff threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams with 10:29 left in the quarter to put Detroit up 17-3.

Cooper Kupp catches a pass

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) can't hold onto a pass as Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III (23) defends during the first half of an NFL football game in Detroit, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024.  (AP Photo/David Dermer)

It was at that moment the Rams needed to dig deep and get back into the game.

In the Lions’ final drive, Goff got Detroit back to within field-goal range and Jake Bates hit a 32-yarder to tie the game. It was 20-20 when the game went into overtime.

Williams finished with five catches for 121 yards.

Stafford had a terrific game for the Rams. He showed up more for Los Angeles in the second half than he did in the first half. He ended the game with 317 passing yards, a touchdown pass and an interception.

The Rams’ offense was hurt early in the game when Puka Nacua left the game with a knee injury. He did not return.

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Saturday, September 7, 2024

YouTuber pulls off ‘greatest social experiment’ by secretly losing 250lbs in two-year prank

September 07, 2024 0

A YouTube star has played the long game and pranked the internet over the course of two years, while secretly losing a huge amount of weight.



Nicholas Perry, better known as Nikocado Avocado has more than 3.9 million followers on YouTube, where he is best known for his food content in the specific genre of ‘Mukbang’ where he and others ate excessive amounts of food.

Perry has been making videos on YouTube for more than seven years and when he first started had a much slender physique, at least compared to his appearance in his penultimate video, shared just three months ago, where he said that he had “quit his weight loss journey.”

However, Perry was pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes and in a new video shared on 7 September showed off a new look, having apparently shed 17st (250lbs) in weight in just a matter of months.

The shocking video, called ‘Two Steps Ahead’, which has already had more than 3 million views at the time of writing, starts with Perry wearing a panda head and while in character, tells viewers: “I am always two steps ahead.”

He adds: “This has been the greatest social experiment of my entire life. It’s worrying, it’s compelling, it’s gripping to observe all these unwell, disorientated beings roam the internet in search of stories, ideas, rivalries where they feel encouraged, engaged.”

Perry continued to say that he had now woken up from a “very long dream” where he had lost “250 pounds off his body.”

However, in another video, called ‘hi’ on a separate YouTube channel, Perry, alongside his pet parrot, has a much friendlier demeanour where he briefly explains how he managed to pull off his stunt.

Before eating a large plate of spicy cheese noodles, Perry explains that he hasn’t made a video in two years and has simply been sharing old premade content in order to maintain his channel while working on his health.

YouTuber Nikocado Avocado after revealing his weight loss
YouTuber Nikocado Avocado after revealing his weight loss (Nikocado Avocado 2/YouTube)

Perry’s big reveal has since gone viral with many viewers stunned at the twist in the story. One fan wrote: “This feels almost not real, he managed to play us like a violin, this redemption arc feels surreal.”

Another wrote: “Nikocado Avocado, you have my utmost respect. you managed to troll the internet for 2 years.”

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Urgent manhunt for person of interest after shooting in Laurel County

September 07, 2024 0

 The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office says law enforcement is looking for Joseph A. Couch, 32. He is a person of interest in the shooting. The sheriff’s office says he is considered armed and dangerous.

Joseph A. Couch is named a person of interest in the shooting Saturday night on I-75 in Laurel...
Joseph A. Couch is named a person of interest in the shooting Saturday night on I-75 in Laurel County. The Knox County Sheriff's Department shared his picture from previous arrest in February 2024.(Knox County Sheriff's Department)

Mayor Weddle says authorities are looking for Couch in a rural part of Laurel County, and they are confident he will be caught soon.

Officials want to assure citizens they are safe tonight because of the number of police agencies in the area.

However, they are reminding people to stay vigilant and stay home.

Anyone who is currently in the area is urged to follow directions from law enforcement, fire department personnel and road signs for remaining detours.

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Friday, September 6, 2024

Linkin Park sets first tour since Chester Bennington's death with singer Emily Armstrong

September 06, 2024 0

 Linkin Park is going back out on the road for the first tour since the death of lead singer Chester Bennington — and some new faces are joining the mix.



The Grammy-winning rock band, which is gearing up for the release of its eighth album "From Zero," will embark on the From Zero World Tour this fall, Live Nation announced Thursday. The six-date trek will visit Los Angeles; New York; Hamburg, Germany; London; Seoul, South Korea; and Bogota, Colombia.

The arena tour is set to kick off Sept. 11 with a concert at the Kia Forum in L.A. Exclusive fan club presales start Friday, and tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Saturday. Fans can visit LinkinPark.com for additional information.

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Linkin Park, consisting of Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell and Joe Hahn, is also expanding its lineup for the band's new musical chapter.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Singer-songwriter Emily Armstrong, co-founder of alternative rock band Dead Sara, is joining the nu-metal group as a co-vocalist. Meanwhile, rock producer Colin Brittain will serve as the band's drummer.

Linkin Park, consisting of Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell and Joe Hahn, is expanding its lineup with Dead Sara singer Emily Armstrong and rock producer Colin Brittain.

Armstrong and Brittain were enlisted after the musicians joined Linkin Park in the studio during a series of informal sessions.

"The more we worked with Emily and Colin, the more we enjoyed their world-class talents, their company and the things we created," Shinoda said in a statement. "We feel really empowered with this new lineup and the vibrant and energized new music we've made together."

Bennington, who fronted Linkin Park since the band's 2000 debut album "Hybrid Theory," died by suicide at the age of 41 in July 2017. The group went on an extended hiatus following his death.

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"From Zero" marks the group's first studio effort since 2017’s "One More Light." The album will be released Nov. 15. Its first single, "The Emptiness Machine," is available now.

Linkin Park From Zero World Tour dates

  • Sept. 11, 2024 | Los Angeles | Kia Forum
  • Sept. 16, 2024 | New York | Barclays Center
  • Sept. 22, 2024 | Hamburg, Germany | Barclays Arena
  • Sept. 24, 2024 | London | The O2
  • Sept. 28, 2024 | Seoul, South Korea | Inspire Arena
  • Nov. 11, 2024 | Bogota, Colombia | Coliseo Medplus
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Thursday, September 5, 2024

There’s a great supporting cast and a barnstorming first act but Todd Phillips’s much-hyped Gotham sequel proves claustrophobic and repetitive

September 05, 2024 0

Five years ago, Todd Phillips released his much-acclaimed take on the DC Comics supervillain, Joker, with Joaquin Phoenix wearing the clown makeup as the bananas Pagliacci Arthur Fleck in an odd pastiche Scorsese thriller with Joker as both Travis Bickle and Rupert Pupkin – and granted the unearned honour of killing a character played by Robert De Niro.



I found it bizarrely overpraised and overrated by saucer-eyed pundits, but it became a prize-winning sensation – and perpetuated the awards-season tradition of rewarding the idea of comedy on the strict understanding that it’s not supposed to be funny.

Now the sequel is here, and though it ends up as strident, laborious and often flat-out tedious as the first film, there’s an improvement. It’s a musical, of sorts, with Phoenix and others warbling show tune standards, often in fantasy set pieces, a little in the way of Dennis Potter’s Pennies from Heaven. This gives it structure and flavour that the first film didn’t have.

And that sensational acting and musical talent Lady Gaga is now in the mix – though with nothing like the humanity and depth she had in Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born – as Harleen Quinzel (that is, Harley Quinn) a deeply disturbed psychiatric patient who meets Joker in the music therapy class that he is allowed to attend as reward for good behaviour while on remand waiting to stand trial for his five murders. They fall deeply in love – with each other, that is, adding to the existing self-adoration of each, although it is never clear whether the leads’ narcissism is intentional.

No doubt about it, – the opening is sensational. A spoof Warner Bros Looney Tunes cartoon reprises the story so far, raising the curtain for a barnstorming first section showing Arthur’s prison existence. There’s a great supporting cast, with Brendan Gleeson as the prison guard (weirdly, it is only Gleeson whose character tells a joke while giving some indication of what one sounds like), Catherine Keener is Arthur’s lawyer, Steve Coogan is a tabloid TV interviewer and Zazie Beetz briefly reprises her role as Arthur’s former neighbour.

There’s a real spark when Joker and Harley meet-uncute in the joint. But the whole movie finally turns out to be oppressively, claustrophobically and repetitively becalmed in that oddly unreal Gotham-universe jail with Phoenix and Gaga kept apart for long periods – and Phoenix’s own performance is as single-note as before, though certainly as forceful and his screen presence is potent.

The gameplan of defence lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Keener) is to convince the judge that her client was psychologically disturbed by his abusive upbringing and that he deserves hospital treatment on the grounds of diminished responsibility. District attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) says Arthur is not mad and deserves the electric chair.

As for Arthur, he is conflicted. He understands that the insanity plea is his only chance. But he also longs to embrace his Joker destiny again – to embrace the crazy scary-clown persona that his lawyer tells him to reject: it has given him celebrity status and a heroic destiny and it has brought him love with Harley.

Lady Gaga brings a sly and manipulative malice to her role: Harley is secretive, smart and genuinely disturbed in a way that Arthur/Joker perhaps isn’t. Is she to be the Lady Macbeth of DC supervillainy?

Sort of. The story as constructed doesn’t give her character much of a chance at development – in that direction or any other. And it is possible to feel very restless during the final section and wonder whether anything remotely plausible, sad, funny or unexpected will be revealed about Arthur, given that the film’s body language insists on its mythic importance.

This crazy self-possession propels the film up its laborious narrative gradient. And Lady Gaga delivers a diva charge. Could it be that her Harley Quinn will return in an adventure of her own?

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A Minecraft Movie’ Trailer: Jack Black’s Steve and Jason Momoa Meet Piglins and Creepers in Blocky Video Game World

September 05, 2024 0

 Anything you can dream about here, you can make,” says Jack Black in the first trailer for “A Minecraft Movie,” coming to theaters April 4, 2025.



Then, ceremoniously, he proclaims, “I… am Steve,” prompting groans from the rest of the crew, who have been transported into this blocky video game world.

Directed by “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Nacho Libre” filmmaker Jared Hess, “A Minecraft Movie” also stars Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Eugene Hansen and Jennifer Coolidge. Warner Bros. and Legendary are backing the adaptation of one of the bestselling video games in history (it boasts 140 million monthly users).

In the first footage of “A Minecraft Movie,” Black and Momoa meet piglins and creepers as they navigate the ever-changing fantasy universe.

Debuting in 2011, “Minecraft” allows players to use colorful blocks to create 3D worlds. It has also spawned numerous spinoffs, like “Minecraft: Story Mode,” “Minecraft Earth,” “Minecraft Dungeons” and “Minecraft Legends.” Mojang Studios, the Swedish developer behind the game, was acquired by Microsoft in 2014 and will serve as a producer on the movie adaptation.

Speaking to Variety about the stunts in the film, Brooks said, “I’ve been harnessed a few times. It’s mostly the combat and learning these moves. And I’ve got a weapon, I’ll you that much. Danger, danger! But it’s really Jack Black, he’s the one who is doing the heavy lifting here. He’s doing some flying and having all techno-fire coming behind him.”

With “A Minecraft Movie,” Black has solidified his status as Hollywood’s go-to actor for game-to-screen stories, having starred in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Jumanji: The Next Level” and “Borderlands.” Momoa, for his part, has starred in blockbuster franchises including “Aquaman,” “Dune” and “Fast & Furious.”

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Wheelchair racer Kinghorn adds to GB’s Paralympics tally with stunning gold

September 05, 2024 0

Great Britain’s Poppy Maskill with her fourth medal of the GamesWheelchair racer Sammi Kinghorn added to GB’s Paris Paralympics success with a stunning T53 100m gold at Stade de France. Scottish athlete Kinghorn, who secured 800m and 1500m silvers in recent days, powered home ahead of Swiss star Catherine Debrunner to set a Paralympic record in 15.64sec. The 28-year-old became the first non-Chinese athlete to win the title since Tanni Grey-Thompson 20 years ago in Athens.

Tears of joy streamed from her eyes as she greeted her family in the stands before dedicating the victory to her brother on his birthday. “I just can’t believe that I’ve done that,” she said. “It’s honestly absolutely blowing my mind. This one is definitely for my brother.”

Zoe Newson had experienced the joy of bronze medals in London and Rio, then the pain of a fourth-placed ­finish in Tokyo, but on Wednesday in Paris the 32-year-old went one step further on the podium, winning ­silver in ­dramatic circumstances at Porte de la Chapelle Arena.

On the first day of the powerlifting competition she attempted the final lift of 109kg she needed for ­second spot but was adjudged initially to have fouled. She and her team appealed and, after a tense pause, the silver medal was hers.

“I didn’t realise,” Newson said to the BBC of the decision. “It didn’t come on the screen but we heard the crowd start cheering. Then we saw it on the screen and lost it. My boy and my fiance are in the crowd so I got quite emotional.”

In the pool Poppy Maskill won her fourth medal of a hugely success­ful Games in the women’s SM14 200m individual medley, adding another silver to the silver and two gold ­medals the 19-year-old from ­Cheshire has won in her debut Paralympics.

Maskill could still make it five in the 100m backstroke on Friday but admitted the demands of the ­schedule are beginning to take their toll. “It’s hard work,” she told ­Channel 4 after being pipped to the gold by Valeriia Shabalina. “I’m just going back [to the athletes’ village], napping … and that’s all I’m doing.”

Maskill and her GB teammate Olivia Newman-Baronius were ahead after the opening butterfly leg, with Maskill powering clear during the backstroke. “I was trying to see what I’ve got in there and see what happens,” she said. Shabalina touched just ahead after the breaststroke then held off the British swimmer, who touched the wall just 1.53sec behind.

Rhys Darbey grabbed a silver in the men’s SM14 200m individual medley behind Canada’s Nicholas Bennett. The Welsh swimmer, in his debut Paralympics, adds the silver to the gold earned as part of the S14 mixed 4x100m freestyle team on Sunday.

“I’m very happy with that,” he told Channel 4. “It’s my first indivi­dual race at the Games and to come ­second, two races out of two that I’ve won a medal, I’m really chuffed.”

There was also a silver for Alice Tai in the women’s S8 400m freestyle.

Tim Jeffery won a ­shooting bronze in the R9 mixed 50m rifle prone SH2 at the Châteauroux ­Shooting Centre. “The final was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a long time,” the 28-year-old said. “Hopefully this medal is the first of many.”

At the Stade de France, Karim Chan narrowly missed out on a bronze in the men’s T38 long jump, his effort of 6.39m just 1cm short of third-placed José Lemos, the Colombian completing an unlikely medal double having won gold in the T38 javelin last week.

The GB women’s wheelchair basketball team bowed out at the quarter-final stage but gave the United States a scare on their way. The British team led 50-49 with fewer than four minutes remaining before the bronze winners from Tokyo powered through to win 59.52.

Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade had to settle for silver in the wheelchair tennis quad doubles after losing 6-1, 6-1 against the dominant Dutch pairing of Sam Schröder and Niels Vink. There was better news for Alfie Hewett, who marched into the men’s singles semi‑finals with a 6-1, 6-4 win against Ruben Spaargaren, but Gordon Reid lost his quarter-final 6-0, 7-6 (5) against ­Argentina’s Gustavo Fernández.


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