Saturday, April 30, 2016

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 29th, 2016

Check out the top 5 NBA plays from Friday's action.

Dwyane Wade w/ a Game 6 clinching dagger through the Hornet's nest!

Friday, April 29, 2016

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 28th, 2016

Check out the top 5 plays from tonight's NBA action.

Jae Crowder w/ a baseline slam — turning Mike Scott into clam chowder!

Miami Dolphins Select Laremy "Gas Mask" Tunsil — 13th Pick 2016 NFL Draft

Dear Creator Of Cannabis/God Of Ganja & NFL,

Although there are plenty of drugs more dangerous than marijuana a.k.a. sticky-icky a.k.a. wacky-tobacky, I am forever grateful that the powers that be at the National Football League deems a harmless Mary Jane an illegal banned substance.

WHY?

Well, simply put — without the NFL's idiotic policy, the Miami Dolphins wouldn't have the slightest chance to land the coveted offensive tackle — L.T. the OT from the University Of Mississippi.

Because of the recent 'highly-publicized' cases of draft picks who turn-out to be draft busts (i.e. JaMarcus Russell, Dion Jordan, Johnny Manziel, etc.), many teams are hesitant and by-passing on their chances of selecting college athletes who may possess 'off-the-field' issues.

Passing-up the chance to draft perhaps the top offensive tackle in the college football is a team's rightful duty, but for a dysfunctional team like my lowly Dolphins (who actually drafted a bust in Dion Jordan w/ the No. 3 pick in the 2013 NFL Draft — ironically, he violated the league's drug policy in 2014 along w/ violating the NFL's performance-enhancing substance policy in 2015), it is their rightful duty to take a shot on Laremy Tunsil because this is a football team w/ absolutely nothing to lose!

High Risk = High Reward

All jokes aside, the Dolphins seem to have a franchise quarterback in Ryan Tannehill but the team's offensive line is so futile that this kid might just be the answer and pocket protector they so desperately need.

Hopefully, the Miami Dolphins made the right decision in drafting w/ the No. 13 pick of the 2016 NFL Draft — a once in a lifetime 6' 5" 310 lbs talent that is Laremy "Gas Mask" Tunsil — a highly-touted franchise player who may have the talented ability to change the game.

Yours Truly,

KONG — a lowly Miami Dolphins fan and once-proud weed advocate

• • •

Laremy Tunsil didn't deserve draft-night humiliation — ESPN

Video of Laremy Tunsil smoking from gas mask bong surfaces before NFL Draft — Sporting News

Someone's Been Trying To Sell That Laremy Tunsil Gas Mask Smoking Video For Weeks — DEADSPIN

Laremy Tunsil at the 2016 NFL Draft: Watch the entire controversial post-draft interview (video) — Cleveland

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 27th, 2016

Check out the top five plays from Wednesday's NBA playoff action.

Dwayne Wade w/ a turn-back-the-clock dunk!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Breaking Bad: Meet The Real Walter White?

Back In The Day...
...I used to see the above bald dood's face on cable TV but never bothered or even cared to give it a chance. Honestly, I knew he (Bryan Cranston a.k.a. Walter White) was part of an "award-winning" cable TV series but like I said, I never took the show seriously...
...until one day, one fateful day — I was bored...bored out-of-my-f*ckin' skull and clicked onto a poster of that bald man (he's actually the face and main protagonist of the show) — which linked me to a streaming website.

After binge-watching the first season of AMC's BREAKING BAD, I am hooked like a meth-addict whose selling their soul and last penny for the next hit of that pure crystal!
Ladies and gentlemen, please believe me when I say it is undoubtedly/unequivocally — one of the greatest television cable series has ever seen in historical history of my pathetic life!
P.S. Scroll down to discover the "real-life" Walter White as featured by VICE
• • • Breaking Bad - Honest Trailer
Breaking Bad follows protagonist Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife (Anna Gunn) and teenage son (RJ Mitte) who has cerebral palsy. White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of two years left to live.
With a new sense of fearlessness based on his medical prognosis, and a desire to secure his family's financial security, White chooses to enter a dangerous world of drugs and crime and ascends to power in this world. The series explores how a fatal diagnosis such as White's releases a typical man from the daily concerns and constraints of normal society and follows his transformation from mild family man to a kingpin of the drug trade.

AMC's "critically-acclaimed" black comedy drama — BREAKING BAD

• • •

The Real Walter White

When AMC's Breaking Bad premiered in 2008, one of Alabama's most successful meth cooks was already knee deep in building a massive meth empire. His name? Walter White. In this documentary, Walter tells us the secret behind his product, how he stacked up thousands of dollars per day, and why his partner is now serving two life sentences.

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 26th, 2016

Check out the top five plays from Tuesday.

Norman Powell w/ a steal and soaring fast-break dunk!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The Jungle Book (2016) - Trailer & Interview

The Jungle Book (2016) - Official Trailer

Directed by Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”), based on Rudyard Kipling’s timeless stories and inspired by Disney’s classic animated film, “The Jungle Book” is an all-new live-action epic adventure about Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi), a man-cub who’s been raised by a family of wolves.

But Mowgli finds he is no longer welcome in the jungle when fearsome tiger Shere Khan (voice of Idris Elba), who bears the scars of Man, promises to eliminate what he sees as a threat. Urged to abandon the only home he’s ever known, Mowgli embarks on a captivating journey of self-discovery, guided by panther-turned-stern mentor Bagheera (voice of Ben Kingsley), and the free-spirited bear Baloo (voice of Bill Murray). Along the way, Mowgli encounters jungle creatures who don’t exactly have his best interests at heart, including Kaa (voice of Scarlett Johansson), a python whose seductive voice and gaze hypnotizes the man-cub, and the smooth-talking King Louie (voice of Christopher Walken), who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to the elusive and deadly red flower: fire.

The all-star cast also includes Lupita Nyong'o as the voice of the fiercely protective mother wolf Raksha, and Giancarlo Esposito as the voice of wolf pack’s alpha male Akela. “The Jungle Book” seamlessly blends live-action with photorealistic CGI animals and environments, using up-to-the-minute technology and storytelling techniques to immerse audiences in an enchanting and lush world. The wild adventure swings into theaters in 3D on April 15, 2016.

Release Date: April 15th, 2016 (USA)
Directed by Jon Favreau
Narrated by Ben Kingsley
Story by Rudyard Kipling
Screenplay by Justin Marks

In this episode of Vice Talks Film we sit down with Jon Favreau to discuss his extensive career in Hollywood, harnessing creativity as a screenwriter, and the challenges he faced recreating a classic animated film for today's audience.

Nearly half a century after the original animated film was released, director Jon Favreau has remade Walt Disney Pictures' THE JUNGLE BOOK, now with a live-action Mowgli, the man cub, and a cast of CGI animals played by such stars as Bill Murray (Baloo, the bear), Ben Kingsley (Bagheera, the panther), Christopher Walken (King Louie, the enormous ape), and Scarlett Johansson (Kaa, the python).

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 25th, 2016

Check out the top 5 NBA plays from Monday night's action.

Kevin Durant w/a devastating reverse dunk against the Mavs to close-out the first-round series!

Monday, April 25, 2016

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 24th, 2016

Best playoffs plays from Sunday night

Kyrie Irving w/ a miraculous half-court shot before the end of the 3rd quarter -vs- Pistons!

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Top 10 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 23rd, 2016

The best of the best from Saturday's playoffs action highlighted in the Top 10.

Ian Mahinmi w/ a ferocious dunk!

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Jeremy Lin Continues To Recreate Linsanity

Hornets guard Jeremy Lin drove on the Heat’s Goran Dragic in Game 2 of their first-round N.B.A. playoff series. Credit Steve Mitchell/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

At Last, Jeremy Lin Settles Into Identity of His Own Making

MIAMI — Over the past five years, Jeremy Lin has felt multiple disparate identities foisted upon him: undrafted underdog, franchise savior, overpaid mercenary. None quite fit.

But over these past six months, a fresh calibration seems to have occurred. A half-step away from the spotlight, Lin has nurtured an existence that now comfortably rests somewhere between the short-burst ecstasy of his time with the Knicks and the protracted bewilderment of his stints with the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Meet Jeremy Lin, solid basketball player.

As a reserve this season for the Charlotte Hornets, Lin contributed steadily to a group that enjoyed an exciting run to the playoffs. He reasserted himself as a deft scorer, capable of catching fire in the right conditions. After finishing seventh in the N.B.A.’s sixth man of the year voting, he reset his value as an attractive target for teams this summer, should he, as expected, decide to become a free agent.

In an interview this week, Lin said that he felt liberated by a firmer sense of who he is.

“I think I’m just in a different place, mentally, spiritually, where I’m able to enjoy this job more and more,” Lin said. “The lows don’t affect me the way they used to anymore.”

At the risk of speaking too soon, it seems as though Lin has broken out of the grating cycle of hype and backlash that shadowed him after a sudden emergence with the Knicks in 2011-12 catapulted him to the national stage.

The most provocative thing about Lin this season might have been his changing hairstyles. Lin has been trying to grow his hair out to some unspecified length, and the process led him to improvise various coiffures: Mohawks, side parts, ponytails. He laughed this week about the way fans on social media and interviewers had tried to use his hair as a window to his inner life, to find some symbolism in the hairdos, to attach some special meaning to styling gel.

“It’s taken on a life of its own, which I never expected,” Lin said. “I’m just trying to have fun with it.”

Lin, pictured in December, laughed this week about the way fans on social media have tried to find some symbolism in his different hairstyles this season. Credit Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Fun was missing at times over the last few years. He languished on the Rockets from 2012 to 2014, often watching from the corner as James Harden handled the team’s creative responsibilities. With the Lakers last season, he seemed miscast in the team’s ponderous offensive system.

Lin was a free agent after the Lakers’ 21-win season, and suitors were not quite knocking down his door. But the Hornets envisioned a role for him, and Coach Steve Clifford pitched him a system that would emphasize fast play and pick-and-rolls — the lively conditions in which Lin thrives. The Hornets, who had missed the playoffs in 2015, had ambitions to re-establish themselves as postseason contenders. It was an intriguing opportunity.

“Going through what he went through last year, and then coming here and having a chance to do something special, he was down for it,” Charlotte center Al Jefferson said. “In this league, you want a winning situation, and normally everything else will take care of itself.”

Lin signed a modest contract: two years for $4.37 million, with a player option on the second year. It has been a mutually beneficial agreement. At Jefferson’s request, Lin helped to revive and organize the Hornets’ road trip Bible study group, which had gone dormant last season. Jefferson said the entire team had attended the final session of the regular season.

On the court, Lin averaged 16.1 points per 36 minutes during the regular season, his highest single-season average since his days in New York. In five games, he notched 25 points or more, including a 35-point performance against the Toronto Raptors in January and a 29-point game in a surprise win over the San Antonio Spurs in March.

Lin passed to his Hornets teammate Cody Zeller in a game in Milwaukee in March.
Credit Morry Gash/Associated Press

As the season wound down, Clifford praised Lin for a “terrific year.” He said there were facets of his game that seemed to have gone underappreciated.

“He’s a much, much better defender than people realize,” Clifford said. “He competes hard every night, and he’s a very serious player.”

Lin kept a low profile all season. His name re-entered the national conversation this month, however, when a fan named Hsiu-Chen Kuei from San Jose, Calif., uploaded a homemade video to YouTube that showed multiple instances in which Lin had drawn hard contact from opponents. Kuei questioned why flagrant fouls had not been called. The video was widely viewed.

An article in The New York Times about Kuei and the video prompted the N.B.A. to issue a statement saying essentially that Lin’s common and flagrant foul numbers were in line with league norms.

Lin shrugged this week when asked what he thought about the N.B.A.’s response. He seemed to find it a bit perplexing.

“That doesn’t address the issue,” Lin said. “To me, not everybody drives the same way, not everybody goes to the basket the same way, not everybody takes contact the same way. I mean, it is what it is. They made their statement. All I know is, you’ve just got to watch the film.”

But Lin did not want to criticize the officiating. He said that it was out of his control and that he had other matters to worry about. The Hornets fell behind in their series against the Miami Heat, two games to none, with a loss on Wednesday night. He scored 9 points in Game 1 and 11 points in Game 2 and is among the many Hornets players who will need to improve in Game 3 on Saturday to make the series competitive.

Lin demurred, too, when asked whether he might opt out of his contract this summer and what he might seek. He said that it would be disrespectful to the Hornets organization and to his teammates to discuss personal business during this postseason run.

Several teams could use his services. The Nets’ hiring of Kenny Atkinson, an Atlanta Hawks assistant who had been an assistant with the Knicks during the Linsanity days, to lead their team next season prompted some media outlets to speculate whether Brooklyn would be an attractive destination for Lin. Lin did not entertain any notion that there was significance to the connection. But he was more than happy to heap praise on his former coach.

“I’ve kind of been saying it was just a matter of time for him because I know how good he is, I know how much he was there for me in New York,” Lin said. “When you’re around him, you kind of understand there’s something different about him: his energy, his passion, the juice he approaches his work with.”

Lin added: “He doesn’t leave any stone unturned. He’s always the first one in, and I’m saying first one in by, like, hours.”

Clifford offered similar praise for Lin’s work ethic. He called him a serious player who puts in extra work every day. Since last summer, Lin’s focus has been on altering his jump shot — still a weak point in his game — with help from a shooting coach. Clifford predicted Lin’s 3-point-shooting percentage would rise starting next season.

“I think he’s got another big jump in his game,” Clifford said.

And then, maybe, another label in a short career full of them. — Andrew Keh | The New York Times

Eric Clapton's Heartfelt Purple Rain Tribute To Prince

Purple Rain (1984) - Theatrical Trailer

SYNOPSIS: A young man with a talent for music has begun a career with much promise. He meets an aspiring singer, Apollonia, and finds that talent alone isn't all that he needs. A complicated tale of his repeating his father's self destructive behavior, losing Apollonia to another singer (Morris Day), and his coming to grips with his own connection to other people ensues.

Purple Rain (1984)
Release Date: July 27th, 1984 (USA)
Director: Albert Magnoli

• • •

"I'm so sad about the death of Prince, he was a true genius, and a huge inspiration for me, in a very real way....
In the the eighties, I was out on the road in a massive downward spiral with drink and drugs, I saw Purple Rain in a cinema in Canada, I had no idea who he was, it was like a bolt of lightning!...
In the middle of my depression, and the dreadful state of the music culture at that time it gave me hope, he was like a light in the darkness...
I went back to my hotel, and surrounded by empty beer cans, wrote Holy Mother....
I can't believe he's gone...." — Eric Clapton

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 22nd, 2016

Here are your Top 5 Plays from Friday night's action in the Association.

Kyrie Irving celebrate w/ King James over his last-second clock shot to ice the Pistons

Friday, April 22, 2016

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 21st, 2016

Check out the Top 5 plays in the NBA from Thursday's playoff action.

James Harden w/ a game-winning last-few-second shot against the Warriors!

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 20th, 2016

5 incredible highlights from the 2016 NBA playoffs

LeBron James w/ an emphatic two-handed "bulldozing" dunk on poor Reggie Bullock

† R.I.P. — PRINCE (June 7th, 1958 – April 21st, 2016) — R.I.P. †

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 19th, 2016

Check out the top five plays from Tuesday's playoff games.

Paul Millsap w/ a galactical block from the Milky Way!

CNN: How Do Dogs Think?

CNN: How do dogs think?

CNN's Randi Kaye takes a look at how dogs think and the relationship they have with their owners.

Inside the science of how dogs think — CNN News

Scientists create IQ test for dogs... and it could help humans too — CNN News

Kong M.
Pet Care Provider in NYC

Hi, my name is Kong — as in King Kong, and I am a bonafide animal lover — more specifically, a dog lover.

I've spent my early professional career on Wall Street and was fortunate to survive the terrorist attack on Sept 9/11. Our company occupied the 25th/26th floors in Tower 1 and we narrowly escaped before the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Since the horrific 9/11 tragedy, I became a Celebrity Event Planner and Freelance Creative Consultant — those unique occupations provided me w/ a flexible schedule. During my free time, I've been blessed w/ the joy and pleasure to watch over birds, cats and dogs for my co-workers, family and friends.

Please note, I've owned two dogs: CHEEBA (Female Brindle Boxer) & ONYX (Male Rednose Pitbull Terrier) in my lifetime and co-adopted another dog named LOCO (an A.P.T. with which/whom I actually helped bred w/ two other female dogs — caring/raising/training for a total of 21 puppies; only one pup passed-away R.I.P.)

As you can see, dogs are my passion, "RUFF!"

Please e-mail: theKONGBLOG@gmail.com w/ the subject title: "Pet Care" for any inquiries w/ regards to pet-sitting your beloved pets, thank you!

theNEWMANS: theGREATEST BASKETBALL PRODIGIES (BROTHER & SISTER) of ALL-TIME??

theNEWMANS: Julian Newman & Jaden Newman — Quite Possibly the Greatest Basketball Players of All-Timesss!

JULIAN NEWMAN

Julian Newman: The 5th Grader Who Starts For a High School Basketball Team
Despite being just 4' 5" and 70 pounds -- and being in fifth grade! -- Julian Newman is the starting point guard for Downey Christian School in Orlando, Florida. Check out his amazing story! He'll be on Oprah and Conan this week showing off his considerable skills. Content and production by Bill Frakes and Laura Heald.

JADEN NEWMAN

10-Year-Old Jaden Newman Wants to Be 1st Woman in NBA
Jaden Newman is a 10-year-old girl who averaged 30.5 points per game last season for her varsity high school team. Newman has played on the varsity girls team at Downey Christian School since third grade and will be entering sixth grade this fall.

The Dribblin' Siblins - Julian and Jaden Newman — Max Preps

Julian Newman is one of the most scouted young ballers in basketball history!

Age and Size Stand Out, but So Does Talent — New York Times

Jaden Newman is -by far, one of the most coveted & scouted female baller in basketball history!

Meet the world's most marketed 12-year-old basketball player (watch) — Tampa Bay

Elite 80 Alum Jaden Newman beats Steph Curry in 3 point contest in awesome Foot Locker commercial!

Jaden & Julian Newman — the Greatest Basketball Prodigies of All-Time?

...to be continued.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Top 5 NBA Plays Of The Playoffs: April 18th, 2016

Check out the top 5 plays of the night.

Justin Anderson w/ a super-mega "put-back" dunk from a miss free-throw!

Metallica – Invented Trash Metal by Reinventing Heavy Metal

A metal template prizing melody and intricate arrangements as highly as brute force and bravado … Metallica in 1984.

Metallica – the band who reinvented metalTheir first album Kill ’Em All introduced exciting, spikily abrasive thrash, but it was their second, Ride the Lightning, that changed the game completely

Kill 'Em All & Ride The Lighting Remastered & Reissued on April 15th, 2016

To truly understand the colossal impact on metal of Metallica’s first two albums –newly remastered and reissued – first try to imagine that you are 14 and absolutely furious about pretty much everything. There was plenty of noisy, fast and deliberately ’orrible music available to delinquent teens in the early 80s, but punk rock and heavy metal belonged to an earlier generation: all great music, of course, but nothing we surly longhairs could truly call our own. And then thrash metal happened.

Metal nerds may quite reasonably attribute the creation of thrash to the efforts of Motörhead, Venom and numerous obscure bands that added extra fire and a dash of snot to the heavy metal blueprint, but Metallica’s debut album is the true starting point for a sub-genre that continues to exert a vast influence today.

Kill ’Em All – which was originally to have been called Metal Up Your Ass, until it was pointed out that the title might make the album unsellable – exploded into metal fans’ consciousness in the summer of 1983. It was brutal, abrasive and joyously aggressive; as much a paean to the joys of making a skull-shattering din as it was a statement of intent. Songs like Hit the Lights, Whiplash and Metal Militia heralded the arrival of a new, younger, spikier and much grittier musical force; a beer-swilling, speed-guzzling blizzard of arrogance, acne and antagonism that permanently blurred the lines between punk and metal. More than anything, it sounded like the future.

By the time Metallica released Ride the Lightning a year later, this fiery garage band had mutated into something far more imposing. Gone were the simplistic, high-speed assaults; replaced by a hugely ambitious reimagining of the heavy metal template that prized melody and intricate arrangements as highly as brute force and bravado.

Kirk Hammet, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich & the late-Cliff Burton R.I.P.

Unlike many of their peers from the early thrash scene, Metallica were plainly developing into great songwriters, too. Metal’s detractors might be reluctant to admit it, but songs like Creeping Death and For Whom the Bell Tolls boasted hooks that would make Moby Dick flinch. There were even moments, most notably on grandiose semi-ballad Fade to Black, that even embraced subtlety, of all things. Some diehard fans balked at the notion that Metallica had grown up a bit, but the majority were simply blown away. Within the space of 12 months, the band had reinvented an entire genre twice. As an added bonus, through his groundbreaking work on Ride the Lightning, producer Flemming Rasmussen had almost casually redefined what heavy metal records could sound like and turned Metallica into a safe bet for world domination in the process.

Time is the real test of an album’s significance. Even now, 33 years after their debut, only one album is ever likely to beat Kill ’Em All and Ride the Lightning in a popular vote on metal’s greatest records – and that’s Master of Puppets, the third Metallica album, which turned four snotty, denim-clad hooligans in their early 20s into global superstars in 1986. By that point, of course, Metallica were firmly on the road to mainstream acceptance. Those first two records, on the other hand, will always belong to the scruffs, the outcasts, the Metal Militia.

Lars Ulrich reflects on the 'pure, momentary, alcohol-fueled energy' of Metallica's first two albums — Entertainment Weekly

Metallifacts

The original cover for Metallica’s debut album, when it was to be called Metal Up Your Ass, featured a hand clutching a dagger emerging from a toilet bowl.

The new title came from bassist Cliff Burton’s response to the reaction to the original name: “Those record company fuckers – kill ’em all!”

Burton’s first band, EZ Street, also featured future Faith No More members Mike Bordin and Jim Martin. Burton later said their style was “covers, just wimpy shit”.

They began the album barely a month after recruiting guitarist Kirk Hammett from Bay Area thrashers Exodus to replace Dave Mustaine, who was sacked for his drug and alcohol use.

Originally, 15,000 copies of Kill ’Em All were pressed by Metallica’s label, Megaforce. It didn’t enter the US top 200 until 1986, three years after its release.

Before the band began recording Ride the Lightning, they tried recruiting Armored Saint singer John Bush to take over as singer, because James Hetfield wanted to concentrate on guitar. He said no, because Armored Saint were doing so well.

For Whom the Bell Tolls, from Ride the Lightning, has become a stadium sports theme, with several baseball players using it as entrance music, as well as the Denver Broncos, before defensive third-downs.

Creeping Death, from Ride the Lightning, is the second most performed song at Metallica shows, with 1,413 outings, behind only Master of Puppets. It is based on the Plague of the Death of the Firstborn, from Exodus. That’s from the Bible, not the thrash band.

The other Exodus were present on the album, too – Trapped Under Ice was inspired by the Exodus track Impaler.

During the tour to promote Ride the Lightning, Metallica appeared at the Monsters of Rock festival, between the hair metal bands Bon Jovi and Ratt. Hetfield told the crowd: “If you came here to see spandex, eye makeup, and the words ‘oh baby’ in every fuckin’ song, this ain’t the fuckin’ band.”

Remastered editions of Kill ’Em All and Ride the Lightning are out now on Virgin EMI. — Dom Lawson | The Guardian