Drake Back To Back

Drake is back on the mic with yet another response to Meek Mill's allegations that he uses ghostwriters. The rapper dropped his latest diss track, "Back To Back," Wednesday morning (July 29), after sharing the first, "Charged Up," last Saturday.

He comes for Meek with some pretty harsh verses, calling out the fact that he has yet to respond with bars of his own, and instead is using "trigger fingers turned to Twitter fingers." (Meek, though so far without a diss track of his own, has been very vocal about the beef on his timeline.) "You love her then you gotta get a world tour," Drake continues, alluding to Meek's current opening slot on girlfriend Nicki Minaj's tour. "Is that a world tour or your girl's tour?/ I know that you gotta be a thug for her/ This ain't what she meant when she told you to open up more."

The track's artwork is yet another (subtle) dig at the rapper, showing Toronto Blue Jay Joe Carter after hitting the 1993 World Series-winning home run over none other than the Philadelphia Phillies (Meek's home team).

Unknown 8:30 PM 0

Valerie Harper

Valerie Harper was taken to the hospital before a performance at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine, on Wednesday night. The former Mary Tyler Moore Show actress expressed that she was “not feeling well,” and her hospital visit was a “precaution,” according to a release from the theater.

Actress Valerie Harper has been released from a Maine hospital Thursday after an overnight stay, Deadline.com reports.The Rhoda star, 75, was taken to York Hospital Wednesday evening before her performance of Nice Work If You Can Get It at the Ogunquit Playhouse.

In a statement obtained by the Associated Press Thursday, Bradford Kenney, the theater's executive artistic director, reported that the four-time Emmy winner was “resting comfortably,” adding that Harper was feeling better.Harper, best known for her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff, Rhoda, is playing Millicent Winter in Nice Work, alongside Sally Struthers. The production is scheduled to run through Aug. 15.



The Ogunquit Fire Department responded to a call about an unconscious 75-year-old female at the theater, EW has confirmed. By the time they arrived, the patient had regained consciousness and was transported to York Hospital. The department was not able to reveal the name of that individual.According to the release, Harper is currently undergoing observation, but is “resting comfortably.”

“The audiences and all of us here at the Playhouse are greatly enjoying our time with Valerie here in Ogunquit, and we are encouraged that she is feeling better,” Bradford T. Kenney, Executive Artistic Director said in a statement.Harper was starring alongside Golden Globe nominee Sally Struthers as Millicent Winter in the musical production of Nice Work If You Can Get It, scheduled to run from July 22 to Aug. 15. 

The actress was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer back in 2013 (she was previously diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009). She spoke with People earlier this year about her diagnosis, saying, “When I wake up in the morning I don’t say ‘Oh, I have cancer. I say ‘Another day. How you feeling? Good? Good.’ And when I do have little twinges of something I go ‘Oh my god, is that a headache? What is that?’ And I say wait a day or two, it might just be a headache and usually it is … so far.”

Unknown 8:25 PM 0

Mission Impossible

Watching Tom Cruise hurtle through the latest “Mission: Impossible,” taking one blow after another, you can’t help worrying that he won’t be able to keep this action stuff up. It looks so hard! But here he is, the 53-year-old Tom Terrific, holding onto a plane as it takes off, defying sense and gravity, and making you wonder (not for the first time) if he would actually die for our pleasure. By the time he’s flailing underwater without an oxygen tank, struggling against violent surges as breath and time run out, you can almost feel the life leaving his body.

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation doesn’t have the nonsensical lyricism of Brad Bird’s stupendous Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, but it’s still pretty good. It works best when, like Ferguson, it plays things straight instead of (mis)using Simon Pegg’s Impossible Mission Team techie for broad comic relief and Ving Rhames for Lou Grant–like grumpiness. Dull as they usually were, the old poker-faced TV Mission: Impossible crew had dignity. They weren’t always blubbering, “I’m working on it! Hang on! Aaauuggghh!” when one of their thingamajigs jammed. The series is also becoming almost as huggy and self-congratulatory as the Fast and Furious films.

The plot of Rogue Nation has Ethan Hunt (Cruise) once again cast out of the fold, branded as a madman or worse by a CIA director, Hunley (Alec Baldwin), who wants to shut the Impossible Mission Force down on the grounds that it operates without transparency or oversight. There are so many layers of irony here (the CIA whining about lack of oversight, the casting of ultraliberal Baldwin) that Hunley’s congressional debate with IMF coordinator Brandt (Jeremy Renner in the action-movie equivalent of a desk job) ought to be more fun than it is.



Ethan’s crime is arguing that there’s an anti-IMF at large, a “rogue nation” called “the Syndicate” that’s ... doing a lot of bad things. This makes Hunley so angry that he puts much of the CIA’s resources into catching Ethan — while various members of his former team chuckle to themselves that no army could catch Ethan Hunt; he’s that smart, cunning, dexterous, muscular, sexually potent, etc. The script is by director Christopher McQuarrie, whose characters voiced similar sentiments about Cruise’s hero in the pair’s last collaboration, Jack Reacher.

A new strain of highbrow fanboy is lately making a case for McQuarrie as an unsung action auteur. Would it were so. He doesn’t have the visual panache to pull off the slapstick-derring-do prologue in which Cruise hangs from an escaping terrorist plane while his hysterical team tries to get the door open for him. An early, subterranean martial-arts clash is edited for maximum chop. A triple-assassin shoot-out with fisticuffs in a Vienna opera house has one or two good moments, but McQuarrie wants so nakedly for it to be a Brian De Palma–style spatial-temporal tour de force that its semi-coherence is an embarrassment.

On the other hand, he delivers a corker of a high-speed motorcycle chase — the road-level camerawork rattles you down to your joints. A climactic knife fight between Ferguson and a burly villain known as the “Bone Doctor” works like gangbusters: It doesn’t have too many variables and it isn’t broken up by one-liners.

As the icily malignant leader of “the Syndicate,” the twisty-faced Sean Harris is like a medieval demon with thick glasses. He and Hunt have a splendid climactic stare-down — elegantly staged and surprising. And McQuarrie has one foolproof weapon: Lalo Schifrin’s original TV theme, blasted so triumphantly whenever Cruise and Company do something right that it’s like the action-movie equivalent of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”

Unknown 8:21 PM 0

Canelo vs Kirkland

The Houston Astros' Jed Lowrie or Jose Altuve will not connect with a baseball harder than Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KO) hit James "The Mandingo Warrior" Kirkland (32-2) on Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.

Boxing fans who were displeased with Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s win over Manny Pacquiao last week got the all-out brawl they hoped to see in Houston. Canelo savagely knocked out Kirkland in the third round of a Texas back-alley brawl.

Kirkland came to fight from the opening bell. He seemed to land a hard right hand in the first round that may have stunned Canelo. The latter took some time to collect himself and then began to counter Kirkland's wild advances.

While he was ferocious, Kirkland was also defenseless. He left himself open for tons of counter shots, and Canelo capitalized on every opportunity. He floored Kirkland in the first round with a counter right that sent his opponent tumbling into the ropes.

Kirkland would rise to his feet, but he looked wobbly the rest of the round. Somehow he escaped, but he didn't seem to have regained his wherewithal even in the second frame. Canelo looked to conserve some energy in respect of his opponent's iron will, but he had to know it was just a matter of time before he took Kirkland out.

In the third and decisive round, Kirkland regained some of his pep and went back on the offensive. His moderate flurry would be short-lived. An uppercut dropped the hard-charging Texan to his knees. He quickly picked up referee Jon Schorle's count and got to his feet at seven.

Canelo would go in for the kill from there. With one of the most well-orchestrated knockout punches you'll ever see, Canelo feinted to the body with the jab and came over the top with a powerful right hand that caught Kirkland flush on the jaw.

Both fights would be extremely interesting, but one thing is for sure: Cotto and Golovkin ain't Kirkland. With all due respect to The Mandingo Warrior's toughness, he couldn't dodge a parked car. It's hard to determine if he has a chin because he simply allows opponents to have at his beard at will.

He's a brawler custom-made for a skilled and hard puncher like Canelo. To his credit, the 24-year-old Mexican superstar did exactly what he was supposed to do.

While Canelo's career options are wide-open, it's hard to imagine where Kirkland goes from here.

He'll get some pats on the back for his toughness and heart, but the fact of the matter is knockout losses like the one he suffered Saturday take years off fighters' career and possibly their lives. There seems little doubt he'll be back in the ring at some point, but his ceiling has been clearly defined by this loss, if not lowered.

Unknown 5:30 AM 0

Without Celebrating Mother's Day

Although challenging, motherhood has been a wonderful and profound experience. Being a mother has brought joy into my life that I can’t really explain. But, as mentioned above, this article is about Mother’s Day.

I find little joy in Mother’s Day, and I think many moms feel the same way. If you polled a room of women it would surprise people how many females believe that this holiday comes with flowers, cards and a truckload of guilt. Here's why:

A reminder of what she is not

Facebook posts, Twitter feeds and media outlets all share stories of wonderful and extraordinary mothers. But for the rest of us, it can be a painful reminder of things we lack; how sometimes our babies go two  or three days without a bath; or how we let our toddler occasionally sip out of our soda cup when they start having a meltdown in the grocery store. It can be a reminder of when we regrettably lost it, having our own mom meltdown, after a young child pooped, barfed or destroyed something in our home. Right or wrong, Mother’s Day can make women feel like they can’t measure up to the “perfect” mother they desire to be.

Her unfulfilled desire to be a mother

For the majority of my 20s, I was single and childless. Mother’s Day was often a day I was reminded of the fact that I was not a mother. By the time I had married, and my husband and I tried to start a family, it took us almost a year to conceive a child, due to some minor but prolonging health issues I had. Almost weekly, I got questions from well-intentioned friends and acquaintances to why we hadn’t had a child yet. Someone even said that she heard a rumor at church that I didn’t want to have children because I was so career-driven (I had been working professionally for almost nine years at that point in my life). Little did these people know the reality of the situation.

I can only imagine the pain that other people who have been trying to have children for years feel on a Mother’s Day a day full of reminders about children and mothers  and the significance in of itself, of being a mother.

A less-than-ideal relationship with her mother

Both men and women may not have had a great mother, or even an involved mother, in their lives. Perhaps they had a falling out with their mother in recent years. Although, I personally can’t relate to this (as please read my indulgent Facebook posts on Mother’s Day about my own mom and mother-in-law), I have friends say that, to them, Mother’s Day can be a hard day because they don’t have an ideal mother.

She no longer has a mother

I had a friend whose mother passed away very unexpectedly and tragically when she was attending college. That first Mother’s Day without her mom was especially painful. Constantly being reminded through Hallmark commercials and grocery stores pushing flowers and candy Mother’s Day, for my friend, was just a day she had to do her best to get through.

I know many other women, regardless of their age, who don’t have living mothers. This can make Mother's Day a day that is reflective, but also hard to get through because they simply miss their moms.

Mother's Day just a day

Whether you are a fan of Mother’s Day or not, here is the thing women must remember Mother’s Day is just a day. It is not a defining moment, nor should the amount of praise or adoration, or amount of gifts one receives equate to the quality of a woman you are and that is true for any day of the year.

Mother’s Day wasn’t created to make women feel bad about themselves or their situations, although sometimes we can’t help how we feel. Women must remember that instead of feeling bad or sad on Mother’s Day, they must focus on the most important aspect that sometimes gets overlooked on this day: the love that mothers have for others, and the love that others feel for them, perfect mother or not.

Unknown 5:16 AM 0

Clippers-Rockets Game

The Clippers demonstrated one round ago their ability to stay even-keeled during the highs and lows of the postseason.

They dealt with a 27-point loss only to return a game later and win in San Antonio. They followed that win with a loss at home, only to go back to San Antonio and steal another victory. As the Clippers return home for Friday’s game in a 1-1 series, that first-round experience is something they want to draw on.  

“This is playoff basketball,” said Blake Griffin. “The ups and the downs, it’s what we always talk about. If we learned anything from last series, it’s that one game doesn’t have as big an effect on a series as everyone makes it out to be.”

The Clippers felt like they let one slip away, getting out to a double-digit lead in Houston before the Rockets stormed back in the second half to even the series. But as much as they wanted to come home with a 2-0 lead, the Clippers still managed to do what most road teams hope for by stealing home court advantage.

They also managed to do it without their star point guard, Chris Paul (hamstring), who missed the first two games of the series and whose status is still in question for Game 3.

“We believe in ourselves,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “We really do. I like this team, they like each other and we compete. You add all those ingredients, you get over wins quickly…and you get over losses pretty quickly as well.”

LAST TIME OUT

Rockets 115, Clippers 109 – The Clippers’ 32 free throw attempts were their third most in a game this postseason, and the Rockets still found a way to shoot twice as many free throws as the Clippers, as Houston went on to even the series. The Rockets’ 64 free throw attempts were the most for any playoff team in a game since 1993, and James Harden took advantage by going 15-for-15 from the line and scoring 32 points. The Rockets had no answer in the first half for Blake Griffin, who finished with 34 points and 15 rebounds.

NOTEWORTHY MATCHUP

Blake Griffin vs. Rockets’ Interior Defenders – The Rockets had no answer for Griffin in the first half Wednesday. He had 26 points by halftime on 11-of-14 shooting, doing basically whatever he wanted offensively and leaving Houston searching for answers. Then the Rockets switched it up. They fronted him with a man and provided help behind him, which Rivers said led to the Clippers forcing it to Griffin instead of moving the ball. Now it’s on the Clippers to adjust. Whatever they do, Griffin, who’s fourth in points, second in rebounds and fifth in assists among players still in the playoffs, will still be a load to deal with for the Rockets.

TWO THINGS TO WATCH

Fouls – The Clippers hadn’t allowed a team to shoot more than 46 free throw attempts in a game all season. Then came Game 2 of this series, when the Rockets shot 64. It changed the momentum of the game, and perhaps the series, as it allowed them to chip away at the Clippers’ lead in the game and eventually take it.

The Rockets and Clippers were both in the top five in the NBA during the regular season in free throw attempts per game, and both teams are getting to the line more often than any two teams in the playoffs. But Houston’s shooting nearly 10 more free throws per game than any other team in the postseason, and while the “Hack-A-“ strategy contributed to some of those free throws in Game 2, Rivers knows his group has to stop allowing the Rockets’ dribble penetration leading to the trips to the line. “They were the aggressors all night, and they got rewarded with going to the free-throw line,” Rivers said. “So that was on us.”

Ball Movement – The Clippers rolled into the second half of Game 2 with 65 points, 14 assists and a nine-point lead. Then the ball stopped moving. The Clippers had just six assists in the second half while scoring just three more points in the third and fourth quarters combined than they had in the second quarter. The Clippers averaged the third-most assists per game during the regular season, and this marked just the third time this postseason they dished out 20 assists or fewer. It’s uncharacteristic for the Clippers’ ball movement to be poor, and they know that’ll have to change to get back on track.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Jamal Crawford: “They played with more thrust and were in a do or die situation. It was a desperate situation and the crawled back and you can tip your hat to them and we’ll get ready for game three.”

Blake Griffin: “We didn’t execute there in the second half. I thought we were great in the first half, well in the second quarter, I guess. This team is going to fight no matter who is on the floor. I think that we even saw that this year too.”

Austin Rivers: “The last three or four minutes we were in desperation mode and through that we started attacking the basket, making plays, getting shots and suddenly came back. When we play like that, no one can beat us. We have to get back to playing like that and like in Game 1.”

Unknown 9:57 PM 0

Players Championship

The 2015 Players Championship caused even some of the world's best golfers to stumble in the opening round, and Friday should offer plenty of compelling storylines to follow as the weekend cut line is determined.

Rising young star Hideki Matsuyama headlines the leaderboard after a five-under 67. Kevin Na, David Hearn and Charley Hoffman matched Matsuyama's score, but it's a jumbled list of contenders toward the top.

The start of the opening round on Thursday at The Players Championship, all the hype focused on the return of Tiger Woods and the power pairing of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. Those three big names, especially the two young guns at 1-2 in the world rankings, correctly made this one of the more anticipated Players. But by Thursday night, it was only world No. 1 Rory anywhere near the top of the leaderboard.

They're all chasing Hideki Matsuyama, David Hearn, Kevin Na and Charley Hoffman, who posted 5-under rounds of 67. While Spieth and Rory get all the pub, Matsuyama is another young player that could pile up PGA Tour wins for the next couple decades. The 23-year-old phenom from Japan is probably a better ball striker than both McIlroy and Spieth, and has been on the first page of the leaderboard at majors several times in his early 20s.

Matsuyama is expected to push those two almost as much as they push each other -- the talent is overwhelming, he just needs to putt at a slightly above average, or even average level. He loses so many strokes up on the green green, but his tee-to-green game is so good that he's one of the top ranked golfers in the world. Thursday's round is the kind of number he's capable of posting regularly, and he often has over the past year on tour. A bogey five on the first hole was his only blemish on the card. Expect Matsuyama to hang around the top of the board through the weekend.

Tiger never really could get his round in order and capped it with a double-bogey on the 18th to drop to 1-over. It was the exact same finish that Phil Mickelson posted just a group ahead. Both put drives in the immense lake that lines the entire left side of the fairway, and so they'll go to bed with that final double bogey on their mind. Woods hit several wild tee balls to start his round, but held it together with the usual recoveries and kept his round at a respectable number. The 1-over 73 wasn't too bad given the shots we saw and the grind it appeared to be out there, but he told Golf Channel afterwards that he thought it was the highest number he could have posted given the way he played. After that finishing double, Phil probably feels the same way.

Some highlights and a full account of Tiger's opening round.

Tiger may have been the headline player but the headline group was the McIlroy-Spieth-Jason Day tee time in the morning. After going 58 holes last year at this event without dropping a shot, Spieth started his round bogey-bogey and never seemed in it. He's been the hottest putter in the world over the last seven months, but he got nothing to drop on Thursday. That work on the green, combined with some sloppy short game shots, resulted in his highest score of the season -- a 3-over 75. While Spieth scuffled from start to finish, McIlroy cruised through Sawgrass with a clean card. An 8-iron from 203 yards! set up a short eagle putt that highlighted his round. Spieth was supposed to be the guy who didn't fluctuate with bogeys and birdies dotted throughout his card on this unforgiving Pete Dye course. But McIlroy's round was the one with 14 pars and he's just two shots off the lead.

Place	Player	Score	Round 1
T1	Hideki Matsuyama	-5	67
T1	David Hearn	-5	67
T1	Charley Hoffman	-5	67
T1	Kevin Na	-5	67
T5	Troy Merritt	-4	68
T5	Ben Martin	-4	68
T5	Billy Horschel	-4	68
T5	Brendon Todd	-4	68
T5	Charles Howell III	-4	68
T5	Derek Fathauer	-4	68
T11	Jeff Overton	-3	69
T11	Cameron Tringale	-3	69
T11	Marc Leishman	-3	69
T11	Webb Simpson	-3	69
T11	Rickie Fowler	-3	69
T11	Steve Stricker	-3	69
T11	Jason Day	-3	69
T11	Rory McIlroy	-3	69
T11	Ricky Barnes	-3	69
T11	Jason Kokrak	-3	69
T11	Alex Cejka	-3	69
T11	Brandt Snedeker	-3	69
T11	Sergio Garcia	-3	69
T11	Martin Kaymer	-3	69
T25	Freddie Jacobson	-2	70
T25	Rory Sabbatini	-2	70
T25	Chris Kirk	-2	70
T25	James Hahn	-2	70
T25	Bo Van Pelt	-2	70
T25	Spencer Levin	-2	70
T25	Jamie Donaldson	-2	70
T25	Chris Stroud	-2	70
T25	Louis Oosthuizen	-2	70
T25	Russell Henley	-2	70
T25	Robert Streb	-2	70
T25	J.B. Holmes	-2	70
T25	Jim Furyk	-2	70
T25	K.J. Choi	-2	70
T25	Robert Allenby	-2	70
T40	Padraig Harrington	-1	71
T40	Scott Stallings	-1	71
T40	Chesson Hadley	-1	71
T40	Jimmy Walker	-1	71
T40	Bubba Watson	-1	71
T40	Ian Poulter	-1	71
T40	Ben Crane	-1	71
T40	Jason Bohn	-1	71
T40	Joost Luiten	-1	71
T40	Ryo Ishikawa	-1	71
T40	Jerry Kelly	-1	71
T40	Pat Perez	-1	71
T40	Branden Grace	-1	71
T40	Andrew Svoboda	-1	71
T40	Zach Johnson	-1	71
T40	Justin Rose	-1	71
T40	Vijay Singh	-1	71
T40	Charl Schwartzel	-1	71
T40	Brian Harman	-1	71
T40	Daniel Berger	-1	71
T60	Bryce Molder	E	72
T60	Andres Romero	E	72
T60	Michael Putnam	E	72
T60	Nick Taylor	E	72
T60	Patrick Reed	E	72
T60	Scott Brown	E	72
T60	Russell Knox	E	72
T60	Scott Langley	E	72
T60	Sang-Moon Bae	E	72
T60	Geoff Ogilvy	E	72
T60	Hunter Mahan	E	72
T60	Bill Haas	E	72
T60	Dustin Johnson	E	72
T60	Henrik Stenson	E	72
T60	Adam Scott	E	72
T60	Danny Willett	E	72
T60	Stephen Gallacher	E	72
T77	Justin Thomas	1	73
T77	Graeme McDowell	1	73
T77	Michael Thompson	1	73
T77	Ernie Els	1	73
T77	Scott Piercy	1	73
T77	Boo Weekley	1	73
T77	John Senden	1	73
T77	Matt Kuchar	1	73
T77	David Toms	1	73
T77	Seung-yul Noh	1	73
T77	Bernhard Langer	1	73
T77	Shane Lowry	1	73
T77	Kevin Kisner	1	73
T77	George McNeill	1	73
T77	Danny Lee	1	73
T77	Brendon de Jonge	1	73
T77	Ryan Moore	1	73
T77	Justin Leonard	1	73
T77	Jason Dufner	1	73
T77	Phil Mickelson	1	73
T77	Tiger Woods	1	73
T77	Tim Wilkinson	1	73
T77	Thongchai Jaidee	1	73
T77	Brendan Steele	1	73
T77	Martin Flores	1	73
T102	Gonzalo Fdez-Castano	2	74
T102	Brian Stuard	2	74
T102	Billy Hurley III	2	74
T102	Luke Guthrie	2	74
T102	Matt Every	2	74
T102	John Huh	2	74
T102	Erik Compton	2	74
T109	Jhonattan Vegas	3	75
T109	Daniel Summerhays	3	75
T109	Angel Cabrera	3	75
T109	Harris English	3	75
T109	Jordan Spieth	3	75
T109	Will MacKenzie	3	75
T109	Adam Hadwin	3	75
T109	William McGirt	3	75
T109	Robert Garrigus	3	75
T109	Matt Jones	3	75
T109	Kevin Streelman	3	75
T109	Brian Davis	3	75
T109	Graham DeLaet	3	75
T122	Brice Garnett	4	76
T122	Anirban Lahiri	4	76
T122	Morgan Hoffmann	4	76
T122	Lee Westwood	4	76
T122	Stewart Cink	4	76
T122	Sean O'Hair	4	76
T128	Shawn Stefani	5	77
T128	Carl Pettersson	5	77
T128	Ryan Palmer	5	77
T128	Jonas Blixt	5	77
T128	Keegan Bradley	5	77
T128	Luke Donald	5	77
T128	Steven Bowditch	5	77
T128	Kevin Chappell	5	77
T128	Bernd Wiesberger	5	77
T137	Aaron Baddeley	6	78
T137	Camilo Villegas	6	78
T137	Nick Watney	6	78
T137	Brooks Koepka	6	78
T137	Retief Goosen	6	78
T142	Gary Woodland	7	79
T142	Paul Casey	7	79
WD	Darren Clarke	10	WD

Unknown 9:48 PM 0