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I am the Queen of Awesome. My words do not represent my employer, but I bet you already knew that.
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Some might say it’s only because her favorite napping spot is next to the Christmas tree. But I think she likes the holidays for themselves, and because the Christmas tree has many compelling ornaments to bat around.
Hope your Thursday has been merry and bright, folks.
Sweet Jesus on a breadstick. You are definitely going to need to brace yourself before scrolling dow–
And you’ve already scrolled down and there’s almost no point in us wri–
Sir.
SIR.
Look, we still think celebs should stay well away from Dolce & Gabbana for the time being, due to the brand and the duo’s history of racism, but we have to appreciate when a celebrity man – especially a celebrity man shaped like this celebrity man – steps out in a gorgeous gold rose-covered tuxedo. We are not only impressed by the choice, but stunned at how incredible he looks in it. Bravo, sir.
Style Credits:
Dolce&Gabbana Floral Print Suit from the Spring 2020 Collection
Styled by Ilaria Urbinati
[Photo Credit: David Gabber/PRPhotos.com, Tony Forte/Media Punch/INSTARimages.com, dolcegabbana.com]
The post Dwayne Johnson in Dolce&Gabbana at the “Jumanji: The Next Level” Los Angeles Premiere appeared first on Tom + Lorenzo.
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
A social media influencer has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for concocting a scheme to violently coerce a stranger into giving up a web domain name, the US Department of Justice announced today.
The influencer, Rossi Lorathio Adams II, went by the name “Polo,” and he ran a series of accounts across Instagram and other platforms known as State Snaps while attending college at Iowa State University. The accounts, which Adams began operating around 2015, typically involved depictions of risky or sexually explicit behavior, often featuring college girls. According to The Washington Post, one account Adams ran on Instagram had amassed 1.5 million followers.
Adams, however, became increasingly frustrated that he did not own doitforstate.com, a reference to a popular hashtag (“#DoItForState”) on social media the influencer often used in comments and captions to invoke the type of behavior he would later post about to millions of fans online. The domain name carrying Adams’ slogan was in fact owned by a Cedar Rapids individual, Ethan Deyo, with whom Adams had no prior affiliation.
Adams attempted to purchase the domain name over the course of two years, but ultimately failed as Deyo initially had no intention to sell it. At one point, Deyo did offer to sell the name to Adams for $20,000, but Adams felt the amount too high. Instead of giving up on his quest to own doitforstate.com, Adams turned to intimidation. He sent a gun emoji to one of Deyo’s friends via text, and also at one point showed up to the man’s door.
Eventually, in the summer of 2017, Adams decided to try more violent in-person intimidation. He hired his cousin, a convicted felon named Sherman Hopkins, Jr. who then lived in a homeless shelter, to break into the Deyo’s home and threaten him at gunpoint to transfer the name. Hopkins obliged, showing up at the man’s home with a taser and a pistol while disguised with a pair of pantyhose over his head and black sunglasses on his face. Hopkins also had a list of detailed instructions for how Deyo could transfer the name to Adams.
Yet in what sounds like the climax of a Coen Brothers dark comedy, Deyo ended up wrestling the gun out of Hopkins’ hands after being shot once in the leg, whereupon he shot Hopkins numerous times in the chest. Both men survived.
Hopkins was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2017 to one count of interference and attempted interference with commerce by threats and violence, according to an article from the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Adams was convinced in a jury trial in April of this year of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by force, threats, and violence. He was only just sentenced this week.
Microsoft is planning to kill off its Wunderlist app on May 6th, 2020. The software giant originally acquired Wunderlist more than four years ago, and has spent the past two years building out its To Do app as a replacement. “We’ve been working tirelessly to ensure our new app, Microsoft To Do, feels like a new home for your lists,” explains Microsoft’s Wunderlist team in a blog post. “We’ve stopped releasing new features and big updates to Wunderlist, so as the app ages it’s become more difficult to maintain. As technology continues to advance, we can’t guarantee that Wunderlist will continue to work as it should, or as we’d like it to.”
Microsoft is now closing off its Wunderlist services in May 2020, and it’s recommending current users switch over to its To Do app. You’ll be able to import lists from Wunderlist straight into To Do, but you will require a Microsoft Account to use the app. Microsoft has greatly improved To Do since its introduction two years ago, and the company launched a Mac version earlier this year before totally overhauling To Do to make it more familiar to Wunderlist users.
Wunderlist founder Christian Reber had offered earlier this year to buy back the popular task management app from Microsoft to avoid it being shut down. While Microsoft’s Wunderlist acquisition was complicated, it’s clear the company isn’t willing to sell the app and it sees To Do as the replacement. After May 6th, tasks in Wunderlist will no longer sync, but you’ll still be able to important tasks into To Do “for a period of time.”
Caroll Spinney, who worked as a puppeteer on Sesame Street for five decades playing beloved characters Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, has died at the age of 85.
(Read: Remembering Caroll Spinney, Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch)
According to a statement released by the Sesame Workshop, Spinney passed away Sunday, December 8th, at his home in Connecticut due to complications from Dystonia.
“Caroll was an artistic genius whose kind and loving view of the world helped shape and define Sesame Street from its earliest days in 1969 through five decades, and his legacy here at Sesame Workshop and in the cultural firmament will be unending,” the statement reads. “His enormous talent and outsized heart were perfectly suited to playing the larger-than-life yellow bird who brought joy to generations of children and countless fans of all ages around the world, and his lovably cantankerous grouch gave us all permission to be cranky once in a while.”
According to a New York Times profile on Spinney published last year, the Waltham, Massachusetts native appeared in over 4,400 episodes of Sesame Street. He retired as a puppeteer in 2015, but continued to voice Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for episodes airing as recently as this year.
Spinney was hired by Sesame Street creator Jim Henson in 1969 after crossing paths at a puppeteers festival. He quickly made his presence felt, especially when it came to the character of Big Bird. “I said, I think I should play him like he’s a child, a surrogate,” Spinney told the Times. “He can be all the things that children are. He can learn with the kids.”
Over the course of the next five decades, Caroll’s “unparalleled career saw Big Bird visit China with Bob Hope, dance with the Rockettes, be celebrated with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a U.S. postage stamp, and named a ‘Living Legend’ by the Library of Congress,” Sesame Workshop noted in its statement. “A favorite highlight for Caroll was conducting symphony orchestras and performing with them across the United States, Australia, and China, allowing him to personally connect with families everywhere through the music of Sesame Street.”
Watch a 2018 tribute to Spinner produced by Sesame Street:
R.I.P. Caroll Spinney, original Big Bird puppeteer dies at 85
Alex Young
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