Lamar Odom Career Mix HD 5/7/2016 12:05 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
EXCLUSIVE
If Lamar Odom was expecting special red carpet treatment when he makes his return to hoops at L.A."s legendary Drew League -- he"s wrong. People will be GUNNING to crush him on the court.
Don"t believe us? Just ask "One Tree Hill" star Antwon Tanner -- an ex-college hoops player who"s been a regular at The Drew for 20 YEARS!!!
As we previously reported, Odom"s been offered a spot on a Drew squad -- and it would be the PERFECT opportunity to show NBA teams he can still ball at a pro level ... considering a bunch of NBA players often play in the league.
So, the question ... would people go easy on Odom considering he ALMOST DIED SIX MONTHS AGO?
Tanner says it"s exactly the opposite ... Odom would actually be a HUGE target.
MNLF Founder Nur Misuari Weighs in on the Philippine Presidential Election
Watch updates on the 2016 Philippine election results live on Rappler
Rappler.com
Published 4:42 AM, May 10, 2016
Updated 4:42 AM, May 10, 2016
Watch Rappler"s rolling coverage of the 2016 Philippine elections happening on Monday, May 9. Rappler.com
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Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani: "Go Ahead and Break My Heart" - The Voice 2016
Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani took the stage together on Monday"s The Voice, where they debuted their country duet "Go Ahead and Break My Heart," off Shelton"s forthcoming album, If I"m Honest, and their love was palpable.
Shelton, decked out in a classy black-and-white suit and vest combo, started off singing by himself onstage before Stefani stepped out from the wings in a figure-hugging, semi-sheer gown covered in sparkly flower-print embroidery.
WATCH: Gwen Stefani Dishes About "Fun" New Tour, Gets Kiss from Blake Shelton
As the two performed their ballad, the couple gazed into each other"s eyes as they sang and it was clear how well the duet worked for the two of them and how much emotion went into their live performance.
As the heartfelt duet came to a close, the audience and Shelton"s fellow coaches rose to their feet for standing ovation, while the cute couple embraced on stage and smiled as the lights dimmed. Shelton even bowed down to his lady love as the audience cheered.
The performance was recorded an hour before the live show kicked off at 5 p.m., and the two stars ran through the entire number twice to get the best take.
WATCH: Blake Shelton Opens Up About "Very Personal" Gwen Stefani Duet
ET was on the scene at The Voice, where audience members at the taping were treated to a little more than viewers at home -- including some gentle ribbing by Shelton"s fellow coaches.
As Shelton and Stefani took the stage, Pharrell Williams playfully joked, "Aww, you guys look so cute!"
Even The Voice hype man, who is responsible to getting the audience pumped up before the show, teased the country crooner"s sophisticated style, telling Shelton, "Look how good you look tonight! Gwen dressed you awesome."
WATCH: Gwen Stefani Returns to "The Voice," Teases Boyfriend Blake Shelton
Shelton spoke to ET"s Sophie Schillaci before taking the stage on Monday, where he admitted that he dressed up to impress his rock star girlfriend. In fact, he said the track itself was an effort to win her over.
"When I originally started writing this song that we"re performing tonight, I was only trying to impress Gwen that time around too," Shelton revealed.
He added that the song "was just kind of something for she and I to help us feel better about what we were going through," referring to both of their divorces.
The morning before the big duet debut, Stefani shared a super sweet Instagram pic of the adorable duo in a romantic moment in the woods.
WATCH: Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani Perform "Hotline Bling" on "Tonight Show"
Shelton previously opened up about the song back in April, telling ET, "[The song] is very personal for us both because, you know, we obviously have this bond that is remarkable together I hesitate to brag on it too much but I really think that it"s as good of a song as I"ve ever written in my life."
Check out the video below to hear more from Shelton about the powerful duet "Go Ahead and Break My Heart." If I"m Honest comes out May 20.
We Own the Night - 2007 - Opening Scene "Eva Mendes is horny"
Step aside Lemonade, Drake, and basically every other trending topic: The Gosling baby is here at last. That is, at least, according to TMZ. The entertainment outlet claimed on Monday evening that Eva Mendes had finally given birth, posting a what was reportedly a copy of the baby"s birth certificate, obtained from an unnamed source.
The alleged certificate lists both Mendes and Gosling as the baby"s parents. The little one"s name too is visible in the copy, and reads "Amada Lee Gosling." The newest addition, if she actually does exist, is the couple"s second child, and joins big sister Esmeralda Amada, who"s a little less than two years old. Romper has reached out to both actors" reps for comment and is awaiting a response.
The real kicker here? According to the certificate, little Amada Lee was born last month on April 29 at Providence Saint John"s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. That means that Mendes and Gosling somehow managed to hide the super-secret pregnancy until just recently, and then successfully snuck off and delivered the little tot, far away from the prying eyes of the paparazzi, without anyone being the wiser. Sneaky sneaky.
Not that that"s really surprising. The notoriously private couple have worked hard throughout their five-year relationship to maintain some semblance of normalcy in their otherwise high-profile lives, and for good reason.
In an interview with Violet Grey shortly after Esmeralda"s birth, Mendes explained why she and partner Gosling felt compelled to keep their personal and family lives secret. When asked why she had "[flown] under the radar] throughout her pregnancy, Mendes responded,
Whether we like it or not, privacy is going to be very difficult for Esmeralda. I think its unfair but thats our reality. So Ryan and I decided early on to give her as much privacy as we could. And my pregnancy was the first opportunity to give her that. Its such an intimate time for the mother, too. I know that it seems all very innocuous when youre flipping through a tabloid at the doctors office or see a photo of a pregnant lady online, but I find the medias "bump watch" obsession to be both intrusive and stressful. So I made a decision to eject myself from it completely. I was like, "Annnnd Im out."
Angela Weiss/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesLOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 18: E! Entertainment correspondent Catt Sadler and actress Eva Mendes at the launch of the Eva Mendes for NY&C Spring 2014 collection with a pop-up shop at The Beverly Center on March 18, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Angela Weiss/Getty Images for New York & Company)
Despite the fact that the reported baby news is nearly two weeks old, it didn"t stop social media users from taking to their respective accounts en masse and tweeting up a storm. "I hate how private celebrities are, but I also respect them for it, like G*d, I WANT TO SEE RYAN GOSLING AND EVA MENDES" BABY BUT I CAN"T," one fan joked.
Others were quick to follow:
Whenever (or rather if ever) Mendes and Gosling decide to come forward and talk about their new bundle of joy with excited fans and press, it"ll clearly be in their own time and on their own conditions and that"s perfectly okay.
Up until a few days ago, I had never played a grand strategy game. Id heard of Sid Meiers Civilization, Total War, Europa Universalis and others, but Id never really paid attention to them. As far as I was concerned they were games I would never play, my lack of a capable PC allowing me to forget all about them. When I was asked to go to a two day multiplayer event to play one of these games, you can then imagine my trepidation. Stellaris, the 4X grand space strategy title that Id be playing, sounded complicated. My research also told me that Paradox, the developers behind it, were renowned for making particularity complex strategy games. Safe to say, I was scared. However, Im not one to shy away from a challenge, so I agreed to travel to the event, for better or worse.
As soon as I arrived, I felt out of my depth. Standing outside, I joined a conversation with some fellow journalists, their talk of strategy games going completely over my head. I didnt know what they were talking about and I was now more afraid than ever of what I might find in the room opposite me. Despite my reservations, I sat down at a PC, listened to a short presentation, and then we were told to start the game. Before getting into the action, we had to customize our empire, deciding things such as its name, what race our people would be and defining our government and ethics. I decided to make a xenophobic human race who had direct democracy, which meant every five years there would be an election. My empire name: Death To All But Metal. (Thank you, Steel Panther.) As the day went on, my name became less and less fittingDeath To No One But Myself would sound more accurate.
On the first day, Paradox told us that attacking each other was forbidden and so the room entered into a non-aggression pact. This allowed us to come to grips with how to play the game and give us an opportunity to build up our empires. The goal of Stellaris, in its most basic form, is to expand your empire and become the strongest and biggest one within your allocated solar system. In order to do this, you have to explore planets beyond yours using science ships, you have to inhabit other worlds and you have to maintain a healthy income of resources in order to build and upgrade your empire. This is just a tiny portion of the things you have to do and think about, though. Strategy game newbies like myself will probably take their first look at the game, even just the starting menus, and think Stellaris looks terrifying. However, help is at hand in the form of very useful tutorials.
Showing up on the right hand side of the screen, these tutorials were a life saver to me throughout my time with Stellaris. They taught we how to make new ships, how to mine for resources on other planets and how to recruit people, such as Scientists, in order to make things like research run smoothly. Without the tutorials, I would have been lost. And smart, careful placement on the screen meant they were never too intrusive or annoying. I also found the hints very useful, things such as hovering over resources icons giving you extra guidance. Just because its helpful doesnt mean Stellaris pampered me, though. It didnt hold my hand but it didnt feel like it was throwing me in the deep end either. Instead the tutorials just guided me to where I should be, and learning how the game works for myself seems like a large part of what Paradox is aiming for.
These tutorials were useful, but I found a better to way to learn: by p*****g my empire up the wall.
After wed had lunch, I looked over my small, but functioning empire. Id played about 2 hours at this point and I was relatively happy with my progress. Martin Anward, the AI Lead at Paradox, even came over while I was waiting to restart and said I was doing well, his excitement upon seeing my Gala World being completely lost on me. Once we returned to the game, however, I got cocky. I decided the best thing to do would be to start a war with a neighboring empire, the Bakuturian Sovereignty, who were much more powerful and bigger than me. It was a mistake. To wage my unwinnable war, I had to communicate with them. To do this, you click on the emblem of your chosen empire or you can select them via the Government tab on your top left. Early on I had declared them as my rival, which I did to gain influence points. These are currency that you can use to build frontier outposts, their purpose being to extend how much of the solar system you can build and settle on. Influence points make up a third of your main resources, and while they arent as useful or important as energy and minerals, they are vital to expanding your empire.
As they were already my rivals, the Bakuturian Sovereignty werent too keen on me anyway, my xenophobic stance on alien relations not helping the matter. Clicking on the communicate button, I saw that I could exchange resources with them, set up an embassy in their territory and demand they become my vassal. This is basically where you make another empire your pet, them operating semi-independently but without a say in foreign policy, who they wage war with and with no way to stop you from taking a cut of their resources. They said no so I said go to h**l and waged war. I thought I was safe: Id developed a 800 attack fleet after all, an attack number that I now know to be laughably flimsy. I had to learn this the hard way. It was over in about ten minutes. They sent in two thousand enemy ships to attack my fleet, nearly destroying them in the process. Then they went after my stations on my home planet Earth, with my Spaceport, where armies and ships are developed, taking heavy fire, as well as my research and mining stations.
I had to submit before I was wiped out. When I surrendered, they demanded my home planet of Earth and everything on it, including its residents. I gave it to them, making Sirius my new homeland and cowardly leaving my people under the rule of a bunch of evil tyrants. As you can probably tell, I was heavily invested at this point. I learned more from my failed war experience than anything else in those two days; seeing how not to play Stellaris allowed me to learn how to properly play it. Much else happened through the rest of the day: I joined an Alliance with The Merrymen, who were controlled by a fellow room dweller. She dragged me into a war, but it was thankfully mostly fought in her territory. The Shell, a rapidly expanding empire next to me who were ran by a Polish YouTuber, asked me to leave The Merrymen Alliance and join one with him. I accepted considering his vast size and my depleted nation. I also started noticing people leaving their seats and walking towards other players. Then I remembered: tomorrow the non-aggression pact would be over. It would be a free for all and people wanted to make alliances before the chaos. I would stay quiet throughoutmy empire had been through enough already.
During that evenings dinner, we were told that the room was actually going to be split up into two alliances. So the next day we all chose a side: The New Space Party or The Possibly Aggression Pact. The New Space Party was led by Martin, the Paradox AI Lead. Naturally, I chose them. After a few hours of preparation and a short break, the war began. I stayed quiet, traversing the map and watching the battles unfold, the exhilaration of it all dragging me in. Watching the little ships destroy each other was wonderful, even more so because I knew I was safe. Call me a coward, but I didnt feel like being obliterated so early on in the day. Thanks to my lack of partaking, however, the war provided me with a great excuse to explore the game without being interrupted. Delving more into Stellariss systems and tabs, I learned a few lessons I could have done with knowing the day before. I learnt that I hadnt been extracting resources from my own planets, which I started doing by erecting farms and stations within Sirius. I learnt that using the ship design tab is very handy, creating new and more powerful ships leading to a better fleet. I also learned that Stellaris was even more wonderfully complex and intricate than I had thought the previous day. I did not want to part with it.
In the end, The New Space Party were victorious, the game coming to an end a few hours later. When we were told to leave the game, all I wanted to do was steal the computer in front of me and go and start Stellaris all over again. In two days this game managed to transform me from someone who didnt care about strategy games, to someone who wants to play them all, starting with this one. To some, this might just be another fish in the genres ocean, but to me, Stellaris has opened my eyes to a whole new world of videogames. One day I will have a PC that runs it, and when I do, Ill create the biggest and best empire in the galaxy, no matter how many hours it takes me to do it.
Emma Quinlan is a Manchester based freelancer who specializes in jabbering on about games. Shes written for VICE Gaming, gamesTM and Stuff.tv. You can see more of her work here.
