Falcons vs. Broncos (Week 5) | Game Highlights | NFL
The Denver Broncos are Super Bowl champions. Theyre winners, simply put, and they have been for a long time. So, youd think losing would be especially debilitating.
Well, these arent your typical champions.
Yes, this group has been to two Super Bowls in the last three seasons, theyve experienced extreme success and are well-respected across the league, but that doesnt mean they havent faced their fair share of tough times. In fact, the Denver Broncos have persevered through crippling losses, embarrassing performances and questionable coaching, and every time they cameback stronger than ever.
A two-game losing streak is not fun, but its nothing more than that: a two-game losing streak.
This team knows how to rebound, and they plan on doing just that.
BHUMIBOL ADULYADEJ, the 88-year-old king of Thailand, has been in poor health for so long that each fresh bout of illness seems scarcely newsworthy. But this week the palace announced that his health was not stable, instead of its usual practice of waiting for him to recover from whatever ailment had been troubling him before releasing any information about it. On October 12th the Bangkok stock exchange dropped by 7%, on rumours that his 70-year reign is coming to an end, whether by abdication, death or incapacity (which would allow the crown prince to be declared regent).
The jitters come just as the junta that has run the country since 2014 was beginning to get comfortable. Two months ago it engineered the approval of an authoritarian constitution through a flawed referendum. In theory, that started a countdown to fresh elections, presently scheduled for late 2017. But the death of the king, if it comes soon, would provide the generals with the perfect excuse to delay a new election. Indeed, the armys desire to secure an orderly royal handover seems to have been one of the reasons it took power in the first place.
In the meantime, the juntas toadies have continued to tinker with the text of the constitution, even after the voters signed off on it. One change concerns a proposallazily added as an additional question to the referendum ballotto give senators selected by the junta a say in who becomes prime minister. The new text, finalised on October 11th, makes it much more likely that Thailands next prime minister will be unelected.
Prayuth Chan-ocha, the junta leader, says he will probably not be the new prime minister. But that is getting harder to believe. Some loyalists serving in Mr Prayuths present government plan to start a political party which will lobby to keep him in office (the new constitutions election rules will give such upstart outfits oomph). The junta anyway says it will retain authority throughout any period of post-election coalition-making, which in theory means it could install any prime minister it desires.
The junta is also tidying up loose ends, and putting opponents in their place. Last month a junta-appointed committee concluded that Yingluck Shinawatra, the prime minister whom the generals ousted in 2014, should be fined around $1 billion for enacting a costly rice-subsidy scheme while in office. (That dismayed some of her enemies, who say the fine is far too low.) The ruling was issued even though Ms Yingluck is still undergoing trial for alleged negligence in connection to the rice scheme, at a risk of ten years in jail.
Many others are also being put in their place. In early October immigration authorities denied entry to Joshua Wong, the teenage leader of Hong Kongs pro-democracy Umbrella Movement, who had been invited to address students in Bangkok. In recent weeks the government has threatened to arrest authors of an Amnesty International report which details allegations of torture by the military, and launched a sedition case against a well-known human-rights lawyer.
Meanwhile the government has been deflecting claims of corruption within its own ranks. It has had to defend the deputy prime ministers decision to charter a jumbo jet to whizz 40 or so people to an international summit in Hawaii (the total bill came to $588,000, including $17,000 for catering). When journalists noted that a construction company associated with Mr Prayuths nephew had won several sizeable army contracts, officials warned that they would scour social media to identify people who accused the prime minister of wrongdoing.
The junta is not thought to be held in great esteem by voters; such incidents further dent its standing. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is even more unpopular. The armys machinations should ensure that the succession, whenever it comes, passes without great drama, at least in the short term. But inept generals ruling in the name of a little-loved king is hardly a formula for stability.
This article appeared in the Print Edition with the headline: Holding their breath
Warner Bros is reporting that its latest Ben Affleck drama thrillerThe Accountantmade $1.35 millionlast night. That figure inches out the $1.25M made by Afflecks fall thriller two years ago,Gone Girl. However,The Accountantisnt expected to close its weekend ledgers with the same three-day posted byGone Girl ($37.5M).Projections haveAccountantbetween $15M-$20M (many at $20M), which is the mean range for most Affleck openers.
LikeThe Girl On The Trainlast weekend,Accountantarrives to the B.O. with middling reviews at 49% Rotten. For an adult-skewing fall release such as this, thats not apt to spur a ton of business.Accountant,directed byWarriors Gavin OConnor, carries a production cost before P&A in the low-to-mid $40Ms. Earlier this week, Fandango showed thatAccountantwas outpacing Afflecks Oscar Best Picture winnerArgoin advance ticket sales.Argoopened to $19.5M and was fueled by an awards-season run thatpushed its domestic to $136M, and $232.3M worldwide.
The Accountantfollows the story of an autistic bean counter who works for criminal lords and also moonlights as an assassin. Hes hired by a client who he learns is embezzling from his own company.
Universal has the stand-up featureKevin Hart: What Now?which the comedian has been promoting during his comedy tour. Its expected to make $10M-$14M. Last night the pic grossed $739K from 2,054 theaters starting at 7 PM. Production cost forWhat Now?is under $10M. Tracking earlier in the week hadWhat Now?ahead of Harts previous big-screen stand-up featureLet Me Explain,which debuted to $10M and finaled at $32.2M stateside.Let Me Explainbowed on a Wednesday on July 3, 2013, and made $1.1M in Tuesday late-night shows. The higher preview figure then stems from the fact that more audiences were available during the summer.Let Me Explaincost $2.5M.What Now?was shot atPhiladelphias Lincoln Financial Field and marked the first time that Hartperformed to an at-capacity football stadium of 50K.
Unis release of DreamWorksGirl On The Trainis expected to slow 45%-50% for a second $12M-$13M weekend and a 10-day thats close to $47.6M. In its first week the Emily Blunt thriller based on Paula Hawkins bestseller grossed an estimated $34.6M.Girlwas the top film yesterday with $1.85M.
Open Road is releasing Dolphin FilmsMax Steelin a service deal this weekend. Pic is based on the line of Mattel boy toys. Its projected to bring in $4M from 2,034 venues.
In their first week, Fox SearchlightsThe Birth Of A Nation and CBS/LionsgatesMiddle Schooleach accumulated $9.5M.
Rogue One Final Trailer Breakdown: Easter Eggs and Predictions - Star Wars Explained Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer #2 (Official) Video by Star Wars
We have hope. Rebellions are built on hope.
With one line in the new trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which debuted Thursday morning, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) practically sums up the entire Star Wars franchise. Thats fitting, since the new movie is a stand-alone story bridging the gap between the third and fourth chapters of the saga. Or, counting by production order, the sixth and the first.
Rogue One tells the story of a group of rebels who try to steal the plans for that sci-fi weapon of mass destruction, the Death Star. So its obviously rooted in that larger space opera, and the trailer establishes that in some superficial ways. The musical motifs of John Williamss score are instantly recognizable. Plus, theres a small spacecraft gliding across the sky, and it takes less than 30 seconds before a stormtrooper shows up.
Photo Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. We have hope, she says in the new trailer. Rebellions are built on hope. Credit Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm, via Disney, via Associated Press
The reminders go deeper than that, too. Early in the trailer, Jyns father, played by the Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, tells his daughter that everything he does is for her protection. As it turns out, one of those things might be building the Death Star. And with that information, Rogue One is positioned as the story of a father and a child, much like the seven movies before it. The formula here appears to be slightly tweaked: younger characters in past films have always been sons (Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren) or surrogate sons (Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi), not daughters. Centering the film on Jyn would seem to put the movie in line with the last entry in the canon, The Force Awakens, which flipped the Star Wars script by putting a female character at its center.
Beyond that, the trailer offers many hints at the movies scale. There are numerous explosions and blaster battles, a cast of characters mixing the familiar and unfamiliar, and, going by appearances, a few planets in the background. As the action picks up and the music rises, the trailer makes everything about the film feel epic.
But then again, what Star Wars movie doesnt?
Correction: Oct. 13, 2016
An earlier version of this article misstated the timing of the fourth chapter in the Star Wars canon. It was produced first, not third.
10/11/16: Dodgers force Game 5 with dramatic 6-5 win
Clayton Kershaw could barely lift his feet. His sandals splattered through puddles of champagne and beer, kicking away corks and crushed bottles of Budweiser. He slipped away from the chaos inside his clubhouse, a scene of revelry after a 4-3 victory to send the Dodgers to the National League Championship Series, and found a quiet space inside a cafeteria.
Kershaw grabbed a trash can and stared into its contents. A team official came by and hugged him. Unreal, the man said. Kershaw sputtered a reply and shook his head. He was smiling but dazed. Nothing came easy for the Dodgers on this night, not even the words for Kershaw to describe his emotion.
I feel . . . I feel . . . good, Kershaw said as he wandered back into the madness. The Dodgers did not reach this moment solely because of him. But he stooda few steps off the mound, arms raised to the sky, at 12:41 a.m. EDT on Friday as his club held off the Nationals in Game 5 of the National League division series. He recorded the final two outs to deliver his team to a date with the Cubs on Saturday at Wrigley Field.
Kershaw arrived on the scene at the height of tension, with the potential winning run already on base. The ballpark rattled around him, trying to exorcise a franchises demons of playoff failure. Kershaw wanted to exorcise his own. His manager did not ask him to pitch. Kershaw insisted upon it, despite performing on one day of rest, just two nights of sleep removed from a 110-pitch effort on Tuesday, just three months removed from the herniated disk that sidelined him for much of the summer.
Kershaw could not finish Game 4. But he would finish Game 5.
At the plate stood Daniel Murphy, one of the finest hitters in the sport, a man who has tormented the Dodgers these last two Octobers. Kershaw deposed of him with ease. He induced a pop-up on a 94-mph fastball. Five pitches later, he snapped a curveball past the helpless swing of infielder Wilmer Difo and waited for his teammates.
The group engulfed him. Kershaw opened his arms to backup catcher Carlos Ruiz, who gave the team the lead in the seventh inning with an RBI single. Joining the pile was Kenley Jansen, who expended himself with 51 pitches to drag this game from the seventh inning into the ninth. Along came Manager Dave Roberts, the man who masterminded the entire night.
His way of thinking was, Were going to do everything we need to do to win today, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez said. Today was the ultimate example.
Roberts ran the game like a clinic, aware of the stakes, unwilling to bend to the sports orthodoxy. He used set-up man Joe Blanton in the third inning. He called upon his closer in the seventh. He trusted his ace in the ninth.
The result was a game like few others in recent memory. It lasted 4 hours32 minutes. The seventh inning took 66 minutes alone. After securing a stirring victory in Game 4, the Dodgers managed to top themselves in the clincher.
Theyre going to be talking about this game for years, Dodgers President Stan Kasten said.
The entire evening felt like prologue until the seventh inning. The Nationals held a one-run lead, with Manager Dusty Baker willing to trust Max Scherzer on a third pass through the Dodgers lineup. The trust proved ill-fated. Joc Pederson led off the inning with a solo home run. Baker opened up his bullpen, and the Dodgers started to feast.
Roberts utilized all three of his catchers in the inning. StarterYasmani Grandal walked. Roberts sent Austin Barnes to pinch-run for Grandal. Then he sent Ruiz to the plate. Ruiz smacked an RBI single off reliever Sammy Solis to score Barnes. Justin Turner padded the lead with a two-run triple.
The advantage felt comfortable. And then, suddenly, it was not.
Grant Dayton, a rookie reliever, served up a two-run homer to former Dodger Chris Heisey in the bottom of the seventh. Roberts sprung into action. After Dayton walked a batter, Roberts went to Jansen. Inside the dugout, Kershaw started to do the math. Then he found Roberts.
I wanted to be out there tonight, Kershaw said.
Earlier in the afternoon, Kershaw took the field to play catch. He joked to a few reporters that he felt fantastic. He was not planning on throwing his usual bullpen session until Friday, so he just wanted to keep his arm loose. As he finished his session, he caught the eye of Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez.
Great game, Gonzalez told him.
Thanks, man, Kershaw said.
That was a heck of a game, Gonzalez said.
There was little reason to expect Kershaw would appear on Thursday. Before the game, Roberts insisted that Kershaw would absolutely not pitch. His back was too vulnerable. His value as an asset was too high.
To get through Game 5, the Dodgers required creativity. They were working under constrained circumstances. Unlike the Nationals, the Dodgers did not have a starter capable of going deep. They asked Rich Hill to pitch on short rest for the first time in a decade. The team required a plan to handle the game after Hills exit.
The Dodgers finalized their strategy on Wednesday. The team sifted through the matchups, stitching together different pitchers for different scenarios. They called it The Road Map to 27 Outs. During the conversations, Kershaws name never came up, General Manager Farhan Zaidi said. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said he could not imagine Kershaw appearing in my wildest dreams.
The calculus changed as Jansen labored. He gave up a single to outfielder Jayson Werth and intentionally walked Murphy. Jansen struck out third baseman Anthony Rendon, but his pitch count was rising. Kershaw told Roberts he would warm up and see how he felt. Roberts checked with the training staff.
I just felt that Clayton was going to go out there and give us everything he had, Roberts said.
Jansen survived the eighth. At 12:12 a.m., as a game, a series and a season hung in the balance, Kershaw climbed up the steps of the Dodgers dugout and walked toward his bullpen. Murphy was due up fourth in the inning. He was Kershaws responsibility.
Jansen approached the end of his rope in the ninth. He walked outfielder Bryce Harper. He walked Werth. He had already thrown 20 more pitches than he had in another other game this season. He could go no further.
Thats as gutsy a performance as I can remember seeing, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.
There was one more feat left for the team to witness. Kershaw needed only seven pitches to find those last two outs. It was his first save in a professional game since the Gulf Coast League in 2006. His catcher that day was a kid from Curacao named Kenley Jansen.
In the chaos that followed, Kershaw could not hide his exhaustion. This series has sapped his energy on so many occasions, leaving him mentally and physically spent.
As he walked from his clubhouse toward a news conference, he could not hide a smile.
Weve got to win eight more of these? Kershaw said.
For Kershaw and the Dodgers, October has just begun.
Corey Feldman Returns to the Today Show: "This is for America"
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Corey Feldman had TODAY viewers and most of the internet talking after a performance of his song "Go 4 It" on Sept. 16. Feldman wrote a response to critics of his performance exclusively for TODAY and be sure to tune in Thursday for his return to the show.
I, artist!
As an artist, I bare my heart and soul for my love of creating art. Art is, after all, a form of personal self-expression. Through my art, I express my tears, my joy, my pain, my sorrows. I spread love with my messages of hope for tomorrow.
As an artist, I"ve been bullied, I"ve been picked on strictly because I spread a message of love.
As an artist, I take chances by creating new dances, and I risk it all while trying not "2" fall.
As an artist, if I fail and make mistakes, that"s when my critics have a field day. However, the most painful part is when you get it all right, and remember all the parts, yet you open your computer, and read comments that would tear a hole through any commoners" hearts.
As an artist, I must stand strong. I must keep moving forward, no matter what. Baring my heart through my song. But just like the rest of you, I only strive to belong.
RELATED: Corey Feldman returns to TODAY to "Take a Stand"
As an artist, I"m predisposed to be overly critical of my own imperfections, and my unfashionable clothes, because my creative mind may see things quite differently than others. But that doesn"t make us any less brothers and sisters, after we are all connected. Though our egos try to lie and tell us we are all unique, as if we were the only one selected.
As an artist, I simply do all that I can to bring a bit of joy and entertainment for my fellow man.
I"m no better than you; I"m no less of a man. But I"m a flawed, fearless artist, presenting a band. My hope is you will see me, hear and feel me, and one day understand, that underneath the art, I"m simply a man.
"The Vlad Couch" Ft. Michel"le (Episode 20) Full Interview
"When they go low," Clinton says on the campaign trail, "We go high," her supporters shout back.
In 2008 and 2012, President Barack Obama"s campaign aides anointed Michelle Obama "The Closer." This year, Hillary Clinton may well designate her most popular surrogate the starter, the reliever and the pinch-hitter, too.
On Thursday, the first lady deployed a profoundly personal rebuke of Donald Trump"s sexually aggressive boasts, delivering the most powerful censure to date of the GOP candidate"s cavalierly-expressed views toward women.
It was the second time this year Obama has captured her audience and driven home an emotionally-felt message in a way no other surrogate -- or, for that matter, Clinton herself -- has been able. After carefully honing an apolitical air of authenticity over the past eight years, in part by actively avoiding the harsh spotlight of campaigning, the first lady is disbursing her capital with withering force in the final 26 days before Election Day, aiming to convince the women and minority voters who helped propel the Obamas into the White House to show up one more time.
Her voice quaking with fury, the first lady said Thursday that Trump"s comments about using his celebrity to grab and grope had affected her powerfully, occupying her thoughts since the tape emerged late last week.
"I can"t believe I"m saying a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women," Obama said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.
"I"ve listened to this, and I feel it so personally," she said. "And I"m sure that many of you do, too -- particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. That is cruel. It"s frightening. And the truth is, it hurts."
The speech came only a day after the first lady marked her girls" education initiative at the White House, insisting the US should serve as a model to other countries for its treatment of young women. Her remarks on the campaign trail were as much a message to men as they were to women, amounting to a reminder that decency still exists, even as public discourse rapidly devolves.
"To dismiss this as everyday locker room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere," she said. "The men that you and I know don"t treat women this way. They are loving fathers who are sickened by the thought of their daughters being exposed to this kind of vicious language about women."
Taken together with her convention speech earlier this summer, the first lady has now delivered the two most stirring addresses in support of Clinton"s campaign -- and against Trump. Her now-famous utterance at the Democratic National Convention -- "when they go low, we go high" -- has become the Clinton"s de facto slogan, appearing on bumper stickers and becoming the candidate"s own response to Donald Trump"s smears.
"Once again, she gave a compelling and strong case about the stakes in the election, but about who we are as Americans," Clinton said later Thursday. "And we cannot let this pessimism, this dark and divisive and dangerous vision in America take hold in anybody"s heart. We have to keep lifting up this campaign."
Mrs. Obama has hit the trail at a more aggressive pace than her husband, who"s been constrained by a presidential schedule from making appearances more than once or twice a week. Her stops in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Virginia provide a veritable map of the areas Clinton"s campaign needs to defeat Trump.
The first lady has benefited from a longtime insistence that she"s not interested in seeking higher office herself, a vow that draws disappointed groans from crowds who would eagerly support another Obama campaign. A detachment from political ambition has distinguished her message from her husband, who is relying on a Democratic successor to carry on his legacy. And it separates her from Hillary Clinton, whose waded into fraught policy battles during her own term as first lady in the 1990s, and began a campaign for the US Senate before she departed the East Wing.
Michelle Obama"s remarks Thursday were a divergence from the first lady"s usual stump script, which is derived from the well-received convention speech she delivered in July. The race back then was a bitter slog, but hadn"t yet deteriorated into the mud-fest it"s become in the final stretch.
A 10-minute address that incorporated both the history-making nature of her husband"s presidency and the history-making potential of Clinton"s was among the best received speeches of the three-day event. Afterwards, the purple signs bearing her name were the most sought souvenir for delegates wistfully watching the Obama era end.
In her spate of appearances so far this month -- all in fiercely contested battleground states -- the First Lady has lambasted Trump for his longstanding prodding of the President about his birth place, his penchant for tweeting vitriol at the smallest perceived slights, or his complaints about his microphone at the first presidential debate.
It"s a role the first lady hasn"t entered lightly. Michelle Obama has spoken openly about her distaste for political vitriol and often recalls asking why her husband wanted to expose himself to the barbs of political life at all. That view was only reinforced during 2008"s ugly primary battle with Clinton, to whom she"s warmed after watching her service as secretary of state.
"She always had to be convinced there was a clear purpose and reason for her to go out on the campaign trail," said Kate Andersen Brower, author of "First Women: The Grace and Power of America"s Modern First Ladies" who covered the Obama White House for four years.
"To see her today it"s clear she was emotional, even in tears at one point. I"m not surprised the Clinton campaign didn"t have to nudge her in this direction," Brower said. "I"ve never seen a first lady be so passionate in a speech like this before."
That ardor, Mrs. Obama said Thursday, has come as a surprise even to her.
"I can"t stop thinking about this," she said. "It has shaken me to my core in a way I could not have predicted."
