High Court Rules in Favor of Gun Rights

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Thunder sign Durant to 5-year extension

While much of the spotlight -- which there is a ton of this NBA offseason -- was directed at free agents, another star quietly re-dedicated himself to the franchise he is turning into a contender in a tough Western Conference.

Kevin Durant has committed to a 5-year maximum contract extension with the Thunder. Exact figures won't be available until next July, but if the NBA follows through on it's salary cap expansion, a 5-year max contract would be somewhere around $87 million.

One detail -- which exemplifies the core of this deal -- is that there is no player opt-out clause. So the contract means Durant is fully committed on being there for the next half-decade.

He announced (via twitter):

Exstension for 5 more years wit the #thunder....God Is Great, me and my family came a long way...I love yall man forreal, this a blessing!

Durant added (in another tweet):

First time i cried n a while..Seat Pleasant we #outchea, RIp Chucky, we doin wat we dreamed about..i swear i love all my bros!! yessir!!!

To clarify, Seat Pleasant is his small hometown in Maryland. Chucky is Charles Craig, Durant's AAU coach and childhood mentor who was shot and killed on April 30, 2005 at age 35. (Durant wears a #35 jersey in Craig's honor.)

Did we mention this guy is loyal?

ESPN's J.A. Adande sums up the transaction nicely:

This was the stealth signing. The Thunder had $14 million of salary-cap space to work with this summer, but you never heard them mentioned among the free-agency players. All along, they planned to use that money on their young core of stars, which begins with Durant. They addressed their need for a big man through draft-day maneuvering that brought Cole Aldrich in from Kansas, but the real goal was to lock up their own guy.

Oklahoma City was correct from the outset, with general manager Sam Presti literally arriving at Durant's doorstep at the first possible moment to present his offer.

"The Thunder showed the Durant family from the very beginning, at 11:01 [Central time] the first night, that they were committed to keeping him," said Durant's agent, Aaron Goodwin, referring to the start of the free-agency period. "There were just a few legal things to work out. Kevin made it clear that he wanted to be in Oklahoma."

While the biggest free agent will have his moment in primetime tonight, here we will highlight the continued (and tastefully understated) commitment of Durant to his Thunder franchise.

What can we expect from the trilateral Middle East peace talks?

'Tweet' a dirty word, says NY Times

Standards editor Phil Corbett does not like your Twitter terminology.

The Awl got a hold of an internal memo that Corbett sent to the NY Times staff 'banning' the word 'Tweet.' He writes:

Some social-media fans may disagree, but outside of ornithological contexts, “tweet” has not yet achieved the status of standard English. And standard English is what we should use in news articles.

Except for special effect, we try to avoid colloquialisms, neologisms and jargon. And “tweet” — as a noun or a verb, referring to messages on Twitter — is all three.

Corbett goes on to call 'tweeting' a buzz word that hasn't proved itself worthy with longevity of use, and that it's inherently 'silly.' Because if you can't amass enough of an argument by taking the up-turned nose approach of proper English, it's always easy to call the company's product socially awkward and lame.

Oh, and in case you needed a second opinion, the nearly dinosauric Associated Press had already given the go ahead (via AP Stylebook) for their writers to use the Twitter colloquialisms -- and they did so back in 2009.

After realizing the memo leak, Corbett has since clarified that he didn't declare a 'ban' on the word. He merely gave 'guidance' that the Times writers would be looked down upon if they used slang that might not be understood 'outside of a target group.' He tells Yahoo!:

"It's guidance. It's trying to put people on alert that, in my humble opinion, 'tweet' is a word that hasn't become ... dictionary-level standard English."

You know, the non-190-million users that pump out 65 million...umm...posts on the micro-blogging service Twitter every single day might think the Times is losing its edge if the paper is using those silly teenage buzz words that the kids use these days.

What is an appropriate punishment for Nyjer Morgan after the Nats brawl?

Tempers were flaring between two teams fighting the reality of coming up short in the MLB playoff race. The Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals were in the middle of a slugfest at the plate -- the Marlins winning the game 16-10 -- but Nats lead-off man Nyjer Morgan took the slugfest to the Marlins' Chris Volstad on the pitcher's mound.

Morgan was hit in the fourth inning by Volstad, after which he stole 2nd and third base. Later, a pitch in the sixth that sailed behind Morgan was the final straw inciting him to charge the mound.

WaPo's Adam Kilgore sets the table as to Morgan's recent activity:

On August 25th, Morgan was issued a seven-game suspension (which he is currently appealing) for a spat with fans in Philadelphia, in which he verbally sparred with one and 'playfully' threw a ball at another.

On August 28th, Morgan was dropped to 8th in the Nats line-up. In a frustration move, he crashed into St. Louis Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson and missed touching home plate, costing his team a run. There was no throw to the plate, and thus no suspected reason for contact with the catcher.

On August 29th, Morgan was benched one game by Nats manager Jim Riggleman for the Anderson incident.

On August 31st, Morgan collided with Marlins catcher Brett Hayes while attempting to score in the 10th inning. Hayes suffered a Grade 1 separated shoulder and could miss the rest of the season.

It's little surprise that Morgan found himself in a conflict with Volstad and the rest of the Marlins roster. He is quickly developing a reputation for himself. However, he had already been hit once in the game, and being thrown at again by a 92-MPH fastball treads on the need for self-defense.

He can also expect a meeting about the issue very soon with commissioner Bud Selig.

Examining Morgan's recent actions, specifically with the Marlins brawl, what can Morgan expect to see for disciplinary actions, if any? What is an appropriate settlement?

'Social Network' proves ominous, NIN handling score

The project on the founding of Facebook (based on the book 'Accidental Billionaires') is probably not what you think. At least, it's not representative of your likely cordial and convenient interactions with your friends using the real life service. If it was, David Fincher might not have signed on to helm the feature.

The Social Network is shaping up to be a film about lies, deceit, theft, and big money. Now, according to Trent Reznor and his official NIN site, the poster boy for reclusive industrial rock is handling an equally somber score for the film. Reznor writes in the post:

"David Fincher started inquiring about my interest in scoring his upcoming film, The Social Network. Yeah, the movie about the founding of Facebook. I've always loved David's work but quite honestly I wondered what would draw him to tell that story. When I actually read the script and realized what he was up to, I said goodbye to that free time I had planned...

...Months later, I'm happy to tell you we're nearing the completion of this and I couldn't be happier with how it's turned out. The level of excellence that David operates on is inspiring and the entire process has been challenging and truly enjoyable...

...The film opens Oct 1 in the US with the record likely available a couple of weeks ahead of that.

Speaking of the film... it's really fucking good. And dark!

The word of approval from Reznor carries with it an approval from a certain perspective. The talented musician (bio found here) has always operated on his own terms, and at times has been a boon to the recording industry that was never quite able to take control of the popular figure's image. He's managed to express anti-mainstream views to a large audience at high volume without alienating himself from his own beginnings and beliefs in the process.

If you take into account the equally sinister and anti-establishment films of Fincher (filmography found here), you can expect the to see the friend-making service in an entirely different light -- or maybe, another version of its history where it had operated in the absence of light.

You can preview a bit of the upcoming work in the first teaser trailer.

Is 'Black Swan' an early Oscar contender?

The last time director Darren Aronofsky went into competition at the Venice Film Festival, he went home with the Golden Lion for his 2008 feature film The Wrestler. However, his 2006 feature The Fountain met with tepid response from international critics.

This year, his film Black Swan (trailer above) has opened the festival to some favorable reviews, and is generating some early talk about the January Academy Awards.

As Tim Adler from Deadline London reports, the film ended with a standing ovation at the Lido di Venezia.

Photo via Cinema_Fanatic

Distributor Fox Searchlight provides a plot summary (via IMDB):

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well.

Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

The film is slated to hit the Toronto Film Festival in September, and will be given a US release on December 1st.

For those privy to the Venice screening, or those familiar with the work, how does this film compare US films looking at Oscar glory? Does Black Swan appear like a winner?