WASHINGTON -- Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson is on the verge of reaching the milestone of 1,000 NHL games, and pop singer Vanessa Carlton is part of the celebration.
Carlton remixed her hit song “A Thousand Miles” with Carlson-themed lyrics as part of a collaboration between the team and the production company Fresh Tape Media.
On Saturday night against the Boston Bruins, Carlson is set to become the 128th defenseman in league history to skate in 1,000 regular-season games. The 34-year-old has played the 41st-most minutes of any player in the league since ice time started being tracked officially in 1997-98, totaling just under 24,000 minutes — plus 3,005 more in the playoffs.
“He’s not just a point producer that is just playing the top of the power play and able to play that for 20 years,” coach Spencer Carbery said. “He’s playing that, plus he’s playing penalty kill, plus he’s playing 5 on 5 when you need to defend a lead and when you need to score a goal. That ability and uniqueness, there’s very few that log minutes in all those situations like he has throughout his career.”
Carlson, who is originally from Natick, Massachusetts, but much of his childhood in New Jersey, has taken more than 26,000 regular-season shifts, all with Washington, since making his debut in 2009.
"You try not to think about it like that," Carlson said Saturday morning when told that stat.
Carlton's song remix was released after the player with a similar sounding last name spoke to reporters following the team's morning skate.
Carlson is the 80th player to dress in 1,000 games with one team. His milestone comes a couple of weeks after teammate T.J. Oshie hit 1,000, and going through that helped prepare Carlson for what to expect not only Saturday night but next weekend when the Capitals hold a ceremony to honor him.
“You got so much going on now, in the now, in this league and where we are and just worrying about what’s at stake all the time,” Carlson said. “Just trying not to be a distraction to what we have on our plate right now and where we are."
The Capitals are trying to return to the playoffs after missing last year for the first time in Carlson's pro career.
LONDON -- British counterterrorism police are investigating the stabbing of an Iranian television presenter outside his home in London as concern grows over threats to a Farsi-language satellite news channel long critical of Iran’s theocratic government.
Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based Iran International, was stabbed in the leg Friday afternoon and is in stable condition at a hospital, the station said. His condition is not believed to be life-threatening.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service said Zeraati’s occupation, together with recent threats to U.K.-based Iranian journalists, triggered the counterterrorism probe, even though the motivation for the attack is still unclear.
“While we continue to assess the circumstances of this incident, detectives are following a number of lines of inquiry and our priority at this time is to try and identify whoever was behind this attack and to arrest them," Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said in a statement.
“I appreciate the wider concern this incident may cause — particularly amongst others in similar lines of work, and those from Iranian communities."
Iran International spokesman Adam Baillie said the stabbing was “hugely frightening." Although the channel’s journalists have been threatened in the past, this is the first attack of its kind, Baillie told the BBC.
“It was a shocking, shocking incident, whatever the outcome of an investigation reveals," he said.
Mehdi Hosseini Matin, Iran’s charge d’affaires in the UK, said “we deny any link” to the incident.
Police say they have disrupted “a number” of plots to kill or kidnap people in the U.K. who were seen as enemies of the Iranian government. Officers are working with intelligence agencies to disrupt future plots and provide protection for the targeted organizations and individuals, police said.
Early last year, Iran International temporarily shut down its operations in London and moved to studios in Washington, D.C., after what it described as an escalation of “state-backed threats from Iran.” The station resumed operations at a new location in London last September.
An Austrian man was convicted in December of attempting to collect information likely to be useful for terrorism after security guards spotted him carrying out surveillance on the former headquarters of Iran International. Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, 31, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison.
Alicia Kearns, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, expressed concern that Britain still isn’t doing enough to protect opponents of the Iranian government.
“Whilst we don’t know the circumstances of this attack, Iran continues to hunt down those brave enough to speak out against the regime,” Kearns said on X, formerly Twitter. “Yet I remain unconvinced that we and our allies have clear strategies to protect people in our countries from them, and protect our interests abroad.”
Earlier this month, Foreign Secretary David Cameron condemned the conviction in absentia of 10 journalists from the BBC’s Persian service on propaganda charges against the Islamic Republic of Iran, calling it “completely unacceptable.”
“And also, when I last met the Iranian foreign minister, I raised the case of the fact that Iran was paying thugs to try and murder Iranian journalists providing free and independent information for Iran TV in Britain,” Cameron said in the House of Lords. “On both counts, in my view, they are guilty.”
It appeared that the unsolved murder of rap star Tupac Shakur could not have been more cold.
Nearly three decades ticked by with no arrests despite multiple public statements by a self-confessed Los Angeles gangbanger, and repeated comments that the police knew who was behind the 1996 drive-by off the Las Vegas Strip.
Behind the scenes, authorities in Sin City were working quietly and steadily, pushing forward.
"We left no stone unturned," Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill, who leads the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, told ABC News in his first extended comments on the case. "Tupac is one of those people that sort of transcends his own death… he and his family deserve a police department that goes after justice."
In July 2023, the cold case of Shakur's killing turned hot when police raided a Vegas-area home. Then, on a sunny September morning in Henderson, Nevada, McMahill's officers made an arrest.
Since Vegas police searched that home and arrested Duane "Keffe D" Davis, ABC News has been investigating the probe and whether the killing could have been solved earlier. This is the story of what transpired when hip-hop and the violence of dueling street gangs collided with police departments in both Vegas and Los Angeles, and their competing efforts to solve the twin shootings of Shakur and fellow rap icon Biggie Smalls.
On Sept. 29, 2023, Davis was charged with murder and authorities alleged that, though he did not fire the gun that killed Shakur, Davis was the "shot caller" and riding with the assailant. Sitting in the back of a police car, Davis, an admitted member of the South Side Crips, told the cop driving him he knew exactly why he had been busted: "the biggest case in Las Vegas History."
Davis' attorney Carl Arnold points to what he says seems a dearth of concrete evidence in the case – and that Davis was no "shot caller."
"Basically their whole case right now, from what I've seen, is just Keffe's statements," Arnold said. "If that evidence is all it is, we can walk into trial today. We're walking back out. Not guilty."
Fourteen years ago, police and prosecutors in Las Vegas had been on the verge of arresting Davis for the Shakur killing, officials told ABC.
Davis sat down with Las Vegas detectives in 2009 to tell his version of events, and according to police complete with his role in the homicide – a story he would go on to recount over and over, including on the pages of the memoir he would publish in 2019.
On Sept. 7, 1996, the night Shakur was shot, it seemed as though the entire world had descended on Vegas to see Mike Tyson fight Bruce Seldon. Shakur was there, along with rap impresario Marion "Suge" Knight, a founder of the famed Death Row Records. Each was trailed by their entourages. Davis and his crew were also in town.
After the fight, in the lobby of the MGM Grand, Shakur and Knight encountered Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson – Davis' nephew, and a reputed young Crips member. Shakur was told Anderson had been involved in trying to steal a Death Row Records pendant months earlier – a major infraction in the hip-hop world. Shakur and Knight were moved to confront Anderson.
That now-infamous beatdown sparked a chain reaction that would lead to Shakur's death, prosecutors allege. It also, according to Davis' account, gave him and his crew the "ultimate green light" to seek out "the dudes that beat up" Anderson, and particularly, Knight.
Riding in the front passenger seat of a Cadillac that night, Davis said they ultimately found Shakur and Knight driving in a BMW near the Las Vegas Strip. Anderson and another man were in the backseat of the Cadillac with Davis.
"We at the light on Las Vegas and Flamingo," Davis told police in 2009, in what Las Vegas police say was a "surreptitiously" recorded interview. A copy of the recording was obtained by ABC News. "He, Suge, ah, Tupac hanging out the window," with "all the girls was going crazy on the corner."
"What happened when you pulled up alongside?" a detective asked Davis.
The answer: "Got to shooting."
Davis explained he maneuvered the gun toward the backseat when his nephew grabbed it.
"Orlando said, 'Give it here, I'll shoot,'" Davis said. "And he got to shooting."
Knight was injured. Shakur was hospitalized and died six days later.
Police now point to both Davis' 2009 interview and a series of similar media statements as clear admissions and key evidence.
"We believe he's the shot caller, and we believe he provided the weapon," McMahill told ABC News.
"We never forgot about this case," said Las Vegas Police Lt. Jason Johansson, who leads the homicide bureau. "If anything, this shows we never forgot about it."
Investigators and prosecutors in Vegas seriously considered arresting Davis after he made the 2009 statement, authorities told ABC News. But they decided that, with only Davis' words in the one police interview, there wasn't enough evidence to proceed. Instead, they continued working the case, trying to untangle the various conspiracy theories and attempting to build a prosecution.
What had not been previously revealed is the strange series of events connected with both the 2009 confession and an earlier one in 2008 that led to a heated dispute between LA and Vegas police.
Officials said Davis confessed to his role in the Shakur homicide in 2008 to detectives on a joint federal-LA task force. That time, according to police, Davis made his admissions as part of what's known as a "proffer agreement," so what he told investigators could not be used against him in court.There was concern among Vegas authorities then, in 2009, that Davis would argue in court that both sets of alleged confessions were inadmissible because the proffer gave him immunity even though Las Vegas police had no role in making the agreement. And, if a judge were to side with Davis, they figured, that would likely have doomed any prosecution.
"After they became aware of our proffer session, they came out and conducted their own interview," retired LAPD Det. Greg Kading, who was leading the investigation in California, said of his Vegas counterparts. "But because it's a law enforcement interview, it has to still fall under the purview of the proffer."
Bottom line, Kading said, "They were hamstrung."
What occurred with those alleged confessions continues to be a source of friction to this day.
"I just don't believe a lot of the information that was being conducted there in LA was actually being shared with us," McMahill said. There was "a level of frustration on the part of my detectives in being able to actually move forward."
McMahill explained "our bad guys and their bad guys, they go up and down Interstate 15 and they commit crimes here and go back to LA and vice versa. So we've always had a really good relationship with and sharing intelligence. But in this particular case, that was less than optimal, for certain. And I'm not exactly sure why."
Kading said he and his team had reason to withhold information.
"If we were to do it all again, I would do it the exact same way," Kading said in an interview. "When Keffe D agreed to be an informant, we're going to utilize him as an investigative tool. We need to keep that as confidential as possible."
The dispute in 2009 between LA police and Vegas became so testy that it nearly came to blows at one point, officials told ABC News. Kading said he does not recall that.
In a statement to ABC News, LAPD said its "equally concerned about Sheriff McMahill's claim from 2008 and 2009."
"The department has not received information about this claim and any recent inquiries regarding this case have been accommodated," LAPD's statement continued. "The Chief of Detectives for the LAPD is actively seeking a meeting with personnel from Las Vegas Metro to determine the specifics of what transpired during this investigation, at that time, between our respective organizations. Although the personnel involved in this case in 2008 and 2009 are no longer with the department, we will investigate to better understand if information was withheld. The LAPD and Las Vegas Metro have a robust relationship, resulting in solving numerous crimes in both jurisdictions and look forward to continuing this relationship."
In March 1997, six months after Shakur was gunned down, Biggie Smalls was killed in an LA drive-by, in what many both in law enforcement and in the rap world believe was revenge for Shakur's shooting. Shakur and Knight were allegedly connected to the Bloods street gang, authorities have said; on the other side, Biggie and Sean "Diddy" Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, which authorities say, often hired the rivaling Crips as security – of which Davis was an admitted leader.
It was, in fact, that unsolved killing of Biggie Smalls that Kading's task force were investigating when they first spoke with Davis.
"We go into questions about Biggie Smalls' murder," Kading explained. "And his response was like, 'I can't really tell you anything about that. We didn't do that. But I can tell you about another one.' We begin to understand that maybe he's involved in the Tupac Shakur murder."
In the years since, Las Vegas police said they continued to pursue Davis – and an eventual arrest.
Davis, it turns out, would help police build their case more than he realized.
In 2018, Davis did an interview for the docuseries "Death Row Chronicles." A year later, he published his own memoir. By making those comments, police and prosecutors say, he no longer was protected from prosecution.
"That reinvigorates the investigation," Johansson said. "More and more people began to provide us with a better description of their recollection of that night."
Arnold, representing Davis, said his client was simply spinning tales for a payday.
"All these interviews that he's done, all of these stories are inconsistent," Carl Arnold, representing Davis, told ABC News. "He did it for profit, No. 1. And, you know, notoriety."
TOKYO -- TOKYO (AP) — “Oppenheimer” finally premiered Friday in the nation where two cities were obliterated 79 years ago by the nuclear weapons invented by the American scientist who was the subject of the Oscar-winning film. Japanese filmgoers' reactions understandably were mixed and highly emotional.
Toshiyuki Mimaki, who survived the bombing of Hiroshima when he was 3, said he has been fascinated by the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, often called “the father of the atomic bomb” for leading the Manhattan Project.
“What were the Japanese thinking, carrying out the attack on Pearl Harbor, starting a war they could never hope to win,” he said, sadness in his voice, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
He is now chairperson of a group of bomb victims called the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization and he saw “Oppenheimer” at a preview event. “During the whole movie, I was waiting and waiting for the Hiroshima bombing scene to come on, but it never did,” Mimaki said.
“Oppenheimer” does not directly depict what happened on the ground when the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, turning some 100,000 people instantly into ashes, and killed thousands more in the days that followed, mostly civilians.
The film instead focuses on Oppenheimer as a person and his internal conflicts.
The film's release in Japan, more than eight months after it opened in the U.S., had been watched with trepidation because of the sensitivity of the subject matter.
Former Hiroshima Mayor Takashi Hiraoka, who spoke at a preview event for the film in the southwestern city, was more critical of what was omitted.
“From Hiroshima’s standpoint, the horror of nuclear weapons was not sufficiently depicted,” he was quoted as saying by Japanese media. “The film was made in a way to validate the conclusion that the atomic bomb was used to save the lives of Americans.”
Some moviegoers offered praise. One man emerging from a Tokyo theater Friday said the movie was great, stressing that the topic was of great interest to Japanese, although emotionally volatile as well. Another said he got choked up over the film's scenes depicting Oppenheimer’s inner turmoil. Neither man would give his name to an Associated Press journalist.
In a sign of the historical controversy, a backlash flared last year over the “Barbenheimer” marketing phenomenon that merged pink-and-fun “Barbie” with seriously intense “Oppenheimer." Warner Bros. Japan, which distributed “Barbie” in the country, apologized after some memes depicted the Mattel doll with atomic blast imagery.
Kazuhiro Maeshima, professor at Sophia University, who specializes in U.S. politics, called the film an expression of “an American conscience.”
Those who expect an anti-war movie may be disappointed. But the telling of Oppenheimer’s story in a Hollywood blockbuster would have been unthinkable several decades ago, when justification of nuclear weapons dominated American sentiments, Maeshima said.
“The work shows an America that has changed dramatically,” he said in a telephone interview.
Others suggested the world might be ready for a Japanese response to that story.
Takashi Yamazaki, director of “Godzilla Minus One,” which won the Oscar for visual effects and is a powerful statement on nuclear catastrophe in its own way, suggested he might be the man for that job.
“I feel there needs to an answer from Japan to ‘Oppenheimer.’ Someday, I would like to make that movie,” he said in an online dialogue with “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan.
Nolan heartily agreed.
Hiroyuki Shinju, a lawyer, noted Japan and Germany also carried out wartime atrocities, even as the nuclear threat grows around the world. Historians say Japan was also working on nuclear weapons during World War II and would have almost certainly used them against other nations, Shinju said.
“This movie can serve as the starting point for addressing the legitimacy of the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as humanity’s, and Japan’s, reflections on nuclear weapons and war,” he wrote in his commentary on “Oppenheimer” published by the Tokyo Bar Association.
___
Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
JAPAN、次号の表紙と中身はこれだ! THE YELLOW MONKEY/別冊SUPER BEAVER/King Gnu/SEKAI NO OWARI/Mrs. GREEN APPLE/クリープハイプ/THE ORAL CIGARETTES/My Hair is Bad/go!go!vanillas/SHISHAMO
Some 40,000 people are expected to participate in Monday's “EGG-ucation”-themed White House Easter Egg Roll, about 10,000 more people than last year.
A teacher for more than 30 years, Jill Biden is transforming an annual tradition first held in 1878 into an “EGG-ucational” experience. Various stations on the South Lawn and Ellipse will help children learn about farming, healthier eating, exercise and more, the White House announced Thursday.
They'll still get to coax hard-boiled eggs across the lawn to a finish line.
Guests include thousands of military and veteran families, their caregivers and survivors. Members of the general public claimed tickets through an online lottery. They will be admitted in nine waves, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Monday’s “egg-stravaganza” will be the third Easter egg roll hosted by President Joe Biden and the first lady. They did not host the event in 2021, Biden’s first year in office, because of COVID-19.
The White House Easter Egg Roll dates to 1878, when President Rutherford B. Hayes opened the White House lawn to children after they were kicked off the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.
2024年2月、Googleはメールサービス「Gmail」や文書作成ツール「Google ドキュメント」などを含むオフィススイート「Google Workspace」に、AIモデル「Gemini」を組み込み始めた。Microsoftは「Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365」を2023年11月に発表した。同サービスは、サブスクリプションサービス「Microsoft 365」の各アプリケーションで大規模言語モデル(LLM)の機能を使用できるようにするツールだ。
GoogleやMicrosoft、Amazon Web Services(AWS)などの大手ベンダーはさまざまな生成AIツールを提供している。それに伴い、ユーザー企業が生成AIツールを導入する動きが広がりつつあり、ベンダーのパートナー企業は生成AIツールに精通したコンサルタントの育成に力を入れている。
SPICEWOOD, Texas -- SPICEWOOD, Texas (AP) — Willie Nelson 's Fourth of July Picnic is two-stepping out of Texas to the Philadelphia area.
The country luminary's mostly annual mega-concert, hosted in his native Texas for most of its 50-year-history, will be held for the first time in the Northeast this July, with a bill that includes Bob Dylan and the duo of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey.
The open air amphitheater is just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.
The lineup also includes Mavis Staples, Maren Morris and Celisse. Tickets go on sale Friday.
The giant patriotic party that Nelson first threw in 1973 has made occasional forays outside the Lone Star State, to Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kansas City; Atlanta and, most recently, to South Bend, Indiana in 2009. With the exception of virtual concerts in 2020 and 2021, it's been held in Austin for the past decade.
At 90, Nelson has not slowed the constant touring, recording and performing he's kept up for more than six decades. Last April he was feted for his birthday with two nights of tribute concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and in November he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
LOS ANGELES -- In the first nine months of 2023, Sean “Diddy” Combs triumphantly performed at the MTV VMAs, released an R&B album that garnered a Grammy nomination and was a suitor to buy the BET network.
But several lawsuits filed late last year raised allegations of sexual assault and rape against Combs — one of hip-hop’s most recognizable names as a performer and producer.
The music mogul's homes in Los Angeles and Miami were searched Monday by federal agents with Homeland Security Investigators and other law enforcement. Officials said the searches were connected to an investigation by federal authorities in New York.
The officials spoke to The Associated Press on conditions of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation. Combs’ attorney and other representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and his whereabouts are unknown.
Although Diddy was embroiled in one high-profile business dispute for part of 2023, it was a case filed by his former girlfriend and R&B singer Cassie that opened the door to other claims of sexual violence. Combs has vehemently denied the allegations.
It is not clear whether the search is related to any of the allegations raised in the lawsuits, which include one from a woman who claims Combs raped her when she was 17.
Here are some things to know about Combs and the investigation.
Combs is among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades. He built one of music’s biggest empires, blazing a trail with several entities attached to his famous name. He is the founder of Bad Boy Records and a three-time Grammy winner who has worked with a slew of top-tier artists including Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.
The music mogul created the fashion clothing line called Sean John, was associated with a well-known vodka brand and launched Revolt TV network, which focuses on music and social justice issues targeting African Americans. He also produced the reality show “Making the Band” for MTV.
In 2022, BET honored Combs with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his ability to shape culture through his career.
Combs won Grammys for his platinum-selling 1997 album “No Way Out” and the single “I’ll Be Missing You,” a song dedicated to the late Notorious B.I.G. who was killed earlier that year. He won another Grammy for “Shake Ya Tailfeather” with Nelly and Murphy Lee.
Last year, Combs released his fifth studio album “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” which was nominated for best progressive R&B album at February's Grammy Awards, which he did not attend. The album was his first solo project since his 2006 chart-topping “Press Play,” which had two top 10 hit singles: “Last Night” with Keyshia Cole and “Come to Me” featuring Nicole Scherzinger.
In 2004, Combs played Walter Lee Younger in the Broadway revival of “A Raisin in the Sun,” which aired as a television adaption four years later. He’s also appeared in films including “Get Him to the Greek” and “Monster’s Ball.”
In November, Combs' protege and singer Cassie sued him for alleging years of sexual abuse including rape. The lawsuit alleged he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed them.
Combs and Ventura began dating in 2007 and had an on-and-off relationship for more than a decade.
The suit was settled the day after it was filed, but the lawsuits against Combs kept coming against.
Combs had said in a December statement, “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged.”
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them. Combs’ attorney Shawn Holley has said of those allegations that “we have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies.”
Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her two decades ago when she was 17.
The filings detail acts of sexual assault, beatings and forced drugging allegedly committed in the early 1990s by Combs, then a talent director, party promoter and rising figure in New York City’s hip-hop community.
Last year, Combs stepped down as chairman of his cable television network Revolt amid the sexual abuse allegations against him.
Revolt announced Combs' decision via social media. It's not clear if he will ever return to the media company — which said Combs previously had “no operational or day-to-day role” at the network.
“This decision helps to ensure that Revolt remains steadfastly focused on our mission to create meaningful content for the culture and amplify the voices of all Black people throughout this country and African diaspora,” the network said.
The network had been preparing to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Combs also created an online marketplace called Empower Global that featured Black-owned brands. The website for the curated marketplace is still active, but shows no products being sold.
Earlier this year, Combs withdrew the lawsuit filed last year against Diageo as part of a settlement with the London-based spirits giant.
Combs said the company didn’t make promised investments in Ciroc vodka and DeLeon tequila — two brands Combs promoted in the past — and treated them as inferior “urban” products. He also accused Diageo of racism.
In court filings, Combs said Diageo leadership told him race was one of the reasons it limited distribution to “urban” neighborhoods. Combs said he was also told some Diageo leaders resented him for making too much money.
In legal filings, Diageo accused Combs of resorting to “false and reckless” allegations “in an effort to extract additional billions” from the company.
Combs’ reputation took a serious hit after the lawsuit was filed. Diageo became the sole owner of Ciroc and DeLeon after the lawsuit was withdrawn.
NEW YORK -- Emmy, Tony and Olivier Award winner Bryan Cranston is a leading face of Major League Baseball’s promotional campaign ahead of opening day for the second straight season, recording a video at Dodger Stadium highlighting several stars.
The actor is the voice of an “Anything Can Happen” campaign that launched Monday after last year’s video promoting rules changes. The new ad features two-way star Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers along with fellow MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, Arizona’s Corbin Carroll and Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz.
“Here I am at 68 years old and I’m walking around this citadel of my childhood,” he said during a Zoom interview last week. “When I first went to Dodger Stadium, it was this monolith, this magnificent, huge place."
Cranston has memories of attending games dating to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1961, the year before Dodger Stadium opened, and lists players who stick out in his mind: Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Wally Moon, Don Sutton, Duke Snider, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes, Steve Garvey, Reggie Smith, Rick Monday, Fernando Valenzuela and Kirk Gibson.
His production company is named Moonshot Entertainment after Wally Moon, whose opposite-field drives over the Coliseum’s short left-field wall were dubbed Moon Shots by Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully.
Cranston still has his old programs.
“My little chicken scratches attempting to keep score when I was 6 or 7, and then I got better at it,” Cranston said.
As a kid, Cranston envisioned himself wearing Dodger blue. He played infield at Canoga Park High School, where he said he missed a season after tearing an ankle ligament.
“There was only one element that prevented me from becoming a Major League Baseball player, and that was talent,” he said with a laugh.
While he was on location in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the production of “Breaking Bad,” which aired from 2008-13, Cranston became friends with John Traub, general manager of the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.
“I’m finishing the day and I look at my watch, I go up there in the seventh inning,” Cranston said. “I would drive to the stadium, go through and say hello to the folks, and they’d say hello to me, and I take pictures and stuff. I got to see two innings of professional baseball players.”
NEW DELHI -- Millions of Indians celebrated Monday the Hindu Holi festival, dancing to festive music, exchanging food and drink and smearing each other with red, green, blue and pink powder, turning the air into a joyful kaleidoscope of color.
Widely known as the Hindu festival of colors, Holi marks the arrival of the spring season in India, Nepal and other South Asian countries as well as the diaspora. It celebrates the divine love between the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha, and signifies a time of rebirth and rejuvenation, embracing the positive and letting go of negative energy
Across the country, people — some dressed in all white — celebrated the festival by drenching one another in colored powder while others flung water balloons filled with colored pigment from balconies. Some used squirt guns to chase down fellow revelers in parks, and others danced on the streets to music blaring from speakers.
Food and drink are a big part of the festivities. Vendors in parts of India sold Thandai — a traditional beverage prepared with milk, dry fruits and can sometimes be laced with cannabis.
Another tradition that marks Holi is Bhang, a paste made by grinding the leaves of the cannabis plant and is used in drinks and snacks. It is connected to Hinduism, particularly to Lord Shiva, and is eaten during some religious festivals in the region. The paste's sale and consumption are permissible under Indian law, although a few states have banned it.
In parts of India, people also lit large bonfires the night before the festival to commemorate the triumph of good over evil.
Holi traditions vary across India.
Last week, in preparation for the festival, hundreds of women in two northern towns celebrated by playfully hitting men with wooden sticks in response to their teasing as part of a ritual. Known as the “Lathmar Holi” (Stick Holi), it attracts a large number of visitors.