The Highest-Paid Actors of 2019

In quickie entertainment news, Forbes gave us the highest-paid actors of 2019. And some, you'd expect. Some, maybe not.

Going through the list, you have:

Will Smith,

Paul Rudd,

Chris Evans,

Adam Sandler.

Followed by Bradley Cooper,

Jackie Chan,

Akshay Kumar,

Robert Downey Jr.

At the top of the list, you have Chris Hemsworth…

…and to nobody’s surprise:

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

It's nowhere near surprising, really. The Rock is like literally everywhere. He's in high-grossing stuff on the regular. You're looking at stacks on stacks on stacks.

Check this out, according to reports for the new Jumanji, the baldheaded bastard bagged $23.5 million upfront!

As if that ain't enough, he'll also be getting a percentage of the pool for the movie in question. Which as Forbes explained, is the money left over after some—but not all—of the bills are paid.

Still on the pool, I'm pretty certain that's also a part of the reason RDJ's on this list. Yes, he got money upfront for playing Iron Man, but he also reportedly got nearly eight percent of the pool for Avengers: Endgame alone! In case it's unclear, that movie made a nerve-racking $2.8 billion at the box office.

So, depending on who you are, you may find this topic interesting, depressing, infuriating, or inspiring. Regardless, what are your thoughts when you see numbers like these, for what is being, kind of, given? Or maybe we should spread the question around a little bit, whether it be actors, professional athletes and the likes, what are your thoughts there?

The Jeffrey Epstein Suicide Situation

He, as you've likely seen (or heard) at this point, according to reports, died of an apparent suicide on Saturday, August 10, 2019.

For those who don't know, here's an oversimplified summary: Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier who was accused of trafficking underage girls for sex.

And as far as his death, what I do know is that Epstein was being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.

On July 23rd, he was reportedly placed on suicide watch after being found in a cell with bruises on his neck, which they already say were results of a possible suicide attempt—this coming a few days after he was denied bail.

But, according to reports, on July 29th, he was taken out of suicide watch. He was then moved to a special housing unit in the prison.

According to a report from The Washington Post, officers were supposed to check on him every thirty minutes, but hours had apparently gone by without him being checked on, before his body was found.

Additionally, the report said that someone in Epstein's position is supposed to have a cellmate, but, reportedly, his cellmate had been transferred on Friday, leaving him alone in his unit.

And now, an autopsy has been conducted, but results have not been made public as it is reportedly pending further information. Pretty typical, don't you think?

In case it's unclear, Epstein's death comes a day after unsealed court documents brought up new details to a defamation suit against his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwell is an English socialite who has been accused of helping Epstein recruit young women, to force them to have sex with him and other men. And notably here, right now, as I'm literally typing this, her whereabouts are completely unknown.

Furthermore, the details come from an accuser who claims that Epstein began abusing her when she was sixteen. And the documents reportedly mention that Epstein had relationships with high-profile people like Bill Clinton,

Donald Trump…

…and Prince Andrew, Duke of York and second son of Queen Elizabeth II. That's right, he's a frigging member of the British royal family.

So now, there are multiple investigations into Epstein's death being led by the FBI, the Department of Justice and the New York Medical Examiner's Office.

Because many are wondering how such a prominent inmate who was supposed to be heavily monitored, was able to kill himself in a Federal prison.

Consequently, everyone's asking questions across the board. From the AOC…

…all the way to Attorney General William Barr.

The latter actually released a pretty notable statement last Saturday saying:

Monday saw Barr making further comments:

“We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation. The FBI and the office of Inspector General are doing just that. We'll get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability. But, let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who is complicit with Epstein. Any co-conspirators should not rest easy. The victims deserve justice and they will get it.”

Also, in addition to there being a lot of questions around the circumstances of Epstein's death, there's also a lot of questions about what happens to the investigation into his alleged sex trafficking, which as of right now, the investigation remains open.

Manhattan US Attorney, Geoffrey S. Berman, released a statement saying:

And so, right now, people are saying that this investigation could turn to the other people accusers have mentioned working with Epstein in the case. Although, officially, no other co-conspirators have been named and he was the only one listed in the indictment, so criminal charges against him are done.

However, regarding partial justice, the victims will be able to file a civil suit against his estate. And according to Bloomberg, his networth was five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000). His estate reportedly including, but not limited to, a New York mansion, a private island and properties in New Mexico, Paris and Palm Beach.

Bloomberg also stated that the alleged victims lawyers are asking to freeze his estate and that the legal process that could result in compensation could last for years.

Understandably, for some of his accusers (if not all), the fact that Epstein won't see his day in court, is incredibly upsetting.

A certain Jennifer Araoz told Rolling Stone:

Ultimately, with this story, that's where I really end covering it. Although, there's another aspect to this story—that being the number of conspiracy theories making the rounds. Some blaming President Trump, Attorney General William Barr.

Some blaming the Clintons.

Not to mention a conspiracy theory that was actually retweeted by Trump himself.

Personally, I'm open to any and all possibilities of what truly transpired. We're talking about a situation of a high-profile, mega-rich predator who had so many connections that they include names of the current President of the United States and a former President of the United States. Matter-of-factly, I look forward to any and all new information that comes out and hopefully, other bastards get implicated.

Still and all, the fact that we have a whole lot of people from different political spectrums saying definitively that they know what went down, is immensely concerning.

Granted, there's the possibility that when a super wealthy, lifetime predator gets locked in a box and it dawns on him that he may never be able to get out of said box; that person may be in a state of mind to commit suicide. And according to reports, he wasn't on suicide watch anymore, but even according to the data, that still might not have stopped him.

So, that's why the primary focus of this article isn't a deep dive per se into all of the different conspiracy theories. Instead, it is a pretty rational reporting of what I categorically know, what investigations are happening at the moment, where I can expect more facts to come later.

Finally, that's where I'm gonna end with this one today. And, of course, as always, I pass the question off to you: What are your thoughts? 🤔

Do feel free to let me know in the comments section down below. 🙂

And don't forget to hit that share button while you're at it. 😉

The Consent Condom Business That Has a Lot of People Talking

If you haven't seen, there's this Argentine company called Tulipán, along with an ad agency, BBDO Argentina, that recently released a condom called the "Consent Pack".


Simply put, the "Consent Pack" has buttons on all four sides of the box and can only be opened if all the buttons are pressed. Meaning that in theory, four hands would have to touch the box.

And they think that this would highlight the importance of consent as two people have to open the condom together.
And they think that this would highlight the importance of consent as two people have to open the condom together.
Reportedly, they started promoting this condom at the end of March and since they've been tweeting ads that feature slogans like:


Apparently, the condoms aren't yet for sale, although, right now, they are being given out for free at clubs and bars in Buenos Aires.

At first, there was a generally positive reaction to the product, with one headline saying:


But, then, you have people raising questions as to whether or not a condom that requires two sets of hands to open actually does anything to boost consent.
Furthermore, people started criticizing the product for minimizing what consent certainly means. With people on Twitter saying things like:






Apropos of that, the Chicago Tribune spoke to a sex education teacher by the name of Kim Cavill, who pointed out that the product can also be ableist as not everyone can move their hands in the specific way the box requires.

She went on to say that the condom won't be effective in preventing assaults because someone who's trying to force sex on someone can force someone to put their hands on the box. And then you have this person who committed assault saying 'What are you talking about? We used the Consent Condom!'
And Cavill also saying that the key to safe sex is not making a condom that is logistically harder to use.
On the other end, the likes of Mashable made a video debunking the Consent Pack's functionality by showing that it probably won't be too hard for someone to open it up with just two hands. However, regarding that, they didn't have the actual Consent Pack in the video. They simply sampled a box similar in shape and size.

As I type this, Tulipán has not responded to the criticisms and at this point, it doesn't look like they're going to do anything, really. I mean, the promotion for the Consent Pack is still their pinned tweet.

And I also imagine that they probably expected some of this—maybe even hoped for some of this. Now, as far as my takeaway on this, I think the whole situation is a bit ridiculous. Ludicrous, if you will.
Still and all, I don't think that men or women should be sexually assaulted (I'm making a really brave and controversial stand here), but this product is a failure and a success if you ask me. In my most humble opinion, it is a failure in preventing what it is trying to prevent, but it is a success in being an idea that sparks a conversation. Granted, a huge chunk of that conversation now is going from 'Wow, that's really stupid!' to expanding to the specifics around consent. So, there's that.
Most importantly, though, what are your thoughts?