Fri., May 12, 2017, 5:30 a.m.

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw kiss after a performance at the 52nd annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas in April. (Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

By Kristin M. Hall Associated Press

LAS VEGAS The love story of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill started on a tour two decades ago and that sparkling chemistry onstage has made them one of the genres biggest headliners.

The country couple with movie star glamour has sold over 63 million albums in the U.S. between their two careers, has earned two Grammys for duets they sang together and has three children. This year, they are releasing their first-ever duet album together and started their third installment of their highly successful Soul2Soul World (it launched April 7).

I havent been on a stage like this in 10 years and that is no lie, Hill said of the tour. I can tell you right now I am fired up.

During an Associated Press interview with the couple before their rehearsal at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas earlier this spring, Hill and McGraw were giddy with anticipation.

Shes ready to turn it loose, McGraw said.

Age is not an issue, added Hill, who together with her husband will be turning 50 during the tour that runs through October.

The Mississippi-born Hill and the Louisiana-born McGraw fell in love when she opened for him on his 1996 Spontaneous Combustion tour and they married that year.

In 2000, the first Soul2Soul tour grossed $48.8 million, making it the best grossing country tour in North America that year, according to Pollstar. The Soul2Soul II tour was even more successful, grossing $88.8 million in 2006, and made it the third highest grossing North American tour that year.

McGraw credited their success on the road to the fact that they are very different singers who push each other to expand their ranges onstage.

Faith, I would say, is more of an R&B, sort of gospel-inspired singer, McGraw said. And I think I am more a 70s rock, arena rock, Merle Haggard meets arena rock kind of singer. She brings me a little bit more to the R&B side, and I bring her more to the arena rock side, and I think it creates a sort of magic.

Their first duet together, Its Your Love, was on McGraws 1997 Everywhere album, which was followed by Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me, from Hills multiplatinum album Faith. Since then, they have had several popular duets, including their latest, Speak to A Girl, which jumped into the Top 10 of Billboards Hot country songs chart after they performed it on the ACM Awards.

But they say they dont always agree in music, or in marriage, but McGraw said commitment is key.

Look, there is no secret, Hill said. Either you like one another or you dont. You want to stay married or you dont. You work at it, or you dont. Simple as that. It is not always easy and there are moments that are rocky.

But you dont walk away, McGraw said.

I would rather live a life in rocky road ice cream than vanilla any day of the week, Hill said. Honestly, vanilla gets boring after a couple of days.

A smiling McGraw adds: So I am not vanilla!

The rest is here:
Chemistry onstage makes Faith Hill and Tim McGraw a top tour - The Spokesman-Review

LAS VEGAS The love story of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill started on a tour two decades ago and that sparkling chemistry onstage has made them one of the genre's biggest headliners.

The country couple with movie star glamour has sold over 63 million albums in the U.S. between their two careers, has earned two Grammys for duets they sang together and has three children. This year, they are releasing their first-ever duet album together and started their third installment of their highly successful Soul2Soul World (it launched in April).

"I haven't been on a stage like this in 10 years and that is no lie," Hill said of the tour. "I can tell you right now I am fired up."

During an Associated Press interview with the couple before their rehearsal at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas earlier this month, Hill and McGraw were giddy with anticipation.

"She's ready to turn it loose," McGraw said.

"Age is not an issue," added Hill, who together with her husband will be turning 50 during the tour that runs through October.

The Mississippi-born Hill and the Louisiana-born McGraw fell in love when she opened for him on his 1996 Spontaneous Combustion tour and they married that year.

In 2000, the first Soul2Soul tour grossed $48.8 million, making it the best grossing country tour in North America that year, according to Pollstar. The Soul2Soul II tour was even more successful, grossing $88.8 million in 2006, and made it the 3rd highest grossing North American tour that year.

McGraw credited their success on the road to the fact that they are very different singers who push each other to expand their ranges onstage.

"Faith, I would say, is more of an R&B, sort of gospel-inspired singer," McGraw said. "And I think I am more a '70s rock, arena rock, Merle Haggard meets arena rock kind of singer. She brings me a little bit more to the R&B side, and I bring her more to the arena rock side, and I think it creates a sort of magic."

Their first duet together, "It's Your Love," was on McGraw's 1997 "Everywhere" album, which was followed by "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me," from Hill's multiplatinum album "Faith." Since then, they have had several popular duets, including their latest, "Speak to A Girl," which jumped into the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot country songs chart after they performed it on the ACM Awards.

But they say they don't always agree in music, or in marriage, but McGraw said commitment is key.

"Look, there is no secret," Hill said. "Either you like one another or you don't. You want to stay married or you don't. You work at it, or you don't. Simple as that. It is not always easy and there are moments that are rocky."

"But you don't walk away," McGraw said.

"I would rather live a life in rocky road ice cream than vanilla any day of the week," Hill said. "Honestly, vanilla gets boring after a couple of days."

A smiling McGraw adds: "So I am not vanilla!"

See the rest here:
Chemistry onstage makes Faith Hill and Tim McGraw a top tour ... - Lincoln Journal Star

The number of quality chemistry research papers coming out of India is on the up, but still lags far behind China and must accelerate if India is to become a major global player in chemistry. Thats the conclusion of a new scientometric analysis of chemistry research in India that uses Chinas explosive research growth as a benchmark.

While the total number of chemistry papers with Indian authors published between 2007 and 2014 grew at an impressive three-year moving average of 8.9%, the study shows that the country continues to be poorly represented in the top journals. This is despite India making up 17% of the worlds population. When publications in only high quality journals are considered Indias rank falls, leading to the question are we publishing mediocre stuff? state the authors of the study.

Between 2011 and 2015 Indian chemists published 144 papers in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), the study notes, far behind Chinas 1857. In another top journal, Chemical Communications, India accounted for 794 papers from 2011 through to 2015, compared to 6084 from China. The study notes that India accounts for only 2.3% of the 2234 papers in the top one percentile of the most highly cited chemistry papers published in 2014, compared to 38% from China, whose lead over India in 2000 was meagre.

That only a small number of Indian researchers and institutions publish in leading journals is also a matter for concern, the authors contend. Despite an increase in research output and international collaboration, chemistry research in India is still not in the big league.

The study is based on chemistry research publication data from 19912015 collected from various databases, including Natureindex.com, SCImago and Web of Science. The authors focused on 25 leading chemistry journals six of which are general chemistry journals and on chemistry papers published in leading general science journals Nature, Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new study comes in the wake of three earlier prominent studies focusing on general science in India but which included sections on chemistry. Each of those three reports from Nature Index, Elsevier, and Thomson Reuters was largely positive on the current state of, and outlook, for chemistry in India.

Subbiah Arunachalam, lead author of the new report, tells Chemistry World that his study differs from the other three in several ways, most significantly by focusing only on chemistry and on papers published in top chemistry journals. By such careful selection of journals, we ensured only papers of certain quality would be included in our analysis, he says. He says the study also presents a comparative data breakdown on papers from several Asian nations, as well as Indian institutions published in JACS, Chemical Communications and Angewandte Chemie. We have also commented on the increase in internationally co-authored papers and their propensity to attract more citations. On the overall state of chemistry in India, Arunachalam says I would say strengths certainly outweigh the weaknesses.

Sandeep Verma, head of the department of chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology, says that the strong suit of the study is its narrative based on quantitative data. However, the authors summarily deliver a verdict that chemistry research is not making rapid progress in India based on the premise of publishing in JACS, Angewandte Chemie or Chem Comm. While these three journals are top of the line with high impact factors, one has to also consider core journals such as Organic Letters or Journal of Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry and Journal of Physical Chemistry, preferred widely by Indian chemists who feel comfortable within traditional boundaries.

Verma concludes: Therefore, the rhetoric of are we publishing mediocre stuff is high-handed and is based on an arguable premise. Thus, in my opinion, this paper presents a small part of a complex story of chemistry research in India.

Abhishek Dey, an inorganic chemist at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in Kolkata, notes that the study does show that the younger scientists are publishing more in high impact journals. However, he says another parameter the study could have included was reviewing activity by these authors. It not only shows the credibility of the scientist as a go to expert but also shows their commitment towards the development of journals they publish in.

I am quite hopeful about the future of chemistry in India, says Dey. There has been a lot of really great appointments thanks to the new institutes that have come up. If these institutes can provide good academic environments to their faculty, chemistry research should get much better in the days to come. That being said, we still have a long way to go to be considered as a leader in the area.

Verma agrees that the future of Indian chemistry looks bright. But he says the field needs more support from the Indian government, which he says favours the biological sciences over physical. The numbers presented in this paper are actually a tribute to the resolute nature of Indian chemists given poor infrastructure as a main adversary impeding their reach to the top, he says. Indian chemists will shine if optimal research resources and robust funding policies are made available on a priority basis.

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India still outside chemistry's 'big league' - Chemistry World (subscription)

SALT LAKE CITY Stephen Curry took a quick deep breath. He was about to yell back at Kevin Durant, but he caught himself.

Durant took out his mouthpiece and screamed at Curry.

STEPH! Durant yelled, then paused with a death stare, waiting for Curry to turn around. GET OUT!

Curry swallowed his next words, turned away from Durant and walked toward the bench shaking his head. Curry kicked a chair when he got to the bench, causing the seat cushion to fly.

It might have looked like trouble in paradise. Really, it was a sign of progress, an illustration of how their relationship has grown.

Ten months since Durant made his choice to leave Oklahoma City, he is already so ingratiated into the Warriors fold that hes freely, publicly yelling at the franchise cornerstone. The rapport is built between the two to the point where such heated exchanges dont stick.

Weve seen it with Durant and Draymond Green, the two players who hit it off faster than any. It took time for Curry and Durant to get here, to get past the niceties. But they both were able to get here because they both have sacrificed for this super team. They have skin in the game.

Durant said before joining the Warriors, he had to hear from Curry. He had to know Curry really wanted him in the core. He didnt want the truth to come out later.

Curry convinced Durant by showing up to the Hamptons to recruit him, and by poignant text messages about his willingness to share the kingdom he built for the sake of the kingdoms sustained dominance.

If the Warriors win the NBA title, the happy ending will have been earned. The relationship between the two MVPs has taken work. So much potential is there for resentment and enmity.

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Nobody said sacrifice was easy. Perhaps these two MVPs are the only ones who could pull this off.

They have a great relationship, Warriors assistant coach Bruce Fraser said after leading a shooting drill with both of them on Currys favorite court in the Warriors practice facility. They are two guys who have seen a lot and dont care about all that other stuff. They just want to win.

Durant averaged a career-low 16.5 shots per game. It was the most efficient season of his career, but the green light he had always enjoyed was yellow pretty often.

For four months, he was called every synonym of soft as possible for leaving Oklahoma City and joining the team that beat the Thunder. Then when he could finally do something about it, he did. He averaged 27.1 points on 57 percent shooting the first month of the season.

His hot start was punctuated by 36 points and 15 rebounds at Cleveland on Christmas Day, redeeming his name in a showdown against LeBron James.

That hot start cost Curry. He got lost in the Durant Redemption campaign. Curry was on a redemption tour of his own. After a poor showing in the NBA Finals, he had something to prove. And his play the first two months of the season was validating the criticism about him.

It wasnt easy to hear it was Durants team now after all the work he had done to build it. Curry has an ego like all of them. But his sacrifice was in swallowing it, even as members of his own camp mumbled about how Curry was being slighted.

Then it was Durant with the poignant message to Curry. He told Curry to play his game. He promised Curry he would be fine bending his considerable talents around Currys style of play. The dialogue on how to make this work began.

And between their talks are lots and lots of laughs. At team gatherings, they are almost inseparable and riotous in their fun. Anyone who sees them together, especially with Green in the mix, can see why they work because they both value the camaraderie and brotherhood. They love the fun times behind the scenes even more than the glory in front of the cameras.

Its the ability to share jokes and real talk, praise and constructive criticism, that gives their bond some real depth.

It wouldnt be real if they couldnt be real with each other, Green said. Thats how I know their relationship is good. Because it is genuine.

Curry went on a tear when he started playing his game. In January, a more-aggressive Curry averaged 27.8 points and 6.9 assists for the month. And Durant averaged 27.4 points on 56.5 percent. They had worked themselves into a harmony.

But it tailed off for Durant. In February, he found himself slumping. Then Feb. 28, he suffered a knee injury that knocked him out for all but two games the rest of the season. And then he had to sit and watch himself be marginalized by the national dialogue and public opinion.

Curry flourished as the Warriors ran off a 14-game win streak. And suddenly, Durant who was anointed the Warriors best player earlier in the season was suddenly a hindrance for Curry. And you know he heard it, and it bothered him, because he addressed it after his first game back April 8.

I guess I dont make him worse after all, Durant said to the media postgame.

Through all of this, Curry and Durant have been talking and texting. They have been working out the kinks, encouraging one another, holding each other accountable. They are both invested. They have both sacrificed. They are both mature enough to say what they need to, but humble enough to accept what is being said.

I knew what I was getting into, Durant said. Ive seen so much in this league. I know how long a season is, how the ebb and flows work. You get to a point where you just want to win, man. Thats all its about.

Curry took a quick deep breath. He was about to reply to Kevin Durant, but he caught himself. Durant had just emerged from the shower, two blue towels covering most of his lankiness. The Warriors had just completed the sweep of the Jazz. Walking past his point guard, he offered Curry some advice.

Next time, make sure you towel off your back, Durant said.

The rear of his Currys white Diesel T-shirt coincidentally, the same one Green was wearing, identifiable by the crossing straps built into the back was soaking wet. Curry was about to explain, but swallowed his next words. And broke into a smile.

Thanks bro, he said to Durant. I appreciate it, man. Thanks for looking out.

Read the original:
How Kevin Durant and Steph Curry learned to share the limelight - The Mercury News

DALLAS Finishing the 2016-17 season with nine players on the roster 26 years old or younger, the Dallas Mavericks now hope to continue the progression of their emerging youth movement going into next year.

Starting off the season with a 4-17 record while 13-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki missed time due to a right Achilles strain, the Mavericks were forced to turn to their young contributors early and often. The Mavs then saw their young players rally together by the end of the grueling 82-game schedule, despite missing out on the playoffs following a 33-49 campaign. The Mavericks will now attempt to foster their young talent with an extensive offseason training schedule that begins during the month of May. And according to Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, the goal is to help facilitate the growth, chemistry and development of the teams first- and second-year players throughout this summer.

Its going to be busier (this summer) with player development internally than its been, Carlisle admitted. We have a schedule in place. Our first- and second-year guys will be back in mid-May for a couple of weeks, and then mid-June for a couple of weeks. Were going to space out their workouts, so that their bodies can stay fresh, and then prepare them for the Summer League. Weve got to get Yogi (Ferrell) and (Dorian) Finney-Smith and (Nicolas) Brussino and (A.J.) Hammons better. In the first year, theres always going to be an increase in skill level and things like that. Weve just got to be careful not to let these guys plateau. One of the ways we get better is to get better from within.

Weve got to be careful about doing too much too soon, the coach added. So much in this league is really geared towards a group of guys being tied together in the locker room and having a set of definable skills. We want there to be an element of positive predictability within the team, so that everybody knows what everybody can do.

The Mavericks young contributors began to develop definable roles late in the 16-17 schedule while seeing the bulk of the playing time during the final six games of the season. The young Mavs also had their hard work rewarded with a 100-93 win in Memphis during the season finale on April 12, snapping a five-game losing streak to enter the offseason on a high note.

The Mavericks hope to carry the momentum of that victory into the summer, looking to grow the confidence of the young core. That said, each of the young pros will also be asked to grow their own games and come into next season a better player.

A lot of young guys now are just taking it by storm a little bit, and its just more ammo for us to go out there and play even harder for each other, Ferrell explained. We know were young and were going to make mistakes, but thats all a part of the learning process.

I think were excited going forward, 26-year-old combo guard Seth Curry echoed. We showed a lot of things we can build on with young talent. Guys were playing big minutes and playing big moments throughout the season against other great teams and playing well, showing that we can win and not just playing well and just being good. We competed with some of the best teams in the league. And obviously, guys have got to get better going into the offseason. Guys have got to come back and build off the experience they got this year. I think everybody who played and got an opportunity to show what they can do is excited about that.

Much of the teams success next season will come from chemistry on and off the court, according to 25-year-old big man Dwight Powell. That said, the Mavericks hope their budding stars can develop chemistry by spending an extensive amount of time together during the summer.

The Dallas front office also hopes to add another young star capable of stepping in and contributing during the upcoming NBA Draft in June. And with a schedule already in place for the first- and second-year pros to train together in Dallas during the summer, the Mavs see the lessons learned this season serving as motivation for the entire young core.

I mean, chemistry comes down to spending time with one another off the court, playing and having success together, Powell said. We had some trying times this year, but I think it helped us build some strength together and learn a lot about each other during those tough times. That comes with the territory. Guys came in ready to work every day, and I appreciated that. So, at the end of the day, we had a team of guys that wanted to win and wanted to work hard and wanted to be here. You cant ask for more than that. I think the most confidence I have is in guys hunger and guys resolve at the end of the season. They wanted to get better and really are prepared to kind of attack this offseason. I know we all kind of have a bitter taste in our mouths from the whole season and the result at the end of the day, but well try to convert that into motivation for the next few months.

Original post:
Mavs see young core building chemistry during summer of training ... - Mavs.com

An action comedy about white women beset by brown men in Latin American countries portrayed by Hawaii, "Snatched" is Amy Schumer's second big movie, her follow-up to the very funny "Trainwreck," which introduced her to audiences unfamiliar with her stand-up or her TV work on "Inside Amy Schumer." The film co-stars Goldie Hawn, in her first major screen role since "The Banger Sisters" 15 years ago. Shrewdly, 20th Century Fox is positioning their product as a Mother's Day weekend offering; what better way to market it? Mother. Daughter. Kidnapped by Ecuadorean ransom-seekers while on vacation. They get stuffed in a car trunk; they harpoon a bad guy; they dance; they learn to take it easy on each other.

The movie does not take it easy. Director Jonathan Levine ("50/50," "The Night Before") has skill, but broad visual gags aren't really his strength. Screenwriter Katie Dippold wrote "The Heat," the one with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy (sequel coming), which pulled a successful variation on a familiar odd-couple theme. "Snatched," more about victimhood than women running their own show, is funny here and there, but in ways that make the bulk of the formulaic material all the more frustrating.

Stiffed by her boyfriend (Randall Park) on the eve of their nonrefundable Ecuador getaway, directionless, hard-drinking Emily (Schumer) invites her cat-obsessed suburban shut-in of a mother (Hawn) on the trip instead. Mother Linda's fears of abduction come true soon enough, though Emily's too smitten by the flirtatious Englishman (Tom Bateman) on vacation to sense trouble. "Snatched" engineers ways to get Emily and Linda in danger and then out again, evading their kidnapper (Oscar Jaenada, stereotypical swarthy menace incarnate) as best they can, while back home Emily's agoraphobic brother (Ike Barinholtz) nudges a skeptical U.S. State Department in the rescue of his family.

If you're going to write a movie like this one, you're going to try to invent ways and means of pushing the story forward without your audience getting that weary, back-to-the-kidnapping-stuff feeling. I had that feeling a lot during "Snatched." You sense the relief on Dippold's behalf every time she gets the chance to ditch what's "required" and focus on what's amusing, or offbeat. Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack make for entertaining side players as a couple of vacationers who come in handy plotwise; Christopher Meloni scores a laugh or two as a would-be adventurer who serves as Emily and Linda's guide through the jungles of Colombia. "Feel free to drink from any puddle you see," he says at one point. "All water in the jungle is safe." The jokes are sardonic 21st century variations on "Don't Drink the Water," sometimes literally.

It's extremely broad humor, for the most part, nervously edited, involving the extraction of a vicious-looking tapeworm from Emily's throat, or Emily makeshift-douching herself in a restroom, preparing for a possible hookup with her English friend. Hawn does not easily suggest a paranoid lonelyheart with bad knees, as the script dictates, but she and Schumer parallel-play together, affectionately. "Snatched" is too busy with everything around, and outside, this central relationship. In that regard it resembles the Tina Fey/Steve Carell action comedy "Date Night," which got by with audiences despite itself. We'll see about this one; it is, after all, opening on Mother's Day weekend.

Michael Phillips is a Chicago Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

"Snatched" 2 stars

MPAA rating: R (for crude sexual content, brief nudity, and language throughout)

Running time: 1:37

Opens: Thursday evening

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'Snatched' review: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn's mother-daughter chemistry gets lost in Ecuador getaway - Chicago Tribune

Although I didnt receive the grade I wanted, my experience with a challenging class was still beneficial

As I finish up the semester, I am letting out a huge sigh of relief. AP Chemistry, which has been the source of both excitement and stress for the past 9 months, is finally over. I can definitively say that it was the hardest class Ive ever taken, not necessarily because of the content, but because of the strain it put on me to learn faster, study harder and retain more than I have ever experienced in my high school career. Even though Im ending the semester on a lower score than I anticipated, Ive surprised myself by actually recognizing that Ive grown as a student since August. To me, this made the class worthwhile.

Arriving in AP Chem, I felt more than confident this was going to be my favorite class. I wanted my grades to be perfect so I could study chemistry in college and work in labs all day as a career. And that was a pretty attainable goal. I had breezed by in Pre-AP Chemistry, getting perfect scores on every single test, and the summer assignment didnt even force me to break a sweat. As the year went on, however, things just got more and more difficult. Like most AP classes, there is simply too much content to cover in such a short amount of time. I felt overwhelmed, and mostly scared, because there just seemed to be no other option than to take the grade I was given. No matter how many times I went to go see science teacher Mary Beth Mattingly, she couldnt make me understand chemistry.

Frankly, I still dont understand chemistry. I understand the various concepts, and the math, and how some things fit together, but I havent had the click yet. I havent had the big realization everyones been telling me about. Maybe its because I didnt study enough or I didnt watch enough Khan Academy videos, but mostly I think its because my own understanding just isnt there yet. And for a high school junior, thats OK. Im starting to view learning chemistry as a lifelong process instead of just a way to sign off on some arbitrary credit.

Just because I didnt receive outstanding chemistry grades this year in no way means I never will, and thats the idea that keeps me going. This idea that I can get better at it and improve upon myself is the true reward Ive gotten out of AP Chem. In high school theres this idea that learning a subject is done once you leave high school or college. Though some might be disappointed, thats just not true. Having a philosophy of improving yourself throughout life and at your own pace is called the growth mindset, and until this year, I had no experience with it.

Through taking AP Chem, Ive had some rough nights where Ive just cried at the kitchen counter because I couldnt remember all the intermolecular forces, but Ive also had the days in class where Im asking all the right questions. Ive had the labs with my friends where we mess up a titration so bad, we just have to laugh about it and start over. In the end, I may not have gotten an A, but AP Chem has still been my favorite class.

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AP Chemistry taught me to value the growth mindset - The JagWire