Month: May 2022

Following a stunning appearance at the Met Gala, SZA has announced she’s taking a small break from social media. This break seemingly follows fans calling the “Good Days” singer out for attending the Met Gala, despite not putting out her highly anticipated sophomore album.

Back in April, SZA tweeted, “Not going to any more awards or events til my album out.” Fans quickly pulled up this tweet after she made an appearance at the Met Gala. The next day, following an influx of callouts in her mentions, SZA took to Twitter to express her frustrations.

“I swear to God if I didn’t accidentally fall in love w music .. I would NEVER EVER COME OUTSIDE,” she wrote. “Y’all suck the joy and life out of EVERYTHING. Thank God for purpose cause Outside of art it’s f*ck y’all . Now run w that.”

Earlier today, she took to Instagram to further express her disdain for social media, and the internet in general.

“Get off the internet. The internet is demonic,” she wrote on her Instagram story (per NME). “I deleted my TikTok for mental health awareness month. I encourage everyone to delete anything anyone and everything that doesn’t serve you. Bless.”

All things aside, fans may not have to wait much longer for new music from SZA. On the red carpet at the Met Gala, she said her new album was complete, assuring viewers “It’ll be a SZA summer.”

You can view SZA’s social media posts above.

It’s nearly impossible to get the full story on anything in Russia. The Kremlin propaganda machine is enormous, and has been churning out blue-sky lies for so long that many Russian citizens don’t even question that the state-run media they consume on a daily basis would ever think to mislead them. But, as The Daily Beast reports, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine believe that those whose lives are engulfed in the Russia-Ukraine War deserve the truth.

Which is why the Armed Forces decided to create an app that would keep track of the Russian death toll in real time, to give citizens up-to-the-minute data on the real story behind the casualties. The app, which is cheekily named “Russian ship, go f*ck yourself,” was created in partnership with Ukrainian tech company Alty with the goal of helping Ukraine defeat Russian forces.

The app allows the user to load the information into the iPhone’s “Today’s View” section, which is where you can easily access your calendar, the current weather, and now, Russian casualties.

“We were inspired by the daily work of the specialists of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, who diligently formulated information on the damage of enemy personnel and the Russian Federation technology in their infographics,” Alty CEO Leonid Goriev said in a statement. “Therefore, on a volunteer basis, we created a handy app with a set of beautiful widgets to track the occupant’s losses and bring our victory closer.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

Rapper Bia is having a big year—from launching a cosmetics line called Beauty For Certain, touring with Russ, and scoring some big-name collaborations. Among her collaborators is J. Cole, who is featured on her latest track, “London.”

On “London,” both Bia and Cole rap in British accents over a drill-inspired beat. Bia recently spoke with Variety about how she presented several tracks, including “London” to Cole, for his consideration. After collaborating with Cole, Bia said she was inspired to step up her pen game.

“I learned I have to push my pen to maximum every single time because you never know when J. Cole’s going to get on your record,” she said. “Now, I’m pushing it 10 times harder. Every bar, ugh! Let me see how I can take that up a notch. Outside of that, too, I learned a lot about balance. Because the way he’s super punctual — he’s on time for everything. I’m never on time, but I’ll stay late. I need to get better at punctuality.”

Ahead of the song’s release last month, Cole also had nothing but positive words to say about Bia’s craft.

“When the thought and conversation came up about me adding a verse, I was excited but genuinely nervous cuz I didn’t even see how the song could be better after what she did to it,” said Cole in an Instagram post. “I didn’t want to f*ck nothing up! I’m grateful I Ended up catching the right wave.”

Frank Langella has been canceled. But he’s not about to go away quietly. In mid-April, reports began surfacing that the 84-year-old Oscar nominee had been fired from his role in Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher over misconduct allegations. The celebrated actor had no immediate comment at the time, but now he’s speaking out via a full op-ed that ran on Deadline.

While Netflix has remained rather tight-lipped about the incident, last Friday it was announced that Bruce Greenwood had been hired to replace Langella on the eight-episode limited series, which was already halfway done filming. On Thursday, Langella issued his own explanation of the series of events that preceded his firing:

On March 25 of this year, I was performing a love scene with the actress playing my young wife. Both of us were fully clothed. I was sitting on a couch, she was standing in front of me. The director called “cut.” “He touched my leg,” said the actress. “That was not in the blocking.” She then turned and walked off the set, followed by the director and the intimacy coordinator. I attempted to follow but was asked to “give her some space.” I waited for approximately one hour, and was then told she was not returning to set and we were wrapped.

Not long after, an investigation began. Approximately one week later, Human Resources asked to speak to me by phone. “Before the love scene began on March 25,” said the questioner, “our intimacy coordinator suggested where you both should put your hands. It has been brought to our attention that you said, ‘This is absurd!’” “Yes,” I said, “I did. And I still think so.” It was a love scene on camera. Legislating the placement of hands, to my mind, is ludicrous. It undermines instinct and spontaneity.

According to Langella, he was not given a chance to defend himself or his actions. “I was not given a hearing with Netflix,” the Oscar nominee wrote. “My request to meet one-on-one with the actress was denied. The directors and the producer stopped answering my emails and phone calls. Within 30 minutes of my firing, a letter went out to cast and crew and a full press release was sent immediately. My representatives and I were given no opportunity to comment or collaborate on the narrative.” Which is why Langella wanted to set the record straight on his own terms.

“I cannot speak to the intentions of my accuser or Netflix, but the impact on me has been incalculable,” he wrote. “Cancel culture is the antithesis of democracy. It inhibits conversation and debate. It limits our ability to listen, mediate, and exchange opposing views. Most tragically, it annihilates moral judgment.

This is not fair. This is not just. This is not American.”

You can read Langella’s full letter here.

(Via Deadline)

We often have little awareness of how our actions might affect the lives of others. Our kindness simply goes into the ether, maybe to return as good karma, who knows. And most of the time that’s fine, considering that the act was probably done to help someone else, not for recognition. But still…have you ever done something kind for a stranger, and wondered…whatever happened to that person?

In 1999, two sisters boarded a plane from Amsterdam to the United States, fleeing their home of former Yugoslavia. The republic had been continuously bombed by NATO for three months during the Kosovo War, in an attempt to thwart widespread ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians. The sisters didn’t have a penny to their name—they left behind everything they knew. Only one could speak English.

A woman sat next to them, and, reminded of her own daughters, was moved by their frightening plight. She reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. Inside she placed dangly earrings, a $100 bill and a handwritten note, which read:

“I am so sorry that the bombing of your country has caused your family any problems. I hope your stay in America will be a safe and happy one for you–Welcome to America–please use this to help you here. A friend from the plane–Tracy.”

The word “safe” had been underlined. For the refugee sisters Ayda Zugay and Vanja Contino, that had meant everything.

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Zugay recalled to CNN, “It was the first time that I felt, like, relief. This is a safe place, and we can build a future here. We went from this drastic horror into this beautiful act of kindness.” Zugay’s CNN interview would later help her and her sister reunite with Tracy 23 years later, and let Tracy know just how life changing her gift was.

Of course, the search for Tracy had been a passion project years in the making.

For Zugay, Tracy’s note became a “diamond in the dark” as she navigated through new life in America, facing prejudice towards immigrants. The impact it made was so great that every year as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving approached, Zugay would renew her search.

Over the years Zugay had enlisted the help of airlines, hotels, Reddit, and several refugee organizations. In a recent video, Zugay shared what little clues she uncovered:

“Tracy, by this time, would be a middle aged or an older woman who is amazing at tennis and had traveled for it in the past. She would have flown from Paris, where she stayed at a Holiday Inn and where she played tennis, to Amsterdam, where we met on that flight. She would have flown from Amsterdam to Minnesota, and this would have been on May 31, 1999.”

Though people were moved by her story and offered information and encouragement, she mostly met dead ends. That is, until her CNN story began circulating. More than 2 million readers saw it, including one of Tracy’s close contacts.

As Zugay surmised, Tracy (whose last name we now know is Peck), was indeed a tennis enthusiast. In 1999, she got a chance to travel internationally to play and watch the French Open. Her friend Susan Allen, a tennis coach, saw Tracy’s note on social media, and recognized the handwriting.

Allen was able to put Peck in touch with Zugay and Contino, who now live in Boston and Connecticut. The three were able to finally share a long awaited emotional reunion over Zoom.

UPDATE: Ayda Zugay’s decade-long quest to find and thank the woman who gave her $100 and a welcoming message in 1999 has ended. Zugay reunited on Zoom with the mystery woman, Tracy Peck, a day after CNN published a story about her search. https://t.co/kxYEdnECS8

— Catherine Shoichet (@CatherineCNN) May 2, 2022

The sisters gave Peck two decades worth of stories: how they were able to survive the entire summer off of that $100 bill by eating pancake mix and Coca Cola, how Zugay was able to graduate from Boston University and work with a non-profit, and how Contino became happily married with two children, instilled with Peck’s inclination to pay it forward. As they shared the untold chapters of their story, Zugay wore the dangly earrings given by Peck all those years ago.

We might never know where our goods deeds lead. But one thing is for certain: kindness is powerful. That next act of generosity towards a stranger could be the very saving grace they needed to change their life forever.

Ted Cruz isn’t a man who’d let a little thing like factual evidence or the truth stand in the way of a good story. Hell, even Tucker Carlson has called him out for being a liar. But “facts” and “evidence” don’t seem to mean a whole lot to the Texas senator, as he proved (yet again) in the latest episode of Verdict, the podcast he co-hosts with Michael Knowles.

As Mediaite reports, Cruz and Knowles got to talking about the situation surrounding the rather unprecedented Supreme Court opinion draft leak, and who the leaker might be. The way Cruz sees it, none of the Justices themselves would be capable of committing this “grotesque violation of trust,” nor could he imagine that it would be anyone on Samuel Alito’s team. (Why not? Who knows! It’s Ted Cruz. He just says things!)

Cruz, ever the clever sleuth that he is, told Knowles that his gut was telling him that it was “very, very likely a law clerk” that leaked Alito’s opinion. And that it’s “very, very likely a law clerk for one of the three liberal justices,” which narrowed Cruz’s potential pool of suspects down to just a dozen people. Rather than just leave it at that, however, he kept going:

“It is likely to be someone who is a hard partisan, and who is willing to burn the place down because he or she was so upset about what happened. If I were to guess, the most likely justice for whom the law clerk is clerking is Sonia Sotomayor.”

Ummmm… ok.

When pressed for why he’d say Sotomayor, Cruz explained it’s “because she’s the most partisan of the justices. So she’s the most likely to hire wild-eyed partisans as clerks.” As for any evidence for making such a public accusation, Cruz of course had zero.

“I’m just making an inference,” Cruz said. Others might call it an “accusation.”

(Via Mediaite)

Them long hard times are officially coming back, and getting closer. Back in January, it was announced that Justified—the hit FX series featuring Timothy Olyphant in his most iconic lawman role, as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens—was coming back for a second go-around. While the only thing we know about Justified: City Primeval’s release date is that it won’t premiere until 2023, Variety reports that production on the limited series is scheduled to begin this week in Chicago.

According to Variety, the series will pick up essentially in real-time, finding Givens eight years removed from where we saw him in the original series finale, which aired in 2015:

He now lives in Miami, a walking anachronism balancing his life as a U.S. Marshal and part-time father of a 15-year-old girl (Vivian Olyphant). His hair is grayer, his hat is dirtier, and the road in front of him is suddenly a lot shorter than the road behind.

A chance encounter on a desolate Florida highway sends him to Detroit. There he crosses paths with Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook), aka The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent, sociopathic desperado who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once and aims to do so again. Mansell’s lawyer, formidable Motor City native Carolyn Wilder (Aunjanue Ellis), has every intention of representing her client, even as she finds herself caught in between cop and criminal, with her own game afoot as well.

In addition to Holbrook (Narcos), Ellis (King Richard), and Vivian Olyphant—Timothy’s real-life 19-year-old daughter, who will play Raylan’s fictional 15-year-old kid—FX announced a handful of new cast members, including Adelaide Clemens (Rectify), Vondie Curtis Hall (Harriet), Marin Ireland (The Umbrella Academy), Norbert Leo Butz (Bloodline), and Victor Williams (The Good Lord Bird).

“Justified was one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the past decade and an adaption of Elmore Leonard’s work that was so colorfully brought to life by Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, Graham Yost, and the entire team of producers, writers, directors and cast,” FX Entertainment president Eric Schrier said in January, when the reboot was officially announced. “To have this group come together again with Tim as Raylan in a new and different Elmore Leonard story is thrilling.”

(Via Variety)

Rihanna and ASAP Rocky sparked rumors of engagement following the latter’s new video for “D.M.B.,” in which Rihanna stars. In the video, which is subtitled as “A ghetto love tale.” the two are wearing grills on their teeth; Rocky’s reads “Marry Me?” and Rihanna’s reads “I Do?” The video ends with them getting married, however, the two maintain that this is simply part of the video.

Despite much speculation of their engagement or even a secret wedding, a source close to the couple told TMZ that the grills and the wedding were “just done for fun.”

The couple are expecting a child together, with a due date rapidly approaching. As for a baby shower, Rihanna and Rocky recently held a “rave shower” after the former previously told Vogue that she wants “no brunch, no blush tones. And no animal-shaped nothing”

“I mean it’s lit for a lot of people,” she continued. “I’ve even planned a couple of baby showers like that myself—it’s just not right for me. Personally, I want a party. I want everyone to be plastered and crawling out. And it’s got to be co-ed! Don’t put me on no wicker chair somewhere with gifts at my feet where everyone is staring at me.”

Check out the video for “D.M.B.” above.

Let’s first start here: what is shame? Shame is an acute feeling of aloneness that comes when we have a perceived break in connection with others. It’s the lived experience of, “I am unlovable” or “No one would want to be with me if they knew this about me.” Interestingly, we can feel shame even when we are all by ourselves simply by thinking back to something that left us feeling alienated.

And what about shame in children? Why does shame begin so early? Well, children are actually particularly susceptible to shame because their survival depends on attachment with adult caregivers. As a result, they’re particularly attuned to what leaves them feeling alone – and feeling alone is what brings on shame. Think of it this way: Children are always looking to their grownups to try to figure out, “What parts of me bring closeness and safety? What parts of me bring aloneness and danger? Am I good? Am I loveable? Do I make sense?” Shame develops to “keep away” the “bad parts” of a child (of course we know that there are no bad parts! But kids often draw this conclusion when parts of them are continually met with rejection or punishment) – so, actually, shame develops as a form of protection!

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So how does shame in childhood relate to shame in adulthood? In adulthood, our early circuitry comes alive in our present, especially when we see things around us today that were associated with shame decades ago. For example: Maybe your family had a preoccupation with cleanliness and your body learned to store shame next to any “mess” you were experiencing – well, you can bet that shame will come up again as an adult when your home isn’t as organized as you want it to be.

Here’s another example: Crying was never met with empathy in your childhood home – rather it was met with a “Stop feeling sorry for yourself!” response – which may lead your body to store shame next to feelings of sadness or need. This means that despite wanting to parent differently than you were parented, when you see your child crying your shame circuit gets activated. Your body thinks it’s protecting you – it’s probably saying, inside, “Oh! Crying! That’s not allowed! So shame takes over to try and push that feeling down.

Ok, now let’s do what we do best here at Good Inside: translate big ideas into actionable, manageable strategies. Let’s focus on Mantras to De-Shame so we can manage the shame in our life – this both helps us grow and helps us show up to our kids not as triggered but as grounded.

See below for 5 mantras to work into your life. And remember, like anything else, de-shaming requires practice and it requires talking to yourself – so use these in front of a mirror. Yes, I mean it! Actually say them aloud into a mirror. See what comes up for you. You might surprise yourself.

5 Mantras for De-shaming Your Self

• “My child’s manners are not a measure of whether they are a nice kid or whether I am a good parent. We are both good inside.”
• “Messy houses mean people live here. My house is a mess, I am not a mess.”
• “Good people make mistakes. I am still a good person when I (forget to call a friend on her birthday / get critical feedback / yell at my kids).”

• “The challenges I face in my life are on the road toward progress. I don’t have to “get rid” of obstacles, I can stay in the difficult stage just as I am.”
• “I make sense. My feelings are real and worthy, and I am not alone.”

Want to learn more about the Good Inside approach? At Good Inside you’ll find at-your-fingertips resources, a community that just gets it, and expert advice from Dr. Becky and her team of coaches. Everything you need to help you become the parent you want to be

Kelly Nadel, is the Clinical Training Director at Good Inside

Robert Covington was acquired in a midseason trade by the Clippers and he’s going to be sticking around in Los Angeles.

Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the 31-year-old Covington has agreed to a two-year extension worth $24 million with the Clippers instead of heading into free agency this summer. Under the CBA rules, a two-year deal for Covington is the longest one he could sign.

For Covington, this makes sense, as he gets to stay in Los Angeles and play for a team that should be a title contender next season. It also means skipping out on free agency in a summer where not many teams have cap space to use. Per Spotrac, only five teams — the Magic, the Pistons, the Spurs, the Pacers and the Trail Blazers — are projected to have cap space this summer. None of those teams are near the level of the Clippers with Kawhi Leonard returning next year after missing this entire season and Paul George hopefully at 100 percent.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, locks down a key wing who helps offer them lineup versatility alongside Leonard and Paul George. It also locks them in as not only a luxury tax team, but one of the most expensive teams in the league next season, if not the most expensive when the final bill comes do. And that’s with only 12 players under contract for next season as of now, assuming they pick up Ivica Zubac’s $7.5 million team option and Nic Batum picks up his $3.3 million player option.

That, though, is the benefit of having Steve Ballmer as an owner, who has more money than anyone else int he league and is someone willing to spend whatever it takes to maximize having an open championship window for Leonard and George.