Month: October 2022

Nicki Minaj‘s latest single, “Super Freaky Girl” is the gift that keeps on giving. The song has reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and has spawned two remixes, including the star-studded Queen Mix, featuring JT of City Girls, Bia, Akbar V, Katie Got Bandz, and Maliibu Miitch.

On TikTok, users are dancing to an instrumental of the song while detailing accounts that may be stranger than fiction.

One TikToker, who is famous for grooming dogs, shared a story about why she will no longer groom pregnant dogs. While dancing to the “Super Freaky Girl,” beat, she shares a story about a dog who gave birth during her grooming appointment.

In another video, a woman shared a story about a time she visited her sister for lunch. She invited a neighbor in to see the house, only to realize that the car the neighbor was driving matched the description of one in an Amber Alert notification she received on her phone.

In a perhaps less dangerous situation, a man tells a story about a time his daughter brought his phone to him and his wife while they were in the shower, to discover after the fog had cleared up, that they were on FaceTime with the kids’ grandfather.

A TikToker known as “TikTok Sam” recalled an equally mortifying moment, in which two young ladies recognized him from TikTok and crashed their car near the UW Madison campus.

At the time of writing, the “Super Freaky Girl” sound has been placed in over 553,500 videos on TikTok. For more wacky stories, visit here.

Both of the New York baseball team made it to the postseason this year. While the New York Yankees will wait to see which team they’ll get in the American League Division Series, the New York Mets are slated to take on the San Diego Padres in one of the two National League Wild Card series, with the first game taking place at Citi Field.

The Padres jumped on New York early on Friday night, scoring two runs in the first inning and one in the second off of Mets ace Max Scherzer. By the time Scherzer left the game in the top of the fifth, San Diego scored seven runs and took the air out of one of the most raucous stadiums in all of baseball.

The game is taking place in front of some stars, and by some stars, I mean noted famous person Nathan Fielder, the star of the HBO series The Rehearsal. Look at him below, having a blast.

Ok, so, maybe “having a blast” was a bit of a stretch, as Fielder looks like, well, someone at the Mets game watching them lose. But don’t worry: A smile eventually came to Fielder’s face.

Hard not to have a smile on your face during a lovely night out at the ballpark.

Ghosts have been haunting stories across human culture since ancient times. Even in our modern age, with a scientific explanation for nearly every phenomenon once considered supernatural, many still believe specters of the past float among us.

Perhaps it’s a way to make sense of the unexpected, cope with loss or to create a universe that isn’t random and chaotic. On the other hand, no one really knows what awaits us on the other side—it’s all conceptual theories in the land of the living.

But whether or not ghosts are actually real, they can help us make meaning of life’s fragile existence and perhaps take a different view on death, reminding us that sometimes our legacy lives on long after we are gone.

Reddit user u/pyotrfojti asked people on the online forum to share experiences that made them believe in the paranormal, and the answers were certainly compelling. Even the biggest skeptic might get a kick out of these spooky stories. ‘Tis the season, after all.

Here are nine of the best, most bone-chilling tales of the paranormal:

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1.

“While working overseas, the office we would normally work in was being renovated. The building was once part of a series of palaces [which] was later used by the Nazis as an interrogation and torture center.

I personally saw two stories come to life.

1. The harpsichord piano in the grand ballroom began to play on its own. I know because I was the only person in the building at the time. Plus, it was missing several strings.
2. The windows to the bedroom where a royal stayed were known to fog up and then open on their own. Saw the fog. Looked at them again a half-hour later and they were open.”

– @JQuest7575

2.

“I was alone at home with my 2 year old who was sleeping in his own room. An arm and hand of an adult human pushed open my bedroom door and it creaked loudly, waking me up. I saw the arm and the hand holding the doorknob. It then let go and retracted. I was afraid that it might be a burglar and then I smelled smoke and burning. I got the courage to leave my room and noticed smoke coming from my son’s room. His window curtain was inside his night lamp and had just caught fire. I could put it out in time, thanks to whatever had woken me up.” – @Niqga4PolishBabes

3.

“I haven’t really had any super intense experiences, mostly just hearing my name clearly being called when I was a kid while everyone else was asleep. That and hearing a constant loud sound in a specific area of a known haunted park at night that had nothing to do with bugs flying nearby. There were no other people at the park and there wasn’t anything electrical nearby. Just in the middle of a park near a willow tree.” – @WumboWings

via GIPHY

4.

“I was six when I first saw her, in the woods. I followed my friend John even though he told me not to. I followed at a distance, watching my feet, making sure not to step on the bevy of fallen leaves…The first thing I saw was a small hut. Raw, bloody, and nailed into place. The second thing I saw was her on the stoop, eyes all white, lips red. John ran to her. She reached down and embraced him, and looked at me over his shoulder with her all white eyes.

I ran like hell. I ran, screaming like bloody murder, all the way to my father, who swooped me up in a way he never had, and hasn’t had to do since. He asked me what happened and I told him about John.

‘Who?’

I described the kid I had met at the playground weeks ago. The kid I had played with three times before all this. Even now, John’s face is crystal clear in my mind. I could count his freckles from memory.

My dad tells me: I was playing alone the whole time.” – @sentient_luggage

via GIPHY

5.

“When [my mom] died I couldn’t be there for her, I was away in another state for work. Thank God that I could come to her funeral (this was in November of 2020). I was in the house of my mom, [and] one night I was in my bed sleeping and I woke suddenly and saw her in pajamas, like she was alive. If I didn’t see her body early that week being buried, I would have thought that she was alive.” – @Upbeat-Ad-3316

via GIPHY

6.

“I was at my choir director’s house to practice a solo. I started my recorder and when I got home to practice the song there was a voice on the recording that wasn’t from either me or my choir director. I have let everyone listen to it and they always miss it the first time because it is so loud and clear they assume that it was someone in the room. Freakiest thing ever!” – @Euphoric_Device11

7.

“It was late at night, like 1 am or so, [and] I was walking home till I heard a lot of noises. The street was empty and the whole entire neighborhood was silent. The lights of the lamp posts started flickering. Then I saw a black dressed, dark eyed lady with a black robe and black fingertips standing in front of my house ‘Hello? Are you okay ma’am?’ She then left and walked away towards the back of the house. My house lights started flickering. I quickly ran to my next door neighbor. Thankfully they were there and they rang my parents and all the lights started to stop flickering.” – @sleevlyboring

8.

“I did not believe for most of my life, until about 4.5 years ago. I worked in a very old hospital that used to be run by nuns in 1880-1940. My office was in the basement (next to the morgue) and strange things that could not be rationalized away started happening. Daily. Whispering, footprints thru newly waxed floors (angry janitor swears he checked the camera to see who ruined his work and saw no one) papers flying off my desk with zero draft etc. I don’t work there anymore, thankfully.” – @glass_heart2002

via GIPHY

9.

“My dad died a few years ago. I had been living with him to give him assistance as he needed full time care and couldn’t afford a nurse. He always, always, freaking always complained about being cold, even during the summer. I came home several times to find the heater cranked up to 80, no matter the time of year. We used to fight about it often. A couple weeks after he died, I would wake up hot and find the heater turned up to 80. It only persisted for a few weeks and stopped after I woke up again sweating and yelled out ‘Damn it dad, you’re dead, stop fucking with the heater!’” – @DeaconStGone

Styles P of The LOX is apparently planning his retirement as a solo artist next year. In an Instagram post, Styles shared an image of text, revealing his plans to step away as the owner of his business, Juices For Life, and to call it quits as a solo act.

“I will be retiring late 2023 as far as my solo career is concerned,” He said. “I have two more solo projects for y’all and I’m Out!!! I’ll be on deck for all things LOX music, shows etccc.”

In the post’s caption, Styles elaborated, saying that he plans to prioritize his mental health, as well as his health product business, Farmacy For Life.

“I have noticed I have become less spiritually healthy than I used to be,” he said. “I believe I have run myself down a tad bit over the past few years. Being a super hard working emcee and a health advocate. For one, I’m not really that great at multi tasking it’s actually my drive that keeps me going and that slack falls back on my family, business partners and co workers. I thought about it harder and came to the conclusion that I need to walk away from my solo career period ( I think I gave y’all enough ). I will just do LOX sh*t and a feature here and there if it moves me.”

In other news, Styles shared that he is planning to become a board member of organizations, and to launch other ventures, both of which, he says he is not “at liberty” to discuss at the moment.

Check out the full post above.

Rapper Lil Baby has been rumored to have beef with Migos for the past couple of years. On “Messy,” a track from Quavo and Takeoff’s new album, Only Built For Infinity Links, many think Quavo is addressing their alleged beef, despite the fact that he doesn’t identify anybody by name.

Do Quavo and Lil Baby have beef?

On “Messy,” Quavo addresses an unnamed party with the lyrics, “B*tch fucked my dog behind my back, but I ain’t stressin’ / You wanted the gang, you should’ve just said it, we would’ve blessed it.” Many have assumed he is alluding to Quavo’s ex, Saweetie, who is rumored to have had an affair with former Migo, Offset. Offset and his wife, Cardi B have denied the rumors, and some have accused Quavo of milking the timing of the rumors to generate buzz for the project.

Some have also said that Quavo may be referring to Lil Baby, who was rumored to have taken Saweetie on a $100,000 shopping spree in New York City last year. Both parties have since denied any sort of rumors insinuating romance between the two,

But the alleged Migos and Lil Baby feud dates back to 2020, when Lil Baby’s crew reportedly got into a physical altercation with Offset, which reportedly left him in his boxer shorts.

Lil Baby took to his Instagram Story shortly after to shut down the rumors, saying, “Stop spreading fake news!! That sh*t fake!! Please!!,” according to iHeart.

At the time of writing, Saweetie, Offset, or Lil Baby had not commented on “Messy.”

Check out “Messy” above.

Saweetie and Cardi B are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

We live in a world that is full of dedicated people doing incredible things, but unfortunately, we don’t hear about most of them. Much of the work to solve global problems and move the human race forward isn’t glamorous or exciting, and most of the people doing that work aren’t in it for the limelight or fanfare.

So when changemakers are honored for their service to humanity, we have the opportunity to shift our focus away from headline and spotlight chasers and celebrate the people working diligently to make the world a better place.

The Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards has provided such an opportunity.

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The awards, given by the Gates Foundation, honor global changemakers who are helping to move humanity closer to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, 193 world leaders committed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (aka Global Goals or SDGs), a series of ambitious objectives and targets to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and fix climate change by 2030.

“While the world is far from being on track to reach the Global Goals by 2030, there is still cause for optimism,” said Blessing Omakwu, head of Goalkeepers. “We’ve seen how human ingenuity and innovation can lead to game-changing breakthroughs and progress toward our shared goals, and that’s exactly what we see in this year’s Goalkeepers Global Goals Award winners.”

Omakwu tells Upworthy that having women sweep the awards was not planned, but it’s telling that that’s how it turned out. “These women represent some of the best of humanity,” she says. “Women are central to the future of progress.”

Attended by global leaders and influencers, the awards ceremony included award presentations by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, Angelina Jolie, Malala Yousafzai and Lilly Singh.

Meet the honorees:

2022 Campaign Award: Vanessa Nakate (Uganda)

The Campaign Award celebrates a campaign that has raised awareness or built a community by inspiring action and creating change.

Vanessa Nakate’s work highlights the disproportionate impacts of climate change and the inequalities it exacerbates, especially for women and girls in Africa. Nakate founded the Rise Up Climate Movement, which amplifies activist voices from Africa and around the globe. She also founded the Green Schools Project, which addresses energy poverty in rural schools in Uganda using economical and sustainable solutions. One of those solutions is equipping 24,000 schools with solar panels and eco stoves, which Nakate says will both drive a transition to renewable energy and reduce the consumption of firewood, as most schools in Uganda use firewood to prepare food.

Nakate tells Upworthy that the initial inspiration for her work was Greta Thunberg’s school strikes for climate change action. “But right now, I’m really inspired by the resilience of the different young people across the world that continue to mobilize and organize and demand climate justice,” she adds.

She says this award will help her message of climate justice reach new audiences. “For me, this is an opportunity to use these new platforms to talk about the impacts of the climate crisis and the solutions that are already working, especially in our communities at the grassroots level,” she says. “I believe in our fight for climate justice we need everyone involved, and it’s an opportunity to meet new people and tell them, ‘This is happening, but you can do something about it as well.'”

2022 Changemaker Award: Zahra Joya (Afghanistan)

The Changemaker Award celebrates an individual who has inspired change using personal experience or from a position of leadership.

Zahra Joya is an Afghan journalist who is dedicated to ensuring women’s stories are told and shared with the wider public. Joya founded and self-funded Rukhshana Media, an online news agency focused exclusively on covering issues that affect the women of Afghanistan—the first national news organization of its kind.

Joya tells Upworthy she named her media company after an Afghan woman named Rukhshana, who was arrested, stoned and killed by the Taliban after fleeing a forced marriage in 2015. The name is a reminder of all the women who have lost their lives to traditionalist and extremist governments and Joya’s goal is to defend the humanity of all women.

“For me, [winning this award] is huge,” Joya says. “It’s my goal that one day Ruskhana Media can work as international media, not only in Afghanistan…and we can hire female journalists from across the world, and we can publish the stories and issues that affect women’s lives.”

2022 Progress Award: Dr. Radhika Batra (India)

The Progress Award celebrates an individual who supports progress via a science, technology, digital, or business initiative.

Dr. Radhika Batra tackles health inequalities by providing healthcare solutions to disadvantaged children. While working as a resident doctor in a hospital in the slums of New Delhi in 2017, Batra founded Every Infant Matters. The organization has saved 74,173 children from blindness and given prenatal vitamins to more than 40,000 disadvantaged women. Every Infant Matters has also provided education to prevent gender inequality and to battle the stigma of TB, HIV/AIDS and blindness for more than 65,000 families.

2022 Global Goalkeeper Award Winner: Ursula von der Leyen (president of the European Union)

The Global Goalkeeper Award recognizes a leader who has driven progress toward achieving the SDGs on a global scale.

As a champion of global health and equitable access, von der Leyen helped created a global collaboration to get COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines into the hands of people around the world. She led the EU efforts to support lower-income nations in responding to and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and announced a new European Commission’s contribution of €300 million to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

We can all take inspiration from these changemakers to make our own unique contribution to humanity’s progress, however large or small. Omakwu reminds us that despite being recognized on a global stage, these women have done most of their work in isolation and against many odds.

“[These award winners] are not that different from us, but they’ve had passion and consistency and fearlessness,” Omakwu says. “Progress is possible if we do our part.”

Learn more about the Goalkeepers Awards here.

One of Trick Daddy‘s biggest hits came to him at a small price. This week, the rapper attended the BET Hip-Hop Awards and spoke to HipHopDx about how his 2004 hit “Let’s Go” came to be. The song, which features Twista and Lil Jon, contains a prominent sample of “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne, and according to Trick, Osbourne was excited about the fact that he was going to use portions of the song on “Let’s Go.”

“When I heard that the original owner of the song loved the fact that I wanted to redo a sample of his beat and it wasn’t gonna take that much? I was ready to do that,” said Trick.

As part of the deal, Osbourne earns a cut of the song’s royalties. At the time of writing, the song has peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and has over 9 million views on YouTube. While the song was a huge hit, Trick revealed that he didn’t break the bank to clear the Osbourne sample.

“Of course, I gave him his share,” Trick continued. “But as far as upfront money, it was pennies.”

Despite the fact that Osbourne had given “Let’s Go” his blessing, he hadn’t actually heard the song until 2021, nearly 17 years after its release.

In a clip shared to Lil Jon’s Twitter page, Osbourne is seen reacting to the song, as he hears it for the first time when producer Andrew Watt plays it for him.

WWE is mixing up its announce teams across all three of its major shows beginning on October 7 with Smackdown, according to Variety.

About a year after joining the company, Jimmy Smith has wrapped up his time with WWE, as the new commentary team at Monday Night Raw will feature Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves. Byron Saxton will step out from behind the announce desk and back to conducting onscreen interviews alongside the returning Cathy Kelley.

On Smackdown, Michael Cole will be joined by Wade Barrett, with WWE acknowledging that Pat McAfee will return to the promotion following his commitments to ESPN’s College GameDay. Both McAfee and Triple H announced previously that due to his role with ESPN, he would have to put his WWE career on pause. The pair made it a point to say that this is not a permanent end to his time with the promotion, and WWE is following up on that with clear plans for his return in the future. Kayla Braxton and Megan Morant will serve as onscreen interviewers for the blue brand.

Booker T will head back behind the announce desk as well, joining Vic Joseph as the commentary team over at NXT.

The report also acknowledges Cole and Graves will join forces for WWE’s major live events, presumably setting the stage for the duo to call this weekend’s Extreme Rules show.

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Mixing his voice with Martinet, Morillo completely replaces Pratt’s voice and reimagines the trailer. People were quite pleased.

“Wow I was giving them the benefit of the doubt, that maybe Mario’s high pitched voice wouldn’t work for a full movie, but it’s actually way better like this. I now wish they weren’t using Chris Pratt,” one person wrote in the YouTube comments.

“This one makes me feel warm and fuzzy.. It actually made me laugh,” wrote another.

One commenter also pointed out perhaps the key ingredient to why Pratt’s performance seemed to fall flat. “Famous voices should stick to voiceovers of humorous documentaries; let the voice actors do the real work. There’s so much more life in a character voiced by a professional voice actor.”

Technically, no formal training is required to become a voice actor. However, it’s much more than simply speaking into a microphone—it can take years to acquire the skills required to bring a character to life in an authentic, engaging and lasting way. And that doesn’t just go for larger-than-life cartoon characters—the legendary speaking voice of James Earl Jones came as a result of voice lessons.

It’s not that celebrities don’t engage in this type of specialized training when preparing for a role, however there is often an unspoken permission to simply use their regular voice, as Pratt seemingly has for his Mario. Sometimes this takes viewers out of the story, thus making everyone lose out on the magic.

By contrast, Jack Black, whose experience as a singer clearly bleeds into his voiceover talents, has had overwhelmingly positive reviews for his portrayal of Mario’s most well-known nemesis—Bowser. He doesn’t sound much like Black at all, which helps the character stand out on its own.

The call to bring back trained professionals in the craft (yes, craft) of voice acting, rather than hoping a star-studded cast will fill seats for better box office numbers, is part of a larger conversation around producing quality art versus making a cash grab. It’s a conversation that perhaps will never come to full closure, but just like this faux “Mario Bros.” trailer, hopefully we can reimagine something better.

Lizzo embarked on The Special Tour last month and we’ve already had a slew of notable moments. In Washington D.C., the “About Damn Time” singer played a 200-year old crystal flute that was once owned by President James Madison (while somehow managing to draw the ire of conservative pundits for doing so.) In Detroit, she got teary-eyed on stage for her homecoming appearance saying, “It’s emotional being back where your roots began.” But her incredible antics at her performance at New York City’s Madison Square Garden might have just been the most Lizzo moment of them all.

Lizzo starts talking to a fan (Brittney) near the front row, who explains that she’s in a “situationship with this guy.” It seemed as though they’d been dating off and on, but there was no commitment from him and the relationship is at a standstill. Lizzo told the fan, “There should be no excuse in the world, if someone really f*cks with you, they’ll drop everything.” Then she pauses and says, “That being said, I still wanna be messy and call his ass!”

Lizzo takes Brittney’s phone and calls her fleeting lover (DJ) and asks him if he can do a FaceTime. DJ is confused for a moment and then realizes who he’s speaking with. “Oh my god is this Lizzo?” he asks. Lizzo wasted no time and says. “DJ you’re Facetiming me live on stage right now bitch. I’m wasting a lot of minutes at Madison Square [Garden]. So what’s the f*cking deal? You about to miss out on a bad bitch or what?”

The crowd goes wild and Lizzo smiles at Brittney and says, “He looks mad as hell.” Then sings to DJ on the phone, “You looooking maaad as helll!” and hangs up on him. Just another day at the office for Lizzo.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.