Month: November 2022

Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Ryan Murphy’s new, strangely titled series on the prolific serial killer (played by Evan Peters), has been a massive hit on Netflix. It’s so popular that eBay actually had to ban people selling his likeness as a Halloween costume. Any show that depicts real life horrors is going to get some pushback. And that Dahmer has gotten, including from some of the families of his victims. The show also earned a more specific criticism: There were complaints about it being listed under the service’s LGBTQ tag, arguing that it demonized the community. The streamer eventually removed that, but that move enraged at least one person: Ryan Murphy.

In a new profile by The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd (in bits caught by The Hollywood Reporter), Murphy expressed dismay about the tag being removed. “I also don’t think that all gay stories have to be happy stories,” he told Dowd. “There was a moment on Netflix where they removed the LGBTQ tag from Dahmer, and I didn’t like it, and I asked why they did that, and they said because people were upset because it was an upsetting story. I was, like, ‘Well, yeah.’ But it was a story of a gay man and, more importantly, his gay victims.”

He also defended the show against its critics, including those who’ve argued it exploits its victims. Murphy has said he reached out to most of the victims’ families but never heard back from any of them. But what he did do is tell Dowd that his show shines light on the racism and homophobia that plagued the investigation, saying it shows “how easy it is to get away with things with the white privilege aspects.”

Murphy also railed, “What are the rules now? Should we never do a movie about a tyrant?”

Dahmer now streams on Netflix.

(Via NYT and THR)

Earlier today, news broke that Takeoff, known for his role in Migos, was dead after being fatally shot in Houston. The tragedy happened during a game of dice that led to an altercation and somebody firing shots. Now, the rapper’s label has released a statement on social media.

The label, Quality Control Music, is asking fans to “respect [Takeoff’s] family and friends” as they process the loss. Read the full statement below.

“It is with broken hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the loss of our beloved brother Kirsnick Khari Ball, known to the world as Takeoff. Senseless violence from a stray bullet has taken another life from this world and we are devastated. Please respect his family and friends as we continue to process this monumental loss.”

Meanwhile, the Houston Police Department Chief discussed the look for identifying the gunman. “I just want to say something to our city. Houston. And every brother and sister in the neighborhoods,” Troy Finner said. “I’m calling you to action, to step up. There were 40 people at least at this event and people left possibly out of fear. I ask you one thing, and I want this to resonate with everybody. What if it was your brother, what if it was your son. You will want somebody to step up, so please step up.”

As of Monday, Nov. 1, Steve Nash is no longer the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, and his tenure ended just seven games in his third season at the helm. Following a summer during which it was widely reported that Kevin Durant issued an ultimatum that both Nash and GM Sean Marks be fired in Brooklyn, it isn’t a total surprise that Nash did not navigate the entire 2022-23 season as the team’s head coach. Still, coaching changes after only seven games are not the norm, and Durant revealed on Tuesday that, in his words, he learned of Nash’s departure from ESPN following a nap and that he was “shocked” by the news.

Durant was later asked if he was consulted on the move and, while he did not issue a complete denial, he expressed that he enjoyed working with Nash and enjoying coming to work with his now-former coach.

in some ways, it seems far-fetched that Durant wasn’t at least part of the process in parting ways with Nash, simply because of what transpired over the summer. Durant acknowledged it was “rocky” in the offseason, but even a 2-5 start doesn’t fully explained what might’ve changed to have this decision made at the end of October. Furthermore, the Nets actually won Nash’s last game, which isn’t usually a trigger for a firing like this in the midst of a back-to-back set. Alas, Durant indicates he didn’t know it was coming and it must be wild to learn something like this following a nap and via an ESPN telecast.

Some musicians thrive by putting out a bunch of albums in a short period of time. Taylor Swift is a good example after the back-to-back Folklore and Evermore releases alongside the re-recordings, as well as Lana Del Rey within the past few years. But is anyone on Sault’s level? The band ominously released five (!) albums today, and they’re available for download within the next five days before they disappear.

The LPs can be found on their website, where the password to access the music is “godislove.” It comes with a brief statement:

Here are 5 albums released as an offering to God.

Available for free download for 5 days.

The password to unlock all 5 albums is in the message.

Love SAULT X

Sault is the project of the British producer Inflo, who worked with Adele for some songs on her critically-acclaimed album 30, and it’s a collective known for releasing music in enticingly unconventional ways. In April they dropped a surprise album out of nowhere called Air. That one followed their 2021 record Nine, whose unveiling was similar to the one today. “Nine will only exist for ninety nine days,” they explained at the time. “You can download from www.sault.global. Available on vinyl and all streaming platforms.”

There’s a number of hardcore MAGA heads running for office during the midterms, and they’re a pretty bonkers lot. Who’s the most out-there? Is it the ex-footballer accused by multiple women of pressuring them to get abortions? Is it the TV quack who mocks his opponent’s stroke? Or is it the former anti-Trump news anchor who pissed off Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter? Now Kari Lake, running for governor of Arizona, has enraged a couple other people she shouldn’t have pissed off, one of whom wasn’t afraid to drop a cuss word on-air.

Former D.C. cop Michael Fanone — who was savagely beaten and tased during the Jan. 6 riot, which led to a heart attack — went on MSNBC to discuss a new, incendiary ad from Gladys Sicknick, the mother of Brian Sicknick, the officer who died the day after he was also assaulted that fateful day. The ad targets Lake for continuing to perpetuate “The Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.

“Kari Lake is very dangerous for our country,” Sicknick says in the ad. “She saw what happened on Jan. 6 and continues to spread the big lie. And we’re going to have more violence because people believe whatever she says. It is very dire for our democracy, for our country with candidates like Kari Lake. My son died because of people like Kari Lake.”

Fanone was asked by MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace for his thoughts on the ad. “I’ve gotten to know Mrs. Sicknick pretty well and I thought that was a powerful ad,” Fanone said. “She is out there, I think, trying to do what all of us are trying to do here, which is bring accountability for January 6.”

He then went a step further: “I also support the fact that Kari Lake’s a piece of sh*t, so I’m glad she did that ad.”

On a related note, Lake has come under fire in the last two days for making jokes about the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who was beaten with a hammer by a deranged Trump supporter who broke into his home.

In September, one of the Trumpers who assaulted Fanone broke down in tears as he was sentenced for his crime. As it happens, another Jan. 6 rioter also used the term “piece of sh*t” during his own sentencing, except he was referring to himself.

(Via Mediaite)

For many viewers, the modernized portraits provided so much more than shock value. People were genuinely moved—a tried-and-true sign of successful art. “I cannot explain the emotions that this brought over me,” one person commented. “I began to tear up immediately. Knowing that these people are long gone…yet brought to life by someone years after their passing. They’re being remembered in such a beautiful way. Seeing them fade in and out of life was haunting. This was absolutely powerful.”

Another commenter poignantly noted how these simple touches helped instill feelings of empathy. “The animation allows you to see the glimmer of who they were…a shimmer of their soul perhaps! You can see their hopes and dreams rise up into their eyes and ever so fleetingly, even their fear and worry and sometimes grief flickers softly in their expressions! Then you can’t help hoping that they lived happily…I know it is all an illusion and yet it makes me care about them and care deeply.”

Of course, people of the late Victorian age aren’t the only ones to receive the Mystery Scoop treatment. The group’s channels across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are filled with historical figures of different decades.

Below is infamous outlaw Bonnie Parker, sans her beau Clyde Barrow.

@mysteryscoop Replying to @mp_849 Bonnie Parker, c.1934, famous outlaw during th 1930s, Clyde Barrow’s partner. #bonnieandclyde #bonnieparker #gangsters #outlaws #barrowgang #american ♬ Cornfield Chase – Dorian Marko

Here’s another, beloved artist Frida Kahlo.

@mysteryscoop Frida Kahlo, 1939, by Nickolas Muray, brought to life. #fridakahlo #surrealist #mexicanpainter #mexianart #surrealism #kahlo #broughttolife #art #frida #mexica #mexico #mexican #nickolas #diegorivera #muray #nickolasmuray #magdalena ♬ Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) – Kate Bush

Adding Kate Bush music to the image was certainly a nice touch.

And another of a smiling, yet stoic Abraham Lincoln.

See on Instagram

By “infusing still pictures, statues and paintings with realism,” Mystery Scoop has found a new way to help the legacy of those who’ve passed live on in the hearts and minds of those still here. While there is much to be said about how AI can take away from the human experience, it’s hard not to see works like this and appreciate how it can bring people together just as easily. One thing is for sure—humanity could always use art that touches us on an emotional level. And when a piece of art does, that’s worth celebrating.

Some things simply just start to suck the older you get. I’m not sure if there’s a reason for it other than leaving your house for anything starts to feel like an extreme inconvenience. Something about aging and interacting with the public just doesn’t mix and people on Reddit have just about had it with things that seem to get worse with age.

When you’re a kid all you can think about is all of the things you’ll get to be able to do when you’re an adult but I swear it’s a scam. Sure, you can stay out until the sun comes up, but after you hit your mid-30s, you’re just as likely to be snuggled up in pajamas and ready for bed by 8:30 p.m.

Reddit users seem to agree that once you reach a certain age, things become annoying for no real reason. It does give you insight into the grumpy old man trope that has been inundating our television screens since there were screens to inundate.

One user is likely my long-lost twin because their No. 1 complaint is, “Shopping. for anything… including groceries. Shopping used to be fun. Now it is a chore.” All I can say is, same. There’s absolutely nothing fun or exciting about shopping anymore and it’s a pretty good guess that places like Walmart surveyed some irritated millennials before rolling out grocery pickup, which has conveniently graduated into grocery delivery.

Here are the top eight things people just aren’t thrilled about anymore, in no particular order.

1. Lines

We just don’t want to do them anymore and there honestly doesn’t seem to be a good reason to stand behind strangers for who knows how long. Unless the line is for handing out a bundle of crisp hundred-dollar bills or giving out free trips to a deserted tropical island, standing in line seems like a waste of time to a lot of people in the comments.

2. Loud places

This seems self-explanatory. Something about getting older makes you want to stay away from loud noises, especially if they’re unnecessary. Sure, the occasional concert will be the exception, but that’s because you’ve mentally prepared for the excess noise from the moment you thought about purchasing the tickets.

3. Sex scenes

There was once a time where sex scenes were embarrassing. Once puberty hit, they became embarrassing but interesting. As an adult, you’re mostly just wanting the main characters to hook up so they can get it out of the way and move the story along.

4. Overscheduling

For some reason, teenagers and young adults schedule themselves down to the last millisecond of the day. If there’s an hour of nothing, they will fit something in that spot. But once you get older, you’re doing great to leave the house for work every day.

5. Darn teenagers

Ha! Some of us have really turned into Mr. Wilson from “Dennis the Menace,” yelling at kids to get off the lawn. To be fair, Dennis was a pretty awful child that had an affinity for harassing his middle-aged neighbor. But for some commenters, teenagers doing loud teenage things are enough to make them huff fog onto their window while staring through the blinds.

6. Staying out late

There’s no place like home and staying out late reminds you of just how comfortable your house is. I mean, it has all of the important things, like comfy clothes, a couch that has a perfect butt imprint from years of Netflix marathons and exactly zero other people that live there.

7. Dating

It seems that dating is just as awful today as it was 10 years ago, except now you’re a decade older with less patience and far less will to put on real pants. Everyone is swipe happy and there doesn’t seem to be a standard way to say “not interested” that doesn’t involve disappearing on someone you once spent time with.

8. Alcohol

Drinking in excess loses its appeal for many of us after a certain age. It takes much longer to recover from an evening at the local pub and if you don’t hydrate properly before drinking more than two glasses of wine, you could be nursing a hangover for three days.

The list of things that actually don’t get better with age seems to be endless, with more than 24,000 comments on the question. It makes you wonder: If we knew then what we know now, would we still been in such a rush to grow up? I think not.

Anyone who was a teen in the ’90s will remember the grunge era. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were topping the charts with their gravely metaphorical lyrics, but they weren’t alone. Soul Asylum burst onto the scene with their solemn anthem “Runaway Train” complete with a video that showcased missing kids.

The video gave missing and exploited children a much bigger platform to be recognized on, because before the video was showcased on MTV, milk cartons were the common method to distribute these photos. In theory, milk cartons seem like a pretty effective way to highlight missing children, but in reality, eventually people would become blind to the photos.

The music video for “Runaway Train” was played all around the world and to the target audience that would most likely recognize the faces. It should come as no surprise, then, that the video helped to bring home 21 missing children. What is surprising, is that the band had to push to keep the pictures of the missing kids in the music video because people didn’t think it was working.

David Pirner, the band’s lead singer, explained to The Guardian that the song was a metaphor for his depression and the line “call you up in the middle of the night” was actually about a friend that would answer his late-night calls no matter what time. He told the outlet that he had a fascination with trains from a young age, so he used the imagery of a runaway train as a metaphor for when his depression was out of control. As cliches would have it, the rest is history.

Well, that is, of course, until you realize that the song did more than give moody teens an anthem for their feelings. It actually brought them home.

When I watched the music video as a young teen, the gravity of the photos that flashed across my screen didn’t truly sink in. What Soul Asylum did in 1993 was the epitome of using your platform for a good cause and unbeknown to young teens like myself, it saved actual lives.

The producer, Tony Kaye, got the idea to put missing children in the video after seeing a billboard of a milk carton that displayed the face of a missing child. He told The Guardian that The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children sent them photos of the missing kids they wanted highlighted in the video and at the end of the video the text would instruct viewers to call a number if they had seen the children featured.

But the record company was fully prepared to pull the plug because it didn’t seem to be working. Kaye insisted on leaving the photos and before too long, the tactic started working. Child after child was returning home and when one was found, they’d replace the photo with a different child. They told The Guardian that 21 of the 36 kids featured were returned home.

That definitely seems like something to brag about and with the group’s 30-year anniversary album release and their upcoming tour, it’s something to highlight and attempt to repeat. In 2019, a different artist recorded their version of “Runaway Train” in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in hopes of bringing more missing children home using updated technology. The song is powerful on its own but coupling it with helping to locate missing and exploited children, elevates it to another level.

If you’re itching for a grunge fix like me, go reacquaint yourself with Soul Asylum’s songs and go catch them on tour with Everclear. The tour starts November 5 in Carrollton, Texas.

Esther Wojcicki has earned the right to tell people how to raise their kids. She’s an educator, journalist and bestselling author of “How to Raise Successful People” who has raised three daughters—two are CEOs and the other a doctor.

Susan Wojcicki is the CEO of YouTube, Anne Wojcicki is the co-founder and CEO of 23andMe and Dr. Janet Wojcicki is an anthropologist and epidemiologist who works on HIV progression and obesity risk in children.

In “How to Raise Successful People” Esther Wojcicki says the secret to success is the result of “TRICK”: trust, respect, independence, collaboration and kindness. In a new article she wrote for NBC Chicago, she boiled that down to one rule, “Don’t do anything for your kids that they can do for themselves.”

u201cSisters Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe, and Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, are ranked among Americau2019s top women entrepreneurs nhttps://t.co/En8Vin9Zl7 #SelfMadeWomenu201d

— Forbes (@Forbes)
1531332002

“Parents need to stop coddling their kids,” she continues. “The more you trust your children to do things on their own, the more empowered they’ll be. The key is to begin with guided practice: It’s the ‘I do, we do, you do’ method.”

The “I do, we do, you do” method is used by teachers to gradually give students new responsibilities. The teacher first demonstrates the task, then they do it with the student and finally, the student does it alone.

Wojcicki says that parents can start with their children by asking them to make their beds, pick their own outfits and to help with dishes and making dinner. It’s funny that every child is raised by a parent who cooks them meals, but an astonishing number of them grow up having no idea how to boil water. Why? Because nobody bothered to get them involved.

As the old saying goes, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he’ll eat forever.”

u201cFor all you parents out there. nYou may want to do something “unpopular” while raising your kids, “How to Raise Successful People” author Esther Wojcicki says. https://t.co/GEkHHnN5q5u201d

— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBC10 Philadelphia)
1667227982

“The idea is to teach them how to cope with what life throws at them,” she writes. “One of the most important lessons I taught my daughters is that the only thing you can control is how you react to things.”

Wojcicki’s rules are a reaction to the modern trend of helicopter parenting, which is “overly focused on their children” where parents “take too much responsibility for their children’s experiences and, specifically, their successes or failures.” This can result in children who grow into adults with lower self-confidence and self-esteem, poor coping skills, increased anxiety and a sense of entitlement.

Simply put, when children are too dependent on their parents, they become ill-equipped to deal with real-world challenges. So when parents think they’re helping their children, they are actually setting them up for failure. Is it any wonder why we live in an age where more and more people suffer from crippling anxiety and depression? The world is a lot scarier when you’re not properly equipped to deal with everyday problems.

“When you trust kids to make their own decisions, they start to feel more engaged, confident and empowered,” Wojcicki writes. “And once that happens, there’s no limit to what they can achieve.”

While, at first, this dramatic change in parenting may seem difficult for parents who have a hard time letting go, it’s an opportunity for them to grow. “What I realized, through a lot of conscious effort, is that parenting gives us perhaps the most profound opportunity to grow as human beings,” she writes in “How to Raise Successful People.”

Kyrie Irving tweeted out a link to an antisemitic documentary over the weekend. The Brooklyn Nets guard came under wave after wave of scrutiny for this, something that was made worse when he met with the media and was asked why he did this. Instead of doing anything that could be viewed as showing contrition for that or for a number of other recent social media posts, Irving refused to back down.

Unsurprisingly, the Inside the NBA crew had plenty to say about Irving on Tuesday, with Charles Barkley going as far as to say that the NBA made a mistake in not doing anything in response outside of posting a statement that did not explicitly name him.

“I think the NBA dropped the ball,” Barkley said. “I think he should have been suspended. I think Adam should’ve suspended him. First of all, Adam’s Jewish. You can’t take my $40 million and insult my religion. You’re gonna insult me, you have the right, but I have the right to say, ‘No, you’re not gonna take my $40 million and insult my religion.’

“I think the NBA, they made a mistake,” he continued. “We have suspended people and fined people who have made homophobic slurs, and that was the right thing to do. I think if you insult the Black community, you should be suspended or fined heavily depending — I saw they did the same thing to the kid in Minnesota this year when he made the gay slur. I think you should get suspended or fined.”

Barkley went on to say he believed that something needed to happen for Irving acknowledging “the Alex Jones thing,” referencing the time Irving put an old clip of the right-wing media personality on his Instagram page in which Jones discussed the existence of secret societies in America. While Irving said he did not endorse Jones’ comments on things like the Sandy Hook mass shooting being a hoax, he said the clip he posted to Instagram was accurate.

“I can’t believe that we ain’t talking about basketball, we’re talking about this idiot,” Barkley said. “If I say, ‘Hey, I’m agreeing with this movie, this book, or whatever,’ I’m agreeing with it. You know I don’t do any social media, but when you’re somebody as great as basketball as him, people gonna listen to what you say.”

While Ernie Johnson attempted to say that conversations are ongoing about Irving, Barkley made clear that he thinks these are for naught.

“The reason it’s too late, the NBA’s giving into peer pressure,” Barkley said. “If one of our players do something, they have the right — the team or the league has to do something immediately. If you just give into peer pressure, that’s the problem I have. This should have been handled already.”

Shaquille O’Neal was likewise critical of Irving, saying that he dislikes when they have to discuss things that are divisive.

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1587591664192827393

“Now we gotta answer for what this idiot has done,” Shaq said. “I stand for equality of all people, I’ve always been like that — don’t matter what religion, don’t matter where you’re from.”

He continued to excoriate Irving for making him have to “answer questions for what he’s done” before summing up his thoughts on Irving succinctly: “It’s obvious, by his answers and the way he answered, he doesn’t really care.”