Month: February 2023

Surfing is a skill that not everyone possesses. It takes an incredible amount of core strength, stamina and swimming ability to be able to paddle out into the ocean for a few-minute ride on a wave. But no matter how good someone is at the sport, falling off of the board is just part of the process. The majority of the time, a rescue isn’t needed when an experienced surfer takes a tumble, but sometimes surfers need a little help.

Veteran surfer Salvador Villas-Boas was catching waves in Nazaré, Portugal, when he got bumped off of his board and tossed into the water near rocks. Probably not something Villas-Boas is unaccustomed to, but on this day, the waves were huge and he had seconds to get out of the way before a ginormous 100-foot wave came crashing down on top of him.

A wave that large could easily be deadly, but lucky for Villas-Boas, professional jet ski rescuer Ramon Laureano was nearby, ready to swoop in and grab the surfer to pull him to safety. The entire dramatic rescue was caught on video.

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In the video, Villas-Boas sort of bobs in the water as the wave begins to swell. Within what feels like a split second, Laureano appears on his jet ski grabbing Villas-Boas’ hand to quickly guide him to the back of the watercraft. Tension builds as the wave continues to get bigger behind the two men, but as soon as Villas-Boas is holding on to the jet ski, Laureano takes off. The 100-foot wave is towering over the men who are now in a race against the clock.

The deadly wave crashes down on the men as Villas-Boas flops and tosses, holding on for dear life while the jet ski driver throttles full speed. The intense rescue only lasts a few minutes and ends with the jet ski overturned and the men swimming the rest of the way.

“With more than 20 years of big wave experience, Ramon performed one of the most difficult rescues one can attempt in Nazaré. To pick up someone directly on the first peak’s impact zone between waves is something you don’t see every day here. Ramon was a real hero, no doubt,” Pedro Miranda, who recorded the moment, remarked according to Greek Reporter.

Check out the breath-stopping video below:

In 2015, former president Jimmy Carter held a press conference where he laid out a goal for the rest of his time on Earth. “I would like to see Guinea worm completely eradicated before I die,” Carter said. “I’d like for the last Guinea worm to die before I do. I think right now, we have 11 cases. We started out with 3.6 million cases.”

Now that Carter, 98, is in hospice, spending his final days at home with his family, he probably won’t achieve his goal. But his herculean efforts at abolishing the deadly worm will be ranked among his most significant achievements as a politician and humanitarian over his extraordinary life.

When the Carter Center took the lead on an international campaign to eradicate the Guinea worm in 1986, there were 3.5 million cases in 21 countries across Africa and Asia. In 2022, only 13 cases were reported worldwide, a 99.99% decrease. If the Guinea worm disease is completely eradicated, it would only be the second eradicated human disease in history, following smallpox.

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Carter and his wife celebrated a record low in cases last year.

“Rosalynn and I are pleased with this continued advance toward eradicating Guinea worm disease,” President Carter said. “Our partners, especially those in the affected villages, work with us daily to rid the world of this scourge. We are heartened that eradication can be achieved soon.”

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After Carter left the White House in 1981, he went on a mission to fight “neglected” diseases in far-off places that most Americans would never have to worry about. He set his sights on conditions such as lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, river blindness, and schistosomiasis.

His former drug czar Peter Borne brought Guinea worm to his attention. Borne approached the Carter Center because no one else would touch the problem.

Guinea worm is also known as dracunculiasis which means “affliction with little dragons” in Latin. About a year after infection, the worms grow to three feet long, and the females prepare to give birth by making their way to a place right below the skin, causing painful blisters.

Eventually, the blisters burst and the mother burrows her way out, causing incredible pain.

To ease the pain, people often submerge the affected area in water, causing tens of thousands of baby worms to release in the water, where they will eventually find a host. Guinea worm can also cause fever, swelling and secondary infections like sepsis. Guinea worm causes significant hardships for families by rendering people unable to work or attend school.

“It’s an audacious and mind-boggling idea,” said Emily Staub, press liaison to health programs for the Carter Center, according to CNN. “I’m not just talking about just him. I’m talking about a whole bunch of people with the Carter Center that decided that they were going to eradicate a disease that has no vaccine, no immunity, no medication. It’s thousands of years old and has a one-year incubation. The odds are totally stacked against you. And the people that suffer from it speak thousands of different languages, and some have never had outsiders interact with them.”

But Carter persisted, creating countless partnerships with leaders around the globe to educate people about the worm, provide tools for clean water and prevent its spread in the animal population. “Guinea worm disease has no cure, no vaccination, basically the entire eradication effort is built on behavior change,” Kelly Callahan, a public health worker who partnered with the Carter Center, told NPR.

Thirty-seven years after the Carter Center started on the audacious task of eradicating Guinea worm, the WHO has certified that 200 countries are free of the disease, meaning they’ve had zero instances of transmission in three years. Only six countries have yet to be certified as disease-free.

Jimmy Carter set a nearly impossible task, but with dogged persistence and the ability to make partnerships with people worldwide, many of whom have had little contact with the outside, he has helped save millions upon millions of people from incredible suffering.

In the coming days, people will celebrate many of Carter’s accomplishments. Let’s be sure that no one forgets to mention a success he’d rank among his proudest.

“We were traveling in a big motorcade,” he said in 2017. “We were driving along, and elementary school children had a big sign that says, ‘Watch out, Guinea worm. Here comes Jimmy Carter.’ That was almost as good as a Nobel Prize for me.”

In November of last year, Ed Sheeran stirred conversation with an Instagram post: “So, ‘Shivers’ has just hit a billion streams on Spotify, which makes it my 11th song as an artist and 15th song as a writer. I’m over the moon about it. Thank you everyone who’s been streaming that song,” the “Shape Of You” singer said in a video. “I’m gonna celebrate by shooting a music video for my brand new album, which will be out next year. See you in a bit.”

Nearly three months into the year and we finally have an update on this. On his Spotify account, there’s a video of an equal sign in the sand being washed away by the water into a subtraction sign. A fan posted it on Twitter, asking why no one is talking about this. “SUBTRACTION IS COMING,” they wrote. Sheeran quote-tweeted it, writing, “Getting excited now?”

He’s quite the busy man, even outside of the music realm. Also this month, he shared Tingly Ted’s, a line of hot sauce. It comes in two flavors: the medium heat “Tingly” and the extra spicy “Xtra Tingly.”

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

A little over a year since the release of his colossal album Dawn FM, The Weeknd is still the center of attention. Just this month, there’s been the unveiling of The Weeknd: Live At SoFi Stadium and the collaboration with Ariana Grande for the “Die For You” remix.

Now, he’s broken a new record. As of today, February 27, he became the first artist in Spotify History to reach 100 million monthly listeners.

Last month, he broke Spotify’s record for most monthly listeners in the world with 94.73 million listeners.

Also in January, he spoke about his song for Avatar: The Way Of Water, “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength),” being placed on the shortlist for the upcoming Academy Awards. “I feel honored to be part of that list,” he said about the milestone. “Any kind of recognition for it feels like a blessing.”

“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to live to see tomorrow,” he added about when the original Avatar came out in 2009. “And I remember I somehow got to see the film in theaters. I don’t know how I got in. It was such an escape from my real life that the film is tattooed in my brain.”

Since her first appearance halfway through the first season of The Mandalorian, Cara Dune has proven one of the show’s breakout characters. Unfortunately she was played by Gina Carano. The mixed martial artist-turned-actress eventually decided it was more important to say offensive crap on social media than to get her own Disney+ spinoff. What would the Mandalorian team do with her in the forthcoming Season 3? Sounds like not much.

Deadline spoke with two of the show’s executive producers, Rick Famuyiwa, who’s also directed a handful of episodes, and Dave Filoni, asking how they would handle Cara’s presumptive departure. They wouldn’t go into specifics and they stayed vagueish. But while there may be some way they handle her exit (e.g., “Cara Dune died on the way to her home planet”), it doesn’t sound like they’re in any rush to go farther than that.

“Cara was a big part and continues as a character to be part of the world,” said Famuyiwa, using his words carefully. But it sounds like they came up with a solution: Just narrow the focus. Famuyiwa said “the heart of the show are the two characters — Din Djarin and Grogu — so ultimately it felt like a servicing of that, and around the Mandalorians.”

As for Filoni, he said, “It’s a big galaxy and we have many characters in it — many characters are fighting for their screen time.” He added, teasingly (if not exactly optimistically), “We’ll just have to see as the season unfolds what the adventures are, but it’s a great character, someone who was vital to Din Djarin’s beginnings; we’ll see if he has evolved beyond that.”

Filoni made it sound like Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin has moved on, that there are “different characters he’s met since Bo-Katan (who) take a lot more prominence, which makes sense where his arc is going, the story of him and Grogu specifically.”

Since leaving the show and burning down a wing of her career, Carano did what the famous often do when “cancelled” by the left: She teamed up with the far right. But not even that is going so hot.

The Mandalorian Season 3 begins its run on March 1 on Disney+.

(Via Deadline)

There’s no wonder why Kelly Clarkson was missed on NBC’s music competition show The Voice. As the talk show host gears up for her return to the show alongside Niall Horan and the release of new original music, Clarkson has continued to put her vocal chops on full display on her beloved self-titled show’s segment Kellyoke.

On the latest installment of the series, Clarkson tackled pop band Muna’s 2019 song, “Stayaway.” The track featured on their sophomore album, Saves the World, has a dark mystique surrounding it, however, once Clarkson gets her hands on a song, she has the unique ability to make you find ways to connect even if there aren’t any.

Singing, “If I go driving, then I’ll put on music / If I put on music, then I’ll play your song / If I play your song, then I think I’ll lose it / End up pulled up at the front of your lawn / So I don’t go driving, no, I just stay in,” Clarkson is performing the antithesis to her breakout single, “Since You Been Gone.”

If you want to dive into the rabbit of recent noteworthy Kellyoke covers. Clarkson’s cover of Chris Stapleton’s “You Should Probably Leave,” Blink-182’s “All The Small Things,” Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away,” and Taylor Swift’s “Better Man” are all good places to start.

Watch Kelly Clarkson’s full performance cover of “Stayaway” above.

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

Megan Thee Stallion has kept a relatively low profile following the conviction of Tory Lanez for assaulting her, leaving fans to worry. However, after publicly being spotted at a surprise dinner to celebrate her birthday nearly two weeks ago, the chatter began to slow down. Even Carl Crawford, the CEO of her estranged record label, even took a vow to refrain from addressing her on social media.

Although the parties are still tied up in an ongoing legal battle due to Crawford’s seemingly declaration of peace, some are beginning to wonder, is Megan still signed to 1501 Certified Entertainment? Despite winning a minor victory against the label back in late December that cleared the rapper of any further albums under the company, according to TMZ, the war hasn’t been won just yet.

Despite her latest album, Traumazine, released in August, being her fourth album and final album on the label, to which the presiding judge over the case agreed, Megan Thee Stallion remains on 1501 Certified. In the meantime, the case will proceed to trial as Meg is also suing for $1 million in damages.

The trial date has not yet been set.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The seventh episode of The Last of Us was another heartbreaker, and another heartbreaker centered around an LGBTQIA+ couple (which has sadly led to some homophobic backlash). It followed Bella Ramsey’s Ellie reflecting on a key moment from her pre-Joel (Pedro Pascal) life. She recalled a night she spent with her friend Riley (Storm Reid) inside an abandoned mall. There’s a carousel. There’s a video. Then there’s a tragic occurrence that would forever scar Ellie.

But before that, there’s that mall — a once-strong fixture of the American landscape that itself has fallen a bit by the wayside. But how did the Last of Us make that mall?

In a new interview with Variety, production designer John Paino said it was part real, part CGI. The show was shot in Calgary, Canada, so they sought to simply look around.

“We found an abandoned mall that was completely stripped and didn’t have a second floor,” Paino revealed. “We built the rooftops and the stores, but what they look from the balcony, it’s all CGI because our mall didn’t have a second floor.”

They wound up building between 20 and 25 storefronts inside the old mall, including Victoria’s Secret, Foot Locker, and Panda Express, all covered in dust and grim. The carousel was brought in from another location, taken apart and put back together on set. Others were real, too:

Paino says all the games in the arcade set actually worked because creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann wanted everything as real as possible. However, those retro game screens were made from cathode-ray tube (CRT), which meant when the cameras were rolling, the images were not clear. “We rebuilt them on LED screens,” Paino explains.

(Via Variety)

All eyes are on indie music this year. Fans have their list of highly anticipated albums, but Feeble Little Horse wants to ensure they aren’t left off. The Pittsburgh, PA quartet made some noise on the scene last year with the release of their song, “Chores,” but the group’s latest single takes the cake.

“Tin Made,” the lead single off Feeble Little Horse’s forthcoming sophomore album, Girl With Fish, and its accompanying music video, is perfectly imperfect. Directed by the band’s co-lead vocalist Lydia Slocum, the visual features a mix of candid behind-the-scenes footage as well artistically framed shots of the members jamming out as vintage overlay treatments add a layer of gritty texture as Slocum’s melancholy vocals heighten the overall listening experience.

In a statement, drummer Jame Kelley shared that the theme for the band’s upcoming album was, in his words, “focusing on intuition over intention. Letting the magic of collaboration come first. Anything that makes us laugh or puts a smile on our faces, we usually end up keeping in the songs.”

By the sound of it, there’s no doubting vocalist Kelley, Slocum, guitarist/bassist Sebastian Kinsler, and keyboardist Ryan Walchonski are having fun all across “Tin Man.”

Indigo De Souza isn’t the only Saddle Creek signee firing off on all cylinders so far this year.

Watch the video for “Tin Man” above.

Girl with Fish is out 6/9 via Saddle Creek. To pre-order, click here.

Kali Uchis is worried about your health. The singer, who just recently dropped her new song “Moonlight,” is preparing to head out on her Red Moon In Venus Tour, but you might not want to buy a beer at the venue.

In a controversial Instagram Story, Uchis begged her fans to “stop drinking liquor” because of the “spiritual consequences.” She typed out her reasoning, explaining the way alcohol “takes us away from our purest selves.” Read her full conspiracy theory below.

“Please stop drinking liquor !!!

There are spiritual consequences & no one can convince me otherwise. The root of the word ‘Alcohol’ comes from Arabic ‘al-kuhl’ which means ‘BODY EATING SPIRIT.’

In alchemy, alcohol is used to extract the soul essence of an entity. Hence its use in extracting essences for essential oil and sterilization.

By consuming it into the body, it extracts the very essence of the soul, allowing the body to be more susceptible to LOW frequencies & even demonic energies.

It takes us away from our purest selves & our Good soul

that’s why it’s legal y’all they want you all to become alcoholics for real.”

Meanwhile, on Twitter, gifs and memes involving alcohol are very much coming in clutch to encapsulate people’s feelings on the situation.