Month: April 2023

Spotify can be used for free, but to unlock more features, music lovers can subscribe to one of the streaming services’ premium tiers. The most basic of those plans, for a single user, currently costs $9.99 per month in the US. That could change soon, though.

Yesterday (April 25), in a conference call discussing Spotify’s first quarter earnings (as Billboard notes), Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said, “I think we are ready to raise prices, I think we have the ability to do that, but it really comes down to those negotiations [with major music industry stakeholders].”

Ek also noted, “We did raise prices in 46 different locations and markets last year, and even in those markets, we were still out performing. I feel really good about our ability to raise prices over time — that we have that ability — and we have lots of data now that backs that up. We may have been marginally helped by being a lower-cost provider, but it isn’t a primary part of our strategy and it’s not something that we’re thinking about. Instead, we’re working with our label partners to work […] to figure out what’s the best opportunity to do that. And that’s a more complex trade. When the timing’s right, we will raise it.”

This comes after Spotify had about $3.3 billion in total revenue during the first quarter of 2023. That’s a 14-percent increase over 2022, but as Billboard notes, it’s “slightly lower than the company expected as macroeconomic fears crimped Spotify’s advertising business by around $20 million.”

The Ted Lasso Power Rankings are a weekly analysis of who and/or what had the strongest performance in each episode. Most of the list will feature individual characters, although the committee does reserve the right to honor anything from animals to inanimate objects to laws of nature to general concepts. There are very few rules here.

Season 3, Episode 7 — “The Strings That Bind Us”

HONORABLE MENTION: Rebecca (not much to do this week but made the best of it with that face when Sam’s dad said he’s heard all about her); Jack (love bomber); Jade (picture her telling her friends about Nate); Barbara the CEO (give me a montage of Barbara riding the train in her pajamas and set it to “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton); coffee (it’s weird that coffee is just, like, a socially acceptable stimulant); Ash (nice hat); Brinda Barot (hate her); Trent Crimm (I like that he wears cool t-shirts now and would like to know more about his collection); spoons (no one cares); puking (if a genie granted me three wishes I honestly think one would be “never throw up again”); Higgins (“HOT TEA”); Will Kitman (I bet pretending to be Coach Beard was the best day of his life)

10. Sam

Tough week for Sam, between getting in fights with politicians online and getting his restaurant trashed just as his dad was coming and blowing up a little bit about it all in the locker room. That’s a lot for anyone to deal with, even before you get to “your coaches made you tie a string around your dick at practice and run around with it attached to one of your teammate’s dicks.” I like to imagine his dad asking how the season is going and Sam trying to explain this to him.

But still, Sam makes it into the power rankings proper, thanks mostly to the team coming together and helping to repair the restaurant. That was nice. It’s good to have people who have your back. He does need to stop reading his replies on Twitter, though. That’s not a healthy habit. Log off, Sam.

9. Isaac

Two things are important here:

THING NUMBER ONE: I need to know what Isaac’s favorite I Think You Should Leave sketch is. I feel like maybe it’s the “Baby of the Year” one.

THING NUMBER TWO: It is fascinating to me that I Think You Should Leave exists in the Ted Lasso universe because Sam Richardson, who stars in the “Baby of the Year” sketch and a few others, was also in this show a while back as a kind of evil billionaire. Did Isaac spend a lot of time telling people that this African billionaire looks just like the dude from his favorite sketch show? Why did it not come up during the show at all? Did he just recently binge ITYSL after the billionaire left? You can’t introduce a conundrum like this early in an episode. I’m not equipped to handle it.

8. Ted

The thing about the Total Football business is that it is objectively a little insane to introduce a whole new strategy like this between games in about two practices, which all goes back to the thing about Ted’s competence as a coach. He still knows very little about soccer. He’s opening practices to the public where his players have their dongs tied together. He’s giving long speeches about facial hair at halftime of games they’re getting clobbered in. Like, he’s definitely a good dude and has a talent for building character and camaraderie, but…

I really do want to read Trent Crimm’s book about all of this, especially if the season ends with the team getting relegated again. And I want to see Trent on the book tour giving interviews about it all. I know I’ve mentioned the string thing a bunch already but please stop for a minute right now and picture what a hilarious scandal that would be if various shouty sports shows got wind of it. Think about Stephen A. Smith screaming “You simply CAN NOT have people tie their ding-a-lings together” and Mike Greenberg’s face as it happens. Between this and the Sam Richardson stuff, it’s a miracle I was able to pay attention to the actual plot at all.

7. Croissants

Croissants are delicious and I love to make breakfast sandwiches out of them but they are also just very, very flaky and impossible to eat without getting little shards of pastry everywhere. By the time you’re done, it looks like a carb explosion on your shirt. It’s a real problem.

Also, not really related, but I would order a breakfast pastry called The Carb Explosion. I would need a nap afterwards but I think I would enjoy it.

6. Roy

Notes on Roy:

• I worry sometimes that he’s becoming a sort of cartoon of what he once was, between his swearing and crankiness and general sadism
• But I still do love him and laughed really hard at the reveal in the scene I screencapped up there
• It will never not make me laugh that he shouts “WHISTLE” instead of blowing a whistle

It just dawned on me this week that he might get a head coaching job of his own at some point and now I really, really want to see how that works. I think he might end up in actual prison.

5. Keeley

I am happy that she is happy and receiving a lot of nice gifts. I like that she seems to have a lot of fuzzy hats. I hope she does not choke on a gift her rich new girlfriend hides in another pastry.

These are my thoughts on Keeley, who seems to be doing pretty great right now, all things considered.

4. Sam’s Dad

Sam’s dad:

• Seems like a great dude
• Is full of tranquility and good advice
• Looks like he could crush someone’s head in his fist if he wanted to
• Strolled into another chef’s kitchen and offered to cook dinner, which is not always advisable but seemed to work for him
• Looks like he gives amazing hugs

He feels like one of those dudes who can say “everything will be okay” and have people believe him both instantly and completely.

3. Jamie Tartt

STOP GOING TO MEH

AND START GOING THROUGH MEH

I am very sure they are doing this on purpose now, giving him words to say that end in a hard E sound so he can plop his little “eh” in place of it. It’s happening every week at this point. Multiple times. I do not care. I love it and want them to do it forever. Every time he’s on the screen I sit here waiting for it. I giggle a little when it happens. I don’t know what this says about me as a viewer or professional television critic but I also kind of do not care. The only thing that upsets me about it all is that I did not get to hear him explain his ex-girlfriend’s new book to anyone.

“Keel-eh has a signed cop-eh of Sense and Sensibilit-eh.”

You just heard it in your head as you read that, didn’t you? Do not lie to me.

2. Nate

Most of the focus here, understandably, will be on his little wipeout on the street where he ruined his fancy arts and crafts project and ate pavement in front of the very mean girl he has a little crush on. That is fine. Again, it was pretty funny. I do like to see people fall down. I blame this on and/or credit this to many formative hours of my childhood spent in front of a television watching America’s Funniest Home Videos. But again, two things are worth noting here:

THING NUMBER ONE: I think it would be creepy and weird to get a little damn diorama asking you on a date from a little oddball who keeps showing up at your job and staring through the window at you, so let’s go ahead and say this was all for the best

THING NUMBER TWO: Nate looked at himself in the mirror without spitting at his reflection, which is both a huge step for him and a hilarious thing to be considered “a huge step”

I am on board with the Nate Redemption Tour now. Good for him. I hope he and Jane have a dozen little awkward/mean children, but split evenly, like how Kermit and Miss Piggy’s kids are all either frogs or pigs and never horrifying hybrids.

1. Coach Beard

A fascinating man.

Willie Nelson is turning 90 later this week, with a massive party concert being held in his honor at the Hollywood Bowl on April 29 and 30. He’s also bringing a whole new round of friends along, as a ton of musicians have joined the already-stacked initial lineup announcement.

Booker T. Jones, Buddy Cannon, Daniel Lanois, Dave Matthews, Dwight Yoakam, Jamey Johnson, Emmylou Harris, Gary Clark Jr., George Strait, Jack Johnson, Kris Kristofferson, Lily Meola, Rodney Crowell, Shooter Jennings, Stephen Stills, and Waylon Payne will now be performing at Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90, A Star-Studded Concert Celebrating Willie’s 90th Birthday.

Other previously announced performers included Allison Russell, Beck, Billy Strings, Bobby Weir, Charley Crockett, Chris Stapleton, Edie Brickell, Leon Bridges, Lukas Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Margo Price, Miranda Lambert, Nathaniel Rateliff, Neil Young, Norah Jones, Orville Peck, Particle Kid, Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Snoop Dogg, Sturgill Simpson, The Avett Brothers, The Chicks, The Lumineers, Tom Jones, Tyler Childers, Warren Haynes, and Ziggy Marley. Nelson himself will also be taking the stage.

Ticketholders are encouraged to arrive early, as each night is a four-hour show that will start on time, according to a press release. Presale passes for all sections are still available, and more information can be found through Willie Nelson’s official website.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On the heels of his Netflix special, Baby J, John Mulaney paid a visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he talked about rehab, living with the show’s host, and making a recovery.

Upon his big comeback, Mulaney has been in Las Vegas, where he performed a few stand-up sets. On one night, Mulaney went to one of Usher’s shows, which evidently, proved to be a life-changing experience for him.

“Do whatever you have to do to go see Usher,” Mulaney said at about 9 minutes into the video. “I didn’t know the name of a single Usher song. But as I’m watching the show and hearing all these hits — hit after hit — I realized I have heard all of these songs of the past 25 years while I’m getting my haircut.”

Since the show, Mulaney revealed he’s had an “existential crisis” since attending. However, it has since inspired him to step up his craft.

“I’m in Vegas, I sell a ticket to come see me. He sells a ticket to come see him,” Mulaney says. “What you get when you go see Usher — I’m up on stage, talking about addiction — this guy, he was on roller skates at one point, singing, and dancing, and interjecting positivity. He kept pausing to go, ‘We’ve got one night, it’s all love.’ I’ve never paused my show to tell everyone ‘it’s all love,’ but maybe, I should start doing that.”

You can check out the interview above.

Well, at least they weren’t talking about farts again.

James Brolin dropped by The View on Wednesday to discuss… actually, I don’t know why he was there. To promote Sweet Tooth? Or to discuss the turtle-y connection between The Master of Disguise, in which he played Fabbrizio Disguisey, and September 11th? It’s probably that one. But I can’t say for sure. I was distracted by the nude picture of his Oscar-nominated son, Josh.

“Your son, Josh, famously followed in your footsteps and became an actor. He recently posted a photo that got a lot of people’s attention because he was nude,” co-host Sara Haines inform Brolin. He replied, “Well, he’s always nude. I mean, all night. He gets dressed in the daytime.” After turning around and seeing a photo of Thanos as naked as the day he was born (with the exception of a cowboy hat on his head), the elder Brolin added, “Oh my God. You know, you raise them up and turn them loose, [and] good luck, if they even call you!”

Here comes Whoopi with the smooth segue:

Oscar-winning actress and The View moderator Whoopi Goldberg summed up the awkward exchange as the group transitioned to a new topic: “Leave it to us to show the picture behind you.”

This is no country for old men, but it is for naked men.

(Via EW)

There are only so many actors who could be considered “wholesome” and “good.” It’s not easy to have a good head on your shoulders when the world is constantly asking you to make yourself a meme or become a viral sensation. Some people can handle it, others can’t. You can’t blame them! Most of the time, at least.

Of course, there is a short list of Cool Guys who just so happened to be actors, like Henry Winkler and his earnest Twitter account, or Hugh Grant and his upcoming portrayal of an Oompa Loompa. But one actor is constantly going above and beyond when it comes to his fame, and that’s Mr. Keanu Reeves. You know him, you love him, and you’ve seen him shoot a gun from every angle imaginable. But he could not be more different than his on-screen counterpart in John Wick.

Reeves recently surprised fans by appearing at a signing for his latest issue of BRZRKR, Reeves’ comic book series. Even though it was a last minute event, the fans came through, including one young boy named Noah who was positively star stuck while meeting his favorite actor. Isn’t it fun when celebrities introduce themselves as if they are just a normal person on the street and not one of the most beloved thespians of our time? It must be humbling for them.

The actor took the time to meet and chat with Noah about his favorite Reeves character, like Duke Caboom, his action figure from Toy Story 4, and possibly his most underrated character (besides that one rare time when he played a serial killer).

This isn’t surprising, coming from the self-proclaimed Puppy King who periodically crashes his fan’s weddings and gifts his co-workers with expensive watches. But it’s nice to confirm that he loves kids, too.

Obviously, this just made the internet love him more.

Did you know that Reeves is left-handed? Well, now you do! Of course, Reeves will probably never admit that he’s the greatest celebrity because he’s notoriously humble and private. But I have no problem whatsoever telling everyone that this man is pure joy personified and should never experience anything bad for the rest of his life. Every tongue that rises against Keanu will fall eventually.

The names we choose to give our children can significantly impact their lives. Multiple studies from across the globe have found that a person’s name can influence their employment, social and economic outcomes.

Unfortunately, humans make snap judgments about one another, and having an unusual name can lead people to make unflattering assumptions. “We’re hardwired to try to figure out in a heartbeat whether or not we want to trust somebody, whether we want to run from somebody,” Northwestern University researcher David Figlio said, according to Live Science.

However, an increasing number of parents are giving their children non-traditional names to help them stand out. “Parents are trying to be original, almost branding their kids in an era where names are viewed on the same level as Twitter handles or a website URL,” writer Sabrina Rogers-Anderson said.

Ruby, a mother on TikTok, took a hard stance on parents giving their children names that sound childish in a post that’s received over 11 million views. Ruby says she named her kids as “adults, not babies” hoping they would never “outgrow” their names.

@rubyyvillarreal

#stitch with @nikkiruble love having nicknames as they are younger and it doesnt mean they will perfer it over their name as they get older. Just gives them options 🤷🏻‍♀️ #nicknames #babynames #babytok #adultnames #pregnancytiktok #toddlersoftiktok #momtok #momlife #babynames #babyname

“The whole concept when I was trying to look for a name and choose a name for her is I did not want her to outgrow her name,” she said in the viral video. “I wanted the name to fit her as a baby, as a toddler, as a child, and into adulthood. So, it’s like I really am happy with what I ended up with naming her and it just fits her so well.”

She captioned the video, “love having nicknames as they are younger and it doesn’t mean they will prefer it over their name as they get older. Just gives them options.”

People in the comments responded with modern names they think that kids will outgrow.

“My name is Koazy and I’m here for a job interview,” Stalker joked. “Hello sir, I am Bluey Mason Garrison! I was called in for a job interview last Tuesday,” Pastel Purr added.

“I can’t imagine knowing [a] 30-year-old named Emma or Posie,” Mikey wrote.

However, a lot of people commented that names that seem like they’ll be outgrown will sound fine in the future when those names are popular with the new generation. “Kids grow up with their generation having their own names on trend. They will be normal adult names when they are grown,” Kerry wrote.

“Names grow with the generation,” Lauren added. “The name Dennis sounded like a baby name once too. Names grow up just like generations.”

@rubyyvillarreal

Replying to @19eighty_5 my kids name and the process 😬 #babynames #nicknames #babytok #adultnames #momsoftiktok #momlife #momtok #pregnancytiktok #toddlersoftiktok #babyname #babyfever

In a follow-up video, Ruby shared the names she gave her children. Her girl is named Karla Esmerelda and her boy is called Deluca.

“I just really liked how simple, how bold, and strong that the name by itself just really kind of is. Doing some research names with the letter K tend to be like very bold and powerful names, so I really wanted it with a K and not with a C,” she said.

She named her son Deluca, after a doctor on “Grey’s Anatomy.” She said she chose the name because there was nothing to connect it to, and it sounded “nice.”

Having a pen pal can be really rewarding. In the early 90s, when letter writing was still a required learning objective and classes got to have penpals from another school, it was exciting to build a connection with someone through writing letters. But for most of us, that practice died off as we started making those lasting connections through social media.

But when Ginny Schrappen got word from her church’s deacon that a prisoner wanted a pen pal more than two decades ago, before social media was a thing, she stepped up to volunteer. According to CBS Evening News, Lamar Johnson wrote to Schrappen’s church hoping that one of the parishioners would write to him while he was in prison.

Others may have been turned off due to the crime for which Johnson was imprisoned, which was murder. But Schrappen figured, “He’s not going to come and get me.”

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Of course, the elderly woman was safe because Johnson was incarcerated and expected to remain there for most of his natural life. Except, after Schrappen began to get to know the then-convicted murderer, the more she believed he couldn’t have hurt anyone.

It turned out her intuition was right. Johnson was recently exonerated after 28 years in prison after the Midwest Innocence Project helped fight for his release. The real perpetrator also confessed, clearing Johnson’s name.

After Johnson took some time to become acclimated to being outside of the prison, he made the trip to knock on one of his best friend’s doors. Schrappen was thrilled to see her friend and planted several grandma kisses on his cheek as proof.

“Especially when somebody is innocent. You want someone to believe in you,” Johnson told CBS. “Cause when you have people that believe in you and they won’t give up on you, then it makes it harder for you to give up on yourself.”

Watch their sweet first meeting below:

As anyone born after 1997 can attest, taking photos feels awkward. Unless you’re a professional model, it’s nigh on impossible to nail a pose and facial expression that isn’t completely cringey—and even harder to not get stuck in the same pose and facial expression that seemed to work once upon a time over and over again.

That’s with a traditional photography setup. Now, with most pictures being taken with our camera phones, there’s the additional variable of having to find the perfect angle ourselves. It’s all a recipe for tragic, embarrassing disaster, I tell you.

However, scroll through any Gen Zer’s social media and you’ll see a treasure trove of effortlessly cool and candid selfies. Sure, the cynic might say it’s purely the use of filters that makes their images look that way, but there’s more to it than that. And posing expert Christine Buzan has the perfect explanation.

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First off, Buzan’s credentials: Her online guide, “101 Ways to Pose,” has been featured in the likes of “Cosmopolitan,” “Refinery 29” and “Fashionista.” Not to mention 1.4 million people follow her TikTok handle, @LookGoodInPhotos, for easy and effective photo-taking tips, from how to master a sultry smile to acing cute Disneyland pics. In other words…she knows her stuff.

See on Instagram

Extensive knowledge, along with being a millennial herself, has prompted Buzan to form a rather unique, but totally compelling theory. Perhaps the awkwardness around photos for folks of this age group all comes down to their relationship with technology.

“The one thing all millennials have in common—whether you were born in 1981 or 1996—is that technology changed really rapidly throughout the course of our youth and adolescence,” she says in a recently uploaded clip.

@lookgoodinphotos #stitch @itskatesteinberg Why are millennials so awkward in photos? Here’s my hot take on why Gen Z’s are so much more comfortable in front of the camera. Watch the whole thing before you come for me! – #posingforphotos #millennialposing #genzvsmillennials ♬ original sound – CHRISTINE BUZAN | POSING TIPS

“This is especially true for photography,” she continues, noting that within 30 years this generation went from wind-up film cameras to smartphones. In her mind, millennials haven’t quite caught up mentally to see pictures as an everyday piece of life, instead of a precious commodity.

Buzan even has her own anecdote of “finding a disposable camera and then taking like a million photos of stupid stuff” and getting in trouble because back then, “film was expensive. It cost money to buy the film, it cost money to buy the camera, it cost money to develop it.”

Experiences like this, where millennials were taught that taking photos was not only a “special” event, but a high-stress one to boot since you’d “only have a few tries” to capture a moment, have basically ingrained in them a “scarcity mindset when it comes to posing for photos,” Buzan argued.

Gotta say, it makes sense. The part of me currently triggered by excruciating memories of stressing over those school portraits that rolled around once a year is inclined to agree.

Buzan’s video resonated with other viewers as well. A few pointed out how not being able to see the final product instantly (like you can nowadays) also contributed to getting stuck in poses that felt “safe” at the time but today come across as a little stiff. Some also felt like it had to do with how millennials were instilled with a sense of “shame” when they first started taking selfies.

We can learn a lot from Gen Z when it comes to incorporating a carefree vibe. Buzan thinks that photos are no different. Her advice is to simply give ourselves permission to experiment in the same way that Gen Z does. Rather than seeing picture-taking as a precious event, see it as a form of everyday expression, like you would with chatting or texting.

“The worst thing that happens if you don’t like a photo is you delete it or don’t post it.”

Parents who misbehave at their kids’ sporting events have become so commonplace that it’s forced sports psychologists to come up with a name for the behavior: Little League Parent Syndrome (LLPS).

Parents with LLPS are known for sitting in the stands and verbally abusing other players, parents, referees and umpires during games. This behavior has led to a decrease in the number of umpires and referees in youth sports because volunteers aren’t willing to subject themselves to harassment.

“There has been a huge drop off in the number of available referees and officials in youth sports due to the obnoxious behavior of parents,” says Rick Wolff, a sports-parenting expert, author, and 20-year host of the WFAN radio’s “The Sports Edge,” told The Washington Post.

So what has driven parents to such extreme behavior?

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There are many different ways for a parent to be infected by LLPS. One of the biggest reasons is pure narcissism. Parents see their children as part of their identity, so if their kids lose, they feel like they lost, too.

“They often judge the child’s performance as an indication of how good of a parent they are,” Coach and Play Baseball says. “If Johnny hits a home run then ‘I must be a good parent.’ If Johnny strikes out, ‘Then I am embarrassed and I’m going to lay into him for embarrassing me.’”

Youth sports have also become more competitive because many parents see them as a potential road to lucrative college scholarships or professional contracts. Although, the truth is that only 0.3% of high school athletes will ever get a full-ride scholarship to a university.

In fact, many parents wind up spending more money chasing scholarships than their kids would have received if they ended up getting one.

A New Jersey youth baseball organization has found a unique way to combat parents with LLPS who harass umpires. The new rule states: If you fight with the umps during a game, you have to volunteer your time to umpire three games before you’re allowed back as a spectator.

Parents who are forced to umpire will not do so alone. They will be paired with a certified umpire to ensure their calls are correct.

Deptford Township Little League President Don Bozzuffi hopes that when abusive parents become umpires, they’ll learn that things look a lot different behind the plate than they do from the stands.

“The main purpose is not for them to be able to call a baseball game, but for them to see what’s going on out here, and it’s not that easy,” Bozzuffi told ABC 30. “They think that the call was bad, which always amazes me that they can see a strike better over there than the umpire can one foot in back of them,” Bozzuffi added.

Ultimately, it’s all about creating a positive environment for kids that overzealous parents can’t ruin. “They’re not baseball players, they’re children. So always keep that in the back of your mind and let them play,” said Bozzuffi.