Month: June 2023

Have you ever ridden in an Uber or a Lyft and had the driver talk a lot when you felt like being quiet? Or not say a word when you tried to make conversation? Or play music you found annoying?

When you hop into a driver’s car, it’s a crapshoot what kind of ride you’re going to have. But at least one Lyft driver is removing the mystery a bit by letting passengers choose.

Facebook user Eric Alper shared a post that showed a photo of a piece of paper stuck on the back of a car’s headrest that read:

“Welcome to Cameron’s car!!!”

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“To ensure the best ride possible for you, I have prepared a menu of the various types of rides I offer. Just choose one (or don’t, that’s an option too) then sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. :)”

Then it listed the 10 ride options Cameron offers:

1. The Awkward Ride – You ignore this menu completely, then we will sit in silence for the remainder of the ride.

2. The Funny Ride – I tell you jokes or entertaining stories from my life.

3. The Silent Ride –

4. The Creepy Ride – I don’t say anything but I keep staring at you in the rearview mirror.

5. The Karaoke Ride – We rock out to hits from the 80s, early 2000s or literally whatever you want.

6. The Bubbles Ride – We blow bubbles the whole time.

7. The Small Talk Ride – We talk about how crazy the weather’s been lately and I ask if you caught the game last night.

8. The Therapy Ride – You vent to me about your problems and I listen.

9. The Drunk Ride – You throw up in my car.

10. The Cliche Ride – You ask me how long I’ve been driving for Lyft.”

OK, the Bubbles Ride sounds fun, but also maybe a little dangerous. And the Drunk Ride is the main reason I’ve never wanted to be a Lyft or Uber driver. I may have unintentionally taken a both a Therapy Ride and a Creepy Ride before.

But seriously, the concept is fabulous. People often want something different in a ride depending on their mood, so the idea of having options to choose from is brilliant. The list also directly addresses the awkwardness that is often present when you’re getting a ride from someone, so it makes a natural icebreaker and conversation starter—particularly helpful for folks who struggle with social anxiety.

People in the comments loved it.

“I’m sure this wasn’t the intention but this is a great example of disability accommodations that everyone can enjoy,” wrote one person. “Being able to choose how much energy I expend is so helpful.”

“There should be a feature on both Uber and Lyft indicating what type of ride a rider wants or expects,” wrote another. “I usually don’t talk, but sometimes the driver keeps persisting and I feel awkward at times.”

“It clears the air, takes the awkwardness out of it, and establishes expectations for the ride, on both sides,” wrote another. “Great idea.”

There are some more options I’d love to see added, though:

The Pep Talk Ride – You need encouragement? I’ll give you everything I’ve got to pump you up.

The Tour Guide Ride – I share interesting details about places we pass and offer advice on cool things to do around the area.

The Life Story Ride – We estimate how long your ride will be, set a timer, and each of us shares our life story for half the ride. (No questions, unless the ride goes longer.)

The Deep Questions Ride – We skip the small talk and get right to the big stuff—meaning of life, existence of God, our place in the universe, etc.

The High School Debate Ride – We pick a controversy, flip a coin to decide who will take which side, and debate regardless of our own personal views.

The Pretend Persona Ride – We each make up totally fake names and personas and converse as them so we can chat without actually getting personal at all.

So many possibilities. What kind of ride would you want to take?

This article originally appeared on 04.21.22

Gyms are communal spaces where people can come to improve their health, fitness and/or overall well-being.

However, it’s no secret that many gyms have also become a production studio of sorts where influencers can set up a tripod to demonstrate the most cutting-edge squatting technique or where the average Joe can take that obligatory gym selfie to prove that the workout did, in fact, happen.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with either of these activities. However, they have sparked a new kind of behavior in gymgoers where they feign extreme frustration if folks walk from one machine to the next or grab a piece of equipment and, heaven forbid, enter the frame.

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Take for instance a video shared to Reddit by u/ASTATINE_628, where we first see several cuts of a young woman at the gym, seemingly perturbed that people are continuously walking through her frame in her video.

The clip then cuts to a guy who breaks down what’s wrong with this scenario in a very clear and concise way.

“This sense of entitlement has gotten out of hand,” he said, noting that “for you to get upset because there’s people simply in your video going about their workout, not bothering you, minding their own business, is ridiculous.”

To act like she owns the gym.
by u/ASTATINE_628 in therewasanattempt

He certainly has a point. Of course, when personal space is actually being infringed upon, like when someone is facing harassment, that’s a different story. But in this case, as the man stated, there is no wrongdoing by simply existing.

The man then summed it all up with a short and sweet reminder about common decency. Or maybe not-so-common, since we’re needing reminders.

“Unless your name is on that gym, your filming is never a priority over other people. They pay the same gym membership that you do. If you can’t film responsibly, if you can’t respect other people in a shared space, you don’t belong filming at all,” he said.

Really, this behavior stems from something larger than modern-day gym culture. We film ourselves a lot these days, and often in public. This has undoubtedly caused a shift in how we view personal boundaries in the outside world, with both positive and negative effects.

On the one hand, it can be fun and self-esteem-boosting to treat your life as one big video diary. On the other hand, we bring strangers unwillingly into our orbit, treating them as punching bags, entertainment, or, in the case of the miffed gymgoers, nuisances. We vainly stop treating other people like fellow humans sharing life on this crazy blue planet. No video seems worth forgetting that.

Even for those who have never set foot into a gym, and never will, this is a poignant reminder to not lose our humanity as our relationship with social media grows. It’s perfectly fine to tap into “main character energy.” Let’s just keep in mind that really, we’re all part of the same story.

This article originally appeared on 3.28.23

For the second straight year, the RBC Canadian Open was being played while most of the conversation within the golf world was about the drama surrounding LIV Golf. Last year’s event was played the same week Dustin Johnson and the first full LIV field got announced, while this year’s was being played the week of the stunning news of a new partnership between the PGA Tour, LIV, and the DP World Tour.

However, much like Rory McIlroy’s win a year ago, this year’s tournament delivered in a big way on the course to steal headlines back from the boardroom dealings going on elsewhere in golf. Canadian Nick Taylor found himself in position to snap a 69-year drought of Canadians winning their national open, as he fired a weekend 63-66 to vault to -17 for the tournament, taking a clubhouse lead with just a few players left on the course. Tommy Fleetwood was among them, and a birdie on 17 tied him with Taylor for the tournament lead. He was unable to birdie the par-5 18th, setting up a playoff that required four extra holes to determine a winner.

On that fourth extra hole, as they returned to 18, Taylor found himself with a 72-foot eagle putt for the win and delivered an all-time moment in Canadian golf.

During the chaos on the 18th green, a number of fellow Canadian golfers were there to celebrate with Taylor, but security apparently didn’t have a good idea of who was among Taylor’s PGA Tour colleagues, as Adam Hadwin got [extreme Tom Jackson voice] JACKED UP by a security guard as he ran onto the green to spray Taylor with champagne.

The security guy is just trying to do his job and, had it been a random fan running onto the green, it would’ve been an incredible job to show that burst and bring him down with a form tackle. Unfortunately, that was not a drunk fan darting onto the green but another PGA Tour pro who is allowed to be out there (again, hard to tell when they’ve changed into a hoodie), and hopefully his tackle didn’t end up injuring Hadwin.

Niall Horan is in his winning era. The “Heaven” singer pulled out a victory during his first season as a coach on The Voice. He’s looking to spread that stream of success with the release of his new album, The Show. Although the former One Direction band member dropped an EP, Hidden Gems, earlier in the year, this marks his first full-length release since 2020’s Heartbreak Weather.

After he announced The Show, the singer took to Instagram to share a note with fans about the project. “This album is a piece of work I’m so proud of, and now it’s time to pass it over to you to go and make it your own. Thank you so much for being there for me all this time, and I can’t wait to share the next couple of years of this new era with you. I’ve missed you all so much. It’s good to be back,” wrote Horan.

Here’s everything we know about The Show.

Release Date

The Show is out now via Capitol. Find more information here.

Tracklist

1. “Heaven”
2. “If You Leave Me”
3. “Meltdown”
4. “Never Grow Up”
5. “The Show”
6. “You Could Start A Cult”
7. “Save My Life”
8. “On A Night Like Tonight”
9. “Science”
10. “Must Be Love”

Features

The Show doesn’t feature any credited vocal features. However, the project does feature guest production from John Ryan, Joel Little, Julian Bunetta, and more.

Artwork

Singles

Before the album’s release, Horan shared singles “Meltdown” and “Heaven.”

Tour

To support the album, Niall Horan will kick off an international tour beginning in February 2024. The tour is slated to stop in Australia, Europe, and the United States. View the tour dates below. Find more information here.

02/21/24 – Belfast, UK @ SSE Arena Belfast
02/23/24 – Dublin, IE @ 3Arena
02/27/24 – Birmingham, UK @ Resorts World Arena
03/01/24 – London, UK @ OVO Arena Wembley
03/04/24 – Cardiff, UK @ Cardiff International Arena
03/05/24 – Manchester, UK @ AO Arena
03/07/24 – Antwerp, BE @ Lotto Arena
03/08/24 – Paris, FR @ Zénith
03/11/24 – Berlin, DE @ Mercedes-Benz Arena
03/12/24 – Copenhagen, DK @ Royal Arena
03/15/24 – Stockholm, SE @ Hovet Ice Hall
03/18/24 – Lodz, PL @ Atlas Arena
03/20/24 – Munich, DE @ Olympiahalle
03/21/24 – Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum
03/23/24 – Madrid, ES @ WiZink Center
03/26/24 – Düsseldorf, DE @ PSD Bank Dome
03/27/24 – Amsterdam, NL @ Ziggo Dome
04/26/24 – Auckland, New Zealand @ Spark Arena
04/28/24 – Brisbane, Australia @ Brisbane Entertainment Centre
05/01/24 – Sydney, Australia @ Quodos Bank Arena
05/03/24 – Melbourne, Australia @ Rod Laver Arena
05/29/24 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Hard Rock Live
05/31/24 – Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
06/03/24 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
06/07/24 – Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
06/08/24 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
06/11/24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Mann Center for the Performing Arts
06/14/24 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
06/15/24 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center
06/18/24 – Bridgeport, CT @ Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
06/19/24 – Bangor, ME @ Maine Savings Amphitheater
06/21/24 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
06/22/24 – Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater
06/25/24 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
06/26/24 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
06/28/24 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
07/07/24 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
07/09/24 – Tinley Park, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
07/10/24 – Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
07/12/24 – Maryland Heights, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
07/16/24 – Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre
07/17/24 – Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP
07/19/24 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
07/20/24 – Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre
07/23/24 – Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
07/24/24 – Ridgefield, WA @ RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
07/26/24 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
07/27/24 – Inglewood, CA @ The Kia Forum
07/30/24 – Chula Vista, CA @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
07/31/24 – Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre

Is the streaming bubble going to burst? According to a new, sprawling piece by Vulture, that seems likely, eventually. In the last decade, the entertainment industry has tried to ditch the old-fashioned way — movies in movie theaters, TV with ads — for an online approach with a highly uncertain future. Surprise! Streaming isn’t remotely as profitable as the old ways and everyone who isn’t an overpaid CEO is underpaid and miserable. And if there’s a better symbol of what streaming has wrought than an abandoned baseball field for an aborted remake of Field of Dreams, we’d like to see it.

In a bit teased out by The AV Club, Michael Schur — co-creator of Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine and sole creator of The Good Place – talks about what befell his Peacock TV remake of the 1989 Kevin Costner baseball classic. The project was announced about two years back and, well, it never happened — because Peacock abruptly and whimsically pulled the plug, if only after it was in deep pre-production.

“They just changed their mind,” Schur recalled. “They didn’t want to spend the money anymore.”

People may never find out what the sports weepie fave looks like when Stretch Armstronged out to 10 episodes (plus maybe a spin-off season about, say, cult author Terence Mann, originally played by James Earl Jones, hanging out in the after life or wherever everyone goes at the end). But there is one lasting remnant of what never came to be.

“We built a baseball stadium in a cornfield in Iowa that’s still sitting there as we speak,” Schur said.

Or as Vulture reporters Josef Adalian and Lane Brown put it, “They built it, and nobody came.”

It’s an discouraging report, revealing an industry held together by Scotch tape and bubblegum, ready to fall apart — all the moreso thanks to the ongoing WGA strike, which may soon be joined by SAG-AFTRA. A disused Field of Dreams baseball field may be the perfect metaphor for what’s become of streaming, but perhaps the best description comes from Steve Soderbergh, who says it’s “absolutely conceivable that the streaming subscription model is the crypto of the entertainment business.”

In the meantime, if you wish to revisit Field of Dreams — one of the most potent looks at the counter-culture reckoning in the Bush I era with their abandoned ideals, only to embrace American tradition by teaming up with some busted baseball cheaters — it lives (where else?) on Peacock.

(Via Vulture and The AV Club)

Megan Thee Stallion was “excited” to return to the stage after the tumultuous few months in the public eye. However, no one was more delighted to see the “Savage” rapper than her fans in Los Angeles. During her 2023 LA Pride In The Park festival performance, Megan allowed a few of her die-hard fans, known as the Hotties, to join her onstage. What happened after will go down as one of the most memorable interactions in her live show history.

With one opportunity to impress the social media crowned “Queen of Twerk,” one fan gave it all they had during their solo set, nearly out-twerking her onstage.

Following the performance, the fan took to Instagram to upload the now-viral video, writing, “Anyone who knows me knows I love me some Megan Thee Stallion Last night she brought me on stage, and I had to eat I love this lady with a passion, LOL And the way she hyped me up the whole time And they kept putting me on the big screen Yeah, I did what I came to do.”

Watch the full clip below.

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

Luh Tyler wants to be known as more than just a “back flippin’” hip-hop newbie. The “Law & Order” rapper has a new single, “Weeks,” featuring NoCap, which shows that the rising rappers are here to earn their stops in the genre’s new class. The energetic song, co-produced by Al Geno and Luci G, appears on Luh Tyler’s new album, My Vision.

To drive home the rise-and-grind point of the single, director Cotto Over Did It shows Luh Tyler and NoCap’s never-ending work schedule as they fight for their spots in hip-hop.

On the track’s opening, Tyler sets the bar high by rapping, “Everybody tryna be a star, but they don’t know the feeling / Every day we on the grind, my mama know we gon’ have millions / We gon’ run that paper up, I need it up there with the ceiling / N****, if it ain’t about that bag, then I don’t want no dealings / Everybody tryna be a star, but they don’t know the feeling / Every day we on the grind, my mama know we gon’ have millions / We gon’ run that paper up, I need it up there with the ceiling / N****, if it ain’t about that bag, then I don’t want no dealings.”

Watch the full video above.

My Vision is out now via Atlantic. Find more information here.

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

Like most weak men who pretend to be strong, Donald Trump has a heckuva martyr complex. His is just bigger than most. On Saturday, he dropped a new propaganda ad that showed him looking both mighty and besieged, all while a stirring speech played on the soundtrack. The monologue may sound familiar: It’s from this year’s Air Jordan docudrama Air, delivered by no less than star Matt Damon. If you thought Trump and team got permission to use it, then you might believe he didn’t mishandle classified government documents, too.

As per Mediaite, Actors Equity, the production company founded and co-owned by Damon and Ben Affleck — who directed the film, in which he also appears as Nike honcho Phil Knight — released a statement confirming the obvious.

“We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from Air being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement,” the statement read. They also reminded the Trump campaign that copyright and intellectual property law prohibits them from using material without consent. They added, “we do not grant such consent.”

The ad pilfers a speech Damon’s character, NBA scout Sonny Vaccaro delivers towards the end when he’s trying to coax young Michael Jordan into signing with the then-floundering Nike.

“You’re going to change the f*cking world,” Vaccaro tells a young basketball player who will soon dominate the sport, not a self-pitying twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president who might be headed for the clink. “But you know what? Once they’ve built you as high as they possibly can, they’re gonna tear you back down. It’s the most predictable pattern.”

When reached for comment about Affleck and Damon’s response, the Trump campaign replied thusly:

It’s not the first time a film directed by Ben Affleck — who, like Damon, is a noted Democrat who doesn’t care for Mr. Trump — has been misappropriated by rightwing weirdos. In 2011, then-House majority whip Kevin McCarthy used a speech from The Town to amp up his party before a vote. It was a monologue in which criminals talked about doing crimes, so perhaps McCarthy was just being prescient about one of the GOP’s then-future presidents.

Air now streams on Amazon Prime.

(Via Mediaite)

Metro Boomin‘s work on the Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse soundtrack has received stellar feedback, and that’s made him happy. However, the “Creepin” musician isn’t starting there. His long list of forthcoming releases is enough to keep him booked through the rest of the year.

During a recent appearance, Metro teased an unreleased Future song, and now fans are demanding that he drop their collaborative album. The duo has joined forces on numerous occasions in the past, most recently on Metro’s song “Too Many Nights,” featuring Don Toliver, off his album, Heroes & Villains.

After the video snippet hit social media, Metro said, “It’s not really all the way like a song yet. It’s just a vibe. You know what, let me just drop this sh*t,” as he introduced the track.

Supporters showed the rough draft love on social media. One wrote, “Yeah, I’m extremely ready for the Metro and Future collab album!”

Another wrote, “Oh, this definitely gotta be Dirty Sprite 3 vibes,” referring to Future’s forthcoming project.

Music buffs were excited by the sample used in the teaser, writing, “That’s Three Six Mafia – who the crunkest – of the tear the club up Thug’s album. He just put Future vocals over it. Still fire tho. Metro is heavily influenced by 3-6.”

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

Using samples by today’s hip-hop stars is a hotly contested topic on social media. Some feel it’s being overdone. It seems Nicki Minaj slightly agrees. During the rapper’s latest Queen Radio show, she discussed the topic and more.

During her appearance, Minaj provided listeners with more details about her upcoming appearance on the Barbie: The Movie soundtrack. She guaranteed fans will be impressed by producer Riot’s reimagined twist on Aqua’s “Barbie Girl.” The sample will be featured on Ice Spice’s “Barbie World,” in which Minaj is featured.

Buzzing Pop shared the quote from the musician on Twitter. “This is the first time that someone had put this sample in a way that didn’t make me uncomfortable or gimmicky. I figured out that it needed to be a beat that would still give Barbie & Nicki,” wrote Minaj.

Minaj has seen a great deal of success with samples throughout her career. Her song “Super Freaky Girl,” which features a sample of the late Rick James’ 1981 song “Super Freak,” earned her her first solo No. 1 on the music charts. Another one of Nicki Minaj’s biggest hits, “Anaconda,” released in 2014, sampled the 1992 song “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot.

Barbie: The Album is out 7/21 via Atlantic. Find more information here.