Month: June 2023

A new trend in treasure hunting called magnet fishing has blown up over the past two years, evidenced by an explosion of YouTube channels covering the hobby. Magnet fishing is a pretty simple activity. Hobbyists attach high-powered magnets to strong ropes, drop them into waterways and see what they attract.

The hobby has caught the attention of law enforcement and government agencies because urban waterways are a popular place for criminals to drop weapons and stolen items after committing a crime. In 2019, a magnet fisherman in Michigan pulled up an antique World War I mortar grenade and the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate.

Fifteen-year-old George Tindale and his dad, Kevin, 52, of Grantham, Lincolnshire in the U.K., made an incredible find earlier this month when they used two magnets to pull up a safe that had been submerged in the River Witham.

George has a popular magnet fishing YouTube channel called “Magnetic G.”

After the father-and-son duo pulled the safe out of the murky depths, they cracked it open with a crowbar and found about $2,500 Australian dollars (US$1,800), a shotgun certificate and credit cards that expired in 2004. The Tindales used the name found on the cards to find the safe’s owner, Rob Everett.

Everett’s safe was stolen during an office robbery in 2000 and then dumped into the river. “I remember at the time, they smashed into a cabinet to get to the safe,” Everett said, according to The Daily Mail. “I was just upset that there was a nice pen on my desk, a Montblanc that was never recovered.”

The safe was stolen in the year 2000 nn#magnetfishinghttps://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/teenager-finds-safe-containing-thousands-of-dollars-9250637/u00a0u2026

— Grantham Journal (@Grantham Journal)
1650615191

The robber, who was a teenage boy, was apprehended soon after the crime because he left behind a cap with his name stitched inside.

The father and son met up with Everett to return his stolen money and the businessman gave George a small reward for his honesty. He also offered him an internship because of the math skills he displayed in the YouTube video when he counted the Australian dollars. “What’s good about it is, I run a wealth management company and… I’d love him to work for us,” Everett said.

Although the safe saga began with a robbery 22 years ago, its conclusion has left Everett with more faith in humanity.

“I was just amazed that they’d been able to track me down,” he said. “There are some really nice and good people in this world. They could have kept the money, they could have said they attempted to get hold of me.”

“There’s a big lesson there. It teaches George that doing good and being honest and giving back is actually more rewarding than taking,” Everett added.

Treasure hunting isn’t the only allure of the hobby for George. His mother says the hobby has taught him a lot about water pollution and its effects on local wildlife. “George is very environmentally conscious. He always has been since primary school,” she said. “When he first started to do this, he was after treasure. Everything ends up in the rivers and canals.”

This article originally appeared on 04.25.22

We’ve seen some moving America’s Got Talent stories before, but a recent viral audition absolutely requires a tissue warning. I tried to steel myself in preparation when I saw the “Admit it, we were *all* in tears after this” caption on the Facebook share of it, but I failed.

In a video that’s been shared more than 95,000 times, the “Britain’s Got Talent” audition shows two tiny little girls onstage with their grandmother. They introduce themselves as “Cally” (age 4) and “Savannah” (age 3) and “Nanny” (their “daddy’s mummy”) then the girls share that they are there to surprise their dad.

Dad—also known as Nick Edwards—is sitting in the audience. He thought the family was there to watch the audition on a fun outing; he had no idea that they had arranged a surprise audition for him, so when his girls and mom showed up on stage, he wondered what was going on.

A “Britain’s Got Talent” spokesperson explained to the Daily Mail how they got Edwards mic’d up without giving away the surprise.

“When Nick entered the Palladium auditorium during ‘BGT’ auditions, he was approached to be part of our ‘gogglebox’ audience and told he would be mic’d up so we could capture his reactions throughout the day as he sat in the audience,” they said. “He was totally unsuspecting. We did this so we could mic him up without him suspecting a thing.”

As Edwards tried to figure out what his mom and daughters were doing on stage, Edwards’ mother explained to the judges and the audience that he sings a special song to his girls. She said they wanted him to come up and sing it. Naturally, not being prepared for an audition, Edwards was stunned. But the judges sent him backstage to “grab a glass of water” so he could compose himself and get ready.

“They gave me some time to warm up—about 45 minutes in total,” Edwards told This Morning. “They gave me my guitar my family brought down on the day, they [producers] said this is the song we want you to sing because we’d seen it on your Instagram.”

The song is an emotional doozy, especially if you’re a parent. “It’s a song I’ve felt quite attached to so I sing it a lot around the house,” Edwards told the judges before he started to sing. Once you hear it, you’ll see why he joked about trying to keep from crying while he sang it.

Lovely voice. Beautiful song. Adorable little girls. Not a dry eye in the house.

Tissue, seriously. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The fact that Edwards was able to pull off that audition with less than an hour of preparation was quite impressive. He told This Morning what he was thinking during that prep time.

“If I go out I’ve got two options here, I either go out and try to own it or I come out and it all crumbles…” he said. “The whole thing just went so quickly. I do remember playing and in a way my fingers started to get a bit jelly, I remember thinking ‘this is going to be a big moment for you.’ I don’t want to stuff it up.”

Stuff it up he did not. What a lovely performance, and what lucky little girls to have a daddy who shares his love for them in such a beautiful and creative way.

This article originally appeared on 04.22.22

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.”

This article originally appeared on 4.26.23

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen’s family has grown a lot lately. On January 13, Teigen gave birth to daughter Esti Maxine Stephens. Now, only five months later, they’ve added Wren Alexander Stephens to the family. Wren, a boy, was born on June 19 via a surrogate.

Legend kept his announcement social post simple, sharing a few photos of the baby and his family, and writing, “Wren Alexander Stephens, our new love.”

For her post, Teigen went more in depth. In it, she explained how she’s always wanted to have four children, losing a previous baby to pregnancy complications, and what led to Wren:

“After losing Jack, I didn’t think I’d be able to carry any more babies on my own. To be honest, I’ve personally blocked out a lot of my mindset during that time, but one clear memory is being surrounded by people who wanted to make sure I wouldn’t go through that pain and loss again.

In 2021, we reached out to a surrogacy agency, with our first correspondence inquiring about perhaps having 2 tandem surrogates, to each bring us a healthy baby boy or girl. Twins, kinda?!

At some point, early in our surrogacy journey, I came out of a therapy session, walked downstairs and said to John — I want to try to carry just one more time. If it doesn’t work, we will be okay. We’ve already seen the worst. I promised I would be okay no matter what happened. I remember saying I just couldn’t go on wondering my whole life if I should have tried again.

And so we restarted the IVF process, the same process that gave us our beautiful Luna and Miles. We made new embryos. We did my transfer, and were so happy to learn it worked — we were pregnant with our little girl, Esti.

Around this same time, we also met the most incredible, loving, compassionate surrogate we could ever imagine, Alexandra. I knew she was a perfect match for us the moment we spoke to her. All our wishes and dreams aligned. I wanted to be her friend, I wanted our children to play, I wanted dinner together, I wanted to lay my head on her belly and be able to feel the hiccups and kicks. I wanted them to be in our lives for as long as time would allow.”

After sharing about the birth, she continued, “We want to say thank you for this incredible gift you have given us, Alexandra. And we are so happy to tell the world he is here, with a name forever connected to you, Wren Alexander Stephens. Our hearts, and our home, are officially full. And to our Jack, we know both their angel kisses are from you.”

Find Teigen’s post below.

In a truly wild set of words for 2023, Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants (yes, the cartoon starfish) is now a viral TikTok trend. Why? Users are making the character sing the biggest R&B hits through AI technology.

While it’s just an attempt at the character’s voice and not really the greatest considering, many TikTok accounts are still having fun playing around to see how he sounds on different tracks. One of those doing it, user @twrksumn and her added account @aiquietstorm, has put Patrick with everything from Anita Baker’s “Angel” to Toni Braxton’s “Unbreak My Heart.”

“Patrick doing gospel and R&B now,” one person wrote under the Baker video with a bunch of laughing emojis.

“It’s giving Michael McDonald,” another user commented on a different video, which inspired the poster to make Patrick play his song, “I Keep Forgettin.”

Another popular profile getting in on the Patrick craze is @martinluthervandrossjr, has added some edited memes of Patrick and Spongebob to go along with the AI vocals.

As the trend gains more traction, users are waiting to hear their favorite artists get an AI cover turn — or even hear other characters perform from the Bikini Bottom universe.

Check out just a few of the Patrick Star AI covers above.

At long last, Lil Uzi Vert‘s long-awaited album, Pink Tape, is almost here. The album is set to arrive this year, after months and months of delays. Over the course of the past few months, Uzi’s single, “Just Wanna Rock,” has gone viral, and proven to be a hit, as it has placed at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. As of now, “Just Wanna Rock” is the only song that has been revealed from the album, but we’ve put together a nifty guide on what you need to know before the album arrives.

Release date

Pink Tape is out 6/30 via Atlantic Records. Find more information here.

Tracklist

The tracklist for Pink Tape is yet to be revealed. However, it appears the album will have 26 songs, with “Just Wanna Rock” placing at track 15.

Features

Collaborators on Pink Tape have not yet been revealed.

Artwork

The official album artwork for Pink Tape can be viewed below.

Singles

So far, the only single to be released from Pink Tape is “Just Wanna Rock.” The song came out last October and has gone viral through several TikTok dance videos.

Trailer

You can see the Pink Tape trailer below.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Released in September 2021, Squid Game proved to be a massive breakout success for Netflix as the streaming series brought in record numbers across the globe. The show was so huge that even Leonardo DiCaprio was a fan. However, while Squid Game‘s viewership dominated headlines, little was mentioned of how much the series boosted Netflix’s bottom line. According to a new report, it was a lot.

In a new article on Netflix’s attempt to soften the blow of the ongoing writers’ strike by turning to South Korea for content, The Los Angeles Times reports that the streaming giant made out like a bandit when it acquired Squid Game from creator Hwang Dong-hyuk:

“Squid Game” turned out to be a bargain beyond compare. Made for about $2.4 million an episode, about a fourth the cost of “Stranger Things,” the nine-part series went on to win six Emmys, set a Netflix record of 1.65 billion viewing hours in its first 28 days of release and — according to internal Netflix documents — increase the value of the company by an estimated $900 million.

However, despite Squid Game being a massive boon for Netflix, Hwang did not get rich from the show’s success. As part of his initial contract, Hwang “forfeited all intellectual property rights and received no residuals.”

The LA Times also reported that crew members on Korean productions like Squid Game routinely feel exploited by the streamer, which prompted the following response from Netflix.

“We pay fair, highly competitive rates with our K-Content creators and set clear standards for our Korean production partners, who produce all our shows and movies,” Netflix said in a statement. “These standards meet or exceed Korean law.”

(Via Los Angeles Times)

Community faced a heavy cast turnover over its six (mostly) brilliant seasons. Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong, and Jim Rash were there the entire time, but Donald Glover left midway through season five; Yvette Nicole Brown was only a recurring cast member in the final season; and Chevy Chase, well, that’s a whole thing that we don’t need to get into.

Why? Because he’s not in the Community movie, unlike Donald Glover.

McHale confirmed the good news on Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, according to EW. “Donald’s coming back and that’s really important,” he said. “The fact that Donald’s gonna do it, that was the big piece. But I think everyone’s coming back. I mean, so far we’re pretty good. And I think that will happen. If not then, you know, Donald will be there.” As for Chevy:

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” McHale said when Ripa asked if Chase would be part of the movie. “There wasn’t any issues at all when we were making the show,” he added with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

Add another notch:

McHale also added that the Community movie is expected to begin filming next summer, assuming they can get the trampoline budget under control.

You can listen to the podcast below.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Pizza-brandishing savior Pete Davidson hasn’t made too many relationship-based headlines lately, but he did still recently grace us with the story of how he got stoned and bought a Staten Island ferry with former SNL co-star Colin Jost. The better part of that story is that Jost was “stone cold sober” while those papers were signed, which surely isn’t as embarrassing for Jost as Michael Che’s April Fool’s Day joke this year.

Still, the ferry boat apparently functions primarily as a $280,000 money pit now, but Davidson did chat with Seth Meyers on his new podcast that’s filling the house of this long writer’s strike. Via The Daily Beast, Davidson revealed that he and Jost came up with a (joke) name for their ferry, and their big dream is at least five years away:

“We jokingly named [the ferry] Titanic 2 on the LLC when we had to buy it. It’s all going to stay the same — the same outside, we’re gonna keep what we can and just repurpose, make sure it’s nice, but it’ll be the Staten Island Ferry … There’ll be a restaurant, there’ll be a concert venue, there’ll be a movie theater… and then there’s hotels in it, so we’ll have a couple of those, and then in the winter, [we’ll] tug [the ferry] to Miami.”

Dreams are good to have, but the decommissioned ferry is apparently plagued with both asbestos and roach colonies. Seems like a long shot to shove a couple of hotels on top of the thing, but stranger things have happened. Maybe just make a movie about it instead, though.

(Via The Daily Beast)

I don’t know. Maybe this happens to you, too…

You ever watch a movie a million times, maybe on streaming or maybe just on cable some stormy weekend morning, and you know everything that happens, even down to the exact dialogue in places, but there’s one scene in particular that burrows its way into your brain and makes a little home there? Like, even if you’re not thinking about it actively, it’s still just kind of humming there in the background, maybe while you’re driving or grocery shopping or watching another movie entirely.

For me, it’s a scene from Bad Boys, a movie that came out almost 30 years ago. You guys know Bad Boys. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence play Miami cops who try to take down drug dealers and protect a witness played by Tea Leoni? Will Smith and Martin Lawrence do a little character swap halfway through where Lawrence has to pretend to be Smith’s character to keep up a ruse? Smith’s character is named Mike Lowrey and everyone in the movie pronounces it “Mike Lahhhhhrey.” It’s great. It’ll probably be on TNT this Saturday. Check it out again if it’s been a while.

But that’s not the point. It’s kind of the point. But not really the point. The point is that there’s a scene about halfway through the movie where they meet with their captain, played by Joe Pantoliano, where this whole ruse is laid out, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Ever. Here, look…

A few things jump out right away here. Joey Pants is:

• Shooting baskets in the middle of the day
• In an unlit and apparently sweltering gym in Miami
• Smoking a cigar
• Throwing up some of the worst shots anyone has ever seen

It fascinates me. I have so many questions about it. All the time. And I’ll get to those. But first, look at Joey Pants work.

This is just really good work here. Some Grade A police-captaining. He does this stuff the whole movie, too. Just yelling and waving around a cigar and getting frustrated by his loose cannon hotshot detectives. The only little twist is that, instead of doing the thing where he shouts “YOU’RE OFF THE CASE” and demands their badges and guns, he makes them stay on the case. With their badges and guns. This is a groundbreaking development in cinema.

He also does this, which I’m not going to provide context for at all for two reasons:

• I don’t think it needs any
• I just really wanted to make this next screencap

I stand by it.

Same bullet points apply to this next one, too.

Hey, did you guys know Bad Boys was originally supposed to star Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey? Well, now you do! Good luck forgetting that fact!

Anyway, remember the thing I mentioned in the introduction about Joey Pants firing up the worst shots you’ve ever seen in your entire life all throughout this scene?

Well, look at excellence in cinema…

A few notes here:

• I get mad every time I watch this scene that we never get any backstory as to what possessed him to go into an empty sweatbox old gymnasium, change into workout clothes, light up a big stogie, and start launching free throws
• Like, does he do this a lot?
• Is this how he unwinds over lunch?
• Do the other cops talk about it and laugh?

I would, no joke, watch an entire spinoff television series about this character that focuses only on this. I’m very normal.

Hey, here’s another useful screencap.

I have said this exact line — or some slight modification of it — out loud maybe 5000 times in my life. I use it as shorthand with my friends whenever I screw something up. Like, let’s say I knock over a soda or drop something or fumble over my words in front of someone. “I was, like, getting them all in before you showed up.” It’s fun. It makes no sense to anyone who doesn’t understand the context, but for the people that do, it’s just a tremendous piece of business. And now that you understand the context, I recommend you try slipping it in, too.

Most people will look at you like you’ve lost your mind, but the people who get it… buddy, you just made a friend for life.

Oh hey, let’s also just explain the plot of the entire movie in two screencaps while we’re at it…

… and toss up another disastrous kind of push-hook shot that never had a chance of doing anything productive.

Reasonable arguments can be made that this is my favorite character in any movie ever made.

We close out this scene with a “Does it look like I care?” and a “Whatever it takes” after Smith and Lawrence give him a little pushback, which is also just a perfect bit of movie captaining, and another fun reversal from the chief who gets mad at the cops who play by their own rules but get results, which is all great. Just a classic Michael Bay scene here, all bluster and bravado and sweaty dudes working together to save the world and/or Miami. And it ends with Will Smith draining a jump shot to drive home how much cooler he is than his cranky boss. Which is fine. You are welcome to discuss that amongst yourselves.

I would like to close out by focusing on this, though…

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BASKETBALLS?

IS HE SHOOTING ONE AND THEN JUST LEAVING IT ON THE GROUND AND GETTING A NEW ONE?

ARE THESE DISPOSABLE BASKETBALLS?

AND SO ON

The thing I like here is that there’s no situation where this is not very funny. Because, like, in the world of the movie, please imagine walking in on your boss smoking a cigar and launching awful jump shots like this on a 1000-degree day in South Florida just surrounded by basketballs. And even in the real world, I’m having a great time picturing Michael Bay holding a megaphone up to his face and shouting “I NEED MORE BASKETBALLS. ALL OVER THE FLOOR. JEFF, FIND ME BASKETBALLS.” Poor Jeff.

Anyway, if you’re ever sitting around wondering what I’m up to, please know that there’s about a 60 to 70 percent chance I am thinking about this. It’s fine.