Month: October 2023

The Dallas Cowboys went into San Francisco on Sunday night and got absolutely obliterated by the 49ers. In what was billed as a matchup between two teams with Super Bowl aspirations, San Francisco was dominant on both sides of the football en route to an emphatic, 42-10 win that very well might have established them as the team to beat in the NFC.

As for Dallas, one thing was guaranteed after this high-profile of a loss: Stephen A. Smith was going to have some fun with it. Immediately after the game, a very cozy looking Stephen A. posted this video to his Twitter account and made clear that he’d have plenty to say on First Take on Monday morning.

In his intro to the show, Smith showed up with his usual cowboy hat and cigar, and this time, he added something else: a number 88 jersey for his former colleague, Michael Irvin.

“Evidently, while the Cowboys while in Santa Clara, I believe, last night, they were looking for a playmaker,” Smith said. “They were looking for somebody to make plays. They were trying to figure it out. And they couldn’t find it … Well guess what? The Playmaker’s right here.”

Shannon Sharpe seemed to find this all very funny, in large part because it’s all very funny.

Clearly back in full force now that the writers’ strike has been settled, John Oliver hit former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson with a new nickname during the latest episode of Last Week Tonight.

While going deep on the weaponization of homeschooling that’s ramped up thanks to issues like critical race theory the increased rash of book bans, Oliver had actually had something positive to say after showing a clip of a teen who was genuinely able to learn better after escaping the bullying of public schools.

“That’s great. That is very nice. And I know that’s not something you usually hear me say after a clip on this show,” Oliver said via Deadline. And that’s when the drive-by nickname happened.

“It’s usually a variation of ‘That’s horrible’ or ‘That’s heartbreaking,’” Oliver said as Carlson’s face appeared on the screen, “Or shut the f**k up you baby bi**h lawn dart.”

(You can see Tucker Carlson get his new nickname at the 3:20 mark above.)

Oliver has only been back for two episodes, and the late night host is clearly relishing the opportunity to go after the targets he missed because of the strikes. In a new interview with NPR, he called being back “joyful” and opened up about how he and the writers stayed sharp by joking with each other Zoom calls.

“We were checking in with [the writers] a bunch and whenever we were on those Zoom calls and they were making each other laugh, part of the sadness was, ‘Oh, it would be really nice to direct these incredible senses of humor at the targets that you want to direct them at,’” Oliver said. “And so, yes, it was very, very fun to give them assignments and to watch them excel and make us laugh. It was utterly joyful.”

(Via Deadline, NPR)

On October 7, the Tribe Of Nova trance music festival was held in Re’im, in southern Israel near the Gaza border. What was supposed to be a fun event full of music and dancing ended in tragedy, though: As BBC News noted in a report shared yesterday (October 8), “Palestinian militants stormed the festival and opened fire as part of huge surprise attack on Israel. More than 260 bodies have reportedly been recovered from the festival site.”

The deadly event has garnered international attention, including from U2, who took a moment on stage to acknowledge what happened.

As the band performed at The Sphere in Las Vegas yesterday (as The Jewish Chronicle reports), Bono paid tribute to those who lost their lives, saying, “We sing for our brothers and sisters, who they themselves were singing at the Supernova Succot festival in Israel. We sing for those. Our people. Our kind of people. Music people. Playful, experimental people. Our kind of people. We sing for them.”

The Associated Press shared first-hand accounts from survivors of the festival, and one attendee noted, “We were hiding and running, hiding and running, in an open field, the worst place you could possibly be in that situation. For a country where everyone in these circles knows everyone, this is a trauma like I could never imagine.”

Dua Lipa delivered “Dance The Night,” the Barbie movie theme song that became Lipa’s fifth-career top-10 Billboard Hot 100 hit (peaking at No. 6), and portrayed Mermaid Barbie in the Greta Gerwig-directed phenomenon. She would be excused to taking the rest of the year off, but instead, Lipa has taken on a new role: Mysterious Barbie.

On Monday morning, October 9, people noticed that Lipa had wiped her Instagram and TikTok grids clean — usually an artist’s signal that a new era is loading. She also changed her profile picture on Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) to an aqua kaleidoscope-esque image. On Facebook and X, her header photo is still in the kaleidoscope lens but displaying more of a determined-looking Lipa’s face.

Lipa’s last album was the Grammy-winning Future Nostalgia, arriving in March 2020 and housing monster pop anthems like “Don’t Start Now” and “Levitating.” The 28-year-old has been teasing her third album since early 2022 when she told Elton John on her Dua Lipa: At Your Service podcast that it was “maybe 50 percent of the way” finished. By the end of last year, she told Variety that the project had “taken a complete turn,” and she planned to keep writing in early 2023.

This August, Lipa covered The New York Times’ T Magazine and gave yet another update on the fruits of her 2023 labor — this time, confirming her next album is due out in 2024. The profile’s author, Kurt Soller, provided context for what fans might be able to expect, as detailed in the following excerpt:

“The next record will still be pop, she says, lest her ‘fans have a meltdown.’ She doesn’t want to ‘alienate’ them, although she’s developing a new sound that may be informed less by the house and disco beats beneath songs like ‘Physical’ and ‘Hallucinate’ than by 1970s-era psychedelia. She’s working with a smaller group of songwriting collaborators, supposedly including Kevin Parker of the Australian psych-rock band Tame Impala, a rumor she all but confirms by denying: ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she says, then looks away and laughs a little. Lipa’s dressed — almost studiously — in pop star-off-duty drag: Ugg slip-ons, baggy white jeans, an old Elton John T-shirt, a few diamond-encrusted hoops in each ear.”

Based on the reactions to her social media movement, Lipa has done anything but alienate her fans. See some of the best reactions below.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Dua Lipa delivered “Dance The Night,” the Barbie movie theme song that became Lipa’s fifth-career top-10 Billboard Hot 100 hit (peaking at No. 6), and portrayed Mermaid Barbie in the Greta Gerwig-directed phenomenon. She would be excused to taking the rest of the year off, but instead, Lipa has taken on a new role: Mysterious Barbie.

On Monday morning, October 9, people noticed that Lipa had wiped her Instagram and TikTok grids clean — usually an artist’s signal that a new era is loading. She also changed her profile picture on Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) to an aqua kaleidoscope-esque image. On Facebook and X, her header photo is still in the kaleidoscope lens but displaying more of a determined-looking Lipa’s face.

Lipa’s last album was the Grammy-winning Future Nostalgia, arriving in March 2020 and housing monster pop anthems like “Don’t Start Now” and “Levitating.” The 28-year-old has been teasing her third album since early 2022 when she told Elton John on her Dua Lipa: At Your Service podcast that it was “maybe 50 percent of the way” finished. By the end of last year, she told Variety that the project had “taken a complete turn,” and she planned to keep writing in early 2023.

This August, Lipa covered The New York Times’ T Magazine and gave yet another update on the fruits of her 2023 labor — this time, confirming her next album is due out in 2024. The profile’s author, Kurt Soller, provided context for what fans might be able to expect, as detailed in the following excerpt:

“The next record will still be pop, she says, lest her ‘fans have a meltdown.’ She doesn’t want to ‘alienate’ them, although she’s developing a new sound that may be informed less by the house and disco beats beneath songs like ‘Physical’ and ‘Hallucinate’ than by 1970s-era psychedelia. She’s working with a smaller group of songwriting collaborators, supposedly including Kevin Parker of the Australian psych-rock band Tame Impala, a rumor she all but confirms by denying: ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she says, then looks away and laughs a little. Lipa’s dressed — almost studiously — in pop star-off-duty drag: Ugg slip-ons, baggy white jeans, an old Elton John T-shirt, a few diamond-encrusted hoops in each ear.”

Based on the reactions to her social media movement, Lipa has done anything but alienate her fans. See some of the best reactions below.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Drake is one of the most accomplished and beloved musicians working today, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune to criticism. He’s not letting that bother him, though, and in fact, he seems to actually be having a great time checking out some old comments about Take Care, his 2011 sophomore album.

On his Instagram Story yesterday (October 8), he shared a screenshot of an old online comments section, presumably from a post about the album. Drake wrote, “Reading these comments from when Take Care dropped [crying laughing emoji].”

As for the feedback, one commenter wrote, “i agree with the review Drake lost some respect with this one, in my own opinion he should had back dated the release day and done a better Cd.” Another said, “I think his album was weak, repetitive, boring at times.. Nothing new, nothing exciting.. Same ole, same ole.. Blah!” Somebody else commented, “thank me later > take care… features went harder on TML, classic verses from all of them… the rapping was better and no track had to be skipped, take care has a few I don’t really like… good album but not great.”

Given that Drake decided to take this trip down Memory Lane shortly after the release of his new album For All The Dogs, perhaps this is his way of dismissing whatever hate his new project may be subject to at the moment.

Sophie Turner shared her first post on social media since confirming the end of her marriage to Joe Jonas (as E! Online notes). Over the weekend, the actress posted a photo of a friendship bracelet that reads “FEARLESS” in an Instagram Story. It’s seemingly a reference to the Taylor Swift song and album of the same name. “And I don’t know how it gets better than this / You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless,” Swift sings in the chorus.

Fearless is meaningful to Turner for at least two reasons: one of the Fearless (Taylor’s Version) vault tracks is allegedly about her ex-husband, and she and Swift are good friends; the pop star even let the Game Of Thrones star stay at her place in New York City during her (messy) divorce proceedings.

In a joint statement that was released last month, Turner and Jonas wrote, “After four wonderful years of marriage we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage. There are many speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children.”

You can see Turner’s Swift-inspired Instagram Story below.

The latest Billboard 200 albums chart (dated October 14) has arrived, so let’s run down what projects find themselves in the top 10 this week.

10. Peso Pluma — Génesis

Génesis peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 this summer, and as proof of the project’s staying power, it remains in the top 10 here in October.

9. Doja Cat — Scarlet

Scarlet has a major debut week, entering the chart at No. 2. It took a significant fall in its second frame, though, tumbling to No. 9.

8. Taylor Swift — Midnights

There’s no end to the frenzy surrounding Swift. It’s been just about a year since Midnights was released, and yet here it is, still solidly in the top 10 in 2023.

7. Travis Scott — Utopia

Utopia is still faring well on the charts, which should be a good indicator that Scott’s Circus Maximus tour will get off to a hot start with its first concert in just a couple days.

6. SZA — SOS

While a special deluxe edition of SOS appears to be on the way, the base project is doing just fine without an addendum as it maintains the No. 6 spot it also held last week.

5. Zach Bryan — Zach Bryan

Bryan came through with a surprise EP recently, but it’s his recently released self-titled album that’s dominating the charts, with the former No. 1 living at No. 5 this week.

4. Ed Sheeran — Autumn Variations

Sheeran has this week’s highest chart debut with his new album. It’s his seventh top-10 album on the Billboard 200, and in fact, all of his albums have debuted in the top 5.

3. Olivia Rodrigo — Guts

Guts had the silver medal last week, but when you’re talking about the Billboard 200 chart, bronze is still pretty great, which is where Rodrigo sits this week.

2. Rod Wave — Nostalgia

For its third week on the chart, Wave ceded the No. 1 spot but still managed to hang onto No. 1 with Nostalgia.

1. Morgan Wallen — One Thing At A Time

Wallen has been perhaps the single biggest artist of 2023 in terms of chart performance: One Thing At A Time is No. 1 this week (after placing at No. 3 last week) for a 16th total week on top.

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

A lot of parents are tired of being told how technology is screwing up their kids.

Moms and dads of the digital age are well aware of the growing competition for their children’s attention, and they’re bombarded at each turn of the page or click of the mouse with both cutting-edge ideas and newfound worries for raising great kids.

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But beneath the madness of modernity, the basics of raising a moral child haven’t really changed.

Parents want their kids to achieve their goals and find happiness, but Harvard researchers believe that doesn’t have to come at the expense of kindness and empathy. They say a few tried-and-true strategies remain the best ways to mold your kids into the morally upstanding and goals-oriented humans you want them to be.

Here are six practical tips:

1) Hang out with your kids.

This is, like, the foundation of it all. Spend regular time with your kids, ask them open-ended questions about themselves, about the world and how they see it, and actively listen to their responses. Not only will you learn all sorts of things that make your child unique, you’ll also be demonstrating to them how to show care and concern for another person.

2) If it matters, say it out loud.

According to the researchers, “Even though most parents and caretakers say that their children being caring is a top priority, often children aren’t hearing that message.” So be sure to say it with them. And so they know it’s something they need to keep up with, check in with teachers, coaches, and others who work with your kids on how they’re doing with teamwork, collaboration, and being a generally nice person.

3) Show your child how to “work it out.”

Walk them through decision-making processes that take into consideration people who could be affected. For example, if your child wants to quit a sport or other activity, encourage them to identify the source of the problem and consider their commitment to the team. Then help them figure out if quitting does, in fact, fix the problem.

4) Make helpfulness and gratitude routine.

The researchers write, “Studies show that people who engage in the habit of expressing gratitude are more likely to be helpful, generous, compassionate, and forgiving — and they’re also more likely to be happy and healthy.” So it’s good for parents to hold the line on chores, asking kids to help their siblings, and giving thanks throughout the day. And when it comes to rewarding “good” behavior, the researchers recommend that parents “only praise uncommon acts of kindness.”

5) Check your child’s destructive emotions.

“The ability to care for others is overwhelmed by anger, shame, envy, or other negative feelings,” say the researchers. Helping kids name and process those emotions, then guiding them toward safe conflict resolution, will go a long way toward keeping them focused on being a caring individual. It’s also important to set clear and reasonable boundaries that they’ll understand are out of love and concern for their safety.

6) Show your kids the bigger picture.

“Almost all children empathize with and care about a small circle of families and friends,” say the researchers. The trick is getting them to care about people who are socially, culturally, and even geographically outside their circles. You can do this by coaching them to be good listeners, by encouraging them to put themselves in other people’s shoes, and by practicing empathy using teachable moments in news and entertainment.

The study concludes with a short pep talk for all the parents out there:

“Raising a caring, respectful, ethical child is and always has been hard work. But it’s something all of us can do. And no work is more important or ultimately more rewarding.”

This article originally appeared on 06.16.15

When Sean Payton took over as head coach of the Denver Broncos he made sure to let it be known that he thought Nathaniel Hackett and the previous regime had done a terrible job. In fact, he called it one of the “worst coaching jobs in NFL history” and insisted things would turn around under his leadership.

On Sunday afternoon, Hackett returned to Denver for the first time since he was fired, as he is now the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets. Many had circled this game on the preseason schedule, particularly with Aaron Rodgers taking exception at Payton’s shot at Hackett. However, after four weeks of play, the two teams each entered at 1-3 on the season with Rodgers out for the year with an Achilles tear and Zach Wilson back under center. On the other side, the Broncos have struggled finishing games and while Russell Wilson has looked improved from last year, the team as a whole hasn’t been able to get across the finish line for wins.

That trend continued on Sunday as the Jets and Broncos went back-and-forth, with New York eventually taking a 24-21 lead in the fourth quarter. A Wilson interception deep in Broncos territory with just over two minutes to go gave Denver some life, but they’d need to move the ball into field goal range at least to force OT. After a couple completions, the Jets decided to turn up the pressure on Wilson and the result was a game-clinching strip sack by Quincy Williams that got scooped up on the sideline by Bryce Hall, who kept running all the way to the end zone.

It’s the Jets first win since that bizarre opening night game against the Bills, and it has to be a bit extra sweet for New York to get back in the win column given Payton’s preseason comments about Hackett. As for Payton, given how much he talked about turning things around before the season there isn’t much room for him to pass blame to anyone but himself for the 1-4 start in Denver. Wilson has looked better but the team as a whole just isn’t there, particularly on defense where they continue to give up a ton of points. Now, he has to deal with the indignity of losing to a Hackett coached offense quarterbacked by Wilson and deal with plenty of questions heading into the meat of the AFC West schedule.