Month: April 2024

Aziz Ansari took the stage at CinemaCon on Wednesday where he revealed that Good Fortune, his second attempt at a directorial debut, pulled off a feat that not even the John Wick movies or Speed could accomplish: put Keanu Reeves in the hospital. (Don’t worry. He’s fine.)

“About 15 days into shooting with me,” Ansari told the CinemaCon crowd as he set the scene for Reeves’ injury, “I said, ‘Go chill in your trailer.’ He tripped on a rug… Poor guy, he was such a trooper, and he fractured his kneecap and continued to do all the scenes.”

Joining Ansari on-stage was Lionsgate studio head Adam Fogelson, who couldn’t believe the injury considering all of the crazy stunt work that Reeves performed in the John Wick movies without ever needing a trip to the hospital.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

After an image surfaced earlier this year from the set showing Reeves on crutches with his knee wrapped in bandages and an ice pack, Ansari noted that #GetWellSoonKeanu was trending. He, for one, was not surprised. “He actually is an angel,” he said. “He’s been pretending to be human for all these other roles.”

Speaking of angels, that literally is Reeves’ role in Good Fortune. He’s tasked with teaching Ansari’s character that his life is precious after a run-in with a jerky millionaire played by Seth Rogen. However, the lesson doesn’t stick, resulting in Keanu losing his wings and being forced to live among humans where “hijinks ensue.”

Good Fortune does not currently have a release date.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Well-aged rye whiskey is enjoying a renaissance right now. And one of the biggest names in the category just revived its greatest hit. Bulleit Frontier Whiskey 12-Year-Old Rye first hit the market in 2019 and the fanfare around the release caused it to swiftly sell out.

Now, five years later, Bulleit has brought the expression back. But this drop is far from a run-of-the-mill retread. The brand new 2024 Bulleit Rye 12-Year-Old is a blend that contains whiskey from the original release — with those barrels now at the 17-year mark — adding layers of nuance and depth to what was already a wildly popular expression.

Speaking with Uproxx, Diageo’s Global Brand Director Johannah Rogers stressed that accessibility was one of the brand’s motivating factors for bringing back its premium rye expression.

“Bulleit is the frontier whiskey,” she said. “So being on the cutting edge of trends and offering a well-aged rye is an extension of that.”

Bulleit Master Distiller Andrew Mackay echoed those sentiments, saying, “Accessibility to me is all about the flavor profile. Those rye flavors don’t get lost in the matrices of extended aging and that’s important to me.”

Of course, price is also a part of the equation. The 12-year-old expression hits stores at $55 — instantly making it one of the most affordably priced whiskies in its age range.

When the country’s biggest rye producer releases some of their oldest rye ever, that’s worth raising an eyebrow. When they do it at this price point, you really have to tip your glass to them. Read my tasting notes on this limited offering below!

Bulleit Frontier Whiskey 12-Year-Old Rye

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $55

The Whiskey:

Bulleit Rye is already among the most popular American ryes on the market and this new 12-Year-Old expression is sure to be a hot ticket item as well. While the former is a widely used cocktail ingredient, this 12-year version fits better as a premium sipping whiskey thanks, in part, to the 17-year-old barrels in the blend.

This expression marks just the second time Bulleit has released a 12-year age-stated rye whiskey.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Green caramel apple aromas fill the glass and waft over the rim along with a touch of honeyed mint tea, allspice, and sweet oak. There’s also a distinctive floral aspect that draws you in.

Palate: Oak and allspice take the lead, but those notes are soon supplanted by a dollop of caramel and the crisp green apple found on the nose.

Finish: Sweet oak and white pepper are found in abundance on the finish which has a medium length that gently recedes which leaves you craving the next sip.

Bottom Line:

Look, the 95% rye and 5% malted barley grain recipe that Bulleit uses for their rye is famous for a reason – it’s a crowd-pleaser that helped redefine the category. With some added age, the whiskey takes on a richer depth of flavor and delivers an incredible value that’s well worth taking advantage of while supplies last. Sure, there may be a few barrels of this whiskey left in Bulleit’s reserves, but you’ll want to pick up a bottle ASAP — just in case we have to wait another 5 years for the next release.

Bulleit Rye 12-Year-Old can be found nationally beginning in April 2024.

2010 was the last time someone could conceivably claim to not know who Lady Gaga is. In 2024, even my baby boomer father has heard of her, and he hasn’t listened to a “new” album since Elvis Presley was still alive. Gaga’s debut album, The Fame, was less than two years ago, and Born This Way wouldn’t be released until the following year. “Just Dance,” “Poker Face,” and her masterpiece “Bad Romance” were big hits, but they went unnoticed by Joaquin Phoenix.

The Miley Cyrus fan account @MileyCyrusBz shared an of-its-era clip of Miley Cyrus, in her pre-Can’t Be Tamed era, teaching Phoenix about Lady Gaga. “You know who Lady Gaga is?” she asks the actor, who is two years away from The Master. “Very well,” he answers, unconvincingly. “She has the song ‘Everybody Goes Up.’ She also does the one ‘Two Lashes at a Time.’” Miley tells Phoenix that he has it all wrong (although those are good song titles!) before she starts dancing to and singing “Bad Romance.”

The clip is taken from the video “MILEY CYRUS TEACHES JOAQUIN PHOENIX & LIV TYLER How to Vote for TWLOHA and Suicide Prevention,” which was uploaded to the YouTube account for To Write Love on Her Arms (a non-profit that aims to help those struggling with mental health issues) on January 22, 2010. Fourteen years later, Phoenix would star with Gaga in Joker: Folie à Deux. I hope he asked her to sing “Two Lashes at a Time” during filming.

You can watch the clip below.

Joker: Folie à Deux opens in theaters on October 4.

One week ago, NxWorries — Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge — announced the release date for their long-awaited second group album, Why Lawd?, with the music video for “86Sentra.” The album is the follow-up to their 2016 debut, Yes, Lawd!, which became an instant underground classic upon its release. Today, they shared the cover and tracklist, along with features including Dave Chappelle, Earl Sweatshirt, HER, Rae Khalil, Snoop Dogg and his new artist October London, and Thundercat.

From the tracklist, it’s now confirmed that the album will feature the previously released tracks “Where I Go” with HER and “Daydreaming.” On their social media, the duo revealed that the album would be released on vinyl, CD, and limited numbers of cassette tapes, which you can preorder now on the Stones Throw Records web store. There’ll be multiple versions of the vinyl, including one with a special-edition cover designed by Rhymezlikedimez, the animator behind their “86Sentra” video. The cassettes will only be available on June 13.

Why Lawd? is due on June 14 via Stones Throw Records.

1. “ThankU” Feat. Dave Chappelle
2. “86Sentra”
3. “MoveOn”
4. “KeepHer” Feat. Thundercat
5. “Distractions”
6. “Lookin’”
7. Where I Go” Feat. HER
8. “Daydreaming”
9. “FromHere” Feat. Snoop Dogg & October London
10. “FallThru”
11. “Battlefield”
12. “HereIAm”
13. “OutTheWay” Feat. Rae Khalil
14. “SheUsed”
15. “MoreOfIt”
16. “NVR.RMX”
17. “DistantSpace”
18. “WalkOnBy” Feat. Earl Sweatshirt & Rae Khalil
19. “EvnMore”

I first saw a psychiatrist for my anxiety and depression as a junior in high school.

During her evaluation, she asked about my coursework. I told her that I had a 4.0 GPA and had filled my schedule with pre-AP and AP classes. A puzzled look crossed her face. She asked about my involvement in extracurricular activities. As I rattled off the long list of groups and organizations I was a part of, her frown creased further.

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Finally, she set down her pen and looked at me, saying something along the lines of “You seem to be pretty high-functioning, but your anxiety and depression seem pretty severe. Actually, it’s teens like you who scare me a lot.”

Now I was confused. What was scary about my condition? From the outside, I was functioning like a perfectly “normal” teenager. In fact, I was somewhat of an overachiever.

I was working through my mental illnesses and I was succeeding, so what was the problem?

I left that appointment with a prescription for Lexapro and a question that I would continue to think about for years. The answer didn’t hit me all at once.

Instead, it came to me every time I heard a suicide story on the news saying, “By all accounts, they were living the perfect life.”

It came to me as I crumbled under pressure over and over again, doing the bare minimum I could to still meet my definition of success.

It came to me as I began to share my story and my illness with others, and I was met with reactions of “I had no idea” and “I never would have known.” It’s easy to put depression into a box of symptoms.

Even though we’re often told that mental illness comes in all shapes and sizes, I think we’re still stuck with certain “stock images” of mental health in our heads.

When we see depression and anxiety in adolescents, we see teens struggling to get by in their day-to-day lives. We see grades dropping, and we see involvement replaced by isolation. But it doesn’t always look like this.

And when we limit our idea of mental illness, at-risk people slip through the cracks.

We don’t see the student with the 4.0 GPA or the student who’s active in choir and theater or a member of the National Honor Society or the ambitious teen who takes on leadership roles in a religious youth group.

No matter how many times we are reminded that mental illness doesn’t discriminate, we revert back to a narrow idea of how it should manifest, and that is dangerous.

Recognizing this danger is what helped me find the answer to my question.

Watching person after person — myself included — slip under the radar of the “depression detector” made me realize where that fear comes from. My psychiatrist knew the list of symptoms, and she knew I didn’t necessarily fit them. She understood it was the reason that, though my struggles with mental illness began at age 12, I didn’t come to see her until I was 16.

If we keep allowing our perception of what mental illness looks like to dictate how we go about recognizing and treating it, we will continue to overlook people who don’t fit the mold.

We cannot keep forgetting that there are people out there who, though they may not be able to check off every symptom on the list, are heavily and negatively affected by their mental illness. If we forget, we allow their struggle to continue unnoticed, and that is pretty scary.

This article was written by Amanda Leventhal and originally appeared on 06.03.16

In addition to being the star of Marvel franchise “Thor,” actor Chris Hemsworth is also a father-of-three? And it turns out, he’s pretty much the coolest dad ever.

In a clip from a 2015 interview on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Hemsworth shared an interesting conversation he had with his 4-year-old daughter India.

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“My daughter’s kind of envious of my boys,” Hemsworth told Ellen. “She came to me the other day, and she’s like ‘You know, Papa, I want one of those things that Sasha and Tristan have.’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ She said, ‘You know the things in between their legs that you have.'”

Hemsworth said he tried to explain the differences between male and female bodies, but his daughter wasn’t having it.

“She goes, ‘I really want one!’ Hemsworth said. “I’m like, ‘A penis?’ And she’s like, ‘I want a penis!’

And then, Hemsworth had the best possible response. He recalls:

She’s four and I’m like, ‘You know what, you can be whatever you want to be.’ And she goes, ‘Thanks, Dad.’ Runs off into the playground and that was it.

And then, I cannot confirm, but I’m pretty sure the Ellen audience did this:

Major kudos to Hemsworth for taking a potentially awkward parenting situation and turning it into a lesson about love and acceptance.

You can watch the full clip here:

This article originally appeared on 08.27.18

Software developer Angie Jones’ recent girls trip revealed that America still has a long way to go when it comes to race.

To most, that’s not surprising. But what’s unique is how the specific experience Jones and her friends went through revealed the pervasive way systemic racism still runs through our culture.

Jones is the Senior Director of Developer Relations at Applitools, holds 26 patented inventions in the United States of America and Japan, and is an IBM Master Inventor.

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On July 27, she tweeted about a flight she took with nine other Black women and they all sat in first class. “People literally could not process how it was possible,” she wrote. “Staff tried to send us to regular lines. Passengers made snide remarks. One guy even yelled ‘are they a higher class of people than I am?!'”

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Jones and her friends were the targets of racism that ranged from the seemingly unconscious — people who assumed that Black people don’t sit in first class — to the blatant — those who were seriously bothered that Black people were being treated as having a higher status.

It’s interesting that she didn’t mention anyone saying “good for you” for succeeding in a world that often holds people of color back. Instead, she was greeted with incredulity and jealous rage.

There are a lot of white people who can’t stand the idea of a Black person being elevated above them. It’s disturbing that in 2021 there are still some who will admit it publicly.

Jones’ tweets inspired a lot of people to share their stories about the racism they’ve experienced while flying first class.

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Jones’ tweets also angered some people to the point that they denied her story. To which she responded, “To those saying I’m lying, you’re a huge part of the problem,” she wrote. “You tell yourself a notable person is lying (for what reason, I cannot figure out) before you believe there are actual racists in…America.”

— (@)

One Twitter user came up with the perfect retort to the person who asked, “Are they a higher class of people than I am?!”

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This article originally appeared on 07.29.21

Ever look at your parents’ high school yearbooks and think people looked so much older back then? All of the teenagers look like they’re in their mid-30s and the teachers who are 50 look like they’re 80.

When we watch older movies, even those from the 1980s, the teenagers appear to be a lot older as well.

Why is it that they looked so much older? Was life harder? Did people act more mature? Did they spend more time outdoors and less time playing video games? Is it their sense of fashion? Were they all smokers?

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Educator Michael Stevens, who runs the super-popular Vsauce YouTube channel, explains the phenomenon in a new video called, “Did people used to look older?” In the video, he explains that people in the past appear a lot older due to a phenomenon known as retrospective aging.

When we see people in the past, they are wearing outdated styles that we associate with older people; therefore, we think they have aged rapidly. For example, a teenager in the 1950s may have been in fashion while wearing thick Buddy Holly-style glasses.

But as people age, they tend to cling to the fashion of their youth. So many people of that generation continued to wear the Buddy Holly-style glasses into their 50s. So when younger people see those glasses they see them as old people’s glasses and not a hip kid from the ’50s.

So in the photo from the ’50s, the teen appears to look a lot older because our perspective has been tainted by time.

But it isn’t all just an illusion. Stevens also points out that people did age faster back in the day due to differences in nutrition, lifestyle and medicine.

This article originally appeared on 07.11.22

Stephanie Walsh isn’t your average hip-hop dancer. At 75, “Ms. Stephanie” is still able to hold her own on the dance floor, popping and locking with people a third her age, and she loves it.

When you see her dance—and her enviable muscle tone—you might think she’d been a trained dancer all her life. But she actually didn’t take any formal dance lessons until she was almost 30.

Walsh told Growing Bolder that she had wanted her daughter to dance when she was little, so she got her ballet lessons, which the daughter hated. Realizing that dancing was her dream and not her daughter’s, Walsh took her kiddo out of ballet and started classes herself right away.

She had always loved to dance and developing her skills only led to more and more dancing.

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These days, Ms. Stephanie gets her dance moves on at Fusion Fitness, where she encourages people to “dance like EVERYONE is watching.” One video of her dancing at Fusion has gone viral multiple times, and it’s easy to see why. Check this out:

@fiercefitnessty

Reposting this video of Ms.Stephanie & I since it going viral again. This video will always be a vibe. One thing Ms.Stephanie and I created was magic. We dance from our hearts. My classes are always about creating a Fierce vibe for everyone to show up and show out! . #fiercefitness #dancefit #fiercefitnessty #hiphopfitness #fyp #viral

“Reposting this video of Ms.Stephanie & I since it going viral again,” shared @fiercefitnessty on TikTok. “This video will always be a vibe. One thing Ms.Stephanie and I created was magic. We dance from our hearts. My classes are always about creating a Fierce vibe for everyone to show up and show out!”

It’s not just the dancing. It’s the intensity. It’s the full presence in the moment in her face and in her movements. She’s there for it, and she brings everybody with her.

“It’s the “I’m a badass” facial expression for me! ” wrote one commenter on Facebook.

“I dislocated my shoulder just watching that ” shared another.

“She can throw it back like the rest of them. You go girl!” shared another.

Walsh shared that dancing has helped her get through many difficult periods in her life. Watch her share her story:

Love it when people prove that age truly is just a number.

The studio set up a fan page for Ms. Stephanie on Instagram, where you can see more of her joyful dancing here.

This article originally appeared on 10.20.23

There are many reasons why people are nervous about entering social situations where they have to make small talk, such as a work event, a party where they don’t know many people, or at school.

Some people don’t enjoy small talk because they get frustrated talking about seemingly unimportant topics. At the same time, others are shy and afraid they’ll say the wrong thing or run out of topics of conversation.

Psychologists suggest those who are uncomfortable knowing what to say should use the FORD method. It’s an acronym that’s an easy way to remember four different topics of conversation that work with just about anyone.

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According to Nicole Arzt, M.S., L.M.F.T at Social Self, FORD stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation and Dreams.

Family

Just about everyone has a family, so it’s a great way to ask someone to share some information about their personal lives without being too forward. Arzt suggests the following questions when making small talk:

Do you have any siblings?

How did you two meet? (if you are meeting a couple for the first time)

How old is your child?

How is your____ (sister, brother, mother, etc.) doing since ____ (event that happened?)

Occupation

Just like a family, almost everyone has a job. Or, if they do not, that can be an interesting topic as well. Here are some starter questions you can ask someone about their job.

What do you do for a living?

How do you like working at _____?

What’s your favorite part of your job?

What made you interested in becoming a _____?

Recreation

You can learn a lot about a person after knowing how they spend their free time. It’s also an excellent way to determine if someone is like-minded and shares the same interests. Here are some questions to get the ball rolling:

What do you like to do for fun?

Have you watched (or read) ______(popular show/book)?

What are you up to this weekend?

Dreams

Learning someone’s hope for the future can tell you much about who they are on a deeper level. They may have just told you about their current job or how they spend their time. But, ultimately, what do they wish to do with their lives? Here’s how to ask someone about their dreams.

Where do you hope to be working in the next few years?

Where would you like to travel?

What’s something you’d like to try in the future?

Would you ever consider trying _____ (particular hobby or activity)?

Arzt also notes that you shouldn’t just be an interviewer. You have to talk about yourself, too. In other words, you need a mutual take-and-give. “Pay attention to someone else’s answers and think about how you can draw from your own experience to connect,” she wrote.

Not sure how much to say during a conversation? Follow the 43:57 rule. A numbers guy at Gong.io analyzed over 25,000 sales calls with AI and found the perfect speaking-to-listening ratio. Sales soared when the salesperson talked 43% of the time and listened for 57%.

Even though this insight is from business calls, it applies to everyday social interactions. It’s really about listening and making the other person feel special. After all, who doesn’t love feeling heard and appreciated?

This article originally appeared on 10.20.23