Month: June 2024

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift have the kind of love you see in movies. For almost a year, the two have made headlines. It seems the two of them are the most famous people in the world right now — as a couple and as individuals. And while we may not know everything about their lives, the two don’t plan to dial their affections back any time soon.

In an interview on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Kelce explained that he is proud to love Swift out loud.

“You want to keep things private, but at the same time, I’m not here to hide anything,” said Kelce. “Like, that’s my girl. That’s my lady, so it’s like, I’m proud of that.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Kelce explained when he knew Swift was his ideal woman. He shared his favorite things about her, including one vital core trait.

“She’s very self-aware…I think that’s why I really started to really fall for her was how genuine she is around friends, family,” said Kelce. “It can get crazy for somebody with that much attention, and she just keeps it so chill and so cool, and I can admire it, for sure.”

You can tune into the episode of Bussin’ With The Boys above.

One of the hottest names on the NBA trade market is getting traded, and as an added bonus, he won’t even have to move. According to multiple media reports on Tuesday night, the New York Knicks parted ways with Bojan Bogdanovic and a metric ton of future draft capital to acquire Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets, marking the extremely rare occasion where New York and Brooklyn agree to a trade with one another.

Much was made of how the Knicks were built around a trio of players who attended Villanova: Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Josh Hart. Bridges was the fourth member of that group, although he plied his trade elsewhere in New York, which led to Hart making a pretty funny SpongeBob reference earlier this season. And now that the group is reunited, well, you can probably guess how excited they all are.

The group also hopped onto FaceTime, presumably to talk about the trade, but maybe they talked about other stuff, too.

Brunson and Hart did have to deal with one minor nuisance, as Bam Adebayo alleged that both of them tampered to get Bridges on board.

Also excited about all of this: Noted Knicks fan Stephen A. Smith, who celebrated in the room where he usually makes videos making fun of the Dallas Cowboys.

My hunch is that Stephen A. isn’t the only Knicks fan who is this excited.

The Brooklyn Nets are officially rebuilding after a wild few years that saw them unload almost all of their future assets to build a hopeful superteam with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden, only to trade all three away in a two-year span. They tried to find a middle path to still being a playoff contender, largely because most of their draft picks were owned by the Houston Rockets, making tanking not an option.

However, after a 32-50 campaign last year, the Nets decided to abandon that plan and figure out how to hit the reset button in earnest. On Tuesday night, they cracked the code with a truly stunning trade that sent Mikal Bridges across the river to Manhattan to play with the Knicks, with five first round picks coming back their way in return. Armed with lots of future draft capital from New York, they were able to then flip some of the picks they got back from Phoenix in the Durant trade to Houston to get the rights to their 2025 and 2026 picks back, allowing them to tank in peace this season.

That sets the Nets up for the future, but the reason the Rockets were willing to make such a deal is they have their sights set on acquiring Durant themselves, per Adrian Wojnarowski, and want to offer the Suns a chance to get their picks back in such a trade.

As Woj points out, the Suns aren’t ready to discuss a Durant trade just yet, but Houston is clearly going to be aggressive this summer to land a star of some form and will start by trying to make Phoenix an offer they can’t refuse for Durant. Woj then followed up later by noting the Suns aren’t expected to move off their stance with Durant, but ended by noting the Rockets could go after Devin Booker in the future given their control of future Suns picks, only adding to the madness.

We’ll see whether these deals lead to a domino effect of moves over the next 24 hours going into the first round of the NBA Draft, as trade season is officially underway with Bridges in New York, Alex Caruso in Oklahoma City, and a ton of picks changing hands in Houston and Brooklyn.

The Villanova Knicks have added yet another Wildcat. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the New York Knicks agreed to a rare trade with the Brooklyn Nets to acquire swingman Mikal Bridges, who will become the latest former Villanova standout to ply his trade at Madison Square Garden alongside Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Josh Hart.

The news of the deal was confirmed by Shams Charania of The Athletic and Ian Begley of SNY, with Begley reporting that Bridges told the Nets he wanted to go the the Knicks.

Wojnarowski brought the specifics of the draft capital making its way to Brooklyn, which includes first-round picks in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031, along with a few other future picks and a pick swap in 2028.

Bridges joined the Nets ahead of the 2023 trade deadline when Brooklyn sent Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns. After impressing during his debut with the team, Bridges struggled as he shouldered a big load over the course of an entire season in 2023-24. At his best, he’s considered one of the league’s premier two-way wings, someone who can shoot and provide a little creation for both himself and others on offense, all while being a pest on the defensive end of the floor.

There are plenty of questions about what will come next for New York — primarily, it’s fair to wonder what this means for OG Anunoby, who is a free agent and wants a big deal but reportedly has not quite been on the same page with the Knicks. But for now, we can safely assume that Jay Wright is going to be watching a whole lot of New York basketball next year.

New music from BTS‘ V is on the horizon. Today (June 25), the K-Pop group member teased a project called Type 1.

The news came in the form of a poster shared to social media. On the poster is white text that seems to be lyrics to a new song.

“I still wonder wonder beautiful story/ Still wonder wonder best part/ I still wonder wonder next story/ I want to make you mine,” reads the text.

At the time of writing, it is unclear whether Type 1 is a new single, album, or EP. But the cover art (of whatever this may be) sets a sexy vibe. On the cover, V is seen shirtless, leaning up against a wall in white elastic pants, pulling on his waistband.

While we don’t know much else about Type 1, we imagine that romance will be a key component of this project. Last year, in an interview with Rolling Stone, V explained the role romance plays in his life.

“I tend to really enjoy the atmosphere and the vibe in the scenes of everyday life,” V said. “I think I’m the kind of person to try to find meaning in everything. So whether that means going to beautiful places or eating delicious food or looking at nice scenery, I think that’s what romance is to me.”

Type 1 is out 7/9 via BigHit.

Back in January, Lil Nas X teased the ultimate comeback with his single, “J Christ” — the video of which features him being crucified, them making a miraculous return. Many saw this as the rollout for the follow-up of his 2021 debut album, Montero. Nearly six months have passed since then, however, there has been no announcement of his sophomore album (though, Lil Nas X has dropped a few Soundcloud loosies and teased a mixtape called Naserati 2).

But it seems Lil Nas X has finally gotten his momentum back. Today (June 25), he took to social media to tease his new single, “Here We Go!”

In the post’s caption, Lil Nas X explained that he had been feeling hesitant about sharing his music.

“so excited to release the best song of all time this friday!,” he said, “also sorry I’ve been so scared with my art lately. I’m coming around to myself again. I will make you guys very proud.”

According to a report from Billboard, “Here We Go!” will sample Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” and feature in the Netflix original movie Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, set to arrive on July 3.

You can get a look at the official single cover above.

Few things strike fear in the heart of parents and doctors more than a cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG. Primarily found in children, DIPG is a highly aggressive brain tumor that is uniformly fatal, with less than 10 percent of children surviving longer than two years after diagnosis.

But for the first time ever, a 13-year-old boy from Belgium named Lucas Jemeljanova has beaten the odds.

Diagnosed with DIPG at age six, Lucas’ doctor Jacques Grill told Lucas’ parents, Cedric and Olesja, that he was unlikely to live very long. Instead of giving up hope, Cedric and Olesja flew Lucas to France to participate in a clinical trial called BIOMEDE, which tested new potential drugs against DIPG.

Lucas was randomly assigned everolimus in the clinical trial, a chemotherapy drug that works by blocking a protein called mTOR. mTOR helps cancer cells divide and grow new blood vessels, while everolimus decreases blood supply to the tumor cells and stops cancer cells from reproducing. Everolimus, a tablet that’s taken once per day, has been approved in the UK and the US to treat cancers in the breast, kidneys, stomach, pancreas, and others—but until the BIOMEDE clinical trial, it had never before been used to treat DIPG.

Lucas Jemeljanova poses with his mother(lesja Jemeljanova / Facebook)

Though doctors weren’t sure how Lucas would react to the medication, it quickly became clear that the results were good.

“Over a series of MRI scans, I watched as the tumor completely disappeared,” Grill said in an interview. Even more remarkably, the tumor has not returned since. Lucas, who is now thirteen, is considered officially cured of DIPG.

Even after the tumor was gone, Grill, who is the head of the Brain Tumor Program in the Department of Child and Teenage Oncology at Gustave Roussy cancer research hospital in Paris, was reluctant to stop Lucas’ treatments. Until about a year and a half ago, Lucas was still taking everolimus once every day.

“I didn’t know when to stop, or how, because there was no other reference in the world,” Grill said.

While Lucas is the only one in the clinical trial whose tumor has completely disappeared, seven other children have been considered “long responders” to everolimus, meaning their tumors have not progressed for more than three years after starting treatment.

Lucas Jemeljanova with his mother (Facebook)(lesja Jemeljanova / Facebook)

So why did everolimus work so well for Lucas? Doctors think that an extremely rare genetic mutation in Lucas’ tumor “made its cells far more sensitive to the drug,” Grill said, while the drug worked well in other children because of the “biological peculiarities” of their tumors.

While everolimus is by no means a cure, the trial has provided real hope for parents and families of children diagnosed with DIPG. Doctors must now work to better understand why Lucas’ tumor responded so well to the drug and how they can replicate those results in tumor “organoids”—artificially-grown cells that resemble an organ. After that, said Marie-Anne Debily, a researcher in the BIOMEDE trial, “the next step will be to find a drug that works as well on tumor cells.”

In the meantime, however, Lucas’ doctors are thrilled.

“Lucas’ case offers real hope,” said Debily.

Lucas Jemeljanova with his parents and sister(lesja Jemeljanova / Facebook)

Attachment style is something that seems to have gained a lot of popularity on social media, which can translate to real life interactions like dating. Everyone wants to have the “gold star” attachment style–secure attachment. Not everyone can have a secure attachment style, but that doesn’t mean they’ll never have one since this is not a fixed trait.

Shantel Smith, has a self proclaimed insecure attachment style, which can cause people to be a bit more guarded in their approach to interpersonal relationships. The social media creator recently made a video about what it’s like to have an insecure attachment style while integrating into a family that is very affectionate.

Smith recently got married and became a stepmother to three children. From the looks of the video, she is adored by her stepchildren and their father, but all of the affection seems to be a bit overwhelming for the new mom.

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In the video, Smith gets an unexpected hug from one of her step-kids and appears to be confused and uncomfortable. The next frame highlights “goodbye rituals” where we hear one of the children telling her bye before leaving but continuing to say “I love you” louder and louder until the new stepmom says it back.

Smith writes in the caption of her video, “there was love in my household as a child for sure but affection wasn’t shown the way it is now with my family that I’ve joined.”

The video struck a chord with several people in the comments who expressed their own discomfort with being affectionate due to their attachment style or upbringing.

@shantelmsmith Can you say insecure attachment?! This is me keeping it so vulnerable and real with yall. There was love in my household as a child for sure but affection wasn’t shown the way it is now with my family that I’ve joined. Sometimes i find myself asking like “what do they want from me?” Becasue people are not this verbally affectionatebynless they want something from you. Mercy. It truly is a blessing and I’m growing through it lol it is hard some days to receive love, we have in my household,but we have in our household what we call “i love you Shan sundays” thats the day when they can say it as many times as they like without me being weird about it. So im learning to recieve this abundant gift of love and joy and they are learning that its gonna take me some time. #familylife #familytime #parenting #affection #comedy #healing #traumahealing #marriage ♬ All The Way Up (feat. Infared) – Fat Joe & Remy Ma & French Montana

“Just overstimulated and mad after a certain amount of loving,” one person says.

“OMG I thought I was the only one thank you for making feel like others understand me,” another writes.

“I just felt so seen and triggered at the same time,” someone reveals.

“It’s crazy because I’m really trying but it feels weird and I love my family but why you hugging me,” one mom says.

“First time my dad said “I love you” I was 24 and I called my brothers bc I thought he was sick or something,” a commenter laughs.

Marrying into a family is a big step and takes some adjusting for everyone. While it seems like Smith is still learning, she reveals, “we have in our household what we call “i love you Shan Sundays” thats the day when they can say it as many times as they like without me being weird about it. So I’m learning to receive this abundant gift of love and joy and they are learning that its gonna take me some time.”

Language evolves as humanity evolves. We know this. History has proven it over and over again.

And yet, there’s still so much resistance when certain linguistic changes are tied to gender issues. The introduction of they/them pronouns comes to mind as an example. Many well-meaning, grammar nerds (myself included) bristled at the thought of incorporating this kind of language, even if they fully supported the idea behind the concept.

But when we get too stuck in the weeds of semantics, we miss the opportunity for vital transformative conversations.

Take for instance a video that came out around 2021—and the debate it sparked—when a little girl questioned why things were “man-made,” rather than “people-made.”

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In the clip (whose source is undetermined but shared across several platforms) the girl passionately explains to her mother how she heard the term in her social studies class, and how much it irked her, since it seemed to only regard men as creators.

“Aren’t women building the Eiffel Tower or something? Aren’t women allowed to build stuff?!” she exclaims.

She then refers to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which stated that “all men are created equal.”

“Aren’t women created equal too? Why don’t they say all people are created equal?!” she prods.

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Down in the comments, people applauded the little girl’s hilarious gusto.

“You go girl. Little genius,” one person wrote.

Another added, “keep that critical thinking cap on, little mama.”

As to be expected, many people also commented on how the little girl’s argument was unjustified, since, linguistically speaking, it is implied that both men and women are included in the word “man.”

“She is missing the point! Man in this sense is a plural word, meaning man and woman,” one person wrote.”

Another added, “I am so over this. Man made = huMAN, woMAN, MAN! The term is already inclusive of all genders. Stop looking for problems where there aren’t any. I’m so sick of this nonsense.”

But is it really nonsense? After all, we need only look to our Constitution to know that women have certainly not always been included in language that pertains to “all men.” Or we could look to all the many instances throughout history in which patriarchal values (that is, values which undermine a woman’s inherent and equal worth) silently shaped the way we lived our everyday lives.

Not to mention that this argument denies language’s true nature—to change along with our own levels of awareness. Perhaps the reality is that this little girl is performing her job as a member of the younger generation, by questioning things older generations might take for granted. After all, we don’t create change by not asking uncomfortable questions.

Bottom line: we have not always been an inclusive society. It is reflected in our language. As we collectively continue to become more inclusive, so too will that be reflected in our language. That’s a good thing. It’s a marker of progress. Think of all the energy we spend combating these inevitable changes when we could instead allow them to help us grow as people.

There are tons of mesmerizing fashion history videos online where women take viewers on a stylish adventure through Victorian gowns to flapper dresses to bell bottoms and beyond, just to showcase all the ways that women’s clothing has evolved.

But it’s been just as thrilling of a ride for men’s fashion, and Wisdom Kaye, dubbed “TikTok’s best dress guy” by Vogue, has a video to prove it.

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In a video titled “High Fashion Time Travel,” the model-stylist-photographer ambitiously takes us on a style journey that begins all the way back to 10,000 BCE, aka the Paleolithic Era.

Granted, folks from the Paleolithic Era wish they could have worn such luxurious pieces, but his inspired designs still remarkably capture the essences of each time period while adding his own artistic flair.

Did we mention he even “travels” to the future? Watch below:

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You might have noticed that after the 1900s, he gets very specific with which dates he’s representing (1954 vs the 1950s, for example). Perhaps this is to convey very particular, even fleeting trends that history was actually able to record. Which is certainly a nice touch, instead of applying a generic fashion identity to an entire time period. It’s almost like he’s really good at this?

With over 6 MILLION likes on Instagram alone, it feels safe to say that folks certainly think so.

“Can’t imagine the amount of time and effort you put into this🤯maaaaaad respect to you👏” one person wrote.

Another added, “the best thing my eyes have ever witnessed.”

It’s also interesting to see how, for both men and women, the 20th century forever changed the way we prioritize casual comfort (t-shirts FTW!) and how we continue to incorporate more diversity and experimentation with gender expression as a way to focus on self expression, and individuality. A special thanks to passionate folks like Kaye who can really convey our own ever evolving humanity through fashion.

By the way, there’s more eye candy where that came from. Kaye can seemingly make high fashion out of anything, from popular cartoon shows to comic characters to text fonts (yes, really), and will regularly take on fashion challenges prompted by his followers.

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@wisdm8 Replying to @user9381720148560 ♬ original sound – Wisdom Kaye

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Give his TikTok and Instagram a follow so you don’t miss out on any incredible looks he’s bound to be serving.