Month: August 2024

Coming out of the group stage, Canada and Germany looked like the top contenders to Team USA for the gold medal in men’s basketball at the Paris Olympics, as France got absolutely blasted by the Germans to close out the group stage slate. That said, France got a chance to reassert themselves as a medal threat in the quarterfinals against a Canadian team that they would have a significant size advantage against.

Before the game even started, we got an indication of how seriously France was taking this game as they made a starting lineup change, removing Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier for Guerschon Yabusele and Isaiah Cordinier, trying to get more switching and versatility on the floor against the rangy, but smaller Canadian team. That adjustment paid big dividends as France jumped out to a 23-10 lead after one quarter, as they smothered Canada’s offense and walled off the rim with Victor Wembanyama lurking and roaming on the back line.

They extended that lead to 16 at the half, and it looked like a romp might be in store for the host nation. However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would lead a second half charge that saw Canada get within two possessions on a couple of occasions late, with France struggling offensively. However, they would turn to the veteran, Fournier, who came off the bench to score 15 points including a pair of late threes, the second of which was a buzzer-beating heave at the end of the shot clock from near midcourt that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Fournier finished the night shooting 3-of-6 from deep, including the miraculous dagger that put the game on ice, as he made the most of his role change coming off the bench. The lineup change worked wonders for France, as Yabusele (22 points, five rebounds) and Cordinier (20 points) led the way offensively, as Canada just had no answers for Yabusele’s physicality in the paint (he went 8-of-9 from the free throw line) and Cordinier gave France a much-needed jolt of shooting from deep (4-of-5 from three).

Wembanyama struggled with his shot, scoring just seven points on 2-of-10 shooting, but pulled in 12 rebounds with five assists, three steals, and one block as he thrived defensively in the anchor role with Gobert out. The 4-time NBA DPOY played just under four minutes, all in the first half, as he just didn’t factor into the French rotation in this one. That proved to be the right decision from the French coaching staff, as the Canadian squad’s lack of size (Dwight Powell is their starting center) gave few opportunities to leverage Gobert’s best abilities as a defender.

It’ll be fascinating to see how France adjusts their lineups for the semifinals when they face Team USA (or Brazil, if they can pull an all-time upset), as the Americans have far more size than Canada with Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo, but France had so much success with their more switchable, fluid lineup, they might want to roll with this group one more time at least to start.

The last time we heard from Fleet Foxes was when the dropped their album Shore in 2020, then the live album A Very Lonely Solstice in 2021. There’s no news of any fresh material in the pipeline right now, but there is an exciting development for fans who live in a select few areas: The band’s Robin Pecknold is going on his first solo acoustic tour.

The tour is a quick one, hitting only a handful of venues. The run starts with two nights at Woodstock, New York’s Levon Helm Studios, following by two nights at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom. Then, it’s off to Chicago, two nights in San Francisco, and one-off shows in Seattle and Portland.

An artist ticket pre-sale begins on August 8 at 10 a.m. local time (use the password ROBINSOLO to access), and that will be followed by the general on-sale starting August 9 at 10 a.m. local time. More information can be found here.

Check out Pecknold’s upcoming tour dates below.

Robin Pecknold’s 2024 Tour Dates

11/14 — Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios
11/15 — Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios
11/17 — New York, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom
11/18 — New York, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom
11/20 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
12/04 — San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
12/05 — San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
12/07 — Seattle, WA @ Town Hall Seattle
12/08 — Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater

When blizzards line up to rip through the Northeast, schools close, flights are canceled, and people even board up their houses. Though missions and homeless shelters do what they can to provide safety to those who have no homes to go to, thousands of people still have to weather the cold outside.

At Carnegie Mellon University’s 2015 Impact-a-Thon, students were challenged to provide a temporary low-cost shelter for homeless people during the winter.

One team of students came up with the “Satellite Shelter,” an insulated sleeping bag that converts into a tented structure. The students used mylar, a reflective material frequently used in greenhouses and space blankets, and wool blankets to ensure the shelter would keep anyone in it safe from the cold.

“We wanted to make sure it was super-portable and durable so that it’s easy to carry,” said student Linh Thi Do, who worked on the project. “We have wheels on it so it’s easy to move from place to place.”

“Satellite Shelter” is a sleeping bag that expands into a tent for housing the homeless https://bit.ly/1t2FsZtu00a0pic.twitter.com/L7Jdqxy2RU

— Inhabitat (@Inhabitat)
1421950827

Solutions like this one are handy in an emergency. Perhaps, however, other cities should take note of the city of New Orleans’ success in providing long-term housing solutions for its homeless veterans. The only perfect solution to homelessness is giving people permanent homes to go to at night.

This article originally appeared on 01.26.15

Tatiana von Furstenberg laid out more than 4,000 works of art on the floor of her apartment and was immediately struck by what she saw.

The pieces of artwork were submitted from various prisons across the country in hopes of being featured in “On the Inside,” an exhibition of artwork by currently incarcerated LGBTQ inmates, curated by von Furstenberg and Black and Pink, a nonprofit organization that supports the LGBTQ community behind bars. The exhibit was held at the Abrons Arts Center in Manhattan toward the end of 2016.

“I put all the submissions on the floor and I saw that there were all these loving ones, these signs of affection, all of these two-spirit expressions of gender identity, and fairies and mermaids,” von Furstenberg said.

She noticed the recurring topics throughout the works of different artists — eye contact, desire, fighting back, alienation, and longing — and these shared struggles became the themes of the art exhibition.

“These artists feel really forgotten. They really did not think that anybody cared for them. And so for them to have a show in New York and to hear what the responses have been is huge, it’s very uplifting,” she said.

Plenty of people turn to art as a means of escape. But for the artists involved in On the Inside, the act of making art also put them at risk.

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual people are incarcerated at twice the rate of heterosexuals, and trans people are three times as likely to end up behind bars than cisgender people. During incarceration, they’re also much more vulnerable than non-LGBTQ inmates to violence, sexual assault, and unusual punishments such as solitary confinement.

Not every prison makes art supplies readily available, either, which means that some of the artists who submitted to “On the Inside” had to find ways to make their work from contraband materials, such as envelopes and ink tubes. And of course, by drawing provocative images about their identities, they also risked being outed and threatened by other inmates around them.

But sometimes, the act of self-expression is worth that risk. Here are some of the remarkable examples of that from the exhibition.

(Content warning: some of the images include nudity.)

1.”A Self Portrait” by B. Tony.

2. “Rihanna” by Gabriel S.

“Rihanna is who I got the most pictures of,” von Furstenburg said. “I think it’s because she is relatable in both her strength and her vulnerability. She’s real.”

3. “Acceptance” by Stevie S.

“This series is sexy and loving and domestic,” von Furstenberg said about these two portraits by Stevie S. “A different look at family values/family portrait.”

4. “Michael Jackson” by Jeremy M.

This was another one of von Furstenberg’s favorites, because of the way it depicts a struggle with identity. “[MJ] was different, he was such a unique being that struggled so much with his identity and his body image the way a lot of our artists, especially our trans artists, are struggling behind bars,” she said.

5. “Unknown” by Tiffany W.

6. “Genotype” and “Life Study,” by J.S.

“This is the Michelangelo of the group,” von Furstenberg said. “To be able to draw this with pencil and basic prison lighting is astounding. One of the best drawings I’ve ever seen in my life.”

When the exhibition opened to the public on Nov. 4, 2016, visitors even had the chance to share their thoughts with the artists.

The exhibit included an interactive feature that allowed people to text their comments and responses to the artist, which von Furstenberg then converted to physical paper and mailed to inmates.

Some of the messages included:

“I have had many long looks in the mirror like in your piece the beauty within us. I’m glad you can see your beautiful self smiling out. I see her too. Thank you.”

“I am so wowed by your talent. You used paper, kool aid and an inhaler to draw a masterpiece. I feel lucky to have been able to see your work, and I know that other New Yorkers will feel the same. Keep creating.”

“I’ve dreamed the same dreams. The barriers in your way are wrong. We will tear them down some day. Stay strong Dear.”

Many people were also surprised at how good the artwork was — but they shouldn’t have been.

Just because someone’s spent time in prison doesn’t mean they can’t be a good person — or a talented artist. They’re also being compensated for their artwork. While business transactions with incarcerated people are technically illegal, $50 donations have been made to each artist’s commissary accounts to help them purchase food and other supplies.

“We’re led to believe that people behind bars are dangerous, that we’re safer without them, but it’s not true,” von Furstenberg said. “The fact that anybody would assume that [the art] would be anything less than phenomenal shows that there’s this hierarchy: The artist is up on this pedestal, and other people marginalized people are looked down upon.”

Art has always been about connecting people. And for these incarcerated LGBTQ artists, that human connection is more important than ever.

Perhaps the only thing harder than being in prison is trying to integrate back into society — something that most LGBTQ people struggle with anyway. These are people who have already had difficulty expressing who they are on the inside and who are now hidden away from the world behind walls.

On the Inside’s art show provided them a unique opportunity to have their voices heard — and hopefully, their individual messages are loud enough to resonate when they’re on the outside too.

This article originally appeared on 11.14.16

There are creative, romantic proposals, and then there’s this one.

Lee Loechler recently proposed to his girlfriend, Sthuthi David, by taking her to a packed theater to see her favorite Disney movie, Sleeping Beauty. Little did she know that Loechler had spent six months altering the animation of the film’s most iconic scene, changing the characters to look like the couple themselves and altering the storyline to set up his Big Question. And that’s only the beginning.

Watching David’s face during the scene change is sheer delight, as her confused look proves that she has no clue what is about to happen.

The set-up is great, but the magical moment when Loechler’s illustrated self tosses the engagement ring to his real-life self? That’s when we all toss up our hands and say, “OKAY, man. You win at proposing. Everyone else must bow before you now.”

The whole proposal—the re-illustrations, the heart jokes (David is a cardiologist), and the bride-to-be’s surprise when she finds herself surrounded by friends and family—it’s all perfection. Just watch:

Amazing, right? Lee Loechler set the bar ridiculously high, but even the most cynical among us have to give him props for his creativity.

Reddit users’ responses to the video were hilarious, and reflect what we all feel watching this masterpiece.

“Welp this guy went and did it, theres no point in any of us proposing now he’s out done us all.” – XXLpeanuts

“I was just gonna propose to my girlfriend in the Starbucks parking lot where I first told her I loved her. Welp, that ain’t gonna do anymore…” – mattrva

“I proposed to my wife in front of Disney Castle in Orlando and I’ve never felt less proud about it than after watching this video lol. For real though this is one of the best proposals I’ve ever seen, bravo.” – thenaniwatiger

“I thought I was smooth with my bridge and lilyponds on a blacksand beach in Hawaii….. this guy just went and rewrote theatrical history, broke the forth wall, made a 4th dimensional joke and timed it perfectly, made a highbrow doctors joke, conspired with the internet, and filled a theater with family and friends.” – ooooopium

“Goddamn I am cold, cynical bastard and you just warmed my heart with how hard you just crushed it, my dude. I’ll say it. I am flat out envious.” – Dr_Frasier_Bane

Congratulations and best wishes to the lovely couple. May you truly live happily ever after.

This article originally appeared on 01.09.20

Pets are wonderful, loving, innocent creatures that add so much pure joy into our lives.

They also have an unruly penchant for eating things they shouldn’t be eating, find heinously bad places to go potty and are weapons of mass destruction when it comes to shoes, fragile knickknacks and furniture. If you’ve had a pet, then you have at least one story involving one of these sins, if not all three.

No matter how egregious the act, it’s pretty hard to stay mad. After all, much of the time animal misbehavior is merely a natural reaction to stress or boredom. Plus, one look at their sweet little faces is all it takes for anger to be subdued. Most of the time.

A Reddit user recently asked pet owners, “What’s the worst thing your pet has ever done?” and boy, some critters really know to act out. Whether its fur babies or feathered friends or scaly companions, pets are capable of some truly horrific-slash-hilarious antics. We love them anyway, of course.

Below are 22 of the best responses from traumatized pet owners. And though their stories don’t necessarily paint the best picture of their beastly bestie, it’s certainly an amusing read, if not an all-too-relatable one.

1.

“My dog dug up my neighbors cable line on Super Bowl Sunday when they had a big crowd coming over.” -@Living_Departure_265

2.

“My parrot has learnt to swear and will not stop. The weirdest thing is that I don’t even know how he learnt to swear. Maybe he overheard the neighbors or something.” -@Pizza-pen

3.

“As a kitten, she managed to get hold of, and tear to pieces, a dried flower my mother took from my grandmother’s funeral as a keepsake. Literally irreplaceable.” -@Catstrudle

4.

“My dog, then teething, chewed through and broke the beanbag chair he used to sleep on; which was filled with styrofoam pellets, each about 3mm dia. Tens of thousands of them. There is no effective way of picking them up due to their attraction to static and propensity to fly at the slightest change in the wind. The vacuum cleaner just pushed around more than it picked up. It took ~3 hours to clean up. We were finding pellets for years in random places.” -@Darthfloyd

5.

“I used to have this ball python. I wake up one morning and take him out of his cage because he’s looking restless. I throw him on my bed and lay back down. He’d often crawl on me and curl up for warmth. On this particular occasion he came sniffing around my face right as I yawned. When I did, a small tear came out of my eye, which he licked. A second later he latched onto my eyebrow like it was some furry little rodent. I sat right up, holding the four foot snake straight off my face. He let go after a few seconds and we didn’t talk for the rest of the day. Left two bloody holes right on my eyebrow. Jerk.” -@Stevel-Knievel

6.

“Baxter once pooped in the refrigerator and ate an entire wheel of cheese. I wasn’t even mad, it was amazing.” -@ryclarky

7.

“My boxer knocked over a statue of the Virgin Mary. Her head broke off, and my dog was running around with the head.” – @Motherinlawdouche

8.

“As I lay down for a much needed nap the other day, I heard a crash in the living room go out to check what fresh hell…my Calico had climbed a desk and knocked over a small shelf containing a case of small silver thumbtacks alllllllll over my living room. I made it about 5 steps in before I realized I was surrounded by tacks.” -@slumvillain

9.

“I filled a cup to the brim with fruit punch and walked away to put the bottle back into the fridge. When I turned back around I saw my blind cat standing on the dining room table feeling the cup with his paw…he winds up and swats it off the table. Got fruit punch everywhere.” -@colethefatcat

10.

“Back in 2014, my parents owned this vase that had been passed down 4 generations to the youngest in the family. It sat on top of the cabinets, like higher than the refrigerator. Our family went on a 4 day vacation to Disney World and had our neighbor feed our 2 cats. On the 2nd day of our vacation, my father gets a text saying that our vase shattered on the floor and both our cats were next to where it once sat. We believe our cats were able to jump up there with the help up [by] climbing on our air fryer we left on the counter.” -@mittiens

11.

“We bought our first house and the first time we left our dog alone he ate through the trim surrounding all the doors, the drywall behind it, and almost through the exterior. Needless to say I wasn’t pleased.” -@Fuzzy-Ad5756

12.

“I’m a caffeine addict and I admit it. I start out every day with an energy drink and pop Diet Mountain Dew all day. In college I was very, very broke and at one point was down to about 14 ounces left in a 2 liter of Mtn Dew poured into a cup. My cat came to check out what I had, sniffed at it and I guess the popping bubbles tickled her nose and she sneezed directly onto the surface of it.”-@LatterTowel9403

13.

“Got a new dog and wanted them to be happy and acclimated to a new home. Gave them a pig ear to chew on (already a fairly disgusting treat) and they happily take it. A short time later, where did the dog go? On my bed, chomping away on the pig ear, with a large pile of drool and pig ear bits, now quite possibly a permanent part of my sheets. Not the way I wanted to start off a relationship with a new dog. Silver lining, my sheets smelled like bacon for a while even after washing them!” -@ItsGotHeart

14.

“My beta killed 3 fish in a week.” -@Tox1cShark7

15.

“My dog was still a puppy and has never seen a baby bird. One night I was taking her for a walk and there was a baby bird on the ground. It was chirping and it really caught her attention (probably cause it sounded like her squeaky toys). I started reaching for the bird so I could try and put it back in its nest but my dog jumped towards the bird. I just heard a loud squeak and silence. My dog’s expression changed when she realized what she had done. The rest of the night she was not herself, I’m sure she felt really bad.” -@justanotherperson218

16.

“He (dog) broke my mother’s nose with his big head by jumping around too excitedly.” -@mortokes

17.

“A few nights ago, in the middle of the night, my monster cat brought in a live pigeon through the cat door and released it in the living room. Feathers EVERYWHERE.” -@effieokay

18.

“I have a roomba. I set it to clean at 7:30 AM every morning… because I am always out the door for work by then, and my dog has just been walked. One morning, apparently, the 7 AM walk was not enough, and my dog shit on the floor. Then, like a good little robot, my roomba took off. I came home to poo circles all over my carpet and a dead roomba.

TL;DR–My dog teamed up with a robot to create an abstract art piece made out of feces.” -@SleepsontheGround

19.

“Whilst walking my friend’s dalmation, Stripey, one summer’s day in a park filled with happy picnickers and laughing children, she spotted a birthday party. A river separated the party from us and, underestimating her love of food, I kept her off the [leash]. I’m not sure how she even saw the birthday cake wrapped in tinfoil but she leaped into the river before I could stop her. She tore apart the tinfoil like a savage and devoured the cake before quickly moving on to the BBQ where she managed to eat every sausage, burger and chicken leg she could see whilst the birthday boy watched in terror. I stood awkwardly on the other side of the water, shouting her name and apologizing profusely but she only listened when she’d decided her meal was over after which she swam calmly back over the water and pranced into the distance whilst the entire family stared me down. I am sorry, birthday boy, I hope your day wasn’t too badly ruined.” -@Tanyabee

20.

“One time I was running to the basement to grab an ingredient I had forgotten to add to dinner. Like an idiot, I kept the burner and hot pan going because I figured that running to the fridge in the basement would only take a minute. Instead, I tripped over my dog before reaching the first step and tumbled down into the basement. I stared up to see my dog looking down and smiling as I scrambled frantically to run back upstairs before my stupid dinner set the entire house on fire.” – [deleted]

21.

“Maybe not ‘worst’ for me, but definitely for my mom. She pissed off the cat… kicking her out of the bedroom before bed because she hates animals sleeping on her bed or next to her…Apparently in the morning, she was running late for work. Rushed to put on her shoes and found vomit in one of them. Out of all her shoes, and of all the times in the day, the cat had decided to revenge-puke in the ones she wears to work almost every day.” -@badguywindow

22.

“My 55lb dog ate an entire tray of pot brownies.” -@karmavorous

This article originally appeared on 8.9.22

I have a confession to make. I’m 48 years old, my youngest child is in high school and I can’t stop watching “Bluey.”

For the uninitiated, “Bluey” is a kids’ cartoon from Australia aimed at 5 to 7-year-olds. It’s been nearly a decade since my household has seen that demographic, so when people kept telling me I should watch “Bluey,” my reaction was basically, “Yeah, I’ve already done my kiddie show time, thankyouverymuch.”

Then my almost-15-year-old started watching it just to see what the fuss was about. And as I started tuning in, I saw why people love it so much. I figured it was going to be a wholesome show with some good lessons for kids, and it is.

But it’s also laugh-out-loud hilarious.

As I got sucked deeper and deeper down the “Bluey” hole, I also saw why so many adults say the show is healing their inner child. It doesn’t just have good lessons for kids; some episodes are a masterclass in creative, engaged, positive parenting. Now I’m hooked, along with the rest of my family of 40-somethings and young adults. We even have favorite episodes that we rewatch, for goodness sake.

So what is it that makes “Bluey” such a beloved show for all ages?

The kid actors are fantastic. Seriously, so darn funny.

The children who play 6-year-old Bluey, her 4-year-old sister, Bingo, and their various cousins and friends are outstanding. Their voices are cute, but they’re also top notch comedians.

One of my personal favorite bits on the show is when the kids pretend to be grannies. Here’s a clip with Bluey, Bingo and their cousin, Muffin, pretending to be grannies at their neighbor’s yard sale.

It gets even funnier when the “grouchy granny” encounters an actual, real-life grouchy granny who wants to buy the granny mobile and haggles with her. (We’ve watched this episode four times. It only gets funnier.)

The parents teach lessons through imaginative play

The clip below shows how Bandit (Bluey and Bingo’s dad) creatively uses a unicorn puppet to drive home the importance of good manners and personal care habits when Bluey won’t stop chewing with her mouth open.

Using characters that struggle with whatever a kid needs to learn is a great way to help drive home a lesson. And doing it with silliness and creativity makes the learning process both enjoyable and effective.

Also, the parents’ love for each other shines through in the show in adorable ways.

The parents share their own learnings along the way

Bluey episodes are short—the full episode below is less than 7 minutes—and it’s amazing how much they can squeeze into them. Here, Bluey’s mom teaches Bluey not to compare herself to others by sharing her own comparison story from when Bluey was a baby, which also includes a lesson for the parents who may be watching as well. It also tugs right at the heartstrings at the end.

I’m just consistently amazed at how well the show executes on every level.

It’s therapeutic—literally.

For folks with positive childhoods, the show is nostalgic and comforting. For those with tough childhoods, the show can feel healing. And for people who raising their own kids, it can be a resource to help them be better parents.

My colleague (and Licensed Clinical Social Worker) Jacalyn Wetzel says she recommends “Bluey” to clients who are having a hard time with parenting.

“When parents of young children mention that they’re struggling with being able to emotionally regulate through their child’s tantrums, outside of talking to them about ways children express unmet needs, I often recommend the cartoon ‘Bluey,'” she says. “Bluey behaves very much like a typical preschooler, which sometimes means she accidentally pushes buttons or does something wrong. The way her parents interact with her in those moments are great examples of acknowledging a child’s emotions and responding with kindness, understanding and age appropriate terms.”

The show includes real-life parenting moments that can be hard to navigate, so she encourages parents to watch how the parents interact with Bluey and Bingo. “Parenting doesn’t come with a handbook but ‘Bluey’ is helping those that maybe didn’t have the best example of it growing up, and that’s special,” she says.

It’s just a near-perfect show in almost every way. There’s even some silly potty humor if that’s your jam. (See what I mean? A little something for everyone.)

You can watch full seasons of “Bluey” on Disney + and find clips and some full episodes the “Bluey” YouTube channel.

This article originally appeared on 12.1.23

The fact that beavers build dams is one of nature’s coolest features. Gathering and stacking tree branches, rocks, grass and mud across a river so they can build their homes underwater is a unique instinct among the animals—and a strong one.

Apparently, it’s so strong that beavers will build dams anywhere, including inside a human’s house using whatever items they can find.

A video shared by Dr. Holley Muraco, director of research at the Mississippi Aquarium, shows a female beaver named Sawyer busily gathering stuffed animals, blankets, Christmas decorations, wrapping paper and more to build a dam in a hallway, and it’s seriously the most delightful thing ever.

Sawyer pauses once in a while to assess her work, which is adorable. And her ongoing struggle with SpongeBob SquarePants’ legs is a must-see.

If you’re concerned about seeing natural animal behavior like this in an unnatural habitat, don’t worry. Muraco explains that Sawyer spends most of her time outdoors with other beavers, but also likes to come in the house occasionally. More on Sawyer’s life story below, but first, behold her adorableness at work:

Sawyer is one of three orphaned beavers Muraco is rehabbing at her home with the help of Woodside Wildlife Rescue.

“Sawyer is one of a kind,” Muraco tells Upworthy. “Very opinionated and, as crazy as it sounds, intelligent. I raised Sawyer on a bottle in our home and then introduced her to Huck and Finn who are a bit older. All three were orphaned separately when their parents were killed. The three were sent to Woodside Wildlife to be raised as siblings.”

Sawyer, Huck and Finn. Perfection.

Muraco says Sawyer started building dams in her kennel as a tiny baby and then moved on to building bigger dams in the hallway. She lives outside with Huck and Finn, but she walks to Muraco’s back door when she wants to go inside to check on things and build a new dam.

Muraco says beavers are very social creatures and do better living in a group, but are also one of the most difficult animals to rehab. They have to spend up to two years with rehabbers, which is how long they would spend with their parents in the wild, and caring for them is challenging due to their complex and sensitive digestive needs. They are also prone to illness and there’s a lot that’s still unknown about vet care for them. Muraco says beavers are also considered a nuisance animal, especially in Mississippi, so it can be hard to find a safe place to release them.

In Muraco’s care, Sawyer, Huck and Finn get ample opportunities to practice instinctive behaviors, which is a vital element of rehabilitation. The ultimate goal is for them to return to the wild once they meet key milestones.

Raising beavers is a lot of work, but Muraco is dedicated to preparing these young ‘uns for life after rehab, both for their own good and for the environment. “Beavers are a keystone species and are often critical for healthy wetlands,” she explains. They are misunderstood creatures and are sometimes killed by people who simply see them as pests, which is one reason Muraco publicly shares her adventures with Sawyer, Huck and Finn.

“We are so excited that people are enjoying watching the beavers and falling in love with this unusual, quirky rodent,” she says.

If anyone wants to support these beaver rescue efforts, Muraco invites people to donate to Woodside Wildlife Rescue.

This article originally appeared on 01.13.23

Over the past decade and some, South Korean producer duo Black Eyed Pilseung — composed of Rado and Choi Kyusung — have produced countless of hits for K-pop artists. With songs like SISTAR’s “Touch My Body” and TWICE’s “Like Ooh-Ahh,” “Cheer Up,” “TT,” “Likey,” and “Fancy,” it was only a matter of time these K-pop producing powerhouses would establish their own label, High Up Entertainment, and debut their own girl group.

In 2020, STAYC (an acronym for “Star To A Young Culture”) debuted as a six-member girl group under High Up with a “teen fresh” concept that would take bubble gum pop to another level; exploring sounds to complement the variety of vocal colors within the group. Their single “So Bad,” from their self-titled single album, is an electrifying pop track that combines drum and bass with synth waves. The six-member girl group — composed of Sumin, Sieun, Isa, Seeun, Yoon, and J — then went on to become hit viral sensations with their second single “ASAP” that had South Korea and the K-pop community dancing along. Their popularity only continued to consistently go up, as a slew of single-albums and EPs continued to flow into their discography; awarding them with the Digital Song Award for “ASAP” and Best Rookie Award at the Golden Disc Awards in 2022. In 2023, their music video “Bubble” won Best Music Video at the Melon Music Awards.

As the group soon approaches their fourth anniversary this November, the group released their first studio album, Metamorphic, earlier this month (July 1) with their lead single “Cheeky Icy Thang” and supporting track “1 Thing”. Just like the title, the album celebrates STAYC’s colorful sounds and voices while continuing to stay true to their electro-bubblegum pop roots. The 14-track project explores solo (“Roses” by Isa), unit (“Find” by Sieun, Seeun and J; “Fakin’” by Sumin and Yoon) , and group tracks.

Ahead of KCON 2024 in Los Angeles, California, Sumin, Sieun, Isa, Seeun, Yoon, and J briefly chat it up to discuss this chapter in their careers and what’s to come.

So, how does it feel to finally release a first album?

Sumin: So, in general, since this is our first album where we were able to try different styles, we’re really happy. There were some songs that fans have been waiting for – that we’ve been preparing – and now we were finally able to include that in Metamorphic. We also participated in writing the lyrics for some of the songs, so it was very meaningful in that sense.

How long did it take to produce this album?

Sumin: Maybe 2 years? ‘Cause there were songs that we had been working on for a long time like maybe not the entire thing but there were some things that we’ve been preparing for a long time.

The baseline in “Cheeky Icy Thang” is somewhat similar to “RUN2U,” so many were curious if this would be an extension. What were your impressions when you first heard the lead single?

Sieun: Actually, when I first heard “Cheeky Icy Thang,” it was so unique and really different from the usual guide that we listen to. So I was like, “Can we do this?” But all of sudden, I found myself listening to the guide vocal and then just dancing to myself in the car realizing the beat was really unique and rhythmic.

There has to be some behind the scenes because two years of gathering and prepping songs, on the side, is quite a long time.

Isa: So in “Cheeky Icy Thang”, some of the choreography got changed; originally verse 1 and verse 2 were me and Sieun; and since we were working with new producers, we were able to find different styles of vocals in each member and skills as well.

Were there new discoveries you found in your artistry?

J: I didn’t realize how wide my vocal range was but there were so many different types of songs in this album that we got different types of parts in each song so I was able to try different voices and I was able to discover all those voices in me.

Yoon: In general, as STAYC, as a group we feel like we’re no longer really limited by the genre of the music and since we’re trying different types of genres we’re able to embrace and be able to really embody all of those different things and now in general we feel like we’ve become fuller. And we have more confidence and pride in ourselves as well. And now that we have more confidence we also feel that responsibility to do even better.

Currently, girl groups are the powerhouse of K-pop right now and you guys are part of it. How does it feel to be a leading act in this generation?

Sumin: I feel all the girl groups all embody different genres; some are energetic, some are more lovely, some have more different concepts and STAYC also has its own genre and concepts as well. It’s very important that we’re all very unique to ourselves. And as another girl group in this generation, I’m really happy that I’m able to really portray different types of music to the world as a girl group.

Who were your female solo inspirations as you were either debuting or creating this album?

Sieun: I think it’s not just for this album, but I really get a lot of inspiration from Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift and also IU’s one of my role model artists. And also BLACKPINK. I really love BLACKPINK ‘cause they’re really unique.

What do you want the world to know about STAYC that they haven’t learned yet?

Sieun: I wish the audience would know that we’re going to keep challenging ourselves to create our own genre of STAYC. Our music genre is STAYC. We’re gonna keep trying harder to show you better performances and better music. So I want them to just keep looking forward to us.

To play on the supporting track “1 Thing”, if there’s one thing each of you want at this moment for your careers, what would it be?

Isa: I want to be the top in this scene.

Sumin: I want to perform in a stadium.

Sieun: I wish our song was on the Billboard chart someday.

J: Dome tour

After the success of Wednesday, Jenna Ortega seemed a little uncomfortable with her newfound fame, and probably didn’t realize that a few casual comments could spark outrage, but everyone has to learn somehow, and unfortunately most of the time it’s because of a podcast.

On a March 2023 episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast, Ortega said that she had to “put her foot down” and ask for changes to her Wednesday character because they made “no sense.” She even admitted that she “became almost unprofessional” when it came to changing her dialogue. This caused quite a stir on social media, especially from writers and producers who called the comments “toxic.” Now, Ortega sees the situation differently.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Ortega said that she didn’t do a good job explaining the situation. “I probably could have used my words better in describing all of that. I think, oftentimes, I’m such a rambler. I think it was hard because I felt like had I represented the situation better, it probably would’ve been received better.”

Ortega then revealed that it was a valuable lesson. “Everything that I said felt so magnified… It felt almost dystopian to me,” Ortega said. She explained how she’s grown from the situation,”You’re never going to please everybody, and as someone who naturally was a people pleaser, that was really hard for me to understand. Some people just may not like you…and that’s entirely fine.”

Ortega has been vocal about her goals for a darker second season and that seems to be the direction they are going, so hopefully she won’t have to suggest too many edits again.

(Via Variety)