Category: News

Summer 2023 belonged to the Barbie movie. The film made history after crossing the 1 billion dollar box office threshold. Even the official soundtrack is on track to set records in the music sector. One of the standout tracks is Billie Eilish’s Grammy Award-nominated song “What Was I Made For?” But in the eyes of Meryl Streep, Billie and Finneas’ off-screen contribution to the film is grander than the public realizes.

On Thursday, January 4, during the Palm Springs International Film Awards, Streep took a moment to sing the praises of the sibling duo. According to People, Streep said to the pair, “You have delivered the ‘Barbie’ love bomb.”

She added, “You’ve saved the movies last summer. All of our jobs. You’ve delivered joy to countless generations and genders of people, and you should surf that wave, kids — until you are old and deserve to be jaded like me.”

Billie and Finneas reportedly blushed in response to Streep’s flower-giving.

In November, as part of a Hollywood Reporter feature, Billie spoke candidly about what went into penning the moving ballad. “I thank God for [Barbie director Greta Gerwig], man,” she said. “I honestly was concerned that it was over for me. I’ve got to be honest with you. She saved me, really, honestly. Getting that request it was like a FaceTime, it brought us both out of it, and immediately we were inspired and wrote so much more after that. Especially when it came out, I was like, ‘Aye yai yai.’ It was like somebody reading your diary or something.”

Barbie is available on streaming now.

Joe Biden is a famously nice guy, and it takes a lot to make him mad. One thing that does get under his skin? The idea of another Donald Trump presidency. With Election Day 2024 only about 10 months away, the sitting president has been ramping up his attacks on his possible successor. In a fiery speech in Pennsylvania Friday, Biden depicted the election as not so much a choice between him and Trump but between democracy and a dictatorship, which Trump has been threatening. It’s also between decency and someone so deplorable he almost makes Biden cuss.

“You can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American,” Biden thundered at one point. He then referenced the horrific attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, which a lot of MAGA world, Trump very much included, thought was hilarious.

“You know, Trump and his MAGA supporters not only embrace political violence, but they laugh about it,” he said. “At his rally, he jokes about an intruder, whipped up by the Big Trump Lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi’s skull and echoing the very same words used on January 6th: ‘Where’s Nancy?’”

Biden added, “And he thinks that’s funny. He laughed about it. What a sick —”

At this point Biden, who’s no stranger to gaffes, caught himself before he said something blue. Some imagined he was a millisecond from dropping an f-bomb.

Hours after Biden’s speech, Trump responded at a rally, where all he did was make fun of Biden’s stutter, which by the way was not evident in his speech.

At the same rally Trump also told those horrified by the umpteenth school shooting to “get over” it and had one of his massive brain farts, this time about how magnets work.

New year, new beginnings isn’t the motto Green Day ascribes to. The band has decided to use their 2024 Rockin’ Eve performance to revisit their old beef with former president Donald Trump, during which they changed the lyrics of their hit song “American Idiot.”

Conservative political pundits took issue with the modification, as did Tesla man Elon Musk. After one person wrote, “Green Day tried to prove they’re still cool by changing their lyrics to slam the “MAGA agenda on TV last night ,” Musk responded by writing, “Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it.”

What was the lyric change? Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong swapped out the “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” line with “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.” With Green Day’s forthcoming album Saviors slated to hit streaming platforms later this month, it’s safe to assume their Rockin’ Eve set is only the beginning of their musical political jabs.

Green Day’s Saviors is out 1/19/2024 via Reprise Records. Find more information here.

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

“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”

In October 2016, that was a quote from Albert Einstein that sat atop the Facebook page of Tim McMillan, a police officer in Georgia.

McMillan become a sensation after a post he wrote on his Facebook wall went viral in 2016. In his post, he explains how he pulled over a Black teen for texting while driving:

“I pulled a car over last night for texting and driving. When I went to talk to the driver, I found a young black male, who was looking at me like he was absolutely terrified with his hands up. He said, ‘What do you want me to do officer?’ His voice was quivering. He was genuinely scared,” McMillan wrote.

But McMillan said he wasn’t interested in harassing or arresting the young man, let alone inflicting violence upon him. Nonetheless, the teen’s emotional response hit McMillan like a punch to the gut.

“I just looked at him for a moment, because what I was seeing made me sad. I said, ‘I just don’t want you to get hurt.’ In which he replied, with his voice still shaking, ‘Do you want me to get out of the car.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want you to text and drive. I don’t want you to get in a wreck. I want your mom to always have her baby boy. I want you to grow up and be somebody. I don’t even want to write you a ticket. Just please pay attention, and put the phone down. I just don’t want you to get hurt,'” he wrote.

McMillan said the interaction made him reflect on a deeply personal level about the national attention being paid to acts of police violence against Black Americans, particularly young Black men.

“I truly don’t even care who’s fault it is that young man was so scared to have a police officer at his window. Blame the media, blame bad cops, blame protestors, or Colin Kaepernick if you want. It doesn’t matter to me who’s to blame. I just wish somebody would fix it.”

This story originally appeared on GOOD.

This article originally appeared on 08.31.18

Kayla Berridge had been walking her normal 9-mile delivery route in Newmarket, a small town in New Hampshire, when she noticed something unusual.

The mail she had been delivering continued to pile up over a matter of days at one resident’s home. The resident was an elderly woman in her 80s, and would occasionally share a chat with Berridge, according to CNN.

Berridge told CNN that after noticing the unattended mail pile, she got “a little concerned.”

“I just had this gut feeling and wanted to make sure,” Berridge told WMUR 9 News, explaining that “most people put a hold in if they’re not there, so when people pick up their mail every day, you start to notice their habits.” Not to mention, the woman’s car was still in the driveway.

Berridge followed her instincts and called the local police department for a wellness check, and in the process saved the elderly woman’s life.

CNN reported that officers found the woman trapped on her bedroom floor under heavy artwork and frames. The theory is she tried to use her bed for support, and in the process these items on the bed fell onto her, pinning her down for three full days. Though she was suffering from hypothermia and dehydration, Police Lt. Wayne Stevens confirmed she was stable and recovering.

I can only imagine the agony and fear this poor woman was in, lying in the cold and not knowing if help would come. Luckily, help was on the way, and this story has a happy ending.

In this instance, the familiarity that comes from living in a small town really paid off. “Everyone has each other’s backs,” Berridge told CNN.

But Officer Stevens wanted to give credit where credit was due. He agreed that Berridge’s quick thinking was “part of being a letter carrier in a small town,” he added that her actions were “taking your job to the next level.”

While wellness or welfare checks have historically been associated with the elderly, they are seen as an equally “critical tool” for the safety of many young people as well, especially with the “rise of suicide rates among adolescents and young adults.”

An example of this is when “Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson received a wellness check back in 2018. The comedian posted an alarming message to Instagram, saying “I really don’t want to be on this Earth anymore. I actually don’t know how much longer I can last.” This was after breaking off his engagement with Ariana Grande.

Though it certainly didn’t happen in a small town, the interconnectedness of social media helped raise some red flags and prompted authorities to make a visit.

If there’s anything to make you question someone’s well-being, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

This article originally appeared on 02.02.22

The fear of needles—technically known as trypanophobia—is an extremely common fear that can range from “Eh, I’m not so comfy with the idea a needle going into my body” to full-on fainting at the sight of a syringe. For some, the idea of having blood drawn adds another layer to the fear of needles (“Wait, you mean you’re taking some of the life-sustaining blood OUT of my body?”) and can the fear can be so strong that it leads to people avoiding lab work altogether.

Perhaps that’s one reason a video of vets and/or vet techs dancing for a dog who was nervous while getting a blood draw is resonating with so many people.

The video, shared by Hawaii Kai Vet Clinic on Instagram, is delightful on its face—the music, the dancing, the commitment, the random woman in the background, the good doggo, all of it. But it’s the desire to have that kind of distraction as a human in a phlebotomist’s chair that really got people.

I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy a blood draw with this kind of entertainment?

See on Instagram

“Distraction team ready!” they wrote. “Treats, head pats and even dancing can help keep the nervous fur babies from focusing on the treatments being done, we love doing our best to keep things fear free as much as we can.”

“Do you have to own a pet to see this performance live and where can I purchase tickets?” wrote one commenter.

“I’m hoping these kind people are available for my next Dr appointment,” wrote another.

“Can you guys come with me to MY doctor’s appointment next week?” added another.

Here’s to the vets and vet techs who go the extra mile to make their patients as comfortable as possible. Check out Hawaii Kai Vet Clinic on Instagram for more veterinary joy.

This article originally appeared on 10.14.23

Costco is known for many things—their employee satisfaction and retention, their amazing Kirkland Signature generic brand, their massive (and addictive) $4.99 rotisserie chickens, their never-going-to-raise-the-price $1.50 hot dog and soda meal and more.

But one favorite Costco feature that might just top them all? The Costco cake.

Costco cakes are legendary. If you’ve never had a Costco cake, I’m so sorry. If you have, then you know. They are the trifecta of awesome—huge, cheap and utterly delicious. I don’t even like cake that much and I can’t stop eating a Costco cake. Like, if you ordered a fancy cake from a fancy patisserie and it tasted like a Costco cake, you’d say, “Oh yeah, that was worth the $ I just paid.” Only at Costco, you’d get that delicious of a cake that would feed a thousand people for just $25. (Okay, 50 people, but still—cake for days.)

This is why people have a serious loyalty to Costco cakes, which writer Lucy Huber discovered when she dared to question the Costco cake ordering process on Twitter.

Huber took to the social media platform to share her anxiety over the antiquated way you have to order a Costco cake. You can’t call it in. You can’t order it online. You have to physically go to the Costco bakery, fill out a paper form at an unmanned cake ordering kiosk, drop your form in the drop box without speaking to a single human being, and then trust that your cake will be there when you return at your requested time.

It was the last part Huber poked fun of when she wrote, “Ordered a cake from Costco and their system is from the 1800s, you write what you want on a piece of paper & put it in a box then nobody follows up and you just show up and hope they made it? I tried to call to confirm & they were like ‘if you put it in the box, it will be there.’”

u201cOrdered a cake from Costco and their system is from the 1800s, you write what you want on a piece of paper & put it in a box then nobody follows up and you just show up and hope they made it? I tried to call to confirm & they were like u201cif you put it in the box, it will be thereu201du201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
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“Oh also,” she added, “when I called I had to call the main office bc there was no number listed for the bakery and they told me ‘the bakery has no phone’. Truly living in 1802 right now.”

Everything she wrote is true. But as she quickly learned, one does not question the Costco cake ordering system, as the Costco cake brigade demonstrated with a deluge of “Trust the system!” and “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” sentiments.

Multiple people said they’d ordered more than 50 cakes from Costco with their dropbox system and had never had a problem. And any slight anxiety that might cause is worth it for cakes that are that cheap and that delicious. (As one person wrote after their first Costco cake experience, “100/10.”)

u201c@jonathangraf @clhubes Hahahaha Iu2019ve ordered many cakes from Costco this way and have only had one problem: one time I tripped walking out of the store and it fell upside downud83dude01. Manager came out and gave me one to replace it. It wasnu2019t decorated but it was a cake. Thanks Costco!!!u201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
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People who love Costco really love Costco.

They won us over with the 5 dollar chicken, cheaper gas and 1.50 hotdog plus drink. If the ceo of Costco was a murderer I’d need to see court documents from the trial before saying anything negative, let alone dissing the 1802 box

— John (@John64647689) May 11, 2023

Only the Costco fanbase is built on a solid foundation of awesome business practices, fabulous food and great deals.

u201c@SlackfulCyclops @clhubes They do make dough and love working there. 20 workers at my local Costco won a $200 million lotto jackpot, and half of them stayed on after they were paid out. Like the door greeter has several mill in the bank and still as cheerful as ever.u201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
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Even some Costco bakery employees chimed in with some humor and support.

as a costco bakery employee we have to burn your paper with the sacred flame and hope that He brings the cake

— tyler (@tylergotchi1) May 11, 2023

For the uninitiated, someone shared a photo of the magic cake kiosk where you make your choices, hope for the best and are never disappointed.

u201c@clhubes This is so funny. For those who havenu2019t done it before, heres a pic of the flawless order form.u201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
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Huber got a kick out of the response, sharing that she’s never had a tweet go viral that fast and she was no longer worried about the box system.

u201cThis is the fastest one of my tweets has gone viral. The people LOVE Costco ud83dude02 Excited to get my cake and no longer nervous!!!! I believe the box system works!u201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
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As of this writing, she has not shared whether she received her cake as ordered or whether it was as scrumptious as the Costco cake lovers promised.

This article originally appeared on 5.12.23

Today is the third anniversary of the time a former president whipped up a violent crowd of supporters to attempt a failed coup. So much has changed. Or has it? That same president is somehow currently the frontrunner for the GOP presidential ticket, despite his very broken brain. Some of the MAGA lawmakers who helped him even remain in power. One of them is Josh Hawley, whose antics that day (including fleeing from the mob he helped incite like a Looney Tunes character) earned him scorn from his home state at the time. Three years later people are still furious with him.

As caught by Newsweek, in a piece entitled “Jan. 6 Showed That, Yes, It Could Happen Here. The Voters Must Not Let It,” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch made sure to single Hawley out for his part in the Jan. 6 riot, and for continuing to disseminate Trump’s election fraud bull.

Trump’s gaseous lies might have merely dissipated into the atmosphere had it not been for Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who was the first senator to object to ballot results,” wrote the editorial board. “That damnable, self-serving stunt is what made it necessary for Congress that day to debate the undebatable legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory — thus providing a time-and-place target for the MAGA madness of Jan. 6.”

The editorial also made sure to lump Hawley in with other MAGA cronies:

“Trump’s culpability is clear, but he isn’t alone. Scores of Republicans in both houses of Congress — most of whom are still there — joined Hawley in his attempt to disenfranchise millions of Americans by blocking certification valid election results. Later, most House Republicans refused to join the successful impeachment vote against Trump, then the Republican-controlled Senate refused to convict.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch isn’t the only Missouri paper that’s stuck it to Hawley. Last summer, The Kansas City Star torched the senator after he shared a fake Patrick Henry quote.

(Via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Newsweek)

The staff at the famed competition show So You Think You Can Dance has been shrunk by one. According to Rolling Stone, as of Friday, January 5, Nigel Lythgoe will no longer be affiliated with the series following Paula Abdul’s sexual assault lawsuit.

In a statement exclusively shared with the outlet, the former producer detailed his decision to walk away. “I have informed the producers of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ of my decision to step back from participating in this year’s series,” wrote Lythgoe. “I did so with a heavy heart but entirely voluntarily because this great program has always been about dance and dancers, and that’s where its focus needs to remain. In the meantime, I am dedicating myself to clearing my name and restoring my reputation.”

Fox and the show’s producers, 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions, also issued a comment on the matter: “The upcoming season of So You Think You Can Dance will proceed, although without Nigel Lythgoe, to ensure the show remains committed to the contestants, who have worked incredibly hard for the opportunity to compete on our stage.”

After news of Abdul’s filing went public, Lythogoe immediately denied the allegations. “To say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,” he wrote at the time. “For more than two decades, Paula and I have interacted as dear — and entirely platonic — friends and colleagues. Yesterday, however, out of the blue, I learned of these claims in the press, and I want to be clear: not only are they false, they are deeply offensive to me and to everything I stand for.”

Before his time at So You Think You Can Dance, Lythogoe previously served as a producer on American Idol.

Remember when Aaron Rodgers guest-hosted Jeopardy!? A lot of people thought he was surprisingly pretty good at that. He was calm, collected, quietly smart. A lot has happened since then to disabuse people of that notion. He’s since outed himself as a vax skeptic who can’t be trusted to not start chaos. His latest antic? Bizarrely and baselessly suggesting late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel might be a former Jeffrey Epstein client. That turned into an all-out, inter-Disney employee war, which is far from over.

To recap: Last week, Rodgers went on The Pat McAfee Show, soon before the release of documents pertaining to Epstein’s case. The news prompted the footballer to say, perhaps in jest, perhaps not, “There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who are hoping that list doesn’t come out.” Kimmel, as one can imagine, did not appreciate that and threatened legal action. Both McAfee and ESPN — owned, like The Jimmy Kimmel Show!, by Disney — apologized. Rodgers has kept stum. So has Kimmel, but that may change.

“This will go as far as Kimmel wants to take it,” a source close to McAfee’s show told Front Office Sports. “[Kimmel] is the non-cartoon face of Disney. … Jimmy Kimmel Live! is five days a week, 52 weeks a year. He prints money for Disney. … He’s also a very sensitive guy.”

Worried as McAfee and ESPN are of Kimmel launching an inter-Disney employee war, that won’t stop them from bringing Rodgers back on the show.

“Pat announced today that he’s planning on Aaron joining the show Tuesday. Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel,” said Mike Foxx, ESPN senior vice president of digital and studio production. “The show will continue to evolve. It wouldn’t surprise me if Aaron’s role evolves with it.”

Seems like a smart idea to keep bringing on a loose cannon who could create massive legal trouble for everyone. Maybe he’ll accuse another totally random celebrity of another unspeakably awful thing.

(Via Front News Sports)