Category: News

The Kansas City Chiefs did truly terrible things to the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon, rolling to a 41-10 win (after going up 41-0), and making matters worse for the Bears was that the game was under intense scrutiny from outside the football world.

That’s because Taylor Swift was in a luxury suite with Travis Kelce’s mom, Donna, taking in the game and seemingly confirming the rumors she and the Chiefs All-Pro tight end are dating. Despite scoring 34 in the first half, Travis was somehow not part of the Chiefs’ parade of touchdowns through two quarters, but that changed in the third when he and Mahomes (who had to navigate a late second quarter ankle tweak) linked up for their 48th career touchdown combination.

After the game, Erin Andrews, being the best in the business, made sure to ask Mahomes the question on everyone’s mind: “Could you feel the pressure from the Swifties to get Travis a touchdown?”

Mahomes had some fun with the whole thing and said he knew he had to get his guy in the end zone with Swift in the house, also noting that the touchdown came on a route that Kelce completely freestyled and that Travis seemingly wanted to get that TD badly himself. There weren’t a lot of things that went wrong for the Chiefs on Sunday, aside from Mahomes getting rolled up on late in the first half, and being the great wingman he is, he stayed in the game to get his guy a touchdown with Taylor watching — who was extremely fired up after he scored, chest bumping folks in the box.

The Kansas City Chiefs did truly terrible things to the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon, rolling to a 41-10 win (after going up 41-0), and making matters worse for the Bears was that the game was under intense scrutiny from outside the football world.

That’s because Taylor Swift was in a luxury suite with Travis Kelce’s mom, Donna, taking in the game and seemingly confirming the rumors she and the Chiefs All-Pro tight end are dating. Despite scoring 34 in the first half, Travis was somehow not part of the Chiefs’ parade of touchdowns through two quarters, but that changed in the third when he and Mahomes (who had to navigate a late second quarter ankle tweak) linked up for their 48th career touchdown combination.

After the game, Erin Andrews, being the best in the business, made sure to ask Mahomes the question on everyone’s mind: “Could you feel the pressure from the Swifties to get Travis a touchdown?”

Mahomes had some fun with the whole thing and said he knew he had to get his guy in the end zone with Swift in the house, also noting that the touchdown came on a route that Kelce completely freestyled and that Travis seemingly wanted to get that TD badly himself. There weren’t a lot of things that went wrong for the Chiefs on Sunday, aside from Mahomes getting rolled up on late in the first half, and being the great wingman he is, he stayed in the game to get his guy a touchdown with Taylor watching — who was extremely fired up after he scored, chest bumping folks in the box.

Wilco’s Cousin album has fans on the edge of their seats waiting for the Chicago-based band’s full-length return. Thanks to the release of their latest track, “Evicted,” produced by Cate Le Bon, supporters know that Wilco isn’t playing around with the forthcoming project. The group began touring around Europe, the US, and Mexico in August. But their 2023 fall tour, Tour To Infinity, is slated to be a completely different experience.

The tour will formally kick off on September 26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Across the 21-show dates, Wilco has announced that a few special guests will join them on the road.

Learn more about Wilco’s 2023 fall tour, including the openers, tour dates, and more.

Who Is Opening Wilco’s Tour To Infinity?

My Brightest Diamond

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Shara Nova is best known for her work under the musical moniker My Brightest Diamond (MBD). Last month, she released her new single, “Black Sheep.” But MBD’s breakout moment in the industry was her 2014 album, This Is My Hand. The 10-track project features standout tracks “Lover Killer” and “Pressure.” Throughout My Brightest Diamond music, the Arkansas native looks to weave her classical music training with blends of rock, art pop, and electronic.

Nina Nastasia

Los Angeles native Nina Nastasia is a music veteran. The folk singer and songwriter found early fame in the early 2000s following the release of her debut album, Dogs. Since then, Nastasia has maintained a spirited support base that led to her dropping 2002’s The Blackened Air, 2003’s Run to Ruin, 2006’s On Leaving, 2007’s You Follow Me with Jim White, and 2010’s Outlaster before going on hiatus. Last year, she returned with the release of Riderless Horse and has continued to share new music.

Tour To Infinity Dates

Here are the dates for the Tour To Infinity:

09/25 — Wichita, KS @ Wave *
09/26 — Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom *
09/28 — Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom *
09/29 — Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater @ Waterloo Park *
10/01 — Albuquerque, NM @ Kiva Auditorium *
10/03 — Scottsdale, AZ @ Scottsdale Civic Center East Bowl Stage *
10/04 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
10/05 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
10/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
10/08 — Monterey, CA @ Rebels & Renegades Festival
10/11 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether *
10/13 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Arlington Theatre *
10/14 — Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre*
10/16 — Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium *
10/17 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre ^
10/18 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre ^
10/20 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Eccles Theater ^
10/22 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom ^
10/23 — Omaha, NE @ The Astro Theater ^
10/25 — Kansas City, MO @ Midland Theatre ^
10/26 — St. Louis, MO @ Stifel Theatre ^
10/27 — Bentonville, AR @ The Momentary ^
12/02 — Wed. Dec. 6 – Riviera Maya, MX @ Sky Blue Sky (Hard Rock Hotel)

+ w/ Anna Miekie
* w/ My Brightest Diamond
^ w/ Nina Nastasia

Cousin is out 9/29 via dBpm Records. Find more information here.

The Kansas City Chiefs spent Sunday afternoon dogwalking the Chicago Bears up and down the field, as they led 34-0 at halftime. However, the Chiefs enjoying a get-right game against the hapless Bears was a secondary story to many, as the rumored romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce reached a fever pitch when Swift showed up to the game in a luxury box alongside Kelce’s mom.

The superstar tight end was, rather surprisingly, not a huge part of the offensive explosion in the first half, but he eventually got in on the fun in the third quarter as the Bears somehow lost track of him in the back of the end zone to let the Chiefs go up 41-0 on them. Naturally, the FOX cameras cut quickly to Taylor Swift in the suite and captured her extremely fired up, chest bumping the guy next to her and then very clearly yelling “LET’S F**KING GO!” as she celebrated Kelce getting a touchdown catch.

The slow-mo of the chest bump is great stuff.

Afterwards, the folks in the production truck decided to continue the new tradition of broadcasts dropping Swift references for Kelce touchdowns by posting a “The Story Of Us” graphic after Kelce and Patrick Mahomes set a new Chiefs franchise record for touchdown combinations.

Aside from having to watch Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears attempt to play offense, it was a pretty great day for Taylor at the Chiefs game as she got to watch Kansas City’s offense in full force and see Travis do what he does best in the red zone.

Adele isn’t the only British act looking to dominate the US performance market. The “Skin In The Game” musicians Slowdive’s massive world tour kicked off yesterday (September 23). In celebration of their new album, Everything Is Alive, for the next few weeks, Slowdive will travel nationwide for their 2023 US Tour wing.

So, who are the opening acts for the tour? Continue below for more information.

Who Is Opening Slowdive’s 2023 US Tour?

Drab Majesty

Drab Majesty is a Los Angeles-based music collective. Founded by Andrew Clinco (of Marriages) in 2011, the group blends dream pop and gothic rock for an irresistible darkwave offering. Under the character Deb Demure, alongside Keyboardist and vocalist Mona D, the duo released their second album, The Demonstration, in 2017, which earned them spots on tour with Cold Cave and King Dude. Fast forward to June of this year, the members joined forces with Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell on their track “Vanity” from their 4-track EP An Object in Motion, released on Friday, September 22.

Sun Colony

Also based out of Los Angeles, California, Sun Colony has been actively working in the indie rock scene since the release of their self-titled EP in 2017. The four-piece band (vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist Tommy Graf, guitarist and vocalist Derek Mabra, bassist Brandon Sciarra, and drummer Sam Ribejro) is best known for their tracks “These Minds,” “Satellite,” and “I Think I Remember.” The band describes their sounds as “a blend of Los Angeles sparkle and London gloom,” which is tailor-fit to their Echo & The Bunnymen, Wire, and Primal Scream expressed musical influences.

Slowdive’s 2023 US Tour Dates

Here are the dates for their 2023 US Tour:

09/25 — Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues Boston %
09/27 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall %
09/28 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall %
09/29 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer %
09/30 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club %
10/02 — Cleveland, OH @ The Roxy @ Mahall’s %
10/03 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre %
10/04 — St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre %
10/06 — Denver, CO @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom %
10/07 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union %
10/09 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom %
10/10 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo %
10/12 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield %
10/14 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether %
10/15 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether %*
10/16 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield %

% with Drab Majesty, * with Sun Colony

Everything Is Alive is out now via Dead Oceans. Find more information here.

Is Taxi Driver Martin Scorsese’s best picture? Uproxx’s Steven Hyden recently made a strong argument that it is. As it happens, the gritty 1976 drama is back in the news: Uber has tapped Robert De Niro to reprise his role as Travis Bickle, the film’s troubled cabbie-turned-vigilante anti-hero, for an Uber commercial that’s about to start filming this week in London. But the commercial has already found one sharp critic: the movie’s author.

As per Deadline, Paul Schrader — who, on top of being a top shelf screenwriter and director, is a prolific poster of sometimes surprising hot takes on Facebook, though he’s no stranger to offering fulsome praise — dropped a brief comment about the forthcoming ad.

“Ouch,” he wrote after finding out about it. “Why Bob would do this is beyond my reckoning. But I haven’t seen it. If I’m lucky I never will.”

Schrader hasn’t shied from commenting on adaptations of his own work. Over the summer he torched Showtime’s take on his 1980 classic American Gigolo, which wound up being cancelled after one season.

Taxi Driver was Schrader’s second-produced screenplay and his first of four collaborations with director Martin Scorsese (the others being Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Bringing Out the Dead). He went on to become a mighty director in his own right, and he’s had a good recent run with First Reformed, The Card Counter, and this year’s Master Gardener. Oh, Canada, starring Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi, is currently filming with a SAG-AFTRA strike exemption.

Scorsese, meanwhile, has done pretty well for himself, too. He even has a new picture due soon.

The controversial Taxi Driver Uber ad will reportedly feature De Niro’s aging Travis Bickle repeating some of his more famous lines. It’s a curious move, even for an actor who’s done fare like the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie, but surely it can’t be worse than 2020’s Die Hard battery commercial.

(Via Deadline)

Reading is a fundamental tool of learning for most people, which is why it’s one of the first things kids learn in school and why nations set literacy goals.

But even those of us who are able to read fluently might sometimes struggle with the act of reading itself. Perhaps we don’t read as quickly as we wish we could or maybe our minds wander as our eyes move across the words. Sometimes we get to the end of a paragraph and realize we didn’t retain anything we just read.

People with focus or attention issues can struggle with reading, despite having no actual reading disabilities. It can be extremely frustrating to want to read something and have no issues with understanding the material, yet be unable to keep your mind engaged with the text long enough to get “into” what you’re reading.

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But what if there were a font that could help you stay focused? That could help you not only read faster but better retain what you’ve just read?

That’s what the creators of Bionic Reading claim is possible with their font tool.”Bionic Reading revises texts so that the most concise parts of words are highlighted,” the Swiss company’s website reads. “This guides the eye over the text and the brain remembers previously learned words more quickly.”

Give it a try:

The gist is that our eyes don’t need to focus on the entire word because our brains can fill in the rest for us. By bolding the first part of the word, we’re more quickly able to move from word to word.

“Bionic Reading aims to play a supporting role in the absorption of volume text,” states the website. “We see technological progress as an opportunity for all those who want to increase the pleasure of reading in a noisy and hectic world in a focused way and without distraction.”

While there are no studies cited on this method of reading, there are plenty of anecdotes about it being helpful. The example shared by @WhattheADHD on Twitter got people’s attention and many people responded with enthusiasm at how much easier the bionic reading text was for them to read.

“This is amazing! I have ADHD and I didn’t even realize that I was having trouble fixating when I read,” wrote one person. “My eye latches right on to the bold face. Can’t wait to try reading a book again. It’s been all audiobooks for a while.”

“It’s incredible how reading this feels like finally unlocking 100% of your brain,” wrote another.

However, not everyone was impressed or thrilled with the sample. Some people said that they had a harder time reading the bionic text or that it distracted or slowed them down. Both positive and negative responses came from a diverse pool of people. Some who described themselves as neurodivergent said that they loved it and some said it was harder. The same went for people who said they were neurotypical, so it’s hard to say who this tool may specifically help the most. Everyone’s brains work differently, and different people will find different things helpful.

Bionic reading might be a game-changer for some, but it’s not the only tool of its kind. There are speed-reading programs that train you to stop reading each word and allow your brain to read visually instead of auditorily. There are also various methods of making reading easier by adjusting how your eyes move across the text.

For instance, check out this “space reading” technique:

Bionic Reading has a free text converter on its website that you can use to try out its font changes. A YouTube clip from the company also shows possibilities for how the font can be adjusted to individual preferences, making more or less of the initial letters bolded.

And again, if this doesn’t work for you, then it’s probably not made for you. For people who struggle with reading, something like Bionic Reading could make a huge difference.

Three cheers for technology being used to help people overcome difficulties and make learning easier and more efficient.

This article originally appeared on 5.30.22.

Ahhh, siblings. Sometimes they’re your best friends and other times your living room turns into an MMA octagon over the remote control. If you grew up with brothers and sisters, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like to be an only child. (That’s not to say you didn’t dream about it when your sister stole your favorite shirt for the 30th time.)

But not everyone has siblings, so it can be equally as hard for someone who grew up as an only child to picture what it would be like to have them. Only children also likely had moments where they dreamt of having a little brother or sister, not realizing the literal torment siblings can inflict on each other.

TikTok creator Lonnie IIV recently posted a video of himself with two other friends seemingly out to lunch, when the girl in the group asked what it was like to grow up with siblings. In less than a minute she realized she lucked out being an only child because her two guy friends gave her a crash course in sibling behavior.

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In the clip, Lonnie asked if she wanted her drink but then promptly told her she didn’t want it before swirling his fingers around in her cup. This prompted the other friend to throw his balled-up straw paper at her before repeatedly dipping chopsticks into her soup. The woman just laughed and looked seemingly confused at the nonsense her guy friends were displaying. Of course, no sibling experience would be complete without the classic “stop touching me” added for a little pizzazz.

“She got an entire childhood in less than a minute,” one user wrote.

A different user said, “This is so accurate.”

Other commenters started sharing the things they did to their siblings or vice versa. The comment thread was full of childhood sibling…nostalgia? Seems weird to look back on those memories with fondness, yet here we are.

Honestly, my brother used to ask if he could have a bite of my food, and when I said no, he would just lick it before asking again. In turn, when my brothers wouldn’t let me play video games with them, I would pinch my arm until it turned red and run out of the room crying to tell my mom they hit me.

Kids are weird sometimes and thankfully there are usually doses of love in between. But if you grew up with siblings, you’ll likely appreciate the video below. Or it’ll give you flashbacks. It’s a toss-up. If you don’t have siblings, you may feel the need to have us evaluated. We turned out alright…mostly.

@lonnieiiv

Don’t ask, just bring it

This article originally appeared on 2.17.23

Technology is the single greatest contributor to climate change but it may also soon be used to offset the damage we’ve done to our planet since the Industrial Age began.

In September 2018, a project in Myanmar used drones to fire “seed missiles” into remote areas of the country where trees were not growing. Less than a year later, thousands of those seed missiles have sprouted into 20-inch mangrove saplings that could literally be a case study in how technology can be used to innovate our way out of the climate change crisis.

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“We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions,” Irina Fedorenko, co-founder of Biocarbon Engineering, told Fast Company. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.”

According to Fedoranko, just two operators could send out a mini-fleet of seed missile planting drones that could plant 400,000 trees a day — a number that quite possibly could make massive headway in combating the effects of manmade climate change.

The drones were designed by an ex-NASA engineer. And with a pressing need to reseed an area in Myanmar equal to the size of Rhode Island, the challenge is massive but suddenly within reach. Bremley Lyngdoh, founder and CEO of World Impact, says reseeding that area could theoretically house as many as 1 billion new trees.

“Obviously, planting a billion trees will take a long time without the help of drones,” Lyngdoh told Fast Company.

But they’ve now got a powerful new ally in their corner. For context, it took the Worldview Foundation 7 years to plant 6 million trees in Myanmar. Now, with the help of the drones, they hope to plant another 4 million before the end of 2019.

Myanmar is a great case study for the project. In addition to the available land for the drone project, the nation has been particularly hit by the early effects of climate change in recent years. Rising sea levels are having a measurable impact on the population. In addition to their ability to clear CO2 from the atmosphere, healthy trees can also help solidify the soil, which can reduce the kind of soil erosion that has been affecting local populations in Myanmar.

Going forward, technologies like seed-planting drones could help stem the tide of catastrophic climate change while our governments and societies work to change the habits of consumers and corporations that are driving the problem. Our endless hunger for new technology may be the driving force behind climate change and deforestation but it could also end up being the solution to a problem.

This article originally appeared on 4.17.19

These are called “anti-homeless spikes.” They’re about as friendly as they sound.

As you may have guessed, they’re intended to deter people who are homeless from sitting or sleeping on that concrete step. And yeah, they’re pretty awful.

The spikes are a prime example of how cities design spaces to keep homeless people away.

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Not all concrete steps have spikes on them, but outdoor seating in cities like Montreal and Tokyo have been sneakily designed to prevent people from resting too comfortably for too long.

This guy sawing through a bench was part of a 2006 protest in Toulouse, France, where public seating intentionally included armrests to prevent people from lying down.

Of course, these designs do nothing to fight the cause or problem of homelessness. They’re just a way of saying to homeless people, “Go somewhere else. We don’t want to look at you,” basically.

One particular set of spikes was outside a former night club in London. And a local group got sick of staring at them.

Leah Borromeo is part of the art collective “Space, Not Spikes” — a group that’s fed up with what she describes as “hostile architecture.“

“Spikes do nothing more than shoo the realities of poverty and inequality away from your backyard — so you don’t have to see it or confront what you can do to make things more equal,” Borromeo told Upworthy. “And that is really selfish.”

“Our moral compass is skewed if we think things like this are acceptable.”

The move by Space, Not Spikes has caused quite a stir in London and around the world. The simple but impactful idea even garnered support from music artist Ellie Goulding.

“That was amazing, wasn’t it?” Borromeo said of Goulding’s shout-out on Instagram.

“[The project has] definitely touched a nerve and I think it is because, as a whole, humans will still look out for each other,” Borromeo told Upworthy. “Capitalism and greed conditions us to look out for ourselves and negate the welfare of others, but ultimately, I think we’re actually really kind.”

“We need to call out injustice and hypocrisy when we see it.”

These spikes may be in London, but the U.S. definitely has its fair share of anti-homeless sentiment, too.

Spikes are pretty obvious — they’re a visual reminder of a problem many cities are trying to ignore. But what we can’t see on the street is the rise of anti-homeless laws that have cropped up from sea to shining sea.

Legislation that targets homeless people — like bans on panhandling and prohibiting people from sleeping in cars — has increased significantly in recent years.

For instance, a report by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty that analyzed 187 American cities found that there’s been a 43% hike in citywide bans on sitting or lying down in certain spaces since 2011.

Thankfully, groups like “Space, Not Spikes” are out there changing hearts and minds. But they need our help.

The group created a video to complement its work and Borromeo’s hoping its positive underlying message will motivate people to do better.

“[The world] won’t always be happy-clappy because positive social change needs constructive conflict and debate,” she explained. “But we need to call out injustice and hypocrisy when we see it.”

Check out their video below:

This article originally appeared on 07.24.15