Category: News

Hollywood isn’t a place where people typically talk about their faith. In a world run by free-thinking creatives and people with secular, progressive values, those who hew to more traditional, conservative Christian beliefs tend to be less visible.

But Mark Wahlberg has no problem being vocal about his Catholic faith, which must be refreshing to the approximately 61 million Catholics in America.

Wahlberg spoke about the balance he has to strike between his private and professional life on the Today show on February 22, also known as Ash Wednesday to Christians. The “Boogie Nights” actor wore an ash cross on his forehead to commemorate the holy day.

“It’s a balance,” the 51-year-old actor said. “I don’t want to jam it down anybody’s throat, but I do not deny my faith. That’s an even bigger sin. You know, it’s not popular in my industry, but I cannot deny my faith. It’s important for me to share that with people. But, I have friends from all walks of life and all different types of faiths and religions, so it’s important to respect and honor them as well.”

u201cMark Wahlberg is joining us to talk about the Catholic prayer app u2018Hallow,u2019 discusses fasting, opens up about why itu2019s important for him to not deny his faith, shares why he doesnu2019t force Catholicism onto his children, and more.u201d

— TODAY (@TODAY)
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He also believes in leading through his example instead of pressuring his four children to follow his faith.

“I don’t force it on them,” he said. “But they know that Dad can’t start the day without being in prayer, can’t start the day without reading my Scripture or going to Mass. And hopefully, instead of forcing that on them, they’ll say, ‘Well, if it works for Dad, maybe it’ll work for us,’ and they’ll kind of gravitate towards it on their own.”

Wahlberg can keep his faith strong while dealing with the pressures of Hollywood thanks to his relationship with Father Flavin, a parish priest who helped him make drastic changes in his life. As a young man, Wahlberg was a high school dropout who had multiple run-ins with the law. But Flavin has helped him turn his life around.

“He’s been in my life since I was 13,” Wahlberg said of Flavin. “He married me and my wife and baptized all my children.” It’s also believed that Flavin helps Whalberg choose his movie roles that “honor his religious roots.”

The “Father Stu” star says that his faith has helped him develop the discipline to be a successful actor.

“Discipline has always been important for me in life,” he told Today. “Once I started getting into movies and transitioned from music, I realized I needed a lot of discipline in my life, and that discipline has afforded me so many other things. I’ve been rewarded for it so much, and I want to share that with people, whether that’s with fasting, working out more, detaching from other things and just spending more time with God, in prayer or in thoughtful reflection. Those things are important.”

Wahlberg’s ability to live a life in alignment with his faith is noble in an industry that can easily challenge one’s moral compass. It’s also noteworthy that has chosen to live by example instead of being preachy and is accepting of those who may believe differently.

Horseshoe crabs are fascinating creatures, and not just because they look like some kind of shelled alien.

First of all, horseshoe crabs aren’t crabs at all. They’re actually more closely related to spiders and scorpions than crabs and lobsters. Secondly, they are ancient—even predating the dinosaurs—which is why they’re often referred to as “living fossils.” Third, their blood contains a unique substance called limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) that humans have relied on for decades to test the safety of medications, vaccines and medical equipment. (A synthetic version of LAL is increasingly being utilized instead, which is good news for horseshoe crabs who probably don’t appreciate the bloodletting.)

Oh, and they also glow also under ultraviolet light (blacklight) like scorpions do, and nobody knows why.

But one of the most interesting recent discoveries about horseshoe crabs is that their brains haven’t evolved much at all in over 300 million years. In 2021, a 310-million-year-old horseshoe crab fossil was discovered in Illinois with a beautifully preserved brain. Scientists compared it to a current species of horseshoe crab and found that while their external characteristics had changed over time, their brains were pretty much identical.

That discovery makes a viral video of one horseshoe crab seeming to go all out to help another one all the more remarkable. Horseshoe crabs usually use their tails to flip themselves over if they end up upside down, but a video shows a horseshoe crab clearly exerting sustained effort to help a buddy who is flailing on its back. Such behavior seems to indicate some combination of planning and altruism, which are characteristics we usually associate with highly social or evolved creatures. If horseshoe crab brains haven’t evolved in hundreds of millions of years, what would compel one to to help another with no obvious benefit to itself?

Maybe horseshoe crab brains were just perfect for their species’ purposes from the get-go—10/10, no notes—and this video is just a fluke. Or perhaps what we’re witnessing is biological altruism, which is a behavioral reality of some species of animals, usually among those with complex social structures. Scientists debate whether biological altruism differs from human altruism since our motivations to selflessly help others frequently go beyond our species’ survival, and research on that front is ongoing. While the “why” here may be a mystery, it doesn’t make it any less heartwarming to see an animal that we think of as purely instinctual go out of its way to help another.

Plus, in this case, the rescue is truly riveting. People have commented that they keep tilting their phones to try to help them out. Watch:

If a creature whose brain hasn’t evolved in 310 million years can do this for one another, surely we can treat our fellow humans with care and compassion, no?

This story originally appeared on 08.06.19

Remember Brendan Fraser? 10 years ago, he was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Then, he suddenly disappeared.

If you were a kid in the late ’90s and early ’00s, chances are you saw a Brendan Fraser movie. The comedy and action star catapulted to fame behind blockbusters like “The Mummy” franchise, “George of the Jungle,” “Looney Tunes: Back in Action,” and the Oscar-winning film “Crash.”

But after 2008, he largely disappeared from major starring roles. His absence wasn’t due to drugs, a sex-scandal, or illness — despite memes and even reported articles speculating about his career arc, with many blaming it on poor career choices.

Fraser revealed in a recent interview that an incident of sexual harassment led him to withdraw from his high-profile lifestyle.

Lately, the actor has gradually returned to more high-profile roles, and in an interview with GQ, he explained that the real reason he stepped back from the spotlight was because of being physically groped by Philip Berk, a former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

In his own book, Berk admitted to “pinching” Fraser in the buttocks after an event, but Fraser says the incident was much worse. “His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around.”

“I felt ill. I felt like a little kid,” he told GQ. “I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry.”

He said it’s time to speak out, and other male victims of harassment are supporting him.

Berk has called the allegation a “total fabrication” but acknowledges he sent Fraser an apology letter after the incident when the actor complained to the HFPA. Fraser said he tried to bury his feelings about the incident, but he was moved into action after seeing actresses and actors speaking up at this year’s Golden Globes.

“Am I still frightened? Absolutely. Do I feel like I need to say something? Absolutely. Have I wanted to many, many times? Absolutely. Have I stopped myself? Absolutely.”

Despite his reservations, people seem to believe, and be genuinely moved by, Fraser’s claim. Once the target of jokes, Fraser has become a catalyst for moving praise across social media.

All these years and we discover that Brendan Fraser really is the guy you think he is, which means he’s too pure for this world and the world put some scars on him. I love him more than ever now.https://t.co/XGXV8FG5GK

— Geek Girl Diva (@geekgirldiva) February 22, 2018

I love Brendan Fraser and I am so proud of him for speaking his truth. https://t.co/Ev3seJavsf

— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) February 22, 2018

The Brendan Fraser story is a good reminder to always side-eye established, assumed narratives. So many people have been beaten up and spit out by our major institutions, forgotten until we cycle back around to empathy.

— A.B. (@AlannaBennett) February 22, 2018

He’s also earned some public support from actor Terry Crews, who has publicly discussed experiencing a similar incident years ago.

“Brendan is amazingly courageous in telling this,” Crews wrote on Twitter. “His assault experience is extremely similar to mine — ending with the assailant explaining away his actions. One man’s ‘horseplay’ is another man’s humiliation.”

Brendan is amazingly courageous in telling this. His assault experience is extremely similar to mine— ending with the assailant explaining away his actions.

One mans “horseplay” is another man’s humiliation. https://t.co/nNjtmKq5D7

— terry crews (@terrycrews) February 22, 2018

Victims of sexual harassment and assault often face deep shame and fear in speaking out. Speaking out takes courage.

Speaking out after experiencing harassment or assault can be an incredible challenge, often full of personal and professional risk. Though the majority of assaults are against women, men face their own similar challenges in overcoming shame, doubt, and repercussions for coming forward and speaking out. When men like Fraser and Crews speak out, they help clear the path for other men to come forward with their own stories.

This article originally appeared on 06.29.17

Men.

We have it pretty good. Especially when it comes to our health.

Not only do we get to write the health care legislation, but increasingly, we’re getting all the good medical treatment.

We can thank lab animals for this — and the researchers who study them.

For a long time, researchers believed that male animals were better for trials of new medicine.

It was widely assumed that hormone cycles in females would screw up the results.

As a result, currently, over 75% of all lab animals are male.

The problem is, when you test primarily on male animals, you’re making medicine that’s more likely to be effective for, well, men.

At least, that’s what a recent study found.

According to a report in New Scientist, researcher Natasha Karp and a team from the U.K.’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute studied tens of thousands of mice of both sexes. They found that when you switch off genes in male mice, the mice express different traits then when you switch off the same genes in female mice.

If genes express themselves differently depending on the sex of the animal, the researchers found, so do some genetic diseases.

The team concluded that “drugs optimized for male animals may be less effective in females, or even cause harm.” Of the 10 drugs that were pulled from the market between 1997 and 2001, they explained, eight were riskier for women.

Male animal-bias also means drugs that work better for women might not even make it into testing to begin with.

As with the debate over what constitutes an “essential” health care benefit (according to some hi-larious U.S. senators, mammograms shouldn’t), when it comes to “who constitutes a full human,” it appears men are the considered default setting, while women are an afterthought.

It’s a pretty sweet gig for us men.

The thing is, women are half of us. We like them.

As fully formed human beings with lives, free will, hopes, dreams, and so on, it’d be nice if medicine worked better on them when they got diseases.

There’s been some progress toward making medical experiments more equitable, at least where human subjects are concerned.

Clinical trials (on humans) used to involve pretty much no women. Now most are 30-40% female, though that still means women are underrepresented.

Thanks to efforts of researchers like Karp and her team, we now know we need to extend that progress to the animal kingdom as well.

“Unless there’s a really good reason not to, we should be using both sexes in biomedical research,” Karp told New Scientist.

Male animals, she argued, have traits just as particular as female hormone cycles that make them similarly varied from an ideal “norm.”

Ultimately, more comprehensive research benefits us all — men and women.

Better studies lead to more effective medicine, which leads to less sickness and sadness all around.

That’s the hope anyway.

The animals of both genders who turn out to help us out with this project deserve a hearty “thank you.”

If we start with equal treatment, we might finally get some equal treatment.

After Don Toliver treated fans to a grand reveal of the tracklist from his forthcoming album, Love Sick, he took today to also share some of the features from each track.

“REVEALING THE CAST OF CHARACTERS TOMORROW,” he originally tweeted. “WHO DO YALL WANT TO SEE.”

While fans replied with everyone from another Travis Scott collaboration to Playboi Carti and Kid Cudi, only a few of the particular guesses wound up being correct.

Toliver’s Love Sick revealed each feature with some colorful vintage art — perfect for boasting that Justin Bieber, Wizkid, James Blake, Future, and many more are among the guests on his record.

Bieber and Future are set to appear on “Private Landing,” James Blake on “Let Her Go,” and Wizkid on a track called “Slow Motion.” In one of the posts, Toliver said of Wiz, “Thank You For Always Believing In the Kid ! Truly Honored to have you on the record Bro.”

Continue scrolling to view the full tracklist below.

1. “LoveSickness”
2. “Let Her Go” Feat. James Blake
3. “Leave The Club” Feat. Lil Durk & GloRilla
4. “4 Me” Feat. Kali Uchis
5. “Go Down” Feat. TisaKorean
6. “Time Heals All”
7. “Leather Coat”
8. “Honeymoon”
9. “Private Landing” Feat. Future & Justin Bieber
10. “Slow Motion” Feat. Wizkid
11. “Do It Right”
12. “If I Had” Feat. Charlie Wilson
13. “Company Pt. 3”
14. “Bus Stop” Feat. Brent Faiyaz
15. “Cinderella” Feat. Toro y Moi
16. “Encouragement”

Love Sick is out 2/24 via Atlantic. Pre-order it here.

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

Lil Wayne is back with new music. On Thursday (February 23), the New Orleans hitmaker released a new song titled “Kant Nobody,” with the help of one of rap’s greatest fallen legends, DMX. The Swizz Beatz-produced track features a snippet of the “Party Up” rapper that seemingly inspires the song, where he says, “Yo, couldn’t nobody f*ck with me then. And couldn’t nobody f*ck with me now.”

The three-minute track showcases Wayne’s confidence and growth as a rapper— he’s no longer the hot boy we met in the 90s. The song also receives the famous DMX “What!” adlib, which helps add a certain gritty je ne sais quoi alongside the pounding base.

“Sometimes I smile to hide the miles of my road traveled (What? Uh)/Shake my hand, it felt like you just touched a stove handle (What, what?),” Wayne raps. “Holy cow, f*ck the cow, I want the whole cattle (What? Uh)/Gucci buffs on my eyes, look like solar panels.”

The song almost calls out to the Gen Z rappers and the entire rap industry that Weezy is here to stay.

With a nearly three-decades-long career, it’s about time the “A Milli” rapper receives his flowers. But luckily, the rapper didn’t have to wait too long. While filming on the set of their new video, NLE Choppa gave the rapper a bouquet of real flowers. Before that, at the 2023 Grammys, Wayne was honored by the Recording Academy alongside Dr.Dre and Missy Elliot for the Global Impact Award.

Check out “Kant Nobody” above.

Skrillex is back and better than ever. Last weekend, the superstar EDM producer dropped two albums, one of which by surprise following a five-hour set at Madison Square Garden. On the second of the two albums, called Don’t Get Too Close is a collaboration with Yung Lean and Bladee called “Ceremony.”

Today (February 23), Skrillex has shared the video for “Ceremony.” In the video, Skrillex, Lean, and Bladee are seen partying and performing in various parts of Thailand, and also enjoying lavish dinners and drinks.

“What I got now won’t be here again / Let the sunshine shine right in / Everywhere we go, they let us in / Smoke in your hair and it smells like mint / Timberlands stomp, go stomp it in,” raps Lean on the song’s chorus, over a hypnotic, trancey beat.

Swedish rapper Bladee jumps in with a verse, describes the solace he finds within the music, rapping, “X out the line, paradise / It calls on me, the fall, the uprising / Yeah, I, rose gold rain / Nothing’s lеft in the way, it’s been real / It’s been too real.”

You can check out the video for “Ceremony” above.

Skrillex is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Around the world, many countries rep a quintessential drink and pack into it their culture: Korean Soju, Japanese Sake, British Gin, French Wine, Caribbean Rum, and American Bourbon are just a few that come to mind. When venturing to Mexico, you’ll no doubt get a taste of a fine smoky spirit concocted from the native agave plant, mezcal (tequila is another contender for the Mexican spirits crown, obviously).

Casa Silencio, one of the top mezcal distilleries in the world, decided to pack the culture to the max to celebrate the debut of their new, ultra-rare variation of black Mezcal. What transpired was a mega fiesta, an alliance between the distillery and concert powerhouse UMBRA to form “Silencio UMBRA.”

In the heart of Oaxaca’s Valley of Silence, mezcal aficionados had the pleasure of dancing under the desert stars to the sounds of an incredible lineup, curated by Cercle Music founder Derek Barbolla, and Artistic Director Philippe Tuchmann. The run of show included headliners: Bonobo, Carlita, Flor Capistran, Lee Burridge, LP Giobbi, Iñigo Vontier, The Martinez Brothers, Phil & Derek, Ry X, Shimza and Sofiane Pamart.

And it wasn’t just great music. Ten award-winning chefs from Oaxaca’s leading restaurants were invited to craft a variety of delicious dishes throughout the evening. While dining on some world-class comida, participants also had the opportunity to witness incredible immersive performances from Ritual Ibiza which, by the looks of the photos, seemed wild.

What could be a better way to debut a new Mezcal brand than through a stellar fiesta in the desert? Check the photos of Silencio UMBRA below!

Thanks to Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner is no longer the reigning queen of Instagram. The former Disney star has dethroned the media personality and businesswoman as Instagram’s most-followed female celebrity. Gomez earned the title in 2016 before taking a brief social media hiatus. Now with nearly 400 million followers — 381 million to be exact — the Only Murderers In The Building actress is back stronger than ever.

“Selena Gomez has officially surpassed Kylie Jenner in Instagram followers,” Pop Crave reported. ‘She becomes the most-followed female celebrity on the platform.”

But the congratulations were short-lived. Following the news, the Rare Beauty founder announced she was taking a break from social media after becoming embroiled in some alleged online drama over the most unexpected thing: eyebrows.

“I deleted this one time because I thought maybe it was too much, but eh,” she wrote.

After Gomez shared a TikTok video explaining that she had accidentally laminated her brows too much, both Jenner and Hailey Bieber, her longtime ex-boyfriend’s wife, were pictured on their Instagram stories, zooming in on their brows, with the caption “this was an accident?” which, according to SG fans is major shade toward Selena.

However, Gomez and Bieber have spoken out to deny there’s any beef between the two. Even Jenner responded to the mess, calling it “a reach.”

Gomez wanting to take another social media hiatus makes perfect sense. She’s been through a lot lately. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Gomez revealed that TikTok was the only social media app she was using and that she had outsourced all her other social media accounts to her assistant.

“People can call me ugly or stupid, and I’m like, ‘Whatever.’ But these people get detailed,” Gomez said regarding online trolls. “They write paragraphs that are so specific and mean. I would constantly be crying. I constantly had anxiety… I couldn’t do it anymore. It was a waste of my time.”

Traeger helped make us all barbecue pros when it comes to smoking meat at home. Well, at least they made it easier for us to be pros in our minds and backyards with low-and-slow cooking. Now, the brand is tackling a whole other form of outdoor cooking — the flat grill top.

The Flatrock Grill is the ultimate backyard griddle and was built for all of us who want to round out our cooking skills with some classic flattop work. The griddle has temperature control features that allow for three distinct insulated cooking zones on the griddle — allowing you to cook different foods at different temps. The build blocks wind from cooling your food as it cooks outdoors. And special u-shaped burners allow for consistent heat across the whole griddle.

The grill isn’t exactly cheap. It’ll set you back $899 and there’s a waiting list already, which isn’t surprising given Traeger’s devoted fan base. But that fan base doesn’t exist without merit. Their smokers deliver in every way and there’s no reason to think this backyard griddle won’t be next level.

What does it all mean? It’s time to set up a Hibiachi party station in your backyard! If that doesn’t sound like fun, Tyrese Gibson and his hibachi-loving crew beg to differ.