Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in human history because he changed how we send money and drive cars. He’s set his sights on taking humans to Mars and just bought Twitter, one of the world’s most powerful platforms for the exchange of ideas.
He’s loved by some, hated by others and, for the most part, a mystery to all. How can someone develop such an incredibly broad, positive vision for humanity while at the same time being able to reduce himself to a Twitter troll?
Three months ago, Musk gave a little insight into his inner world and what drives his decision-making. On August 1, he retweeted a plug for “What We Owe the Future,” a book by the Scottish philosopher and ethicist William MacAskill. “Worth reading. This is a close match for my philosophy,” Musk captioned the retweet.
MacAskill’s book is a call for the embrace of a philosophy known as “longtermerism,” which he defines as “the idea that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time.” He argues that we can make the future better in two ways, “by averting permanent catastrophes, thereby ensuring civilisation’s survival; or by changing civilisation’s trajectory to make it better while it lasts … Broadly, ensuring survival increases the quantity of future life; trajectory changes increase its quality.”
u201cWorth reading. This is a close match for my philosophy.u201d
The philosophy strives for the common good by focusing on the long-term goal of humanity’s survival. But long-term good may sometimes come at the expense of the short-term. “Because, the theory goes, giving a poor person a blanket isn’t likely to be as useful for the future of humanity as building a rocket to Mars,” investigative journalist Dave Troy writes on Medium.
Musk’s development of the Tesla fits right into the longtermer view of the world. “The fundamental goodness of Tesla … so like the ‘why’ of Tesla, the relevance, what’s the point of Tesla, comes down to two things: acceleration of sustainable energy and autonomy,” Musk said.
“The acceleration of sustainable energy is fundamental because this is the next potential risk for humanity,” Musk added. “So obviously, that is, by far and away, the most important thing.”
To achieve this goal, Musk had a long-term master plan that was an extremely rare thing in the auto industry. It was more akin to John F. Kennedy’s call to go to the moon than the auto industry’s usual vision, which is boxed in by quarter-to-quarter thinking.
Musk’s work to drive to normalize space travel and eventually colonize the moon and Mars fits nicely into the longtermerism theory as well. Musk has called interplanetary travel and colonization “life insurance” for the human species. While some focus on the medium-range goal of reducing the planet’s temperature, Musk is focusing on a possible future that may never come to fruition. However, aside from climate change, we may face other cataclysmic events that make Earth unfit for human life such as a meteor or ice age.
So why did Musk buy Twitter? Troy believes that the acquisition fits perfectly into the longtermer worldview.
“The goals are more ideological in nature,” Troy writes. “Musk and his backers believe that the global geopolitical arena was being warped by too much ‘woke’ ideology and censorship, and wanted to fix that by first restoring voices that had previously been silenced—and then implementing technical and algorithmic solutions that allow each user to get the experience they want.”
It appears as though Musk believes that the more regressive forms of progressive ideology work to stifle the spread of ideas and opening up the platform to all voices, regardless of how vile they may be, serves the ultimate goal of broadening human potential. Again, he’s sacrificing the short-term problems that stem from hate speech in favor of the potential for good ideas to emerge from the platform without being squelched.
Musk also alludes to longtermerism with his stated mission to “extend the light of consciousness.” If Musk believes that humans are the only truly conscious beings in the universe, our demise would effectively extinguish the universe’s knowledge of itself. The universe would be nothing more than the proverbial tree falling in the woods with no one around to hear it.
u201cIt is unknown whether we are the only civilization currently alive in the observable universe, but any chance that we are is added impetus for extending life beyond Earthu201d
The thought of the world’s richest, and potentially most powerful, man making world-altering decisions with no rhyme or reason is a scary proposition. It’s woefully inadequate to simply label Musk a visionary or a troll. But if he’s driven by a moral imperative, then we can get a better handle on the objectives behind his work and make sense of him accordingly.
The problem is, given his focus on results that won’t be apparent for generations, will we ever truly understand what he’s about?
Kaylani Simpson has gone megaviral on TikTok for a video describing how she went to the ER with what she thought was appendicitis but wound up being a baby girl. The video has received more than 18.8 million views on the platform.
Simpson says it all began when she went to a college party as a sophomore. Nine months later, she went to the hospital complaining of abdominal pain.
“Doctors didn’t know what was wrong in the ER,” she captioned the video. “While they were doing an ultrasound, my mother saw something familiar on the screen. Seconds later I started screaming and the doctor ran in. It was a head! I was rushed up to give birth. I pushed her out 15 min later in three tries.”
“I had no bump, my period, and was the skinniest I’ve ever been,” she continued. “Came home two days later with a perfectly healthy baby and my best friend.”
The video received a ton of great comments. “Well your appendicitis is absolutely adorable,” Kat wrote. “All these people saying this is their worst fear and I’m over here thinking this is the only way I could handle pregnancy,” Kaitlin Emily Janevski added.
People may find it hard to believe that someone could carry a baby to full term without knowing they were pregnant until the day they delivered. However, it’s more common than people think. One Serbian study estimates that one out of every 7,225 pregnancies is unknown to the mother until the moment of delivery.
The scary part is that when people don’t know they’re pregnant they don’t get important prenatal care. The good news is that Kaylani’s baby was “perfectly healthy.”
The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.
ITEM NUMBER ONE – One of our best shows is back
It would be easy to write off Mythic Quest as “that other show Rob McElhenney does.” You wouldn’t be entirely out of line, either, at least not in the broad strokes. He’s been making Always Sunny for almost two decades now, as impossible as that sounds. The show premiered in 2005. It’s about to start its 16th season, extending its record for most seasons of a live-action show and putting some distance between it and the show in second place, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which might be the funniest possible show for it to have displaced at the top. All of this is notable and fine and good, but again, it gets in the way of the point here.
The point here is that Mythic Quest is a blast. It’s so good. The Apple series is kicking off its third season this weekend and I am as excited about it as I’ve been about any new season of any returning series this year. This gist of it, if you’re not caught up, goes like this: McElhenney plays the egomaniac creative genius behind a wildly popular series of video games called, you guessed it, Mythic Quest. The whole thing is basically your standard workplace sitcom from there. We’ve got goofballs and schemers and romance and jokes and heart and sometimes someone has a sword. You could do worse.
The cast is loaded, too. Charlotte Nicdao plays his constantly flustered number two and brings a pretty great nervous energy to it all. Danny Pudi is in there as the slimy business guy whose Svengali shenanigans eventually get him thrown in jail. Jessie Ennis is running around doing Jessie Ennis things, all bubbling intensity and wildfires raging behind the eyes. We’ve got Ashly Burch and Imani Hakim as testers and David Hornsby — Rickety Cricket from Always Sunny — as the hopeless manager and it’s all just lovely. Here’s the trailer for the new season.
I’ve talked about this show before. Kind of a lot. I’ll do that when I like a show. I still believe that the “Quarantine” special episode they aired smack in the early stages of the pandemic was the best take on the situation any television show put together. I was so amazed by it all that I reached out to a bunch of them to do interviews for a piece on how they all did it. This is notable because I am usually awful at doing interviews and try to avoid them whenever possible, and because when I dialed in to talk to Rob, he saw my Eastern Pennsylvania area code and we wrapped up the interview by shouting “GO BIRDS” at each other. I am very professional.
(Also worth noting: Apple is really killing it with half-hour comedies right now. This show, Ted Lasso, Loot with Maya Rudolph, my beloved murder mystery The Afterparty, and more. A ridiculous hit rate on these. Something to monitor going forward.)
So, yeah. Definitely get in here. Watch this season if you’ve watched the first two. Watch all three of you haven’t. Start this weekend. It really is the highest level execution of a genre that has worked forever, and done with the fun twist, which is kind of all you can ask for out of a nice little binge. It’s basically The Office or Parks and Recreation but about video games and without the crutch — not that those shows used it as a crutch, more that many shows since have — of the mockumentary format to explain the action. I’m excited. Wait until you see Danny Pudi in this new season. And wait until you see the Elizabeth Holmes joke in one of the early episodes. Just a masterclass on a few levels here. I’m so happy it’s back.
ITEM NUMBER TWO – Just an incredible week for the John Wick universe
Two important developments in the John Wick universe this week, which is a really fun thing to get to type out like that. The first is that we have a new trailer for the fourth movie in the franchise. That’s it up there. I wrote 1500 words about it here, because… well, because what’s the point of having this job if you’re not going to drop everything on a Thursday morning to blog about Keanu Reeves getting into sword fights in Paris, you know? I do not take this for granted.
The second thing was this update about the upcoming John Wick spinoff titled Ballerina, which will star Ana de Armas as… well as a ballerina assassin who is also out for revenge.
While the studio couldn’t be reached for comment, it’s understood that Reeves will join an ensemble led by Ana de Armas, which will also include Ian McShane. The latter will reprise his role as The Continental Hotel manager Winston, which he’s played since the original John Wick film, as was announced earlier today.
Ballerina will watch as a young female assassin (De Armas) seeks revenge against the people who killed her family — as Wick has against those who have done him wrong, in three films released between 2014 and 2019.
This is cool. I am ready for this movie as soon as they want to release it. Today is fine. Show me Ana de Armas in a cocktail dress at a formal gala just mowing down a collection of goons who have wronged her and/or her loved ones. Have her and Keanu do it together with a synchronized efficiency that makes it look more like dance than chaos. Give the bad guy a name like Victor St. Aspen and put him in a tuxedo and cast Jeremy Irons to play him.
I hope they keep spinning off more things. Give me a prequel about Ernest, the assassin played by Boban Marjanovic. Give me a whole movie from the point of view of the dogs. Make it a cartoon. Let the dogs sing. I will still go see it in the theater the first day it opens. I promise I am at most barely joking about any of this.
ITEM NUMBER THREE – Ryan Coogler seems like a pretty good dude
YouTube
Ryan Coogler is out making the rounds to promote Wakanda Forever, the Black Panther sequel he directed that opens this weekend. It’s been weird, mostly because Chadwick Boseman was so good as the lead in the original and he’s just… not here anymore. That sucks a lot. And Coogler has done such a good job on the press tour discussing that loss even though it’s probably painful as hell to discuss every day for weeks. I feel bad for him about it all. Which is one of the reasons I’m going to stop talking about it… now.
Instead, I’m going to talk about this: Ryan Coogler learned how to swim to make this movie. That’s a pretty cool thing, as was his reasoning, which was basically that if he was asking his cast to be in the water for a huge chunk of the movie, then he should be in the water, too. He discussed the whole thing in an interview last week, getting into the racial history or swimming and why a substantial chunk of the Black community feels weird about it, which is also a good thing to open up a discussion about, just to get it out there. Here’s the thrust of it all, though.
When training began, Coogler’s swimming ability peaked at knowing how to “stay alive” — but that was about it. So, as one would imagine, there was a bit of a learning curve. Those who’ve attempted to free dive probably won’t be surprised to read that, for example, Coogler initially struggled to learn how and when to clear his ears. (He now knows you do it on the way down, not up.)
Ultimately, Coogler found learning to navigate those depths and overcome that fear was rewarding. “I remember it was a wild feeling, like I can’t believe I’m this deep in water,” he recalled. “Then I started to work on the breath hold and got comfortable.”
I need you to really think about this for a second. I need you to think about how weird and intimidating and kind of embarrassing it must be to take beginner swimming classes at age 36, especially if you’ve reached a level of success in life where you do not have to look silly or do embarrassing things on a regular basis if you do not want to. A lot of people, at that point in their lives, would just throw up their hands and decide they’ll just never know how to swim. I really dig that he did this. It’s a good reminder that it’s never too late to learn cool new stuff, and that sometimes the only way to do the hard thing is to swallow your pride a little and just, like, do the hard thing. Again, it’s really cool. Ryan Coogler seems like a cool dude.
ITEM NUMBER FOUR – James Cameron, please calm down
Getty Image
Hey, speaking of directors who are making water-based movies that they’re out doing press for, let’s check in with James Cameron and his tour to promote the upcoming Avatar sequ-…
Above all, however, The Way Of Water is a family story. This is because, 14 years after falling in love, Jake and Neytiri are now the proud parents of five children. “People say, ‘Oh my God, a family story from Disney? Just what we want…’ This isn’t that kind of family story,” Cameron clarifies. “This is a family story like how The Sopranos is a family story.”
The thing I like about James Cameron is that he’s consistent. Just totally James Cameron all the time.
“Hey Jim, what’s up with your movie about the blue nature dudes who we last saw on the big screen over a decade ago?”
“Thank you for asking. It is kind of like the greatest television show of all time.“
“I don’t want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [television] for eight hours,” Cameron said. “I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonizingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a fucking break. I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row. Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it’s okay to get up and go pee.”
I love it. I remain on the record as saying movies should be two hours long and every minute over that should cost you a $1 million donation to charity, but fine. Good. Rage about this all you want, James Cameron. I like to picture him answering questions about the length and family aspects of this movie from cranky critics and executives and then going home and watching his kids crank straight through six episodes of The Sopranos in one sitting and then heaving his cell phone into the fireplace in a blind rage.
I dare someone to ask him if he ever considered making this movie as a 10-episode television show for a streaming service. Please. I need this.
ITEM NUMBER FIVE – A simple suggestion…
So what we have here is the trailer for Lindsay Lohan’s new Netflix holiday movie, Falling for Christmas. It is an extremely Hallmark operation, which I say with nothing but respect for that particular craft. Guess if she plays an heiress who bonks her head and gets amnesia. Guess if they tell you all of that in the official description. Well: “A young, newly engaged heiress has a skiing accident in the days before Christmas. After she is diagnosed with amnesia, she finds herself in the care of the handsome cabin owner and his daughter.”
It’s beautiful. Good for Lindsay Lohan. I’m glad she’s out here doing it. I’m glad she’s still making movies and showing up on screens big and small.
But.
I do have a request.
At some point, maybe if things slow down again or even if they heat up and make her a bankable commodity again, I would really like Lindsay Lohan to start narrating audiobooks. I think she’d be great at it. She’s had that smoky voice ever since she was a teenager and she’s growing into it now and I think she would be perfect at narrating like an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. I can’t believe she hasn’t done it already. Think about it. I know I’m right about this.
Listen to me.
LISTEN TO ME.
It’s a good idea.
READER MAIL
If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.
From Drew:
Had an idea that was so stupid that I knew I had to send it straight to you. We take the story about the guy who threw eggs and King Charles and we give it to the team that made American Vandal. It’s a full season-long look at it, maybe fictionalized a little for comedy, shot mockumentary style with interviews with everyone from the king to the grocer who sold him the eggs. English Vandal, coming to Netflix next spring.
Yes.
YES.
This is a good email, starting with the first sentence. I am truly honored to be the person people send their stupidest ideas to. It makes me feel like I’m doing something right. Anyway, three additional notes here:
I want an entire episode about him trying to transport three loose eggs in his pocket while riding on a crowded double-decker bus through a bumpy part of town
I want one of the people interviewed in this fake show to be one of the Buckingham Palace guards who stands there silent and motionless in front of the gates all day and whenever they cut to him I want him to remain silent and motionless on camera until they cut away
The rumors had been circulating through the hallways of El Paso High School for days: Students had seen test papers strewn across busy Mesa Street on Oct. 28, and the pencil-filled Scantron bubbles were a dead giveaway — these were SAT tests, just like the ones that 315 students had taken at the school in Texas the day before.
We are getting to the meat of this in a second but I want to pause here to state for the record that “Scantron Fiasco” would be an incredible name for a villain in like a Gerard Butler movie.
Moving on.
Students were called to a meeting during last period on Wednesday and told the news: the SAT tests they had taken on Oct. 27 would not be scored, because they had flown off a UPS truck that was transporting them. Instead of using their results to finalize their college applications, the students would instead have to take the often-harrowing test again.
This is maybe the funniest possible reason for a slew of SATs to get compromised, especially in 2022. Not hackers, not a computer glitch, not a power surge. Nope. They just flew off the truck and into the street. It’s an excuse so bad I don’t think any teacher in America would accept it as the reason a project is late. Although now I want someone to try. Print out this article and be like “See? It happens?!” Report back and let me know how it went.
UPS is still conducting an investigation, but was quick to own up to its error. “We have apologized to the school and extend our apologies to the students,” UPS said in a statement. “The driver’s actions in this case are not representative of UPS protocols and methods, and we have addressed this with him. Safely and reliably meeting our service commitments is UPS’s first priority.”
I have this image in my head as clear as day…
The driver is like some burnout dude with long hair and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and he’s blasting Steely Dan in the cabin up front and is completely oblivious to dozens of papers flying out the back of his open van and when people try to pull up beside him to wave and alert him to the trail of loose leaf chaos he’s leaving in his wake he just smiles and waves back because he thinks they’re being friendly.
Big late-90s Jim Breuer energy here.
Ezra Ponzio, a senior, said that when students first heard the rumors, they all hoped that it wasn’t their tests on the road. According to the El Paso ISD, all but 55 of the 315 tests were recovered. Mr. Ponzio said even though most tests were found, they were still considered compromised, so everyone would have to take the test again.
“They were like, ‘Hey, this is not our fault whatsoever. It’s on the UPS, but you still have to retake it,’” Mr. Ponzio said. “So that was annoying.”
I’m sorry, Ezra. I’m sorry this happened. I hope everything goes well the second time around. But look at the bright side: this will be an incredible story to tell at your freshman orientation the first week of college. Real A+ icebreaker.
In addition to being one of music’s biggest stars, Lizzo has been expanding her acting portfolio, with roles in the critical favorite drama Hustlers and animated UglyDolls feature in 2019 and a few works in production slated for future release. However, as it turns out, she made her first appearance on screen much before her breakout singles “Juice” and “Good As Hell” in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role in the 2004 sports drama film, Friday Night Lights, as revealed by that Canadian rascal Nardwuar when Lizzo’s Special Tour stopped in his native Vancouver.
Presenting Lizzo with a still from the film, Nardwuar prompted the “About Damn Time” singer to reminisce about how she got into the film as a member of her high school’s band. Her school, Alief Elsik High School in Houston, had been selected to portray the film’s protagonist Permian Panthers’ rival, Dallas Carter High School, and she’s in the marching band as the two schools’ football teams face off. She even notes, “I’m in the trailer! I had my piccolo and I’m doing this [waving it over her head]. I’m a blur but I know I’m there.”
The really impressive part is that the only story specifically pointing out Lizzo’s involvement with the movie has since been scrubbed from the internet, with only a reference in another incomplete article on Yahoo! News. Nardwuar’s got one hell of a research team.
You can watch Nardwuar’s full interview with Lizzo above.
Sofía Reyes is letting the love in for her new music video for “Luna.” Today (November 11), the Mexican pop star released the ethereal video. It comes on the heels of past hit “1, 2, 3” seeing resurgent success on TikTok.
“Luna” is Reyes’ first taste of new music since the release of her album Mal De Amores earlier this year. That LP featured the break-up anthems “Mal De Amores” with Becky G and “Marte” featuring María Becerra. With her latest single, Reyes is feeling and embracing the love in her life now.
“Obviously, the song is about moon itself,” Reyes told Uproxx. “I’ve been tripping about the moon for awhile and how it’s connected to our emotions. The song talks about this deep love and what this person makes me feel in the sense of stepping into like a more divine place.”
In the enchanting “Luna,” Reyes sings about a romance that feels otherworldly. She translated the celestial vibe of the love song to dreamy video that was directed by Mamo Vernet. Reyes described shooting the video as feeling like she was working with “family.”
Earlier this year, Reyes’ 2018 hit “1, 2, 3” featuring Jason Derulo and De La Ghetto saw renewed success on social media. On TikTok, fans have created over 10 million videos using the song, making it one of the biggest songs on the platform.
“I’m extremely grateful,” Reyes said. “I’m definitely surprised to know that the song came out five years ago, and it’s just crazy how songs are timeless, and you never know what’s going to happen or how far they’re going to go connecting with people. It’s amazing that the song still does it thing. I just love that people love the song.”
“Luna” is the lead single from Reyes’ next album that’s due out early next year. She is hard on work on her follow-up where she is moving on from the heartache behind Mal De Amores.
“Right now with this album that I’m working on, personally I’m no longer feeling this heartbreak type of thing,” Reyes said. “I feel like where I’m writing from right now comes from this chapter after a breakup, and what happens after, I think that’s a very beautiful thing.”
The Crown recently launched its fifth season on Netflix, and it’s already been plagued with scandals and criticisms from staunch monarchists questioning showrunner Peter Morgan’s commitment to telling the truth when it comes to the royal family. The show’s latest installment covers most of the ’90s, a tumultuous decade for the British institution marked by very public affairs, messy divorces, shocking tell-alls, and heartbreaking tragedies. It all makes for delicious melodrama on its own. Still, critics worry that the liberties that the show takes with its real-life characters could be interpreted as fact by those who don’t live under a constitutional monarchy, whose sovereign basically amounts to a very expensive mascot — a figurehead more for show than anything else.
These would be valid concerns, worthy of the debate they’ve ignited, except for one thing. We’ve seen Season 5 of The Crown, and there’s absolutely no way anyone would believe this show is anything but fiction. Why? Because Dominic West is too damn hot to be playing Prince Charles.
Now, we know what you’re thinking. “This is television, of course Prince Charles would be hot. They’re contractually obligated to cast pretty people so that us couch-ridden Jabba-the-Huts will keep our bulging, blood-shot eyes glued to the screen.” And you’re right. Hollywood loves casting attractive stars to play incredibly average-looking people. Look at Margot Robbie in I Tonya, Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs, Leonardo DiCaprio in literally every Scorsese biopic. Even true stories, no matter how unbelievable, need an element of sex to sell, and the easiest way to inject it is by banking on the beautiful, painstakingly-maintained visage of a Hollywood A-lister.
But The Crown has gone too far this time. It’s been too brazen in its attempts to gaslight us into believing that Prince Charles, a man who once thought phone sex meant vocally fantasizing about becoming a tampon that his mistress could use, is a man who would make you want to drink his bathwater. Its casting department has actively chosen violence and, as a result, we’ve all strayed a bit further from the light.
For a series that, time and time again, manages to perfectly recreate icons by shaping talented look-alikes into influential historical figures with just a bit of period-appropriate make-up, fantastic costuming, and good lighting, West’s casting feels like a glaring oversight … until you realize this: it isn’t the first time that The Crown has employed an actor too suave and charming to ever believably portray a man who preferred orchestral hymns to ’80s pop music.
In the show’s third and fourth seasons, Josh O’Connor played the young monarch who was struggling with the weight of his inheritance and torn between his love for one woman and his duty to another. Despite behaving terribly – jealously berating his wife because the public loved her more, ordering his bodyguards to spy on her, weaponizing her mental illness against her – O’Connor made you feel for Prince Charles. His perpetually despondent stare, his pathetic need for his mother’s approval, his lost puppy act – it was only enhanced by full lips, a sharp jawline, and the perfectly-coiffed hair the actor sported. In O’Connor, The Crown gave us a Prince Charles in need of rescuing, a tortured anti-hero who might still be saved. Honestly, it likely caused therapy bills to skyrocket.
The Crown has “beautified” Prince Charles for three whole seasons. First with Josh O’ Connor (seasons three and four) and now with Dominic West in season five.
And West’s arrival, as an aged, rugged, deviously handsome version of the future king is only adding insult to the emotional injury not covered under any insurance plan. If you think that’s dramatic hyperbole, ask yourself this, “In what world was it necessary to have Prince Charles breakdance this season, and make him look good doing it?”
Dominic West once played The Wire‘s “bad boy” of the Baltimore Police Department, a leather-jacket-rocking womanizer with the kind of internal demons that make well-adjusted grown women weak in the knees. He’s too chiseled and too much of a man to play an overgrown boy playing at being king. And we shouldn’t accept this erasure of the real Prince Charles’ homely looks. We can’t, not if we’re to argue that integrity in storytelling matters. Not if an entire generation is going to grow up now, watching The Crown instead of getting their royal gossip from penny tabloids and ABC News specials like the boomers before us did.
This is the rubbish that had former PM Tony Blair spitting mad. It’s the malicious fiction that drove John Major to criticize a popular streaming series that generously (perhaps too generously) cast actor Jonny Lee Miller to portray him, thus suggesting to millions of uninformed viewers that he, too, was once hot.
Today is yet another bittersweet day for hip-hop fans everywhere. With the release of new song, Brockhampton fans are reminded of the collective’s dissolution. Originally announced during their set at Coachella, the band revealed their forthcoming album, The Life, would be their last together.
Their new release, somberly titled “The Ending,” is a retrospective look back on their 12-year career. Similarly to their previous single, “Big P*ssy,” the track solely features vocals from the group’s founder, Kevin Abstract. Produced by Boylife, “The Ending,” is Abstract’s accounting of how success can be both a blessing and a curse.
With a runtime just under 2 minutes, the sample used (Willie Hutch’s 1976 soul ballad “Let Me Be The One”) lays the emotional groundwork for Abstract’s sentimental bars.
In the stanza, “I’m thinking ‘Man, one day we all gon’ be some superstars’ / And this is way back before I had a credit card / and this is way back when I ain’t have a debit card / and this is way back when we all still prayed to God,” Abstract recounts the earlier days of the group where his dreams fueled the group’s musical ambitions.
The song transitions into Abstract founding of the group, and the financial profits that came from it, rapping, “I turned my friendship into a business, into an empire / half a million that I wired to my momma, she retired.”
But as the age old saying goes, with more money comes more problems. Abstract pulls back the proverbial curtain to reveal the many problems he has face rapping: “Calling me ‘I’m getting tired of the drama’ / getting tired of letting culture try to tell me how to live my life,” as he questions if was all worth it questions, “this the ending we all envisioned, right?”
While the song carries the band’s signature bounce, “The Ending,” stands out far above the rest. Fans noticed this as well, rushing to Twitter to declare “The Ending” their favorite track to date from the collective. Abstract candidly replied, “mine too.”
As one of the last standing hip-hop collectives (out living Tyler The Creator’s Odd Future and Joey Badass’ Pro Era), Brockhampton will truly be missed.
It seems like the movie-going experience is almost back to the way it was before the pandemic, at least according to Disney. Maybe Steven Spielberg disagrees, but he could make a Marvel movie if he really wanted to!
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the long-awaited sequel, arrived in theaters this week and as it turns out, a lot of people decided to spend their Thursday night in Wakanda. Nobody is surprised, but it’s nice to have confirmation.
The sequel racked up $28M in previews from Thursday night, which is a step up from the first installment in 2018, which secured $25.2M in previews. The weekend projection is between $175M-$200M, which is a very typical Marvel movie range. In comparison, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opened with $187M, while Thor: Love and Thunder took home $144M.
Wakanda Forever revisits the world of Wakanda after the death of its king T’Challa, while also letting fans mourn the passing of Black Panther himself, Chadwick Boseman. The movie stars Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Lupita Nyong’o, Tenoch Huerta, Martin Freeman, and Angela Bassett.
This is the latest Marvel movie to make bank on a Thursday this year: Doctor Strange made $36M in previews this past May, while Love and Thunder earned $29M in July. Again…not surprising!
No word yet on how movie-enthusiast Tom Cruise is feeling after his latest Top Gun installment cracked $19M in previews, before shattering more records as the summer went on. Maybe we shouldn’t tell Cruise, or he’ll try to jump out of a plane. Again.
Last weekend, most Americans gained an hour as we set our clocks back to standard time and questioned for the umpteenth time why we still entertain the whole daylight savings time thing. It’s weird that we still do this, right? Not just me?
On the one hand, this fall time change is a gift. How often are we just handed an extra hour out of thin air? On the other hand, the sun now sets an hour earlier, which means it gets dark at a ridiculous time from now until the winter solstice.
The dark afternoons and colder weather can drum up some not-so-happy feelings for many people, so it’s good to find ways to brighten our days. That’s where Upworthy comes in. Each week, we round up 10 of the most smile-worthy finds from around the internet to give people an extra shot of joy.
This week’s list is full of adorable kids and fabulous relatives, reminding us that so many of life’s greatest joys come from our fellow human beings. So kick back, relax and enjoy these highlights from around the internet.
Feisty feminist preschooler goes off on a classically Italian rant and it’s molto bene.
Secondo voi ha ragione matilde ? #foryoupage @Giò Canaletti seguitela tutti su istragram matilde_vaccar
You don’t have to understand a word of what this wee one is saying to appreciate her passionate embodiment of a Sicilian grandmother, but when you do know what she’s saying, it’s even better. In a nutshell, she’s retelling how “Anna” was giving her grief for wearing a miniskirt and she said Anna needed to mind her own skirt, basically. Brava, little one. Read the full story here.
Young people showed up big for the midterm elections. If this kiddo is any indication of what’s coming up, the future is in good hands.
Don’t forget to vote! Do you think they should have a say?? #vote #votetiktok #recesstherapy
So much wisdom and clear thinking for a 6-year-old. Honestly, he probably could vote now. He seems to have a better head on his shoulders than a fair number of adults, frankly.
This kid punking his mom with a full-on dad joke is an inspiration.
The way he freaked out, which freaked the kiddo out, and then shifted his voice to calm him down. These are just the best moments.
This year’s John Lewis Christmas ad dropped. It’s certainly smile-worthy, but you also might want to grab a tissue.
u201cItu2019s the things we do that mean the most. ud83dudef9 n#TheBeginneru201d
— John Lewis & Partners (@John Lewis & Partners) 1668067178
Every year, U.K. retailer John Lewis & Partners releases a Christmas ad that plunges us straight into our feelings. One year it was about Elton John’s childhood, last year it was about an unexpected alien visitor and this year it’s about a man going the extra mile to make a foster child feel welcome and connected when she arrives at his home. A beautiful glimpse of the best of humanity.
12-year-old gets a haircut from Vic Blends and he is a seriously fabulous kid.
Some kids just make your jaw drop at the way they think and talk. What a sweet kid with clearly great parents. And great to see Vic is as positive and encouraging as always.
Brothers brought swagger to their ‘flower boys’ role and this should always be a thing.
The moves! The fanny packs! The bride shared that they gave these two flower boy positions because they knew they would shine in those roles. “No drama over here just good vibes,” she wrote. What a delightful addition to an already joyful event.
Dad ‘overstood’ the assignment to get his daughter some sanitary pads with wings in the very best way.
Hope we made you smile! Come back next week for another roundup of joy, and if you want more posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, check out our free newsletter, The Upworthiest.
The responses to More Love, Less Ego have proved that the record was worth the wait. There are lots of goat emojis. One fan wrote, “Instead of going for straight hits or bangers, WIZKID has gone for serious melodies, catchy hooks, incredible beats and sexy lyrics. He went for replay factor of quality music over flashy & glossy records. master stroke #WizKid #MoreLoveLessEgo #mlle.”
Instead of going for straight hits or bangers , WIZKID has gone for serious melodies , catchy hooks , incredible beats and sexy lyrics . He went for replay factor of quality music over flashy & glossy records . master stroke #WizKid#MoreLoveLessEgo#mlle
One user wrote that “other artists should learn from Wizkid, the art of making an album” when it comes to “productions, song arrangement, target audience, features & marketing.”
Other artists should learn from Wizkid, the art of making an album.
The productions, song arrangement, target audience, features & marketing.
You don’t have to release multiple singles before an album, it will drop the listens/streams.
Find more tweets about the More Love, Less Ego below, including some quality memes. It’s a good thing fans are enjoying the album considering the singer is set to headline New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden in just a few days.
Sir Wizkid go drop album, to pick the best song go still turn fight among fans
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