Category: News

This article originally appeared on 12.14.18

Anna Trupiano is a first-grade teacher at a school that serves deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students from birth through eighth grade.

In addition to teaching the usual subjects, Trupiano is charged with helping her students thrive in a society that doesn’t do enough to cater to the needs of the hard-of-hearing.

A six-year-old child farted so loud in class that some of their classmates began to laugh. The child was surprised by their reaction because they didn’t know farts make a sound. This created a wonderful and funny teaching moment for Trupiano.

Trupiano shared the conversation on Facebook.

While the discussion Tupiano had with her students was funny, it points to a serious problem faced by the deaf community. “I know it started with farts, but the real issue is that many of my students aren’t able to learn about these things at home or from their peers because they don’t have the same linguistic access,” she told GOOD.

“So many of my students don’t have families who can sign well enough to explain so many things it’s incredibly isolating for these kids,” she continued.

Tupiano hopes her funny story about bodily functions will inspire others to become more involved with the deaf community by learning sign language.

“I would love to see a world where my students can learn about anything from anyone they interact with during their day,” she told GOOD. “Whether that means learning about the solar system, the candy options at a store, or even farts, it would be so great for them to have that language access anywhere they go.”

This article originally appeared on 02.11.19.

It’s said that everyone dies twice. The first is your physical death, the second is the last time anyone utters your name.

Sybil Marie Hicks, from Baysville, Ontario, died on February 2, at the age of 81, but it’ll be a long time before her name is forgotten. Her children have turned her into a posthumous celebrity after writing a hilarious first-person obituary for her that was published in The Hamilton Spectator on February 5, 2019.

The last word. Obit in today’s @TheSpec “I finally have the smoking hot body I have always wanted…having been cre… https://t.co/kaBTNuBMAH

— Jim Poling (@PolingRecord)
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According to her daughter, it was fitting tribute.

“Mom was never boring,” Hicks’ daughter, Barb Drummond, told Yahoo Lifestyle. “Mom lived large. She would do anything for anyone. It was rare for Mom not to have a smile on her face. Mom was always ready for a laugh.”

The obituary begins with a shot at her husband, Ron. “It hurts me to admit it, but I, Mrs. Ron Hicks from Baysville, have passed away,” they wrote. “I leave behind my loving husband, Ron Hicks, whom I often affectionately referred to as a ‘Horse’s Ass.'”

She then goes on to roast her own children.

“I also left behind my children whom I tolerated over the years; Bob (with Carol) my oldest son and also my favourite. Brian (with Ginette) who was the Oreo cookie favourite, Brenda AKA ‘Hazel’ who would run to clean the bathrooms when she heard company was coming,” they continued. “Barbara (with Gordon) the ever Miss Perfect and finally Baby Bruce who wouldn’t eat homemade turkey soup because he didn’t want to be alert looking for bones while he ate.”

The piece ends with a great zinger and a bit of a mystery: “I finally have the smoking hot body I have always wanted… having been cremated. Please come say goodbye and celebrate my wonderful life with my husband and his special friend Dorothy who is now lovingly taking care of my horse’s ass.”

Did her husband have a side piece or are they talking about the dog?

The viral obituary has done more than just spread a few much needed laughs across the world, it’s helped the family heal after Hicks’ long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. The disorder may have stolen Hicks’ quick wit sharp tongue; but, in a way, the obituary, has given voice to a woman who was long silenced.

“We just thought that when she passed, we really didn’t want to have this sort of boilerplate template obituary,” Brian Hicks, the second eldest of Hick’s five children, told the CBC.

“We wanted to do something that kind of celebrated who she was and to give us an opportunity to basically have one last conversation with her, and have some laughs at the same time,” he said.

The Hicks family hopes that those who are moved by their mother’s story will consider donating to their local Alzheimer’s charity.

Read the entire obituary at The Hamilton Spectator.

This article originally appeared on 06.01.19

Kelsey Dawn Williamson, 23, from Benton, Illinois has ordered over 50 shirts from AliExpress, an online retailer based out of Hangzhou, China. But when the Frog and Toad shirt she ordered on May 10 arrived, she “literally did not know how to react so I just took a few moments to stare at it and try to process.”

The infant-sized shirt has a picture of the iconic reptiles from the children’s book series riding old-fashioned bikes with “FUCK THE POLICE” written at the bottom.

Williamson posted a photo of her daughter Salem in the shirt on Facebook and it quickly went viral.

The shirt that was delivered looked exactly like the one in the online store, just without the caustic N.W.A. lyric.

While it seems utterly bizarre that someone would create a shirt with “FUCK THE POLICE” written beneath a picture of Frog and Toad — a duo who’ve never been known to harbor ill will against law enforcement — there’s a good reason.

Memes featuring Frog and Toad are so popular they have their own subreddit. The shirtmaker, who probably doesn’t have a license to use Frog and Toad, must have got the photo from a Google search. The person who made the shirt was most likely Chinese and either didn’t speak English or has a very poor eye for detail.

After Williamson received the shirt, she Facetimed her husband and they screamed together. “We both just lost it, dying of laughter,” she told Buzzfeed. “All he could say was ‘Oh shit.'”

“I’ve told [Salem], ‘People really like your frog shirt!'” Williamson said. But she’s not letting her child wear the offensive shirt to preschool. “It’s going in her baby box so we can bring it up when she’s older.”

Unfortunately, the incident has been all laughs for Williamson. She’s received messages from people who’ve fat-shamed her daughter.

via Kelsey Dawn Williamson / Facebook

via Kelsey Dawn Williamson / Facebook

via Kelsey Dawn Williamson / Facebook

“People were actually messaging me just to say mean things about her,” she said. “A ton of people calling her fat, asking me what I feed her to make her so big, telling me the shirt I bought was too small.”

But Williamson has remained strong and fought back against the shamers. She edited her post to address her daughter’s weight but refuses to take it down. “SHE SEES SPECIALISTS FOR HER WEIGHT. SHE CANT HELP IT. I CANT HELP IT. MY HUSBAND CANT HELP IT. IT IS OUT OF OUR CONTROL. JUST LAUGH AT THE FUNNY SHIRT,” Williamson wrote on Facebook.

That’s right people, just laugh at the funny shirt, and stay out of people’s business.

This article originally appeared on December 12, 2019

You may think the Illuminati secretly rules the world, but it’s actually cats. Cats have been treated like gods since the start of human civilization, whether it was the ancient Egyptians or those of us in the modern world who would do anything for our furry friends.

And to conquer the world, cats need cutting-edge military technology. That’s why Suck UK creates awesome cardboard gadgets you can buy for your cats.

SOURCE: SUCK UK

Their posting on Amazon reads,

“These fun and playful toy houses for your cats are designed to add a sense of adventure to their daily lives about the house. Why spend an afternoon relaxing in a boring, plain old box, when there’s the opportunity to become a life saving fireman, thrilling tank driver or LA socialite?!”

“Sit back and have a giggle at your cat ‘doing human things’ and help keep them away from clawing your favorite sofa!”

“These cardboard playhouses come in various humorous designs; the Tank, the Catillac, the Fire Engine, Plane, and for those kitties with a bit more style, the Cabin and Tepee.”

“There’s no need to glue or tape and they easily fold away if you need a bit more space around the house.”

Just look at these guys having so much fun…

SOURCE: SUCK UK

SOURCE: SUCK UK

SOURCE: SUCK UK

They even have a plane, every army needs an air force after all.

SOURCE: SUCK UK

As you can probably imagine, people are loving the vehicles, though their cats are still turning them down for plain cardboard boxes. One customer writes:

“A few weeks down the line, they both play with it but not as much as the huge cardboard box I got for free from a supermarket… But I like it, so maybe that’s what counts! It does look impressive, with color printing on the inside and outside.”

SOURCE: SUCK UK

And they don’t only do vehicles. Your cat could be a superstar DJ, too.

SOURCE: SUCK UK

The original “White Boy Rick” approves of the actor cast to play him in the upcoming show about the Black Mafia Family produced by 50 Cent, according to TMZ. Richard Wershe Jr., who was the youngest FBI informant in history at just 14 years old, called Eminem’s upcoming portrayal of him perfect casting and “an honor.”

Eminem’s casting was announced earlier this week, making the role one of the rapper’s first since he starred in the loosely autobiographical 2002 box office hit 8 Mile. 50 Cent posted the casting news on his Instagram, writing, “Oh yeah i’m bringing the big dogs out, I couldn’t do a show based in Detroit without incorporating the legend @eminem. Got him to play white Boy Rick in BMF, this sh*t is out of here.”

TMZ got the original White Boy Rick on a video call to get his take, prompting Wershe to reveal that Eminem was one of the first people to reach out about doing a movie on him. Although Eminem didn’t wind up making the film — the 2018 biopic White Boy Rick was eventually produced by John Leshner and Darren Aronofsky, among others, and starred Richie Merritt as Wershe Jr. — Wershe said it was “pretty cool” that the rapper wound up portraying him. “Everything he does, he does very well,” he praised him. “I think he’ll kill it.”

You can watch Wershe’s statement to TMZ here. BMF hits Starz on September 26.

Lizzo recently kicked off a new era of music with the kiss-off tune “Rumors,” the singer’s first new song in nearly two years. While her fans have been loving the song, it also made Lizzo the subject of some intense internet hate. Some of the comments on the singer’s Facebook page were so heinous that the platform reportedly began deleting them. Celebrities are now calling out the haters, and Offset is the latest.

After his wife and “Rumors” collaborator Cardi B rushed to Lizzo’s defense, Offset also spoke out in support of the singer. “Let these beautiful Black women be great, stop judging,” he said In a statement given to TMZ about the “Rumors” backlash, adding people need to stop with the “negative energy.” He continued, “We work hard to be entertainers for the world. Let us be.”

Lizzo also recently addressed the hate, saying in an interview with Good Morning America that the kind of comments she receives “should not fly” in this day and age. “I don’t mind critique about me, my music. I don’t even mind the fat comments,” she said. “I just feel like it’s unfair sometimes, the treatment that people like me receive. […] Some people are like, ‘Don’t let people see you with your head down, sis.’ My head is always up. Even when I’m upset and even when I’m crying, my head is always up. But I know it’s my job as an artist to reflect the times, and this sh*t should not fly. This shouldn’t be okay.”

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

The search to replace the beloved longtime Jeopardy! host was bound to upset people. There’s simply no way to replace an icon such as Alex Trebek without all hell breaking loose, but did producers anticipate the level of backlash that’s going down against new full-time host Mike Richards? That’s a tough one. Richards’ history of history of troubling remarks, as newly unearthed in a lengthy report from The Ringer’s Claire McNear, give a really bad look, in addition to what’s already been known about Richards’ controversial past as a game-show producer. Yes, the show’s spotlight won’t entirely be on Richards, since Mayim Bialik will host the Jeopardy! prime time incarnation and spinoffs, but it’s hard to imagine that producers couldn’t do better than Mike Richards in finding a host who could be embraced by the audience.

Perhaps there’s a silent majority who won’t mind Richards on their screens almost daily, but yikes, the guy even helped pick himself as host, and even John Oliver made mention of what a fiasco this is turning out to be. LeVar Burton is still riding high in fan polls, even if he didn’t pull in ratings, and one would think that, yeah, at this point, multiple other guest hosts (not Dr. Oz) would be preferable to what’s going on with Richards. And this brings to mind — or at least, a lot of people are noticing now — how Alex Trebek sat down in 2018 with TMZ’s Harvey Levin (on Fox News’ OBJECTified program) and named some people who he wouldn’t mind seeing replace him.

Among those that Trebek singled out? A Black female attorney and legal analyst, Laura Coates, who’s known by CNN viewers and as the host of Sirius XM’s The Laura Coates Show. “There is an attorney, Laura Coates,” Trebek declared. “She’s African-American and she appears on some of the cable news shows from time to time.” Back in March of 2020, Yashar Ali tweeted this clip while questioning why Coates wasn’t on the guest-host list as Jeopardy! went through its selection process.

Yep, in 2018, Coates heard about how Trebek namedropped her and tweeted that she was “Incredibly honored & humbled” that Trebek “1) knows who I am 2) thinks I’d be a great host of my fave game show ever that I grew up watching w/ my family & still watch w/ my own kids (who saw him say this & now think I’m a genius).”

This week, she also vaguely tweeted about Trebek without context or without mentioning the controversy swirling around Richards.

By the way, there’s more of that Levin-Trebek interview, too, if you’d like to watch, but for now, people (some of whom are noticing the Yashar tweet for the first time) are really focused on Coates and wondering why she didn’t get a guest-hosting shot.

One can imagine there’s a lot of discussions happening right now with the Jeopardy Productions powers that be.

Much has been made of the musical partnership between Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner, as the two (along with Jack Antonoff) made a pair of beloved albums, Folklore and Evermore, together. Dessner and Swift have traded praise back and forth in various interviews since then, and now Swift has offered even more compliments about Dessner.

The Big Red Machine and National member is the subject of a new New York Times profile, and for it, Swift shared some thoughts about her collaborator via email. Most notably, she had effusive praise for Dessner, saying that hearing his instrumentals is the closest she’s come to synesthesia.

For those who don’t know, Healthline defines synesthesia as “a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate one of your senses stimulates several of your senses.” To put it more simply, some people associate certain colors with certain sounds and make other connections of that nature.

Swift said:

“The quality that really confounded me about Aaron’s instrumental tracks is that to me, they were immediately, intensely visual. As soon as I heard the first one, I understood why he calls them ‘sketches.’ The first time I heard the track for ‘Cardigan,’ I saw high heels on cobblestones. I knew it had to be about teenage miscommunications and the loss of what could’ve been. I’ve always been so curious about people with synesthesia, who see colors or shapes when they hear music. The closest thing I’ve ever experienced is seeing an entire story or scene play out in my head when I hear Aaron Dessner’s instrumental tracks.”

She had more to say about Dessner, like attesting that he’s big on community, saying, “Establishing and contributing to a musical community matters so much to Aaron. He’s technically in the music ‘industry,’ but really all he wants to do is play and make music with his friends.”

Read the full feature here.

It’s not unusual for artists in hip-hop to feel that they are the best at their craft — in fact, it’s almost a prerequisite to success. With that said, while having a healthy (or unhealthy) ego about their status is often key to a rapper’s persona, there aren’t really all that many who can pull the receipts to back up their claims. However, Wale is one of those rare rap stars who isn’t just boasting when he calls himself “one of the greatest rappers of all time,” as he did in June and reiterated this week.

In a tweet on Wednesday, the DMV repper explained his position, writing, “When I say I’m one of the greatest rappers of all time. I mean it with all my heart.” He didn’t just brag, though; he also detailed the accomplishments he feels qualify him to make such a statement. “I’ve put out more QUALITY music than most,” he ventured. “My deep cuts are crazy. My singles all got plaques.”

But the real kicker he offered was his longevity, noting he’s been in the game for a “decade-plus.” “THAT is why I’m heavy on the gratitude,” he concluded, showing that he doesn’t take any of this for granted. It was a great way to come back from his social media hiatus due to being “extremely sick,” as he prepares to release his seventh studio album Folarin 2 sometime this year. To that end, his single “Down South” with Maxo Kream and Yella Beezy is out now.

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

Amazon acquired MGM in a $8.45 billion deal earlier this year, but don’t expect to see the studio’s most famous character on Amazon Prime Video any time soon. Unless you rent On Her Majesty’s Secret Service on the streaming service. Then you can.

“We make films. We make films for the cinema. That’s what we do,” long-time James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli told Total Film when asked about a 007 television show. Her co-producer Michael B. Wilson added, “We’ve resisted that call for 60 years.” That’s a definitive (Dr.) no to a Bond series, which spares us from the inevitable spinoffs: Breaking Bond, Bond Babies, and so on. John Logan, for one, is relieved.

The Skyfall and Spectre writer penned an op-ed for the New York Times following the Amazon acquisition, which gave him the “chills.” He wrote, “The current deal with Amazon gives Barbara and Michael, who own 50 percent of the Bond empire, ironclad assurances of continued artistic control. But will this always be the case? What happens if a bruising corporation like Amazon begins to demand a voice in the process? What happens to the comradeship and quality control if there’s an Amazonian overlord with analytics parsing every decision? What happens when focus groups report they don’t like Bond drinking martinis? Or killing quite so many people? And that English accent’s a bit alienating, so could we have more Americans in the story for marketability?”

At least Bond has already gone to space — that’s one Jeff Bezos intervention you don’t have to worry about. No Time to Die opens (IN THEATERS ONLY) on October 8.

(Via Total Film)