Category: News

It’s never too late to find your family. That’s the heartwarming message being shared by Leah Paskalides and her newly adopted daughter, 19-year-old Monyay.

At the age of 11, Monyay was placed into a foster care group home. The pain of having to go through life without a family was always difficult, but it hit hard in her senior year of school. “My senior year is when I went through one of those, ‘I don’t want to do it anymore, I’m done,'” she told ABC News.

Monyay finished school a year early and took the extra time to focus on volunteering with foster children like her. But she faced a tough road ahead, as she was about to age out of the system.

According to the Children’s Home Society of Minnesota, the 23,000 children who age out of foster care every year without families face many challenges. Only 3% earn a college degree, half will develop a substance abuse problem, 60% of boys are convicted of crimes, and 70% of girls become pregnant before the age of 21.

After she turned 18, it looked like she would have to enter the real world as an adult without any real support. But then her caseworker and mentor from the Safe Children Coalition stepped up.

Leah had always wanted to adopt Monyay but it was a conflict of interest with her work.

“She always said, ‘I wish you could adopt me, wish you could adopt me,’ and I couldn’t because of the job and then I was watching a documentary where the person had been adopted as an adult, and I had never really heard of it,” Leah said.

So she decided to adopt Monyay as her adult daughter. “It was important to me that she knew that she was wanted by somebody, that somebody loved her,” Leah told Fox 13. “I could say that as many times as I want, but actions speak louder than words.”

On Tuesday, a judge signed the paperwork making the adoption official.

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“Being told ‘no’ so many times, to hear that ‘yes’ and to hear them pronounce her as my mom, it’s something that’s like, oh my gosh, this is for real,” Monyay told Fox 13.

The funny thing is the two didn’t hit it off at first. Five years ago when Leah was assigned her case, Monyay didn’t like her. “She told me what she was going to be doing and helping me out with my case, and I didn’t like her; she’ll tell you that,” said Monyay.

But over the past five years, the two forged an unbreakable bond.

“She was very motivated and had aspirations for a future, and so I knew she just needed support,” Leah said. “She was always a kid that did not deserve to go through life without a support system of a family.”

The newly-formed family is sharing their story to bring hope to children in the foster care system by letting them know they can be adopted as adults. “It’s never too late because I’m grown but I’m still being adopted,” Monyay said. “Just because it didn’t happen then it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen.”

Monyay hopes to one day open her own group home for teens to help children who grew up like she did.

Since the release of Toy Story back in 1995, Pixar has consistently proven itself as one of the most innovative and heartfelt animation studios in the world, creating beloved stories like Finding Nemo, Coco, Up, and oh so many more. Earlier today, the studio released a second trailer for their upcoming film Luca, which is somehow only months away from its release this summer. However, Luca isn’t the only movie the studio has lined up — here’s a complete roundup of what fans have to look forward to from the folks at Pixar.

Luca (June 18, 2021)

After releasing Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4, Pixar has seemingly made a sharp pivot back to creating original stories, with a greater emphasis on exploring different cultures much like the studio did in Coco. Following Onward and Soul is Luca, a “coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides” set on the Italian Riviera.

However, much like all Pixar movies, Luca isn’t merely a slice-of-life film. Turns out, Luca is actually a sea monster whose true identity is constantly on the verge of becoming exposed. The film marks the feature-length directorial debut of Pixar veteran and Academy Award-nominated Enrico Casarosa, who’s worked on just about every Pixar movie since 2006’s Cars. Casarosa said the film is deeply personal one that celebrates friendship and more specifically, “those kinds of friendships that help you grow up.” Barring any delays, Luca is set to hit theaters and Disney+ on June 18.

Turning Red (Spring 2022)

Pixar’s Turning Red also features the full-length directorial debut of another member of Pixar’s staff: Academy Award-winner Domee Shi, who won the Oscar for her short film Bao, which preceded Incredible 2 in theaters. Just like Bao, Turning Red draws upon Shi’s experience as a Chinese woman to craft a unique and assuredly touching story. The story follows Mei Lee, a “confident, dorky thirteen-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence.” When not dealing with the usual slew of problems adolescence comes with, Lee also faces another major problem — whenever she gets too excited, she turns into a giant red panda. Turning Red is scheduled for release next Spring, just ahead of the next, highly-anticipated film on this list.

Lightyear (Summer 2022)

Though the Toy Story series has presumably reached its conclusion, it turns out Pixar still has plenty of ideas to help flesh out the fascinating world they created. However, while Lightyear sounds like it might be a prequel to the series following the Toy Story gang’s beloved spacefarer Buzz Lightyear, it’s actually quite a bit different. Lightyear tells the story of the Buzz Lightyear, the young test-pilot-turned-space-ranger who inspired the popular children’s action figure. With Chris Evans voicing Buzz and Finding Dory‘s Angus MacLane directing, Lightyear is sure to be a fan favorite when it reaches theaters next summer.

In addition to these movies, Pixar has confirmed they have one other film in the works, though as of right now no names have been tied to the project.

The Boston Celtics picked up one of the more surprising losses of the 2020-21 season on Tuesday night. With Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker both sidelined, the Celtics fell to the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder, 119-115, despite a 39-point, 11-rebound outing from Jaylen Brown.

In the aftermath, some frustrations boiled over, and one of the team’s top rotation players will be suspended as a result. The league announced that Marcus Smart crossed some sort of line “during and after” the game in his interactions with the officials, and he was accused of “directing threatening language toward” one of the referees. As a result, the Celtics’ glue guy will receive a one-game suspension, which he will serve on Wednesday night against the Charlotte Hornets.

It is unclear exactly what Smart said to earn this suspension, nor is it clear which referee drew his ire to the point that he picked up a suspension. Still, Smart’s the team’s emotional leader, and he’s normally pretty good at knowing the line that he can’t cross, even when he’s really frustrated by how a game has gone. Still, Boston is probably pretty bummed out about any sort of suspension for Smart, as the team is in a battle to stay in the 6-seed and miss out on the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.

Invincible, Amazon’s new animated superhero show, isn’t just another program from the work of The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman. It also features a number of the zombie fave’s alumni. Chief among them is Steven Yeun, whose post-TWD life has gone pretty swimmingly: For one thing, he’s an Oscar-nominee now, thanks to Minari. And a bunch of others colleagues have also swung by, playing a key part in the first episode. But now we know there’s going to probably be more where that came from.

ComicBook talked to Kirkman about the new show, which so far only has seven episodes. And he’s open to bringing more Walking Dead-ers into the pack. “I hesitate to name names, just because I would eventually like to bring everyone,” Kirkman told the site. “I can’t think of an actor on The Walking Dead I wouldn’t want to work with again. It’s an amazing group of actors. Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Jeffrey Dean Morgan… there’s not really anyone I wouldn’t want to bring in.”

As for those other TWD vets who’ve already done some voice work, they’re a pretty big bunch: Lauren Cohan, Ross Marquand, Sonequa Martin-Green, Khary Payton, Michael Cudlitz, Lennnie James, and Chad Coleman. The show has also featured plenty of non-Dead heads, like Zachary Quinto, Gillian Jacobs, Jason Mantzoukas, Walton Goggins, and Seth Rogen, who’s also one of the show’s executive producers. But it sounds like it’s really just getting warmed up.

(Via ComicBook)

Comedian Tiffany Haddish stars in the sunny video for Ty Dolla Sign’s “By Yourself” remix, hopping from man to man on a series of dates throughout the Los Angeles area, reflecting the song’s emphasis on a woman embracing her independence. Meanwhile, for each verse, Ty performs alongside one of the song’s guests Bryson Tiller and Jhene Aiko, as well as Haddish herself during Ty’s verse.

The song is the latest remix to emerge from Ty’s 2020 album, Featuring Ty Dolla Sign, including remixes of “The Business” with Tiesto and “Spicy” featuring J Balvin, Tyga, and YG.

Since releasing Featuring Ty Dolla Sign, Ty’s lived up to the album’s cheeky title, popping up on Ariana Grande’s album Positions, 2 Chainz’s “Can’t Go For That” video from So Help Me God, Blxst’s single “Chosen” with Tyga, and SZA’s “Good Days.” Ty also staged a number of impressive live performances, including one for “Nothing Like Your Exes” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and a soulful return to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts with an in-home setup that let his skills shine.

Watch Ty Dolla Sign’s “By Yourself” video featuring Bryson Tiller, Jhene Aiko, and Tiffany Haddish above.

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Just over two weeks ago, word emerged that Rockets guard Sterling Brown had suffered facial lacerations after being assaulted at a club in Miami, when he had a bottle broken over his head. While initially the concern was for Brown’s health, which he is happily going to make a full recovery, it did raise some questions about whether Brown (and anyone else he had been out with that night) had been in violation of the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

On Wednesday, the league’s investigation into the night closed and we learned that they did indeed view the night out as a violation, but would only be fining Brown’s teammate, Kevin Porter Jr., for being out at the club. Porter Jr. got hit with a $50,000 fine, while Brown will not as it seems the league deemed it too much to add a fine to injuries he sustained.

It’s a bit odd that Porter Jr. would be the only one fined given both were out, but it seems the league and Rockets are ready to move on from the matter. Brown has still not played since the incident, as he continues to work his way back from a knee injury, and Porter Jr. was out for a week after the incident as he had to sit for 7 days and clear health and safety protocols with negative tests after the night out.

Anyone who has ever parked in a downtown parking lot in a big city knows what a harrowing experience parking in a cramped parking space can be. I once parked in an underground grocery store parking lot in downtown L.A. and a stunning white Bentley convertible—a car that probably cost more than my house—squeezed into the spot next to me. After carefully opening my car door and maneuvering between our vehicles, I marveled at how close the driver had come to scratching his pearlescent white paint off the car and onto on a concrete column.

Either the driver was extremely skilled or extremely lucky. But he likely wasn’t an expert a parker as 87-year-old Eugene Breynaert, a Belgian man who spent six decades parking his car in a garage barely wider than his vehicle.

With six centimeters of clearance—about 2.5 inches—you might wonder why he even bothered to use the garage at all, but Breynaert got it down to a science. First of all, he lined the garage with foam at the height of the car’s widest spot. Second, he closed in his mirror. And finally, he took it really, really slowly.

While the parking itself is quite a feat to witness, what comes next is even more compelling. As the camera shows him pulling into this teeny garage, the question arises—how the heck does he get out?

It’s hardly a process that can be described, but it involves rolling down a window, opening two doors, backing up, getting out, pushing the car forward from outside of it, then shutting the doors to both the car and the house.

You just have to see it:

Belgian man parks in garage 6cm wider than his car

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The video originally went viral back in 2010, but has resurfaced on Twitter and YouTube this week. It’s hard to imagine a video about parking a car being so riveting, but strangely, it is. Maybe it’s because so many people are bad at parking, or maybe it’s because we never in a million years imagined a scenario like this one. Clearly, this space was not designed to be a garage for parking a car. A motorcycle, sure, but definitely not a car.

It appears Mr. Breynaert passed away in 2016 at the age of 94. The Belgian news announcement, which referred to him as “the best driver in all of Liedekerke” said that he continued driving right up until his last days.

Oddly enough, Breynaert’s impressive parking job isn’t the only viral parking story this week. Gareth Wild of the U.K. shared his meticulous process for tracking parking spots he’s used at the local supermarket in an attempt to park in every spot, and people are enamored by it.

Perhaps it’s his attention to detail and the amount of work he put into tracking how he parked his car, or perhaps people really are this bored during the pandemic, but Wild’s thread has gotten wild attention.

This wasn’t just a casual “Hey, I think I’ll try to park in every space” kind of deal. He made vector images and color-coded the spaces.

He planned it all out mathematically.

It took him SIX YEARS, folks. But he managed to park in every space that he was legally allowed to park in.

He also went a step further and marked the best and worst parking spots for other people.

So many questions. How does a human being decide to do such a thing in the first place? What compels them to stick with it for six years? What of the 120,000 people who liked the thread on Twitter? Are they all equally fastidious data trackers, or are they not data people at all and are just amazed that someone would do this? Are there really this many parking enthusiasts in the world?

Apparently so. Who knew parking could be so compelling?

This is a developing story. We will add more details as they come in.

Accoring to CNN, three men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Southern Georgia in connection with the death of Ahmaud Arbery.

Arbery, 25, was shot and killed in February, 2020 while out for a jog near his home in Brunswick, Georgia. The story became a rallying cry for those advocating for new gun control measures and action on racial justice.

According to WSBTV.com, a federal grand jury has charged the three men with hate crimes. Travis and Gregory McMichael, along with William “Roddie” Bryan are also being charged with one count of interference with rights and with one count of attempted kidnapping.

As Upworthy’s Annie Reneau wrote last year:

Anyone who is shocked by the killing of Ahmaud Arbery—an unarmed young black man shot by two armed white men while jogging through a suburban Georgia neighborhood—has not been paying attention. This is not new. This is not shocking. This is the ongoing history of racism and racial injustice in America.

And it’s not just the shooting itself, which appears to be a pretty blatant modern-day lynching. It’s the legal system that processes the killing. It’s the law enforcement agencies—which the shooter used to work in—charged with investigating it. It’s the justice system that will determine whether these men are guilty of murder or if they were justified in killing this young man.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe takes us to incredible worlds: far-flung planets like Sakaar, the wonders of Wakanda, the streets of Sokovia, and uh, airport tarmacs and parking garages in Captain America: Civil War. The crazy thing, though: Most of it is filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. Behind-the-scenes footage from their films invariably finds actors working in front of green screens in giant warehouses. And so when a new interview with MCU honcho Kevin Feige gushing about the wonders of shooting outdoors, sans CGI, people couldn’t help but make fun.

In a new Variety profile about Chloe Zhao — who just became the second woman to ever win a Best Director Oscar, for Nomadland, and who’s next film is MCU’s The Eternals — Feige is quoted talking about watching the footage that she shot for him. Zhao, Feige says, was all about “fighting for practical locations.” Indeed, her other films (including Nomadland and The Rider) were shot in the wilds, often with real people she found on the fly. After Zhao and her crew cut a sample reel for The Eternals for him to watch, filled with real locations, it absolutely blew Feige’s mind:

“And I had to keep saying, ‘This is right out of a camera; there’s no VFX work to this at all!’” Feige says. “Because it was a beautiful sunset, with perfect waves and mist coming up from the shore on this giant cliffside — really impressive stuff.” Later, watching “Nomadland,” he saw similar shots. “Oh! That is not just what she wanted to bring to Marvel,” he remembers thinking. “This is a signature style.”

Of course, Zhao’s “signature style” is not unusual outside of movies that are largely made in giant warehouses with an army of effects artists. For over 125 years, movies have been made by going outdoors and turning on a camera. So when Feige’s gushing quote about something that’s been a normal part of cinema since its infancy, people pounced.

Some even dug up one of the first movies ever made: Auguste and Louis Lumière’s The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, which, as the story goes, was so mind-blowing to audiences of 1896 that some in the audience freaked out, thinking the train would emerge from the screen.

Still, good for Kevin Feige! He’s rediscovering that movies can create real life by just, like, shooting real life.

The latest posthumous King Von video to be released from the OTF vaults (or hard drives, as it were) is “Mine Too,” from his album Welcome To O-Block. The video features Von performing to the camera in and around a cavernous mansion, showing off a collection of luxury cars, and shining from head to toe with an eye-popping array of diamond-encrusted accessories. As Von raps, he’s flanked by his stoic-faced crewmates and a pair of scantily clad women, who provide even more atmosphere to the moody aesthetic.

Although it’s been six months since King Von died after being shot in an Atlanta parking lot, the apparent backlog of videos he had previously recorded has been released at a relatively steady trickle by his label, including “Wayne’s Story,” released almost chillingly close to the actual event, “Armed & Dangerous,” and the posse cut “Jump,” while he received homages in OTF founder Lil Durk’s videos for “Backdoor” and “Still Trappin,” as well as Fivio Foreign’s “Trust” and PNB Rock’s “Rose Gold.”

In the wake of Von’s death, Welcome To O-Block, released just days before, debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart — his highest to date — while two other projects also entered the chart for the first time.

Watch King Von’s “Mine Too” video above.