Category: News

You know a meme has reached peak saturation when even the notoriously techno-phobic Eminem is referencing it to promote his new albums. The “Hawk Tuah” girl, Hailey Welch, has been all over the place since her memorable street interview went viral on TikTok (including concerts with Zach Bryan and Shaquille O’Neal), and now, her catchphrase is part of the rollout for Eminem’s new album, The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce).

Em quoted the spitting onomatopoeia in the caption of a video featuring the grave of “beloved antagonist” Slim Shady (who apparently died at the ripe old age of 27). A passerby spits on the tombstone, which bears a familiar quote from the chorus of “Without Me,” then walks away… missing a hand bursting up out of the ground, suggesting that rumors of Mr. Shady’s demise might have been greatly exaggerated.

Em’s spent much of the rollout for the album poking fun at his alter ego, from making him the anachronistic butt of the joke in his “Houdini” video to putting him to the chainsaw in the video for “Tobey” to zipping him into a body bag on the album’s cover. Whether all this means Eminem’s truly retiring the rap persona — or just trolling all of his haters yet again — remains to be seen.

The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) is due 7/12 via Shady Records/Aftermath/Interscope. You can find more info here.

We can all be sure that as society evolves, many things that seem normal today will be cringeworthy to people in the future, whether it’s our fashion, politics, civility, or how we treat the environment.

If we look back just 30 years ago, same-sex marriage was illegal, people routinely smoked in bars and restaurants and it was fashionable to wear platform sneakers.

So, when we look back on the world of 2024, there are bound to be many things that we’ll be embarrassed about in 30 years, especially when we are forced to live with the repercussions of the decisions we make today. On a lighter note, we’ll all also have clouds full of photos of ourselves wearing hairstyles and clothes that look utterly ridiculous in hindsight.

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We asked the Upworthy community to share their thoughts by asking a big question on Facebook: “What’s something that’s accepted now that we’ll be embarrassed about in the future?” Our readers responded with funny takes on current fashion and concerns about technology use and how we treat our fellow human beings.

Here are 21 things we accept today that we’ll probably be embarrassed about in the future.

More than a few current fashion trends will look silly in the coming years.

“Yoga pants. I love them to death, but I can easily see them as the parachute pants of tomorrow.” — Deborah

“Barn doors in your house.” — Joyce

“Tattoos all over the body.” — Vicki

“People wearing socks and sandals.” — Jeremy

“Wearing pajamas in public.” — Ivy

“Huge, over-sized false eyelashes.” — Patricia

Hopefully, people in the future will be more considerate when using technology than we are today.

“Walking around with your eyes locked on your phone. Or eating at a table with 4 people looking at their phone. One day, we will either fall off a cliff or realize life is what is happening off the screen.” — Elise.

“Texting in the presence of another person.” — Kate

We can also hope that in the near future, we will be able to solve many of today’s pressing public policy issues so that the next generation will live happier and healthier lives.

“Lack of healthcare for everyone.” — Sharon

“Making the planet unlivable for human beings.” — Karen

“Spending hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money to build a sports arena for a billionaire. Then charging the taxpayers outrageous amounts to attend events there.” — Stacy

“How the US is systematically clawing back women’s rights to decide what they do with their bodies. It’s beyond shameful.” — Jason.

“Allowing guns everywhere.” — Amy

“That we drive fossil fuel-powered vehicles.” — Heidi

Some people are concerned about the way students and their parents behave in modern-day America.

“Parents trying to run schools: yelling at teachers for their child’s poor performance, yelling at principals when their child gets in trouble, book banning based on an individual’s religious ideologies, etc.” — Beth.

“Entitled children talking back to their parents and teachers.” — Connie

“Cry rooms at universities where students can go and work out their anxiety and cry and be upset if their professor uses words that are too difficult for them. Universities are institutes of higher learning, not institutes of babysitting. That will be an embarrassment in the future, as it is an embarrassment to me and many others now.” — Della

In 30 years, we may be embarrassed to look back on the level of general civility in 2024.

“Panic buying of toilet paper during the pandemic.” — Tony

“Ageism. It’s everywhere, all the time, and no one seems to mind. No one is defined by the amount of time they’ve spent on the planet but it’s used as an identity and as a weapon (ask any teenager, 40-year-old woman, or retiree…). I can only hope that one day it will be a source of embarrassment that we were all so dismissive and judgmental.” — Rosy.

“Human beings living on the street.” — Andrea

“Torturous killing of animals for food.” — Mae

While this list may seem like a litany of complaints people have about living in the modern world, it should give people hope. If we’ve overcome past embarrassments, today’s can be fixed as well.

Before Bridgerton joined the club, there was only one title to appear more than once in Netflix‘s top-10 list of the most popular English language series: Stranger Things. Season 4 of the the Duffer Brothers’ sci-fi/horror show is in second place, behind only Wednesday, while season 3 is #9. But with all due respect to Penelope Featherington, and Jenna Ortega, and the creepy doll on Squid Game, Stranger Things is Netflix’s signature show. So, as you’re well aware, anticipation is high for season 5 — which is also the final season.

Here’s everything we know about Stranger Things season 5, including the plot, cast, and premiere date.

Plot

Stranger Things season 5 begins with the sound of “COLD WIND.” If that doesn’t get you excited, maybe this will? The final season will be “heartbreaking,” “bonkers,” and “completely insane.” It’s eight episodes long, which doesn’t sound like a lot considering how many mysteries still need to be solved, but some — if not all — of the episodes will be movie length.

“We’re making basically eight movies,” Maya Hawke, who plays Robin (and Anxiety in Inside Out 2), said on the Podcrushed podcast. “Season 4 and season 5 are very connected. Season 4 had a part I and part II because they separated them, so the last two episodes came out at a different time, which is unusual for streaming. But this is its own season. It is a continuation, but it’s the finale. And it has been a long time since last season.” (Note: she said “eight movies” instead of “an eight-hour long movie,” a small but important distinction, because an eight-hour movie sounds terrible.)

Unlike in season 4, where the characters were spread across the globe, season 5 will be more “isolated,” according to Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler). “Not being around everyone all the time was definitely a bummer about filming 4, but 5 is the opposite,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re all together all the time, and a bunch of us live around the corner and across the street from each other in real life. So the cast is really seeing each other a lot, and we’re in a lot of the same scenes, which has been really great.”

And yes, at long last, there will (probably) be deaths. And maybe time jumps.

Cast

Most of the familiar faces will be black, albeit three years older than the last time we saw them. The confirmed season 5 cast includes “wifey” Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), feet fan David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Brett Gelman (Murray Bauman), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), and Amybeth McNulty (Vickie).

Newcomers include The Terminator legend Linda Hamilton. “I don’t know how to be a fangirl and an actress at the same time,” she said about appearing on the show. “I’m gonna work on that.” As for Joseph Quinn, who played Eddie Munson in season 4, the A Quiet Place: Day One and Gladiator II star teased that “chances are high” he’ll spend more time with his former co-workers. Maybe the Quiet Place cat can make a cameo? And/or be the one to kill Vecna.

Release Date

Stranger Things returns for its fifth and final season in 2025. They’re halfway through filming!

Trailer

Netflix hasn’t released a trailer, or even a teaser, for season 5 yet. So why not hop into a proverbial DeLorean (1980s reference!) and re-watch the season 1 trailer, which is somehow eight years old. One of the highest-rated comments: “Then this series turned out to be the best Netflix series ever.”

It’s been six years since “Bluey” debuted in Australia, and since then, the show has grown into a global phenomenon. Though it’s aimed at kids, the series has created a passionate following among people of all ages who adore the heart and humor the Blue Heeler dogs from down under have to offer.

And it’s been just over seven years since an adorably cheeky little girl, Harper, made her way into the world, and she has also grown into a viral Aussie phenomenon.

Harper lives next door to Brandon and Jordan Nolan, the twin music duo Take Two, in Sydney. Her interactions with their family seem like they come straight out of an episode of “Bluey,” right down to the uncanny similarity between Harper’s voice and the young “Bluey” cast members (whose identities remain anonymous).

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Many of the interactions take place through the fence between their yards and Harper is never shown fully (a wise choice). The neighbors will share things over or under the fence, with Harper pranking the guys more than once with something that looks like food but contains dirt.

In a particularly hilarious video, Harper shares the “legit” cheesecake and ice cream she made as part of their bake-off competition. Seriously, 5-year-old Harper sounds just like Bluey’s little sister, Bingo, with the quick wit to match.

Watch:

@alwaystaketwo

Replying to @Zoe_heem My 5yr old neighbour challenged us to a bake off.. here is her cake!! Is it safe to eat but?? 🤷🏼‍♀️🍰 (Part 3) 👩‍🍳♥️ #foryou #fyp

Harper also met Brandon’s baby boy, Grayson, when she was 5, and that video is also an instant classic.

@alwaystaketwo

Replying to @46username Part 2 of my 5yr old neighbour meeting my son for the first time 😆♥️👶🏻 she loves him but still hates us.. 🤷🏼‍♀️ #foryou #fyp

When she was 6, Brandon went for a walk with her and talked to her about him moving 10 minutes away. Her reaction is perfect.

@alwaystaketwo

Today I had to tell my 6yr old neighbour I’m no longer going go be her neighbour anymore.. *NOT CLICK BAIT* 😭💔🏠 ##foryou##fyp(Like for Part 2)

Now that she’s 7, her voice sounds a bit more like Bluey than Bingo, and still just as surreal to hear in real life asking questions like, “Have you been achieving much in life?”

@alwaystaketwo

My 7yr old neighbour’s dad is a doctor👨‍⚕️😡👊🏻 and he couldn’t fix my shoulder after I paid him.. here’s my argument with her #foryou #fyp

It’s hard not to hear the resemblance to the “Bluey” characters, as evidenced by the comments.

“Is that bluey and bingo on the other side of the fence!? 😅”

“Literally thought ‘how could bluey and bingo are their neighbors?'”

“There needs to be an episode of Bluey where they get new neighbors and the girls befriend them like this.”

“Bluey and Bingo living next door is wild.”

“Please tell me that we all think the same thing because we are parents? It took me one second to say Bluey!”

“Omg I’m not the only one that thought omg BINGO!!!”

You can follow @alwaystaketwo on TikTok for more fun with Harper and her neighbors.

With LeBron James inching towards retirement and guys like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant not too far behind, there are constant discussions of who will be the NBA’s next “face of the league.” That will have to get sorted out on the court by the various young stars in the conversation, as you don’t get that title without winning titles — or, at the least, competing for them regularly.

It’s not just fans and media that want to figure that out, but sneaker companies and brands are placing their bets on who will be the league’s next big star. Jayson Tatum leads the league in endorsement deals and just got the NBA 2K25 cover fresh off his first championship, while his USA Basketball teammate Anthony Edwards also got some big news on Wednesday when word broke that he had a new deal with adidas to make him the face of their basketball division, paying eight-figures annually.

Edwards has gotten off to a tremendous start to his career and has brought the Timberwolves into the title conversation. He’s also one of the most unique and engaging personalities in the game, and his launch of the AE1 with adidas was extremely well-received. Edwards will hope to take on a starring role for Team USA in Paris this summer, and if he and the Wolves continue their ascent, adidas will probably get some strong returns on their investment in him as the biggest star on their hoops roster.

Sarah Tudzin has carved out a space in the music industry as a go-to producer and engineer, working with folks like Boygenius, Weyes Blood, Speedy Ortiz, and more. She kicks ass with her project Illuminati Hotties, too, and there’s a new Hotties album on the way. Power was announced last month, and ahead of the project, Tudzin has shared a new single, the title track.

“Power” sees Tudzin reckoning with her existence in light of a significant loss. She does so over a breezy but melancholy indie rocker fleshed out by some lush orchestral arrangements.

Tudzin says of the song, “‘Power’ is a reckoning with mortality. It was the song I avoided writing every time I sat down with a guitar until it finally fell out of me. In it I’m asking over and over, how am I supposed to participate in earthly existence after the passing of my mom, who so selflessly gave me her confidence, who instilled my power? There is no answer, and there is no sign.”

Given that Tudzin has kept busy with her aforementioned production and engineering duties, Power will be the first Illuminati Hotties album since 2021’s Let Me Do One More.

Listen to “Power” above.

Power is out 8/23 via Hopeless Records. Find more information here.

When it comes to the beloved comedy Freaky Friday, it really is never too late for a sequel. Who wouldn’t want to know what Chad Michael Murray’s leather jacket-wearing, motorcycle-riding Jake is up to 20 years after his peak? Well, we are about to find out.

Freaky Friday hit theaters in the summer of 2003. The movie followed Jamie Lee Curtis as Tess, a therapist and mom to Anna, Lindsay Lohan, her stubborn teenage daughter. After not seeing eye-to-eye, the two swap bodies and have to see what it’s like in each other’s shoes.

Disney had already made multiple adaptations of Mary Rodgers’s 1972 novel of the same name, but none of them had Jamie Lee Curtis, so it really took off! Then, in 2022, while promoting another long-awaited sequel Halloween Ends, Curtis revealed that she had been begging Disney for another Freaky movie. It seems like they started to take her seriously after she won her Oscar.

“As I went around the world with Halloween Ends, people wanted to know if there was going to be another Freaky Friday,” Curtis told The New York Times last year. “Something really touched a chord. When I came back, I called my friends at Disney and said, ‘It feels like there’s a movie to be made.’” Luckily, Lohan was also on board to return after her brief acting hiatus, so everything slowly began to fall into place.

The upcoming sequel is currently titled Freaky Friday 2, though that could change. Disney could take a page out of the Twisters book and call it Freaky Fridays, but it’s too soon to tell just how many Fridays we are working with here. Check out everything we know so far about the Freaky Friday sequel:

Plot

While Disney loves to keep plot points under wraps…it doesn’t always happen. Earlier this year, parts of the audition scripts and cast description were released online, seemingly confirming the plot.

The story reportedly follows Anna (Lohan) as she prepares to marry a British restaurant owner named Eric. Anna has her own 14-year-old daughter named Harper, while Eric has a teen named Lily. The two don’t meet eye-to-eye, much like Anna and her mom Tess (Curtis) did in the original flick. The script also states that “Harper should channel ‘Anna’ (Lindsay Lohan) and Lily should channel ‘Tess’ (Jamie Lee Curtis).” So it looks like it’ll be just as goofy as its predecessor. At some point, the girls will probably swap bodies, but its unclear if Anna and Tess will have the same switcheroo as they did last time.

Hopefully Pink Slip will reunite after all this time!

Cast

Lohan is returning as Anna, the formerly rebellious teen who switched places with her mom all those years ago. Curtis also returns as Tess, Anna’s mother.

According to Variety, former Y2k heartthrob/ current Hallmark Christmas movie regular Chad Michael Murray will return, as well as Mark Harmon, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Rosalind Chao. New cast members include newly dubbed Hottest Man Alive Manny Jacinto plus Julia Butters, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Sophia Hammons.

Release Date

An exact date has not been revealed, but it will be released in theaters in 2025, and not on Disney+ as it was previously thought.

Trailer

While there isn’t a trailer, some behind-the-scenes clips were posted in June of the iconic duo outside their trailers. So… it’s not much, but it’s something!

After months of a rumored handshake deal, the NBA has reportedly finalized contracts on its new 11-year, $76 billion national TV deal with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon — with TNT Sports still having the opportunity to match in a week-long window once the contracts are officially approved.

According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, the new deal would put the NBA on national television almost every night of the week in some form, as he offered up a glimpse at what the new national TV schedule may look like.

Monday: Peacock
Tuesday: NBC
Wednesday: ESPN
Thursday: Amazon
Friday: Amazon and ESPN
Saturday: ABC, ESPN, and Amazon
Sunday: NBC and ESPN

The Thursday night package on Amazon and the Sunday night package on NBC will come after the NFL season (as will ESPN’s Friday game coverage). Amazon would also have the In-Season Tournament games, while NBC would carry Tuesday night games throughout the year and ESPN will trim down some of its regular season package but still carry games across four nights of the week. Peacock will also get an exclusive Monday night package as well.

Marchand notes that the agreements have been finalized and are expected to get approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors next week in Las Vegas, before being sent to TNT where they’ll have five days to decide whether to match or not. If they do, the Amazon package is the one they’d reportedly target.

In all, the league expects to have an official announcement on the new deal prior to the start of the Olympics, which would allow NBC to hype up their portion of the package during the Paris games.

As for the broadcast teams on the new networks, NBC figures to have Mike Tirico and Noah Eagle handling play-by-play, while Marchand reports Ian Eagle is at the top of Amazon’s wishlist but they’ll also be looking to add a few broadcast teams to its coverage.

We heard from Bartees Strange earlier this year, when he contributed to the soundtracks forThe New Look and I Saw The TV Glow. He kept the momentum going today (July 10) with another new song, “Lie 95.”

Bartees says of it, “This song is about searching for love all across the Northeast corridor (I-95) — my universe. I’m thinking of Love in a broad way: partners, friends and community. This one’s for the highway… and everything I meet through it.”

A press release notes the song “heralds a new era” for Bartees. He hasn’t announce a new album yet, but if he does end up having one on the way this year, it’ll keep him on the schedule he has so far kept to: His debut album Live Forever came in 2020, and that was followed by Farm To Table in 2022.

Meanwhile, he recently told Uproxx for a feature related to his contribution to the I Saw The TV Glow soundtrack, “I’ll never forget when I heard the soundtrack to Halloween, but that’s so played out. Everyone says that one, but I remember being like, ‘Is that a guitar?’ My dad was like, ‘No, I think it’s a piano,’ and my mom was like, ‘That’s a synthesizer.’ And I was like, ‘Like an organ?’ I just couldn’t wrap my head around that. And then I did, and I was like, ‘Damn, you can do anything with this.’”

Watch the “Lie 95” video above.

Pat Sajak made a pretty big deal about leaving his hosting role on Wheel Of Fortune, and for good reason. The man held the same job for over 40 years and millions welcomed him into their homes every night while they were yelling about blank letters. But last fall, Sajak announced that he would be retiring from the show that made him famous, and he wrapped his emotional final season in June. Or so we thought. Turns out, retirement doesn’t include buying vowels!!

ABC revealed the fall lineup today, which includes Celebrity Wheel of Fortune hosted by Sajak. Deadline reports that Sajak will return to host the season, which is scheduled to premiere on October 7. The celebrity guests have not yet been announced, but 2023’s contestants included Brendan Hunt, Paula Abdul, Matt Rogers, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Sajak last hosted Wheel of Fortune on June 7. He will be replaced by Ryan Seacrest, who joins longtime letter expert Vanna White. Fans of the show are not taking it well, as evident by some of those Instagram comments.

What will Sajak do next? Pivot to live theater, of course. The former host will star in Prescription: Murder, a mystery play at downtown Honolulu’s Hawaii Theatre next summer. Maybe he finally win one of those tropical vacations he has been handing out on air for the last four decades.

(Via Deadline)