Category: Trending

Japanese fans at the World Cup tournament have been receiving praise for their admirable habit of cleaning up the stadium after their team’s matches. It’s commonplace to see Japanese fans, blue garbage sacks in hand, hanging back after the game to pick up the trash everyone has left behind in the stadium.

It’s not the first time Japanese cleanliness has made headlines. Some schools in Japan don’t even hire janitorial staff, as the students clean their schools themselves. Other than in specific educational programs such as Montessori (where practical skills and habits like cleaning and organizing the environment are incorporated into the pedagogy), that idea is practically unheard of in the U.S. But watching the Japanese fans picking up after a game, the automatic assumption that someone else is going to clean up after us feels like a mistake.

So what is it that compels Japanese fans to clean the stadium at the World Cup, despite the fact that there are people hired to do it already?

It generally comes down to one word: “atarimae.”

Atarimae isn’t easy to directly translate into English, but it basically means “natural” or “obvious” or “the norm.” Japanese fans may be getting a lot of attention for their cleaning habits, but they’re not trying to make some grand statement or gesture—for them, it’s simply a matter of course that one would clean up mess wherever they are.

Al Jazeera’s Sandra Gathmann interviewed several Japanese fans after their team’s 2-1 victory over Germany to ask them about their stadium clean-ups. It was explained that the idea of cleaning and tidying up is ingrained as a part of Japanese culture from a young age and that it’s atarimae—obvious, natural, the norm—to leave a place cleaner than they found it.

Watch:

@aljazeeraontiktok

Why do Japanese football fans clean up after a match? @Sandra Gathmann asks the fans #QatarWorldCup2022 #FIFA #WorldCup #Qatar #Football #Qatar2022 #WorldCup2022 #Japan #cleaning #fans

Imagine if everyone thought of cleaning up as atarimae. Wouldn’t that be something?

Having lived in Japan myself, I can attest to how clean Japanese cities there are—despite being densely packed with people—due to this concept. The contrast between an average Japanese city and an average American city in terms of cleanliness is quite remarkable.

But being an American raising kids in the U.S., I can also attest to the fact that it’s much easier to ingrain those automatic cleaning habits into kids when the entire society is living this concept. Parents in the U.S. are in an uphill battle trying to train kids to take responsibility for cleaning up in a someone-else-will-do-it society, and it would take a major cultural shift to make automatic cleaning a matter of course for Americans. I would certainly love to see it, though.

In Qatar, the Japanese are showing what’s possible when a habit is culturally embraced and are setting a wonderful example the whole world can follow. Perhaps before the World Cup is finished we’ll see people from all nations taking trash bags into the stadium and running with the idea that cleaning up after an event without being asked is simply … atarimae.

Over his seven years as host of “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah brought us laughter and valuable insights, even with a pandemic and political upheaval. He made such a positive mark that the announcement of his departure from the show came as bittersweet news to fans.

During an interview with Hoda Kotb of “Today,” Trevor Noah gave further explanation to his personal decision to leave, and in typical Noah fashion, it touched on something universal in the process.

“I realized during the pandemic,” he told Kotb, “everyone talks about a ‘work-life balance.’ But that almost creates the idea that your work and your life are two separate things. When in fact, I came to realize during the pandemic that it’s just a ‘life-life balance.’ It’s just your life.”

He continued, “Your life doesn’t stop because you are working. And so, if you wanna make more time for family, if you wanna make more time for friends and what you wanna do, and everything … find a way to create that time. Time is the one thing we cannot increase.”

For Noah, creating more time for what was important to him meant changing his career focus. For other people, it might look like incorporating different work hours, outsourcing help or simply cutting out activities that don’t really provide growth or comfort. There are endless possibilities, depending on what someone’s priority is, and often these priorities change at different chapters in our life. But one thing never changes—we never know how much time we have on this planet, so it’s best to use it in a way that is fulfilling.

And if you’re confused as to what might be fulfilling, Noah has a trick: find what feels scary. “Anything worth doing should scare you. I will be scared to do the next project, hopefully.”

No matter what project is on the horizon for Noah, he is bound to bring us something to both smile and think about.

You can watch the full interview below:

Steve Lacy is known for baring his soul in his music. Songs like “Bad Habit” and “Helmet” put raw, queer emotions on display, while sharing poignant, relatable anecdotes on love and heartbreak. Today (December 3), Lacy has revealed more than his heart on Instagram.

The hitmaker shared a nude image of himself revealing his tattooed body, while strategically angled in a way that tastefully censored his naughty parts.

“contemplating what’s real and what’s fake,” read the caption on the Instagram post.

As one could predict, the openly bisexual R&B star received several comments, both thirsting after him, and clowning him for being extra.

“What be the point,” asked Tierra Whack, followed by a bunch of crying-laughing emojis.

More bluntly, Lil Nas X commented saying, “dope c*ck steve”

While Lacy has been putting out music for nearly a decade, his song, “Bad Habit” became a breakthrough hit for him, as the song went viral on TikTok. In an interview with W, he expressed gratitude for the song’s virality.

“I love it,” he said. “I want everybody to listen. It’s dope for everybody to interpret it in their own way. Am I gonna spend my energy being mad about my song doing well on TikTok? No, I’m not. I’ll spend my energy being grateful and working on more stuff.”

Check out the steamy thirst trap above.

Harry Styles has plenty to celebrate this year with his No. 1 album Harry’s House and perennially No. 1 single “As It Was.” His equally world-beating Love On Tour snaked through Buenos Aires, Argentina, yesterday (December 3), and fans were treated to an appetizer.

Argentina defeated Australia 2-1 in its Round of 16 match during the 2022 FIFA World Cup behind goals from Lionel Messi and Julián Álvarez. The match was screened at Estadio River Plate, and Styles sprinted out from backstage to cheer and egg on fans’ celebration after the final whistle.

Argentina’s quarterfinal match against Netherlands won’t kick off in Qatar until Friday, December 9, but Argentinians will happily pass the time at another Love On Tour show back at Estadio River Plate tonight (December 4).

If Brazil can get by South Korea tomorrow (December 5), then it’s possible that Styles’ Brazilian fans will enjoy the same World Cup fanfare around his Love On Tour stops across Sao Paolo, Rio De Janeiro and Curtiba between December 6 and December 14.

Styles is scheduled to continue Love On Tour with three dates at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, that had to be rescheduled from early November January 26-29, 2023, because Styles came down with the flu. After that, the UK superstar will head to Australia. See the full remaining Love On Tour schedule here.

It’s been a tough year for the Pittsburgh Steelers, as Mike Tomlin’s unbelievable streak of .500 or better seasons seems set to finally come to an end as the rebuild begins in Western Pennsylvania.

Kenny Pickett has shown signs of growth in his rookie season, but the Steelers offense just lacks the juice to be a consistent threat, in part because their rushing attack has stalled out. Some of that’s because defenses know the Steelers want to lean on the running game more because they have a young QB, but Najee Harris and company just haven’t been able to provide much support to the passing game this season.

Harris has been looking stronger in the last month but suffered an oblique injury in the Monday night win over the Colts, and coming off a short week that was a bit of a concern going into a game with the Falcons. Harris quickly answered questions about how he was feeling with a first quarter run that saw him shed a tackle attempt by a defensive back by dribbling his head into the ground like a basketball with one of the nastiest stiff arms we’ll see all year.

Harris might not have the same burst he showed as a rookie this season as he’s dealt with injuries, but he’s still an incredibly physical runner and if you don’t come with full force to bring him down, you might end up on a highlight reel for the wrong reasons.

Sam Smith will kick off 2023 with new music. Their fourth studio album, Gloria, is set to arrive in January and boasts a promising set of collaborations. Among the collaborators for Gloria are Ed Sheeran, Kim Petras, Koffee, and Jessie Reyez, the latter of whom will appear on two tracks.

This weekend, Smith shared a preview of one of the tracks called “Perfect.”

“I’m not perfect, but I’m worth it,” Smith sings on the track. “I used to love the nightlife / ‘Till the nightlife got too lonely / Might be time for the right guy.”

In a video, Smith plays the intro of the song, while wearing a t-shirt and jeans. When the beat switches, they are then seen in black underwear and pink lingerie.

Smith said in a recent interview with Michelle Visage’s Rule Breakers podcast that the inspiration behind their album’s title was both them and their fans, and their journeys to discovering their identities.

“I’ve called it Gloria because I’ve called that voice inside me Gloria,” they said. I”t’s like a voice in my head that just says, ‘You can do it’. And kids have just got to access that voice and feed it.”

Gloria is out 1/23/2023 via Capitol. Pre-save it here.

Check out the preview above.

Arianators are likely going to have to wait for a new Ariana Grande album because the two-time Grammy winner is busy transforming into Glinda for Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of Wicked. Luckily, it’s impossible to tire of her existing discography. That much is clear on Spotify.

Grande’s Positions recently surpassed four billion streams on Spotify and became her fifth album to eclipse that mark, according to Pop Crave and Spotify Daily Data. The album’s title track became Grande’s sixth No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Her other four albums to have reached at least four billion Spotify streams are 2019’s Thank U, Next, 2018’s Sweetener, 2016’s Dangerous Woman, and 2014’s My Everything.

The Instagram fan page @honeymoonavenue posted about the accomplishment, which Grande shared to her Instagram Story with a heart and “thank you.”

Spotify dominated the news cycle last week because of Spotify Wrapped. The personalized recap released annually by the streaming giant gifted top listeners with recorded thank-you videos from the likes of Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Blackpink, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Baby, and more.

According to Spotify, the top-five most-streamed artists globally in 2022 were Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd, and BTS. Whenever Grande chooses to drop again, she’ll likely reclaim her rightful place near the top.

Pro tip: Don’t come at Cardi B. The diamond-certified rapper performed at the Chase Sapphire Lounge on Friday, December 2, as part of the annual Art Basel festivities in Miami Beach. One hater tweeted, “Grammy winner Cardi B performing in someone’s backyard.” Cardi clapped back with a paystub for $1 million. The exchange has since been deleted, but it was captured and subsequently set the internet on fire.

“I got payed [sic] 1 million dollars to perform at this elite bankers event private event for 400 people and only for 35 minutes… … THINK ABOUT THAT WHEN YOU TYPE ABOUT THIS GRAMMY WINNER,” Cardi B responded.

People also criticized what she wore during the set — an au natural bodysuit. “Sooo was this worn for cthat bankers event,” one Tweeter asked with the rolling eyes emoji, eyeballs emoji and skull emoji.” Cardi responded, “Yes … it’s a custom Jean Paul Gaultier look and it represent the purest form of women bodies.”

Cardi posted photos from her performance from her short but lively set, while other footage shows that her “Tomorrow 2” collaborator GloRilla joined her for part of it.

Offset, Cardi’s husband of five years, also performed at Art Basel and dedicated his performance to Takeoff, his cousin and fellow Migos member Takeoff who was fatally shot on November 1 in Houston. Cardi’s Chase Sapphire Lounge performance briefly lifted his spirits — she previously said she’s been “feeling so hopeless trying to make my husband happy” in the aftermath of Takeoff’s tragic passing — according to NSFW texts tweeted by Cardi.

Yesterday (December 3), Offset shared another online tribute to Takeoff. He tweeted an animation of the late 28-year-old with the message, “I miss you bra tryna push through the pain.”

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

Only one person had a worse Thanksgiving than Donald Trump: His name is James Michael Grimes, and he’s the guy who spent the holiday trapped in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico after falling off a cruise ship. For 20 hours he managed to stay alive, though at the time the news broke it wasn’t clear how. It still isn’t entirely clear, but he recently opened up to Good Morning America, telling a wild story about eating unusual things to stay alive and fending off sea creatures.

Grimes told GMA that on Thanksgiving Eve he had a couple drinks while on board a Carnival cruise ship. Though he wasn’t drunk, he doesn’t remember what happened between when he told his sister he was going to the bathroom and awaking to find himself in the water, with no ship in sight.

For the next 20 hours, he managed to tread water and battle jellyfish. At one point he encountered some unidentified critter with a fin.

“It came up on me really quick and I went under, and I could see it. And it wasn’t a shark, I don’t believe,” Grimes recalled. “But it had more like a flat mouth, and it came up and bumped one of my legs, and I kicked it with the other leg. It scared me, not knowing what it was, all I could see was a fin.”

How did he keep up his energy over the long time? By eating what he could, including bamboo that floated by him.

“It gave some type of flavor in my mouth other than saltwater,” Grimes said. “I was never accepting that this is it — this is going to be the end of my life.”

It wasn’t until late into Thanksgiving Day, around 8:25 pm, that a Coast Guard tanker spotted him and fished him out of the water. Not only did he miraculously survive, but his condition was stable. Surely Hollywood will be calling him, ready to gift the world with the next 127 Hours.

(Via Insider)

It appears The Weeknd will close out the year the same way he opened it — by dropping new music. Back in January, he released his fifth studio album, Dawn FM. This month, it appears he will drop a new single for Avatar: The Way Of Water.

Today (December 4), The Weeknd shared a snippet of what seems to be a new song on social media. Though the audio snippet only comprised of an instrumental and no lyrics, the audio was accompanied by an image of the Avatar logo. At the bottom of the screen was what seemed to be a release date, reading, “12.16.22.”

The Weeknd has had quite an impressive journey over the past decade. 10 years ago, he released his three breakthrough mixtapes, House Of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes Of Silence, in the form of a compilation called Trilogy, following the breakthrough of his song, “Wicked Games.”

Now, it looks like his music is going to be on the soundtrack for one of the most anticipated movies of the year.

In a recent interview with his hometown paper, Toronto Star, he expressed what’s next for him, after he’s achieved pop superstardom.

I just follow the creative visions I have in whatever medium of art they come and am compelled to share it with as many people as are open to it.

Check out the preview above.