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This article originally appeared on July 2, 2019

Sadly, a lot of men go out of their way to avoid learning anything about a woman’s period.

(That could be why throughout most of the United States — where the majority of lawmakers are men — feminine hygiene products are subject to sales tax.)

So we should give some love to the guys who make an effort to learn a bit about the menstrual cycle so they can help their family members when they’re in desperate need of feminine hygiene products.

Personally, as a guy, the feminine hygiene aisle can be a little intimidating. There are multiple brands, styles of products, scents, absorbency levels, and they are all color-coded.

What do the colors mean?

Knowing there’s a lot I don’t know, I take a picture on my phone of the box I’m about to purchase and send it to my wife, asking, “Is this the right one?”

A dad in the U.K. is getting some love on social media for the hilarious way he navigated the world of feminine hygiene products while showing how much he loved his daughter in the process.

It all began when Tia Savva sent her dad to Tesco, a popular U.K. drug store, to pick up some tampons.

via Tia Savva/Facebook

via Tia Savva/Facebook

Then, he made the ultimate offer of love, some chocolate for his ailing daughter.

via Tia Savva/Facebook

For all the guys out there that need a solid primer on what goes on in the feminine hygiene product aisle, this quick tutorial from Mel magazine does a pretty great job.

WARNING: Spoilers for the ending of Free Guy below.
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After Ryan Reynolds managed to convince Brad Pitt to show up for a very brief, but electric, appearance in Deadpool 2, no one should be surprised at Reynolds’ cameo game at this point. And yet, Reynolds still managed to stun audiences with a surprising and unexpected cameo in Free Guy: Captain America himself, Chris Evans.

The Marvel-themed cameo happened during the final battle when Reynolds’ character whips Cap’s shield at Dude, only to have the scene cut to Evans who spits out his coffee and yells, “What the sh*t?” while watching the live stream in a coffee shop. According to Reynolds, this was the biggest ask he’s ever made, and it all come down to Evans being nearby and an all-around great guy. Via Wired:

Getting Evans was one of the biggest favors Reynolds called in. “He was in Boston and I texted him,” Reynolds says, “and being the complete gentleman and stud that he is, he just got in his car, came down, and we had him in and out in under seven minutes.”

As for how the heck Reynolds’ character got a hold of Cap’s shields, director Shawn Levy recently revealed to Entertainment Weekly that after acquiring the movie from Fox, Disney was extremely cool with letting the Levy and Reynolds raid its coffers of Marvel and Star Wars IP. And, clearly, Disney liked what it saw because Free Guy has already been greenlit for a sequel.

(Via Wired)

People like to throw the term “industry plant” around at artists that encounter rapid success. Oftentimes these musicians exist in the major label system. And, often they are women. What exactly the term means has dozens of interpretations, but can generally be narrowed down to an artist having an unfair advantage in the music biz, where they are propped up for accolades they do not deserve, getting big looks despite not having the fanbase that should be necessary for such success.

While these sorts of criticisms have a myriad of issues, one of the biggest faults is that they tend to explain away something someone doesn’t understand (or doesn’t attempt to understand) as the product of conspiracy. If you look around at the news in just about any field, this tends to be a running theme around how things are discussed on the internet. Rarely do people actually take the time to see how things work for themselves.

For HER, the Bay Area renaissance woman who has faced such criticisms for the last half-decade, the chance to disengage with online discourse was available on Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Performing the first of two nights in front of a capacity crowd of more than 16,000, HER took an audience of young and old across her many influences, where classical, jazz, R&B, rock, spoken word poetry, and more all made appearances over the course of two-and-a-half hours of music. Backed by conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic as well as her own more traditional band backing set-up complete with a quartet of backing singers, it was a moment where no amount of industry favors could do much good. The Hollywood Bowl is an unforgiving stage that’s been conquered by the biggest and brightest stars of music. And HER spent every moment showing how much she belonged there.

The evening’s opening gave attendees that frequent the Bowl for contemporary fare a chance to see how the venue functions otherwise. Dudamel led the Phil through a couple of opening numbers, notably both originally by Black composers, showing off the majesty of LA’s premier orchestra. And then without much warning, the music gently transitioned into Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues,” with HER’s unmistakable, disembodied vocals appearing before she made her way to the stage. As she traversed a sampling of material new and old with the orchestra, HER made it known that she’d never in her wildest dreams imagined performing with the LA Philharmonic, another entry to a resume that began as a child prodigy and has included wins at the Oscars and Grammys, support from artists like Rihanna and Usher, and appearances in major national ad campaigns.

HER’s bona fides are abundant, but even so, it’s not surprising that she felt the need to point them out on Friday night. When people spend as much time telling you you don’t deserve something, it’s up to you to highlight your own CV. Still, when she pointed out her own Oscar win or a song’s No. 1 status, it never came across as HER having a chip on her shoulder. It didn’t even come across as having something to prove. No, as she made her way through some of the best tunes of the last five years — including the lively “Fight For You,” the showstopping “Hold On,” and especially on what she called “the wedding song of 2021” “Best Part” — HER’s brand of confidence was anchored by grace. You couldn’t help root for the artist whose trajectory had been heading for this moment since childhood.

HER spent her final hour without the orchestra, showing that superb songwriting and musicianship are not mutually exclusive. She slapped the bass, played guitar behind her head, showed rock star swagger with covers of Lenny Kravitz and Queen, and even played piano and the frickin’ drums to Coldplay’s “Clocks.” If she grabbed Gustavo’s baton and started leading the orchestra herself, no one would have really been surprised. Noting that it was her first proper show since releasing her debut album earlier in the year, Back Of My Mind, HER displayed no cobwebs in what was a deserving coronation for one of music’s newest stars. Surely many helped along the way, but on this night, all the flowers belonged to HER.

While Jack Harlow‘s star continues to rise in 2021, the Lousiville rapper is making healthier life choices to ensure that he’s able to enjoy his success to the fullest. In a post on Instagram, Harlow revealed that he has stopped drinking alcohol this year, predicting that he might have given it up for good.

“Haven’t had a single sip of alcohol in 2021,” he celebrated. “Going the rest of the year without it. Maybe I’ll never take another sip, who knows?” He continued by revealing just how big of a deal this is for him, writing, “My favorite vice was definitely drinking (I don’t like to smoke) but if I learned anything this year it’s that I don’t need it.”

Next, he admitted that while he’s not much of a sharer on social media, he thought it was an opportune time for a check-in. “I don’t usually say a lot in my captions because it feels like anything worth telling y’all I should just put in my songs…but today felt like a good time for a life update,” he wrote. “I’m really grateful for how far we’ve come and I want you to know I appreciate all of you. But I’m hungrier right now than I’ve ever been. I’m prepared to become a well-oiled machine to take this sh*t to the next level. See you soon.”

Whether that means he’s gotten over his documented hatred of exercise, it’s fun to see a rapper actually enjoying their success and taking steps to keep going with excitement for the future.

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

Khal Drogo reunited with his Khaleesi, and they both wanted everyone on Instagram to know it. Jason Momoa and Emilia Clarke were both present for Game of Thrones showrunner David Benioff’s birthday party, and the two seemed to be having a ball while posing for photos and quoting their season one romance.

Clarke shared a photo of Momoa easily holding the Mother of Dragons actress in his arms. In the caption she wrote, “When your sun and stars rolls into town you check that he can still bench press a Khaleesi.” To which Momoa responded in the comments, “love u forever moon of my life.”

As for Momoa, he kept the love fest with a photo of Clarke sitting in his lap while he tossed a shout out to both her and Benioff in the caption. “MOON OF MY LIFE. you are wonderful love u forever @emilia_clarke #smilelyeyes happy birthday benioff you handsome generous badass leo aloha j,” Momoa wrote. Just like Momoa, Clarke jumped into the replies but with way more heart emoji. “love u forever moon of my life ”

Despite their iconic pairing, the two actors are now direct competitors in the superhero world. Momoa took a break from filming DC Comics’ Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom while Clarke is gearing up to join the MCU in Marvel’s Secret Invasion. But it looks like not even epic deaths or mega corporations can keep these two apart.

(Via Emilia Clarke on Instagram, Jason Momoa on Instagram)

Breanna Stewart felt a bit clumsy when WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert tossed up the ceremonial opening tip of the first-ever Commissioner’s Cup on Thursday night in Phoenix. The arc of the ball wasn’t the same as it might have been from a referee, and seemingly every camera in the building was trained on her at center court.

What felt unusual on Thursday will soon feel ordinary, after WNBA players successfully bargained for the Cup to be added during last year’s Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations. The pandemic forced the league into a Bubble for the 2020 season, but the Cup made its debut this year. Teams’ first 10 games against conference opponents were used to qualify for the championship game of the Cup, and not surprisingly, the two teams that met for the Cup were the Storm and Sun, the two top teams in the league standings.

There was a lot on the line. While the Storm’s new trophy won’t get them any closer to back-to-back WNBA championships, it did give each player a $30,000 prize. That may not be life-changing money to Stewart or Sue Bird, but for the players at the end of the bench, it’s huge.

“Our teammates (were) the motivating factor behind this game,” Stewart said. “We wanted to win for them. Obviously $30K is $30K for all of us, but for some of them, it’s, I don’t even know what the ratio is for Kiana (Williams), but it’s a lot. To really help them get that is amazing.”

At the same time, it was an opportunity to flaunt another successful part of the league’s new CBA, which also included an increase in annual salaries, parental benefits, and more improvements for players’ lives. The prize money can be a big boon for players each season, but especially during seasons with no Olympics (for which the WNBA takes a month-long break), it could put a spotlight on the league during a relatively quiet period in the sports calendar.

“Something the WNBA has lacked is its own stage at some times,” 18-year veteran Bird said. “A great example is the NCAA Tournament. Women’s basketball has its own stage. Whether or not it grows into that, I’m not sure but it’s actually something that the league can sell ahead of time.”

From a product standpoint, the Cup provides WNBA fans an extra game between two of the league’s best teams — with a little more on the line. NBA players receive $100,000 if their team wins the All-Star game, and the WNBA All-Star MVP gets a $5,000-plus reward. But those games are little more than glorified exhibition contests. The Cup features teams with real chemistry and history together, with a major incentive to win.

Bird said women’s basketball players are familiar with games where extra money is on the line. Overseas, in many of the foreign leagues WNBA players flock to during the winter, these games are common. Rivalry games or in-season tournaments frequently provide payouts for the winning team.

No such thing exists in the NBA, though. One media analyst called the Commissioner’s Cup a “visionary idea” in an interview with CNBC, and the G League may reportedly try its own version during the upcoming season. The primary reason is simple: more TV viewers.

The Commissioner’s Cup was announced in conjunction with a new WNBA media rights deal for Amazon, which has shown games on its Prime Video streaming service all season and was the sole broadcaster of the Commissioner’s Cup championship game this week. For the NBA, getting a new series of games into the mix, whether as part of the normal regular-season schedule or as a separate segment, generates obvious value to media companies that want to broadcast games.

The play-in games are a prime example. While there was clearly more at stake with a trip to the playoffs on the line and the NBA lucked out with hugely popular teams facing off, the ratings were promising. The Lakers and Warriors with a chance to claim the seventh seed out West and 5.6 million people tuned in. For a league always in search of ratings boosts and ways to draw interest beyond the postseason, the NBA will certainly be watching the WNBA’s Commissioner Cup model closely.

TV viewership has put a dent in everything from the NBA to the Olympics recently, but women’s hoops remains on the upswing. The WNBA opened 2021 on a nine-year high for ratings, while the NCAA women’s tournament scored its most-watched championship game since 2014. Both are headed in the right direction. What if, as Bird imagines, the WNBA could seize its own part of the calendar where fans were fully homed in on it? The W could easily blend the Cup in with its usual summer All-Star game, and highlighting the league’s best teams brings added attention to the women’s game as well.

As media rights grow, sports look for ways to innovate, and women’s sports is riding a wave of momentum. It’s only reasonable that the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup will be the beginning of something new for in-season events. The money gave them plenty to play for in the first go-round, but the good money is on the Cup providing a roadmap for the W and others to up the ante in coming years.

Years before Lil Wayne laid claim to the title of “Best Rapper Alive,” he dealt with mental health issues that culminated in an attempted suicide when he was just 12 years old. In a new episode of Complex‘s Uncomfortable Conversations with Emmanuel Acho, Wayne once again details the attempt in his own words, as well as explaining how he managed to survive and the callous attitudes of police officers which almost ensured that he didn’t.

“How I knew I had a mental health problem was I pulled the trigger,” he says of the incident. “I realized that at a very young age.”

Wayne describes in the interview how he shot himself in the chest after being told to give up his rap dreams by his mother. However, since he didn’t die, he says he had an epiphany: “I might be here for a reason.” He says that he was able to slide himself to the door, but that when police removed the door from its hinges and saw him lying there, the first handful bypassed him looking for drugs and guns. However, one officer whom Lil Wayne has always called Uncle Bob in prior interviews refused to step over him and drove him to the hospital.

The rapper further describes how his mental health issues have dogged him into adulthood and stardom as he questions “will you matter when it’s all over?”

You can watch the full interview above.

Nobody wants to make a bad game. The intention of every video game developer is to go out there and make the best game possible that everyone is going to love, but making games is hard and sometimes that noble goal falls short. What leads to a game being bad can vary from getting stuck in the development process, a budget disappearing, or the inability to pick a single direction for the game itself.

However, intention or not, bad video games still get made. Usually, when this happens there’s frustration and/or disappointment in the moment. As time goes on though that frustration or disappointment becomes a curiosity from the rest of us who haven’t played it. What exactly made this game so bad? Like sitting down to watch a bad movie, there’s a certain kind of enjoyment to playing a bad video game and experiencing it. Of course, also like a bad movie, the game still has to be semi-enjoyable to play. Nobody wants to play a boring or frustrating game, but instead one where there’s a light of what could have been. For those of you that want to experience that and have them sitting around in your backlog, we think these are worth giving a second chance.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) – Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

An infamously terrible attempt to reboot the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, the famous SEGA mascot easily hit his lowest point in 2006 when his jump to the next-gen featured what many consider his worst game. However, there’s a certain kind of fun with how bad the game is. It’s a buggy mess and therefore it can be both frustrating and a great time. Watch and be amazed as Sonic walks up this loop! Grow increasingly frustrated as a boss fight leaves the player in a soft lock loop. This is a game that is fun to show other people because finding glitches isn’t even challenging. They’re just a part of the experience.

Deadly Premonition – Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 Nintendo Switch

Deadly Premonition is a game that everyone who plays it will either fall in love with or consider destroying its disc in a fit of rage. This is either one of the worst games ever made or a masterpiece in how to leave the player deeply uncomfortable the entire time. The audio mixing is terrible, the driving feels like it’s on ice, and combat is boring at best. Yet, all of it feels intentional and earnest. It constantly feels like this is not a result of incompetence but instead deliberate decisions by the developers to make the gameplay like this. The Twin Peaks inspired setting only adds to the feeling that every decision in this game was deliberate because it really does feel like a season of the show. It is also helped by a fun story with some delightful quirky characters. Anyone interested in experiencing this should give the Nintendo Switch version a try, but be ready to have a strong opinion because there is not a single person alive that played Deadly Premonition and came out feeling indifferent.

WWE 2K20 – PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Do not buy WWE 2K20. It is that terrible and not worth any price point. What you should do instead is, go find a friend who did not heed that warning, fire up a match, and experience one of the buggiest games in existence. When WWE 2K20 came out it didn’t take long for videos to start showing up of players falling through the ring, heads moving around erratically, and inconsistent physics. All of these things were not good for a wrestling game but were incredibly funny to watch taking place on screen. The laughs won’t last forever, unfortunately, but this can be a fun game night experience with friends.

Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing – PC

Most people know about Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing by now, but here’s a summary for those of you that need a refresher. It was supposed to be a truck racing game that featured cops and deliveries, but when it was released there were no cops, races, deliveries, or collision physics. When a race begins the player can go off in any direction they choose and the rest of the racers will not move an inch. Walls do not stop the player so they can really just go on a fun truckin’ adventure across the very boring and empty world. Want to know a trick? The true way to go fast in this game is to go backward, because when the player drives in reverse the game’s physics do not ever reach a max speed, and eventually, the truck can move around so quickly that it leaves the plane of existence. Try it out once, laugh for 15 minutes, then never play it again.

Resident Evil 6 – PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

For fans of Resident Evil, the sixth mainline game in the franchise was easily the low point. The developers at Capcom had abandoned their horror routes and were going for a full-on action movie at this point and most fans did not approve. A nonsensical story, bad characters, and longtime favorites becoming the worst versions of themselves made this a game hated by fans everywhere. It doesn’t help that the game isn’t particularly fun to play by yourself either. However, what makes Resident Evil 6 terrible is also what makes it perfect with a friend. The co-op in the game is pretty competent and as a result, the dumb parts of Resident Evil 6 become hysterically funny as you and a friend play through it together. Anyone that is looking for a fun co-op experience should play this, not because the game is good, but because it will create memories that last forever.

(SPOILERS for HBO’s The White Lotus will obviously be found below.)

The first season of HBO’s The White Lotus (a delightful satire of extreme wealth) ended with a deuce. Literally!

A lot of fine performances should (and likely will) be recognized for this series (which will continue for a second season with a different cast, in a different vacation spot), but the morning-after glow goes to Murray Bartlett, who portrayed Armond. He’s been propping up shows for two decades (in the U.S. and Australia), but he finally got to steal much of a show here. Yes, Jennifer Coolidge is also earning a lot of rightful love, too, and there’s plenty to be said about how the show understands the terrifying nature of teens, but uh, about that deuce. If you watched, you must admit to feeling happy for Armond when his pasted-on smile transformed into this nihilistic expression. (RIP, Shane’s suitcase.)

That was a jaw-dropper, for sure. Granted, Murray was soon no more (Shane actually didn’t mean to kill him), but he got his vengeance after a season full of jousting with Jake Lacey’s character, who was the petty embodiment of how power and money corrupts. Armond, as the resort manager/master of ceremonies, had to grit his teeth and serve the ultrarich despite their bad behavior, and the show deftly wielded his position as a person of marginalized status. It was impossible to not root for Murray, even though he wasn’t completely likable, since the people he served were simply so awful. So, it was not only gaspworthy when he took dump in Shane’s suitcase; it was cheerworthy, too.

Well, Bartlett is out there doing the rounds and, as he told The Daily Beast’s Marlow Stern, the graphic nature of the deuce-rendering shocked him, too. “Let’s just say when I watched it, I was shocked,” he explained. “I didn’t know it would look that realistic.”

Oh, it sure looked real, and it’s a relief to know that this was mere acting and onscreen magic although damn, good for Armond. Something else interesting: Bartlett told Vanity Fair that there’s a whole Armond backstory that viewers didn’t see:

“Armond has an intense energy. He’s a real showman. There’s a backstory with him that didn’t make it into the show, but I carried it and it was really helpful to me: He wanted to be an actor, and that dream wasn’t realized. So this role that he plays is the realization of that. That really made sense to me. He relishes that and fully inhabits the moment. There’s a glee in the passion and the dramatics because that’s the kind of personality he has—the personality that wanted to be a theatrical actor. Even though the scenes that alluded to that are gone, that was a super-helpful key for me.”

Do I smell an Armond prequel? Please. We need a whole universe from The White Lotus shenanigans, and surely, viewers would love to see exactly what transpired to make Armond such a conflicted and questionable soul.

The White Lotus is currently streaming on HBO Max.

(Via The Daily Beast & Vanity Fair)

Angel Olsen recently announced plans to release an ’80s cover EP called Aisles. With that, she’s shared covers of Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” and Men Without Hats’ “The Safety Dance.” Now, we’ve got a stirring, slightly eerie cover of Billy Idol‘s 1984 single “Eyes Without A Face,” produced with Adam McDaniel. Check it out above.

“I know it’s not really in my history to do something unintentional or just for the hell of it, but my connection to these songs is pretty straightforward,” Olsen said of the EP in a statement. “I just wanted to have a little fun and be a little more spontaneous, and I think I needed to remember that I could!”

Olsen has also been in the news lately promoting her duet with Sharon Van Etten, “Like I Used To,” which the duo performed earlier in the month on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “My goal is to write four more songs in the next two months,” Olsen told Van Etten back in May in Interview Magazine. “I already have like 12 songs written that I wrote in 2020. Everyone’s going to be coming out with a record at the same time because we’ve all been on hold. I’m just trying to figure out the timing of everything. But yeah, my goal is to continue writing more over the next two months and then record as soon as possible, maybe in July, but we’ll see. That way I can be on tour in the spring of 2022. Who knows?”

Olsen’s Aisles EP is out digitally 8/20 and physically 9/24 via somethingsonic and Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.