Category: Viral

The Indiana Pacers were the most surprising team to make a run to the NBA conference finals this year, and unsurprisingly they have spent the summer bringing back key players from that squad. That started by signing Pascal Siakam to a new max deal, and then brought back Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith on long-term deals as well.

That locked up their free agents, and with those three taken care of, Indiana has begun knocking out deals with their extension eligible players. The first to get done is Andrew Nembhard, who has quickly established himself as a key two-way force in the backcourt for the Pacers in his first two years in the league, with Indiana locking him up for the next three years on a deal worth just shy of $20 million per year.

The deal makes sense on both sides, as Nembhard ensures he locks in his first big payday and avoids getting potentially squeezed in free agency next summer — as we’ve seen happen to a guy like Tyus Jones. The Pacers, meanwhile, lock up a guy who has become a starter for them at a rate that’s a bit below starter average, providing some serious value if he continues to grow into that role. The last deal on the list for the Pacers is backup point guard TJ McConnell, coming off one of the best seasons of his career, as Indiana will hope to keep him around long-term given his production on-court and value in the locker room.

The real question for the Pacers next year will be how good this team really is, with other East contenders loading up around them. Running it back makes sense and they haven’t signed anyone to an overpaid deal, which gives them continued flexibility, but next season figures to be a litmus test for where they truly fall in the East’s hierarchy.

The first teaser video for the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was unveiled today (July 24), and in it, we get our first listen of how Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of Dylan sounds as he sings “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” from 1963’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Is that actually Chalamet singing, though?

Does Timothée Chalamet Sing In The Bob Dylan Movie A Complete Unknown?

In April 2023, A Complete Unknown director James Mangold said in an interview that Chalamet does do his own singing in the movie. As Vogue notes, in a December 2023 interview, Chalamet said he had recorded some of his vocals for the film and at that point, the soundtrack was about 70 percent done.

Eric Vetro, Chalamet’s vocal coach, also said of Chalamet in October 2023, “He does everything with such a playful air, but there’s always that core of real seriousness where he is gonna nail it. It’s taking on all the characteristics of Dylan’s voice and his mannerisms and his speech patterns, and bringing that into the music — so that when you hear Timothée do the music, what you’re really getting is the essence of Bob Dylan. You’re not getting an impersonation of him. It’s breathing new life into that voice that we know so well.”

An English doctor named Edward Jenner took incredible risks to try to rid his world of smallpox. Because of his efforts and the efforts of scientists like him, the only thing between deadly diseases like the ones below and extinction are people who refuse to vaccinate their kids. Don’t be that parent.

Unfortunately, because of the misinformation from the anti-vaccination movement, some of these diseases have trended up in a really bad way over the past several years.

Wellness involves a lot of personal choices and the tradeoff between personal liberty and shared public good.

Measles is the starkest example. There were about 61 cases of measles in all of 2012, but in just the first seven months of 2014, there have been nearly 600.

As this chart shows, vaccinations are not like taxes rates or even freedom of speech. The impact of one’s personal health choices can have a significant impact on the population around them, in their communities and even on a national level. It makes that trade-off all the more complicated and one not easily distilled into one convenient political or religious ideology.

Obviously, the topic of vaccinations has become immensely more complicated since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020. But history teaches us valuable lessons and information is power. No matter how you feel about vaccines today, this chart is a reminder that medical science can be used for incredible good. Without breakthrough vaccinations in the past, many of us would likely not be here to have the debate about our personal choices now and into the future.

This article originally appeared on 11.21.14 and this infographic is based on data from 2012.

Menstrual taboos are as old as time and found across cultures. They’ve been used to separate women from men physically — menstrual huts are still a thing — and socially, by creating the perception that a natural bodily function is a sign of weakness.

Even in today’s world women are deemed unfit for positions of power because some men actually believe they won’t be able to handle stressful situations while mensurating.

“Menstruation is an opening for attack: a mark of shame, a sign of weakness, an argument to keep women out of positions of power,’ Colin Schultz writes in Popular Science.

The big problem with menstrual taboos is the way that males are educated on the subject leaves them with a patchwork of ideas that don’t necessarily add up to the whole picture. First, there’s the information they get from growing up with women in the house.

Then, there are the cryptic descriptions of menstruation seen in advertising and the cold, scientific way the topic is taught in sex education.

“Boys’ early learning about menstruation is haphazard,” a 2011 study published in the Journal of Family Issues reads. “The mysterious nature of what happens to girls contributes to a gap in boys’ knowledge about female bodies and to some negative views about girls.”

Unfortunately, the gaps in the average man’s understanding of a complex female health issue can put women in a difficult position. Whether it’s denying them positions of power or a failure to understand their discomfort.

That’s why it’s so important for men to become better educated about menstruation.

A group of women on TikTok are helping the men in their lives better understand the subject by showing them how tampons work on the inside of their bodies by dousing them in water. They call it the Boyfriend Challenge. Some of the guys’ reactions are clearly over-the-top, but it’s also obvious that many of them have no idea how tampons function.

A video by the Demery family has gone viral attracting nearly eight million views. It’s fun to watch, but it also shows men how tampons function and what women go through during their monthly cycle.

@thedemeryfamily22 His reaction is priceless😂 #cutecouple #pregnant #prego #viral #InLove #couplegoals #trend #tampon ♬ original sound – Kolby&Jas❤️

Rachel’s man just uttered the phrase “vagina parachute.”

@mrshillery829 Of course I had to make my husband do this! I will forever call tampons “vagina parachutes”! LMAO!! #tamponchallenge #husbandpranks #funny #fyp ♬ original sound – Rachel Hillery

Paulina’s man was completely flummoxed by the inner workings of a tampon. “You’ve been carrying this like, inside of you?” he asks. “The whole day?”

@paulinat showing him how a tampôn works😭 @fabioguerrrraa ♬ original sound – Pau Torres

This guy thinks it’s “like a butterfly.”

@amanialzubi showing my boyfriend how a tampon works 🤣😳❤️ ( @originalisrael ) #comedy #couple #couplegoals #foryou #trend #tiktok ♬ original sound – amani

Ryley just blew her BFF’s mind.

@thekelleyfamily lmaoooo why 😂😭 #tamponchallenge #trend #hilariouscomedy #couple #married #foryoupage #fyp #xyzbca ♬ Quirky – Oleg Kirilkov

This guy was amazed by the absorbancy.

Let’s hope this challenge gave some men out there a better understanding of what women go through every month and a little more sympathy for the women in their lives.

Hopefully it also makes them feel a little more comfortable around period products and inspires them to pick up the correct box of tampons next time they’re at the grocery store.

This article originally appeared on 01.27.21

Any parent knows that kids can be surprisingly astute little philosophers at the most unexpected times. One minute your child is throwing a tantrum because you sliced their sandwich wrong, and the next they are blowing you away with their deep preschool thoughts. It’s enough to give you whiplash, but it’s also one of the most fun things about being around kids. You never know what they’re going to say and sometimes what they say is just awesome.

Case in point: This 5-year-old who gave his mom some sage advice about handling her nerves.

Twitter user @Eprecipice (StressieBessie) shared the story in a tweet thread. She wrote:

“When talking about our agendas for the day, I told my 5yo I was a little nervous about a meeting I have today. He said, ‘Mama, I am nervous all the time. I know what to do.’ So friends, here is all the advice he could fit into the drive to school:”

1. “You gotta say your affirmations in your mouth and your heart. You say, ‘I am brave of this meeting!’ , ‘I am loved!’, ‘I smell good!’ And you can say five or three or ten until you know it.”

Okay, first of all, the fact that this kiddo knows what affirmations are is awesome. Some people have questioned whether this advice really came from a 5-year-old because of the vocabulary, but kids are sponges and affirmations aren’t rocket science. It’s become quite common for preschools and kindergartens to teach kids things like this, so it’s not actually surprising to hear him talk about affirmations. It’s just adorable to hear the ones he suggests.

When talking about our agendas for the day, I told my 5yo I was a little nervous about a meeting I have today. He said, u201cMama, I am nervous all the time. I know what to do.u201d So friends, here is all the advice he could fit into the drive to school:

— StressieBessie (@StressieBessie)
1643118594

2. “You gotta walk big. You gotta mean it. Like Dolly on a dinosaur. Because you got it.”

Okay, so this actually is sound advice. Researcher Amy Cuddy gave a whole TED Talk about how our minds respond to our own body language, and how using confident body language can actually release chemicals in our brains that make us feel more powerful and self-assured. So “walk big” like you mean it is legit.

2. u201cYou gotta walk big. You gotta mean it. Like Dolly on a dinosaur. Because you got it.u201d

— StressieBessie (@StressieBessie)
1643118788

3. “Never put a skunk on a bus.”

No idea what this means, but it’s definitely solid wisdom.

4. “Think about the donuts of your day! Even if you cry a little, you can think about potato chips!”

I’m genuinely not sure if this is referencing real donuts or not, which is part of what makes it delightful advice. Metaphorically, “the donuts of your day” could be the positive things that happened, and focusing on those instead of the negative is basic positive thinking. Then again, if you cry and think about potato chips, perhaps he’s just referencing comfort with food. Either way, totally feeling it.

4. u201cThink about the donuts of your day! Even if you cry a little, you can think about potato chips!u201d

— StressieBessie (@StressieBessie)
1643118922

5. “You gotta take a deep breath and you gotta do it again.”

Pretty much every therapist from every psychological school of thought will tell you that breathing exercises are one of the quickest ways to calm your body and mind. Simple, but seriously sound advice.

6. “Even if it’s a yucky day, you can get a hug.”

Even though that sounds like a pretty typical thought for a kid, it’s also good well-being advice. According to The Conversation, the chemicals released when we hug can help us manage stress, reduce anxiety and manage our emotions.

Smart kid.

He added one more piece of advice for good measure as well for those of us who tend toward distraction.

6. u201cEven if itu2019s a yucky day, you can get a hug.u201d

— StressieBessie (@StressieBessie)
1643119356

Extra addition from this afternoon: u201cDonu2019t get distracted and your feet will stay on the sidewalk and not too full of snow.u201d

— StressieBessie (@StressieBessie)
1643147180

Like a little Confucius, this one.

Seriously, if you ever want to hear some of the most oddly profound things you’ll ever hear in your life, spend some time interviewing a 4- or 5-year-old. They really do say the darnedest things. And if you’re nervous about something, just keep telling yourself you’re “brave of” it. If nothing else, it’ll bring a smile to your face remembering this delightful thread.

This article originally appeared on 01.31.22

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a cat? To watch the world from less than a foot off the ground, seeing and hearing things humans completely miss, staring out the window for hours while contemplating one of your nine lives?

Well, thanks to one person, we need wonder no more—at least about what-they’re-seeing part.

The TikTok channel Mr. Kitters the Cat (@mr.kitters.the.cat) gives us a cat’s-eye view of the world with a camera attached to Mr. Kitters’ collar. And the result is an utterly delightful POV experience that takes us through the daily adventuring of the frisky feline as he wanders the yard.

In a video titled “Spicy cats,” which has more than 74 million views on TikTok, we begin with the cutest cat sneeze ever. Then we hear Mr. Kitters’ meow as we walk with him through the grass before the scene switches to a thrilling, yowling cat chase he witnesses across the yard (while tucking himself even more securely under the bush he’s in).

The best is seeing his kitty paws as he walks and then digs in the mulch. And there’s apparently something very exciting that needs to be pounced on right along a chain link fence.

Watch and enjoy:

@mr.kitters.the.cat

Spicy cats 🌶️ #fyp #cat #meow

The commenters made their delight known.

“I love how he saw the cat fight and was like that’s not my business today,” wrote one person.

“WHEN HE DIGS WITH HIS LIL PAWS,” declared another.

“People: Cats only meow at humans.” Mr Kitters -Meows at everything-” wrote another.

And of course, countless people responded simply to the sneeze with “Bless you.”

Mr. Kitters has other POV videos as well. This one demonstrates how chatty he is and shows his black cat buddy as well.

@mr.kitters.the.cat

“What do you want?” “Nothing!” #fyp #cat #meow

It really sounds like he says, “Let me in,” doesn’t it?

And this “extreme sports” video is riveting.

@mr.kitters.the.cat

Extreme sports 💀 #fyp

It’s funny how something as simple as putting a camera around the neck of a cat can draw in tens of millions of people. We’re all so curious about the lives of the creatures we see every day, and the adorable quirkiness of cat behavior is a big part of why we keep them as companions in the first place. Seeing the world through their point of view is just one more way we can enjoy and learn about our pet friends.

This article originally appeared on 6.15.23

Babies are really adaptable. The same can be said for baby animals and it’s likely because they just don’t know any other way of life so they just go with it. But even knowing that, it’s still hard to imagine a kitten getting around with no front legs.

Cats essentially use everything from their whiskers to their tails to balance, so how would one walk without two of it’s four legs? The answer is, carefully at first. Duck is a kitten that had to have both of her front legs completely amputated after she was rescued and while she was wobbly at first, she quickly adapted.

Duck’s human, Cody shares her daily shenanigans on his Instagram page aptly named Purrasic Duck. But recently he told Duck’s story to The Dodo revealing her rescue story and the kitten’s quick moves. If you’re having a hard time picturing a two-legged cat on the run, it looks a lot like a furry velociraptor chasing a laser pointer.

“I ended up naming her Duck because she kinda waddled. She’d kinda take it slow, she waddled trying to figure out her balance,” Cody tells The Dodo.

Before long though, Duck was off to play with her much larger dog brothers. Her pug brother even offers her a little assistance in the face cleaning area since Duck doesn’t have paws to do it herself. No worries, she returns the favor by cleaning his face too. It’s an adorable relationship but if you want to see a furry velociraptor chase after cat toys, you’ll need to watch the video below.

This article originally appeared on 11.15.23

For nearly two decades, people have been enjoying “Got Talent” competitions all over the world, inspired by the first “America’s Got Talent” in 2006. And thanks to social media and YouTube, we can enjoy the most memorable auditions over and over again.

For instance, this one from Taryn Charles on the 2024 season of “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Charles is a music teacher who works with special needs kids. She even brought one of her students and her parent to be part of the audience during her audition. When the judges asked why she wanted to be on “Britain’s Got Talent,” Charles said, “I love to make people smile and I think my voice is alright.”

Talk about an understatement.

As she stands waiting for the music to start, she shakes her hand by her side a few times, clearly getting some nerves out. But as soon as she starts to sing the first line, “Looking out on the morning rain, I used to feel so uninspired…” it’s clear from her rich, raspy voice and easy stage presence that she’s got something special.

And it only gets better from there. “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman” was written by singer-songwriter Carole King, then famously covered by Aretha Franklin, which is a hard act to follow. But Charles knocked it out of the park, blowing away the audience and judges alike. In fact, the performance earned her not one but two standing ovations and inspired judge Bruno Tonioli to smash the Golden Buzzer button before the judges even began to offer their feedback.

Watch:

What makes this performance especially memorable is how humble and unassuming Charles is before and after her knock-out performance. If you didn’t watch til the very end, you may have missed her hilariously real, “I think I’ve wet myself,” which only makes her even more endearing.

“WOW I was blown away with her angelic and powerful voice,” wrote one commenter. “And yet she is so humble and has a beautiful soul. Plus, I have never in my life seen a double standing ovation, she so deserves a golden buzzer, wishing her the best success.”

“This is how you do an audition, stunning tone to her voice…..if anyone deserves a chance it’s this lady……BOOM!!” wrote another.

“This was so inspirational. Taryn I am in tears,” shared another. “I know what it feels like to struggle with self-worth. You are a mirror to show me that that those people are not always right. You are phenomenally gifted and you have an amazing career as a professional singer ahead of you! Blessings!”

Talent competition judges often warn contestants about the challenge of singing songs done by big vocal divas, and we’ve seen singers attempt to sing the likes of Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey and fall flat. It’s not easy to sing an iconic song most people associate with Aretha Franklin—the Queen of Soul and Rolling Stone’s #1 singer of all time—and have any hope of impressing people. And yet, Taryn Charles managed to make the song her own and wow everyone in the process with her unique voice.

We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this humble music teacher as she makes her way through the “Britain’s Got Talent” gauntlet. Heck of a way to kick it off.

This article originally appeared on 5.6.24

Snoop Dogg said he would respect French laws when it comes to his favorite pastime, but he got a nice concession prize. The Doggfather will be one of the lucky few to carry the Olympic flame through Paris ahead of the 2024 Olympic Summer Games. While in Paris to cover the 2024 Olympics for NBC — a job he’s taken to with great enthusiasm — he’ll carry the Olympic torch on its final leg through Paris’ Saint-Denis suburb, where the Stade de France Olympic Stadium is located.

Over the last few months, Snoop has taken to his correspondent role with gusto, participating in track and field trials (“34.44 for a 52-year-old? Ain’t bad.”), and shooting free throws — Rick Barry style! — with the USA 3×3 basketball squad.

After the games, Snoop will return to his day job, releasing his twentieth studio album, Missionary, the spiritual successor to his 1993 debut Doggystyle. In the meantime, though, it doesn’t look like he’s putting his seemingly endless series of side quests on hold; he recently joined the broadcast for the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers ball game after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch, and he’s preparing for his own NCAA football college bowl game this fall. The man appears to be living his best life, like a walking ad for the benefits of getting older.

Has Tom Cruise’s student become the master? Close, but not quite.

Cruise is still going strong at 62 years old (nearly the same age as Jack Lemmon when he made Grumpy Old Men) with multiple projects in production, including Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s next film, a rumored Top Gun 3 and Edge of Tomorrow 2, the movie where he goes to space, and, of course, Mission: Impossible 8. The retitled sequel to 2023’s thrilling Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One started filming in 2022 before production shut down due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. Cameras resumed rolling earlier this year, and Cruise is once again risking his life for our entertainment. Bless him.

Here’s everything we know about Mission: Impossible 8, including plot details, the cast, and release date.

Plot

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One ended with AI threatening to take over the world (couldn’t relate) and Ethan Hunt and friends needing to find a submarine. Mission: Impossible 8 will presumably take place shortly after the events of that film, but director and co-writer (and Taylor Swift fan) Christopher McQuarrie has mostly kept quiet about specific plot details. He did, however, reveal that they filmed in South Africa and the Arctic. “Tom and I are always trying to get the big sh*t out of the way first,” he told Empire. “South Africa was intense. The aerial sequence is… It’s just outrageous.”

To quote an I Think You Should Leave legend, gimme dat.

Mission: Impossible 8 will also have an underwater sequence that fixes a pet peeve of Cruise’s. “Tom and I are constantly reevaluating our own work and asking ourselves how we could have done it better. We’ve done underwater sequences previously. We’ve worked underwater in Edge of Tomorrow, and we worked underwater in Rogue Nation, and we left very dissatisfied with those sequences,” McQuarrie told Collider. “And we analyze why we were dissatisfied. What were all the factors working against us? The biggest being, not having real knowledge in that area.” Now they do.

As for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning was split into two films (even if Mission: Impossible 8 lost the “Dead Reckoning” subtitle), McQuarrie explained, “I knew I wanted to expand the cast, and I knew I wanted to give each one of those characters more to do, so I knew the movie was going to be bigger and longer than [Mission: Impossible – Fallout]. And at which point I said, ‘Why are we fighting this? Why are we going to try to jam this into two hours? Let’s just break it in half and make it two movies.’ That really was the rationale behind it being a two-part movie. It just it wasn’t just that the story was bigger but that we wanted more emotion in the movie.”

Cast

Tom Cruise will be back for Mission: Impossible 8, obviously. Other confirmed cast members include Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, Pom Klementieff, and Frederick Schmidt. Could Rebecca Ferguson return as well, despite what happened to Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One?

“To speak very clearly — because I know a lot of people are sad about it, I’m sad about it — I had filmed three films. My deal was done. And I love her beyond words. Beyond words. I think she’s the most awesome, fantastic character,” the Silo actress said on the UnWrapped podcast. “Selfishly, that’s a lot of time to make a Mission film. And unless you’re going to have a lot of screen time, that’s a lot of time sitting around waiting to film a huge movie that could take over a year to film. It’s dedication.” That sounds like a no.

At least we’ll always have the opera scene.

Release Date

Mission: Impossible 8 is scheduled for release on May 23, 2025.

Trailer

No trailer.

But I have something more important to discuss: what’s your favorite Tom Cruise stunt in the Mission: Impossible movies? Is it the vault scene in the original, or the time he rode a motorcycle off a cliff? I’m partial to the Burj Khalifa sequence in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Cruise really initiated the death-defying version of ghost protocol with this one.