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If you’ve ever stayed in a hotel, you know there’s an additional lock you can latch as an added layer of protection. But sometimes weird things happen that make us rethink the comfort and security many of us take for granted. TikTok user TayBeepBoop had a disturbing experience when a hotel front desk person attempted to enter her room while she was inside. Some readers may find the story to be unsettling but it’s a powerful reminder of exactly why situational awareness and caution are so important in today’s world.

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Tay, obviously frightened, uploaded clips from the event on her TikTok page, which has since garnered 6 million views. In the video, which is mostly the floor, door and bed, you can hear the man outside of her room knocking loudly asking to be let inside.

Tay asks the man repeatedly why he attempted to walk into her room using the hotel key to which the man explains there’s a problem with the woman’s car. There’s only one problem. Tay doesn’t own a car and is only in town on business where she did not rent a car to get around town, relying only on other modes of transportation. So, what the heck was the man doing at her door?

@taybeepboop

Replying to @dani klarić this was a really long and hard video to make, it was sort of traumatizing and I’m kind of freaked out about staying anywhere now and I dont leave my house much anymore tbh because I already was dealing with PTSD about my safety. I’m OKAY which is why im able to go through this footage now. I genuinely don’t want anything to do with this hotel, this is a PSA to stay safe and cautious. I don’t want people to go after this worker because I still don’t know what his intentions were and he could have just been trying to do his job

Tay was staying at the hotel alone and made sure to latch the additional lock on her hotel room door, which is the only thing that prevented this hotel staff member from getting into her room. Since the situation was so scary and went on for quite some time according to her video, she called friends on FaceTime to be a witness and help comfort her. Eventually the man leaves after repeated attempts to get the scared woman to open the door and Tay was able to get a male business partner to escort her safely to another hotel.

But the comments were filled with stories from women who have had similar experiences. Many people explained the danger of admitting you’re alone upon check-in, while other commenters sympathized with the woman not thinking to call the police right away. With people traveling more as COVID-19 restrictions subside, there could be a greater chance for things like this happening so it’s best to be prepared and err on the side of caution when traveling alone.

Women on the Road has several tips for hotel safety including making sure your door lock works, putting a chair under the handle of the door or buying a rubber door stop. The site also highlights the importance of locking your windows if they open and not opening the door for people you don’t know.

Another site geared towards safety is Solo Female Traveler and it recommends getting a floor higher in the hotel to make it more of a hassle for someone from outside to break in. It, too, reiterates the importance of locking the additional lock in the hotel room while you’re inside.

While it’s statistically unlikely you’ll be a victim of a hotel robbery or whatever was happening with Tay, her experience is a reminder to research hotels and practice caution when traveling. Always, always, lock the deadbolt or chain.

This article originally appeared on 09.13.22

A grandmother always felt her middle granddaughter Lindsay, 15, looked slightly different from the rest of the family because she had blonde, curly hair, while the rest of her siblings’ hair was dark “I thought genetics was being weird and I love her,” she wrote on Reddit’s AITA forum.

But things became serious after Linday’s parents “banned” her from taking things a step further and getting a DNA test. If the family was sure their daughter was theirs, why would they forbid her from seeking clarity in the situation? After the parents laid down the law, the situation started to seem a little suspicious.

“I told my son and [daughter-in-law] that there was something fishy around her birth she needed to know. They denied it and told me to leave it alone,” the grandma wrote.

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Lindsay wouldn’t give up her quest. She approached her biology teacher, who admitted that it was “odd” for her to have such different traits. This confusion was too much for Lindsay, so she went to her grandmother for help. “She came to me distressed, asking me to buy a DNA test since she needs to know,” the grandmother wrote.

The grandmother purchased a DNA test and it proved their suspicions. “Long story short, she is not her mother’s kid,” the grandmother wrote. “My son got someone else pregnant and her bio mom gave her up.”

The interesting thing was that Lindsay was a middle child. So, the dad had a baby with another woman while he was with his wife. This revelation begs the question: How did the family suddenly have a baby out of nowhere without people being suspicious?

“They were on the other side of the country when she was born, and I met Lindsey when she was about 6 months old. Really not hard to hide the whole thing,” the grandmother wrote. “Our family has a history of miscarriages, so it’s common to drop news about a baby late in the pregnancy. They did the same with their oldest and didn’t think anything about it.”

The big revelation has caused friction in the family. The family no longer talks to the grandmother, which makes Lindsay even more furious about the situation.

Should the grandmother have taken such drastic steps if she knew what could happen if her suspicions were true? The commenters on Reddit overwhelmingly supported the grandmother’s decision. The big reason was that Lindsay needed to know her family history for medical reasons.

“Your son and his wife suck for lying to her until she is 15 about something so important and trying to keep lying to her even after she obviously started to question things. There are medical reasons a person might need to know what their genetics are/are not, and if you hadn’t helped her, she would have found out some other way,” Shake_Speare423 wrote.

Another commenter noted that protecting the parents’ lie wasn’t nearly as important as Lindsay’s mental health.

“People have a right to know their genetic heritage. Lying about adoption is linked to increased suicidal ideation, anxiety, and depression. You put her safety and comfort ahead of your son’s preferences. Parental rights do not have greater value than a child’s right to access comprehensive medical care, and hiding an adoption does precisely that. Maybe some things, like a child staying healthy, should matter more than a parent’s right to lie, gaslight and manipulate their child as they see fit,” RemembrancerLirael added.

The commenters overwhelmingly supported the grandma for putting herself into an uncomfortable situation to protect her granddaughter’s mental and physical health. However, one commenter noted that she could have gone about it in a less polarizing way.

“Bit out of the norm for the responses here, but you should have gone through your son [and daughter-in-law] and convinced them. Told them that the biology teacher had highlighted that she had traits that didn’t make sense, etc. and convinced them that Lindsey would find out either way,” PhilMcGraw wrote. “It would have allowed them to find a way to tell her without it being forced on them angrily. A DNA test is the absolute worst way to be told. I’m sure they would have much rather told her than let her find out by a DNA test if that is what was coming.”

This article originally appeared on 11.29.23

Nikki Haley is firing back at The View after the daytime talk show recently questioned just what the heck she’s doing on the campaign trail as she continues to lag far behind Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary.

Haley seemed particularly incensed over comments from Whoopi Goldberg, who questioned Haley’s political credentials. “Nikki, what have you done? What have you done, really?” Goldberg asked on a recent episode of The View. “What can you point to?”

“I’ve done quite a bit. I will tell you, as governor, we accomplished a lot, as U.N. ambassador, we accomplished a lot. I did a whole lot more than Whoopi Goldberg will ever do, and it is not the ladies on The View that I ever care to impress,” Haley said in a new interview with Fox News, where she noticeably neglected to get into specifics.

Via Entertainment Weekly:

“At the end of the day, I’m fighting or every American’s vote. This is a chance to get our party right. The party that leaves their 80-year-old candidate behind is the party that will win. Mark my words. It is hugely important that we get a new generational conservative leader in the White House that leaves the baggage and the negativity behind.”

However, if Haley has done anything, it’s taken the fight to Trump. After the former president mocked Haley’s husband for not being on the campaign trail with her, she blasted Trump by revealing that he’s deployed overseas.

“You mock one veteran, you’re mocking all veterans,” she told Dana Perino following Trump’s attack. “But this is a pattern, Dana. He’s done this over and over again. Whether he went and called military members suckers, whether he was at Arlington Cemetery saying what was in it for them, why would they do this? The problem with Trump is he’s never been anywhere near a uniform.”

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck haven’t reached Will and Jada levels of “we know far too much about these people,” but they’re getting there. A song on J-Lo’s ninth studio album and first in 10 years, This Is Me… Now, is unmistakably about her Dunkin’-loving husband — and their sex life.

“Greatest Love Story Never Told” (you can listen to the song below) begins with Lopez referencing her and Affleck’s on again, off again, on again romance: “Different roads, two lost souls / Never thought we’d find our way back / Could’ve lost what matters most / How could I live with that?” Then things get racy: “Missing your body climbing on top of me, slippin’ inside of me / Way that I ride it, bodies aligning, look at our timing / Forget about the world when we’re alone / Only thing that ever felt, felt like home.”

Anyone who has seen Gone Girl knows what “it” is.

While Ben obviously served as a major inspo on the new album, he also got involved personally — lending some background vocals for “Not Going Anywhere.” Yep, he’s credited.

Lopez is also releasing a documentary about the album titled The Greatest Love Story Never Told, but Jane Fonda, who appears in the film, thinks maybe she should calm things down by like 10 percent. According to Pajiba, the actress warned Lopez that while she’s rooting for her and Affleck to stay together forever, “it feels too much like you’re trying to prove something instead of just living it. You know, every other photograph is the two of you kissing and the two of you hugging.”

That’s how people felt about Gigli, too, and now it’s part of the Criterion collection. You win this round, Ben and Jen.

(Via TMZ)

The Kid Mero is getting real about what really happened behind-the-scenes with Desus & Mero that led to the two seemingly tight partners going their separate ways. Mero has since launched a new podcast with Carmelo Anthony titled 7PM in Brooklyn, and he used the new platform to address the chances of ever working with Desus Nice again. It’s not looking good.

“It’s the business, there’s no friends in the business,” Mero told Anthony and guest Joe Budden. “And I was in a situation where I got four kids, two mortgages… The taxes are crazy. I got real life situations going on.”

While Mero was looking at the bigger picture, he claims Nice was not and things went south over a potential deal with DraftKings.

Via Decider:

But Nice wasn’t interested, according to Mero. “This is going places bro we need to do this,” he said. “And [Nice is] like, ‘Nah,’ I’m like f*ck out of here. To me, that’s the beginning of this shit is corroded.”

The situation got worse when Nice wasn’t “feeling” making a movie with Judd Apatow.

“When you’re doing a movie with [Apatow], you’re not really doing a movie with this guy,” Mero said. “This guy’s like a kingmaker. You make a banger with him, you’re solidified. That’s what takes you up to the next level.”

As for the chance that the two will work together again, Mero isn’t entirely closing the door, but he’s also realistic about where he and Nice are at.

“Possibly, I never say never,” Mero said before adding, “I don’t think it could be fixed. Man to man, he’s on another creative pathway now.”

You can watch Mero talk about the split from Nice below:

(Via Decider)

The state of New Jersey has birthed a plethora of notable music stars: To name a few, there’s Dionne Warwick, Queen Latifah, and Bruce Springsteen. Linwood native Mk.gee is looking to have his name on the pages of Garden State arts history books, too. His recently released album, Two Star & The Dream Police, serves as his latest effort on that front.

To support the body of work, Mk.gee will hit the road on a full-out North American tour with spots across the US and Canada. The 18-date run will kick off in San Diego, California, at the Music Box. Several dates have sold out, so fans need to move fast to secure their tickets.

Tickets for Mk.gee’s 2024 North American tour are on sale now. Find more information here.

Continue below for the full tour schedule and tour poster.

Mk.gee’s 2024 Tour Dates

04/23 — San Diego, CA @ Music Box
04/24 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
04/25 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
04/27 — San Francisco @ Great American Music Hall
04/29 — Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
04/30 — Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore
05/01 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos
05/03 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
05/04 — Denver, CO @ Meow Wulf
05/07 — Austin, TX @ Empire Garage
05/09 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
05/10 — Durham, NC @ Motorco
05/11 — Washington D.C. @ The Howard
05/13 — Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
05/16 — Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
05/17 — New York City, NY @ Irving Plaza
05/18 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
05/19 — Boston, MA @ Sinclair

Mk.gee’s 2024 Tour Poster

Two Star & The Dream Police is out now via R&R Digital. Find more information here.

Is there anything that Zendaya cannot do? She’s currently ruling the red carpet ahead of Dune: Part 2‘s release, and we don’t know when Euphoria‘s third season will film, but she will also get dramatic and romantically comedic and in the upcoming Challengers. This film will be sexy as well as serious, and the project hails from Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, We Are Who We Are), who presents us the story of a tennis trio whose personal and professional lives are entangled in both pleasurable and disastrous ways.

Also, yes, this project is the “Zendaya has a threesome” movie. Let’s talk about that and what else shall happen:

Plot

Zendaya portrays a renowned tennis player, Tashi, who suffers a debilitating injury and must retire from competition. Naturally, she turns to mentoring, and she is coaching her husband, Art, which surely has its awkward moments on a regular basis. To make matters more stressful, she pushes him into a low-level pro event where he must face off with Patrick, who is Tashi’s ex-boyfriend and also the guy that they had a threesome with back in the day.

Naturally, the present-day competition isn’t simply about the love of the game. The former best friends and romantic rivals will surely embarrass the hell out of themselves while peacock-ing, and Tashi probably simply wants to be on the court herself, let alone dealing with two dudes tripping over themselves to out-man the other. Or perhaps she will like it, but the trailer suggests that Tashi had a lot more fun with these guys back in the day and seems kind-of over them now. Hopefully, the trailer hasn’t given away the entire film, but as a bonus, the film is scored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who add layers to every slice of cinema that they touch. Let’s do the synopsis thing.

Tashi, a tennis player turned coach, has transformed her husband from a mediocre player into a world-famous grand slam champion. To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she makes him play a challenger event — close to the lowest level of tournament on the pro tour. Tensions soon run high when he finds himself standing across the net from the once-promising, now burnt-out Patrick, his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.

Cast

Josh O’Connor portrays ex-lover-boy Patrick, and Mike Faust fills the shoes of Tashi’s current husband, Art. Zendaya and O’Connor produce alongside Amy Pascal and Luca Guadagnino.

Release Date

Challengers arrives in theaters on September 15.

Trailer

Sit down, this movie is bound to get steamy.

In the harsh light and brutal cold of a late February day, it can be hard to think about last summer when Barbenheimer was all the rage, and all we had to do was Beach around. Maybe you forgot what it’s like to feel that type of unparalleled joy that only comes with juxtaposing two opposite genres together, but today is the day you’ve been wanting for: Oppenheimer is now available on streaming, so you can have a very DIY Barbenheimer experience in the comfort of your own Mojo Dojo Casa or secluded New Mexico town.

Oppenheimer is now available for streaming on Peacock as a part of its “Imapact The World” rollout, which includes a handful of special featurettes highlighting the Oscar nominees and a behind-the-scenes look at the film with Christopher Nolan.

Peacock also added a handful of Nolan’s movies in one convenient place so after your personal Barbenheimer marathon, you can make your own Nolan double feature. Batman BegInception would be a nice place to start, but BatMento might be more fun.

Meanwhile, Barbie has found its permanent streaming home on Max, so you can stream both without the inconvenience of having to hop from one dark theater to another. It’s hard on the eyes!

Leading up to Usher’s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance earlier this month, there was a lot of speculation about whether Justin Bieber, who has been associated with Usher since early in his career, would join in on the festivities. Usher’s performance turned out fantastic, but Bieber did not end up taking the field.

Now, Usher has confirmed that he did in fact ask Bieber to take part, and shared his perspective on why he didn’t.

In an interview on The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne Tha God asked Usher why “things didn’t work out” with Bieber, and Usher responded, “You know what? They did work out with Justin. I honor and recognize that my brother… I think that it might have been that fact that he’s just wanting to tell a different story right now, and I understand that. But we did have a brief conversation, and we’re gonna do something else in the future. But no love lost or anything like that.”

https://twitter.com/breakfastclubam/status/1758517786333053235

He continued, “I think that it’s a lot of pressure for the Super Bowl, obviously, for me to put together a show, so I reached out to everybody. Justin wasn’t the only person that I actually spoke to about doing the Super Bowl. But the moment was maybe for later. He’s gonna play the Super Bowl, I’ll go ahead and give you that, in the future.”

Universal Pictures hopes to storm into blockbuster season with a flood of box-office receipts. In doing so, the studio is harnessing 1990s nostalgia with a non-sequel/non-reboot, Twisters, which heads back to Oklahoma nearly three decades after the original film starring Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. The irony, of course, is that (knock on wood) storms of cinematic grandeur rarely strike that state anymore (Tornado Alley has largely shifted to the east), but again, nostalgia, baby. And Glen Powell (Maverick, Anyone But You) was happy to put on a cowboy hat and ride some cyclones, y’all.

Powell stars alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones (Fresh, Under The Banner Of Heaven), and Universal has yet to reveal whether an irritated cow will be floating through the sky, too. This has to happen, yes? If that’s the case, perhaps this movie can eclipse the $240 million haul of the 1996 film.

Plot

Expect absurdity. Powell’s character, Tyler, is known to his social-media followers as the “Tornado Wrangler.” April through September must be his hunting season, and perhaps also his mating season, because there’s more than a suggestion that Tyler will hook up with Edgar-Jones’ character, Kate, after they withstand the clutches of Mother Nature.

Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment is bringing the production values here, and as the title suggests, there will be more than one massive tornado raining down from the sky in a simultaneous way. Also, Kate didn’t even want to go tornado hunting, given that her character previously experienced a traumatic event related to a storm. However, she cannot stay inside a cushy, big-city meteorologist studio forever because there’s an action movie to be made.

Additionally, Tyler appears to have captured the Gen Z audience with Internet fame aplenty, and he also promises to have mastered some cutting-edge tracking technology. Here’s more from the synopsis:

[Kate] is lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi, to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Powell), the charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew, the more dangerous the better. As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.

Cast

Glen Powell moves from sky-soaring and smart-ass romancing to tornado hunting as Tyler. Daisy Egdar-Jones flows into action mode as the storm-shy Kate. The film also stars Anthony Ramos, Kieran Shipka, Maura Tierney, and Katy O’Brian.

Release Date

Twisters swirls into multiplexes on July 19.

Trailer

Is that a cow-shaped billboard, perhaps? Those truly do exist in Oklahoma, so this trailer is going for at least some authenticity.