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On Friday night’s episode of Real Time, Bill Maher offered some sound advice to the MAGA crowd: Don’t mess with Taylor Swift. Alas, he was too late: Pharma bro-turned-failed presidential candidate already got the ball rolling by hatching a tinfoil hat conspiracy theory about the “deep state” rigging the Super Bowl for her boyfriend’s team, then somehow getting Joe Biden re-elected. That one prompted well-earned scorn. And on Sunday, the party’s leader decided to make the siutation even worse.

Per The Daily Beast, Donald Trump took to his rinky-dink Twitter clone to trash Taylor. What was his beef? That she was ungrateful for him signing into law the Music Modernization Act in 2018, which updated copyright-related issues. And yet, in 2020 she punted for Biden, and she’ll probably do it again.

“Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will,” Trump steamed. “There’s no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt President in the History of our Country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money.”

But there was an upside, sort of. “Besides that,” he wrote, “I like her boyfriend, Travis, even though he may be a Liberal, and probably can’t stand me!”

Of course, even if Travis Kelce didn’t like Trump already, he probably didn’t appreciate him calling his girlfriend “disloyal” because of a bill he signed into law. And of course, let’s not forget about all the Swifties, who will never even consider voting for him now. Nice work, buddy.

It’s yet another unwelcome insight into Trump’s increasingly broken brain, which has caused him to say things that are stupid — like saying he’s more popular than Taylor Swift — or dangerous, like that he’d let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to some NATO nations, which would effectively start World War III.

Super Bowl LVIII begins at 6:30 EST. Election Day is on Tuesday, November 5.

(Via The Daily Beast)

In another timeline — in which Hollywood’s major studio honchos didn’t play hardball with writers and performers — Dune: Part Two would have come out around Thanksgiving. Instead it’s arriving in a few weeks from now. But that’s not all: There’s also a fancy new behind-the-scenes book en route. And guess what? It has poems by supporting player Josh Brolin.

Per Variety, the actor, who plays House Atreides weapons master Gurney Halleck, teamed up with cinematographer Greg Fraser for the coffee table book Dune: Exposures. Out on February 13, it boasts off-the-cuff photos from the shoot, shot by Fraser, accompanied by writing from Brolin.

“The writing is very different, tonally,” Brolin said. “Sometimes it’s tongue-in-cheek, sometimes it’s descriptive, sometimes it’s a dialogue and sometimes it’s a poem.”

One selection shared with Variety pairs a close-up of star Timothée Chalamet and his giant, floppy hair with a reflective ode by Brolin:

Your face is etched by adolescence.

Your cheekbones jump toward
what are youth-laden eyes that slide down
a prominent nose and onto lips of a certain poetry.

And the way you hold my gaze
makes me fear my own age.

because something in me tells me
you are going to offer me something and,
for now,
I’m not sure
it’s going to be
something
I want anymore.

Perhaps you weren’t expecting meditations on aging to be in a Dune coffee book, and yet here we are. One fan of Brolin’s writing is Fraser.

“When I read those words next to one of those images, it grows, it makes something more than what those images are by themselves,” Fraser told Variety. “And when there are words by themselves with no images, then it allows the next image to have context.”

Brolin shared another sample with Variety:

Brolin doesn’t have a favorite passage but says, “I love haikus.” He reads a passage from the book, “‘Lie down in the light, as fictional characters watch you from afar.’ I love that because it’s pointing out the fact that this is not real, but there’s nothing more real. The light is real, lying down is real, the sand is real, the experience is real, and yet, it’s this great contrasting thing.”

So there you go! Dune: Exposures is out on February 13 while Dune: Part Two hits theaters on March 1.

(Via Variety)

It’s no secret that even the most seemingly safe of public places can instantly turn dangerous for a woman. Is it fair? No. But is it common? Absolutely, to the point where more and more women are documenting moments of being stalked or harassed as a grim reminder to be aware of one’s surroundings.

Lacie (@lacie_kraatz) is one of those women. On April 11th, she was out on a run when she noticed a man in front of her displaying suspicious behavior. Things got especially dicey when the man somehow got behind her. That’s when she pulled out her phone and started filming—partially to prove that it wasn’t just her imagination, and also out of fear for her safety.

“Hello. I’m just making this video so that women are a little more aware of them,” she begins in the video. “See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

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According to Lacie, the two were initially running in opposite directions. But at some point after seeing her, the man stopped in the middle of the trail and waited for her to pass so that he could follow her path from behind.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking—‘Why are you suspecting that he’s following you?’” Lacie continues. “Well, let me tell you. I was just walking like this, and I look up, and he’s in front of me, and he just keeps doing a ‘peek’ like this behind him, over and over again.”

Lacie added that at one point, she even made an illegal crossing when “do not walk” sign was still up in an attempt to put some distance between herself and the man. After looking over her shoulder, she noticed that the man was visibly “speeding” to keep up.

In case there is still any doubt, Lacie then begins to run to see if the man will follow suit. Sure enough, he does.

Luckily the man eventually seems to give up, though he still seems to be watching her from a distance. Lacie ends up safe back home, but she didn’t even accomplish what she set out to do that afternoon.

“I couldn’t even finish my run,” she concludes. “I only ran like a mile and a half. I wanted to do 3 miles, but no—creepy men just had to be creepy f****** men today.”

Watch:

@lacie_kraatz #foryou #ladies #awareness ♬ original sound – Lacie

Countless women empathized with Lacie in the comments section. Clearly, this was not a unique circumstance.

“What I do when I’m being followed is act feral,” yet another person shared. “Like I’ll bark and growl really loud and flail my arms around. If you look crazy, you’re doin’ it right.”

Another added, “Man, nothing pisses me off more than men who make me feel uncomfortable doing things that I NEED to do for my health and well-being.”

Others tried to give their own tips for handling the situation, from finding nearby police or fire stations to using a variety of running trails to simply notifying the first visible passerby of what’s happening and asking to stand with them.

And of course, the resounding advice was to use the public space, and modern-day technology, to one’s advantage.

As one person wrote, “Girls we have got to normalize turning around and yelling at people following us. Let them know you know, take pictures of them, scream, make a scene.”

It’d be nice if these kinds of unsettling interactions didn’t exist. But here we are. At the very least, it’s good that women are speaking up more so that these situations are easier to spot early on and women can know how to navigate them in the safest way possible.

This article originally appeared on 4.4.23

Soooo, there’s this dog and I’m pretty sure it’s the actual Snoopy come to life. Seriously all the dog needs is a red dog house out back and a little yellow bird that follows it around. If you think it can’t be true, then you’re going to have to fight the entire internet about it because nobody can get enough of how much this sweet dog looks like the iconic cartoon character.

Snoopy is Charlie Brown’s pet from the comic strip “Peanuts” that eventually spawned several movies and cartoon series, and Bayley is a dead ringer for the black and white animated pup. Since we live in a digital age, people across the country have been falling all over themselves to get to the pooch’s Instagram account and admire her cartoonish mug.

Bayley is a 1-year-old mini sheepadoodle, which is a cross between a miniature poodle and an Old English Sheepdog. Her sweet face is something you have to see to believe and even then you may question if she’s real.

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The dog’s perfectly groomed curly fur makes her face look fluffy and cartoon-like. Once you add in her black ears and black button nose, that honestly looks more like a smooth lump of coal than a dog nose, then you have the perfect Snoopy doppelgänger. Bayley came into her viral fame after Doodle Dogs Club shared her photo on their Instagram account that has over 230,000 followers, and just like that, she was “famous.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Doodle Dogs Club 🧸 (@doodledogsclub)

The introductory post of the live version of Charlie Brown’s best friend racked up over 1.4 million likes and 10.3K comments. The comments ranged from people reminding others that the fictional dog was a Beagle to people demanding Bayley star in the live action version of Charlie Brown.

Whether Snoopy was a Beagle or not, there’s no arguing that Bayley looks more like the cartoon canine than real life Beagles. This probably has a lot to do with cartoons being…cartoons. Everything tends to be a bit bubbly and over exaggerated with cartoons.

Charlie Brown was supposed to be between the ages of 4 and 8 years old according to PeanutsWiki, who busted out the comic strip receipts. If cartoons looked exactly like real life, poor Charlie Brown would have a hard time walking with his oversized noggin.

Bayley’s curly fluffy fur gives her an advantage over actual Beagle’s when it comes to the ability to look like the famous cartoon character. It’s something she probably couldn’t care less about, unless every time she got compared to Snoopy equaled a dog treat. Otherwise, I’m sure the black and white sheepadoodle is perfectly happy just being a dog wondering why suddenly her mom keeps taking pictures of her.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by B A Y L E Y 🐾♥️ (@bayley.sheepadoodle)

Since Bayley’s debut on Doodle Dogs Club, the animated dog come to life has climbed up to over 240k followers and her fanbase just can’t get enough of her. To make people love her even more, the dog’s mom uploads videos of Bayley using audio that makes it sound like the pup is a toddler trying to tell a story.

Check out some of the love Bayley gets on her Instagram account.

This article originally appeared on 4.17.23

Once upon a time, our only option for getting clothes clean was to get out a bucket of soapy water and start scrubbing. Nowadays, we use fancy machines that not only do the labor for us, but give us free reign to choose between endless water temperature, wash duration, and spin speed combinations.

Of course, here’s where the paradox of choice comes in. Suddenly you’re second guessing whether that lace item needs to use the “delicates” cycle, or the “hand wash” one, or what exactly merits a “permanent press” cycle. And now, you’re wishing for that bygone bucket just to take away the mental rigamarole.

Well, you’re in luck. Turns out there’s only one setting you actually need. At least according to one laundry expert.

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While appearing on HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast, Patric Richardson, aka The Laundry Evangelist, said he swears by the “express” cycle, as “it’s long enough to get your clothes clean but it’s short enough not to cause any damage.”

Richardson’s reasoning is founded in research done while writing his book, “Laundry Love,” which showed that even the dirtiest items would be cleaned in the “express” cycle, aka the “quick wash” or “30 minute setting.”

See on Instagram

Furthermore the laundry expert, who’s also the host of HGTV’s “Laundry Guy,” warned that longer wash settings only cause more wear and tear, plus use up more water and power, making express wash a much more sustainable choice.

Really, the multiple settings washing machines have more to do with people being creatures of habit, and less to do with efficiency, Richardson explained.

“All of those cycles [on the washing machine] exist because they used to exist,” he told co-hosts Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson. “We didn’t have the technology in the fabric, in the machine, in the detergent [that we do now], and we needed those cycles. In the ’70s, you needed the ‘bulky bedding’ cycle and the ‘sanitary’ cycle … it was a legit thing. You don’t need them anymore, but too many people want to buy a machine and they’re like, ‘My mom’s machine has “whitest whites.”’ If I could build a washing machine, it would just have one button — you’d just push it, and it’d be warm water and ‘express’ cycle and that’s it.”

According to Good Housekeeping, there are some things to keep in mind if you plan to go strictly express from now on.

For one thing, the outlet recommends only filling the machine halfway and using a half dose of liquid, not powder detergent, since express cycles use less water. Second, using the setting regularly can develop a “musty” smell, due to the constant low-temperature water causing a buildup of mold or bacteria. To prevent this, running an empty wash on a hot setting, sans the detergent, is recommended every few weeks, along with regularly scrubbing the detergent drawer and door seal.

Still, even with those additional caveats, it might be worth it just to knock out multiple washes in one day. Cause let’s be honest—a day of laundry and television binging sounds pretty great, doesn’t it?

To catch even more of Richardson’s tips, find the full podcast episode here.

Everybody wants to see themselves in a positive light. That’s the key to understanding Jonah Berger’s simple tactic that makes people 30% more likely to do what you ask. Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the bestselling author of “Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way.”

Berger explained the technique using a Stanford University study involving preschoolers. The researchers messed up a classroom and made two similar requests to groups of 5-year-olds to help clean up.

One group was asked, “Can you help clean?” The other was asked, “Can you be a helper and clean up?” The kids who were asked if they wanted to be a “helper” were 30% more likely to want to clean the classroom. The children weren’t interested in cleaning but wanted to be known as “helpers.”

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Berger calls the reframing of the question as turning actions into identities.

“It comes down to the difference between actions and identities. We all want to see ourselves as smart and competent and intelligent in a variety of different things,” Berger told Big Think. “But rather than describing someone as hardworking, describing them as a hard worker will make that trait seem more persistent and more likely to last. Rather than asking people to lead more, tell them, ‘Can you be a leader?’ Rather than asking them to innovate, can you ask them to ‘Be an innovator’? By turning actions into identities, you can make people a lot more likely to engage in those desired actions.”

Berger says that learning to reframe requests to appeal to people’s identities will make you more persuasive.

“Framing actions as opportunities to claim desired identities will make people more likely to do them,” Berger tells CNBC Make It. “If voting becomes an opportunity to show myself and others that I am a voter, I’m more likely to do it.”

This technique doesn’t just work because people want to see themselves in a positive light. It also works for the opposite. People also want to avoid seeing themselves being portrayed negatively.

“Cheating is bad, but being a cheater is worse. Losing is bad, being a loser is worse,” Berger says.

The same tactic can also be used to persuade ourselves to change our self-concept. Saying you like to cook is one thing, but calling yourself a chef is an identity. “I’m a runner. I’m a straight-A student. We tell little kids, ‘You don’t just read, you’re a reader,’” Berger says. “You do these things because that’s the identity you hold.”

Berger’s work shows how important it is to hone our communication skills. By simply changing one word, we can get people to comply with our requests more effectively. But, as Berger says, words are magic and we have to use thgem skillfully. “We think individual words don’t really matter that much. That’s a mistake,” says Berger. “You could have excellent ideas, but excellent ideas aren’t necessarily going to get people to listen to you.”

If you ever want to see a bunch of Millennials go from soccer mom mode to dancing like it’s the early 2000s involuntarily–play “Yeah!” by Usher. This doesn’t require a specific location. You could play it in the library, grocery store, in a house or with a mouse, these parents are going to dance like nobody’s watching much to their children’s dismay.

So with Usher confirmed to be the Super Bowl halftime performer, the NFL has essentially agreed to have an Usher concert with some football highlights. In preparation for the big concert, A cappella group Kings Return put together a medley that contains 27 years of Usher’s hits and people can’t help but sing along. The group starts out with the 1997 hit “You Make Me Wanna…” before seamlessly moving on to the next hit.

Songs like, “My Way,” “My Boo,” “Confessions,” “Let It Burn” and more flow directly into the next to span his entire career from the age of sixteen until now.

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Kings Return has vocals so immaculate that commenters can’t get enough of their tribute to the R&B legend.

“Your harmonies are like butter on a fresh home-made slice of bread,” one person writes.

“What an awesome tribute. The man is a LEGEND. Been around a long time with a string of massive hits. This is absolutely the best tribute. Well done,” another says.

“Ahhh…Im so glad I came across this video! Usher needs to hear this beautiful tribute to him! You guys are beautifully synced! Amazing! You need a record deal! This generation needs this amazing group vocals!! Like the 90’s! Let’s get it,” one excited commenter writes.

“Thank you Kings Return, the harmonies at 3.06 just had my ears longing for more, you had the parts locked down with the ‘I’s dotted and the ‘T’s crossed,” a fan gushes.

If these commenters had any say, they’d put Kings Return right there on stage with Usher for the Super Bowl halftime. They don’t need instruments, their voices do it all and its beautiful enough to make you want to cozy up and listen to them on repeat. Hear it for yourself below:

Barring something like going to prison for crimes, Donald Trump is almost certainly going to be the GOP’s presidential candidate, again. He’s already telling people the alarming things he’d do. For one thing, he said he’d be a dictator, but only one “day one.” He’s threatened his likely opponent, Joe Biden, with an indictment for…something. And on Saturday, he basically told his supporters he’d let Russia effectively start World War III.

Per NPR, during a rally in South Carolina, Trump — who’s long floated baseless accusations that some NATO nations have unpaid bills — recalled one president asking him, “If we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?”

Trump’s response was, well….not great! “No, I would not protect you,” he thundered. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

For all his multitude of faults, Trump has always been anti-war. He was against the Iraq War and when he recently spoke about the Civil War — which he did bizarrely, saying that it could have been averted through a deal — he described in horror what old-timey weapons did to bodies.

And yet here he is, saying he’d let Putin get aggressive in the most reckless way possible. Trump’s statement caused disgust, including in a statement released by the White House.

“Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home,” said White House spokesman Andrew Bates. “Rather than calling for wars and promoting deranged chaos, President Biden will continue to bolster American leadership and stand up *for* our national security interests – not against them.”

Meanwhile many in the media are harping over Joe Biden’s age, forgetting that not only is Trump nearly as old and with a much more broken brain, but he also says things like this. And this.

(Via NPR)

Sylvester Stallone is allegedly done with John Rambo, just as he’s allegedly done playing Rocky Balboa. But you never know. The actor-filmmaker has long had a habit of dusting off old characters. Not that the world has seen the last of Rambo. Indeed, on a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, Stallone entertained the idea of passing the torch to a perhaps surprising successor.

Per HuffPost, Stallone told host Jimmy Fallon that he had dinner with no less than Ryan Gosling, who spent part of the meal gushing about the former soldier, who first appeared in David Morell’s novel First Blood, which was turned into a movie in 1982, launching a franchise.

“He goes, ‘I was fascinated by Rambo and I used to go to school dressed as Rambo and people would chase me away and I still didn’t stop,’ vacation as Rambo, he just kept saying that he had a lot of affiliation with Rambo,” Stallone recalled. “And I thought, you know, this is interesting. If I ever pass the baton, I’ll pass it on to him because he loves the character.”

When pressed about Gosling taking over the role, Stallone replied, “I would say yes but I don’t know if anyone would say, ‘Hey, he’s too good looking to be Rambo.’”

Gosling has a long history of talking up Rambo. Back in 2011, the actor told Jay Leno about how he took cosplaying the character too far when he was a kid.

“I even thought my face felt like Sylvester Stallone’s and I put a bunch of steak knives in my Fisher-Price Houdini kit,” he remembered. “I took it to school the next day and I threw them at all the kids at recess.”

And of course, Stallone gets prime real estate in Barbie, his ripped figure captivating Gosling’s Ken, all because co-writer/director Greta Gerwig is obsessed with the guy.

So could Gosling get super ripped and take on the Reagan era’s angriest vet? It’s a weird world we’re living in nowadays, so probably.

You can watch Stallone’s Tonight Show appearance in the video below.

(Via HuffPost)

Donald Trump sure has a lot of enemies, doesn’t he? Right now, near the top of the pile is Nikki Haley, a former member of his administration who’s dared run against him for the GOP ticket. She’s the last one standing, too, refusing to drop out even as she’s nowhere near him in any poll or primary. Still, Trump’s so mad at her that at a rally on Saturday he decided to call out her husband.

“She comes over to see me at Mar-A-Lago. ‘Sir, I will never run against you,’” Trump thundered. “She brought her husband. Where’s her husband? Oh, he’s away. He’s away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband?! Where is he?! He’s gone. He knew. He knew.”

Who is Nikki Haley’s husband? His name is Maj. Michael Haley. And where is he? He’s in the National Guard, currently on a year-long deployment in Africa.

For anyone else this would be a new low. Not for Trump! The former president has a long history of disrespecting the troops, from criticizing John McCain for being a POW to calling soldiers killed in battle “losers.” His base simply doesn’t care that he’s a draft dodger who smears soldiers.

Trump’s line didn’t get much of a response from the crowd, but it did catch the attention of Michael Haley himself, who appeared to drag him for his attack. Here’s the meme he posted, which reads “The difference between humans and animals? Animals would never allow the dumbest ones to lead the pack.”

This time last year Trump was widely seen as done, having had a disastrous end to his 2022. He even dined with anti-Semites. Now he’s back on top, even though his brain sure seems a lot worse than Joe Biden’s.

(Via Mediaite)