GoneTrending

Netflix is going the Bosch and Yellowstone route by ordering multiple spinoffs at the same time, seemingly to suffocate viewers with content. It seems to be working, or maybe everyone is suffocated enough to not care. Either way, get ready to see some sad 20th-century English blokes parade across the screen once more.

A new report from Bloomberg suggests that Netflix is currently developing not one but two spinoffs of the hit series Peaky Blinders. The series debuted in 2013 and ran for six seasons before wrapping up last year. Thanks to Cillian Murphy‘s ability to perplex and entice viewers by just looking distraught, it became a critical favorite, so it makes sense that Netflix is hoping to expand the universe.

According to the report, one spinoff series would be set in Boston “during the middle of the 20th century” a couple of decades after the original Peaky Blinders. The other series would act as a prequel story and focus on Polly, the matriarch of the Shelby family. In the flagship series, Polly is portrayed by Helen McCrory.

Murphy has expressed interest in returning to Peaky-verse. “I mean, I’m open to the idea. I’ve always thought that if there’s more story to tell,” he admitted earlier this month. This was all Netflix needed to hear before going full-speed ahead with new content.

Neither of these spinoffs has been confirmed by Netflix, but we do know that they have been happily ordering spinoffs without a care in the world. The streamer is also allegedly working on a new show set in the world of the fast-growing action franchise Extraction and a Wednesday spinoff. It’s not called Thursday, but it should be.

(Via Bloomberg)

“Breast pumping” and “fun” are not two words that seem to go together. “Exhausting,” “tedious” and even “lonely” are adjectives nursing moms would more likely use to describe the activity. “Awkward” and “embarrassing” could also be thrown into the mix, given how society often treats breastfeeding moms like tacky, amoral exhibitionists when they have to do their milking in public.

But one husband made it his mission to make breast pumping an enjoyable, stress-free experience for his wife, and it has people positively swooning.

---

In Ryan Ploof (@dadnamedryan)’s TikTok video, we see the doting dad up at 7am and giving his child milk from a previous pump (helping his wife catch as many extra zzz’s as possible).

He then organizes the remaining serving of milk, preps the pumping machine, and presents said machine to his wife—now on the couch—along with a gift wrapped present. Seriously, may we all get a gift wrapped present the day we have to do something unpleasant.

Then, then! Ploof bakes banana muffin for breakfast—maybe a little burnt, but it’s the thought that counts—and serves up some hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. Later in the day he will continue serving up handmade treats—chocolate covered strawberries. And for each pumping session he takes it upon himself to carefully package the milk into servings.

Watch:

@dadnamedryan I mean it cant be fun #newdad #dad #baby #newborn #minivlog #parent #boydad #parents ♬ original sound – DadNamedRyan

Talk about making someone feel loved and supported.

Millions tuned in to watch Ploof’s video, and were completely taken aback by his enthusiasm to actually participate in what’s normally a responsibility moms seem to take on solo.

“I wish pumping was seen as a family task instead of just a ‘me’ task omg,” the top comment read.

Meanwhile, another person wrote, “I’m telling you, so many women do not get this. BF is a lonely journey for many. Good job, dad.”

One person even joked that Ploof was “written by a woman.”

It’s important to give Ploof credit for not just showing up to help with breastfeeding. He has several videos showing him shopping, sprucing up the house, cooking. One day he even surprised his wife with a day trip to the salon while he took the kids to a trampoline park.

@dadnamedryan I mean it cant be fun #newdad #dad #baby #newborn #minivlog #parent #boydad #parents ♬ original sound – DadNamedRyan

While yes, it would be nice to see Ploof’s acts of service and think nothing of it, since this should be the standard for dads, it is nonetheless heartening to see through videos like his that a mindset shift is 100% happening. And there are probably more dedicated fathers like him than we give credit to. Either way, seeing it in action helps add a little inspiration into the world.

When Carrie Hollenbeck needed to sell her 1996 Honda Accord, with over 140,000 lifetime miles on it, having a filmmaker boyfriend paid off. Big time.

Max Lanman had the idea to produce an actual commercial to advertise his girlfriend’s jalopy. But this wouldn’t be some low-budget production for a 4 a.m. run on the local access cable channel. Oh no. Not at all.

---

“I thought it would be hilarious to make a high-end car commercial for a really junky car,” Lanman told ABC News. “And she had just the car.”

The ad begins like any high-gloss, self-important, sleek car commercial, with a deep-voiced narrator uttering some vaguely inspiring patter: “You, you’re different. You do things your way. That’s what makes you one of a kind.”

Cut to — instead of a luxury vehicle with a slick dash, leather interior, and impeccably dressed anonymous driver — Carrie’s old Honda, complete with coffee spills, random objects rolling around in the back, and one of those cassette things you use to play your iPod in a car without Bluetooth.

“You don’t do it for appearance. You do it because it works,” the narrator adds triumphantly.

Check out the finished product:

Lanman may have intended the piece to be more silly than satire, but the faux ad inadvertently makes an important point about the car buying experience in America.

As commonplace as the ads he’s lampooning are, the majority of Americans cannot afford a new car. Things are only getting worse — the average price of a new vehicle has skyrocketed 35% since the 1970s, while the median household income is only up about 3% for the same time period.

Cars have always been a status symbol, but somewhere along the line — between the time of horse-drawn carriages and the modern era of Matthew McConaughey selling Lincolns by falling backward into an infinity pool while wearing a tuxedo — cars have become an extreme symbol of status.

Car commercials would have you believe that cars are not something you buy because of how well they can get you from Point A to Point B, but because of how they made you feel and how they make you look to other people. For every person buying a $60,000 car that fits their “lifestyle,” (or to sit in their garage, barely touched) there are dozens more people buying a used junker on Craiglist or eBay because it’s all they can afford. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Though it wasn’t intended to be, Max and Carrie’s viral ad is almost a digital middle finger to those who want the rich to get richer and income disparity to get worse. It reminds us to be proud of our ability to successfully live our own lives, even if it’s not always pristine or glamorous. This ad … is practical and real and … well, it’s all of us.

“Luxury is a state of mind,” the narrator bellows at the end. Finally, a car slogan everyday Americans can get behind.

This article originally appeared on 11.09.17

Imgur user “mollywho” felt her life was falling apart. Not only was she battling clinical depression, but she had her hands full.

“I’ve been juggling a LOT lately,” she wrote on Imgur. “Trying to do well at work. Just got married. Couldn’t afford a wedding. Family is sparse. Falling out with friends, yaddadyadda.”

She was also upset about how she treated her new husband.

“I’ve not been the easiest person to deal with. In fact, sometimes I’ve lost all hope and even taken my anger out on my husband.”

---

When she returned home from a business trip in San Francisco, mentally exhausted, she collapsed on her bed and cried. Then she noticed some writing on the bedroom mirror. It was a list that read:

Reasons I love my wife

1. She is my best friend
2. She never quits on herself or me
3. She gives me time to work on my crazy projects
4. She makes me laugh, every day
5. She is gorgeous
6. She accepts the crazy person i am
7. She’s the kindest person i know
8. She’s got a beautiful singing voice

9. She’s gone to a strip club with me
10. She has experienced severe tragedy yet is the most optimistic person about humanity i know
11. She has been fully supportive about my career choices and followed me each time
12. Without realizing it, she makes me want to do more for her than i have ever wanted to do for anyone
13. She’s done an amazing job at advancing her career path
14. Small animals make her cry
15. She snorts when she laughs

This amazing show of support from her husband was exactly what she needed. “I think he wanted me to remember how much he loves me,” she wrote. “Because he knows how quickly I forget. He knows I struggle to see good in the world, and especially the good in myself. But here it is. A testament and gesture of his love. Damn, I needed it today…”

She ended her post with some powerful words about mental illness.

“I’m not saying mental illness is cured by nice words on a mirror. In fact, it takes professional care, love, empathy, sometimes even medication just to cope. Many people struggle with it mental illness – more than we probably even realize. And instead of showing them hate or anger when they act out. Show them kindness and remind them things can and WILL get better. Everyone needs a little help sometimes. If that person can’t be you – see if you have any resources for therapy.”

This article originally appeared on 12.10.15

Recently, blogger Jen Hatmaker had a funny conversation with a friend about parenting:

“My girlfriend told me the greatest story. Apparently her 11-year-old also wanted to be a grown up this week and, in fact, not only did he treat his siblings like despised underlings, but when asked what he wanted, he said: ‘I want the authority to be in charge of them and tell them what to do, because they deserve it!’

Well. My girlfriend and her husband are NOT AT ALL MESSING AROUND with parenting. Calmly, evenly, they granted his request to be a grown-up for a week by pulling him out of camp (the underlings still got to go, because they are ‘such children’) and sending him to work ALL DAY EVERY DAY with his dad. He has to get up early and shower and make breakfast for everyone. He has to kiss the underlings before he goes to work and tell them to have a great day and that he loves them. He has to work on a typing project during his office hours. He only gets to eat what his dad eats, because eating like a grown-up is not nearly as fun as eating like a kid.

Want to be an adult? Fine.”

Photo via iStock.

Hatmaker’s post went viral, with thousands of parents chiming in with their own stories of tough love, both giving and receiving.

The responses were hilarious, poignant, and a sign that the next generation is being parented by extremely capable, if not a little bit diabolical, hands.

Here are five of my favorite stories from the comments about parenting-gone-absolutely-right:

---

1. Jill Duff’s mom used an embarrassing outfit to teach her sister an important lesson:

“My sister was snotty to my Mom. She called her and pretty much demanded, ‘Bring my band uniform to the high school!’ She’s the one who forgot her uniform in the first place. Then she told my Mom ‘Do not come in the school, that would be so EMBARRASSING. Just wait for me by my car.’

So my Mom did just that. She stood by my sister’s car, in the Texas heat, WEARING my sister’s band uniform. All the kids walking out for the day saw it.

Parenting GOLD.“

And Mom was like…

2. Jessica Klick got her sons new shoes … but not the ones they wanted.

“Our 11 and 12 year olds at the time were complaining and whining and being ungrateful, saying how ‘hard their life was.’ For boys, the big thing is wearing those cool Steph Curry shoes and our boys LOVE their Currys!

So after hearing the last complaint my husband went to Walmart to buy white maypop leather shoes (the kind you see in geriatric centers) and high white socks. He brought those bad boys home, set them on the boys’ dresser, and made them wear those things everywhere we went. Those devastated boys told us we were ‘ruining their lives.’

I may or may not have laughed like a little girl when I dropped them off at school and watched them do the walk of shame.“

3. Marisa Rodriguez Byers says she wished her mother was dead. And boy, did she regret it.

“I was a wretched, hormonal teenager. At the age of 13 I told my mom, ‘I wish you were dead!’ And at that moment, she ‘died,’ but to me only. (I had younger sisters).

She completely ignored me, didn’t speak at me, didn’t look at me, wouldn’t cook for me, set my place at the table, wash my clothes, take me to school, NOTHING. After 8 days, I broke down in the middle of the night, went to her room, clutched her tightly while sobbing how sorry I was and how much I loved her and that I would NEVER say those words again. I’m 41 years old now, I have NEVER uttered those words or anything remotely like them after that incident.“

After tough love, you gotta hug it out.

4. Jessica Hill gave her daughter a good scare — and, in turn, a new appreciation.

“I was grocery shopping with my three year old when she decided to start screaming for ice cream. There was no reasoning with her in this hulk-type rage. I swear she had super human strength as I struggled to get her out of the cart full of groceries.

I was completely unaware of the two police officers who were witnessing this wrestling match. She was still hitting, kicking, and screaming when I was stopped by the police officers in the parking lot. They thought I had abducted her. This happened long before we had smart phones full of our children’s photos. They tried questioning her but she was still too busy throwing a fit, so I handed her over. I told them she could ride with them because I really needed a break and they could follow me home to see her birth certificate, baby book, etc. They started chuckling as one officer said, ‘Spoken like a true mom!’ I think they were more relieved than I was when she finally cried out, ‘Mommy?’

The officer handed her back to me while the other went back inside the store to ensure there wasn’t a distraught mother looking for her missing toddler. That evening my daughter told her dad she almost went to jail because she threw a fit, and I let her believe it. She didn’t throw a fit in public again.”

“Uhh, ma’am?”

“I didn’t mean to scare her, so after this experience, I wanted to ensure my daughter had a healthy respect and appreciation for first responders. Today, I’m happy to say she is highly aware and appreciative of the police, firemen, paramedics, and military personnel who serve to protect her.”

5. Erica Goodnight taught her son an incredible lesson that he carries to this day.

“My kid was whining over not having anything to play with. So, without a word, I went to the garage and got a black 50 gallon trash bag and started putting in all the toys that he obviously didn’t even realize were in our home to play with.

I loaded them AND him into the car and we drove to our local homeless shelter and gave every. single. toy. in the bag away. To a child who TRULY had nothing. And you know what? He didn’t even cry. His eyes were opened to the ones who have nothing. He actually enlarged his heart that day. And, we still do it. We still take toys to kids with nothing at least once a year.”

Parent win. Life lesson score.

There’s a fine line between teaching your kids a tough lesson in a funny way and engaging in “humiliation parenting.”

Making children wear a sign that says, “I sneak boys in at 3 a.m. and disrespect my parents and grandparents” or otherwise berating them publicly is a good way to erode trust between the two of you and seriously damage your relationship.

But calling their bluff on a ridiculous demand? Or having a little fun with how you choose to correct their bad attitude? That’s just plain survival.

And that’s what parenting is really all about.

You can read the whole hilarious exchange over on Facebook.

In the meantime, what’s your favorite tough-love story?

This article originally appeared on 07.13.16

Oh, society! We have such a complicated relationship with relationships.

It starts early, with the movies we are plopped in front of as toddlers.

GIF from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”

And continues through adolescence, still through entertainment.

“I’d rather die than stay away from you.”

GIF from “Twilight.”

And then guess what happens? We’re peddled some more of what we’re supposedly meant to be aiming for when we’re adults.

“I was the one girl he chose from 20 other girls to be with. Now I know I’m special!” — me, mocking probably very sweet people.

---

GIF from “The Bachelor.”

There are so many examples of this, it’s difficult to narrow them down. Not to mention all the social cues coming in all stealth-bomber-like to beat one’s psyche into submission. Like when single people go to weddings, their family members casually ask them, “When will YOU settle down?” And when a friend goes through a breakup, it’s almost instinctive to reassure them that there’s someone out there for them.

But what if not everyone is supposed to pair off? What if some people are — wait for it — happier when they’re single?

It’s kind of a radical notion in this culture, where pairing off is treated more as a foregone conclusion and universal life goal.

A study in 2014 from the National Bureau of Economic Research said that married people rated higher in happiness measurements than single people did.

You might have taken that study at face value.

But hold the phone! There’s another recent study from University of Auckland’s School of Psychology that tells a more complete story by comparing happiness levels among a very specific group of singles and marrieds.

How? Well they looked at something called “avoidance goals” and “approach goals.”

What are avoidance and approach goals?

Well, what motivates each person is different. Some people are motivated by going after what their desired outcome is. Some people are more concerned with avoiding undesirable outcomes. People are often mixed bags, displaying some traits of avoidance and some traits of approach, and where they’re at with it can change with other factors in life. But on the entire spectrum, some people fall on one distinct end or the other.

In the new study, it held up that low-avoidance singles were a little bit less happy than low-avoidance married people. In other words, people who were more approach-goal motivated and married DO experience a bit more happiness.

But, interestingly, researchers found that singles who fall more on the high-avoidance side of the spectrum showed the same level of happiness as high-avoidance marrieds.

And theoretically, for those happy high-avoidance singles, they could very well find themselves miserable in a relationship for whatever reasons they avoid them in the first place. In individual circumstances, singlehood may be the best choice for some.

What does it all mean?

Some people love love and want to find their happily ever after. There’s nothing wrong with that, and society supports that model. More power to them!

But for those of you wondering if you’re weird or broken because you seem to prefer single life, there’s nothing wrong with you. Don’t let society pressure you into doing things their way, you magnificently beautiful lone wolf!

This article was written by Angie Aker and originally appeared on August 27, 2015

Ever look at your parents’ high school yearbooks and think people looked so much older back then? All of the teenagers look like they’re in their mid-30s and the teachers who are 50 look like they’re 80.

When we watch older movies, even those from the 1980s, the teenagers appear to be a lot older as well.

Why is it that they looked so much older? Was life harder? Did people act more mature? Did they spend more time outdoors and less time playing video games? Is it their sense of fashion? Were they all smokers?

---

Educator Michael Stevens, who runs the super-popular Vsauce YouTube channel, explains the phenomenon in a new video called, “Did people used to look older?” In the video, he explains that people in the past appear a lot older due to a phenomenon known as retrospective aging.

When we see people in the past, they are wearing outdated styles that we associate with older people; therefore, we think they have aged rapidly. For example, a teenager in the 1950s may have been in fashion while wearing thick Buddy Holly-style glasses.

But as people age, they tend to cling to the fashion of their youth. So many people of that generation continued to wear the Buddy Holly-style glasses into their 50s. So when younger people see those glasses they see them as old people’s glasses and not a hip kid from the ’50s.

So in the photo from the ’50s, the teen appears to look a lot older because our perspective has been tainted by time.

But it isn’t all just an illusion. Stevens also points out that people did age faster back in the day due to differences in nutrition, lifestyle and medicine.

This article originally appeared on 07.11.22

Google and smart phones have been around so long that Gen Z doesn’t know a time before those things existed. They may have Googled what a card catalog was used for but plenty of them don’t know the pressure we all felt having to learn the dewy decimal system while walking around the library with a card with numbers scribbled on it.

They’ve never experienced the frustration of having an out of date Encyclopedia collection from the thrift store that was missing books “D” and “X-Z” when you had a research assignment due. Oh, sweet tech savvy – we not me generation, doesn’t understand that riding shot gun on a road trip meant you were suddenly a pirate with an Atlas map bigger than the dashboard.

Even as someone that was alive when having a rotary phone was the norm, I sometimes forget what life was like before all of the technological luxuries. It’s not surprising that Gen Z is confused on how we survived back then without knowledge at our fingertips, so when one of them asked, Gen X, Xennials and elder Millennials entered the chat.

---

Sarah Adelman posted a video to TikTok with the caption, “pls help I was born in 1997.” In the video she says she has a genuine question for older people and that’s when she asks, “what did you do before you could look something up?”

Adelman gives the example of something that isn’t in the dictionary or Encyclopedia. She wants to know what someone would do if there was a celebrity whose name you couldn’t remember or other trivial things like that.

“Would you go to the library? Like gen..and like okay, without Google Maps, like I know that there was MapQuest but before that like genuinely what would you do? Would you just accept not knowing,” the Gen Zer asks before saying she doesn’t think she would be able to survive without knowing.

Unfortunately for Adelman, the older generations informed her that this is exactly what we did back in the 1900s. We simply wondered about things that popped into our heads. In fact, since we knew there was no way of knowing the name of the actor that played on “Matlock” for one episode, we didn’t bother attempting to look it up. You’d either see them again in a rerun or it would come to you randomly while trying to locate a payphone.

“The name of an actor would come up to you 3 weeks later while you were eating a bowl of cereal,” one person writes.

“You would just be forever annoyed by it, keep it bookmarked in the back of your mind, then realize one day that dude’s name is Ray Liotta or something,” another commenter says.

“Ummm. I love how you reference Mapquest. We used maps. Just maps. Good ole paper maps,” someone writes.

“We just lived in blissful ignorance and then in the middle of a conversation about pretzels a week later we would just yell out the answer,” one person reveals.

To no one’s surprise Adelman did not like these answers. She replied to someone explaining that we simply wondered with, “I could never.” The official Google account even chimed in saying, “however it worked, sounds bad.”

Ehh, it wasn’t so bad. We didn’t know any different, but in a way Adelman had that good old fashioned pre-Google experience when she posed this question. You can watch the perplexed girl’s video below:

@sarah_adelman

Pls help i was born in 1997 #90s #genz #90skids #iphone #rant #question #funny

This article originally appeared on 9.7.23

It is pretty wild to consider that Millennials are now entering their 40s and no longer hold the mantle of the young and up-and-coming generation. According to Pew Research, Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996, so these days they range between the ages of 29 and 42.

These are the years when people begin to settle down, start families and experience the first uncomfortable signs of aging.

The Holderness Family is headed by a Gen X couple, Kim and Penn Holderness, who are best known for their viral comedy songs. Their latest video is about welcoming Millennials to their next phase in life, one that’s less about spending all night in the club and more about embracing a quieter, more practical life.

In this case, “the club” isn’t a loud place to get a Long Island iced tea but a state of mind where you’re more likely to appreciate a good walk for your mental health.

---

Holderness Family Music has over 797,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 230 million views since they started their page in 2011. They “create original music, song parodies, and skits to poke fun of ourselves, the world we live in, and (hopefully) make you laugh.”

The “Welcome to the Club, Millennials” video is a bit of a departure from the usual intergenerational bickering we’re accustomed to seeing on social media. Instead, Gen Xers open their doors to the Millennials entering the next phase in their lives. “Well, Gen X is here to say ‘don’t be bummed, come on in, welcome to the club,’” Penn raps.

According to the song, if you’re a Millennial and have done any of the following, you’re officially in “the club,” whether you know it or not:

​Hung a calendar on your fridge

Have strong opinions on who’s the best “Jeopardy!” host

Play Wordle

Wore reader glasses

Drink seltzers

Had Gen Z call your clothes “vintage”

Gone Christmas shopping in October

Had a three-day hangover

Gone to a movie theater because it serves food

Took a mental health walks

Bought a chair for your back

Grooved to supermarket music

Own plastic houseplants

Taken supplements

Saved money for a Disney vacation

Have zero f**cks to give

Still love Blink-182

Millennials who are a little leery of aging should be happy to learn that they may be in the happiest times of their lives. According to developmental psychologists, the period of life between ages 30 to 45 is known as “established adulthood” and is a time of life when people are happiest.

Even though people in this age group are stuck in the “career and care crunch,” where they are likely to juggle a job while caring for children or older relatives, this developmental stage is also very fulfilling.

“Yes, people were feeling overwhelmed and talked about having too much to do in too little time,” Clare Mehta, Professor of Psychology at Emmanuel College, wrote in The Conversation. “But they also talked about feeling profoundly satisfied. All of these things that were bringing them stress were also bringing them joy.”

This article originally appeared on 5.01.23

Kristen Stewart sounds like a fun hang. The Crimes of the Future actress celebrated getting nominated for an Oscar by golfing (or as she put it, “Let’s go hit some balls into small holes”). She wanted Guy Fieri to officiate her wedding. She might even talk about her “stoner girl comedy” which she thinks is “really f*cking stupid” (complimentary) after offering you an edible. The latest chapter in the story of Stewart being cool comes from Katy O’Brian, her co-star in the upcoming A24 bodybuilding drama, Love Lies Bleeding.

In April 2022, in response to an aggregated Film Updates tweet about the film “looking to cast its lead for the role of a female bodybuilder,” The Mandalorian actress replied, “I’m free.” She also posted a photo of herself working out.

A convincing argument. Anyway, fast forward to December 2023, when A24 shared the first poster for Love Lies Bleeding. Guess who got the gig:

To quote @thisisnotahmad, “she really manifested it.”

O’Brian recently explained how it happened .@LAUFEYS6NS told me about LLB & I made a PowerPoint for casting about why I should get it & told my agent to get me in or I’d riot,” she wrote on X. “I had an audition, callback, chem read, coaching session, & 2 directors sessions before I was like you want me or not. Twas Werk but well worth it.” When a follower asked, “Was that the first time you met Kristen Stewart? How was that?” she replied, “Yeah she was just chilling in the corner so I went over to chat and I told her my car smelled like cat pee cuz my cat peed in it twice and she was like word.”

The Muppets were right: Hollywood is a magic store (that smells like cat pee).

Love Lies Bleeding, which also stars Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco, and Ed Harris, premieres at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.