GoneTrending

Sarah Shanley Hope’s story is frighteningly common.

As a kid, she went over to her neighbor’s house one day to play with her best friend. While there, her friend’s older brother sexually assaulted both of them.

Hope was only 6 years old.

---

Being so young, she didn’t know how to verbalize what happened or how to process it. She carried the pain with her for years, until she had daughters of her own.

She told her own girls from the beginning, “You’re in charge of your body.” But at times, the message seemed to ring hollow.

Mostly, Hope recalls her older daughter, now 8, rolling her eyes, having heard the refrain so many times before: “There goes mom being overprotective, again.“

But one day Hope got a call from school. A boy in the class had been caught inappropriately touching some of the girls. Her own daughter had even had a run-in with him.

“He kept hanging on me even after I said ‘stop’! It was so annoying,” Hope recalls her daughter saying.

Hope decided that, finally, it was time to tell her daughter her own story — her own “Me Too” moment.

“I finally said, honey, the reason I’m paying such close attention to this is that mommy had an experience when I was a kid, where someone did something to my body that wasn’t OK.”

“I don’t want you to feel badly inside like I did,” she continued, according to her impassioned post on Medium. “I want you to know that we can always talk about the hard and confusing stuff.”

An uncomfortable but, sadly, necessary conversation. You can watch what happens next in the video below:

Why She Told Her 7-Year-Old Daughter About Her Own MeToo Story?

7 might seem like a very young age to tackle such a weighty conversation. But it might be necessary even earlier than that.

The National Center for Victims of Crime estimates that 20% of women (and 5-10% of men) recall an incident of sexual abuse as a child, with kids between 7 and 13 being the most vulnerable.

Those are horrifying statistics for any parent, so horrifying that we might wish we could be with our kids every second of the day to protect them from the horrors of the world. But we can’t.

The best we can do is make sure they are aware of the danger and armed with knowledge about what to do if they need help. That includes direct talks — like the ones Hope has had with her kids — and modeling proper boundaries in our own lives.

In Hope’s case, sharing her story has triggered a wave of positive change in her own community. She says several of her parent friends have called her recently for advice about how to have these conversations with their kids of all ages. And that’s definitely something we need more of.

“We can’t undo the harm,” Hope writes. “What we can do is choose discomfort over hiding from the pain — or worse, repeating it.”

This story originally appeared on 01.26.18

Going to the movies sure used to be different. For decades and decades Hollywood released all different kinds of fare: rom-coms, survive-the-night thrillers, middlebrow dramas, historical epics, etc., etc. The biggest money-gobbler of 1988 was a drama about estranged brothers, and it starred Tom Cruise. Then in the aughts execs realized there was more money in making almost exclusively franchises, and now the aforementioned genres almost never play multiplexes, if they do at all. But are franchises entirely bad? The guy who made a smash hit one-off about the birth of nuclear weapons doesn’t think so.

“There’s always a balance in Hollywood between established titles that can assure a return in audience and give people more of what they want,” Christopher Nolan recently told The Associated Press, per Variety. “That’s always been a big part of the economics of Hollywood, and it pays for a lot of other types of films to be made and distributed.”

In other words, Hollywood studios shouldn’t put all their eggs in the franchise basket. Instead they should keep making them but use their grosses to make smaller fare. It’s basically how the industry worked for decades, until execs had the short-sighted idea of going only for the biggest fish — even though the smallest fish sometimes netted the most money. (This isn’t a great metaphor, but you get the idea.)

Besides, Nolan argued, who doesn’t love discovering something they’ve never seen before?

“But there also always has to be respect for the audience’s desire for something new. That’s one of the big thrills of going to the movies is, frankly, seeing a trailer for a movie you’ve never heard of or type of movie you haven’t seen,” Nolan said. “A healthy ecosystem in Hollywood is about a balance between the two things and always has been.”

Nolan’s sentiments are similar to what Martin Scorsese said back in September, in which he offered some suggestions on how to break moviegoers of the idea that the only movies are Marvel movies — ideas expressed mere months before the MCU finally had their first decent box office bomb.

Opposition to franchise saturation, Scorsese suggested, has to “come from the grassroots level. It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves. And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ’em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. Let’s see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema.”

Nolan is one of today’s most popular filmmakers, and Scorsese is one of our most respected, so perhaps people will follow their advice. Who knows? Maybe one year the biggest moneymaker will a wacky comedy about three bachelors struggling to take care of a newborn, as it was in 1987.

You can watch Nolan’s AP interview in the video below.

(Via Variety)

There are plenty of things “Say My Grace” rapper Offset has to be thankful for, including his beautiful children, wife and fellow entertainer Cardi B, and his hot career. To show his gratitude for his fans’ unwavering support of his latest album, Set It Off, Offset took a trip down to the studios of The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.

While there, he was sure to bring friend and collaborator Don Toliver to deliver a scorching performance of their track “Worth It.” Toliver and Offset are known for their smooth dance moves, so neither is held back as they work the performance space. To bring some warmth to the otherwise cold New York City Thanksgiving Day holiday (November 23), the pair used a tropical background to warm up the chilly ambiance.

Last month, during an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Offset revealed that in order to push himself out of his creative slump with his album, he thought back on the support he had from his late Migos member, Takeoff.

“Even on my own journey, I still feel his presence and his energy like, bro, ‘We got to go hard. We got to win. We got to win. This ain’t the end of it. We got to win.’ So that’s another thing that pushed me through is my boy, Take[off], man. He didn’t care that he didn’t care about the numbers, nothing. He like, ‘Bro, y’all’s sh*t hard.’ He’s just very supportive in that. I just keep that in the back of my mind and just keep pushing,” said Offset.

Watch the full performance of “Worth It” by Offset and Don Toliver above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last year, LCD Soundsystem made their long-awaited return by releasing the song “New Body Rhumba.” The track marked the band’s first record in five years, and it was featured in Noah Baumbach’s Netflix film White Noise. Since then, the group has made many festival appearances, including at the 2023 Format Festival. They’ve also held several one-off shows. However, no performance received the same glowing reviews as their current 12-date residency in New York.

On December 10, LCD Soundsystem will close out their obligation for the year. But it won’t be long until they’re back in front of a crowd. On Sunday, November 26, in a screengrab captured by NME, the band’s plans for 2024 have been unveiled. According to the post initially linked to the band’s official Facebook page, they’ll head to the UK for a tour in 2024.

After clicking the link embedded into the post, people are transferred to a landing page that reads, in big bold letters, “LCD Soundsystem – Back In The UK 2024.” The webpage does not specify which cities or countries the band intends to play. It doesn’t even provide a time frame for when the tour is set to take place. But with the backing of AEG Presents, it’s only a matter of time before more details are revealed.

Those interested in receiving advance tour notice are encouraged to join LCD Soundsystem’s tour newsletter. Find more information here.

At the height of the pandemic, Hollywood studios learned to stop worrying and learn to love dropping their big new movies on streamers. Some, like Paramount, waited things out, and were grandly rewarded for their patience. Others charged a hefty-ish rental. Some simply dropped them on their streamers for “free” (i.e., as part of a subscription).

By now, most studios have gone back to business-as-usual. Not Universal. They’re still dropping some of their new titles on Peacock the same day they hit theaters. Doing that didn’t stop Five Nights at Freddy’s from Hoovering up scores of scratch. They didn’t do that with their threequel Trolls Band Together, which is currently playing theaters exclusively.

So when will Trolls 3 hit Peacock? As of this writing there’s no official answer. But Universal tends to put them online either 30 or 90 days after release. Since Trolls 3 arrived on November 17, it will either be available mid-December or mid-February.

Long before this year’s smash hit Barbie, the 2016 Trolls original proved that Hollywood could make a mint by turning dolls into cinema. The original Barbie doll, though, beat the original Trolls to toy store shelves by three years. Created by Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam, they were first sold in 1959, and over the decades their popularity has been hills and valleys.

They’re obviously enjoying a hills moment these days, what with a wildly successful cartoon franchise. The latest film finds troll Poppy (voice of Anna Kendrick) learning that her troll boyfriend Branch (Justin Timberlake) used to be a member of a boy band called BroZone. (Oh, and by the way the movie features a new song by a reunited NSYNC.) Other big names include Camila Cabello, Eric André, Troye Sivan, Kid Cudi, Daveed Diggs, Ru Paul, Amy Schumer, Andrew Rannells, and Zosia Mamet.

For now, though, Trolls Band Together can exclusively be watched in theaters.

Januaury 2024 will mark eight years since the passing of David Bowie. Next week, wealthy die-hard fans will have the opportunity to own a special piece of Bowie’s work.

According to NME, on November 28 several items from Bowie’s career will hit the auction block. The outlet revealed that handwritten corrections, drafts and notes from his 1972 songs “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide” and “Suffragette City” are up for grabs. Omega Auction, a UK-based company, was lucky enough to acquire the priceless memorabilia from Bowie’s 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

In a statement, auction manager Dan Muscatelli-Hampson spoke about the acquisition. “These are two real cult favorites in the wonderful Bowie oeuvre, and ‘Suffragette City’ has been described as one of his very best,” he said. “It’s an incredible artifact to have and to hold, and it is sure to excite the many millions of Bowie fans around the world – just as the Starman lyrics did.”

Bowie’s handwritten pieces are packaged together. The bundle’s estimated value is between $55,000 and $110,000. Other items include unreleased photographs of David Bowie, signed photos of Prince, handwritten lyrics sheets of Elton John and Gary Osborne’s “Blue Eyes,” and more. You can find more information here.

Going to the movies is always hit and miss, but if you visit AMC Theatres you’re guaranteed to be entertained by one thing: that beloved Nicole Kidman ad. It was intended to simply lure moviegoers back to theaters as the pandemic eased up, but when the chain started playing it two years ago, it was an instant hit. It’s so popular that they’ve never stopped showing it. Heck, they’re even sworn to do a sequel, although how does one improv on perfection? Its success has surprised everyone, even Kidman’s own husband.

Per HuffPost, country star Keith Urban went on Criss Angel’s podcast Talking Junkies, where he opened up about why his wife did the ad — and how it unexpectedly blew up.

“She did it because we love movies, she loves movies, and it was hard times for the theater,” Urban explained. “So AMC asked her if she’d do an AMC commercial and it was a no-brainer for her to be a part of that, never in a million years expecting that to be this cultural thing.”

It sure has turned into a cultural thing. By now, over two years in, it’s a fixture of the moviegoing experience, at least at AMC. It’s like a palette cleanser, playing after 20+ minutes of trailers and right before the feature. Some audiences ignore it. Others shout Kidman’s lines back at the screen, Rocky Horror-style. Certain lines have even become almost iconic, none moreso than “Heartbreak feels good in a place like this.” It’s even spawned parodies, like the one for Saw X.

A few months into the ad’s lengthy life, The Playlist asked Kidman about its freak mega-popularity, particularly the “heartbreak” bit, which she agreed was a “great line.”

“It’ so true. How true is it too?” she said. “I mean, talk about not feeling alone, sitting in a cinema with a broken heart, and then watching something that breaks your heart again, and you go, ‘I’m not alone.’ Please. This must not go away. We have to have cinema.”

Anyway, may AMC never stop playing it.

(Via HuffPost)

Even with two of this decade’s most famous music parents, Blue Ivy Carter isn’t relying on “nepo baby” perks to fulfill her dreams. She’s also not afraid to stand up to naysayers. According to The New York Times, in a part of her mother’s concert documentary Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, she refused to let online criticism of her performance break her soul.

In May, during the international wing of the Renaissance World Tour, Blue Ivy surprised concertgoers by performing “Black Parade” and “My Power” with her mom. While most Beyhive members proudly cheered on Blue Ivy, others, including infamous YouTube personality Tasha K, slammed her stage presence.

In the Renaissance concert film, Beyoncé revealed that despite her efforts to keep Blue Ivy protected from the public, she caught a glimpse of the negative remarks. Instead of letting that hold her back, she’s gone on to use that as fuel to sharpen her stage presence, pulling a page out of her mother’s book.

Beyoncé applauded Blue Ivy’s dedication on tour in a touching post on her official Instagram page. “My beautiful firstborn,” she wrote with a prayer hands emoji. “I’m so proud and thankful to be your mama” You bring us so much joy, my sweet angel.”

A fan created a comparative video to emphasize how hard Blue Ivy worked from her first to her last appearance on the tour.

Earlier this week, Tom Brady joined Stephen A. Smith for an interview in which he called out the “mediocrity” in the NFL today, blaming rule changes and not enough focus on real development from coaching staffs for what we’ve seen this season, particularly out of the quarterback position.

Those comments drew plenty of attention and sparked debate over whether Brady was right or wrong, and on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, Alex Smith offered one of the strongest rebuttals to Brady. He first pointed out that Brady won a Super Bowl in this current era, asking if he was discounting that ring, while then pointing out that there was some irony in Brady calling out mediocrity when he thrived in part because he played in one of the least competitive divisions the NFL’s ever seen, as the Pats lorded over the AFC East while the Bills, Jets, and Dolphins all struggled to field competitive teams.

What made that comment even funnier was that Rex Ryan was two seats down from Smith, who coached the Jets and Bills during that time, and Ryan’s reaction was incredible.

Smith makes plenty of valid points, particularly pointing out that defensive lines are arguably better than ever, and I think it’s important to point out that there is absolutely greatness in today’s NFL. Brady seemed to be particularly concerned with quarterback play, which has been objectively bad this year across the NFL aside from the very top guys, and it’s hard not to see quarterback development as being at a crisis point in the league. Smith, meanwhile, is taking a more holistic view and he’s right that the athletes are better and certain position groups are in a golden age. His argument about the old AFC East is also just made very funny by the presence of Ryan who was taken back by getting buried inadvertently by his colleague.

In the ‘90s, Oliver Stone’s yen for conspiracy theories seemed mostly harmless. There weren’t many like him, so when he made an entire, epic, star-studded blockbuster positing that nearly everyone on earth was in on the JFK assassination, it didn’t seem like a big deal. (And nonsensical and all, it’s still a great film.) Jump three decades to the age of QAnon and Stone is one of the least bananas conspiracists. But he still has some kooky ideas!

Per Mediaite, the legendary filmmaker and fan of Donald Trump (at least as an actor playing himself) went on Bill Maher’s podcast Club Random, where they inevitably talked nonsense. Maher, of course, was the relative voice of reason. At one point he brought up the 2020 election, marveling that Trump “still hasn’t conceded.” That, alas, teed up Stone to go off.

“Do you know for a fact that he lost?” Stone asked. As Maher’s eyes audibly rolled into the back of his head, Stone added, “I’m just curious and I just don’t know all the facts.”

“Well I do,” Maher retorted. “Is there a conspiracy theory you don’t believe?”

An offended Stone replied, “Oh, come on, Bill!”

Eventually they reached all the way back to the 2000 election, which was also hotly contested but which ended with Al Gore, who won the popular vote, conceding amidst epic recounts in Florida, handing George W. Bush the presidency.

STONE: That was horrifying to me. What happened when the Supreme Court closed that down? You know, what happened there. I mean, you know, the popular vote was won.

MAHER: So, what? Should we just keep counting votes forever, or should we still be counting —

STONE: Count them correctly.

MAHER: They did count them correctly!

STONE: Let’s just get rid of the Electoral College. Let’s do a popular vote.

MAHER: The people who have testified that this was a fair and well-run election. It’s a who’s who of people like Bill Barr, Mitch McConnell. You’re talking about Liz Cheney. You’re talking about dyed-in-the-wool, serious conservative Republicans who went with Trump really further out than a lot of us thought they would go with a guy like “McCain’s not a war hero.” “Okay, We forgive you.” Lots of sh*t that he did agreeing with Putin at Helsinki against our intelligence agencies. But I know we don’t want to talk about Putin. But it’s like, we found the thing that was their safe word, the thing that made them go, “no, that’s too far.” And it was we have elections in this country. If we don’t transfer power peacefully. If somebody doesn’t just be an adult and say, “Okay, you can’t win them all. We lost that one. Good luck, sir.” When Obama became president, George Bush stood with him and he said we want you to succeed. They don’t do that anymore. Not that I love George Bush, but what a great moment.

STONE: So what do you think happened in 2000, in Florida.

Well, at least Stone’s no Mike Lindell. You can watch the entire Club Random episode in the video above.

(Via Mediaite)