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Britney Spears has now on multiple occasions spoken out about the incident with NBA star Victor Wembanyama’s security, which ended with Spears getting hit in the face. Now, she’s addressed it again, this time in a video.

In a clip uploaded last night, Spears says:

“Hi, so I want to share with you guys an incident that happened in Vegas that a lot of people are talking about, and I heard on the news this radio station talking smack and talking sh*t — that’s why I’m addressing it — saying that I deserved to be smacked, ‘Security was doing their job and protecting their client.’ I’ve been with the most famous people in the world… NSYNC at one time, girls would like literally throw themselves at them… on my way into the place, actually, I was knocked down by, like, three 12-year-olds trying to get my picture. My security not one time touched them or even came near them.

Point being is, I didn’t appreciate the people saying that I deserved to be hit, because no woman ever deserves to be hit. I simply tapped him on the back and I was backhanded, hit in my face, came back on the floor, my best friend picked me up and held me. And I did get an apology… at my table… 30 minutes later. But I’ve yet to receive a public apology. That’s it.”

Watch Spears’ video below.

Stagecoach in Indio, California was a success, featuring artists like Diplo, Chris Stapleton, Nelly, Dillon Francis, ZZ Top, Bryan Adams, and more. It will be happening again from April 26 to 28 next year, and tickets go on sale this Friday, July 14 at 11 am PT. The options are plentiful, and there’s a lot to break down.

A basic 3-day general admission ticket is $399. With a shuttle as well, it’s $489. A 3-day general admission six pack costs $389. The 3-day Rhinestone Saloon pass is $799, and it includes access to the Rhinestone Saloon, which has more vendors, restrooms, limited air-conditioned restrooms, shaded seating areas, and full (cashless) cash bars.

The Corral Reserved Seating passes get access to the Corral Saloon in addition to the Rhinestone Saloon, with C1 priced at $1,999, C2 at $1,299, and C3 at $949. The 3-day Corral Standing Pit is $1,599, and includes access to pit area in front of Mane Stage.

The Desert Diamond VIP Package is $2,999 and has 3-day Corral C1 Reserved Seated Pass and other elevated perks. The Gold Rush VIP Package is $1,999 has 3-day Corral C2 Reserved Seated Pass and other elevated perks. The Hi Ho Silver VIP Package is $1,499 and has 3-day Corral C3 Reserved Seated Pass and other elevated perks.

Travis Scott has been teasing Utopia for a while, and the album is finally coming into fruition. The musician is transforming Egypt’s Pyramids Of Giza for a “once in a lifetime” concert.

Utopia is Scott’s first full-length since Astroworld. The online shop shows five different “Topia Pack” bundles ranging from $50 to $150, which includes vinyl records. It also displays vinyl for sale with five different covers — so it’s sure to be a hot product.

In an interview with Pinup Magazine, Scott talked about the album. “Utopia is something that people feel is so far-fetched and out of reach, some perfect state of mind. But you create it yourself. There are people who achieve utopia every day. They may not be the richest people with the dopest cribs, but it’s a utopia wherever they are, and that’s the most you can have,” Scott said. “With every album, I live in these worlds in my mind — I’m trying to show people experiences where utopian things can exist, and you can enjoy yourself and have a good time. They can create energy that spews out magical things — new cures, new buildings, new avenues for people to move forward. People need to see that utopia is real.”

Donald Trump has always portrayed himself as something he’s not. He says he’s rich, but he grifts his own supporters. He says he’s a good businessman, but he has multiple bankruptcies (to say nothing of all its legal woes). He also says he’s strong, but he refuses to participate in GOP primary debates — and definitely not because he’ll get clobbered by one of his former buds. Speaking of, one of his current sorta-pals is egging him into rethinking that one.

As per Mediaite, Piers Morgan had a little chat with Kellyanne Conway on Fox News Tonight Tuesday. The former counsel to the former president bragged about how the big guy loves a fight, so obviously loves how crowded the GOP field has become.

“The more people who run, the more competition, the better for Donald Trump,” Conway said. She then marveled that he plans on sitting out what to him must be the most fun part of campaigning. “Trump loves competition. I think he should show up to the debate.”

Conway noted that he’s “way ahead with “very little to gain.” Still, she wondered, “why stay at home and watch them all talk about you?”

“Donald Trump is many things,” said Morgan. “But in all the time I’ve known him, I’ve never known him to duck a challenge or be a coward. So, if you’re watching, Donald, come on.”

“He’s not being a coward at all,” Conway argued. “He’s being a frontrunner.

“No,” Morgan averred. “It’s cowardly. Get on that stage and show us what you’re made of. If you want to be president again, you gotta come out and face the debate music. Haven’t you? Come on, Donald. You know you want to secretly.”

Morgan added, “He remains the biggest star out there, but he has to turn up. Otherwise, your star can quickly wane.”

Of course, Trump star has not managed to wane so far. Remember his terrible end to last year, when he dined with anti-Semites and released NFTs mocked even by his base? It wasn’t long before he was back on top. What he does have is an epic persecution complex, and he’s claimed Fox News has been “very prejudiced” towards him. Thing is, Fox is reportedly souring on his closest rival, Meatball Ron, and they might have to pinch their nose and go back to kissing his ring — even if he gets them sued to kingdom come again.

(Via Mediaite)

Ron DeSantis was supposed to rid the GOP, once and for all, of Donald Trump. How? By pitching himself as his younger, more disciplined copycat. Trump kicked off his campaign slagging off Mexicans; DeSantis launched a full-on assault on the LGBTQIA+ community. Trump did a half-assed bit about trans people, clearly only because someone told him to; DeSantis dropped a full-on homophobic/homoerotic ad, chastising him for not being bigoted enough. Did it work? Nope. He’s a distant second to the big guy. And the most powerful Republicans are starting to get cold feet.

As per Rolling Stone, Rupert Murdoch, the network’s all-powerful figurehead, has reportedly become the most vocally skeptic person at Fox News about DeSantis’ chances of a “comeback.” Meatball Ron is doing so poorly that they’re even considering pinching their noses and going back to Trump.

“[Rupert’s] understandable worry is that we may end up being stuck with Trump anyway,” one source told RS. After all, DeSantis is “underperforming. Anybody can see that.” They added that the Murdochs are “seeing it, too.”

Another source was far more blunt, saying, “They are transactional and can smell a loser a mile away.”

Rolling Stone speaks of a “marked shift for the Murdoch clan” in the last few weeks about how to cover DeSantis. Perhaps that’s why Maria Bartiromo over the weekend straight up asked the Florida governor, who used to rely on the network for softball questions, why he was doing so poorly. (That he pretended as though nothing was wrong is probably not a good sign — for him, at least.)

It’s also probably why the Murdoch-owned The New York Post, which was once all in on DeSantis, has been, in Rolling Stone’s words, “begun to look askance” at him.

If DeSantis’ decline continues, he’ll have painted himself as an old school bigot and fucked up his state’s economy for nothing. The way he acts, he’ll probably claim it was worth it.

(Via Rolling Stone)

It may be hard to believe, but it’s already that time of the year when festivals for next spring and summer are announced. Stagecoach was a success this past April, with an array of performers like Diplo, Chris Stapleton, Nelly, Dillon Francis, ZZ Top, Bryan Adams, and more. But it’s time to start thinking about what 2024’s will be like.

The annual event in Indio, California will be taking place from April 26 to 28 next year, and tickets will go on sale this Friday, July 14 at 11 am PT. Their website reads: “Choose from a carefully curated selection of hotels, retreat to the exclusive Safari Campground, or simply leave the driving to us. As the Official Enhanced Experience Provider of Stagecoach, we’ve got all your bases covered and then some.”

The Any Line Shuttle Pass goes for $100 on its own. With a 3-day general admission ticket, it starts at $489 plus fees. “Save a horse, ride the shuttle! Your safe, comfortable, and environmentally-conscious alternative for show day transportation has arrived,” the page for shuttle passes reads. “Conveniently hop on at any participating location throughout the Coachella Valley and ride in style to the festival and back again all weekend long. Add roundtrip shuttle service to any festival pass purchase or bundle your ride with GA festival passes and save a few bucks.”

One of the most common complaints drivers have these days is that car headlights are too bright. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, a whopping 88% of drivers have noticed headlight glare, and about 31% of them described it as “disturbing.”

The study also revealed that one out of every 100 drivers claimed that glare actually caused them to have a crash or a near miss.

How did the headlights get so bright? Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, headlights were made with halogen bulbs with a softer, warm yellow light. These days they’re made with LEDs that last longer but are much whiter and brighter.

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Did you know that a button on your rearview mirror can tone down the headlight glare? Many people were blown away when TikTokker EverythingBrooklyn shared the simple tip on TikTok. Since being posted in March, it has received over 2 million views.

@everythingbrooklyn

my boyfriend is a genius. who knew! #fyp #todayyearsold #foryou #rearviewmirror

“I didn’t know about this either until a few weeks ago, and my life has been changed ever since,” Nat wrote. “I LOVE YOU AND SO DOES MY ASTIGMATISM,” Kaitlin Carroll added.

The text of the video read: “Me flipping the rearview mirror tab so the headlights don’t blind me.”

A Mazda dealership explained the button’s function: “When auto-dimming is turned on, your rearview mirror will automatically darken to reduce headlight glare,” Capistrano Mazda confirmed.

Good news for all of you who can’t stand being dazzled by blinding headlines, the federal government has recently approved Adaptive Driving Beam headlights which shine more light onto the road instead of into your rearview window. But until they’re widely adopted, you can use this hack to keep yourself from being blinded by fellow drivers.

Caroline Ross is a professional photographer who specializes in fashion and editorial photography—you know, the kind of fancy images that grace magazine covers and billboards and the like. So it’s safe to assume she knows her way around Photoshop.

Over on her TikTok channel, Ross helps others gain social media literacy by showing exactly how Photoshop is used to create the highly stylized images we’re so used to seeing in advertisements…so much that we might forget it’s not real.

Recently, Ross also highlighted the double standards that exist when it comes to older female celebrities versus their male counterparts by applying the same amount of Photoshop to cover shoots of actors in their fifties that would be used on actresses of the same age.

When you see the side-by-side comparison—and how ridiculous it looks—it’s hard to deny how hardwired our brains are to accept, even admire aging in men, and at the same time expect women to remain untouched by time…lest they become an unsavory hag, that is.

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In the video, Ross shows Pedro Pascal, David Beckham, Idris Elba, Ben Affleck, Gerard Butler, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds (all ruggedly handsome in their own way) suddenly have every wrinkle completely smoothed out.

Watch:

@caroline_in_thecity I definitely think about this everytime i see a cute little wrinkles on ‘silver foxes’ and smoothed doll skin on women the same age. #pedropascal #maybeitsphotoshop #photoshop ♬ Makeba – Jain

Crazy, right? These guys look like completely different people once “yassified”—well, except for the immortal Paul Rudd, maybe. But the point is: seeing the stark difference laid out like that is illuminating. Several folks chimed in to comment on how it perfectly pinpoints how beauty standards have failed us.

“Yes!!! 🙌 ‘Men age better’ just equals- ‘we’re used to seeing men age’ It’s almost like representation matters 🤔,” one person wrote.

“I think we all knew this but SEEING IT is something else. Thank you for creating this,” wrote another.

Yet another added: “I’ve just realized why I’m convinced my husband is getting more attractive with age while I go downhill. I’ve been conditioned!,” another said.

You might have noticed the biggest Photoshop transformation can be seen on the forehead. In another video, Ross explained how women are rarely allowed to have visible expression in this area. It’s covered up with editing, Botox or (most likely) both.

@caroline_in_thecity Thisbisnoiterally the reason I get forehead botox. I always notice womens amooth foreheads in media. #maybeitsphotoshop #photoshop #bopo #40plus #greenscreen ♬ original sound – Caroline In The City

Meanwhile, men are often “intentionally asked to raise their forehead and create these expression lines in their face,” Ross says while showing an editorial spread of Ben Affleck sporting his signature “adorable puppy” eyebrow furrow.

“Like when would you ever see a 50-year-old female celebrity with this expression on their face?” Ross asks. The answer, one we all know deep down inside, is almost never. This is because, as Ross eloquently puts it, men are allowed to “look like mature adult beings” while women are “expected to be these smooth dolls their entire lives.”

Yes, it’s frustrating that despite all the progress we have made with beauty standards, ageism and sexism, those modern views aren’t always reflected in Hollywood or in social media…two major influences for how people, especially young people, perceive the world. But that’s why efforts like Ross’ make such a huge difference. We are able to see firsthand how we are trained to think. Which, in turn, helps us to think differently. Or, at the very least, not succumb to low self esteem just because we don’t resemble works of fiction.

Care to see more of Ross’s videos? Follow her on TikTok.

The typical kid’s experience in school is a lot different today than it was 30 to 40 years ago. It’s hard to say whether things are better or worse, but there’s been a sea change in how children are raised.

One negative development is that teachers tend to think parents are more likely to side with their kids over faculty in disputes than they were decades ago. On the positive side, corporal punishment is on the decrease, so students are much less likely to be physically punished for breaking the rules.

A Reddit user with the username u/theSandwichSister asked the ‘80s and ‘90s kids on the forum, “What’s something a school teacher did to you that would not fly today?” A lot of the responses were about the type of physical punishment and humiliation that used to happen in schools that would never happen these days.

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There were also a lot of posts about teachers who smoked around their students. Can you imagine a kindergarten teacher lighting up in front of their students these days? They’d be fired in a flash.

Overall, the responses show that schools are a lot more concerned with the mental and emotional health of their students these days, which is a wonderful improvement. Schools also seem to be much more friendly environments to students who are people of color, LGBTQ or have disabilities.

Here are 17 of the best responses to the question, “What’s something a school teacher did to you that would not fly today?”

1.

“Not a teacher, but school one. If you read enough books during the year in elementary school you got to have a sleepover in the library. Like we brought sleeping bags and slept on the floor. In the morning they had griddles out and we made pancakes. I know, total nerds, but it was my favorite elementary school memory.” — 7askingforafriend

2.

“My elementary school principal would pull loose teeth. You could go to his office, have him pull your loose tooth and he would give you a lollipop.” — snowfuckerforreal

3.

“I told my biology teacher that I wasn’t feeling too well, he said that I didn’t look sick, and as punishment made me stand in the corner until I fainted.” — AustrianReaper

4.

“In high school, we would sometimes play knee soccer which was in our wrestling room (wall to wall wrestling mats) and was really just handball but on our knees. The PE teacher (football coach) let us play rough since it was an all male class and we were on our knees and couldn’t do too much damage. During the game, two of the students were grappling for the ball and as these things go, one of them accidentally knocked the other a little too aggressively. The kid that got hit (an known asshole of the school) got pissed and stood up and kicked the other kid.

The PE teacher (225lb jacked military hair cut) stormed over and shoved the kid who flew about 10 feet before crashing to the ground. The kid gets up ready to fight whoever shoved him and the teacher had closed the gap and started screaming at him. Then the teacher lectured the entire class about sportsmanship and honor. The teacher never got in any trouble.” — hangingonwith2fingers

5.

“In 5th grade, I was called to the office at my public school. I was a goody two-shoes so I had no idea why I was called, so I started tearing up thinking something bad must’ve happened to my family. Eventually, I was ushered into a room as my two best friends left. The principal and 2 other staff members then sat me down and showed me a piece of paper. It was a silly poem I wrote one of my friends about a good witch who granted wishes by mixing together some mundane ingredients. Apparently, their mother found the poem and complained to the school. Their response was to interview my friends about MY RELIGION.” — ktbunny

6.

“6th grade teacher Ms. Sullivan would take 3 kids every Friday to McDonald’s for lunch. She was cool as hell. Smoked during the drive and everything.” — SigP365SAS

7.

“My 3rd grade teacher had the whole class camp in her backyard after the last day of school. She took us to see the original TMNT movie in the theater, then we stayed up late telling ghost stories. One of my absolute fondest memories.” — Cambot1138

8.

“Yeah, there are a lot of negative things in this thread, which makes sense, but there are some ‘cool teacher’ things that we lost too. I got a ride home from school once from a male teacher in middle school (I’m female) when it was pouring rain and my mom wouldn’t come get me, but I bet that’s not allowed these days.” — rabidstoat

9.

“English teacher in high school used to cuss kids out for being noisy in class and if that didn’t work, he’d throw the blackboard eraser at us. I wasn’t on the receiving end of the eraser. That chalk would leave marks on kid’s backs for the rest of the day so everyone knew who pissed off Mr Charvet.” — Roscoe_Cracks_Corn

 

10.

“7th-grade science class, the teacher walked around with a beaker full of mercury and told us to stick a finger in it to feel how dense it was. Then he gave us each our own penny-size drop of mercury to play with at our desks, so we could see how it moved. I’m sure we were poisoned that day. Nowadays if a thermometer breaks they clear the school.” — weirdkid71

11.

“Not something done to me per se, but my 3rd grade teacher had a little office with a door inside our classroom, and she would smoke cigarettes in there while we were at lunch/recess.” — HutSutRawlson

 

12.

“Cheese Day in the Midwest. It was in first grade. For an entire day, all you ate was cheese. Cheese puffs, curls, sticks, slices, balls, and Doritos. Drank orange Hi-C as well. For 10+ years, smelling that fake cheese made me gag. After her wedding, and the birth of her son, my sister says Cheese Day the best day of her life. Wasn’t Wisconsin either.” — 2_Spicy_2_Impeach

13.

“They told us Pluto was a planet.” — Representative-Fig96

14.

“Best math teacher ever made us say numerator/denominator in Schwarzenegger voices as we were learning fractions.” — kittensington

15.

“High School, we were on campus, drove a van to the locker rooms because I was with The QB, Linebacker and a couple of linemen who needed to get crap from their lockers. We were drinking beer in the van, it was 1:30, the football coach sees us, stops the van, looks inside and sees the beer, and shook his head and told us to be careful and get off campus. I don’t think that would fly today.” — kentro2002

16.

“A lot of people are posting bad stuff, so let me share a good one. In 9th grade, in 1984, I had a class analyzing lyrics in pop music. Students brought in records by Led Zep and John Cougar and we’d discuss what they meant. Seriously a life-changing class. It makes me sad that younger students in America are so caught up in the rat race that they never had experiences like that.” — Adventuresphere

 

17.

“I had an awesome teacher who would send one of us to the shop (just a minute’s walk away) with enough money to get ice creams for everybody whenever it was hot and she didn’t feel like teaching.” — wanderingsteph

This article originally appeared on 08.30.22

It seems everyone needs subtitles nowadays in order to “hear” the television. This is something that has become more common over the past decade and it’s caused people to question if their hearing is going bad or if perhaps actors have gotten lazy with enunciation.

So if you’ve been wondering if it’s just you who needs subtitles in order to watch the latest marathon-worthy show, worry no more. Vox video producer Edward Vega interviewed dialogue editor Austin Olivia Kendrick to get to the bottom of why we can’t seem to make out what the actors are saying anymore. It turns out it’s technology’s fault, and to get to how we got here, Vega and Kendrick took us back in time.

They first explained that way back when movies were first moving from silent film to spoken dialogue, actors had to enunciate and project loudly while speaking directly into a large microphone. If they spoke and moved like actors do today, it would sound almost as if someone were giving a drive-by soliloquy while circling the block. You’d only hear every other sentence or two.

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But with today’s technology, microphones are so small they can be strapped just about anywhere on an actor. This allows the actor to move about the set freely and speak at a normal volume without worrying that their words won’t be picked up. So then why can’t we hear them? Turns out it’s super complicated…and also not.

“A lot of people will ask, ‘Why don’t you just turn the dialogue up?’ Like, ‘Just turn it up.’ And…if only it were that simple,” Kendrick said before explaining, “If you have your dialogue that’s going to be at the same volume as an explosion that immediately follows it, the explosion is not going to feel as big. You need that contrast in volume in order to give your ear a sense of scale.”

Sure, you may be thinking, well that kinda explains it, but why do the music and other cinematic noises sound like they’re beating on your eardrum while the dialogue sounds like the actors are whispering every line? That doesn’t seem very balanced. There’s more to it, and again, it falls back onto technology.

In the video, they explain how our televisions are too thin to hold large speakers facing in the correct direction, and until this video, it didn’t dawn on me that the speakers to my television are indeed in the back. No wonder we can’t hear. The actors are quite literally talking to our walls.

And there’s more. Check out the full explanation in the video:

This article originally appeared on 2.1.23