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Swifties Are Swooning Over Photos Of Taylor Swift With Selena Gomez, Haim, And More Spending The 4th Of July Together

Taylor Swift is as independent as ever. Earlier this year, she and Joe Alwyn, her longtime boyfriend, broke up. Then, it was reported that she was dating Matty Healy, until they went separate ways as well.

She was a little too busy to make a post for the 4th Of July, but she got around to it today (June 7). On Twitter, she shared wholesome photos with Selena Gomez, the Haim sisters (Alana, Este, and Danielle), and friends. “Happy belated Independence Day from your local neighborhood independent girlies,” she wrote, adding the emoji with sunglasses. “See you tonight Kansas Cityyy.”

The photos were well received, as “Taylor Swift And Selena Gomez” was a trending topic on Twitter following Swift’s post.

The “Anti-Hero” singer is in the midst of The Eras Tour, which keeps becoming bigger and bigger as she adds more dates and as it makes its way toward grossing one billion dollars.

Meanwhile, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is out today, and it features a collaboration with Fall Out Boy on “Electric Touch” as well as one with Paramore’s Hayley Williams on “Castles Crumbling,” the latter of which fans are speculating is about the 2009 VMAs incident involving Kanye West. Rapper Drake jokingly congratulated her on the release, sharing a photo of himself with a lookalike and writing on his Instagram Story, “Congrats on the drop sis. Dialed In.”

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

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There’s Video Of The Britney Spears And Victor Wembanyama Security Slap, And It Backs Up Spears’ Version Of Events

Pop icon Britney Spears and fresh-faced NBA star Victor Wembanyama are an unlikely pair, and yet, the two have been sharing headlines over the past couple days: Reports surfaced that on July 5 at the Catch restaurant in Las Vegas’ ARIA Hotel, Spears was slapped by Wemby’s security when she approached him.

Since the incident, both Spears and Wemby have shared their perspectives on what happened, and there were some differences in their stories. Now, though, there’s video of the altercation, and it backs up Spears’ version of events.

Today (July 7), TMZ shared a video of the incident. The clip shows Wemby and some others with him heading into Catch as Spears quickly approaches him from behind. Spears repeats, “Sir,” in an apparent effort to get his attention. Spears catches up to him and taps him on the shoulder (or as high up on the 7’3″ athlete’s back as she could reach). Then, a man next to Wemby slaps Spears’ hand away and appears to also hit her in the face.

After the incident, Wemby was asked about it and he said he had been told by San Antonio Spurs security to not stop moving when in public, so as to not draw a crowd. He continued, “But that person grabbed me from behind, not on my shoulders, she grabbed from behind, so I just know that the security pushed her away. I don’t know with how much force, though, but security pushed her away and I didn’t stop to look, so I kept walking and enjoyed a nice dinner.”

Spears, meanwhile, wrote, “I recognized an athlete in my hotel lobby as I was heading to dinner. I later went to a restaurant at a different hotel and saw him again. I decided to approach him and congratulate him on his success. It was really loud, so I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. I am aware of the players statement where he mentions ‘I grabbed him from behind’ but I simply tapped him on the shoulder. His security then back handed me in the face without looking back, in front of a crowd. Nearly knocking me down and causing my glasses off my face.”

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10 things that made us smile this week

Did you know that “happify” is a real word? It sounds like a cute, made-up slang term of some sort, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it’s been in use since at least 1612.

As one might guess, “happify” means “to make happy.” And that’s what our weekly roundup of joy is all about—happifying you, dear reader.

This week’s list of delights includes some moving moments of kindness, some genuine human goofiness, some awesome animal encounters and more. (I mean, we’ve got Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and a kazoo—what else do we even need?)

Hope these finds happify you. Enjoy!


1. Cat ‘massages’ an old, blind dog and it’s the sweetest thing

Mutual needs being met. And how about that little kiss in the middle there? Too sweet.

2. A reminder that a little human kindness can go a long way

The courtesy of the customer’s apology for ordering so late, the kindness and generosity in the response of the employees—these are the small but meaningful interactions that create a better world. (Scroll through for the whole story.)

3. Woman is approached by cops for what looks like a body in the trunk of her car

@classy_melita

#rvp #wig #hilarous #icantmakethisup #police #policeoftiktok #embarrassing #blowthisup Police receive a call called that there was a body in my trunk.

The way the officer didn’t make assumptions but gave her the benefit of the doubt was great, but her reaction was hilarious. Read the full story here.

4. Kevin Bacon and wife Kyra Sedgwick celebrate the 4th of July in the best way

Could these two get any cuter? Read more about Kevin and Kyra’s musical farm life here.

7. Three cheers for the people with no chill and no self-consciousness whatsoever

The fact that he asked and the fact that the other dad obliged. These are next-level beach dads.

6. Man does an impressively accurate impression of a Keurig brewing a cup of coffee

@devonthenatureguy

How’d I do? @Keurig #keurig #coffee #impression #americasgottalent #thrivingtalent

Close your eyes and imagine the smell of coffee brewing. Does this count as an ASMR video? Read the full story here.

7. Lil’ Van Van and Snoop Dogg giving us all the pick-me-up affirmations we need

Excuse me while I put this on repeat.

8. Man puts together creative games to keep nursing home residents active and now we all want to move in

Yay for caring occupational therapists. How fun does this look?

9. Mama cow named Milkshake shows off her new baby to her owner

@thegoodplacefarm

#fyp #cows #babycow #farmlife #babygirl #heartwarming #crying #cutebaby #cuteanimals

Udderly precious. Good job, Milkshake. Read the full story here.

10. Because how could anyone not smile at this cozy scene

Ending this week’s list the way we began it—dogs and cats living together, offering the absolute best example to us all.

Hope that happified your day! If you’d like to get these posts delivered to your inbox, sign up for our free newsletter, The Upwortiest, here.

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Drake Dissed ‘Guys That Go Away’ For Years On His Tour And Fans Think It’s Directed At Kendrick Lamar

Drake has been using his It’s All A Blur Tour to revisit his past, talk Bio 101(?), and pay homage to fallen friends, but he’s also been using it to air some grievances. In addition to cheekily calling out Childish Gambino for admitting “This Is America” started life as a diss song, fans are convinced he also took a jab at frenemy Kendrick Lamar with a comment he made on stage during the opening night in Chicago.

According to HipHopDX, Drake took some time to address accusations that he releases too much music while announcing that he has another album coming out soon, saying, “I know it’s summertime, I gotta give you shit! I don’t know about these guys that go away for three, four, five years and wanna chill out and all that shit. That’s not me. With that being said, I got an album coming out soon for y’all. It’s called For All The Dogs.

Fans on Twitter took his comment to be a shot at Kendrick Lamar, who has become notorious for the long gaps between his releases — his most recent album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, came out last year, nearly five years after its Pulitzer-winning predecessor, DAMN. Fans previously believe Kendrick had made a reference to Drake on his cousin Baby Keem’s recently released single “The Hillbillies,” borrowing the flow from Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind track “Sticky” and parodying it with silly lyrics.

However, while the duo has appeared to be circling around each other for years, there does seem to be some respect there, at least from Drake’s end. He was seen last summer attending Kendrick’s Big Steppers Tour stop in Toronto — although that could have just been an intelligence-gathering excursion, gathering “game film” on his rival, so to speak.

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Let’s Rank The Artifacts From Each Indiana Jones Movie

On the day the title was finally announced for the fifth and last Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, it felt a little underwhelming. There was no finality to it, nothing grandiose about it – it just felt like any other trinket Indiana Jones might be searching for on any given day. Certainly not a title worthy of this big final adventure. (Though, as director James Mangold said, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade kind of put a damper on giving the movie a title that at all alluded it to being “last.”)

But here’s the thing, Archimedes’ Dial wound up being a lot of fun. In that, it actually does something, which is nowhere near a given in any Indiana Jones movie. Anyway, this seemed like a good enough excuse to make a list ranking each artifact that plays the key role in each Indiana Jones movie. (“Key role.” So, sorry, Cross of Coronodo.) To be clear, this is not a ranking of the movies. And, ahead, there will be spoilers for Dial of Destiny. And let’s just go ahead and get the best out of the way, because of course it’s the Ark of the Covenant.

1. Ark of the Covenant

The best thing about the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark is just when characters sit around talking about the Ark. The scene near the beginning of the movie when government stooges show up asking Indiana Jones and Marcus Brody questions about Abner Ravenhood and why the Nazis would even be interested in the Ark in the first place. Indy scolds them, “Haven’t you ever been to Sunday school?” before giving a fascinating history lesson that also serves as exposition. The whole movie is explained right then and there, with horrifying detail about what’s to come, with Indy giving a character-defining line, “If you believe in that sort of thing.”

That’s what’s so beautiful about the establishment of the Indiana Jones character: he’s highly intelligent, has spent his life studying these legends … but he’s also a skeptic. Of course, the audience enters the movie also as skeptics, so this makes us like Indiana Jones because, “Hey, this is a smart guy who knows what he’s talking about and he also thinks it’s all phooey.”

Well, as it turns out, it’s not phooey. For most of the movie, we really have no idea what’s going to happen when the Ark is opened. From a scriptwriting standpoint, I do wonder how difficult that was for Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas — we’ve been talking about this thing the whole movie, now we’re actually going to open it and ghosts fly out. That ending is so embedded in our brains that it’s hard to take a step back and actually marvel at how weird it is. A complaint about The Kingdom of Crystal Skull (among many) is that Indiana Jones doesn’t affect the story in any real way. Take him out and the same thing pretty much happens. The same could be said for Raiders of the Lost Ark. The only thing Indy truly does is discover the Nazi’s staff in the map room was the wrong size, which just ends with Indy being caught. Without Indy, the Nazis probably never even find the Ark to begin with. And even if they do, they still go that that island to have their faces melted. But that’s kind of the beauty in the title of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the only film Indiana Jones isn’t mentioned in the title. Indy is just one of the raiders and he lost … until he didn’t.

2. Archimedes’ Dial

Unlike the Ark, we know exactly what the Dial does pretty early on in Dial of Destiny. Or, at the very least, what it’s supposed to do. It’s an interesting plot beat in that the 1944 Nazis are not interested in the Dial whatsoever. Jürgen Voller is even mocked at the very idea of presenting the Dial to Hitler instead of the dagger they were supposed to find, “Have you ever met Hitler?!?!” Also making it unique is that it possesses no supernatural powers of its own. It’s simply a compass that will point the way to fissures in time. But this time it’s Indy who figures out Voller’s calculations are wrong and Voller’s plan to travel from 1969 back to 1939 to kill Hitler isn’t going to work. (As an aside, I truly love how nuts that plot point is: a Nazi who wants to go back in time to kill Hitler because he thinks he can lead better.) Anyway, unlike most of the other artifacts in these movies, the Dial does something. Actually, it does the most. I kind of love the Dial. I wish I had my own Dial of Destiny.

3. The Holy Grail

I almost put the Sankara Stone from Temple of Doom third. I think I could make a strong case. Because the Holy Grail is just about useless unless you want to live eternity in a cave. The Nazis sure are bad when it comes to artifacts. They all killed themselves opening the Ark. They decided, “not interested,” to the Dial. And now here they spend tremendous resources on a cup that does nothing outside a 30-foot radius. And the Grail can’t even be taken out of the cave without a massive earthquake occurring. Now, if maybe the Grail had to be kept at Six Flags or something like that, where at least there’s some entertainment for “eternity,” well now we’re talking. Though maybe that was what should have happened all along. Just build a Six Flags around where the grail is kept. Or, at the very least, a Chili’s. Anyway, even though the Sankara Stone is not confined to a cave, I still give a slight edge to the Grail for curing a gunshot wound. That’s pretty hard to overlook.

4. Sankara Stone

The powers are kind of vague, but once the village lost its stone it became inhabitable. So that’s certainly something. And Mola Ram sure ants these stones. But that’s the weird thing about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the artifact itself is downplayed. It’s not a race against other groups seeking the same item. this movie is presented as more of an action-style showdown between Indiana Jones and Mola Ram. In fact, it’s the only one of the five Indiana Jones movies that ends with an actual physical fight between Indiana Jones and the main villain. In all the other movies, the artifact either literally destroys the villain or, as in Dial of Destiny, directly leads to their death. Sure, in Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones knows what to say so the stone heats up, which contributes to the death of Mola Ram, but on this occasion, Indiana Jones gets the credit for taking him out. Even being vague, I’d still rather have a Sankara Stone in my apartment than the Holy Grail. Mostly to avoid the earthquakes that come as part of the deal of owning the Grail. At least with the stone, I bet my garden would be in better shape.

5. Crystal Skull

I honestly can’t tell you what this thing even does. I do often wonder if, even with its other problems, if the artifact in Crystal Skull had made more sense, would the movie as a whole have worked better? Maybe? The only thing the Skull does do is let Lucas come to an agreement with Spielberg and Ford what the plot of the movie would even be. Lucas wanted aliens. Spielberg most definitely did not. This was the compromise and, in the process, we get this milquetoast story and artifact. You see, it’s not an alien (it’s kind of totally an alien), it’s an inter-dimensional being and if you look at it too long you zone out. Why did anyone want this skull beyond getting their name in the paper for discovering an alien skeleton? I still have no clue. What does it eventually do? Remember that? The head attached to a body. Then all the aliens in the room combined. Then everything got sucked into the room. Then the spacecraft (I’m sorry, inter-dimensional craft) vanished. I truly think Indiana Jones was just making it up when he gives the whole, “knowledge was their treasure,” line. The movie could have just have ended with Indy saying, “Well that was weird, right?” And it would have made just as much sense.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

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Diablo Cody Knows ‘Why I Sh*t The Bed’ With Her ‘Barbie’ Script That Never Became A Movie

After Tom Cruise puts butts back in movie seats (he’s talented at this) with Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, it’s time for a double feature. That would be Barbie and Oppenheimer, and surprisingly enough, the former movie is proving to be much more controversial than the latter. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling will likely, however, take the global box office by storm beginning on July 21.

This won’t be the first attempt to bring Barbie to multiplexes in live-action mode. There was, at one point, going to be a version starring Amy Schumer and penned by Oscar-winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody. In a new interview with GQ, Cody explained why her take on the project fell apart. “That idea of an anti-Barbie made a lot of sense given the feminist rhetoric of ten years ago,” Cody explained. “I didn’t really have the freedom then to write something that was faithful to the iconography; they wanted a girl-boss feminist twist on Barbie, and I couldn’t figure it out because that’s not what Barbie is.”

Barbie director and co-writer Greta Gerwig also found some difficulty in appeasing Mattel’s wants for the movie, and the company’s president even confronted her about an “off-brand” part of the film. This was always going to be a tough project to adapt both faithfully and in a worthwhile way, but Cody seems to take much of the blame for her script’s failure to launch:

Five years later, Cody has some ideas about what went wrong. “I think I know why I sh*t the bed,” she tells GQ over the phone from Los Angeles. “When I was first hired for this, I don’t think the culture had not embraced the femme or the bimbo as valid feminist archetypes yet. If you look up ‘Barbie’ on TikTok you’ll find this wonderful subculture that celebrates the feminine, but in 2014, taking this skinny blonde white doll and making her into a heroine was a tall order.”

We will soon find out how well 2023’s Barbie picks up the project. Hopefully, it’ll be a pink-painted slam dunk and keep the Tom Cruise-led fires burning.

(Via GQ)

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No Charges Will Be Filed In The Incident Between Britney Spears And Victor Wembanyama’s Security Team

Victor Wembanyama found himself at the center of controversy prior to his first game as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. A member of his security team allegedly struck Britney Spears while the singer attempted to go up to him at the ARIA Hotel in Las Vegas, with Spears claiming that she tried to go up to him from behind and tapped on his shoulder before she was backhanded “in the face without looking back, in front of a crowd. Nearly knocking me down and causing my glasses off my face.”

Spears ended up filing a police report over the incident, and on Friday, we learned that the Las Vegas Metro Police Department will not end up pressing charges. In a statement, the LVMPD said that it concluded its investigation into the incident, and as a result, “no charges will be filed against the person involved.

Both Spears and Wembanyama addressed the incident in the aftermath, with Spears claiming that Wembanyama was aware of what went down — “Watching the player smile and laugh was cruel and demoralizing with the situation that took place,” she said. While meeting with the media on Thursday, Wembanyama claimed that he wasn’t sure what happened, because he “never saw her face” and did not learn it was Spears until “a couple hours” later. According to his version of the events, he was told not to stop as he was walking through the casino, and that Spears didn’t grab his shoulder.

“She grabbed from behind,” Wembanyama said. “So I just know that the security pushed her away. I don’t know with how much force, though, but security pushed her away and I didn’t stop to look, so I kept walking and enjoyed a nice dinner.”

Wembanyama will make his Summer League debut on Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets.

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This Spicy Cucumber Margarita Is The Perfect Summer Sipper — Here’s The Recipe

It’s summer cocktail season and that means it’s time for true refreshing sippers. That means light, bright, and full of delight. Enter the spicy cucumber margarita — better known as the El Pepino. And trust me, it’s an extra delicious tequila drink for when the weather is hot.

This drink goes back to the early 2010s and maybe the late 2000s. It’s a modern classic that combines, cucumber, lime, a dash of sweetness, triple sec, fresh jalapeno, a little salt, and plenty of blanco tequila. While that all sounds like a lot, it’s really not too hard to make at all. Moreover, the cucumber adds this light and refreshing vibe that really amps up the sipability right now. The combo of chili spice and soft cucumber feels like it’s cooling you down with each sip. Who doesn’t want that?

Okay, let’s dive right in and get shaking!

Also Read: The Top Five Cocktail Recipes of the Last Six Months

El Pepino

El Pepino
Zach Johnston

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz. blanco tequila
  • 0.5 oz. Cointreau
  • 0.5 oz. lime juice
  • 0.5 oz. cucumber juice
  • 0.5 oz. simple syrup
  • 1/2 slice of fresh jalapeno
  • Ice
  • Chili Salt for the rim
  • Lime wheel

Start with a good blanco tequila for any margarita. I like Don Julio because I like shooting it too. It’s tasty and makes a great base for a solid marg. I like using Cointreau as the triple sec element but you can use any decent triple sec.

The juices are from Fresh Victor which makes some of the best fresh juice mixers for cocktails out there. It’s real juice without any bullshit. If you can’t find it, you can also use fresh wheels of cucumber in the shaker but it’ll be a little less “fresh” on the finish.

I tend never to use sugar syrups in my margs but the savoriness of the chili pepper and cucumber fruits tends to mute some of the sweeter notes a tad too much. So use a little sugar syrup but use it sparingly.

Lastly, you should be able to find chili salt rimmers from any decent liquor store in the mixer/garnish section.

El Pepino
Zach Johnston

What You’ll Need:

  • Rocks glass
  • Cocktail shaker
  • Cocktail strainer
  • Fine mesh strainer
  • Jigger
  • Pairing knife
El Pepino
Zach Johnston

Method:

  • Add the tequila, juices, and Cointreau to a cocktail shaker with the fresh chili and a large handful of ice. Affix the lid and shake vigorously for about 20 seconds or until the shaker is ice-cold to touch.
  • Wet the rim of the glass with the lime wheel and dip the glass into the chili salt and then add fresh ice to the rocks glass.
  • Double-strain the cocktail into the glass, drop the lime wheel in the glass, and serve.

Bottom Line:

El Pepino
Zach Johnston

This is a refreshing AF cocktail. The savoriness of the cucumber just sneaks in with a big push of the chili pepper adding a sharp edge. Overall, this is going to cool you down quickly if you’re overheating in the sun this summer!

If you’re looking for a truly unique, fresh, and spicy marg to change things up this summer, this is the play. It’s super easy to make. You can find all the ingredients really easily. And it’s tasty with serious depth. You can’t beat it.

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Dwight Howard Lays Out Why He Was Better Than Nikola Jokic In His Prime

Nikola Jokic’s run over the past few seasons has led to basketball fans debating where he sits among the game’s all time greats. That is especially true after he led the Denver Nuggets to the first championship in franchise history, as Jokic was nearly unstoppable en route to being named the NBA Finals MVP.

Recently, Dwight Howard decided to chime in on this, as the former All-Star center laid out to Zion Olojede of Complex Sports why he believes that he was better than Jokic in his prime. While he made it a point to say that he loves Jokic and believes he is already one of the NBA’s great centers, “I’m not going to throw dirt on my own name.”

“Obviously, people going to say Jokic can score,” Howard said. “He got all those offensive skills. But at the same time, I was getting 38 and 20, 45-18, 19, 20, and I’m doing all this with twos. No threes, all twos. I’m doing this with lobs. I’m not getting a lot of post-up attempts like Jokic. He’s getting way more opportunities I would say as far as to show his low post game and all that stuff. And I was just in a different era.”

Howard made the case that he didn’t just need to use skill to score the ball, as he was able to beat opposing players with power and speed, as well. Whether he was better than Jokic, of course, is in the eye of the beholder, and this is where we’ll put the usual caveat that it’s exceedingly rare that an all-time great player will flat-out admit someone is better than them.

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Olivia Rodrigo Gets Vulnerable In A Stripped-Down Piano Performance Of ‘Vampire’

Olivia Rodrigo is in the midst of her grand return with the new single “Vampire” and the announcement of her sophomore album Guts. The song starts off small, beginning with just her gentle vocals and piano. It builds as it goes on, gaining momentum until it unfurls into a pulsating anthem.

However, the Sour star is back with a stripped-down version. It doesn’t lose any of it intensity this way; the lyrics come across as even more powerful against this more delicate sonic backdrop. Rodrigo’s knack for heart-wrenching ballads is showcased best in this intimate way.

Upon the original release of “Vampire,” she explained, “I was upset about a certain situation and went to the studio alone and sat down at the grand piano, and the chords and melody and lyrics just poured out of me — almost like an out-of-body experience,” she said in a statement. “It’s a song about feeling confused and hurt, and at first I thought it was meant to be a piano ballad. But when Dan and I started working on it, we juxtaposed the lyrics with these big drums and crazy tempo changes. So now it’s like a heartbreak song you can dance to.”

Listen to the stripped-down version above.

Guts is out 9/8 via Geffen. Find more information here.