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“How does someone get away with something like that?”

Based on the book Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green, the new HBO documentary Last Call profiles an era of queer people finding solace in bars before having that safety ripped away by a killer and a system that didn’t care they were being killed. The trailer promises a stunning, detail-oriented project that expands beyond the killings to examine systemic marginalization at a time when a significant portion of the country didn’t care much about AIDS because of who it was killing.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“In the early 1990s, with homophobia and hate crimes on the rise as the AIDS crisis worsens, a serial killer preys upon gay men in New York City, infiltrating queer nightlife to find his victims. A gripping, investigative crime story, Last Call: When A Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York also dives deeply into the prejudices and attitudes of the times, when deep-rooted biases in the criminal justice system and the media’s distorted public perception of the victims undermined the investigation and enabled a brutal killer to prey on a marginalized populace. The complexities of the closet combined with a long-standing mistrust of law enforcement further complicated the case. It also highlights the heroic efforts of activists, including the NYC Anti-Violence Project, to force law enforcement to recognize and protect the queer community.”

Directed by Anthony Caronna (Pride) and executive produced by Howard Gertler (How To Survive A Plague), the docuseries debuts July 9th on HBO and Max.

Barbie is only a few weeks from hitting theaters, and yet not much is known about the plot. From trailers, know that Margot Robbie’s heroine is hit with some good old fashioned existential dread. We know that she enters the real world, where Will Ferrell is running Mattel. We also know that a lot of talented actors loved the script by director Greta Gerwig and her real-life partner Noah Baumbach, which sounds uncommonly, perhaps unnecessarily good for a movie based on a doll brand. As it turns out, at least one part of it was so edgy that it freaked out Mattel top brass.

A new Time profile of the film (in a bit teased out by Variety) reveals that Richard Dickson, COO and president of Mattel, was so alarmed by an “off-brand” scene that he got on a dang airplane to London to argue with Gerwig ant Robbie. It’s not clear with scene so riled up Dickson, but Gerwig and Robbie were able to assuage his fears by acting the scene out for him.

“When you look on the page, the nuance isn’t there, the delivery isn’t there,” Robbie explained.

Mattel top dogs were reportedly not initially copasetic with some of Gerwig and Baumbach’s ambitions, which includes questioning the feminist bona fides of a doll that has long been criticized for representing impossible beauty standards. (Or for being, until 1980, when the first Black Barbie debuted, exclusively white.) But Gerwig, with the help of Robbie, was able to earn their trust.

The Time piece also features some more newly publicized details about the movie, including that it opens with some narration by Helen Mirren, who informs viewers that in Barbie Land “all problems of feminism and equal rights have been solved.” It also reveals our protagonist also starts aging:

Those arched feet go flat. Cellulite appears on her thigh. To combat these changes, she must venture into the real world with Ken, who has been feeling like a mere accessory in Barbie’s dream life. The real world is, well, real. Men in suits at Mattel—led by Will Ferrell’s CEO—make disingenuous speeches about female empowerment; preteens dress Barbie down for wreaking havoc on their self-esteem. Both Barbie and Ken go on quests of self-discovery, and that’s when things get really interesting. (I won’t give away Ken’s story, but Gosling nearly steals the show.)

There’s also “surprisingly balletic musical number that appears to be inspired by Grease and Singin’ in the Rain; a car-chase sequence; a mysterious woman in a kitchen; and a running gag about Sylvester Stallone’s penchant for mink coats.”

Barbie hits theaters on July 21, and Tom Cruise thinks you should see on a double with Oppenheimer.

(Via Time and Variety)

Early this year, pop music icon Madonna announced that she would be commemorating the 40th anniversary of the beginning of her music career with the Celebration Tour. Announcing the tour with a video featuring stars like Diplo, Lil Wayne, and more, she said in a statement, “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for.” Unfortunately, it turned out that at least some of those fans will have to wait a bit longer, as Madonna’s longtime manager Guy Oseary announced the postponement of the tour on Instagram.

So, why was Madonna’s Celebration Tour postponed?

Well, it looks like Madonna will need a little recovery time after she was hospitalized earlier this week. After being reportedly found unresponsive, she was rushed to the ICU, where she was intubated for at least one night and watched over by her daughter, Lourdes Leon. And although Oseary reports that her health is improving and she’s expected to make a full recovery, it looks like no chances are being taken with the 64-year-old singer.

“At this time, we will need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour,” wrote Oseary on Instagram. “We will share more details with you as soon as we have them, including a new start date for the tour and for rescheduled shows.”

Ghislaine Maxwell has earned the nickname “Prison Karen” after filing over 400 complaints while serving time on her 20-year sentence.

The right-hand woman to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell was found guilty of child sex trafficking and sentenced in June of 2022. She’s since been doing her time at a low-security women’s prison in Florida. But, according to insiders, even the cushiest of lock-ups just doesn’t meet the London socialite’s high standards. The Daily Mail reports that Maxwell has lodged complaints over practically every element of prison life — from the food to the treatment by her guards to the lack of haircare products. In fact, her biggest gripe recently stems from the facility’s refusal to provide black hair dye so that Maxwell can cover up her grays.

“She complains about the food, the bedding, when they cancel temple because of bad weather or are late setting up her legal calls,” a source revealed. “The latest battle is over hair dye. Maxwell hates her gray showing through and she’s filed a grievance because they don’t sell it anymore. When she did her video interview with British TV she paid another inmate $200 for the dye.”

Epstein’s partner in crime is also peeved with the lack of vegan meal options and a “rude” laundry lady she apparently has beef with. According to the source, Maxwell’s Big “Speak To The Manager” Energy is all part of her plan to get reassigned. Despite having it easy in the Florida facility, Maxwell hopes that by constantly complaining to prison officials, she’ll cause such a headache that they’ll have no choice but to move her elsewhere.

Let’s hope it’s somewhere even less accommodating.

(Via RawStory)

Taurean Prince will join the list of wing free agents looking for a new deal this summer after the Minnesota Timberwolves officially waived his non-guaranteed deal for next year.

Minnesota had to make a decision on Prince’s $7.4 million contract and chose to let him go to free up their mid-level this summer to try and make a roster upgrade, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Prince tweeted that he, like the rest of us, learned about this via Wojnarowski.

Prince averaged 9.1 points per game for Minnesota last year, with his primary value being as a catch-and-shoot threat on the perimeter. Prince knocked down 38.1 percent of his threes last season for the Wolves on nearly 4 attempts per game. While not the defensive presence some of the other wings on the market are, Prince figures to Garner interest at the taxpayer mid-level for contenders looking to add some shooting to their bench rotation.

Prince may have to wait out what happens with players like Josh Hart, Bruce Brown, Donte DiVincenzo, and others on the wing market before finding his next home. As for the Wolves, they have to figure out how to upgrade their roster with little in the way of space. Waiving Prince opens up the full $12.4 million non-taxpayer mid-level, putting them in the running for some of the better mid-tier free agents to try and improve on last year’s squad that got the 8-seed.

Earlier today, it was reported that Madonna had been hospitalized in New York City. According to Page Six, the singer had been rushed to the hospital after being found unresponsive. Although she had to be intubated for one night, it was revealed that she’s currently recovering and alert, and she’s expected to make a full recovery.

According to Madonna’s longtime manager, Guy Oseary, the cause of all this was a bacterial infection. As he wrote on Instagram, “On Saturday, June 24, Madonna developed a serious bacterial infection which led to a several-day stay in the ICU. Her health is improving, however, she is still under medical care. A full recovery is expected.”

Unfortunately, due to her hospitalization, the kickoff of her upcoming Celebration Tour for the 40th anniversary of her career has been postponed. Oseary writes, “At this time, we will need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour. We will share more details with you as soon as we have them, including a new start date for the tour and for rescheduled shows.”

The tour, which was to feature Bob The Drag Queen as an opener in protest of a slate of Republican-led anti-drag/anti-trans laws, was originally scheduled to begin on July 15 in Vancouver and run through December 1 in Amsterdam.

Anxiety is weird. Not weird in a funny way but more like weird in a terrifying ‘am I dying or am I just having an anxiety attack‘ kind of way. Our brains are powerful things and can make our bodies have physiological responses to stress, anxiety and depression. One of those annoyingly terrifying symptoms are heart palpitations which can feel like your heart is beating too fast, skipping a beat or rolling around in your chest.

When our hearts do something funky that make us acutely aware of its existence, the immediate thought is usually you’re having a heart attack. Which can lead to more anxiety, thus more heart flip flops. It becomes a vicious cycle until you either get it checked out or it stops on its own because your brain decides to do you a solid and let you forget your heart was being weird five minutes ago.

It is really very interesting to know your brain has that much power over what your body does when you’re just sitting there existing. But for those that experience the unwelcome excitement of anxiety related heart palpitations, there’s a neat trick to get your heart back to feeling normal.

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Jesse Katches posted a video to TikTok revealing a unique way in controlling heart palpitations brought on by anxiety. In the video Katches plays someone having heart palpitations and the person who supposedly called an ambulance due to his own palpitations which resulted in a paramedic teaching him the neat trick.

Katches tells the other person to clasp their hands together but leave out their thumbs and blow, before explaining how the trick works. He says there’s a nerve running down the middle of your body that helps control your heartbeat, stimulating the nerve can sort of tell your heart to chill out. It’s fascinating and a trick to keep in your pocket if you experience this symptom.

Watch the full video below:

@jessekatches1

Anxiety heart palpitations 😬🫀 #mentalhealth #anxietyrelief

Pregnant workers should have an easier time getting a drink of water, wearing a uniform that fits, and being allowed to work from home thanks to a new law. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) ensures that pregnant workers get reasonable accommodations in the workplace without fear of being fired or retaliation.

The PWFA was passed as part of the $1.7 trillion government funding bill.

“At long last, pregnant workers can no longer be forced off the job for needing light-duty work or a stool to sit on to maintain a healthy pregnancy,” said Dina Bakst, co-founder and co-president of A Better Balance. “Working moms no longer have to fear job loss for needing time off to recover from childbirth safely. No longer will women nationwide face the impossible choice between maintaining a healthy pregnancy and affording food for their families.”

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The law is a landmark case for women’s rights because 72% of all working women will become pregnant at some point in their careers. Further, 8 in 10 first-time pregnant women will work until their final month of pregnancy. To offer “reasonable accommodations” for women 8 months pregnant is the least employers can do.

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Under the new law, a pregnant worker can go to their employer and ask for a “reasonable” accommodation, and they discuss whether it can be granted. If the employer doesn’t approve the request, the pregnant employee can file a challenge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Currently, the law doesn’t provide any hard-set rules for accommodations. But by the end of the year, the EEOC will announce a list of accommodations subject to public comment.

Examples of “reasonable accommodations” include:

• Light duty, or help with manual labor and lifting
• Changing food or drink policies to allow a worker to have a water bottle or food
• Changing a uniform or dress code, like allowing wearing maternity pants
• Changing a work schedule, like having shorter work hours or a later start time to accommodate morning sickness
• Flexible scheduling for prenatal or postnatal appointments
• Remote work or telework
• Time off for bed rest, recovery from childbirth, postpartum depression, and mastitis

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The law is essential for women’s rights, but it also clarifies the 2015 Young vs. UPS Supreme Court decision. Peggy Young was a pregnant UPS worker whose doctor said she shouldn’t lift more than 20 pounds. UPS told Young that if she couldn’t lift 70 pounds, she’d be placed on leave without pay. The Court sided with Young, but the decision left employers unclear about the rights of pregnant employees. The legal gray area allowed workers to take their employers to court.

“We believe it is going to reduce the chances for that type of litigation and provide clarity to employers about what their obligations are,” said Marc Freedman, vice president of workplace policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Our expectation is that a high majority of these requests for accommodation will lead to employers and employees finding a way to work things out.”

Remember the wholesome, joy-filled days of singing families a la The Brady Bunch or the The Osmunds? Well, the Sharpe Family Singers might have just incited a comeback.

Hailing from New Jersey, the vocal group is made up of mom and dad Ron and Barbra along with their four kids: Samantha, Logan and twins (yes, twins) Connor and Aidan.

The Sharpe’s already have a huge following on TikTok and Youtube, where they go all out to perform covers of well known pop songs. We’re talking full costumes and everything. Each video is a cheesy, harmony-filled masterpiece.

And now, after their mesmerizing audition for “America’s Got Talent” on June 27, it looks like they’re gonna have even more loyal fans.

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Even before signing, the Sharpes stole the hearts of judges with their sweet story. Ron and Barbra had actually met on the very same “AGT” stage years ago, where they shared their first kiss in a show. As Howie Mandel joked, things went “from production to reproduction,” hence their four children.

What’s more, Ron told the audience that each kid grew up actually wanting to be part of the group. “Hey if you wanna hang out with your parents, that’s pretty cool.” How cute is that?

Then they proceed to blow the roof off the place with a cover of “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s “Moana.”

Behold:

While eldest child Samantha (who had auditioned for “American Idol” back in 2021) had an impressive solo, the entire family unit was incredible to watch…so sayeth folks from the Youtube comments.

One person wrote, “That was everything that song needed to be. Thank you! Great energy, beautiful harmonies, and really fun and uplifting.From the beautiful earthy warm honey tones of the young man’s first solo line, the compelling solos of the oldest sister to the twins at the end, they sold that song and created magic for the audience.”

The sentiment was shared by the judges, from Simon Cowell who called the act “as American as apple pie” to Heidi Klum who told the Sharpes “I would love nothing more than to do this with my entire family.”

It’s clear that what’s even more inspiring about this family than their god given talent is how much pure joy they have performing with one another. And if you’re jonesing for more Sharpe family content, you can find it here and here.