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Long before Pixar’s “UP,” adults and children alike imagined what it would feel like to be carried away by a bunch of helium balloons. How many balloons would it take to actually lift a person off the ground?

Scientists have made those calculations, of course, but now the average person can personally experience what it’s like to fly by helium. All it takes is 60 euros, a reasonable tolerance of heights and a trip to Écausseville, France.

The small town in the Normandy region of northwestern France is home to the Aéroplume, a helium-filled blimp that allows adults and children over 7 years of age to live the dream of helium balloon flight.

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The Aéroplume holds just one person, who gets attached to the balloon with a harness. It also includes wings you can flap to move around using just the strength of your arms.

Unfortunately, you can’t fly away into the clouds like the house in “UP,” as the Aéroplume is housed indoors in an old military hangar that was used to hold a blimp. Within that space, flyers can flap their wings and move around at 5 to 8 km/h (around 3 to 8 mph), experiencing flight in a way that few humans ever have.

YouTube star Tom Scott shared his experience trying out the Aéroplume and his childlike joy is delightful to watch.

More than 10,000 flights and zero accidents? Impressive.

The 60 euro cost gets you 30 minutes in the hangar, with 20 minutes of actual flight time and 10 minutes for lift and steering instruction and for getting in and out of the harness.

If you find yourself in France, consider adding the Aéroplume to your itinerary and make all your childhood flying dreams come true.

ESPN’s NBA studio analyst crew will be getting a fresh perspective from one of the best coaches in all of basketball this year, as Becky Hammon was announced as the four-letter’s latest hire at the ESPNW Summit, making her debut next month.

Hammon is fresh off a WNBA championship winning season with the Las Vegas Aces in her first year as a head coach in the WNBA, where she opened up the talented Aces offensively by encouraging more three-pointers, which brought out the best in players like Kelsey Plum, and created more space for A’ja Wilson to take home another MVP award. In the playoffs, her after timeout play prowess was on full display, as the Aces were nearly unstoppable in late game situations when they had a chance to draw something up in the huddle.

Hammon arrived in Vegas after a number of years on the bench with Gregg Popovich in San Antonio, and will bring plenty of unique insight from being both a former player and a coach to ESPN’s studio crew. Her ability to break down action and provide the coaching perspective will be a welcome addition to ESPN’s NBA programming, and it’s a good job by the network to identify an opportunity to make their coverage of the league better.

Monthly rising talent showcase TheBasement returned this Tuesday (November 1) after its June show with a stacked lineup of newcomers for fans to check out at Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in Los Angeles. The show, which previously featured GoGo Morrow, who’s now on tour with Flo Milli, and KenTheMan, an emerging talent from the Houston rap scene who recently appeared in BET’s Hip-Hop Awards Cypher.

This month, the lineup included rising stars like Farrah Fawx, Lola Brooke, Marzz, Rini, and LA native Zoe Osama. There’s more information on each below.

Farrah Fawx

Hailing from Virginia, Fawx combines upbeat dance music with brassy rap. “I’m from Virginia so ‘Dollar Bamboos’ is me paying homage to the sounds I grew up inspired by, specifically Timbaland and Missy Elliott,” she explains. “I wanted to create something that was absurd, but also just a feel good song.”

Lola Brooke

Lola Brooke is a brash Brooklyn native who has embraced the drill sound and delivers her bars with a conversational but forceful tone that ups the energy to unique levels. “‘Don’t Play With It’ is a call to action,” she says. “If you’re feeling overlooked, this the one for you. How I was feeling , listening to a lot of music out of Detroit, and the beat by Dizzy Banko inspired it. I want all my gators to know they shouldn’t be playing with you!”

Marzz

21-year-old Louisville singer Marzz has been garnering attention for her 2021 single “Countless Times.” The song, she says, “represents the courage, self-love, and accountability to love yourself and put your first but still love them form a distance and learn to grow with or without them.

Rini

“My latest single ‘Haunt Me’ definitely represents a different side of me that I haven’t fully expressed in my previous music,” says the Australian-born R&B singer, who previously appeared on UPROXX Sessions. “From the producers/writers I got to work with on this track, to the music video concept, ‘Haunt Me’ highlights the growth and experimentation in my artistry coming into my next project. I want to bring fans along my journey as I continue to develop myself with my music, and I hope this gets people excited about what is to come.”

Zoe Osama

Zoe Osama feels “Underrated” now, but if he has his way, that won’t be the case for long. Of his first TheBasement performance, he’s “excited to showcase my art and talent. ‘Underrated’ is the hottest song in LA all 2022 and I’m excited to be given the opportunity to rock out with y’all and showcase my skills and art.”

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

Mau y Ricky released a new live video for their latest hit “Llorar y Llorar” on Monday (October 31). The Venezuelan superstars surprised an audience in Mexico City with a pop-up performance featuring local singer Carin León.

Mau y Ricky are the sons of Argentine pop icon Ricardo Montaner. Since breaking out in 2018 with “Mi Mala,” the brothers have become stars in their own right. In the past few years, they have collaborated with artists like Karol G, Becky G, and Leslie Grace. “Llorar y Llorar” marks their first song in the regional Mexican music genre with León.

Mau y Ricky first released “Llorar y Llorar” back in May. Their heart-wrenching duet with León has become one of their biggest hits. On Spotify, the song has amassed over 58 million streams. The original music video that features them in a bar León has over 49 million views on YouTube.

Back in July, Mau y Ricky did an impromptu performance of the song in Mexico City. The duo showed up announced to Alameda Central Park with a live band and León. As soon as Mau y Ricky started playing the song, the park became flooded with people trying to catch a glimpse of their performance. They finally released the video of that moving performance to YouTube for the world to enjoy.

“Llorar y Llorar” will be included in Mau y Ricky’s upcoming project Desgenerados. They will also appear in the upcoming Disney+ docuseries The Montaners alongside their father Ricardo and their brother-in-law, Colombian singer Camilo. The five-part series will start streaming on Disney+ on November 9.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are off to a hot start to the 2022-23 season, riding a 5-game winning streak since losing their opener in Toronto that has them in second in the East through two weeks of the season.

They have done so despite the absence of their All-Star point guard, Darius Garland, who left that opening night loss against the Raptors after being poked in the eye by Gary Trent Jr., suffering a laceration on his eyelid. Garland recently returned to the practice floor, but the team has been able to lean on their new backcourt star in Donovan Mitchell to lead the charge on their winning streak.

On Wednesday, the Cavs will have their All-Star duo back together when they face the Celtics in a big early season showdown between two of the East’s best.

That’s obviously good news for the Cavs, as Garland made the leap last year into bonafide stardom and having a player of that caliber on the floor is always helpful. It also is important for Garland and Mitchell to get as many reps early in the season together as possible considering the Cavs have designs on a deep playoff run, and to do that they’ll need those two to continue gaining comfort sharing the floor together.

Fast food brands can make some bone-headed mistakes sometimes. Whether we’re talking about Taco Bell ditching the Mexican Pizza only to bring it back or McDonald’s releasing a menu of hacks that you have to self-assemble (thereby negating the need for a special menu), sometimes fast food brands make moves that defy logic. On one hand, we get it, fast food brands need to continue to innovate to hold the attention of a hungry public that is flush with options, which is easier said than done. But fast food fans aren’t dumb, we’ll get excited for a Megan Thee Stallion Popeyes team-up if it results in a new version of the sandwich, and we’ll let Wendy’s ditch Vanilla Frostys to give us a flavor we’ve never tasted, but when a fast food brand tries to innovate without actually doing anything new (looking at you McDonald’s) it’s very easy to see through.

This brings us to Papa John’s new Shaq-A-Roni pizza.

A pizza brand teaming up with Shaquille O’Neal is a great idea — people love Shaq and there are a lot of opportunities to play on his fun-loving personality and immense size to offer something special and unique, like a fully-loaded pizza with all the toppings. But the Shaq-A-Roni isn’t that.

Described by Papa Johns as “an extra-large pizza made with Papa John’s fresh, never frozen, six-ingredient dough, covered with extra pepperoni and extra cheese, baked to perfection and cut into eight Shaq-sized slices,” the Shaq-A-Roni is simply an extra large pepperoni pizza. It’s not any bigger than Papa John’s regular extra large crust, both measure at 16-inches, there aren’t any more or fewer slices in this pie, and while there does (maybe!) seem to be more cheese and pepperoni than is typical, it’s not in an amount that you’ll actually notice.

But there has got to be more than to this pie right? We ordered a Shaq-A-Roni to find out.

Tasting Notes:

Turns out no, there isn’t any more to this pizza.

It doesn’t have a special box. It doesn’t look any different than a normal extra-large pepperoni from Papa John’s. It’s just a regular ass pizza.

On the bright side, between now and December 25th Papa Johns will donate $1 for every Shaq-A-Roni sold to the Papa John’s Foundation, which supports organizations working to provide hunger relief, reduce food waste, and provide grants to local organizations, which is dope, but also a little puzzling, considering Papa John’s isn’t sending money to some other charity, they’re sending it to their own.

Meaning they could totally do without you buying a Shaq-A-Roni… the whole thing just seems like a real missed opportunity. The pizza itself is delicious, of course it is, it’s a f*cking pepperoni pizza! But we bought it to review it, so here we go: Papa John’s dough is spongey and chewy with a hint of sweetness to it and a really nice mouthfeel.

The pepperoni has a nice level of spice which compliments the bright pizza sauce and creamy mozzarella. The slices are perfectly foldable, and it’s the ideal pizza for sharing with a group of people. All in all, it makes for a great option from Papa John’s.

The Bottom Line:

It’s a delicious pepperoni pizza, but we can’t help but think it could be so much more with the smallest amount of effort.

Find your nearest Papa John’s here.

Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico are now Mrs. and Mrs. Argentina and Puerto Rico. Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentín met at the 2020 Miss Grand International pageant, where they both competed, and started dating afterwards. “After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors to them on a special day,” they wrote in a joint Instagram post to announce that they got married on October 28th.

Varela, 26, and Valentín, 22, shared a reel that featured moments from their relationship alongside the announcement. The clip included footage of the duo kissing on a beach, standing outside the Marriage Bureau in San Juan, Puerto Rico, showing off their diamond rings next to a cake, flower petals spelling out “Te Amo” on a bed and “Marry Me” balloons from their engagement.

2020 Miss Grand International winner Abena Akuaba offered her congratulations to the happy couple, writing, “MGI brought together a beautiful union.” The Thailand-based pageant’s aim is to promote “the knowledge and understanding of mankind to campaign to stop war and violence,” while the winner must “must travel to continue the mission of resistance and stop war and violence.” If former contestants get married, even better.

You can watch Varela and Valentín’s Instagram reel below. Love isn’t dead.

(Via US Weekly)

Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.

Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet! We’ve got a small offering of just seven shoes this week, but despite the small numbers, this list is packing some pretty big-deal collaborations. Supreme and Nike as well as Balenciaga and Adidas have paired up to give us two highly anticipated drops that are sure to make someone’s sneaker of the year list.

Will these new collaborations make our end-of-the-year list? We’ll see.

Aside from the big team-ups, we have some strong selections from both Nike and New Balance but shockingly nothing out of Jordan Brand. Some dope Jordan drops are still slated for the upcoming weeks, so we haven’t heard the last from the brand this year. Let’s dive into this week’s seven best sneaker drops.

New Balance 550 Indigo Sea Salt/Rain Cloud Sea Salt

Ever since Aime Leon Dore made New Balance 550s dope, the brand has quietly been churning out colorways on a near-weekly basis. Those colorways typically follow a similar palette, white leather with colored panels but now New Balance is getting a bit adventurous with the silhouette with this week’s Indigo Sea Salt and Rain Cloud Sea Salt colorways.

The Indigo is bathed in blue tones while the Rain Cloud gets that classic New Balance greyscale look. Both are dope and show just how versatile the 550 silhouette is. Turns out it has a life beyond its classic white leather base build.

The New Balance 550 Indigo Sea Salt/Rain Cloud Sea Salt are out now for a retail price of $120. Pick up a pair at GOAT or Flight Club.

Nike Air Force 1 Low Color of the Month University Blue

Nike’s latest AF-1 colorway from their ‘Color of the Month’ series is this beautiful University Blue take on the classic sneaker. The sneaker’s entire upper is covered in University Blue as well as the outsole with a white wraparound swoosh, midsole, and laces. As is usually the case with AF-1s, the simpler the better!

The tongue reads “Anniversary Edition,” but other than that, it’s just a classic AF-1 build done up in a classic colorway.

The Nike Air Force 1 Low Color Of The Month is set to drop on November 3rd at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $150. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Supreme x Nike Air Max 98 TL

This week Supreme has given us a few good Nike collaborations, but let’s face it, the label isn’t really producing internet-breaking bangers anymore. Well.. this week might be different. The Nike Air Max 98 TL is Supreme’s best Nike collaboration of the year, easily. The sneaker features a mesh upper with synthetic leather overlays, a mesh tongue, and reflective accents across the swirling upper.

The sneaker features groovy Supreme branding at the hells and drops in four different colorways including pink, brown, white, and black.

The Supreme x Nike Air Max 98 TL is set to drop on November 3rd for an unannounced retail price. Pick up a pair via the Supreme webstore.

Adidas x Balenciaga Collection

The highly anticipated Adidas and Balenciaga collection drops tomorrow! The collection has been buzzed about for quite a while and see’s the three stripes taking on a few of Balenciaga’s sneaker and shoe silhouettes and the two brands teaming up for a corresponding apparel collection.

The sneakers in the collection include Balenciaga’s Triple S and Sock Runner which perfectly marries the two aesthetics of the brand. A distressed Stan Smith is expected to drop sometime early next year. It’s not a collaboration that’s for everyone, but for fans of high-fashion streetwear, this is quite possibly the best release of the year.

The Adidas Balenciaga Collection is set to drop on November 3rd for an unannounced price. Hit the Adidas CONFIRMED app to purchase pieces from the collection.

Nike SB Dunk Why So Sad?

Continuing what we’ve dubbed Nike’s Question Mark Collection (which includes the legendary What The Dunk?) is this week’s Why So Sad? Why So Sad? Is a mental health and suicide prevention campaign started by Scottish skater John Rattray and seeks to make sports a daily habit for people suffering from depression as exercise has been proven to be good for your mental health.

The sneaker features a wearaway Swoosh that fades with age from Coastal Blue to white and sports a Coastal Blue colorway with a Zoom Air unit, and a suede and nubuck leather upper. It’s a dope-looking sneaker that raises awareness for a noble cause.

The Nike SB Dunk Why So Sad? Is set to drop on November 4th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $120. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike Women’s Dunk High Cinnabar

Nike is dropping a new autumnal colorway for the Dunk High in women’s exclusive sizing this week. The sneaker features a premium leather upper in Sail with Cinnabar overlays, a leather tongue tag over a durable canvas tongue with metal eye stays. It adds a level of luxury to the high-top Dunk look.

The Nike Women’s Dunk High Cinnabar is set to drop on November 4th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $150. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

New Balance Made in USA 990v6

New Balance has spent most of 2022 refreshing the first three versions of its legendary 990 silhouette, but this week they’re finally going with a more updated model, version 6.

Featuring a premium suede and mesh upper with Fuel Cell foam and an ENCAP midsole, the v6 is the latest generation model of the 990 and is overall a bit sleeker than all the other previous versions. As with all MADE in USA 990s, this sneaker is bathed in a greyscale and white colorway with striking black accents.

The New Balance MADE in USA 990v6 is set to drop on November 4th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $199.99 in both Men’s and Women’s sizes. Pick up a pair at the New Balance webstore.

As Black Panther: Wakanda Forever gets ready to tackle the monumental task of building on the massive global success of the first film without the benefit of Chadwick Boseman anchoring the film, writer/director Ryan Coogler is opening up about the emotional journey that started with the shocking death of his lead actor. Fortunately, Coogler had a small, yet bittersweet advantage working in his favor. Grief was already a central theme of the original script as the film would have grappled with T’Challa dealing with the aftermath of his absence during the events of Avengers: Endgame.

Via Inverse:

“The tone was going to be similar,” Coogler says. “The character was going to be grieving the loss of time, you know, coming back after being gone for five years. As a man with so much responsibility to so many, coming back after a forced five years absence, that’s what the film was tackling. He was grieving time he couldn’t get back. Grief was a big part of it.”

Wakanda’s epic rivalry with Namor was already built into the script, which Coogler kept even as the story went through a major overhaul. “There were other characters, for sure, that we considered including,” Coogler said. “Namor was always there.”

But even with a central conflict still in play and a script already engineered to focus on grief, Coogler revealed last month that he almost quit the film business entirely after Boseman’s death. Ultimately, the director knew he had to press on.

“I was poring over a lot of our conversations that we had, towards what I realized was the end of his life,” Coogler told Entertainment Weekly. “I decided that it made more sense to keep going.”

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11.

(Via Inverse)

Dead To Me is a dark delight starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini as the unlikely best of friends who must deal with very morbid turns of events. Dead husbands and all the fallout that one can expect often come these ladies’ way. Cardellini is often the best part of every project that she takes on, but here, she’s an equal to Applegate, who revealed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in fall of 2021.

Applegate has recently been very upfront about the struggles of her condition, which has left her with mandatory walking sticks from here on out. This final season of the show was something that Applegate was adamant about doing, and as one can see, these ladies will not be relaxing next to the pool with a mai tai anytime soon. They could very well land behind bars, and Applegate’s Jen appears to be most in danger of this outcome. James Marsden has a talent for rising from the dead (see HBO’s Westworld), and we get to see his furious butt again in the above trailer. Let’s do this synopsis:

Jen (Christina Applegate) and Judy (Linda Cardellini) return, ready to risk their lives one last time for a friendship that’s above the law. In the aftermath of yet another hit and run, both women receive shocking news. When the FBI takes over Steve’s murder case, Jen is confronted with the dire consequences of taking a life, and Detective Perez (Diana Maria Riva) struggles to cover up her own complicity. Meanwhile, Judy faces her own existential crisis when her life is threatened by an unexpected force from her past and Ben (James Marsden) wrestles with his darkest demons. This season, no one’s future is guaranteed. Will Jen and Judy get away with their lives? And can they save each other?

Fingers crossed for more Caliban. You know with I’m talking about.

Dead To Me returns on November 17.