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Parents, do you think your child would be able to survive if they were transported back to the ’70s or ’80s? Could they live at a time before the digital revolution put a huge chunk of our lives online?

These days, everyone has a phone in their pocket, but before then, if you were in public and needed to call someone, you used a pay phone. Can you remember the last time you stuck 50 cents into one and grabbed the grubby handset?

According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, roughly 100,000 pay phones remain in the U.S., down from 2 million in 1999.

Do you think a 10-year-old kid would have any idea how to use a payphone in 2022? Would they be able to use a Thomas Guide map to find out how to get somewhere? If they stepped into a time warp and wound up in 1975, could they throw a Led Zeppelin album on the record player at a party?

Another big difference between now and life in the ’70s and ’80s has been public attitudes toward smoking cigarettes. In 1965, 42.4% of Americans smoked and now, it’s just 12.5%. This sea change in public opinion about smoking means there are fewer places where smoking is deemed acceptable.

But in the early ’80s, you could smoke on a bus, on a plane, in a movie theater, in restaurants, in the classroom and even in hospitals. How would a child of today react if their third grade teacher lit up a heater in the middle of math class?

Dan Wuori, senior director of early learning at the Hunt Institute, tweeted that his high school had a smoking area “for the kids.” He then asked his followers to share “something you experienced as a kid that would blow your children’s minds.”

A lot of folks responded with stories of how ubiquitous smoking was when they were in school. While others explained that life was perilous for a kid, whether it was the school playground equipment or questionable car seats.

Here are a few responses that’ll show today’s kids just how crazy life used to be in the ’70s and ’80s.

First of all, let’s talk about smoking.

u201cMy high school had a smoking area. For the kids. Whatu2019s something you experienced as a kid that would blow your childrenu2019s minds?u201d

— Dan Wuori (@Dan Wuori)
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Mine too. Up until my senior year. Also, my biology teacher smoked in the classroom. We used to tell time by how many cigarettes she had in her ashtray.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) April 24, 2022

We made clay ashtrays as gifts for Mother’s Day…whether moms smoked or not!😂

— Mark (@coach_mark1) April 24, 2022

We had a smoking room IN our high school. We also had cadet training and a shooting range in the basement of the school. We had Latin as an option and could drop math in Grade 10! Also in the « good old days »: we could smoke in class at Carleton, at the movies and on airplanes.

— 🇨🇦Jacques Leger🇺🇸 (@jacquesleger17) April 24, 2022

I grew up in a rural area. It wasn’t unheard of for guys to have a shotgun in a gun rack in their trucks, parked at school. Could also carry large knives and openly chew tobacco in school. They don’t allow any of this now, which is good.

— High Plains Grifter (@Too_Grizzled) April 24, 2022

Want to call someone? Need to get picked up from baseball practice? You can’t text mom or dad, you’ll have to grab a quarter and use a pay phone.

My high school had pay phones.

— Mark Angres (@AngresMark) April 24, 2022

Using a pay phone that was outside the school gym to call my parents for a ride home from practice. But calling collect and saying “pick me up” and hanging up before getting charged. 😂

— Stacy Kratochvil 💟 (@StacyKratochvil) April 24, 2022

People had little regard for their kids’ safety or health.

I slept in the back window of the car when the family went on vacation!

— CJFuemmeler (@fuemmelercj) April 24, 2022

We stared Death in the eye every day. pic.twitter.com/zWHh5bvUym

— Ed Lettis 🌻 (@edbobgreen) April 24, 2022

Car seats that just hung over the front seat. Hang on, kid! pic.twitter.com/2DdCoXhqmf

— Bluenoser Forever (@long17_de) April 24, 2022

I have heard stories of country schools in the 50s (which are now urban schools) having boys swim naked in PE (that’s just how they did it in the country). Van Horn High School in Independence MO.

I use this example any time people lament the changes from the “good ole days”.

— Matt Parker (@DrMattParker) April 24, 2022

Also, in Driver’s Ed. We warched this film, “Blood on the Highways.” 45 minutes of unedited film of fatal highway accidents. This was mostly before mandatory seatbelts. 45 years later, I remember the rear view mirror that split a guy’s skull, imbedded in his brain.

— some call me Tim 🇺🇦 🌻 MAT Elem. Educ. (@realtimaier) April 24, 2022

Large fry as your entire meal in middle school. It was the most popular item too. Literally as it sounds. Just a large basket of French fries for lunch.

— Monique (@LivAnotherDay) April 24, 2022

Truck with gun racks/rifles in the HS parking lot.
(DFW too not a small town) pic.twitter.com/RnWiKQwKB7

— FortWorthPlayboy (@FWPlayboy) April 24, 2022

You could buy a soda in school.

Vending machine in the cafeteria to buy sodaaaaa 🥤

— Anna Sutter (@AnnaMSutter) April 24, 2022

Things were a lot different before the internet.

If you wanted to listen to a particular song, you had to call the radio station (and hope you got through) and ask them to play it for you.

— Sarah (@sarahbschaefer) April 25, 2022

Remember pen pals?

I wrote letters regularly to a penpal from a different country and then saved them all in a shoebox. Then in college I flew to “meet” her for the 1st time to participate in her wedding ❤️ But now we connect on FB 😂

— Ms.Teach (@MidwestTeach14) April 24, 2022

A lot of people bemoan the fact that the children of today aren’t as tough as they were a few decades back. But that’s probably because the parents of today are better attuned to their kids’ needs so they don’t have to cheat death to make it through the day.

But just imagine how easy parenting would be if all you had to do was throw your kids a bag of Doritos and a Coke for lunch and you never worried about strapping them into a car seat?

Call it a rite of passage, a baptism by fire, or simply a necessary evil, but a terrible summer job is pretty much a staple of young adulthood. Those concert tickets aren’t gonna pay for themselves, after all.

Responsibility. Yay.

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Some summer jobs are heinous by the sheer amount of manual labor involved. Others are just plain weird. I remember one year working as a “live strolling table.” Yep, just walking around attached to an elaborately dressed table offering hors d’oeuvres and champagne. A human-furniture hybrid. How do you put that on a resume?

No matter the role, there is one thing all summer jobs have in common: They teach us humility in one way or another … especially once we see that first paycheck. There’s simply no way to prepare for seeing two weeks worth of hard work equate to a (usually) paltry sum. Hopefully that experience alone makes generous tippers of us all.

Jimmy Fallon recently asked people to share their own “funny, weird, or embarrassing story about a bad summer job” as part of his iconic #hashtags challenge.

Here are 15 that might make your own summer job memory feel a little less dreadful:

1.

“I planted trees for the US Forest Service one summer in HS. Our foreman would go through our lunches, eat our cookies and chips, and take bites out of our sandwiches. We were all about 15 so too afraid to tell.” – @dumpster_diva

2.

#WorstSummerJob My first ever Summer job was in a kitchen making large vats of custard. It was a lot of stirring and making sure I didn’t fall in! I did so well that after 3 weeks I was promoted to making large vats of …. gravy! pic.twitter.com/isfexgmk1d

— Victoria Miller (@Optimist_Eeyore) June 7, 2022

3.

“One summer I worked at Taco Bell during lunch and Furr’s cafeteria during dinner. People would see me at both and ask if I was twins.” – @kerrikgray

4.

“As a young comedian I was hired to MC an event for a furniture store. The owner paid me 5 bucks for every time I would fake trip and fall on my way to the mic. He said he was a 3 stooges fan.” – @Brentfo4242

5.

“I applied for a job while in high school at a toy store. I called back days after the interview asking if they had any news for me. They told me I got the job, and they forgot to tell me. They had me scheduled for that day and was told ‘you’re late.’” – @RockerSam91

6.

“In high school, I worked at an insurance agency…let’s just say the bus ride to and from work was the best part of the job.” – @SharonZurcher

7.

“In high school I worked at a bounce house company. My first day working was an elementary school field day and the huge inflatable slide starting deflating and collapsing with kids at the top…angry parents staring at me like I had an answer for this at 16 years old.” – @calamari_carly

8.

“In middle school my friend and I got paid to fill, lick and seal about 500 envelopes with documents for a lawyer – a penny per envelope. 3 hours later, we asked for 2 cans of soda from his cooler. He said sure, and took $2 each from our pay. We made a dollar.” – @CameronFontana

9.

“I worked at a dog kennel. A guy brought in 2 dogs to stay a month. He told me to give a pill every morning to dog #1. So, I did for the month. When he returned, I brought out dog #1 and he said, ‘Hi, dog #2!’ My face turned so red. Oh, well. The dog survived.” – @TheTomeWebster

10.

“I babysat identical twin boys where one constantly screamed and got into mischief but potty trained early while the other was quiet, well behaved but always blowing out diapers. They never did anything ‘identical’. I’m shocked that I still wanted kids after that!” – @overbaughs

11.

“Worked at Crumbl in high school. One coworker had the exact same shifts as me, and she was a theater kid. Like MAJOR theater kid, was cracked out 24/7, randomly performing theater at work. I am not proud to say I memorized 10 Shakespeare monologues because of her.” – @itstherealmeboo

12.

“I held human hearts with a white cotton glove during open heart surgeries, so they didn’t ‘slip’.…No pressure! That’s why l am now a planetary medium and asteroid deflector. Much less stress.” – @rosamalvaceae

13.

“I worked for a local sweet corn farm. I had to sort the corn into boxes for their stands around the state or local grocery stores. It came off the truck onto a conveyor belt by the 1000s. I literally saw thousands of corn cobs in my dreams at night.” – @jdianemiller

14.

“In high school my mom got me a job working with the city to clean an island in the local lake that ducks lived on. Everyday I had to fight a duck, and everyday I needed a bandaid after getting bit by a duck. It was a nightmare and I still hate ducks 30 years later.” – @KingSergioS

15

“Hired at an amusement park for the summer, taking summer college classes at the same time…Show up for my 1st day to a supervisor who says ‘Oh, the girl who didn’t show up!’ Proceeds to show me the previous week’s schedule where I had 40 hours during my class time. He rolls his eyes when I explain and gives me every crappy task he can find….

…I left after the 2nd day, never picked up my check, but kept my employee ID & got in for free all summer!” – @trixiebelle47

Marvel’s new superhero show, Ms. Marvel, is out now on Disney Plus, introducing non-comic book fans to Kamala Khan, one of the medium’s most beloved new characters since Miles Morales. Fans who watched the show were treated to a brand-new song from Pakistani rapper, Eva B, who’s credited with being the nation’s first-ever female rapper. The song is called “Rozi” and is rapped entirely in Urdu; it’s about embracing your self-confidence despite what people may say — a poignant concept that reflects one of the show’s main themes.

Say what you want to about Disney and Marvel — they are massive corporate entities that exist for the sole purpose of making (a lot of) money, so they’ll never have the best track record with this stuff — but it’s pretty cool how they’d tried to highlight the backgrounds of their diverse new cast of heroes through the soundtracks of the projects featuring them. Like recruiting TDE and Kendrick Lamar to executive produce the soundtrack for Black Panther and 88rising to soundtrack Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, tapping a Pakistani rapper — especially a young woman whose struggles echo those of Kamala herself — expands the scope of possibilities for any number of people worldwide.

Because of certain cultural mores, Eva B was discouraged from pursuing her career, but was supported by a cousin. She still had to record music without access to a studio, recording on her phone and catching the attention of the head of Pakistan’s largest streaming platform. However, because of the political situation in Pakistan, she’s been unable to perform in public and must hide her true identity — ironically, just like a superhero.

Indian-American singer and composer Gingger Shankar, who helped write “Rozi,” said of the track in a statement, “The track is done in Urdu, which for a mainstream Marvel series to do is fantastic. I’ve always been a fan of Marvel, but if you had told me five years ago that we would be doing an Urdu hip-hop track with Pakistani and Indian influences for a Pakistani female superhero, I wouldn’t have believed it! ‘Rozi’ is an anthem for women’s empowerment and Eva B delivers. Eva and I worked on it through the pandemic between Los Angeles and Pakistan and are thrilled for folks to see its debut on Ms. Marvel.”

Listen to “Rozi” above and watch Ms. Marvel on Disney Plus.

Kelly Clarkson has carved out a space for herself in daytime television with The Kelly Clarkson Show, which she started hosting in 2019. (Perhaps the show will see increased popularity now that Ellen has officially ended its run.) Through it all, Clarkson has kept her musical roots front and center, partially with her “Kellyoke” segment, during which she covers popular songs.

On today’s episode, she went with The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Save Your Tears,” taking her rendition, as she often does, in a pop-rock direction more akin to the songs that define Clarkson’s own discography, like “Since U Been Gone” and “Behind These Hazel Eyes.”

Clarkson and Grande got to know each other better when they were both coaches on the most recent season of The Voice, the show’s 21st. During the season premiere, the two teamed up to duet on a cover of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” Neither Clarkson nor Grande will return to coach on the show’s next season, though, but taking their places are Camila Cabello (in her first season as a coach) and Gwen Stefani (who is returning for her sixth season).

Meanwhile, The Weeknd has historically been all over the “Kellyoke” segment: Clarkson sang “Take My Breath” on the show just a few months ago and previously delivered renditions of “Call Out My Name” and “Can’t Feel My Face.” The Weeknd also dropped a Clarkson/The 40-Year-Old Virgin reference on his 2009 song “Birthday Suit,” singing, “Girl, you already know the best damn part is / Get you on your back, wax you like Kelly Clarkson.”

Watch Clarkson sing “Save Your Tears” above.

Despite the commercial success and growing popularity, Jack Harlow, like many rappers, has found himself become the butt of many jokes especially after releasing his sophomore album Come Home The Kids Miss You and admitting he did not know Brandy and Ray J were siblings. One surprising aspect of the backlash is the demographic of people who not only loudly support him, but defend him from it — Black women. The Louisville rapper is well aware of his avengers and vocalized his love for them in a recent interview in Teen Vogue.

“Black women are such a massive part of my career,” Harlow said. He continued, “They’ll never have to worry about not being credited by me. I mean, I look out at my shows and I see them. It’s one thing when you see the memes and you hear people talking about it, but it’s another when you travel the country and you see them all over the place. I love Black women. I’ve loved Black women my whole life.”

This isn’t Harlow’s first public display of adoration toward Black women, as his debut album, That’s What They All Say featured one on the cover. It remains to be seen whether the Clubhouse inhabitants will create a room to discuss this quote like they did when the cover art dropped in 2020. In any event, Harlow is proudly doubling down on his admiration.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

In case you missed the news, Blxst has a new album out. It’s called Before You Go, and it continues his streak of winning rap&B-style West Coast love songs. You’d be forgiven if you didn’t notice the release; Blxst is a pretty low-key guy, releasing his music independently in partnership with Red Bull Music. To catch the latecomers up to speed, though, Blxst’s kept up a steady stream of smooth singles, including “About You,” “Sometimes” with Zacari, “Every Good Girl,” “Never Was Wrong,” and now, “Be Forreal,” for which he released a bittersweet video today.

The video follows the overall theme of the album; Blxst is in love and loves it, but he’s also got a dream to chase. You just can’t have it all. In the video, this plays out via a string of opulent shopping sprees for his boo, resulting in a brand new car with a bow on it, an armload of shopping bags, and sultry nights in with his paramour. It culminates, however, in her waking up alone to note on her pillow while Blxst boards a plane to the tune of another Before You Go cut, “Fake Love In LA” featuring Arin Ray.

Next month, Blxst will continue promoting his new album with a 46-date tour around the globe with stops in the UK, Germany, and Australia in addition to the usual coast-to-coast US venues. Check out his “Be Forreal” video above and stream the full album here.

After Abbott Elementary became a surprise hit, it only makes sense that the creator and star of the show, Quinta Brunson, has begun turning up in other projects. Though an upcoming guest spot was recently spoiled by Adam Scott by mistake, which is a very Adam Scott thing to have happened.

While interviewing each other for the Variety’s Actors On Actors series, Brunson and Scott were paired together, and Brunson mentioned she was ‘so excited’ for her upcoming guest spot, which hadn’t actually been announced at the time (the interview took place in April). “But that was announced, right? We can say it — you’re guest-starring on Party Down.” Brunson added, “I don’t think that was announced.” It was…not announced. But now it is!

Brunson will guest star in the upcoming Party Down revival, alongside original cast members Scott, Jane Lynch, Ken Marino, Martin Starr, Ryan Hansen, and Megan Mullally. The show follows a group of misfits at a catering company in LA. The series initially lasted two seasons but gained a cult following in the years since.

The revival will consist of six episodes and will air on Starz. Brunson will play Jaff, a “sharp, calculating agent” to Hansen’s self-obsessed actor character, Kyle Bradway. The full conversation between Brunson and Scott will be published online on June 19th.

While there is no premiere date for the revival, a slew of other guest stars have been announced, including Jennifer Garner, Tyrel Jackson Williams, Zoe Chao, and James Marsden. Are we having fun yet?!

Yes, yes we are.

(Via Variety)

The first episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia aired on FX on August 4, 2005. What else was happening in August 2005? “We Belong Together” by Mariah Carey was at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart; The Dukes of Hazzard was the highest-grossing movie at the box office; and The Gang didn’t include Danny DeVito (yet).

A lot has change over those 17 years (and a record-breaking 15 seasons), but Sunny has remained consistently excellent the entire time. Even star and co-creator Rob McElhenney seems impressed by how long his show has managed to remain relevant.

“This World Cup will be the 5th World Cup played since we started Sunny,” McElhenney tweeted. In a follow-up tweet, he added, “There have been 5 Presidential terms in the United States since we started Sunny.” The World Cups have been held in Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, and this year’s in Qatar (this is important for a guy who owns a soccer team), while Sunny premiered during George W. Bush’s second term and continued through the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.

Even if Biden wins a second term, Sunny will still probably outlast his administration.

Meanwhile, The Simpsons premiered the same year that George H. W. Bush took office (and if you include the shorts, during the Ronald Reagan era). Sunny has catching up to do.

While love can move mountains, it can also make one feel like they are on top of one. However, as the old saying goes, “The higher they are, the harder they fall” and lost love can send a person right back to the base in a painful manner. Blondshell, real name Sabrina Teitelbaum, captures this narrative in her debut single “Olympus.”

Blondshell sings with a worn-out, pessimistic tone, conveying the internal turmoil she is facing as an acoustic and electric guitar strum in the background. “I wanna save myself, you’re part of my addiction / I just keep you in the kitchen while I burn.” The record crescendoes in the bridge, with the singer full-on screaming out “I’m afraid of your description that I don’t fit in when I’m faded” before lowering to near a whisper. Blondshell’s self-loathing continues with the line “Hate myself ’cause I always blackout.”

Blondshell revels in being true to herself and facing every experience in her life head-on, singing openly about getting saved and accepting her queer identity. Coming out the gate with such vulnerability and structure also stems from the time she spent working with producer Yves Rothman who has contributed to music from Nasty Cherry, Yves Tumor and Porches.

Listen to her Blondshell’s single “Olympus” above.

Despite Matthew McConaughey delivering a powerful and emotional speech calling for bipartisan, common-sense gun laws following the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, it was back to politics as usual as Republicans quickly began to attack the actor for daring to suggest even the slightest restrictions on gun ownership. Well, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn isn’t having it.

While piggybacking on a tweet from iconic Star Trek actor George Takei, Gunn slammed right-wingers for trying to distract from McConaughey’s urgent message by calling him a hypocrite for starring in movies with guns.

“I think their point is, ‘Look over there!! Hollywood!’” Gunn tweeted. “There are violent stories & video games in most every country in the world. But only in the US is it harder to sell a donut than a gun. Stop conflating fictional guns in movies with common sense gun legislation.”

The Suicide Squad director was just getting warmed up. Gunn expanded on his initial tweet by swatting down conservatives who were attempting to use the accidental shooting on the set of Rust as some sort of “Gotcha!”

“Rust, a case of mind-boggling incompetence on nearly everyone’s part, resulted in the only death from a firearm on a set in years,” Gunn tweeted. “The film industry leapt to make sets safer through increased regulations. Over 1500 children & adults have died from US mass shootings since 2009.”

Gunn wrapped up his thread by pointing out the hilarious and dangerous reality of a statistic tossed out by one Twitter user that 60 percent of gun owners are trained to handle specific firearms.

“As if we’d be proud of, ‘Over 60% of drivers received training before getting on the highway’ or ‘Over 60% of surgeons have gone to medical school’ or ‘Over 60% of airline pilots have flown a plane at least once,’” Gunn wrote.

While Gunn did an expert job shutting down right-wing attacks on McConaughey, unfortunately, these exchanges mark an unfortunate return to how these situations routinely play out following a mass shooting. Good on McConaughey for trying to break through the noise and push for something to actually happen this time around, but judging by the reactions, Republicans still seems hesitant to anger their gun-loving base.

(Via James Gunn on Twitter)