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How many of us have woken up next to someone and thought, “Who is that, and how did they get here?” Recently, a woman named Julie Johnson had that “how did they get here?” moment, but it was a little different … there wasn’t a strange person in her bed, it was a strange dog. (Some might argue this is a much better option.) Johnson and her husband Jimmy woke up spooning a dog that wasn’t theirs, and they understandably had no idea where the comfy pooch had come from!

“It is absolutely normal to wake up in our house with one of OUR dogs in the bed with us,” Johnson wrote in a Facebook post. “One small problem, THIS IS NOT OUR DOG, nor do we know how she got in our house.” Again, there are worse problems to have, but waking up to a strange dog in your bed is definitely cause for concern.

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Obviously the pup in her bed posed no real threat, as it was sleeping contentedly between the couple. A dog who wasn’t comfortable with people wouldn’t lay on your pillows like, “Don’t mind if I do,” that’s for sure. If a dog suddenly turned up in your bed though, you’d have to ask yourself, “Where did it come from?” Which is why Julie Johnson turned to Facebook to do some detective work. If anyone can find information quickly in a very slick way, it’s the fine people of the internet.

“This is the weirdest post I have ever had to make. Is this your dog? ,” she wrote on the post.

Now for the question that’s probably on everyone’s mind: How did they not notice a strange dog climbing into bed with them? Well, the Johnsons already have three dogs. When you already have a pet in the bed, feeling an animal in your bed isn’t going to feel particularly off.

“At first, we thought it was one of ours, but they rarely lay on the pillows! In pitch darkness, I just assumed it was. Wouldn’t we all? As daylight began to creep in through our curtains we realized we were snuggling with someone else’s dog.”

Johnson told multiple news outlets that her dogs usually bark at anything and everything, but they didn’t bark at the intruder pup. Clearly, they saw the interloper as a friend, not a foe.

Thankfully, Julie Johnson’s Facebook post got spread far enough, and they were able to locate the pup’s owners. “PUPDATE: Her name is Nala and her mom is on the way to get her. Good luck getting her out of my bed mam,” Johnson amended her original post.

Nala’s mom, Cris Hawkins, made her own Facebook post, telling of Nala’s nighttime exploits.

“Our overly friendly pup, Nala, has hit an all time record for ignoring personal space and added yet another trick to her long list of houdini acts,” she wrote. She slipped her collar yesterday while being walked, ran down the street to a neighbors house, somehow managed to get IN their house, and climbed into bed with them in the middle of the night. Side note: They live quite a few houses down so I’m using the term ‘neighbor’ loosely.”

Nala is back home with her moms, and both Johnson and Hawkins have been sharing the ways her story has spread. Recently, Nala and her moms got to go back to the Johnson house, but this time they were invited for a playdate! Johnson shared the video, saying “We also had a long talk to the four of them about asking permission before spend the night parties commence!”

Here’s to a new lifelong friendship!

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Overcoming communication challenges gave Bonker an empowered perspective. That strength and resolve came alive as she referenced Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search For Meaning” to illuminate the importance of forging one’s own path, before putting the concept into her own words.

“The freedom to choose our own way is our fundamental human right, and it is a right worth defending, not just for us, but for every human being.”

Being of service to others was another big component of Bonker’s speech. She provided pens to every student and asked them to write “life is for service” on a piece of their commencement program—a phrase created by the beloved Mister Rogers, their fellow alumni. She encouraged everyone to hold onto that message after graduation and use it to fuel their sense of purpose.

As for her own mission, Bonker’s dream is “communication for all.” That dream is fulfilled through her nonprofit organization, which works to provide other nonspeakers with helpful communication tools and education. She also shared her personal journey in her book “I Am in Here” to instill a sense of hope to anyone facing similar challenges.

There are several factors that might keep us from really speaking up and expressing ourselves, but Bonker’s speech beautifully captures why it’s a necessity not just for our own benefit, but to do more good in the world. Or as Bonker put it—to “be the light.”

“God gave you a voice. Use it.”

You can watch the full speech here:

When Selena Gomez hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend with Post Malone as the musical guest, Gomez embraced the role, doing a sneaky accurate Miley Cyrus impression during her monologue and even co-starring with the great Steve Martin in a sketch about inventing the Whoopie Cushion [insert fart noise here].

The actor and pop singer has been riding a high after a successful hosting stint (these days, as long as you don’t totally bomb, there’s a good chance you’ll be invited back someday) and took to TikTok to glow a bit. “How was snl? Iconic and I tried to be cool,” Gomez commented, on a video of her dancing in the SNL green room to Lizzo’s “About Damn Time.”

It didn’t take long for Lizzo, who’s a bit of a TikTok Queen herself, to have some fun with the video of Gomez. In a separate TikTok video, Lizzo superimposed herself doing the same dance moves as Gomez in front of the former’s video. It ends with both of them laughing at themselves (each other?) and Lizzo’s comment on the clip said simply “Collab? @Selena Gomez.”An elated Gomez, quickly replied to Lizzo’s post, saying “YES YES YES.” And that, is how we will someday (soon?) have a Lizzo and Selena Gomez collaboration track. Happy Monday.

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

Freddie Gibbs is well-known for being one of hip-hop’s top trolls, but it appears that his mischievous ways may have caught up to him recently. Fans on Twitter are convinced that Gibbs’ back-and-forth with Benny The Butcher escalated into a physical altercation ahead of Gibbs’ show Sunday night in Benny’s native Buffalo, New York. The evidence backing these claims is a series of photos posted to Twitter that seemingly depict Gibbs performing with swelling around his eyes — the type you might expect from someone who’d recently been in a fight (or stung by a bee, I suppose).

There have certainly been a number of tweets that purported to have seen the incident in question. One commenter claimed, “I just saw Freddie Gibbs get beat up and his chain took while I was eating in buffalo Ny.”

The feud appears to have begun — at least publicly — with Benny citing that the duo’s working relationship “came and went” during an interview with Spotify. Gibbs issued an ornery response on social media, saying, “Just keep my name out y’all mouth when y’all talking to people or doing interviews,” in a video on his oft-suspended Instagram. They have been trading barbs ever since. Incidentally, one of those barbs was Freddie inviting an unnamed critic to a “head-up fade.” If he really did have a run-in with Benny’s crew, it looks like that invite was officially turned down.

Before this, though, they seemed to enjoy an amicable working relationship, with Benny appearing on Gibbs’ 2020 album Alfredo (on the song “Frank Lucas“) and Freddie returning the favor on Benny’s own 2020 project Burden Of Proof.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Back in 2019, the fourth episode of the second season of the Black-ish spinoff Grown-ish featured the debut of Leikeli47’s video for “Tic Boom.” The lead-up to the video throughout the episode found the show’s cast preparing a watch party for a mystery artist’s video premiere, with the cast debating what makes a musical genius. The episode was an obvious reference to then-recent album premieres from the likes of Frank Ocean and Kanye West, who both got name-checked, along with Chief Keef, Drake, and Young Thug.

Then, one character makes an observation that seems obvious in hindsight but highlights an ongoing problem in pop culture – especially when it comes to hip-hop. Why are all the so-called “geniuses” men? Even now, in an era with more female rappers charting than ever before – from Cardi B and Doja Cat to Latto and Saweetie – somehow, female artists still seem to receive less attention and respect than their male counterparts. I was reminded of this over the past weekend, as my social feeds buzzed over Kendrick Lamar’s new album.

Less pronounced was the buzz for Leikeli47’s new album, Shape Up. The culmination of a beauty shop-themed trilogy including 2017’s Wash & Set and 2018’s Acrylic, on the surface, Shape Up also bears all the hallmarks of a work of rap genius. As part of a trilogy, the 14-track project comes with rich mythology of its own built by the masked rapper’s prior works. Leikeli has always defied convention, eschewing both contemporary and traditional hip-hop sounds to craft her own unique, dancefloor-ready take on the genre. She’s as informed by the drag ballroom scene as she is the trap house, with beats featuring influences from house, techno, and dancehall.

She’s also a superb rapper with one hell of a hook; taking a page from the book of the late, great MF DOOM, she has yet to make a public appearance without one of her signature face masks. She makes them herself out of bandanas and balaclavas, occasionally bedazzling or otherwise embellishing them. We don’t even know her real name; she’s like a modern-day hip-hop superhero, using her anonymity to put the focus squarely on the boundary-pushing, eclectic style she’s pioneering.

It’s hard to hear booming, confident jams like “Chitty Bang” and “LL Cool J” without wondering how they aren’t as ubiquitous as those of her female peers – let alone the breezy No. 1s accumulated by men like Drake, Future, and Jack Harlow. They’re every bit as catchy and transportive, every bit as relevant to the times, every bit as quotable and cocksure, with lines like “It’s all checks and balances, baby, the world is mine,” feeling just as much like potential Instagram captions as any of the catchphrases the above-mentioned names have offered recently.

And Leikeli can sing, too. I mean, legitimately sing, not that weird, atonal humming thing a lot of rappers have been doing in recent years. On “Done Right” and “Hold My Hand,” she switches to full-on R&B, offering tender reflections on romance and relationships minus the toxicity that’s marked the genre lately. Meanwhile, “BITM” and “Jay Walk” practically beg the listener to catwalk, strut, and vogue like it was the ball culture heyday of the late 1980s. And lest anyone doubt her rap skills, her storytelling takes the fore on “Free To Love,” while her wordplay shines on “Instant Classic.”

If this album — this consistency and cohesion in eclecticism, this total commitment to the presentation, is not the work of a genius, then the list of who all deserves such a title needs to get several dozen names shorter. If anything, the muted buzz of excitement leading up to this project’s release just proves that in hip-hop, eclecticism can be a disadvantage as much as a strength. Pushing the genre’s boundaries can earn an artist a lot of love from critics and fans, but it can just as easily take them too far beyond the margins for rap centrists who want the genre to remain the same as much as they want it to grow.

It also proves that hip-hop still has a long way to go in terms of truly including women in the conversation. Just recently, both Lil Wayne and Ja Rule admonished their peers and successors to acknowledge the contributions of women in hip-hop, with Wayne singling out Missy Elliott for her own innovative catalog. Incidentally, one of the names Leikeli47 is most often compared to is Missy (both are from Virginia, which may explain their sympathetic resonance with one another). Sometimes, it feels very much like we’ve failed the latter, who only recently began to receive flowers in the form of lifetime achievement awards and belated shout-outs from the rappers she’s inspired. The same can’t happen for Leikeli47. They say genius is never appreciated in its time, but today, we certainly have the opportunity to acknowledge her as the genius she’s already proven herself to be.

Shape Up is out now on RCA Records. Get it here.

The Phoenix Suns have entered their offseason earlier than expected after laying an egg in Game 7 of the West semis against the Mavs, getting thoroughly outplayed by Luka Doncic and company, who seemingly made the Suns quit on their home floor by halftime in a must-win game.

It was an astonishing thing to watch because the hallmark of the Suns for the past two years has been their fight and resiliency, only to fold almost immediately under the pressure applied by Dallas in the biggest game of their season thus far. While an impressive performance from Dallas that made it clear that they have grown from postseason heartbreak in recent years, it raises some questions about the Suns and where they stand going into this summer.

Another Finals run would’ve all but guaranteed the Suns run it back again, no matter the outcome, but with Chris Paul very suddenly looking old (to the delight of some like Patrick Beverley) and a weird situation involving Deandre Ayton and Monty Williams that saw the star big man play just 17 minutes in Game 7, that doesn’t seem assured.

The Suns brass will huddle up over the next month-plus to figure out their path forward, but with cap room tight, Ayton figures to be the decisive piece on how they will proceed. Ayton was not given the max extension his fellow Class of 2018 cohorts were, and he wasn’t happy about that but pressed on this season. For the Suns, they’ll have to decided whether to match a max offer or look to swing a deal for him (as just letting him walk doesn’t solve any cap issues). Bringing him back locks them into this group with little flexibility to make changes, but obviously this group has a high ceiling when everything is clicking. If they believe something needs to change, though, he is the only avenue to make significant upgrades elsewhere on the roster via a sign-and-trade.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski laid out those options and made clear that there wasn’t a world in which Ayton wasn’t getting a max this offseason, it’s just a matter of where he ends up. The Suns can match any offer sheet, but if they want to trade him, they’ll need to work with Ayton to find the place that best fits what he’s looking for in a team who can also offer something substantial in return for the Suns to get something out of the former No. 1 overall pick.

It is rather stunning that Ayton finds himself in this position given his growth into a very good big man and a crucial piece of a Finals team last year. Still, his inconsistency in effectiveness and impact on games was evident this postseason, and the Suns may view their biggest need as some more ball-handling and creation rather than a big man who needs others to get him involved offensively. Ayton still has room to grow, and if he taps into that remaining potential, he’ll be well worth a max, but Phoenix clearly has questions about whether he will take that extra step.

Other teams won’t be as worried about that, believing they can bring the rest of it out of him and seeing the potential two-way dominance as a welcome addition worthy of a max. While the list of teams that can clear max cap space is very small, there are far more that could put together the salaries necessary to bring him in on a sign-and-trade. One would expect the majority of those teams to reside in the East, given the presence of Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo, and other quality bigs.

When July 1 rolls around, we’ll start to learn where all parties involved stand, and it’s possible the West’s top-seed will see a major shakeup.

Disney and Pixar have started teasing details about their next surely beautiful to look at and emotional as heck animated feature, Elemental. Directed by Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur), the film will focus on characters named Ember and Wade in a city where residents representing the — you guessed it — four elements live together. According to Sohn, the film will pull heavily from his early years living in New York with his immigrant parents.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“My parents emigrated from Korea in the early 1970s and built a bustling grocery store in the Bronx. We were among many families who ventured to a new land with hopes and dreams — all of us mixing into one big salad bowl of cultures, languages and beautiful little neighborhoods. That’s what led me to Elemental,” the native New Yorker said in a statement.

You can check out Elemental concept art featuring the fiery young woman Ember and “go with the flow guy” Wade below:

Elemental is tentatively slated to hit theaters on June 23, 2023. We say tentatively because Pixar employees have been bummed to see films like Turning Red and Luca get shifted to Disney+ during the pandemic. Obviously, the situation was unavoidable, and they get why Disney made the call, but these artists were a little let down after working for years for what they thought was a theatrical release.

Hopefully, Elemental will have smoother sailing towards its theatrical release, both for the artists and crew involved in making it and for, like, the rest of society, too. Real win-win there.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn have been dating since 2016, and at this point, anything goes when it comes to each other’s careers, right? Well, that idea has been put to the test lately as Swift was on set for the filming of Hulu’s brand new TV series Conversations With Friends, where Alwyn stars as Nick, opposite Alison Oliver’s Frances. That means Swift was there to witness a number of sex scenes between Oliver and Alwyn too.

In a recent interview with The Times, Oliver talked about Swift’s presence on the set and said that she was ‘totally cool’ with the filming of the steamier moments between the co-stars and that she understands that the sex scenes are, “…part of Joe’s job, all part of the story.” The Times piece also acknowledges that there were “a whopping great number of sex scenes” in the show.

Conversations With Friends is based on a novel by Irish writer Sally Rooney. The last TV show that was based on one of Rooney’s novels, Normal People, was the most-streamed series in the BBC’s catalog in 2020. So for Alwyn, who appeared (albeit mysteriously) on Folklore, and has had past standout roles in movies like The Favourite and Mary Queen Of Scots, his profile is sure to be soaring. It’s good to see that Swift is being a supportive partner in the process, by all accounts.

Self-proclaimed “Minister of Culture” Matthew McConaughey wants YOU to know that you should NOT think of things as unbelievable, okay? You better believe them, because they happened!

In a seemingly unprompted speech, America’s favorite Texan tweeted out a video of himself giving the world a pep talk about the word “unbelievable” which he hopes to “wipe from the dictionary.” He also added the hashtag “#soulcash.” Sure!

Perhaps the actor has seen enough people talking about all of the unbelievably horrible stuff going on in the world and wanted to set the record straight…but in a way that nobody really asked for. We don’t know who he is talking to, or why he’s saying it. But he is. Here is what he says:

Unbelievable. It’s my least favorite word, I think we should wipe it out of the dictionary. Why? What’s so unbelievable about tragedy, about triumph, about people [ha!] that raise us up or let us down. It happens every single day we shouldn’t think that the most beautiful sunset or the greatest play or the greatest love of our life or the greatest moment of euphoria is unbelievable. Believe it! It’s happening right in front of you. In you! We shouldn’t feel like the greatest tragedy of death or earthquakes or national disasters or loss is unbelievable. It’s part of life too! Believe it. We see it every day. Unbelievable? I don’t buy it. Awesome, horrible, incredible. I believe those. That’s a good way to explain things. But unbelievable? Nah. It just happened. Believe it.

Nobody tell 90s alt-rock band EMF about this.

Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron recently tested positive for COVID-19, the timing of which wasn’t great (not that it ever is) since the band is currently on tour. For the first show he missed, an Oakland Arena concert on May 12, he was replaced by a combination of Richard Stuverud and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. That same duo filled in at the next day’s show at the same venue. That time, though, they were also joined by Kai Neukermans, an 18-year-old high school drummer who got to perform “Mind Your Manners” with the band.

Now, in a new SFGate feature, Neukermans describes the wild experience. It’s worth noting Neukermans isn’t some random high school kid, but an accomplished drummer: He’s in a band called The Alive and they’ve performed at some major festivals, like Lollapalooza Chile and Shaky Knees.

As for how Neukermans came to join Pearl Jam on stage, the story goes that after he heard Cameron had COVID, he reached out to Vedder’s 17-year-old daughter Olivia, who he knew from performing at Vedder’s Ohana Music Festival last year. She told him that Klinghoffer was filling in, but the next day, she said the band was taking submissions from drummers, telling him to film himself playing one of their songs.

He was in school when he got the text, so he bolted, headed to a studio, recorded himself playing “Mind Your Manners,” and not long after that, Pearl Jam’s manager called him and gave him the good news.

When it came time to take the stage for his big moment, Vedder introduced him by saying, “He hasn’t graduated high school yet. This is the year, right? Everybody, this is Kai. Kai, this is everybody!” Then, in front of about 20,000 people, Neukermans got behind the drum kit and didn’t miss a (literal) beat.

Neukermans told SFGate, “It was surreal, the amount of people that were there. The arena lit up and everyone was screaming.”

Watch Neukermans’ performance above and read the full SFGate feature here.