GoneTrending

When Tony Hernandez Pumarejo was a young child growing up in Puerto Rico in the early ‘90s, his family felt there was something “different” about him. At the age of three, when most children are uttering full sentences, Tony did not speak.

Tony’s family sought out more information regarding their son, but they received conflicting opinions about his condition. Teachers asserted that there wasn’t much hope for Tony’s future, with one telling his mother that he was “never going to do anything in life.”

“There was a lack of education, there is still to this day, especially in the Hispanic community, about autism,” Tony told Upworthy. “Stereotypes and other misconceptions are obstacles many families face in seeking answers, making it difficult to get the help and resources we need.”

Finally, Tony’s family found a doctor who diagnosed him with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The diagnosis was a huge relief for them because it meant he could finally get the correct therapies and enroll in special education classes.

According to Psychology Research and Behavior Management, early diagnosis and treatment with evidence-based interventions “can significantly improve the quality of life of individuals with ASD as well as of their caregivers and families,” as it lays a strong foundation for better outcomes and will help a child improve mentally, emotionally, physically, and socially.

---

via Tony Hernandez

After obtaining the proper diagnosis, Tony received speech therapy from the ages of four to eight, and over the course of his lifetime, received vital support and assistance from teachers and therapists.

“Getting the right therapies was crucial in improving my verbal skills. I still faced a number of challenges over the years, including struggles with social communication, short-term working memory, anxiety disorder, and building relationships,” he said, “but an early diagnosis made all the difference in my life.”

In 2012, at the age of 21, Tony moved to Florida where his mom was living.

Since then, Tony has excelled in academics and professionally. He graduated from Seminole State College with a bachelor’s degree in Business and Information Management with Magna Cum Laude honors.

MY GRADUATION FROM COLLEGE: DECEMBER 14TH 2016

www.youtube.com

Tony has worked in customer service for companies such as Sherwin Williams, Sam’s Club, and Home Depot and has been a tireless advocate for people with ASD for the past decade. He’s also regularly appeared on Univision Orlando for the past two years where he hosts a segment called “Tu Proposito” which in English translates to “Your Intention” and delves into the obstacles people on the spectrum regularly encounter and how they can rise above them.

See on Instagram

Additionally, Tony is an accomplished author who released his memoir, “An Autism Unscripted Life,” in 2018, which was translated into Spanish in 2019 as “Una Vida Autista Sin Libreto.” In his free time, Tony loves to go hiking, explore new places, attend church, and exercise. He is currently working on putting together a 1,000-piece “Star Wars” puzzle.

Tony now works full time for Autism Speaks, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the needs of individuals with autism and their families, as a member of their Autism Response Team where he helps to support people with ASD and their families.

Although it probably seemed impossible at the time, the young kid in Puerto Rico who had a hard time finding his words would flourish into an in-demand public speaker in both English and Spanish. Tony regularly does presentations for schools, businesses, and other community organizations on the topics of autism, disability rights, and neurodiversity.

He believes that being diagnosed early played a huge role in his success.

“I was fortunate to have been able to get an early diagnosis. It led me to getting the support I needed to overcome challenges in the early years of development in my life,” Tony told Upworthy.

Learning that your child has ASD can be daunting at first. However, there is nothing more fulfilling as a parent, than to experience and support your child in reaching their full potential.

“An autism diagnosis can trigger feelings of panic and uncertainty for many families,” Tony told Upworthy, “but it is important for parents to take a deep breath and focus on the next steps to take to help their child achieve a better life.”

Tony lives by a simple, but powerful motto, “Each person has a purpose in this world. Never give up on achieving your dreams.”

If you have questions about your child’s development, Autism Speaks offers access to a free Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT-R) test on its website. The test can help assess whether your child needs further evaluation, bringing them one step closer to unlocking their full potential and realizing their dreams.

While no one ever wants to kick a man when he’s really down—or witness someone else do it—all bets are off when it comes to Rudy Giuliani, who has been in a permanently prostrate position for some time now… beginning at the exact moment the former New York City Mayor decided to become the world’s loudest cheerleader for Donald Trump and The Big Lie.

As if being sued for $1.3 billion by Dominion Voting Systems—a sum that would take him 4 million Cameo videos to pay off—weren’t bad enough, the man who was formerly known as “America’s Mayor” and was named TIME’s Person of the Year in 2001, has become a cautionary tale for bad actors in politics. As Mediaite reports, this default disdain was on full display on the House floor on Wednesday, where members voted to hold former Trump aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in contempt for defying subpoenas sent to them by the January 6th House Select Committee (yep, the same event where Marjorie Taylor Greene attempted to heckle Jamie Raskin, only to feel his wrath). But Giuliani inadvertently became the bigger story when Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice-chair, just casually torched him from the House floor like he was a Fox News Christmas tree to make a point about the ridiculousness of Trump & co.’s stolen election claims:

“The election claims made by Donald Trump were so frivolous and so unfounded that the president’s lead lawyer did not just lose these cases, he lost his license to practice law.

“The New York Supreme Court found, quote, ‘There is uncontroverted evidence that Mr. Giuliani communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers, and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020.’”

Cheney’s brutal takedown didn’t end with Giuliani, however. In her final remarks to her fellow lawmakers, she suggested that, “Those in this chamber who continue to embrace the former president and his dangerous and destructive lies ought to take a good hard look at themselves. At a moment of real danger to our republic, when the need for fidelity to our Constitution is paramount, they have abandoned their oaths in order to perform for Donald Trump. That will be their legacy.”

Meanwhile, Cheney’s ability to verbally eviscerate members of the MAGA crime family as nonchalantly as if she were ordering a latte at Starbucks will undoubtedly be remembered as part of her own legacy.

(Via Mediaite)

Last night, James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” segment returned to The Late Late Show after a two-year hiatus. Fans were elated to see Nicki Minaj as the first guest upon the segment’s return. During her slot, Minaj and Corden ran through her hits, including “Anaconda,” “Super Bass,” and “Starships.”

In true Minaj fashion, the rapper at one point spoke to Corden in a British accent, explaining that her music is “motivational speaking for the world.”

Corden tells her she sounds like Adele and asks if she’s seen the “Easy On Me” singer’s episode of “Carpool Karaoke” in which she raps Minaj’s verse of her Kanye West collaboration, “Monster.”

“I just loved it,” Minaj said of Adele’s 2016 segment. “She made me so, so happy. She embodied Nicki Minaj.”

The screen then cuts to Minaj rapping along to “Monster” as Adele’s 2016 clip appears on a split-screen. Corden and Minaj then proceed to sing Adele’s “Someone Like You,” Minaj showing off her vocal chops.

After bringing Adele’s “Monster” recreation full circle six years after the fact, Corden and Minaj rap along to Minaj’s collaboration with Coi Leray, “Blick Blick.”

“Pop up on an opp and watch it blick blick,” the two rap, before Minaj asks Corden “You have opps?” Corden replies “I don’t know what we’re talking about… what does opps mean? Opportunities?”

“Opposition,” Minaj explains. “Anybody that is opposing you in the world.”

Speaking of opps, Minaj revealed her struggles with anxiety, which, in part, is linked to criticism from her “opps” in real life.

“I don’t think it’s natural,” Minaj said. It’s not natural for a human being to always feel like everyone’s critiquing them. When I first came into the industry, I had this amazing sense of freedom, because nobody gave a sh*t about what I was doing. I could get away with doing anything and they’re just like, ‘Oh, haha! Nicki Minaj.’ And then it goes from that to the complete opposite where it’s like, if I blink my eye wrong, they’ll have a story made up about why I’ve blinked my eye that way.”

Later in the segment, Corden pulls out a clarinet from the backseat of the car. He asks Minaj, who played clarinet in middle school and high school, “Do you still got it?” Minaj then plays the theme to Jaws, and then the ad-libs to her 2018 hit “Chun Li.”

Check out the full video above.

People seem to have mixed feelings about Machine Gun Kelly: Mainstream Sellout is the No. 1 album in the country right now, but people often shake their heads at his and Megan Fox’s distinct approach to their relationship and their lives. Now Kelly has gotten to see first-hand what people think of him by donning a disguise and going undercover to interview people for a new Jimmy Kimmel Live! segment.

Kelly asked somebody how they feel about him and they responded, “Um, not a huge fan. I think his new direction is a little forced.” That person was also tasked with describing MGK in three words and they went with, “want-to-be emo, blonde…” As she was giving her answer, a guy off-camera, later revealed to be wearing a Spider-Man costume, recognized Kelly and gave away his real identity.

Elsewhere, somebody else noted, “I like his music. I find the whole blood-drinking thing a bit unusual.” When asked to offer a message for Kelly, she said, “Congratulations on the wedding, please don’t sacrifice a goat at it.”

It wasn’t all hate, though, as Kelly met up with a fan who he suspected recognized him. After the jig was up, the fan noted he jumped off a roof at a Kelly concert in Venice Beach. Kelly remembered the moment immediately as he excitedly replied, “Oh my god, you’re him?! Dude, you won MVP of that whole show.”

Check out the segment above.

Donald Trump has never had much of a filter when it comes to speaking with, well, anybody, so of course, he’s now telling people that he regrets not marching with the MAGA rioters who ended up storming the U.S. Capitol building in the January 6 insurrectionist attack. He also, as always, refuses to take the blame for anything and is blaming the disastrous day on Nancy Pelosi.

While sitting down for an interview with The Washington Post, Trump actually bragged that he deserved more credit for drawing such a huge crowd to Washington D.C., and that if it were up to him — which it was, because he was the president at the time — he would’ve been marching with them. “Secret Service said I couldn’t go. I would have gone there in a minute.”

Via Mediaite:

“The crowd was far bigger than I even thought. I believe it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. I don’t know what that means, but you see very few pictures. They don’t want to show pictures, the fake news doesn’t want to show pictures,” he said. “But this was a tremendous crowd.”

As for the crowd violence, naturally, that was also Nancy Pelosi’s fault and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser shared some of the blame, too, says the man who literally just bragged about enticing a massive mob to stop the 2020 election results from being certified.

“I thought it was a shame, and I kept asking why isn’t she doing something about it?” Trump said. “Why isn’t Nancy Pelosi doing something about it? And the mayor of D.C. also. The mayor of D.C. and Nancy Pelosi are in charge. I hated seeing it. I hated seeing it. And I said, ‘It’s got to be taken care of,’ and I assumed they were taking care of it.”

(Via Mediaite)

Before Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Jim Carrey had only starred in two sequels, one much better than the other: 1995’s Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (that’s the good one, including the funniest scene in movie history imo) and 2014’s Dumb and Dumber To (that’s the bad one). (Also, before you start yelling at me through your butt, something like Kick-Ass 2 doesn’t count, because he wasn’t in the original.) Carrey recently reprised his role as “Chip” from The Cable Guy in a Super Bowl commercial, but would he be interested in playing another one of his famous characters like Ace Ventura again?

Yes, but only if it’s directed by someone like blockbuster auteur Christopher Nolan.

“I think after the fact when there’s been a lot of years, unless some genius person, director, auteur comes to you with a completely new take on what’s going on, you know,” Carrey told E! News about a potential third Pet Detective movie. “If Chris Nolan came to me and said, ‘I want to make Ace Ventura real and I want to do something, you know, something more interesting…’ then I might listen. But for the most part, you know, after a certain time there’s not one cell in your body that is that person anymore so you end up just imitating what you did in the old days and the original inspiration isn’t there.”

There are more jokes in this one scene than in every Nolan movie combined:

That being said, I would love to see Nolan make a studio comedy. It would still be three hours long with a booming soundtrack and star Tom Hardy, except his dialogue would be so muffled that you wouldn’t understand any of the jokes. There’s real potential here.

(Via Comic Book)

Dana Margolin of Brighton’s Porridge Radio famously embraced the moniker of “the best band in the world,” assigned to them by noted British music journalist Everett True. It was a helluva way to make a statement upon the release of their 2020 Mercury Music Prize-nominated breakthrough album, Every Bad. Judge for yourself, but Margolin is undoubtedly an impassioned lyricist and the band crafts lasting post-punk indie rock that flat out shreds. Now as the band gears up for the release of their new album, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, out May 20th, their latest single, “The Rip” is very much in step with the brilliance of Every Bad.

A downright electric tune, “The Rip” has rousing guitar distortion and a radical riff into the explosive bridge. Everything keeps building sonically and emotionally as Margolin repeatedly belts, “And now my heart aches! And now my heart aches!”

Margolin said in a statement:

“At the beginning it was a song about a power dynamic where I was in control, by the end it was about one where I had none. My friends always accuse me of making up idioms and using them like they are well known phrases and I think this song is full of those. I love the idea of something being sick at the seams, like it’s disintegrating from its core. I like things that are so simple they are universal. I wanted it to sound like when your heart breaks so badly that your entire body aches. I wanted it to feel like your soul is dropping out of your body.”

Watch the video (which was directed by Margolin’s sister Ella, by the way) above.

Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky is out 5/20 via Secretly Canadian. Pre-order it here.

Last holiday season, rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert (owner of Shooter’s Grill) showed off a gun-filled family Christmas photo, which led to her acting triggered when SNL took aim with a parody sketch. Then cast member Chloe Fineman responded to the congresswoman’s complaints while calling her an “actual clown,” and none of that has quelled Boebert’s zest to continue confusing herself over the constitution.

That trend has continued with Boebert talking about the Second Amendment and how happy she is about “CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY states” because she really digs people walking around, armed, without permits. Boebert tweeted, “More than HALF the country will be returning to 2A in it’s [sic] intended form, a great victory for liberty, but we still have a lot of work to do!”

Confusion reigns here, but that’s Boebert’s usual M.O. In response, one zinger came right out of the gate, from Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg, who suggested that Boebert wouldn’t be around after the midterms: “Good thing I have the one thing on my side that you don’t. Time.”

From there, people reminded Boebert of the Second Amendment’s plain language, which is for a “well regulated Militia,” rather than people wandering around the street with any manner of firearm. As some pointed out, there’s also the existence of “automatic high ammunition weapons,” which didn’t exist back in the day, along with the whole concept of times changing in multiple ways.

Boebert’s cheerleading got shot down, and it wasn’t pretty, but she’s never been one to brush up on the founding fathers, let alone those who attended the constitutional convention, before firing off her passionate tweets about them.

A few years ago, Jay-Z and Jack White got together to collaborate on some music, which was ultimately not released (at least not by Jay-Z, as White re-worked at least one of the songs as a solo cut). Now, though, White says that music could actually come out at some point.

Speaking with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe recently, when asked about the Jay-Z collaboration, White responded (as NME notes):

“Yeah. That’s true, but it’s not me who doesn’t finish stuff. So it’s, uh… I’m not that guy. No, I’m just teasing. But I’m more the personality, like, I’ll be there tomorrow, you know. So it’s different working styles. So some of that stuff I think will see the light of day when those guys aren’t busy with other projects and stuff.”

He also noted it was fun working with Jay-Z, saying, “Yeah, it was. It’s so different, you know, because when I went into the studio with him, there was just one microphone which is, I kind of was [like] ‘Whoa, what? Where are the other microphones?’ But I was like, ‘Oh, wow, OK. Yeah, I guess why would you need another microphone?’ So yeah, it’s different worlds. And so Jay was learning about the way I did it and I was learning about the way he did it. That’s like seeing anybody use a method. And if you see anyone using any method, it’s really, really interesting.”

White and Jay-Z both have experience crossing over into each other’s music worlds: White collaborated with Beyoncé on the Lemonade cut “Don’t Hurt Yourself” while Jay-Z’s most notable foray into rock is 2004’s Collision Course, his collaborative EP with Linkin Park.

Micheal Bay’s previous movie, 6 Underground, was a Netflix movie. At the time it kind of seemed like that was a movie where we could see the seismic shift in what defined a streaming movie versus what played in theaters. If a Michael Bay movie was a streaming movie, well then anything was a streaming movie. And if a Michael Bay movie wasn’t playing in theaters, then theaters did seems destined to be a place where movies featuring only existing IP would play.

Well, now there’s Michael Bay’s Ambulance (which is wonderful), which is both playing in theaters this weekend and is not based on any existing IP. Bradley Fischer has produced movies like Zodiac and Shutter Island, so he has experience getting movies into theaters that are, on paper, maybe a tougher sell. So it was interesting to hear from a producer what the landscape is like right now. And, to be honest, Fischer seems pretty positive about where theaters are right now. He thinks with both the pandemic happening at the same exact time streamers all had money to spend, sped up the talk of the death of the theatrical experience but, from his perspective, that’s not quite the case. In fact, from his perspective as a producer, trying to sell ideas to studios, having even more companies looking for products is a great thing. Anyway, let’s let Fischer explain…

I’m going to start off with the only complaint I have about this movie.

Okay, go for it.

My experience with this movie, the human body can only produce so much adrenaline in a given amount of time, and it eventually just runs out or gives up, and then you are exhausted.

I feel like that’s the best complaint we could ever get, so thank you. And you’re welcome, I guess? There’s a lot that happens between the time that the lights go down and come back up, but yeah, that kind of feels like mission accomplished then.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie with an hour and 45 minute car chase?

Yeah, well, it’s funny. Even at the script stage, when you think there’s nowhere left for the story to go, it levels up, it finds another way, to kind of just – I mean, bad pun – shift the gears. And I mean, look, Bay obviously knows how to keep everyone thrown back as far as possible in their seat, and then continue to edge forward as it all starts to unfold.

So, his last movie was on Netflix.

Yes.

Because the way movies have changed so much, especially since the pandemic started, a lot of people kind of assumed Micheal Bay would continue making movies for streamers. Everything is IP and franchises in theaters, so how did you get Universal, a company that still makes movies for theaters, to put this in theaters?

Well, look, I’ll give you my whole philosophy on it if you want.

I do.

I produced two films during the pandemic, this one, and then a film called The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which is also Universal and Amblin. Ambulance was, I think, about 7 years to get made? Demeter was 20.

Wow, okay.

Look, here’s the thing. I think that people tend to be very quick to jump to extremes, just in general, when there are changes in our industry. I think it’s a cyclical phenomenon. It has happened ages ago when television first emerged. That was one of the other times that the demise of the theatrical experience was being proclaimed from the rooftops. I think in the fog of war of the pandemic, the timing of that, combined with the timing of the rise of the streamers, I think also hastens this sense that either everything was moving away from theatrical and to the home. Or, that the theatrical experience will only be for the $150 million-plus movies.

And I don’t think either of those are correct. Look, no one has a crystal ball, and I certainly don’t profess to know more than anybody else, but my instinct in just having done it for 20 or so years – if I see something that I’m excited about, whether it’s an intellectual property that I have a particular nostalgia for, that I want to go back and see or experience, or it’s something that just feels like a great night at the movies… especially now, now that we’re kind of coming out of all of this…

Fingers crossed, because I don’t want you summoning some new variant.

Good call, I’m knocking on wood. I think people still love to go to the movies. I don’t know about you, but being cooped up at home for two years, anything I can do to leave the house and be safe, I’m in.

Well, let me ask you this, could you get Zodiac into theaters today?

Okay, well, so let me turn the question. So my company, New Republic Pictures, my partner, Brian Oliver, produced and we financed, 50 percent, with Amblin for 1917.

Okay.

So, 1917, I think, had it not come out theatrically, that easily could have been a streamer play, right? There’s no $20 million star, it’s a World War I trench warfare story.

But it’s also such a visual experience. Obviously, Zodiac is, too, but 1917 has a whole one-shot concept.

Look, you’re right, 1917, it felt like it had more spectacle, I guess, in a way. But does that matter now? I mean, in terms of this question of what goes to streaming?

I don’t know. I want to be clear, I don’t know anything that’s going to happen.

Well, no, but I mean, you do, because you work in the business, and you go to movies. Look, Netflix and Apple and Amazon and all of the streamers, the premium streamers, right? They’re all competing with theatrical studios for the same movies. They’re all in the mix together. So here’s the way I look at it: I see it as an opportunity because there are more companies that are willing to write those checks. And it’s not just like six doors that we can knock on, there’s now other places that have a different kind of model for what they need to justify spending a certain amount of money on a certain kind of movie. So, I really only see it as a positive. I’m sure there are plenty of theatrical movies that some could say maybe should have gone to streamers, or would’ve been better at streamers, and some streamer titles that maybe left a lot on the table by not going theatrical. I mean, look, it’s impossible, you can’t predict.

The reason I mentioned Zodiac was because Fincher’s last movie, Mank, was on Netflix.

Could you have ever, before streamers existed, or today, gotten Mank made? Black and white?

I’m guessing not since he’d been trying to do that for what, 25 years or something? I think Netflix was like, “We want to be in business with you, and you want your passion project made. Let’s do it.”

And that’s why I think it’s a good thing, because that movie now gets made.

Roma is a very similar situation.

Exactly, 100 percent. Look, I hope what is going to start to happen if, as we – knock on wood, things continue to get better, and we’re not pulled back by some horrible variants – is I do think that the theatrical offerings to audiences will start to open up again a little bit more. I think there were a lot of studio movies that ended up going to streamers, because everyone was in lockdown, and theaters were closed.

And they had to bring an income in somehow.

Exactly. So it was an opportunity, and it made business sense to do that for those companies that made those decisions. But I do think there was this collision in timing between these streamers having increasing budgets for content on the level of billions of dollars, just at the time that everything kind of closed down. And AMC stock went down to like two bucks. What does that mean? It means that people think AMC’s going to go out of business. Well, now it’s like, I don’t know, what is it, at 30-something? So yeah, again, I don’t think the theatrical experience is going anywhere.

It’s $23.30. I just looked it up.

Oh, okay. Well, yeah, there you go. It was like up at like, I don’t know, like 50 or 60 at one point?

Right, but that was like a whole thing on its own.

Yeah, there was that, what was it, with GameStop?

Right, because hedge funds were shorting AMC and GameStop, assuming they were going to make money off of it failing. So all these people got together and tried to stick it to them, which was interesting.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. But listen, if you pull back from the fog of war of the last two years a little bit, I think it is true that the kinds of movies that lend themselves to theatrical, the target has gotten smaller. Even, I think, before the streamers started to spend the money that they’re spending, the refrain that began to be common was: You really need to have an event, quote-unquote, to get people to leave their home and go to the theater. And I think there’s truth to that, I think that you do have to have something that is special. Now, what does that mean?

I think, in some weird way, that everyone being stuck in their homes over the last couple of years will actually help Ambulance. Because everyone was watching older movies for two years straight. I’ve been re-watching action movies from the ’90s, and I forgot how much I enjoyed them. They don’t make movies like that anymore, with actual stunts and actual car chases, but here it is.

Exactly, exactly. No, I think you’re 100 percent right. And I think it goes back to nostalgia. For me, Bay was the perfect director for this, not because of Transformers, but because of Bad Boys.

Or Armageddon.

Or The Rock. It’s like the way that he shoots characters, actors, they become larger than life along with the tapestry of explosions, and helicopters, and chaos and madness and tension all over the place.

But the other thing is those ’90s movies weren’t using a lot of CGI, and Ambulance looks so real. A person’s brain can tell when it’s actually a real stunt versus a cartoon.

No, absolutely. And yeah, I mean the helicopter stuff, Fred North, who does all of Bay’s helicopter and aerial work, he’s the best in the business. I mean, I’ve done movies where those would be CGI helicopters. But when you know, you know. I mean, if the backdrop of the movie, if the canvas that it’s painted on is real, is in-camera, then it sticks out. You’re right, if it’s not. I do think it’s a different experience, which maybe does bring that sense of nostalgia back a little bit.

And going back to what I first said about the adrenaline. When I’m watching CGI, I don’t get that adrenaline. When I’m watching this, my body’s like, “This is real!” And then it gives me that burst.

Exactly. I’m glad that your only complaint was that you ran out of adrenaline. Your body gave up.

That should be the challenge.

I’m going to float that one.

‘Ambulance’ opens in theaters this weekend. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.