GoneTrending

Ken Jennings is noticeably absent from the announcement of new episodes of The Chase, and the hole in his schedule has Jeopardy! fans wondering if this means Jennings has finally locked down the permanent hosting gig. After a Deadline report left out Jennings name from the upcoming cast for The Chase, fellow “Chaser” James Holzhauer confirmed the news with an on-brand dig at his buddy, Jennings.

“By popular demand, The Chase is now 100% @KenJennings-free,” Holzhauer tweeted. Jennings, naturally, responded with a back-handed compliment. “I’m already missing all the lovely folks at @thechaseabc, and the great trivia minds, and James.”

With Jennings officially confirming the news himself, Jeopardy! fans jumped into reply if this meant what they think it means.

“Ken, please let this mean that you’re going to be the permanent host of regular season game play @Jeopardy!” a fan tweeted at Jennings. “As much as I enjoy you on @thechaseabc, you have done an excellent job hosting Jeopardy!, and I would be thrilled to see you hosting it each weekday permanently!”

Interestingly, news of Jennings not returning to The Chase arrived just a few days after the Jeopardy! champ revealed that he’s now hosted 100 episodes of the hit game show.

“Apparently tonight is my 100th time hosting Jeopardy!” Jennings tweeted on Friday March 11, Which means (a) I have now hosted more games than I played, and (b) I’m just 9,950 hours away from achieving Malcolm Gladwell-style mastery.”

After the Mike Richards scandal, Jeopardy! producers have been understandably cautious about picking a full-time host to replace the show’s long-time legendary host, Alex Trebek. However, Jennings has been a top contender, and he recently received a ringing endorsement from Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider who was a major hit with fans. Could this finally be Jennings’ big moment? After the Richards fiasco, we’re not calling anything until Jeopardy! producers make an official announcement.

(Via Deadline)

Earlier this week, footage of Arcade Fire debuting a slew of new songs at their Ukraine benefit show in New Orleans surfaced. It did not take long for the Canadian indie arena rock champs to connect the dots and announce that their first album in five years, We, will officially be released on May 6th. Along with the announcement, they also shared the inspiring lead single, “Lightning I, II,” which was one of the songs that they played in NOLA.

We is produced by Arcade Fire power couple Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, along with super-producer Nigel Godrich. The band was said to have been working on the album a year before the pandemic started and recorded the tracks in New Orleans, El Paso, and Maine’s Mount Desert Island. Butler said it’s “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever.”

The album promises to be a 40-minute epic, featuring seven tracks spread out across two deliberate sides that represent a light/dark motif. Butler expanded on the philosophical meaning of the album in a note that he penned:

Watch the video for “The Lightning I, II” above. And check out the track list for We below.

“I”

1. “Age of Anxiety I”
2. “Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)”
3. “End of the Empire I-IV”

“WE”

4. “The Lightning I, II”
5. “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)”
6. “Unconditional II (Race and Religion)”
7. “WE”

We is out 5/6 via Columbia.

Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is having devastating effects in terms of human casualties (both on the Ukrainian civilian and Russian soldiers fronts), and although economic sanctions will also come as a hit, the Russian elite must be awfully annoyed. They’ve been losing their fancy yachts, and Putin’s own Botox supply now sits in jeopardy. Likewise, he must be irritated as heck by hacktivist collective group Anonymous waging cyber war on him while hacking into TV stations and blasting battle footage to let Russian citizens know what’s really happening.

Now Anonymous hackers claim to have breached Russian CCTV while spreading the word that Putin’s war is literally killing children. At least 100 kids have been killed during Putin’s bombing of Ukraine, and Vice relays screenshots (some of which read, “Putin is killing children”) from Anonymous’ claimed breach of CCTV throughout Russia.

:352 Ukraine civilians dead. Russians lied to 200RF.com. Slava Ukraini! Hacked by Anonymous,” the message displayed on the feeds says. 200RF.com is another site posting information about Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, CNN has been reporting that Anonymous hackers (who are obviously anonymous by nature) are also working to break through Putin’s “digital iron curtain.” If and when it happens, we’ll surely hear more.

(Via Motherboard & CNN)

In a powerful video shared on social media today, Hollywood icon and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a message to the Russian people, begging them to see through the disinformation surrounding the invasion of Ukraine.

Schwarzenegger, who was born in Austria, spoke candidly about his Nazi father’s failings in World War II, using his experiences to warn soldiers fighting on the frontlines of the life-long harm they were doing to innocent citizens and themselves.

“[My father] was injured at Leningrad and the Nazi army he was part of did vicious harm to the great city and to its brave people,” Schwarzenegger says in the nine-minute clip. “When my father arrived in Leningrad, he was all pumped up on the lies of his government. When he left Leningrad, he was broken, physically and mentally. He lived the rest of his life in pain, pain from a broken back, pain from the shrapnel that always reminded him of those terrible years, and pain from the guilt that he felt. To the Russian soldiers listening to this broadcast: You already know much of the truth that I’m speaking. You’ve seen it in your own eyes. I don’t want you to be broken like my father.”

The action hero also revealed his personal ties to Russia, recalling a story of meeting his weightlifting idol, Olympian Yuri Petrovich Vlasov, when he was just a teenager. Despite his father’s contempt for Russia after his time in the war, Schwarzenegger said he’s always admired the spirit of the Russian people, using his experiences competing and filming in the country to show his connection to its citizens. He applauded the strength of civilians currently protesting Putin’s war there, saying, “The world has seen your bravery. We know that you’ve suffered the consequences of your courage. You have been arrested, you’ve been jailed and you’ve been beaten. You are my new heroes. You have the strength of Yuri Petrovich Vlasov. You have the true heart of Russia.”

Schwarzenegger also listed off some devastating consequences of the invasion so far, recounting how Putin has ordered his military to bomb homes and maternity hospitals while fighting back against Kremlin propaganda that’s been telling Russian citizens this war is to help “denazify Ukraine.”

“Ukraine is a country with a Jewish president, ” Schwarzenegger continues. “A Jewish president, I might add, whose father’s three brothers were all murdered by the Nazis. Ukraine did not start this war. Nor did nationalists or the Nazis. Those in power in the Kremlin started this war.”

The former politician ended his speech by speaking directly to Putin, asking him to use his power to call off the invasion for the sake of his people, and the world.

“To those in power in the Kremlin, let me just ask you: Why would you sacrifice these young men for your own ambition?” Schwarzenegger asks. “To President Putin, I say: You started this war. You are leading this war. You can stop this war.”

Dirty Hit has become quite the taste-making label in recent years as its roster includes favorites like The 1975, Beabadoobee, Wolf Alice, and Rina Sawayama. They recently added another talented up-and-comer, Saya Gray, to the roster, and now the Canadian-Japanese singer-songwriter has dropped a new song, “If There’s No Seat In The Sky (Will You Forgive Me???).”

The single is an unpredictable one that starts off going in an acoustic folk direction and heads to rock and earthy-sounding ambient territories. The song will appear on the upcoming project 19 Masters, which is set for release on June 2.

Gray told The Line Of Best Fit of the song, “I felt it was important to begin with a song that’s about the end of a cycle [since it] was written in a time of transition, extreme confusion, and escapism. I felt it’s reflective of the current climate in our society and the feeling of external and internal suffocation we face trying to navigate the balance of self-perseverance. The song was an inner dialogue of my mental state at the time, shoving myself into a box of what I felt I had to be in order to thrive.”

She also told Dazed of her upcoming project as a whole, “19 Masters is a battle of self-preservation and an ode to the human experience. It’s a look at double entendres and the subconscious influence our language can have on us, especially as a reflection on how toxic the music industry can be for artists who are ill-informed and being taken advantage of. Basically, I couldn’t hide from this project — it’s just raw, flaws, and all. Most of it was honestly done on tour with iPhone voice notes. My best friends and family are basically the only others on this album. My dad on trumpet, my brother on electric guitar, my mom narrating – ya! And with the ’19’, ‘1’ is the beginning and ‘9’ is completion (last of the single-digit numbers).”

Watch the “If There’s No Seat In The Sky (Will You Forgive Me???)” video above and find the 19 Masters tracklist below.

1. “1/19”
2. “I Found A Floorboard Under The Soil!”
3. “Cervical Cedric”
4. “Saving Grace”
5. “Wish U Picked Me…”
6. “Empathy 4 Bethany”
7. “Green Apple (Every Night I Ride Night Mares)”
8. “2019 Was An Empty Carb”
9. “9/19”
10. “Tooo Loud!”
11. “11/19”
12. “N’sufficient Funds (This Song Sounds Like My Winter)”
13. “Sadness Residue (Eraser Room)”
14. “S.H.T (Silent Hot Tears/Send Hot Tempura)”
15. “Pap Test”
16. “Little Palm”
17. “Seedless Fruit(s Of My Labour)”
18. “Leeches On My Thesis!”
19. “If There’s No Seat In The Sky (Will You Forgive Me???)”

19 Masters is out 6/2 via Dirty Hit.

Turner’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament borrows heavily from its flagship NBA program, Inside the NBA. Ernie Johnson serves as the host, while Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith join him behind the desk. While they swap out Shaquille O’Neal for Clark Kellogg, the lightheartedness that has become such a staple for the show does not suffer one bit.

During the first round of the 2022 Tournament on Thursday, the team decided to borrow from one of its most popular games, “Who He Play For?” Of course, an exact replica of the game — in which Barkley is given the names of rotation guys in the NBA who moved during the offseason — would be extremely, extremely difficult. So instead, the game was called “How Do You Pronounce That?” The concept is pretty self-explanatory, let us dive in.

Plenty of terrific moments in this, like when Chuck immediately knocked Jaime Jacquez out of the park and got cheered by the entire desk or basically everything that happened from the moment Ernie held up the sign for Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi. Anyway, the Tournament is gonna be going on for the next few weeks and there’s a ton of time that needs to be filled, particularly during the first weekend, so hopefully we get some more NCAA versions of Inside bits.

Let’s talk about periods.

Some parents have taken issue with the Pixar movie “Turning Red” for several scenes in which the subject of a 13-year-old getting her period—even though she didn’t, actually—is discussed and used for humor. There’s nothing graphic in any way, unless you consider seeing boxes of menstrual pads graphic, but some parents thought that menstruation itself was an inappropriate topic for young kids.

I’m a fan of letting parents parent. None of us has a manual for this stuff and it’s hard to know if you’re making the right choices for your kids. Different families have different priorities, values and beliefs, and I think there are a million ways to raise conscientious, contributing humans.

I’m also a fan of choosing age-appropriate content for kids when it comes to things that they’re not ready to process yet. My kids are teens and young adults now, but when they were younger I was picky about what they consumed media-wise. There is some content young kids simply aren’t ready to process and that can have a negative impact on their developing psyches, which is why sex and violence are screened for in age-based movie and TV ratings.

Periods, however, are an entirely different story.

I genuinely don’t understand why anyone would take issue with any child of any age learning about menstruation. It’s a basic bodily function of half the population. Kids start learning about basic bodily functions as soon as they are old enough to ask questions, and there’s nothing about having a period that necessitates holding off on the basics until they’re a certain age or maturity level.

Both girls and boys need to learn about periods, and the earlier the better.

I have two daughters and a son. My boy is my youngest, and he’s grown up in a household that has talked about periods from the time he was old enough to understand words. When he got old enough to ask what we were referring to or what pads were for, I explained the basics to him in a way he could understand. It went something like this:

“Every month, a woman’s body practices getting ready to grow a baby. She has organs called ovaries that push out an egg and her uterus makes a nice cushy home for it by building up a lining of blood. After a couple of weeks, her body lets go of the egg and dismantles the home, which then comes out of her vagina. The bleeding isn’t from an injury and it doesn’t hurt—it just drips out for a few days. So women wear pads/tampons/cups. etc. to catch it so the blood doesn’t get all over her clothes.”

Simple, basic, honest. When he has questions, I answer them matter-of-factly. My philosophy is that if a child is old enough to ask a question, they’re old enough to get a simple, basic, honest answer. If they want or need to know more, they’ll ask more questions. If there are parts that I’m really not ready for them to get details on, I’ll say, “That part is a little complicated and we can learn about that later, but here’s what’s important for you to know right now.”

I’ve also learned that it’s far preferable to have these conversations when a child is old enough to be curious but not old enough to be embarrassed to ask.

Periods aren’t a picnic, but we’ve got to stop avoiding talking about them due to the “ick” factor.

People didn’t like Pixar addressing a girls transition to womanhood in Turning Red.nnI 100%u202funderstand why some find the topic uncomfortable but there’s nothing “inappropriate” or “disgusting” about a woman’s period. It’s a natural stage of their life. I respect Disney for this.pic.twitter.com/aQ5TGmcoaT

— JOLLY Ju2728 (@JOLLY Ju2728)
1647193575

I’m not someone who waxes poetic about menstruation. I understand there are women who find deeper meaning and beauty and magic in it, and hey, more power to them. For me, it’s just a thing that happens every month—I don’t love it, I don’t hate it, it just is.

I do think, however, that we need to get away from the idea that it’s “gross” or “disgusting” or “inappropriate.” Again, it’s something half the population experiences. It’s not necessarily pretty, but it’s not like it’s dirty or wrong or shameful. Women have been ostracized from society in various cultures throughout history for having their period—something that automatically happens to their bodies every month. Treating menstruation in general as gross or inappropriate simply adds to the idea that it’s taboo.

We need to talk about periods when kids—girls and boys—are young, because periods can start really young.

Itu2019s actually insane how many people are bothered by the period talk in Turning Red because young kids will see the movie. A LOT of girls get their periods at like 8 years old. I was 10.

— Megan Rose Ruiz (ETSY OPEN) (@Megan Rose Ruiz (ETSY OPEN))
1647383606

I have a friend whose daughter was 9 years old when she started her period. Another friend recently told me her daughter just started her period, and she’s only 8. It happens. It’s not as unusual as we think. Very few families are running around announcing publicly that their under-10-year-old has started menstruating. So it’s definitely important to normalize the conversation early and often with our kids.

And yes, that includes our boys. It’s shocking how little some men understand about this topic, even as grown adults. There’s no magical time when it suddenly becomes appropriate to talk about periods, and if we make it a normal part of conversation, it’s not nearly as awkward for us or for them. In our household, having two daughters first helped create more opportunities, but even in families with all boys, moms can be open about being on their period so it’s not a hush-hush or unfamiliar subject.

I often think about the story of the teen boy who noticed a younger student had had a period accident on the bus, and how he offered her his sweatshirt to wrap around her waist. When she thanked him, he said, “No problem. I have sisters.” That’s a guy for whom periods had been normalized and who was comfortable enough to do the exact right thing to help a girl avoid potential embarrassment rather than adding to it.

A movie about a 13-year-old girl that includes mention of periods is simply reflective of reality. Parents might debate the way a character’s behavior or the dynamics of parental relationships are portrayed in “Turning Red,” but menstruation should really be a nonissue regardless of the age or gender of the kids watching.

Why should we view growing older as the end of all new experiences? What if we gave ourselves permission to view the later part in life as an adventure, equally as exciting and full of opportunities as our younger years?

I find myself falling into this “aging = decline” mentality quite easily as of late, even though I never previously considered aging to be particularly dreadful. I can say without a doubt that things have indeed gotten better for me with age; I have no desire to revisit my 20s. And yet, I still will catch myself thinking of all the things I’m now “too old” to even begin, let alone accomplish. The splits? At 33? What’s the point? Move to London? I can’t, my life is set in Los Angeles. And so on.

Despite my determined focus on those “40 Over 40” lists and repeated affirmations of “things continually get better for me,” and knowing full well that 30s are not even close to over the hill, I can still sense now that there is a hill. And that makes me anticipate the decline, to the exclusion of many paths that could be enjoyable. And isn’t that a major point of life … no matter what stage of it we’re in?

It’s recovering pessimists like me that inspired Carolyn Doelling to share her story.

Doelling completely reinvented herself, and now lives life as an in-demand fashion model. Her Instagram is filled with magazine-worthy photos wearing kickboxing attire, glamorous silk sets and luxurious dresses. She embodies style and grace so effortlessly, it’s hard to believe that she didn’t start this fabulous career until retirement.

Doelling had a long and varied career in banking, telecommunications and nonprofit sectors. Though she immersed herself in left-brained industries, Doelling still found ways to put her heart into philanthropy as well.

During that time, she had never even considered posing for the camera.

See on Instagram

She told the TODAY show, “I have to say that modeling was never in the picture. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a picture of me beforehand, because I was always on the back row.”

Once she retired at 70, Doelling found that the back row was getting less comfortable. In fact, retired life made her feel “invisible,” especially without a career to tie her self-worth to.

“So much of our identity is tied with what our titles are and what our work is,” she told Grow Acorns. “‘I am a development officer. I am a marketing strategist.’ Then when you let that go, you have to find a different ‘I am.’ But saying ‘I am retired,’ well, that’s really not work. Both internally and externally you begin to feel like a different person.”

Doelling noticed this feeling reflected in her outer world, often being “underestimated” and “overlooked.”

She shared with TODAY, “It was as if everyone in this culture of ageism had agreed: You are done, your work is done. You are no longer needed. And with the kids and husband gone, your purpose to us is questionable.”

For Doelling, fashion became an outlet for feeling seen again. And following her creative instincts took her down a completely unexpected path.

See on Instagram

In a story worthy of Gisele Bündchen, Doelling was discovered in broad daylight. While attending an event for luxury boutique McMullen, she was noticed by the store’s owner Sherri McMullen, who was taken aback by Doelling’s bold and confident style. But it was Doelling’s mission to “inspire other women to add more style and swagger to their life,” that really drew McMullen in. Doelling was quickly whisked away for a photoshoot.

The pictures received a ton of positive feedback, attention from other designers and even an offer from a New York modeling agency. Doelling was invisible no more.

See on Instagram

Though Doelling is grateful for the gig, she is more interested in exploring other parts of her ‘I am,” rather than stick to one. Been there, done that, after all.

“I write, I am taking piano lessons. I’m just making a well-rounded life,” she tells Grow Acorns. “I could let modeling go tomorrow and be happy doing something else. Being a cyclist, maybe.”

Doelling certainly helped me remember that our life path might contain a few forks in the road, but never a true dead end. I hope she did the same for you. Revisit those old childhood dreams you deemed impossible. Take on a hobby simply because it enriches your soul. Look forward to 70 the same way you did for 20. Who knows what fun twists and turns your ‘I am’ can take as long as you’re open.

It’s never too late to enjoy all of life’s goodness.

Blxst has been dominating the LA house party scene for something like two years now, and there’s still little to no agreement on whether he’s a rapper or a singer. With a delivery that falls somewhere between the melodic crooning of fellow LA-area hook masters Ty Dolla Sign and Eric Bellinger and the rhythmic, in-the-pocket flows pioneering by the city’s best, the only thing that anyone can agree on is that Blxst sounds cool as a fan. He keeps that tradition going on his latest release, “Sometimes” featuring TDE’s own quasi-rapping crooner, Zacari.

The unapologetic single finds the two performers looking to placate a riled-up romantic partner who thinks that the perpetually busy Blxst is up to no good as he chases the money out of town. “Runnin’ up the backend / I know you be thinkin’ I be cappin’,” Blxst croons. “But sometimes you be too much of a distraction.” Meanwhile, the video takes on a Route 66-ish appeal, as Blxst and Zacari cruise a desert highway in a convertible and post up outside a diner patronized by a biker club, with their performance scenes broken up by flashes of a house party where the female attendees run through some dynamic choreography.

Blxst has been on a roll in 2022, releasing his new single “About You” with a Malcolm & Marie-inspired video while contributing choruses to new songs by Wale, Fireboy DML, and Buddy.

Watch Blxst’s “Sometimes” video featuring Zacari above.

It’s hard to imagine certain celebrities going through their awkward high school phases (mostly because any evidence would be scrubbed from the internet) but sometimes, they voluntarily share their cringy teen photos for a laugh. Example: SNL star Colin Jost showing off his high school bowl cut on last week’s Weekend Update.

While stopping by The Drew Barrymore Show to promote her new skincare line, Jost’s wife Scarlett Johansson admitted that she probably wouldn’t have asked high school Jost on a date. When asked if her teenage self would have been interested in the comedian, the actress shut it down pretty instantly: “I don’t think so, no.” Her reasoning actually did make a bit of sense: “Firstly, my brother had that same haircut throughout the ’90s — both of my brothers — and I just can’t. There’s no way.”

Sure, the mushroom cut was a look in the ’90s, but for what reason? “I mean, who decided on that cut as a stylish thing?” Johansson continued. “What hairdresser was like, ‘I’ll try this’?’” It all worked out for the couple in the end, as they just had a baby and starred in an Amazon commercial. That’s when you know you’ve made it.

Even though the Black Widow star wouldn’t have gone out with little Colin, she did go out with producer Jack Antonoff, who had long curly hair and a lip ring. They even went to prom together. That must have been her type back then. Sorry, Colin!