If we’re being honest, we all make assumptions about other people, right?
We look at their skin, their clothes, and their car, and we make guesses about them that we don’t even realize we’re making. Everyone does it.
You ask a pregnant female coworker if she’ll keep working after the baby is born — but you wouldn’t think to ask that question of a guy who was about to become a dad.
You ask that nice girl behind the counter at the bagel shop whether she’ll ever go to college so she can get a better job — only to learn that she’s an underemployed Ph.D.
You ask a hipster-looking guy on the subway whether he’s into artisanal pickles — but he just happens to be a bad dresser who has no idea what you’re talking about.
The fact is, though, that people of color deal with other people’s assumptions constantly.
Research shows that other people’s expectations can have a profound effect on us. They can determine our success or failure. And black women deal with this nonsense more than others. In a recent study, nearly half of the female black and Latina scientists polled reported being mistaken for janitors or administrative staff.
(Possible spoilers for The Boys will be found below.)
Way back in 2020, The Boys‘ second season briefly introduced Cindy as a massively powerful and incredibly dangerous Supe. The character appeared only in the sixth episode, “The Bloody Doors Off,” and was last seen hitchhiking away from Vought’s Sage Grove psychiatric facility after (somehow) being kept under lock and key until being set loose during the Lamplighter chaos. The audience then witnessed telekinetic powers, which — along with the hairstyle — were not unlike those of Seven on Stranger Things. Cindy can also pop people’s heads and is invulnerable to bullets. Could they rival Homelander in strength? Probably.
Since Cindy’s escape from the facility, however, actor Ess Hödlmoser has not been seen onscreen, and questions have persisted since you’d think that Vought would want to capture Cindy or use those powers as an asset. What gives? Following the second season finale, GamesRadar noted that showrunner Eric Kripke did a Q & A session where he fielded questions on Cindy’s whereabouts, and Kripke did not shy away: “Cindy’s out there, man.”
He wasn’t done yet: “Look, when you’re running a show it’s just always smart to just plant little landmines everywhere that you can go back to and use, and Cindy will return.” When will this happen? “I’m not entirely sure when, but before this show is over you will see Cindy again.”
Well, Cindy didn’t surface in The Boys third season or Gen V, and the show is now in the thick of a fourth season. This Supe has not, however, been forgotten by viewers, who have been airing their curiosity over whether Cindy was possibly a head-popping “scapegoat” to cover for Claudia Doumit’s antics or a mere “red herring” that has been abandoned after a single outing. Another Redditor isn’t buying a simple disappearance: “You mean to tell me one of the most unstable and powerful Supe in the series has been forgotten about by both Vought and the Boys huh?”
Of course, some viewers joked that Cindy has been busy filming the final season of Stranger Things, which has been taking forever, so give this Supe a break. In short, there is no shortage of fans who would like to see this character come back and wreak some havoc.
At the moment, however, there is plenty more of The Boys to come (three more fourth-season episodes and an entire fifth season), and Kripke hasn’t indicated that he will reneg on his promise to return this “little landmine” to the screen. As the wait continues, we can look forward to the next episode, “Dirty Business,” which will arrive late evening on Wednesday, July 3.
At the moment, BTS is officially on a hiatus as group members fulfill their service obligations in South Korea’s military. Still, between the various solo projects that have emerged from the band, BTS fans haven’t been left wanting.
Now, they have something else to look forward to on August 8: Today (July 2), BTS shared a 12-second teaser video that shows off a series of photos of two people in a variety of settings.
While the teaser doesn’t officially reveal much, fans think they know what’s happening: A good portion of the responses to the post are fans excitedly declaring/speculating that a travel show starring the group’s Jimin and Jung Kook is on the way.
Jung Kook discussed the idea in a 2023 conversation with Suga (per The Indian Express), saying that Jimin had the idea a while ago, and for a long time, they weren’t able to make it happen.
Jung Kook explained, “On a shoot with Jimin years ago, he said that it would be fun to do a travel variety show with me, and I agreed. But it didn’t go anywhere from there. Then, suddenly, they set up a shoot, and it got even funnier after Jimin hyung joined. It was a total mess.” Suga added, “There is something about Jimin that tugs at your heartstrings.”
Gracie Abrams notched her first-ever No. 1 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart with The Secret Of Us, her sophomore LP that also just debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The discourse should be that Abrams and Audrey Hobert, her best friend since fifth grade, made a courageous, intimate, and resonant album welcoming listeners into their living room and adding authentic layers to Abrams’ public persona. And those conversations are happening. But the headlines largely center around Abrams’ most famous friend, Taylor Swift, her neighbor on the Billboard 200 and UK’s Official Albums Chart with Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Oh, and Abrams entered this week’s Billboard Artist 100 at No. 2, behind only Swift.
Abrams, 24, comes by the “nepo baby” label honestly as the daughter of acclaimed director and producer J.J. Abrams (Star Wars, Lost, Alias) and political aide-turned-producer Katie McGrath. With iHeartRadio in July 2022, Abrams acknowledged she enjoyed “a privilege” in growing up around the industry but dismissed any negative connotation as a product of “the internet [being] a funny place for people to call anyone names.” In 2024, proximity to Swift is perhaps the all-powerful “nepo baby” subcategory. Case in point: My mom, the anti-pop culture aficionado, only knows Abrams in association with the viral “Us” backstory involving Swift clumsily putting out an apartment fire.
Every Swiftie knows how maniacally intentional Swift is about everything she does, so to think that doesn’t extend to who receives an invitation into Swiftian lore would be an ill-advised take. If Swift were divvying her co-signs based upon her favorite film and television creators, then Ellen Pompeo, Mariska Hargitay, and Guillermo Del Toro would be tearing up the pop charts. On Sunday, June 30, Swift used her final Dublin The Eras Tour show to laud an in-attendance Stevie Nicks for befriending female artists “just to be a guiding hand,” and Swift makes a concerted effort to pay that forward, regardless of their family crests, as best evidenced by her diverse cast of The Eras Tour openers.
Abrams and Swift debuted “Us” — a rare instance of Swift offering her services as a featured artist and, more significantly, signifying Swift passing her Track 5 baton to Abrams’ The Secret Of Us — during The Eras Tour in London, a familiar stage for Abrams. Swift empowered Abrams as one of the original The Eras Tour openers, beginning shortly after Abrams dropped Good Riddance, her February 2023 debut studio album produced by Aaron Dessner, who also produced The Secret Of Us. Dessner owes his two Grammys to producing Swift’s 2020 sister albums Folklore and Evermore, and Dessner has produced both of Abrams’ albums — the former springing Abrams’ first Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 2024.
So, yes, Dessner acts as an invisible string tying Abrams to Swift. Sure, “Us” helped The Secret Of Us reach more people. But Swift’s handling of a fire extinguisher in Abrams’ now-viral “Us” video is the least impressive part of their achingly beautiful duet’s spontaneous 2 a.m.-to-6 a.m. birth. Anybody could use their surname to score a hang with an A-list celebrity — and there is no evidence Abrams ever did that, to be clear — but it takes someone special to earn the respect of this generation’s definitive songwriter. Abrams’ pen is her sharpest sword to cut down hollow industry plant allegations.
“Us” has over 20.5 million streams on Spotify alone. Swift’s name will do that. But that’s fewer than Abrams generated with “Risk” (56.4 million) and “Close To You” (46.3 million). Abrams injected The Secret Of Us with organic intrigue weeks before “Us.” “Risk,” co-written with Hobert, impressed upon impact as the album’s manic, melodic lead single that houses one of the year’s best scream-sing hooks, “God, I’m actually invested / Haven’t even met him / Watch this be the wrong thing, classic.” Abrams and Hobert followed that with “Close To You,” another wonderfully extroverted daydream that became Abrams’ first-ever Billboard Hot 100 entry, debuting at No. 49, after fans first clamored for its release as a demo seven years ago. (“Us” and “Risk” debuted at Nos. 36 and 94 on this week’s Hot 100, respectively, while “Close To You” bumped to No. 60).
But even “Risk” and “Close To You” didn’t happen in a vacuum. For years, Abrams has been steadily forging an organic fan base by holding dearly the “say the quiet part out loud” oath taken by every lasting songwriter. Abrams laid the foundation with “Mess It Up,” “Feels Like,” or “I Know It Won’t Work” before “Risk,” “Close To You,” or “Us” could breach a different pop stratosphere.
Ultimately, the proof is always in the fandom. Abrams’ fans are anything but passive. In mere hours, Abrams’ upcoming headlining The Secret Of Us Tour sold out entirely, including four nights at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and three nights at Radio City Music Hall. Buying concert tickets based solely on six degrees of separation? In this economy? Please.
“I don’t really think about how I want to be remembered, but this album shows a different side of me, and I like the idea of being known,” Abrams recently told Uproxx for this profile. “Not widely known, but known better. If anything, I would be thrilled for people to know me better through this album.”
Beyond the hits, Abrams repeatedly shows palpable growth as an anecdotal storyteller and vulnerable songwriter throughout The Secret Of Us. If this is what she mined with just 16 months to work with between Good Riddance and The Secret Of Us, Abrams’ songs should soon be ubiquitous enough — on the radio, in the grocery store, et al — for my mom and suburban moms everywhere to recognize her on merit. As is, to fully immerse in Abrams’ young yet enriched discography is to already know better than to reduce her to industry ties. The secret of Gracie Abrams is that there is no secret. She’s just damn good.
Thompson, Stephen Curry, and Draymond Green represented the Warriors homegrown trio that won four championships together, altering the franchise’s trajectory, turning them from a perennially mediocre squad into a model franchise that was a constant threat to win it all. Thompson and Curry were particularly close, as The Splash Brothers became the most formidable shooting tandem in NBA history. Their ability to bomb away from deep gave the Warriors a dynamic that no team could ever quite match, and at the peak of their powers, they wrecked havoc on opposing defenses with the way they flew around off the ball and forced defenses to stretch their efforts well beyond the arc.
Curry has been quiet this summer, letting the Warriors handle their business, but a day after news broke of Klay’s departure to Dallas, Steph unloaded a ton of photos of the Splash Bros (and Draymond) onto his Instagram story as he was clearly processing the news and remembering the great times they shared together in the Bay.
Pam has a little brother, who recently learned that he is actually her half-brother.
Of course, half-siblings are still very much siblings, but Pam’s brother doesn’t quite grasp the concept yet and seems upset about having to part with 50% of his sister.
So when she came home recently, she found this letter he’d written. It will make you cry, so have off-brand tissues on hand:
OMG.
As if this letter isn’t enough to turn your heart into a soft pile of oatmeal, he also left her some of her (presumably) favorite snacks, like Chips Ahoy and Takis (excellent choices!).
Pam, being a human with a soul, was deeply moved and tweeted out a photo of her little brother’s letter:
My little brother found out Iu2019m not his fully sister and I came home to this.. Iu2019m crying..pic.twitter.com/DAC0yUUBt4
I was introducing my kids to my new wife and stepson. When I explained that she was their new Stepmom, My Stepson (5) said to my kids Mom “Well if my Mom is going to be their Stepmom, you’re going to be my new Stepmom!”
Christopher Landis, a choir director at Hingham Middle School in Massachusetts, didn’t tell his students he was engaged to Joe Michienzie three years ago. According to Inside Edition, whenever they asked who Michienzie was, Christopher would say, “That’s Joe. He’s my friend.”
Landis kept his relationship a secret in front of his students because he wasn’t sure how their parents would react. Sadly, even today, LGBTQ people still have to be discreet about their personal lives in some professions.
This is sad for the teachers who have to stay closeted and also for the LGBTQ students who miss out on having a positive role model.
However, somehow the secret got out and two mothers of Landis’ students, Margit Foley and Joy Foraste, approached Michienzie to see how they could get the students involved in their wedding.
“At the end of the summer, Margit and I heard he was getting married. He’s the best teacher, and he’s got this great energy, and he makes every school function fun. We thought, wouldn’t it be awesome to do something for his wedding?” Foraste said according to The New York Times.
The women emailed the other choir parents to see if their children could perform at their teacher’s wedding rehearsal dinner.
“We hoped we’d get at least 15 kids to do it,” Foraste said. But 50 of the 70 kids in the chorus said they’d be there to support their teacher’s wedding. They secretly rehearsed for four Sundays in a row at a local library so Landis wouldn’t catch a whiff of the plan they hatched.
The kids and their parents kept the secret for four months before the big day and had to get off school and travel 30 miles to the event. Landis had no idea what was about to happen but he felt something was up when people at the dinner started picking up their phones.
Out of nowhere, 50 kids filed into the room, songbooks in hand. After Dona Maher, a colleague of Landis’, banged out the first few notes of the French National Anthem on her keyboard, the kids began to sing the word, “Love.” It was the perfect song for the occasion, “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles.
Video taken by the bartender at the event shows Landis unable to hold back the tears as his kids sang their hearts out. It was a beautiful moment of acceptance for a teacher who wasn’t sure if his kids and their parents would understand his love for his husband-to-be.
After the performance, Landis turned to the crowd with a huge smile and said, “These are my kids.”
“It was so wonderful for the kids to see him with his family and his close friends, and they saw him as a person, not just their teacher,” Foraste told The Patriot Ledger. “They saw how much it meant to him. He immediately started crying and the kids started crying. It’s something they’ll never forget.”
Megan Thee Stallion is taking one heck of a victory lap in the wake of releasing her new album, Megan. In addition to reupping one of her most high-profile partnerships with a hilarious commercial for Amazon Prime Day, she’s also been celebrating the success of her Hot Girl Summer Tour, which has brought both admirers and increased camaraderie with the current generation of rap girls. She was given a chance to talk about it all — and given an apology for a vulgar joke — on the latest episode of Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay show.
Right at the top of the episode, Sharpe issued his mea culpa for the tasteless joke, which involved a comment on Meg’s attractiveness that came across as very unattractive. During a prior episode in November with fellow former NFL star Chad Johnson, Sharpe noted that Megan was “stacked up like dirty laundry in a dorm room” then, in response to a question about dating her by saying he’d “have her stretched out like a quarter-to-three.”
Dawg Unc Shannon Sharpe told ochocinco that Megan Thee Stallion is thick
Shannon:”She stacked up like dirty laundry in a dorm room”
Ocho:”She is?”
Shannon:”what?!…..Fatter than a swamp raised possum”
Currently, she has posted on her account six times since June 25, sharing a total of five videos and four images so far. For those interested in seeing what Allen is sharing, it’ll cost them $10 per month.
As TMZ notes, the account is legit, as Allen has promoted it on her Instagram Story.
This follows a recent episode of Allen and Miquita Oliver’s Miss Me? podcast, during which Allen explained, “I have a lady that comes and does my nails, and they informed me that I have five stars on WikiFeet, which is quite rare. My feet are rated quite highly on the internet. […] She said that I could make a lot of money from selling foot content on OnlyFans, and I’m like, ‘Not no.’”
Indeed, Allen does have a five-star rating on WikiFeet and comments on her profile include, “Perfect size 6 feet and toe alignment,” “Yeah, up close like that they’re a bit odd but I like them anyway. They have character befitting the owner,” and, “Mesmerising, dazzling, gorgeous, sheer and total utter perfection.”
After the song’s existence was inadvertently revealed by an overly enthusiastic fan, Gambino officially released it with no further hiccups. The track opens with a somber organ, suggesting something in the vein of his moodier psych-funk tracks from Awaken, My Love! — but then, it becomes a full-on, operatic rock anthem. It looks like Glover’s next musical evolution may end up being closer to Queen than Parliament. No, I’m not retracting that incredible wordplay.
Bando Stone & The New World appears from its trailer to be a bit of a comedic take on monster horror like A Quiet Place, with the titular singer emerging from his self-imposed isolation to discover an abandoned world that is now populated mostly by aggressive creatures. He quickly learns that he has none of the survival skills necessary to last more than a day in this new world; fortunately, he learns this from a competent survivor, who teams up with him despite his uselessness. Fans have already begun trying to decode the meaning of “Lithonia” and how it relates to this character, drawing parallels between “Bando Stone”‘s obviously fabricated moniker and the “Cody LaRae” whose name is repeated throughout the “Lithonia” chorus.
You can listen to the track above.
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“?!”
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Megan Always Wins! 
(@NotYourMules) 