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Netflix’s Baby Reindeer volleyed creator, writer, and star Richard Gadd’s status into the stratosphere, and soon enough, speculation began over what his next project would be, although few details emerged at the time. As it turns out, “Lions” is a working title for a series that has now been picked up by HBO, which will produce and air in conjunction with BBC and BBC Scotland.

That HBO has picked up this series is striking, not only because Gadd was surprised by his success and originally only expected Baby Reindeer to be a mild cult hit at best, but because his approach to triggering subject matter is similar to that of Michaela Coel with I May Destroy You. That series was also produced as a joint HBO-BBC release in 2020 and was a critical and audience hit. The two creatives both share a flair for inserting dark comedy into serious subject matter with an unflinching eye, and HBO’s confidence in Gadd’s new story bodes well for another powerful production.

Of course, Lions will be very different from Baby Reindeer, so let’s talk about what information has surfaced.

Plot

Gadd didn’t waste any time between Baby Reindeer‘s take off and his next phase, which was swiftly greenlit by BBC weeks before HBO officially climbed on board. Lions aims to examine the nature of masculinity as embodied by two estranged brothers (Ruben and Niall) in different eras of their lives. The project was originally envisioned as a six-part drama as reported by Deadline, and an HBO press release confirms that the episode count will stick, and the series will primarily be a drama. Gadd is onboard as writer, creator, and executive producer with HBO Senior VP of Drama Programming Kara Buckley calling this “a gripping and evocative series.”

In the press release, Gadd expressed his excitement to join HBO’s “iconic roster of shows.” He also admitted that “[o]rdering a HBO boxset of The Sopranos, The Wire, or Oz and watching it from start to finish were some of the happiest moments of my childhood.” Here are details from the show’s synopsis, which picks up here after Ruben surfaces out of the blue at Niall’s wedding, and “an explosion of violence” follows. Yes, this sounds as intense as expected from a story penned by Richard Gadd:

Spanning almost forty years from the 1980s to the present day, this ambitious series will cover the highs and lows of the brothers’ relationship, from them meeting as teenagers to their falling out as adults – with all the good, bad, terrible, funny, angry, and challenging moments along the way. It will capture the wild energy of a changing city – a changing world, even – and try to get to the bottom of the difficult question… What does it mean to be a man?

Cast

Gadd does not plan to star in Lions, and at present, nobody is revealing who might star.

Release Date

HBO has not specified a release window, and production is just getting started this summer, so mid-2025 is likely the earliest that we’ll see a premiere.

Trailer

No footage = no trailer, but Gadd did act in a newly released short film called Truth Serum, which began streaming on Oliveto on June 17. You can watch that trailer below.

In April, Vampire Weekend released their first album in five years, Only God Was Above Us, which Uproxx’s Steven Hyden named among his “Favorite Albums Of 2024 So Far.” The album could have been even better, according to lead vocalist Ezra Koenig.

Koenig recently appeared on Tetragrammaton With Rick Rubin and stumbled into sharing that he’s “actually been working on one song that was almost on the album,” and it’s entitled “New York Hospital.”

“I think it was partially just because I realized — somehow, very deep into our friendship, it came about that, oh, me and [Chris] Baio were born at the same hospital,” Koenig explained, adding that, of course, the Upper East Side hospital was called New York Hospital at the time but has since rebranded.

Koenig continued, “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of cool that we were born in the same place, the same year,’ and then, naturally, at this phase of life, you think — when it’s no longer all about you the way it is when you’re young, and you think about, ‘Oh, I’m in between.’ I think about the older generations and where they were born and how they grew up, and I think about the younger generations.”

Koenig played Rubin the song on the acoustic guitar with the disclaimer, “It’ll sound kind of folky.”

Listen to Koenig play “New York Hospital” above, beginning at the 59:50 mark.

One of the byproducts of the COVID pandemic was the widespread adoption of Zoom and other video conferencing tools in just about every workplace, allowing for better remote communication. In the sports world, Zoom press conferences became the norm when sports resumed but access was limited, and even as everything has opened back up, many teams and leagues still offer a Zoom link for media that aren’t able to travel to games.

The WNBA is among the leagues that uses Zoom for press conferences regularly, as there isn’t a robust traveling media due to a general lack of investment in the writers that cover the league from outlets. As a result, Zoom press conferences are the norm and allow for greater participation, which is a good thing, but it also requires those who take part in the virtual pressers to be diligent with their mute button if they’re going to be multi-tasking.

On Sunday night, after Angel Reese broke the WNBA record for consecutive double-doubles, the Sky’s presser with Reese, Teresa Weatherspoon, and Marina Mabrey was interrupted by someone who didn’t mute their mic watching The Big Bang Theory.

It’s very funny watching the three different reactions to it from the podium, as Weatherspoon looks fed up, Reese finds it hysterical, and Mabrey is just glad she wasn’t going insane when she was hearing things in the background. It’s a helpful reminder that if you’re going to be on a conference call, something has to be muted, either the TV or your mic. Otherwise, everyone’s going to be very confused when Sheldon is talking on the call.

It has officially been one year since Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour swept through Kansas City, Missouri, which Travis Kelce attended and later lamented his inability to give her a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it. Extremely long story short: Kelce and Swift are happily in love, and Kelce is a massive The Eras Tour groupie during the NFL offseason.

Over the weekend, Kelce attended Swift’s The Eras Tour shows at Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam. On Saturday, July 6, Swift performed a mashup of “Mary’s Song (Oh My My My),” “So High School,” and “Everything Has Changed” as her second surprise song. A Swiftie named Kristen posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Taylor Swift really just went on stage and sang ‘I love Travis Kelce’ for five minutes straight,” and that’s really the best description.

Swift hadn’t performed “Mary’s Song (Oh My My My)” in 16 years, so that was notable by itself. Swifties had already zeroed in on “Mary’s Song” as an invisible string tying Kelce to Swift because of the outro, in which Swift sings, “I’ll be eighty-seven, you’ll be eighty-nine.” The line took on a brand-new meaning once she entered a relationship with Kelce because he wears No. 87 for the Kansas City Chiefs, and both were born in 1989.

The Tortured Poets Department track “So High School” is pretty obviously a song about Kelce, and “Everything Has Changed” featuring Ed Sheeran is a Red classic without any Kelce Easter eggs apart from the fact that, paired with “Mary’s Song” and “So High School,” Swift is indicating that her life has flipped upside down for the better since meeting Kelce. Which, duh.

Below, check out Swift’s full mash-up performance and other clips of Kelce (and Patrick and Brittany Mahomes) from the show.

Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney spent so much time pretending to have an affair while filming Anyone But You, when all they had to do was take photos with a cute dog. It would have been a lot easier.

The MVP of the Twisters marketing tour has been Brisket, a freaking adorable terrier poodle mix that Powell adopted last year. Ahead of the release of the not-a-sequel to 1996’s Twister, the actor paid tribute to his fuzzy friend on Instagram. “Shortly after being adopted, @hotbrisket joined the cast of Twisters and was quickly called ‘the Lassie of his generation.’ Rumors are swirling of him leading a Homeward Bound reboot that would crown him as Hollywood’s King of the Animal Kingdom,” Powell wrote (yes, Brisket has his own Instagram account with over 26,000 followers).

The Hit Man and Top Gun Maverick star also shared a number of photos of Brisket, including one where he’s holding the pup while standing shirtless in front of a mirror. It’s the final slide:

Not to be outdone, a day prior to Powell’s post, Sweeney shared her own mirror selfies. “i dont do mirror selfies often but when i do they are chaotic,” she wrote.

Who has the more chaotic mirror selfie: shirtless Glen Powell holding a confused-looking dog, or Sydney Sweeney wearing a bandana (?) as a top? This can only be settled in the Anyone But You sequel: Anyone But 2.

Twisters comes out in theaters on July 19.

Come here. Wait, back up.

If you recognize the above bit, you probably know of Jordan Howlett, aka “Jordan The Stallion,” the 27-year-old TikTok star best known for his “fast food secrets club” posts, where he dishes on the ingredients and recipes used by corporate food giants like Olive Garden or KFC.

Lately, though, Jordan has become known for something else, though: His uncanny resemblance to not just one, but TWO of hip-hop’s favorite artists. Fans noticed he looks just like both Method Man and Childish Gambino, despite generational differences, and both artists have appeared in comedic vignettes with Jordan riffing on his “old man” clothes and reading from his notebook of “secret recipes.” Check out some videos and photos below.

https://twitter.com/themrd81/status/1809685366628344091

So, who is Jordan, and how does he know so much? Well, according to San Diego Magazine, he’s a native of Southern California who was born near LA and grew up in nearby Victorville before moving with his family to San Diego-adjacent Oceanside. Per the New York Times, he originally had dreams of baseball stardom — however, due to his awkward nature, he never received any college offers, so after community college, he transferred to UC Riverside, hoping to make its team as a walk-on. He earned a scholarship (which was a good thing, because he only had enough money for one partial tuition payment and slept in his car for a while), but the pandemic derailed his hopes.

After working a string of fast food jobs, he took a swing at building a TikTok following after his older brother saw some viral success. His content consisted — at least at first — of what the Times describes as “uncontroversial — or playfully controversial — topics,” while talking into his phone, pointed at a mirror, zooming in and out to emphasize his points. The notebook made an appearance a couple of years ago, and has become a staple of his content profile since. And as he grows in stature, so too do the guest cameos; in one video, Kevin Hart pops in unannounced to have a jovial argument with the content creator.

He naturally plays coy about just where all those recipes come from, but it’s probably safe to assume he took a few things home from those jobs. Now, if only he can get people to stop asking him to rap.

“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”

In October 2016, that was a quote from Albert Einstein that sat atop the Facebook page of Tim McMillan, a police officer in Georgia.

McMillan become a sensation after a post he wrote on his Facebook wall went viral in 2016. In his post, he explains how he pulled over a Black teen for texting while driving:

“I pulled a car over last night for texting and driving. When I went to talk to the driver, I found a young black male, who was looking at me like he was absolutely terrified with his hands up. He said, ‘What do you want me to do officer?’ His voice was quivering. He was genuinely scared,” McMillan wrote.

But McMillan said he wasn’t interested in harassing or arresting the young man, let alone inflicting violence upon him. Nonetheless, the teen’s emotional response hit McMillan like a punch to the gut.

“I just looked at him for a moment, because what I was seeing made me sad. I said, ‘I just don’t want you to get hurt.’ In which he replied, with his voice still shaking, ‘Do you want me to get out of the car.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want you to text and drive. I don’t want you to get in a wreck. I want your mom to always have her baby boy. I want you to grow up and be somebody. I don’t even want to write you a ticket. Just please pay attention, and put the phone down. I just don’t want you to get hurt,'” he wrote.

McMillan said the interaction made him reflect on a deeply personal level about the national attention being paid to acts of police violence against Black Americans, particularly young Black men.

“I truly don’t even care who’s fault it is that young man was so scared to have a police officer at his window. Blame the media, blame bad cops, blame protestors, or Colin Kaepernick if you want. It doesn’t matter to me who’s to blame. I just wish somebody would fix it.”

This story originally appeared on GOOD.

This article originally appeared on 08.31.18

Parenting is a hard gig regardless of whether you planned to have children or they were a happy surprise. As many parenting books as there are out there, none of them have the perfect equation to get it right and most parents do the best with what they learned, or unlearned, from their own parents.

Samantha, a parenting content creator on TikTok under the name Raising Self, has been working hard to overcome generational trauma and parent her children differently. Recently she was doing a live video to interact with her followers when one of her children made a stunning revelation: he was scared of her.

You could tell by her expression that his confession was a surprise, and though her son barely took his eyes off the video game he was playing, the two had a very meaningful dialogue. Instead of being upset or even happy that her child was fearful, she responded with curiosity.

Some people believe that children should be fearful of their parents in order to respect them, but the exchange Samantha had with her son turned that thought process on its head. He started off the conversation by saying, “I know this might be a little shocking but I do sometimes actually find you a little scary.” When Samantha probed him a little she found that what’s causing him to be fearful is when her “grandma instincts come out,” referring to a generational pattern that his mother has been trying hard not to repeat.

Samantha didn’t hesitate with her response: “Yeah, I did not know that. I’m sorry that you’re experiencing that.” She continued, “When it’s happening, please call it out. Cause that allows me to understand what behaviors I’m not doing a good job mitigating.” Even though she was shocked, the conversation didn’t end there. It’s a beautiful exchange that can guide other parents on how to navigate these types of conversations.

Watch the entire conversation below:

This article originally appeared on 12.21.22

House fires are devastating for families. In a matter of minutes, you could lose all of your belongings and a place to live, or worse, you could lose loved ones. A family in Phoenix, Arizona, recently found themselves facing the reality of their own home in flames. Claudia Jimenez told CBS News that she woke up trapped in her burning apartment with her two daughters, with nothing to do but yell for help in the hopes that someone would hear her.

The mom’s screams were answered by Joe Hollins, a homeless man who was camping nearby with his wife. Hollins didn’t hesitate to try to find a way to help. With no way out and the fire department still nowhere on the scene, Jimenez had to trust the stranger who was standing below.

“He was right underneath and he was like ‘Yes, throw your daughters out, I’m going to catch them, I’m going to get them,'” Jimenez told CBS.

So the terrified mom did what any mom would’ve done to save her babies—she tossed them one at a time out the window. And just as he’d promised, Hollins caught them. Valerie, who is just a year old, was dropped to safety first, then 8-year-old Natalie made the two-story fall into Hollins’ arms. The family dogs were next out the window before it was time for Jimenez to make the jump.

After some coaxing, the mom made the leap, and Hollins again made the catch, saving everyone in the house. When everything was said and done, Hollins saved the entire family and the dogs. Soon after Jimenez jumped to safety, the fire department showed up to put out the blaze.

Multiple families lost their home that night, but thanks to Hollins, the Jimenez family didn’t lose their lives. In an effort to help Hollins after saving this family, a GiveSendGo was created and people can donate here. A GoFundMe was also created for the young mom and her daughters, and people who would like to help can do so by donating here.

If you ask the hero, he’s no hero at all. He told CBS News that anyone in his shoes would’ve done the same thing. Hollins was in the right place at the right time, and because of his willingness to help, he saved an entire family. You can watch the entire interview below.

This article originally appeared on 5.24.23

It’s quite common for people to fantasize about their wedding day—the ceremony, the bridal party, the dress, the cake—and some people spend months or even years meticulously planning every detail. People even spend thousands of dollars hiring wedding planners to make sure that the big day stays fully organized and all the moving parts come together without a hitch.

But no matter how well you plan, sometimes things that simply can’t be predicted happen. And how you and your beloved handle the hitches and glitches on your wedding day can say a lot.

Especially when that hitch or glitch is something major…like watching the beautiful, four-tier wedding cake—the one you spent time choosing and lots of money creating to share with your wedding guests—come crashing to the ground right in front of you.

That’s what happened to one couple who eagerly watched as the caterers who were carrying their wedding cake tripped on their way into the room, sending their cake to an untimely demise in spectacular fashion.

The video, shared by @the.sarik on Instagram, is only about 10 seconds long, but it tells a whole beautiful love story in the reactions of both the groom and the bride.

Watch:

See on Instagram

First of all, hope those waiters are OK. But secondly, staying calm and making the most of a bad situation is a huge character plus, and this groom clearly has those qualities in spades. You can see in the bride’s face that she knows it, too.

“Her eyes show that she knows she got the right guy,” wrote one commenter.

“The way he just called her to eat is just phenomenal,” shared another.

“‘Cake is still cake.’ Yelling at those waiters won’t solve anything, but it can ruin their whole lives,” wrote another. “They know their mistake, and they can be corrected privately. May the reaction of this man be an inspiration to us all, to care for the feelings of other people more than material things.”

“Of all the things that could ruin a wedding day, I’m glad the husband knew this didn’t have to be one of them,” shared another.

When unpredictable things do happen, it’s largely the reaction of the people involved that determines whether they become tragic tales or entertaining stories. If what we saw in the video is any indicator, this couple will be telling their grandkids someday about how the guys carrying their wedding cake tripped and ruined it, and how Grandpa’s response won Grandma’s heart all over again.

This article originally appeared on 7.27.23