Heroes
A movie theater got its audience to use their phones so it could teach them a lesson
What a way to make a statement. I would have reached for my phone too. Also, it's a movie theater — come on, people.
06.08.14
Holy moly that voice.
Brandon Conway sounds remarkably like Michael Jackson when he sings.
When Michael Jackson died 13 years ago, the pop music world lost a legend. However markedly mysterious and controversial his personal life was, his contributions to music will go down in history as some of the most influential of all time.
Part of what made him such a beloved singer was the uniqueness of his voice. From the time he was a young child singing lead for The Jackson 5, his high-pitched vocals stood out. Hearing him sing live was impressive, his pitch-perfect performances always entertaining.
No one could ever really be compared to MJ, or so we thought. Out of the blue, a guy showed up on TikTok recently with a casual performance that sounds so much like the King of Pop it's blowing people away.
Brandon Conway posted his first TikTok video ever on July 24, and in less than three weeks it's been viewed more than 27 million times. It's just him standing in a parking lot snapping his fingers and singing "The Way You Make Me Feel," but when he opens his mouth, whoa.
As he keeps going, it gets even more whoa. Then he hits Jackson's signature "he he" and the whoa turns into what?!?
Take a listen:
@brandonconway11 First post on tiktok let me know what you guys think! More videos coming soon feom mj to country to rock so yall be sure to stay tuned!#fyp #singer #usherchallenge @usher @tpain #letsgo #firstvideo
Uncanny, right? If you need a reminder of how Jackson himself sounded when he sang it, here's a live performance from Auckland during his 1996 world tour.
Very impressive. You can follow Brandon Conway on TikTok to hear more from him.
If you're looking for a little sunshine, we've got you covered.
Things to make you smile.
Are you looking for something to make you smile? Well, you've come to the right place. Starting off on a positive note can set the tone for the rest of the week. For those who enjoy our weekly 10 things that made you smile this week article, here's an extra dose coming at the start of each week. Now you can find some bright spots to look forward with each passing day!
Mondays can be a drag for a lot of us. Unless you're starting your week on vacation, of course. For the rest of us, we're just trying to get through the work week while keeping our sanity intact. If you're looking for a little sunshine, we've got you covered. Read on…
National Relaxation Day.
Photo by Vu Thu Giang on UnsplashAugust 15 is National Relaxation Day. Yes, you heard me right. It's a day dedicated to relaxing and as it's a national day, it should be paid time off right? Well, I'm not sure if that's how it works but it should. In the event that you don't have any PTO days saved and are terrible at faking a cough, you can set your day up to be as relaxing as possible for when you get home from work. Grab some ready-made margaritas from your local grocery store on your way home and do your best to become a human burrito for the rest of the day.
"She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" premiers on Disney+ August 18. I love everything Marvel so sign me up. This trailer is amazing. Who wouldn't want a hulk for their attorney? Mark Ruffalo is still The Hulk so no need to get all huffy about the studio changing things. The series looks pretty entertaining, especially if you're a Marvel fan.
Harry Styles
www.flickr.comHow many of us remember screaming at the top of our lungs at our favorite artist's concerts as teens? Heck, some of us still do this as adults. Well, you're in luck if you're a Harry Styles fan. Styles is touring from August 15 through November 15. Now, he may not be everyone's cup of tea but I'm sure there are teen and young adult girls and nonbinary people who would be thrilled to get their hands on some tickets. That's if the shows aren't already sold out.
I'm sure someone appreciated the bad poetry, and August 18 is the day you should read some of yours out loud. You may be wondering why someone would read bad poetry out loud. It's because it's National Bad Poetry Day! Look, I'm sure someone sits around trying to think of the most ridiculous things to celebrate and through a petition or I don't know, putting it on a super-official-looking website, it becomes a thing. Let's not ask questions. It's the little things in life that bring us joy. Now gather some friends, grab some wine and have a bad poetry reading event in your living room. Some towns even have events just for bad poetry, so see if your town has one. Someone's bound to make you laugh hard enough to pee a little.
Many people enjoy being scared. They go to haunted houses, prepare for Halloween like it's a year-round event and, of course, watch horror movies. Within the horror genre there are thrillers to really mess with your head to keep you on edge long after the movie has ended, such as "Orphan." The movie is still on enough people's minds after the original was released 13 years ago, so the creepy child looking murderer is returning on August 19. This movie will keep you in suspense and make you walk around filled with anxiety long after. If that's your thing, you'll appreciate the late sequel.
With a hair band power ballad to boot.
1989 video brings back strong memories for Gen Xers who came of age in the '80s.
It was the year we saw violence in Tiananmen Square and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. The year we got Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally" and Michael Keaton in Tim Burton's "Batman." The year "Seinfeld" and "The Simpsons" debuted on TV, with no clue as to how successful they would become. The year that gave us New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul while Madonna and Janet Jackson were enjoying their heyday.
The jeans were pegged, the shoulders were padded and the hair was feathered and huge. It was 1989—the peak of Gen X youth coming of age.
A viral video of a group of high school students sitting at their desks in 1989—undoubtedly filmed by some geeky kid in the AV club who probably went on to found an internet startup—has gone viral across social media, tapping straight into Gen X's memory banks. For those of us who were in high school at the time, it's like hopping into a time machine.
The show "Stranger Things" has given young folks of today a pretty good glimpse of that era, but if you want to see exactly what the late '80s looked like for real, here it is:
\u201cHigh school students, 1989.\u201d— A SLICE OF HISTORY (@A SLICE OF HISTORY) 1659831504
Oh so many mullets. And the Skid Row soundtrack is just the icing on this nostalgia cake. (Hair band power ballads were ubiquitous, kids.)
I swear I went to high school with every person in this video. Like, I couldn't have scripted a more perfect representation of my classmates (which is funny considering that this video came from Paramus High School in New Jersey and I went to high school on the opposite side of the country).
Comments have poured in on Reddit from both Gen Xers who lived through this era and those who have questions.
First, the confirmations:
"Can confirm. I was a freshman that year, and not only did everyone look exactly like this (Metallica shirt included), I also looked like this. 😱😅"
"I graduated in ‘89, and while I didn’t go to this school, I know every person in this room."
"It's like I can virtually smell the AquaNet and WhiteRain hairspray from here...."
"I remember every time you went to the bathroom you were hit with a wall of hairspray and when the wind blew you looked like you had wings."
Then the observations about how differently we responded to cameras back then.
"Also look how uncomfortable our generation was in front of the camera! I mean I still am! To see kids now immediately pose as soon as a phone is pointed at them is insanity to me 🤣"
"Born in 84 and growing up in the late 80’s and 90’s, it’s hard to explain to younger people that video cameras weren’t everywhere and you didn’t count on seeing yourself in what was being filmed. You just smiled and went on with your life."
Which, of course, led to some inevitable "ah the good old days" laments:
"Life was better before the Internet. There, I said it."
"Not a single cell phone to be seen. Oh the freedom."
"It's so nice to be reminded what life was like before cell phones absorbed and isolated social gatherings."
But perhaps the most common response was how old those teens looked.
"Why do they all look like they're in their 30's?"
"Everyone in this video is simultaneously 17 and 49 years old."
"Now we know why they always use 30 y/o actors in high school movies."
As some people pointed out, there is an explanation for why they look old to us. It has more to do with how we interpret the fashion than how old they actually look.
Ah, what a fun little trip down memory lane for those of us who lived it. (Let's just all agree to never bring back those hairstyles, though, k?)