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Pop Culture

Former car dealership employee reveals the best way to get a cheaper price on your vehicle

Buying a new car can be an overwhelming process. But Roxy Stylez has a few tricks of the trade to help it go in the buyer's favor.

car sales, buying a new car, car dealerships
@roxystylezz/TikTok

A former car dealership employee shares some tip to get a fair price

Buying a car is, as we know, can be overwhelming. Especially during that inevitable moment the salesperson goes away for 15 minutes (which feels more like an hour) and comes back with, supposedly, the best deal available.

When in reality, that “best deal” includes all kinds of sneaky charges that most customers don’t know they can counter. So by the end of the draining process, they leave exhausted and paying more than they technically should.

And even those that do know dealerships aren’t upfront with their cheapest prices might not always have the confidence to negotiate for themselves. Which makes this bit of advice so helpful for car buyers everywhere.

Earlier this year, Roxy Stylez (@roxystylezz26), who claims to be a former car dealership employee, was asked by a viewer how they could “avoid” the notorious 15 minute waiting game.

Rather than trying to avoid it, Stylez suggests to “play the game right back.”

“Here’s how this is gonna play out, “ she says in a clip posted to her TikTok. “The salesman is gonna come out with the first pencil price. Never sign on this.”

Instead, this is when you should offer your first rebuttal. That’s when, most likely, according to Stylez, that the salesperson will go into the back office and “just sit there” with the manager doing nothing (other than betting on how fast they’ll get you to sign) simply to make you feel uncomfortable.

After the 15 minutes are up, the salesperson will come back with a new price saying they “went to war” and “fought really hard” for you and that they are “on your team.”

None of which is true, Stylez says. The more money he gets out of you, the more money he makes.” Plain and simple.

@roxystylezz26 Replying to @user8479429849108 ♬ original sound - Roxy Stylez

Stylez also assures that salespeople receive a daily flat rate of around $300 even without any sales (although this differs from the listed $16.69/hr on Ziprecruiter).

But if the $300 is true, that’s certainly more than what the average person makes. So in her opinion, there’s no reason to feel bad for offering them less money.

A few more strategies to, as Styles, puts it make the salesperson “squeam”:

One, call another dealership in front of them, repeat the offer given by them, and say “if you beat it I’ll come to you.” Odds are, the original salesperson isn’t going to waste the time and energy they’ve already spent on you over a “$1000 dollar difference” and will agree to a cheaper price.

Second, don’t express desperation or excitement for the car. “You don’t want to give them more leverage to be able to use against you.”

Lastly, Stylez says you shouldn't be paying a docking fee on a car that’s already docked and wasn’t especially ordered, nor should you pay extra for any extra features like special coatings, when those can be purchased for far less at a local auto repair shop.

Around 345,000 people saw Stylez’s video. And after watching it felt a) grateful that she made things so transparent and b) frustrated that buying a car had to be this daunting.

“The dealership model needs to get scrapped,” one person wrote

Honestly this could be a job. I’d hire someone to go to dealership with me to save thousands of dollars,” added another.

Some even shared their own personal negotiation tactics.

“Once my dad picked the make and model he wanted and just cc’d every dealership in a 100 mile radius so they’d try to beat each other and not him,” commented one viewer

Another joked “have a friend call an act like another dealership.”

Of course, nowadays people might opt to avoid a dealership entirely and instead purchase completely online—either out of convenience, or to avoid the awkward mental chess games. Regardless, it’s a good reminder that when it comes to staying within your budget, you might have to stand up for yourself from time to time.

via Edith Lemay/NatGeo

Mia, Leo, Colin, and Laurent Pelletier pose on top of their camper van in front of adouble rainbow while in Mongolia.

True

“Blink,” a new film by National Geographic Documentary Films shows how a family with four children, three of whom are going blind, embraces life in the face of an uncertain future. It’s a testament to the resilience of the Lemay-Pelletier family but also a reminder for all of us to seize the day because all our futures are uncertain.

Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier are the parents of Mia, a 13-year-old girl, and three boys: Léo, 11, Colin, 9, and Laurent, 7. Over the last six years, they’ve learned that Mia and the two youngest boys have retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease in which the cells of the retina slowly die. As the disease progresses, the person develops “tunnel vision” that shrinks until very little vision remains.

The diagnosis devastated the parents. "The hardest part with the diagnosis was inaction. There's nothing they can do about it. There's no treatment,” Edith says in the film.


However, even though the parents couldn’t affect the progress of the disease, they could give their children’s senses an epic experience that would benefit them for a lifetime.

“We don’t know how fast it’s going to go, but we expect them to be completely blind by mid-life,” said the parents. Mia’s impairment advisor suggested they fill her visual memory with pictures from books. “I thought, I’m not going to show her an elephant in a book; I’m going to take her to see a real elephant,” Edith explains in the film. “And I’m going to fill her visual memory with the best, most beautiful images I can.”

The Pelletier family (from left): Mia, Sebastien, Colin, Edith Lemay, Laurent and Leo inKuujjuaq, Canada.via National Geographic/Katie Orlinsky

This realization led to an inspiring year-long journey across 24 countries, during which every family member experienced something on their bucket list. Mia swam with dolphins, Edith rode a hot-air balloon in Cappadocia, and Léo saw elephants on safari.

Colin realized his dream of sleeping on a moving train while Sébastien saw the historic site of Angkor Wat.

“We were focusing on sights,” explains Pelletier. “We were also focusing a lot on fauna and flora. We’ve seen incredible animals in Africa but also elsewhere. So we were really trying to make them see things that they wouldn’t have seen at home and have the most incredible experiences.”

Cameras followed the family for 76 days as they traveled to far-flung locales, including Namibia, Mongolia, Egypt, Laos, Nepal and Turkey. Along the way, the family made friends with local people and wildlife. In a heartbreaking scene, the boys wept as the family had to leave behind a dog named Bella he befriended in the mountains of Nepal.

But the film isn't just about the wonders of nature and family camaraderie. The family's trip becomes a “nightmare” when they are trapped in a cable car suspended hundreds of feet above the Ecuadorian forest for over 10 hours.

annapurna range, blink, nat geoLeo, Laurent, Edith, Colin, Mia, and Sebastien look out at the mountains in the Annapurna range.via MRC/Jean-Sébastien Francoeur

As expected, NatGeo’s cinematographers beautifully capture the family's journey, and in the case of “Blink,” this majestic vision is of even greater importance. In some of the film's quietest moments, we see the children taking in the world's wonders, from the vast White Desert in Egypt to a fearless butterfly in Nepal, with the full knowledge that their sight will fail one day.

Along the way, the family took as many pictures as possible to reinforce the memories they made on their adventure. “Maybe they’ll be able to look at the photographs and the pictures and they will bring back those stories, those memories, of the family together,” Edith says.

But the film is about more than travel adventures and the pain of grief; ultimately, it’s about family.

“By balancing [the parents’ grief] with a more innocent and joyous tale of childlike wonder and discovery, we felt we could go beyond a mere catalog of locations and capture something universal,” the directors Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher, said in a statement. “Keeping our camera at kid-height and intimately close to the family, we aimed to immerse the audience in the observational realities of their daily life, as well as the subtle relationships between each of them. This is a film built on looks, gestures and tiny details—the very fabric of our relationships with one another.”

Ultimately, “Blink” is a great film to see with your loved ones because it’s a beautiful reminder to appreciate the wonders of our world, the gift of our senses and the beauty of family.

The film will open in over 150 theaters in the U.S. and Canada beginning Oct. 4 and will debut on National Geographic Channel and stream on Disney+ and Hulu later this year. Visit the “Blink” website for more information.

via TheEllenShow / YouTube

Mark Wahlberg on "The Ellen Show."

Actor Mark Wahlberg recently attended a daddy-daughter dance with his 10-year-old, Grace. Sadly, Grace had no interest in seeing her father strutting his stuff on the dance floor.

"I didn't get one dance," Wahlberg told Ellen DeGeneres. "And I told her we were going to do the whole big circle and I was going to go off. And she said, 'Dad, if you embarrass me, I will never talk to you again.' But what she did do is she hung out with me."

No matter who your dad is, especially if you're a 10-year-old-girl, you have zero desire to see him dance in front of your friends.

But the parents at the dance probably would have had a blast seeing Wahlberg bust out some of his old-school '90s Marky Mark moves.

However, Wahlberg couldn't help but leave his mark on the music being played at the dance.


Let's not forget, he didn't get famous for his acting but for showing off his abs in the "Good Vibrations" video.

Being that Wahlberg's time as a pop star was three decades ago, he couldn't believe it when he heard the music being played at the dance.

"[Grace] sat there on the edge of the stage, by the DJ. And then I'm sitting there with one other dad and I'm like, 'This is not an edited version of this song. There are explicit lyrics being played at a school dance for girls and I'm like no good,'" he said.

"I told the DJ and he's like, 'Oh, I thought it was.' I said, 'What are you doing?' I'm hearing F-bombs and this and that's not okay," Wahlberg said.

He's right. There's no place for music with explicit lyrics at a dance for 10-year-old children.

Wahlberg says the DJ didn't know he wasn't playing the edited version, but it's probably more likely that he didn't even realize the song was a problem. Pop music these days is filled with a numbing amount of violent and misogynistic lyrics.

A recent study from the University of Missouri found that nearly one-third of pop songs contain lyrics that degrade or demean women by portraying them as submissive or sexually objectified.

Currently, three of the top five songs on the Billboard Top 40 contain the word "bitch." One of them is sung in Korean.

It's odd that Americans have become more sensitive to misogyny in pop culture in films, television, and comedy, but still have a huge cultural blind-spot when it comes to music.

That's not a good thing, especially when pop music is marketed to teenagers.

"We know that music has a strong impact on young people and how they view their role in society," said Cynthia Frisby, a professor in the Missouri School of Journalism.

"Unlike rap or hip-hop, pop music tends to have a bubbly, uplifting sound that is meant to draw listeners in," Frisby continued. "But that can be problematic if the lyrics beneath the sound are promoting violence and misogynistic behavior."

Let's face it, pop stars are role models. Their examples show young people what to wear and how to behave. That's not to say that kids will blindly follow someone just because they like their music. But it has an undeniable effect.

Wahlberg, and any parent who monitors what their kids are listening to, deserve credit for protecting the minds and hearts of their kids.

Frisby has some great advice for parents concerned about negative imagery in pop music.

"Ask your daughters and sons what songs they like to listen to and have conversations about how the songs might impact their identity," Frisby said.

"For example, many songs might make young girls feel like they have to look and act provocative in order to get a boy to like them, when that isn't necessarily the case. If children and teens understand that what they are hearing isn't healthy behavior, then they might be more likely to challenge what they hear on the radio."

He's right. There's no place for music with explicit lyrics at a dance for 10-year-old children.

Wahlberg says the DJ didn't know he wasn't playing the edited version, but it's probably more likely that he didn't even realize the song was a problem. Pop music these days is filled with a numbing amount of violent and misogynistic lyrics.

A recent study from the University of Missouri found that nearly one-third of pop songs contain lyrics that degrade or demean women by portraying them as submissive or sexually objectified.

Currently, three of the top five songs on the Billboard Top 40 contain the word "bitch." One of them is sung in Korean.

It's odd that Americans have become more sensitive to misogyny in pop culture in films, television, and comedy, but still have a huge cultural blind-spot when it comes to music.

That's not a good thing, especially when pop music is marketed to teenagers.

"We know that music has a strong impact on young people and how they view their role in society," said Cynthia Frisby, a professor in the Missouri School of Journalism.

"Unlike rap or hip-hop, pop music tends to have a bubbly, uplifting sound that is meant to draw listeners in," Frisby continued. "But that can be problematic if the lyrics beneath the sound are promoting violence and misogynistic behavior."

Let's face it, pop stars are role models. Their examples show young people what to wear and how to behave. That's not to say that kids will blindly follow someone just because they like their music. But it has an undeniable effect.

Wahlberg, and any parent who monitors what their kids are listening to, deserve credit for protecting the minds and hearts of their kids.

Frisby has some great advice for parents concerned about negative imagery in pop music.

"Ask your daughters and sons what songs they like to listen to and have conversations about how the songs might impact their identity," Frisby said.

"For example, many songs might make young girls feel like they have to look and act provocative in order to get a boy to like them, when that isn't necessarily the case. If children and teens understand that what they are hearing isn't healthy behavior, then they might be more likely to challenge what they hear on the radio."


This article originally appeared on 03.03.20

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.


This article originally appeared on 8.10.22

via Wikimedia Commons

Generation X, people born between 1965 and 1979, are America's goofy middle children sandwiched between the much larger Baby Boomer and Millennial generations. Gen X prides itself on being individualistic, nonconformists committed to a D.I.Y. ethic whether that means writing a punk 'zine or launching a tech start-up.

(If you just asked yourself "What's a 'zine?" you're clearly not a member of Gen X.)

It's a generation marked by an aloof cool where any personal slight can be written off with a "whatever" that's deathly afraid of taking anything too seriously. It's a generation that was so put off by the corporate, commercial culture of the '80s it rebelled by wearing second-hand clothes and ironically embracing low-brow '70s culture.



It's the generation of hip-hop, Tiger Woods, Quentin Tarrantino, the re-birth of punk rock, John Cusak movies, and Atari.

A big reason Gen X is so self-reliant is that it's the generation hardest hit by divorce. According to a 2004 marketing study it "went through its all-important, formative years as one of the least parented, least nurtured generations in U.S. history."

Gen X was the first generation that experienced both parents working outside the home. But, unfortunately, at the same time, childcare centers and afterschool programs had not yet emerged to a significant extent.

Now, the "Coolest Generation" finds itself somewhere between 42 and 56 and is hitting middle age. Unfortunately, that means it's now the most stressed generation in America. Although, in true Gen X fashion, many refuse to let anyone see they're stressed.

An extensive study by Penn State showed that stress began to hit Gen X sometime in the last decade. The 2012 study discovered that Gen X had an average stress level of 5.8 (out of ten) while Millennials (3.4) and Baby Boomers (4.4) were a lot calmer.

A study from earlier this month shows that the trend hasn't changed. In 2021, 22% of Gen Xers admitted to daily struggles with stress followed by Millenials (17%), Gen Z (14%), and Baby Boomers (8%).

A big reason for the stress is having to take care of multiple generations. Many Gen Xers have to care for their aging parents as well as their children who are just starting to make their way in the world.

Gen X may have aged its way into the most stressful part of its life, but things could be a lot worse. There's no group of people better equipped to deal with stress. When executives at Nike studied Gen X it found the generation's hallmarks are "flexibility," "innovation," and "adaptability." "They have developed strong survival skills and the ability to handle anything that comes their way," the study says.

Gen Xers may think that's just a bunch of corporate B.S. However, it's true. Gen X grew up during the AIDS epidemic, the end of the Cold War, the Challenger disaster, the late '80s and early '90s crime wave, 9/11, the Great Recession, COVID-19, and managed to survive after "My So-Called Life" was canceled.

We've survived tough times and we'll make it through these as well. Just got to follow the advice of Gen X's poet laureate, Tupac Shakur: "And it's crazy, it seems it'll never let up, but please, you got to keep your head up."

We can also look forward to grabbing a big box of popcorn and enjoying the massive Millennial meltdown that happens when they hit middle age. It's not going to be pretty.


This article originally appeared on 4.8.21

via RaisingKindKids/TikTok (used with permission)

Nicole shares 10 of her favorite parenting one-liners.

Clear communication and consistency are essential when dealing with children. An excellent way for parents to be consistent in their parenting is to have a hip pocket full of memorable one-liners that remind their kids to treat everyone respectfully, including themselves. These one-liners also help establish and reinforce family rules.

Nicole, a mother of three and founder of the Raising Kind Kids Club, is going viral on TikTok for a post where she shares the memorable one-liners she uses with her children, who are now teenagers. The one-liners are all examples of kind, gentle and respectful parenting. They are also a great way to reinforce rules and values.


“Cause when we say things over and over and over again, it can feel like ‘Oh my gosh, why do I have to keep repeating myself?’ so we have some one-liners that just make things so much easier and more importantly, they work cause our kids know what they mean,” Nicole shared in her video with over 1.9 million views.

@raisingkindkids

Parenting one liners that work to make parenting easier Like this gem: you can be mad without being mean. Add yours! #par#parentsoftiktokr#parentingtipsr#parentinghacksr#parenting101s#respectfulparentingi#raisingkindkids

Here are 10 of Nicole’s go-to one-liners:

  1. When Nicole’s children complain that their friends get to do things they don’t, she says: “Every family has different rules.”
  1. To remind her kids that it’s never okay to make fun of someone’s appearance, she says, “We don't comment on other people's bodies."
  1. Nicole’s husband has a great line for when her kids mock something someone likes: “Don't yuck someone else's yum.”
  1. Nicole doesn’t believe that her children should be forced into friendships, but she does want them to be respectful, so she reminds them that “You don't have to be friends with everyone, but you have to be friendly.”
  1. To teach her children about consent, she regularly says: "Stop means stop" and "No means no."
  1. When they’re being adventurous and could injure themselves: "Make good choices for your body.”
  1. She confronts disingenuous apologies with: "I'm sorry it's just words a real apology is a change in behavior."
  1. When the kids are being sarcastic, she asks for clear speech: "Say what you mean and mean what you say."
  1. When her children are scared and need to push through the emotion, she helps them gain extra strength by saying, "It's okay to be nervous. You can be brave and scared and do it anyway."
  1. If her kids come to her with a problem, she allows them to choose her response: "Do you want help, advice, or just listening?"

The folks in the comments had some additional one-liners that can also be very helpful for raising kind kids. “I learned a ton more great one-liners from our online community,” Nicole told Upworthy. “But my favorite new line is: ‘You don’t have to like them but you can’t recruit other people not to like them.’ This is from @TheLadySarah and it's a great way to remind kids to avoid 'mean girl' behaviors, which can quickly turn into social bullying behaviors.”

Here are a few other memorable one-liners from folks in the comments:

"We keep surprises, not secrets.”

“All feelings are welcomed. All behaviors are not.”

"Dimming someone else's light does not make yours brighter."

As a disability advocate, she shared her one-liner that teaches tolerance: “Everyone’s brains and bodies work differently.”

Nicole told Upworthy she was inspired to start the Raising Kind Kids Club after her daughter was bullied. “The one thing that saved her mental health (and mine) was the kindness of others,” she said. “Kindness can be taught and we can encourage kids to want to be kind more often, eventually making kindness a habit. And that's how we can change the world around us: raise a generation of kind kids who speak and act with more kindness, more often, who stand up to bullying behaviors, who celebrate each others' differences and who show empathy and compassion to those around them.”

You can read more about Nicole and her followers' one-liners at Coffee and Carpool.

Photo credits: Joseph Gall (left), P.B. Rage from USA (right)

Imagine having Tony Hawk and Kurt Cobain as your granddads.

If you wanted to create a human with the most Gen X superpowers possible, the recipe would be pretty simple. Just get Kurt Cobain's kid to marry Tony Hawk's kid and have a baby, right?

Welp, that's exactly what has happened, and it's like a 90s fever dream come true.


Frances Bean Cobain—the daughter of infamous grunge legends Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love—married skating legend Tony Hawk's son Riley in October of 2023. How this news slipped past a good number of us Gen Xers is a mystery, but it's probably due to our stage of life. We're too busy caring for aging parents and putting kids through college to consume celebrity news like we used to. But whatever. That oh-so-Gen-X thing actually happened.

And now the 90s offspring supercouple just welcomed their first baby—Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk—and we typically chill Gen Xers are having a hard time staying cool over it.

The most Gen X thing that's ever happened

First of all, how is it possible that Tony Hawk and Kurt Cobain could be grandpops? Isn't Gen X still young and hip? Are we really hitting the grandparent era? And second of all, this is so frickin' rad.

Needless to say, the commentary on the announcement is epic:

"Kurt Cobain’s daughter and Tony Hawk’s son just became parents? That’s a rockstar-skater royalty baby right there! Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk is bound to have some serious genes and an even cooler future ahead. Talk about a legendary family tree!"

"This is the craziest 90s collab I've ever seen."

"This kid has just been born and is already the coolest person alive."

"Imagine Kurt Cobain and Tony Hawk are both your grandfathers, you’re like the Son Goku of white people."

"Alternative rock and Xtreme sports literally defined the 90s for yt ppl. His grandparents are the legends in both!"

"The most '90s grandchild to ever live."

"This is the most gen x thing i have ever seen...."

"Finally, they have created the most chill human on the planet."

"Kid's got the coolest name ever on top of the coolest family tree."

"That is going to be the raddest child of all time."

"That kid is 90s legacy. Pain and sadness met with high energy happiness and had a baby."

Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk has some awfully big shoes to fill

Some people are pointing out the pressure that can come with having incredibly famous family members, making jokes about how the kiddo will likely surprise us all by being remarkably average.


"The most rebellious thing he could do is grow up and get a regular job as an accountant."

"This kid is going to grow up with the most unreasonable expectations and end up being a farmer in Illinois or something just to get away from it."

"And we though Lisa Marie Presley had an impossible standard to live up to. Godspeed, Ronin."

Of course, the kiddo doesn't actually have to fill any shoes—it's not like he chose to be born into 90s pop culture royalty and who knows how those genetics will actually play out. He could be a musical genius with incredible motor control or he could be something totally different.

Kurt Cobain and Tony Hawk led very different lives early in their fame

Despite both being Gen X icons, Tony Hawk and Kurt Cobain were polar opposites in some ways. Cobain struggled with a lot in his too-short life, including physical and mental illness that eluded diagnoses, poverty and a broken family, and isolation fueled by drug addiction. He spurned the fame and fortune that came catapulting his way, not really knowing how to handle it, but before he was able to realize his dream of a simpler life with daughter Frances Bean, he tragically died by suicide at age 27. His musical genius and influence on rock music are still lauded to this day.

Tony Hawk's story bears little resemblance to Cobain's, other than his huge success. He stayed away from drugs early in his rise to fame and became part of the anti-drug PSA campaign in his youth. He did slip into some over-drinking and use of painkillers in his 30s, but then stepped away from the partying lifestyle altogether. Though he retired from competition in 2003 and is no longer trying to push the envelope with new tricks, he still skates for fun at age 56. His four children came from his first three marriages, all of which ended in divorce, and he's been married to his fourth wife since 2015. The public knows him as a good guy with a friendly disposition (and a good sense of humor about people telling him he looks like Tony Hawk).

How these two famous men's genes express themselves in little Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk will remain a mystery for some time, but one thing's for sure: This kid will go down in history as having the two gnarliest granddad's ever.

Welcome to the world, little Ronin. Whatever you do, please use your Gen X superpowers for good.