+
Joy

Airport worker saves the day after actress loses her clothes and makeup right before her big event

Hana Sofia Lopes was due to attend a highly prestigious even when her bag containing all her necessary items was lost.

lost luggage
Photo by Robert Gomez on Unsplash

Lopes had landed in New York Cit. Her luggage was stuck in Germany.

For Luxembourg-born Portuguese actress Hana Sofia Lopes, traveling overseas to hobnob with industry elites should have been a dream come true. But it quickly became a nightmare.

As CNN reported, Lopes had planned on visiting a friend in New York City before arriving in Montreal where the event would be held. It was an event she was eagerly looking forward to and had the perfect outfit for it carefully tucked away in her luggage.

Only the luggage never arrived.

The actress spent a week calling the airline during her New York stay, but all to no avail. Things didn’t look good. "Here I am in New York, with no clothes other than those I was wearing during the flight. No shoes. No brush for my hair. No makeup. No socks. Nothing. Just me and my handbag," she told CNN.

At the end of her rope, Lopes went to file a complaint as she touched down in Montreal. And whether it was a lucky coincidence, or a dose of good karma, Lopes would have a chance encounter that turned things around in the most uplifting way.

Deciding to not take her anger out on the airport worker, Lopes gave the disclaimer, “what I'm about to say is nothing personal. It's really just against your company, against the company you're working for.”

The rage might have been quelled, but emotions still rose up. As tears began to roll down her face, Lopes explained that "I'm here to shoot a movie, and tomorrow, there is a reception with the prime minister of Luxembourg, which is my home country. I don't even have makeup to put on my face. I don't even have face cream. I have nothing."

The worker, Azalia Claudine Becerril Angulo, found herself instantly empathizing with this woman whom she had never met. "She was really sad, angry also, and I understood why," she told CNN, adding that she found Lopes’ openhearted approach refreshing. "I wanted to help her. Normally, people are rude and they're very aggressive. She was different."

Though she couldn’t help with the luggage—which apparently was in Frankfurt, Germany—it just so happened that when not working at an airport, Angulo was a professional makeup artist.

"If you want, I can come to your hotel in the afternoon and do your hair and makeup so that you can attend your reception," she told Lopes, offering to do it all for free. Obviously, Lopes agreed.

Angulo arrived at Lopes' hotel room the next day, and as she went to work, the two women chatted about their lives. Lopes recalled how it all felt “very natural” as they seamlessly spoke in French, English and Spanish, and that their connection was instant. "It didn't feel like I was just meeting somebody for the first time. It felt like I was meeting up with an old friend, which is crazy, because I just met her the day before, but we were talking a lot.”

Angulo finished with a look the Lopes loved, but refused to accept payment for her work "Makeup for me, it's an art, it's really a passion," she noted "So it's not about the money. It's just because I really like to make the person feel good and happy."

In quite the storybook ending fashion—that same day Lopes was notified that her luggage was not, in fact, in Germany, but instead was on its way to Montreal. It’s unclear whether or not that dress arrived in time for the event that night, but regardless, the photos from the event turned out gorgeous. Hair, makeup and all.

Though it’s certainly good news that everything worked out for Lopes, both she and Angulo agree that what’s really important to take from their feel good story is the power of kindness.

Angulo told CNN, "people have to be a little bit more understanding that the person in front of them, they don't have control of what happened. So if they are patient and really calm about it, the person in front is going to help you the best that we can."

On her Instagram page, Lopes seconded the sentiment as she wrote, “in an era where atrocities and bad news seem to be the norm, our story hopefully restores a little bit of faith in humanity. Let’s never lose our ability to step into someone else’s shoes, it’s what makes us human. I am sure that what unites is far more redeeming and compelling than anything that separates us.”

It costs nothing to be kind. But it pays off in the most rewarding of ways.

Can we bring back some 50s fridge features, please?

There are very few things that would make people nostalgic for the 1950s. Sure, they had cool cars and pearl necklaces were a staple, but that time frame had its fair share of problems, even if "Grease" made it look dreamy. Whether you believe your life would've been way more interesting if you were Danny Zuko or not, most would agree their technology was...lacking.

All eras are "advanced" for their time, but imagine being dropped off in the 50s as someone from the year 2023. A recent post by Historic Vids on Twitter of a 1956 commercial advertising a refrigerator, however, has some people thinking that when it came to fridges, maybe they were living in the year 2056. I don't typically swoon over appliances, yet this one has me wondering where I can purchase a refrigerator like this.

Of course, there's no fancy touch screen that tells you the weather and asks how you'd like your ice cubed. It's got more important features that are actually practical.

Keep ReadingShow less

Couple investigating noises accidentally awaken a bear.

It's not uncommon to hear something outside of your house, especially if it's close to trash pick-up day. Raccoons and stray cats treat an overflowing trashcan like a holiday dinner, and even if you weren't sure if you heard something or not, the torn trash bags confirm your suspicion.

This is a pretty universal experience in America, so hearing a rustle under your house typically conjures images of a trash panda that got stuck. But for one family, the noises weren't coming from a raccoon at all. In a viral video on TikTok that has over 10 million views, a couple is outside looking for the source of the noises they've been hearing. The woman is filming at a fairly safe distance, while the guy investigates their crawl space.

Everything is going well. They hear what sounds like a hiss and with relief exclaim that it's a raccoon.

They were wrong. Like pee your pants, everyone for themselves, wrong.

Keep ReadingShow less

Australian comedy group Axis Of Awesome

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran was found not liable on April 4 in a lawsuit where he was accused of stealing elements of the Marvin Gaye classic "Let's Get It On" for his 2014 hit, “Thinking Out Loud."

The case called attention to the fact that there are motifs and musical structures common in pop music that no one owns, and all are free to use. When it comes to chord progressions, the 12-bar blues and basic I, IV, V, I progressions you hear in country and folk have been used and reused since people first picked up the guitar.

In the wrong hands, the progressions can result in music that is boring and formulaic, but in the right hands, they can be a springboard for fresh ideas.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

What Hollywood gets wrong about corsets, and how the Victorians actually got a tiny waist

Bernadette Banner, a content creator focused of fashion history, breaks down how Victorians were "masters of illusion."

Bernadette Banner/Youtube

You'll never look at a corset with disdain again.

Usually when we think of corsets, the words suffocation, fainting and shifting organs probably come to mind.

This is certainly what Bernadette Banner has come across in the comments section of her Youtube channel, where she shares all kinds of fashion history education. The general consensus is that Victorian women were either all incredibly tiny or that they went to extremely dangerous lengths to achieve the highly exaggerated signature silhouette of the era, which was to have the bust 10 inches larger than the waist, with the hips 15 inches larger. 34-26-36, for example.

This notion is certainly backed by Hollywood, where we normally see women of that time period being laced up so tightly they can barely breathe, suffering under the crushing weight of whalebone and the patriarchy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ted-Ed/Youtube

Technology isn't everything.

Crooked teeth is a very, very common occurrence in our modern world. Nine out of ten people have at least some misalignment going on in their mouths. Over 4 million people wear braces in the United States alone. I don’t know about you, but I can still feel the utter sticker shock from my own teeth-straightening journey. (I call it a “journey” so it feels a little more whimsical and less devastating.)

And yet, this is not something our ancestors dealt with. Like…at all. How could it be that no one experienced this normal modern-day conundrum in a time when we had exponentially less technological advancement?

As it turns out, technology might be the culprit, and a video from Ted-Ed explains it all.
Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

10 things that made us smile this week

Upworthy's weekly roundup of joy

Lots of joy and laughter in this week's list

Hey ho, happy humans!

Whether you're feeling stressed over end-of-the-school-year chaos, depressed over the challenges our world faces or refreshed by the beautiful spring blossoms blooming everywhere, you can surely use some extra doses of joy.

In this week's list, we have some delightful interactions between parents and young adult children, a hilarious take on millennials getting older, some helpful and entertaining animals, a throwback to one of the most iconic (and earwormy) jingles of all time, a photo that has been blowing people's minds and of course, some utterly adorable toddlers.

We hope these little nuggets brighten your day! Enjoy!

Keep ReadingShow less