The audience went wild.
Brendan Fraser dressed as Rick O'Connell.
Brendan Fraser might be making the greatest career comeback ever, racking up accolades and award nominations for his dramatic, transformative role in “The Whale." But the OG Fraser fans (the ones who watch “Doom Patrol” solely to hear his voice and proudly pronounce his last name as Fray-zure, for this is the proper pronunciation) have known of his remarkable talent since the 90s, when he embodied the ultimate charming, dashing—and slightly goofball—Hollywood action lead.
Let us not forget his arguably most well known and beloved 90s character—Rick O’Connell from the “Mummy” franchise. Between his quippy one-liners, Indiana Jones-like adventuring skills and fabulous hair, what’s not to like?
During a double feature of “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns” in London, moviegoers got the ultimate surprise when who should walk in but Brendan Fraser himself, completely decked out in Rick O’Connell attire. The brown leather jacket. The scarf. Everything.
"I am proud to stand before you tonight," he told the audience. "This is a film that was made in Britain. You should know that! Even the second one, too. Be proud. Thank you for being here."
He continued, "We didn’t know if it was a drama or a comedy or a straight-ahead action or romance, a horror picture, more action, all of the above. No idea until it tested in front of British audiences. Thank you for that.”
Fraser then asked the crowd if anyone hadn’t actually seen the movie yet, before shouting, “Outstanding!” when somebody raised their hand. He then quickly made a polite plug encouraging people to go see “The Whale” before whisking himself away, saying, “I won’t take up any more of your time.”
Uh, yeah…I don’t think any time spent with Brendan Fraser is a waste. Do you?
Watch the adorable clip below:
As to whether or not "Mummy" fans will ever see a new Rick O'Connell story up on the big screen—only time will tell. In the meantime, we'll keep watching this video on repeat.
When your spin cycle is set to classical.
"The Trout," performed by Samsung.
One might expect to hear Franz Schubert’s "Die Forelle," more widely known as "The Trout," at the philharmonic orchestra. However, Boglarka Gyorgy noticed her washing machine playing the catchy classical tune. Apparently, this is a feature for a particular Samsung line of washing machines.
Being a professional musician herself, she couldn’t resist the urge to grab her violin and perform an impromptu duet with her appliance—and then post it to Instagram, of course. The result was a hilarious, impressive and viral hit."My two-year-old thinks this is an absolute banger. Thank you!" wrote one person. Another added, "This gives me joy."
Gyorgy didn’t give away the song title at first, but instead asked if anyone could guess the piece.
"Sounds 'fishy' to me," quipped one person, obviously recognizing the tune.
"Do you put it on the tumble dryer setting to get your spiccato really dry?" joked another, making a reference to the bow instrument version of a staccato rhythm, more or less. Music nerds are the best.
Several listeners shared that their own washing machines made the same tune and they only now discovered that it was based on a real song.
"Mom and I didn’t have a name for this, so we call it the washer’s 'victory' song. We call it this because half the time the washer doesn’t even work, so if you hear the song, it means it actually made it to the end of the wash cycle 😂😂😂" wrote one person.
Take a listen below:
Gyorgy’s music is wonderful, even when she isn’t performing with a washing machine. If you’d like to hear more, check out her Instagram here.
“She's broken my mind. I don't even understand what I'm not understanding."
An estimated 50-70% of the population doesn't have an internal monologue.
The notion of living without an internal monologue is a fairly new one. Until psychologist Russell Hurlburt’s studies started coming out in the late 90s, it was widely accepted that everyone had a little voice narrating in their head. Now Hurlburt, who has been studying people's "inner experience" for 40 years, estimates that only 30-50% of the population frequently think this way.
So what about the other 50-70%? What exactly goes on inside their heads from day to day?
In a video interview originally posted in 2020, a woman named Kirsten Carlson gave some insight into this question, sharing how not having an inner dialogue affected her reading and writing, her interactions with others and how she navigates mental challenges like anxiety and depression. It was eye-opening and mind-blowing.Reading isn’t a particularly enjoyable activity, Carlson admitted, explaining that rather than seeing images of characters and landscapes, she only sees words.
“In my head, every sentence has a shape so you can see the shape of a sentence. Keywords will pop out and I can file those away into my concept map, so at the end of reading something I can have a concept map of the main topics that I read about. It's not images, it's just the words."
That said, she is apparently a “very fast” reader.
This concept alone was hard for viewers to grasp. As one person wrote, “She's broken my mind. I don't even understand what I'm not understanding. I've never visualized a sentence in my life.”While she “never daydreams," Carlson does dream at night. However, she doesn’t recall any dialogue in those dreams. Carlson also shared that her alone time is always spent doing stuff like cleaning, cooking, watching Netflix and studying. I can only imagine the things I’d accomplish if I didn’t get sidetracked with existential questions like “Is a hotdog a sandwich?” If only.
While Carlson’s way of thinking might seem vastly different from the norm, there are several commonalities. Like most people, she has stores of information that she can pull up at any time. Thoughts still can keep her up at night, even if she does picture her endless to-do lists rather than hear them. And not having an inner monologue offers no protection against things like anxiety or depression, which Carlson explains manifest physically for her. Rather than feeling mental overload, her hands will start shaking, her stomach might get nauseated, and she’ll feel physically fatigued or disinterested in life.
Watch the video below:
As our understanding (and appreciation) of neurodiversity becomes more evolved, it’s likely that we’ll have even more fascinating conversations to absorb. No two people interpret the world that same way. Celebrating these differences reminds us that there is no one “right” way of thinking.
“You think women are going to be shocked by your language—that’s why you don’t want them in here?"
Surprising interview from 1974 shows how weird it was for women to be in a bar.
Once upon a time, things were weird. This is sure to be a sentiment that children of the future will share about the rules and customs of today, but knowing that fact doesn't stop things from the past from seeming a bit strange. In a rediscovered video clip of an Australian *gasp* female reporter in a bar in 1974, it's clear pretty quickly that she's out of place.
It's almost as if she's describing her movements like Steve Irwin would do when approaching a wild animal in its natural habitat. Her tone is even and hushed as she makes her way into the bar telling viewers how she's going to make her way to the barkeep, who also looks to be a woman. So I guess women were allowed to work in bars but not drink in them?
Honestly, that part was a little confusing for me but seemed the norm by the reporter's reaction. But what was not normal was a woman squeezing between men and ordering a drink and the men letting the reporter know that the bar was no place for a woman...unless you're the bartender. Who knows? 1974 was a wild year apparently.
After being served her glass of water, the reporter notices a patron's reaction and flat out asks if he has an objection to her being in the bar. To no one's surprise, he does, but it's not for the reason you may think. "If I want to talk or swear or something like that and there's a woman standing behind me, you can't, can you?" the man says. When she asks another man why he has a problem with women at the bar, the answer is pretty much the same. The men don't seem to want to offend the delicate sensibilities of women.
Now, I was not alive in the 70s and I'm not Australian, so I guess I'm a poor resource for what was happening around then. But did women not swear in 1974? Would these men be appalled that most women now swear just as much, if not more, than they do? There are so many questions I have, but the video doesn't end there.
At one point, a more progressive man tells her that women and men should be welcomed into the bar. But just as he's getting passionately into his answer, the reporter has to fend off the hand of a man behind her who decided to "show her" what happens when women go into bars.
The entire video is a bit of a wild ride. Watch it below:
"When you're the boyfriend you've always wanted…"
Self-dating is one of TikTok's latest trends.
Miley Cyrus' official music video for her new single "Flowers" is less than two weeks old, and it's already racked up a whopping 108 million views on YouTube. The smash hit also broke Spotify's record for the most streams in a single week, knocking K-pop superband BTS and their hit song "Butter" out of the top spot.
There's a reason "Flowers" is making waves. It's not only a catchy tune, but an empowering one, especially for women who've been socialized to believe they need a significant other to make them happy.
While most post-break-up songs are filled with heartache and lament and perhaps a bit of resentment, "Flowers" takes a different tack. While Cyrus sings about not wanting a relationship to end, she ultimately realizes she can give herself what she wants from a partner and it's incredibly liberating.
The song has become an anthem for an already existing TikTok trend of women celebrating "self dating." Rather than waiting around for someone to ask them out, women are taking themselves out—to coffee, to dinner, to bookstores, to the movies—showering themselves with love and attention and enjoying their own company.
For instance, this woman did the "date night challenge," which involves having your date blindly choose between two activities written on cards, but she did it for herself.
@justlikegilmoregirls Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do #barnesandnoble #readersunite #bookwormsoftiktok #bookdate #romancebookstiktok
Another woman demonstrated the connection between "Flowers" and Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man," showing how the former song appears to be a direct response to the latter. (And her caption, "Dating yourself is top tier," hit home for a lot of women, as did "When you're the boyfriend you've always wanted.")
@yourtorontolatina Dating yourself is top tier 💗 #boyfriend #funny #selflove #selfcare #dating #loveyourself #fyp #foryou #trend #viral #flowers #mileycyrus
Some TikTok users have made self-dating into an art, sharing their whys and hows with other women.
@desireefiggins #fyp #datejar #selflove #selfcare #dateyourself
This woman even committed to only self-dating for an entire year. She shared how she did it and what she learned about herself in the process. "Treat yourself exactly how you'd treat a partner," she shared. Excellent advice for us all.
@zabby1 Replying to @faithyyy this pretty much sums it all up! Treat yourself exactly how’d you treat a partner 🤎
As someone who has been happily married for two decades, I can attest that self-dating isn't just for singles. Self-care is empowering no matter your relationship status, and taking deliberate time to get to know yourself and give yourself what you know you need may even make you a better partner.
@bryntaponn 10/10 highly recomend. #fyp #mileycyrusflowers #selflove #selfdateideas
Having a special someone can be wonderfully fulfilling, but the idea that we need someone else to make us feel fulfilled is problematic in all kinds of ways. In my experience, the more healthy, happy and whole we are on our own, the more we are able to contribute to a relationship. So whether we're single or attached, regularly treating ourselves to a self-dating routine is a win-win for us and for whoever we may eventually end up with—even if that person is simply ourselves.
She has some great advice for pursuing your dreams.
The cake that Karly Blackburn sent to Nike.
Even though the United States is going through a labor shortage, high-profile jobs are still tough as ever to get. In a world where hundreds of applicants send in their resumes for the same job, it can be hard to stand out.
Karly Pavlinac Blackburn of Wilmington, North Carolina, was lamenting that the jobs she wanted were too competitive when a colleague suggested the 27-year-old do something dramatic to get her name out there.
"I was actually talking to my former colleague about getting in front of employers—and he was like, 'Well, Karly you need to do better ... show up in a creative way ... what about a resume on a cake?'" she told Good Morning America.
So Blackburn did just that.
Blackburn dreamed of getting a job at Nike’s new business incubator, Valiant Labs in Beaverton, Oregon. So she decided she’d get a cake with her resume printed on top and send it to the person who makes hiring decisions. She picked the perfect day to send the cake, September 8, 2022, or as they call it in Beaverton, Just Do It Day.
But it wasn’t going to be that easy. She couldn’t just drive over to a bakery, pick up a cake and deliver it to Nike 3,000 miles away.
\u201cKarly Pavlinac Blackburn, the #PoolePack alumna who recently sent her resume to @Nike on a cake, was a part of the Andrews Launch Accelerator a few years ago. \ud83c\udf82 \n\nRead her story. \u27a1\ufe0f https://t.co/g2Mjmq1Ht9 @NCStateAlumni\u201d— NC State Poole College of Management (@NC State Poole College of Management) 1664395186
She ordered the cake ahead of time at an Albertson’s grocery store near the Nike campus and contacted Instacart to make the delivery. Luckily for Blackburn, the delivery driver was Denise Baldwin, a single mother of three, who goes the extra mile for her customers.
"That’s just how I do my Instacart. Like every order I take, I take it as if I was putting groceries in my home or taking stuff to my spot or a family member that needs help," Baldwin told Today. "I take every order into consideration and make sure I do my best with every order."
With the delicate sheet cake in one hand and her 8-month-old son in the other, Baldwin traversed the 300-acre Nike campus and wouldn’t stop until she found her person. "I knew navigating Nike’s large campus was a feat, but combining a giant party with tons of people on top of that adds another layer of complexity to this delivery," Blackburn wrote on LinkedIn.
Even though security asked Baldwin to leave the cake at the front desk, she was firm that she had to hand deliver it to the correct person. With the help of security, she was able to do just that.
Baldwin was inspired by Blackburn’s dedication to furthering herself.
"You have inspired me," Baldwin told Blackburn. "This was meant to be. I am a mom and I am tired of doing Instacart. I know I have more abilities and qualifications to get something better. I'm so glad this worked for the both of us."
Blackburn posted about the cake delivery on LinkedIn where it went viral, receiving over 132,000 likes. Even though she didn’t get a job at Nike, her resume got her a lot of attention from potential employers.
On Monday, January 30, Blackburn will start a new job at CureMint.
"I will be the director of growth marketing at a software startup called CureMint—we make software that helps dental companies automate their business," she told Good Morning America. "To be on the other side of the job hunt feels good. It has definitely been a roller coaster with the virality of the LinkedIn post."
Blackburn hopes that her unique way of approaching her job search inspires others to find imaginative ways to get themselves noticed.
"Don't be afraid to do something out of the box and never give up on what you really want,” she told Good Morning America. “Because it will happen, you just have to keep going."
