The new series Up Here, out Friday on Hulu, follows a couple working through their anxieties in late ‘90s New York City. Mae Whitman stars as a writer who can’t get out of her own head, and she tells ABC Audio that even though she’s wanted to do a musical for a while, the thought of it also scared her.
“I’m at that point now where I’ve been lucky enough to do so many different things that it’s exciting to me to do something I haven’t done and that really terrifies me,” Whitman says. “This is genuinely the most terrifying thing I could ever possibly imagine. And I was like, well, if I’m scared of it, I should probably make myself try at least.”
Whitman says it was her Parenthood co-star Lauren Graham who convinced her to do the show.
“She slapped me around for three hours at a sushi restaurant, and basically forced me to go and was there for me every step along the way. I honestly don’t think I would have been able to do this without her,” Whitman said. “There were times where I was like, W.W.L.D. – what would Lauren do?”
Carlos Valdes stars as the other half of the show’s main romance, and says he found inspiration in the tone and execution of the FX series Fosse/Verdon.
Whitman, however, found her inspiration on the stage. She moved to New York to film Up Here and was able to catch the Tony Award-winning A Strange Loop before it left Broadway.
“I cried, I laughed, I screamed. It was incredible,” Whitman says. “The story is this person grappling with these insecurities in his head. And I was kind of like, ‘Wow, this is totally kismet. I can draw a lot of inspiration from this.’”
(NEW YORK) — A Michigan mom is warning other parents to pay attention to their kids and take action if they seem unwell after her son developed strep A and influenza A infections in late December and had to get a double amputation earlier this month.
Michele Stevenson of Grand Blanc, Michigan, told ABC News’ Good Morning America her son Kaden, 7, started to get sick right before Christmas but she didn’t think it was anything serious. She said he told her he felt tired and she thought he possibly had a stomach bug or a cold and let him rest. But after about four days, Kaden didn’t seem to be getting any better — instead, he seemed to be getting progressively worse.
“I’m thinking maybe he might have the flu just because of the pain he kept talking about. So I’m thinking it might be just body aches or something like that. But by the time I got to him, I couldn’t put his shoes on, I couldn’t put his coat on, he was in that much pain,” Stevenson recalled.
“Something just felt off,” the mom of one said. “So I looked him over. His right leg was swollen. He had a rash all over his body. His eyes look puffy to me and it seemed like that all happened within a short period of time.”
Stevenson said she took Kaden to Hurley Children’s Hospital in Flint, but shortly thereafter, doctors told her they needed to transfer Kaden for higher-level care.
“The ER doctor sat down in front of me and gave me the most serious look I’ve ever seen a doctor give me and said, ‘Your son is really sick,'” Stevenson recounted. “By the next day, they were telling us that they were about to transfer us to another hospital that Kaden needed a pediatric orthopedic surgeon … but I knew it was really serious the moment they said, ‘It’s going to be in a matter of minutes.’ They were just waiting on the helicopter to arrive.”
Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention renewed their December warning about invasive strep A Wednesday, noting that at least five children in Illinois have reportedly died following infections this year. The season for invasive strep A tends to run between December through April and this type of bacterial infection can be more dangerous because it can impact multiple parts of the body, such as a person’s blood, bones or lungs.
In addition, although the number of influenza cases have been relatively low across the U.S., multiple strains of the influenza A virus have been in circulation, according to data from the CDC.
With her son’s flu and strep infections, Stevenson said she didn’t initially realize how bad it could’ve been.
“I didn’t hear about [strep] really until we got in the hospital and I heard about other kids at the same time had the same thing my son had,” Stevenson said. “One little boy didn’t make it. I’m hearing this family sad and crying and saying goodbye to their son, and my son’s here still fighting for his life. My heart goes out to that family.”
Although Stevenson said it has been an “extremely scary” three months for her and her son, she said she feels grateful for the doctors, nurses and medical professionals who “saved his life” and cared for the young boy.
“[Kaden] said the other little boy that died, he was sad that he died, but he was going to live for him. He was going to be strong for the little boy,” Stevenson said.
“As a mother, as a parent, as a person in general, I don’t want anybody else to have to go through this. This has been horrifying,” she added.
According to Stevenson, Kaden underwent amputations for both of his legs on March 3 and is now looking forward to receiving what he calls his “robot legs” or prosthetic legs.
“He always talks about [how] he misses the old times and he misses when he could walk and how things used to be but he said he’s kind of happy. He likes his new legs,” Stevenson said.
As Kaden starts a new chapter on the road to recovery, Stevenson said she hopes to raise awareness for other parents.
“If your kid has any of those signs of fever, they complain of pain, you see any rashes, just take them to the emergency.” Stevenson said. “Catch it early. That’s the biggest thing. And listen to your kids. They tell you they don’t feel good? Don’t just sweep it under the rug, assuming that it’s a little cold. Get it checked out.”
Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour celebrates every single one of her albums, but which one is America’s favorite?
FiveThirtyEight dissected several polls from YouGov and Morning Consult to figure that out — and found that each poll yielded a different result.
For example, YouGov found most respondents liked Lover, followed by 1989. There was a tie for third between Taylor Swift and Red. Their least favorite picks were folklore and evermore, with 4 percent of the vote.
The YouGov poll did not include “Taylor’s Version” options.
In comparison, one Morning Consult poll of just adults discovered 1989 and the original version of Fearless were tied as respondents’ top picks, while Taylor Swift finished second and Red, not the “Taylor’s Version,” was third. The least favorite album, with 1 percent of the vote, was folklore.
A different Morning Consult poll that talked to Taylor’s “avid fans” had a different lineup of favorites. In first place was 1989, with 15 percent of the vote, followed by Taylor Swift in second, while the original Fearless, not the “Taylor’s Version,” finished in third place. In last place was evermore, which polled at 3 percent.
The Morning Consult poll included the “Taylor’s Version” of Red and Fearless.
FiveThirtyEight suggests this can be seen as a good lesson about polls, because while each of the three mentioned above asked the same question, they procured different results. This could be boiled down to the age and music tastes of those who responded to the poll.
It also notes that including “Taylor’s Version” in the Morning Consult polls may have further shifted the overall findings.
Fall Out Boy has premiered the video for “Hold Me Like a Grudge,” a track off the band’s just-released new album, So Much (for) Stardust.
As previously reported, the clip is a sequel to Fall Out Boy’s “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” video, which itself was a sequel to the “Dance, Dance” visual. It picks up with the concert at the end of “Arms Race,” with bassist Pete Wentz jumping off the stage, only to break his leg.
Of course, this being a Fall Out Boy video, this soon get very ridiculous — Wentz gets a bionic leg and becomes a superhero, and Fall Out Boy goes on hiatus, leading to the other members pursuing similarly offbeat career paths. Eventually, though, the band’s albums start to disappear into dust, Avengers: Infinity War style, and Fall Out Boy must reunite to save the world.
You can watch the “Hold Me Like a Grudge” video streaming now on YouTube.
So Much (for) Stardust is out now. It also includes the singles “Love from the Other Side” and “Heartbreak Feels So Good.”
Van Halen released their seventh studio album, 5150, which was their first record with new lead singer Sammy Hagar, following the departure of original frontman David Lee Roth.
5150, named after guitarist Eddie Van Halen‘s home studio, is a reference to the California law that allows a mentally disturbed person to be placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold. It went on to become the band’s first number-one album and contained three pop hits: “Dreams,” “Why Can’t This Be Love” and “Love Walks In.”
5150 went on to be certified six-times Platinum by the RIAA.
(NEW YORK) — Kelsie Whitmore, 24, considers herself a proud daughter, sister, competitor, athlete and friend. If that wasn’t enough, she just so happens to be the first woman to ever start and pitch for an Atlantic League baseball team, taking the pitcher’s mound for the Staten Island FerryHawks’ 2022 season.
“You know those things in life that you can’t explain and you just know it’s your truth? That’s how playing baseball has always been to me,” Whitmore told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
“I grew up playing all sports, not only baseball. I remember playing catch in the front yard with my younger brother and dad. I played flag football, you name it — I played it,” she continued. “My parents really always encouraged us to be outside and to stay active.”
Whitmore said that growing up, she saw no boundaries between herself and other teammates.
“I just saw whoever was in front of me as a competitor,” she said. “Male or female, ethnicity, color — that didn’t matter.”
“My dad instilled in me the mentality to just suck it up and keep going,” she added. “So that’s exactly what I did.”
Whitmore has been knocking down doors in the male-dominated baseball world since her teenage years: She was the only female player to start for her varsity baseball team at Temecula Valley High School in Southern California.
“You must have short-term goals to be able to reach long-term goals. Many people are so focused on the outcome over the process. I choose the process over the outcome,” she said. “The process is what builds you.”
Though other women have coached and made history in baseball, Whitmore said that much of her journey has left her craving the non-existent camaraderie between her and other female players her age.
“It can be overwhelming at times — so that’s when I stick to the people that know who I really am and want the best for me,” she said.
“No matter how long I have been playing this game, when I step out on that field as the only female, there are always be little nerves — you know all eyes are on you,” Whitmore said. “That’s when I focus on breathing.”
“I can’t control what someone is going to think of me,” she added, “but I can control my heartbeat, how hard I am going to work, how I treat others and the positive self-talk that I feed myself.”
Whitmore urged other women that may have similar dreams as hers to put one foot in front of the other and run with them.
“Big dreams require big sacrifices,” she said.
When asked about what advice she would share with young athletes — or anyone — with big goals, Whitmore shared a glimpse into her winning mentality.
“Before anything that you are going to do in life, learn to find yourself. Look in the mirror and continue to ask yourself difficult questions. Once you have that, you can fearlessly go for anything you want in life, and for me … that’s baseball,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — Two U.S. officials told ABC News that there was another attack on a U.S. base in eastern Syria Friday, following a drone strike on Thursday, but that no damage or injuries resulted from the most recent attack.
The officials said the Friday attack was from indirect fire and one of the officials confirmed it was a rocket attack.
The U.S. military conducted retaliatory airstrikes in eastern Syria on Thursday against Iranian-backed groups after a drone strike targeting a U.S. base in the region killed a U.S. contractor and injured six others, including five U.S. service members, the Pentagon said.
“Earlier today, a U.S. contractor was killed and five U.S. service members and one additional U.S. contractor were wounded after a one-way unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Two of the wounded service members were treated on site, while the other four Americans were medically evacuated to Coalition medical facilities in Iraq, officials said. A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that both contractors were American.
U.S. intelligence assessed that the one-way attack drone that struck the base on Thursday was Iranian in origin, according to the statement. Iran has used such drones in the past in attacks on Saudi Arabia and in Yemen, but this drone technology has become more noticeable after it provided hundreds of Shahed drones to Russia that have been used in attacks against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure targets.
“At the direction of President [Joe] Biden, I authorized U.S. Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),” Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in the statement, issued late Thursday.
“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack, as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC,” he added.
A U.S. official told ABC News that the airstrikes were carried out by U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter aircraft as part of a response approved by President Joe Biden earlier on Thursday.
Biden was enroute to Ottawa, Canada, when he approved the airstrikes presented by the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community as response options to the drone attack, White House spokesman John Kirby said during an appearance on CNN.
“He made the decision very, very shortly in that discussion to authorize the strikes against these particular targets,” Kirby said. “We’re going to work to protect our people and our facilities as best we can. It’s a dangerous environment.”
“We are not seeking a conflict with Iran,” said Kirby. “We’ve been very clear with the Iranians and with our partners about how serious the mission that we’re doing in Syria is and how we’re going to protect that mission.”
“Iran should not be involved in supporting these attacks on our facilities or on our people, we’ve made that very very clear,” said Kirby.
The U.S. has about 900 troops in eastern Syria providing assistance to Syrian Kurdish forces in preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State.
In recent months, some of the bases have been the target of drone attacks that had, in most instances, not led to injuries or physical damage. Iranian-backed groups in Syria are believed to have been responsible for these attacks.
“These precision strikes are intended to protect and defend U.S. personnel. The United States took proportionate and deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties,” the Pentagon statement read.
“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing,” Austin said. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”
“Our thoughts are with the family and colleagues of the contractor who was killed and with those who were wounded in the attack earlier today,” the defense secretary added.
In a statement, U.S. Central Command leader Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said, in part, that the U.S. “will always take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing. We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks.”
“Our troops remain in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, which benefits the security and stability of not only Syria, but the entire region,” he added.
During Thursday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing focused on the Middle East and Africa, Kurilla was asked by Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon about the frequency of Iranian proxy attacks on U.S. forces.
There have been 78 such attacks since the beginning of 2021, according to Kurilla.
“It is periodic. We see periods where they will do more,” he said
“So what Iran does to hide its hand is they use Iranian proxies — that’s under UAVs or rockets — to be able to attack our forces in Iraq or Syria,” Kurilla added.
ABC News analyst Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and retired CIA officer, said the U.S. “must strike back at the Iranian forces in Syria responsible for these attacks to such an extent that they know the consequences of killing and injuring Americans will not be worth the costs.”
Neil Young is the latest artist to blast Ticketmaster for their business practices.
In a post on his archives website titled “CONCERT TOURING IS BROKEN,” Young blasts the ticket-selling service for its 30% ticket fees. He shared an article about The Cure’s recent attempt to keep ticket prices down and how they were able to get Ticketmaster to refund fans a portion of its “unduly high” fees.
“It’s over,” Young writes. “The old days are gone.”
Young notes that fans have written to him complaining about the $3,000 price tag for tickets to an upcoming benefit he’s a part of, but he writes, “That money does not go to me or the benefit.”
He adds, “Artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers.”
He ends the post by sharing, “CONCERT TOURS are no longer fun. CONCERT TOURS not what they were.”
That benefit Young is talking about is Stephen Stills’ Light Up the Blues charity show, which raises money for Autism Speaks. The show, which will be Young’s first concert appearance since September 2019, is happening April 22 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
This weekend, John Wick: Chapter 4 explodes into theaters, and to that end, the website Ranker polled its users about what they thought of Keanu Reeves‘ hitman movies.
Turns out, they love them. A lot.
The Keanu Reeves film series appears on countless fan surveys on the site, which lets its 30 million monthly visitors vote up or down on various topics.
For example, the John Wick movies ranked #1 on Ranker’s list of the Greatest Action Film Franchises, ahead of Tom Cruise‘s Mission: Impossible movies (#2), the Jason Bourne collection (#3) and even James Bond’s decades of films (#4).
What’s more, 2014’s original John Wick ranked #11 on the list of the Greatest Action Movies of All Time, ahead of classics like Die Hard (#15) and Top Gun (#22).
Perhaps its no surprise then that John Wick is ranked #33 on the Best Fictional Characters You’d Leave Your Man For poll, putting the dog lover with the bulletproof suit ahead of Harrison Ford‘s Indiana Jones and John Krasinski‘s Office romantic Jim Halpert.
(NEW YORK) — One woman who said her family was in debt and one step away from financial disaster made a change in her spending at the grocery store that’s paying off big.
Becky Guiles, known as the “Freebie Lady” on social media, shared her money-saving method with ABC News’ Good Morning America, which she said helped her save $1,000 a month on her grocery bills.
“Since we’ve been doing this, we save about $1,000 a month, which equals out to about $12,000 in [the] entire year,” she said.
The mother of two told GMA she uses five easy steps, which she said can be remembered using the acronym “B.O.R.E.S.”: B stands for “budget,” O stands for “organized,” R is for “reuse,” E is for “eliminating waste,” and S stands for “simplify.”
“These are just basic principles that anybody can do, no matter where you are in life or what your family situation is like,” Guiles said. “B.O.R.E.S. is the method that I have used to cut our groceries down from $1,200 to $1,400 a month to only $400 a month.”
Guiles recommended putting aside $100 a month for food per person in the household.
“I go into my pantry and I take out everything that is expired or we’re not going to eat,” she said of the second letter in the acronym to get organized. “And that’ll just kind of give you a clear plate for what you have and what you need to get.”
She said that you can repurpose — or “reuse” — food, by turning things like chip crumbs into breading, stale bread into croutons and vegetable scraps into vegetable broth.
For her next letter of advice, “E,” Guiles said, “We try to eliminate waste as much as possible.”
“Every time you throw food away, you’re actually throwing money away,” she continued. “Once you start thinking about food like that, it totally changes your mindset.”
The final letter stands for simplify and Guiles suggested “the more you do it, the more you are going to save.”
