Dial-up is dead and ‘The Office’ is back... sort of

Resistance and Perseverance Through Art

Two new exhibitions — “Gaza Remains the Story” and “Soul of a Nation: Voices of Resilience in Ukrainian Folk Art” — spotlight how art can serve as both cultural preservation and quiet defiance in times of war.

The Palestinian show draws on decades of paintings, photographs, and portraits to document everyday life in Gaza and the West Bank, ensuring those stories remain visible despite conflict, displacement, and an ongoing manmade famine. This exhibition is currently on display at Medinelli’s Pop-up Shop in Gourock, Scotland, through August 17.

The Ukrainian exhibition celebrates traditional embroidery, ceramics, and woodwork that have endured through Soviet suppression and now Russian aggression, with each handmade piece affirming national identity. This show is now presenting at the Fuller Craft Museum in Massachusetts through November 2.

Each of these exhibitions show how creativity can become an act of resistance, keeping cultures alive and voices heard when they are the most under threat.

Fishing for a Reality TV Redemption Arc?

For Jussie Smollett, 2019 was supposed to be a great year. He was well into his run playing Terrence Howard’s son on Empire, and the future was looking bright. But that all changed when, in January 2019, in one of the oddest stories to come out of Hollywood, he declared himself a victim of a hate crime that authorities later alleged he had staged. Now, over 5 years later, he’s about to reappear on our screens, making the leap to reality TV, which seems to be the de rigueur for disgraced celebrities.

Smollett is joining an eclectic cast on Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test that includes everyone from Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson to table flipping Real Housewife Teresa Giudice and everyone’s least favorite polygamist, Sister Wives’ Kody Brown. This continues the show’s history of interesting casting choices (hello, Anthony Scaramucci and Tom Sandoval!).

The show, essentially a shortened version of the U.S. Special Forces training, is notoriously difficult, with stars either dropping out or being medically evacuated. Last year, Denise Richards famously ruptured her breast implants during the show and still forged ahead. It always amazes me that people are willing to submit themselves to such torture for some TV time (and, allegedly, a hefty appearance fee).

We’ll definitely be tuning into the premiere on September 25 to see how this group gels and, let’s be honest, to see if Smollett spills any tea on precisely what happened back in 2019. Of course, it will also be headline news if anything juicy drops, so just refresh People.com (or wait for us to tell you, of course).

What do you think? Can reality TV rehab a tarnished image? Has any celebrity ever gone on a show and honestly surprised you?

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• 👵 Take a fascinating look at a unique community known as The Bird’s Nest, consisting of 11 women living together with “the explicit goal of keeping one another company into old age” as well as helping to avoid isolation and to maintain a sense of independence. Most of them are currently retired and between 60 and 80 years old. They live with 9 dogs and their number one rule is “no drama.” (Where do we sign up?!)

• 📀 Rolling Stone unveiled The Rolling Stone Interview Archive, an online catalog of over 50 years of in-depth conversations with music legends like Tina Turner and John Lennon; iconic celebrities like Eddie Murphy and Elizabeth Taylor; and passionate politicians like Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders.

• 🎨 After Amy Sherald canceled her show at the Smithsonian due to potential censorship regarding her painting of a trans woman as the Statue of Liberty, the piece titled “Trans Forming Liberty” is now on the cover of this week’s The New Yorker.

• 🤖 China has opened Robot Mall, a shopping center devoted solely to selling humanoid robots. Gizmodo reports: “The store operates like a car dealership, but for robots.” Located in Beijing’s E-Town district, the four-story mall showcases over 100 robots from more than 40 Chinese brands. The robots range in price from 2,000 yuan (about $278.33) to several million yuan.

• ⚱️ Artist Daniel Hoffman of Ahava Memorials is turning ashes into art. People are submitting their loved ones’ cremains (only about a tablespoon of ashes is required) to him to incorporate it into the glaze of ceramic art. The artist says, “The color of the glaze gets influenced by the ashes and it becomes a one-of-a-kind, more personal memorial.” Whether it’s human ashes or the remains of a beloved pet, customers can select the shape and color they want, and the artist will get to work creating the piece for them.

• 🛜 It’s officially the end of an era. AOL is finally shutting down dial-up internet. The service will stop on Sept. 30. No longer will anyone experience the chirping urrr-EEE-kshhhh-NNGGGG-eeee-URRR-kshhhhhh sounds of yesteryear… People of a certain age know what we’re talking about.

• 🗓️ Pirelli has just released some behind-the-scenes shots of their 2026 Pirelli Calendar, featuring Venus Williams, Tilda Swinton, Isabella Rossalini, Adria Arjona, and more. As far as calendars go, Pirelli has one of the most high-end and highly anticipated offerings on the market. (Yes, Pirelli, the tire company.)

• 📷 Did you know that Kodak has an instant camera and printer combo that looks like a roll of film? The Memo Shot Era MS100 is an adorable little device that can take pictures and print them instantly. And since it has a thermal printer, no ink cartridges are required.

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POV: you’re history teacher is a Gen Z with brain rot.. 📚🕰️#rap #recap #timemachine #genz #song #2025

• 🗞️ The beloved NBC show that introduced the world to Michael Scott, The Office, is returning to Peacock…sort of. The Paper, is coming to the small screen on September 4. While it won’t featured Dunder-Mifflin, it will feature the same mockumentary crew as they “document” one editor’s quest to revive an Ohio newspaper. While the short series is only four episodes, a look at the trailer shows that The Paper will continue The Office’s quirky spirit.

• ❄️ Bravo still hasn’t announced when The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is coming back, but this recently dropped preview with Meredith Marks and Mary Cosby, who makes us giggle with her nonsensical logic, has us giddy with anticipation.

• 🏝️ We love Mike White. Not only is he the mind behind The White Lotus, but he was also a few votes away from winning season 37 of Survivor — our kind of guy! While it’s well known that White loves competition reality TV (he also competed on two seasons of The Amazing Race with his father Mel), no one would have expected him to throw himself back into the jungle. But that’s exactly what he’s going to do on Survivor’s epic 50th season. You know who’s not surprised? Jeff Probst. And he’s telling The Hollywood Reporter why.

• 🍅 Heinz is throwing its hat into the ring of food gimmicks by partnering with Smoothie King on a Tomato Ketchup Smoothie that they call “delicious and refreshing.” And yes, it’s made with ketchup. Not actual tomatoes, just ketchup blended with “real fruits.” This is where we start following the old adage ”if you don’t have anything nice to say…”

• 🎙️ Bababooey! Rumors are running rampant that former shock-jock turned radio legend Howard Stern will be leaving Sirius XM when the five-year, $500 million contract he signed in 2020 runs out. While many opine that Stern just isn’t the same anymore, as someone who (inappropriately) listened to him as a teenager during his terrestrial radio heyday, it’s hard not to be sad. Nothing official has been announced, but the tabloids are running wild with alleged feuds with Sirius XM colleagues and how staffers are preparing themselves for the end of an era.

• 📺 Hulu and Disney+ are officially merging into one app by 2026. Though you’ll still be able to purchase separate subscriptions for the services, there is no word on pricing changes and just a lot of promises about “enhanced experiences.”