Image via Pixabay

In a statement released on March 29, video-sharing app TikTok announced an exciting new feature it calls “Library.” Library is an in-app creation tool that will integrate material from GIPHY, the searchable online database of GIFs, clips, and memes, allowing users to splice the content into their own videos.

According to the statement, Library will allow users to utilize “clips from their favorite shows, GIFs, memes and more by seamlessly integrating them into their TikTok videos.” Library will initially be populated with material directly available from GIPHY including GIPHY clips – GIFs that also feature audio content. Users will be able to grab content directly from Library and “incorporate it into their unique storytelling on TikTok.”

Clips available upon launch will include:

Reactions: much like GIFs, content that captures a raw emotional reaction and are relatable to users make perfect Clips

Quotes: memorable catchphrases and quotable moments from notable personalities

People: fandom is real, and people look for their favorite celebrities, athletes, etc. to help express themselves

Iconic moments: whether it’s an awards speech, beloved TV characters, or game-changing play, these big moments are bound to be shareable conversation starters

– via TikTok’s statement

TikTok hopes to expand Library’s content over time and grow to include “additional content sources, audio and sounds, text templates, creator content, and more, as we continue to innovate and spark creativity for our community.”

TikTok began rolling out the feature on Tuesday. If you don’t currently have it, expect the service to become available on your TikTok app very soon.

Once Library is available, there are only four steps required to use it:

1. Launch TikTok, and click the ‘Record’ button to open the camera.
2. Click the ‘Library’ icon in the sidebar. This opens the Library function.
3. Now use the search bar to find content. You may also scroll through the trending content to see popular content being used in other clips.
4. Make your selection and trim the clip to the desired length, then return to the shoot page to continue capturing content.

Have fun and good luck! Your next video clip interaction may just be the new TikTok trend.

Trends on TikTok come in all different flavors, from goofy dance trends to eye-rolling dad jokes, to jaw-dropping filters and everything in-between. The latest to hit the app just may bring a few happy tears to your eyes. Users across the video-sharing service are using a new app called TravelBoast to virtually reunite themselves with boyfriends, besties, and loved ones that have moved away. Coast to coast, users are reminiscing about relationships that will never be taken for granted.

The trend uses three ingredients. First, is the TravelBoast app, which is a cartoon mapping app that lets you make an animated video showing a route to any location on the globe featuring virtual cars and planes. Second, an assortment of photos of a user and a loved one currently living far apart from each other — sometimes even continents away! Lastly, Coldplay’s “Paradise”, or at least that seems to be the traditional sound clip for the trend. Users have been combining the three elements into videos that can be just as heartwarming as they are heartbreaking.

If you want to join in on the trend it’s easy. You will have to download the TravelBoast app to make your map though. After that, it’s just a matter of tracking down some of your favorite memories and posting the video to TikTok. Just follow the steps below:

1. Download the TravelBoast app compatible with your phone’s platform
2. Open the TravelBoast app on your phone.
3. Click ‘Start point’ in the top left corner, and type in the first location – generally your hometown.
4. Next, click ‘Destination’ in the top right corner, and enter your second location – the city where your SO, BFF, or family member currently lives.
5. Tap on the orange line and drag it to create a new dot. This will make the animated trip seem more dynamic and lifelike.
6. To change your vehicle, for example, to a train or airplane, just press and hold the car icon at your starting point, and select the appropriate vehicle then click the back button.
7. Once you’ve mapped your route, just press the play button on the bottom of the screen.
8. After the app your video is created, just select ‘Save video to camera roll.’

Now that you have your travel video, just upload it to TikTok and add whatever photos or footage you like to enhance it. You can add any music you like – although as stated, “Paradise” has been the hands-down favorite choice for the majority of trending videos.

Once you’ve posted, sit back and bask in the nostalgia. Share it with your absent person and enjoy the memories. Who knows? Your travelogue may be the next to go viral!

The British crime drama Top Boy has had a successful run and found an audience on Netflix, and now the streaming service has announced viewers will get one more season of adventures in London’s Summerhouse estate to follow.

The company posted the trailer above to YouTube earlier today, featuring 60 seconds of shakedowns, staredowns, shootouts, and flames. The show stars Ashley Walters and Kane Robinson, and Netflix also hinted their characters might not walk away to safety.

“There’s a time for everything. There’s a time for family and times we let them go. There’s a time to come together, and a time to ride out. There’s a time to build empires, and a time to burn them. Every top boy has their time, and that time is coming.”

Filming for what is being called the final chapter begins this summer. Apart from Walters and Robinson, other performers on the show include Shone Romulus, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Xavien Russell, Kierston Wareing, and Michael Ward as Jamie Tovell. The series currently has a 95 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and for Jochan Embley of the London Evening Standard, its reputation is well-earned.

“It’s all bleak, but it’s also riveting. Top Boy tells painful stories, but ones that need to be told. By the eighth and final episode [of season two] things reach breaking point. The ending – and what an ending it is – suggests another season could be in the offing. You’d be surprised if it wasn’t.”

Photo by Mark Mainz/Getty Images

At this point, everybody who hasn’t been hiding under a rock knows that Will Smith and Chris Rock have history. But what they may not know is how far back that history goes. Not only Have Smith and Rock worked together back in the 90s when both of them were still climbing the ladder to Hollywood A-list status, but Rock has a working history with Jada Pinkett that goes back years as well.

As social media has exploded in the wake of Will Smith slapping Rock at last night’s Oscar ceremony, some people are remembering Rock’s long ago 1995 appearance on Smith’s breakout sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in an episode that can be categorized as “problematic” at best when seen through the lens of 2020s standards.

The episode in question, entitled “Get a Job,” was filmed in the sixth season and first aired on Sept. 25, 1995. In the episode, Smith’s character Will attempts to become an assistant talent coordinator for his cousin Hilary’s talk show. Will scores a big chance when he is told famous comedian Maurice, played by Rock, will do the show if Will dates his sister and the evening goes well. The sister is played by Rock as well, and the date goes predictably badly, full of vaguely transphobic and otherwise face-palm-inducing 90s vintage wacky hijinks.

The episode was filmed when Rock’s career was in a transitional phase. He had left SNL, and though he was still working regularly as a stand-up, he had not reached the level of success his stand-up special Bring the Pain would bring him just one year later in 1996. Similarly, Smith was widely known through Fresh Prince but had only acted in a handful of films by the time the sixth season was filmed. It would be two years later, in 1997, that Smith would shoot to superstar status following his performance in the first Men in Black feature.

Rock has a shared history with Pinkett Smith as well, the pair co-starred as Marty the Zebra and Gloria the Hippo, respectively in the animate franchise Madagascar. While Rock and Pinkett Smith were likely not hanging out in the sound booth at the same time while filming, they definitely accompanied each other on press tours for all three movies and have undoubtedly been colleagues at the very least. In 2012 Rock shared the information that his own daughters were fans of Willow, Smith and Pinkett Smith’s musician daughter, during a joint interview with Fuse. “Hey, my kids listen to your kids! ’21st Century Girl’ Oh my god,” said Rock.

The three have all hung out socially in the past and have been spotted out and about with each other and with their families ever since 1995, when Smith first began dating Pinkett. However, the trio’s friendship may have taken a turn for the worse after Rock made the couple’s decision to boycott the 2016 Academy Awards — which Rock hosted — due to a lack of diversity in the wake of the “Oscars so white” controversy.

I understand. I understand you’re mad—Jada’s mad her man Will was not nominated for Concussion [Smith’s 2015 film],” Rock said in his monologue. “I get it. Tell the truth. I get it. It’s not fair that Will was this good and didn’t get nominated. It’s also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West.“

Whether last night’s incident was the case of too many straws for the camel to bear or just the wrong remark at the wrong time, only Smith can say. For the present, Sean “Diddy” Combs has assured the press that the incident is behind them and the two men are mending their friendship. “That’s not a problem. That’s over. I can confirm that,” Combs said. “It’s all love…They’re brothers.”