Month: January 2023

Before “Encanto,” Beatriz was mostly known for her ultra-cool deadpan cop Rosa Diaz in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” So to say that people were floored that she could sing, dance and do it all with a huge smile on her face would be an understatement.

“This woman is not just singing is PERFORMING!! It’s like you see the animation through her!” one person wrote.

“Stephanie Beatriz is awesome. She’s a chameleon as an actress, able to switch between utter deadpan and completely unfiltered excitement at the drop of a hat, she’s got incredible comedic timing, she can dance, and she has an incredible voice and vocal range,” commented another.

Perhaps the only thing more compelling than Beatriz’s performance in the video is the amount of little kids seen in the audience completely enthralled. “Encanto” has been widely praised for helping BIPOC children feel represented on screen.

One person shared, “This makes me emotional, the little kids in the audience are so happy.”

Watch the epic performance below:

To see the entire show, a filmed version of the live performance is available on Disney+. That’s right—a film of the live performance … of the film. How meta.

Jameela Jamil might be best known for acting roles on shows like “The Good Place” and “She-Hulk,” but she has made a secondary name for herself as an outspoken advocate on social media. Though she touches on a wide range of civil rights issues, health is often a major theme.

Recently, Jamil used her platform to discuss her Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS)—a group of inherited disorders that affects connective tissue, primarily the skin, joints and blood vessel walls. While very rare, EDS causes significant problems, especially for those without a proper diagnosis.

In a video posted to TikTok, Jamil is seen stretching out her cheeks while quipping, “Jesus Christ, that is not an app, that is not a filter, that is just my face. Look how elastic that is.” This stretchiness, she explains, is a symptom of EDS.

Technically, Jamil has hEDS, which makes her hypermobile. Bending her elbow backwards, she noted that “nothing bends the right way.”

Though she joked that “yes, that is very sexy, thanks for asking,” her post was a genuine attempt to raise awareness on EDS’s more severe effects. “It’s a really serious condition and it impacts every single part of your body, and even your mind.”

@jameelajamil

♬ original sound – Jameela Jamil

No kidding. Jamil listed that it causes major bleeding, bruising, clumsiness, joint swelling and dislocation, gut issues, fainting and migraines, and that it severely complicates wound healing, childbirth and dental work, and that those with EDS are predisposed to neurodivergence and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), which she said leads to “random allergies that just come and go for no reason.”

Having received a diagnosis at the age of 9, Jamil was able to avoid things that could put her at a further risk. For example, she never pursued contact sports, doesn’t smoke, drink or do drugs, and carries an EpiPen with her everywhere she goes.

But for others, going through life with undiagnosed EDS is, as she put it, “dangerous,” especially as those with it might appear very healthy or to have symptoms related to other conditions.

In her caption, Jamil added that she hadn’t talked much about her condition due to being made fun of for her other health issues, which made her “suicidal for a while.” However, she wrote, “I’m done not talking to the people who MATTER about this hugely important subject because a bunch of people lucky to have good health, have no souls. Let’s raise awareness on this subject together, and save some motherfucking lives!”

Clearly her candidness is doing just that. One person on Instagram shared, “I have hEDS too! And I got diagnosed because of something you posted a couple of years ago and it joined the dots on all of my various ailments. Thank you !! Without you mentioning it, I would have never fully understood myself.”

Because it can affect the entire body, EDS is very hard to diagnose. But Jamil recommends going to a rheumatologist or geneticist. Though there is no cure, there are treatments available to manage symptoms and avoid further issues.

“Fit check” is something you’ve probably heard multiple times if you’ve spent any amount of time on social media over the past year. It’s something like the red carpet question of “who are you wearing?” which prompts the celebrity to rattle off their designer labels for the night. Except now it’s a trend for regular folks to share info about their outfits.

It’s pretty helpful if you see an influencer wearing something cute. But this grandpa has got to have the sweetest “fit check” ever and people on social media agree. Liam Ryan , who’s 86, made a guest appearance in his granddaughter’s TikTok, where 24-year-old Grace Pettit coaches her gramps through the process.

The video is filled with giggles from Pettit as her grandpa tries to make sure he hits all his articles of clothing. The people need to know where Gramps got his fit. When the video starts, Ryan stands in front of the camera and says, “Hi, I’m Gramps. We’re doing a fit check.”

Turns out, if we want to find an outfit as cool as Ryan’s we have to wait for the perfect gift. After the intro, Ryan gives us the details we’ve been waiting for: “My jeans are a Christmas gift. My shirt is a Christmas gift. My sweater, my brother gave me. And my sneakers…” he trailed off before Pettit jumped in to assist. After she held him steady so he could show off his shoes, Pettit did her own quick fit check. The interaction is warming commenters’ hearts.

One person wrote, “He is the cutest thing in the entire world.”

Another commenter wrote, “Gramps is easily the coolest person I’ve ever seen on this app.”

“I hope when I’m old, my grandkids love me like this. This is so sweet,” another user wrote.

Clearly the internet has adopted a new grandpa, and he just happens to have the coolest outfit. Pettit captioned the video, “This is my new favorite video ever.”

Watch the adorable video below:

@pettitgrace

This is my new favorite video ever.

Jeremy Renner is doing okay, considering. On New Year’s Day, the Oscar-nominated actor and MCU fixture was the victim of a “traumatic injury” involving a snow plow. Details are still rolling in and an investigation concluded that it was a freak accident that left him with “blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries.” But for now, Renner’s in high enough spirits that he can post an Instagram photo of him recuperating.

The post includes an image of him looking extremely beat-up and woozy in an ICU hospital bed. “Thank you for all your kind words,” the caption reads. “Im [sic] too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all.”

The accident occurred near Renner’s home in Washoe County, Nevada. The county sheriff held a press conference Tuesday, not long before Renner’s post, in which it revealed that the accident happened after a family member got stuck as they tried to leave following a large snowfall. Renner went to fetch his PistenBully or Sno-Cat, a large plow that weighs nearly 15,000 pounds.

“After successfully towing his personal vehicle from its stuck location, Mr. Renner got out of his PistenBully to speak to his family member. At this point, it was observed that the PistenBully started to roll,” explained unty Sheriff Darin Balaam. “In an effort to stop the rolling PistenBully, Mr. Renner attempts to get back into the driver’s seat of the PistenBully. Based on our investigation, it’s at this point that Mr. Renner is run over by the PistenBully. An eyewitness detailed seeing Mr. Renner getting into the PistenBully and not seeing him again until the PistenBully came to a rest in a pile of snow in front of his driveway.”

Balaam noted that there was no evidence that Renner was impaired at the time or of foul play, adding that it’s believed to be a “tragic accident.”

Anyway, here’s hoping Renner has a speedy recovery.

(Via Variety)

Despite all the rumors swirling around the on-again-off-again couple, Yung Miami and Diddy aren’t slowing down. The mogul recently brought the City Girls rapper along for a New Year’s Eve family yacht trip. Joining for the special occasion were his mother, his children — Quincy, King, Justin, Dior, Chance, Jessie, and D’Lila — and his newest bundle of joy, Love Sean Combs, as well as her mother, 28 cyber specialist Dana Tran.

Diddy dropped two posts on his Instagram, one featuring Miami and him getting cozy with each other and another with a set of his children, mother, and Tran enjoying their time on the luxury sailboat.

Fans assumed there was trouble in paradise after the Bad Boy Records CEO announced that he would be fathering a child, Love Sean Combs, this past December. The world was left wondering if Miami knew about the news before it was shared online. During a recent episode of her podcast Caresha, Please, featuring G Herbo, the rapper and host got very candid about her complicated relationship with the billionaire hitmaker. Miami revealed that she was, in fact, aware of Diddy’s child and that announcement “didn’t come as a surprise” after the Chicago rapper boldly asked her about the situation.

“Yeah, I did. I think communication is the key,” she said. “I feel like when you [are] dealing with somebody, communication is the key. It wasn’t a surprise.”

Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans are enjoying a strong 2022-23 season, posting a 23-14 record and projecting quite well in the muddled Western Conference. Williamson recently spearheaded a comeback win with a 43-point masterpiece against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and he has been a force in 29 of the Pelicans’ first 37 games after missing the entire 2021-22 campaign. Unfortunately, Williamson is going to be on the shelf for a while, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting he will miss “multiple weeks” with a hamstring strain.

The team went on to announce that Williamson will be evaluated in three weeks.

Williamson left the team’s road loss in Philadelphia on Monday with the hamstring issue and, while this isn’t a worst-scenario, a multi-week absence isn’t fantastic. He is averaging 26.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game with elite efficiency (65.2 percent true shooting), and Williamson is also making clear strides on the defensive end. In addition, the Pelicans have a +7.8 net rating with Williamson on the floor this season, with New Orleans dipping to a modest +1.4 net rating when he’s on the bench.

The Pelicans host the Houston Rockets in a favorable matchup on Wednesday but, after that, the schedule gets more difficult. New Orleans takes on the scalding-hot Brooklyn Nets at home on Friday before a five-game road trip that includes visits to Dallas, Boston, and Cleveland. It remains to be seen as to just how long Williamson will be out but, with Brandon Ingram sidelined since late November, the Pelicans will have less firepower for a while.

Everyone expected the first day of the narrowly GOP-controlled House of Representatives to be a s*itshow. But it was even worse than people imagined. As feared, a cadre of rogue MAGA lawmakers, among them Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert (but not her former bestie Marjorie Taylor Greene), refused to promote Kevin McCarthy from House minority leader to speaker of the House. Even after three votes, they showed no sign of abating. That threw not only House Republicans into chaos but Republican media as well.

As per Mediaite, on Fox News’ top rated late afternoon group chat show The Five, multiple pundits tore into the quisling Republicans, whose antics are threatening to turn control over to the Democrats. (Indeed, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries got more votes than McCarthy — and exponentially more than Jordan.) They even pissed off the show’s most easily pissed off co-host.

“You know, it’s time to get together as a party and stop embarrassing yourselves in front of the rest of us,” crowed Judge Jeanine Pirro.

But it was Dana Perino who hit the gang with the best/worst line. Lamenting that it could be days before the House picks a new speaker, she compared them to some of the most dreaded foes of the GOP.

It’s like the opposite of the Squad. They make the Squad look positively reasonable in this situation,” Perino said. “And a lot of this is just an ideological thing. Might be a personal thing. Like, I don’t like you. Okay.”

Perino also feared that House Republicans’ inability to unite is not a good omen:

“I think that conservatives overall in the country remain deeply dissatisfied with Joe Biden. And every day that the Republicans are going to spend in this exercise with their heels digging in with the name calling started to ratchet up. They’re talking about now internally within the party, enemies, you know, that kind of thing is hard to forget. And one of the first things that this group is going to have to do is come together and decide whether to raise the debt ceiling. So you thought this ballot is a is a tough one. Wait till you get to that one.”

McCarthy has spent the last two years appeasing the more extremist parts of his party. He even flip-flopped on the Jan. 6 riot, initially condemning it only to kiss up to the MAGA wing. And now look at him.

(Via Mediaite)

For the last two years, Kevin McCarthy has refused to condemn the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. Surely he thought appeasing them would lead to him becoming Speaker of the House. But on Tuesday, during the first day of the narrowly GOP-controlled chamber, his dreams came to naught. Three separate votes were held to see who would clinch the needed votes to get the job. And just as he feared, three separate times he came up short.

As per The Associated Press, McCarthy, who has been the House Minority Leader since 2019, needs 218 votes to succeed the departing Nancy Pelosi. As a small but pivotal cadre of Trumpy Republicans vowed to block his ascent, McCarthy himself warned that if they “play games” they may wind up handing the House to the Democrats, who had nominated New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries.

They did not listen. In the first round of voting, 19 Republicans refused to vote for McCarthy. He even got fewer votes than Jeffries, who, again, is a Democrat. By round two, McCarthy had only received 203 votes — again, fewer than Jeffries, who still didn’t get the magic 218. A third vote was even worse, with McCarthy losing another 20 votes. Eventually everyone called it a day and agreed to try again Wednesday.

It’s a historic occurrence. Indeed, the last time a Speaker of the House wasn’t voted in on the first ballot was 100 years ago, in 1923, when it took nine votes to find one. That’s still not as bad as 1856, when Congress was stalled for a whopping two months.

McCarthy could still nab the gig. Or maybe Jeffries will get it. Jim Jordan, the wackadoodle MAGA maniac, is one of the nominees and in the third ballot he received 30 votes — a good sign that he’s not going to get the job. In the meantime, many pointed out that by not snuffing out the extremist parts of his party, McCarthy sold his soul for nothin’.

There were jokes about alleged 2020 voter fraud.

But it was clear to some that McCarthy is one of the least liked people in Congress, appealing to no one.

McCarthy had reportedly already moved some of his stuff into Pelosi’s old office, which may have proven premature.

There was a lot of schadenfreude for McCarthy.

And for House Republicans in general, who are now in disarray.

(Via The AP)

Budgeting your money doesn’t have to be hard. If you’re young and employed you probably know all to well the feeling of living paycheck to paycheck. Of busting your back — and mental health — at a job that makes you feel either underappreciated, under-supported, or lacking any free time to, you know, live. Or worse, all three at the same time!

Luckily, we live in an era where there are a lot of qualified individuals out there who have that whole financial literacy thing down pat and they are offering that advice to people on their Instagram and TikTok. So as we step into 2023, allow us to introduce you to the budgeting gurus that you need to follow to help stretch that dough.

The Broke Black Girl

Dasha Kennedy is a financial activist that shares contemporary and culturally relevant financial literacy resources at a near-constant clip on her Instagram. Her main focus is on the financial hardships of being a black woman in the modern age, but the tools and advice she shares apply to everyone.

From how to develop a $1000 emergency fund for the year, to how to manage your time and monitor your finances, and how to set money aside to invest, Dasha is always offering a brilliant bit of financial wisdom that actually seems doable, no matter your income level.

Above all else, she’s funny and relatable, which is rare with financial gurus who always seem so secure in their funds and plans. Dasha isn’t afraid to be real and reveal that it’s okay to not have it all figured out.

HumphreyTalks

Humphrey Yang is a personal finance, money, and investing guru who respects your time, and we love him for that. On his TikTok, Humphrey Talks, Yang offers all sorts of sensible tips for investing in Roth IRAs and why things like compound interest and consistent investing can better set you up for retirement in a small easy-to-digest package.

And if you want to go deeper, his YouTube channel offers longer videos that offer more detail regarding investing tips and how to make your money work for you.

MrsDowJones

Haley Sacks of MrsDowJones has been recognized by major publications like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and has been named one of Fortune’s 40 under 40 and InStyle’s Badass 50 for her adept skill at educating young people on how to save more money.

What makes Sacks fun to follow is that she gears her money-saving tips to things that we actually care about right now, like buying concert tickets or negotiating better wages from our bosses while still offering the practical tips that’ll help your later lives remain financially stable.

MilanSinghhh

With 2.6 million followers on TikTok, Milan Singh is one of the top finance creators on TikTok, and watching even a handful of his videos, it’s easy to see why.

His tips are sensible, direct, and subject-specific, with simple tips on everything from budgeting your sneaker obsession, to how to start a business, and how to combat small everyday charges you probably don’t think about and how they add up to carve up your earnings.

NickTalksMoney

Nick Meyer does what so many financial gurus don’t do well — he makes financial literacy fun. Money is fun, financial advising, is not!

But Nick Meyer makes learning about how to stretch your dollars as entertaining as all the other TikTok videos you watch thanks to a heavy reliance on costumes, green screens, and jokes.

ILikeToDabble

Daniella Flores is the self-proclaimed side hustle queen and focuses her efforts on helping neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ folks increase their money-making abilities via side hustles and work-from-home resources.

What makes Flores so special is that she helps to turn your own interests into money-making endeavors, rather than offering you tips on ways to make money that don’t necessarily speak to your personality or skills.

Her Instagram is full of quick bites of information, but if you want the real cheat codes, you’ll have to visit her I Like to Dabble blog, which goes way more in-depth.

HerFirst100k

If you want to simultaneously fight the patriarchy while making bank, Tori Dunlap is the creator for you. Through her TikTok, HerFirst100k, Dunlap instills her 2.2 million followers with the tools to negotiate their way to better and more equitable wages.

From how to talk to your boss, to negotiating for your dream job, to what sort of money mistakes to avoid, Dunlap keeps you educated in easy-to-digest videos that are as fun to watch as they are informative. She’s also written her own book, Financial Feminist, which should be required reading for every person in their twenties looking to get paid what they’re worth.

PricelessTay

Taylor Price, which, yes, is actually her real name, is host to some of our favorite finance tips on Twitter.

Whether it’s negotiating your check-out bill at Target using the company’s little-mentioned price-match policy, hacking your resume, or how to better take advantage of your credit card benefits, Price lays out the financial mistakes that are all too common that carve into your budget and how to get ahead of those mistakes so you end up with more money in your pocket.

“Brokeback Mountain,” Ang Lee’s beautiful film about love and repression, was a turning point for LGBTQ cinema in 2005 because it was one of the few mainstream Hollywood films to put a love story between two men front and center.

These days, such a film would hardly raise eyebrows, but 17 years ago it was the subject of scorn from conservative circles for pushing the “gay agenda.” Its stars, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, took considerable risks making the film because it could have jeopardized their status as leading men. But their pitch-perfect performances helped make the edgy material relatable to the general public.

Film critic Roger Ebert perfectly explained why the story resonated with people in his 2005 review. “‘Brokeback Mountain’ has been described as ‘a gay cowboy movie,’ which is a cruel simplification,” he wrote.

“It is the story of a time and place where two men are forced to deny the only great passion either one will ever feel,” he added. “Their tragedy is universal. It could be about two women, or lovers from different religious or ethnic groups—any ‘forbidden’ love.”

Fifteen years after Ledger’s death, Lee praised his performance in Empire magazine’s Greatest Actors issue. As a director, Lee was able to explain why his subtle performance as Ennis, a repressed cowboy, worked perfectly in the film in ways that the general public may have missed.

“Heath Ledger was a brilliant young actor. God only knows what he would have achieved later in life. He had so much talent—I’m sure he would have been a great director,” Lee wrote in Empire.

“Brokeback Mountain has the elegiac mood of a Western and an inner-twisted repression—Ennis is a very repressed character, macho but gay, gay but homophobic—and often there is no vocabulary to express his feelings,” Lee continued. “So Heath’s aura powers the whole story. He did a lot of preparation, mostly on his own. And he often surprised me with what he brought to his work.”

Any actor can “go big” and chew up the scenery with a flashy performance, but portraying a character with nuance is a lot harder.

“What stays with me is the nuance, the quieter moments,” Lee wrote. “The trick is to know how to turn a performance down and still shape it. There is a scene I remember very clearly, where an old girlfriend [Linda Cardellini] runs into Ennis at a diner. Ennis is alone, eating a slice of apple pie. Linda is acting her heart out, she’s in tears, confronting Ennis: ‘Why did you do this?’ But she doesn’t get a word from him. Throughout the whole scene, Heath does nothing: he just eats the apple pie. But watching the dailies, the crew were all crying too, saying, ‘Just leave the guy alone!’ I both understood, and cherished, Heath’s quietness, the subtlety of the moment, and how he carried himself in that scene. We are all very lucky we were able to make movies with an actor of that calibre. He had a God-given gift.”

It is sad to contemplate the incredible talent taken from the world when Ledger died at the young age of 28. But by creating a character that helped mainstream America understand that heterosexual love isn’t the only type worth fighting for, he helped to create a better world for so many who didn’t have a voice.

Ledger had the perfect response to a reporter who said people may be disgusted by the film.

u201cHeath Ledger’s response to calling the relationship in “Brokeback Mountain” disgustingu201d

— Iz (@Iz)
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“It’s obviously about two men in love and it’s obviously gay-themed and it’s very easily labeled, but unfortunately, people are quick in life to label something that they’re uncomfortable with,” Ledger said at a press conference. “The pure fact of it is that it transcends a label. It’s human. It’s a story of two human beings, two souls who are in love. Get over the fact it’s two men. That’s the point…

“And if you can’t understand that, just don’t go see the movie,” Ledger concluded.