Month: December 2023

Every year, the Salvation Army Angel Tree helps provide a little bit of Christmas magic to thousands of children across the country who might otherwise miss out.

The way it works is simple: children and senior adults are assigned donors, aka “Angels” in the community, whom they share a personal Christmas wish list with. The angels then purchase those items, which are distributed semi-anonymously.

As a child with incarcerated parents, I was an Angel Tree kid, and I can still remember the feeling I got opening up the exact art set my heart yearned for. It was the feeling of truly being seen.

Getting my Angel Tree present was about more than just accumulating stuff—it reminded me that there were adults I could count on (even if I didn’t actually know them) and it allowed me to simply be a kid again for a moment, during a time when that often seemed impossible.

It’s these types of priceless memories the Angels provide, with little to no awareness of how deeply their generosity impacted the lives of those they gave to.

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Recently, a woman named Ahsley ( with the TikTok handle @maybashleymarie) recounted her own life-changing experience as a former Angel Tree kid, and the video is going viral.

“When I was about 16, I lived in a homeless shelter with my parents,” she said in the clip. “And I remember when everybody came around and asked us what we wanted to put on our list for the angel tree, I was writing this out. And I thought about it really hard because there was stuff that I wanted, but there was also stuff that I really needed. Because as a kid in a shelter, you basically have the clothes that are on your back and that’s it.”

But being in survival mode didn’t stop the teenager from wanting teenagery things, and so she put hoop earrings, black Converse sneakers, black eye liner, jeans, and a Playboy Bunny blanket on her list.

Not only did her Angel deliver, she “went above and beyond.” Ashley received not just one pair of hoop earrings, but 24 pairs in various shapes and sizes, enough black eyeliner to last her for years, skinny jeans with the tag still in place so Ashley could get her proper size, and bona fide name brand Converse sneakers, though she would have been completely content with generic.

Plus, much to her surprise, Ashley got that Playboy Bunny blanket—her favorite item on the list.

“I did not think at all, not one bit that that lady was going to actually give me a Playboy Bunny blanket, but when I opened that light pink blanket that said Playboy all across it, I was so excited. I was so happy. I still have that blanket to this day.”

Recently there has been a trend among influencers to go out to make Angel Tree donations, which inspired Ashley to make her video in the first place.

“I have to say, I am so thankful for all of these influencers and all these people with real money to be able to go out and actually buy gifts for these kids because you have absolutely no idea, no idea the difference that it makes in their lives and how that’ll be lifetime memories for them,” she concluded.

The touching video received 3.2 million views, with several people sharing how much Ashley’s story moved them—even making them want to become Angels themselves.

“Seeing the other side of the angel tree just made me ball my eyes out, and now I must go do one,” one person wrote.

Other fellow Angel Tree kids, chimed in with their own experiences. One shared, “I was an angel tree kid when my parents were in rehab. It really does make a kid’s whole world.”

Another wrote, “I asked for the last book in the Lemony Snicket series and they bought me the whole series…hardback.”

If you’re curious about participating in the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program, you can find out more info at SalvationArmyUSA.org

Some people are in the right place at the right time when tragedy strikes. A mother and her 2-year-old are both lucky to be alive after being struck by a car that was blinded by the sun. Bridgette Ponson was walking across the parking lot of Layton Christian Academy in Utah when the accident occurred.

Students rushed to the car realizing that Ponson and her two small children were stuck beneath it. While the 3-year-old managed to free themselves to crawl from under the car, the mom was trapped on top of her younger child unable to move. Help arrived nearly instantly in the form of more than 20 high school students, an United States Airman.

The school’s surveillance cameras caught the entire heart-stopping rescue on video as the teens struggled to lift the car. Eventually, the high schoolers were able to lift the car high enough for senior airman Dominique Childress to help pull the mom and toddler to safety.

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Childress was there picking up his kids when he was asked to help by his child’s teacher. He explains to KSL News, “Mom was holding him, and once we were holding the car high enough, she was able (to) get up and kind of hold the car on her back as we were lifting.”

Childress went on to tell KSL that the baby’s face was purple and he was unconscious but the airman was able to find a pulse. The teens worked in unison to lift the car off of the trapped mom and child, not knowing it was someone from the school’s administration office. Their only focus was saving the family. Theo Roach, one of the students that helped lift the car said the reality of the situation didn’t click in until afterward.

“It was a relief because I didn’t understand fully. I didn’t grasp the realness of the situation until I saw the kid breathing,” Roach told the outlet.

But it was thanks to their quick acting that Ponson and her child were spared. The youngest child was life flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City but has since been released with minor injuries. Ponson is still hospitalized and has received multiple surgeries.

The school set up a GoFundMe for the family to help with medical bills and income since both Ponson and her husband will be out of work while everyone recovers.

You can watch the entire interview, including the heroic rescue below.

The holidays are supposed to be magical, right? Who doesn’t love the decked halls, the pretty light displays, the big meals with family, the visits from Santa, the Elf on the Shelf’s antics, the cookie exchanges, the caroling, the Nativity pageants, the presents under the tree and all the things that fill the Christmas season with joy and wonder?

A whole host of moms responsible for making all of those things happen, that’s who.

This time of year, parenting groups start seeing anonymous posts from overwhelmed moms who admit to hating Christmas because the role of making magic for everyone else in the family has become too much. “I feel terrible for saying it but I’ve come to loathe the holidays,” one mom shares before laying out the laundry list of magic-making to-dos added onto her already full schedule. “Is it normal to start crying in the grocery store because it’s all just too much?”

Inevitably, the comments start filling up with others who feel the same way. “This is me.” “I totally feel you.” “I hate this time of year, too. I just can’t wait for it to be over.” Cue the shame and guilt of admitting a truth that no one wants to say out loud because who on Earth hates Christmas?

Clearly, this is not how any holiday is supposed to be. How did we get here and how do we fix it?

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Don’t start off sprinting when you’re running a marathon

We’ll tackle the “Moms shouldn’t have to do it all!” truth in a minute, but first, let’s look at the reality we’re in. The age of Pinterest and HGTV and social media makes everything look like a perfect magazine spread, and the pressure is always on to up the ante. We want to create these idyllic experiences and memories for our kids, so in the beginning of our parenting journey, we may bite off more than we can reasonably chew over the long haul when it comes to holiday magic.

Parenting is a marathon, not a sprint, and if you don’t pace yourself early on, you’ll burn out. Most of the moms I see complaining about the holidays aren’t the ones with little kids; they’re the ones with teens who’ve been at this for a long time, whose families have come to expect certain traditions without recognizing how much work they take. Setting the bar too high from the get go leads to overwhelm down the road. Keep holiday traditions purposefully simple, don’t give in to social pressure and remember that countless generations enjoyed the holidays without move an Elf on the Shelf every night.

We all need to intervene in the expectation that moms do it all.

As far as we’ve come with gender equality, we haven’t solved the problem of moms being the “default parent.” We’ve gotten better about things like dividing up household chores, but the mental load of moms still largely goes unrecognized. In some families, this is more of a reality than in others, but statistics show that moms still bear most of the mental load of parenting—making sure kids’ clothes fit, keeping track of doctor and dentist appointments, basic well-being responsibilities, and the like. This is true even for moms who work full-time, so adding “making holiday magic” on top of all that feels like just one more thing, even when that one thing seems like it should be fun.

The responsibility for changing that shouldn’t all fall on mothers’ shoulders. A little more acknowledgment that moms’ plates are already full and doing something—anything—to take some things off those plates will go a long way toward making the holidays more enjoyable for everyone.

Moms, you’ve gotta learn to delegate. For real.

The problem with moms doing it all is that no one else even knows what needs to be done. The invisible work moms do is just that—invisible—unless we make it known. I know a lot of women don’t want to complain, but it doesn’t even need to be a complaint—just a statement of reality that this is what it takes to make a holiday special and everyone needs to shoulder some of the load.

For some moms, this means learning to let go of some of that Pinterest-driven perfection. Let your kids decorate the house. Let it be imperfect. Start saying no to the parts of holiday planning that don’t bring you joy. If the Secret Santa gift exchange at work sounds more stressful than festive, opt out. Delegate Christmas dinner dishes to all family members who are old enough to cook. Tell the family that if they enjoy the holiday traditions, they have to start being responsible for them. The sooner you start spreading out the magic-making, the less stressful the holidays will be and the more prepared your kids will be for adulthood. Win win.

Simplify, simplify, simplify.

We live in a world that constantly tells us to do more, have more, be more. But we don’t have to. Doing less can feel like going against the grain, but prioritizing what really matters and letting go of expectations we’ve piled onto ourselves is incredibly freeing. If it feels like too much, it’s too much. It’s okay for traditions to change. It’s okay to let the ones that no longer spark joy to dissolve into just fond memories.

The Christmas season should be a time of joy and family connection—everything else is extra. So decide on a few things that are really important to you and your family, work together to make that special and let the “magic” come from remembering and focusing on what really matters.

Taylor Swift was named the 2023 Person Of The Year by Time, and Jimmy Fallon joked that it “definitely in the top 50” of all the honors she’d received that day. And it was a decent joke. But it’s also true. Forbes went ahead and listed her as the fifth-most powerful woman in the world as well. Celebrity Jeopardy! had a Swift-themed category. She has five albums in the top 10 on this week’s Billboard 200 chart, a historic feat.

So, yeah, the Time cover came out on Wednesday, December 6, but it’s old news — or just one more headline in the always-replenishing Swiftian news cycle — especially now that Pitchfork reports that Swift’s The Eras Tour is “the highest-grossing in history and the first to break the $1 billion mark,” citing Pollstar. (As a relevant aside, in late October, Bloomberg estimated Swift’s total net worth at $1.1 billion.)

“Beyond her ticket sales, Swift sold some $200 million in merch, not including the reported $250 million from the record-breaking Eras Tour concert film, according to Pollstar,” Pitchfork relayed. “Revenue data was collected between November 17, 2022, and November 15 this year.”

In the Time cover story written by Sam Lansky, Swift shared how she trained for her ongoing The Eras Tour, during which she performs a three-plus-hour set every night, as excerpted below:

“In the past, Swift jokes, she toured ‘like a frat guy.’ This time, she began training six months ahead of the first show. ‘Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud,’ she said. ‘Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs.’ Her gym, Dogpound, created a program for her, incorporating strength, conditioning, and weights. ‘Then I had three months of dance training, because I wanted to get it in my bones,’ she says. ‘I wanted to be so over-rehearsed that I could be silly with the fans, and not lose my train of thought.’

She worked with choreographer Mandy Moore — recommended by her friend Emma Stone, who worked with Moore on La La Land — since, as Swift says, ‘Learning choreography is not my strong suit.’ With the exception of Grammy night — which was ‘hilarious,’ she says — she also stopped drinking. ‘Doing that show with a hangover,’ she says ominously. ‘I don’t want to know that world.’”

And it’s quite literally paying off.

You know what there really isn’t enough of anymore? Kids’ sports movies. In the ’90s, these were a cinema staple; think The Sandlot, The Mighty Ducks, or The Little Giants. For some weird reason (Marvel), Hollywood just doesn’t make this kind of movie anymore, and it’s a real shame, because they were foundational for many a millennial’s youth.

Fortunately, Snoop Dogg is here to resurrect the genre with his own movie, fittingly titled Underdoggs. In a hodgepodge of various tropes from the above-mentioned classics, the Doggfather plays an NFL star whose bad-boy behavior lands him in community service coaching a youth football in his hometown — where else but Long Beach?

It’s a stunning bit of real-life synergy; for years, Snoop has funded and coached his own Pop Warner squad (on which Vince Staples once played) in Long Beach, so the role is not only a natural fit, it also finds Snoop basically playing himself. The film also stars Mike Epps (who has an exceptionally funny turn in the trailer) and George Lopez as a sage veteran who gives Snoop just the advice he needs to turn into a modern-day Gordon Bombay (seriously, kids. Watch The Mighty Ducks).

The Underdoggs comes to Amazon Prime on January 26, 2024. Watch the trailer above.

It’s fun when on-screen best friends are off-screen best friends, though it’s even funnier when you learn that co-stars are sworn enemies. But it’s generally nicer when they do get along, which is why it was refreshing to see that Ted Lasso stars Jason Sudeikis and Hannah Waddingham are actually obsessed with each other in real life. Maybe they even make each other biscuits.

Waddingham is gearing up to release her holiday special, Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas, where her co-star and friend Sudeikis makes an appearance.

Waddingham told People that the inclusion was a no-brainer. “I had to have him in the special. He has been in recent years my greatest champion, I mean, look at what happened with Thundergong!,” the actress said, referring to the charity event that Sudeikis threw earlier this year. “He invited me in to come and do that with him.” Not only did she go, but she also played the Gaga to Sudeikis’ Bradley Cooper with a majestic cover of “Shallow.”

The actress, who starred alongside Sudeikis in Ted Lasso for all three seasons, confirmed her real-life friendship with the actor, which consists of a lot of nagging. At least they are honest. “We are great pals and celebrate each other wholly. So I kept nagging him. I was like, ‘Darling, I’ve got to have you in,’ so it’s a thank you and a big kiss to him too,” she added. Sometimes nagging works.

In the special, Sudeikis portrays a cab driver who picks up Waddingham for some good old-fashioned caroling. Sound familiar?

You can stream both Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas and Ted Lasso on Apple TV.

(Via People)

The countdown for the new year is on. Whether or not you have plans for the strike of midnight, the annual Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest will be broadcasting on the ABC network. Last year, there was a bevel of programming options (including Miley Cyrus’ New Year’s Eve special) for you to tap into, but so far, the entertainment staple stands alone.

Yesterday (December 7), the featured acts set to appear on our television screens were announced. So, who is performing at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest for 2024? So far, the confirmed performers include Janelle Monáe, Green Day, Ellie Goulding, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Loud Luxury x Two Friends with Bebe Rexha, Aqua, Doechii, Ludacris, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Paul Russell, and Reneé Rapp with Coco Jones.

Of course, Ryan Seacrest will serve as the host, marking his 19th year doing so. Rita Ora and Jeannie Mai will step in for Ciara as the featured co-host, as the singer is currently very pregnant. Dayanara Torres will hold things down during the broadcast in Puerto Rico for the Spanish language countdown. For the first time since 2017, the show will not feature a central time zone countdown from New Orleans.

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest is scheduled to air on Sunday, December 31, on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Find more information here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Despite Paramount+ touting massive ratings for its new Taylor Sheridan series, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, the Western just couldn’t compete against the toughest streaming varmint of them all: Bluey.

According to the latest streaming numbers for Nielsen, Bluey absolutely dominated the charts for the week of November 6 to November 12. In an interesting twist, not a single show managed to cross one billion minutes, but only because there was a whole lot of stiff competition.

Deadline reports that streaming viewership was actually up from the previous week as viewers dug “deeper into streaming libraries.” And you can tell by the Top 5 shows, which saw Grey’s Anatomy surprisingly pass Suits following a flurry of viewers bingeing the Meghan Markle-starring legal series.

1. Bluey – 918M viewing minutes
2. Grey’s Anatomy – 897M viewing minutes
3. Suits – 827M viewing minutes
4. Loki – 753M viewing minutes
5. All The Light We Cannot See – 744M viewing minutes

As for Lawmen: Bass Reeves it just squeaked onto the Streaming Originals list at No. 10 with 290M viewing minutes. Although, in fairness, these numbers are from the show’s first week of streaming when it only dropped its two-episode premiere on Paramount+.

Lawmen: Bass Reeves only recently entered the back half of its anthology story, and as of this writing, it still has three more episodes left to release. Given the wild popularity of Taylor Sheridan’s series, there’s a very good chance Lawmen could easily climb higher on the Nielsen streaming charts in the weeks to come.

(Via Deadline)

Do you miss Mare Of Easttown? You are not alone. Kate Winslet with ^^^ mussed-up hair and a love of canned cheese ^^^ reminded everyone that it was time to rewatch her Emmy-winning turn in Mildred Pierce. A crime drama, however, felt like a revelation for Winslet, and her dogged detective yielded an enormous ratings win for HBO Max, back before they became simply “Max.”

Winslet’s world weary performance and her chemistry with Jean Smart’s curmudgeon led to chants for a second season because people learned who the murderer was and wanted it to happen again. TV is weird, but even Winslet wants another go at Mare, so it could happen, but it won’t happen in 2024. Instead, Winslet jumped into two other HBO projects, and the first selection will be here before House Of The Dragon returns in early Summer 2024.

Now, let’s talk more about what to expect from The Regime, which filmed under the working title of The Palace.

Plot

Winslet’s role has been kept somewhat ambiguous, although we know that she is a chancellor who’s losing her grip on a modern European regime. She’s been asked to prove her “credibility” to earn the support of the apparent U.S. Secretary of State (Martha Plimpton), and this season will follow one year of the palace walls beginning to crumble down while Winslet’s character takes ice baths and mugs for selfies. It sounds almost believable in terms of resembling our real world, which might add up for some sharp satire.

Previously, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the chancellor’s regime is an authoritarian one, so of course we will have to wonder who this show is shading once it surfaces. As well, Winslet executive produces, and the show was created by Succession writer Will Tracy and will be directed by Stephen Frears of The Queen. There are no mythical Wawas in this show, as far as we know.

Additionally, Winslet will also soon star in an adaptation of Hernan Diaz’s Pulitzer-prize winning novel, Trust, which was an Obama favorite book of 2022 and revolves around a financier who hires a ghostwriter to retool actual events and relationships.

Cast

For The Regime, Winslet will re-team with her A Little Chaos co-star Matthias Schoenaerts. Also on the roster? Hugh Grant, who enjoyed his own starring role in a crime drama on HBO not too long ago. We’ve already mentioned Martha Plimpton, but she deserves another shoutout, and we will also see Andrea Riseborough and Guillaume Gallienne along with Rory Keenan, Karl Markovics, Danny Webb, David Bamber, Henry Goodman, Stanley Townsend, Louie Mynett, and Pippa Haywood.

Release Date

HBO hasn’t yet delivered a spot-on premiere date, but The Regime is on track for Spring 2024. The show will stream on Max in addition to surely receiving a plum Sunday night primetime slot. With any luck, this show will come right before House of the Dragon.

Trailer

In this teaser trailer, Winslet and Plimpton face off, and there’s a winner at this juncture, although we’ll see if the messy Madame Chancellor can turn things around.

HBO gave a few more glimpses of The Regime (at 0:05 and 0:23) in the below sizzle reel.

The Regime premieres in Spring 2024.

Nominations for the 2024 Grammys were announced last month, and Olivia Rodrigo earned six from her sophomore album, Guts. Unfortunately, the Christmas song she wrote when she was five years old is not eligible, but it should be.

Rodrigo stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for Thursday night’s (December 7) show. She courageously admitted to accidentally following an ex on Instagram, but Fallon wasn’t done digging around in her past. He asked Rodrigo about internet lore that she wrote an original Christmas song when she was five, and she acknowledged it was true but has no recollection of it. Luckily, Fallon unearthed it, homemade album cover and all, and played “The Bels,” adorably misspelled and written like a true kindergartner.

“Ho, ho, ho, ho / Wait for the bells,” a mini Rodrigo sings in the muffled audio apparently sent to Fallon’s team by her mother. “When you hear them, put the ornaments on the tree / Ho, ho, ho, ho / Wait for the bells / Wait for the bells on Santa’s sleigh to ring / Ho, ho, ho, ho.”

Fallon marveled that Rodrigo “wrote a jam at five years old” — he’s right; the song goes hard — “manifested this career” because she also held a “pop star-themed” birthday party. Don’t worry! Rodrigo’s mom delivered photos from the party. A six-year-old Rodrigo is standing before a mic stand, surrounded by posters showing the likes of Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus as well as a handwritten setlist on a whiteboard.

“Wow, yeah, I really manifested this hard,” Rodrigo said. “There was not an audience. No one was watching, but I just had all of my kindergarten friends and we were just singing, like, the Jonas Brothers. We were really into it.”

Now, everyone is watching 20-year-old Rodrigo all the time. She will serve as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live tomorrow, December 9, and then embark on her Guts World Tour in 2024.

Watch the full Tonight Show interview above, and watch Rodrigo’s “Singing Whisper Challenge” below.