Most grandparents play an important role in helping their families when their children welcome a new child into the world.
Grandparents can be called on to watch over the family’s older children while their parents care for the newborn in the hospital. They also may have to run errands, take care of pets or stop by the house and watch the newborn so the new parents can get some much-needed rest.
For many grandparents, this involves traveling across the country and taking time off work to support their growing families. Becoming a new grandparent means taking on a whole host of responsibilities. However, we never hear about grandparents getting paid leave to help their families.
Saga, a U.K. travel and insurance company for the over-50s, is showing support for the grandparents who work at their company by offering a week of paid leave to celebrate the birth of a grandchild.
Saga has become the first UK firm to offer grandparents paid leave for the birth of a grandchild. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/12/09/saga-first-company-offer-paid-leave-grandparents/u00a0u2026pic.twitter.com/RuWP0jmRGi
“This is about helping new grandparents celebrate a special moment and play a role in growing families from day one,” said Jane Storm, the chief people officer at Saga. “It is also a symbol of how important older workers are to their companies and society.
“Our customers are mostly over 50 and we want to have more colleagues here that reflect the community we serve,” Storm continued. “We also think this idea should be a key attraction for retention and recruitment.”
In addition to getting a week off, all grandparents will have access to the company’s onsite nursery in Folkestone, Kent. While the new company policy is a wonderful gesture for their older employees, for some, having time off for their grandchildren is a practical concern.
In the U.K. about 40% of grandparents aged over 50 provide regular childcare for their grandchildren.
“Embracing family-friendly working practices makes business sense,” said Justine Roberts, the founder of the online community Gransnet. “Employers who recognize the fact that their employees have relationships and responsibilities outside of work will reap the rewards of increased loyalty and staff wellbeing.”
Americans have to be shaking their heads at how far Europeans have progressed when it comes to paid family leave. The U.S. has no federal law granting paid family leave. In fact, in the U.S. only 21% of workers have access to paid family leave through their employers.
He strung us all along for months, saying he was close then backing off over and over, and then went on *Fox* to kill the whole bill. nnKilled child tax credits, paid maternity leave, fighting climate change, free pre-K.nnWords canu2019t describe the anger.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/19/joe-manchin-biden-build-back-better-no-fox-news?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Otheru00a0u2026
In the U.K., Statutory Maternity Leave grants new mothers up to 39 weeks of paid leave. For the first six weeks, they are paid 90% of their average weekly earnings. And for the next 33, they are eligible for £151.97 ($204) a week or 90% of their average weekly earnings, whichever amount is lower.
Four weeks of paid leave were added to the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better bill in early November. However, the bill’s fate is now in jeopardy after losing the tie-breaking vote of Democratic West Virginia senator Joe Manchin. Manchin said that he wouldn’t vote for the Build Back Better bill last Sunday on Fox News citing inflation worries.
Former President Donald Trump made a strong statement about the importance of COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday in an interview with conservative firebrand Candace Owens. His full-throated endorsement of their effectiveness could inspire his supporters—who are among the least likely to get vaccinated—to get the jab and help stop the virus’ spread.
Owens has a long history of spreading deadly misinformation about vaccines. In the interview, she attempted to lead Trump into a discussion on their ineffectiveness, repeating the false claim that more people have died of COVID-19 during the Biden administration than during Trump’s.
In reality, the numbers show that more people died of COVID-19 under Trump’s watch (424,401 to 379,192) and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, MD, unvaccinated people are 14 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than the unvaccinated.
One can imagine how high the death toll would have been without lifesaving vaccines.
Just going to echo former President Trump here on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. Merry Christmas eve eve. go get boostedhttps://twitter.com/Kukicat7/status/1473743177806974977u00a0u2026
Trump:I came up with three vaccines—all are very, very good. I came up with three of them in less than nine months. ….
Owens: And yet more people have died under COVID this year, by the way, under Joe Biden than under you. And more people took the vaccine this year, so people are questioning how—
Trump:Oh, no. The vaccine worked. But some people aren’t taking it. The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take the vaccine.
But it’s still their choice, and if you take the vaccine, you’re protected. Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get it, it’s a very minor form. People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.
Donald Trump admits on stage that he got a vaccine booster shot, but his Dallas audience then begins to boo him. Hope his supporters will listenu2014#Omicron is coming. #GetBoosted #vaccinatepic.twitter.com/Oq4QynKdjt
Trump was far from honest in saying that he “came up with three vaccines,” but he was right in touting their effectiveness. Trump has a very big influence over American conservatives, who are one of the largest contingents of unvaccinated people. By talking positively about vaccines, he may cause some to change their minds and get the lifesaving jab.
Trump’s pushback against Owens comes three days after he was booed in front of an audience in Dallas with Bill O’Reilly for saying he recently received his COVID-19 booster shot.
When Trump was president he downplayed the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, creating the perception that it wasn’t a serious problem. He’s also been criticized for not promoting vaccines as much as he should.
However, Trump’s recent high-profile endorsement of vaccines is important because the areas where his supporters live have been hit much harder by the virus than in places that supported Democrat Joe Biden for president.
“People living in counties that went 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.73 times the death rates of those that went for Biden,” the report states. “Counties with an even higher share of the vote for Trump saw higher COVID-19 mortality rates.”
A new NPR analysis reveals that pro-Trump counties now have a higher death rate from COVID-19 than counties that voted for Joe Biden. n nMistrust and vaccine misinformation are to blame.https://n.pr/3Et9rjp
A major reason for the lack of vaccination among Republicans is misinformation. According to NPR, more than 90% of Republicans surveyed believe or are unsure about at least one false statement about COVID-19.
Trump played down the deadly virus while in the White House, leading to countless deaths. Now, in his post-presidency, he has the opportunity to right that wrong by continuing to be a vocal supporter of COVID-19 vaccinations. On Wednesday, the Biden administration acknowledged the important role that Trump can play in the nation’s COVID-19 health initiatives, saying he sent an “important signal to many Americans about the importance of getting boosted.”
It’s not every day that you get to save one life, much less two. And it’s definitely not every day that a person who plays the lifesaving hero twice in the same day is only 11 years old.
Sixth-grader Davyon Johnson was having an ordinary day at the 6th & 7th Grade Academy in Muskogee, Oklahoma on December 9 when a student stumbled into his classroom. According to the Muskogee Phoenix, the student had been trying to get a lid off his water bottle, and when he pulled it with his teeth, it had gotten lodged in his throat. Fortunately, Davyon knew exactly what to do.
“Davyon immediately sprinted over and did the Heimlich maneuver,” school principal Latricia Dawkins told the Phoenix. “From the account of the witnesses, when he did it the bottle cap popped out.”
Davyon had taught himself the Heimlich maneuver from YouTube because he thought it was a valuable thing to learn. “Just in case you’re in the situation I was in,” he said. “You can know what to do.”
Impressive, especially for an 11-year-old. But that wasn’t the only heroic act Davyon performed that day.
Davyon also helped an elderly woman escape a burning house later the same day. He told KOTV that he saw a woman with a walker leaving her burning house, but he was worried she was moving too slowly.
“It was a disabled lady and she was walking out of her house,” Davyon told the Phoenix. “She was on her porch. But I thought, being a good citizen, I would cross and help her get into her truck and leave.”
The fire was at the back of the house when he saw her leaving, but it eventually spread to the front of the house, he said.
Principal Dawkins said that Davyon has talked about wanting to be an EMT and Davyon’s mother, LaToya Johnson, told the Phoenix that Davyon’s uncle is an EMT.
“I’m just a proud mom,” she said.
The Muskogee Police Department and Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office presented Davyon with a certificate making him an honorary member of their force. The Muskogee school board also honored Davyon at one of its meetings.
Davyon said he felt “good” and “excited” about the honor.
“He is just a kind soul and well-liked by his peers and staff alike,” said Principal Dawkins.
Just last month, Rihanna was bestowed with the honor of being named a “National Hero of Barbados.” The country just declared independence from the British Monarchy and at the presidential inauguration, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said “May you continue to shine like a diamond and bring honor to your nation by your works, by your actions and to do credit wherever you shall go.” Slay Ri-Ri!
So then why is Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Berlin mad at her?? You’d have to figure that they have to be following the new look Rihanna’s wax figure is sporting at the museum. Dubbed the “Christmas VIP” look, it bears a very odd resemblance to the star at best.
Getty Image
It’s a strange look to say the least. And even though Rihanna has had her share of different hairstyles with bangs, this one seems…new. If you look closely, her tattoos do seem to be in the right place. But considering Madame Tussauds sketchy track record with pop and hip-hop stars in the past, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Their Nicki Minaj wax figure that they unveiled in 2020 was an aberration. Ditto for an attempt at Ariana Grande in 2019. And who can forget 2017’s sullying of Beyoncê?!
Of course Rihanna’s fans are none too pleased. Rest assured, they’ll make sure that nobody ever forgets this hack job. Because the internet remembers everything.
i’m so sick of seeing that ugly ass rihanna wax figure… somebody go turn the heat up at madame tussaud’s right quick pic.twitter.com/kJ1cK7I05I
The other day my 21-year-old daughter came into the living room singing a random, rhythmic chant of some sort that sounded like it was a different language. She got to a line that I misheard as “pequeño” and then giggled. I asked her what she was singing, and she said it was a TikTok of a guy playing the cello and the kazoo and singing gibberish.
“Let me just show you,” she said. “It’s too hard to explain.”
She was right. When you watch a Rushad Eggleston video, it’s hard to explain. Most will leave you saying, “What the heck did I just watch?” yet still wanting to watch more. They are riveting in the weirdest way possible.
I’ve never seen anything like this, and chances are you haven’t either. In this video, Eggleston plays the cello in a 7-in-1 beat bouncy rhythm (which my string-playing, music major daughter assures me is much harder than it looks) while singing/chanting random, nonsensical words in a voice that can only be described as goblin-like. Not only that, but he does so while showing his drawings of cartoon creatures with text boxes in which the gibberish lyrics he’s singing are written.
7-in-1 bounce gets decorated by thnarks partying in their mystical world of sneth #cello #kazoo #nonsense #metal #otherworldly #cartoon #astral #7
Super bizarro but catchy, right? And what about the kazoo attached to his cello? That part killed me.
The comments on the video are hilarious.
“Goblin metal,” wrote one person, which is genuinely the perfect description. “Gremlin core” is a close second. Another wrote, “‘otherworldly’ usually means ‘heavenly’ but this has big purgatory energy and I’m here for it.”
But my personal favorite was: “The devil went down to Georgia in a different timeline.”
Eggleston has created a whole fantastical world—The Land of Sneth—where these creatures live and have their own language (though they sometimes speak English, too, which for some reason makes it even funnier).
a gentle romping song takes a turn for the bnithual #cello #cartoon #lofi #producer #argument
“I do what I want, though?” I died. Why is this so random and so weird and so fantastic?
I had no idea who Rushad Eggleston was when my daughter introduced me to his TikTok channel. It seemed pretty clear to me that he had musical talent, but as it turns out, the guy has wicked musical talent.
Eggleston attended Berklee College of Music—one of the most prestigious music schools in the nation—on a full scholarship after winning a competition. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2002 for his collaborative work with Fiddler’s Four. He’s taught string camps to kids. He’s recorded albums and toured the world doing live shows.
Who knew?
The Berklee website describes Eggleston as “an eclectic, whimsical, inventive performer and personality.” On Facebook, he describes himself as “an imaginative nomadic wild cello goblin, ambassador of sneth, and spreader of joy.”
the guitar took over my marfuaning this marfuaning #guitar #flatpicking #acoustic #melody #country
Eggleston’s musical stylings may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and his Land of Sneth with its “bnithual” characters may be too out there for some people, but my family has found a great deal of joy watching his truly one-of-a-kind videos and enjoying his unique musical offerings.
In today’s topsy-turvy pandemic-ridden world, some silly, creative joy is more than welcome. You can find more of Rushad Eggleston on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
Mariah Carey is pulling out all the stops this Christmas. She generally always does, but 2021 has seen her take it to a whole new level. For starters, “All I Want For Christmas” has topped the Billboard Hot 100 once again en route to over a billion overall streams. But this year also saw Carey introduce her very first themed “Mariah Menu” at McDonald’s, which is like a fast food advent calendar of sorts. For each of the twelve days leading up to Christmas, people who spend at least $1 at McDonald’s through their app can get a free item each day from the Mariah Menu. It’s been a total hit promotion and even the brown paper bags at Mickey D’s have Mariah Menu branding.
So the Christmas Queen, in all her benevolent glory, decided to pay a surprise visit to the hard-working folks at a McDonald’s in Aspen (because of course Carey spends Christmas week where it’s snowing.)
Thank you @spotify, the #lambily, and everyone who streams this song to add a little bit of festivity to the season! I truly appreciate each and every one of these 1 billion streams! pic.twitter.com/W0sOPAhxKY
In a trip documented in a fairly ridiculous 3-minute Instagram video, Carey’s twins Monroe and Moroccan first play a prank on an unsuspecting drive-thru operator. Then, Carey’s assistants try to place an order in Portuguese at the walk-up counter. You gotta figure these employees were at about their wits end, until Carey walks into the restaurant, hand-in-hand with her boyfriend Bryan Tanaka and her kids in tow. She steps inside in a sparkling red dress and complements one of the employees’ Mariah Menu shirt (“That’s a cute shirt!”) She tries to order a cheeseburger and it doesn’t take long for everyone to realize what’s happening.
“Oh my god!” the manager proclaimed when she noticed the star. “I didn’t clear it with the top people,” Carey explains. “The kids just wanted to go to McDonald’s.” While she said she was not fond of the lighting (lol), she graciously took pictures with all of the employees, but did not take of her mask. “I can’t. Regulations. I’m from New York,” she explained. But she still looked stunning and clearly made these people’s night.
The fact that she manages it with such deep empathy and ebullient charm is truly astounding. But it’s also become her standard — even her speeches to the Top Chef contestants now routinely display her advocacy, passion, and ability to navigate complex issues with nuance.
Perhaps nowhere is Lakshmi’s skill in evidence so clearly as her Uproxx-beloved show, Taste The Nation. In our initial review of the series, my colleague Zach Johnston wrote: “The issue of real depth vs. virtue signaling is where Padma Lakshmi’s new show on Hulu, Taste The Nation, rises above every other series in the genre.” It’s a quality in abundance in the recently released Taste the Nation: Holiday Edition. This second mini-season looks at Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Nochebuena, and Lunar New Year in a manner that expands the traditional Christian idea of the “holidays” while also underscoring their importance as connection points between families, communities, and — in the end — the nation as a whole.
Anyone paying even the least bit of attention to politics and culture can see that the issues of diversity, inclusion, and cultural respect that Lakshmi highlights aren’t just about food. They touch… well, every piece of our lives. As such, I recommend Taste the Nation: Holiday Edition as family viewing over the break. Not only does each episode feature plenty of delicious-looking food but it’s also full of Lakshmi’s expansive ideas about what constitutes “American food,” in general. Thanks to the host’s deft touch, rather than separating people the four episodes actually serve as a bridge — reminding us of our commonalities while basking in the richness that unique traditions bring to the metaphorical table.
I spoke with Lakshmi about cultural appropriation in food and the big ideas explored in Taste the Nation below.
In investigating the holidays, it feels like you were also investigating some of the false narratives around our holidays, Thanksgiving, in particular. Do you feel that people are starting to realize some of those false narratives? Were there things that surprised you when filming the Thanksgiving episode of this show?
We are really struggling with how to do justice to not only the Wampanoag Nation, the Aquinnah Mashpee, but also just the whole subject of Thanksgiving because we had already had a decolonized Thanksgiving with Brian Yazzie. So I didn’t want to be repetitive because I also think that that is a specific trap that a show like ours can fall into, and that happens to the Indigenous community often. They often get painted with one brush and an Indigenous person in Navajo Country has a completely different experience than somebody in Cape Cod.
When we were deciding to do the holiday edition’s four episodes, I thought I’m sure that the Indigenous people are sick of being trotted out every Thanksgiving as “the other guys.” We can’t do that. I really wanted to feature an Indigenous community. But I was very skeptical and scared, to be very frank, about messing it up and making the same mistakes that we all have made.
Then we started our research and I had really hard-working research producers who brought me stories that we’d sit down and hash out and try to form an episode to see how these stories tell us something that is new and, first and foremost, accurate. When we got into our research, we found out that the Mashpee and Aquinnah people of the Wampanoag Nation are the “Indians” that are talked about in the Thanksgiving mythology that we were all fed through our education in the U.S. public school system.
That to me seemed like a good way in. The other thing is we only hear about one side of that Thanksgiving narrative. It’s always told from the European colonizer’s point of view or the descendants of those colonizers. We’re always told, “oh, there were some Indians and it was all kumbaya”. We don’t know that it was. Frankly, the only thing we know for sure is that the Mashpee and Aquinnah brought five deer to that first dinner. We don’t know if it was peaceful. We don’t know if it was a diplomatic mission. It may have been. They probably brought the deer because they thought they were going to starve because a lot of those settlers were starving. So it was their way of ensuring that whoever was coming had something to eat.
Would that be an Indigenous food you’d point people towards?
Traditional Thanksgiving meals maybe should have venison rather than Turkey, if we want to be traditional about it. So, then, the show really is predicated on allowing different communities to have the mic and I’m kind of a conduit. I’m the audience as a representative, and I’m learning as well. There are communities that I’m very familiar with, but also communities I’m not familiar with. The Aquinnah and Mashpee people were ones that I wasn’t familiar with. So I was learning right along with all of my research team and was happy to do so.
I learned how to make a blueberry slump, which is so delicious. I also learned about deer. I also learned that the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag people have been here for 12,000 years and they have been the keepers of this land and the caretakers of this part of America for all of those thousands of years. And they’ve been doing a great job. Preserving the land, mining it, tending to it, respecting it. That gratitude is such a big part of this culture. It’s not something that happens on the fourth Thursday of every November, it is something that happens all the time. There’s a daily practice of gratitude. There’s a monthly Thanksgiving feast. There are 13 because it’s on the lunar cycle. We’ve just kind of taken that concept and appropriated it for one day out of the year.
That was a real eye-opener and I wish I had learned that growing up because it would have been a very valid part of actual original American culture that I could have learned from and taken part in as an immigrant coming from India too.
So all of these issues that we’re trying to address or readdress in our society today are interconnected. Learning about their point of view and learning what it was like for them is important from a cultural point of view, but learning about their ways can also benefit all of us from an environmental perspective. That’s how you see in real-time and on a human level how a lot of these societal issues are interconnected and affect all of our daily lives. They’re not big political issues that are sort of philosophical concepts with a capital P they’re actually things that affect our streams, our rivers, our children, and how they interact with other children in the community.
Hulu
I think we’re in an era where people are really curious about the cultural traditions of others. They want to experience cultures through food. And yet at the same time, there are conversations about appropriation. I know you guys have had those conversations on Top Chef. I see Top Chef contestants say “Vietnamese inspired” or “Senegalese inspired” rather than trying to claim a food way that they’re not familiar with. So what’s your current line right now on how you define appropriation, on how you define cultural fusion, and what excites you in that space versus what troubles you?
Thank you for that question. So I don’t think that anybody in the food community feels that only people from a certain culture have dibs on making food from that culture or enjoying that culture. There are people who are not from a particular ethnicity, but who have dedicated decades to studying that ethnicity and have genuine expertise about that food and should be able to speak with authority because they’ve earned it.
It becomes appropriation when you are claiming that you suddenly discovered this cuisine. That you are the first person to use turmeric and coconut together, and that you’ve created this “stew.” Then it’s a problem. I have spent the last 20 years in food talking about different cuisines, as you know, and I think I encourage other young people who want to get into food to do the same.
I don’t make only Indian food in my kitchen. That would be really boring. I spent six years of my life living in Italy, so I have a pretty good understanding of Italian food. I should be able to share that as long as I’m saying, I spent my twenties in Italy, this recipe was taught to me by my boyfriend’s mother who loved to make salsa verde. This is how she taught me to do it. I have cut a couple of corners here because I’m a working woman so this is my version of that. That takes three sentences and I just did it for you in 20 seconds here to just give your sources. That’s all we’re saying.
I don’t think it’s wrong to just discover the foods with the world and enjoy them and share them with your friends, in your writing, in a restaurant, or in any other place. The world is getting smaller and bigger at the same time. Technology is affording us the ability to travel without ever stepping on an airplane. Thank God it has, especially after the many months in quarantine we’ve all gone through. But I think it’s a problem when you think that you know it all and that you’re the sole interpreter of other people. That’s what was happening with immigrant culture and food. A lot of people were speaking about foods without going to the primary sources. I love Thai food and I make Thai food in my kitchen. But if I’m going to give you a recipe for green Curry, I’m going to ask a couple of Thai people first to check my work. I’m going to give credit to those Thai people. Actually, it’s nice to give credit to those people because you need notes, you need context, you need to give the origin story.
For sure.
I would say about appropriation that I don’t want to just cook Indian food and I want people from all different backgrounds to cook and enjoy Indian food. I’ve spent my life trying to demystify Indian food for other people so that it’ll be approachable and not as intimidating for them to cook. I personally don’t get offended when I see white women wearing saris and bindis. I think the sari is a beautiful garment that looks good on a variety of people of different colors and shapes. It’s actually a very sensual garment that is very flattering if wrapped properly. I think other Indian people may feel differently in different generations. I can only tell you how I feel. If I was going to be offended every time somebody experienced my culture, I would be offended in every yoga class in every gym I’ve ever been to.
That is the best working definition for this issue that we are all trying to be sensitive around that I’ve ever heard, so I really appreciate that. I just want to ask you a final question. If you could send all of your viewers to one restaurant right now in America that embodies the Taste the Nation spirit which one would it be?
It’s not one place. It’s several places. Shamshiri Grill in Westwood, California. Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas. Elemi, in El Paso. Sly Fox Den, too, in Northern Rhode Island where I learned how to stuff this glorious fish with Ritz Crackers and other spices by this beautiful Indigenous woman who has such an infectious smile and laugh.
Hulu
‘Taste The Nation’ is currently streaming on Hulu.
Reno 911!: The Hunt for QAnon (Paramount+ special) — Is it time for some more New Boot Goofin’? Probably not, but Lieutenant Dangle is back for the third incarnation of this show after the Quibi adventure and the Comedy Central storied history. In this special adventure, the Reno Sheriff’s deputies will somehow land on Jeffrey Epstein’s island and attempt to hunt for Q of QAnon fame. The gang will largely be back, so expect to see Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney-Silver, McLendon-Covey, Niecy Nash, Mary Birdsong, Ian Roberts, and many more to return to one of the most beloved mockumentaries of all time.
Dragons: The Nine Realms: Season 1 (Hulu series) — Who didn’t love the How To Train Your Dragon movies? Only a monster, that’s who. This series takes place in the same world and approximately 1,300 years later when dragons no longer exist, other than legends. However, an enormous fissure appears in the Earth’s surface, and this allows room for official scientific research into exactly what’s going on here. If you guessed that a group of kids would be the ones who figure this thing out, you’d be correct. Long live the dragons.
Yearly Departed (Amazon Prime comedy special) — Some of the world’s funniest women (Chelsea Peretti, Jane Fonda, Megan Stalter, Aparna Nancherla, Dulcé Sloan, and X Mayo) have gathered here today to foast the hell out of another horrible year. Let’s hope we can finally leave all the bullsh*t of the past two years behind in 2022. You gotta drink to that.
In case you missed these streaming picks from last week:
Finding Magic Mike: Season 1 (HBO Max series) — Producers Steven Soderbergh and Channing Tatum bring their Magic Mike-themed reality series to life while zeroing in on a bunch of dudes who want to recapture their own mojo, so they go to a stripper bootcamp and let it all hang out. No word whether Ginuwine’s “Pony” will make an appearance or if we will see Tatum, but guest hosts will include Whitney Cummings, Nikki Glaser, and Nicole Scherzinger. Lighten up and enjoy this one from afar as these guys compete for a cash prize and notoriety aplenty.
Firebite: Season 1 (AMC+ series) — Finally, we’ve got a new vampire series, and this one looks highly original and stars Yael Stone from Orange is the New Black. The story goes down in Australia and follows indigenous hunters who want to take out the only remaining vampire colony in the South Australian desert, which sounds wild because, you know, sunlight.
For almost as long as there have been movies, there have been Christmas movies. And in the century-plus since that time, watching a handful of your very favorite Christmas movies has become as traditional a part of the holiday season as decking the halls, trimming a tree, and arguing about whether or not Die Hard is indeed a Christmas movie (more on that later).
Whether you’re looking to watch an old-timey favorite, a contemporary classic, or a total oddball pick, Amazon Prime boasts an impressive array of choices, making it one of the more solid yuletide libraries out there. Here are 11 of the holiday movies you can stream right now (in chronological order… because the holiday season is stressful enough without being forced to pick favorites).
It’s a Wonderful Life has become The Christmas Movie against which all other Christmas movies are measured, but no one would have likely guessed that when it was first released. While director Frank Capra and stars James Stewart and Donna Reed all went on record as saying it’s their favorite film in their respective (and impressive) filmographies, the movie began its life as a box office bomb. And it might have been forgotten completely if someone had remembered to renew its copyright. As a result of that little oopsie, the film entered the public domain in 1974 and remained there — making it free to anyone who wanted to air it or play clips from it in their own movies. Which is why it has always seemed to be everywhere. And if you’re only experience with the movie is through those clips, you’re probably thinking it’s one big sappy drama in which Stewart runs down a snowy street declaring his love to inanimate objects and impossibly precocious kids talk about bells ringing and angels’s wings. While those things do happen, the bulk of the movie is much darker, with Stewart drunkenly despairing over the choices he’s made and the opportunities he let pass him by, then nearly offing himself before realizing — just in time — that life isn’t so bad after all.
With a running time of just over 45 minutes, Jack Frost is a great way to introduce kids with short attention spans to the magical wonders of the Rankin/Bass filmography. Buddy Hackett voices a kindly groundhog named Pardon-Me-Pete, who makes a deal with winter sprite Jack Frost to extend winter by six weeks so that Pete can get a little more shut-eye and Jack can attempt to woo the woman he loves. If Jack succeeds, Father Winter will turn him into a human — but he only has until Groundhog Day to do it. Hackett, as Pete, narrates the tale, which is one of the lesser-known entries in the Rankin/Bass catalog, but no less charming.
A simple plot summary alone makes it clear why we’re including it here: NYPD officer McClane (Willis) travels to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with his kids, who are living on the other coast with his estranged wife. McClane travels with a giant stuffed animal (a gift for his daughter), and heads straight to his estranged wife’s office Christmas party, where a terrorist plot is unfolding and he’s forced to save the lot of them. There are Christmas trees and decorations, egg nog and presents, holiday tunes (including a perfect usage of Run-DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis”) and Hans Gruber’s (Alan Rickman) quotable delivery of one of the movie’s most memorable lines: “Ho, ho, ho.” When else could this movie happen if not the yuletide season?
While Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands is not necessarily about Christmas, it takes part during the Christmas season and brings the magic of the yuletide season to life. When Avon saleswoman Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest) comes knocking on the door of the imposing Gothic mansion that overlooks her family’s picture-perfect (if not cookie-cutter) suburban neighborhood, she finds Edward (Johnny Depp), a confused young man with razorblades for fingers who has no experience with the world beyond his doors. So Peg takes Edward home with her, much to the horror of her family, friends, and neighbors. But as he acclimates to the real world, he also begins to find his way in it — both as a hairstylist and as a topiary designer. Along the way, the spirt of the season, and Edward’s gentle, childlike ways, catch the attention of Peg’s teenage daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). One of the key “hey, maybe this is a holiday movie” moments comes when Edward uses his hands to create an ice sculpture of Kim, with the leftover shavings creating a Christmas snow.
Winona Ryder strikes again in Little Women — yet another movie that isn’t all about Christmas, yet many of the story’s key moments take place on and around the holidays. Though Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s famed novel might now be the gold standard among adaptations, Gillian Armstrong’s 1994 film — featuring Ryder as the headstrong aspiring writer Jo March and Christian Bale as Laurie, the Marches’s neighbor and Jo’s BFF — is a well-made and gorgeously shot celebration of family and the sacrifices one makes in order to spread joy both during and outside of the holiday season.
In between Eraser and Batman & Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped away from the action game long enough to make this seminal ‘90s Christmas movie. He plays against type as a workaholic dad who is determined to get his son a Turbo Man, the biggest toy of the season. Unfortunately, he waits until Christmas Eve to find one, which means that they’re impossible to find. His task is made even more impossible by Myron (Sinbad), a postal carrier who is on the same quest as Arnold. Things get nasty, and a jetpack is involved.
Note: The 2014 sequel, starring Larry the Cable Guy, is also on Prime... but might be best saved as a last resort.
If you do decide to watch the aforementioned Rankin/Bass film Jack Frost, be sure that you’re pressing play on the stop-motion animation film before you leave the room. Because this campy, cult classic horror movie is definitely NOT a remake of the family-friendly 1979 holiday special. Instead, it’s the story of a serial killer whose soul is transferred into the body of a snowman. A very rapey snowman. Which is a much different thing altogether.
If you’re a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 or RiffTrax, then Elvira’s yuletide celebration of the beloved B-movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians could very well become your new holiday tradition.
Newly anointed Sexiest Man Alive Paul Rudd and not-yet Sexiest Man Alive Paul Giamatti are always enjoyable to watch, even if the material they’re working with isn’t grade A stuff. But for anyone who has ever experienced sticker shock after buying a Christmas tree in New York City, this comedy about two con men pushing overpriced evergreens on unsuspecting New Yorkers is a pleasant-enough diversion.
Somewhere between Halloween and Home Alone is Better Watch Out, in which a babysitter and her 12-year-old charge are forced to defend the tween’s house from what turns into a rather bizarre — and surprisingly bloody — home invasion. If you really want to indulge in a top-tier Christmas horror movie, Black Christmas (1974)—which is free with Amazon’s Shudder add-on or available to rent from $1.99 — is the best of the best. Adding to its intrigue: It was a direct inspiration for Halloween and written and directed by Bob Clark, who would later go on to make A Christmas Story. And we all know where to find that one.
If you’re having trouble deciding between watching a classic holiday movie like White Christmas, or turning on Jaws for the thousandth time, let us suggest a compromise: Santa Jaws tells the story of a wanna-be comic book writer who receives a magical pen that brings his doodles to life. Which is most unfortunate when he decides to create a character named Santa Jaws, who spends the rest of the movie attempting to consume the artist and his family. Which, if you like, you can take that to be a metaphor for best-laid plans around the holidays and how they often backfire and lead to your downfall. Or not!
Last summer, Tekashi 69 postponed a number of his upcoming shows to deal with some family issues and “court matters,” but it now looks like one of his recent concerts is now the source of more of his legal issues. The rapper reportedly skipped out on a concert after taking money for it, so he’s now being sued.
According to a report from Complex, who obtained court documents, Tekashi was hit with a lawsuit by promoter JJD Entertainment. The company claims the rapper was set to take the stage on June 27 in Humble, Texas. But when the time came for the show to start, JJD Entertainment claims Tekashi flew in, grabbed the $75,000 he was owed for the show, and left without performing.
Per the lawsuit, Tekashi’s contract for the show denoted that he’d get $45,000 when signing the paperwork and $75,000 when he arrived to perform. The entertainment company even shelled out $28,000 to fly the rapper on a private jet from Florida to Texas. After Tekashi skipped out on the performance, JJD Entertainment was left with no choice but to refund all the tickets from the concert.
Back in June a day after the performance didn’t happen, Tekashi told TMZ that his reason for the no-show is that JJD Entertainment never paid him, a claim which is at direct odds with the promotion company’s lawsuit. Because of Tekashi’s statements about the performance, JJD Entertainment is also suing the rapper for defamation, saying his comments damaged his business’s credibility.
The court documents read:
“Shortly after Defendant, Daniel Hernandez, failed to perform in accordance with the agreement, he went on a livestream with DJ Akademiks where the Defendant, Daniel Hernandez stated that the contract price was $250,000.00, that he received a $45,000.00 deposit, and $70,000.00 in cash, knowing that those statements were false. On that livestream, Defendant, Daniel Hernandez, adamantly states that the only reason he left the concert site was because he did not get paid, knowing that statement was false.”
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