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Parenting is hard for just about everyone. You’re completely responsible for a small human that doesn’t come with an instruction manual, and it’s a case of trying to do the best you can with what you’ve got. Some people seem to think that celebrities should be infallible, so when Kevin Federline shared a video of Britney Spears being stern with her children there was always going to be negative feedback. But surprisingly, the video has, in fact, stirred up more support for the star and her parenting methods.

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If you’ve been on the internet for any amount of time you know that parent shaming is something that comes in like a tidal wave on an unsuspecting parent just sharing their truth. It seems especially vicious towards moms, so much so that the phrase mom-shaming was coined some time ago. Mom-shaming is the act of judging and attacking mothers for their personal parenting choices. But lately there’s been some push back on the normalization of mom-shaming that has been a part of internet culture since mom groups were formed. Parents are daring to show their messy houses and parenting failures on their way to getting things right for their children.

Federline’s reasons for posting the videos of Spears disciplining her children is unclear. Perhaps it was to embarrass her or show her as an unfit parent. But parents across the internet were having none of it. Sure there were a few here and there that criticized, but most comments were supportive of the pop star. Parents are owning that this parenting gig is hard and capturing a few minutes of out-of-context video doesn’t show the whole story and they said just that.

One Twitter user, Ask Aubry, posted the “damaging” video of Spears and said, “Wait, Britney Spears giving her kids clear boundaries, expectations and wanting them to know her worth & value like millions of other parents have in a highly out-of-context and edited video, is Kevin Federline’s ‘gotcha’ moment?” She wasn’t alone in her musing. The Twitter users’ comments were filled with parents agreeing with the sentiment.

Another person with the user name Arcane Saint commented, “I see not one thing wrong with this interaction. I am so upset & heartbroken for Britney 💔💔💔.” Under TMZ’s Twitter feed for the same video, the support was still overwhelmingly evident with many users echoing the same sentiment, that they saw nothing wrong in the video.

It seems the only parent being questioned in the comments is Federline, which may not have been what he was hoping for when he shared these private videos. It appears Spears has plenty of supporters who didn’t take kindly to Federline’s attempt to shame her.

There seems to be a noticeable shift from mom-shaming to mom-supporting on social media, and that can only be a good thing. Parenting is hard enough on its own and co-parenting with someone outside of your home can add an additional layer of hard, especially when things are less-than amicable.

After winning the fight to end her conservatorship in 2021, Spears is under even more scrutiny than the average celebrity. Seeing parents come to the defense of Spears as a fellow parent is heartwarming. Maybe the unintended result of all this could be the two of them working toward a more healthy co-parenting relationship, preferably outside of the public eye.

Kevin Federline Posts Videos of Britney Spears Arguing with Sons

Kevin Federline has had enough of Britney Spears’ public attacks on their two sons, Sean and Jayden, and now he wants to show the world just how contentious he says Britney’s relationship has been with the boys for years.

The massive popularity of Game of Thrones — the TV show — has crested, crashed, and spawned a number of follow-up projects in the wake of a disappointing final season. And amid all of that, creator George R.R. Martin still hasn’t finished The Winds of Winter.

The latest book in his Song of Ice and Fire series has been the object of much interest among Thrones fans, and it’s generally thought that once Martin’s source material ran thin, the TV show lost its way. Fans eager to see what comes next in the book version of the Thrones universe, however, have been disappointed by a number of self-imposed missed deadlines.

There have been chapters and lots of chatter on his blog, but no real pages as of yet. The creative process, despite all those montages you see in movies, is far from linear. Progress comes in leaps and spurts and long periods of inaction are sometimes necessary to get things done. But fans are frustrated, and it turns out that Martin is, too. Which is why he’s done with updates on the project.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Martin lamented the continued questions about his books and said he’s “done” with giving updates until the next book is actually finished. The good news, he said, is that he’s “making progress” despite the lack of concrete proof.

“Oddly enough, although I hate having COVID here, the two years of enforced isolation enabled me to get a lot more writing done, because I was doing a lot less traveling and public appearances and speeches and all of that stuff,” the 73-year-old said. “I’m making progress, but I’ve given up on any hope of predicting the end. Every time I do, I don’t make it and everybody gets mad at me, and there’s no sense. It’ll be done when it’s done. Hopefully, COVID won’t kill me, so we won’t have that issue. I do find it a little grisly, people speculating online about what’s going to happen to the rest of the books when I die. I don’t like to speculate about that. I don’t feel close to dying.”

This is probably best for everyone, as Martin is likely tired of people asking him when he will finish the books and all that disappointment, to quote The Tragically Hip, was likely getting him down. And despite the nagging feeling that Martin sounds like a guy who is woefully behind on a project that may or may not have any real pages, you have to feel for him. All that pressure that’s already self-imposed is only exacerbated by expectations from the rest of the world. And it’s not like Martin isn’t doing other great work, too. Hopefully he’s really making progress here, but don’t expect to hear one way or another until it’s bound and up for sale.

[via Vanity Fair]

Rudy Giuliani‘s legal situation is not getting any better. On Monday, The New York Times broke the news that Georgia prosecutors informed Giuliani’s legal team that he’s now being targeted in a grand jury investigation that’s been probing Donald Trump‘s alleged election meddling. Trump was recorded asking state officials to somehow “find votes” to flip the state away from Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election, and since then, his inner circle have been subpoenaed by the Fulton County District Attorney to determine who was involved.

According to Giuliani’s former aide, Ken Frydman, America’s Mayor knows that this is a “big deal” that won’t end well.

“Rudy flew too close to the sun, he got too close to Trump, he got burned,” Frydman told CNN on Tuesday morning. “He knows how the DOJ works. He knows how the FBI works. He knows these are meticulous investigations. I know he’s nervous.”

Frydman also had a grim prognosis for Giuliani’s current strategy. Via Mediaite:

While Frydman urged the media to wait and see how the case plays out, he explained that Giuliani is “nervous” about the investigation “because he knows he lied to legislators.”

“He knows that he concocted this scheme. He knows he lied for his client, and he knows we all know,” Frydman said. “I think, at this point in his life, his goal is to die a free man.”

Of course, the big question is whether Giuliani will roll over on Trump, and Frydman would not be surprised if that happens. “If this is a RICO case, Trump’s at the top of the pyramid and Rudy is one brick below, so they’re obviously squeezing him for anything that could incriminate the president,” he told CNN.

(Via Mediaite)

Earlier this summer, fans of Desus & Mero were heartbroken to learn that New York’s best comedy duo was on the rocks and that there was potential beef between the pair, who have been working together for over a decade. They later confirmed that they would be “pursuing separate creative endeavors moving forward,” and Desus Nice seems to have landed his first post-Showtime gig as a guest host on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night.

Of course, he couldn’t host an entire show without referencing his former stint on Showtime while making jokes about being on network TV. “Listen, it’s weird to be hosting a show on network TV because I was on Showtime for the past four years, where they pretty much let you say what the f*ck you want.”

Nice then went on to do a standard late-night monologue, touching on various hot-button topics like the FBI and Donald Trump. He then criticized Trump’s claim that he was able to take court documents with him to his golf club while taking a slight dig at himself. “When you get fired from the office, you don’t get to take the Xerox machine home with you. When I got fired from Showtime, they don’t let me bring home the cast of Shameless.” Maybe not Shameless, but he probably could have gotten a nice guest spot on Yellowjackets.

Nice hasn’t confirmed what his next move will be, while The Kid Mero confirmed that he will be focused more on writing during the next phase of his career. Nice recently made a guest spot on the Derek Jeter documentary The Captain, and hopefully will get to do more late-night standup… although Showtime can’t be thrilled about this bit!

Cobra Kai‘s fourth season finale did not go too well for the good guys or, for that matter, the villains who aren’t quite as bad as the show’s ubervillain, Terry Silver. He had positioned himself as the most dastardly karate guy in existence, even putting John Kreese behind bars, so that Silver can launch a zillion Cobra Kai franchises after paying off a judge (to make a bad call) during the All Valley Tournament. As such, “No Mercy” is going to spread everywhere, and we’ve already heard that Silver will bring Mike Barnes back from The Karate Kid III obscurity. As this Season 5 trailer shows, Silver’s also recruited a female sensei, and one can only guess what havoc they will all wreak.

In the meantime, the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang guys, Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, are picking up the pieces of their combined dojo, and as this trailer shows, it’s full-on war for the soul of the Valley. Sure, Silver has a ton of fresh recruits, but if we’re talking about the adult characters that we know/love, they’re all banding together against Silver. Hell, even Chozen is back and fighting alongside Johnny (!). It’s a sight that no Karate Kid franchise fan ever would have dreamed about after the O.G. movies, but subverting expectations is part of what this Netflix show does so beautifully. That’s in addition to harnessing a degree of almost unparalleled cross-generational appeal.

It’s almost time for Season 5. From the synopsis:

Following the shocking results of the All Valley Tournament, Season 5 finds Terry Silver expanding the Cobra Kai empire and trying to make his “No Mercy” style of karate the only game in town. With Kreese behind bars and Johnny Lawrence setting karate aside to focus on repairing the damage he’s caused, Daniel LaRusso must call on an old friend for help.

Netflix’s Cobra Kai returns on September 9.

Blackpink continues their rollout for “Pink Venom,” the group’s comeback single, with a thrilling teaser for the song’s upcoming music video. In typical Blackpink fashion, it appears to be colorful and high-concept, borrowing looks from postapocalyptic cyberpunk movies like Blade Runner 2049 and pairing punchy modern production with a traditional Korean zither. “Pink Venom” is set to drop this Friday, August 19. The single will precede the arrival of Blackpink’s sophomore album, Born Pink, due September 16. You can check out the teaser above.

In addition to releasing their sophomore album, the band is planning a 27-city Born Pink World Tour, kicking off with two nights in Seoul in October and running through spring of 2023. But first, they’ll be performing at the 2022 MTV VMAs, along with fellow performers Jack Harlow and Lizzo. The band appears to be going strong, even as individual members start to receive solo recognition. Last year, group member Lisa made her solo debut with Lalisa, which included a video for the title track, while Rosé garnered attention for a string of cover performances that earned her a spot on Variety‘s “Power Of Young Hollywood” list earlier this month.

But with all of that, fans still can’t get enough of Blackpink as a band, and can’t wait to see what they do on their next album.

Born Pink is out on 9/16 via YG Entertainment.

Singer and former One Direction member Zayn rarely mentions his days in the boy band, however, he took to Instagram yesterday to sing a fan favorite from the One Direction catalog. In a black-and-white clip, Zayn sings the chorus of “Night Changes” from the band’s 2014 album, Four, which was also Zayn’s last album with the group.

“Everything that you’ve ever dreamed of / Disappearing when you wake up / But there’s nothing to be afraid of / Even when the night changes / It will never change me and you,” he sings in the clip.

Zayn also revisited his 1D days back in June, when he sang a portion of “You & I” from the band’s sophomore album, Midnight Memories.

Could this mean a One Direction reunion is imminent? Given Zayn’s ex-bandmate Liam Payne’s recent comments about the singer during Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast, it’s probably best we don’t hold our breath.

“Before we go too deep into this, there are many reasons why I dislike Zayn, and there are many reasons why I’ll always always be on his side,” Payne said. “….You can always look at the man for where he is and say ‘Oh yeah, whatever, that guy’s a d*ck. But at the end of the day … you understand what he’s been through.”

Sometimes dreams come true when we’re just doing the things we love. That’s exactly what happened to a little girl named Joanna who found herself on stage at a live concert for the band New Found Glory. Joanna is 8 years old and plays the bass guitar. One day after recording her playing Vicious Love by New Found Glory, Joanna’s dad decided to send it to the band’s bass player, Ian Grushka.

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When Grushka watched the video of Joanna jamming out to one of their songs he showed it to the rest of the band and told them she lived in Las Vegas, one of the cities on their tour. The band agreed that the little musician should join them on stage as their guest, getting around the venue’s 18 and up requirement. Before you know it, Joanna and her dad are sitting in the best seats in the house awaiting the announcement for the pint-sized rock star to join the band on stage. One would think the surreal experience of sitting in a crowed waiting to go on stage with a famous rock band would cause some nerves. But not for Joanna.

When one of the band members asked if she was nervous, she explained that she’s played three shows before, including a School of Rock concert. This was second nature to the young bass player and when she got up on stage she seemed right in her element. Joanna didn’t miss a beat and the crowd roared with her success.

While it’s highly unlikely New Found Glory will replace their current bass player with the 8-year-old, it seems likely they’ll stay in touch with the family. Joanna’s already got her big fish story to tell her hypothetical grandchildren. She’s even got the pictures to prove it.

When you think of diamonds, what comes to mind? For many, the jewels are a sign of opulence and wealth. For others, diamonds are a symbol of love and commitment. But for those who are worried about the planet, diamonds can represent something far more sinister: exploitation and environmental degradation.

Diamond mining, especially in Africa, causes soil erosion, deforestation, and overall ecosystem destruction. And that doesn’t even factor in the human toll. Although the industry has taken steps to improve the situation, African diamond mines are notorious for their low wages and poor working conditions. But despite the negative publicity, global diamond jewelry sales are now worth more than $72 billion annually.

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Clearly, the public has a strong cultural attachment to these beautiful jewels. But what if there was a way to satisfy this massive demand without exploiting the poorest of the poor. What if there was a way to create diamonds from scratch without the need for destructive mining practices. Well, as it turns out, there is.

The Benefits Of Lab-Grown Diamonds

Image via Unsplash

In recent years, scientists have created diamonds in the lab that are the same quality as those you would find in a mine. Since these lab-grown diamonds are composed of crystallized carbon, they are virtually identical to traditional diamonds. Only advanced testing equipment can tell the difference. At the end of the day, lab-grown diamonds look like real diamonds because they are real diamonds.

Because these diamonds are created in a lab, the issues of low wages and worker exploitation are virtually nonexistent. And in terms of environmental damage, there’s no comparison between diamond mines and diamond labs. However, lab-grown diamonds still require a large amount of energy to create, so it’s not as if they are carbon neutral. But according to Saleem Ali, a minerals expert at the University of Delaware who was interviewed by The Guardian, “the environmental impact is far greater for mined diamonds” when the entire life cycle of a diamond mine is considered.

Better For The Planet, And Better For Your Wallet

Image via Unsplash

Aside from the fact that lab-grown diamonds are less exploitive and better for the planet, it turns out that they’re also better for your bottom line. That’s because it’s cheaper and less time-consuming to create diamonds in a lab than it is to locate and excavate them. And a company called SuperJeweler is passing these savings on to consumers.

Since 1999, SuperJeweler has offered diamonds from ethical, conflict-free suppliers directly to the public. And now, the company is selling lab-grown diamonds, including 1 and 2-carat diamond earrings in solid 14k gold. So if you’re on the market for beautiful diamond jewelry, why wouldn’t you pay less for the same product and help protect the environment in the process? Click here to learn more about these beautiful lab-grown diamonds today.

Once upon a time, the image of a hamster enjoying a delicious bowl of fresh spaghetti was only the stuff of fairy tales, and maybe one-third of all the Disney classics.

But not anymore. Behold … “The Hamster Station” on TikTok and Instagram, where you can bear witness to all the teeny-tiny feasts and itty-bitty activities of two adorable hamsters.

Their names? Mr. Marshmallow and Mr. Crumpet, naturally.

Mr. Marshmallow and Mr. Crumpet’s owner spoils them rotten with elaborate meals worthy of a Paul Hollywood handshake, made perfectly hamster-sized. And the internet is enthralled.

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When I say elaborate, I’m not exaggerating. Below you find a “hamster picnic” complete with table and red checkered cloth on a patch of artificial grass. Topped with a pasta bowl. And a fruit slushie to wash it all down. This video alone got 7.5 million views.

You might be thinking, sure, this is cute and all, but do the hamsters even appreciate all this?

Just take one look at how they slurp those noodles, and you’ll have your answer.

@thehamsterstation He absolutely loves to have a picnic ❤️ #fyp #hamster #hamsters #hamstersoftiktok #thehamsterstation #pet ♬ Angeleyes (Sped Up Version) – tuna (SVT)

Understandably, hearts were won after watching.

“I just watched an adorable hamster eat a spaghetti noodle……..my day has been made lol,” wrote one person.

“This hamster living better life than me,” joked another.

What’s for dessert, you may wonder. Why, carrot cake, of course. Which the hungry, hungry hamster inhales. Truly the only proper way to eat carrot cake.

@thehamsterstation Reply to @thehappyhamsters3 The way he snatched it out of my hand 😂 #fyp #hamster #hamsters #hamstersoftiktok #thehamsterstation #pet ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show

Of course, the owner has reassured viewers that all meals are “hamster safe.” For the most part, these little guys have pretty lenient diets and can indulge in quite a bit of human foods, according to The Spruce.

However, some foods can be problematic. Peanut butter, for example, can get stuck in a hamster cheek pouch. Yes, even their dietary restrictions are adorable.

@thehamsterstation Reply to @ashleymaynard02 He absolutely loved them ❤️ recipe from vanillahamham on yt ❤️ #fyp #hamster #hamsters #hamstersoftiktok #thehamsterstation ♬ You Got A Friend In Me (From “Toy Story”) – Just Kids

For these “hamster-safe pancakes” seen above, the batter was made with plain flour, milk and water, then topped with a tiny piece of banana to look like butter. Genius.

But why stop at meals? Mr. Marshmallow had his very own mini movie night.

You know, chilling on a dollhouse couch, munching on some popcorn, and watching “The Bee Movie” on the big screen. Well, big for a hamster anyway.

@thehamsterstation What should Mr Marshmallow watch next? ❤️ #fyp #hamster #hamsters #hamstersoftiktok #thehamsterstation #pet ♬ Carrying Your Love – David Morris

Mr. Marshmallow dressed for the occasion in his dashing top hat.

By the way, Mr. Marshmallow and Mr. Crumpet might have a talented owner, but they are also artists in their own right.

Just look at their marvelous paintings below.

@thehamsterstation Replying to @thehamsterstation What do you think of Mr Crumpets painting? ❤️ #fyp #hamster #hamsters #Hamstersoftiktok #thehamsterstation #pet ♬ Funny Song – Cavendish Music

A dollop of different colors were dropped onto a tiny canvas, which was then placed in a plastic bag so that Mr. Crumpet could begin his work. By “work” I mean going after treats. Don’t judge his process!

Hamsters are already notoriously low-maintenance pets and this raises their cuteness factor times a bajillion. Cats and dogs might take the lead when it comes to popular household pets, but now there’s even more reason to consider owning a critter like Mr. Marshmallow and Mr. Crumpet. Or at least watch more videos of them.