#and at this point they'v 100s of games by the age of 18

[rubberduckyrye]

Wanted to add on to your thing about the cast of DR being young adults, and it's a little detail that often gets overlooked in the series.

Regarding Hope's Peak and graduation and memory loss being used to determine ages: As quoted from the DR Wiki "Prior to being scouted, the students had to have already been attending another high school by requirement, meaning they were at minimum 16 years old."

Considering that high school in Japan is typically grades 10, 11, 12, most of the students would be at BARE MINIMUM the equivalent of High School Juniors in the US before joining Hope's Peak. The ages for that grade are usually 16-17 at youngest with few exceptions.

Now, considering they'd have to be assessed over a period of time (sans the Lucky Students), it would make more sense for the talent scouts to send the offer close to the end of Grade 11, to ensure that Hope's Peak truly are getting the best of the best in certain talents (don't want the soon-to-be 16 year old potential prodigy to miss out despite being as good at a thing as the soon-to-be 18 year old the next town over, right?).

Meaning by the time they graduate, it's more likely that anyone attending Hope's Peak will leave the school at the age of 21.

And, even if the students being admitted WERE 16 at the start, they'd still be what's considered age of majority in most of the world by the time they finish, because you have to attend Hope's Peak for THREE YEARS. You're essentially forced to start high school over again if you get accepted. By the time they finish any post-graduation work they need to do, they'd be well into their early to mid twenties at the youngest.

And since most of the students lose 2-3 years of their memories minimum at the start of the game, that messes things up even more. The youngest might think they're graduating at age 19, when in reality they've probably already graduated/dropped out/whatever the plot calls for. Hagakure thinks he's entered the school around age 20/21, only to learn he's going on 24 and the apocalypse has been going on for a while.

tldr: Even if the students WERE the youngest possible age when entering Hope's Peak, they'd be adults by the time they graduate. And thanks to the memory loss, all the characters are actually more likely to be older than 19, the bare minimum age Hope's Peak graduates can be.

This is a great point/addition! My friend Star has also been saying that, but I wasn’t able to verify that information 100% rip. Thanks!

The casts of DR are all College coded tbh like why are you booing me I’m right—

[dash-n-step]

I understand being wary of people weird about sonic characters who have previously been stated to be kids: people are weird and there's so many cases of characters in many franchises getting sexualized that people at large have zero idea are actually young

but I think it's very important to understand that the main cast of characters in the sonic series are in a perpetually nebulous "whatever gets the character's point across" state, because you can only say "Amy Rose is twelve" so many times before you have to acknowledge that in current canon she's been in charge of a whole resistance force and all the bureaucracies that entails, her entire friend group is made up of either people who are functionally treated as young adults or explicitly younger to the degree of being characterized as children, she has a car that she uses to take these friends camping with

There's also the general lack of acknowledging that SEGA has actively made attempts to have the characters progress: if not through the acknowledged as game canon IDW comics then in Frontiers, when they made the characters more mature to the point people were like "what the heck is up with Sonic's voice". Like a big part of the ending of that game is saying "these characters have grown from who they were before, and they plan on going their own way for a while".

and to not just focus on the Amy, going purely by old stated ages, because this isn't trying to be all "10000 year old little girl": Rouge is 18 while Knuckles is 16 "but two year age gap" that's still an adult and a teenager. Shadow is also supposedly only 16, with 50 years in cryo. With Sonic being 16 (classic and somehow still modern), any relationship with Amy is incredibly weird when removed from her "just being a fangirl with dreams of an unobtainable guy/idol".

And to be clear, people who have an issues with these pairings precisely because of these messed up ages that were given out official for years are completely valid, it fucking sucks that it's like this, but I can't fully blame people for thinking that in the 30+ years sonic has been a franchised they they get viewed as being adults, especially with how they're written.

Like, Tails main thing is being a child genius, and the "little brother" to Sonic, so he's always going to be the "young one" regardless of whatever age you give these characters, putting him with Cream and Charmy who are also always going to be "the kids"/immature ones. But of those three characters, Charmy is the only one really written as being so immature that you can't argue that they time has passed for him because they don't really do much with them.

That's not even getting into the multiple canons that you can't just assume line-up 100% to old info, like when the archie comics made Amy too young then "aged her" visually to her Sonic Adventure look and then largely ignored that, or when the archie comics made the entire cast adults anyway in the future arcs, or how Sonic Boom can be a completely different context cause it doesn't follow the main canon.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's part of why they're trying to phase Rouge as part of the main group, to better lessen the weird range they've randomly put these characters in over the years because they weren't thinking long term and just what worked for their character. "child genius sure 8, cocky teenager yeah that's about 16 we want that audience to buy our games right? big booby bat lady who has worked with the government and is a spy with experience? Just make her 18"

But then you also have to acknowledge the elephant in the room that some people are just fucking weird no matter what and that years of anime abusing these weird age tropes have made the old sonic writers not really care or just not think about it

because it's the anime character ages problem, I'm just spending a long time describing this 40 second video, god damn it

I think at the end of the day you just have to be vigilant and aware of when someone is acting in bad faith, because I would like think SEGA doesn't *want* people to proactively pair up a twelve year old with a sixteen year old, or show off an adult being paired up and teasing actual children, and it's why they've more recently made strides in trying to have a stronger cohesive brand/lore (sometimes just causing more arguments a la sonic prime being "canon" and people not understanding what that means)

[uncloseted]

is weight loss really unsustainable? I'm in the process of losing weight simply because I feel like it but recently on my dashboard I saw a super long post talking about "set point" and epigenetics are the most important factors and just links to studies about how weight loss fails long term and scientifically our bodies won't lose weight "Your body, no matter what size you are, will respond to weight loss as though it is threatening your life." and it makes me feel really discouraged and confused.

This is one of those misinformation-laden topics that drives me nuts whenever I encounter it online, so I really appreciate that you've given me the opportunity to do some myth-busting. As with most things that lend themselves to misinformation (or, like, memed information?), there's some truth to what those people are saying, but the way that they've interpreted the information is overstated and sometimes totally wrong.

To see why, let's do a quick primer on how weight loss works. To understand weight loss, we have to understand thermodynamics - particularly, the 1st law of thermodynamics, which states that energy and mass can't be created or destroyed - it can only change forms. I think this is important to start with because a lot of people who talk about weight loss online speak as if there's a magic to it. On the one hand, you have people promising that "doctors hate this one weird trick to drop 100 pounds instantly" and on the other hand, you have people swearing that, "weight loss is impossible no matter what you do." But both of those violate the laws of thermodynamics - if you're losing weight, that weight has to go somewhere, and if you're expelling energy, your body can't magically create an equal amount of energy to maintain your weight.

Understanding that, we then need to look at how our bodies work. Every day, our bodies use up a certain amount of energy to keep us alive - things like breathing, circulating our blood, and keeping our temperature consistent. The amount of energy that a person's body spends on just staying alive is called our "basal metabolic rate" (BMR). On top of that, our bodies also use up a certain amount of energy for all of the other things we do in a day - walking, talking, typing, writing, scrolling, playing video games, exercising, etc. The amount of energy our body spends to keep us alive plus the amount of energy it spends for all of the other things we do in a day is called our "total daily energy expenditure" (TDEE). Our bodies get energy from the calories in the food that we eat.

When our body gets more calories than our TDEE, it (mostly) stores those calories as fat so that energy can be used if there's a point in the future where we're not getting enough calories. When our body doesn't get enough calories to match our TDEE, it goes into those fat stores and uses the energy from the fat to make up the difference. The fat gets converted to carbon dioxide and water, so we basically breathe, pee, and sweat it out. If a person is using up their fat stores for long enough, they'll start to notice weight loss, and if they aren't getting more calories for a long enough period of time, they'll die. Anyone who says otherwise has never met a person who's lived through a famine or who has had a disease like anorexia nervosa. If you deprive people of food for long enough, they will lose weight, and eventually their body will stop functioning completely.

All of that said, there are some factors that influence how easy or difficult it is for a person to lose weight. For example, our basal metabolic rates are influenced by age, sex, height, and weight. People who are taller, heavier, younger, and male have higher BMRs than people who are short, thin, old, and female. An 18 year old man who's 6'5 and 250 pounds will have a BMR around 2,275, while an 80 year old woman who's 4'10 and 89 pounds will have a BMR of around 763. Already, that's a huge difference. The older woman would have a way more difficult time losing weight than the younger man, just because it's very easy to eat 760 calories in one go. People who have a lot of lean muscle mass also have higher BMRs than those who don't, because that muscle mass takes a lot of energy to maintain. There are also some other factors, like genetics, gut bacteria, or not getting enough sleep, that seem to play a role in BMR that we don't fully understand. But all other things held equal, the effect of those other factors is less than a 10% difference - around 100-250 calories per day.

There are also some medical conditions that can impact BMR, causing what we refer to as a "slow metabolism". For example, in thyroid disorders, high thyroid hormone levels raise BMR and low levels decrease BMR, which is why people with hyperthyroidism are more likely to be thin and people with hypothyroidism are more likely to be heavier. But even for people with metabolic disorders, they can gain or lose weight under the right conditions - it just may be more difficult and require more intense measures than other people of their same sex, height, weight, and age.

All of that said, though, weight loss is unsustainable for a lot of people. Around 80% of all people who lost a significant amount of weight gain some amount of weight back, although I've hard a hard time tracking down the number of people who have dieted and then gained all of the weight back. So if it's true that our bodies are capable of weight loss and it's also true that 80% of people who lose weight gain it back, what's going on? There is some research to suggest that when people lose a large amount of weight, their body reduces their BMR more than would be expected for the amount of weight loss, making the weight loss harder to maintain, although this effect seems to be lessened when weight loss happens gradually. But this research is largely from the late 80s and early 90s, and doesn't seem to have been backed up in recent years. We do know that when a person loses weight, their body may make them feel hungrier, lazier, and increase food cravings, all of which can lead to reduced energy expenditure and increased calorie intake. So in that sense, the post you saw was right - our bodies do react to weight loss as though our lives are in danger, and they do take some steps to try and get us to stop. But that doesn't mean that weight loss is impossible, just that it's difficult to override those desires to eat more and move less.

From what I can find, I think the biggest factors are actually psychological and environmental. Many people view a diet as something that they're doing short-term, which means that they revert back to old habits once they've achieved their weight-loss goal. But those old habits were what caused them to need to lose weight to begin with, and so of course they result in weight gain. These might include things like eating to deal with stress, anger, sadness, or boredom, having a sedentary lifestyle, spending a lot of time around other people who overeat, a reliance on cars (instead of walking), not having enough time to cook, and reverting back to old habits of eating. Without making lifelong lifestyle changes, it's really hard to maintain weight loss. I know that's kind of a boring answer, but things with health and wellness usually are.

Before I finish up, I want to go through a few specific claims that people make and do some fact checking:

"Each body has a set weight, and it will always go back to that weight" : this idea was first proposed in 1953, and I think we can say that it's generally true. We all have an amount of food that we generally eat in a day and an amount of exercise that we generally do in a day, and in some sense, the combination of those two things leads to a general weight that our bodies settle at when we're not actively monitoring our weight. What's less clear is whether or not our bodies are actively changing our hormone levels to try to force us back to a particular weight. Some researchers think this "set point" is entirely psychosocial, some think that our bodies have a range of acceptable weights and intervene when we go over or under that weight range, and some (although I think this is a relatively small group), think that our bodies are always trying to force our weight to one set point. For me, this whole idea seems to be bunk just by virtue of the fact that people who have gained a lot of weight don't generally lose weight without trying. I feel like I only ever hear about set point theory when it's about weight loss, but never weight gain, and that you'd expect a lot fewer overweight or obese people if we all had a set point for our weight. But that said, it does seem like the jury is still out.

Epigenetic Effect on Weight: from what I could find, the research on this is fairly new, and there aren't many clinical studies to support this idea yet. However, from animal models, it does seem plausible that epigenetics play a part in weight and in obesity. Basically, the deal here seems to be that certain environmental triggers can alter the genes involved in metabolism and appetite regulation. While these changes may make weight loss more difficult because the body is making a person hungrier, it shouldn't be impossible to lose weight just based on these factors.

Thrifty gene hypothesis: the idea here is that some people have genes that are "thrifty" - meaning that they collect and process food more efficiently than other people, leading to weight gain. The researcher who came up with this himself later doubted this theory, and in general, it seems to have been discredited. Personally, I don't think this theory can tell the whole story, because if it were true, we would see more stable rates of obesity over time, and we know rates of obesity have increased over the last 100 years.

Healthy At Every Size: the idea here is that "health is a result of lifestyle behaviors that can be performed independently of body weight". By itself, this is very true. People of any weight can exercise, eat healthily, reduce stress, sleep well, etc. But I think, especially online, it has been taken to mean "people are automatically healthy at any size" or that weight doesn't have an impact on health, so weight loss is an unimportant goal. That aspect just isn't true. Weight is one of many risk factors that can influence whether or not we develop certain illnesses. All other things equal, people who are overweight or obese have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, and a number of different cancers. While it's certainly true that people who are overweight can live healthy lifestyles and aren't doomed to develop a medical condition, and while it's true that the stigma we have around weight isn't doing anyone any favors, losing weight is one of the biggest things that the average person can do to improve their health outcomes.

I know this is a long post, and I'm sure that in my quest to explain things as easily as possible I've missed out on some nuance, but I think what it comes down to is that weight loss is sustainable if you put in the effort to sustain it. It's not necessarily easy, but it is possible.

[tabloidtoc]

Star, May 10

You can buy a brand new copy of this issue without the mailing label for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Meghan Markle having twin girls (oops!)

Page 1: Famous for doing his own stunts, Tom Cruise helicoptered in to the tiny English village of Levisham to film aboard, or rather hanging off of, a vintage train and along for the ride was his Mission: Impossible 7 costar Hayley Atwell, who was spotted running along the top of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway car and while the pair, surrounded by crew and tech experts, were total pros, it's an open secret on set that their romance is going strong and Tom and Hayley hang out non-stop when the cameras are off and are pretty much joined at the hip but not in a showy, PDA way; it's a very discreet thing they've got going on -- off-camera, 58-year-old Tom and 39-year-old Hayley enjoy quiet nights holed up in Tom's London digs, eating meals specially prepared by his private chef and they'll watch movies or read books or just chill out doing their own thing -- chilling out isn't Tom's forte, as audio leaked of him berating the film's crew for violating COVID-19 protocols, but things have calmed down considerably as the spy flick, due in theaters May 2022, closes in on its wrap date, but the ensuing publicity push will put Tom and Hayley's relationship front and center, but don't expect the devoted Scientologist to jump on any couches (a la Katie Holmes) announcing wife No. 4 as Tom has learned the hard way about putting everything out there and getting picked to pieces; this time, it's all about subtlety

Page 2: Contents, Cher got up and personal with the World's Loneliest Elephant Kaavan, who she helped relocate to Cambodia

Page 3: Brie Larson in a swimsuit with butterflies on it during a getaway to Hawaii, with headphones at the ready Brooke Burke was itching to cut a rug with friends before teaching a silent disco cardio party at the Rafi Lounge in Malibu, Maria Shriver and Christina Schwarzenegger enjoyed some quality time on a stroll in L.A., Boy George sporting a bold look on The Jonathan Ross Show in London

Page 4: In a recent interview, AnnaLynne McCord revealed a shocking diagnosis: for years, the 90210 alum has been battling dissociative identity disorder (often erroneously referred to as multiple personality disorder) -- she told Dr. Daniel Amen she is absolutely uninterested in shame about opening up despite the stigma surrounding mental-health issues because that's how we get to the point where we can articulate the nature of these pervasive traumas as horrible as they are -- for her part, the 33-year-old traces back her troubles to sexual abuse she suffered as a child and as had many of the 200,000 people diagnosed with DID each year, she suppressed those horrific memories and it was only within the past few years that they began to resurface, largely after she sought treatment for PTSD related to another sexual assault and she doesn't have any memories of abuse until around 5, then from 5 to 11, she recounts incidents throughout and then, when she was 13, she has a singled-out memory and it was at that age that she developed what doctors call a second personality identity: as Little Ann, the Georgia-born daughter of a pastor said she was balls to the wall, middle fingers to the sky, anarchist from hell who will stab you with the spike ring that she wears and that helped her survive her nightmarish situation -- ironically, acting created the same dynamic, making it sometimes difficult for AnnaLynne to let go of characters she'd played and all of her roles were splits but she didn't even realize she was doing it

Page 5: Jennifer Aniston wasn't exactly touched when Justin Theroux gushed about how much he still loves her in the issue of Esquire -- complaining about feeling like a hermit during the pandemic, 49-year-old Justin nearly got misty discussing FaceTiming and texting his ex, saying he cherishes their friendship and they can not be together and still bring each other joy and he'd be bereft if they weren't still in touch and he'd like to think the same for her -- but 52-year-old Jen, whose love life has been low-key since the pair's 2018 divorce, has stayed on good terms with most of her exes including Brad Pitt but doesn't want anything more than a friendship with Justin and sure, it's flattering but she's just moved on and wishes he would too, and that goes double for some of her friends who griped that Justin tried to milk Jen's connections to further his career -- in the end, Justin needs to know he's got no chance whatsoever of winning Jen back and she doesn't feel anything remotely close to passion for him anymore

* Roseanne Barr showed off her newly svelte frame on Instagram -- back in 1998, she lost 100 lbs after undergoing gastric-bypass surgery, but yo-yo'd over the next decades but now she's determined to keep the weight off by totally changing the way she eats and she's growing her own fruits and vegetables and has a whole new appreciation of food

* Five months after he entered the Federal Correctional Institution, Mossimo Gianulli finished up his stint at his plush Hidden Hills home and now, the 57-year-old, who along with wife Lori Loughlin, pleaded guilty to paying a $500,000 bribe to get their kids into USC, can't wait to get back to normal and his biggest priority, besides spending time with Lori and the girls, is to get out there on the golf course -- the designer, worth a reported $70 million, still has to perform 250 hours of community service while Lori, who finished up her prison stint in December, is chipping away at hers, doling out meals at L.A.'s Project Angel Food -- Lori and Mossimo have resolved not to dwell on the past and they want to move forward with a positive and grateful attitude

Page 6: Fans of Angelina Jolie's stunts in movies like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Mr. & Mrs. Smith are looking forward to her return to the screen as a wildfire fighter in Those Who Wish Me Dead and in the upcoming Marvel flick Eternals but 45-year-old Angie would rather be behind the camera and she explained the real reason behind her comeback is she loves directing, but she had a change in her family situation that's not made it possible for her to direct for a few years and she needed to just do shorter jobs and be home more, so she went back to doing a few acting jobs -- that change in her family situation, of course, is her divorce from Brad Pitt, ongoing since their 2016 split and with no bitter end in sight and it could drag on for years

* Catherine Zeta-Jones says it's no secret her 20-year marriage to 76-year-old Michael Douglas hasn't been easy and it wouldn't be normal if there weren't any ups and downs -- it's another Michael, her Prodigal Son costar Michael Sheen, who has friends whispering as both are Welsh and only a year apart, the two have been having a lot of fun shooting the serial-killer drama and they had never met before the series but they keep discovering how much they have in common -- while Michael, who has been linked with Kate Beckinsale, Rachel McAdams and Sarah Silverman, has been with Anna Lundberg for two years, friends can't help worrying because it's a little to close for comfort

Page 8: Star Shots -- Marlee Matlin kicked back during a portrait session in La Canada Flintridge in California, a loaded-down Irina Shayk in a Victoria's Secret photoshoot in NYC, Gavin Rossdale and his dog Chewy leaving tennis practice in L.A.

Page 9: Kelly Clarkson and her battle advisor Luis Fonsi on The Voice, John Stamos at the drive-in premiere of his new series Big Shot in L.A.

Page 10: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley toting her $3800 Bottega Veneta Shell bag in NYC, Niall Horan and Anne-Marie jumped into a classic Jaguar XK120 for a music video in Essex in England, Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci on the set of House of Gucci on a bicycle in Rome

Page 11: Jay Leno takes a selfie with a fan, Kate Hudson and her daughter Rani busting out some mommy-and-me moves

Page 12: David Beckham filming a commercial for Maserati, Kaley Cuoco working out with ropes, a windswept Olivia Culpo held on tight to pup Oliver while enjoying a sunset ride aboard a boat named after her dog, Miles Teller looked both ways during a cruise in his blue Ford Bronco which is the same car he flipped in a 2016 accident

Page 13: Garrett Hedlund hit the pavement in a jog in Hollywood, Johnny Depp got behind the camera at the photocall for his film Minamata during the Barcelona Film Festival, friendly exes Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry masked up for a walk in L.A.

Page 14: 2021 ACMs -- country celebrates its best in Nashville -- Elle King and Miranda Lambert kicked off the 56th Academy of Country Music Awards by rolling up in a hot ride before performing, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, co-host Keith Urban

Page 15: Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd performed together, Carrie Underwood

Page 16: Margot Robbie inline skating during a beach day in Malibu, Kate Beckinsale carrying her two cats and her dog as she tried to read, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend and their daughter Luna took a silly mid-game family selfie while playing Hedbanz

Page 18: Normal or Not Normal? A sleepy George Stephanopoulos was caught yawning on the Good Morning America set -- normal, Emily Blunt kicked back a little too much at The Jonathan Ross Show -- not normal

Page 19: With a $1400 rainbow Gucci sweater wrapped around her shoulders Selling Sunset's pregnant Christine Quinn with her dogs in L.A. -- normal, Chelsea Handler works out with her dog on her back -- not normal, Zach Braff stuck his tongue out as he took a silly selfie filming the Cheaper by the Dozen reboot -- not normal

Page 22: Fashion -- stars shine in metallic frocks -- Becky G, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Karen Gillan

Page 23: Miranda Lambert, Cynthia Erivo, Renee Zellweger

Page 26: Travis Barker didn't hold back in his birthday tribute to girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian -- sharing a series of sexy shots with 42-year-old Kourtney, including a NSFW video of Kourtney sucking his thumb and the rocker's risque pics quickly went viral, as did Kourt's TMI essay posted to her health and wellness site Poosh titled "Rough Sex: Love It or Leave It?" -- definitely leave it, if it were up to the pair's kids; 17-year-old Landon and 15-year-old Alabama, who are 45-year-old Travis' children with ex-wife Shanna Moakler, are mortified by their dad's behavior and like most teenagers, the two are active on social media and can't avoid the new couple's loved-up posts and Travis' kids are happy that he's happy, but the PDA is weird and takes some getting used to, while Travis' stepdaughter Atiana De La Hoya, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a problem as the 22-year-old posted a heart-eyes emoji -- as for spending time with Mason, 11, Penelope, 8, and 6-year-old Reign, Kourt's kids with ex Scott Disick, the pair try to restrain themselves but still the lovebirds are happily oblivious and have a hard time toning it down and Kourt and Travis are just being themselves and going with the flow; they're in love and want the world to know it

Page 27: After 10 months of dating Australian model Vanessa Valladares, Zac Efron is officially back on the market -- 33-year-old Zac called it off with the 25-year-old after things got too serious, too soon and they spent every moment together and it was too claustrophobic for him, as Vanessa, who quit her job and gave up everything to be with Zac, became a fixture on set as he worked on Down to Earth with Zac Efron and he felt guilty that she was giving up her dreams and aspirations to be with him -- despite their split, Zac, who had put his L.A. home on the market and extended his stay in Australia after meeting Vanessa, has no plans to rush back to the States because he has made a lot of friends there and feels at home

* Like many planning their vows during the pandemic, Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost had to get strategic when it came to their big day -- Scarlett said they wanted it to feel like it had an intentional intimacy as opposed to being something that felt like they were restricted by all these things -- the intimate and small event the pair threw was at their $4 million Palisades, N.Y. home in October and the ultra-private pair kept their guests safe, and the guest list was tiny and it was understated but lovely, just what they wanted -- now Scarlett and Colin have settled in to married life and Scarlett and Colin both like to steer clear of the spotlight which makes them perfectly suited for each other

* Vanessa Hudgens revealed the surprising way she was introduced to boyfriend Cole Tucker, who she's been dating since November -- 32-year-old Vanessa and 24-year-old Cole met on a Zoom meditation group and Vanessa admits that the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop is just perfect for her and Vanessa and Cole, who debuted their romance on Valentine's Day, moved their budding friendship offline after feeling sparks via the virtual meeting app and they started communicating on their own and found out they have a lot in common -- now Vanessa, who dated Austin Butler for nine years before their 2020 split, is zooming ahead and she doesn't want to rush or jinx things, but she's saying Cole could be The One

Page 28: Cover Story -- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: Twin Girls -- it was a somber, but loving occasion as the royal family celebrated the life of Prince Philip and amid the pomp and truly touching moments, like Queen Elizabeth sitting frail and alone, viewers waited to see what would happen when Harry and Prince William reunited for the first time since Harry and Meghan stepped down from senior royal duties in March 2020 and just weeks after their bombshell TV interview rocked the monarchy and tensions had been running high before the funeral, but everything went better than expected as William and Harry bonded and united in grief at the loss of their beloved grandfather, the estranged siblings along with William's wife Duchess Kate Middleton, waved away their waiting cars, opting to walk the half-mile from St. George's Chapel to Windsor Castle together and the trio chatted easily as they strolled -- back home in Montecito, Harry has been by pregnant Meghan's side around the clock making sure she takes it easy and the couple are in full-blown prep mode and Harry has been helping baby-proof their mansion and designing the nursery and Harry's been on his hands and knees making the house baby-friendly and he's got the latest, state-of-the-art safety devices installed around the pool -- Harry's promising visit with the royal family has given him one less thing to worry about, but still he and members of The Firm will always have different perspectives and after dismissing William and dad Prince Charles as trapped by the monarchy, Harry was persuaded by Kate to take the first step and she went up to Harry to suggest he have a heart-to-heart with William and their father, then she stepped back; Harry felt nostalgic being back home and it's a work in progress -- Harry made headway with his grandmother as well as he and Queen Elizabeth had a private meeting and spoke for three hours and seeing Harry's face made her smile again and Harry loves his grandmother very much and he's promised to bring his kids back to England later this year and he wants the Queen to spend quality time with them

Page 31: The Home Birth Brigade -- Who needs hospitals? These fearless celebrity moms opted to welcome their babies in the comfort of their own homes -- Ashley Graham, Eva Amurri, Hilary Duff, Gisele Bundchen, Gigi Hadid

Page 32: Kim Kardashian: Billionaire Bachelorette -- months after officially filing for divorce Kanye West, Kim is majorly ready to mingle -- Kanye's miffed that fans think he's the one who got dumped when he simply let her file first

Page 34: Not Boyfriend Material -- celebs share tales of dates gone bad, and guys who definitely didn't deserve a second chance -- Patricia Arquette, Mindy Kaling, Jenny Slate

Page 35: Awkwafina, Emma Watson, Kelly Clarkson

Page 36: For Mom -- for Mother's Day, express gratitude to the No. 1 lady in your life with the perfect gift -- Naomi Watts cofounded the ONDA Mama Box

Page 40: Entertainment

Page 48: Parting Shot -- in honor of Earth Day, Alison Brie kicked off the second year of the Planet Oat Project by planting trees at Rancho Sierra Vista -- the 38-year-old also took to Instagram to bring awareness to the wildlife restoration initiative, noting that a startling three million acres of trees in California have been destroyed by recent wildfires

[epen409]

My Top 18 Favorite Movies, TV Shows and/or Cartoons of 2018 (in no particular order) Part Dos

10. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Ignore the neckbeards who have nothing better to do, so they complain about reboots of cartoons from the quote on quote "golden age of animation, the 80's". She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a really great show, that yes, is better than the original 80's show. It's able to create a more fun and engaging story, while also having a lot of memorable and likable characters. It also has a theme that I found very interesting, where the villains aren't born evil, they are just misled in the wrong direction and don't truly know wrong from right. It's quite a bold theme for the show. If there is a kind of big flaw, the animation is a little wonky. Some shots and scenes look great, while others are very easy to see where the animation mistakes are. That said, it's still a great show that takes advantage of all of it's fun and interesting characters, and brings them together in a new show that blows its predecessor out of the water. And yes, LGBT fans. It's very, very gay.

11. Spider-Man Into the Spider verse

What a comeback story. Who would have thought that the studio that made the whole world of animation cry last year would end up making the best animated film of the year? But anyways, Spider-Man into the Spiderverse is not only able to live up to all the hype it's been getting for the past year, but it also blew our expectations away. First of all, it looks GORGEOUS. It's able to make a visual style that's not only very beautiful and interesting, but it also happens to create a loving tribute to the original medium of comic books. Second, they put just as much effort in the story as they did with the visuals, which is not only a very fun superhero film, but also manages to be a very engaging emotional story as well, with lots of fun, interesting and memorable characters as well. If there is something to say isn't perfect, I did notice at least one plot hole that left me a bit confused, and they kind of blew the wad for putting in a few too many characters, where, while fun and memorable, don't have that much screen time and don't leave as big of an impression as the main characters. But still, it's one of the year's best movies, so go watch it NOW!

12. Flcl Progressive and Alternative

The first anime I ever saw was FLCL. It was insane, had gorgeous animation, memorable characters and I loved every minute of it. Do its sequel series' live up to the original's legacy. Well, let me put it this way. I very much enjoyed both shows, equally too. I thought they were very fun shows, and their themes, while sometimes a little hit-and-miss, still got their points across, the new characters were very fun and memorable, and the action scenes were also animated very well. With all that said, they still don't hold a candle to the original show. But that's okay, because I imagine it'd be very hard to. I still think that both of these new shows were very good, and although not as great as the original FLCL, was still lots of fun, and somewhat worthy successors to one of the greatest animas of all time. I still recommend both, since they still were good in my opinion.

13. Hilda

Miss Gravity Falls and Over the Garden Wall? Then have I got the show for you. Hilda is a great show from Netflix that manages to capture the spirits of  both those shows, but also having its own identity and voice. One thing I appreciate about the show is that not only can it be calm and laid back in more character and establishing moments, but it also can be equally as exciting and fun for its more adventurous and action scenes. The characters are all very charming. Hilda is a free-spirited and adventurous young girl, but she's not a pushover or overly cheery either. Her friends both regular and supernatural, can sometimes fall into familiar tropes, but also are very fun and enjoyable to watch. (Alfie's my favorite). It's a great show to watch, especially on days you want to cozy up with a cup of hot liquids of some kind, and take it all in. It's a great show, and I highly recommend giving it a watch.

14. Christopher Robin

I missed Winnie the Pooh. Yes, an 18-year old male misses the adventures of a talking teddy bear. Deal with it. But anyways, for a while it seemed that Disney had somewhat given up on the bear with little brains, but they've given him another chance with this new film, but this time, mainly focusing on his human friend, Christopher Robin. One thing this movie gets right is the feeling of Winnie the Pooh. Pooh has never been known for incredibly convoluted stories, just mainly simple tales that it's colorful cast of characters can bounce off of, and this movie nails that feeling down. It's also close to the original cast of characters, since deviating away from their personalities would be considered a form of blasphemy. Also, the performances here are great too. Evan McGregor makes a surprisingly good Christopher Robin, Hayley Atwell is charming as his wife, the girl who played their daughter was pretty good too, and of course, our friends from the 100 Acre Woods are played very well by the new cast, especially the one and only Jim Cummings, the only modern voice for both Pooh and Tigger. Now it does have flaws, like the story is kind of the typical "Dad's too busy for the kids", and although I've grown to like it over time, but sometimes it got a little too dramatic for some scenes, and at time Christopher Robin himself came off a bit as whiny and unlikable in some scenes. With that said, it's very easy to see that the whole film is a big love letter to Winnie the Pooh. No, it's not the best movie of the year, Or anything like that, but if you want a nice, enjoyable and cute movie to watch, then Christopher Robin is the perfect film to watch.

15. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

I'll break my rule just this once to include a video game here. Super Smash Bros Ultimate was the biggest game from Nintendo this holiday season, and boy did it deliver. The last Smash Bros. game, was lots of fun, with it bringing all of our favorite (popular) video game characters together for a huge brawl. This next one, takes it up to 11. One thing I walkways admired from the games is that it's not the world's most complicated fighter game, while also still being oodles of fun. Only one big flaw: no Waluigi. Nah, just kidding. It's a great game, and a great farewell to the world of Smash from it's director, Masahiro Sakurai.

16. The Dragon Prince

Here's another show that didn't get that much attention on Netflix, The Dragon Prince. Made by the head writer from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the creator of the Uncharted games, comes a massive fantasy epic focusing on the Battle between humans and fantasy creatures like elves and dragons. One thing I really love about this show is just how complex the characters and their morals are. It's a show that takes a lot of advantage from this theme. It's also filled with lots of fun, yet also very interesting characters. You will probably get attached to them by the end of the show, which may break some hearts too... But yeah, might as well address the elephant in the room, the animation. In fact, I do think that maybe the reason it didn't immediately catch on was because a lot of people were turned off by the animation style. But I still recommend it and ask that you give it a chance, because not only was it lots of fun, and very interesting, but the story and characters help redeem the animation, plus it does improve itself over time. Please, please, please give The Dragon Prince a chance, it's a great show.

17. Ralph Breaks the Internet

Don't worry. It's not another Emoji Movie. Ralph Breaks the Internet is not only a worthy successor to the original film, but it also manages to expand a lot on the heart from the original. This time, instead of arcade games, it plucks our characters into the Internet, and unlike the Emoji Movie, manages to make more clever and creative ideas while being on the Internet. And yeah, maybe the scene when Vanellope visits the Disney website might be Disney patting themselves on the back a little too hard, but it's still a very funny and enjoyable scene that also helps move the plot forward. But one thing the movie was amazing at was expanding on its characters and their development. It even manages to avoid the typical happy ending, which, without spoiling anything, actually makes a change in the characters lives. If there is a flaw, like I said, it's 10 times better than the Emoji Movie, but I will admit, between the cameos from Youtubers and the one scene where Ralph becomes a meme, did kind of make me roll my eyes, but thankfully, unlike the Emoji movie, it doesn't dwell too much on these scenes all that much, and knows when to move the plot forward in the right direction. I still say it's a worthy sequel that's worth your time.

Also, Yesss is my new waifu.

18. Mary Poppins Returns

Here's one of the few live-action Disney films in recent years, I feel are very worthy to the legacy of their original film. Mary Poppins Returns is just a complete and utter joy of a film, not unlike the original classic. The performance of Emily Blunt as the titular nanny is a worthy successor the original by Julie Andrews, and character in general. Lin Manuel-Miranda not only does a great job in continuing the spirit of Dick Van Dyke from the first film, but also in writing a plethora of great songs that are amazingly performed and choreographed by the cast, while also giving tribute to the Sherman Brother's original songs. Even the kids, who I kind expected to get on my nerves, are actually pretty likable and fun, and are given, eh passable performances by their actors and actress. The animation sequence brought a tear to my eye, not only because it was lots of fun, but because I'm just happy to beautiful 2D Disney animation on the big screen again. If there is some flaws, yeah, the story is yet another Dad needs to spend more time with kids plot again, and it does bring some more action/suspenseful moments that I don't feel are completely in spirit to the original film's more laid back tone. But regardless, it's an overall great and very charming new film from Disney, and although I would like them to try doing some more original stuff with their live-action movies, I hope can keep the spirit of both this film,and a lot of the classic live-action Disney movies (like the original Mary Poppins, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Treasure Island, Darby O' Gill, Swiss Family Robinson and some others you guys probably never heard of).

So that's about it. Thank you all for sticking around listening to me talk about all these Movies and TV shows are worth remembering from this year, and there's a lot I'm excited for next year, and I hope that this next year can be an improvement, with more kindness and joy from the world and from people. Yeah, it's wishful thinking, but it's not a bad wish to have. Thank you all for supporting this page for the last year,and I'LL see ya in 2019!