The Walt Disney Company turned 100 this year, and though they’ve had a rough time at the movies in 2023, at least their storied amusement parks are doing just fine. Indeed, one family was so eager to visit one of their brick-and-mortars that, in their haste and confusion, they spent a small fortune on another of the company’s products: their titular streamer.
Per People, one Andie Coston went viral after posting updates on TikTok about her chaotic planned family trip to one of Disney’s parks. For starters, it was supposed to happen in 2020. For obvious reasons that was delayed, though it was supposed to finally happen this year. Alas.
“We finally planned it for this Christmas. All 16 of my family members were going. To save some money, my parents bought 10k of Disney gift cards to purchase our tickets and restaurant reservations,” Coston explained in her TikTok posts.
“I went home this weekend, and they were having problems loading the gift cards correctly and purchasing the tickets,” Coston said. She then showed what her parents really bought: $10,000 in gift cards for Disney+.
Coston said her parents, who don’t use streaming services, didn’t know the difference. It was, she said, an “honest mistake.” She asked anyone paying attention for help in “getting the money in the right form.”
“We leave in 6 days and the parks are selling out of tickets because it’s Christmas,” Coston said. “My mom is distraught, Dad frustrated, and the kids worried we won’t get into Disney.”
But there’s a happy ending worthy of a Disney movie: Coston’s post went so viral that the company noticed and were able to “turn the $10,000 of Disney streaming gift cards into $10,000 of Disney Parks gift cards.”
Coston said apparently her parents aren’t the only one who made that mix-up.
“I received many messages and comments from people telling me that they or someone they know have had similar experiences,” she said. “I hope that this story makes more people aware of the card difference so no one else experiences this.”
The lesson? Post your Ls, at least if they can be remedied. If they’re as ridiculous as this one, they might go viral and someone in charge might fix your mistake. Happy holidays to the Coston fam.
“There are some who have lost hope because it is an illness that is not known,” Claudette Dion said. “She works hard, but she doesn’t have control of her muscles. What pains me is that she has always been disciplined.”
Below is a timeline of the beloved singer’s ongoing battle with the rare condition.
Canceling Part Of Her Courage World Tour
January 2022: On January 15, 2022, Dion confirmed on Instagram that she “must cancel the remaining shows of the North American leg of her Courage World Tour” and cited that she had been receiving treatment for “severe and persistent muscle spasms.” In her Instagram post’s accompanying caption, Dion wrote, “I was really hoping that I’d be good to go by now, but I suppose I just have to be more patient and follow the regimen that my doctors are prescribing.”
Sharing Her Diagnosis
December 2022: It wasn’t until the end of last year that Dion publicly shared the specifics of her medical condition. On December 8, the five-time Grammy winner posted an emotional Instagram video in which she said she had recently “been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder called stiff-person syndrome, which affects something like one in a million people.”
Dion also confirmed that her aforementioned muscle spasms came as a result of SPS.
“Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life — sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to,” she added. “It hurts me to tell you today this means I won’t be ready to restart my tour in Europe in February.”
Chopra Jonas and co-star Sam Heughan told Entertainment Weeklythat they never filmed in-person with Dion, as the movie was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canceling The Rest Of Her Courage World Tour
May 2023: On May 26, Dion again took to Instagram to announce, “with tremendous disappointment,” that she needed to cancel “all remaining dates currently on sale for 2023 and 2024” of her Courage World Tour.
“I’m so sorry to disappoint all of you once again,” Dion is quoted as saying. “I’m working really hard to build back my strength, but touring can be very difficult even when you’re 100%. It’s not fair to you to keep postponing the shows, and even though it breaks my heart, it’s best that we cancel everything now until I’m really ready to be back on stage again. I want you all to know, I’m not giving up… and I can’t wait to see you again!”
Living With Her Sister, Linda
July 2023: In an interview with Le Journal De Montreal, Claudette Dion shared that her sister, Linda, had moved in with Celine in Las Vegas — and dispelled rumors that Celine would be returning to Quebec (as relayed in English by Hello! Canada).
“She’s doing everything to recover,” she said. “She’s a strong woman. […] It’s an illness we know so little about. There are spasms — they’re impossible to control. You know who people often jump up in the night because of a cramp in the leg or the calf? It’s a bit like that, but in all muscles. There’s little we can do to support her, to alleviate her pain.”
Singing Again?
October 2023: On October 30, Dion and her three sons — René-Charles, 22, Nelson and Eddy, 13 — “had such a fun time visiting with the Montreal Canadiens after their hockey game with Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas,” as she captioned an Instagram carousel.
Canadiens Vice President Of Hockey Communications revealed to Peoplethat Dion sang “a few notes” while around the NHL squad.
Supporting Katy Perry In Las Vegas
November 2023: On November 4, Dion was spotted in attendance for the final show of Katy Perry’s Play Las Vegas residency, as relayed by the likes of Rolling Stoneand TMZ, the latter of which provided exclusive photos. A fan account on X (formerly Twitter) also relayed video of Dion dancing.
December 2023: Claudette Dion’s latest update relayed to 7 Jours, roughly translated from French to English, can be read in full below.
“There are some who have lost hope because it is an illness that is not known. If you only knew how many calls we receive at the Foundation to hear from Celine! People tell us they love her and pray for her. She receives so many messages, gifts. She works hard, but she doesn’t have control of her muscles. What pains me is that she has always been disciplined. She always worked hard. Mom always told her, ‘You’re going to do it well, you’re going to do it properly.’ It’s true that, in our dreams and in hers, the goal is to return to the stage. In which state? I do not know. The vocal cords are muscles, and the heart is also a muscle. This is what comes to get me. Since it’s one in millions, scientists didn’t do that much research, because it didn’t affect that many people.”
While it is lovely to have friends and family members give your children toys for holidays and birthdays, they can pile up and take over entire rooms of the house. Plus, many parents are mindful of their kids having too many playthings because they don’t want them to be spoiled.
Elizabeth, an actress and popular TikTokker, accidentally came across a Christmas regifting hack that prevents toy pile-up and she’s not sure whether it makes her the hero or the villain in her story.
“I’m doing something super controversial for my kids’ birthday and Christmas presents this year,” she said in a post with over 1.5 million views. “Half of me is like, ‘You’re a terrible person, you’re crossing the line,’ and the other half is like, ‘You are a literal genius.'”
For her daughter’s recent birthday, she received “a lot” of gifts from the 10 kids at her party, parents, their friends and relatives. After Elizabeth’s daughter opened them, they wrote “thank you cards” to everyone who gave them gifts and then the mom took half of the presents and hid them in a bin in the basement.
Whats your take? #christmasgiftingideas #christmasgifting2022 #christmasgiftsforkids #kidsgifting #contreversialopinions
The gifts were mixed in with items they had bought for the daughter that they found on sale to give her later, whether for her birthday or Christmas. It was an easy way for the family to save money and make her daughter’s big days less stressful for everyone involved.
Now, with the gifts all mixed in the same bin, Elizabeth and her husband have no idea what they bought their daughter and which toys she received on her birthday. “I don’t remember,” Elizabeth admits.
“I’m gonna wrap up this gift and put ‘from mom and dad,’ and it might not be from us,” she said while holding up a puzzle. “What do you think? Does this make me a terrible person, or is this such a genius gifting hack for kids who just get way too much?”
She then positioned her decision as a way to avoid giving her kids too many gifts.
“My kids are spoiled; they get everything; they have way too many gifts,” Elizabeth said. “I’m trying to do less this year while still making it a magical Christmas. It’s a very fine line!”
Is Elizabeth right or wrong to put her and her husband’s names on gifts that someone else bought? What if her daughter realizes she’s getting gifts she received her birthday?
The commenters overwhelmingly supported Elizabeth and her husband’s “hack,” especially when living in economically uncertain times.
“I think if she hasn’t asked where anything is, then she doesn’t remember,” C wrote. “In this economy, a win is a win,” Ava Rae Wilson added.
Evidently, a lot of parents knew all about the regifting hack.
“My sisters have been doing this for years, but instead she will just grab the presents before her kid opens them and hide them for Christmas,” Gigi Russo wrote. “My husband and I do the same thing. Our girl is 7 and she has never remembered seeing one of the gifts before,” Kels added.
David Lynch may be the creator of some of cinema’s most disturbing and haunting imagery (and sounds), but he’s also a guy from the Midwest. He loves Filet-o-Fish and Bob’s Big Boy and documenting each day’s weather. Sure enough, when Steven Spielberg tapped him to play legendary filmmaker John Ford in last year’s The Fabelmans, he had one main request.
“Well, Cheetos, number one, I love them,” Lynch told Empire magazine (as caught by Deadline). “And any chance I can, I get them. But I know that they’re not exactly health food. So when I do leave the house and I get a chance to… But I don’t get them that often, honestly.”
Lynch added, “If I do get them, I want a big bag. Because once you start… you need to have a lot before you could slow down and actually stop. Otherwise, with a small bag, then you’d be prowling for days to find more […] It’s incredible flavour.”
Lynch appears in the finale of the movie, recreating a story Spielberg has long told about meeting the director of Stagecoach, The Searchers, My Darling Clementine, How Green Was My Valley, and many, many more. In the scene, Spielberg’s young surrogate (Gabriel LaBelle) lucks into meeting Ford in his office. Ford offers him a piece of advice about directing then tells him to skedaddle, only he doesn’t use that word. Lynch’s performance was singled out for praise, but it almost didn’t happen.
“At first I didn’t want to do it,” Lynch revealed. “And the reason is, when it comes to acting, I’ve purposely tried to stay away from it, giving the likes of Harrison Ford and George Clooney a chance at their careers.”
Luckily he “really liked the scene,” in which Ford teaches the upstart (who would eventually cut his teeth on television, including helming the first official episode of Columbo) a valuable lesson about where to put the horizon line in any given shot. Spoiler: Put it anywhere but in the middle, because, Ford argued, it’s “boring as sh*t.”
“John Ford probably had a bunch of things he could call on to give a short education to that young lad. But he picked the horizon bit,” Lynch added. “But it’s true. A horizon in the middle is boring as sh*t.”
The Fabelmans currently streams on Showtime, or on one of those streamers that has Showtime as part of a bundle.
The New Orleans Pelicans were back on TNT’s airwaves on Tuesday night for the first time since they got smoked by the Lakers in the In-Season Tournament semifinals. That loss prompted Shaq and Charles Barkley to call out Zion Williamson (again) for continuing to look out of shape, not running hard, rebounding well enough, and generally underperforming to his immense talents.
Williamson responded to those comments by saying he can’t control what people on the outside say, but if it’s coming from a place where they want what’s best for him, then he says “thank you.” On Tuesday night’s pregame show, Barkley and Shaq made clear that was the case, with Shaq noting “we only criticize guys we believe in” and Chuck saying he wants everyone to be great.
“We only criticize people that we like. We only criticize people that we believe in.”
However, the two Hall of Famers didn’t think Williamson’s response was particularly encouraging. Shaq said he wants to see a fire lit under Zion and was hoping to get a more defiant response from him. Instead, Williamson shrugged it off, with O’Neal saying that shows him “he ain’t ready.”
What makes all of this so interesting is that you genuinely could not find two former players that are more equipped to speak from experience on what Williamson is going through with his weight and conditioning. Both Barkley and Shaq took time early in their careers to get their bodies right and learn how to dominate, which is why they’re so hard on Zion — Barkley once quipped Williamson looked like “me and Shaq had a baby.” For years, Barkley has offered to talk with Zion and provide some guidance, but that has not come to fruition in private so he continues to try and harp on it on national television. Shaq, meanwhile, just wants Williamson to take personal offense to it all and use it as motivation to prove everyone wrong and become the dominant player he could be, rather than brushing it all aside.
In December, most people are reviewing the best and worst of 2023, but Vanilla Ice would rather reflect on the 1990s. There is cause to believe this is his favorite hobby. In July 2021, the rapper told TMZ that he believed the ’90s is “the greatest decade ever before computers ruined the world.” Earlier this month, during an interview with VladTV, he revealed he knows “too much” about the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur.
Fifty-one minutes into the same VladTV interview, Vanilla Ice casually mentioned the late, infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar “coming to my house” in the 1990s. He confirmed he “hung out with Pablo Escobar many, many times” as well as “everybody from Cocaine Cowboys.”
Ice continued:
“We were all friends. […] They would land helicopters in my house constantly on Star Island, come into my house. I had food just for them in the refrigerators. I had my maids and everybody and all them clean up after they left, and they would take me in the helicopter. We’d go to these great events and race boats and look at all the cool stuff that they were making. And I never questioned [because] we didn’t have Google. I don’t know who these people are. I thought they were businessman.”
Naturally, TMZ — like all of us — had some followup questions. Vanilla Ice caught up with TMZ Live on Tuesday, December 19, and added further context.
“Pablo was into racing boats, I was into racing boats, and he really did a lot of great things for the boat industry because the money he spread around to, I guess, traffic the drugs also spread into the racing boat community,” Vanilla Ice said. He also clarified that he was mostly “clueless” about the nefarious behavior of his unlikely friends. Watch the full clip here.
Teresa Kaye Newman, a teacher about to have a son, knows a lot about how to deal with children. So she created a list of 11 things she agrees with Boomers on when it comes to raising kids.
Newman believes she has credibility on the issue because she has 13 years of experience dealing with “hundreds and hundreds” of other people’s kids and has seen what happens when her so-called “Boomer” parenting principles aren’t implemented.
Of course, Newman is using some broad stereotypes in calling for a return to Boomer parenting ideas when many Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z parents share the same values. But, as someone who deals with children every day, she has the right to point out that today’s kids are entitled and spend too much time staring at screens.
Here are the 11 things that Newman agrees with Boomers on when it comes to raising kids.
11 Things I agree with boomer parents on raising children
11 Things I agree with boomer parents on raising children, as a #teacher and soon to be mom.
1. No iPads
“All I’m going to say is my kid has a whole world to explore and none of that has to do with being stuck in front of a tablet.”
2. No smartphone until high school
“Kids that are younger than that age do not know internet safety to a point where I feel comfortable letting them have free reign of the internet.”
3. Teaching the value of education
“What I’m going to teach them is [education] has nothing to do with how much money you’re making or how successful you’ll be professionally. But you will still value it, nonetheless. You will go with it as far as you possibly can, and then once you’re done with it, you can do whatever you want.”
4. Respect your teachers and treat them well
“This may be biased because I am a teacher, but everyone who has gone through a professional degree program and has put in the time and is there, giving you the quality education, deserves some type of attention and deserves to be treated well.”
5. Be kind to elderly folks
“If they’re on public transportation and they’re sitting down and there’s an old lady standing next to them and there are no other seats available, my child will know to stand up and give that lady his seat.”
6. Yes ma’am
Newman will teach her kid to use the terms sir and ma’am when speaking to adults. “It does not matter your age or status in society, as long as they are respecting their pronouns, that’s how we’re gonna be talking to other people.”
7. Greetings and gratitude
“Simple greetings and simple terms of gratitude are just not being taught like they used to. I think it’s really sad.”
8. Consequences for poor behavior
“If they’re neglecting their schoolwork and not doing what they’re supposed to do, they get their technology taken away. … Simple things like this are pretty common sense and I’m not sure why they’re not being done anymore.”
9. Respect adult conversations and spaces
“They don’t get to interrupt 2 adults speaking to each other. They don’t get to come and butt in at an inappropriate time when 2 people are talking to each other.”
10. Clean your mess
“My child is going to put as much work in the house as we are regardless of whether he’s paying rent out of his own pocket or not. That’s because when my son becomes an adult, I want him to be a partner or a spouse or a roommate that someone is proud to have around.”
11. Bedtime
“I don’t care how old my kid is as long as he is living under my roof as a minor; he’s gonna have some sort of bedtime. But this staying up until 3 or 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning or pulling all-nighters like kids are used to … is absolutely not normal. And I’m not going to have a kid that’s staying up that late and then not waking up the next day.”
Hey, kids! Happy December! We know that school can feel like drudgery, and it’s been a few months since school started, and we want you to not hate coming here, so we decided to do something fun and festive that we think will create a sense of school pride and spirit! It’s school dress-up week!
What this means is that during the busiest time of the year, when your parents are already up to their ears in holiday prep, shopping for and wrapping gifts, planning and attending work parties and end-of-year recitals and concerts, trying to navigate the emotional complexities of holiday family drama, trying to make your Christmas magical by moving that frickin’ Elf on the Shelf every night, etc., we’re going to add to the to-do list by pressuring them to help you come up with specific outfits to wear to school for an entire week. Doesn’t that sound neat?
Dress-up weeks are fun on paper, and they can be fun when they’re kept super simple. “Wear red or green!” is easy enough. “Dress as your favorite Christmas character!” though? Not so much.
Parents are crying uncle on over-the-top dressup weeks, saying it’s just too much. A mom who goes by Mariah on X shared her frustration with how “ridiculous” the whole thing has become.
“I have 2 kids and 9 different dress up days next week,” she wrote, before laying out some of the significant problems with said days:
“1. It expects families to be able to go out at the drop of a hat and get multiple Christmas character shirts and ugly sweaters at the most expensive time of year. It’s just another way to alienate kids whose families can’t afford a bunch of extra stuff or the mental load of the extra work.
2. It also assumes EVERYONE in the school celebrates Christmas and creates a whole week out of dressing up for it. Most people do celebrate Christmas where I live but then it’s even more alienating for people that don’t.”
Then she offered a simple solution: “Have a PJ Day on the last day before break and call it good… please.”
Itxe2x80x99s just another way to alienate kids whose families canxe2x80x99t afford a bunch of extra stuff or the mental load of the extra work. nn2. It also assumes EVERYONE in the school celebrates Christmas and creates a whole week out of dressing up for itxe2x80xa6 2/3
— (@)
Mariah is certainly not the only parent to feel strongly about dress-up weeks—or months. Some parents shared that their young elementary school kids—second and third graders—had dress-up days the entire month of December leading up to the holiday break.
@noreen_shoop My 2nd graders too. Just a few more days and itxe2x80x99ll be break. One of ours was frosty the snowman day. Who buys 8 year olds white???
— (@)
It’s one thing when it’s high schoolers who might have the ability to take themselves to a thrift store or whip together some kind of outfit themselves, but for elementary school kids, it’s 100% on the parents.
Elementary dress up days are the absolute worst. I cannot relay to you, dear reader, just how deeply I detest them.
— (@)
Some teachers are even weighing in with why they dislike dress-up days as well, both for the annoyance and the lack of inclusivity.
@offgridteacher @effortfuleduktr Word.
— (@)
@riahthelee @mcgottman99 My classroom had kids of ALL religions (and no religion.) I would have been VERY vocal at a staff meeting if the idea of a holiday week centered around Christmas. No way would I stand for that for my Jewish, Muslim, & Hindu kids, or the ones raised in no religion. Yikes.
— (@)
Some people offered solutions that allow those who enjoy dress-up days to have their fun while taking the pressure off of everyone else. For instance, one teacher shared that her school dress-up days are always a specific way of dressing up OR wearing school colors. She said many of the students opt for school colors so no one feels like the odd one out for not wearing their PJs or holiday socks or whatever.
So announcement to parents might look something like this: Friday is comfy cozy day! Come wearing your PJs or dress in our school colors, blue and white
— (@)
She said it’s helpful for her as a teacher as well, since dress-up days are a lot of pressure and can mean spending extra money that a lot of teachers don’t have to spend.
I love it as a teacher too, because I don’t always have clothes that match the theme and I don’t feel like spending $$$ on clothes I probably won’t wear again. So I throw on my school hoodie and I’m good to go!
— (@)
What if schools moved the dress-up days to January, when the holiday hustle and bustle has passed and the long winter could use an extra dose of fun? What if they kept them super simple, sticking to colors or general things that are easy for everyone, like “Wear your favorite comfy pants” or “Silly hairstyle day” or something like that.
The bottom line is to not let school dress-up days turn into the road to hell paved with good intentions. Rein it in, folks, for the parents’ sake.
Donald Trump may be running for president, but there’s a little problem with his past credentials. As you may recall, three years ago the former president lost re-election. He didn’t take it well. Indeed, he helped inspire his violent supporters to storm the Capitol building to overturn the election. Perhaps he forgot about that. Alas, one state’s officials did not.
Per CNN, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Trump can’t be on the presidential ballot because he violated the 14th amendment’s “insurrection ban.” Over the summer a number of scholars, some of them conservative, had argued that Trump qualifies for that ban thanks to his actions leading up to and including the Jan. 6 riot.
BREAKING: Colorado Supreme Court removes Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot, ruling that the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump from holding office because he engaged in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
This doesn’t mean Trump is officially stricken from Colorado’s ballot. The ruling has been placed on hold until January 4. The matter will likely be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court, which currently leans rightward, with three judges appointed by the big guy himself.
The 14th amendment was ratified in 1868, soon after the Civil War. Section 3 bars “any person who has taken an oath to support and defend our Constitution and thereafter rebels against that sacred charter, either through overt insurrection or by giving aid or comfort to the Constitution’s enemies.”
Some have argued Trump fits this to a T. Others have claimed the language is too vague to disqualify a guy who coaxed his supporters to D.C. on Jan. 6 and told them to “fight like hell” before they stormed the Capitol building.
It’s been a while since we heard new music from either ASAP Rocky or Rihanna, as the power couple has been busy enjoying parenthood. During this week’s launch party for Rihanna’s latest Puma sneakers, the singer offered some insight into parenthood, including a self-deprecating dig at one of her own signature features that youngest son Riot didn’t inherit.
She was also asked about possible collaborations between her and her boyfriend Rocky, responding, “We did that already — twice.” Of course, she was talking about their two boys, not songs, but if you were wondering whether they’ve also recorded any songs together, we’ve got you covered there.
Their earliest collaboration was the 2011 “Cockiness” remix, which transformed the sixth single from her sixth studio album, Talk That Talk. Produced by “A Milli” producer Bangladesh, dubstep-influenced track received mixed reviews and peaked at No. 17 on Billboard‘s “Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles” chart.
Meanwhile, although Rihanna has yet to appear on any of Rocky’s songs, she has appeared in two of his music videos. In 2013, the video for “Fashion Killa” from Rocky’s debut studio album Long. Live. A$AP. featured Rihanna and followed the couple on a shopping date. Then, in 2022, Rocky kicked off marriage rumors about the couple when his video for “D.M.B.” not only starred Rihanna but also featured Rocky wearing a grill reading “Marry Me.”
In her red-carpet interview Rihanna expressed optimism about any future collaborations, saying, “Anything Rocky and me collaborate on is going to be fire,” because of their shared creative sensibility. Check out the interview below.
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