Kate! Happy Belated Birthday with love from Ashley. You never stop inspiring her with your work and your commitment and your drive – and now I’m in awe of you too, Dr Jones. By request, because you are a badass, here’s another badass, Tessa Thompson. Have the best year ever.

Weirdly, I gave myself the same Christmas gift when it came to Donald Trump and Kanye West: I stopped paying attention to them for about a solid week. It’s back to the gossip grindstone though, so I checked in with both delusional megalomaniacs and nothing has really changed:

Trump all day

— ye (@kanyewest) January 1, 2019

One of my favorite of many things about what the Trump hat represents to me is that people can’t tell me what to do because I’m black

— ye (@kanyewest) January 1, 2019

Blacks are 90% Democrats That sounds like control to me ?

— ye (@kanyewest) January 1, 2019

He’s like a child: “One of my favorite of many things about what the Trump hat represents to me is that people can’t tell me what to do because I’m black.” Yes, people are like “black folks should not dress up in Klan robes and burn down black churches” and Kanye is like “THAT’S WHAT I’M GOING TO DO NOW, YOU CAN’T TELL ME I CAN’T DO THAT.” I have a contrarian nature too, but this is something else.

In addition to tweeting about Trump, Kanye also tweeted at/about Drake. It really, really sounds like that Drake-Kim Kardashian conspiracy theory is true, you guys. Kanye was/is mad about Drake following Kim on Instagram, and Ye spent a lot of New Year’s Day tweeting-and-deleting some sh-t about Drake:

Seemingly out of the blue, West returned to the subject of their ongoing feud.

“I’ve never mentioned or touched on anything related to family when it came to Drake,” he wrote in a since-deleted Tweet, including a devil emoji after the Canadian rapper’s name. “He followed my wife on Instagram he mentioned Pusha’s fiance [sic] in a song.”

“Who’s [sic] bright idea was it to tell Drake to follow my wife on Instagram?” he continued, adding “this person is not Drskes [sic] friend.”

Over the weekend, West also tweeted and deleted several heated messages about Drake, criticizing him for following his wife on Instagram in September, as tensions between the two rappers were at an all-time high. “He dodged me for months when I extended olive branches to talk and then called to threaten me,” West continued in another deleted message on Monday, echoing a claim he made earlier this month, when he tweeted over 125 times about the “In My Feelings” rapper, 32. Drake no longer follows Kardashian on the social media platform.

[From People]

The comparison between Kanye and Trump is dead-on. Both engage in their dumbest and most petty squabbles on Twitter, and both men try to start sh-t with people who have walked away in disgust months or years earlier.

Also: Drake hosted a NYE party at Delilah in LA, and Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott all attended the bash. So… Kanye’s sisters-in-law don’t give a sh-t about Kanye’s beef with Drake.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

Dear Gossips,

The Chanel presentation during Haute Couture Week in Paris is always the main event. They’ve turned the Grand Palais into a beach, a grocery store, they’ve also built a rocket into the venue before. And a few years ago, Karl Lagerfeld dedicated the collection to his “petites mains”…

I’m a firm believer in making incremental changes and doing what you love. I love dancing so I do Zumba and it doesn’t feel like a workout. I tried running and even did a couple of 5ks (the Zombies Run app really helped) but it’s not my thing. So if your goal this year is to run a 5k, you can reach that, but will you enjoy it? If you find running punishing maybe you’d prefer kickboxing or dance fitness. You don’t have to go to the gym for every workout and can get the same results at home. If you’re looking to make fitness updates in the new year, here’s an Amazon affiliate post with some options that work for me. (The photo above is a screenshot from the YouTube channel Yoga With Adriene! One of my goals this year is to do more yoga. I had to go to physical therapy for my neck and the recommended exercises were yoga.)

Lose weight without giving up your favorite foods

I lost 60 pounds from 2014-2015 using the MyFitnessPal app and website (it’s free!) and a food scale. I’ve kept most of it off, but I have about five pounds to go after the holidays. The scale I own is from Tchibo in Germany. I bought my parents this exact food scale and it works great even a few years later. It has a little button that toggles the different measurements and you can tare it to zero easily so you can weigh separate ingredients without using a different bowl. If you’re calorie counting or using portion control, a kitchen scale is a game changer. I lost weight without giving up ice cream, candy or chips.

Get fit at home using free on demand workouts

I enjoy group fitness classes at the gym, but it takes time to drive there, they can be crowded, and I wear earplugs for the noise. Doing workouts at home is a great alternative and there are so many free options on YouTube! All you need is some space around your TV. For lighter workouts I do Jessica Smith or Denise Austin. For harder workouts there are countless options from PopSugar fitness. The Fitness Marshall is awesome too. Remember that workouts are cumulative, so if you can only do 20 minutes in the morning and a half hour a night, that’s still 50 minutes! If you don’t have a smart TV with YouTube, you can get a Chromecast to plug in to it and then just cast from your laptop or phone to the TV. (Amazon fire TV no longer has YouTube available, but Roku devices do and people love them.)

Stay hydrated with reusable water bottles that collapse

One of my tricks for air travel is to bring an empty water bottle with me. I also keep water in the trunk of my car in case I get thirsty when I’m out or decide to go to the movies. (Paying more than $2 for a bottle of water or soda seems outrageous to me.) With a collapsible water bottle in my purse I could stop wasting so much plastic and wouldn’t have to remember to grab water. This would also be a great go-to solution for the gym.

Exercise while watching TV with equipment in your living room

If you keep exercise equipment in your living room you can use it while you’re watching TV. I really enjoy spinning. Some of you swear by the Peloton bikes, however that’s out of my price range. I got a used Schwinn spin bike for $200 from Play It Again sports and have used it for years. It still works great, especially with the clip in shoes. I work out at home using free classes from Global Cycling Network and Studio Sweat on Demand (I don’t subscribe, but I’ve heard their service is very good). This well reviewed Sunny bike is available on Amazon prime for less than $300! Some users say they use it with the Peloton app, which is just $12 a month. There is an issue where the bike may have a banging noise, but it’s fixable according to the top review. When it’s time to replace my bike, I’m going to buy one of these. You’ll also want a heavy duty equipment mat to place under it.

You can also consider a treadmill, an elliptical machine or stationary bike. Just get something you like and will stick to. (Look at your local Play it Again sports and on Craigslist for used equipment!)

Get some cute leggings that you won’t mind running errands in

I own some RBX leggings and while I am small or even extra small in some sizes, mine are medium. So you may want to order up a size for comfort. These are awesome leggings for the price. They have cute side panels that will fit a phone and some cards (I have a Samsung S8 plus that fits in these) and there are mesh panels built in around the calf area. Reviewers warn that these run small and that some colors are see through. I also own a pair of these Champion 3/4 length leggings which are very comfortable too. I also have these in medium. For some reason a lot of athletic wear runs small. (Except Zumba wear, that’s usually larger.)

Use an exercise ball to sit on while you work

I was having back and neck pain from sitting at my desk too long so I started using an exercise ball as a chair and it fixed it! I swear it makes my core stronger and helps me sit up straighter. Plus my back and neck pain went away. This ball looks like a great option for using as a desk chair. It has a base plus resistance bands so you can tone too. I’m just using a plain exercise ball without a base or bands and now I want an upgrade.

Change your position frequently while you’re working

Standing desks, which raise and lower so you can sit or stand while you’re working, can run upwards of $1,000! As an alternative you can get a standing desk convertor for your monitor for less than $200. This one comes fully assembled and has over 800 positive reviews! People say it fits up to three monitors and works so well their coworkers are jealous.

Thanks for reading our affiliate post!

Photo directly above from Burst via Pexels. Other photos are screenshots from Yoga by Adrienne, Amazon and Amazon reviews.

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Mary Poppins, Audrey, Ariel, Ms. Frizzle, Cinderella, Gwen, Mr. Toad, Avril, Nancy Drew, Posh Spice, Rizzo, Frida Kahlo, Steve Irwin, Dorothy.. This new year we decided to dress up as our childhood heroes. Sending you all love and hope going into 2019 ?

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Dec 31, 2018 at 9:45pm PST

Taylor Swift used to own the Fourth of July. She threw huge Independence Day parties at her Rhode Island estate, inviting all of her friends (and acquaintances, and her boyfriends of the moment). She would rent special stuff for her parties, like giant inflatable slides. In 2016, she even seemed to privately hire a photographer to extensively document her blowout TAYMERICA party. But after 2016, Taymerica stopped happening. That was the year she really took it to the next level, and that was the year of TIDDLES. Post-Tiddles, Taylor didn’t stage-manage those huge parties anymore. She wanted to be private.

Well, as I said throughout 2018, I truly felt like the whole Private Tay was just a phase, or even more than that, a rebranding attempt. You can only tamp down those Taymerica urges for so long before they come spilling out. It looks like Taylor threw a huge costume party for New Year’s Eve. I never knew that was a thing? Are all of you attending or throwing costume parties for NYE? If not, it’s about to become a thing. Taylor invited Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Gigi Hadid and others. Taylor dressed up as Ariel from The Little Mermaid, which is just another reminder that I’m still so mad that Taylor hasn’t gone red full-time. She looks amazing as a redhead.

People Magazine pointed out that in the photo where Taylor and Ryan are swigging from their respective bottles, the liquor brand is Aviation gin, which Ryan is invested in. How does that work? Does he bring a case of gin to the party? Or does he have it delivered? And I almost horked at the idea of swigging gin straight from the bottle. I can drink whiskey, Scotch, vodka and even rum straight, depending on the quality. But gin BEGS for a mixer. Just my opinion. Even when I drank alcohol though, I rarely touched gin. I feel bad that there are going to be young Snake Fam people drinking gin straight from the bottle just to emulate Taylor.

Photos courtesy of Instagram, Backgrid.

Tiffany Haddish worked on New Year’s Eve, like many comedians. I think NYE is probably a pretty good night for comedians, as many hotels and theaters probably want to book a combination of entertainers, from comedians to musical acts. Still, it probably sucks to have to work on NYE, right? Well, it seems like Tiffany was just having a bad night, or maybe 2018 was utter garbage for her too and this was just the last gasp of the dumpster fire year. Tiffany performed in Miami, at the James L. Knight Center, and it did not go well.

Comedian Tiffany Haddish started off the New Year with a bomb, not a bang. Haddish was hired to do stand-up at Miami’s James L. Knight Center, but the performance didn’t go off so well, according to The Root. Her routine included jokes about her mom getting out of a mental institution and gripes about her family asking her for money, according to TMZ.

Witnesses said Haddish forgot some of her jokes and the ones she did remember weren’t getting the laughs she expected. Folks at the show also expressed their opinions on Twitter. The comedian apparently suspected things weren’t going well when she saw fans heading for the exit.

“This is weird for me,” Haddish said, according to The Root. “This is going to be on TMZ or whatever.” She then opened a bottle of Ciroc and started drinking with the audience.

[From HuffPo]

The Root also says that she started reading some of her jokes from her iPad, and that after so many people left, Tiff just cut her set short and started drinking with the fans who remained. I imagine that happens to comedians from time to time – their timing might be off, or they just can’t remember their jokes or transitions, and so it goes. Tiffany seemed to acknowledge it for what it was: a bad night, a bad gig, a bad job on her part. It happens.

Yes this happened. I wish it was better Miami. I prayed on it and I have a strong feeling this will never happened again. Tiffany Haddish Bombs, Drinks with Fans Instead https://t.co/4QxPn0j0xc via @TheRoot

— Tiffany Haddish (@TiffanyHaddish) January 1, 2019

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I think it’s really funny that Donald Trump’s federal government shutdown meant that he had to spend the entire holiday season in the White House. He was like a child whose tantrum backfired. Even funnier, he made Melania stay with him at the White House over Christmas, but then she flew off to Mar-a-Lago for New Year’s.

#HappNewYear2019 ? pic.twitter.com/zvR9YqjNB3

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) January 1, 2019

Donald Trump was also on social media throughout the holiday season. I gave myself a Christmas gift and didn’t go onto his Twitter for about a week. But yes, it definitely felt like he ranted all day and all night every day because he was so bored. He must have just stayed in bed, rage-eating cheeseburgers and tweeting. Here’s a classic:

“General” McChrystal got fired like a dog by Obama. Last assignment a total bust. Known for big, dumb mouth. Hillary lover! https://t.co/RzOkeHl3KV

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2019

“Known for big, dumb mouth” is cracking me up. So is “Hillary lover!” as a pejorative. Then there was this caps-lock NYE message:

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA! 2019 WILL BE A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR THOSE NOT SUFFERING FROM TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. JUST CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE RIDE, GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR OUR COUNTRY!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2019

Narrator’s voice: Great things are not happening for our country.

As for what awaits Donald Bigly in 2019 – more chaos, a recession, indictments, and a total horror show. Buckle up.

As soon as Prince Harry and then-Meghan Markle got together, he seemed to make more of an effort, in general. He looked like he lost some weight, and reportedly he started eating healthier. He was a smoker (on and off, I think) and I think he’s pretty much given that up. He seemed to spend more time at the gym too. I truly believed he went on an honest-to-God diet before the wedding too. But now “sources” claim that Meghan has “banned” Harry from enjoying some of his last vices during her pregnancy: no more tea, coffee or alcohol?

Meghan has banned Prince Harry from drinking tea and coffee, a royal insider has claimed. The reformed party animal had already reportedly given up alcohol out of sympathy for pregnant Meghan, but now he’s drinking mineral water instead of caffeine, the Sunday Express reports.

The Duke of Sussex’s new health kick meant he looked fitter and bright-eyed at Sandringham for Christmas – and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the royal family. A source told the Express: ‘Considering he’s been a pretty brutal drinker since he was a young teenager, it’s quite an achievement.’

The Duchess of Sussex, 37, has also introduced Harry to yoga and has encouraged him to exercise more, showing him an alternative way to live claims the source. The new exercise regime and lack of booze has meant that friends think the 34 year old is ‘more chilled and relaxed’.

A source said: ‘All she did was show him there’s another way to live and he’s become a huge fan. He eats well, doesn’t poison his body, exercises, does a bit of yoga and is a lot happier.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I know this will shock so many royal sources who claim that Diva Meg orders Poor Harry around constantly and “bans” him from doing everything, but a lot of men willingly give up certain food and drinks during their wives’ pregnancies. I know a lot of men give up alcohol happily in solidarity with their pregnant partners. Coffee is a bit trickier, at least for caffeine addicts, but considering Harry is British, I wonder if he was much of a coffee drinker anyway. As for cutting out tea… that doesn’t even make any sense. But why is it “banning” again? Why can’t a former “wild child/party boy” grow up, mature, and figure out that he feels better when he drinks less and does some yoga?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Black Mirror is an artfully crafted, well written show that usually makes me feel hopeless. The only exception I’ve found (although I have not watched them all) was the Emmy award-winning episode from 2016, San Junipero. I watched the new interactive Black Mirror episode, Bandersnatch, for about 40 minutes. It was just as depressing as Black Mirror typically is, and I wasn’t motivated to find more of the alternate endings. I don’t even know if we reached an ending, although my boyfriend said that we would have to go back and make another choice as the show was a maze with dead ends, like a typical chose your own adventure book. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Bandersnatch is Netflix’s first ever interactive program. It allows you to make choices for a 19 year-old programmer in 1984, Stefan, who is designing a video game based on a choose your own adventure book. The filmmakers spoke to THR and explained their process, which was very meta in that they faced similar setbacks to Stefan. (Of course this contains spoilers, at least the spoiler for the main ending which I did not reach, but it may not be relevant to the story you choose.)

Officially, Netflix says there are five “main” endings. But there is a caveat: There are variants on all of them. Given that there are millions of unique story permutations created by [Black Mirror creator Charlie] Brooker’s game-changing script, not every viewer can unlock all of the endings. Also, the way any one person will arrive at those endings will vary, since the interactive experience evolves as viewers make choices.

There is one ending, however, that Netflix determined would be the most commonly reached: the Pearl Ritman ending. That is why the final scene is intercut with a credits sequence — even though the official end to everyone’s Bandersnatch experience will be signified by rolling closing credits. Pearl, as it turns out, is the daughter of Colin Ritman (played by Will Poulter), the famed game developer who mentors the protagonist, Stefan (Fionn Whitehead), throughout the film. “It’s not the ‘real’ ending,” Carla Engelbrecht, Netflix’s director of product innovation, confirms to THR of the Pearl flash-forward coexisting among the others. Engelbrecht, who led the tech development of Bandersnatch, says the Pearl ending treatment (which also contains Black Mirror Easter eggs for discerning viewers) was a creative choice made by Brooker. “The original version didn’t have that intercutting, and then it emerged as they started getting into the episode and refining it. We really liked the feel of it.”

When Bandersnatch flashes forward to introduce Pearl, the ending that viewers get reflects several of the different story branches they will have already reached, or will reach, when Stefan becomes overwhelmed by the creation of the game. Despite her best intentions, Pearl also begins to lose control when she tries to pick up where her father left off and finish his “Bandersnatch” for Netflix. In real life, “Bandersnatch” is also the name of a highly anticipated 1984 game that never materialized. But for Brooker, the ending is even more personal.

“The Pearl ending is quite meta, where it sort of pulls out to reveal someone who has been writing all of this to appear on Netflix,” says Brooker of the wink. “To be honest, the whole thing was extremely meta. Throughout the whole process, we’ve often commented on how life has been imitating art, or the other way around.”

Brooker was experiencing many of the tech problems that Stefan faces when he was outlining the complex “branching narrative” story of Bandersnatch. “There were lots of times where we found ourselves pretty much staring at complicated flowcharts and bits of code, much like Pearl does, and as you see, Stefan does,” Brooker says of the writing process. “We had lots of conversations where we would have to simplify it. All of that stuff that you see in Bandersnatch, we ended up saying in real life. It’s a very odd, meta, fourth-wall-, fifth-wall-, sixth-wall-breaking film. I don’t know really how to classify it: as a film or as an experience? Our ambitions were to make it as cinematic as we possibly can.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Here’s a link to a Slate article which outlines all the alternate endings and scenes, the most meta being the Pearl (Colin’s daughter) ending mentioned above. My favorite scene in the version I watched, which involved having Stefan work at home, was a visit he made to Colin’s apartment where they both did drugs. Colin delivered a speech about Pac-Man which was just incredible. After that it took a turn. I was blown away by the meta references in the show, but I had the same problem I always have with Black Mirror, which is that I didn’t care about the characters. Even when you’re making choices for Stefan you know that it’s going to end badly so you try not to get too invested. The styling and the settings are amazing though. They got the early 80s European feel dead on without going overboard (see: Atomic Blonde). The stylists and set designers on Black Mirror need more recognition.

This was the first of what will likely be many interactive projects at Netflix. They developed their own in-house tool to manage all the alternate endings, which were way too complicated for a typical flowchart.

Last Friday, Angelina Jolie guest edited the BBC Radio 4 program Today. We knew she was doing it ahead of time – Angelina has become more involved in the media, and even more specifically, she’s become more involved in British media. BBC Radio 4 even posted some nice photos of Angelina hard at work behind-the-scenes:

Good morning. Angelina Jolie has edited today’s programme. @mishalhusainbbc and @justinonweb are presenting #r4today pic.twitter.com/pXoGV1vbB4

— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) December 28, 2018

As part of the one-time gig, Angelina did grant an interview, and she ended up spilling some interesting information about where she is politically and personally:

Angelina Jolie hinted Friday that she might enter politics – and even seek the White House.

“If you asked me 20 years ago, I would’ve laughed… I always say I’ll go where I’m needed, I don’t know if I’m fit for politics… but then I’ve also joked that I don’t know if I have a skeleton left in my closet…I am pretty open and out there. I can take a lot on the chin. That’s good. I honestly will do whatever I think can really make change,” she told host Justin Webb.

The California-born humanitarian and special envoy the UN Refugee Agency discussed a wide range of issues, including social media, sexual violence and the global refugee crisis – but also waded into politics.

“Right now I am able to work with a UN agency to do a lot of work directly with people in need,” she said. “I’m also able to work with governments and I’m also able to work with militaries, and so I sit in a very interesting place of being able to get a lot done without a title and without it being about myself or my policies,” she continued. Jolie added that “for now,” she would stay quiet.

That comment prompted Webb to press her on whether she could be on the list for the Democrats’ next presidential nomination, she coyly replied: “Thank you.”

And when asked about the rise of nationalism under President Trump and his pursuit of an “America First” agenda, Jolie drew a distinction between patriotism and “narrow nationalism.”

“I am a patriot but I am also an internationalist and I love and value other people and other countries,” she said. “To be a patriot is to be very proud of your country and even your country first but you do not think your country is better than others.”

[From Page Six]

I understand the distinction she’s making about patriotism and nationalism/jingoism, even if I think she could have explained it better? Americans are brought up believing in American Exceptionalism, that we are the best because we were born in America. For many Americans, those beliefs soften with age, and we consider ourselves patriotic Americans, some of whom might be exceptional and some whom are not. What Trump and the Republican party have done is to make the patriotism conversation into some kind of white nationalist, jingoist, narrow and ignorant calling card – American Exceptionalism on steroids, only it’s just smoke and mirrors. I remember during the Bush administration, there were thinkpieces written about how Bush represented the decline – and eventual fall – of the American Empire. I think about that all the time, how America is a fallen empire now, and how even post-Trump, America and American patriotism will never be the same.

As for what Jolie says about possibly getting more involved in politics – do it, Villainess.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.