Another Canadian has claimed the Guinness World Record for the longest time in an abdominal plank position (female)
DonnaJean Wilde held her plank for just over 10 minutes longer than the previous record that was set in 2019 by fellow Canadian Dana Glowacka.
At 58-years-old, the retired vice-principal and grandmother, planked for 4 hr 30 min 11 sec.
The proper plank technique needed to set the record requires the challenger’s forearms and toes to always be on the ground with the remainder of the body lifted off the ground and kept straight throughout.
She had her full support network with her when she made the record breaking attempt at the high school where she used to work, including her 12 grandchildren who came along to watch.
This post from Olivia Munn is such a stark reminder of why we need to be more proactive about breast cancer. Munn tested negative for any known genes associated with increased risk but a risk assessment score led to a biopsy, which led to a diagnosis.
“In February of 2023, in an effort to be proactive about my health, I took a genetic test that checks you for 90 different cancer genes. I tested negative for all, including BRCA (the most well-known breast cancer gene). My sister Sara had just tested negative as well. We called each other and high-fived over the phone. That same winter I also had a normal mammogram.
Two months later I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
In the past ten months I have had four surgeries, so many days spent in bed I can’t even count and have learned more about cancer, cancer treatment and hormones than I ever could have imagined. Surprisingly, I’ve only cried twice. I guess I haven’t felt like there was time to cry. My focus narrowed and I tabled any emotions that I felt would interfere with my ability to stay clear-headed.
I’ve tended to let people see me when I have energy, when I can get dressed and get out of the house, when I can take my baby boy to the park. I’ve kept the diagnosis and the worry and the recovery and the pain medicine and the paper gowns private. I needed to catch my breath and get through some of the hardest parts before sharing.
I wouldn’t have found my cancer for another year – at my next scheduled mammogram – except that my OBGYN, Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, decided to calculate my Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score. The fact that she did saved my life.
Dr. Aliabadi looked at factors like my age, familial breast cancer history, and the fact that I had my first child after the age of 30. She discovered my lifetime risk was at 37%. Because of that score I was sent to get an MRI, which led to an ultrasound, which then led to a biopsy. The biopsy showed I had Luminal B cancer in both breasts. Luminal B is an aggressive, fast moving cancer.
30 days after that biopsy I had a double mastectomy. I went from feeling completely fine one day, to waking up in a hospital bed after a 10-hour surgery the next.
I’m lucky. We caught it with enough time that I had options. I want the same for any woman who might have to face this one day. Ask your doctor to calculate your Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score. Dr. Aliabadi says that If the number is greater than 20%, you need annual mammograms and breast MRIs starting at age 30.
I’m so thankful to my friends and family for loving me through this. I’m so thankful to John for the nights he spent researching what every operation and medication meant and what side effects and recovery I could expect. For being there before I went into each surgery and being there when I woke up, always placing framed photos of our little boy Malcolm so it would be the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.
Thank you to the friends who’ve had breast cancer and the friends who connected me to friends who’ve had breast cancer for guiding me through some of my most uncertain and overwhelming moments.
I am extremely grateful to the nurses, patient coordinators and staff at Cedars-Sinai in LA and Saint John’s in Santa Monica. I want to specifically thank my surgical oncologist Dr. Armando Giuliano, my reconstructive surgeon Dr. Jay Orringer, my oncologist Dr. Monica Mita, and especially my guardian angel, Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi.
Red Bull’s marketing team is at it again. We’ve seen Crashed Ice, a skydiver changing planes mid-air, trampolines suspended from a hot air balloon, and the big one: Stratos in 2012 with Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking skydive from the edge of space.
When Red Bull stepped into Formula 1 racing, it was more than just a stunt though. They were there to win. They wanted to further excellence and innovation in motorsport and their latest innovation is proof.
On February 13, 2024, Shaggy, aka Ralph Hogenbirk’s, custom-built Red Bull Drone 1 managed to not only follow Oracle Red Bull Racing’s brand-new F1 car, the RB20, for an entire lap, it even seems to overshoot it at times. And that was part of the difficulty of the design. They needed a drone that could catch up with cars and then maintain the same speed and control. Red Bull Drone 1 accelerates 2x faster than an F1 car, hitting 299kph in just 4 seconds and a top speed of 350kph. This is a first in both drone technology and F1 history.
Watch it’s flight with the Red Bull Formula 1 car, driven by Max Verstappen, on that rainy morning at the UK’s Silverstone Circuit
What is this drone going to mean next for Red Bull and Formula 1? Shaggy says, “Even though this drone looks really cool, and it’s working like it’s intended to, there’s a lot more we can do, obviously. I think one of the things we should do is try to get a high-quality live video feed from it, so we can use it for live streaming. And then it’s further testing and proving that this drone is safe, reliable. It would be cool to have one drone covering the track in live races, but maybe in the future we will have multiple drones. Who knows?”
Barbie was last year’s top-grossing movie and swept the 2024 Golden Globes but the Academy may have missed the film’s message. While Barbie is up for Best Picture and received eight nominations total, the women behind it were not equally honoured.
Greta Gerwig was nominated with her husband, Noah Baumbach, for Best Adapted Screenplay but did not get a nod for Best Director. Margot Robbie was nominated as the producer of Barbie but not Best Actress.
Ryan Gosling has released a statement about his disappointment that Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig didn’t get Oscar nominations.
“There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig & Margot Robbie… No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius.”
America Ferrera received her first Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Gloria, Gosling received a Best Supporting Actor nod, and there’s a very good chance we’ll see him performing “I’m Just Ken” as it’s been nominated for Best Music (Original Song) along with “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish.
Brenda Lee has set a record. She is the oldest artist to score a new #1 single on the Hot 100 chart. The previous record holder was Louis Armstrong in 1964 at age 62 — just a few months before turning 63 – with the title song from the ‘Hello, Dolly!’ This makes only the third time a holiday song has hit #1. “The Chipmunk Song” did it in 1958 and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was released in 1994 and finally reached #1 in 2019.
Brenda Lee recorded “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” when she was only 13-years-old and while the song is a favourite every Christmas, it’s never made it to No. 1. It has always stalled out at No. 2.
Until 2023! 65 years after she recorded it, Brenda Lee finally gets her #1 song and we finally get a music video
In case you’re wondering why those grandkids are so incredibly tall – Brenda Lee is only 4’9″ And, yes, those are cameos by country stars Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.
Brenda Lee breaks a few other records with this #1: the longest wait between a song’s release and reaching #1, and the longest time between having #1 hits; 63 years since 1960’s “I’m Sorry” and “I Want To Be Wanted”.
You can see the artist formally known as ‘Little Miss Dynamite’ performing her record breaking Christmas classic on NBC’s Christmas at the Opry airing December 7th
There are a ton of both family friendly and adults only Halloween celebrations happening in Saint John and region this weekend. The hardest part is picking which ones to hit up!
Friday, October 27, 2023
Rockwood Haunted Campground, low scare 6-7pm, high scare 7-9:30
Fundy Frights, 527 Summer Street West, 6-9pm
Candle Painting for Samhain, Oh My Soul and Journey, 6pm
Boo-tenanny 80s/90s Party, Foghorn Brewing, 6pm
Happy Halloween, Quispamsis Arts & Culture Park 7-8pm
Jamie Comeau & The Crooked Teeth with Austin Eatman Band Halloween Show, Wasted Day, 9pm
Halloween Party with Mo & Jed, Evandale Resort, 9:30pm
Halloween Costume Party, Crave Lounge, 10pm
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Witches on the Water, Hampton, 8:30am-noon
Halloween Pawty with The Red Barkery, In Pursuit, 10am-2pm
The Great Pumpkin Walk, Dutch Point Trail Hampton, 10am-2pm
Great Underwater Pumpkin Carving Event, New River Beach, 10:30am-2pm
Haunted Market, Saint John City Market, 11am-3pm
“A Super Scary Narwhalloween” Spooky storytime, Indigo East Point, 11am-noon
Free Indoor Trunk or Treat, Cornerstone Baptist Church, 2-4pm
Trunk or Treat, St. Mary and St. Bartholomew’s Church, 6-7pm
Rockwood Haunted Campground, low scare 6-7pm, high scare 7-9:30
Halls of Terror (formerly Trail or Terror) River Valley Middle School, family friendly 5-6:30pm, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. (those seeking a more terrifying experience)
Fundy Frights, 527 Summer Street West, 6-9pm
Trunk or Treat, Sky Athletics Cheerleading, 6:30pm
Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Imperial Theatre, 7pm
Offline Halloween, Offline Board Game Cafe, 7pm
Goth Night with Shrimp Ring, Haven Music Hall & Cafe 8pm-1am
Phantom of The Phoenix Ball, The Phoenix, 9pm
Halloween Boo Bash! Market Square Atrium, 10pm
Pagan Rooster’s Night of the Dancing Dead, Peppers Pub, 10pm
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Rockwood Haunted Campground
low scare 6-7pm, high scare 7-9:30
Halloween Costume Skate, Hampton, 12:30-1:30 pm
Let the Ghoul Times Roll, Hampton Brewing Company, 2-4pm
Happy Howl-o-ween, Ole Foggy Distillery, 2-4pm
Trunk or Treat, Saint John First Wesleyan Church, 4pm
Trunk or Treat, EXIT Realty Specialists Saint John, 5pm
I was extremely skeptical when Britney Spears said she had been in the top 3 for the now-iconic role of Allie in The Notebook but watching the audition…
The video was published by the Daily Mail, with a sobbing Britney reading lines with an off-camera Ryan Gosling.
Casting director Matthew Barry says, “Everybody who was anybody that year wanted this part.”
He reveals she beat out “Scarlett Johansson, Claire Danes, Kate Bosworth, Amy Adams, Jamie King and Mandy Moore” – even ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake’s now-wife Jessica Biel – and it really did come down to her or Rachel McAdams.
‘Britney wasn’t just good – she was phenomenal. It was a tough decision. Britney blew us all away. Our jaws were on the floor. I was blown away. Absolutely blown away. She brought her A-game that day.’
The 2004 romantic period drama, set in 1940s South Carolina, is about blue-collar Noah (Ryan Gosling) falling in love with high-society Allie (Rachel McAdams). Her parents don’t approve and Noah goes off to serve in World War II. The movie brought in $118.2 million in the box office and is the 15th highest-grossing romantic drama film of all time. It also romantically connected the two leads as they dated for two years before calling it quits in 2007.
Was Britney devastated to lose the role?
In her memoir, The Woman in Me, she says: ‘…even though it would have been fun to reconnect with Ryan Gosling after our time on The Mickey Mouse Club, I’m glad I didn’t do it.”
Introduced as, “Wilson’s bestie, Buzz’s buddy, Ryan’s saviour, America’s dad,” actor Tom Hanks addressed the Harvard graduating class of 2023.
Hanks urged Harvard University graduates to stand up for truth and American ideals, and to oppose those who would distort the facts for personal benefit.
“Telling the truth is no longer the benchmark for public service,” he said. “It’s no longer the salve to our fears, or the guide to our actions. Truth is now considered malleable, by opinion and by zero sum endgames.”
Hot dang! Martha Stewart on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 81 years old 🙌
This makes her the oldest model for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Maye Musk – a professional model who is best known for being Elon Musk’s mother – posed in 2022 when she was 74.
Stewart said in an interview about the cover, “…I don’t think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic and that I better look really good.”
There are four cover models this year’s issue, which celebrates powerful women who “live in a world where they feel no limitations, internally or externally”. The other models are Megan Fox in a barely there bikini, Brooks Nader in a Baywatch-inspired one piece, and Kim Petras in a shimmering gold bikini.
Why Martha Stewart? Sports Illustrated claims she is the “OG of influencers” as she grabbed onto fame by writing her own cookbooks in the 80’s and started to do TV appearances, which led to more cookbooks, then cooking shows, a lifestyle magazine, and now Martha Stewart lines of clothing, premium cookware and home decor. There are even “Martha Stewart Vintage” wines: chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot.
Nesta Matthews 