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J.K. Rowling approved the first-ever 'Harry Potter' comic — for a great reason.

The comic's proceeds go toward the victims and survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

In September 2016, DC Comics and IDW Publishing announced "Love Is Love," a charity comic anthology to support the victims of the June shooting at Pulse nightclub.

Teaming up with more than 200 artists and writers, Marc Andreyko (best known for his work on "Batman" and "Wonder Woman '77") led the charge in curating the anthology of more than 100 short graphic stories packed into 144 pages. In DC's announcement, "Love Is Love" was described as a "love letter to the LGBTQ community."

In addition to featuring some of the biggest names in comics, the anthology also features stories from actor Matt Bomer ("White Collar"), documentarian Morgan Spurlock, and comedians Taran Killam and Patton Oswalt.


The big-name affair got even bigger when J.K. Rowling signed off on a "Harry Potter"-themed illustration — the first time an officially approved version of the character has appeared in comic form.

DC co-publisher Jim Lee created a sketch featuring Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing with Dumbledore, who Rowling famously revealed was gay after the final book in the series was released. The final version of Lee's illustration will include the words "Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open," a quote from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" published in 2000. As Lee notes in a caption on his Instagram page, it's the first time Rowling has given her blessing to an illustration of this kind.

Check out @georgegustines lovely article in the @nytimes in which my "Love is love" contribution is revealed. This first of a kind illustration was done with #jkrowling's blessing, inspired by her quote: “Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.” –The Goblet of Fire #harrypotter #Loveislove is an amazing anthology and collaboration among so many of comicdom's finest talents with all proceeds going to the victims, survivors, and their families of the Orlando shooting tragedy via EQUALITY FLORIDA. I want to thank @idwpublishing editor #SarahGaydos and @dccomics Vertigo group editor @jamie_s_rich for their tireless work in making this book a reality. The full uncropped image available in the book in stores 12/28. Colors by the magnificent @markchidc!

A photo posted by Jim Lee (@jimleeart) on

While events like the Pulse shooting are tragic and devastating, it's heartening to see people respond in solidarity however they can.

In the months since the shooting, which killed 49, a number of Pulse benefits have been held to honor the victims. The OneOrlando fund raised more than $30 million to pay out to victims of the shooting, Orlando-area hospitals are taking steps to ensure that survivors won't be billed for treatment, and a number of entertainment industry fundraisers have been held in support of the victims.

That's what superheroes do — and that's what makes the "Love Is Love" anthology so appropriate. Harry Potter will appear alongside some of the most famous DC characters — such as Batgirl and Superman.

While we could all use a Superman in our lives, especially amid these sorts of senseless acts of violence, we'll have to settle for the next best thing: regular people with a lot of heart.

For "Love Is Love" pre-order information, check out IDW's website.

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ACUVUE launches a new campaign to inspire Gen Z to put down their phones and follow their vision

What will you create on your social media break? Share it at #MyVisionMySight.

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If you’ve always lived in a world with social media, it can be tough to truly understand how it affects your life. One of the best ways to grasp its impact is to take a break to see what life is like without being tethered to your phone and distracted by a constant stream of notifications.

Knowing when to disconnect is becoming increasingly important as younger people are becoming aware of the adverse effects screen time can have on their eyes. According to Eyesafe Nielsen, adults are now spending 13-plus hours a day on their digital devices, a 35% increase from 2019.1. Many of us now spend more time staring at screens on a given day than we do sleeping which can impact our eye health.

Normally, you blink around 15 times per minute, however, focusing your eyes on computer screens or other digital displays have been shown to reduce your blink rate by up to 60%.2 Reduced blinking can destabilize your eyes’ tear film, causing dry, tired eyes and blurred vision.3

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Karlie Smith shows the meal she's bringing to the restaurant for her son.

A mom who admitted she packs her 2-year-old a meal when they go out to dinner has started an interesting debate on TikTok about restaurant etiquette and how it applies to young children.

The video posted by Ohio mom, Karlie Smith (unbreakablemomma on TikTok), has received nearly 600,000 views and has over 1,850 comments.

“Call me cheap, call me whatever, but if we’re going out to a restaurant, I’m packing my kid a meal," Smith, 21, said in her post. "I do this for many reasons. On Friday nights, my family and I get together, and tonight, we’re getting food out. My son is not getting food out.”

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Pop Culture

Man rewatches shows from his childhood and his recaps of the bonkers storylines are priceless

Rob Anderson's hilarious recaps of shows like "Mighty Ducks," "Beethoven," and "7th Heaven" might make you wonder how they got made in the first place.

@hearthrobert/TikTok

These plots makes zero sense.

While there are no doubt some timeless classics from our childhood that remain every bit as amazing as we remember, many are straight-up cringey upon a later viewing. Really, it’s to be expected as societal viewpoints change…sort of a marker of how far we’ve collectively come.

And so, what do we do with these problematic pieces of old-school pop culture? Well, we can certainly update them to better reflect a more modern attitude, but that also comes with a set of potential problems. Or we could simply never watch them again. Certainly an option given all the content out there. But then we might miss an opportunity to better understand what seemed to work for the mainstream then, and why it doesn’t work now.

And then there’s the third option—allow ourselves to be entertained by their cringiness.

That’s certainly the route taken by Rob Anderson. Over on TikTok, Anderson has taken ultra-popular movies and television shows from his childhood and given them hilarious recaps capturing how absurd some of the storylines are.
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@Steve_Perrault/Twitter

Some moments never get old.

On November 19, 1999, a man named John Carpenter made game show history and quite possibly gave us all the greatest game show moment of all time.

Carpenter was a contestant on the very first season of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” shot in America. Hosted by the late Regis Philbin, the quiz show featured three "lifeline" options to help them with difficult questions, the most popular being able to “Phone-a-Friend.”

Carpenter had impressively not used a single lifeline for any of his questions. That is, until question 15. The million-dollar question, to be exact.

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Joy

Woman decides that she is the love of her life and marries herself at her retirement home

“I said, you know what, I’ve done everything else. Why not?”

77-year-old woman decides she's the love of her life and marries herself.

We joke about marrying ourselves or a platonic friend if some arbitrary amount of time has passed without a proposal from an imaginary suitor. And sure, some people do wind up marrying a friend in more of a business arrangement, but it's not very common that someone follows through with marrying themselves.

Dorothy "Dottie" Fideli, decided that she was going to break the mold. The 77-year-old sat down and thought about all of the things she had done in life and who was with her the entire time cheering her on. It was an easy answer: herself. She was her biggest cheerleader, the person who always showed up and the love of her life, so Fideli made the plan to marry herself.

On a beautiful May day, friends and family gathered in the O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Community, where Fideli is a resident, to witness the ceremony.

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Joy

12-year-old Texas girl saves her family from carbon monoxide poisoning

She knew something was wrong with her mom and brother, which wound up saving her whole family.

Fort Worth 12-year-old helps save family from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is called a silent killer for a reason. Many people don't realize they're experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning before it's too late. The gas is colorless and odorless and tends to have a sedating effect that causes people to sleep through the fatal poisoning. Having carbon monoxide detectors is one of the most effective ways to identify the gas before it's too late to get out of the house, but not every home has one.

A little girl in Fort Worth, Texas, experienced a terrifying encounter with the deadly gas, but her quick actions saved her entire family. Jaziyah Parker is being held up as a hero after she realized something was wrong with her family members and called for help.

The girl called 911 after she noticed her mom pass out. On the call with the dispatcher, Jaziyah says she thinks her mother has died before explaining that there was something now wrong with her baby brother, who was just 5-months-old.

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Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Barrymore has consistently starred in hit films and movies that are rewatchable cable-TV staples, such as “Charlie's Angels” (2000), “Never Been Kissed” (1999), “Scream” (1996), “The Wedding Singer” (1998), “50 First Dates” (2004) and “Fever Pitch” (2005).

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS. So far, the show has been a big success, attracting an average of 1.21 million views per show, and ranks as the #4 talk show in syndication. It was recently renewed through the 2024 season.

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