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Pop Culture

Kate Winslet gave a wonderful pep talk to a young reporter struggling through her first interview

"When we do this interview, it’s going to be the most amazing interview ever.”

kate winslet

"You’ve got this. OK, let’s do it!”

Imagine being an amateur journalist, and your very first celebrity interview is one of Hollywood’s biggest names, promoting one of Hollywood’s biggest movies.

Nerve-wracking? Yeah, I think so.

Such was the situation for Martha, a "kinderreporterin,” aka child reporter from German TV network ZDF, who was tasked with interviewing Kate Winslet as part of an international press junket for “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Thankfully, the celebrity she sat down with is first and foremost a lovely human being.

As soon as Martha shyly admitted this was her very first interview, Winslet immediately threw away any notion of formal interview etiquette and chose instead to comfort the young journalist.


“This is your first time doing it?” Winslet asked. Then, leaning in toward Martha, she said confidently, “OK, well guess what? When we do this interview, it’s going to be the most amazing interview ever.”

Never breaking eye contact, she continued, “And do you know why? Because we’ve decided that it’s going to be. So, we’ve decided right now, me and you, that this is going to be a really fantastic interview.”

Going into full-on mom mode, she concluded, “And you can ask me anything that you want, and you don’t have to be scared. Everything is going to be amazing. OK? You’ve got this. OK, let’s do it!”

And so they did. The interview (which can be viewed in German here) went swimmingly as Winslet shared how she got started as an actress, what it’s like to do a fake vomit scene and her love of cooking. At the end, the pair took a selfie together. Mission accomplished.

The wholesome clip quickly circulated online, making folks feel all warm and fuzzy inside to see Winslet completely lift the young girl up.

One fellow journalist who shared the video to Twitter wrote, “Junkets can be really nerve wracking. Words of encouragement and kindness like this can go such a long way,” calling the interview “the most precious thing I’ve ever seen.”
kate winslet, kate winslet interview, kate winslet avatar

This reporter's career is off to a great start.

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Not all celebrities use their status to empower others. But it’s something Winslet excels at, especially when it comes to advocating for other women. Being able to shine a spotlight on others has long been hailed as a sign of good leadership, and it’s clear that the actress willingly assumes that responsibility with pride.

Plus, it's a refreshing shift away from the usual antagonistic fanfare that often gets highlighted between celebrities and journalists. Take a six-second scroll online and you'll find plenty of videos showing actors, musicians and other icons "shutting down" reporters and "ripping them to shreds." But instead of that, we get to be part of an authentic conversation between two people, and witness women of different generations forming a real connection. Maybe it's not as scintillating, but it's definitely more inspiring.

As one person so deftly put it, “There were already plenty of reasons to love Kate Winslet. Now there’s one more.”

Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

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Health

Here’s how we can use the power of awe to make our lives more fulfilling

Being amazed by things outside ourselves is tremendous for our mental health.

A young man looking into the sky

The exhilaration of a rock concert. The feeling of deep serenity you experience during a religious ceremony. That sense of connectedness you get while walking through a dense forest. The lightness that flows through your body while dancing and the dissolution of the ego you experience on psychedelics. These are all experiences that give us the feeling of awe.

Most of us love having at least a few of these experiences and believe they help us grow. But now, a team of psychologists has explained why cultivating a sense of awe can benefit our minds and bodies and how we can create these experiences ourselves.

Maria Monroy and Dacher Keltner posit that a sense of awe can help solve the crises of individualism, excessive self-focus, loneliness and a culture of cynicism, and can even improve our physical health. They explain it in a research article titled “Awe as a Pathway to Mental and Physical Health.”

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@allbelongco/TikTok

How bizarre, how bizarre.

It should go without saying that it’s not cool to steal from your Airbnb. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen.

However, when one Airbnb host recently discovered a guest had—for some strange reason—stolen one of her paintings, then replaced it with a completely different painting, she decided to make the best out of a very uncool situation by sharing the story on TikTok.

As a result, viewers got to witness an continuously unraveling, truly bizarre modern-day art heist.

Okay, let’s get into it.

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Pop Culture

Woman flawlessly breaks down how luxury bags—and other designer brands—keep people 'poor'

"They're targeting the people who want to look rich—middle and lower class folks who don't have a lot of money or savings. That is the bread and butter of designer brands."

Cara Nicole/Youtube

Not worth it.

It feels safe to say that we are all hoping to be more mindful about how we spend our money these days, whether it’s to be kinder to the environment, align better with our values, improve our finances or simply exercise free will against the siren call of consumerism.

That’s why this video essay created by Cara Nicole (who gives all kinds of financials and sustainability education on her Youtube channel) feels so timely.

In just under twenty minutes, Nicole astutely breaks down how luxury brands like Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Rolex create the fake illusion of wealth through “manufactured exclusivity” and getting free marketing from celebrities and influencers—who often don’t even pay for the products themselves. Meanwhile, most real rich people wouldn’t be caught dead in the flashy brands, and in reality consider them "overrated." But still, the illusion persists. Because advertising.

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@keepingalfoatwiththejoneses/Instagram

Inexpensive and tranquil…what's not to like?

Saving money and living comfortably don’t always go hand in hand, but people do find ways to accomplish it. Sometimes all it takes is thinking a little outside the box—getting a job that allows you to travel the world or swapping out a traditional mortgage for more creative, less costly home ideas.

Take this couple in North Carolina, for example, who gave up living on land to move into a floating cabin and apparently saved $27,500 annually by doing so.

According to Good News Network, Sarah Spiro, 27, and her boyfriend, Brandon Jones, 40, break down the math: Their one-bedroom floating home, which they bought in March 2021, originally cost less than $30,000. The pair then spent two months and $23,000 renovating, for a total initial investment of less than $50,000. And now, they pay $2,500 a year to live on the lake. Yes, you read that right. $2,500 a year. They used to pay that much per month on their combined individual rents.

Obviously, it was a “no brainer,” said Spiro.

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@katherout/TikTok

Just another unsolved mystery

Who doesn’t like a good mystery?

A video creator known as @katherout certainly does. At the gym Kath frequents, there’s a whiteboard with a revolving prompt with simple questions like “What are you listening to?” or “What city were you born in?” Gym goers then write their responses anonymously on the board.

Kath recently became enthralled—and tickled—by a person who somehow manage to write the word “monke” (as in the word describing a group of monkeys, apparently) on every single one of their answers.

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