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Joy

Someone changed 'Titanic' so it's starring a cat as Rose. Get this person an Oscar.

oscars 2022, titanic

And the award for cutest co-star goes to...

While others debate over which movies are getting snubbed for the Oscars, let’s take a moment to bask in the true genius of filmmaking that should really be the talk of Tinsel Town.

If you haven’t stumbled across OwlKitty yet, here’s the lowdown:

OwlKitty is a 2-year-old cat in Portland, Oregon, who replaces the starring roles in beloved movies and television shows, in exchange for lots of treats and cuddles, according to her bio. OwlKitty’s real name is Lizzy, but everybody knows that all the great actresses have stage personas.

OwlKitty’s purrodies include pop culture standouts like "Star Wars," "Harry Potter," "Stranger Things," "Avengers: Endgame," and even a Billie Eillish music video. The editing on these things is so seamless, it’s nothing short of wizardry. Which makes sense, considering one of OwlKitty’s owners, Tibo Charroppin, is a professional filmmaker.

The latest film to undergo an OwlKitty reboot is "Titanic." Only instead of Kate Winslet playing her iconic role of Rose, OwlKitty takes the lead. And shines like the furry star she is.


This faux trailer has all the quintessential Jack-and-Rose moments: the Irish spinny dancy thing, the “draw me like one of your French girls” scene, and yes … the door. OwlKitty clearly has no problem leaving Jack to freeze to death.

Kate Winslet actually does an appearance at the end, being utterly offended at Jack’s drawing of OwlKitty. Sorry, Rose. The heart wants what it wants.

OwlKitty might receive no nom this awards season, but when it comes to public consumption, her version of "Titanic" is sweeping all the viral categories. In only a few days, the video has already garnered 11 million views on Facebook alone.

Plus it received some truly lovely (and funny) comments from fans:

“I would gladly pay to see a 3 hours version of this.”

“I laughed out loud when they showed the cat’s face when they were dancing.”

“This is the first thing that's made me laugh in days. Thank you.”

“This was AMAZINGLY put together. Please never stop making these! They make my day!!!”

“Now, this is the kind of deepfake I’m here for.”

Forget the critics, people love OwlKitty! Plus, according to the video, OwlKitty is already an Academy Award Winner anyway.

If you’re like me, nothing quite brings joy to the heart like cats and creativity. So OwlKitty definitely delivers a winning combination. When it comes to making audiences smile, this cat deserves all the awards.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I just found out that OwlKitty sells merchandise.

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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Photo by Egor Vikhrev on Unsplash

Let's talk about what makes people read articles.

The adage, "If it bleeds, it leads," refers to the media's tendency to headline stories involving death or violence, but it can also be used to point to people's negativity bias. Simply put, people tend to pay more attention to negative news stories than positive ones.

A new study seems to reinforce this idea. And much to our surprise, it's centered on headlines used in Upworthy stories.

Using a public archive of Upworthy headlines and traffic data from 2012 to 2015, two separate teams of researchers analyzed whether people's click tendencies changed with negative or positive words in headlines. In those olden days of Upworthy, a handful of headlines for a single story were tested on the website to see which one would receive the most clicks. The research teams analyzed those results and found that negative words in headlines led to more people clicking on a story (2.3% more), and positive words in headlines led to fewer clicks (1.0% fewer). They also found a preference for headlines that express sadness over those that express joy, fear or anger.

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Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

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Samantha Moriá Reynolds's advice on sick children.

It's cold and flu seasons, folks. During this time of year, we're all on a mission to avoid the demon viruses that threaten to invade our bodies and wage Armageddon on our immune systems.

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Family

A doctor specializing in child development shares 5 of her most surprising parenting tips

"How To Discipline Your Child So They Actually Learn" is one of her more popular videos.

via drkristynsommer / TikTok

Parenting is the most important job that most people will ever have in life. Your decisions as a parent will be some of the most important determining factors in whether your child becomes a happy and productive adult or not. It's a huge responsibility.

Parenting is a difficult and important undertaking, but many parents simply repeat the same strategies used by their parents. How often do we hear people rationalize their decisions by saying, "That's what my parents did and I came out ok."

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Pop Culture

Woman was mocked online for calling an $80 purse a 'luxury item.' Her response went viral.

"I'm so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money.”

@zohtaco/TikTok

Zoe Gabriel, showing off her new purse from Charles & Keith

Insults of any kind are painful, but jabs towards someone’s financial status are their own breed.

In January 2023, Singapore-based Zoe Gabriel was on the receiving end of this particular flavor of mockery when she posted a TikTok about a purse from local retail brand Charles & Keith—a gift bought for her by her father.

In her excitement, the 17-year-old called the bag, which costs around $80, a “luxury” item as she unwrapped it. Her excitement was sadly cut short by some of the negative comments she received.

One comment seemed to stand out above the rest and prompted Gabriel to post an emotional response video.

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