Danica McKellar is no stranger to Christmas films and has watched as the genre’s popularity continues to rise in recent years. “More than an escape, it provides a reminder of what human nature can be,” she said. “We need that. We need that reminder. We need, yes, the feeling of comfort, but also ideas for how to move forward in a wholesome, earnest kind of way.” McKellar stars in the upcoming film “A Cinderella Christmas Ball,” which follows her character’s search for her birth father. Similarly, she explained that while the characters in the Christmas movies may not appear especially dramatic, they are always dealing with genuine struggles. “It’s painful, it’s scary, but what you see is a character in earnest really doing her best, pushing through and trying to make good choices along the way,” she said of her character. “So that’s what we can model for people in the midst of just giving them, yes, comfort food around the holiday season, which it’s important to feel those warm and fuzzy feelings around the holidays.” The actress has starred in Christmas movies since 2012, from “Love at the Christmas Table” to 2023’s “A Royal Date for Christmas.” However, McKellar says “A Cinderella Christmas Ball” holds much more meaning for her than the others. “It’s much harder than they show in the packages because it would bum people out to see how stressful it is,” McKellar told host Cheryl Burke of the “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast. “It just wouldn’t be as fun anymore for people.” “Failure was not an option,” she added. “So I put an enormous amount of pressure on myself to try and fulfill it, and it broke me. I was in tears because I didn’t know how to handle that kind of pressure.” While the actress loves dancing, being in the competition show complicated her relationship with the sport. “I remember telling somebody it was like if you love chocolate and somebody puts you in a vat of chocolate and then holds your head under it,” she explained. “That’s what ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is like. And every now and then, you get a breath. It’s unrelenting.” Born on Jan. 3, 1975, in La Jolla, California, McKellar launched her acting career when she got the role of Gwendolyn “Winnie” Cooper on ABC’s hit coming-of-age series “The Wonder Years.” The show premiered in 1988 and ran for six seasons until ending in 1993. McKellar has also starred in a number of Hallmark films, including 2015’s “Crown for Christmas,” 2017’s “Campfire Kiss,” 2018’s “Love in Design,” and 2020’s “Christmas She Wrote.” The actress married Scott Sveslosky in 2014 and celebrated their 10-year anniversary this month. “Ten years has flown by, and I feel like the luckiest woman on the planet! Happy 10 year anniversary, my love!” she added. McKellar’s latest project, “A Cinderella Christmas Ball,” premieres Nov. 29.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Tafara Gapare scored 19 points, freshman Derik Queen had 15 points and eight rebounds and Maryland beat Bucknell 91-67 on Wednesday night. Maryland opened the game on a 15-2 run, extended it to 25-7 with 10:38 left and led 51-28 at the break. The Terrapins led by at least 16 points the entire second half, which included runs of 12-0 and 9-0. Gapare scored the 10 straight points during the second-half run. Gapare threw down a highlight dunk while being fouled with 2:08 remaining to give Maryland an 89-62 lead. He was called for a technical foul after stepping over Patrick O’Brien, who was attempting to take a charge. Jayden Williams made the two free throws for Bucknell and Gapare missed his free-throw attempt that would have tied his career high of 20 points. Maryland (6-1) has won 20 consecutive home games against unranked nonconference foes with its last loss coming on Dec. 1, 2021, against Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Julian Reese added 14 points and Selton Miguel scored 13 for Maryland. Gapare, a Georgia Tech transfer, reached double-figure scoring as a Terp for the first time. The Terrapins shot 50% from the field with three 3-pointers apiece by Gapare and Miguel. Ruot Bijiek led Bucknell (4-4) with 20 points and Josh Bascoe added 10. The Bison turned it over 20 times leading to 22 Maryland points. Maryland stays at home to play Alcorn State on Sunday. Bucknell returns home to play Siena on Saturday. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketballAs a kid, Jack Cowin shoveled snow, delivered newspapers and sold Christmas cards for cash. By the time he reached his 20s, it was burgers instead of cards. Fast forward to today: The 82-year-old is a billionaire, thanks to his fast food empire. Cowin is the founder and chairman of Competitive Foods Australia, the company that operates Burger King as "Hungry Jack's" in Australia. He is also the largest shareholder of Domino's Pizza in Australia, and backs a plant-based meat substitute company called v2food. > Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are Before founding Hungry Jack's, Cowin was responsible for bringing Kentucky Fried Chicken to Australia in 1969. Then in 2013, he sold off his KFC franchise of 55 stores in a deal worth about $71 million, according to a representative at Competitive Foods Australia. Today, his business is worth over $3 billion and brings in over $300 million a year, Cowin told CNBC Make It. Growing up in Canada, Cowin realized early on that he wanted freedom in life. His father was an employee at the Ford Motor Company and was required to travel frequently for work. "He had a phone call one day, you're going to Brazil, or you're going to Mexico, or things like this ... When you work for a big corporation, the corporation decides where you're going to be, [and] what you're going to do," Cowin said. "And as a kid, I wanted to have the freedom to do what I wanted to do. I think I saw that relatively early, because [I saw that] dad's on the treadmill of here, there and everywhere," he said. He didn't want to be at the "whims and beckon call of a corporation." So as a child, Cowin spent his time outside of school mowing lawns and delivering newspapers. "I never had to ask for money as a kid," he said. "I was a sales guy from very early, like 8 or 10 years old." By the time college rolled around, Cowin was going from farm to farm selling "trees, shrubs and nursing stock," he said. He was so successful at it that he was making $8,000 a year while his university professors were making only $5,000 a year, he said. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1964, and went on to get a job selling life insurance he said he was very good at. "I had a reputation of being someone that could sell," he said. By the late 1960s, Cowin had begun to settle down in Canada with his wife and his first child when he one day received a phone call from a couple of high school friends. His friends had landed a job with the American Kentucky Fried Chicken company and were sent to Australia to do some market research about whether they should expand into the country. "Since my father had been there [for work], and I was the only guy ... that knew where Australia was on a map ... they phoned me up and said: 'You should be down here. You should come and see this.' So without a moment's notice, I'm on a plane and I fly to Australia," Cowin said. Cowin landed in Australia in February 1969, and spent three weeks there helping his friends conduct research — ultimately finding that there was indeed a market for fast food in Australia. "At that stage of the game, the restaurant business in Australia was fish and chip shops, Chinese restaurants and fancy white tablecloth restaurants," he said. Meanwhile, McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and other fast food restaurants were all rising in popularity in North America. "So at the end of the three weeks, I pay $1,000 as a deposit on a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise [and] if the American company is going to open a store, then I was going to have a 10 store franchise," he said. Six months later, he received a phone call saying that the American KFC company agreed to expand into Australia and Cowin had the opportunity to own his first franchise location. But he didn't have the funds, so he started raising money. Imagine this "kid comes into your office and says he wants to borrow $10,000, which is probably about $100,000 today or more ... he's got no experience in the business, no interest on your money ... how long before you throw him out of your office for wasting your time?" "The biggest break I've had in my life was ... I got on my bike and I got 30 Canadians to lend me $10,000 each, so got $300,000," he said. "Otherwise I'd still be shoveling snow in Canada. I hadn't had the finances back then." By December 1969, Cowin moved his family to Perth, Australia, where he opened his first KFC franchise. "It was like drilling oil and hitting oil on your first wildcat well, because it was a booming success," he said. "Then, you open two more, you get into the hamburger business, you get into the pizza business, you get into the food manufacturing business, and today, that business is a $3 billion business and makes $300 million a year." Today, Cowin owns 98% of his company while the other 2% is held by some of his original investors and shareholders, he said. "That original $10,000 is $40 million at book value [today]. So everybody's got their money back, and those that stayed in have done increasingly well," he said. When asked what his secret to sales is, he said, "I think the secret is, whatever you do, do it well ... The people that lent me the money really backed me as the investment. I was the investment." " And an expression [I have is] when you can't tell the difference between work and play, you're in the right place ... I've never really worked a day in my life because I've enjoyed it." Want to earn more money at work? Take CNBC's new online course How to Negotiate a Higher Salary . Expert instructors will teach you the skills you need to get a bigger paycheck, including how to prepare and build your confidence, what to do and say, and how to craft a counteroffer. Sign up today and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 50% off through Nov. 26, 2024. Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It's newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.
VCI Global Stock Triples After Conditional Award Of $24M Contract: Retail Chatter Shows Heightened OptimismThings to watch this week in the Big 12 Conference: Game of the week No. 14 BYU (9-1, 6-1 Big 12, No. 14 CFP) at No. 21 Arizona State (8-2, 5-2, No. 21), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) League newcomer Arizona State has a three-game winning streak and BYU is coming off its first loss. The Cougars, after losing at home to Kansas, still control their own destiny in making the Big 12 championship game. They can clinch a spot in that Dec. 7 game as early as Saturday, if they win and instate rival Utah wins at home against No. 22 Iowa State. Arizona State was picked at the bottom of the 16-team league in the preseason media poll, but already has a five-win improvement in coach Kenny Dillingham's second season. The undercard No. 16 Colorado (8-2, 6-1, No. 16 CFP) at Kansas (4-6, 3-4), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (Fox) Coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes are in prime position to make the Big 12 title game in their return to the league after 13 seasons in the Pac-12. If BYU and Utah win, Colorado would be able to claim the other title game spot with a win over Kansas. The Buffs have a four-game winning streak. The Jayhawks need another November win over a ranked Big 12 contender while trying to get bowl eligible for the third season in a row. Kansas has won consecutive games over Top 25 teams for the first time in school history, knocking off Iowa State before BYU. Impact players Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht has thrown a touchdown in a school-record 14 consecutive games, while receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel both have more than 800 yards receiving. San Jose State is the only other FBS team with a pair of 800-yard receivers. Becht has 2,628 yards and 17 touchdowns passing for the Cyclones (8-2, 5-2), who are still in Big 12 contention. Inside the numbers Oklahoma State goes into its home finale against Texas Tech with a seven-game losing streak, its longest since a nine-game skid from 1977-78. The only longer winless streak since was an 0-10-1 season in 1991. This is Mike Gundy's 20th season as head coach, and his longest losing streak before now was five in a row in 2005, his first season and the last time the Cowboys didn't make a bowl game. ... Baylor plays at Houston for the first time since 1995, the final Southwest Conference season. The Cougars won last year in the only meeting since to even the series 14-14-1. ... Eight Big 12 teams are bowl eligible. As many as six more teams could reach six wins. Repeating 1,000 The Big 12 already has four 1,000-yard rushers, including three who did it last season. UCF's RJ Harvey is the league's top rusher (1,328 yards) and top scorer with 21 touchdowns (19 rushing/two receiving). The others with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons are Texas Tech career rushing leader Tahj Brooks (1,184 yards) and Kansas State's DJ Giddens (1,128 yards). Cam Skattebo with league newcomer Arizona State has 1,074 yards. Devin Neal, the career rushing leader at his hometown university, is 74 yards shy of being the first Kansas player with three 1,000-yard seasons. Cincinnati's Corey Kiner needs 97 yards to reach 1,000 again.
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South Korea's central bank on Thursday cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3% in a surprise move. Economists polled by Reuters had estimated the bank to hold rates at 3.25%. This also marked the first time the BOK has enacted two back-to-back cuts since 2009. It had cuts rates by 25 bps cut in its last meeting in October. The Kospi stock index was up 0.18%, while the South Korean fell 0.37% to trade at 1,393.82 against the U.S. dollar. The rate cut follows a weaker-than-expected GDP reading in the third quarter. South Korea's third-quarter GDP expanded by 1.5% year on year, below the 2% expected by economists polled by Reuters. BOK lowered its GDP forecast to 2.2% for 2024, down from 2.4% forecast in August, Reuters reported. The full-year growth outlook for 2025 was cut to 1.9% from 2.1%. Inflation in the country has also slowed substantially, with the October reading at 1.3%, its lowest rate since February 2021. This is breaking news, please check back for updates.King's high school 2024 junior prizegiving
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'Our relationships with friends are as important as those with family' Youyou Zhou at The Washington Post Recent data "shows that people of all age groups are spending far less time with friends than they did 20 years ago," says Youyou Zhou. We are "spending more time by ourselves, probably with our phones or in front of screens." The "most sustainable way to increase our time with friends," Zhou adds, is "not to create new or exciting adventures," but rather to "integrate friends into ordinary activities, such as sharing meals, watching films at home and grocery shopping." Read more 'Sports breed civility' Frederick J. Ryan Jr. and James Washington at the Los Angeles Times "Football's popularity, and its brutality, always takes heat for its role in the larger culture of violence," say Frederick J. Ryan Jr. and James Washington. But while the "growing emphasis on curbing the game's long-term health risks, especially its connections to brain injury," is important, "too much is learned from football to cast it aside." Sports "gather us together" and keep us from "turning further inward, deeper into the isolation and paranoia that fuel our present crisis." Read more 'Mangione has enjoyed an online fandom unlike any witnessed in recent history' Ross Barkan at The Guardian Gen Z's politics are a "harbinger of a new political order," says Ross Barkan. "Average people" are "sick of the wealthy and the famous," which explains the popularity of the "ultimate anti-influencer, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione," the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. "Over the next decade, the great clashes might not be between left and right," but "those who are open about their disdain for existing institutions and those who seek a new order." Read more 'Higher education has always been a tool of American soft power' Somdeep Sen at Al Jazeera "President-elect Donald Trump has promised to launch an all-out attack on American universities as soon as he returns to the White House," says Somdeep Sen. For example, "he could easily create an environment, and pass regulation, that would pressure institutions to move away from DEI initiatives," and he may also limit "minority and marginalized communities' access to higher education" with his promise to scrap federal loan forgiveness programs. "American universities may not have a choice but to accept their fate and adapt." Read more
South Korean opposition plans new impeachment