» How to Safely Celebrate the New Year Amid the Omicron COVID Surge The Los Angeles Times breaks down tips from health experts and officials on how to enjoy the upcoming holiday. [Los Angeles Times]
» Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty of Sex Trafficking a Minor The British socialite and ex-girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein—who died by suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial—was found guilty by a New York jury Wednesday of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. [CNN]
» Retailers Made a Comeback in 2021 Following a Year of Closures During the Height of the Pandemic This year through December 16, major retailers announced 5,083 store openings compared to 5,079 store closures, according to Coresight Research, a global advisory and research firm specializing in retail and technology. [NBC News]
» These are the COVID Symptoms From the Omicron Variant A group of 171 app users in the United Kingdom, most of whom are vaccinated, recently reported that their top symptoms were a runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, and a sore throat, according to a COVID study done by an international team of researchers. These were also the top symptoms for people who caught the Delta variant. [Vox]
» 2021 Proved That Cancel Culture Isn’t Really a Thing The Daily Beast’s Kevin Fallon details why everyone from Dr. Seuss, to Dave Chappelle, Chrissy Teigen, Morgan Wallen, and several other A-list celebrities haven’t really been “canceled.” [The Daily Beast]
TOP STORIES FROM L.A. MAG
» L.A. COVID Hospitalizations Top 1,000 for First Time Since Late September There were 1,069 COVID-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals as of Tuesday, according to state figures
» Thief in West Hollywood Snatches French Bulldog and Drags Owner with Car A suspect grabbed the 8-year-old dog early Tuesday morning while he was on a morning stroll with his owner
» 10 Music Artists We’ll Be Listening to in 2022 From UK songstress PinkPantheress to Las Vegas rhymer Baby Keem (Kendrick Lamar’s cousin), and multigenre singer Rina Sawayama
ONE MORE THING
Benedict Cumberbatch Is Back—And In Six Movies At Once
The interesting thing about Benedict Cumberbatch’s early career isn’t the fact his drama teacher considered him the most talented student he ever taught. Unless his drama teacher also happened to teach, say, Meryl Streep or Daniel Day-Lewis, Cumberbatch being the most talented student he ever taught is as inevitable as the Oscar that will someday adorn the Cumberbatch abode, if not this year, then soon enough. Rather, the interesting thing about Cumberbatch is that despite the drama teacher’s encomium, he counseled the young actor to give up acting anyway, having concluded that Cumberbatch’s talent—along with a name that sounds like a character in an Oz book as written by Charles Dickens—wasn’t the stuff of marquees.
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