• The Supreme Court upheld the deadline for a TikTok sale to a US company by January 19.
• TikTok users are mourning the potential app shutdown, sharing memories and viral moments.
• Reactions to TikTok's fate have been spreading as users bid farewell.

Content creators and their audiences are sharing their disappointment that the Supreme Court has decided to uphold a January 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold to a US company or banned in the US.

Memes about TikTok's looming Sunday shutdown haven't stopped since the US government cranked up the heat on the platform, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, due to concerns about whether the app threatens national security. Without an extension to the deadline, the beloved short-form video app will be removed from app stores and likely face a full shutdown in the US.

The reality of the Supreme Court's ruling is setting in for American TikToker users who had held out hope for a different resolution.

Offline, flyers for its unofficial funeral were posted in New York City for a "celebration of life" on Sunday.

Online, users are sharing the first viral moments they ever saved, participating in old trends "one last time," and wishing each other well on new platforms.

Some say they're getting in their last "doom scrolls" before the app potentially goes away for good.

"These last few days on TikTok have felt like the end of school," one creator said, like "signing yearbooks and just goofing off."

TikTok probably won't disappear from phones in the US immediately on Sunday. It won't be able to update the app anymore, but it's unclear if it will be fully shut down.

On X, a user reshared a video of a crying and dancing woman. The video has been a viral meme on TikTok for a while; they used it to illustrate TikTokers' reactions to Friday's ruling.

On TikTok itself, videos to the tunes of "American Pie" by Don McLean and "Good Riddance" by Green Day show compilations of users' favorite moments.

Some users say that their "For You" page is taking them down memory lane with nostalgic sounds, dances, and some of the most talked-about moments.

"How am I going to share my reactions to the unhinged Mafia romance books I read?" user rachelsreading.rambles said on TikTok in a post captioned, "If I don't laugh I will definitely cry."

Another TikToker, kailebrodersen, said, "I have had to hold back tears because TikTok is my main source of income" and expressed anger at the US shutdown, saying TikTok "showed us the American Dream."

Users have been flocking to alternative short-form video platforms, like China-based RedNote, to try to replace the app, but it's unclear whether RedNote, YouTube, Instagram, or other apps will eventually act as alternatives to TikTok.

But for now, it looks like the era of TikTok is truly coming to an end in the US.

• Scott Bessent's confirmation hearing this week held a number of clues as to what markets can expect from Trump 2.0.
• The long-time investor and hedge fund exec is Trump's pick to lead the US Treasury.
• Bessent said Trump would "unleash a new economic golden age" during his testimony.

Scott Bessent's nomination hearing gave markets a handful of hints as to what the next four years could look like.

The investor and hedge fund executive sat this week for his confirmation hearing as Donald Trump's pick to lead the US Treasury Department. Economists at Deutsche Bank noted that his remarks held a few important clues for investors.

In his testimony, Bessent said he believed Trump's presidency would help "unleash a new economic golden age," which could include more jobs and increased wealth for Americans. He also suggested the US was "barreling towards an economic crisis" at the end of the year.

If confirmed, Bessent will be in charge of Trump's plan to create the "Greatest Economic Boom," and will oversee the President-elect's plans to cut taxes, deploy tariffs, and curtail the national debt.

Here's what Deutsche Bank economists think were the top takeaways of Bessent's testimony.

1. Nothing has been taken off the table in Trump's tariff plan

Bessent didn't have firm guidance on what Trump's tariff plan could look like. In his testimony, the Treasury Secretary nominee said the tariffs would aim to even out unfair trade practices by other countries, raise federal revenue, and potentially give the US more bargaining power in negotiations. He didn't specify if the tariffs would be slowly implemented over time.

Bessent also pushed back against the idea that Trump's tariff plan was inflationary. Trump levied tariffs during his first term as president without a significant inflation increase, but economists say that his plan this time around is more expansive, explaining the difference in inflation outlooks for the coming years.

"Besesnt's comments on tariffs were notable in that they left everything on the table," the Deutsche Bank economists said.

2. Trump's 2017 tax cuts could be extended

Bessent doubled-down on his support for extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts. If the US doesn't extend the tax cuts, Americans could face $4 trillion tax hike when the 2017 package expires this year, he said.

"We must make permanent the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and implement new pro-growth policies to reduce the tax burden on American manufacturers, service workers, and seniors. I have already spoken with several members of this Committee, as well as leaders in the House about the best approach to achieving these important goals together," he added.

3. Bessent could crack down on government spending

Bessent emphasized his resolve to get the national debt and the widening deficit under control. He's been a vocal proponent of reducing the federal debt balance in the past, attributing rising debt levels to the government's "significant spending problem" in his testimony.

The total federal debt balance clocked in at $36.17 trillion as of Friday, according to US Treasury data.

"On the debt limit, Bessent provided reassurance that the US would not default on its debt if he were to be confirmed as Treasury Secretary," Deutsche Bank wrote.

Bessent also appeared "hesitant" to support removing the national debt limit, the Deutsche Bank economists noted, referring to an idea that Trump floated late last year. But, when questioned, Bessent said he would work with Trump to remove the debt limit, if Trump wished to do so

4. Trump will support the Fed's independence

Bessent pushed back against the notion that Trump would try to exert power over the Federal Reserve. Media reports that have suggested Trump would infringe on the independence of the Fed are "highly inaccurate," he added.

Bessent also did not speak about the potential for a "shadow Fed Chair," something he spoke about last year.

"Trump would make his views on monetary policy known, as Bessent noted Senators often do, but he does not support undermining Fed independence," the economists said.

5. Sanctions could get stronger

Bessent voiced support for intensifying sanctions on Russia and Iran. Sanctions on Russia, in particular, have not been "fulsome," Bessent said, suggesting he would tolerate higher oil prices in favor of increasing restrictions on Russia.

"If any officials in the Russian Federation are watching this confirmation hearing, they should know that if I'm confirmed and if President Trump requests it as part of his strategy to end the Ukraine war, I will be 100% on board from taking sanctions up, especially on the Russian oil majors to levels that would bring the Russian Federation to the table," Bessent said during the hearing.

"This statement could indicate that such sanctions may be near-term priorities for the Trump administration," Deutsche added.

• 23andMe has been exploring a possible sale of its telehealth business, Business Insider has learned.
• The struggling health company bought virtual care startup Lemonaid in 2021 for $400 million.
• 23andMe's stock has plummeted after a 2023 data breach exposed millions of customer accounts.

Struggling genetic testing company 23andMe has been quietly exploring a possible sale of its telehealth offering, Business Insider has learned.

The health company has been testing the waters for a possible buyer for Lemonaid Health, the virtual care business it bought in 2021 for $400 million in cash and stock, people with knowledge of the efforts told BI.

It's not clear how formal the efforts have been. 23andMe didn't respond to multiple requests for comment from BI.

When 23andMe acquired Lemonaid, the company said it wanted to provide personalized telemedicine care informed by its genetic data collection.

Founded in 2006, 23andMe seized consumer interest with its genetic testing kits that offered customers breakdowns of their ancestry. Later, in 2017, 23andMe started selling tests that could assess a customer's health risks for conditions like Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

23andMe went public in June 2021, a few months before the Lemonaid deal closed, at $11.13 a share.

Since then, 23andMe's stock price has tumbled due to a mass data breach and the resulting $30 million class action lawsuit. Now strapped for cash, the company cut 40% of its staff in November, or about 200 people, and shut down its drug discovery efforts.

In September, the company was trading at $.35 a share. The following month, 23andMe completed a reverse stock split, exchanging every 20 shares of its stock for one share to prevent it from being forced to delist from the Nasdaq. As of January 17, it's worth about $3.60 a share.

Three-quarters of Lemonaid's $400 million acquisition was paid as shares of 23andMe stock. 23andMe was valued at $3.5 billion when the company went public in 2021. Today, it's valued at about $91 million.

23andMe's nosedive

In 2023, 23andMe confirmed that ancestry data for nearly 7 million users was accessed and compromised. The data — including birth details and names — was sold on the dark web by hackers.

A data breach notification filing in January 2024 indicated that 23andMe took five months to realize the data had been accessed. This led to a class action lawsuit, which 23andMe settled for $30 million in September 2024, according to Reuters.

Alongside the challenges the company faced with the data breach, CEO Anne Wojcicki also proposed taking the company private in a July 2024 SEC filing. Five days later, that bid was rejected by a special committee assembled by 23andMe's board of directors.

Then, in September, the company said in a separate SEC filing that Wojcicki was open to the possibility of a third-party takeover. Shortly after, 23andMe's entire board of directors resigned.

Wojcicki walked back the remarks in a separate filing, and a 23andMe spokesperson told Business Insider in January that Wojcicki is no longer open to considering a third-party buyout. Wojcicki still intends to take 23andMe private, the spokesperson said at the time.

• "Severance" is finally back, three years after it first aired on Apple TV+.
• The series follows Lumon Industries' "severed" employees, who split their selves between work and home.
• Here's everything you need to remember before watching season two.

"Severance" season one was a workplace satire like no other — and after a three year wait, the ambitious Apple TV+ series is finally back.

The show follows a group of employees who work at the mysterious Lumon Industries. Unlike others at the company, they've undergone the "severance" procedure, which splits them into two distinct selves: one that lives in the outside world, and one that exists only at work.

The show's first season raised more questions than it answered, and three years is a long time to remember all of the series' various plot threads, intricacies, and goat-related mysteries. Here's a recap of everything that happened in season one — and what you need to remember before diving into "Severance" season two.

Mark S. is a "severed" employee at Lumon — and his new coworker Helly R. wants to leave.

Lumon Industries pioneered a workplace procedure called severance, which bifurcates a person's consciousness into two distinct entities by inserting a chip into their brain. Their "outie" exists in the outside world, while their "innie" exists at work. The split means that outies have no knowledge of their jobs — and innies have no knowledge of their outie's life outside the Lumon office. Sometimes, the severance technology is applied in other contexts: Mark's sister Devon encounters a mother who underwent severance so she wouldn't have to experience childbirth.

After his wife's death, Mark Scout (Adam Scott) accepts a job at Lumon as a Macrodata Refiner on the severed floor. He leads a team of three other employees: Dylan G. (Zach Cherry), Irving B. (John Turturro), and newcomer Helly R. (Britt Lower), who replaced their longtime colleague Petey (Yul Vazquez).

When Helly R. awakes on a conference table, she's hostile and wants to leave. Mark lets her go — but every time Helly attempts to exit the severed floor, the person she is on the outside forces her to reenter.

Helly Mark, Irving, and Dylan stare at lines of code all day, dragging numbers into buckets based on the emotional response they provoke. Employees work through files with names like "Tumwater" — but unfortunately, none of them have a clue what kind of work they're doing. It's rare for employees to finish files because they quickly expire, Dylan says — which makes finishing a file a big deal.

Helly persistently tries to leave her job at Lumon.

Helly attempts to formally resign from her job at Lumon, but her outie immediately denies the request. In turn, Helly attempts to send messages to her outie telling her that she wants to quit, to no avail. After one attempt to communicate with her outie, Helly is taken to the Break Room, where she's forced to repeat an apologetic monologue until supervisor Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) determines that she means it.

Helly resorts to more extreme measures, threatening to cut off her fingers if she's not allowed to send a video message to her outie. In response, Helly's outie sends a video message denying her request and tells Helly that she's not a person.

As a last resort, Helly attempts to hang herself in the elevator. She survives, but her outie forces her to return. Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman), the wellness counselor, is asked to observe her. When Mark and Helly escape Ms. Casey's supervision, she gets sent to the Break Room for punishment.

Lumon has a religious devotion to its founder, Kier Eagan.

The Lumon CEOs have all come from the Eagan line, and the office features numerous displays of reverence for the founder, Kier Eagan. Among those is the perpetuity wing, which features figures of members of the Eagan line and dedicates an entire section to Kier himself.

Lumon espouses many of Kier's philosophies, including his four tempers — woe, frolic, dread, and malice — that he believed determine a person's character.

Devotion to Kier isn't just the company line for some. Mark's boss, Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), genuinely worships the founder and has a shrine to him in her home.

In the outside world, Mark lives a lonely life.

While innie Mark is cheerful, outie Mark bears the weight of his wife's death. His sister Devon (Jen Tullock) is skeptical of his job, especially after he returns from work with an injury and a gift card to Pip's, a local bar and grill, as recompense.

When Mark goes to Pip's, he runs into Petey, a man whom this version of himself has never met. However, Petey is unsevered now, and he thinks Lumon is out to get him. Petey hands Mark a red envelope and says that even if he dies, the information he collected needs to be preserved.

There's another surprise in the outside world: Mark's neighbor, Mrs. Selvig, is actually Harmony Cobel, his innie's boss.

Petey is involved with a group trying to end severance, and it's a big problem for Lumon.

When Mark visits Petey on the outside, he finds Petey ill from something he's calling "reintegration sickness," caused by the fusion of his two personalities. Mark takes him in, but Petey doesn't have many answers about their job at Lumon.

Before his dismissal, Petey's innie made a map of the severed floor, which Mark discovers and eventually shreds. On the outside, Petey was working with a group trying to end severance. His point of contact was a doctor named Raghabi, who reintegrated him. Eventually, Petey collapses and dies, presumably from the reintegration sickness.

In the aftermath, Harmony attends Petey's funeral, where she steals his severance chip directly from his skull. Lumon security officer Graner (Michael Cumpsty) tests the chip and confirms that Petey's memory was reintegrated.

Mark eventually makes contact with Raghabi, and she tells him that she was the one who did his severance procedure. When Graner turns up, however, Raghabi beats him to death with a baseball bat. She gives Mark Graner's security card and says that his innie will know what to do with it.

Irving strikes up a friendship with Burt from O&D, despite tension between their departments.

After falling asleep at his desk — and witnessing a horrifying vision of goopy black paint invading his workspace as a result — Irving gets sent to meet with Ms. Casey, who reads him a list of pleasing, supposed facts about his outie.

There, he runs into Burt (Christopher Walken), the Optics & Design department chief. Macrodata Refinement and O&D don't typically get along due to a rumor that O&D once tried to execute a coup.

Irving pursues a friendship with Burt, but later learns that O&D is a much larger department than Burt told him. Irving and Dylan corner Burt in a conference room, and he tells them that O&D doesn't trust MDR either. After speaking, they tentatively reconcile.

Irvin and Burt's relationship continues to deepen, and they nearly kiss. Unfortunately, Burt retires — effectively meaning that his innie ceases to exist, and Irving will likely never see him again.

MDR stages a revolution, with shocking consequences.

After Dylan takes a card from O&D, Milchick awakens his innie on the outside to confirm where he left the card. While awakened on the outside, Dylan sees his outie's son.

The incident inspires MDR to attempt to awaken themselves on the outside, using Graner's security card that Mark found in his pocket. After hitting their target for the quarter, Dylan earns a waffle party, meaning that he'll be at the office after hours.

Before they leave the office that day, Mark and Helly kiss. After sitting through his reward, which features a performance from lingerie-clad dancers wearing the masks of Kier's four tempers, Dylan initiates the "overtime contingency" (OTC), awakening his colleagues on the outside.

Irving awakens alone in his apartment, and attempts to locate Burt on the outside. When he does, however, he discovers that Burt has a husband.

Mark wakes up at his brother-in-law Ricken's book launch party, where he recognizes Harmony Cobel. Despite having been suspended by the Lumon board, Cobel runs back to the office when she realizes that Mark's innie is on the outside. At the party, however, Mark sees a photo of his wife Gemma and realizes she's still alive as Ms. Casey, the severed floor wellness counselor.

Unfortunately, Ms. Casey was forced to retire after a final wellness session with Mark. The circumstances of her severance were also different from his: during that session, she told him that she was mostly awakened in 30-minute increments and had only been "alive" for 107 total hours. After the session, and at Cobel's request, Milchick sent her down a dark hallway to the testing floor.

Helly's identity reveal is the biggest shock: she's Helena Eagan, heir to Lumon. She awakens at a company event where she's supposed to speak firsthand about the benefits of severance. While there, she meets her father, Jame Eagan, who tells her that the world will adopt severance chips and become "Kier's children."

Cobel tries to stop Helly from speaking at the event but is unsuccessful. When it's time to give her speech, Helly goes rogue and exposes herself as Helena's innie, telling the crowd gathered there that she and the other innies are "prisoners" of the company.

There are also some goats and a few other loose ends.

While wandering around the halls of the severed floor, Mark and Helly encounter a room full of goat kids. A man bottle-feeding one tells them that "they're not ready" and that "it isn't time." He rushes them out.

Irving's outie is also an artist, but when we meet him on the outside, it turns out that he keeps painting the same black hallway, using paint that resembles the goop his innie sometimes hallucinates. This hallway resembles the one that Ms. Casey walks down on her way to the testing floor.

Mark's brother-in-law, Ricken, also accidentally wrote a religious text for the innies. After Ricken dropped it off on outie Mark's front porch, Cobel stole it and brought it to the Lumon office. There, innie Mark and Dylan both begin to read from the book, and internalize some of its worker-specific messages.

"Severance" season two premieres on Apple TV+ on January 17.

• Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's are well known for their chicken wings.
• I tried Buffalo wings from both chains to determine a winner based on taste and value.
• Buffalo Wild Wings took the lead with its buttery chicken wings with a generous amount of meat.

As the Super Bowl approaches, many restaurant chains are banking on popular tailgate favorites to attract fans.

Buffalo chicken wings are one of the top choices for game-day snacks — a report from the National Chicken Council estimated that Americans were expected to consume 1.45 billion chicken wings during the 2024 Super Bowl.

To capitalize on wings' popularity throughout football season, many chain restaurants are offering promotional deals, family-sized bundles, and free delivery to lure in customers as people continue to battle rising food prices and inflation.

I tried classic Buffalo wings from Applebee's and Buffalo Wild Wings, two chains known for their wings, to determine which restaurant wings were better, based on taste and value.

I thought the wings from Applebee's were crispy and flavorful.

At my local Applebee's in Brooklyn, New York, nine classic bone-in wings were priced at $18.99, before tax and fees. The order included celery sticks and sides of ranch and blue cheese dipping sauces.

This year, Applebee's became the NFL's official grill and bar partner after the chain recognized significant overlap between its customer base and NFL fans.

"We know our guests are football fans," Applebee's chief marketing officer Joel Yashinsky told Business Insider.

The wings were big and fried to a crisp.

The wings were tender and juicy, and the sauce had a rich, buttery flavor.

The Buffalo sauce struck a great balance between its spicy kick and savory, buttery notes, creating a well-rounded flavor. The meat inside was impressively juicy, and I appreciated the generous size of the wings.

There was a hearty serving of meat inside, but not as much as the wings from Buffalo Wild Wings.

My main gripe with Applebee's wings was the price: $18.99 for a plate of wings seemed steep, even though the wings were on the larger side. That said, prices may vary depending on the location you visit.

The wings from Applebee's and Buffalo Wild Wings ended up costing around the same amount per wing when I divided the price by how many wings I received. However, I would have liked the option to order fewer wings at Applebee's and pay less upfront.

I slightly preferred the Buffalo wings from Buffalo Wild Wings.

Buffalo Wild Wings' Buffalo bone-in wings are arguably the chain's most iconic menu item, so I was excited to see how they would compare to wings from a classic chain like Applebee's. They definitely didn't disappoint.

I ordered a six-count of traditional Buffalo wings through the Buffalo Wild Wings app for $12.49, excluding tax and fees, and a side of ranch.

The wings were shorter in length but had a generous amount of meat on them.

The wings were crispy and evenly coated with a light layer of Buffalo sauce that covered every inch. The order included a mix of drumsticks and flats, with the drumsticks standing out for being especially meaty.

I had to give the win to Buffalo Wild Wings for their buttery wings.

The chicken inside the wings was moist and tender, and the crispy skin added a nice balance in terms of texture. The sauce, with its slightly sweet, spicy, and buttery flavor, enhanced the overall taste.

They tasted much like the wings I've made at home but without the time and effort required to cook them myself.

In terms of value, I found these wings to be an excellent deal for the price given their flavor and amount of meat on each wing. Their quality and flavor exceeded expectations, and I wouldn't hesitate to order them again.

• After giving birth to twins, I built a wardrobe aimed at trying to hide my waist.
• However, after working with a personal stylist, I realized this approach was sabotaging my look.
• Instead, the stylist encouraged me to accentuate my waistline with tailored tops and belts.

Ten years ago, I carried my twins to full term, and they came out big and healthy.

However, my pregnant belly was enormous, and my overstretched ab muscles couldn't come back together after pregnancy, leaving me with a significant case of diastasis recti (abdominal-muscle separation) and a rounded-out belly.

This took a major toll on my body image, which, in turn, affected the way I dressed myself. Instead of expressing my personal style through my clothes — something I'd always loved to do — I built a wardrobe around simply trying to hide my waist area.

Feeling like it was time for a change, I started working with Chellie Carlson, a stylist based in my Los Angeles neighborhood.

Over the course of two meetings, Carlson helped me shop my closet and found one major mistake I was making that sabotaged my entire look.

Carlson looked through my clothes and identified the mistake I was making

During our meetings, Carlson sorted through my clothes and explained that my approach to hiding my midsection was actually making me look bigger in the area I wanted to deemphasize.

My clothes were exaggerating my proportions rather than streamlining them — which wasn't doing me any favors.

She explained that the more flattering approach would be to accentuate my waistline with tailored tops and belts.

So, under Carlson's guidance, I took all my peplum tops out of the closet and tossed them into the donation pile.

She also encouraged me to take a billowing shirt — like my favorite silky button-down — and tuck it into my pants for a more flattering and polished look.

For my other loose-fitting tops — like graphic T-shirts — she showed me how to use a clear hair elastic to invisibly cinch them in the back, creating a more fitted and flattering silhouette.

The closet overhaul boosted my confidence and inspired me to express my personal style again

After working with the stylist, I felt inspired to buy some new pieces in the spirit of dressing with confidence. However, this time, I was driven by a neutral attitude toward my form instead of a self-loathing one.

Based on Carlson's suggestions, I'm now layering my slimmer-fitting tops with oversize blazers or outer layers, which help elongate my torso and balance the look. I'm also pairing everything with high-waisted and wider-leg pants that help me strike a more proportional — and current — style.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with the results of our meetings. The closet overhaul boosted my confidence and inspired me to express my personal style again.

I still won't be wearing crop tops or clingy dresses — this isn't a story about suddenly finding absolute peace with a changed body — but I've learned to express myself in a way that better complements my body.

• My family of 4 recently visited Italian-American chain Maggiano's Little Italy for the first time.
• Our $230 meal included bread service, appetizers, drinks, four pasta dishes, and dessert.
• Overall, our meal felt like a great value. The atmosphere felt high-end, and our food was delicious.

The chain Maggiano's Little Italy has been around since the early 1990s and has over 50 locations around the US, but I'd never visited it until recently.

The Italian-American eatery got on my radar late last year when it tapped Michelin-starred chef Anthony Amoroso as its first-ever vice president of innovation and growth.

Plus, it's owned by the same company as Chili's, which is currently making a huge comeback (especially among Gen Z consumers). I was curious to see if I felt its "sister" chain could be next.

So, my husband, two teens, and I headed to dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy in Orlando. Here's what our meal was like.

Right off the bat, Maggiano's felt high-end and intimate.

On the outside, the restaurant's black awning with simple lettering felt elegant and welcoming.

Inside, Maggiano's ambiance reminded me of a high-end, pricey steakhouse or an authentic Italian restaurant. The candle-lit, chandelier-dotted interior felt quite intimate and cozy.

I didn't feel like I was in a chain restaurant at all. In fact, it reminded me of when I used to live in Baltimore and visit its Little Italy neighborhood for dinner.

The restaurant has a family-style menu, but we chose to order individual dishes.

The restaurant offers a family-style menu with shareable courses, including starters, an entrée, a pasta dish, and a dessert.

It seemed like a decent deal for about $50 a person. However, everyone in my party had specific cravings and wanted pasta, so we ordered from the regular menu instead.

We started the meal with a round of drinks.

To start off the meal, my husband ordered a Negroni ($9) while my teenagers and I stuck with sodas and iced tea ($5 each).

Later in the meal, my husband ordered an $18 glass of wine to go with his pasta, followed by a $5 cup of coffee with dessert.

He spent way more on drinks than others in our group — over $30 — but the three of us were content with our free refills.

A complimentary bread course came out soon after we were seated.

Soon after we were seated, we were brought a basket of fresh, warm ciabatta bread and oil with herbs for dipping.

The bread was delicious, and we were served so many pieces that we even had some left to take home.

For our appetizer, we shared fried mozzarella.

We started our meal by sharing the fried mozzarella for $16.

The crisp planks of battered and fried cheese were topped with melted mozzarella and served with a tomato dipping sauce.

Everyone at my table enjoyed this tasty appetizer, which felt like an elevated take on mozzarella sticks.

My daughter also got a bowl of creamy tomato soup as an appetizer.

Topped with tasty croutons, Maggiano's tomato soup ($10.50) was a great starter for my soup-loving daughter. She really enjoyed it and even let me try a few bites.

The creamy soup tasted perfectly tangy and seasoned with just enough salt to make each bite perfect.

I tried one of Maggiano's signature pasta dishes.

Before visiting any chain, I love checking out the dishes that have copycat recipes on social media. I found a lot of people making copycat versions of Maggiano's Rigatoni D pasta on TikTok, so I ordered it.

The dish includes rigatoni mixed with roasted chicken, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and marsala cream sauce.

It was really good, and I can see why TikTokers recreate the $28.50 dish. The generous portion size meant I took some of the pasta home. Fortunately, it was as delightful leftover as it was served fresh.

My daughter also chose a rigatoni dish for her meal.

One of Maggiano's newer menu items is rigatoni alla vodka ($26.50), a combination of rigatoni, Calabrian chiles, caramelized onions, and vodka sauce.

My daughter added grilled chicken to the dish for an additional $8.50.

We're big fans of pasta with vodka sauce and make it at home often — even so, Maggiano's version of the dish held up.

This creamy pasta was really delicious, especially when eaten leftover the next day.

My son ordered classic spaghetti and meatballs.

My son is a picky eater, so he kept his order simple with spaghetti and meatballs.

His $25.50 spaghetti dish was really good. It was full of classic Italian flavors, with tangy tomato sauce and hearty meatballs.

He had no complaints and also came home with leftovers.

Lastly, my husband chose a carbonara with lobster.

Another fan-favorite dish at Maggiano's is lobster carbonara ($39), a blend of lobster, smoked bacon, sugar snap peas, white-wine truffle cream sauce, Parmesan, and spaghetti.

TikTok is also full of copycat recipes for this pasta dish, so we expected it to be pretty impressive. After all, what's not to love about creamy sauce, pasta, bacon, and lobster?

My husband thoroughly enjoyed this generously portioned dish.

Although I couldn't try it due to a shellfish allergy, he said it was everything he'd want from a carbonara, with just the right hints of creamy sauce and carb-y spaghetti to soak it all up.

Maggiano's also had my favorite dessert — and it tasted wonderful.

Crème brûlée is my favorite dessert, so I'm sure to order it whenever it's on a menu. We were incredibly full from our evening of bread, fried cheese, and pasta, so we decided to share one $12.50 order of it.

I'm glad we shared because this dessert felt huge, just like the pasta dishes we had earlier. It was easily double the size of any crème brûlée I've had in a restaurant.

It was also delicious. As full as I was, I couldn't help but go back for bite after bite of this creamy, sugary, warm treat.

Maggiano's impressed us more than other high-end dining chains have.

Our $230 dinner (including tax and before tip) included lots of drinks, a complimentary bread service, an appetizer, four giant pasta dishes, and a dessert.

Overall, it felt like a great value, and the atmosphere at Maggiano's rivaled any high-end chain we've visited.

We spent less on our meal here than we would at most steakhouse chains, but our dining experience felt just as high-end and high-quality.

Our table felt intimate and we were able to chat with our teenagers and have a great dinner together, something that's just as valuable to my husband and I as the food these days.

To save money next time, we might share dishes since the portion sizes are huge. I'd also consider coming back just to sit at the bar and have crème brûlée for dessert.

Based on my experience, I'd definitely return to Maggiano's and add it to the list of chain restaurants I'd visit with family again and again.

• Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil-rights activist who helped end segregation in the US.
• Martin wasn't his given name — he was born Michael King Jr., after his father.
• On top of receiving two bachelor's degrees, he received a doctor of philosophy at Boston University.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential figures in the US civil-rights movement.

Much of what people know about the activist is limited to his iconic role in the 1963 March on Washington. However, beyond his timeless, quotable speeches there are many fascinating aspects to learn about his life.

Here are some interesting facts about Dr. King that you probably didn't learn in school.

He is the only American, other than George Washington, whose birthday is a national holiday.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day became an officially observed holiday for schools, banks, and federal offices across the US in 1986 — making him the first non-president to have his birthday become a national holiday. 

However, it took a while for all 50 states to get on board with honoring the activist.

South Carolina was the final state to officially observe the national holiday in 2000. 

Stevie Wonder wrote a song to honor the late activist.

In the wake of Dr. King's death in 1968, several notable figures found ways to honor him and aid in the push for MLK Day.

By the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter pledged his support of the holiday, but the King Holiday Bill didn't pass in Congress. 

To help garner support in the following years, Stevie Wonder wrote and recorded his song "Happy Birthday" in honor of Dr. King. He also joined the reverend's wife on a four-month tour to advocate for the holiday.

After the tour, they delivered a petition to the speaker of the house with 6 million names on it.

Dr. King was always a natural in front of a crowd.

Dr. King's public-speaking talents date back to his teenage years when he won an oratory contest in Georgia for speaking on a topic titled "The Negro and the Constitution" when he was a teen. 

According to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford, in the orientation, he highlighted the contradictory nature of the US Constitution in the context of discrimination.

His name wasn't originally Martin.

Dr. King's given name was actually Michael, after his father, the Rev. Michael King Sr.

In 1934, after King Sr. attended an international Baptist conference in Germany where he became inspired by the teachings of 16th-century religious thinker Martin Luther, he changed both his name and his son's. 

At the time, Dr. King was already 5 years old, so he remained "Mike" to his closest friends and family for the rest of his life.

He was passionate about fighting for racial justice from a young age.

In "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.," Dr. King recounted his first personal experience with racism and segregation. 

As a child, his white friend suddenly refused to play with him anymore, and he credited this betrayal as the moment he first became interested in fighting against racism.

He was kicked out of the first grade, and he ended up skipping two more years of school later on.

Dr. King enrolled in first grade at age 5, which was too young per the school's entry requirements, so his teacher expelled him. 

Years later, he was able to skip both the ninth and 12th grades because of his academic achievements. 

Dr. King enrolled in college when he was 15.

Instead of finishing the 12th grade and going through a formal high-school graduation, Dr. King was accepted into and enrolled at Morehouse College at age 15, where he completed a Bachelor's degree in sociology.

One of his first jobs was working for a newspaper.

From an early age, Dr. King had an established paper route.

His work ethic allowed him to be promoted, and he became the youngest assistant manager for The Atlanta Journal delivery station at age 13.

The reverend wasn't always steadfast in his faith.

Although he would later become a religious leader, as a teenager, Dr. King had a very different view of his faith.

In his autobiography, he wrote that he wasn't afraid to openly question everything he had been taught, even when it got him into trouble.

"At the age of 13, I shocked my Sunday school class by denying the bodily resurrection of Jesus," he wrote. "Doubts began to spring forth unrelentingly."

Dr. King wasn't inspired to become a minister until college.

Dr. King didn't always plan on following in his father's footsteps and becoming a minister.

However, according to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford, after he took a bible course with Dr. George D. Kelsey, he was inspired to use ministry as a medium for social justice and racial reform.

He was valedictorian of his class at Crozer Theological Seminary.

Given his rich interest in academia, it makes sense that Dr. King graduated at the top of his class.

He was named valedictorian and honored with a fellowship that covered part of his graduate-study expenses.

He earned his Ph.D. in systematic theology at Boston University.

On top of receiving two Bachelor's degrees (one in sociology from Morehouse College and the other in divinity from The Crozer Theological Seminary), King went on to earn a Ph.D. from Boston University in 1955, making him a doctor of philosophy. 

He was also awarded at least 20 honorary degrees in later years.

As if earning three degrees as a student wasn't enough, Washington State University reported that Dr. King was awarded honorary doctorates from Howard University, Bard College, Yale, Wesleyan, and many other higher-education institutions across the US and the world. 

American essayist Henry David Thoreau had a profound impact on his civil-rights career.

Throughout most of his life, Dr. King was a voracious reader. He enjoyed delving into the works of great philosophers and thinkers like Socrates, Rousseau, and Aristotle.

But of all the great texts that influenced him, the essay "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau was perhaps the most impactful. 

According to his autobiography, Dr. King said Thoreau's belief that an individual should not cooperate with an evil system greatly influenced his worldview. It also inspired his belief in his own ability to enact social change at the individual level.

He first met his future wife over the phone.

While studying at Boston University, Dr. King lamented to friends that he had yet to meet any woman he seriously liked. He then reached out to his friend, Mary Powell, who suggested he meet Coretta Scott.

The couple had their very first interaction over a brief phone call, during which they agreed to meet in person.

At the time, Scott was studying opera at The New England Conservatory for Music and hoped to be a concert singer.

Dr. King wrote in his autobiography, "She was a mezzo-soprano and I'm sure she would have gone on into this area if a Baptist preacher hadn't interrupted her life."

He called Boston his second home.

After spending several of his young-adult years in Boston, Dr. King reportedly referred to it as his second home.

He returned to the New England city several times throughout the rest of his life.

Dr. King and his wife had an unusual honeymoon.

Dr. King married Scott on June 18, 1953, in Alabama.

After enjoying a beautiful ceremony lead by King Sr., the couple looked for a place to stay for the night.

At the time, no hotels in their area welcomed black couples as guests, so the pair spent their first night together at a family friend's house — but he happened to be an undertaker who worked out of his home.

He didn't expect to become a civil-rights leader.

The King family moved from Atlanta to Montgomery, Alabama, when the famous 1956 bus boycott — a citywide protest against racialized segregation on public transit — began.

At the time, King was only 26 and pretty much unknown in activist spaces, though he had previously expressed interest in social justice.

He originally opposed the boycott because he worried that it was unethical to put people's jobs at risk.

But when he realized the ultimate goal behind the protest, he volunteered to use his church's basement as a meeting spot for boycott organizers. During their first meeting, the group elected Dr. King as their president because no one else stood up to take the role.

He then wrote his very first public, political speech in less than an hour. 

He wrote six books throughout his life.

His collected works include "Stride Toward Freedom," "Where Do We Go From Here," and "Why We Can't Wait," which all document the rise of civil-rights movements in the US. 

Additionally, he published a book of his most-requested sermons, a collection of his broadcasted addresses, and an autobiography.

He spoke at over 2,500 events and gave hundreds of addresses a year.

During his short, 12-year career in the public eye, Dr. King delivered an astounding number of public speeches.

It's estimated that between his weekly sermons at church and media appearances, he spoke about 450 times a year.

Although the famed "I Have a Dream" speech will always hold a special place in history, it certainly wasn't the only memorable address he delivered during his life.

Some people believe his last speech foreshadowed his death.

The day before Dr. King was assassinated, he gave a speech in Memphis, Tennessee, to offer support for sanitation workers who had received unfair treatment from their bosses.

The goal of this address was to push for union representation, safer working conditions, and living wages. 

He told the crowd, "And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land."

In the aftermath of his death, some people found the language he used to be an eerie indication that he knew his death was imminent.

He won a Grammy award.

One of Dr. King's most controversial addresses went on to receive a high honor.

The speech, referred to as "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam" and "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam," was recorded on vinyl and earned him a postmortem Grammy for best spoken-word recording in 1970.

He almost died years before his assassination.

In 1958, a woman approached Dr. King at a book-signing event in New York City and stabbed him with a letter opener.

The attack resulted in a life-threatening injury close to his heart, but he received prompt emergency medical care and survived.

His imprisonment helped JFK get elected.

In October 1960, Dr. King was jailed for participating in a sit-in protest at a Georgia department store. At the time, Senator John F. Kennedy (JFK) was running against Richard Nixon for the US presidency.

Although Kennedy was a registered democrat, his views on civil rights and racial justice had been unclear.

However, upon learning of the reverend's unjust treatment by the police department, a key advisor told Kennedy that his response to the situation would determine his voter turnout in the election.

As a result, Kennedy called Scott King and personally offered her his support.

Many historians credit this action to the large Black voter turnout in the 1960 election and Kennedy's eventual win. 

Someone else at the motel died on the day of Dr. King's assassination.

One of the staff members who worked at the hotel where Dr. King was assassinated died shortly after the reverend did.

The motel owner's wife was so traumatized by the sight and sound of his death that it caused her to suffer from a fatal stress-induced heart attack.

His political position became more radical over time.

Throughout the 1960s, the scope of Dr. King's activism work went beyond civil rights and into economic justice.

He increasingly used his platform to advocate for causes like guaranteed annual income and healthcare.

However, he also vocalized his strong opposition to the Vietnam War, which caused him to lose a significant amount of American approval, according to Jenn M. Jackson's MLK feature for Teen Vogue.

The most memorable part of his "I Have a Dream" speech was unplanned.

During the 1963 March on Washington, Dr. King delivered a monumental speech that had been well-prepared by his speechwriter, Clarence Jones.

But the more he spoke in front of that 250,000-person crowd, the more impassioned he grew, which led him to go off course toward the end of the speech.

Those famous, poetic lines that nearly everyone in the US can quote — "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up … " — were improvised.

He spoke around the world in countries such as India, Ghana, and England.

Once Dr. King became president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he began traveling all over the world to deliver speeches about the importance of fighting for racial equality.

Some of his notable trips include his visit to Ghana, where he celebrated the country's independence, his overnight stint in the UK, where he accepted an honorary degree from Newcastle University, and his pilgrimage to India, where he met the followers of Mahatma Gandhi.

He is still the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1964, King received this global honor for his unwavering commitment to civil rights, nonviolence, and helping the US government move toward making discrimination unlawful.

He was 35 years old then, making him the youngest male recipient to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 

But five women — Malala Yousfazi (17), Mairead Corrigan (32), Tawakkol Karman (32) Betty Williams (33), Rigoberta Menchú Tum (33) — received the award at younger ages. 

He is honored in cities all over the world.

There are currently dozens of statues and monuments commemorating Dr. King across the US and the world — including one in England at Westminster Abbey and another in Cuba.

That doesn't include the countless schools and 1,000-plus streets named after him across the globe. 

He had a deep appreciation for gospel and jazz music.

Dr. King's religious upbringing greatly influenced his love for music. His mom was even an organist for the church he attended during his childhood.

From the time he was a young boy, he sang in a gospel choir and believed in the healing power of music, especially hymns. He later went on to call singers like Mahalia Jackson and Nina Simone his favorite artists.

He enjoyed jazz music, too.

He even traveled to Berlin and delivered the opening address for the 1964 Jazz Festival titled "On the Importance of Jazz."

Dr. King's final conversation involved a simple request.

According to biographer and historian Taylor Branch, Dr. King's final conversation was with a saxophonist named Ben Branch.

The reverend reportedly asked the musician to play his favorite song, the hymn "Precious Lord, Take My Hand," at an event they were both scheduled to attend later that evening.

However, Dr. King never got to hear Branch's rendition of the song. Moments after making this request, he was assassinated on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 

This story was originally published in January 2019 and most recently updated on January 17, 2025. 

Read More:

• 7 of Martin Luther King Jr.'s family members who have continued his legacy
• Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat 64 years ago — here are 15 surprising facts about her
• 15 iconic moments in the LGBTQ rights movement from the last decade
• 21 of the most important human rights milestones in the last 100 years

• Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin scored a major win Thursday with its first New Glenn launch.
• The heavy-lift vehicle is poised to open up an entirely new business for Bezos' company.
• Meanwhile, SpaceX forges a path of full reusability with its revolutionary Starship rocket.

Jeff Bezos's spaceflight company, Blue Origin, made a huge leap forward on Thursday when it successfully launched its uncrewed New Glenn rocket into space on the first try.

It's a pivotal moment for Blue Origin. New Glenn — named after the first American to reach orbit, John Glenn — is the company's first and only orbital rocket.

It's poised to open up a new business for Blue Origin and accelerate the company's effort to catch up to SpaceX as a dominating force in spaceflight.

There is a lot of catching up to do, even though SpaceX had a setback the same day as New Glenn's launch when its Starship exploded during its seventh spaceflight.

"Comparing them directly with SpaceX at the moment is premature, as they have years to go to catch up," Abhi Tripathi, a former SpaceX mission director who now leads mission operations at the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab, told Business Insider in an email.

"Getting to orbit on the first attempt of a new rocket is commendable," he added. "Now the real work can begin: demonstrating the reliability and repeatability of your rocket."

New Glenn can't match Starship, and it isn't meant to

New Glenn is a big step for Blue Origin, but it's nowhere near as revolutionary to the launch industry as Starship, SpaceX's most ambitious project.

Leroy Chiao, a retired NASA astronaut who consulted for SpaceX on its Safety Advisory Panel for 12 years, called Starship "the most exciting thing" since the Apollo era.

"It is going to be really disruptive" because of its size, power, and full reusability, he told Business Insider in December.

While New Glenn is designed to reuse its booster — much like SpaceX's Falcon rockets — Starship is set to be fully and rapidly reusable. Both its upper and lower stages are meant to return to Earth, get refurbished quickly, and fly again repeatedly. That could cut the cost of spaceflight tenfold.

The latest explosion could ground Starship for some time if the Federal Aviation Administration launches an investigation. Still, SpaceX has already proven Starship can land itself upright from suborbital flights and landed the rocket's booster in one piece twice.

New Glenn isn't meant to be a Starship competitor anyway, Tripathi said.

New Glenn has a payload capacity in between that of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, which is "a nice place to be," Chiao told BI in an email.

It fills a slightly different niche in launch services, with a more spacious fairing than the Falcon Heavy. That could allow customers more flexibility in how they pack their satellites or spacecraft in for launch.

In that range of rockets, it's "good to have some competition," Chiao added.

SpaceX and Blue Origin did not respond to requests for comment.

Blue Origin is an orbital newcomer. SpaceX is a giant.

SpaceX and Blue Origin are in different business positions, too.

As the company's first orbital rocket, New Glenn opens up new revenue streams for Blue Origin. It already has dozens of missions on the books worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Reuters. That includes launches to build up Amazon's Kuiper satellite internet network, a competitor to SpaceX's Starlink with far fewer satellites in operation.

SpaceX has been making money on orbital launches with Falcon 9 for more than a decade. It's been using the rocket to fly both astronauts and tourists to orbit regularly since 2020.

The Falcon rockets drove an increase in global launches last year, accounting for 134 of a record 259 orbital launch attempts worldwide, according to a SpaceNews analysis. SpaceX launched more orbital rockets than the rest of the world combined.

Blue Origin, by comparison, had not launched a single rocket to orbit until now. Instead, the company's launch business has been roughly 10-minute, edge-of-space tourist trips like the one that Bezos brought William Shatner on in 2021.

Meanwhile, SpaceX has flown three private missions to orbit led by tech billionaire Jared Isaacman who is now President-elect Trump's nominee for NASA Administrator.

Weeks before New Glenn's debut launch, during the New York Times 2024 DealBook Summit, Bezos said that Blue Origin "is not a very good business, yet."

Still, he added, "It's going to be the best business that I've ever been involved in."

Even so, it's going to take more than New Glenn to reach SpaceX levels of launch prowess.

• Gig work is expanding to new professional areas such as nursing.
• One nurse said she uses gig work to make extra money and pay down debt.
• But the app points to a broader issue in her field, she said.

Sarah has a full-time nursing job during the day. A few evenings each week, however, she picks up shifts at other hospitals through an app called CareRev to make extra money.

Usually, the shifts are at night and within a little over an hour of her home in Wisconsin. Her husband stays home as their infant son sleeps, she told Business Insider.

"It's a way to supplement my income and pay down my debt so that when he is older, I can be present more," Sarah said of her son.

Sarah is among the nurses who have turned to the gig economy over the last few years. Instead of delivering food or driving people to dates, though, the app that she uses allows her to work at nearby medical facilities. She asked that BI not publish her full name for fear of retaliation from CareRev. BI has verified her work for the app.

Sarah previously worked as a travel nurse, so the idea of working at a hospital temporarily wasn't new to her. Many travel nurses are treated like regular employees for tax purposes and can make more — double, in some cases — what those with traditional positions make. Their contracts at one facility can last from a few weeks to several months. Meanwhile, nurses who use apps like CareRe usually pick up one shift at a time based on a hospital's needs. The apps function similarly to rideshare apps like Uber or delivery gig applikeas DoorDash.

Sarah has been taking shifts through CareRev for about two years, she told BI. She learned about the app while on a travel contract. It seemed like a good opportunity, she said. "I was always used to having two and three jobs to make ends meet."

Sarah earns between $70 and $80 an hour for shifts on CareRev. Those rates can surge to over $100 an hour if a nurse calls in sick at the last minute and the hospital needs to fill the shift with just a few hours of notice, she said.

She estimates that her earnings through CareRev are about twice as much as they would be if she worked those shifts through a similar full-time nursing job, she said.

She said she also appreciates not having to work extra hours or attend meetings that typically come with a full-time nursing job. Many full-time nurses that she knows pick up additional shifts without additional pay, Sarah said. "You're being told in order to keep your job, you have to work 48 hours a week when you only wanted to work 36," she said.

Since COVID, many hospitals have struggled to retain nurses. A 2021 survey, taken one year after the pandemic began in the US, showed that many nurses were struggling with working extra hours and mental health, among other issues. Many were even considering leaving the profession.

That turnover has created an opportunity for apps like CareRev, Sarah told BI. "There's just never enough staff in the hospital," she said. "It got worse after COVID."

Sarah also sees some potential shortcomings of apps like CareRev.

CareRev requires nurses with a specialty to have at least one year of experience in that area to take shifts, according to its website. That means that recent graduates with relatively little experience could use the apps, Sarah said.

"I don't think I would've went into travel nursing with one year of experience and been successful," Sarah said.

While the pay rates tend to be better on the apps than at a staff job, nurses also have to pay more of their costs out-of-pocket, including state licensing fees and certifications for areas of specialty such as pediatric care or working in an emergency room.

As independent contractors, nurses working on the apps also pay taxes out of their own pockets each year.

"I'm responsible for paying all of my licenses and all of my education," Sarah said. "When you're a staff nurse, those are things that are taken care of for you."

"I don't know that people take all of that into consideration when getting into this," she said of working nursing shifts through the gig apps.

CareRev did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

Are you a nurse who works as an independent contractor and has a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected]

• Jamie Foxx is one of Hollywood's biggest draws, starring in over 40 films through his career across many genres.
• He received critical acclaim as the lead in movies like "Django Unchained" and "Ray," which won him an Oscar.
• Here are all of Foxx's movie performances, ranked by critics.

For over three decades, Jamie Foxx has been a Hollywood staple, especially on the big screen, where he's played everything from a disgruntled quarterback in "Any Given Sunday" to a rugged cowboy in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained."

His latest movie, Netflix's "Back in Action," marks Cameron Diaz's first starring role in ten years. But it's also a comeback for Foxx, who suffered a stroke while the movie was in production. After months of recovery, he returned to finish the action comedy, which stars him and Diaz as CIA agents who walk away to start a family.  

Below, we look back at Foxx's career by ranking all his movies according their critics scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

Note: This list does not include documentaries Foxx starred in.

Zac Ntim and Keyaira Boone contributed to previous versions of this post.

Foxx's lowest-ranked movie is 2024's "Not Another Church Movie."

This spoof on the religious movie genre makes fun of everyone from Oprah to Tyler Perry. And yes, Foxx plays God.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 13% 

Critics weren't impressed by 2005's "Stealth."

Set in the near future, the US Navy has developed a new AI-powered fighter jet. But when the computer develops a mind of its own, it falls to Foxx and his partners played by Josh Lucas and Jessica Biel to stop the computer before it sparks a new world war.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 13%

Foxx led a star-studded remake of "Robin Hood" in 2018.

Foxx and Taron Egerton lead this modern reimagining of the classic tale of a heroic outlaw and his Merry Men who mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown. 

Rotten Tomatoes score: 14% 

Foxx made one of his first substantial screen performances in the 1999 comedy "Held Up."

Michael Dawson (Foxx) is a successful businessman, but his life starts to fall apart while on a road trip with his wife (Nia Long) when she discovers that he splashed their entire savings to buy the car. She ditches him hitch-hiking back home while he gets stuck in the middle of an unwelcoming rural town.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 17%

Foxx rounds out a star-studded cast that includes Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel in 2019's "Valentine's Day."

Through a series of intertwining vignettes, audiences watch a group of Los Angeles natives navigate their way through the highs and lows of dating on Valentine's Day. As the days quickly unfold, they experience first dates, make-ups, break-ups, and youthful crushes.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 18%

Jamie Foxx stars alongside Cameron Diaz in the 2025 Netflix comedy "Back in Action."

Foxx and Diaz play CIA agents who go into hiding to start a family. 15 years later, their cover is blown, and after their kids are kidnapped, they must get back into the espionage game to get them back.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 21%

Foxx plays a mysterious character named The Ferryman in the forgettable 2023 movie "God Is a Bullet."

Foxx plays a "social renegade" who teams with a detective (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to track down the detective's daughter, who has been kidnapped by a satanic cult.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 24%

Foxx is a cop with a grudge in 2017's "Sleepless."

Foxx stars as an undercover Las Vegas police officer who is thrown into the high-stakes world of murderous gangsters and corrupt cops after a failed heist results in the kidnapping of his teenage son.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 25%

Foxx shines in Antoine Fuqua's 2000 cult classic "Bait."

After landing in jail for petty theft, Alvin Sanders (Foxx) ends up sharing a cell with the notorious criminal John Jaster who is serving a long sentence for stealing $40,000,000 worth of gold from the Federal Reserve. Realizing that he is sick and could die at any moment, Jaster uses Sanders to send covert messages to his wife about the location of the hidden gold. 

Rotten Tomatoes score: 26% 

Foxx plays another unscrupulous cop in the violent thriller "Law Abiding Citizen."

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is a normal, law abiding citizen until his family is murdered during a botched home invasion and the killer is set free thanks to a plea bargain offered by the prosecutor Nick Rice (Foxx).  In response, Shelton takes justice into his own hands.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 26% 

Foxx stars as Will Stacks, the character based on daddy Warbucks, in the 2014 reimagining of the classic musical "Annie."

Foxx leads this new, progressive take on the classic tale of "Annie," about a young orphan who longs for her parents to return and save her from the clutches of her mean foster mother.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 28%

1997's "Booty Call" is one of Foxx's early comedy gems.

Rushon (Tommy Davidson) is ready to take thing things to the next level with his girlfriend Nikki (Tamala Jones). But when he sets up a romantic date, she decides to make it a double-date and brings along her close friend Lysterine (Vivica A. Fox) who Rushon sets up with his extravagant friend Bunz (Foxx). 

Rotten Tomatoes score: 31%

Foxx and Gabrielle Union star in the 2004 screwball comedy "Breakin' All the Rules."

After being unceremoniously dumped by his fiancée, Quincy Watson (Foxx) writes a book on the correct way to end a relationship. And after the book is published, it becomes a surprising bestseller.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 31%

Ice Cube enlisted Foxx for his 1998 directorial debut "The Players Club."

To stay on top of her bills, Diana Armstrong (LisaRaye) starts stripping and joins the infamous Player's Club where she meets the smooth-talking DJ played by Foxx.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 35%

Foxx reprises his role as Dean "MF" Jones in 2014's "Horrible Bosses 2."

Three friends decide to quit their jobs and go into business for themselves. And after creating the prototype for a promising new invention, the guys attract the attention of a businessman who steals their idea. In response, the trio concocts a kidnapping scheme with a small-time criminal called Dean "Motherfucker" Jones (Foxx).

Rotten Tomatoes score: 36%

Foxx has a supporting role in Todd Phillips' 2010 comedy "Due Date."

Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.), a successful architect, is flying home from Atlanta to Los Angeles to be with his wife who is about to give birth. On the way to the airport, he has a chance encounter with Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis), but after Ethan uses the words "terrorist" and "bomb" while talking to Peter, they are both escorted off the plane and placed on a no-fly list.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 39%

Foxx plays a scheming boxer in the 1996 sports spoof "The Great White Hype."

Boxing promoter the Rev. Fred Sultan (Samuel L. Jackson) realizes that the only way to gain publicity for his top Black clients is to pit them against white boxers. But when there no white boxers available, he gets creative. 

Rotten Tomatoes score: 42%

Foxx teams up with Colin Farrell in 2006's "Miami Vice."

Based on the 1980s TV show of the same name, Michael Mann's action-packed thriller follows Miami-Dade Police detectives James "Sonny" Crockett (Farrell) and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs (Foxx) whose personal and professional lives become dangerously intertwined during a high-profile drug case.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 47%

Foxx lent his voice to the 2014 sequel "Rio 2."

The 3D computer-animated musical follows a family of Blue macaws birds who decide to relocate from the city to the Amazon jungle to become more in touch with their fellow birds.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 50%

Foxx plays the supervillain Electro in 2014's "The Amazing Spider-Man 2."

Just as Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) embraces his new role as the city's new hero, Electro (Foxx), a much more powerful villain, arrives on the scene and poses the biggest threat Parker has ever faced.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 50%

Foxx is the lead in 2007's ambitious thriller "The Kingdom."

After being set the most important assignment of his career, federal agent Ron Fleury (Foxx) is given one week to assemble a killer team and infiltrate a terrorist cell based in Saudi Arabia.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 51%

Legendary director Oliver Stone cast Foxx as his star for the 1999 sports drama, "Any Given Sunday."

Partly based on a 1984 novel of the same name, "Any Given Sunday" follows Al Pacino as the head coach of a once-revered football team with star players who are now struggling to win a single game. Foxx plays a bench warmer turned star quarterback who lets the game go to his head.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 52%

Foxx is the US president in 2013's "White House Down."

Police officer John Cale (Channing Tatum) has just failed to land his dream job of protecting President James Sawyer (Foxx) as a member of the Secret Service. And in an attempt to cheer up his young daughter, Cale takes her on a tour of the White House. But during the tour, an armed militia group attacks and takes control.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 52%

Foxx voices a foul-mouthed dog in the 2023 comedy "Strays."

Will Ferrell voices a terrier named Reggie who has become a stray after his owner (Will Forte) pulls a trick on him. Now, Reggie and other strays he's befriended (voiced by Foxx, Isla Fisher, Rob Riggle, Randall Park, and Josh Gad) set out to get revenge on Reggie's owner.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 54%

Foxx plays a vampire hunter in the 2022 Netflix movie "Day Shift."

Foxx plays a pool cleaner in the San Fernando Valley by day whose real job is secretly hunting and killing vampires by night. Come for the action sequences, and stay for Snoop Dogg killing vampires.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 57% 

Foxx teams up with Robert Downey Jr. in the 2009 tearjerker "The Soloist."

Journalist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) is wandering through LA's Skid Row district when he spots a homeless man (Foxx) playing a two-stringed violin.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 57% 

Foxx stars in the intimate 2005 war epic "Jarhead."

Jake Gyllenhaal and Foxx join forces for acclaimed British director Sam Mendes's first-person account of life at war.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 60%

Foxx led his first Netflix movie, "Project Power," in 2020.

In near-future New Orleans, Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) teams up with a rogue ex-soldier (Foxx) to track down the origins of a dangerous new drug that provides its users with temporary superpowers.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 61%

The stakes are high in Foxx's 2003 crime thriller "Shade."

Tiffany (Foxx) and his crew of con artists are looking to expand their criminal portfolio and decide to scam Dean "The Dean" Stevens (Dina Merrill), a well-known poker player during a rigged game.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 67%

Jamie Foxx plays Drew Bundini Brown, Muhammad Ali's assistant trainer in the acclaimed 2001 biopic "Ali."

The Michael Mann-directed biopic focuses on ten years in the life of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, played by Will Smith, starting with his championship debut against Sonny Liston to his conversion to Islam, banishment from boxing, and finally, his triumphant return in 1974.

Rotten Tomatoes: 69%

Foxx is the comedic heavyweight in 2011's "Horrible Bosses."

One night at a bar, three friends decide to murder their overbearing and abusive bosses, and they turn to a random and seemingly inexperienced criminal (Foxx) for advice.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 69%

The first "Rio" film, out in 2011, won acclaim for its innovative animation and original songs.

A set of exotic Brazilian birds are smuggled to the United States where they live a domesticated life but when Blu, a rare bird, realizes he might be the last of his species on earth, he decides to travel back home. 

Rotten Tomatoes score: 72%

Foxx is a standout in 2006's "Dreamgirls."

Three talented singers form a music trio called the Dreamettes, and they quickly find success after they are spotted by talent scout manager Curtis Taylor Jr. (Foxx). But the group starts to unravel as Taylor's management becomes increasingly cruel and overbearing.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%

Foxx won an Oscar for his acclaimed performance as Ray Charles in 2004's "Ray."

Foxx, in perhaps his most memorable performance, transforms into the legendary Blues musician Ray Charles who lost his sight at age 9 but would go on to define a generation of American music.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%

Foxx teamed up with Brie Larson and Michael B. Jordan for the 2019 fact-based drama "Just Mercy."

After graduating from Harvard Law school, Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) leaves for Alabama to open a law clinic dedicated to defending death row inmates. One of his first cases is Walter McMillian (Foxx), who was sentenced to die in 1987 for the murder of an 18-year-old girl despite overwhelming evidence proving his innocence.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

One of Foxx's first on-screen roles was in the 1996 his "The Truth About Cats & Dogs."

A popular radio show host (Janeane Garofalo) is asked out on a date by one of her listeners, but when she backs out due to nerves she sends her friend Noelle (Uma Thurman) in her place.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

Michael Mann teamed Foxx with Tom Cruise in the acclaimed 2004 thriller "Collateral."

Foxx plays an LA cab driver who realizes that the friendly passenger he's been driving around is actually a deadly hitman who has been executing murders all evening. And the final person on the kill list is one of his friends.

Foxx earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for this role in the same year he won the best actor Oscar for "Ray."

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%

Foxx takes the lead in Quentin Tarantino's 2012 neo-Western "Django Unchained."

In 1858, three years before the civil war, Django (Foxx), a freed slave from the South, sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner with the help of an enigmatic German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz).

Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%

Foxx starred in Edgar Wright's acclaimed 2017 heist thriller "Baby Driver."

Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a talented getaway driver for Atlanta's most dangerous criminals. But after he meets the woman of his dreams (Lily James), he decides to leave the business — until he is forced into one more big gig by an enigmatic crime boss (Kevin Spacey). Foxx plays one of the thugs Baby drives around.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Foxx plays a flashy lawyer in the 2023 legal drama "The Burial."

Based on true events, Foxx plays Willie E. Gary, an unconventional lawyer who helps a funeral home owner with financial troubles (Tommy Lee Jones) save his family business from a corporate behemoth.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Foxx returned as Electro/Max Dillon in the 2021 box office smash "Spider-Man: No Way Home."

Seven years after showing up in the Marvel universe in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," Foxx got another shot at the MCU appearing as one of the villains three Peter Parkers (Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire) must face off with.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

 

Foxx plays a jazz musician trying to get out of a coma in the 2020 Pixar movie "Soul."

In this acclaimed Pixar movie, Foxx plays Joe Gardner, a middle school teacher and aspiring jazz pianist who falls into a coma after an accident and must unite his soul and body in time for his big break as a jazz musician.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

Foxx stars opposite Teyonah Parris and John Boyega in the 2023 Netflix sci-fi comedy "They Cloned Tyrone."

Foxx, Teyonah Parris, and John Boyega give outstanding performances as a trio who set out to uncover a government cloning conspiracy.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

The Supreme Court upheld the TikTok ban under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. President-elect Donald Trump could reverse the ban when he takes office.

• The Supreme Court upheld a law on Friday that could cause TikTok to go dark in the US.
• In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch questioned whether the law would be effective.
• "Whether this law will succeed in achieving its ends, I do not know," Gorsuch wrote.

The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that could soon ban TikTok.

While its decision — that the divest-or-ban law does not violate the First Amendment rights of TikTok or its users — was unanimous, Justice Neil Gorsuch offered his own view in a concurring opinion, raising doubts about whether the law would be effective.

"Whether this law will succeed in achieving its ends, I do not know. A determined foreign adversary may just seek to replace one lost surveillance application with another," Gorsuch wrote. "As time passes and threats evolve, less dramatic and more effective solutions may emerge. Even what might happen next to TikTok remains unclear."

"But the question we face today is not the law's wisdom, only its constitutionality," the justice wrote.

Gorsuch said that since the court was given just a handful of days to issue an opinion in the high-stakes matter, "I cannot profess the kind of certainty I would like to have about the arguments and record before us."

"All I can say is that, at this time and under these constraints, the problem appears real and the response to it not unconstitutional," he wrote.

In his opinion, Gorsuch said the court was right to refrain from "endorsing the government's asserted interest in preventing 'the covert manipulation of content' as a justification for the law before us."

"One man's 'covert content manipulation' is another's 'editorial discretion,'" he wrote.

"Journalists, publishers, and speakers of all kinds routinely make less-than-transparent judgments about what stories to tell and how to tell them," he added. "Without question, the First Amendment has much to say about the right to make those choices. It makes no difference that Americans (like TikTok Inc. and many of its users) may wish to make decisions about what they say in concert with a foreign adversary."

TikTok has fought to overturn the law, which was framed around national security concerns and signed last year by President Joe Biden. It gave TikTok's Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, until January 19 to sell its US operations of the popular social media platform to a non-Chinese company or be booted from app stores.

In oral arguments before the Supreme Court last week, a lawyer for TikTok said the platform would likely "go dark" in the United States if the Supreme Court failed to extend the divestment deadline.

• I love making Ina Garten's pasta dishes, so I had to try her penne alla vodka recipe.
• Garten roasts her pasta sauce in the oven, infusing the dish with so much flavor.
• The dish looked beautiful, and it was one of the most delicious pastas I've ever made.

I've been cooking my way through Ina Garten's pasta recipes, whipping up a dozen from her 13 cookbooks.

I like to try a new one every month or so, and as I searched for a comforting winter dish, I stumbled on Garten's penne alla vodka.

The dish was inspired by one of Garten's favorite dishes, the Penne Alla Vecchia Bettola from Nick & Toni's, a restaurant in East Hampton. Now, the recipe has a permanent spot on Garten's Barefoot Contessa website, so I knew I had to try it.

Here's how it all went down.

Ina Garten's penne alla vodka features many ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.

To make Garten's penne alla vodka for four, you'll need:

• ¾ pound penne (Garten recommends DeCecco)
• 2 ½ cups chopped yellow onions
• 2 28-ounce cans of whole-peeled plum tomatoes, drained
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1 cup vodka
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (plus extra for serving)
• ¼ cup good olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves (plus extra for serving)
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Before I began cooking, I did some quick veggie prep.

I chopped my yellow onions and minced my garlic cloves in a matter of minutes.

Then, I added the olive oil to my Dutch oven and threw in the onions.

I cooked my onions over medium-low heat for about five minutes, until they turned translucent.

Once my onions were ready, I added the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes.

I cooked my veggies and herbs together for one minute.

Then, I added the vodka.

Garten says to simmer everything together for about five to seven minutes, until the mixture has reduced by half. (It took me about five minutes.)

Next, I threw in the whole-peeled plum tomatoes.

I crushed each whole tomato into the pot with my hand, per Garten's instructions.

I seasoned the sauce with 2 teaspoons of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper, then covered my pot and threw it in the oven.

The sauce needs to bake for an hour and 30 minutes, so I started cooking long before I was hungry for dinner.

I know it's not the quickest meal, but I promise this dish is worth the wait!

Just before my sauce was ready, I began cooking my pasta.

I brought a large pot of water to a boil and added the penne and two tablespoons of salt. I cooked my pasta until it was al dente, which took about 10 minutes. Then, I drained my noodles and set them aside.

Once my sauce was out of the oven, I threw it in the blender.

Garten says to purée the tomato mixture until smooth using a blender or food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Then, I poured my tomato mixture back into the Dutch oven.

I seasoned the mixture with one teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper and added the fresh oregano and heavy cream.

I stirred my tomato mixture and watched the color transform.

It reminded me of the legendary vodka pasta at Jon & Vinny's in Los Angeles (a Kardashian favorite).

I partially covered my Dutch oven and let the sauce simmer.

Garten says your sauce should simmer for 10 minutes.

Once my sauce was ready, I threw in the pasta.

I let the pasta cook in the sauce for an additional two minutes.

Then, I took my Dutch oven off the heat and stirred in the Parmesan cheese.

It was time to eat!

As I topped everything with extra Parmesan and oregano, I couldn't help but admire the dish.

This is, without a doubt, the most beautiful pasta I've ever made.

The sauce's vivid color made Garten's penne alla vodka the star of my dinner table, and I loved the extra pop of color from the fresh oregano.

And as I dug in, I knew this was one of the best pastas I've ever made.

Ever since I began ranking Garten's pasta dishes back in May 2021, nothing has come close to topping her weeknight Bolognese. But after one bite of the penne alla vodka, I knew that would change.

This pasta dish is simply fantastic. The sauce is so creamy and smooth without being heavy and overwhelming. Slowly roasting the tomato sauce in the oven added depth and complexity to the vodka sauce, which I actually loved even more than my favorite from Jon & Vinny's. My only wish was that I had made some of Garten's "outrageous" garlic bread to go with it!

While Garten's pasta needs some extra time in the oven, it doesn't require that many steps. The actual prep and cooking were pretty minimal, but the penne still looked impressive.

Whether you need a dish to dazzle everyone with or just want a comforting bowl of penne as temperatures dip, there's truly no better pasta than this.

• "Severance" season two measures up to its ambitious, impressive first season.
• The Apple TV+ series premiered in 2022, but the three-year gap between seasons was worth it.
• The show continues to pursue deeper mysteries, while probing what it means to be human.

When "Severance" premiered in 2022, it felt like a revelation. Darkly funny, sharply stylish, and frequently inscrutable, Dan Erickson's workplace satire was unlike anything else on television.

The Apple TV+ series' second season, in the six episodes I've seen, is just as befuddling, compelling, and immersive as its predecessor. Despite the three-year gap between seasons one and two, "Severance" doesn't miss a beat, nor does it stumble as it prods at the mysteries behind Lumon Industries. It also dives deeper into the ethical and ontological questions behind Lumon's severance procedure: when the body is split between two minds, to whom does it belong?

In season one, "innie" Mark S. (Adam Scott) and his colleagues Dylan (Zach Cherry), Helly (Britt Lower), and Irving (John Turturro) temporarily busted out from their corporate prison into the real world, invading their "outie" counterparts to spread the word about what their lives were actually like at Lumon. In the process, Mark learned that his deceased wife Gemma was still alive, sucked into the Lumon machine. And Helly, after fighting tooth and nail to escape her corporate prison, learned that she was one of its stewards on the outside — Helena Eagan, daughter of Lumon's CEO.

Despite those bombshells, season two follows a similar, if more immediately unnerving, rhythm. Lumon is keen to get Mark back to work, even if it means motivating him by bringing back his fellow seditious Macrodata Refiners and praising their actions as a righteous uprising. None of the innies have forgotten what they saw on the outside, but despite a new quest to find Mark's wife and a marginally clearer understanding of the outside world, they're just as lost as they were before.

Without divulging any spoilers — trust me, you should be tuning in each week — "Severance" is in no rush to give Mark, or any of us, answers. Like its first season, this is a show that rewards rewatching and keen eyes, though neither is necessary to have a good time. What makes the show still feel exceptional is that it doesn't get too bogged down in its lore.

At its core, "Severance" is a series about what it means to be, and it doesn't forget that. While the innies claw at any hint of agency, their outies continue grappling with the notion that their severed consciousness has desires of its own. In season one, before Mark realizes that Ms. Casey is actually his outie's wife, he tells her that they're "people, not parts of people." In season two, all parties involved put that notion to the test.

As with season one, "Severance" season two is astoundingly well designed, scored, and shot from the jump, opening with a delightfully frenetic sequence of innie Mark rushing through the empty white halls of the severed floor. While the stakes are more apparent now, the show doesn't lose its absurdist sense of humor or play, tossing in new characters like the puzzling Miss Huang (Sarah Bock), a child working alongside Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman). Scott's impressive performance as two facets of the same man continues to anchor the ensemble, but everyone — Lower, Turturro, Cherry, and Tillman in particular — is on the top of their game.

Ultimately, season two iterates on what made its first season so spectacular while continuing to complicate the thorny world it's created. Like its characters, it's multifaceted: you can read "Severance" as a doggedly literal commentary on the hell of capitalism, as a theory-crafting show in the tradition in "Lost," or as an ambitious character drama trying to get to the core of what it means to be human. Regardless of how you experience it, one thing remains true: "Severance" is still one of the best shows on television.

"Severance" season two premieres on January 17 on Apple TV+, with new episodes dropping weekly on Fridays.

• Trump says his second inauguration will be held in the Capitol rotunda.
• The ceremony is usually outside, but is being held indoors due to freezing temperatures.
• It's the first time this has happened since Ronald Reagan's 2nd inauguration in 1985.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday that his second inauguration will be moved indoors due to expected freezing temperatures.

"The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don't want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way."

Presidential swearing-in ceremonies are typically held outdoors on a platform in front of the United States Capitol, allowing crowds to view the event from the National Mall. However, Trump said on Friday that the ceremonies would instead take place inside the Capitol Rotunda.

It's not the first time an American president has been sworn in beneath the rotunda.

President Ronald Reagan was also sworn in under the Capitol rotunda in 1985, when he was inaugurated for his second term, also after freezing temperatures prompted organizers to make a last-minute change of plans.

Trump referenced Reagan's 1985 inauguration in his Friday Truth Social post, adding that the "various Dignitaries and Guests will be brought into the Capitol." Several business and tech CEOs are expected to be in attendance.

The president-elect also said that the presidential parade would be moved to Capital One arena, where a live viewing will also take place. Trump said he would travel to the arena after he's sworn in.

• Magnus Lygdbäck is a personal trainer and nutritionist who's worked with Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck.
• He has a unique, simple approach to healthy nutrition, which means no restriction or food guilt.
• Every 17 out of 20 meals should be "on point" — the other three can be whatever you want.

Magnus Lygdbäck is the personal trainer and nutritionist responsible for the physiques of some of Hollywood's biggest stars.

The LA-based Swede has worked with Alicia Vikander, Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Alexander Skarsgård, Katy Perry, and Harry Styles.

In addition to helping A-listers hit their goals, Lygdbäck practices what he preaches, and he takes a balanced approach to nutrition.

It's called the 17/20 system, and requires neither calorie-counting nor cutting out food groups.

Every 4 days, eat whatever you want for 3 meals

Lygdbäck said 17 of every 20 meals should be "on point" — the other three can be whatever you want to eat.

By "on point," Lygdbäck means that, ideally, those meals would be made up of "a good protein source, good fats, and slow carbs, and vegetables." Slow carbs are complex carbs, such as oats, rice, whole-wheat bread, and potatoes.

And for the other three meals "enjoy life."

"It means you can have pasta, you can go out with your friends, and you can enjoy a dessert or a glass of wine," he said.

Lygdbäck works in four-day cycles of five meals a day (three meals and two snacks), which means that every four days, your 20 meals start over again.

"We're in a world where it's all about 'optimize, optimize,'" Lygdbäck said. "But I don't exclude foods. I make sure to eat foods that I like. If it's something that I like that's unhealthy, I make sure not to eat it all the time. So three out of 20 meals, I eat what I want, I live life."

Portion your meals in fistfuls, not calories

When preparing actors for roles, Lygdbäck encourages them to track calories and macros (protein, carbs, fat), but doesn't think it's necessary for most people.

For those who want to track, he recommends aiming for between 30% and 40% of total food intake to be protein, and the rest a blend of carbs and fat.

Protein is Lygdbäck's top priority, personally.

"I make sure that I have enough protein on my plate, then after that, I look at carbs and fat to get a good mix, not too much or too little," he said. "And obviously I stack up on veggies and make sure that I'm getting as much fiber as possible."

Lygdbäck advises using your hands to keep portion sizes in check.

"For lunch and dinner, I do a fistful of protein, a fistful of fat or carbs or a combination, and two fistfuls vegetables," he said.

It's not a one-size-fits-all approach, but a starting point, and you can adjust based on your goals (fat loss or muscle gain), body type, and activity levels.

The approach is designed with 'happiness and balance' in mind

While some body transformation coaches encourage extreme methods, Lygdbäck's approach is more sustainable.

"There are so many diets and so much misinformation out there, so people don't really know what to do," he said. "I see too many people taking shortcuts to get something they want and in the process doing the wrong things and they're miserable.

"So I just think that we need to work much more on balance and happiness, and that's why I developed my system."

"I love food, I love a good glass of wine, I think that we should enjoy food as an important part of life," Lygdbäck said. "I don't believe in restricting, taking out foods, and telling people they're not allowed to eat something."

Don't feel guilty if you deviate from your nutrition goals, just get back on track.

"I hate when we have a guilty conscience after eating something," he said. "It's so easy to walk around and feel bad for eating food that's good. I want to get rid of that feeling entirely."

If you end up eating four meals in 20 "off track," it's not a big deal.

"I wouldn't beat myself up about the past, and I'd focus on the fact that I had 16 meals that were on point — that's pretty amazing," he said. "It happens. The system is not there to punish you. It's there to provide you with structure without forcing you to eat certain things or take out foods."

Former homicide detective Pat Postiglione reviews portrayals of serial killers in movies and TV shows.

He analyzes the psychology and methods of serial killers as seen in "Silence of the Lambs," starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins; and "Zodiac," starring Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, and Mark Ruffalo. He talks about how to catch a suspect on the run in "True Detective," starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, and "Seven," starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

He relates to cases he's worked on to describe how to link a footprint to a suspect in "The Batman," starring Robert Pattinson, Paul Dano, and Jeffrey Wright. He talks about the portrayals of real-life serial killers like Ted Bundy in "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," starring Zac Efron, Jim Parsons, and Lily Collins; and Jeffrey Dahmer in "Dahmer," starring Evan Peters. He discusses how serial killers dispose of bodies in "Mindhunter," starring Jonathan Groff. Finally, he details the best ways to collect evidence from a crime scene in "The Bone Collector," starring Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, and Queen Latifah.

Pat Postiglione was a detective with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department for over 32 years. He helped solve around 75 cold cases as part of the department's homicide cold case unit. With the homicide murder squad unit, he investigated the cases of six serial killers. You can watch him talk about his past cases on "Deadly Recall."

• In June 2022, I flew business class on an Air New Zealand flight to Auckland, New Zealand.
• It was my first time in business class, and during the 13-hour flight, I was pampered and amazed.
• The flight's dinner service felt like fine dining, and it was the best sleep I've had on a plane.

In the summer of 2022, I boarded what was — and continues to be — the most glamorous plane ride of my life.

I spent about 13 hours seated in Air New Zealand's business class on a long-haul flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand. Business Insider received a media rate for the round-trip flight.

Before the trip, I had only sat in economy. Spending thousands of dollars for a flight — this business-class ticket, for example, typically costs around $6,000 — never seemed worth it. Meanwhile, the perks were everything I'd dreamed of. 

From meals that felt like fine dining to a turn-down service, I was spoiled and surprised throughout the entire flight. 

The surprises started before I even stepped onto the plane. My ticket came with access to an airport lounge.

Leading up to the 13-hour flight, I learned that my business-class ticket also granted me access to the Star Alliance Lounge at the Los Angeles International Airport.

Another new experience was the airport lounge, which caters to first-class, business-class, and some travel credit-card holders. Before landing at the airport, I had never visited an airport lounge.

Thankfully, I had a seven-hour layover in LA to discover its unexpected perks. I spent hours tasting every food item I could find and exploring the lounge's outdoor patio and quiet room.

My favorite perk was knowing that an Air New Zealand representative was stationed at the lounge, supplying flight updates so I didn't have to stress about missing an announcement or my flight. 

The lounge was a luxe respite and much nicer than the airport gates and restaurants I typically camp at during layovers. 

When it was time to board the flight, for the first time, I was one of the first people to walk onto the plane.

With a full stomach, I left the airport lounge, grabbed my carry-on suitcase, and navigated through the crowds of people waiting to board the flight. 

At my gate, I passed families and couples waiting for their boarding groups to be called while my group — business class, which is the airline's version of first class — was welcome to step onto the plane. 

I reached the jet bridge entrance, scanned my boarding pass, and joined two dozen business-class passengers. Together, we were some of the first people on the plane. 

As someone who has only ever sat in economy, boarding first was an entirely new experience. I'm typically one of the last people on the plane and accustomed to hunting for rare overhead luggage space.

Since there were fewer people, the business-class cabin felt more spacious. I had plenty of overhead storage available for all my belongings, and I didn't have to worry about being told I'd need to gate-check a bag. 

I knew to expect more space in business class, but my seat exceeded my dreams.

One of the biggest perks of flying business class on long-haul flights is the extra space. 

In economy, I'm used to cramped seats that hardly recline. 

Even with an expectation of a larger seat with more room in business class, I was shocked by how spacious the seat actually felt on my Air New Zealand flight. In front of me was a footrest, where at 5 feet and 8 inches, I could stretch out my legs. I also used this space to store my backpack. The tray table was larger than any I've seen in economy.

Perhaps the best part was the seat's ability to recline. I had four buttons to experiment with moving my seat backward and forward. Plus, I could lie flat, which was a valuable feature when it was time to sleep. 

Once on the plane, and before economy class had finished boarding, I was already sipping on Champagne.

As I boarded the Boeing aircraft, a flight attendant asked if I would like a glass of Champagne or something to drink before takeoff.

I'm used to a smiling flight attendant handing me a sanitizing wipe when I've boarded — not a glass of bubbly. 

I happily accepted a flute. Shortly after, another flight attendant came by with a tray of roasted nuts. I quickly learned I would never be hungry or thirsty on this flight.

I also realized the snacks I packed in my backpack wouldn't be needed. Instead, I was part of the group I'm typically envious of: the first-class travelers with space, snacks, and endless alcohol to enjoy on their plane ride.

A goodie bag of supplies for a long-haul flight was waiting in my seat.

I wasn't surprised to see a blanket and pillow waiting for me at my seat since I'd had those amenities in economy before, but I was thrilled to find a bag of complimentary toiletries.

The purple pouch contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, ear plugs, an eye mask, lip balm, lotion, a pen, and a pair of socks.

As I lathered the balm across my lips, I wondered how much the tube cost. I later found out that the Ashley & Co. Lip Punch retails for $15, and the brand's Soothe Tube lotion costs $25. 

These small perks added an element of luxury throughout the flight, and they came in handy when I realized I had left my toothpaste in the bottom of my carry-on suitcase. 

I thought airline courtesy meant never taking off your shoes. But before the plane left the jet bridge, I noticed that nearly everyone's shoes in business class were already off.

After taking inventory of all the free stuff at my seat, I noticed that nearly everyone around me had their shoes off and their complimentary purple and black striped socks on.

I sat there shocked. There are a few plane etiquette rules I always follow, like giving the person in the middle seat both armrests. At the top of my list is not taking off my shoes — no one wants to smell stinky feet. 

I succumbed to the peer pressure, tossed my rules aside, and slipped off my shoes. Between the length of the flight and having more space in business class, I felt less guilty taking off my shoes, which I'm not sure I would've done in economy. 

 

Flight attendants offered passengers hot towels multiple times throughout the flight.

After I took off my shoes, examined my toiletries, and settled at my seat, the flight attendants came around the cabin, introduced themselves, and offered each passenger a hot towel. 

There have been few instances in my life when I've received a hot towel, so I eyed my fellow passengers for clues on how to use it correctly. 

The people around me wiped their faces, necks, and hands, and I followed their lead. 

I felt spoiled using the towel and thought it was a relaxing way to start my flight.

Later, after a nap, the flight attendants came around with another hot towel before serving breakfast. This time, I confidently wiped the towel across my face. The warmth coated my skin, and I felt refreshed and ready for the morning. 

Dinner wasn't wrapped in aluminum foil and didn't come with plastic cutlery. Instead, I was served a restaurant-level, three-course meal.

When it was time to eat dinner, my first meal of the flight, a menu was provided at my seat outlining options for the three-course meal inspired by New Zealand ingredients. Beetroot-cured salmon, poached chicken, and chocolate truffle ice cream were listed on the menu. 

The flight attendants kicked off dinner service by placing a cloth napkin across my tray table and laying down a set of metal silverware. I quickly realized that this meal would be nicer than any airline meal I've ever had.

On previous long-haul flights, as a vegetarian, I was given one option on a tray. The meal was typically packaged and served with plastic cutlery.

The silverware at my seat already established a drastic difference. Next, I was offered butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Following the condiments, the flight attendants walked around with a basket of warm sourdough and garlic bread. 

Then, the first course arrived. I opted for a pescatarian meal and was served stuffed olive leaves. This was followed by a main course of Alaskan cod with saffron sauce and finished with a chocolate tart for dessert. 

The meal was rich and filling. From its appearance and taste, I thought the meal could easily be served in a nice restaurant rather than an airplane cabin.

There's a turn-down service for lie-flat seats in business class.

Our flight was a red-eye. We departed LA in the evening and were scheduled to land in Auckland in the early morning. 

After dinner was cleared, passengers slowly retreated to the bathroom to freshen up before bedtime. I headed to the restroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. By the time I was done, a flight attendant had converted my seat into a bed. 

During the turn-down service, a flight attendant presses a few buttons, which turns the upright seat into a horizontal bed. Then, they add a mattress topper, blanket, and pillow. Finally, they pull out the seat belts for safety and check in with each passenger to see if they want any final drinks, snacks, or items before dimming the cabin lights.

I thought the transition from dinner to sleep was effortless for passengers. As I grabbed my eye mask, I knew there was a good chance I'd actually fall asleep. I rarely have that confidence when sitting upright on a plane in economy. 

Sure enough, I slept for about five hours in the comfy bed and woke up to the smell of hot coffee and breakfast.

By the end of the flight, I felt like I knew my flight attendants.

Before our plane left the jet bridge, I was getting to know the flight attendants. They stopped at every seat to confirm the passenger's dinner order and introduce themselves.

While I've encountered plenty of welcoming flight attendants in the past, this was the first time I'd been on a flight where everyone exchanged names.

By the end of the long-haul flight, we were all on a first-name basis and sharing travel recommendations for our coming trips. 

Since there were fewer passengers in business class and just as many flight attendants when compared to economy, we were able to bond much more than I expected. 

After a 13-hour flight, I thought I'd beg the flight attendants to let me off the plane, but half a day in business class was even better than I imagined.

When our plane touched ground again, I wasn't ready to disembark. Instead, I could've spent another day in the glamorous cabin.

As a budget traveler, the chances I fly business class again are slim, so I soaked in every moment in my lie-flat seat and cherished every drop of Champagne. I hope I'll be able to experience the premium cabin again in my lifetime. At the very least, I'll bring my toiletry pouch on any future economy flight to replicate a small part of the experience. 

• President-elect Donald Trump named Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight as his "special envoys" for Hollywood.
• In 2019, Stallone said Trump asked him to lead the organization that hands out government art grants.
• Stallone said he was "not qualified" for a position in Washington.

Donald Trump named Sylvester Stallone as one of his "special envoys" to Hollywood, but the actor previously said that he was "not qualified" or interested in a position in Washington.

On Thursday, the President-elect announced on Truth Social that Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight were his ambassadors to Hollywood.

Trump wrote: "They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!"

Trump added that they will be his "eyes and ears" and he will "get done what they suggest." He didn't elaborate on what these new positions would involve.

In 2019, Stallone told Variety that in 2016 Trump offered him a role as the Head of the National Endowment of the Arts — the organization responsible for handing out government art grants.

Stallone turned it down, and said: "I'm really not qualified nor do I want to be in Washington nor do I want to be involved in anything because I really believe that actors, sometimes, I think are a little too emotionally involved."

Stallone has not publicly commented on Trump's announcement and his representatives did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

In a statement to BI, Gibson said via a representative: "I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can. Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador's residence?"

Voight, who has been a staunch Trump supporter since 2016, said in a statement to BI via his representative: "I'm old enough to have touched some years of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and I've seen its slow deterioration since. Today, we are in pretty bad shape. Very few films are made here now, but we are fortunate to have an incoming President, who wants to restore Hollywood to its former glory, and with his help, I feel we can get done.

"Now we have been through these horrible fires and our spirits are down, but we are resilient. We will help each other and we will rebuild. Love to everyone across the nation who has come to our aid."