Menard Jr. is the 99th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $21.1 billion as of August, Forbes reported. In 2024, he was named Wisconsin's richest person, a title that has since been taken over by ABC Supply cofounder Diane Hendricks.

After spending a summer constructing pole buildings to put himself through college at the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire, Menard Jr. started a construction company in 1958, according to Menards' official website. That led him to the building-materials business, and he opened the first Menards retail location in 1964.

Now with over 300 locations across 15 Midwestern states, the chain sells a wide variety of home-improvement tools and building materials as well as appliances, lighting, furniture, and groceries.

Menard Jr. is a controversial figure known for his frugality and iron-handed management style. A 2007 Milwaukee magazine profile reported that managers are fined $100 for every minute a store opens late, and Forbes reports that even top executives are still required to clock in.

In 1997, Menard Jr. was fined over $1.5 million and pleaded no contest to charges regarding illegal hazardous waste disposal. Prosecutors alleged he used his personal pickup truck to take dangerous chemicals from the business to deposit them in his household trash, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Menards paid another $2 million in 2005 for violating state water-pollution laws in Wisconsin.

His personal conduct has also come under scrutiny with a 2013 lawsuit alleging he pressured the wife of one of his business partners to have sex with him and fired her husband when she refused. Menard Jr. denied any inappropriate conduct, his attorney told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Menard Jr. is also an avid race-car enthusiast, sponsoring Menards race cars at NASCAR and IndyCar events.

The Menards store I visited in Milwaukee's Northridge neighborhood spans a whopping 162,300 square feet, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The pickup trucks cost $18.95 for the first 75 minutes, $6 for each additional 15 minutes, and 50 cents for each mile driven, according to the Menards website.

Most stores I visit in the Midwest don't have extensive security measures. When I compared shopping at Target in New York City and Wisconsin, I found the New York location featured "secured shelves" and locked cases, while even limited-supply items were kept on open shelves in the Midwest.

Menard Jr. is known to be serious about anti-theft measures. He set a policy that store managers cannot build their own houses to prevent them from stealing supplies, Milwaukee magazine reported.

The aisles seemed to go on forever.

Menards didn't have a produce section, but it did have a refrigerated section with gallons of milk and frozen food.

For example, a family-size box of Honey Bunches of Oats cost $4.93 at Menards. At Metro Market, a Midwestern grocery chain, the same box cost $6.29. I see why my dad swears by it.

Oreos were created as an imitation of Hydrox cookies but eventually superseded them in popularity, making Hydrox look like the knockoff. I'd never even heard of Hydrox cookies until I saw them at Menards.

The root beer was labeled as the official craft soda of the Automobile Racing Club of America's Menards Series. A 24-pack cost $19.99.

Menard Jr.'s son, Paul Menard, raced in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The items also featured QR codes to scan for online shopping.

Unlike other home-improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe's, Menards doesn't offer installation services. Instead, it directs customers to local service providers so the store doesn't act as a competitor to the contractors who shop there.

Milwaukee magazine reported that Menard Jr. used to recycle wood scraps and heat stores with the leftovers.

The section also included grills, gazebos, and swing sets.

The gardening section sold potted plants as well as seeds, soil, outdoor decor, and gardening tools.

The section featured Mike Lindell's MyPillow, Ped Egg callus removers, and portable handheld fans, among other items.

I could see how Menards, a family-owned Midwestern brand, would inspire the kind of loyalty that would make people want to wear its hats.

On the day I visited, Menards was offering an 11% rebate in the form of a merchandise credit check if you mailed in a receipt and a completed form. The rebate percentage fluctuates, but the system is a hallmark of the Menards shopping experience and helps keep its prices even lower.

Even long after I left the store, I couldn't get the "Save big money at Menards" jingle out of my head.

1685 Toro, a mid-sized asteroid, has been classified by NASA JPL as a "Near Earth Asteroid" because of its orbit's proximity to Earth. Its size is similar to the island of Manhattan.

An asteroid is a rocky object in space that orbits the sun. When an asteroid or a piece of one enters the Earth's atmosphere, it becomes a meteor. What remains after impact is a meteorite.

At a time when both the threat of an atomic bomb and little green men in flying saucers invaded public fear, it was perhaps unsurprising that residents in the small Alabama town started calling 911. The Decatur Daily reported that many people thought they were witnessing a plane crash. 

Ann Hodges, with her husband, rented a house in the Oak Grove community. Incredibly, across the street was the Comet Drive-In Theater, which had a neon sign depicting a comet falling through the sky, the Decatur Daily reported.

Hodges, who was 34 at the time, had been home with her mother on the afternoon of November 30. The meteorite crashed through the roof of Hodges' home at 2:46 p.m., Slate Magazine reported.

"Ann Hodges was taking a nap on her living room couch and she was under a blanket, which probably saved her life somewhat," Prondzinski said. "The meteorite came down through the roof in the living room and it ricocheted off a stand-up console radio that was in the room and landed on her hip."

Her mother, who was in another room, ran to her daughter's assistance when she heard her scream. In the aftermath, neither Hodges nor her mother knew what had happened.

"All she knew is that something had hit her," Prondzinski said. "They found the meteorite, this big rock, and they couldn't figure out how it had got there."

Prondzinski said the meteorite is a chondrite or stony meteorite and composed of iron and nickel. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the meteorite is an estimated 4.5 billion years old. 

When the meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere, it broke apart. One fragment hit Hodges while another was located a few miles away. A farmer, Julius Kempis McKinney, discovered the second fragment while driving a mule-drawn wagon and later sold it for enough money to buy both a house and car, the Decatur Daily reported.  

"Before you knew it, everyone in town was surrounding the house wanting to see what had happened," Prondzinski said.

"In those days they didn't have Facebook, but word still traveled quickly," she added.

A doctor and the police were called to the home. Prondzinski said it was Mayor Ed Howard and the police chief who discovered the hole in the ceiling where the meteorite had crashed through. 

"She had this incredible bruise on her hip," Prondzinski told Business Insider. "She was taken to the hospital, not because she was so severely injured that she needed to be hospitalized, but because she was very distraught by the whole incident. She was a very nervous person, and she didn't like all the notoriety or all the people around."

Hodges' husband, Eugene, arrived home from work to find his house surrounded by a crowd of people. 

"The fact that it came through the roof, that slowed its trajectory, and the fact that it did bounce off the radio — if she had been lying under the radio, it would have broken her leg or her back. It probably wouldn't have killed her, but it would have done a lot more damage to her," Prondzinski said. 

"The Air Force looked at it because they thought it was a flying saucer and all this other wild and crazy stuff," Prondzinski said.

After it was confirmed a meteorite, the Hodgeses faced a lengthy litigation process to acquire ownership of it. Their landlord, Birdie Guy, believe the meteorite belonged to her because she owned the house.

"Suing is the only way she'll ever get it," Hodges told reporters at the time. "I think God intended it for me. After all, it hit me!"

The Decatur Daily News reported Guy wanted money to fix the house's roof. Litigation went on for a year, and Prondzinski said Guy settled the case for $500. The house eventually caught fire and was demolished to make way for a mobile home park.

"She became famous for 15 minutes. She had all these photo shoots. She was invited to go to New York City to be on Garry Moore's show '["I've Got a Secret"] where the panel had to guess what's her profession or what happened to her, why she is a notable figure," Prondzinski said.

Hodges would receive fan mail from churches, children, and educators asking about the meteorite, but she never answered any of them, leaving it to her lawyer.

"She was a very quiet person. She was a very private person," Prondzinski said. "She did not like having all the notoriety."

"By the time she had got the meteorite in her possession, she was so sick of the whole thing. She said, 'You can have it,'" Prondzinski said.

All Hodges asked in return was for the museum to reimburse her for her attorney fees. 

Prondzinski said the meteorite created problems between Hodges and her husband, Eugene. Her husband wanted to make money off the meteorite but failed to secure a buyer. The two eventually divorced in 1964. 

In 1972, aged 52, Hodges died of kidney failure in a nursing home.

"She's the only one who's ever been hit by a meteorite and lived to tell about it. Because of that, the meteorite has been appraised at over a million dollars," Prondzinski said. 

In an interview with National Geographic, Florida State College astronomer Michael Reynolds said, "You have a better chance of getting hit by a tornado and a bolt of lightning and a hurricane all at the same time."

There have been some near misses in the years since Hodges was hit.

Most recently, on June 26, people in Southern states reported seeing a fireball fly across the sky, and pieces of a meteorite hit a house in McDonough, Georgia, with some piercing its roof, denting its flooring, and missing a resident inside. He likely heard what sounded like a gunshot.

"I suspect that he heard three simultaneous things," said Scott Harris, a researcher at the University of Georgia's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences' department of geology, the university reported. "One was the collision with his roof, one was a tiny cone of a sonic boom and a third was it impacting the floor all in the same moment.

"There was enough energy when it hit the floor that it pulverized part of the material down to literal dust fragments."

Harris studied the rocks and concluded the meteorite could have formed 4.56 billion years ago, making it older than the Earth. It is still being studied at the university.

According to NASA, about once a year a car-sized asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere but burns up before it can touch down.

One expert told Live Science that while it's impossible to know for sure how many asteroids hit Earth each year, he estimated "about 6,100 meteorite falls per year over the entire Earth, and about 1,800 over the land."

Most of these go undetected, but occasionally they'll capture the public's attention, like Hodges' meteorite.

For instance, in 1992 a 26-pound meteorite landed on a red Chevy Malibu in New York, and in 2013, one exploded over Russia. There has also been evidence of a meteorite killing a man and injuring another in 1888. Meteor Crater, which is almost a mile wide, in Arizona shows the impact a large meteorite can have. 

Prondzinski told Business Insider that in the years since Hodges was struck, her story remains popular, and people have contacted the museum about using the story in movies, plays, and even a graphic novel.

Kelce officially entered his Swiftie era when he attended the second of the "Anti-Hero" singer's two performances on his home turf.

Before the concert at Arrowhead Stadium, Kelce was seen chatting with other Swifties and even trading friendship bracelets, according to a video posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Speaking on his podcast, "New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce," the athlete said he was "butt hurt" because he couldn't give Swift a friendship bracelet (a tradition among Swift's concertgoers) that included his phone number.

"I was disappointed that she doesn't talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings," Kelce told his brother and cohost, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce.

Jason then asked which number he put on the bracelet — the number on his Kansas City Chiefs jersey (87) or his phone number. 

"You know which one," Travis responded. He also quipped that while Swift "doesn't meet anybody" before her shows, he "took it personal."

In an interview with Time magazine, Swift confirmed her relationship with Kelce and offered details about the beginning of their romance. 

"This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell," she said. "We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I'm grateful for, because we got to get to know each other."

Two months after his podcast episode, Kelce told ESPN's Pat McAfee that after trying to woo the Grammy winner with a friendship bracelet, he extended an invite to one of his upcoming games.

"I told her, 'I've seen you rock the stage at Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage at Arrowhead and see which one's a little more lit,'" Kelce said in the interview.

 "So we'll see what happens in the near future," he added.

Swift sent the internet into meltdown when she accepted to Kelce's invitation. However, according to Swift, the lovebirds were already official by the time she attended her first game on September 24.

"By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple," she told Time. "I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date."

On that fated day, Swift was photographed wearing Kansas City colors as she watched the game from Kelce's private suite, alongside his mom, Donna Kelce.

When Kelce — already considered one of the best tight ends in NFL history — hauled in a touchdown pass from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the third quarter, Swift rose to her feet and cheered.

After chest-bumping with another spectator in the box, the singer appeared to shout, "Let's fucking go!" as Mama Kelce smiled and applauded.

After the game, images of Kelce and Swift walking out of the stadium together and driving off in his old-school convertible car were shared on X.

The pair ended their night at Prime Social Rooftop, which Kelce rented out for Swift, his family, and his teammates, per Entertainment Tonight. In photos obtained by TMZ, the couple wasn't shy about showing their affection for each other as Swift was seen wrapping her arm around Kelce's neck as they chatted with other partygoers.

In the days following, an anonymous source told People that Kelce and Swift had been "hanging out" and were still in the "super, super early days" of getting to know each other. 

"They're having fun," the source told the outlet. "This was Taylor's first time meeting his mom and dad, and everyone was enjoying themselves."

Meanwhile, Kelce debriefed the Swift-inspired frenzy on his podcast. He thanked her for "pulling up" to his game, saying he "sure as hell enjoyed this weekend."

During an episode of "New Heights," Kelce joked that his personal life is "not so personal" anymore.

"Shout out to Taylor for pulling up," he said. "That was pretty ballsy."

Kelce went on to praise Swift for her behavior with his family at her first Chiefs game.

"I just thought it was awesome how everyone in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her. The friends and family," he said. "She looked amazing, everybody was talking about her in great light. And on top of that the day went perfect for Chiefs fans, of course."

"To see the slow motion chest bumps, to see the high fives with mom," he continued. "To see how Chiefs kingdom was all excited that she was there, that shit was absolutely hysterical and it was definitely a game I'll remember that's for damn sure. And then we just slid off in the getaway car at the end."

During the Chiefs game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New York, Swift supported Kelce again and brought along some A-list pals.

Swift was spotted watching the game alongside Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Sabrina Carpenter, Hugh Jackman, Sophie Turner, and Antoni Porowski. 

While Swift and Kelce left the stadium separately, it seems they had spent some time together beforehand; the Super Bowl champion was spotted by Page Six leaving Swift's New York apartment that morning.

Kelce said the NFL had gone overboard in their coverage of Swift during an episode of his podcast, released on October 4. 

"I think it's fun when they show who all is at the game. I think it brings a little more to the atmosphere, brings a little bit more to what you're watching," Kelce said.

"But at the same time, I think they're overdoing it a little bit," he continued.

NBC Sports, which aired the game, frequently cut to shots of Swift cheering on the Chiefs. The NFL also briefly changed its bios on Instagram and X to reference Swift after the Chiefs beat the Jets.

In response, the NFL defended its coverage of the pair in a statement obtained by ESPN. 

According to multiple outlets, the "Fearless" singer spent a few days with Kelce following his 34th birthday.

Us Weekly, Page Six, and the Daily Mail reported that Swift flew from her home in Nashville, Tennessee to Kansas City, Missouri the day after his birthday.

The two were not seen out together, and an anonymous source told Us Weekly that the pair chose to have a "chill night" together. It's unknown when Swift left, but she was not present at the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Minnesota Vikings the following Sunday.

The "Cruel Summer" singer returned to the Arrowhead Stadium to cheer on Kelce as his team took on the Denver Broncos.

In a video shared by People, Swift was seen wearing a Chiefs-branded jacket for the game, where she caught up with Kelce's parents in the family suite. She was also seen speaking with Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kelce's teammate, Patrick Mahomes.

Photos published by Mail Online showed what appeared to be Swift's security team outside Kelce's home until Friday afternoon, suggesting that the pop star had stayed the night.

Kelce's mother later discussed the "whirlwind" caused by Swift's game-day appearances.

"I thought it would be over at that point, but it seems to just continue, and every week just seems to trump the week before," Donna said during an episode of the "Got It From My Momma" podcast. "So it's really kind of wild, a wild ride." 

Swift and Kelce were photographed holding hands after enjoying a date night in New York City.

The outing marked the first time the two have been photographed by paparazzi in public together, and many took it as confirmation of their relationship.

Their first public display of affection came after the pair dined at celebrity hot spot Nobu, per photos and video obtained by TMZ and Page Six. 

Swift and Kelce later went to Rockefeller Center, where they made separate surprise appearances on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." They finished the night at the show's after-party, pictures from Getty Images showed.

Swift and Kelce were photographed by paparazzi after spending Sunday night at Waverly Inn. 

Swift has dined at the West Village hot spot before, most notably in 2016 with Cara Delevingne, Lorde, and Jack Antonoff.

Just a few days before the release of "1989 (Taylor's Version)," Swift was on hand to support the Kansas City Chiefs as they took on the Los Angeles Chargers.

She was filmed cheering for Kelce, looking concerned when he fell, and performing an elaborate handshake with Brittany Mahomes.

Swift and Kelce were also photographed together at a post-game party, alongside Kelce's teammate, Mecole Hardman Jr., and his girlfriend, Chariah Gordon.

Gordon shared a series of photos on Instagram, including one of Swift kissing Kelce on the cheek.

After the Chiefs beat the Chargers, Jason opened up to NBC Sports about his brother's new relationship and the frenzy it has caused.

"It's certainly been weird, the level that it is now," he told NBC Sports on Sunday night. "On one hand, I'm happy for my brother that he seems to be in a relationship that he's excited about, that he is genuine about. But there's another end of it where it's like, 'Man, this is a lot.'"

"This is another level of stardom that typically football players don't deal with," he added.

In an interview with People, Ed Kelce described Swift as "a very, very sweet, very charming, down-to-earth young woman."

The athlete's father also praised her first impression as "very genuine," presumably referring to the Chiefs game on October 12, when Swift and Ed were seen chatting in the stands.

"I'll tell you something very special that I noticed about Taylor the first time I met her," Ed shared. "We're sitting in the suite, she gets up and in the front room, she gets up to go get a drink or something and she starts picking up empty bottles, cans, plates that are scattered around. Because in the suites everybody gets stuff and you empty it down wherever you can."

"And I'm just thinking, I don't think she got the diva memo. She didn't get the spoiled musician," he continued. "She doesn't know how to pull that off. And that really to me said a whole lot."

At a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, where the Kansas City Chiefs would soon play the Miami Dolphins, Kelce fielded a direct question about his feelings for Swift.

According to ESPN's NFL reporter Jeff Darlington, the reporter asked, "What is the latest status, and are you in love?"

"I got to see her last week. That's the latest status right there," Kelce said of their current status, though he added, "I'm going to keep my personal relationship personal."

A video of the exchange shows that Kelce was grinning as he replied.

During a recent episode of his podcast, Kelce also said it was "cool" to see people dress up as him and Swift for Halloween, though his brother thought it was "pretty creepy."

Swift and Kelce were spotted at a restaurant in the Argentine capital after Swift postponed her second scheduled show in Buenos Aires due to "truly chaotic" weather in the city.

According to People, the couple appeared to be joined by Swift's dad, Scott Swift, as they dined in a private room at Elena restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires.

Swift made a small but significant change to "Karma" during her second show in Buenos Aires as Kelce watched from the VIP tent, alongside the pop star's father, Scott Swift.

"Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me," Swift sang with a giggle, per videos captured by fans at the Estadio River Plate concert.

TikTok user @flormosso caught Kelce's reaction to the moment, when the crowd erupted into cheers. The two-time Super Bowl champ covered a huge grin with his hands while Scott patted him on the shoulder.

Kelce later said he "had a little bit of a clue" that Swift was preparing something special for the show, but once he heard the lyric change, it "still shocked me."

"I was like, 'Oh, she really just said that,'" he said on his podcast.

When her second concert in Buenos Aires ended, Swift left the stage and ran into Kelce's arms as he waited for her by an exit.

The couple shared their first public kiss as fans cheered.

In a cover story for WSJ. Magazine, the NFL player said he was a Swiftie before he began dating the pop star.

He praised Swift's songwriting, especially her song "Blank Space," and even described his girlfriend as "a genius."

"I've never been a man of words," Kelce said. "Being around her, seeing how smart Taylor is, has been fucking mind-blowing. I'm learning every day."

He also said he's been hesitant to discuss their relationship in public because he doesn't want to spook her.

"That was the biggest thing to me: make sure I don't say anything that would push Taylor away," he said.

"Obviously I've never dated anyone with that kind of aura about them… I've never dealt with it," Kelce added. "But at the same time, I'm not running away from any of it."

Once again, Swift was photographed cheering for Kelce in a private suite with Brittany Mahomes. (Unfortunately, the team lost to the Green Bay Packers 27-19.)

"They're both really hard workers, and he acknowledges her art is hers, and he has what's his," an anonymous source told People. "He understands the territory their relationship comes with and like he said, isn't letting any of the hoopla impact how they're growing together."

Swift opened up about Kelce in a cover story for Time magazine, which named her Person of the Year for 2023.

She said she enjoys attending NFL games "to support Travis" and praised him for openly courting her on his podcast.

Although Swift has a complicated history with dating in the public eye — and has kept previous relationships extremely private — she said there's nothing to hide when it comes to Kelce.

"When you say a relationship is public, that means I'm going to see him do what he loves, we're showing up for each other, other people are there and we don't care," Swift told Time. "The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you're seeing someone. And we're just proud of each other."

During a Chiefs press conference, Kelce fielded questions about navigating his relationship amid his growing fame.

"As long as we're happy, we can't listen to anything that's outside noise," Kelce said. "That's all that matters."

Kelce added that he'd be "silly" to deny Swift's role in his growing fan base, but his priority is still his job.

"I brought this upon myself, and I do enjoy having fun with it all, and the biggest thing is making sure my focus is right here in this building," Kelce told reporters.

For her 12th NFL appearance, Swift watched the Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens to secure their spot in Super Bowl LVIII.

After the game, she joined Kelce and his family on the field to celebrate. The couple shared several hugs and kisses in front of the crowd.

At the 2024 Super Bowl, Kelce and the Chiefs became NFL champions for the second year in a row. Swift had flown from Tokyo to watch the game and could be seen celebrating the historic win in a VIP box, flanked by friends and members of Kelce's family.

Later, she joined Kelce on the field, where the couple shared several intimate hugs and kisses.

Swift and Kelce were spotted in the crowd at Coachella watching pals Ice Spice and Bleachers perform. 

Several videos showing the couple dancing and kissing at the music festival circulated on social media. Swift also wore a "New Heights" hat to support Kelce's podcast.

Kelce later said that he prefers to watch concerts "from the fans' perspective."

"I'm a fan of the music. I'm a fan of live shows," Kelce said on his podcast. "I want to see it from the front of the stage. Yeah, we probably could've finessed it that way [watching backstage], but I think it's just that much more of an experience if you're in the pit, man. If you're in the madness with all the fans. It was awesome though."

Swift's 31-track double album "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology" contains two songs that may nod to Kelce.

The first is "The Alchemy," which doubles as a love song and an ode to Swift's enduring career. The lyrics feature several sport-related metaphors like "Call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team" and "Where's the trophy? He just comes running over to me."

According to the liner notes, "The Alchemy" was copyrighted in 2023, so it's unclear how deeply tied to Kelce it can be. (Swift's albums are typically finished several months ahead of their release date, ensuring vinyl factories have enough time to fulfill preorders.)

However, "So High School," which also seemingly references Kelce, was released in the deluxe half of "TTPD," meaning it wasn't included with physical copies of the album. A song can be made available to stream almost immediately after completion, so it's possible the song was written more recently.

"So High School" is perhaps the only straightforward love song on "Poets," depicting a relationship that transports Swift back to her "You Belong With Me" days — the giddy rush of young love and lust.

The track appears to include direct references to Kelce, including "You know how to ball, I know Aristotle," "You knew what you wanted and, boy, you got her," and "Are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me?"

Back in 2016, Kelce played a game of "Kiss, Marry, Kill" with AfterBuzz TV, in which he chose to kiss Swift.

Kelce brought Swift as his date to the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation Golf Classic gala in Las Vegas.

In a highlights reel shared by Kelce's teammate, the couple can be seen walking into the event holding hands.

Other clips shared by fans at the event show Kelce and Swift cuddling and kissing at their table. At one point, Kelce made a speech and referred to Swift as his "significant other." For a surprise auction item, they sold four tickets to the Eras Tour for $80,000.

When Swift returned to the stage for the European leg, she had adjusted the Eras Tour set list to perform songs from "The Tortured Poets Department." The new segment includes "So High School," possibly as a nod to her current relationship.

Swift's fourth and final performance in France also happened to be the tour's 87th show. Kelce, who wears No. 87 for the Chiefs, was in the audience. Kelce was spotted dancing with Swift's close friend, Gigi Hadid, and filming Swift on his iPhone.

"Can you believe it's our 87th show tonight?" Swift asked the audience during her acoustic set, just before playing "The Alchemy" and "Begin Again" as the evening's surprise songs.

During the concert's "1989" segment, Swift also debuted a new outfit: a glittering yellow top with a red ombré skirt. Fans interpreted this as a nod to Kelce and the Chiefs because the team's colors are yellow and red. (Kelce previously said his favorite song of Swift's is "Blank Space" from "1989").

Finally, to close the evening, Swift tweaked the lyrics of "Karma" to salute "the guy on the Chiefs" for the second time.

During Swift's third and final performance in London, Kelce made a surprise appearance during her onstage costume change for "The Tortured Poets Department."

This scene depicts Swift getting shot and killed at the end of "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived." Then, she's picked up and revived by a set of dancers dressed as ringmasters. These characters force Swift to strip down, put on heels, and keep performing through the pain — a segue into her meta bop (and "TTPD" album highlight) "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart."

Kelce joined the skit as another ringmaster. He picked up Swift's body from the stage, carried her to the fainting couch, and mimed applying powder to her face with a makeup brush. 

Kelce is now cemented in Swiftian history as the first boyfriend to join Swift onstage during one of her concerts.

Swift and Kelce were spotted out together in New York City, where they attended the wedding of Karen Elson and Lee Foster, per Vogue.

Elson is a model, while Foster is the owner of Electric Lady Studios, where Swift has recorded many songs over the years — from "Lover" to "The Tortured Poets Department."

Swift wore a cream-colored floral dress for the occasion, paired with a Vivienne Westwood purse, Louboutin sandals, and $64,000 worth of jewelry.

During an extended break from the Eras Tour, Swift and Kelce attended the 2024 US Open Tennis Championships, where they were photographed cuddling, kissing, and singing along to "I Believe In a Thing Called Love" by The Darkness. They even wore color-coordinating outfits.

The couple was joined by friends like Brittany Mahomes and the Haim sisters.

Swift's "Fortnight" won video of the year at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. During her acceptance speech, she described her joyful experience filming (and directing) the video.

"Something that I'll always remember is when I finished a take and I'd say 'cut,' and we'd be done with that take, I would always hear someone cheering from across the studio where we were shooting it," she said. "That one person was my boyfriend, Travis."

After an eruption of applause, Swift continued to thank Kelce for his positive attitude.

"Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic," she said. "So I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot because I'll always remember that."

Despite recent tabloid speculation about their relationship status, Swift showed up to cheer for Kelce when the Chiefs took on the New Orleans Saints.

Swift wore a Vivienne Westwood set and glitter freckles for the occasion in Kansas City, where the Chiefs won their fifth consecutive game and extended their undefeated season.

For the second year in a row, Swift watched the Chiefs become AFC champions at Arrowhead Stadium — her ninth attendance of the season and 22nd total. She joined Kelce and his team for the on-field celebrations.

Swift traveled to New Orleans to cheer for Kelce at their second Super Bowl as a couple.

Earlier that week, the couple was spotted dining with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes at Lilette, a popular French restaurant in the city. Swift also had dinner with friends at Gianna, an Italian restaurant near the French Quarter, the night before the big game.

Some of those friends accompanied Swift to Caesars Superdome, including the Haim sisters, Ice Spice, and stylist Ashley Avignone, who was previously mentioned in the liner notes of Swift's 2012 album "Red."

Unlike the previous year, the Chiefs lost at the Super Bowl, falling to the Eagles 40-22.

Swift and Kelce were spotted in a VIP box at Amerant Bank Arena, when the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers faced off in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final.

With training camp freshly underway for the NFL's 2025-26 season, Kelce shared a photo dump on Instagram that offered a peek into his and Swift's downtime since the Super Bowl. "Had some adventures this offseason, kept it 100," Kelce wrote in the caption.

Swift is featured in seven out of the 13 photos. The carousel includes shots of the couple ice skating, drinking wine with friends, and wearing novelty hats that say "Captain" and "First Mate." Swift's brother, Austin Swift, also appears in a few of the photos.

The post marked the first time Kelce shared personal photos of Swift on social media.

Shortly after Swift's social media team began teasing her "new era" on August 11, she was confirmed as a guest on the forthcoming episode of "New Heights."

At 12:12 a.m. ET on August 12, Swift shared a collaborative Instagram post with the "New Heights" account. In the short teaser clip, Swift, seated next to Kelce, revealed the title of her new album, "The Life of a Showgirl."

In a cover story for GQ, Kelce opened up about his and Swift's relationship dynamic.

"I get to be the plus one," he said. "I get to go and be that fan. Because I am a fan. I'm a fan of music. I'm a fan of art. And it's so cool that I get to experience her being that plus one for me on the football field… I feel that same enjoyment every time she comes to my shows."

Kelce also discussed the similarities between himself and Swift as entertainers, performing for sold-out stadium crowds.

"I hadn't experienced somebody in the same shoes as me, having a partner who understands the scrutiny, understands the ups and downs of being in front of millions," he said. "That was very relatable, seeing how exhausted she would get after shows. She may not think of herself as an athlete. She will never tell anyone that she is an athlete. But I've seen what she goes through. I've seen the amount of work that she puts on her body, and it's mind-blowing."

In 1940, the Regional Review called camping "an American tradition," according to a copy of the article shared by the National Park Service.

Starting in the mid-to-late 1800s, people camped for fun in North America, according to Britannica. As people increasingly sought to escape cities, organizations such as the Appalachian Mountain Club began to crop up. At the turn of the 20th century, books such as "The Camper's Handbook" continued to ignite interest, and throughout the century, organized camping grew in popularity.

In 1930, before the Great Depression really took hold, there were more than 3 million campers across the US, The Dyrt reported, citing Terence Young, the author of "Heading Out: A History of American Camping."

Camping originally just involved the campers, the outdoors, and some simple cooking ware. The shelter was simple, too: People would often sleep beneath a sheet held up by sticks and string.

If you went camping like this group in France in 1930, you were unreservedly experiencing nature. 

There was usually no electricity for miles, and campers had to make do with whatever heat sources they had — whether that be fires, blankets, or huddling together for warmth. 

By the Great Depression, with nearly one in four Americans unemployed in 1932, camping was considered a cost-efficient, resourceful vacation compared to train fares and costly accommodations.

There was a lot more manual labor involved with getting set up and making food than in campsites of the future, which might have access to full kitchens or electricity. 

Basic grooming was still expected.

Campers had to gather everything from the outdoors if they didn't bring water or other supplies with them.

Tent pegs were often wooden, not plastic, and had to be hammered into the ground.

Part of the allure of going camping was the authenticity of living outdoors, even if just for the night.

Campers would bring furniture, books, and other items from home to make their time in the great outdoors more comfortable.

While this may seem impractical today, it certainly made for a more sophisticated camping excursion.

The appeal of having no distractions while enjoying quality time with friends endures.

Campgrounds, as we know them today, weren't really established until the 1930s when the National Park Service developed "Recreation Demonstration Areas," according to the National Park Service.

Apparently, the first official mention of s'mores appeared in a Girl Scouts manual in 1927, according to Reserve America.

People started bringing more with them on camping trips.

RVs have also evolved. Starting as small cabins built onto the back of regular cars in the 1910s, they eventually evolved into homes, and even mansions, on wheels.

While the VW bus, as it is better known, came out in the '50s, it reached peak popularity in the '70s. It is one of the most iconic road trip vehicles in history, and synonymous with wanderlust.

Camping, as a result, became easier.

Who says camping needs to mean roughing it?

Instead of sleeping outside, you could have some protection by staying inside your car, or even kick back on a seat that converted into a bed.

Everyone wants to be close to nature ... but not too close.

Camping became more comfortable, meaning campers could now spend days or even weeks at a time in the wilderness.

People sometimes spent days camping outside ahead of an event.

Camping is still used as accommodation at modern festivals like Bonnaroo.

However, many campsites were still segregated, meaning only white visitors had access to certain parks and campgrounds. 

The Beat Generation was a literary movement made up of a group of writers who wrote about American culture using a stream-of-consciousness writing method.

Jack Kerouac, a popular writer of the time, wrote about the times he slept outside on the beach in Big Sur, which he later published in his 1962 novel "Big Sur."

To this day, their raw stories about traveling constantly and taking odd jobs to survive encourage readers to live more in tune with nature.

However, Black people and families still made use of desegregated parks and campsites or used parks and campgrounds that were designated only for Black citizens. These parks, like Virginia's Shenandoah National Park, became places of community for Black families and received thousands of visitors each year, Atlas Obscura reported.

After state and national parks were mandated to be desegregated, many of the Black-only parks closed or were absorbed by surrounding parks, according to the National Park Service.

In fact, the more dependent we become on technology, the more people might like to retreat into nature for a few days.

There's been a statistical rise in camping over the past decade. According to Kampgrounds of America's 2024 Camping and Outdoor Hospitality report, active campers have increased by 67% in the last 10 years, and one in four leisure trips are for camping.

As families try to find affordable summer activities, we may see even more campers seeking the great outdoors this summer.

To accomplish this, I picked the largest bag I own — a 32-liter backpack — for my two weeks in Europe.

Then I practiced packing as lightly as possible — twice — before I left to ensure I could fit everything.

I started with my work gear, which included a laptop, cameras, lenses, and a notebook. Then I packed other essentials like chargers, toiletries, and snacks.

Next, I stuffed a packing cube with two polos, one T-shirt, one long-sleeve T-shirt, three pairs of pants, a sweater, a blazer, a dress, and two light jackets.

While I longed for more outfit variety on my trip, I was surprised I had everything I needed despite packing lighter than ever.

When visiting multiple locations in one trip, I found the travel exhausting.

I started my journey with a red-eye flight to Berlin from my home in NYC. Then, I took overnight trains to Vienna and Venice, Italy, in shared sleeper cabins.

I initially thought overnight transportation would be the best way to travel through Europe to maximize my time exploring during the day.

But for me, sleeping on board flights and trains among strangers was challenging. I didn't consider how little I'd be able to sleep during these overnight rides, and I arrived at my destinations feeling more exhausted than I had hoped.

When I arrived in Vienna on an overnight train from Berlin, I planned to spend my morning seeing the sights until I could check in to my hotel at 3 p.m.

But as I stepped off the train, it was apparent that my body needed rest, so I had to figure out where to get it.

Before going to Europe, I planned everything, from booking accommodations and train rides to mapping out the locations I wanted to visit to avoid problems.

But plans don't always work out, and I had to make quick decisions, like when I arrived in Vienna. When I got off the train, I started going to random hotels to book a room. By the third hotel, I got one, and I felt relieved.

My trip was full of problems like this, and solving them made me feel more confident in my travel abilities.

When visiting a new country for just a couple of days, it's easy to pack exploration into every hour without planning for rest. But without downtime, I found travel wasn't as enjoyable.

During the parts of my trip when I felt well-rested, I could appreciate where I was and take in the unique architecture and bustling atmosphere.

Getting sleep also made me feel more in touch with what my body needed, from staying hydrated to eating enough food.

Wearing my backpack while walking for extended periods made my muscles feel sore. I wasn't used to its weight and size. In crowded spaces, I kept forgetting that the backpack made me about a third larger than I typically am.

In these moments, I wondered if a carry-on suitcase would have been a better choice. Sure, the luggage is larger, but after lugging around my backpack all day, I felt like it could be easier to roll a suitcase.

While on my way to each destination, I read about the sights that awaited me in guidebooks I downloaded onto my iPad. These books helped me decide how to spend time in each location and built up my excitement for my coming adventures.

I also downloaded a few episodes of my favorite TV shows to comfort me, which I usually watched around bedtime.

In the summer of 2022, it felt like everyone I followed on Instagram was in Europe. So, I booked my trip for October to avoid peak tourism season.

But throughout my trip, I stood on my tippy toes to see popular historic sites above rows of heads obscuring my view.

From Rome to Zurich, I trudged through places I didn't expect to be overrun with tourists.

Europe is less crowded with tourists in September and October than in summer. But in the fall of 2022, traveling during shoulder season seemed to be trending.

During my visits to Berlin and Zurich, I stayed in small towns about an hour outside the city center by train.

I expected nothing more than a place to sleep in these towns, so I was pleasantly surprised that they felt like hidden gems.

When I visited Berlin, I stayed in a tiny home hotel in Neustrelitz, Germany.

My hotel was a 20-minute walk from the train station, and I enjoyed starting and ending each day with a relaxing walk through town, where I spotted the occasional backpacker among mostly locals.

I liked Roggwil, a small village near Zurich, more than almost any other part of Europe I saw.

I couldn't help but think I would have never seen it if I hadn't booked this specific Airbnb, which was a two-minute walk from the town's train station.

With so many crowds in the cities, I enjoyed experiencing the quiet, slower pace of suburban life while photographing landscapes in less-visited areas of Europe.

I visited six cities and two small towns in just 14 days, so I thought my memories of my European adventure would start to meld together after my trip concluded.

But I'll never forget how alive Berlin felt, with its lush pockets of greenery, dramatic murals, and street performers, or how Vienna's garden mazes and fairy-tale architecture made me feel like royalty.

The canals in Venice made me feel like I was in a storybook, while Zurich had charming streets with jaw-dropping mountain backdrops.

I spent my first week traveling solo, and when a friend joined me for the second week in Italy and Switzerland, I found I had a new appreciation for traveling with someone else.

While on my own, I endured more uncomfortable situations than on any previous trip. I also learned more about myself during my solo travels than I anticipated.

So when my travel companion arrived, having someone to share new experiences with helped me explore and problem-solve in a new way — as a team.

Next time, I'll let go of my expectations and plan to be surprised.

Rowland Schafer founded wig retailer Fashion Tress Industries in 1961. According to a 1965 advertisement listed on eBay, FTI wigs were made for "busy women who have to look their best at a moment's notice."

In 1973, as the wig industry waned, Schafer purchased a small Midwest chain called Claire's Boutiques. Schafer eventually sold off the wig industry and renamed his company Claire's Stores.

By the mid-1990s, Claire's had more than 1,000 retail outlets. The chain became a mall staple, notable for its focus on the pre-teen and teen audience. Stores featured bright colors and prices that kids could afford.

Schafer purchased the Afterthoughts mall chain in 1999 for $250 million, folding it into the Icing by Claire's brand. The second brand aimed for a slightly older demographic.

Claire's was a beloved ear-piercing spot among tweens. The store was known for its cheap, colorful jewelry. It offered both lobe and cartilage piercings — according to the website, the retailer has pierced more than 110 million ears.

Schafer ran the business until 2002, when he suffered a stroke. His daughters Bonnie and Marla then took over the business.

In 2007, the family accepted a take-private offer from Apollo Global Management for $3.1 billion. At the time, the company had more than 3,000 stores.

"The decision to sell the company that our father founded was reached after an enormous amount of soul-searching over time, and brings our strategic review to a successful conclusion," the Schaefer sisters said in a statement at the time.

In March of 2018, Claire's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the first time, saddled with $2 billion in debt. The retailer announced it would close 92 stores across America at the time, and said it had been hit by declining traffic in malls.

"A Claire's store is located in approximately 99% of major shopping malls throughout the United States," Claire's said in a bankruptcy filing at the time.

Claire's emerged from bankruptcy in December 2018 after having eliminated roughly $1.9 billion in debt.

By 2021, Claire's finances were looking up. The company was profitable, generated $1.4 billion in revenue. It also filed to raise $100 million in a planned IPO.

Ryan Vero, who had come on as CEO in 2019, touted the brand's turnaround to Fast Company and said that the mall brand wasn't dead.

"If a mall has died in a particular town, we're moving to wherever the thriving shopping center is," he said.

In 2023, Claire's postponed its IPO. One year later, Vero stepped down.

The store announced that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 6, 2025.

"This decision is difficult, but a necessary one," CEO Chris Cramer said in the release. "Increased competition, consumer spending trends and the ongoing shift away from brick-and-mortar retail, in combination with our current debt obligations and macroeconomic factors, necessitate this course of action for Claire's and its stakeholders."

The bankruptcy filing also highlighted tariffs as a contributing factor.

"Claire's was not immune from the continued trend away from brick and mortar and more recent macroeconomic challenges, including higher interest rates, labor costs and, most recently, tariffs," the filing said. "While Claire's took many steps over the last few years to address these and other challenges, it was not enough to overcome the obstacles."

Claire's is set to close 700 locations, including Icing stores. If it fails to find a buyer, the brand could liquidate its remaining thousand-plus store footprint in North America.

According to Tripadvisor, Niagara Falls, Ontario, has more than 200 hotels ranging from one to four stars.

The Sheraton Fallsview, part of the Marriott Bonvoy hotel collection, is a four-star hotel. Rooms range from an interior view starting at $150 to guest rooms and suites with views of the falls, which cost between about $190 and $425, according to a recent search for bookings a month in advance.

My room was more expensive since I visited in the summer during the high tourism season.

Since my entire trip was about seeing Niagara Falls, I decided to upgrade to a premium 258-square-foot Fallsview room with a direct view for my two-night stay.

From my room, I saw the American Falls on the left, Bridal Veil Falls in the middle, and Horseshoe Falls, the U-shaped falls on the right.

Although I didn't get a chance to use them, the hotel had some great amenities, such as a spa, gym, and rooftop pool.

When I opened the door, I could hear the water crashing down.

There were nightstands with lamps on either side of the bed. Between the bed and the window was a sitting area with a couch, chair, and coffee table.

Each morning, I hopped out of bed and opened the door to get ready to the sounds of the falls. I thought it was a peaceful way to start the day.

The bathroom also had a lit vanity and a second shower head.

At night, the Niagara Falls Illumination board projected color-changing lights onto the water from the Illumination Tower and the Table Rock Centre rooftop, according to Niagara Parks.

The fireworks show runs every night at 10 p.m. from late May to early October, according to Niagara Falls Live.

Seeing the fireworks show from my bed was a happy surprise, and I thought it made the nightly $500 price worth it. I would book it again, as long as it's fireworks season. If not, I'd try another hotel with a different view of the falls.

What it's about: Directed by her husband, John, Bo Derek plays a 23-year-old who wants to lose her virginity, which leads her to Morocco. Critics didn't just hate this movie, it has since been regarded as one of the worst movies ever made.

What a critic thought: "The real future of 'Bolero' is in home cassette rentals, where your fast forward and instant replay controls will supply the editing job the movie so desperately needs." — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

What it's about: In this chapter of the iconic comedy franchise, the misfit Police Academy graduates are tasked with training civilian volunteers.

What a critic thought: "'4' isn't even a film; it's more like a long trailer, a collection of scenes without sense." — Richard Harrington, The Washington Post

What it's about: An adopted child makes life a living hell for his good-natured father (played by John Ritter).

What a critic thought: "Sound funny? The filmmakers here think so. They've jacked this loud, lame shrieker of a movie up to the highest decibels, both aural and visual, and rammed it in our faces with almost numbing aplomb." — Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times

What it's about: In the sequel to the popular fantasy movie, Christopher Lambert returns as Highlander Connor MacLeod who tries to save the world by solving its ozone layer problem. Yes, that's the plot.

What a critic thought: "'Highlander 2: The Quickening' is the most hilariously incomprehensible movie I've seen in many a long day — a movie almost awesome in its badness." — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

What it's about: It's pretty much the same plot as the 1980 original starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins. But instead of those two attractive people stranded on an island and falling in love, it's another pair of attractive people: Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause.

What a critic thought: "A textbook example of a disaster that amazingly manages not only to contain bad acting and an appalling script, but also some of the most unconvincing love scenes ever committed to film. " — Joanna Berry, RadioTimes

What it's about: Tom Selleck (with no mustache) plays a self-absorbed guy who takes in his parents after their home burns down.

What a critic thought: "The film's appeal will depend largely on whether you feel like laughing at senile dementia and automobile accidents." — Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times

What it's about: In the final movie in the "Look Who's Talking" franchise we now follow the inner thoughts of the family's dogs, voiced by Danny DeVito and Diane Keaton.

What a critic thought: "A crude and mawkish film in which dogs attempt to communicate with Kirstie Alley and John Travolta." — Rita Kempley, The Washington Post

What it's about: This comedy set in the 1860s follows a group of settlers who are fed up with the West and hire a cowboy (John Candy) to lead them back East.

What a critic thought: "Although a comedy rife in lively characters, 'Wagons East!' affords star John Candy one of the poorest, drabbest, and thoroughly unfunniest roles of his career." — Roger Hurlburt, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

What it's about: Former basketball great Dennis Rodman was so big back in the late 1990s he got his own movie. He plays a spy who tries to save the world.

What a critic thought: "Dennis Rodman may be a great rebounder, but as a pop-culture icon, he's a one-trick pony." — Nathan Rabin, AV Club

What it's about: In this comedy, Rob (Brian Hooks) tries to change his life — with two strikes against him, he's one away from going back to prison.

What a critic thought: "Relies much too heavily on multiple repetitions of gags that aren't especially funny the first time around." — Joe Leydon, Variety

What it's about: Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu play agents at different agencies who are to take out one another but instead learn they have to team up to defeat a bigger enemy. With 118 reviews of the movie in Rotten Tomatoes, it has the distinction of being the 0% movie with the most reviews filed.

What a critic thought: "'Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever' looks like a video-game promo, has a story that plays like the fifth episode of a struggling syndicated action show, and feels like a headache waiting to happen." Keith Phipps, AV Club

What it's about: Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a NATO operative who is the only one who can stop an out-of-control train that's carrying hostages and bio-weapons.

What a critic thought: "An overblown annoyance." — David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews

What it's about: Heather Graham plays a woman who throws away a loving relationship to run off with a mountain climber (Joseph Fiennes).

What a critic thought: "With miscast leads, banal dialogue and an absurdly overblown climax, 'Killing Me Softly' belongs firmly in the so-bad-it's-good camp." — Neil Smith, BBC

What it's about: A comedy that revolves around a guy who witnessed a murder.

What a critic thought: "A limp, smirky lark." — Jessica Winter, Time Out

What it's about: Five years after winning the best actor Oscar for "Life Is Beautiful," Roberto Benigni writes, directs, and plays the lead in this live-action retelling of the classic fairy tale.

What a critic thought: "What can one say about a balding 50-year-old actor playing an innocent boy carved from a log?" — Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle

What it's about: Two buddies marry elderly sisters thinking they will inherit their family fortune.

What a critic thought: "So stupefyingly hideous that after watching it, you'll need to bathe in 10 gallons of disinfectant, get a full-body scrub and shampoo with vinegar to remove the scummy residue that remains." — Jen Chaney, The Washington Post

What it's about: A group of talking babies, who are also geniuses, stop a media mogul trying to cash in on baby talk.

What a critic thought: "Why? Seriously, why? Why would anyone make a sequel to Baby Geniuses, a 1999 film whose existence, from its title on down, appeared to be a cruel joke about the gullibility of the lowest common denominator?" — Nathan Rabin, AV Club

What it's about: An estranged family must confront their past when coming together to celebrate the life of a loved one who has recently passed away.

What a critic thought: "Neither the camera nor the script can focus." — Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly

What it's about: A mechanic, who also moonlights as the lead singer of a hot unsigned band, gets sucked into the world of illegal drag racing.

What a critic thought: "It's hard to say whether gleaming automobiles or women's bodies are given the more fetishlike treatment in this vanity production." — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter

What it's about: A girl who thought the serial killer who tormented her years ago was dead finds out he's still around and is looking for her.

What a critic thought: "To make a 3-D 'torture porn' movie is at best opportunist; to make one with flat, boring torture scenes is unforgivable." — Nigel Floyd, Time Out

What it's about: In this horror, people start receiving voicemails from their future selves with details of their upcoming deaths.

What a critic thought: "The direction is uninspired, acting is lifeless, and the script borders on the inept. A PG-13 rating means that it's short on shocks, too." Richard James Havis, The Hollywood Reporter

What it's about: Mischa Barton plays a scorned ex-girlfriend who seeks revenge when her former boyfriend shows up with a new girlfriend at their school's homecoming.

What a critic thought: "Neither trashy nor self-consciously funny enough to make its genre-trapped ludicrousness sing." — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

What it's about: Jon Hamm plays a detective who is dealing with the loss of his son while trying to solve a case.

What a critic thought: "Plays like a middling episode of 'Law & Order: SVU,' drawn out an extra half-hour and embellished with pretentious literary and cinematic flourishes." — Stephen Holden, The New York Times

What it's about: Comedy about a group of college kids who while doing a semester abroad in Romania find themselves encountering hard parties and vampires.

What a critic thought: "If your idea of a good time is laughing with repulsion at a humpbacked Romanian n----- with a torture-loving midget dad, or tittering every time a bong appears, a darkened theater awaits you." — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

What it's about: Set in 1920s Vienna, a young girl (Elle Fanning) receives a doll on Christmas Eve that leads to a night of magic.

What a critic thought: "This non-balletic adaptation by the Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky is something gnarled and stunted and wrong, something that should never have been allowed to see the light of day." Dana Stevens, Slate

What it's about: Halle Berry plays a shark expert who, after one of her divers is killed by a shark, finds her business hurting and struggles to get back in the water.

What a critic thought: "The sharks themselves are the only ones to emerge with credit from this." — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

What it's about: Eddie Murphy stars as Jack McCall, a literary agent who after hustling a spiritual guru finds a Bodhi tree in his yard and learns when all the leaves fall off the tree will die, as well as himself.

What a critic thought: "Does Eddie Murphy actually have any range, or is it just an illusion created by a few early edgy roles and, later, a lot of CGI makeup and fat suits?" — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

What it's about: Marking Adam Sandler's first Netflix movie, he plays a Western outlaw who discovers he has five half brothers.

What a critic thought: "It's a lazy pastiche of westerns and western spoofs, replete with lazy, racist jokes that can't just be waved away with a waft of the irony card. Woeful." — Brad Newsome, Sydney Morning Herald

What it's about: This remake of Eli Roth's 2002 horror movie follows a group of friends who embark on a cabin in the woods and encounter a flesh-eating disease.

What a critic thought: "This dud sets a new standard for the term 'pointless remake.'" — Geoff Berkshire, Variety

What it's about: Jim Carrey stars in this thriller about how a crime novel could be the clues needed to solve a recent murder.

What a critic thought: "It's very rare for a film to pretty much have no redeeming features about it, but 'Dark Crimes' is essentially impossible to recommend beyond those who have a morbid curiosity." — Andrew Gaudion, The Hollywood News

What it's about: Kate Beckinsale stars in this thriller in which she plays a mother who unwittingly releases unspeakable horrors when opening the door to a room in the house she just moved into.

What a critic thought: "There simply isn't enough freshness in the script to warrant another journey inside a dark old house." — Stephen Faber, The Hollywood Reporter

What it's about: A teenager named Max teams with his alien friend, named Steel, to create — you guessed it — Max Steel.

What a critic thought: "A spectacle without the spectacle, an autumnal, amorphous blockbuster that just sits there, suspended in mid-air, as you soak in its ceaseless banality." — Sam Fragoso, The Wrap

What it's about: Bruce Willis and Mark-Paul Gosselaar star in this caper about a crime boss who double-crosses a thief.

What a critic thought: "The stupid plot, dismal dialogue, moral turpitude and dispiriting torpor of this movie makes watching it utterly pointless." — Bruce Kirkland, Toronto Sun

What it's about: Dominic Cooper plays a British commando who takes out a deadly terrorist cell.

What a critic thought: "A pretty unremarkable caper: a by-the-numbers movie about a macho-maverick-man doing macho-maverick-man things." — Charlotte Harrison, Den of Geek

What it's about: John Travolta plays John Gotti in his biopic about the infamous New York City crime boss.

What a critic thought: "Starring in this mobster biopic that deserves to get whacked is an offer Travolta should have refused. Insane testimonials from Gotti supporters at the end are as close as this s---show will ever get to good reviews." — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

What it's about: Amber Heard stars in this thriller in which she has an affair with three men, one of whom she knows will be her murderer.

What a critic thought: "Quite simply, horrendous — a trashy, tortured misfire from beginning to end." — Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times

What it's about: Terry Crews stars as the title character who must reconcile with his past to help two immigrant kids trying to escape the gang life of Los Angeles.

What a critic thought: "Flashes of craft can't make up for the director's easy default to gore over story." — Lisa Kennedy, Variety

What it's about: This Netflix crime thriller is set in a future where the government has come up with a signal that makes it impossible for anyone to knowingly commit unlawful acts.

What a critic thought: "Don't care about story, characters or words, but love violence? Even you will be disappointed." — Johnny Oleksinski, The New York Post

What it's about: The latest movie adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic went straight to Amazon Prime, and when you see it, you'll understand why.

Ice Cube plays a Homeland Security officer who, while searching for a hacker, suddenly has to deal with a sudden alien invasion.

What's different from the other "War of the Worlds" movies is this is told in "screenlife," a storytelling method made popular with the 2018 movie "Searching," in which the entire story is told visually through a computer, tablet, or smartphone screen. (And yes, there are plenty of Amazon product placements.)

What a critic thought: "Even with a Prime subscription, you have to sit through two minutes of ads to watch 90 more of what amounts to a feature-length commercial for all things Amazon." — Peter Debruge, Variety

Rehman owns Bilal Rehman Studio, a luxury design studio based in Houston, Texas.

Rehman designs for people of all incomes, but he got his start in luxury decor, specializing in high-end spaces.

"I have an appreciation for the world of luxury because of the attention to detail and the craftsmanship," he told BI of why he likes to work in luxury homes. 

Rehman turned his expertise into a viral sensation with his TikTok account, where he shares his home decor advice and has amassed millions of views on his videos. 

He spoke to BI about one of the most popular topics on his TikTok, sharing ways people miss opportunities to make their spaces look luxurious in almost every room of their homes.

"I think the No. 1 thing that they do is that they don't use the proper scale of furniture or accessories or rugs in their space," Rehman said when asked how people most often make their homes look cheap.

If you don't have much floor space, it might be your instinct to fill your home with small pieces, but Rehman said that may actually make your space look less put together.

"People think that just because you're in an apartment, you have to buy small-scale furniture, and that's not true," he said. "Go buy the big couch, buy the big rug, buy the coffee table that's oversized because what people don't realize is that scale makes your space feel bigger."

Rehman said your space will look more luxurious if you fill it with a handful of statement pieces rather than too many small pieces.

"There's a fine art of not cramming your space with too much stuff and underdoing it to where all the furniture feels like it's miniature," Rehman said. 

Rehman said kitchens often look "cluttered" and cheap when you fill your cabinets with flatware, dinnerware, and glassware that don't match, particularly if you have open cabinetry.

"It doesn't look cohesive or expensive. It starts to look like you went and dug through a bargain bin to find all these pieces, but for the same price, you could buy a really beautiful matching set of mugs or plates or appliances to elevate your space," Rehman said. 

He also advised people to think about aesthetics as well as function for any item that will live on their countertops, pointing to Smeg toasters as an example.

"There are cheaper alternatives, of course, but Smeg is a great player in the game of taking something utilitarian and making it artistic," he added. "I have a chrome Smeg toaster on my countertop and I love it. It's just so pretty to look at, and it's taking something so basic and making it elevated."

It can be natural to fill your bathroom counters with products, but Rehman told BI that not having more sophisticated storage can make your space feel cheap. 

"Do not have all your products on the countertop," Rehman said. "Especially if you're dealing with a smaller bathroom, that empty visual space is your friend that makes your bathroom feel high-end."

He said to prioritize putting out items you use daily, and find other storage solutions for things you use less often.

"It makes it feel bigger. It makes it feel cleaner. And honestly, when everything is organized, it's so much easier to get ready in the morning and get ready at nighttime when you know where everything is," Rehman said. "When you're dealing with a bathroom, really be intentional on what's out and what's hidden and put away."

And if you don't have much storage space, remember to invest in functional items with aesthetic appeal, like coordinating soap-bottle sets or a nice toothbrush holder.

Rehman said thinking strategically about your choice of bath mat can make a huge difference in your home, particularly if you have limited space in your bathroom. 

"Don't buy a whole bunch of different bath mats, like the small bath mats meant to go in front of the toilet or the shower or the sink," Rehman advised. "Instead, try to get a large-scale rug or a large-scale runner that creates this unified piece in your bathroom and makes it feel clean and simple."

If you're hesitant about putting a real rug in your bathroom, Rehman said to remember that there are plenty of water-friendly rugs on the market.

"Just get a cool rug from Ruggable and throw it in your washing machine every couple of weeks," he added. "That looks so much better in the end than all these mismatched mats that are moving all over the place."

Matching bedroom sets might seem like the easiest solution to making your room look cohesive, but Rehman said it's rare for the set to look as good in your home as it does in the store.

"It looks so good when you walk into a store, and everything matches because they set it up in a certain way, but the second you take it home and you put it in your bedroom, it literally just looks like you went to a big-box store, picked up that room, and dropped it into your house," Rehman said.

"It has no personality, it doesn't look collected, it doesn't look designer, it doesn't feel high-end at all," he said. "Instead of doing that, the same money that you're spending on that, spend it on mismatched pieces that are cohesive."

Rehman said it's a better idea to find pieces that complement each other, as this will make the space look more intentional.

Rehman advised people to approach decorating the outside of their homes just as they do their interiors.

"Don't be afraid to accessorize your outdoor space," he said, pointing to items like rugs and layered looks. "Put art on your brick on the outside of your house."

"You're going to walk outside, and there's going to be a seamless flow from the inside to the out," Rehman said. "It just makes your space feel so much grander and so much more put together."

He said investing in pieces that complement the natural colors of your environment can help make the space feel even more cohesive and chic.

Of course, the furniture you choose for your home, especially pieces like couches and beds, should be comfortable, but Rehman said it's just as important to prioritize its appearance.

"When people are going to buy furniture, they focus so heavily on the comfort and they don't focus on the style," he said. "They end up buying this big, bubbly couch that has lots of padding, and it has a built-in cupholder and USB chargers. That's great for maybe a movie room, but in your main living room, where you're entertaining, you want to feel sexy, and you want to have people over, and you want to create different moods."

Rehman said there are so many affordable, comfortable pieces with aesthetic appeal that he doesn't understand why people wouldn't pick prettier pieces whenever possible.

"In today's market, there's been so much innovation with the world of design and furniture that finding things that are stylish and comfortable is so much easier than it was five years ago," he said. "Just take that little extra step and go find things that are the best of both worlds."

It's always helpful to have a few tried-and-true dinners on hand for nights when the kids get fussy.

When I want to make sure I get some food in them, I take a couple of minutes to prepare these thin pasta triangles with butternut-squash filling inside.

My kids have yet to turn the pasta down, and this dish allows me to rationalize that I've fed the children a fruit — squashes have seeds!

My local Trader Joe's often stocks Cosmic Crisp apples, a cross between Enterprise and Honeycrisp apples.

They come in two distinct sizes: small ones, which are in a 2-pound bag, and huge ones, which customers can buy individually. 

I especially like the latter. Cosmic Crisps tend to brown more slowly than most other apples because they have higher levels of acidity and sugar, so if I cut one up and pack it as a snack for both kids, I know the slices will look fresh and appetizing all day. 

And in my experience, Cosmic Crisps don't seem to bruise easily. I throw one in my bag whenever I anticipate the need for a healthy afternoon snack.

Trader Joe's jalapeño sauce stays true to the taste of its namesake pepper, though I'd say it carries more of the jalapeño's flavor than its heat. 

Like all hot sauces, this product has a wide range of potential uses. However, I didn't discover its true purpose until I put it on a salami sandwich in place of mustard. It brought out the very best of cured meat. 

I eat a lot of burgers at home, so I play around with condiments to keep things interesting. I found that combining this jalapeño sauce with mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, and Worcestershire sauce makes an excellent burger topping.

These might be my favorite chips of all time, which is no small accomplishment.

They taste quite a bit like Cool Ranch Doritos, just with an extra little kick of heat. The chips' hearty texture is phenomenal, and they remind me of higher-caliber Fritos. 

The bag suggests dipping these chips in guacamole, but that seems unnecessarily indulgent. They carry enough flavor on their own.

I sometimes fantasize about crushing them up and using them to bread chicken, but in truth, I usually just eat half the bag on my walk home.

I drink an alarming amount of coffee. Ever since I started making cold brew at home about 10 years ago, I estimate I've saved thousands of dollars in coffee-shop purchases. 

I've experimented with various roasts, origins, and preparations and have yet to find a high-quality coffee in the same price range as Trader Joe's organic Bolivian blend.

It produces cold brew exactly as I want it: strong but smooth, with subtle, caramel-tinged sweetness.

I could say I buy multicolored carrots because my kids think they're fun, but in truth, the novelty hasn't yet worn off on me either. 

Now our crudités look like a beautiful autumnal cornucopia. The purple ones are especially popular in my house, and it doesn't hurt that they're also very tasty.

I have sensitive skin and can't handle most fabric softeners, so I always keep a stock of these dryer bags, which have lavender as their only ingredient, to help my clothes smell nice.

I also like that they don't have harsh chemicals. The lavender is enough to add a pleasant, floral fragrance to my laundry and freshen up the air in my apartment.

I'm old enough to remember a time when stuffed pretzels seemed rare and felt reserved for special occasions. 

Now they're widely available — especially at Trader Joe's — and you can choose from multiple different nut-butter fillings and coatings. I favor the classic ones with peanut butter on the inside.

They're crunchy, salty, sweet, and satisfying. When I think of a Venn diagram representing all the different ways I want my snacks to taste, these treats land smack-dab in the middle.

After trying a variety of Trader Joe's frozen pizzas, I've found I often prefer to make my own. I pair ready-to-bake plain pizza dough with a jar of fat-free pizza sauce and a fresh mozzarella log. 

The jar of sauce and the cheese are enough for at least two pizzas — assuming no one snacks on the cheese — and the dough is easier to work with than other supermarket ones I've used in the past.

My kids won't eat spicy food, but I jazz up my slices with Trader Joe's version of Sriracha.

It's always important to stock up on foods my kids will eat, but it's equally important to keep some on hand that my kids won't touch. 

I want to know that I have lunch options that won't descend upon like vultures, and the jerk-chicken burrito is one of them.

It's delicious and has enough Caribbean spices that my children, who can't handle spice, stay away from it. Like most burritos, these are great with a little sour cream.

Although I haven't found it in stores in a while, I hope Trader Joe's brings it back as it often does with products.

Click to keep reading Trader Joe's diaries like this one.

This story was originally published on July 2, 2023, and most recently updated on August 6, 2025.

My trip began with a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the night before my cruise, and a stay at a budget hotel near my departure port.

This was the first of many crowded bus rides during my trip. Looking back, I wish I had called a cab — especially since the next morning, I piled into a hot bus with several other cruise guests as I headed to the port.

Inside the cruise terminal, there was another long line to get through security. While I waited, I chuckled to myself as I read signs that said, "Adventure begins here."

My obstructed view of the ship leaving Fort Lauderdale was as frustrating as standing behind tall patrons at a concert.

But I found the maps on each floor to be helpful.

While people seemed to enjoy themselves, many communal decks looked and felt like crowded malls.

The outdoor decks had three large pools and several plunge and whirlpools. These spaces were crowded throughout the day. And even though there were rules against saving chairs with towels, I saw plenty of people doing it, so finding a spot to relax was stressful.

A Royal Caribbean representative told Business Insider that crew members might remove items from lounge chairs after 30 minutes. Still, they must also consider families and groups who may be in the pool or going to the restroom when enforcing rules like these, using their best judgment.

From the cruise ship buffet to activities like water slides and mini-golf, I felt like I spent more time waiting in line than enjoying the ship. For example, I waited in line for three hours to play a round of laser tag that was less than 20 minutes long.

At port stops, I waited in lines to go through security every time I left and returned to the ship. This wait time was less annoying than the other lines because it made me feel safer.

I often had to battle through crowds just to find signs for my excursions.

The Royal Caribbean rep told BI that the cruise line worked with local tour operators for its excursions, so air conditioning standards varied.

I hoped to capture an empty image of this majestic jungle bridge, but it wasn't possible without losing my tour crew.

The most enjoyable parts of my cruise were early morning walks on the top deck before other cruisers swarmed in. I think that if I were to book a less crowded cruise next time, I might like it more.