New Book Reveals True Story of Winnie the Pooh

Lindsay Mattick’s great-grandfather was on his way to fight in World War I when he bought a bear cub he named Winnie, inspiring author A.A. Milne to create the timeless character Winnie-the-Pooh. Now, Mattick has written a new children’s book chronicling the real-life story behind the bear.

Mattick, 37, wanted to tell her young son the peculiar tale and wrote “Finding Winnie: The Story of the Real Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh.” The book was published in November — just weeks before the 90th anniversary on Thursday of the first time Milne used the name Winnie-the-Pooh in print.

“‘Finding Winnie’ is a story that I have had in my head for a long time,” Mattick told The Associated Press with a warm smile that reveals her passion for this very personal project. “I thought a picture book would be an amazing way to share my incredible family story with my child.”

The family history goes like this: Her great-grandfather, Lt. Harry Colebourn of Canada, bought an American black bear cub from a hunter while Colebourn was on his way to fight in World War I in 1914. Colebourn, a veterinarian, raised the female bear and named her after his home city, Winnipeg — or Winnie for short. He took Winnie on the long journey by train and ship to his training camp in England.

The story came to light in the late 1980s, when another regiment was incorrectly linked to the bear, which by then had been made famous by Milne’s classic childhood tales. Mattick’s grandfather wanted to set the record straight.

“He said, ‘No, actually that was my Dad’s bear, that was his pet,’ and at that point, he pulled out his father’s diaries and photographs from the war, and started to really share the story publicly,” Mattick said.

She is now retelling the story for a new generation. Taking inspiration from her family’s archive of photos of Colebourn and Winnie, Mattick teamed up with illustrator Sophie Blackall to create historically accurate drawings that capture the rare bond between the soldier and the bear cub.

But a war zone is no place for a pet. So when Colebourn was sent to the front lines in France, he left Winnie in the care of London Zoo.

Visitors quickly saw that this bear was unusually gentle and kind — qualities later reflected in Milne’s writings. Children were even allowed into her enclosure, something no zoo would consider today.

“She became a star attraction,” Mattick said. “She had a lot of visitors because of her very friendly and well-trained nature.”

Christopher Robin Milne, a young visitor who forged a friendship with the bear, loved her so much that he re-christened his own teddy Winnie-the-Pooh. The name “Pooh” comes from a swan also named by Christopher Robin.

The boy’s father, A.A. Milne, first published a story about a boy named Christopher Robin and his stuffed bear Winnie-the-Pooh in the London Evening News on Christmas Eve in 1925.

Winnie-the-Pooh was first published as a book in October 1926 and A.A. Milne wrote several other stories and poems about Christopher Robin and his bear’s adventures. The books and illustrations have been treasured by children — and their parents — for generations.

Colebourn survived the war. But, as he returned to Canada, he felt that Winnie was so settled at the zoo that he left her there, where she remained a favorite with visitors until her death in 1934.

Captain America… Another Avenger To Get Makeover

While the world still stay shocked at the fact that Marvel will be changing Thor to a female, we’ve been hit with another bombshell!

Marvel has confirmed that Captain America will be an African-American!

How? Well, Falcon, who is the partner of Captain America will be taking over his his long-time ally.

“It’s about time,” Marvel executive editor, Tom Brevoort said.

He added that “in 2014, this should be a thing that we shrug off, it shouldn’t be seen as revolutionary, but it still feels exciting.”

But if you think the publisher will be killing the original Captain America, Steve Rodgers, you’d be wrong.

This change is prompted only because in the story, Rodgers would be at age 90.

In 2007, Captain America’s original sidekick, Bucky took over when Rodger was supposedly killed off.

So, no one is really sure as of yet, exactly how the publishers will make the transition.

“And that just makes us more aware that we have more readers of different backgrounds who are hungry for characters who come from circumstances like their own. Our creators take that seriously,” Tom Brevoort said on “The View” this week.

The new series “The All-new Captain American” is set to launch this November.

WATCH: Steve Harvey Announces Wrong Winner At Miss Universe

Steve Harvey has made a mistake — a very big mistake.

During Sunday night’s Miss Universe, the host called out Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez as the winner of the highly publicized competition. Expect, Gutierrez wasn’t the winner. Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, was.

“Okay, folks,” he explained. “I have to apologize. The first runner-up is Colombia.”

Harvey then announced that Wurtzbach was, in fact, the winner, and the camera then panned to the contestant, who looked visibly shocked after seeing Gutierrez’s celebration. The awkward moment was broadcast live on Fox, over several different countries.

Harvey went on to say sorry on his Twitter, writing, “I’d like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia & Miss Philippines for my huge mistake. I feel terrible. Secondly, I’d like to apologize to the viewers at that I disappointed as well. Again it was an honest mistake.”

“I don’t want to take away from this amazing night and pageant,” he went on. “As well as the wonderful contestants. They were all amazing.”

He tweeted a similar apology earlier, but misspelled the names of both countries, so the message was quickly deleted.

Jillian Michaels Reveals Reason Behind Biggest Loser Departure

Former “Biggest Loser” trainer, Jillian Michaels, has come out to reveal why she decided to leave the reality competition.

Jillian took a break from the show for one season in 2006 but then, later announced that she would be permanently leaving the show in 2010, after she returned from her one-season break.

However, in 2013, she returned to “The Biggest Loser,” only to shockingly announced that she is resigning from her post last month.

She told People magazine that although she is “grateful to the show” and “sad to leave,” she confessed that the show’s producers and her have not been in agreement over some issues for some time now.

Jillian also pointed that the recent episodes of the show have not portrayed the full picture.

“In the beginning of the show it was tough love. You saw the tough, and you saw the love.” she said.

“(But in recent episodes) you saw none of the relationships, none of the bonds that I build with my clients. Millions of people have this warped negative perception of me,” she added.

One incident, though, that has really pricked her was when she was accused of cheating by allowing her team to take caffeine pills without the show’s producers’ consent.

That incident even rippled down to affect her daughter’s when her daughter’s camp-mate said: “I know who your mom is – she’s a cheater. I saw it on TV.”

Where will the personal trainer move on to now is not confirmed but she has quite intelligently stated: “I came to the conclusion that moving forward, I need to be able to have an impact on the outcome of what I do.”

‘Ip Man’ 3 Breaks Malaysian Box-Office Record

IP Man 3, the latest instalment in the Donnie Yen-starring franchise about the legendary Wing Chun grandmaster, has broken the all-time box-office record for highest-grossing opening weekend for a Chinese movie in Malaysia.

Ip Man 3 was released on Dec 24, and grossed over RM12mil in four days, an impressive haul considering the box office juggernaut that is Star Wars: The Force Awakens is still playing in cinemas.

Yen, who was in Malaysia recently to promote the movie, had expressed confidence that the movie will do well despite the presence of Star War: The Force Awakens.

“I think the audience has a choice of watching more than one film. At the end of the day, you should be able choose what you want to watch,” he said at an interview.

Producer Raymond Wong was equally confident, saying at the same interview that he hoped Ip Man 3 would be able to make at least RM20mil.

Distributed in Malaysia by Lotus Five Star, Ip Man 3 is directed by Wilson Yip and also stars former wushu champion Max Zhang Jin as a rival Wing Chun master, Lynn Hung as Ip Man’s wife, and former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson as a Hong Kong crime lord.

Sourced from The Star Online

Spider-Man Movie Postponed to December 2018

Sony is moving its untitled animated Spider-Man movie back five months, setting a Dec. 21, 2018, release date for what will be its seventh film about the Marvel superhero.

Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman had unveiled the animated project in April at Cinemacon with “The Lego Movie” directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller writing the treatment and producing with an eye to directing. The movie had been set to hit theaters on July 20, 2018.

The animated Spider-Man is the first film to be dated in December 2018.

See More:Animated ‘Ghostbusters’ Film in the Works at Sony

Sony unveiled its rebooted live-action “Spider-Man” in February and set a debut on July 28, 2017. Marvel’s Kevin Feige and Sony’s Amy Pascal will produce that movie with a teenage version of Peter Parker, with Tom Holland cast as the webslinger.

Holland will make his first appearance as Spider-Man in Marvel-Disney’s “Captain America: Civil War,” which opens May 6.

Tobey Maguire toplined in Sony’s first three Spider-Man movies and Andrew Garfield starred in the next two.

Celebrity Beats BuzzFeed as Internet’s Top Video Attraction

For the first time in all of 2015, Buzzfeed must take a backseat to Ellen DeGeneres and Justin Bieber.

The viral content king took an unprecedented drop in overall video views for the month of November, falling behind the talk show host and pop singer-signaling a victory for traditional entertainment channels in an expanding digital landscape.

According to Tubular Labs, which monitors online video content, clips from “The Ellen Show” (released through her EllenTube shingle) generated 1.1 billion views across YouTube, Facebook and other platforms, claiming the top spot for November video engagement.

DeGeneres’ big month had a lot to do with a blockbuster line-up of guests: she hosted Bieber (for an entire week of shows) and One Direction, whose fans are notorious for racking up digital engagement. She also dropped an Adele parody video at the end of October that picked up a lot of steam.

Bieber rode the promotion for his smash new album “Purpose” was the No. 2 overall winner, logging 853 million views. BuzzFeed’s Tasty videos finished in third place, with 789 million views, a hair ahead of BuzzFeed Video’s 745 million views (good for No. 4). Adele’s Vevo channel rounds out the top five, with the success of her “Hello” music video catapulting her channel to 581 million views.

Over in YouTube-only rankings, Bieber was top dog, climbing 14 spots from his October ranking with 670 million views. Adele was close behind at No. 2 with 564 million views. Baby channel Little Baby Bum was No. 3 with 444 million views.

Facebook views were dominated by Tasty, netting 789 million views for the month. “Ellen” hit No. 2 with 692 million, and BuzzFeed Food netted 556 million for No. 3

Another noteworthy figure from Tubular’s monthly report: the top 100 video brands and influencers totaled 36 billion cross-platform views in November, a minor dip from the recorded 37 billion in October but up 105% from January 2015.

Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Breaks New Record

Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” has become the first album to be certified 30-times multi-platinum in U.S. sales, topping more than 30 million sales in America, the Recording Industry Association of America announced Wednesday.

Jackson reigns as the best-selling artist of all time, totaling over 100 million in sales for “Thriller” worldwide and one billion total in sales to his credit.

“RIAA has awarded Gold & Platinum records on behalf of the music business for nearly 60 years, but this is the first time an artist has crossed the 30X multi-Platinum plateau,” RIAA Chairman and CEO Cary Sherman said in a statement. “We are honored to celebrate the unique status of ‘Thriller’ in Gold & Platinum history. What an exceptional achievement and testament to ‘Thriller’s’ enduring spot in our hearts and musical history.”

“100 million albums and counting; there has never been a phenomenon like ‘Thriller,’” John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson, said in a joint statement. “Michael opened the floodgates of his creativity, explored emotional depths and pushed the boundaries of sonic innovation. In the process, he breached destructive barriers in the music industry and literally united the world through his music: there isn’t a place on this planet that hasn’t been exhilarated by the music of Michael Jackson. Thirty years after its release, ‘Thriller’ continues to be a revelation.”

“Thriller” has an impressive track record. When the album came out on Nov. 30, 1982, it was certified platinum just two months later, according to RIAA. On Oct. 30, 1984, it was certified 20-times platinum. The most recent record came less than two months after Jackson died, when “Thriller” hit 29-times platinum on Aug. 21, 2009.

At the 26th annual Grammy awards in 1984, Jackson nabbed eight wins, including album of the year and record of the year for “Beat It.” Guinness World Records recognizes “Thriller” as the world’s best-selling album of all time.