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Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear; are there any furrier ursine titans to come out of UK literature? How would this bear of very little brain react to this Peruvian raincoat enthusiast, and vice versa? And, given how easy it is for both of them to get lost, is it too much to imagine that such a meeting might happen when neither of them know where they are? We don’t think so.

Anime as a genre isn’t always known for its strong female characters. In fact, it may be better known for its scantily clad female characters and their impossible anatomy! However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t plenty of incredible badass women in this world. From warriors to princesses, classic film to new series, we’ve got some of the strongest (and best loved) female characters in the world of Japanese animation for you.

Anime as a genre isn’t always known for its strong female characters. In fact, it may be better known for its scantily clad female characters and their impossible anatomy! However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t plenty of incredible badass women in this world. From warriors to princesses, classic film to new series, we’ve got some of the strongest (and best loved) female characters in the world of Japanese animation for you.

Next weekend, unwind with a nice cold pint and your favorite book in hand. (Extra points if you start off the last summer month with a particularly hoppy flavor.) But what if your favorite beers weren’t just an accompaniment to your favorite books, but actually a key part of them? We’ve re-imagined some of the most famous books of the past few decades with some delicious barley beverages front and center so that you can really get into the spirit of books and beer this weekend.

Photo by Julian Myles on Unsplash

We loved Lady Bird – like, really loved it. Laying on car hoods with your best friend listening to Dave Matthews Band, having the football coach take over the drama club, learning that Timothee Chalamet’s character is a grade A jerk. (Why, Timothee? Why?) Greta Gerwig has a knack for tapping into the volatility of the teenage experience, so we couldn’t help but wonder what our favorite teen issue books would look like under her lens.

[source: Warner Brothers]

The next time you complain about having a terrible birthday, whether forgotten or not going according to plan, please stop and think: is this birthday better or worse than a Harry Potter birthday? Unless you too are dealing with an all-powerful Dark Lord trying to kill you at every turn, your answer will be “oh, so much better, I can’t believe I was complaining, accio cake, please.” As if The Boy Who Lived wasn’t already dealing with enough, he couldn’t even look forward to July 31st, the one day a year that was supposed to be celebratory. Once at Hogwarts, not all of his birthdays were completely terrible, since you know, people actually remembered them, but even the best ones were filled with some sense of doom and/or gloom. But of the seven birthdays readers got to celebrate with Harry, which was the worst? From merely not terrible to angsty to his life was in mortal danger, here’s all of Harry Potter’s birthdays ranked from best to worst. Happy Birthday, Harry…we guess?