Grace Vanderwaal

You probably haven't heard of Grace VanderWaal yet, but there's a good chance you will. The 12-year-old singer has been blazing a path through the current season of America's Got Talent, earning heaps of praise from the judges, who've compared her to Taylor Swift, with good reason.

On Tuesday night (Aug. 23), the preternaturally mature singer from Suffern, New York, did it again, crushing hearts with an original ukulele ballad inspired by her older sister, Olivia, entitled "Beautiful Thing." She earned a rare standing ovation from hard-to-please judge Simon Cowell.

You're my other half/ You're amazing to me," VanderWaal sang, describing how she can do nothing at all with her big sis and be totally happy.

Howie Mandel, who earlier in the season used his golden buzzer to advance VanderWaal to the live shows on the strength of another original, "I Don't Know My Name," about trying to get noticed in this big, wide world.

"You are a superstar... you're the best thing I've ever seen on this show," Mandel said of the tween whose audition videos have racked up more than 100 million YouTube views to date. He said she might have the potential to be "bigger than Taylor Swift. I predict you are the biggest star to ever come out of this show."

 Alone on stage, Grace sweetly performed an original song and accompanied herself on ukulele, while family members and host Nick Cannon held their breath in the wings.

Afterwards, amid a standing ovation from panel and audience, judge Howie Mandel described her as “a living, beautiful, walking miracle,” and the usually scowling Simon Cowell declared her “the next Taylor Swift.”

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: 

How did it make you feel when Simon said you were like Taylor Swift?
GRACE VANDERWAAL: The only word I could I think of is “honored.” I obviously want to be my own person and be original, but I think that’s not what he meant. I think he meant the success. Everyone knows who Taylor Swift is. She’s extremely successful as a singer/songwriter and to be compared to that is just unbelievable.

Are you a fan?
I was a really hardcore fan of her when she was in her country days. I definitely do listen to her when she’s on the radio, so yeah.

Do you have a favorite artist?
As a person, Katy Perry, because she’s always stayed true to herself. She’s always been her and she’s never let anyone change that. I love that. I think that’s a really good thing to live up to and remember. At least that’s what I think.

Are there any singers or bands that have influenced the music you’ve written?
Yeah, for “I Don’t Know My Name” I learned a lot of chords from Twenty-One Pilots and their songs, because the lead singer plays ukulele. Also all over the Internet I’m being compared to him and that’s been crazy too. Especially since they’re my favorite band.

We got to see you perform with your ukulele on America’s Got Talent, but how many other instruments do you play?
Three. I play the ukulele, piano, and the saxophone.

How is the rest of the America’s Got Talent competition going to work for you?
Now I’m going to the live shows and they think that that’s going to be around mid-August but we’re not sure yet. I’m so excited.

Were you nervous performing in front of so many people?
It was really the type of nerves you’d expect. I thought it was going to be the butterfly nerves, but I got those backstage. Once I was on stage I was kind of in shock. I couldn’t really think straight.

Well we couldn’t tell because you were very confident.
Well, thank you. I practiced in the mirror the night before so many times so I’m glad it showed.

Have you performed live in front of audiences before?
I’ve really only done it in small coffee shops, nothing as big as that! [laughs]

Do you have any advice for other kids your age that are wanting to step out and share their talents?
I do. The one thing I have to say is that everyone always says “don’t care what people think,” but there’s always that voice inside your head saying, “Everyone’s looking at you and judging you.” After all of this, I am so much happier. That voice is dead in my head now. The advice I have is don’t care what people, which I know is easier said than done, but I think once you start doing something people will start to not care enough to make commentary on it. It’s changed my life doing that.

I Don't Know My Name

Grace VanderWaal

[Verse 1: Grace VanderWaal]

I don't know my name
I don't play by the rules of the game
So you say I'm just trying
Just trying

[Verse 2]
So I heard you are my sister's friend
You get along quite nicely
You ask me why I cut my hair
And changed myself completely

[Pre-Chorus]
I am lost...
Trying to get found
In an ocean of people
Please don't ask me any-

[Chorus]
But, I don't know my name
I don't play by the rules of the game
So you say I'm just trying
Just trying

[Verse 3]
I now know my name!
I don't play by the rules of the game
So you say, I'm not trying
But I'm trying
To find my way

Beautiful Thing

Grace VanderWaal

[Verse 1: Grace VanderWaal]
You think that you know my heart
And you probably do
So I'm always with you
I could stay with you for hours
In an empty room
Never get bored
Never have nothing to do

[Pre-Chorus]
You're my other half
You're what makes me, me
What makes me smile
When I fall down and can't get back, get back,get back up
On my feet

[Chorus]
You're a beautiful thing
We're a beautiful thing together
Even when the weather is low (2x)
We can find the rainbow
Up in the sky
You'd say don't you cry, it's all gonna be alright
That's a beautiful thing

[Verse 2: Grace VanderWaal]
Make hours into seconds together
The weight of the world feel like a feather
Cause we're holding it right in our hands

[Pre-Chorus]
You're my other half
What makes me, me
What makes me smile
When I fall down and need to get back up on my feet

[Chorus]
You're a beautiful thing
We're a beautiful thing together
Even when the weather is low
We can find the rainbow
Up in the sky
You'd say don't you cry, it's all gonna be alright
No, it's all gonna be alright
That's a beautiful thing

Jesus and Nicodemus

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God So Loved

(Genesis 22:1-10; Romans 5:6-11)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Miniature Donkey In Labor Has Baby In Back Of Patrol Car As Officer Drives It To The Veterinarian Hospital

Miniature Donkey In Labor

Police Officer Billy Terr says it took a little pushing, pulling and some animal feed, but he got the miniature donkey nicknamed "Squishy" into the back of his patrol car.

Police responded after a woman found the pregnant animal on the loose in labor. She told the local media that she was concerned about the donkey and that it was in labor. The officer tells TV station KYYR the animal fit perfectly in his vehicle. He says, "I rolled the window down for it."

The woman who found Squishy says if an owner doesn't come forward, she plans to keep the newborn miniature donkey.

"She had her own terms. Her own plans," said Officer Billy.

They were on their way to the hospital when they were forced to pull over to the side of the road.

Another police officer noticed the officer and donkey in need of help and ran across the street.

"Nothing prepares you for a donkey giving birth," said the officer.

"I was freaked out, scared and I was panicky, but between the two of us, everything was OK," stated Billy.

The newborn donkey wasn't moving or anything so it was real scary, and I got her to cry almost like a baby, a baby donkey that is," said officer Billy.

It was an experience neither would trade and one that officer Billy hopes to one day pass down.

"We're actually hoping to save all the videos and stuff, and tell everyone about it,” said the officer.

People need to be informed of our experience, and what it was like for us and the donkey and share it with others.

Cleopatra

On August 12, 30 B.C., the Egyptian queen Cleopatra took her own life inside a mausoleum in Alexandria. During more than two decades as Egypt’s last independent pharaoh, she engaged in ruthless power struggles with her siblings, battled the future Roman emperor and engaged in military alliances—and passionate affairs—with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. She’s remembered as one of the most brilliant and alluring figures of antiquity, yet many of the details of her life are either unknown or clouded by myth. 

Cleopatra was not Egyptian.

While Cleopatra was born in Egypt, she traced her family origins to Macedonian Greece and Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander the Great’s generals. Ptolemy took the reigns of Egypt after Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., and he launched a dynasty of Greek-speaking rulers that lasted for nearly three centuries. Despite not being ethnically Egyptian, Cleopatra embraced many of her country’s ancient customs and was the first member of the Ptolemaic line to learn the Egyptian language.

She was the product of incest.

Like many royal houses, members of the Ptolemaic dynasty often married within the family to preserve the purity of their bloodline. More than a dozen of Cleopatra’s ancestors tied the knot with cousins or siblings, and it’s likely that her own parents were brother and sister. In keeping with this custom, Cleopatra eventually married both of her adolescent brothers, each of whom served as her ceremonial spouse and co-regent at different times during her reign.

Cleopatra’s beauty wasn’t her biggest asset.

Roman propaganda painted Cleopatra as a debauched temptress who used her sex appeal as a political weapon, but she may have been more renowned for her intellect than her appearance. She spoke as many as a dozen languages and was educated in mathematics, philosophy, oratory and astronomy, and Egyptian sources later described her as a ruler “who elevated the ranks of scholars and enjoyed their company.” There’s also evidence that Cleopatra wasn’t as physically striking as once believed. Coins with her portrait show her with manly features and a large, hooked nose, though some historians contend that she intentionally portrayed herself as masculine as a display of strength. For his part, the ancient writer Plutarch claimed that Cleopatra’s beauty was “not altogether incomparable,” and that it was instead her mellifluous speaking voice and “irresistible charm” that made her so desirable.

She had a hand in the deaths of three of her siblings.

Power grabs and murder plots were as much a Ptolemaic tradition as family marriage, and Cleopatra and her brothers and sisters were no different. Her first sibling-husband, Ptolemy XIII, ran her out of Egypt after she tried to take sole possession of the throne, and the pair later faced off in a civil war. Cleopatra regained the upper hand by teaming with Julius Caesar, and Ptolemy drowned in the Nile River after being defeated in battle. Following the war, Cleopatra remarried to her younger brother Ptolemy XIV, but she is believed to have had him murdered in a bid to make her son her co-ruler. In 41 B.C., she also engineered the execution of her sister, Arsinoe, who she considered a rival to throne.

Cleopatra knew how to make an entrance.

Cleopatra believed herself to be a living goddess, and she often used clever stagecraft to woo potential allies and reinforce her divine status. A famous example of her flair for the dramatic came in 48 B.C., when Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria during her feud with her brother Ptolemy XIII. Knowing Ptolemy’s forces would thwart her attempts to meet with the Roman general, Cleopatra had herself wrapped in a carpet—some sources say it was a linen sack—and smuggled into his personal quarters. Caesar was dazzled by the sight of the young queen in her royal garb, and the two soon became allies and lovers.

Cleopatra later employed a similar bit of theater in her 41 B.C. encounter with Mark Antony. When summoned to meet the Roman Triumvir in Tarsus, she is said to have arrived on a golden barge adorned with purple sails and rowed by oars made of silver. Cleopatra had been made up to look like the goddess Aphrodite, and she sat beneath a gilded canopy while attendants dressed as cupids fanned her and burned sweet-smelling incense. Antony—who considered himself the embodiment of the Greek god Dionysus—was instantly enchanted.

She was living in Rome at the time of Caesar’s assassination.

Cleopatra joined Julius Caesar in Rome beginning in 46 B.C., and her presence seems to have caused quite a stir. Caesar didn’t hide that she was his mistress—she even came to the city with their lovechild, Caesarion, in tow—and many Romans were scandalized when he erected a gilded statue of her in the temple of Venus Genetrix. Cleopatra was forced to flee Rome after Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman senate in 44 B.C., but by then she had made her mark on the city. Her exotic hairstyle and pearl jewelry became a fashion trend, and according to the historian Joann Fletcher, “so many Roman women adopted the ‘Cleopatra look’ that their statuary has often been mistaken for Cleopatra herself.”

Cleopatra and Mark Antony formed their own drinking club.

Cleopatra first began her legendary love affair with the Roman general Mark Antony in 41 B.C. Their relationship had a political component—Cleopatra needed Antony to protect her crown and maintain Egypt’s independence, while Antony needed access to Egypt’s riches and resources—but they were also famously fond of each other’s company. According to ancient sources, they spent the winter of 41-40 B.C. living a life of leisure and excess in Egypt, and even formed their own drinking society known as the “Inimitable Livers.” The group engaged in nightly feasts and wine-binges, and its members occasionally took part in elaborate games and contests. One of Antony and Cleopatra’s favorite activities supposedly involved wandering the streets of Alexandria in disguise and playing pranks on its residents.

She led a fleet in a naval battle.

Cleopatra eventually married Mark Antony and had three children with him, but their relationship also spawned a massive scandal in Rome. Antony’s rival Octavian used propaganda to portray him as a traitor under the sway of a scheming seductress, and in 32 B.C., the Roman Senate declared war on Cleopatra. The conflict reached its climax the following year in a famous naval battle at Actium. Cleopatra personally led several dozen Egyptian warships into the fray alongside Antony’s fleet, but they were no match for Octavian’s navy. The battle soon devolved into a rout, and Cleopatra and Antony were forced to break through the Roman line and flee to Egypt.

Cleopatra may not have died from an asp bite.

Cleopatra and Antony famously took their own lives in 30 B.C., after Octavian’s forces pursued them to Alexandria. While Antony is said to have fatally stabbed himself in the stomach, Cleopatra’s method of suicide is less certain. Legend has it that she died by enticing an “asp”—most likely a viper or Egyptian cobra—to bite her arm, but the ancient chronicler Plutarch admits that “what really took place is known to no one.” He says Cleopatra was also known to conceal a deadly poison in one of her hair combs, and the historian Strabo notes that she may have applied a fatal “ointment.” With this in mind, many scholars now suspect she used a pin dipped in some form of potent toxin—snake venom or otherwise.

A 1963 film about her was one of the most expensive movies of all time.

The Queen of the Nile has been portrayed on the silver screen by the likes of Claudette Colbert and Sophia Loren, but she was most famously played by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 sword-and-sandal epic “Cleopatra.” The film was plagued by production problems and script issues, and its budget eventually soared from $2 million to $44 million—including some $200,000 just to cover the cost of Taylor’s costumes. It was the most expensive movie ever made at the time of its release, and nearly bankrupted its studio despite raking in a fortune at the box office. If inflation is taken into account, “Cleopatra” remains one of the priciest movies in history even today.