Dwayne Johnson recently went back to his wrestling roots when he made an appearance at the WWE Royal Rumble. 

He has come a long way since those early days.

In fact, most people today recognize Johnson for his big blockbuster movies, not his wrestling alter ego. Thanks to franchises like "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "Fast and the Furious," Johnson has been able to seamlessly make a massive career transition.

He has been very successful, too. His movies combined have made over $1 billion, which is not an easy feat for anyone, former wrestling superstar or not.

Frank Pallotta contributed to an earlier version of this slideshow.

Before he was "The Rock," Dwayne Johnson was born May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California.

Source: Biography

Wrestling is in Johnson's blood. His father, Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson, was a member of the first African-American tag-team champions and his grandfather, Peter Maivia, was one of the first Samoan wrestlers.

Source: YouTube

Johnson didn't go straight to wrestling. His first sport was football. After starring in high school he played in college for the Miami Hurricanes. Over his tenure at the school, Johnson started just once but appeared in 39 games and had 77 tackles, and he was a part of the 1991 national championship team.

Source: ESPN

Marvel released a third full-length trailer for "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" Wednesday, and it may be better than the first two.

We get a good long look at the film's new villain, Ultron (James Spader), an awesome shot of the Avengers team assembling in an action sequence, and a tease at a new superhero who will join the mix.

Like the previous two trailers, this one also contains the harrowing slowed-down overture of "I've Got No Strings" from Disney's "Pinocchio."

It looks great.

If you haven't seen the trailer, check it out here.

"The Avengers: Age of Ultron" is still over a month away from its May 1 release date, but its sure one of the highest-grossing films of the year. The first film, released in 2012, made over $1.5 billion in theaters. Now that you're caught up, let's dive in and overanalyze the final trailer. 

We open up to a gorgeous scenic overlook, and are introduced to a giant castle teased in previous trailers.

If we're to believe this is the same space, new villain Ultron's hanging out here with some new friends.

That's Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his sister the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).

What's the deal with the towel covering Ultron's face? Why is he being so mysterious? Is he trying to keep his identity secret ... because the robot hands are a total giveaway. 

(A reader points out this is a nod to Ultron's first disguise the Crimson Cowl.)

For those unfamiliar with Ultron, he starts off as part of a peacekeeping project Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) designs. As Ultron explains in his monologue, he was designed to save the world. He was supposed to be a sign of hope.

Ultron's not into that.

He wants more from life.

Cue the destruction. 

"There's only one path to peace, their extinction." It's not clear whether Ultron's referring to the Avengers or the entire human race, here. Probably both.

Hello "Avengers" tower!

Tony Stark's feeling really awful about this whole Ultron mess. If it wasn't enough that Ultron went rogue, it looks like he has taken control of Stark's entire fleet of Iron Man soldiers from the peacekeeping program.

As a result, Stark's putting the blame on himself. (Are we laying the groundwork for "Captain America: Civil War"? You bet.)

"I tried to create a suit of armor around the world, but I created something terrible."

Cut to scenes of the Ultron / Iron Man figures and Captain America looking on helplessly as these two cars dive off a bridge.

For those who were hoping for a Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) romance, it looks like that isn't happening. Black Widow looks awfully close to the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). 

Gillette product placement!

I can't be the only one who thought of Wolverine at this scene. Yes, those look like some sort of retractable claws. 

Awesome action shot of the Avengers assembling.

Um, is this Tony Stark with Loki's scepter?

Flashback to "The Avengers":

Motorcycles dropping from aircrafts? "Furious 7" already did that, but it still looks cool.

Samuel L. Jackson is back as Nick Fury!

Here's a great shot of Ultron shooting lasers from his fingertips.

It looks like he's teaming up with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.

A voiceover from the character promises, "We can tear them apart from the inside."

This is followed by images of the Hulk fighting Iron Man in the anticipated Hulkbuster armor, the Scarlet Witch using powers of manipulation on Black Widow, and Quicksilver facing off with Captain America.

There will also be a scene where Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man meet face-to-face with Ultron, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch.

It looks like Captain America is just getting thrown around this entire movie.

They'll have a few fight sequences together. 

Here's a closer look at that final shot.

The Scarlet Witch shows off some of her powers.

Geeze. Captain America is getting tossed around in this film. 

Thor: "Is that the best you can do?"

No, Thor. Ultron has a giant army of bots.

Captain America throws some serious shade at Thor.

The Avengers are going to need all the help they can get.

Look closely at the above photo, and it appears the Scarlet Witch may be helping out the Avengers team at this point in the film.

You can see her elsewhere in the background of this fight sequence.

What are those? It looks like these may be an extension of Black Widow's gauntlet bracelets which deliver high voltage shocks.

You won't like the Hulk when he's angry.

The best reveal is at the end of the trailer though as we get our first look at new hero Vision (Paul Bettany), who will be introduced in the sequel.

SEE ALSO: More on Vision, the new superhero in "Age of Ultron"

Join the conversation about this story »

In the end, it took only about a month for the old-timers at NBC News to get what they wanted: heads on a platter.

A month ago, during the January 30, 2015, broadcast of NBC’s "Nightly News," anchor Brian Williams told a story about how he took a veteran to a hockey game at Madison Square Garden.

While telling the story, Williams mentioned that he had once been in a helicopter that was shot down in Iraq.

A clip of Williams telling this story was posted to NBC’s Facebook page. A veteran commented on the video to say that he had been on the helicopter that was shot down in Iraq and that Williams had not. 

Scandal broke out.

Old clips of Williams telling late-night hosts the story about being shot down resurfaced. So did allegations that Williams embellished his reporting on Hurricane Katrina. The anchor was branded, convincingly, as an embellisher. On February 11, NBC announced it had suspended Williams for six months without pay while it concluded an internal investigation.

The New York Times published a detailed, meeting-by-meeting story of how Steve Burke — the CEO of NBC Universal and executive vice president at its parent company, Comcast — had, with NBC News Group Chairman Patricia Fili-Krushel, personally dealt with the matter in a decisive fashion.

The story seemed intended to show that, despite the scandal, all was in order at NBC News.

NBC News veterans — some still with the company, and some not — did not buy it.

These old-timers were not satisfied with Williams' suspension. They wanted to make sure the world knew who to really blame for the whole disaster.

For weeks now, many of them have been speaking with reporters — at Business Insider, New York magazine, Vanity Fair, and many other outlets — to tell a story about how the Williams scandal was only the latest in a series of screw-ups that have severely damaged a company and a brand they've spent decades building.

These old-timers, current and former NBC News executives and journalists, wanted heads to roll.

This week they got their way. News finally broke that a pair of NBC News executives would soon pay a price for Brian Williams' fibbing.

Those executives are Patricia Fili-Krushel, chairman of NBC Universal’s News Group, and the president of NBC News, Deborah Turness.

According to various reports, Fili-Krushel will soon be moved to a different job at NBC Universal or its parent company, Comcast.

Her replacement will reportedly be Andy Lack, a television executive known for his time at Bloomberg and, before that, running NBC News in the '90s.

For now, Turness still has a job and is expected to report to Lack.

Reports, however, suggest he will fire her soon.

This account is based on interviews with a number of sources who asked us not to use their names. Some of them have signed agreements not to speak about NBC, others work at NBC and do not want to get fired, and others work in the industry and want to maintain relationships with NBC.

The old-timers are angry about what happened to their baby

NBC News began 75 years ago when Lowell Thomas anchored the first TV newscast weeknights at 6:45. When Truman beat Dewey in 1948, NBC News' audience was twice the size of its nearest competitor.

In the 1950s, NBC hired its own camera crews, years before the other networks. Its anchors during that decade, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, were the first superstars of network news. In the 1960s, NBC lost ground to CBS and Walter Cronkite, who covered the space race more enthusiastically.

After Huntley retired in 1970, NBC News launched a new broadcast called "Nightly News." It was anchored by a group of reporters, and it remained stuck in second place for most of the decade.

Then came the Tom Brokaw era, beginning in 1983. He interviewed Mikhail Gorbachev and reported live from Berlin when the wall came down.

"Nightly News" rose to first place in 1986 and 1987, faltered a bit in the early '90s, and then seized the lead in 1996. That was nearly 20 years ago. The broadcast has been No. 1 ever since.

Despite that lead, NBC News veterans will tell you that the glory years have long faded. They will tell you the Brian Williams scandal is only the latest in a series of disasters at the company.

They will say that when Comcast bought a controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric in 2011, NBC News was the preeminent network news division. Its three shows — the "Today" show, "Meet the Press," and "Nightly News" — were all No. 1 in their categories and had been for most of the prior 16 years. The division was by far the most profitable of all the network news divisions.

NBC News old-timers are quick to point out that Comcast CEO Brian Roberts reflected all this glory when, after the deal was announced, he said that NBC News was the "crown jewel" of NBC Universal.

But according to network veterans, Roberts and his Comcast executives ground that crown jewel to dust.

First, the "Today" show fell apart. Somehow, host Ann Curry was allowed to blow herself up on live TV in a tearful goodbye. Somehow, cohost Matt Lauer was allowed to take all the heat. The show fell to second, behind "Good Morning America."

Then the new regime launched a prime-time news magazine called "Rock Center With Brian Williams." In the view of some NBC News veterans, Williams proved himself a terrible interviewer, and the charm he brought to his guest appearances on "30 Rock" and "Saturday Night Live" never showed up. The show was abruptly canceled.

The old-timers say the new regime destroyed the Sunday-morning institution that is "Meet the Press." They say that Tim Russert created a beautiful, important show before his sudden death in 2008. They agree that Russert’s replacement host, David Gregory, was a poor fit. But they say that the way Gregory was pushed out of the company — amid constant disparaging leaks in the media — was a disgrace. They complain that the regime considered a comedian, Jon Stewart, for Russert's old seat, and that too many superficial segments are allowed on the air.

Finally, say the old-timers, there is the sad fate of "Nightly News." Even before Williams' embellishment scandal, the show had begun to embarrass some of those who helped build it. They complain about its wall-to-wall coverage of cute animals, the weather, and surprise returns home by veterans. They agreed with the host of HBO’s "Real Time," Bill Maher, who in a recent monologue during his show said that "Brian Williams shouldn’t have to go away because he lied — he should have to go away because the 'NBC Nightly News' sucks."

A news boss with no background in news

It's impossible to pinpoint a single moment when a number of NBC News veterans decided that their chairman, Patricia Fili-Krushel, was taking the company in the wrong direction.

But if you had to pick a couple of seconds in time, it would probably be a few on the day of March 15, 2013.

That afternoon, Fili-Krushel walked onto a stage at the New York Public Library and began to give a speech.

It was the beginning of "Upfronts" season, that time of year when broadcast networks reveal their plans for the year ahead and begin to ask ad buyers to make commitments.

It was less than a year into Fili-Krushel's tenure as chairman of NBC Universal's News Group, consisting of NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC.

Fili-Krushel, better known as Pat or PFK, had one mission on stage that day. She had to convince the audience that the divisions entrusted to her by NBC Universal’s new parent company, Comcast, were in good hands.

The speech had two audiences. One was the advertisers and affiliates sitting in chairs in the room. The other was made up of veterans of NBC News, CNBC, and MSNBC, who were in the room and watching her speech on closed-circuit TVs.

Fili-Krushel's speech started fine — a little flat, but OK. She was getting through her talking points.

Then suddenly Fili-Krushel stopped talking.

After a moment, Fili-Krushel said: Oh, well, OK, my prompter has gone down. Hopefully we'll get it back up soon.

She stood there waiting. And waiting.

Ten blocks away, in an office at 30 Rockefeller Center, an NBC News executive watched Fili-Krushel on a closed-circuit TV and wondered what on earth she was doing.

This executive thought: Say something, say anything, do something!

But PFK couldn't.

She started pacing the stage in silence.

As the awkward moments passed, NBC News veterans, who already had reasons to distrust Fili-Krushel, began to worry even more about what trouble she would bring to their beloved newsroom.

"She couldn't vamp. She couldn't be spontaneous. She couldn't just talk about what her experience so far had been like," says one person who watched her on a closed-circuit TV that day, adding:

"She could've, in my mind, quite easily talked about how happy she is to be with an organization of such historic value, a brand that's known for its integrity and superior public service, and what she's learning and who she's met.

"She was frozen. It was clear that she had not come up through the ranks of a news organization. Anyone should be able to speak on their feet, even without a prompter, when you're discussing NBC News."

"That was my first clue that something was very wrong."

What Fili-Krushel and Turness tried to do, and why the old guard hated it

NBC News may have appeared to be a crown jewel from the outside when Fili-Krushel joined in 2012 but, according to a source close to her, she found an organization in need of serious repair.

According to this source, the place had no plan to deal with the fact that people, and millennials in particular, were slowly abandoning network news and broadcast TV altogether.

This source says that the division was poisonously political. For example, the heads of the "Today" show and the president of NBC News would not even talk to each other.

This source says that NBC's Sunday-morning show, "Meet the Press," had already lost more than a third of its audience during the five or six years prior to 2012. Fili-Krushel decided this was in part because the prior regime had tapped the wrong person to host the show: David Gregory.

Finally, says this source, Fili-Krushel joined NBC News at a point when the "Today" show franchise had for months been horribly mismanaged to the point that a host was once allowed to go on air and cry about leaving. Between 2005 and 2012, the "Today" show audience declined 28%.

Fili-Krushel set about attacking these problems in two ways: first, by seeking new ideas for how news shows should work and, second, by building up a powerful human-resources division that could bring order.

Over the next two years, the "Today" show audience declines stabilized. On February 22, 2015, "Meet the Press" won the weekend for the first time since host Chuck Todd had his debut.

And yet many NBC News veterans fought Fili-Krushel and her efforts.

Fair or not, here are some of their complaints:

• She has zero news background. Their first complaint about Fili-Krushel is her résumé, which may seem odd, because it includes an impressive collection of jobs in the television and media industry. She helped start HBO. After she joined cable network Lifetime as a senior vice president of programming in 1988, she turned it into the women’s network that it is today. She was the president of ABC Daytime for five years during the '90s, and then ran the whole network from 1997 to 1999. During the dot-com era, she was CEO of WebMD for two years. But when NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke announced Fili-Krushel’s hire in a July 19, 2012, memo, all NBC News veterans saw on that impressive résumé was a giant hole: no news experience. "[Burke] showed absolute disregard for the news division by putting in charge someone who has zero background in news," says one source.
• She doesn’t know how to manage talent. One of the most important jobs of a network news head is to know how to coddle and control star TV journalists. A former NBC News insider says Fili-Krushel and her team "do not believe that talent management is important." During the Jeff Zucker era at NBC, management would make a point of spending time with its anchors, stars, and rising stars. "They need a lot of TLC and managing," says a source. "The bigger they get, the harder to manage." Executive producers can do a lot of the work, "but often it needs very deft and firm handling from the top." Fili-Krushel has not been up to it, say former and current NBC insiders. Part of the problem, NBC News veterans say, is that she runs the division like an HR executive. Many of them are quick to point out that Fili-Krushel’s longest-held job prior to joining NBC News was executive vice president of "administration" at Time Warner. They say one of her most powerful lieutenants is Joanne O'Brien, NBC News Group's senior vice president of human resources. "PFK leans heavily on HR and HR leadership to organize and manage, [which is] very tough when it comes to managing news," says a source.
• She let the newsroom's most respected leader walk out the door. On February 1, 2013, NBC News president Steve Capus wrote a memo saying that he was leaving after 20 years at the company. Today, Capus is the executive producer of "CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” — regarded by NBC News veterans as a superior network news product, if a less popular one. One veteran says Fili-Krushel deeply underestimated how important Capus was to the newsroom. "This was a news division that came through ["Meet the Press" host] Tim Russert's death, [correspondent] David Bloom's [death], kidnappings, and 10 years of covering conflict in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Though he was flawed, like any strong leader, they underestimated the loyalty to Capus that grew in the newsroom during those difficult times. "A real news guy." Says another: "I think it was a devastating gesture on their part to let Steve Capus go. It was just not smart, and it had great implications on NBC News' culture." Says one more: "It was like where the conquistador comes in and kills the Mayan leader, and then all the disciples are standing at the bottom of the hill wondering what to do next. They didn't know how to fight because they lost their leader."
• She hired the wrong person to replace Steve Capus: Deborah Turness.

Four months after letting Capus walk, Fili-Krushel announced his replacement in a memo on May 20, 2013. It was Deborah Turness, a long-time news editor at British TV network ITV.

The old guard had many things to complain about Turness, as they had about her boss. Here's what the old guard says about her now:

• She lacked gravitas. One source described Turness as a "terrifically experienced, nice person, with terrific charisma" — but one who "did not have, I think, the gravitas or the ability to rally this mammoth operation."
• She has a tabloid taste in news. Almost immediately, say sources, Turness began to horrify the NBC newsroom with her tabloid taste in stories. The example that sources kept bringing up was how hard Turness pushed the team to cover the August 2013 kidnapping of California teenager Hannah Anderson. Turness sent one reporter, Kevin Tibbles, out on a two-day horseback trip to interview some local fishermen about what it had been like to spot Anderson and her kidnapper way out in the woods. Says a source: "It was like, 'Oh my god. This is what we hired? This is going to save NBC News?'"
• She is too willing to pay for interviews. Reports say (and sources confirm) that Turness paid Anderson and her father $100,000 to give exclusive interviews to NBC News. One source told us that Turness did this over the objections of many in the newsroom. "She rolled over many on this. [It was] very shortsighted. [It] speaks to a lack of depth of knowledge on running a huge legacy brand/network like [NBC News], [and] the incremental damage you can do to an organization's reputation." A source who defends Turness says the horror of NBC News' old-timers over her aggressive "Fleet Street" style has shades of xenophobia to it.
• She pushed an agenda. A couple of sources related a story about how, in the fall of 2013, NBC reported on a poll that said Americans wanted Obama to act in response to Assad's use of chemical weapons. These sources say that, a couple of days later, Turness pushed the newsroom to run another poll. When someone objected, saying that they had just run a similar story. Turness allegedly said: We need to turn up the heat on Obama. The traditional news people in the room were supposedly floored — shocked that she so misunderstood the role of NBC News.
• She had strange new ideas for "Meet the Press." "Meet the Press" lost more than 40% of its audience in the years before Fili-Krushel and Turness arrived. Desperate to reverse this trend, Turness pitched some new ideas to her bosses and the NBC newsroom. What if the show had a live audience? What if comedian Jon Stewart were the host? You could argue that the show's lackluster numbers suggested it needed a radical reimagining. But these ideas appalled many NBC News veterans. “It was really demoralizing for staff,” says one.
• She’s allowed advertisers into the newsroom. All across new media, publishers are experimenting with, and beginning to depend on, a type of advertising called “native advertising.” Native advertising is advertising that looks a lot like editorial content but is actually an ad. Under Turness, NBC News hasn’t quite gone that far yet. It has, however, hired some people to explore the concept. This has really upset some journalists from NBC News.

What does any of this have to do with Brian Williams lying?

The NBC News old guard is quick to make a connection between the management style of Fili-Krushel, the editorial style of Turness, and Williams' embellishments.

The connection is not necessarily fair, and, if it exists, it is one that zigs and zags and fades in and out. But the logic is still interesting enough to be worth repeating.

Here is how the NBC News old guard thinking goes: Williams was never a real journalist — the kind of newsman who, like Tom Brokaw, would rush out into the field no matter the danger. Williams just looks the part, has a natural charm, and is really good at reading a teleprompter. Williams is starved for celebrity. This personality flaw was magnified by his handlers, Fili-Krushel and Turness — executives who, lacking a seriousness about news, encouraged the blending of news and entertainment in an effort to reach younger viewers fleeing broadcast news. This is why Williams was allowed to go on "SNL" and "30 Rock."

Eventually, goes this line of thinking, this blurring of the lines made the "NBC Nightly News" a place where Williams was able to do a story about his daughter getting a role on an NBC TV show. It made him seem human. Folksy. In the end, another thing that made him seem human and folksy were his stories about reporting around the globe — especially the war stories, true or not.

Is any of this fair?

NBC News declined to comment on the record for this story. We reached out to Fili-Krushel, Williams, and Turness personally, but have not heard back.

It is safe to say, however, that the organization, Fili-Krushel, and Turness would flatly reject the line of thinking outlined above.

Fili-Krushel and Turness might also wonder if they have a horde of haters because they are women.

Meanwhile, NBC News could rightly point out that many of Williams' public embellishments took place under different management.

Also, NBC News could fairly say that current management can say "Meet the Press" won the weekend on February 22, 2015, stopped the "Today" show's ratings bleed, and kept "NBC Nightly News" in the lead despite the Williams scandal.

Finally, and more broadly, NBC News, Fili-Krushel, and Turness might say that all network news since the advent of "60 Minutes" has faced pressure to increase profit margins through the careful blending of news and entertainment, and that all of broadcast TV is struggling to keep the attention of millennials.

The problem for Fili-Krushel and Turness is that saying all that won't matter now.

The old-timers got what they wanted: heads on a platter.

Don't think they'll stop there, either.

Already, there are whispers among the old guard. Sure, the scapegoats are gone. But what about Steve Burke, the executive who hired them?

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How To Know If Someone Is Lying To You

Sherlock Holmes has always been perceived as one of the sharpest, most intelligent fictional characters of all time. The new movie "Mr. Holmes" imagines the legendary sleuth as an elderly man slowly losing the faculties that once made him the enemy of criminals everywhere.

Sir Ian McKellen plays Holmes in the adaptation of the 2005 book "A Slight Trick of the Mind." This role has the potential to result in the 75 year-old actor's first Academy Award. He's been nominated twice; the most recent nomination was for Best Supporting Actor in 2001 for "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." He also received a Best Actor nomination for the 1998 drama "Gods and Monsters," which was directed by Bill Condon, who also directs McKellen in "Mr. Holmes."

The movie is scheduled to be released this summer.

Join the conversation about this story »

Tess Holliday made news Wednesday when the plus-size model posed without Photoshop in new ads for retailer Torrid, a fashion line for sizes 12 to 28.

But Holliday is proud of her physique, and has become one of the top plus-size models in the world after landing a contract in January with the U.K.’s Milk Modeling agency.

With more big ad campaigns in the works and a giant social media following, you're sure to be hearing the name Tess Holliday.

Here's everything you need to know about the tattooed, size 22, 29-year-old model who is actively working to change beauty standards.

1. Tess Holliday is a social media star.

The model boasts over 767,000 Facebook fans and over 517,000 Instagram followers. Holliday's growing fan base is also, in part, to thank for her new modeling contract.

"I started following her [on social media], and saw how many followers she had. More than most models," Anna Shillinglaw, owner and director of MiLk Model Management, told NY Daily News. "She's such an important role model for so many women."

In 2013, Holliday started her #effyourbeautystandards movement on Instagram, encouring people to embrace body types of all shapes and sizes.

The hashtag has gained serious traction, currently with well over 563,000 posts:

2. Her size is unprecdented in the modeling world.

Plus-size agency models are generally taller than 5 feet 8 inches and U.S. size 8 to 16. At 5-feet-5 and size 22, the 29-year-old Mississippi native is the largest model repped by Milk.

"I think we're the only agency with a model of her size," Milk Agency's Shillinglaw told NY Daily News. "She is by far the largest model I have in the (Curves) division."

Tess is the largest plus-size model to be signed to a mainstream modeling agency.

3. She has tons of tattoos.

Holliday's ink includes: a Miss Piggy tattoo on her right outer forearm, a Mae West tattoo on her right inner forearm, a Marilyn Monroe tattoo on her left bicep, a plus-size mermaid tattoo on her right upper thigh and a Hello Kitty tattoo on her right calf.

 Her latest ink is a giant portrait of Dolly Parton:

4. In 2011, Holliday was chosen as the face of A&E documentary, "Heavy."

Holliday didn't appear on the show, so she felt conflicted about representing it, telling plusmodelmag:

It's a show about morbidly obese people. I didn't know what the show was about. I didn't know what angle they were going in. I'm obviously proud to represent everyone on the show. I know some of them personally now by being the face of the show that changed their lives. I feel like a cheerleader. At the same time, it's hard for me because I'm not morbidly obese--although I am overweight, but I'm not at the point that they are. I don't have a health condition and I'm not going to die if I don't lose weight. I just happen to be curvy.

5. In 2013, Vogue Italia named the self-described "body positive activist" one of the top six plus-size models in the world.

6. By 2014, Holliday had accomplished many of her modeling goals.

"I think I finally hit that moment where I accomplished everything that I dreamed of as a child," Holliday told Parade magazine at the time. "I thought: 'I’m on billboards now. David LaChapelle has photographed me.'"

She also teamed up with Benefit Cosmetics.

7. In January, she became one of the top plus-size models in the world after landing a contact in January with the U.K.’s Milk Modeling agency.

8. Since then, she has been making TV appearances.

And has been featured in magazines.

9. She is featured in the ads for plus-size swimwear line, Monif C.

10. And is the face of plus-size clothing brand, Torrid, in these un-retouched ads.

She's basically gone viral.

11. But before Holliday was a top plus-size model, she dropped out of school at age 17.

Growing up in a small town in Mississippi, the now 29-year-old was severely bullied for her weight while in school.

After earning her GED, Holliday moved to Seattle, where she became the head makeup artist, hair stylist, and creative director for numerous fashion shows.

In 2010, she moved to L.A. and became a professional full-time model.

12. She used to go by the name Tess Munster, but changed it to Tess Holliday after getting engaged to Australian businessman Nick Holliday in July 2014.

"Everyday I feel incredibly grateful for the love I have, but today even more so. I cannot wait to be his wife. #tessmunster #nickholliday #mushystuff"

13. At age 20, she had a son named Rilee. 

14. Holliday is proud of her body and encourages others to feel the same.

Today I personally overcame my fears of bikinis that weren't high waisted. My tummy is an area that I'm still learning to love- even though I appreciate everything it has done for me. It's round & covered in stretch marks from carrying my beautiful son in it. My fiancé loves it & constantly touches it & because of those reasons I recently decided to be kinder to it. With every other area of my body- learning to love it has been faking it until I actually accepted. The misconception about myself & many other fat/plus sized women is that we are this way because we don't care, that we have "let ourselves go" when in reality this is the best I've ever felt/looked. But I couldn't have gotten there on yo yo diets, trying to be someone I'm not, & bullying myself to fit into an unrealistic mold of beauty. I have carved my own path & will continue to do so.. Overcoming one hurdle at a time & appreciating my successes & failures. So today I am celebrating being able to swim with my son without worrying what others might say.. & guess what? No one cared that my tummy was out.. & it was glorious. (Bikini by @simplybeusa) #tessmunster #effyourbeautystandards

SEE ALSO: 11 things to know about the first plus-size Sports Illustrated swimsuit model

MORE: Size 22 model goes Photoshop-free in new ads for plus-size clothing store

Join the conversation about this story »

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Actor Harrison Ford has crash-landed a small plane on a golf course near Los Angeles, the Associated Press reports. Ford was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries.

LAPD spokeswoman Officer Nuria Vanegas says the plane Ford was piloting suffered a mechanical failure. Assistant Los Angeles Fire Chief Patrick Butler says the single-engine aircraft clipped a tree as it went down Thursday afternoon, just minutes after taking off from Santa Monica Airport.

Raw video obtained by NBC LA appears to show Ford's plane descending over a residential neighborhood shorly before the crash.

Local authorities said in a press conference that the pilot was alert, conscious, and breathing when they found him. He was under moderate trauma, and paramedics took him to the hospital.

A person on the scene who spoke to NBC Los Angeles says, "We saw this beautiful plane. It looks like a plane I see often, leaving from Santa Monica Airport. Must have hit top of tree." This witness also told NBC LA that he saw only one person on the plane.

Many have turned to social media to share images they say are from the crash. Here are a few:

As the Guardian notes, this is not Harrison Ford's first plane crash. Back in 1999-2000, Ford crash-landed two planes within a year. One in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the other 60 miles outside Los Angeles.

Harrison Ford is one of the great American actors. He is perhaps best known for his roles as "Indiana Jones" as the title character, and Han Solo in "Star Wars."

He is due to reprise his role as Han Solo in the "Star Wars" movie coming out this year. He is also confirmed to be reprising his role in the sequel to his famous 1982 film "Blade Runner."

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NOW WATCH: The First 'Star Wars: Episode VII' Trailer Is Here!

If — or when — the zombie apocalypse comes, those of us in big cities are in trouble, according to research presented at the 2015 American Physical Society March meeting on March 5.

Starting in a big city like New York or Atlanta would mean you are basically screwed from the start if the epidemic had already hit there, according to Alex Alemi, a graduate student at Cornell University and part of the research team.

You are much better off being further away from people, they say, which gives you a better chance of avoiding infection. Ideally, you'd escape to an almost empty region like the Rocky Mountains.

"I'd love to see a fictional account where most of New York City falls in a day, but upstate New York has a month or so to prepare," Alemi says in the APS press release.

Thanks, Alex. Though I've always wondered, if you could make it onto a boat in such a scenario, how long would you survive at sea? We are closer to water here in NYC, after all.

Alemi and colleagues used standard disease models to estimate the zombie infection rate around the US, assuming that humans would need to be infected by a zombie bite (of course). Also following standard protocol, zombies travel only by walking and wouldn't die naturally but would need to be "killed," presumably with a well-placed blow to the head or perhaps a katana slash.

Essentially, they used a realistic model that's very similar to the way epidemiologists calculate the spread of other viruses, but using fictional parameters unique to zombies. They did make some assumptions, including a transportation infrastructure collapse. It's hard to imagine airports staying operational for long in such a scenario anyway.

The video below shows how a national outbreak would play out. The top right map, susceptible humans, shows the human population that's still able to be infected. In the green bottom right map, the "killed" zombie population grows, but as you can see in the red bottom left map, so does the infected population. The top left is a composite map of the other three.

As you can see the Rockies are the safest place to be — sparsely populated and difficult to reach.

And big population centers are the worst place to start the outbreak, though about 28 days in, they become safer as the areas that surround them become more dangerous.

Though of course, as Terrence McCoy points out at the Washington Post, if a large percentage of the population flooded any area, the risk of infection there would skyrocket.

The statistical research was inspired by a reading of Max Brooks's "World War Z", a book that is far better than the movie that was based on it.

They modeled out the population centers of the country and then assumed certain possible interactions, with an element of randomness. A zombie might bite and infect a human or the person might escape or kill the creature. And of course, the undead shamble onward, searching for new victims.

Also, in reality, an outbreak probably wouldn't start all over the country, and there are some variables. The undead might be more or less aggressive or more or less mobile.

So the research team built an interactive model that allows you to simulate an outbreak, picking a starting point, a zombie-bite to zombie-kill ratio, and whether the zombies are fast or slow.

As you can see in the GIF below, a fast-zombie outbreak in New York City would be devastating within 24 hours.

Not looking good. Physicists seem interested though. The talk was reportedly standing-room only.

SEE ALSO: Here's what to do if a nuclear bomb is dropped on your city

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NOW WATCH: Research Reveals Why Men Cheat, And It's Not What You Think

Once more, here's the "Spider-Woman #1" alternate cover that made the internet go crazy:

This erotic image by artist Milo Manara set off a thousand blog posts about sexism, resulting in Marvel canceling its release. The irony was that the book itself was about a strong and otherwise respectable female lead.

At the time, writer Dennis Hopeless told IGN: "It's strange for a book that has my name on it to get that much attention that has nothing to do with the book itself. Because our book, the actual story that we're telling, couldn't be less misogynistic."

Well, seven months after the controversial cover appeared and several months after the book launched, Hopeless has the perfect response.

"Spider-Woman #5," out this week, inaugurates a more practical and far-less-sexualized costume and a new, indie feel. In a meta moment, protagonist Jessica Drew even makes fun of the butt fiasco.

Marvel, despite the butt fiasco, is clearly making an effort to promote women in comics, with a record number of female characters in their own series including The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, the Muslim-American Ms. Marvel, the new female Thor, the all-female Avengers team A-Force, Captain Marvel, Angela: Asgard's Assassin, Spider-Gwen, Silk, Black Widow, Elektra, Storm, as well as Spider-Woman.

DON'T MISS: The comic book industry is on fire

SEE ALSO: Here's proof that Hollywood is sexist

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Glenn Beck believes that the entire world is about to change, and he wants everyone to know that his media startup — The Blaze— is the perfect example.

Beck made an unusual appearance in front of a group of Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs on the final day of the Launch Festival in San Francisco, and he seemed to be well-aware of the fact that his conservative presence was an unusual sight to many in the politically progressive city:

"I've talked to about 10 people this morning, and all of them asked the same question — why the hell are you here?"

The answer? To talk about his company.

He talked about how the audience for his media startup has grown over time:

"The audience is currently a footprint of 50 million a month. It is digital, cable, traditional radio, now podcast — 3 million downloads a month...it's a significant audience."

But Beck was the only overtly political guest invited to speak at the show, and he made sure not to disappoint in that regard. Further along in the interview, he became noticeably more excited when asked about ISIS:

"They believe in something. We don't. They believe in something fundamental, it's screwed up, it's psychotic...the army of Armageddon. They are calling on the Roman army and saying 'come fight us now.'"

He then added:

"We should pull back our soldiers from the region until we acknowledge what we are really fighting is a religious war." 

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NOW WATCH: These dangerously overloaded delivery bikes in Shanghai defy the laws of physics

When Disney CEO Bob Iger casually announced "Toy Story 4" during an earnings call in November, it was a huge surprise.

The successful Pixar trilogy didn't appear to need another followup.

2010's seemingly final film came full circle.

The young boy from the first film, Andy, who owned toys Woody and Buzz, grew up. Before heading off to college, he handed off his old toy collection to a new young owner to carry on his adventures with the cowboy and space ranger.

At the time of its release, the film became the highest-grossing animated picture ever until "Frozen." "Toy Story 3" grossed over $1 billion. It went out on top.

What else is left to tell?

/Film happened upon an interview with Pixar Animation Studios president Jim Morris done in Spanish on blog Disney Latino in which he discusses brief details about the anticipated next film.

According to Morris, "Toy Story 4" won't be a continuation of the third film. Instead, "Toy Story 4" will be a romantic comedy, one that won't focus on the interaction between the characters and kids.

As /film points out, if that's true, it sounds like the upcoming film may follow the setup of the newer "Toy Story" short specials which focus on the toys' interactions with each other. 

/film translated parts of the interview via Google. 

Business Insider double checked over the original article to translate.

Here's a section of the interview translated in English:

What stage of production is "Toy Story 4" in?

We will have the third table reading. Usually, after working on the idea with the story team and the writers who will be finishing their screenplay, we call Pixar or include actors to sit down and read the script. It’s evolving very well. We are coming up with a beautiful story. It isn’t a continuation of the last film “Toy Story 3.” It is temporarily, but it will be a love story. It will be a romantic comedy. It will not have much focus on the interaction between the characters and the children. I think it will be a very good movie. 

Honestly, I never thought that we would be doing another Toy Story movie, but in one of the brainstorming sessions that we did, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, and John Lasseter had this idea. To John, it seemed irresistible and felt the need to make it. The third film had ended in a way that was beautiful and that completed a trilogy. I think that this film isn't part of this trilogy. It's a separate story, which in turn … I’m not sure whether it will be a continuation. We never start a project with that in mind.

Morris goes on to defend the making of “Toy Story 4,” saying that Pixar only decides to do sequels if they have an idea they’re passionate about, and reassures that they're not exploiting the franchise just for the sake of another film.

"Fortunately, our movies are successful, and we don't have to exploit them by making sequels for money," he adds. "That's not what it's about. It's about an idea that is met with enthusiasm."   

"Toy Story 4" is set for a June 16, 2017 release.

You can read the full interview with Morris, here.

SEE ALSO: An explanation of everything in the new "Avengers: Age of Ultron" trailer

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Twitch is a site where viewers go to watch people play video games. It seems like a niche market. It's not.

Each month, more than 100 million viewers visit Twitch.tv to watch the best gamers in the world play their favorite franchises, from League of Legends and Dota 2 to Minecraft and HearthStone.

The live-streaming platform grew from humble beginnings. Video broadcasting site Justin.tv spun off its gaming content to a new site, Twitch, in 2011. Acquired by Amazon for $970 million last August, Twitch is now the fourth-largest site in the US in peak traffic.

I recently visited Twitch's headquarters in San Francisco's Financial District and discovered those gamers turned tech moguls are really living the life.

The Twitch headquarters in San Francisco's Financial District feels like another world.

Just past the reception desk, the hallway arches slant to the side, creating an optical-illusion-like experience.

At the end of the hall, a gallery wall displays works of "bit art," or illustrations using large pixels of solid color to make recognizable figures. Marvel's Cyclops, Nintendo's Bowser, a Game Boy, E.T., Santa Claus, and others appear.

From "Hey Arnold!" to "Rocket Power," there's no better way to get your nostalgia fix than by tuning in to some classic 90s TV shows.

Luckily, a delightful little website called My 90s TV makes it incredibly easy to revisit your old favorite shows, and it even includes commercials that aired back then to give you the full experience. And since fancy LCD screens didn't exist back then, everything is presented in an old glass flatscreen TV.

You can tailor the programming to your liking with the website's filter, which lets you check and uncheck categories ranging from cartoons and kids all the way to soaps and game shows.

To further fine-tune what you're watching, you can also pick an individual year, and My 90s TV always tells you what you're watching at the bottom of the screen. When you're ready to sit back and start watching, you can press the "F" key to go "fullscreen," which basically just re-formats the old television set to play nicely with your own computer screen.

My 90s TV pulls all of its content from YouTube, and you can press "Y" to jump over to YouTube to watch instead (perfect for if you'd rather not watch through the virtual old TV set).

And while it's hard to argue that the 90s wasn't a golden era for TV with hits like "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "Yu-Gi-Oh!," older generations can travel even further back in time and check out My 70s TV and My 80s TV, according to Product Hunt.

Otherwise, you can dive into My 90s TV by clicking here.

Just don't forget the mandatory bowl of cereal.

SEE ALSO: A new Apple TV is coming with changes people have been begging for

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Actor Harrison Ford crash-landed a small plane on a golf course in LA Thursday night — and ended up at the hospital with only minor injuries.

Flying a World World II-era plane, Ford was cruising around 3,000 feet when his engine lost power, the Associated Press reports. The 72-year-old actor then successfully landed on the the fairway of Penmar golf course. Doctors serendipitously playing a round initially tended to his injuries.

Needless to say, the Ford's reputation as a badass precedes him off-screen. The photos of the mangled plane prove as much.

Ford does have some experience landing faulty planes though. He crash-landed two planes within one year in 1999-2000. And in 2001, he rescued a 13-year-old boy scout lost in Yellowstone National Park with his helicopter.

And lest forget his roles as Han Solo, successfully piloting the Millennium Falcon, and Indiana Jones, flying himself and the terrified Willie Scott to safety in the Himalayas. 

The AP put it perfectly: "When a man battles Darth Vader, Nazis and other evil-doers for work, what does he do for fun? Harrison Ford finds his answer in a pilot's license and the freedom to take to the skies."

SEE ALSO: Here's why George Lucas didn't want Harrison Ford to play Indiana Jones

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American blockbusters have found enormous success in China, yet the big winner at the Chinese box office right now is not a "Hunger Games" sequel or the fifth "Tranformers," but instead a homegrown cinematic effort starring Adrien Brody, John Cusack, and Jackie Chan.

"Dragon Blade" opened in China in mid-February during their New Year to an astounding $54.8 million. Even though it is no longer number one at the Chinese box office (that honor now belongs to another Chinese film, "The Man from Macau II"), the historical epic shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. 

The film contributed to a huge month that saw box office revenues in China exceed those in the U.S. for the first time ever. 

The film was produced on an estimated $65 million budget. Currently, "Dragon Blade" has grossed $101.6 million at the Chinese box office to date. 

The film isn't out in the US yet. According to Variety, it will eventually be released state side, though no specific release date is available.

Until then, here's what you should know about "Dragon Blade."

1. It mixes Chinese and Roman history

"Dragon Blade" is an historical epic set in Han Dynasty China. It is loosely based on the true story of a missing legion of Roman soldiers who ended up along China's Silk Road in 48 BCE.

Adrien Brody and John Cusack play rival English-speaking Roman generals Tiberius and Lucius, respectively. Lucius kidnaps Tiberius' younger brother (and heir to the Empire) to save him from death at the hands of his power-hungry older brother. Meanwhile, Jackie Chan plays a Chinese commander tasked with keeping peace in the unstable Silk Road region.

Variety compared the film's disregard for history to that of "300," but with more diplomacy and less bloodshed.

The casting of Cusack and Brody is eyebrow raising since both actors have struggled with US box-office success in the past few years. Cusack has been starring in small indie films that aren't big hits, while Brody recently found himself starring alongside Rob Schneider and Lindsay Lohan in "InAPPropriate Comedy," which barely made an impression during its short theatrical run. To be fair to Brody, he did have a standout role in last year's Oscar-winning "The Grand Budapest Hotel." 

The film is directed by Daniel Lee, who worked his way up the ranks of China and Hong Kong's film industries to eventually write and direct his own movies. He is known for dabbling in wuxia (a genre focused on martial arts) and history, from "14 Blades" to Qin Dynasty set "White Vengeance."

2. It's one of the most expensive films ever made in China

"Dragon Blade" cost an estimated $65 million to produce, making it one of China's most expensive movies. For comparison, one of China's biggest movies last year, "Monkey King," cost $82 million to make. Big blockbusters in the US can cost well over $200 million.

The film, which was eventually released in IMAX 3D, had to deal with the challenges of shooting in the harsh climate of the Gobi Desert. 

During a press conference, Chan told Cinema Online the film had 350 crew members and 800 extras. Filming days would go "well past midnight."

Here's how Chan described a typical day on set:

Every day, they have to wake up at 2am. By 5am they had to start eating breakfast. By the time they walk to the desert, line up, it's already past 11am. By 12pm it was lunch time. We only got to shoot at 3pm. But we were lucky because the sun only went down at 9pm. We have a very harsh director who made us shoot all the way till 12 midnight.

3. It's a passion project of Adrien Brody's 

Brody previously worked with Chinese director Xiaogang Feng in 2012's "Back to 1942." Since then, the Oscar winner has had his sights on getting Jackie Chan's attention, according to Deadline.

“I feel a deep connection to Asia,” Brody told Deadline. “I’ve been able to develop close friendships with a core group of extremely talented filmmakers and financiers, who have opened many doors.” 

This project has led to Brody suddenly finding himself at the helm of Fable House, a production company who's benefactors include Mr. Chan and other Chinese and Nigerian investors.

4. Jackie Chan has wanted to make this film for a long time

"Seven years ago, I wanted to do this film," Chan told Chinese website M1905, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I didn’t make the film because the government policy wants to protect the Silk Road. I am ahead of them. I hope chairman Xi (Jinping) gets to watch this film."

Along with a leading role, Chan also served as one of the film's producers. In addition, like with most of his other projects, he did all of his own stunts.

 The film has been something of a comeback for Chan and has re-established him as an important cultural figure both in mainland China and his homeland of Hong Kong. 

What's next for "Dragon Blade"?

The next test is to see how well the film plays outside of China.

Besides Brody and Cusack, the film also has castmembers from England (Kevin Lee), Australia (Sharni Vinson), and South Korea (Si Won Choi), as well as a director (Lee) and star (Chan) from Hong Kong. 

The wide appealing cast of stars from around the world shows that the future of the box office may be in embracing the global community at large.

Watch the trailer for the film below:

SEE ALSO: China's rising box office is putting Hollywood to shame

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Ryan Higa, also known as the YouTube star 'NigaHiga,' has been making videos since 2006 and is known as one of YouTube's first big stars. See why teens are more obsessed with Higa than some of today's biggest movie stars. 

Produced by Devan Joseph

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On his show Thursday night, Jimmy Fallon made a crack that blows a hole in the idea Hillary Clinton is headed toward an inevitable victory in the 2016 presidential election.

Fallon's crack alluded to recent speculation that the controversy over Clinton's use of private email while she was at the State Department could boost her likely challenger in the Democratic primary, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. The comedian went on to point out that this was not the first time Clinton was seen as the overwhelming front-runner against a long shot.

"There's rumors that former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley may enter the race and challenge Hillary for the Democratic nomination," Fallon said. "Yeah, Hillary's not worried. I mean, who's going to go from being totally unknown to beating her for the presidency? … How would that ever happen?"

As Fallon spoke, a picture of Clinton's 2008 rival, then-Senator Barack Obama, flashed across the screen.

Watch Fallon's quip below.  

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If you watch “The Big Bang Theory," you'll know the CBS hit series regularly references "Star Trek" actor Leonard Nimoy.

Lead character Sheldon (Jim Parsons) is obsessed with Nimoy. On one episode, Penny (Kaley Cuoco) gave Sheldon a used napkin signed by the actor.

Nimoy even guest-starred in a season 5 episode, voicing a tiny action-figure Spock.

After the actor passed away February 27, Thursday's episode of "The Big Bang Theory" paid tribute to the actor, ending on a portrait of Nimoy with the caption "The impact you had on our show and our lives is everlasting." 

Here's how it appeared on screen:

The show's social media accounts followed suit with Sheldon giving the "Star Trek" Vulcan salute that Nimoy popularized on the series.

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Thousands of British students mark World Book Day by going to school in costume as their favorite fictional characters. But one 11-year-old found himself in a bind when he dressed as Christian Grey, the billionaire hero of erotic thriller "50 Shades of Grey."

Teachers at Sale High School in northwestern England sent Liam Scholes home Thursday after deeming his suit, accessorized with cable ties and an eye mask, unacceptable.

The school said Friday that the decision "reflects the school's high standards in terms of student behavior, welfare and safeguarding." It said Liam was allowed to return once he had "modified" his costume.

Liam's mother, Nicola Scholes, said the costume had been her son's idea, and defended his choice.

Scholes said other pupils had dressed as James Bond and the title character from "American Sniper."

She told ITV television that Grey is "a character that has been put out there on the television and all aspects of media. ... (Liam) walked into school yesterday and every child knew who he was."

Scholes stressed that her son had not read the book, which has sold more than 100 million copies around the world, or seen the steamy film adaptation.

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NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do

"I'm 2 Chainz and I'm flamboyant, I like the fancy things, and I'm always craving for something more."  

This is the tagline rapper 2 Chainz uses to introduce the second season of his GQ web series, "Most Expensivest Shit," in which the 37-year-old tries out all of the fanciest toys, food, and gadgets, and the craziest luxury goods in the world.

In honor of season two premiering this week, and 18 episodes in the can so far, we've rounded up five of the most outrageous below.

1. A $2 million car.

2 Chainz visited Cooper Classic Cars in New York City to check out the rarest vintage rides money can buy, including this $2 million 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL.

The dirt alone on the car is worth $20,000, owner Elliot Cuker tells the rapper.

2 Chainz was especially impressed by the car's gullwing.

Watch the full clip here.

2. $30,000 limited-edition headphones.

"In the early '90s, Sennheiser gave its engineers a mission: make the best headphones ever, irrespective of price," explains Gizmodo. "They came up with the Orpheus HE90. Only 300 were made. They initially sold for $16,000. Today they sell phone upwards of $30,000 on eBay."

2 Chainz got his hands on the headphones, which he says "are even louder than they look."

Here are the headphones in their special case:

For listening purposes, the headphones must be plugged into the mate unit, called a stereo amplifier, which is an amp just for the headphones.

"It's the closet you can get to live music," says the headphone owner.

Watch the full clip here.

3. A $4,000 toothbrush.

Germany's Reinast luxury toothbrush is the most expensive toothbrush in the world.

It is made of titanium, has a patented coating, and it's antibacterial so it helps fight the bacteria that causes cavities.

Every month, new bristles are sent to the toothbrush owner, so it really lasts a lifetime.

And, it's even customizable.

Watch the full clip here.

4. The $295 Le Burger Extravagant from Serendipity 3.

"This burger costs more than your iPhone," the rapper says while introducing the Guinness Book of World Records' most expensive hamburger.

Why the price tag?

Check out the list of ingredients: Japanese Wagyu beef infused with white truffle butter, cheese that has been aged 18 months in a cave, shaved black truffles from Italy, heirloom tomato ketchup, quail eggs, and $200 per ounce caviar — all held together with a gold and diamond toothpick.

Watch the full clip here.

5. A giant pipe filled with cannabis, which costs $800 an ounce.

2 Chainz tried out a ridiculously large pipe filled the world's most expensive weed.

The world's two most expensive cannabis types are called Isla and Top Shelf, which are canned cannabis. It is actually cut off the plant, trimmed, put it in the cans, sealed, and cured in the cans.

It costs $100 per can, or $800 an ounce.

Once the pipe is ready to be smoked, it's so big that it has to be lit with a blowtorch.

The rapper seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself.

2 Chainz also tried out 24K gold, handmade edible rolling papers.

Two sheets will set you back $20, or 12 sheets for $55.

Watch the full clip here.

SEE ALSO: Nancy Grace and rapper 2 Chainz have an incredible debate over legalizing pot

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Ralph Anspach wasn't going to stop making his Anti-Monopoly game just because Parker Brothers told him to. At least not without a fight.

It was 1974 and Anspach, an economics professor at San Francisco State University, was caught in a legal battle with the makers of the popular board game Monopoly for allegedly infringing on the game's copyright. The premise of Anspach's game, as its title suggests, was to bust trusts rather than create them. He wanted to use it as a teaching tool, especially for children.

In his quest to prove that Monopoly's roots far preceded its 1935 patent, he discovered that its origins dated back to 1904, in a game that was very similar to his own. After a long legal battle, Parker Brothers ended up with the Anti-Monopoly name, but let Anspach print the game under license — more importantly, the court validated that Anspach had proven that Monopoly was not as original as it had seemed to be.

Mary Pilon wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal about Anspach in 2009 after coming across his story. Her research grew into her new book "The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game." It's the first journalistic account of the true origin of the game that Parker Brothers' parent company Hasbro says has sold more than 275 million times across 111 countries in 43 languages.

For decades after its 1935 launch, Parker Bros' Monopoly board game included an origin story in its instruction manual that was a celebration of the American Dream: Charles Darrow, an unemployed salesman determined to support his family during the Great Depression — or at the very least entertain them — tinkered away in his basement on a game about buying property. Parker Brothers initially turned down the game, but after it gained popularity through word of mouth, the company bought Monopoly, it became a sensation, and both Darrow and Parker Brothers enjoyed fame and fortune.

If the instruction manual told the full truth, it would begin with Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie designing the Landlord's Game in 1903 as a teaching tool. It was the Progressive Era in the U.S. and Magie, the daughter of an abolitionist, was a suffragist and Georgist, a follower of the writer and economist Henry George.

George's 1879 book "Progress and Poverty" was a foundational text of the Progressive movement and reports from the time say that it became so popular that several million copies were sold, making it the most read book in America for a time, second only to the Bible.

"The amount of wealth being created in this country was something nobody had ever really seen before," Pilon says, and George was searching for ways to protect regular people from being exploited by wealthy land owners.

A main tenet of George's philosophy is the single-tax theory, which essentially replaces all taxes deemed unfair with a tax on land only, not the properties built on top of them.

George died in 1897, and so Magie believed she was doing her part to keep the fight alive through her game. She included two rule sets with her game: the anti-monopolist rules and the monopolist rules. The idea was that she could expose the evils of land-grabbing by having players see how it works.

It turned out that most people found the monopoly rules more fun. And though Magie patented the Landlord's Game in 1904, the nature of game culture at the time combined with the lack of a mass production deal resulted in it becoming a "folk game," as Pilon calls it, meaning groups of people throughout the country would learn about the game through word of mouth and develop their own variation.

The Landlord Game's unofficial offspring became popular in the Progressive and academic communities, including the radical leftist utopia Arden in Delaware, which included Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair and controversial economist Scott Nearing among its residents.

Magie obtained a patent for an updated version of the game in 1924, but by the early '30s, the game and its original intentions were significantly overshadowed by the monopoly folk game.

Among its biggest fans were a large group of Quakers in Atlantic City. It was this version that Charles Darrow played with some friends.

Not everything about the fake Monopoly origin story were false. Darrow was unemployed at the height of the Depression and at his wit's end. One of his sons had scarlet fever and he lacked funds for getting him proper treatment.

One day he decided that he would try marketing that board game he had played. He got his successful cartoonist friend, F.O. Alexander, to spice up the board with some illustrations.

After Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers each turned it down once, Darrow got his game called Monopoly a large enough following that Parker Brothers bought it for $7,000 plus residuals in 1935.

The game company sold 278,000 copies of Monopoly in its first year, and then 1,751,000 the next year, which Pilon says brought Parker Brothers millions in profits.

In letters Pilon includes in her book, Darrow tells Parker Brothers that he was inspired by a game he played with his friends that was based off one they learned from a college professor. Darrow keeps his language vague and unclear.

By the time the game took off, Parker Brothers became aware that Darrow's Monopoly game had at the very least some heavy inspiration, and so began to acquire any other "folk game" offshoots that were still out there.

At one point very early in Monopoly's life, an article ran that exposed to the public its true origin story. "Very likely your grandma and grampa played Monopoly," an article starts in the January 26, 1936 issue of the Washington Evening Star. "It isn't new."

The article tells the story of how Magie patented the Landlord's Game in 1904 as a teaching tool for Georgian economics.

But just two months before this article was published, Parker Brothers had wisely inked a deal with Magie to avoid a scandal, which Magie signed in hopes that the game company would promote her work as much as they did Monopoly.

Parker Brothers printed a modified version of the Landlord's Game in 1939, with Magie's face on the cover, along with two more of her games, but "there's little evidence they were ever seriously marketed," Pilon says.

Pilon tells us that the 1940 Census lists Magie's occupation as "Maker of games" with an income of "$0.00." She died in 1948.

Though the real story behind Monopoly has always been out there, and was well-known in the board game community since the court confirmed the research Anspach did in the '70s, but Pilon says that before she started her book, there was widespread false information spread across the Internet. She thinks part of it was the original Darrow story just sounded better.

"I think that when we think about innovation and how things are made," Pilon says, "we love lightbulb stories because they're romantic, they're beautiful, they're Cinderella stories. But the truth is when things are made it's often a collaborative effort with lots of product testing — it's way more complicated. And we don't think to question origin stories."

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