#Bus Services Award

[shinhyunjin]

── .✦ fan service.

⟢ pairing: bang chan x female!reader

⟢ genre: fluff, idolverse, friends to lovers (kind of)

⟢ word count: 2.3k

⟢ summary: when you and chan were expected to do tons of fan service because of how much your fans loved your interactions, it was only fair to take a little advantage of it at times.

⟢ author’s note: helloo, this is a request from @cant-see-sam, who asked for “something where she gets protective over one of her younger members and chan is just like one the corner giggling and kicking his feet” hehe. i don’t know if this is close to what you had in mind, but i enjoyed writing it and i hope you enjoy reading it<3

“Loverboy’s staring again” your second to oldest member, Kyungmi, let you know with a smirk.

She didn’t need to mention who was staring at you for you to know it was Chan, and you loved the thought of it so much that you found yourself fighting the smile that threatened with curving up the corners of your mouth.

“Don’t call him that” you murmured.

“He is, though” she pushed it, looking over your shoulder to the idol she was shamelessly throwing under the bus. “All he can see from over there is your back, yet he’s been stealing glances every two minutes”.

“Kyungie…” you warned her, carefully looking around and making sure there were no cameras pointing at your table—thankfully, there weren’t any. “There are cameras everywhere,” you reminded her regardless. “Be careful with what you say”.

She shrugged, lying back on her chair as her eyes went to the Award’s stage in front, which was now filled with staff members rushing from one side to the other as they prepared it for the next group to perform.

“There’s nothing interesting happening over here right now, they won’t bother filming us just yet”.

“Still…” you leaned back on your chair as well. “There are fans in the venue”.

“And they love your interactions with him!”

Rolling your eyes at her cynical excitement, you remained quiet—her words being far too truthful for you to even try and deny them.

Openly being friends with an idol of the opposite sex was always a hit or miss—people either loved it and asked for more interactions, or they hated it and wanted you to stay as far away from each other as possible.

Luckily for you and Chan, his fans, as well as yours, had loved your friendship ever since he first mentioned you in one of his weekly lives back in the day.

He didn’t think much of it when he did, as he had mentioned a handful of other idols before. He simply read a comment asking if he got along with the girl group that had recently debuted under JYPE—that being your group—and his genuine answer ended up with him bringing you up; mentioning how out of all the members he was the closest to you, since you were the leader and, as a very inexperienced one who wanted to do her best, you used to turn to him for advice.

That simple mention of your name was all it took for the fans to go wild, asking for more and more interactions between the two of you as the time went on, to the point the company itself would make sure to put the two of you together for dance challenges, variety shows, special stages, and whatnot.

It was fan service at its finest—until it was not.

You were both human, at the end of the day. It didn’t take long for the two of you to discover how much you had in common, and the chemistry you shared was so strong that it was impossible to ignore. And so, what started with your company forcing you together for clout, ended up with the two of you becoming closer than they expected.

What started with casual corridor conversations soon turned into daily chats over texts and casual video calls, where you would talk about anything but work, and you would find yourself blushing over his dorky—yet smooth as hell—way with words.

Just like that, although most of your interactions in front of the cameras were planned by the company in order to make your fandoms happy and increase your groups’ popularity, sometimes even taking it one step further by telling you what to do or say, since both you and Chan were quite private and definitely needed a push or two to act in front of everyone the same way you did when the cameras were off, it came a point when you simply let loose.

Fan service or not, whether it seemed too much to the viewers or not, you started to act just as close as you were regardless of there being cameras pointing at you or not.

A dream for many, as not all idols got to publicly interact with each other without having either rumours or hate spreading all over.

Unfortunately for you, however, sometime along the way of your forced proximity, bickering turned into flirting and friendly smiles turned into heart eyes—each day making it harder for both of you to hide your growing feelings from the media.

That seemed to be the case for Chan that night, as he found his eyes being drawn to you every couple of minutes. But what else was he supposed to do when your table was right next to theirs, and his seat gave him the perfect view of you? Well, the perfect view of your back, but still of you nevertheless.

And, well, you weren’t doing any better either, for you found yourself turning around to look at him after Kyungmi stole another glance his way and smirked over how amusing the situation was to her. Your eyes locked with him immediately, feeling your heart flutter and laughing under your breath when he tried to play it cool by looking at the stage instead.

You had already caught him red handed, though, and you could only feel relief and shyness altogether when it was confirmed to you that Kyungmi wasn’t just making it up for the sake of teasing you.

“Maybe we should invite him to sit with us,” Kyungmi proposed. “The fans would love that”.

“Stop” you laughed this time, hiding your face in your hands for a moment before you watched everyone get off the stage, as the next performance was apparently about to start. “Should I call the girls to rush back here? I think Aespa is coming up and Yumi really wanted to watch them”.

Kyungmi shook her head no, gesturing towards their empty seats. “The dorks left their phones here. I’m sure Yumi’s already dragging Soomin over here, though”.

“We’re here! We’re here!” Yumi announced a little out of breath, reaching your side as if on cue.

“The line to the restroom was so long,” Soomin whined, not wasting another second to slump down on her seat next to you. “I thought we wouldn’t make it back in time”.

“But we did, right?” The youngest asked, going around the table to her seat. “Aespa hasn’t performed yet?”

“No, th—”

Your words were caught in your throat when, just as Yumi was about to sit down, a staff member pulled her chair and took it with him.

She managed to catch her balance in time not to fall to the ground—with some help from Soomin, who had instinctively held onto her upper arm rather forcefully—, but watching her lost eyes as they followed the man and the idea of her having fallen down because of his careless action, were enough for you to call him out before he could leave.

“Excuse me, she was using that” you tried to sound as polite as you could, considering how you had to raise your voice in order for him to hear you from across the table.

He turned to you with an annoyed semblance, and you could already tell this wouldn’t be a pleasant exchange. “She wasn’t sitting on it”.

“But she was about to,” you argued. “That seat was assigned to us, can you please give it back to her?”

“Another group is missing a chair and I have instructions to take one to them”.

“Well, can’t you look f—”

“Y/N…” Yumi tried to ease the situation, carefully speaking up. “I’m okay, I’ll just go look for another one”.

Her words were like fuel to the guy in front, who took that as his chance to get out of there and trotted away from you before you could utter another word.

With a defeated sigh as you watched him leave, and with a visibly upset Yumi who was just left standing there as she had nothing to sit down on now, you stood up.

“Yumi, come here” you motioned towards your seat, pulling the chair back for her to sit down on instead.

“I’m okay, really” she shyly tried to reassure you the moment she realised what you were doing—still, she went up to you like you told her. “I’ll go look for a spare one”.

“Come on now, you’re way too shy for that” you smiled softly, receiving a genuine smile from her in return—both your heads turning to the stage when the lights went down and the performance she was looking up to the most began. “Let’s just enjoy the show for now and I’ll go look for a chair afterwards”.

Yumi’s smile now parted her lips, brightly showing her teeth as she agreed with you, and quietly thanking you before she took the seat you were offering her.

Placing your hands on her shoulders and quickly getting too immersed in the show taking place before you, you were completely unaware of the guy that was looking at you from afar, and how he needed to bring a hand up to his mouth and fake out a cough, in order to play it cool and—poorly—hide the big smile that was beginning to part his lips.

“What happened?” Felix asked him with furrowed eyebrows, leaning closer to his leader since the music currently playing made it hard to hear.

“She’s so cute” Chan answered, allowing his smile to take over yet still hiding his mouth under his hand.

Felix smiled, shaking his head and looking over to you, as he did not need his leader to mention your name for him to know he was talking about you.

“Did we just watch the same scene play out before us a minute ago?” He teased him. “Yumi literally got her seat taken from her and you’re laughing”.

“I’m not laughing about that,” Chan corrected him. He was mad about the whole situation, of course. “I just think Y/N’s cute when she gets all protective”.

“More like you think she’s cute all the time”.

“Whatever,” Chan rolled his eyes, knowing there was no winning this fight, for he could not cover the sun with a finger. “Can you go give my chair to her? I’ll go look for a spare one for myself”.

“Look who’s being all protective now,” Felix chuckled. “I mean, I could go up to her and give her your chair, but I’m sure everyone would take it the wrong way”.

“People might take it the wrong way if I do, too…”

“Everyone thinks you’re just friends, they’ll love the fan service”.

“We are just friends, though…”

Felix laughed—the sound of it overpowering the one coming from the stage. “Okay, whatever you say. I’ll look for a spare seat, you go give your friend your chair” he proposed with a taunting smirk. “I don’t think she’ll take it as a platonic gesture, though”.

Chan shook his head in defeat, resting against the back of his chair and focusing on the performance taking place on the stage instead.

God, he wished you wouldn’t take it as a platonic gesture. It was hard to draw the line when your interactions were expected to be merely friendly.

As soon as the performance ended and the lights were back on, he channeled the courage he had been earning up for the last minute and stood up, grabbing his chair and bringing it with him all the way to your table.

He could feel your members’ eyes focus on him the moment he reached it, yet you were too focused gushing about the show with Yumi to even notice him standing right behind you.

So, with a small tap on your shoulder, he brought your attention to him.

“Um…” he hesitated when you turned around and your eyes met his, feeling his confidence abandon him as it hit him just how much more beautiful you looked up-close. “Here”.

Feeling your piercing stare on him as he placed the chair on the space Kyungmi had just made for it by sliding her chair to the side, he couldn’t ignore the goosebumps on his skin. And when you were still far from saying anything after he rested his hands on the back of your new seat, he couldn’t help the breathy, nervous laugh that escaped his lips.

“Don’t tell me you actually wanted to stand for the rest of the Awards and I brought a chair over here for nothing”.

“N-No, um… thank you” you breathed out, feeling your heart pounding against your chest. “I didn’t think there were any seats left”.

“There weren’t” he laughed.

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Please don’t make me say it and just take the chair” he felt his cheeks burn.

Feeling your face heat up like only he could make it, you decided to take it easy on him and not push for an answer. Instead, you smiled at him and nodded before you took the seat he was offering—feeling your heart race all over again when you did and he gently pushed you closer to the table.

You looked up to him with a smile, covering your mouth just in case before you said, “You just went a little too overboard with the fan service there, don’t you think?”

He chuckled, shaking his head and looking down at you with a smile. “It stopped being fan service a long time ago now, didn’t it?”

Hearing your members giggle, and turning around to see his members shaking their heads as they looked at him with amused grins, Chan realised that maybe this particular interaction would be hard to defend as a platonic one.

The image of the heart eyes you were looking at him with right before he went back to his table, though, was enough for him not to worry about a thing and to be over the moon for the rest of the night.

Fan service came in many ways, after all. He just got lucky enough to be able to court the person he had feelings for while at it.

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #24

June 21-28 2024

The US Surgeon General declared for the first time ever, firearm violence a public health crisis. The nation's top doctor recommended the banning of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, the introduce universal background checks for purchasing guns, regulate the industry, pass laws that would restrict their use in public spaces and penalize people who fail to safely store their weapons. President Trump dismissed Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy in 2017 in part for his criticism of guns before his time in government, he was renominated for his post by President Biden in 2021. While the Surgeon General's reconstructions aren't binding a similar report on the risks of smoking in 1964 was the start of a national shift toward regulation of tobacco.

Vice-President Harris announced the first grants to be awarded through a ground breaking program to remove barriers to building more housing. Under President Biden more housing units are under construction than at any time in the last 50 years. Vice President Harris was announcing 85 million dollars in grants giving to communities in 21 states through the  Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO) program. The administration plans another 100 million in PRO grants at the end of the summer and has requested 100 million more for next year. The Treasury also announced it'll moved 100 million of left over Covid funds toward housing. All of this is part of plans to build 2 million affordable housing units and invest $258 billion in housing overall.

President Biden pardoned all former US service members convicted under the US Military's ban on gay sex. The pardon is believed to cover 2,000 veterans convicted of "consensual sodomy". Consensual sodomy was banned and a felony offense under the Uniform Code of Justice from 1951 till 2013. The Pardon will wipe clean those felony records and allow veterans to apply to change their discharge status.

The Department of Transportation announced $1.8 Billion in new infrastructure building across all 50 states, 4 territories and Washington DC. The program focuses on smaller, often community-oriented projects that span jurisdictions. This award saw a number of projects focused on climate and energy, like $25 million to help repair damage caused by permafrost melting amid higher temperatures in Alaska, or $23 million to help electrify the Downeast bus fleet in Maine.

The Department of Energy announced $2.7 billion to support domestic sources of nuclear fuel. The Biden administration hopes to build up America's domestic nuclear fuel to allow for greater stability and lower costs. Currently Russia is the world's top exporter of enriched uranium, supplying 24% of US nuclear fuel.

The Department of Interior awarded $127 million to 6 states to help clean up legacy pollution from orphaned oil and gas wells. The funding will help cap 600 wells in Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, New York and Ohio. So far thanks to administration efforts over 7,000 orphaned wells across the country have been capped, reduced approximately 11,530 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions

HUD announced $469 million to help remove dangerous lead from older homes. This program will focus on helping homeowners particularly low income ones remove lead paint and replace lead pipes in homes built before 1978. This represents one of the largest investments by the federal government to help private homeowners deal with a health and safety hazard.

Bonus: President Biden's efforts to forgive more student debt through his administration's SAVE plan hit a snag this week when federal courts in Kansas and Missouri blocked elements the Administration also suffered a set back at the Supreme Court as its efforts to regular smog causing pollution was rejected by the conservative majority in a 5-4 ruling that saw Amy Coney Barrett join the 3 liberals against the conservatives. This week's legal setbacks underline the importance of courts and the ability to nominate judges and Justices over the next 4 years.

[lascvitae]

❦ — the beginning of an era

synopsis. after landing a main role in an upcoming kdrama, y/n moves away from home to fulfill her dreams. upon arrival, it seems that her co-star has taken a newfound interest in her.

pairing. actress!minjeong x actress fem!reader genre. fluff(?) warning(s). none.

word count: 1.3k

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝ katty ᥫ᭡: okay so i wanna make this a mini series and i have a few ideas in mind but if you guys have any scenarios or ideas then please don’t hesitate to send an ask!!



series masterlist.

it was around twelve pm once y/n finally landed in the heart of south korea, miles away from home for one of the first times ever.

almost a month earlier she received a call that changed her life. she had been casted the main role of an upcoming kdrama and while she had to move to a serviced apartment in the city, it was everything that the girl dreamed of doing since the age of five.

ever since that point she had starred in musicals, as background extras, side characters and even the younger version of main characters. yet with all of that experience, it felt like something was missing. something that she had just found.

the countless billboards gave her a glimpse of the bright future ahead— there were tons of famous celebrities, some who she couldn’t even name. but there were definitely a few that stood out the most.

there was jun jihyun, who owned numerous awards for her talent and not too far away was song hyekyo. everyone that y/n laid her eyes upon had a high level of fame and it filled her heart with hope for what was to come.

today was the day she would meet her co-stars and the place that she would be calling ‘home’ for the next few months.

leaning against her luggage as she patiently waited for the vehicle to arrive, a few buses passed by to pick up the other pedestrians. only one bus caught her attention.

plastered onto the side of the bus was one of the most well-known actresses in the industry — kim minjeong. y/n studied the advertisement for a lip balm with an intrigued smile. she could already see her own face on the side of a limousine bus.

minjeong wasn’t only known for her amazing performance on camera but also due to her kind-hearted nature. there probably wasn’t a single/ bad video of that girl on the internet. even if you hated some of her characters, it was impossible to hate her. though, most co-stars would mention that she is ‘slow to warm up’ and can even come off as rude or bratty at times.

a black suburban parked in front of y/n, snapping her out of her out of the mini-daydream, reminding her that it was now her turn to leave her mark on the world.

while y/n strolled her luggage towards the trunk, a man dressed in a black suit and tie cane around to grab everything for her. “let me grab this for you.” the man extended a hand, carefully taking the luggage with ease and securing it into the back. “thank you.” y/n muttered.

once he assured that his precious cargo was settled, the vehicle began to move and y/n let out a breath she had no idea that she was even holding.

all of the buildings that seoul fostered allowed a crumb of homesickness to sink in, wiping the smile clean off of her face. she looked down at her phone, seeing the message from her mother and best friend, aurora.

rory 💓

‘i miss u already 🥺🥺 u better text me everyday!!’

Sent 9:37 AM

my queen bee ❤️‍🔥

‘Don’t overwork yourself, honey. i’m always one call away if you need me. -Mom’

Sent 6:17 AM

my queen bee ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

‘I’m here to support you in any way you need.’

Sent 6:17 AM

the messages resulted in a pout and y/n decided to put her phone away before a tear could form, forcing herself to look outside of the window.

to her surprise, the car came to a stop a while ago and she hadn’t even realized it. the driver was already working at her luggage, opening up the door for her.

“thank you.” she held her purse as she eagerly stepped out of the vehicle, mouth agape from the tall building that stood before her. while y/n had achievements of her own this felt like a new key to stardom, there were even intimidating bodyguards standing at the entrance. there were paparazzi surrounding the building but it didn’t seem like they could get in.

y/n felt a rush of relief at the security system implemented.

with a singular look they granted the two of them access and they were on the way to the elevator.

the interior of the lobby was gorgeous, decorated with long chandeliers and colors along with gold that were visually perceived as expensive. almost every single intricate detail caught y/n’s eye as they settled into the spacious elevator.

“is this your first big role?” the driver, or what he seemed more like, the assistant asked y/n. she smiled nervously. “could you tell?”

he shrugged, not wanting to offend the girl. “a little bit. don’t worry, you’ll love park seonho. he’s a great director.”

her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.

she had only met the casting director so this was news to her — park seonho was one of the directors that y/n had respected the most. it gave her so much motivation for the show that she had to hold back a squeal.

once the elevator ding indicated that they had made it to her floor, y/n followed the man to her new apartment.

“um, how do these work?” she sheepishly asked as the door swung open, her mouth following quickly behind.

the apartment was huge — and it wasn’t short of how luxurious the lobby was decorated. there were more seats in the living area than y/n could have imagined herself needing, she had just moved away from her hometown after all. the only person she knew was the mother of the baby that couldn’t keep quiet in the plane seat next to hers. all she could do was gasp as they walked further inside.

“i don’t have much information on that part. your neighbor arrived about an hour ago. she’s your co-star.” he set down all of y/n’s luggage before heading for the door.

“by the way, you can call me mr. kim. i’ll be your driver for the next six months, miss y/n.” the girl bowed as he introduced himself, and just as quickly as he arrived, he had departed.

the spacious apartment building left y/n speechless and so that she couldn’t procrastinate about it later, she began to unpack all of her bags. her mystery neighbor proved to be a powerful distraction, though.

to fulfill the never ending curiosity, y/n swiftly traversed to the door adjacent to her own. with three knocks, she put on the brightest smile managable.

after a few seconds passed the door finally swung ajar and y/n wasn’t sure of what she recognized first. the short blonde hair, the rosy pink lips or the shirt that revealed a sliver of the girl’s infamous abs.

“hello.” she greeted with a bow, instantly recognizing her co-star. at this moment y/n realized that she was staring, or even gawking at this point. but how could she not? it was none other than kim minjeong.

“h-hello.” she returned the bow, blinking to confirm the girl before her eyes.

curiosity piqued, minjeong’s lips curled into an interested smile. “i’m looking forward to working with you…” she trailed off, raising an eyebrow.

“y/n.”

“y/n. perfect. i’m min—“

“i know who you are, it’s okay! i’m — um, i’m looking forward to working with you too.” the smile on her face widened. “of course.”

y/n chewed at her lower lip. “so, uh, how do these work exactly?” minjeong seemed slightly confused before she understood the question and why you were asking it. “it’s like a hotel. housekeeping will stop by every wednesday and it should already be fully furnished. at least, i hope that was the case.”

y/n wasn’t sure if she was nervous or if she genuinely found her words funny but a light hearted chuckle escaped the lips she had been nibbling at. “it was. thank you, minjeong.”

“no need.” she offered another kind smile. “you know where to find me. you should settle down.” the door closed shortly after that and y/n could feel her heart trying to escape the restraints of her chest, hitting herself in the head a few times.

“why did i stutter like that?” the whispered sentence was only audible to her as she glanced at the end of the empty hallway before hiding inside of her apartment. y/n had just made her first friend in korea. kim minjeong. one of the most talented women in the country.

and they were neighbors.

the next six months were going to be a roller coaster.

perm taglist — @saysirhc @aedollie @prologue-ae

[heycrymeariver]

five and many more: a timeline summary

(For legal reasons, all of this is alleged.)

Ref. links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

1984, is the first time Neil Gaiman released a book. 

In 1985, he got married and started his career as a comic book writer and in 1986, he assaulted Julia Hobsbawm.

This took place in Chalk Farm, London, where he forcibly kissed her and shoved her down on the sofa at her own studio flat before she escaped. According to The Crown Prosecution Service, “sexual assault is where one person intentionally touches another person sexually without their consent. The touching can be done with any part of the body or with an object.” In her own words, she described it as “an aggressive, unwanted pass” and that she still remembers it even now. 

Through 1987 and 2002 he progressed his career and published the famous book Coraline. A new year happens and he is in his early-forties and is thriving off of the success of his several money-making works, at a book signing event in Sarasota, Florida. There he hits it off with a young 18 year old (K) and they start dating. Two years later, in 2005, with two more awards under his belt, he forcibly penetrated that young twenty year old who told him not to because of a painful infection.

After another two years, he and his first wife divorced.

It's 2012, five years later and one year into a new marriage and at another book signing, Neil, age 52, immediately assaulted Claire (pseudonym) with a non-consensual kiss. Throughout keeping contact Neil had escalated this with video and phone calls that had a heavy sexual connotation where he appeared to either be naked or tried to instigate something. All of this accumulated into sexually assaulting her on a tour bus. Neil’s contact with her lasted until 2014 where he had promptly accused her in a text message that she had used him for sex.

Within the same year, Neil had enough money to buy a property, and met Caroline Wallner, 55, and her at-the time current husband. With a deal to do odd jobs for Neil and his wife to live there until she could own a five-acre plot, it wasn’t long before things turned sour. A divorce in 2017 sent everything spiraling, with her former husband fired, she in a once financially stable position, was now completely dependent on Neil Gaiman who used that to his advantage. Using her lack of financial stability to get himself sexual favors, he coerced her into a sexual-only, notably uninformed BDSM-entering territory while she was emotionally vulnerable, not accepting denials. This lasted until the summer of 2021, and in December of that year she and him went to court, what awaited her was $275k of compensation and a non-disclosure agreement (nda).

It wouldn’t take long for another woman to experience Neil Gaiman’s repeated offenses as well because in February of 2022, Scarlett (a pseudonym), age 23, a newly hired nanny, was sexually assaulted in the bathtub at his house. Neil, age 61, climbed into the bathtub with her and coerced her into having sexual relations. He too, in his coercion of her, made her financially dependent on him and brought BDSM elements to an inexperienced young woman who could not say no.

Since July 3rd of this year, 2024, five women have come out with sexual assault allegations aimed at Neil Gaiman. They all have several things in common with each other: either being young and naive, a fan of his, or put in a vulnerable spot financially or emotionally. Throughout the years and according to the stories, Neil progressively gets more bold and aggressive in his attempts for sexual gain. There are many more stories out there and whispers on the internet of how predatory Neil Gaiman has been in the industry. However, focusing on the five women who came out to speak and pushing their voice is an important part of the discussion.

Staying silent will only protect his peace.

(If you want to help keep this topic alive, please check out this post by @taraljc to see what steps you can take.)

[zot3-flopped]

Reading that article from the sunday times and just gagging:

"Upstairs, in a corner room, was where she asked for three books to be read and five songs to be played to her every night",

"According to family friends they drove a Chevrolet Suburban — an SUV fit for the secret service — sent Christmas cards showing their impressive holidays and brought their daughter’s pony to school for show and tell.",

"The family would also give teachers the keys to their holiday home as a thank-you present.",

"They had a hot tub on the patio, a jetty with a boat from which they waterskiied and two jet skis. They were also members of the sailing club.",

"“When Taylor was young, the family came over for dinner and the kids were all swimming,” Hand says. “They [Swift’s parents] asked me if I had the Disney channel and I said no. There was some country singer on that was Taylor’s idol — and so they got up and they left.”,

"Her father, Scott, now 72, grew up nearby. He was a financial adviser at the investment firm Merrill Lynch. Swift’s mother, Andrea, now 66, was a marketing executive born into a wealthy family who grew up between Singapore and Houston, Texas. Andrea’s father was the president of a construction company, her mother an opera singer.",

"A third-generation banker and former radio salesman, he updated them on which songs she had cut (I am told he spent $10,000 on building her a recording studio at their home); which singles were coming out next (by the age of 15, Taylor had a record deal with a company in which Scott had bought a 3 per cent stake); where she was touring (he had bought Cher’s former tour bus for her); and the awards for which she needed votes.",

"During the long, hot summer days Swift would walk through town, her guitar slung across her back, much to the judgment of the local girls.",

"Swift gave out wallet-sized photos of herself as Sandy to the kids in the years below her at school",

"Her notebook, he claims, was filled with pages of her own autograph.",

"Many, however, thought she was “a bit of a brat”, from the moneyed side of town and modelling clothes for Abercrombie & Fitch. At 16, Swift bought a Lexus SC430 convertible, the car driven by Regina George, the meanest girl in Mean Girls.",

"Swift made an entrance when she first arrived at Hendersonville High School, says a former classmate, telling people she was going to be a star. “We kind of rolled our eyes because, being in Nashville, we hear that a lot,” she says. “It was just such a strong statement for someone of that age.”

Underdog who??? Tbh it's not just TS being obnoxious, rich, spoiled brat flaunting her wealth left and right, it's her entire immediate family.

“There were times when, in middle school and junior high, I didn’t have a lot of friends,” she told the Great American Country network in 2008." damn, I wonder why. /s

Classic nepo baby.

[soup-mother]

it must have been so awkward trying to use the privileges that came with a hero of the soviet union award. like um excuse me bus driver, i was told i don't have to pay for local public transport on account of my heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society 👉👈

[mareislandfoundation]

Industrial Powerhouse

In the decade prior to 1940, America's shipyards launched only 23 ships. In the five years after 1940, American shipyards launched 4,600 ships. San Francisco Bay Area shipbuilders produced 20 percent of warship tonnage and almost 45 percent of all the cargo shipping tonnage built in the entire nation during World War II. The war lasted 1,365 days. In that span of time Bay Area shipyards built 1,400 vessels--a ship a day, on average. In addition, ships arrived constantly for maintenance and repair, sometimes scheduled, but often battle damaged and in urgent need of repair. This incredible industrial effort depended on a combination of shipyards and workers that had not existed prior to the outbreak of war.

One astounding example was due to the U.S. Maritime Commission’s dire need for cargo ships, San Francisco’s Bechtel Company was approached on March 2, 1942, and asked to propose a new shipyard location that could be operational within a year. Bechtel proposed building a shipyard with 6 building ways in Sausalito and the site was approved on March 12, 10 days later. Six days after that dirt was being blasted and moved to construct what became Marinship. Construction of Liberty ships on the building ways began in parallel with construction of the ways. Keel blocks were added as every foot of the ways was built extending inland from Richardson Bay. Similar feats took place around the San Francisco Bay Area as shipyards sprung up in Alameda, Richmond, Napa, South San Francisco, Oakland, and Antioch, while at the same time Mare Island and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard facilities doubled and tripled in size.

Tens of thousands of workers of every type were required to support the construction and repair activities resulting in a huge influx of workers from around the country. That workforce overwhelmed the existing housing stock in the Bay Area. In 1942 Mare Island officials decried the fact that workers were quitting as fast as new ones could be hired to due to the lack of housing. Federal agencies and local governments mobilized and together found innovative ways to rapidly create the housing needed for the burgeoning workforce. Those agencies accomplished so much so fast because of unprecedented cooperation amongst them, readily available funds and the dearth of regulation.

San Francisco grew from a city of 634,000 residents in 1940 to 774,821 by 1950. In Contra Costa County, the little towns of Walnut Creek, Orinda and Concord saw their populations double, then double again. In Vallejo housing units were constructed by the Public Buildings Administration, the Farm Security Administration, and the newly formed Vallejo Housing Authority. Incredibly, during a time of war and scarce personnel and construction resources, housing developments in Vallejo were generally completed within 6 months of contract award and would eventually provide housing for over 27,000 people. But even that was not enough, Mare Island Naval Shipyard's workforce had swollen to over 40,000 workers that simply could not all be housed within Vallejo. That problem was solved with an around-the-clock bus Service that brought 14,000 workers to and from Mare Island from as much as 75 miles away 7 days a week. Those buses would travel the equivalent distance of the circumference of the earth every day.

The enabler for this incredible productivity was the existence of total war involving the entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities of our country. That threat to our freedom created a unity our nation had never experienced before or since. The San Francisco Bay Area with its over 30 shipyards, large and small, and scores of machine shops, and metal and wood fabricators joined together to create the world's largest combined shipbuilding complex. In all, 244,000 people worked in Bay Area shipyards and prefabricated components were shipped by rail to Mare Island Naval Shipyard from construction shops across the nation. The output from San Francisco Bay Area joined the stream of material pouring out of shipyards and factories throughout the country providing the force behind Franklin Roosevelt’s use of the slogan “America as the Great Arsenal of Democracy.” This was all accomplished with no satellites, no internet, no computers, and no cell phones.

Dennis Kelly

[aeolianblues]

it’s so blatantly obvious to me when I think about moving to a bigger city and I think about the doubled and tripled rents you can pay just to have to live where you are required to be (e.g. near a workplace, often). And when those workplaces don’t pay nearly enough to comfortably live there after rent, proportional to what they may have paid in the past, you’re left with no disposable income. You might make a few purchases willy nilly, but more often than not if you’re left over with a couple hundred bucks from your earnings in a month, you might think twice before spending it, because what if you don’t have a couple hundred bucks left over from next month’s income?

And so— what Marx said, and what that oft-quoted tumblr post said too: you cut down on anything that’s fun, anything that makes life colourful and less monotonous because it’s not 'needed'. You put less back into public sectors and art, culture, entertainment, donations, etc. All your money is going into 1. landlord’s bank (and we’re talking like 60% of your income often) 2. taxes (extremely fair enough. I’m very happy to contribute. Now DO something with that money!! All you’re doing is giving realtors licenses to build more buildings no one can afford. Class act.) 3. groceries and bus passes. That’s it! Now, here too. Bus services, happy to pay. Though if they’re public transit I’m not sure why my taxes don’t go to it. Still. Our bus service is still reasonably cheaper than, say, London’s. Fucking hell if you had to regularly travel often in a day you’d go bankrupt. Groceries. There are two major monopolistic grocers and they’ve been caught price gouging. My groceries shouldn’t cost THAT much.

But when your rent is a lot cheaper, or the fuckers price gouging groceries are forced to lower their prices, suddenly you’re left over with like 800 bucks of disposable income. Sometimes even more, 1000. 1200 some months. All of a sudden, even if you put away half of that you have some disposable income to spend.

Suddenly you’re saying, ‘let me go meet my friends for dinner one night.’ You keep in touch with people, you’re more socially connected, your mental health improves, you're less isolated and overwhelmed. People talk to you, and often, may even have answers to things you're trying to work out and may have only offhandedly mentioned because it's on your mind. Suddenly the village is raising you! You can afford to take a day off if you’re sick or stressed. The restaurant you ate at is also walking away with a healthy bill.

Suddenly you’re going to concerts more (or something else, maybe you’re going to a national museum or art gallery). You’re stopping after the show and even buying a CD or vinyl. Maybe a tshirt. The band can go back into the studio and afford to record more music. They can pay for rehearsal spaces. The rehearsal spaces can make up enough money to stay open another year. The band gets better because they’re rehearsing regularly and they get offered better and more frequent gigs because of this. Their growing stature means that all of a sudden, something clicks and Blame Brett catapults The Beaches into megastardom, a band who has been toiling away at it for 11 years previously.

Now people want to come and see The Beaches (neighbourhood) in Toronto where this famous band got its name from. Boom, tourism money! Suddenly your band is playing these huge tours across the country, and they can afford to take a proper road crew with them. They can give a few bands in different towns and cities the opportunity to open for them at a show where people will be there early. Money goes back into the industry and economy, and some more jobs are created. The band suddenly have more money to shoot a little documentary or a music video, suddenly a band like Kneecap can be breaking records for winning film awards with a little independently made film.

You have a bit of disposable income, suddenly you can pay for a monthly subscription to your local newspaper. Meta and Google in Canada have banned and restricted news organisations (including student journalism) across their platforms so that they don’t have to pay royalties for stealing their news content for free. The central news channels in Toronto aren’t going to cover local news happening in Bumfuck, Ontario. Local journalism gets a lease of life through your disposable income. There’s a 100 km gust of wind blowing through south-eastern Ontario today apparently, but that’s not Toronto’s problem (not in the south east). Local journalism.

Like I know this has been said before, but holy fuck, the economy does not work without people having disposable income!! Industries will shut down if people don’t have money to spend. All these seemingly frivolous things that billionaires see as wasted money, it still makes them billions in revenue! Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says music costs ‘barely anything’ to make these days, but it’s made HIM richer than the most successful musicians in history! Paul McCartney will never be as rich as Daniel Ek. The man’s a billionaire. There are like 3 musicians ever who have been billionaires. (Which isn’t to say I want more billionaire musicians, I want less—no—billionaire CEOs).

Where do I go with this. The arts are not disposable. There needs to be some sort of balance. People need to have money they can spend outside of essentials. Everyone can’t and should not be an engineer or a doctor or a banker or whatever. Some people should absolutely not be up burning buildings. We need ‘non-essential’ careers too. And these entire industries cease to exist if they do not have patrons. Given that Daniek Ek is not going down to his local pub to discover and support an unsigned, scruffy new band, it is us, the people that need to have that money. Artificially high rents, depressed wages and no money to spare hurts more than just one ‘replaceable’ worker you can’t see and don’t care about!

[indy-500]

hello. here is a list of things that happened in my life today, the longest day ever:

i got on the 4:45 am bus to laguardia. a man got on a few minutes later with his. entire dick out.

he (for lack of a better way to phrase it) scooped it back into his sweats. and then proceeded to stare at me and pretend to jack off the water bottle in his jacket pocket for several minutes, huff when I wouldn’t react, and stormed off the bus. at 5 in the goddamn morning

learned that i had become an aunt on flight one of the day halfway to minnesota

changed my period disc in an airport restroom

watched the bills murder the jets in spectacular fashion while stuck silent in a plane seat

then had to deal with a horde of drunk vikings fans watch the start of their game much less silently on the same flight

also learned that jimmy carter died while on that flight

arrived in vegas where my family already was and learned that the elevator in our hotel is broken and we have to use the service elevator to get to our floor (which my dad waited to explain until we were. already in the service elevator)

had a free dinner provided by the hotel that felt like a high school awards ceremony. i was served a tiny disposable water bottle with my prime rib. there was a couple singing dolly parton and kenny rogers duets very well but very loudly. it was held in the rec room which is in a pyramid for some reason.

saw the blue man group for the third time in my life. the show has not changed in any way since i last saw it 9 years ago

[lboogie1906]

Shawntae Harris-Dupart (April 14, 1974) known by her stage name Da Brat, is a rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, she began her career in 1992, the year she signed with So So Def Records. Her debut album Funkdafied (1994) sold one million copies, making her the first female solo rap act to receive a platinum certification and the second overall female rap act (solo or group).

She has earned two top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, “Funkdafied” and “Not Tonight”. She has had commercial success with other songs including “I Think They Like Me”, “Loverboy” and “In Love Wit Chu”. She has received two Grammy Award nominations.

Her father is David Ray McCoy, a businessman, and her mother, Beverly Calloway, a city bus driver. She is the sister of actress LisaRaye McCoy.

She was featured on the remix of the song “I Think They Like Me.” The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. She also co-wrote a song called “O.O.C.” which appears on E=MC² and contributes backing vocals on the track. In 2007, she participated in the fifth season of Celebrity Fit Club. In 2011, she did a remix with Kelly Rowland called “Motivation” featuring Lil Wayne. She launched a web series about life after the experience titled “Brat Chronicles: In Transition” on YouTube. She released her new single “Is It Chu?” on iTunes and other digital services. She now works for the Rickey Smiley Morning Show as a co-host (July 2015 – present) and is part of the Dish Nation. She has appeared on The Rap Game, as a mentor to young talent. She joined Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta.

She married hair product mogul Jesseca Dupart (2022) and they have one child. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - July 1-7

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $Kaybarr1735! And if you tip me and give me a way to contact you, at the end of the month I'll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn't use each week!

1. Footage reveals 'miracle eagle chick' in flight

“In an unprecedented display of extended eagle parenting, the two white-tailed parents skipped this year's breeding season to continue to tend to their year-old offspring. The youngster's wing was broken when the nest fell to the ground during unseasonably wild weather last year. […] The fully-grown chick was being fed fish by its parents, caring behaviour that the eagle expert described as “unprecedented” for the birds. […] “If an immature bird was to reappear near its nesting parents or any other pair the following year [after dispersing], it would likely be aggressively chased away. That’s why this is so exceptional.””

2. Rare wild horses back on Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe after being saved from extinction

“For the first time in at least 200 years, wild Przewalski's horses have returned to Kazakhstan’s Golden Steppe. [...] Przewalski's horses are considered the last truly wild horse left on the planet as other species like the American Mustang are descended from domesticated animals. The species were once common across the vast steppes of Central Asia. [...] The zoo will also be sending some Przewalski’s to Mongolia in 2026 where a reintroduction programme has seen their population boom to well over 850 animals.”

3. For one Austin summer camp, public transit is part of the adventure

“[... “O]ver 90% of the kids will tell you that their favorite part of ATX Kids Club is riding the bus.” That’s the program’s goal: getting kids to have fun on public transit so they’ll grow up using it. The nonprofit’s summer camp, which takes kids ages 4 to 12 on field trip “adventures” around the city, uses Capital Metro buses as its main form of transportation. [...] Before camp, [the field trip leader] said, he believed in stereotypes about transit being dirty and “scary” — but his experience with Austin’s bus system has been the opposite so far.”

4. Brazil Prevents Meta from Using People to Power Its AI

“[…P]ersonal photos of Brazilian children are used to build powerful AI tools without their knowledge or consent. In turn, others use these tools to create malicious deepfakes, putting even more children at risk of harm. […] The Brazilian government’s decision is a powerful, proactive move to protect people’s data privacy in the face of swiftly evolving uses and misuses of AI. Yesterday’s action especially helps to protect children from worrying that their personal data, shared with friends and family on Meta’s platforms, might be used to harm them in ways that are impossible to anticipate or guard against.”

5. Ambitious Living Shoreline Project Combats Coastal Land Loss in South Carolina

“Living shorelines stabilize coastlines by reducing the impacts of waves and rising sea levels. They are made of materials that promote the growth of marsh grasses and commercially important species like oysters and crabs. […C]oastal sites could offset almost 80 percent of tidal habitat loss with careful conservation and management. […] Young people in this AmeriCorps program receive training, a living stipend, an education award, and connections to potential employers.”

6. Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge announces proposal to modernize water infrastructure

“Under the refuge’s proposal, the Service would improve 4,400 feet of an earthen water delivery ditch, rehabilitate 1,200 feet of Upper Lake Dam, develop 100 feet of new diversion channel into critical nesting habit for federally endangered southwestern willow flycatcher, modernize current water monitoring stations and improve 640 feet of the Pahranagat Ditch Drain. […] The improvements will result in significant habitat improvements for multiple bird species, [… and] also enhance flood control holding capabilities of the Upper Lake for the Pahranagat Valley.”

7. New chemical process separates textile fibers for easier recycling

“A combined team of chemical and biomolecular engineers [... have] developed a way to chemically separate fibers in textiles, allowing them to be recycled more quickly and cheaply than conventional methods. [... T]hey found they could break apart the textiles in as little as 15 minutes. They also noted that the process [breaks down polyester and spandex into] organic compound[s] that could conceivably be used to create more polyester. [... T]he material integrity of both the nylon and the cotton were retained, suggesting they could be used to make new batches of clothes.”

8. Pongamia trees grow where citrus once flourished, offering renewable energy and plant-based protein

“[Some Floridian] farmers are turning to the pongamia tree, a climate-resilient tree with the potential to produce plant-based proteins and a sustainable biofuel. […] Pongamia trees also don't need fertilizer or pesticides. They flourish in drought or rainy conditions. And they don't require teams of workers to pick the beans. […] The legume is now being used to produce several products, including Panova table oil, Kona protein bars and protein flour. The legumes also produce oil that can be used as a biofuel, largely for aviation, which leaves a very low carbon footprint[….]”

9. Trans candidate celebrates receiving more votes than anti-trans campaigner Posie Parker

“An independent trans candidate says that she hopes receiving more total votes than anti-trans campaigner Posie Parker at the general election will show trans children that they are loved. […] Bristol Central was won by Green Party’s out bisexual co-leader Carla Denyer, while Parker received just 196 votes, equal to 0.5 per cent[….] Elsewhere, trans candidate Sophie Molly secured 225 votes standing as an independent at the other end of the country, in Aberdeen South[….]”

10. Ohio zoo celebrates birth of critically endangered western lowland gorilla

“The Columbus Zoo said the gorilla was born June 29 and first-time mother Sue is "very attentive and providing excellent care to her little one, who she nuzzles and cradles closely." […] “With tiny hands and beautiful big brown eyes that melt our hearts, this baby is absolutely precious—in regard to both the cuteness factor and what the baby represents for this species’ future. We are proud of the dedication of our care teams who diligently work to provide the gorillas with top quality care and wellbeing while continuing the legacy of the Columbus Zoo’s renowned gorilla program,” said Audra Meinelt, curator of the Columbus Zoo’s Congo Expedition region.”

June 22-28 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[osrphotography]

Tranzit Group (BusIt) №3301 [Scania K320UB/Kiwi Bus Builders] parked up at Kirikiroa Hamilton Station.

The Waikato District Council recently put various regional connectors up for tender and introduced some new ones. The result of which was Tranzit being awarded various contracts, ranging from Hamilton to Taupō.

3301 is currently assigned to the 26 Te Kūiti Connector, which was introduced in May 2023. As there are only two services per day, 3301 just lives at the railway station during the day.

[warsofasoiaf]

Do you sometimes think that you're too harsh on FDR?

No, not particularly. I think the things I criticize him for are fairly self-evident.

No one denies that the internment of Japanese-Americans was a travesty, but I am annoyed at the historical minimization of FDR's role in the entire affair. He's the one who authorized it, and more importantly, he authorized it while having credible intelligence reporting that there was no threat. In historical discussions, FDR is frequently never even mentioned, almost as if paranoia and racism just spontaneously willed EO9066 into existence, as opposed to a document which he knowingly signed.

Similarly, I don't think it's contestable that FDR favored Soviet interests over American ones in his approach to Soviet policy. He took repeated efforts to stop counter-intelligence against the Soviet Union; when the Soviets were discovered to be conducting espionage against the US, his response was to inform the Soviets via back-channels rather than arrest or PNG the offenders, to maintain the relationship and avoid political blowback (since his initial recognition of the Soviet Union was contingent on ceasing espionage activity against the US). While presidents and politicians are given great leeway in interpreting what is in American public interest and frequently conflate personal political interest with the American public interest, Obama declassifying intelligence to shore up his re-election in 2012 comes to mind, I don't think there's any way to interpret his overly-accommodating attitude toward the Soviets as anything other than counter to American interest. This can't even be explained as wartime necessity, because FDR had been doing this even before 1941.

Even something as simple as the Air Mail scandal has broader ramifications. You can say that FDR was misled by George Dern who claimed that the Army Air Service pilots could fly the airmail routes, but he threw MG Foulouis under the bus in order to preserve Dern's and his own political reputation and then gave the airmail contracts to Errett Cord, his campaign contributor. That's fairly standard corruption, but the Hoover administration's awarding of the airmail contracts to campaign contributors was the reason he rescinded the contracts in the first place! The idea that "it's okay when I do it," has been a very pernicious problem when it comes to anti-corruption efforts, and the idea that the politicians will cover up the death of servicemen to save their own careers just rankles me for personal reasons.

You can like him for any number of reasons, I just feel that the historical record largely ignores FDR's blunders in favor of a purely hagiographic approach.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[doberbutts]

And it was that bus ride that prompted someone to nominate Creed to receive the Service Dog of the Year award from UDC- 22 hours each way and in the middle a week of celebrations, kids, strangers, and more while we partied for a friend who had no family at her wedding so asked her internet friends to come instead.

Creed really was one of a kind. I will miss him, dearly, always.

[justforbooks]

The career of the actor Andre Braugher, who has died of lung cancer aged 61, was benchmarked by two performances in police dramas a generation apart. In the groundbreaking drama Homicide: Life on the Street, from 1993 until 1999, he played Detective Frank Pembleton, whose drive immediately made him the anchor of an impressive ensemble cast led by Yaphet Kotto and Ned Beatty. He drew a younger audience with the comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-21) as Captain Ray Holt, who takes over a chaotic homicide squad and whose intensity again makes him the heart of the show.

Braugher’s deep, resonant voice and seemingly effortless control drew the respect of all he worked with. David Simon, creator of Homicide and The Wire, said: “I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors. I’ll never work with one better.” His classical training, at the Juilliard School in New York, made him a regular at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, and indeed his portrayal of Henry V in 1996 won him an Obie (the off-Broadway equivalent of the Tony awards).

He brought the projection of the stage to the small screen. Pembleton was the master of “the Box”, or the interrogation room. He explained to his rookie partner in Homicide (played by Kyle Secor), it was “salesmanship … as silver tongued and thieving as ever moved used cars, Florida swamp land or Bibles. But what I am selling is a long prison sentence.” He dominated those small scenes, but the episode Subway, with Vincent D’Onofrio as a character pushed between subway trains, who will die once the trains are separated, was a two-hander whose intensity might have come from the stage of Beckett, Pinter or Mamet.

In Brooklyn Nine-Nine, as Holt, he played it straight in two senses. The adage of comedy being funniest when played straight gained resonance from Braugher’s ability to show the audience with a gesture or line-reading that he, like you, got the joke. But Holt is also gay. His gayness is never an issue, except as motivation for his progress within the police. It was as if Pembleton were stepping into Kotto’s “Gee” Giardello, a black man with an Italian father who was determined to rise in a white-dominated department.

This drive reflected Braugher’s own background. In the tough neighbourhood of Austin, on Chicago’s West Side, both his parents worked for the government; his father, Floyd, was a heavy equipment operator for the state of Illinois, and his mother, Sally, worked for the US Postal Service. He recalled he might have “pretended I was hard and tough and not square”, but he won scholarships to the Jesuit St Ignatius College prep and then to study mathematics at Stanford University, California. After walking into a student production of Hamlet, and playing Claudius, he decided he wanted to act.

Another scholarship took him to Juilliard. He graduated in 1988 and almost immediately was cast in a TV revival of Kojak, as his assistant. His first film role came in Glory (1989); he was so impressive as the educated Thomas Searles, forced to serve as a private soldier in the all-black regiment commanded by his white friend, that Hollywood came calling, but the parts were standard stereotyical roles. His father had questioned how a black actor would make a living, and Braugher later explained: “I’d rather not work than do a part I’m ashamed of.”

He played the lead in a TV movie, The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990), playing Robinson, the first African-American player in major league baseball, who earlier in the 1940s, as a US army lieutenant, had refused to ride in the back of a segregated bus; and appeared in another TV film, The Tuskegee Airmen (1995). He was an egotistical actor in Spike Lee’s Get On the Bus (1996), about the Million Man March on Washington DC the year before. In 1998 he won his first Emmy award for playing Pembleton; he was nominated 11 times, and won his second in 2006 for his role in the miniseries Thief.

After Homicide, he starred as a doctor in Gideon’s Crossing (2000-01), as a cop in Hack (2002-04), as a car dealer in the comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age (2009-11) and as the captain of a submarine which goes on the run after he refuses to obey orders to fire nuclear missiles in Last Resort (2012-13). He had another series of remarkable two-handers in a recurring role as Hugh Laurie’s psychiatrist in House, was a defense attorney in episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and voiced Governor Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz in the animated comedy BoJack Horseman.

He made the most of supporting roles in films such as Primal Fear (as Richard Gere’s investigator), Poseidon (captain of the sinking liner), Salt (as the US secretary of defense) and most notably as a New York Times editor in She Said (2022), covering the Harvey Weinstein scandal. He also starred in 10,000 Black Men Named George (2002), the story of the unionisation of Pullman railway porters, who were always called “George” by passengers.

Braugher admitted that his career “could have been larger, but it would have been at the expense of my own life”. He lived in suburban New Jersey with his wife, the actor Ami Brabson (who played Pembleton’s wife in Homicide). He said he wanted his three sons, Michael, Isaiah and John Wesley, raised in a “true context”, away from being a movie star’s offspring in Hollywood.

He is survived by his wife and sons, his brother, Charles, and his mother.

🔔 Andre Keith Braugher, actor, born 1 July 1962; died 11 December 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[ncisfranchise-source]

Endemol Shine Australia, CBS Studios, Paramount Australia and Screen Territory are excited to announce that the internationally smash-hit series, NCIS: Sydney is coming to Darwin!

Produced by Endemol Shine Australia for CBS Studios and Paramount Australia, and distributed outside Australia by Paramount Global Content Distribution, production of the special 2 x 1 hour episodes which are part of the series, will commence in Darwin and surrounding areas later this year. 

Productions filmed in the NT make a significant contribution to the local economy through jobs and goods and services. They also highlight the magnificent Northern Territory both nationally and worldwide.

The first international iteration of the global NCIS franchise outside of the US, NCIS: Sydney is a brilliant and eclectic team of U.S. NCIS Agents and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) who have been grafted into a multi-national taskforce to keep naval crimes in check.  Having only just found their feet, in season two, the agents of NCIS: Sydney square off against a much more powerful adversary, threatening the very stability of the region…and the team itself.  

NCIS: Sydney is one of the most watched local series since the launch of Paramount+ Australia and premiered on CBS US as the #1 new series in the fall of the 2023-2024 season, with the series premiere reaching over 10.2 million viewers on linear in the U.S., including an encore episode. In its first season, NCIS: Sydney averaged more than 8 million multiplatform viewers per episode across all platforms, and has been nominated for a TV Week Logie Award for Best Drama Series.

NCIS is one of the world’s most successful television franchise with more than 300 million viewers globally across all platforms, including broadcast, cable, streaming and syndication (according to Nielsen and international Television Audience Measurement companies in key territories).

Director Screen Territory, Jennie Hughes said:

“Screen Territory is thrilled to see the Top End become a part of the NCIS legacy as one of the longest running and most successful TV franchises ever.

“NCIS: Sydney has enjoyed immense success with global audiences, and we look forward to the Territory not only showcase its unique locations to this beloved series franchise, but also to contributing the talents and abilities of our local screen production crews and creative talents.”

“We look forward to welcoming the NCIS team to the Northern Territory and look forward to the building and fostering this new production relationship with Endemol Shine Australia and Paramount.”

Endemol Shine Australia, Head of Scripted, Sara Richardson said:

 “Endemol Shine Australia and the entire cast and crew are extremely excited to be bringing NCIS: Sydney to the Northern Territory.”

“The rare beauty of Australia’s Top End will be showcased to audiences both around Australia and around the globe, as it is the backdrop for some compelling storylines resulting in high action for our brilliant and eclectic team of Agents.”

Paramount Australia, Creative Advisor Drama, Rick Maier said: 

“What better way to showcase the brilliant Northern Territory to the rest of the world. We are incredibly proud to celebrate each and every new milestone for NCIS: Sydney.”

This major screen production was brought to the Northern Territory through the Territory Government’s Screen Territory Production Attraction Incentive Program (PAIP). 

Territory screen professionals will have the opportunity to work alongside some of the best in the business on NCIS: Sydney.

The Production Attraction Incentive Program is open all year round and aims to attract footloose screen productions to film in the NT which will employ Territorians and utilise Territory services and businesses.

NCIS: Sydney Season Two is set to premiere on Paramount+ Australia later this year, with season one streaming now.