#Kansas City Star

[adastra-sf]

To the Moon... and Home

A few pages from the Kansas City Star special edition paper commemorating landing on the Moon (from the Ad Astra Institute's archives).

[subsidystadium]

The Kansas City Royals are showing how NOT TO go about asking for taxpayer help with a new ballpark

In November of last year, the Kansas City Royals finally told the world that they would be leaving their current ballpark for a new one in 2030! The plans included the ballpark being downtown and the total cost being around $2 billion. The Royals owner, John Sherman, claimed in a letter to fans that a new ballpark was financially necessary for the team’s future success. He also mentioned that a…

[atlas9-official]

A new interactive exhibit set in a movie theater is coming to KCK. Here’s what to know

By Joseph Hernandez September 04, 2024 6:00 AM

A rendering shows Atlas9, an immersive art experience by industrial design company Dimensional Innovations coming to the Legends in Kansas City, Kansas. The team hopes to have it open by summer 2025. A rendering shows Atlas9, an immersive art experience by industrial design company Dimensional Innovations coming to the Legends in Kansas City, Kansas. The team hopes to have it open by summer 2025. Dimensional Innovations/Atlas9 A room inside Kansas City-based industrial design company Dimensional Innovations’ office space has a doomsday clock of sorts. The clock, now under 300 days, counts down to zero.

When it hits zero, CEO Tucker Trotter and executive creative director Randall Statler hope to take Kansas Citians to a brand new world based around a movie theater.

On top of creating new signage for CPKC Stadium and a LEGO Ferrari for Legoland in Florida, the team has been hard at work crafting Atlas9, a narrative-driven immersive art experience coming to the Legends in the summer of 2025. Before it opens, Trotter and Statler said First Friday visitors can get a glimpse Sept. 6 of what to expect when it opens.

It’s a joint venture between the design company and Homefield, a youth sports development company who recently opened a youth sports arena in the same area earlier this year. They also have help from KC-based interactive entertainment group Swell Spark and local performance art organization Quixotic.

The Atlas9 team drew inspiration from other interactive art exhibits around the world, including The Rabbit hOle, City Museum in St. Louis and teamLab in Tokyo. They’ve helped create interactive pieces at the Amelia Earhart Museum in Atchison and the University of Kansas’ welcome center and decided it was time to develop one of their creations in their hometown.

“We’re doing all of these incredible experiences, why not do one for ourselves and be the client for the one in our city?” Trotter said. “The fact that we’ll have two immersive art experiences is really incredible.”

What is Atlas9?

Atlas9’s narrative follows a struggling movie theater looking to draw in customers by using new holographic projection technology to provide moviegoers with a fully immersive and interactive viewing experience. During its first demonstration, the system overloads and causes a power surge, and, as a result of the surge, brings the characters and settings from the movies into the real world.

Trotter and Statler decided on a movie theater since one of Dimensional Innovations’ first major clients was Leawood-based AMC Theatres and felt it was natural to put a cinema spin on their story. The name Atlas9 also derives from old movie theater names.

When it opens, it’ll be a nonlinear experience, meaning visitors can visit all of the rooms and unpack the story at their leisure. They could visit the 240-seat movie theater first and then go through the manager’s office or walk straight into a movie standee and take a look inside the movie’s setting. Using radio frequency identification wristbands, guests can scan kiosks placed around the exhibit and see themselves placed inside movie posters.

Some places inside the 48,796-square-foot building that’s currently being built will be left empty when it opens, Trotter said. The creators want the freedom to add more exhibits to expand the narrative after the opening.

“We’re creating this world and the back end system we’re developing will allow us to do permutations, create sequels, create plot twists and do those things that can evolve the narrative to keep it fresh,” Statler said.

Trotter and Statler say the movie theater will used for other events, such as live performances hosted by Quixotic. They hope to see local film festivals or private parties using the venue.

What can I see on First Friday?

Atlas9’s narrative kicks off before the planned opening. September’s First Friday visitors will get the first look at what’s coming to Kansas City next summer at Mean Mule Distilling Co. in the Crossroads.

Within the story, federal agents were deployed to the movie theater after the power surge to examine the effects. Agents live on the site of the theater inside a van that resembles an ‘80s-style van. The van and “agents” will be at Mean Mule as the first activation of the exhibit.

Visitors will be able to interact with the van and agents and try to figure out what’s happening. Statler said this is the first of many teasers coming to the city until it opens.

“We’re leaning on the narrative world we’re building and our movie theater background,” Statler said. “We’re leaning on story a lot in this way, on the screen and in how all the things tie together.”

[justincaseitmatters]

Rewind: Stephen Frears

[thatstormygeek]

You are entitled to your opinions and your beliefs, even if I don’t agree or share them. I believe this with such conviction that I volunteered to defend those rights — mine, yours, and all the people in this country I’ve never met — as a member of the armed forces. However, If you want to hate someone, then just do it. Own it. Don’t create some rationale to justify your hate under the guise of religion or protecting children. You simply just want to protect your ability to hate somebody.

- Charles Gragg, Jr.

[spiritofthemeadow]

ig - afternoondreams

[nwslfacts]

Leaked 2024 NWSL kits!

[machetelanding]

[daily-celeb-photos]

Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce

[odinsblog]

Racists be like, “Please stop singing the non-racist anthem! Can’t we just go back to the quietly racist anthem?”

Although “The Star-Spangled Banner” and all of its verses were immediately famous, Key’s overt racism prevented it from becoming the national anthem while he was alive, Morley wrote. There was no official anthem, and many people chose to sing other songs, like “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”


Key’s anthem gained popularity over time, particularly among post-Reconstruction White Southerners and the military. In the early 20th Century, all but the first verse were cut — not for their racism, but for their anti-British bent. The United Kingdom was by then an ally.

After the misery of World War I, the lyrics were again controversial for their violence. But groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy fought back, pushing for the song to be made the official national anthem. In 1931, President Herbert Hoover made it so.


“The elevation of the banner from popular song to official national anthem was a neo-Confederate political victory, and it was celebrated as such,” Morley wrote. “When supporters threw a victory parade in Baltimore in June 1931, the march was led by a color guard hoisting the Confederate flag.”

[subsidystadium]

The Kansas City Royals screwed themselves yet still blame everyone else

The Kansas City Royals lost yesterday. Local taxpayers decisively rejected a sales tax plan that would have provided funding for a new ballpark and stadium renovations (for the Chiefs). Clearly, the public said no thank you to funding another billionaire owner’s venue while receiving nothing in return. Why couldn’t locals see that this deal was worth it? The Royals committed nearly every blunder…

[debinhas-bicycle]

I love the NWSL

[allpromarlo]

chiefs fell tf off after pollution master swift got on the train i know who i'm blaming

[spiritofthemeadow]

ig - afternoondreams

[seeminglyranch87]

Taylor & Travis Timeline

December 2023 - part 2

December 10 - Chiefs v Buffalo Bills, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City.

Travis Kelce arriving ahead of game

Taylor flies into Kansas City to attend the Chiefs game with her cousins, Travis' cousins & friends at Arrowhead Stadium

Travis made a brilliant play contributing to a touch down but was denied due to a team mates penalty.

During the game, NFL announcer and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo referred to her as "Travis' wife" while on the air with announcing partner Jim Nantz.

"As you see, Kelce's wife, Taylor Swift, in the audience," Romo pointed out, quickly correcting himself and saying, "I'm sorry -- girlfriend."

"Not yet," Nantz said in response.

Chiefs were defeated 17 - 20.

Taylor and Travis leave the stadium together

Taylor and Travis together with team mates, coaches friends and family gather at Miracle Pop Up Bar

Travis' barber shares a photo of Taylor and Travis (x)

Lots of photos emerge from the party with Taylor and travis taking photos with friends - these have been cropped...

December 11 - Taylor is nominated for a Golden Globe for The Eras tour movie.

USA Today reports that Taylor has donated $1 million to a Tennessee tornado relief Fund (x) after a Tornado ravaged the state on Saturday 9 Dec.

ET article (x)

According to Cheterah Jackson, a Columbus, Ohio-based real estate agent and friend of Travis', the couple rented a luxury bus to transport their group and reserved the Christmas bar in downtown Kansas City for friends and family. 

Jackson tells ET, "My boyfriend Calvin Locke... is Travis' friend and has known him since the 7th grade. We were in the suite at the game, which was filled with family and friends."

"Taylor is an absolute sweetheart. She is very down-to-earth and kind." 

"Taylor and Travis are so in love. It was so cute seeing them together and I can see them getting married"  

December 12 - Taylor returns to NYC. Pictured with Miles & Keleigh Teller

December 13 - New Heights Ep. 68 airs (x 5:05)

Jason and Travis limit talking about Taylor although when the brothers chat about the No.1 & No.2 sales of NFL jerseys in the UK, they give credit to Swifties for helping with the success of topping the sales and Travis gives a "shout out to Kylie and Taylor." Travis suggests that perhaps they could "find our way over there this off season and say hello to everyone in person" and record a live show in the UK. Jason replies "we also got an opportunity to do one in Australia - we could make it a world tour"

Any one know of an international pop star who may be touring in the UK and Australia in 2024 that coincides with the NFL off season? Are the Kelce brothers hinting that Travis and perhaps Jason will join Taylor on tour next year? It should be noted that Patrick Mahomes has also raised the idea of possibly catching the Era's Tour in Europe in the off season too...

The boys answer "No Dumb Questions" from handle "metal-as-hell", a reference to Taylor's TIME article calling Travis "metal as hell" when he publicly declared his interest in dating Taylor.

Taylor Swift's 34th Birthday - Taylor heads to Banzarbar, NYC with friends to celebrate her birthday into the early hours of the morning - Happy Birthday Taylor! The paps even broke out into song to sing Taylor "Happy Birthday". Note Travis remained in KC with commitments to the Chiefs. This was expected.

December 14 - Taylor and friends share photos from the birthday celebration the evening before (x)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

December 15 - Taylor is named Billboard's No.1 Greatest Pop Star (x)

It didn’t seem possible that anyone could have a year this dominant: not this deep into the streaming era, not this long after the oft-proclaimed death of the monoculture, not when the entire industry seems to be in crisis over how to capture and hold onto listener attention. It was a year not to be judged against Swift’s 2023 peers, but against the entirety of modern pop history. 

There is no wasted potential with Taylor Swift, no what ifs – the chance was there for her to have one of the greatest years any pop star has ever had, and you know that she grabbed it. Taylor was here. No one who was around for her 2023 will ever forget it.

With reference to Taylor's relationship with Travis, Billboard's Andrew Unterberger says:

... rumors were beginning to swirl about her and Kelce. The Chiefs star had become increasingly coy in his comments about the pop icon, saying he’d invited her to come see him play a home game (after he’d seen her Eras show in Kansas City that July). She did indeed do just that on the September 24th, with her presence at Arrowhead sending both the worlds of sports and pop culture into a frenzy, and leading to numerous posts and videos of non-football-conversant Swifties sharing the sport’s rules with one another, so they could better understand what was happening in between the shots of their hero in a private box with Kelce’s mom Donna.  From then on, every Sunday (and a couple Mondays and Thursdays) of 2023 was overtaken with Taylor talk: Would she be showing up at the Chiefs’ next game? What other celebrities would she be attending with? What kind of Kelce swag would she be wearing, and what would that mean about their relationship? What do you mean Kansas City is on a bye week?While Swift’s short relationship with Healy was extremely controversial to Swifties and her long relationship with Alwyn was largely uninteresting to everyone else, her love story with Kelce – a well-liked, unproblematic figure, a Super Bowl-winning superstar as an athlete with enough of a Q rating as a celebrity to host SNL – was universally accessible, and found near-100% public approval. You didn’t need deep grounding in Swift Lore to understand the relationship, because it just felt right: the All-American athlete dating the All-American pop star. 

Go to part 1 of December 2023

Go to part 3 of December 2023

Return to the timeline

[shatnerihardlyknowher]

YALL IS ANYONE GOING TO KC COMICON IM GOING AS CHEKOV IF SO WHAT ARE YALL DOIN?????