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bowtiesnmusicals · 2 years

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Here is my recap of the This Is Your Principal Speaking (Iqbal Theba) episode podcast.

Iqbal is a fan favorite. Achievement!

Kevin and Jenna said he is a sweet, wonderful human. It’s a warm cozy conversation.

Iqbal called Kevin and Jenna his children. It was really sweet. He asked them where they have been.

In 2023 Mr. Figgins is hot as ever. There are tons of videos on TikTok.

Principal Figgins is probably the most unproblematic character on the show.

Iqbal said he has a teenage daughter and all her friends are watching Glee. He is amazed that a new generation knows all of them.

He said he has gotten used to being recognized. It happens less frequently in LA and a lot more in other places like Oklahoma.

Iqbal has a degree in Engineering. He also has a degree in Theater. He went to the University of Oklahoma.

He didn’t enjoy majoring in engineering and it was during an internship in his senior year he realized it wasn’t for him. He decided he was going to do something else. A friend came to the restaurant where Iqbal was a waiter and told him to come see her in a play. It was a Noel Coward play. He thought it was interesting and was drawn to it. He went back to the theatre and made friends with the actors. He went back to school for drama.

If you have brains you don’t want to become an actor. While Iqbal was studying he was hit in the gut and knew that acting was for him.

After graduating he went to New York and waited tables. He then moved tot LA.

A commercial got Iqbal his SAG card. You can find the video on YouTube.

Iqbal has trouble understanding English language songs. He misunderstood lyrics during the audition for that commercial. He made the producers laugh. He mixed up caught in a draft for calling a cab.

Iqbal had worked with Ryan and Brad before Glee. He was on Nip/Tuck.

He doesn’t know if it was Ryan or Brad that suggested him for Principal Figgins.

Iqbal did the same thing he does all the time when he auditioned for Figgins.

He auditioned and the next day he found out he had gotten the role of Principal Figgins.

He knew this show was special very early on and told Matt M this is incredible and the best thing they will probably ever do.

After the premiere at the high school in Santa Monica Iqbal’s manager told him it was going to be a hit .

Iqbal said after seeing the pilot it just stayed with him. He felt energized, bright, and happy. It was an amazing ride.

The show changed all of their lives.

Fans are really comfortable with Iqbal. He noticed the difference in the way fans treat him versus someone like Max Adler during a convention in England.

Fox, the cast, and everyone was very confused by the huge demographic that was watching the show when it originally aired.

Figgins was a central point and safe character on the show.

The scenes in Principal Figgins with Jane and Matt are some of Jenna and Kevin’s favorites. They are a master class in acting and comedic timing.

Iqbal would laugh his ass off during camera rehearsal. Somehow when they began to shoot the scene by some miracle he was able to keep it together. He doesn’t think they blew that many takes. Matt and Iqbal were allowed to play when it came to reacting to Sue’s crazy lines.

Not the children was an ad lib. It is one of Jenna’s favorite lines.

According to Iqbal saying Ke $ ha was so hard to do with a straight face.

Kevin said it was so funny to watch the monotone speeches knowing how funny Iqbal is in real life. It is also funny watching Figgins reacting and completely loosing it to the Glee kids performing.

Jenna said it felt like an honor to enter Principal Figgins office. Jenna loved shooting the scene where Figgins is afraid of vampires. Ryan kept throwing lines at Iqbal to say. Iqbal liked the one where he said something like I’m afraid I’m not going to like it.

Iqbal thought he would never get commercials. He had trouble getting just a one line part in a tv show. He was surprised how open minded casting was for commercials. He said there weren’t a lot of opportunities for him in the 90s. A lot has changed since then.

Iqbal said it’s amazing seeing diversity in not just actors but creators for tv shows.

Iqbal says he runs into people of all ethnicities who still complain about how hard it is to get roles. He says things are so much better now then 30 years ago. You could get a one line part but it was so hard to get any significant roles. Iqbal kept going even when it meant having to wait tables on the side.

Iqbal is really hopeful about the future.

Show creators like Mindy Kaling are trying to lift up their communities.

Kevin said on the flip side he has some white acquaintances hat like to complain about how diverse Hollywood is now.

Iqbal said he had an acquaintance that told him something similar and said he would work more if he was Iqbal. Iqbal told him if he had you were me with this attitude you would be working in a 7/11. Iqbal has never blamed ethnicity. He said if he fails it’s his fault. He is going to own it.

You write what you know and things that are familiar to you.

Iqbal is writing something.

You write you own truth.

Iqbal believes that you do good work and things will change.

Ryan Murphy was acting underrepresented underdogs in his shows. Even the social issues Ryan talks about in his shows are things that aren’t being discussed by any one else.

Just because the people in a show might not look like you the stories are universal. Those specificities are what makes the characters even more special and unique.

You cannot over emphasize the impact glee had on our society and culture all over the world. It made a huge difference in our society. It did it in a way no other show had don before.

Iqbal’s favorite moment was winning the SAG award for Best Ensemble. He really appreciated it. That day was so special. Jenna said this award felt so inclusive of the whole cast. It takes a village to create a show like Glee. It felt really nice to be with everybody.

The feeling Glee leaves Iqbal with is glee. There is no other word that says it all.

He likes works that give you hope and Glee did that in spades.

Everyone really loves Principal Figgins and Iqbal.

Fingers crossed Iqbal’s new pilot gets picked up.

Jenna said Iqbal is a sweet gem. They both kept saying how much they love him.

Kevin feels privileged that they can show people how wonderful the cast of glee is as not just actors but people.

Kevin said it was a joy to get to sing, dance, and be silly with everyone on set. It was long hard work but it felt so good. It was so rewarding. To see something you work so hard and care about be received so well is amazing. It’s hard to find a job that you love and that changes lives. To have something that means so much to people still. It is so profound to be a part of something bigger then yourself.

If you didn’t know Jenna is a crier. That is why Tina cried so much in the later seasons. She cries when she feels big emotions whether that is sadness or happiness. (I get this because I am like this too).

Jenna said she doesn’t know what happened to all the fire and passion she had back then.

Alexandria House is doing a walk-a-then on March 18th! You can donate online. This is the organization they do Snixxmas for and it was one of Naya’s favorite charities.

#and that’s what you really missed #atwyrm #jenna ushkowitz #kevin mchale #Iqbal Theba #Mr. Figgins #glee #podcast

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kingvideosblog · 3 months

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New York's Most Fashionable Couples

From Rihanna and A$AP Rocky To Dua Lipa and Anwar Hadid, these are the most fashionable couples to be seen in New York this year. They're always in sync regardless of whether they're at a red carpet occasion or walking the streets of NYC. Check out their fashion highlights! 1. Rihanna & A$AP Rocky

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Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are one of the most fashionable couples on the planet and they've been in a relationship for years. They appear so happy, whether they are walking in New York City together or holding hands during an award ceremony. Fans are buzzing over the news that they've shared their first child together. In celebration of their milestone, Rihanna and Rocky took an excursion through their home town of Harlem together to reveal her bump. Their relationship was born in 2012, when they appeared as love interest in Rocky's music clip for "Fashion Killa." The "Work" singer later worked with him on his song "Cockiness (I Love It)" and performed together on her Diamonds World Tour. In the following months, they talked with Dazed magazine about their relationship and fatherhood. 2. Dua Lipa & Anwar Hadid Dua Lipa and Anwar Hadid have been reported to be together since summer 19. Their first PDA was seen at the British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park and they later had their first red carpet appearance together at the American Music Awards in November. Anwar aged 22, is Bella's younger brother and Gigi's younger sister. He's also a model and actor and is close to his sister Yolanda. Anwar reported to have reached out to Dua in the summer of 2019 following her split from Isaac Carew. They went on a number of dates, and were seen kissing during the British Summer Time festival. According to People, Dua seems to have a break with Anwar. The couple is "figuring ways to work things out." 3. Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds It's evident that Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively are the most popular couple in New York City. When they are out and out, they can make New York City look like a runway. Alongside their exquisite style, the couple also is a sweet couple. It was not always easy, but they were able to remain in love through the ups and downs of their career and family life. They met on the Green Lantern set in 2010 They began to date a year after. They were married in a simple ceremony in South Carolina in 2012, and are now parents to their two beautiful daughters, James and Inez. 4. Bee Carrozzini & Francesco Carrozzini While the Met Gala is always considered as one of the most elegant evenings of the year, the annual gala has recently been relegated to the status of a powerful couple: Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour's daughter Bee Shaffer and Francesco Carrozzini The son of the late Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani. The pair have been dating for some time, but it was only in October of last year that they were publicly spotted together. This follows Shaffer attended the premiere of Carrozzini's documentary Franca: Chaos & Creation which pays homage to his mother's amazing influence on fashion and culture. But the best part of this couple is the fact that both of them are in the exact same Manhattan neighborhood. Carrozzini owns an apartment in the MacDougalSullivan Gardens Historic District that shares the same private yard as Wintour. 5. Stephen & Deborah Hung Stephen Hung, a Hong Kong business tycoon, is the wealthiest of the wealthy Asian-Americans that are that are featured on 'Bling Empire' New York. The 'Bling' star is estimated to have a total worth of $400 million. And he never misses the chance to show off his wealth to the world. Hung the fashionista and model, is unfamiliar with the front rows at top-tier shows such as Versace or Dior. Hung also runs the Dreamodels modeling agency and is a recognizable name in the industry. Stephen her husband has been married to her for more than 11 years. They seem to be extremely happy together. They are extremely involved in the world of fashion and love to travel the world, attending glitzy red carpet events like Paris Fashion Week and Cannes Film Festival together. Video embed from YouTube

#New York Style #Clothes #Dress #Life Advice

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fahrni · 6 months

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Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

Ms. Gracie didn’t boop me until 5:30 this morning. I’m grateful she allowed me to sleep in. If I could get her to let me sleep until 6AM that would be amazing.

The Hybrid React Native/Native app I’m working on is really starting to gain steam. We’ve shipped some new features and have a couple more big ones coming at the end of next month.

I’ve learned a lot about integrating React Native with native code and my learning continues. I mentioned before I hope I can work on this app through, at least, the end of the year. I know we can also improve on native performance, app UI spit-n-polish, and improve the network API do more with fewer calls. It’s been an amazing project!

Hope you enjoy the links.

Keith Allen and Alisha Ebrahimji • CNN

Louis Gossett Jr., who won an Academy Award for his performance in “An Officer and a Gentleman” and an Emmy for the groundbreaking miniseries “Roots,” has died at age 87, according to a statement from his family.

RIP

[Justin Fenton and Giacomo Bologna • The Baltimore Banner(https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/transportation/key-bridge-collapse-YDNMRSLMDREE7ADUZJQFQJ3WDA/)

The Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed early Tuesday after being struck by a ship, and rescue teams were searching for multiple people believed to have fallen into the Patapsco River, a Baltimore Fire department spokesman confirmed.

A horrible tragedy for the city of Baltimore and the families of the six men who lost their lives. ❤️

I hope they’re able to learn from the collapse and build in additional safety measures to help avert an accident like this in the future.

Also, why don’t tug boats escort these big ships into the harbor? I’d venture to guess it’s about the money?

Louie Mantia

A lot of people want to make a website but don’t know where to start or they get stuck. That’s in part because our perception of what websites should be has changed so dramatically over the last 20 years.

I’ve had a blog since February of 2001 — that’s 23 years! — and I’ve never been this inspired to build my own blog completely by hand. Inspired.

Decoder with Nilay Patel 🎙️

Nilay talks to Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky. It’s a really good conversation about tech and community. Recommended

Sara Stewart • CNN Opinion

I don’t want to state the ass-numbingly obvious, but nobody wants to sit through more than half an hour of “content” before the nearly three-hour film they paid too much to see. It defies all logic to expect people to fork over more to be bombarded with ads and trailers they can’t mute or forward through the way they’d be able to do at home — where they can also sit on a comfier couch and eat better food.

YES! I don’t remember where and when this happened to us last but it was so frustrating.

Movie theaters, please, don’t do this.

Juli Clover • MacRumors

Apple’s Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Major control freak vibe. Who knows if it’s even true but Mr. Schiller should be enjoying some of that wealth and let Apple evolve.

Of course this is why I’m not rich. I don’t have that kind of drive anymore. I did my 80 hour weeks in the early 90’s and 2000’s. I’m over it. I don’t mind putting in extra hours here and there but when it’s the norm to work 60 hours a week, well, that’s just stupid.

Joe Kukura • sfist.com

The winning bid for the up-for-auction Anchor Brewing Company was supposed to be announced at the end of January, but things appear to be delayed, and a company rep tells us “a winner most likely will be announced in late April.”

This still saddens me. Anchor was an iconic San Francisco brewer who made good beer. As with everything else I suppose you have to change with the times or fold. 🍺

Ryan Goodman and Andrew Weissmann • The Atlantic

Donald Trump is determined to avoid accountability before the general election, and, so far, the U.S. Supreme Court is helping him.

The best way to save our democracy and our republic is to vote for Joe Biden, even if you are a Republican. Just hold your nose and vote for him.

It’s also the only way we’ll see Justice applied to TFG. He’s terrified he’ll be tossed in prison without access to his social network, rallies, hair care products, well done stake with ketchup, and orange makeup. 👮🏿

Chris Trottier

If you want to know why Truth Social looks like so much other Fediverse software, it’s because it runs Mastodon with a Soapbox front-end.

I remember the hubbub around Truth Social using Mastodon. It’s nice we’ve defederated it. He wanted a captive audience of wing nut MAGAs anyway.

How fast will the newly minted public company come tumbling down? I’d call it meme stock of the year.

Molly White • Citation Needed

Sam Bankman-Fried maintains that his crimes were victimless and resulted in zero losses, and therefore warrant only six years of imprisonment. Prosecutors argue that 40–50 years are justified.

I heard Scott Galloway on Pivot say Bankman-Fried didn’t deserve the 25 years he got. Why not? Rich people never want their kind held accountable.

Bankman-Fried is young. Don’t worry, he will be young enough when he gets out to commit fraud again.

By Michael M. Grynbaum and John Koblin • New York Times

Facing an extraordinary on-air revolt by its leading stars, NBC’s top news executive said on Tuesday that he had decided to cut ties with Ms. McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, who was hired last week as an on-air political commentator.

Rachel Maddow was on fire Monday night. She always has the best lead in to her stories. If you missed it, [go watch on YouTube(https://youtu.be/CqassXP6HAU?si=WvkcAYe2chaWSYNP) . It was really great.

John Gruber • Daring Fireball

A few readers have asked about my speculation that Apple, along with the other DMA-designated gatekeepers (none of which are European companies of course), might reasonably pull out of the relatively small EU market rather than risk facing disproportionately large fines from the European Commission.

Gruber has an interesting take but I think it would be so much better if Apple just did the right thing and opened things up for developers to “side load”, create their own stores, and allow different payment methods.

Keep on providing awesome hardware and the platform developers love and let us help you grow the platform even more.

Look, I’m a nobody who doesn’t make much on the store. If I’ve made $2,000.00 on the store since 2009 I’d be shocked. I’ll continue to use the App Store and abide by the stricter rules because it doesn’t affect me directly but a lot of Indie Devs could benefit by paying way less than Apple’s 15-30%.

That opinion and $10 can get you a mighty fine drink at Starbucks.

Kate Yoder • Grist

But the same politicians don’t seem ready to acknowledge the root cause of these problems. A bill awaiting signature from Governor Ron DeSantis, who dropped out of the Republican presidential race in January, would ban offshore wind energy, relax regulations on natural gas pipelines, and delete the majority of mentions of climate change from existing state laws.

Florida continues to prove it’s the state with the biggest number of wack jobs in the union. Once that waterfront property starts disappearing folks can just sell their homes and move, right Ben? 🤣

Stephen Hackett • 512 Pixels

With Threads starting to federate, there has been push back in corners of Mastodon, with some server admins blocking users from @threads.net entirely. I think just about everyone has complicated feelings about Meta, but I think this kind of move only harms users of the Fediverse.

I’m going to follow a few few folks on Threads because I enjoyed following them on Twitter and they don’t have, and seemingly won’t have, Mastodon accounts.

If it turns into a shit show I don’t have to follow Threads accounts. Easy peasy.

Gabby Del Valle

For months, Elon Musk has been dropping decidedly unsubtle hints that he believes in the great replacement, a conspiracy theory that liberal elites are “importing” immigrants into the United States, Europe, and Australia to wage political and biological warfare against white people.

Musk is a full on disgusting human being. He proves it more and more with each passing day.

How he’s still the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is beyond comprehension. ☣️

W. Evan Sheehan

First and foremost let me state that this post is not about excluding people from the IndieWeb community. I am not here to be a gatekeeper. Rather, I am trying to call attention to a disconnect I see in how I’ve seen the IndieWeb movement promoted and how the IndieWeb community presents itself.

I agree with a lot of this piece. The IndieWeb is still very immature as a product platform but everything is there to create great experiences. It’s up to us to do it and do it in a way that’s easy for the masses to use.

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hlupdate · 4 years

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Variety’s Grammy-nominated Hitmaker of the Year goes deep on the music industry, the great pause and finding his own muses.

“We’ll dance again,” Harry Styles coos, the Los Angeles sunshine peeking through his pandemic-shaggy hair just so. The singer, songwriter and actor — beloved and critically acclaimed thanks to his life-affirming year-old album, “Fine Line” — is lamenting that his Variety Hitmaker of the Year cover conversation has to be conducted over Zoom rather than in person. Even via videoconference, the Brit is effortlessly charming, as anyone who’s come within earshot of him would attest, but it quickly becomes clear that beneath that genial smile is a well-honed media strategy.

To wit: In an interview that appears a few days later announcing his investment in a new arena in his native Manchester (more on that in a bit), he repeats the refrain — “There will be a time we dance again”— referencing a much-needed return to live music and the promise of some 4,000 jobs for residents.

None of which is to suggest that Styles, 26, phones it in for interviews. Quite the opposite: He does very few, conceivably to give more of himself and not cheapen what is out there and also to use the publicity opportunity to indulge his other interests, like fashion. (Last month Styles became the first male to grace the cover of Vogue solo.) Still, it stings a little that a waltz with the former One Direction member may not come to pass on this album cycle — curse you, coronavirus.

Styles’ isolation has coincided with his maturation as an artist, a thespian and a person. With “Fine Line,” he’s proved himself a skilled lyricist with a tremendous ear for harmony and melody. In preparing for his role in Olivia Wilde’s period thriller “Don’t Worry Darling,” which is shooting outside Palm Springs, he found an outlet for expression in interpreting words on a page. And for the first time, he’s using his megaphone to speak out about social justice — inspired by the outpouring of support for Black people around the world following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May.

Styles has spent much of the past nine months at home in London, where life has slowed considerably. The time has allowed him to ponder such heady issues as his purpose on the earth. “It’s been a pause that I don’t know if I would have otherwise taken,” says Styles. “I think it’s been pretty good for me to have a kind of stop, to look and think about what it actually means to be an artist, what it means to do what we do and why we do it. I lean into moments like this — moments of uncertainty.”

In truth, while Styles has largely been keeping a low profile — his Love On Tour, due to kick off on April 15, was postponed in late March and is now scheduled to launch in February 2021 (whether it actually will remains to be seen) — his music has not. This is especially true in the U.S., where he’s notched two hit singles, “Adore You,” the second-most-played song at radio in 2020, and “Watermelon Sugar” (No. 22 on Variety’s year-end Hitmakers chart), with a third, “Golden,” already cresting the top 20 on the pop format. The massive cross-platform success of these songs means Styles has finally and decisively broken into the American market, maneuvering its web of gatekeepers to accumulate 6.2 million consumption units and rising.

Why do these particular songs resonate in 2020? Styles doesn’t have the faintest idea. While he acknowledges a “nursery rhyme” feel to “Watermelon Sugar” with its earwormy loop of a chorus, that’s about as much insight as he can offer. His longtime collaborator and friend Tom Hull, also known as the producer Kid Harpoon, offers this take: “There’s a lot of amazing things about that song, but what really stands out is the lyric. It’s not trying to hide or be clever. The simplicity of watermelon … there’s such a joy in it, [which] is a massive part of that song’s success.” Also, his kids love it. “I’ve never had a song connect with children in this way,” says Hull, whose credits include tunes by Shawn Mendes, Florence and the Machine and Calvin Harris. “I get sent videos all the time from friends of their kids singing. I have a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old, and they listen to it.”

Styles is quick to note that he doesn’t chase pop appeal when crafting songs. In fact, the times when he pondered or approved a purposeful tweak, like on his self-titled 2017 debut, still gnaw at him. “I love that album so much because it represents such a time in my life, but when I listen to it — sonically and lyrically, especially — I can hear places where I was playing it safe,” he says. “I was scared to get it wrong.”

Contemporary effects and on-trend beats hardly factor into Styles’ decision-making. He likes to focus on feelings — his own and his followers’ — and see himself on the other side of the velvet rope, an important distinction in his view. “People within [the industry] feel like they operate on a higher level of listening, and I like to make music from the point of being a fan of music,” Styles says. “Fans are the best A&R.”

This from someone who’s had free rein to pursue every musical whim, and hand in the album of his dreams in the form of “Fine Line.” Chart success makes it all the sweeter, but Styles insists that writing “for the right reasons” supersedes any commercial considerations. “There’s no part that feels, eh, icky — like it was made in the lab,” he says.

Styles has experience in this realm. As a graduate of the U.K. competition series “The X Factor,” where he and four other auditionees — Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson — were singled out by show creator and star judge Simon Cowell to conjoin as One Direction, he’s seen how the prefab pop machine works up close. The One Direction oeuvre, which counts some 42 million albums sold worldwide, includes songs written with such established hitmakers as Ryan Tedder, Savan Kotecha and Teddy Geiger. Being a studious, insatiable observer, Styles took it all in.

“I learned so much,” he says of the experience. “When we were in the band, I used to try and write with as many different people as I could. I wanted to practice — and I wrote a lot of bad shit.”

His bandmates also benefited from the pop star boot camp. The proof is in the relatively seamless solo transitions of at least three of its members — Payne, Malik and Horan in addition to Styles — each of whom has landed hit singles on charts in the U.K., the U.S. and beyond.

This departs from the typical trajectories of boy bands including New Kids on the Block and ’N Sync, which have all pro ered a star frontman. The thinking for decades was that a record company would be lucky to have one breakout solo career among the bunch.

Styles has plainly thought about this.

“When you look at the history of people coming out of bands and starting solo careers, they feel this need to apologize for being in the band. ‘Don’t worry, everyone, that wasn’t me! Now I get to do what I really want to do.’ But we loved being in the band,” he says. “I think there’s a wont to pit people against each other. And I think it’s never been about that for us. It’s about a next step in evolution. The fact that we’ve all achieved different things outside of the band says a lot about how hard we worked in it.”

Indeed, during the five-ish years that One Direction existed, Styles’ schedule involved the sort of nonstop international jet-setting that few get to see in a lifetime, never mind their teenage years. Between 2011 and 2015, One Direction’s tours pulled in north of $631 million in gross ticket sales, according to concert trade Pollstar, and the band was selling out stadiums worldwide by the time it entered its extended hiatus. Styles, too, had built up to playing arenas as a solo artist, engaging audiences with his colorful stage wear and banter and left-of-center choices for opening acts (a pre-Grammy-haul Kacey Musgraves in 2018; indie darlings King Princess and Jenny Lewis for his rescheduled 2021 run).

Stages of all sizes feel like home to Styles. He grew up in a suburb of Manchester, ground zero for some of the biggest British acts of the 1980s and ’90s, including Joy Division, New Order, the Smiths and Oasis, the latter of which broke the same year Styles was born. His parents were also music lovers. Styles’ father fed him a balanced diet of the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and Queen, while Mum was a fan of Shania Twain, Norah Jones and Savage Garden. “They’re all great melody writers,” says Styles of the acts’ musical throughline.

Stevie Nicks, who in the past has described “Fine Line” as Styles’ “Rumours,” referencing the Fleetwood Mac 1977 classic, sees him as a kindred spirit. “Harry writes and sings his songs about real experiences that seemingly happened yesterday,” she tells Variety. “He taps into real life. He doesn’t make up stories. He tells the truth, and that is what I do. ‘Fine Line’ has been my favorite record since it came out. It is his ‘Rumours.’ I told him that in a note on December 13, 2019 before he went on stage to play the ‘Fine Line’ album at the Forum. We cried. He sang those songs like he had sung them a thousand times. That’s a great songwriter and a great performer.”

“Harry’s playing and writing is instinctual,” adds Jonathan Wilson, a friend and peer who’s advised Styles on backing and session musicians. “He understands history and where to take the torch. You can see the thread of great British performers — from Bolan to Bowie — in his music.”

Also shaping his musical DNA was Manchester itself, the site of a 23,500-seat arena, dubbed Co-op Live, for which Styles is an investor and adviser. Oak View Group, a company specializing in live entertainment and global sports that was founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff in 2015 (Jeffrey Azoff, Irving’s son, represents Styles at Full Stop Management), is leading the effort to construct the venue. The project gained planning approval in September and is set to open in 2023, with its arrival representing a £350 million ($455 million) investment in the city. (Worth noting: Manchester is already home to an arena — the site of a 2017 bombing outside an Ariana Grande concert — and a football stadium, where One Love Manchester, an all-star benefit show to raise money for victims of the terrorist attack, took place.)

“I went to my first shows in Manchester,” Styles says of concerts paid for with money earned delivering newspapers for a supermarket called the Co-op. “My friends and I would go in on weekends. There’s so many amazing small venues, and music is such a massive part of the city. I think Manchester deserves it. It feels like a full-circle, coming-home thing to be doing this and to be able to give any kind of input. I’m incredibly proud. Hopefully they’ll let me play there at some point.”

Though Styles has owned properties in Los Angeles, his base for the foreseeable future is London. “I feel like my relationship with L.A. has changed a lot,” he explains. “I’ve kind of accepted that I don’t have to live here anymore; for a while I felt like I was supposed to. Like it meant things were going well. This happened, then you move to L.A.! But I don’t really want to.”

Is it any wonder? Between COVID and the turmoil in the U.S. spurred by the presidential election, Styles, like some 79 million American voters, is recovering from sticker shock over the bill of goods sold to them by the concept of democracy. “In general, as people, there’s a lack of empathy,” he observes. “We found this place that’s so divisive. We just don’t listen to each other anymore. And that’s quite scary.”

That belief prompted Styles to speak out publicly in the wake of George Floyd’s death. As protests in support of Black Lives Matter took to streets all over the world, for Styles, it triggered a period of introspection, as marked by an Instagram message (liked by 2.7 million users and counting) in which he declared: “I do things every day without fear, because I am privileged, and I am privileged every day because I am white. … Being not racist is not enough, we must be anti racist. Social change is enacted when a society mobilizes. I stand in solidarity with all of those protesting. I’m donating to help post bail for arrested organizers. Look inwards, educate yourself and others. LISTEN, READ, SHARE, DONATE and VOTE. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. BLACK LIVES MATTER.”

“Talking about race can be really uncomfortable for everyone,” Styles elaborates. “I had a realization that my own comfort in the conversation has nothing to do with the problem — like that’s not enough of a reason to not have a conversation. Looking back, I don’t think I’ve been outspoken enough in the past. Using that feeling has pushed me forward to being open and ready to learn. … How can I ensure from my side that in 20 years, the right things are still being done and the right people are getting the right opportunities? That it’s not a passing thing?”

His own record company — and corporate parent Sony Music Group, whose chairman, Rob Stringer, signed Styles in 2016 — has been grappling with these same questions as the industry has faced its own reckoning with race. At issue: inequality among the upper ranks (an oft-cited statistic: popular music is 80% Black, but the music business is 80% white); contracts rooted in a decades-old system that many say is set up to take advantage of artists, Black artists more unfairly than white; and the call for a return of master rights, an ownership model that is at the core of the business.

Styles acknowledges the fundamental imbalance in how a major label deal is structured — the record company takes on the financial risk while the artist is made to recoup money spent on the project before the act is considered profitable and earning royalties (typically at a 15% to 18% rate for the artist, while the label keeps and disburses the rest). “Historically, I can’t think of any industry that’s benefited more off of Black culture than music,” he says. “There are discussions that need to happen about this long history of not being paid fairly. It’s a time for listening, and hopefully, people will come out humbled, educated and willing to learn and change.”

By all accounts, Styles is a voracious reader, a movie lover and an aesthete. He stays in shape by adhering to a strict daily exercise routine. “I tried to keep up but didn’t last more than two weeks,” says Hull, Styles’ producer, with a laugh. “The discipline is terrifying.”

Of course, with the fashion world beckoning — Styles recently appeared in a film series for Gucci’s new collection that was co-directed by the fashion house’s creative director, Alessandro Michele, and Oscar winner Gus Van Sant — and a movie that’s set in the 1950s, maintaining that physique is part of the job. And he’s no stranger to visual continuity after appearing in Christopher Nolan’s epic “Dunkirk” and having to return to set for reshoots; his hair, which needed to be cut back to its circa 1940 form, is a constant topic of conversation among fans. This time, it’s the ink that poses a challenge. By Styles’ tally, he’s up to 60 tattoos, which require an hour in the makeup chair to cover up. “It’s the only time I really regret getting tattooed,” he says.

He shows no regret, however, when it comes to stylistic choices overall, and takes pride in his gender-agnostic portfolio, which includes wearing a Gucci dress on that Vogue cover— an image that incited conservative pundit Candace Owens to plead publicly to “bring back manly men.” In Styles’ view: “To not wear [something] because it’s females’ clothing, you shut out a whole world of great clothes. And I think what’s exciting about right now is you can wear what you like. It doesn’t have to be X or Y. Those lines are becoming more and more blurred.”

But acclaim, if you can believe it, is not top of mind for Styles. As far as the Grammys are concerned, Styles shrugs, “It’s never why I do anything.” His team and longtime label, however, had their hearts set on a showing at the Jan. 31 ceremony. Their investment in Styles has been substantial — not just monetarily but in carefully crafting his career in the wake of such icons as David Bowie, who released his final albums with the label. Hope at the company and in many fans’ hearts that Styles would receive an album of the year nomination did not come to pass. However, he was recognized in three categories, including best pop vocal album.

“It’s always nice to know that people like what you’re doing, but ultimately — and especially working in a subjective field — I don’t put too much weight on that stuff,” Styles says. “I think it’s important when making any kind of art to remove the ego from it.” Citing the painter Matisse, he adds: “It’s about the work that you do when you’re not expecting any applause.”

#harry styles #variety #021220

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hldailyupdate · 4 years

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This Charming Man: Why We’re Wild About Harry Styles

Variety’s Grammy-nominated Hitmaker of the Year goes deep on the music industry, the great pause and finding his own muses.

Styles has plainly thought about this.

Harry for Variety. (2 December 2020)

#harry styles #harry update #article #variety #hldaily #December 2020

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tabloidtoc · 4 years

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National Enquirer, November 16

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Jeffrey Epstein’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s nights with Prince Andrew and teen Virginia Roberts Giuffre

Page 2: Brad Pitt kicked married galpal Nicole Poturalski to the curb after getting flak from his ex Angelina Jolie -- Brad’s relationship with Nicole hit the skids after Brad decided he needed to shore up his image during his ongoing custody battle with Angie and his focus right now is to get his dad image back on track and give Angie no more ammo to fling back at him

Page 3: Tiger Woods’ romance with Erica Herman has gone off course over legal troubles and wedding pressure and bickering over where to live and Tiger is so fed up he’s considering ditching his nagging girlfriend in Florida and moving back to his native California -- Erica’s been pressuring him to put a ring on it ever since she moved into his Jupiter Island mansion and that’s something he just won’t do and she’s already taken over his household buying new furniture and remodeling the master bath and building a new closet and hiring a gourmet chef -- California is looking better and better to Tiger who only moved to Florida to play on its tough Bermuda grass which helped improve his swing but now Tiger’s ex Elin lives in Florida with their two kids

Page 4: Miranda Lambert is scoffing at ex Blake Shelton’s newly announced engagement to Gwen Stefani and she’s convinced Blake’s third walk down the aisle has failure written all over it because she thinks Blake’s bad to the bone and this marriage will wind up being a total disaster and after the hell Blake put her through Miranda can’t imagine his life with Gwen would be any different, lifelong bachelor Simon Cowell has had a change of heart since his horrific August accident and he’s finally ready to tie the knot with baby mama Lauren Silverman -- after spinal surgery to repair his broken back the entertainment mogul feels lucky to be alive and walking and the one constant in his difficult rehab after surgery has been Lauren and he wants to pay her back with a ring

Page 5: Train-wreck Wendy Williams’ wacky behavior has TV producers scrambling behind the scenes to find her replacement after her unhinged performance on a recent episode of her talk show where she slurred her words and rambled incoherently -- there had been a hope a chatfest helmed by Nick Cannon could be a safety net should the daytime diva who spent a stint in a sober living house last year not be able to continue hosting but plans for that were pushed back after the comic made anti-Semitic rants in a podcast -- they also tried Jerry O’Connell when Wendy was out for three weeks last year but he tanked with viewers -- Wendy’s a mess and it remains to be seen how long producers will be able to put up with her problems before they decide to pull the plug

Page 6: Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo hinted that she may be making her final rounds -- Ellen who has starred on the show since 2005 and makes $20 million a year admitted she’s considering slipping out of her scrubs after the current season 17 but her departure could spell the end of the beloved series and show creator Shonda Rhimes has said it’s unlikely the show could continue without her but Ellen has also expressed her desire to spend more time with her husband and their three children

Page 7: Mariah Carey’s brother Morgan blasted her memoir as filled with lies and distortions and he’s considering legal action -- the book called Morgan and sister Alison her ex-brother and ex-sister and Mariah wrote Morgan had a long history of violence and when she was six he slammed their mother into a wall -- Mariah also wrote her siblings and mother were heartless in terms of dealing with her as a human being and once she got famous they started treating her like an ATM with a wig on but Morgan is fighting back and looking to hire a lawyer

Page 8: Reese Witherspoon’s marriage to Jim Toth is in the muck after the stunning collapse of his new business venture and tensions are mounting in the Hollywood power couple’s already troubled union now that the streaming service Quibi crumbled after less than six months leaving content acquisition president Jim out of work while Reese’s star continues to rise and there’s a real balance of power that’s been building up and that’s put a serious strain on the relationship -- living in quarantine added to the stress between them as Reese has been holed up with her two kids with ex Ryan Phillippe Ava and Deacon and her son Tennessee with Jim at the family’s ranch in Malibu

Page 9: Dementia patient Kenny Rogers cut his three adult children out of his $250 million will and now sources fear the late country legend could have been tricked into signing the document -- Kenny left everything to his 16-year-old twins sons with fifth wife Wanda and the will also stated it was his intent to specifically exclude his daughter Carole with his first wife and son Kenny Jr. with third wife and son Christopher with fourth wife and their issue as beneficiaries of his estate -- Kenny Sr. would never disown his own children according to the source especially since the singer’s son Kenny Jr. is incorrectly referred to Kenny Rogers III throughout the will -- the wording is not like Kenny Sr. and something is not right and his older kids are thinking about contesting the will

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Kate McKinnon shot a Saturday Night live skit in NYC, Sophia Bush hit the road in L.A. with her co-pilot pup Maggie, pregnant Jinger Duggar Vuolo in Venice with daughter Felicity, Heidi Klum walking the streets in her native Germany, Snoop Dogg saluted young rappers as he accepted BET’s I Am Hip Hop award

Page 11: Unwitting Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler once dabbled in the secret sex cult NXIVM -- the organization masqueraded as a self-help group but in 2017 it was exposed as a pyramid scheme for founder Keith Raniere who forced high-ranking female recruits to become his sex slaves -- in 2010 Jen and Gerry who were dating at the time wound up at one of the introductory seminars but they were turned off by the level of commitment expected and never returned -- they thought it was just a networking opportunity and had no idea what they were getting themselves into, cash-crunched Gwyneth Paltrow is facing hard times like everyone else and is looking to change her free-spending ways -- the belt-tightening caused by the coronavirus pandemic has even hit her lifestyle empire Goop causing her to shut down the London branch and make hard choices for the future -- Gwyneth may be worth $100 million but she and husband Brad Falchuk spend money like it’s going out of style on private jets they use on a whim and they own a fleet of fancy cars and pay steep salaries for staff who are at their beck and call 24/7 and it’s all draining their bank accounts -- they’re looking at making cuts across the board from personal trainers and chefs and drivers to the masseurs and beauticians who come to their house several times a week -- plus the couple believe it’s a bad look for them to be living so high on the hog when the rest of the world is suffering during the pandemic

Page 12: Straight Shuter -- Angelina Jolie spent years developing her own version of the Hollywood classic Cleopatra and now she’s livid that Gal Gadot has stolen the Egyptian queen -- Angie’s dream was to play Cleopatra the role that made Elizabeth Taylor an icon and it was to be the part that won Angie an Academy Award for Best Actress and now that’s over thanks to Gal who will be playing the Queen of the Nile instead, after ABC scrapped plans to honor Regis Philbin with a prime-time tribute Jimmy Kimmel insisted on honoring Regis on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, MSNBC talking head Rachel Maddow is fleeing New York for her Massachusetts farm after hanging a $2.3 million price tag on her NYC pad but Rachel didn’t want potential buyers looking through all the personal stuff at her apartment so all the personal pictures and books and clothing and everything else was shipped out and replaced with staged furniture, Ariel Winter and her dog (picture)

Page 13: Ailing Joni Mitchell opened up about how she’s still struggling to get back to her old self five years after a debilitating brain bleed -- after Joni was found unresponsive in her Bel-Air home in 2015 she said she was forced to relearn everyday tasks because the aneurysm took away her speech and her ability to walk and although she’s showing slow improvement she hasn’t been writing or playing the guitar or the piano, Randy Travis is defying all the odds as he plans the greatest comeback in country music history as he is making amazing progress after suffering a massive 2013 stroke that most believed would end his career forever and he was given just 1% chance of survival and even after he pulled through doctors believed he would be bedridden and unable to speak -- instead his grueling rehab efforts have miraculously put him on the road to realizing his dream of returning to the spotlight -- some of his motivation is financial; last year he sold his Nashville home and released his memoir which was fueled by his need to pay medical expenses after years of not being able to perform

Page 14: Hollywood Hookups -- Channing Tatum and Jessie J have split again, Cole Sprouse and Reina Silva dating, Kate Beckinsale and Goody Grace split

Page 15: Ariana Grande is raising eyebrows with her raunchy new record Positions -- the former squeaky-clean Nickelodeon star who has been dating real estate agent Dalton Gomez spouted off X-rated odes to an unnamed lover on the LP, six months after sidelining her marriage to former quarterback Jay Cutler Kristin Cavallari admitted there are good days and bad days but insisted it’s been nice to be able to focus on herself and figure out who she is now and what she ultimately wants out of life, hotel heiress Kathy Hilton is joining The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as a friend of the main cast which includes her half-sister Kyle Richards

Page 16: Crime

Page 17: On Drew Barrymore’s talk show a psychic guest channeled the spirit of one of the host’s former in-laws but the man in question is very much alive -- medium Anna Raimondi told Drew she sensed the aura of a judge causing Drew to burst into tears and named David a relative of her ex-husband Will Kopelman claiming he’d passed but Judge David Kopelman is alive and still going strong -- Will slammed Anna was a submental hack and said he was surprised that Drew chose to give oxygen to someone like that

Page 18: American Life

Page 20: Cover Story -- Prince Andrew is desperate to quash explosive testimony by his pedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein’s accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell but the socialite’s second secret deposition is torpedoing his return from royal exile -- after Ghislaine danced around details of her relationship with the disgraced Duke of York in testimony released a few weeks ago Andrew is sweating bullets about her second grilling under oath which contains details of their intimate friendship and nights with Epstein’s teen sex slave Virginia Roberts Giuffre

Page 22: Don McLean viciously slammed ex-wife Patrisha Shnier as the worst person her ever knew but in their ongoing war of words she maintains he was abusive to her -- Don is still bitter over a 2016 domestic incident at their home in Maine that landed him behind bars and led to divorce after 30 years of marriage

Page 26: Matthew McConaughey confessed he nearly turned his back on Tinseltown to be a wildlife guide like late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin -- he made a splash in a string of blockbuster rom-coms in the ‘90s and ‘00s but he was eager to move on to meatier movies and even passed on a $14.5 million paycheck in 2010 to seek more substantial roles and the struggle left him considering other careers such as a wildlife guide, Jamie Foxx has been crushed by the death of his beloved sister DeOndra Dixon who was born with Down syndrome

Page 28: Good Catch -- Bachelor stars who are still up for grabs -- Jon Hamm, Owen Wilson, Drew Carey

Page 29: Benicio Del Toro, Ryan Seacrest, Matthew Perry, some stars seem to say I do at the drop of the hat -- Larry King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Bob Thornton

Page 32: Olivia Munn was caught on camera flashing what looked like engagement bling on her left ring finger as she exited a gym following a morning workout in Los Angeles but she reportedly broke up with boyfriend Tucker Roberts last year leaving fans wondering who bought the stunning sparkler

Page 36: Health Watch

Page 42: Red Carpet -- Michelle Pfeiffer

Page 45: Spot the Differences -- Allison Janney on Mom

Page 47: Odd List

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midnight-star-world · 3 years

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56th Annual ACM Awards

So today on the MSR (Midnight Star Review), I will be talking about all the moments from the ACM Awards that took place on Sunday April 18th, 2021. The show was co-hosted by Keith Urban, & Mickey Guyton, and it originally aired on CBS (Channel 12 on my Directv) at 8pm EST (Eastern Standard Time). As usual, we will start with all the performances first and all this was live from Nashville, Tennessee.

Performances. Elle King & Miranda Lambert - Drunk (And I don't wanna go home). Chris Young & Kane Brown - Famous friends. Thomas Rhett - Country again -> What's your Country song. Chris Stapleton & Miranda Lambert - Maggie's song. Maren Morris & Ryan Hurd - Chasing after you. Lady A - Like a lady. Gabby Barrett - The good ones. Dierks Bentley with the War & Treaty - Pride (In the name of love). Carrie Underwood with CeCe Winans - Amazing Grace -> Great is thy faithfulness -> The old rugged cross -> How great thou art. Eric Church - Bunch of nothing. Dan + Shay - Glad you exist. Luke Combs - Forever after all. Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, & Jon Randall - In his arms. Jimmie Allen with Brad Paisley - Freedom was a highway. Kenny Chesney - Knowing you. Ashley McBryde - Martha Devine. Alan Jackson - Drive (For Daddy Gene) -> You'll always be my baby. Blake Shelton - Austin -> Minimum wage. Carly Pearce & Lee Brice - I hope you're happy now. Mickey Guyton - Hold on. Keith Urban - Tumbleweed. Brother Osborne - I'm not for everyone. Kelsea Ballerini featuring Kenny Chesney - half of my hometown. Little Big Town - Wine, beer, whiskey. Brothers Osborne - Dead man's curve.

And that's a wrap for all the performances from the show. Now we will talk about the award winners, and also who should have won according to the MSR (Midnight Star Report) which is my weekly Country Music Song Countdowns. So let's see who won what.

Awards.

New Male Artist of the Year - Jimmie Allen (Maybe could have also gone to Hardy). New Female Artist of the Year - Gabby Barrett (Gabby should have won this and she did). Musical Event of the Year - I hope you're happy now - Carly Pearce, & Lee Brice (Out of the choices, they should have won). Music Video of the Year - Kane Brown - Worldwide beautiful (The only one of the choices that should have won this was Bluebird). Group of the Year - Old Dominion (The only choice to win besides Lady A, But they didn't do enough to win this year). Song of the Year - Maren Morris - The bones (The only choice that should have won and did). Single of the Year - Carly Pearce & Lee Brice - I hope you're happy now (Maybe could have gone to Maren Morris - The bones). Duo of the Year - Dan + Shay (FGL is about to give them some competition, but not yet). Male Artist of the Year - Thomas Rhett (But this could have also gone to Luke Combs, the only one who is hotter in music right then Thomas Rhett). Album of the Year - Chris Stapleton - Starting over (This is a good choice but if Luke Bryan's deluxe version of his album was the choice, He could have won as well). Female Artist of the Year - Maren Morris (I didn't see this going to anyone else). Entertainer of the Year - Luke Bryan (This one Luke Bryan should have won. He has gained a lot of number ones, the only other choice could have been Luke Combs. And when Luke Combs does win, he will own Country Music for a long time).

And that's a wrap for the awards. And on the MSR (Midnight Star Review), I would give this show a 3.5 out of 5 stars. There were a lot of awards that went to the right people. Kenny Chesney had a good performance with a tribute to Charley Pride, & also Brothers Osborne. So those would be my performances of the night along with Mickey Guyton's. Thanks for taking the time to read this review. See you all next time.

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ciderlikethedrink · 4 years

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nate “reviews” albums: razzmatazz

it’s finally here.

it’s razzmatazz day.

i’m gonna do an album “review” of it.

review in quotation marks because it’s mostly just gonna be me gushing about how good this album is.

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so i’ve been waiting for this album for a while, and it was very much worth the wait. a lot of the melodies in this album are so nice to listen to and some of them even make me feel nostalgic in a way. even the first time i heard them. dallon seems to be really good at that because i had a similar thing with “too weird to live, to rare to die” and a lot of the songs on “vices & virtues” (both albums that dallon wrote a lot of) so i guess dallon weekes is just really good at writing melodies. something else i like about razzmatazz is that all of the songs have similar sounds so you can tell they’re all from the same album, but they don’t sound the same and you can still differentiate between songs easily. like- they all have the same synths.

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Leave Me Alone: i remember being very excited when this song came out because it was the first things we’d gotten from idkhow in a while. something i want to point out is that there are a lot of references to,,,, hanging in this album. (”go fly a kite until you’re tangled in the hanging tree”) i also adore the sound of the bridge and how it comes full circle after the line “and when the sun comes up, you’ll find a brand. new. GOD.” it’s just so cool and a great way to start things off.

Mad IQs: ABSOLUTE BOP!! back at it again with the hanging references. (”i’ll watch you tighten the noose”) this song is such a vibe and sounds pretty similar to “leave me alone” but like- more dance-y. it makes sense because lyric wise, they both seem to be about dallon’s “hollywood life” according to genius lyrics.

Nobody Like The Opening Band: I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN I FOUND OUT THIS WAS GONNA BE ON RAZZMATAZZ!! this song was my favorite idkhow song for a while and i adore it. i love the lyrics and how it mention that opening bands are trying their best just as much as the headlining band. also the way dallon says “end” dfsjlkasakslfsdkl his vocal performance is so amazing in this song. and the last part!!! aaaaaaa!!1! you aren’t sure if he’s gonna do the high note or not, but then when he does it it’s just SO GOOD. and i love the notes he hits as he goes down (i don’t know anything about singing, i play the guitar, but that’s really nice)

New Invention: thebassthebassthebassthebassssss the way dallon says “bad dreams” he’s just so talented =‘)) this song seems to be about a not-so-good relationship that brings out the worst in the narrator but doesn’t want to leave. or at least that’s how i’m interpreting it. another bop

From the Gallows: 2nd new song. it seems kinda like new invention pt. 2 possibly about the same person because dallon once again mentions someone being beautiful and evil at the same time. i love the piano in this song and the way it sounds like a generic slow love song, when it’s actually a little bit dark. also, is that the fred voice? as in fitter, happier voice? i’m almost certain it is. i don’t have a mac, so i don’t know, but it sounds like fitter, happier voice.

Clusterhug: this song sorta reminds me of some of the stuff dallon did with panic! and maybe even the brobecks. i feel like it could’ve been a vice & virtues bonus track and i wouldn’t question it. oh i just looked it up and apparently it was written during too weird era. so that explains it. the chorus in this song is just so pretty and dallon is once again going crazy with those high notes. it’s very ironic that dallon wrote the line “holy quarantine” before 2020.

Sugar Pills: “could it be that it’s only in my hhhheeeeeeEEEEEAAAAAAAAADD?” i’ve said it once and i’ll say it again, i’m in love with dallon’s voice. that funky musical interlude is so cool. this is one of the songs where the synth-y noises make me feel nostalgic in a way. not that i’ve heard them before, but like you could’ve told me this song was a hit in the early 2000′s and i’d believe you. this is probably one of my favorites.

Kiss Goodnight: i love this song,,, a lot. this is a really sweet love song, it makes me feel like i have a crush on someone even though i don’t. i also love the line “believe i’ll be a gentleman or you can show me the door” because it’s foreshadowing to a later song on the album. i feel like i would hear this song in like- a cool mall. it’s so sweet and i love the pretty lyrics and aaaaaa it’s so beautiful!!!!! did i mention i love dallon’s voice???? i think this might be another one of my favorites, but i could honestly say that about every song on here.

Lights Go Down: this is another one with that nostalgic synth noise. the instrumentals honestly remind of lemon demon, maybe it’s just me, but that those funky noises just radiate lemon demon energy. this song makes me feel like i’m in a car late at night in a big city where all the pretty lights are out and the car smells like air freshener. that makes no sense, but it just does. such amazing vibes. the drums in this song are also very epic. cool saxaphone.

Need You Here: i feel bad because i almost forgot about this song. and it’s about dallon’s kidsssss~!!! that’s so cute. amelie did such a good job. i remember when i first listened to this, i was like “wait is this about his kids?” and it is. i didn’t know amelie could sing so well, i honestly thought they got some other artist to sing there. the high note GOD I LOVE DALLON’S VOICE.

Door: i’ll be honest, i cried like a little baby the first time i heard this one. sorta reminds me of how i am with my friends. just always suggesting that they leave me because i don’t feel like i’m good enough for them. it really do be like that sometimes. “promise the next time you take my hand is to show me the door” that line- oh god- that line gets me every time, dude. my sensitive little baby brain can’t handle that much emotion.

Razzmatazz: i think it’s really cool how they ended the album with the title track. i think this one is my favorite idkhow song. the chorus is so lovely and it makes me nostalgic as hecc. and apparently i’m not the only one because when i commented it about it one the music video some people seemed to agree. the way dallon says “cast all your spells” makes me smile whenever i hear it BECAUSE I LOVE HIS VOICE. that chorus is my life support, i adore it with my entire heart. i’ll never get tired of hearing this one because whenever i hear it, it feels like i’m hearing it for the first time again. “let’s go paint the town on our way home.”

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if i had a physical copy of this album, i would give it a hug and kiss every night before i go to bed, i adore it. 10/10, great album, i love everything about it. i also feel like the track listing is perfect. ending it with razzmatazz was an amazing idea because i brings everything together after door. and starting off the leave me alone? that was a genius move. a wonderful listen from start to end, i’m so excited to see what my boys dallon and ryan do next because i was not expecting an album this great. i’ve already listened to it 2 and half times and it just got released today. absolutely worth the wait.

and that’s all i had to say about razzmatazz, in all honestly, it was the only reason i wanted to get up this morning.

ok thanks for listening

#razzmatazz #idkhow #idkfbtfm #i don't know how but they found me #dallon weekes #ryan seaman #panic! at the disco #the brobecks #album review #nate says nonsense #other bands

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vivalapunklife · 4 years

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Okay, for real now: 2021 is looming upon us and where is Paolo Nutini and why haven’t we heard from him?

Can somebody please find Paolo Nutini already!

This is a playlist I made of the best Paolo Nutini songs, mostly live acoustic recordings. This Scottish mans beautiful raspy soul-rock voice accompanied by the guitar and keyboard, speaks right to your soul. Paolo Nutini has this husk to his voice that makes you feel things in places you never felt before. But where has he gone? The craziness of 2020 has brought me back to listening to his beautiful style of Pop/Soul/Folk Rock music.

Paolo Nutini introduced himself to the world during a golden age of British music, alongside such great artists such as Razor Light, The Kooks, Newton Faulkner, Lily Allen etc. Paolo Nutini’s first album, These Streets, set the precedent for his astronomical rise as an easy listening/soul music genius, and every release since ensures to dip its toes into instant classic territory – you still hear a handful of the tunes from Sunny Side Up, New Shoes & Candy, in various adverts on TV still till this day. But then, suddenly, everything took a turn for the worse and it seemed like the greatest musicians from that era just disappeared. No more Razor light. No more Kate Nash. No more Kooks. But then the thing is, they all eventually returned. But Paolo Nutini did not. WHERE IS HE?! I can’t be the only one wondering where he is. And if you hadn’t been wondering, you definitely are now. His Twitter bio still reads “Caustic Love Out Now”, but that album was 6/7 years ago. Paolo Nutini has slipped away from the spot light but he is still proving to be the legend that he is with his latest acts of kindness away from the media. From paying for people’s shopping, picking up the tab and paying for other tables bill in a restaurant, getting onstage to perform while he’s on a night out with his friends. Paolo Nutini truly is a moral upstanding person of the human race from

He called the grieving mother of one of his fans

The first evidence that Paolo hasn’t stopped being a legend since removing himself from the spotlight comes from a story in which he called the mother of one of his fans who had passed away. Paolo Nutini reached out to mum Andrea Anderson, whose son Ryan was 15 years old when he was in a fatal car crash. She told The Paisley Express a Scottish newspaper based in Glasgow covering the local area “It was so thoughtful of him to call. It was amazing to speak to him and it meant so much to me as Ryan was such a big fan.”

He has been spotted multiple times in Paisley recently.

He is an actual Paisley local a town in Glasgow, Scotland, and such is regularly spotted in the area according to Twitter. There was even an entire article written solely about how he picked up a takeaway – if anything signifies that we NEED to hear new music from Paolo Nutini again, it’s that we’ll willingly read an entire Twitter thread about the tails of Paolo Nutini collecting food.

He won an auction for Lewis Capaldi’s Chewbacca mask, donating thousands to charity.

Lewis Capaldi, a fellow Scottish artist was auctioning the famous Chewbacca mask, a Star Wars collectible. Lewis Capaldi wore the mask onstage at TRNSMT Festival for charity in 2019. Lewis Capaldi had an ongoing feud with Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher ( a whole article of its own) which led Capaldi to perform a rendition of Oasis’ hit song ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ but renamed it ‘Don’t Chewbac In Anger’. Paolo Nutini became the winning bidder of the Chewbacca Mask with an undisclosed fee. He also went on to donate a further amount of £10,000 to the mental health charity Tiny Changes. Which the auction was in aid off.

He paid for a man’s food shop at Aldi

The next ridiculous Paolo Nutini story to crop up is from April 2020, is when he paid for a man’s food shop at Aldi after he’d embarrassingly forgot to bring his wallet.

There so many other good dead’s I could list but you get this gist. We need Paolo to return as soon as. The WORLD needs his music. There has been rumors circulating about a new album, but nothing has been confirmed yet, but I wait In hope. If you are not familiar with Paolo Nutini’s music I highly recommend you listen to him now, don’t worry thank me later. The playlist linked at the start of the article and below is a good place to start.

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gaiapaia · 4 years

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Kermit and Friends: Calamari Christmas

“I am an admirer of Elisa’s. Elisa has even worked for me. And the fact is that she is talented.” - Howard Stern.

After an introduction featuring endorsements from some of the biggest names in show business such as Howard Stern, Jimmy Kimmel, Natalie Maines, Ryan Phillippe, etc... Kermit and Friends went on to have one of its most star-studded shows yet!

Elisa kicked things off by sharing some wisdom from an online Kabballah course she’s taking, saying she was instructed to pray before ‘everything.’ One of the things she prayed about was for Barry Boss to ease up on the constant calling and messages. God answered her prayers and Barry left Elisa one last message saying he was not going to contact her again until he’s released from the insane asylum. I very much look forward to seeing Barry Boss on Kermit and Friends when he’s back in the real World.

To update last week’s show, we found out that Brandon did have a nice birthday after all. Elisa baked him a cake and got him, according to Brandon, the “best gift ever” with a very thoughtful ‘I sell houses to give my dog a better life’ t-shirt. Those two have a beautiful friendship.

The first big special guest this week is Hollywood movie producer Andre Relis. Andre has produced nearly 50 feature films, including Arkansas (2019) and Outlaws and Angels (2016). Those are the two movies I’ve seen from his credits. Arkansas was pretty good, but as a big Chad Michael Murray fan, I was disappointed in the violence and vileness of Outlaws and Angels. Nobody wants to see CMM star in a movie like that!

Sorry, back to Kermit and Friends. Elisa interviewed Andre for almost 45 minutes, covering his career as a movie producer and also his upbringing. He shared stories about on-set fights he had with actors such as Sam Worthington, expressed his best and worst film production experiences, offered insight about what it’s like to be born into a cult, gave his thoughts on the #MeToo movement, and answered great questions from Kermitarians such as Brandon, Laurie, DJ Smooth, Kevin, Brian from Louisiana, Sugar, Darron, etc.

My favorite part of the interview was the #MeToo discussion. Andre shared a story about Steven Seagal’s inappropriate behavior on the set of a movie called The Perfect Weapon. The #MeToo talk though led to Elisa admitting that she’s used certain guys before for both entertainment and personal purposes, just as women have been used by men in the film industry. Elisa’s example was her time dating Gonzo during the original Kermit and Friends run. I understand Elisa’s point but Gonzo used her too. They used each other. That’s usually the case in situations like that.

Andre talked about his upcoming film The Last Son starring Machine Gun Kelly, which actually led to Elisa proving that her taste in women is almost as bad as her taste in men. Elisa fawned over MGK’s current girlfriend Megan Fox, putting her on a pedestal as the most beautiful woman in the World. Ha! Here’s a quick list of public figures that are easily more beautiful than Megan Fox: Elisa Jordana, Jessica Alba, Victoria Justice, Minka Kelly, and so on!

Before getting to the next superstar guest, Elisa read some fanmail from an ex die-hard fan projecting their own insecurities onto Elisa. It was very funny she read it in the manner she did. I love how Elisa enjoys sharing the vitriol she receives constantly from delusional, jealous, hate-filled maniacs.

Social media sensation Billy the Fridge was Elisa’s next big guest. Billy became infamous during his time on Battlecam, and used that little recognition to further his career with music, Youtube videos, and a podcast called Drunken Peasants, which Elisa will be interviewed on Christmas Eve.

Elisa started the interview by reading, unbeknownst to her, a very inaccurate biography of Billy the Fridge. After Billy corrected Elisa on the misrepresentation that website had of him, they went on to discuss trolls, his beefs with different Youtube personalities, and of course his podcast.

Following the interview, Elisa set up a date between Brandon the Neighbor and Kermit’s old friend, Supertramp. This is Supertramp’s first time being on Kermit and Friends since late 2015 or early 2016. It was great seeing him again and I can’t think of a more perfect way for him to come back than a virtual date with Elisa’s stunning neighbor!

Unfortunately, the date didn’t go so well. Brandon was apprehensive due to the distance between them (Brandon is in Los Angeles, while Supertramp lives in Minnesota), and they were both a bit shy and awkward. It was still a fun segment but hopefully phone numbers can be exchanged and they can at least get to know each other a little better. I’m sure they would make great friends.

After the date, Elisa read a poem about Alexander Octopus Cortez that somehow was just as good, if not better, than the song she wrote for him a couple of weeks back. I shouldn’t be surprised at this point when Elisa’s creativity floors me, but I did not expect the poem to be that awesome, hilarious, and confident. I LOVED it!

Gonzo then called in and asked Elisa about her situation with Stuttering John Melendez. This past weekend, Elisa made a tweet showing that she was blocked by Stuttering John, formally of The Howard Stern Show and a guy who made a few appearances on the original Kermit and Friends. Elisa suggested she was blocked by Stuttering John because she didn’t want to go hiking with him after he repeatedly asked her for months, while John hysterically made a video suggesting the real reason he blocked Elisa was because she told him to “repent.” He didn’t say what led her to telling him to repent, which I found suspicious. John mentioned Elisa hating porn in the video... why would he bring that up? Just speculation on my part, but I think John sent a pornographic picture of himself to Elisa without her consent, and when she responded with “REPENT!” he blocked her. Again, just speculating despite how perfectly logical it is!

The show concluded with an awesome live performance of Santa Claus is Coming to Town by the wonderful John Bolton. It was a great way to end this special Christmas edition of Kermit and Friends. I sincerely hope everyone reading this is having the happiest of holidays and I can’t wait to review what will surely be another amazing episode of Kermit and Friends next week :)

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malexfan10 · 5 years

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I absolutely love Tyler Blackburn

New article today

He is such a gem ❤

So genuine. Deserves all the love and support!

You can tell how much Alex means to him.

Please don't destroy this amazing character or this wonderful ship Carina!

It's a long read but well worth it

https://www.playboy.com/read/down-to-earth

❤

Down to Earth With Tyler Blackburn

The star of the CW's 'Roswell' reboot isn't a poster child of anything but his own path

Written by Ryan Gajewski

Photography by Graham Dunn

Published onJune 11, 2019

I’ve never met Tyler Blackburn before—except that I have. Maybe it would be more accurate to say I’ve met versions of Tyler Blackburn. I’ve spent time with the actor on multiple occasions while covering his TV series Pretty Little Liars, the soapy teen-centered murder mystery that regularly generated more than a million tweets throughout its seven-season run. Just two weeks ago I reconnected with him in a lush meadow of flowering mustard outside Angeles National Forest, the site of his PLAYBOY photo shoot. But the Tyler Blackburn I’m meeting today at his home in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles is in many ways an entirely different man.

When he greets me at the front door, Blackburn is relaxed, barefoot and still wearing what appears to be bed head. His disposition is unmistakably freer—lighter—than it’s been during our previous encounters. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised by this. Six days earlier the 32-year-old actor came out publicly as bisexual in an online interview with The Advocate. The announcement is clearly at the forefront of his mind as we sit down at his dining room table.

Almost immediately he starts to gush about the positive, and at times overwhelming, feedback he has received over the past few days. Within minutes he’s in tears. He tries to lighten the mood with a self-effacing quip, but now I’m in tears too. Then he tells me he can’t remember my question.

I haven’t even asked one yet, I reply.

“It just makes me feel, Wow, the world’s a little bit safer than I thought it was,” Blackburn says.

The most affecting response he’s received thus far has been from his father, whom Blackburn didn’t meet until he was five years old. Although he avoids offering any more details about that early chapter, he says, “Feeling like I’m a little bit different always made me wonder if he likes me, approves of me, loves me. He called, and it was just every single thing you would want to hear from your dad: ‘That was a bold move. I’m so proud of you.’ It was wild.”

Blackburn can’t pinpoint the exact moment he knew he was bisexual but says he was curious from the age of 16. It wasn’t until two years ago, though, that he decided to approach his publicity team about coming out publicly. At that point, Pretty Little Liarshad wrapped, and the actor was without a job. So Blackburn and his team agreed they needed to hold off on making an announcement until his career was stable again. The lack of resolution weighed on him.

“A year ago I was in a very bad place,” he says, adding that he has struggled with depression and anxiety. “I didn’t know what my career was going to be or where it was going. My personal life—my relationship with myself—was in a really bad place.”

His casting on the CW’s Roswell, New Mexico, adapted from the same Melinda Metz book series as the WB’s 1999 cult favorite Roswell, seems to have come at the right time. Blackburn portrays Alex, a gay Army veteran whose relationship with Michael, a bisexual alien, has attracted legions of “Malex” devotees since the show’s January debut. Roswell, New Mexico has already been renewed for a second season—a feat for any series in this era of streaming, let alone one involving gay exophilia.

Playing a character whose queerness has been so widely embraced by fans no doubt nudged Blackburn closer to revealing his truth for the first time since becoming an actor 15 years ago. (As he told The Advocate, “I’m so tired of caring so much. I just want to…feel okay with experiencing love and experiencing self-love.”) Still, he was somewhat reluctant. His hesitation was rooted in the fact that he wouldn’t be able to control what came next: the social pressures that often come with being one of the first—in his case, one of the first openly bisexual male actors to lead a prime-time television series.

“If you stand for this thing, and you say it publicly, there’s suddenly the expectation of ‘Now your job is this,’ ” he says. “Even if someone’s like, ‘Now you’re going to go be the spokesperson’—well, no. If I don’t want to, I don’t want to. And that doesn’t mean I’m a half-assed queer.”

Full disclosure: I previously wrote for a Pretty Little Liars fan site. In 2012 I published a listicle that ranked the show’s hottest male characters. Blackburn cracks up when I tell him this and wants to know whether he bested Ian Harding, his former co-star. After I inform him that his character (hacker with a heart of gold Caleb Rivers) finished second behind Harding’s (Ezra Fitz, a student-dating teacher) I promise to organize a recount. The always-modest Blackburn concedes that Harding is the rightful winner. (If anyone ever compiles a BuzzFeed article titled “Most Embarrassing Moments for Former Bloggers,” I’ll be offended if I’m not in the mix.)

Blackburn makes it clear that he has not always been comfortable with his status as a teen heartthrob. Knowing he was queer made it “hard to embrace it and enjoy it.” Growing up, he was bullied for being perceived as effeminate and was frequently subjected to slurs and homophobic jokes. He describes himself as a late bloomer who took longer than usual to shed his baby fat. He didn’t have many friends, nor did he date much in high school.

A lifelong fan of musical theater and the performing arts, Blackburn signed with a Hollywood management company at the age of 17. His team at the time warned him that projecting femininity would hinder his success. An especially painful moment came after he’d auditioned for a role as a soldier and the producers wrote back that Blackburn had seemed “a little gay.”

“Those two managers were so twisted in their advice to me,” Blackburn says. “They just said, ‘We don’t care if you are, but no one can know. You can’t walk into these rooms and seem gay. It’s not gonna work.’ I remember the shame, because I’ve been dealing with the feeling that I’m not a normal boy for my entire life.”

After landing a recurring role on Days of Our Lives in 2010, Blackburn scored his big break when he appeared midway through the first season of Pretty Little Liars. “I was in Tyler’s first scene, so I got to be one of the first to work with him,” Shay Mitchell, who starred opposite Blackburn, tells PLAYBOY. “Right away, I knew he was special. Since the day I met him, Tyler always struck me as very authentic and very true to himself.”

Fans instantly adored his on-screen love affair with Hanna Marin, played by Ashley Benson. The pair became known as “Haleb,” and Blackburn went on to win three Teen Choice Awards—surfboard trophies that solidify one’s status as a teen idol—in categories including Choice TV: Chemistry.

According to Blackburn, during the show’s seven years on the air, he and Benson bonded over their mutual distaste for the tabloid stardom that comes with headlining a TV phenomenon lapped up by teens. Today he fondly reflects on their on-camera chemistry. “It felt good,” he says. “It felt real.”

Of course, rumors swirled that the pair’s romance was actually quite real. “We never officially dated,” he tells me. “In navigating our relationship—as co-workers but also as friends—sometimes the lines blurred a little. We had periods when we felt more for each other, but ultimately we’re good buds. For the most part, those rumors made us laugh. But then sometimes we’d be like, ‘Did someone see us hugging the other night?’ She was a huge part of a huge change in my life, so I’ll always hold her dear.”

Blackburn also shares a unique connection with Mitchell outside their friendship. Similar to what Blackburn is now experiencing with Roswell, Mitchell was embraced by the LGBTQ community for playing a lesbian character, Emily Fields, whose same-sex romances on Pretty Little Liars were among the first on ABC Family (the former name of the Freeform network).

Over the years, Blackburn had come out to select members of the Pretty Little Liars cast and crew, including creator I. Marlene King. But as the show approached its swan song, he started to recognize how hiding a part of himself was negatively affecting his life. He entered his first serious relationship with a man while filming the show’s final season. Not knowing how to tell co-workers—or whether to, say, invite his boyfriend to an afterparty—caused him to “go into a little bit of a shell” on the set.

“My boyfriend was hanging out with me at a Pretty Little Liars convention, and some of the fans were like, ‘Are you Tyler’s brother?’ ” Blackburn says. “He was very patient, but then afterward he was like, ‘That kind of hurt me.’ It was a big part of why we didn’t work out, just because he was at a different place than I was. Unfortunately, we don’t really talk anymore, but if he reads this, I hope he knows that he helped me so much in so many ways.” At that, Blackburn tearfully excuses himself and takes a private moment to regain his composure.

“I never remember a time when I didn’t enjoy being with him,” says Harding, Blackburn’s former co-star. He says he saw the actor “start to become the person he is now when we worked together” but believes Blackburn needed to first come to terms with the idea that he could become “the face” of bisexuality. “Tyler’s discovering a way to bring real meaning with his presence in the world,” Harding says, “as an actor and as a whole human.”

Once the teenage Blackburn realized he was attracted to guys, he began “experimenting” with men while taking care not to become too emotionally attached. “I just didn’t feel I had the inner strength or the certainty that it was okay,” he says. It wasn’t until a decade later, at the age of 26, that he began to “actively embrace my bisexuality and start dating men, or at least open myself up to the idea.” He says he’s been in love with two women and had great relationships with both, but he “just knew that wasn’t the whole story.”

He was able to enjoy being single in his 20s in part because he wasn’t confident enough in his identity to commit to any one person in a relationship. “I had to really be patient with myself—and more so with men,” he says. “Certain things are much easier with women, just anatomically, and there’s a freedom in that.” He came out of that period with an appreciation for romance and intimacy. Sex without an emotional component, he discovered, didn’t have much appeal.

“As I got older, I realized good sex is when you really have something between the two of you,” says Blackburn, who’s now dating an “amazing” guy. “It’s not just a body. The more I’ve realized that, the more able I am to be settled in my sexuality. I’m freer in my sexuality now. I’m very sexual; it’s a beautiful aspect of life.”

Blackburn has, however, felt resistance from the LGBTQ community, particularly when bisexual women have questioned his orientation. “Once I decided to date men, I was like, Please just let me be gay and be okay with that, because it would be a lot fucking easier. At times, bisexuality feels like a big gray zone,” he says. (For example, Blackburn knows his sexuality may complicate how he becomes a father.) “I’ve had to check myself and say, I know how I felt when I was in love with women and when I slept with women. That was true and real. Don’t discredit that, because you’re feeding into what other people think about bisexuality.”

He clearly isn't the first rising star who's had to deal with outside opinions of how to handle his Hollywood coming-out. I spoke to Brianna Hildebrand just before the release of 2018's smash hit Deadpool 2, and she explained that she had previously met with publicists who had offered to keep her sexuality under wraps, even though the actress herself had never suggested this. Meanwhile, ahead of the launch of last fall's Fantastic Beasts sequel, Ezra Miller told methat he's "been in audition situations where sexuality was totally being leveraged."

Fortunately for Blackburn, his recent experiences with colleagues have largely been supportive ones. He came out to Roswell, New Mexico showrunner Carina Adly Mackenzie when he first arrived in N.M. to shoot the pilot but after he had earned the role of Alex, which for him was the ideal sequence. "I think he takes the responsibility of being queer in the public eye very seriously, and waiting to come out was just about waiting until he was ready to share a private matter—not about being dishonest to his fans," Mackenzie tells PLAYBOY. "I have always known how important Alex is to Tyler, and I know that Tyler trusts me to do right by him, ultimately, and that’s really special."

Blackburn finds it funny that he’s known for young-skewing TV shows; the question is, What might define him next? He’s grateful for his career, but he grew up wanting to make edgy dramas like the young Leonardo DiCaprio. He also cites an admiration for Miller, the queer actor who plays the Flash. “I most definitely want to be a fucking superhero one day,” Blackburn says a bit wistfully.

His path to cape wearing does look more tenable. The day before his Advocateinterview was posted, he booked a lead role in a fact-based disaster-survival film opposite Josh Duhamel. Blackburn jokes that his movie career was previously nonexistent, though his résumé features such thoughtful indie fare as 2017’s vignette-driven Hello Again. There, he plays a love interest to T.R. Knight, who tells PLAYBOY that Blackburn “embraces the challenge to stretch and not choose the easy path.”

For now, Blackburn’s path appears to be just where he needs it to be. “I may never want to be a spokesperson in a huge way, but honestly, being truthful and authentic sets a great example,” he says. “To continue on a path of fulfillment and happiness is going to make people feel like they too can have that and it doesn’t need to be some spectacle.” As it turns out, he may already be a superhero.

#tyler blackburn #roswell cast #roswell nm #alex manes #roswell new mexico #malex #roswell alex and michael

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desdealgunlugardelsur · 6 years

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Harrison Ford: 2018 summary (I)

(PART 2 HERE)

Once again I try to summarize all the main news about Harrison during the last year. The dates are approximate and I´ve tried to credit the sources. We didn´t get any new Harrison movie this year but he has taken part in many remarkable events and started the filming of his next film Call of the Wild, as well as he´s scheduled to voice one of the characters of the movie the Secret Live of Pets 2. We still got many pictures of this sexy hunk, specially those of Harrison rocking a beard. I hope you enjoy it!

JANUARY:

3rd: First picture of 2018, Harrison in Knoxville, Tennessee [x]

12th: riding his helicopter. No goatee :-/

19th: at the pre-celebration night party of Living Legends of Aviation [x][x][x]

22nd: This lucky girl just met Harrison! [x]

25th: Vanity Fair 2018 Hollywood Issue

Amazing how far Harrison Ford’s cocky, goofball grin has traveled since he hot-rodded down the main drag in American Graffiti, a grin that would forge a conspiratorial pact with audiences worldwide. Ford’s space jockey, Han Solo, in the Star Wars saga, and whip-cracking Indiana Jones were—and are—joyous throwbacks to the movie serials of lore, their boyish zeal unextinguished by age, gray, and grizzle. Ford also took on mortal danger with a straight mug as Jack Ryan (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger), the replicant terminator in Blade Runner, and Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive. (x)

Harrison Ford behind the scenes of Vanity Fair’s 2018 Hollywood Issue

29th-31st: Harrison Ford is back in Wichita, has already started his usual tour of restaurants

Harrison Ford at the restaurant Sabor, Wichita, Kansas

FEBRUARY:

Beginning of February: Harrison invited to watch the launch of SpaceX´s Falcon Heavy rocket in Florida!!! [x]

Later on: Harrison Ford will not fly into Space Coast to watch SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch (it seems he finally wasn´t able to assist to the event, oh shit)

15th: Some lucky people got the best present ever on St. Valentine´s Day [x]

17th: hanging out with the crew of Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles, California [x] [x]

21st: in Brentwood, Los Angeles

22nd: Harrison Ford, M. Sanjayan talk environmental sustainability

Actor and producer Harrison Ford spoke about his environmental conservation work in conversation with M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International (CI), during a surprise visit Wednesday to MS&E 472: Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar. Tina Seelig, faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and MS&E professor, moderated the conversation.

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MARCH:

2nd: (not sure about the date): Harrison in a photoset (by from.here.to.the.sky)

6th: Harrison Ford in O'Rourke’s Diner In Middletown, Connecticut (Harrison and Calista visited several places in the U.S. Northeast early March probably looking for an University for their son Liam)

8th: Mark Hamill gets a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, together with Harrison and George Lucas supporting their old friend. Harrison delievers a brief speech in memory of Carrie Fisher

(Gifset by @reys-bens)

(I gonna cry)

17th: Harrison attends the celebration of the 1st anniversary of his son Willard´s Strong Sport Gym

With sport journalist Karyn Bryant [x]

Goofing with former judo champion Gene LeBell [x]

19th: Steven Spielberg confirms April 2019 UK Shoot for Indiana Jones 5

22nd: Harrison Ford receives the Third Annual R.A. 'Bob' Hoover Trophy at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

During his remarks, Ford, a longtime AOPA member, summed up the freedom of flight in the United States as “a legacy” that was “particularly American.” He closed by saying, “We have a responsibility to provide safe aviation for all future aviators. God bless America.”

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24th: in a flight to Asia, Harrison and family meet John Boyega [x]

25th: Harrison spotted in Hanoi, Vietnam [x] [x]

APRIL:

From late March to early-middle April: Harrison, Calista and Liam travel through Vietnam and Laos

Unintentionally filmed in Hanoi:[x]

Harrison, Calista and their son Liam in Luan Prabang, Laos [x]

At a Buddhist monastery in Laos [x]

Harrison Ford at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand [x]

25th: Harrison Ford Voices First Animation Role In Secret Life of Pets 2

MAY:

4th: May the Force be with you! [x]

12th: Harrison surprises Alden Ehrenreich and shows his support for the Solo movie

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Old and new Solo! (Even if I think Harrison is the one and only Han Solo, I still think Alden did a good performance)

Harrison also met Solo star Woody Harrelson [x]

Early-mid May: Harrison in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This picture has no informative value besides showing how hot is Harrison with shades and that tight shirt [x]

Another one from another day (with his son Liam)

Taking your shades off won´t stop us swooning at your sight

22nd: 10 years since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

JUNE:

14th: More Ford porn (please Tumblr don´t flag this)

18th: Harrison Ford named honorary Hamblen County deputy

The Hamblen County (Tennessee) Sheriff's Office named movie star Harrison Ford an honorary deputy sheriff at a recent event. Ford also received a deputy sheriff's lapel badge. "It's an honor to have you on our team, Indiana Jones," said Sheriff Esco Jarnagin. The parents of Ford's wife, Calista Flockhart, live in Morristown, Hamblen County.

26th: Harrison Ford spotted in Amherst, Massachusetts [x]

28th: Bad news for Indy 5: film will miss its 2020 release date :

According to Variety, “filming was supposed to begin in April of 2019 in the United Kingdom, but sources close to the production say that shooting will no longer start next spring and will have to be pushed back by months, if not a year,” because the lead creatives aren’t happy with the current state of the script.

‘Solo’ Scribe Jonathan Kasdan Writing ‘Indiana Jones 5’ for Steven Spielberg :

As Lucasfilm recalibrates the future of its Star Wars franchise, the company is pressing forward with its other marquee property, as Jonathan Kasdan (Solo: A Star Wars Story) has signed on to replace David Koepp as the writer of Indiana Jones 5, multiple sources tell Collider.

(CONTINUE HERE)

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thepermanentrainpress · 6 years

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THE PERMANENT RAIN PRESS INTERVIEW WITH CASSIDY MACKENZIE

Cassidy Mackenzie is sharing her truths and aspirations – one R&B pop beat at a time. The Vancouver-raised, Nashville-based artist will be releasing her debut EP One Look this spring; recorded and co-written with Ryan Stewart (Carly Rae Jepsen, Simple Plan), the album is primed to be a vessel for heartbreak, strength, and the pop rock you can’t help but groove to.

We caught up with Mackenzie to discuss the album’s lead single “Wish,” majoring in music, and her hometown.

Tell us about your passion for music, when did you decide you wanted to pursue it?

Music has been the biggest part of my life for as long as I can remember. I started playing violin when I was four, and then guitar when I was six, which really made me fall in love with it. I never considered a career in anything but music, but I was around thirteen when I decided I wanted to pursue it as a songwriter/singer.

Your debut single “Wish” was released on February 22nd. Tell us about what inspired the lyrics, and the feelings you hope listeners take away from the track.

“Wish” is about falling for someone who you know you can’t be with, and the feeling I hope listeners take away from it is that overwhelming, passionate, and heartbreaking desire of wanting to be with somebody, while thinking you shouldn’t feel that way. The lyrics were inspired by a very real event that happened to me the night before writing it. I was playing a show at a bar and I met a guy who I basically immediately fell for. After a lot of talking and establishing that we both felt that way, he told me he had a girlfriend, and I couldn’t get him out of my head for weeks.

“Wish” has a real captivating blend of pop, R&B and EDM. Has the recent music you’ve been working on followed the same genre mix?

I have definitely tried to follow the sound of “Wish,” because I really love it. I also love writing and performing acoustic songs, which is how all of my songs start, but since “Wish” I’ve really fallen into that pop, R&B, EDM sound.

What inspires your sound on the forthcoming EP? How was the writing process?

Ryan Stewart and I spent a long time talking through what we wanted for the sound of the EP, going through different references and new ideas we had. We wanted it to be unique, so we went for a sound with a mix of inspiration from artists like Avril Lavigne, The 1975, and current pop/EDM artists, which you can see in the drops. The writing process was so fun. We clicked so well together creatively and wrote four songs in four days in the first week we worked together. I would come into the studio, Ryan would ask me what was going on in my life and what I wanted to write about, and we would go from there.

You’re studying music at Belmont University in Nashville. What valuable lessons are you taking away from your time there?

Studying here has been so amazing. I major in song writing and minor in music business, so for almost three years I have been constantly co-writing, learning song writing techniques and taking classes on different aspects of the music industry. It’s constantly teaching me how incredible the industry is, and how valuable it is to have knowledge about the business, rather than going in blind.

You’re from Vancouver. What’s your favourite part about being on the west coast, and where are some of your favourite places to eat/hang out?

I love Vancouver so much; the west coast is beautiful and has a unique energy I would never be able to give up. I basically lived at Locarno Beach in high school. My friends and I were always there and my school was right beside it. I also spend a crazy amount of time at Neverland Tea Salon and Aphrodite’s Café.

You’re a ‘movie geek’ according to your social media. What’s the most recent film you’ve seen, and would you recommend it?

I just watched Walk The Line, which is one of my favourite movies. I would 120% recommend it, it’s amazing.

If you could describe yourself as any ice cream flavour, which would you be and why?

I think I would be coconut, chocolate, hazelnut fudge. It’s my favourite and I like how much is going on in it, ha ha.

#Cassidy Mackenzie #Interview #Music #Feature #Wish #Strut Entertainment #One Look #Belmont University #Vancouver #Ryan Stewart #vancouver music #Nashville #yvr #The Permanent Rain Press

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evenstevensranked · 6 years

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#1: Season 3, Episode 5 - “Band on the Roof”

ANNNND... “BAND ON THE ROOF” TAKES THE CAKE!

I cannot believe I’m publishing the #1 ranking. Next month will mark two whole years since I created this blog and now, after countless hours spent on 64 reviews, we’re finally here! Never thought I’d see the day. I never anticipated that I’d be this emotional about it either. I’ll save the mushiness and some final thoughts for the end of the post.

When The Twitty-Stevens Connection gets back together, Tom shoots a documentary -- excuse me, “rockumentary” -- detailing the highs and lows of the band’s reunion! What we get is a rollercoaster of an episode featuring (almost) all of our favorite characters, the most legendary quote in the entire series, a mockumentary approach to filming that was ahead of its time, a heartwarming plot for our two main siblings, and one hell of a catchy song to boot.

For the last time...

Let’s get into it!

I know I throw the word "Iconic" around loosely sometimes but this is genuinely an iconic episode for the series. I feel like everyone remembers this episode. Even if you didn't watch the show too often, you still remember this episode. This one kinda makes me wish that Even Stevens was one of the first popular American comedy sitcoms to pioneer the mockumentary style gimmick for the entire series. (i.e. The Office, Modern Family, Parks & Rec) Because it works here. Really well. I’ve mentioned a few times before that The Office is my other all-time favorite comedy show, so I absolutely ADORE those strong vibes here.

According to Wikipedia and their list of “Mockumentaries” (which includes this episode!) -- as far as the genre in television goes, it seemed to become a big thing in the UK first and then spread to places like Australia and Canada. The United States mockumentary television format boom started in the early-mid 2000s, specifically at or around 2003 with Arrested Development and then in 2005 with the humble beginnings of The Office. "Band on the Roof” premiered in 2002. Hmmm. Very interesting! Not sayin’ Even Stevens was ahead of its time once again but that’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s almost like this show trial-runs ideas before they take off. First with “Influenza” and then this. Even though this episode was definitely more of a spoof of VH1′s “Behind The Music,” it still totally falls into that mockumentary TV category.

It opens with the introduction to the documentary, narrated by Tom in a super unnaturally deep voice with a little reverb slapped on there for dramatic effect: “First, there was The Alan Twitty Project... Then, there was The Louis Stevens Experience... The coming together of these two musical forces begat the supergroup The Twitty-Stevens Connection! ...But the band broke up temporarily when bassist Artie Ryan’s mom made him take pottery lessons.”

Tragic.

Tom introduces himself as “Thomas Gribalski: Rockumentary Filmmaker.” Wow, he’s wasting no time loading up his IMDb page. You document one Junior High band and it’s all uphill from there. He goes on to explain that when The Twitty-Stevens Connection got back together, Louis Stevens asked him to capture those “little moments” for them to look back on once the band becomes “rich and famous.” But, of course, no road to stardom is without its bumps.

I wanna know how Tom, a 14-year-old, got this swanky studio to record in...

It cuts to band rehearsal in the Stevens basement where they’re jamming to “Crazy” from the Battle of the Bands episode!! Everything’s fine until the band randomly stops playing in the middle of the song and Louis goes off on a never-ending drum solo that he refers to as “a groove.” It always bothered me how the music just… stops. Why did everyone but Louis decide to stop playing for seemingly no reason?! Whoever was in charge of audio here couldn’t be bothered to make it sound more organic lol. It’s really weird and abrupt. Sorry for the nitpicking there.

I love how Tom got that shot of a messy hamper in the foreground. It really amps up the grittiness.

It’s pretty great how Louis subtly changed roles from the band’s manager to the band’s drummer. For once, this was an arc in Season 3 that actually aired in the correct order. In Episode 2, Louis became interested in playing the drums and was gifted a drumset. In Episode 4 he started taking lessons, and here in Episode 5, he’s officially the drummer of the band. Shia is playing for real here as well! So that’s very cool.

While Louis is drumming his lil heart out during his self-indulgent extended solo, it cuts to shots of everyone killing time and I love it.

Tom, lol.

Ren eventually rips the drumsticks out of Louis’ hands and the two start arguing. Tawny reminds them that they promised to get along if the band got back together. Just then, we hear that shrill, annoying and unmistakeable voice chime in: “Can I say something?” The camera searches around until it lands on Beans just chilling there like he owns the place. Oh my god.

Louis: “Where is he? BEANS! HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?!?!” -- Why is that mockumentary style sooo funny though?! The shaky camera looking around and zooming in is what makes this.

I seriously wish every episode was filmed this way. But honestly, just getting this liiiittle glimpse into what a mockumentary version of Even Stevens might’ve been like is enough to make me feel #blessed. If a reboot ever happened, I’d definitely looove to see it reborn à la Modern Family for at least an arc or one special season. I know the gimmick is a little outplayed at this point but I mean, the Stevens are an eccentric enough family for a documentary crew to follow! Am I wrong?! All of the flagship American mock-doc shows have already ended or are ending soon. The door’s open for a new one. Just sayin’.

It cuts to Louis ranting about Beans in the first interview portion or “talking head” of the documentary. This is the greatest thing. Holy crap. He says: “Beans is like that policeman in Terminator 2, you know who I’m talking about? I swear, he goes liquid! He can fit through cracks in windows... under doors... through little keyholes!!” And right on cue, Beans appears outta thin air -- “I’m hungry. Let’s get a sandwich!” Again, the camera work makes this 10x funnier and Shia’s face is just too good:

Note: “Terminator 2″ is yet another completely solid reference to make!

Something I’d like to point out before I forget: While reviewing the series, I couldn't help but notice that the show could be even funnier if there was no background music all the time. (I tested that theory with this edit and was proven correct, tbh.) If you pay attention.. you'll notice that there's some sort of background music during almost every scene. Sometimes it works if it's heightening a moment or adding some flavor comedically. But during scenes where there’s just dialogue, I feel like it would be much better with silence -- because 1. It's more raw/realistic, and 2. the performances/writing is already so strong, it doesn't need extra sound clogging the material. And that's one of the reasons why this episode is so great! It's dead silent the entire time except for the Twitty-Stevens songs of course and some transitional music for the documentary. I love it.

So, yeah. Turns out Beans is a bassist?! He walks over to Artie and tells him “you’re horrible. Read my lips -- take a lesson!” Artie quits on the spot and leaves in a fit of rage (”I don't have to take this! I’M ARTIE RYAN!”). Beans backs up his insult by showing off his sick bass skillz to the gang, immediately earning himself a place in the band as Artie’s replacement. I love how Beans isn’t even touching the neck of the bass at all at one point. Seems legit.

It cuts to an interview with Artie and it’s so good: “I was thinking about quitting the band anyway. I didn’t like the direction it was going... NOWHERE. Since then, I’ve started my own band. Artie Ryan and the Funky Kats. I had some promotional materials made up!! Tom, you want a free one?!”

Tom (off-screen): “N.. no, thanks.”

Also... A frisbee?! LOL. I had to write out that whole Artie quote because it’s the last we hear from him in this episode and Artie is the best.

Next, it cuts to an interview with Twitty who claims that there was a whole new energy after Beans joined the band. It’s hilarious because Beans is this tiny, annoying 8-year-old, yet Twitty’s talking about him as if he’s some amazingly respected bassist who helped take them to the next level. He goes on to say that the ~revitalized spirit~ Beans brought to the table motivated everyone to work on new material... Including Louis & Ren, who teamed up to write a song together!! Ahh! It shows us the two of them writing out the skeleton of “Another Perfect Day.” I always laughed at how they’re not just writing lyrics like most middle schoolers would do... Nah. They’ve whipped out the staff paper and suddenly know music theory like it’s nothing. They’re literally transcribing their ideas by ear. I’m a Berklee grad and I still struggle like hell with theory.

Donnie happens to walk by and notices that his brother and sister are getting along for the first time, like, ever... and calls for Steve and Eileen to come quick and bear witness to it themselves!!

This show throws in some great little lines here and there that are easy to miss sometimes. When Steve and Eileen come running, Steve shouts “Donnie! Hang in there! You still have 5 minutes left on that hot oil treatment!!” thinking Donnie desperately needed help with his hair. HAHA! I never paid attention to that until recently. We get interviews with Donnie as well as Steve and Eileen here.

Donnie: “It was just... the sweetest thing. I wanted to hug them!! But I didn’t wanna ruin my hair. Wait!!! That sounded stupid. Don’t use that, ok?”

Gotta love the trophies as a backdrop lol.

Eileen: “It was amazing! It was as if the music brought them closer together.”

Steve: “Those were the happiest days of our lives. It was bliss! Sheer bliss!”

Hey! This is real stuff, though. Never underestimate the power of music!!

One of the funniest things about this episode is that Tom prefaced the documentary by saying the reunion happened a mere TWO WEEKS AGO! These interviews are so extra, as if they’re recalling something that happened years ago when it literally just happened and is fresh in their memories. It’s great.

We get a voiceover from Tom elaborating on Steve and Eileen’s sentiments, telling us that Louis and Ren had “reached a new level in their relationship” over corny footage of them casually playing freaking cat’s cradle like a couple’a besties! hahaha.

At their next rehearsal, the band starts working on “Another Perfect Day.” Once they have it down pretty well, Louis decides that they have a hit on their hands and need to do something big to get the word out. He comes up with the idea to hold a free concert on the school roof. Twitty interjects “Ya know, that’s not a bad idea because The Beatles did a free concert on the roof once!” Tawny adds: “So did U2!” and Louis finishes: “And now... The Twitty-Stevens Connection.” -- As if they’re anywhere near the level of either of those bands and should easily be mentioned in the same breath. That always cracked me up. (Speaking of The Beatles, the title of this episode is supposed to be a play on the Paul McCartney song “Band On The Run.” Or at least, that’s what I’ve always assumed.) Also, take a look at their single art. Amazing.

Things start to go sour now. Everyone’s on board for the rooftop concert except for Ren. That’s a shocker! She’s totally against the idea. She agrees that free publicity is great as long as you’re not violating any rules. She even double checks with Wexler who confirms that students on the roof is “strictly forbidden.”

At lunch the next day, Louis is super excited about the concert and giving Twitty and Tawny a rundown of his plans to set everything up. He says they should “get there early. Really early. Like... before school starts early” so they can get all the equipment and set it up on the roof. Another little exchange that’s easy to miss here is between Twitty and Tawny. Twitty says: “Sweet. What if we wore camouflage?” And Tawny sarcastically bites back: “That is a brilliant idea. What if we dressed up as giant metal vents to blend in with the roof decor!” HAHAHA. I’m just imagining that in my head right now and all I can picture is them looking like Eric Matthews dressed as a couch. Oh, yeah. They’ll blend in, no problem.

When Ren starts approaching their lunch table, Louis invites her over yelling “Hey, sis!!” Awww. Since we all know that Ren is practically Vice Principal, he asks her for help and advice on how to get up to the roof and such. But then it does a hard cut to Tom:

This needed to be gif’d.

Ren starts blabbing about how they’re forbidden to step foot on the roof and that she got a permit to perform in a public park instead, but Louis cuts her off before she can ramble any further: “Ren. You’re chickening out.” Ren protests and insists that she’s not a chicken and is just being smart about the situation, but Louis ain’t having it and explodes: “JIMINY H. CRICKETS THE THIRD JR., REN!!! We’re not robbing a bank or anything!! We’re singing on the roof!!!"-- I love this so much. He tells her to take a risk for once in her life. But, Ren being Ren, decides that she doesn’t want to get in trouble and essentially quits the band. As Ren storms away from them, Louis stands his ground and shouts at the top of his lungs:

Possibly the single most-quoted quote of the entire series. Actually iconic. I have this quote on my Facebook, it's my © footer quote on this very website, people have used this quote in their high school yearbooks. Yeah. It’s a big deal. Plus, it’s a pretty great quote to live by if you think about it tbh.

Ren leaving the band was only the beginning of their downfall. I love this photo the ‘documentary’ uses to illustrate the in-fighting lol.

There’s super melodramatic music with an ~emotional~ guitar lick playing here. It always gets stuck in my head. I’m humming it right now. As hilarious as the music is, it actually does make me feel a little upset...

And just like the ending of an America’s Next Top Model episode, Ren disappears from this photo of the band:

At home that evening, an instrumental knock-off of “Kiss Me” starts playing in the background of the doc while Ren contemplates the meaning of life. Tom does a voiceover saying that Ren’s decision to leave the band would lead her down a path to “self-discovery.”

She ends up having a heart-to-heart with Eileen about why she’s so reluctant to take risks. We get a glimpse into Ren’s childhood with “home video” showing her being a total caution freak at her 8th birthday party. She ate a single potato chip so she waits an extra 20 minutes before going into the kiddie pool with her friends. I’d like to point out that Young Ren is played by Alexa Nikolas, who would later go on to be a regular on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101.

Eileen assures Ren that she’ll find something worth taking a risk for someday and go for it!

CUT TO THE DAY OF THE CONCERT! Ren’s decision to leave the band causes everyone else to rethink the rooftop performance as well. Twitty decides to back out because he has one too many detentions already and can’t afford another. His initial poor attempt at an excuse plays out in the most hilarious way possible. (”TWITTY, I WROTE THAT NOTE FOR YOU LAST WEEK!”) Tawny just agrees with Ren. She decides it’s not a good idea and peaces out. And lastly, Beans calls at the eleventh hour and says he can’t make it because he has a hamster cage stuck on his head -- which amazingly, is not a lie. In the end, Louis is the last one standing. Or as Tom says, “A man without a band.”

At lunch, the sound of someone drumming starts to fill the air, leaving everyone confused for a minute. It’s Louis, of course. He’s up there drumming away and singing his background vocals alone and fully intends to perform the whole song that way. His determination to continue with the concert as the lone remaining member of the band is so admirable and badass honestly. It really shows how bold he can be and how he’ll always try to see his ideas through. Not only does this highlight Louis’ fearlessness, it also leads to an amazing moment for Ren as a character. As everyone runs to get a view of Louis, Ren starts remembering what Eileen told her. She slowly realizes that this could be her chance to seize the moment.

One by one -- Twitty, Tawny, and Beans join Louis up on the roof! They pick up their instruments and jump right in, each one building and building on the song. All leading up to Ren being the last one to finally run up there as the final piece of the puzzle! It’s a cheesy and predictable climax, but it’s still amazing. Seeing Ren take a chance like that always makes me emotional, not gonna lie. You can FEEL the happiness radiating off of everyone here. It makes me beam every time.

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This gives me legitimate goosebumps. God. Watch this and tell me it isn’t freaking epic and CLASSIC. The final interviews paired with that tasteful background music always tugs at my heartstrings, too.

The gang ends up facing the consequences of their stunt and are punished by Wexler putting them on trash pickup duty. ^ That ending (seen in the video) is probably my favorite Louis/Ren bit ever. Seeing them both secretly admit to the camera that they had a great time together just warms my heart. I love how they say the same exact thing at one point too: “Don’t tell her/him I said that” lol. It’s so simple but so effective and really sums up their relationship. Two siblings who are always at odds, but at the end of the day, they’re family and have that unconditional sib love whether they want to admit it or not. I love the little slideshow of photos from the rooftop gig to wrap everything up.

...and the very last frame of the episode is this picture of THE GREATEST DISNEY CHANNEL SIBLINGS OF ALL TIME and it’s so precious. This photo is so genuine. You can tell it captured more of Shia and Christy than Louis and Ren. It's just so nice:

I would have this framed and hanging in my house somewhere if I were them. Wow! Also... What could possibly be a better final shot for the episode that’s concluding my specific project?! Tell me. I’ll wait.

And that’s it.

This is one of those ~special fun plot~ episodes, but it’s not super wacky or zany. Like most of the schemes Louis pulls, they somehow manage to make it seem like a couple of middle schoolers could successfully put on a school rooftop performance like this irl. There’s super solid humor, great dialogue, some incredible character moments and plenty of heart to top it all off! It ends on such a satisfying and happy high note. And even though I prefer Comedian Louis over Musician Louis, this episode is just too damn fun for me to care. It sort of benefits from the “Influenza” effect. If you add a song to an episode, odds are it’ll automatically make it that much more memorable. The only difference between this episode and “Influenza” is that it has a lot more going for it story-wise.

This episode has everything for me. The way it's filmed is unique to every other episode in the series. The humor is extra dry and a little different for the show here, but still feels very distinctly Even Stevens and stays true to what we love about the show. This episode includes practically every major character, too! Let’s round up everyone who makes an appearance here: Louis, Ren, Twitty, Tawny, Tom, Beans, Steve, Eileen, Donnie, Coach Tugnut, Principal Wexler, and even Artie Ryan! My only complaint is that Larry and Ruby should’ve made appearances. Like, just a little scene of Larry taunting Ren about not having the guts to go up on the roof or something would’ve been cool.

Just adding some extra photos from the episode to break up this sea of text.

This is the only episode other than the finale that actually manages to make me shed a tear. But the tear this episode squeezes outta me has more meaning behind it imo. In the finale, I’m pretty much solely crying over the resolution to the Louis/Tawny saga and the fact that it’s the last episode of the series. Here, I’m crying over the pure relationship between brother and sister (the root of the show) as well as the gang’s friendship. No other episode gets me in my feelings like that across the board. It honestly feels like a finale in its own right and I can’t think of a better one to wrap up this countdown with.

Is this the best episode of Even Stevens? You tell me. Is it one of the most memorable, iconic, hilarious, unique, and feel-good episodes of Even Stevens? Absolutely. Is there even a way to determine what episode is "objectively" or scientifically proven to be the best? lol who knows! If there's anything this whole project has taught me, it's that perhaps this show is just so good, there simply is no "best" episode. In which case, this whole blog has been a complete waste of time.

SIDE NOTE: It was brought to my attention that this episode shares similarities to a Saved By The Bell episode titled “Rockumentary.” While the overall outline is pretty dead on (the rise, fall, and rise again of a garage band) the actual episodes themselves are extremely different. Annnnd Even Stevens did it better. No surprises there. So, WHO CARES?!

Aside from this being my personal favorite episode of the series and meeting my ranking requirements, I have a few little bonus stats to back up my decision to deem "Band on the Roof" worthy of the top spot:

It's the highest rated episode of the entire series on TV.com, boasting a 9.6, which I wasn’t aware of until a few days ago and was honestly surprised.

Back in 2003, while the show was still popular/on-air, some fans held a march madness style poll for the Best Episode of All Time and "Band on the Roof" was the winner.

This episode has popped up on various nostalgia articles as one of the greatest in the series. One of my favorites is by a published author and screenwriter in the biz who also ranked it #1 on her Top 7 favorite episodes of Even Stevens list. [article]

In the comments of this episode on YouTube, (which I probably should’ve saved before Disney recently deleted the video... ugh) the general viewer consensus was that it's a widely beloved episode and one of the greatest/solidly written/most memorable. Easily Top 3 or Top 5 in the opinion of others.

I've gotten quite a few comments across the socials for the blog from readers asking about where this episode will be ranked and/or simply randomly stating that ‘Band on the Roof’ is the greatest and iconic.

Basically, there is massive love for this episode. No matter what, there’s a good chance you'll consistently see this one mentioned as one of the best or at least in someone's personal favorites -- Myself included. Obviously, me being a musician and loving the mockumentary style/drier humor here has contributed tremendously to my favoritism -- but the general fan love and praise, mixed with the actual solid content of the episode, makes me feel like ranking it #1 is justified. As objective as I tried to be throughout this process -- I created Even Stevens Ranked to get some personal thoughts and opinions out of my system. Well, that, and to do my best to highlight how fantastic this show is. Please remember, at the end of the day, this is my list. So. :)

Now that I’ve finished the project, I’m honestly quite satisfied with the outcome here. Not only am I so unbelievably proud that I actually saw this thing through to the very end -- I feel like my Top 10, in particular, (or the Top 25 on a larger scale) is the most solid crop of episodes I could’ve ever come up with. I think they all include nice and important moments for all of the characters, some of the strongest humor, and capture the spirit of the show the best. They’re objectively pretty darn good ones to subject a newbie to if ya ask me!

This project was extremely difficult. It was time-consuming and stressful, but it was also such a blast and only solidified Even Stevens as my favorite show of all time in my heart even more than it already was. When I started, I always knew that “Band on the Roof” would be #1, “In Ren We Trust” would be dead last, and “Influenza” would be #15, but other than that I made countless changes to the list as I went on. The closer I got to the end, I was worried that I’d look back and hate my list, but I’m so relieved to feel very confident in my final decisions and reasons for those decisions. If there’s anything I’d change, it’d probably be to rank “Stevens Manor” sliiiightly higher. But still, I don’t even wanna say that because I have no real problem with placing it at #17. It’s not a bad slot. As I’ve said many times, anything in the Top 25 is pretty much top notch to me.

So... What else is there to say? Here we are. 65 episodes down. 0 to go. The entire series ranked and reviewed. Mission accomplished. From the moment I posted my very first review, I always hoped I’d make it to this point but for whatever reason, I never thought I actually would. I talked about this a little bit when I hit my one-year milestone. Milestones like that are what kept me going, though. Even the littlest ones. I’ll seriously never forget when I completed 5 reviews and hit #59! It felt like the greatest accomplishment ever. And so on and so forth...

For years, I felt like I was some weird, lone fan of this show. I thought that maybe 5, 10 people tops, would care enough to read this blog. I am shocked at the decent following Even Stevens Ranked has garnered over the last two years across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and right here on Tumblr. My strange urge to rank and review every episode of this fantastic show has somehow turned into a ~community~ that is 1k+ strong if you combine all four social accounts. That is staggering. Meeting other fans of the show through this blog has been so, so awesome and I plan on keeping Even Stevens Ranked alive because of that. I can’t just leave it behind. I have some cool ideas moving forward, including a pending podcast. :D

I can’t thank you enough if you’ve actually bothered to read even just one of my reviews and found it the least bit interesting. We went on this weird little journey together. So thank you! Truly.

I’ve completed what I initially set out to do, but you can definitely expect a bonus video review for a change of The Even Stevens Movie sometime in the near future. I mean, how could I do a project like this and NOT discuss the big finale film?!

Just a reminder that there’s a Twitty-Stevens Connection design up on Redbubble! Available in black text and white text.

Thank you sooo much for reading. You know the drill! Please, journey into the Disqus comment section below if you’re so inclined. I’d love to hear any of YOUR thoughts now that this crazy project is complete. Ahh.

- Brittany

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