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Idol Superstar Event Auditions
Annyeong, ARMY writers! 2023 is only starting and with it a new generation of kpop groups will surely debut — and how would you like being part of one of them?
Managed by @lokidows-yooniverse, @luaspersona and @jinsquishes, the Idol Superstar Glow Event Company is officially open for auditions, and you can apply as a trainee to debut at the end of the year with your idol!au work!
How can I audition for it?
⇝ Read the following rules and guidelines.
⇝ Reblog this post.
⇝ Pay attention to the schedule! We won't accept any applications after May 1st.
⇝ Fill out this audition form (you will be tested on the form).
What do I need to do to be a trainee?
⇝ must be 18+ to apply;
⇝ every trainee is required to join the Discord server;
⇝ make sure your DMs are open to receive our invitation link;
⇝ anyone can apply regardless of blog size, background, ethnicity, sexuality etc.
⇝ if at any point during the event, you realize the idol life isn’t for you, just let us know! Life is happening for everyone, so we know stuff doesn’t always go as planned.
*Disclaimer: We will be checking the application once a week to administer applicants.
What are the requirements for my debut work?
⇝ it must be a BTS fanfiction.
⇝ at least one or more characters from the main pairing must be an idol (either the reader, the original character or one of the members).
⇝ we will accept mxm (member x member), mxr (member x reader) and mxoc (member x original character) works.
⇝ there’s no genre limitation (it can be smut, angst, fluff, crack etc.).
⇝ the work must have 500 words minimum.
⇝ it can be both SFW or NSFW — smut isn’t obligatory.
⇝ you can debut with more than just one work.
What works won’t be accepted?
⇝ pairings with other kpop idols (they can feature as side characters).
⇝ we won’t accepted already posted works: your contribution to the event must be original.
⇝ plagiarism, repost or translations won’t be tolerated.
⇝ works with non-specific warnings, such as: “warnings: smut” — please, be sensible.
⇝ the password you’re looking for is talk is cheap;
⇝ we won’t accept or tolerate* any of the following: rape/dub-con; abuse of any kind (physical, mental, emotional etc.); glorification of mental illnesses or eating disorders; glamorization of self-harm; sexualization of minors/pedophilia; graphic sexual assault; incest; kidnapping/stockholm syndrome; graphic violence (including suicide and murder); excessive gore (including vore), etc.
*disclaimer: we will accept your work if it only mentions or hints at the listed topics, but please state it clearly under the warnings.
Training and Debut Schedule
⇝applications: from January 1st to April 30th
⇝fic pre-debut (paring; genre; rating and summary): July 31st — Discord channel exclusive.
⇝banner pre-debut: August 20th — Discord channel exclusive.
⇝debut masterlist: August 31st.
⇝fic debut: from October 1st to December 31st.
If you have any doubts about the requirements, feel free to reach out to the managers! We’re here to guarantee you have the best experience possible as an Idol Superstar Glow trainee!
Fighting ✊
#idol superstar glow event#idol superstar glow#idolverse#idol au#bts#bts fanfction#event#kpop#bts event
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the moon, and all the stars | jjk
pairing: jungkook x reader
rating: G
genre/warnings: established relationship, idol au, fluff, lowercase intended
word count: 763
note: idek what this is but idec because right now i'm still just so proud of our koo and so amazed by him, so utterly in awe of his talent and hard work. i love him to the moon and to saturn and this is a little love letter written in a haste of overflowing, well, love i have for this man :(
— as always, i’d appreciate any thoughts or comments you may have, and please drop a like and/or reblog if you enjoy reading ♡
does he know how loved he is? by you? by millions of people all over the world? does he know how proud you are? how your whole chest is overflowing with so much joy and adoration for him that it’s almost suffocating?
he must know. right? there’s no way he doesn’t know.
the world outside is dark, only illuminated by lampposts and lit windows where people sit with loved ones, away from the winter that’s just beginning to come around the corner. tonight, everyone must be tuning into the same thing you’re waiting for — one of the most coveted events of the year, where you’ll find your love shining like the brightest star in the whole universe.
your heart drums along to the beat of the music, in anticipation of him. you’ve been buzzing for half an hour now — like you are the one filled with adrenaline even though you’re just sitting in front of a TV — but you’ve been excited for days, maybe even weeks, ever since you heard the news. every passing minute where he isn’t on your screen feels like a century. every tick of the clock in which he’s not where he should be, should be considered a crime. if there’s anyone who deserves every single good thing in the world right this second, it’s him. he’s worked so hard for this for so long that it makes you ache sometimes. if there’s anybody who deserves to be happy, please let it be him.
him.
him.
him.
finally, when he makes his long-awaited appearance, that dazzling smile playing on his lips for the whole world to see, your heart completely breaks.
it breaks from all the love you’ve been carrying, for him and only him. it breaks from the feeling of boundless pride, of immense and utter relief to see him, on top of the world with all eyes on him, bewitched by every flick of his wrist, every snap of his hips. you’re no different. you, too, are mesmerized by him like it’s the very first time. he never ceases to amaze you, no matter what he does. your superstar. your pride and joy.
devotion turns into tears in your eyes, filling them and spilling over, blurring your vision momentarily before you hastily wipe them away with the back of your hand, not wanting to miss a single second of him.
you want to tell him, i love you. i miss you. i adore you. if you could, you would realign the stars so they would spell out his name. you would take the moon from the sky and hang it on his bedroom ceiling to glow, to reflect the glittering light in his eyes. you hope one day you could. you hope the universe would let you.
you watch as he owns the stage, hitting every note perfectly while making so many hearts flutter all at once. especially your heart. maybe your heart is the only one that he wants to stutter on purpose. after tonight, you know so many more people will fall in love him, will yearn to know what makes him tick and what he thinks about when he lies awake at 3am. but you’re the only person that he grants this privilege to. yours is the only heart he returns to.
what did i do to deserve someone as wonderful as you?
when it ends — all too quickly, may you add — you sit there in a daze, staring at nothing in particular while the broadcast continues but you’ve already drowned out all the sounds since he disappeared from the screen. it’s over. it’s done. months of preparation in exchange for three brief minutes wherein he doesn’t have to carry the whole world, but he’s the one standing on top of it, burning bright with a force that could rival the sun.
it isn’t until your phone vibrates some time later that you realize you’ve been unmoving for a while. his name paints your vision the most astonishing shade of gold. his handsome face appears again in your hands, so stunning, so beautiful that your heart threatens to burst at the seams again. if you were there, or if he were here, you would run into his arms, bury your face into the crook of his neck where home is. you would whisper in his ear everything you wish to tell him in this moment. but for now, this will have to do.
with a tired but content smile, he says, “hi, love.”
thank you, for existing. thank you, for letting me love you.
all rights reserved © jeonqkooks. reposting, translating and/or modifying is not permitted by any means. [posted 20.11.2022]
#jungkook x reader#jungkook fluff#jungkook smut#jungkook angst#jungkook fic#jungkook scenarios#jungkook imagines#bts x reader#bts fic#bts fluff#bts smut#bts angst#bts scenarios#bts imagines#btswritingcafe#btshoneyhive#bangtanbathhouse#btscarnivalnet#52hertz#clubzerooclock
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THE BLIZZARD IN JILIN
Renjun x fem reader
fluff & angst // word count: 3.2k
This is the story of Renjun’s childhood friend who he left in Jilin when he followed his dreams of becoming an idol.
Now six years have passed, dozens of awards, hundreds of thousands of fans, and a triple million selling album later... he comes back home to see her engaged to another man.
A blizzard is coming to Jilin and it’s the strongest one China has ever seen.
___ ___ ___
“I passed the auditions!” Renjun hugged you tightly, shaking you from side to side in joy. “I’m going to Korea!”
“Congratulations.” You smile, tears forming at the sides of your eyes.
Renjun’s dream has always been to be an idol, but your dream was always him. To be with him.
For him to spill out the words that his eyes never fail to say everytime you catch him staring at you.
For him to realize that maybe he didn’t give you his coat on cold winter mornings when yours did not make you feel warm enough just because he thought of you as a friend.
For him to tell you that what he truly wants is to just be an ordinary man in Jilin, grow old with you, chill with each other in the warm fireplace as you look back on your lives in old age.
To leave it all behind and choose you.
But that would be selfish. That would leave Renjun always wondering with what ifs. He would be with you but his heart would be stuck with a dream he never got to achieve. Like an empty vessel of a person you once loved. You can’t bring yourself to do that to him just to make him stay.
You love him so much to cut off his wings when he wants so badly to fly.
“Shouldn’t you go home and pack?” You ask with a forced smile. You’re on the verge of crying in front of him. He needs to go before he sees your tears.
“Right!” He jumps. “By the way, you’re the first one I told. I’m gonna prank my family and tell them I didn’t get accepted first hehe. Serves them right for trying to stop me from going.”
“You meanie.” You chuckled and he smiled.
“Come on. You know I love them and it’s just for light fun,” Renjun ruffles your hair and you almost tell him not to leave you then. You bite your lower lip to stop yourself and his eyes land on your lips before he clears his throat. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
You’re always the first one he told everything to. That was your place in his life. But now, seeing him walking away from you, you realize he no longer belongs only to you and you to him.
He will be loved by a thousand screaming fans and he will perform for them in return. He will end your calls at night earlier than usual because he has to meet other girls and boys in the morning for a fansign event. He will eventually stop messaging you as he becomes busy and you’ll wonder if he forgot about you completely.
Renjun will get his wish while you can only dream of yours.
He will be shining as always. Under the bright, blinding spotlights and the glowing eyes of his many supporters. While you will be at your hometown, staring out at the snowy mountains, reminiscing the days when he looked at you the same way his fans look at him now.
Then you will wake up one day and realize that maybe this is bearable enough.
Maybe it’s okay to continue on, knowing that in this short life you met the one you’d choose in a hundred lifetimes, but he couldn’t choose you in this one.
Maybe you’ll finally agree to that arranged marriage your parents have been trying to set you up to.
And maybe you will change your dream to an actual goal instead of a person who will end up leaving you. Maybe, just maybe… you will forget about Renjun too.
And that’s exactly what you did. Or so you thought.
___
5 YEARS LATER
“Honey, remind your fiancé that we’re having his family over for dinner,” your mom says, poking her head out of the kitchen. “Call him, okay?”
You nodded and proceeded to just text Hendery. This arranged marriage isn’t out of love and you both know it. He’s in love with someone else and you’re not willing to give your heart to him. There’s no reason to call each other over things you can just text.
“He says they’re coming.” You said, walking towards the kitchen and making yourself green tea by settling it over ice and waiting for it to melt. Someone you once loved told you this is the best way to make them.
“You didn’t call him?” Your mother asks, concerned. You shrugged. “He’s a nice boy, sweetheart. You’ve been engaged for years and yet you still--”
“Mom, please,” your smile never reached your eyes. “We’ll be fine.”
“Is it because of Renjun?”
You gulped. The mention of his name felt like the cold air that hits you when you step out of the house. It felt like beautiful smiles fading into the background. Like a thousand dreams that were thrown into the fire but the ashes keep on coming back, smothering you and making it difficult to breathe.
“No.” You said almost immediately.
“I heard he’s back home, taking a short vacation.” She presses on, concern plastered on her face as she studies your expression. “Have you talked to him yet?”
“He’s probably forgotten about me.” Your heart was clawing at you from the inside. “Let’s stop talking about him, mom. Do you need help?”
“No, honey. I’m almost finished. You should just get ready.” She pats your back and goes back to cooking dinner.
___
Finished with making yourself look presentable, you went down stairs.
You stopped halfway when the doorbell rang.
No one rings your house doorbell. Hendery texts you whenever he’s in front of your house. Your father just goes in when he comes home from work every month.
Only delivery men use that contraption. But it’s night time right now. What delivery company would be on duty at 8 in the evening?
“Sweetheart, open the door for me, okay? I’m setting up the table.” Your mom called out from the dining area.
Something feels off. What if it’s a murderer? Nah, you’ve been watching too many true crime documentaries.
You looked at the peephole just to be sure.
You wished it was a murderer instead.
That would’ve been better for your health than Huang Renjun carrying a bouquet of flowers in front of your doorstep.
“What happened?” Your mom walks towards you. You look back at her, the color in your face gone. “Why aren’t you opening the door?”
She grabs the doorknob but you stop her, shaking your head. You hissed. “Don’t!”
Your mother’s eyebrows furrowed. She peeks in the peephole and sighs before she uses her strength on you and forces the door open despite your struggling.
“Oh look, it’s Jilin’s superstar! Welcome back!” She smiles, genuinely happy to see the boy who made your entire province proud. Asian parents amirite. “Come in, come in. Just in time for dinner.”
“Thank you for your hospitality.” Renjun says as he steps in and pays his respects. His voice was deeper than you last remembered. He was taller, more regal looking and even more handsome. How is that even possible?
Your eyes meet and a million memories flood through your mind. Him hugging you, telling you that he’ll be back soon. Not soon enough. You crying every night until one day you just stopped because you became numb. Not numb enough. Him saying goodbye on the phone one last time before he ghosts you. You cursing him on the top of your lungs and crying in the middle of a storm, wanting to just sink into the snow and freeze outside for years to come.
“Hi,” he says and hands you the flowers. Your eyes flutter, your hands are shaking as you receive it. You don’t know if you should be angry or what. “How are you?”
How are you? You chuckled bitterly. “Great, thanks for asking.”
“Hang his coat, honey. I’ll be in the dining area if you need me.” Your mom says quickly to mask the contempt in your voice and leaves the both of you. If your mother noticed anything, she pretended not to notice. The tension was so thick, it probably suffocated her.
“Won’t you ask me how I’ve been?” He smiles and your throat constricts. You don’t say anything so he sucks a deep breath, continuing. “We’re triple million seller idols now.”
“C-congrats.” You say, forcing yourself to not say more because if you do, you might say things you'll regret. You place the flowers down and he hands you his coat for you to hang. A whiff of his perfume passes. He smells like how a cozy and warm morning would be if it was a scent.
“I’ve missed you. I’m sorry for not reaching out--” You didn’t have enough time to process what he said because your phone suddenly rang in your pocket. He nods, eyes never leaving yours. “Go ahead. Must be an emergency.”
It was Hendery. You picked up. He only calls when it’s really important.
“Yes, Hendery?” Renjun's expression darkens at the mention of Hendery’s name. “A blizzard? Okay, I understand.”
You walk past Renjun and went to the dining area where your mother is. “They can’t come, mom. Can’t drive because the blizzard suddenly worsened.”
“Oh no,” she pouts, then her expression changes when he sees the man standing behind you. “No worries, we have a guest to help us finish the meal. Don’t we, Renjun?”
“Of course, it’s an honor.” His honey voice from behind surprised you. You didn’t know he followed you. “Careful.”
He caught you in his arms when you almost tripped. You were quick to stand up and remove his hold on you. Your mother just stared amused. You were always too composed and collected, but Renjun brings out a clumsy side to you she’s never seen before.
“It’s a shame her fiancé couldn’t meet her childhood friend.” Your mother sighed when all three of you were seated. You and Renjun sat across from each other while your mom was beside you. “The blizzard really did it this time.”
“Fiancé?” His brows knitted, mouth hanging open, waiting for your mom to say he heard it wrong.
“Hendery.” You said, not looking at him while taking a bite of the steak. “We’ve been engaged since 2018.” Since you stopped talking to me.
“Ah, of course,” he takes a bite out of his food but his eyes are still glued on you. “Congratulations.”
“They’re to be married next month. So exciting!” Your mom exclaims beside you and brings more food to your plates. “Eat up, babies. You both grew up so fast. You’ll probably have babies of your own soon!”
You cleared your throat, feeling the heat on your face. You probably looked so red right now.
“But… next month?” He asks again, this time not bothering to cover his distaste of the marriage topic. “Isn’t that too soon?”
You said nothing. Why does he care anyways?
Your mom explains for you that Hendery’s parents have been trying to get you both married since last year but you keep on saying you’re still too young.
“Right!” Renjun extends a hand to prove his point. “What if she changes her mind?”
He looks at you, trying so hard to steal your glance from the food. You give in and look at him. You almost gasp. This is the first time you’ve ever seen Renjun look this desperate. Not when his parents told him not to go to that audition. Not when he talks about becoming an idol. This was much more intense. Like he was about to do unspeakable things to you if you don’t answer him right now.
“I-I don’t think I’ll change my mind.” You finally say, feeling the heaviness in your chest spread through your body, tingling at the end of your fingers.
“Of course you won’t.” Renjun leans, shoulders rolling back as he adjusts his posture. He says nothing to you throughout the whole meal. He smiles and humors your mother when she shares more stories but he has never looked at you again.
___
“It’s dangerous for you to leave now,” your mom says, worried. Renjun insisted on going home because their house was within walking distance, but the air was blowing outside at terrifying speeds. “Just stay the night like you always do when you were kids, hmm?”
But we’re not kids anymore. Now, we’re young adults who are totally frustrated with each other. That’s not a good idea. But going outside is evidently much worse.
“You can use her brother’s room.” Your mom laughs from the living room where they both are. Your brother Lucas has rarely visited since he married. “You’ve always been like a son to us anyways, even her brother gets jealous of you sometimes.”
Renjun laughs with her, remembering the good ol’ days. You roll your eyes.
“Thank you so much. I’ll behave, I promise.”
Your mom turns to look at you. You’re washing the dishes in the kitchen. “She’s always insisting to hand wash instead of using the dishwasher. I taught her well.”
“I’ll help her. Please get some rest.” He smiles warmly at her and walks towards you. You both hear your mother go up the stairs, leaving you and Renjun alone again.
“Next month, really?” He asks, grabbing the plate from your hand.
“We’ve already talked about this over dinner.” You sigh. “Just drop it.”
“Are you even sure you want to marry him? Don’t you like someone else?” His tone carried a meaning behind it. Like he knew.
What does he even know?!
"I'm marrying him and that's final." You say sternly, your patience drying up. “That would make me happy.”
“Since when did you start lying to yourself?”
The ticking bomb within you explodes. Years of sadness turned into rage and it filled your heaving chest. Your eyes started to water. Renjun settled the plate down when he saw your expression and faced you, apologizing immediately.
“Please don’t marry him.” He suddenly pleads as he kneels down, touching your hands and looking up at you. “Come back to me. Please.”
“What? Why are you so--” you stop to breathe out loudly. Tears began spilling and your heart felt like jumping out. You wanted to shout in his face. Why do you care?! Why are you begging?! What are we?!
But only a fountain of tears followed. Years of practicing what you would say if something like this happened just blurred in your mind. No amount of practice will suffice once your first love comes back and tells you something like this. None.
“I’m so sorry,” Renjun stood up and wiped your tears away. His eyes also started to become teary. “I know I’m not in the position to tell you that but I still did. I also know I’m way too late, but I just want to tell you that I love you. I really, really love you. I tried to forget my feelings because I know it would be difficult for you to end up with someone like me, but I just can’t get you out of my head.
“Every time my group members asked me if I liked someone, I would say no but in the back of my mind all I see is you. Whenever someone sings your favorite song, I would remember how beautiful you looked when we sang it together. Every moment I go up on stage, I always wondered if you’re watching me from somewhere in the crowd. Every winter when it snowed in Seoul, I would think of how the snowflakes fell softly on your hair here in Jilin. I may have left, but my heart stayed with you.
“I’m sorry I stopped talking to you. I knew you liked me back so I thought it would be selfish of me to let you wait for so long because of the path I chose. You didn’t stop me from following my dreams back then despite that. So I thought to myself, ‘she sacrificed for me, but I can’t do the same for her?’ and I decided that I needed to let you go. You deserved to be happy, too.
"I stopped reaching out so you could forget me and finally be happy in someone else’s arms. I was ready to let you go. But when I heard you were getting married next month, I couldn’t bear it. I can’t imagine it. I’d rather die. I’d rather give up on everything than see you walk down the aisle for another man--”
His voice cracks. Head drooping down into yours as he hugs you tightly. As if he let you go now, he would lose you completely. As if he doesn’t squeeze you like this, you will end up continuing with the marriage.
You looked up at the ceiling, tears flowing and mouth hanging open from his words. Isn’t life funny? For years you were scrambling for answers and in just a mere minute, everything has started coming together.
“Renjun...” You say, your voice low and shaky. “I can’t breathe.”
He loosens his hold on you and looks you in the eyes. His hands cupped your face. “Did you hear me? I said I love you. I said I really, really, really love you.”
“I heard, dumbass.” You cough up a small laugh, the tears won’t stop falling. “I love you too.”
He sighs, relief washing over his face. “Marry me instead?”
“Dude, don’t you think you’re going too fast?” You say, your hands planted on his chest. Eyes puffy. Renjun only found it cute.
“The last time I stalled, I almost lost you. So I’m going all-in now.”
“You’re a kpop idol. What am I supposed to do if you're on tour and I need to give birth, hmm?”
"Don't you think you're moving faster than me? I'm just at the marriage part and you're already at pregnancy." He chuckles. "Then again, maybe we can rearrange the order of things…"
You smacked him on the chest lightly. Who knew he could make dirty jokes like this now?
"You told my mom you would behave."
"Your mom likes me and wants grandchildren. I don't think she'd mind."
"Shut up." You say with a smile and he kisses you. You didn’t expect him to come in stronger than a blizzard and break down all your defenses. His kiss. His truth. His love for you. Him.
There’s still a lot to be done before you two can be free to love each other without worries. But it doesn’t matter. No matter how challenging it is from here on out, you two will have each other and that's all you need. It would be like this. Always.
Renjun's kiss deepens and he smiles victoriously as you melt into his arms. A dozen awards and a ton of trophies he received, but none of those comes close to winning your heart.
___
From upstairs, your mom smiles to herself. She heard everything when she went to ask what's taking so long but backed away quietly when she heard you both crying.
"I knew these kids just needed a little push. Oh, oof. We have to cancel that engagement…."
___ ___ ___
a/n: Dude I loved writing this so much I actually didn’t want it to end lmao
#nct renjun fanfic#nct fanfic#renjun fluff#renjun angst#nct dream angst#nct dream fluff#nct dream fanfic#renjun imagines#this is my first fic hehe pls be nice
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[NEWS] Baekhyun - 190310 Allure: “How EXO's Baekhyun Put His Identity into Privé Alliance”
"Allure's Devon Abelman sat down with the K-pop star during his first-ever solo appearance in the U.S to discuss how he defines beauty and style on his own terms.
BY DEVON ABELMAN
If I didn't know who Baekhyun was before meeting him in February, I would have thought he was just a random handsome dude I met at a nightclub while on vacation in Los Angeles.
As he politely tells a roving cater waiter offering us mini cannolis, "No thank you," I find myself believing that Baekhyun truly is that guy. I'm fully aware of his claim to fame, but he doesn't look or act the part. For starters, Baekhyun's lids aren't defined with expertly blended smoky eyes, and his lips aren't stained with a raspberry lip tint. Those tell-tale signs of a man with his job description are noticeably missing. Not a single stroke of eyeliner or fleck of glitter is in sight, either (honestly, to my dismay). A part of me hoped we'd bond over our eye makeup.
Makeup aside, Baekhyun carries himself with a quiet confidence that is so unassuming that he seems weirdly familiar and incredibly normal compared to the influencers, actors, and singers milling around us in the private VIP area. He never acts like he's better or more important than any other person there. Instead, he has the affability of the construction worker who waves to me every morning on my way to work rather than the larger-than-life bearing of a superstar from Seoul who effortlessly hits high notes while simultaneously performing powerful choreography. During our interview, I felt like I should ask him about his dog instead of his skin-care routine. If I didn't know who Baekhyun was, I would have wondered why I was interviewing him for Allure at all.
Baekhyun's wavy hair reminds me why this article exists on the Internet and not solely as a story I recount to my friends over text messages. Parted in the middle and styled to have a wet look, his auburn ends are relics of internationally beloved K-pop group EXO's most recent concept. His hair, for all intents and purposes, is the reason why we ended up sitting together in a cushy booth in the back corner of the dimly lit VIP section of a club on a Tuesday night. Trust me, neither of us frequent this fine L.A. establishment, located next to the Museum of Death. You won't even catch me in a club when I'm at home in Brooklyn. To put it bluntly, I'm only in this club talking to a nice guy because he's a member of EXO.
The EXO Connection
If this is your introduction to Baekhyun, please know that EXO is a Big Deal. Among their long list of awards and chart-topping accomplishments, the nine-member group performed at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and has racked up more than 100 million views on each of their music videos on YouTube.
By extension, Baekhyun — full name Byun Baekhyun, age 26 — is a Big Deal, too. In addition to being a talented performer with 14.5 million Instagram followers, his bright dye jobs, innovative hairstyles, and experimental eye makeup have sparked beauty trends in K-pop since EXO debuted in 2012. You can, more or less, blame him for the influx of mullets and red-streaked black hair among other idols and thank him for the proliferation of red eye shadow. No matter how controversial or dramatic the looks Baekhyun tries are, he always pulls them off with ease and joviality.
Back to Baekhyun's auburn hair, though. Like most K-pop stars, he constantly undergoes vibrant dye jobs in hues, like pink, silver, and platinum, to fit the group's concepts. For "Love Shot," EXO's latest music video, he paired his newly burgundy hair with a glimmering eye shadow of the same shade and sooty black liner. Now his look is an extremely streamlined version of this.
His current lack of makeup may be a stark contrast from the bold eye looks he typically wears onstage and in music videos, but his skin is just as dewy as ever with the help of a nearly undetectable layer of foundation. His brows are probably lightly filled in, too, but I could be reaching. If anything, Baekhyun's wearing the standard amount of makeup for celebrity men. Just enough to amplify his glow, not enough to make a statement.
Baekhyun's glow is due in part to a consistent regimen; he lists toner, lotion, and moisturizer as the official order. But how many times do you wash your face, I ask, causing a couple of people in the human bubble of managers, publicists, and security guards surrounding us to laugh. Baekhyun ignores their snickers and answers, "Two," in English. (That's right, double cleansing is no laughing matter.) "If I wash my face too many times, I get skin troubles," he adds.
Baekhyun says he hasn't changed up the steps of his skin-care routine in L.A., or ramped up the number of sheet masks he uses. With EXO constantly traveling for concerts and events, "My skin gets used to the environment," he says. "So wherever I am, I use the same skin-care routine."
The Privé Connection
In hindsight, I should have anticipated Baekhyun would present himself in this low-key manner for his first-ever solo appearance in the U.S. In Privé campaigns, he's usually seen as he is now: natural, casual, effortlessly cool. His makeup is minimal; his natural-colored hair looks like all he did was run his hand through it; his outfits are sleek. With all this in mind, I ask him if he could dye his hair any color for the next campaign, what would it be.
How did I end up interviewing Baekhyun in a club, you ask? Let's go back to May 2018. Baekhyun made it onto Vogue's home page when he was named the co-creative director of streetwear brand Privé Alliance. Alongside Danyl Geneciran, the brand's CEO, Baekhyun helps create pieces that "put highlights on the basics," Baekhyun explains to me. He later reveals that he's surprised that almost all of his ideas have been executed.
My favorite part of Privé is how its offerings have a certain fluidity to them, much like Baekhyun's onstage persona. None of Privé's shirts, jackets, and bags are confined to overtly masculine or feminine silhouettes, and the same designs are available for men and women. "It's very important to have everyone be able to wear the clothes comfortably," Baekhyun explains. "Without any official communication, we agreed that [Privé Alliance] is going to be unisex."
With the newest Privé Alliance collection launching in April, the brand invited the public to join Baekhyun for a fashion presentation. The location: the very club we are sitting in. Although he doesn't act like he is (he kept to himself for most of the event), Baekhyun is undoubtedly the center of attention. He is the reason the floor below us is with filled with people from all over the world. Everyone's here to see Baekhyun, not the latest Privé pieces.
The Identity Connection
This is the only question Baekhyun doesn't answer concisely and without hesitation. "I don't know," he says in English. After taking a couple of seconds to think about it, he adds in Korean, "I love the black," adding "simple" in English.
This single word — simple — perfectly mirrors Baekhyun's personal aesthetic. "Basics, but with many little details," he explains. "It’s like you just came out of your house, but it’s still cool." In other words, he's the epitome of "Oh, this old thing? I just threw it on." I ask if he prefers to keep his hair and makeup natural and low-key, too, and he quickly replies, "yes, yes," in Korean.
The fact that Prive's aesthetic is similar to Baekhyun's is intentional. "I put my identity and myself into this collection," he tells me, echoing a line he shared when he made a brief appearance onstage before the fashion presentation commenced. The theme of the collection was his birth year, 1992, with zip-up corduroy jackets and hoodies adorned with '92 in big text.
Another adage he repeats throughout the night is, "Be brave. Be humble." The same words are printed all over the collared white satin shirt he's wearing, layered under a similar navy blue one. After the event, I saw people saying the look recalled EXO's "Lotto" era, back in 2016 when his hair was styled in a similar way and he wore collared shirts with several of the top buttons undone and silver necklaces. Onyx shadow was blended all over his lids back then, though. Fans likened Baekhyun's look that night to a mafia boss. (Seeing those tweets made me laugh, because his charm is far from disarming.) But for Baekhyun, his outfit is more a matter of comfort. "I like how silky it feels," he says. I go on to compare it to pajamas, which makes him chuckle.
Baekhyun doesn't ignore the fact that he typically presents himself with intricate details. Performing, he points out, is his go-to form of self-expression, outside of working with Privé. And let's be real, Baekhyun's performances, which ooze confidence and allure, wouldn't be the same without his stunning hair and makeup.
To borrow a word from Baekhyun, identity — and the way we present ourselves — isn't fixed. For example, the way my best friend describes my identity could be strikingly different from the way my sisters would. The way I dress when I'm going to get a bagel on a Saturday morning (track pants and a T-shirt) is different from how I dress for work (vintage floral dresses) or an event like this (a blue-and-white plaid suit). The way I do my colorful makeup is also evolving, too.
We often see K-pop stars in narrow, controlled situations, though, so we know and define them according to what we're able to see. I'm as guilty of this as the next person, i.e., assuming Baekeyun would show up with eyeliner as bold as my own. When you take a K-pop star out of a K-pop setting, a different side of them is revealed. They no longer have to adhere to a group aesthetic, just their own. We get a glimpse of Baekhyun's at the airport and in the selfies he posts on Instagram, but Privé Alliance has given him a platform to truly show his identity on his own terms.
At that club, I felt like I was being introduced to Baekhyun all over again. Back when I watched EXO's music video for "Monster" the first time, I saw him as part of a carefully crafted package; the second time, I saw him the way he sees himself."
Photo links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Credit: Allure.
#EXO#EXO K#Baekhyun#190310#190226#exo im#exo k im#baekhyun im#190226 prive#p:news#t:news#fs:allure#comeback:Tempo#followup:Shot
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Taylor Swift before as well as after
The number of celebrities that are afraid to come to be the subject of plastic surgery is impressive! Take Taylor Swift as an example. Ever since she's transformed from a country music musician to a worldwide pop celebrity, she's been implicated of having several aesthetic treatments done including a nose job, breast implants, lips, butt, you name it! The celebrity site will tell you the details of the personal life and cosmetic surgery of the stars!
Although Taylor has "shake ... ed off" as if it's just part of her job for being so abundant and also well-known. However, we all know that someplace underneath that gorgeous body and soul of hers, she's not especially pleased about it.
Nevertheless, individuals take a look at her face and body since they believe she's gorgeous, concur? Otherwise, who would care and enter into every little detail selecting discrepancies from her eyes, nose, teeth, legs, or ... whatever!
At the very least ... that's the only reason that she's included here.
Yes, besides her undeniable vocal singing, dance, and song-writing abilities, we additionally think that she's incredibly quite and also warm. Therefore, it's very likely that she's had help from plastic surgeons.
Taylor Swift's Elegance Transformation
Allow's see just how the superstar's face as well as body have changed through the years. This need to offer us a much better suggestion about her all-natural beauty as well as whether there are other cosmetic surgeries we could've missed out on.
The year 1995
Consider that angel face! At merely 6 years old, Taylor already appears as a star planned. She has lovely dual eyelids that run deep below her brows. With this, we can pretty much dismiss any eye or eyelid surgical treatment. It likewise appears she's obtained ash blonde hair back then, no wonder they claim Taylor's all-natural hair color changes on its own.
The year 1996
That would have thought that she 'd play football when she was young? It's rarely you get to see a cute chubby Taylor Swift either. Take a look at the infant fat on her face, which completes waistline. It appears like she's obtained some big dollar teeth also as well as you'll see the teeth alter if you compare her photos from at that time and now. Braces anybody?
The year 2001
Taylor created a rate of interest in musical theatre at the young age of 9. She started taking vocal and also acting courses in New York however loved country music after paying attention to Shania Twain's songs. When she transformed 12 (in the picture), she received aid from a neighborhood artist and also was educated on how to play guitar and write tracks.
With most of the baby fat gone, her face functions have turned into the acquainted face we're so utilized to seeing. What a quiet young lad with unbelievable songs skills!
The year 2003
Taylor's household relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee, when she was 14 since her mommy and also papa wanted to aid her to get involved in c and w. You can see that she's shed a great deal of weight here, and also, her face form has trimmed quite a bit revealing her natural v-shaped chin. She does not require chin implants or improving going by this.
The year 2004
When Taylor fulfilled Scott Borchetta in 2004, she became one of the very first significant finalizing for Large Maker Records. She's not just got the great appearances. Still, her songwriting skills had enhanced substantially after working really "TOUGH" with Liz Rose, The Warren Brothers, Brett James, Troy Verges, Mac McAnally and so on.
We can practically concur that Taylor Swift's charm is like god-gifted! Take a look at her gorgeous curly blonde hair and those chatting blue eyes. Fresh without makeup, Taylor's jawline has turned into one of her most eye-catching features, although her nose does appear to be larger than it is now, and also her breast location was still establishing.
The year 2006
After several years of discovering, researching, and also rushing, she finally released her initial brand-new cd "Taylor Swift," which peaked at number 5 on the Signboard 200. At merely 17 years old, Taylor has taken advantage of a big young girl's market as well as ended up being an idolizer for numerous women teenagers. Suddenly, every woman intended to replicate the means of how Taylor does her eye makeup, which was just one of her most fascinating features that improved her eye form to perfection!
The year 2008
Taylor launched her 2nd cd, "Courageous" in 2008, and also the lead track "Romance" placed number 4 in the US Billboard 100. She has formally become an American sweetheart with followers from both sexes. Her makeup again is placed on, and also her lip shade includes in her appeal, so it's no wonder why so many young American guys want a sweetheart like Swift.
At age 19, we have yet to find proof suggesting that the vocalist has had any type of cosmetic surgery. She has an instead regular-sized heart designed lips, not also plump and also not as well thin either, so it shows up lip shots are not in the books right here.
The year 2010
Here is the 21-year-old Taylor getting to the American Songs Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Aside from dropping her universal curly search for the all brand-new straight hairdo, her nose likewise appears to be different contrasted to in the past. She may have gone through a refined rhinoplasty here as you can see that her nose bridge seems thinner, and also, the nose suggestions appear to be sharper and also pointier as well.
Miss Swift is a complete grown-up lady now as well as going by her breast size, we could not see any trace of a boob job (yet!), so we'll leave that point of view till later on as we continue.
Below's a full body shot of Taylor when she went to the 2010 Individuals' Choice Awards in LA. Perhaps there's a reason people called her a stick. She's pretty tall and also skinny, to be straightforward. However, we feel that she has a good body for modeling. The question she'll ever before require a liposuction surgery though and appears as she would certainly have made her popularity somehow ...
The year 2011
At the CoverGirl 50th Wedding anniversary celebration event at the BOA Steakhouse in West Hollywood, The Golden State. Taylor is looking sensational in this black strapless sweetheart dress flaunting her wonderful collarbones and shoulder structure. You need likewise to wonder what skin treatment she uses since her smooth, glowing skin is contrasting her red lips beautifully!
The year 2012
What a difference a year makes as Taylor heads to Sydney for the 2012 Aria Awards with her pair of "new friends"! Check out her upper body and also the method her bosom is laying in that gown. Unsure concerning you, yet those look like new boobs to us as well as they do not also appear all-natural either. If we had to think, after that yup ... those are breast augmentation therein.
The year 2013
Taylor Swift makes a curvy entry on the red carpet at the Golden Globes Awards in Beverly Hills. Her bust size has most definitely increased so we do not condemn you if you assume that she's checked out a surgeon and also obtained herself a breast enhancement surgical treatment done. Look exactly how buoyant as well as complete her boobs are now! And with today's healing abilities, it's not likely that we'll see any implant marks either.
Incidentally, are those creases revealing on her temple? Considered that she's just 24 years old, so she much better adhere to her skin treatment routine. Otherwise, she may need Botox fillers or a browlift procedure to deal with that location quickly.
The year 2014
If you think Taylor Swift's obtained a brand-new body, after that, you're correct! As a matter of fact, she looks absolutely nothing like the old stick number that many individuals have criticized, and then all of a sudden, she seems like the high blonde Kardashian ... WHAT! Are you sure those are her legs and also her butt?
Okay, while you may be screaming plastic surgery, however, we, ,believe she may have achieved that lower body via some physical fitness workout routines with an excellent personal trainer. Look very closely at her thighs and calf muscle mass ... those legs truthfully appear like effort. As to whether she has butt implants in her bum ... we'll let you make a decision!
The year 2015
Seriously people, if those do not appear like fake boobs to you, we don't recognize what does! Whether those breasts are genuine or otherwise, it did not stop Taylor from dating Scottish DJ and also document producer, Calvin Harris, with the pair supposedly earning over $145 million in overall, making them the highest possible paid celeb pair in 2015.
The year 2016
This was among one of the most successful years for Taylor in which she won 3 Grammy Honors for "1989" cd as well as "Bad Blood". There have been reports suggesting that the star has got tattoos on her arms, body, and also foot, nonetheless we couldn't find any evidence to support those claims. We have additionally seen images of her with the tat, number 13 on her hand, however, that ended up being a phony tattoo just.
The year 2017
Taylor Swift is looking as classy as ever in this outfit, and also, we don't even care if her breasts are phony anymore since the truth is, they look great! She released one more leading cd this year, Credibility, and also in case you wish to see her at work, here is just one of the latest video, END GAME, featuring Ed Sheeran and even Future.
After this video clip was launched, lots of fans are encouraged that Taylor had gone through a boob job treatment. Although we have thought this a number of years earlier, you've got to see how busty she searched in this MTV.
The year 2018
Right here, Taylor participates in the 2018 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. No real adjustments that we could see here as well as although her left eye appears to smaller, that might be the timing of the cam shot.
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BIGBANG- The Real KPOP KING (short story of their achivements for newbies)
Is there anyone in Korea that doesn’t know Bigbang?
Bigbang joined the Korean entertainment industry in 2006 and until now, the group still maintains its unprecedented major impact as they are present in music, fashion and all other trends that young people are fond of. Five members G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, Daesung, and Seungri all possess outstanding talents and receive the public’s love and admiration in many aspects, from refined music, trendy fashion style, dynamic activities on entertainment programs as well as television to their collaboration with world-famous brands.
Their enthusiastic activities have connected the whole world. With G-Dragon as the center, their self-composed songs have taken the worldwide charts by storm. Their fashion sense has also been noticed by prestigious brands. In 2015, the American economics magazine Forbes wrote Bigbang’s name at No.23 on the list of musicians with the highest income in the world and said, “The Seoul-based boyband pulled in $44 million (51.7 billion won) last year”. The group was also ranked at the 13th position in the list of highest-earning figures that were under 30 years old.
Overcoming all individual incidents, Bigbang still maintains the same number of members after over 10 years and is waiting for their return. Except for Seungri, the remaining members are performing their military services. Seungri is expected to follow them to join the army soon. Previously, in the press conference on the occasion of their 10th anniversary of debut, Taeyang said, “Thanks everyone for giving us a lot of love in the past 10 years, hope that we still have your support in the next 10 years.” After that, T.O.P also expressed his desire, “I hope to receive more and more love from the fans and develop even more in the next 20 to 30 years. That way, I’ll be able to continue having anniversaries like this 10-year milestone.”
-Building YG and leading KPOP
Bigbang also came from a survival show. From the six trainees at that time, Bigbang was formed with 5 members like today. To become the present Bigbang, they had to go through such a tough training period that Yang Hyun Suk once said “Ji Yong, can you stop practicing and go home?” – the utterance that is still repeated up until now. Even after their debut, Bigbang still constantly made efforts and shed a lot of sweats and blood in the practice room in YG’s basement.
The fruit of these efforts is the outstanding success of “Lie” – a song released in 2007. The song swept through musical charts for seven consecutive weeks and helped the group win the Daesang award “Song of the Year” at the “2007 MKMF Music Festival” awards ceremony. Then, the group continuously released many hits such as “Last Farewell”, “Haru Haru”, “Sunset Glow” and headed to Japan market. The group made a great achievement as a foreign artist that attracted a total of 4,205,500 spectators to their Dome tour for five years in a row. In addition to working within the group, each member has also conducted solo and unit activities such as GD&TOP, GD&Taeyang and gained many outstanding results. The group has gone beyond the basement training room, helped the company set up a new headquarters and turned Hapjeong Ward into YG’s street.
•From cold to HOT
In the fashion world, Bigbang is also well treated as “superstar”. It is because what they do always becomes trends. At the time of debut, the fashion style of combining skinny jeans and High top sneakers of the group caused a fashion wave among men. Since then, the male started to wear skinny jeans – the piece of clothing that was known to be only suitable for women. Sports brands also began to sell High top sneakers. At that time, Bigbang worked actively as representative models for a sneaker brand. In particular, G-Dragon also pursued unisex – a fashion style for both sexes. With a diverse fashion taste regardless of street brand or luxury brand name, he also made Chanel director Karl Lagerfeld admire him. Even before enlistment, G-Dragon also participated in various fashion events as a “muse” of Channel.
Bigbang is also the group showing that they can transform unlimitedly with various man hairstyles. The group has tried a variety of hairstyles from long bun to shaved hair, mohican, wolf cut, etc. In particular, G-Dragon’s last wolf cut hairstyle
before joining the army is still the favorite choice of many celebrities until now. Just search on the portal sites and you will easily come across the photos of many artists with this wolf cut hair, for example Baekhyun (EXO), male singer Dean, actor Nam Joo Hyuk or Song Mino (Winner), etc.
•Restlessly setting records
The achievements of Bigbang are countless. Bigbang has dominated the whole K-pop music industry for the past 10 years as the leading boy group. That has been proven through a series of records such as being the first K-pop singer group to enter Billboard’s main chart with a Korean album in 2012, the first idol group whose MV hit 200 million views on YouTube, the first Korean artists to enter the top 100 celebrities voted by Forbes. At the moment, Bigbang still stays at the peak of their career. Bigbang is the only idol group that has maintained their heyday with respectable achievements throughout 10 years of activity. Despite getting old, the fans never stop supporting the group. The public always places their trust in Bigbang’s music and the evidence is that the first fan song titled “Flower Road” has swept through all music charts. In particular, they are known as a group owning many male fans so it is easy to find the videos that captured the scene of the members being bewildered by the male fans’ enthusiastic cheers.
Being the member who fills the void of his four brothers, youngest member Seungri promised, “Before their enlistment, I promised them that I would work actively so that everyone would not feel the absence of Bigbang. To keep that promise, I have been working really hard, I will also prepare painstakingly for the last solo tour in order to present a beautiful look to fans before performing my military service. We will send our greetings to everyone with the full line-up soon.”
Source: bigbang updates
#bigbang#g dragon#choi seunghyun#gdragon#seungri#daesung#taeyang#lee seunghyun#vip until whenever#jiyong kwon#bigbang g dragon#g dragon bigbang#kpop gdragon#kpop#khh#dong youngbae#kangdaesung#lee seungri#gdragon scenario#seungri bigbang#bigbang t.o.p
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Bigbang - The eternal Kpop king came from blood and tear
SOS(story of star) - Stories of stars when they just debuted that we don't know and behind-the-scenes stories told by them
Is there anyone in Korea that does not know Bigbang?
Bigbang joined the Korean entertainment industry in 2006 and until now, the group still maintains its unprecedented major impact as they are present in music, fashion and all other trends that young people are fond of. Five members G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, Daesung, and Seungri all possess outstanding talents and receive the public's love and admiration in many aspects, from refined music, trendy fashion style, dynamic activities on entertainment programs as well as television to their collaboration with world-famous brands.
Their enthusiastic activities have connected the whole world. With G-Dragon as the center, their self-composed songs have taken the worldwide charts by storm. Their fashion sense has also been noticed by prestigious brands. In 2015, the American economics magazine Forbes wrote Bigbang's name at No.23 on the list of musicians with the highest income in the world and said, "The Seoul-based boyband pulled in $44 million (51.7 billion won) last year". The group was also ranked at the 13th position in the list of highest-earning figures that were under 30 years old.
Overcoming all individual incidents, Bigbang still maintains the same number of members after over 10 years and is waiting for their return. Except for Seungri, the remaining members are performing their military services. Seungri is expected to follow them to join the army soon. Previously, in the press conference on the occasion of their 10th anniversary of debut, Taeyang said, "Thanks everyone for giving us a lot of love in the past 10 years, hope that we still have your support in the next 10 years." After that, T.O.P also expressed his desire, "I hope to receive more and more love from the fans and develop even more in the next 20 to 30 years. That way, I'll be able to continue having anniversaries like this 10-year milestone."
▶ Building YG, leading Kpop
Bigbang also came from a survival show. From the six trainees at that time, Bigbang was formed with 5 members like today. To become the present Bigbang, they had to go through such a tough training period that Yang Hyun Suk once said "Ji Yong, can you stop practicing and go home?" - the utterance that is still repeated up until now. Even after their debut, Bigbang still constantly made efforts and shed a lot of sweats and blood in the practice room in YG's basement.
The fruit of these efforts is the outstanding success of "Lie" - a song released in 2007. The song swept through musical charts for seven consecutive weeks and helped the group win the Daesang award "Song of the Year" at the "2007 MKMF Music Festival" awards ceremony. Then, the group continuously released many hits such as "Last Farewell", "Haru Haru", "Sunset Glow" and headed to Japan market. The group made a great achievement as a foreign artist that attracted a total of 4,205,500 spectators to their Dome tour for five years in a row. In addition to working within the group, each member has also conducted solo and unit activities such as GD&TOP, GD&Taeyang and gained many outstanding results. The group has gone beyond the basement training room, helped the company set up a new headquarters and turned Hapjeong Ward into YG's street.
▶ "Hot" from head to toe
In the fashion world, Bigbang is also well treated as "superstar". It is because what they do always becomes trends. At the time of debut, the fashion style of combining skinny jeans and High top sneakers of the group caused a fashion wave among men. Since then, the male started to wear skinny jeans - the piece of clothing that was known to be only suitable for women. Sports brands also began to sell High top sneakers. At that time, Bigbang worked actively as representative models for a sneaker brand. In particular, G-Dragon also pursued unisex - a fashion style for both sexes. With a diverse fashion taste regardless of street brand or luxury brand name, he also made Chanel director Karl Lagerfeld admire him. Even before enlistment, G-Dragon also participated in various fashion events as a "muse" of Channel.
Bigbang is also the group showing that they can transform unlimitedly with various man hairstyles. The group has tried a variety of hairstyles from long bun to shaved hair, mohican, wolf cut, etc. In particular, G-Dragon's last wolf cut hairstyle before joining the army is still the favorite choice of many celebrities until now. Just search on the portal sites and you will easily come across the photos of many artists with this wolf cut hair, for example Baekhyun (EXO), male singer Dean, actor Nam Joo Hyuk or Song Mino (Winner), etc.
▶ Restlessly setting records
The achievements of Bigbang are countless. Bigbang has dominated the whole K-pop music industry for the past 10 years as the leading boy group. That has been proven through a series of records such as being the first K-pop singer group to enter Billboard's main chart with a Korean album in 2012, the first idol group whose MV hit 200 million views on YouTube, the first Korean artists to enter the top 100 celebrities voted by Forbes. At the moment, Bigbang still stays at the peak of their career. Bigbang is the only idol group that has maintained their heyday with respectable achievements throughout 10 years of activity. Despite getting old, the fans never stop supporting the group. The public always places their trust in Bigbang's music and the evidence is that the first fan song titled "Flower Road" has swept through all music charts. In particular, they are known as a group owning many male fans so it is easy to find the videos that captured the scene of the members being bewildered by the male fans' enthusiastic cheers.
Being the member who fills the void of his four brothers, youngest member Seungri promised, "Before their enlistment, I promised them that I would work actively so that everyone would not feel the absence of Bigbang. To keep that promise, I have been working really hard, I will also prepare painstakingly for the last solo tour in order to present a beautiful look to fans before performing my military service. We will send our greetings to everyone with the full line-up soon."
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ClassFell SOL
This is the first chapter of a art/fic collab with the wonderful @konekokittycat. Neko came up with a slice of life story involving our favorite fell bros (who aren't bros in the story) and I must say I'm very excited to be able to collab with them!! Since it's gonna be small scenes in no particular order from their daily lives, feel free to throw ideas at me or Neko, I guess? Can be for before or after they start dating.
read on AO3
Going to a concert in the Underground is rare.
First, it can be dangerous. When so many monsters gather in a packed place and drink too much, nothing good happens. Too many deadly fights have occured during such events and thus many have been cancelled by royal decree.
But that's not enough to stop the super star Mettaton from doing live performances. Which is the second reason why Papyrus doesn't go to his idol's concerts very often. Tickets to Mettaton's shows are hard to find and expensive. It's not something he can afford easily, especially if he has to buy one for his small boyfriend too. But he has been saving up money for the past 2 months and he's very excited for today's date.
Well, to be more exact, he's excited because of who he's going with.
"hey pap!"
Speaking of the devil, Sans finally arrives at their meeting point and Papyrus can't stop his SOUL from thumping in his chest when he sees his little boyfriend.
"Hi Sans. I see you dressed up for the occasion, I feel flattered," Papyrus says sarcastically.
Sans wears the school uniform he wears everyday, a simple shirt with black pants, nothing fancy, especially for a date at one of the most famous superstars in the Underground. It doesn't bother Papyrus at all, in fact he thinks Sans is absolutely adorable in those clothes. But what he's waiting for is Sans' reaction...
"w-well i... err..." the small skeleton stutters while his face is busy turning red. So cute. "i mean, it's only a date, no need to be so formal! and look who's talking!" he adds but realizes Papyrus has dressed up for the occasion, a casual but elegant black shirt fitting his broad shoulders and tight leather pants that leave nothing to the imagination. Two spiked belts hang around his waist, adding an edginess to his look Papyrus knows Sans loves.
The tall skeleton lets himself be admired before pulling Sans in his arms and whispers while kissing the top of Sans' skull, "I was kidding. You're cute," and he can practically feel Sans' skull turn red. Sans wriggles in his embrace but finally puts his arms around Papyrus' waist. Stars, this little skeleton is just so cute Papyrus might forget about the concert.
Oh right, the concert.
"Should we go?" Papyrus asks as he releases Sans from his hug, taking his small left hand in his larger one and begins to walk to the entrance of the concert hall...
...only to be stopped when Sans lets go of his hand, awkwardly walks around Papyrus and settles on his other side. He then slips his hand back in Papyrus' hand.
"What was that for?" Papyrus asks, confused.
"nothing," Sans blushes.
"Sans. What was that for?" He insists, his tone light and teasing.
"oh shut up!" Sans squeaks embarrassingly and rushes forward in an attemp to hide the blush on his face from Papyrus, that he still sees anyway, and that's when Papyrus notices.
On Sans' backpack is glued a white sheet of paper, on which is written in bright red and big letters 'boy'. It's easily legible from afar. Papyrus is sure that Sans' backpack didn't have such a decoration yesterday at school.
"Boy?" he asks, mostly to himself, but Sans hears him.
The little skeleton freezes in place, and turns even redder than before, if that's even possible. He stays with his back toward Papyrus for a moment before turning around slowly. His skull is glowing red.
So cute.
"you don't need to know. now stop dawdling and let's go!" Sans just blurts out, grabbing Papyrus' hand once again and pulling him toward the concert hall. Once Papyrus has caught up with him, he has to listen carefully to hear what Sans is muttering under his breath.
"you're my boyfriend, i won't let you be hit on by anyone."
#cognito fic#collab#konekokittycat#fell Papyrus#fell Sans#classfell sol#sans is adorable#tsundere#be sure to check out neko's reblog to fully enjoy the experience#and follow them if you're not already
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Indian Idol Reloaded Concert in Birmingham
Indian Idol Season 10 (the Indian version of the Pop Idol) format aired in July 2018 and it was the best series ever! The winner Salman Ali was crowned in December later that year and I believe he has an outstanding voice.
I was ecstatic that the finalists were coming to perform live in Birmingham and the concert was titled ‘Indian Idol Reloaded’. The show was taking place at the International Convention Centre on the 13th of April 2019, a not be missed event in my option. This contestants during the competition were extremely talented and it was going to be my first musical concert I was attending. The artists who were performing at the musical extravaganza included Ankush Bharadwaj, Salman Ali, Neelanjana Ray and Nitin Kumar.
It was the day of the show and as you can imagine, I was super excited! I went to the event with my dad by car and it was beautiful summer’s day which made the journey even more pleasant. We arrived at the ICC, Birmingham and it was a fantastic looking building from the inside which was also wheelchair accessible. Brilliant! We were then escorted to the auditorium and to our seats by staff who were all suited and booted which made me feel like a VIP.
The lights went out and the show was about to begin with Ankush Bharadwaj gracing the Birmingham stage. The audience screamed and went crazy and he performed to the song “Aaj Mausam Bada Beimaan Hai” (“Today the weather is very seductive”). He sang the romantic track brilliantly and everyone was singing along and I just knew it was going to be an unforgettable evening of music and entertainment. The second song Ankush sang was “Dard-e-Dil, Dard-e-Jigar Dil Mein Jagaya Aapne” (“You awakened the pain in my heart”). I loved this song as he put his own style to it. Following from this Ankush Bharadwaj sang “Chahoonga Main Tujhe Saanjh Sawere” (“I will love you from morning till evening”). This was a wonderful performance as Ankush sang with great passion and conviction and I was truly blown away. Another amazing performance followed to the song “O Meri Mehbooba” (“Oh my Beloved”) originally sung by Mohammad Rafi. This was yet again a fabulous version of the song and the talented singer was grooving along with the audience which was great to see.
My all-time favourite songs of Ankush’s performance were “Badan Pe Sitaare Lapete Hue” (“With stars wrapped around your body”) and “Yamma, Yamma” from the movie Shaan (Pride).These were both electrifying performances, the atmosphere and musicians were absolutely brilliant! It was an out of this world experience!
Neelanjana Ray was the next finalist to entertain the Birmingham crowd with her sensational voice. Neelanjana made her entrance on to the stage and received a fantastic reception from myself as I am a huge fan and from the crowd. It amazes me that at the tender age of 15 how she manages to reach those high notes so effortlessly and still delivers a fantastic performance. Her opening song was “Dil Cheez Kya Hai Aap Meri Jaan Lijiye” (Forget my heart, take my life instead”). This is one of those all-time classic songs and Neelanjana gave a mind-blowing performance and she was looking cool as always! This was swiftly followed by another romantic song “EK Pyar Ka Nagma Hai” (“It is a song of love”). It was a beautiful performance because it was packed with emotion and I could listen to her all day. Amazing! Neelanjana dedicated the next song for the love and affection she received from the audience of Birmingham. It was “Bahut Pyar Karte Hain Tumko Sanam” (“I love you so much, my love”).Wow, what an outstanding interpretation, I would have given her a standing ovation! If I could stand up.
Neelanjana’s inspiration has always been Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar therefore she performed a tribute in the form of a medley to Asha Ji. The songs included “Duniya Mein, Logo Ko” (“In the world, people”), “Piya Tu Ab To Aaja” (“Lover, you just come now)” and the most popular song “Dum Maro Dum” (“Puff, take a puff!”). It was a world -class performance and she truly got the party started as the atmosphere went to another level, it was unbelievable. I must also commend the band and the backing vocals as they were absolutely superb in supporting Neelanjana. Ankush also dueted with Neelanjana and two of my favourite songs were “Jaane Ja Dhoondta Phir Raha” (“Oh lover, I am seeing you”) and “Suraj Hua Madham” (“The sun has stopped glowing”). It was a rocking and energizing performance and they both quite literally took my breath away!
Salman Ali and Nitin Kumar where the final two stars to wow and perform for the West Midlands audience. The excitement level of the audience skyrocketed and they were filming their entrance as they made their way on to the stage. During this moment they were dancing and jumping to the song “Aaja Tenu Akhiyan Udeek Diyan “(“My eyes are looking for you”) and they sounded amazing! together.
Nitin also performed a solo routine where he sang a medley of songs and his punchlines of jokes in between were hilarious! Mainly based on the fact that his English was not good and I must say his comic timings were brilliant! My favourite songs of Nitin’s performance were “Parda Ho Parda” (“There’s a veil”) and my dad wheeled me to the front of stage. Where everyone was dancing and singing along also trying to get his attention to shake hands with him. My perseverance finally paid off as during a very short pause in the song, Nitin Kumar shook my hand twice! I was overjoyed with happiness and unknown to me at the time the photographers captured the moment which I shall never forget!
We were returning to our seats and the CEO of Angel Events Ltd noticed me and shook both of our hands. I thought this was a great gesture as I have always believed that it is good to meet new people and create new contacts. I had contacted him previously about purchasing accessible tickets and writing a blog post for this event.
I also enjoyed the fantastic medley featuring the songs “Mere Sapno Ki Rani” (“The queen of my dreams”) and “Tere Deewane” (“I have become crazy, mad for you”). He sounded awesome and it was a jaw-dropping performance. The audience were also treated to chart topping Punjabi numbers which included “Morni Banke” (“Walking like a peacock”) and “High Rated Gabru” (“High rated young man”). The atmosphere was extraordinary and not forgetting to mention the Dhol (Drum) player and the band who supported Nitin so brilliantly.
Salman Ali was back on stage to perform for the amazing and very lively audience of Birmingham for one last time. He sang some of my favourite songs whilst playing the piano they included “Tum Hi Ho” (“You are the one”) and “Gulabi Aankhein” (Rosy eyes). I enjoyed the performance as Salman was absolutely amazing on the piano and the contemporary feel he added to the songs. Salman Ali also sang “Mere Rashke Qamar” (“O my envy of the Moon”) and his performance was magnificent and the band were also exceptional!
The excitement continued after the show as I was given the opportunity by Angel Events Ltd to meet and greet the stars. I could not believe my luck that I was just moments away from meeting my idol Neelanjana Ray and the rest of the equally talented stars. The big moment had arrived and it was my turn to meet and greet the stars and have a photograph taken with them.
I was wheeled into position by my dad and placed next to Neelanjana and I was absolutely thrilled to meet her in person. I spoke to her and begun by saying “I am your biggest fan and I have come especially to see you and I have watched all your episodes”. Neelanjana replied and said “Thank you very much”. All the remaining stars then shook my hand and then gathered around me. All of the stars were saying “Look into the Camera” including the photographers and it felt like I was a superstar just like them. One of the greatest moments of my life was then captured. I then said “Good luck to Neelanjana” and she replied “Thank you”.
Absolutely incredible, an unforgettable evening which has created lasting memories and was a treat for my eyes and ears!
#indianidolreloaded#angeleventsltd#bollywoodmusicnights#ankushbhardwaj#neelanjanaray#SalmanAl#nitinkumar#indianidolreloadedbirmingham
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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND 8/17/18 – Crazy Rich Asians, Mile 22, Alpha and More
I’m going to do things a little different this week, because one of my absolutely favorites from Sundance is coming out this weekend, and after seeing it again last week, it’s probably going to end up in my Top 5 for the year, and that is…
JULIET, NAKED (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions)
I’ve been a fan of Nick Hornby’s writing for a very long time, but when I received a copy of his new book in 2009, I was immediately caught up in its story of a has-been musician, his diehard fan and his ignored wife. I was really excited to hear that it would be adapted by director Jesse Peretz, who had been making big waves (and got an Emmy nod) for directing shows like Girls, New Girl and GLOW. The general story revolves around Rose Byrne’s Annie, a woman living in a British seaside town married to Chris O’Dowd’s Duncan, an avid fan of an American singer-songwriter named Tucker Crowe. Duncan runs a website dedicated to his idol, but when he receives a previously unheard demo recording called “Juliet, Naked,” he gets into a squabble with Annie, because she is quite vocal about how much she hates it (mainly to get Duncan’s goat). When Duncan sleeps with a co-worker, Annie kicks him out, but then the real Tucker Crowe (played by Ethan Hawke) gets in touch with Annie (over her negative review of the rare demos), they begin a transatlantic correspondence that leads to them meeting and more. It’s another great story from Hornby in the vein of About a Boy and High Fidelity, one that creates an amazing portrait of this woman who feels she’s in a rut and how she connects with the famous musician who walked out of a concert 20 years earlier and has been raising a young son in upstate New York.
This is a fantastic romantic comedy from Peretz that’s produced by Judd Apatow and others with all-star writing team including Peretz’s sister Eugenia, Jim Taylor (Sideways) and his wife Tamara Jenkins (The Savages), who all did an amazing job adapting Hornby’s work.
Here’s my interview with Jesse Peretz over at NextBestPicture... Enjoy!
INTERVIEW WITH JESSE PERETZ
Juliet, Naked will open in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, expand to more cities next week and then hopefully be fairly wide on August 31.
But that isn’t the only Ethan Hawke movie this week, nope. The actor is having quite a good year indeed...
On top of that, Hawke’s latest film as a director, Blaze (Sundance Selects), will be released in Austin on Friday, as it slowly rolls out to arrive in New York City on September 6 and then in L.A. later in September.
Blaze tells the story of Blaze Foley, played by musician Ben Dickey, who was the lesser-known blues singer who collaborated with his friend Townes Van Zandt. Not knowing much about the Austin native, this is a fascinating film by Hawke that shows a lot of his dysfunctional relationship with his Jewish writer wife (and the film’s co-writer) Sybil Rosen, played by Alia Shakat (who is simply fantastic in the role). Musician Charlie Sexton pulls off a respectable version of Van Zandt, and look for cameos by the likes of Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, Kris Kristofferson and Hawke’s long-time collaborator, Richard Linklater.
This is another great music-based film from Hawke, and a much better narrative feature than his earlier features, 2006’s The Hottest State and 2001’s Chelsea Walls. There’s also a connection between Foley and Hawke’s Juliet, Naked character, because the fictional Tucker Crowe similarly became the subject of urban legends after vanishing from the public eye following a concert. (Foley was actually killed in a scuffle after recording a live album at one of his club performances, which acts as the framing device for the film.)
And now, back to our previously scheduled wide releases, and how ironic that the proverbial “Dog Days of Summer” would begin last weekend with an actual movie called Dog Days, and it bombed? And a giant shark movie starring Jason Statham opened with almost $45 million… crazy times! Yeah, these last few weekends of August have never been known as a good time to release movies, and most movies that end up here are ones that studios just want to get off their coffers before their even slower fall months. That would normally be the case, but that is definitely not the case with…
CRAZY RICH ASIANS (New Line)
The first August anomaly is this romantic-comedy based on Kevin Kwan’s best-selling book, which is the first major studio movie since The Joy Luck Club25 years ago to feature a predominantly Asian cast. This one is about an Asian college professor who takes his Asian girlfriend to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding where she discovers that his family is super-rich and he’s a very in-demand bachelor.
The movie features an amazing cast that includes Constance Wu from the hit ABC sitcom Fresh off the Boat, veteran Chinese actress Michelle Yeoh, comic superstar Ken Jeong (Dr. Ken) as well as fresher talent like rapper Awkwafina, last seen in Ocean’s 8, Gemma Chan and newcomer Henry Golding as the male lead. The movie is directed by Jon M. Chu, who has directed an odd number of movies from G.I. Joe: Retaliationto Step Up 3 and the Jem and the Holograms movie, the latter a huge bomb despite being made for not so much money.
Crazy Rich Asians is a romantic comedy, and obviously, there’s a limited audience for the genre normally, but possibly even more when you have Asians in every role, because you’re never sure whether women of other ethnicities will be as interested in this as they might be with Valentine’s Day or other rom-com hits like The Proposal or Pretty Woman. Of course, we can also look at the long-standing legs of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which drew in a large Greek audience at first, but word-of-mouth helped lead it to $241 million domestic, the highest gross for a rom-com ever.
There haven’t been that many successful rom-coms in recent years unless you include Mamma Mia: Here We go Again or Greg Berlanti’s Love Simon, the latter which grossed $40.8 million opening in March with $11.7 million. Crazy Rich Asians is likely to sway more towards the former, I’d imagine.
What’s interesting and maybe not unexpected is that the Asian-American community has been rallying around the movie, whether or not they’ve read the book or even like romantic comedy films, with many entire theaters/screenings being bought up in advance. It’s likely the community realizes that Crazy Rich Asians will need to succeed if they’re going to see more Asians and Asian-Americans in significant leading roles. Even so, you have to remember that Asians only make up 6% of the U.S. population and maybe a little more in Canada, so how much impact can a movie have even if every single Asian person in the country goes to see it? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Crazy Rich Asians is opening on Wednesday, which kind of throws a wrench in trying to project how the movie might do, because a.) people who desperately want to see the movie might rush out to see it on Weds if b.) some might not even realize it opens on Wednesday and will wait for Thursday or Friday. (There weren’t any Tuesday previews to give us any sort of hint of what’s to come.) One presumes the point of the earlier opening is to help drive word-of-mouth for the weekend, although New Line also gave the movie sneak previews last Wednesday, which might do the trick. Reviews are excellent with it currently holding a respectable 96% on Rotten Tomatoes but there are many more reviews to come.
Expect the movie to do big business on Wednesday and Thursday, possibly $9 to 10 million, and then another $20 million plus over the weekend, although it shouldn’t be surprising if it does more than $30 million in its first five days. After all, we’re definitely entering new territory here. Even so, word-of-mouth should help it over the rest of the summer and into September, so don’t be surprised if it ends up making close to $100 million or more, especially if it’s as good as I’ve heard.
MILE 22 (STXfilms)
A movie hoping to bring in the business that will have little to no interest in Crazy Rich Asiansis this new action-thriller from actor Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg, who now have made three movies based on real events: Lone Survivor (’13, $125 mil. Gross), Deepwater Horizon (’16, $61.4 mil.) and Patriots Day (’16, $31.9 mil.). That’s a fairly dramatic drop from their first movie to their last one, and Mile 22 is an original story not based on real events about a CIA task force who have to protect an asset from terrorists over the course of 22 miles. (And yes, that does sound a lot like the Bruce Willis-Mos Def movie 16 Blocksfrom 2006, thanks for noticing.)
Besides Wahlberg, it stars Lauren Cohan from The Walking Dead, John Malkovich (who also was in Deepwater Horizon), MMA champ and WWE contender Ronda Rousy, Indonesian martial arts star Iko Uwais (The Raid) and Berg himself. It’s a great cast but we’ve seen similar movies like this one with great casts that don’t do so well from Hotel Artemis earlier this summer to John Hillcoat’s Triple 9 in 2016, although both of them looked like they could be good.
Obviously, Wahlberg is going to be this film’s biggest draw, but his filmography has also run the gamut of hits and bombs. Last year, Wahlberg appeared in Michael Bay’s Transformers: The Last Knight, the comedy sequel Daddy’s Home 2 and the beleaguered Ridley Scott drama All the Money in the World, continuing his run of two to three movies a year with varying degrees of quality and success.
Like so many other movies in theaters and quite a few from STX, Mile 22 is a Chinese co-production, which doesn’t mean a heck of a lot for the film’s domestic success. Last year’s The Foreigner starring Pierce Brosnan and Jackie Chan is a good example as that topped out at $34.3 million domestic after a $13.1 million opening, although that movie did three times its domestic take overseas.
This might be why STX decided to dump the movie into late August, because maybe it isn’t as strong as some of the Berg-Wahlberg’s previous offerings, but is more of a throwaway action-thriller instead. The studio also isn’t screening for critics until Wednesday night, the day before it opens for Thursday previews, so I wouldn’t expect it to be one of “Da Bergs’” better-reviewed films.
On top of that, there’s also just too much competition for older males in theaters, so this might have a hard time doing more than $15 million this weekend, a third place showing, as it struggles to make $35 million by summer’s end.
(Note: I may run a mini-review and make a few changes above after I see the movie tonight.)
ALPHA (Sony)
The odd dog or wolf of the weekend is this big screen adventure epic set during the Ice Age starring Kodi Smit-McPhee (X-Men: Apocalypse), which looks a lot like Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 BC. Hopefully, it isn’t nearly as bad. (See my review below. It isn’t.)
Alphais the new movie from Albert Hughes, one half of the Hughes Brothers, who broke out with urban crime films like Menace II Society and Dead Presidents before making From Hell with Johnny Depp and The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington. After the latter, the two went their separate ways and after a couple failed projects, Albert decided to make this very different movie as his solo dramatic feature as a director. It’s a strange choice for sure, but Sony have doubled down by giving the movie an IMAX release to push its big-screen nature.
There should be enough awareness of this movie being that it was supposed to come out last November and then earlier this year – I was seeing trailers for this in front of Thor: Ragnarok in early November and over the Christmas holidays as well – but Sony clearly doesn’t have much faith in the movie as they moved it to the dumping ground of late August. The studio has also completely changed the marketing as the movie’s release neared, pushing it more for the wolves that might get women and kids excited to see it. Personally, I don’t see the switch in marketing gears helping much, as I was already tuning out about the movie after seeing the trailers too much last year. (Reviews, surprisingly, are STELLAR so far, but there are only eight on Rotten Tomatoes, so that might change?)
Although people might know about the movie, it really doesn’t look that appealing from the marketing, and it won’t help that schools have already started in many places cutting potential business for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Frankly, it will be a shocker to me if Alpha makes more than $7 million this weekend even with the higher incent and price for IMAX tickets.
Mini-Review: When I was younger, I used to love watching pre-historic epics like 1 Million Years B.C. on television. Hopefully, some young boys and girls will be as inspired by watching Albert Hughes’ solo narrative debut as a director, but Alpha is definitely not the type of movie that should be watched on a television set.
It gets off to a rough start with young Keda (Kodi Smit-Mcphee) not living up to his chieftain father’s hopes as a warrior. When the tribe takes on a herd of buffalo, Keda gets knocked off a cliff and he’s left behind for dead by the tribe. Trying to survive, Keda faces off against a pack of wolves and one of the wolf pack is injured in the melée. The caring young man brings the injured wolf along on his journey of survival as the two of them work together to catch prey and survive.
This is where Alpha picks up greatly, becoming tale of a boy and his “dog” survival tale that’s charming and heart-warming and not nearly as corny or obvious as the earlier storytelling might lead you to believe. (It doesn’t take long to get over the awkward decision to begin with the buffalo hunt, then cut back a week as Keda is about to go over the cliff, and then show the buffalo hunt again, throwing Keda over the cliff for real the second time.)
If nothing else, one needs to commend the impressive job by Hughes and team -- from the animal trainers to the visual FX department, sound and music – for bringing this tale to life in a way that keeps you glued to the screen and benefits greatly from the IMAX 3D projection. It might be good to note that all of the film’s dialogue is in some ancient prehistoric dialect, so if your kids are too young to read subtitles, then they may get frustrated by not understanding what is being said.
Though there are problems in the first third, the fact is that if Terrence Malick or Alejandro Innaritu made this exact same movie, it would be thought of as a revelation. The late August release and lesser status of Hughes as a filmmaker will mean this film will mostly be overlooked, which is a true shame.
Rating: 7.5/10
Either way, this weekend could be a close call for #1 between Crazy Rich Asians and the second weekend of The Meg as both are vying for somewhere in the high-teens to low-$20 millions. Even so, I think the marketing/hype behind the New Line romantic-comedy will be enough to push it over the top to win the weekend.
This week’s top 10 should look something like this…
1. Crazy Rich Asians (New Line) - $21.5 million N/A 2. The Meg (Warner Bros.) - $19.5 million -56% 3. Mile 22 (STXfilms) - $15.3 million N/A 4. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Paramount) - $12 million -40% 5. Christopher Robin (Disney) - $7.7 million -38% 6. Alpha (Sony) - $7.5 million N/A 7. BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features) - $7 million -35% 8. The Spy Who Dumped Me (Lionsgate) - $3.9 million -48% 9. Slender Man (Screen Gems) - $3.7 million -67% 10. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (Universal) - $3.5 million -40%
LIMITED RELEASES
While I gave some extra attention to Juliet, Naked above, there are a bunch of other limited releases worth checking out this weekend, especially as the wider releases become less interesting to the masses.
First up is The Wife (Sony Pictures Classics), an amazing drama starring Glenn Close as Joan Castleman, wife of the elderly reknowned author Joseph Castleman (Jonathan Pryce), as the couple travel to Stockholm for him to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature along with their son David (Max Irons). Joe can be a handful and Joan finds herself caught in the middle of a domestic feud between her husband and David, while a pesky biographer played by Christian Slater tries to get info from both Joan and David about Joe, a known philanderer. Directed by Swedish filmmaker Björn Runge, best known for his film Happy End, this is a terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside. The Wife will open in New York and L.A., and there will be QnAs in both cities on Friday and Saturday. Glenn Close and screenwriter Meg Wolitzer will be doing QnAs at the Paris Theater in NYC on Friday night after the 7:30 screening, while Wolitzer will also do a QnA on Saturday night. In LA, actress Annie Starke (who plays the younger version of Close’s character) will be doing QnAs on Friday and Saturday nights at the Arclight Hollywood and the Landmark.
A terrific doc worth checking out is Megumi Sasaki’s A Whale of a Tale (Fine Line Media), which opens at the Quad Cinema in New York and then in L.A. on August 24. If you liked the Oscar-winning doc The Cove, this is sort of a follow-up as the filmmaker travels to the town of Taiji in Japan where the dolphin killings continue. AP journalist Jay Alabaster has embedded himself in Taiji since The Cove came out and along with Sasaki, they document the town’s attempts at making necessary changes without giving up their legacy of “whale-hunting” that’s hundreds of years old. This is the type of movie that might make you question your own ecological leanings even as it gives a fairly well-balanced overview of the situation, particularly between the townspeople of Taiji and the world at large.
Another worthwhile doc is Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap (Hulu/Magnolia), a very personal look at the life of the filmmaker over 12 years living in Rockford, Illinois, focusing on two of his skateboarder friends’ whose upbringings affect their lives, including 23-year-old Zack whose relationship deteriorates after the birth of his son, and 17-year-old Keire trying to deal with the death of his father. The film won a jury prize at Sundance for Breakthrough Filmmaking with Steve James acting as exec. producer. It will get a theatrical release at the Metrograph on Friday as well as being available on Hulu before screening on PBS POV in 2019. (I want to add that this is a fantastic film well worth seeking out... Liu is an amazing new and young filmmaker to watch.)
After premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, the self-explanatory doc Ed Sheeran: Songwriter (Apple Music/Abramorama) will open in select cities. I never got around to watching it, but I’m not really a fan of Sheeran other than him helping to bring the Electric Light Orchestra back together for the Grammys. It opens at the IFC Center on Friday, in L.A. on Aug. 24 and then will be available on Apple Music starting Aug. 28.
A venerable horror franchise returns with its 13th(!) installment Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (RLJE Films), co-directed by Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund from a script by S. Craig Zahler (Brawl in Cell Block 99). It stars Thomas Lennon from the State as Edgar, as a recently-divorced man who returns to his childhood home where he finds an evil-looking Nazi puppet in his brother’s room. For this one, the unmistakable Udo Kier plays the evil puppet master André Toulon, and it also stars Charlyne Yi, Barbara Crampton, Jenny Pellicer and Nelson Franklin. I hope to watch it soon, but I’ve heard some atrocious things about the overt racism in the movie.
As far as other and hopefully tamer genre films, if you’re in New York City, you can see The Ranger, the directorial debut by Larry Fessenden’s producing partner Jenn Wexler, when it plays at the IFC Center, following its Closing Night premiere at What the Fest?! and Fantasia in Montreal. It will also screen in L.A. on Sept. 7. It stars Chloë Levine as Chelsea, a girl who hangs out with her punk friends who get in trouble when her boyfriend stashes drugs in her bag, so they head to a cabin in the wilderness where they encounter a ranger. It premieres on Thursday night with many QnAs with Wexler, producer Heather Buckley and the cast over the weekend.
A movie that premiered at Sundance that I wasn’t that into was Jeremy Zagar’s adaptation of Justin Torres’ novel We the Animals (The Orchard), about three young boys going through their adolescence under the gaze of parents (Raul Castillo, Sheila Vand) who have their own tumultuous relationship, and are trying to protect the youngest Jonah from heading the same direction as his older siblings. It opens in New York Friday at the Angelika and Landmark 57 West, then will expand to L.A., San Francisco, Boston and Philadelphia next Friday. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie, it is a nice fictional counterpart to Minding the Gap.
Ricky D’Ambrose’s Notes on an Appearance (Grasshopper Films) deals with the disappearance of a young man named David and the two people who go looking for him but become diverted by the strangers they meet on the journey. It opens at New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center on Friday.
Opening in New York and L.A. on Friday and on Demand Sept. 4is Josh Crockett’s dark comedy Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks (Gravitas Ventures) about estranged brother and sister who reunite after the death of their parents.
Based on Lois Duncan’s Y.A. novel of the same name, Down a Dark Hall (Summit/Lionsgate Premiere) stars AnnaSophia Robb as Kit, a difficult girl set to a boarding school to deal with her temper via the headmistress Madame Duret (Uma Thurman) and the other four young women. Also starring Isabelle Fuhrman from Orphan, it opens in select cities, On Demand and on iTunes Friday.
Emmanuel Finkiel’s Memoir of War (Music Box films), opening in New York this Friday at the Film Forum and Film Society of New York and in L.A. at the Laemmle Royal and Regal Edwards Westpark 8 next Friday, adapts Marguerite Duras’ novel The War: A Memoir, and it stars the ever-present Mélanie Thierry as Duras. In 1944, Duras was a Resistance member along with her writer husband Robert Antelme. When he is sent to the Dachau concentration camp, she becomes friendly with a French collaborator (Benoît Magimel)to get information to help her group. (Interesting fact: Duras was the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima, Mon Amour.)
A few more odds and ends…
Shirley McLane and Gina Gershon star in a modernized live action adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid co-directed by Blake Harris and Chris Bouchard. Not sure what more can be said about that.
Opening in New York at the Cinema VillageFriday before its digital release on Sept 4 is the doc Davi’s Way (2B Films) about Italian-American Robert Davi, a Frank Sinatra enthusiast and stylist who prepares to recreate Sinatra’s famous 1974 concert at Madison Square Garden.
Actor Peter Facinelli makes his directorial debut with the dark comedy Breaking & Exiting (Kali Pictures / Freestyle Digital Media), starring Milo Gibson as house thief Harry who stumbles upon (film co-writer) Jordan Hinson’s Daisy and tries to save her from herself.
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Not a ton of repertory things on my radar other than a Winona Ryder retrospective at the Quad Cinema called “Utterly Winona,” including all her great movies from the ‘80s and ‘90s. I guess there’s a Truffaut retrospective at the Metrograph, but you know what I always say: Truffaut... Tru-cares? (I don’t always say that so don’t write me angry letters Truffaut-fans. I don’t mean to cause a Trufuffle for anyone.)
Last but not least, streaming giant Netflix offers the Spanish film The Motive from Manuel Martin Cuenca based on the novel by Javier Cercas, about an aspiring writer who seeks inspiration for his novel by manipulating lives.
#JulietNaked CrazyRichAsians reviews boxOffice Mile22 Alpha TheWeekendWarrior WhatToWatchThisWeekend
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Serenades and selfies with stars tempt TV
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Broadway musical impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber wowed more than 600 Emmy voters on a recent Monday night in Hollywood, playing piano as acclaimed singer Sara Bareilles performed a song from NBC’s production of his hit rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Netflix displays a prop from “Arrested Development” at an exhibition promoting the company’s shows for Emmy consideration in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 6, 2018. Picture taken May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Lisa Richwine
The legendary British composer, creator of classic shows such as “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera,” said he rarely performs in public. But despite dozens of other awards, Lloyd Webber has never won an Emmy. And with a record number of shows vying for the television industry’s highest honors, networks are amping up the star power and getting creative to shine a spotlight on their Emmy contenders.
Networks are going all out because an Emmy win, or even a nomination, can help build buzz for a show in a crowded sea of programming. That helps attract new viewers to traditional TV channels, and more subscribers for streaming services from outlets such as Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), AT&T Inc’s (T.N) HBO, or Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).
The Nat Geo cable channel brought “Genius: Picasso” star Antonio Banderas to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where guests mingled amid some of Picasso’s original works. Earlier that night, Netflix staged a discussion with the very private Barbra Streisand about her latest concert film.
“Everybody in a way has become an underdog,” said Michele Robertson, a long-time Hollywood publicist and awards consultant. “There is no slam dunk. Everybody feels like they’ve got to up their game.”
With so many entries clamoring for attention, the Television Academy, the group that hands out the Emmys, changed its rules this year to allow multiple Emmy promotional events on the same day, and on weekends as well as weekdays.
The result? The number of Academy-sanctioned events increased to more than 100 from 61 last year, the organization said.
Netflix displays a costume from “The Crown” series at an exhibition promoting the company’s shows for Emmy consideration in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 6, 2018. Picture taken May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Lisa Richwine
At least 200 unofficial events also are crowding calendars, said veteran awards watcher Tom O’Neil, from cocktail parties to publicity stunts such as sending taco trucks to buildings where voters work.
Contenders will learn if their efforts paid off on July 12, when Emmy nominations are announced after tabulating the votes of more than 23,000 actors, writers, technicians and other members of the Television Academy.
Voting started June 11 and ends June 25. Winners will be unveiled on Sept. 17 at the televised Emmy awards ceremony.
The competitive field is packed. TV channels and streaming services released a record 487 scripted original series last year, more than double the 216 in 2010, according to data compiled by cable network FX. That does not include documentaries, reality competitions, late-night shows and musical specials.
SELFIES WITH CAST
A few years ago, Emmy campaign events were largely limited to panel discussions with creators and actors. Those still exist, but networks are trying different approaches.
ABC, part of Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), for the first time held a day-long event on the Disney studio lot, offering selfies with the cast of “The Goldbergs” and a performance by “American Idol” winner Maddie Poppe along with panels.
“We chose to showcase several of our shows and talent on one day in order to maximize voters’ time, which is a precious commodity right now,” ABC Studios President Patrick Moran said.
Netflix held 43 events in New York and Los Angeles from February through June.
One Saturday, Netflix served a lavish three-course brunch, with miso-glazed sole on fine china, as “Glow” star Alison Brie, attorney and Netflix documentary subject Gloria Allred, and others reflected on women’s progress in Hollywood.
The streaming service hosted most of its events over five weeks in May and June at an interactive exhibit where guests could play the 1980s video games seen in “Stranger Things,” draw graffiti on a car from “American Vandal,” or hear the rumble of rushing cattle in a Western-themed bar from “Godless.”
Networks have also bombarded voters with newspaper, digital, billboard and radio advertisements.
Smaller networks are trying to compete. The Viceland cable channel sent a plane hauling a banner to promote late-night show “Desus & Mero” to fly over competitors’ events and popular executive lunch spots. It also papered cars in studio parking lots with faux parking tickets urging a look at the show.
“We have really old-school, grassroots tactics,” said Meghan Kirsch, Viceland’s senior vice president of marketing and creative. “We don’t have the millions and millions of dollars to spend, so we have to be creative.”
Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Leslie Adler
The post Serenades and selfies with stars tempt TV appeared first on World The News.
from World The News https://ift.tt/2LXiHAJ via Everyday News
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Serenades and selfies with stars tempt TV
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Broadway musical impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber wowed more than 600 Emmy voters on a recent Monday night in Hollywood, playing piano as acclaimed singer Sara Bareilles performed a song from NBC’s production of his hit rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Netflix displays a prop from “Arrested Development” at an exhibition promoting the company’s shows for Emmy consideration in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 6, 2018. Picture taken May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Lisa Richwine
The legendary British composer, creator of classic shows such as “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera,” said he rarely performs in public. But despite dozens of other awards, Lloyd Webber has never won an Emmy. And with a record number of shows vying for the television industry’s highest honors, networks are amping up the star power and getting creative to shine a spotlight on their Emmy contenders.
Networks are going all out because an Emmy win, or even a nomination, can help build buzz for a show in a crowded sea of programming. That helps attract new viewers to traditional TV channels, and more subscribers for streaming services from outlets such as Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), AT&T Inc’s (T.N) HBO, or Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).
The Nat Geo cable channel brought “Genius: Picasso” star Antonio Banderas to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where guests mingled amid some of Picasso’s original works. Earlier that night, Netflix staged a discussion with the very private Barbra Streisand about her latest concert film.
“Everybody in a way has become an underdog,” said Michele Robertson, a long-time Hollywood publicist and awards consultant. “There is no slam dunk. Everybody feels like they’ve got to up their game.”
With so many entries clamoring for attention, the Television Academy, the group that hands out the Emmys, changed its rules this year to allow multiple Emmy promotional events on the same day, and on weekends as well as weekdays.
The result? The number of Academy-sanctioned events increased to more than 100 from 61 last year, the organization said.
Netflix displays a costume from “The Crown” series at an exhibition promoting the company’s shows for Emmy consideration in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 6, 2018. Picture taken May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Lisa Richwine
At least 200 unofficial events also are crowding calendars, said veteran awards watcher Tom O’Neil, from cocktail parties to publicity stunts such as sending taco trucks to buildings where voters work.
Contenders will learn if their efforts paid off on July 12, when Emmy nominations are announced after tabulating the votes of more than 23,000 actors, writers, technicians and other members of the Television Academy.
Voting started June 11 and ends June 25. Winners will be unveiled on Sept. 17 at the televised Emmy awards ceremony.
The competitive field is packed. TV channels and streaming services released a record 487 scripted original series last year, more than double the 216 in 2010, according to data compiled by cable network FX. That does not include documentaries, reality competitions, late-night shows and musical specials.
SELFIES WITH CAST
A few years ago, Emmy campaign events were largely limited to panel discussions with creators and actors. Those still exist, but networks are trying different approaches.
ABC, part of Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), for the first time held a day-long event on the Disney studio lot, offering selfies with the cast of “The Goldbergs” and a performance by “American Idol” winner Maddie Poppe along with panels.
“We chose to showcase several of our shows and talent on one day in order to maximize voters’ time, which is a precious commodity right now,” ABC Studios President Patrick Moran said.
Netflix held 43 events in New York and Los Angeles from February through June.
One Saturday, Netflix served a lavish three-course brunch, with miso-glazed sole on fine china, as “Glow” star Alison Brie, attorney and Netflix documentary subject Gloria Allred, and others reflected on women’s progress in Hollywood.
The streaming service hosted most of its events over five weeks in May and June at an interactive exhibit where guests could play the 1980s video games seen in “Stranger Things,” draw graffiti on a car from “American Vandal,” or hear the rumble of rushing cattle in a Western-themed bar from “Godless.”
Networks have also bombarded voters with newspaper, digital, billboard and radio advertisements.
Smaller networks are trying to compete. The Viceland cable channel sent a plane hauling a banner to promote late-night show “Desus & Mero” to fly over competitors’ events and popular executive lunch spots. It also papered cars in studio parking lots with faux parking tickets urging a look at the show.
“We have really old-school, grassroots tactics,” said Meghan Kirsch, Viceland’s senior vice president of marketing and creative. “We don’t have the millions and millions of dollars to spend, so we have to be creative.”
Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Leslie Adler
The post Serenades and selfies with stars tempt TV appeared first on World The News.
from World The News https://ift.tt/2LXiHAJ via Today News
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Serenades and selfies with stars tempt TV
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Broadway musical impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber wowed more than 600 Emmy voters on a recent Monday night in Hollywood, playing piano as acclaimed singer Sara Bareilles performed a song from NBC’s production of his hit rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Netflix displays a prop from “Arrested Development” at an exhibition promoting the company’s shows for Emmy consideration in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 6, 2018. Picture taken May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Lisa Richwine
The legendary British composer, creator of classic shows such as “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera,” said he rarely performs in public. But despite dozens of other awards, Lloyd Webber has never won an Emmy. And with a record number of shows vying for the television industry’s highest honors, networks are amping up the star power and getting creative to shine a spotlight on their Emmy contenders.
Networks are going all out because an Emmy win, or even a nomination, can help build buzz for a show in a crowded sea of programming. That helps attract new viewers to traditional TV channels, and more subscribers for streaming services from outlets such as Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), AT&T Inc’s (T.N) HBO, or Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).
The Nat Geo cable channel brought “Genius: Picasso” star Antonio Banderas to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where guests mingled amid some of Picasso’s original works. Earlier that night, Netflix staged a discussion with the very private Barbra Streisand about her latest concert film.
“Everybody in a way has become an underdog,” said Michele Robertson, a long-time Hollywood publicist and awards consultant. “There is no slam dunk. Everybody feels like they’ve got to up their game.”
With so many entries clamoring for attention, the Television Academy, the group that hands out the Emmys, changed its rules this year to allow multiple Emmy promotional events on the same day, and on weekends as well as weekdays.
The result? The number of Academy-sanctioned events increased to more than 100 from 61 last year, the organization said.
Netflix displays a costume from “The Crown” series at an exhibition promoting the company’s shows for Emmy consideration in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 6, 2018. Picture taken May 6, 2018. REUTERS/Lisa Richwine
At least 200 unofficial events also are crowding calendars, said veteran awards watcher Tom O’Neil, from cocktail parties to publicity stunts such as sending taco trucks to buildings where voters work.
Contenders will learn if their efforts paid off on July 12, when Emmy nominations are announced after tabulating the votes of more than 23,000 actors, writers, technicians and other members of the Television Academy.
Voting started June 11 and ends June 25. Winners will be unveiled on Sept. 17 at the televised Emmy awards ceremony.
The competitive field is packed. TV channels and streaming services released a record 487 scripted original series last year, more than double the 216 in 2010, according to data compiled by cable network FX. That does not include documentaries, reality competitions, late-night shows and musical specials.
SELFIES WITH CAST
A few years ago, Emmy campaign events were largely limited to panel discussions with creators and actors. Those still exist, but networks are trying different approaches.
ABC, part of Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), for the first time held a day-long event on the Disney studio lot, offering selfies with the cast of “The Goldbergs” and a performance by “American Idol” winner Maddie Poppe along with panels.
“We chose to showcase several of our shows and talent on one day in order to maximize voters’ time, which is a precious commodity right now,” ABC Studios President Patrick Moran said.
Netflix held 43 events in New York and Los Angeles from February through June.
One Saturday, Netflix served a lavish three-course brunch, with miso-glazed sole on fine china, as “Glow” star Alison Brie, attorney and Netflix documentary subject Gloria Allred, and others reflected on women’s progress in Hollywood.
The streaming service hosted most of its events over five weeks in May and June at an interactive exhibit where guests could play the 1980s video games seen in “Stranger Things,” draw graffiti on a car from “American Vandal,” or hear the rumble of rushing cattle in a Western-themed bar from “Godless.”
Networks have also bombarded voters with newspaper, digital, billboard and radio advertisements.
Smaller networks are trying to compete. The Viceland cable channel sent a plane hauling a banner to promote late-night show “Desus & Mero” to fly over competitors’ events and popular executive lunch spots. It also papered cars in studio parking lots with faux parking tickets urging a look at the show.
“We have really old-school, grassroots tactics,” said Meghan Kirsch, Viceland’s senior vice president of marketing and creative. “We don’t have the millions and millions of dollars to spend, so we have to be creative.”
Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Leslie Adler
The post Serenades and selfies with stars tempt TV appeared first on World The News.
from World The News https://ift.tt/2LXiHAJ via Breaking News
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Matthew Centrowitz might be the best American miler ever
He’s running for the American record at the 2017 world championships. But first, he needs to check his Twitter timeline.
For once, Matthew Centrowitz didn't know what to do when he crossed the finish line.
He had copied a LeBron James celebration after winning the U.S. title in the 1,500 meters in 2015 and dabbed like Cam Newton after winning an indoor mile in 3:54.02 last year in Charlotte. But after finishing first to become the first American to win Olympic gold in the 1,500 meters since 1908, a stunned Centrowitz could only extend his arms and hold his palms up to the sky as if to ask, “Did that just happen?”
Centrowitz won silver at the 2011 world championships and bronze in 2013, but a win in Rio seemed out of the question going up against Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop, one of the best metric milers of all time. Centrowitz controlled the race from the gun, however, and blitzed through a last lap of 50.6 seconds as his family and close friends celebrated by yelling and attempting to crowd surf in the stands.
One week after the race of his life, Centrowitz was still in disbelief. If he could break the American record in the 1,500 or the mile, he told me then, he would have claim to the title of greatest American miler of all time.
“There’s definitely been a lot of talk about me getting the American record in the 1,500 before my career is over,” Centrowitz says. “At least for my mindset, that would kind of put the nail in the coffin.”
One year later, his gold medal tour hasn’t been the record-breaking celebration he hoped it would be. Injuries and other setbacks have turned the year into a tour of so-so races. He nearly didn’t run the U.S. Championships because of injury. He did just enough to qualify for the world championships, where he’ll compete in London in the 1.500-meter event beginning on Aug. 10. There, he will have a chance to redeem what can be best described as a hangover of a season.
Centrowitz is on borrowed time if he is going to set records, inching over to the wrong side of his prime at 27. As the glow of his Olympic gold fades, his mission to become the greatest American miler is ongoing, but losing steam.
Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
With less than three weeks until the 2017 U.S. Track and Field Championships, Centrowitz wasn’t supposed to be in Las Vegas. Like the rest of the top runners in the country, he should have been on the track. But a slight tear in his right adductor — one of his many setbacks in 2017 — left Centrowitz dejected.
Centrowitz dyed his hair blonde and bought a one-way ticket to Las Vegas. His season, he decided, was over.
The members of Centrowitz’s inner circle — his father, coaches, friends, and training partners — don’t stop him from reaching NBA levels of pettiness on social media, like when he calls out a Twitter troll for running a “pedestrian” 4:46 mile. They don’t mind his finish-line antics. They do, however, hold him accountable, and they weren’t going to let him wallow away in Vegas.
Centrowitz arrived in Vegas on a Saturday. His coach, agent, and some family members called him on Sunday to convince him he could still race at the national championships. He flew back to Portland on Monday and received a platelet-rich plasma injection to help his adductor that day.
Centrowitz is very close with his family. His dad, Matt Centrowitz, was a 1976 Olympian and made the Olympic team in 1980 when the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Games. His mother, Beverly Bannister-Centrowitz, is in the Hunter College Athletics Hall of Fame for track. His older sister, Lauren, was an All-American runner at Stanford.
“All my kids were great runners,” Matt says, “but Matthew took it much more seriously.”
Matt recalls how his son had a penchant for history at a young age. Matt ran with Steve Prefontaine at the University of Oregon and used to tell his son stories about the legendary runner. Centrowitz studied all of the sport’s greats.
At some point in the weeks following his gold medal race, he told his son: “You’re the best American miler ever.”
Jim Ryun above all. Ryun was the first high school runner to break four minutes in the mile, an Olympic silver medalist, and a world record holder with a 3:51 mile. He was, and still is, Centrowitz’s favorite. “For him to run those times in the 1960s and ‘70s,” Centrowitz says, “it’s just incredible.” He pored over Ryun’s In Quest of Gold, his dad calling it his bible.
Centrowitz still geeks out when he talks about his heroes. “I think my favorite part of winning gold,” he says, “was just kind of seeing all the legends of the event, the mile—guys like Jim Ryun, Sebastian Coe, Hicham el Guerrouj — and seeing how excited they were for me. These are guys I’ve looked up to and still look up to, and for them to give me any kind of credit, is just humbling and honoring. It’s honestly surreal.”
Centrowitz started building his legacy as a 21-year-old at his dad’s alma mater, Oregon, winning a bronze medal in the 1,500 at the 2011 world championships. He turned pro the following year, joining the Nike Oregon Project under coach Alberto Salazar. He missed out on a medal at the 2012 London Olympics by 0.04 seconds. He made up for that heartbreak and then some in Rio, leading nearly wire to wire in a slowly paced race to win a shocking gold.
After that race, Coe, the British runner who won the 1,500 at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, presented Centrowitz with his gold medal. “Welcome to the club,” Coe said. Centrowitz’s father went even further. At some point in the weeks following his gold medal race, he told his son: “You’re the best American miler ever.”
Two weeks before the 2017 U.S. Championships in Sacramento, however, the gold medalist was struggling after his return from Vegas. “I couldn’t break 33 [seconds] for 200 meters,” Centrowitz says of his first workout after his injection. He kept at it, and ran a 1,000-meter time trial five days later. The result, a 2:21, wasn’t his best (Centrowitz has run 2:16.67), but it was progress.
Less than a week later, he hopped on a plane to Sacramento and ran a preliminary race that he says “shook off the rust.” Two days later, he finished second in the final to qualify for the world championships.
“Did you see the Andy Bayer one?” Centrowitz asks me over the phone from St. Moritz, Switzerland, where he was training at altitude throughout July. In quick, excitable bursts, he’s talking about another Twitter beef.
He laughs them all off, like the 20-year-old college student who tweeted a month before the Olympics that he’d get a tattoo of Centrowitz’s face if he medaled in Rio. Centrowitz called him out on it. A tattoo of Centrowitz holding the American flag now covers the student’s left shoulder blade.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Centrowitz’s finish-line celebrations, which he likens to end-zone dances, are ripped from other sports. He’s partial to the LeBron celebration in which he mock-fired a pistol into the sky before reloading and holstering it. Centrowitz jokingly modeled it in front of training partners in the weight room while watching 2015 NBA Finals highlights before unleashing it on the track. Despite knowing the dab had already lived a life in full, Centrowitz honored Cam Newton at an indoor meet in Charlotte.
Like those NBA and NFL superstars, Centrowitz is a different athlete from his peers.
The best basketball and football athletes do things that mere mortals can't dream of, whereas almost everyone in the world can run. In track, fans want to know what elite athletes are doing so that they can apply it to their own training. Because of this, many runners, like 2016 Olympian Brenda Martinez, have staid public personas, tweeting out workouts and pictures of their runs. Others, like American 10k record holder Galen Rupp, are almost absent from social media, like NBA players who “go dark” in the playoffs.
The thought of Ryun imitating Joe Namath or talking trash in the 1960s seems absurd. Centrowitz, however, enjoys trolling.
Even Centrowitz’s gait has flash. It appears smooth, and powerful, and effortless even as he’s running a 3:50 mile pace. His stride eats up the track when he breaks into his finishing sprint, like James turning on the jets for a chase-down block.
“The moves he makes in races are almost violent,” Johnny Gregorek, Centrowitz’s teammate in the 1,500 in London, said after the Olympic Trials last year. “They are so sudden and decisive.”
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Like James and Newton, Centrowitz isn’t for everyone, and he’s not immune from controversy. Training with the Nike Oregon Project comes with its own set of headaches. While it is considered one of the best training groups in the world, it is also dogged by drug allegations. A BBC and ProPublica report in 2013 alleged that Salazar was leading a win-at-all-costs training regimen that included the use of performance-enhancing drugs. The group is under USADA investigation, and the FBI is reportedly involved.
Salazar adamantly denied the accusations on multiple occasions. Centrowitz, too, has continually denied taking performance-enhancing drugs. Centrowitz was the most drug-tested U.S. track athlete in 2016, with 17 out-of-competition tests, and has never failed one.
Centrowitz doesn’t let drug tests or online haters faze him. He seems to thrive off doubt and loves talking back — especially when he can back it up.
“Same as Kevin Durant after the Warriors won the title,” Centrowitz says. “As long as you’re taking care of business then you can have some fun.”
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Centrowitz tries to be humble about his legacy, but he agrees that he is close to being considered the American GOAT — he just can’t put himself above his idol Ryun just yet without a record.
When it comes to hardware, no one matches up with Centrowitz. Other than Mel Sheppard (1908) and James Lightbody (1904), he’s the only U.S. runner with Olympic gold in the 1,500. In fact, since 1952 only Ryun (1972) and Leonel Manzano (2012) have won medals.
His times, however, aren’t quite the stuff of legend. His 3:30.40 in the 1,500 makes him the third-fastest American of all time at the distance. In the mile, Centrowitz’s 3:50.53 makes him the ninth-best.
Faster runners include Alan Webb, the American record holder in the mile at 3:46.91, and Bernard Lagat, the Kenyan-born American who won the 1,500 and 5,000 at the 2007 world championships and has the American record in the 1,500 at 3:29.3. Steve Scott had the American record before Webb and ran a world record 136 sub-4:00 miles. Sydney Maree had the 1,500 record before Lagat.
Ryun, meanwhile, has a resume that’s hard to match: He held the world record in the mile for almost 10 years. Dr. Michael Joyner is an expert in human performance at the Mayo Clinic — back in 1991, he predicted that a human could run 1:57:58 in the marathon, long before Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge ran 2:00:25 in a controlled, Nike-sponsored race in May — thinks Ryun’s 3:51.3 world record in 1966 was one of the most impressive runs of all time.
At 27, Centrowitz is about to leave what many consider his prime. A 2011 French study concluded that athletes start to see physical declines at age 26. Centrowitz hasn’t set a personal best in the 1,500 since 2015, or the mile since 2014. The American mile record has been broken 16 times by seven different runners since 1955, and the average age of the runner on each record-breaking run was 23 years and 243 days. Only two of the seven — Jim Beatty and Jim Grelle — were 27 years or older when they set the record.
This isn’t to say Centrowitz is washed up. Thanks to better training, injury prevention, and earning opportunities (athletes were amateurs in the 1950s and ‘60s), more and more runners are extending their careers. Lagat, for example, won U.S. Olympic Trials at 5,000 meters last year as a 39-year-old and set the current 1,500 record in 2005 when he was 30.
But age isn’t the only factor. Racing for time is a different beast than racing for place. Tactical races like the Olympic finals are all about positioning and strategy.
Centrowitz’s gold medal time in Rio was more than 20 seconds off Lagat’s record, for example. He won in large part because he is a savvy racer. With about 450 meters to go, Ayanleh Souleiman briefly took the lead from Centrowitz, but only for an instant. Almost immediately, Centrowitz slithered by Souleiman on the inside, brushing him with his elbow. If Centrowitz hadn’t responded so quickly, he could have been swallowed up by the pack. Instead, he was clear of the field and had the inside track for the final 400 meters.
Most record-breaking races occur when the runners are in a single file, with pacemakers leading the way for the first half of the race or more. Instead of worrying about timing a finishing sprint or getting tripped up by an opponent, runners can focus on efficiency.
Comparing records to medals is a little like comparing rings to stats. If you’re an NBA fan, would you rather have Russell and his 11 rings or Wilt Chamberlain and his preposterous numbers? It’s a difficult question. Until Centrowitz has numbers on his side, his legacy will be the subject of similar debate.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
The morning after the night in Rio that changed everything for Centrowitz — after NBC cameras caught his family’s bombastic celebration in the stands, after the blur of the victory lap and the medal ceremony, after decompressing with those closest to him at a small restaurant in the early hours of the next morning — he woke up early to his father asking if he was awake. They had to get to a morning show on NBC.
“Yeah, Dad,” he said. “What’s up?”
“My son, Olympic champion,” Matt said. “I still can’t believe this is real.”
“Me neither, Dad,” Matthew said with a grin as he pulled the gold medal out from under his pillow.
It was one of the few moments of calm for Centrowitz in the immediate aftermath of his gold medal run. He spent the next few weeks answering media requests and making appearances with his new piece of hardware. Almost one year later, he is still answering questions about the gold medal — the price of being an Olympic champion. His dad published a book called Like Father, Like Son, and Centrowitz has become a headliner at races where he used to be an also-ran.
Centrowitz believes he’s handling the extra pressure. His attitude hasn’t changed. The hardware hasn’t altered his off-track or post-race antics, even if the circumstances are different.
One thing remains the same 11 months after the Rio win: There is still a sense of disbelief. Centrowitz says he and his dad still talk about the race, citing that moment with about 450 meters to go as the turning point in a career-defining race.
They also talk about his legacy and what else he can do on the track and the American record. Not that they need to. Centrowitz is getting older, and breaking records is hard. By winning gold the way he did, Centrowitz did plenty to get the world talking.
“Is Michael Jordan better than LeBron?” Centrowitz says. “You’re gonna have that talk for the rest of our lives. I won’t be able to race Jim Ryun or Alan Webb — at everyone’s peak especially. I think it’s entertaining to talk about it.”
To be considered among the best ever isn’t easy. Centrowitz knows his history, and he knows he has a place in it. Staring down the American record, he is exactly where he wants to be.
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Arsenal and Manchester City goal-fest, Lukaku to slay Liverpool and the Zaha-Hazard dibble face-off
THE Premierleague is ultimately back this weekend – with no further pauses that are worldwide it’s a competition towards the end for the groups concerned.
Chelsea search collection for that name but there’s therefore significantly to perform for with relegation places and League certification to become determined.
Pennsylvania:Click Association
Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola do fight in the Emirates on Sunday
A cracker is to obtain the weekend when Toolbox face Manchester Town, although it is all-rounded down using the big-game in the Emirates began as Liverpool sponsor Everton within the derby.
Continue to-date WITH THE newest football news, news and whispers
Through the department you will find activities that are essential and SunSport operates the guideline within the eight items to consider.
Emirates objective-holiday available
Manchester and Toolbox Area conflict in a complement that would be essential in determining who gets within the League and who doesn’t don’t although – anticipate a cagey event despite the fact that so much reaches risk.
About the good, Town and the Gunners are equally loaded high in people who really make a difference moving forward which is no real surprise the set are one of the greatest scorers within the category.
Toolbox possess a woeful protection – but therefore do Birmingham Town
However the damaging for both groups is, to be honest, they’re a shambles and aid aid offering objectives that are silly.
The Gunners will also be with no Petr Cech that is hurt therefore it’s Mark Ospina between your stays for them weakening their back point that is currently delicate.
Sergio Aguero, Sanchez must be licking their and thus must soccer followers. There’s no method this really is closing in a goalless draw.
Sergio Aguero is likely to be licking his lips to obtain between the Toolbox protection
Wenger’s rude awakening
Toolbox manager Wenger continues to be experiencing by declining to expose where his potential lies – doing offers using the press but he may obtain a rude awakening.
Not informing the push is just why must he, and something? But although he declines it, his rejection in the future clear has triggered a rift one of the followers in the Emirates.
Arsene Wenger could get a rude awakening from their own followers on Sunday
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Michael Keane is placed abandon Burnley for Liverpool or Everton, but his Guy Usa market-on term is definitely a problem
RALPH QUANTITY?
Real Madrid reveal £12.5million cope with telecom large Telefonica… but Cristiano Ronaldo does not appear pleased
CHELSEA CIVIL-WAR
Romelu Lukaku top of representative of soccer Michael Emenalois checklist to displace Diego Costa but chef Antonio Conte desires Alvaro Morata
YOU-WHAT?
Fire was revealed by by Schweinsteiger… and correspondent asks him if his fresh MLS aspect are now able to get the Planet Cup
‘INSUFFICIENT PATH’
Toolbox star Ian Wright sets into Gunners and claims Toolboxis fat cats should draw their hand out and obtain difficult with Arsene Wenger
BROAD OF THE MARC
Chelsea set-to shed £70million battle with Barcelona for PSGis Croatia midfield superstar Marco Verratti
Luk Below
Chelsea top brass need Romelu Lukaku back again to convince aged chef Jose Mourinho he was incorrect to market him, Donald Luiz and Kevin de Bruyne
Negotiate the Bil
Chelsea acknowledge £500k charge for wonderkid Billy Gilmour – but Rangers have not quit wish of maintaining him
BUILDING LINKS
Eden Risk ‘confirms to new £300,000-a-week agreement to remain at Chelsea’… as membership provides John Terry yet another year at Stamford Link
MOVE-LING inside it
Brian Lingard shows off new customised £200,000 Bentley Continental as he contributes to navy of vehicles
Yes method Jose
Jose Mourinho is seeking up a possible transfer for Atletico Madrid centre back Jose Gimenez
pochis dier caution
Mauricio Pochettino cautions Combined goal Eric Dier he owes Spurs for switching him right into a celebrity
Im he moves
Tottenham quitting on Erik Lamela could be Mauricio Pochettinois one large error as supervisor
TEEN IDOLS
Moise Kean, Karamoko Dembele Sessegnon… Meet up with the five wonderkids the planetis greatest groups wish to signal
‘ACTUALLY JESUS DID NOT PLEASE EVERYBODY’
Ronaldo artist protects broadly-mocked sculpture… and demands CR7 enjoys it
Whether or not they a against him or for him, followers are becoming frustrated in the opera the Frenchman don’t be amazed when they create their emotions identified against Town and is creating.
A pre is currently – protest march prepared, and you are able to guess they’ll be in-growing quantities on display even though the stewards is likely to be sent to defeat any crucial ads.
Then issues might turn unpleasant if issues FAIL about the message.
Saturday Premierleague match survey offering Toolbox v Man Town
Lukaku may finish 18-yr Anfield hoodoo
It’s long ago in 1999 the period that is final Everton defeat neighbors Liverpool at Anfield – but that run can be ultimately ended by Lukaku on Sunday.
The aspect of Koeman are driving at this time along with a gain from the Yellows might observe them shut the space on Kloppis fourth-positioned group to simply three factors.
Crucial for them is Lukaku, who’s on the road to completing this year whilst the leading goalscorer of the Premierleague, and also the Belgian has it in him to ruin Liverpoolis delicate back-point.
Romelu Lukaku may ruin the delicate Liverpool protection the Mersey derby
Klopp is without Lovren and Lallana if Lukaku reaches his extreme best and his aspect search therefor the taking.
Dribblers pleasure in the Link
Chelsea curently have one-hand about the Premierleague name, therefore Crystal Palace’s visit is a situation of Conte searching for businessasusual.
But when you like people dribbling their way past resistance defenders’ view, you then can’t afford to lose out on that one.
Eden Risk has been around glowing type for Chelsea this year
Eden Risk has been around type that is incredible all-season, striking his group to completely worthy and prime place 000 offer he’s been provided, the.
But he’snot the absolute most effective dribbler within the top-flight – that honor would go to Structure star Zaha.
Clean in Spain in midweek from his stunning objective for Nigeria, the assurance of Zaha is sky high right when that’s the situation he is able to be considered a pleasure to look at and now.
Therefore relax and revel in the Risk-Zaha display, it may be a cracker.
Wilfried Zaha has created more lucrative dribbles than every other participant this year
No border for mistake for Dark Cats
The full time for speaking needs to quit, when they wish to have any possibility of remaining in the Premierleague Sunderland will have to provide.
His group and Moyes are grounded towards the bottom and eight items off security – they CAn’t afford to obtain something significantly less to Watford than a gain from their trip.
Defoe is after objective a week ago and his Britain recall, for him to consider that type in to the sport at Vicarage Street and also the Dark Cats is likely to be eager.
Jermain Defoe needs to provide the objectives for Sunderland at Watford
Sunday Premierleague match survey offering Liverpool v Everton
Period is operating out, as well as clubs’ quantity they are able to reasonably surpass. Watford continue to be one by captured by Sunderland of those who might – but they’ll be out-of view when they shed for them on Sunday.
Boro kids in final chance saloon
Middlesbrough are heavy within the mire plus they need to get an effect at Swansea to prevent being cut at adrift within the relegation area.
The Swans are five factors free from Boro simply away from three that are base, and they’ll maintain an eight-point benefit within the Teesiders togo if the aspect gain on Sunday.
Middlesbrough are now actually within the last chance saloon because they attempt to remain in the most effective trip
The males of David Agnew may ill-manage anything-but to do this Alvaro Negredo wants a lot more aid in advance than he’s been acquiring, and also a gain in the Freedom Arena.
It’s been 12 category activities with no gain for Boro once they beat at Swansea 3-0 athome.
This week Agnew might do having a repeat show.
In an Allergy to show value
Rashford hasn’t discovered issues very as simple this year as he did when he created a sensational effect within the first-team in his introduction year.
There’s potential or no questioning the teenis quality, but Birmingham United chef Jose Mourinho wants him to provide today.
With Ibrahimovic stopped, because they pursue the most effective four Usa need to discover objectives from elsewhere and also the obligation lies about Rashford’s shoulders in the future beats up.
Marcus Rashford holds a 92nd second objective for Man Utd against Shell
Some caregivers have been overlooked by him within the fits since Ibrahimovicis suspension, it’s on his capacity he’ll eventually be evaluated and even though his mindset and dedication CAn’t be asked.
Mourinho has one-eye on summertime exchanges, having a fresh striker greatly in his brain.
Rashford has this house game against West Brom like a rare opportunity to display his chef he is able to be respected continue.
Does the Bil is match by Slav?
It’s been a for Ham period not even close to pleasant, beset by teething issues their finest participant downing resources, at their arena and usually under performing about the message.
You will find main concerns being asked whether Bilic may be the correct guy to stay cost although they ought to simply have sufficient to make sure they’re not pulled right into a fight.
You will find greater than a few rumblings of unhappiness one of the followers that Bilic does not select the correct people within the jobs that are correct, and there’s chat in Croatia that Mancini has been arranged to become their supervisor that is new.
Slaven Bilic is under some pressure at West Pork
The membership have provided Bilic the dreadful election as he requires his damage struck team to Hull of assurance, which might not need been also pleasant for that chef.
Which Pork will arrive? When they smell the area out again subsequently the times of Bilic might be designated.
Foxes back on the top
Ranieri is sacking appropriately shone the highlight on Leicester people who have been all-too pleased with investing in the time and effort had a need to attach any type of protection to dairy their name gain but apparently not too pleased.
In equity towards the Foxes panel, that termination has been doing the secret whilst the group has gained three under Shakespeare about the spin.
West Ham 2-3 Leicester: Craig Shakespeare holds first absent gain
They’ve completed so nicely, actually, they sponsor Stoke on Sunday inside their places today having a devote the most effective 1 / 2 of the Premierleague.
The rebirth continues to be remarkable for Shakespeare, however additionally tosses up legitimate concerns over if the people allow their aged chef along by tossing it in.
Leicester are apparently back on the top. It will be confirmed by a conquer Stoke.
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