#we met in 2004 and he married in 2015

[uminohotaru]

Our Island

I'll write this here where you won't read it so as not to be tempted to write to you. I will tell this story into the void because I'm a coward, but also because it is better this way. Ghosts of the past may not be welcome—or worse, they may be destructive, like a sudden storm on a calm day. (And to the people who happen to read it: I hope it gives you some food for thought, or just entertains you a bit.)

It was an endless winter 20 years ago, followed by an endless spring that got imprinted in my memory almost day by day. You wrote to me first as you came across my profile amidst dozens or hundreds of others on that long-since-dead now website where people gathered to talk about magic. And the magic began—right away. It swept off my previous life, everything that seemed important, and put me on the turbulent journey of our strange relationship.

We wrote to each other every day, pages and pages of thoughts, trying to express, to put into words our very souls for the other to see, to understand. Never before had I met that kind of resonance, and never after. Thousands of miles apart, we wouldn't sleep at night, we would think about each other constantly, and we would write. About everything. Our life views, our dreams, our fantasy worlds, our childhood stories and current hardships. We were learning each other and we were learning ourselves. Still to this day, I remember the sweet tremble inside my chest, and the sensation of a free fall in my stomach every time I would open my inbox and see your letter. It is only virtual, my sanity tried to warn me, it's not all that real. How wasn't that real? The way your words made me feel alive, and the way your occasional silence hurt me. The way I almost couldn't breathe the first time I heard your voice—the connection of those old mobile phones was awful, even more so because I was on a beach; sea always calmed me but not that time. I wanted to reach for you in reality—but oh did I fear that! I was afraid we would not be the same people we imagined ourselves to be; I was afraid I would forget all the words I could string together so easily in writing; I was afraid that everyday life would destroy the magic of our connection. And still, I was waiting to meet you, I wanted to be close to you, I could not stop thinking about you. Even during the exams which I partly failed that summer (or did I? I don't even remember.) Crazy times. Instead of studying and cramming, instead of working on those 3d projects, I was writing to you, or I was thinking about you, or I was just daydreaming while waiting for your letter.

What would have happened if we have managed to meet that summer, after all? Who can tell. Maybe nothing good. Maybe the clarity would have ended our connection right then...or maybe it would have morphed it into something fully real. But we didn't meet. I don't remember exactly why, there were circumstances that were against us. Instead, I met that guy I'd had a crush on in high school. And everything changed.

It was but a brief meeting and almost instant parting, but it threw me into a labyrinth of hell. Oh, the rest of that summer and the autumn were scary. I was drowning in what I thought to be love for that guy, an unrequited one, but looking back, it was mostly just the pain of my hurt ego, and the shock of the first attempt of intimacy. I didn't even know him that well as a person. I still answered something to you, and I felt bad for being dishonest to you, the letters (or was it mostly texting by that time?) became excruciating to write and to receive, because I couldn't open up to you like I used to. And it didn't work that way between us. But I still needed you. Your mere presence, albeit virtual, gave me something I couldn't put into words. But you sensed, of course, the change. You tried to ask me what happened, and I couldn't tell you. At some point, the thoughts of killing myself overtook me, but I was saved by God. You know that story, since in a few months, I found the courage to tell you everything. Having prepared myself to lose you for good.

But you stayed. You still tried to understand the new me. It was only the beginning of the mess.

I wrote this line in one of my stories: "Regrets are only justified when you have chosen wrong. But if you were too weak to even make a choice, isn't regret just a self-indulgent delusion?" What choice could I really make at that time? I thought I had finally found myself, found God, found my path, but oh was I a self-centered moron! Next spring, I finally told you that I had been in love with you. Because, funny thing, we had been playing into friendship the whole time. I guess nobody truly believed in that, yet we were both afraid to give name to this thing between us. So, I finally did, and you answered, you laid your heart bare before me, and all the unsaid was finally put into words. The elation of that! I remember it, I remember the feeling of finally connecting to someone—not someone, You—on the deepest level; finally being allowed into your innermost thoughts; the elation of my feelings being reciprocated. That very day, I rejected a guy in RL who was asking me out, telling him that I've got someone I love. Right then and there, being voiced out, everything became undeniably real, no longer virtual. Then, we confessed that we still love each other. I was happy. You were happy. You said you had never felt that happy. And then it was over.

Why? Why, why, why? Why did I feel that emptiness right after the elation? Did I sense that I have nothing to give you for real? Why could I not feel the true connection to the person you had become over those few months of radio silence? You were the same you, maybe with a bunch of new interests, some inner growth, and experience. Why only now, rereading your letters of that time, I can finally read them for real, can see you in these letters? I was only seeing myself back then. I was so overwhelmed with my own shift of ideals that there was no room in my heart for anyone else. We still didn't manage to meet that summer either. It's actually good we didn't. I would've only hurt you, the way I was back then. I did hurt you anyway—with my words, dismissing your own changes and discoveries, criticizing some of your decisions from the position of a know-it-all righteousness. I spoke about God, about Love, but in fact, I didn't know Love. I could not love you. I was unable to give, I only wanted something for myself, I didn't even know what.

So, I continued to seek it. First, around me, then—once I ended up on the ruins of my current life—somewhere on the distant horizon. You still happened to visit me from time to time, to check up on me. I knew you were hurting. And you were still dear to me. I was still salty that you had gone on that mountain trip instead of visiting me even though I knew why; it was my fault, my coldness that stopped you. You were trying to keep your distance now, to heal, perhaps. I missed you so damn much. But my eyes were now fixed on the storms ahead of me, where I thought I saw that something. Remember you told me once: "it seems to me that you will find what you are looking for, perhaps even more:) And there will be pain, and there will be joy, and there will be many things:) Like the ship that is accustomed to stormy winds, and there is little that can surprise the captain… In a storm, many take their sails down. But you seem to expose yourself to the blows of the wind and pick up speed instead:)"

Like many of your words, this metaphor hit the nail on the head. Quitting the uni, going against my family, leaving for another city to start a completely new life... I was carried by the winds and waves, and I believed that in this fury of elements, I was about to find something real, something that is mine. At that time, I thought it was something I had to look for somewhere out there, beyond the murky darkness of the storm. Now, my mind cleared of the fog, rereading our old letters, I can piece together the fragments of my own self scattered across the pages of my life, and resurrect the forgotten memories. I remember the beginning almost day by day. But I don't remember the middle very well, and the further—or closer to the end, closer to the present day—the less I can remember. I feel like I'm reading some lines, entire letters even, for the first time. Who read them instead of me back then? And who wrote the answers? Where was Me? How many signals have gone into the black space, how many bridges have melted into the void… How many mazes have managed to draw me into their depths, luring me with false goals and desires, and the oddest thing is that I have always, always remembered you, and put you outside the brackets of that whole life of adventure. How could I not realize it back then?

That this was the reality. Not vice versa.

Was it your offer to meet from time to time on this Island lost in the oceans, untouched by the storms, outside of time and space—or was it mine? Probably yours, but I liked the idea, I shaped this Island in my mind. Here, you asked me what he must be like, the man who could stay by my side. He must be very swift and nimble in order to keep up with me—you joked—since I would take off for far away suddenly. "Today, your ship is moored in a tropical port, and you are lying on the sand and looking at the stars. And in the morning…you take your sword and sail away to the horizon, for example, somewhere to the north. And, probably, there are only two options here—either to stare at the sea, dumbfounded, or to set off after you…and be very fast at that, too, in order to catch up:)" Answering you, I was trying to outline that person in my imagination. Funny. You were talking about travelling through the storms together, but the Island always remained where it had been. I don't need someone who would keep up with me on my journey. I need You—did I tell you that? No; at least, never clearly enough. I didn't understand that consciously myself, although wasn't it obvious from the way I kept visiting our Island during various storms? What was I visiting it for? To have a deep conversation with a virtual friend? I thought so, sometimes. It was always the trap we kept falling into—the idea of that bond being something less (or something else) because of the physical distance. You told me that the uncertainty, the inability to comprehend what it truly was had been tormenting you. You wanted to say farewell to me so many times, you almost did once, almost. But you didn't. You gave me this Island instead.

That one time, you were very direct in your question. You asked if the ghosts of the past may still have a chance. I failed to give you a clear answer, and I'm sure you took that as a "no". It wasn't. It was just the same old fear, the same old doubt. I'd been treasuring our bond so much that I'd become unable to act, to put it at risk of being tested by real life. It was safer to think about you as my soulmate, someone out there whom I can remain connected with on the deepest level without the necessity to squeeze this relationship into some sort of dating or other things that scared me. What if we, indeed, were totally different people in RL? What if our RL goals would not match?

Now I understand there's no such thing as "virtual" between real people. Reality itself is a lace of interconnected threads, interaction of persons; everything else is but a background noise. Success, achievements, goals, interests...it all seemed more important back then. But every achievement will become a turned page, a dusty trophy on a shelf, and every interest will lose its motivating energy. What remains is threads dangling above the void, never really having been cut, the threads we pretend not to notice. But you're the only memory I don't want to run away from, the warmth of which I want to stay enveloped in. I would crave for my dose of this warmth, of You, through the years. You would give me a bit, and I would go on. We would meet on that Island, rarely, briefly. Until we finally—quietly—fell apart completely.

You have found your different shore.

I pretended not to notice it for a half year, and I pretended being surprised to find out. I offered you a nonchalant, joyful congratulation, that of an old brief acquaintance, not even a friend. I still can't believe you didn't see through my lie. Or maybe you did but realized it was better that way. (In truth, in a way, I knew it before you even posted about it on your page. Remember I told you about my dreams that showed me real events happening at the same time? Just like this, I saw it in a dream the night before. Only in that dream, I was in her place. You can imagine my shock the next day, and the catharsis or realizing many things at once. So, I needed that half year of silence before I could even attempt those few brief words.)

No one has been on the Island for a long time. The wind is hissing over the sand, the surf is monotone and unchanging, and the horizon is a flat, clear line. Hopelessly empty. The forgotten promise to meet here from time to time—at some point it even seemed enough. How could it seem enough? Now I can't figure it out.

"…sometimes I just want to get into the future and see what's beyond the "fog of war":) Where will I be, where will you be in a couple of decades:) But where we will be is not the main question; I'm interested in something else—what we will become."

Have that couple decades just passed?

It took me a very long time, and a lot of cruel mistakes, to finally come to understand what love is and what it isn't. So, have I found something in those stormy seas, after all? Have it all amounted to something, in the end? But the Island is deserted, and so it will remain. The world has changed. People have changed. The Island is still there.

[liliesmultiverse]

⋆ˊˎ-•̩̩͙- *̩̩̥͙ dating history in my adult fame reality!!

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° jasmine elaine collins [born feb. 21, 1990] is mrs. good luck, babe!. we started dating on november 13, 2004. she was scared of coming out so we kept our relationship a secret until she broke up with me on april 21, 2005 because her friends started getting suspicious and literally a day later she started dating a guy.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° sabrina lauren hall [born nov. 7, 1989] is mrs. casual. we started ‘dating’ on september 8, 2005. unbeknownst to me, our relationship was entirely casual to her & she was flirting with another girl the entire time. i ended it on june 20, 2006 when the other girl realized that i didn’t know what sabrina was doing.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° thomas grant gustin [born jan. 14, 1990] is mr. fearless. we met completely randomly in august 2006 and started dating on october 5 that same year. we ended up breaking on january 20, 2008 though because it wasn’t working anymore. there wasn’t any bad blood between us though.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° jensen ross ackles [born mar. 1, 1978] is mr. you’re not sorry. we met in 2008 on the set of supernatural because i had a small guest appearance and started dating on july 5. we broke up after only a few months on october 19 because he kept talking down on me because of my age.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° bill istvan gunther skarsgård [born aug. 9, 1990] is mr. better than revenge. we met at a chirstmas party in 2008 and started dating a few days later on new years. he broke up with me on july 14 through a voicemail and a few days later it was announced that he was dating someone else already.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° nikolina kamenova dobreva [born jan. 9, 1989] is mrs. long live. we first met on the set of the vampire diaries and started dating on november 4, 2009. our relationship was absolutely amazing but the internet absolutely ruined it because they hated us together so we mutually broke up on october 13, 2010.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° andrew russell garfield [born aug. 20, 1983] is mr. wildest dreams. we met while i was auditioning for gwen stacy in the amazing spider-man of which i did get the part. we started dating on march 13, 2011 and dated up until august 19, 2014 due to me falling out of love. many of our fans were upset at the announcement as they’d hoped that we’d get married eventually.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° aaron perry johnson [born jun. 13, 1990] is mr. getaway car. we first met when we filmed godzilla and became friends. he filed to divorce sam in april 2014 and it’s officially finalized in october that year and unbeknownst to me, the reason for the divorce was because he’d started getting feelings for me. we started dating on january 13, 2015 which led to a lot of hate towards me with haters calling me a multitude of names, mostly ‘slut’ or ‘homewrecker’. the hate started getting to me mentally and i broke it off on april 27, 2016 which he understood. we lost contact after the break up.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° jonathan edward bernthal [born sept. 20, 1976] is mr. paper rings. we first met while filming season 2 of daredevil but didn’t start getting closer until filming for the punisher season 1 where we started dating on november 19, 2016. our entire relationship was kept completely private from the media & public which was something we decided together. we have two daughters together - willow laura bernthal (b. august 4, 2018) & maya iris bernthal (b. december 11, 2020). we actually got engaged on may 13, 2019 and had plans to get married in late 2023 but life got in the way and we split on good terms on march 23, 2023. i was actually very heartbroken and swore off relationships for awhile.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° katherine victoria litwack [born jun. 13, 1986] is mrs. bed chem. we met through a mutual friend and hit it off pretty easily. we started a casual relationship on april 4, 2024 that didn’t last very long as she wanted more but i was still heartbroken over the split with jon so we broke it off on june 27, 2024.

┊ ➶ ｡˚ ° aaron perry johnson [born jun. 13, 1990] is mr. so high school. we met again in august 2024 and reconnected easily. we haven’t started anything and have remained friends although rumors did immediately spark when he appeared in the background of some photos at my 35th birthday party. we’ll start dating again though on april 14, 2025.

[moonyskarma]

family in my . . . SINGER REALITY

─ let's start from the beginning. the very beginning, that is.

my mother, winona elizabeth ryder, and my father, jonathan christopher depp II, met in 1990. winona and johnny began dating in 1993 after falling in love three years prior on the set of edward scissorhands. after two years of dating, they got married in italy—my mother's home country. i like to say my parents are the epitome of love, and i hope charles and i will have a relationship as beautiful as theirs.

theodore zeus depp was born on december 16th, 1996, three years after my parents started dating—just a year after they wed in 1995. he's the eldest child of the depp family, and the first child to follow in our parents footsteps and become an actor. he's taught me so much over the years, and i love him to pieces.

thomas poseidon depp and charles apollo depp were born on april 30th, 2001. that's me, on the right! theo was five when we were born, and our parents were six years into their marriage.

tom's my rock. my built-in best friend. my better half. i like to say we're two halves of a whole. i love my brother so much. he's so amazing. tommy followed in the footsteps of both our parents and our older brother theo in becoming an actor. i decided to take a different path and become a singer instead! acting was always my backup, though.

lily-rose aphrodite depp was born on may 27th, 2004, when my brother tom and i were 4, and theo was 8. she shares my (and our fathers) sarcasm, which makes conversations with her so much fun. she's my favorite fashion icon, the one who taught me how to dress (even though she's like three years younger than me), and the one who sends me "don't forget your lyrics on stage dumbass, love u" texts before a show.

elizabeth artemis depp was born on April 15th, 2015. she's the youngest sibling in our family by far. theo was 19 when she was born, tom and i were 14, and lily-rose was 11. how did that happen? who knows. ellie's the sweetest little girl i know, and one of my favorite people to be around.

can you tell my parents like greek mythology xx

[pynkhues]

Important succession question: was Nate dating Shiv first and then became friends with Kendall or was Nate friends with Kendall and then started dating Shiv? I cannot express how much both options fascinate me

Anon, this is a question that lives rent free in my head! One of the things I find especially interesting is that Tom actually knows him as a friend of Kendall's before he knows he's anything to Shiv at all. Like this:

Happens before this:

Which kind of does make it seem like maybe Kendall's talked about Nate in more contexts than Shiv has, which is particularly interesting given Kendall seemingly didn't mention that he dated his sister, haha.

But yes! As to who met who first, I think there are two questions that really impact how you can speculate that: first, what you think the age gap between Shiv and Kendall is (I'm a golden-trio-are-close-in-age truther, so I tend to put it as four years max), and when you think Kendall was in Shanghai.

The latter question is one I've seen contested a lot - I know a few people who think it was probably after rehab as a sort of exile like Roman being sent to LA was / an extension of 'you send the weak one away', but I actually think the show kind of gave us the answer for that when Logan was seriously looking to bring Shiv into the company.

I strongly suspect that he's basing that loosely off what he took Kendall through, minus a few things (like we know that Kendall got his MBA at Harvard and that he interned at Logan's papers, because he mentions it in Dundee, etc.) and likely with a condensed timeline just because of Kendall and Logan's respective ages at the time Kendall was going through it.

In my master timeline that I'll one day actually post, haha, I tend to put Kendall as having been born in 1979/1980 (s1 of the show is specifically set in 2018, and Kendall turns 40 in s3 which I think is meant to be roughly a year later). If that's the case, I think an estimate of Kendall's professional history would be:

at Harvard 1997-2002

Starting at Waystar and learning from Gerri/Baird/Frank/Karl for probably a few years, not one, lets say three or four, so that takes us through to about 2006. Kendall marries Rava in about 2004 too, so that fits neatly into this period as well.

Shanghai maybe 2007-2008

UK for a while, let's say through 2010.

Back for six months of management training

In roughly 2011 he's shadowing his father

2015 we know was rehab, which was a spanner in the works.

Then 2016-2018 was him back to shadowing his father with the view to take over.

That would put Kendall at about 28 while they were in Shanghai, and then poses the new question of how you think Kendall met Nate if not through Shiv.

I don't think Nate ever worked at Waystar, because I think it would've come up, so that's off the table. If you go with my rough estimate of Shiv being about 24 then, she would've graduated college herself and maybe met Nate interning then connected him and Ken when Ken was alone in Shanghai, but that doesn't really seem like something Shiv would do. Nate could've gone to college with either one of them too, but then that doesn't seem to really fit with the way he's talked about either.

I tend to lean towards Kendall knowing Nate first, and I tend to think they probably actually met in Shanghai? Given Nate's career path, I think you could make the argument that he was working somewhere like the US Embassy & Consulate in Shanghai which would make sense as to why Gil hired him and also put him pretty neatly in Kendall's orbit both professionally and personally.

After that, I kind of think it would be a pretty clear path as to Shiv meeting him, especially because Kendall's the only one who really seems to bring outsiders-in in that way like he's done with Stewy, Jess and Naomi.

But of course, that's a lot of speculation, haha. It's a really fun one to think about though - the show does such an awesome job of just dropping in these details that hint at so much storyworld.

What do you think though?

[denimbex1986]

'Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy as the titular leader of the Manhattan Project and father of the atomic bomb, hits theaters on July 21, 2023. News broke in 2021 that Oppenheimer would be Nolan's next project, following the director's tradition of action-packed blockbusters like The Dark Knight, Inception, and Dunkirk. And given that his last feature, 2020's Tenet, was met with mixed reception, all eyes are on Nolan for how Oppenheimer will unfold.

Though it's opening against Greta Gerwig's IP-epic Barbie, Oppenheimer is generating plenty of buzz in its own right, with many theatergoers even planning for a "Barbieheimer" double feature despite the stark differences in content and tone. But one thing the films do have in common is their large, star-studded casts.

"Even though Oppenheimer is at the center of it, we had this incredible ensemble of actors bringing so much to the table," Nolan told EW, adding, "We have to be really on our game, we have to be faithful to the history here, and really know what we're up to."

As we anxiously await its release, EW has compiled everything you need to know about the cast of Oppenheimer.

Cillian Murphy (Robert Oppenheimer)

After a successful run in professional theater, Cillian Murphy was cast by director Danny Boyle in the seminal 2003 zombie flick 28 Days Later. That same year, he appeared in Intermission and Cold Mountain. The actor later reunited with Boyle by starring in the 2007 sci-fi flick Sunshine.

In 2005, he had his first of many collaborations with Nolan by playing the Scarecrow in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Trilogy, followed by a role in Nolan's Inception (2010) and a cameo in Dunkirk (2017). In 2013, Murphy joined the cast of the television show Peaky Blinders, which concluded in 2022. More recently, Murphy was paired with his Oppenheimer costar Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place Part II (2020).

Murphy and Nolan sat down with EW to look back on their many collaborations, but both agreed the advent of Oppenheimer was notably special. "To be able to pick up the phone, and call [Murphy], and be like, 'This is the one where you carry the movie and really get to show what you can do."

That memory is cherished by Murphy as well, who added, "It was one of the best days of my life... I'll always turn up for Chris, no matter what the part is, but, secretly, it's a dream to play a lead part. The thing was, I had no idea. There was no preamble or anything, I just got the call. So it was incredibly exciting, and daunting, and terrifying, all at the same time."

Emily Blunt (Kitty Oppenheimer)

London native Emily Blunt, who plays fellow scientist and wife Kitty Oppenheimer, began acting in theater before moving to film with Paweł Pawlikowski's My Summer of Love (2004). Her next major role is perhaps the one that's stuck to her the most: Emily, the catty assistant to Miranda Priestly in 2006's The Devil Wears Prada (she later became the sister-in-law to costar Stanley Tucci when he married her sister, Felicity).

After her scene-stealing turn in Prada, Blunt began landing more prominent parts. She starred opposite Steve Carell in Dan in Real Life (2007), with Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson's War the same year, in the indie hit Sunshine Cleaning (2009), and in the big-budget flop The Wolfman (2010). Blunt next moved into action with a role in Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and anchored Denis Villeneuve's gritty thriller Sicario (2015). She then became one of the few actors to embody Mary Poppins with 2018's Mary Poppins Returns, and returned to the Disney fold in the amiable adventure Jungle Cruise (2021).

Blunt previously dated singer Michael Bublé from 2005 to 2008 before she met actor and director John Krasinski in 2008. The couple married in 2010 and share two daughters. Krasinski and Blunt have worked together on both A Quiet Place films, which starred the couple and were written and directed by Krasinski.

Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss)

Robert Downey Jr. began acting at 5-years-old, but things didn't start taking off for him until he was an adult. His early notable roles include Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin (1992) — for which he was nominated for an Oscar — and Wayne Gayle in Natural Born Killers (1994). Around this time, Downey also began to fall into a spiral of substance abuse and addiction, leading to a number of arrests in the late '90s. In 1999, he was sentenced to three years in prison but served just one before a judge ruled that Downey's combined time spent incarcerated since 1996 counted as his full term.

After his release, Downey began his comeback tour. He joined the cast of Ally McBeal to much acclaim, starred in Mel Gibson's The Singing Detective (2003), terrorized Tim Allen in Disney's The Shaggy Dog (2006) remake, played reporter Paul Avery in David Fincher's masterpiece Zodiac (2007), and joined up with director Jon Favreau for his career-defining role as Tony Stark in Iron Man (2008).

In the midst of his professional renaissance, Downey met his future wife on the set of 2003's potboiler Gothika. Downey married film producer Susan Downey (née Levin) in 2005. They have two children and co-parent Downey's first son, Indio, from his previous marriage to Deborah Falconer.

After joining the MCU, Downey's career took a significant upswing. He appeared in 10 Marvel films, along with two of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes pictures as the titular detective. Along with his wife, Downey founded Team Downey, a production company that has produced films such as The Judge (2014) and Dolittle (2020).

Downey reports that he has been drug-free for two decades, thanks to his wife and his proclivities for meditation and kung-fu. When asked by Oprah Winfrey how he has been able to stick to his sobriety, Downey told the host, "It's really not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems. What's hard is to decide to do it."

Matt Damon (Leslie Groves Jr.)

Practically everyone knows the story of Matt Damon, who with his childhood buddy Ben Affleck went on to script and star in Good Will Hunting (1997), win an Oscar, and kickstart a career of big-budget tent poles and respected awards pictures alike. He went on to give a thrilling performance in 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley, and shortly thereafter joined the star-studded cast of Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven and its sequels, Twelve and Thirteen.

The actor soon earned his franchise credentials with four turns as Jason Bourne, beginning with The Bourne Identity and culminating in Jason Bourne (2016). He also worked with Martin Scorsese in The Departed (2006) and re-teamed with frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh for Contagion (2011). Damon soon won universal acclaim for his turn in The Martian (2015) a year after his first collaboration with Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan, when he played another stranded spaceman in Interstellar (2014).

Recently, Damon starred in the gripping thriller Stillwater (2021), the historical epic The Last Duel (which he also produced and co-scripted with Affleck and Nicole Holofcener), and the 2023 feel-good sneaker biopic Air. As a producer, Damon has worked on Manchester by the Sea (2016) as well as the HBO show Project Greenlight.

The actor shares four daughters with wife Luciana Bozán, with the eldest, Alexia, from her previous marriage.

Florence Pugh (Jean Tatlock)

While still in school, Florence Pugh made her acting debut in Carol Morley's film The Falling (2014), where she earned rave reviews and quickly went on to give a searing performance in Lady Macbeth (2016), as well as in Marcella (2016) and The Commuter (2018). Pugh then earned mainstream acclaim with 2019's feel-good sports comedy Fighting with My Family. The same year, she starred in Ari Aster's psychological folk horror film Midsommar. At the end of 2019, she played Amy in Greta Gerwig's tremendous adaptation of Little Women.

Pugh next starred as Yelena Belova in Black Widow and the Disney+ series Hawkeye before taking a much talked about role in Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling (2022). In 2022, she also appeared in The Wonder and as Goldilocks in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, followed by a starring turn in her ex-partner Zach Braff's directorial effort A Good Person.

As for playing Jean Tatlock, fellow scientist and lover to Oppenheimer, Pugh told BBC Radio 1,"Working with Christopher Nolan was quite possibly one of the most thrilling experiences in a different way, partly because he works with professionals. He is a professional. But his dedication to the craft of filmmaking and old filmmaking is just magical to watch."

She continued: "To just watch every single crew member on that set work so hard for him, to get his approval… Everybody is constantly trying to be better the next day. And I've never seen that feeling on set before."

Dylan Arnold (Frank Oppenheimer)

Dylan Arnold made his acting debut in 2012's Fat Kid Rules the World before going on to act alongside Keira Knightley in Laggies (2014). He appeared in Mudbound (2017) and on episodes of SWAT, The Purge, and Nashville before netting a key supporting role in David Gordon Green's 2018 Halloween reboot and its sequel, Halloween Kills (2021). In 2021, Arnold joined the third season of You as Theo Engler. He'll appear in Oppenheimer as Frank, younger brother to Robert and physicist in his own right.

Benny Safdie (Edward Teller)

Director and actor Benny Safdie has collaborated with brother Josh Safdie on several feature films, including Daddy Longlegs (2009), The Black Balloon (2012), Good Time (2017), and Uncut Gems (2019). With Good Time, Safdie moved in front of the camera to give a critically acclaimed performance as Robert Pattinson's brother. More roles in Pieces of a Woman (2020) and Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza (2021) shortly followed.

In 2022, Safdie appeared in Claire Denis' erotic thriller Stars at Noon, and later gave an astounding performance in one of the 2023's best films, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, playing Margaret's father. He has been married to Ava Safdie since 2013, and the couple shares three children.

Gary Oldman (Harry S. Truman)

Gary Oldman is no stranger to working with Christpher Nolan, having appeared as Commissioner Gordon in the director's Dark Knight Trilogy. The actor began his career in London theater in the late '70s, appearing in Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, before moving into film, essaying memorable roles in Mike Leigh's Meantime (1983) and as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986).

The next decade brought Oldman acclaim overseas for his performance of the title monster in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), as well as the amped-up villain in Léon: The Professional (1994). Oldman has since been nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars three times for his roles in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Mank (2020), and Darkest Hour (2017) — the latter of which he won.

He was previously married to actress Lesley Manville, and the two share a son together. Oldman married Uma Thurman in 1990, but they were divorced two years later. Since 2017, Oldman has been married to art curator and writer Gisele Schmidt.

Tom Conti (Albert Einstein)

Scottish actor, director, and author Tom Conti got his start in the theater in 1959, later winning a Tony in 1979 for Best Actor in a Play for Whose Life Is It Anyway? After transitioning to film in the '70s, his noteworthy early roles included Reuben, Reuben and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, both in 1985. Conti also appeared alongside Jennifer Aniston in Derailed (2005), in Julie Taymor's The Tempest (2010), played a prisoner in Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and appeared as Judge Gerald Biggleswade in everyone's favorite movie, Paddington 2 (2018).

Conti has been married to actress Kara Wilson since 1967. The couple shares one daughter, Nina, an actress and ventriloquist.

Jack Quaid (Richard Feynman)

Son of Hollywood royalty Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, Jack Quaid made his film debut in The Hunger Games franchise as Marvel. He appeared in Logan Lucky (2017), rose to fame as Hughie Campbell on The Boys (2019-present), and blew the roof off of Scream (2022). He's also racked up an impressive list of voice credits in Batman: The Long Halloween as well as Star Trek: Lower Decks, not to mention as one of the Peter Parkers in 2023's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Playing Manhattan Project physicist Richard Feynman, Quaid shared in an interview with GQ (via FandomWire) that even just being on the set was intoxicating for him as an actor. "Shooting that was such an incredible experience. Like, I'm like a blip in that movie, but it was just so incredible to sit there and watch true masters do what they do."

Michael Angarano (Robert Serber)

Michael Angarano has enjoyed memorable roles in the films Almost Famous (2000), Seabiscuit (2003), Sky High (2005), and The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), as well as the television show Will & Grace in which he played Elliot, the son of Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes).

Angarano appeared with his Oppenheimer costar Olivia Thirlby in Snow Angels (2007) and had a memorable role in Steven Soderbergh's brilliant actioner Haywire (2011). In 2015, he starred in Wild Card and reunited with Thirlby in The Stanford Prison Experiment. More recent roles have included guest spots on series such as PEN15, Minx, and Angelyne.

Angarano is currently directing the upcoming film Sacramento, which stars himself, Kristen Stewart, and Michael Cera.

Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence)

Josh Hartnett made his film debut in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), and starred in The Faculty the same year. He appeared in dueling war films (Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor) and a raunchy teen comedy (40 Days and 40 Nights) before recalibrating with roles in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia (2006), Lucky Number Slevin (2007), 30 Days of Night (2008), and the indie drama August (2008).

More recently, Hartnett has starred on the Showtime series Penny Dreadful (2014–2016). In 2023, he appeared in Guy Ritchie's Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre and an episode of Black Mirror's sixth season as a disturbed astronaut opposite Aaron Paul.

Hartnett has been married to English actress Tamsin Egerton since 2021, with whom he shares three children.

Matthew Modine (Vannevar Bush)

Matthew Modine made his film debut in 1983's Baby It's You, followed by an ensemble role in Stanley Kubrick's anti-war film Full Metal Jacket (1987), and a lead part in Married to the Mob (1988). Starring roles in '90s staples such as Bye Bye Love and Cutthroat Island gave way to supporting parts in Any Given Sunday (1999) and Spike Lee's Bamboozled (2000).

The actor later appeared in the high-octane sequel Transporter 2 (2005) and in the rom-com Girl in Progress (2012). That year also marked Modine's first collaboration with Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight Rises, where he played Foley of the Gotham City Police Department. More recently, Modine has appeared in 47 Meters Down (2017), Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), and the reboot of Wrong Turn (2021).

Modine has been married to makeup and wardrobe stylist Caridad Rivera since 1980. The couple share two adult children, ballet dancer Ruby and assistant director Boman. The actor is also the head of an organization called Bicycle for a Day, which encourages people to abandon motor vehicles for a bicycle, if only occasionally.

Josh Peck (Kenneth Bainbridge)

One of the few child stars who parlayed massive stardom at a young age into adult success with a refreshing lack of controversy, Josh Peck rose to fame as a cast member of Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show and in the film Snow Day (2000). He took a successful dramatic turn in the chilling drama Mean Creek (2004) before going on to anchor his own Nick series, Drake & Josh (2004–2007) alongside recently embattled costar Drake Bell. Peck moved into more adult fare with roles in Drillbit Taylor and opposite Ben Kingsley in The Wackness (both 2008). He appeared in the remake of Red Dawn (2012), with Al Pacino in Danny Collins (2015), and in Netflix's 13: The Musical (2022).

Last year, Peck revealed to PEOPLE that he used to rely on drugs and alcohol to combat social anxiety. "I had this illusion of becoming more confident and attractive when I was partaking," he shared. "I was trying to quiet that voice that woke me up every morning and told me I wasn't enough." He stopped, however, when his substance abuse led to those in the industry labeling him as unreliable on set. "I had worked so hard for this thing and I was getting very close to losing it," Peck said.

The actor still cannot believe his good fortune to be cast in Nolan's latest epic as Kenneth Bainbridge, director of the Manhattan Project's infamous Trinity nuclear test. On the YouTube talk show Chicks in the Office, Peck revealed: "I have this really small part in [Oppenheimer]. I was on set two days ago going, 'I'm the guy from Drake & Josh, like what am I doing here?' But I'm soaking it up."

Olivia Thirlby (Lilli Hornig)

Olivia Thirlby made her feature film debut in Paul Greengrass' real-time 9/11 thriller United 93 (2006), in which the actor portrayed United flight 93 passenger Nicole Carol Miller. She then had a small part in David Gordon Green's Snow Angels before rising to stardom with her role in Juno (both in 2007), playing the best friend of the eponymous pregnant teen. In 2008, she starred opposite her Oppenheimer costar Josh Peck in The Wackness, a sweet NYC-set summer fable.

Thirlby laid low for a few years before returning to cinemas with key roles in the rom-com No Strings Attached, Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret, and The Darkest Hour (all 2011). She played Judge Anderson in Pete Travis' remarkably depraved and highly entertaining Judge Dredd reboot, Dredd (2012), before starring opposite yet another Oppenheimer costar, Michael Angarano, in The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015), and appearing in the bio-drama Chappaquiddick (2018).

In 2011, Thirlby came out as bisexual. She was married to Jacques Pienaar, whom she met on the set of Dredd, from the end of 2014 until early 2021 when he filed for divorce. In 2023, Thirlby's Juno costar Elliot Page revealed that the two had a physical relationship during filming.

Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr)

Oppenheimer is Kenneth Branagh's third collaboration with Christopher Nolan, after appearing in Dunkirk (2017) and Tenet (2020). Brannagh is a celebrated director in his own right, having been recognized by the Academy for helming Belfast (2021), along with nominations for his Shakespeare films Henry V (1989) and Hamlet (1996), both of which he starred in. (EW declared Much Ado About Nothing to be "not just the greatest Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare film," but "perhaps the greatest cinematic Shakespeare adaptation ever," Oscars be damned.)

He also helmed recent Agatha Christie adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Death on the Nile (2022), and the upcoming A Haunting in Venice (2023). Many viewers may recognize him for his turn as Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) as well.

Brannagh was married to actor and writer Emma Thompson from 1989 until 1995. He then entered a relationship with Helena Bonham Carter until 1999. He has been married to art director Lindsay Brunnock since 2003.

James D'Arcy (Patrick Blackett)

Like many famous faces in Oppenheimer, James D'Arcy has worked with Nolan once before on Dunkirk. A renowned character actor, D'Arcy is best known for his MCU turn as Edwin Jarvis, butler to Howard Stark, in the series Agent Carter and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Other notable works include Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), and Cloud Atlas (2012). He also played the legendary Psycho actor Anthony Perkins in the playful biopic Hitchcock (2012) and directed the 2020 drama Made in Italy, starring Liam Neeson. D'Arcy can be seen next in the upcoming sci-fi series Constellation.'

[qnewsau]

Qld croc wrangler turned gay ally MP Warren Entsch retires

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/queensland-croc-wrangler-turned-gay-ally-mp-warren-entsch-retires/

Qld croc wrangler turned gay ally MP Warren Entsch retires

Far North Queensland Liberal MP Warren Entsch has reflected on his years as an unlikely gay rights advocate as he retires from politics at the federal election.

The former cattleman, bull catcher and crocodile farmer was elected in 1996 and has won nine elections. He’s held the Queensland seat of Leichhardt for 26 of the last 29 years.

Entsh has also spent a majority of that time as an advocate for LGBTQIA+ equality in the federal parliament.

Speaking to ABC’s 7.30 ahead of the election this weekend, Warren Entsch recalled an encounter at a pub in outback Queensland in the 1980s that put queer rights on his radar.

A ranch cook and drinking buddy of his was transgender, and she’d moved to Sydney, transitioned and become a doctor.

At the time, Entsch admired her courage and over the next few decades, he was struck by devastating stories of discrimination against queer people in Australia.

In 2004, he spoke out against Prime Minister John Howard amending the Marriage Act to declare marriage as between a man and a woman.

After that, Entsch pushed for important reforms to around 100 federal laws to benefit same-sex couples, which the Rudd government later passed unanimously in 2008.

Those changes allowed long-term same-sex couples to be treated the same as married couples in areas like taxation and pensions. But same-sex marriage was still illegal.

‘You suddenly realise you’ve changed people’s lives’

Warren Entsch had retired – for the first time – a year earlier at the 2007 election. When he returned to parliament in 2010, the push for same-sex marriage in Australia was underway.

In 2015, Entsch introduced his own bill to legalise same-sex marriage. It was unsuccessful but another act of defiance, after then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott denied Coalition MPs a conscience vote on the issue.

Entsch told the ABC this week that over the years, some figures on his side of politics had called for him to be sacked over his outspoken advocacy.

But reflecting on the day the same-sex marriage bill passed the parliament in 2017, the veteran MP still gets emotional.

“It gives me huge pride. I’ve been invited to a number of weddings,” he said.

“I’ve had some wonderful messages from people that have had the opportunity, now, to express their love in the way they wanted to.”

Entsch recalled in the moments after the vote, a man he’d never met approached him and gave him a hug.

“You suddenly realise, you’ve made a difference. You’ve changed people’s lives,” he told the ABC.

He added, “The cemetery is full of a lot of people that could never come to terms with their sexuality. Why would we make their lives any more difficult than what it is?

“Listen to [people’s] stories and have a little empathy and don’t be afraid to speak out.”

‘I was outraged. I couldn’t believe it was true’

In his valedictory speech in the parliament last November, Warren Entsch told some of those stories. He paid tribute to some of the people that had driven him to push for equality for same-sex couples.

“In the late 1990s a young naval officer from HMS Cairns told me he’d been promoted and was ready to be transferred,” the MP said.

“They were taking him, all of his furniture, his dog, his budgerigar, his car and his boat. But they wouldn’t take his partner because they were a same-sex couple.

“I was outraged. I couldn’t believe it was true.”

Warren recalled another gay couple, John Challis and his partner Arthur Cheeseman. The pair’s 50 year relationship was not recognised under the law.

“John was a retired public servant with a pension and Arthur was a retired pharmacist who’d worked before superannuation,” he said.

“The couple shared a loving, monogamous and committed relationship for over 50 years. But because they were a same-sex couple, Arthur was not entitled to John’s benefits should anything have happened to him.

“If something happened to either of them, other family members could’ve disputed their estate [and] taken their homes away from them.”

Entsch said after the passage of same-sex marriage, John and Arthur tied the knot five years before Arthur’s death.

Warren Entsch wants the advocacy to continue

The Liberal MP said he, alongside retiring Labor MP Graham Perrett and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, established the world’s first Parliamentary Friendship Group for the LGBTQIA+ community in Canberra.

“That group is still very active to this day. I’m sure they’ll continue their important advocacy, even after I finish in this place,” Entsch said.

The federal election is on Saturday (May 3).

Read more:

Retiring MP Graham Perrett calls out transphobes in last speech

Senator Louise Pratt stands up for trans Aussies in final speech

Retired Greens senator Janet Rice wants to marry her partner Anne

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[ugly-anastasia]

Friday, November 3 -- Everyone’s a Critic: Write ten reviews that your character would leave for books on Goodreads, movies on Letterboxd, or something similar! Include their star rating. 

ANASTASIA TREMAINE'S DIARY, 2002

This book is now going to be for movie reviews!!! I have decided that I am going to be a journalist and to be a journalist you have to have bye-lines. I am going to be a critic which means you are the one who tells people which movies are good and which are not. So we are starting off with the best movie ever, Anastasia.

ANASTASIA (Five Stars)

This movie is the best movie. It's about a girl named Anya and she has the prettiest hair and she thinks she's an orphan in France but really she is a princess and her name is actually Anastasia!!! And her family died in the war but she survived and now she has to learn how to be a princess. And this boy Demitri falls in love with her (he's SOOO cute) and there's this scary wizard guy but she defeats him in the end. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone.

THE SWYNLAKE PRIMARY WEEKLY NEWS, 2003

Film Review: What A Girl Wants (Reviewed by Anastasia Tremaine)

THREE STARS

This film was very unrealistic. Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth both had an excellent performance, and the song by Christina Aguilera was very good as well. However, it really doesn't make sense that Henry Dashwood did not know he had a daughter all this time and then as soon as she shows up he just stops caring about his actual stepdaughter-to-be so that he can spoil this girl he's never met before. I think Daphne was actually the villain of this movie. But it still gets three stars for the sountrack. Also the costume department did an excellent job.

THE SWYNLAKE SECONDARY SUN, 2004

Film Review: The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (Reviewed by Anastasia Tremaine)

TWO STARS

This film had many good qualities. It showed how many important duties Princess Mia had to learn in order to run a country. It also had some very good performances by Anne Hathaway, Chris Pine, and of course Julie Andrews. However, the end of the movie was a huge mistake. Andrew was a perfectly good option for Mia to marry and she put on this whole big fancy royal wedding only to humiliate him at the altar. I get that she was in love with Lord Nicholas, but she should have let Andrew down more nicely. Or maybe just married him. He was a perfectly nice person. For that, I have to give it a score of two stars.

THE SWYNLAKE SECONDARY SUN, 2009

Film Review: 500 Days of Summer (Reviewed by Anastasia Tremaine)

ONE STAR

This movie was so awkward. I'm sorry, but it's so unattractive to pine after the same girl all summer when she obviously isn't into you, and she's not even that pretty. Get a life, Joseph Gordon Levitt! Ugh. Embarrassing. If you like this movie, you're probably a loser too.

THE SWYNLAKE SECONDARY SUN, 2013

Film Review: The Great Gatsby (Reviewed by Anastasia Tremaine)

FIVE STARS

An absolutely gorgeous film. Leonardo DiCaprio is a genius, as is Tobey Maguire. The visuals were stunning and I adored Lana Del Rey's contributions to the soundtrack. One must wonder: where are the modern men who will rise to this level of romance and grand gestures? Perhaps we can all learn something from this masterpiece of a film.

IMDB, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (2015)

by user annieratesfilms

FIVE STARS

I don't know what all the feminist uproar about this movie is lol. If Christian Grey wanted to give Ana all these things and fly her around the world, he should be allowed to. It's called being romantic. No wonder people say chivalry is dead, it's because every time a man tries to be romantic people rip him apart. Personally, I found this movie hot. Just saying. Call me a sexist if you want but I'm literally a woman.

IMDB, HEREDITARY (2018)

by user annieratesfilms

ONE STAR

This movie was just disgusting disturbing and made absolutely no sense. Completely unnecessary nudity and way too many weird scenes with the miniature houses. I thought this was just going to be a normal scary movie about ghosts but it turned out to mostly be about the mom having a mental breakdown. So disappointing.

IMDB, THE MENU (2022)

ONE STAR

by user annieratesfilms

Extremely disturbing, zero redeeming qualities. The characters got punished for being rich (by being murdered) but the chef was clearly also very rich and famous so it was totally hypocritical!!! I especially felt bad for the girl who said she went to Brown and got murdered for that. There were no positive characters in this movie and I don't even know why I watched it.

SOUTH SWYNLAKE HOMEOWNERS IN IT TOGETHER NEWSLETTER, JUNE 2023

Movie Corner!

Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse: Three Stars

As some of you may have heard, there is a new animated Spider-Man movie out! However, I would like to warn everyone that just because it is animated does not mean it is appropriate for children. While it has many inspiring messages, it also has some poor role models for children. Gwen Stacey has a truly awful haircut and is very disrespectful to her father. Also, there is a Spider-"Punk" character who has a very negative attitude. Enjoy the movie on your own, but maybe don't bring the kiddos!!!

SOUTH SWYNLAKE HOMEOWNERS IN IT TOGETHER NEWSLETTER, JULY 2023

Movie Corner!

Barbie: Three Stars

This movie was so pretty! The costumes were gorgeous, the sets were amazing— it was like stepping into Barbie Land for real!! Margot Robbie did an AMAZING job. However, I will say that it is a little more anti-men than I was expecting. Just takes things a bit too far at times! Not a good message for children! And there are quite a few scenes that your little girls will probably be bored watching. So overall it was a bit of a letdown. However, it is still a pretty good movie, I just think it could have been better. It should have been more positive and cheerful, as a movie about Barbie! Just my opinion :)

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Peter Green who Died: July 25, 2020 in Canvey Island, Essex, England

Peter Allen Greenbaum (29 October 1946 – 25 July 2020), known professionally as Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. As the founder of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Green's songs, such as "Albatross", "Black Magic Woman", "Oh Well", "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" and "Man of the World", appeared on singles charts, and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians.

Green was a major figure in the "second great epoch" of the British blues movement. Eric Clapton praised his guitar playing, and B.B. King commented, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." Green was interested in expressing emotion in his songs, rather than showing off how fast he could play. His trademark sound included string bending, vibrato, and economy of style.

In June 1996, Green was voted the third-best guitarist of all time in Mojo magazine. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked him at number 58 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Green's tone on the instrumental "The Super-Natural" was rated as one of the 50 greatest of all time by Guitar Player in 2004.

Peter Allen Greenbaum was born in Bethnal Green, London, on 29 October 1946, into a Jewish family, the youngest of Joe and Ann Greenbaum's four children. His brother, Michael, taught him his first guitar chords and by the age of 11 Green was teaching himself. He began playing professionally by the age of 15, while working for a number of East London shipping companies. He first played bass guitar in a band called Bobby Dennis and the Dominoes, which performed pop chart covers and rock 'n' roll standards, including Shadows covers. He later stated that Hank Marvin was his guitar hero and he played the Shadows' song "Midnight" on the 1996 tribute album Twang. He went on to join a rhythm and blues outfit, the Muskrats, then a band called the Tridents in which he played bass. By Christmas 1965 Green was playing lead guitar in Peter Bardens' band "Peter B's Looners", where he met drummer Mick Fleetwood. It was with Peter B's Looners that he made his recording début with the single "If You Wanna Be Happy" with "Jodrell Blues" as a B-side. His recording of "If You Wanna Be Happy" was an instrumental cover of a song by Jimmy Soul. In 1966, Green and some other members of Peter B's Looners formed another act, Shotgun Express, a Motown-style soul band which also included Rod Stewart, but Green left the group after a few months.

In October 1965, before joining Bardens' group, Green had the opportunity to fill in for Eric Clapton in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers for four gigs. Soon afterwards, when Clapton left the Bluesbreakers, Green became a full-time member of Mayall's band from July 1966. Green made his recording debut with the Bluesbreakers in 1966 on the album A Hard Road (1967), which featured two of his own compositions, "The Same Way" and "The Supernatural". The latter was one of Green's first instrumentals, which would soon become a trademark. So proficient was he that his musician friends bestowed upon him the nickname "The Green God". In 1967, Green decided to form his own blues band and left the Bluesbreakers.

Green's new band, with former Bluesbreaker Mick Fleetwood on drums and Jeremy Spencer on guitar, was initially called "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac featuring Jeremy Spencer". Bob Brunning was temporarily employed on bass guitar (Green's first choice, Bluesbreakers' bassist John McVie, was not yet ready to join the band). Within a month they played at the Windsor National Jazz and Blues Festival in August 1967, and were quickly signed to Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label. Their repertoire consisted mainly of blues covers and originals, mostly written by Green, but some were written by slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer. The band's first single, Spencer's "I Believe My Time Ain't Long" with Green's "Rambling Pony" as a B-side, did not chart but their eponymous debut album made a significant impression, remaining in the British charts for 37 weeks. By September 1967, John McVie had replaced Brunning.

Although classic blues covers and blues-styled originals remained prominent in the band's repertoire through this period, Green rapidly blossomed as a songwriter and contributed many successful original compositions from 1968 onwards. The songs chosen for single release showed Green's style gradually moving away from the group's blues roots into new musical territory. Their second studio album Mr. Wonderful was released in 1968 and continued the formula of the first album. In the same year they scored a hit with Green's "Black Magic Woman" (later covered by Santana), followed by the guitar instrumental "Albatross" (1969), which reached number one in the British singles charts. More hits written by Green followed, including "Oh Well", "Man of the World" (both 1969) and the ominous "The Green Manalishi" (1970). The double album Blues Jam in Chicago (1969) was recorded at the Chess Records Ter-Mar Studio in Chicago. There, under the joint supervision of Vernon and Marshall Chess, they recorded with some of their American blues heroes including Otis Spann, Big Walter Horton, Willie Dixon, J. T. Brown and Buddy Guy.

While touring Europe in late March 1970, Green took LSD at a party at a commune in Munich, an incident cited by Fleetwood Mac manager Clifford Davis as the crucial point in his mental decline. Communard Rainer Langhans mentions in his autobiography that he and Uschi Obermaier met Green in Munich, where they invited him to their Highfisch-Kommune. Fleetwood Mac roadie Dinky Dawson remembers that Green went to the party with another roadie, Dennis Keane, and that when Keane returned to the band's hotel to explain that Green would not leave the commune, Keane, Dawson and Mick Fleetwood travelled there to fetch him. By contrast, Green stated that he had fond memories of jamming at the commune when speaking in 2009: "I had a good play there, it was great, someone recorded it, they gave me a tape. There were people playing along, a few of us just fooling around and it was... yeah it was great." He told Jeremy Spencer at the time "That's the most spiritual music I've ever recorded in my life." After a final performance on 20 May 1970, Green left Fleetwood Mac.

Green was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent time in psychiatric hospitals undergoing electroconvulsive therapy during the mid-1970s. Many sources attest to his lethargic, trancelike state during this period. In 1977, Green was arrested for threatening his accountant David Simmons with a shotgun. The exact circumstances are the subject of much speculation, the most famous being that Green wanted Simmons to stop sending money to him. In the 2011 BBC documentary Peter Green: Man of the World, Green stated that at the time he had just returned from Canada needing money and that, during a telephone conversation with his accounts manager, he alluded to the fact that he had brought back a gun from his travels. His accounts manager promptly called the police, who surrounded Green's house.

In 1979, Green began to re-emerge professionally. With the help of his brother Michael, he was signed to Peter Vernon-Kell's PVK label, and produced a string of solo albums starting with 1979's In the Skies. He also made an uncredited appearance on Fleetwood Mac's double album Tusk, on the song "Brown Eyes", released the same year.

In 1981, Green contributed to "Rattlesnake Shake" and "Super Brains" on Mick Fleetwood's solo album The Visitor. He recorded various sessions with a number of other musicians notably the Katmandu album A Case for the Blues with Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry, Vincent Crane from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Len Surtees of The Nashville Teens. Despite attempts by Gibson Guitar Corporation to start talks about producing a "Peter Green signature Les Paul" guitar, Green's instrument of choice at this time was a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion guitar. In 1986, Peter and his brother Micky contributed to the album A Touch of Sunburn by Lawrie 'The Raven' Gaines (under the group name 'The Enemy Within'). This album has been reissued many times under such titles as Post Modern Blues and Peter Green and Mick Green – Two Greens Make a Blues, often crediting Pirates guitarist Mick Green.

In 1988 Green was quoted as saying: "I'm at present recuperating from treatment for taking drugs. It was drugs that influenced me a lot. I took more than I intended to. I took LSD eight or nine times. The effect of that stuff lasts so long ... I wanted to give away all my money ... I went kind of holy – no, not holy, religious. I thought I could do it, I thought I was all right on drugs. My failing!"

Enduring periods of mental illness and destitution throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Green moved in with his older brother Len and Len's wife Gloria, and his mother in their house in Great Yarmouth, where a process of recovery began. He lived for a period on Canvey Island, Essex.

Green married Jane Samuels in January 1978; the couple divorced in 1979. They had a daughter, Rosebud(born 1978).

Green died on July 25, 2020 at the age of 73.

[desiraypark]

Clyde x Sherri Master Post

Clyde x Sherri is an ongoing non-linear series about (now) married couple, Clyde and Sherri (Simmons) Logan. Clyde and Sherri are currently living it up in “real-time”, but entries could be set in the past or future. Sometimes major events are sped up (ex: in real-time, they moved to Norfolk, VA in September 2020, but I’ve been writing them in their new city since July 2020).  This post (which is long, I must add) contains a breakdown of the series entries and some story development details (the Capricorn jumps out, y’all).  Full Series in Posting Order (Entry Breakdown below) LONG POST WARNING

ENTRY INDEX ( *- means they’re being sexy and/or they’re gonna bang) Before They Met July 1992 (Young Clyde x Sherri cross paths) Dating Era The First Date “Familiar” (How They Met) Untitled Prompt Request (Clyde asking Sherri to quit one of her jobs) “Was it for a good reason?” (Sherri learns about the robbery)  Shattered (continuation of the previous) Locked Away (cont. of the prev.) No More Secrets (cont. of the prev.) - Sherri x Jimmy Like Magnets (cont. of the prev.) Meet the Parents (Clyde meets Terry & Ramona Simmons) “Where’s Sherri?” (Request/Clyde x Sherri at a family cookout) Honeybunch (Why Sherri calls Clyde “Honeybunch”) Movin’ In (Prompt request)

Married (Before the child/children) Dearly Beloved (Part of their Wedding) Shut Up, Clyde* (Their Honeymoon) Summer Madness (Summer fluff) Bare Feet (Prompt Request - Clyde and Sherri enjoy a kiddie pool) Lil’ House Guest (Critter alert) Have Clyde’s Cake and Eat It, Too (Sherri can’t resist sweets) Sherri Logan, P.I.* (A lil’ roleplay)  Bad* (A hint of dominatin’ Clyde) Are We Ready? (Discussing children) “Where is my tongue?!” (Sherri gets her wisdom teeth pulled) A Birthday First* (Sherri puts on a show) Lunch Time* (Clyde his hungry) “Love Won’t Let Me Wait”* (Baby Fever in a thunderstorm) Yoink! (Sherri is not to be trifled with) Headed West (Clyde and Sherri move) Every Room* (You see what it says) Something in Common (Clyde and Sherri meet their neighbors) A Mean Old Fashioned (Clyde gets a new job) “Her Name is Sherri.” (Clyde finds the perfect job for Sherri) A Long Night* (If you give a Clyde a remote...) Negative to a Positive (Sherri suspects pregnancy) Deserving (Sherri helps Clyde through anxiety) Bad Mood* (Clyde fixes that lil’ attitude) Babies with Dimples (Clyde and Sherri have too much to drink) Sherri and the Giant Peach (Sherri tries on business clothing) Apple Pie (Sherri freestyles a popular dessert) Chef Sadie (Sadie goes on a cooking competition reality show) Too Much* (Clyde lets out some frustration) No Solids / No Sweets (Sherri’s sick and refuses to do the right thing) Cherries & Honey (Sherri gets a tattoo) The Near Future The Big People (From Clyde and Sherri’s child’s POV) Shush. (Pregnant Sherri wants Clyde to be comfortable) Peanut Butter Jelly Time! (Pregnant Sherri is hungry and horny) The Family Man (Clyde’s dad returns) Catwoman (The Logans go trick-or-treating) The Distant Future Ruby (Clyde and Sherri’s 40th Anniversary) The Weight (Part I - Part II) (Sherri deals with impostor’s syndrome) With Others No More Secrets (Sherri x Jimmy) The Little Things (Clyde x James Cooke) Extra Stuff The World of Clyde x Sherri - “behind-the-scenes” type stuff (includes their birth charts, text conversations, descriptions of their homes, etc.) Sim Clyde x Sherri (I made them in The Sims 4) _______________________ MAJOR TIMELINE The events of Logan Lucky are pushed back to 2015 solely because I wanted Clyde and Sherri to have known each other for a long-time (again, relative to “real-time”).  2015 Early May - Clyde got locked up Late August - Clyde got out December - Clyde moved into his own two-bedroom home // Clyde and Sherri “formally” met.  2017 January - Clyde and Sherri started dating Early April - Clyde and Sherri broke up Early May - Clyde and Sherri got back together Late May - Sherri formally met Jimmy and Mellie  June - Clyde met Sherri’s separated parents (Terry and Ramona Simmons) 2018 March - Clyde and Sherri got engaged September - Clyde and Sherri got married “2020″ September - Clyde and Sherri moved to Norfolk, VA. ______________________ BACKGROUND STORIES Some Clyde Logan headcanons; Sherri Logan development Content/Trigger Warnings: Depression; impostor syndrome; self-doubt; death; parent death; war mention; war injury mention; abandonment (by a parent); cancer mention. Sherri (Simmons) Logan was born on January 25, 1988, in Charleston, West Virginia. Her family moved to Boone when she was a toddler. She has an older sister named Robyn and a little brother named Terry Jr (aka TJ). Sherri graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA and attended North Carolina Central University where she studied Early Childhood Education for two years. Her life’s dream was to become an elementary school librarian. While in college, Sherri’s parents separated. As a result, she became depressed, and eventually so overwhelmed with school work that she dropped out.  Despite her inner desire, Sherri avoided any work in the education field and took on jobs in retail and customer service. When she and Clyde started dating, she worked two jobs--cashier at a dollar store and cashier at a local supermarket. She was also living with her best friend, Tasha. Sherri still feels the “sting” of (self-imposed) embarrassment that has come with being “the one who was supposed to “make it” but didn’t”, but occasionally considers returning to school. Sherri’s sister, Robyn, moved back to Charleston when she married Devon. They have a son, Devon Jr (aka DJ), and a baby girl named Princess. Her brother, TJ, lives in Atlanta, GA. Sherry currently works as the morning/afternoon receptionist at Busy Bees Daycare. Entries to Reference: “July 1992″, “Her name is Sherri.”, “Untitled Prompt Request”, “Familiar”. Clyde Logan was born on November 25, 1983, in Boone, West Virginia to Donna Logan and Timothy Green. He has an older brother named James (aka Jimmy) and a little sister named Melody (aka Mellie). When Clyde was about eight years old, Timothy (never having married Donna), abandoned his family--only sending the occasional postcard to his parents and for the first couple of years, birthday cards to his kids (through his parents). When Donna died of cancer in 1996, the Logan children moved in with their maternal grandparents, Aaron and Sylvia. 

Around this time, Clyde noticeably became more introverted, but often got in trouble for little mischievous acts (ex: setting off the school fire alarm to get out of a test; the occasional schoolyard fight). He joined the Army after high school and just as he was returning home after a second tour in Iraq, Clyde lost the lower part of his left arm in a roadside accident. Inspired by his newfound love for cooking shows, Clyde began taking bartending classes, and late in 2004, started working at Duck Tape. He worked there for sixteen years. 

Aaron and Sylvia Logan have since passed away (Aaron in 1999, Sylvia in 2008), as has Clyde’s paternal grandmother, Betty (d. 2013). His brother Jimmy currently lives in Greenbrier County, WV has a daughter named Sadie and a fiancée named (ironically), Sylvia. Mellie is recently married to Joe Bang. Clyde currently works as day bartender at a posh restaurant called Strafford’s Kitchen.  Entries to Reference: “July 1992″, “Familiar”, “A Mean Old Fashioned”, “Headed West”.  _____________________ I even have a work schedule for these two but I’m gonna to sit down somewhere and finish this. Bye. Lol.

[go-scottishgal14]

from Feb.22 Blind Gossip...has this been seen?

Meghan Markle And The Actor

FEBRUARY 22, 2021 BLIND GOSSIP

[The Daily Beast] BG Note: Samantha Markle, sister of Meghan Markle, recently published a book titled The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister: A Memoir, Part One. The Daily Beast recapped some of the highlights of the book.

Samantha claims that her father, Thomas, told her that he would not be invited to Meghan and Harry’s wedding unless he disowned Samantha and her brother, Tom Jr. When Thomas refused, Samantha says, Meghan asked him, “Why can’t you just comply?”

Samantha writes: “The ultimate insult to the family was levied when, in an open interview, Prince Harry said that the British royal family were ‘the family that Meghan never had.’”

Samantha adds: “It was unconscionable that she would not only ignore the whole family but that she had somehow, seemingly brainwashed Harry into believing that she did not have a family, or that we were not there for her.”

Among Samantha’s other claims: Guests at Meghan’s wedding to first husband Trevor Engelson were given bags of marijuana as gifts, and Meghan considered converting to Judaism for Engelson.

Samantha says that Meghan had a relationship with a fellow actor on TV drama Suits, and Samantha also says Meghan was more into dating “a prince” when she met Harry than Harry the person.

In 2004, Meghan met Trevor Engelson, who she would marry. In 2006, she got a job as a “briefcase girl” on Deal or No Deal.

Samantha’s first night review of that show is predictably tough: “When I finally watched, I thought Meg looked fantastic but the first thing I thought was, ‘They must’ve stuffed her bra.’ I knew there was tape up under there, or something, because she wasn’t that busty.”

Samantha suggested to Meghan that now that she is making bank, she should pay back her dad some of her college tuition costs. Meghan allegedly replied: “There are too many cooks in the kitchen, Babe.”

Meghan and Engelson married in Jamaica in 2011, the same year Meghan was cast on Suits, and “everyone at the wedding was given a bag of marijuana.”

Samantha did not go because she said her wheelchair would get stuck in the sand. Meghan toyed with converting to Judaism, so blissful was the marriage, Samantha writes. But the two divorced just a few years later.

In 2013, Samantha said she learned there was “trouble in paradise” after hearing “through the grapevine that Meghan was involved with someone on the show,” and that Trevor had “allegedly got close” with Meghan’s “best friend.”

Meghan studiously ignored all Samantha’s calls for a few years, Samantha says, but they did speak again at the end of 2015, and discussed their father’s failing health.

Then, in 2016, her dad called Samantha, and advised her to sit down before saying that Meghan had called him to say she was dating a prince.

“Who is this prince?” asks Samantha.

“Well, he’s British. It’s Prince Harry,” Thomas said.

Samantha asked her father to tell her exactly what Meghan said to him.

“Not a whole lot,” said Thomas, “She just said, ‘Daddy, I met a prince.’”

This bothered Samantha: “What astounded me about that was that she didn’t say, ‘I met an amazing man.’ She said, ‘I met a prince.’ It seemed that the title was the most important thing to her.”

Immediately, Samantha says she was worried for Harry: “It crossed my mind though that this new love interest could end up being just as hurt as Trevor was.”

It then turned out that her dad had known about the relationship for six months. “That suggested that she would’ve been dating Harry at the same time as she was dating the restaurateur, Corey,” Samantha writes. We assume she is referring to Toronto’s Cory Vitiello.

Samantha tried to call Meghan, but after brief hellos, the phone went dead.  This appears to be the last time they spoke. The anger built and built, reaching a crescendo when Samantha realized that she would not be invited to the royal wedding.

Samantha claims that when her father inquired about his own invite, Meghan told him, “Lay low.”

In another shocking episode, Samantha claims that she believes she was trolled by Meghan. Samantha says she received an email addressed to “Babe” the pet name used for her by Meghan when they were kids.

She says the email began: “In his heart of hearts, Babe, Dad only has one daughter and it’s not you.”

You can read the entire story from The Daily Beast here.

BG Note: Several other versions of this story mention that Meghan Markle dated/had an affair with an actor on Suits while she was married to Trevor Engelson.

[erika-de-claire]

{Tokyo Disneyland’s Attic Bride}

Much like the American Mansion, the Japanese mansion has various different backstories that you can find on forums, from cast members and in other media.

The Fan Canon/Cast member Stories:  

I don’t know if this is still used but this is a basic story constructed by mansion fans and one that I was told by a Ghost Hostess (In America the mansion has maids and butlers, in Japan the mansion has hosts and hostesses, now that’s settled, let’s get onto the goods) goes:

The bride’s name is Tai, short for the Chinese term ‘TaiTai’ which refers to the wife of a rich man or someone in nobility. Sometimes, an alternative way of writing and saying her name is ‘Tae’ which means ‘Crystal’ (consider this a nickname for her).

She was a 16-year-old girl who was incredibly creative, often admiring the tiny detail in things like vases and wallpaper and always preferred to be alone with her own imagination rather than among large groups of people, one of her favourite things to do when alone was dance and sing.

This story is fairly basic in which Tai immigrated from China with her family to start a new life and her parents decided it was the time to marry her off. She met with various suitors but never showed much interest in them. Various men wanted to marry the youthful young lady, but she refused every one of them and always preferred to enjoy whatever else was happening around them.

All hope on marrying their daughter seemed lost for her parents. Until one day when she fell in love with a rich man who owned the mansion, everything seemed so perfect. The groom had the wedding planned in a hurry and Tai never questioned why, she was just as eager to get married. Only, while she wanted it out of love, the groom was determined to get his hands on Tai’s money and inheritance, he never truly loved her, only her money.

The day of the wedding came and the ceremony was beautiful. However, the marriage only lasted until that night, when the groom stabbed her in the heart, he hid her body in the trunk in the attic of his mansion and forged a note, convincing her parents that she had run away. To this day, her soul still lurks in the attic.

Source: Castmembers from the last few times I visited there and asked. (2013, 2015 and 2017)

 The Bride’s Backstory according to the Matome Naver forums (translated by yours truly):

According to this backstory, the name of the bride is Emily Kabanov Gracey.

Emily was born into a wealthy family on Rhode Island, ever since she was a small child, her parents were determined for her to one day inherit their property. But unfortunately for them, Emily was strange girl and enjoyed staring at the patterns of flowers on the wallpaper for hours each day and although her parents were desperate to teach her responsibility for her status, she refused to understand the weight of her position.

Emily's parents were suddenly killed by a runaway carriage when she was only young, and the entire property of the Kabanov family was passed on to the unskilled heiress. It was during the funeral that she met Master Gracey, he had recently lost his wife and had been determined to comfort his wife's soul by becoming Buddhist. Emily, a sensitive 16-year-old girl, immediately fell in love after seeing his prestigious figure and his boyish face. When he applied for marriage between the two of them, Emily, who knew nothing, gladly agreed.

The wedding was beautiful and the bride looked magnificent in her dress. Though it wouldn’t last long, as an incident occurred in the Gracie House during the honeymoon. Madame Leota was waiting for a young bride, when the time came, she killed her and cleaned up the evidence.

Emily was young and still naughty, so she played hide-and-seek with the groom. She wanted to start this honeymoon game and couldn't wait to take off the wedding dress and change clothes into something more comfortable. When looking for a place to hide, she stumbled across the attic and could hear Master Gracey calling out to her, so, she quickly hid in the trunk. The inside was uncomfortable and suffocating, so after a few moments she tried to get out, only to hear a metal, scratching sound. Madame Leota locked the trunk in order to eliminate the bride and gain Master Gracie’s affection. Unfortunately, the young bride died of suffocation.

To this day, her screams are heard alongside the beating of her heart, and her ghost stands by the trunk that killed her.

Source: https://matome.naver.jp/odai/2133609796786696201

Movie Plotline:

Surprisingly, the 2004 Haunted Mansion movie starring Eddie Murphy is pretty well loved in Japan! So a lot of fans also follow the idea that the bride is Elizabeth Henshaw! We already know that story so I’m not covering that here.

More fun Stuff!

-        Her design is made to coincide with Japanese beauty standards. She has a very prominent double lid, very neat hair with blunt bangs, a small chin, a pouty lip and she’s very small. (Around 5’1” comparing to the 5,3” of the American brides). Her bouquet also has bits of lace in it and her hair is actually a blonde Lolita wig!

-        She glows either blue or purple depending on the lighting used that day, but unlike the American Bride, her heart is a bright pink!

-        Some mansion fans like to say that her lighting shows her mood. If the bride is more purple, she is happy, if she is a dark blue, she is sad and if she is a medium blue (most common), she is neutral.

-        The bride Is INCREDIBLY well received in Tokyo.

-        For 2018 Halloween, she had a Minnie ears headband which sold out in a week!

-        They rereleased it in 2019 (only they replaced the bat with a spider and instead of printing the logo on the back, it’s embroidered) and it sold out in a few days!!!

-        She’s the most Disney bounded character during Halloween and the second most popular/cosplayed mansion character next to the hostesses.

-        They also added in this glowing heart pendant which ALSO sold out!

-        Along with a cute, glowing candle which, while it has Minnie mouse on it, people on Instagram and various social media keep using it for their Disney bounds of her and calling it the bride’s candle!

-        During a Halloween parade in the early 2000’s, Clarice was seen dressed as her on a float. (GHOST BRIDE CLARICE WALKED SO THAT PARADE MEL, SPECTRAL CONSTANCE AND SPOOKY BOO EMILY COULD RUN)

-        And then, as you all know, the parade version of Emily which debuted yesterday, her entire spiel is that she has to choose a suitor among the suitors dancing around her, all desperate for her hand in marriage, but she rejects them all, as she would much rather join in on the singing, dancing and festivities, this actually ties in with the lore that cast members tell you about:

@theheadlessgroom @unofficialpinkbrideofthemansion @asktheghosthost @beatingheart-bride @jilltheamazing-822 @theenderdraco @ask-the-hatbox-ghost @sspyro7956 

[fallafl]

What to Read: Summer, 2020

Summer is here! I am seriously hoping this summer won’t be as hot as the previous year. I love hanging out under the sun, but burned skin is the worst. Whoever invented sunblock is an angel.

Anyway, I gather up some books that you might find entertaining to accompany you during the season. I’m thinking of something light-read with a touch of mystery, some series that will make you book drunk, a swoon worthy romance (because who doesn’t love a summer romance? Maybe you’ll find one yourself), and travel-friendly standalone novels (if we’re allowed to travel at all hahaha). I hope you find something that catches your interest!

Basking in the sun while reading sounds wonderful now. Oh and definitely with a watermelon smoothie as company. How are you going to spend your summer? Wherever you are, have a joyful one! And always stay safe :)

1. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

Rating on Goodreads: 4.07

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

First Published: 2012

I read this book long ago, but my love for it is unwavering. It’s so simple yet so meaningful, about an ordinary boy who loves an ordinary girl. It all started when Eleanor sat side by side with Park in a bus one morning. They began to exchange idle conversations about movies, music, and whatnot, then continued to sharing mix tapes and so on. Little did they know, they fall for each other. It’s not only the kind of first love romance where you’re shy and insecure about the way you act in a relationship, but also a story that pushes you to feel good about yourself. Ah, it’s really great!

Read more about it on Goodreads here.

2. After Dark by Haruki Murakami

“Time moves in it special way in the middle of the night.”

Rating on Goodreads: 3.07

Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism, Fantasy, Asian Literature

First Published: 2004

Believe it or not, I just finished this book for the fourth time. The story brings me an indefinite feel about night time. It’s in third point of view, the chapters are divided based on time, telling you a late night escapades of a 19-year-old girl in Tokyo. Mari is always insecure whenever she compares herself to her gorgeous, fashion-model sister. One night, she didn’t feel like going home, so she spent some time at Denny’s, reading a book. There, as if by fate, she met a boy, Takahashi, her sister’s friend, whom she first met two summers ago but barely recognized. That night marks the very first time they actually talk. I personally love all their dialogue. It’s very unique, simple, and very relatable. Also, you probably aware that Murakami is famous on his surrealistic plot and he did amazing in such a sleek novel. There’s romance and mystery inside, making it hard to put down. Well, a friend of mine told me she finishes it in one sitting. Worth it.

Read more about it on Goodreads here.

3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

Rating on Goodreads: 4.20

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary

First Published: 1999

This is an old novel, a very famous one. Adapted into a good movie. I am sure most of you have watched it. Charlie, the protagonist, shares his insecurities, his joy, his questions about life in a series of letters to whoever read them. As a quiet high school boy, the drama about friendships and family are surely inevitable. As we grow up, the struggles are getting real and more complex. Chbosky has created one timeless coming-of-age novel that is somewhat relatable to us, or at least it makes us reminisce about the good-old days. That’s what makes it interesting. I feel like I want to color the whole book in highlight because there are many good quotes written here.

Oh right, I already did.

Read more about it on Goodreads here.

4. Crazy Rich Asians Series by Kevin Kwan

“Just because some people actually work for their money doesn’t mean they are beneath you.”

Rating on Goodreads:

Crazy Rich Asians (Book #1): 3.85

China Rich Girlfriend (Book #2): 3.83

Rich People Problems (Book #3): 3.94

Genre: Fiction, Romance

First Published: 2013, 2015, 2017 respectively

You know, the books left me in awe because the crazy rich’s life is completely unfathomable. My jaw-dropped the most on the fact that everything about it is real (I mean their abundant, totally-unrelatable-for-a-poor-peasant-like-me lifestyle). Wealth beyond imagination is showering upon these Asians families which becomes one of the sources of their inevitable existence of discrimination. So in other words, reading this series gave me insight on these rich people’s life and culture; especially what Asians parents are looking for in a son/daughter-in-law. Rachel Chu, the female protagonist, an American-born Chinese, is such a heroine and I love her (mostly because she handles the insane situation so gracefully). She came from an ordinary background. Having no idea that her perfect boyfriend, an eligible bachelor, Nicholas Young, comes from one of those rich family, she found herself caught in family dramas when she finally visited her Nick’s family in Singapore.

Read more about it on Goodreads here.

5. The Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare

“Sometimes, when I have to do something I don't want to do, I pretend I'm a character from a book. It's easier to know what they would do.”

Rating on Goodreads: 

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) : 4.33

Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) : 4.45

Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) : 4.58

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Romance

First Published: 2010, 2011, and 2013 respectively

A series totally worth reading if you love romance. Yes, there’s love triangle in it, but trust me, it’s absolutely unpredictable. You can’t even bring yourself to choose side! I had a hard time thinking about whom the girl should end up with so I decided she should marry them both if she could. Will, Jem, and Tessa oh how can I ever get my mind out of them. This short review turns out to be a brief fangirl moment LOL. Well, I guess you can tell how much I love The Infernal Devices now. I have written a review about this though, you can check it out in this link.

Read more about it on Goodreads here.

[simone-boccanegra]

subjective rating of Rodrigos I have seen

at least the ones I can recall, there have been a LOT 

Sherrill Milnes (Giulini recording / 1980 Met): my first Rodrigo on recording so his voice is pretty much my gold standard (I listened to that Don Carlo so. much). Also very good on film. One of the great Verdi baritones with that noble and somewhat sad colour to his voice, a very heroic and brave Rodrigo. (It helps he also towers over most of the cast.) Gay? Yes but Could Be Gayer. Old Met staging was not particularly exceptional in that regard, it’s pretty basic. Very Dramatic Fall. A+

Giorgio Zancanaro - first I’ve seen on video, needs a rewatch because it’s been roughly 20 years. Very gay and touchy from what I remember (excellente) rating pending until rewatch

Thomas Hampson (Chatelet) - wonderfully gay. he loves his Carlo so much. very touchy. passionate. Not a natural Verdi voice but he makes it work. I can almost forgive that wig. A

Louis Quilico (Met 1984) - the only thing I remember about him is being incredibly bad and making me wish Milnes was in that (otherwise fantastic) performance. same staging as the 1980. F

Piero Cappuccilli (Salzburg, 1987) - as usual, a lesson in gorgeous Verdi singing. Gentle and loving with his Carlo (Carreras, they had excellent chemistry). Staging is sort of Business As Usual. A+

Simon Keenlyside (Met 2010 / ROH 2008) - same production with partially same cast. Very gay. Very Angery Revolutionary. Gets cocky with Filippo. Loves his tenors so much. Hand kiss with Alagna! The Hair Kiss(TM) with Villazón! Again not a classic Verdi voice but this role fits him like a glove. A+

Thomas Hampson (Salzburg 2013) - the only baritone who manages to out-gay Keenlyside. You really have to see this to believe just HOW fantastically gay it is. He’s pretty much always touching Jonas. So tender. So devoted. He’s Confused(TM) about Filippo’s clumsy flirting attempts. Dies so ridiculously sexily. There is so much blood. A+ 

Dwayne Croft (Amsterdam 2004) - a good singer but again, not exactly a Verdian. Staging is pretty gay and I LOVE the whole crypt setting. Exactly the kind of dramatic goth shit this opera needs. He doesn’t stand out too much to me but did a decent job. B

Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Vienna 2015) - the Vienna production is hopelessly boring and cheap looking with pretty much no Personenregie. Plus he was given a total cipher of a Carlo. He does what he can with that - of course, beautiful singing, sexy death scene, but not much chemistry with the tenor. Not even him and Furlanetto could save this staging. A

Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau (old movie) - in German, and generally not the ideal Verdi voice, but BOY is he an excellent Rodrigo still. So much passionate hugging and touching. Very gay for his Carlo. Excellent chemistry. Dramatic Bitch(TM) as the gods intended. A-

Ludovic Tézier (Paris 2017) - this production is Homophobic and also WTF. The Cage(TM) alone is worth about 50 sins. Poor Tézier sings like an angel and deserves so much better than this staging. Let Carlos hold him! We know from their Forzas how gay him and Jonas can get but they simply aren’t allowed to do ANYTHING here! There is some Filippo/Rodrigo flirting/touching. At least he has a pretty uniform for the second half. A+ singing. the director can fuck off

Ludovic Tézier (Torino 2013) - NOW we are talking! A normal staging with a lot of hugging and touching and being Boyfriends! Him and Carlo are seriously adorable in this. Some UST with Filippo (naturally). Beautiful, heartbreaking death scene where Carlo HOLDS HIM as he’s supposed to! A+

Boaz Daniel (Munich) - vocally okay (I liked him better as Gunther) but HOLY FUCK is he gay as hell. Him and Carlo get married. Carlo Quinto officiated. Plenty of sexual tension with Filippo. Like, they are definitely having a love triangle in this production. So much hugging and touching. Very dramatic death scene. Excellente. A- (even if vocally only B-ish)

Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Vienna 2002) - this is highlights only video, but Rodrigo has most of his scenes except the trio with Elisabetta and Eboli and the Restate. It’s very gay. There is so much leather. Have to take off some points for poor Dima having to wear a wig and a bad fake moustache. But he sings beautifully as always. A+ (how much I wish we had a full video of a good production with him...)

David Pershall (That One Open-Air Fanfiction) - this. this production is straight up fanfic. Filippo is so clearly and blatantly gay for Rodrigo, it’s marvelous. Rodrigo, however, loves his tenor deeply. Very touchy and Dramatic. Excellent voice, beautiful young man who absolutely looks the part, heartbreaking death scene. Someone cast this singer as Billy Budd stat. A+

Paul Kong (Seoul) - another beautiful young Rodrigo with a surprisingly BIG voice! and very gay with his Carlo. Super touchy and gentle. Everything you can wish for except blood.  A+

Tassis Christoyannis (Strasbourg) - the production is an absolute WTF monstrosity and completely OOC. Poor Rodrigo. He would NEVER do any of that. And the singer is good and deserves a better staging. Very gay (also with Filippo) but how much of it is an act? B+

Massimo Cavalletti (Florence 2017) - another Rodrigo whose gayness level is off the charts. Also beautiful and noble. There is a shirtless scene (just WHAT was he doing near Filippo’s room? oh boy Filippo is also a gay mess here). Vocally pretty nice. A-

I think that’s all the memorable ones for now! I need more Don Carlo productions.

[ingek73]

We Need to Talk About the Sussexes’ “Global Brand”

Sunday, 23 June 2019

Amidst a flurry of Saturday morning tasks, I caught up with my sister on the phone yesterday. We mulled over several topics before she inquired about the blogs and reports concerning the Royal Foundation: "Why do they blame Meghan for everything? What exactly is she supposed to have done that's not in line with the way the royals operate professionally?"

I've thought about these questions quite a bit since. It led me to carefully consider the reaction to news the Sussexes will leave the Royal Foundation and start their own charitable arm later this year. Surely, this is positive news? Well, apparently not. For this announcement has been met with....you guessed it....more criticism levelled at Meghan. Never mind it's been widely acknowledged the Sussexes did not push for the split, although all four are said to be pleased with the outcome. Headlines and furious social media posts appeared recently with such titles as "This is all Meghan's fault", "The Sussexes don't know their place", "They are not happy with their place within the family", "All they care about is creating a 'global brand'". You get the gist of it...

The term "Global Brand" has been bandied about along with outlandish speculation. Harry and Meghan have been accused of attempting to profit personally, running amok from Buckingham Palace with their own agenda and using this platform to break the royal mould. In the eyes of some the Sussexes are the downfall of the monarchy. What with their solid work ethic, proven successful projects, worldwide popularity and desire to use their roles for good, the Queen and her top aides must be positively shaking in their boots (or in Her Majesty's case her black patent Anello & Davide shoes). This is all sounding rather ridiculous isn't it?

Why has this been allowed to continue, escalate and take over the narrative you might ask? It's stemmed from an era of click-bait media where the lay of the land allows online journalists to write first, ask questions later, or better still don't ask them at all. A seething online fan war where misinformation becomes factual and, particularly, a complete lack of understanding, education and knowledge about the monarchy is worn as a badge of honour. I'm going to underline that because this is the crux of the issue and one which badly needs to be addressed before we are to endure months and years of vicious attacks against the Sussexes' foundation and future work. As long as this level of false information circulates on the internet and readers accept this as reality, it's not going anywhere, and I for one find it outrageous.

So, back to my sister's questions... "Why do they blame Meghan for everything? What exactly is she supposed to have done that's not in line with the way the royals operate professionally?" Step by step, I intend to answer that question using facts and senior members of the Royal family.

A 'Global' Royal Family?

As noted above, talk of a global 'Sussex Brand' has been used in the most derogatory sense. Members of the Royal family never focus on global issues, right? Incorrect. The royals' work in the UK is of course their primary job, but it isn't representative of their roles' sum total. Not at all. Representing Her Majesty in the Commonwealth and globally, in addition to supporting their own causes around the world plays a part in the working lives of most of the Royal family. I'm pleased to have learned of, and I'm delighted to share, the extent of those efforts by members of the British Royal family.

Certainly, when one is searching for an exemplary example of charitable work on any scale, we need look no further than the Prince of Wales. I could easily dedicate ten posts to his life's work and only barely scratch the surface. What I will focus on are his efforts and successes outside the UK to demonstrate the reach the Royal family has had for decades. Since Charles founded the Prince's Trust in 1976 (using his navy severance pay) to help vulnerable people get their lives back on track, his interests have grown to the point where he has over 400 patronages. His boundless desire to help others and to maximise the impact of his role has seen him launch, lead and support a number of charities further afield.

Have you heard of the Prince of Wales's Foundation Romania? Established in 2015, to take forward Charles' work in the country, the foundation develops a number of projects to support architectural heritage preservation, farming and sustainable development in Romania. As with much of Charles' work, it's about taking a practical, results-driven, sustainable approach. Relevant skills and practical courses are delivered to small farmers, producers of artisan food as well as Romania's wounded soldiers. Charles fell in love with the country, culture and people following a visit to Transylvania in 2007. During a speech at the Babes-Bolyai University he said: "I have often been asked about what brings me so often to Romania, what makes this place so special. The answer is, to me, very simple: you, my Romanian friends; your cultural and nature patrimony, your traditions, but also your capacity for innovation and change. All that you represent after centuries of history – your identity and your entire potential. All the energy you can expand to change something. These are the things that make you truly special in the entire world."

As with all members of the Royal family, the Commonwealth is an important part of Charles' life. Throughout his visits to member nations, he knew he wanted to make a lasting impact wherever he could. The Prince's Trust Australia delivers social impact by "transforming lives and building sustainable communities in Australia". Promoting enterprise skills, sustainable communities and supporting young people and defence members and their families are the core areas of the trust.

The Prince's Trust Canada is a registered Canadian charity established by Charles in 2011. It provides entrepreneurship training for veterans and transitioning Canadian Armed Forces members, helps young people reach their potential through employability programs, and supports Indigenous communities as they revitalise and protect their languages.

Next, we look at the Prince's Trust International, the definition of an organisation with global reach. Since its launch, the focus has been on delivering pilot programmes in countries around the world. They now have pilot programmes underway and established partners delivering programmes in Australia, Barbados, Canada, Greece, Jordan, Malta, Pakistan and New Zealand. If that's not enough, the plan is to move to a number of others countries in the coming years. Much like the Prince's Trust UK, the goal is to support and enable young people to avail of opportunities and improve their futures.

The Duchess of Cornwall is President of the Brooke, a worldwide organisation providing veterinary treatment for horses and donkeys. They reach over two million working horses, donkeys and mules across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Organisation staff include vets, animal welfare experts, and advocacy and development specialists. Camilla, a lifelong animal lover, is also a joint president of Elephant Family, a charity founded by her late brother Mark Shand in 2002 to save the Asian elephants. Again, supporting causes close to her heart is in addition to her duties on behalf of Her Majesty - it's not a case of running roughshod over the monarchy.

Shortly before the Earl and Countess of Wessex married, the Wessex Youth Trust was established to help, support and advance registered charities which provide opportunities specifically for children and young people. The Trust is proud to support worthy organisations both at home and internationally. "Internationally, funds have been directed to a wide variety of organisations - a Down Syndrome speech therapy centre in Moscow, and an orphanage in Chernobyl; a paediatric ophthalmology unit, training scheme and Flying Eye Hospital in Nepal and the Philippines as well as an HIV/Aids support programme in Uganda. In addition, donations have also been made to disaster relief operations - such as 9/11 and a children's home in Sri Lanka which helped victims of the 2004 tsunami."

Sophie has been a global ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness since 2013. More from the Palace: "In 2013, this role took Her Royal Highness to the Orbis flying hospital programme in India and Qatar where she saw first-hand the many global issues around preventable blindness. Following the Countess' visit to India and Qatar, Her Royal Highness wrote an article for the Telegraph to coincide with World Sight Day. In India, Bangladesh and Nepal the sight-saving organisations are focusing on childhood blindness. In Sudan, Pakistan and Egypt the organisations are focusing on the Trachoma Elimination Programme. Her Royal Highness has drawn much attention to these on-going projects through her visits to the regions and has helped drive the plans forward through working closely with the organisations, and many youth and community events."

More from Buckingham Palace:

'On International Women’s Day 2019, the Countess publicly announced her commitment to champion the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI), at a reception for Women Peacebuilders at Buckingham Palace. WPS both recognises the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls and the positive role women play in building peace and stability.

The PSVI aims to prevent conflict-related sexual violence as well as responding to the needs of survivors, tackling stigma and strengthening justice and accountability. As a central pillar of the Countess’s work, HRH has spoken at the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN in New York, and attended a Foreign Office conference on PSVI with survivors, government and NGO representatives. The Countess also continues to highlight international efforts towards women’s role in peacebuilding - in India, for example, HRH learnt about the country’s contribution to UN Peacekeeping and heard from women peacekeepers on active deployment.'

A life of service has seen Princess Anne travel all over the world. After serving as President of Save the Children since 1970, Anne officially became Patron in 2016. Most recently, she has travelled to Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. (with many thanks to Helen G for her research on this). In her role Anne has also visited China, Cambodia, Botswana, Madagascar and the Philippines. Save the Children strives tirelessly to protect children and give them the best possible opportunities in life.

The Princess has been involved in the creation of several charities including TransAid, transforming lives through safe and sustainable transport in 23 countries. More from the charity: "In Sub-Saharan Africa, road deaths are the third biggest killer following HIV/AIDS and Malaria (Source: the World Bank) and the problem will only rise with the growing population. Drivers are at risk every time they sit behind the wheel due to a lack of legal enforcement and training, and badly maintained and overloaded vehicles. People living in rural areas of Africa often struggle to access vital services. Around 75% of maternal deaths can be avoided through timely access to vital childbirth-related care. Our work includes an Emergency Transport Scheme to transport pregnant mothers with complications. We also help community health workers reach the families who need them." Anne also works closely with Riders For Health, an international non profit that provides health care to rural African villages.

The Duke of York launched Key to Freedom following his 2012 Diamond Jubilee Visit to Women’s Interlink Foundation (WIF) in India. The aim of the initiative is to empower women who have been victims of abuse by helping them acquire skills to become economically independent. Today, scarves made by women participating in Key to Freedom are sold at the Royal Collection Trust Shop.

The Foundation in the US

The next segment involves the US element. I think it's only natural to assume the Sussex Foundation will have supporters from the US. After all, Meghan is American. She has very well-connected friends in the US and she's going to bring an element of support to the table from across the pond. This has been largely feted as hugely controversial and another example of Meghan not following a traditional royal path. Using facts, this can be disproved as nonsense once again. When the Royal Foundation become operational in 2011, an American wing was established. American Friends of the Royal Foundation donated over $3.6 million since its inception. Prince Harry joined the US arm of the Foundation in 2013 for a major event supporting projects including the Royal Foundation's partnership with Harlem RBI to support Project Coach.

During a visit to New York in 2014, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended a private dinner for American friends of the Royal Foundation hosted by long-term supporter, Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of the WPP advertising group.

In fact, Prince Charles set up a charitable foundation in the US: "The Prince of Wales Foundation USA is the affiliate organisation of the Prince’s Trust, enabling tax-efficient giving for US supporters of His Royal Highness’s philanthropic interests. We are fortunate to have a growing base of American supporters who see real value in investing in the lives of disadvantaged and marginalised young people in the UK. The Prince of Wales Foundation was founded by HRH, the Prince of Wales in 1997."

Prince Harry's collaboration with Oprah on a mental health series has been cited as the ultimate example of the Sussexes going rogue. Not so. Prince Charles has collaborated with US entities on several documentaries including the 2012 documentary Harmony: a New Way of Looking at Our World. The piece focused on three decades of Charles' work to combat climate change. The film was based on the book of the same name, which Charles co-authored, about how man has become "dangerously disconnected from nature".

NBC released the following statement at the time of the collaboration:

'NBC is teaming up with Prince Charles for a new TV special about the environment. Harmony, which is slated to air in November, stems from Prince Charles' three decades of work fighting climate change and searching for new solutions to the worldwide environmental crisis.

"The Prince of Wales has such a passion and vision in providing leadership on this crucial climate issue that confronts the world," Paul Telegdy, NBC's executive vice president of alternative programming, said in a statement. "We are honored to partner with him to showcase these issues that are important to American audiences."

The film, which will air during NBC's annual "Green Is Universal" week, features rare footage of Prince Charles' interview with Nobel Peace Prize winner, former Vice President and longtime environmental activist Al Gore, as well as interviews with other government leaders, farmers, environmentalists and entrepreneurs.'

Charles' environmental work has not been without its setbacks. He was actually ridiculed for being one of the first to talk about climate change: "I found myself in conflict with the conventional outlook which, as I discovered, is not exactly the most pleasant situation to find yourself." Determined to following in his father's footsteps, Harry declared last year he hopes to continue his work in Australia: "Ladies and gentleman, those words were shared in speeches dating back to 1970 and up until 2002, by my father, the Prince of Wales. And yet now, nearly 50 years later, those sentiments resonate just as much today, if not more, than ever before. My father and others have been speaking about the environment for decades - not basing it on fallacy or new-age hypothesis, but rooted in science and facts, and the sobering awareness of our environmental vulnerability. And while those speeches would sometimes fall on deaf ears, he and others were unrelenting in their commitment to preserve the most valuable resource we have – our planet."

What About Commercial Partnerships?

Although the Sussexes' foundation does not yet have a name, it has been suggested (with not so thinly-veiled attacks) commercial partnerships may be in its future. Whilst we have absolutely no idea what the plan is at this time, yes it's possible and no it's not unusual. Commercial partnerships have been essential to ensuring the success of Charles' projects. Take Duchy Originals for example. Established almost 30 years ago, the leading organic brand is now stocked on the shelves of Waitrose supermarkets. It's aim is to support local producers and all profits go to charity.

Fundraising

The success or failure of any royal trust or foundation lies with its principles and the team behind it. Harry and Meghan are taking this on with a record of success. Simply look at the Invictus Games, look at Sentebale, the Endeavour Fund, Coach Core and many other projects and initiatives Harry has worked with. Meghan's first project with the Hubb exceed all goals, and smashed it's target of £250,000, raising over half a million. The ripple effect is heartwarming and inspiring. Today, the women of the Hubb were working with British Red Cross to welcome and feed refugees in Hackney London.

The pair have tangible results behind them and there's every reason to believe this will be a success. Fundraising will be an important element; again they've proven more than adept at this, raising millions for Sentebale with 'Sentebale Nights' and the Sentebale Polo Cup.

Again, fundraising has been key to Charles' success. In 2017 he raised £170 million for charity. He raised more money than anyone else in the UK. In 2013-2014 he raised £143 million for 15 of his charities. It's the year-after-year dedication that has led to these results. It's a case of beating the drum constantly, and loudly.

Overshadowing Senior Royals

The next accusation hurled at Harry, and particularly Meghan, is the suggestion they are somehow trying to overshadow more senior royals, namely the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Was Prince Charles trying to overshadow his parents with the Prince's Trust? Was Anne playing a game of one-upmanship against Charles with her tireless efforts and global work? Of course not. Harry and Meghan are not in competition with William and Kate. They are not setting out to outdo them and derail the course of the monarchy.

The Queen is the monarch. Then it will be Charles, and then William. The monarch is the head of the family, there's no issue there. The monarchy is comprised of working members and their collective efforts up and down the country, across the UK, across the Commonwealth, and across the globe. It's a team effort. That's not going to change. Harry and Meghan want to use their roles to the full, they want to work hard on behalf of Her Majesty and, like the other royals referenced, use their platforms to support causes close to their heart. This is all being done with the full approval of the Queen and Charles. The new Foundation has the full support of the family. The Queen appointed Harry and Meghan to Commonwealth roles; she passed her patronage of the Association of Commonwealth Universities to Meghan almost immediately after the marriage. That sounds to me like a monarch who has faith in her granddaughter-in-law. Not a Queen who fears the newest member is rebelling against the system. The rapturous reception the Sussexes have received in Dublin, Morocco, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga is further evidence these roles are ideal for the pair. Their popularity and soft power needs to be harnessed to the full. This is all good for Team Windsor as a whole.

Prince Harry has been a global star all his life; his wife was always going to be under the spotlight. It is not the Sussexes' fault the media are obsessed with their every move. They are an asset to the monarchy and have carried out their roles with aplomb. From the day of their engagement, Meghan has thrown herself into her role, and she hasn't put a foot wrong. To chastise and tear her down because she's an intelligent woman who wants to succeed in this role is appalling and frankly sexist. Ambition is not a dirty word, especially when it's being channeled into a life of philanthropic dedication. The royals have a fantastic platform; they are uniquely placed to be in the position to help others and effect change. The fact they are being belittled for doing their jobs is truly baffling to me. We should unreservedly expect the very best from working members of the family.

The reality is the monarchy must modernise to survive and the Sussexes will play an important role in that modernisation. More from Vernon Bogdanor who famously wrote: "Monarchy has to adapt and evolve to survive. It can't be ahead of public opinion, but it can't be too far behind."

'In November 2005, Chris Mullin, the former editor of Tribune and then Labour MP, was invited to Clarence House where he heard the prince [Charles] speak "without notes, with passion and self-deprecating humour, holding our attention for a full 20 minutes. Always he comes back to the same point. How to widen the horizons of the young, especially the disaffected, the unlucky and even the malign … What influence he has he uses, sometimes to great effect, even at the risk of treading on official toes. It isn't just talk. His mentality is can-do – and he has a track record of achievement clearly visible for anyone who cares to look. Let he who has done more cast the first stone.'

So, when my sister asked me: "Why do they blame Meghan for everything? What exactly is she supposed to have done that's not in line with the way the royals operate professionally?" My answer is quite simple. Meghan has done nothing wrong; she's simply following in the footsteps of those who came before her.

*A sincere word of thanks to those who helped with the research, facts, figures and links on this.

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Johnny Ramone who Died: September 15, 2004 in Los Angeles, California

John William Cummings (October 8, 1948 – September 15, 2004), known professionally as Johnny Ramone, was an American guitarist and songwriter who was the guitarist for the punk rock band the Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and—along with vocalist Joey Ramone—remained a constant member throughout his entire career.

In 2009, he appeared on Time's list of "The 10 Greatest Electric-Guitar Players". He ranked No. 8 on Spin's 2012 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and No. 28 on Rolling Stone's similarly titled 2015 list.

Alongside his music career, Johnny appeared in nearly a dozen films (including Rock 'n' Roll High School) and documentaries. He also made television appearances in such shows as The Simpsons (1F01 "Rosebud", 1993) and Space Ghost Coast to Coast (Episode 5 "Bobcat").

His autobiography, entitled Commando, was released posthumously in 2012. In the book, Ramone writes about his love of baseball and of collecting baseball cards and movie posters, particularly horror-related posters.

John William Cummings was born in Queens, New York City, on October 8, 1948, the only child of a construction worker (a steamfitter) of Irish descent. He was raised in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, where he grew up absorbing rock music. As a teenager, Johnny played in a band called the Tangerine Puppets alongside future Ramones drummer Tamás Erdélyi (better known as Tommy Ramone). As a teenager, he was known as a "greaser", though he was later described as a tie-dye-wearing Stooges fan. He was a lifelong New York Yankees fan. He also worked as a plumber with his father before the Ramones became successful, at one point attended Peekskill Military Academy in Peekskill New York, and briefly attended college in Florida.

He met future bandmate Douglas Colvin, later to become Dee Dee Ramone, in the early 1970s while delivering dry cleaning. They would eat lunch together and discuss their mutual love of bands like the Stooges and MC5. Together they went to Manny's Music in New York City in January 1974, where Johnny bought a used blue Mosrite Ventures II guitar for just over $54. On the same trip, Dee Dee bought a Danelectro bass. They collaborated with future bandmate Jeffrey Hyman, later to become Joey Ramone, to form the Ramones with Richie Stern on bass. Stern left after a few rehearsals. Tommy joined the Ramones in the summer of that year after public auditions failed to produce a satisfactory drummer.

Johnny was responsible for initiating one of the major sources of animosity within the band when he began dating and later married Linda Daniele, who had previously dated Joey. Though the band remained together for years after this incident, relations between Johnny and Joey remained strained. Years later, when Joey was in the hospital dying of lymphoma, Johnny refused to telephone him. He later discussed this incident in the film End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones, saying an attempt at such a reunion would have been futile. He did add that he was depressed for a week after Joey's death. When pressed, he acknowledged that this was because of the bond forged by the band. In their road manager Monte Melnick's book about his time with the Ramones, Johnny is quoted as having said, "I'm not doing anything without him. I felt that was it. He was my partner. Me and him. I miss that."

Johnny was one of the few conservatives in the punk rock community and was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party. He made his political affiliation known to the world in 2002 when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After thanking all who made the honor possible—clad in his trademark T-shirt, ripped blue jeans and leather jacket—he said "God bless President Bush, and God bless America". He said in an interview, when questioned on his conservatism, "I think Ronald Reagan was the best President of my lifetime." This was evident when the band released the UK single "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" in 1985; Johnny pressed for a name change, finding the title insulting to Reagan, and the song was retitled on American releases as "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" after a line from the song's chorus. In this same interview he claimed that "Punk is right wing".

Johnny's father was a strict disciplinarian. Johnny is quoted as saying: "My father would get on these tangents about how he never missed a day's work. I broke my big toe the day I had to go pitch a Little League game and he's going, 'What are you – a baby? What did I do, raise a baby? You go play.' And even though my toe was broken I had to go pitch the game anyway. It was terrible. It would always be like that. I'm glad he raised me like that but it would always be, 'What are you – sick? You're not sick. What did I raise – a baby? I never missed a day's work in my life.' Then I went to military school, and in military school, you couldn't call in sick."

Johnny's early adulthood was marked by bouts of delinquency which he stated were inexplicable at the time. "I didn't become a delinquent until I got out of high school. I had a two-year run. I'd go out and hit kids and take their money and rob everybody's pocketbooks. Just being bad every minute of the day. It was terrible. I don't know what my problem was. Things that were funny to me at the time were horrible. If I found a television set sitting in the garbage, I'd take it up to the rooftop, watch for someone walking down the block and drop it in front of them on the sidewalk. It was funny watching them see a TV set come crashing down 30 feet in front of them. To me it was hysterical, but it was also a mean and terrible thing to do. I also found a way of stopping the elevator. I could open up the door and stop the elevator. I would wait for an old lady to get in and stop the elevator. They'd be yelling and pushing the alarm, and I would keep them there. At about 20 years old, I stopped drinking and doing drugs, got a job and tried to be normal."

In 1983, Ramone was severely injured in a fight with Seth Macklin of the band Sub Zero Construction. He was saved by emergency brain surgery. This incident was said to have inspired the next album's title, Too Tough to Die. He never spoke of the incident in the following years.

Johnny Ramone married his wife Linda in 1984 at the office of the city clerk in New York City. She had originally dated Joey Ramone but left him for Johnny. Joey and Johnny continued to tour as the Ramones after this, but their relationship worsened. However, despite reports that they had stopped talking to each other altogether, Johnny talks fondly of Joey in his book Commando. In the documentary End of the Century, Johnny told how Joey's death had a profound impact on him emotionally and that he was depressed for "the whole week" after his death.

On September 15, 2004, Johnny Ramone died in his Los Angeles home at the age of 55, 23 days before his 56th birthday, following a five-year battle with prostate cancer. Many of his friends and musical contemporaries came to pay their respects. His wife Linda kept his ashes

[zidew-blog]

Wikipedia of Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone (pronounced [d̪iːpɪkaː pəɖʊkoːɳ]; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian film actress. The highest-paid actress in India, Padukone is the recipient of several awards, including three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most popular personalities, and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.

Padukone, the daughter of the badminton player Prakash Padukone, was born in Copenhagen and raised in Bangalore. As a teenager, she played badminton in national level championships but left her career in the sport to become a fashion model. She soon received offers for film roles and made her acting debut in 2006 as the title character of the Kannada film Aishwarya. Padukone then played a dual role opposite Shah Rukh Khan in her first Bollywood release, the romance Om Shanti Om (2007), which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Padukone received praise for portraying the lead roles in the romance Love Aaj Kal (2009) and the drama Lafangey Parindey (2010), but her performances in the romance Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008) and the comedy Housefull (2010) were met with negative reviews.

The romantic comedy Cocktail (2012) marked a turning point in Padukone's career, earning her praise and Best Actress nominations at several award ceremonies. She established herself with starring roles in the romantic comedies Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Chennai Express (both 2013), the heist comedy Happy New Year (2014), and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018). Padukone's acclaimed portrayal of a character based on Juliet in Bhansali's tragic romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013) and a headstrong architect in the comedy-drama Piku (2015) earned her two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. Her first project in Hollywood came with the action film XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017).

Alongside her acting career, Padukone participates in stage shows, has written columns for an Indian newspaper, is a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products, and is vocal about issues such as feminism and depression. She has designed her own line of clothing for women, is the chairperson of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image and is the founder of the Live Love Laugh Foundation, which creates awareness on mental health in India. Padukone is married to her frequent co-star Ranveer Singh.

Contents

1Early life and modelling career

2Acting career

3Personal life and off-screen work

4In the media

5Accolades

6References

7Further reading

8External links

2.1Film debut and breakthrough (2006–2009)

2.2Career struggles (2010–2011)

2.3Establishing with romantic comedies and Ram-Leela (2012–2014)

2.4Piku and period films with Sanjay Leela Bhansali (2015–present)

Early life and modelling career

Padukone was born on 5 January 1986 in Copenhagen, Denmark to Konkani-speaking parents.[1][2] Her father, Prakash Padukone, is a former badminton player of international repute, and her mother, Ujjala, is a travel agent.[3] Her younger sister, Anisha, is a golfer.[4] Her paternal grandfather, Ramesh, was a secretary of the Mysore Badminton Association.[5] The family relocated to Bangalore, India when Padukone was a year old.[6] She was educated at Bangalore's Sophia High School and completed her pre-university education at Mount Carmel College.[7] She subsequently enrolled at the Indira Gandhi National Open University for a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology but later quit it due to scheduling conflicts with her modelling career.[6][8]

Padukone with her parents and sister at the

59th Filmfare Awards

in 2014

Padukone has admitted to being socially awkward as a child and did not have many friends.[6] The focus of her life was badminton, which she played competitively from a young age. Describing her daily routine in a 2012 interview, Padukone said, "I would wake up at five in the morning, go for physical training, go to school, again go for playing badminton, finish my homework, and go to sleep."[6] Padukone continued to pursue a career in badminton throughout her school years and played the sport in national level championships. She also played baseball in a few state level tournaments.[9] While concentrating on her education and sporting career, Padukone also worked as a child model, first appearing in a couple of advertising campaigns at the age of eight.[10] In the tenth grade, she changed focus and decided to become a fashion model. She later explained, "I realised that I was playing the game only because it ran in the family. So, I asked my father if I could give up the game and he wasn't upset at all."[11] In 2004, she began a full-time career as a model under the tutelage of Prasad Bidapa.[11][12]

Early in her career, Padukone gained recognition with a television commercial for the soap Liril and modelled for various other brands and products.[13][14] In 2005, she made her runway debut at the Lakme Fashion Week for designer Suneet Varma and won the "Model of the Year" award at the Kingfisher Fashion Awards.[15][16] Padukone's fame increased when she appeared in a highly popular print campaign for the 2006 Kingfisher Calendar;[17] the designer Wendell Rodricks commented, "Since Aishwarya Rai, we haven't had a girl as beautiful and fresh."[18] Rodricks had spotted her at a Ganjam jewellery class he was teaching and signed her up with the Matrix agency.[19] At the age of 21, Padukone relocated to Mumbai and stayed at her aunt's home.[6] That year, she gained wider recognition by featuring in the music video for Himesh Reshammiya's song Naam Hai Tera.[20]

Padukone soon began to receive offers for film roles.[21] Believing herself to be too inexperienced as an actor, she instead enrolled for a course at Anupam Kher's film academy.[22]Following much media speculation, the director Farah Khan, who had noticed her in Reshammiya's music video, made the decision to cast her for a role in Happy New Year.[6][17]

Acting career

See also:

Deepika Padukone filmography

Film debut and breakthrough (2006–2009)