#a couple of white men made audition tapes

[sendrick-faq]

brittany-snodes replied to your post “Chicago? Another character?”

Isn't Chicago supposed to be a POC character?

I think the casting call said any ethnicity? Damn datalentgroups removed the entries can’t double check hahaha

[awake-dearheart]

it took me a couple days but here’s a rundown of things sebastian said during the zoom call with his trainer don saladino and the march challenge group. he was on for an hour and three minutes total. keep in mind this challenge was fitness oriented so most of the questions revolve around that. this will also be LONG.

first of all he had trouble unmuting himself which was hilarious

he had a carboard cutout of the falcon with him which made everyone laugh

he loved being able to support ronald mcdonald house and he was sad they couldn’t go this year. sweet baby

when he was asked what he struggles with in his fitness he immediately said body dysmorphia. like no hesitation. he said he felt like he could stand to be less hard on himself.

he prefers cardio over other kinds of workouts.

he mentioned a role he’s getting ready for that’s “a lot different” but he laughed it off and said he couldn’t talk about it. i’m thinking it might have been tommy lee?

he tries to workout even just a little before he goes to set even when his schedule is crazy.

when he started training he had NO idea what he was doing. it took him a while to get into a routine and figure it out. he credited don with working a lot with him and finding a routine that works for him.

he feels better when he can do something physical every day. he said it really helps him mentally because the two go hand in hand for him.

someone said they were learning romanian and asked him for phrases to learn in romanian he said (in romanian) “oh my GOD why would you do that?” he also said he thinks people learning romanian because of him is “one of the sweetest things.”

he was asked how he balances training to look good vs training to feel good and he said if he’s training to look good he’s never 100% satisfied. training to feel good and setting short term goals has been better for him. 

don praised him for working hard to pivot his focus on the overall vs the day to day. seb said it was a lot harder when he started than it is now.

someone asked him if the workouts or the nutrition was harder and he immediately started talking about pizza and how much he loves a good cheat meal. the chat blew up talking about his cheat day video for men’s health. 

seb asked don his favorite cheat meal and they went on a tangent about burgers and fries and vodka that had us cracking up. seb said he went through a period where he was eating some kind of chocolate every day.

someone asked if he found it mentally difficult to go from one body type to another for roles and he said absolutely. he said if he has a shirtless scene to do then a month before he cuts out ALL sugar. fruits, carbs, everything and he turns into a very irritable person for about two weeks.

he was asked how the pandemic has changed his training and he said of course it has. him and don worked together to create a program for him to do from home with dumbbells and they had to get inventive. he’s been running a lot too.

someone asked the strangest item he’s used for weights and he said he’d go to the grocery store by himself without uber or anything. he tried to do one big shopping trip to last him for a week and half and he’d be laden with bags and it took him an hour and a half to walk home.

he told a story about using a towel and a bar in his house and he said “you probably know it because some “super fans” love to leak my address. so kind. lovely people.” the chat became v enraged.

he’s never had to get in shape on super short notice. marvel usually gives him about a 2 month heads up before he has to shoot things.

someone asked if he was a dog person. he said he loves dogs and he’d love to have one but he travels too much to give one the right kind of attention. he said if he could have a dog he’d have a bulldog or a husky.

he was asked his favorite nyc cheat meal and his first answer was “seeing all of you there” and we all cracked up. his real answer was a pizza place called rubirosa. he specifically likes their white pizza. (who wants to go to new york and get pizza with me?)

who would win in an iso squat challenge? him or don? (iso squats are when you drop into a squat and you hold it. it’s been the most hated exercise throughout the challenge). his face was HORRIFIED when he remembered what they are and he said don would definitely win. “don you have thighs of glory” the group is contemplating making shirts.

he played some sports in school but he wasn’t a super athletic kid. he struggled in school a bit because he had an accent and people were picking on him. it took a long time for his confidence to build.

celebrate victories where you can. he talked about when he posted that shirtless picture from the gym as an example. he said it’s more for motivation and pride in his achievements than about showing off.

he mentioned the documentary “the weight of gold” as something he watched recently. he said it’s a good example of people who are gold medal olympians struggling with the same things as everyone else when it comes to fitness. he comes back several times to not being too hard on yourself. 

he hasn’t lifted any weights in about a month and a half but he’s been running. he’s surprised at the amount of muscle he still has because he thought he’d lose a lot of it.

taking breaks when you’re working on fitness is so important. he says taking a week off sometimes is ok if that’s what you need.

they have talked about pizza at least 5 times at this point (32 minutes in) and it’s HILAROUS honestly.

he hates leg day. he knows how important it is because you need strong legs but he prefers doing arms and chest. “the squats can be so annoying UGH.”

someone asked him his advice for people who are starting an acting career and he laughed and said “quit all social media.” he walked it back and said you have to find a way to quiet the noise. 

this mfer went to theatre camp when he was 15 and he did MUSICALS. we tired to get him to sing. it didn’t work.

“you gotta do you. you cannot lose you as you’re going. and you cannot care what people think.”

he talked about imposter syndrome in terms of getting reviews and stuff. he said when he gets bad reviews it hurts but sometimes when he gets good reviews he can think “oh my god they made a mistake” or “oh my god i have to deliver like this every time.” he said if you’re starting out ask yourself why you want to do this and make sure this is what you want to do day in a day out. make sure when you face rejection and obstacles you have the energy to push you to get back up and say “fuck you i’m doing me.”

recommended the book “the subtle art of not giving a fuck” as something he loves.

“there’s creativity in everything. you don’t have to be a pianist or an actor or a writer. there’s creativity in all functions. as people we’re all creative.”

he went back to instagram for a minute and said to use it for the right things and follow the things that you like or are inspired by. he loves that social media can be used to reach people but you have to filter through the negative stuff.

someone asked the meanest thing don’t ever said during training and he said don’s never been mean but he’s always been inspiring and motivating for him. cute lil bromance moment.

he was asked if it’s harder to get into shape physically for the winter soldier or mentally. he said now it’s more of a head thing than it was in the beginning. the physically part was challenging for him in the beginning because he wanted to feel strong to build his confidence. he felt he couldn’t be bucky without being strong. 

civil war was his real hair but when they started filming it wasn’t long enough so he had extensions. by the end of the shoot it was long enough to cut the extensions out. 

the line between overtraining and not being motivated to train enough is hard for him sometimes. things tend to come all at once or not at all and it can be a struggle. 

he meditates and does some kind of physical activity every day at the start of his day. it makes him able to do the things he needs to do for the rest of the day better.

he thanked everyone for their support of tfaws and “making us look pretty good.” he’s very grateful for the turnout.

don says falcon weird. that’s not important but i wanted to mention it.

running is his go to thing. he feels like it’s a good meditative thing for him.  his go to pandemic workout was 100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 100 squats and alternating with running. we all panicked and were like “100 PULL UPS AT ONCE??” and he was like no no no no no no no no space that shit out during the day.

he loves breakfast but he doesn’t eat it at breakfast time. he joked he was going to eat breakfast after the call (which ended at 7PM). he likes anything with eggs and avocado. 

there are still directors he wants to work with that he can’t get to see him for parts. he did three audition tapes, two in person auditions, and a screen test to get bucky.

he just recently learned what “thirst pics” are (he figured out from the chat it’s thirst traps). when someone told him that picture from the gym was a thirst trap he was like “oh great well that sounds terrible.” men’s health didn’t call him until after that pic. he had reached out to them before that but that was the thing that made them call.

“make fun of yourself. you have to not take yourself too seriously.”

they both talked about how being able to do things like this is a privilege. there are always days when seb or don or anyone walks into a gym and doesn’t want to be there.

this is the part that made me emotional as FUCK. he’s had days where he’s gone to set and been like “what the fuck am i doing?” he says every time that happens he thinks “this is the time they’re gonna realize i can’t do this. this is when they’re all gonna know i’ve never been good at this.” he said in those moments you can’t just say “no no no i’m the best.” he said sometimes affirmations work and they can be as simple as “i’m gonna try to have a good day today” and it doesn’t have to be “i have to be the best version of myself.” it can just be “i wanna have a good day today” but on the days when you don’t feel good about things and don’t know what you’re doing he said you have to go there and say “ok i don’t know what the fuck i’m doing. fuck everything.” be in the thing that’s happening to you and give yourself permission to be down for a minute. find a compromise with yourself. if you can’t run the same three miles you’ve run all week and you just don’t want to, maybe you go for a walk instead. (his example not mine i DO NOT run). when he’s been in those moments of defeat accepting it had lead him to things he didn’t plan for and he finds those moments to be gifts in a way. accepting it and saying “today is that day” your body and your mind can start moving into finding other little things to do.

he came back to pizza one more time. i love him.

he recognizes how lucky he is to have the life he has. he says it’s important to pay attention to give a fuck about things and to give a fuck about things that will help other people. 

watching him talk the whole time he seemed so happy and relaxed. he seems like such a light hearted and fun person and he laughed SO much

that’s the end y’all. thanks for sticking around and reading all my hastily typed notes

[astrognossienne]

tragic beauty: lupe vélez - an analysis

“I had to play with boys, girls found me too rough.” -  Lupe Vélez  

This is an analysis I’ve wanted to cover for a while for quite a few reasons. Primarily because, in a few ways, I see myself in her and, as such, feel the need to defend her and assert her true legacy: as a pioneer. Which brings me to the main reason I wanted to do this: to correct the scurrilous rumours about her premature death cooked up by a hating ass imbecilic Aquarius whose infamous book doesn’t deserve to be named. So if you want to hear the truth about this lady, read on.

Known as the “Mexican Spitfire”, Latin bombshell Lupe Vélez was (an to an extent, still is) a much-maligned and terribly misunderstood woman. A true Cancer, she was a force of nature and unconsciously antagonized others and made them uncomfortable because of her authenticity to herself and her emotional nature. Born during a storm, she had a naturally stormy personality. She could be hilarious and charismatic one moment, and depressive and vicious the next. Instead of anyone trying to understand her, they just stuck her with the “spicy fiery Latina” stereotype, not knowing or caring what was behind it. The harshness of her life before stardom may explain some of her fearsome, yet fun, personality; she grew up with violent trauma – watching her father kill and almost be killed during the Mexican Revolution. She also is believed to have had undiagnosed bipolar disorder, which would explain her extreme moodiness and outbursts.

One of the first Latina actresses to make an impact in Hollywood, she was subjected to the racist, sexist Hollywood tropes that forever typecasted her—she was called “senorita cyclone,” and the “hot tamale”. The Hollywood press willfully misunderstood Vélez’s sex positivity and consistently portrayed her as a woman who took great pleasure in her body, and indeed, the tempestuous Vélez had numerous affairs, including a particularly torrid one with a young Gary Cooper, and a tumultuous marriage to “Tarzan” star Johnny Weissmuller. But in 1944, at age 36, she found herself pregnant with the child of a little known-actor name Harald Ramond, who would not marry her and this reality made her come undone, and like my other baby Carole Landis, she succumbed to an drug overdose. Her promiscuity, right or wrong, became part of the way her stardom was packaged and promoted. Also, the press naturally compared her to (and pitted her against) Hollywood’s only other female Mexican star—the “high-class” and elegant Dolores Del Rio. The press couldn’t even find sympathy for her even in death and a false story was printed that she drowned in the toilet after vomiting up a spicy Mexican dinner. Her death is parodied and mocked to this day. Again, she’s a true Cancer in the sense that the same imperfections that everyone else has, she is seen as less than human for having them. I hope to help right that wrong by honoring Vélez for being the trailblazer that she is. At any rate, Vélez would seem to be a prototype for contemporary female stars, from Madonna to Rihanna, who have proclaimed their pleasure in their body and their sexual liberation — a pro-sex activist before her time, doomed to suffer the rejection of a more puritanical age.

Lupe Vélez, according to astrotheme, was a Cancer sun and Leo moon. She was born María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, to young upper-middle class parents. Her father, Jacobo Villalobos Reyes, was a colonel in the military, and her mother, Josefina Vélez, was an opera singer. They also had another son, John and daughter, Annette. The Villalobos family were considered prominent in San Luis Potosí and most of the male family members were college educated. The family was also financially comfortable and lived in a large home with servants. As a young girl Lupe showed an interest in performing, but her father was outraged at his daughter’s “low-class” dreams, and forbade his daughter from being in show business. All that changed during the war. Her family was in a state of upheaval—the Mexican Revolution was happening, her father had been presumed dead in the war and all their money was gone. While most of her family members were too proud to get jobs, a teenage Vélez did just that, supporting the family by working as a saleswoman in a department store. She then finagled an audition with a local theater. However, her father was indded alive and well and soon returned home from the war. Because at that time becoming an artist and coming from a well-to-do family was seen as embarrassing, her father refused to let her use his last name in theater, so she used her mother’s surname.

She proceeded to seek out venues where she could dance the then-popular “shimmy.” In 1925 she was cast in the big stage revues Mexican Rataplan and !No lo tapes! and became a big audience favourite. Her name got around to American stage star Richard Bennett (father of American film stars Constance and Joan Bennett), who was looking for a Mexican cantina singer for his new play. Lupe traveled to Hollywood but was rejected for the part for being too young. While in Hollywood, Lupe met film and stage comedienne Fanny Brice, who took a liking to Lupe because of her sparkling personality. She put in a good word for Lupe to impresario Florenz Ziegfeld (creator of the Ziegfeld’s Follies), who could use Lupe in one of his Broadway musicals. However, MGM producer Harry Rapf heard of Lupe as well, and offered her a screen test. When producer Hal Roach saw the test, he immediately signed her to a contract. Vélez soon made her major film debut in Douglas Fairbanks’ action-romance The Gaucho in 1927. The film was a huge hit and Vélez was an overnight sensation.

Along with her professional life gaining steam, so did her love life. Vélez sought out some of Hollywood’s hottest men, which wasn’t hard for a hot and sexy number like Lupe; men flocked to her like bees to honey. She was romantically linked with Gary Cooper, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, cowboy Tom Mix, “Tarzan” actor Johnny Weissmuller, Errol Flynn, John Gilbert, Henry Wilcoxon, singer Russ Columbo, Randolph Scott, author Erich Maria Remarque (who wrote All Quiet On The Western Front and later married Paulette Goddard), Clayton “Lone Ranger” Moore, director Victor Fleming (director of Gone With The Wind), and boxers Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey.

One of her first conquests was cowboy star Tom Mix. She also had an with newcomer Clark Gable, who cut off their romance because he was afraid Lupe would run all over town discussing their sexual secrets, which she did. Soon she had a torrid affair with comic genius Charlie Chaplin in 1928. Lupe revitalized Chaplin’s libido after he had gone through a torturous divorce from his wife. Whatever time she had for the many men in her life, that same appreciation didn’t extend to other women and she would frequently battle with the other females with whom she had to work with and would often threaten them; when she was starring in director D.W. Griffith’s Lady of the Pavements, she had to co-star with an actress named Jedda Goudall, whom she hated, and the two had a ferocious cat-fight on the set. When she made her final appearance on Broadway in the Cole Porter musical “You Never Know”, Vélez and fellow cast member Libby Holman feuded viciously. The feud came to a head during a performance where Vélez punched Holman in between curtain calls and gave her a black eye, which pretty much ended the run of the show. Vélez was territorial about the men in her life, she was vicious toward any woman who might be competition for her man or an acting role. She mocked Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn and Shirley Temple, and her arch nemesis Dolores Del Dio by doing imitations of them.

When she was cast in the film The Wolf Song in 1929, she met Gary Cooper and immediately started what would be her first widely publicized romance. Theirs was a one-sidedly volatile relationship; he would often appear in public with scratches and bruises. One time, she attacked him with a knife during a fight. He needed stitches. By the end of their time as a couple, Copper had lost 45 pounds and was physically exhausted.  He was ordered by the studio to take a vacation. As he boarded a train, Vélez shot at Cooper but missed. Lupe soon moved on to other men; she had a thing for fighters. In addition to having a brief fling with boxer Jack Dempsey, she conducted a flagrant, but secret, affair with the black boxer Jack Johnson. In those days, blacks and whites almost never conducted sexual affairs out in the open. She met Olympic swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller at the hotel where she was staying that was owned by film star Marion Davies. One problem: Weissmuller was already married. But no matter, he dumped his wife for Lupe and married her October 8, 1933 in Las Vegas. Theirs was not a happy, serene marriage, and they constantly battled, with Lupe filing for divorce several times in 1934 and changing her mind each time. Weissmuller’s patience was so strained he dumped a plate of salad on her head at Ciro’s nightclub. Finally, in 1938 she filed a petition that was finalized in 1939.

After having many hit pictures with MGM, they unceremoniously dropped her. The excuse was that the studios were no longer going to make Spanish versions of their films and there was no longer a need for Latin actresses. Vélez returned to Mexico in 1938 to star in her first Spanish-language film. Arriving in Mexico City, she was greeted by 10,000 fans. The film La Zandunga, was a critical and financial success and Vélez was slated to appear in four more Mexican films, but instead, she returned to Los Angeles. She soon went to RKO Studios and starred in the B-movie The Girl From Mexico. Despite its lowly status, the picture became a tremendous hit with audiences. RKO rushed her into another film, this time called Mexican Spitfire, playing an emotionally volatile singer named Carmelita. The 1940 film became another smash for Lupe. The Spitfire series of eight slapstick comedy films rejuvenated Lupe’s sagging career.  In late 1941, she had an affair with writer Erich Maria Remarque whose wife, actress Luise Rainer later wrote that Remarque told her “with the greatest of glee” that he found Vélez’s volatility hot.

At this same time Lupe took on another lover in the form of a French 27-year-old bit actor named Harald Ramond. He was a strong and controlling man who knew how to tame Lupe. After she discovered that she was three months pregnant, she announced her engagement to Ramond without his knowledge or consent. When he learned of her pregnancy, he refused to marry her. Deeply hurt and stunned, she felt backed into a corner; she knew her career would be ruined in Hollywood if word got out she was pregnant and unmarried. It just wasn’t done in those days. And despite her wildness, Lupe was a devout Catholic, so abortion was out of the question. She could see only one way out: suicide. On December 18, 1944, at the age of 36, Vélez swallowed 70 Seconal pills, she lay down on her pink satin pillow on her over-sized Hollywood bed and arranged herself like a movie star, with her hands folded across her chest and went into an eternal sleep. Dramatic to the end, Lupe went out of this world in glamorous style. She left a suicide note addressed to Harald, which read:

“To Harald, May God forgive you and forgive me too, but I prefer to take my life away and our baby’s before I bring him with shame or killing him. How could you, Harald, fake such a great love for me and our baby when all the time you didn’t want us?  I see no other way out for me so goodbye and good luck to you, Love Lupe.”

THAT is the truth. But the bottom line is: how she lived her life as well as the circumstances around her death are all irrelevant at the end of the day. What matters is the loss of a great multi-talented, pioneering Mexican star and a legacy unrealized and stunted by a world that wasn’t ready for her.

Next, I’ll talk about the most famous of her paramours, the yin to her yang, a perfect example of the special chemistry that Taureans and Cancers share, the strong, silent hero of the silver screen: Taurus Gary Cooper.

Stats

birthdate: July 18, 1908

major planets:

Sun: Cancer

Moon: Leo

Rising: Gemini

Mercury: Cancer

Venus: Leo

Mars: Pisces

Midheaven: Pisces

Jupiter: Virgo

Saturn: Aries

Uranus: Capricorn

Neptune: Cancer

Pluto: Gemini

Overall personality snapshot: She may have seemed at times to be a shy, vulnerable, romantic individual who only wanted to please, but underneath she had a voracious appetite for adoration and respect, and would not stop until she got it. Without a doubt, she had a very warm feeling for others, and domestic security with plenty of happy togetherness is high on her list of priorities. When it came to cooperation with others, however, she had her limits because she was profoundly individualistic and, albeit in a charming manner, she insisted on doing things her way. Ultimately the most important thing for her was believing in herself and being true to her standards and aspirations. Most of all, she needed to fulfill her creative potential, which was like an intimate companion with whom she shared her life. You nurture it, protect it, and then you show it off, and whatever walk of life you are in, you tend to be a fine performer.

This gave her a lot of self-respect and a touch of vanity as well, and her emotional sensitivity combined with her underlying imperiousness tended to impress others and made them take her seriously. She was a devoted member of her flock, and she zealously and jealously protected and promoted whomever she was devoted to. When it came to developing her own talents, however, she seemed to know that she had to pull away in order to grow into her greatest self. Others may have thought she was a bit of a show-off but that was not the case: she simply had a deep sense of the importance of her own creative talents, and she felt only half alive if she did not honour them. Although she was pretty sensitive to criticism or rebuffs, she was just as committed to honesty and personal integrity; and despite her vanity, she eventually learned to laugh at herself.

She had a very good memory and found it easy to learn subjects that interested her. She was very kind and thoughtful towards others. Her imagination was very keen, but if it got carried away, she may have experienced irrational fears. Even though she may have tried to maintain a scientific and objective outlook, her mind was actually dominated by her emotions. When it came to careers, she may have felt initially vague or confused about what she really wanted to do. She was eventually forced to give up her career of choice by events out of her control (as was evidenced by the tides turning from the “Mexican spitfire” female ideal due to the changing of the times). There was probably some element of self-sacrifice involved somewhere in her choice of career (the element of sacrifice being that she had to sacrifice her child, and ultimately her life, in relation to her reputation as an unwed mother as well as her unborn child’s reputation as an illegitimate child). She had good technical and scientific ability due to her, at times almost fanatical, attention to detail. She was also fastidious when it came to matters of health, diet and appearance. She was not afraid of work and was very resourceful and capable. She also worked well in a team. She became very annoyed if somebody else questioned the way that she operated. Her energy levels were somewhat inhibited, her self-confidence reduced, and her ambitions restricted through fear of failure. Times of strength and weakness alternated within her. Even though her decision-making ability could be ineffectual through over-caution, she often seemed to be placed in situations where a quick decision was needed. When she succeeded, it was mainly through her own efforts. She also showed a tendency towards wanting to start at the top, wanting to avoid the hard work that gets you there.

She belonged to a generation with a rational and logical attitude to life. There was a conflict between tradition and convention, and the experimental and unconventional. As an individual, she had to learn to strike a balance between the erratic and the conventional. As a member of this generation, she had the ability to come up with original ideas which could be of practical value. She was part of a very artistically talented and creative generation that wanted to escape from the demands of the world around them into a world of excitement and glamour. She was part of an emotionally sensitive generation that was extremely conscious of the domestic environment and the atmosphere surrounding her home place and home country. In fact, she could be quite nostalgic about her homeland, religion and traditions, often seeing them in a romantic light. She felt a degree of escapism from everyday reality, and was very sensitive to the moods of those around her. Bow embodied all of these Cancer Neptunian ideals. As a Gemini Plutonian, she was mentally restless and willing to examine and change old doctrines, ideas and ways of thinking. As a member of this generation, she showed an enormous amount of mental vitality, originality and perception. Traditional customs and taboos were examined and rejected for newer and more original ways of doing things. As opportunities with education expanded, she questioned more and learned more. As a member of this generation, having more than one occupation at a time would not have been unusual to her.

Love/sex life: It wasn’t easy to be passionate and emotionally explosive and also hold on to her dignity, but this was what she wanted to accomplish. She tried to conceal the pulsating softness of her sexual nature behind a façade of control and bluster. She thought that her display of strength and jolly self-confidence would hide her vulnerability and her susceptibility to virtually any sexual diversion. Of course, no one was really buying this cover up. They saw the luscious edges of her erotic hunger peeking through her disguise. That’s why they were all so anxious to be around her. The biggest problem in her sex life was how to deal with change. She loved it and she hated it. She loved following the lead of her feelings and surrendering herself to the moment. Too much consistency, even loving consistency, was apt to leave her bored and dissatisfied. But she also saw change as a threat to her sense of control and to the emotional security that she valued so highly. Because of this duality in her thinking, her reaction to changes in her sex life was abrupt, contradictory, and (horror of horrors) a little undignified.

minor asteroids and points:

North Node: Gemini

Lilith: Libra

Vertex: Scorpio

Fortune: Gemini

East Point: Gemini

Her North Node in Gemini dictated that she needed to prevent her idealism from influencing her thoughts to such a high degree. She needed to consciously develop a more clear-minded and analytical approach involving her thought processes. Her Lilith in Libra was definitely working overtime here. Relationships somehow caused her to err, and her partner choices caused much suffering.   She expressed herself through others. As a lover, she was aggressive, yet co-dependent. As a mistress, she was not above trying to cause a divorce, which she did with Johnny Weissmuller and she ultimately became fatally despondent when she found herself pregnant with a bit actor's baby. She used her good looks as a weapon to help her get ahead in the movie industry. Also, Lilith in Libra strangely enough, manifested itself as a sort of lighter female Capricorn archetype, and she pulled herself up by the bootstraps in a rather glamorous way, going to work after her father left the family unit. As such, she exhibited graceful gumption right until the very end. Her Vertex in Scorpio, 5th house dictated that she had a desire or continual need for feeling irresistible and irreplaceable on all levels of intimacy, whether spiritual, intellectual, emotional, or physical. From the fires of hell to the heights of heaven, the  further and deeper the range of interaction she could experience with another the more fulfilling. She had a childlike orientation, in all of its manifestations, toward relationships on an internal level. That implicit trust, or perhaps naivete, that was instilled in our  childhood persisted far into maturity. The concomitant explosions and  occasional tantrums when these constructs are violated also accompany  this position. She had a need for fun, creativity, and excitement in a  committed relationship, no matter how many years it has endured. She often had deep fears, typical of children, of abandonment, as well as a need for universal acceptance, no matter how she acted, which she needed her partner to respect and nurture, rather than rebuke, especially in adulthood. Her Part of Fortune in Gemini and Part of Spirit in Sagittarius dictated that her destiny lay in travel, education and communication. She was able to overcome enemies by her words and by her writing. Happiness and fulfillment came from being able to express herself fully. Her soul’s purpose lay in seeking truth, justice and fairness. She felt spiritual connections and saw the spark of the divine when she studied, broadened her mind through new philosophies, or looked for inspiration outside the home. East Point in Gemini dictated that she was often insatiably curious and loved to collect little bits of (what seemed to be useless) information and trivia. Her interests were quite varied, and she may have been somewhat scattered. Sometimes her curiosity could appear cold and callous as her level of objectivity was potentially high. There was usually an openness to learning in any situation.      

elemental dominance:

water

fire

She had high sensitivity and elevation through feelings. Her heart and  her emotions were her driving forces, and she couldn’t do anything on earth if she didn’t feel a strong effective charge. She  needed to love in order to understand, and to feel in order to take action, which caused a certain vulnerability which she should (and often did) fight against. She was dynamic and passionate, with strong leadership ability. She generated enormous warmth and vibrancy. She was exciting to be around, because she was genuinely enthusiastic and usually friendly. However, she could either be harnessed into helpful energy or flame up and cause destruction. Ultimately, she chose the latter. Confident and opinionated, she was fond of declarative statements such as “I will do  this” or “It’s this way.” When out of control—usually because she was  bored, or hadn’t been acknowledged—she was bossy, demanding, and even tyrannical. But at her best, her confidence and vision inspired others  to conquer new territory in the world, in society, and in themselves.    

modality dominance:

mutable

She wasn’t particularly interested in spearheading new ventures or dealing with the day-to-day challenges of organization and management. She excelled at performing tasks and producing outcomes. She was flexible and liked to finish things. Was also likely undependable, lacking in initiative, and disorganized. Had an itchy restlessness and an unwillingness to buckle down to the task at hand. Probably had a chronic inability to commit—to a job, a relationship, or even to a set of values.                    

house dominants:

2nd

3rd

1st

The material side of life  including money and finances, income and expenditure, and worldly goods was emphasized in her life. Also the areas of innate resources, such as her self-worth, feelings and emotions were paramount in her life. What she considered her personal security and what she desired was also paramount. Short journeys, traveling within her own country were themes  throughout her life; her immediate environment, and relationships with her siblings, neighbours and friends were of importance. The way her mental processes operated, as well as the manner and style in which she communicated was emphasized in her life. As such, much was revealed about her schooling and childhood and adolescence. Her personality, disposition and temperament is highlighted in her life. The manner in which she expressed herself and the way she approached other people is also highlighted. The way she approached new situations and circumstances contributed to show how she set about her life’s goals. The general state of her health is also shown, as well as her early childhood experiences defining the rest of her life.  

planet dominants:

Neptune

Mercury

Sun

She was of a contemplative nature, particularly receptive to ambiances, places, and people. She gladly cultivated the art of letting go, and allowed the natural unfolding of events to construct her world. She followed her inspirations, for better or for worse. She was intellectual, mentally quick, and had excellent verbal acuity. She dealt in terms of logic and reasoning. It was likely that she was left-brained. She was restless, craved movement, newness, and the bright hope of undiscovered terrains. She had vitality and creativity, as well as a strong ego and was authoritarian and powerful. She likely had strong leadership qualities, she definitely knew who she was, and she had tremendous will. She met challenges and believed in expanding her life.

sign dominants:

Cancer

Gemini

Leo

At first meeting, she seemed enigmatic, elusive. She needed roots, a place or even a state of mind that she could call  her own. She needed a safe harbor, a refuge in which to retreat for solitude. She was generally gentle and kind, unless she was hurt. Then she could become vindictive and sharp-spoken. She was affectionate, passionate, and even possessive at times. She was intuitive and was  perhaps even psychic. Experience flowed through her emotionally. She was often moody and always changeable; her interests and social circles shifted constantly. She was emotion distilled into its purest form. She ventured out to see what else was there and seized upon new ideas that expanded her community. Her innate curiosity kept her on the move. She used her rational, intellectual mind to explore and understand her personal world. She needed to answer the single burning question in her mind: why? This applied to most facets of her life, from the personal to the impersonal. This need to know sent her off to foreign countries, where her need to explore other cultures and traditions ranked high. She was changeable and often moody. This meant that she was often at odds with herself—the mind demanding one thing, the heart demanding the opposite. To someone else, this internal conflict often manifested as two very different people. She loved being the center of attention and often surrounded herself with admirers. She had an innate dramatic sense, and life was definitely her stage. Her flamboyance and personal magnetism extended to every facet of her life. She wanted to succeed and make an impact in every situation. She was, at her best, optimistic, honorable, loyal, and ambitious.      

Read more about her under the cut.

Lupe Velez was born on July 18, 1908, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, as Maria Guadalupe Villalobos Velez. She was sent to Texas at the age of 13 to live in a convent. She later admitted that she wasn't much of a student because she was so rambunctious. She had planned to become a champion roller skater, but that would change. Life was hard for her family, and Lupe returned to Mexico to help them out financially. She worked as a salesgirl for a department store for the princely sum of $4 a week. Every week she would turn most of her salary over to her mother, but she kept a little for herself so she could take dancing lessons. With her mature shape and grand personality, she thought she could make a try at show business, which she figured was a lot more glamorous than dancing or working as a salesclerk. In 1924 Lupe started her show business career on the Mexican stage and wowed audiences with her natural beauty and talent. By 1927 she had emigrated to Hollywood, where she was discovered by Hal Roach, who cast her in a comedy with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Douglas Fairbanks then cast her in his feature film The Gaucho (1927) with himself and wife Mary Pickford. Lupe played dramatic roles for five years before she switched to comedy. In 1933 she played the lead role of Pepper in Hot Pepper (1933). This film showcased her comedic talents and helped her to show the world her vital personality. She was delightful. In 1934 Lupe appeared in three fine comedies: Strictly Dynamite (1934), Palooka (1934) and Laughing Boy (1934). By now her popularity was such that a series of "Mexican Spitfire" films were written around her. She portrayed Carmelita Lindsay in Mexican Spitfire (1940), Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940), The Mexican Spitfire's Baby (1941) and Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event (1943), among others. Audiences loved her in these madcap adventures, but it seemed at times that she was better known for her stormy love affairs. She married one of her lovers, Johnny Weissmuller, but the marriage only lasted five years and was filled with battles. Lupe certainly did live up to her nickname. She had a failed romance with Gary Cooper, who never wanted to wed her. By 1943 her career was waning. She went to Mexico in the hopes of jump-starting her career. She gained her best reviews yet in the Mexican version of Naná (1944). Bolstered by the success of that movie, Lupe returned to the US, where she starred in her final film as Pepita Zorita, Ladies' Day (1943). There were to be no others. On December 13, 1944, tired of yet another failed romance, with a part-time actor named Harald Maresch, and pregnant with his child, Lupe committed suicide with an overdose of Seconal. She was only 36 years old. (x)

[queenarticlearchive]

Limp-wrist Section:

(Please read with a camp accent, stressing every second word)

New Musical Express

27 September 1975

Julie Webb

Forget those ‘Queen split’ stories - everything is just lovely. Elton is lovely as well. Freddie Mercury tells it like it is. By Julie Webb

It’s easy to understand how “Queen to split” rumours get under way. The band’s expected large summer gig never happened and the non-appearance of either an album or a single kept the silence at deafening point.

From America we heard that Brian May was offered a job with Sparks and in England there were stories to the effect that the band’s management situation was none too amicable. And throughout all this time the band remained stumm, giving no interviews and neither confirming or denying anything. Even a promised visit to see the band at Rockfield Studios was “put off” at the last moment. Is all well in Mercury’s trousers?

Still, all is now resolved. Queen now have a new manager, and their biggest headache in How The Hell Are They Going To Finish The New Album in time for November release. They are also planning a major British tour for late November and a single for October, so it’s time to zip up and get going.

It was three dishevelled members of Queen who were finally brought to bay at the studios in London. John Deacon was absent since they were adding vocals and I was informed he doesn’t participate overly on that side of things. Two members of Hustler - a quite different group - were sitting in the control room aghast at the meticulous way the band record.

If they sand “no no no” once, they sang it twenty times in the space of about ten minutes. And on each occasion someone would find fault. It must get exceedingly tedious.

The track in question is a Mercury composition “Bohemian Rhapsody” very much an operatic opus, taxing the vocal cords to the hilt. On playback it sounds truly magnificent, undeniably Queen yet with greater depth than on any previous efforts.

Mercury is bouncing about saying “Hello dear” to new arrivals. Brian May still looks fragile and Roger Taylor sits down rather wearily. They are scheduled to carry on recording till two a.m.

Mercury seems like he’s itching to talk and, yes, there’s plenty to ask. Like what happened with the old management, Freddie?

He takes a deep breath.

“As far as Queen are concerned they are deceased. They cease to exist in any capacity with us whatsoever. One leaves them behind like one leaves excretia. We feel so relieved.”

It appears to be an almost rehearsed answer. I plod on. How did the change of management come about - why change?

“We felt there came a time when we had got far too big for them to handle. We needed bigger handling. We needed a change. But I don’t want to delve into trivia…”

And on so to John Reid, new manager, also manager of Elton John.

“Actually we were approached by - and we ourselves approached - a series of top class managers to make sure we made the right choice. John Reid happened to be the choice because he flashed his eyes at me and I said ‘Why not’,” Mercury laughs.

“He’s great, actually, I thought he could do with another piano player so we could play duets all night. I said ‘What’s better than one piano player? - two piano players. In a way it’s just what we wanted and the combination is going to be startling. It’s the sort of combination we’ve wanted for years. The whole situation of record deals and his whole method of work, his whole approach is so right.

“He came in to negotiate the whole structure of recording, publishing and management.”

Mercury was present at the recent much-publicised John Reid birthday party last week (“we’re both Virgos you know”). This he pronounced “lovely”.

“I met his ‘other client’. He said ‘You must meet my other client, my other client wants to meet you.’ Elton John was wonderful - one of those people you can instantly get on with. He said he liked ‘Killer Queen’ and anyone who says that goes in my white book - my black book is bursting at the seams.”

The subject switched to the new album. Apart from the aforementioned “Bohemian Rhapsody” what other tracks are there?

“Well the album is called ‘A Night At The Opera’. We’ve finished all the backing tracks and it’s beginning to sound better than we expected.

“With ‘Rhapsody’ we’ve squeezed to our limitations for four octaves and not slowed down the tape! John Deacon had written a lovely little ditty called ‘You’re My Best Friend’ and Roger has written ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ including lines like ‘I’ve got a feel for my automobile’.

“Brian has an outrageous mammoth epic track ‘The Prophet’s Song’ which is one of our heaviest numbers to date. He’s got his guitar extravaganza on it. You see, Brian has acquired a new guitar specially built so he can almost make it speak. It will talk on this track.

“Then there’s ‘Good Company’ written by Brian, a George Formby track with saxophones, trombone and clarinet sounds from his guitar. We don’t believe in having any session men, we do everything ourselves, from the high falsetto to the low bassy farts it is all us.

“Another track is ‘’39’ a little spacey number by Brian, a skiffle style of number which we’ve never tried before and the albume ends with something totally unexpected, a little virtuoso track by Brian. There’s also ‘Sweet Lady’ a heavyish ditty in stupendous ¾.”

Apart from ‘Rhapsody’, Mercury himself has penned four tracks, “one is called ‘Death On Two Legs’ I’m not going to say anymore - just listen to the words carefully kiddies. A nasty little number which brings out my evil streak. The words came very easy to me.

“There’s also a lovely little ballad, my classical influence comes into it, Brian is going to attempt to use harp, real life-size harp. I’m going to force him to play till his fingers drop off. It’s called ‘Love Of My Life’.

“‘Seaside Rendezvous’ has a 1920’s feel to it and Roger does a tuba and clarinet on it vocally, if you see what I mean. I’m going to make him tap dance too, I’ll have to buy him some Ginger Rogers tap shoes.

“‘Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon’ (not the Kinks’ or the Small Faces’) is a short track, just one minute six seconds. A very perky spicey number dear. Brian likes that one.”

Summing up, Mercury says “There were a lot of things we wanted to do on ‘Queen II’ and ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ but there wasn’t space enough. This time there is. Guitarwise and on vocals we’ve done things we’ve never done before.”

In order to finish the album on time Mercury says they will “work till we are legless. I’ll sing until my throat is like a vulture’s crotch. We haven’t even reached the halfway stage yet but from the things I can hear we have surpassed anything we’ve done before musically.”

All right. Now to the other stuff.

Is it true about Brian being offered a gig with Sparks? Was there any serious thought of splitting up the band? Own up…

Mercury is contemptuous of the whole thing.

“About nine months ago Brian was approached by Sparks who said they would like him to join them as guitarist. But we all treat that sort of thing as everyday and mundane. We’re so involved in what we do - anyway we’ve all had offers to join other bands. We don’t give it a second thought.

“But while, say, Roger and I would tell them to piss off Brian takes his time about being nice to people so sometimes they get the wrong idea. Brian is really too much of a gentleman which I am not - I am an old tart - but not for one moment did he consider leaving us.

“But that was nine months ago, so long ago that that rumour went out with the Boer War. Still it’s very flattering to get offers.”

The November British tour, however should dispel any split rumours forever. Preparations are already being made for that.

“I’m thinking of being carried on stage by Nubian slaves and being fanned by them - in fact I’m auditioning for them now. I shall personally select the winners. But where to find a slave?

“I’m also looking for a masseur. The other one is no longer with us.

What happened to him? “His fingers dropped off.”

Trouble with Freddie, he’s always concerned with his health. Still there are reasons.

On the last American tour a couple of gigs were cancelled due to throat problems.

“My nodules are still with me. I have these uncouth callouses growing in my interior (throat). From time to time they harm my vocal dexterity. At the moment however” (he allows himself a smile) “I am winning/”

How can he ensure the problem won’t recur?

“I’m going to go easy on the red wine dear. And the tour will be planned around my nodules. Actually I came very near to having an operation but I didn’t like the look of the doctor and I was a bit perturbed about having strange instruments forced down my throat.”

After the British tour the band go once again to America and thence on to Japan. Japan hold fond memories for Mercury.

With a faraway look in his eye he say “I will be able to be reunited with my bodyguard. I must stress we all had one each - our own personal bodyguards that is. Mine was called Hitami and was the head of the Tokyo bodyguard patrol. His entire job was to pamper and cossett me throughout the tour and make sure no harm was to come to my person. He was very sweet, he gave me this lovely Japanese lantern which I treasure.”

Is there any likelihood Queen may do some American gigs with Elton John?

“Well funny you should say that. We had an offer to do two gigs in L.A. but we were far too busy so we couldn’t do them. But although we’re all the same family Reidy won’t put us out as a package. He knows the difference in the audiences we appeal to. He wants us to be a force of our own in America to maintain what we have, and to do everything bigger and better.”

Mercury is not quite sure if Seattle is on their American itinerary. He remembers a young lady from that part of the world quite vividly.

“A young American tart” he starts getting very angry at the memory of it all, “came in and pilfered my contents … my jewels, bracelets etc and she was just evacuating the room when I accosted her by the elevator.

“I pulled her by the hair, dragged her into the room, emptied the contents of her bag in the room and everything but the kitchen sink came out. I retrieved my things, and said ‘get out, you Seattle shagbag.’

Why hadn’t there been any recorded material from Queen for so long? (Yeah, I know that was an abrupt change of subject).

“Actually that was the way we planned it dear, but we should have a single taken from this album out in October. The album comes out in November when we start our world tour. We’re planning on a much broader scale than before dear.”

[fashiontrendin-blog]

Reality TV has come a long way with diversity... but sadly still has a really long way to go

http://fashion-trendin.com/reality-tv-has-come-a-long-way-with-diversity-but-sadly-still-has-a-really-long-way-to-go/

Reality TV has come a long way with diversity... but sadly still has a really long way to go

What have you been doing at 9pm every night? Counting Kendall’s tears on Love Island? Same.

Eleven (and then thirteen) singles were stranded in a Majorcan villa in search of true, everlasting love and 3.4 million of us are glued to the telly set, waiting to see if Danny Dyer’s daughter will fall for a man with florescent teeth. The show gave ITV2 its highest-ever ratings, meaning it’s a seriously influential hour of constructed reality. A reality that, sadly, doesn’t exactly reflect the British population.

Watching the contestants arrive in bikinis and boardies with their mic packs strapped across taut abs, you probably noticed a few things immediately. The women have virtually identical body shapes, for one. They’re all impossibly petite, long-limbed, tanned and toned, like they just walked out of a hair removal gel commercial. The men are all ripped and studly – particularly immediate villain Adam, whose muscle tone is only matched by his self-confidence.

Love Island 2018: All the details you need to know

The casting directors of Love Island have passionately rejected body diversity, giving us an ensemble of sinewy, Instagram-ready clones to marvel at each night. Given that the average woman in the UK is size 16 with a 34-inch waist and 36DD breasts, the girls looks don’t exactly put the ‘reality’ in ‘reality TV’. In fact, Twitter was awash with women comparing themselves to our Love Island ladies – it’s hard not to, when you’re presented with five replicas, each achieving society’s ultimate beauty standards seemingly effortlessly, with hardly the bat of an eyelash extension.

Love Island has, thankfully, improved its ranking in some other forms of diversity. In a slight improvement from previous years, we now have two people of colour in the line-up. Twenty-two-year-old West End dancer Samira Mighty is the first black woman on the show – and she was asked within minutes by a fellow contestant whether she could twerk. She was also, suspiciously, the last woman to be picked to couple up. In 2017, there had been 39 female contestants to date and only three of them were mixed race. Not a single black woman had set her perfectly manicured foot on Love Island, and it truly cannot be because there were none auditioning. The absence of black women on Love Island has been conspicuous and weird, especially since other dating shows like Dinner Date and Take Me Out have introduced more racially diverse casts (though, it has to be said, they’re often trolled). Representation matters, so why has it taken this long to cast one impossibly beautiful black woman?

Then we have Wes Nelson, the 20-year-old electrical systems engineer who’s gone viral a few times on Instagram with kickboxing videos. Last year, we had two black men, this year we’ve got one. It still feels a little like tokenism. Fifty-five percent of Londoners are BAME and apparently 150,000 people applied for this season of ITV’s sauciest show. Surely, there were people of other nationalities in those piles of auditions tapes. Where are the people of Asian background? Pakistani and Indian are in the top five nationalities of people who live in the UK; where are they? Where’s our Muslim contestant? Why do we only get one person of colour per gender group?

Could it be that reality TV producers are frightened that if they cast someone diverse, that person will be subjected to racism or prejudice? Is the viewing public ready for a diverse cast? Who do we blame here? Remember the treatment of Alexandra Burke when she was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. The Guardian ran the numbers and found that people of colour or minorities were more likely to get voted off the show sooner than white contestants. Being in an ethnic minority increased a dancer’s chance of being in bottom two by 71 per cent.

Reality TV as a genre has had a complicated relationship with diversity. Take two of the other major reality TV shows on air, The Only Way is Essex and Made in Chelsea. According to Vice, the two shows have had 177 main cast members, with just six being people of colour and only three black. What all this means is that we’re watching a parade of mostly white, offensively attractive people pretend to develop feelings for each other in captivity. It’s disappointing, potentially harmful and it has to be said, a little bit boring.

Love Island courts millions of viewers each weeknight – wouldn’t it be glorious is they embraced a little difference in their casting tactics? Imagine if we had, at the very least, women with curves, men with imperfect bellies, people with different sexualities and an ethnic mix that did justice to the multiculturalism of the people switching their tellies over to ITV2 at 9pm. It is an opportunity missed – one I hope producers might grasp next year.

Seeing the Love Island girls without makeup is making us want to champion the natural look this summer

[megadarkbouquettidalwavethings]

24 Hours in Bachelor Nation

There are two ways to watch “The Bachelor.”

The first is, in “Bachelor” parlance, to be swept away on the “journey” and suspend any disbelief that suitors are “here for the right reasons.” For most viewers, though, the only way to sit through a two-hour episode is to accept the polyamorous spectacle as one big social experiment.

It’s hard to imagine that the millions of intelligent women (and men) who tune into the show are sold on its premise. Yet many of them consumed six hours of “Bachelor” programming per week this month. That’s not including the time they spent reading recaps, listening to “Bachelor”-adjacent podcasts or scrolling through contestants’ Instagram feeds.

Just as the internet can act as a (very dangerous) political echo chamber, it can also function as a “Bachelor” hall of mirrors, wherein the franchise’s offshoots become unavoidable. In turn, immersing oneself in Bachelor Nation can be accidental.

Or it can be a completely intentional, journalistic pursuit.

6 a.m.: Meeting Arie, Belatedly

I am watching 29 women compete for a Bachelor whom America did not want, “the human equivalent of a beige driving moccasin,” a man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar characterized as “shallow, bland, stiff and inarticulate.” (Though he added a disclaimer: He didn’t know the guy personally.)

Arie Luyendyk Jr., a racecar driver turned real estate agent, may soon pick a fiancée on television, after narrowing a pool of mostly white 20-somethings on Season 22 to three women. In the season premiere there were four Laurens; now we’re down to one. There was a “Bachelor” first: a woman with a pixie cut.

The lack of diversity isn’t new. The first African-American lead, Rachel Lindsay, was cast in 2017, a whopping 15 years after “The Bachelor” had its premiere.

On NPR, Linda Holmes described the franchise as a metaphor for white privilege: Talent hops from one “Bachelor” program to another. It’s “a story almost entirely of a white person picking the next white person,” she said, “and of that white person then picking another white person, and everybody shrugging and saying, ‘I just went with my gut!’”

I’m late to watching this season, but I can’t say I missed much. “The Bachelor” is a self-sustaining ecosystem with few surprises.

7:15 a.m.: Sifting Through the #Spon

Social media has only made the show easier to spin off. While it’s live on television, the “Bachelor” faithful go on Twitter to analyze the relationships and dissect manipulation by producers. Watching the commentary can be more fun than watching the show.

And then there’s Instagram. I tap through photos, starting with the fan favorite Ashley Iaconetti, known as “Crying Girl.” The list of accounts she follows is a pipeline of “Bachelor” contestants, and I absent-mindedly burn through 45 minutes.

Here, the contestants gain what they seem to have auditioned for: internet fame. Many alumni pepper their feeds with sponsored content, advertisements for products that purport to improve lives: the meal kit delivery service HelloFresh, “detox” concoctions like Flat Tummy Tea, whatever a FabFitFun box is.

Each contestant sells a lifestyle: She is happy. She is effortlessly chic. She is usually on vacation. She is what the show implies a woman is supposed to be: white, affluent and hyperfeminine.

8 a.m.: Podcast Time

I scroll through podcasts created by fans and contestants and eventually land on “Bachelor Party,” hosted by Juliet Litman, of The Ringer. Her guest is a juicy get: the ABC executive Rob Mills, who shares that one of Mr. Luyendyk’s 25-year-old suitors has previously been engaged twice.

Then I read “Bachelor” blogs en route to the taping of another podcast, “Here to Make Friends,” produced by HuffPost. The hosts, Emma Gray and Claire Fallon, spend about an hour recapping an episode with Caila Quinn, a contestant envied for her bouncy, shiny hair.

Ms. Quinn, a focal point of misleading editing on the spinoff “Bachelor in Paradise,” is reserved and gracious, and asks if I’d like to wear her faux-fur coat for a photo. As she helps me into each sleeve, I silently acknowledge that I am the kind of person who is a bit star-struck by reality television personalities.

I ask the hosts why we binge on “The Bachelor.”

The 24-hour news cycle is overwhelming, Ms. Gray says, so there’s something very satisfying about watching a show based in an alternate reality. “The stakes feel high, but they’re actually low.”

The franchise is also appealing, Ms. Fallon says, because it taps into our basic desire for human connection. It’s nice to imagine that love can be this simple.

12:30 p.m.: Too Many Contestants in the Kitchen

As I stock up on wine for an evening “Bachelor” viewing party, I listen to Mr. Luyendyk’s “favorite tunes” on Spotify. Then, at home, I bake cupcakes from a recipe on Ms. Quinn’s blog while watching the series premiere of “Bachelor Pad.” I also arrange a platter of deli meat, inspired by the contestant Chad Johnson, and scan stories on Snapchat and posts on Off the Vine, a Facebook group started by the former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe.

The content never ends. The limit does not exist.

2:10 p.m.: Working on That ‘Bachelor’ Body

If a woman for some reason wants to be on “The Bachelor,” she can fill out an application that relies largely on photos and video. The Season 16 winner, Courtney Robertson, advises women to “save producers time by wearing a bikini in the photo.”

That reminds me: It’s time for my “Bachelor” workout. Exercises are tied to episode plot points. A date card shows up: 10 jumping jacks. The Bachelor kisses a woman: 10 mountain climbers.

Feeling uninspired, I switch to Krystal Nielson’s YouTube channel for an 18-minute total body workout.

Ms. Nielson is the villain on Mr. Luyendyk’s season, so America doesn’t like her. Eleven minutes in, I dislike her, too. I’m out of breath. My legs are on fire, but they’re still not hot enough to lounge poolside at Villa de la Vina, better known as the “Bachelor” mansion.

3 p.m.: The Spoiler

Stephen Carbone is a thorn in ABC’s side. Mr. Carbone has run the website RealitySteve.com for years, and since Season 13 of “The Bachelor” he has spoiled the show’s endings.

He now records a weekly podcast too, and holds an annual fan appreciation party at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The show’s creators do not acknowledge Mr. Carbone, aside from threatening him with legal action.

But what would they say if they did? “They can’t say, ‘That guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about,’” Mr. Carbone says. And “they can’t say, ‘Oh, he’s right.’”

Would Mr. Carbone call himself a fan? “The fun part for me is while it’s filming and spoiling it while it’s happening.” When he watches in retrospect, he says, “I can’t believe anything out of these people’s mouths.”

4 p.m.: What Really Happens on Set

It’s hard to trust what contestants say on camera because editors can recut dialogue and interviews using a trade technique known as “frankenbiting.” Amy Kaufman, a Los Angeles Times reporter and the author of “Bachelor Nation,” knows all about this. For the book, she consulted former producers and contestants who told all, including the following:

Sleep-deprived or intoxicated contestants are taken into a sort of solitary confinement for questioning. Some say what the producer wants simply to end an interview.

Chris Bukowski, a five-time contestant, was pressured to propose to a woman he didn’t like very much. (He didn’t go through with it.)

Clare Crawley, a four-time contestant, was made to appear as if she confided in a raccoon.

“I wouldn’t advise the smartest, most independent-minded friend I have to come on this show,” she says. “I don’t think you can control what happens.”

5:05 p.m.: Love as a Spectator Sport

Sean O’Leary is part of a “Bachelor” fantasy league, in which he and 20 co-workers at a public relations firm in Virginia try to predict the semi-predictable. The participants choose contestants they think will advance to the next episode. Bragging rights, and maybe a gift card, are at stake.

The brackets are taped to a conference room wall, Mr. O’Leary says: “Most people when they visit the office, it’s the first thing they notice.”

Adam Hoover’s league is a tad more complicated. Like the N.F.L., “The Bachelor” has its own language: First impression rose. One-on-ones. Hometowns. Fantasy suites. Points are awarded for all in Mr. Hoover’s league, which he and his wife run with another couple.

“At the end of every season, we say if so-and-so is the Bachelor, we might not do this again,” Mr. Hoover says. “And we always do.”

7 p.m.: The Viewing Party

I serve contestant-endorsed cheese pasta and cheese pizza, along with plenty of wine, to my “Bachelor” support group, which has convened for the premiere of “The Bachelor Winter Games.”

We end up talking through the Games, stopping only to acknowledge how cheesy the meal and the premise are. (The show finished a distant second in the ratings to the actual Olympics.)

11:15 p.m.: Switching Channels

“UnReal,” a Lifetime drama that takes place behind the scenes of a “Bachelor” look-alike called “Everlasting,” was a show I’d never watched until now. It focuses on the manipulation contestants endure at the hands of producers and exaggerates what we see in the “Bachelor” franchise, but not beyond recognition.

Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, a co-creator of “UnReal,” was a producer of “The Bachelor.” Part of her job during that time, she told The New Yorker, was to get contestants to “open up, and to give them terrible advice, and to deprive them of sleep.”

12:25 a.m.: Time for a Reading Break

“Bachelor” contestants aren’t allowed to read while filming. A former contestant, Ashley Spivey, said that producers confiscated her copy of “Life of Pi” even before cameras were rolling. Now she runs a 6,000-person book club on Facebook.

Currently, the club’s members are reading “An American Marriage,” by Tayari Jones, but Ms. Spivey suggested that I break up my “Bachelor”-thon with “The Light We Lost,” which explores a relationship shaped by outside events: a love story nothing like “The Bachelor.”

After an hour of blissful escapism, I turn the “Bachelor” switch back on and crack open “Single State of Mind,” by the former contestant Andi Dorfman. I can’t relate to much in Ms. Dorfman’s book about post-reality-TV life, but I laugh when she is shocked to learn, while apartment hunting, that for one place in the West Village, she must earn 90 times the monthly rent. Welcome to New York, Ms. Dorfman.

2:35 a.m.: The Parody

I am at the zenith of Bachelor Nation, but I have 27 think pieces and a parody called “Burning Love” on my agenda.

I’ll save delving into an on-set sexual misconduct allegation for another day, because that deserves the kind of thought and attention that is rarely present past midnight.

It occurs to me that if I sleep, I may dream about “The Bachelor,” and that technically I’d be consuming “Bachelor” content.

5:59 a.m.: So Close, but So Far

I have a nightmare about writing this article.

CARLA CORREA

The post 24 Hours in Bachelor Nation appeared first on dailygate.

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'The Bachelor Winter Games' Season 1, Episode 1 Recap: Let the Games Begin

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'The Bachelor Winter Games' Season 1, Episode 1 Recap: Let the Games Begin

This week I was presented with a tough decision: Should I keep up with the 2018 Winter Olympics or spend my time watching the 2018 Bachelor Winter Games? And no, it can’t be both—I need some semblance of a life, people. While the Olympics provides sexy skate tangos, Adam Rippon butt theories, and Chloe Kim’s hangry tweets—all delightful, to be sure—Bachelor Winter Games promises “The Canadian Ben Higgins” and Ashley Iaconetti’s mascara-stained tears. Guess which one I went with. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

The show’s intro tells us this will be “a global celebration of unity and love” but something tells me “a Vermont-based gathering of drama and lust” would be more accurate. I didn’t know what to expect going into this, but the teaser of what’s to come is certainly intriguing: There’s shots of Ashley weeping, of course, but also Luke Pell in low-cut spandex and some guy named Kevin who is being called “The Canadian Ben Higgins” even though the real Ben Higgins is also there. Will there be a fight to see who can stay? There can only be one!

If it comes to that, Canadian Ben Higgins might win because Real Ben Higgins seems very sad. He’s drinking cups of hot chocolate and wandering around alone in the snow. After his breakup with Lauren, his heart has frozen over because metaphors.

Bibiana (from Arie’s season) is also here, and she’s skating around in a one-piece with a cozy sweater and living her best life.

“I wasn’t crazy all the time. I just had one moment.” – Bibiana

Dean (from Rachel’s season and Bachelor in Paradise) gets an intro that feels very “boy band member audition tape.” We’re reminded that he was shady on BiP, but he promises he’s really a “good guy” who just made “questionable decisions.” That’s what they ALL say, Dean. He frets over whether he should make ramen or spaghetti, but eventually chooses spaghetti with great gravitas—signaling that he’s ready to make mature decisions now, I guess. Or maybe he just prefers spaghetti, who knows.

Now we catch up with Clare. You’ll remember her from that one time she told Juan Pablo off (“I would never want my children having a father like you!”) and the many many times she cried during Bachelor in Paradise. After those bad experiences, she swore she was retiring from the show…only to magically discover the Winter Games Loophole. Apparently, this is an alternate dimension where the choices you make after one too many margaritas don’t count.

Next up is Josiah, the lawyer from Rachel’s season of The Bachelorette. He swears he won’t be a jerk this time, foreshadowing an edit of all the times he behaves like a jerk this time.

Lesley from Sean Lowe’s Bachelor season is here too, but I have to admit: I watched that rotation and don’t remember her. Maybe one of the many Laurens took her spot in my memory bank? In her intro, Lesley reveals she tested positive for the BRCA2 gene, so she got a double mastectomy eight months ago. She hasn’t been with anybody since, but her new boobs “look great” and she’s ready for love. I genuinely hope she finds it!

“Heyyyyyy, I’m Ashley I.,” I hear, both from the TV and in my nightmares. “I have a big reputation for being dramatic”—an understatement—”[Also] being heartbroken. Crying. I’m going to be the opposite,” she promises. I’ve always appreciated Ashley’s self-awareness, so her claims that she’s ready to change rub me the wrong way. Just embrace yourself! You are a person who FEELS EVERYTHING SO MUCH. It’s who you are. Anyway, a psychic told Ashley she’s going to meet her husband on an international journey and this McMansion in Vermont filled with Canadians still applies. We then get a hilarious montage of Ashley trying to ski in the dirt of Los Angeles, and I’m reminded how funny this show can be. (Just don’t tell Chris Harrison or we’ll get 1,000 more scenes like that until the joke is dug into the ground.)

“Later: Winter tears are coming.” – OK, that’s pretty good.

Now that we’ve been re-introduced to some of the U.S. contestants, Chris Harrison reveals he has a co-announcer named, I am not joking, Hannah Storm. Is she a plucky Disney Channel character? Oh, she’s an actual legit sports television journalist and, as Harrison says, “legend?” My apologies! I don’t watch sports—unless it involves desperate Bachelor contestants of course—so this explains (but does not excuse) why I thought she was a fake. They also got reporter Ashley Brewer for this and I gotta say, I wouldn’t mind adding these women to the regular Bachelor franchise. Imagine a reporter live on the scene during a group date hot tub outing. So good, right?

Back to Winter Games: There’s a parade, and they’ve carted in tens of extras, a bored-looking marching band, a moose mascot, and an old-timey fire engine that says “Dial 9-1-1” on the side, probably because if you have a fire emergency you should call 9-1-1 and not rely on this clunker. It’s quite the scene.

“Luke, obviously some people thought he was going to be The Bachelor and it didn’t work out,” – Chris Harrison is secretly shady.

Now it’s time to introduce the international teams. This shouldn’t be problematic at all….oh look, there’s Japan being represented by a man in a Ninja costume. We’re introduced to Yuki, who was in the top five of Bachelor Japan. She watched the American Bachelor on YouTube, so these are the English words she knows: “Thank you,” “OK,” “Hello,” Goodbye,” “I love you,” and “Will you marry me?” Honestly, with some of these dudes that’s enough to communicate.

Moving on: Here comes two Canadian guys, represented by that moose mascot. Kevin, a.k.a. Canadian Ben Higgins, got engaged six months ago on The Bachelor Canada. We don’t get to know the other guy, but Google tells me his name is Benoit. Ooh la la, French Canadian?

Zoe from China is led by a group of white people in a Chinese dragon costume, so there’s that. We learn that on Bachelor China there was only ONE kiss the entire season. Can you imagine what life would be like if Arie spared us from his kissing bandit shenanigans? What luxury.

Laura from Bachelor United Kingdom is here, and Chris Harrison describes her as “very quirky” because she flipped the Bachelor off when she was eliminated. Love that. She’s already my favorite. “I don’t know why more people don’t do that,” Chris wonders. Yeah! Why don’t they?!

From Australia, we meet Tiffany and Courtney. Tiffany is the one who made a love connection with one of the other female contestants during her season and again I ask: Why hasn’t this happened before? Courtney, meanwhile, was on The Bachelorette and made it all the way to the final four before being sent home…to…the…outback? Sorry, had to.

Now we meet team Sweden, which is led by, what else, a viking in a bad Anne of Green Gables wig. Rebecca and Nastassia (Stassi) are blonde and beautiful, and the guys basically do that cartoon BOING-ING-ING-ING when they see them.

When we return from the commercial break, Chris Harrison informs us it’s no longer Bachelor Nation, it’s Bachelor World. So progressive.

Team Finland is represented by a reindeer, elves, and Santa because sure. Jenny says she wants a “Ryan Reynolds lookalike.” Don’t we all, Jenny, don’t we all.

Next up, New Zealand: Lily is here to “stir things up” because she “curses a lot.” Ally has a sloth tattooed on her behind, which is awesome.

Germany and Switzerland are represented by Christian, who was on both shows. Wait, so you can just change countries now?

Now that everyone’s arrived, Fionnuala Cree (what a name) sings the “Bachelor Winter Anthem.” “We want to see this through” is the main lyric, which just feels very anti-climatic. Like, that’s all you aspire to? Not even one rose pun? And, of course, Trista and Ryan are here. I’m pretty sure they have a Bachelor bat signal that alerts them whenever Chris Harrison whispers “rose ceremony.” “No other couple really embodies what this is all about,” Harrison says. I suppose that’s true considering they’re one of like three successful couples from this franchise. Christian, however, doesn’t know who they are, which is a fun little moment the editors kept in.

Somebody named Ruthie Collins performs, and then it’s time for everyone to head to their new digs. After picking their beds, they gather to have a drink and eye the competition. Benoit gives a toast in French, and all the women do that cartoon BOING-ING-ING thing. Then Chris Harrison sneaks in to explain the rules: The men will compete against the men, the women will compete against the women. Whoever wins each challenge gets a date card to take whoever they want out. There will be rose ceremonies, and some people will be leaving. At the end, they’ll crown two champions to be the first couple of Bachelor World.

Once Harrison leaves, everyone starts sizing each other up and pairing off. Lesley is into Dean. Bibiana is into Kevin. But of course Ashley is also into Kevin. Ally and Josiah start flirting and almost instantly start kissing. She describes it as “a real cheeky little snog,” which is one way you could describe that. The German guy just watches them from the other room. Not creepy at all…

The next day it’s time for the first game. The challenge: cross-country skiing, shooting at rose targets, and racing over a finish line. Ashley’s concerned that Kevin is spending more time with Bibiana because her skin is so dehydrated from the cold. My heart shivers.

PHOTO: Lorenzo Bevilaqua

Josiah’s hoping to score a date with Ally, but she falls on her “ass bone” right away, eliminating her from the competition. At least it gives Josiah a chance to swoop in with hugs and a kiss to cheer her up.

The guys are up first, and Benoit does a little trash talking. That seems fair—he is Canadian, so I assume he’s more skilled at winter sports what with all that Canadian snow available to him. Compare that to Josiah, who admits this is only the second time he’s seen it. Re: the competition, not that much happens so just know that Ben, Luke, and Benoit are moving on to the finals. In the second qualifier, Dean won.

As for the women, Stassi wins the first qualifier and Rebecca wins the second. Yuki thinks she won, though, and I vote they just give it to her. In the women’s finals, it’s Lily, Jenny, Rebecca, Lesley, and Bibiana all up for the date card. A screen of Bibi’s stats come up to tell us she’s “Livin La Vida Loca.” They describe Lesley as “Blonde Ambition.” We don’t see Rebecca’s stats but she wins by a landslide.

On to the men’s final: It’s Kevin, Luke, Christian, Benoit, Ben, and Dean. Dean’s stat says, simply, “undecided.” Poetic? Better than Kevin’s, which informs us he’s “Seen Nickleback 27 times.” And this is the man we’re all fighting over? Despite his taste in music, he wins the date card and almost immediately Ashley’s eyes light up. She’s fully aware that he has a connection with Bibi, but she’s not giving up just yet. Ashely, do you know he’s seen Nickelback 27 times? That might ease the pain when he inevitably chooses Bibi for the date.

Back at the manse, Bibi gushes about how hot Kevin is. I mean, if you’re trapped on a mountain with no other options, sure. Apparently earlier that morning she creeped on him when he was walking through the house without a shirt on. “I never have felt that in my life,” she says. What, a lady boner?

During his conversation with Bibiana, Kevin reveals he used to be a ski instructor. HOLD UP. This game is rigged! How does anyone else stand a chance at a competition based on winter sports against a ski instructor? Also, why is the Nickelback fact in his stats instead of this hyper-relevant information?

Finally, we are treated to a scene in which Ashley and Kevin finally have a face-to-face human interaction. We learn they had a great talk the night before, so, OK, I will give Ashley more credit that this isn’t entirely in her head. She flirts by telling him he looks like Tom Brady meets James Marsden. “I’m not very good at throwing a football,” he replies.

“If you know me, I zone in on one person.” – Ashley. Oh, we know you.

Ultimately, Kevin asks Bibiana out. They barely have time to celebrate their love before we cut to Ashley crying in a confessional. She recognizes this “pattern” of being friend-zoned, and I implore her to find a way to break out of that. Maybe don’t go on this show anymore? Just a suggestion. She bravely hides her tears from Kevin and Bibiana, who are happily leaving in their best date sweaters.

Meanwhile, apparently Rebecca invited Luke out. Their date involves sitting cozy by a fire, then sitting freezing under blankets while they watch fireworks. They make out. Bibi and Kevin also make out on their date.

Meanwhile at the house, Lesley and Dean talk about boobs and Benoit cooks dinner. Clare looks at him, not the food, like a tasty snack. Same! “Oregano, garlic powder,” he purrs. She’s overly impressed that he’s able to remove a yolk from an egg. But then! We see him in a scene with his glasses on and hellooooooo. Why are we all sweating over Kevin? There is a hot ass French Canadian wearing glasses and cooking eggs. Ashley, use your eyes!

“Ah-ha-ha-ha!” – Clare, fake giggling and touching her hair while Benoit cooks.

Benoit’s into Clare, too, but then she makes a joke that she’s not drinking because she’s pregnant and uses this as an excuse to lift her shirt up a little bit. Oh no. Is this how people look when they’re flirting? My God. It works, though, because suddenly they’re making out in the kitchen while people scream in the background. They move to the fireside to talk about the kiss, which seems strange at first until I remember that producers are likely involved. Clare tells Benoit to wear his glasses more often, and I appreciate her looking out for us with this suggestion. He’s what I’d like to call poutine, a Canadian-but-French-sounding snack.

PHOTO: Lorenzo Bevilaqua

He pulls her closer, and I find myself saying, “Oooh!” like a mom watching Fifty Shades Freed. They kiss again. I’m jealous and so is Christian, who watches them, creepily, from the other room. He’s worried about his status because Lesley and Dean are making out, Ally and Josiah are making out, and Courtney and Lily are making out. Who will make out with Christian?

“I’m really, uh, sad for this one.” – Christian

The next day, everyone’s putting on their best duds for the rose ceremony and wondering who will pick them. Yuki straight-up asks Dean to give her a rose, and it’s very charming. Do it Dean!

But then Chris Harrison stalks in to drop some news: Tonight three women and two men will be voted off, Survivor style. Luckily, they have a cocktail party that’ll give them one last chance to plead their case to the others. Everyone panics. Josiah seems to be in danger—for some reason, even though he’s super into Ally, people are questioning his intentions. Ashley’s nervous because she hasn’t talked to other guys much because she’s been so laser focus on Kevin. Clare confronts Christian because she heard he was going to vote her off—but, no, he actually thinks she’s the most beautiful woman here. You instantly see the light switch go off for her, and she moves straight into flirt mode. And so a love triangle is born.

Once everyone’s voted, the rose ceremony begins. I appreciate Chris Harrison asking Rebecca and Kevin to hand out the roses rather than doing it awkwardly himself. At one point, they give a rose to some man named Michael. Who is Michael? Where has he been all episode? Did he just crawl out from under a faux fur blanket? He’s here to stay, I guess, because the final roses are handed out and Jamey, Eric, Zoe, Lauren, and Laura say their goodbyes.

See you Thursday for more drama!

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Sharyn Alfonsi (BA 94) isn’t one to get rattled or star-struck, but hearing the voice of her childhood TV star crush outside the hair and makeup room as she prepared to guest anchor “Good Morning America” had just that effect.

“I heard a voice I knew I recognized, and it was Kirk Cameron,” she says. “I loved Kirk Cameron growing up. I had rollers in my hair, and I was like, ‘Get these rollers out, I have to see Kirk Cameron!’ I was so goofy and excited to meet him.”

Now a lead correspondent for CBS’ “60 Minutes Sports,” Alfonsi has enjoyed a busy journalism career, traveling the world and tackling assignments with a mixture of seriousness and humor, awe and toughness, humility and confidence.

Friend and colleague Mike Solmsen, senior producer for “CBS Evening News,” was impressed with Alfonsi’s talent and wit from the first time he met her in 2003.

“She’s kind of a ball to work with,” Solmsen says. “She’s not happy unless she’s getting dirty and meeting people. She’s very funny, disarming and always the first with a joke. Sharyn’s also a great writer and willing to do anything it takes to get the job done. There aren’t many reporters who are totally at ease living out of an RV, riding a tractor, covering a war in Israel, interviewing Martha Stewart, Willie Nelson or Bill Clinton. She’s at ease in all those places and with all those people.”

A native of McLean, Va., Alfonsi knew from an early age she possessed a knack for stealing the show in front of a camera.

“My parents have videotapes from when I was 10 or so of me and my brother doing the news,” Alfonsi says. “They’re really embarrassing, but I guess that’s when the seed was planted. As a kid, appointment viewing in our house was football and ‘60 Minutes,’ so I always watched ‘60 Minutes’ from the time I was little.”

Sharyn Alfonsi (middle) on assignment with the U.S. men’s World Cup soccer team in Germany

A natural athlete, Alfonsi graduated from McLean High School in 1990 with her sights set on Ole Miss’ track-and-field program. She enrolled the following fall with an interest in studying journalism.

“The first time I visited Ole Miss, I knew that’s where I was going,” Alfonsi says. “I wanted to go to school in the SEC and was visiting other schools for athletics. Ole Miss was just kind of along the way, and so we stopped in and thought, ‘Hey, this is nice.’ I ran track for four years and did gymnastics through the club program as well.”

A member of Delta Gamma Fraternity and a James Love scholar, Alfonsi enjoyed football games and tailgating. But perhaps the most memorable and formative time she spent at the university was in Farley Hall’s Student Media Center.

“I worked at the college station at the time called ‘News Team 12,’” Alfonsi says. “I auditioned when I was a freshman and was a horrendous weather girl for a couple of years. Then they let me anchor the news, run the teleprompter and kind of do a little bit of everything.”

Alfonsi with ‘News Team 12’ co-anchor Wilson Stribling

Alfonsi is best remembered by her former co-anchor for her incredible sense of humor.

“First of all, she was special,” says Wilson Stribling (BBA 94), morning news anchor and reporter at WLBT in Jackson. “When I first got to know her, we were summer school students at Ole Miss. She was a mainstay at the station already, and we got to be good friends. She was funny, bright, driven and had all of those characteristics of somebody you feel is going to be successful. She was so much fun to be around.”

Alfonsi on assignment for ‘60 Minutes Sports’ in Hawaii

Alfonsi’s experience both behind and in front of the camera at “News Team 12” laid the groundwork for a thriving journalism career that continues to evolve, but her path to “60 Minutes” was met with the typical rigors and daily grind most aspiring reporters experience.

“The way it used to work is you would send out resumé tapes with a label on it that had your name and contact information to news stations,” Alfonsi says. “Most people would just put it in a pile or reject it, but some news directors would send back notes.

“Some would say you have too much of a Southern accent or you really need to cut your hair – you heard it all. One person actually said I looked too equine. People are rough on you and think you’re bulletproof. They forget that there’s a person inside, but the result is you get really tough. It’s so hard at first and takes a lot of hours making no money. But you kind of see what you’re made of and if you’re into it.”

Reporting Live

Alfonsi with Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins defenseman

Alfonsi landed her first job out of college in 1994 at affiliate station KHBS-TV in Fort Smith, Ark., serving as a weekday reporter and weekend weather forecaster. 

After a brief stint in Arkansas, she spent the next several years building her resumé, working for local markets in Rhode Island, Virginia, Seattle and Boston, covering career-defining stories such as the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal, Michael Skakel trial, Rhode Island nightclub fire and World Trade Organization riots.

Soon Alfonsi got the break she had been looking for with CBS Network – laying the foundation for an extensive career in network broadcast journalism.

“I worked for affiliate ‘CBS Newspath’ doing 150 live shots a day for people at all the different CBS stations,” Alfonsi says. “After ‘Newspath,’ I got hired to do the weekend ‘CBS Evening News’ as a reporter under Dan Rather. I remember the first time I sat behind the ‘CBS Evening News’ desk, which is Walter Cronkite’s desk. The music came on that plays in the beginning of the newscast, and I got chill bumps. That’s when it hit me that I was going to anchor the news. It was a great moment.”

Alfonsi with extreme athlete Matthias Giraud in Megeve, France. Photo courtesy of ‘60 Minutes Sports’ on Showtime

Alfonsi stayed with CBS for several years, covering numerous national stories during her time as a correspondent including the school shootings at Virginia Tech and the war in Iraq.

In 2006, she reported from the Israel-Lebanon border covering the war with Hezbollah and, later, the violence in Gaza. She served as substitute anchor for the “CBS Evening News” weekend edition and appeared regularly on “CBS News Sunday Morning.”

Alfonsi left CBS to join ABC News in 2008 as a New York-based correspondent for “World News Tonight,” “Nightline” and “Good Morning America.”

Then CBS came calling. Again.

Tick, Tick, Tick

In her first story for CBS’ ‘60 Minutes,’ Alfonsi investigates claims by Hurricane Sandy victims that insurance companies were altering engineers’ reports about the damage done to their homes to deny or lessen their compensation. Photo courtesy of ‘60 Minutes’ on CBS

“CBS was starting this ‘60 Minutes Sports’ show and asked if I wanted to come back to do it,” Alfonsi says. “I couldn’t say yes fast enough. I started doing ‘60 Minutes Sports’ in 2012, and that’s turned into kind of filling in and anchoring across the street whenever they need me.”

On March 1, 2015, Alfonsi reached yet another career-defining moment, making her debut on CBS’ “60 Minutes” with an investigative story about fraud after Hurricane Sandy.

“Being on ‘60 Minutes’ was a dream that I couldn’t even say out loud, so that was pretty amazing for me,” Alfonsi says. “I got so sick the week before that I had to get a steroid shot just so I could speak. It was three days before the story was supposed to air, and I had no voice. I thought, ‘Well, God has a sense of humor.’

“That was a dream, and I loved the story because it was about fraud and corruption. We were able to give a voice to a lot of people who had been quietly and not so quietly suffering. That’s why you work late and get up early – because there are stories that need to be told.”

Alfonsi with reporter Jay Nix at the 2014 White House Correspondents Dinner

Former co-anchor Stribling couldn’t be happier to see his friend’s career grow over the years.

“It didn’t surprise me when she went on to do big TV jobs, hopscotching her way across the country,” Stribling says. “I was thrilled when she ended up at CBS the first time around and then at ABC, and now to be on ‘60 Minutes’ is, of course, the pinnacle of journalism. It’s a thrill to see her doing that and to tell people in my newsroom when she pops up on the TV monitor that the first time I was ever on TV was right next to her.”

Coming Home

While Alfonsi’s assignments have led her around the world covering international news, she hasn’t forgotten the impact that small-town Oxford and Ole Miss had on her career.

Alfonsi interviews one of the winningest college coaches in U.S. history, Harvard crew coach Harry Parker. Photo courtesy of ‘60 Minutes Sports’ on Showtime

“There’s no way I would be where I am today without Ole Miss,” Alfonsi says. “The school gave me a platform to figure it out enough to get my first job. That campus TV station that we thought no one was watching turned out to be pretty good practice for four years. I truly believe that Ole Miss has one of the best journalism (schools) in the country. There was always plenty of opportunity.”

On May 11, 2013, Alfonsi returned to Oxford to give the commencement address for the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, securing a National Public Radio nod as one of “The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever.”

“When I was asked to speak, I literally thought, ‘You must be kidding,’” Alfonsi says. “It was so fun and just great to be back in Oxford. Some of the graduates I spoke to have kept in touch, and that’s really cool.”

Alfonsi credits two UM professors in particular for having a hand in developing her into the journalist she is today.

“Dr. Jim Pratt, who has passed away, was always a big cheerleader along with Ralph Braseth (MA 92, EdD 96), who was a journalism professor,” Alfonsi says. “The night of my ‘60 Minutes’ debut, I got an email from [Braseth] that almost made me cry. He told me he was proud of me, and out of everybody I heard from, he was the one I wanted to impress. He was great and always encouraged us to try things.”

Seasoned Advice

Alfonsi delivers the 2013 commencement address for the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. Photo by Nathan Latil

While the demanding, ever-changing schedule that comes along with being a news reporter can be challenging, and sleep-filled nights are few and far between, Alfonsi wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I love not being in an office,” Alfonsi says. “Being out and talking to people are the same things that drew me to the job from the first day. It’s a blast. I’ve gone places I never thought I would go and get access to things I never should have access to. In this job, you can ask people questions without generally offending anybody, and that’s kind of amazing.”

In an industry historically dominated by men, Alfonsi knows she wouldn’t be where she is today without several successful women forging the way.

The halls of “60 Minutes” have seen the likes of broadcast journalists Meredith Vieira, Diane Sawyer and Lesley Stahl, to name a few.

“I have very distinct memories of watching Meredith Vieira when I was young, who was one of the few women to be on ‘60 Minutes,’” Alfonsi says. “I remember her doing an interview with [hotelier] Steve Wynn, where she asked him a question, and he flips out, pulls the mic off and walks out. I remember thinking, ‘Whoa, that’s the power of a really good question.’ I watched her and Diane Sawyer and admired them, but I didn’t have the confidence to ever think that I could do those things. But I knew I’d like to try.”

By Annie Rhoades. Photos courtesy of ‘60 Minutes Sports’ on Showtime.

This story was reprinted with permission from the Ole Miss Alumni Review. The Alumni Review is published quarterly for members of the Ole Miss Alumni Association. Join or renew your membership with the Alumni Association today, and don’t miss a single issue.

For questions, email us at hottytoddynews@gmail.com.

The post It’s “Showtime” for Star Reporter and UM Alumna on “60 Minutes Sports” appeared first on HottyToddy.com.

[hottytoddynews]

Sharyn Alfonsi (BA 94) isn’t one to get rattled or star-struck, but hearing the voice of her childhood TV star crush outside the hair and makeup room as she prepared to guest anchor “Good Morning America” had just that effect.

“I heard a voice I knew I recognized, and it was Kirk Cameron,” she says. “I loved Kirk Cameron growing up. I had rollers in my hair, and I was like, ‘Get these rollers out, I have to see Kirk Cameron!’ I was so goofy and excited to meet him.”

Now a lead correspondent for CBS’ “60 Minutes Sports,” Alfonsi has enjoyed a busy journalism career, traveling the world and tackling assignments with a mixture of seriousness and humor, awe and toughness, humility and confidence.

Friend and colleague Mike Solmsen, senior producer for “CBS Evening News,” was impressed with Alfonsi’s talent and wit from the first time he met her in 2003.

“She’s kind of a ball to work with,” Solmsen says. “She’s not happy unless she’s getting dirty and meeting people. She’s very funny, disarming and always the first with a joke. Sharyn’s also a great writer and willing to do anything it takes to get the job done. There aren’t many reporters who are totally at ease living out of an RV, riding a tractor, covering a war in Israel, interviewing Martha Stewart, Willie Nelson or Bill Clinton. She’s at ease in all those places and with all those people.”

A native of McLean, Va., Alfonsi knew from an early age she possessed a knack for stealing the show in front of a camera.

“My parents have videotapes from when I was 10 or so of me and my brother doing the news,” Alfonsi says. “They’re really embarrassing, but I guess that’s when the seed was planted. As a kid, appointment viewing in our house was football and ‘60 Minutes,’ so I always watched ‘60 Minutes’ from the time I was little.”

Sharyn Alfonsi (middle) on assignment with the U.S. men’s World Cup soccer team in Germany

A natural athlete, Alfonsi graduated from McLean High School in 1990 with her sights set on Ole Miss’ track-and-field program. She enrolled the following fall with an interest in studying journalism.

“The first time I visited Ole Miss, I knew that’s where I was going,” Alfonsi says. “I wanted to go to school in the SEC and was visiting other schools for athletics. Ole Miss was just kind of along the way, and so we stopped in and thought, ‘Hey, this is nice.’ I ran track for four years and did gymnastics through the club program as well.”

A member of Delta Gamma Fraternity and a James Love scholar, Alfonsi enjoyed football games and tailgating. But perhaps the most memorable and formative time she spent at the university was in Farley Hall’s Student Media Center.

“I worked at the college station at the time called ‘News Team 12,’” Alfonsi says. “I auditioned when I was a freshman and was a horrendous weather girl for a couple of years. Then they let me anchor the news, run the teleprompter and kind of do a little bit of everything.”

Alfonsi with ‘News Team 12’ co-anchor Wilson Stribling

Alfonsi is best remembered by her former co-anchor for her incredible sense of humor.

“First of all, she was special,” says Wilson Stribling (BBA 94), morning news anchor and reporter at WLBT in Jackson. “When I first got to know her, we were summer school students at Ole Miss. She was a mainstay at the station already, and we got to be good friends. She was funny, bright, driven and had all of those characteristics of somebody you feel is going to be successful. She was so much fun to be around.”

Alfonsi on assignment for ‘60 Minutes Sports’ in Hawaii

Alfonsi’s experience both behind and in front of the camera at “News Team 12” laid the groundwork for a thriving journalism career that continues to evolve, but her path to “60 Minutes” was met with the typical rigors and daily grind most aspiring reporters experience.

“The way it used to work is you would send out resumé tapes with a label on it that had your name and contact information to news stations,” Alfonsi says. “Most people would just put it in a pile or reject it, but some news directors would send back notes.

“Some would say you have too much of a Southern accent or you really need to cut your hair – you heard it all. One person actually said I looked too equine. People are rough on you and think you’re bulletproof. They forget that there’s a person inside, but the result is you get really tough. It’s so hard at first and takes a lot of hours making no money. But you kind of see what you’re made of and if you’re into it.”

Reporting Live

Alfonsi with Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins defenseman

Alfonsi landed her first job out of college in 1994 at affiliate station KHBS-TV in Fort Smith, Ark., serving as a weekday reporter and weekend weather forecaster. 

After a brief stint in Arkansas, she spent the next several years building her resumé, working for local markets in Rhode Island, Virginia, Seattle and Boston, covering career-defining stories such as the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal, Michael Skakel trial, Rhode Island nightclub fire and World Trade Organization riots.

Soon Alfonsi got the break she had been looking for with CBS Network – laying the foundation for an extensive career in network broadcast journalism.

“I worked for affiliate ‘CBS Newspath’ doing 150 live shots a day for people at all the different CBS stations,” Alfonsi says. “After ‘Newspath,’ I got hired to do the weekend ‘CBS Evening News’ as a reporter under Dan Rather. I remember the first time I sat behind the ‘CBS Evening News’ desk, which is Walter Cronkite’s desk. The music came on that plays in the beginning of the newscast, and I got chill bumps. That’s when it hit me that I was going to anchor the news. It was a great moment.”

Alfonsi with extreme athlete Matthias Giraud in Megeve, France. Photo courtesy of ‘60 Minutes Sports’ on Showtime

Alfonsi stayed with CBS for several years, covering numerous national stories during her time as a correspondent including the school shootings at Virginia Tech and the war in Iraq.

In 2006, she reported from the Israel-Lebanon border covering the war with Hezbollah and, later, the violence in Gaza. She served as substitute anchor for the “CBS Evening News” weekend edition and appeared regularly on “CBS News Sunday Morning.”

Alfonsi left CBS to join ABC News in 2008 as a New York-based correspondent for “World News Tonight,” “Nightline” and “Good Morning America.”

Then CBS came calling. Again.

Tick, Tick, Tick

In her first story for CBS’ ‘60 Minutes,’ Alfonsi investigates claims by Hurricane Sandy victims that insurance companies were altering engineers’ reports about the damage done to their homes to deny or lessen their compensation. Photo courtesy of ‘60 Minutes’ on CBS

“CBS was starting this ‘60 Minutes Sports’ show and asked if I wanted to come back to do it,” Alfonsi says. “I couldn’t say yes fast enough. I started doing ‘60 Minutes Sports’ in 2012, and that’s turned into kind of filling in and anchoring across the street whenever they need me.”

On March 1, 2015, Alfonsi reached yet another career-defining moment, making her debut on CBS’ “60 Minutes” with an investigative story about fraud after Hurricane Sandy.

“Being on ‘60 Minutes’ was a dream that I couldn’t even say out loud, so that was pretty amazing for me,” Alfonsi says. “I got so sick the week before that I had to get a steroid shot just so I could speak. It was three days before the story was supposed to air, and I had no voice. I thought, ‘Well, God has a sense of humor.’

“That was a dream, and I loved the story because it was about fraud and corruption. We were able to give a voice to a lot of people who had been quietly and not so quietly suffering. That’s why you work late and get up early – because there are stories that need to be told.”

Alfonsi with reporter Jay Nix at the 2014 White House Correspondents Dinner

Former co-anchor Stribling couldn’t be happier to see his friend’s career grow over the years.

“It didn’t surprise me when she went on to do big TV jobs, hopscotching her way across the country,” Stribling says. “I was thrilled when she ended up at CBS the first time around and then at ABC, and now to be on ‘60 Minutes’ is, of course, the pinnacle of journalism. It’s a thrill to see her doing that and to tell people in my newsroom when she pops up on the TV monitor that the first time I was ever on TV was right next to her.”

Coming Home

While Alfonsi’s assignments have led her around the world covering international news, she hasn’t forgotten the impact that small-town Oxford and Ole Miss had on her career.

Alfonsi interviews one of the winningest college coaches in U.S. history, Harvard crew coach Harry Parker. Photo courtesy of ‘60 Minutes Sports’ on Showtime

“There’s no way I would be where I am today without Ole Miss,” Alfonsi says. “The school gave me a platform to figure it out enough to get my first job. That campus TV station that we thought no one was watching turned out to be pretty good practice for four years. I truly believe that Ole Miss has one of the best journalism (schools) in the country. There was always plenty of opportunity.”

On May 11, 2013, Alfonsi returned to Oxford to give the commencement address for the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, securing a National Public Radio nod as one of “The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever.”

“When I was asked to speak, I literally thought, ‘You must be kidding,’” Alfonsi says. “It was so fun and just great to be back in Oxford. Some of the graduates I spoke to have kept in touch, and that’s really cool.”

Alfonsi credits two UM professors in particular for having a hand in developing her into the journalist she is today.

“Dr. Jim Pratt, who has passed away, was always a big cheerleader along with Ralph Braseth (MA 92, EdD 96), who was a journalism professor,” Alfonsi says. “The night of my ‘60 Minutes’ debut, I got an email from [Braseth] that almost made me cry. He told me he was proud of me, and out of everybody I heard from, he was the one I wanted to impress. He was great and always encouraged us to try things.”

Seasoned Advice

Alfonsi delivers the 2013 commencement address for the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. Photo by Nathan Latil

While the demanding, ever-changing schedule that comes along with being a news reporter can be challenging, and sleep-filled nights are few and far between, Alfonsi wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I love not being in an office,” Alfonsi says. “Being out and talking to people are the same things that drew me to the job from the first day. It’s a blast. I’ve gone places I never thought I would go and get access to things I never should have access to. In this job, you can ask people questions without generally offending anybody, and that’s kind of amazing.”

In an industry historically dominated by men, Alfonsi knows she wouldn’t be where she is today without several successful women forging the way.

The halls of “60 Minutes” have seen the likes of broadcast journalists Meredith Vieira, Diane Sawyer and Lesley Stahl, to name a few.

“I have very distinct memories of watching Meredith Vieira when I was young, who was one of the few women to be on ‘60 Minutes,’” Alfonsi says. “I remember her doing an interview with [hotelier] Steve Wynn, where she asked him a question, and he flips out, pulls the mic off and walks out. I remember thinking, ‘Whoa, that’s the power of a really good question.’ I watched her and Diane Sawyer and admired them, but I didn’t have the confidence to ever think that I could do those things. But I knew I’d like to try.”

By Annie Rhoades. Photos courtesy of ‘60 Minutes Sports’ on Showtime.

This story was reprinted with permission from the Ole Miss Alumni Review. The Alumni Review is published quarterly for members of the Ole Miss Alumni Association. Join or renew your membership with the Alumni Association today, and don’t miss a single issue.

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