Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Returns To Official Film Chart Number 1

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Returns To Official Film Chart Number 1

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 races back to Number 1 on the Official Film Chart. The live-action videogame sequel marks a second, non-consecutive week as the UK’s Number 1 film, after rushing up 16 places this week following its release on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K UHD. The physical release comes some nine weeks after its original launch on digital downloads, and coordinated with the announcement of Sonic the…

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Wham! - Everything She Wants 1984

Wham! were a British pop duo formed in 1981, consisting of singer-songwriter George Michael and instrumentalist Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to 1986, and some of their most famous hits are "Last Christmas", "Careless Whisper" and "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go". George Michael was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in November 2023, with Andrew Ridgeley as the induction presenter.

"Everything She Wants" was originally released as a single in 1984 on a double A-side with "Last Christmas". Upon release, "Last Christmas" took the majority of the attention and airplay as it was appropriate in early December as Christmas approached. However, the presence of an equally-billed flip side meant that radio stations had something else to play once "Last Christmas" had lost its seasonal topicality.

The presence of the Band Aid project meant that the double A-side peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart, although in the process it became the biggest-selling record not to get to number one. However, in the USA, the song did reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and became the third number-one song in a row from 1984's Make It Big album. Wham! had two more number-one hits in the UK before splitting at their height in 1986.

Although George Michael bemoaned much of Wham!'s material as he began his solo career, "Everything She Wants" remained a song of which he was proud, and he continued to perform it in his shows. Furthermore, he remarked in an interview (to promote 25 Live tour) that "Everything She Wants" was his favourite Wham! song.

In 1997, the song was remixed and re-released as "Everything She Wants '97" for the greatest hits album The Best of Wham!: If You Were There….

"Everything She Wants" was featured on the official soundtrack album to the 2019 film Last Christmas, and was also featured in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V on the in-game radio station Non-Stop Pop FM.

"Everything She Wants" received a total of 61,1% yes votes! George Michael has previously been featured on the poll with the Stevie Wonder cover "As" at #62, together with Mary J. Blige.

road snacks

PAIRING: haechan x afab reader

WORD COUNT: 1.6k

SUMMARY: a cross country move with your boyfriend is exciting and sometimes a little more steamy than you thought it would be

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I officially present my first Kinktober 2023 entry! This is another piece I had finished but was trying to finish other wips but don't want to hold off posting things that are ready anymore. Please enjoy prompt number 16 "Public" :)

WARNINGS: explicit smut, public sex, soft Haechan who is actually not very soft

PLAYLIST: Lost in the Light by Bahamas, Yacht by NCT 127, Malibu 1992 by COIN, Daylight by Matt and Kim, Catch by Epik High + HWASA

~~

The sun is starting its descent in the horizon, bright rays stretching across the sky as you stretch your arms across the dashboard in a deep stretch. It’s nearing the sixth hour of the long first day of your road trip and your energy is starting to fade. You’ve been up since early this morning, taking on the first few hours of driving before swapping with your auburn haired boyfriend currently tapping his thumbs on the leather wheel car beside you, humming lightly to the music filtering through the sound system.

Leaning back in your seat, you sink down, letting your eyes slip shut as you lean your head against the window and let the sun warm your bare arms and face. The music is calm and filled with beautiful harmonies, lulling you to sleep for the first time on the journey. You had promised each other you would help whoever was driving stay awake, but with plans to stop at nightfall at a hotel, you figured it wouldn’t hurt to take a short cat nap.

You don’t know how much time has passed when you feel a light brushing of fingers along your exposed shoulder and you reluctantly push your eyes open to see an apologetic gaze from the handsome man next to you.

“Babe, I’m so sorry, could you hand me something from the cooler?” Hyuck asks, applying some pressure to your shoulder to massage it with his fingers.

You melt into the touch, nuzzling your cheek warmly against his hand before nodding, unbuckling your seatbelt to carefully lean between the front two seats and open the cooler in the back. Travelling together has been a dream, stopping at different tourist spots on the way, letting him take pictures of you on his film camera, and charting out which cities along the way had all-you-can-eat hot pot.

“Water? Ginger ale?” you ask, wedging your waist between the seats to get a better angle.

Suddenly you feel Hyuck’s hand on you, causing you to jump and your upper body to lurch forward, trapping you between the seats.

“HYUCK!” you squeal, craning your neck to try to get his attention.

“What?!” he whines back, laughter seeping in as you feel the car slow down, easing his foot off the gas to reduce speed.

Without further explanation, he spreads his hand out over your ass, kneading with his fingertips slowly, just as he had been doing to your shoulder a few moments before. Despite the awkward angle you are currently curled into, you sigh and feel your cheeks start to heat. Despite all the alone time on the trip so far, there hadn’t been much time for anything beyond quick kisses or spooning in bed in the weeks leading up to the move. You’ve both been so busy and exhausted that every night your eyes have slipped shut the minute your heads hit the pillow.

“I’m sorry, what am I supposed to do when you’re on display for me and I’ve been horny for days,” he adds, voice dropping into a gruff tone as his hand moves between your thighs that are pressed together from the position.

“I thought you wanted something from the cooler,” you reply, trailing off as you feel him slide his fingers slide up the seam of your leggings, getting dangerously close to your core.

“You know what, I am kind of hungry, now that you mention it…” he replies, applying more pressure to your ass with his thumb, glancing up in the rear view mirror wickedly as he pulls off the highway and into a deserted corner of a rest stop.

As he puts the car in park, you wiggle trying to free yourself from the awkward position, feeling your calf starting to cramp. You let the lid to the cooler drop shut, knowing he’s definitely not thinking about that drink anymore.

Hyuck turns around in his seat, moving his hands to your waist, making contact with your bare skin from your shirt riding up just below your breasts. He pulls you gently so you are no longer wedged between the seats but keeping your ass close to his face.

“Now, how about that snack,” he murmurs barely audibly as cool air sends shivers up your spine when Hyuck pulls at the waistband of your leggings, exposing you fully.

“Donghyuck!” you cry out, arms tensing up and teeth digging into your bottom lip. The sun is setting slowly and a hazy dusk covers the sky. Anyone walking by would definitely be able to see and your cheeks burn at the thought of someone tapping on the window or pulling out their phone at the sight.

He only laughs, dipping his head down to press kisses at the thin lines of the bear tattoo on your lower back, laving at the skin there with his tongue as he always does. His hand slides up your chest, massaging you there and taking your nipple in between his fingers to squeeze it gently. A moan bubbles up in your throat and you dig your palms into the back seat below you, letting your head drop down.

Hyuck keeps kissing your skin, brushing his lips over and over, making you squirm. He gently lifts your hips up to give him a better angle, pushing your thighs open gently and lowering his head between them. You can feel his breath cool across your dripping core, arousal building in you and your temperature starting to rise in the cramped car.

“Baby, please,” you groan, turning your head to try to make eye contact with him as he continues to tease you.

“Begging? We’re begging now, are we? I thought you were scared someone would see,” he chuckles cruelly, sitting back and dragging a finger suddenly through your arousal before pulling it up to his lips and loudly sucking on the wet digit.

You groan in annoyance, feeling frustrated at not being able to move and have a sneaking suspicion he’s going to edge you despite the urgency of the situation.

“Please Hyuckie, I need your mouth on me now,” you mutter, voice barely above a whisper, almost drowned out by the soft music still playing in the car.

His eyes darken at the sound of the nickname in a lust-filled tone and his hands return to your ass cheeks, spreading them lightly to give him better access. His mouth is suddenly on you, tongue dragging along you to gather your arousal on his tongue, swirling at your clit. Your legs start to shake with pleasure and he tightens his grip as he slides a hand up your back to push your ass up further.

You don’t realize you’re holding in your moans until you taste blood in your mouth, having punctured your lip lightly. You know you aren’t going to last long after weeks without sex so you push your hips back, grinding against his lips for more friction. 

You can feel him smile against you, pulling you even closer to him by the waist, moaning against your core and tasting every inch of you. He was starving, nose bumping up against your clit repeatedly and sending waves of pleasure through your body.

Your mouth drops open to warn him of your impending orgasm but there’s no time as it crashes over you, a strangled cry falling from your lips that surely could be heard by anyone parked nearby. His grip on your waist tightens as you try to pull away, refusing to breathe until he’s worked you through your pleasure with his wicked tongue.

He finally breaks away from you with a messy sounding smack of his lips and you don’t need to look back at him to know that his cheeks are flushed and silky strands are dangling on the sides of his forehead. He pulls your leggings up for you and gently pulls you back into the passenger seat, slumping back into his own once you’re settled.

You’re out of breath and your arm hurts slightly from being pressed in an awkward position for so long. Your chest is heaving underneath the thin material of your shirt and you sigh, finally bringing your eyes up to meet your boyfriend’s gaze.

He’s smirking deviously, as he always does, and his legs are spread wide, cock visibly hard in his loose sweatpants. There’s a slight sheen across his forehead and his lips are still wet. You flush at the sight of him, heart pounding in your chest as you reach forward to close the space between you. You can taste yourself on his lips and moan into his mouth as your tongue makes contact with his. You run your fingers through his hair, dragging his head back to break the kiss and meet his eyes again.

“Now, is my boyfriend going to let me have snack time too? Or is he not going to share?” you ask menacingly, shoving your free hand down the waistband of his pants suddenly to grasp at his cock.

All he can do in reaction is moan, letting his eyes roll back as his head gently hits the window as you tug on his sweatpants and lower your lips over his lap. As much as he craves eating you out, you know blow jobs are his biggest weakness and it was your turn for payback in the darkening parking lot on the side of the highway.

This trip might end up taking longer than you both had planned if your quick snack breaks turned into full course meals, but neither of you really minded.

[BEHIND THE RECORD - Elvis onstage from 1969 to 1977] "I Can't Stop Loving You"

Written and composed by country singer Don Gibson, who first recorded it in 1957, RCA Victor released "I Can't Stop Loving You" in 1958, and it became a country hit single. The song was covered by many artists over the years, most notable one being Ray Charles, in 1962, due to how he turned the tune into a No. 1 single on the Billboard chart.

Elvis Presley performed the song in many iconic concerts of his career - from 1969 into the 70s.

The first time Elvis Presley was recorded singing "I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU" was during one of the American Sound Studio sessions, on February 1969. It wasn't an official recording tho. A jam version of the tune was recorded while EP was warming up with his musicians so they could cut the songs that would be released in his LPs for the times following — "From Elvis In Memphis" being the album this recording session was intending to create at first.

Not long after this recording session, "I Can't Stop Loving You" was worked up as a number to Elvis' concerts. Rearranged, the song gained a more dramatic tone than we can listen to from how it originally sounded in Elvis' voice at the recording taped at the American Sound Studio previously, so from this moment on Elvis would perform the tune in quite a few iconic concerts of the latter era of his career, the very start being during his comeback to live performances on July/August 1969, onstage at the International Hotel's showroom in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Soundboard audios with "I Can't Stop Loving You" recorded during his concerts, including in 1969, were released on some his live albums throughout the years, such as "FROM MEMPHIS TO VEGAS (IN PERSON)" [recorded in 1969], "ELVIS AS RECORDED AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN" (recorded in 1972) and "ELVIS: RECORDED LIVE ON STAGE IN MEMPHIS" (recorded in 1974).

Live performances of Elvis singing the song were also officially taped, and they are very known to the fans for obvious reasons because they are part of some of the most notable moments of Elvis' history as a performer.

First official taping of EP performing "I Can't Stop Loving You" live took place during one of his engagement seasons at the International Hotel on August, 1970, as released on "Elvis: That's The Way It Is" documentary, then again on April 1972, filmed for "Elvis On Tour" documentary, and not long after that another performance of this tune was filmed during the "Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite" concert, on January 1973.

BUT, BEFORE WE CAN GO TO THOSE FOOTAGES, HAVE YOU LISTENED TO THE JAM VERSION RECORDED IN STUDIO IN 1969?

— NOTE FROM AUTHOR I love sharing Elvis' performances of the same song over the years, but what I would really love you to listen to now is the 1969 jam version of the song we're talking about, for it sounds so different from the live performances the fans are already very familiar with. I didn't knew about this recording until a few days ago and I loved it so much that this track is the reason why I needed to talk about this song. You will read about the moment EP was recording this song soon after.

Elvis Presley in the waiting room of the American Sound Studio, early 1969.

▼ FEBRUARY, 1969: "I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU", RECORDED AT THE AMERICAN SOUND STUDIO, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

Song starts at 0:35

Album: American Sound 1969 (2019)

It was an American Studio tradition: paying tribute to the chief with a rendition of “This Time,” a Chips Moman-penned hit for Troy Shondell in 1961. Elvis had heard about the rite, and he serenaded his producer at the start of the February session with the few lines that he knew, segueing into Don Gibson’s “It’s My Way,” a song he had asked Freddy to check out the year before. Plunking along on his acoustic guitar, laughing at his own mistakes but singing his heart out, he drew the band into another Don Gibson number, “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” which he would transform into a dramatic show-stopper six month later in Las Vegas. Excerpt from "Elvis Presley: A Life In Music" by Ernst Jorgensen and Peter Guralnick.

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— NOTE FROM AUTHOR COOL, ISN'T IT? 😍 Have you heard the 1969 jam session version before? Don't know about you but I just can't stop loving it. So, now let's hear how that baby sound onstage.

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[FOOTAGE]

LIVE PERFORMANCES OVER THE YEARS

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

REHEARSAL ▼

July, 1970.

LIVE ONSTAGE ▼

"Elvis: That's The Way It Is" (August 1970) "Elvis On Tour" (April 1972)

"Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite" (January 14, 1973)

RECORDED LIVE ▼

Live at Convention Center Arena, San Antonio, TX (April 18, 1972)

Live at Madison Square Garden (June 10, 1972)

High Sierra Theatre at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, Nevada (May 13, 1973)

Live at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, TN - March 1974

Song starts at 0:38:

I can never get enough of how Elvis' history is so amazing. ♥

What are your thoughts about the jam version of "I Can't Stop Loving You" by EP? I'd love to hear from you.

By the way, do you like this track-to-track-history posts? I've written some so far but I have some others I'd like to share too. If you have any requests, any Elvis Presley songs you'd like to know more about the recording sessions or comparisons of the times a same tune was performed live by Elvis over the years, feel free to hit me with it. I sure will have great fun researching it for you.

Palo santo 101

Before you click play on the audio recording and blithely ignore the written guide, be sure to review the important science-based charts and insight-rich visuals sprinkled throughout it.

If you’ve ever walked into a party hosted by someone under 40 in Brooklyn, Lisbon, California, Condesa or Roma Norte, or Venice Beach and not smelled palo santo, then you probably had covid. Over the past decade palo santo has become the official scent of good vibes. It is an olfactory assurance for anyone who recognizes the scent that conversation will be limited to polyamory, regional burns, and adaptogen supplements. Despite the fact that no one ever doesn’t want to smell palo santo, it’s important to know when to use it and when to relegate your surroundings to their default odor. This guide will ensure that you know exactly how to make the most of the palo santo you carry in the shoulder bag you purchased at the Sant Jordi flea market in Ibiza during the off-season.

Like most cultural appropriations, no one who burns palo santo knows what it is, where it came from, why they use it, or why it’s even called palo santo. Let’s uncover the facts. 

Bursera Graveolens is a tree native to the dry tropical forests of South America. Its discovery by white people dates back to 1972 at a now defunct swingers resort in Quito, Ecuador, where a guest from New Jersey named Paulo Santonicola noticed a stick with a burning ember on the end of giving off a fetid, wispy trail of smoke. He pointed at the burning stick and asked the guy holding the cocaine tray, who would now be called a consent educator, “por que?”

“Plaga,” he replied, and gnashed his teeth and made a flapping-wing motion with the hand not holding the cocaine tray. Paulo brought the wood back to his central New Jersey home as a last-ditch effort to ward off the deer that were eating the tomatoes in his garden. He started burning the wood around the clock in the steamy summer of 1972, during which he and his girlfriend hosted dozens of play parties. 

“I didn’t care if people at my parties had a problem with the smell,” recounted Paulo. “Those frickin’ deer were jumping my fence and chewing through wire to eat my tomatoes. When I caught a whiff of that wood down in Quito, I thought, ‘they won’t come near my garden if I burn this shit.’” 

Mr. Santonicola had achieved some level of notoriety in the adult film industry in the early 1970s, and his parties were well attended by neo-hippies, the disco elite and the first generation of yoga professionals. Over the course of the summer, a pavlovian association formed between the scent of the wood and casual sex, and his friends started asking him for sticks so that they could take the vibe home with them. At the sunset of his porn career, he saw an opportunity not only to rebrand his legacy, distancing himself from grainy adult films with problematic titles, but also to make oceans of cash: import the wood and sell it through his readymade network of yoga instructors under his stage name, Palo Santo. 

Palo santo’s ubiquity today grew from its two foundational use cases: repelling pests and masking the odor of too many naked bodies in poorly ventilated New Jersey basements. Palo santo is still used today as a repellent of sorts to ward off bad vibes and people who do not use the word vibe in place of most nouns at the end of a question, such as scene, weather, temperature, culture, menu, rules, culture, law, opinion, suggested attire, relationship status, sexual proclivity, net worth and so on. It is also still used during group sex, but only when the group sex is intentional and/or ceremonial. There are many other ways, however, that you can improve the vibes of the world through the smoke of this wood, which was recently added to IUCN’s Red List of “near threatened” species, making it even more important to burn palo santo as a way of calling attention to its growing scarcity. 

Airplanes 

For a brief, blissful period during the pandemic, the only people who traveled were intrepid hipsters who had already contracted the virus and been instrumental in scaling it to global significance through music festivals, long-distance polycules and global nomadism. Commercial airlines from the spring of 2020 through the summer of 2021 were basically private air travel for people who know to always ask if party buffet chocolate is psycho-active. Air travel today is a much lower vibration experience, and it’s important that assertive restorative steps be taken by conscious travelers to make flying chill again. Hanging a dreamcatcher from the back of the seat in front of you and burning palo santo on the tray table is a great way of making a public flight experience feel more private. Be sure to light your palo santo only after the aircraft reaches cruising altitude, because tray tables must be stowed until then. 

Other people’s parties

Not everyone with whom you may socialize is aware of how critical palo santo is to creating and maintaining a vibe. Some less experienced hosts try to make do with incense from India, Japan or other countries that have been annexed by Brooklyn or with candles from La Labo, and it may be up to you to rescue the vibe. Back when people consumed alcohol, bringing a nice bottle of wine was a way of showing a host your appreciation, but these days bringing palo santo, immediately lighting it and waving the stick around like Harry Potter on quaaludes is the optimal way of saying thank-you to someone who has invited you into their home.  

Hospitals

While palo santo has not been proven by any form of science to deliver the healing benefits touted by people who sell or use palo santo, be assured that it does all of the things people say it does. Burning palo santo creates smoke, and smoke is pretty to watch and - like cardiovascular exercise - creates a healthy challenge for your lungs. Medical facilities are places where people go to heal, and bringing palo santo to visit a recovering friend is a beautiful contribution to not only their journey back to health but also the recovery of every patient within a twenty to fifty foot radius. 

Conscious uncoupling ceremonies

Modifying your relationship trajectory in a direction that disappoints the person you are with might seem like a low vibe experience, but you can make it a high vibe experience by burning palo santo. While explaining that the rules that you set last week for your ENM pairing have become too confining, burning palo santo will deflect negative reactions and in some cases even seduce your partner into being amenable to a situationship that has absolutely no structure, rules or expectations. This can add to your sexual abundance and also serve as a pillar in your temple of confidence that helps you acquire new lovers at floor parties. If, rather than just undefining the relationship, you are certain there is no future with the person to whom you have exposed particles of burning wood, palo santo will prevent your ex-partner from making an opposing case or lingering too long after you have had uncoupling sex. 

During sex with someone you don’t want to fall in love with you

In a rare moment of cultural relevance, Science has proven that pheromones strengthen the bonds of attraction between two or many more people during sexual activity. Sometimes, though, it is undesirable to strengthen bonds with a sex partner. Sometimes, it is optimal to maintain a totally impartial, unattached, stoic distance between the person who you are inside / is inside of you, given that attraction can lead to unintended expectations. Burning palo santo is an excellent way of muting the potency of pheromones, leveling the olfactory playing field and creating a piney through-line for all the people participating in a sexual experience. 

Any kind of intentional wellness space

Because the smell of palo santo is so potent and distracting, burning it during intentional experiences (e.g. yoga, journaling, meditation, tantra classes, tantric sex, facials or any kind of PRP therapy) compels participants to step up their intention-setting efforts. It forces deep focus and concentration, kind of like how the deafening emo whines of RY X at a RY X concert force you to lean in, cock your head and make that weird squinty-eyed, mouth-agape listening face to be able to hear the unsolicited story of how literally anyone you happen to be standing next to was in an intentional polyamorous relationship with RY X.

Ancient actually sacred genuinely authentic real cultural events that were not invented by white people to extract money from other white people

Many people who attend Burning Man have begun to explore other intentional gatherings outside of Nevada that don’t involve metallic gold body paint. Some of these gatherings are thousands of years old and are led by people who have trained their entire lives to uphold traditions that have been passed down for generations within their culture. Particularly if a gathering takes place in its country of origin (rather than being exported, diluted and branded, like an ethnic fast food franchise), you may encounter native smells that don’t smell like palo santo. In these cases, it is not only permissible but even advisable to add palo santo to everyone’s experience, which you have probably been very reluctantly allowed to attend. Burning palo santo will communicate to the religious or cultural leaders of the gathering that you are on their level and (despite having never read anything about the gathering other than first few words of the top Google result you saw while standing on the Premier Access line into your Delta flight at JFK / LAX / SFO) have a deep respect for whatever they are chanting in a language that you cannot understand while you record the most intensely sacred moments for the Instagram story that you will post at the appropriate time in your home time zone so that everyone will know that you are an internationally intentionally spiritual person who gets access to authentic cultural events. 

Despite its countless unproven benefits and its universal appeal within a very small circle, there are certain times when palo santo should not be burned. Palo santo can trigger flashbacks for people who first encountered the scent of it during acid trips. If someone walks into your container, smells the palo santo you’re burning and begins behaving erratically, just ask them to immediately return to their own container, lest they harsh the vibe you’re cultivating. The only other times that do not call for burning palo santo are when you’re alone, and no one else will see you lighting the stick and waving it around the room, bringing it within inches of everyone’s face whether they’ve invited it or not, while making awkwardly long eye contact with them, nothing but the winding trail of smoke in front of your your vulnerable gaze, thus communicating to them that you are a spiritually endowed person and care deeply about them knowing that you are a spiritually endowed person. So, a helpful rule of thumb is this: as with masturbation, you should always and only be burning palo santo when someone is watching, otherwise what’s the point.

Israeli director receives death threats after officials call Berlin film festival ‘antisemitic’

Yuval Abraham criticises German officials, saying statement devalues term ‘antisemitism’ and puts Jewish lives in danger

Philip Oltermann European culture editor

@philipoltermannTue 27 Feb 2024 13.04 ESTFirst published on Tue 27 Feb 2024 12.45 EST

An Israeli film-maker who won one of the top prizes at the Berlin film festival has said German officials’ description of the awards ceremony as “antisemitic” has led to death threats and the physical intimidation of family members, causing him to hold off plans to return to Israel.

Yuval Abraham, 29, was on Saturday awarded the Berlinale’s best documentary award for No Other Land, which charts the eradication of Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank.

Abraham’s acceptance speech, in which he decried a “situation of apartheid” and called for a ceasefire in Gaza, was one of several moments during the closing ceremony in which film-makers expressed solidarity with Palestine. It sparked an outcry in German media the following day, with several politicians alleging the speeches had been “antisemitic”.

“To stand on German soil as the son of Holocaust survivors and call for a ceasefire – and to then be labelled as antisemitic is not only outrageous, it is also literally putting Jewish lives in danger,” Abraham told the Guardian.

“I don’t know what Germany is trying to do with us,” he added. “If this is Germany’s way of dealing with its guilt over the Holocaust, they are emptying it of all meaning.”

Abraham said he had planned to return to Israel the day after the closing ceremony, but that he changed his plans during a stop-off in Greece, when he learned that Israeli media outlets were describing his speech as antisemitic, with some citing German officials.

The Astrological Observation of Gen Z, (a series)

Part I 👼🏽🩷:

The rise & fall of "chick flicks" & the possible resurgence of those films thanks to Barbie? 💗 + Victoria's Secret Angels/fashion show makes a come back, will it succeed 👼🏽?

SPOILER ALERT

Here is the birth chart (placidus) of the most loved and adored doll of all time, Barbie! The Barbie movie begun filming in March 2022, had it's first premiere on July 9th, 2023, and was aired officially on July 21st, 2023. If the movie started to be filmed in March 2022, then that means the movie would have been created during Barbie's solar return. The movie was going to have a big impact on the world from the moment it was produced. Although, yes of course it's Barbie who's super famous, but I believe that the intention behind the film was more sincere than other movies in comparison. In Barbie's solar return chart, there is a fear of being "forgotten" or "lost", which is exactly what Barbie struggled with in the movie. There is an Aquarius dominance and a 11th and 9th house stellium. Her North node, Moon, and Uranus are in her 12th house which deals with the subconscious. In the film, Barbie and the woman who owned her as a little girl had a telepathic connection (Aquarius Venus at 2° in the 9th house), which she did not know until she started having "oppressive thoughts about death" (Aquarius Mercury in the 10th house at 28°). Which Weird Barbie gives her a "choice" of going back to normal or knowing the secrets of the universe (a spiritual awakening). Which then explains how her 11th house and 9th house partnered together in the film. Friendship, philosophy, and wisdom all being important lessons that Barbie was forced to experience. Barbie's journey throughout the movie was painful and scary. She wasn't able to be the one to give advice or help little girls anymore, this time - people had to help her, which gave her the confidence to become the woman she wanted to become (Barbie has so many squares and conjuctions in her solar return chart, like let me go buy a Barbie doll and tell her how much I love her, I'm so sorryyyy 💔😭).

Barbie's transits on the day of the Barbie movie's official release. Aspects that are standing out to me are Part of Fortune sextile Pluto, Uranus sextile Moon, Pluto sextile Jupiter, Mercury trine Venus, and Mars square Ascendant. The movie will go down as a cult classic. It globally is a big hit on social media and caused people to even dress, think, and feel differently (especially regarding their femininity). The mars square ascendant could be why men or people with internalized toxic masculinity feel uncomfortable with the movie. It triggers something in them and I feel like secretly that men who say they hate Barbie, actually love her??? They could be remembering childhood memories of the doll and possibly even wanted to play with one but weren't allowed to or wished they spent more time with their moms or sisters. The Mercury trine Venus represents how the film was able to convey women's thoughts well and the things they wish they could say but were suppressed due to the patriarchy. Women as a whole really love Barbie or think highly of her. The film's hypothetical birth chart has a 12th house stellium and still conveys the significance of intuition and the subconscious mind. What's beautiful is the film's Pluto is in the 5th house at 29° in retrograde. If they intended to have people reconnect with their inner child, then it was done successfully. Which confirms my belief and also hope for sweet, sappy, inspiring chick flicks about friendships and self love happening again.

This wouldn't be a post about the 2000's if we didn't discuss the Victoria Secret's fashion show. The first episode was released on August 1st, 1995 during prime time so around 8 pm PST / 10 pm EST. Here is the hypothetical chart (placidus) of the Victoria's Secret Fashion show. I have never in my life seen so many retrogrades before, YIKES! The show has a lot of karmic debt and with the amount of scandals the company had, I'm not even surprised. Saturn in the 1st house, so there is a strict beauty standard that the show wants to uphold and dislikes when someone else tries to break the mold. I watched the Victoria Secret documentary and this is what was said as well. The women who worked there tried to bring more inclusivity to the company and the men acted very pompous and stubborn whenever they tried to create positive changes. They wanted to get away with their cookie cutter looks and corrupted desires. North node being at 0° the fashion show was supposed to embrace change and throughout the years resisted it's main intention or purpose of making women feel sexy. Now that they are trying to rebrand, they'd really have to really get over their ego in order to succeed. The exact date and time of the upcoming fashion show is unsure but it will be aired sometime in the fall. With the Victoria Secret's Fashion Show Sun sign being in Leo, then that means the episode will air right after it's solar return (I'm noticing a pattern here of companies releasing projects after it's solar return👀). Things seem to be going in the show's favor and it will be fair or more inclusive as they said it would be. There is a 7th house stellium here and a Moon in the 1st house so it seems as though they want to come off as genuine as possible. Saturn still remains in the 1st house, so there is still some stern energy here, maybe the rules for the models is strict or there is some sort of tight schedule for the show? Jupiter in the 3rd house, people will be talking about it or there's going to be articles/podcasts about the show. Pluto square South Node, the company's past scandals will still linger in the air. Uranus trine Chiron, someone in PR could write formal apologies to the staff? Saturn square Jupiter, Saturn is not done with them yet. It's literally grabbing them by the throat and saying "repent for your sins". It's not great, but not terrible either, but I'm leaning towards the fashion show will do just fine. The women will be exceptionally beautiful and the style of the clothes is gonna be different. It could take some time for people to be on board again with the show airing due to past controversies. Some will enjoy it for nostalgia, while others will not care to watch because it's not their thing or won't watch out of support for the victims.

The Tour '23's birth chart (whole sign)

The show having its Aquarius Moon in the 12th house 24° is very significant in my opinion given the fact it displays the hidden nature of women and the different aspects of the divine feminine. I watched it today and there was a lot of focus on motherhood, feeling unique or out of place in the world (a lot of people saying they felt like an alien), and having different body types, attributes, or features being seen. With an Aries chiron and north node, I feel their way of approaching things was more blunt and why they were more comfortable exhibiting/talking about scars, stretch marks, protesting, and (tw:) eating disorders. Another interesting aspect I noticed was mostly the narrator Gigi Hadid and the show has a Virgo Mercury in the 7th house 16°. Quite a few of the women narrating were mothers themselves, such as Gigi Hadid. Gigi has her Mercury in the 1st house and she has a Taurus stellium. The 7th house is connected to Venus and it is known for beauty, femininity, and love. There was also 5 segments all around the world but the show made its debut in Lagos, Nigeria. The Pisces ascendant I believe explains the fluidity and ability to transform or adapt to your environment. As well as being sensitive, free spirited, and having spiritual consciousness, for example, there was the use of Yoruba and Igbo mythology in the fashion show. The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show originally had a Leo stellium and it was more superficial, a lot of hyper focus on glitz and glam. Where as now there is a Pisces stellium and still has a familiarity of signs from its original birth chart (the essence of Libra, Taurus, and Leo still being there). The Capricorn Pluto in the 11th house 27° acknowledges what they have done in the past and their problematic behavior. With 27° being a Gemini degree, its as if the company is wanting to say to the generation: "Let's talk about it". The fashion designers in the documentary all discussed the importance of self expression and their hardships to get there. Doja Cat being the main performer of the series isn't surprising given the fact she is also a Libra Sun. Similar to the show, Doja and Victoria's Secret, are both known for being quite controversial (perfect pair, don't you think?). With The Tour 23's Sun being in the 8th house, it feels that it is the death of their ego. A new chapter for the company, while still keeping some parts of itself and it's past. Neptune and Saturn being in the 1st house explains why everyone was so vulnerable about their journey, insecurities, and dealing with self criticism. With its ascendant being a leo degree (5°) I believe it will gain some traction or buzz because of the individualistic style and fresh new faces / designers, but it won't be anything that will people talk about long term.

rebelcaptain + celebrities au: actors

Jyn Erso, legendary scream queen and final girl. Cassian Andor, broody anti-hero and tortured male lead.

Both of them are tired of being typecasted, seeking a different role, a new experience, a way to broaden their portfolio and expand their career. Sure, a romantic comedy might not have been what either had in mind, but the script is original, the characters feel real, and the director, Chirrut Imwe, is a great friend of them both.

The only problem they have is... each other.  Although their chemistry on-screen is off the charts, they couldn’t clash more off-screen. A series of misunderstandings, hastily drawn conclusions, and sheer stubbornness make sure of that. It’s official, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor loathe each other.

With filming and the press tour still ahead of them, things aren’t looking rosy. But they’re both professionals and they’re not going to let their stupid feud stop them from finishing this movie. The crew just best pray they don’t end up murdering each other on set.

After all, what does a scream queen and a two times Emmy winner really have in common?

That's My (Color) Candy - Part 2

In Part 1 of this color-coded journey, I explained that Jing is a Pink Person and Guy is a Blue Boy but they are about to break up . . . AGAIN because Guy keeps standing up Jing even though Guy is trying to save people's lives at the Candy Memorial Hospital.

One of those lives is Blue-Green Gentleman Viking's who got hit by a car, so now Viking's potential-boyfriend Red Rascal Tamtam is also about to break up with him too since he thinks Viking stood him up instead of thinking he is dying, which is reasonable.

But they aren't official yet, so Tamtam can't really break up with him, so he does a live stream and looks really really sad about it.

So thank goodness Guy and his medical crew sang some magical song to heal Viking so Tamtam could forgive him for almost dying.

And so he could take extra special care of Viking. Well, in theory anyway.

So Jing decides to forgive Guy for standing him up on his birthday since the life he saved was that of his favorite VJ (even though he knew Viking got hit by a car and Guy was saving him since he was the one who rescued Viking . . .)

So all's well, but Guy is down to one candy because his friend ate a piece and got a girlfriend out of it, then Guy gave a scary ghost girl, who was dressed in pink (???), the other piece.

Oh, then Tamtam gets upset AGAIN because while he is "taking care" of Viking in the hospital, he notices a guy named "Candy" keeps calling Viking.

But Candy is Viking's brother! So Tamtam's brother is ecstatic that his Blue-Green Gentleman x Red Rascal ship is setting sail!

Jing and Guy aren't so lucky though. They decide to go on a date, but to no one's surprise, Guy sees a woman in need of help. Jing tells Guy to pick between him and helping others, so Guy tells Jing he chooses him, only for Jing to tell him to help the woman. Mixed signals much?

Then Jing leaves and stays with Kana and his cool ass color charts.

Which pisses off Guy since he walks in on them looking very comfortable with each other. Guy and Jing argue, and Jing questions if Guy even knows his favorite color.

And the fact that Guy didn't immediately say "PINK" had be pressed, stressed, and completely in Jing's corner, so when Jing grabbed the last piece of candy and wished they had never met, I was all for it. Because of the wish, they run into each other, but they always walk away.

They no longer know each other and live happily ever after, not together, and no longer in love with each other.

The End!

SIKE!!!!!

It was all a film for Jing's final project at Candy University!

Jing really is a Pink Person, Guy really is a Blue Boy, and they really have been a couple for the past three years who are living with each other.

They are also very happy together and experience several "color exchanges" often. *wink*

And Viking and Tamtam are also real VJs and a happy Red Rascal x Blue-Green Gentleman couple.

Kana was never in love with Jing, there were never any issues between Jing and Guy, and everyone was happy because everything was fake and solely made up for the movie.

Yeah for fictional movies!

So Jing and Guy live happily ever after and grow old together still madly in love with each other.

And I get the tiniest crumb that Kana might actually be in a relationship with Dr. Pak who was a Blue Boy too and works with Guy. Look at Kana's colors. That's love. It's canon to me!

So . . .

I don't hate it.

Half of it did not make sense like the ghost girl, but I already knew the ending, so it helped me enjoy it more along the way. In the hospital, Jing slid across the floor in the most disco way possible, and Guy sang to heal Viking. Guy also mentioned a few times about being a character. It was obvious that this was a film, but only because I knew that. If I hadn't known that, I would have not enjoyed this show nearly as much. I laughed multiple times just because of how unserious it was, and I will be rewatching it.

But maybe I just liked it because I like this bike, I like this man, and they're both in my size color.

What can I say? I'm easy.

𖤐 ʾ ⠀ ❪ ⠀ NATALIA HWANG ⠀ ╲ ⠀A DISCOGRAPHY DEEP DIVE

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  TALIA (2015): THE GRAND DEBUT … Fresh out of filming for her supporting role in the 2016 film ‘The Handmaiden,’ Natalia would make her musical debut on her 18th birthday, releasing her first full studio album, featuring three lead singles: ONLY YOU, FULL MOON, and FLY. Each of these tracks would get their own individual promotional periods. This release would debut to much critical acclaim, the lead singles peaking at #1, #5, and #1 on charts respectively and the album selling over 683,000 units. Only You rose to popularity with a surprising quickness, racking in 7 music show wins. Full Moon was also a hit, recognized as one of the most iconic songs as well as choreography in the industry, being covered by large range of idols and notable celebrities. Then Fly did surprisingly well with the general public, taking the industry by storm with it’s vocal prowess and earning several PAKS and RAKS, and staying in the top of charts for a total of 70 weeks.

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  24 HOURS (2016): THE FIRST COMEBACK … Riding off the success of Natalia’s debut, her acting projects, and modeling work, Zephyr thought it’d be best to release her first comeback in the earlier part of 2016. 24 Hours is her second studio album, consisting of 8 tracks with 24 Hours serving as the title track. 24 Hours debuted at #15 on charts but progressively worked itself up to #1 throughout the promotional period. Alongside the title track, the b-side MAGIC which unexpectedly peaked within the top 10 on music charts. Due to popular demand, Natalia also promoted the track very briefly on music shows. Although the public’s reception of her work was seemingly positive, it was evident that she was still exploring her artistry. Even though she was never truly given credit for anything on this album or the album prior, she was heavily involved in the writing and concept for all tracks. On the contrary, both Zephyr Entertainment and Henri Kwon (especially) were very adamant on not straying away from the sexier image she’d been portraying already.

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  WHY (2016): THE SUMMER RENAISSANCE … Natalia came back just in time for the summer with her single Why. The tropical house track was met with immediate acclaim upon release, peaking at #1 on all charts, taking home 10 music show wins, and seeing several PAKS. This song was everywhere that year. When people think of summer 2016, Why is destined to come to mind. It also trumped her previous reign of 70 weeks on charts by staying for 90 weeks. It also revisits the charts frequently, usually around summertime of every year. This year she was able to take home BEST NEW ARTIST and SONG OF THE YEAR with this single alone. This is what marked the official solidification of her status in the music industry.

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  VARIATIONS ON THE WORLD LOVE (2017): A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP … Natalia Hwang released yet another studio album titled Variations on the Word Love, which is a darker piece of work exploring themes of toxic relationships and what love can look and feel like. Never Ever, the title track, debuted at #1 on charts and stayed there for weeks. Other b-sides on the album also charted well, like the #5 peaking track MOONLIGHT. The album sold over 2 million copies, marking her first 2 million seller in her career. Aside from the success, though, fans were worried that Natalia was being overworked. From booking luxury brand deals, Mon Cheri’s new season, and gearing up for her first world tour, it was safe to say there wasn’t a time where Natalia wasn’t working. Everything she did was selling like hot cakes, Zephyr and Henri felt like they could slap her name onto anything and make bank. On the contrary, while she was apparently loved by the public, she was also hated a great deal. People slapped the names ‘diva’ and ‘airheaded’ on her, embroiling her in attitude controversies and slandering her for her interviews where Henri accompanied her.

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  FANTASY (2017): A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP PART 2 … Following the promotional period for VOTWL, Natalia would release her first mini album only a few months later, selling 2 million copies once again. It’s title track Fantasy would garner 9 music show wins and peak at #1 on charts. Of course, this release wouldn’t come without backlash, many netizens criticizing the attire she wore in her music video, calling it skimpy and inappropriate. Although she wouldn’t promote this release much as she was preparing for her first world tour, other tracks on the mini would gain popularity, such as DON’T SAY NO (which would later get its own music video) and WHATEVER. Those tracks would both get added to the Setlist for the tour. She would walk away from this year with the ARTIST OF THE YEAR award, much to a lot of people’s dismay. Regardless, this year was still a success even with the boycotts and nasty, intrusive comments from interviewers and netizens alike.

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT (2018): THE EERIE CALM BEFORE THE STORM … Natalia released her second mini album right in time for spring of this year, a reference to netizens titling her a ‘national embarrassment.’ While the album sold less copies than her previous releases, it would still chart exceedingly well. She didn’t promote this album much, never performing it and oftentimes barely acknowledging it after its release.

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  TIMELESS (2018): THE HATE TRAIN (WHEN THINGS FALL APART) … Around winter of 2018, Natalia released her fourth studio album, featuring the title track #LADY and the promotional b-side ALTERLIFE. Things seemed to be looking up before its release, the albums presales already hitting incredible milestones and the anticipation for the release umpteenth. The first few hours of the release were peaceful, both tracks debuting at #1 and #10 respectively. However, things came crumbling down when Henri Kwon released an exposé regarding Natalia, officially announcing their parting from one another and dumping on her mental health and extremely personal issues. This sent the media into a frenzy, everyone talking about it and a plethora of headlines coming out everyday. Some people sided with Natalia, saying that Henri was wrong for speaking on her and airing out her mental state and sexuality like that, while most used this as an opportunity to bag on her all that they wanted. This was an extremely rough period for Natalia, as she was being asked very rude and inappropriate questions every interview and being harassed by paparazzi and fans on the internet everyday. This was an all-time low for her, emotionally and in her career. She’d always received hate but never to the extent of this year. Due to this, her promotions were cut short and she canceled many schedules. She would then be placed on an indefinite and unofficial hiatus where she wouldn’t release music or make any public appearances for the next nearly three years.

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  MY OBSESSION (2021): THE LONG AWAITED COMEBACK … After nearly three years and many half-assed, vague updates from Zephyr Entertainment about Natalia’s whereabouts, Hwang finally made her comeback in 2021, releasing her first studio album in years titled My Obsession. My Obsession would prove to be her best-selling album, selling over 4 million units with its title track MIDNIGHT winning 12 music show wins and SONG OF THE YEAR, while other tracks such as TOUCH, SELFISH, and SECRETS charted exceptionally and were promoted due to popular demand.

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  DESSERT [FEAT. MICKEY MOON & KYRIE HAN] (2021): COLLAB OF THE YEAR … A little later this same year, Natalia would unveil another release, which would be a chart topping single featuring Mickey Moon of DREAMCHIC and Kyrie Han of RAVANA. The collaboration would go viral, peaking at #1 and staying within the top 15 weeks after its release. The single would even be nominated alongside Midnight for awards such as BEST DANCE PERFORMANCE and SONG OF THE YEAR. Although, it would win BEST COLLABORATION.

∬ ˚ ⋆ ࣪  BAD OMENS (2022): CREATIVE FREEDOM AND ARTISTIC AUTHENTICITY … After taking yet another year off from music, Natalia came back with her studio album titled Bad Omens, featuring the title track Fever. This ‘hiatus’ was much different from the previous one—in length and reason. It was obvious that she was working on projects behind the scenes, such as new modeling projects, preparing for comebacks and (possible) tours, and making business moves. In this album, fans were able to see a different, deeper side of Natalia and her music. She was vulnerable with the concepts for music videos and album art, and talked about past experiences in her tracks which raised quite a few brows to listeners. Many people would speculate about the lyrics but when questioned about them, she would only answer with vague responses. Some tracks that were talked about in particular were: I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND, PWIC, and LIQUID SMOOTH. The album is often regarded as her best piece of work sonically, conceptually, and artistically.

As of early 2024, Natalia has taken more time off from music to focus on her new record label COUNTESSA RECORDINGS, which she revealed and bought her first artist in the later part of 2023.

Dune: Part Two Rises To The Official Film Chart Number One!

Long live the fighters! Dune: Part Two makes a strong Number 1 debut on the Official Film Chart. The Sci-Fi adventure film clocks in in its first week of release with an impressive 89,600 sales on digital downloads only, followed by its predecessor Dune – which lifts 26 places – at Number 2. Starring Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, and Javier Bardem as part of a star-studded cast,…

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How Robert Pattinson relates to BATMAN and dark characters?

Vedic chart analysis 2

(Birth data source: Astrodatabank)

Hi everyone.. We will look into the chart of Robert Pattinson. Known for starring in both big-budget and independent films, Pattinson has ranked among the world's highest-paid actors. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and he was featured in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. He has been nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards for his performances in Good Time (2017) and The Lighthouse (2019). So he is quite popular. So what makes him so much of a good actor? Let's look into his Vedic chart.

He started his career by playing Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). He later landed the leading role of Edward Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer, and came to worldwide fame as a tame vegetarian vampire (2008, 2009, 2010). In 2010, Pattinson was named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World. He also played a Batman character recently.

So you guys might be wondering how come he played such dominant characters. He is an aries rising and exalted sun in ascendant. So it gives him quite a dominant aura. You feel his characters are very masculine from a vampire to batman. But there is a dark shade to his characters. It comes from the Rahu in ascendant. Also his 10th Lord saturn is in martian scorpio sign. The aspect of venus from taurus fills the artistic zeal to his characters. Most of his planets are situated in fire signs. So his characters are really masculine.

BATMAN CHARACTER BREAKDOWN AS ROBERT PATTINSON:

And one more thing is, his character is batman who played a detective role in the recent film. It relates 100 percent as karma Lord Saturn is present in the detective sign scorpio. Not only that, his Saturn is also present in scorpio navamsa being vargottama. It makes his karma for scoprio themed. His rahu in lagna with sun mercury is very relatable to Batman's character. Rahu in lagna gives some sort of individuality and mystery to character and that's how batman. Batman is a character who is very private and can take any means to beat his opponents (very much rahu in lagna and 10th Lord in scorpio like). So he was destined to play Batman role and shine in it. His vampire role follows the same formula of dark shaded hero and he fitted perfectly.

CHEATING IN RELATIONSHIP:

Since meeting on the set of Twilight in 2008, Pattinson had been romantically linked to co-star Kristen Stewart. For roughly four years, they did not explicitly confirm a relationship. Stewart officially acknowledged the relationship for the first time in July 2012, when Us Weekly published photos of Stewart caught cheating on Pattinson with her married director Rupert Sanders, prompting her to issue a public apology to Pattinson. You can clearly see that in his birth chart. Rahu ketu in 1-7 axis brings cheating in relationships. It also makes you misguided in partnerships. His 7th Lord and planet of love venus is aspecting 8th house of secrets where 11th Lord of desires Saturn is situated. There is Guru chandaal yog in his navamsa chart which is infamous for lack of morals. It indicates his partner secretly cheating on him. Now.. That's a tragedy which rahu in lagna faces sometimes.

HIS OTHER INTERESTS:

Aside from acting, Pattinson plays music and has sung on several soundtracks for film. He supports several charities, including the GO Campaign, and has been the face of Dior Homme fragrance since 2013. His side of generosity comes from Jupiter in humanitarian sign aquarius. His Jupiter is present in Jupitarian nakshatra purva bhadrapada. His lagna Lord Mars is present in generous sign Sagittarius which also add to it. His musical interests can be related to his strong venus in second house. Venus is present in mrigashira which is seeking and exploring of music.

CURRENT RELATIONSHIPS:

Pattinson began dating singer-songwriter FKA Twigs in September 2014. The couple, who were engaged, ended their relationship in the summer of 2017. Pattinson has been in a relationship with English actress and singer Suki Waterhouse since mid-2018 (Notable thing is, she is singer and he was going through venus subperiod. Venus is present in 2nd house of singing/speech). The couple resides in Los Angeles. There is a pattern in his relationships. He mostly dated people who were connected to art. It can be seen in his birth chart. His 7th Lord is venus which indicates he will most likely to get attracted towards people in art/acting. His 7th Lord is present in venusian sign taurus. His venus being in its own sign, he will most probably have partners who are artistic.

Actually.. It's just a surface level analysis. It can be analysed much deeper with dashas and divisional charts etc. But.. I have pointed out the main factors of his life. That's all for now. Bye.

1 Billion4Thriller and The Thriller 40 Challenge 2!

1Billion4Thriller

If you have been on Twitter or Instagram during Sept and October, y'all know it's that time of year again! It's time to celebrate Michael Jackson's epic accomplishments with the best-selling album of all time—Thriller! And I don't care what anyone says, Thriller is the official Halloween song!

Okay, so as you all know by now, and if ya don't, you will soon, lol! The MJ Fam is attempting to get Michael Jackson's amazing short film, Thriller, to 1 Billion views! So, Please stream the short film on YouTube as much as you can, but please watch other videos in between so you're not exhibiting bot behavior and for your views to count. However, to make things easier, you can also watch the following playlist on the flyer below! Just scan the QR code, and you are taken to the pre-made playlist!

The Thriller Challenge 2 (Starts this Friday, October 20th, 2023)

With the monumental success of Michael Jackson’s Album, “Thriller,” being the best-selling album of all time, the actual single, Thriller, has never reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart—and it’s by far that has changed! With the “Thriller Challenge 2,” MJ Fans the world over plan to get Michael Jackson’s single, Thriller, to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart! We attempted this last year (albeit Thriller placed decently), but it didn't make it to #1, which is why we need more fans to participate! We can do this! So, please Stream and buy the single Thriller (only the song and not the album) as much as you can. Please only buy and stream the official album version of the song, which is on the original 1982 release of Thriller, Thriller 40, and Thriller 25—this is very important as all other versions do not count towards the Billboard for our goal!

While streaming Thriller, please do not loop the song—play 2 to 3 different songs by the J5, The Jackson’s, 3T, or other artists of your liking so that the streams are counted properly. And make sure the volume on your app is turned up. We understand listening to Thriller (though we love the song) a million times might be challenging; you can, therefore, turn your device volume down or mute it—but not on your app. Please keep the volume on the app itself turned up! This goes for when streaming on YouTube as well. For more tips on how to properly stream, please check out the following video:

P.S. Here is a pre-made #ThrillerChallenge playlist of mine that you can stream to make things easier! This is one of the playlists I created and used when I hosted one of last year's many streaming parties hosted by myself and many other wonderful DJs. (P.S. I still like—and am a Mystery DJ, but I like sharing with y'all here! Lol!) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2HNr81pCxDGEcD4mUi7yeO?si=a81f5cd5ab184df5

Lastly, please participate in some of the Thriller Streaming Parties on the StationHead App if you can (there'll be many)! It's a great way to jam out to MJ, Janet, and the Jackson Families' music while chatting with fellow MJ Fam if you would like! However, You do not have to chat! Just come in and listen to the music. The reason why these streaming parties are so important is because for every listener a DJ has for the party, it counts as a stream for Thriller! So, say if a DJ has 100 listeners, then that's 100 streams for Thriller! It's that easy—and the guesswork has been taken out of creating a playlist. All ya gotta do is sit back and listen to the music. In order to hear the music and the DJs on StationHead, you must have a premium Spotify or Apple Music account! If you don't have one, please search the internet. There are always free trials floating around (just make sure they are legit). When the challenge is over, you can always cancel your membership if you no longer want the service.

For a complete listing of all the Thriller Streaming parties, please follow @AndJustice4Some on the X app (formerly known as Twitter.)

On Saturday, October 21st, from 7:00 p.m. to 11:55 p.m., I'll be hosting a Thriller Streaming party on the StationHead App! Please attend if you can! It's such an honor to get the chance to host a streaming party for the Thriller Challenge.

Please note: The #1Billion4Thriller and #TheThrillerChallenge2 events are not created by me. I'm just doing my due diligence as an MJ Fam and as one of the DJs for the Thriller Challenge, helping to get the information out!

In closing, today, the artist Drake has officially tied Michael Jackson as the male solo artist with the most No. 1 songs in Billboard Hot 100 History. Now, I'm not here to diss Drake, but let us be for real: the music that's being made today is not classic like many of MJ's and other legendary artists hit records. When Michael was selling millions of albums, there was no streaming; people had to actually go to the store (and sometimes stand in long lines) to support their fave! And if you ask me, there should be some distinction between physical sales and today's streaming—these are two different eras—it's unfair to compare the two. Today, with streaming being a click away, social media influence, and such—it's easier for artists to break records. I could make this post longer, but I'll chill as I do have a lot to say about this—but I'll save that for another post. At this point, it's all laughable. It's a skewed numbers game, and artistry is no longer at the forefront. At the end of the day, Michael's music will continue to be played millions and millions of years from now because Michael poured his heart and soul into his art while battling so many things. That being said, I hope this provides some extra motivation for to stream Michael Jackson's Thriller. Let's make Michael #1!

Blessings,

Midnight💜🌛

Okay Destination Trek notes! First here's what I really liked:

- Everything was SAG compliant and there was so much important strike talk. Obvs this made some questions impossible to answer, and it was slightly hard to predict what would be wrong to say just since different actors had different comfort levels (big range from "I support my comrades but I'm not gonna pretend I'm not in Star Trek" from David Ajala to J G Hertzler encouraging us to threaten media executives with [COPYRIGHTED SPACE WEAPON] to Terry Farrell not wanting to mention working on TV or film at all), but honestly it just made the whole thing really friendly

- on that note, multiple guests said it was the best convention they'd been to in years. I don't have a lot of personal experience with them, but I was talking to a lot of older fans and many of them said this felt a lot like the early days of conventions which were also set in hotels

- being in a hotel made it a) more accessible (and there were So Many fellow disabled Trekkies to prove it!!), b) easier to hang out between activities, and c) just super personable. The guests could hang out in the bar with the fans, there were lots of comfy seats everywhere, and it was very easy to step away if something wasn't your speed.

- not being in London helps the vibes too

- not being Paramount affiliated made the tickets a bit cheaper (much appreciated)

- most of the activities were teamwork focussed. Initially I was a little freaked by that but actually it gave the whole thing a friendly social club vibe

- science talks! Community talks! Asking the actors questions about their lives and work outside of what they're most famous for! Stories we haven't all heard a thousand times!

- I'll make another post about the specifics of accessibility and why I liked this infinitely more than the official ones in London aircraft hangars, but I just really have to stress how important I found that here

- being fan organised and fan led, the focus was on us and how much we love this shit. I didn't find the old format Bad in this respect, but this really did hit different

- J G Hertzler is seriously the coolest person I've met. He stole my craft group's batleth and we couldn't be happier about it.

- So Many Cool Cosplays!!! Shout out especially to the drag queens, the older man cosplaying Admiral Janeway, the Voyage Home Spock and inflatable whale, the power chair decked out to look like a shuttle, all the babies in uniform, the tribble queen in her tribble pelt dress, all the Klingons who didn't artificially darken their skin, the furry doctor from lower decks, all of the Borg, the Klingon pug with a plush batleth, and so so many others I'm forgetting ❤️🖖❤️

Notes for Future Cons

- If you don't already have access to it because of an expensive ticket, I wouldn't bother paying for the opening ceremony. It's not actually at the start of the event and also it's literally just the actors coming on stage, saying hi, then rushing back to the autograph tables. Do go to the closing ceremony though! There's way more of a point to those

- If you're not a huge extrovert, already drunk, or completely happy in awkward situations, I wouldn't recommend being the first in the door at the parties. Give it an hour or so - they sounded very lively later on, but when I tried to go in earlier the primary school disco vibes were off the charts. Plus the music's too loud to actually talk to anyone, and no one's dancing yet. I did see one guy run past with a portable charger for his friend in a wheelchair that lost power on the dance floor though, so clearly they got cooler later on lol. Addendum here that I'm an autistic non drinker so that might colour things.

- to the white folks darkening their skin for generic Klingon cosplays, reconsider that one next year

- to the white guy wearing brown face paint to cosplay Worf specifically, what the fuck, man??

- to the person who boo'd the mention of Julian/Garak at the LGBTQ+ panel, fight me but also maybe skip whatever the equivalent is next year cause Andy Robinson's booked to come

- host mocked Scottish accents a couple times :(

- here's hoping the unions will have their demands met and we'll be able to talk about Star Trek publicly with actors who can access healthcare and pay their rent. But if not, at least we know the con will still be fun.

- maybe see you in Blackpool next July 💙

Will there be an official height chart at somepoint?

maybe? we might change around the heights we gave them in previous asks.

don't expect it anytime soon though 😭 i'll be busy for the next few weeks with filming and practice huhu

finch

Kiawentiio Grew Up with Avatar: The Last Airbender. Twice.

The actress, who plays Katara in the new Netflix adaptation, has a long history with the show—and took care to honor it on premiere night.

The 17-year-old Kiawentiio (pronounced gya-wuhn-dee-yo) is fortunate to have grown up with older siblings: They had the raised-on-cable insight to show her Avatar: The Last Airbender. The hugely popular animated series, which premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005—almost a full year before Kiawentiio was born—slowly became a backdrop to her childhood on the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation in Ontario known as Kawehno:ke, or Cornwall Island. When, years later, all three seasons dropped on Netflix and topped the streamer’s charts, Kiawentiio watched the show again with new eyes—and a new appreciation. She was mere months away from an official announcement, introducing her to legions of Avatar fans as the actress who’d play Katara in Netflix’s live-action adaptation. 

Katara, as Kiawentiio puts it, is “the heart of the group” of characters that round out the main Avatar cast. Among them, of course, is Aang, a century-old Air Nomad with the ability to manipulate the elements and (in theory) save the world from the terrorizing Fire Nation. But his closest partners are siblings Sokka and Katara, the latter of whom is herself a water-bender, capable of moving water with tai chi-inspired motions. “She is the optimistic, hopeful person in this group that keeps them moving forward,” Kiawentiio says. “I feel like that was something that you could definitely tell in the original series, and that’s what I really wanted to keep about her in our adaptation.”

Fidelity to the source material is a sore spot for many Avatar devotees, who were burned during Hollywood’s first attempt at a live-action adaptation. The disastrous 2010 The Last Airbender is notoriously one of the most-hated films ever produced, and it remains something of a warning sign lurking over the latest Netflix adaptation. Don’t make the same mistakes. Kiawentiio understands the fans’ fears and desires, and she welcomes their input, if not exactly the pressure that comes with it. “It definitely is a huge spotlight, and I think it’s important to protect yourself from those things,” she says. But, she admits, “I can understand a lot of opinions and a lot of point of views, so I think, for me, seeing good or bad is helpful to understand ... that point of view of the outside watcher.”

As the new adaptation makes its long-awaited debut on Netflix, Kiawentiio is relishing the opportunity to celebrate what the series has meant to her—not merely as a fan herself, but as an active participant in its impact. She grew up with Avatar twice: first as a child, then as a teenager, having been cast at 14 years old before filming and promoting the project into near-adulthood. When it came time to walk the premiere red carpet as one of the series’ stars, she knew she wanted a gown that would honor the show itself. Working with Indigenous designers Tasha Marie and Evan Ducharme, and stylist Benjamin Holtrop, she dreamed up a beaded corset and mermaid skirt etched with Avatar Easter eggs, and an overall effect like cascading water.

Ahead, Kiawentiio takes ELLE.com behind the scenes of her premiere look, and deeper into her hopes for Avatar’s future.

For the soft, peachy makeup her premiere look called for, Kiawentiio turned to artist Dom Della, who perfected a smudged wing and sun-kissed glow. “For the makeup, I definitely wanted to keep it more subtle, not too in-your-face,” Kiawentiio says. “Especially with the hair and the outfit, I just wanted to keep it—glam, definitely, but simple as well.”

Hair stylist Laura Rugetti affixed Kiawentiio’s long, swooping braid into a crown atop her head, then draped the tail down the actress’s side to hang just below her hip. “In our culture, braids are really significant, and they are actually a form of protection as well, so it was really important to me to incorporate that,” Kiawentiio says.

As proud as she is of her work bringing the new Avatar to life, Kiawentiio is already looking forward to returning to set, should the series get its anticipated green light for season 2. She feels more comfortable as Katara now that she’s spent a few years in the character’s skin. 

“I was learning her as we went,” she says, “and I feel like you could see that on screen—when I kind of sank into her character. So I feel like the Katara that we see in [episodes] 7 and 8 is what I would hope to bring to next season. As we all know from the original series, she becomes so much more confident in herself and in her capabilities to stand on her own, so I think that’s something that I’d love to focus on for season 2.”

Kiawentiio’s premiere-night gown was entirely custom-made, and composed of two separate pieces: a corset by Tasha Marie and a skirt by Evan Ducharme. Having walked in one of Marie’s fashion shows before, Kiawentiio capitalized on her relationship with the artist, and drew up a sketch of what she hoped to incorporate in a corset. “We did go back and forth, and she gave me her ideas and I gave her my ideas,” Kiawentiio says. “I thought it would be really cool to incorporate each symbol for the four nations, so that’s in there.”

Other Avatar Easter eggs incorporated into the beadwork include a Pai Sho tile—a piece from a fictional game in the Avatar universe, beloved by the character Uncle Iroh—and a fan used by the show’s Kyoshi warriors. 

“Then another favorite thing of mine, a personal touch, was the wolf prints on the side,” Kiawentiio says, “which is actually kind of a double meaning, because I am Wolf Clan, and also Wolf Cove for Katara and where she comes from.”

On the back of the corset are the twin Koi fish Tui and La, which—as fans of the animated series will know—represent the moon and ocean spirits of Avatar. “I knew that that was something I wanted to incorporate,” Kiawentiio says, “and it just turned out so beautifully, and I definitely praise Tasha for how amazing her work has been.”

Ahead of the big night, stylist Benjamin Holtrop reached out to BYCHARI to design custom drop earrings to pair with rings from Dean Davidson. “It was so sweet,” she says. “He surprised me with those custom earrings and they just went perfectly with the whole outfit, and it really was the cherry on top.”

To turn Katara’s water-bending motions into muscle memory, Kiawentiio trained for six weeks ahead of production. “That contained mostly going over tai chi forms and building fight scenes and getting my body used to those movements,” she says. “Also, exercises to get my legs strong enough to handle them, because tai chi consists of a lot of horse stance; you really need strong legs.”

The actress wants to keep Avatar in her life for as long as possible. “I definitely hope for season 2 and season 3—I think we all really want that for this show,” she says. “I am proud of what we’ve done for season 1, but I think there’s just so much to look forward to as well. In the animated series, it just gets better and better each season. So there’s a lot of scenes that I’d love to recreate and relationships that I’d love to see.”