#interview: toronto sun

[callmebyyournamephoto]

FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS: Timothée Chalamet and Luca Guadagnino break down 'Bones and All'

#timothée chalamet #timothee chalamet #luca guadagnino #2022 #interview #toronto sun #bones and all promo #video

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Timeline Part 3: May 2017 - June 2017

Previously: 2015 - April 2017 | Update to April 2015 - April 2017

As I mentioned before, I'll be doing these in smaller chunks because Tumblr keeps crashing when I do longer posts. In this edition, we'll look at Sussex PR from May 2017 to June 2017.

A quick note first. There isn't as many pieces from Meghan's mouthpieces during this window as there were earlier in the year. I suspect either a) Harry caught on to how much Meghan talked to the press so she scaled back to keep working him or b) the articles were handled when Meghan's team was scrubbing the internet.

This is also when we start seeing the Daily Mail start dripping hints about Meghan's dossier.

Here we go!

And as always, if you have updates, corrections, additions, please share!

5/2/2017: Meghan gives an interview to Good Housekeeping. This is the first known "roast chicken" reference.

5/3/2017: Meghan teases that Harry uses caviar pills to cure his male pattern baldness. "He" credits Meghan's holistic wellness.

5/4/2017: Buckingham Palace announces that Prince Philip is retiring after the summer and will stand down from royal duties. Anna Wintour is made a Dame by The Queen.

5/6/2017: The BBC claims that Harry's father is actually James Hewitt.

5/6/2017 - 5/7/2017: Audi Polo Challenge 2017 at Coworth Park. Meghan attends to watch Harry play polo and she is photographed with Mark Dyer. On Day 1 (May 6th), paparazzi catch Harry and Meghan kissing in the car park. On Day 2 (May 7th), William also plays polo and allegedly has Meghan thrown out of Coworth Park for stalking. Also on May 7th, Meghan leaks that she will be attending Pippa's wedding.

5/8/2017: Meghan wears a wedding dress for a movie.

5/9/2017: It's revealed that Meghan ditched Serena William's baby shower to go to London to see Harry.

5/10/2017: Mark Dyer sells his pubs to move out of London. The article is the first confirmation that he/his pubs had hosted Harry and Meghan for dates in the early days of their relationship. Speculation begins that Dyer doesn't like Meghan at all.

5/12/2017: Risque photos from a production Meghan did in 2011 resurface.

5/16/2017: Meghan flies into London for Pippa's wedding, although it isn't reported until May 17th and it isn't confirmed until May 18th.

5/18/2017: Meghan confirms she is in London to attend Pippa's wedding.

5/19/2017: Meghan does a pap walk in leggings and shows off her bum. The photos lead to the headline "Wedding of the Rears" and a front page photo by The Sun. Eugenie gives a tone-deaf interview about her "career" and mentions that she loves "The Crown."

5/20/2017: Pippa's Wedding. Meghan is not invited to the ceremony but is allowed at the after-party. Harry leaves the wedding midday to drive 3 hours round-trip to pick Meghan up from Nottingham Cottage. Rumors begin that Meghan wasn't allowed at all to Pippa's wedding, making Meghan angry, so to keep the peace, Harry left the wedding early and picked Meghan up so they could drive past local press to pretend they were going to the wedding.

5/21/2017: Meghan is papped leaving Kensington Palace early in the morning to fly back to Toronto.

5/22/2017:

Meghan gives an interview to Glamour UK about her fashion sense and style. She gives an infamous quote about how she likes to wear monochromatic neutrals (which later bites her in the butt when she says the royals made her wear only neutrals).

The Daily Mail reveals that Meghan's legal first name is actually Rachel.

Risque photos from Meghan's 2013 film resurface.

Meghan claims she was given rooms at the hotel where Pippa's wedding breakfast was being held and that she stayed away from the service out of respect to the bride. This completely contradicts her earlier story that she had stayed at Kensington Palace and that Harry left the wedding early to collect her for the after-party.

5/24/2017:

Priyanka Chopra gives an interview in which she speaks about Meghan and hints that she and Harry are engaged, saying she hopes for an invite to the wedding.

Meghan leaks that Harry plans to take her to Lesotho.

Sentebale's financial report is published.

5/28/2017: Meghan teases that she and Harry are house-hunting in Norfolk to be near William, Kate, and the children.

5/29/2017: William's GQ issue is published, in which he gives an intervew speaking about Diana's death and new photographs of the Cambridge family (in black and white!) are released.

5/31/2017: Camilla Thurlow (of Love Island) gives an interview about having dated Harry back in 2014 when they were photographed at a nightclub together.

6/4/2017: Harry travels to Singapore for four days to play polo in a fundraiser for Sentebale. He also does AIDS awareness work. The polo game is where he meets and befriends Nacho Figueroa.

6/7/2017: Harry travels to Sydney to promote the 2018 Invictus Games, merching his Meghan bracelet. Also, Pippa and James Matthews are in Perth for their honeymoon at the same time.

6/8/2017: Andrew applies to the UK Intellectual Property Office to trademark his Pitch@Palace initiative.

6/9/2017: Meghan is just like Queen Letizia!

6/10/2017: Meghan the yoga influencer. Meghan gives an airport papwalk in Texas ahead of the ATX Festival, merching her Panama hat, The Economist, and Chanel. Patrick Adams gives an interview to ATX about Meghan's relationship and speculates Harry ought to make a cameo on Suits.

6/11/2017: US Weekly speculates that Harry and Meghan could be getting married soon.

6/14/2017: The Sun recaps Harry's past relationships. They also reveal that Meghan had been invited to the 2016 Invictus Games in Orlando. The Sun claims that Meghan accepted the invitation and attended the games, but she and Harry didn't meet.

(June 14, 2017, is also the Grenfell Tower fire.)

6/16/2017: The Daily Express speculate on what Harry and Meghan's children could like.

6/17/2017:

The royal family celebrates The Queen's Birthday Parade, Trooping the Colour. (Kate and Charlotte wear pink.)

Meghan merches a gold and diamond thumb ring that she claims is from Harry. She also claims that Harry gave her a Cartier Love Bracelet (which we know now is actually from Trevor).

E News reports that Harry flies to Toronto after Trooping festivities to visit Meghan. E News also claims that Harry will propose by the end of the year and that Meghan is preparing to move to London. They later update the article to say Harry's camp denied that he went to Toronto and instead went directly to Malawi/Africa.

6/20/2017:

William and Kate make their first Royal Ascot appearance.

Meghan puts Beatrice and Eugenie on notice that she knows they're trying to take her down.

Rumors of Meghan's attitude/behavior causing problems on the Suits set begin. She brushes it off in an interview saying the cast is upset she keeps ditching them to spend time with Harry and that it'll blow over when she introduces Harry to them.

According to unverified claims by E News, Harry leaves Toronto and flies to Malawi for conservation charity work.

Meghan's character arrives on "The Windsors."

6/21/2017: Harry's Newsweek interview to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Diana's passing, and is part of his Hero Harry PR drive. Infamous snippets:

He's in no rush to get married or propose (clapback to all of Meghan's PR trying to hustle him down the aisle).

No one wants to be king or queen.

He wanted to quit the royal family at one point.

Meghan "communed with the dinosaurs" date night at the Natural History Museum.

"Small window of when people are interested in me before George and Charlotte take over."

6/22/2017: Fleet Street criticism of Harry's Newsweek interview begins. It lasts for about a week.

6/25/2017: Sexy photos from Meghan's 2014 model shoot resurface. Meghan leaks that Harry is making her engagement ring with diamonds and emeralds from Diana's collection and that he is collaborating with the royal jeweller, Harry Collins. She also says that Harry wants to marry sooner rather than later while Philip is still around to attend. (This comes after news that Philip was hospitalized for an infection and immediately causes speculation that Philip is seriously unwell/knocking at death's door.)

6/26/2017: E News claims that Harry's discussion about modernizing the monarchy and his role in the modernized monarchy is him preparing for marriage. This immediately causes speculation amongst royal watchers that he and Meghan had fought about the monarchy's way of charitywork (versus her issues-based campaigning) and Harry's sudden discussions about how the monarchy was modernizing was his attempts to fix it.

Also on 6/26/2017, the Court Circular confirms Harry is in Malawai. It is his only Court Circular appearance between 6/17/2017 (Trooping) and 7/6/2017.

6/27/2017: Meghan flies to London. Harry merches Sandals' Grande St. Lucian resort in a promo article. He stayed at the resort during his Caribbean tour in November 2016.

6/28/2017: Meghan merches her clothes and Channel 4 announces a "Meet the Markles" reality show/docuseries about Meghan's family.

6/29/2017: Meghan merches her clothes again and again tries to be a fashion influencer by plugging the "Meghan Effect." The trailer for Suits Season 7 drops and Charles and Camilla travel to Canada for a 3-day tour.

6/30/2017: Meghan leaks that she and Harry are very private homebodies and prefer to stay at home.

7/1/2017: The Cambridges, Harry, and the Spencers attend a private memorial service at the Althorp estate for Diana. (Meghan is in Toronto filming the 100th episode of Suits, courtesy of Patrick Adams' instagram.) Meghan's relationship history is published. Charles announces plans to throw an enormous 70th birthday party for Camilla.

#timeline #brf #sussexes #pr stunts

[natlacentral]

'I've got to pinch myself': Paul Sun-Hyung Lee on playing Iroh in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'

Presumably the people outside a local car dealership a couple of years ago who heard Paul Sun-Hyung Lee let out a “huge whoop” during a phone call with his agent didn't fully grasp the significance of that celebratory sound.

The Toronto actor beloved as the internet’s “Appa” thanks to “Kim’s Convenience” and a popular part of the “Star Wars” universe, too, was about to become the internet’s favourite uncle.

Lee had landed the role of Uncle Iroh in “Avatar: the Last Airbender,” Netflix’s much anticipated live-action reimagining of a well loved animated series (not to be confused with James Cameron’s “Avatar” films).

“Honestly, I have moments where I think I’ve got to pinch myself because, even as a youngster, I never would have believed that I could be a part of these things, because I never saw anybody who looked like me reflected in any of these shows,” the Korean Canadian actor said, reflecting on his roles in “Airbender” and the “Star Wars” spinoffs “The Mandalorian” and “Ahsoka,” in which he plays the popular Captain Carson Teva.

As Iroh in “Airbender,” Lee has stepped into the robes of another fan favourite character.

First, a bit of a primer: “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” which debuts Thursday, is about a 12-year-old boy, the “Avatar” of the title, on a quest to save the world from the rapacious Fire Nation, which has gone to war with the Earth, Water and Air peoples. Despite his youth, Avatar Aang (played by Vancouver actor Gordon Cormier) is a powerful “bender,” honing his ability to manipulate air, water, earth and fire.

Aang and his friends — Katara, a water bender (played by Indigenous Canadian Kiawentiio), and her brother, Sokka (American actor Ian Ousley) — are being hunted by fire bender Prince Zuko (American Dallas Liu), who’s accompanied by his wise and compassionate Uncle Iroh, himself a fire bender and a former Fire Nation general.

If that all sounds kind of geeky, well, that’s right up Lee’s alley.

The 51-year-old has well-established nerd bona fides as a fan of “Star Wars” and other science fiction (he shares his love of the genre on his Bitterasiandude Inc. YouTube channel). He caught up with the original “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (which aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008, then moved to Netflix) while he was still working on the CBC comedy “Kim’s Convenience” (2016-21), in which he played a South Korean immigrant who runs a convenience store in Toronto. 

In 2018, as new fans were discovering “Kim’s” worldwide after the series moved to Netflix, the streaming giant announced its remake of “Airbender,” setting in motion Lee's ascent into another dream role. 

“Almost immediately I got fan casted (as Iroh) by all these people on the internet,” Lee said in a Zoom interview. “I was very, very flattered, but I was doing ‘Kim’s.’”

A few years later, though, “Kim’s” had ended and Lee got an audition for what was billed as a basketball movie called “Blue Dawn,” as a coach who had come out of retirement to guide his nephew.

Although he’s “more of a baseball, hockey guy,” Lee taped the audition and then forgot about it, until a callback a couple of months later. Except now, the retired basketball coach Howard was named Iroh.

“There’s only one Iroh that I know of,” said Lee. “And so I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is for “Avatar”’ … right away I got super nervous. The stakes went up and I really wanted this part.”

But, after doing a chemistry read with Liu and not hearing anything for a couple of weeks, Lee assumed he had missed out on the role, which is part of the lot of an actor … until his agent called just as Lee and his wife were about to sign a lease on a new vehicle.

“So I excused myself, leaving the salesman completely befuddled. I went outside and that’s when I learned that I landed the role. And immediately let out this huge whoop. I had forgotten that I was in a public area and there were lots of people outside, and they all suddenly looked at me and I said, ‘It’s OK. It’s good news. It’s great news.’”

There was one more hurdle to overcome, though. 

“Airbender,” which shoots in Vancouver, overlapped Lee’s schedule for “The Mandalorian,” which films in Los Angeles. And playing Iroh meant shaving off the middle part of the moustache that Lee sports as Captain Teva.

“Luckily I was able to have my cake and eat it at the same time,” said Lee. “Lucasfilm was like, ‘Oh, we’ll just build him a little fake moustache to put on while he’s shooting (“The Mandalorian”).’”

Lee isn’t certain how familiar the producers of “Airbender” were with his work on “Kim’s Convenience” — it's an established fact that “Mandalorian” producer and director Dave Filoni was a “Kim’s” fan before he cast Lee — but he considers his latest job to be another of the many blessings accruing from the CBC series.

“‘Kim’s Convenience’ was such a wonderful launching pad for my career,” Lee said. “I mean, that show was kind of my coming out party in terms of the film and TV world.”

Lee, who was born in South Korea but immigrated to Canada with his parents when still an infant, struggled to find good film and TV roles as a young actor in the 1990s and early aughts. 

After graduating from drama school at the University of Toronto, he did a lot of theatre work, but onscreen “I played a lot of doctors, a lot of store clerks, a lot of window dressing-type caricatures, not characters.”

And yet, he persisted. 

Despite not seeing himself reflected in the television he devoured as a kid and from which he developed his love of storytelling, “I thought, well, heck, if there’s nobody (else Asian) out there, maybe there’s a shot for me to get in … that was kind of foolish thinking because maybe you’re the only one because a lot of people have tried and haven’t been able to get through. But I was just too stupid and too stubborn to quit, so just kept at it.”

Now Lee hopes to provide inspiration for the young Asian actors coming up behind him.

On the set of “Airbender,” which has many Asian actors in its cast, Lee became particularly close with Liu, the 22-year-old Chinese-Indonesian-American actor playing his beloved nephew. Just as Iroh is protective of Zuko, for whom he becomes a surrogate father, Lee said he wanted to nurture Liu.

“Every chance that I got to just sort of give him little pearls of wisdom based on my experiences … I couldn’t help but want to see him succeed,” Lee said. “This kid is a superstar,” he added.

Now that Lee himself is part of two much-loved pop culture franchises, “my cup runneth over,” but he still has entries on his acting bucket list.

“Not to sound greedy, but I’d love to do ‘Star Trek’ because that's filming right in our backyard. I’d love to do a ‘Ghostbusters.’ All those geeky playgrounds I never got a chance to play in. I want to be in a rom-com. I want to be in a Western, the genres that I grew up watching …

“But I’ll take it as it comes and I’m grateful for what I have. And if this is the only thing I ever do again I will be thankful for it because a lot of people don’t get these opportunities.”

#natla #atla #netflix avatar #netflix atla #avatar the last airbender #paul sun hyung lee #atla netflix #avatar netflix #toronto star #article

[louisupdates]

FITFWT23: TOUR RECAP MASTERPOST

FASHION RECAP: NORTH AMERICA, EUROPE (Top Ten)

LITHOGRAPHS and PORTRAITS

OUTRO SONGS

IQ 123: Tour promo and production interviews

TOUR TECHNICAL SPECS [TPI MAGAZINE]

GROUP PHOTOS NA

Louis’ care for his fans

NORTH AMERICA

26 May - Mohegan Sun Arena, UNCASVILLE, CT

27 May - Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, GILFORD, NH

29 May - Place Bell, LAVAL QC

30 May - Budweiser Stage, TORONTO ON

1 Jun - Blossom Music Center, CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH

2 Jun - Michigan Lottery Amphitheater, STERLING HEIGHTS, MI

FITFWT23: WEEK 1

3 Jun - The Icon Festival Stage, CINCINNATI, OH

6 Jun - Kemba Live! Outdoor, COLUMBUS, OH

7 Jun - TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park, INDIANAPOLIS, IN

9 Jun - Saint Louis Music Park, ST. LOUIS, MO

PORTRAITS, 1st set [10.6.2023]

IG stories and selfies [10.6.2023]

10 Jun - Starlight Theatre, KANSAS CITY, MO

13 Jun - BMO Pavilion, MILWAUKEE, WI

15 Jun - Huntington Bank Pavilion, CHICAGO, IL

16 Jun - The Armory, MINNEAPOLIS, MN

17 Jun - Harrah’s Stir Cove, COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA

19 Jun - Denny Sanford Premiere Center, SIOUX FALLS, SD

21 Jun - Red Rocks Amphitheatre, MORRISON, CO: CANCELLED 😪

24 Jun - Wamu Theater, SEATTLE, WA

26 Jun - Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Center, VANCOUVER BC

27 Jun - McMenamins Edgefield Concerts, TROUTDALE, OR

29 Jun - The Greek Theatre, BERKELEY, CA

PORTRAITS, 2nd set [29.6.2023]

PORTRAITS posted 30.6 [x]

30 Jun - Louis Instagram recap

30 Jun - The Hollywood Bowl, LOS ANGELES, CA

1 Jul - The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan, LAS VEGAS, NV

3 Jul - Arizona Financial Theatre, PHOENIX, AZ

6 Jul - The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, IRVING, TX

7 Jul - Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park, AUSTIN, TX

8 Jul - The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, THE WOODLANDS, TX

PORTRAITS, 3rd set [9.7.2023]

9 Jul: Louis Instagram recap

10 Jul RTL Radio Interviews

11 Jul - St. Augustine Amphitheatre, ST. AUGUSTINE, FL

13 Jul - Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, HOLLYWOOD, FL

14 Jul - Yuengling Center, TAMPA, FL

15 Jul - Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park, ATLANTA, GA

18 Jul - Ascend Amphitheater, NASHVILLE, TN

19 Jul - Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre, CHARLOTTE, NC

21 Jul - Red Hat Amphitheater, RALEIGH, NC

22 Jul - Merriweather Post Pavilion, COLUMBIA, MD

PORTRAITS, 4th set [23.7.2023]

24 Jul - MGM Music Hall at Fenway, BOSTON1, MA

25 Jul - MGM Music Hall at Fenway, BOSTON2, MA

27 Jul - TD Pavilion at the Mann, PHILADELPHIA, PA

28 Jul - Stone Pony Summer Stage, ASBURY PARK, NJ

29 Jul - Forrest Hills Stadium, NEW YORK, NY

PORTRAITS, 5th set [31.7.2023]

North America FAN EDIT

AUGUST 2023 GAP 1 recap

AWAY FROM HOME FESTIVAL

19 Aug - Parco Bussoladomani, LIDO DI CAMAIORE, Italy

AUGUST 2023 GAP 2 recap (including the 28 launch)

EUROPE

29 Aug - Barclays Arena, HAMBURG

31 Aug - Royal Arena, COPENHAGEN

1 Sep - Spektrum, OSLO [Bigger Than Me anniversary content]

PORTRAITS, 6th set [2.9.2023]

2 Sep - Hovet, STOCKHOLM

4 Sep - Ice Hall, HELSINKI

DORK MAGAZINE PHOTOS 2022 w/ links

5 Sep - Saku Arena, TALLINN

7 Sep - Arena Riga, RIGA

PORTRAITS, 7th set [8.9.2023]

8 Sep - Zalgiris Arena, KAUNAS

10 Sep - Tauron Arena, KRAKOW

11 Sep - Atlas Arena, ŁÓDŹ

13 Sep - Wiener Stadhalle D, VIENNA

14 Sep - Stozice Arena, LJUBLJANA

15 Sep - Budapest Arena, BUDAPEST

PORTRAITS, 8th set [16.9.2023]

17 Sep - Arenele Romane, BUCHAREST

18 Sep - Arena Armeets, SOFIA

20 Sep - Plateia Nerou, ATHENS w/ links to AOTV announcements

SEPTEMBER 2023 GAP recap

1 Oct - Bilbao Arena Miribilla, BILBAO (VIZCAYA)

3 Oct - Altice Arena, LISBON

5 Oct - Wizink Center, MADRID

6 Oct - Palau Sant Jordi, BARCELONA

PORTRAITS, 9th set [7.10]

8 Oct - Pala Alpitur, TURIN

9 Oct - Unipol Arena, BOLOGNA

11 Oct - Rockhal, ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE

12 Oct - Sportspaleis, ANTWERP

14 Oct - Accor Arena, PARIS

15 Oct - Ziggo Dome, AMSTERDAM

17 Oct - Lanxess Arena, COLOGNE

19 Oct - O2 Arena, PRAGUE

20 Oct - Mercedes Benz Arena, BERLIN

PORTRAITS, 10th set [21.10]

22 Oct - Olympiahalle, MUNICH

23 Oct - Hallenstadion, ZURICH

FITFWT23: LATAM promo begins [28.10]

Twitter spree: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 Hall Of Fame, [31.10]

IGTV [1.11]: transcript, gifs [x] [x] [x] [x] [x]

8 Nov - 3Arena, DUBLIN

10 Nov - Utilita Arena, SHEFFIELD

11 Nov - AO Arena, MANCHESTER

12 Nov - Ovo Hydro, GLASGOW

14 Nov - Brighton Center, BRIGHTON

15 Nov - International Arena, CARDIFF

17 Nov - The O2, LONDON

18 Nov - Resorts World Arena, BIRMINGHAM

FITFWT23 has come to an end!

ROLLING STONE UK 2023 AWARDS

23 Nov - Camden Roundhouse, LONDON

#fitfwt23 #fitfwt23: mp #fitfwt23: recap #louis tomlinson

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Who is Markus Anderson asks The Sun by u/TorchFlower

Who is Markus Anderson, asks The Sun Apologies if this has been posted - from today’s The Sun. Pulling on the Markus thread, finally, perhaps?https://ift.tt/CWJKlaw does Markus Anderson know Meghan Markle?Meghan and Markus both lived in Toronto and reports suggested that they had been running in the same circles for years.…In Harry and Megan's official engagement interview with BBC, they both hinted that they had been set up by a friend.Markus reportedly arranged for the pair to meet secretly at the company's properties in Toronto, London and Somerset during their courtship so they could enjoy some alone time.They reportedly spent "a secret weekend away at Soho Farmhouse" and attended a Halloween party together in Toronto's Soho House in 2017.“He [Prince Harry] asked Markus if he could set up, not a date, but an opportunity for them to meet and that happened in one of the private rooms of Soho House,” Katie Nicholls, a royal commentator said. post link: https://ift.tt/e3gNxSs author: TorchFlower submitted: March 30, 2024 at 07:52AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

#SaintMeghanMarkle #harry and meghan #meghan markle #prince harry #fucking grifters #Worldwide Privacy Tour #Instagram loving bitch wife #Backgrid #voetsek meghan #walmart wallis #markled #archewell #archewell foundation #megxit #duke and duchess of sussex #duke of sussex #duchess of sussex #doria ragland #rent a royal #clevr #clevr blends #lemonada media #archetypes with meghan #invictus #invictus games #Sussex #WAAAGH #american riviera orchard #TorchFlower

[c4tth3w]

matthew Q&A for GQ <3

Here’s a recap of everything that’s happened to Matthew Tkachuk over the last five weeks. First, he and the Florida Panthers took down the Boston Bruins in one of the biggest upsets the NHL has ever seen: Florida came back from a 3-1 deficit in their first-round series to oust the team with the best regular-season record in league history. Both Games 5 and 7—elimination games for the Panthers—went to overtime, and Tkachuk was heavily involved. He netted the game winner in the fifth game and assisted on the Game 7 knockout punch that sent Florida to the next round.      

The Panthers completed a gentleman's sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round, and shortly after that, Tkachuk was named a finalist for the Hart Trophy, given to the NHL’s Most Valuable Player. The Eastern Conference Finals pitted Florida against the Carolina Hurricanes, a juggernaut that would have had the league’s best record if not for the Bruins going supernova. The Panthers only needed four games for them. The final fixture of that series provided the biggest moment of Tkachuk’s career. With just 4.3 seconds left in regulation, Tkachuk buried the goal (his fourth game-winner of the playoffs) that clinched Florida’s first trip to the Stanley Cup Final since 1996.

The Panthers have one more challenge standing between them and Lord Stanley. The Vegas Golden Knights, owners of the best record in the Western Conference, are no slouch. Bringing down a fourth 100-point team would be a fairytale ending to the Panthers’ postseason march—and very much in line with the fairytale that the 25-year-old Tkachuk has been living. (He uses the word “unreal” frequently.) As his Panthers have climbed the postseason ladder, Jimmy Butler has worn Tkachuk’s jersey, strengthening the bond between two South Florida underdogs gunning for improbable championships. Tkachuk has also appeared on Inside the NBA, and by sweeping Carolina, he’s had some leisure time to soak up the sun before starting the Stanley Cup Final. In his first year in Florida after six with the Calgary Flames, Tkachuk has adjusted accordingly to the tropical lifestyle. As he told GQ in a recent interview, there are far worse places to be.  

You’ve had a lot of time to chill. What the hell have you been up to?

I’ve been hanging out and going to the beach a lot. I’ve taken a few quick trips. One of the perks of living in Florida is you have the ocean right there. It’s super good for your body and mind to go in there—it’s pretty peaceful in there. I’ve gone out a couple times for dinner. But mostly I’m just staying quiet at the house. I don’t know, I’m really trying to put everything into the Stanley Cup Final. I’m at the rink every single day, some days to skate and some days to recover. Obviously, I’m using everything in the basket to try and win it all here. 

Oh, I went to the Heat game the other night! I got to see Game 6 and sat with Charles [Barkley] and Shaq for a little bit.  

How fun was it to guest on Inside the NBA and witness that legendary Charles and Shaq energy up close?

It was awesome! It all happened last minute—literally that morning I was asked if I wanted to come to the game and talk with Charles and Shaq. Hell yeah! Let’s do it. But what was really cool was talking to those guys off camera. That’s when we were really talking. Hockey, sports, golf, just talking about everything, getting to pick their brains, and learn about stuff I don’t really know about was super entertaining. 

Are you more of a Charles or a Shaq?

That is tough. It was crazy that I got to meet them. I think that [dynamic] would be a great comparison for how me and my brother [Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk] are. We bicker a lot. But we’re really tight and actually best friends. Always there to chirp each other and have fun. They were both unreal players too. I watched more of Shaq, because he was closer to my generation, but I just watched Charles in the Dream Team documentary. I don’t know who I would be.

You’re in South Florida now, but I just learned that you went to high school in St. Louis with Jayson Tatum. So who were you rooting for in that Heat-Celtics series?

I honestly just loved going to watch Jayson and Jimmy Butler. I didn’t care about the final score. I know all the people in St. Louis would be pissed at me if I was rooting against Jayson and all the people here probably wouldn’t be happy if I was rooting against the Heat. I thought it’d just be easier to root for a couple players. Now that the Heat are in the Finals and I have zero allegiance to the Denver Nuggets at all—if the Heat can pull off the upset it’d be unreal for all of South Florida. 

The idea of playing hockey in Florida always has this kind of funny connotation. It’s a relatively new franchise, you’re playing in warm weather in the south, it’s a very opposite idea of what most people have in their head when they think of the NHL. But you’re making it all sound pretty great.

It’s the top destination in the NHL. When you look at it—this is my opinion, and I would say most people’s opinion—the top two destinations in the league right now are the Florida teams. Third would probably be Vegas. It’s funny how that’s who we’re playing in the Final. People probably don’t look at Florida as the biggest hockey market, but Tampa’s won all these Cups recently and been to a bunch of Finals, the Panthers had some good runs before I got here, and when you go out West, Vegas has been right there at the top. Dallas has been right there too. These warmer climate markets aren’t the same as Toronto or Montreal, but the success that everyone’s had down here is no secret.  

When I chose to come here, the number one reason was to be on a competitive team, compete for championships year over year, right behind that was the way of life. But you’re not just coming here to live the Florida life, you’re coming here to win. It’s just a perk that you get to live in Florida on top of all that. My life has changed so much since coming [to Florida]. The lifestyle has been unbelievable. The way I’m able to live down here is insane. It doesn’t get better, anywhere. Playing in the U.S., having these opportunities with people like Jimmy Butler and Charles Barkley, having way more nationally-televised games, competing for the Stanley Cup, that’s made not only myself but everyone on the team more of a name than we were before. 

Have you become a boat guy since moving to Florida?

I have not. I’ve gotten as far as a few jet skis. I’m not a boat guy. I like to go on boats, but I don’t want to drive a boat. No chance I could park it. 

How many texts did you get after scoring the game-winning goal to go to the Final? Was your phone just unusable?

I don’t know, probably close to 400 or 500. This run has been unreal. 

After scoring that goal, when did reality set in?

I don’t think it felt real until the next day. With that goal, I knew there wasn’t much time left. When Ryno [Sam Reinhart] shot it off the post, I figured we had about ten seconds, maybe a little bit less. The next few chances, whether it was one or multiple, had to be on the net quick. I sort of just walked out from behind the net. I knew I had a little bit of time to make a move, but not much. Once I saw it go in I was the happiest person ever. First thing I did was look up to see if I got it in on time, and saw there was four seconds left or whatever. I don’t know what I was thinking after that! I did the slide [celebration] and it felt like the roof was going to come off because it was so loud. Then I got a little nervous because [the Hurricanes] challenged it [for goaltender interference], and you never know with challenges. But, it was obviously a good goal, and that was the moment where I was like, “Holy shit. That just happened.”

When I got back home I hung out with some family and friends and talked about how crazy of a night that was. I woke up the next day, which thankfully was an off day, and just thought, “Wow, Stanley Cup Final, here we come.” I’ve seen enough highlights of the goal just from being in places where it’s on TV—and trust me, I love seeing it—but I don’t want that goal to define the season. 

When the puck drops on Game 1, it’ll be your first game since May 24. Is the concept of rust mostly a myth, or is that something that you guys are actually talking about and acknowledging?

You know what? We had a week off before the third round and maybe there was a little bit of rust in the first period. That’s something that we’re going to learn from. In the playoffs, with days off—even if there’s ten of them—it’s great for players that have some bumps and bruises.

You’ve gotta be pretty beat up at this point of the year. Does everything hurt when you wake up? 

When you win it doesn’t hurt that much.

From your perspective, why is a lower seed making it all the way to the Final much more common in hockey than it is in other sports?

Well, it’s happening right now in basketball, too! But it’s really just, once you get in, everything resets back to zero. We got into the playoffs by one point. When it came down to that—then we realized, holy shit we’re playing the Boston Bruins, the best regular season team in NHL history. [But] none of that really mattered anymore! It was 0-0. Let’s go. It gave us confidence. We do a great job of keeping our focus solely on each game. That’s what’s made us have a lot of success.  

It’s gotta be that plus whatever they’ve put in the water down there that’s given you and the Heat superpowers.

[chuckles] We’re feeding off each other.

I know that hockey players are famously superstitious, but I’m wondering if you’ve allowed yourself to think about what you would do with the Stanley Cup if you get your day with it. 

It’s natural to think about that stuff. But every time I go down that road I pinch myself and try not to. The one thing you do think about constantly is that feeling you’d have from lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time. That’s gotta be the most amazing thing in your whole life. One team is going to do it—hopefully it’s us.   

What’s up with Brooks Koepka? He seems to be the Panthers’ fan ambassador right now, and he’s intense! It’s clear that it’s not an act at all—he really cares! 

I actually just met him right after Game 4. He wanted to come down and meet me. I got a picture with him and got to chit chat for a little bit. He’s really excited. It’s great to see support from other athletes. Success in a tight community makes everyone pull for each other. Him and the rest of the fan base has been unreal. This building is so loud. We were talking about in the offseason—which is hopefully a few weeks from now after winning the Stanley Cup—maybe we can link up and golf somewhere. 

#LEGEND #matthew tkachuk #txt

[mychampagne-mybubbles]

SEVEN 7

2022 marks 7 years since BBG announcement & “hiatus” - January the kid will be 7yo

Louis covering the song 7 - Catfish and the bottleman during WT2022

Louis presenting his 28 official programme with interesting logos: bouquet

In October ‘21 H answered to a fan sign with a 7 in Pittsburg.

Harry sharing pleasing nail art holding up 7 fingers (hinting his BD & Louis’ tour kick off or Holivia starting date???)

Coachella’s Apollo reference: Apollo entered the world, sacred swans circled the island seven times on the 7th day of the month.

I will survive - 7 years after 1D’s Manila version at Coachella

Four 7’s (28) on Late Night Talking Harry’s date shirt

Harry restarts Kiwi twice in some of his LOT European leg shows. (He did something similar in the US LOT leg x3)

Harry mentioning “seven” x3 (grade he gave the crowd) in the middle of Kiwi LOT Krakow

Louis wearing a blue sun shirt with a 7 on the back at Brisbane.

Louis points how its been 7 years since he was in Australia for the last time x

Harry sharing 7 7 7 in IG

Louis’ management team company is “seven 7”

Faith in the future 7th time on twitter

Harry’s second night LOT residency Toronto - he engaged with a group of 7 fans

Harry’s NYC N1 - engaged with a “BF called after 7 years” sign

Louis outro song Seven Nation Army as outro song at H’s 7th show

Harry wearing the peace ring on the 7th -anniversary from the last time- and wear a version of the outfit he wore on the 7/7/22 -matching Louis’ shared picture on the same day

Helene Horlyck & Lottie share pictures of the same day 7 years back (09.09.2015)

Louis shares a clip from bigger than me via tiktok with lyrics displayed in 7 beats

NYC DWD premiere: Harry used 7/8 buttons & wore 7 rings

* Lets use a big asterisk for this one: Louis appearing at 7pm on his interviews or 7ish related channels 🤷🏼‍♀️*

#cbcoincidinks #seven #louis tomlinson #harry styles #7 years since hiatus #7 years since BBG announcement #freddie fake shit

[ingek73]

Meghan of Montecito She’s left the Firm behind. Harry’s found a polo team in Santa Barbara. The kids are doing great. Now she’s ready for her next act.

By Allison P. Davis@allisonpdavis Photographs by Campbell Addy

Photo: Campbell Addy

The conditions are right for confession. It is a beautiful August day in Montecito, in a beautiful sitting room, in a beautiful home. Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, a lively 3-year-old with a shock of ginger curls identical to his father’s, toddles into the room demanding “Momma” listen to his heartbeat with a wooden toy stethoscope. He stands, tummy protruding, while his mother, Meghan, convincingly performs her glee at hearing the thump-thump, thump-thump in his chest. Archie giggles and, satisfied, toddles right back out again.

Meghan, relaxing in a cozy chair, gazes over all that is climate-controlled and high-ceilinged and sun-dappled and perfectly marshmallowy, and hers. An invisible hand has lit a Soho House–branded rose-water candle (the founder, Nick Jones, is a friend from “long before I met Harry,” she says), and that scent fills the air, mingling with the gentle tones of a flamenco-inflected guitar floating from a speaker. Then, in the lull in conversation, Meghan turns to me and leans forward to ask in a conspiratorial hush, “Do you want to know a secret?”

Meghan, silenced no more, looks around, making sure nobody (who would be?) is listening in. Then the top-secret drop: “I’m getting back … on Instagram,” she says, her eyes alight and devilish.

This could have been a troll: Delivering a nothing with such gravitas feels as if Meghan, who has been so trolled by the media, is serving it back, just a little. But, as I quickly realize, it is actually news. Before this chapter in her life, before everything difficult that spun off from marrying the Duke of Sussex and, along with him, the British monarchy, she was just Meghan Markle, a woman with a plum role on a USA procedural and a moderately popular lifestyle blog, The Tig. As herself, she’d amassed 3 million Instagram followers by sharing snippets of a basic life: yoga, food she liked, hikes with friends, her beagle, Guy. Fans watched as she attended events with her Suits castmates and charity galas, nights out at Soho House in London and Toronto. She ran that account for years before she met Harry, but on the heels of their engagement, control over her Instagram was just one of the things (along with The Tig, her passport, and the freedom to open her own mail) she gave up. She’d loved sharing her life with people, she says, but she loved Harry more. “It was a big adjustment — a huge adjustment to go from that kind of autonomy to a different life,” says Meghan.

Meghan was permitted to join Harry, Kate, and Will on a preexisting account, @KensingtonRoyal, that she had no control over. “There’s literally a structure by which if you want to release photos of your child, as a member of the family, you first have to give them to the Royal Rota,” the U.K. media pool, she explains. Usually, the photos would be on media outlets before she could post them herself. That didn’t sit right with Meghan, given her strained relationship with the British tabloids (“Harry’s girl is [almost] straight outta Compton” is how the Daily Mail introduced her to the British public), and especially since she would soon have a child of her own to protect. “Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child?” she asks, still ruffled. “You tell me how that makes sense and then I’ll play that game.”

In April 2019, one month before Archie was born, Meghan and Harry launched their own Instagram handle, @sussexroyal, which reached 1 million followers within six hours. On their own account, they refused to play the “exchange game”: They broke their own news, posting photos that sometimes never even made it to the Royal Rota. Shortly after they officially stepped back from their royal duties, they shut down @sussexroyal. (They could no longer use royal in their branding.) Later, in an interview with Fortune, Meghan declared that she wasn’t planning on getting back on social media — the constant bullying had been too much. So this divulgence, in addition to being newsworthy, is a symbol of progress: proof that she and Harry have made it to the other side of all the drama that defined their past three years.

“Especially now, with Archetypes coming out,” she says, steering the conversation toward the reason she agreed to sit for an interview in the first place. Archetypes, the podcast Meghan hosts, is the first, much-anticipated offering to come from the pair of high-profile deals the couple signed in 2020 with Netflix and Spotify. Each episode features her, in conversation with her famous friends, discussing the ways women are unfairly labeled — an experience, Meghan notes, she has been through herself and is finally ready to talk about. Progress, however, is a series of steps forward and leaps backward. Later, Meghan would relay she was no longer sure she would actually return to Instagram.

Though she has been media trained and then royal-media trained and sometimes converses like she has a tiny Bachelor producer in her brain directing what she says (at one point in our conversation, instead of answering a question, she will suggest how I might transcribe the noises she’s making: “She’s making these guttural sounds, and I can’t quite articulate what it is she’s feeling in that moment because she has no word for it; she’s just moaning”), at this stage, post-royal, there’s no need for her to hold back. She’s flinging open the proverbial doors to her life; as any millennial woman whose feminism was forged in the girlboss era would understand, she has taken a hardship and turned it into content.

Meghan’s journey from Deal or No Deal suitcase girl to princess had the makings of a fairy tale or, at the very least, a stellar romantic comedy, but it took almost no time to turn into an extraction plot from a mid-’90s political thriller. The seemingly storybook wedding in 2018 was followed by a year of clandestine conversations with the 1,200-year-old institution dubbed the Firm, during which the couple asked for help in relieving Meghan’s declining mental health. When those talks went nowhere, there were even more clandestine conversations with a network of rich and powerful friends that led to an escape to Vancouver Island for a six-week holiday that turned into something far more permanent. It was from there the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, made a surprise announcement that they would be stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family in an Instagram post so full of hidden context and meaning that MI6 could use it for message-decoding training.

Their accepted exit terms (or “Megxit,” to use the term the papers favored, even though Harry declared it misogynistic) stipulated that the couple would no longer make appearances on behalf of the queen, would no longer be permitted to use the HRH designation, and would make their own money (though Prince Charles provided some financial assistance for the first year). They were left sans public funding to bankroll both their lives and the security that protected those lives, and the press had just leaked the location of the coastal home they were staying in. By March 2020, the pandemic was under way, and there was talk of the Canadian-U.S. border closing. They could see men on boats watching them from the water.

Though Meghan had never met Tyler Perry in person, he had reached out when she and Harry got married to tell her that he was praying for her “and that he understood what this meant,” Meghan recalls, referring to the symbolic weight of their wedding, “and that he could only imagine what it was like.” He also told Meghan to call if she ever needed support or advice. It took her a long time to do so, she admits. But once she did, she found herself telling him every detail of their situation in Canada. “Sometimes, you can tell your life story to a stranger on a plane as opposed to some of the people that are closest to you,” she says.

And in a plot twist I may never get over, Perry offered her one of his homes — a literal safe house in Beverly Hills, complete with security detail — and became, in many ways, the reason that Meghan and Harry started their new life in Southern California.

But she already covered all of this in the interview for Oprah, she reminds me with a firm smile and a wave of her hand that signals it is time to move on. In March 2021, a year after they’d fled to America, Meghan and Harry put rumors about Megxit to rest. They took part in an interview special with their neighbor and collaborator Oprah Winfrey that attracted 17 million viewers. Over the course of the 85-minute special, she dropped bombshells, baby: about Charles not taking Harry’s phone calls, about palace conversations where a (still unnamed) someone kvetched over how dark Archie’s skin would be. She clarified that it was Kate Middleton who made her cry over flower-girl dresses, not vice versa, as the tabloids had previously reported. Bombshells and the Firm, leaks and relocations, racism against babies. This was definitely not a fairy tale, but revealing all of it was their way of setting fire to a narrative they didn’t control and letting a new one emerge.

My first glimpse of Meghan in this new chapter is her crouched in the entryway, arms wrapped around her black Lab, Pula (Setswana for rain and good fortune and a tribute to an early date during the couple’s whirlwind romance in 2016). The front doors are thrown wide open, as are the doors leading out to the backyard. She stands and smiles with the perfect level of warmth, the gleam of her teeth rivaled only by the shininess of her blowout. Backlit by the late-morning light in a scene that looks like a Nancy Meyers cinematic interior, Town & Country, Goop, and Architectural Digest had an orgy and created the perfect moment in California living, she throws her arms wide open, too, and gives me a hug. “Come on through,” she says, beckoning me to join her on one of many terraces.

WHEN THE MEDIA HAS SHAPED THE STORY AROUND YOU, IT’S REALLY NICE TO BE ABLE TO TELL YOUR OWN STORY.

The Montecito house is the kind of big that startles you into remembering that unimaginable wealth is actually someone’s daily reality. It evokes a classic Tuscan villa, a Napa vineyard, and a manicured Beverly Hills country club decorated with careful, considered coastal tones for a casual air — the home equivalent of billionaires dressing down in denim.

Finding a house to start their new life wasn’t easy, Meghan tells me. “We were looking in this area” — she’s referring to Montecito, the tony beachside hamlet north of Los Angeles — “and this house kept popping up online in searches.” At first, they’d resisted going to visit. “We didn’t have jobs, so we just were not going to come and see this house. It wasn’t possible. It’s like when I was younger and you’re window shopping — it’s like, I don’t want to go and look at all the things that I can’t afford. That doesn’t feel good.” How utterly humbled we all are when confronted with a depressingly aspirational Zillow hunt.

They did eventually tour it and fell almost immediately in love. (And since they have income now, in the form of a reported $25 million Spotify deal and a reported $100 million Netflix deal, it’s within their means.) Meghan stops to point out two massive Dr. Seussian palm trees, dead center on a lawn so verdant it’s better not to consider the water bill.

“One of the first things my husband saw when we walked around the house was those two palm trees,” she coos. “See how they’re connected at the bottom? He goes, ‘My love, it’s us.’  And now every day when Archie goes by us, he says, ‘Hi, Momma. Hi, Papa.’ ” They had toured only the grounds when they told the real-estate agent, “We have to get this house,” Meghan says. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t seen the inside. Meghan gestures to the sweep of the property, from chicken coop to pool house to main house. Eventually, they purchased it for $14.65 million. “We did everything we could to get this house.” She leans her head back and lets the sun beam down into her pores. “Because you walk in and go …” She takes a deep inhale through her nose and breathes out her mouth. “Joy. And exhale. And calm. It’s healing. You feel free.”

Even if she and Harry have stepped back from their royal duties, Meghan is still very aware that people see her as a princess. “It’s important to be thoughtful about it because — even with the Oprah interview, I was conscious of the fact that there are little girls that I meet and they’re just like, ‘Oh my God, it’s a real-life princess.’ ” But her ambitions for herself (and the little girls who look up to her) are more than to marry into a position. “I just look at all of them and think, You have the power within you to create a life greater than any fairy tale you’ve ever read. I don’t mean that in terms of ‘You could marry a prince one day.’ I mean you can find love. You can find happiness. You can be up against what could feel like the greatest obstacle and then you can find happiness again.”

Meghan’s Harry, or “H,” as she calls him in anecdotes, or “my love,” as she refers to him when he’s standing in front of her, as he is now in navy-blue athletic shorts, a T-shirt, and no shoes, has appeared from somewhere in the house to say hello. I stand up, instantly understanding the confusion Meghan must have felt when she first met the royal family. Am I supposed to shake his hand, or bow, or curtsy, or salute? Do I call him Prince Harry, the Royal Formerly Known As Prince, Ex-Prince Harry, the Duke, Sir, Mr. — wait, does he have a last name? As if to preempt any attempts I might make at curtsying, Harry extends his hand to shake mine and welcomes me to their home.

It’s very beautiful, I assure him, not calling him anything at all.

“We’re fixing all these things, the pipes, but that’s a whole story in itself,” Harry explains, exasperated.

The day before, while Meghan was on the photo shoot for this issue, Harry had been left to his own devices, he tells me. “You were gone for, like, ten hours yesterday,” he marvels to his wife. “Tell her the first thing you said when you got back last night,” he says, turning to me. “She said, ‘I’m not a model.’ “I was like, ‘No, you are, of course you can be a model.’ And she’s like, ‘I’m a mom!’ And it’s like, ‘You can be both,’ ” Harry says, earning himself so many points.

In October 2020, the couple launched Archewell, a catchall company for their post-royal pursuits. Thus far, it has three divisions: the nonprofit (“that puts compassion into action,” according to the website); Archewell Productions, which oversees the Netflix deal; and Archewell Audio, which oversees the Spotify deal.

The two run Archewell from their shared home office, specifically from two plush club chairs placed side by side behind a single desk, facing into the room like thrones. “Most people that I know and many of my family, they aren’t able to work and live together,” Harry says in passing as I take a peek at their command center. He enunciates family with a vocal eye roll. “It’s actually really weird because it’d seem like a lot of pressure. But it just feels natural and normal.”

The week I visit, things at Archewell are particularly busy. In addition to a trip to Africa for Harry, on behalf of the charity African Parks, Meghan is launching Archetypes, which aired its first episode on Spotify on August 23. There’s another trip in the works, on which they’ll both speak at a handful of charity events in the U.K. and Germany, including one for the lead-up to the Invictus Games, an athletic tournament for wounded veterans Harry founded in 2014. After all the drama, it looks like they’ve designed the exact job they wanted to have as royals but were denied.

“I think we always knew the first few years of creating this new life from scratch were going to be the busiest — ” says Harry.

“Well, it’s a start-up,” Meghan interjects. “We were building a business. During lockdown — ”

And then Harry interjects, “With everyone weighing in. If you do something, they criticize you. If you don’t do anything, they criticize you anyway. It’s a lot, but …”

“Oh, and then having a baby in the middle of it all, casually,” Meghan jokes. (Their daughter, Lilibet, was born in June 2021.)

So far, there’s been little consumable content out of Archewell. The first announced project was a behind-the-scenes docuseries about the Invictus Games, which has yet to see daylight. Meghan had been working on Pearl, an animated series about a 12-year-old girl who “steps into her own power” by traveling through time to meet important women across history, when Netflix axed it. “There’s not much you can do when a company and a division changes their slate,” she says. “And there’s also not much you can do when, even if they think the project is great, the media will report it as though it was only my project.” Meanwhile, Archewell has had a leadership change as the company moves forward.

According to reports in the Los Angeles Times, there’s an air of impatience around that Netflix documentary, specifically, and around what the couple is going to produce in general. Attempts to learn what those other projects might be, or what their plans are, are met with an institutional paranoia by a team that responds to press inquiries as if it’s protecting nuclear codes. Contact with nonapproved employees invites fear and suspicion, confrontation. Questions about rumored projects — for example, an At Home With Meghan and Harry–type docuseries that reportedly has an attached director, Liz Garbus, and footage shot by teams of cameramen, who have been spotted following the couple around — are met with half-answers shrouded in winks, codes, and redirection. Meghan herself gives off an effortless, arms-wide-open, relatable affectation; she dangles the glimpse behind the curtain while the machine in place around her slams the door.

The couple has directly smashed rumors of a reality show, both in statements made to publications and in conversation with me. But, Meghan explains, there’s a difference between a historical documentary and a reality docuseries. “The piece of my life I haven’t been able to share, that people haven’t been able to see, is our love story,” she says, then quotes what she says was the end of a speech she gave at her wedding, in which she took comfort in the “resounding knowing that, above all, love wins.” She adds, “I hope that is the sentiment that people feel when they see any of the content or the projects that we are working on.”

I ask again if what they are currently filming is a documentary about their love story. “What’s so funny is I’m not trying to be cagey,” she says. “I don’t read any press. So I don’t know what’s confirmed. I will tell you Liz Garbus is incredible. Liz Garbus also worked on Pearl.” Meghan says she’s going to leave it to her publicist and Netflix to decide what can be shared. (Not much.) As for the rest of her projects, she explains, “When the media has shaped the story around you, it’s really nice to be able to tell your own story.”

Your eye contact is good,” she says suddenly. “You’re, like, looking into my soul.”

I stammer out an apology.

“I feel it. It’s good. I’m, like, so excited to talk.”

Meghan was born and bred in L.A., and her mother, social worker Doria Ragland, lives close enough that she can visit regularly for active, involved grandma duty. I ask if Harry feels isolated without any family nearby. “Well, look, we’re both building community,” she responds. “I didn’t have friends up here.” In addition to being new people in a new place, they moved in during COVID, when everyone was isolated. They are creating a new thing together.

Meghan launches into a little story. Right now, they are trying to teach Archie his manners. (“We always tell him: ‘Manners make the man. Manners, manners, manners, manners, manners.’ ”) In one of those lessons, Meghan remembered something she’d learned at a young age from a friend’s mom: Salt and pepper are always passed together. “She said, ‘You never move one without the other.’ That’s me and Harry. We’re like salt and pepper. We always move together.”

These days, they are getting back out there together. Recently, Meghan says, they took Archie to a birthday party for a classmate; everyone was surprised they showed up. “I was in a bouncy castle, and I saw this 1-year-old inside. I was like, ‘Where’s your mom?’ And this mom on the outside goes, ‘Oh, hi! I’m here. I wasn’t sure if I should come in.’ ” She laughs. “I was like, ‘Do you need your child? Of course you can come in.’ ”

Harry plays polo with the Los Padres in Santa Barbara. They spend time with a close-knit group of friends who have lunch and dinner at one another’s homes, including former makeup artist and entrepreneur Victoria Jackson, who has become a close friend and “safe harbor.” They met through another close friend, Gloria Steinem. Jackson invented “no-makeup makeup,” made a fortune selling her products on QVC in the ’80s, and has a sprawling ranch near Santa Barbara that she lent to Meghan for the photo shoot. Meghan had celebrated her 41st birthday there in August. The kids have been over to pet Jackson’s mini-pigs, Harry once fixed one of her sprinklers, and, of course, Jackson is telling her story on an upcoming episode of Archetypes. “I just want to genuinely show up for them,” Jackson says of why she opened her home to Meghan so freely. “To be able to get them out of their house because it’s complicated for them to go anywhere. You know what I mean? I want Harry to be able to come up here for their birthday or share a time and people to know that I’m not telling anyone when they’re here. So I want to keep it that way. So don’t give out my address.” She laughs and then sighs. “I hope that people take their foot off the gas a little bit on all the negative spin because they’re really good people.”

There’s nothing that affirms a “right place” contentedness more than a trip back to the place you felt you had to leave. In June, the couple attended some of the events for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in London. It was their first time appearing at a public event alongside the rest of the royal family since they’d left. While there, Meghan had quietly seen to more personal matters, slipping back into their former residence, Frogmore Cottage, to pack up their belongings.

IT WAS BITTERSWEET, YOU KNOW? KNOWING NONE OF IT HAD TO BE THIS WAY.

The cottage is still theirs and has remained mostly untouched since they left. “You go back and you open drawers and you’re like, Oh my gosh. This is what I was writing in my journal there? And here’s all my socks from this time?” The blue-and-white linen pants she’s wearing today were something from the cottage, actually: “They’re like $30 pants from Boden, and I brought them back.” It was “surreal” to walk right back into the life she’d been building in that cottage. There were all the things she’d had shipped from her old apartment in Toronto and barely gotten to unpack: her sofa, posters of art she’d collected traveling with her girlfriends and thrown into “good old Ikea frames,” a past message from a single self she hadn’t fully wanted to leave behind.

The home renovations had been a sore point both for the couple and for the British tabloids. They had been criticized for using an exorbitant amount of taxpayer funds, £2.4 million ($3.2 million), for the upgrades on a home they’d been given. (Public funding of the royal family is a conflict as old as the Queen Mary bandeau tiara Meghan wore on her wedding day.) Headline after headline suggested that the renovations were more extravagant than they actually were. There was never, for instance, a yoga studio with a floating floor, never a gold bathtub or a copper bathtub; there wasn’t a special wing for her mother. (They’ve since repaid the renovation costs.)

“It was bittersweet, you know? Knowing none of it had to be this way,” Meghan says.

How did it get so hard? She had tried to play royal. “I​​ was an actress,” she says. “My entire job was ‘Tell me where to stand. Tell me what to say. Tell me how to say it. Tell me what to wear, and I’ll do it.’ And I’ll show up early, and I’ll probably bake something for the crew.” Every movie about an American woman who ends up becoming a princess has a pivotal scene in which she thinks she’s doing the job correctly, just by being herself, but then some older royal gives her a speech about duty and decorum. I cite, specifically, The Prince & Me. She hasn’t seen it. “Yeah. That would’ve been really helpful. That would’ve been a very key tutorial to have had in advance of all this,” she says, not quite sarcastically, but the delivery is a sentence with a steel rod in it. By her own analysis, her problems stemmed from her being an American, not necessarily a Black American, she explains. Her desire to ask lots of questions and to never be involved with something she couldn’t totally have her hands on seemed to violate an unspoken social norm.

The reporting of their renovations was just part of the abusive press coverage — the sorts of headlines and “allegedly” true news items that led to the decline in her mental health. The couple figured if the tabloids felt free to attack them “under the guise of public interest” because their lives were taxpayer funded, then they should just remove taxpayer funding from the equation, she explains. They suggested to the Firm that they be allowed to work, still on behalf of the monarchy, and make their own money. “Then maybe all the noise would stop,” Meghan says of their reasoning.

They also thought it best to leave the U.K. (and the U.K. press) to do it. They were willing to go to basically any commonwealth, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, anywhere. “Anything to just … because just by existing, we were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy. So we go, ‘Okay, fine, let’s get out of here. Happy to,’ ” she says, putting her hands up in mock defeat. Meghan asserts that what they were asking for wasn’t “reinventing the wheel” and lists a handful of princes and princesses and dukes who have the very arrangement they wanted. “That, for whatever reason, is not something that we were allowed to do, even though several other members of the family do that exact thing.”

Why do you think that is? I ask.

“Why do you think that is?” she says right back with a side-eye that suggests I should understand without having to be told.

All right, Meghan, I’ll bite. It could be that the very reasons she was considered a breath of fresh air at first and then a supernova (biracial, divorcée, self-made millionaire, clotheshorse) only highlighted the ways in which the monarchy was becoming irrelevant to a younger generation — and worse, the ways that it was deeply flawed (and racist). To that, it could be just because she’s Black. Or perhaps it’s owed to the fact that Meghan, who jokes that “even my blood type is A-positive,” wouldn’t relinquish control over her own image and that image had the potential to be too big of a brand. Maybe, as Harry battled on her behalf with the tabloids one stern statement after another, it was all becoming too eerily reminiscent of Princess Diana. Or maybe it’s because by the time she met and married Harry, she was already a fully formed American woman: self-made, self-refined. She had desires and goals and a fan base. And while she was a fine actress, the job she is best at is envisioning a life for herself and getting it. That specific type of very American ambition just isn’t really compatible with being a princess. Though it is compatible with her current life, which seems to be the best of all worlds: a palace in a better climate, still culturally considered royalty while having freedom from the royal family, a level of celebrity that exceeds what she could have gotten through Suits or the Tig, a neighbor with mini-pigs.

Well, I can’t put words in your mouth, I say instead.

And then a pause as she looks down and inspects her hands; The Bachelor producer in her head deliberates how much should be said. “I don’t know,” she says, casting a knowing gaze out into the middle distance

hoto: Campbell Addy

Though it wasn’t the planned first project, Meghan is happy for the podcast to be her reintroduction. “It’s so real,” she says. “I feel different. I feel clearer. It’s like I’m finding — not finding my voice. I’ve had my voice for a long time, but being able to use it.”

At its heart, Archetypes (slogan: “Don’t believe the type”) is Meghan’s way of grappling with questions that have plagued her, personally: why certain women get saddled with labels, why they stick long after they’ve been proved untrue. The first episode, which debuted at No. 1 on Spotify, is a chat with her friend Serena Williams about ambition. They talk about Williams’s recent retirement announcement and how Meghan never thought being ambitious was a bad thing until she started dating Harry. It’s a conversation that hovers between “candid or planned it.”

The rest of the episodes, she’ll dig into labels like Old Maid, Dragon Lady, Bimbo, Crazy, Angry Black Woman, Bitch (well, “B-word,” she clarifies and then squeals, “Oooooh! I don’t want to say that word. It makes me so uncomfortable!”), and Slut (Will Meghan say slut? “Oh my gosh. That makes me so uncomfortable.”) She has lined up a murderers’ row of guests: Constance Wu, Issa Rae, Lisa Ling, Margaret Cho, and Ziwe. (I’ll let you guess who aligns with which archetype.)

In her own life, Meghan’s response to being typecast seems to be to lean into all the positive things her story symbolizes. She understands what her ascent meant to Black Britons, for whom she’s a sign of progress, and to women, for whom she’s a working mom and a signal boost to the issues that affect them (paid parental leave, equal pay). Even though she avoids reading her own press, Meghan knows people see her this way. She recalls a moment from the 2019 London premiere of the live-action version of The Lion King. “I just had Archie. It was such a cruel chapter. I was scared to go out.” A cast member from South Africa pulled her aside. “He looked at me, and he’s just like light. He said, ‘I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison.’ ” Of course, she knows she’s no Mandela, but perhaps even telling me this story is a mode of defense, because if you are a symbol for all that is good and charitable, how can anybody find you objectionable, how can anybody hate you?

The result of trying always to do and say the right thing is the impression that she’s constantly policing herself, and in a meta-twist, I find myself worrying that the words I write about her will be misinterpreted and dissected — rudely, maliciously — too. In October 2021, the company Bot Sentinel released a study that found not only that the press around Meghan was disproportionately negative but that 70 percent of hateful posts about her came from just 83 accounts that reached up to 17 million Twitter users. I wonder if she was relieved by any of this: After being gaslit, she at last had proof that she had been harassed but also that it was just a small group of people. It didn’t really matter what she did; she would still have elicited this hatred. There has to be some freedom in that.

Somehow Archie knows his mother is at the gate of his preschool before the teacher even throws it open to set him free. He’s so excited to see her, repeating “Momma, Momma, Momma” in his little voice, as he runs toward her that he leaves his lunchbox behind on the ground. She scoops him up in a big hug so full of genuine emotion that both close their eyes.

Meghan grew up very close to her father, Thomas, a retired lighting director who gave Meghan her Hollywood bug, but she has been estranged from him basically since the wedding. (He was not in attendance.) And every miserable fissure in their former bond has been publicized, often by him. After the wedding, The Mail on Sunday leaked a heartfelt letter Meghan wrote to her father begging him to stop speaking to reporters. Meghan sued for invasion of privacy and won, though the defense mounted against her painted her as calculating and manipulative. When I ask about it, Meghan doesn’t stay in her sadness for long; instead, she uses it to discuss how toxic tabloid culture has torn two families apart. “Harry said to me, ‘I lost my dad in this process.’ It doesn’t have to be the same for them as it was for me, but that’s his decision.”

The car ride back to their house is very busy, dictated by the whims and conversational patterns of a toddler. Archie, munching on a quesadilla, wants to roll the window down himself, but not until we get to a specific huge hedge he mysteriously favors. We assess if he had a good day at school via an update letter from his teacher (he did and is ready for full days) and try to find out if he ate his sandwich at lunch (he did not). We solve the question of the mid-morning shirt change (they played in the water table). “Why are you afraid of heights like an airplane?” Archie asks, and that leads to a conversation about the importance of being brave. If he forgets to say please or thank you, Meghan reminds him of the manners that make the man. At a stoplight, she reaches into the trunk and produces a brand-new black backpack and hands it to her security detail to give to an unhoused man on the corner. They are teaching Archie that some people live in big houses, some in small, and that some are in between homes. They made kits to pass out with water and peanut-butter crackers and granola bars. “I ate one!” Archie contributes.

Earlier in our conversation about her goals for the life she’s creating here, she’d remarked upon how, if Archie were in school in the U.K., she’d never be able to do school pickup and drop-off without it being a royal photo call with a press pen of 40 people snapping pictures. “Sorry, I have a problem with that. That doesn’t make me obsessed with privacy. That makes me a strong and good parent protecting my child,” Meghan says. For now, even though two Montecito moms waiting in front of the school stopped mid-chat to do a double take, Archie is just the cheerful kid who brings a week’s worth of freshly picked fruit for his fellow classmates and enjoys playing a “roaring” game at recess.

We pull up to the house, and Archie leaps out. Harry is ending a phone call as Archie throws himself around his legs. Lilibet, unsmiling with watchful bright-blue eyes, is brought out by her nanny. She is small and also ginger, and when there is a small person in the room not smiling, it is a reflex to do anything to entertain them. Harry starts dancing to his own beatboxing, and Meghan bends down and joins in and then I find myself doing it too, until she gives a lopsided smile and we all realize it’s a bit strange to be bonding in this way.

We ended the visit in her sitting room, where there’s a massive grand piano Tyler Perry gifted her as a housewarming present. “Write the soundtrack for your life,” he told them.

“It’s interesting, I’ve never had to sign anything that restricts me from talking,” she reveals, as she ushers me toward the door. “I can talk about my whole experience and make a choice not to.” Why doesn’t she talk? “Still healing,” she responds.

I wonder if, given all she’s put behind her now, she thinks there is room for forgiveness between her and her royal in-laws and her own family.

“I think forgiveness is really important. It takes a lot more energy to not forgive,” she says wisely. “But it takes a lot of effort to forgive. I’ve really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything,” she says, her voice full of meaning. And then she is silent. She breathes in and smiles and breathes out and says, “I have a lot to say until I don’t. Do you like that? Sometimes, as they say, the silent part is still part of the song.”

And then, quickly and decisively, as if it were my idea, the conversation ends. Meghan sets a harvest basket in my arms: a cornucopia of fruit and vegetables from their garden and a jar of jam from the Lili Bunny Garden + Larder (she had the labels made on Etsy). She smiles and waves as I make my way out the door, wondering if somehow I’d missed everything she was trying to say.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Photographs by Campbell Addy

Styling by Jessica Willis

Hair by Hos Hounkpatin

Hair color by Kadi Lee

Makeup by Edwin Sandoval

Set design by Din Morris

Produced by Dana Brockman at viewfinders

Tailoring by Susie Kourinian

On Meghan: Cover: Tory Burch Colorblock Tulle Dress, available at toryburch.com. Lanvin Brass & Green Strass Melodie Earrings, available at select Lanvin Boutiques. From top: (1) Tory Burch Colorblock Tulle Dress, available at toryburch.com. Lanvin Brass & Green Strass Melodie Earrings, available at select Lanvin Boutiques. (2) Bottega Veneta dress, available at bottegaveneta.com. Mikimoto 8” Akoya cultured pearl strand featuring 9x8.5mm A+ Akoya cultured pearls with a Mikimoto signature clasp in 18K white gold, available at mikimotoamerica.com. Mateo 14k yellow gold Bypass Hoops with diamonds, available at mateonewyork.com. (3) Chanel Fantasy Tweed Dress, available at select Chanel boutiques nationwide. Manolo Blahnik BB-Black Suede Pump, available at manoloblahnik.com. Sophie Buhai Everyday Pearl Earrings, available at SophieBuhai.com. (4) Proenza Schouler Off-White Bi-Stretch Crepe Cinched Jacket and Crepe Pant, similar styles available at proenzaschouler.com. Manolo Blahnik BB-White Nappa Leather Pump, available at manoloblahnik.com. Mateo 14k Yellow Gold Large Half Moon Earrings with Diamonds, available at mateonewyork.com.

#meghan markle #duchess of sussex #prince harry #duke of sussex #long read #the cut #meghan of montecito

[violetsandfluff]

Are you still taking requests for shawn? If so could you please write an imagine about single dad Shawn going on a holiday with his 3 year old daughter and his parents and sister and maybe his daughter runs off and they can’t find her for a couple hours?

Aww 🥺 ofc bb that’s so cute! This actually kinda choked me up, but in a good way. 🙈

I’m gonna call the baby Charm because in one interview, he said if he was a girl he’d name himself Charm. I couldn’t find it, but if anyone knows what it is, please tell me!! TW : running away? Also a bit of language.

“Charm, bubby,” Shawn laughed, pointing at his little sister. “Smile for auntie Liyah.”

Charm was dressed in a colorful floral bathing suit that was still dripping and full of sand. Her hair was done in twin Minnie Mouse buns, per her request, and thanks to Aliyah. She wore tiny, seemingly invincible stud earrings that shone in the afternoon sun.

Shawn pointed at the phone that Aaliyah was holding and Charm grinned at it, her little nose wrinkling, eyes squinting at the bright sun. Shawn’s hands were on her shoulders and he couldn’t help but love the energy his little girl was emitting.

As soon as the picture was taken, she ran toward the tide as it swelled up to the shore. She toppled over with its force and Shawn scooped her up, patting her back as she spluttered from the saltwater.

“Charm, honey, we can’t go in the water right now,” he explained gently as he rubbed more sunscreen into his daughter’s damp cheeks. “You don’t want to get hurt.”

As soon as he finished, she ran to a patch of sand and began drawing in it with a stick.

Shawn and Charm were on vacation with his family in Florida. They had been to Disney the day before and now they were at the beach. Charm was thoroughly enjoying every moment she spent out in the heat, something that was hardly achievable back home in Toronto.

Her cheeks, nose, shoulders, and forehead were pink from the sun, but not completely burnt. She looked like the sun’s angel beams had flown out of the sky and kissed her. All over. And she loved it.

She, Shawn, and Aaliyah had built a sandcastle during low tide and she had been obsessed with it.

The group of 5 was pleased with how their vacation had been going thus far. There had been a few minor hiccups along the way, but no lake (or ocean) was ever completely smooth.

Charm had run off to meet Rapunzel at Disney World and had Shawn not reached for her hand at that exact moment, she would have been claimed as a victim by the ruthless herds of children in the area.

He had taken his parent sense for granted, assuming that Charm would stick with Aaliyah wherever she went.

The sun was beginning to set, the tide was coming back in, and the beach’s family hours were over. The adults were in a hurry to pack up to avoid adult time.

Shawn pulled a plain white T-shirt over his damp curls before folding up his family’s towels.

Karen was busy packing up the snacks, Manny was collapsing the umbrella, and Aaliyah was folding up chairs.

They got their things together and started walking the distance to the exit. Shawn was cramming the beach bag full of various towels and sunscreen bottles as he walked, which Aaliyah found incredibly amusing. She waddled up behind him, shouting, “Boo!”

Shawn dropped his bag before hurling a dirty glance at his teenage sister.

“Sorry, she giggled. “That was meant for…wait.”

“What?” Shawn panicked, looking around. He didn’t like his sister’s tone. He was missing something. “Meant for what, Liyah? Talk to me.”

“Shawn,” she breathed, “where is Charm?”

Shawn’s heart sank in his chest. “Charm!” He dropped his bags at her feet and took off running, cussing himself out internally. He told himself how shitty a father he was. He didn’t even notice his child going missing. There were tons of adults streaming in the gates now as the sun set.

They had alcohol. God damn, some of the creepy ones were probably already wasted. Shawn’s heart beat at an almost unprecedented rate. It pumped no blood, only adrenaline.

“Charm!”

People were starting to look at him funny, but he didn’t give a fuck or anything less. All he wanted was his daughter. In his arms. Safe. Back in the hotel room, her warm, sleepy body resting comfortably on his chest as he sang her a lullaby.

He shoved rudely past people as tears pricked his eyes, threatening to fall. He shook his head to clear it as he ran, shaking some tears off his cheeks.

This resembled a nightmare, he thought as he slowed down. His side ached horribly. It felt as if a dagger had been stabbed through him. He clutched it as his head throbbed, gasping desperately for air.

This was what his nightmares were made of. There was no way in hell this was real. He could just sit down in the sand and bury himself and wake up eventually. Charm would be right there, snuggled up beside him in her Moana blanket, holding her stuffed elephant by its butt.

But if he wasn’t willing to find her, what the fuck business did he have being a father? None.

He tore off to where he thought their chairs had been, pushing a group of four out of the way. There were two older people and two younger people, but he thought not much of it.

The women were talking frantically on the phone while the men looked dazed. Wasted pedophiles, thought Shawn in disgust.

What if he never found his little girl? There would be no point in living. Eventually his body, like hers, would be located. And so be it.

He heard Charm’s voice everywhere, calling, “Daddy! Daddy, I’m right here!” The thought of her alone, crying for him in the dark made his heart ache.

He became aware of footsteps running soundly behind him, but he thought it was a hallucination. He would run all around the globe millions and billions of times just to see his daughter’s sweet smile again.

“You! In the white shirt and navy swim trunks!”

Shawn turned around to see the young man from earlier. Out of breath, he just stared at the man for a second before moaning feverishly, “I’m sorry, sir, I’ve gotta go find my daughter!”

“No! We have your daughter.”

A million thoughts raced through Shawn’s mind. Either these people were good, kind souls or they had kidnapped Charm and expected him to pay them ransom.

He would give them his every penny, his home, his everything as long as he could see his daughter. And keep her forever.

“Charm is her name,” despite his brusque stance, he seemed genuine. “She has a floral bathing suit and she said you were her dad.

Shawn ran toward her, arms spread open wide, and engulfed her in a huge hug. Tears streamed down his face as he kissed her profusely.

“Charm,” he breathed, “where were you, Junebug?”

She pointed to the remains of her sandcastle. “Daddy, why are you crying?” She took his hands in hers and patted them gently as if consoling him.

Scooping her up, he said nothing, just nuzzled his nose into her neck. “I’m just happy I found you, sweetheart, that’s all.”

“If you’re happy, why are you crying?”

He was about to explain the complexity of post-puberty emotions when his eyes fell upon the family she had found.

There was a tall, fit man with chocolate-colored curls, a dark-haired girl in a bikini, and two older adults. They had set up right where Shawn’s family had been.

“You’re smart, Charmer,” Shawn said breathlessly before turning to the family. “Thank you. Thank you so much. How can ever repay you?”

“I could use a beer right about now,” the brusque man stated gruffly before bursting out laughing.

“Oh,” scoffed his wife. “Don’t pay my husband any mind. We’ve got a cooler full of it right here.”

Shawn chuckled, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes. “Ha. Can I please…” he reached into his pocket in search of his wallet before realizing that it wasn’t in his swim trunks. “If you’ll let me go get my wallet, I can…”

“No,” the older man said, waving his hand in the air. “No need. She’s a good girl.”

Shawn laughed dryly. “Good girl, huh?”

Charm began tugging on his arm, dragging him toward his panicked family that had regrouped by the exit.

“I feel horrible,” he said m. “Please. Let me…”

“Nope. Bye now, have a nice night!”

Shawn shook his head as he walked away, Charm skipping ahead. They walked away into the dark parking lot, Charm chattering all the way.

Shawn’s breath was still shaky from the scare and he was still beating himself up internally, but his daughter was in his arms, in his lap, right where she belonged.

#🦢💌 #🫧 anon #Shawn mendes #dad!shawn #Shawn mendes blurb #Shawn mendes imagine #Shawn mendes Saturday #dad!shawn blurb #dad!shawn is my new favorite 🥺 #flutterfly alley #yellow 💛 heart

[thatrickmcginnis]

J.G. Ballard, Toronto, October 1987

The first few years of my career as a photographer were full of the thrill of actually meeting and shooting portraits of people who I'd only known through books or movies or records - people like the British writer J.G. Ballard, who I photographed for Nerve magazine (I think) in the autumn of 1987. Ballard's cool, surreal, dystopic sci-fi stories - books like High-Rise, Concrete Island, The Drowned World and Crash - were particularly popular with the whole post-punk edgelord crowd I knew and moved in. But that was about to change: his autobiographical novel of his childhood experiences in a Japanese prison camp, Empire of the Sun, had been a hit three years earlier and Steven Spielberg's movie adaptation would be released in December.

J.G. Ballard was in town to promote The Day of Creation, has latest novel, and from the furnishings in the background of these shots I'm pretty sure he was staying in the Park Plaza hotel (now the Park Hyatt), which was sort of the literary hotel in downtown Toronto. I found him charming and garrulous; I assume I probably interviewed him in addition to the portrait shoot, but I have no record of such a thing today. A widower at just 34, I couldn't help but note how openly Ballard flirted with the female publicists in charge of the interviews - a rakishness that, as I noted when I first published some of these photos on my old blog six years ago, I couldn't help but envy.

I worked fast when I photographed J.G. Ballard - I'd already learned that time was the least thing I had to work with when shooting - and for some reason only loaded a 24-shot roll of Tri-X into my camera. But I managed to get at least a few variations in the whirlwind shoot, with Ballard in one of the hotel room's wing chairs, in the middle of the room, and silhouetted against one of the windows - an attempt at stark, minimal high-key lighting that I was only vaguely aware how to pull off. One of these shots is a bit of a surprise - a more than decent portrait that I somehow overlooked when printing/scanning negatives over 35 years ago and again six years ago. I have also colourized one of the high key shots, to give a slightly better sense of how Ballard looked on that day in 1987.

#jg ballard #portrait #portrait photography #photography #film photography #photographer #writer #science fiction #sci fi #author #some old pictures i took #old work #old photos #pentax spotmatic

[waderockett]

I love that James Cameron could have just handwaved this forever but finally said “You know what? I’m James Cameron, I have armies of science nerds and stunt people at my disposal, let’s settle this.”

https://wapo.st/3YBXhzo

In the years since the director’s 1997 film “Titanic” captured hearts around the world with the fictional story of two lovers aboard the infamous steamship, fans have wondered: Could Jack and Rose have survived together if they’d both squeezed atop the makeshift raft in the freezing cold waters? // The director recently revealed that he has commissioned a study that shows only one of the darling duo in “Titanic” could have survived, he said in an interview with the Toronto Sun. The study, which used stunt people and hypothermia experts to re-create the film’s tragic, oft-challenged scene, will be unveiled in a February 2023 National Geographic special around the time a remastered version of the blockbuster movie is scheduled to release.

#titanic #jack and rose #james cameron #nerd shit #science! #hypothermia #gift link #washington post #WaPo

[charliehunnamtribute]

▪︎ Shantaram interview • Toronto Sun ▪︎ 11.11.2022

#CharlieHunnam #Shantaram #CharlieHunnamTribute

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Reports on Road Construction," Owen Sound Sun. September 26, 1913. Page 1. ---- Mr. M. N. McDowall who made a trip to Toronto recently to make a study of methods of road construction there does not give a very encouraging report as to the efficacy of raw tar for the macadam roads. His report, which was submitted to the council on Monday night, was as follows:-

I beg leave to report that I made inquiry in Toronto as to tar macadam. I went to the city hall and had an interview with Mr. Scott, the engineer of road improvements, and also works as commissioner. When asked if they were doing any work in the city with tar they informed me that there had been no tar macadam put down for six or seven years as they found it to be a failure in its crude state. That which was seen was Tarvia and was mistaken for tar, the Tarvia being very satisfactory. They advised me to go the Parliament buildings and see Mr. McLean, engineer of roads and highways. When asked if they would rather have tar in its crude state with the macadam in the old way, they said that they would not recommend it in its crude state for macadamized road. I then went to see Mr. McLean at the Parlia- ment buildings and had a very pleasant interview with him. He also spoke in much the same strain as to tar in its crude state. He said when it was refined it had been very satisfactory. He recommended me to go to Guelph to see how they were using it as they refined it there at the gas plant, and were using it with very good results. I then went to see some brick pavings for crossings and saw a number of samples of brick and wood pavements and by the advice of some of the parties I came in contact with I went to West Toronto. There I went to the works of the Ontario Paving and Brick Co., and think it is very good material that these bricks turn out, for our crossings. I brought a sample with me and by the advice of the committee purchased thirteen thousand at thirty-one dollars per thousand, laid down in Owen Sound. They have arrived and are being laid down and a stone curb placed outside the block and it appears to make a very nice crossing.

#road building #road paving #asphalt mixing #owen sound #road construction #good roads

[cooladddy]

Total solar eclipse: All you need to know about the rare celestial event

A total solar eclipse is set to darken skies across central and Eastern Canada in a rare celestial event last witnessed in the country 45 years ago.

On April 8, the eclipse’s path will cross through Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Several cities and towns will go into complete darkness during the day for a few minutes. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, aligning perfectly and completely blocking the sunlight. Typically, a total solar eclipse is visible once roughly every 18 months or once every one to two years from somewhere on Earth, but for a given location this can be a very rare occurrence coming after a gap of centuries. “It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime things that you know you might not be able to get to experience again,” said Ilana MacDonald, outreach co-ordinator for the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. The last time the path of a total solar eclipse crossed Canada was in 1979. For Kingston, Ont., it’s the first one in nearly 700 years, said Robert Knobel, associate professor and head of the department of physics, engineering physics and astronomy at Queen’s University in the city. “It’s a beautiful, natural phenomenon and it allows us to actually think about our place in the universe,” he said in an interview with Global News. “It really allows us a chance to experience astronomical phenomena, just by walking outside.”

Who can view it?

Millions of people in parts of central and eastern Canada will get to witness this celestial event. The eclipse will be entering over Mexico’s Pacific coast, dashing up through Texas and Oklahoma, and crisscrossing the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and New England, before exiting over Eastern Canada into the Atlantic. The total solar eclipse will have a narrow path roughly 185 kilometres wide.

This image from the NASA Eclipse Explorer website shows the path of the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse over North America. An estimated 44 million people live inside the 110-mile-wide (180-kilometre-wide) path of totality stretching from Mazatlán, Mexico to Newfoundland. NASA via AP The path of totality is a line that goes diagonally from the southwest to the northeast in North America, Knobel said. In Ontario, places like Fort Erie and Niagara Falls will be “really good” spots to view the eclipse since the central path of totality is going through Lake Ontario, he said. However, both Ottawa and Toronto, like many other cities, will only get a partial solar eclipse, in which the sun is not hidden in totality. In Quebec, Montreal, Sherbrooke, and the Saint Lawrence Valley will also get a good view. The eclipse will occur between mid and late afternoon, depending on location, in Canada.

Photo courtesy: Canadian Space Agency

What will it look like?

As the moon starts to obscure the sun, it will initially start out as a partial eclipse, when the sky gets darker and it becomes cooler. “What you’ll see is a little bit of a crescent as the moon shadow passes in front of the sun,” Knobel said. But the moment it goes from a partial eclipse to totality, you will notice a “dramatic change in temperature and light,” MacDonald said. “As the moon completely covers the sun, you’ll have this big halo of light around the sun and that’s the sun’s corona, which you can’t usually see when the sun is just in the sky, because the sun itself is too bright,” she explained.

The moon covers the sun during a total eclipse Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, near Redmond, Ore. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Dan Falk, a science journalist in Toronto, has travelled across the world and witnessed five total solar eclipses, the most recent one in Oregon in 2017. He said at the time of totality people will get to see a little black disk surrounded by halo and it will appear as if there is a little hole in the sky. “It’ll be this very eerie, kind of surreal phenomenon that’s really not like anything else you can see,” he said. “I’m hoping that lots of people, especially folks who haven’t had the chance to see this phenomenon before, are able to experience this.” The total solar eclipse can last between one and four minutes, MacDonald said. During this time, birds will start to react as if it’s nighttime and could start to fall asleep. Meanwhile, flowers will start to close just for those few minutes. When totality is over, it’ll get bright again. The peak spectacle on April 8 will last up to four minutes and 28 seconds in the path of total darkness.

How can you safely view it?

In preparation for the event, some school boards in Ontario and Quebec have already cancelled classes on April 8 out of an abundance of caution. According to the Canadian Space Agency, looking directly at the sun without appropriate protection can lead to serious problems such as partial or complete loss of eyesight. Experts stress that the danger of looking directly at the sun is not any different when there is a total solar eclipse as it would be on any other day of the year. It’s just that one is more tempted to look up when there is a total solar eclipse. “It’s always dangerous to look directly at the sun without proper protection because the sun is very bright,” MacDonald said. The best way to protect yourself is by wearing eclipse glasses, made up of aluminized polyester, when you do look up during a partial eclipse. People can also use cardboard and poke a hole through it or even a colander and cheese grater would work. In the moments of totality, when the sun is completely covered, it is actually safe to take your glasses off for a few minutes safely and look up, Knobel and Falk said. After this year, the next time a solar eclipse will be visible from Canadian soil will be in 2039, when the path of totality cuts the very northern part of Yukon. Read the full article

#CanadianSpaceAgency #eclipse’s #gagshub #MacDonald #NASA #NASAEclipse #NiagaraFalls #solareclipse #TV

[xariarte]

nineteenth season game WIN: Raps vs Suns (112-105)

-To be honest, I didn't think the Raptors could win this one! They had plane troubles that night and didn't have a proper night's rest, but then again, this team is SO unpredictable that nobody knows if they'll win or lose until the final seconds of the match. 😬

-Yuta Watanabe returned to Toronto, and he is still beloved. As he should be. 😌💖

-Scottie Barnes had a great night of 23 points, so naturally he got the game winning chain. And then said that he had that dawg in him in the post-game interviews. 😤🔥

-Some Highlights: Pascal with 22 points, and Dennis with the game clinching bucket to seal the victory! 🥶✨

#post game takeaways #toronto raptors #scottie barnes #pascal siakam #in the queue

[siddysthings]

Matthew Perry's tragic end and his eerie final Instagram post | Toronto Sun

https://torontosun.com/entertainment/celebrity/matthew-perry-spoke-about-wanting-kids-in-one-of-his-last-interviews-plus-his-eerie-final-instagram-post