Fixer Upper

TOPIC: Fixer Upper

(FYI: 'Fixer Upper' is a reality series on HGTV centered around the contracting and home-rejuvenating couple Chip and Joanna Gaines. The television show presents the process in which the husband and wife team turn cheap and run-down houses into potentially rich and beautiful places to live, along with helping to revitalize whole neighborhoods throughout central Texas. Chip is the lead manager of the home's construction work, and Joanna acts as the lead designer, while their combined goal in every episode is to convince home-owners that their initially imperfect house was actually their ideal "fixer-upper" the entire time.)   

FACT: The stars of HGTV's hit series Fixer Upper, which first aired on May 23, 2013, have announced this week that their popular show will come to an end after five seasons.

On Tuesday, October 3, the beloved couple revealed on their blog that season 5, premiering in November, will sadly be their last. Furthermore, the Texas residents wrote a heartwarming note on Twitter by saying, "While we are confident that this is the right choice for us, it has for sure not been an easy one to come to terms with. Our family has grown up alongside yours, and we have felt you rooting us on from the other side of the screen... How bittersweet to say goodbye to the very thing that introduced us all in the first place."    

As for why the American "dream-couple" has decided to end Fixer Upper, Chip goes on to explain that him and his wife simply need time to rest. Not only has the couple emphasized their plans to spend more quality time raising their four children, but Joanna added that the two want to focus more time on their now multi-million dollar company Magnolia Home Furniture. In conclusion, the stars of the popularly rated Fixer Upper are merely taking time off to work on aspects of their lives that they believe can be strengthened, while resting in the places that deserve peace.  

Hugh Hefner / Julia Louis-Dreyfus

TOPIC: Hugh Hefner / Julia Louis-Dreyfus
FACT: On September 27, 2017, Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner passed away due to natural causes; later that same day, actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus revealed via Twitter that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. 

At Playboy Mansion, located in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, CA, former editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine Hugh Hefner died at the old age of ninety-one. After his late death, the public along with news media-outlets have newly began reflecting the way in which Hefner's successful magazine brand has impacted our society today. According to sources such as CNN, the iconic magazine Hefner founded in 1953 immensely challenged the nation's views on sexuality -- due to the fact that Playboy is a sexually explicit men's lifestyle magazine. As for his burial, Hefner had previously asked to be buried beside American actress and model Marilyn Monroe, who was also Playboy's very first centerfold making her a "sex-icon" in the late '40s and '50s. Whether you mourn or celebrate Hefner's death is completely up to your perspective, but we can all agree that it's hard to contradict the incredible impact Hugh Hefner has had on not just American culture, which may have rubbed off into aspects of world-wide culture as well, but on the way Americans view the topic of sex and sexuality in general.

 After the news broke that Hugh Hefner had perished, a second ground-breaking story flooded mainstream news networks: Julia Louis-Dreyfus announcing on social media that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The Seinfeld and Veep actress took to Twitter to post a short yet powerful message, writing, “1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today, I’m the one.” The superstar continued her heart-wrenching comment by complimenting her supportive family and friends, along with her insurance through her union, before moving on to write that not all women are so lucky. To sum things up, the actress turned her cancer announcement tweet into a statement on making universal healthcare a reality. The Emmy winner's post currently has approximately 500,000 likes on Twitter, where she also received love and support from fellow celebs including Ellen DeGeneres and Kevin Spacey. Additionally, former vice president Joe Biden tweeted Dreyfus by saying, "We Veeps stick together. Jill and I, all of the Bidens, are with you, Julia," which is a fitting response since Biden was diagnosed with having a brain tumor just early this year. As for filming her current show Veep, an HBO spokeswoman told the press that the show's writers will continue writing, and that the production schedule will be adjusted as needed. The comedy’s last season will air in 2018. 

All in all, two iconic figures in our society had bad news drop on the same exact day. Who saw that one coming?

The Voice

TOPIC: The Voice / Dave Crosby

FACT: American singing-competition series The Voice kicked off its thirteenth season last week, featuring a new batch of talented singers and even a brand new judge. :)

Premiering on September 25, the latest season of the reality show welcomed singer and actress Jennifer Hudson as the season's first-time judge. Additionally, Miley Cyrus has returned to the judge's seat, as the show's producers have decided to replace two of last season's judges, Alicia Keys and Gwen Stefani, with Cyrus and Hudson. On the contrary, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton are still the show's leading judges, who are continuing their hilarious and silly comedy as usual. 

Interestingly enough though, one of this season's notable contestants is singer and father Dave Crosby who became an internet sensation after posting covers of him and his four-year old daughter Claire singing duets on YouTube. Likewise, you may have seen this duo perform several times on The Ellen Show from singing Moana's "How Far I'll Go" to Toy Story's Academy Award nominated track "You've Got A Friend In Me", melting large audiences' hearts worldwide. 

At Crosby's blind audition he performed "I Will Follow You Into the Dark", surprisingly followed by the judges asking his daughter to come out on stage and sing as well; Claire sang and everyone insanely got on their feet and burst out clapping. In the end, the dad chose to be on Team Adam, though Blake Shelton made the comment saying that he'd be ready to coach his daughter if Claire were to ever audition for the show.

The Lego Ninjago Movie

TOPIC: The LEGO Ninjago Movie

FACT: Distributed by motion picture/entertainment company Warner Bros, The LEGO Ninjago Movie has fans all over the country in abuzz. 

The battle for Ninjago City calls to action young Master Builder Lloyd, aka the Green Ninja, along with his secret ninja warrior friends. Led by the incredibly wise Master Wu, the ninja team must defeat the infamously evil warlord Garmadon, who also happens to be Lloyd's dad. Pitting father against son, the epic Lego-themed showdown tests these fierce but undisciplined modern-day ninjas as they learn to check their egos and pull together to unleash the inner power of Spinjitzu.

True Ninjago fans have compared and contrasted this movie to the original series in which it's based, Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, while others have also praised the film for casting professional martial artist Jackie Chan as the role of the iconic Sensei Wu. 

Though the film has only scored 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics have applauded the latest installment of the Lego-movie franchise, with my personal favorite review being from A. O. Scott from the NY Times writing that the nearly two hour long film winks at pop culture cleverness and earnest lesson-learning alike. 

All in all, from Jackie Chan to Lego ninjas, this TV series based movie was the not at all parallel to the original series, though it was still an enjoyable adventure for a family movie day. Plus, this movie truly gives humans an insight look into a Lego citizen's daily life by casually breaking the fourth wall. :) 

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PS: My good friend from New Jersey, Oscar Vasquez, is promoting a fundraiser for West Orange High School Boys Soccer 2017. There's only 2 days left in the fundraiser, and we still need help in order to reach our goal. Donations will go towards the upgrading of equipment, field costs, travel cost and uniforms. Donations are vital for the success of this program. Click below to see our team message and share our page. Thanks for your support. -- Oscar Vasquez     

https://app.snap-raise.com/fundraisers/38736/participant/968259?share_type=email&donation_invite_id=11906537

Kevin Hart

TOPIC: Kevin Hart

(FYI: Hart is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer who starred in 'Central Intelligence' and voiced George Beard in the 2017 'Captain Underpants' movie.)

FACT: A video of Kevin Hart actively cheating on his now pregnant wife has been released online, greatly disappointing Hart's fans worldwide and resulting in the comedian creating a public apology video for his wife and kids.

TMZ has reported that Kevin Hart was the victim of a multi-million dollar extortion attempt, which is a crime very similar to blackmail. The FBI is on the case and are said to already have a suspect in custody. Police have told TMZ that an anonymous person contacted Kevin’s team and provided a five-minute video showing Kevin and a woman in a sexually provocative situation including a bedroom scene, but that they can’t make out who exactly is in the bed.

The FBI know this anonymous person demanded a huge amount of cash in return for keeping the video private, and supposedly there were several demands and at one point the amount hit 10 million. The FBI are also convinced that it is either the woman in the video, or the person who recorded it that are making these high demands. And since the video was clearly recorded without Kevin’s consent, it’s illegal.

But Kevin’s problems are definitely far from over. On Saturday, September 16, he issued a public apology to his pregnant wife and kids via Instagram where he made a short video admitting to his wrongdoing. He captioned the video, “Sending so many apologies to my wife & kids. I gotta do better and I will. I'm not perfect and have never claimed to be ...I love you all.”

Though people applaud Hart for being honest, apologetic, and for telling the public more than they deserve to know, others are finding it harder to forgive the comedian and choose to stick by the famous phrase, "Once a cheater, always a cheater." But in addition to simply apologizing to his family, Hart didn't want someone to make financial gains from his big mistakes, which is why he would rather confess to his wrongdoing than to stay silent.

AGT Finale

TOPIC: America's Got Talent: The Finale

FACT: After months of auditions, weeks of outstanding live performances and talent in creative fields such as singing, dancing, comedy and even dog training, the newest season of America's Got Talent finally has a winner! :)

Last night concluded one of AGT's most popularly rated seasons thus far, ending with one final two-hour episode called "The Finale", where the ten remaining finalists witnessed who would ultimately walk out as the winner. Additionally, the live audience got to view stunning performances not only between the acts themselves, but with the acts performing side-by-side mega superstars such as Kelly Clarkson and James Arthur.

The 12th season of the reality competition series was hosted by television personalty Tyra Banks, who was also the one to reveal that this season's $1 million prize-winner was none other than 12-year-old ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer. After watching last year's season where singer Grace VanderWaal was crowned winner, I personally found Farmer and VanderWaal very similar, as both girls can sing, both won the show at the young age of 12, and both won the hearts of America with their creatively talented acts. What was different about these two season though, was that Tyra announced that this was one of AGT's most popular seasons yet -- receiving over a solid 50 million votes just for the acts who made it through to the finals. 

The ten finalists this year were singer Angelica Hale, deaf singer-songwriter/ukuleleist Mandy Harvey, singer-songwriter/guitarist Chase Goehring, stand-up comedian Preacher Lawson, light-up dance troupe Light Balance, dog act Sara and Hero, acrobatic dance group Diavolo, singer Evie Clair, plane survivor and singer Kechi, and of course, singing ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer. Each and even one of these sensational acts fought long and hard for a place in the finals, but only one walked out of the Dolby Theatre with the $1M. 

Did you watch this year's season of AGT? I know I did, and in fact, I made my parents sit through it too. ;) 

Here is Darci Lynne's unbelievable performance at the Finals this season, with the video generating over 15 million views in a week. But if I am being completely honest here, I was rooting for Mandy.

(Maybe blocked on ICSD Chromebooks.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ropWor8aAM  

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PS: Fun Fact of the Day has now reached over 450 members!!! :O

Ori and the Blind Forest

TOPIC: Ori and the Blind Forest

(FYI: 'Ori and the Blind Forest' is a single player platform-adventure Metroidvania video game designed by Moon Studios and published by Microsoft Studios.)

FACT: Following the game's initial release date back in 2015, this widely admired adventure is getting a brand new squeal titled Ori and the Will of the Wisps.  

The original game was praised by critics across the board, getting a score of 10/10 from Stream and a 4.6/5 from Microsoft, and so it is no question why Ori is now turning into its own video game series. Ori is the titular character and main protagonist of Ori and the Blind Forest, and a spirit guardian who becomes separated from their biological and adoptive family; Ori is then thrust into a journey to save the forest of Nibel from a dangerous decay spreading throughout the land. 

From the new squeal's trailer, posted by Xbox's YouTube channel, the new game looks absolutely beautiful. Filled with a variety of bright and blushy colors, the trailer illustrates a world where animals survive in a forest filled with monsters, while also exploring different environments changing from day to night. Additionally, the original game won the BAFTA Games Award for Best Artistic Achievement, and, in my opinion, Ori and the Will of the Wisps has equally, if not more stunning graphics.

The sequel is set to come out this year, and with all the tragic hurricanes and earthquakes currently impacting our world today, I think a beautifully colorful fictitious world is what we all need right now. :)   

Emmy Awards

TOPIC: 2017 Emmy Awards

(FYI: The Emmys is an annual award show that honors the best in U.S. prime-time television programming. This year's ceremony acknowledged fan-favorite TV shows, movies, actors and directors from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.)    

FACT: The 69th Annual Prime-time Emmy Awards took place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles this year, and was hosted by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's very own comedian Stephen Colbert. :)  

Shocking moments go hand in hand with every award show known to man, but the 2017 Emmys definitely took those moments to a whole other level. After making a notably controversial joke about follow comedian Bill Maher, Colbert brought out former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer in the middle of his opening monologue -- and let's just say things got spicy. The moment Spicer set foot on stage to play along with Stephen Colbert's monologue, not only were the crowd of celebrities visually speechless, but the show kept cutting to actress Melissa McCarthy, who famously played the press secretary on the most recent season of Saturday Night Live, since she was clearly flabbergasted to say the least.

Some of the night's sketches were also pretty memorable, my favorite being when RuPaul portrayed a real life Emmy statue in a sit down interview with the host of the night, gossiping about other famed award statues including Oscar and Tony.

Another honorable moment of the 2017 Emmys occurred when Melissa McCarthy and Dave Chapelle walked out on stage to present an award, where Chapelle gave a shout-out to D.C. Public Schools. Following this surprising shout-out, comedian and show-host John Oliver sparked a trending hashtag on Twitter during his acceptance speech for the Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series award, stating, "Like Dave Chapelle, I would like to unexpectedly thank D.C. Public Schools because I think it would be great if it started trending tonight on Twitter for no reason whatsoever. So, if you're tweeting about the Emmys at home, please use the hashtag D.C. Public Schools."

The award show also had a very politically inspired theme, commonly poking fun at President Donald Trump. At the beginning of the night, Colbert made a jab about Trump being nominated for an Emmy many times for his show The Apprentice, but failed to actually win the award. So when Alec Baldwin accepted his award for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, he mentioned that this one was "for him".

Lastly, The Handmaid’s Tale made history for Hulu that night when they won the Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series while their respective cast members won for supporting and lead actress. Other nominated series included The Crown, Stranger Things, House of Cards and This Is Us, while multiple winners throughout the night coincidentally decided to thank the one and only Oprah Winfrey in their acceptance speeches, primarily because she was sitting dead-center in the first row.

All in all, it was a night you did not want to miss!

SNL's Backpack Kid

TOPIC: The Backpack Kid

FACT: The Backpack Kid took his talent and of course his backpack to the season finale of Saturday Night Live this year, by performing his unique dance alongside musical guest Katy Perry. But there is SO much more you probably don't know about this Instagram sensation. :)

By the time the Internet dubbed him "The Backpack Kid", Russell Horning was already an Instagram star because of his signature dance move called Flossing, which he now always performs with a backpack. But how did The Backpack Kid start dancing? 

Horning explained in an interview, "I guess at church camp a while back in summer of 2014 in front of everybody, and they all seemed to like it, so I was like, 'You know why not move this to Instagram and make a video?' Then I made a video and went from there." Quite a jump from church camp to appearing in international music videos though.

As for that backpack, turns out that feature wasn't always part of the act. The dancer explained that after seeing his friend wear it, they had the idea to trade right there and then at a shoe store, where Horning traded a pair of shoes for the iconic backpack. Obviously, fans wonder what is inside this backpack and in the same interview the rising Internet star admitted he keeps all the necessary item a dancer/video maker would need: speakers, phone equipment, his wallet, a pack of gum and Slim Jims. ;)

Lastly, getting Internet famous doesn't give Horning a free pass for school, so on Power 106 LA he told the world that he still needs the social environment of normal school, but supplements with online school so he can travel for his videos. 

iPhone X

TOPIC: iPhone X

FACT: International technology company Apple, founded by Steve Jobs in 1976, has now announced the release dates for two of the newest models of the iPhone: the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.     

For the past ten years, Apple has always come out and released a brand new iPhone for consumers around the world to enjoy. Sometimes these new models have large differences and other times they have tiny differences; like when the technology-developing company released the iPhone 4S, which was practically equivalent to the iPhone 4, except for the fact they added the snarky intelligent-assistant Siri. However, Apple is still top dog in the U.S when it comes to their phones and consumer loyalty, and part of the reason why is their unique ability to sell a sense of style, and an elite class of living with their devices.

The Apple iPhone X was announced on September 12th and will be available to order on October 27th. The iPhone X is going to have a longer battery, water resistant display, wireless charging, face scanning, a super AMOLED screen and even a 4K camera, which fans are extra excited for. Even though these features have been a part of Android’s Flagship phones for the past year, Apple has their own special way of reinventing it.

Sadly, the catch is this will be a $1,000 purchase! Additionally, Google searches for “why is my iPhone slow” skyrocket around this time of year, and many people blame Apple for making their phone slower so they are convinced to buy a new one. So take this with a grain of salt, I encourage you all to do your own research and compare products, because after all, 1,000 bucks is a pretty big purchase. D:

"Look What You Made Me Do" Music Video

TOPIC: "Look What You Made Me Do" Music Video

FACT: After spending months away from the spotlight, Taylor Swift broke back into the music-pop-scene in a big way once her first Reputation single "Look What You Made Me Do" dropped during this year's VMAs. Not only are the lyrics filled with controversial jabs and multiple confusing statements, but the subsequent music video has fans scouring every shot for, in somewhat literal terms, a load of Easter eggs hidden in the snake's den that the return pop-star has packed in this brand new music video. 

The video's opening scene shows Taylor Swift as a zombie, clawing her way out of the ground in a cemetery. A couple things you might not have noticed: (1) Taylor is wearing the same blue dress that she showed off in her "Out Of The Woods" music video, the significance being that both videos show Taylor communicating with herself. (2) If you look closely, you will also spy a tombstone with the name Nils Sjoberg on it, which was the fake name that Swift used when she co-wrote ex boyfriend Calvin Harris' hit "This Is What You Came For" -- so I guess it's safe to say that relationship is dead, as in six feet under. (3) There is also a single shot of Taylor lying in a grave while sporting the same dress and look that she showed off at the 2014 Met Gala, which might add up since Taylor states later in the video, "The old Taylor is dead."

In the sparkling second scene, the singer is shown bathing in a bathtub filled with jewels. This scene has been viewed as an obnoxious jab at Kim Kardashian by mocking her Paris robbery incident where she was robbed of $10 million worth of jewelry and was held at gun-point in a bathtub. One reason this theory adds up is because this is the part of the song where Taylor sings, "I thought the gun was mine," while pretending to shoot a bullet from her finger-tips.

But there might have been more to it than just mocking Kardashian; hidden among the jewelry surrounding Taylor lies a one dollar bill, which might signify more than just money. Swift was recently awarded a single buck in a counter-suit against DJ David Mueller because he allegedly groped her back in 2013. He later sued Taylor after he was fired from his job, though Taylor won in court, and indeed, was awarded a dollar before the pop-star posted a long statement encouraging other victims of sexual assault to speak out against assault, along with other common types of abuse. Meaning that, to the singer, the dollar bill in the video might be worth so much more than $10M.

As for a common theme in the new music video, it looks as though snakes play a very important role. Snakes can be spotted almost everywhere in this video, and one even serves her tea. Her inclusion of the animal has been seen as a clear callback to her feud with Kanye West because of a lyric in his infamous song "Famous" that Taylor found insulting, which is when West's wife, Kim K, released an audio recording of Swift and West discussing his lyrics to "Famous" beforehand where both artists had a consensus when discussing the track. Additionally, Kim decided to use the snake emoji several times when celebrating "National Snake Day", and starting a trend with this over-used emoji: an icon that will now forever be associated with Taylor Swift.

Moving right along to the chorus, Swift crashes a shiny car into a lamppost while wearing a leopard coat and sitting next to an actual leopard. Fans believe this scene is referencing "Roar" singer Katy Perry since, quite literally, both have now interacted with big cats in a music video. An observation that supports this theory is that Taylor is holding a Grammy in her arms while sitting in the crashed car, in which various media outlets have made the connection that this is poking fun at Perry for the fact she has never won a Grammy in her entire career.

Lastly, while preforming with a dance group that includes Taylor's good friend Todrick Hall, Taylor gives it her all in the video's ending dance scene. Though several viewers have speculated that this dance rips off Beyonce's moves in "Single Ladies" and various songs off her Lemonade album, this portion of the music video was supposedly referencing Taylor's latest public ex, Marvel actor Tom Hiddleston. This isn't too far-fetched since all the back-up dancers are wearing "I HEART TS" crop-tops, similar to the one Hiddleston wore at Tay Tay’s 4th of July party a few years back.

At the very end of the video, every Taylor Swift we’ve ever seen, either at award shows, public appearances and in music videos appear together, and we even see "You Belong With Me" Taylor wearing a shirt with all her besties' names on it including Selena Gomez, Blake Lively and Gigi Hadid. Other Taylors include Fearless Taylor, Red Taylor and the 2009 VMA Taylor, where each version of the singer makes fun of the other, using common characteristics Swift has been criticized for throughout the course of her career.

Now that I have shared some of the most basic theories about Taylor Swift's new video, out of hundreds of other hypothesizes, how many more secret Easter eggs or hidden meanings can YOU find in the spooky music video music? :) 

Official Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tmd-ClpJxA

It

TOPIC: It

(FYI: After Stephan King wrote his 1986 bestselling horror novel titled 'It', the story evolved into a film and even its own miniseries in 1990. Now, thirty-one years following the original book's release, Hollywood has remade this blood-curdling adventure using brand new technology to bring the one and only It back to life!)       

FACT: This two hour drama film/thriller has been critically acclaimed across the board and scored a record $13 million on Thursday night, the day before its public release date, all while making large audiences across the world laugh, cry and scream in this Stephen King fan-favorite journey. :)

Seven young outcasts in Derry, Maine, are about to face their worst nightmare: an ancient, shape-shifting evil that emerges from the sewer every twenty-seven years to prey on the town's children. Banding together over the course of one horrifying summer, the friends must overcome their own personal fears to battle a bloodthirsty clown known as Pennywise, whose legacy of murder goes back for decades. This It remake was directed by Andrés Muschietti who knew that actor Bill Skarsgard was perfect for the role of the clown. In fact, Skarsgard recently made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! where he gave an insight on how he personally felt traumatizing the kids in the cast; Skarsgard told Kimmel that during a scene where Pennywise attacks Eddie, played my Jack Grazer, he would be drooling while watching Jack scream and cry, and in the back of his head he would wonder how genuine it is. So right when the director would yell 'cut' Skarsgard would ask Jack if he was alright, followed by the young actor complementing Skarsgard's take on the character.

As for the new movie itself, the story's author, Stephen King, who has been dubbed as "The King of Horror" admitted in an interview that he was "not prepared" for how good the new It remake truly is. Critics didn't have much criticism to give either, and one critic specifically, A.O. Scott from the NY Times, described the gang of misfit '80s kids as representing the same brotherhood found in Stranger Things and another Stephen King novel Stand By Me, while also writing, "The movie assembles a squad of early and preadolescence ghostbusters as varied as an infantry platoon in a World War II combat picture." 

Seeing the blockbuster movie with my dad and friends on opening night, I can safely say that the movie that's been on everyone's mind is a MUST SEE! With a strong mix of comedy and horror, this motion-picture will make you fear red balloons and guarantee that you will never see anyone wearing a yellow jacket the same again. Plus, 87% of Google users have said they liked the thrilling film. 

Lastly, King has addressed the fact that this remake does not include some of the more sexual scenes originally depicted in his novel, to avoid "controversy" explained the film's director, but that did not help the fact that this movie is still rated R partially due to explicit language. All in all, if you love clowns, horror or Stephen King, this movie is for you. :)   

And if not, you'll float.  

Recap of the 2017-2018 Summer (Part 2)

TOPIC: Recap of the 2017-2018 Summer (Part 2)

(FYI: Trust me, the fun facts are not always this long!)

FACT:

Most Shocking Musical Comebacks

Katy Perry... After taking a bit of a hiatus from music in 2016, not only has the pop-star come out with new singles such as "Chained To The Rhythm", "Bon Appétit" and "Swish Swish" earlier this year, but the previous VMA host has even released a band new album titled Witness. To promote her new album and the upcoming Witness World Tour, Katy and her team decided to live-stream an event called Witness World Wide where the pop-star cooked with Gordon Ramsay, analyzed her old music videos, told James Corden who her favorite past lover in bed was, and even sat down with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and asked a question that even YouTuber PewDiePie poked fun at: "Is math related to science?"   

Kesha... On July 6, American singer Kesha, formerly known as Ke$ha, released her first new song and music video in not two, not three, but in almost four years of being prohibited to release brand new music; which is why, after switching record labels and getting over her scandal with former producer Dr. Luke, Kesha came out with a touching and awakening song called "Praying", along with later announcing her brand new studio album titled Rainbow. The album also includes song such as "Godzilla", "Learn To Let Go" and "Woman", and is the first album I have ever owned. 

Taylor Swift... Just a week before school started here in Ithaca, NY, Ms. Swiftie shocked the world when premiering her brand new music video at the 2017 MTV Music Video Awards. Saving the details of this compelling video for its own fun fact, this song and another single released just days ago called "...Ready For It?" will be featured on Taylor's sixth studio album, titled Reputation and coming out mid-November, which has a particular tone sounding as if Taylor Swift is trying to reinvent her public image ...once again.  

Celebrity Highlights

Smosh -- Smosh co-founder Anthony Padilla announced he is leaving the web-based sketch comedy duo to pursue a solo career. In a message and video posted on Twitter and YouTube, respectively, Padilla thanked those who have supported him over the years, explaining that he had been considering an exit for some time now, describing it as “a passion that I have wanted to explore for a long time.” His comedic partner, Ian Hecox, added that he is happy for his long-time friend, and also excited to see where the comedy brand will go next. 

The New Most Viewed Video on YouTube -- On July 10, "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth surpassed PSY's "Gangnam Style" as YouTube's most viewed video, which has held the record since 2012. Several days later, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's smash hit "Despacito" dethroned "See You Again" as most viewed. As of September 2017, the music video for "Despacito" has received twenty million likes and two million dislikes, and now has over 3.6 billion views.  

Jake Paul -- Firstly, for those that don't know, Jake Paul is the brother of Logan Paul, an American actor and a YouTube personality who rose to internet fame on the now-defunct video application Vine. Paul also released his infamous song "It's Everyday Bro" where he dissed PewDiePie, let the world know what the management company Team 10 is, and all in all sent lots of hate towards his name by creating a widely disliked song while also showing he has quite an ego. Paul later played Dirk Mann on the Disney show "Bizaardvark", until he supposedly got fired from Disney for his obnoxious attitude; though Paul claims he quit the show on his own. Anyway, it is safe to say that Jake Paul is an internet super-star, but you definitely won't see him on Disney anymore! 

Major Movies & New Television Shows

Girls Trip: Best friends Ryan, Sasha, Lisa and Dina are in for the adventure of a lifetime when they travel to New Orleans for a trip packed with enough dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush. This R-rated comedy starring Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith was a summer hit, making audiences laugh like lunatics one moment and cry their eyes out the next. 

The Emoji Movie: Having a budget of $50 million, this science fiction/adventure film has gotten the worst reviews of just about any movie released all summer, and currently only scores an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even though the animated film stars talented performers like James Corden and Christina Aguilera, it seems as though that just wasn't enough to make large audiences appreciate life from the perspective of an emoji.  :(

Game of Thrones: Concluding the drama series' seventh season, which aired the same day and time as the VMAs I might add, all I can say is that it was a controversial season finale to say the least. Some fans were speechless with this chapter of the story and it was practically as popular as the 2017 Video Music Awards themselves. 

Life of Kylie: Yes, television personality Kylie Jenner now has her very own reality show on E!, which takes a behind-the-scenes look at Jenner coming into her own, making her own decisions and discovering what brings her passion, joy and inspiration. IMDb rated the new show a 3.7/10. 

Young Sheldon: Narrated by The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons, this upcoming sitcom revolves around 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper who has skipped four grades to start high school along with his less-intellectual older brother. Premiering September 25 on CBS, this prequel's announcement has received backlash for having an annoyingly snotty protagonist, but no matter what the reviews say, I am personally looking forward to seeing what Sheldon Cooper was like as a young child.

These were just SOME of the highlights of the 2017-2018 summer, and now it's time to move on to the new news!

Welcome back to Fun Fact of the Day "Season 2" everybody! :)

As you know, FFOTD is an email subscription created by myself, Joshua "J.T." Stone, who is a current sophomore at Ithaca High School. Started back in October of 2016, Fun Fact of the Day has been a news-feed outlet in which I send out a daily fun fact on actors, singers, celebrities, new video games and movie releases, popular memes and fundamentally everything and anything relating to the vast world of pop culture! From just sharing various news stories with my friends at school, I have now built up a group of over 430 people to join this email list.

The first email of Season 2 will be a recap of all the most popular, trending and exciting events that took place over this summer. (Part 1)  :D

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        Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017: Monday's "once in a lifetime" total eclipse was visible within a band across the entire contiguous United States, passing from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. Being a partial solar eclipse, it was visible on land from Nunavut in northern Canada to as far south as South America. Everyone needed to wear special eclipse glasses when looking directly at the sun that day, whereas here in New York, this eclipse was pretty easy to miss.

       

        Hurricane Harvey: Ending a record 12-year period with no major hurricanes making landfall in the United States, Harvey has devastated Houston, Texas, along with nearby counties, killing at least 45 citizens and having a 3-4 day total rainfall greater than 40 inches. Additionally, after comedian Kevin Hart urged fellow celebrities to donate to the Red Cross via social media, Miley Cyrus, the Kardashian/Jenner family, Beyoncé, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and countless others have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to help this cause.
       

        Violence in Charlottesville: Home to the University of Virginia, a group of neo-Nazis and white nationalists took to the streets of Charlottesville, VA while protesting against the removal of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's statue while carrying bright torches into the night. Counter-protesters soon got into a violent conflict with the neo-Nazis and white nationalists, leading to a man driving into a crowd of counter-protesters and killing a woman by the name of Heather Heyer. In response to these unfortunate events, President Trump later made a controversial statement condemning hatred "on many sides" in a speech he gave speaking out about the rally in Charlottesville.

        Boxing Match between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather: The Saturday night fight against McGregor and Mayweather was an intense, dramatic and strategic one to say the least. Held in Los Angeles, the Irish showman and mixed martial artist Conor McGregor proved that he can also box, but not well enough to overcome the formerly retired professional boxer Floyd Mayweather. It was clear that Mayweather's strategy was to frustrate his reportedly "cocky" challenger long enough to exhaust him, and then finish the job; Mayweather was magnanimous in victory, explaining, "He’s a tough competitor. I think we gave the fans what they wanted to see. He’s a lot better than I thought he was. But I was the better man tonight.” Whereas McGregor ended with the statement: “He’s not that fast, he’s not that powerful, but boy is he composed."

Annual Events & Award Ceremonies

         

           E3 -- The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017, commonly known as E3, was the 23rd Electronic Entertainment Expo, where several hardware manufacturers, software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming productions to the attendees, primarily retailers and members of the video game press. Since the event followed the release of the Nintendo Switch in March 2017 and the announcement of the hardware refresh of the Xbox One, the Xbox One X, due out in November 2017, there was little of the show devoted to hardware and mostly focused on new titles across the board which are said to be released within 2017 or 2018.   

        YouTube's VidCon  -- Originally conceived by Hank and John Green of the Vlogbrothers' YouTube channel, this multi-genre online video convention, held annually in Southern California since 2010, is the largest of its kind in the whole world, gathering thousands of online video viewers, creators, and industry representatives worldwide. At this year's VidCon, singer and previous America's Got Talent winner Grace VanderWaal performed her new hit "Moonlight", wowing her dedicated fan-base, and during a panel about online bullying, feminist video game critic Anita Sarkeesian called her detractor, Carl Benjamin aka YouTuber Sargon of Akkad, a "garbage human" after he showed up with other anti-feminist YouTubers by filling the first three rows of the audience while recording the panel on their phones. Indeed, this year's VidCon was filled with all the drama you could imagine!

        The Teen Choice Awards -- The award show that revolves around fan favorite celebrities in music, television, movies and the digital space had its winners, some setbacks, and like always, moments that are simply unforgettable. Firstly, actress Zendaya took the show to another level by speaking out against the injustice in the world, reminding young people to educate themselves and telling people to use their voice when they know something is wrong in society. On a less serious note though, there was a panda bear giving out awards and a closing performance by Louis Tomlinson and Bebe Rexha singing their hit "Back To You". To end off the joyful night, beloved YouTubers Liza Koshy and Logan Paul accepted their surfboard shaped trophies for Choice Web Stars of the year, where Koshy almost dropped her surfboard with excitement, but managed to pull it off in the most charming way possible.  

        2017 MTV Video Music Awards -- Honoring music videos released between June 25, 2016 and June 23, 2017, this year's VMAs were packed with exciting performances, touching speeches, countless "disses" and jabs at other celebs, and unpredictable award winners, all hosted by the talented yet slightly awkward Katy Perry. Rapper Kendrick Lamar opened up the show by performing "DNA" and "HUMBLE", where the stage was literally set on fire and the audience went absolutely nuts. After a few more performances, Katy Perry dropped down from the ceiling to the now fire-free stage, dressed like an astronaut, to give her opening monologue pretending she had been in space for the duration of 2017 -- not aware of any of the nation-wide breaking news stories. After being given a newspaper, the host then asked the crowd how they've been coping with the current state of the world, which was the moment Katy was handed an infamous toy known as a fidget spinner. Other honorable moments from this exciting night include when girl group Fifth Harmony performed their hit "Down" featuring Gucci Mane after winning the Best Pop Video award for it, singer P!nk earning the Michael Jackson Vanguard Award after having a moment to perform a medley of her past and presents songs, followed by giving a self-empowering speech inspired by her young daughter, and performers Logic, Alessia Cara and newcomer Khalid showing love and support on stage while performing their collaboration, "1-800-273-8255", which is the Suicide Prevention Lifeline number. Finally, noticeably with host Katy Perry offstage, the VMAs decided to premiere Taylor Swift's brand new music video for her first song in three years, "Look What You Made Me Do", which will be analyzed in its own fun fact email, but let's just say when I personally saw it, I was skooketh. ;)