Sunday Musings: “Camping” out, Eye Candy, and an Assortment of Hiatus Entanglements

It's that time of the year again, Coleman season!

Time to discard the snuggie sack and put down the phone, look at that thing called the sun.  That is, unless your SO or roommate likes to turn the thermostat setting much too low, and then maybe keep that snuggle sack close at hand!  

Regardless of the temperature, let's begin this overview by shining a hot spotlight on the Supernatural brand. Just when one would think that this long running franchise couldn't be milked any further for the purposes of personal gain, more "projects" crop up for fans to dig into their piggy banks to help support:

Misha Collins and his @Stands company, of which he is a partial owner of, is now selling Supernatural related merchandise and Destiel Pride T shirts.  The company is skirting very close to show licensing limitations with their products involving "salt and burn", "the car Baby", and the Pride anti-possession tattoo which would seem to indicate some sort of required "nod of approval" from the network and/or creators.  Oh, and then there's the matter of the Destiel "Pride" T shirt.  Stands is also selling Felicia Day (an actress from the show) merchandise. 

• Jensen Ackles' beard Danneel Harris Ackles is now in the jewelry business with Limbo Jewelry where earrings cost in the general range of $49-$99 and as high as $169.  (There are no gemstones involved.)  And since Danneel is involved, that means there will be a chance her famous merkin, I mean husband Jensen will show up at a meet and greet party, such as happened Thursday, June 13. This is what the business is counting on and how they will capitalize on fans' money and social media word-of-mouth.

• Then there's Jensen pal and cover-provider Steve Carlson, who is working with Jensen on his upcoming album.  

We won't even get into the other beard's (Genevieve Padalecki) business activities over the past several years.  The chronic "ATM withdrawal" encouragement from the actors to the show's fandom really is something to watch.

But, speaking of Collins, and this crew affiliated with Supernatural, along with Taylor Swift performing her new so-called gay anthem, "You Need To Calm Down" during Pride Month at the Stonewall Inn, we here at Narnia look at their quotes and press releases with a large dose of "are you kidding me"? 

Take Misha Collins (again) for instance and his quote from a 2018 interview where he preached the dangers of social media mis-use:

"The biggest concern is exactly the same as the biggest benefit— access. In the wrong hands, social media and new technology are tools can be used to spread propaganda and corrupt the truth. We’re seeing false information being pushed out to wide audiences to manipulate people and advance agendas, and we’re seeing people being drowned out, cyberbullied, and doxxed. It’s more important than ever, that we are vigilant about researching our sources to provide reputable information, and the messages we share are positive or at the very least, accurate." -  Behind the Cape: Supernatural's Misha Collins, Advocates AgainstCyber Bullying Through 'Random Acts' " via Forbes.com

Can we take one more look at this again? I just want to check that my eyeglasses are working correctly.

'can be used to spread propaganda and corrupt the truth' - from hired meard, Misha Collins.  'We're seeing false information being pushed out to wide audiences to manipulate people and advance agendas'.

Sounds like gaslighting similar to Taylor Swift performing at the Stonewall Inn during Pride Month, while ignoring her own history of exploiting and benefiting from closeted gay celebrities by using the faux relationships as the basis for her song lyrics???  Dimitri????

This cannon?
We ship it (in two weeks or less).

A portion of all proceeds will benefit the @ACLU and their important work supporting the LGBTQIA community. https://t.co/uWtrveeprw pic.twitter.com/4Rb6b4Haju

— Stands🏳️‍🌈 (@Stands) June 5, 2019

 

And then there was Ellen DeGeneres, who had a Q and A video released with Jake Gyllenhaal that was pretty cute and provided some personal 411.  But the question about his "favorite body part" seemed to be one he wasn't expecting, hence the extreme awkwardness.  Had Jake been queued beforehand, I think he would have responded with a more poised reply, (Remember Jake's effortless T & A answer on Actor's Studio in 2013?) instead of all the fumbling and unease Jake exhibits in this video.  Not real cool, Ellen.  Although we do recognize that Jake is an actor, and women do have a tendency to make him a bit uncomfortable. *wink*

Narnia understandably gives Jakers a hard time with many of the antics and outright lying to the general public over the years, but this Q & A shows how differently Jake can be portrayed in "written interview" or late-night television when the topics are scripted versus an impromptu setting such as the Ellen Show appearance (and w/o a publicist nearby who can yank him away).  And the word "impromptu" is used with a tote full of discretion because notice how the "You live in New York City" was shoehorned in. 

We all have #burningquestions for Jake Gyllenhaal. Today, I have burning answers. pic.twitter.com/OQTT9EEWVy

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) June 14, 2019

 
Next burning question:  What does Austin wear to bed?  We'll take one guess, after hearing his hub's above no holds "bared" answer.  ;D  Perhaps this might be an integral part of the Gyllynichols coat of arms:

LOL!

Anyway, here was Jake at the Tony's on June 9th:

I'm imagining some day when Jake and Austin might want to pose together in front of this same setting. What a day that would be, huh?

And here's another glimpse of Jakers, minus the petals this time, from his Uomo Vogue photoshoot which featured a plethura of flowers:

And finally, from Beijing, China we have one of the hinkiest looking press start-ups, if for no other reason than with such an important global market, there were only two actors (Jake and Junior) and the film's Director making the trip.  Evidently, Zendaya was conveniently excused because of an upcoming HBO show called Euphoria which she has been promoting in Austin, TX and Los Angeles.  Interesting timing, doesn't it seem like? Particularly, since the TV show is only an 8-part series and one would think the combined corporate pull of Sony Pictures and CAA could easily have negotiated a delay for a few weeks so she could  participate in the Spider-man promotion. And yet....

In terms of professional attire, we're not quite sure about the black and blue casual combination.  I thought one only did that if they were dressing in the dark?  ;-)  But, then again, perhaps Jake will start a new fashion color pairing trend!  Nonetheless, the "bruiser" Jakers was looking mighty fine. 

Fashion choices aside, we love when these guys smile.


 

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And here's Niall Horan who found some friends to hang out with - Woody and Bo Peep from Toy Story 4. 

When @NiallOfficial met Woody and Bo Peep @toystory @Disney_UK #ToyStory4 pic.twitter.com/TLDrrs6I7J

— Soccer Aid ⚽️ (@socceraid) June 15, 2019

Being that bandmate Liam Payne is a huge Toy Story fan we're thinking he might have been a bit jealous of Niall's new friends, but then again our guy has been rather quiet lately, which is perfectly fine. Recently, however, he was definitely making his presence known in all the right ways by attending a children's fundraiser in London at the Grosvenor House Hotel on June 13th, and donating a whopping £40,000 ($50,000) at the Caudwell Children's Butterfly Ball event, a charity which helps disabled children and their families. Way to go, Liam!

Shoutout to Liam Payne donating £40,000 to the Caudwell Children’s charity, just like that - we in fact need more people like that, with such a big heart, trying to help others whenever he has the possibility to pic.twitter.com/gqd35HWnmt

— Miriam 🌙 (@miri2110) June 14, 2019

 
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And here is one of Narnia's honorary faves, Patrick Mahomes at the Big Slick celebrity ballgame at the K right here in Kansas City.  As if there weren't already pretty big names in charge of the event like Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle, Eric Stonestreet, David Koechner, and Jason Sudeikis, this year brought the MVP QB1 Patrick Mahomes.  Here he is taking a swing and hitting a homerun - would we expect anything less, I ask?

And while another fave of ours Travis Kelce was there along with Chiefs punter, Dustin Colquitt, I thought this photo below was a lot of fun.  Travis with yet ANOTHER Narnia fave of ours, former Royals third baseman, Moose "Mike" Moustakas!  Moose is having an outstanding year with the Milwaukee Brewers and we could not be happier for him.  Go Moose!!

As the great American sportscaster, Mel Allen would say, "How About That?"

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Now, that we have enjoyed some appetizing eye candy, let's put on our combined thinking caps and ponder a recent announcement regarding Modest! Management. The most important thing to remember at the outset of this fresh look, is that by studying PR machinations as something other than just random, unrelated occurrences, discernible patterns with a larger purpose begin to emerge. Remember, what appears, at first glance, to be innocent and not worth mentioning at all, upon closer inspection, can easily become far more curious, if not downright nefarious. After all, experience shows us time and time again that...

The key is to keep on observing. Never letup on the questioning, and avoid being distracted by shiny objects and easy answers. Instead look beneath the surface of events. And, most importantly of all, do not forget that which has come before. In time, that new piece of information may lead to an explanatory insight that helps to fill-in some of those annoying blanks, connect a few of those baffling dots. Until gradually, bit by bit, a bigger, more detailed picture begins to take shape. A picture that will eventually lead to one of those sudden realizations that we all hope will happen. One of those slap on the head insights that begins to tie everything together. 

So let's return to earlier this month when something occurred which, at first glance, seemed unremarkable, albeit disgustingly all too common. Undeserved appreciation being bestowed upon (in this case) two certain someones, who back in 2015, were hardly discussed without some kind of critical commentary. By jarring the old memory bank, along with some quick verification of a few facts, a more sinister observation about  a key purpose of One Direction's Hiatus From Hell begins to emerge. Although initially the headlines themselves appeared fairly simple and matter of fact:

Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee to Receive 2019 Music Industry Trusts Award  Variety, June 2, 2019

And who exactly are Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee? Well, they are the co-founders of Modest! Management, a London-based artist management company who began working with Simon Cowell and Syco Records in 2003. Two men in charge of handling the career strategies of those X-Factor performers who had done well enough to receive record contracts, post competition.  It was Modest! Management who became One Direction's primary day to day overseers, between 2010-2015. Along with Sony Records, this was the "team" known for brutally closeting Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles along, to a lesser degree, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik. The taskmasters whom 1D fans realized as early as 2012, did not have the group's best interests or long-term future in mind. This was the management collective that abusively worked 1D to the point of exhaustion, world tour after world tour. Remarkably, beginning on December 18, 2011 and ending on October 31, 2015, One Direction headlined four worldwide concert tours. And the money kept rolling in while the group's images were unscrupulously manipulated and controlled to the point of portraying Louis and Liam as homophobic pricks in the media, characterizing Louis' mother as a homewrecker, marketing Harry as a womanizing Lothario, and rendering Zayn as a self indulgent drug addict who cheated on his fiancée, and was unable to handle the demands of fame. Nothing was beyond the pale when it came to Modest! Management's dominion.

Much like today, Modest! and Cowell used tabloid hacks like Dan Wooten at the Sun to not only keep the group in line, but to attack and gaslight 1D's loyal, largely female fandom throughout the group's existence, all the while viciously enforcing one of the most despicable closets in the entertainment industry. These are the men, in fact, still responsible for the current sabotaging of Louis Tomlinson's career, the saddling of both Liam and Louis with "sons" and, along with Rob Stringer at Sony Records, the continued selling of the Harry Styles narrative as the narcissistic "front-man" who broke up the group because of his selfish ambitions and stab in the back business dealings with music mogul, Irving Azoff. 

  Louis at the Brit Awards February 20, 2013, barely shaking hands 

with Richard Griffiths, walking past Harry McGee

Furthermore, Harry McGee is the person whose son introduced him to Eleanor Calder, the woman who became the fake girlfriend and appendage of Louis Tomlinson, dating back to late 2011. Caulder was the beard hired to make sure Louis would be portrayed as the devoted boyfriend by certain parts of the fandom and a self-hating gay man by other factions. The ultimate goal was to try to tap down the rumors about him and Harry Styles. She was temporarily sidelined between March 2015 - February 2017 so that Sony/Syco could sell the new story of Louis as the drunken partier who recklessly "impregnated" a one night stand. After being shackled with a "son" and another beard (Danielle Campbell from November 2015-December 2016) Caulder returned immediately in January/February 2017 because as we all know Louis is so gay that he can't be left without a beard and, just in case, add a newborn son into the mix as well. As we can easily see, these are two men who are truly worthy of a Trusts award, don't you think?

 Cowell, Griffiths and Magee

With this context in mind, remember those dots at the beginning of this post that are slowly being connected?  Well, get a load of this "coincidence."  

November 2, 2015 -Recipient of the Music Industry Trusts Award
                                 SIMON COWELL, Syco Record Company 
                                 Executive - Syco Entertainment
                                 Presenter: One Direction

November 6, 2017 - Recipient of the Music Industry Trusts Award
                                  ROB STRINGER, Sony Music CEO 
                                  Performer:  Harry Styles

Since the event won't be until November, we can feel pretty confident that Niall Horan will be involved, since somehow after everything Modest! did to 1D, he stayed with the duo and with their Golf Management company as well. Almost like Mr. Horan may not have had a choice. Get a load of this quote attributed to Niall when the announcement of the award was revealed.

“I struggle to know where to even start…. What incredible men these two are. I’ve been working with Richard and Harry for nearly ten years now and if it wasn’t for them I don’t know if we all would have had half of the success we did. … On a personal note, I know they’ve worked their arses off for me and I can put it all down to the kind of relationship I share with them. They are basically like my uncles. We’ve been all over the world together, laughed together mostly, cried together at times but most importantly had many great nights on the wine together ahahah. I’d do anything for these men and I can comfortably say that they would do the same for me.”

Somehow this gushing statement hardly sounds like Mr. Horan, does it? More like a Simon Jones work product. That "basically like my uncles" comment kind of gives it away, don't you think, Uncle Simon?



November 4, 2019- Recipients of the Music Industry Trusts 
                                 Award RICHARD GRIFFITHS & HARRY
                                 MCGEE, Co-Founders, Modest! Management 
                                 Testimonial:  Niall Horan 
 

The pattern now seems hard to ignore. Every single major player associated with 1D's management and subsequent hiatus, which is looking less like a temporary respite and more and more like an enforced separation, is conspicuously being rewarded by the British music industry. A career interruption that Simon Cowell, Rob Stringer and Modest! Management all seem to be using to not only rewrite history, but to help rehabilitate their sullied reputations. All the while punishing and devaluing 1D's brand, and fragmenting/gaslighting their loyal fan base for ever daring to expose Sony/Syco's coercive "business" practices, chief among them the imposition of the closet on two young men who showed all the signs of wanting to be out as a couple. Because, let's be candid, what are the actual odds that after only four years, the same major music award has been bestowed upon three (four if counting Modest! Management as a + 2 deal) of One Direction's handlers/abusers.  

And, the fact that Niall Horan has seemingly been able to escape relatively unscathed throughout these years is only more proof that this hiatus has been strategically planned by TPTB. After all, even when 1D was active, Niall was always the member who was pretty much untouched by Sony/Syco's manipulations and orchestrations. His Teflon status has simply been continued into the hiatus, which would make sense in terms of his longstanding public image. Making sure that Niall stayed with Modest! as well as Simon Jones for PR, also helps sell the idea that these Sony/Syco agents are not only competent, but are actually good and decent men. The kind of "Uncles" Niall would do anything for. Remember Nance's Law. Coincidence takes a lot of planning. Let's predict right now, that One Direction will have an over-sized presence on the night of the Trusts Awards in November. One big happy family is part of the hiatus narrative after all; at least between the guys and Sony/Syco Management. And what better opportunity to show that there is no there, there than making sure the guys are seen happily bestowing honors upon their jailers.


In conclusion, one more connect-the-dot linkage is the interesting fact that the Music Industry Trusts Award is going to be celebrating it's 28th year in 2019. That's right, 28 years, matching that tattoo Louis added so prominently to his body art repertoire in December 2015.  Just one more example of the numerical pattern that both Louis and Harry have displayed an affinity for since 2013. [Refer to previous Narnia post on the number 28]:  Monday Musing:  It's All in the Number

While we are at it, let's add three more examples to this ever growing list involving the mysterious reappearances of the number 28 in Louis and Harry's lives.  

During Harry's World Tour, 2017-2018, Harry wore 28 Gucci suits,

And, as recent as this year, Louis created a Spotify playlist, which included his new single "Two of Us" by announcing the song's title and release date on February 28th, and surprise, surprise, the personal recommendation of musical favorites was composed of 28 songs.

We here at Narnia are not quite sure what this number means in the grand scheme of things, but Louis Tomlinson will be celebrating his (drum roll please) 28th birthday this December on Christmas Eve as well. Let's just hope as they head into 2020, both men will be one step closer to their freedom and, once and for all, the true significance of that number will be made clearer. Because, as we all know by now, coincidence takes a lot of planning.

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Narnia wants to wish all of our viewers a very happy Father's Day with your dads, brothers, all influential and guiding influences in your life.  While my father has been gone for several years now, he is never too far from my thoughts and the way he contributed to raising me is his everlasting gift to me.  There are all kinds of great parental and authorative influencers that we can have and so we give thanks for them today.

As for Jake and Austin.  And Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki.  Happy Father's Day to the four of you.  

And for Austin and Jake?  It's a double special day.  We'd like to wish them congratulations on their eleven (11) year wedding anniversary today.  

   

And as always, we thank all of you for visiting and have a GREAT week!!

 

Collaboration:  Methodical Muser & PG
pic sources:  purpleproposition, pinknews, KC Star, PressFrom,
                     giphy, IHeartJake, BritTrustAward, Getty Images,
                     Modest Management, Spotify, Daily Mail, MTV 
                     News
our playlist:  Bridge Over Troubled Water (Live in Central Park) -
                            Simon and Garfunkel
                     I Live For Your Love - Natalie Cole
                     Ready, Set, Don't Go - Billy Ray & Miley Cyrus
                     Hold My Hand - Akon with Michael Jackson
                     I Got You, Babe - Sonny and Cher