Sunday, September 13, 2020

Celebrating 27 Years of Niall Horan - Happy Birthday, Niall!

 

27 years young!  That's what Mr. Niall James Horan celebrates today and we at Narnia honor and celebrate him as well.  The spirited, ever-smiling and fun-loving member of One Direction and successful solo artist commands our attention this day.  No doubt, he will not have to cook his own birthday meal, although he prides himself on his talents at the grill and in the kitchen.

 

And if he wants to play a round of 18 for his birthday, he can do that and can dial up a buddy.
 


 

Or if he just wants to hang at home with family and friends, well, nothing beats some Niall at the guitar.  And it would be the family and friends who would say 'Thank you, Niall, for the gift of your music.'   Here he was singing the beautiful "Black and White" during the One World: Together At Home broadcast.


 Or he could read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" in different accents like he did on Fallon Tonight.  He was brilliant, wasn't he?  It was almost more entertaining to watch Jimmy Fallon crack up.

 

 

Or maybe hang out one on one with a friend?


Whatever he does today, you know Niall is going to have fun.  It's hard to believe that this very young man,


Has grown into this man,  charitable to his native Ireland in helping the senior population during the COVID-19 pandemic through the ALONE organization, politically concerned about America (thank you, Nialler!), and one who loves to talk to his fans on social media.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As bandmate Harry Styles said, they are the winners.  Niall is a winner because he knows the successful road he has been traveling on and he has these special friends in his life, who will be forever in his life, no doubt.

Louis Tomlinson:

 

Harry Styles:

 


















 

Zayn Malik:


 

 

and Liam Payne:

















So, Niall is blessed to have four additional "brothers" in his life, those who looked after him a bit while they were on the road and he was away from his direct family.  He has his family, many friends and he also has a ginormous amount of fans who love his smile, friendly nature, his sometimes crankiness, his "spirited" nature, aka temper LOL!, and frank way of speaking.


 

Happy Birthday, Niall!  Enjoy the day and may there be many blessings, numerous birdies and perhaps several eagles in your new year on this earth.




















pic sources:  weheartit, giphy, tenor, popsugar, rebloggy, tumblr,

                     gfycat, popsugar

our playlist:  Nice to Meet Ya - Niall Horan

                     Put a Little Love On Me - Niall Horan

                     Black and White - Niall Horan

                     Too Much to Ask - Niall Horan

                      Heartbreak Weather - Niall Horan

 


Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Liam Payne the Gifter: He Knows How to Throw a Birthday Party

 


This was Liam Payne last Saturday, Aug 29, which was his 27th birthday.  He held Act 2 of his LP Show on the evening of his birthday and his fans were all the more blessed for his excellent performance.  Again, like its predecessor LP Show, ticket proceeds benefited members of his performance crew, who have seen tour earnings come to a screeching halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  So not only did ticket proceeds (which have been on a "pay what you can" basis and could be as low as $10) benefit the crew, but the shows provided work for these same stage workers to provide technical assistance during the show.  
 
Act 2 revealed a full band, different stage, and I was glad to see Liam wasn't trying to read the comments and messages on the small screen of his phone, but this time he had a mega tablet going on.  What in the heck model of tablet was that anyway, Liam?  Lenovo Yoga? Samsung Galaxy?  It was huge, whatever it was, and PG is allll about the electronic toys!  💻😉

Check it out:


I don't know, I'm just fascinated by the size of that tablet, lol.  Love it!  Liam performed a great set which included many of his singles or collaborative efforts like Slow, Familiar, Midnight and Polaroid. He also included several One Direction songs like Night Changes, What a Feeling, Drag Me Down and ended the show with a bit of an emotionally nostalgic rendition of Best Song Ever (that is, if a bopper can be 'emotionally nostalgic'!).  

Liam manages conversing one-on-one with the video camera very well and once the music starts, he slips right into stage mode and one forgets all about the pandemic for awhile.  The LP Show series was a wonderful idea and no doubt, there has an enthusiastic and appreciative audience.  Despite a 1 1/2 hour delay with so many fans trying to enter the Veeps site for the LP Show, everyone's patience was rewarded as Liam & Co. waited until the site had recovered from the crash.  This fan's tweet reflects all of us who were struggling to log in on August 29, doesn't it?

 
😂😂 Right?  Anxiety was reigning online at the time, but Liam tweeted to everyone they were aware of the delay and not to worry.  So his fans remained patient and kept a cool head.
 
 
Soon, expressions of relief and excited anticipation began to take over as fans began to gain access to the site. It was refreshing to see how eager the fans were as they celebrated and looked forward to the start of the show.  This is the kind of devotion and enthusiasm any artist would greatly appreciate from his or her fans.  




 
 
Fans were watching from all over the world.  I was like this fan below - once I got in, I was even afraid to refresh my screen like many fans were recommending!  But I did and thankfully, it was the right move.

 
The calm expressed by many fans was impressive,
 

They also promoted his guest Mae Muller, who opened the show:

 

Technical delays?  Pffft!  Liam's fans say, "Stream while you wait!"

 


So in brief summation, #LP Show Act 2 was trending, the concert venue website was crashing, the concert's merchandise was selling, Liam was singing and dancing in unabashedly free and outstanding fashion and fans were loving it and loving the event.

Not only did Liam nail every song in his set, but he performed a cover of 'Best Song Ever' to end the concert.  LOVED your small improv's in this, Liam:


And that wasn't even the end of the evening (as he told us, "It's still my birthday!" LOL!)  Liam shared an after-show birthday party on the TikTok platform where he celebrated with a monstrous birthday cookie cake, hosted games for Zoom fans to play and win prizes, and introduced his family and friends who were there. And there were some birthday wishes from colleagues and friends, like Zedd and someone named Niall Horan...

 

 

As mentioned previously, there was the celebratory birthday cookie,


No, no, no, lol!  No, THIS birthday cookie,


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Narnia loves that he felt the occasion called for a suit - which he wore with fashionable execution and utter aplomb.  What a proper gent! We just do not deserve Liam, do we?  

 


This was a nice photo of him and DJ/songwriter/music producer Deewaan Singh who has DJ'd now at both of Liam's LP concert shows:

 

 

Liam is to be commended for reaching out to his fans through the LP Show, whether via You Tube or Veeps, for sharing his time and birthday, for thinking of his crew members and wanting to help, for donating to the Trussell Trust with proceeds from the sale of some of his clothing (through The Closets) 😉.  His fans crashed the Veeps site as the show tried to lift off the ground.  Over 135,000 fans were online on Tik Tok to see Liam give away prizes, greet callers and dish up the cookie. 

Liam also set up a tandem shoutout with his better half, Zayn Malik as the 1998 song, The Boy is Mine by Brandy and Monica played in the background during the after party.  Then two days later, Zayn made a request to hear a song during a Verzuz battle between Brandy and Monica.  What was the song he requested to hear?  The Boy is Mine.  

 

Thanks to the tumblr Ziam fans who caught that one!  Way to go, boys.  

Narnia is not going to sully the post with any named mention of Management's shoehorned "party guest" at the after party.  Liam has his ways of standing on his own and he stood tall all night long with an outstanding performance and we hope he had as much fun as he looked like he was having.

We're super proud of this young man and he is no doubt growing as an artist.  This kind of venture like the LP Show on You Tube and now on Veeps stretches his creativity and keeps his performance chops tuned.  Singing some of the One Direction songs solo had to have felt a bit lonely at times, but he knew that the fans were going to love hearing them.  And he smashed them, striking emotional chords in the hearts of his fans while doing so.  

Can we look forward to an LP Show, Act 3??


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singing Night Changes:


And Midnight (again - LOVE the improvs!):

 

Let's hope the 27th year is full of many blessings for Liam Payne.

That's...Liam James Payne, for anyone curious as to his middle name.  *wink*

 

pic sources:  zaynieswolfie, liampics, gifer, the sun, tumbral

our playlist:  Remember - Liam Payne

                     Night Changes - Liam Payne

                     Slow - Liam Payne

                     Polaroid (LP Show 1) - Liam Payne


 

Monday, September 7, 2020

Summer of Jake '20: When the Only Souvenir Is the T-Shirt on Your Back

 

One of the most enjoyable aspects of life is when you're genuinely, wonderfully surprised.  "Never saw that one coming." "Not in a million years."  And with the way 2020 has transpired thus far, Narnia hasn't been quite sure how the #SummerOfJakeAndAustin is going to head into 2021.  Into the FallOfJakeAndAustin? HolidaySeasonOfJakeAndAustin? WinterOf...?  LOL.  So it's with a humbled, yet stunned elation that we share a little observation on a very rare, recent shout out between these two men because this was one for the books.  

On August 26, Jake and the non-profit organization, Wiggle Your Toes, released a video where he was encouraging folks to raise a toast of $10 to help raise money for this organization which helps provide support and information, sometimes prosthetics, to those who have lost limbs.  The goal is to help these people of all ages in the state of Minnesota regain the quality of life that they have aspired to.  What an inspiring, positive-minded organization!  I can't not share this - take a look in this short video! (don't try to click on the video Play triangle itself as it won't work in the post)

  

And no doubt Jake has gotten involved due to his starring as Jeff Bauman in the movie Stronger.  What a worthwhile cause and if you think you may be interested in raising a toast, this is a link to do so.    

But now back to our observation.  In the video, Jake can be seen wearing a T shirt,


Let's isolate it a bit.

 

After taking a good look, let's see what it has in common with some other "touristy" T's.  Do we notice any common themes here?


 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Convict Lake which is just two miles south of Mammoth Lake,

 


 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Fish (namely trout). Mountains. Radiating rays of sunlight. Bodies of water.   You know, Mammoth Lakes is known for its trout fishing.

"With access to an abundance of high alpine lakes, reservoirs, streams and creeks, Mammoth Lakes offers some of the best trout fishing in the world." - visitmammoth
 
 
Let's also remember this activity from last month - Jake's guest appearance in his godmother Jamie Lee Curtis's Audible Original, Letters from Camp, a family podcast series aimed towards middle-school aged children. Jake reads the part of Trout, the summer camp's water sports director.  Who else would know all about water sports but Jake's better half Austin, who is all about the water?  Jake has been in an intimate relationship with the ideal role inspiration for water sports for over 18 years! 😀  
 
In addition to this, with both men now being the parents of t'weeners, the target age audience of Letters from Camp is a direct score for the family. Jake also used to attend summer camp himself as a child and has spoken of his experience:


 
Here is Trout, the water sports director,


Here's a sampling of Jake talking as Trout in this audio clip.  So Austin provides authentic inspiration for a water sports director and where did Austin show his love for water sports this past summer?

In Narnia's post, Jake Gyllenhaal's Summer Message to Austin Nichols and Tom Holland: Cover For Me, Boys, I really missed the mark by being skeptical on the timing of Austin's visit, but am not embarrassed to admit so, lol!  So, let's look back for a moment.  Where was he?  He told us.


Mammoth Lakes, CA.  In that video above, there's the water.  There are the mountains.  There are the trees - red firs???  As pictured on those T shirts above?  Like on Jake's shirt with the large outline of the trout around the pine trees, the sun and its rays of light which cleverly formed the outline of the trout fish?   Hmmm...

And who has also shown he likes to fish?  

Here he was, in 2014 when he said he was in Canada fishing:


Well now, look at the time period for that Canadian fishing trip, particularly the first several days.  That time frame is right in LST - "Leadville" Standard Time.  LOL!! August 22-28.

And one year earlier before the guys' Leadville trip in August 2010, here was Austin playing the character of "Girlfriend" (a little gender nonconforming performance for sly ol' Austie) in a video short entitled, The True Love-Tale of Boyfriend and Girlfriend with Hilarie Burton for Southern Gothic Productions.  Nice lil’ fishing pole there!


And then there was that little matter back in 2013, when Austin received a fishing ticket (which showed what was supposed to be his home address on it, although the authenticity of his residence at that location remains up in the air to this day).  His tweet was deleted quickly after being posted. 

So, what day of the month did the fishing ticket happen on?  August 13.

And when was Austin posting on his Instagram to be at Mammoth Lakes this past summer?  
 
August 10 through the 17th.
 
And he had helpers - Shawski "Ivan Shaw" and actor Patrick Flueger, both men who have helped Austin out multiple times before by providing visual alibis for his whereabouts, i.e. instead of being believed to be with Jake.
 
Looks like they helped out this time with a "Men and Their Dogs" fishing trip.
 

August is a hot month in more ways than one, seems to me.  😉 There they all are - Men and Their Dogs.

So, Austin was busy being "seen", with all of his pictures testifying him to be vacay'ing in Mammoth Lakes.  But while he was being "seen" on social media, behind the scenes, it was really him, Jake and the Gyllynichols Fam who were also enjoying Mammoth Lakes. Perhaps one last "goodbye to summer" vacay?  In this unique 2020, a sta-cation of sorts before the start of the school year.  And looking at this pattern of fishing in August, perhaps the Gyllynichols fam has a summer tradition going on and that would be pretty rad, wouldn't it?

One more note: Mammoth Lakes and Convict Lake are located in Mono County, California.  Mono County was in a moderate area of California for COVID-19 cases and partially bordered by even more minimally-stricken counties.  An adequate enough distance away from LA and yet far enough away for everyone to feel like they're "getting away", all while enjoying an area which is not as much at risk.  In other words, keeping everyone as safe as possible.  Btw, in the graphic below, Mono County is one of the counties in orange. Follow the blue arrow.

courtesy:  San Jose Mercury News
 
In a side note of very similar domesticity, notice another set of parents who are issuing all kinds of smoke and mirrors while likely doing the same thing - enjoying a family summer vacation.  Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles.  Oh, yeah...
 
The Padalecki's spending time in the Northwest, i.e. Wyoming and Montana, with plenty of manipulation.  I'm trying to figure out what Genevieve's left foot is propped up on here:
 

Think about it. If Jared is really squatting on that rock ledge, and looking at the line behind Shep, that's a small hill that they're posing on. What is Genevieve's foot resting on? A large rock like what is behind Jared?  Where is there room for another rock behind Tom? And if that were another rock that her foot is resting on, then why wouldn't Tom be sitting on it? Or why can't we see any of it behind Tom?  Plus, Jared is "floating" in that picture.  So after this study of the photo, one has to ask, why would there need to be manipulation in a vacation photo?  There is no reason, except that there is something being hidden.
 
And then last year, the summer of 2019, it was Idaho:
 
 
It's a lot easier to be obscure in the northwest, namely states like Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.  It's also easier to add and manipulate people's images into photos...

In this pandemic, it seems like two families chose to experience a stateside getaway.  But an added cast of characters were required in order to do so.  😉
 
So, back to Jake in his interesting T-shirt and one last word. 
 
Narnia just wants to say this.  That was a helluva shoutout from a source who has been rather quiet for quite awhile.  
 
 

 
🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟
 
To be blessed with forgetfulness, oh yes
To be glad to be alive
Like a bee out of the hive
I don't know how I survived
But here I am (Here I am)
 
And it's a
California day (California day)
California weather (California weather)
Take the clouds away (Take the clouds away)
I'll feel a whole lot better, California day
 
There's nothing like the sunshine
To get me out of doors
And I'll paddle you in my canoe
If I could find some oars
Goodbye, bigtime, hello, windchimes
 
Sung by Starland Vocal Band, composer:  Bill Danoff 


pic sources:  fanpop, San Jose Mercury News, tenor, gfycat, eastern
                    sierrafishreport, convictlakeresort, redbubble, 
                    pinmytees, teepublic, ebay, ohmygodot
our playlist:  California Day - Starland Vocal Band
                      Rocky Mountain High - John Denver
                      Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys
                      Two Tickets to Paradise - Eddie Money