Music

Neverland Michael Jackson’s former home has been sold

Published

6 months ago

December 27, 2020

You will certainly remember Neverland the ranch that Michael Jackson made famous when it became his main home. He was bought by Ronald W. Buckle for $22 million.

Michael Jackson bought the property in 1988 at the apex of his success and called it Neverland Ranch. It is 2700 acres and is situated a little more than 125 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The name Neverland came from Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up.

To show that he couldn’t grow up himself, Jackson turned Neverland into a kind of theme park. There was a zoo, a theatre, a panoramic wheel and even a train.

Jackson died in 2009 but never returned to live in his Neverland Ranch after the trials for sexual molestations on young boys in 2005.

$22 million doesn’t sound like a lot and it isn’t, they have been trying to sell the property since 2015, initially they wanted to build a memorial to Michael Jackson like Elvis Presley has at Graceland, but Jackson’s reputation is definitely tainted.

When it was first put in the market the asking price was $100 million but it has been going down since. Accidentally the property doesn’t include the theme park and it’s no longer called Neverland Ranch but Sycamore Valley Ranch.

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Music

Dua Lipa, the most listened to artist in the UK in 2020

Published

1 day ago

June 11, 2021

events UK

Dua Lipa, the most listened to artist in the UK in 2020 thumbnail

The latest album by Dua Lipa won many awards but was also the most listened to in 2020 It took the title from Ed Sheeran who is the most listened to artist in the UK in 2017, 2018 and 2019 However Sheeran ranks second followed by Ariana Grande and Sam Smith .

Dua Lipa’s album was the soundtrack of many people’s pandemic, with its enthusiastic disco anthems providing the perfect antidote to isolation. The album was released just four days after the first lockdown in England. .

Dua Lipa is a British singer born in London of Kosovo parents, known for her song” New Rules “, her first to reach the top of the charts. It is not just her music that makes her famous, but the lyrics that writes to accompany her. The father period singer and guitarist of a rock group in Albania.

Lipa’s debut album “Dua Lipa” was released on June 2nd 2017 and reached number one in the UK.

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Books

Keeping Up Appearances; from Hyacinth Bucket to Eleanor Rigby

Published

1 week ago

June 4, 2021

Carole Ford

Keeping Up Appearances was a British sitcom that ran on BBC television from 1990 – 1995. It featured a woman called Hyacinth Bucket, which she insisted was pronounced Bouquet. The humour lay in watching her attempts at social climbing. She lived to impress her unfortunate neighbours, who tried to avoid her!

Coincidentally, at that time, I was in contact with relatives, who erroneously insisted on a French pronunciation of their surname, and were oblivious to their ridiculous behaviour.

While the programme was enjoyed for its comedic effect, some people in real life struggle to keep up appearances and it is no laughing matter. People who have social status, such as by being a home owner, but lack actual income, are said to be in genteel poverty. This leads to reduced spending and failing to replace things that are broken. By keeping up appearances, others are not aware of the true state of affairs.

The March family in the novel Little Women, by Louisa M Alcott, are an example of genteel poverty. They gave up their Christmas dinner to take to a family, who were in absolute poverty. Today, people who have very little themselves, may leave an item to be collected for the food bank, on their way out of the supermarket.

Another sort of keeping up appearances, is the disguising of emotions. This may extend to hiding actual physical or mental abuse. Victims of controlling behaviour may show no sign to the outside world, suffering at home in silence.

In “Eleanor Rigby”, the song by Paul McCartney, the woman disguises her loneliness by appearing cheerful, wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door, as the song says. She is an example of all the lonely people, who keep up appearances.

Footnote : As a tribute to the Beatles, Tommy Steele commissioned a statue of Eleanor Rigby, (a fictitious person, although the name is found in a Liverpool graveyard) It is placed not far from the site of the club, the Cavern, where the Beatles first performed.

Bestseller No. 1

Little Women

Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh (Actors)
Greta Gerwig (Director) - Amy Pascal (Producer)
English (Playback Language)
English (Subtitle)

Bestseller No. 2

Movin' On Up

Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
Kinetic Content, LLC. (Producer)
English (Playback Language)
English (Subtitle)
Audience Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over

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Music

Test your vocal range on this website

Published

1 month ago

May 8, 2021

Laura S Hamlin

You can test your vocal range on this website.

This website will help you find out your vocal range and who are the singers that have a range similar to yours.

The best way to improve your singing is to practice, but there are also other ways to help you improve your voice. This website is a great resource for anyone who wants to sing better. There are many tests you can try for free and it’s fun even if you don’t normally sing, not even in the shower. You can test whether you can sing in tune which is very useful to know!

Vocal range is a term used to describe how far a person’s voice can reach. The vocal range of a person is the range of pitches and tones that a person’s voice can produce. It is measured in terms of the number of octaves that can be produced.

The vocal range for humans is usually around two octaves. Humans usually have a range between 40 and 120 Hz, although some people may have ranges as low as 40 Hz or as high as 120 Hz.

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