We Want it That Way
Backstreet’s back, all right! Now that we’ve got that out of our system, let’s proceed. Last Sunday, Nineties and Noughties’ super boy band the Backstreet Boys reunited (and it feels so good) for Elton John and iHeartRadio’s Living Room Concert for America, an initiative that aims to raise money for families in need.
The group, comprising Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson, performed their 1999 smash hit I Want It That Way over a split screen, with each singer belting out the lyrics from their homes.
As the members were selfisolating and or in the many lockdowns imposed in various parts of the US, they streamed their performance, which also had cameos from some of their children. The performance was part of an hour-long initiative that the original Rocketman had organised, which also featured songstress Alicia Keys, rocker Dave Grohl, among other superstars of past and present.
Bear Necessities
Last week New Zealand initiated its own month-long national lockdown, with some of the strictest restrictions anywhere in the world, as the country attempts to quell the outbreak before it can spread too widely.
Clearly learning lessons from the parents of countries already in lockdown, the Kiwis have already figured out how to keep the kids entertained while schools, malls, and public spaces are shuttered, and it’s suitably adorable, keeping with the reputation of the nation.
Homes everywhere from Auckland and Tauranga to Wellington and Christchurch, are placing a teddy bear inside their front facing windows in a national bear hunt inspired by Michael Rosen’s best-selling children’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
Kids can have their fun by spotting the various bears, while the people setting up their bear displays are entertaining themselves by arranging elaborate dioramas to display the bears in or alternately trying to hide them in plain sight by keeping them in the most unobtrusive positions.
Indeed, the teddy bear hunt, which began in London after a Facebook post encouraging the practice went viral, is occupying kids and teddy bear owners alike all over the world. However, in New Zealand, it’s got the approval of the head of state with the nation’s PM Jacinda Ardern confirming that she’s placed a teddy in the front window of her official residence, where she, her fiancé, and their toddler are on lockdown.
Creatures from the Blue Lagoon
Instagram influencers, you can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them, because at some point or the other, their posts will invariably cloud your feed, be it news or social media. Even the British police are at their wits’ end with them, or at least they were.
Even as the UK struggles under a lockdown in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, British bloggers and Instagrammers continue to flock to a former limestone quarry in Buxton, in the country of Derbyshire, famous for the crystal blue waters that now fill it. Tired of driving off the droves of visitors, the police have dyed the vivid blue waters an inky black so as to make the spot less picturesque.
Addressing the issue, the Buxton police department said in a Facebook post, "With this in mind, we have attended the location this morning and used water dye to make the water look less appealing. Please stay at home."
Officials say water contains toxic chemicals and is harmful to human skin. But as always, the British continue to turn up and then not leave.