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Philadelphia ready to go the distance with RockyFest week dedicated to 'Rocky' movies

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PHILADELPHIA -- Rocky Balboa fans are ready to go the distance — by bus, by ice skates, by 72 steps — to honor Philly’s favorite fictional fighter almost 50 years after the first movie launched the enduring series of an underdog boxer persevering despite the odds.

Yo, Adrian, Philly finally did it!

The city Rocky called home at last has a week dedicated to the box office heavyweight champion of the world a year after the inaugural Rocky Day was held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps.

It’s Rocky, so of course there’s a sequel.

This year, it’s RockyFest.

The Rocky Bus Tour served as Round 1 over the weekend before the festival truly laced up its gloves for Tuesday’s kickoff event — on Dec. 3, the 1976 release date of “Rocky” — with area elementary school students running the Rocky steps.

From there, Rocky is feted with a mural unveiling, movie marathons, RockyU discussions on the enduring appeal of Sylvester Stallone’s most famous character, look-alike contests and even a bus tour. The tour weaves Rocky fanatics through the city and includes stops at Adrian and Paulie’s fictional graves (not far from the real one for former Phillies announcer Harry Kalas), the Italian Market where Rocky trained, and the exterior site of Mighty Mick’s Gym.

“If no one has seen the movie,” tour guide Adam Clements said before a recent trip, “there will be spoilers.”

Rocky fans can even recreate Rocky and Adrian’s first date at a local ice rink.

It seems almost as improbable as Rocky Balboa lasting 15 rounds with champion Apollo Creed that it took so long for Philadelphia to properly honor “Rocky” and the other eight movies in the series (including three “Creed” films).

Whether natives like it or not, Rocky is as much a part of the fabric of the city as the Founding Fathers and the Liberty Bell.

Before most fans chug their first raw eggs of the day, the Rocky statue at the base of the museum steps already boasts a line that often snakes around the corner for most of the day. Movie clips are played ad nauseam — usually Adrian imploring Rocky to win — on the big screen at sporting events. The strains of “Gonna Fly Now” stir ahead of kickoff for all Eagles games. Rocky’s faithful followers run a 50-kilometer race each year that follows his trumped-up training route in a grueling tribute to their mythical champ.

There’s even a merchandise stand at the steps that sells “Italian Stallion” robes and plush Clubber Lang dolls a short run from where Paul Cézanne and Claude Monet’s works hang in the museum.

Choose your favorite canvas, there’s a little something for everyone.

While Stallone and “Creed” star Michael B. Jordan have made previous promotional stops at the Rocky steps, no actors were expected to attend this year's events.

The 78-year-old Stallone did appear last year at a rain-soaked Rocky Day and credited the city for the character's success as much as anything the weathered fighter achieved on the big screen.

“I've been around the world,” Stallone said. “But for some reason, these 72 steps inspire me, excite me. It's like you get to the top, you feel inspired, you feel special, hopeful, happy. Most of all, proud of yourself. To all of you, who, believe it or not are real-life Rockys, because you live your life on your own terms, you try and do the best you can and you just keep punching.”

The 1976 film won a best picture Oscar and in 2020 finished tied for No. 2 in The AP Top 25 favorite sports movies poll.

The Philadelphia Visitors Center hatched RockyFest — which runs through Dec. 8 — in part for an overdue appreciation of the series as well as connecting locals and tourists to movie sites beyond the bronze statue.

“For years, there were tourists coming every single day to get their photo at the Rocky statue and there was nothing here officially to greet them," said Maita Soukup, of the Philadelphia Visitor's Center. ”There were no maps, no signage, no sort of visitor services infrastructure here at the Rocky statue and steps, even though it was such a big tourist attraction. That's why we wanted to open a visitor's center here. In the process of the city pursing that, Sly Stallone reached out to us and was like, let's do this in partnership.”

Just like Rocky, if the first festival is successful, expect II and III and IV and more.

____

AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

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December 03, 2024 at 12:47PM

Demure, sanewashing, standalone 'staches, sourdough: Let's move on in 2025!

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NEW YORK -- We've demure-d our way through 2024. We've played passenger princess. We've baked enough sourdough to cover the world with our bubbly starters. We've rawdogged it and we've hyped it. All of it.

There's lots to leave behind as the new year rolls around. Here's a tiny tip of the iceberg of what we're over as we move on to 2025.

TikToker Jools Lebron's 38-second video describing her workday makeup routine as “Very demure. Very mindful” lit up the summer with memes. The video has been viewed more than 50 million times.

With her newfound fame, Lebron, a transgender woman, was able to earn toward her transition, help her family, rack up some brand deals and make a big statement about staying positive. In another video, she got the world going on “very cutesy.”

Love you, Jools! But here's the thing all you meme-makers: Summer's over. We're also looking at you, “brat” enthusiasts. The summer slime greenness of it all and the Charli XCX-Kamala Harris moment were great! We know you'll keep it demure as you move on to the next big thing.

As for all those dogs and cats eeeking out in videos over President Donald Trump's Haitian immigrant remark? Here's to a calmer 2025 for you, Springfield, Ohio.

Speaking of demure but no longer cutesy, in the name of all things Holy Feminism, passenger princesses must abdicate.

A passenger princess, according to Urban Dictionary, is “a pretty girl that has no other job but to look pretty in the passenger seat while her sneaky link/boyfriend/significant other drives.” What's a sneaky link, you might ask? It's a secret hookup. For sex.

Passenger princesses decorate their sides of front seats with little baubles in the air vent. They pack in snacks on little trays that fit on their Stanley cups. They bring cozy blankies, replace visor mirrors with fancy lit ones and generally reign while demanding their men place one hand on their nearest leg.

The term has been around since at least 2020, when a Twitter (now X) user called his dog a passenger princess on a photo of said dog in the front seat of his car. That, eventually, morphed into human princesses storming TikTok.

Take the wheel, dear princesses. We know you know how to drive. And congrats, TikToker @masonshea. Your passenger prince video has amassed more than 60 million views since you posted an equal treatment grab in early 2023.

Unless you're in a K-pop girl band and-or young, tall and stick-thin, this fashion thang looks good on exactly no one. And it's back. On runways. In streetwear. On shopping sites and store shelves.

Why reach for puff ball dresses, skirts, bloomers and tops with so many other options out there? Teen Vogue noted Gen Z's embrace in September, describing the silhouette as having a form-fitting waist and balloon-like hem. It's, wait for it, “feminine and romantic” and “draws attention to the body,” the magazine said.

Not, on the aforementioned, in a good way. And that means the majority of women.

“There is just something funny about bubble hems and the way they, well, bubble up around your thighs,” Harper Bazaar's Tara Gonzalez wrote in August. “They’re vaguely diaperlike in that sense, which is why they aren’t a crowd-pleaser. Instead, they’re something either you get or you don’t.”

Bubble dresses, in various iterations, are hardly fresh fashion. Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent got there first in the 1950s. They, yes, bubbled back up in the 1980s, and again in the 2000s.

Dare to be different!

What did we do during the lockdowns of the coronavirus pandemic? We baked bread. Specifically, we went nuts for sourdough because we were home with time on our hands to feed our starters and tend to our rises and bake our loaves.

Well, some of y'all are still putting up sourdough videos, naming your starters, selling dehydrated bits of your starters, spending hours on rises and pull-and-folds and waxing wise on which tools and baskets are the best.

The world has re-started. Keep your bread videos to yourselves. Your starters bubble. They multiply. Your dough rises and rises again. Your little razor cuts are epic. Sourdough bread is lovely and it's healthy and, now, we all know how to make it.

Sourdough videos? No need. Thank you for your service.

Depending on who you are, rawdogging has different meanings. There's having sex without a condom. And there's the male-driven travel trend of eschewing all distractions and movement and sustenance while long-haul flying. The latter raw dogging spiked in 2024.

You've got your hyper-male enthusiasts looking to, well, be hyper-male. And you've got your travelers seeking to lock in some sort of mindfulness or uber-focus or, what? Who knows.

Listen: You paid for that ticket. Enjoy the food and music and movies. Also, not drinking is just dehydration silly. So is blood clot-worthy not moving around.

Finding your center by simply staring at the in-flight map seems, simply, pointless. Here's to a rawdog-free new year. The same goes for that plane seat belt thing where people find it somehow useful (not) to buckle up at the ankles, their knees hiked to their chins. C'mon. That can't be all that comfortable, let alone safe. Happy turbulence to you all.

Speaking of travel trends, shove off people curating the contents of your TSA trays. As for those among you who bought TSA trays to conveniently produce content at home. Not cutesy.

These potatoes. I mean, come ON! Are you kidding me? Wow, just wow. Don’t sleep on these! Potatoes!

Where there are content creators, there's hype talk. There's a superlative mountain. There's fake amazement, surprise, excitement over the mundanest of mundaney things as the race for likes, shares and comments carries on.

And there's a plague of weird verbalisms that make various tasks sound like battlegrounds: I'm “going in” with the ranch dressing. I'm “going in” with this concealer. I'm “frying off” the garlic. I'm gonna “hit it” with the salt!

Much has been made of social media speak for decades. This species is just so dumbly an attempt to make something truly boring sound viral worthy. It spread faster than a runaway money train.

Take a breath. We'll look at you making potatoes. We promise.

The chevron. The Dali. The pencil. The walrus.

Since virus lockdowns offered men the time and space to curate their faces, mustaches all by their lonesome have been on the rise. Justin Bieber, Harry Styles, Pedro Pascal, The Weeknd and Jacob Elordi rocked their 'staches sans beards on red carpets and social media, upping the nowness of it all.

As of September 2022, Gillette estimated that 12.5 million men in the U.S. had mustaches. That's a 1.5% increase from March 2020. The shaving company launched a facial hair-grooming brand, King C. Gillette, to ride the wave.

Mustaches, with beards. Fine. Freestanding mustaches. Polarizing. Do we thank a contingent of ironical millennials looking to revisit the past for this, uh, trend? What about the unironical? Do we point to Miles Teller's character in the 2022 film, “Top Gun: Maverick?”

Teller's 'stache was a nod to Anthony Edwards’ similar one in the original 1986 “Top Gun.” This is not 1986.

Have a nice day.

Fancy headboards. Custom-made cabinetry. An interior designer. Dorm room decor for some is way, WAY off the rails, leaving students who can't afford to spend thousands in the dirt.

The cost of college — tuition, fees, room and board — nearly doubled between 1992 and 2022, rising from an inflation-adjusted average of $14,441 per year to $26,903 across all types of schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Dorm costs saw a similar increase in the same time span, $3,824 to $7,097.

Hello haves and have-nots. We see you. And thank you TikTok for fueling the frenzy.

Karens: Airplane Karens. In-store Karens. Neighbor Karens. Park Karens. Yes, we've mentioned you before and, lo, you're still here. You've had your day. You've had your years. Meds. Therapy. Whatever it takes.

Sanewashing: Advance the power of facts. End the false equivalence. In all things. That is all.

Anti-aging products for young girls: Damage has been done. Parents, get a grip.

Paging Dr. Beat: Emergency, emergency! All you walking-in-place video creators showing off your scrubs and your jammies and your entire wardrobes. Tired content. Cut it out. New year. New song. New memes.

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December 03, 2024 at 12:47AM

Former My Chemical Romance drummer Bob Bryar dies at age 44

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Bob Bryar, a former drummer for My Chemical Romance who played on the band’s career-defining rock opera, “The Black Parade,” has died

Bob Bryar, a former drummer with My Chemical Romance who played on the band’s career-defining rock opera, “The Black Parade,” has died, according to the band. He was 44.

“The band asks for your patience and understanding as they process the news of Bob’s passing," a spokesperson for My Chemcial Romance said in a statement Sunday

The statement did not include any additional details.

Bryar replaced drummer Matt Pelissier in 2004 and left the band in 2010. Bryar moved on from the music business and later auctioned off a drum kit to raise money for an animal adoption center in Williamson County, Tennessee.

Next year, the band will embark on a 10-date North American stadium tour, where they will perform “The Black Parade,” released in 2006, in full.

My Chemical Romance formed in 2001 and released four studio albums across their career, first breaking through with 2004’s “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.” They announced their breakup in 2013; a year later, they released a greatest hits collection titled “May Death Never Stop You.” In 2019, they announced a reunion, later revealing they’d privately reunited two years earlier.

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December 02, 2024 at 12:02PM

'Moana 2' sails to a record $221 million opening as Hollywood celebrates a moviegoing feast

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NEW YORK -- Christmas came early at the box office this year.

“Moana 2” brought in a tidal wave of moviegoers over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, setting records with $221 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That, combined with “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” made for an unprecedented weekend in cinemas and a confluence of blockbusters more like what’s often found in late December.

Expectations were high for Walt Disney Co.’s “Moana 2,” but the film blew predictions out of the water. Its five-day opening set a new record for Thanksgiving moviegoing. The previous best was $125 million for “Frozen 2” in its second week of release in 2019. “Moana 2” added $165.3 million internationally.

At the same time, the sensation of “Wicked” showed no signs of slowing down. The Universal Pictures musical brought in $117.5 million over the five-day weekend, pushing its two-week global total to $359.2 million. Not accounting for inflation, “Wicked” is now the highest grossing Broadway adaptation over “Grease.” (That 1978 film grossed $190 million, but factoring in inflation would put it past $900 million.)

“Gladiator II,” meanwhile, also held well, dipping 44% from its opening weekend. Ridley Scott’s sequel to his Oscar-winning best picture original collected $44 million in its second weekend. While its steep price tag of $250 million will make profitability challenging, “Gladiator II” has swiftly gathered $320 million worldwide.

Those three films drove the overall box office to more than $400 million in Thanksgiving weekend ticket sales, a record. For an industry that has been battered in recent years by the pandemic, work stoppages and the upheaval caused by streaming, it was a triumphant weekend that showed the still-potent power of Hollywood’s blockbuster machine. Before “Wicked,” “Moana 2” and “Gladiator II” arrived in theaters, ticket sales were running about 25% behind pre-pandemic levels.

Michael O’Leary, president and chief executive of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said the weekend showed what’s possible when “all the pieces of the puzzle come together” in compelling big-budget movies with marketing muscle.

“We’re very optimistic that this weekend is the start of what we believe is a full-on charge into the future,” he said. "The remaining quarter of this year looks very promising and then on into 2025 and 2026. We’re hoping next year is the first kind of normal year this industry has had in a long time.”

Like the last time such anticipated movies collided on the release calendar — as in 2023's much-ballyhooed “Barbenheimer" — the movie industry again could see evidence of a rising moviegoing tide lifting all blockbusters. In recent years, studios have typically tried to space out most of their biggest releases. Earlier this fall, “Venom: The Last Dance," for example, was the No. 1 film for three straight weeks, despite not being particularly successful.

“For a long, long time in Hollywood, there’s been a belief that you don’t put big blockbuster movies up against each other,” said O'Leary. “But the truth of the matter is that competition is good. It’s good for the movies. It’s good for the studios. It’s good for the theater owners. But it’s particularly good for the moviegoing public.”

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December 02, 2024 at 12:17AM

AP PHOTOS: A Japanese artist finds solace and global fans with intricate leaf-cutting

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TOKYO -- A frog holding a taro-leaf umbrella. A parade of frolicking animals. An Ukiyo-e style Mount Fuji. Giant waves. A Japanese artist who goes by the name Lito carves these delicate designs on fallen leaves, giving life back to them.

The world of Lito’s delicate art, which he began in 2020 and posts on social media almost daily, has won fans from around the world. The leaf art has also given him solace after earlier struggles with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and a purpose in life — the joy of making people happy with his art.

He enjoys working at night. From a pile of leaves treated with a wrinkle-free chemical, he picks one and places it on a cutting board.

First, he outlines the design on the leaf with a pen in his right hand. Then he takes a design knife in his left hand and starts cutting the leaf carefully. Slowly, the leaf begins to take the shape of a frog carrying an umbrella — a simple design he demonstrated in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

More complex, highly intensive work on a single leaf can take more than eight hours to complete.

His leaf-cutting works include titles such as “Scrolls of Frolicking Animals,” “Leaf Aquarium,” and “Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji: The Great Wave off Kanagawa.” Each piece includes his own twists, and often uses animals.

“I would rather finish it in one go when I am focused,” Lito, 38, said. He didn't want to disclose his real name for personal reasons.

Since his childhood, Lito says he has had high levels of concentration and patience. But he had trouble fitting into what was considered the norm at school or at work, despite all his efforts. He struggled to interpret others' feelings and to avoid confrontations.

After years of difficulty, he went to a hospital at age 30 and was told he has ADHD, a diagnosis that he felt explained why he has always done things differently.

He saw no point in forcing himself to do things the same way as other people, and began to adjust his life.

In early 2020, Lito came across the art of leaf cutting. He saw it as the perfect use of his patience and concentration.

Word of his skills has spread across social media, and he has published books on his leaf-cutting work. He holds a near monthly solo exhibition in various places in Japan.

“If I can make people happy by doing what I am doing, I want to do more. That’s my driving force for what's next,” Lito says.

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December 02, 2024 at 12:02AM

Pooches in pullovers strut their stuff at London's canine Christmas sweater parade

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LONDON -- Pooches in pullovers paraded past Buckingham Palace on Saturday for a gathering of dogs in Christmas sweaters to raise funds for rescue charities.

About 130 pets, and their owners, walked Saturday from St. James’s Park and along the Mall, the wide boulevard that leads to the royal palace as part of the Christmas Jumper Parade.

Prizes were awarded for best-dressed pets, with contenders including canine Santas, puppy elves and a French bulldog dressed in a red beret and pink jacket adorned with red bows.

The event was organized by Rescue Dogs of London and Friends to raise money for charities that rehome dogs from overseas.

Christmas sweater animal parades have become something of an annual tradition in London. There are more to come this year, including an event for corgis -– the late Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite breed — on Dec. 7 and the dachshund-friendly Hyde Park Sausage Walk on Dec 15.

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December 01, 2024 at 11:41AM

Face facts: Statues of stars like Kane and Ronaldo don't always deliver. Sculptors offer advice

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LONDON -- One art critic compared the new Harry Kane bronze statue to a bulging-jawed comic strip character.

In Miami, observers say the Dwyane Wade sculpture looks more like actor Laurence Fishburne than the former basketball star. Of course, the infamous Cristiano Ronaldo bust in 2017 gave the chiseled soccer star a chubby face and goofy smile.

A statue of Mohamed Salah in 2018 depicted the Liverpool star with a disproportionately large head. In 2011, a terracotta warrior statue of Andy Murray at a Shanghai tennis tournament drew chuckles, including from the star himself: “I thought I was better looking than that."

It wasn't always this way. In classical times, sculptors “had absolutely no interest in depicting people accurately,” explained Lucy Branch, a London-based sculptural conservator.

“What they ended up doing quite often, they recycled sculptures so when another athlete became more prominent, they just changed the name on the plaque,” said Branch, host of the “Sculpture Vulture” podcast.

“There’s this idea now, in this era, that commemorative sculpture should be like portraiture — it should look exactly like the person they are commemorating. But actually that's a really new idea in sculpture."

To avoid pitfalls, here are some tips from sculptors:

London-based sculptor Hywel Pratley studied countless images of Queen Elizabeth II to create a memorial statue in the East Midlands town of Oakham.

“A good portrait sculpture is evidence of 1,000 decisions after 10,000 observations,” Pratley said.

In addition, Yorkshire county sculptor Steve Winterburn recommends getting close with a subject's family and friends to help find characteristics.

“You don’t want it looking like a Madame Tussauds,” said Winterburn, who created a statue of five Rugby League greats at Wembley Stadium. “It still needs a bit of art in it, a bit of soul. That’s what makes art really sing.”

The Ronaldo bust depicted the Portugal star smiling crookedly. Likewise, the Salah sculpture features the Egyptian smiling while celebrating a goal. In Miami, Wade's mouth is open in the statue representing the moment the player famously jumped onto a courtside table and yelled “This is my house.”

It's probably best avoided.

“It’s really difficult to do teeth looking good in sculpture,” Pratley said.

Start "by understanding the profile" before moving on to determine widths from the front view, Pratley said.

“Get the profile right and you will have won half the battle, because then you can have something at least that you can trust,” he said. “When you’re lost, you can say, ‘well I knew where I was then,’ — and you will get lost as a sculptor in the forms.

"There’s so many to understand. It’s not two dimensions, it’s three. There’s an exponential opportunity for everything to go wrong. If you’ve got the profile, then you can go forward with more confidence.”

Winterburn tries to make the eyes “come alive” in his work.

"The eye is the soul of the person that carries it," he said. “If you look at a lot of public work, I’m not being funny, they’re dead. There’s nothing in them, they’re just featureless, soulless. With a painting, if in doubt, fade it out. With sculpture, there is nowhere to hide."

For Pratley, especially when he is working with a live model, “I’m often struck by how the absolute essence of somebody is somewhere between the nostrils and the mouth. The flicker of muscles and the subtle movement of muscles around the mouth is so much you — it’s so much that person.”

Commemorative sculpture historically has been on plinths, Branch notes.

“Part of the reason for that is because we put our heroes on a pedestal," she said. "The problem is, the lower to the ground the sculpture is, the more scrutiny it’s going to get and the less it can get away with not looking quite right.”

The Kane sculpture features the England captain seated.

“Being so low, people get to look at it incredibly closely,” Branch said. “It’s trying to get sculpture to be more with the people, but then that comes with its own problems.”

In the UK, local councils — like a city council in the US — might propose a project, fund it and select the sculptor, sometimes with little input from the public and limited vetting of artists.

Branch says there's a better way: Vote on it.

That's what happened for the Emmeline Pankhurst statue in Manchester. A selection committee used an online platform to get public input and Hazel Reeves' proposal to honor the suffragette won.

“It is a really good balance and check for whether people on the committees have chosen the right sculptor or the right composition for that person who is being commemorated,” Branch said. “(The public) may not necessarily be highly educated about sculpture, but they always tend to know whether the artist has hit the nail on the head.”

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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November 30, 2024 at 10:26PM

Yacht rock gets celebrated — smoothly, of course — in new documentary

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NEW YORK -- The stress of Thanksgiving is over. Now it's time to heat up leftovers, relax on the couch and enjoy the smooth sounds of a wrongly mocked music genre: yacht rock.

The late-'70s songs of Steely Dan, Michael McDonald and Christopher Cross take center stage Friday in the well-crafted Max documentary “Music Box: Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary.”

Director Garret Price marries interviews with yacht rock artists, current musicians who are fans and the creators of the parody web series who coined the genre's name in 2005.

“This music is the soundtrack to our lives, whether we want it or not. It’s playing in grocery stores, pharmacies, doctor’s offices, elevators, our parents' cars our whole life," says Price. “I kind of took it for granted because it’s just there. I think a lot of people have abandoned this music and I’m hoping those people rediscover it.”

So who exactly made yacht rock? The experts in the film argue it is Toto, McDonald, Kenny Loggins, the Doobie Brothers, Cross and Steely Dan — described as “the primordial ooze from which yacht rock sprang.” Think songs like “Ride Like the Wind” by Cross, “Reelin’ In the Years” by Steely Dan and “Rosanna” by Toto.

What’s not yacht rock — at least according to the filmmakers — is the Eagles, Hall & Oates, Jimmy Buffett or Fleetwood Mac, who don’t perfectly fit the definition: elevated pop music infused with jazz and R&B.

Cross, McDonald, Loggins and Toto’s David Paich and Steve Porcaro discuss the music and how they handled the label. Donald Fagen of Steely Dan only had a short phone call with Price, but allowed the band's music to be used.

“I had this film basically done except for the Steely Dan music syncs and it was sitting idle for months and was like, ‘I don’t know how to tell this story unless I get this music.’ Lo and behold, we finally hear from Donald Fagen,” says Price. “We have this moment that I don’t even know if I could beat if I had a sit-down interview with him.”

Giving context are musician-comedian Fred Armisen, musician-author Questlove, musicians Thundercat, Brian Robert Jones and Brenda Russell, producer Prince Paul and rock critics and session players.

Questlove opens the door to a less restricted definition of yacht rock, adding artists like Al Jarreau, the Pointer Sisters and George Benson, arguing that the genre isn’t limited to white artists.

“When you’re dealing with a completely arbitrary genre like this that got made up completely, that’s kind of the beauty of it — the debates of what is or isn’t,” says Price.

Yacht rock enjoyed a brief window on the charts in the late 1970s and the documentary argues that MTV largely contributed to its demise. Yacht rockers weren't able or willing to transition into a visual space.

Once that window closed, yacht rock became derided — mocked in everything from “30 Rock” to “Family Guy.” In “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” a character tortures her electronics store co-workers by playing McDonald on a constant loop.

“I feel like these artists have always been kind of punchlines in pop culture,” says Price. “I went in saying, ‘I want to make a fun film but not make fun of anybody.’”

The label “yacht rock” came much later thanks to a comedy series of short films by J.D. Ryznar and Steve Huey, who currently lead The Yacht or Nyacht Podcast. They were hoping to win a contest with their short films and the name took off.

“This is kind of a private in-joke that sort of went global all of a sudden,” says Huey. “The underlying intent is we love this music. We poke some fun at it, but we also want people to hear it for what it is, which is really, really good, solid, well-crafted music.”

Ryznar says the label was inspired by the cover and name of “Full Sail” — an album from Loggins and Jim Messina — Cross' hit single “Sailing” and the captain-hat wearing half of Captain & Tennille.

"We just noticed this '70s motif and it seemed to describe the music that was so well-produced so perfectly," Ryznar says. “It’s not called yacht rock because it sounds good on a boat, though it does. It’s called yacht rock because it’s well crafted, like the finest yacht.”

Price, an editor on “Daisey Jones & The Six” who also directed the dark “Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage,” says his latest work arrives at a great time in the year.

“It’s the perfect post-Thanksgiving film to watch with your family after what may be a more contentious Thanksgiving this year than others,” says Price. “We can all just chill out, vibe out, listen to this smooth, polished music and just smile.”

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November 30, 2024 at 09:47AM

Marrakech Film Festival opens in Morocco with 'The Order'

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MARRAKECH, Morocco -- One of the Middle East and North Africa's largest film festivals opened Friday in Morocco, drawing actors and directors from throughout the world to present 70 features from 32 countries.

The Marrakech International Film Festival, now in its 21st year, will showcase Oscar contenders and screen films for members of the public. But unlike larger festivals in Venice, Cannes or Toronto, it places unique emphasis on emerging directors and films from the Middle East and Africa.

The roster of actors and directors who will participate in this year’s conversations and tributes includes Sean Penn, Alfonso Cuaron and David Cronenberg.

Remi Bonhomme, the festival's artistic director, said what makes the festival unique is its ability to draw talent on par with the world's largest festivals while also spotlighting up-and-coming directors from Morocco, the Middle East and Africa.

“We pay a lot of attention to countries that are underrepresented in cinema,” he said. “We support filmmakers who have their own voice, who develop a story that is in a specific context, whether it is Iran, Morocco or the U.S."

“But they don’t have to be the voice of their country. They have the need to have the freedom to express their own personal vision,” he added.

Among the themes that Bonhomme is excited about in this year's films is family. Filmmakers, including “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” director Mohammad Rasoulof, are “exploring social and political impact through the scale of a family,” Bonhomme said.

The festival opens Friday with “The Order” — a thriller starring Jude Law that chronicles an FBI manhunt for the leader of a white supremacist group.

The jury competition contains 14 first or second films. The nine-person jury includes actors Jacob Elordi and Andrew Garfield as well as Ali Abbasi, the Iranian-Danish director of “The Apprentice.” Luca Guadagnino, the Italian-Algerian director of “Queer” will preside over the jury.

The films in competition include Saïd Hamich's “Across the Sea” about a young Moroccan man's immigration to Marseille and Damian Kocur's “Under the Volcano,” Poland's Oscar entry for Best International Feature.

The festival — founded by Morocco's King Mohammed VI and is presided over by his brother Prince Moulay Rachid — plays a major role in showcasing and promoting Moroccan films and directors.

It has rarely shied away from diverse subject matter and this year will screen Moroccan films about immigration, homosexuality, bar performers and Moroccan communist Jews.

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November 29, 2024 at 09:17PM

Photo gallery: From Santa to celebrities, the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in pictures

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NEW YORK -- A giant, golden Thanksgiving turkey in a top hat rode on a float through confetti in the colors of fall leaves. A muscular Spider-Man balloon floated in the air, crouched in a web-spinning pose. From a sled piled high with presents, Santa Claus waved to spectators.

These were some of the sights at the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as it wended its way along a 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) route through central Manhattan on Thursday, 100 years after it was first staged in 1924.

This year’s revelry featured 17 helium-filled character balloons, including a yellow-skinned, blue-overalled Minion from the “Despicable Me” animated franchise, and 22 floats, one of them topped by a torch-hoisting Statue of Liberty.

Eleven marching bands came from as far away as Texas and South Dakota to join 700 clowns, 10 performing groups and celebrity guests in the procession.

Despite a soaking rain and temperatures hovering around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 Celsius), onlookers crowded the parade route, clad in plastic ponchos and huddled under umbrellas. From inside buildings, kids pressed up against glass windows to marvel at the spectacle.

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November 29, 2024 at 09:02AM

Jon Batiste, Ledisi, Trombone Shorty and Lauren Daigle to perform during Super Bowl pregame

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LOS ANGELES -- The Super Bowl pregame will have some Louisiana flavor: Multi-talented performer Jon Batiste will hit the stage to sing the national anthem, while Trombone Shorty and Lauren Daigle are slated to perform “America the Beautiful.”

The performances will take place Feb. 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans before the NFL’s championship matchup and halftime show featuring rap megastar Kendrick Lamar, the league announced Thursday.

“We’re honored to work with this year’s pregame lineup to celebrate the rich musical legacy of New Orleans and the entire state,” said Seth Dudowsky, the head of music at the NFL.

Ledisi will perform “ Lift Every Voice and Sing ” as part of the pregame performances that will air on Fox. The pregame performers are all Louisiana natives.

The national anthem and “America the Beautiful” will be performed by actor Stephanie Nogueras in American sign language.

Otis Jones IV will sign “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and the halftime show will be signed by Matt Maxey.

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation company and Emmy-winning producer Jesse Collins will serve as co-executive producers of the halftime show.

Batiste is a Grammy and Oscar winner who is the former bandleader for the “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." His documentary “American Symphony” is nominated for best music film, and his “It Never Went Away” from the documentary is up for best song written for visual media at the upcoming Grammys. He composed the score for Jason Reitman's film “Saturday Night” and this month released “ Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1),” which reimagined the iconic German pianist's work.

Trombone Shorty, a Grammy winner known for blending funk, soul, R&B and rock, has toured with major acts such as Lenny Kravitz, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Foo Fighters. Daigle made her way as a contemporary Christian singer, winning two Grammys for her 2018 song “You Say” from her third studio album, “Look Up Child.”

Ledisi won a Grammy for her 2020 single “Anything for You.” She also appeared in the films “Leatherheads,” “Spinning Gold” and the Oscar-nominated “Selma.”

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November 29, 2024 at 08:47AM

Ex-TV host Charlie Rose settles sexual harassment lawsuit years after his #MeToo-era ouster

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NEW YORK -- Former TV host Charlie Rose has resolved a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by three women in the wake of his #MeToo-era ouster from CBS News in 2017 and the cancellation of his long-running, eponymous PBS talk show.

In settling, the plaintiffs said they assign no “ill intent” to Rose and realize now that his conduct could be subject to interpretation.

Lawyers for Rose and the women — younger employees who accused him of “predatory behavior” and “blatant and repeated sexual harassment” — filed court papers this week confirming that the lawsuit has been resolved. An online court docket listed the case as settled. The terms were not disclosed.

The lawsuit had been set to go to trial Monday in Manhattan after years of sparring over the women's allegations and the dismissal of their retaliation claims against Rose.

Plaintiffs Katherine Brooks Harris, Sydney McNeal and Yuqing Wei said in a statement that the litigation process and the required pretrial exchange of evidence known as discovery had enabled both sides to "better understand each others’ points of view."

“On reflection, and after having the benefit of discovery, we realize that different people could interpret the conduct in different ways, and therefore we have resolved the claims,” the women said. "We do not assign any bad motive or ill intent to Charlie Rose.”

A lawyer for Rose, 82, and his production company, Charlie Rose Inc., declined comment.

The veteran TV host has apologized in the past for his behavior, including in a statement on the eve of his November 2017 firing after at least eight women had come forward to accuse him of misconduct.

“It is essential that these women know I hear them and I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior," Rose said. "I am greatly embarrassed. I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.”

Rose’s downfall was part of America’s #MeToo reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — a social media-fueled movement that also took down “Today” host Matt Lauer and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, among others.

Rose is now hosting an interview show on YouTube where his recent guests have included author Michael Lewis and broadcaster Bob Costas.

Harris, McNeal and Wei sued Rose and CBS in state court in New York in May 2018, about six months after CBS fired him as an anchor on its morning show, then called “CBS This Morning,” and PBS and Bloomberg Television dropped his nightly “Charlie Rose Show.”

Harris was a broadcast associate at “CBS This Morning,” and she later worked as an associate producer for Rose's PBS show. McNeal was Rose's executive assistant. Wei was a news associate and later an anchor assistant for Rose at “CBS This Morning.”

The women, all in their early 20s when they were hired, accused the much older Rose of subjecting them to repeated physical and verbal sexual harassment, including inquires about their sex lives and boasts about his own. They accused CBS of knowingly failing to prevent Rose's harassment.

CBS settled in December 2018 for an undisclosed sum. The network said at the time that the women had requested the terms be kept confidential.

Had the lawsuit gone to trial, Rose's lawyer said in court papers that he would challenge the credibility of Harris, McNeal and Wei's claims with evidence showing they had previously expressed little or no concern about the ex-anchor.

Among the evidence, lawyer Jonathan Bach wrote in a Nov. 13 filing, were documents showing that Wei told a CBS human resources officer that she experienced nothing “sexually inappropriate” while working for Rose and that McNeal confided in her therapist at the time that she had no personal experience of sexual harassment by Rose.

Other evidence cited by Bach showed that Harris had told her therapist that any harassment by Rose was “very subtle” and that she wrote to Rose two months after working for him that his interactions with her were “always professional and respectful.”

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November 28, 2024 at 11:17AM

Massive balloons take shape ahead of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

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NEW YORK -- They're up, up and — almost — away.

The massive helium balloons that will float through New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took shape on Wednesday, when they were filled with helium ahead of the big event.

“You see these giant balloons come to life and they’re really, really huge," said Stephanie Senkevich, one of dozens of people helping inflate the stars of Thursday's show. “You can see them start on the ground right next to you where you look taller than them. And slowly, slowly, they start to raise right above you.”

This year, 17 giant character balloons and other inflatables will travel from Manhattan’s Upper West Side to Macy’s Herald Square flagship store on 34th Street, alongside floats, performers, marching bands and more.

New balloons for 2025 will feature characters including Minnie Mouse, Goku from ”Dragon Ball” and Spider-Man, joining longtime favorites such as Smokey Bear and SpongeBob SquarePants.

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November 28, 2024 at 07:17AM

Sean 'Diddy' Combs denied bail by third judge as he awaits sex trafficking trial

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NEW YORK -- Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail on Wednesday as he awaits a May sex trafficking trial by a judge who cited evidence showing him to be a “serious risk” of witness tampering and proof he has tried to hide prohibited communications with third parties while incarcerated.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ruled in a five-page order following a bail hearing last week. At the hearing, lawyers for the hip-hop mogul argued that a $50 million bail package they proposed would be sufficient to ensure Combs doesn’t flee and doesn’t try to intimidate prospective trial witnesses.

Two other judges previously had agreed with prosecutors that the Bad Boy Records founder was a danger to the community if he is not behind bars. Subramanian concurred.

“There is compelling evidence of Combs's propensity for violence,” Subramanian wrote.

Lawyers for Combs did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the decision. Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for prosecutors, declined comment.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years, aided by associates and employees. An indictment alleges that he silenced victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

A federal appeals court judge last month denied Combs’ immediate release while a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan considers his bail request. That appeal was put on hold while Subramanian, newly appointed to the case after an earlier judge stepped aside, considered the bail request for the first time.

Subramanian said he took a fresh look at all the bail arguments and the evidence supporting them to make his decision.

Prosecutors have insisted that no bail conditions would be sufficient to protect the public and prevent the “I'll Be Missing You” singer from fleeing.

They say that even in a federal lockup in Brooklyn, Combs has orchestrated social media campaigns designed to influence prospective jurors and tried to publicly leak materials he thinks can help his case. They say he also has contacted potential witnesses through third parties.

Lawyers for Combs say any alleged sexual abuse described in the indictment occurred during consensual relations between adults and that new evidence refutes allegations that Combs used his “power and prestige” to induce female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers known as “Freak Offs.”

Subramanian said evidence shows Combs to be a “serious risk of witness tampering,” particularly after he communicated over the summer with a grand jury witness and deleted some of his texts with the witness.

The judge also cited evidence showing that Combs violated Bureau of Prisons regulations during pretrial detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn when he paid other inmates to use their phone code numbers so he could make calls to individuals who were not on his approved contact list.

He said there was also evidence that he told family members and defense counsel to add other people to three-way calls so their communications would be more difficult to trace and that he made efforts to influence his trial's jury pool or to reach potential witnesses.

Subramanian said his “willingness to skirt” jailhouse rules to conceal communications was “strong evidence” that any conditions of release would not prevent similar behavior.

The judge said defense claims that Combs stopped using one particular phone technique criticized by prosecutors was belied by the fact that Combs apparently used it again on Sunday, two days after his bail hearing last week.

Even a bail proposal that would include the strictest form of home confinement seemed insufficient, the judge said.

“Given the nature of the allegations in this case and the information provided by the government, the Court doubts the sufficiency of any conditions that place trust in Combs and individuals in his employ — like a private security detail — to follow those conditions,” Subramanian wrote.

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November 28, 2024 at 07:02AM

Police deny sitting on evidence as Netflix doc brings renewed attention to JonBenet Ramsey's killing

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DENVER -- Amid renewed interest in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey triggered in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colorado, refuted assertions this week that there is viable evidence and leads about the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old girl that they are not pursuing.

JonBenet Ramsey, who competed in beauty pageants, was found dead in the basement of her family’s home in the college town of Boulder the day after Christmas in 1996. Her body was found several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind. The details of the crime and video footage of JonBenet competing in pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States.

The police comments came as part of their annual update on the investigation, a month before the 28th anniversary of JonBenet’s killing. Police said they released it a little earlier because of the increased attention on the case, apparently referring to the three-part Netflix series “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey.”

In a video statement, Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said the department welcomes news coverage and documentaries about the killing of JonBenet, who would have been 34 this year, as a way to generate possible new leads. He said the department is committed to solving the case but needs to be careful about what it shares about the investigation to protect a possible future prosecution.

“What I can tell you though, is we have thoroughly investigated multiple people as suspects throughout the years and we continue to be open-minded about what occurred as we investigate the tips that come into detectives," he said.

The Netflix documentary focuses on the mistakes made by police and the “media circus” surrounding the case.

JonBenet was bludgeoned and strangled. Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever prosecuted.

Police were widely criticized for mishandling the early investigation into her death amid speculation that her family was responsible. However, a prosecutor cleared her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, and brother Burke in 2008 based on new DNA evidence from JonBenet's clothing that pointed to the involvement of an “unexplained third party” in her slaying.

The announcement by former district attorney Mary Lacy came two years after Patsy Ramsey died of cancer. Lacy called the Ramseys “victims of this crime.”

John Ramsey has continued to speak out for the case to be solved. In 2022, he supported an online petition asking Colorado’s governor to intervene in the investigation by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing in the case. In the Netflix documentary, he said he has been advocating for several items that have not been prepared for DNA testing to be tested and for other items to be retested. He said the results should be put through a genealogy database.

In recent years, investigators have identified suspects in unsolved cases by comparing DNA profiles from crime scenes and to DNA testing results shared online by people researching their family trees.

In 2021, police said in their annual update that DNA hadn’t been ruled out to help solve the case, and in 2022 noted that some evidence could be “consumed” if DNA testing is done on it.

Last year, police said they convened a panel of outside experts to review the investigation to give recommendations and determine if updated technologies or forensic testing might produce new leads. In the latest update, Redfearn said that review had ended but that police continue to work through and evaluate a “lengthy list of recommendations” from the panel.

____

Amy Beth Hanson contributed to this report from Helena, Montana.

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November 28, 2024 at 06:47AM

Marilyn Manson drops lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood

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LOS ANGELES -- Rocker Marilyn Manson has agreed to drop a lawsuit against his former fiancée, “Westworld” actor Evan Rachel Wood, and to pay her attorneys' fees, lawyers for both sides said Tuesday.

The move comes 18 months after a Los Angeles County judge threw out much of the 2022 suit in which Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, claimed Wood had fabricated public allegations that he sexually and physically abused her during their relationship and encouraged other women to fabricate their own allegations.

“After four years of fighting a battle where he was able to tell the truth, Brian is pleased to dismiss his still-pending claims and appeal in order to close the door on this chapter of his life," Manson attorney Howard King said in a statement.

Manson had been appealing the judge's decision but his attorneys reached out to Wood's seeking a settlement in the spring. Wood's attorneys said Tuesday that she rejected requests that the terms be kept confidential.

Manson “filed a lawsuit against Ms. Wood as a publicity stunt to try to undermine the credibility of his many accusers and revive his faltering career,” Wood’s lawyer Michael J. Kump said in a statement. “But his attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed.”

Manson agreed to pay nearly $327,000 in attorney fees for Wood.

The settlement comes nearly four years into a criminal investigation of the 55-year-old Manson involving multiple women that remains unresolved. Outgoing LA County District Attorney George Gascón said in October that his office's sex crimes division had just discovered new evidence and that a decision on whether to file charges would be made when the picture was more complete.

The women involved in the criminal case have not been identified, but “Game of Thrones” actor Esme Bianco has said she was among them, and criticized the district attorney for taking so long to investigate. Bianco settled her own lawsuit against Manson last year.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Wood and Bianco have.

Manson has denied engaging in any non-consensual sexual acts.

In 2017, with the #MeToo movement gaining momentum, Wood said publicly that she had been raped and abused, and gave testimony on the subject to a Congressional committee in 2018, but did not name anyone in either instance.

Then in a 2020 Instagram post, Wood said it was Manson who had “horrifically abused me for years.” The two revealed they were a couple in 2007, and were briefly engaged in 2010 before breaking up.

Manson's original lawsuit alleged that Wood and another woman, Ashley Gore, also known as Illma Gore in court papers, defamed him, intentionally caused him emotional distress and derailed his career in music, TV and film. It says they used false pretenses, including a phony letter from the FBI, to convince other women to come forward with sexual abuse allegations and coached them on what to say. The suit said Wood had only glowing things to say about Manson during their relationship.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa A. Beaudet dismissed the part of the suit dealing with the disputed FBI letter, which Wood denied forging. Beaudet also tossed out a section that alleges Wood and Gore used a checklist found on an iPad for other women to use to make abuse claims about Manson.

Other parts of the lawsuit had remained because they were not subject to Wood’s motion, including allegations that Gore hacked Manson’s email, phone and social media accounts, created a phony email to manufacture evidence that he was sending illegal pornography, and “swatted” him, using a prank call to send authorities to his home.

Gore's part of the lawsuit was dismissed and Manson paid $130,000 in her attorney fees.

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November 27, 2024 at 03:26PM

Drake makes another legal move against Universal over Kendrick Lamar diss track 'Not Like Us'

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For the second straight day, Drake has taken legal action against Universal Music Group, this time in Texas, over Kendrick Lamar's diss track “Not Like Us.”

It follows a similar filing in New York on Monday, in which Drake alleges UMG falsely pumped up the popularity of “Not Like Us” on Spotify and other streaming services.

The two court moves have taken the bitter beef between the two hip-hop superstars to a whole new level, with the parent company of the labels for both men now pulled directly into the fight.

Tuesday’s filing in Bexar County alleges UMG engaged in “irregular and inappropriate business practices" to get radio airplay for “Not Like Us,” including making illegal payments to San Antonio-based iHeartMedia. The petition, a precursor to a potential lawsuit, seeks depositions from corporate representatives of both companies.

The filing takes aim at UMG for allegedly knowing that “the song itself, as well as its accompanying album art and music video, attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders, and committing other criminal sexual acts.”

The filing points out that "the song calls Drake a ‘certified pedophile,’ a ‘predator,’ and someone whose name should ‘be registered and placed on neighborhood watch.’"

The petition says Drake could sue UMG for defamation, among other claims.

A UMG representative did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the new filing. In a Monday statement in response to the New York filing, the company said the “suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns."

An email to an iHeartMedia representative seeking comment was also not immediately answered.

The New York petition is also a precursor to a potential lawsuit, and alleges UMG fired employees seen as loyal to Drake “in an apparent effort to conceal its schemes.”

The back-to-back legal maneuvers represent a major and possibly unprecedented escalation of a hip-hop feud, especially with the label representing two of the biggest stars in music sitting at the center of it.

Drake, a 38-year-old Canadian rapper and singer and five-time Grammy winner, and Lamar, a 37-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner who is set to headline the next Super Bowl halftime, were occasional collaborators more than a decade ago.

That changed when Lamar began taking public jabs at Drake starting in 2013. The fight escalated steeply earlier this year.

“Not Like Us,” the wildly popular Lamar single released in May, was an especially vicious moment in a flurry of dueling tracks from the two artists.

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November 27, 2024 at 05:41AM

It’s almost time for Spotify Wrapped. When can you expect your 2024 recap?

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NEW YORK -- It’s almost that time of year: Spotify is gearing up to release its annual Wrapped, personalized recaps of users' listening habits and year in audio.

Spotify has been giving its listeners breakdowns of their data since 2016. And each year, it’s become a bigger production — and internet sensation. Spotify said its 2023 Wrapped was the “biggest ever created,” in terms of audience reach and the kind of data it provided.

So, what will 2024 have in store? Here’s a look at what to know ahead of this year’s Spotify Wrapped.

It’s the streaming service's annual overview of individual listening trends, as well as trends around the world. Users learn their top artists, songs, genres, albums and podcasts, all wrapped into one interactive presentation.

The campaign has become a social media sensation, as people share and compare their Wrapped data with their friends and followers online.

Past iterations have provided users with all kinds of breakdowns and facts, including whether they’re among an artist’s top listeners, as well as a personalized playlist of their top 100 songs of that year to save, share and listen to whenever they’re feeling nostalgic.

Spotify also creates a series of playlists that reflect national and global listening trends, featuring the top streamed artists and songs. In 2023, Taylor Swift was Spotify's most streamed artist, unseating Bad Bunny who had held the title for three years in a row.

Each year has something new in store. In 2019, Wrapped included a summary of users’ streaming trends for the entire decade. Last year, Spotify matched listeners to a Sound Town based on their artist affinities and how it lined up with those in other parts of the world.

So far, the streaming platform has kept the highly anticipated release date of Wrapped under … er, wraps.

In past years, it’s been released after Thanksgiving, between Nov. 30 and Dec. 6.

Each year, rumors tend to swell on social media around when Spotify stops collecting data in order to prepare their Wrapped results, and this year was no exception. Spotify quickly squashed those presumptions, assuring on social media that “Spotify Wrapped doesn’t stop counting on October 31st.”

A representative for Spotify did not respond to a request for comment on when the company stops tracking data for Wrapped.

When Wrapped is released, each user's Spotify account will prompt them to view their interactive data roundup. It can be accessed through the Spotify smartphone app, or by logging on to the Spotify website. Wrapped is available to users with and without Premium subscriptions.

There are a handful of third-party sites that you can connect your Spotify account to that will analyze your Wrapped data.

How Bad is Your Spotify is an AI bot that judges your music taste. Receiptify gives you your top songs on a sharable graphic that looks like, yes, a receipt. Instafest gives you your own personal music festival-style lineup based on your top artists. How NPRCore Are You assesses how similar your music taste is to NPR Music's.

Other major streaming platforms such as Apple Music and YouTube Music have developed their own versions of Wrapped in recent years.

Apple Music’s Replay not only gives its subscribers a year-end digest of their listening habits but monthly summaries as well — a feature that helps differentiate itself from the one-time Spotify recap. That's released at the end of the calendar year.

YouTube Music, meanwhile, has a similar end-of-the-year release for its listeners, as well as periodic seasonal releases throughout the year. It released its annual Recap for users earlier this month.

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November 27, 2024 at 05:26AM