cujoy | Feb. 12th, 2017

Feb. 12th, 2017

Continuing to ease in to copying over my Live Journal to keep some of it for posterity. I intend to delete LJ as soon as I'm happy that I've saved everything that I really still want. Keep in mind my LJ goes back to 2005. It's really hard and really sad to let it go. But I'm not keeping it with that ownership and nation of origin. No way, Jose. Or should I say, No Way, Ivan.

Today I'm copying over the Weed Video series from 2014. Sigh. It is going to be almost exclusively the 1D stuff that I copy over. Then I'll take a look at the BSG stuff to save the bare minimum.

OK, so I've been really busy and haven't posted here in ages since my failed attempt to post a picture of the Beatles a month ago. LOL. I'll have to fix that.

It has been an eventful couple of weeks in 1D land. They are currently on the UK/Ireland portion of their Stadium Tour, and last night played Wembley Stadium in London to 100,000 people. That is amazing for a bunch of 20 year olds who don't even play their own instruments. (Not that I think that matters. Their attraction is their singing, personalities, looks and interactions. There is as much charisma as one stage can handle particularly with the likes of Harry, Liam & Niall... Plus Zayn's high notes...)

Liam's photo from the stage last night via his Twitter.

Anyway, of course the big story over the last couple of weeks was this...

To quote Louis... "Happy days. Joint lit."

Uh oh. So the news that Zayn and Louis smoke weed isn't particularly shocking. But given the wholesome image the band built their original image on, it is problematic. It is very troubling that Louis filmed this himself during the band's April tour stop in Peru. How the footage leaked is still something of a mystery, but what is certain is that Louis done F'd up.

If you happen to catch the actual 5 minute video that the Daily Mail published, the joint was really not the worst thing in the video. The worst thing was Louis' rather sh1tty attitude, (for example, mocking the police escort which was protecting him...)and the fact the boys' handlers seemed to be enabling the use of the weed. But the most worrying thing was the discussion, and excitement over news, supplied by the handlers, btw, that "Chicken" was awaiting them at their next destination. There is way too much excitement generated by the news for that to be a regular chicken dinner. Ahem. It turns out that "Chicken" is a drug term for a kilo of cocaine. Oy. Not that that is a surprise either. But still a frightful disappointment.

Oh, and also in the video, Louis drops a modified N-word, (he just used the first three letters, and I don't know how to illustrate that without typing out the word, which I'm obviously not going to do...)

So, what a mess. According to the media it is "Narriam" vs. "Zouis" now. The bulk of the backlash is actually aimed at Louis, and less at Zayn. However, it has, created a rift in the fandom. There is lot of celebration of Saints Harry, Liam and Niall, who dodged this bomb by virtue of travelling in different vans that day. Pictures are being edited such as this...

<-- Saint "Narriam" Harry, Liam & Niall with Louis and Zayn edited out of the picture...

Neither Louis nor Zayn has apologized for the video. Liam made an apologetic set of tweets which I guess were intended to cover it...

Personally, I think it's already mostly blown over. The resale value of tickets for the US leg of their tour temporarily fell 3%. Louis' reputation has suffered quite a bit, but I think Zayn's will recover. And the other three were very lucky indeed to be travelling in a different van that day.

More on the aftermath later...

My next series of posts are going to be about the aftermath of One Direction's Weed Scandal, which broke on May 28.

The first PR move One Direction's management team made was obvious and immediate. Distraction. They needed people to look away from Zouis and the weed, at something else. Anything else.

What they really needed was to get some kind of happy story into the media to take some of the attention away from the weed. Luckily, they had the perfect such story available and easily at hand. It was, of course, Young Love. There was nothing subtle about what happened next.

Specifically, it was Sophiam. Liam, one of the untainted members of the group, had broken up with his girlfriend Sophia Smith earlier in the spring. This happened shortly before the beginning of the band's current tour in early April. There were claims he was concerned about the difficulties of a long distance relationship while on tour. But according to many sad, lonely tweets Liam made during the opening leg in South America, he was heart broken about the breakup.

Liam's heartbroken tweets: A sampler

Low and behold, the very day after the scandal hit, Liam and Sophia (i.e "Sophiam") were very conspicuously seen together, holding hands and looking adorable, even as the scandal swirled about them. And they have been seen together constantly since. Twitter, Instagram, shout outs at concerts, suddenly Sophiam was everywhere.

Young love. It's a great story. Always has been. Always will be.

(I think they are adorable, but that's just me. You know fandom when it comes to women dating fav hot guys...)

Anyway, no, I don't think the timing of the reunion was a coincidence, though I think based on several things that the reunion was genuine, if conveniently timed. Many in the 1D fandom think that all relationships that any of the boys has with a girl is "PR". But I think that this is often, obviously wishful thinking. A celebrity relationship being shown off for media attention doesn't mean it's a "fake relationship". PR can be made over real couples too, ya know... I think the sudden, lovely heavey dose of Sophiam was a convenient way to put a nice story out in the wake of a PR crisis. Plus, they are adorable.

As an aside, there were actually some indications during the break-up that maybe they weren't that broken up. Sophia was seen with Payne family members in England, while he was moping sadly about in South America. I think it is entirely possible that the break-up was just as much for publicity as the make-up. (He was getting a shit ton of attention over his sadness over it all...) I don't know where they were going to go with Single Liam, but the whole thing in the end has made Sophiam a much hotter couple then they were, and has inserted drama into a relationship that previously didn't really have any. Bonus.

It also has a side benefit of returning Liam to the role of Responsible One and/or The Daddy. A role he needed in order to execute part 2 of the rehabilitation strategy - The Non-apology Apology. But that's for the next post.

The Sophiam PR move was a no-brainer, and was executed well. It got happy stories into the press during the heart of the weed video backlash. Mission Accomplished.

Next up - That non-apology apology...

This is Part Two of One Direction Weed Scandal: The Aftermath. This is the part in which the actual sinners, Louis and Zayn, remain silent, but Liam tweets apologetic things on their behalf.

<-- Zouis: Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson, AKA The Guilty Parties

The now infamous Weed Video appeared on the Daily Mail website on May 28. When asked to comment, One Direction's management told the Media that "The matter is in the hands of the lawyers."

Meanwhile the One Direction fanbase, was basically going insane, particularly on Twitter. Some frankly disturbing things started to trend worldwide. Examples: "Cut for Zouis", "Skin for Zouis", etc. (The first one was a suggestion that people cut themselves in honor of the scandal, and the second, an exhortation to post naked pictures of themselves... so, yeah, bad, bad stuff.)

Since Zouis themselves were probably on lockdown, it was Liam, the designated responsible daddy of the group, who went on Twitter to calm things down. His tweets: (all spelling errors and lack of punctuation come from the source. Responsible he may be, but a good speller, his is not...)

Liam Payne @Real_Liam_Payne · May 28

Woah there's some pretty weird shit going on ATM everyone just calm down and don't do anything stupid cuz u can't take it back

I know some people are having a laugh and that's all well and good but some people will take this shit serious so I suggest we stop

Today is such a weird day why don't we do a #wearahoodyfor1d or a #WearAsManyClothesAsYouCanAtOnceFor1D

And this did succeed to change the tone. #WearAsManyClothesAsYouCanAtOnceFor1D actually started trending... Ahhhha. (As did #thankyouLiam - it's good to be daddy.)

of course, this didn't address the problem, it was just a response to the sick twitter trends. But for the next three days, these tweets were the only communications coming from the 1D camp that even indirectly addressed the firestorm.

It wasn't until May 31 that again, daddy Liam went back onto Twitter with a more formal statement, both to defend the band from media criticism, citing a specific article written for the Daily Mail by Jan Moir, and kinda, sorta, vaguely apologizing for "going sideways".

Liam Payne @Real_Liam_Payne · May 31

Just read a daily mail article written by Jan Moir some of which I totally agree with but some things you are far off your game my friend

Think you'll find I've written a lot of the next album and songs on the last I play piano Niall plays guitar that ok?

like so many writers before, consistently get things wrong looking down there noses thinking they are oh so right

Anyway thank you for your lovely words mrs moir sorry we let you down so fantastically maybe next time a little research is in order

I love my boys and maybe things have gone a little sideways I apologise for that.We are only in our 20's we all do stupid things at this age

We all have a lot of growing up to do in an extreme circumstance I'm not making excuse but it's fact we are gunna fall short somewhere

Hopefully we stand the test of time an get it right in the end I don't take this for granted and im extremely grateful to be here doing this

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with us through this just know that we love you guys for it and it means the world

So, to review what this does and doesn't say... It doesn't mention the weed, it doesn't mention Louis' use of the N-word. It apologizes for going sideways, but not for anything specific.

It also plays the youth card as an excuse for bad behavior, which is probably the part that has received the most objections. Because, actually, it isn't true that everyone in their 20's goes off the rails.

Liam actually does a good job defending the band from Jan Moir's main criticisms. The boys have actually steadily improved their musicianship, song writing and singing. And they have always gone overboard with thanks and appreciation for their young fans.

Moir's article has other harsh things to say about the scandal, and Liam admits right up front that he agrees with much of the article. So in that regard, he gains some credibility points.

And, this "apology" has generally been accepted as an official response. And it is in fact the only official words spoken in the two weeks since the scandal broke.

As a piece of PR, this seems to have mostly succeeded. The biggest flaw, of course, is that the two culprits have remained silent on the issue. But, hey, it got some nice publicity for Liam...

<--Daddy, yeah, I'm sure he's very, very responsible.

Next up will be all about Delicious Poultry Dinners...

I might be reaching with this one, but it's kind of funny, so I'm going to go with it. If you recall, the most worrisome part of the Zouis Weed Video was the many mentions of the acquisition of "chicken" at the band's next stop in Chile. Chicken is apparently drug slang for a kilo of cocaine. Troubling indeed, though sadly not surprising. Anyway, 1D has a bit of a history talking about chicken. Particularly KFC*. Here they were discussing the lyrics to a Midnight Memories:

Even in their movie (This is Us, released last year, available on DVD...) Niall did a lyric change to one of their songs, Change My Mind. The normal lyric is "But baby if you say you want me to stay, I'll change my mind." But in the movie Niall sings instead: "But baby if you say you want me to drive, to KFC." After which, Liam is heard saying to Niall, "I love chicken." (Talk about that line having a potential new meaning in the wake of the scandal... Oh noes! ;) But since the scandal, the chicken dinner references have hit a new level. It seems that it has become important to reinforce the idea that these guys just love them some deep fried poultry. Here is the actual photo of KFC being delivered to their plane as they left Glasgow Scotland. That's right, they took the trouble to make sure the guy delivering the chicken dinners to the plane was photographed and published...

And here it is again when they were leaving Edinburgh. Their food delivery was photographed and published: Photos of the bags of Nando's chicken ready and waiting for them at the airport.

Finally, it was back to Liam, and this series of odd tweets...

.

Note the date, May 31. Three days after the scandal hit and the same day that he made the apology for going sideways. So, anyway, like I said, I could be reaching, but boy does it sure seems they want the world to remember that they are big fans of chicken dinners. Pretty hilarious, no?. And also, I promise that this is the last post about the Zouis Weed Scandal to focus so much on Liam. There is so much more to talk about. The next one is all about Harry, who was displeased.

*With the KFC references, I would bet they have some kind of product placement deal with the company. These things aren't a coincidence.

This part of my One Direction Weed Scandal Aftermath series will discuss the role played by Harry Styles. In the initial, dark days of the scandal, it was apparently important to make sure that the world knew that Harry was furious with his wayward bandmates. Very furious.

Put before we get to Harry's fury, first, he needed to be comforted. Believe it or not, and I'm not kidding: there was a puppy.

The article was actually kind of blatant about the whole thing:

Yup, while the whole world was busy entering a minor breakdown over Zayn and Louis having a grand old time in the car, Harry was taking his mind off things by snuggling up with a teeny tiny fluffy pooch, and the pictures are so cute that our heads might explode.

Puppy not enough? Another article was circulating the same day which revealed how Harry spends his free time on tour. In contrast to wayward Zayn and Louis, No smoking weed for Harry. Nope! Believe it or not it was revealed that... Harry knits.

But sadly, it was inevitable that the negative articles were going to hit. And no puppy, no matter how fluffy, could stop them.

On came the stories about how the band was shamed, disgraced, and divided. Most of these articles focused on Harry, because he has been designated as the chosen one by the media and as the member who is ultimately going to Beyoncé out of the group. Therefore, any article about the band breaking up, centers on Harry.

Many of the articles focused on an alleged confrontation that occurred the day after the scandal broke between Harry and Zayn.

According to these stories the band was hardly talking, and worse:

"It's Zayn and Louis against the others - Harry, Liam and Niall are furious. They had a dramatic meeting last week and Harry was the first to lash out, telling them they'd messed everything up," the source added. "But Zayn turned it around on Harry and accused him of only being interested in himself. Poor Niall has been in tears - he's worried this could be the end of the band."

So, the inevitable slant was that the band is breaking up, and Harry wants out! Oh, noes!

Other articles focused on the divide, with a lot of analysis regarding the boys travel arrangements while on tour. One Direction uses two private planes when they travel. It is generally known, at least among the fandom, that Zayn, Louis and Liam typically travelled in one plane because they are smokers, while Harry and Niall travelled in the other because they are non-smokers. However, the articles painted this as a sign that Harry is Too Good for the rest, and was separating himself from them in preparation for his ultimate departure. (They tend to ignore the part where Niall and Harry travel together, in order to paint it as Harry against all the others... Yay journalism!)

In any case, they make it clear that since the scandal hit, Harry and Niall are now joined by Liam on one plane, and Louis and Zayn are on the other. And airport photos seem to back this up.

<-- Narriam do seem to be flying together now, separately from Zouis... Hmmm. These photos are actually from yesterday, June 13, showing the three boys arriving for the start of the European leg of their current tour in Stockholm, Sweden.

Whatever is actually going on behind the scenes, most of it is rumor and conjecture. Harry has not addressed the matter publicly, nor has any other member of the band, or management, with the exception of Liam's tweets on May 31. Those tweets remain as the sole official response.

Well, what's there to do? More distraction seems in order.

As time passed, distraction appeared in the form of a fanfic author named Anna Todd, who scored a book/movie deal over her mega-opus Harry Styles fan fiction. This story, called After is is regarded as the potential next 50 Shades of Grey. LOL. (I've skimmed through parts of it, and can safely say that it has much in common with 50 Shades ;) In any case, it has been quite the buzz. The story has over 300 MILLION hits.

So, it that wasn't enough distraction, is Harry Styles NAKED in this photo????

Well is he or isn't he! The world wants to know! (This photo of Harry chilling with his cousins appeared on June 3.) And still no answer. ;)

So, that should about cover Harry's role in the Weed Aftermath. I suppose his role could be defined as the Aggrieved Victim, but he has also been successful at distancing himself from the scandal overall. And those stories about One Direction's inevitable breakup are going to continue to circulate, regardless of the scandal, until they finally come true. But the Scandal was a convenient catalyst for their appearance, what with the obvious division it has created. Oh, and did you see how cute that puppy was?

I'm going to quickly touch on Niall in my next post. Did you know that Niall is a living ray of sunshine? And then FINALLY I will get to Zayn and Louis...

This part of my One Direction Weed Scandal Aftermath series will discuss Niall Horan's role. His role could be defined as: Living Ray of Sunshine.

One thing that you should know about the four days prior to the scandal: All four of those days were all about Niall and how wonderful he is. May 23-25 the band played at Croke Park in Dublin Ireland as part of their ongoing tour. Croke is also the place where Niall made his first audition for X-Factor back in 2010, so it was very much his homecoming. And it was a three day celebration for Niall in his own country. Those three concerts may as well have been Niall-palooza.

<--- Daddy and the Irish Prince at Croke Park

Which brings us to May 26, the day before the scandal hit. One of the saddest parts of the weed scandal is that it broke the very day after Niall's marvelous charity football match. It was a very impressive event which Niall had organized along with Piers Morgan, and which made 300,000 pounds for an Irish children's charity. For the 24 hours before the scandal hit, Niall was the toast not just of Ireland, but of London too.

There was a ton of wonderful photos and pictures that came out of this event. Niall, could not play because of a recent knee surgery, but he managed the team, and Harry, Liam and Louis all played in the game. Harry even scored a goal! (Zayn was the only non-participating member of 1D. He was attending his fiancé's concert elsewhere...)

Just look at these wonderful pictures. These are the images and stories that the unsuspecting 1D world was wallowing in on the fateful morning of May 27:

One odd thing though. For some reason, Louis, who is a noted football aficionado, (and I'll be getting to that in a few days...) did not stay to the end of the match. All things considered, that now sticks out like a sore thumb. So, at the end of the match, Niall, accompanied by Harry and Liam, made a victory march around the stadium. They waved, smiled and thanked the fans. It was kinda glorious. It didn't matter at all that they actually lost the game.

<--- Interesting. The day before Narriam was Narriam. Narriam was Narriam.

Since the scandal hit, Niall has been a steady, and calm presence. There aren't any articles focusing particularly on his perspective, but some note that he's upset that the band might break up. Other than that, he's been featured in lots of pictures either by or with Harry or Liam, and otherwise closely associated with one or both of them.

<--- Interesting this last. The girl next to Niall is Harry's sister Gemma. This has many fangirl hearts atwitter. It is said that Harry is trying to fix them up.

So, I guess my Niall discussion wasn't as brief as I thought. And now I'm feeling all emotional about Niall's wonderfulness. But next, we're going to hit rougher waters. We'll finally arrive at the heart of the matter, which is of course what to do about Zouis. First, I'm going to discuss the Rehabilitation of Zayn Malik, and then I'll tackle what's up with Louis Tomlinson.

"Very Controversial" - Zayn's best quote from the Weed Video.

Enough with the three Golden Boys! Lets talk about the two guys who made the Weed Video happen, starting with Zayn Malik in all his stoned glory...

Well, I would say that Zayn has pretty much blown his wholesome boy band image. LOL. But that doesn't mean that PR isn't going to at least try to rehabilitate him, and it may not be as difficult a task as it looks.

( Read more... ) Feb 10, 2014
*****

Yo, Zayn, we're asking...

In that light, the next post will put Louis Tomlinson squarely on the hotseat.

I’m just wondering now. I’m sitting here in Peru wondering will this come back to me? Who knows? Maybe, maybe not. <--- Louis Tomlinson's most amusing quote from the Weed Video

<-- More innocent days.

( Read more... )

Funny how the wheel of fortune turns. So, looks like he's back on track. And don't you feel better giving someone a chance, instead of, you know, just writing him off?

Happy Days!

I think I have one more post left to wrap all this up. All about Rays of Sunshine...

*Update - Yes, in case you are wondering, that deal later fell through. But it was a nice thought. Louis is still a devoted fan of the Doncaster Rovers.

This is the last of the Weed Scandal Aftermath series. Though, I will continue to keep you all alerted on Zouis' redemption status. If someone is photographed with a puppy, or wearing their fiancé's clothing, you will be the first to know.

Let's Recap each member's role in the aftermath.

Liam Payne did the early heavy lifting. First, he dramatically won back his girlfriend the day after the scandal hit, creating some happy stories. Then he carried the weight of the whole band by making the only official public response to the scandal via Twitter. Finally, he tweeted about chicken. Which is a dinner. As in poultry. So, in short. Liam is the DADDY.

Harry Styles floated above it all. No way, no how was he involved in any stinking drug scandal, and he was furious about the whole damn thing. Plus there was a puppy, and maybe he was naked, the world still wants to know. Harry was just the AGGREIEVED INNOCENT BYSTANDER in all of this.

Niall Horan, coming off his glorious homecoming in Dublin, and his victorious charity football match simply lent his sunshine in solidarity with the other two golden boys. Sweet IRISH PRINCE.

Zayn Malik, AKA Culprit #1, kept a low profile, except to be spotted backstage at his fiancé's concerts. He also got a big, forgiving hug from Liam on stage at Wembley, and has since been spotted with a kitten. In short, he's going to be OK.

Louis Tomlinson, AKA Culprit #2, and the harder case, because he filmed it, and because he said the N Word, kept an even lower profile. But behind the scenes, it turned out he was in the midst of a huge business deal that has landed him as co-owner of his favorite sports team. In short, he's going to be OK too.

In the end, they are all just RAYS OF SUNSHINE. Speaking of which...

****

When a band's in deep water, and needs some good publicity, what is the single most valuable event they can hold? CHARITY of course. Especially a Children's Charity. So, on June 10, two weeks after the scandal hit, the entire band participated in a photo op with a London charity for sick children called Rays of Sunshine. This is a charity they have been previously associated with.

There were lots of gorgeous and heartwarming pictures from this event: