Imagine if you’re a loyal employee of an unhinged madman, and you make one decision to stand against that madman. In retaliation, the madman sends an armed terrorist mob to murder you, your wife and your daughters. People begin to tell you that you should do something to take away the madman’s power but you choose some kind of form of twisted loyalty and refuse. The madman continues to threaten and harass everyone with his death cult followers, to the point where you have to take over the madman’s job duties anyway. Now the madman is sitting in his sad golf club in Florida and you have to spend the rest of your life broke and looking over your shoulder, worried that the madman’s death cult will come for you one of these days. This is Mike Pence’s life.

On Tuesday, Business Insider reported that former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen do not have a permanent residence since leaving the vice president’s mansion — and though Republicans close to the couple aren’t exactly sure of their current living arrangements, they believe the former second couple is “couch-surfing” at the residences of various Indiana officials.

“According to one source, the Pences are staying at the dolled-up cabin nearby that the Indiana governor uses as a retreat. If so, they’d need permission to spend the night from Pence’s former lieutenant governor, who now serves as governor, Eric Holcomb,” reported Tom LoBianco. “Two Republicans close to the Pences said they heard that the former second couple was staying at Pence’s brother’s place in Columbus. The one thing everyone is certain of is that when the Pences moved out of the vice president’s residence at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, they had nowhere to go. The former second couple doesn’t actually own a house.”

Per the report, the Pences are in a precarious position since leaving office.

“Republicans who spoke with Insider also said they wondered whether Pence and his team are closely guarding their new domicile because of the wave of death threats he faced just three weeks ago,” said the report. “The Trump-incited mob that stormed the Capitol earlier this month shouted that they wanted to hang Pence, and some of the people came within about 100 feet of confronting him and his family as they were hurried to a secure location in the Capitol.”

Furthermore, the report noted, Pence has essentially been cut off from all contact with former President Donald Trump, who was enraged by his refusal to try to overturn the election results during congressional certification. Pence, for his part, is reportedly resentful that Trump put his life in danger.

[From Raw Story]

At first I thought “well, Pence will find some way to land on his feet, he’s a well-connected Republican, he’ll get a lobbying job or something.” But now I’m not so sure? Pence pissed off the Trump people and it’s looking like he pissed off most of the Republican Party too, because despite what they say, the GOP was largely in lockstep with Trump’s attempted overthrow of the republic, just as they were in lockstep with Trump’s general fascism, nativism, misogyny and racism. It’s truly a crazy f–king time when the most recent former vice president has to hide out in case the former president’s cultists come to murder him. As for the Pence finances… he was a public servant for years, but I doubt he’s broke or anything. He and Mother are probably looking at real estate in Indiana, they’re just doing it very quietly.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

I’ll sometimes put a story in the links to gauge interest in the gossip, which is what I did with this split story. Before this week, I honestly didn’t know that Ioan Gruffudd was married to a woman named Alice Evans, and I didn’t know that they’d been married since 2007, or that they have two children. My lack of background on these two was mostly because I don’t even remember reading one Ioan Gruffudd interview in my all time as a gossip blogger? He’s pretty lowkey, and he’s worked consistently for two decades in America, the UK and Australia in film and TV. Alice is apparently an actress too but I don’t think I’ve seen her in anything. Anyway, about 24 hours ago, Alice began tweeting a bunch of sh-t about how Ioan left her and how he was mentally torturing her. Some of those tweets got deleted, she claimed he deleted them, and then they issued a joint statement. It’s been an eventful 24 hours.

Ioan Gruffudd and his wife Alice Evans have vowed to ‘remain committed to their children’ amid their explosive split. The united front follows an extraordinary 24 hours, which saw a series of tweets posted by the actress – and subsequently deleted – claiming her husband was leaving the family and she was being ‘gaslit and mentally tortured’. Alice, 49, also accused Ioan, 47, of hacking her Twitter account to delete the original tweets stating he was leaving her and their daughters Ella, 11, and Elsie, seven, because he ‘no longer loves’ her.

A statement released to MailOnline from the couple reads: ‘As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for our family and we remain committed to our children. Thank you for respecting our privacy.’ The couple have been married for 13 years and together for two decades.

Alice took to Twitter on Monday to share the ‘sad news’, stating Ioan said he ‘no longer loves her’ and has left her young daughters feeling ‘very sad’. The original statement was later deleted, with Alice alleging that it was her estranged husband who had taken to her account and removed the message. She posted another Twitter message, reading: ‘Hi there. I didn’t delete the tweet from a few hours ago about him leaving. He did. From my account… And hell yes when I am being gaslit and mentally tortured then hell yes I will wash my linen in public’, however this tweet was also deleted later on.

After the now-deleted message, she was then criticised by a follower, who penned: ‘Seems like a weird thing to be posting on Twitter’. In response, in a message which remains on the page [at time of publication], Alice responded writing: ‘Why? I have lost my mind’.

One follower then penned: ‘I did the same when this happened to me. I think it’s how one acknowledges there’s no returning to what existed before. Accepting it by stating it publicly helps you to recognize the impossibility [of] reconciliation.’

She then responded: ‘This is exactly why. And than you. Six months of harrassment: yes/no/maybe. I cannot live like this anymore’.

In the original shock statement, Alice penned: ‘Sad news. My beloved husband/soulmate of 20 years, Ioan Gruffudd, has announced he is to leave his family, starting next week. Me and our young daughters girls are very confused and sad. We haven’t been given a reason except that he ‘no longer loves me’. I’m so sorry.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Since I had no idea about this marriage before yesterday, I have no vibe one way or the other. The tweets-and-deletes, the accusations from Alice, combined with the photos of them over the years on the red carpet… well, a picture is forming. But I’ve been wrong before and who knows. I tend to believe they’ve been separated for years – he’s been doing a television show in Australia since 2017/18 and he said in an interview that he and Alice have barely seen each other in that time.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Twitter can be wild sometimes and often sends me down insane rabbit holes. The other day, CeraVe started trending. My heart sank because CeraVe has saved my skin’s life these last few months and I was concerned that something was wrong with the product or that the CEO was a Maga. I was terrified to click on it. When I finally mustered the nerve to see what was happening with my beloved CeraVe, the hilarity that ensued was peak Twitter. First I saw everyone lamenting CeraVe being sold out because it was trending. I started panicking of course and went on Amazon to make sure my products were in stock. But after strolling down a page of tweets, I found out what happened.

CeraVe was trending because of Cardi B. Cardi was having a bout of adult acne and was at her wits end. So she took to Twitter to ask her followers for advice. Cardi stated that she had been to a dermatologist who put her on Retinol but “that sh*t dried her face” and made it worse. Another follower suggested CeraVe products but Cardi wasn’t having that either. Cardi said she tried CeraVe and it did nothing for her skin. Below is a play by play via People:

“I need ya help tho….,” Cardi, 28, began in a series of posts on Twitter. “I been breaking out lately and my face is extremely dry. I don’t think these products are working. I think it’s the water out here …..What are some good products for little black heads, break outs and dry skin on your face ?”

“This is my cheek … It’s been happening for like 3 months now … S— really is uncomfortable,” she added in another tweet alongside a close-up snap of her skin, showing inflamed breakouts and clogged pores.

Fans started to reply, recommending skincare favorites like Cetaphil, CeraVe, and Clinique products. However, Cardi said that she’d tried them all, to no avail.

“It really don’t work for me,” she said the CeraVe cleansers and moisturizers.

She also said she bought “the whole package of Clinique” and that “it worked [a little] bit but still sometimes my face gets really dry and I’m breaking out on my chin.”

The “Money” rapper then detailed how she had recently been to a dermatologist who recommended she try retinol but claimed the product made her face “burn” and dry out even more. Some fans pointed out that retinol has a “purging phase,” but Cardi said she “don’t got time for my face to do that.”

“I did I said it in previous post. That gave me some s— that dried my face more and make me get more [pores],” she said. “Thet said it will take 3 months but I don’t got time for that and didn’t give me a reason on why I’m breaking out. I never broke out on my cheeks and chin [before].”

Cardi later added that she wants “to go to a good dermatologist that do blood testing and everything. Get to the root of the problem but I don’t know any.”

[From People]

Poor Cardi. My sis is in a pickle. There is nothing fun about reliving your teen years by developing adult acne, especially during a pandemic when doctors and things are not readily available. More than likely the acne is happening because she is in a new place using different water and her face is just reacting to it. It is also possible that it is due to a hormonal change. Whatever the case, I hope Cardi finds someone to help her because she seemed truly distraught.

There was an esthetician that popped up on her feed with a large following that gave her some advice (read trying to sell her services). Maybe Cardi will try what she has suggested and get her skin back to normal. I do understand where my girl Cardi was coming from. Last year, I was going through a period where I was getting dry patches all over my face and no matter what I did, nothing worked. One of the Celebitches suggested La Roche Posay Lipikar Balm which worked great on my body but not my face. So I started using Tree of Life’s Vitamin C serum mixed with The Ordinary’s Lactic Acid serum and CeraVe’s Skin Renewing Night Cream and my skin is glowing ya’ll! Like I said, there is nothing fun about adult acne or skin issues period as you get older and I don’t envy Cardi this situation. Hopefully, she will find what she needs and my CeraVe products won’t sell out.

I been breaking out lately and my face is extremely dry.I don’t think these products are working.I think it’s the water out here …..What are some good products for little black heads break outs and dry skin on your face ?

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) January 25, 2021

THESE PRODUCTS WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!! pic.twitter.com/7qKdtIen61

— EFRAIN (@TUENEMIGOEFRAIN) January 25, 2021

The funny tweets that popped after CeraVe started trending:

Pls don’t clear the shelves of cerave. I worked too hard to figure out my skincare routine. pic.twitter.com/qzn0uofQxn

— Andrea ? (@andreaalove) January 25, 2021

CeraVe facial cleanser is also what I recommend for the vulva. Soap raises the skin pH and is drying (affecting the acid mantle), an unscented, gentle cleanser is best ?

— Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) January 25, 2021

My Cerave gonna be out of stock longer now lmaooooo pic.twitter.com/445l0ADxTc

— My Apologies, Ms. Girl… Ms. Who? (@_kirrraaa) January 25, 2021

not CeraVe trending because of Cardi? pic.twitter.com/nw7NDxKyMl

— JUICY (@xjuicyb) January 25, 2021

Photos credit: Avalon.red

Pretty much as soon as Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were sworn in as senators, Mitch McConnell started crying about “Senate minority rights” and “protecting the filibuster.” Now that the Republicans are in the minority in the Senate, suddenly we’re supposed to forget about McConnell’s years of bullsh-t, his refusal to confirm Merrick Garland, his push to confirm Amy Coney Barrett eight days before the election, his refusal to allow Barack Obama’s agenda to move through the Senate, and on and on. This sounds like a boring process story, but the fight was truly about whether President Biden would be able to enact any part of his agenda through legislation. It’s about whether the minimum wage will be raised, whether Americans will get more covid relief, and so much more. But the week-long process story is over, I guess:

The filibuster fight is over—for now. Mitch McConnell on Monday finally backed down from his demand to protect the tactic, allowing an organizing agreement giving Chuck Schumer and his razor-thin majority control of the Senate to go through. Schumer, who had called for his Republican counterpart to agree to the power-sharing rules of the last split Senate, in 2001, claimed victory in the standoff. “We’re glad Sen. McConnell threw in the towel,” he said through a spokesman, “and gave up on his ridiculous demand.” But McConnell called it a win, too, and for good reason: He relented only after two moderate Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, vowed not to vote to end the filibuster, all but ensuring that McConnell would get to keep his veto power on the agenda Schumer wants to help President Joe Biden enact.

[From Vanity Fair]

I don’t really understand Sinema and Manchin’s play here, because (as others have pointed out) if they have specific goals, or specific legislation or pork projects they want for their states, they’ll have a much easier time making a deal with their own Democratic caucus. Anyway, I’m glad Schumer didn’t back down but I am worried about all of this!

Meanwhile, that’s not the only bulls–t McConnell tried to pull. Senator Rand Paul got a vote on whether the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump was constitutional given that Trump is now out of office. Paul’s side lost in a 55-45 vote… but Mitch voted with the 45 Republicans who think that there shouldn’t even be a trial. McConnell was still Majority Leader when Trump incited a deadly coup, and he put the Senate in recess after the attack. Meaning, he didn’t think the impeachment trial was timely enough to do when Trump was in office, and now Mitch is claiming that it’s too late to impeach. Still, with only five Republicans voting with Democrats, that vote was likely a preview of coming attractions for the actual impeachment vote. Which doesn’t matter – there still needs to be an impeachment trial and widespread investigations into what happened on January 6th.

The party that wanted to relive Benghazi every day for years wants to move on from the Capitol attack 3 weeks out and not look back.

— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 26, 2021

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The pandemic is more than ten months old. It’s not going to be over anytime soon, although many are hopeful that by the summer, every country will be in a much better place. Still, the effects of the “pandemic year” will be felt for a very long time, and I’m sure the current generation of little kids – like, the four-to-12-year-olds – will be nicknamed Generation Covid. Pandemic education is a mess and the children are stressed and there are so many kids living in poverty.

In the past year, many of us, sitting here on this humble little blog, have said that the Duchess of Cambridge should be doing something with Generation Covid, especially since she’s so keen and she wants us to believe that she’s all about the “Early Years.” Thus far, Kate has done jacksh-t. Even her stupid, vapid Five Big Questions survey had to be rescued with data purchased from other surveys just so Kate would have “results” to present to people last month. Kate promised that in 2021, she would definitely be more keen and she would totally do something vague with all of that nonsensical data she presented to us. Well, guess what? Nearly a year into the worst viral pandemic in a century, Keen Kate is keen about doing *something* involving Early Years and the pandemic. I assume the thought *just* occurred to her.

The Duchess of Cambridge is secretly planning to launch new initiatives to help Britain’s “silent victims” of the coronavirus crisis. Mum of three Kate is building on her landmark survey on the early years development of children to reach those youngsters most at risk.

The future Queen this month held two private engagements, renewing her focus on bringing a range of experts and organisations together from across the arena which experts say has been “historically woefully underfunded”.

Kate last year successfully launched the ‘5 Big Questions on the Under Fives’ the largest ever survey of its kind, which garnered more than half a million responses. Royal sources have confirmed the Duchess has begun shifting her focus to help charities operate in a post pandemic environment, while continuing to raise the issues homelessness, addiction and poor mental health of children and their families.

A palace source said: “These themes are so often grounded in a difficult childhood and have undoubtedly been exacerbated for thousands of vulnerable children during the pandemic. The Duchess’s primary work will be to build on the results of the survey and bring together more partners to focus on those who are most at risk of falling through the cracks of society. In her own words, she believes the early years should be on par with the other great social challenges and opportunities of our time. The early years can play such a crucial role in shaping our future which is why this is so important, not just in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, but also to have a chance of achieving real change for generations.”

Peter Grigg, CEO of Home Start UK which helps support the children of disadvantaged or struggling families – said Kate was working to help the “silent victims” of the crisis. He said: “The early years have been historically woefully underfunded, but the attention on the Duchess’s focus has the capacity to make real change. The pandemic has exposed huge inequalities in our society and Kate’s focus on the silent victims of the crisis will undoubtedly raise the prospects of the most vulnerable. Her support in the arena has never been more valuable and it will help focus the attention of politicians and the public that these issues are some of the most pressing of our time.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

The quotes from Peter Grigg aren’t just garden-variety blowing-smoke-up-a-royal-bum. Grigg accidentally revealed the real reason why he and other charities are throwing their support behind Kate and embiggening her: they hope that with Keen Kate as the “face” of everything Early Years, they’ll get more funding and a bigger budgetary priority from the government. Which is how it should work, I agree. But I think Grigg and other charities are making a lousy wager. Kate has shown time and time again that she doesn’t actually give a f–k about helping children. She only wants the photo-ops and the credit for “creating” something and having a “big project” to announce. She has no interest in parlaying her name to create actual change, or helping them out with public or private funding.

As for Kate’s big secret plan to “launch new initiatives,” my guess is that those launches will involve Kate seething on camera and trying to sound posh as she says some sh-t like “young children are really being affected by the pandemic, so please just be rich, okay?”

I’m still really obsessed with Kate’s pie chart, you guys. Do you think she’ll make a new pie chart for the pandemic?!!? Oh, she’ll need a bar graph too! A keen bar graph!

Photos courtesy of KP’s social media, Avalon Red.

Demi Lovato is getting back to her TV roots by signing on to star in a series on NBC. Only her new sitcom sounds very different than her breakout, Sonny with a Chance on Disney. This new show is called Hungry and focuses on a food issues support group as they navigate life while supporting each other.

Demi Lovato will star in a comedy project in the works at NBC.

The actress and recording artist has signed on to Hungry, a single-camera comedy from Universal Studio Group’s Universal TV and sitcom veteran Suzanne Martin (Will & Grace, Hot in Cleveland, Frasier). The project, which also counts Hazy Mills and SB Projects as producers, has a put pilot commitment from the network, meaning NBC will pay a penalty if it doesn’t air.

Hungry will follow a group of friends who belong to a food issues group and help each other as they look for love, success and that one thing in the refrigerator that will make it all better.

Lovato, who has been open about having an eating disorder, is also an executive producer, alongside Martin, Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner of Hazy Mills and Scooter Braun, James Shin and Scott Manson of SB Projects.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

It sounds like a copycat Mom, only with food instead of alcohol and drugs. I wonder if the “food issues group” will actually be Overeaters Anonymous. I am not opposed to this at all, even if it is derivative. Food addiction is rarely addressed in film or television and if this is handled smartly, it could do a lot to educate people on the issue. Demi is a strong spokesperson for eating disorder recovery, so this is a cause she believes in strongly. As an executive producer she can make sure it’s tackled in a meaningful way. The reason I support Mom is because of how they handle sobriety and the challenges surrounding it. I like that they approach addiction from different angles and socio-economic conditions. Plus, they show some of the tricks and deceptions alcoholics use to cover up their issues. If Hungry can show similar things for people with food issues, it would be groundbreaking, particularly for parents with kids who are struggling. It’s a bold undertaking and I’m interested to see what they do with it. Good for Demi for getting involved.

When CB sent me the story, she mentioned the Matthew Perry TV show Go On that dealt with grief. It also revolved around a group setting and was predominantly a comedy. I watched it when it was on but I’d forgotten about it. I rewatched the pilot after CB’s email and remembered I actually enjoyed it (it only lasted one season, so I guess I was alone in that). I thought Go On was funny, but it didn’t strike the right balance between explaining the grief process and finding the humor in it like Mom does. I know it sounds odd to laugh about sobriety, grief and eating disorders but people like me listen when humor is involved. I’m optimistic about Hungry opening some eyes to food issues and hopefully starting some really important discussions.

Photo credit: Avalon and Instagram

I am always trolling Hulu and Netflix for shows to binge watch every weekend. I need something exciting, a bit sci-fi and a whole lot of fantasy. Perhaps it is because I cut my teeth on shows like Fraggle Rock and X-Men and movies like Labyrinth, Clash of the Titans, Legend, and The Never Ending Story. Because my childhood world was filled with elves, fairies, witches, and dragons, I have a love for the magical world and the fantasy genre. So, this weekend I was minding my own business when I saw the new show Fate: The Winx Saga being promoted on my Netflix home page. As soon as I saw fiery fairy wings, I was all in. I popped a bowl of popcorn and plopped on my sofa for six hours watching all six episodes of the show. Not only was the show reminiscent of my love for Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, but the cast was diverse (sort of) and the storyline was fun.

Fate: The Winx Saga is based on the animated series created by Italian animator Inginio Straffi. It was a huge hit in the early aughts on Nickelodeon because there was a lot of representation between the characters (I’ll get to this later). Now I am wondering if there will be a season two for the show because six episodes just won’t cut it ya’ll (what was Netflix thinking)? Of course Netflix likes to leave us in suspense and have not announced a second season but Fate: The Winx Saga has been the number one streamed show since its debut on January 22. So there will likely be a season two. Here’s a bit more about the series and a possible season two from Marie Claire:

Has Fate been renewed for season 2?
Not yet, but it seems extremely likely. For one thing, there’s that whole “debuted at number one” thing, which usually sends Netflix sprinting to start developing more episodes. There’s also the fact that Fate is based on Winx Club, an Italian animated series that aired on Nickelodeon in the U.S. with a voice cast that included Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies; the show ran for eight seasons, with more than 200 episodes, so there are plenty of storylines to revisit in future seasons of Fate, plus a built-in fan base still eager to spend as much time in the fairy world as possible.

When would a second season premiere?
With all this in mind, let’s do some quick calculations: The first season of Fate was announced on March 2018, but filming didn’t begin until September 2019, more than a year before the episodes finally premiered. Going off this timeline, even if the series is renewed in mid-February, and development and filming are able to start right away, it will likely still be well over a year before we see those efforts come to fruition in the form of a season two—though Netflix has been known to speed up its timelines when working on subsequent seasons of widely beloved shows. A late summer 2022 release feels like a safe, if overly optimistic, prediction.

What would season 2 be about?
Without giving too much away, the first season of Fate ended just as Bloom, the fire fairy at the core of the series, discovered the extent of her incredible powers in real-time while battling an army of evil creatures. (Classic teen girl stuff.) So, a second season would likely see Bloom learning more about how to control and properly wield those powers, while also delving even deeper into the rest of her fairy friends’ own journeys of magical self-discovery, since they’ll all need to be at the top of their game to defeat the forces of evil still hard at work at Alfea and throughout the rest of the Otherworld.

Abigail Cowen, who plays Bloom, suggested as much in a recent interview about the first season’s finale. “That’s just kind of a little teaser into what her powers are going to be. And hopefully for the second season, if we get a second season, I think that’s just the beginning of them. I think that’s why we waited until the very end to tease and show the audience—like, get ready, this is about to get very intense,” Cowen told The Wrap.

[From Marie Claire]

I personally didn’t think the cast was diverse enough in the show despite there being a Black girl and a girl that looked Latinx. I felt that they needed more Asian representation. I didn’t know much about the source material of the show when I watched it but I stumbled upon this article in Teen Vogue that says that the Netflix version is white washed. According to Teen Vogue, the cartoon version of Fate had a Chinese girl, a Latinx girl and Black girl. I believe the material is there and perhaps Netflix, if they decide to do a season two, could make up for its very white casting at that point. With that being said, I was very intrigued by the superpowers of the characters and the different factions of magic. I would personally like to see more character development and storyline going forward. The series itself was entirely too short for my liking. I will need to rewatch Fate for context, but overall it wasn’t bad however there was a lot of room left for growth.

Like I said in an earlier post about the casting of Jodie Turner-Smith as an elf in The Witcher: Blood Origin series, there is no need to sacrifice one group for another when casting. There is plenty of room in the fantasy genre that allows for the casting of several BIPOC. I also think that these shows need to avoid tokenism. Having one person of color in a sea of white is not diversifying. With that being said, I do hope that Fate gets picked up for a season two and that Netflix will reevaluate casting and create the universe that fans expect.

Photos credit: Jonathan Hession/Netflix © 2020

When Elliot Page announced that he is transgender, his wife Emma Portner supported him on social media, praising Elliot for his announcement and generally standing by him. I honestly believed that they were still together and that Emma had been supporting Elliot throughout his journey. Elliot’s announcement came in early December. Not even two full months later, Elliot and Emma have announced that they are filing for divorce:

Elliot Page, the star of “Juno,” has filed for divorce after just 3 years of marriage. Elliot just filed the legal docs in Manhattan seeking the dissolution of his marriage to Emma Portner, whom he married around January 2018.

The couple had announced their surprise wedding on Instagram, with Page writing at the time … “Can’t believe I get to call this extraordinary woman my wife.” Page began sharing photos with Portner in summer 2017. Emma, a dancer and choreographer who teaches at the Broadway Dance Center in NYC, was also featured in Justin Bieber’s “PURPOSE: The Movement” music videos and tour performances.

[From TMZ]

Elliot and Emma ended up confirming the news to People Magazine after TMZ broke the story, and they issued a joint statement: “After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce following our separation last summer. We have the utmost respect for each other and remain close friends.” Ah, so they separated last summer, then Elliot made his announcement months later? I would assume that they were still in each other’s lives, but probably living separately and giving each other space.

I’ve heard anecdotal stories about how it’s quite common for couples to split during or after one partner’s transition, even if the cisgender spouse/partner is supportive and wants to keep the relationship intact. I would assume that Elliot simply needed some time and space to work on himself and Emma supported that as well. Of course, they could have split for other reasons too!

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.

The band The Flaming Lips is trying to reach out to fans during this time of quarantine, but in the safest way possible. Their answer? Live concerts with individual Space Bubbles. The idea is actually a recycled one. Lead singer Wayne Coyne began using these custom plastic bubbles to launch himself into the audience to crowd surf. After COVID hit, he started drawing concept art of the space bubbles protecting his band and fans in concert. So when the band was scheduled to appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, they gave the bubbles a test drive. Somehow measuring their appearance on Colbert a success, they went ahead and scheduled two whole concerts in Oklahoma where they’re from. The photos (below) look like something out of a Sci Fi movie.

In an age where it seems impossible to safely hold a crowded concert, the Flaming Lips found a way to do so in their home state of Oklahoma. The band put on two shows where attendees — and musicians — stood inside “space bubbles” to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The band ordered space bubbles from China for an October show at the Criterion theater in Oklahoma City. The first floor of the venue was filled with around 300 fans in enclosed in plastic bubble barriers.

The plastic pods keep fans at a safe distance, and Coyne emphasized that each bubble is cleaned out with about 20 ounces of 70% isopropyl alcohol, hit with a leaf blower until the liquid is evaporated, and then scrubbed down by a person in a full painter’s suit and mask. The cleaning process is extensive after each show.

The bubbles hold enough oxygen for three people to breathe for “over an hour and 10 minutes” before they need to be refreshed with a leaf blower, Coyne said, according to BBC News. Each bubble has a speaker inside, so the band’s sound wasn’t muffled, as well as a fan, water and a towel to wipe down condensation. If fans needed to leave their bubble, they had an “I gotta go pee/hot in here” sign and a venue staff member would escort them to the bathroom while wearing masks.

Since clapping inside the bubbles sounded muted, people instead applauded by “punching the top of their bubble,” Poppe said.

The fans left the venue by rolling their bubbles to the exit, then putting on masks and unzipping their plastic globe to leave the venue.

[From CBS News]

I couldn’t do this due to my claustrophobia. I’m having a little trouble looking at those people in the bubbles. I know they’re clear and they have openings, but being in something that small would wreak havoc on my mind. But obviously, this wasn’t intended for someone like me who barely goes to concerts anyway (especially because my claustrophobia can also be triggered in crowds). I do want to give The Flaming Lips credit for their efforts because I think they had the best intentions. Their motivation is to provide live entertainment. It sounds like this was all considered and executed judiciously and seriously. That said, would this scratch your concert itch:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wayne Coyne (@waynecoyne5)

I am not overly familiar with The Flaming Lips but if Coyne is stage diving on the reg, I would imagine this is a bit subdued. Plus that bubble almost demands you pull some serious Dad dance moves. But, maybe this is all the folks in attendance wanted, just the chance to stand among other people, listening to music played live. Adjustments have to be made, so if this works, then all power to the innovators.

However, the more important question is – was it safe enough? It certainly sounds thorough, with 70% isopropyl alcohol and full painter suit scrub downs. But the article also discussed a lot of fans and leaf blowers and COVID is a highly contagious airborne disease. In San Jose, CA, 44 emergency room staff tested positive for COVID after a Christmas party. They think it was due to an air powered costume, you know, like those T-Rex costumes that need to be inflated to wear. That may have blown COVID air droplets, infecting 44 people, one of whom died. Obviously, I hope everyone is safe from The Flaming Lips concert and I hope they had a great time. I also hope the band waits until the vaccine rollout before they try it again.

Here goes night two of shooting video with the #flaminglips at @CriterionOKC. This is the second space bubble concert to have ever happened. pic.twitter.com/D3CZ11EnZ5

— Nathan Poppe (@NathanPoppe) January 24, 2021

The overall mood is much more relaxed tonight. Inflation seems to flying by. Crews already filled the first 50 or so space bubbles. It only takes about 20-30 seconds to fill one of these with air. pic.twitter.com/hnbakmx9TJ

— Nathan Poppe (@NathanPoppe) January 24, 2021

Go time! pic.twitter.com/PgLU7gYDOd

— Nathan Poppe (@NathanPoppe) January 24, 2021

Photo credit: CBS/YouTube, Instagram and Twitter

The Fug Girls and I disagree on this outfit on Michelle Monaghan. And that’s what fashion is – not everything is for everyone. This look is 100% for me. Mostly I’m attracted to the pants and the boots. The pants are harem-lite and have the exact hang and drape that I like below the waist. And these …