*NSYNC Dirty Pop-Up Shop & Walk of Fame

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Ladies and gentlemen, today is the last day of April . . . which means that it’s gonna be MAY!! Yes, sorry, I had to do it.

In less than an hour, fans out in Hollywood, California and online all over the world will get to watch *NSYNC (finally) get their star on the Walk of Fame! If you’re like me and couldn’t make it out to Cali for the event, you can stream it live on walkoffame.com at 11:30 PDT.

Leading up to the ceremony, where all five members will reunite, they announced a pop-up shop in Los Angeles that is aptly dubbed Dirty Pop-Up. You heard that correctly. Not only do we get to see our favorite group-gone-too-soon together again, we also get new merch! Have we just transported back to my high school years??? Give me some sort of glimmer of hope for a mini reunion tour and I might need an EKG to check my heart lol.

I remember watching Disney’s In Concert with *NSYNC back in 1998 and I was immediately hooked. I begged my parents to buy me the VHS (yes, it was that long ago) of *N The Mix and watched it repeatedly for months – I’ve since upgraded to the DVD version of it and I even introduced my niece to it when she was younger. I had stacks of floppy disks with pictures on them and my bedroom walls were wallpapered with *NSYNC posters and magazine articles. I was that person.

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Merch – Volume 1

I saw them live for the first time at the Broward County Fair where Britney Spears opened up for them ( I had no idea who she was yet). My best friend and I were trying to get there early, but we had a fire drill at school that delayed our release. We definitely contemplated fleeing during the drill, but it turns out it wasn’t just a drill-someone set a garbage can on fire on the third floor and ruined our chances at meeting the guys. Another friend of mine sat next to me in Science in 10th grade. We’d have *NSYNC magazines and books resting on top of our Science books and I don’t think we ever looked so involved in our schoolwork! I was lucky enough to see them live 4 times before their “hiatus” in 2002. I was just graduating high school and between that and their hiatus, I thought my world was turned upside down.

 

16 years later and here I am, prepping to watch the guys receive their star on the Walk of Fame and checking out merch online in their store at nsync.com. Maybe now, my world is being turned right-side up!

So, I just wanted to send a huge CONGRATS to Justin, JC, Lance, Joey and Chris for making their mark in music history no matter how long it lasted. As I sit here with my *NSYNC playlist on repeat today, I’m finally old enough to hold up a glass (if I wasn’t at work) and cheers to a fabulous run! Thank you for everything.

Movie Review by @mikethemovieguy – LOVE & BANANAS: AN ELEPHANT STORY | #loveandbananas

Elephant rescues in Thailand are rare, unpredictable and often life threatening. After waiting over 2 years, actor/director Ashley Bell and a team of elephant rescuers led by world renowned Asian elephant conservationist and TIME Magazine’s Hero of Asia, Sangdeaun Lek Chailert, embark on a daring mission to rescue Noi Na, a 70-year old partially blind trekking elephant and bring her 500 miles across Thailand to freedom.

African elephants are slaughtered for their ivory, but sadly the plight of the Asian Elephant has been completely overlooked even though they are the elephant we are most familiar with in zoos, circuses and elephant rides. Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story exposes the cruel secret that every Asian elephant has had to endure to become a service animal; a process known as Pajan, aka The Crush Box. Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story aims to ignite a new way of thinking about this species and shows what can be done to prevent the extinction of Asian elephants.

 

Man! I had the chance to watch this last night. It has to be one of the best documentary’s I’ve seen in a long time. LOVE & BANANAS: AN ELEPHANT STORY definitely took me on a roller coaster of emotions.

Sadness. Anxiety. Happiness.

Everyone involved in this mission is awesome!! Lek is a BEAST!!! This little lady here…AMAZING. Shoutouts to Ashley Bell and her team for bringing this to the screen.

LOVE & BANANAS: AN ELEPHANT STORY is a MUST WATCH film! After watching it – I immediately followed all their social media to help spread the word on what’s happening to Asian Elephants. I might not have a zillion dollars but anything helps, right?

People!! Watch this film where and when you can. LOVE & BANANAS: AN ELEPHANT STORY is screening in select cities now & there are more to come. Check out the links below for more info.

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | #loveandbananas
Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story

Mike “The Movie Guy” Pierce
Daddy Blogger
iwatchmike.com