Lifestyle
A Secret Crush Goes Public in a Work Meeting
In March 2020, Emily Yang Liu spent hours every day in digital conferences together with her workforce at Google, which was engaged on constructing Covid-19 publicity notifications know-how. To maintain herself engaged, she pinned her work crush, Jacob Michael Klinker, to her display screen.
They hadn’t really met in particular person — they began engaged on the contact tracing undertaking collectively shortly after pandemic lockdowns have been enforced in 2020. After seeing him in a gathering, she thought to herself, “Oh, he’s actually cute,” she stated.
Technically, although, they’d met earlier than in a digital work assembly in 2018 that “she doesn’t keep in mind in any respect,” he stated. Mr. Klinker, a software program engineer at Google, wanted authorized sign-off for a undertaking, so, Ms. Liu, a senior counsel, was known as into a gathering with Mr. Klinker, who goes by Jake, and others. (Years later, he even pulled up the calendar invite to show to her that they’d met earlier than the Covid undertaking.)
[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]
At some point in April 2020, the product supervisor on the workforce, Ronald Ho, pinged her through the assembly and stated, “Why do you’ve Jake pinned to your display screen?” It seems that Ms. Liu, 36, had a big mirror behind her, and other people within the conferences may see the reflection of her laptop computer — and Mr. Klinker, 29, on her display screen as a big sq. with everybody else in miniature.
“I attempted to play it off,” Ms. Liu stated. “I used to be like, ‘Why are you taking a look at me?’ and pretended prefer it was simply an accident.” She stopped pinning his face, efficient instantly.
Mr. Klinker by no means observed, nonetheless. “Apparently I’m oblivious,” he stated.
In the end, Mr. Ho performed matchmaker. “I believe he began getting the sense, ‘Oh, Emily positively has a crush on Jake,’” she stated. Mr. Ho had came upon that Mr. Klinker can be visiting Boulder, Colo., to search for homes. On the time, Ms. Liu was residing in Denver, a couple of 40-minute drive away. So Mr. Ho informed her that he can be on the town.
“My coronary heart skipped a beat,” she stated. She messaged Mr. Klinker about grabbing a espresso and “tried to be actually clean and nonchalant.”
They met at Boxcar Espresso Roasters in Boulder in October 2020 together with his brother, who was additionally visiting. In January 2021, he moved to Boulder.
They hung out collectively “casually,” and in July 2021, they went on a tenting journey collectively in Breckenridge, Colo. Her coat acquired eaten by a marmot, a big squirrel frequent to the realm, which she was “unhappy about,” she stated, however “I wasn’t that unhappy about it as a result of I used to be on a tenting journey with my crush.”
“I had informed my entire ebook membership about him,” she stated. “Everybody was tremendous engaged on this work crush story.” They informed her she ought to confess her emotions for him on the journey. However when she returned and informed her fellow members that she couldn’t convey herself to say something, “they have been so dissatisfied.”
Shortly after the tenting journey, Mr. Klinker moved to a special workforce at Google, and the 2 began spending extra time collectively exterior of labor.
One night time that September, she was “fed up” with being in a state of limbo — on some days, she thought he preferred her too, however on different days she wasn’t as constructive. So she determined to ask him, “What’s happening?” as they have been sitting on his front room flooring having dinner. (He didn’t have furnishings at his home but.) Mr. Klinker, who’s “quiet and reserved” in accordance with Ms. Liu, lastly confessed that he additionally preferred her, they usually began courting.
She moved into his place in March 2022, and in June 2022, they purchased a cabin in Estes Park. Three months later, in September 2022, Mr. Klinker proposed at Chasm Lake, Colo., after a five-mile hike.
Ms. Liu graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in authorities from Dartmouth and a regulation diploma from Columbia Regulation Faculty. Mr. Klinker graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in laptop engineering from the College of Iowa.
They acquired married March 18 at Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain Nationwide Park, which is a 10-minute drive from their cabin in Estes Park. Mr. Klinker’s twin brother, Lucas Klinker, who was on the espresso store with the couple after they first met, officiated in entrance of 17 visitors in 25-degree climate. Mr. Klinker was ordained by the Common Life Church for the event. All of them hiked 1 / 4 mile collectively to the lake, however because it was so chilly, the ceremony lasted about three minutes.
Afterward, the group went to the couple’s home and had sizzling chocolate and pies from the Colorado Cherry Firm, and dinner at a close-by restaurant, Chicken & Jim.
Though it was “excruciating” having a crush for a 12 months and a half, Ms. Liu stated, “it was all price it.”
Lifestyle
What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing, listening and gaming
This week, Taylor Swift delivered some tortured poets, Quentin Tarantino changed his mind, and at least one Oscars hangover went on and on and on.
Here’s what NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was paying attention to — and what you should check out this weekend.
Koreaboo, on Audible
Audible has a romantic fiction podcast called KoreaBoo that is too cute. Shayla is an English expat in Korea and you expect her to do the stereotypical romance thing and fall in love with a K-Pop idol, but she ends up falling for her landlord’s son. It’s incredibly cute and sweet and funny. It’s written by Shenee Howard. The episodes are about half an hour long — super easy, delightful, and so cheery. — Joelle Monique
The Wiz on Broadway
Jeremy Daniel
I am delighted to say that the revival of The Wiz has brought me so much joy. I saw it in previews and it just opened on Broadway. It is a multicultural, multicolored delight. Folks who go to see it will be clamoring for the cast recording album because, more than anything, I think what stuck with me is just the wonderful vocal arrangements and orchestrations from this new version. I think people will really enjoy it. — Soraya Nadia McDonald
Balatro
YouTube
Balatro is a deck building video game, which means it’s basically poker that you play by yourself. You’re dealt this hand, and then you try to build straights and flushes and things of a kind, etc. What makes it addictive is its elegant simplicity: Between hands you get a chance to buy random Jokers and other cards that do different things. And as you go through each run, the amount of points you can get, you have to earn on that hand increase. So, once you don’t make it, that’s it. You start over, your Jokers go away, you start from zero. You keep playing, and playing, and playing, because moments happen when the Jokers you have assembled interact with each other, and when they do, you see the points multiplying exponentially and you feel completely invulnerable. Producer Liz Metzger mentioned this game so I checked it out and when I looked up, it was the next day. — Glen Weldon
More recommendations from the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter
by Linda Holmes
Don’t miss Elizabeth Blair’s piece for NPR marking the 50th anniversary of Redbone’s “Come And Get Your Love.” It was the first song by an all-Native and Mexican American band to make it into the Billboard Top 10, and she collects some terrific reminiscences. It’s a really good piece both to read and to listen to.
At six million views on YouTube, the dance video of the CDK Company interpreting Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” is hardly a hidden gem. But the choreography is fascinating, and it’s highly recommended if you’re in the mood for a little mind-blowing movement.
The Hulu series Under The Bridge is based on the true story of a Victoria, B.C. teenager who was killed after going off to meet a bunch of other teenagers. And while that’s a dynamic that’s been explored before (going back at least to River’s Edge), this is also an opportunity for recent devotees of Lily Gladstone to see her play the cop who’s determined to figure out what happened. Riley Keough plays a journalist who grew up in Victoria and has returned to write a book, only to get very much mixed up in the case.
Beth Novey adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment “What’s Making Us Happy” for the Web. If you like these suggestions, consider signing up for our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Lifestyle
Morgan Wallen Breaks Silence on Nashville Arrest, Chair Throwing
Morgan Wallen‘s speaking out about his arrest in Nashville … saying he needed to make some mea culpas before he could put out a statement — and adding, his tour will go on.
The country star — who cops arrested after he allegedly threw a chair off a downtown bar’s roof — posted to X Friday, saying he didn’t wanna speak out on this until he did a few things first … including making good with the people he feels he’s harmed.
I didn’t feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks. I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I’m not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility.
— morgan wallen (@MorganWallen) April 20, 2024
@MorganWallen
Morgan writes, “I didn’t feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks. I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I’m not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility.”
04/07/24
He adds, “I have the utmost respect for the officers working every day to keep us all safe. Regarding my tour, there will be no change.” FWIW, Morgan has a concert scheduled Saturday evening at the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Mississippi … not to mention Stagecoach next weekend in CA.
EarthCam
04/07/24
As we reported … officers took Wallen into custody back on April 7 and booked him on three felony counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
An eyewitness told us Wallen threw the chair — which landed feet from Nashville PD officers — for no real reason … and, pictures of Wallen chatting up a lady at the bar just before the toss showed no indication he’d end up hurling it off a six-story high roof.
Morgan’s kept a low profile since the incident … although, we did see him spending time with his baby mama KT Smith and their son Indigo last weekend — and, all seemed good between them.
Sounds like Wallen’s contrite about the dumb incident … and, he’s ready to move on from it. The question … is the criminal justice system ready to do the same??? Time will tell.
Lifestyle
A new play peers into a band's life, from the inside
Julieta Cervantes/Stereophonic
Stereophonic, a new play on Broadway with music by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, tracks the volatile creation of a rock and roll album over the course of a year in the 1970s.
The fictional five-member band, on the surface, looks a lot like Fleetwood Mac – it has two couples, one American, one British, and they squabble and break up as they make the record.
But, for the show’s creative team, it is a hyper realistic look at the costs and glories of making art.
“There are iconographic elements that I stole from Fleetwood Mac,” said playwright David Adjmi, “but I also stole from other things.”
He did a lot of research on bands of the 1970s and recording studios of the time and has written the play in a documentary style.
“We’re going to ask you to peek in,” Adjmi said. “And that’s what creates this kind of weird, titillating feeling for the audience and the feeling that you’re getting something really, really intimate.”
The set for Stereophonic is a working recording studio – from the banged-up mixing console to the 24-track tape machine to the big glass windows looking into a soundproof room where the musicians play and listen on their headphones. The vintage equipment is so real that director Daniel Aukin said, “I’ve learned recently that the song ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ was recorded on it.”
Over the course of three hours, the audience really gets to know the band and the engineers. They see the musicians hanging out, eating junk food, rolling joints, talking about movies, and squabbling.
Adjmi said he began writing Stereophonic at a point when he was feeling discouraged with theater and thought about quitting. The fights the characters are having with each other are the internal fights he was having with himself.
“Why am I doing this?” he said he asked himself. “I shouldn’t be doing this. This is terrible. It’s not worth it. No, it is worth it. It’s beautiful. I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”
Julieta Cervantes/Stereophonic
Turning actors into musicians
Before he had written a word, Adjmi got together in a diner with Will Butler, of the band Arcade Fire, to see if he’d write music for the play. Butler said he got excited as he learned that in the show, the music would be in the process of being created.
“And you’d hear a demo and then you’d hear them mixing in the vocals and you’d hear fragments of it. And the fragments are so compelling, and you want more, but you can’t have more,” he said. “And then, just that initial idea was so rich, I was like, ‘I would love to do this!’”
But in order to pull off Adjmi’s idea, they had to turn actors with some musical ability who could pull off nuanced characters into a believable group of musicians. And that proved complicated.
“It was a long process to find the right balance of people,” said director Daniel Aukin.
“We had to have actors who you would want to cast in a Chekhov play, and we had to have actors who had enough musicality that we could project forward, given support, that they could get to where we needed them to be to pull it off.”
While Chris Stack, cast as the drummer, was already a solid player, the rest of the cast took music lessons before rehearsal, said Will Brill, who plays the band’s bass player.
“I learned to play really badly right before we started rehearsals,” he said. “And, really, I mean, did a lot of catching up during rehearsals. Like, I didn’t play a note before this thing!”
YouTube
Butler said it was a leap of faith, hoping these five actors could become a band. For the first few weeks, much of the rehearsal process was spent in band rehearsals, rather than acting rehearsals. Then, Butler asked the quintet to open for him at a club in Brooklyn.
“And they were great and they learned so much,” he said, “and even just getting to the point where they had to stand on a stage in front of people, before they played a note. Like, that taught them so much of what a being a band is like, that taught them the energy that they’re bringing to the studio.”
The play tracks the band’s process of creating an album for over a year.
Brill said he’s moved by the final scene of the play, which is just the engineer onstage alone, playing with the faders of that vintage recording console.
“There is this glass box above his head that sort of looks like a thought bubble in some way,” said the actor, “and it’s as though the artist is sitting alone at his table and you wonder, like, ‘Did he dream all this? Did it ever exist? Was this David [Adjmi] sitting alone at his table with all of his demons and gods?’ It’s very, very moving to me.”
Jennifer Vanasco edited the audio and digital versions of this story.
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