last year — with the hashtags #bamarush and #rushtok having amassed more than one billion views combined on TikTok currently.So get your Kendra Scott jewelry and tote bag ready because it’s time to watch higher ed’s most grueling popularity contest yet.Associated clips on the social media platform offer a peak into the life of a University of Alabama Greek life hopeful as they share their outfits of the day (#OOTD, for short), show off their their on-trend — and often monogramed — tote bags and discuss recruitment essentials and advice on getting into the right sorority.According to the Alabama Panhellenic Association, this year’s recruitment officially begins on August 6 for potential new members — dubbed “PNMs” — who have been preparing for weeks (if not their whole lives), all the while documenting the process online.PNMs are competing to join one of the 18 National Panhellenic Conference chapters at Bama. In July, the panhellenic association announced that 2,575 students had signed up to rush, as reported by AL.comPNMs must be ready for anything during rush “week,” which usually spans about 9 days.
Lizzo’s ‘Special’ Is Even Bigger and Fizzier Fun Than We Imagined: Album Review
15.07.2022 - 22:47 / variety.com
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic“Come on. I’m very good at music, man,” Lizzo declared in an interview with Zane Lowe this week, as if this were an unstated or under-stated thing that needed to be said out loud.You know, she’s not a liar.So let’s just say that Beyonce has her work cut out for her.
Not that this month ain’t big enough for both of the household mononyms that want to come at us with new music, but the line on Bey’s forthcoming record is that it might mark a return to dance vibes and good times. And now, in her own great tradition of being extra, Lizzo has come out with an album that feels like it provides all the clubby, poppy endorphins a populace could really require for a single summer.
Please, by all means, bring on the second course in a couple of weeks… but anyone who bites into “Special” is going to feel already pretty well-sated with fun. This is the album where Lizzo really comes out as bi-… as in bi-pop/R&B, or bi-soul-and-bubblegum.
It’s nearly downright bi-national, in a sense, with Swedish mastermind Max Martin and a few of his friends coming in to help great American record-makers like Ricky Reed. Throw in one short but potent track that has Londoner Mark Ronson as her collaborator and you’ve got an international rogues’ gallery of producers who are nearly superstars in their own right — all of whom prove smart at doing what they do best without ever looking to nudge the singer an inch from center spotlight.
Amanda Shires’ ‘Take It Like a Man’ Finds Its Power in Proud Vulnerability: Album Review
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticThat pose that Amanda Shires strikes on the cover of “Take It Like a Man” — is it the look of allure, or alarm? Even after some time spent with the record therein, it still seems like it could be either. The singer-songwriter-violinist kicks off her seventh solo release with “Hawk for the Dove,” about as broodingly carnal a track as you’re going to hear this year.
Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Is a Cathartic, Club-Inspired Masterpiece: Album Review
Ilana Kaplan Six years after the release of Beyoncé’s magnum opus “Lemonade,” the pop icon has come through again: giving us all something to talk about. The long-anticipated “Renaissance” (volume one of three) is sticky, sweaty, hedonistic art — flanked by a pastiche of genres that never lingers on long enough for the listener to get too comfortable.It’s what makes the collection its own kind of masterpiece: beauty in the chaos.
Alabama Teens Allegedly Killed 71-Year-Old Man, Buried Him, & 'Partied In His House' Until They Were Arrested
Two teenage boys are in custody after a horrific murder of an elderly man in rural Alabama.
‘Misadventures of Doomscroller’ Finds Dawes Finally Embracing a Latent Jam-Band Sensibility: Album Review
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticYou remember the old saying: You lie down with jammers, you get up with jam. Or, if not that, then maybe there’s some similar aphorism that applies to the situation of Dawes, the L.A. group that has earned some support on the jam-band circuit, such as it is, without ever actually being a jam band.
Jennifer Lopez Affleck Said ‘More Is More’ With Towering Platforms and Even Bigger Hoops
Lopez's Gino's girlfriend says “Don’t be stupid. Hoop earrings go with everything,” then hoop earrings go with everything.
Europe's largest video arcade is in Greater Manchester and it just got even bigger
It was already Europe's largest video arcade and now it's just got even bigger. Arcade Club Bury is packed with hundreds of retro and modern machines loved by young and old.
Stars You Forgot Were in Hallmark Channel Movies: Mandy Moore, Luke Perry, Meghan Markle and More
Blast from the past! The Hallmark Channel is home to heartwarming stories and holiday hits — but do you remember all of the network’s biggest stars over the years?
‘Big Sky’: J. Anthony Pena Upped To Series Regular, Luke Mitchell, Henry Ian Cusick Among Five Set To Recur In Season 3
EXCLUSIVE: Fans can expect to see more of Deputy Mo Poppernak in the upcoming third season of ABC’s Big Sky. J. Anthony Pena, who heavily recurred as the character in Season 2, has been promoted to series regular for the upcoming third season. Additionally, Luke Mitchell (Blindspot), Seth Gabel (Salem), Henry Ian Cusick (Lost), Anirudh Pisharody (9-1-1) and Madalyn Horcher (Gracepoint) have joined the cast in recurring roles.
‘Katie’s Mom’, ‘Alabama Girl’ Castings; Freestyle, Indican, Buffalo 8, 1091 Acquisitions; ‘Orchestrator of Storms’ Clip – Film Briefs
EXCLUSIVE: Dina Meyer (All American), Aaron Dominguez (Only Murders in the Building), Julia Tolchin (Loveland), Colin Bates (Broadway’s Girl from the North Country) and Jason Wiles (Third Watch) will star in the comedy Katie’s Mom (formerly The Dropout), marking the feature directorial debut of Tyrrell Shaffner.
‘The Quarry’ Is Every Horror Fan’s Dream Video Game: Review
Michael Nordine author If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. It isn’t just prestige television series that want to be thought of as “like a 10-hour movie.” For years now, video games have sought to become more cinematic by focusing as much on narrative as they do on interactivity.
‘Moonhaven’ Is Smart, Surprisingly Fun and Sometimes Overstuffed: TV Review
Joshua Alston Science fiction (and speculative fiction, its bespectacled cousin) have always been uniquely fertile ground for political allegory. And sci-fi’s metaphorical potential only grows stronger when the politics and culture of real-life society start to resemble the surreality of a dark parallel universe or an alternate history.That frisson of topicality is what made Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” a critical and commercial success in its early seasons.
Jordan Fisher, Talia Ryder Reflected on Past Relationships for Netflix Rom-Com ‘Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between’
Ellise Shafer Netflix’s newest YA rom-com, “Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between,” required stars Jordan Fisher (“To All the Boys 2,” “Work It”) and Talia Ryder (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”) to dig deep within themselves — and their past relationships — for the film.Based on Jennifer E. Smith’s 2015 novel of the same name, the film follows high school seniors Aidan (Fisher) and Clare (Ryder), who share a whirlwind romance but vow to break up before they go to college.