One Direction breaks social media hiatus to mark 10th anniversary

wo years since they last made a Twitter update, the official account of One Direction broke its social media silence on Thursday sending fans abuzz.

The tweet comes a day before the boy group marks the first decade since they were formed after joining the UK version of “The X Factor.”

“Tomorrow! You and me got a whole lot of history #10YearsOf1D,” the post read, hinting that something big is possibly in store for the fans to celebrate the group’s anniversary.

Tomorrow! You and me got a whole lot of history #10YearsOf1D pic.twitter.com/nwxrm5MSE9

— One Direction (@onedirection) July 22, 2020

The One Direction account also changed its profile picture showing its members although it is noticeable that Zayn Malik, who left the group in 2015, is still not in the photo.

The headshot only features Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson.

As of writing, the hashtag #10YearsOfOneDiretion is still the top trending topic on Twitter Philippines.

After Malik left the band, the four remaining members announced in August 2015 that they are going on an extended hiatus. Since then, Styles, Payne, Horan and Tomlinson have gone on to pursue solo careers.

news.abs-cbn.com

Movie review: Christopher Nolan guns for Oscar glory in 'Dunkirk'

Few directors create event cinema quite like Christopher Nolan. For his latest movie “Dunkirk,” the director of "Memento," "Inception" and the "Dark Knight" trilogy crafts a quietly coiled vision of men trapped in war.

At 107 minutes, “Dunkirk” is one of the shortest movies in Nolan’s oeuvre but don’t be fooled. That runtime is more than enough to immerse you in this tone poem of carefully structured, white knuckle tension. Thunderous and triumphant, “Dunkirk” will give you chills as you watch every scene unfold – like a dripfeed of desperation. When it finally ends, you just want to hand Nolan an Oscar.

The miracle of Dunkirk comes straight from the history books: In the early days of World War II, the cream of the British army faced certain defeat after being trapped by the German forces’ advance into northern France in May 1940. Thousands of British soldiers, along with French, Belgian and Canadian troops, were forced back to the beaches of Dunkirk where the shallow water prevented large British naval ships from coming close to rescue the men. It’s a kill-box situation as German dive bombers raised hell on the boats and beaches, unseen snipers fired on the waiting troops and torpedos slammed into vessels. Only a miracle will get these men out alive.

Focusing on three different timelines, Nolan structures this narrative like an ever-tightening vise. There’s a young soldier Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) who is stuck right in the middle of the battle for a week. There’s RAF pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy) who takes on the German forces in the sky. And we have a boat captain Dawson (Mark Rylance) who answers the call to join Operation Dynamo and help save the trapped soldiers.

Kenneth Branagh also plays a British naval officer who assesses the dangers faced by his men and raises the call for help. Nolan uses these three characters to frame the narrative but the best trick in his cinematic hat is that these three might not even be the most important in the whole story.

Tommy, our audience surrogate, gets the longest exposure – it is through his eyes that we see and feel the quiet desperation of soldiers trying to escape Dunkirk. Whitehead has minimal dialogue in the film but his actions are enough: this is a movie that shows how trust is forged by small, significant gestures; of simple acts that explain motivations. 

 Also of equal importance is Gibson (Aneurin Barnard), a low ranking soldier whose friendship with Tommy is tested in one tense sequence. Harry Styles of One Direction plays Alex, a British Army private whose basest instincts are exposed by war.

Rylance’s boat captain Dawson is the closest thing to an emotional anchor to the movie, exuding unassuming decency in his drive to save as many soldiers as he can even as he cares for his two wards, Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) and George (Barry Keoghan).

And then we have Farrier, played by Nolan favorite Tom Hardy. Hardy’s role may be the hardest as he is portrayed inside a cockpit during his near entire time in the movie.

One plus point in every Nolan joint: you get the full immersive experience. It’s a movie of details: seafoam on the beaches, a makeshift breakwater using lined-up military trucks, copper-tinged water due to oil coming out a downed ship. A wordless sequence of soldiers walking a seemingly deserted city while German leaflets drop down like confetti is particularly chilling.

Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack also deserves every accolade – ticking clocks and heartbeats mix together with the thunder of bombs, heightening the confusion of thousands of soldiers on the windswept beaches while German planes scream overhead. And then he goes quiet: the scariest scene – soldiers inside a boat’s hull slowly filling up with water while a sniper shoots at them. At one point, you realize this movie might need a trigger warning – for those with a fear of drowning and confined spaces. 


Nolan also captures the ferocity and scale of the battle. Never is this more evident when he straps his camera on a British plane and films the aerial dogfights right in the sky. It’s a scene that a lesser production would’ve done via CGI; Nolan makes it real by putting you there as Farrier struggles to take down his many enemies dealing death in the air.

History already shows us how the miracle of Dunkirk ended. Strangely though, the ending of “Dunkirk” feels weaker than its set-up – there is no glorious uplift when salvation nears. The import of Dunkirk is not realized by the soldiers who lived through it until much later. There are no grand speeches except one so well-known that it comes through as muted.

Perhaps that is the point of Nolan’s take of this event. It’s a story of sights and sounds, of the uncertainties of conflict and the heroism of small gestures. And that is enough.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

One Direction members break silence after Zayn's departure

MANILA - The remaining members of One Direction have spoken up after Zayn Malik left the British pop band.

In his official Twitter account, Liam Payne said he is deeply saddened by Malik's departure, especially after five special years.

"For the past five years now I've been part of something so special I don't think any of us really understand, something that can mean the world to people and put a smile on the face of our fans even in the darkest times," he said.

Payne said that while Malik will be away, he will always be their brother.

"It's sad to think for the time being we won't grace the stage as five bros or have the same fun on a tour bus or laughs in a hotel together that we have over the years but I'm super sure us and Zayn will always remain the closest friends," he said.

As for the band, Payne said One Direction is far from over and asked the fans to continue supporting them despite the departure of the group's most popular member.

"I guess what I'm really trying to say is it's far from over. When we very 1st became successful we all agreed that one direction had become much bigger than each individual member that's why I feel like right now it's OK to be sad and upset but I do ask everyone who is a fan of us to please keep ur faith in us I'm sure there's a lot more to come all love," he said.

Earlier, Harry Styles, who was caught on video crying during the band's performance in Jakarta, tweeted a short but sweet message.



Both Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson also tweeted how hard it is for them when Malik decided to quit One Direction, but thanked the fans who stayed supportive to the band.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

WATCH: 1D's Harry Styles cries in Jakarta concert

An emotional Harry Styles was in tears during his group One Direction's concert in Jakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday, after member Zayn Malik decided to quit the British boy band.

Styles and the rest of three remaining One Direction members took the stage in Jakarta, just a few days after their concert in Manila.

Just before the Jakarta show, Malik announced that he was quitting the pop band because he wanted to live a normal life.

Earlier, Malik already backed out from the Manila concert because of stress. This announcement came a day after photos of him with another woman stirred trouble in his relationship with fiancee Perrie Edwards, best known as a member of the band Little Mix.

The video of Styles crying during their concert was uploaded by Ameylie Jones yesterday and has now more than 300,000 views.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Review: Biggest Manila concert event ever

When One Direction announced that they will be having a concert in Manila early last year, their local fans were thrown in a frenzy. On the day the tickets were released, everything from VIP to gold were sold out. Silver and gen admission seats were sold out by the next day. To assuage crying fans who missed out, a second date was announced. This was good news which was received with open arms and parents' wallets.

Well March 21 was my daughter's recognition day when she received two medals. The ceremony was held in the afternoon, so we only got out of school by 3 p.m. We had to rush over to the MOA in order to get decent parking being a Saturday with an extra-big event coming. All the seaside parking areas were already full. We parked in the mall, already on the fifth floor. The lines were already very long. We decided to eat an early dinner first before joining the line at around 5 p.m. An even longer line formed behind us as we waited. Many enterprising people were selling 1D merchandise from glow sticks to T-shirts.

*****

By 6:30 p.m., loud screaming was heard from beyond the corner in front of us. Turned out it was because the gates were already open. Fortunately, despite the high level of excitement, everyone was very disciplined and followed the lines into the venue. We decided to just stay at the back of our section while everyone it seems were already crowding the front part of the section when we came in. It afforded us a great view of a wide screen. This was our only way to see the 1D boys since our view of the stage was already so miniscule. There was an empty space in front of us which made our concert time quite comfortable as we rested our back on the back divider of our section.

By about 7:30 p.m., there was a DJ named KC who played a lot of dance music from Rihanna to Zed in order to build up excitement in the audience. There were even fireworks in the sky during his first song! I am thinking that there in our section were many young girls there who are attending a concert for the first time. They were really very excited with this DJ and were already dancing non-stop with taking videos and photos.

After this DJ's set, they played music videos of other boy bands like 5 Seconds of Summer (the lyrics of whose songs the audience also knew by heart). They were also playing a lot of dance music to keep the mood up, from "Macarena" to "Single Ladies" to "Locked Out of Heaven." The excited fans were also screaming when their heard their idols' voices during a concert safety video they were flashing on the screens.

*****

At around 8:30 p.m. or so, the lights on the stage started coming to life. The concert is starting! From our section, I hardly saw what going on on stage, but this colorful video started showing on the screens. Then we hear the One Direction boys were already singing live. The screaming of the girls around us was deafening. They were positively singing out all the lyrics of each and every song!

As already announced the day before, there were only four guys on that stage. Zayn Malik really did not show up, begging off from the rest of the tour because of "stress." His name was not even mentioned at all during the show. Of course, his die-hard fans missed his presence. For me, the four boys performed as if they were only really four in the group. I certainly did not notice anything amiss in the arrangements, though I am sure all the true fans knew which Zayn parts were sung by alternates.

Harry Styles stood out in his yellow shirt with floral designs and electric bad-boy stage presence. During the encore, he came out wearing a black t-shirt and his hair tied up, much to his fans' delight. He seemed to be performing separately from the others.

Niall Horan (and his trusty guitar), Liam Payne (and his mic flipping), and Louis Tomlinson (with his white sleeveless shirt) all had their own big moments. These three were always seen interacting, goofing off and having fun with each other. Every boy had his own group of dedicated fans. Different groups of girls were screaming when their faces were being shown on the screens.

These are the songs they sang:

1. Clouds
2. Steal My Girl
3. Little Black Dress
4. Where Do Broken Hearts Go
5. Midnight Memories
6. Kiss You
7. Stockholm Syndrome
8. Ready To Run
9. Strong
10. Better Than Words
11. Don't Forget Where You Belong: From our area, we only saw videos of the boys in their previous tours. Some fans in the audience were holding up Philippine flags.
12. Night Changes
13. Little Things: The guys sat down side by side to sing this gentle ballad.
14. Alive
15. Diana
16. One Thing: From our area, we only saw a video game cartoon with the boys as pixelated characters.
17. What Makes You Beautiful
18. Through The Dark: A light rain started falling during this song. Of course the boys onstage and fans on the field seemed to pay no mind.
19. Story of my Life

Encores:

20. You and I
21. Little White Lies
22. Live While We're Young
23. Best Song Ever

The boys kept on repeating over and over how this was their best show ever and how much they love Manila and the Philippines. They apologized for the difficulty fans had to endure to get to the concert. Harry even thanked the parents, grandparents, husbands and boyfriends who brought their fans over.

I must say that of all concerts I have attended (and I have watched a lot), this must be the biggest one I have ever seen. Not even those big outdoor concerts I've seen of Stevie Wonder, Bon Jovi, Sting, Phil Collins, or Beyonce could match it in terms of sheer rabid fan numbers and power. I don't know, but maybe we have to really look back to a concert before my time by the Beatles and their fanatic fans to find something that could match this event in those terms.

I am sure all those screaming fangirls just had their most exciting and memorable night of their young lives. The spectacular extended fireworks display ended the show with a big colorful bang, making sure we will long remember this show.

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

UK boy band One Direction arrives in Manila

MANILA – Four members of the UK boy band One Direction arrived in Manila on Friday night in preparation for their two-day concert this weekend.

One Direction’s Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson will perform at the Mall of Asia Open Grounds on March 21 and 22 as part of the band’s “On the Road Again” tour.

Band member Zayn Malik has quit the two remaining legs of the Asian tour after being “signed off with stress” and is “flying back to the UK to recuperate.”

His departure came after photos of him with another woman stirred trouble in his relationship with fiancée Perrie Edwards, best known as a member of the band Little Mix.

On Thursday, a court rejected the petition of an anti-drugs group to have One Direction tested for drugs ahead of their shows in Manila. The petition was based off reports alleging that members of the boy band smoked marijuana last year.

The Bureau of Immigration said concert organizers have paid a cash bond amounting to P200,000 each for Malik and Tomlinson over the aforementioned drug concerns.

The bond will be forfeited should the two get caught using or promoting illegal drugs, Bureau of Immigration spokeswoman Elaine Tan told Agence France-Presse.

One Direction is known for hit songs such as “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Live While We’re Young” and “Night Changes.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Taylor Swift and Harry Styles Kiss at Midnight on New Year's Eve—See the Liplock Here!

Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of Taylor Swift and Harry Styles' relationship in 2013!

The young couple, who recently vacationed in Utah, shared a kiss in Times Square at the stroke of midnight, and of course, Twitter was there to document the liplock.

In the pictures, "Haylor" are seen embracing and and sharing a romantic smooch.


Check out Swift's performance of  "I Knew You Were Trouble" before her kiss with Styles

The pop star and One Direction member have been inseparable as of late, double-date skiing with Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez in Utah and spending time in England during a romantic getaway.

Swift performed her hit singles "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" during New Year's Rocking Eve and wrapped her set just minutes before the countdown to 2013 began. How lucky for Styles!

"Can't. even. verbalize. how stoked I am for 2013!" Swift tweeted earlier in the night. Hm...we wonder why!

source: eonline.com

Taylor Swift heads to U.K. with One Direction's Harry Styles

U.S. country music star Taylor Swift and Harry Styles spent the weekend together in England where Styles' band, One Direction, performed, E! News reported.

Swift, 22, and Styles, 18, left New York on Swift's private jet Friday night and arrived at England's Luton airport around 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

"The rest of the band were a bit annoyed about the whole thing," a source told E! News Monday. "They took a Virgin commercial flight and there were tons of spare seats on the jet. They were a bit miffed that Harry chose to go with her instead of them. They had just finished a huge concert in New York and all of them were on a high; the fact he left them to travel solo irritated them a bit."

Swift and Styles went to Styles' apartment in London soon after their plane landed.

"Saturday night, 1D performed at the O2 arena," the insider said. "After 1D's performance, Taylor got on the boy's tour bus and took the 3 1/2-hour drive from London to Manchester with the rest of the band. It was a nice gesture of her. And definitely came across as her way of making nice with everyone, of bridging the gap. She wanted to show them she is one of the boys."

source: upi.com

Taylor Swift & Harry Styles: Relationship CONFIRMED By Eyewitness Mario Lopez!!

HAYLOR IS ON!!!

We didn't think we needed any more proof after those tweets came in, but a celebrity's eyewitness account of Taylor Swift's hand intertwined with Harry Styles' closes the case for us!

But wait… there's more!

When Swifty went to perform on X Factor, co-host Mario Lopez noticed the One Direction boy was hanging out during rehearsal.

So Mario asked him what he was doing there, and HarBear revealed:

    "I said, 'What are you doing here?' And he sort of pointed toward Taylor. And then I see the two walking off hand in hand. So Taylor Swift and Harry from One Direction are officially hanging out, I can say that much."

Mmhmm. Hanging out and hand-holding means DATING!!

We're no fool!

And we bet Harry's confession was the most adorable thing.

Welp! That settles it. He totally gave her his necklace, and she's totally giving him her kisses… and possibly a future single or two. ;)

source: perezhilton.com

One Direction Singer Harry Stylin' in New Ferrari

One Direction singer Harry Styles is wasting no time spending his boy band dollars and cruised around Beverly Hills in a brand new Ferrari convertible this weekend.

The 18-year-old's new luxury ride is a Ferrari California, which retails for around $200K.

You can bet the unfamous One Direction doesn't have one of these.

source: tmz.com