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British singer and global pop culture icon George Michael has died at 53, leaving behind a legacy of music and ground-breaking music videos that have impacted generations.
Beginning back in 1981, George Michael, along with his partner Andrew Ridgeley, formed the group Wham! The UK group had its first hit in 1982 with “Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)” a pop riff on the emerging rap music genre, following in the footsteps of Blondie’s 1980 his “Rapture.” That song, from Wham!’s debut album “Fantastic,” set the group up for one of its biggest hits, “Bad Boys,” which introduced the world to the group’s ’50s motorcycle gang leather jacket and pompadour look merged with a slick British pop sound.
However, the band really began to take off internationally with the release of its second album, “Make It Big” in 1984, which included the hits “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Careless Whisper,” “Freedom,” “Last Christmas” and “Everything She Wants.” By this time the band had replaced its leather jackets with a more ’80s look – fabulously coiffed hair with blazers and shirts. This is arguably the height of George Michael’s pop powers as he was both one of the biggest music stars on the planet and a major sex symbol.
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The group continued its run with a compilation album called “The Final” in 1986, containing a number of fan favorites from the group. Wham! ended its incredible career as a group with “Music from the Edge of Heaven” in 1986. Although the group was still at this point, this album didn’t produce the kind of hits the Wham! enjoyed in the past. With this final release, the group seemed to merge the music and visual aesthetics of its early beginnings with its pop framing in a way that hardcore fans could appreciate.
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Not long after, George Michael embarked on a successful solo career that lasted much longer than the group’s. Releasing the album Faith in 1987, George Michael fully embraced his image as a sex symbol, using the rapidly expanding medium of music video to front his songs “Father Figure,” “Faith,” “I Want Your Sex,” “One More Try” (perhaps one of George Michael’s best recorded vocal performances).
In the following years, he continued to have hit records from the albums “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” (1990), “Five Live” (1993), “Older” (1996), Songs from the Last Century (1999), Patience (2004) and “Symphonica” (2014), but most will remember him for his early outings with Wham! and his first solo album.
Below we’ve posted some of the most iconic music videos in George Michael’s history for those who want to take a moment to remember just how talented he was.
For full story, click here.
Read also: British singer George Michael dies aged 53: Publicist
Madonna, Elton John lead tributes for George Michael
Details emerge of George Michael’s many quiet acts of kindness
Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture, and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the world.
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TOKYO –
Thousands of passengers were trapped in the new Chitose Airport, northern Japan for the third consecutive day of heavy snow, resulting in the abolition of more than 280 flights.
Heavy snowfall in northern Japan brought transport services to a halt, canceled flights and train services, and thousands of passengers were forced to camp for three nights at regional airports.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Hokkaido island of Sapporo on Friday night is the largest snowfall in half a century, up to 96 cm, or 38 inches of snow.
Snow covered the new Chitose Airport, leading to the northern island of the main channel, resulting in hundreds of flights canceled.
According to airport security officials, about 2,500 people were forced to stay there on Thursday night, 6,000 people on Friday night, and 2,600 people on Saturday night.
NBC’s NHK says the plight of passengers has become more complicated as most flights are fully booked due to holidays.
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On Friday, more than 280 flights to and from the airport were canceled at the weekend, as well as hundreds of train services in the area, according to local media reports.
However, the weather improved significantly on Sunday morning, and most, if not all of the stranded passengers at the airport should be able to leave on Sunday evenings, according to security officials.
Hokkaido is famous for its large mountains and snow and snow, attracting a large number of skiing enthusiasts in Australia, China and Japan.
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It appears that while many facets of George Michael’s life were sensationalised and made public, he was very privately doing good deeds.
As the world mourns the 53-year-old’s death, which was reported on Christmas, people are sharing stories of the pop star’s acts of kindness.
For struggling individuals
A good deed reported by Richard Osman, a UK television presenter and producer, is being widely shared.
Mashable has reached out to the show’s production company, Endemol, to ask for confirmation. But there is a BBC story from 2008 about a couple who received £9,000 ($11,057) from a mystery benefactor after one half of the couple, Steve Davies, appeared on the show to try and win money.
Another story says the same benefactor also donated £91,000 to a charity that helps AIDS orphans in Kenya.
One of the replies on the thread, from someone who claims to be a trivia buff, claims that George Michael anonymously helped a stranger with debt.
And Sali Hughes, a beauty writer for the Guardian, shared her experience of Michael’s generosity.
Which leads us to…
For nurses
George Michael took the time to show NHS nurses how much he appreciated their help after their care for his mother Lesley, who died of cancer in 1997.
A nurse at that gig, Sally Lyons, said, “A nervous George Michael took to the stage with a bad cold and told us he’d played in front of crowds all over the world but was anxious because he’d never performed in front of so many heroes before.”
For full story, click here.
Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture, and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the world.
Entertainment ranking chart MOOLMANG recently conducted a survey on the most hardworking actors of 2016.
The results, which were shared Saturday, revealed the top five actors who the public had voted for.
First place went to Park Bo-gum with 18.6 per cent of votes, following by Gang Dong-won with 16.1 per cent, Ryu Jun-yeol with 14.9 per cent, Gong Yoo with 10 per cent and Cho Jin-woong with 7.3 per cent.
The total number of votes collected from the survey was 41,655, spanning 14 actors and actresses.
sangdoze@heraldcorp.com
British singer George Michael, whose 1980s pop group Wham! was the first major Western band to tour China after the nation’s opening-up, died at his home in England on Sunday.
He was 53.
Read also: British singer George Michael dies aged 53: Publicist
The group’s 10-day tour in 1985 helped open China to Western music and gave Wham! global stature.
Michael later forged a career as a successful solo artist with sometimes sexually provocative lyrics.
“It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period,” his publicist said in a statement.
“The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.”
British police said Michael’s death was “unexplained but not suspicious”.
Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963, in London to Greek Cypriot immigrant parents, Michael formed Wham! with a school friend, Andrew Ridgeley, in 1981.
In the mid-1980s it was one of the most successful pop duos ever, with singles like Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Careless Whisper, Last Christmas and The Edge of Heaven.
In April 1985, just a few years after China began opening up to the world, Wham! performed in Beijing and in Guangzhou.
In Beijing, they drew 15,000 people to Workers Gymnasium.
The band also visited the Great Wall and Tian’anmen Square, the basis for the documentary Foreign Skies: Wham! in China.
Zhang Qin, then a Peking University student, said: “I stood in line outside the box office the whole night to buy a ticket. The price was 5 yuan but scalpers sold tickets for 25 yuan in a few days.”
At that time, a worker’s monthly salary was about 40 yuan.
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Chinese singer Cheng Fangyuan sang Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, translated in Chinese, before the tour.
The Chinese version was aired on radio and made into a cassette, quickly giving Wham! fame in China.
Read also: ‘Last Christmas’: George Michael reportedly died from heart failure
“It was an unforgettable experience, the dazzling lights, the overwhelming waves of noise. We never saw a performance like that, their songs brought the hall down,” said Cheng, who saw the band in Beijing.
“Chinese audiences were unfamiliar with that kind of concert. They were impressed by the performance but did not know how to respond. Some foreigners in the audience stood up, singing and dancing with them,” she recalled.
Read also: Madonna, Elton John lead tributes for George Michael
“After the performance, Wham! met officials from the Ministry of Culture. I still remember Michael looked so handsome and cool, in a colorful shirt and jeans with long blond hair.”
YG Entertainment’s CEO Yang Hyun-suk gave an 11-year-old budding K-pop star the compliment of a lifetime.
On Sunday’s episode of “K-Pop Star 6,” Yang told Park Hyun-jin that he was more talented than G-Dragon,
Read Also: G-Dragon makes accidental acting debut
“When I see Hyun-jin I can’t help but compare him with G-Dragon. He came into YG when he was 13, but he wasn’t as good at singing as Hyun-jin. I think you’re a better dancer and singer than he was,” Yang said.
The young contender caught the judges eye after he stunned them with a self-written rap in the previous round.
Read Also: G-Dragon’s Instagram hacked, photos with Japanese actress revealed
Park managed to keep up the momentum by singing Kim Gun-mo’s “The Day We Broke Up,” prompted Yang to make the G-Dragon comparison.
“I hope you become YG’s future,” Yang said.
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The fatal sinking of the Sewol ferry, which left 295 dead and 9 missing in 2014, could be a result of a submarine collision rather than a simple accident caused by overloading an anonymous online commentator claiming in self-directed documentary events.
The Defense Department refuted this view as unfounded suspicion.
This new allegation has further led to widespread speculation that President Park Geon-hye has neglected her duties as head of state and received the order on the day of the tragedy – accusing the ongoing parliamentary commission of inquiry and special investigators Seek proof.
A Facebook account called “Zaro-Netizens” has sparked public and media interest because it released a 8-hour, 49-minute documentary via YouTube, claiming that after April “contains a hidden, just truth “16,2014 tragedy.
An anonymous online operator, is said to be a man of his 40s, known to investigate high-profile irregularities in depth.
When the user in 2013 made specific evidence, “Zaro” the name became the focus of the country’s spy agencies in 2012 before the presidential election made online comments.
“I disprove all the four reasons why the prosecution suggested the Sewol ferry,” the user said in a radio interview with CBS Monday.
“My sole purpose is to seek the truth, not to stand with anyone, or to be affected by any prejudice.
The prosecutors earlier announced that the causes of the accident were freight overloading, cargo handling, lack of staff experience and outdated facilities – thus avoiding external factors.
However, a private investigator claimed that a wrong submarine collided with the unfortunate ferry that day, and the Navy tried to cover up the truth in the name of honor.
He said: “Gimhae ship traffic service center radar range to see an orange object, experts believe that this is a cargo container (from the tilt of the ferry fell).
But at the time, the ship was not tilted so the unidentified object could neither be a container nor any other structure of the scene, according to Zaro.
Source: , The Korea Herald/ANN
He also noted that sailing ferry sailing trajectory does not match the conventional track, pointing to external factors, such as submarine collision.
“Several survivors confirmed a percussive impact on the ship before the start of the tilt, two of whom were located near the harbor, indicating physical shock outside the underwater harbor,” Zaro said in his documentary clip.
To support his theory of submarine collision, the researchers cited Kim Kwan-mook, a professor of nanoscience at Jinhua Women’s University.
The operator then adds a hypothesis that the Navy may have hidden submarine collisions to keep its security record intact.
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The South Korean Navy has set a new record for 23 years of accident-free navigation in the year following the ferry accident.
“This unprecedented record and reputation has resulted in at least trillions of economic effects, and I can not help but wonder what this delayed the rescue operation or prevented the President from revealing further details of the day,” he said.
Officials immediately denied the allegations, claiming that no military operations or exercises were carried out in the waters near the day of the accident.
Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said on Monday, “the average water depth of 37 meters, not suitable for submarine operations.
But when asked to disclose the corresponding radar records, officials simply keep his position that he would “check whether a given record still exists.”
At the same time, President Parker and investigators were still deadlocked within seven hours of the park, and she remained outside the public eye on the day the ferry sank.
The Constitutional Court is reviewing Parker’s court decision and asked the President last week to submit a detailed timetable to answer those questions.
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Comedian-television host Shin Dong-yup and actor-comedian Lee Kwang-soo nabbed the top prizes at this year’s SBS Entertainment Awards on Sunday.
Shin received the Grand Prize for successfully hosting “Mom’s Diary — My Ugly Duckling,” an SBS reality show spotlighting celebrities and their mothers.
The show, which launched in July, boasted a viewership of over 10 per cent on Fridays at 11 p.m.
Lee took home the Top Excellence Award for his performance on popular variety programme “Running Man,” which has been plagued with controversy lately over the alleged dismissal of two of its cast members, Song Ji-hyo and Kim Jong-gook.
The production team subsequently announced that the two members will stay on until the show’s February finale.
Lee delivered a heartfelt acceptance speech, thanking those who “worked hard to defend ‘Running Man.'”
“To Ji Suk-jin, who taught me about life and entertainment, to Yoo Jae-seok, who made me the person I am today, to Kim Jong-gook, my mentor, to Haha, whom I love like family, to Song Ji-hyo, who is like my real sister, and to Gary, Song Joong-ki and Lizzy. I love you all so much,” Lee said, listing each of his teammates.
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President Rodrigo Duterte played Santa to 57 cancer-stricken children at the Southern Philippines Medical Center here on Saturday.
The President, who came in past 6 p.m., wore a dark blue polo shirt with a “DU30″ print on the right portion and distributed mostly toys and learning materials to the children-patient, some of whom were obviously overjoyed.
He also handed their parents or relatives unspecified amount of cash in white and red envelopes.
The President also talked with doctors and parents of the children as he sought updates on the status of the patients’ health.
The President spent more than an hour as he visited each cancer-patient and personally handed his gifts to the children.
Although he had regularly visited and distributed Christmas gifts to cancer patients here when he was still mayor, it was the first time that Duterte visited them as President.
Duterte always has a soft heart for cancer patients, especially children, that he even donated a house of his for the use of cancer victims, the Davao Children’s Cancer Fund said.
DCCF is among groups that work with cancer patients here.
It also operates Houses of Hopes – where cancer patients and their families stay while receiving treatment from government doctors.
