Media outlets are reporting that millennials are “killing” many industries and ideals such as lunch, Applebees, and napkins. The release of the Nintendo switch and the current onslaught of Hollywood reboots and remakes demonstrates that millennials are changing the the way advertising and the media conduct their business as they are now utilizing nostalgia marketing.

Nostalgia is defined as a longing for the past. Every generation feels nostalgia at some point but millennials, or anyone born between 1981 and 2001, have proven to have a greater affinity for nostalgia.

Abigail Wilkins of Brogan and Partners reports this could be due to the world in which they were raised.  “They saw the effects of the recession at a young age and are in the midst of a difficult job market. On top of that, Millennials have been inundated with technology and the internet for a large portion of their lives,” Wilkins reported.

Many major companies have brought back marketing tools from the generations childhood. As Digiday reports McDonalds has recently brought back the Hamburgler and KFC has brought back The Colonel as spokespeople in their ads.

Digiday goes on to report that brands are also reviving products sold in the late 80s and early 90s. Among these are Coke’s answer to Mountain Dew called Surge and something called Crystal Pepsi.

Hollywood has also seen a growing call for television and film franchise reboots. Shows from the 80s and 90s are regaining popularity thanks to streaming services and the internet and that resurgence in popularity has lead to shows getting new spinoffs or even straight reboots. As reported by The Guardian, shows such as Full House, Rosanne, and Will & Grace are returning to the airwaves through both streaming services and network television. Movies like Ghostbusters and It have been updated or remade for a new audience.

Playing to millennial nostalgia has also permeated the world of theatre. Playbill reports that in the past ten Broadway seasons, forty news shows that have opened have been based on a movie from the millennial childhood years. The 2017-18 Broadway season will see the opening of Mean Girls: The Musical, Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Pt. 1  which all cash in on this early onset nostalgia.

I took my news from a different source than the New York Times this week as the title of this story intrigued me. That title is “Emma Thompson Still Regrets Turning Down That Date With Donald Trump.” This story actually flashed across my Facebook feed as some of my friends on the site like the Huffington Post and because of that I got ads telling me to like the page and this story just happened to be on one of those advertisements and it obviously did its job because it got me to visit the website to read more of this story. When I got to the story it was very basic celebrity news type reporting. Not a lot of story but enough star power to keep you intrigued no matter the lack of real content or story with it. This piece actually revolved around a video that went along with it so the actually written part of the story is very short. The lede does a pretty good job of summarizing the main points in case that is all someone reads before just turning to the video. Personally I found the story very interesting, topical, and had a novelty feel even in celebrity news.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/emma-thompson-trump-date-despair_us_59b68715e4b0b5e5310783f5?section=us_celebrity

It has been a week since I left on the trip of a lifetime with two of my closest friends and fellow theatre majors Amy and Annalee. We made the crazy decision to take 4 days of our lives and do what everyone said was crazy: drive halfway across the country to see an off-Broadway turn around and come home.

When we began planning this trip everyone told us that this was impossible and that there was absolutely no way this would be fun for us. We had to drive 20 hours to have one afternoon in the city. I didn’t care. I was going to see my idol in a show that I have loved for so long yet had never seen live. I had my doubts, yes, but I was all in for this to work and so were Amy and Annalee.

Looking back there is nothing I would have changed about my experience. We had just enough time to do everything we wanted. We wandered the city we all plan to call home in just two years time. We saw the marquees for shows we dream of being in. We built our friendship. I met my idol. And, most importantly, our loves for theatre were further enforced.

I am sure people are getting tired of me talking about this experience, but I don’t see an end in sight for my excitement. I have always wanted to go into theatre. I love the freedom, the creativity, and the community. When we sat down at that table to see this show we were part of a family. Our table got to know each other, the actors who talked to us pre-show talked to us about our lives. One of the actors said she looked forward to working with me when I made it to NYC and I feel like she actually meant it. Even when we were making giant fools of ourselves in front of Ms. Carolee Carmello herself, someone I have idolized and dreamed of meeting since middle school, she was gracious and welcomed us into this theatrical community they created.

If I was 100% sure I was moving to New York to pursue professional theatre before the trip I am 300% sure now. Everything I saw that day just made me want to become the best actor I can be to make it to where I can inspire someone with my performance as much as the ENTIRE cast of Sweeney Todd at The Barrow Street Theatre inspired me.

Now here is a picture of me with Carolee Carmello again because I still can’t believe this moment I have long dreamed of has happened!!!

Unrest caused by disgruntled students hit East High last week resulting in the suspension of ten upperclassmen.

School principal Laura Vibelius took action after general unrest hit the school. Among the incidents was a food fight that closed the cafeteria on Tuesday and three false alarms that sounded on Wednesday.

The ten students suspended said that they were protesting the Monday suspension of five other students who were caught smoking marijuana in the school parking lot. Vibelius believes that the unrest was “Not so much unrest because of the suspensions, but because of summer vacation being so near.”

No continuation of these incidents is expected in the near future.

This story from the New York times has what I think is a good lead. This story about Hurricane Irma is talking about the damage it has left in the Caribbean before it heads for Florida. It summarizes all you need to know from the story in the first paragraph. You wouldn’t have to read past there if you didn’t have time or if all you wanted to know was the general effect of the Hurricane.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/us/hurricane-irma-caribbean.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Currently on Broadway there is a very successful revival of Hello, Dolly! staring Bette Midler. This week it was revealed that Bernadette Peters would be succeeding Ms. Midler in the title role and the theatre world has been a light with delight over this casting choice. Victor Garber will also be joining the cast at the same time replacing David Hyde Pierce. This is news in theatre circles because everyone was worried about who was going to replace Bette Midler. Casting her was a major power move for the producers because there are devoted fans who will come see the show just because she is in it. Hello, Dolly! is one of my favorite musicals but the person playing Dolly has a direct effect on whether or not I will go see the show. Personally bringing in Ms. Peters is interesting to me because she doesn’t fit the usual type to play Dolly. The role is over the top and a strong female role, something in direct contrast to what Bernadette Peters usually plays. Another very interesting fact found in this article is that Bernadette Peters will do all eight performances in the week. Currently Donna Murphy is playing Dolly on Tuesdays so Bette Midler doesn’t have to perform every show. All the information relayed in this story is very “in the know.” It is in the Theatre section of the New York Times so that is understandable. If someone doesn’t care about or know a little about theatre they probably wouldn’t stumble upon this article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/theater/bernadette-peters-hello-dolly.html?ribbon-ad-idx=7&rref=theater&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Theater&pgtype=article

Over Labor Day weekend a lot of college students go home or stay on campus to get some work done in advance. My Labor Day weekend was a little bit more active than that as I got to travel to New York City to see a show I had been dreaming of seeing for a long time!

On March 1st the new, fully immersive production of Sweeney Todd opened at The Barrow Street Theatre, which was fully converted into a pie shop, after a successful run in London. Soon after it was announced that the actors playing the roles of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett would be leaving the show in April and would be replaced by Norm Lewis and Carolee Carmello (my idol and all time favorite actress).

When I found out that this was happening I was so upset because classes didn’t end until May and right after that I was entering into a 3-month contract with a professional theatre that I was really excited about therefore there was no way to make it to the show before they were set to leave in August. But then, in June, it was announced that Ms. Carmello would be remaining in the show until, at least, the end of September and I decided that I was going to look into ways to get there as a crazy dream. I had some good money from my theatre job and was looking into trains, airfare, anything I could to maybe make this happen. I then said to a friend of mine “tell me this is crazy, there is no way I can do this right?” Instead of giving me the answer I was looking for she said “Why not? Let’s make this happen.

The next three days we planned our “spontaneous” trip and approached another friend about coming with us. We bought the tickets and the waiting game began. Every so often someone would comment on the fact that we were really doing this and we would all get really excited. As the three of us were theatre majors and all want to live in NYC anyway we were so excited to visit our future home and see a show that was so creative.

Then the day finally came. We loaded up into the car on a Thursday and started on the 20ish hour drive to New Jersey. We stopped on Thursday night in Illinois and slept over in New Jersey on Friday. We ended up crossing 7 states to get there a couple that we had never been in before. On Saturday we took a train into the city and the fun began!

As theatre nerd tourists we went to Times Square and saw all the marquees of shows we love, take pictures, and spend way to much money. We then walked the 40ish blocks down to the theatre that was in Greenwich Village right near Stonewall which was really cool to see.

When we entered the space we knew that this show was going to be special. We were sat at a table and a crew member came by to tell us to keep our stuff off the table because the actors would be using them as playing spaces and to put our phones away because the actors were so close they would be distracted by us on the phones. As soon as the show began I was mesmerized. It was a once in a lifetime experience being so close to great actors doing what I want to be doing. My idol was about a five feet away from me at her furthest distance away. My friend had also tweeted out to Ms. Carmello that we had driven so far, she replied, and then located us in the theater at a point where she could give us a wave. Throughout the show she played to us making eye contact and even, at one point when she was on our table looking down directly at us, giving us a little wink.

A grand tradition in the theatre is waiting at the stage door to try to get some signatures from cast members as they leave. Because we saw a matinee we didn’t know how well this would work but we waited in the lobby to see who we could talk to. We ended up seeing all but two cast members. With the first two actors we talked about our trip and sometimes even their character motivations. After we finished with the second actor I felt the urge to turn away from where the other actors were coming from to look back at the door we took into the actual theatre space from the lobby. Exactly as I did that, my IDOL, the fantastic Carolee Carmello, stuck her head out of the door. I almost died. She started talking to one person outside of that door and when she finished with them came up to my group and said “20 hours right! I saw your tweet!” and I lost it.

I have dreamed of meeting Carolee Carmello since I was 12 years old and heard the OBC cast album for The Addams Family musical the first time and found out who she was and there I was standing with her in front of me, talking to me, caring about the fact that I came all this way just to see her. She was just as nice as I had hoped she would be. She signed our playbills with personalized messages and let us take pictures with her. I asked her first if I could get a picture and she said “well do we want to do a group selfie” and I said “I would like an individual as well if I could because…well…you’re kind of my idol” to which she laughed a little and said how sweet I was. She asked about our trip and said “You aren’t driving all they way back tonight are you!?! Where are you staying, I hope you are being safe.” She put up with all our shaking and fan-girling. When I went to take my picture with her I was trembling pretty bad and she patted my back and told me I was ok. When she was ready to move on she said “Ok I am going to hug you all now is that all right?” I, of course, said “OK!!!” As she gave us all hugs she said how grateful she was that we made the trip for her and how good that made her feel.

Before she left she asked us to keep tweeting her because she loved interacting with people and to tweet her for sure when we got home so she wouldn’t be worried about us. On the way home I made a Facebook post about getting the trip going and my friend Amy said to include that in my “we are home safe” tweet because it was worded so well that Ms. Carmello needed to read it. So when we were safe back in the dorms I made a tweet to send out and tag Carolee Carmello in and included our individual pic, our group pic, a pic of my playbill, and a screenshot of the Facebook post. I assumed that would be the end of it but then on Monday morning I awoke to a reply. 

I have always been told that I never want to meet my idols because they could never live up to the image you created of them. That was not at all the case with this interaction. Carolee Carmello was the most amazing person I have ever met and did not let down my image of her at all. When I got back to my dorm I looked back at the pictures of meeting her and the autographed playbill in my hand and I just began to cry. Happy tears, of course. Just 6 months ago seeing this show at all was never going to happen. 5 months ago, seeing my idol in my dream role was an even crazier dream. Meeting Carolee Carmello has been an outrageous dream since age 12.  But just two days ago all these dreams came true. It was the best day of my life.

This week Hurricane Harvey is dominating the headlines. As devastating as the storm is that is understandable. Among all of the reporting on the effects of the storm we got one story that probably wouldn’t mean much on a normal day but in this circumstance it was very important. Melania Trump’s shoes. When boarding Air Force One to head to Texas to be briefed on devastation caused by the storm, the First Lady wore some very uncomfortable looking black stiletto heels. Manolo Blahniks to be exact. As Venessa Friedman of the New York Times reports when Mrs. Trump disembarked the plane in Texas she had changed into a less showy outfit wearing white sneakers. It’s reported that her communications director told her of the backlash her shoes had caused and suggested she change. This story is a prime example of how the role of a President and a First Lady has changed in this world where news stories can be accessed immediately. Also it shows, as Friedman says, that every detail is important and will be analyzed in this media savvy society. Twitter BLEW UP with the news of Melania Trump’s shoes on both sides of the issue. The left was, understandably, critical of the choice while the right went off on “fake news” even caring about the shoes in the first place. Personally I think the First Lady was incredibly stupid to wear such crazy heels to the sight of a natural disaster. As Friedman points out, the Trumps are in a position that is subject to extreme scrutiny on every little detail; therefore you should think of anything the public could make an issue. I can see the side of the issue that says “this isn’t newsworthy” and agree to an extent however I believe this is perfectly suited for the Fashion & Style section of the New York Times. They targeted the story to those who care about fashion, while still being aware that due to the subject of the piece anyone else could read this. The writer didn’t use too much fashion specific language so anyone could understand it. There is a hint of a bias against the First Family (which doesn’t bother me at all) but would make this considered a more opinion piece than a straight news story. That is not at all uncommon on a style based section of news because their main job is to critique clothing and tell people what their clothing says about them.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/fashion/melania-trump-hurricane-harvey-heels-texas.html

Morningside is full of faces you have seen but may know nothing about. Among those faces may be Dylan Ferguson. Dylan is a sophomore mass communications major with a music minor from Anita, IA who loves that small town feel. “I love that I can walk to my classes and see many familiar faces on the way.” When deciding to come to Morningside he knew he wanted to take his passion for discovering new music and sharing that with others. This drove him to come in to college intending to major in music education. As Dylan began working toward that goal though, he realized that his passion may lose steam. “I knew that some teachers, after a while, get burnt out and the students suffer…. I didn’t want to do that to students since it happened to me.” This made him decide to take his passion for music to the mass communications department where he could share his findings over the radio station where he intends to start his own show soon. Aside from working in his department, Dylan is also involved in the choir, the Morningside Activities Council, and Sinfonia. He says that one of his favorite parts of Morningside is that he has these opportunities that he may not have found at a bigger school. Outside of school Dylan collects records and some thing you may not know about him is that he has a twin sister named Morgan.

A story I have been following for some time is that of the missing talent agent from Manhattan, Mark Schlegel. He went missing on August 13th and had not been seen since. The news story I will be commenting on is one from Variety that reports that his body has been found. I think this is a very interesting story because no one has any idea what happened. All they know was he left his house reportedly without his keys, phone, or wallet and then he disappeared. This is newsworthy because this was an agent of some note in at least the Broadway community. That is how I first heard about the story was though the Broadway news sources I follow regularly and I found this story after seeing multiple tweets about his passing. The story is more aimed to those who are very invested in the world of entertainment past more than just celebrities. You really have to know about the business to have ever heard of this man. There is really no bias in this story. It is just reporting the facts. What I find interesting is that this story kind of flew under the radar with most news sources. I have mostly found it in New York and New Jersey specific newspapers. This seems like the kind of story that would have been picked up by a more national news outlet if only because it is so confusing but I assume the President is keeping the national news outlets more than busy. Overall this is still a developing story so there are obviously some key facts that people will want to know that are missing but those will come with time.

http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/mark-schlegel-dead-talent-agent-1202538676/