Friday, August 31, 2018

Music Friday: 'Diamonds Are Invincible' Mega-Mix Celebrates Michael Jackson's 60th Birthday

Michael Jackson fans from around the world celebrated what would have been the King of Pop's 60th birthday on Wednesday by bopping to a mega-mix of his greatest hits weaved together by super-producer Mark Ronson.

In honor of Jackson's "diamond" birthday, the five-minute audio track was titled "Michael Jackson x Mark Ronson: Diamonds Are Invincible." The "invincible" part of the title implies that, even in death, Jackson's musical legacy powers on. It's also a nod to his iconic 2001 album of the same name. In 2009, readers of Billboard magazine voted it as the best album of the decade.

A work that sold 5.4 million copies worldwide, Invincible was Jackson's final studio album. He died in June of 2009 at the age of 50.

The birthday mix includes many of Jackson's most memorable hits, including "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Wanna Be Starting Something," "Billie Jean," "Smooth Criminal," "Human Nature," "You Rock My World" and "The Way You Make Me Feel."

According to Billboard.com, Ronson's remix was the result of a collaboration with Sony Music and the Jackson Estate. Referencing a catalog of work that spanned five decades, the Grammy-award-winning producer/artist/DJ confessed that he was overwhelmed with the task of compiling a piece worthy of Jackson's 60th birthday celebration.

"It was such an amazing, awe-inspiring and insanely intimidating task to put this together, although you’d need hours and hours to fit all of Michael’s classic tunes into one track," Ronson said in a statement.

The audio track of "Michael Jackson x Mark Ronson: Diamonds Are Invincible" has been trending on YouTube.com and already has been viewed more than 830,000 times since it was posted on Tuesday.

Please check it out, below...

Credit: Image of Michael Jackson performing at "Wiener Stadion," Vienna, Austria (1988) by Zoran Veselinovic www.photozoran.com/ CC-BY-SA.

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Deserving Illinois Couple Receives Free Engagement Ring From Jilted Virginian With Big Heart

A Virginia man who had purchased a diamond engagement ring but was jilted before popping the question turned his heartbreak into hope by awarding the ring to a deserving Illinois couple.

Steven Crocker was emotionally devastated last year when his girlfriend decided to break off their two-year relationship.

"I didn't know what to do with myself," he told Inside Edition. "My whole world flipped upside down."

But, then, he wondered if the $1,700 diamond ring might brighten the future for another couple.

"It's not about the money for me," said the 23-year-old. "It's about love."

So Crocker decided to give the ring away via an eye-catching Facebook offering titled, "FREE ENGAGEMENT RING - READ AND SHARE."

On Facebook, Crocker wrote, "It's not the fanciest ring in the world but it can potentially make someone very happy for the rest of their life."

He encouraged applicants to send their love stories and describe specifically why they were the most deserving.

"I don’t want to give it away to just anyone," he wrote. "I want to give it to a guy or girl who is so in love with their significant other and wants to take the next step but cannot afford a ring. I don’t think that anyone on MY friends list falls in that category, but someone out there does, which is why sharing this post is very much appreciated. I’ll send it anywhere in the US where someone is head-over-heels."

Crocker told NBC Nightly News that he didn't expect more than 50 entries, but ended up getting close to 2,000.

The young man recruited his friends to help review the submissions that included both written stories and videos.

One story that caught Crocker's attention was from Sean Sullivan of Illinois. The teacher had been saving up for an engagement ring. He was planning to pop the question to his girlfriend, Natalie Kiernicki, but had to put his proposal plans on hold when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). He wasn't able to work and the medical bills were becoming overwhelming.

"I had to make the extremely hard decision to use the money I was saving for her ring to help cover my medical and other bills," Sullivan told Inside Edition.

Sullivan had sent to Crocker a 17-minute video that described the couple's commitment and love for one another.

"She's the reason I smile every day," Sullivan told NBC Nightly News.

Sullivan said he was overwhelmed when he learned that Crocker had picked him as the winner.

Kiernicki didn't know that her boyfriend had vied for the ring and was totally surprised when she got the exciting news.

"For someone to do this, it just shows there are still good people left in this world," Sullivan said. "He had no reason to do this for anybody and it’s amazing he did this."

For Crocker, the experience left him optimistic that true love is in his future.

"I definitely know that my time is going to come," he said.

Credits: Screen captures via nbcnews.com; Couple image via Facebook/Natalie Kiernicki; Ring selfie screen capture via Insideedition.com.

Monday, August 27, 2018

Double Proposal Affirms Disneyland Is the Happiest — and Most Romantic — Place on Earth

Jesse Tober and Kasey Donovan starred in their own fairytale last Monday when they popped the question simultaneously in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland in California. The video of the spontaneous double proposal made them Twittersphere sensations and affirmed, once again, that a Disney Park is not only “the happiest place on Earth,” but also the most romantic.

In a 34-second clip that has been viewed on Twitter more than 7.8 million times, we see the couple posing in front of the iconic Disney castle. The scene opens with Tober nervously fiddling with something hidden in her pocket.

But then we see it's a ring box, which she opens and presents to her boyfriend. Donovan continues to look straight at the camera, but then turns toward his girlfriend, stares down at the ring and laughs.

"Are you serious?" he says. "Because..."

At that moment, Donovan digs into his backpack and pulls out an engagement ring box of his own.

He goes down on one knee and proposes to Tober, who seems shocked by the wild coincidence.

Videographer and best friend "Harls" can be heard saying, "No way! They double proposed! He had a ring for her!"

On Twitter, Tober posted a link to the video along with this caption, "Tell me why we just proposed to each other at the same time at our favorite place. I'm speechless."

Tober, 20, told Business Insider that, for just a moment, she thought Donovan was going to refuse her proposal.

"When Kasey, my fiancé, started laughing when I pulled out the ring, I thought I made a huge mistake!" she told the publication. "I thought he kept asking, 'Are you serious?' because he definitely wasn't ready to get married. I had no idea he was about to pull out a ring for me at the same time."

Tober told Cosmopolitan.com that she had picked out a ring "forever ago" and had been planning the proposal for three months. Donovan, 24, had been working on his proposal for more than a month, but picked out the ring a week prior to their Disney trip.

"We’re just so in sync as a couple, I'm not surprised this happened," Tober told Cosmopolitan.com. "I don’t know how to explain it, it almost seems normal that we both did this."

Donovan, who hails from Salinas, Calif., met Tober when he began following her on Twitter in early 2016. She lives in upstate New York.

It turns out they share a love for all things Disney and even dressed as Disney characters for Halloween. They're hoping to some day tie the knot at "the happiest place on Earth."

Back in March of this year, we reported how Disney properties dominate the “Most Popular Places to Propose” list, placing three destinations in the Top 10, according to the wedding-planning website Hitched.co.uk.

Disneyland Paris was been named the world’s most popular place to pop the question. Ranking #2 on the list was Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fla., and placing #8 was Walt Disney’s Epcot, also in Orlando.

Credits: Screen captures via Twitter.com/virgoprincxss; Twitter.com/harleedawn.