The raw intensity of this woman competing at the European Women’s Arm-Wrestling Championship in Lithuania must be seen to be believed. The look in her eyes is that of a true competitor. You can FEEL the fire. And then you hear her start screaming, and it gets a little terrifying. She goes BALLISTIC, shaking and convulsing as if she were Lindsay Lohan OD’ing or a Vampire Diaries character being possessed by some supernatural force. The best part? Girl doesn’t even win! Check it out: Screaming Arm Wrestling Woman
Teenage is as rebellious a film as the territory it covers. Based on punk author Jon Savage ‘s 2007 book Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture 1875-1945 , Matt Wolf’s documentary eschews the talking heads and Chyroned dates that dominate the genre to immerse the moviegoer in a visually and aurally sumptuous history lesson. Wolf uses rare archival footage, period-piece recreations and a score by Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox to depict the evolution of teen culture via a number of influential and unconventional subcultures — swing kids, Boy Scouts, flappers, the German Wandervogel and even Nazi Youth — that coalesced from the late 19th century through the end of World War II. Understand them and today’s teens don’t seem so mystifying. I sat down with Wolf (he’s in the center of photo at left), Savage (he’s the one wearing orange pants) and the movie’s executive producer, actor Jason Schwartzman ( Moonrise Kingdom ) at the Tribeca Film Festival. Below is an edited version of our discussion: Movieline: Jason, how did you get to be the executive producer of Teenage ? Jason Schwartzman: When Matt’s movie about Arthur Russell came out, Wild Combination , I saw it multiple times in the course of a couple days, told everybody that I could possibly tell about it and showed it to one of my best friends Humberto Leon , who owns the fashion company Opening Ceremony . And when he saw that it was directed by Matt Wolf, he said, “Oh, Matt’s a really good friend of mine.” One thing led to another and Humberto connected Matt and I to make a short film for his store opening in Japan. We spent a lovely beautiful afternoon together in Toronto. It was just a beautiful day, and I felt instantly connected to Matt. I hope it’s okay that I say that. Matt Wolf: Please. Schwartzman: Does that make you feel uncomfortable? Wolf: No, I’m okay. Schwartzman: Too much pressure? After that, we started talking about books and music, and Matt said he was trying to make a documentary based on Jon Savage’s book Teenage . Being a fan of music and culture, I knew and loved Jon and was excited about this idea. And then a couple years later? Wolf: A year or two, I don’t know. Schwartzman: I reached out to Matt and said, “What’s going on with the movie? Is there anything I can try to do?” That began a process of getting the word out there and finding a way to finish the movie and make it happen. Movieline: You’ve taken a very unorthodox approach to making a non-fiction film. You call it “living collage.” Can you explain what you mean by that? Matt Wolf: When I read Jon’s book Teenage I didn’t just see it as source material. It helped me imagine a philosophy for the filmmaking. John is well known for his book on punk, England’s Dreaming , and in Teenage, he treated history in a punk way. Early on in our collaboration, he told me about something he observed in the 1970s: He saw these teenage punks wearing thrift clothes from the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s and they would cut them up and reassemble them with safety pins into something new. He called that “living collage.” It really struck a chord with me and made me think, “Well what about living collage as a kind of filmmaking style, where we pick and choose these kind of documents and fragments from previous youth cultures and reassemble them into something that feels fresh and new.” And so living collage plays out visually in the way the film looks. In terms of the storytelling, the reason it probably feels unconventional is that, rather than telling the story with experts and historians, the film is told from the point of view of youth. And in John’s book, a huge basis of it is actual quotes from teenagers that are sourced from diaries and journalistic sources and books. And we kind of did a living collage of these quotes as well. You go so far as to not always identify who is talking. The moviegoer is essentially left to absorb what’s coming at him. Jon Savage: In an earlier edit we had lots of dates and times and Matt decided, and I thought it was a great idea, to actually take them out. Although it was good to have them, they were like the foundation. In any production, you have to start with a foundation and when the product is actually made, you don’t need [that foundation] any more. It’s not as if you need to explain Hitler Youth to a lot of people. It’s interesting that you say that because I thought the movie flowed like a piece of music — a punk symphony, you could say. Wolf: Yeah, that analogy makes sense to me, too. Music exists almost wall-to-wall through the film, and I perceive the voiceovers as being like lyrics. Very little of the archival footage we source has sound on it. . The voiceover is meant to provide a narrative foundation and to deepen the emotional impact of the film. It’s also meant to provide context in a personal way where it’s helpful. So kind of like lyrics in a song, you can just listen and hear it and have an emotional response to what you hear. Or that experience can be deepened by listening to the ideas in the lyrics. One of the first things I did when I started making this movie was to match archival footage to contemporary music that felt really transformational. It felt like a departure from how we normally see archival footage being used. How did you come to use Deer Hunter’s Bradford Cox to score the movie? Wolf: Bradford is my favorite contemporary musician, and we had actually corresponded as teenagers on an early blog that he ran. We reconnected over a music-themed film I made called Wild Combination years ago, and I approached him very early on in the process of Teenage to ask him if he’d like to score it. He wrote back saying, “Yes,” right away. But, like I said, the film is wall-to-wall music, and I’ve also included some pre-existing songs in the film as well. Savage: I gave Matt a hard drive. Wolf: Yeah, Jon gave me a lot of ideas for that music, too. I think our shared taste in music also was a helpful starting point. Jon, should someone who plans to see Teenage read your book before or after watching the movie? Savage: Whichever way, but, actually, I think the movie stands on its own. War plays an important role in this movie: On one hand, it’s responsible for the cross-pollination of teen cultures from around the world. On the other, it turns teens into adults very quickly. Wolf: It destroys them. At the beginning of this story, young people are perceived as a social problem. They need to be controlled. They’re sent to war and what happens to them in World War I is a kind of foundational trauma that creates teenage rebellion as we know it. It creates generational tension, and it drives the whole story. Then you have World War II, where young people are essentially sacrificed as cannon fodder by adults. But, at the same time, war stimulates the economy and enables teens to earn money and have a certain level of freedom. It’s as consumers that teenagers become the ultimate stakeholders in societies. War can lead to the destruction of their innocence, but it can also empower them with a certain level of freedom in terms of time and space and economics. War is the rear prism through which youth found their place in society. Savage: In our different ways, when I was doing the book and you were doing the film, we both fund the wartime stuff very hard. Wolf: Totally. I think the Hitler stuff is really intense. It’s at once totally intoxicating and absorbing. The reason Hitler and the Nazi experience for youth is a big part of the film is that Hitler both empowered and destroyed youth like no one else in history. In youth, he saw the potential to reimagine the world, but to very destructive and evil ends. It seems like every generation of adults laments how adventurous or promiscuous teens have become. But after watching this film, I wonder if that’s a myth. For instance, the German Wandervogel you depict from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries were quite free-spirited and daring. Savage: The cycle is the same, but the circumstances are different. Each generation has similar characteristics because it’s a physical and developmental stage of life that happens to everyone but within different societies and different context. I think there’s always a proportion of teens that are going to be rebels. There’s always a proportion that are going to be extremists and they’re always going to be the much larger proportion against whom the rebels and the extremists act: kids who just want to carry on and live life just like their parents did. Wolf: The focus of our film is these exceptional teenagers who are inventing new styles of communication, who are reimagining the future and the Wandervogel — this youth-led movement that’s incredibly liberated — is an example of that. Savage: Matt found extraordinary footage that hasn’t been seen. Schwartzman: I don’t believe that Wandervogel footage has ever been seen in a documentary. It comes from a museum for youth movements in Germany who do not typically license out their footage. When I look at pop stars like Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber, I feel like we’ve entered a period of extended adolescence. Wolf: The starting point for me has always been, why is the culture obsessed with youth and where does this obsession come from? I do think that obsession has only intensified over time, but it’s hard to speculate about why that is. You mentioned the archetype of Justin Timberlake . In Teenage , we’re really finding the root and source of that, beginning with Rudolph Valentino, and with kids who fashioned their hair to look like him and who rioted at his funeral, and then progressing to Frank Sinatra , the first giant teen commercial pop star. Savage: Matt’s totally right. It has intensified because it’s become a huge industry. I’m much older than [Matt and Jason] and when I was a teenager it wasn’t this thing it is now. Since I was a young man, the whole area of pop culture and media has expanded exponentially. Wolf: Films that are about youth culture are usually focused on the now, and I thought it was a provocative strategy to make a film about youth that is based completely in the past — not even the recent past, the distant past. So it’s not working against the obsession with youth but it’s trying to attack the ideas and issue of youth culture in a totally different way. Instead of making a film about punks and hippies and skaters and Justin Bieber , it’s about flappers and jitterbugs. Schwartzman: He is making a movie about the punks and the skaters and Bieber. It’s called Teenage 2. That was going to be my next question. Would you consider making a Part 2? Wolf: Part of the reason Jon wrote the book in the style that he did is that, after the war, youth culture becomes this global phenomenon. The American model of the teen years spreads everywhere. It proliferates at such a rapid pace and is so gigantic that it’s probably not possible to explore the subject in a comprehensive way. Looking at this pre-history that led up to the creation of the teenager felt like the perfect way to explore the themes and ideas of youth culture in a deeper sense. So, to me, this film completes the idea. Schwartzman: He had planned to go to the ’60s but he ran out of computer space. Savage: If I was able to do a follow-up to the book — and I think it would actually make a good film — I would go from ’45 to say ’54. Elvis. But then it just gets insane. The level of data increases exponentially. Wolf: And then it becomes like a TV special or a textbook that doesn’t really go deep into much at all. After the war, it’s really difficult to not be just a greatest hits compilation. Watching Teenage left me with the distinct impression that if you had to choose the one medium that has had the most influence over youth culture, it would be music. Savage: Music is very, very important. Again, from a European prospective, America’s great gift to the world is black American music. I’m still in awe of it after listening to it for 50 years, and to me one of the high spots of the film is the section about Swing. My single favorite piece of footage is the Chicago Swing Jamboree with 200,000 kids going crazy in 1938. There’s an integrated audience, everybody is going nuts you see this black American guy with a bowler hat — and he’s pogoing. That said it all to me. Wolf: When I started making the film I thought it would be a deeper investigation of pop culture, but it ended up becoming much more political than I ever expected. I feel like the story of the German Swing Kids is the perfect synthesis of all the themes and the tension between politics and pop culture in the film. Here you have these kids who are like proto-punks: They have wild fashion, they dress very flamboyantly, they’re smuggling in music from America, and they’re doing it as a form of rebellion against the Nazi regime. They don’t perceive themselves as activists, but they’re doing it with great courage. It shows the political power of popular culture in a certain context. The film is also about the spread of American culture throughout the world and music facilitated that like nothing else. In the 1920’s, the British narrator says, “I got my hands on all the jazz records. My mum asked me why it was good and I said, ‘Because it comes from America.'” Savage: Swing looks to me like the proper birth of youth culture, certainly in a mass form, even more so than jazz in the ’20s. Wolf: The Chicago Swing Jamboree is so meaningful because you see these teenagers pioneering this new style of expression and dance. It has its own slang, its own music vocabulary. Savage: It’s own lifestyle. Wolf: And it spreads to become a mainstream phenomenon. What’s next for each of you guys? Wolf: I’m in the early stages of developing a bunch of projects. Jon and I are hoping to collaborate on a new film based on an unprecedented archive of gay life that this collector has. It’s a personal photography collection of early gay life. I’m also working on a documentary portrait of Hilary Knight , the illustrator of Eloise . Savage: I’m writing a new book about the year 1966 in pop culture and youth culture. Schwartzman: I just finished a film about the making of Mary Poppins . Sounds so dumb compared to what you guys just said. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Teenage is as rebellious a film as the territory it covers. Based on punk author Jon Savage ‘s 2007 book Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture 1875-1945 , Matt Wolf’s documentary eschews the talking heads and Chyroned dates that dominate the genre to immerse the moviegoer in a visually and aurally sumptuous history lesson. Wolf uses rare archival footage, period-piece recreations and a score by Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox to depict the evolution of teen culture via a number of influential and unconventional subcultures — swing kids, Boy Scouts, flappers, the German Wandervogel and even Nazi Youth — that coalesced from the late 19th century through the end of World War II. Understand them and today’s teens don’t seem so mystifying. I sat down with Wolf (he’s in the center of photo at left), Savage (he’s the one wearing orange pants) and the movie’s executive producer, actor Jason Schwartzman ( Moonrise Kingdom ) at the Tribeca Film Festival. Below is an edited version of our discussion: Movieline: Jason, how did you get to be the executive producer of Teenage ? Jason Schwartzman: When Matt’s movie about Arthur Russell came out, Wild Combination , I saw it multiple times in the course of a couple days, told everybody that I could possibly tell about it and showed it to one of my best friends Humberto Leon , who owns the fashion company Opening Ceremony . And when he saw that it was directed by Matt Wolf, he said, “Oh, Matt’s a really good friend of mine.” One thing led to another and Humberto connected Matt and I to make a short film for his store opening in Japan. We spent a lovely beautiful afternoon together in Toronto. It was just a beautiful day, and I felt instantly connected to Matt. I hope it’s okay that I say that. Matt Wolf: Please. Schwartzman: Does that make you feel uncomfortable? Wolf: No, I’m okay. Schwartzman: Too much pressure? After that, we started talking about books and music, and Matt said he was trying to make a documentary based on Jon Savage’s book Teenage . Being a fan of music and culture, I knew and loved Jon and was excited about this idea. And then a couple years later? Wolf: A year or two, I don’t know. Schwartzman: I reached out to Matt and said, “What’s going on with the movie? Is there anything I can try to do?” That began a process of getting the word out there and finding a way to finish the movie and make it happen. Movieline: You’ve taken a very unorthodox approach to making a non-fiction film. You call it “living collage.” Can you explain what you mean by that? Matt Wolf: When I read Jon’s book Teenage I didn’t just see it as source material. It helped me imagine a philosophy for the filmmaking. John is well known for his book on punk, England’s Dreaming , and in Teenage, he treated history in a punk way. Early on in our collaboration, he told me about something he observed in the 1970s: He saw these teenage punks wearing thrift clothes from the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s and they would cut them up and reassemble them with safety pins into something new. He called that “living collage.” It really struck a chord with me and made me think, “Well what about living collage as a kind of filmmaking style, where we pick and choose these kind of documents and fragments from previous youth cultures and reassemble them into something that feels fresh and new.” And so living collage plays out visually in the way the film looks. In terms of the storytelling, the reason it probably feels unconventional is that, rather than telling the story with experts and historians, the film is told from the point of view of youth. And in John’s book, a huge basis of it is actual quotes from teenagers that are sourced from diaries and journalistic sources and books. And we kind of did a living collage of these quotes as well. You go so far as to not always identify who is talking. The moviegoer is essentially left to absorb what’s coming at him. Jon Savage: In an earlier edit we had lots of dates and times and Matt decided, and I thought it was a great idea, to actually take them out. Although it was good to have them, they were like the foundation. In any production, you have to start with a foundation and when the product is actually made, you don’t need [that foundation] any more. It’s not as if you need to explain Hitler Youth to a lot of people. It’s interesting that you say that because I thought the movie flowed like a piece of music — a punk symphony, you could say. Wolf: Yeah, that analogy makes sense to me, too. Music exists almost wall-to-wall through the film, and I perceive the voiceovers as being like lyrics. Very little of the archival footage we source has sound on it. . The voiceover is meant to provide a narrative foundation and to deepen the emotional impact of the film. It’s also meant to provide context in a personal way where it’s helpful. So kind of like lyrics in a song, you can just listen and hear it and have an emotional response to what you hear. Or that experience can be deepened by listening to the ideas in the lyrics. One of the first things I did when I started making this movie was to match archival footage to contemporary music that felt really transformational. It felt like a departure from how we normally see archival footage being used. How did you come to use Deer Hunter’s Bradford Cox to score the movie? Wolf: Bradford is my favorite contemporary musician, and we had actually corresponded as teenagers on an early blog that he ran. We reconnected over a music-themed film I made called Wild Combination years ago, and I approached him very early on in the process of Teenage to ask him if he’d like to score it. He wrote back saying, “Yes,” right away. But, like I said, the film is wall-to-wall music, and I’ve also included some pre-existing songs in the film as well. Savage: I gave Matt a hard drive. Wolf: Yeah, Jon gave me a lot of ideas for that music, too. I think our shared taste in music also was a helpful starting point. Jon, should someone who plans to see Teenage read your book before or after watching the movie? Savage: Whichever way, but, actually, I think the movie stands on its own. War plays an important role in this movie: On one hand, it’s responsible for the cross-pollination of teen cultures from around the world. On the other, it turns teens into adults very quickly. Wolf: It destroys them. At the beginning of this story, young people are perceived as a social problem. They need to be controlled. They’re sent to war and what happens to them in World War I is a kind of foundational trauma that creates teenage rebellion as we know it. It creates generational tension, and it drives the whole story. Then you have World War II, where young people are essentially sacrificed as cannon fodder by adults. But, at the same time, war stimulates the economy and enables teens to earn money and have a certain level of freedom. It’s as consumers that teenagers become the ultimate stakeholders in societies. War can lead to the destruction of their innocence, but it can also empower them with a certain level of freedom in terms of time and space and economics. War is the rear prism through which youth found their place in society. Savage: In our different ways, when I was doing the book and you were doing the film, we both fund the wartime stuff very hard. Wolf: Totally. I think the Hitler stuff is really intense. It’s at once totally intoxicating and absorbing. The reason Hitler and the Nazi experience for youth is a big part of the film is that Hitler both empowered and destroyed youth like no one else in history. In youth, he saw the potential to reimagine the world, but to very destructive and evil ends. It seems like every generation of adults laments how adventurous or promiscuous teens have become. But after watching this film, I wonder if that’s a myth. For instance, the German Wandervogel you depict from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries were quite free-spirited and daring. Savage: The cycle is the same, but the circumstances are different. Each generation has similar characteristics because it’s a physical and developmental stage of life that happens to everyone but within different societies and different context. I think there’s always a proportion of teens that are going to be rebels. There’s always a proportion that are going to be extremists and they’re always going to be the much larger proportion against whom the rebels and the extremists act: kids who just want to carry on and live life just like their parents did. Wolf: The focus of our film is these exceptional teenagers who are inventing new styles of communication, who are reimagining the future and the Wandervogel — this youth-led movement that’s incredibly liberated — is an example of that. Savage: Matt found extraordinary footage that hasn’t been seen. Schwartzman: I don’t believe that Wandervogel footage has ever been seen in a documentary. It comes from a museum for youth movements in Germany who do not typically license out their footage. When I look at pop stars like Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber, I feel like we’ve entered a period of extended adolescence. Wolf: The starting point for me has always been, why is the culture obsessed with youth and where does this obsession come from? I do think that obsession has only intensified over time, but it’s hard to speculate about why that is. You mentioned the archetype of Justin Timberlake . In Teenage , we’re really finding the root and source of that, beginning with Rudolph Valentino, and with kids who fashioned their hair to look like him and who rioted at his funeral, and then progressing to Frank Sinatra , the first giant teen commercial pop star. Savage: Matt’s totally right. It has intensified because it’s become a huge industry. I’m much older than [Matt and Jason] and when I was a teenager it wasn’t this thing it is now. Since I was a young man, the whole area of pop culture and media has expanded exponentially. Wolf: Films that are about youth culture are usually focused on the now, and I thought it was a provocative strategy to make a film about youth that is based completely in the past — not even the recent past, the distant past. So it’s not working against the obsession with youth but it’s trying to attack the ideas and issue of youth culture in a totally different way. Instead of making a film about punks and hippies and skaters and Justin Bieber , it’s about flappers and jitterbugs. Schwartzman: He is making a movie about the punks and the skaters and Bieber. It’s called Teenage 2. That was going to be my next question. Would you consider making a Part 2? Wolf: Part of the reason Jon wrote the book in the style that he did is that, after the war, youth culture becomes this global phenomenon. The American model of the teen years spreads everywhere. It proliferates at such a rapid pace and is so gigantic that it’s probably not possible to explore the subject in a comprehensive way. Looking at this pre-history that led up to the creation of the teenager felt like the perfect way to explore the themes and ideas of youth culture in a deeper sense. So, to me, this film completes the idea. Schwartzman: He had planned to go to the ’60s but he ran out of computer space. Savage: If I was able to do a follow-up to the book — and I think it would actually make a good film — I would go from ’45 to say ’54. Elvis. But then it just gets insane. The level of data increases exponentially. Wolf: And then it becomes like a TV special or a textbook that doesn’t really go deep into much at all. After the war, it’s really difficult to not be just a greatest hits compilation. Watching Teenage left me with the distinct impression that if you had to choose the one medium that has had the most influence over youth culture, it would be music. Savage: Music is very, very important. Again, from a European prospective, America’s great gift to the world is black American music. I’m still in awe of it after listening to it for 50 years, and to me one of the high spots of the film is the section about Swing. My single favorite piece of footage is the Chicago Swing Jamboree with 200,000 kids going crazy in 1938. There’s an integrated audience, everybody is going nuts you see this black American guy with a bowler hat — and he’s pogoing. That said it all to me. Wolf: When I started making the film I thought it would be a deeper investigation of pop culture, but it ended up becoming much more political than I ever expected. I feel like the story of the German Swing Kids is the perfect synthesis of all the themes and the tension between politics and pop culture in the film. Here you have these kids who are like proto-punks: They have wild fashion, they dress very flamboyantly, they’re smuggling in music from America, and they’re doing it as a form of rebellion against the Nazi regime. They don’t perceive themselves as activists, but they’re doing it with great courage. It shows the political power of popular culture in a certain context. The film is also about the spread of American culture throughout the world and music facilitated that like nothing else. In the 1920’s, the British narrator says, “I got my hands on all the jazz records. My mum asked me why it was good and I said, ‘Because it comes from America.'” Savage: Swing looks to me like the proper birth of youth culture, certainly in a mass form, even more so than jazz in the ’20s. Wolf: The Chicago Swing Jamboree is so meaningful because you see these teenagers pioneering this new style of expression and dance. It has its own slang, its own music vocabulary. Savage: It’s own lifestyle. Wolf: And it spreads to become a mainstream phenomenon. What’s next for each of you guys? Wolf: I’m in the early stages of developing a bunch of projects. Jon and I are hoping to collaborate on a new film based on an unprecedented archive of gay life that this collector has. It’s a personal photography collection of early gay life. I’m also working on a documentary portrait of Hilary Knight , the illustrator of Eloise . Savage: I’m writing a new book about the year 1966 in pop culture and youth culture. Schwartzman: I just finished a film about the making of Mary Poppins . Sounds so dumb compared to what you guys just said. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
My name is Camelia, I’m 16 years old and I live in Morocco (aka Narnia). I never ever, ever thought in a million years I would ever have the chance to see Justin. This summer, when the European tickets went on sale, I begged my parents to let me fly to France and attend the tour. I was supposed to get tickets to Believe Tour in Paris but guess what, luck was never by my side. The day of the concert was the day of a national exam that I had to take. I wasn’t able to get the tickets and I cried my little heart out. Luckily, I was on the internet one day and found a ticket to see Justin in Strasbourg (eastern France). I begged my parents and they quickly said yes. Justin changed my life, in ever single way. He saved me. I will never thank him enough for that. When I was planning to buy the tickets, I clicked on another site and saw, “VIP PACK MEET & GREET EXPERIENCE.” I was like, shit is gonna be $5000 but it was surprisingly not. It was around 400€ ($700) and because I had good grades, my parents got it. About 2 weeks before the big day, the company sent me a mail giving details about the meeting. We needed to be there by 4:45 p.m., and I was there by 2:30. I ended up going to France alone because none of my friends are crazy enough. I waited in line until 4:45 but to be honest time flew by because I met so many great people! When we came in, we checked in with security and we were the first 5 or 6 people. Ryan, some guy who works in Justin’s team, explained to us how it would work and he told us not to scream. He was so nice and friendly! Then, magic happened – DAN KANTER walks by. He is the most genuine and amazing person ever. He took the time to take a picture with every single person. When it was my turn, I told him I was from Morocco and spent like 5 minutes talking to him. Then, we finally got to meet the guy who changed my life. Then it was my time to meet Justin. I screamed, cried, couldn’t move. I stepped next to him and he was like, “Hi sweetie nice to meet you.” What do you answer to Justin Bieber telling you that? I said, “I came from Morocco just to see you,” and he answered saying, “Wow, that’s very nice and sweet,” as he touched my cheek! Security was pulling me and I was like, “Can I have a hug” and he tried to hold me when security was pulling me off. He was so beautiful, perfect, smelled so good, just words cannot explain. I loved every second of it. Then, it was time for the concert and we were directly next to the stage. I was next to Sofia and Carla, two beliebers I met and became friends with. The show comes on and the only thing I have to say is that I had the time of my life. Not exaggerating. I, for once, felt like I belonged somewhere, in the middle of all these beliebers singing ‘Out Of Town Girl.’ It was perfect, his voice sounds ridiculously good and he was so close to us, he even waved at Carla and I. We were between the tears and the fainting. He even sang Rack City by Tyga. When he sang “Believe” we all held “∞ Beliebers” signs which was flawless, every single person did it. Justin was perfect and I will never thank him enough for giving me the opportunity to live this experience. I will always remember this day as the most beautiful day I’ve ever had. Then I waited 10 hours standing in freezing Strasbourg for 3 seconds of “Hi” and “Bye” – but wanna know what? It was all damn worth it and I do not regret any second of it. Now, I’m sitting in my bed in this hotel room, my voice is broken and I’m still kinda excited thinking, man, I had the time of my life. Thanks Justin for everything, I love you. More: My name is Camelia, I’m 16 years old and I live in Morocco…
My name is Moya and I’m from Ireland. Justin Bieber is my absolute world and I’ve been a belieber since 2009! Last August when I found out he was coming to Ireland, I had to go. I asked my mam and she agreed because she knows my love for him. Then, I asked my whole whole family if they could please contribute money as Christmas presents so I could save up and buy a meet and greet ticket. I got the ticket and the countdown began! Finally, it came to the 17th of February 2013, and I was driving to the 02 in Dublin. The excitement was unbearable! My mam and I had to wait in a line for ages and then we went into the side of the 02 where I got my bag and all my amazing Justin merchandise. I went upstairs and a cool American dude was there explaining that we would be meeting Justin shortly. I freaked out so much, I don’t think I’ve ever cried with happiness so much in my life! Some time passed and it was finally time. The line was started getting shorter, and girls started crying walking out from a curtained room. I was just so happy, and I was next. The curtain opened and Justin was just standing there waiting for me! I had like a breakdown and started crying again. I went over to him and gave him the most meaningful hug of my entire life and I told him I loved him so much! And he replied, “Aw I love you too!” It was literally the best thing anyone has ever said to me. We got our picture taken and it was just amazing, an experience I will never ever forget. Then I had to leave but it was okay because when I was walking out, I turned around and he gave me the cutest smile/nod ever. I will never forget that day. PS- the concert was really amazing too as Justin touched my hand again! Please never say never, if it happened to me, it can happen to you! Keep believing, Justin appreciates every one of us! Justin, I love you more than anything. Thank you. -Moya Continued here: My name is Moya and I’m from Ireland. Justin Bieber is my…
My name is Nicole Deane, I’m 14 from Ireland and I met my idol on February 18th 2013. This picture above is my life and I will never ever regret being a belieber because it has been the most amazing experience ever. It was the first concert of the European leg. I had really bad seats in the back of the arena but I was so thankful for that. I entered the arena and it was just so surreal to think I was about to experience the Believe Tour. After all those days of counting down, they were now gone. I got up to my seat, was checking my phone and tweeting Justin. Suddenly I got a email and it read, “RE: Bieber Fever contest, CONGRATULATIONS Nicole you have just been invited to attended the photo meet and greet February 18th.” I was in shock and I screamed so loud. I told my friend that was at the concert with me and we burst into tears. Everyone was giving us weird looks and a girl asked what was wrong. I told her that I won meet and greets for tomorrow night and then I couldn’t stop crying. They were so happy for me and I had to tell someone so I rang my mum. She didn’t believe me at first but then I sent her the picture of the email. The concert went on and it was amazing, like the best night of my life. The concert finished and we made are way home. I really couldn’t sleep all night. If you said the day before that I was going to meet him, I would literally just laugh in your face. The next day I got to the arena about 3:30 p.m. and the guy called out my name. We queued for about an hour in the cold then entered the arena. After waiting in a room with about 150 people I heard screaming. Dan Kanter, Kenny and Nick Demoura walked out. We couldn’t leave our place in line so we waited but they didn’t come over to us. Finally Justin arrived and I met him at about 7 o’clock. We had to get into groups of 6 so we did and security was like go on in. My heart sank. I walked in and there he was standing looking like a ken doll. I was saying, “I love you,” and the security told me to calm down. I was like how am I supposed to be calm when Justin Bieber is right there. Justin was looking me in the eyes saying, “It’s okay. Calm down,” and my heart sank when another girl got beside Justin. The security kept pulling me back and Justin was waiting for me to come next to him and they kept pushing so Justin grabbed his hand over security and held my hand and pulled me over beside him. I said, “I love you your beautiful,” and he said, “Aww thank you sweetie.” My heart was in bits. I felt his back and I was about to cry, but I wanted a nice picture so I didn’t. Right after I asked him for a hug and he did. I left the room and they cut my wristband off. I broke down crying, like I was all over the place. “Wow I just met Justin Bieber. The guy that saved my life, the guy I idolize.” He was so nice. I honestly couldn’t believe it. We had tickets for the second night in the 2nd row, right beside the stage. I saved all my money up for 3 months to get those tickets and I got them! Cody was performing when I got to my seats and I couldn’t stop crying. Carly came on and then Justin. I was right beside him and he looked at me about 5 times. I couldn’t have been more happy and grateful to have this experience. I thought that I would never meet him and then all of a sudden I won. These things don’t happen all the time and I’m so happy and honored to say that I met my idol. I love you Justin, thanks for letting me have this opportunity to meet my dreams come true. -@bieberslayslife See original here: My name is Nicole Deane, I’m 14 from Ireland and I met my…
My name is Nicole Deane, I’m 14 from Ireland and I met my idol on February 18th 2013. This picture above is my life and I will never ever regret being a belieber because it has been the most amazing experience ever. It was the first concert of the European leg. I had really bad seats in the back of the arena but I was so thankful for that. I entered the arena and it was just so surreal to think I was about to experience the Believe Tour. After all those days of counting down, they were now gone. I got up to my seat, was checking my phone and tweeting Justin. Suddenly I got a email and it read, “RE: Bieber Fever contest, CONGRATULATIONS Nicole you have just been invited to attended the photo meet and greet February 18th.” I was in shock and I screamed so loud. I told my friend that was at the concert with me and we burst into tears. Everyone was giving us weird looks and a girl asked what was wrong. I told her that I won meet and greets for tomorrow night and then I couldn’t stop crying. They were so happy for me and I had to tell someone so I rang my mum. She didn’t believe me at first but then I sent her the picture of the email. The concert went on and it was amazing, like the best night of my life. The concert finished and we made are way home. I really couldn’t sleep all night. If you said the day before that I was going to meet him, I would literally just laugh in your face. The next day I got to the arena about 3:30 p.m. and the guy called out my name. We queued for about an hour in the cold then entered the arena. After waiting in a room with about 150 people I heard screaming. Dan Kanter, Kenny and Nick Demoura walked out. We couldn’t leave our place in line so we waited but they didn’t come over to us. Finally Justin arrived and I met him at about 7 o’clock. We had to get into groups of 6 so we did and security was like go on in. My heart sank. I walked in and there he was standing looking like a ken doll. I was saying, “I love you,” and the security told me to calm down. I was like how am I supposed to be calm when Justin Bieber is right there. Justin was looking me in the eyes saying, “It’s okay. Calm down,” and my heart sank when another girl got beside Justin. The security kept pulling me back and Justin was waiting for me to come next to him and they kept pushing so Justin grabbed his hand over security and held my hand and pulled me over beside him. I said, “I love you your beautiful,” and he said, “Aww thank you sweetie.” My heart was in bits. I felt his back and I was about to cry, but I wanted a nice picture so I didn’t. Right after I asked him for a hug and he did. I left the room and they cut my wristband off. I broke down crying, like I was all over the place. “Wow I just met Justin Bieber. The guy that saved my life, the guy I idolize.” He was so nice. I honestly couldn’t believe it. We had tickets for the second night in the 2nd row, right beside the stage. I saved all my money up for 3 months to get those tickets and I got them! Cody was performing when I got to my seats and I couldn’t stop crying. Carly came on and then Justin. I was right beside him and he looked at me about 5 times. I couldn’t have been more happy and grateful to have this experience. I thought that I would never meet him and then all of a sudden I won. These things don’t happen all the time and I’m so happy and honored to say that I met my idol. I love you Justin, thanks for letting me have this opportunity to meet my dreams come true. -@bieberslayslife See original here: My name is Nicole Deane, I’m 14 from Ireland and I met my…
What a difference a year makes! Khloe probably ended up with a little indigestion along with her dinner last night. Via US Weekly : Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom were decided to grab a late-night meal at an NYC restaurant on Monday, March 4 the same night Kim Kardashian’s estranged husband Kris Humphries was dining there, a source tells Us Weekly. According to the insider, Humphries was having dinner with a large group of friends at Catch in NYC’s Meatpacking District when Khloe and Lamar arrived. The couple of three years were initially unaware that Humphries was there, and were seated at the opposite end of the main dining room. However, the source tells Us that Khloe, 28, spotted Humphries when he stood up to greet a friend joining his group. She “immediately looked down and used her cocktail menu to hide her face,” the insider says. Khloe and Lamar, 33, ate quickly and never engaged with their estranged brother-in-law before leaving the restaurant. The source tells Us that Humphries didn’t seem bothered during his meal and was having a good time. Kim, 32, filed for divorce from the 28-year-old NBA player in October 2011 after 72 days of marriage. Humphries countered with annulment based on fraud, and the two have been involved in a lengthy divorce trial since. On Feb. 15, however, a judge ruled that the former couples’ trial will begin May 6. Kim is currently expecting her first child with boyfriend Kanye West, and Khloe said her sister’s divorce “needs to get over already.” “He’s, in my opinion, delusional,” Khloe said of Humphries on Watch What Happens Live on Jan. 31. “I don’t know why he’s asking for anything? He’s fame-hungry, in my opinion. He wants money . . . I just think everything he’s doing is so — it’s just gross to me.” That’s such a shame, especially because Catch is a great restaurant to have a nice leisurely meal. Sounds like they totally let him run them outta there. WENN
TSA Announces Plans To Begin Allowing Small Knives On Flights Almost 12 years after the 9-11 terrorist attacks that changed American history forever, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced plans to begin allowing small knives, golf clubs and hockey sticks to be brought on board. via CBS New s Small knives are set to be permitted in carry-on luggage on flights, in a change to current guidelines announced by the TSA today. Knives with blades no more than 2.36 inches in length from tip to where the blade meets the handle or hilt will be approved for carry-on. The blade must be no more than half an inch in width. The TSA also announced toy bats and sporting equipment such as hockey sticks and golf clubs will also be allowed on board aircraft. The TSA said the changes were made after a committee had reviewed the agency’s prohibited items list. “This decision aligns TSA with International Civil Aviation Organization standards and our European counterparts,” the TSA said in a statement. The changes are set to come into effect on April 25. But the changes were opposed by two industry groups. The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, representing nearly 90,000 Flight Attendants said the decision was ”poor and shortsighted”. ”Continued prohibition of these items is an integral layer in making our aviation system secure and must remain in place,” said the union in a statement. Even though it’s been over a decade since the 9-11 attacks, we can help but think this isn’t a good idea. What do you think about TSA allowing these items back on board planes Bossip fam? Shutterstock
Justin Bieber celebrates his 19th birthday today. We’ll wait for the squealing to calm down before we continue… The opening two months of 2013 haven’t been ideal for this young artist, who officially split from Selena Gomez to start the year; got embroiled in a pot smoking scandal ; feuded with Patrick Carney. And, oh, right: he wore this hat . Patrick Carney. But Justin’s legion of Beliebers remain loyal and the leg of his current European tour remains the hottest ticket on the planet. He recently hosted Saturday Night Live and released an acoustic album and will no doubt dominated the rest of the year just like he dominated the one that came before. What else needs to be said? Send in your very best wishes to the Biebs now and help us pay homage to this cutie by clicking through the following photo montage:
