UNITED STARS MAKE FANS' DREAMS COME TRUE

Having treated supporters to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Southampton on Sunday, Louis van Gaal’s men heaped further joy on some lucky fans when meeting them at a Manchester United Foundation Dream Day.



Led by skipper Wayne Rooney, a host of first-team players met fans with serious and life-limiting illnesses at the Aon Training Complex as part of a heartwarming event that takes place twice a season.

After watching the senior squad train ahead of Wednesday’s Capital One Cup clash with Ipswich, the Foundation's guests were not only greeted by their idols but also had shirts signed and had photographs taken with the players, including five summer signings who attended their first Dream Day - Bastian Schweinsteiger, Memphis Depay, Matteo Darmian, Morgan Schneiderlin and Sergio Romero.

One youngster, Lewis, was delighted to meet Rooney for a second time, having first encountered him two years ago while the Reds captain was on England duty.
“I got him a card to say thank you - he remembered me and it felt really good,” said Lewis. His mum Claire added: “When Wayne walked through that door I was shaking; it means everything to Lewis to have this opportunity and I keep telling him these opportunities don’t come around often.

United’s no.10, who has enjoyed being involved in numerous Dream Days, was more than happy to once again share a memorable experience with the supporters.


“It’s great for the kids to see the players and for us to also see them as they are our fans,” Rooney enthused. “We’ve hopefully put a smile on their faces today. “They’ve given me some cards, one for myself and one for Luke Shaw. I’m sure it’s a get well soon message for him so I will pass that on.”

For migrants, a field of dreams

LONDON — As Syrian migrants continued to arrive at a rate of thousands a day in Munich Hauptbahnhof, some might have contemplated ending their journey with a 20-minute ride on a suburban train to Fröttmaning and officially registering as refugees at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena. Perhaps Bayern already had talent scouts watching the packed trains as they rolled in from Austria, Hungary and Italy. European soccer has been good to migrants. But then migrants have been good for European soccer.



The transformation of clubs’ squads has been accelerated in the last two decades by the European Court’s Bosman ruling in 1995. As soccer has experienced rapid economic growth it has also been remade as an expression of the economic freedom of the European Union. Fans in Munich welcome economic migrants from Africa, Eastern and Southern Europe, and South America who arrive not in crowded trains but in private jets, helicopters or luxury cars to sign multi-million euro contracts. The current Bayern squad contains Austrians, Brazilians, Chileans, Americans, Poles, Frenchmen and Dutchmen.

Meanwhile, the national teams have become an extremely visible expression of the way in which immigration has transformed Western Europe. The German national team has recently include three players of Turkish descent, a defender whose father is from Ghana, another defender whose parents are ethnic Albanians who emigrated from Macedonia, and an attacker of mixed Moroccan-Ghanaian descent — as well as a Polish-born striker who was two when his family fled the collapsing economy of Communist Poland in 1987, on the eve of the Solidarity strikes.

Who Is Taylor Swift’s "Wildest Dreams" About? Let's Piece Together The Clues

It's been nearly a year since Taylor Swift gifted fans with her '80s-influenced masterpiece and I'm the first to admit that I've spent the time trying to figure out who the 1989 songs are about. Ever since Swift shared the "Wildest Dreams" video teaser, I've been in overdrive analyzing the lyrics and, of course, trying to nail down the inspiration behind the song. While one name immediately pops into mind — yes, Harry Styles — let's look at Swift's carefully crafted clues to see if the hints hold up to the theory.


First up, let's examine the lyrics. In the first verse, Swift claims, "He's so tall, and handsome as hell / He's so bad but he does it so well." The tall, good-looking "bad boy" description fits in line with many other songs that are believed to be inspired by styles, such as "All You Had to Do Was Stay" and, of course, the cleverly named "Style." Lyric-wise, "Wildest Dreams" supports the theory.

But of course, we can never look at a Taylor Swift song by lyrics alone. There's so many levels — including her famous liner notes. The caption for "Wildest Dreams" reads "He Only Saw Her In His Dreams." Seeing as 1989 tells a somewhat chronological story, "Wildest Dreams" takes place after the breakup. (But conveniently before Swift's helpful guide on "How to Get the Girl.") If the first part of 1989 is about Styles, then it stands to reason that the "he" in the liner notes is Styles. It's not definitive proof, but it doesn't debunk our current theory.

Dreams and reality

Don't judge an album by its cover. The Phoenix Foundation's sixth studio effort is a defiant statement of intent from New Zealand's enduring sonic voyagers, writes Shane Gilchrist.

Luke Buda has just downed two strong coffees in quick succession.

And though he concedes (via the phone from Wellington) that such consumption might prompt him to ''digress a wee bit'' on the issue of exactly why he and his Phoenix Foundation band-mates named their latest record Give Up Your Dreams, he manages to stick to the topic rather ably.

There's never been so much angst in the band about naming something,'' Buda discloses.

People were scared, saying `what if others think it's the end of the band?'.

We had a few names floating about and, of course, we had the song Give Up Your Dreams and we were joking about it. Then there was just a moment when I thought, `f*** we've just got to call the album this'.

Buda likens the band's internal debate to a form of self-help.
The result has been a clarity of sorts or, as he puts it, a fresh perspective at least.

He is referring to musical dreams not so much shattered as, perhaps, shelved.
''The honest truth is [2010 album] Buffalo did really well for us in the United Kingdom and I'd be lying if I didn't say we thought we'd set ourselves up for the next level.

''By that, I don't mean Wembley; just playing some slightly bigger shows and festivals and, instead of paying money to get to the UK, perhaps coming back with some money.

''But Fandango came out and didn't do anything over there. It was the first time in our career that the latest thing we'd done was less successful than the previous.

''Up until that point, things had been building,'' Buda says in reference to a hectic few years followingBuffalo, which earned the Phoenix Foundation a Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (Tui) award for best group in 2010.

On Buffalo's release, the group signed to UK label Memphis Industries and toured Britain and Europe regularly, including appearing at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival, and performing in influential television show Later With Jools Holland the same year.

Fandango, the Wellington-based outfit's 2013 release, might have contained more than a few echoes of the mixture of prog-rock, psychedelia, melancholic folk and ethereal pop found on 2003 full-length debut Horsepower, 2005's Pegasus, 2007 effort Happy Ending and 2010's Buffalo, yet it was a double album stretching almost 80 minutes, including an 18-minute-long closing song (about six times longer than the pop standard).


And pushing the boundaries of song length is unlikely to prompt interest from radio programmers, particularly in the UK.

Dreams come true in Tupelo

TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA)--The most magical name in film is making its mark in Tupelo this weekend.

“Disney Live!” is kicking off its 2015-2016 season here in the All-America City on Saturday at the BancorpSouth Arena.

The show begins at 4 p.m.

The show centers on the stories of three Disney princesses: Snow White, 

Cinderella, and Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.”

Performer Justin Murdock says that there is centralized theme to the show.

“Snow White has her far away prince. Cinderella dreams of going to the ball, and Belle dreams of the great, wide somewhere, and through their hard work and perseverance, all their dreams do come true.So that is sort of the theme that we want to send home with the families is that dreams do come true,” he said.

The show which started in 2008 has traveled across the globe to help make dreams come true for millions of people.

Murdock says it’s special to be able to bring Disney enchantment to people who would otherwise never get to experience it.

He says that the show is not just for little kids or girls, but it is a show for the entire family.

When asked how the crew’s time here in North Mississippi has been, he grinned and said that it has been amazing.

“Everyone has been so friendly and nice at all the different restaurants that we’ve been to. So it’s been a real refreshing and great way to start the season off with here in Tupelo,” said Murdock.


Visit disneylive.com for ticket and show information.

Malone Scholarship: Making students’ dreams come true

KENT, Ohio– For many high school graduates, getting into a college or university of their choice is a monumental task.
                   

But paying for higher education can also be an added stress.

One local organization has been helping students for almost two decades now, and we are just days away from one of its biggest fundraisers- on the links.

Amineh AlBashaireh is one student who is benefiting from this year’s classic.

She’s an environmental enthusiast, a passion that would lead AlBashaireh, 18,  of Solon to major in geology at the College of Wooster.

But getting there would be a test of human strength, courage and determination.

At just nine years old, Amineh would have to deal with not one, but two family tragedies.

Amineh’s mother was diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome. She survived, but during her recovery, Amineh’s father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

Dealing with the death of her father, Amineh’s mother was never 100 percent again.

Laid off from her teaching job, Amineh’s mother was diagnosed with depression which then led to suicidal tendencies.