THE BACHELOR S28. E5. | TRAVELING FOR LOVE II

PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelor/Gizelle Hernandez

The second episode from this week of The Bachelor we’re back with Joey Graziadei as last night, Joey continued his love story by selecting women that he wanted to know more.

JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Kelsey T, Lexi, and Maria

JOEY DID NOT GIVE A ROSE TO | Sydney

With the drama that had taken place, we ended up getting the rose ceremony at the top of tonight’s episode and he picked who will continue the journey with him. After the rose ceremony takes place, he tells the remaining women that they are going to Marbellla, Spain.

JOEY GAVE ROSES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW’S ROSE CEREMONY | Autumn, Katelyn, Daisy, Jenn, Jess, Kelsey A., Lea, Madina, Rachel

JOEY DID NOT GIVE A ROSE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW’S ROSE CEREMONY | Allison, Edwina

As last night’s episode came to a close we realized that there is now an odd drama of Lea feeling a certain type of way with Maria. She even pulled Madina aside to let her know that she didn’t understand how she could be nice to Maria when she was friends with Sydney. Due to the uncomfortable situation, we hear Maria tell producers that she doesn’t want to stay, someone else can take her rose, and that she doesn’t want to be on this experience with this kind of energy. Ultimately, Madina tells her that Joey picked her for a reason and that she needs to see this through. She decides that she will stay and remain focused on her experience with Joey.

Joey joins them in Spain and has a sangria with them. He lets them know that Kelsey A will have a 1-on-1 with them as they ride off on the Vespa.

Some of the women are frustrated that they haven’t really spent time with him and it makes them wonder when they will get their chance. For some, it becomes very emotional.

On the 1-on-1 date, they enjoy wine and prosciutto. It’s a great way for them to get to know one another. They take a walk and even play an impromptu game of soccer. Things seem so easy between them as they head into their dinner. She wants to be able to talk about her family as she thinks that it is important for him to know. She talks about her mom and how much she had an impact on her although she passed away from breast cancer. He appreciates that she shares this part of her life with him and he gives her a rose.

Lexi, Daisy, Jenn, Autumn, Maria, Katelyn, Madina, Lea, Jess, and Kelsey T are on the next group date. This means that Rachel will be on the 1-on-1 date.

The group date kicks off with them creating a sentence to let Joey know what he means to them and then incorporating art as well. They share each of their works and what they mean with him. Jess wins this challenge. They head off in their swimwear to make a new piece of art together as a couple.

The group date after party takes place and of course Jess says that selfishly, she wants to have more time with him, even though she got time with him after winning the challenge. Joey tells them he enjoyed being with them in the day and he asks to steal Jenn.

Back at the hotel, Rachel’s date card officially arrives and she knows that she’s going to go dancing with him for their 1-on-1.

The rose for the group date after party goes to Maria. The looks on the women’s faces was very telling.

On the 1-on-1 date, we can see how they vibe with one another. She has always wanted to see a flamenco show and they end up learning how to do it. After changing into the outfits, they actually dance in front of a crowd. It’s nice to see how they continue to navigate their relationship as you can see that something is there.

At their dinner, Rachel talks about her work as an ICU nurse and why it’s important to her and how it does take time. She says she’s a slow burn and it takes a while for her to open up. Joey loves the passion for her job and how she enjoys what it is that she does and he appreciates that. She feels supported by him and she feels deserving of his time and attention. Joey gives her the date rose. He tells her that he is all in on her slow burn and he is ready for anytime he wants to share with him. Their date concludes with fireworks as they walk outside of the restaurant.

Jesse Palmer and Joey play tennis together. It’s always nice to see how he bonds with The Bachelor. Joey welcomes the women and tells them how he appreciates them being there. He continues to remind them about what his goal is and why they’re there. The cocktail party begins as the women work to get time with him. Somehow Jess doesn’t get time with him but has the time to have words with Maria since she took time with him when she already has a rose.

At the rose ceremony, he lets them know that he had a great week with the women and that as much as that is great, it lets him think about what he is looking for and works for him. He selects the women that are continuing with him and he lets them know that they are going to Montreal.

JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Daisy, Jenn, Jess, Katelyn, Kelsey A., Kelsey T., Lea, Lexi, Maria, Rachel

JOEY DID NOT GIVE ROSES TO | Autumn and Madina

Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!

---

WHO WE THINK IS GOING TO HOMETOWNS

DAISY

JENN

KELSEY T

MARIA

PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth

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THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS

Allison - Philadelphia, PA, 26

Autumn - St. Louis, MO, 26

Chandler - NY, NY, 24

Chrissa - Abbotsford, BC CA, 26

Daisy - Becker, MN, 25

Edwina - Atlanta, GA, 25

Erika - North Bergen, NJ, 25

Evalin - San Antonio, TX, 29

Jenn - Miami, FL, 25

Jessica "Jess" - San Diego, CA, 24

Katelyn - Santa Fe, NM, 25

Kayla - Hamilton, OH, 27

Kelsey A. - New Orleans, LA, 25

Kelsey T. - Los Angeles, CA, 31

Kyra - Miami, FL, 26

Laine - Philadelphia, PA, 27

Lauren - Philadelphia, PA, 28

Lea - Waipahu, HI, 23

Lexi - Atlanta, GA, 30

Madina - Charlotte, NC, 31

Maria - Kleinburg, Ontario, 29

Marlena - West Palm Beach, FL, 26

Nat - Sudbury, Canada, 26

Rachel - Honolulu, HI, 26

Sam - Nashville, TN, 31

Samantha - Miami, FL, 25

Sandra - Nashville, TN, 26

Starr - Delray Beach, FL, 25

Sydney - Newport, RI, 28

Talyah - Huntington Beach, CA, 23

Taylor - Chicago, IL, 23

Zoe - Atlanta, GA, 24

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

63MIX ROUTIN3S | ADAM COPELAND

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THE BACHELOR S28. E4. | TRAVELING FOR LOVE I

PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelor/Gizelle Hernandez

We’ll get 2 episodes this week of the The Bachelor as we continue along with Joey Graziadei. The Maria Syndey drama continues as you just can’t have both of them in the same house.

Jesse Palmer lets them know that Joey has moved on to their next destination which will be in Malta. So they will pack their bags to get to him in an hour.

Once the women settle into the hotel, there is a date card and we learn that Lexi will have a 1-on-1 date with Joey.

With their date underway, we can see how their chemistry will be with one another. They explore the streets with looking at jewelry, eating from the street carts, just strolling through the city, playing bocce, and then just dancing.

Back at the hotel, Maria and her new bestie Allison are chatting about what’s going on and then Jess and Sydney are doing the same thing. We see that this drama is not ending anytime soon.

Back on the date, they are in a church which brings up her emotions thinking about her grandfather who was a painter as well as the fact that she hasn’t revealed her health situation that could make having children difficult. She feels that she needs to disclose this tonight so that Joey is in the loop. They also talk with a priest whose there to get his insights on relationships and marriage.

The next date card arrives Jen, Daisy, Edwina, Catelyn, Allison, Rachel, Autumn, Kelsey T, Jess, Madina, Lea, and Kelsey A find out that they are on a date together.

They realize that Maria and Sydney’s names weren’t called so they all deduce that they will be on a 2-on-1 date.

Back on the 1-on-1 date, Joesy says he enjoys that Lexi seems like she is really letting him know more about her. She lets him know that she has something else to share in terms of her endo journey. She explains she didn’t know what her issues were, but after having a surgery, she realized that she has stage 5 Endometriosis and she was told that she may not be able to have her own children. Lexi says that this is devastating as she felt that it was her calling to be a mother. She had only told one other person, her ex and he decided that he didn’t want to go further into their relationship. Joey appreciated her sharing that information and understood how difficult it was for her to share it. He lets her know that this doesn’t scare him and there are other options that can be looked at in terms of creating a family.

He gives Lexi the date rose.

The group date begins and we get an interesting factoid that certain scenes from HBO’s Game of Thrones were filmed there. At Fort Manuel, they see two people fighting one another with a complementary outfit to boot. The ladies will be trained to be knights and they’re able to create their fighting outfits with accessories. They all spar with one another and then do a series of challenges such as engaging in eye contact with one another - some even get kisses from them. They then have to grab sashes off of each other. There is also a sausage grab that has to be done with their mouths only - no hands. The winner of the series of challenges was Autumn. She gets to have more time with Joey to chat with him away from the women at the Fort (although they can see her).

The cocktail party after the group date begins and the women realize that there are a number of people on the date and they need to get their time so that they can further their connections. He finds a way to connect with each of them whether it’s wearing glasses with Rachel because she was wearing them or asking Kelsey T what she needs to feel loved.

Back at the hotel, the next date card arrives and Lexi lets Sydney and Maria know that they are on the 2-on-1 date. We all know that in this scenario, only one person will remain.

Back at the after party of the group date, Jess gets her time with Joey so that she can let him know what she’s feeling. She tells him that she can see that she is falling for him and she can’t wait to see where it goes. They share a kiss. Joey gives the group date rose to Kelsey T. and he lets them know that he’s heading out.

The 2-on-1 date is something that we have looked forward to since last week when we saw it in the teaser. To see the drama culminate in this way, we can only hope that he selects someone today as it seems like we have an entire hour dedicated to this. Sydney feels that being on this date with Maria is like being with the devil which is a harsh thing to see. Joey wants to get clarity and figure out what is going on with them. As they head to their destination on a yacht, Joey is on a boat approaching them. When he sees them, he acknowledges that this date may seem a bit awkward, but he has a fun date planned for them at The Blue Grotto. They navigate through the natural structure and then they find themselves sitting together near the boats so that the air can be cleared. He asks Sydney to come with him so that he can understand what is going on. She continues to drum up more instances that didn’t happen. When he talks with Maria, she is so frustrated that she starts to shut down. Joey still doesn’t know the truth of what happened and he eants to have clarity even more.

Both women make their way to the dinner and Joey says, he’s not focused on the truth because he can see that that’s not going to go anywhere, so it will be about the connection. He asks if Sydney sees herself with him and why. He asks the same of Maria as well. He said based on the date earlier, that wasn’t a question he was able to ask and he’s glad that he was able to see where they felt on that topic. He walks Sydney out and Maria receives the rose!

We can only hope that all of the drama will now be greatly reduced! We see the women getting ready for the cocktail party. Upon arrival, Maria says that she’s not there to ruffle feathers and she’s just going to tuck in and she wants the other women to have time. Joey arrives and says that they all look so nice and he’s happy to be in Malta with them and he gives nice compliments to all of the women as a group. He lets them know that Sydney is not there because he didn’t feel the connection and that is the purpose of being there.

Jenn continues to connect with him by bringing him back to the water, Edwina lets her interest in him to be plainly known and other women take the time to reach out. Madina shares that she has had some trauma that her parents were involved in and it made her closed off. He lets her know that he doesn’t want her to share things that she’s not ready too, but that she should do it in her own time. They even do a trust fall exercise. Lea decides to continue the Sydney drama by pulling Madina out and telling her that the way that she is navigating everything isn’t sitting right with her. Madina lets her know that she doesn’t need to understand how she approaches things.

JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Kelsey T, Lexi, Maria

JOEY DID NOT GIVE A ROSE TO | Sydney

Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!

---

WHO WE THINK IS GOING TO HOMETOWNS

DAISY

JENN

KELSEY T

MARIA

PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth

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THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS

Allison - Philadelphia, PA, 26

Autumn - St. Louis, MO, 26

Chandler - NY, NY, 24

Chrissa - Abbotsford, BC CA, 26

Daisy - Becker, MN, 25

Edwina - Atlanta, GA, 25

Erika - North Bergen, NJ, 25

Evalin - San Antonio, TX, 29

Jenn - Miami, FL, 25

Jessica "Jess" - San Diego, CA, 24

Katelyn - Santa Fe, NM, 25

Kayla - Hamilton, OH, 27

Kelsey A. - New Orleans, LA, 25

Kelsey T. - Los Angeles, CA, 31

Kyra - Miami, FL, 26

Laine - Philadelphia, PA, 27

Lauren - Philadelphia, PA, 28

Lea - Waipahu, HI, 23

Lexi - Atlanta, GA, 30

Madina - Charlotte, NC, 31

Maria - Kleinburg, Ontario, 29

Marlena - West Palm Beach, FL, 26

Nat - Sudbury, Canada, 26

Rachel - Honolulu, HI, 26

Sam - Nashville, TN, 31

Samantha - Miami, FL, 25

Sandra - Nashville, TN, 26

Starr - Delray Beach, FL, 25

Sydney - Newport, RI, 28

Talyah - Huntington Beach, CA, 23

Taylor - Chicago, IL, 23

Zoe - Atlanta, GA, 24

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

9DRIP | ICONA POP

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9PLAYLIST | NO DOUBT

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THE BACHELOR S28. E3. | FOR THE LOVE OF LOVE

PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelor/Gizelle Hernandez

We enjoy kicking off the week with, The Bachelor’s Joey Graziadei. This season, they always give us a bit of a teaser on something taking place and we know that Joey is addressing issues with the women.

We start off with hearing the women in the house talking about them being excited about how things are progressing. Jesse Palmer lets them know that there are 18 women in the house, 2 group dates, and a 1-on-1 date. He leaves them with a group date card where Edwina, Kelsey A, Lexi, Allison, Madina, Chrissa, Lea, Sydney, and Maria will be on a date together. This date is about Mrs. Right and he hopes to find her. He invited a group of women on the date from The Golden Bachelor. April, Susan, Kathy, and Nancy came along. This date will be a pageant and the first one that the show has had. They first sported their loungewear looks, then it was time for them to answer questions asked by The Golden Bachelor women. The third round allows them to show their talents. The winner of the Bachelor Nation Mrs. Right Pageant is Lexi.

At the after party for the group date, the women all muse over Lexi getting the rose for her non-talent being chosen.

At the after-party, Joey gets to know them better and wants to know more about them and to dig into what happened with Madina who feels that she was bullied. He addresses it with the women, but then gives the rose to Kelsey A. He tells them that they need to step up and tell him about this and then he leaves them to all talk with one another. Sydney, Maria, and Madina all talk about the interaction that took place a few nights back.

The next date card arrives with Jenn getting the 1-on-1 date leaving the remainder of the women on the 2nd group date.

Once again we see Madina and Maria talking and establishing that they’re good. But they also recognize that Sydney is stirring things up for no reason.

Jenn’s date with Joey is going surfing! They pick out boards, wetsuits, and it’s a cute and active date. They continue to dinner and she discloses her family dynamic which is a pretty rough situation with the unease between her parents and then also not having her father in her life. He gives her the rose - which is a no-brainer.

The second group date card arrives and Katelyn, Autumn, Rachel, Daisy, Evalin, Kelsey T, Starr, and Jess are on a date together. Since he is done playing tennis, it seems like this will be a tennis date.

We catch up with Joey on his turf, the tennis court which is passion as well as what he does as a career. James Blake and Pam Shriver are also on this date! The first Bachelor Open has a bit of a crowd, costumes of the athletes, and more. They play doubles with one another and ultimately team Lobster and Butter - Kelsey T and Evalin win. At the cocktail party after this group date, he gets to know more about the women through their anecdotes. Katelyn shares that her family is cursed because all the women are single in her family. He connects with each of them and then he gives the date night rose to Katelyn.

The girls debrief about the tennis date and how it went. It seems like all the women are having good vibes ahead of the cocktail party. Jesse arrives and lets them know that there will not be a cocktail party and that there will be a pool party. They end up having a KFC lunch. As people start enjoying the party and being with Joey, of course Sydney gets messy again and tells Joey that Maria is the problem and how she verbally accosted her. Joey pulls Maria aside to find out what’s going on as he is surprised to hear this, but wants to get the facts. Maria tells him that she is not a bully and that she has had that happen to her. She also tells him that there is no way that you can like both Maria and Sydney because they are two different people. Joey cuts the pool party short (has there ever been a pool party that wasn’t cut off early?).

They head straight into the rose ceremony. He thanks them for being there and acknowledges that this process i leading him to where he wanted to be. He gives roses to Lexi, Lea, Kelsey T, Rachel, Madina, Daisy, Jess, Edwina, Autumn, Allison, Maria, and Sydney.

JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Allison, Autumn, Daisy, Edwina, Jenn, Jess, Katelyn, Kelsey A, Kelsey T, Lea, Lexi, Madina, Maria, Rachel, and Sydney

JOEY DID NOT GIVE A ROSE TO | Chrissa, Evalin, and Starr

Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!

---

WHO WE THINK IS GOING TO HOMETOWNS

DAISY

JENN

KELSEY T

MARIA

PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth

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THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS

Allison - Philadelphia, PA, 26

Autumn - St. Louis, MO, 26

Chandler - NY, NY, 24

Chrissa - Abbotsford, BC CA, 26

Daisy - Becker, MN, 25

Edwina - Atlanta, GA, 25

Erika - North Bergen, NJ, 25

Evalin - San Antonio, TX, 29

Jenn - Miami, FL, 25

Jessica "Jess" - San Diego, CA, 24

Katelyn - Santa Fe, NM, 25

Kayla - Hamilton, OH, 27

Kelsey A. - New Orleans, LA, 25

Kelsey T. - Los Angeles, CA, 31

Kyra - Miami, FL, 26

Laine - Philadelphia, PA, 27

Lauren - Philadelphia, PA, 28

Lea - Waipahu, HI, 23

Lexi - Atlanta, GA, 30

Madina - Charlotte, NC, 31

Maria - Kleinburg, Ontario, 29

Marlena - West Palm Beach, FL, 26

Nat - Sudbury, Canada, 26

Rachel - Honolulu, HI, 26

Sam - Nashville, TN, 31

Samantha - Miami, FL, 25

Sandra - Nashville, TN, 26

Starr - Delray Beach, FL, 25

Sydney - Newport, RI, 28

Talyah - Huntington Beach, CA, 23

Taylor - Chicago, IL, 23

Zoe - Atlanta, GA, 24

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE BACHELOR S28. E2. | THE JOURNEY REALLY BEGINS

PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelor/Gizelle Hernandez

In this 2nd episode of this season, The Bachelor Joey Graziadei is seen playing tennis with Jesse Palmer so we know that he is actually a pro. We also got a cold open that seems a bit intense!

They recap night one to see what everyone thought about their experience with Jesse. He lets them know that it’s all starting now.

Rachel, Taylor, Evalin, Erika, Maria, Lauren, Kelsey T., and Jess are on a group date together that involves the wedding date. They pick out their own dresses and head out to meet Joey. The wedding date is imagining that they are at their own reception and one woman will be able to have a dance with them! Lauren is having a hard time with this date as she is so sad with the passing of her father. Joey picks Rachel as the winner as she did all the activities with him. Michael Bolton sang for their first song and they had a great kiss as well! The group date continues with the after-party

The women get to know him more after their wedding date and they share their feelings so that he can get to know them more.

The ladies at the house hear about the next date which is a 1-on-1 date with Daisy.

Back at the group date, Jess gets the group date rose.

Daisy arrives at the date which includes a helicopter and then a fun music festival where they get to know one another more with food, beverages getting cute shirts. They dance on stage at the festival and Daisy realizes she needs to finally loop him in. She lets him know about her health issues at their dinner. He takes it in and feels that she is impressive with everything that she has been through and he gives her the rose as well.

The remaining women Allison, Chrissa, Edwina, Jenn, Katelyn, Kelsey A, Madina, Starr, are on the group date with him. Jubilee and Demi are The Bachelor alumni who are going to train them emotionally and physically for what’s ahead. The boot camp puts them through the paces as they break a sweat. After their warm-up, they learn that they will do paint balling. Although the blue team wins, only one person gets time with him. He selects Edwina to enjoy the evening date with him. They talk about her upbringing and what drives her and he gives her the date rose.

Maria and Medina have an odd conversation about age and it feels like it’s nonsencial. Lauren eliminated herself out of the house and said maybe she’d see him at Hometowns with her sister!

JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Alison, Autumn, Chrissa, Daisy, Edwina, Evalin, Jenn, Katelyn, Kelsey A, Kelsey T, Leah, Lexi, Madina, Maria, Rachel, Starr, and Sydney.

JOEY DID NOT GIVE ROSES TO | Erica, Lauren, Marlena, and Taylor

Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!

---

WHO WE THINK IS GOING TO HOMETOWNS

DAISY

JENN

KELSEY T.

LEA

PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth

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THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS

Allison - Philadelphia, PA, 26

Autumn - St. Louis, MO, 26

Chandler - NY, NY, 24

Chrissa - Abbotsford, BC CA, 26

Daisy - Becker, MN, 25

Edwina - Atlanta, GA, 25

Erika - North Bergen, NJ, 25

Evalin - San Antonio, TX, 29

Jenn - Miami, FL, 25

Jessica "Jess" - San Diego, CA, 24

Katelyn - Santa Fe, NM, 25

Kayla - Hamilton, OH, 27

Kelsey A. - New Orleans, LA, 25

Kelsey T. - Los Angeles, CA, 31

Kyra - Miami, FL, 26

Laine - Philadelphia, PA, 27

Lauren - Philadelphia, PA, 28

Lea - Waipahu, HI, 23

Lexi - Atlanta, GA, 30

Madina - Charlotte, NC, 31

Maria - Kleinburg, Ontario, 29

Marlena - West Palm Beach, FL, 26

Nat - Sudbury, Canada, 26

Rachel - Honolulu, HI, 26

Sam - Nashville, TN, 31

Samantha - Miami, FL, 25

Sandra - Nashville, TN, 26

Starr - Delray Beach, FL, 25

Sydney - Newport, RI, 28

Talyah - Huntington Beach, CA, 23

Taylor - Chicago, IL, 23

Zoe - Atlanta, GA, 24

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE BACHELOR S28. E1. | AND WE'RE BACK WITH JOEY

PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelor/Gizelle Hernandez

Were back for another season of The Bachelor where Joey Graziadei who was the runner up in S20 of The Bachelorette with Charity Lawson, is staring his jewelry. We get to see that he moved back to Philly to be near his family and to get his life back on track.

Jesse Palmer greets Joey and lets him know that he’s making history by having the most women in his season who he’ll get to know.

There are a number of great girls that we’re interested in and we can’t see how having 2 sisters in the mix could go wrong!

Jesse reminds us that during the After the Rose Ceremony, one of the women who appeared received a card and she is not able to open it until she gets into the house. He says that this will change the game - so we’ll have to wait and see.

All the women have arrived and we’re officially ready for it all to begin. Joey takes time with a number of the women getting to hear more about them, giving the first kiss (which Jess then tells everyone she received - not a great move), and they all wonder what is in Lea’s envelope.

Jesse arrives with the First Impression Rose. it always changes up the energy with the women. There are so many dramatic moments with the women, the 2 sisters letting everyone know that they are siblings, Jess being a villain, Jess and Taylor having their words with one another. We find out that Lea’s card says that she is able to steal someone’s 1-on-1 date anytime prior to Hometowns! That’s a game changer and a power move. In addition to telling Joey, she tells the women in the house - yet another mood shift and she burns it. It was a nice moment to see her show that level of transparency with the women in the house. Of course, Jess chimes in that she would have kept it - no one asked her what she would do. We also see Maria kiss him when she said that she wouldn’t on the first day. Lea gets the First Impression Rose and of course that creates a lot of emotion around the house. He loves her character and is excited to go on the journey with her. Jesse lets them know that the cocktail party has come to an end and those who didn’t get a chance to talk with him have a lot of feelings to sort out.

With the rose ceremony, there are 32 women who will get to see where they are on this part of the journey! It’s a long night, but those who are super emotional the first night, how will they be able to make it as they continue throughout this season with all of the highs and lows?

JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Alison, Autumn, Catelyn, Chrissa, Daisy, Edwina, Erica, Evalin, Jenn, Jess, Kelsey A, Kelsey T, Lauren, Leah (First Impression Rose), Lexi, Madina, Maria, Rachel, Starr, and Taylor.

JOEY DID NOT GIVE ROSES TO | Chandler, Kayla, Kyra, Lanie, Nat, Sam H., Samantha, Sandra, Talyah, and Zoe.

Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!

---

WHO WE THINK IS GOING TO HOMETOWNS

JENN

KELSEY T.

LAUREN

LEA

PHOTO CREDIT | The Bachelor Contestants/Richard Middlesworth

---

THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS

Allison - Philadelphia, PA, 26

Autumn - St. Louis, MO, 26

Chandler - NY, NY, 24

Chrissa - Abbotsford, BC CA, 26

Daisy - Becker, MN, 25

Edwina - Atlanta, GA, 25

Erika - North Bergen, NJ, 25

Evalin - San Antonio, TX, 29

Jenn - Miami, FL, 25

Jessica "Jess" - San Diego, CA, 24

Katelyn - Santa Fe, NM, 25

Kayla - Hamilton, OH, 27

Kelsey A. - New Orleans, LA, 25

Kelsey T. - Los Angeles, CA, 31

Kyra - Miami, FL, 26

Laine - Philadelphia, PA, 27

Lauren - Philadelphia, PA, 28

Lea - Waipahu, HI, 23

Lexi - Atlanta, GA, 30

Madina - Charlotte, NC, 31

Maria - Kleinburg, Ontario, 29

Marlena - West Palm Beach, FL, 26

Nat - Sudbury, Canada, 26

Rachel - Honolulu, HI, 26

Sam - Nashville, TN, 31

Samantha - Miami, FL, 25

Sandra - Nashville, TN, 26

Starr - Delray Beach, FL, 25

Sydney - Newport, RI, 28

Talyah - Huntington Beach, CA, 23

Taylor - Chicago, IL, 23

Zoe - Atlanta, GA, 24

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THIS HOLIDAY SEASON | JOANNA GARCIA SWISHER

The holiday season means that we're doing a lot more than we usually do. In the midst of those activities is hanging out with friends, family, and colleagues whether we're hosting them in our homes, going out for dinner, or enjoying copious parties! We caught up with Netflix Sweet Magnolia's Joanna Garcia Swisher to find out how she makes sure that she's not only being healthy, but keeping others safe while being out and about. She also lets us in on when we can expect to see her on our screens again!

ATHLEISURE MAG: The holiday season is upon us which means we're juggling a really full schedule! What are you doing this holiday season with you and your family?

JOANNA GARCIA SWISHER: Well, we’re trying to enjoy it as much as possible. The holiday season feels like it’s already here, it’s breezing by and it’s been a wild couple of weeks but we’re really excited to spend time with family. My brother in-law and sister in-law have a new baby and they’re bringing her to Florida for her first Christmas here. So, we have bouncers and baby toys all over the place and it’s really bringing me back. My husband is a little nervous, he’s like “What does this mean for us?" But yeah, after the holiday we’re going to head to the lake and get a little cozy winter feel in Georgia and have lots of wood burning fires and all of that.

AM: What traditions do you enjoy during this season?

JGS: We do Christmas Eve really big in our house, we have a house full of kids and people and we do a huge Minute to Win It game with 10-15 events and it gets the whole family involved, from parents to grandparents to the youngest members of our family. We have all of our Cuban traditions with pork and all of the things that we’ve eaten growing up and it's a really nostalgic time for our family. Traditions are huge for me so it’s something I really look forward to.

AM: When people in your family are feeling sick, what do you do?

JGS: Well, aside from panicking, I have all the essential elements so whenever me, my husband or kids - I was actually sick a few weeks ago - show any symptoms, I have a checklist. It usually starts with trying to figure out what it is so I always have my Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Self Tests and they are the first thing we do because as a Mom, you want to know what you’re working with and how best to approach what we’re about to be getting into. So really it’s about being prepared and having the essentials on hand, and the BinaxNOW COVID tests are our first plan of attack.

AM: How do you take time for yourself as a busy mom just so that you get the self-care that you need?

JGS: You know I always say, it doesn’t have to be an hour. Gosh, if we had an hour to ourselves everyday that would be so nice. But even just sneaking in 15 minutes of something you enjoy - a podcast and I love to read. Taking the time to really decompress because the running checklist in our heads as mothers is always on and going, this time of year especially. I was just talking to one of my girl friends about it and she was like, “I’ve just got the teacher’s gifts done, and this and that,” it adds to the list. So I think just really taking time even if it's just a 15 minute breather or lunch with a girl friend. Something to just - take a break - and it’s ok, if you have time for a nap, take a nap!

AM: You're someone who enjoys traveling, what are some of the things that you do to make the experience smooth and effortless?

JGS: I am married to a man that really likes a plan, he is not a free spirit in any way, he is like “I need to know what we are doing.” So what I’ve learned after 13 years of marriage is that having an itinerary really helps him, while I'm the one who wants to explore and see where the day takes us. But I also got a little feedback when we went to London this summer, my family had a little bit of an intervention with me and basically said that I over-scheduled us. So, now we plan one big adventure a day and my husband knows what we’re doing and then carving out time to relax. They’re more of a beach vacation family, and I like to sight see, so we have to kind of figure that out but it’s a work in progress and a good plan for our family.

AM: We've been fans of your work since Are Your Afraid of the Dark, Astronaut Wives Club, Sweet Magnolia, and The Ultimatum: Queer Love! Do you have any upcoming projects that you would like to share with us that we should keep an eye out for?

JGS: Well yea, we’re starting the new year off with a bang, we’re starting to film Season 4 of Sweet Magnolias which I’m so excited about. We’re also doing a second season of Ultimatum Queer Love. I don’t know if I can reveal where we’re shooting it but where we are shooting it is a city that I love so I’m super excited about that. So the new year’s gonna start off pretty busy but with two shows that I’m so excited for and proud of.

IG @jogarciaswisher

PHOTO CREDITS | PG 70 Abbott | PG 72 Netflix/Sweet Magnolia

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AWARDS SEASON | BAFTA NOMINATIONS

Last week we shared the British Academy named the nominees for its Rising Star award for up-and-coming onscreen talent, the only honor among the BAFTA film awards to be voted on by the public. The remainder of the nominations unveiled earlier today and this post has been updated with that information! Our predictions are in bold, the ones we correctly identified as winners are in bold italics and winners that we didn’t predict are in italics.

BEST FILM

ANATOMY OF A FALL Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion

THE HOLDOVERS Mark Johnson

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Dan Friedkin, Daniel Lupi, Martin Scorsese, Bradley Thomas

OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas

POOR THINGS Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey

HOW TO HAVE SEX Molly Manning Walker, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon, Konstantinos Kontovrakis

NAPOLEON Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Kevin J. Walsh, David Scarpa

THE OLD OAK Ken Loach, Rebecca O'Brien, Paul Laverty

POOR THINGS Yorgos Lanthimos, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, Tony McNamara

RYE LANE Raine Allen-Miller, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia

SALTBURN Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie

SCRAPPER Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough

WONKA Paul King, Alexandra Derbyshire, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby

THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

BLUE BAG LIFE Lisa Selby (Director), Rebecca Lloyd-Evans (Director, Producer), Alex Fry (Producer)

BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT Christopher Sharp (Director) [also directed Moses Bwayo]

EARTH MAMA Savanah Leaf (Writer, Director, Producer), Shirley O'Connor (Producer), Medb Riordan (Producer)

HOW TO HAVE SEX Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director)

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? Ella Glendining (Director)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath

ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion

PAST LIVES Celine Song, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon

SOCIETY OF THE SNOW J.A. Bayona, Belen Atienza

THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer, PGA

DOCUMENTARY

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath

AMERICAN SYMPHONY Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino, Joedan Okun

BEYOND UTOPIA Madeleine Gavin, Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum

STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Annetta Marion

WHAM! Chris Smith

ANIMATED FILM

THE BOY AND THE HERON Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki

CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET Sam Fell, Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram

ELEMENTAL Peter Sohn, Denise Ream

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg

DIRECTOR

ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh

ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet

THE HOLDOVERS Alexander Payne

MAESTRO Bradley Cooper

OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan

THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Arthur Harari

BARBIE Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach

THE HOLDOVERS David Hemingson

MAESTRO Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer

PAST LIVES Celine Song

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh

AMERICAN FICTION Cord Jefferson

OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan

POOR THINGS Tony McNamara

THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer

LEADING ACTRESS

FANTASIA BARRINO The Color Purple

SANDRA HÜLLER Anatomy of a Fall

CAREY MULLIGAN Maestro

VIVIAN OPARAH Rye Lane

MARGOT ROBBIE Barbie

EMMA STONE Poor Things

LEADING ACTOR

BRADLEY COOPER Maestro

COLMAN DOMINGO Rustin

PAUL GIAMATTI The Holdovers

BARRY KEOGHAN Saltburn

CILLIAN MURPHY Oppenheimer

TEO YOO Past Lives

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

EMILY BLUNT Oppenheimer

DANIELLE BROOKS The Color Purple

CLAIRE FOY All of Us Strangers

SANDRA HÜLLER The Zone of Interest

ROSAMUND PIKE Saltburn

DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH The Holdovers

SUPPORTING ACTOR

ROBERT DE NIRO Killers of The Flower Moon

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. Oppenheimer

JACOB ELORDI Saltburn

RYAN GOSLING Barbie

PAUL MESCAL All of Us Strangers

DOMINIC SESSA The Holdovers

ORIGINAL SCORE

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Robbie Robertson

OPPENHEIMER Ludwig Göransson

POOR THINGS Jerskin Fendrix

SALTBURN Anthony Willis

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Daniel Pemberton

CASTING

ALL OF US STRANGERS Kahleen Crawford

ANATOMY OF A FALL Cynthia Arra

THE HOLDOVERS Susan Shopmaker

HOW TO HAVE SEX Isabella Odoffin

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes

CINEMATOGRAPHY

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Rodrigo Prieto

MAESTRO Matthew Libatique

OPPENHEIMER Hoyte van Hoytema

POOR THINGS Robbie Ryan

THE ZONE OF INTEREST Łukasz Żal

EDITING

ANATOMY OF A FALL Laurent Sénéchal

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Thelma Schoonmaker

OPPENHEIMER Jennifer Lame

POOR THINGS Yorgos Mavropsaridis

THE ZONE OF INTEREST Paul Watts

PRODUCTION DESIGN

BARBIE Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jack Fisk, Adam Willis

OPPENHEIMER Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman

POOR THINGS Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek

THE ZONE OF INTEREST Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora

COSTUME DESIGN

BARBIE Jacqueline Durran

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jacqueline West

NAPOLEON Dave Crossman, Janty Yates

OPPENHEIMER Ellen Mirojnick

POOR THINGS Holly Waddington

MAKE UP & HAIR

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen

MAESTRO Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori McCoy-Bell

NAPOLEON Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon

OPPENHEIMER Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid

POOR THINGS Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston

SOUND

FERRARI Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser

MAESTRO Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor

OPPENHEIMER Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O'Connell, Gary A. Rizzo

THE ZONE OF INTEREST Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

THE CREATOR Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke

NAPOLEON Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet

POOR THINGS Simon Hughes

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION

CRAB DAY Ross Stringer, Bartosz Stanislawek, Aleksandra Sykulak

VISIBLE MENDING Samantha Moore, Tilley Bancroft

WILD SUMMON Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Jay Woolley

BRITISH SHORT FILM

FESTIVAL OF SLAPS Abdou Cissé, Cheri Darbon, George Telfer

GORKA Joe Weiland, Alex Jefferson

JELLYFISH AND LOBSTER Yasmin Afifi, Elizabeth Rufai

SUCH A LOVELY DAY Simon Woods, Polly Stokes, Emma Norton, Kate Phibbs

YELLOW Elham Ehsas, Dina Mousawi, Azeem Bhati, Yiannis Manolopoulos

EE RISING STAR AWARD

PHOEBE DYNEVOR

AYO EDEBIRI

JACOB ELORDI

MIA MCKENNA-BRUCE

SOPHIE WILDE

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63MIX ROUTIN3S | LA LA ANTHONY

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9DRIP | ADAM COPELAND

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9LIST STORI3S | JOANNA GARCIA SWISHER

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AWARDS SEASON | DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Yesterday the 76th Director Guild Awards (DGA) announced their nominees for TV and today, they announced those in film. Our predictions are in bold, the ones we correctly identified as winners are in bold italics and winners that we didn’t predict are in italics.

TV

DRAMATIC SERIES

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):

PETER HOAR

The Last of Us, “Long, Long Time”

(HBO | MAX)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Cecil O’Connor

• First Assistant Director: Bethan Mowat

BECKY MARTIN

Succession, “Rehearsal”

(HBO | MAX)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Hilary Kehoe, Gabrielle Mahon

• First Assistant Director: John Silvestri

• Second Assistant Director: Nicholas Notte

• Second Second Assistant Director: Jimmy Rosario

• Location Manager: Paul Eskenazi

MARK MYLOD

Succession, “Connor’s Wedding”

(HBO | MAX)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Hilary Kehoe, Gabrielle Mahon

• First Assistant Director: Christo Morse

• Second Assistant Directors: Sahar Shmolevitz, Justin Bischoff

• Second Second Assistant Director: Jimmy Rosario

• Additional Second Assistant Directors: Cris Iannucci, Norman Franklin, Kyle Burstein

• Location Manager: Paul Eskenazi

ANDRIJ PAREKH

Succession, “America Decides”

(HBO | MAX)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Hilary Kehoe, Gabrielle Mahon

• First Assistant Director: John Silvestri

• Second Assistant Director: Nicholas Notte

• Second Second Assistant Director: Jimmy Rosario

• Location Manager: Paul Eskenazi

ROBERT PULCINI & SHARI SPRINGER BERMAN

Succession, “Tailgate Party”

(HBO | MAX)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Hilary Kehoe, Gabrielle Mahon

• First Assistant Director: Michelle Flevotomas

• Second Assistant Director: Sahar Shmolevitz

• Second Second Assistant Director: Jimmy Rosario

• Additional Second Assistant Directors: Isabel Sofia Cervantes, Nicole Kay Payson

• Location Manager: Paul Eskenazi

COMEDY SERIES

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):

ERICA DUNTON

Ted Lasso, “La Locker Room Aux Folles”

(Apple TV+)

BILL HADER

Barry, “wow”

(HBO | MAX)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Aida Rodgers

• First Assistant Director: Gavin Kleintop

• Second Assistant Director: Erin Stern Linares

• Second Second Assistant Directors: Yarden Levo, George Williams

DECLAN LOWNEY

Ted Lasso, “So Long, Farewell”

(Apple TV+)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Mike Livanos (U.S. Unit)

• First Assistant Director: Jason Z. Kemp (U.S. Unit)

• Second Assistant Director: Christopher Cook (U.S. Unit)

CHRISTOPHER STORER

The Bear, “Fishes”

(FX)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Tyson Bidner, Carrie Holt de Lama

• First Assistant Directors: Duccio Fabbri, Pablo Gambetta

• Second Assistant Director: Larissa Malarek

• Second Second Assistant Directors: Olivia Dame, Hiro Taniguchi

• Location Manager: Maria C. Roxas

RAMY YOUSSEF

The Bear, “Honeydew”

(FX)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Tyson Bidner, Carrie Holt de Lama

• First Assistant Directors: Kit Bland, Pablo Gambetta

• Second Assistant Director: Larissa Malarek

• Second Second Assistant Directors: Olivia Dame, Hiro Taniguchi

• Location Manager: Maria C. Roxas

MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND LIMITED SERIES

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Limited Series for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):

SHAWN LEVY

All the Light We Cannot See

(Netflix)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Scott Elias

• First Assistant Director: Josh McLaglen

• Second Assistant Director: Simeon Jones

TARA MIELE

Lessons in Chemistry, “Introduction to Chemistry”

(Apple TV+)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Chris Hayden

• First Assistant Director: Katie Carroll

• Second Assistant Director: Alexis Olsen Colwell

MILLICENT SHELTON

Lessons in Chemistry, “Poirot”

(Apple TV+)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Chris Hayden

• First Assistant Director: Kristofer Kolpek

• Second Assistant Director: Deborah Chung

SARAH ADINA SMITH

Lessons in Chemistry, “Her and Him”

(Apple TV+)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Steven Brown

• First Assistant Director: Kristofer Kolpek

• Second Assistant Director: Deborah Chung

NZINGHA STEWART

Daisy Jones & The Six, “ Track 10: Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”

(Amazon)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Michael Nelson

• First Assistant Director: Anna Notarides

• Second Assistant Director: Samantha Hollingsworth

• Second Second Assistant Directors : Tarin Squillante, Jeff Tavani, Alex Lee Bonner, Matthew Kramer

• Location Manager: Batou Chandler

VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):

PAUL G. CASEY

Real Time with Bill Maher, “Episode 2117”

(HBO | MAX)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Director: Stacy Talbot

• Stage Managers: Brian Anderson, Patrick Whitney

JIM HOSKINSON

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “Jan. 19, 2023: Rep. Adam Kinzinger; Meet Me at the Altar; Special appearance by Harvey Guillén”

(CBS)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Directors: Yvonne DeMare, Karen Yaeger

• Stage Managers: Mark McKenna, Jeff Leib

MICHAEL MANCINI & LIZ PATRICK

Saturday Night Live, “Pedro Pascal / Coldplay”

(NBC)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Directors: Janine DeVito, Michael Poole, Laura Ouziel-Mack

• Stage Managers: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly, Eddie Valk

DAVID PAUL MEYER

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, “Singer Charley Crockett Performs “Name on a Billboard” and Discusses New Album with Jordan Klepper “

(Comedy Central)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Director: Adrienne Ford

• Stage Managers: Bennymar Almonte, Tyler Goldman

PAUL PENNOLINO

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, “Episode 1018: Dollar Stores”

(HBO | MAX)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Director: Elliot Mendelson

• Stage Managers: Craig Spinney, Mark McKenna, Jeff Leib, Steven Van Patten

VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – SPECIALS

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):

JOEL GALLEN

Chris Rock: Selective Outrage

(Netflix)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Director: Robin Mishkin Abrams

• Stage Manager: Arthur Lewis

STAN LATHAN

Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer

(Netflix)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Director: Jill Dove

• Stage Manager: Valdez Flagg

LINDA MENDOZA

Wanda Sykes: I’m an Entertainer

(Netflix)

Directorial Team:

• Stage Manager: Dan Frank

PAUL MILLER

Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love

(NBC)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Director: Sara Niimi

• Stage Managers: Gary Natoli, Alissa Levisohn Hoyo, Christopher McDonald, Jackie Stathis

GLENN WEISS

The 95th Annual Academy Awards

(ABC)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Directors: Ken Diego, Ricky Kirshner, Susan Kopensky, Lori Margules, Robin Mishkin Abrams, Sara Niimi, Kristen Patterson Terry, Michael Polito

• Stage Managers: Gary Natoli, Alexis Brusig, Rita Cossette, John Esposito, Valdez Flagg, Doug Fogel, Chris Hines, Alissa Levisohn Hoyo, Arthur Lewis, Roxanne Lozano, Donna Parker, Ron Paul, Tammy Raab, Jason Seligman, Jackie Stathis, Cheryl Teetzel-Moore, Ari Woog

REALITY PROGRAMS

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):

NIHARIKA DESAI

Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, “Happiness is a Bottle of Cod Liver Oil”

(Peacock)

KEN FUCHS

The Golden Bachelor, “Premiere”

(ABC)

Directorial Team:

• Stage Manager: Isaiah Fuchs

JOSEPH GUIDRY & ALEXANDRA LIPSITZ

Project Greenlight: A New Generation, “PGL vs. Gray Matter Problem”

(HBO | MAX)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Director: Lizzie MacPherson

• Stage Manager: T.J. Ganser

RICH KIM

Lego Masters, “Is It Brick?”

(FOX)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Director: Ryan Bunnell

• Stage Managers: Will Baker, Dan Shepard

PATRICK McMANUS

American Ninja Warrior, “Season 15 Finale”

(NBC)

Directorial Team:

• Associate Director: Dave Massey

• Stage Managers: Sara Brown, Sean P. Galvin, T.J. Ganser, Joseph R. Osborne, Matthew Patrick, Greg Rosa, Louise Story

***

CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):

JAMES BOBIN

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, “I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher”

(Disney+)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Jim Rowe

• First Assistant Director: Pete Whyte

• Location Manager: David Occhino

DESTIN DANIEL CRETTON

American Born Chinese, “What Guy Are You”

(Disney+)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Erin O’Malley

• First Assistant Director: Katie Hausmann

• Second Assistant Directors: Randin Brown Hargrave, Morgan Willis

ROB LETTERMAN

Goosebumps, “Say Cheese and Die”

(Disney+)

AMY SCHATZ

Stand Up & Shout: Songs From a Philly High School

(HBO | MAX)

DINH THAI

American Born Chinese, “A Monkey on a Quest”

(Disney+)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Erin O’Malley, Stacy Murphy Gold

• First Assistant Director: Michael Risoli

• Second Assistant Director: Morgan Willis

COMMERCIALS

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):

MARTIN de THURAH

(Epoch Films)

Fair Exchange, Levi’s 501 Jeans – Droga5

Legends Never Die, Levi’s 501 Jeans, Droga5

SEB EDWARDS

(Park Pictures)

Rumble, Battle of the Baddest – Droga5

• First Assistant Director: George Walker

KIM GEHRIG

(Somesuch)

Run This Town, Apple Music – Apple (Client Direct)

• First Assistant Director: David Webb

The Travelers, Expedia – Wieden & Kennedy

• First Assistant Director: Zaida Fakih

CRAIG GILLESPIE

(MJZ)

Waiting Room, Apple iPhone – TBWA/Media Arts Lab

• Unit Production Manager: Martha Davis

• First Assistant Director: Christian Van Fleet

• Second Assistant Director: Gregory Moutran

ANDREAS NILSSON

(Biscuit Filmworks)

R.I.P. Leon, Apple iPhone – Apple (Client Direct)

• First Assistant Director: Gareth Moses

Action Mode, Apple iPhone14 – Apple (Client Direct)

• First Assistant Director: Gareth Moses

Choose Happy, Les Mills Fitness – Nice&Frank, San Francisco

Wait’ll You See This, Snapchat – Snapchat (Client Direct)

DOCUMENTARY

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):

MOSES BWAYO & CHRISTOPHER SHARP

Bobi Wine: The People’s President

(National Geographic)

MSTYSLAV CHERNOV

20 Days in Mariupol

(PBS Distribution)

MADELEINE GAVIN

Beyond Utopia

(Roadside Attractions)

DAVIS GUGGENHEIM

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

(Apple Original Films)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: John Locke

• First Assistant Director: Richard Rosser

D. SMITH

Kokomo City

(Magnolia Pictures)

FILM

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM FOR 2023 (in alphabetical order):

GRETA GERWIG

Barbie

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Michael Sharp

• First Assistant Director: Josh Robertson

• Second Assistant Directors: David Keadell, Matthew Milan (Los Angeles Unit)

YORGOS LANTHIMOS

Poor Things

(Searchlight Pictures)

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

Oppenheimer

(Universal Pictures)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Thomas Hayslip, Nathan Kelly, Rafael Lima (New Jersey / New York Unit)

• First Assistant Director: Nilo Otero

• Second Assistant Director: Andrew Stahl

• Second Second Assistant Director: Jesse Carmona

• Additional Second Assistant Directors: Dixon McPhillips, Richard Molloy (New Jersey / New York Unit), AJ Jackson (New Jersey / New York Unit)

• Location Manager: Patty Carey Perazzo (New Jersey / New York Unit)

ALEXANDER PAYNE

The Holdovers

(Focus Features)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Chris Stinson

• First Assistant Director: Rod Smith

• Second Assistant Director: John Nasraway

• Second Second Assistant Director: Tim LaDue

MARTIN SCORSESE

Killers of the Flower Moon

(Apple Original Films / Paramount Pictures)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Daniel Lupi, Shea Kammer

• First Assistant Director: Adam Somner

• Second Assistant Director: Jeremy Marks

• Second Second Assistant Director: Dominic Pacitti

• Additional Second Assistant Director: Nuekellar Hardy

Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film (in alphabetical order):

CORD JEFFERSON

American Fiction

(Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios)

MANUELA MARTELLI

Chile ‘76

(Kino Lober)

NOORA NIASARI

Shayda

(Sony Pictures Classics / ORIGMA 45)

A.V. ROCKWELL

A Thousand and One

(Focus Features)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Jamin O’Brien

• First Assistant Director: Daniel Lugo

• Second Assistant Director: Teena Marie Delerme-Lugo

• Assistant Unit Production Manager: Rob York

• Second Second Assistant Director: Donté Bouyer

• Additional Second Assistant Director: T.J. Hallett

• Location Manager: Joanna Lu

CELINE SONG

Past Lives

(A24)

Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Kerry Johnson

• First Assistant Director: Ben Kahn

• Second Assistant Director: Geraldine Schubert

• Second Second Assistant Director: Dan Levy

• Location Manager: Joseph Mullaney

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

AWARDS SEASON | SAG AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The 30th SAG Awards will take place on Feb 24th and for the first time will be streaming globally on Netflix. Our predictions are in bold, the ones we correctly identified as winners are in bold italics and winners that we didn’t predict are in italics.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

American Fiction

Barbie

The Color Purple

Killers of the Flower Moon

Oppenheimer

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper – Maestro

Colman Domingo – Rustin

Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers

Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer

Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Annette Bening – Nyad

Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon

Carey Mulligan – Maestro

Margot Robbie – Barbie

Emma Stone – Poor Things

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction

Willem Dafoe – Poor Things

Robert De Niro – Killers of the Flower Moon

Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer

Ryan Gosling – Barbie

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Emily Blunt – Oppenheimer

Danielle Brooks – The Color Purple

Penelope Cruz – Ferrari

Jodie Foster – Nyad

Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

The Crown

The Gilded Age

The Last of Us

The Morning Show

Succession

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

Abbot Elementary

Barry

The Bear

Only Murders in the Building

Ted Lasso

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Brian Cox – Succession

Billy Crudup – The Morning Show

Kieran Culkin – Succession

Matthew Macfadyen – Succession

Pedro Pascal – The Last of Us

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Jennifer Aniston – The Morning Show

Elizabeth Debicki – The Crown

Bella Ramsey – The Last of Us

Keri Russell – The Diplomat

Sarah Snook – Succession

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary

Ayo Edebiri – The Bear

Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso

Bill Hader – Barry

Ebon Moss-Bachrach – The Bear

Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso

Jeremy Allen White – The Bear

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

Uzo Aduba – Painkiller

Kathryn Hahn – Tiny Beautiful Things

Brie Larson – Lessons in Chemistry

Bel Powley – A Small Light

Ali Wong – Beef

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

Matt Bomer – Fellow Travelers

Jon Hamm – Fargo

David Oyelowo – Lawmen: Bass Reeves

Tony Shalhoub – Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie

Steven Yeun – Beef

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

Ahsoka

Barry

Beef

The Last of Us

The Mandalorian

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Barbie

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

John Wick: Chapter 4

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

9LIST STORI3S | DANIEL AUGUSTIN

Read the DEC ISSUE #96 of Athleisure Mag and see 9LIST STORI3S | Daniel Augustin in mag.

THE GOLDEN WEDDING | GERRY + THERESA GET MARRIED

PHOTO CREDITS | ABC The Golden Bachelor

The Golden Bachelor left us with an engagement between Theresa Nist and Gerry Turner! Tonight, we’re watching the wedding live from the La Quinta Resort in Palm Springs. Various contestants from his season are either commentators on the red carpet from Kathy to even seeing stunning Ellen (rocking Gerry’s earrings). Leslie even showed up to congratulate the happy couple! We know that Susan will be officiating the wedding so it’s interesting to see how those in his season are there as well as having Charity Lawson from S20 of The Bachelorette as a correspondent on The Golden Carpet. We also saw how Theresa and Gerry spent their Christmas holiday as it was the first time that their families came together for this event! Tonight, we will see the wedding as well as the reception of the first The Golden Bachelor wedding that has ever taken place.

We also get to see behind the scenes of Gerry getting ready (as he places his hearing aids in). It’s always fun to see the OGs coming together as well as those that we have seen more recently. Of course, Joey Graziadei makes an appearance and it’s nice to see Charity wishing him well for his journey on The Bachelor. We even get to see what the wedding will look like in terms of the tablescapes. We have previously interviewed Mindy Weiss about her approach to event planning and seeing what she did with this wedding, is amazing. Jesse also keeps giving us updates on how his wife is doing as she is pregnant.

It’s really nice to see how many of the women are so connected with one another naturally - not to say that that has not been true in other seasons, but the authenticity amongst these women in this group is amazing. The Bachelorette party included a boudoir shoot with some of her friends as well as Chippendales that came to end the night - so fun to watch them all have a good time. Dotun, Charity’s husband even came by and was quickly stolen away by Kathy!

Finally, after looking back at events during the season and recent events leading to the wedding, the actual ceremony begins. Attendees included 50 people from Bachelor Nation, friends, family, etc and it looks like a nice gathering. All the details clearly have come together seamlessly. Susan looks amazing as the officiant. Their children share their loving thoughts on both Gerry and Theresa. They exchange their vows and share anecdotes of their experiences with one another and they exchange rings. Susan pronounces them married and we move onto the reception. During the reception we see more of Bachelor Nation as well as learn that Charity and Dotun will be getting married in the fall of 2025 - mark your calendars.

Each night during this season, we have tweeted about The Golden Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

NEW YEAR, N3W YOU

Read the DEC ISSUE #96 of Athleisure Mag and see NEW YEAR, N3W YOU in mag.

THE HEAT | DANIEL AUUSTIN

This month, one of our favorite shows came back for its second season, HBO's Rap Sh!t which follows the journey of Shawna (Aida Osman) and Mia (KaMillion) as they navigate the music industry. Their relationship and journey is loosely based on City Girls. We learn about the music scene in South Florida, the Haitian community and what they do in order to survive along their ride to the top! One of the main characters, Maurice is played by Daniel Augustin who we have enjoyed in ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Hulu's How I Met Your Father! We wanted to find out more about this entertainer, how he approaches his craft, and what we can expect from this season of Rap Sh!t.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s so good to sit down with you as I have been a fan of your work and I love your character Maurice in Rap Sh!t and of course, the show is amazing! So I’m excited to talk with you!

DANIEL AUGUSTIN: Thank you so much! Thank you so much for saying that! It’s very exciting to hear and I’m excited to talk to you guys too!

AM: It’s clear that you’re definitely an entertainer. You’re an actor, director, producer, and a musician. When did you realize that you wanted to be in this industry?

DA: I think that I realized that I wanted to be in this industry before I knew how to be. That was around the time when I was watching Hannah Montana.

AM: Oh!

DA: The TV show, yeah! I didn’t know how to be an actor at that time because all I could do was the community acting in South Florida. South Florida didn’t have anywhere near the industry. I think in South Florida there were some Nickelodeon shows, but nothing along the lines of what I was seeing on Hannah Montana. I remember Hannah Montana’s (Miley Cyrus) brother on the show whose name was Jackson (Jason Earles) - I remember hearing he was 28/29/30 and he was playing her high school brother. I remember thinking how many opportunities must come from being able to portray characters at different ages. I just remember watching that show and that it sparked my imagination as to what’s possible and to no longer seeing what I see on TV as solely impossible.

AM: Right.

DA: I mean, she was even doing a bunch of stuff like being dressed up and nobody knowing that it’s her and all she’s doing is just wearing a different wig! That show did a lot for me and I think that at the time that that came out, I was probably 14/15 and that’s when I felt that I wanted to do it. Before that, watching people like Martin Lawrence (Martin, Boomerang, Bad Boys franchise), Jamie Foxx (Ray, White House Down, The Amazing Spider Man 2), Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie franchise, Respect, Air), and Will Smith (Men in Black franchise, Suicide Squad, King Richard) in their sitcoms that they had at the time – those guys raised me essentially and I think that that’s where I found my sense of charisma and playfulness with people. But I don’t think that it was until I saw the Hannah Montana show that I started to think that anything could kind of be possible. This guy is 29 years old and he’s playing someone in high school! That’s when I started to think about how I could go about doing this.

AM: That’s really cool and it’s interesting to see where inspiration can come from.

Earlier this month, you released Movie. Why did you want to take on this project?

DA: Movie means a lot to me because I have not been releasing music in years. I started releasing music when I was maybe 10 years old. So I think I stopped around 2018 as I had made a very hard pivot towards film and TV so I have not been recording, I have not been writing, and I hadn’t really been finding my way to sonics in the way that I would as a recording artist. I was very excited about doing this because when the SAG strike happened, I wasn’t nervous about anything, but I thought about how much control of my career that I don’t necessarily have per se. I don’t want to feel like I don’t have control of my life. So I started to pivot and focus on writing again and I started to focus first on screenwriting. I wrote a pilot, I wrote about my old high school football coach and I’m writing a feature film with my wife, Sh’Kia Augustin that we’re collaborating on. But there was still something that I didn’t feel like I was activated in a very theatrical way and in a way that moves through my body. So, I started to team up with the guys – a majority of those that I did when I was young. So I started in a Christian rap group called Mav-7 and I started reaching out to those guys that were in that group. Alvin Lewis is the main one who is servicing as all forms of A&R, helping me find music/songs and people to work with. Steven Guy, Channel Aria Sound, that’s just 3 names off the top and these guys were helping me craft my sound again. They were helping me craft stories and they were helping me see myself in an entertaining way that amused me and in a way that I felt would be entertaining to others and that I would want to be behind it.

I think that the strike had a lot to do with it and it offered me a lot of time to actually find another form or way to express myself.

AM: You also released Kinfolk: The Series which is 6 episodes and is also your passion project. It was also recognized and selected in Tribeca’s 2022 Creator Market, what led to that coming about?

DA: Kinfolk is another form of taking control of my career. I didn’t film it and you know work on it just to take control of my career. I started as a production assistant and I learned so many skills as a production assistant. I think I started in 2012 working at this small production company called As Seen On TV. They do these smaller commercials for products that you’ll see in Walgreens and Walmart. The commercials will go on late at night, but this gentleman, Laszlo Rain, he would do such an amazing job at making sets to make it look like it was a much bigger professional production. I was always enamored at that and I was always enamored at the magic behind what it took to make it look good. As an actor, I see the part that I play, but there are so many parts that go into the process.

Around 2010, Kanye West had come out with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album that he did and I also remember High School Musical. High School Musical really changed the way that I saw creativity as a whole. From that point on, I wasn’t the guy that was just making the songs, I wasn’t the guy that was the actor, I wanted to turn my songs into a script. So it went from, I want to make music and to feel the rhythms – it turned from that to wanting to be able to turn this into more of a narrative. My wife and I, who was my girlfriend at the time, she helped me get my first camera. It was a Canon 5D Mark III. We bought that camera and we started shooting. I still didn’t know that I wanted to do all of this stuff yet because I wasn’t good at it. I wasn’t good at directing, I wasn’t good at editing, I wasn’t good at coloring, I was bad at it – I was bad at all of that stuff actually.

But we just kept doing stuff, kept shooting stuff and people kept asking me for stuff. They’d say that they had a wedding on Fri and if I could help them, and I would. That would allow me to have a new lesson on a Fri that I hadn’t expected to get. So upon doing Kinfolk, I think that that was a culmination of a lot of different years of being creative and just just being in front of the camera. That’s not to say that being in front of the camera is not creative. But you see how much more creativity goes into pre-producing a project and then the post-production of a project. I think that by doing pre-production, post-production, and feeling the sense of gratitude for completing the project, I started to really feel like I was more than the person who waits to be picked and on set. A lot of the people that I worked with on set, those actors would tell me how much they appreciated the opportunity because a lot of those people were those that were super talented, but they weren’t booking stuff. Booking is not that simple. It’s hard and it feels like a lottery sometimes. It feels like you’re just not going to win! Upon working with other people and other actors, who just really want to be able to go out and do this, I started to appreciate it more because I think that I started to get more value out of my days because I was able to service more people than myself as opposed to just waiting for an audition. I know I started to appreciate that process more and more and I think that that’s where it all started.

AM: That’s really interesting and because of that, you and your wife, have your production company Augustin Productions. What are the kinds or types of projects that you’re looking to do under that company?

DA: Right now, all of the projects, when I think about it they’ve all been in alignment with very family oriented stories or family away from family kind of stories. I think that that’s what I have been coming to terms with – how much is family really part of all of our lives. Kinfolk in particular is so family centric, but aside from that, I worked on a short film that I believe made it to the Toronto Black Film Festival called TIFI {LITTLE GIRL} in creole Tifi means girl. It’s about this young girl and her family. This young girl wants to play soccer. So I think that if I can tie it into one word – cultural. Augustin Productions works on projects that have very cultural and specific minded objectives and narratives. I don’t know if that makes sense on how I just phrased that – but it makes sense to me – very cultural.

AM: No, I definitely get where you’re going with that and how the work ties itself into that category.

DA: I like that it’s family and culture based. In Kinfolk, we don’t have any Haitian characters in there, but there’s a lot of things that I think that Haitian families can relate to even though that story has more African American in it than anything else. So I think that the culture always stands firm more than anything I’m directing, shooting, editing, but also there’s family tied into it very heavily which I think helps people relate so much more when they’re watching.

AM: As an actor, what are you looking for when you’re thinking about accepting a role and what’s your creative process when you are becoming that character that you will portray?

DA: What I’m looking for – when I’m looking at a role, it’s how can I actually add value to the role? I’m looking to see where I can actually add that kind of value because I can see who the person is on paper. But when I start to speak for the person, the paper can only serve as a blueprint now. So I tend to look for everything that’s not on the paper. The paper serves solely as a blueprint, but that blueprint tells me things that sometimes, you can’t fit on the page. So I start to make choices for the actor that I believe and the writers may change some things and they’re more than welcome to – I just start to make choices for the actor based on what the blueprint tells me. If the blueprint says this character is going to say this in this scene, I’m going to take that to mean that they said that, but there is a reason why they said that, and that’s not necessarily off the page. So I’m looking to see if what they have given the actor can lead to images in my head. If it doesn’t lead to images in my head, then there might be somebody else who is best served for that role. Because I need to be well informed in how I can bring something to that role almost like a BYOB. I’ve got to bring my own bottle and food to the party. So I’m looking for something that will let me know what ingredients that this character may need so that I can sizzle off the page.

As far as how I prepare, a lot of times I think that I lead in with some kind of music. Like after I read the role, I almost always can have a soundtrack in mind. Preferably, it’s something without words, I always try to have a soundtrack in mind and I just let it play as I start to prepare. So there’s 2 types of preparation. There’s the audition and then there’s on set. If it is an audition, I’m still going to have music playing while I’m preparing, just because it almost feels like that music speaks to the character and what I’m about to do as well.

So for my role on Rap Sh!t – for that role, before I even did the audition, I had the music going in the background just playing and it was probably a very specific song based on where that person is in their life. The character Maurice, where he was in life at the beginning of the show in Season 1 is not where he is going to be in Season 2. In Season 2 by the finale, he will have gone through stuff that I don’t think that people would have assumed would be what he is going through.

So for the first season, all the songs that I was listening to were so so flirty, playful, seductive, and sensual. But in Season 2, I get into a lot more. So on my way to work, if we’re shooting in Culver City in LA or if we’re in Miami and I’m on the plane, I already have a playlist prepared to have him start to speak to me and to speak for me and these people have already gone through all of these things. One of the songs in particular, I hope it doesn’t give away any information -

AM: ooo

DA: I’ll give you 2 songs. 1 song that I would always listen to on the way to work was Michael Franks’, When Sly Calls, that’s a jazz sound. The other is The O’Jays’ Back Stabbers.

AM: Ok now!

DA: Haha so I listen to those songs on the way to work. These people have lived through that stuff already so by the time that I get into work, I feel like I have downloaded some energy before I come into work. Because what’s going to go on the screen, can’t be what’s on the page. Because on the page is literally my blueprint and for me to come in and color things onto the page so that we can fill the page with more than that black ink, I need something else that has been downloaded into my system that I can now give and bring to this party. I need to be able to bring my own bottle, to bring my own food, and I think that I get that a lot from music! I do other things too. I study in a very particular way as I’m sure that every actor does, but I kind of always have music in the background playing when I’m studying. So even when I put the script down for a second, I’m catching this person’s energy and it’s staying with me when I’m on set. It’s not just me, it’s kind of like, you know the work is us, but it’s bigger then us too.

AM: I love how you’re using music in that way!

I love this show, I’m such a huge fan of it from the words, the characters, the visuals and more! Of course, as we all watched the series finale of HBO's Insecure, to know a few months later that we could get excited about her newest project, Rap Sh!t the anticipation was real! What drew you to this series initially?

DA: Well initially, it was the fact that it was based on Miami – that was 1. He’s Haitian – that’s 2! He wasn’t Haitian at first as it just said, that he was either Haitian or Hispanic when I first saw the breakdown. Haitians are a huge part of the culture in Miami so that drew me in heavily. Lastly, and there’s more than this, but my character starts off working at a hotel in Miami. When my parents first came to South Florida from Haiti, they both came from Haiti, they were immigrants, and they both worked at hotels in Miami. My dad was a concierge and when I saw that role with him being a concierge, it was like a spiritual connection for me in a sense where it was just something small and cute that I can appreciate about this character because a majority of times, usually not everything connects.

Sometimes, you’re trying to see where you can connect this or that. I had a character on How I Met Your Father who moved to Australia. I had never been to Australia, so that was something for me that for me to be able to connect with it, I was watching documentaries of Australia and the Great Barrier Reef and stuff like that! When I saw those things and that he was Haitian, living in Miami, and a concierge, automatically it started to sit very well with me.

AM: Wow!

DA: There’s so many other things in it that are icing on the cake for me! But him being Haitian and from Miami was great! I’m from Fort Lauderdale, but we’re neighbors and that was something for me that was very very special to see. I don’t see that on every audition. There are definitely more Haitian roles and I’ve seen that uptick in the past over the past or 3 years for Haitian roles and Haitian representation. But, seeing Issa Rae’s name, I’ve always been a fan of hers especially just based on how she uplifted her community, she’s done so much creatively speaking, and how she has done so much for independent creators. I’ve always been a huge fan of hers so seeing that she was behind this and HBO – I’m a huge huge huge fan of this as well. So seeing all of these things was like, alright it’s such an alignment that for me to be able to have this role it’s just one of my most proudest achievements of my life to date.

AM: How would you describe Maurice?

DA: I would describe Maurice as indescribable, but I will still explain that. I feel like he’s all of us in a way as he’s very human individual, he’s just also a very, by any means necessary kind of guy at the same time. In spite of his by any means necessary approach, he’s able to be playful and fun. He’s flirty and supportive. I think that he’s one of the most diverse characters I’ve seen on screen because I think that there’s so much to unpack as it pertains to his character, his culture, how he communicated with women, because I think that when people talk nowadays and they talk about dating, they tend to talk about how difficult dating is. But I don’t think that it is difficult, just because it’s hard, it’s difficult because we’re not all good communicators, we don’t always know what we want, and sometimes when we do feel that we know what we want, it’s not very clear. I feel like he’s misunderstood, but he’s one of the most supportive individuals that I have seen on screen, almost to a fault.

AM: For those that may need a refresher where did we leave Maurice last season and depending on how much you can tell us, where do we pick up with him again heading into this season as it just started earlier this month?

DA: Last season, he was bathed in mystery. The season ends off with him essentially letting Shawna know that they need to cool off and they need to lay low because they got caught and they’re in trouble, but he’s playing it off like it’s ok. Because I think that he has been in these kinds of scenarios before.

Me personally, I have experienced a lot of what Maurice has experienced because when I was younger, I had a lot of friends that were in what you say in creole, the jwett – it’s a play, it’s a game and so I was on the outside looking in for some of it, but when I didn’t have a 9-5, I had friends that were doing what Maurice was doing and they would try to pull me in and sometimes, they’d get me to come in because I was trying to figure out how to pay bills or how to pay for studio sessions and so on and so forth. So, I’ve been in the situation where Maurice has been in where you’re in trouble, but you have to have confidence that you’re not in trouble so that you can actually get out of trouble.

So he’s been in a headstrong space where he’s seemingly way too cool about it and I think that it is creating an unease for Shawna because of how cool he is about it, she doesn’t necessarily know how to be easy because she doesn’t know and hasn’t had the kinds of experiences that he has had. He ends up letting her know that they’re in trouble, that she is ok, that nothing is wrong, and nothing is going to happen. Ultimately, when she goes back to work, something has happened, the cops come, and they want to speak to her. She doesn’t know how to handle it and she doesn’t know how to be cool and she runs. The season ends with her trying to run off from the police! We end up leaving it off in this space that is a bit open ended and we don’t know what is going on with Maurice and Shawna and she doesn’t know what happened nor does she know what is happening between the two of them.

Essentially I think that Shawna is going to continue to be left in that space of not knowing what is happening more that anybody. For Season 2 as we continue, I think that we’re going to play more of a game of that space and not knowing with Maurice. It’s a mystery and sometimes it’s going to be poured onto Shawna and I think that they are going to go back and forth and so I don’t want to say too much!

AM: Oh wow! We’ve been watching a few seasons and of course, we’re hooked and can’t wait to see how the season continues to evolve and unfold! When it ended last season, I wanted to know what was going on and thankfully we’ll get more answers over the next few weeks and I know our readers will feel the same way!

DA: Yes! It’s going to be a seesaw of emotions in Season 2!

AM: When you’re not on set, how do you take time for yourself to relax or to indulge in self-care?

DA: Man, man – how do I? When I’m not on set, lately what it’s been is that I have been doing therapy lately. That’s been very useful for me to figure out what self-care even looks like? So that’s been one of the things because sometimes, even when I’m not on set, I’m still working on stuff! I’m still writing scripts and I have been doing that a lot. I’ve been working with script consultant, out in London, by the name of Dominic Morgan, very helpful. I’ve been working with a script consultant here in LA called Pilar Alessandra and her program is called On The Page. It’s hard for me to call that self-care, but I have been trying to figure out too – what self-care even is.

Some of the other things that I have been doing self-care - wise is I have been watching more documentaries lately and reality TV as opposed to narratives. It’s just so I can cool off a bit on all of the story stuff that I am constantly involved in. Just so that I can have a bit more fun with it. I’ve been recording again. That’s been a lot of fun and I flew out to South Florida and recorded a lot of music with Alvin Louis and Steven Guy.

And there’s been yoga -

AM: Nice!

DA: There’s been creating even though that’s not necessarily a super chill thing to do. It does feel like self-care to me because it makes me feel like I am taking care of myself creatively and professionally as well. Last one that I will add to that is reading! I’ve been doing a ton of reading!

AM: Are there any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for that you will be releasing soon that you’re able to share?

DA: Oh wow, so, there definitely is. There’s some stuff that has happened that I have not been allowed to talk about!

AM: As always is the case!

DA: Yeah, so I’m trying to see if I can sneak something off about it. Let’s just say, there’s going to be something going on in the near future where it will be super hero related. I’m not saying that I will be a superhero.

AM: Okay.

DA: But it is something superhero related in the pretty near future. I just don’t have control over dates. I did just release a music video for Movie and that one was just one part of what I will be sharing with fans. There’s going to be some BTS coming out about that and also a ton of other videos that I shot. 2 more videos here in LA that were directed by Jacob Rink and I shot 2 videos in South Florida. So there is going to be a lot of music and I’m trying to see if the feature film that me and my wife are writing, I wish that I could talk about it, but I’m scared to say what the topic is of the film as I think that it is so synonymous with all of us here. For that one, I’m trying to see if we will be able to self-produce it and to shoot it on our own. I don’t know if we are going to be able to self-produce it just yet, but that’s a goal as well. So right now, I’m going to say that those are the main things that are on the forefront of my mind – music, self-produced content and a superhero thing that I am holding out for that I am hoping will come out soon. I look forward to be able to talk about that and I would also like to be able to say a Rap Sh!t Season 3!

AM: We are all hoping that there will be a Rap Sh!t Season 3! It’s been fun over the years to see you on Grey’s Anatomy as well as How I Met Your Father! In terms of you and this show, I’m always a fan of the concepts that are talked about, looking at how people navigate getting into the music business, learning more about the vibe of South Florida and anything that is missed from the show, catching up with Jessie Woo and Zach Campbell on Chat Sh!t fills in the rest of the gaps I enjoy hearing immediately after I have watched!

DA: Yeah!!!!!

AM: So I definitely hope there are more seasons to come and you continue to do what you’re doing!

DA: Thank you, I appreciate you for saying that!

IG @danielaugustin

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | PG 158 - 162 Ben Cope | PG 165 + 166 Alicia Vera/HBO Max | PG 169 + 170 Erin Simkin/Max |

Read the NOV ISSUE #95 of Athleisure Mag and see THE HEAT | Daniel Augustin in Mag.

METHOD + DISCIPLINE | SEBASTIEN LAGREE

There are a number of workouts and studio fitness methods that we all talk about and have incorporated into our routines! Lagree Fitness is one of them and we had the chance to connect with the founder, Sebastien Lagree to talk more about the method, the equipment, and more.

ATHLEISURE MAG: In addition to creating your method, you also have the equipment as well. Can you tell us about the equipment that you offer and why one would use those as we are all looking at what we should add to our home gyms.

SEBASTIEN LAGREE: Sure. You cannot do my method unless you train on my equipment; I continuously evolve both and both are inseparable. First off, I design all my equipment around the user. I need to make sure it accommodates both small and large frame. Second, the equipment has to be intuitive which most fitness equipment are not. I've become extremely critical of fitness equipment and I can say that the majority of fitness machines are built very poorly. Fitness in general has gone downhill.

AM: In addition to your machines, you have a number of accessories that can be added to the equipment as well as to allow you to continue to workout in the method when you're not home. What are some of your favorites that we should know about?

SL: Correct, the accessories are necessary to perform more exercises and target specific muscles in the body. My favorite is the long black cable which adds hundreds of moves to the machine.

AM: You are available in studios across the country, can you tell us about your On Demand offerings?

SL: Correct, we have almost 600 studios worldwide and we do also offer classes on our virtual platform www.lagreeod.com. That platform is super convenient for those who don't have a studio nearby or for the students who want to make sure they have perfect form.

AM: For those that are new to the method, what are some tips that you suggest that we should keep in mind?

SL: Yes, when you do Lagree, try to move as slow and for as long as possible while maintaining perfect form. It sounds simple but it’s actually super challenging. Lagree is not a workout that you are going to master. There is no finish line.

AM: For those that are looking to get that Ken and Barbie physique? How can they go about it by doing your method?

SL: To achieve the K&B look, you need to do a muscular endurance workout which is exactly what Lagree does.

You need to keep your muscles under tension for a long long time. You also need to eat super clean.

AM: Are there upcoming events that you have coming up that you would like to share?

SL: Yes, we are hosting our first Lagree Summit in Vegas next year at MGM Hotel next year March 1st, 2nd and 3rd. This will be our first Lagree Trade Show.

AM: What's next for you and the method?

SL: A lot, I have many new designs and models that I am launching next year. I am adding electronics and eventually AI to my models. I also launched Lagree 2.0 this year and now I am working on Lagree 3.0

IG @sebastien.lagree

@lagreefitness

@lagreeondemand

PHOTO CREDITS | Sebastien Lagree

Read the NOV ISSUE #95 of Athleisure Mag and see METHOD + DISCIPLINE | Sebastian Lagree in mag.