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#neverland — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #neverland, aggregated by home.social.

  1. #Thomas #Barrack,
    a longtime ally of Donald Trump
    and U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria
    maintained a close, personal relationship with #Jeffrey #Epstein
    even after the financier’s criminal history became widely known,
    the latest tranche of government files shows.

    From 2002 to shortly before Epstein’s death in 2019,
    according to an analysis of the documents by the Santa Barbara Independent,
    the two men exchanged over 100 texts and emails that included social invitations, meetings with heads of state, and talk of business opportunities.

    In September 2009, just two months after Epstein’s release from jail following his conviction for soliciting a minor,
    Barrack wrote to him:
    “Thinking about u___hope u r good and life is calm again.”
    In January 2012, Barrack complimented Epstein on his work ethic, asking him,
    “How is my role model?”

    There is no indication, however, that Barrack participated in or had any knowledge of Epstein’s ongoing criminal activity.

    Barrack, 78, is a billionaire real estate investor and currently serves as U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria.
    He is the founder and owner of Happy Canyon Vineyard in California's Santa Ynez Valley.
    Happy Canyon Vineyard did not respond to requests for comment. 
    Barrack previously purchased Michael Jackson’s #Neverland Ranch in 2008 and sold it in 2020.
    For many years he lived part-time at a $24 million Montecito estate, though it is not clear if he still owns the Hot Springs Road home. 

    Happy Canyon Vineyard is part of Piocho Ranch, a sprawling valley property that Barrack and his family bought in 1992 and developed into a working winery and polo venue.

    Barrack features prominently in a promotional video for the vineyard, where he discusses his stewardship of the land and a commitment to making it “better than when I found it.”
    He credits God for “giving us this unbelievable appellation.” 

    According to the book "Fire and Fury" by journalist Michael Wolff, Trump, Barrack, and Epstein were close friends in the 1980s and ‘90s,
    describing them as “a set of nightlife Musketeers.”
    Barrack rose to public prominence in 2016 as a leading fundraiser for Trump, and has since become a close advisor to the president on Middle East matters.
    independent.com/2026/02/27/san

  2. Ulver – Neverland Review By Mystikus Hugebeard

    Happy New Year, ya filthy animals! How about we usher in this stupid year with something that came out on literally the last day of 2025. That’s right, a nice, breezy slice of industrial synthwave and ambient melancholy that sounds like something you’d hear from the radio on a cruisin’ Miami drive, but on like a miserably gloomy day. Which, if you’re familiar with Ulver, the purveyor of today’s jams, is equal parts straight outta left field and yet also predictable. Ulver, the group that authored a smattering of quintessential 90’s Norwegian black metal albums, has since nestled snugly into a restless kaleidoscope of melancholic, avant-garde music that ranges from synthpop, industrial, ambient, acoustic folk, and so on. The Ulver brand is built on consistent unpredictability, each new album a bold new frontier, and Ulver’s newest album, Neverland, continues this tradition.

    Neverland shifts across a diverse range of moods through its runtime, never quite landing on a single tonal descriptor I might comfortably use to pigeonhole Neverland, which was surely the intention. It’s at times mysterious, brooding, and melancholic, and defiantly optimistic, musically manifesting in a variety of ways. There’s a strong emphasis on richly textured ambiance (“Weeping Stone,” “Horses of the Plough”), there’s a lot of glitchy industrial beats (“They’re Coming The Birds,” “Hark Hark The Dogs Bark”), and the highlight comes in funky, percussive synthwave (“People of the Hills,” “Fire in the End”). It’s worth noting that apart from some spoken poetry in the opener, Neverland is, in practice, a fully instrumental affair. It’s easy to miss Kristoffer Rygg’s vocals, which were always a highlight of any Ulver record, but Neverland is specifically written in a way that wouldn’t work with vocals. Neverland effectively utilizes free-form compositions, eschewing a structure that would benefit from vocals and focusing on the strength and depth of the musicality.

    Neverland by Ulver

    To that end, Neverland is largely carried by its sound design and tight, snappy electronics. Umpteen albums in and Ulver have fine-tuned their electronic craftsmanship down to a science, keeping Neverland’s percussion straightforward and simple while swathing them in effects and ambiance. Neverland’s songs are generally catchy: the Moonlight Sonata-esque piano sequence that leads into the dramatic, glitchy crescendo of “Elephant Trunk” has stuck with me since my first listen, and “Hark! Hark! The Dogs Do Bark!”‘s bass-heavy beat never disappoints. “People of the Hills” is, for my money Neverland’s strongest song, and one of my new favorite Ulver songs. Staccato synths prelude a disco funk bass-line and grease-slick drums before some guitars drop a ludicrously tasty synthwave chord. It’s a goddamn banger, and like all of Neverland, sounds great, but the sound design is allowed to shine brightest in an ambient track like “Weeping Stone.” It starts with a comfortable rumble of brown noise before the keyboards arrive with grand washes of color and a moonlit melody.


    Still, while the ambient tracks sound great, they begin to present an issue in Neverland’s latter half. The momentum constructed in Neverland’s first half falters at the ambient “Horses of the Plough” and “Quivers in the Marrow,” which are placed too closely together, with “Pandora’s Box” in between them. While I like the dreamy feel and slick bass line of “Pandora’s Box,” it begins to drag on repeat listens since the greater part of the song is a lot of build-up. Sometimes I feel that there’s an imbalance between Neverland’s ambiance and beat-driven side. Some of the more immediate tracks, including ones I like such as “They’re Coming! The Birds!” and “People of the Hills,” can feel shorter when I wish they were longer, being slightly padded on either end with ambiance or build-up, which in turn makes the standalone ambient tracks feel longer, inviting impatience for the next, more engaging track. The faltering momentum does frustrate, but I struggle to maintain much annoyance on account of the closer, “Fire in the End.” Tonally similar to “People of the Hills” but injecting a healthy dose of drama into the funk, it closes Neverland on a high note that always leaves me feeling satisfied.

    Anyway, pacing quibbles aside, Neverland is all in all a success. It’s an easy album to throw on and just sink into thanks to stellar sound design, with tons of highlight beats that will stick with you. While it’s not a career-defining achievement for Ulver, it is another worthy shade to add to Ulver’s ever-growing sonic kaleidoscope, one I would recommend to any who’s ever enjoyed that distinct, melancholic Ulver flavor in the past.

    Rating: 3.0/5.0
    DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps
    Label: House of Mythology
    Websites: facebook | bandcamp
    Releases Worldwide: December 31st, 2025

    #2025 #30 #Darkwave #Dec25 #Electronic #Neverland #NorwegianMetal #Pop #Review #Reviews #Synthwave #Ulver
  3. Peter Pan & Wendy | Official Trailer | Disney+
    This year, return to #Neverland. ✨ Watch the trailer for #PeterPanAndWendy and stream the movie event April 28 only on #DisneyPlus.
    #movies #television #streaming
    youtu.be/9Ji5U2sTlLU