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Watch the Drama Unfold on Hoopla: Diddy and Gypsy Rose Blanchard

27 Nov

There are so many free options for shows, movies, and audiobooks on Hoopla made available to you through your library card. There are even more big name celebrities who have their lives aired on documentaries or docuseries, so if you’re in the mood for some drama we lined up some deep ones. These are definitely for a mature audience, since the alleged and charged crimes of these individuals are extremely serious. If you follow any type of entertainment or daily news, you may have heard of the scandals rapper, producer Sean “P.Diddy” Combs has been involved in and recently arrested for, which revolve around his risque lifestyle and lawsuits. On the other hand, not-so-famous-until-now Gypsy Rose Blanchard has received startling popularity since being released from prison for putting an end to her abuser, her mother. These two documentaries take us through their shocking lives.

Diddy: Summit to Plummet
Somewhere under all of the flashing lights, paparazzi, multiple records and businesses circled whispers about Diddy and his lavishly unheard of lifestyle that included hours long parties, and allegedly, abuse. “Complexity and chaos,” the narrator used to describe Diddy’s life. The documentary pulls moments from his highest points of his career, mostly in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, where he gives speeches for winning awards or his performances, and briefly points at his downfall from this year. 

Not pleased with just being a rapper and performer anymore, he pivoted his career to finding some of the best talented artists through his company Bad Boy Entertainment. When one of his new-found artists, Biggie Smalls was killed, rumors circled if Diddy was involved. This documentary covers the deep history the two played in hip-hop, and the feud they held between west coast rappers like Tupac and Snoop Dogg.

Previous critically acclaimed girlfriend in the 90’s, Jennifer Lopez, and Diddy were involved in a shooting in New York, which has also unveiled some more unreleased details now in 2024. One artist turned lover, Cassie, came forward about the abuse Diddy put her through in her career and relationship -unfortunately this was only briefly touched upon in the documentary, but provides a good footing for a curious mind to look up more news and gossip surrounding his arrest. A recent video from a hotel was released to the public that shows him pulling her to the ground, kicking her, and dragging her around a corner. This contributed to his arrest in 2024, and for the FBI to search his homes and estates.

Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard – Season 1
Killer or not? This 6-episode docuseries goes through the life of Gypsy Rose Blanchard after spending 7 years in prison for the murder of her mother to then moving on with her life and getting engaged. We finally get to learn about all the reasons Gypsy felt justified to end her mother’s life, all which surround the allegation that she was severely molested, abused, and was confined to a wheelchair in order to live a lie to convince everyone about having cancer or other illnesses. Gypsy teamed up with her ex-boyfriend to plan and commit the murder.

Besides sleep apnea and an extremely lazy eye that needed surgery, Gypsy had relatively no health problems, but her mother made her, doctors, and many others believe that she had health issues in order to receive sympathy and pain medications in some way or another. This led to numerous surgeries down the line. We get to hear accounts from her family witnessing these fake ailments when they all knew she didn’t have any of them.

Each episode gets more shocking by revealing a truth or a lie about her life that no one could predict. Like one instance where her mother lied about Gypsy having an eating disorder in order for her to receive a feeding tube, which she used to put pills in the food sent through the tube. This caused Gypsy to realize she was addicted to pills. Or putting a tooth numbing substance in her mouth to make her salivate for doctors to believe she had cerebral palsy, and eventually get her salivary glands removed, leading to tooth loss. It’s something you really have to watch to believe.

These episodes give a great wrap-up of what happened to Gypsy in 2015 to 2024. So, now you can join in on the controversy about what’s unfolding in her life today, like if she went through with the marriage or not, or will ever live a normal life.

Written by:
Samantha Meyers
Library Assistant

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Wander Lust: Culinary Escapes, The Curious Traveler, Wild Travels, and Word Travels

30 Oct

I love to travel, but right now a trip abroad is not in our budget till then a perfect way to feed my desire to explore the world is through the many interesting travel shows featured on Hoopla.

Culinary Escapes
Culinary Escapes will feed the need for those who like to travel (or dream about traveling) first class. Two bffs Kerri Zane and Christina Cindrich stay at five star hotels while sampling and even in some cases learning to prepare some of the local delicacies. I devoured the episodes on France (delicious macrons), New Orleans (beignets and jambalaya) and London (fish & chips and fresh game). In London they even got to see where royalty gets measured for their hats and in France design a signature perfume. If you love luxury trips with your favorite gal pal then this will be a treat.

Curious Traveler
In Curious Traveler, journalist Christine van Blokland channels her inner child and asks all the Why?, What?, Where? How? questions and helps unravel mysteries of each destination’s art, architecture and hidden histories. I enjoyed the episode about Quebec City; even though I had visited and stayed at the iconic Château Frontenac, I hadn’t been aware of all the interesting history surrounding the hotel and the city. The series will give you deeper insight into your favorite travel destinations. There are three seasons of Curious Traveler available to stream. If you enjoy trivia and taking guided tours to learn all you can about a region than this will be your ticket.

Wild Travels
Looking for something a little less fancy or educational and a little more off the beaten path, than check out Wild Travels. The series promises to deliver the quirkiest places and people in the United States. The first episode from season 2 that I watched included the first cog railway in the world, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory, the Weeki Wachee Mermaid Show, bug art at the Fairbanks Museum, and Sneaker Con. You can borrow seasons 1 and 2 of Wild Travels from Hoopla. This would be a fun one for the whole family to watch to get ideas for exciting trips with the kids.

Word Travels – the Truth Behind the Byline
Finally if you are thinking of taking your love of travel to the next level and becoming a travel writer than check out Word Travels. Robin Esrock and Julia Dimon travel to a variety of destination and give insight into how they use their experience to write articles about the location that give not only interesting facts but insight into the lives of the people living there. I enjoyed watching their visits to the countries of Georgia, where they learned about the Heavy Metal Scene and vineyards and Lithuania where Robin found out about genealogical travel while tracing his grandfather’s tragic past.

Whether you are traveling this summer and looking to learn a few key phrases quickly or want to gain greater mastery for a future trip you are likely to find the perfect course for you with our new language learning offering, Pronunciator. Plus we also have Mango which you can read more about in a previous post.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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