Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion
Chapter 278: Grammy NominationFrom November 25, Thanksgiving Day, until Christmas, supermarkets across the United States hold sales events, with some goods discounted by fifty percent, and some supermarkets offering gift vouchers to the first three hundred customers.
During this period, it’s also the Americans’ spree of chopping hands off, according to the New York Times, with shopping in the United States constituting a quarter of the annual total within this single month.
It is the same in New York where, on the eve of Christmas, long queues form outside major supermarkets and department stores including Walmart, Best Buy, Macy’s Department Store, and Lord & Taylor, long before daybreak.
There are even many people who put on black masks to ’shop for free’ in the supermarkets and stores.
Link and Taylor decided to spend the holidays in New York, so naturally they needed to prepare some holiday items like food, drinks, household supplies, and the latest high-tech appliances.
However, they arrived too late, and many stores closed early for the three-day Christmas holiday, making it not so easy to purchase everything they needed.
When Selena knew they were planning to buy holiday supplies, she took the initiative to help and confidently claimed that since Mandy was too busy this year, she took care of all their family’s holiday supplies herself, and following her lead was definitely the right choice.
Link wasn’t so sure and texted Mandy to check. Mandy replied that if they waited for Selena to shop, the whole family would starve to death. She told him to make his own decisions when buying and not to trust Selena’s recommendations too much.
After learning the truth, Link didn’t expose her but simply drove around Midtown Manhattan with Taylor and Selena.
Only after making a round did they realize Selena was directionally challenged, her round eyes darting everywhere in search of Best Buy, but even with the store’s ten-meter-tall signboard in her face, she didn’t see it, her round face getting redder and sweat forming on her forehead.Once inside the supermarket, the first thing to do, of course, was to buy a turkey. They went to the turkey shopping area only to find that all the turkeys were frozen.
These turkeys were cheap at only 16 US dollars after discount, but they didn’t taste good when cooked. He needed one that was clean, fresh and had been marinated, with the minimum requirement being clean and fresh.
They searched everywhere but found none.
Selena said she had a good idea and dragged him and Taylor to the live animal section, pointing at a few lively turkeys in a cage, suggesting they buy one to take home and slaughter.
Link hesitated, the size of the turkeys being too large for home processing and the risk of being filmed and going viral online, potentially drawing a warning from animal protection societies.
Link asked her if she dared to kill a chicken?
Selena lifted her chin and boasted that, of course, she dared, claiming descent from Mexicans, who are natural warriors, and in the past, everyone had a pet serpent over ten meters long, coiled around their necks as scarves daily.
She even claimed she had raised a serpent herself as a child, cream-white and seven or eight meters long.
Link casually picked up a rope, quietly placed it on her shoulder, and Selena screamed, hopping on the spot before throwing herself into Taylor’s arms, then they both complained about him together.
"Link is so mean!"
"Yes, downright awful."
Christmas Day arrived and the weather prediction from the United States Meteorological Service was fairly accurate; by noon, snowflakes began to flutter down from New York’s skies, adding quite a bit to the festive atmosphere.
That day, Link and Taylor also set up a Christmas tree in the living room of the apartment, decorated with many spherical lights, Swarovski crystals, little snowmen dolls, both adorable and festive.
Link even put on an apron and tried his hand at preparing Christmas dinner for the first time; a huge roast turkey, waffles, macarons, Boston steamed shrimp, Mexican grilled meat, a large fruit platter, and also a Christmas cake made by Taylor.
With flavor, aroma, and presentation all accounted for, it was a very lavish spread.
Around six or seven in the evening, Link and Taylor drove to Midtown to meet up with Selena and little Anne.
Little Anne is Link’s half-sister from another father, over three years old, with a bob cut, a pert nose, and adorably pink, even cuter than Selena.
The group first went to Times Square to watch the light show, saw an acrobatic performance at Radio City Music Hall, and then went ice skating at the Rockefeller Center rink.
While ice skating, Taylor and Selena wanted to see him combine forwards and backwards movements on the ice, so they jointly pushed him onto the rink.
Unfortunately for them, they would be disappointed.
Link, with good physical condition and balance, managed to skate on his own after holding onto the railings for a while, eventually gliding slowly across the ice without support.
After practicing for more than ten minutes and getting used to the speed of the skates, he started to skate faster, occasionally backward skating, single-leg gliding, and even performing a few fancy moves, more stable than both Taylor and Selena.
After Link got the hang of it, he also took Anne for a skate.
Little Anne was very timid; although she wore a helmet and knee and elbow pads, she would squat on the ice like a carrot-head as soon as anyone let go of her hand.
Link held her hand, skating around the rink more than ten times until she got used to the speed and dared to glide forward slowly on her own, calling out in a babyish voice, "Please move aside, Anne’s going to bump into you."
"Anne is so adorable."
Taylor skated up from behind, resting on his shoulder and said.
"Of course, didn’t you see who’s sister she is?"
"What does Anne being cute have to do with you? Thick-faced."
Taylor gave him a sidelong glance, skated backward a few meters, her blades carving two clear lines on the ice, and said, "How about we race, see who’s faster?"
"No thanks, I’ve just learned, I’m not your match for now."
"Good you understand."
Taylor picked up speed and skated over to Anne, taking her little hand and leading her forward.
Taylor, in a white down jacket, blue jeans, and a ponytail, looked like a high school girl, while Anne, in a pink down jacket and pink safety gear, looked like a little biscuit.
Hand in hand, the two looked like sisters or mother and daughter.
"Link, watch out, I’m going to crash into you."
Selena shouted from behind, rushing over.
Before Link could move, she thudded into his back.
It was past ten when they left the ice rink at Rockefeller Center. Selina and Taylor were having so much fun that they didn’t want to go back to sleep early, and Anne’s eyes were shining with excitement. Link then suggested going to the Metropolitan MAX Theater to watch a showing of "Avatar".
Selina and Taylor were watching a 3D movie for the first time, and they couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement when they saw the male and female leads flying through the sky on the backs of the ikran.
Anne didn’t quite understand the film and only persisted for more than ten minutes before she fell asleep in his arms.
After Christmas was over, Link and Taylor became busy again.
Taylor continued recording songs in the studio, while Link had a lot to do at the beginning of the year, starting with the arrival of the awards season, which required him to attend many ceremonies.
For example, the nominations list for the 67th American Film and Television Golden Globe Awards had been announced on Christmas Eve.
"The Fighter" scored seven nominations in this edition of the Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress twice, Best Screenplay, and Best Original Song.
Link received a Best Original Song nomination for the movie’s theme song, "The Fighter".
The 52nd Grammy Awards were also announced prior to the New Year.
Thanks to two best-selling albums and several singles, Link secured eight nominations.
These included Producer of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Male Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap/Song Collaboration.
Taylor also received eight nominations at this year’s Grammy Awards, with the first three categories overlapping with Link’s.
However, they weren’t the ones with the most nominations — that honor went to Beyonce, who scored ten nominations at this year’s Grammy Awards.
Additionally, ’Ring Magazine,’ ’The Ring Magazine,’ and the four major Boxing organizations would also hold award ceremonies at the beginning of the year to select the Best Boxer, Best Boxing Promoter of 2009, and the North American Boxing Association was even planning to give him an award for Best Spokesperson.
Besides these, he also needed to prepare for the Super Bowl halftime show performance.
This year’s Super Bowl featured two performing guests, Link and the famous British rock band The Who.
Link had seven minutes for his performance, which was roughly the time for two songs.
The organizers hoped he would sing the championship song "Unstoppable" and the American national anthem.
Upon hearing this, Link was a bit flustered. The American national anthem? How do you sing it? He didn’t know it at all, and even starting to learn now might not be in time.
If he got the lyrics wrong, like Pop diva Christina Aguilera did in 2011, he could face widespread ridicule, with his career plummeting into a trough.
Even if the lyrics were correct, singing a national anthem that everyone knows on a stage like the Super Bowl halftime show is exceptionally challenging.
A poor performance could lead people to think his singing was subpar.
After giving it some serious thought, Link proposed a compromise: he would write a song that embodied the spirit of football and paid homage to his predecessors.
After all, singing the national anthem wasn’t a necessary part of a halftime show, and a song that captured the spirit of the football league could also benefit the promotion of the sport.
The organizers, after discussion, agreed to the idea but needed to hear a sample of the song first. Link agreed.
Because of this matter, Link had to dive back into the recording studio right after Christmas, to discuss the song’s arrangement with Graham, David Kahn, and others and to consult with director Kenny Ortega about the Super Bowl rehearsals.
"Hey, Link, happy New Year!"
In the morning, Graham Goodall walked into Link’s music recording studio, took off his hat, and greeted him.
"Haha, happy New Year, Graham. I’m sorry to take up your holiday time," Link said, embracing him.
"Haha, no problem. In a little over a decade, I’ll retire, and then I’ll be on holiday every day, which is a terrifying thought," Graham said with a wave of his hand, sitting down on the opposite sofa and speaking seriously, "You said over the phone that you’ve written a song for the football league; is that true? You know, football is a revered sporting event for all Americans, and writing a song for it is no less challenging than for the FIFA World Cup. Are you sure you can do it?"
"This is the score sheet. What do you think?" Link took a stack of manuscript papers from his backpack and placed them on the desk.
In fact, even as he was transcribing this song, he wasn’t sure if it would work.
The song was uplifting and passionate, with a theme that spoke to the never-ending quest for perfection in craft and the idea that the names of the dedicated would be etched in history. It was also fitting for football, a contact-heavy sport.
If this one didn’t work, he could think of something else. He certainly wasn’t going to sing the national anthem.
Graham browsed the score sheet, his brows furrowing tighter and his expression growing more somber. If it weren’t for his reddening face, trembling fingers, and hurried breathing, others might have thought the song was a dud. Stay connected via
After going through it once, Graham looked up at him, then looked down again for another read, his breathing growing more rushed.
"Graham, how is it?"
Link asked, blowing on the floating tea leaves in his cup.
"Hard to say, let’s go to the recording studio. I want to hear how it sounds," Graham replied.
"No problem!"
Link put down his teacup and went to the recording studio, performing the new song once.
Graham listened and said it wasn’t working yet — it needed an arrangement; without music, the song was only half as good.
He then called David Kahn, Bruno Mars, and other producers from the music studio to join the recording studio and participate in the production of this song.
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