#Shane McCabe

[couldawouldashoulda50]

A heart full of regret - Part 2 (William Nylander)

Part 1 is here

A/N - I’m going to start this off with an apology.  I’ve been writing as a female reader insert but did have a specific picture of someone in my mind for the reader herself, in terms of physical traits etc. Looking back, I should have probably made this a William x OC story.  I apologize if the body/hair/facial descriptions have made it difficult in any way to have the reader put some version of themselves into the story.  I’m sort of learning as I go along. 

I had planned to release this around the holidays but true to form, my personal responsibilities derail my escapism 😉

In this next part, there are some musician/song references to the late Shane MacGowan/The Pogues and Sinead O’Connor, as well as their respective funerals.  I have included the lyrics to the chorus of a song entitled Fare Thee Well Love by The Rankin Family (posted in the next blub 2.1) - but it’s passed off as a song written and sung by the reader.   While there are facts used as part of the story (including a couple of links to the reality), all of this is meant to be purely fictional.  

Warnings - overall 18+ themes (various sexual references), angst, alcohol, swearing, cigarettes, brief mention of illness/death - sorry if I missed anything.

Word Count 10K+

Thanks so much as always for dropping by.

Early December, 2023

A wide grin spans your face as the broad man, with salt and pepper hair (more salt than pepper these days), approaches you.

“Hey handsome” you said cheekily followed with a wink, as he embraced you in a friendly hug. “I hope it’s still ok that I call you that….it’s the first thing that comes to mind every time I see you”.

“Best compliment I have had all day, next to my wife’s of course. How ya’ doin, kid?” Sheldon smiles at you as you step back from him.  Sheldon has always called you “kid” despite him only being  just shy of 13 years older than you.  

“Well then, as long as Jackie doesn’t mind that I call you that either”,' you smile as you and Sheldon walk toward the players lounge. “I’m doing well…busy, but good.”

“Ah well, you know my wife - she just laughs and agrees with you…she says you obviously have immaculate taste” Sheldon quips.

You chuckle and give him a little nudge. “Yeah, well, in most cases I do”, you smile.  “Dare I ask how you’re doing? I’m not asking about hockey…I just mean with the regular, normal-ish part of your life, if you even have that.”

“I need more normal these days than what I’ve been getting…but yeah, the kids and Jackie are all doing great. Thank God for them.”

You get the hint. The Leafs have been shaky out of the gate this season with inconsistent outcomes; it’s been like watching a pendulum swinging between pure magic and potential disaster.

You shoot Sheldon a knowing smile.

“Well, thanks for letting me stop by - I didn't like asking…I don’t want to ever be any kind of distraction, but I have something special to give Jake (McCabe) and Gaby wanted me to surprise him here after practice.”

“You gonna let me in on the secret?”

You lift the heavy coffee-table style book that you had been carrying along your side into view and run your hand over the smooth hard cover. Sheldon glances at the black and white photo of you spanning the surface. The photo was taken at one of your band's first sold out shows in Manchester back in 2010; you were just in your 18th year of life. Your long layered hair is tousled around your face; a cigarette dangles from your mouth.

“Yeah, I kinda love this. I’m so happy with how this turned out…the imagery and photography of all the guitars are amazing. We’re selling these books at the exhibit…it chronicles the collection of the guitars on display.”

You flip to a page showing a nickel and steel plated guitar from the 1930’s.

“I met Jake ages ago, back when he was on the Sabres. He and Gaby approached us after an acoustic show that we played. We just hit it off, all of us - Jake and I are both total guitar geeks and over time, he told me his dream was to have one of these nickel plated beauties. I said I had one that was rare which he totally flipped out about it - it’s this one in the picture”, you smile as you recount the conversation.

“Wow…it's really beautiful”, Sheldon leans over to take a closer look.

You continue your story, “So, I’m not sure - have you heard of Shane MacGowan?”

“Oh right, my brother became a huge fan when he moved to Belfast - Adam told me he passed. You knew him?”

“Our band has strong Irish connections with two of our members being from there; we met Shane and some of The Pogues a number of years ago. We managed to stay in touch - I was very fond of Shane, and he was of me. He was almost like a protective older uncle - know what I mean?  He had a rough go with that illness since last year and so after Sinead (O’Connor) passed, I stayed behind after her funeral and spent some time visiting him in the hospital. My heart breaks every time I remember him in that hospital bed - I haven’t been able to get those images out of my mind yet.”

Your emotions were already still pretty raw with your idol-turned-friend passing in July, but with another passing of someone you held so dear just a few days ago, you could feel your throat tighten with sadness and loss.

You took a deep breath. “Anyway, Shane played the same type of guitar in a duet he sang with Sinead back in the ‘90’s. Long story short, he had his wife give me the one he used for that song. As much as I love the one I already owned here, Shane’s means a thousand times more to me. So…I thought I would surprise Jake and give him this one, knowing how much he would treasure it”.

Sheldon continues to leaf through the glossy pages. “Y/N, you are pretty remarkable, you know that?” Sheldon throws his arm around you while discreetly looking at his watch. “I’m sorry, I gotta run but I know Jake will be coming through here any minute so just sit tight and he’ll be out. Oh - and Jackie was talking about having you over for dinner so she’ll be reaching out to you soon. See ya’, kiddo”. Sheldon gives your shoulder a little squeeze and then disappears down the hallway.

Over the years, you have become a welcome sight around the Leafs organization; your presence had essentially reached the point of being more or less commonplace and didn’t warrant the media coverage that it once did. You helped out with various MLSE charities as well, having a preference for more of the hands-on local charity initiatives, whenever time allowed it.

Ultimately, you had established some strong personal connections within the Leafs and their families, so whenever you were in Toronto, it was not an out of place thing to occasionally see you turn up at a practice or out to dinner with a few of the WAGs.

As you waited for Jake, various staff and players stopped by for a quick catch-up before heading home for the day. 

Jake eventually emerged in his Leafs tracksuit, freshly showered with a baseball cap on backward. He spots you and gives you a wide smile, mixed with some confusion, as he approaches you. Gio appears right after Jake and the two circle around you for a hug.

With the book concealed, you make small talk with the handsome veterans. They congratulate you on the gallery exhibit and they assure you they cannot wait to go and see it.

Two dogs suddenly appear out of nowhere; it doesn't take you long to determine they belong to William.

Knowing he would be appearing any second, you try to calm your nerves and focus solely on the dogs as they run towards you, jumping at your feet.

Your heart melts at the sight of them, and you gush “Oh my goodness, is this Pablo and Banksy?”

William hears your voice and stops dead in his tracks. His stomach flips and churns and his heart starts to race.

Oh my God, if that's her…holy shit…

He rounds the corner to see you bending down, allowing the dogs to completely envelop you.

“C'mon, whoa, whoa, whoa….boys - down…”, William chuckles and smiles at you somewhat apologetically.

“I don’t mind one bit…but you better listen to your Dad” you said to Pablo, giving him another scratch and rub as you stood up.

You smile at William who is posturing for an embrace and as his arms pull you in, as you reciprocate the gesture.

“How’s it going, William….” which you say as more of a statement than a question.

“Really good. It’s good to see you again”, William smiles widely, hardly believing you're in front of him now.

Before you melt or explode or however your body is reacting to his touch, you calmly say “you too” with a smile.

Turning back to Jake and Gio, you desperately hope you don’t appear as flustered as you feel.

William comes up on your one side while Jake and Gio, and even a few others have gathered around a countertop in the lounge.

“So, I have a bit of a surprise for Jake - that’s why I’m here. Actually, Jake’s wife is in on the surprise so I’m just going to call her real quick”. 

The men that had gathered look at Jake who appears a little panicked, but in the best way possible.

Gaby answers and you ask Gio if he could hold the phone up, showing her face on the screen, in which he obliges once waving hello to Gaby.

You flip the heavy, hardcover book around; everyone leans in to get a glance at the cover. William catches a glimpse of the photo of you on the cover.  He's not seen many images of you from when your career started, and the photograph captivates him immediately.  Your tousled hair, your eyes that always bore into his soul, and your beautiful mouth that many times had made William almost see God himself.

William discreetly gazes at you.

You had been polluting his thoughts since he saw you at Mitch’s wedding. He wished you could have stayed. He wished he could have talked more with you; maybe could have danced with you…or better still, touched you for the first time in 4 years.

As you begin to explain the details of Jake’s surprise, you try to tame the whirlwind of emotions that circle within you. Between the loss of a dear friend, the anticipation of giving Jake a guitar that he has only dreamt of, and the remnants of feelings that you carry for William, you have to pause a few times while you speak just to regain your composure and keep the tears at bay.

William watches you open the book, and as you flip to the desired page to show Jake his newest possession, pangs of guilt and regret hit William.

William was famous for his confidence; he rarely burdened himself with many heavy thoughts, as he did not waste time dwelling on the past or anything that he could not change. The anointed King of Unbothered. And, as well as that has served him in both his personal and professional life, there were rare moments where something or someone shook him right to his core.

As he studied the side profile of your face, at this moment, you were that very person. Someone he realized that he had carelessly, and foolishly, disposed of. He disposed of your friendship, your companionship, and your love. Four years ago, he cut all ties with you, which was well within his right to do. But, the manner in which he severed those ties, never once affording you the ability to say a word in response, still haunted him to this day. What was worse is that two years later, he reached out to you, seemingly desperate to get a hold of you, and then he ghosted you once you responded. Your head spun with even more confusion and hurt than you had ever felt before and as time went on, it was yet another proverbial nail in the coffin for you and William.

William mused that when he saw you at Mitch’s wedding, you could have behaved any number of ways. You could have gone out of your way to ignore him. You could have been snide and made his entire night hell. You could have berated him for his callousness. He probably deserved all three of these possibilities.

Instead, you greeted him with kindness and friendship, which to William, only further illuminated your ravishing beauty. The way you still managed to smile at him, even though he sensed a deep sorrow behind your beautiful, deep brown eyes, it rocked William’s typical carefree nature.

And now you stood before him and his teammates, gifting Jake a precious guitar simply because you knew how happy it would make him to have it. William’s chest heaved with a mix of deep desire and the stark reality of the mistakes he's made with you.

William’s mind snapped back to the present, smiling at his teammate as Jake reeled and appeared completely flabbergasted.

“I can’t believe you remembered that conversation about this guitar, Y/N…that was ages ago. Jesus - I still played for Buffalo at the time…I cannot believe you’re giving this to me” Jake said, his face flushed as he looked at you and then turned to his wife’s face on the phone “and you knew about this…” he grins at Gaby.

“Can’t wait to hear you play for me, baby”, Gaby said, blowing Jake a kiss.

“Ok, so once the exhibit closes, I’ll get the guitar prepped for you and have it delivered. There are some nuances to how to tune her so I’ll drop by sometime and walk you through it. Oh, and here - the book is for you as well” you smile wryly at Jake “sorry, I think I diminished its value by signing it….but there is a little note for you in there for you too” you chuckle.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve this but thank you so much Y/N. I’m completely stunned.”

After hugs were given and goodbyes were said, the small group dissipated. 

You turned to see William standing off to the side, glancing at his phone while Pablo and Banksy lay at his feet.

“Awh, your boys are tired” you said, unable to contain your smile looking at the two dogs, and then at William. “They’re awesome - it figures you’d have the most fly dogs ever”.

“You ever think about getting one? I guess it’s hard with all your travel but you can take them with you. I take these guys along with me all the time, almost everywhere I go”.

“When COVID started, I was in London…I started fostering from a nearby shelter. I wanted to give the dogs that were constantly overlooked a chance to get out of that environment and see if we could get some viable adoption candidates. I have been doing that here as well - my last girl just got adopted after being in a shelter for over 8 years; I just haven’t had the chance to go see another one to bring home.”

You bring out your phone and lean towards William to show a picture of the last dog in your care, Siba, a nine-year old Asian Shepherd. 

William cheeks flushed pink as he catches the scent of your fragrance; a sudden urge to have his lips graze your skin as he recounts each location on your body where you usually dabbed each drop of perfume has his mind racing and his cock hardening.

Either side of your neck. 

Sometimes behind your ears. 

Your wrists.

Between your breasts.

Sometimes a little swipe across your navel.

“She’s so beautiful…” William said, hoping that you’d get the subtle hint he might be referring to you as well.

You shift uncomfortably for a second; he’s standing so close that you can feel his breath.

No. He didn’t get to do this to you again. The innocent remarks that whisper allusions to his desire for you is what you thought you wanted to hear for the past 4 years.  But, all the sentiment is doing now is creating havoc in your mind.

You swipe the screen to close the photo down and drop the phone back into the pocket of your coat. You turn back to William and smile, now in a little more control of yourself than before.

“Christmas came early this year I guess…for both Siba and Jake.” you said, as you lean down to pet the dogs again and say goodbye.

“Oh - wait…speaking of Christmas…” William hesitates, sensing a slight change in your disposition. “I have been meaning to get in touch with you about that…”

“Oh, right - yeah…no worries…your Mom reached back out to me and said you gave the thumbs up for staying at the house. She mentioned you would reach out but I’m sure you’ve been pretty busy.”

William has an inkling when you’ve mentioned him being “busy”, you’re not referring to his hockey schedule.

“I’ve been working out some details with your parents already…it’s all good.” You tried not to sound too curt but there was a definite chill in your response.

William senses the conversation is quickly derailing.

William’s voice becomes low and soft. “Hey….maybe we could still get together sometime?   Maybe drop by sometime?  I'd kinda like to be involved with the Christmas thing and… it’s just there are some things that we maybe need to talk about.”

Talk. He’s about a million years too late for that, you think to yourself.

“If you feel there’s a need, sure. Let me know when and where…you moved, right?”

William’s expression changed, showing shades of remorse. “I’ll text you the address. I just have practices for now; we don’t play until the 7th so any afternoon is good. Today even, if that works for you”.

“I’m flying out to Ireland again late on the 5th so yeah - maybe today or tomorrow…” 

Thinking back to your conversation at Mitch’s wedding, William joked with a slight smirk “Ireland again? Not another funeral I hope…” 

You quickly looked away, tears threatening to well up in your eyes. 

“It is, actually” you said softly.

Oh my god, you idiot, William berated himself in his mind. ”Fuck…Y/N….I’m so sorry…I shouldn’t have joked”.

“No, I know, Will. It’s ok…I’ll be ok” you smiled, faintly. It seemed like, for the thousandth time that day, you fought to suppress the ache deep within you and had to fight back tears.

William gently reached for your hand and pulled you into his arms. Involuntarily, you gripped onto his hoodie, probably a little too tightly, all in an effort to not completely fall apart in front of him.

You pull away, still trying to hide the anguish on your face with a smile. It broke William a little to see you struggling to maintain your composure. Always putting on a brave face, no matter how cracked or broken you felt, was what you did. It was how you were wired.

“Here…if you’re leaving, I’ll walk you out to your car” William said, searching for his keys in his pocket.

You were tempted to come up with an excuse to avoid spending any additional time alone with William, simply because every molecule in your body was inexplicably drawn to him.

Fresh out of reasons or rationale, your mind was too overwhelmed lately to come up with the excuse needed to flee in the opposite direction. The 4 of you walked down the corridor together in a comfortable silence, and exited into the parking lot.

Pablo and Banksy bolt forward out into the daylight, but do not stray far from their Dad, as they happily jump on each other while nearing your vehicle. William smiled to himself and shook his head. Of course your vehicle of choice wasn’t a super luxury SUV or sports car. You took your key fob out and unlocked the black crew cab 4x4 truck. He could picture it now; you in your tank top and jeans, covered in dirt and dust with your work gloves on, hauling lumber and bags of concrete mix for a mini home project.

You were always a parallel of opposites.

Poised and immaculate at high-profile events and functions versus you at home, decked out in ripped work clothes with sweat and sawdust stuck to every part of your body.

Your ultra-cool and larger than life demeanour on stage as you absorbed the electric energy from the crowd versus your sometimes quiet, humble, and super composed personality off stage.

Your vocabulary and your way with words versus your ability to spout off more profanity than a pissed-off truck-driver.

The innocent and submissive side you showed William while making love on many occasions, when he was between your thighs versus the absolute rocket you became when you flipped the switch and took complete control of his body.

“So….what about today. Do you think you could come by later on…I could order in some food - we could catch up?”

You open the door to your truck and Pablo and Banksy both put their front paws on the running board, their tails wagging furiously.

You look at them and chuckle, and bend down to let them bombard you with affection.

“Yeah, you know what…sure, that sounds good. But if you don’t send me your address and end up ghosting me yet again…William….I just - don’t even….”, shaking your head and chuckling, leaving the sentence unfinished. You hop into the truck and William shoo’s the dogs away from the truck door.

“Awh - Y/N - fuck…” William winces at your sarcasm, rubbing the back of his neck, showing a mix of guilt and acknowledgement that he deserved it. “I’m not going to do that”.

“Uh-huh….famous last words,” you said in a cheeky tone, rolling your eyes as you turned the ignition on. “I guess we’ll see you later…bye boys…”.

William chuckled and watched you drive off towards the exit. Walking back to his SUV with the dogs in tow, he felt an excitement, to the point of giddiness, which he hadn’t felt in ages about anyone. He had no idea how the future would pan out but he could at least look forward to tonight so the two of you could finally clear the air. 

William arrives home and after one last bathroom break for the dogs, he starts his typical routine of making calls while eating whatever he picked up from the chefs at the rink or on the way home. He knows your food preferences and makes a mental note of which restaurant he’ll call for take out from. The last thing he does before his afternoon siesta is a quick home delivery order of red wine and other essentials.

He stretches out on the couch that he recently had deep-cleaned due to his last few

sex-capades, none of which seemed to end well or at least warranted an invite for a return visit. He begins to drift off; his dogs curled up around his feet and legs.

Panic suddenly grips him as he realized he had not sent you his address.

See? no 👻 - 😉 William texts as he sends you the address.

If I had forgotten - what a fuckin disaster William thought before falling into a restful sleep.

A couple of hours later, and at least an hour before William was ready to wake up, his phone began to dance and vibrate on the coffee table. Groaning, he grabs the phone off the table and fumbles with it until he can focus on the caller.

The name “Trina” is illuminated on the display.

“Fuuuuuuck” William grumbles while forcing the call to voicemail. “Should have fucking blocked her”.

Since the last time William and Trina had seen each other, there had been a few harmless texts; mostly Trina following up on William’s health and well-being. 

Despite the rather unappealing outcome of their last meeting, William had started to think perhaps he had been too hasty in judging their first sexual experience together. She was beautiful, eager, and readily accessible; these are the exact qualities William needed for a short term fling. He decided to keep his options open, although he continued to feign being unwell until he was ready to see Trina again.  

This all was, of course, prior to William seeing you again.

A voicemail notification appears on the screen followed by a text message bubble.

Missing you - let me come by and make you feel better 

William rubs his hand over his face, stroking his moustache as he thinks about how to respond. Thanks but I’ll be ok. Just need some more rest. I’ll msg you soon. Good enough, William thinks and sets his phone back on the table. 

He leans back on the couch, and closes his eyes again, when another chime sounds from his cell.

“Jesus - take a fucking hint…” he mutters, grabbing his phone. 

It’s from you:

You sure about the no 👻… you didn’t tell me what time… have you already started 🏃?

William laughs and responds:

I’m not gonna 🏃… too tired.  I might hide tho.  How’s 5?

Dots appear as you type your response:

Ooof 💀. K - see you then.

90 minutes from now. Fuck. I should have told her 4.

William continues to read your text exchange over again as he smiles to himself. You always succeeded in making William laugh, no matter how small the exchange was. Your individual senses of humour seemed to mesh flawlessly - he seemed to get you and your little idiosyncrasies, the same way you understood his.

He looked forward to the possibility of earning your friendship back and maybe even more. William wondered if you had met anyone; he had heard rumblings a while ago about you catching the eyes and interests of a few other NHL’ers but he hadn’t heard anything since. In William’s mind (and he was aware he had no claim on you), he dreaded the idea of you being with anyone, but there was something so much worse if that guy was another hockey player in the league. 

He pushed those thoughts to the side; he would need to establish rumour and fact later, and it made him queasy just thinking about it.

Rather than trying to steal a few more minutes of sleep, William putters around the condo tidying up here and there, but feeling no pressure in having the place look unlived in.

Nerves were starting to build. William seemed to wander aimlessly from one room to the other, serving no other purpose than to kill time. Although he had a shower after practice, William decided on another long shower to help him relax, and to allow him to take some additional care with his grooming regimen.

William steps into the hot water and closes his eyes as the warmth and the steam envelop him. Every quiet moment lately, William has thought about the two of you and your past. Memories that never seem to erode; images that William would often rely on when he needed to drift off to sleep or relieve some built up “tension”.

Streams of water weave their paths down William's broad chest, through his chest hair and down his toned abs, eventually trickling down the veins of his cock, and dripping off the tip. He begins to feel a stirring, an urge with the thoughts of your arrival. William's strong hand gingerly wraps around his shaft and he begins to pump himself with long, methodical strokes.

He remembers the occasions with the two of you in the shower….

….you on your knees before him and encouraging his cock further into your mouth until the tip is rubbing against the back of your throat. With his hand fisting the hair at the back of your head, you allowed him to fuck you deep in your mouth until you tasted the pre-cum seeping onto your tongue. William marvelled with how much your mouth could accommodate as you expertly controlled your gag reflex and breathing.  It seemed with your years of voice and mouth exercises, the benefits were many, beyond simply increasing your vocal range and pitch.  

As William spouted broken sentences of praise for what you were doing to him, you would masterfully take control of his cock with your hands, stroking his girth, alternating between licking and sucking the rounded head as it turned shades of feverish reds and purples. William’s grunts and loud groans never ceased to arouse you as William began climaxing.  You lapped at his balls, gently sucking on them as you continued to pump his shaft.  You ached to hear the warnings before he cums, desperately waiting for him to unload.  Gripping his ass, your mouth engulfs his cock, your head moving back and forth at a frenzied pace.  You force the oozing head towards the entrance of your throat.  William’s hand cradles the back of your neck, allowing you to look up.   Your eyes locked on each other as his seed coated the inside of your mouth. You smile as you enjoy the taste of him, and slowly guide his cock away from your open mouth as strings of your spit mixed with his cum stretch from the head.   Your eyes remain fixed on his; soft smiles and intimate words are lovingly exchanged as you continue to lap, suck and fill your mouth again and again with his generous cock.

William shuddered as he watched you intently overtaking his semi-erect member into your mouth.  With you maintaining his heightened arousal, the urge to spread your thighs apart for him to greedily feast on your pussy took hold. You always claimed to be a better giver than receiver, but William was now hell-bent on respectfully pushing your boundaries. Without fail, each and every time, you had given him the hottest oral of his life, and William was determined to reciprocate until your pussy was properly worshipped.

He pulled you up and pressed you hard against the shower wall with his thick and muscular frame. He scanned your face, focusing his gaze on your lips; he watched as the water washed away the remainder of his cum that had oozed from your mouth.  He used his thumb to slowly guide the fluids back into your mouth, allowing you to suck on the tip of his thumb.  He kissed you; his lips were hungry and eager on your mouth as his tongue manoeuvred around yours. His hands moved skillfully from massaging your tits, down along your sides, and towards the front of your abdomen. You let out a gasp and bit your lip hard as 8 fingertips gently landed with a faint, feather-like touch near your pussy, as he began to lightly graze your wet and ready folds. You begin to shiver at his touch and have the goosebumps to prove it; your pussy is past the point of throbbing and you are almost on the fringes of insanity waiting for William to binge on your core.

He wanted to mark you tonight. His mouth slid down your body, nipping and sucking some of the most pleasurable, albeit discreet, areas of your toned body. As he knelt on the shower floor, he caressed your long leg, leaving love bites at the apex of your slender thigh which he then guided one over his shoulder. His mouth instantly latches onto your folds as he slowly strokes your clitoris with his pointed tongue. You shriek, reacting to William suddenly engaging his jaw muscles to tongue-fuck you in concert with mercilessly licking your clit. William rubbed his facial hair repeatedly over your most sensitive spots, feasting on your swollen pussy as if it was his favourite dessert, moaning with pleasure as your arousal hit his taste buds. He loved hearing you cry out his name, watching you let go of your usual collected composure and allowing him to help release your inner inhibitions.

As an added bonus, he inserted his middle and ring fingers slowly and deeply inside your cunt. He adjusted and moved the ends of his fingers eventually hitting the most desirable spot as he watched you writhe in pure ecstasy. He wanted to see you succumb to the sensation as he continued lapping and stroking your clitoris with his tongue. He began to move his fingers rapidly in and out of your entrance, until your thighs began to shake and quiver involuntarily. William increased his already formidable pace with his fingers and his tongue as you fight not to collapse under the sheer magnitude of your impending orgasm.

And when he brings you to the highest level of pleasure, he vigorously gyrates his fingers deep inside your core, inciting you to cry out as you squirt for him. After he made you spray for him a few more times, he laced his fingers with yours and he stood up, pressing you against the shower wall again. One hand slides back down to your pussy and he gently rubs two fingers against your engorged clit. William’s eyes are locked on yours as he slowly pulls his fingers up to his mouth, and wipes the sheen from your arousal on his pouting lips. He runs his tongue along the shiny trail he made with his fingers, whispering in your ear of how delicious you are.

Back in a lonelier shower, William’s head falls back under the steady stream of hot water that begins to collect in his open mouth as he’s reaching his orgasm. He spits it out and begins to grunt as streams of cum erupt into the flow of water heading to the drain on the shower floor.

He pants for a moment, catching his breath. He needed that. He needed to take the edge off before you arrived.

William steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around his midriff. The steam quickly dissipates as he exits the bathroom into his bedroom, and he takes his time selecting the relaxed and casual attire for the evening. He glances at his phone to check the time. 4:30.

He sighs and smiles slightly; he’s really looking forward to tonight, to just have you there relaxing on his couch, catching up on the past few years.

He checks his messages, making sure there was nothing new from you.  There is, however, another text from Trina.

My friend and I are going to Mademoiselle for Happy Hour and then dinner. Maybe it will do you good to come out - we can all have a little bit of fun?

Knowing the message will show as being read, William sends a short response.

Not tonight, but thanks anyway.

Trina responds with just an emoji showing her disappointment.

William shakes his head and finishes getting ready. Minutes tick on but it feels like hours, and he’s getting impatient.

The ringtone on his phone assigned to building Security begins to chime, startling William for a moment and each of the dogs perk up their ears in response. He answers the call and his stomach flips once the guard announces your arrival.

He can hardly believe how nervous he’s become and silently kicks his own ass in his head for being so ridiculous. But on the other hand, it’s you. The one girl he still finds himself longing for after so many years.

He props the door open wide enough so you can spot him once you get off the elevator; Pablo and Banksy sit at William’s feet anxiously anticipating the arrival of someone new.

Once the elevator reaches William’s floor, he can hear the chime and the doors sliding open. You step into the plush waiting area and then follow the signs pointing to the appropriate suite number.

You round the corner and see him waiting in his doorway. It’s no use to try and conceal your smile when your eyes land on his grinning face. He opens up the door allowing the dogs to fly down the hallway in your direction.

William watches you beam with delight as you bend down to greet the two.

After tummy rubs and a lot of cooing from you, the dogs follow you back towards the condo where you greet William with a friendly embrace.

William takes a moment to gaze at you; your curls are contained by a loose bun, you are dressed in a tan coloured pea coat, black turtleneck with black slacks. You managed to make clothing that were simple and understated look elegant and absolutely fucking sexy. He inhales deeply - your appearance already has William rattled.

He takes your coat and you remove your heeled boots at the entranceway. The dogs follow your every move as you scan his condo. Had it not been December and the days being so short, you could imagine how a sunny day would radiate throughout the place from the large windows and glass balcony doors from the living room.

“This is really beautiful, William. Such a fantastic part of the city too,” you said smiling, your eyes wide and shining.

“It’s small, but I’m on a waitlist for a larger place up on the penthouse floor. It’ll be better when my family comes to visit…so they don’t need to crash at your house at Christmas again” William laughs. 

“Well, yeah…I get it but I have to say, I’m really looking forward to having them stay. It’s far too big for just me, so having some life around will be amazing. At the very least, I’m hoping someone in your family will kick your ass at ping-pong…or at any of the other games, really…” you smirk.

“Ha, yeah…never gonna happen…” William laughs.

“Ah, well…pardon me as I try to squeeze by the giant ego that just arrived” 

“Ouch…hey, I'm just telling it like it is”.

You roll your eyes and scoff. “Ok, King...let’s leave it there.”

The conversation and friendly banter ensues; there are no awkward moments or strained silences. The shared mood is happy and light and soul-warming, much like it had been all those years before. There was a tinge of bashfulness at times as you both would steal glances at each other. It seemed apparent that you both were still very much attracted to one another.

Prior to seeing him, there were moments that you found it annoying to still have these feelings simmering just beneath the surface, given your spirit had been shattered for much of the past four years. Nevertheless, he wasn't to blame for the anguish you shouldered…it's how life was; you caught deeper feelings for him than he did for you. End of story.

At that very moment, it didn’t matter anyway. Or at least, you were going to bury those thoughts way back in the proverbial closet for tonight.

The wine arrives via delivery, followed by dinner. You both opt to sit on the floor and eat at the coffee table in the living room, devouring the variety of sushi and sashimi pieces William had selected.

You filled him in on some of the different music and business ventures you had been a part of since COVID. He asked you about certain gigs and various celebrities, trying to get you to spill some dirt (although tempting, you did not oblige). 

He in turn told you about some of his brother’s exploits with women, and you reminisced about the old days and the unhinged female drama involving Kasperi and his ex-girlfriends that you witnessed firsthand a number of years ago.

Your muscles in your face began to hurt from smiling and laughing; it’s been forever since you’ve been able to truly unwind like this. You realize that the wine is going down far too easily and you felt a little more buzzed than you should, with remnants of jet lag still plaguing you from the previous round trip from Europe.

William had excused himself to the bathroom, and in an effort not to submit to the wave of drowsiness that was creeping in, you got up off the floor and started cleaning up the containers and plates scattered around the table.

William appears from the hallway and tells you to leave everything - he will clean it up later.

“Ha – no, I need to move - I had a brutal travel schedule at the end of November and it nearly killed me. This exhaustion just strikes whenever, so I had to at least stand up…otherwise, you’re going to find me passed out on the floor.  I feel like a narcoleptic lately.  Plus - that wine…is really, really fucking good…I feel a little drunk,” your face flushed as you laugh.

“You can stay here tonight, if you want?”

You hesitated as waves of nostalgia and cautiousness, in equal measure, washed over you. “Are you sure - I wouldn’t want to cramp your style…”

Before you can stop yourself, you blurt out some musings - or misgivings rather - about his current love life that had been bouncing around in your head.

“I’m sure your dance card is pretty full these days…maybe you’ve got a young model-type waiting for you later somewhere?” you try to joke as you rinse off the plates and stack them in the sink. Your fear that he'll see right through your comments as you look for some clarity on his current love life.

William chuckles and shakes his head; he knows this is partly because of what has been stirred up about his personal life during the Sweden trip.

Touch her. Hug her. Kiss her….do something William thinks.

“I’m positive…I really like this…us hanging out, you and me again. And…please - stop cleaning up” he laughs.

William offers you a small towel and helps you dry off your hands. He smiles as he gazes at you.

“It's really been amazing to see you,” William says softly.

You're certain that the surface temperature of your cheeks are reaching five alarm status as he pulls you closer against him as he leans against the kitchen counter. William feels your light touch as your hands gently lay on his chest.

He searches your face. “And we haven’t really talked about the stuff from before - with what happened with you and me. Do you think maybe we should?” William asks quietly.

You can only manage to look directly into his eyes for brief moments; anything longer will make you crumble.

“I think we can shelve it…it’s not going to change anything that happened before. It’s been such a fantastic evening already…I don’t think we should spoil it by dredging everything up from the past.”

You stare at the thick chain around his neck using it as your main focal point.

 “Yeah, ok…you’re right. It doesn’t change anything that went down.”

You nod your head and look up at his face, blushing more heavily as you try to contain your wide smile.  

Your head is swimming but your need to be in control of your emotions takes hold, and you apologetically excuse yourself and head to the washroom.  William just smiles and lets his hands slide down your hips as he releases you from his embrace.  

You try to stabilize your heart rate and your thoughts. Your desires versus your logic are each trying to get the upper hand in your mind. You take your time, willing yourself to sober up a bit before heading back out to William. You drink some water from the tap to try and dilute the effects of the alcohol you’ve consumed. You study your reflection in the mirror and after repositioning a few curls here and there and applying a little more lip gloss, you exit the bathroom.

Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door spurring the dogs to start barking. You hear William pad over to the entrance and pause for a moment before turning the lock and opening the door.

You hear a female’s voice shriek “Willy!! Heeeey….I missed you so much”.

You can hear the sound of bracelets clinking as the woman wraps her arms around William, followed by an audible kiss. It's crystal clear that she currently has something going on with William.

You hear the dogs muffling whines once William gently commands them to quiet down.

You stop dead in your tracks, feeling completely trapped. Part of you wants to return to the bathroom and not hear any of their conversation. The masochistic side, however, wants to hear every word.

Your brain begins to spiral out of control.

How did you manage to misread this situation again? What was that in the kitchen….was it meant to be platonic? Would he invite you here just to tell you about her?

It feels like a literal punch in the stomach, and you instinctively place your hand over your abdomen as though it would help numb the ache coursing through your body. You stand in the hallway, completely motionless as if your feet were concrete blocks.

“Trina, what are you doing…I mean, how'd you even get in?”

“I dunno, the security guy and the other one were dealing with somebody, someone else was leaving, they held the door, so…we just walked in. Oh, this is my best friend, Lara. I told her how fucking amazing our first date was. She's a fan of yours too. We were out for a few drinks and I thought the two of us could come by to help you feel better. You and I haven’t seen each other since the last time….I know you said not tonight but here we are,” Trina giggled, her words slightly slurred from intoxication.

Lara glared at her friend. Trina had said William was ok with them coming over anytime she wanted, and she claimed he would be game for anything they wanted to do.

William’s present demeanour is definitely contradicting Trina’s story.

For years now, Lara, being the pragmatic one of the two, had been suspicious of how much truth was behind Trina’s claims when it came to the men she had met and dated. True, William and Trina had sex; that much was obvious. However, based on the number of times Trina initiated contact versus William, Lara surmised William might be only willing to meet solely on his whim, given the tone of his short and dry text messages that Trina showed her. Trina was too wrapped up in all the media attention William had been receiving lately to even notice the bland tone behind each of his responses.

When Trina and Lara arrived at Mademoiselle that evening, Trina was clearly on a mission, ordering multiple Perfect 10 Martini’s because, in her inebriated words, she was exactly that. Her mission was to make sure William felt that about her too.

When Trina came up with the brilliant idea of dropping by William’s in order for the two ladies to seduce him and coax him into bed, Lara thought there was no way she was being serious. Lara allowed Trina to call the shots just to humour her; she had learned long ago it was better to play along first before pulling the plug straight away on Trina’s antics. If Lara was being honest though, the exciting flipside of this situation is that if she was ever going to have an opportunity for her first threesome (and if he was truly willing), it might as well be with William Nylander.

As Trina continues to ramble about their evening and some explicit ideas she has for the hours that lie ahead, Lara scans the scene in the living room. Her heart drops when she realizes William is not alone. First she spots two wine glasses - William had filled up your glass while you had stepped away to the washroom. She looks over to see your Louboutin stiletto boots placed off to the side. Then your jacket. She glances at William and can’t quite determine what emotion has registered on his face.

“I….I’m sorry William - I didn’t know you told Trina not to come by tonight” Lara interjected. William looked toward Lara and verbally confirmed, he definitely told her not tonight.

“I have a guest so it would be better if you both just head home” William said calmly.

Trina’s eyes suddenly widened. “A guest??” Trina's voice is raised as she emphasizes the last word. “Do you have another girl here tonight? Where is she? So…what - is she fucking HIDING? Come on out, bitch…let’s see you - I guarantee it, you got nothing he wants” Trina yelled into the air as she looked around the space.

“Alright - enough…you need to leave or I’ll fucking calling security…” William's jaw was clenched as he warned Trina and Lara.

“No - please William, I’m so sorry…we’re leaving. I'm so embarrassed - she said we could come by.”

Lara grits her teeth when she looks at Trina. “You…we’re going….NOW…”

Lara grabs a hold of Trina’s trench coat and half guides but partially shoves her as she stumbles down the corridor. Lara’s voice was a low growl as she berates her until the elevator arrives.

William watches the two girls vanish around the corner to the elevator, hearing the chime as it arrives on his floor. He steps out of the doorway into the hall making a call down to security to ensure they have exited the building. Sometime soon, William will have to go down and find out how they got in from the get go.

He stood there, exasperated as he rubbed his forehead as he re-entered the apartment. The dread of facing you now is creeping into his mind. William is genuinely worried that the fallout from tonight’s events is that you won’t want anything to do with him going forward.

Indeed, that was one of the many thoughts going through your mind. You knew you were judging him and his lifestyle, and you knew you had no right to do so. Just because you chose to abstain from casual sex or any kind of relationship for all these years, certainly did not mean he had to do the same.

You’ve known all along that he was super popular with women. He didn’t have to do much to have girls reaching out to him in droves. Through various means, you also knew he took advantage of his popularity, with being spotted out and about with a number of gorgeous girls over the years.

However, acknowledging reality in theory and seeing it first hand was completely different.

As you stood there listening to Trina drunkenly spout off details of what she and William had done previously and the plans she had for him tonight, you wanted to wretch. The worst part about it was you knew your soul that you still wanted him, but William had moved on, many times over. 

You and William may have started as convenient and casual hook-ups but it never was just about sex with you. It was about all of him. No amount of time or distance or how much you pushed it down could cure you of your feelings for William, up to this point anyway.

But now, all you can feel is torment and defeat from that gut punch from the last 5 minutes. The universe had to be telling you something; the first time you spend time together after four years had passed, and within hours, he had two women show up at his door propositioning him for a threesome.

Here you stood, the week before your 31st birthday, a multi-platinum award winning musician, composer. entrepreneur, philanthropist, advocate, model, actress, and the list went on.

Yet, with all of your achievements under your belt, right now, you were just another girl in a veritable ocean of females all vying for William’s affections. If there was ever a chance that something could have transpired tonight between you and William, the moment has now been instantly derailed by some drunk girl who fucked your ex-hook-up….lover…whatever label fit.

At the end of the day, William could fuck whomever he wanted. He could do whatever he pleased with as many girls as he chooses. It’s his life… It was his decision how he wanted to enjoy his downtime and really, it was none of your business anyway.

Your sometimes passive-aggressive nature, mixed with hurt feelings, made you want to see him twist a little. As you appeared from the hallway however, his expression made you think twice about adding to his misery.

He looked completely crushed, embarrassed, and lost. “Are you ok?” you asked, softly.

“It’s more like, are you…” he said. “Y/N, I am so sorry”.

“Well, it doesn’t seem like it’s really your fault, though…I’m assuming you didn’t know she would sneak into your building, hammered …and well, try and…” you nod your head toward the bedroom.

“Well, no…but I sorta led her on. I’m not even sure why I did…she was kind of…I dunno…like…just there” William struggled to come up with the right word.

“Available…”

” “Yeah…something like that” William confided, feeling a little embarrassed.

He pulls you towards him. “So much for the fantastic night…I guess I ruined that” he said into your ear.

Based on the looseness of your embrace, he knows your feelings have shifted. William feels horrible, desperately wishing he could rewrite the past ten minutes.

You took a step back and you could feel your expression soften. You manage a faint smile and tell him that it was mostly fantastic - even amazing - night but you could have done without the plot twist at the end.

“So….I think I’ll grab an Uber or something and head home, if you’re gonna be ok?” You paused.

No, I’m not ok. I want you to stay here, he thinks to himself.

“Maybe you should stay. Seriously, that girl - just in case she gets it into her head to hang around and watch whoever leaves the building” William says gently.

“Shit…do you think she’d stalk you?”.

“Not sure” William smoothed his hand over his beard. The last thing either of you need is to have your names splashed around the social media universe because of a drunken altercation with a girl in a parking lot, who had been recently fucked…and then slighted, by William Nylander.

You consider the options for another moment, and finally agree that it might be for the best to stay. The couch looks pretty comfortable so you offer to sleep in the living room.

William looks hurt. He wants you in his bed. The urge to wrap himself around you is almost too much for him to handle.

Given the circumstances however, he knows how self-serving it will seem asking you to sleep in the same bed as him. Despite you trying so hard to hide it, he knows you are hurt. He’s beginning to feel a sense of hopelessness from the damage that’s been done tonight.

He grabs some dog treats and tells you to just stay and try and relax while he heads out for a walk with the dogs. He wants to drop by the concierge desk and security just to make sure all is clear around the outside of the building before he ventures out with his boys.

After William and the dogs leave, you survey your surroundings and allow a release of the emotions that have been simmering just under the surface all day. Tears well in your eyes as you stare at the wine glass he filled for you earlier. You lower your head in your hands and weep quietly.

Moments pass and a blinding headache begins to form behind your eyes; the pressure making your eyelids feel heavily weighted. Between the wine and William’s unexpected visitors, the unmitigated happiness you felt only 30 minutes ago has completely evaporated. Like a magnet to steel, a force anchors you to the couch, and you can’t help but to lie your head down and close your eyes to try and get some relief. 

Exhaustion eventually takes hold of you, and you fall into a deep sleep within minutes of your head hitting the pillow.

William and the dogs return after spending longer than anticipated on their walk; the one night William really needs Pablo and Banksy to do their business quickly, it took them forever to get it done.

William enters the condo in a hurried pace, only to find you curled up on the couch asleep. His heart expands and breaks all at once as he approaches you, your figure gently rising and falling with each breath.

He considers waking you up to offer his bed anyway, wanting you to have a more comfortable place to sleep but he vetoes his own thoughts, given all that has transpired.

Instead, he grabs a blanket and gently lays it over you.

It feels strange for William to leave you in the living room by yourself. He watches you for another few moments, your face scarcely illuminated by the dim light from the kitchen that he's left on for you. Desire and disappointment grip his stomach as he turns to head to his bedroom.

The next morning , you awake to something cold and wet brushing up against your face. “Pablo….down, buddy” William chuckled.

Opening your eyes, you’re initially disoriented from waking from a deep sleep. You see Pablo sitting in front of you (you swear he’s smiling), waiting for some kind of acknowledgement.

A wide grin spans your face.

“Oh…sweet boy…thank you for the kisses” you softly say, encouraging Pablo to hop up onto the couch. Pablo gladly obliges and lies lengthwise on your torso. You murmur words of affection to Pablo’s face as you rub behind his ears and nuzzle him back with your nose.

Banksy comes bouncing across the room wanting to join in on the love fest.

You smile apologetically at William. “Sorry I passed out before you came back; I wasn’t able to keep my eyes open.”

“I’m glad you stayed…looked like you needed the rest.  The snoring though - you sounded like a freight train” William says with a smirk.

“I’ll take my snoring over you ripping farts all night” you jokingly retorted.

“Hey…I couldn’t help that…it was better out than in. I seem to remember you laughing until you almost wet yourself…you weren’t exactly complaining”, William laughs.

“You held me under the blankets…fucking Dutch Oven - and that wasn’t laughter, that was gasping”.

William starts laughing that trademark laugh.

You roll your eyes as you smile widely at him. “Yeah, keep laughing there, chuckles. Good times”.

Yeah...they were. So many good times together William thought.

You both take a lingering look at one another, and before he notices you blushing, you excuse yourself and head to the washroom.

Every thought in your mind concerning William has shifted. Last night, prior to Trina's arrival that is, you felt a closeness resurfacing with William. The calmness he always seemed to provide to you, just naturally with his presence, had begun to return.

But now, with this new day, there's just uncertainty and uneasiness that has settled in your gut. You realize now that you don't know him like you used to. Maybe it was a stretch to think that you ever did. After all, in the three years you were involved, you only managed to string together a month here, or two months there - and then you would have to leave. Only experiencing the best side of each other; it seemed true that no two people could be more entranced with one another than you and William when you were together.  But everything has changed since then and it’s doubtful that you want the same things from life.

Returning to the living area, William’s about ready to head out with the dogs. Both Pablo and Banksy run over to you, falling over each other for your attention as if you’ve been gone the whole day instead of just 5 minutes.

“I’m not sure if they love me as much as they seem to love you…I feel like a distant second to them now”.

“Awh - boys, you better go see your Dad…he’s feeling a little jealous” you say as you kiss and nuzzle the tops of their heads.

“I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me for their walk but I think it’s pouring out there now. I might just take them to the rink and let them run around there, I guess.”

“I would have but one - it’ll kill me to walk in those things” you nod your head towards the stilettos. “And, two - I better head out…there’s a ton of things I have to get done before I leave. Otherwise, I would have loved to.”

You finished getting ready and within minutes, the 4 of you were descending in the elevator towards the main lobby. William offers to walk you out to the parking lot but you decline. Figuring his car is in the underground lot, there was no need for him to get him and the dogs soaked as the heavy December rain ensued.

“It was good to see you��memorable in the most legendary Nylander way” you say smiling.

Before he could respond, you crouch down to acknowledge the dogs, allowing them to put their front paws on your knees for more wet nose boops and kisses.

As you stood up, you could see his expression had changed. He didn’t look like his normal light hearted self. He looked weary. He looked like he had a million things to say but wasn’t able to utter a single word. Instead, he reached out and pulled you into him, wrapping his arms around you in a firm embrace. You felt his breath on your neck as he lowered his head and rested it against yours.

You pull back slightly and give him a warm smile. “I know you’re travelling too pretty soon - wishing you great games and safe travels, ok?”

“Yeah, you too. Shit - we didn’t get to talk about Christmas - the family coming - or anything like that though…”

“I’m in contact with your parents about everything - someone is bound to fill you in but seriously, there’s nothing for you to worry about. As long as you show up sometime after you fly home from Columbus, you’re golden” you say with a grin.

This time, the silence between you weighed heavily in the air.

“Ok…you better get going there, superstar. Traffic’s going to be shit…I don’t want to hear Sid Seixeiro bitching about you being late on Breakfast Television again.”

William laughed out loud. “Yeah - got a lot of flak for that one…I didn’t know you knew about that”, William says as he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck

“Well, it was pretty much splashed around everywhere at the time. I couldn’t avoid it”, you smirk.

You turn to look out at the steady stream of rain and sigh; half of you wants to go with him and the other half wants to get the hell out of there, downpour be damned.

“Ok then…I’m off. See you later, boys”, you grin at William and the dogs, turning to head across the lobby and out into the miserable and wet December morning.

William heads back into the elevator, hands jammed in his pockets, feeling uneasy about how everything with you was left up in the air.

[chicklit-or-chocolate]

I dieci classici del Western secondo l'AFI:

The Searchers (1956)

High Noon (1952)

Shane (1953)

Unforgiven (1992)

Red River (1948)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kids (1969)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

Stagecoach (Ombre rosse, in Italia: 1939);

Cat Ballou (1965)

Due su 10 sono film di John Ford, uno, il più tardo, di Clint Eastwood: nessun film di Leone è considerato tra i 10 western più rilevanti, eppure sembra una carenza imperdonabile per un regista che, sebbene forse "post-moderno", ha saputo fissare il Western nella fantasia dei moderni più di altri registi. Oggi, pochi di noi hanno visto più di due o tre titoli di questa lista (quasi tutti conosceranno Quella sporca dozzina o Mezzogiorno di fuoco, qualcuno Gli spietati, i più colti Ombre Rosse). Ma anche i non addetti al western conoscono almeno Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, e forse hanno visto "solo" i western di Leone e gli epigoni come Lo chiamavano Trinità.

La mia impressione è che gli Americani, in fondo, non amino pensare al West come a un luogo dove è possibile l'ironia sul West. Il West è una cosa seria, di cui vergognarsi, magari, di cui sentirsi in colpa con post-coloniale compunzione... Però non lo si può che prendere sul serio - almeno se ci si deve basare su questo elenco di un'autorità come l'AFI.

[pasta-pardner]

Top 5 westerns that aren't spaghetti westerns

OHHHH THIS IS SUPER DIFFICULT... like picking a favorite child. ok here's a rough list

The Good, the Bad, the Weird |  좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈 (2008)

Unforgiven (1992)

The Harder They Fall (2021)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Tears of the Black Tiger | ฟ้าทะลายโจร (2000)

[brian-in-finance]

Apple TV+

Irish Film, TV Nominations 2023: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ ‘Bad Sisters’ Lead With Most Nods

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, led the nominations for the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs) as the full list of nominees was unveiled on Monday night local time, picking up 11 nods in the film category.

“Bad Sisters” – Sharon Horgan’s Apple TV+ mystery series – led the pack in the drama category with 12 noms.

Coming off the back of a stellar year for Irish film and television, the nominations include a number of familiar names and titles, including Paul Mescal, who has been nominated for best lead actor in a film for “Aftersun” and best supporting actor in a film for “God’s Creatures” while Farrell is also competing in both categories, both for his star turn in “Banshees” and his supporting role as Penguin in “The Batman.”

“Conversations with Friends” has also scored noms in multiple categories while Aoife McArdle is up for best drama director for Apple TV+ series “Severance.” Sinead O’Connor doc “Nothing Compares” is up for best feature documentary.

The IFTAs are set to take place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on May 7. They will be broadcast on local network RTÉ.

FILM CATEGORIES

Best Film

“Aisha”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“God’s Creatures”

“Lakelands”

“Róise & Frank”

“The Wonder”

Director – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“It Is In Us All” – Antonia Campbell Hughes

“Joyride” – Emer Reynolds

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty & Peter Murphy

Script – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“God’s Creatures” – Shane Crowley

“Joyride” – Ailbhe Keogan

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty, Peter Murphy

Lead Actor – Film

Colin Farrell – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Daryl McCormack – “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”

Éanna Hardwicke – “Lakelands”

Liam Neeson – “Marlowe”

Ollie West – “The Sparrow”

Paul Mescal – “Aftersun”

Lead Actress – Film

Alisha Weir – “Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical”

Bríd Ní Neachtain – “Róise & Frank”

Danielle Galligan – “Lakelands”

Kelly Gough – “Tarrac”

Seána Kerslake – “Ballywalter”

Zara Devlin – “Ann”

Supporting Actor – Film

Andrew Scott – “Catherine Called Birdy”

Barry Keoghan – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Brendan Gleeson – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Colin Farrell – “The Batman”

Paul Mescal – “God’s Creatures”

Pierce Brosnan – “Black Adam”

Supporting Actress – Film

Aisling Franciosi – “God’s Creatures”

Eileen Walsh – “Ann”

Elaine Cassidy – “The Wonder”

Jessie Buckley – “Women Talking”

Kerry Condon – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Kíla Lord Cassidy – “The Wonder”

DRAMA

Best Drama

“Bad Sisters”

“Conversations with Friends”

“Derry Girls: The Agreement (Extended Special)”

“Smother”

“The Dry”

“Vikings: Valhalla”

Director – Drama

“Bad Sisters” – Dearbhla Walsh

“Conversations with Friends” – Lenny Abrahamson

“Maxine” – Laura Way

“Severance” – Aoife McArdle

“Smother” – Dathaí Keane

“The Dry” – Paddy Breathnach

Script – Drama

“Bad Sisters” – Sharon Horgan

“Conversations with Friends” – Mark O’Halloran

“Derry Girls: The Agreement (Extended Special)” – Lisa McGee

“Smother” – Kate O’Riordan

“The Dry” – Nancy Harris

“Top Boy” – Ronan Bennett

Lead Actor – Drama

Aidan Turner – “The Suspect”

Conleth Hill – “Holding”

Jason O’Mara – “Smother”

Kerr Logan – “North Sea Connection”

Stephen Rea – “The English”

Vinnie McCabe – “The Noble Call”

Lead Actress – Drama

Alison Oliver – “Conversations with Friends”

Caitriona Balfe – “Outlander”

Dervla Kirwan – “Smother”

Roisin Gallagher – “The Dry”

Sharon Horgan – “Bad Sisters”

Siobhan McSweeney – “Holding”

Starz

Supporting Actor – Drama

Brian Gleeson – “Bad Sisters”

Ciarán Hinds – “The Dry”

Daryl McCormack – “Bad Sisters”

Michael Smiley – “Bad Sisters”

Moe Dunford – “The Dry”

Tommy Tiernan – “Conversations with Friends”

Supporting Actress – Drama

Anne-Marie Duff – “Bad Sisters”

Brenda Fricker – “Holding”

Eva Birthistle – “Bad Sisters”

Eve Hewson – “Bad Sisters”

Genevieve O’Reilly – “Andor”

Sarah Greene – “Bad Sisters”

OTHER AWARD CATEGORIES

Feature Documentary

“The Artist & The Wall of Death”

“The Ghost of Richard Harris”

“How To Tell A Secret”

“Million Dollar Pigeons”

“North Circular”

“Nothing Compares”

Live-Action Short Film

“An Irish Goodbye”

“Call Me Mommy”

“Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You”

“Lamb”

“Wednesday’s Child”

“You’re Not Home”

Animated Short Film

“Candlelight”

“Dagda’s Harp”

“Red Rabbit”

“Soft Tissue”

CRAFT CATEGORIES

Cinematography

“Conversations with Friends” – Suzie Lavelle

“How To Tell A Secret” – Eleanor Bowman

“It Is In Us All” – Piers McGrail

“The Dry” – Cathal Watters

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Peter Robertson

Costume Design

“Aisha” – Kathy Strachan

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh

“Disenchanted” – Joan Bergin

“Enola Holmes 2” – Consolata Boyle

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Susan O’Connor Cave

Production Design

“Aisha” – Tamara Conboy

“Bad Sisters” – Mark Geraghty

“Mr. Malcolm’s List” – Ray Ball

“Róise & Frank” – Padraig O’Neill

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Tom Conroy

Hair & Make-Up

“Aisha” – Dumebi Anozie, Liz Byrne

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Orla Carroll, Lynn Johnston, Dan Martin

“Mr. Malcolm’s List” – Eileen Buggy, Sharon Doyle

“The Wonder” – Lorri Ann King, Morna Ferguson

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Joe Whelan, Tom McInerney

Sound

“Aisha”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Conversations with Friends”

“The Sparrow”

“The Wonder”

Original Music

“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” – Stephen Rennicks

“Lakelands” – Daithí

“Nothing Compares” – Irene Buckley, Linda Buckley

“Róise & Frank” – Colm Mac Con Iomaire

“The Dry” – Sarah Lynch

Editing

“Aisha” – Colin Campbell

“Elvis” – Jonathan Redmond, Matt Villa

“Death on the Nile” – Úna Ní Dhonghaíle

“Nocebo” – Tony Cranstoun

“Nothing Compares” – Mick Mahon

VFX

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Marlowe”

“Stranger Things”

“The Woman King”

Best International Film

“Aftersun”

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Elvis”

“Tár”

“The Fabelmans”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

Best International Actor

Albrecht Schuch – “All Quiet On The Western Front”

Austin Butler – “Elvis”

Cosmo Jarvis – “It Is In Us All”

Felix Kammerer – “All Quiet On The Western Front”

Josh O’Connor – “Aisha”

Tom Cruise – “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best International Actress

Cate Blanchett – “Tár”

Emily Watson – “God’s Creatures”

Florence Pugh – “The Wonder”

Letitia Wright – “Aisha”

Michelle Williams – “The Fabelmans”

Viola Davis – “The Woman King”

Variety

Starz

Remember the ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️th IFTA nomination?

[derekfoxwit]

The Best Picture Oscar My Way (1951-1979)

Here is Part 3 of my “Best Picture My Way” series. The last two are found here. My stipulations can be found in Part 1.

For convenience sake, I’ll relay this message. For Best Picture, I’m only gonna list the nominated producer for newly added films (here’s the Wikipedia page for the rest). I will mostly go with the ones credited as “produced by” or “p.g.a.” (if the latter is shown) on IMDB as the nominees. Limit is five.

Also, if you’re wondering why there are more years listed here than the other two, that’ll be answered in the next part.

1951

Rashomon - Minoru Jingo

Ace in the Hole - Billy Wilder

A Place in the Sun

Strangers on a Train - Alfred Hitchcock

A Street Called Desire

1952

High Noon

Forbidden Games - Robert Dorfmann

Singing in the Rain - Arthur Freed

Moulin Rogue

The Quiet Man

1953

Roman Holiday

From Here to Eternity

Shane

The Big Heat - Robert Arthur

The Stalag 17 - Billy Wilder

1954

On the Waterfront (still)

Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock

The Caine Mutiny

Dial M for Murder - Alfred Hitchcock

Johnny Guitar - Nicholas Ray

1955

Marty (still)

The Night of the Hunter - Paul Gregory

Rebel Without a Cause - David Weisbart

The Long Grey Line - Robert Arthur

Mister Roberts

1956

Tea and Sympathy - Pandro S. Berman

The Ten Commandments

Giant

The Killing - James B. Harris

The Searchers - Patrick Ford

1957

The Bridge on the River Kwai (still)

12 Angry Men

Nights of Cabiria - Dino De Laurentiis

Witness for the Persecution

The Seventh Seal - Allan Ekelund

1958

Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock

Mon Oncle - Jacques Tati

Touch of Evil - Albert Zugsmith

Auntie Mame

The Defiant Ones

1959

Ben-Hur (still)

Anatomy of a Murder

North by Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock

Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder

The Diary of Anne Frank

1960

The Apartment (still)

Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock

Elmer Gantry

The Magnificent Seven - John Sturges

The Alamo

1961

West Side Story (still)

Through a Glass Darkly - Allan Ekelund

The Hustler

Judgment at Nuremberg

Breakfast at Tiffany’s - Martin; Jurow; Richard Shepherd

1962

Lawrence of Arabia (still)

To Kill a Mockingbird

Mutiny on the Bounty

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - Willis Goldbeck

The Longest Day

1963

8 1/2 - Angelo Rizzoli

The Great Escape - John Sturges

Lillies of the Field

America, America

Cleopatra

1964

Mary Poppins

Dr. Strangelove

My Fair Lady

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Mag Bodard

Woman in the Dunes - Kiichi Ichikawa; Tadashi Ono

1965

The Sound of Music (still)

Doctor Zhivago

A Patch of Blue - Pandro S. Berman; Guy Green

Darling

Ship of Fools

1966

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woof?

A Man for All Seasons

The Professionals - Richard Brooks

The Sand Pebbles

A Man and A Woman - Claude Lelouch

1967

Persona - Ingmar Bergman

The Graduate

The Jungle Book - Walt Disney

In The Heat of the Night

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

1968

2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick

Oliver!

Funny Girl

The Lion in Winter

Rosemary’s Baby - William Castle

1969

Midnight Cowboy (still)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Z

The Wild Bunch - Phil Feldman

Easy Rider - Peter Fonda

1970

Patton (still)

M*A*S*H

Five Easy Pieces

Love Story

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion - Marina Cicogna; Daniele Senatore

1971

The French Connection (still)

The Last Picture Show

McCabe & Mrs. Miller - Mitchell Brower; David Foster

A Clockwork Orange

Fiddler on the Roof

1972

The Godfather (still)

The Emigrants

Cabaret

The Heartbreak Kid - Edgar J. Scherick

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - Serge Silberman

1973

Cries and Whispers

The Sting

The Exorcist

American Graffiti

Paper Moon - Peter Bogdanovich

1974

The Godfather Part II (still)

A Woman Under the Influence - Sam Shaw

Chinatown

The Conversation

Blazing Saddles - Michael Hertzberg

1975 (kept the same)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (still)

Barry Lyndon

Dog Dag Afternoon

Jaws

Nashville

1976

Rocky (still)

Taxi Driver

Network

Mikey and Nicky - Michael Hausman

All the President’s Men

1977

Annie Hall (still)

Star Wars

The Goodbye Girl

Eraserhead - David Lynch

3 Women - Robert Altman

1978

The Deer Hunter (still)

Heaven Can Wait

Midnight Express

Days of Heaven - Bart Schneider; Harold Schneider

Dawn of the Dead - Richard P. Rubinstein

1979

Apocalypse Now

All That Jazz

Manhattan - Charles H. Joffe

Alien - Gordon Carroll; David Giler; Walter Hill

Kramer vs. Kramer

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

Tumblr won't let me edit my own post 😫. The video was initiated by Ben Caplan ❤ and I wanted to add link to his youtube video that was posted after I saw it on Douglas' IG.

Shakespeare's Henry V by the Band of Brothers cast!

From Douglas Spain's Instagram

[mojave-pete]

COLLUSION

COLLUSION How The Obama Administration Set In Motion Democrats’ Coup Against Trump Rep. Devin Nunes realized the purpose of Obama’s dossier. 'Devin figured out in December what was going on,' says Langer. 'It was an operation to bring down Trump.' By Lee Smith OCTOBER 28, 2019 The following is an excerpt from Lee Smith’s book out October 29, “The Plot Against the President: The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History.”

AFTER DONALD TRUMP was elected forty-fifth president of the United States, the operation designed to undermine his campaign transformed. It became an instrument to bring down the commander in chief. The coup started almost immediately after the polls closed.

Hillary Clinton’s communications team decided within twenty-four hours of her concession speech to message that the election was illegitimate, that Russia had interfered to help Trump.

Obama was working against Trump until the hour he left office. His national security advisor, Susan Rice, commemorated it with an email to herself on January 20, moments before Trump’s inauguration. She wrote to memorialize a meeting in the White House two weeks before.

On January 5, following a briefing by IC leadership on Russian hacking during the 2016 Presidential election, President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office. Vice President Biden and I were also present.

President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities “by the book.” The President stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.

From a national security perspective, however, President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia. . . .

The President asked Comey to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Comey said he would.

The repetition of “by the book” gave away the game—for there was nothing normal about any of it.

Rice wrote an email to herself. It commemorated a conversation from two weeks before. The conversation was about the FBI’s investigation of the man who was about to move into the White House—an investigation from which Obama was careful to distance himself. During the conversation, the outgoing president instructed his top aides to collect information (“ascertain”) regarding the incoming administration’s relationship with Russia.

“To any rational person,” says Nunes, “it looks like they were scheming to produce a get-out-of-jail-free card—for the president and anyone else in the White House. They were playing Monopoly while the others were playing with fire. Now the Obama White House was in the clear—sure, they had no idea what Comey and Brennan and McCabe and Strzok and the rest were up to.”

Boxing Trump in on Russia Meanwhile, Obama added his voice to the Trump-Russia echo chamber as news stories alleging Trump’s illicit relationship with the Kremlin multiplied in the transition period. He said he hoped “that the president-elect also is willing to stand up to Russia.”

The outgoing president was in Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss everything from NATO to Vladimir Putin. Obama said that he’d “delivered a clear and forceful message” to the Russian president about “meddling with elections . . . and we will respond appropriately if and when we see this happening.”

After refusing to act while the Russian election meddling was actually occurring, Obama responded in December. He ordered the closing of Russian diplomatic facilities and the expulsion of thirty- five Russian diplomats. The response was tepid. The Russians had hacked the State Department in 2014 and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2015. And now Obama was responding only on his way out.

Even Obama partisans thought it was weak. “The punishment did not fit the crime,” said Michael McFaul, Obama’s former ambassador to Russia. “The Kremlin should have paid a much higher price for that attack.”

But the administration wasn’t retaliating against Russia for interfering in a US election; the action was directed at Trump. Obama was leaving the president-elect with a minor foreign policy crisis in order to box him in. Any criticism of Obama’s response, never mind an attempt to reverse it, would only further fuel press reports that Trump was collaborating with the Russians.

Spreading Intelligence to Spring Leaks In the administration’s last days, it disseminated intelligence throughout the government, including the White House, Capitol Hill, and the intelligence community (IC). Intelligence was classified at the lowest possible levels to ensure a wide readership. The White House was paving the way for a campaign of leaks to disorient the incoming Trump team.

The effort, including the intended result of leaks, was publicly acknowledged in March 2017 by Evelyn Farkas, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration.

Obama’s biggest move against Trump was to order CIA director John Brennan to conduct a full review of all intelligence relating to Russia and the 2016 elections. He requested it on December 6 and wanted it ready by the time he left office on January 20. But the sitting president already knew what the intelligence community assessment (ICA) was going to say, because Brennan had told him months before.

Brennan’s handpicked team of CIA, FBI, and NSA analysts had started analyzing Russian election interference in late July. In August, Brennan had briefed Harry Reid on the dossier and may have briefed Obama on it, too. Earlier in August, Brennan sent a “bombshell” report to Obama’s desk.

When Brennan reassembled his select team in December, it was to have them reproduce their August findings: Putin, according to Brennan, was boosting the GOP candidate. And that’s why only three days after Obama ordered the assessment in December, the Washington Post could already reveal what the intelligence community had found.

“The CIA,” reported the December 9 edition of the Post, “has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system.”

The story was the first of many apparently sourced to leaks of classified information that were given to the Post team of Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, and Greg Miller. The reporters’ sources weren’t whistle-blowers shedding light on government corruption— rather, they were senior US officials abusing government resources to prosecute a campaign against the newly elected commander in chief. The article was the earliest public evidence that the coup was under way. The floodgates were open, as the IC pushed more stories through the press to delegitimize the president-elect.

A Wave of Leak-Sourced Stories All Saying the Same Thing The same day, a New York Times article by David E. Sanger and Scott Shane echoed the Post’s piece. According to senior administration officials, “American intelligence agencies have concluded with ‘high confidence’ that Russia acted covertly in the latter stages of the presidential campaign to harm Hillary Clinton’s chances and promote Donald J. Trump.”

A December 14 NBC News story by William M. Arkin, Ken Dilanian, and Cynthia McFadden reported that “Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News.”

The ICA that Obama ordered gave political operatives, the press, and his intelligence chiefs a second shot at Trump. They’d used the Steele Dossier to feed the echo chamber and obtain surveillance powers to spy on the Trump campaign. The dossier, however, had come up short. Trump had won.

But now, on his way out of the White House, Obama instructed Brennan to stamp the CIA’s imprimatur on the anti-Trump operation. As Fusion GPS’s smear campaign had been the source of the preelection press campaign, the ICA was the basis of the postelection media frenzy. It was tailored to disrupt the peaceful transition of power and throw the United States into chaos.

Because Trump hadn’t been elected by the US public, according to the ICA, but had been tapped by Putin, he was illegitimate. Therefore, the extraconstitutional and illegal tactics employed by anti-Trump officials were legitimate. The ultimate goal was to remove Trump from office.

“If it weren’t for President Obama,” said James Clapper, “we might not have done the intelligence community assessment . . . that set off a whole sequence of events which are still unfolding today.”

Nunes agrees. “The ICA,” he says, “was Obama’s dossier.”

Changing the Intelligence Assessment Nunes is sitting in his office in the Longworth House Office Building along with his communications director, Jack Langer, a forty-six-year-old former book editor and historian with a PhD from Duke University.

“The social media attacks on Devin began shortly after the election,” Langer remembers. “They’re all hinting at some vast conspiracy involving Russia that the chairman of the Intelligence Committee is part of. And we have no idea what they’re talking about.”

Nunes points out that his warnings about Russia fell on deaf ears for years. “And all of a sudden I’m a Russian agent,” says the congressman.

Now Langer and Nunes see that the attacks were first launched because the congressman had been named to Trump’s transition team. “I put forward [Mike] Pompeo for CIA director,” says Nunes. “He came from our committee.”

The attacks on Nunes picked up after the December 9 Washington Post article. The assessment provided there was not what the HPSCI chairman had been told. The assessment had been altered, and Nunes asked for an explanation. “We got briefed about the election around Thanksgiving,” he says. “And it’s just the usual stuff, nothing abnormal. They told us what everyone already knew: ‘Hey, the Russians are bad actors, and they’re always playing games, and here’s what they did.’”

By providing that briefing, the IC had made a mistake. When it later changed the assessment, the November briefing was evidence that Obama’s spy chiefs were up to no good. “I bet they’d like to have that back,” says Nunes. “They briefed us before they could get their new story straight.”

‘They Kept Everyone Else Away from It’ Nunes acknowledges that he was caught off guard by many things back then. “We still thought these guys were on the up and up,” he says. “But if we knew, we’d have nailed them by mid-December, when they changed their assessment. ‘Wait, you guys are saying this now, but you said something else just a few weeks ago. What’s going on?’”

After the Post story, Nunes wanted an explanation. “We expressed deep concern, both publicly and privately,” says Langer. “We demanded our own briefing to try to determine whether that Post story was true or false. They refused to brief us. They said, ‘We’re not going to be doing that until we finish the ICA.’”

Nunes says the fact that the IC conducted an assessment like that was itself unusual. “I don’t know how many times they’d done that in the past, if ever,” he says. “But if the IC is operating properly, when someone says what can you tell me on X or Y or Z, they have it ready to pull up quickly. The tradecraft is reliable, and the intelligence products are reliable.” That was not the case with the ICA. There were problems with how the assessment had been put together.

“If you really were going to do something like an assessment from the intelligence community, then you’d get input from all our seventeen agencies,” says Nunes. “They did the opposite. It was only FBI, CIA, NSA, and DNI. They siloed it, just like they had with Crossfire Hurricane. They kept everyone else away from it so they didn’t have to read them in.”

‘Manipulation of Intelligence for Political Purposes’ Nunes released several statements in the middle of December. The HPSCI majority, read a December 14 statement, wanted senior Obama intelligence officials “to clarify press reports that the CIA has a new assessment that it has not shared with us. The Committee is deeply concerned that intransigence in sharing intelligence with Congress can enable the manipulation of intelligence for political purposes.”

After the statements warned of political foul play in the IC’s assessments, the social media attacks on Nunes became more regular. “They were constant,” says Langer.

Anti-Trump operatives recognized that Nunes was going to be a problem. The HPSCI chair had previously called out the IC for politicizing intelligence. “They said that we had defeated Al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria,” says Nunes, “and I knew that wasn’t true. Then they withheld the Osama bin Laden documents to conceal that Al Qaeda worked with Iran, because the administration was protecting the Iran deal. So when I saw them changing this assessment of the 2016 election in midstream, I knew it was the same old trick: they were politicizing intelligence.”

The speed with which Brennan’s handpicked analysts produced the ICA and then got a version of it declassified for public consumption was another sign that something wasn’t right. “All throughout Obama’s two terms, his IC chiefs aren’t paying attention to Russian actions,” says Nunes. “We give them more money for Russia, which they don’t use. But now they know so much about Putin that they manage to produce a comprehensive assessment of Russian intentions and actions regarding election interference in a month—at Christmastime, when everything slows down. And then they produce a declassified version in a manner of weeks. None of this is believable.”

Three different versions of the ICA were produced: an unclassified version, a top secret one, and another highly compartmentalized version. According to a January 11, 2017, Washington Post story by Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima, and Karen DeYoung, an annex summarizing the dossier was attached to the versions that were not declassified.

‘Designed to Have a Political Effect’ The FBI had been working from Steele’s reports for more than half a year. Including the dossier along with the ICA would provide Comey with ammunition to take on the president-elect. Both he and Brennan were manipulating intelligence for political purposes.

“A lot of the ICA is reasonable,” says Nunes. “But those parts become irrelevant due to the problematic parts, which undermine the entire document. It was designed to have a political effect; that was the ICA’s sole purpose.”

The assessment’s methodological flaws are not difficult to spot. Manufacturing the politicized findings that Obama sought meant not only abandoning protocol but also subverting basic logic. Two of the ICA’s central findings are that:

Putin and the Russian government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. To know preferences and intentions would require sources targeting Putin’s inner circles—either human sources or electronic surveillance. As Nunes had previously noted, however, US intelligence on Putin’s decision-making process was inadequate.

But even if there had been extensive collection on precisely that issue, it would be difficult to know what was true. For instance, the closest you can get to Putin’s inner circle is Putin himself. But even capturing him on an intercept saying he wanted to elect Trump might prove inconclusive. It is difficult to judge intentions because it is not possible to see into the minds of other people. How would you know that Putin was speaking truthfully? How would you know that the Russian president didn’t know his communications were under US surveillance and wasn’t trying to deceive his audience?

Quality control of information is one of the tasks of counterintelligence—to discern how you know what you know and whether that information is trustworthy. There was no quality control for the Trump-Russia intelligence. For instance, Crossfire Hurricane lead agent Peter Strzok was the FBI’s deputy assistant director of counterintelligence. Instead of weeding out flawed intelligence on Russia, the Crossfire Hurricane team was feeding Steele’s reports into intelligence products. Yet the ICA claimed to have “high confidence” in its assessment that “Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President- elect Trump.” What was the basis of that judgment?

According to the ICA:

Putin most likely wanted to discredit Secretary Clinton because he has publicly blamed her since 2011 for inciting mass protests against his regime in late 2011 and early 2012, and because he holds a grudge for comments he almost certainly saw as disparaging him.

“Most likely” and “almost certainly” are rhetorical hedges that show the assessment could not have been made in “high confidence.” Putin may have held a grudge against Clinton, but there is no way of knowing it.

The supporting evidence deteriorates more the farther the ICA purports to reach into Putin’s mind.

Beginning in June, Putin’s public comments about the US presidential race avoided directly praising President-elect Trump, probably because Kremlin officials thought that any praise from Putin personally would backfire in the United States.

This is absurd. Part of the evidence that Putin supported Trump is that he avoided praising Trump. It is difficult enough to determine intentions by what someone says. Yet the ICA claims to have discerned Putin’s intentions by what he did not say.

There is no introductory philosophy class in logic where reasoning like that would pass muster. Yet Brennan’s handpicked group used it as the basis of its assessment that Putin had helped Trump.

Moscow also saw the election of President-elect Trump as a way to achieve an international counterterrorism coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

This may be an accurate description of how Putin saw Trump. But Trump’s predecessor also wanted to coordinate anti- ISIS operations with Moscow. On this view, Trump would have represented a continuation of Obama’s ISIS policy. Why would this make Trump’s victory suspicious to Obama’s intelligence chiefs?

Curious Inaccuracies about Russia’s RT Network The ICA also pointed to documentary evidence of Putin’s intentions: English-language media owned by the Russian government, the news site Sputnik, and the RT network, were critical of Clinton.

State-owned Russian media made increasingly favorable comments about President-elect Trump as the 2016 US general and primary election campaigns progressed while consistently offering negative coverage of Secretary Clinton.

Curiously, just days before the election, the informant the US government sent after the Trump campaign praised the Democratic candidate in an interview with Sputnik. “Clinton would be best for US-UK relations and for relations with the European Union,” Stefan Halper told the Kremlin-directed media outlet. “Clinton is well-known, deeply experienced, and predictable. US-UK relations will remain steady regardless of the winner although Clinton will be less disruptive over time.”

The ICA includes a seven-page appendix devoted to RT, the central node, according to the document, of the Kremlin’s effort to “influence politics, fuel discontent in [sic] US.”

Adam Schiff appeared on RT in July 2013. He argued for “making the FISA court much more transparent, so the American people can understand what’s being done in their name in the name of national security, so that we can have a more informed debate over the balance between privacy and security.”

RT’s editor in chief, Margarita Simonyan, is a master propagandist, according to the ICA. The document fails to mention that Simonyan heads another Moscow-owned media initiative, Russia Beyond the Headlines, a news supplement inserted into dozens of the West’s leading newspapers, including the New York Times. Russia Beyond the Headlines has been delivered to millions of American homes over the last decade. By contrast, RT’s US market share is so small that it doesn’t qualify for the Nielsen ratings. Virtually no one in the United States watches it.

Taking the logic of Brennan’s handpicked team seriously would mean that the publishers of the New York Times played a major role in a coordinated Russian effort to elect Donald Trump.

‘It Was an Operation to Bring Down Trump’ Nunes realized even then the purpose of Obama’s dossier. “Devin figured out in December what was going on,” says Langer. “It was an operation to bring down Trump.”

There was no evidence that any Trump associate had done anything improper regarding the Russians, and Nunes was losing patience. “We had serious things the committee wanted to do,” he says. “With Trump elected, we could do some big stuff, like with China.”

Still, it was important for HPSCI to maintain control of the Russia investigation. Otherwise, Democrats and Never Trump Republicans were likely to get their wish to convene a bipartisan commission to investigate Russian interference—with the purpose of turning it on Trump.

“Before they started floating the idea of a special counsel, the big idea was a special commission like the 9/11 Commission,” says Langer. It was outgoing secretary of state John Kerry who first came forward with the proposal.

The point was to change the power dynamic. “In a normal committee,” says Langer, “the majority has the power, and that happened to be us. They wanted to strip our power and make it fifty-fifty.”

“Bipartisan” was a euphemism for “anti-Trump.” “It would have been a complete joke,” says Nunes. “A combination of partisan hacks from the left and people who hated Trump on the right.”

Democrats led by Schiff and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer were joined by the late John McCain, the most active of the Never Trump Republicans. After the election, the Arizona senator had instructed his aide David Kramer to deliver a copy of the Steele Dossier to Comey.

“God only knows who they’d have populated that committee with,” says Nunes. “Anyone they could control. It would have been a freak show.”

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan defended HPSCI’s independence. On the Senate side, Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr had only one move. To deflect demands for an independent commission, he effectively ceded control of the Senate investigation to his vice chair, Democrat Mark Warner.

No Evidence of Collusion Years Later Still, Nunes believed that all the talk of Trump and Russia was a waste of time. “They kept promising us evidence of collusion, week after week, and they came up with nothing.”

Nunes’s disdain for the ICA forced the Crossfire Hurricane team’s hand. “Right around the time that they came out with the ICA, they kept saying that we were waiting on something to show us, something important that was coming in,” he says. “They said it was some significant figure who they couldn’t quite track down yet.”

But the FBI knew exactly where its missing link was, the piece of evidence that they thought would convince hardened skeptics like Nunes that collusion was real. They didn’t have to chase him down, because he was sitting at home in Chicago. He submitted to a voluntary interview January 27 and without a lawyer because he had no idea what the FBI had in store for him.

The Crossfire Hurricane team was figuring how they were going to set up the Trump adviser they’d used to open up the investigation in July 2016: George Papadopoulos.

Lee Smith is the media columnist at Tablet. Photo White House / public domain

[juicemagazine]

JUICE MAG #78 features Tom Groholski on the cover, photo by Henry Ford, and features interviews with: Lizzie Armanto, Greyson Fletcher, AJ Nelson, Pedro Delfino, Elijah Berle, Andy Anderson, Chris Pastras, Patrick Truitt, Penelope Houston, Dave Alvin and Full Circle Full Pipe Skateboarding Photos of Grant Taylor, Kevin Kowalski, Cody Lockwood, Ronnie Sandoval, John “Tex” Gibson, Craig Johnson, Dan Wilkes, Geoff Rowley, Noa Marchetti, Giuseppe “Gipsy” Taccori, Paolo Tufoni, Daan Van Der Linden, Madars Apse, Melvin Abdou Salam, Phil Zwijsen, Crazy Kyle, Curren Caples, Daewon Song, Josh Borden, Christian Hosoi, Jamie Quaintance, Rick Charnoski, Mickey O’Keefe, Jesse Martinez, Josh Landau, Bennett Harada, Paul “Dicky” Davis, Ale Cesana, Adam Hopkins, Mark “Trawler” Lawer, Sam Stuart, Sam Partaix, Chris Cab, Simon Sac Reynolds, Axel “Pudi” Gorger, Youness Amrani, David Pang, Max Barrera, Dan Luciani, Allen Guimond, George Wilson, Steve Olson, Scott Oster, Kenny King, Rick Blackhart, Mike Folmer, Tim Galvin, Keith Stephenson, David Hackett, Jay Adams, Steve Pingleton, John Pingleton, Ron Theobald, Laura Thornhill, Mike Muir, Larry Mead, Jerry Valdez, Steve Alba, John Worthington, Steve Brockway, Rick Riffle, Joey Vela, Pat Black, Scott Hostert, Barry Roach, Indy Alba, Nic Rivera, Mario Thornton, Khidhar Geban, Alex Asher, Caleb Nicholls, Jay Vasconcellos, Henrique Imperiano, Alexandre Dota, Ryan Faust, Marco Morelli, Joel Webb, Pierre Jambe, Bruno, Jeremy Butterworth, Blake Convey, Barry Strachan, Johnno Hardy, Chany Lagueux, Frederique Luyet, Dan Brueton, Jean Terrisse, Kid Caviar, Tye Donnelly, Freddie De Sota, Rob Maushund, Klara Kemoade, Pat Bareis, Bill Billing, Aaron Astorga, Arab Groff, Dan McCabe, Angel Guedez, Chris Jatoft, BJ Morrill, Ryan Schmalz, Timmo Jak, Bryan Pennington, Dave Warne, Elle Warne, Cole Graves, Ollie Graves, Tristan Graves, Spencer Graves, Shane Carrick, Hugo Liard, Luke Macfee, Justin Stevenson, Chris Freeman, Jason Park, Kenny Mollica, Kelly Lynn, Ed Peck, Shawn Coffman, Nate Perkins, Frank Richardson, Phoebe Bostwick and Curtis Hsiang. #skate @juicemagazine 🙏 https://www.instagram.com/juicemagazine/p/CYg9VOOll5a/?utm_medium=tumblr

[kilmainhamwoodgfc]

#KwoodGFC_Lotto Kilmainhamwood GFC weekly lotto draw took place in Keogans on Monday 10th Feb 2020 at 9pm where the jackpot was €7,000

The Numbers Drawn : 08, 12, 16 & 26

No Jackpot winner.

5 Lucky Dip winners each received €20:- * Eddie McCormack, Moynalty (Online) * Martina Smith, Moynalty (Online) * Peadar McCabe, Kingscourt * Dick Kellett, Tierworker * Ray Holmes, Ballina, Co. Mayo

Next draw for a GENERAL-ELECTION-2020-DIGESTING jackpot of €7,200 will take place in McKenna’s on Monday 17th Feb 2020 at 9pm

Play our lotto online at http://bit.ly/kilmainhamwoodgfc and our lotto motto is #ItsThereToBeWon

The week in review:- Thurs 6th Feb - 20:00 in Day Care Centre : As part of the Healthy Club initiative, Kilmainhamwood GFC held a very informative talk on Addiction- covering Alcohol, Gambling and Substance Abuse. Thanks to all that attended and thanks to Bernie and Geraldine for organising it.

The weeks to come:- Wed 12th Feb - 19:30 in K-wood : Kilmainhamwood GFC Healthy Club walking group - 19:30 in Ballinlough : Minor Football League Division 4A, Round 1, vs. Ballinlough

Sat 15th Feb - 09:30 in K-wood : Kilmainhamwood GFC Healthy Club walking group. - 11:00 in K-wood : Minor Football League Division 4A, Round 2, vs. Rathkenny/Slane

1994 U21 & Intermediate final DVD’s for sale. €8 each or the two for €15. Contact me on 086 8030558.

This is the last week of the GAA National Club Draw. Tickets for the NCD 2020 and are available  https://member.clubforce.com/tickets_m.asp?LL_ID=299  

2020 club membership is available online at https://member.clubforce.com/memberships_cart_m.asp?LL_ID=299&intMF_ID=5790#Anchor

regards Shane Russell & the lotto committee

[scannain]

Watch the proof of concept for new Irish TV drama The Liberties

Watch the proof of concept for new Irish TV drama The Liberties #IrishTV #IrishTalent #LibertiesTV

https://vimeo.com/425962332

Greenhorn Films, in association with 925 Productions and Failsafe Films, has released a proof-of-concept teaser for their TV drama, The Liberties. This period drama is pitched as Gangs of New York meets Peaky Blinders in 1815 Dublin.

Dublin is a vice of a capital city, with its numberless train of incentives to drunkenness, idleness and debauchery, must always…

[nathancone]

A Second Decade of Movies

Ten years ago on Facebook, I compiled a list of every movie I watched, in order, from the first decade of the network’s existence. Now, here’s part two, covering the years 2010-2019. There are 754 titles below, though some are repeat viewings. The movie I watched the most? Harold Lloyd in “The Freshman.” My favorite movie from the last decade? “The Tree of Life.”

But I began the 2010s with James Cameron’s mega-hit “Avatar.” I’ll go on record saying the movie is still enjoyable ten years later, as I watched it again in 2019 with my kids to prep for visiting the World of Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. But--I also agree with those who say there’s little remembered from the film in the culture today. Can you name the stars? Recount the plot in detail? Mostly what we remember from the film is the spectacle of it all, game-changing when it was released in 2009.

At any rate, enjoy the list below! If a title is hotlinked, it will take you to an essay, interview, or related coverage on the film by yours truly.    

1.       Avatar 2.       I Walked With A Zombie 3.       The Paradine Case 4.       Whip It 5.       The Body Snatcher 6.       Coraline 7.       Everybody’s Fine 8.       The Blind Side 9.       The Hurt Locker                 10.   Citizen Architect 11.   Fantastic Mr. Fox 12.   Dance With the One 13.   The Happy Poet                 14.   When I Rise 15.   Mr. Nice 16.   Lemmy 17.   Haynesville 18.   Rashomon 19.   Cabin in the Sky                 20.   Toy Story 2 21.   Being There 22.   Modern Times 23.   Iron Monkey 24.   Kiki’s Delivery Service 25.   Alice In Wonderland 26.   WALL·E 27.   Goldfinger 28.   A Fistful of Dollars 29.   The Red Shoes 30.   M. Hulot’s Holiday 31.   When In Rome 32.   Toy Story 3 33.   The Godfather 34.   White Heat 35.   The Girl on the Train 36.   Mary Poppins 37.   Kapò 38.   Dr. Strangelove 39.   White Dog 40.   Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 41.   Scoop 42.   Katyn 43.   Metropolis 44.   Days of Heaven 45.   Shane 46.   Ramona and Beezus 47.   Duck Soup 48.   Pillow Talk 49.   Monte Carlo 50.   Persona 51.   The Powderkids               52.   Machete 53.   THX 1138 54.   Ran 55.   Fantasia 2000 56.   Contempt 57.   The Big Red One 58.   Mid-August Lunch 59.   McCabe & Mrs. Miller 60.   Casablanca 61.   The Last Song 62.   Close Encounters of the Third Kind 63.   Sherlock, Jr. 64.   The Thin Red Line 65.   Modern Times 66.   Fantasia 67.   Mon Oncle 68.   Stagecoach 69.   Hallelujah 70.   Mademoiselle Chambon 71.   Double Take 72.   Black Swan 73.   Tangled 74.   The King’s Speech 75.   TRON: Legacy 76.   A Safe Place 77.   The King of Marvin Gardens 78.   Wings of Desire 79.   Head 80.   The Social Network 81.   Drive, He Said 82.   The Fighter 83.   Gold Diggers in Paris 84.   The Gay Divorcee 85.   The Love Parade 86.   127 Hours 87.   Never Let Me Go 88.   Forrest Gump 89.   A Film Unfinished 90.   How To Train Your Dragon 91.   Modern Times 92.   Malcolm X 93.   When I Rise 94.   Inception 95.   The Kids Are All Right 96.   A Time For Drunken Horses 97.   Our Hospitality 98.   The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 99.   The Mikado 100.   Something Ventured 101.   Five Time Champion 102.   Natural Selection 103.   Kumare                 104.    F#$k My Life 105.    Hesher 106.    Small, Beautifully Moving Parts 107.      Win Win 108.     Beats of Freedom 109.     Topsy-Turvy 110.     Taken By Storm                 111.     I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang 112.  Army of Shadows 113.  The Life of Emile Zola 114.   Rio 115.  East of Eden 116.  The Drummond Will 117.  Cooper 118.  Marriage Italian Style 119.  Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 120.  Sunflower 121. Salt of This Sea 122. Casablanca 123.   The Happy Thieves 124.  The Art of Getting By 125. Patty Hearst 126. Breathless 127. The Tree of Life 128.  Nora’s Will 129.  Mr. Popper’s Penguins 130.                        My Man Godfrey 131.                        The Muppet Movie 132.                        Back to the Future 133.                        Back to the Future Part II 134.                        Back to the Future Part III 135.                        Rear Window 136.                        Q: The Winged Serpent 137.                        Cars 2 138.                        The Godfather Part II 139.                        Super 8 140.                        Dazed and Confused 141.                        All Night Long 142.                        The Tree of Life 143.                        Winnie the Pooh 144.                        M. Hulot’s Holiday 145.                        Snow Flower and the Secret Fan               146.                        A Thousand Clowns 147.                        Tokyo Story 148.                        The Smurfs 149.                        The League of Gentlemen 150.                        Malcolm X (1972) 151.                        Late Spring 152.                        Ladies & Gentlemen the Rolling Stones 153.                        The Princess Bride 154.                        Hud 155.                        The Boys 156.                        Poetry 157.                        Waking Sleeping Beauty               158.                        Martha Marcy May Marlene 159.                        Seduced and Abandoned 160.                        The Nightmare Before Christmas 161.                        The Third Man   162.                        Dressed To Kill 163.                        Echotone 164.                        Straw Dogs (1971) 165.                        Sapphire 166.                        Broken Embraces 167.                        The Wild One 168.                        La Belle et la Bête 169.                        The Tree of Life 170.                        Beauty and the Beast 171.                        Killer’s Kiss 172.                        The Producers 173.                        Camille (1921) 174.                        She’s Gotta Have It 175.                        La Belle et la Bête 176.                        The Descendants 177.                        Hugo 178.                        The Muppets 179.                        Another Earth 180.                        Rise of the Planet of the Apes 181.                        Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked 182.                        The Artist 183.                        Arthur Christmas 184.                        The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 185.                        Midnight in Paris 186.                        War Horse 187.                        The Whistleblower 188.                        The Great Waltz 189.                        Manhattan 190.                        Annie Hall 191.                        The Help 192.                        Moneyball 193.                        Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 194.                        Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 195.                        The Lorax 196.                        Kid-Thing 197.                        Zodiac 198.                        Hunky Dory 199.                        Wolf 200.                        Tchoupitoulas 201.                        21 Jump Street 202.                        Crulic: The Path to Beyond 203.                        The Imposter 204.                        The Descendants 205.                        Victim 206.                        Revenge of the Electric Car 207.                        We Bought a Zoo 208.                        Titanic (3D) 209.                        Shame 210.                        The Jazz Singer 211.                        For Greater Glory 212.                        Lola Versus 213.                        The Avengers 214.                        Prometheus 215.                        Citizen Kane 216.                        Brave 217.                        Rio Bravo 218.                        The Black Hole 219.                        Thunder Soul 220.                        The Gold Rush 221.                        Children of Paradise 222.                        The Natural 223.                        An American in Paris 224.                        North By Northwest 225.                        Harold and Maude 226.                        Killer Joe 227.                        Gilda 228.                        Miss Bala 229.                        Bride of Frankenstein 230.                        The Graduate 231.                        Madagascar 3 232.                        Close Encounters of the Third Kind 233.                        Star Trek VI: The Final Frontier 234.                        TRON: Legacy 235.                        Rise of the Guardians 236.                        Lincoln 237.                        Finding Nemo 238.                        Hitchcock 239.                        The Illusionist 240.                        Les Misérables 241.                        A Christmas Story 242.                        Kit Kittredge: An American Girl 243.                        Silver Linings Playbook 244.                        The Apple Dumpling Gang 245.                        Zero Dark Thirty 246.                        Wreck-It Ralph 247.                        On the Waterfront 248.                        The Life of Pi 249.                        Argo 250.                        Bag It 251.                        Loves Her Gun 252.                        Good Night 253.                        Mud 254.                        Museum Hours 255.                        This Is Where We Live 256.                        Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story 257.                        Sake-Bomb 258.                        The Girl                 259.                        Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore 260.                        Return to the Hiding Place 261.                        The Purple Rose of Cairo 262.                        To The Wonder 263.                        Epic 264.                        There Will Be Blood 265.                        Star Trek Into Darkness 266.                        Lawrence of Arabia 267.                        The Birds 268.                        Star Trek: First Contact 269.                        Barry Lyndon 270.                        Star Wars: A New Hope 271.                        Saboteur 272.                        Hell’s House 273.                        Of Human Bondage 274.                        The Flowers of St. Francis 275.                        Monsters University 276.                        Old Joy 277.                        Out of Africa 278.                        Safety Last! 279.                        The Killing 280.                        A Night To Remember 281.                        Singin’ in the Rain 282.                        Sherlock, Jr. 283.                        The Smurfs 2 284.                        Planes 285.                        Sicko 286.                        Brief Encounter                 287.                        Meek’s Cutoff 288.                        Wendy and Lucy 289.                        Side By Side 290.                        A.I. Artificial Intelligence 291.                        Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 292.                        Powaqqatsi 293.                        Machete Kills 294.                        Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 295.                        The Royal Tenenbaums 296.                        Moonrise Kingdom 297.                        Bottle Rocket 298.                        The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou 299.                        The Exorcist 300.                        The Darjeeling Limited   301.                        Dreamgirls 302.                        Dallas Buyers Club 303.                        Brewster McCloud 304.                        Cruising                 305.                        City Lights 306.                        Saving Mr. Banks 307.                        Frozen   308.                        Lili 309.                        The Gold Rush   310.                        Ninotchka 311.                        12 Angry Men 312.                        Lone Survivor 313.                        Her 314.                        The Nut Job 315.                        Cool It 316.                        American Hustle 317.                        Money and Medicine 318.                        Life Itself 319.                        The X From Outer Space 320.                        Captain Phillips 321.                        A Cat in Paris 322.                        Le Ciel est à Vous 323.                        Las Marthas 324.                        Rezeta 325.                        La Jaola de Oro 326.                        Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory                 327.                        Clue 328.                        Gravity 329.                        Nebraska 330.                        The Lego Movie                 331.                        Up 332.                        Liv & Ingmar 333.                        Before Midnight 334.                        Two Weeks in Another Town 335.                        Rio 2 336.                        All Is Lost 337.                        The Great Mouse Detective 338.                        The Adventures of Robin Hood 339.                        Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party 340.                        Belle 341.                        Bottled Up: The Battle Over Dublin Dr Pepper 342.                        My Dinner With Andre 343.                        Harry Dean Stanton Partly Fiction 344.                        The Lego Movie                 345.                        Bears 346.                        The Nightmare Before Christmas 347.                        Contempt 348.                        How To Train Your Dragon 2 349.                        Vertigo 350.                        Gojira 351.                        The Wizard of Oz 352.                        12 Angry Men 353.                        A Hard Day’s Night 354.                        Network 355.                        Picnic At Hanging Rock 356.                        Get On Up 357.                        E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 358.                        The Drop             359.                        The Match Factory Girl   360.                        Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 361.                        Superman 362.                        Horse Feathers 363.                        I Married A Witch 364.                        The Grand Budapest Hotel           365.                        Il Sorpasso 366.                        Conde Drácula 367.                        Boyhood 368.                        Fun and Fancy Free 369.                        The Freshman (1925)     370.                        Intimidation       371.                        I Am Love 372.                        Fantastic Mr. Fox 373.                        The Freshman (1925)     374.                        The Freshman (1925) 375.                        Safe 376.                        Invitation to the Dance 377.                        Captain America: The Winter Soldier 378.                        Bicycle Thieves 379.                        Sherlock, Jr. 380.                        Whiplash 381.                        Ida 382.                        Tron 383.                        Return of the Jedi 384.                        Petting Zoo 385.                        Western 386.                        Cinderella (2015) 387.                        Lamb 388.                        Babysitter 389.                        The Thin Blue Line 390.                        Vernon, Florida 391.                        Gates of Heaven 392.                        Purple Rain 393.                        Sullivan’s Travels 394.                        Star Wars: Episode I 395.                        Safety Last! 396.                        Jesus Christ Superstar 397.                        Anatomy of a Murder 398.                        Mary Poppins 399.                        Inside Out 400.                        Love & Mercy 401.                        A Star Is Born (1954) 402.                        The Princess and the Frog 403.                        The Freshman (1925) 404.                        Zazie dans la Métro 405.                        The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 406.                        Lilo & Stitch 407.                        Monkey Kingdom 408.                        Foreign Correspondent 409.                        The Princess Bride 410.                        Tomorrowland 411.                        Rome: Open City 412.                        A Hard Day’s Night 413.                        Star Trek: Generations 414.                        The Roaring Twenties 415.                        Following the Ninth 416.                        Samantha: An American Girl Holiday 417.                        He Named Me Malala 418.                        Wings of Life 419.                        Singin’ in the Rain 420.                        The Peanuts Movie 421.                        Spotlight 422.                        The Good Dinosaur 423.                        Fantasia 2000 424.                        Reel Injun 425.                        It Happened One Night 426.                        Star Wars: The Force Awakens 427.                        Star Wars: Episode II 428.                        Concussion 429.                        One Hour With You 430.                        Enchanted 431.                        A Room With A View 432.                        The Hateful Eight 433.                        Speedy 434.                        Time Out of Mind 435.                        Cinderella (2015) 436.                        The Lady Vanishes 437.                        Naqoyqatsi 438.                        Suzanne’s Career 439.                        Bear Country 440.                        The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window… 441.                        Bandidas 442.                        Star Wars: The Force Awakens 443.                        Virtuosity 444.                        The Big Short 445.                        Two Days, One Night 446.                        The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe 447.                        Bridge of Spies 448.                        Brooklyn 449.                        Michael Jackson From Motown To Off The Wall 450.                        Tower 451.                        Transpecos 452.                        Last Night at the Alamo 453.                        Claire In Motion 454.                        Zootopia 455.                        Bodyguard 456.                        W. 457.                        The Adventures of Pepper and Paula 458.                        The Jungle Book (2016) 459.                        Star Wars: The Force Awakens 460.                        Captain America: Civil War 461.                        What About Bob? 462.                        Love & Friendship 463.                        Dial M For Murder 464.                        Garfield                 465.                        Ben-Hur 466.                        To Kill A Mockingbird 467.                        Citizenfour 468.                        Finding Dory 469.                        Ant-Man 470.                        The Quiet Man 471.                        The Peanuts Movie 472.                        The BFG 473.                        My Dinner With Andre 474.                        Children of Men 475.                        The Last Temptation of Christ 476.                        The Secret Life of Pets 477.                        Chimes At Midnight 478.                        Brewed in the 210 479.                 ��      Saturday Night Fever 480.                        The New World 481.                        Who Framed Roger Rabbit 482.                        Walt & El Grupo 483.                        Saludos Amigos                 484.                        The Jungle Book (2016) 485.                        The Last Picture Show 486.                        Beetlejuice 487.                        The King and I 488.                        Ride in the Whirlwind 489.                        Dracula 490.                        The Angry Birds Movie 491.                        The Sword in the Stone 492.                        Queen of Katwe 493.                        The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 494.                        Beetlejuice 495.                        Dracula 496.                        Arrival 497.                        Tron: Legacy 498.                        Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams 499.                        Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 500.                        Boomerang (1947) 501.                        Safety Last! 502.                        South of the Border 503.                        Honey, I Shrunk The Kids 504.                        Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 505.                        Jiro Dreams of Sushi 506.                        Rogue One 507.                        Moana   508.                        Once 509.                        Redes 510.                        Max Dugan Returns 511.                        Amadeus 512.                        The New World 513.                        13th 514.                        Star Trek III: The Search for Spock 515.                        Yarn 516.                        Paddington 517.                        Hidden Figures 518.                        Doctor Strange 519.                        The Lego Batman Movie 520.                        Clue 521.                        The Honor Farm 522.                        Mr. Roosevelt 523.                        La Barracuda 524.                        The Ballad of Lefty Brown 525.                        Beauty and the Beast (2017) 526.                        Cat People 527.                        The Adventures of Tintin 528.                        The Freshman (1925) 529.                        The Artist 530.                        Day for Night 531.                        Stranger on the Third Floor 532.                        Twentieth Century 533.                        Modern Times 534.                        Alien: Covenant                 535.                        Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul 536.                        Norman 537.                        Casablanca 538.                        Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie 539.                        Alvin & the Chipmunks: Road Chip 540.                        The Man Who Knew Too Much 541.                        Cars 3 542.                        The Sugarland Express 543.                        Redes 544.                        School of Rock 545.                        Duck Soup 546.                        Cat People 547.                        Tower 548.                        War for the Planet of the Apes 549.                        Pete’s Dragon (2016) 550.                        Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny 551.                        The Double Life of Veronique 552.                        Dunkirk                 553.                        The Adventures of Robin Hood 554.                        Something Wicked This Way Comes 555.                        Young Frankenstein 556.                        Duck Soup 557.                        Tampopo 558.                        Beggars of Life 559.                        Tender Mercies                 560.                        The Princess and the Frog 561.                        Rogue One 562.                        Steve Jobs 563.                        Despicable Me 3 564.                        Close Encounters of the Third Kind 565.                        Koyaanisqatsi 566.                        Honeysuckle Rose 567.                        Wonder Woman 568.                        Creed 569.                        North By Northwest 570.                        Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 571.                        The Nightmare Before Christmas 572.                        Altered States 573.                        Dealt 574.                        Star Wars: The Force Awakens 575.                        My Cousin Rachel (2017) 576.                        Get Out                 577.                        Planet of the Apes (1968) 578.                        Tomorrowland 579.                        Justice League 580.                        The Disaster Artist 581.                        Thor: Ragnarok 582.                        Beneath the Planet of the Apes 583.                        Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 584.                        The Philadelphia Story 585.                        Escape From the Planet of the Apes 586.                        Ferdinand 587.                        Star Wars: The Last Jedi 588.                        Darkest Hour 589.                        Coco 590.                        Dunkirk                 591.                        Phantom Thread 592.                        Paddington 2 593.                        Arrival 594.                        Spider-Man: Homecoming 595.                        Conquest of the Planet of the Apes 596.                        Our Souls at Night 597.                        Mudbound 598.                        The Post 599.                        Germany Year Zero 600.                        Trading Places 601.                        The Shape of Water 602.                        Black Panther 603.                        Logan 604.                        The Simpsons Movie 605.                        Wings 606.                        Miss Congeniality 607.                        Never Cry Wolf 608.                        Something Wicked This Way Comes 609.                        Pride and Prejudice (2005) 610.                        Moana 611.                        Ready Player One 612.                        Viva Max 613.                        Red River 614.                        Bridget Jones’s Baby 615.                        Avengers: Infinity War 616.                        The Sugarland Express 617.                        Selena 618.                        Peaceful Warrior 619.                        Spider-Man 2 620.                        Stagecoach 621.                        The Godfather, Part III 622.                        Solo: A Star Wars Story 623.                        Jaws 624.                        Peter Pan 625.                        The Day the Earth Stood Still 626.                        Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 627.                        Won’t You Be My Neighbor? 628.                        Daughters of the Dust 629.                        Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 630.                        Time Bandits 631.                        Incredibles 2 632.                        Avatar 633.                        On the Waterfront 634.                        Forks Over Knives 635.                        It Happened One Night 636.                        Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 637.                        Ant-Man and the Wasp 638.                        A Quiet Place 639.                        Full Metal Jacket 640.                        The Thin Blue Line 641.                        The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez 642.                        Teen Titans Go! To The Movies 643.                        The Reluctant Dragon 644.                        Tokyo Story 645.                        The Karate Kid (1984) 646.                        Blazing Saddles 647.                        The Black Cauldron

648.                        Back to the Future 649.                        2001: A Space Odyssey 650.                        Blaze 651.                        In Old Arizona 652.                        Crazy Rich Asians 653.                        Ocean’s 8 654.                        Star Wars: A New Hope 655.                        The Tree of Life (Extended Cut) 656.                        First Man 657.                        Food, Inc. 658.                        Napoleon Dynamite 659.                        Halloween (2018) 660.                        Christopher Robin 661.                        Battle for the Planet of the Apes               662.                        Paris, Je t’aime 663.                        Breakfast at Tiffany’s 664.                        Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald 665.                        Back to the Future, Part II 666.                        Koyaanisqatsi 667.                        Creed II                 668.                        True Stories 669.                        Ralph Breaks the Internet 670.                        Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse 671.                        The Last Command 672.                        Mary Poppins Returns 673.                        The Primary Instinct 674.                        Rise of the Planet of the Apes 675.                        An Inconvenient Truth 676.                        A Christmas Story 677.                        BlacKkKlansman 678.                        Annihilation 679.                        A Star Is Born (2018) 680.                        That’s Entertainment, Part 2 681.                        Close Encounters of the Third Kind 682.                        Teen Titans Go! To The Movies 683.                        Back to the Future, Part III 684.                        Stranger Than Paradise 685.                        On the Basis of Sex 686.                        Bohemian Rhapsody 687.                        The Favourite 688.                        First Reformed 689.                        Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 690.                        Cold War 691.                        They Shall Not Grow Old 692.                        The Iron Orchard 693.                        Free Solo 694.                        Captain Marvel 695.                        The Little Mermaid 696.                        Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End 697.                        Wasted! The Story of Food Waste 698.                        Green Book 699.                        La Bamba 700.                        Running for Good 701.                        Us 702.                        War for the Planet of the Apes 703.                        I, Tonya                 704.                        Avengers: Endgame 705.                        Amazing Grace (2019) 706.                        Shazam! 707.                        Testament 708.                        Vice 709.                        Raiders of the Lost Ark 710.                        The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 711.                        Planet of the Apes (2001) 712.                        Aladdin (2019) 713.                        The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez 714.                        Detour 715.                        The Hitch-Hiker 716.                        The Border 717.                        Toy Story 4 718.                        Flight 719.                        Do the Right Thing 720.                        Midnight Cowboy 721.                        Spider Man: Far From Home 722.                        Some Like It Hot 723.                        Strangers on a Train 724.                        Red Hook Summer 725.                        All That Heaven Allows 726.                        Cowspiracy 727.                        Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood 728.                        Zodiac 729.                        Wings of Desire                 730.                        The Blues Brothers 731.                        The Farewell 732.                        Super Size Me 733.                        Safety Last! 734.                        Hustlers 735.                        Raiders of the Lost Ark 736.                        The Game Changers 737.                        Downton Abbey 738.                        The Body Snatcher 739.                        The Lion King (2019) 740.                        Ad Astra 741.                        The Terminator 742.                        The Irishman 743.                        Frozen II 744.                        Our Dancing Daughters 745.                        The Castaway Cowboy 746.                        The Thin Man 747.                        Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice 748.                        Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 749.                        Doctor Sleep 750.                        A Hidden Life 751.                        Bombshell 752.                        Fed Up 753.                        Miracle on 34th Street 754.                        Brittany Runs a Marathon

[speedygal]

EXCLUSIVE: Billy Ray has found his Barack Obama for the CBS Studios miniseries adaptation of the James Comey bestseller A Higher Loyalty, which began production last week in Toronto and DC. Kingsley Ben-Adir has been set to play the former U.S. President; Spotlight‘s Brian d’Arcy James will play Mark Giuliano, the former FBI Deputy Director; Steve Zissis (HBO’s Togetherness) is set to play Jim Baker, the former FBI General Counsel, and Shawn Doyle (House of Cards and Fargo) will play Bill Priestap, the assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division.

Ben-Adir has starred in The OA, Peaky Blinders and Deep State and next stars opposite Zoe Kravitz in High Fidelity. He’s also part of the ensemble cast for Noelle for Disney +.

The quartet joins Jeff Daniels (Comey), Brendan Gleeson (Donald Trump), Holly Hunter (Acting Attorney General Sally Yates), Michael Kelly (Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe), Jennifer Ehle (Patrice Comey), Peter Coyote (Robert Mueller), Steven Pasquale (Peter Strzok) and Oona Chaplin (Lisa Page).

Ray adapted and is directing the limited series. The seventh director of the FBI, Comey served from 2013-17, and his book covered his role in helping to change the Bush administration’s policies on torture and electronic surveillance to overseeing the Hillary Clinton email investigation as well as possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, and before that his tenure as a prosecutor of terrorists, mobsters and Martha Stewart. Of course, a big part of the narrative and focus of the mini is his testy relationship with and eventual firing by President Trump.

“I feel humbled by the wealth of talent in this cast,” Ray said. “And I’m touched that so many great actors want to be a part of this story.”

CBS will set an airdate and decide whether to broadcast it on Showtime, CBS All Access or both. Alex Kurtzman, Shane Salerno and Heather Kadin are the executive producers. The mini is produced by Secret Hideout, The Story Factory and Home Run Productions in association with CBS Television Studios.

Ben-Adir is repped by CAA and Conway Van Gelder Grant in the U.K; James is repped by Gersh, Thruline Entertainment, and Frankfurt Kurnit; Zissis is UTA, Mosaic and Ziffren Brittenham; and Doyle is The Characters Agency in Toronto, Kohner Agency, Magnolia Entertainment.

[spryfilm]

Blu-ray review: “My Left Foot” (1989)

“My Left Foot” (1989) Running Time: 103 minutes Drama Written by: Shane Connaughton and Jim Sheridan Directed by: Jim Sheridan Featuring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Ray McAnally, Brenda Fricker, Fiona Shaw, Adrian Dunbar and Ruth McCabe Christy Brown: “What’ll we drink to?” Mary: “Let’s drink to Dublin.” Christy Brown: “To Dublin? Why?” Mary: “Because Christy Brown was born there.” Critical…

[atlanticcanada]

Man wanted on Canada-wide warrant arrested in Ottawa: Saint John police

A man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant who previously served time for child pornography has been arrested in Ottawa.

A news release from the Saint John Police Force says 45-year-old Shane McCabe, who the force says breached the conditions of a 10-year long-term supervision order, is being held in custody following his arrest.

According to police, McCabe served two federal sentences for the following convictions:

two counts of possessing child pornography

two counts of distribution of child pornography

printing/publishing child pornography

accessing child pornography

breach of long-term supervision order

possess schedule II substance

two counts of failing to attend court

seven counts of failing to comply with probation order

Police say the Ontario Provincial Police Provincial Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement Squad (ROPE) located and arrested the accused.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/9ur6iB0