#Entry 17 when it's Right behind him) so there's no possible way Brian could have predicted that would unfold this way

[brittlebutch]

a lot of people seem to use Entry #60 as 'proof' for the crux of the "Brian didn't care about Tim, he was Taking Advantage of Tim's conditions and Forcing him to work as part of totheark" thing, but honestly when you think about it there's no possible way Brian could have possibly orchestrated that series of events, like you almost have to interpret that as a baffling group of coincidences

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is an anomaly in the franchise. Even if you watch it in the “right” order, (which is between Fast and Furious 6… and its mid-credit scene), this feels like a movie that technically fits in the franchise rather than being a satisfying entry.

17-year-old Sean (Lucas Black) gets kicked out of his mother’s home after his latest racing stunt. Sent to Tokyo to live with his father, he becomes fascinated with Tokyo’s signature racing style – drifting. Under the tutelage of Han (Sung Kang) and with the help of his friend Twinkie (Bow Wow) this newcomer might have what it takes to become the DK (Drift King) and win the heart of the prettiest girl in school, Neela (Nathalie Kelley).

To understand Tokyo Drift, we must travel back to 2006. At this point, the Fast and Furious series was without Vin Diesel and directionless. While Sung Kang’s Han was retroactively added to the "family" later on, there are no recurring actors here. If you recast the role and excised a cameo at the very end, you’d think this was a pale imitation of the series rather than a fully-endorsed third chapter. It begins in high school with the sorriest excuse for a teenager in recent memory. You can practically see Lucas Black shaving his beard between takes. There’s no way, NO WAY he’s a teen but the film reminds us numerous times that he’s a minor. I know 2 Fast 2 Furious was dumb, but don’t expect us to be dumb for enjoying it! Not helping are the flat performances. Sung Kang has charisma. Everyone else is running on fumes. They’re either (Bow Wow), or wooden enough to be confused with talking logs.

This is a terrible sequel which ever way you look at it. The stakes are much lower than in Fast and Furious 6. They’re even lower than in 2 Fast 2 Furious, which makes it hard to care about anything. Even with the possible threat of violence and death from a high-speed car crash, this is a high school drama on wheels. When Sean gets schooled at a drifting race by pro drifter Takashi (Brian Tee), you're not surprised." Aww nuts! I guess I won’t impress that girl I like" - the one non-Asian girl in the school, by the way - and "Uh oh! Turns out she’s involved with the very same guy who beat me! What does she even see in him?"

If you’re watching the series in order, you can have fun with Tokyo Drift. Dumb as the plot may be, those Japanese ladies shaking their behinds in front of the even hotter cars is what you came to see. When those rides are in motion and performing those crazy stunts - the kind you’d only dream of - you better grab some napkins to wipe the drool from your chin. What makes those moves particularly spectacular is that unlike the kind of nonsense we're seeing in the franchise nowadays, you could theoretically do what these people are doing. There’s something about seeing something kinda-sorta attainable that resonates.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is largely composed of cool car stunts and missed opportunities with a big heaping’ helping of dumb on top. One can’t help but feel strange seeing an American kid travel to Tokyo and become prolific at the art of drifting, particularly in a series that's become so multicultural. No need to delve on that thought too much - no one involved did. Not even director Justin Lin, who’s since gone on to do much bigger and better things. Tokyo Drift is the kind of movie you wind up including in your collection if you like the series but would never watch if it weren’t for a crucial plot development about 2/3 of the way through. (On Blu-ray, January 5, 2019)

[nebris]

The Harm Done for White Men

The new attacks on Roe v. Wade are about protecting men, not women

Part of President Trump’s new immigration proposal is something called “patriotic assimilation.” It’s a euphemism for an immigrant entry exam that evokes the Jim Crow literacy tests used to disenfranchise black voters. One administration official told the Washington Post that green-card applicants would be required to pass an exam based on such everyday American household dinner topics as Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist Association.

That is a perplexing choice for the administration, given the timing. That letter, dated January 1, 1802, is the foundation of many understandings of the First Amendment when it comes to the separation of church and state. That is anything but what we saw this week, as their Republican allies in statehouses throughout the Midwest and South pushed through unconstitutional, misogynist and pseudoscientific restrictions on abortion.

In my native Ohio, a child who is raped might not even know she is pregnant before she runs out of time to abort her rapist’s fetus. Missouri sent its eight-week restriction to its eager Republican governor for signature on Friday. And Alabama’s law, arguably the most barbaric of them all, criminalizes the procedure from the moment of conception and carries a prison sentence for doctors of up to 99 years. That is a much longer bid than the maximum any rapist in the state could get, all while his victim is forced to bear his child. Each law, in its own way, subjugates women and girls — and since white women statistically have greater access to the procedure, signals a specific attack on women of color. This is a particular issue in Georgia, where noted vote suppressor Brian Kemp is governor. Under the law scheduled to go into effect on January 1st, women who self-terminate their pregnancies can be imprisoned for life or executed, thereby accomplishing two goals: subduing them for their gender, and taking away their ballot. (Men who impregnated them, per the law, suffer no consequence.)

It has been plain for a while now that the anti-abortion cause has nothing to do with actual deities or morality. If it did, it wouldn’t put the lives of doctors, patients and clinic employees in jeopardy to make its argument. States would be more concerned with their terrible infant mortality rates than they would about saving fetuses. Ending reproductive rights in America has never been about anything holy. Anti-abortionists like to remind us of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger’s statements about eugenics or claim they’re trying to stop a “black genocide,” but their movement was born to keep white patriarchy alive. And it is white men who are the primary beneficiaries of such policies.

As Politico Magazine detailed in 2014, the forced-birth movement, as I term it, got its primary motivation from a ruling three years before Roe v. Wade. A 1970 D.C. District Court decision denied tax-exempt status to “segregation academies” formed to escape the consequences of the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education precedent. These academies were connected to churches, and soon the IRS wanted to know whether their institutions too discriminated upon the basis of race. Heritage Foundation founder Paul Weyrich and evangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., over the course of the 1970s, seized upon the opportunity to mobilize a powerful voting bloc out of the disgruntled religious conservatives thwarted in their efforts to discriminate. But even back then, it was impolitic to promote themselves as “the racist caucus,” so they went hunting for an issue. Abortion was it — a political bogeyman ginned up out of a mix of opportunism, misogyny, and a rising religious unease with a spike in abortions after legalization. No scientific expertise in women’s physiology was required. White supremacy had all it needed, its natural symbiote: patriarchy.

The Republican movement behind forced-birth bills is truly ignorance allied with power, as James Baldwin once warned us about. The rhetoric may be more vociferous and reckless now than it was when the religious right was first revving up, but it is no less cynical. Even if it escapes the lips or is written or signed into law by women like Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama, the primary goal of that revanchist talk has always been to take America back to a time when the word of white men went all but unquestioned.

This is a particularly intoxicating prospect for men like Trump, who have grown up with this palatial reality all of their lives. What he sold in all those books and buildings and casinos and steaks was not just wealth, but his brand of white manhood. It is one reason why, despite the fact that his brash trade wars with China and Canada have made life harder for farmers and other American low-wage workers, some of them insist that they won’t leave his side.

Not wealthy enough to benefit the most from GOP tax cuts? Your local hospital going under? Your kids stuck in endless wars? It’s OK: hang with the GOP for the potential benefits of increased race-based stratification. Even if Trump’s policies are making your farm go under or depriving you of the steel you need, the benefits of whiteness await you. Because if something bad happens to you, it’s someone else’s fault. And that someone else is probably black. Or perhaps an immigrant from Mexico.

This is the investment that the Republicans have made in the intoxication of whiteness. It applies to these abhorrent attempts to end abortion as well. Legislation like these bills in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, and Missouri isn’t merely about trying to get the Supreme Court’s conservatives to overturn Roe. These states, and the (mostly) men behind the bills, are making a point about where women stand in relation to men, and moreover, where white men stand in relation to everyone else. This isn’t about who voted for what, or who signed what bill. It is about what message is sent, and who benefits.

When women are told that their bodies belong to the state at a time when access to health care remains drastically unequal by race and class, it means that rich white men win when abortion restrictions become law. They will all be challenged in court, wasting a lot of taxpayer money that could have been better used improving those health care systems or even educating the children that Republicans claim to care so much about. Then it will come time for those five Justices to decide the future for anyone who will ever possibly carry a fetus to term, or choose not to do so.

It is a mistake to get lost in religious debate around this. Remember, always, that Jesus was the hustle used to get us here. The fight to keep women from getting abortions is really about reinforcing a belief that white men should maintain dominion over this country and the people in it. The only God that matters most to these guys is themselves.

Jamil Smith is a Senior Writer at Rolling Stone, where he covers national affairs and culture. Throughout his career as a journalist and Emmy Award-winning television producer, he has explored the intersection of politics and identity. Follow him on Twitter @JamilSmith.

Originally published at www.rollingstone.com on May 17, 2019.

[cmhoughton]

The Spy Who Dumped Me

I’ve seen people giving widely varied opinions on Sam’s new project, The Spy Who Dumped Me, and who he might be playing.  This, even without knowing much about the script, aside from what little has been reported by other people who probably haven’t even read the screenplay.

Mostly because of the conflicting information about this project, I was determined to see if I could find a copy of The Spy Who Dumped Me.

I was a film major in college, with an emphasis in writing, so I know from past experience that screenplays for in-production films end up online all the time.  Mostly they are early first-draft- or spec-script drafts and can little resemble the final end product, but finding them is usually possible. If you try hard enough...

I looked and looked and, through a very round-about way, I finally got a copy.  And before you DM me about it: Sorry, but I will not share it.  

I promised my source I wouldn’t, so please don’t ask.

Although, I will answer any questions about it that folks have.  Just comment in a reblog, or send me an Ask.  

One thing I want to say before I go any further: Sam IS NOT playing the titular spy, Drew, even though folks for some reason people seem to think he is.

He is playing Sebastian.  

Sam’s role was described as the ‘lead male’ role in articles about him taking the part (X, X, X, & X), and that is Sebastian, not Drew. 

The only two characters who have more lines than Sebastian are Audrey and Morgan. 

Added to that, Drew gets killed 20 pages into a 118-page script and has less than half of the screen time that Sebastian has. 

Sam is a better fit for Sebastian anyway, he’s definitely Sebastian, although the exact roles the actors are playing are not up on IMDB yet.

I’m putting the rest of this behind a cut for length and potential minor spoilers...

As an FYI, here are the announced cast and their likely roles, based on the cast listed on IMDB, in the order which they appear in the script:

Justin Theroux – Drew – the titular spy who dumped Audrey Mila Kunis – Audrey – Trader Joe’s cashier, Duck Hunt wiz, and Drew’s ex Kate McKinnon – Morgan – Audrey’s roommate, best friend, and extremely self-confident unemployed actress Sam Heughan - Sebastian – English, CIA spy, and a co-worker of Drew’s Hasan Minhaj – Patel – Drew and Sebastian’s senior officer Gillian Anderson – Wendy – CIA Director, Patel and Sebastian’s boss Ivanna Sakhno – Nadedja (sounds like ‘Nadia’) – Super Model, Sadist, Enemy Secret Agent, and Assassin

Listed Locations:

Lithuania Los Angeles Vienna Paris Milan Asbury Park Prague Belgium Moscow The Netherlands Berlin Tokyo

In general, I’m not sure exactly how I’d describe the script, but it’s got The Bridesmaids- or The Hangover-level of raunchy, sophomoric humor combined with The Kingsmen-style secret-agent badassery. And like that film, this script has an extremely high body count.  A lot of people die, albeit usually in humorous ways.  

I loved The Kingsmen and Deadpool, so I know a lot of killing can still be very funny if handled well.  The director, Susanna Fogel, doesn’t have a whole lot on her CV, but she’s one of the writers so I’m hoping it will end up as funny as it read. 

I agree with Scriptshadow’s review in large part, and it appears they reviewed the same draft of the script I had.  But I should say that I liked the script a lot more than he or she did and it will be a must-see for me, especially since Sam Heughan is playing Sebastian.

Written by Susanna Fogel and David Iserson, the script is solid.  It is well constructed and has a good, steady pace.  It starts right out of the gate with the titular spy, Drew, on assignment in Lithuania. 

His cover blown, Drew evades assassins and narrowly avoids getting killed several times. It shows how capable and self-confident he is, as he easily and humorously kills numerous enemy agents…

That contrasts to his less-sure-of-herself ex-girlfriend, Audrey, who is quickly established in the very next scene as an underachiever only good at working at Trader Joe’s and being a deadly accurate shot in the vintage video arcade game Duck Hunt. Audrey’s best friend and roommate Morgan is established very quickly as being very sure of herself for an out of work actress, an excellent foil for Audrey.

Sebastian shows up at Trader Joe’s to ask Audrey about Drew, who stole something important the CIA wants back. Later, Drew shows up at Audrey’s apartment to pick up some stuff he left, but he’s ambushed there and gets shot. 

In his dying wish, Drew asks Audrey to complete his last mission to Vienna.  Feeling guilty over his death, and not trusting the CIA since it looked like they murdered Drew, Audrey and Morgan head off to Europe to meet Drew’s contact, with Sebastian and the CIA hot on their trail.

The script really keeps things moving along quickly after that, as the stakes keep rising toward the final confrontation.  

Despite some initial missteps, Audrey and Morgan become very good at being spies.  Audrey pleasantly surprised her video game skills translate so well to real-life situations.  Sure-of-herself Morgan skillfully employs her acting and stage combat training. 

The eventual bad guy comes out of the blue, but it is a twist that makes sense. 

So, the film could be a winning mix of comedy, intrigue, action, sexy cast members, and exotic locations.  While some of the more sophomoric humor isn’t exactly my cup of tea, with some even heading into cringe-worthy range, I imagine (if played out effectively) the film will be very funny.

However, aside from any of that, this movie could act as a solid entry into major feature filmdom for Sam Heughan.  

He is perfect in the part of Sebastian and the part is perfect for him.

Why do I think that?  It really isn’t any one thing, not really, but I easily imagined Sam as Sebastian as I read the script… 

Sebastian is smooth and capable as a spy, easily killing when needed, but he also shows some pathos when the situations humorously turn against him.  

So, this part needs a strong actor, who also happens to be extremely physically fit, handsome, charming, and has solid comedic timing… It’s like the part was written with Sam in mind.

He’s perfect for the role and I’m happy he’s getting a chance to play it.  With Brian Grazer producing for Imagine, Ron Howard’s production company, with co-stars as varied and talented as this cast is, this film is a huge opportunity for him.

I’m so excited he has this chance and can’t wait to see it.

Edited 9/7/17: Sam has been cast as Sebastian, the images posted of the production locations shoots in Amsterdam are from scenes I recognize from the script version that I have...

In an outdoor café in Amsterdam:

Outside a formal dress gala held in a museum in Berlin:

Then, of course, if there was any lingering doubt that he was playing the part, Sam posted the image of the drawing of himself as Sebastian:

Edited 1/15/18 for general cleanup/reblogging.

[lazuliblade]

I was wondering since it's possible for any skaters to land the jumps or spins how does one become their "signature move" ?

There’s a number of ways:

if the element is always performed in every program for years

if an element is performed better than most other people could ever hope for,

if an element is so unique or unused that they are one of very few skaters to do it

if they popularize the element

if the element is used in an iconic performance

Points 1 and 3 in particular apply to elements besides jumps - like certain spin positions and choreographic elements. Those are the real moves that make you go “Ah, yes, this is a Michelle Kwan/Yuzuru Hanyu/Victor Nikiforov program.”  Point 2 is what makes a normal spin position or element into something they “own.”Point 4 - you might see many other competitors start trying out a move because X-skater is super popular and does it in his programs. The move becomes tied to his name because he’s inspiring a new generation of skaters - he has an impact on others and they think of him whenever they try the move.

For example:

(Yuzuru Hanyu, his Layback Ina Bauer. 2016/17 EX Notte Stellata. This gif is from a gala practice.) Point 1: Even though Yuzuru’s layback ina bauer isn’t a new move, and even though many Ladies can do it, it’s one of his signature moves because he’s put it in one of his programs every year since he was a Junior (9 years of programs). You watch his programs expecting it to appear this year too. “It’s not a Yuzu program unless it has an ina bauer.”Point 3: Not many other men can do a layback version of the ina bauer because it requires a certain amount of flexibility in the back, thus making it rare to see in the men’s field (especially as they get older).Point 2: Even if other top skaters try putting it in their programs now, the quality of Yuzu’s will set his apart.Point 4: Because Yuzuru is now famous, you’ll find an increase in videos of younger skaters including the layback ina bauer in their programs. Where it used to be sort of feminine, now younger male skaters are starting to use it because they want to emulate him.

Point 5 - imagine this scenario: It’s the World Championships and young Victor is behind a couple of points going into the Free. Everyone in the last group of skaters is neck-and-neck and anyone could be on that podium. His older competitors are doing well with their Free Skates and it’s such an exciting competition for the spectators that the atmosphere in the venue is electric. Finally it’s Victor’s turn. The tension is palpable, and commentators are wondering if this teen will win the gold in just his second appearance at the World Championships. He goes out there and performs his program the best he has ever done it. It’s such a gorgeous performance that he shatters the World Record by a ridiculous margin, and wins the event in such a way as to leave the spectators in awe.Commentators are calling this “one of the best programs in the history of figure skating - if not THE best.” “The program moved me to tears.” “It was such a touching performance, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.”It makes such headlines, goes viral in the figure skating community, and spreads to news reports in countries where figure skating is popular.Somewhere near the end at a music climax he does a long spiral, and the cameras catch it at multiple angles. He’s done this move many times in the past, other men have done this move (although rarely), women do this move all the time. It’s not like it’s a new move, but this record-breaking program with the spiral set right at a climactic moment makes the spiral his signature move. It becomes associated with his name and people say:“Hey, remember that move in the program by that silver-haired skater, Victor?”“The spiral? You’re talking about the move with the leg up, right?”“Oh, is that what it’s called? Yeah, that’s the one. That was gorgeous - Victor’s spiral.”Just as the long hair was likely his signature look for many years, the spiral becomes attached to his image. When he does the spiral from then on, commentators will call it his signature move because it’s recognizable as HIS move from that one really amazing performance.

(This is a made-up headcannon based on his spiral at Junior Worlds. Please don’t take it as canon.)

Point 2: if a move is performed better than most other people could ever hope for – this is where jumps become signature moves

The key is for the difficult jump to be performed cleanly and consistently. We’re talking +3GOE quality here. Or alternatively, if the skater is one of the few who jump that particular one (4Lo, 4F, 4Lz). Let me use in-series and real-life examples.

Yuuri is known for his 3A - it seems that he usually lands it with good form. I’m sure over the years he hasn’t fallen on it very often in competition and thus it became a jump that commentators and people in the FS world know him for. But that’s not exactly a signature move in the sense that you wait an entire program to see it. It’s signature in the sense that he’s known for being one of the best at it.Then we have Victor with his 4F. I’ll bet you that he was the first man to land this jump, but if he wasn’t, then he was definitely the one to land it consistently and cleanly in competitions. He’s known for it because of the quality and probably because he always puts a 4F his programs. Perhaps it’s even his favorite quad. 

Looking at real-life skaters:

Yuzuru is known for his 3A. Of course, every Senior Men’s skater has to be able to do a 3A, and there are some currently competing skaters with beautiful 3As of their own, but Yuzuru’s is one of the most effortless and consistent you’ll see. It’s the one jump that everyone can count on when all other jumps fail in his program. He can do a 3A from standstill, he can do 4T-3A-3A-3A chains, he can do 4Lo-3A. He does it so well and always with such difficult entries, that his 3A became the jump he is known for.

Going further back, his coach Brian Orser was known during his career in the 1980s as “Mr. Triple Axel” because he was that good at 3As. He was the first Junior to land a 3A in competition, he was the first man to land it in the Olympics. This was back in the time when the 3A was the pinnacle, and quads were for crazy dreamer athletes who cared less for points and more for achieving the impossible.

Shoma Uno is the first man to land the 4F, and he lands it well for how little time he’s competed with it (not even a full year). That’s become his signature jump and even if other skaters like Boyang Jin and Nathan Chen try it out, Shoma is the one that the jump is tied to and spectators always wait for it.

So I guess the bottom line is, even if other men do the same spins and jumps, if a skater does the element so well that it sticks in people’s minds, then it becomes their signature move.