#European Film 1997

[celluloidrainbow]

L'HOMME QUE J'AIME (1997) dir. Stéphane Giusti Brash pool monitor Martin falls for the resident lifeguard Lucas the moment he sees him leap from the high dive, and decides to take a leap of his own. Within minutes he declares his love to Lucas, who is already taken and less than thrilled. No one is more surprised than Martin, then when his seemingly hopeless infatuation ends up bringing him friendship, passion and even true love. The only problem is that, for Martin, it all may have come a little too late. (link in title)

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black 1966

"Paint It Black" is a song by the English rockband the Rolling Stones. A product of the songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it is a raga rock song with Indian, Middle Eastern and Eastern European influences and lyrics about grief and loss. Two months after it being released as a non-album single, London Records included it as the opening track on the American version of the band's 1966 studio album Aftermath, though it is not on the original UK release.

Originating from a series of improvisational melodies played by Brian Jones on the sitar, the song features all five members of the band contributing to the final arrangement although only Jagger and Richards were credited as songwriters. In contrast to previous Rolling Stones singles with straightforward rock arrangements, "Paint It Black" has unconventional instrumentation, including a prominent sitar, the Hammond organ and castanets. The song was influential to the burgeoning psychedelic genre as the first chart-topping single to feature the sitar, and widened the instrument's audience.

"Paint It Black" was a major chart success for the Rolling Stones, remaining 11 weeks (including two at number one) on the US Billboard Hot 100, and 10 weeks (including one atop the chart) on the Record Retailer chart in the UK. Upon a reissue in 2007, it reentered the UK Singles Chart for 11 weeks. It was the band's third number-one single in the US and sixth in the UK. The song also topped charts in Canada and the Netherlands.

"Paint It Black" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2011, the song was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "The Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". It has seen commercial use in film, video games and other entertainment media, such as Full Metal Jacket (1987), The Devil's Advocate (1997), Wednesday (2022), as well as being used as a plot device in the supernatural horror film Stir of Echoes (1999).

"Paint It Black" received a total of 92,8% yes votes!

[magazinewankersworld]

Sarah Louise Young

Sometimes credited as Sarah Young, Sarah was born in Sidcup, England, United Kingdom in April 1971 but was raised in Hampshire in Southern England. In 1986 she was approached by a photographer in the street and agreed to pose for some trial pictures as a Page 3 girl for the Sun newspaper. A positive response to the pictures led to an invitation for Sarah to join a modeling agency. While she did model for various UK based men's magazines, at age 18 she appeared in a photo set in Private magazine. While she was initially hesitant to do the shoot as the adult industry did not have a very good reputation in UK, at the urging of a friend she went ahead and worked in the European industry. Later she met German adult film director and publisher Sascha Alexander, whom she would work with almost exclusively and would later marry. Her popularity in Europe led her to opening her own chain of sex shops in Germany, and becoming the first adult actress to be paid a million dollars for a single film. In 1997 she decided to retire as the industry began to switch to lower budget movies. She later divorced Sascha and moved to the US to study law.

[synergysilhouette]

Plotting out "Yaksha" (Disney movie)

If you haven't checked out my post on my original Disney era, please check it out here.

Background: Disney revives the idea for a "Jack and the Beanstalk" story, though they've no interest of making it take place in Spain like originally planned, citing the recent "Wish" film still burned in people's recent memory. Fawn Veerasuthorn (Co-director and co-screenwriter of "Wish," head of story for "Raya and the Last Dragon," and a story artist/storyboard artist/visual development artist for other recent Disney films) suggests a Thai setting, since there are many stories that revolve around Yakshas there. Though Disney is nervous about the idea due to RATLD's middling box office performance and polarized reviews on their SEA representation, Fawn points out that the former issue was COVID-related, and the latter issue can be solved by specifically focusing on Thailand. Eventually, they come around to the idea, citing how "The Princess and the Frog" was based a European tale with a fresh twist from another culture. Early on that they would gamble further by not only making the film a musical AND keeping a male lead, something they hadn't done since "Hercules" (AKA 1997). They aren't totally being risky, though; they bring over the Anderson-Lopez team, who was originally going to be used to be used for "Gigantic" (the original title for the adaptation) to write songs for it, as well as bringing in James Newton Howard in after his experience orchestrating the score for Raya. Opting to lean into potential "Avatar: The Last Airebender" parallels, Disney hires Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko as directors (and I'll be using some ATLA and TLOK pics for reference), with Matt Braly and Jared Bush creating the script. It was never established if they were going for a specific time period's influence, but the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya kingdoms were the most spoken about. Scott Watanabe does the concept art, and after a severe internal argument, they take another risk: to make it a 2D film. This is only done due to points being brought up how desires for 2D have increased (and TBATH winning "Best Animated Film" in 2024) as well as it working best in the film's favor being based on Thai art. Needless to say, Studio Ghibli plays a big influence on the art style, and the change to 2D makes production take longer to reacquaint the animation team with it, as well as getting the style they want.

Plot:

(Used this picture for visual aid; courtesy of Scott Watanabe's concept art for "Raya and the Last Dragon")

A poor family made up of a man, his wife, her father, and their two children, is blessed with another child. Unable to support him, the family falls into anguish, but his grandfather has dreams of buying and planting sugarcane seeds outside the kingdom and placing the baby there overnight, and is told that the child will be cared for. He tells the family, and the boy disappears the next day, being raised by the Yaksha in a sky kingdom above. For many years, the boy--named "Cloud"--believes he belongs there, until his adoptive mother informs him of his true heritage and guides him to the stalk from which she descended to retrieve him. As he grows, Cloud descends the beanstalk to learn more about the place he would've called home, but when a jealous giant follows him and accidentally kills the crown prince of the kingdom, the King vows revenge on the Yaksha, wanting to destroy them and conquer their plentiful kingdom in the process. Cloud, as a human, must know act as a bridge between both worlds in order to prevent an all-out war from occuring.

Characters:

"Cloud"--His main color is definitely blue, which references the world above that he lives in close to the sky. His nickname is a pun on his head sometimes being stuck in the clouds, as well as his easygoing and often gentle nature and the fact that he now lives in the kingdom above the clouds. He draws influences from several people (fictional or real, Thai or not) to craft a young man with a passion for peace and keeping the order between giants and humans. While he's spent most of his life in the world above, he will sometimes sneak down the sugarcane to a little village outside the human Kingdom of Khruth where he only goes by his nickname. For many years, he has befriended an elderly man, unaware that this is his grandfather. On Earth, he's known only by his nickname, with only a handful of people who know his real name, something he hardly uses (but still answers to).

Suvana--One of the princesses of Khruth, who catches Cloud napping under the mango tree outside the palace. When she discovers he is the ambassador of the Yaksha, she's surprised, having expected him to be a brutish and reckless warrior, and she is pleased to find that he is respectful, pious, and compassionate. Somewhat of a black sheep in the royal family, she often tries to find time to herself, when she can be more playful and goofy without embarrassing her family or disrupting the royal status quo. However, despite her unique personality, she's also quite clever and mysterious, being underestimated often due to being seen as incompetent.

Note: her name is taken from Suvannamaccha, a mermaid princess from the Thai version of the Ramayana.

Ngein--A mother figure to Cloud and a leader of the Yakshas who reside in the sky, she's weary of the impending war with humans, who, in their hubris, desire to conquer the sky upon hearing of even more majestic lands and priceless gems and minerals there. On top of this, one of the Yaksha's kills the crown prince in a rage, fueling the friction between both parties.

(IDK if I'd use their "Genshin Impact" designs, but it is a nice visual aid.)

Sirichai--The King of Khruth who grew up with stories of giants who housed outstanding treasure and magic in the world above. When one of his sons is killed by a Yaksha, he follows it to the sugar cane and investigates the world above, and comes to the conclusion that while above him, it is still part of his kingdom, and his craving for revenge drives him to want to dominate the giants--or slaughter them for their wealth. Either or.

Songs:

Sent to Heaven--The opening song about the dreams and hopes of commoners, it focuses on Cloud's family leaving him below a sugarcane stalk after dreaming that he will live better if they do so rather than living with them. They ponder the drawbacks of this, however, as they may never see him again.

What Else is There?--After being told that he's the child of humans when he's young, Cloud begs Ngein to show him the sugarcane that peeks above the clouds, and as the years pass, he makes his way down to the human world, learning about the life he missed, with Ngein always satisfied because he always returns and because she watches him from Yaksha statues outside of temples

Underneath--Cloud rests beneath the mango tree, contemplating how large the world beneath the clouds is, and how he isn't ready to go back home. Meanwhile, Suvana talks about who she is underneath her decorum, and is simultaneously embarrassed by how she fails to live up to royal standards and sad that it alienates herself from her siblings.

Worth the Price--Sirichai makes an impassioned speech to his army to climb the sugar cane to the land above and make the giants above subservient to them. Suvana notes that despite her father's ill intentions, he does not recognize what he's doing as wrong, truly believing that his the skies above are part of his kingdom and thus his dominion.

What Else is There? (Reprise)--When Cloud is imprisoned and Suvana must go alone to persuade the giants not to kill the incoming warriors, they ponder if their desire to live and explore was always meant to end poorly, if they were better off living the lives played out for them. But then, they realize they wouldn't have met each other, and they'd always wonder "what if?"

Only Me--Having managed to avoid war and catastrophe, Cloud and Suvana marry, and they reflect on their journeys. Despite their kind hearts, they made hasty decisions that could have hurt so many people, and as they marry, they vow to each other and both kingdoms that the ceremony was not only a marriage of people, but a marriage of worlds. (Note: if I made the lyrics, it'd be "It's NOT only me")

Lemme know what you think and if you have any questions! Obviously I don't know the inns and outs of Thai culture, but lemme know if it sounds like it could work with these ideas. I may make minor changes to this. Perhaps I'll make more posts related to the rest of my fanmade Reinvention era.

[eddie-redmayne-italian-blog]

Inside The Day of the Jackal, Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch’s ambitious new hitman series

GQ speaks to the cast and crew behind Sky’s reimagination of the classic Frederick Forsyth assassin novel

By Jack King26 July 2024

1973’s The Day of the Jackal is one of those classic thrillers that dads pass down as a rite of passage. Failing that, you might’ve caught it on ITV 2 on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Edward Fox plays the titular Jackal, a killer for hire who is commissioned by the French militant far-right to assassinate president Charles de Gaulle in 1963. The film’s first act savours his scrupulous attention to detail: buying a bespoke rifle that can be broken down into innocent parts, and fake documents from a forger, for example, who he murders with his bare hands after an ill-judged extortion attempt. He’s a shapeshifting lone wolf — well, jackal — we learn little about, aside from how good he is at killing people.

Such a rich character whose mark is felt on no end of hitman movies (see David Fincher’s 2023 genre homage The Killer) is ripe for reinterpretation. Not that it went especially well last time: the last, loose attempt to contemporise The Day of the Jackal came in 1997, starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere, and the critics called it a dud. But 27 years later, Sky & Peacock have armed up for their own present-day reimagination of the source material, thrusting the Jackal into our fraught world of political division and ever-present global danger. The script was written by Top Boy writer Ronan Bennett, and the series executive produced by Downton Abbey's Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant, alongside its stars Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch.

“We both loved the book, and we saw the film when we were kids — I’ve seen the film many times through my life, and always really respected it,” Neame, alongside Marchant, tells GQ. While they were at first cautious to tackle source material that carries with it such esteem, to expand the story across episodic TV seemed too good an opportunity to turn down. “It’s such an iconic, gripping story, that to revisit that in a contemporary context, with all the benefits of a multi-episodic show … we thought that would be really interesting to take this much-respected IP and develop it this way.”

Marchant concurs. “I think that [this] kind of title is in so many peoples’ consciousness … And then yeah, what’s the benefit of telling this with a bigger canvas?”

Marcell Piti/SKY/Carnival

The most obvious difference about this version is that it takes place in the modern world. “If we’d stayed in the past, why do it? You can’t better the film,” Neame says. But in classic The Day of the Jackal style, Redmayne’s hitman still rocks up to more European cities than a gap year interrailer.

And so we begin the series with the Jackal in Munich. Not that we immediately recognise him: he is decked out in wrinkly prosthetics, fake hair, and wears contacts and fake teeth, disguised as an elderly German janitor. This is his way past security and into the campaign headquarters of a divisive far-right demagogue, for the purposes of a mission that we daren’t spoil further. Once he has done what he needed to do — ruthlessly dispatching half the staff with a silenced pistol en route — he makes a daring escape by absailing from the roof, just as the police arrive. So, to illustrate the vibe: think Mission Impossible meets Daniel Craig’s Bond, if he went really rogue.

It’s not a one-to-one adaptation, but fans of the original text and film needn’t worry — there’s a distinct air of reverence for them both throughout, and this version broadly covers the same plot beats, though the story is expanded for TV. As for the Jackal himself, Redmayne’s performance both evokes Fox’s classic turn and feels of his own making. “[Fox’s] performance will always be in my mind, because I loved it so much as a kid,” Redmayne tells GQ. “But at the same time, I wanted the audience to be able to oscillate between this sociopathic coldness, and a human being who wants a life, and happiness.” He points to Natalie Humphries’ costume design as an explicit example of homage. “She spoke specifically about the kind of dandy, slight peacock-y quality of the [original] movie, and how we wanted to keep those elements,” Redmayne says.

“If you know the original [film], you get these Easter eggs through the show — even some of the lines are exact matches, and scenes were shot literally shot-for-shot from the original,” Marchant says. “So there are treats along the way if you know it, which felt important to us [with] our love of the original as well.”

Some time after that first job, the familiar story begins, after a mysterious would-be client on the dark web offers the Jackal retirement-grade money for the biggest hit of his career. (Given the contemporary setting, the target obviously isn’t Charles de Gaulle, but that’s as much as we’re allowed to reveal.) And throughout the series, in another noticable departure from the source material, we delve into the Jackal’s backstory and the whys and wherefores of his chosen career path. (Again, I’d love to say more, but there’s a red laser dot hovering over my chest and I value my life.) Redmayne was initially cautious about digging too far into the Jackal’s background — traditionally, the whole point is that you know nothing about him — but was won over by the script.

“Edward Fox’s performance is so brilliant because it’s two and a half hours of [an] extraordinarily charismatic enigma,” Redmayne says. “So my challenge, as a fan of that, was to go, Wait, I only want to take this on if I feel like there is a way that unpacking [the backstory] doesn’t feel glib.”

The chance to explore the Jackal’s past, Neame says, was always the point. “We knew right from the beginning that we wouldn’t make a 10 part television series where the main character is only ever a ghost,” he says. “So that’s where the whole idea of the private life, the personal life — the fact that he’s trying to juggle this extraordinary professional world with a normal lifestyle [came from].” Later on in the series, Neame notes, another character tells him what should’ve probably been blindingly obvious: in this line of work, a healthy worThe Day of the Jackal isn’t just about the titular contract killer, of course. Much of the story unfolds as a thrilling cat and mouse, as hot on the Jackal’s heels is the Sherlock to his murderous Moriarty, French detective Claude Lebel, played in 1973 by Michel Lonsdale. In this new adaptation, the character is reimagined as a wily MI6 agent, Lashana Lynch’s Bianca, whose counter-terrorism training and firearms expertise make her the Jackal’s ideal foil. (Despite the connection you might make to one of Lynch’s more recent roles, this grounded, bureaucratic vision of His Majesty’s secret service bears little resemblance to Bond.)k/life balance just isn’t sustainable.

“When you have a character that is in either a powerful position, or works for a powerful organisation, there is this danger that happens whereby women get boxed into one of two things: either the strong one, or the damsel in some way. Both of them are actually unfair,” Lynch says. “The Bianca that I read in the first three episodes was someone who had a strength that was born from vulnerability, had confusion [around] her own identity and her meaning to her work … There was so much within her world, and within her being, that felt like a real person.”

Bianca is seen as an irritating disruptor by the people she works for; early in the first episode, her boss scribbles a mid-meeting note calling her a pain in the arse. But her unrelenting drive and commitment soon gets results. “She pushes people’s boundaries. She is annoying. She does not stop. And her boundary pushing gets very dangerous,” Lynch continues. “But [she is] also really well intentioned. She has a good heart, she just doesn’t know how to use it. Which is exciting to play, and exciting to watch.”

Ultimately, the Jackal and Bianca have more in common than they might initially realise. “The entire premise of these two protagonists that are deeply flawed human beings, and yet also compelling human beings who are kind of mirroring each other, and yet on a one way path to collision, I found that interesting,” Redmayne says.

“You’re on side with both of these people, despite the horrendous choices they’re making.”

The Day of the Jackal will premiere on Sky and streaming service NOW in the UK (and Peacock in the US) on 7 November.

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/the-day-of-the-jackal-preview

[thislovintime]

"Circle Sky"

“I wanted to explore the power trio of us. In a strange way, we were actually pretty good. Micky was a real garage-band drummer. I was a real scream-and-shout guitar player and Peter was a very precise player. He could play interesting lines and fills on the bass. The power trio that existed between us was seldom explored.” - Michael Nesmith on "Circle Sky" (the Head sequence was filmed on May 17, 1968), Rolling Stone, August 23, 2016 "[Michael] caught the episode of Friends and he said, ‘Gee, that sounds like us playing the theme song there,’ and then his — he started to think about some old Monkees songs, and his girlfriend said, ‘Well, who’s playing bass on that cut there?’ He said, ‘Well, Peter.’ 'Did he write that part?’ ‘Yeah.’ Well, so his girlfriend liked my work and he said, ‘Maybe we should…’ And at that time, he was developing a thing for ZZ Top and he wanted to play guitar like that, sound like that on guitar, and we were the vehicle for it, so we joined, got together and we made a record called Justus." - Peter Tork, GOLD 104.5, 1999 Q: "What led Michael Nesmith to rejoin The Monkees in 1996 for the Justus album?" Peter Tork: "Mike had become boyfriend/girlfriend with this woman who listened to a cut of 'Circle Sky' [written by Nesmith, it appeared on the Head soundtrack in December 1968]. She listened and exclaimed, 'Who is playing bass on that?' Michael said, 'Well, Peter.'  She quickly replied, 'Well, who wrote the part?' And he responded, 'Well, Peter.' Soon he was sort of enjoying what we had done before. He thought, God, these guys are pretty good. So he invited Micky and me, and we took over a rehearsal hall. The three of us banged away for a couple of hours, and danged if we didn’t sound just exactly the same as we did when we left off nearly 30 years previously. And next thing we knew, Michael wanted to be back in the band for a little while. Michael is very much into, What’s the best you can get right now? He is kind of aggressive about getting the best studio, the best equipment, and the best approach to sound.  So we produced and recorded the Justus album on tape and transferred it to digital afterwards in an effort to keep it as warm as possible. I’m not so interested in the sound per se. If we had made it all digital, I couldn’t have told the difference myself. All I know is I hear the energy of the band. What’s interesting is for us to play together and make a record as best we know how.  I played all the bass parts on Justus, Michael played all the guitar parts, Micky played all the drums, and Davy played tambourine and some acoustic guitar. If you hear keyboards or piano on a track, that’s me, too. I would play one instrument and then overdub the other.  There are a couple of things I would have done differently, but all in all, I think it stands up pretty well. So there’s the Justus album for you.  Mike joined us in the UK for our 30th anniversary tour in 1997. I enjoyed that tour very much; it was a good time. Nevertheless, Mike never said anything to me when he decided to leave the band after the ’97 European tour, and I still don’t know why he left." - Pop Culture Examiner, November 24, 2011

[doloresliddell]

I wanna say thank you for knocking some sense into me. I've been struggling with the after affects of a toxic friend group that consisted of 7 girls who all were proclaimed 'nymphets' after a while they roped me in their mindset and it kinda went downhill from there. I never wanted to turn out like this and what you said really kinda opened my eyes to the really morbid and disgusting reality that is this 'nymphet' community. I want to get better after this realization I really do but I have no clue where to start because I want to be able to enjoy the community around the book and the movies (even if they were poorly told) ((Dolores was a ton boy not some girly girl in dresses or skimpy clothes)) I think im going to talk to my therapist when we meet in 1-2 weeks but until then do you have any advice on how I can heal?

First of all I think you should stay away from the movies.

These are not "poorly told". They are intentionally softcore CSEM (child sexual explotation material).

Sue Lyon was just just TWELVE when she was casted.

And for Lolita 1997:

You are literally posting stills of softcore CSEM. You are posting stills of CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, and talking how much you want that to happen to you. The producers/directors literally wanted to make CSEM and had to restrain himself just a tiny little bit because anti CSEM laws.

Did you know Menarche has gotten lower in the last years, right? Female puberty starts at around 8 years old, Humbert nowadays would want to rape 8 year old girls.

This is what Humbert speaks of when he talks of Nymphets.

Humbert is attracted to early breast development (8 to 12 years), to menarche (8 to 13), early armpit hair and so on.

When Dolores has the normal body development of a 13 year old in the 1940's, he calls it advanced age and begins to get tired of her. Do you know why? Because he is fixated on 1920's european little girls who were stressed and starved during WW2.

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Part 1, Chapter 5.

Anarchy: A journal of DESIRE ARMED (Issue #19, May-July 1989, "Save the children" by Richard Walters), a pro CSA publication, WHICH ARGUED FOR EVEN THE SEXUAL ABUSE OF NEWBORNS.

When you like Humbert, this is what you like. You can trace back ALL of his arguments to actual real life pro contact pedohebephiles. Is that what you want?

When you see this, do you call her a "nymphet"? You should, since you believe they are real. This is what Humbert thinks is a "demon child", not this

When you post stills of poor Sue Lyon, do you stop to think this child had her life ruined and was raped on set? When you post Dominique Swain, do you think about how she said the role ruined her life?

When you think of your handsome Humbert Humbert, do you think of this? How he calls himself foul smelling? How he calls himself hairy, with aging ape eyes?

And above all, do you think of people like me, who had the "fortune" to be what you want to be when we were as young as 2, 3, 5, 10 year old? Do you think of incest victims? Did you ever think of the fact Dolores was being raped by her dad?

When you think of calling yourself Lolita,nymphet, do you ever think of the CSEM forum "Lolita City", the ages shown here, of all these girls whose rape was filmed? If you wanted to be "Lolita" or a nymphet so bad, why weren't you going out of your way to do this to yourself? I am sure you would find a Humbert there!

Or better: Don't.

Do you remember how Humbert married poor Charlotte and then killed her to gain acess to little Lola? Well, I do.

Do you know who Peter Scully is?

He is currently serving a life sentence in the Philippines for trafficking, child pornography, the murder of a 12-year-old girl, and the torture and sexual abuse of at least eight girls, including a 1-and-a-half-year-old girl.

He is the author of the infamous Daisy's dest...do I even have to say it?

And was the owner of Hurt2TheCore, a snuff/pedosadism csem page. He is also accused of creating the pedosadist and murder and torture international net No Limits Fun.

Anyways, why the mention of him and of Hurt2TheCore? Well, of course, here is the people who post there:

Oh, yes, Humbert in real life. Is this what you want?

Stay away from the movies and go back to the novel. Get into the musical. Read analysis of the book. Go read books about CSEM forums. Memoirs of real life incest victims. of rape victims. That's how you "enjoy" Lolita.

And from a real Life Lolita to you, a wannabe, I hope the world NEVER teaches you what being Dolores Haze in real life is like.

[1997thebracket]

Round 1A

The Fifth Element: I'm sorry, you'll need a multi pass to access this round. The Fifth Element is a sci-fi action film by French director Luc Besson, starring Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman and Chris Tucker. In simplest terms, the Earth is staring down imminent destruction from a cosmic evil; in anticipation of such an event, humanity was gifted a weapon (the titular Fifth Element) in the form of a woman named Leeloo. The film owes much of its cult status to the bold, eclectic visuals of both the characters and world, aided by the legendary Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières on production design and Jean-Paul Gaultier on costume design. Jovovich's Leeloo, with her choppy tangerine-orange hair and iconic white-strapped bodysuit, is instantly recognizable across pop culture for the look alone; the same can be said for Tucker's Ruby Rhod, whose conical neo-pompadour needs no introduction. Though critics were divided-- it was awarded at the BAFTAs and the Cannes Film Festival, which premiered the film alongside a Jean-Paul Gaultier fashion show and ballet, while also being nominated for a Razzie-- it managed to take on a second life among fans. At the time of its release, it was the most expensive European film ever made, and it remained the highest-grossing French film at the international box office until 2011.

Radiohead's OK Computer: I go forwards, you go backwards, and somewhere we will meet. By the middle of the decade, Radiohead was weary of the ubiquity of their 1993 hit Creep; although the record that followed it (The Bends) was a lusher, more evolved album than their first, it had failed to produce a distinctive enough sound and image for the band to undo what Creep had done. The song threatened to define the band entirely to those outside their devoted following. In 1997 the band swung for the fences with the haunting, abstract OK Computer. It was a move their label cast immense doubt on at the time, and its success then and now would cement Thom Yorke and his bandmates as soothsayers of a sort, draped not in bohemian silk robes but in white hospital sheets. It's an album that speaks to the future with dread more than wonder, that critics described as "nervous almost to the point of neurosis," but marries the uneasy experimental soundscapes with poetic, surrealist, and increasingly prophetic songwriting regarding the parallel lives we lead with technology. Featuring the singles Karma Police, Paranoid Android and No Surprises, OK Computer is hailed by many as the band's masterpiece, and is often cited by music publications as one of the greatest albums of the decade: it's certified double Platinum in the US and five-times Platinum in the UK, and in 2014 it was included in the United States National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

[itsniquol]

Animes That Fans Are Still Waiting To See Sequels For

With the recent premiere of the second season of Clone High through HBO’s Max streaming service and Netflix’s second season of the reboot of Bastard!; long suffering fans are finally getting more of the animated shows that they have spent over ten years waiting for. Hopefully streaming services will continue to listen to the people and start doing more reboots and sequels to what fans want to see. Here’s a list of seven other anime shows that anime fans are still waiting to see:

School Rumble

School Rumble is the anime adaptation of the Slice of Life, Romantic-Comedy manga of the same name by Jin Kobayashi. This over 20 episode animated series follows the ditzy but lovable, Tenma Tsukamoto, and the former delinquent who loves her, Kenji Harima. This show was brilliantly written with amazing comedic moments surrounding the typical misunderstandings and awkward moments among teenagers, along with personal revelations. School Rumble was definitely a show that would delight many within the Shoujo or Shonen fan-base, however the ending of the series seemed unfinished and left much to be desired.

Ouran Host Club

Take Hana Kimi and mash it together with Boys Over Flowers, and you get Ouran Host Club. Based off of the 2002-2010 manga by Bisco Hatori, the genderbending reverse harem anime continues to have a dedicated fan base still aching for more episodes. This anime follows the gender non-conforming Haruhi Fujioka who attends a prestigious private school on scholarship, and is forced to pay back a debt working as a host club member. Despite being a comedy this show has compelling character arcs and emotional moments, with positive LGBT+ representation. Since the anime concluded before the manga’s completion there’s definitely still plenty of story to tell and this show could easily follow in the footsteps of FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or Hellsing Ultimate.

Kamisama Kiss

Having an original air date of 2012 this anime is based off the 25 volume long manga series by Julietta Suzuki of the same name. This show followed the recently homeless Tomoe who becomes a minor deity and gets a handsome yet short tempered fox yokai for a servant. This show had a nice concept with many lovable characters in the Supernatural genre with Romantic-Comedic elements to the story. Despite having two seasons, the story’s ending didn’t feel complete and hopefully one day fans can get more.

Utena: Revolutionary Girl

For so many people this 1997 anime was an introduction to the world of anime and manga and is highly regarded for its art style, and LGBT+ and Feminist themes. The anime is based off of the manga written by Chiho Saito of the Magical Girl, Action, and Fantasy genres. This story follows Utena Tenjou, a new girl at school who becomes involved in a secret European-style duel competition for “The Rose Bride.” The bride in question is a quiet and mysterious girl named Anthy Himemiya who is often treated more as a prop and less as a person. Utena fights frequently to defend Anthy yet is sadly betrayed by someone she considered a good friend. The anime ends with Anthy going out to search for Utena but we never know what happens after the fact. Even the anime film adaptation ends with no clear resolution so a reboot or a sequel series to settle people’s questions would be a great form of closure to the old fans while catching the interest of the new ones.

Mermaid Forest

After the success of Inuyasha, Ranma ½, and Urusei Yatsura, Rumiko Takahashi has no shortage of fans who would check out anything with her name attached. Back in the early 2000s there was an anime adaptation of her 1994 manga of the same name. In this anime the show’s two leads, Yuta and Mana, have been given immortality after consuming mermaid flesh which arguably the better of the two possible side effects. For the better part of the series the anime follows these two around during their travels until they run into another, much older immortal, who has developed an amoral personality. Towards the end we never know the fate of the older immortal nor discover if there is any possibility to reverse the side effects of the mermaid flesh. The anime just sorta of ends, so a sequel or reboot would be greatly appreciated.

Nightwalker: The Midnighter Detective

Anime fans who also enjoyed the Buffyverse spin-off Angel could easily adore the original 13 episode show. This late 90s horror-mystery anime follows the bishonen male lead, Shido Tatsuhiko, who fights to protect those from the harm or influence of terrible using vampiric abilities. One of the key figures to his past is the vampire Lord Cain who has semi-obsession with Shido and refuses to accept that he is no longer the killer he used to be and tries to get Shido to come back to him. The last episode ends with Shido experiencing the trauma of having to put down his teenage secretary, Riho Yamazaki, and being kissed by Cain who declares his love for Shido once more before fading away into darkness. This ending would’ve been fantastic as a season one finale but as a show one there just feels like so much that could be told.  

Descendants of Darkness

Based on the still on-going manga Yami no Matsuei, or Descendants of Darkness, this 2000 anime adaption is an excellent blend of mystery, dark fantasy, and supernatural with an extra helping of yaoi. The show’s lead is Asato Tsuzuki, a human turned shinigami who solves cases for the Spirit World alongside the recently murdered turned shinigami Hisoka Kurosaki. This anime did a marvelous job at keeping viewers guessing with different mysteries and entertained with action sequences. The artwork is magnificent as well. At the end of the show Hisoka pulls Asato out of a deep depression and they fight off the show’s overarching villain before concluding. However, since the manga has yet to officially end there’s still room to continue the story and there are many who would be eager to watch.  

[jamieroxxartist]

✔ Mark Your Calendars: Wed Jan 3, 2024 on 🎨#JamieRoxx’s Pop Roxx Radio 🎙️#TalkShow and 🎧#Podcast w/ Featured Guest:

Deborah Twiss ​(#Filmmaker, #Actress)

☎ Lines will be open (347) 850.8598 Call in with your Questions and Comments Live on the Air.

● Click here to Set a Reminder: http://tobtr.com/12298766

​Pop Art Painter Jamie Roxx (www.JamieRoxx.us) welcomes Deborah Twiss (Filmmaker, Actress) to the Show! (Click to go there)

● WEB: www.DeborahTwissActress.com ● FB: @deborah.twiss ● X: @deborah_twiss ● IMDB: www.imdb.com/name/nm0878597

Deborah went to New York City to study acting when she was 17 and quickly got involved in also writing and producing indie films. Her first feature, A Gun For Jennifer (1997), went to over 27 film festivals and is a European cult hit. She then produced and starred in the indie Molotov Samba. Shortly after, with her eighteen month old son in a stroller and her baby girl on her chest in a Bjorn, Deborah wrote, starred in and directed In-Between, a supernatural 9/11 thriller.

Deborah most recently enjoyed the release of the Dogma95 style thriller, #Sapsiosexual, distributed by Breaking Glass Pictures in May of 2023 and currently available on several platforms including Amazon and Tubi.

​● Media Inquiries: www.DeborahTwissActress.com

[celluloidrainbow]

REGARDE LA MER (1997) dir. François Ozon An Englishwoman named Sasha lives on France's Île d'Yeu with her husband, who is often away for business, and their infant daughter, Sioffra. One day a young female drifter appears at their door and asks Sasha for permission to pitch her tent in the garden. At first reserved and reluctant, Sasha eventually allows the drifter to camp in the yard, and the women begin to develop a relationship with each other as dark events unfold. (link in title)

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

The Cardigans - Lovefool 1996

"Lovefool" is a song written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for Swedish rockband the Cardigans' third studio album, First Band on the Moon. It was released as the album's lead single on 10 August 1996 in Japan. A few months after its release, the track was included in the Baz Luhrmann film Romeo + Juliet, helping the song gain international recognition.

"Lovefool" was initially a hit in several European countries, reaching number 15 on the Swedish Singles Chart and peaking at number 21 on the UK Singles Chart during its first release in 1996. Following its appearance in Romeo + Juliet, the song gained international attention, eventually reaching a new peak of number 2 on the UK Singles Chart following a re-release in April 1997. It then achieved international success, becoming a number 1 hit in New Zealand and peaking just outside the top 10 in Australia at number 11. "Lovefool" became a crossover hit in the US after peaking at number 9 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, reaching number 2 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. It reached number 1 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart and number 2 on the Adult Top 40.

Three music videos were shot for the song. The third and last music video was created to promote Romeo + Juliet.

"Lovefool" received a total of 84,7% yes votes!

[just-your-average-tangerine]

Song of the day: August 8 2024

Through Glass by Stone Sour

About Stone Sour:

Stone Sour was an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand (guitar), Christian Martucci (guitar), Johny Chow (bass) and Roy Mayorga (drums). Longtime members Joel Ekman (drums, percussion) and Shawn Economaki (bass guitar) left the band in 2006 and 2011, respectively. Former lead guitarist Jim Root left in 2014. The band has been on an indefinite hiatus since 2020.

(Via Wikipedia)

About Through Glass:

“Through Glass” is the second single on the album “Come What(ever) May” by American rock band Stone Sour. The track was published online through Yahoo! on July 22, 2006. The highest peaking of “Through Glass” was in the United States, on the US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, at number one, followed by number two on the US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks. “Through Glass” was certified Platinum in the United States by the RIAA.

The corresponding music video for “Through Glass” was directed by Tony Petrossian.

“Through Glass” has also integrated itself into pop culture and appeared in the 2012 horror film, Grave Encounters 2.

The song was inspired by frontman Corey Taylor’s frustrations towards the music industry and how he felt that there had been no musical revolution at all. He had been quoted saying:

"I remember exactly where I was. It was 2004 and I was on tour with Slipknot. I was sitting in a European hotel room watching a music video channel, seeing act after act after act of this insane, innocuous, plastic music. They were plastic, bubbly, gossamer-thin groups where it was really more about the clothes they wore and the length of their cheekbones than it was about the content of the song they were singing. It really made me mad. I was like, “Is this it? Have we just gone full circle? Did the singer/songwriter revolution never happen? Is it just the same drivel from the same replicate over and over again?” … “Through Glass” is really a very angry song. It’s me basically calling bullshit on pretty much everyone involved with the American Idol-type shows. It has its place, but when you’re basically cornering the market and making it very hard for anyone who actually writes their own music to get ahead, then it’s wrong and that’s really why I wrote this song."

(Via genius.com)

[jardaworksgallery]

Music I like - from my vinyl record collection -

( An absolute Latin American classic )

Buena Vista Social Club was a musical ensemble primarily made up of Cuban musicians, formed in 1996. The project was organized by World Circuit executive Nick Gold, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and directed by Juan de Marcos González. They named the group after the homonymous members' club in the Buenavista quarter of Havana, a popular music venue in the 1940s. To showcase the popular styles of the time, such as son, bolero and danzón, they recruited a dozen veteran musicians, some of whom had been retired for many years.

The group's eponymous studio album was recorded in March 1996 and released in September 1997, quickly becoming an international success, which prompted the ensemble to perform with a full line-up in Amsterdam and New York in 1998. German director Wim Wenders captured the performance on film for a documentary—also called Buena Vista Social Club—that included interviews with the musicians conducted in Havana. Wenders' film was released in June 1999 to critical acclaim, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary feature and winning numerous accolades including Best Documentary at the European Film Awards. This was followed up by a second documentary Buena Vista Social Club: Adios in 2017.

More information at:

Buena Vista Social Club - Wikipedia

[sunnunderthesun]

Congolese cinema and Patrice Lumumba

It’s no surprise that African cinema, especially Congolese cinema, isn’t a part of the syllabus of film studies at several universities outside Africa, and Patrice Lumumba hasn’t yet found a space in most history and political science textbooks used by the Western-centric education system in many wealthy and developing countries (including mine).

There is only a handful of scholarly work on Congolese cinema available in English, and most of them are focussed on the evangelisation of the Congolese people, in Belgian Congo, by the male missionaries through mobile film screenings using the “cinema van” built by the British before World War Two to spread propaganda among “primitive peoples”.

Gansa Ndombasi addresses the lack of available information about Congolese cinema and lays out its history in his book La cinéma du Congo démocratique (2008).

The filmmakers of the films screened in Belgian Congo – which used to be the personal property of King Leopold ll after the European countries divided the African continent among themselves at the Berlin Conference of 1885 until Belgian government took over the administration of Congo from him in 1908 and turned it into their colony – showed black characters as “so Manichaean and caricatured that local populations could not identify with them”. The films, religious and nationalist in nature, including the imported Hollywood, Bollywood, and East Asian films – shown to the Congolese community between the early 1960s and 1997 were strictly governed by the interests of Mobutu, the then (1965-1991) head of the state who facilitated the West's access to Congo’s resources as he assumed his dictatorship over Zaire, a name he adopted for the nation. Film commentators, who translated the film’s dialogues into the local language and helped the community understand the story of the film they were being shown, existed well into the post-colonial period since the colonial times. The period following the end of Mobutu’s rule was marked by an increase in Revivalists’ religious films and independent films co-produced by the unrepressed Congolese diaspora with countries like France and Belgium. Ndombasi has called this cinematic period “Cinéma Congolaise” when Zaire became the Democratic Republic of Congo and, unlike the other two male-dominated periods of filmmaking, women began to make documentaries and short films. Recently Macherie Ekwa Bahango made her debut feature film, Maki'La (2018), on the lives of the marginalized street children and violence against women in Congo.

Both French Congo and Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960, but a Congolese feature film wasn’t produced until 1987; the 1980s being the period when NGOs started flocking to Africa. Some of those charitable organisations are accused of trying to establish “market-friendly human rights” and profiteering the resistance of the people in the exploited conflict-plagued continent.

The first Congolese prime minister and a visionary pan-Africanist whose anti-colonial revolution was crucial in freeing Congo from Belgium, Patrice Lumumba, was murdered in 1961 along with two of his colleagues, by the “agents of imperialism and neocolonialism” because the three martyrs “put their faith in the United Nations and because they refused to allow themselves to be used as stooges or puppets for external interests”. During the cold war, Lumumba’s plans to nationalize Congo’s resources to enhance the country’s economic growth was unfavourable to the West, especially because Congo provided the uranium used in the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – an outcome of Einstein’s fateful letter. Lumumba’s assassination committed with full support from the United States and Europe, in his aim to prevent the “economic reconquest” of the resource-rich Congo by the United States, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, he sought the help of Soviet Union when the United Nations refused to aid the Congolese government in “restoring law and order and calm in the interior of the country”. But he was no communist. In his own words (translated into English): In Africa, anybody who is for progress, anyone who is for the people and against the imperialists is a communist, an agent of Moscow! But anyone who approves of the imperialists, who goes out looking for money and pockets it for himself and his family, is an exemplary man; the imperialists will praise him and bless him. That is the truth, my friends.

In the book Lumumba in the arts, Matthias De Groof writes, "In Congolese society, the impression is that Lumumba is the only one who managed to hang on, to survive and to stay in people's memories through the popular and humorous speeches in which people imitate political figures, for example. When a painter portrays Lumumba, he knows that he will sell the painting, which isn't the case for other national figures." Lumumba (2000) is considered to be the first African feature film on him that portrays his life, political stance and assassination, followed by the documentary called Lumumba, la mort d'un prophète in 1990, by Raoul Peck, a Haitian director who had spent his childhood in Zaire. The father of Congolese independence has inspired a number of foreign films, among other forms of art.

To get an idea of how challenging it is to shoot a movie in the Democratic Republic of Congo at present, last week, we got in touch with Congo Rising, a US-based production company who was preparing to make a major film on Patrice Lumumba in 2021. Congo Rising's Margaret Young informed us, It’s a huge challenge! We have a call scheduled with our publicist on Thursday and a call with Roland Lumumba, Patrice Lumumba’s youngest son, on Sunday. Things are definitely NOT nailed down. The project is still alive, but there are lots of questions which must be answered.

As the Congolese people now battle the devastating consequences of the ongoing armed conflict and slavery, it is crucial that we, the common people with a conscience, do everything in our power – boycott the corporate giants getting richer by enabling modern slavery, promote the enormous creative potential of the Congolese people and amplify the unedited version of their resistance against their exploiters – to stop contributing to their sufferings.

[absynthe--minded]

A long form text review of season one of The Rings of Power is actively in progress. I will not be posting about the show again after it’s been written and put up on this blog and AO3.

a few things to say up front before the full review:

There are too many white people, and the nonwhite people aren’t cast with any kind of logic, and there’s too few of them for this to be Cinderella (1997) or Kenneth Branagh’s filmography and therefore the logic doesn’t matter because the aesthetic is colorblind. The production inspirations are too European, and nothing done with the nonwhite cast materially advances a diverse vision of Arda.

As a Tolkien adaptation it’s in-name-only and every single detail (including ones they had the rights to) is misrepresented or flat out wrong. Amazon promised canon compliance (“the novel Tolkien never wrote”) and failed to deliver. The actors and showrunners might have done research into the drafts and the details, but none of that research materially impacts the story in the slightest, and no amount of citing the Silmarillion or the Histories in interviews changes that it’s not even close to any kind of accuracy.

This doesn’t actually matter when it comes to the overall quality of the story, because adaptations can and should stand alone and apart from their source material, and lots of good movies and TV shows are in-name-only. All that matters is if it’s good TV, and enjoyable in its own right.

Because of this, my review is not going to be about how it fails as an adaptation, but instead focus on whether or not it’s good television on its own. I am only going to mention the Jackson films in the context of what Rings of Power heavily borrowed from them.