#I was sold on the show when Kristen was introduced

[taibhsearachd]

So, Fantasy High update... I'm a few episodes past this by now, but I fucking scream-laughed when Coach Daybreak responded to Kristen's desperate plea for guidance about someone who had doubts about their faith with "you should cut her off, because she's going straight to hell." Literally what my wife's parents said about me.(I was still going to church at the time, just not THEIR church, I was questioning my faith but had literally never talked about it to Mags or ANYONE. I was only not still in AWANAS at the time because I think there wasn't one within a reasonable driving distance of where I lived.) Just... setting the magical shit aside, an incredible portrayal of actual religious cults that are too accepted within society to be recognized as cults.

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Hole Is A Band

Jason Cohen, Rolling Stone, 24 August 1995

While the Courtney saga continues, Hole prove that a rock & roll band is the sum of its parts

ERIC ERLANDSON was sitting on a beach in Mexico when the headline caught his eye. Hole's guitarist and co-founder was vacationing with his girlfriend, Drew Barrymore, and thus deliberately out of the loop. After nine months of touring, he was on a much-needed break, his last before the summerlong playground of Lollapalooza. He should have known better. Given that Hole's other founding member is one Courtney Love, Erlandson's blissful, worry-free escape simply wasn't to be. The day-old newspaper beckoned him from across the sand. HOLE SINGER ODS, the headline read. That was all he could make out. His thoughts swirled from annoyance to concern to confidence that everything was surely all right before settling on a slightly jaded "Wouldn't it just figure if Courtney died while I was on vacation?"

A quick look at the story revealed, of course, that Love was just fine. (What was initially reported as an overdose was eventually termed "an adverse reaction to prescription medication.") His worst fears put to rest, Erlandson was skimming the rest of the article when it hit him – a development that was somewhat surprising and most definitely pleasing.

It was the nature of that headline: HOLE SINGER ODS. Not COURTNEY LOVE ODS or GRUNGE WIDOW ODS. Nope. HOLE SINGER.

The circumstances might have been strange and unfortunate, but that headline symbolized some kind of progress. Erlandson had quietly awaited this particular Zeitgeist shift for three years, ever since Hole's music and meaning were firmly subsumed by the irresistible Love star force, with its limitless aura of spectacle, tragedy and provocation.

Conventional wisdom has suggested that a random gathering of cabdrivers, grandmothers and Vanity Fair subscribers would be able to peg Courtney Love in a police lineup, no problem. But no one would be able to pick out mug shots of Erlandson, drummer Patty Schemel or bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, let alone figure out what "Hole" is.

Hole provide a definitive answer in this year's Lollapalooza program book. Paying homage to Blondie, their page is emblazoned with the proclamation, in big rococo letters, that hole is a band. A band that definitely intends – in between Love's inevitable rants, stage dives and column inches – to speak very loudly for itself every night on the Lollapalooza stage.

If Hole's popularity were based only on celebrity, they would have sold a lot more records by now. Instead, with promotion, marketing and life as they knew it shattered by the successive deaths of Love's husband and Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff, Live Through This moved only about 100,000 copies – initially.

Then the freak-show aspect subsided, and after Hole added Auf der Maur they went about the business of playing music. The record topped nearly every '94 critics' poll and – despite never charting higher than No. 52 – was certified platinum in April.

That makes Hole, for the moment at least, the best-selling act on the Lollapalooza main stage, and one gets the feeling Hole would be the chief attraction regardless of sales figures – as was expected, a portion of the Lolla crowd is departing before headliners Sonic Youth take the stage.

Certainly, Hole's million-or-so fan base still includes legions of the merely curious as well as loopily obsessive Love worshipers and kids who see the band as only a legacy. The rest of Hole's audience might feel those things, too, but it also relates intensely to the music.

"The most frustrating thing for me is that people view most female artists as this single person," Erlandson says. "The thing is, I know for a fact that we're more of a band, and we've always been more of a band. I don't want to be in a 'backing band,' and Courtney doesn't want that, either. That's not the way we work."

SO ALLOW ME to introduce you to the four members of the band Hole. Except that I can't, because none of them have materialized in the appointed place (an obscure Manhattan hotel) at the appointed time (3 p.m.). When they do turn up, one of them is missing. We were supposed to conduct a joint interview, something that can't be done without Love, who spends her day shopping and napping.

We regroup in the evening, as the band heads over to Electric Lady Studios to do the syndicated radio show Modern Rock Live. Love walks through the hotel lobby, spraying herself with perfume, and is immediately confronted by two fans. She blows them off cold but not because she's in a bad mood or anything (although she is).

At Electric Lady, Love takes off her shoes, asks Auf der Maur to make room on the couch and Schemel to give her a light, then splays out, feet up, with a book (C. David Heymann's Elizabeth Taylor biography) and a pile of magazines. The TV is on, and Love switches channels to Larry King, whose guest this evening is Barbra Streisand, resplendent in the televised wonders of a Vaseline lens and soft-soft light. "Is that the lighting they're going to give me when I do my Barbara Walters interview?" Love asks. As air time approaches, she tells the band she's cranky and tired and doesn't want to answer all the on-air calls, even if they're directed at her.

After the show we're supposed to take another crack at that four-on-one interview, but Love doesn't feel like it. I'm not too concerned, but Erlandson says he really wants me to observe the full band dynamic. I can't help wondering what he's after. Were they planning a pseudo-orchestrated demonstration of band democracy? Was I going to glimpse a legendary Erlandson-Love blowup? Or perhaps it was just a subtle way for the other three members to say, "Look what we have to put up with!"

I get a big dose of the latter feeling the next day at the photo shoot. Love sleeps the whole way to Coney Island, in New York, in the front seat of the van. Her cosmetician tells me, perhaps indiscreetly, that she prefers it that way come make-up time because a conscious Love is a manic and fidgety Love.

As the day wears on she comes alive again, though during one break she manages a fully clothed half-minute doze right on the beach. Between takes she entertains herself by reading the Globe out loud, saying that tabloid stories are almost always exaggerations of something with a grain of truth in it. It's obviously a subject she knows about. Later she apologizes for putting me off. "I don't want you to think I'm a diva," Love says.

Naturally, Love then proceeds to throw a Kathleen Battle-like fit that's impressive in its steadfastness and serenity. It's nearly 10 p.m., and the band is supposed to have a quick dinner before finishing the shoot. But Love says she's returning to her hotel room for a nap first. There's no tantrum, no argument, no drama, just a sense of "this is the way it's going to be," even though everyone tries to dissuade her.

The overall vibe is how one might imagine things are between Prince and his band mates, albeit with less subservience: a group of distinct, individually talented people responding to its erratic, visionary fireball leader with a slightly patronizing blend of wariness and admiration. "Sure, Prince, whatever you say."

This is not a theory that the members of Hole will confirm for me. All of them are outspoken, bright and funny under ordinary circumstances but a lot more guarded when the subject is Love. "I'm used to it by now," Schemel says. "I accept Courtney exactly, everything she does."

Generally speaking, they brush off Love's unabashed Loveness as part and parcel of the ordinary lead-singer trip. But Love's not your average lead singer. It's kind of like four gorillas saying, "Hey, we're just an ordinary quartet of gorillas. Never mind that one of us weighs 800 pounds."

IF YOU WERE ever to visit Eric Erlandson's hotel room, there would be a 50-50 chance your knock would be answered by a certain well-known actress. You might find this prospect amusing. You might even suspect that the actress would be aware of this and answer the door on purpose.

This is not the case. The reason Drew Barrymore lets me in is because Erlandson is in the bathroom. "Hi, I'm Drew," she says politely, if unnecessarily. The O.J. trial is on the television, and the sweeter-than-you'd-ever-suspect couple tell me they were unnerved to discover attorney Barry Scheck on their flight from Los Angeles. They figured that, karmically speaking, the odds of a crash go up with him on board, and he's not someone you want to share recirculated oxygen with in any case.

Barrymore retreats to the bedroom while Erlandson and I talk. Erlandson is tall and affable with dyed-blond hair that hangs in his eyes and a loose, almost nasal Los Angeles-native drawl. One of seven children in a close-knit Catholic family, he actually hails from San Pedro, Calif., the recently reanointed punk-rock Mecca a half-hour south of L.A.

Erlandson's boyhood paper route included the home of Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn, but Erlandson missed out on his hometown scene at the time, preoccupied as he was with good old '70s rock.

Now 32, a fact he gives away freely but sheepishly, Erlandson was a late bloomer. He attended college at Loyola Marymount, where his father was a dean, and also held down an accounting job at Capitol Records. Then he caught the punk-rock bug. "I started late," Erlandson says. "I didn't really experiment with anything bad for you until I was 27."

What exactly happened when you were 27? Fall in with some kind of "bad girl," didja?

Erlandson laughs. "Yeah, you could say that," he says.

You could, and Love frequently does, announcing from the stage, "Eric was my boyfriend once. He won't admit it 'cause I'm too ugly." She also refers to him as Eric Barrymore. He usually responds to this by giving her the finger, if he responds at all.

Erlandson is a soft-spoken sort, the steely guitarist who's content simply to make his music and hit the town with his (very young, movie-star) girlfriend. Within the band he's known as the Archivist, the guy who keeps track of all the live tapes and jam sessions. On a musical level he's the guy who really gives the songs their crackle. He played most of the guitars on Live Through This, while Love concentrated on lyrics and vocals.

Like Love, Erlandson is a Buddhist, though after she introduced him to the religion he became the more devout practitioner. All in all, unlikely rock-star material, but then, what fame Erlandson has is not entirely his own.

"Yeah, it's ironic," he says. "The two people in my life are like these people that are everywhere. It's pretty sick for me to go to a newsstand." (At the time, Barrymore's Rolling Stone cover was out, as was Love's Vanity Fair.)

Erlandson met Love in 1989 when he answered a free classified ad (no, not the personals – the MUSICIANS WANTED) she'd placed. "She called me up and talked my ear off, and I was like 'Who the hell was that?'" Erlandson recalls. "We met at this coffee shop, and I saw her and I thought, 'Oh, God, oh, no, what am I getting myself into?' She grabbed me and started talking, and she's like 'I know you're the right one!' And I hadn't even opened my mouth yet."

There were many false starts, but what basically kept them together was a love of god-awful clattering. "We were one big, screaming mess," Erlandson says. "I was just like 'OK, this is cool, this is noise.' I was always into the No Wave thing, but it never caught on in L.A. I was like 'Wow, I finally found someone who's into doing this stuff.'"

A pair of singles followed, one of which was on Sub Pop, and then came 1991's Pretty on the Inside, co-produced (with Don Fleming) and heavily influenced by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon.

What's often forgotten is that Pretty on the Inside was pretty well-received and not a half-bad record. Love's vividly scabrous lyrical tone – part self-immolation, part outwardly directed paroxysm – was well established, and beneath the cruddy goth-punk caterwauling there were hints of New Wave sense and songcraft sensibility.

The band on that record – Love, Erlandson, drummer Caroline Rue and bassist Jill Emery – didn't last very long, but even through the period in which Love was most famous for whom she loved, Hole got it back together. In 1992, Erlandson and Love signed with DGC/Geffen and eventually roped in Patty Schemel.

The first thing I learn about Schemel is that she gets cranky when she hasn't eaten in a while, which is why we head for an Italian restaurant. As she digs into some gnocchi, we chat about supermodels; she's particularly fond of Kristen McMenamy. When Schemel is done eating, New York's new anti-smoking law forces her to step outside.

Auf der Maur is along as well, as is Schemel's girlfriend, Stacey, who in a touching testament to the faith and folly of mixing business with romance also works as Love's assistant. Merely for her platinum hair, Stacey is always mistaken for either Barrymore or Love by people on the street. Schemel recently got her own apartment in Seattle, but during the past year, when the band wasn't on tour, she was living with Stacey at Love's house. The band was almost always on the road, though. And it's a big house.

Schemel's parents were New Yorkers who still have the accents to prove it, but they moved to Marysville, Wash. (about an hour north of Seattle), before she was born. Dad still works for Pacific Bell; Mom was at GTE ("We're a communications family," Schemel says). Schemel took up the drums when she was 11 "because it was something girls didn't do," she says, and to this day her mother still complains that Schemel doesn't project enough good cheer when she plays.

"We played this show, and my mom is up in the VIP balcony hanging over the edge, waving, like 'Smile!'" Schemel says with a laugh. "Flashback, I'm 11 again, playing the school recital. After Unplugged, she called and said, 'Not much smiling, but you sounded great.'"

Otherwise, Schemel says, her parents were always supportive of both her music and her sexuality. "My dad was always instilling that if you can do your art, your passion, and also get paid to do it, that it's a great accomplishment." The rest of Marysville wasn't so accommodating on either front.

"There were all these cowboys, and then there were rockers – no punk rockers," Schemel recalls. "Punk rock was a good place to go where there were other people who felt like me."

Seattle beckoned. The only genuine Rock City scenester in Hole, Schemel ran with such nascent luminaries as Sub Pop honcho Bruce Pavitt, checking out the pre-grunge scene and forming a band called Sybil with her younger brother. They didn't get very far, but Schemel established her reputation as one of the city's best drummers. She would have to be, what with that tattoo of John Bonham's rune (the triple circle) on her arm.

Schemel's only mistake was missing out entirely on the local explosion. When Erlandson and Love tracked her down in 1992, she was living in San Francisco, where she'd moved two years before, "thinking that was the next big city," Schemel says. She tried out for Hole on her 25th birthday and spent the rest of the year learning the old songs and feeling out new ones with Erlandson.

Given the varied psychosexual meanings implicit in Hole's existence, Schemel adds an extra dimension to the mix. Hole have something for everybody, regardless of gender, preference, fetish or taste. Schemel's not on a pedestal about it, but she says it feels good to be a role model in a band that connects so profoundly with its audience.

"It's important," she says. "I'm not out there with that fucking pink flag or anything, but it's good for other people who live somewhere else in some small town who feel freaky about being gay to know that there's other people who are and that it's OK."

MELISSA AUF DER Maur is sitting at the bar of the alterna-hip New York watering hole Max Fish. Melissa Auf der Maur is also on the wall of the Lower East Side hangout. See, a year ago, Melissa Auf der Maur – OK, so a simple she would probably suffice at this point, but what fun would that be? – was just a third-year photography student playing in a Canadian indie-rock band, and tonight one of her many self-portraits is part of an exhibit here.

Auf der Maur was quite happy back in Montreal, too, which is why when Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan told her she should try out for Hole, she thought he was out of his mind. This is probably what sealed her fate, at least from Love's point of view.

"Billy was going on about this hot babe who could really play, and I was like 'Yeah, right, you're giving her the girl leeway,' because Billy is sort of a pig," Love says. "But I thought I would try her out, and I pursued her a little bit, and what I thought was hot was that she said no. I thought that was really cool."

"That's a thing to like, I guess," Auf der Maur deadpans. "That's attractive. Yeah, I was just, like, in my space, in my life, with my band. I had been at the New Music Seminar handing out my demo tapes and putting my 7-inch together. I was like 'No way, I've got my life – what, you think I wanna leave my life?'"

Soon enough, however, she realized it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so she went to Seattle to audition. Two weeks later, she was playing in front of 80,000 people at the 1994 Reading Festival. "I felt nothing," she says. "I was like 'This is just a reflection of what I'm about to do with my life.'"

Only 23 years old, Auf der Maur had already led something of a storybook life before joining Hole. Her mother was never married to her father ("She barely knew the guy") and was living with Frank Zappa (platonically) during the pregnancy. Mother and daughter spent their first two years together in Africa and London, living with a zoologist friend. Dad, meanwhile, is a high-profile Montreal politician and journalist.

"For my entire life I was Nick Auf der Maur's daughter, and all of a sudden he's Melissa Auf der Maur's father," she says. "He gets such a kick out of it, that little kids are reading his name."

If Love is, for better or worse, the aggressive female role model of the band, then Auf der Maur would be the favorite of Hole's Y-chromosome following. Apparently she attracts crushes the way Love attracts headlines. "She's amazing," Schemel marvels. "So many boys, it's like, God." It's not too difficult to figure out why: While Auf der Maur is self-possessed enough to compare herself (convincingly) to Botticelli's Birth of Venus in her self-portraits, she's so graceful and open that there's nothing off-putting about her.

"Melissa's like a well-bred, quiet, pretty version of me at her age," Love says, though it's unclear what exactly would be left of Love with those caveats. "She's a bit of a Heather. Everyone else is a geek. Patty was like a chosen geek, and me and Eric were born geeks, but Melissa's well mannered and ethereal and very spiritual, but she only knows about astrology."

That actually helped Auf der Maur before the audition. "Before I met them, Eric called me up, and he's like 'I have three questions to ask you,'" Auf der Maur says. "One: 'Are you a drug addict?' No, far from it. Two: 'Do you play with a pick?' Yes. And three: 'What sign are you?' Pisces. And Pisces being the most emotionally full sign, it was perfect. I'm definitely drawn to emotionally full situations, so it made sense to me. I've always been told that I'm too sensitive or too aware of other people's things, so I was like 'Well, finally I'm going to be able to use that to my advantage.'"

"IF YOU'RE GONNA sit here and call that a valentine, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

At long last I've been granted my audience with Love, and I've made the innocent mistake of uttering the words Vanity Fair. Apparently she's a bit sensitive to charges that her recent VF cover story was, shall we say, clean – so clean that Love's breasts were likened to "great cakes of soap." I'm told that if I want to see a real valentine, I should reread this magazine's Drew Barrymore piece. "That girl will never need toilet paper again in her fucking life," Love gripes.

It's safe to assume that Love and Erlandson and Barrymore don't spend a lot of Saturday nights together renting movies and popping popcorn. What's irritating, though, is the way Love's self-made feminist iconoclasm leaves room for an old-fashioned cattiness that borders on misogyny, usually directed at people who aren't dissimilar to her – such as Barrymore or her old friend Kat Bjelland from Babes in Toyland or a laundry list of female rock critics who've faced the same sexist groupie stigma Love has.

But everything that Love does is half acting out, half conscious manipulation and half practical joke. (Yeah, that's three halves, but who says Love adds up?) She's astoundingly intelligent, maddeningly contradictory and a total force of nature – it's exhausting just being in a room with her.

"I fake it so real I am beyond fake," goes the oft-quoted lyric from 'Doll Parts', and it's clear the line was meant to resonate at every possible level – as truth, as irony and as a mockery of both herself and her audience. With Love it's a question of how much she can get away with and how much she decides to give away.

Take Jeff Buckley, for instance. Right now you're probably thinking to yourself, "How did Jeff Buckley get into the middle of this Hole story?" Relax – there's an answer to every question, and you can't very well have a Hole story without the presence of at least one cute and slightly famous rocker boy.

Buckley has been on Love's mind a bunch the last couple of days. Supposedly, Auf der Maur met him in Canada and has what Love calls "a minicrush on him. I'm just sort of putting her in her place." So Buckley and Love have been trading phone calls and answering machine messages, trying to get together – friendlylike, don't get any ideas. And most of these phone calls have been made in front of me, the unobtrusive, all-seeing journalist. And Love... well, she's not the type of person who does things in front of the media by accident.

Now we're in the middle of our interview, and time is at a premium because Love intends to catch the Broadway production of Hamlet with her prospective pal. So she calls him two or three more times in front of me to nail down the plans. And then he comes to her hotel room while I'm still there. And then they go to Hamlet, and brilliantly, Love stops to ask directions from – get this – a professional photographer. By intermission – go figure! – the paparazzi are already about.

In the next couple of weeks, the nonexistent couple gets items in USA Today, the New York Post and People. Buckley ends up being thoroughly freaked out by the experience – so much so that he calls me from England to try to clear his name. Buckley is a sensitive sort and more than a little naive. "Who the fuck am I?" he wanted to know. "I'm not like a Dando. I went out for one night, and I'm thrust into this weird, rock-star charade heavy thing." He feels used.

"Y'know," Love had said to me before Buckley came to pick her up that night, "sometimes I would love to just put out my music and have people leave me alone so I could go to see Hamlet with Jeff Buckley, and you might not hear a word about it."

Ordinarily, there's only one response to such an utterance. That response is "Yeah, right." But Love is more complicated than that. She doesn't have to distinguish between the crazy things that happen to her and the crazy things she makes happen. She's perfectly capable of encouraging photographers herself and then feeling put upon when they start taking pictures. Both emotions are genuine to her. Even this article raised her contradictory hackles – she was very concerned that Rolling Stone give the band its due instead of focusing on her, but at the same time, after brushing me off for two days, she fretted that I hadn't spent enough time with her.

Which is why, just like Erlandson, concern was not the only thing running through my head when I heard about Love's airplane OD incident. What actually came to mind was "more publicity." Many people, including some who have worked with the band, say half-jokingly that they no longer pay attention to Love's headlines because they seem so well planned, almost military in their precision.

Plus, during our interview the week before, Love had told me, rather matter-of-factly and contrary to the party line, that "I don't do drugs very often, but I do."

Nevertheless, three days after she left the hospital, Love leaves me a message at home, so I call her up to find out what happened. In a nutshell: "I was on an airplane, and this doctor gave me some pills before I left because I always take pills to fly, to sleep, and then we had a layover, and I just accidentally took too many. I woke up and there were tubes in my nose and things in my mouth, and they thought I was suicidal, and I just fucking went ballistic. They wish."

Maybe it's because of the airplane incident, or maybe it's just the usual, but during this conversation, Love is a bit less brazen about the subject of drugs. "I'm not putting it down, I don't think God necessarily put us here to be sober all the time, but I also don't think he put us here to be junkies," she says.

"Besides, nobody would deal to me. Like, if I wanted to do drugs, I couldn't get them, because I'm me, and it's too much of a risk [for the dealer]. It's not that I want to be dealt to, but I think that four months ago this one evening I did, so, y'know...I can be a little naive about saying, like, what my drug usage is because you're supposed to say that you never do anything, blah blah blah."

"MELISSA AND I were talking – just hypothetically, not real life – and we decided there's not really anybody on Lollapalooza that I wanna fuck," Love says. That will probably come as a relief – just hypothetically, not real life – to Pavement's Stephen Malkmus. But Love is actually making a larger point here. For all its underground hipitude, the show is somewhat lacking in rock & roll star power – star power in this case being that combustible combination of mass popularity and massive sex appeal. (No, Beck does not qualify.)

"Rock is really about dick and testosterone," Love says. "I go see a band, I wanna fuck the guy – that's the way it is; it's always been that way. I love competing with that, but I didn't come in here to, like, change that. So I just feel like [Lollapalooza] is dickless, straight out."

Initially, Hole did not want to do Lollapalooza, but the back-to-basics lineup drew them in. Still, as the tour began, Love had a big problem with this year's slate of bands. "It's all Sonic Youth approved," says Love. "The Sonic Youth butt-kiss nation. Even us – we're Sonic Youth butt-kiss nation because they produced our first record. Still, I would rather be here with Sonic Youth. I don't want to be out there in the world with Billy and Trent and Eddie."

With Lollapalooza, Hole have plenty to prove, the latest trial by fire in a year that's been full of them. When they play and the music is allowed its own space, everything else falls by the wayside. Some of the moshing, screaming fans might respond most strongly to Love's antics, but many others are rapt, coiled and reverent, feeding off the music's introversion and aggression simultaneously. The audience really can look at them and go, "Oh, yeah, Hole is a band."

"We've stayed together because we're good," Love says, "and when we play together, we know we're good."

"As far as Courtney's celebrity compared to our band, there's this gap," Schemel says. "But within this year of playing out and being a band, that gap's been getting shorter. Every time we play a show, people are blown away by the band."

© Jason Cohen, 1995

[bog-o-bones]

Kaiju Media Forecast 2020

The kaiju fandom has certainly seen a gigantic upswing in content since the last time I did one of these “year going forward” reviews. Let’s take a look at some of the major movies, events, merchandise and more that kaiju fans have to look forward to in the coming year!

Movies

Every year since at least 2013, the kaiju fandom has had one “tentpole” film event of the year, usually the most highly anticipated feature coming out that year that most media and merchandise hype will surround. This year’s choice is the latest (and possibly last?) of the Legendary MonsterVerse which just last year introduced us to the first American incarnations of Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. Later this year, the King of the Monsters will once again take on the King of Skull Island in a rematch nearly 60 years in the making with Godzilla vs. Kong. The only snippet of footage we’ve seen is featured in the screenshot above and recently leaked toy fair displays have quite a lot in store for the big crossover event of the MonsterVerse. Godzilla vs. Kong drops November 20th.

According to your definition, the first kaiju film of 2020 launched two weeks ago with Underwater. The Kristen Stewart-helmed deep-sea monster movie isn’t really making the splash it was looking for box office-wise and most people who have seen it say that it’s okay at worst. Regardless, if you like big monsters and quasi-Cloverfield type films, you can give it a shot in theaters now or in a few months when it hits home media.

Godzilla’s sole big screen appearance won’t just be limited to the big crossover with Kong as a snow-covered cameo role will land him a spot in the new Shinkalion movie. From a clip posted on Yahoo Japan (refresh the page if it doesn’t work) Godzilla briefly faces Hatsune Miku piloting a giant train-based mecha (I tried pinching myself, believe me) at the very end. This role is likely going to be very short but nonetheless, it’s always satisfying to see Godzilla pop up in the most unexpected places.

Again, stretching the definition of “kaiju” here, but also apparently the Monster Hunter movie still exists and is coming out later this year in September? I don’t know much about the franchise, but I do know it’s probably going to be butchered with a Paul W.S. Anderson directed schlock fest. Who knows, maybe the monster scenes will make up for it?

As is tradition, the Ultraman franchise hits us once again with an annual theatrical movie based off the previous year’s show. Ultraman Taiga The Movie: New Generation Climax will be out in March and judging by the title, will feature a climactic event featuring the New Generation assortment of Ultraman heroes. I still have yet to see Taiga but hopefully this provides a fun conclusion to the show.

Famed director Hideaki Anno returns to the world of his most famous creation with Evangelion 3.0+1.0, the highly anticipated final installment in the Rebuild series to be released this June. I have not seen any of the Rebuild movies myself but this is sure to be a wild and crazy ride for Evangelion fans.

Finally, the oddball of the bunch. Kadokawa rises from it’s dusty grave with a brand new monster film focused on the unproduced predecessor to Gamera: Nezura 1964. Featuring giant rat monsters and a cast comprised of many Daiei/Kadokawa favorites, it’ll be interesting to see if this film can capitalize on the recent kaiju craze and be successful enough to possibly give our old turtle friend the revival he truly deserves. Nezura 1964 is due out in December in Japan.

Television

Not much on the television docket this year. It’s far too early to speculate about Tsuburaya’s next Ultra series, leaving us with little to discuss. Studio Trigger is supposedly making some kind of new series related to it’s Gridman show from last year (another item I have yet to see). Titled SSSS.DYNAZENON, nobody knows when it’s due out so for all I know this could be a rather outdated entry.

What we do know for sure is coming is something not particularly kaiju but still related via the tokusatsu connection is the continuation of Kamen Rider Zero-One, the first Rider series in Japan’s newly named Reiwa period. This isn’t really related to the year 2020 but honestly I’d rather have something in this TV section to talk about than just the Gridman sequel.

Merchandise

Last year was one of the greatest years in the history of the American Ultraman fandom with the officially sanctioned releases of Ultra Q, Ultraman, Ultraseven, Ultraman Orb and Ultraman Geed to Blu-Ray in the West for the very first time. In this new year, Mill Creek will continue to satiate the needs of Western Ultra fans with releases of previously unseen-on-western-disc series Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman X, and the Ultraman Orb Origin Saga. A schedule flyer released online also teases many other entries in the franchise making the continuous release of these beloved shows a treat to look forward to. You can pre-order the four releases discussed above on Amazon.

American toy company Playmates acquired the license for the Godzilla vs. Kong toyline last year and in early January, a few figures from their non-film focused toylines showed up at Walmarts across the country. They’re uh...well, let’s be honest: they’re not great. Leaked images of the Godzilla vs. Kong toyline were also shared around social media but I’ll avoid talking about them here for spoiler purposes. Let’s just say the line is looking mighty juicy for kaiju fans and it will be interesting to see if they’re promoted come New York Toy Fair.

Bandai’s Movie Monsters Series line will likely continue to issue newly reissued/remolded monsters in the Godzilla line (as well as produce new figures for Godzilla vs. Kong) but coming out in March is a sight for sore eyes: a brand new sculpt of the 1995 Gamera design for the 25th anniversary of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. Hopefully a Super Gyaos is not far behind!

The S.H. MonsterArts line had a fairly predictable and underwhelming list of releases last year. Great figures for the most part, but obvious choices without much surprise. This being a movie year, I don’t expect much to change and we’ll likely see Godzilla vs. Kong figures soon enough. What is confirmed and releasing in May is their take on the Burning Godzilla design featured in Godzilla: King of the Monsters last year. Originally a Tamashii WebShop exclusive, it’s being released in America by Bluefin around June.

Media company SRS Cinema continues to throw unexpected independent kaiju films our way with releases of Deep Sea Monster Reigo and Deep Sea Monster Raiga last year on limited Blu-Ray and wide-release DVD. They’ll continue the assortment this year with Attack of the Giant Teacher and Raiga vs. Ohga. The films likely won’t be much to look at, but more independent kaiju films seeing a western release is never a bad thing. Here’s hoping Daikaiju Eiga G or Gehara see a release soon.

In an almost perfect repeat of Daiei and Toho’s box office bout sixty years ago, boutique label Arrow Video has reportedly secured the rights to the Gamera franchise and are planning a box set that could rival Criterion’s late 2019 release of the entire Showa Godzilla series. Arrow Video puts out sublime products and kaiju fans will likely want to keep their eyes peeled for this set, even if they’ve already secured Mill Creek’s rather dull bargain sets from years past.

While not on the docket for tie-ins to Godzilla vs. Kong (yet), NECA will likely be continuing to pump out new figures in their Classic Godzilla line. No brand new sculpts are known at the moment, but fans can look forward to a blue, poster-styled repaint of their KOTM Mothra figure and some reissues of their older molds in new box-styled, poster-featuring packaging. Some, like the 1985 Godzilla, might even feature newly molded details.

In rather shocking news, Media Blasters has seemingly propped one of its kaiju films up from the depths of licensing hell with an announcement of a Blu-Ray release of Gappa the Triphibian Monsters scheduled for a February release. The out-of-nowhere circumstances surrounding this release as well as a proclaimed inclusion of an “uncut” Japanese release (despite the International version containing more footage than the Japanese version) and Media Blasters rather spotty history regarding kaiju Blu-Rays should have folks taking this with a grain of salt until the actual discs are in collectors’ hands.

Events

As per usual, the kaiju fan’s Woodstock G-FEST will be continuing it’s annual celebration of all things giant monster from July 10-12 at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, IL. No guest announcements at this time, but fans looking to go should register and book a hotel immediately as attendance will continue to spike and rooms in the convention’s hotel are already sold out.

As is tradition, the San Diego Comic Con will take place this summer a week after G-FEST is over and will likely bring with it new information on Godzilla vs. Kong and many other kaiju-related media. NECA will possibly show off new figures and we may even see some post-2020 information on the MonsterVerse.

Not necessarily guaranteed, but kaiju fans may also want to look out for this year’s New York ToyFair taking place in February. ToyFair has pretty much become the SDCC for toy collectors with many companies showing off their new products for the new year. Kaiju collectors will possibly get a glimpse at the Playmates Godzilla vs. Kong assortment as well as a few other possible surprise reveals from other companies like NECA or Diamond Select.

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2020 is looking to be a monstrous year for kaiju fans. Hopefully the fandom will enjoy everything to come from our favorite franchises.

Here’s to a happy 2020!

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Christmas - New Year’s Edition – WONDER WOMAN 1984, NEWS OF THE WORLD, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI..., PIECES OF A WOMAN, HERSELF, SYLVIE’S LOVE and More!

Welcome to the VERY LAST Weekend Warrior of the WORST YEAR EVER!!! But hopefully not the last column forever, even though I already plan on taking much of January off from writing 8 to 10 reviews each week. It just got to be too much for a while there.

Because it’s the last week of the year, there are a lot of really good movies, some in theaters but also quite a few on streaming services. In fact, there are a good number of movies that appeared in my Top 10 for the yearover at Below the Line, as well as my extended Top 25 that I’ll share on this blog sometime next week. I was half-hoping to maybe write something about the box office prospects of some of the new movies, but after the last couple weeks, it’s obvious that box office is not something that will be something worth writing about until sometime next spring or summer.

(This column is brought to you by Paul McCartney’s new album “McCartney III” which I’m listening to as I finish this up… and then other solo Beatles ditties picked for me randomly by Tidal.)

First up is easily one of the most anticipated movies of the year, or at least one that actually didn’t move to 2021, and that’s WONDER WOMAN 1984 (Warner Bros.), Patty Jenkins’ sequel to the 2017 hit, once again starring Gal Gadot as Diana Prince. I reviewed it here, but basically the sequel introduces Wonder Woman arch-nemeses Barbara Minerva aka Cheetah, as played by Kristen Wiig, and Pedro Pascal’s Max Lord and how an ancient artifact gives them both their powers, as well as helps to bring Diana’s true love Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) back despite him having disappeared presumed dead in WWI. As you can see by reading my review, I thought it was just fine, not great and certainly not something I’d make an attempt to see a second time in a 25% capacity movie theater. Fortunately, besides debuting in around 2,100 movie theaters across the nation, it will also be on HBO Max day and date, which has caused quite a stir. Being Christmas weekend with no work/school on Monday, I can see it still making somewhere between $10 and 12 million, but I can’t imagine it doing nearly what it might have done with most theaters only 25-30% full at the maximum and that theater count being roughly half the number it might have gotten during the “normal times.”

Paul Greengrass’ Western NEWS OF THE WORLD (Universal) reteams him with his Captain Phillips star Tom Hanks, this time playing Captain Jefferson Kidd, a Civil War soldier who travels from town to town in the Old West reading from newspapers to anyone who has a dime and time to listen. After one such reading, he discovers a young girl (Helena Zengel) on her own, having spent the last few years with a family of Native Americans who were killed by soldiers. Together, they travel across America as Kidd hopes to bring the girl to her last surviving family members.

I already reviewed Greengrass’ movie for Below the Line, and I also  spoke to Mr. Greengrass, an interview you can read that right here (once it goes live), but I make no bones that this was one of my favorite movies I’ve seen this year, and it’s not just due to the fine work by Greengrass and his team. No, it’s just as much about the emotion inherent in the story, and the relationship between the characters played by Hanks and Zengel.  

I’ve watched the movie three times now, and I’m still blown away by every frame and moment, the tension that’s created on this difficult journey but also where it leaves the viewers at the end that promises that there can be hope and joy even in the most difficult and turbulent times. It’s a wonderful message that’s truly needed right now.

Listen, I’m not gonna recommend going to a movie theater if you don’t feel it’s safe – I’ve already spoken my peace on this at a time when COVID numbers were much lower – but this is a movie that I personally can’t wait to see in a movie theater. I honestly can’t see the movie making more than $3 or 4 million in the open theaters considering how few people are willing to go to movie theaters. Obviously, this isn’t as big a draw as Wonder Woman, but it is a fantastic big screen movie regardless.

Also opening in theaters this Friday is Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (Focus Features), starring the wonderful Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan as Cassie Thomas, a woman who has revenge on her mind. Cassie spends her nights picking up guys in bars by pretending she’s so drunk she can barely walk, then humiliating them and presumably worse. When she encounters an acquaintance from med school in the form of Bo Burnham’s Ryan, the two begin dating, though he ends up awakening a darker side to Cassie that seeks revenge for something that happened back during their school days. (Honestly, if you’re already sold, just skip to the next movie. That’s all I want you to know before watching it.)

I was ready to love Fennell’s movie when it opened with a disgusting shot of gross stock market bros in loose-fitting suits gyrating in slow motion before one of them tries to pick up a totally soused Cassie at the club. It’s a scene that really plays itself out quite well, and then leads into Mulligan’s character allowing another clear scumbag (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, maybe as a slight-older McLovin?) before turning the tables on him as well.

There’s going to be a lot of talk about this movie after people see it, since it’s one of those great films that begins a lot of conversations. I imagine most women of a certain age will love it, but some men might see themselves in some of the characters (even Burnham’s) and wonder whether Cassie just won’t take crap from any man or if she’s a full-on misandrist. One thing we do know a lot is that she does this sort of thing a lot, and there’s something from her past that has driven her involving something that happened to her female friend in med school. I’m going to stop talking about the plot here, because I definitely don’t want to spoil anything who hasn’t seen the movie, but the second half of the movie is as deeply satisfying as Tarantino’s Kill Bill in terms of the surprises.

You’ll realize while watching what a treat you’re in for when you first watch Mulligan’s amazing transformation from pretending to be drunk to being completely cognizant and just all the emotions we see her go through after that. Of course, we never really know what she’s actually doing to the guys she lets pick her up -- she keeps a notebook with guy’s names and a quizzical counting system, so we can only imagine.

Fennell’s screenplay is fantastic but her work as a first-time director in maintaining the the tone and pacing of the movie is really what will keep you captivated, whether it’s the amazing musical choices or how Cassie dresses up to lure men. There’s also a great cast around Mulligan whether it’s comic Burnham in a relatively more serious role, but one that also allows him a musical number. (No joke.) Fennel’s amazing casting doesn’t just stop there from, Jennifer Coolidge as Cassie’s mother to Laverne Cox as Gail, her workmate/boss at the coffee shop – both of them add to the film’s subtle humor elements. Alfred Molina shows up to give a show-stopping performance, and Alison Brie also plays a more dramatic role as another one of Cassie’s classmates. I can totally understand why the Golden Globes might have deemed the movie a “comedy/musical” (for about two days before going back) , but putting so many funny people in dramatic roles helps give Promising Young Woman its own darkly humorous feel. All that darkness is contrasted by this sweet romance between Cassie and Ryan that’s always in danger of imploding due to Cassie’s troubled nature.

The biggest shocking surprise is saved for the third act, and boy, it’s going to be one that people will be talking about for a VERY long time, because it’s just one gut punch after another. I loved this movie, as it’s just absolutely brilliant – go back and see where it landed in my Top 10. As one of the best thrillers from the past decade, people will be talking about this for a very long time 

Promising Young Woman hits theaters on Christmas Day, and presumably, it will be available on VOD sometime in January, but this is not one you want to wait on. If you do go see it in theaters, just be safe, please. No making out with random men or women, please.

Regina King’s narrative feature debut, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... (Amazon Studios), will ALSO be in theaters on Christmas Day, and though I’ve reviewed it over at Below the Line, but I’ll talk a little more about it here just for my loyal Weekend Warrior readers.

Yet another movie that made my Top 10, this one stars a brilliant quartet of actors --  Kingsley Ben-Adir, Leslie Odom Jr., Aldis Hodge and Eli Goree—as four legendary black icons: Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Cassius Clay, on the night after the last of them wins the World Boxing Championship against Sonny Liston in February 1964. The four men meet in Malcolm X’s hotel room to discuss what’s happening in their lives and the world in general, as well as Clay’s decision to join the Nation of Islam, just as Malcolm X is getting ready to leave the brotherhood due to philosophical differences with the group. In fact, all four men have philosophical differences that are discussed both in good humor and in deep conflict as they disagree on their place in a white-dominated world in a year before the Civil Rights Act would be signed.

First of all, there’s no way to talk about this movie without discussing the Kemp Powers play on which it’s based, and we can’t mention that without mentioning that Powers also co-wrote and co-directed Pixar’s Soul, which will be available on Disney+ this Friday. It’s a fantastic script and King put together a fantastic cast of actors who really give their all to every scene. In the case of Leslie Odom, Jr., you really can believe him as Cooke, especially in a number of fantastic performances pieces. Likewise, Goree looks a lot like Clay both in the ring and out, carrying all of the swagger for which he would become more famous as Ali.

I’ve seen the movie twice already and if you’ve looked at my Top 10, then you already know this is another one that made my cut, so I don’t think I need to give it a much harder sell. I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot about this one on its journey to Oscar night when hopefully, King becomes the first woman of color to be nominated in the directing category. Or rather, she’ll probably tie for that honor with Nomadland director Chloé Zhao.

If you don’t feel like going to theaters for this one, you’ll be able to catch it on Amazon Prime Video on January 15, too… you’ll just have to wait a little longer.

Also, the new Pixar animation movie, SOUL, directed by Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out) and co-directed by Kemp Powers (remember him?), will hit Disney+ on Christmas Day, and I reviewed it here, so I probably don’t have  lot more to say about it, but it’s great, and if you have Disney+, I’m sure you’ll be watching it.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a screener for Matteo Garrone’s PINNOCHIO (Roadside Attractions), which also opens in about 700 theaters on Christmas Day. This adaptation stars Robert Benigni as Geppeto, who famously starred as Pinocchio in his own version of the classic fairy tale from 2002. That other movie was “Weinsteined” at a time when that just meant that a movie was ruined by Harvey Weinstein’s meddling, rather than anything involving sexual assault.

Another great movie hitting streaming this week is Eugene Ashe’s SYLVIE’S LOVE, which streams on Amazon Prime Video today. It stars Tessa Thompson as Sylvie and Nnamdi Asomugha (also a producer on the film) as Robert, who meet one summer in the late 50s while working at Sylvie’s father’s record store. He is a jazz musician who is on the rise, but their romance is cut short when he gets a gig in Paris but she refuses to go with him. Also, she’s pregnant with his child. Years later, they reconnect with her now being married with a young daughter (clearly Robert’s) and they realize that the love between them is still very real and true.

This is the first of three movies I watched this week where I went in with very little knowledge and absolute zero expectations. Like everyone else on earth, I am an avid fan of Ms. Thompson’s work both in movies like Thor: Ragnarok and smaller indies. She’s just a fantastic presence that lights up a screen. While I wasn’t as familiar with Asomugha’s acting work – he’s produced some great films and acted in a few I liked, included Crown Heights – there’s no denying the chemistry between the two.

What’s kind of interesting about the movie is that it combines a few elements from other great movies released this week, including Soul and A Night in Miami, but in my opinion, handles the music business aspect to the story better than the much-lauded Netflix movie, Ma Raimey’s Black Bottom. Frankly, I also think the performances by the two leads are as good as those by Boseman and Davis in that movie, but unfortunately, Amazon is submitting this to the Emmys as as “TV movie” rather than to the Oscars, so that’s kind of a shame.

This is a movie that’s a little hard to discuss why I enjoyed it so much without talking about certain scenes or moments, or just go through the entire story, but I think part of the joy of appreciating what Ashe has done in his second original feature film is to tell the story of these two characters over the course of a decade or so in a way that hasn’t been done before. That alone is quite an achievement, because we’ve seen many of those types of movies over the years (When Harry Met Sally, for instance).

What I really liked about Sylvie’s Love over some of the other “black movies” this year is that it literally creates its own world and just deals with the characters within it, rather than trying to make a big statement about the world at the time. Maybe you can say the same about Soul in that sense, but you would be absolutely amazed by how much bigger an audience you can get by telling a grounded story in a relatable world, and then throw in a bit of music, as both those movies do.

So that’s all I’ll say except that this will is now on Amazon Prime Video , so you have no excuse not to check it out while you wait for Regina King’s equally great One Night in Miami to join it in mid-January.

Hitting Netflix on Christmas day is Robert Rodriguez’s WE CAN BE HEROES, his sequel to his 2005 family film The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl – not his best moment -- which follows the kids of the Heroics, a Justice League-like super group. They’re all in a special school for kids with powers but they have to step up when the Heroics are captured by aliens. Want to know what will happen? Well, you’ll just have to wait for Christmas Day for when my review drops to find out whether I liked it more or less than Rodriguez’s earlier film which SPOILER!! I hated.)

The first thing you need to get past is that Shark Boy and Lava Girl are now man and wife, and just that fact might be tough for anyone who only discovered the movie sometime more recently. There are other familiar faces in the Heroics like Pedro Pascal, Sung Kang, Christian Slater, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and more, so clearly, Rodriguez is still able to pull together a cast.

The movie actually focuses on YaYa Goselin’s Missy Moreno, daughter of the Heroic’s leader (Pascal) who has also retired. Just as aliens are invading the earth, Missy is put into a school of kids with superpowers, all kids of various Heroic members. Sure, it’s derived directly from The X-Men and/or Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, so yeah… basically also the X-Men. We meet all of the kids in a great scene where we see them using their powers and learn their personalities, and honestly, they really are the best part of the movie.Probably the most adorable is Guppy, the very young daughter of Shark Boy and Lava Girl, played by Viven Blair. Oddly, Missy doesn’t have any powers so she feels a bit fish-out-of-water in the group even though, like her father, she proves to be a good leader.

As much as I really detested Rodriguez’s Shark Boy and Lava Girl movie, I feel like he does a lot better by having a variety of kids in this one, basically something for everyone, but also not a bad group of child actors. (There’s also a fun role for Adriana Barraza​.) There are definitely aspects that are silly, but Rodriguez never loses sight of his audience, and wisely, Netflix is offering this as a Christmas Day release which should be fun for families with younger kids who might see this as their first superhero movie.

More discerning viewers may not be particularly crazy about visual FX, all done as usual in Rodriguez’s own studio but some of them look particularly hoaky and cheap compared to others. (I mean, that’s probably the appeal for hiring Rodriguez because he’s able to do so much in-house. In this case, he got all four of his own kids involved in various capacities of making the film.)

We Can Be Heroes is clearly a movie made for kids, so anyone expecting anything on part with Amazon’s The Boys will be quite disappointed. It’s probably Rodriguez getting slightly closer to Spy Kids than he has with any of his other family-friendly movies, but one shouldn’t go in with the expectations that come with any of the much bigger blockbusters released these days. Personally, I enjoyed that fact, and I totally would watch another movie with this superteam.

Michel Stasko’s BOYS VS. GIRLS (Gravitas Ventures) is a fun retro-comedy that follows a war between the male and female counselors at Camp Kindlewood, which has just gone co-ed. At the center of it all is Dale (Eric Osborne) and Amber (Rachel Dagenais) as two teens who are in the middle of a meet-cute romance in the middle of a inter-gender competition called “Lumberman vs. Voyagers,” which I have no idea whether it’s a real thing or not.

I probably should have known I’d like this one from the catchy New Order-ish song in the opening credits, but listen, Wet Hot American Summer is one of my all-time favorite movies, and that was basically made to satirize ‘80s movies like Meatballs. This one falls more towards to the latter in terms of humor, but it also feels authentic to the ‘80s summer camp experience.

It helps that the grown-ups at the camp are played by the likes of Kevin McDonald from New Kids on the Block, Colin Mochrie from Whose Line is It Anyway and others, but it’s really about the younger cast playing teen boys and girls in the throes of puberty, something we all can in some way relate to. The young cast play a series of stereotypical young but there are a lot of funny tropes within them, as each of the cast is given a chance to deliver some of the funnier gags. This isn’t necessarily high-brow humor, mind you, but I love the fact that you can still make a movie about a time where you could still make fun of girl’s periods in school. (I’m kidding. I just put that in there cause I feel like I need to throw things like that into this column just to see if anyone is ACTUALLY reading it.)

The presumably Canadian Stasko is another great example of an independently-spirited filmmaker who has an idea for a fun movie and then just goes about making it, regardless of having big stars or anything to sell it besides many funny moments that can be featured a trailer, so that those who like this kind of movie will find it. Listen, Wet Hot American Summer wasn’t a huge hit when it was released. I still remember it having trouble getting a single screening at the multiplex in Times Square when it was released but over the years since it became sort of a cult hit (kind of due to Netflix having it to rent on DVD, I think).

Besides a fun script and cast, Stasko also find a way to include tunes that sound so much like real ‘80s songs we would have heard on the radio but aren’t quite the big hits that would have cost him thousands of dollars, but I really just enjoyed the heck out of the tone and overall fun attitude that went into making this movie.

Also on VOD now is Ian Cheney and Martha Shane’s fascinating and funny doc, THE EMOJI STORY (Utopia), which I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival when it was called “Picture Character.” (That’s what “emoji” in Japanese means, just FYI.) As you can guess it’s about the origins and rise of the emoji as a form of communication from its humble beginning in Japan to becoming one of the biggest trending crazes on the globe. I’m not that big an Emoji guy myself – I tend to use the thumbs up just for ease, but I do marvel at those who can put together full thoughts using a string of these symbols, and if you want to know more about them, this is the movie you should watch.

Now let’s cut ahead to some of the movies that will be opening and streaming NEXT week…

Hitting select theaters on Wednesday, December 30 and what really is my “FEATURED FLICK” for this column is Hungarian filmmaker Kornél (White God) Mundruczó’s PIECES OF A WOMAN (Netflix) before its streaming premiere on Netflix January 7.

Written by Kata Wéber, who also wrote Mundruczó’s earlier film, it stars Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) and Shia Labeouf as Martha and Sean Weiss, a Boston couple who lose their baby during a particularly difficult home birth and follows the next year in their lives and how that tragic loss affects their relationship with each other and those around them.

As you can imagine, Pieces of a Woman is a pretty heavy drama, one that reminded me of the films of Todd Field (Little Children, In the Bedroom) in terms of the intensity of the drama and the emotions on screen from the brilliant cast Mundruczó put together for his English language debut. I’m not sure I could use the general plot to sell anyone on seeing this because it is very likely the worst possible date movie of the year after Netflix’s 2019 release, Marriage Story, but it’s just as good in terms of the writing and performances.

At the center of it is Kirby – and yeah, I still haven’t watched The Crown, so shut up! I’ll get to it!!! – who most of us fell in love with for her role in Mission: Impossible - Fallout, but what we see her go through as an actress here really shows the degree of her abilities. But it also shows what Mundruczó can do with material that (like many movies) started out as a play. For instance, one of the first big jaw-dropping moments is the home birth scene that goes on for a long time, seemingly all in one shot, and Kirby is so believable in terms of a woman going through a difficult birth, you’d believe she has had children herself. (She hasn’t.)  I also don’t want to throw Shia Labeouf under the bus right now just because that seems like the trendy thing to do. (Without getting it, I believe FKA Twigs… but that doesn’t deny the fact that Labeouf is just the latest great actor that everyone wants to cancel.)

Anyway, to change the subject, we have to talk about Ellen Burstyn, who plays Martha’s meddling mother, who is quite clingy and overbearing, so when the couple lose their baby, she steps in to take to task the midwife she deems responsible (played by the highly-underrated Molly Parker). Or rather, she hires a family lawyer (Sarah Snook) to take her to court to get compensation for the loss of her daughter’s baby. The film’s last act culminates as their case goes to court.

Again, the film covers roughly a year after the tragedy and deals not only with how Martha and Sean’s relationship is affected and how it emotionally affects Martha in particular, but also how others around them start behaving towards them. It feels so authentic and real that you wonder where the screenwriter was drawing from, but Mundruczó has more than prove himself as as filmmaker by creating something that is visually compelling and even artsy while still doing everything to help promote the story and performances over his own abilities as a director. Doesn’t hurt that he has composer Howard Shore scoring the film in a way that’s subtle but effective.

Listen, if you’re looking for a comedy riot that will entertain you with funny one-liners and pratfalls than Pieces of a Woman is not for you. This is a devastating movie that really throws the viewer down a deep spiral along with its characters. The first time I watched it, I was left quite broken, and maybe even more so on second viewing.  (As we get closer to Oscar season… in four months … I hope this film will be recognized and not just thrown under the table due to Labeouf’s involvement. That would be as big a tragedy and misjustice as much of what happens in the movie.)

So yeah, in case you wondered why this also made it into my prestigious Top 10 for the year, that is why. :)

Also in theaters on Wednesday, December 30 is another terrific drama, the Phyllida Lloyd-directed HERSELF (Amazon Studios), co-written and starring Clare Dunne, as Sandra, a mother of two young girls, trying to get out of an abusive marriage, while making ends meet and providing shelter for her kids. One day, she learns about a way that she can build her own home, and one of the women she cares for offers a plot of land

Another movie that I really didn’t know much about going into, other than Phyllida Lloyd being a talented filmmaker whose movie The Iron Maiden, which won Meryl Streep her 500th Oscar, I enjoyed much more than the popular blockbuster hit musical, Mamma Mia! This is a far more personal story that reminded me of Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, a smaller and more intimate character piece that shines a light on British actor Clare Dunne, who as with some of the best and most personal movie projects, co-wrote this screenplay for herself to act in.

There are aspects to the film that reminds me of many other quaint Britcoms in terms of creating a story where one person’s challenge is taken up by others who are willing to help, and in this case, it’s Sandra’s desire to build a house for her two quite adorable daughters while also trying to keep it secret from her abusive ex.

Dunne’s performance isn’t as showy as some of the other dramatic performances mentioned in this very column, but she and Lloyd do a fine job creating an authenticity that really makes you believe and push for her character, Sandra, surrounding her with characters who can help keep the movie on the lighter side despite very serious nature of spousal abuse (which also rears its ugly head in Pieces of a Woman). Oh, and don’t get too comfortable, because this, too, leads to an absolutely shocking and devastating climax you won’t see coming. (Well, now you will… but you’ll still be shocked. Trust me.)

Still, it’s a really nice movie with the house being built clearly a metaphor.  I know there’s a lot of truly fantastic movies discussed in this week’s column but don’t let this wonderful British drama pass you by, because you can tell it’s a labor of love for everyone who made it.

Herself will be in theaters for roughly a week starting December 30 before streaming on Prime Video on January 8.

In select theaters and on VOD on New Year’s Day is Roseanne Liang’s WWII thriller SHADOW IN THE CLOUD (Vertical/Redbox Entertainment), starring Chloë Grace Moretz as Flight Officer Maude Garrett, who is assigned to deliver a top-secret package on the B-17 bomber “The Fool’s Errand” with an all-male crew that throws her into a turret “for her own safety.” She ends up getting trapped down there as the plane is attacked by a creature that no one believes is out there, as they fight back against the unseen enemy, many secrets are revealed.

This is yet another movie I didn’t know that much about other than it has Moretz on an airplane, but there’s so much about the movie that both had me scratching my head but also has me quite deliriously amused that filmmakers could get away with some of the craziness that we witness. Maybe it’s not a surprise that the movie was co-written by Max Landis -- not exactly the most beloved screenwriter in Hollywood these days, and certainly not a critical favorite.

Again I really didn’t know what to expect so after Moretz’s character gets on the plane and is trapped in the turret under the plane, I thought that maybe I was seeing something similar to the one-location thriller 7500, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which I wasn’t too big a fan of even though the actor was good. Moretz continues to be quite a phenomenal actor, but the mix of Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper’s music, which borrows as much from Soulwax (look ‘em up on Spotify) as John Carpenter, and the sexist attitude by the male crew towards Garrett made me unsure of what the movie was meant to say.

Much of the movie just has Moretz on her own with the men’s voices over the comms, which is not something that could possibly sustain a whole movie. Part of it is borrowed from a very well-known episode of “The Twilight Zone,” in fact.

but fortunately, it breaks from out of that deceit but then just starts getting crazier and crazier. I’m not even gonna tell you about what happens or what’s in the box Garrett is carrying or where things go, because honestly, I don’t think you would believe me.

I haven’t seen any of Ms. Liang’s previous films but when you realize how much crazy stuff she’s able to get way with, I’ll be really interested what she does next. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any movie that’s quite as crazy as Shadow in the Cloud or one that makes me want to watch it again for that very reason.

Oscar-winning Icarus director Bryan Fogel’s doc THE DISSIDENT (Briarcliff), which opens in theaters Friday then will be On Demand January 8, follows the horrific assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in September 2018, thought to be the work of the Saudi kingdom and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aka MBS.

I’m really fascinated by movies like this one and Ryan White’s recent Assassins – both which could be in the Best Documentary race at the Oscars in April, by the detective and investigative work done by both filmmakers to get to the bottom of murders that shouldn’t be possible and find those that are responsible. I’ll admit that I didn’t really pay much attention to this story when it was happening a few years back, so I don’t know how much of the details are new and exclusive to Fogel’s doc. He does get access to Kashouggi’s fiancé Hatice who had gone with Jamal to the Saudi embassy in Turkey to get proof that he was single and could marry when he vanished for days and then turne up dead.

Fogel also meets with another Saudi dissident now living in Quebec who goes through the events that led up to Kashouggi’s murder that involved a social media campaign against the journalist within a country where 80% of the population is on Twitter (!).

This is another fascinating doc by Fogel that I’m sure some will be more interested in due to its subject, but when it comes to investigative pieces that really take a deep dive into news from the headlines, Fogel has created another unforgettable doc.  (Also, it was absolutely little surprise to me that Fogel’s film is co-written by Mark Monroe, who has been involved with some of the best docs I’ve seen over the past 15 years or so…  just look up his IMDB credits!)

Opening at the Film Forum Virtual Cinema in New York for a one-week qualifying run is Russia’s movie for Oscar consideration, Andrei Kochalovsky’s DEAR COMRADES! (NEON), a black and white dark dramedy set in 1960s Kruschchev-era Russia. It involves a strike by locomotive workers when the government raises food prices, leading to chaos and a massacre that leaves a Communist party loyalist,  Lyuda (played by Julia Vysotskaya) who the film then follows. Unfortunately, I had a choice of either writing this column or watching this two-hour movie. I opted for the former (obviously) but I do hope to get to this later in the week and should be adding more on this movie once I do.

Also streaming in Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema starting next Wednesday, December 30, is Mario Monicelli’s 1960 film, The Passionate Thief.

Unfortunately, I also wasn’t able to get to Two Ways Home (Gravitas Ventures), In Corpore or Fire Will Come, which will open in Metrograph’s digital ticketing system.

Metrograph will also continue showing Tsia Ming-Liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong, and lots of great programming over the holidays. It would be a great time to get yourself or a loved one a digital membership for just $50! (James Gray is also programming some of his own films like Little Odesssa and other favorites, like Richard Quine’s Strangers When We Meet, over the holidays.)

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest! 

[justforbooks]

Mickey Turns 90, and the Disney Marketing Machine Celebrates

A two-hour prime-time special on ABC. Cupcakes the size of cars at Disneyland Paris. Collaborations with a dozen fashion designers, including Marc Jacobs. More than 30 books, including one from Taschen so big it comes with a carrying handle.

Small and subtle are not the Walt Disney Company’s style. But a new effort to focus attention on one of its oldest characters, Mickey Mouse, is truly something to behold.

Disney is using Mickey’s 90th birthday as a monstrous marketing moment, with the company’s cross-promotional machine revved up to what may be its highest level yet. Every corner of the $168 billion company is contributing to the campaign, which will intensify on Sunday when ABC runs “Mickey’s 90th Spectacular.” Disney theme parks will be hosting events into next year.

Disney executives describe the effort as a chance to polish the company’s broader brand and remind people — as Netflix moves deeper into family entertainment and Disney prepares to unveil its own streaming service — that the Magic Kingdom has been serving up beloved characters for decades. Mickey made his official debut in 1928 in “Steamboat Willie,” Hollywood’s first cartoon with synchronized sound.

Unless lawmakers intervene, as they have in the past, Disney’s control of the Mickey copyright will expire in five years. So there’s no time like the present to rally around him.

Disney has billions of dollars in merchandise sales to consider. Mickey and his friends (Minnie, Pluto, Goofy) make up Disney’s top-selling consumer products franchise, generating annual retail sales of at least $3.2 billion, according to The Licensing Letter, a trade publication. That tally does not include the Disney Store chain or outlets at Disney’s theme parks. Disney does not disclose sales information, although a spokeswoman said the franchise had been growing both domestically and overseas.

There are challenges, however, the result of a shifting retail marketplace (the demise of the Toys “R” Us chain) and declining television viewership. Disney’s child-focused cable channels are important Mickey engines, serving up animated specials, shorts and series. Mickey also has strong competitors in the preschool market — “Paw Patrol” on Nickelodeon, for instance.

“The challenge for any character, but especially for Mickey since he’s so historic, is maintaining relevancy,” said Marty Brochstein, a senior vice president at the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association. “And the adults are almost more important than the kids in that way. The grown-ups decide what the money gets spent on.”

Here are some of the components of Mickey-palooza:

Mickey the Muse

Associating older characters with of-the-moment artists is a tried-and-true way to demonstrate relevancy. That strategy appears to be part of the thinking behind “Mickey: The True Original Exhibition.” This Disney-created exhibit, running Thursday to Feb. 10 in a 16,000-square-foot space in Manhattan, features Mickey-inspired creations by contemporary artists like Amanda Ross-Ho, Shinique Smith and Daniel Arsham.

“With the scale of Disney and who Mickey Mouse has become, a lot of people forget that Walt Disney was a real artist,” Mr. Arsham said in a statement. “Being able to make my own mark on his legacy is a real dream.”

Tickets to the exhibit cost $38, and some time slots are already sold out. Darren Romanelli, a Los Angeles designer who works as DRx, served as curator.

Prime-Time Takeover

Fifteen dancers in formation. Drummers dangling from wires over the stage. Indoor fireworks. And the actress Kristen Bell, who provided Anna’s voice in “Frozen,” positioning Mickey as bringing “a much-needed warmth and reliability in a world where consistency is something hard to come by.”

So begins “Mickey’s 90th Spectacular,” a two-hour special on Disney-owned ABC on Sunday night. Produced by Don Mischer, whose credits include Super Bowl halftime shows and multiple Academy Awards ceremonies, “Mickey’s 90th” features performances by Josh Groban, Meghan Trainor and the K-pop group NCT 127, among others. Presenters include Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, who personally oversees the Mickey brand.

“We wanted to celebrate how this little character transcends boundaries,” Mr. Mischer said by phone after the taping. “He’s an everyman who sometimes fails but keeps trying. Who can’t relate to that?”

But it was tricky to find the right tone, said Charlie Haykel, another producer. “We didn’t want a history lesson,” he said. “And we didn’t want it to turn too sentimental.”

Stickers for Everyone

Mickey’s popularity has remained remarkably stable over the years, according to Henry Schafer, executive vice president for the Q Scores Company, which measures the popularity of celebrities, brands and licensed properties. A springtime poll by the company showed that 26 percent of the United States population ranked Mickey as a favorite cartoon character, far above the average. Mr. Schafer said Mickey’s appeal was particularly high among Latinos, 39 percent of whom said he was a favorite.

Disney’s vast theme park operation is one reason the squeaky-voiced rodent has remained so embedded in the culture. The parks, which attracted more than 150 million visitors last year, offer the masses a touch point — quite literally. Walking-around Mickeys sign autographs and pose for photos.

For the current campaign, the Disney parks will stock commemorative merchandise, sell “limited edition” desserts and host a dizzying number of events billed as the World’s Biggest Mouse Party. Hong Kong Disneyland will hand out birthday stickers to guests as they enter, for instance, and Disneyland Paris has those colossal (inedible) cupcakes on display. Starting in mid-January, Disney World in Florida will introduce a Mickey-focused “street jubilee.”

What About Minnie?

Poor Minnie. Always in the shadow of her boyfriend. But Disney has not left her out entirely.

She dances with Mickey on the ABC special and is front and center in the Mouse Party theme park events. Disney also arranged for her to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (Mickey got his 40 years ago.) The sidewalk plaque was unveiled in January by Mr. Iger and Katy Perry, who wore polka dots in the character’s honor.

“To this day, no one rocks a bow, the color red or a dot quite like her,” Ms. Perry said at the time. “Trust me. I am trying.”

In recent years, Disney has put Minnie forward as a style icon, dispatching her to New York Fashion Week and arranging for Minnie-inspired collections or garments from Coach, Vans, Diane von Furstenberg and other fashion brands. Those efforts have increased Minnie licensing revenue considerably.

But the numbers are the numbers: Mickey has about 14.2 million followers on Facebook, while she has 4.8 million.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[dellaliz19]

Altered Carbon review: spoilers!

So, I’m a little late to the ball on this one, but I just finished the first season of Netflix’s sci-fi drama, Altered Carbon, and honestly, the show was excellent!

Altered Carbon takes places in a future time where humanity has been able to cheat death by the use of “stacks,” an implantable brain, essentially, that allows people to switch between different bodies or “sleeves” if they are sick or murdered or bored. “Real death” is still possible, in the form of being attacked in the stack (kept at the base of your neck). The show follows Takeshi Kovacs, the last of a class of super soldiers called Envoys, who 250 years ago fought a losing rebellion against the concept of using stacks, as their charismatic leader Quellcrist Falconer believed that stacks would lead to a society where the rich and powerful would utterly rule the world, no longer even limited by death. Kovacs wakes up in a new sleeve after 250 years in a stack prision (on ice) and finds that not only has the world that Quell predicted has come true, but that he’s been bought by a “Meth” - a functional immortal as their wealth have allowed them to buy endless clones and back their selves up constantly - named Laurens Bancroft to solve his own murder, which occurred with a gun that only he and his wife had access to. Kovacs takes the job, and along his quest to solve the murder, he makes reluctant friends with a motley crew of characters including: the Elliot’s, a family whose murdered daughter was mentally damaged and needs repair, a mother in prision and a commando father, Lieutenant Kristen Ortega, a hot headed detective with a strong moral code whose framed boyfriend is the sleeve that Kovacs now inhabits, and Poe, an AI hotel with intense devotion to Kovacs as he is his only customer in almost 50 years.

Based on the trippiness of that plot synopsis, Altered Carbon is a show that wants to ask a lot of philosophical questions on the nature of the soul and life itself. In my opinion it manages to ask some of these: is it right to stay alive forever? What does it do to a person? What are we, as humans at our core? But ultimately, the show focuses heavier on Kovacs personally, and the Bancroft mystery, and I think that is the wiser story choice. Kovacs is played by Joel Kinnaman in the present and Will Yun Lee plays OG Kovacs (or his first body) in the past, and both actors do a great job with him. He truly feels like the same charcter in the three actors hands he’s played in (he’s also briefly played by Bryon Mann, as the sleeve he wears when he is killed the first time), and that character is of someone who had a very hard life and became devoted to a cause and wanted to do some good, and when that was taken from him he became bitter and sarcastic, but ultimately couldn’t help being someone who cared deeply about people.

The supporting cast are also all fantastic: Martha Higareda’s Kristen Ortega is a secondary protagonist, and she’s a fantastic character. Although she’s a ‘firey latina’ she never feels like a stereotype, and her agency throughout the story isn’t ever compromised for Kovacs. Their relationship - complicated by the fact that Kovacs is in the body of her mentally imprisoned lover - goes from enemies to allies to lovers to emotionally close in a seemless transition that was lovely to watch. Chris Conner’s Poe, the AI who controls the hotel that Kovacs stays at, is a breakout character. As an enitity that isn’t human, he brings an interesting viewpoint to a lot of the moral questions the show is asking...and is also just hilarious and charming. Renee Elise Goldsberry as the deceased Quell, and the love of Kovacs life is also a standout: she’s badass, wise, and watching Kovacs devotion to her is just heart rendering (literally once!).

So, in due fashion, let’s talk pros:

- The world building is really subtle and in depth. The opening scene ends with the realization that a child murdered in a drive by has been ‘sleeved’ into the body of a middle age woman and her parents feelings of furiousity and sadness at this are dismissed by a causal “if you want better than pay for it,” which may genuinely be the most chilling thing of the series and an great set piece for this strange new world. The married couple who sleeve duel, the role of religion in this new world and the VR torture are just a few examples of how the creators really took the time to make the world feel real, and explored the unique opportunities this premise gave

- Ortega and Kovacs evolving relationship is really the backbone of the show, and it’s super rewarding to watch them go through that journey. When Ortega is injured the first time and she calls Kovacs by her boyfriends name the pain just bleeds off him, and when he rescues her the second time and she then calls him by his name the look of shock on his face is a perfect evolution for them, and so well done.

- the action scenes are amazing: Kovacs and his sister fighting when they reunite, Ortega and Rei in the naked clone fight, Kovacs escaping the VR torture room and Lizzie rescuing them are just some standouts, but they’re all excellent scenes.

- Quell being the hallucination that haunts Kovacs is fitting, and it’s an interesting dynamic to see that translates well into the flashback episode where we actually get to see them alive. Quell herself is an amazing charcter, and the revelation that she was the woman who actually created stack technology and now regrets what she done to the world was a great aspect of her charcter that really justified her steadfast beliefs.

- Poe was just the greatest, and I don’t think I’ve cried so much at the death of an AI since Bayomax (and he came back, so I’m looking st you, Netflix!!)

-Samir - Ortega’s partner, and devote Muslim - was another fantastic understated charcter. His care for Ortega was real and genuine, and when he threatens Kovacs so simply that if he doesn’t care for him he’ll kill him, I couldn’t do anything but respect him. His death in diving in front of a shot meant to kill Ortega, sacrificing himself as he was shot in the stack (real death), was heartbreaking but so fitting for his character.

- the mystery itself was very good. It was hinted well throughout the series, and even Lizzie’s part in the final answer got past me, which tv mysteries don’t usually. It was a satisfying reveal and it was very well integrated through the stories of all of the main characters.

Now, some cons:

- Dichen Lachman’s Reileen Kawahara was amazing, but she could have done with more screen time. Rei was an incredibly important character, as she was both Kovacs sister, an Envoy who had betrayed them to the government and become a monstrous ‘titan of industry’ and a Meth, as well as the one who had facilitated the whole scheme that had set off the plot. She had so much interesting story to tell: that she clearly loved her brother but that she loved him in a way that was possessive and unhealthy, not satisifed with being his first love but desiring to be rather his only, and reacting violently to both Ortega and Quell who had places in his heart. She was clearly a skilled fighter, a devious and ruthless schemer, getting leverage first on Miriam Bancroft, the using that leverage to get what she needed from Laurens, and then further using that to get her brother released.

With all that said, she doesn’t get the screetime she deserved in my opinion. As an adult, she introduced only in a hallucination in the first episode, and then she shows up in the present and saves them, and then the next episode is the flashback heavy episode where, at the end of it, Kovacs realizes she must have sold them out and effectively killed Quell. This revelation should have, in my opinion, been drawn out over at least 2 episodes: have Kovacs and his sister be very close in this new world and have him slowly and carefully notice things about her, like her world view and her work that would lead him to the betrayal revelation. I feel like that would up the emotion when it does happen, and also give Reileen’s charcter some more time to flesh out some of the interesting things the gloss over with her, like her beliefs on life and her resentment towards her brother for letting her be sold to the Yakuza. She’s a great charcter, but given her integral role in the plot, I’d loved to have more time with her before she went full villain to explore her.

- The ending. The ending seemed a little...too neat for this show. I’m all for Ortega getting her boyfriend back, so long as she’s a charcter in the second season who has to deal with the emotions of loving Riker but also Kovacs. I feel the same way about Quell being alive in a stack somewhere: it seems to me that it makes sense that Rei might have saved her out of spite, hoping one day to have torture equipment strong enough to contain her so she could punish her for “stealing” her brother, but I want that resolution to be messy. Quell very explicitly didn’t want to be saved in a backup, and I want her to be really upset if Kovacs brings her back, and ready to wreck this new society. The Elliots getting their family back was genuinely sweet, but again, it was just all so neat, and for a show that was fun because it was a little messy, it just rode that line.

- Bancroft being drugged into murdering someone. Bancroft, and his wife’s narrative function in the story were clearly to ask the audience: what do we, and life, become when death is taken out of the equation? Bancroft literally asks this of his wife at the end, and while it’s true for Miriam, who killed Lizzie in a jealous rage over her being pregnant, it’s less applicable for Bancroft. Yes, he liked to choke out and possibility “sleeve death” girls, but he always bought them new sleeves, and held himself to the line of “I will not murder.” He goes over that line only when he’s drugged with an incredibly potent aggression increaser, and I think that weakens his story point. Bancroft as a cautionary tale would have been more effective if he’d just been pissed at his son and then killed that girl in a natural violent rage, because then it would have been a true trespass of his moral code.

Mostly, Altered Carbon is a show with a distinctive aesthetic and a great mystery, complimented by charcters that are interesting and well acted. If you’ve got any passing interesting in sci-fi, then certainly give it a watch!

[dueessay]

mingxinwrite为广大留学生朋友在线上提供essay代写、论文修改润色等相关服务，mingxinwrite不断努力，各个学科的代写专家分布于全球各个地区.我们以留学论文定制写作essay代写为主要服务方向，不管你是寻找英语母语写手还是开展留学申请文书精修、英文论文修改润色、北美论文代写等,我们都会提供最好的服务，不断努力，不断前进，不断提升服务质量，把最优的留学论文解决方案提供给您. https://www.mingxinwrite.com/zhuce 下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文 -- Case Study: A case study of the "Always Be a Girl" movement，文章讲述自1983年1月以来，Always一直在明尼苏达州进行测试，并在不久后进入美国市场。同时，Always在欧洲和中东一些国家/地区都有销售。如今，Always的女性护理产品在世界各地都很流行。2013年，Always在全世界范围内发起了一场运动。它使用了常用的侮辱“像一个女孩”，并试图通过制作一些广告将其含义更改为“彻头彻尾的惊人”。因为当人们说“你做的像女孩一样”时，这听起来像是一种侮辱。这场运动制作了一段录像，记录了人们如何表达“像一个女孩”这个短语，并希望改变它的含义。 Case Study: A case study of the "Always Be a Girl" movement 1. Executive summary Since January, 1983，Always started to be tested in Minnesota and was brought in the United State market soon after. Meanwhile, Always was sold in Europe and some countries in the Middle East. Nowadays, the products of feminine care from Always are popular all around the world. In 2013, Always began a campaign around the world. It used a commonly-used insult "like a girl" and tried to change the meaning to "downright amazing" through creating some advertisement. Because when people say ‘you do something like a girl’, it sounds like an insult. The campaign created a video that recorded how people express the phrase "like a girl" and want to change the meaning of it. According to Judy John, the chief executive officer of Leo Burnett Canada, Always reaches out to girls who are likely to become the future of the brand. Girls usually rely on Always during their adolescence, a period that makes they feel unconfident and clumsy. Meanwhile, research of the campaign showed that many women expressed that their confidence declined in some ways at puberty. The purpose of the brand was clear, to give girls powerful support when they are experiencing a tough time. The aim of this essay is to use some PR theories to analyze the implication of the campaign in terms of culture, society and the public, and it examines the strategies that the campaign used.

2. Analysis

First, I present an overview of the main theoretical concepts associated with cultural capital and gender theories in particular. The theories about capital from Bourdieu will be used in this paper. According to Bourdieu (1990), cited in Ihlen (2009), capital is a trained product according to labour need, and it is not natural (Ihlen 2009). Meanwhile, Bourdieu divided capital into three specific forms: economic capital, social capital and cultural capital. Cultural capital contains knowledge, skills and educational qualifications. It is important to the formation of people's taste and value. According to Gayo-Cal.et.al (2006), cultural capital is based on family background and education, and there is a link between cultural capital and symbolic power. Bourdieu (1997), cited in Edward (2008), showed that cultural capital is the basic foundation of other forms of capital. Cultural capital is formed, with the aid of familial influence, by connecting different factors in social world such as the loyalty of family, and good manners. These behaviors help them to improve their individual quality. The abilities of cultural capital are transferred through the process of socialization. It seems like that different individuals hold different cultural capital and they can use it to find their own social position (Edward, 2008). Therefore, cultural capital is not only important to individuals, but also vital to the society. Society consists of different individuals, if everyone has a high standard of cultural capital, the society will be better.

On the other hand, the theories of gender are quite useful to analyzing the campaign. According to Bem (1981), differences between male and female exist in every society. Our society always gives the two sexes different tasks. Based on these tasks, people always define gender in the way that is imposed upon us by the society. Then the public will keep the mind and teach their children how to express their gender.

Based on Butler (1990, p179), gender is not totally natural because culture also shapes gender in some ways by expressing some connotations for a particular sex throughout the years. For example, men are strong, while women are weak; heterosexuality is normal, while homosexual is unmoral. People learned how to display gender from cultural customs (Butler, 1990). At the same time, gender schema is a quite unsure area in our society. It is hard to define women and men in public relations. However, our society began to think about the relationship between the two sexes, and thought about the power of public relationship in affecting the gender schema in society (Daymon, Christine, 2013)

2.1 Strategies of the campaign

Then, this paper will analyze the strategies and tactic which the campaign used. Meanwhile, the implications of the campaign will be shown and it will discuss the impact on culture, society and the public.

When girls reach puberty, they tend to exhibit a declination in confidence. Some harmful phrases will let girls to cast doubt on their own power at this sensitive time. Always found that the phrase 'like a girl' may have some negative impacts on girls' lives. Therefore, Always began this campaign to try to give a new meaning to the phrase 'like a girl' to help girls out of their sensitive period.

When assessing the campaign, it is important to examine the management strategies of Always. First, Always used leverage research data. Company used the insights and data in order to increase the news value and campaign credibility. Before the company produced the video, they did some researches. By performing those research, Always understood the elements and other insights of girl’s confidence at puberty. They found that girls experienced the biggest drop in confidence. The phrase 'like a girl' has become an insult. These results can help them to grasp the key ideas in the campaign. Then, the campaign introduced the hash tag. The company knew that if they want to change the meaning of the phrase, they must introduce the social hash tag #likeagirl as a slogan, to let the world know girls can do something amazing just 'like a girl'. Launching the video was important in our life. Mass media always attracts people in the first time. Always used the media's ability to expand the campaign's popularity. The Always 'like a girl' video was published on Always' YouTube site on June 26th. Before publishing of the video, some famous bloggers shared it on their social websites to help it spread. After publishing, the company used online and broadcast media to pay close attention to the gender trouble problem and feminism. The strategic media outreach ensured that the campaign receives high attention in the society. Celebrities were also invited to take part in the campaign. Celebrities including Tyler Oakley, Sarah Silverman and Kristen Bell shared the video and message in their blog or social website. The incorporation of celebrities undoubtedly attracted more attention for Always from the mass public. Meanwhile, Facebook and Twitter, the two most famous social platforms around the world, were used as a live news desk. They monitored and took part in the real time and maximized social sharing. At last, 'like a girl' was not a campaign in limited place, but a global campaign. Apart from success in North America, the campaign as also spread to 20 other markets across the whole world.

2.2 Cultural Capital Theory

When we analyse the campaign, it is important to understand the meaning of cultural capital. According to Bourdieu, cited in Ihlen.et.al (2009), cultural capital is a kind of accumulated labour. It can affect people's value and taste. It might shape a person to some extent. Bourdieu showed that specific resources or cultural capital were linked to taste cultures and it is able to divide people into different groups. On the other hand, it may affect people's estimate to the society and events (Leiss and Botterill, 2005)

That is why Always Company created the campaign. From this campaign, many people realized that our society has some misunderstanding of the meaning of 'girl' and forced girls to act like a girl in some wrong way. In the video of the campaign, when the producer asked grownups to run 'like a girl' or to fight 'like a girl', people always showed signs of weakness and shyness. It looks like the society considers girls' with only powerless images. However, when the producer asked the little girls to run 'like a girl', they just run like themselves, trying their best. In my view, it confirms Bourdieu's viewpoint that cultural capital could affect the action and concept of people. Little girls have not contacted with the society too much, a fact that allowed them to keep their own opinion about things in some ways.

The campaign is very meaningful. It tried to change the concept of cultural capital of people they had previously known before. Once the video of the campaign is produced, it began to spread the message and encourage females to rethink about their location in the society. Females are encouraged to exhibit critical thinking and cast doubt the message they receive from their culture instead of simply accepting everything that they were told.

Meanwhile, it makes people realize that using the phrase 'like a girl' to describe someone who did something bad is an insult. The campaign changed the public's awareness and transformed the way how people think about the phrase. It is another way to change the culture that people achieved. According to Ihlen (2009, p72), Bourdieu's work showed that the values and relations of social space are passed on from this generation to the next. Cultural capital always has this function. As a consequence, the campaign might change the things which were passed on to the next generations. It helps girls, women and the public realised how powerful females are. Maybe after the campaign, when using the phrase 'like a girl', it means you did something superb. On the other hand, by watching the video, girls began to think about which things are truly right for them to do. It means females have more freedom to do the things they really wanted to do. No one will blame them because the actions that they are performing does not confirm to the definitions of a girl or does not make them look like a girl. Hopefully this idea will be passed on to the next generation to form a positive and useful cultural capital.

The campaign is also quite meaningful for society. It started as a small social event and gained a remarkable achievement when it was spread all over the world. It makes #LikeAGirl video become one of the most popular videos in 2013. Meanwhile, based on the brand research, about 81% women support the campaign and was touched by the inspiring video. Additionally, the video achieved 76MM total global video views on YouTube from 150 countries, and more than one million people shared the video. The program achieved 4.5 billion impressions around the globe, including 1.7b in the U.S., 1.6b in the UK, 418m in France, 302m in China, 148m in Germany, 63m in Brazil, 41m in Mexico and 32m in Turkey. The program garnered more than 290 million social impressions and 133 thousand social mentions with #LikeAGirl.

Bourdieu's theory discovered the format in which the society is linked to the individual. While people is one of the main elements that created the society, the society in turn influences and changes people (Ihlen).

This theory signified that the event made a meaningful effect to our society. The more people take part in the campaign means that the more behaviour in the society will be changed. The people who watched the video or shared it with the others will gain a new concept. Individuals are linked to the society and no one can live along, separated from the society. If we make change the general mind set of individuals in the society, our society might be changed by us. Before the video, it seems as if the society is imposing too many limitations for females. Since the campaign, the situation might be able to change and it is believed that our society will transform in a positive way in the near future.

2.3 the Gender Theory

On the other hand, the society thinks highly of gender trouble in the recent years. Although the position of females is improved, gender trouble still exists. Daymon and Christ (1952) showed that gender inequalities do exist in our society. Feminist movement were always met with resistance, and the inherent gender relations were challenged by various feminist activities. Meanwhile, the society is changing every moment, which means that based on social activities, our society will produce a new environment and relationships of gender (Daymon and Christ, 1952). Therefore, the campaign from Always Company showed the common trouble in our society. According to the video, we can find that some people misunderstood the phrase 'like a girl' in a derogatory way. What is more, lots of public work showed that gender bias is common in our society. These researches almost focused on some issues such as wage variance and the under-representation of women in high positions (Daymon and Christ, 1952). The situation affects the relationship between women and the society. It might imply that females are weaker than males.

However, the campaign made people rethink about females and it created some advantageous effect on individuals. It provided a support for girls who needed confidence during their puberty. Always company tried to build a new understanding of the phrase 'like a girl' and rebuild the confidence of females. When girls first contact the brand at their puberty, their confidence is often at the lowest. If someone insults them by using the phrase 'like a girl', it will create some disadvantages in their life. Therefore, Always company tries to give girls power in the sensitive time.

Actually, the doubt about 'man' pointed that we can use 'man' to instead of 'man and 'human'. In addition to words, lots of pictures, magazines, books and museums use the images of men to symbolize humans. Based on the situation, females' rights and roles were covered. It results in another consequence: males became the leader of social development. In the history of females' development around the world, the difference of sex is an obstacle to limit female's progress. On the one hand, gender gap shows the natural difference between the two sexes. On the other hand, the gender gap focuses more on the behavior that the two sexes express. The connotation that females are weaker affects the occupation and education of females. The factor results in the low hierarchy of females in society. Our culture has constantly told us that females are not suitable to take part in competitions. Occupation belongs to males and as long as woman marry the right man, their lives are satisfactory and guaranteed. Therefore when some jobs are believed that they are more suitable to men, women might give up their confidence and choice. The experience from the outside shaped the thoughts of people. If modesty and shyness are the necessary characteristics of females, women will suppress themselves in lots of social places according to the social expectations of females. Hence, self-awareness is not only important for the individual, but also vital for social place of women. Women, even some of the most well-education ones, were always limited by traditional labels in the past. The real opposite aspect of women is not male, but the traditional social expectation of the role of women deeply rooted in their minds. Females got used to see themselves based on the male-biased conceptual scheme. Hence, their personal right is also limited. It is limited to make their dreams and wishes come true. It does not mean after the campaign, every girl can regain confidence and do everything they want to do without any limits. The campaign just opens a gap, providing females opportunities to be themselves. They will not be shameful because they are females. On the contrary, they should be proud of that. In young girls' minds, girl should be strong, powerful and successful. They tried their best to do things that the producer of the video asked them to do. Just like a girl said in the video, we can run like a girl, fight like a girl, even wake up like a girl. That is not something that we should be ashamed of because we are girls. If we do things like a girl and still be the first, then no one would say 'like a girl' is a bad thing.

[sensitivefern]

SO IT WAS that one of the most dotty and influential documents in the entire history of the colonial complex came to be written. This was a piece called ‘The International Style’, by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, the twenty-six-year-old son of a wealthy Cleveland lawyer. The boy had given the Museum of Modern Art the money to found an architecture division, which he then headed. Hitchcock and Johnson wrote ‘The International Style’ for the catalogue of the museum’s 1932 show of photographs and models aimed at introducing the work of Gropius et alii to New York. The term ‘International Style’ was taken from the title of a book Gropius had published seven years before, *International Architecture’.

...’The International Style’ was literature of the higher order. It shone... The two men were baying at a silvery, princely moon.

[From Bauhaus to Our House]

===

Like Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, Italo Calvino dreams perfect dreams for us; the fantasy of these three Latins ranges beyond the egoism that truncates and anguishingly turns inward the fables of Kafka and that limits the kaleidoscopic visions of Nabokov. Of the three, Calvino is the sunniest, the most variously and benignly curious about the human truth as to comes embedded in its animal, vegetable, historical, and cosmic contexts; all his investigations spiral in upon the central question of How shall we live? In Invisible Cities he has produced a consummate book, both crystalline and limpid, adamant and airy, playful yet ‘worked’ with a monkish care.

[John Updike]

===

So little evidence has emerged of Indians fertilizing with fish that some archaeologists believe that Tisquantum actually picked up the idea from European farmers. The notion is not as ridiculous as it may seem. Tisquantum had learned English because British sailors had kidnapped him seven years before. To return to the Americas, he in effect had to escape twice – once from Spain, where his captors initially sold him into slavery, and once from England, to which he was smuggled from Spain, and where he served as a kind of living conversation piece at a rich man’s house. In his travels, Tisquantum stayed in places where Europeans used fish as fertilizer, a practice on the Continent since medieval times.

[1491]

===

New York, Nov. 13-19 [1966]. I dragged Elena and Barbara Deming to see John Huston’s film The Bible, which covers only a few episodes in Genesis. I had heard that parts of it were good... it is actually not any good – pretentious, inartistic, unimaginative, and three hours long. The animals in the ark have a circus interest; but, as Brendan Gill pointed out, there is not the least suggestion that everybody but Noah and his family are being drowned in the Flood.

[Edmund Wilson]

===

bush clovers | Lespedeza spp. All bush-clovers have untoothed trifoliate leaves and terminal spikes, often on the bristly side... 25 species; 11 of them native to eastern North America... the seeds remain viable for half a century or longer; fire often wakes ’em up...

===

alder buckthorn | Rhamnus frangula Native to temperate Eurasia... the bark peeled from twigs is [was] used by some herbal mediciners...

slow, blackthorn | Prunus spinosa White flowers cover the naked branches in early spring; they are ‘a sight to behold’... the uncooked fruits are poisonous; the cooked fruits shouldn’t be eaten either... blackthorn bears many a thorn and has a tendency to form dense thickets on shrubby hillsides and forest margins and clearings in the forest proper...

===

SYMPHORICARPOS: Hardy shrubs of the honeysuckle family, mostly natives of China. Leaves opposite, usually entire, flowers inconspicuous, bell-shaped or tubular, occurring in small clusters. Fruits pairs or clusters of berries, for which the shrubs are usually planted. Easily grown in almost any soil, and will thrive in part shade, or even in urban areas. Most widely grown species is the snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus).

Indian currant or coralberry (S. orbiculatus), is also a popular species, grown for its reddish-purple fruit and for its attractive crimson autumn foliage. It grows to five to seven feet, and is hardy even in cities, and as far north as New Jersey to South Dakota. More hardy northward id wolfberry (S. occidentalis), a stiffer five-foot bush with pinkish flowers and white berries. Most handsome fruit is that of S. chenaultii, a hybrid with white dotted red berries.

===

❚Super Bowl LI: New England Patriots recover from record deficit to beat Atl...

Lady GaGa SLAYED The Super Bowl LI Halftime Show Little Monsters must be buggin'! Lady GaGa's Super Bowl LI halftime show was epicness in its purest form! Not only did she start with God Bless America on the freakin' roof of the stadium, but then she jumped into the stadium -- just because!

Totinos with Kristen Stewart - SNL

Hadley Freeman Melissa McCarthy in the role she was born to play: Sean Spicer

...As soon as the assembled audience figured it out, they began cheering, causing McCarthy’s Spicer to berate them once again. “Settle down, SETTLE DOWN!,” she screeched. “Before we begin, I know that myself and the press have gotten off to a rocky start. And when I say rocky, I mean Rocky the movie because I came out here to punch you. In the face. And also I don’t talk so good.”

Sarah Silverman Oh, Mike, you are an absolute card! You could write for The Onion you bloated weasel's twat - funnnny stuff! Gov. Mike Huckabee Liberals boycott Super Bowl when they learn everyone does NOT get a trophy and game won by score not yds gained.

Top 15 Celebrities Who Are Just Plain Ugly

[biofunmy]

How to Make the Most of a Powder Room

The powder room is the hummingbird of the home: a room so small you may wonder whether it’s a room at all. (There’s a reason real estate agents call it a half bathroom.)

No matter how diminutive, though, it’s a space that can be used to create an outsize design statement.

“A powder room is a perfect opportunity to get a bit crazy,” said Paris Forino, an interior designer in New York. “We look at the powder room as a little jewel box, a little wow factor, and somewhere you can impress your guests. You can be bold, because it’s not a space where you have to worry about getting sick of something.”

Dark, saturated colors and large-scale patterns that might seem overwhelming in a living room or bedroom are often ideal for a powder room. And you can use high-end materials that might be too expensive to install in larger spaces, said the interior designer Katie Ridder, because “there isn’t a lot of floor and there isn’t a lot of wall.”

For advice on how to create a showstopper of a powder room, we talked to Ms. Forino, Ms. Ridder and other designers.

Focus Your Efforts

While eye-catching and even provocative design elements are fair game in a powder room, it’s important to determine your overall vision at the outset, so you don’t end up with a mishmash of clashing styles.

It’s best to start with a concept, as many designers do. For instance, Brian Paquette, an interior designer in Seattle, wanted to reflect a client’s passion for travel in a powder room he designed for her home on Mercer Island, Wash.

Because the room “was inspired by the client’s love of Mexico,” he said, he chose wallpaper with a jungle-vine motif from L’Aviva Home and a vintage mirror with a hand-carved wooden frame. “She didn’t want that look all over the entire house, but it can be in this one place.”

Or you could choose one dominant element — a beautiful wallcovering, unique ceramic tile or marble with intricate veining — and build the rest of the room around it, with subtler details in a coordinating color palette.

“Everything has to balance out,” Ms. Forino said. “If you have a very graphic wall, you might want to have a calmer floor.”

Dress the Walls

One popular way to bring life to a powder room is with wallpaper in a bold pattern.

“People think a small space shouldn’t be dark or have pattern all over, but those rules are completely subjective,” said Jennie Bishop, a partner at the Chicago- and Los Angeles-based interior design firm Studio Gild.

So feel free to break them, like Studio Gild did in a powder room in Highland Park, Ill., where the walls are covered in Serengeti paper from Hygge & West, a striking pattern featuring gold cheetahs on a black background. For another powder room in the same house, the designers chose an even more intense wallpaper called Gilded Age, from Phillip Jeffries, with an undulating metallic stripe that makes the walls glitter.

Distinctive ceramic tile, or even an unexpected grout color, can have a similarly theatrical effect.

For a powder room in a house in Los Angeles, Mr. Paquette installed a seemingly random mix of black-and-white Sitio tiles from Exquisite Surfaces. The tiles, in various geometric patterns with occasional brass inlays, cover the top of the wall behind the sink, making a big statement with a minimal amount of material.

“We used it kind of like wallpaper,” he said, “just on one accent wall.”

Or, Focus on the Floor

If you have a quieter wall finish in mind — paneling, paint, subway tile — consider making a statement with the floor.

“I like to use wallpaper in a bathroom when there isn’t a lot of other detail,” Ms. Ridder said. But when the bathroom is more than just a simple white box, she often embellishes other surfaces.

For a recent project on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where John B. Murray, an architect, had designed handsome wall paneling and molding, she installed a floor of graphic black-and-white cement tile from Mosaic House to create a high-contrast surprise for anyone who steps inside.

Ms. Forino took a similar approach in the powder rooms at the Galerie condominium in Long Island City, N.Y., where she designed simple walnut paneling for the walls and contrasted it with an attention-grabbing herringbone pattern of green, pink, black and white stone on the floor.

Choose Your Sink or Vanity

The sink is the centerpiece of the powder room, and there are countless styles to choose from. For extremely space-constrained situations, or in rooms where you don’t want the sink to be the center of attention, a simple porcelain wall-mounted or pedestal sink may work best. For slightly larger rooms, many manufacturers offer complete vanity units, with a base, top and sink.

But if you want a unique, dazzling place to wash your hands, it’s hard to do better than a custom vanity top made from exotic stone.

In the powder room of a Chicago home, Studio Gild built a vanity and backsplash out of Bianco Giada marble, a white stone with swirls of gray and black, covering the walls with cost-effective grasscloth. “The big moment is that beautiful stone, and then the other elements of the room are the supporting actors,” said Kristen Ekeland, a partner at the firm.

A custom vanity top can be paired with a sink mounted underneath for a streamlined, integrated look, or with a vessel sink that sits on top, for a more sculptural appearance.

For support, the vanity top can be mounted directly to the wall, so that it almost appears to float. “When you float a vanity in a small space, it makes the room feel a little larger, compared to something that goes to the floor,” Ms. Ekeland said.

Alternatively, it could be supported by a washstand, with legs but no cabinet, for a similar feeling of airiness. Or, if more storage is needed, it could be placed on a small cabinet with a door or drawers.

Consider Stone Remnants

Natural stone is usually sold in large, expensive slabs, but because so little is needed for a bathroom vanity, it’s possible to use remnants from stone suppliers, or reclaimed pieces from architectural salvage operations — like Mr. Paquette did for the Nero Marquina vanity in his project on Mercer Island.

“You don’t have to buy a whole slab for one tiny powder-room sink,” he said, noting that it would be both wasteful and expensive.

While you might not always be able to find exactly the stone you were hoping for — and you’ll have to do a little legwork — the savings could be substantial. A stone fabricator can then transform your remnant into the vanity top of your dreams.

Add a Warm Glow

The powder room is where guests will check their hair and makeup, and you can enhance their experience by adding fixtures that provide flattering light. Avoid using bright fluorescent or bluish-white LED lights. Instead, aim for low levels of warm light with a color temperature of about 2,700 Kelvin.

Sconces or pendants hung near eye level on either side of the mirror will provide light where it’s needed, while an overhead fixture can deliver general illumination for the rest of the room.

And beyond functionality, think of light fixtures as an opportunity to add sculptural appeal to your bathroom.

“Don’t disregard the opportunity for a really cool light fixture,” said Cortney Bishop, an interior designer in Charleston, S.C., who has used a range of fixtures in powder rooms — from a vintage chandelier to an overscale brass-and-glass pendant from Apparatus. During parties, “people are spending a little moment in there, looking around,” she said.

Choose Accessories With Personality

Because powder rooms have so few objects in them, every accessory is an opportunity to introduce a little personal style.

The mirror, for instance, can be more than a standard reflective rectangle. Instead, you might hunt for a vintage mirror with an ornate frame or a contemporary mirror in an interesting shape.

If you’re tired of standard chrome faucets and towel bars, choose a less common finish, like copper, unlacquered brass or matte black.

And to hold soap and toiletries, you can find handmade vessels with a story behind them. “It’s a great place to add something you collected while traveling,” Cortney Bishop said.

Because in the end, a powder room isn’t just a bathroom, she said: It’s “a tiny, little sanctuary where you can really show your personality.”

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.

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[erickmalpicaflores]

Erik Malpica Flores Erik Malpica Flores recommends: ABC Halloween Teasers: MODERN FAMILY, FRESH OFF THE BOAT, SPEECHLESS and More |

With Halloween quickly approaching, ABC is airing Halloween-themed episodes of its primetime shows throughout the month of October. Fans can also watch the classic IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN, as well as a Halloween version of the film TOY STORY.

Thursday, October 18

IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN – In Charles M. Schulz’s classic animated Halloween-themed PEANUTS special, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” the PEANUTS gang celebrates Halloween with Linus hoping that, finally, he will be visited by The Great Pumpkin, while Charlie Brown is invited to a Halloween party. Cast members include Peter Robbins as Charlie Brown, Christopher Shea as Linus, Sally Dryer as Lucy, Chris Doran as Schroeder, Bill Melendez as Snoopy, Kathy Steinberg as Sally, Tracy Stratford as Violet and Ann Altieri as Frieda. (8:00–8:30 p.m.)

“TOY STORY OF TERROR!” – Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reprise their roles as Woody and Buzz, respectively, in Disney•Pixar’s first special for television, “Toy Story OF TERROR!” – a spooky tale featuring all of your favorite characters from the “Toy Story” films. What starts out as a fun road trip for the “Toy Story” gang takes an unexpected turn for the worse when the trip detours to a roadside motel. After one of the toys goes missing, the others find themselves caught up in a mysterious sequence of events that must be solved before they all suffer the same fate in this “Toy Story OF TERROR!” The cast of “Toy Story OF TERROR!” includes Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz, Joan Cusack as Jessie, Carl Weathers as Combat Carl/Combat Carl Jr., Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, Wallace Shawn as Rex and Kristen Schaal as Trixie. (8:30-9:00 p.m.)

Friday, October 19

FRESH OFF THE BOAT – “Workin’ the ‘Ween” – Honey and Marvin ask Jessica and Louis to be baby Maria’s godparents, and Jessica offers to babysit her on Halloween night. But the Huangs are in for a spooky evening when they agree to help wean the baby off of her pacifier. Meanwhile, Eddie is hired by mattress store owner Harv (George Wendt, “Cheers”) for a job to make some extra money so that he can buy himself a car and ends up having to work in the creepy store all by himself on Halloween. (8:00–8:30 p.m.)

SPEECHLESS – “I-N– INTO THE W-O– WOODS” – Maya’s Halloween becomes truly terrifying when JJ attends a rave in the woods. Ray joins Dylan’s Halloween heist determined to prove he’s more than a do-gooder. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Kenneth turn the DiMeo home into the neighborhood’s haunted house. (8:30–9:00 p.m.)

Wednesday, October 24

THE GOLDBERGS – “Mister Knifey-Hands” – Despite Beverly’s wishes, Jackie’s parents allow Adam to watch “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and a disagreement between the families ensues. But Beverly dreams of facing off with horror icon Freddy Krueger (guest star Robert Englund), which teaches her an important lesson about her son’s relationship with Jackie. Meanwhile, Erica realizes she’s not as popular as she once was as she starts hanging out at William Penn Academy despite the fact she’s no longer a student there. (8:00–8:30 p.m.)

AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE – “Trust Me” – When Taylor decides she wants to go to a Halloween party, Greg and Katie disagree on whether or not Taylor can be trusted. Oliver and Cooper anxiously try to prepare for playing a game of “seven minutes in heaven” with their dates at a separate Halloween event. A pregnant Viv (Leslie Bibb) follows Katie around trying to get help preparing for her baby’s arrival. (8:30-9:00 p.m.)

MODERN FAMILY – “Good Grief” – It’s another epic Halloween full of costumes, tricks and treats for the Dunphy-Pritchett-Tucker clan as they deal with huge, unexpected news. (9:00-9:31 p.m.)

SINGLE PARENTS – “Politician, Freemason, Scientist, Humorist and Diplomat, Ben Franklin” – Will is crushed when Sophie wants to tone down Halloween and invites a boy over. Poppy and the twins attempt to convince a reluctant Douglas to wear a silly costume; after he finally puts it on, he meets the woman of his dreams, who he now is sure will not take him seriously. Meanwhile, Angie struggles to tell her boss that she needs to leave work to be with her son on Halloween, leaving Graham’s costume in limbo. (9:31-10:00 p.m.)

Friday, October 26

IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN and YOU’RE NOT ELECTED, CHARLIE BROWN – This full-length version of the classic animated PEANUTS special “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” includes the bonus cartoon, “You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown,” in which Linus runs for class president. The PEANUTS gang celebrates Halloween, with Linus hoping that, finally, he will be visited by The Great Pumpkin, while Charlie Brown is invited to a Halloween party. Cast members include Peter Robbins as Charlie Brown, Christopher Shea as Linus, Sally Dryer as Lucy, Chris Doran as Schroeder, Bill Melendez as Snoopy, Kathy Steinberg as Sally, Tracy Stratford as Violet and Ann Altieri as Frieda. “You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown” – in which Linus runs for class president with Lucy and Charlie Brown managing his campaign – features Chad Webber as Charlie Brown, Robin Kohn as Lucy, Stephen Shea as Linus, Hilary Momberger as Sally and Todd Barbee as Russell. (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

Sunday, October 28

AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS – “2905” – AFV celebrates Halloween with people being scared by Halloween costumes, costume malfunctions and a music montage featuring pumpkin mishaps on an all-new episode. (7:00-8:00 p.m.)

DANCING WITH THE STARS: JUNIORS – “Halloween Night” – The remaining celebrity kids are donning their scariest costumes as they prepare to treat the viewers to some spooky dances, as Halloween night comes to “Dancing with the Stars: Juniors.” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

Week of October  29

GENERAL HOSPITAL – Halloween haunts Port Charles when the Fall Festival becomes the scene of a startling murder. (weekdays, 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT; check local listings)

Monday, October 29

DANCING WITH THE STARS – “Halloween Night” – The remaining couples will treat viewers to some terrifying thrills as Halloween Night comes to “Dancing with the Stars.” (8:00-10:00 p.m.)

Tuesday, October 30

THE CONNORS – “There Won’t Be Blood” – It’s Halloween, the favorite time of year for the Conners, but an email from the school banning certain costumes, including Mark’s, sets off an argument between Dan and Darlene. Jackie introduces someone new (guest star Steve Zahn) to the family at the Halloween party and insists that Dan vet him, only to immediately wish that she hadn’t. (8:00-8:31 p.m.)

BLACK-ISH – “Scarred for Life” – The twins opt out of the family Halloween costume for fear it will hurt their social status in middle school. Dre and Bow take it upon themselves to protect them from bullies by putting together the best haunted house and invite the whole seventh grade. Meanwhile, Junior starts spending time with a girl from Ruby’s choir and Ruby doesn’t know how to feel about it. (9:00–9:30 p.m.

SPLITTING UP TOGETHER – “Freaks & Creaks” – Lena decides to call Martin’s bluff on selling the house but is surprised when he actually begins making necessary repairs to get the house ready to be sold. The realtor, Jeannie (guest star Angela Kinsey) sends over Vlad (guest star Costa Ronin), a contractor, to deal with the structural issues she discovered in the house. Meanwhile, upset that Mae is not enjoying her sophomore year of high school, Lena invites Emma-Rebecca (guest star Milly Shapiro, “Hereditary”), Mae’s friend from camp, to visit; yet she seemingly brings a trail of bizarre and supernatural events along with her. Elsewhere, Maya finally tells Frank she is pregnant and is surprised by his reaction. (9:30-10:00 p.m.)

Wednesday, October 31

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! – Jimmy, Guillermo, Dicky, Cleto and the Cletones, and all of the show’s guest will be dressed for the occasion on an all-new episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The 13th Annual Half & Half Halloween Costume Pageant will be part of the evening’s festivities, where the show takes half of one costume and half of another, weaving them together to form one amazing hybrid costume. Past creations include Trumpty Dumpty, EmoJesus, and The Walking Bed, to name a few. Kimmel will also ask parents to join in on the YouTube Challenge”‘I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy,” one of the show’s signature holiday traditions with over 329 million combined views on YouTube. (11:35 p.m.)

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[milocrespi-blog]

My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) Review

At Last.

As far as animated films go there was no other film that I was more anxious, yet terrified to see than My Little Pony: The Movie. The film of the heavily popular current animated series of the same same has finally hit the big screen.

But I was a bit concerned with it at first. Don't get me wrong, when I saw the teaser trailer for the film I was hooked, but my biggest concern was on whether or not the film would work as a standalone film. So when I left the theater for the first time impressions, I surprisingly had mixed feelings on the film. I returned home frustrated, I had difficulty getting any sleep, I was stressed for no reason the next day. So I thought that in order to alleviate my problems, I decided to go see it a second time. And I am happy to say that I had a much more pleasant experience re-watching it.

But that's not to say that there aren't any flaws in the film. Far from it. One flaw includes the story. It's not a bad story, but it is very weak; and this was the element that I was worried about before. Since this is a movie that is primarily made for the fans and younger audiences, I feel that non fans wouldn't get into this because the story is not very strong or interesting. I think I found it the most noticeable when at the film's second act low point. Not to spoil anything, but the way that it's handled felt stock in my case. Now true the reasonings behind the character's decisions made sense when you look at from their viewpoints, but the scene's end result had me rolling my eyes. Thankfully I was able to accept it as well as the rest of the story upon the second viewing. Yes, I thought that the story was very weak, and it is a legit problem for introducing this film to newcomers, but it's something that's basically harmless on re-watches.

The Storm King: Good lord was he bland. He's trying to be funny like Hades from Disney's Hercules, or even Discord for that matter, but he's still trying to be intimidating like Tempest at the same time. His writing was really weak, and his screen time is about as brief as the time it takes for you to finish reading this review. So again, he's not only un-interesting, he's also barely given enough screen time in order to be seen as captivating. Ok, so those are just some flaws, they're easy to overlook for me. So what's the problem here? It can be described in one word: Purpose. You may have already noticed that The Storm King doesn't have a whole lot of screen time. You know who else doesn't have a lot of purpose to this movie? The three princesses. Yeah, as soon as they show up, they're instantly tuned to stone and are essentially gone for the rest of the movie and are only used as plot devices. Michael Peña as Grubber? Geez, has anyone ever heard about "forced comedy relief" before? The same also apply's to the Pirate scene. We spend ~ 10 min with these guys, and when the scene involving them is finished it makes you wonder what was the point of even having that scene if we're not going to spend a lot of time on it? And that's the main problem with this movie for me: there are so many things that either could've been cut or could've been given more screen time to develop. You know how people really like to market the "Extended Edition" of certain movies - not using it as a means to fix really crucial elements in the film but only using it as a marketing gimmick - this is the one instance where an extended edition copy of a movie could be a godsend. We could get extra footage of the Storm King so that way we can not only get to see more of his character and his personality, but also leave more of an impact. We could see more of the pirates so they can feel more developed, and hell we could give more screen time for some of the Mane 6 cause there's a few of them that really need it!

So with that said...let's talk about the stuff that I liked. I don't think I need to say this, but the animation was stellar. This is some of the best 2-D animation I have seen in years. The visuals are so stunning, the characters are so expressive, and the movement so smooth. If this movie didn't have the animation, then I would've been singing a different tune. Because in my opinion the animation is the movie's saving grace. Although I really do agree with Cellspex's criticism about the characters movement. Everyone moves really slow in this movie, which works well in some scenes but not in others.

The characters are also pretty good, both the old and the new. For a while I wasn't as big a fan of Tempest Shadow as much as everyone else. But after listening to Emily Blunt's performance and seeing her act very intimidating towards other the characters, I decided to change my thoughts on her. She's very graceful, very quiet, and massively powerful (kind of like Maleficent in a way). My only problem though is that her past and overall character is very one-noted. She's not the kind of character who would be described as "complex." But it was Emily Blunt's performance, the design and intimidation that sold her for me; not really the character herself. I thought Capper was very charming, I thought the pirates were fun (and by that I mean that their musical number was fun, not so much in the personality department), Kristen Chenoweth as Skystar was...ok. The voice acting was pretty good too, for the most part. A lot of these actors brought their A material, and it shows. I wouldn't really say that the film was particularly hilarious, but there were a few jokes and reactions that got a chuckle out of me here and there. I was surprised that Pinkie Pie was the emotional center of the film. She has some of the most dramatic scenes of the film, and I'm thoroughly pleased (Although I would've liked to have seen some of her 4th wall breaks in the film, I thought that would've made the film a lot funnier). And not to mention, she's not forced comedy relief and actually get's to express drama! The others do get things to do, but my biggest disappointment was with Fluttershy. She's barely given anything to say or do. She's only given - yes, I counted - 22 lines in this movie, and that's not even counting the moments where she sings along (again, an extended edition would be really nice so that way she can stick out in the group).

On that subject, the music was pretty good. Ok maybe not every song is memorable, but I found myself tapping my foot to quite a few of them on the way out. It did take me a really long time to get used to it, but Rainbow by Sia...I mean damn. True in terms of vocals it was a bit distracting because she sounds like she's slurring all of her lines, but in terms of lyrics and rhythms, this song is amazing. I occasionally end up in very dark places in my life; but whenever that happens I can always seek comfort from my very supportive friends and family, and that usually makes me overwhelmed and kind of saddened knowing that I receive a lot of love. This song is kind of like that: it's sort of the song equivalent of a hug after a long depression. It's not the greatest song ever, but it is one that I like to listen to a lot.

So as a whole, I thought the movie was fine, as is. Is it perfect? No. Much like the show itself, you will never hear me say that this movie is great or perfect. Its failings do exist, and they are big and distracting ones if your looking for a movie that has a good narrative. Again, this did indeed bother me when I first saw it and I was stressed out the ass the following day. I generally dislike movies that require the audience to watch or read something in order to fully appreciate something whether it be a movie or a show. Remember, I had conflicting feelings about Wonder Woman, and in the end I acknowledge that the movie is great for D.C fans, and only ok to everyone else. The unneeded characters is a big, BIG issue for me; I can maybe ignore the weak story, but the way the movie throws in all of these pointless and brief scenes and characters and clichés is something that I cannot defend. If there's one thing that I'm glad about this problem, is that I finally came out and admitted something that I really didn't like about the film. For most of my weekend I went through denial thinking that this movie is good, but now that I confessed that the film has a weak spot, I can hopefully relax for once.

But I'm really hoping that shouldn't be enough for you to turn down this film if you're a non fan, cause there's a lot of talent and effort that went into this film (of course I know that it's a fool's wish to think that). If the story were a little bit more original, if some of the characters were more fleshed out, then I think we would've had something really special here. Is the film challenging? No. But like the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, it doesn't have to be challenging in order to be fun.

5.5/10 Slightly Above-Average

[briangroth27]

Netflix MCU Wish List (as of 2017)

Since Marvel’s Defenders premiered, I’ve been thinking about how the Netflix corner of the MCU could evolve from here. I can’t wait to see Daredevil season 3 (still my favorite of these series), and Luke Cage & Jessica Jones’ second seasons are also highly anticipated. If Iron Fist learns from its missteps in Season 1—namely, decide whether he was supposed to stay in K’un-Lun or seek out & destroy the Hand and start writing him like he’s had 15 years of training & study instead of playing him like a novice who doesn’t know basic details about his enemies...or that they still exist—the more the merrier. I’ve never been a huge Punisher fan, but I really liked him as a foil for Daredevil and I’ll give his show a shot as well. Here are some things I’d like to see as the shows enter the post-Defenders landscape.

Full spoilers…

Embrace “Filler” Episodes While Defenders makes sense as a single serialized story, the Netflix solo series are feeling increasingly worn thin by forcing a limited number of plots to stretch over 13 episodes. I think these series could break up their seasons and include a few “cases of the week” instead of making 13-hour movies. All four characters have ready-made jobs to provide this structure: Matt’s law clients, anyone needing Jessica’s detective skills, and everyone needing to hire Luke and/or Danny as heroes can open doors to a wide variety of enemies and conflicts. I’m glad Jessica is opening up to the world around her, but I really wish Luke would finally start his own hero for hire agency to embrace his destiny as a helper for his community in an official capacity. Throwing in other, largely unconnected plots can help flesh out the elements of these characters’ worlds more fully than focusing on one group of villains or one plot over 13 hours. You can also explore minor villains’ thematic connections and parallels to the heroes without tying them directly into a season-long arc. “Filler” episodes let us live in the world created by big moments and twists instead of just rushing from twist to twist, and I’d much rather live with these characters as they grow by facing a wide variety of challenges than watch them solve one super-long plot.

One-off cases could also allow for easier connections between the heroes, allowing them to explore the bonds that were forged in Defenders. Matt and Jessica had fun banter and good chemistry I’d like to see explored, maybe even in a relationship. Luke made Danny likable to me and opened his eyes to some truths about the world. Mixing things up and teaming Matt with Luke and Danny with Jessica would also be fun: I’d love to see what wisdom Luke has for Matt (and any conversation between the two of them about the law) and Jessica not having any of Danny’s supernatural craziness will always be entertaining. I don’t need season-long team-ups, but interactions over an episode or two would be welcome. A wider variety of cases could also lend itself to a wider variety of tones, and I’d definitely like to see some Daredevil adventures in the vein of Mark Waid’s tenure on the comic. That optimistic Silver Age-style could make a lot of sense as Matt continues to work out how to be a good hero. A Silver Age-styled adventure could also drive Jessica bonkers, which would be a lot of fun.

Dive into the Marvel Universe While they don’t need to go as far as Agents of SHIELD did in its first season, where The Battle of New York was brought up all the time, the idea that the Netflix characters almost never refer to the Avengers by name has gotten ridiculous. Even moreso, there’s no reason Claire Temple couldn’t just say “Daredevil” when she told Danny Rand about her friend with experience fighting the Hand (or that she wouldn’t try calling him; his retirement explains that a bit but not enough that she wouldn’t ask him to help). Why bother creating a shared universe if proper names can’t even be invoked? On the other hand, I really like how elements of the MCU have touched the four series—the Battle of New York reverting Hell’s Kitchen to its pre-gentrification, crime-ridden identity and bootleg copies of the Chitauri Invasion being sold on the street, for example—but there’s still a palpable disconnect that doesn’t seem necessary and has gotten distracting.

One aspect that should definitely come into play is the Sokovia Accords. As I saw mentioned on IGN, Luke, Jessica, and Danny should’ve definitely been forced to sign them after the destruction of Midland Circle. The Accords’ absence not only feels strange but like a major missed opportunity to increase the pressure on the Defenders and to police what they can and can’t do to help people. Once Matt comes back, Daredevil being hunted by the government (since he’s violating the Accords) could be a perfect way to raise the stakes each time he goes out and to explore Matt’s view of the law when he’s flagrantly violating it for the right reasons.

Get the Villains Off the Ground! I get that the Defenders are designed as the street-level heroes of the MCU. That’s fine, but I’d love for them to face some street-level supervillains instead of just non-powered gangsters. We’ve seen all four heroes outmatch human gangs many times and it feels like it’s time to level-up the enemies, particularly now that they’ve taken down a supernatural ninja cult. Speaking of the Hand, if their agents are still implanted throughout the city, that’s a perfect opportunity for one of them to take control or to have Madame Gao return and attempt to maintain the status quo. And like I realized when writing my Defenders review, there’s no more perfect enemy for heroes who represent the downtrodden than the entire societal system. The hidden Hand agents would personify that perfectly.

Back to supervillains, the Purple Man and The Hand as they appeared in Daredevil are a good start (and Diamondback was a fun example of a villain with tech upgrades), but I’d love to see costumed super-villains. Villains like Bullseye, Mr. Fear (who is also a lawyer, so he’d be able to confront Matt everywhere), the Owl (Junior, here), Typhoid Mary, Echo, Lady Bullseye, Death-Stalker (maybe a former Hand agent with a deadly touch in this version…perhaps he’d be a better enemy for Luke), Ikari, Ox, and even Stilt-man would all provide unique challenges for Daredevil to overcome, necessitating a wide variety of action scenes. Kingpin can certainly try to get his revenge, but I don’t want all of Daredevil Season 3 consumed with just him and it’s time Matt started fighting enemies outside his weight class.

I’m not familiar with Luke, Jessica, or Danny’s rogues galleries, but I’m sure they’re extensive and I’d love to see what unique challenges each of them brings to the table. For example, Danny could and should dig into the supernatural side of the Marvel universe villains. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s superheroes aren’t a new phenomenon anymore, so there’s no reason not to embrace the proliferation of powers and technology in Netflix’s corner too. In fact, I’d love for the next Defenders miniseries to give us a supervillain team-up after introducing them in the heroes’ solo series!

Play Up the Powers I’d love more scenes from Matt’s point of view with his radar vision, for example (an area Ben Affleck’s Daredevil film outdoes the Netflix series). It’d also be great to really explore Matt’s unique relationship with the world around him due to both his blindness and his powers. How do those unique aspects shape his worldview? While we’re at it, Defenders was a good start, but I’d definitely like to see more of Matt’s acrobatics and parkour travel put to use!

Luke Cage’s potential vulnerabilities were brought up in his first season, but the villains never tried drowning him, electrocuting him, or hitting him with knock-out gas (though Stick successfully gassed him). As perfect and relevant a metaphor a bulletproof black man is nowadays, I’d like them to challenge his limits through other threats as well. Matt and Danny have distinctive fighting styles; can Luke and Jessica develop their own as well? I do see the connection with Luke’s unbreakable status with him just letting guys get tired hitting him or just barreling through legions of enemies, so perhaps that works for him as his style.

Jessica could stand to get a style of her own, however; maybe she could start tearing up the environment around her and using it against enemies. Furthermore, I’d love clarification on what Jessica’s limits are. Two seasons in, we should be beyond “vaguely strong and can kinda maybe fly.” Perhaps this stems from her disdain for her abilities, but with Jessica opening up and letting people in, perhaps she’ll also want to know just how much she can do.

Can Danny focus his chi to do anything besides punching hard and healing himself? Does he have villains that use supernatural forces in different ways than chi manipulation? Are there literal monsters he needs to vanquish?

Support the Supporting Characters Now that the Defenders have come together and her purpose as their foundation is fulfilled, what new role is Claire going to take on? Where does she go next? I’d like them to find something totally distinct for her instead of becoming a hub of information, since that seems like such a stock superhero position these days. I love that she’s always there to talk sense into these heroes and ground them, so something that incorporates that is a must.

I’m eager to explore the dark past Karen’s hinted at. Her reporter career could also open up interesting avenues; it might be cool if she hunted down the embedded Hand operatives throughout the city now that Matt can’t fight them. Maybe not the full-on Death’s-Head, but if Karen’s father appeared as a villain, he’d be a cool foil for Matt’s mom in Daredevil Season 3. I hope that Matt’s supposed death doesn’t drive her or Foggy—especially since he gave Matt the suit—into darkness. It might be cool if Kristen McDuffie from Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil appeared and somewhat replaced Matt as the defender of the downtrodden until Murdock gets back; maybe Foggy will go back to that style of law too to honor his friend.

Will Trish take up her Hellcat mantle as a superhero? Trish reporting on the earthquakes in New York felt like a classic superhero/journalist connection for Jessica and I’d like to see that played up in Jessica Jones Season 2 whether Trish becomes a superhero or not. I wonder if Malcolm will have a larger role at Jessica’s detective agency than her secretary too. It’ll be interesting to see how he and Jessica work together once she’s more open to the business.

How will Harlem react to a Luke who doesn’t have to look over his shoulder to watch for his past coming for him anymore? I love that he takes the time to get to know the people he helps; aside from a great character trait it’s an easy way to flesh out his neighborhood and I hope it continues. What have Mariah and Shades been up to in his absence? Even if they’re lying low, they’ve got to be planning something.

What hijinks are Misty and Colleen going to get into as Daughters of the Dragon? I like both of them a lot and I’d love for them to team up! I hope we get to see Misty getting used to her robotic arm instead of jumping to her being even somewhat experienced with it. Will Misty become a vigilante, and if so, how will she balance that with her job as a police officer? How extralegal can she let Colleen get without feeling she’s aiding and abetting her crimes? Will Colleen take down the Hand assets she helped to train? Does she feel responsible for putting them into the world where they can harm others?

New Series I’m sure the Netflix world will extend beyond The Punisher, and I’ve got a few ideas how. They don’t have to join the Defenders full-time and solo “one-shot” seasons would be fine too, though it’d be cool if they did get to interact with Matt, Jessica, Luke, and Danny.

Steve Rogers: Nomad The Captain America films are among my favorites of the MCU, but one thing I wish we’d seen was a deeper exploration of Steve as a man out of time. With Infinity War looming (and Kevin Feige saying endings are coming for the heroes), I’m a little worried we won’t get a chance to see Steve trying to make a life for himself in the present without some MCU-shattering event happening. I’d love a miniseries set between Civil War and Infinity War that explores Steve’s time on the run as a fugitive. Let’s see him really experience the differences in our era from his beyond pop culture. Would he help superheroes (and Inhumans?) escape the Sokovia Accords, like an Underground Railroad? What does he think of our current political climate (or one similar to it)? Does he struggle to reconcile the idea from Age of Ultron that he can’t live comfortably in peacetime with his generally peaceful and optimistic nature? I’d love to see a show where Steve just travels the country, getting reacquainted with the world and helping out whenever he comes across trouble. If he’s going to call himself Captain America, he should know what and who he’s standing for; do the people live up to—or even just aspire to—the ideals he embodies anymore? The movies have touched on several of Steve’s comic book villains, but they could be fleshed out—and the rest of his rogues gallery could come into play (Red Skull could finally return!)—in a miniseries like this. Perhaps Nuke shows up here and his pills are revealed as part of a modern super-soldier project. I’d design the plots as intentionally low-key, because Steve would be concerned with the people on the ground, not on the global implications. Maybe Sharon Carter comes with him to develop that relationship beyond what little we got in Winter Soldier and Civil War. Maybe Sam Wilson comes too, to give Steve an insight into the modern world and its problems that a white guy from the 40s simply can’t fully understand (Sharon can provide him with a woman’s perspective as well). Luke Cage could also add to any discussion about modern society, and I’d love to see these similarly good-natured heroes meet and bond! Captain America’s one of my favorite characters and I’d love to see what Chris Evans could do with him if given a broader, more personal canvas to play with.

Black Widow This is so far overdue it’s ridiculous, especially with Jennifer Lawrence seemingly playing a Black Widow character in Red Sparrow. If they won’t give Scarlett Johansson a movie, give Natasha a Jason Bourne-esque miniseries! Since all her information was released in Winter Soldier, let’s see all her enemies come after her at once, so we get to learn her past through flashbacks and see her clear her Red Ledger once and for all. There’s still so much story to her and I can see her leaving the Avengers to finally settle her past on her own terms, by herself. Maybe let Hawkeye come along, since they have a well-established friendship. Natasha had a significant partnership/relationship and eventually friendship with Daredevil in the comics, so getting to see her meet and interact with Matt would be excellent.

Elektra Elektra killed both her mentors in Defenders, clearing herself of her past and symbolically readying herself for a new future. I’d definitely like to see her forge this new path in a Netflix season (if not in Daredevil Season 3)! I suppose she still wanted to stay immortal and lead the Hand, but I’d like to see what her endgame was. Was she just out to maintain the status quo, only with herself in charge? If so, leading the Hand’s remaining hidden army within New York (if Gao doesn’t do that) would be a cool way to play the Defenders against the system in a literal way. Perhaps Elektra could reshape the way things work in a way none of the Hand’s leaders wanted or even thought of. On the other hand, she could become a full-fledged assassin like in the comics. She could even be employed by SHIELD to take out enemy combatants; making her a government-sanctioned killer could make her an interesting foil to Matt (and the law backing her immoral activities would give Matt a different ethical conundrum than Punisher’s vigilante vendetta). Maybe she could be an asset used to track down those who evade the Sokovia Accords. Whatever they decide to do with her, she’s very deliberately a blank slate and I can’t wait to see what she chooses now that no one is controlling her. Despite saying the fight with Matt and leadership of the Hand was what she wanted, if she saved him he wasn’t completely wrong about her. Perhaps there’s still hope for her after all.

She-Hulk Jennifer Walters deserves to be introduced into the MCU somewhere. There are precious few heroines who enjoy their power onscreen (usually that’s reserved for villains, though The CW has been working to counteract that trend), and Jen would be fantastic here. She’d also provide some levity to the Defenders’ world…though her legal career might be a little redundant with Matt’s in play as well; ditto her super strength with Luke, Jessica, and sorta Danny having that power. On the other hand, that’s just a reason to show how differently they approach their jobs and how she uses her brain as much as her brawn. Jen sees her power as a gift, and seeing your “damage” as an asset could be a perspective the Defenders sorely need. I once wanted Jen to deliver this message to her cousin Bruce in a Hulk movie, but it’d be just as meaningful if she and Jessica met and discussed their powers, which neither of them asked for. My dream casting would be Gina Torres. Play Jen as an Erin Brockovich type, called into a small town where people are getting sick and people are seeing monsters (“but that sort of thing only happens in New York, not the heartland”). I’m definitely thinking a modern take on a 50s/60s monster movie here. Jen’s kidnapped by The Leader and given Banner’s blood, like all the rest of the “sick” people he’s been experimenting on, which can provide not only her origin, but that of any number of Hulk foes. If She-Hulk is allowed to break the fourth wall (maybe explain it as a side-effect of Leader’s tests), it’d be a fun opportunity to put some Deadpool into the MCU and to comment on the restrictions behind the usage of the characters.

Peggy Carter and the Agents of Atlas I’d love to see more from Peggy in any form; she’s one of my favorite MCU characters and there are still lingering plot threads from her series that need to be wrapped up! What about exploring her time with SHIELD in the 1950s? The Agents of Atlas are a lesser-known government team composed of heroes representing classic sci-fi pulp tropes from that period (a Uranian alien, a robot, a siren, a gorilla-man, etc.). Maybe Peggy worked with them back then. This would obviously be a departure from the Netflix shows, both in terms of scope and subject matter (though the Agents do have a dragon advisor…), but a pulpy trip back to Marvel’s past could be a fun way to spend 8-13 episodes. Jimmy Woo—the Agents of Atlas’ leader—is going to be in Ant-Man and the Wasp, but this could be a prequel series. Perhaps Peggy’s seasons could function as an anthology series, with each season taking place in another era of her life. Maybe she met Namor, the robotic Human Torch, and any number of pulpy Marvel vigilantes in the 40s too! That would allow them to finish off Agent Carter’s story threads while fleshing out the MCU’s history.

Blade Daredevil, Spider-man, Punisher, and Ghost Rider have all reentered the MCU, so it’d be cool if Blade got a chance to bring a horror vibe to its Netflix segment. I’d definitely play up scares rather than superheroics with him and they could introduce all manner of monsters for him to protect people from (or begrudgingly team up with). Marvel’s got the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, a Living Mummy, the Werewolf by Night, and a trans-dimensional swamp monster in Man-Thing (who has been mentioned on Agents of SHIELD), among many, many other creepy creatures! I’d send Blade against all of them. With all the powers of a vampire (including their thirst for blood) and none of their weaknesses, he just might stand a chance against these Marvel monstrosities. Since the supernatural’s been introduced in Daredevil and Iron Fist, it wouldn’t be that big a leap to monsters, even if they are initially presented as more grounded than monsters generally are (to lay low in modern society, of course). Maybe they’d be the logical step up from supervillains in terms of raising the bar on adversaries.

 What do you want to see from the Netflix corner of the MCU?

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Required Reading

One of the final images of Saturn and its main rings captured by the Cassini space probe before it was commanded to fly into Saturn’s upper atmosphere and burn up in order to prevent any risk of contaminating Saturn’s moons. You can find more impressive images here. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

One medieval historian explains what to do when Nazis are obsessed with your field of research. David M. Perry writes:

White supremacists explicitly celebrate Europe in the Middle Ages because they imagine that it was a pure, white, Christian place organized wholesomely around military resistance to outside, non-white, non-Christian, forces. Marchers in Charlottesville held symbols of the medieval Holy Roman Empire and of the Knights Templar. The Portland murderer praised “Vinland,” a medieval Viking name for North America, in order to assert historical white ownership over the landmass: Vinlander racists like to claim that whites are “indigenous” here on the basis of medieval Scandinavian lore. Similarly, European anti-Islamic bigots dress up in medieval costumes and share the “crying Templar” meme. Someone sprayed “saracen go home” and “deus vult”—a Latin phrase meaning “God wills it” and associated with the history of the Crusades—on a Scottish mosque. The paramilitary “Knights Templar International” is preparing for a race war. In tweets since locked behind private accounts, University of Reno students reacted to seeing classmate Peter Cvjetanovic at the Virginia tiki-torch rally, saying they knew him as the guy who said racist things in their medieval history classes.

Brigido Lara is an artist responsible for many Pre-Columbian fakes that continue to fool museums around the world. Kristen Fawcett of Mental Floss writes:

It’s not entirely clear whether Lara began making these figurines for fun or profit. But according to the man himself, traveling dry-goods merchants had noticed his talents before he had even reached his teens. They accepted his “interpretations,” as he called his early work, in lieu of cash—then sold them on the black market. Looters also came to Lara, asking him to fix and restore stolen works. Eventually, the artist wound up working in a Mexico City atelier that produced forgeries.

No detail was too tiny for Lara. He visited archaeological sites to study just-dug-up artifacts, and harvested clay from the surrounding region to sculpt exact likenesses. He later told Connoisseur magazine that for true authenticity, he even crafted his own primitive tools and stockpiled 32 grades of cinnabar—a reddish form of mercury used by the Olmec, an ancient Mesoamerican civilization that existed between 1200 BCE and 400 BCE—for precise pigmentation. He finished his works with a ancient-looking patina made from cement, lime, hot sugar water, urine, and other ingredients, and coated the final products with a seal made from dirt and glue.

Hank Willis Thomas’s new public art work in Philadelphia is getting a lot of attention, including on our Instagram account, but did you know the source image? Introducing the history of the black fist afro comb:

This iconic comb represents the ethos of the civil rights movement, with the power of the clenched fist and the peace sign in the centre. For subsequent generations the comb has a range of meanings. In preparation for the 2013 exhibition ‘Origins of the Afro Comb’ at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, whenever I met someone who had a black fist comb I asked what it meant to him or her. Answers have ranged from: ‘Black Power’; ‘Black pride’; ‘Nelson Mandela’s release’;‘ it’s just a nice shape’; and ‘unity’. For younger generations the combs also seem to take on a sense of the retro or ‘old skool’. It is perhaps the comb’s multiple associations that have ensured its success across generational divides and time. Whereas some of the young people I spoke to were not aware of the details of the American Black Power movement, their own associations with the design were nonetheless linked to ‘Black’ culture and identity.

RELATED: A Signe Wilkinson editorial comic.

This is your brain on art:

If you think about it, having a great time at the theater defies logic in many ways. We’re surrounded by strangers, bombarded with unusual images and often faced with a wordless language of symbols. Yet, on a good night, we generally laugh more, cry more and enjoy ourselves more at a live performance than when we’re watching TV at home. We may even lose ourselves and feel connected to something larger. How does this happen?

… Social connection is one of the strengths of our species — it’s how we learn from others by imitation. We’re keenly attuned to the emotions and actions of people around us, because our brains are designed for this.

If, for example, you’ve ever gone to an experimental performance-art piece where there’s hardly anyone in the audience but you, and you’ve felt a little exposed and awkward, this is why. We crave social connection. And the cues we get from those around us help our brains make sense of our surroundings. This starts from the moment we walk into a crowd.

There’s a board game that takes 1,500 hours to complete (kill me):

It’ll take you about 1,500 hours (or 62 days) to complete a full play of The Campaign For North Africa. The game itself covers the famous WWII operations in Libya and Egypt between 1940 and 1943. Along with the opaque rulebook, the box includes 1,600 cardboard chits, a few dozen charts tabulating damage, morale, and mechanical failure, and a swaddling 10-foot long map that brings the Sahara to your kitchen table. You’ll need to recruit 10 total players, (five Allied, five Axis,) who will each lord over a specialized division. The Front-line and Air Commanders will issue orders to the troops in battle, the Rear and Logistics Commanders will ferry supplies to the combat areas, and lastly, a Commander-in-Chief will be responsible for all macro strategic decisions over the course of the conflict. If you and your group meets for three hours at a time, twice a month, you’d wrap up the campaign in about 20 years.

The urge to take photos of tragedies fascinates me, so this man’s explanation for the reasons why Omega Mwaikambo took photos of the Grenfell fire victims in London is quite a read. He tells the BBC:

It was about 05:00, as he returned home to his flat, that Mwaikambo spotted the body. A corpse, wrapped in plastic, apparently dumped in the enclosed courtyard area outside his flat’s front door. “God knows what I was thinking in my head,” he explained. “But I was holding my iPad. The body was not wrapped tightly; it was loosely wrapped. “Inside I was just saying to myself ‘does anybody know this person?’ I just took the picture.” Mwaikambo started off by taking photos of the body bag from a distance. Then he went further. He lifted the plastic sheeting around the corpse’s face, and took more. “[I was] not even knowing what I was doing.” he said.

Font detectives exist, according to Glenn Fleishman at Wired:

Detecting fraud via fonts isn’t as sexy as sleuthing art forgery; it often involves tedious measurements with digital calipers, examinations under loupes and microscopes, charts that track the slight differences between two versions of the Times Roman face, or evidence that a particular form of office printer didn’t exist at the document’s dated execution.

Even so, such measurements can be worth millions—and can even be lucrative, for the handful of experts (maybe a dozen) who have hung out a font-detective shingle. Phinney had an expert declaration filed last month as part of a lawsuit against Justin Timberlake, will.i.am, their labels, and others. The suit is about a sample used in Timberlake’s 2006 “Damn Girl,” but the case might hinge on the size and clarity of the type on Timberlake’s CD cover. (How could that be? Read on.)

How filmmakers have finally been able to light actors with darker skin and get it right. Nadia Latif writes:

Lighting should be used to sculpt, rather than bleach, an actor’s skin, a technique championed by Charles Mills in Boyz N the Hood in his night-time exterior shots. Although many directors lament the shift from shooting on film to digital cameras, one of the advantages is that one can digitally recreate the effects of shooting on extinct Fuji, Kodak or Agfa film stocks, which were particularly good for capturing the richness of black skin. The colour palette is key, whether in the production design or the post-production grade – drawing a rainbow of colours from the actors’ skin itself to create something more vibrant and less concerned with being “real”. After all, the original title for Moonlight was In Moonlight Black Boys Appear Blue.

The last of Calabria’s ancient Greek community:

There are many theories or schools of thought regarding the origin of the Greko community in Calabria. Are they descendants of the Ancient Greeks who colonized Southern Italy? Are they remnants of the Byzantine presence in Southern Italy? Did their ancestors come in the 15th-16th Centuries from the Greek communities in the Aegean fleeing Ottoman invasion? The best answers to all of those questions are yes, yes, and yes. This means that history has shown a continuous Greek presence in Calabria since antiquity. Even though different empires, governments, and invasions occurred in the region, the Greek language and identity seemed to have never ceased. Once the glorious days of Magna Graecia were over, there is evidence that shows that Greek continued to be spoken in Southern Italy during the Roman Empire. Once the Roman Empire split into East (Byzantine) and West, Calabria saw Byzantine rule begin in the 5th Century. This lasted well into the 11th Century and reinforced the Greek language and identity in the region as well as an affinity to Eastern Christianity.

Today, there is more evidence of a Byzantine legacy rather than an Ancient Greek or Modern Greek footprint.

The small European nation of Luxembourg has shown how far a tiny country can go by serving the needs of global capitalism, now they are helping private companies colonize outer space. Atossa Araxia Abrahamian reports:

Space is becoming a testing ground for these thorny ethical and legal questions, and Luxembourg – a tiny country that has sustained itself off of regulatory intricacies and tax loopholes for decades – is positioning itself to help find the answers. While major nations such as China and India plough increasing sums of money into developing space programmes to rival Nasa, Luxembourg is making a different bet: that it can become home to a multinational cast of entrepreneurs who want to go into space not for just the sake of scientific progress or to strengthen their nation’s geopolitical hand, but also to make money.

It already has a keen clientele. Space entrepreneurs speak of a new “gold rush” and compare their mission to that of the frontiersmen, or the early industrialists. While planet Earth’s limited stock of natural resources is rapidly being depleted, asteroid miners see a solution in the vast quantities of untapped water, minerals and metals in outer space. And the fledgling “NewSpace” industry – an umbrella term for commercial spaceflight, asteroid mining and other private ventures – has found eager supporters in the investor class. In April, Goldman Sachs sent a note to clients claiming that asteroid mining “could be more realistic than perceived”, thanks to the falling cost of launching rockets and the vast quantities of platinum sitting on space rocks, just waiting to be exploited.

A pretty impressive drone video:

Goldenboye:

G O L D E N B O Y E doin a heckin perfection from rarepuppers

And a new Saudi textbook strangely features an image of Yoda (from Star Wars) with King Faisal (tweet):

https://twitter.com/SilentRuins/status/910757978306961409/photo/1

Required Reading is published every Sunday morning ET, and is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.

The post Required Reading appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[touristguidebuzz]

Chefs+Tech: This Summer’s 4 Hottest Restaurant Trends

Taco Bell's Naked Egg Taco was literally tailor-made for Instagram. Taco Bell Facebook

Skift Take: You don't need to paint your restaurant millennial pink to attract customers (I promise), but these four summer trends are worth your attention.

— Kristen Hawley

Whether summer’s spent tied to a desk or lounging by the pool, we all still have to eat. Warmer weather will always be associated with al fresco dining and cool beverages. But some trends are passing (looking at you, frosé), while others have the potential to turn into honest-to-goodness innovation. Here are our picks for the top restaurant trends of the past few months.

Fast-Casual Explodes, But Its Lines Blur

The white hot fast-casual category continued to dominate headlines this summer, with high-profile openings and expansions across the country. Category lines blurred, though, as more restaurants hope to cash in on its success. On one end, fast food worked to, essentially, become more like fast-casual, with the likes of McDonald’s and KFC touting fresh-never-frozen and antibiotic-free ingredients — a hallmark of the fast-casual experience.

As fast casual continued its evolution, it borrowed from fine dining playbooks, introducing custom wine lists, formerly elevated food items like made-to-order sushi, and adapting actual dishes from high-concept restaurants into quicker service models.

In fact, fast-casual is so popular that restaurants have started to differentiate themselves within the category. Danny Meyer’s just-opened Martina in New York City calls itself “fine-casual” but operates under the fast-casual model of offering a limited menu, ordering at the counter, and including an emphasis on takeout.

Casual full-service restaurants, like Ruby Tuesday, have started to move toward a fast-casual model, too, paring down lunch menus and offering midday specials at price points meant to rival prices at fast-casual chains — perhaps in an effort to recapture a lunch crowd that, according to the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, isn’t showing up. Restaurant lunch sales were down $3.2 billion last year, making it the slowest year, traffic-wise, in four decades.

Available Physical Space Shapes Restaurant Offerings

Real estate is a hot topic from cities to suburbs, and the availability of physical space is a huge deciding factor when it comes to the number and types of restaurants opening in any given location. Ten years ago, before the ubiquity of Yelp and GPS and digital recommendations, restaurants had a better chance if they positioned themselves on Main Street. Now, destination dining and the thrill of finding an out-of-the way location — in a major city or tiny town — is part of the popular restaurant experience.

Similarly, smaller restaurants can rely on new technological tools for discovery and popularity, but they’re still limited by the financial constraints of physical space. Food halls continue to open across the country, offering a place for smaller operations to cluster, attracting crowds but avoiding a lot of the costs associated with a dedicated storefront. According to chef and restaurateur David Chang, food halls are the future of small, independent restaurants, especially in cities as the cost for space becomes unsustainable.

Chefs are decamping major high-rent cities in favor of smaller cities where costs are more manageable, diluting the dominance of places like New York and San Francisco. This summer, Food & Wine magazine announced it would move its editorial operations to Birmingham, Alabama from New York City. Its new editor, Hunter Lewis, told the New York Times, “You can create and do business in food anywhere now, and this move is a reflection of the hybrid approach we’re going to take to covering food.”

Instagrammable Everything

Perhaps no piece of technology has had greater effect on the business of dining out than Instagram, which has injected itself so deeply into our consumer culture that restaurants consider it in every operational aspect, from menus to decor to glassware to dish presentation. No restaurant category is immune to the siren call of Instagrammability, from fine dining to fast food.

Taco Bell, perhaps the most Instagram-friendly fast food operation of the bunch, prioritizes the look of its Quesalupa in photos. A team monitors social media looking for customers who may be disappointed by the way the cheese stretches, and uses that feedback to ensure its restaurants are constructing and serving the item properly. And the restaurant freely admits Instagram played a pivotal part in the development of its new breakfast item, the Naked Egg Taco.

For independent restaurants, Instagram-friendly touches like intricate floor tiles, a cheeky neon sign, or well-designed menus all elevate digital profiles. And, according to the New York Times, at least one grad student (presumably a millennial) believes that Instagrammability is the path to success for a restaurant. “I don’t know why more restaurants aren’t doing this. You could become super successful by just painting a wall pink.” (No word on whether or not the quality of the food matters.)

Instagram fatigue has to come sometime, though; even the most avid Instagrammer has a limit for millennial pink walls and cheeky chalkboards on the sidewalk positioned to entice customers to step inside. (Or maybe they’re just meant for passersby to photograph; who needs to try the food?)

Delivery Differentiated from In-Restaurant Experiences

Delivery and in-restaurant dining are as alike as grocery store shopping and eating out. While they’re different means of getting to the same end (feed me!), delivery’s impact on restaurants is marked. While a restaurant doesn’t need to have a physical dining room to offer delivery, restaurants with dining rooms are continuing to partner with delivery services to both expand their reach and draw more income from an increasingly delivery-hungry crowd.

One of the summer’s biggest acquisition announcements mirrors this differentiation, as Yelp sold its Eat24 delivery business to a former rival, Grubhub. Yelp holds solid dominance in the recommendations-and-reviews market, but the sale of its delivery business signals Yelp’s renewed focus on the in-restaurant experience for guests (other arms of its business, including reservations, are growing).

Delivery’s popularity is also changing the way we experience even the most ubiquitous, time-tested restaurants. McDonald’s touted the availability of delivery at 7,800 of its restaurants this year (most partnering with UberEats to provide the service), and has started experimenting with new store layouts to accommodate delivery orders and drivers. Starbucks and Subway are also experimenting with changing in-store layouts, both as a result of new mobile ordering technology. Also telling: highlights from second quarter earnings calls show that restaurant brands are giving lots of weight to the full customer experience, creating desirable, tech-forward physical locations to attract and retain business.

[rollinbrigittenv8]

Chefs+Tech: This Summer’s 4 Hottest Restaurant Trends

Taco Bell's Naked Egg Taco was literally tailor-made for Instagram. Taco Bell Facebook

Skift Take: You don't need to paint your restaurant millennial pink to attract customers (I promise), but these four summer trends are worth your attention.

— Kristen Hawley

Whether summer’s spent tied to a desk or lounging by the pool, we all still have to eat. Warmer weather will always be associated with al fresco dining and cool beverages. But some trends are passing (looking at you, frosé), while others have the potential to turn into honest-to-goodness innovation. Here are our picks for the top restaurant trends of the past few months.

Fast-Casual Explodes, But Its Lines Blur

The white hot fast-casual category continued to dominate headlines this summer, with high-profile openings and expansions across the country. Category lines blurred, though, as more restaurants hope to cash in on its success. On one end, fast food worked to, essentially, become more like fast-casual, with the likes of McDonald’s and KFC touting fresh-never-frozen and antibiotic-free ingredients — a hallmark of the fast-casual experience.

As fast casual continued its evolution, it borrowed from fine dining playbooks, introducing custom wine lists, formerly elevated food items like made-to-order sushi, and adapting actual dishes from high-concept restaurants into quicker service models.

In fact, fast-casual is so popular that restaurants have started to differentiate themselves within the category. Danny Meyer’s just-opened Martina in New York City calls itself “fine-casual” but operates under the fast-casual model of offering a limited menu, ordering at the counter, and including an emphasis on takeout.

Casual full-service restaurants, like Ruby Tuesday, have started to move toward a fast-casual model, too, paring down lunch menus and offering midday specials at price points meant to rival prices at fast-casual chains — perhaps in an effort to recapture a lunch crowd that, according to the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, isn’t showing up. Restaurant lunch sales were down $3.2 billion last year, making it the slowest year, traffic-wise, in four decades.

Available Physical Space Shapes Restaurant Offerings

Real estate is a hot topic from cities to suburbs, and the availability of physical space is a huge deciding factor when it comes to the number and types of restaurants opening in any given location. Ten years ago, before the ubiquity of Yelp and GPS and digital recommendations, restaurants had a better chance if they positioned themselves on Main Street. Now, destination dining and the thrill of finding an out-of-the way location — in a major city or tiny town — is part of the popular restaurant experience.

Similarly, smaller restaurants can rely on new technological tools for discovery and popularity, but they’re still limited by the financial constraints of physical space. Food halls continue to open across the country, offering a place for smaller operations to cluster, attracting crowds but avoiding a lot of the costs associated with a dedicated storefront. According to chef and restaurateur David Chang, food halls are the future of small, independent restaurants, especially in cities as the cost for space becomes unsustainable.

Chefs are decamping major high-rent cities in favor of smaller cities where costs are more manageable, diluting the dominance of places like New York and San Francisco. This summer, Food & Wine magazine announced it would move its editorial operations to Birmingham, Alabama from New York City. Its new editor, Hunter Lewis, told the New York Times, “You can create and do business in food anywhere now, and this move is a reflection of the hybrid approach we’re going to take to covering food.”

Instagrammable Everything

Perhaps no piece of technology has had greater effect on the business of dining out than Instagram, which has injected itself so deeply into our consumer culture that restaurants consider it in every operational aspect, from menus to decor to glassware to dish presentation. No restaurant category is immune to the siren call of Instagrammability, from fine dining to fast food.

Taco Bell, perhaps the most Instagram-friendly fast food operation of the bunch, prioritizes the look of its Quesalupa in photos. A team monitors social media looking for customers who may be disappointed by the way the cheese stretches, and uses that feedback to ensure its restaurants are constructing and serving the item properly. And the restaurant freely admits Instagram played a pivotal part in the development of its new breakfast item, the Naked Egg Taco.

For independent restaurants, Instagram-friendly touches like intricate floor tiles, a cheeky neon sign, or well-designed menus all elevate digital profiles. And, according to the New York Times, at least one grad student (presumably a millennial) believes that Instagrammability is the path to success for a restaurant. “I don’t know why more restaurants aren’t doing this. You could become super successful by just painting a wall pink.” (No word on whether or not the quality of the food matters.)

Instagram fatigue has to come sometime, though; even the most avid Instagrammer has a limit for millennial pink walls and cheeky chalkboards on the sidewalk positioned to entice customers to step inside. (Or maybe they’re just meant for passersby to photograph; who needs to try the food?)

Delivery Differentiated from In-Restaurant Experiences

Delivery and in-restaurant dining are as alike as grocery store shopping and eating out. While they’re different means of getting to the same end (feed me!), delivery’s impact on restaurants is marked. While a restaurant doesn’t need to have a physical dining room to offer delivery, restaurants with dining rooms are continuing to partner with delivery services to both expand their reach and draw more income from an increasingly delivery-hungry crowd.

One of the summer’s biggest acquisition announcements mirrors this differentiation, as Yelp sold its Eat24 delivery business to a former rival, Grubhub. Yelp holds solid dominance in the recommendations-and-reviews market, but the sale of its delivery business signals Yelp’s renewed focus on the in-restaurant experience for guests (other arms of its business, including reservations, are growing).

Delivery’s popularity is also changing the way we experience even the most ubiquitous, time-tested restaurants. McDonald’s touted the availability of delivery at 7,800 of its restaurants this year (most partnering with UberEats to provide the service), and has started experimenting with new store layouts to accommodate delivery orders and drivers. Starbucks and Subway are also experimenting with changing in-store layouts, both as a result of new mobile ordering technology. Also telling: highlights from second quarter earnings calls show that restaurant brands are giving lots of weight to the full customer experience, creating desirable, tech-forward physical locations to attract and retain business.

[wtburadio]

REVIEW: The Joy Formidable @ ONCE Ballroom 03/02

Photo by Kristen Lay

Sitting around a campfire on a chilly day surrounded by good company and good music is really something great. It’s even better when that good company and good music is Welsh alternative rock band The Joy Formidable. Thursday night was the last of their seven-day Leave No Trace tour which featured a semi-acoustic performance from the band in a campfire-esque setting, complete with a fake fire pit, teepee, lanterns, and string lights.

Joining The Joy Formidable for two nights was indie folk musician Phoebe Bridgers. Bridgers set the stage with her soft, acoustic songs, accompanied by best friend Harrison Whitford on electric guitar. Though at one point the loud bass of some party music could be heard from next door—which one concert-goer said was from the neighboring church—her captivating voice outshone it. She added a bit of humor in regard to the church in introducing her next song about serial killers, saying “They’re all religious, right?” Before finishing her set, she paid tribute to fellow Bostonites The Lemonheads with her song about frontman Evan Dando’s solo album, Baby I’m Bored.

The Joy Formidable began soon after and opened with “The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie” from their first album, The Big Roar, delivering it as loud and powerfully as the original version to the sold out crowd. Several other old favorites appeared that night, including “The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade,” “A Heavy Abacus,” and “Whirring,” which transitioned into the Welsh version of the song, “Chwyrlio.”

A notable addition to the set was harpist Stephanie Babirak, who played during “Whirring,” “Underneath the Petal,” and “Sleep is Day.”

Among songs from their own discography, they performed a cover of Elvis Costello’s “Lip Service.” Lead singer/guitarist Ritzy Bryan credited Elvis Costello as being the performer of her first concert she attended when she was 7 years old.

Despite this being a mainly acoustic show, The Joy Formidable’s performance was anything but reserved as they channeled the same dynamic energy seen at any show they play. This was especially seen during “Blowing Fire” off their latest LP, Hitch. It’s a song which singer/guitarist Rhydian Dafydd and Bryan said they wrote during a time of frustration.

Periodically in between songs, the band engaged in plenty of playful bickering among each other which amused the audience and created a much looser, more casual feeling than at a typical show. This also gave plenty of time for drummer Matt Thomas to get in more than a few words. “This is why you don’t give a mic to the drummer,” Dafydd joked after Thomas said a string of nonsensical things. Dafydd also showed us the kind of “shite” Thomas put on his keyboard effects, with the chorus excerpt from “All Star” by Smash Mouth being the most comical.

The Joy Formidable also had a bit of a surprise for the audience; they gave away a few mugs that they had made. Audience members would win a mug upon answering on-the-spot questions, such as asking the difference between a xylophone and a glockenspiel (answer: the glockenspiel has metal bars, the xylophone doesn’t). The band also recalled their first gig in Boston at the Great Scott five years ago—as well as an unfortunate mishap at Harper’s Ferry—Bryan stating that “Boston is a good city for music.”

During the encore, they opened with a cover of Angelo Badalamenti’s “Twin Peaks Theme,” a delightful surprise for myself and the other Twin Peaks fans in the audience. Two personal favorites of mine, “Cradle” and “Llaw = Wall,” from their first album followed after. Dafydd sang the vocals for “Llaw = Wall” with Bryan joining in at certain parts to create a harmonious unison. Their set ended with “Sleep Is Day” off their newest EP Sleep Is Day, and the band left the stage with a standing ovation.

The Joy Formidable put on a unique performance that exceeded my expectations and which I felt fortunate to have experienced. Though Bryan says they probably won’t do anything like this again, I believe the Leave No Trace tour succeeded in showcasing their talent and versatility. For now, the band says they will be going into hiding to work on the new record, but hopefully it won’t be too long before Boston welcomes them again.

-Kristen Lay