#J.J. Reilly

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Portrait of a lady in San Francisco, no date.  Photographer unknown (but based on the configuration of the floor vase, possibly William Shew’s studio).  

Images of Chinese Pioneer Women on the Urban Frontier

Chinese American women have a rich and complex history that spans more than 170 years. From the mid-19th to the early 20th century, Chinese American women faced many challenges and obstacles as they worked to establish themselves in the United States.

Although few in number, women were among the first wave of Chinese arriving in the United States during the latter half of the 19th century, largely during, and as a result of, the California Gold Rush.  When the American ship Eagle arrived at San Francisco on February 2, 1848, two Chinese men and one woman supposedly accompanied a Charles V. Gillespie upon his disembarking.  According to H.H. Bancroft in his History of California (San Francisco, 1890, Vol. 7, p. 336), the Chinese men left for the hills after the news of the discovery of gold, and the woman remained as a servant in the Gillespie household.

Portrait of a lady, no date.  Photograph possibly by Lai Yong (from a private collection).

At this time, Chinese women were virtually absent from the American West, as they were barred from immigrating to the United States by discriminatory laws such as the Page Act of 1875 (Sect. 141, 18 Stat. 477, 3 March 1875).  The law represented the first restrictive federal immigration law in the United States, which effectively prohibited the entry of Chinese women, marking the end of open borders.  (Seven years later, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act would effectively ban immigration by Chinese men.)  Named after its sponsor, Representative Horace F. Page, a Republican representing California who introduced it to “end the danger of cheap Chinese labor and immoral Chinese women,” the law technically barred immigrants considered “undesirable.”  This included women who were believed to be prostitutes, as well as women who were considered to be morally loose or of questionable character.

Portrait of a woman, c. 1870.  Photographer unknown (from the collection of the California Historical Society).

Chinese women who sought entry to the US at San Francisco would be interrogated, and their faces compared with images produced by the then-growing photographic identification industry to serve the government’s need to screen and deny entry to immigrants.  

William Shew’s Pioneer Gallery, young woman with fan, after 1880, albumen cabinet cards (from the collection of the California Historical Society).

According to historian Eithne Luibheid, Chinese women were subject to this method of identification prior to any other immigrant group because of the “threat of their sexuality to the United States.”  Thus, Chinese women had to demonstrate that they grew up in respectable families and that their husbands could afford to support them in the United States.  Immigration official considered a range of clues about an entrant’s character based on the appearance of the body and clothing in an effort to differentiate between bona fide wives and mothers from prostitutes.  In contrast, men were not required to carry photographs or match photographs that had been sent in advance to San Francisco Port authorities.

William Shew’s Pioneer Gallery, young woman with fan, c.1880, albumen cabinet cards, from the collection of the California Historical Society.

It would not be unreasonable to conclude that the challenge posed by the entry of Chinese immigrant women drove the deployment of photograph technology on a mass basis as a principal means by which the government sought through each stage of the examination process to ensure that unqualified women could not be substituted for women who were properly questioned at any point in time.

Portraits of two different women in the collection of the Stanford Manuscripts division of the Stanford University Libraries.  Based on the pattern of the backdrop and the decorative furnishings, the two portraits above appear to have been taken in the Shew’s studio near Chinatown at 523 Kearny Street in San Francisco.  Two centuries later, the pair of Stanford photos prompts speculation why the women in both photos wear identical outfits.  The coincidence raises the question about whether the women were related, or if the studio provided the garment for its customers to help them prove their bona fides as daughters or wives of a merchant and, thus, eligible to stay in the US.  

The Page Act had a profound effect on Chinese American women, as it was used to justify the exclusion of Chinese women from the United States. Many Chinese women were denied entry on the grounds that they were suspected of being prostitutes, despite having no evidence to support these claims. The 1875 law represented the opening shot in a larger legislative war against Chinese Americans, which included discriminatory laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. These laws contributed to a hostile environment for Chinese Americans, and made it difficult for Chinese women to establish themselves in the United States.

Portrait of a 19th century Chinese woman, no date. Photographer unknown (from a private collection). Based on the pattern of the backdrop, the photograph was probably taken at the studio of either Chin K. Toy of 824 Clay St. or L.H. Sun of 827-1/2 Washington Street.

The few Chinese women who did come to the United States often faced extreme poverty and discrimination.  Women who lacked the financial security of merchant spouses worked as members of the laboring class, toiling long hours like their husbands.  In the late 1870s, a few could be found as domestics or in intensive labor industries as seamstresses, washerwomen, shirtmakers, gardeners, and fisherwomen.  

“Carrying New Year Presents” c. 1900-1905.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division).  The young woman in the photo appears to have been a servant to the family of prominent merchant Lew Kan. The boy in the photo is Lew Bing Yuen, the older son, who also appears in Genthe’s well-known photo “Children of the High Class.” The woman’s plain dress (in contrast to the boy’s seasonal garb), shows clearly that she was not the boy’s mother or sister.  The pair is walking east on Sacramento Street from its intersection with Dupont Street.  

The servant seen in the above photo  – nanny or otherwise – could very well be characterized as a mui tsai (妹仔; canto: “mui jai”).  The “little sister” were essentially young Chinese women who worked as domestic servants in China, in virtual slavery to affluent households or brothels.  The young women were typically drawn from poor families and sold at young ages to merchant families during this period.  This form of charitable adoption continued on the condition that they would be freed through marriage. The system spread to Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and to the US.  The practice didn’t disappear with the Republic’s founding, and the rescue of such women was the objective of Protestant reformers, notably in San Francisco.  Mui jai would start to disappear only after the establishment of effective 2nd and 3rd generation families in the US later in the 20th century.

“A Woman House Servant” c. 1896 - 1906.  c. 1900-1905.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division). Based on her plain attire and walking unaccompanied on a Chinatown street, historian Jack Tchen has suggested that the woman served as a domestic servant for one of the neighborhood’s wealthier families. 

“An Afternoon Airing” c. 1900-1905.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division).  The little girl is dressed in New Year’s festive clothing, and she is walking on Dupont Street with her amah.  As historian Jack Tchen observes about this photo, the girl’s parents were wealthy enough to employ a domestic servant.

In family-run operations, like laundries or grocery stores, the line between business owner and laborer blurred, and wives were often compelled to work alongside their husbands to keep their businesses afloat.

“Picture Bride Yook Gee” c. 1898.  Photographer unknown (from the collection of the San Francisco Public Library).

“And what of those Chinese women who came to America as wives?” asked historian Iris Chang wrote in her book, The Chinese in America.   “In China, society mandated that a married woman’s life centered on the family, serving them from cradle to grave.  According to one school of ancient Chinese philosophy, the “Three Obediences” dictated that she first obey her father, then her husband after marriage, and finally her eldest son when widowed.”

A portrait of a merchant and his wife, no date.  Photograph by Shew’s studio (from a private collection).  The joint portrait likely served as proof of the woman’s status as a merchant’s spouse and to avoid the restrictions imposed by the Page Act of 1875 which limited the entry of Chinese women to the US so severely that Chinese were effectively precluded from establishing families.  

Chang on merchant spouses:

“Because the average worker could not afford to support a family in the United States, most Chinese women emigrants who were not prostitutes were wives of merchants. Most had grown up in modest but respectable families in small villages near Canton. They tended to be middle-class, because upper-class families would not allow their daughters to marry outside China, and because many Chinese merchants in the United States considered working-class women beneath them. . . .

“No. 108. Chinese Merchant and Wife, San Francisco, Cal.” c. 1875.  Photograph by John James Reilly (from the collections of the Oakland Museum of California and the New York Public Library).

“Having been raised in a protected, insular household, the typical merchant’s wife had never ventured far beyond her village until journeying to the United States. Even more problematic was the fact that the middle and upper classes in China practiced the nine-hundred-year-old tradition of bandaging a young girl’s toes under the ball of her foot, reducing the foot to a length of five or even three inches. Reflecting the same impulse as the Western fashion of warping the female ribcage with corsets, foot-binding existed primarily to symbolize a family’s wealth and power, advertising its ability to support a nonworking, purely ornamental human being.

“B 5493 Chinese Girl with Bound Feet” c. 1880. Photograph by Isaiah West Taber (from the collection of the Bancroft Library).

“For many of the wives, home in the United States was nothing more than a gilded prison, where they were jealously guarded as treasured possessions. Some Chinese immigrant women could easily count the number of times in their lives they had ever stepped outdoors. “My father traveled all over the world,” one Chinese American remembered, “but his wife could not go into the street by herself.” Only during holidays were some permitted to venture out, accompanied by a chaperone. . . .”

“No doubt many Chinese men felt they had good reason to keep their wives under lock and key. The scarcity of women in the West and the violence of frontier society posed a very real danger of kidnapping or molestation in the streets.  A bound-foot woman could neither run from assailants nor fend off attacks. Indeed, with several toes rotted away from foot-binding, she could hardly walk—or even remain standing—for an extended period of time. The annals of nineteenth-century California recount many stories of helpless Chinese women being thrown down into the mud, dragged by the hair, pelted with stones, their clothes and earrings yanked off.

“So perhaps staying indoors was safer, though less than stimulating.  One wife whiled away the hours playing cards with her servant, looking after her son, gossiping with neighbors, or hiring a hairdresser or a female storyteller to entertain her.  . . .”

The photographic record, however, suggests that Chang may have overstated the limitations on movement by the women of Chinatown at least toward the end of the 19th century.

“Single-file Promenade on Post St. San Francisco Cal” c. 1890.  Photograph by A.J. McDonald (from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection).

“Going to the Matinee, Chinatown” c. 1889.  Photograph by A.J. McDonald (from the Jesse B. Cook collection of the Bancroft Library).  In this striking photo showing the hairstyles of Chinese American women of the time, a trio of women are shown walking east on Washington Street (from Stockton Street) and down the slight hill.  The women with the longer braids are unmarried (as was the fashion of the time), and probably daughters following their mother.  McDonald’s title of the photo, and the known locations of Chinese opera venues on this block provide context for the trio’s walking this particular street during the day; they are either headed to the Royal Theatre at 836 Washington Street or the Grand Theatre at 814 Washington toward the eastern end of the block.

Three women walking on Kearny Street on the outskirts of San Francisco Chinatown, c. 1896-1906.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the Arnold Genthe collection at the Library of Congress).

“Dressed for the Feast,” c. 1896-1906.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the collection of the Library of Congress).  For this photo taken at 814 Washington Street, historian Jack Tchen wrote as follows:  “The single braid of the woman on the right indicates that she is not married.  Interwoven with the hair is raw silk to extend the length of the queue.  In contrast to the men, women did not shave their foreheads.  Once every seven years the ‘Good Lady Festival’ was celebrated in Tangrenbu, during which all the women in the quarter were accorded the same rights as men and allowed to walk the streets freely.”

In her essay “The Chinese Woman in America,” Edith Maud Eaton, a Eurasian writer who used the pen name Sui Sin Far, offered a glimpse of merchant women’s lives:

“Now and then the women visit one another. They laugh at the most commonplace remark and scream at the smallest trifle, they examine one another’s dresses and hair, talk about their husbands, their babies, their food, squabble over little matters and make up again, they dine on bowls of rice, minced chicken, bamboo shoots and a dessert of candied fruits.  In contrast, other Chinese wives did not enjoy the luxury of idleness.”

“Golden Gate Park. 1890s.”  Photographer unknown (from the collection of the Bancroft Library).  As the above photo of a family in Golden Gate Park attests, San Francisco’s first Chinese residents also enjoyed the park.  However, such daytime leisurely pursuits, which presumably included transportation to the western half of the city either by horse-drawn cart or cable car, would have been the privilege of a merchant’s household during the 19th century.  The Bancroft collection’s striking photo captured not only a very rare instance of a Chinese family in the park but also the social standing of a fan-carrying, male head of household; he appears to have been accompanied by a young wife, his mother, and either a maid or an aunt of the three children shown in the photo.

As Chang writes further:

“Difficult as her life could be, the typical Chinese wife had more power in the United States than she could have achieved in her home village.  First and most important, she had escaped the tyranny of her mother-in-law.  In China, a daughter-in-law lived with her husband’s family and endured her husband’s mother’s hazing until she gave birth to a son; bearing a male child validated her existence and earned her the respect of the family.  Her power grew with each additional male child and climaxed when she became a mother-in-law herself, attaining the authority to perpetuate the tradition by bullying her sons’ wives.”

Despite these challenges, Chinese American women formed close-knit communities and found ways to support each other. They played important roles in the development of early Chinese American society, providing care for families, organizing social events, and raising funds for community causes.

“No. 142. Chinese Woman and Child. San Francisco, Cal.” c. 1870-1889.  Photograph probably by John James Reilly (from the collection of the Bancroft Library).  This studio stereograph of a Chinese mother and child represents more than venerating the relationship of mother and child, or even the mere striving for respectability by Chinese America’s merchant class. Such photographs conferred on pioneer Chinese American women and mothers often crucial legal advantage in the US immigration process.

Chang:

“Perhaps most significantly, the Chinese emigrant wives also mothered a tiny population of American children.  In 1876, the Chinese Six Companies estimated that a few hundred Chinese families lived in America, and perhaps one thousand Chinese children.  In the long run, these infants, the first generation born in America, would enjoy more rights and privileges in the United States than their immigrant parents.  Most were too young then to know that heated racial discussions were under way in Congress and across the country, negotiations about civil rights that would profoundly affect their future.”

Mother and child, San Francisco CA, no date.  Photographer unknown.

“A Street Scene in Chinatown. San Francisco, Cal.” c. 1881.  Photograph by A.J. McDonald (from a private collection).

Mother and child, San Francisco CA, c. 1880.  Photograph by William Shew (from a private collection).

Chinese mother and two children, c. 1880. Photograph by Allen’s (apparently using props identical to those seen in Shew’s studio portrait) from a private collection. 

“Woman and children walking down a street, Chinatown, San Francisco,” c. 1896-1906.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division).

“Woman walking down a street with a child,” c. 1896-1906.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division).

A mother and two children walking south along Waverly Place in old San Francisco Chinatown at the northwest corner of the intersection with Clay Street, c. 1900.  Photographer unknown (courtesy of the National Archives; photo also in the collection of the California Historical Society).  The elaborate headdress worn by the daughter at right indicates that the photo was probably taken during the New Year holidays.

Iris Chang's book, The Chinese in America: A Narrative History, provides a detailed account of the lives of Chinese women prostitutes in the 19th century.  According to Chang, many Chinese women were forced into prostitution due to poverty, lack of opportunities, and gender inequality. These women were often sold or kidnapped and transported to the United States, where they were forced to work in brothels and other sex establishments.

Portrait of a simply dressed, unadorned girl, c. 1860s – 1890s.  Photograph by E.W. Baker (from the Cooper Chow collection at the Chinese Historical Society of America).  This image represents an unusual departure from the formal portraiture made to show well-being and status of Chinese women, especially merchant spouses or daughters.  According to CHSA archivist Palma You, “the lack of shoes, plain clothing and hair, straightforward gaze and stance, and lack of props imply she may have been photographed to show ownership or perhaps to provide information for a future sale as a servant, slave, prostitute, or a mui tsai, known as "domestic slave girl.”

“The mui tsai, from Cantonese meaning little sister [妹仔; Canto: mūi jái] , was a cultural carryover from China;” wrote CHSA archivist Palma You.  “[T]he system was generally regarded as a form of charity for impoverished girls.  Under the system, poor parents sold a young daughter into domestic service, usually stipulating in a deed of sale that she be freed through marriage when she turned eighteen.  Girls sold to rich and benevolent owners supposedly benefitted from the system. Well fed, clothed, and sheltered, they were known to establish long-lasting affectionate relationships with their mistresses.  In contrast, Chinese girls kidnapped, lured, or purchased from poor parents and trafficked into California were considered chattel, without family, language skills, or the ability to negotiate in a foreign land, would ‘become household slaves, or, more probably, prostitutes for the rest of their lives.’ (Wu, 2001).  

“The Street of the Slave Girls,” c. 1900-1905.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division).  “This woman is burning special prayer papers in the square incinerator can,” wrote historian Jack Tchen. “This is the Buddhist ritual practiced twice a month, at half-moon and full moon.  Genthe entitled this photograph ‘The Street of the Slave Girls.’  Although there was no street by that name in English or Chinese, the highest concentrations of Chinese prostitutes were on Bartlett Alley and Baker’s (or Sullivan’s) Alley.  The woman shown in this photograph is wearing very plain work clothes, and it is difficult to say if she was a prostitute or housewife.”

As Palma You of the Chinese Historical Society of America writes:

“Chinese girls and women fell victim to a notorious system of slave trafficking, shrewdly devised by Chinese secret societies called ‘tongs,’ during the 1800s and early 1900s in San Francisco. Many San Francisco officials condoned—indeed, supported this slave trade... (Wu, 2001).  Research shows some mui tsai were not perpetual victims and demonstrated great strength in the face of adversity as they strived to improve their own conditions and prospered as a madam. A few become wealthy supporting themselves in the business.  The mui tsai system persisted until the first half of the 20th century. By the 1920s the system pretty much phased out.”

“Slave Girl in Holiday Attire,” c. 1900 -1905.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division).  This image was captured at the intersection of Dupont and Jackson streets. “The baroque-style Globe Hotel,” wrote historian Jack Tchen, “now occupied by Chinese, stood on the northwest corner, from which tours of Chinatown often started. Jackson Street was the red light district of Chinatown.” The term “slave girl,” Tchen asserted, “was used loosely to designate Chinese women sold on contracts. This woman is said to have been an especially beautiful and popular prostitute. It was fairly unusual for a woman to walk un-escorted in public.”

Chinese women prostitutes faced a range of challenges and dangers, including physical and sexual abuse, disease, and discrimination. They were also subjected to restrictive laws and regulations that further limited their freedom and autonomy.

Young woman walking with apparent escort(s), no date.  Photographer unknown (from the Cooper Chow collection at the Chinese Historical Society of America).  Research about this image is continuing, but the collector asserts that this rare image shows a slave girl probably walking on Dupont Street, accompanied by possibly two Chinese bodyguards and the non-Chinese man seen at the left of the photo.

“In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Jackson & Washington Streets were lined with ‘cribs,’ makeshift twelve-by-fifteen-foot stalls where the favors of Chinese girls could be purchased. The cribs were generally divided into two rooms by a curtain; through the inset barred window in the narrow door, the girls enticed men by displaying their upper bodies.” 

-- From Dr. Weirde's Guide to Mysterious San Francisco.

“B 3015 A Chinese bagnio, San Francisco” c. 1885-1888.  Photograph by Isaiah West Taber (from the Martin Behrman collection and the collection of the Bancroft Library).

The experiences of Chinese women prostitutes were shaped by larger social and economic forces. The Page Act compounded the exclusions against Chinese immigration to the United States, and it perpetuated the marginalization and exclusion of Chinese women. The oppressive law (combined with anti-miscegenation laws), created a scarcity of women and, hence, drove the demand for, and growth of, the American sex industry to serve Chinatown’s bachelor societies in the American West.  

“B 3018 A Chinese Bagnio, San Francisco” c. 1885-1888.  Photograph by Isaiah West Taber (from the Martin Behrman collection, courtesy of the Golden Gate NRA, Park Archives). Woman standing in doorway of alley. View south on an as yet unidentified alleyway.  The number of the negative suggests that Taber took this photograph of the alleyway (Bartlett?) after the preceding photo depicting a woman behind the window screen.  

“3722 Chinese Bagnio. Chinatown, S.F., Cal.” C. 1890.  Photograph by Isaiah West Taber (from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection and the Bancroft Library).

Untitled, c. 1880s.  Photographer unknown published by Schoene of San Francisco (from a private collection). The building facade appears adjacent to the frontage of the Chinese bagnio building photographed by I.W. Taber.  

Despite obstacles, many Chinese women prostitutes were able to develop their own support networks and communities, often centered on their brothels and other sex establishments.  The historical record is replete with examples of agency and resilience, as Chinese women often found ways to resist and challenge their oppressive conditions.  

Tye Leung, second from left, back row, stands with a group of children and staff from the Presbyterian mission where she worked with Donaldina Cameron, center, a crusading anti-prostitution and anti-trafficking activist. Photo courtesy of the California History Room, California State Library, Sacramento, California.  After marrying a white man in defiance of the state’s anti-miscegenation statute, Tye Leung Schulze she became the first Chinese American woman to work for the US federal government and an advocate for trafficked women, as well as the first to vote in the US when she cast a ballot in San Francisco on May 19, 1912.

As Chinese American communities grew and established themselves in cities across the United States, Chinese American women continued to face discrimination and prejudice. They were often paid less than their male counterparts, and were denied opportunities for education and advancement. However, they also worked tirelessly to improve their communities and secure a better future for their families. Despite the ongoing challenges they faced, Chinese American women remained resilient and determined.  They continued to make significant contributions to American society, while making important strides in the face of extreme adversity. 

Many Chinese American women formed women's organizations and worked to improve health care and educational opportunities for women and children.  By the first quarter of the 20th century, they had established themselves as key participants in the lives of their communities, working to create a better future for themselves while creating first sizeable second generation of Chinese Americans.

The board of directors of the Chinatown YWCA, c. 1930.  Photographer unknown (from the collection of the Chinese Historical Society of America).  To view a video by documentarian Felicia Lowe about the establishment of the Chinese YWCA go here.

The history of Chinese American women from 1849 and into the 20th century is one of struggle and perseverance in the face of adversity. Despite facing discrimination and prejudice at every turn, these women formed strong communities, worked to improve their communities, and played important roles in shaping the early history of Chinese in the United States.  

Let us now praise pioneer Chinese American women.

Woman walks in an alleyway of San Francisco Chinatown, no date.  Photographer unknown.

Portrait of Chinese woman, no date. Photographer unknown.

[updated 2023-3-13]

[suchananewsblog]

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GAMES

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[arinbelle]

Mafia Romance Book Recommends

@unhealthyfanobsession Lemme know if you've read any!

For @perseusannabeth who needs the new recs. SIM I FOUND THE POST!!!!

Okay my thirsty babies, you asked for it.

Here is my list of Mafia Romances if you are into that. Now this is not at all an exhaustive list of every book I read in this genre because um...yeah that would be too many. No I will not apologize for how I have devoured these smutty nonsense books with sometimes no plot and all smut. I refuse. That being said, these are the ones I still remember and enjoyed and are genuinely worth reading. If they’re meh but still okay, I will put it here. 

Tagging @inardour​ my fellow Mafia romance stan as well as @rodgerthatpartner​ and @ncssian​ who posted the meme below and inspired this post.

1) Ruthless People by J.J. McAvoy- Apparently, based on a Twilight fanfiction. In my mind, should have been more popular, I said what I said. Think, Bella but not simping for Edward. Think Bella knows how to fight and use guns, think Bella is the boss in the relationship and Edward just has to deal. Also their names are Liam and Melody and idk, I just love them and this series a lot.

2) Born in Blood series by Cora Reilly- okay now this is the definition of the feminism just leaves my body when I read this book. This whole series. In fact anything by this author.  I still love it.

Bound by Honor- She’s arranged to marry the boss once she turns 18. Yes it is one of those. Surprisingly, it’s also pretty good. The girl isn’t much to fight back, she cries alot, but the guy is also very soft with her eventually and it is also the definition of I’m horrible to and hate everyone in the world but you. (Aria and Luca are Feysand change my mind)

Bound by Hatred- THE BEST ONE AND NO ONE CAN CHANGE MY MIND. (Gianna and Mateo ARE Nessian and no I will not take criticisms)

Bound by Temptation-meh but very cutesy sweet and the couple, Lily and Romero are very Elriel to me, but maybe that’s just me.

The others, good enough for a quick read, not my favs.

3) The Camorra Chronicles by Cora Reilly- takes characters from the Born in Blood series- elaborates. The one book I will say let me down was the one with the middle brother. I didn’t like how hyped I got for his book and how much of a disappointment he was. Like he always got portrayed as a pig and secretly sweet, but then his book came and I was like oh, so, a pig. Book 1 and 2 though- good stuff

4)Dirty Angels by Karina Halle- I believe this is only 2 or 3 books and be very warned, this one is DARK. Like disturbingly so. Like all the mafia books usually are but this one takes the cake, has a birthday, and give goodie bags at the end. But it’s very good. Disturbing. But very good. Not mafia, this one is Mexican cartel. I think I would reread this one actually.

5)Vendetta (series) by Catherine Doyle- This one is just *chef’s kiss* You don’t expect this one to be as good as it is. It really pulls an Acotar on you and no I will not elaborate. Enjoy and read it yourself.

6) The Chicago War series- Now I highly recommend every single one of these. Yes they’re smutty but I feel like I never felt like I was losing my feminism reading them. Rare. I think my favorite was Breathless and Bloodstained (book 4). Highly highly recommended to read

7) Made series- 

Book 1-The Sweetest Oblivion- very good. Funny and enjoyable. A quick read, steamy.

Book 2- The Maddest Obsession- THE BEST ONE I AM NOT OVER HOW GOOD THIS ONE WAS. ALL THE TROPES, SO GOOD. SO STEAMY. BETTER THAN THE FIRST. Highly recommended to read, but read the first one first for context

Book 3- Read it a week ago. Skipped around, didn’t love love it. Enjoyed it though. He slaps her once and I just kept telling myself she’s his prisoner, they aren’t together her, he doesn’t do that when they are. But it’s...not for the faint of heart.

8) Crow’s Row by Julie Hockley- I have a love/hate relationship with this one. Because it’s good. Lime damn good. And then book 2 is angst personified, and GOOD. And the ending is such a cliffhanger. And the author’s been writing the last book for idk, 8 years? It’s just not happening anymore and I’m so sad how it ends unfinished.

9) Where the Sun Hides (series) by Bethany-Kris and London Miller- SO GOOD. Think Italian daughter of mob boss meets Russian Bratva leader. Children of bosses who are feuding, in love. It’s forbidden romance, it’s sneaking around, it’s omg what if we get caught. It’s. Oh. So. Good. 

10) The Arrangement by Bethany-Kris- I didn’t finish after book 2 but it’s also very good. The girl doesn’t take crap which I adore.

Bonus: Filthy Marcellos by Bethany Kris- Still have to read, if you’ve read it, tell me how it is

[denver-carrington]

In memory of John Reilly, who passed away at the age of 86 on January 9. He played J.J., a business associate of Dominique’s, in a couple of episodes of Season 5. He is probably best remembered for his work on the daytime soaps, particularly as Sean Donely on General Hospital.

[valleykeke]

The Shining & Justice League Dark Series Coming From Bad Robot & HBO!

After teaming up with the production company for the wildly acclaimed Westworld, HBO is continuing its partnership with J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath’s Bad Robot Productions by ordering three new series for the upcoming streaming service, HBO Max, including new adaptations of The Shining and Justice League Dark!

The first series Duster, is to be co-written by J.J. Abrams & LaToya Morgan. Set in the 1970’s Southwest, the life of a gutsy getaway driver for a growing crime syndicate goes from awful to wildly, stupidly, dangerously awful. Morgan is currently a writer on The Walking Dead. Previously, she was a co-executive producer and writer of AMC’s Into the Badlands and TURN: Washington’s Spies and was a writer for NBC’s Parenthood and Showtime’s Shameless.

The second series, Overlook, is a horror-thriller series inspired by and featuring iconic characters from Stephen King’s masterpiece The Shining. Overlook explores the untold, terrifying stories of the most famous haunted hotel in American fiction and reunites Bad Robot with King and Warner Bros. Television, who previously collaborated on the acclaimed psychological-horror series Castle Rock for Hulu.

“What an amazing start to our association with the wildly imaginative Bad Robot team under J.J. and Katie,” Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer, HBO Max and President, TNT, TBS, & truTV, said in a statement. “What could be better than an original J.J. idea and then Warner Bros. letting them loose on iconic I.P. from Stephen King and the DC Universe and to provide more must-have programming on HBO Max.”

The third series will be an adaptation of the acclaimed DC comics characters Justice League Dark, though details on who will be involved, characters or otherwise, have yet to be revealed by HBO Max or Bad Robot.

All of the Bad Robot series for HBO Max will be executive produced by J.J. Abrams and its Head of Television, Ben Stephenson. Rachel Rusch Rich, Bad Robot’s Executive Vice President of Television will serve as a co-executive producer. Warner Bros. International Television Distribution will be the global distributor for the programs.

[addictedforbooksquad]

do yall have any book recs for mafia or spy romances?

Hmm, so don’t read many books in that subgenre but let’s see…How about these for mafia romance:

Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles by Cora Reilly

The Camorra Chronicles by Cora Reilly

Pursuit by Fiona Davenport

A Love of Vengeance by Nancy Haviland

King of Diamonds by Renee Rose

Cole by Tijan

Bennett Mafia by Tijan

Ruthless People by J.J. McAvoy

Crow's Row by Julie Hockey

And we’ve already had an ask about spy romance, you can find some recs here: X

Happy reading!

Booksquad

[fatstinkynuts]

NOW YOU ANSWER ALL OF THEM

aaaaaaaaAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaA I had to draft this last night drunk off my ass lmoa

A movie you’ve seen most times in cinema.I saw Godzila KOTM twice like a responsible adult.

Your most rewatched movie.

I’ve watched John Carpenter’s The Thing once a year since I saw 7, plus a few showings to friends, so that’s roughly 36 times.

A movie you quote on a daily basis.

Kung Pow: Enter The Fist: “Let your anger be as a monkey in a pinata.. hiding amongst the candy.. hoping the kids don’t break through with the stick!

Favorite movie soundtrack.

Godzilla (1954)

Top 5 films of your favorite actor and actress.

Kurt Russel: The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, Escape From New York, Stargate, Tombstone. And for Sigourney Weaver: Alien, Aliens, Ghostbusters, Cabin In The Woods, Galaxy Quest. Pretty much applies to their Top 5 Performances for me NO I AM NOT USING AN EXCUSE TO SKIP IT.

A movie storyline you wish you had actually lived.

Pacific Rim, because holy SHIT dude.

A movie that reminds you of your mom.

The Thing. Thanks for letting me scar myself at 3am with cable tv one summer when I was 7.

A movie that reminds you of your dad.

The Godzilla franchise. He bought me every film on VHS that was available in the US, took me to see the 1998 film, the first and only wide released TOHO film Godzilla 2000, and continuing to watch all the new ones since 2016. Thanks, dad.

Favorite movies from your childhood.

Godzilla, Carnosaur, Xtro, The Fly, Mortal Kombat, The Thang

Favorite quote(s).

I know you gentlemen have been through a lot. But when you find the time… I’d rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!

Top 5 favorite female performances.

Anne Hathaway (Colossal), Sigourney Weaver (Aliens), Miho Yoshioka (Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S.), Rinko Kikuchi (Pacific Rim), Naomie Harris (28 Days Later)

Top 5 favorite male performances.

Keith David (The Thing), Roddy Piper (They Live), Idris Elba (Pacific Rim), John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane), Chris Pine (Into The Woods)

Favorite year for movies.

Can’t quite place a good exact year, but a number of my favorites mainly came from the early 80s period.

Your favorite movies from [insert year].

2016 brought us Arrival, Shin Godzilla, Colossal and Train To Busan off the top of my head.

Favorite [insert actor/actress/director] movies?

John Carpenter

List all you’ve seen from [insert actor/actress/director].

If you know his filmography, then there you go.

An underrated actor.

I don’t think John C. Reilly gets enough love. He played a really good serious and comedic role in Kong: Skull Island. He could do a lot more given the chance I think.

An underrated actress.

An underrated director.

Gareth Evans. Go watch The Raid 1 and 2.

An overrated actor.

Jim Carry.

An overrated actress.

Scarlett Johannsen

An overrated director.

J.J. Abrams. Wasn’t a big fan to begin with. Saw Super 8 when it came out, that REALLY didn’t help. I have no faith in whatever the hell he is doing with the supposedly still in development Half-Life and Portal films

A film you wish you had seen on the big screen.

Would have killed to see Shin Godzilla during the limited run here in the US. FUCK.

A movie you’ve seen that you think no one else’s here will have heard of?

Pontypool. Zombie film where the virus is transferred through language.

Favorite movie characters.

R.J. MacReady, Snake Plisskin, Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, Ellen Ripley, Mako Mori

A film that was better than the book.

Stalker was loosely based off Roadside Picnic, but I like how much more vague things were than straight up alien stuff.

Best remake.

The Thing, straight up

Your first favorite actor.

ARNIE

Your first favorite actress.

Sigourney Weaver

Favorite animated film.

Dead Leaves

Your most anticipated films.

Antlers, Godzilla vs Kong, new Tohoverse Godzilla films

Last movie that disappointed you.

Pacific Rim 2 was an absolute trash fire

Last movie that surpassed your expectations.

Rampage. It looked like a dumb, fun video game movie, but it ended up being a hell of a lot better than I expected. Hell, I loved it.

Actor in need of new agent.

idk lmoa

Actress in need of new agent.

I still dk lmoa

Share an unpopular film opinion you have.

Jar Jar was not so bad that his actor needed to be bullied so badly. Neither was Jake Lloyrd. You wouldn’t believe how many people shit on Jake Lloyd. Poor kid’s mental health suffered horribly and no one ever talks about him or how much they regret bullying him like they did Jar Jar’s actor. Also Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t attractive.

Favorite Oscar win/speech.

Biggest Oscar snub(s).

Who do you think is overdue for another nomination/win?

I have never watched the Oscars. For real.

How many movies have you seen (rough estimation)?

According to Letterboxed I’ve seen 2,032 films, counting short films.

A movie that made you go ‘wtf was that’.

The Void was an incoherent mess to me. Really sloppy editing and cuts made a lot of it just seem like a mess.

A film that scarred you.

The Thing made me afraid of dogs for a long time as a child

Most movies watched in a single day.

9 different Godzilla films across multiple eras

A film that always makes you cry.

I don’t fucking know why, but Click

A film that always makes you laugh.

Kung Pow

Movies that you think everyone should watch (not necessarily your favorites).

Critters 1-3, Gremlins, Pirahna, Kung Pow

A movie that took you a couple of viewings to appreciate.

Sunshine

A book you want to see adapted to the big screen.

Statement Of Randolph Carter and relative stories

A book you really, really, really don’t want to see made into a film.

A full adaptation of Roadside Picnic. Americans are already about to fuck up Metro 2033.

Favorite child performance.

Quinn Lord was creepy as Sam in Trick ‘r Treat

Favorite pre-code.

The Island Of Dr. Moreau

Favorite silent film.

Nosferatu

Favorite coming of age film.

CRITTERS

Favorite superhero film.

The Rocketeer

Best cinematography.

The Thing

Movies you know you should watch, but can’t bring yourself to do it?

John Wick, Shutter Island

Favorite genres.

Scifi, horror, comedy, action, western, romantic films

Least favorite genres.

coming of age films, torture porn

Biggest movie pet peeve.

characters more powerful than everyone else just because of writer self-insert bullshit, self-insert bullshit in general

[demospectator]

“No. 145. Chinese Restaurant, San Francisco. Cal.” c. 1875.  Stereograph by J.J. Reilly (from the collection of the Oakland Museum of California).

A Long-forgotten Jackson Street Restaurant

The albumen stereograph card by pioneer photographer John James Reilly held by the Oakland Museum of California (“OMCA”) depicts the exterior of a three-story building in San Francisco’s Chinatown.  Taken from an elevated position across the street and at a diagonal to the building, Reilly captured two façades visible from the street.  The exterior balcony of the third floor shows at least ten statues of venerated deities placed just outside the balcony’s railing across the entire width of the building’s frontage on Jackson Street.  Numerous potted plants wrap around the front and half of the balcony’s length along the side of the building facing out onto Washington Place (also known as “Fish Alley” to non-Chinese).  Two different pairs of lanterns are suspended from under the portion of roof overhanging the balcony.  Elaborately carved wooden floral pieces frame the center pair of doors opening to the balcony.  A common form of pennant can be seen hanging from an iron cross-mast mounting to one of the narrow columns supporting the cantilevered portion of the roof, probably advertising a tearoom at the topmost floor.

At the second floor’s balcony, English language signage appears above a circular, center window which the OMCA curator has erroneously discerned as “Chin Ying Low” over the word “Restaurant."  The barely discernible Chinese characters on the glass lanterns of the second floor balcony further attest to the restaurant’s name as 聚英楼 or, Cantonese pronunciation, “Jeuih Ying Lauh”). 

The Bishop directory of 1875 confirms, however, that the name of the restaurant’s name was “Choy Yan Low,” and its address listing read as follows:  “restaurant SE cor [sic] Washington alley and Jackson.”  According to the maps of that era, the southeast corner of the intersection corresponded to 633 Jackson St.  

The OMCA’s estimate about the year during which Reilly took his fascinating stereograph of the Chinese restaurant proved remarkably accurate – to the precise year.  As the 1876 Langley directory discloses, the restaurant had moved and reestablished itself one block away as the “Choy Yan Lou, 2 Washington Alley.”

The Wells Fargo Chinese business directory of 1878 confirmed its ongoing operation with a listing in Chinese as follows:  聚英樓號酒晏茶居德和街享, literally “Choy Ying Low, wine, quiet tea house – Tuck Wo Street [i.e., Washington Place]” (canto: “Jeuih Ying Lauh houh jau nan cha geui Duck Wo gaai heung;” pinyin: “Jùyīng lóu hào jiǔ yàn chá jū dé hé jiē xiǎng”).  

A portion of “No. 145. Chinese Restaurant, San Francisco. Cal.” c. 1875. Stereograph by J.J. Reilly (from the collection of the Oakland Museum of California).

Another restaurant was located next door to the Choy Yan Low on the 600-block of Jackson Street.  In the far left of the Reilly photo, the frontage of the “Yen Nem & Co Restaurant” (燕南樓; canto: “Yeen Nahm Lauh”) can be seen on the easterly adjacent side of the building in which Choy Yan Low was located.   For a half dozen years, the Yen Nem restaurant would continue to appear in listings variously and at alternate addresses as the “Yennem Low (Chinese) restaurant,” at 629 Jackson or “Yen Nam Low & Co.” and the “Yen Nem Low restaurant” at 627 Jackson.  The vertical signage along the left border of the photo is barely visible.  However, other photos of this block (notably by Carleton Watkins), show that the sign advertised arrangements for literally “Manchurian meat and vegetarian banquets” or follows: “燕南樓包辦滿漢葷素歌筳酒席”(pinyin: Yàn nán lóu bāobàn mǎn hàn hūn sù gē tíng jiǔxí; canto: “Yeen Nahm Lauh bau baan wuhn hon fun soe gaw ting jauh jik”).  With the presence of two major restaurants, ground floor retail stores, and the New Chinese Theater at 623 Jackson Street, this block of old Chinatown must have constituted a vibrant, commercial entertainment strip.

A detail from the 1885 map prepared for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from the Cooper Chow collection (at the Chinese Historical Society of America).

Reilly’s inclusion in his photograph of the western frontage of the Choy Ying Low building on Washington Place (now known as Wentworth), provides an intriguing hint about the three men seen to the right of the photo. Two individuals are standing outside the doorways to the ground floor spaces on Washington Place; a third man stands closer to the curb. All three men appear to be doing nothing except observing the street. Based on the detail of the 1885 map for this corner, their positioning coincides with the presence of gambling establishments and a pawnshop -- around the corner from the restaurant’s entrance and a couple of doors south on Washington Place, as would be shown a decade later on the city’s 1885 vice map. Thus, it would not be unreasonable to infer that Reilly’s photo captured two to three “look-see” men standing guard for the alleyway’s gambling operators .

With the presence of two major restaurants at 633 and 631 Jackson, ground floor retail stores, and the Cantonese opera offered by the New Chinese Theater at 623 Jackson Street, this block of old Chinatown must have constituted a vibrant, commercial entertainment strip during the late 1870′s.

“Chinese restaurant, Jackson St., S.F. 3753″ c. 1875. Stereograph by Carleton Watkins (from the public domain collection of the Getty Museum).  Judging from the angle of the sunlight along the length of Washington Place at the right of the frames, the photo was taken around mid-day.

Choy Ying Low, c. 1875. Photograph by Carleton Watkins (from the collection of the California State Library).  This print captures a wider angle view of the restaurant than the ones used for the stereograph.

Sometime in 1880, the Choy Ying Low apparently ceased operations.  By the following year, the Sing Sing poultry store occupied the 2 Washington Alley address, and another legendary Chinese restaurant had passed into history.

[updated: 2022-9-23]

[abhayhatia]

Elks 21, Lions 16: Edmonton spoils the birthday celebration, however no less than B.C. is again in the home

Elks 21, Lions 16: Edmonton spoils the birthday celebration, however no less than B.C. is again in the home

Breadcrumb Path Hyperlinks Sports activities Soccer CFL BC Lions The Lions drop to 1-2 at the season, whilst the Elks (1-2) picked up their first win of the season. Writer of the thing: J.J. Adams Publishing date: Aug 19, 2021  •  14 mins in the past  •  5 minute learn  •  Sign up for the dialog B.C. Lions QB Michael Reilly drops again to throw towards the Edmonton Elks in CFL motion at B.C.…

[aion-rsa]

Best Movies Coming to Netflix in July 2021

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Movies are back. It at least feels that way when you see the numbers that films like F9 and A Quiet Place Part II are earning. But more than just the thrill of going back to theaters, July signals what is typically considered to be the height of the summer movie season. On a hot evening, there are few things better than some cold air conditioning and a colder drink of your choice while escapism plays across a screen.

That can prove just as true at home as in theaters. And as luck would have it, Netflix is pretty stuffed with new streaming content this month. Below there are space adventures, comedies, dramas, and more than a few epics worth your attention, either as a revisit or new discovery. And we’ve rounded them up for your scrolling pleasure.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

July 1

When the first Austin Powers opened in 1997, it was intended to be as much a crude love letter to the popular cinema of the 1960s as a modern day raunchy laugh-fest. Now with the benefit of another 20 years’ worth of hindsight, Mike Myers and Jay Roach’s spoof of Bondmania is itself an amusing time capsule of 1990s comedy tropes. There’s Myers’ cartoonishly larger-than-life characters—beginning with Powers but most dementedly perfected with Dr. Evil, the comedian’s riff on Ernst Stavro Blofeld—as well as the pair’s embrace of what they considered to be the defining trappings of the late ‘90s.

The film’s nostalgia for the ‘60s and its value as a piece of kitsch ‘90s nostalgia makes this Austin Powers (and to a lesser extent the second movie, The Spy Who Shagged Me) a fascinating relic, as well as a genuinely funny lowbrow symphony of sex gags, bathroom humor, and multiple digs at British stereotypes, including bad teeth. In other words, it’s a good time if you don’t take it too seriously. Just avoid the third one, which is also coming to Netflix.

The Karate Kid (1984)

July 1

1984’s The Karate Kid is the cultural apex of Reagan America’s obsession with martial arts movies and Rocky-style underdog stories. It offered ’80s kids the ultimate fantasy of learning martial arts to defeat local bullies and finding time to squeeze in a love subplot along the way. Granted, the Cobra Kai series has thrown a wrench into this film’s seemingly simple morality tale, but just try not to root for Daniel by the time you reach arguably the greatest montage in movie history.

There’s also something eternally comforting about watching Pat Morita beat-up ’80s thugs while validating parents everywhere by suggesting that you to can one day grow up to be a great warrior if you just sweep the floor, wax the car, and paint the fence.

Love Actually

July 1

Christmas in July? Sure, why not. This Yuletide classic likely needs no introduction. Writer-director Richard Curtis’ Love Actually is the ultimate romantic comedy, stuffing every cliché and setup from a holiday bag of tricks into one beautifully wrapped package. Perhaps its greatest strength though is it mixes in a touch of the bitter with its sweet, and doesn’t hide the thorns in its bouquet of roses. Plus, its use of “All I Want for Christmas” is still a banger nearly 20 years on.

Admittedly, we aren’t particularly inclined to watch this in July ourselves, but if you don’t mind the Christmas of it all, there are few better rom-coms in your queue at the moment.

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

July 1

This adaptation of the Arthur Golden novel of the same name was one of the highest profile literary adaptations of the early 2000s. It’s the story of a young girl sold to a geisha house in the legendary Gion district of Kyoto who then grows up to be the most famous geisha of 1930s imperial Japan… right before the war. The film (like its source material) had controversy in its day due to having a somewhat exoticized view of Japanese customs, as well as for the casting of Chinese actresses Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi in the roles of icons of Japanese culture, with Zhang playing central geisha Sayuri.

Read more

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But whatever its shortcomings, Memoirs of a Geisha is still an exquisitely crafted melodrama that provides an often delicate window into one of he most graceful and misunderstood arts. The film won Oscars for its costumes, art direction, and cinematography for a reason. Plus whenever Zhang and the actually Japanese Ken Watanabe share the screen, unrequited sizzle is hot to the touch.

Mortal Kombat (1995)

July 1

Look, 1995’s Mortal Kombat isn’t a great movie in the classic sense of the word. Those looking for notable ’90s schlock might even have a better time with 1994’s Street Fighter and Raul Julia’s scene-stealing performance as General M. Bison.

Yet at a time when video game movies still struggle to capture the magic of the games themselves, Mortal Kombat stands tall as one of the few adaptations that feel like an essential companion piece. It might lack the blood and gore that helped make 1992’s Mortal Kombat arcade game a cultural touchstone, but it perfectly captures the campy, shameless joy that has defined this franchise for nearly 30 years.

Star Trek (2009)

July 1

The idea of a Star Trek movie reboot wasn’t greeted with universal enthusiasm when it was first announced but then J.J. Abrams delighted many fans by creating a Trek origin story that was both familiar and new. Chris Pine shone as the cocky Kirk, bickering with Zachary Quinto’s Vulcan Spock while trying to save the universe from a pesky Romulan (Eric Bana). This was a standalone that could be enjoyed by audiences completely ignorant of the Star Trek legacy which also achieved the feat of not annoying many long-term followers of the multiple series. It was a combination of humor, heart, action and a zingy cast that won the day – it’s still the best of the three Star Trek reboot movies to date.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2005)

July 1

Alongside Step Brothers, Tallageda Nights remains a a biting snapshot of the 2000s zeitgeist from writer-director Adam McKay. Eventually he would drop (most of) the crude smirks in favor of dramedies about the excesses of the Bush years via The Big Short (2013) and Dick Cheney biopic Vice (2018), however Talladega Nights remains a well-aged and damning satire of that brief time when “NASCAR Dads” were a thing, which is all the more impressive since it was filmed in the midst of such jingoistic fervor.

So enters Will Ferrell in one of his signature roles as a NASCAR driver and the quintessential ugly American who’s boastful of his ignorance and proud that his two sons are named “Walker” and “Texas Ranger.” He’d be almost irredeemable if the movie wasn’t so quotable and endearing with its sketch comedy absurdities. There’s a reason Ferrell and co-star John C. Reilly became a recurring thing after this lunacy. Plus, that ending where adherents of the homophobic humor of the mid-2000s found out the joke was on them? Still pretty satisfying.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

July 1

This is the movie that changed everything. Filmmakers had been experimenting with computer-generated visual effects for years, including director James Cameron with 1989’s The Abyss. But Cameron, as usual, upped his game with this 1991 action/sci-fi epic in which the main character — the villain — was a hybrid of live-action actor and CG visuals.

Those of us who saw T2 in the theater when it first came out can remember hearing the audience (and probably ourselves) audibly gasp as the T-1000 (an underrated and chilling Robert Patrick) slithered into his liquid metal form, creating a surreal and genuinely eerie moving target that not even Arnold Schwarzenegger’s brute strength could easily defeat. There were moments in this movie that remained seared into our brains for years as high points of what could be accomplished with CG.

Read more

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By Joseph Baxter

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By Ryan Lambie

This writer prefers T2 to the original Terminator. It’s fashionable to go the other way, but the first movie, while excellent, is essentially a low-budget horror film, Schwarzenegger’s T-800 a somewhat more formidable stand-in for the usual unstoppable slasher. The characters in T2 are far more fleshed out, the action bigger and more spectacular, the stakes more grave and palpable. It was the first movie to cost more than $100 million but it felt like every penny was right there on the screen. And Cameron tied up his story ingeniously, making all the sequels and prequels, and sidequels since irrelevant and incoherent. We don’t need them; we have Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Underworld (2003)

July 1

Is Underworld a good movie? No, not really. Is it a scary movie, what with the vampires and werewolves? Not at all. Well, is it at least entertaining?! Absolutely. Never before has a B-studio actioner been so deliciously pretentious and delightful in its pomposity.

Every bit the product of early 2000s action movie clichés, right down to Kate Beckinsale’s oh-so tight leather number,  Underworld excels in part because of the casting of talent like Beckinsale. A former Oxford student and star of the West End stage, she got her start in cinema by appearing in a Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare adaptation, and she brings a wholly unneeded (but welcome) conviction to this tale of vampire versus werewolves in a centuries-long feud. Shamelessly riffing on Romeo and Juliet, the film ups the British thespian pedigree with movie-stealing performances by Bill Nighy as a vampire patriarch and Michael Sheen (Beckinsale’s then-husband who she met in a production of The Seagull) as an angsty, tragic werewolf. It’s bizarre, overdone, and highly entertaining in addition to all the fang on fur action.

Snowpiercer (2013)

July 2

Before there was Parasite, there was Snowpiercer, the action-driven class parable brought to horrific and mesmerizing life by Oscar-winning Korean director Bong Joon-ho in 2013. The film is set in a future ice age in which the last of humanity survives on a train that circumnavigates a post-climate change Earth. The story follows Chris Evans‘ Curtis as he leads a revolt from the working class caboose to the upper class engine at the front of the train.

Loosely based on a French graphic novel, filmed in the Czech Republic as a Korean-Czech co-production, and featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, with dialogue in both English and Korean, Snowpiercer is not only a truly international production that will keep Western audiences guessing, but it packs an ever effective social critique as we head further into an age of climate change and wealth inequality. Also, there is a scene in which Chris Evans slips on a fish.

The Beguiled (2017)

July 16

Sofia Coppola’s remake of the 1971 film of the same name (both are based on a Thomas Cullinan novel) is a somewhat slight yet undeniably intriguing addition to the filmmaker’s catalog. It’s the story of a wounded Union soldier being taken in by a Southern school for girls–stranded in the middle of the American Civil War–with salvation turning into damnation as the power dynamics between the sexes are tested. It is also an evocative piece of Southern Gothic with an ending that will stick with you. Top notch work from a cast that also includes Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, and Colin Farrell makes this a bit of an underrated gem.

The Twilight Saga

July 16

In July, not one, not two, not three, not even four, but all five of the movies adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s young adult phenomenon book series will be accessible on Netflix. Indulge in the nostalgia of Catherine Hardwicke’s faithful and comparatively intimate Twilight. Travel to Italy with a depressing Edward and Bella in New Moon. Lean into the horror absurdity of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2. Or marathon all five for maximal escapism into a world where vegetarian vampires are the boyfriend ideal, the sun is always clouded, and the truly iconic emo-pop tunes never stop. 

Django Unchained (2012)

July 24

The second film Quentin Tarantino won an Oscar for, Django Unchained remains a highly potent revenge fantasy where a Black former slave (Jamie Foxx) seeks to free his wife from Mississippian bondage and ends up wiping out the entire infrastructure of a plantation in the process. Brutal, dazzlingly verbose in dialogue, and highly triggering in every meaning of the word—including quickdraw shootouts—this is a Southern-fried Spaghetti Western at its finest.

Read more

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Perhaps its other great asset is a terrific cast of richly drawn characters, including Foxx as Django (the “D” is silent), Christoph Waltz as German dentist-turned-bounty hunter Dr. King Shultz, Leonardo DiCaprio as sadistic slaveowner Calvin Candie, and Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen. While Waltz won a deserved Oscar for the film (his second from a Tarantino joint), it is Jackson’s turn as a house slave who becomes by far the most dangerous and cruel of Django’s adversaries who lingers in the memory years later… 

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from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3A8JEeG

[rabbittstewcomics]

Episode 296

July 2021 Solicitations

Comic Reviews:

Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point 1 by Donald Mustard, Christos Gage, Reilly Brown, Nelson DeCastro, John Kalisz

Superman: Red and Blue 2 by Steven Seagle, Chuck Brown, Stephanie Phillips, Dan Panosian, Jason Howard, Denys Cowan, Duncan Rouleau, Marley Zarcone, John Stanisci, Chris Sotomayor

Mighty Valkyries 1 by Jason Aaron, Torunn Gronbekk, Mattia De Iulis, Erica D'Urso, Marcio Menyz

Way of X 1 by Simon Spurrier, Jonathan Hickman, Bob Quinn, Javier Tartaglia

Women of Marvel 1 by Sophie Campbell, Mariko Tamaki, Natasha Alterici, Anne Toole, Nadia Shammas, Elsa Sjunneson, Zoraida Cordova, Eleonora Carlini, June Brigman, Joanna Estep, Kei Zama, Marika Cresta, Naomi Franquiz, Skylar Patridge, Maria Frohlich, Nina Vakueva, Peach Momoko, Roy Richardson, Rachelle Rosenberg, Ruth Redmond, Rachael Stott, Brittany Peer, Irma Kniivila, Triona Farrell

Carnage: Black, White and Blood 2 by Donny Cates, Chip Zdarsky, Ram V, Kyle Hotz, Javier Fernandez, Marco Checchetto, Rachelle Rosenberg, Juan Fernandez

Old Guard: Tales Through Time 1 by Greg Rucka, Andrew Wheeler, Leandro Fernandez, Jacopo Camagni, Daniele Miwa

Many Deaths of Laila Starr 1 by Ram V, Filipe Andrade, Ines Amaro

Girls of Dimension 13 1 by Graham Nolan, Bret Blevins, Gregory Wright

Godzilla: Monsters and Protectors 1 by Erik Burnham, Dan Schoening

The Rise by George C. Romero, Diego Yapur

Unfinished Business OGN by Paul Levitz, Simon Fraser, Cary Caldwell

Guerilla Green OGN by Cookie Kalkair, Ophelie Damble

99 Cent Theatre:

Sci-Fi Revue 2020 by Rob Pilkington, Val Halvorson, Kayla Kinoo, J.J. Lopez, Dave Law, Kit Mills, Steve Canon

The OUTsider 1 by Marko Stojanovic, Vassilis Gogtzilas

Evolution Utero 1 by David Whalen

Nuclear Power 1 by Erica Harrell, Desiree Proctor, Lynne Yoshii

Additional Reviews: Mortal Kombat, Doctor Aphra Omnibus, Falcon/Winter Soldier finale

News: Disney launches new line of graphic novels starting with Parent Trap, Last Annihilation event, Olivia Colman joining the MCU, Spider-Verse 2 directors, new Bunn book from Vault, Emilia Clarke joins Secret Invasion, Alex Ross and NFTs, Harrow County returns, Red Sonja Black White and Red, Knuckles and Tails in Sonic 2, Pixar casting a young transgender actor for upcoming movie, Round Robin tourney update, How I Met Your Father, Emilia Clarke co-writing new series at Image with Marguerite Bennett, Sony signs long-term deal with Disney+, Dark Horse gets Masters of the Universe license, Russell Crowe playing Zeus, Captain America 4 with Sam Wilson

Trailers: Shang-Chi

Comics Countdown:

Ultramega 2 by James Harren, Dave Stewart

Usagi Yojimbo 19 by Stan Sakai, Hi-Fi

Snow Angels 3 by Jeff Lemire, Jock

Friday 3 by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin, Muntsa Vicente

Radiant Black 3 by Kyle Higgins, Marcello Costa

Stray Dogs 3 by Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner

HaHa 4 by W. Maxwell Prince, Patrick Horvath

Way of X 1 by Simon Spurrier, Jonathan Hickman, Bob Quinn, Javier Tartaglia

Nightwing 79 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas

SWORD 4 by Al Ewing, Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia

Check out this episode!

[annoyingtidalwavesalad]

The Cannonball Run 2 (1984).mp4 from Patrice De Bruyne on Vimeo.

Cannonball Run II est un film américano-hong-kongais réalisé par Hal Needham, sorti en 1984. Il s'agit de la suite de "The Cannonball Run 1" réalisée trois ans auparavant. L'histoire est toute aussi basique : Humilié d'avoir échoué au fameux Cannonball de l'année précédente, le père du cheikh ordonne à son fils d'organiser une nouvelle course automobile et de la remporter. Les fidèles cannonbalers et cannonbaleuses ainsi que de nouveaux concurrents répondent présent à l'appel de la prestigieuse chevauchée où tous les coups sont permis et qui peut rapporter un joli magot d'un million de dollars (ce que touche Burt Reynold par jour de tournage, tout comme pour le Cannonball 1). La séquence d'introduction est calquée sur le film précédent et quasi la même brochette d'actrices et d'acteurs est de retour... Burt Reynolds, J.J. McClure, Dom DeLuise, Victor Prinzim, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Morris Fenderbaum, Shirley MacLaine, Marilu Henner, Jamie Farr, Telly Savalas, Jack Elam, Richard Kiel, Arnold Charles Nelson Reilly, Don Canneloni, Alex Rocco, Tony Henry Silva, Slin Susan Anton, Jill Catherine Bach, Abe Vigoda, Jackie Chan, Tony Danza, Doug Mc Clure, Mel Tillis, Ricardo Montalbán, Frank Sinatra, George Lindsey, Tim Conway, Sid Caesar, Foster Brooks, Louis Nye, Don Knotts et Fred Dryer. Dernière apparition au cinéma pour Frank Sinatra et Dean Martin. RIP ! Pourtant de nouveau convié à participer au second volet, Roger Moore justifia son absence en affirmant qu'il ne trouverait plus aussi amusant d'incarner ce personnage parodique, néanmoins, le comédien avouera bien plus tard avoir regretté sa décision sachant que Frank Sinatra apparaissait dans le film. Contractuellement lié avec le studio Warner Bros, Jackie Chan fut contraint d'apparaître dans le second volet de la saga... Cannonball Baker a établi le premier record de New York à Los Angeles dans les années '20 avec un temps de 60 heures pour les 3000 miles. Lorsque le Congrès a castré les muscle cars à gros moteurs des années '60 avec des lois sur les émissions de smog et une limite de vitesse générale de 55 mph, Brock Yates a inauguré le très illégal "Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash" en 1971. La star du Grand Prix des États-Unis Dan Gurney a ramené le temps de 60 heures à 35 heures 54 minutes et le cascadeur hollywoodien Needham qui avait déjà pris part à un Cannonball avec une ambulance sur vitaminée, a continué à faire les Cannonball Run et beaucoup d’argent ! Puis avec cette suite, dans laquelle l’ancien Hollywood 'Rat Pack' constitué de Sinatra, Martin, Davis et MacLaine sont réunis pour la première fois depuis Ocean Eleven (celui de 1960). Dans ce second opus, il y a toujours des blagues religieuses, des blagues mafieuses, des blagues sur les gros seins, des blagues de karaté, des blagues jaws et des blagues sur les flics... Il existe un troisième opus (le 3) à la série, mais c'est un total navet indigeste... Pour résumer, disons que c’est un long trajet assez court...

[foremostlist]

HBO Max Reveals New Details on Green Lantern & Snyder Cut!

HBO Max Reveals New Details on Green Lantern & Snyder Cut!

HBO Max Reveals New Details on Green Lantern & Snyder Cut!

During an interview with Business Insider, HBO Max content chief Kevin Reilly revealed new details on the new streaming platform’s upcoming projects, including the Green Lantern series, J.J. Abrams’ Justice League Dark series, the Justice League Snyder Cut, and more.

RELATED: Justice League Snyder Cut Coming to HBO Max!

“Greg…

[thehipsterzombiejointexperience]

WarnerMedia's Kevin Reilly says DC Max Originals will be next level - These will be next step up in production value. You can expect the highest level of cinematic production values on those shows, and that's the same for the projects we've announced with J.J. (@businessinsider) @hipsterexp https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqTA-KDh1l/?igshid=1e758firiqwcg