#Jack Bardoe

[willstafford]

Wit to Woo

LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, Thursday 25th April 2024 Three men and a King pledge to devote the next three years of their lives to study, abstinence and celibacy.  Of course, as soon as the oath is signed, along come four beauties on a diplomatic mission.  Each of the men starts writing love notes and poems to one of the beauties, behind his confederates’…

[loz37]

Period drama week 2023-

Day 4: Favourite time period/era

Has to be Georgian (1714-1830) probably more the regency era if I had to narrow it down. Lots of favourite Georgian programmes from then but also books and general historical interest. It's got that age of empire romanticism (granted not a very nice time for 'the savages' being 'enlightened' by the empire, to put it mildly, but good from a fictional point of view).

Outrageous fashion, beautiful architecture, romantic dancing, a cultural yearning for the pursuit of knowledge and art, a class system that was rigid in its roles yet traversable through hard work/luck/marriage/dastardly doings, whispers of war and revolution creating characters that are handsomely heroes/lovable rogues/cutthroat villans mixing with those from small country towns with no outside communication that are adorably nieve...

What is there not to love!?

[otpadsis]

homework👍

[okmcintyre]

This is a formal apology to John Pyper-Ferguson for mentally type-casting him for the rest of my life.

Watching 'Suits' and the second he appears on my screen, I'm: "THAT'S CADOGAN TAKE HIM DOWN HARVEY SPECTER!"

[starry-kingdom]

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i made trust portraits for him :)

[suzuran777]

Nitro Chiral April Fools’, 2005 - 2021

Nitro Chiral recently announced that they will probably not create any new content for April Fools’ in the future. I remember really looking forward to this every year, so I was a bit sad to hear that...! They mentioned that they might change this decision again some day, so we will just have to wait and see... To remember all of the fun jokes they’ve created throughout the years I wanted to make a fun compilation of all their previous April Fools’ jokes (or at least the ones I remember and took screenshots of). Maybe someone already posted something similar, but I had a lot of fun looking at these old pictures again! 

2005 Togainu no Chi 'Vischio Jack'. This was just one month after Togainu no Chi was released! Nitro Chiral’s website was filled with Arbitro’s hobbies. He announced that the next game will be called ‘Makeinu no Chi’ which means ‘blood of the losers’... The new main visual also shows all of them bleeding from their noses lol.

Some interesting new items... the Shiki body pillow?

2006 A year later Arbitro hijacked the official website once more and comments on each Lamento character. He seems to be a fan of Konoe but the others aren't his type... This blog describes it in greater detail (Japanese only). Second part of the website teases the Togainu no Chi fighting game (咎狗の血 餓狗 Mark of the Dogs). I kind of wish they really made this game because the description of it sounds fun.

2007 Lamento Love Love Gakuen, which was later made into a real drama CD also started as an April Fools' joke! Asato is Konoe’s childhood friend in this, Rai the student council president and Bardo’s a health education teacher. 

You can still listen to some of the audio clips from the original page here! The plot doesn’t seem much different than the real drama CD they ended up making later. 

2009 Nitro Chiral mentioned they couldn’t do anything for April Fools’ 2008, but they were back in 2009 with..one of the weirder ones. They posted a teaser of their new game, ‘Sweet Potchari’ which literally means ‘sweet chubby’ and as the name suggests, they posted art of all of the sweet pool characters, but this time they’re chubby.

You could check the profile description of each character and Kunihito’s description mentions that he’s very charming and “both men and women love him” lol. I unfortunately don’t have any high quality versions of these wallpapers anymore. Someone also recorded the voice lines, though listen to it at your own risk.

2010 This time Nitro Chiral announces a new project called 'YO! Akira'. It’s Togainu no Chi except all of the characters are replaced by mannequins and they’re kinda terrifying. They made videos in which they re-created part of the opening and the game, which someone actually saved and uploaded, so you can still watch it here...! The whole thing is a parody of Japanese sketch comedy series 'Oh! Mikey!!' which focuses on an American family living in Japan, but all the characters are played by mannequins.

This blog has some more pictures of what the website looked like. The day after this Nitro Chiral made a blog post about maybe spending too much time creating these April Fools’ jokes, but it seems like they had fun! They also had no idea what to do with the mannequins after this.

2012 I think they skipped 2011 because I cannot find any information about it, so let’s move on to 2012! Arbitro took over the Nitro+Chiral website again and changed it to Bitro+Chiral...

You could play this short visual novel on the website in which Arbitro introduced his new product line-up. A hataki (feather duster) shaped like Konoe’s tail, a life-sized Akira statue made of chocolate, Onnushi-sama's curry, and blue butter which is supposed to decrease you appetite so you don't have to eat anymore. After looking at these last two pictures I think I don’t feel hungry anymore...

This is also the year DRAMAtical Murder was released, so they changed the website too! Now it’s DRAMAtical Mother, which is of course referencing the Mother series (Earthbound). You can find some more screenshots and information here.

Aoba got his own Twitter account too this year, which someone also archived here! The Twitter account actually still exists but I believe they locked it after April Fools’ ended. 

2013 This year they focused on DRAMAtical Murder too! They transformed the website into Junkshop Heibon's webstore (the store Aoba works at in the game). It feels kind of nostalgic... 

That same year they also released a radio show in which Aoba and Mizuki work for Midorijima Radio Station. They invite Koujaku, Noiz, Clear, and Mink as special guests. This has been uploaded and fan translated, so I definitely recommend checking it out here! They also ended up selling this as a CD later.

2014 This is one I remember very well because I remember playing the short game they released. It's called ‘Osu-Boys!! ~Ikemen Ryoujoku ☆ Paradise~’ and it's a short visual novel which features the four protagonists, except they're all really clumsy and end up in some really embarrassing situations... I am guessing the artstyle is supposed to be similar to KyoAni’s Free! anime.

I don’t think I can show the full pictures here because the CGs of this game are quite NSFW, but you can probably still find them somewhere online. Aoba worked at an adult goods shop in this game though, nice new job (?). Unlike the browser games, this one could be downloaded, so some people probably still have it.

2015 Arbitro once again returns and opens his own 'hentai' museum.... yeah. Someone uploaded the theme song they made for the website, you can find it here. I believe it’s supposed to be a parody of ‘Atami Hihokan’ (an adult museum).

The website shows a map of the museum and its facilities, some more pictures can be found here. I think the art of the mascots is pretty cute this time...

You could also play this minigame on the website which also featured the four protagonists. There’s still a video of someone playing through the game, so definitely check it out if you’re interested. The artstyle has a bit of a retro feel.

2016 This year the website turned into the 'Raira-ryuu honpo' official homepage, an art school that specializes in the traditional art of ...boys love. All of the characters are drawn like famous Ukiyo-e paintings.

All of the ones above are Tōshūsai Sharaku paintings, so it was pretty easy to find which ones they were referencing!

They also re-drew all of the game covers too and the descriptions of the games were pretty funny. Midorijima was transformed into a big red-light district and the people who lived there were kicked out and are now living in poverty. I hope you’re surviving, Aoba...

This time there was also a flash game which could be played on the website, a shunga (erotic painting) puzzle. You can find all of these pictures here. Like the previous year they are heavily censored and not really NSFW. 

2017 This time the April Fools’ joke is a parody of 'The World of GOLDEN EGGS', a Japanese animation series set in an American-style fictional town, except this time it’s called ‘BOYs LOVE Nitro+CHiRAL’. I’m assuming most people who have been in the fandom for some time remember this one. They created a short YouTube video series and it had English subs. You can still find the videos if you look for them on YouTube so please watch them...! It’s all worth it for Konoe singing ‘I’m in Blue’ and the Rhyme fight.

Youji is always the victim of these awkward conversations... Some more pictures here! You can find the YouTube videos by just searching for the title of the series mentioned above.

2019 After 2017 they stopped updating their website on April Fools’, probably because they were busy working on Slow Damage, but in 2019 they did post some extra illustrations. Not the most happy kind of illustrations, featuring the protagonists and Naito-kun apologizing because they couldn’t do anything for April Fools’ that year...

2021 Unfortunately this is the last one! 2021 is the year Slow Damage was released, so it makes sense the final April Fools' joke focuses on them. It's called 'Warau Euphoria', which means ‘laughing euphoria’. It’s a reference to Japanese series 'The Laughing Salesman', so they're also drawn in a similar artstyle. 

The website has a warning that you need to be over 35 years old to enter instead of the usual 18+ warning lol. They also got Towa’s voice actor to record a couple of new lines on the webpage, if you click here you can still listen to a recording of it.

I’m a bit sad they might not do any of this stuff anymore in the future, but I’m also glad many people recorded videos of the old websites and minigames so we can still enjoy them even now. I couldn’t include every single screenshot in this blog post, so I tried my best to link other pages with more information.

I had a lot of fun checking out their website every year and I really appreciate the effort they put into all of this. I might update this blog with some additional info later!

[romaroy]

If I had a nickel for every time Justin Kirk was in something titled "Jack and...", I'd have three nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened three times.

Jack & Jill as Bardo Zane (1999) Jack & Bobby as John McCallister (2005) Jack & Jo Don't want to Die as Jack Custodio (2019)

[cr3ziy]

So...

I'm watching The Teen Wolf Movie...

The following part is me commenting about the things that I see in the movie while I'm watching it, so the part below will be updated continuously for the next 2 hours

⚠️SPOILERS⚠️

•

•

•

•

So for 15 years Allison has been stuck in Bardo?! FR?!

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Hate the fact that we don't get Thiam canon

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Hate the fact that Stiles is not in the movie BUT MY BABY IS OFFICIALY PART OF THE FBI I'M SO PROUD OF HIM!!

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Derek's got Stiles' Jeep, I repeat DEREK'S GOT STILES' JEEP OMJ I'M CRYING

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Derek: "He [Eli] took the Jeep again, didn't he?"

Noah: "Why the hell does he keep taking the Jeep?"

Derek: "Because he know I hate it"

BECAUSE IT'S HIS BOYFRIEND'S AND NOBODY CAN YOU USE IT IF NOT HIM

Sterek all the way❤️

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AHAHAHAHA Jackson popping out so randomly AHAHAHAH

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Of course it's the Nemeton... it's ALWAYS the Nemeton

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I'm sorry, MALIA WHAT THE HELL?!?! From the trailer we all knew about you and Jordan... BUT NOT LIKE THIS!! WHAT WAS THAT ENTRANCE?! OH MY JACK!!

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Soo... is somebody going to tell us what happened with Stydia and Scalia, and who is Eli's mom?

Nvm Eli has two dads, Derek and Stiles

Please he his SO MUCH like Stiles!!

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X: "How many curse words do you want?"

Jeff: "Yes"

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Aww Derek tells Eli The Teen Wolf Chronicles🥺

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X: "How many naked people do you want?"

Jeff: "Yes"

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"Scott who?" This hurts

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Oh and yeah, how exactly Mason ended up to be a police officer? And more important WHERE THE HELL IS COREY?!

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Derek's eyes😍

They are a lighter shade of blue... so gorgeous

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Liam my baby I love you so much🥰

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Sooo Eli's problem is that he passes out seeing his own fangs and claws? Great for a werewolf

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So basically is season three all over again but this time without Void Stiles... as much as I love season three... Jeff you could've come up with something new

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FINALLY MY FAVOURITE HELLOUND AND FAVOURITE CREATURE🔥❤️

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HERE HE COMES!! Popping out of nowhere!! But we're not complaining: it's good to see you Peter!!

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But exactly... why is Jackson here? He looks so out of place!!

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Eli: "My dad told me you almost had to cut his arm off once because of wolfsbane poisoning"

STILES almost had to!!

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Jackson: "Why don't we catch him and kill the Nogitsune? That sounds like a pretty good plan to me"

OH THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!! How did no one think about it in season three? Kill the Nogitsune... it was so easy guys.

Jackson honey, I understand that you weren't there at the time, but if they're telling you that the Nogitsune is back it means that they couldn't kill him... and if they could, why wouldn't they do it? THINK JACKSON

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I checked: even though it was pretty obvious, Hikary and Liam said "I love you"... that's a low blow

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Eli: "I can do this"

Apparently he can't

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Rowan trees burned down... excellent

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Malia and Jordan... it kinda looks wrong to me and I don't know why

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So, responsible for burning down Derek's house and supposed to be dead... it can't be Gerard, right? Please tell me it's not him.

Nahh, the figure seems too young to be him!!

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So this is actually Allison?!

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Derek: "Eli did you see your eyes?"

Eli: "How the hell am I supposed to see my eyes? They're the things I use to see"

Finally someone saying something that make actually sense!!

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ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

HARRIS?! ... I MEAN SERIOUSLY?!

Where the hell did he come from?! This doesn't make any sense!!

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Of course... ELI YOU'RE OFFICIALY WELCOME INTO THE CLUB OF TRAUMATISED KIDS!!

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Heartbreak? What happened with Stiles, Lydia?

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I... certainly did not expect this... Lydia saved him by not being with him... this is a thing I didn't think could ever be possible.

It seems like they're not meant to be, please it's so sad😭

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THE SCREAAAAAAAAM!!!

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So it's now possible to borrow fox fire from a kitsune? Ehm... ok

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Ok but seeing the three of them with all different eye colour gave me chills!!

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"You can't kill me"

and all I can think about is:

"You can kill the Oni but me, ME! I'm a thousand years old YOU CAN'T KILL ME"

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AAA THE ROARS!!😆

CHILLS, LITERAL CHILLS!

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WAIT SO DEREK IS A TRUE ALP--

WHERE THE HELL DID HE GO?!

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But the Scallison kiss🥺❤️

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STOP!! HE'S NOT DEAD!!

DEREK IS NOT FUCKIND DEAD!!

He cannot be... he's not.. he's not😭

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Derek fixed Stiles' Jeep, I'm weak😭😭

THE JEEP IS THE REAL FUCKING GLUE OF THIS SHOW!!

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Derek you didn't deserve this end after all the pain you suffered...❤️

but we know that you're not dead so stop messing around and turn back to your family, they still need you

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Noah: "[Derek] had complicated feelings about that Jeep"

We all know what that means...

IT'S LIKE DESTIEL ALL OVER AGAIN, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Pain, pure pain

Oh my Sterek💔

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So in the end Scott kept his promise after all❤️

From now on every time I'll do a rewatch and get to that scene... I'll watch it with different eyes

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"REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE"

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CONCLUSIONS:

I liked it because it's Teen Wolf, one of my favourite series, but I got to say that i'm pretty disappointed.

I particularly loved all the references to Stiles, a way to make him part of the movie without actually being in the movie, loved it.

Can't believe I'm saying this, but for the role he played Liam could have very well not been in the movie. This hurts, but he practically did nothing, he barely spoke. I'm really mad for this, he seemed so useless. And maybe I'm biased but I saw zero chemistry between him and Hikari.

Jeff, you could have used him better, for example I don't know CANONISING THIAM.

I felt the lack of Theo Reaken references, so now I'm going to reply on fanfictions👍

But Hikari too, she had pontential but turn out to be pretty useless.

All the time waiting for Liam to interact with Mason (his best-friend) and Scott (his brother) and... nothing.

Also, I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I WAITED ALL THIS TIME JUST TO SEE DEREK HALE DIE... AGAIN!! Even thought I strongly believe that he's not dead, that hurt!!

On a scale from 1 to 10 this movie is a 5.5, could have been definitely better, starting by creating a different story but I liked it. Definitely loved some parts!!

Now, technically there will be a second movie that I will obviously watch cause it's Teen Wolf, and I truly hope that it will be better that the first.

That's it, I just got a lot of unanswered questions

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats | Teenage Fantasies II (Bardo, Lewis & Lyon, 1980)

She’s back, and up to her old tricks! She being Rene Bond and her old tricks being sucking dick while talking about sexual fantasies, of course. This time, they’re her fantasies, or the fantasies of her friends that they totally told her for real and she didn’t just make up to match whatever loops they were able to stitch together for this movie. Also, this was made almost ten years after the first one, so even if Bond was supposed to be playing a teenager in the first one, she definitely isn’t here. Although truth be told, she doesn’t look much older. Blame it on the chipmunk cheeks.

Anyway, the fantasy framing is a lot flimsier here, but I guess the brand was strong enough to merit the title. Or maybe it’s a Top Gun: Maverick situation, where it isn’t the brand itself so much as its connection to the star that’s the selling point. There are two scenes here that at least extend from childhood fantasies. One is a scene with a princess played by Bond and a frog-turned-prince played by John Holmes.

“Kiss me and I’ll screw you royally.” “He really was a horny toad.”

This is one of the best scenes here because Bond looks super cute dressed as a princess, and also for that dialogue. The other such fantasy involves Barbie and Ken dolls played by Bond and Jack Holt. This one is a lot more basic in execution but is also enjoyable for Bond’s presence. There may be a recurring theme here.

Other scenes include sex on the wing of a plane (not airborne, although it would have been a lot funnier if they tried to fake it; also John Holmes gets a weird nasally voice dubbed over him), sex in a limo, lesbian sex in a hot tub, and sex with a Japanese woman while under surveillance, which stacks a voyeur/exhibitionist fantasy on top of a racial one. Obviously racial fetishes are a tricky thing to discuss, but I will say this is a lot less demeaning than it could have been. I however must object to the cocaine usage depicted in the scene, because drugs are BAD. To paraphrase a certain former First Lady, they should have just said NO.

And the movie ends with John Holmes wandering the desert shirtless and wearing bellbottom jeans, stumbling upon Bond and Victoria Winter dressed in belly dancer outfits and having a nice and windy desert threesome. This is probably the other best scene here, as Bond and Winter both look super cute dressed as belly dancers. There may be a recurring theme here.

Tying it all together is once again Bond sucking a dick, although the dialogue seems a little less playful. (In one instance, she asks us whether we’ve ever wondered what it would be like to enjoy pain, only for the next scene to have no such element. Why would you ask the question, Rene?) But in any case, she’s still quite charming, and there’s the added pleasure of seeing her in some of the segments, so while this lacks the charge of the first film, it’s still quite enjoyable.

[ayearincontent]

books 2017-2021

2017

A View from the Foothills, Chris Mullin (2009)

The Noise of Time, Julian Barnes (2016)

The End of the Party, Andrew Rawnsley (2010)

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, Laurie Lee (1969)

2018

A Death in the Family, Karl Ove Knausgård (2013)

A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, Julian Barnes (1989)

Never Mind, Edward St Aubyn (2012)

Reservoir 13, Jon McGregor (2017)

In Love, Alfred Hayes (1953)

Autumn, Ali Smith (2016)

Educated, Tara Westover (2018)

The Children Act, Ian McEwan (2014)

The Only Story, Julian Barnes (2018)

Bad News, Edward St Aubyn (2012)

On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan (2007)

The Power, Naomi Alderman (2016)

Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney (2017)

Swimming Home, Deborah Levy (2011)

Amsterdam, Ian McEwan (1998)

Less, Andrew Sean Greer (2017)

Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata (2018)

Cassandra at the Wedding, Dorothy Baker (1962)

Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders (2017)

The Swimming Pool Library, Alan Hollinghurst (1988)

Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys (1966)~

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer (2005)#

This is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay (2017)

Normal People, Sally Rooney (2018)#

Asymmetry, Lisa Halliday (2018)

2019

Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe (1958)#

The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott (2016)

Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2004)#

Outline, Rachel Cusk (2014)

Florida, Lauren Groff (2018)

The People in the Trees, Hanya Yanagihara (2013)#

Things I Don’t Want to Know, Deborah Levy (2018)

The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris (2018)#

Ordinary People, Diana Evans (2019)

The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Yukio Mishima (1999)

The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)

Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes (1966)#

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant, Joel Golby (2019)

Love, Nina: Dispatches from Family Life, Nina Stibbe (2013)

On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1957)

The World According to Garp, John Irving (1978)#

Good Morning, Midnight, Jean Rhys (1939)

Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1985)

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)#

Why We Sleep, Matthew Walker (2017)

This is Pleasure, Mary Gaitskill (2019)

Some Hope, Edward St Aubyn (2012)

Mr Salary, Sally Rooney (2019)

2020

We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2014)

Three Women, Lisa Taddeo (2019)#

Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas, Adam Kay (2019)

The Future of Capitalism, Paul Collier (2018)

South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami (1999)#

Smile Please, Jean Rhys (1979)

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson (2015)#

Reunion, Fred Uhlman (1971)

Night Boat to Tangier, Kevin Barry (2019)

A Little Life, Haniya Yanagihara (2015)

Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (1955)#

Boomerang, Michael Lewis (2012)#

Exciting Times, Naoise Dolan (2020)

An American Marriage, Tayari Jones (2018)#

Nothing to Envy, Barbara Demick (2010)

Calypso, David Sedaris (2018)#

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge (2017)

Any Human Heart, William Boyd (2002)

Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion (1968)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)#

Lullaby, Leïla Slimani (2016)#

Summerwater, Sarah Moss (2020)

Intimations, Zadie Smith (2020)

The Appointment, Katharina Volckmer (2020)

Brighton Rock, Graham Greene (1938)

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1831)#

The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken (2018)

The Order of the Day, Eric Vuillard (2017)

2021

I'm Afraid of Men, Vivek Shraya (2018)#

Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke (1929)

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians, Isabel Hardman (2018)

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, John Le Carre (1963)#

Emma, Jane Austen (1815)

News of the World: A Novel, Paulette Jiles (2016)#

Transit, Rachel Cusk (2018)

Good Behaviour, Molly Keane (1981)#

Deep Work, Cal Newport (2016)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera (1984)#

We Are All Birds of Uganda, Hafsa Zayyan (2021)

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez (1970)

Dead Souls, Sam Riviere (2021)

Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (2020)#

Hangover Square, Patrick Hamilton (1941)

My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante (2012)

The Rachel Papers, Martin Amis (1973)

Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason (2021)

Kudos, Rachel Cusk (2018)

Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)

The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (2019)#

How to Write a Novel in 6 Months, Thomas Emson (2020)

Writing a Novel, Richard Skinner (2018)

Where There's a Will: Hope, Grief and Endurance in a Cycle Race Across a Continent, Emily Chappell (2019)#

Arbitration: A Very Short Introduction, Thomas Schultz and Thomas Grant (2021)

No. 91/92: Notes on a Parisian Commute, Lauren Elkin (2021)

Metroland, Julian Barnes (1980)

[weclassybouquetfun]

Awards season is coming? No awards season is now. And a bit earlier than it has been in the past.

Netflix led the pack having their first screening October 8th for Ana de Armas' BLONDE. While I missed out on that I have a availed myself to two Netflix screenings so far: the servicable THE GOOD NURSE starring ruddy faced twins Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne

and Henry Selick's long awaited return film WENDELL & WILD cowritten with Jordan Peele.

In the next few weeks I have Netflix's other offerings: Alejandro G. Iñárritu's BARDO: FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS, Sebastián Lelio's THE WONDER starring Florence Pugh, Guillermo del Toro's GUILLERMO DEL TORO's PINOCCHIO which promises to be a darker take than the recent Disney's PINOCCHIO. Del Toro's PINOCCHIO features the voicework of Gregory Mann as our little wooden boy liar, David Bradley - that evil Walder Frey from GAME OF THRONES as Geppetto and Ewan McGregor as Sebastian J. Cricket , and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre's take on LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER starring Emma Corrin and Jack O'Connell.

While Amazon has had their slate available as long as Netflix has,

they only just begun holding screenings. While the Ron Howard film THIRTEEN LIVES was open first, its screenings aren't until December. They had a screening of Lena Dunham's CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY with Dunham on hand for a Q&A but I had already watched the film. Now the screenings are rolling out in earnest but for November and December. The first L.A screening for the Harry Styles, Emma Corrin starrer MY POLICEMAN won't be until November 8th, with the subsequent ones in December.

Disney has begun screenings but in a myriad of ways. For their Searchlight (formerly Fox Searchlight) offerings

they have in-person screenings for THE MENU (starring Anya Taylor Joy, Nicholas Hoult and Ralph Fiennes), GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE starring Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack (which aired on the Disney majority owned HULU), Martin McDonagh's gloriously funny and beautifully bleak THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and new father Barry Keoghan and Sam Mendes' triumphant EMPIRE OF LIGHT starring Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Toby Jones and Colin Firth.. Such a lovely ode to cinema and connectedness against the backdrop of the early 80s with Thatcherism and racism in Britian.

The only 20th Century (formerly 20th Century Fox) film they are pushing is David O'Russell's uneven AMSTERDAM starring a wasted cast led by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington. They don't have screening options for it yet, but they are pushing the original song "Time" co-written by Drake and performed by Giveon. It's a very lovely song and fits the film.

For their Marvel, Pixar, LucasFilm and Disney offerings voters have the option to screen their selected slate on Disney+ or view it in their exclusive screening room. They have WAKANDA FOREVER advertised, but as of yet no viewing method assigned to it.

Sony has just posted their slate

and so far the only L.A screening is THE WOMAN KING to be held this week with a Q&A with director Gina Prince-Bythwood, star and executive-producer Viola Davis, her producer Julius Tennon, editor Terilyn Shropshire, Cinematographer Polly Morgan and Composer Terence Blanchard.

United Artists (UA) has also just posted their slate

and curiously - at least for now - they have limited the organizations to just the AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences), the DGA (Directors Guild), the PGA (the Producers Guild) and the BAFTAS - no WGA, yet.

*Luca's work will be celebrated by American Cinemateheque. Among his works being shown is BONES AND ALL with a sold out screening on November 6th.

no SAG-AFTRA, no Film Independent (who holds the Spirit Awards). Maybe as the months roll on they will open it up, but this isn't too unusual. Last year their major arm MGM was very selective with who they opened LICORICE PIZZA to. That one was generally geared towards the technical fields like cinematographers, directors and editors.

And to show just how alive awards season is The Gotham Awards nominations have been announced.

Best Feature Aftersun: (director)Charlotte Wells The Cathedral (director) Ricky D’Ambrose Dos Estaciones (director) Juan Pablo González Everything Everywhere All At Once (directors) The Daniels (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert) Tár (director) Todd Field

Best Screenplay After Yang Armageddon Time Catherine Called Birdy Tár Women Talking

Outstanding Lead Performance Cate Blanchett-Tár Danielle Deadwyler - Till Dale Dickey - A Love Song Colin Farrell -After Yang Brendan Fraser - The Whale Paul Mescal - Aftersun Thandiwe Newton - God’s Country Aubrey Plaza - Emily the Criminal Taylor Russell -Bones and All Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All At Once

*Cate Blanchett and Danielle Deadwyler are my frontrunners. Two very different performances but they were both outstanding. I would have nominated Colin Farrell for THE BANSHESS OF INISHERIN because he takes such big swings in that film. AFTER YANG is a more quieter performance.

Outstanding Supporting Performance Jessie Buckley - Women Talking Raúl Castillo - The Inspection Hong Chau -The Whale Brian Tyree Henry - Causeway Nina Hoss - Tár Noémie Merlant - Tár Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All At Once Mark Rylance - Bones and All Gabrielle Union- The Inspection Ben Whishaw - Women Talking

Other Categories

Breakthrough Performer Anna Cobb - We’re All Going to the World’s Fair Frankie Corio - Aftersun Anna Diop - Nanny Gracija Filipovic - Murina Kalie Reis - Catch the Fair One

Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes) Abbott Elementary As We See It Mo Rap Sh!t Somebody Somewhere

Breakthrough Series – Long Format (over 40 minutes) Pachinko Severance Station Eleven This is Going to Hurt (So fantastic. Extraordinary but the question is it better than SEVERANCE or PACHINKO and I honestly can't judge it. They are all so great). Yellowjackets

Outstanding Performance in a New Series Bilal Baig - Sort Of Ayo Edebiri - The Bear Janelle James - Abbott Elementary Minha Kim -Pachinko Matilda Lawler - Station Eleven Britt Lower - Severance Melanie Lynskey - Yellowjackets Zahn McClarnon - Dark Winds Sue Ann Pien - As We See It Ben Whishaw - This is Going to Hurt

Breakthrough Nonfiction Series The Andy Warhol Diaries The Last Movie Stars Mind over Murder The Rehearsal We Need To Talk About Cosby

Best Documentary Feature All That Breathes (director): Shaunak Sen All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (director) Laura Poitras I Didn’t See You There (director) Reid Davenport The Territory: (director) Alex Pritz What We Leave Behind (director) Iliana Sosa

Best International Feature Athena: (director) Romain Gavras The Banshees of Inisherin (director) Martin McDonagh Corsage (director)Decision to Leave: (director)Park Chan-wook, Happening (director) Audrey Diwan Saint Omer (director) Alice Diop

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award Charlotte Wells for Aftersun Owen Kline for Funny Pages Elegance Bratton for The Inspection Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic for Murina Beth de Araújo for Soft & Quiet Jane Schoenbrun for We’re All Going to the World’s Fair

[happilyhadesbound]

i'm watching Othello for the first time... are Rodrigo and Iago always this gay for each other or are Paul Hilton and Jack Bardoe just wilding out

[piasgermany]

[Album + Video] Chicano Batman kündigen neues Album "Notebook Fantasy" an!

Die Psych-Soul-Band Chicano Batman aus Los Angeles veröffentlicht ihr neues, fünftes Album "Notebook Fantasy" am 29. März digital über ATO Records. Begleitet wird die Ankündigung von der neuen Single und einem glossy Musikvideo zu "Fly".

Wieder einmal erweitern Chicano Batman ihre Grenzen mit einem Mix aus Gelassenheit und Energie. Unterstützt wird die Band von einem neuen Produzenten, John Congleton (St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, Death Cab for Cutie), der seine schimmernden Produktionen für Ohrwürmer wie die erste Single "Fly" und den Titeltrack einsetzt, in dem Sänger Bardo Martinez sein einsames Teenager-Ich heraufbeschwört und die Freiheit in den Gedanken und Fantasien findet, die er in seine privaten Notizbücher kritzelte.

Um den Sound von "Notebook Fantasy" zu vervollständigen, hat die Band eine ganze Reihe von Spitzenmusiker*innen engagiert, darunter die Schlagzeuger Tamir Barzilay und Dylan Elise, Jack Whites Keyboarder Quincy McCrary und das aufstrebende weibliche Space-Disco-Vokal-Trio Say She She.

„‘Fly’ is a song that you hope for as a songwriter”, erzählt Martinez über die erste Auskopplung. “Lighting in a bottle, straight up! It’s the kind that comes organically from the universe, and if you get out of the way, it takes shape effortlessly into the song it needs to be. Like a river flowing and weaving seamlessly through its banks.”

Tracklist "Notebook Fantasy": 01. Live Today 02. Notebook Fantasy 03. Parallels 04. Beautiful Daughter 05. Era Primavera 06. Fly 07. Lei Lá 08. Tears Away (feat. Say She She) 09. The Way You Say It (feat. Say She She) 10. Hojas Secas 11. Losing My Mind (feat. Say She She) 12. Fairytale Love (feat. Say She She)

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[selflessanatta]

Lamrim’s Most Challenging Meditation, http://selflessanatta.com/lamrims-most-challenging-meditation/

New Post has been published on http://selflessanatta.com/lamrims-most-challenging-meditation/

Lamrim’s Most Challenging Meditation

Lamrim Meditations

Practicing Lamrim Meditations changed my life. It can change yours, too.

The New Meditation Handbook from Tharpa Publications, production of the New Kadampa Tradition:

The New Meditation Handbook is a practical guide to meditation that teaches us how to make ourself and others happy by developing inner peace, and in this way making our lives more meaningful. Without inner peace there is no real happiness at all. Problems, suffering and unhappiness do not exist outside the mind; they are feelings and thus part of our mind. Therefore, it is only by controlling our mind that we can permanently stop our problems and make ourself and others truly happy. The twenty-one Buddhist meditation practices presented in this book are actual methods to control our mind and experience lasting inner peace. This extremely practical guide is an indispensable handbook for those seeking happiness and meaning in their lives.

This one book, more than any other, is responsible for changing my life.

I also own the three-volume set The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, an extended study on Lamrim.

I’m into it.

The books are merely a guide. It’s the practice, it’s doing the meditations that changes your heart and your life.

Practice, practice, practice.

Buying the book merely for intellectual knowledge is a waste of time.

Understanding gets you nowhere.

Feelings lead to your destination.

The original Lamrim sequence was prepared by the Buddhist Master Atisha (982–1054). It was later updated by Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) and translated by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (1931–2022).

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso– 1931–2022, RIP. You were the bridge between our cultures. I owe you everything. I felt your Love. Thank you.

I request one last Blessing: Please, find me in the Bardo and guide me on my journey. I will navigate by the Power of your Radiant Light.

The Void

Several years ago, I arranged my life to spend several hundred hours in float tanks practicing Lamrim in total sensory deprivation.

I learned to hear the distant streams in my mind through years of meditation practice.

The voices and forces I animate dramatically are both the raging rivers and the quiet voices, barely noticeable, difficult to tune.

I had time to meditate in sensory isolation — lots of time. I developed a sensitive radio dial.

It’s a practiced skill, nothing more.

Like hitting golf balls.

I marvel at the Power of the mind. Anyone who devotes time to practice can achieve this.

I’m not the first. The Buddha achieved this 2,500 years ago and went way, way beyond.

He taught meditation.

The monks who’ve been following his footsteps ever since, same thing.

You are more powerful than you realize.

Much more powerful.

Enter Zen from There

An apt analogy comes from a Zen Buddhist story.

Master and disciple sit in meditation. The Master was calm, peaceful, and open to life. The disciple was uneasy, his mind aflutter.

The disciple asks, “Master, How do I enter Zen?”

The Master sits and listens. Meanwhile, the disciple’s mind is agitated by impatience for an answer.

Photo by Carlo Trolese on Unsplash

The Master finally says, “Do you hear the mountain stream?”

The disciple turned his attention away from his disturbing thoughts and listened for the distant, faint sounds of cascading water.

He observed.

He became peaceful.

His mind fell silent as he focused on observation.

After some time and focused concentration, the disciple heard the stream.

Excited, the disciple exclaims, “Yes! Master, I can hear the stream.”

The master replied. “Enter Zen from there.”

(the end)

Jack Kornfield, The Roots of Buddhist Psychology was Buddhism 101 for me. I’ve listened to all 9 hours many, many times!

My Most Challenging Meditation

One of the virtues you meditate on is called Equanimity. Scholars come up with all manner of odd interpretations, but it’s basically about balance.

Ideally, you want to hold all people in your heart Equally.

No favoritism.

It sounds like an admirable goal to aspire to, but when you get down to the mechanics of it, it’s really, really hard.

My Most Hated Enemy

I no longer have enemies, but I did at one time.

Many people collect enemies like marbles they can use to weigh down their Hearts.

When I thought about this person, all manner of hatred and bile would spring forth, flooding me with negativity, and that sickly stench of Death would poison my heart.

I would meditate on my victim story, beating this person mercilessly in my mind.

Over and over until my heart turned to stone.

It wasn’t wise.

No, No, a Thousand Times No

My Equanimity meditations prompted me to examine this behavior and try to turn Darkness into Light.

I decided to meditate on my enemies’ good qualities and accomplishments and look for admirable items.

HOLY CRAP! NO WAY!!!

Well, my mind did provide some resistance to the process.

A little.

For a second or two.

Okay, maybe for months….

War was raging in my heart.

The Lynchpin

When I won that battle, my heart cracked open, like it broke free from its chains.

I released that enemy and all my other enemies ran to the door.

Yes, I still had work to do, calling up each one, admiring them, and setting them free.

There is no get-out-of-jail-free card. You still have to do the work.

But once it’s done, a pure heart, no longer dragged down by those marbles of hate, is Life’s greatest reward.

~~wink~~

Anatta

[diarioelpepazo]

León Magno Montiel @leonmagnom Algunos cantantes al entonar sus notas encienden la nostalgia, otros traen la protesta en su voz, otros atizan con su timbre el dolor que provoca el amor perdido. Cuando Danelo Badell comienza a cantar enciende todas las luces de la celebración, él es la voz de la fiesta decembrina. Su nombre en hebreo tiene como significado: “La justicia de Dios”. Su patronímico lo trajeron los inmigrantes catalanes a nuestras costas, eran nautas con gran vocación de emprendedores, excelentes editores, taquígrafos y magníficos comerciantes de ultramar. Danelo Enrique Badell Galué nació el 26 de noviembre de 1950, en el sector La Covacha, ubicado detrás del edificio Miranda en La Limpia. Fue el cuarto hijo de un comerciante llamado Juvenal en Alicia Aurora Galué, mujer de familia con tradición gaitera. Danelo fue un inquieto estudiante baraltiano, aficionado a cantar en las jornadas culturales de ese liceo modélico de Maracaibo. Desde los 18 años trabajó como Técnico Superior en Telecomunicaciones en CANTV, alternando esa labor con su pasión innata: cantar. Su recorrido por las agrupaciones gaiteras ha sido muy extenso, comenzó con el conjunto Lagomar en 1967 grabando el éxito “Esplendor Gaitero” de Brinolfo Fonseca. Luego pasó a Los Tropicales del Éxito. En 1970 entró a las filas del Santanita, allí estuvo hasta 1973. Después formó parte de Cardenales del Éxito, con ellos pegó temas como “Fiesta decembrina”, “Mensaje Navideño”, ”Fascinante Venezuela”, cubrió con esa agrupación el exitoso período de 1974 hasta 1979, ciclo durante el cual viajaron a Panamá y cautivaron al público del istmo. Fue miembro fundacional de La Universidad de la Gaita, conjunto que surgió como resultado de una abrupta división de Cardenales del Éxito. Con ellos grabó “Gaita entera”, “Porque te quiero”; permaneció por dos temporadas, 1980 y 1981. Participó una temporada con el Gran Coquivacoa, grabó la parranda “La Negra Cocoacoa” en 1982, más tarde con Gaiteros de Pillopo desde 1984 hasta 1987 al lado de su compadre Astolfo Romero y Daniel Méndez. Allí logró colocar en la memoria colectiva temas como: “La piñata”, “Los remedios”, “Prefiero mi gaita”, “La lechina”, “Cabimas” y “Déjenmela así” en la temporada 1991: “Yo no hablo por hablar en realidad sólo digo que no hay folclor más divino que la gaita de mi lar”. (Neguito Borjas, 1991). En 1988 regresó a Cardenales del Éxito y grabó el hermoso homenaje “Al Maestro Billo” de Simón García y Ricardo Portillo, y la pieza de Elvis Cano “Ambiente de pascua”. Con esa divisa viajó a España y obtuvieron el primer lugar en el Festival Folclórico de los Pueblos del Mundo, realizado en Madrid en 1988. Luego entró a las filas de VHG, hasta que en el año 2000 fundó la agrupación Iluminación Gaitera junto a Wolfang Romero. Con ellos impuso temas como “Toda una vida” que fue galardonada como Gaita del Año 2000. Se recuerda con emoción su brillante participación en el Festival “Una Gaita para el Zulia”. Allí dejó para la historia el tema “El Colindante y el Poeta” de la autoría de Jack Pérez y José Marrero, pieza donde ejecutó la guitarra Miguel Delgado Estévez: “Hasta la plaza Baralt guiado por briosos corceles trae un carruaje a Udón Pérez dispuesto para charlar con la gente del lugar en el barcito de Pradelio y entre bardos y bohemios allí suele disfrutar”. (Cardenales del Éxito, 1991). Danelo Badell ha pasado dos momentos muy difíciles en su vida, ambos en el año 2000; el primero la muerte de su hijo Dennys, producto de una riña en el sector San Jacinto donde residía, cuando apenas tenía de 26 años. El otro fue la muerte de su compañero de vida, compadre de sacramento Astolfo Romero. Dos hechos terribles para él, que lo entristecieron y pusieron la traba más dura de soslayar en su carrera artística. Producto de su gran afinidad con “El Parroquiano” Astolfo, participó cantando en el tema “Volvió a llorar la Virgen” ese fatídico año. Desde 2008 es el director general del Instituto Municipal de la Gaita “Ricardo

Aguirre” (IMGRA), desempeñando una labor musical-educativa en las escuelas de Maracaibo, sembrando en los niños maracaiberos la forma musical que nos representa en el Caribe. Desde allí ejerce su liderazgo de cantor con 45 años de carrera, de hombre emblema del género pascuero en toda la nación. Danelo grabó un homenaje a “El cantor de la Isla” Víctor Alvarado. Antes lo había hecho con Pedro Palmar, cantando una de sus célebres décimas. Y durante muchos años ha ofrendado su fe y devoción a la Patrona Chinita con la agrupación Los Chiquinquireños. Creo que este es el tiempo perfecto para que reconozcamos a Danelo Badell como el cantor de nuestra navidad, como la voz decembrina del occidente lacustre, que arriba a 62 años de vida plena: “Un aroma decembrino respira el venezolano unidos como hermano y pensando en positivo época de reflexiones de olvidar los malos ratos vendrán tiempos mejores más gratos y Dios nos dé bendiciones”. (Elvis Cano, 1996). Celebramos tu cumpleaños Danelo Enrique; apreciado cantor de la alegría. Gracias a tu voz hemos respirado un ambiente decembrino durante estos últimos años. Para recibir en tu celular esta y otras informaciones, únete a nuestras redes sociales, síguenos en Instagram, Twitter y Facebook como @DiarioElPepazo El Pepazo

[gazellefamily]

CONTEMPT (1963) "Lame screenwriter tries to pimp btizz wife BriBar out to his boss and doesnt understand why she's pissed about it. Jack Palance, looking like Shazam in a double-breasted suit, is screwloose American studio honcho who owns numerous strange villas and occasionally hams it up so erratically Godard cant move camera fast enough to capture it. Confusingly, when men in old movies slap their wives , you're not supposed to see them as villain. You need to adjust for behavioral inflation of the times, I guess. But still... fuck that. No hit Bardo" -Sonny Gazelle

"Sort of the platonic ideal of 'European Movie' from its time. Like I can imagine Don Draper going to see this on one of his long lunches. Us Gen Xers mostly met Jack via CITY SLICKERS, but he was all over European film for decades. Sonny mentions Shazam, but he was in fact the facial model for our dear friend Darkseid, courtesy of King Kirby the legend. Yo in movies, screenwriters are these glamorous heroes or anti-heroes or whatever and live fascinating lives, but aside from Joe Eszterhas, has any actual screenwriter EVER lived like this? Like aside from acclaimed playwrights? I just assume they're all schlubs chained to their typewriters/computers in sparsely furnished lousy LA apartments. BrigBar ain't answering the door when you knock." -Tommy Gazelle