#Jessica Jarman

[2024paris]

The preview information that is most of interest to me:

Russia, defending Olympic team champion for both men and women, will not be present at the event. The only way for Russian gymnasts to qualify to the Olympics in Paris is via the World Cup events and the continental championships next year.

I'm unsure if the ban on Russia right now is related to the doping or the invasion of Ukraine, but it's probably both! Putin uses sport as a propaganda tool and to project strength. Withholding that opportunity from him during these times is GOOD.

When I was writing out the subdivisions, including individual all-around competitors and apparatus specialists, I was taking special note of the Armenian and Azerbaijani men. Currently, Azerbaijan's military is conducting a genocide against the Armenians who live(d) in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of AZE. It has ramped up this month.

Session 1, Subdivision 1 contains an Azerbaijani All-Around gymnast, Ivan Tikhonov, and two Armenian All-Around gymnasts, Artur Davytan and Gagik Khachikyan.

Session 1, Subdivision 2 contains an Azerbaijani apparatus specialist (Nikita Simonov) and two Armenian apparatus specialists (Vahagn Davtyan and Artur Avetisyan) on Still Rings.

Defending Olympic champions present in Antwerp are: Rebeca Andrade BRA (VT); Hashimoto Daiki JPN (AA, HB); Artem Dolgopyat ISR (FX); Max Whitlock GBR (PH); Liu Yang CHN (SR). Defending World champions present at the event are: Rebeca Andrade BRA (AA), Jessica Gadirova GBR (FX); Hashimoto Daiki JPN (AA); Rhys McClenghan IRL (PH); Adem Asil TUR (SR); Artur Davtyan ARM (VT).

Men former World champions competing: Hashimoto Daiki JPN (AA); Carlos Yulo PHI (FX, VT); Nicola Bartolini ITA (FX); Max Whitlock (PH); Rhys McClenghan IRL (PH); Eleftherios Petrounias GRE (SR); Liu Yang CHN (SR); Adem Asil TUR (SR); Arthur Zanetti BRA (SR); Artur Davtyan ARM (VT); Oleg Verniaiev UKR (PB); You Hao CHN (PB); Tin Srbic CRO (HB); Arthur Mariano BRA (HB)

Men's previews below the cut.

Men’s Team Preview: With China’s “A” team competing at the Asian Games it is hard to bet against Japan. But even with their “B” team, the Chinese men, who have won 12 of the last 15 world team titles, are still going to be very strong. It should be another close contest between the top two countries in the world, but with Hashimoto Daiki and “team’s MVP” Kaya Kazuma, Japan should be able to handle the competition and emerge victorious. With a young talented team led by Asher Hong and Fred Richard, the U.S. should have enough for the bronze medal, which would be their first team medal since 2014. Having already, qualified to the Paris, Great Britain’s Joe Fraser and Giarnni Regini Moran are skipping this event, but the team welcomes back three-time Olympic champion Max Whitlock, and will have some tumbling power on the squad by Jake Jarman and Harry Hepworth. Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev is back in action and along with Illia Kovtun, the team should manage to safely get one of the spots for Paris. European team champion, Italy, along with Korea and Turkey should also be a few of the countries that net an Olympic berth in Antwerp. As usual, it should be close for the final few spots for Paris: Spain, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France and host Belgium all have a shot at a top 12 finish. IG’s Picks: Gold: Japan Silver: China Bronze: USA

Men’s All-around preview: Defending champion Hashimoto Daiki is perhaps the only gymnast in the field in Antwerp capable of scoring into the 88s, and with his main rival Zhang Boheng from China not present, Hashimoto is the clear favorite for the title. Podium potential include Carlos Yulo PHI, USA’s Fred Richard and Asher Hong, China’s Sun Wei and Shi Cong. Great Britain’s Jake Jarman, Turkey’s Adem Asil and Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun are also capable of producing high enough all-arounds to land them on the podium. IG’s Picks: Men’s All-around: Gold: Hashimoto Daiki JPN Silver: Carlos Yulo PHI Bronze: Asher Hong USA Men’s Floor: Gold: Minami Kazuki JPN Silver: Carlos Yulo PHI Bronze: Artem Dolgopyat ISR Pommel Horse: Gold: Max Whitlock GBR Silver: Rhys McClenaghan IRL Bronze: Ahmad Abu Al Soud JOR Rings: Gold: Liu Yang CHN Silver: Eleftherios Petrounias GRE Bronze: Adem Asil TUR Men’s Vault: Gold: Artur Davtyan ARM Silver: Carlos Yulo PHI Bronze: Jake Jarman GBR Parallel Bars: Gold: Lukas Dauser GER Silver: You Hao CHN Bronze: Carlos Yulo PHI High Bar: Gold: Hashimoto Daiki JPN Silver: Chi Cong CHN Bronze: Fred Richard USA

[bronwyngreenauthor]

Flash Fiction # 98 - The Mirror

Flash Fiction # 98 – The Mirror

She studied her reflection in the mirror in the hallway outside his hotel suite. She knew what he’d see. A young ingénue eager to soak up his knowledge and wisdom. And possibly his cock if he thought she was legal and he could finesse her into it.

He was beyond predictable. While doing his college campus speaking tours, he’d only grant interviews to guys who clearly wanted to be him. Or…

[tcm]

Child’s Play: The Juvenile Academy Award By Jessica Pickens

It can feel a little awkward when a child is told they did a better job at work than an adult. That was the case with the Academy Awards at least. At 9 years old, Jackie Cooper was the first child nominated for a Best Actor at the 4th Annual Academy Awards. Nominated for SKIPPY (’31), Cooper was competing against Richard Dix, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou and Lionel Barrymore. It was Barrymore who took home the award that night for his performance in A FREE SOUL (‘31).

Three years later, 6-year-old Shirley Temple looked like a serious contender for a Best Actress nomination at the 7th Academy Awards. This same year, there was heartburn that Bette Davis hadn’t received an official nomination for OF HUMAN BONDAGE (’34). As a compromise, Temple’s autobiography notes that a special Juvenile Academy Award was created, “In grateful recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment during the year 1934.” Claudette Colbert took home the Best Actress award that year for IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT.

The juvenile statue awarded to the young actors was half the size of the regular Academy Award; standing about seven inches tall. Temple was the first to receive an award that was presented 10 times to 12 honorees over the next 26 years. The juveniles ranged in ages 6 to 18.

Shirley Temple, 1934 at the 7th Annual Academy Awards

As Temple sat bored at the Academy Awards, she was surprised to hear her name announced during the ceremony. Host and humorist Irvin S. Cobb called her “one giant among the troupers.” As she grabbed her miniature-sized award, she asked, “Mommy may we go home now?” according to her autobiography. “You all aren’t old enough to know what all this is about,” Cobb told Temple. Shirley’s mother told her that she received the award for “quantity, not quality,” because Temple starred in seven films in 1934.

In 1985, Temple received a full-sized award, as she felt the juvenile actors deserved a regulation-sized award like everyone else, according to Claude Jarman, Jr.’s autobiography.

Mickey Rooney and Deanna Durbin, 1938 at the 11th Annual Academy Awards:

The second time the special award was presented was to two juvenile actors: Mickey Rooney, 18, and Deanna Durbin, 17. They received the award for “their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth and as juvenile players setting a high standard of ability and achievement.”

“Whatever that meant,” Rooney commented in his autobiography on the award.

This was Durbin’s only recognition from the Academy. The following year, Rooney received his first adult nomination for BABES IN ARMS (’39). In total, he received four other competitive awards as an adult, and received one Honorary Award in 1983 in recognition of “50 years of versatility in a variety of memorable film performances.”

Judy Garland, 1939 at the 12th Annual Academy Awards:

Judy Garland, 17, was presented her Juvenile Academy Award by her frequent co-star Mickey Rooney. Garland received her award for “her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile during the past year” for her performances in BABES IN ARMS (’39) and THE WIZARD OF OZ (’39). Garland wouldn’t be recognized with a nomination by the Academy again until her 1954 performance in A STAR IS BORN. Garland reported losing the Juvenile Award in 1958, and it was replaced by the Academy at her own expense.

Margaret O’Brien, 1944 at the 17th Annual Academy Awards

Margaret O’Brien, 7, received the Juvenile Academy Award “for outstanding child actress of 1944” for the film MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (’44). When Margaret O’Brien received her Oscar, she said she wasn’t really that interested in it at the time. “I was more excited about seeing Bob Hope. I was more interested in meeting him than the Oscar that night,” she said, quoted by her biographer.

In 1958, O’Brien’s award was lost. Her housekeeper, Gladys, took the Juvenile Academy Award home to polish and didn’t return. A short time after, Gladys was put in the hospital for a heart condition and the award was forgotten. When Margaret reached out later about the award, the maid had moved, according to her biographer.

Nearly 40 years later, two baseball memorabilia collectors — Steve Meimand and Mark Nash— returned the award to O’Brien in 1995. The men had bought it at a swap meet in Pasadena, according to a Feb. 9, 1995, news brief in the Lodi New-Sentinel. “I never thought it would be returned,” she said in 1995. “I had looked for it for so many years in the same type of places where it was found.” In 2001, O’Brien donated her Oscar to the Sacramento AIDS Foundation.

Peggy Ann Garner, 1945 at the 18th Annual Academy Awards

After appearing in films since 1938, Peggy Ann Garner’s breakout role was in the film adaptation of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (’45). That year at the Academy Awards, 14-year-old Garner was recognized with the Juvenile Award “for the outstanding child actress of 1945.” It was an unexpected honor for Garner, who was confused why she was asked to sit in an aisle seat. She thought it was a mistake when her name was announced, according to Dickie Moore’s book on child actors.

Claude Jarman Jr., 1946 at the 19th Annual Academy Awards

Claude Jarman Jr. was plucked from his home in Knoxville, Tenn. and thrust into stardom when director Clarence Brown selected him for the lead role in THE YEARLING (’46). Jarman wrote in his autobiography that he gave a brief speech saying it was a thrilling moment and “This is about the most exciting thing that can happen to anybody.” However, later admitted that at age 12 the significance of the award escaped him. Following Shirley Temple’s example, Jarman also later received a full-sized Academy Award.

Ivan Jandl, 1948 at the 21st Annual Academy Awards

Ivan Jandl received the Juvenile Academy Award in his only American film, making him the first Czech actor to receive an Academy Award. At age 12, Jandl was recognized for his “outstanding juvenile performance of 1948 in THE SEARCH (’48).” The film was one of only five films Jandl starred in. Jandl was not permitted by the Czechoslovakia government to travel to the United States to accept his award, which was accepted on his behalf by Fred Zinnemann, who directed THE SEARCH.

Bobby Driscoll, 1949 at the 22nd Annual Academy Awards

Bobby Driscoll received the award for “the outstanding juvenile actor of 1949” after appearing in the film-noir THE WINDOW (’49), as well as his performance in the Disney film SO DEAR TO MY HEART (’48). “I’ve never been so thrilled in my life,” 13-year-old Driscoll said when he accepted the award.

Jon Whiteley and Vincent Winter, 1954 at the 27th Annual Academy Awards

Scottish actors Jon Whiteley, 10, and Vincent Winter, 7, co-starred as brothers in THE LITTLE KIDNAPPERS (’53). The co-stars were awarded for their “outstanding juvenile performances in The Little Kidnappers.” Whiteley’s parents wouldn’t let him attend the award’s ceremony, so it was mailed to him. "I remember when it arrived, hearing it was supposed to be something special, I opened the box and I was very disappointed. I thought it was an ugly statue," Whiteley said in a 2014 interview.

Vincent Winter was also not present for the award, so Tommy Rettig accepted the award on behalf of both actors.

Hayley Mills, 1960 at the 33rd Annual Academy Awards

The last Juvenile Academy Award was award to Hayley Mills, 14, in 1960 for her role in POLLYANNA (’60). The award was presented by the first winner of the Juvenile Award, Shirley Temple. Mills was unable to attend, and it was accepted on her behalf by fellow Disney star Annette Funicello.

In a 2018 interview, Mills said she didn’t know she had received it until it arrived at her home. Mills was in boarding school in England at the time of the ceremony. “I didn’t know anything about it until it turned up. Like, ‘Oh, that’s sweet. What’s that?’ I was told, ‘Well, this is a very special award,’ but it was quite a few years before I began to appreciate what I had,” she said in a 2018 interview.

The Aftermath

Throughout the tenure of the honorary Juvenile Academy Award, other children were still occasionally nominated, including Bonita Granville, 14, for THESE THREE (’36); Brandon de Wilde, 11, for SHANE (’53); Sal Mineo, 17, for REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (’55) and Patty McCormack, 11, for THE BAD SEED (’56).

Once Patty Duke, 16, won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1963 for THE MIRACLE WORKER (’62), the honor was discontinued. Following Duke, Tatum O’Neal, 11, received the award for Best Supporting Actress for PAPER MOON (’73).

In recent years, there has been discussion about bringing the award back. In a 2017 Hollywood Reporter article, the argument was made that after the discontinuation of the award, fewer children have been recognized by the Academy. The performance of Sunny Pawar in LION (2016) wasn’t nominated, which was viewed as a snub, according to a 2017 Hollywood Reporter article. Other children haven been nominated in major categories, like Quvenzhane Wallis for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (2012), which to date makes her the youngest nominee for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Jacob Tremblay in ROOM (2015). But the last time a child has won a competitive award was Anna Paquin for THE PIANO (1993).

[thediaryofatheatrekid]

Do you know when the Hamilton West End cast changes will be announced? Also, how would you like the new cast to be formed?

I believe it’s late November or Early December.

As far as dreamcasting (I’m assuming that’s what you mean by form)

*Insert Shrug Emoji* as Alexander HamiltonHugh Maynard as Aaron Burr Maiya Quansah-Breed as Eliza HamiltonRenée Lamb as Angelica SchuylerMatt Henry or Callum Francis as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas JeffersonChris Jarman as George WashingtonMatt Lucas as King George IIIIdriss Kargbo as John Laurens/Philip HamiltonJessica Lee as Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds (Eliza u/s)Kurt Kansley as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison (Burr u/s, Washington u/s)

Courtney Stapleton as Peglizica s/b

[artofcinema]

top 10 movies watched for the first time in JANUARY 2019

1. The Devils (1971, Ken Russell)

2. Cold War (2018, Paweł Pawlikowski)

3. The Last of England (1987, Derek Jarman)

4. Alice (1988, Jan Švankmajer)

5. A Special Day (1977, Ettore Scola)

6. Beauty and the Beast (1946, Jean Cocteau)

7. Amour Fou (2014, Jessica Hausner)

8. The Seventh Seal (1957, Ingmar Bergman)

9. The River (1951, Jean Renoir)

10. Far From Heaven (2002, Todd Haynes)

[fuckyeaharthuriana]

Update to the list of arthurian books, now there are 668 books

I finally updated the whole list of arthurian books! While I am pretty confident of part 1, part 2 and part 3, the new part 4 is... a tentative list, because nowadays everyone can publish anything.

THE ENTIRE LIST IS HERE

PART 4 (the new one) is now here

the rest of the update is under the cut

1954 - Half Magic (Edward Eager) [gr] 1967 - Page Boy of Camelot (Eugenia Stone) [gr] 1976 - A World Called Camelot (Arthur H. Landis) [gr] 1979 - Gawain and the Green Knight: Adventure at Camelot (Y. R. Ponsor) [gr] 1981 - Three Romances: Love Stories from Camelot Retold (Winifred Rosen) [gr] 1982 - Bride of the Spear (Kathleen Herbert) [gr] 1995 - The Sword of Camelot (Gilbert L. Morris) [gr] 1998 - Fang the Gnome (Michael G. Coney) [gr] 1998 - [1-4] Macsen's Treasure (Kathleen Cunningham Guler) [gr] 1998 - Quest for Camelot: Digest Novelization (Gardner, Vera Chapman) [gr] 1999 - The Lovers: The Legend of Trystan and Yseult (Kate Hawks) [gr] 1999 - [1-5] Merlin's Descendants (Irene Radford) [gr] 2007 - [1-10] Sir Gadabout (Martyn Beardsley) [gr] 2008 - Arthur and Guen: An Original Tale of Young Camelot (Koons, Igor Oleynikov) [gr] 2009 - [P] The Quest of Merlin (Richard Hovey) [gr] 2009 - Carnal Camelot (Anny Cook) [gr] 2009 - [AU] Two Knights in Camelot (Charlene Teglia) [gr] 2010 - [P] The Marriage of Guinevere (Richard Hovey) [gr] 2010 - [1-2] [AU] Shades series (Carol Oates) [gr] 2011 - [AU] King Arthur and the Dragon of Camelot (Frances Collier-Iovell) [gr] 2011 - [AU] A Hard Day's Knight (Simon R. Green) [gr] 2011 - Vampires of Camelot (Joanne Padgett) [gr] 2011 - Romance at Camelot (Mervyn Whittaker) [gr] 2011 - The Other Side Of The Mist (Kristi Lavery) [gr] 2012 - [1-5] Camelot Prophecies Series (Lady Antiva) [gr] 2012 - Arturius - A Quest For Camelot (David F. Carroll) [gr] 2012 - Shard of Galahad: The Camelot Prophecies (Lady Antiva) [gr] 2012 - Full Moon Over Camelot (Edward G. Talbot) [gr] 2013 - [1-3] New Camelot Series (Torie N. James) [gr] 2013 - The Crownless King (Phil Williams) [gr] 2013 - A Visit to the Kingdom of Camelot (R. L. Greenwood) [gr] 2013 - The Fearless Coward (Phil Williams) [gr] 2013 - Erotic Nights of Camelot (Lana Swallows) [gr] 2013 - Christmas in Camelot (Brenda Jernigan) [gr] 2013 - Mordred (Justine Niogret) [gr] 2013 - Countdown to Camelot (Bruce S. Hart III) [gr] 2013 - The Shadow of Camelot (Wendy Leighton-Porter) [gr] 2013 - The Werewolf of Camelot (Peter Joseph Swanson) [gr] 2014 - [1-3] [AU] Forever Camelot (J. Lynn McCoy) [gr] 2014 - Camelot Shadow (Sean Gibson) [gr]   2014 - The Prince of Camelot (Napoli St. Croix) [gr] 2014 - [AU] The Keepers of Camelot (Cheryl Pierson) [gr] 2014 - [AU] Time and Again: The Round Table Reincarnated (Jeremy Hone, Aadland) [gr] 2014 - [AU] The Quest for Camelot (Angela Schroeder) [gr] 2014 - [1-4] Legendary Saga (L. H. Nicole) [gr] 2014 - [1-3] [AU] Albion's Circle (Jessica Jarman) [gr] 2014 - The Robed Pretender of Mordred Castle (Fred La Lone) [gr] 2015 - Camelot's Enchantress Book One: The Blacksmith (Alexandria St. Claire) [gr] 2015 - Murder Comes to Camelot (Tim Ellis) [gr] 2015 - [AU] Blind Devotion: The curse of Camelot (McKendrick) [gr] 2015 - King Arthur - A Pantomime Adventure in Camelot (Paul Reakes) [gr] 2016 - Finding Camelot (Arthur - The Story of a King, #1) (C. G. Rucker) [gr] 2016 - [1-5] [AU] New Camelot (Sierra Simone) [gr] 2016 - [1-4] Britannia Series (Ana Alonso, Pelegrin) [gr] 2016 - [1-2] Camelot Returns (Heather Cimino) [gr] 2016 - Morgawse (Lavinia Collins) [gr] 2016 - The Once and Future Camelot (Felicity Pulman) [gr] 2016 - [AU] Once Upon a Time in Camelot (James Patrick Hunt) [gr]

[games-geeks]

Talented photographer Jessica Jarman of Unhinged Images sent us these amazing Batgirl images featuring the lovely Chandra Holt modelling body paint by Cast of Thousands Studio...

[found-fabricated]

I currently have work in a number of shows, with a few more confirmed in the months ahead. Blackthorn Pouring Vessel features in the European Silversmiths Forum [HammerClub] exhibition Renewal in Dock Street Studios, Dundee until the 30th of June. It will then show at Elements: A Festival of Gold and Silver in Edinburgh in November 2019.

Appetites and Objects in The Baltimore Jewelry Center in the US has a series of my utensils, From The Other Place shown alongside work by Corey Ackelmire, Jackie Andrews, Hannah Brill, Kristy Bujanic, Jeffrey Clancy, David Clarke, David Harper Clemons, Erin Daily, Lucy Derickson, Anastasia Green, Kaminer Haislip, Nils Hint, Jessica Howerton, John Williams Huckins, Zouella Jarman, Rachel Kedinger, Elliot Keeley, Jaydan Moore, Alejandra Salinas, Amy Weiks & Gabriel Craig of Smith Shop, Brian Weissman, Adam Whitney, and Logan Woodle.

Exhibition dates: June 7 – July 12, 2019

A Last Sitting [for a Fisherman] has been selected for the Coast exhibition in An Talla Solais in Ullapool, Scotland. The exhibition has work by 20 artists, which will be shown 10 at a time, the exhibition rotating the works after two weeks.The show runs from 20th July, to 8th September.

Land[ed] opens in the Lavit Gallery, Cork for August Craft Month. A series of my vessels and utensils will show alongside Joe Hogan (basketry), Alan Meredith (woodwork), Mourne Textiles (wall hangings), and ceramics from Elaine Riordan and Simon Kidd.

Finally I will be showing vessels, utensils and jewellery at the New Craftsman Gallery in St.Ives for Gathering – an exhibition featuring Forest + Found, Joe Hogan, Annemarie O’Sullivan, Adam Buick and painter Michael Porter.

The exhibition will open on the 13th September, running throughout the St Ives Arts Festival from 14th – 28th September and then will be extended until 12th October.

Current and upcoming Exhibitions. I currently have work in a number of shows, with a few more confirmed in the months ahead.

[elenajohansenreads]

Books I Read in 2019

#20 - The Deepest Cut, by Jessica Jarman

Mount TBR (14/100)

PopSugar Reading Challenge -- A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter

Rating: 3/5 stars

The premise is interesting: King Arthur, his knights, and a few other important people in his circle get stuck in a cycle of reincarnation to battle evil magical threats. It's weird, it's over the top, it's Camelot fan fiction, and I want to love it unreservedly. However, I do have some reservations. It's short and underdeveloped. I'm not complaining about the cliffhanger, but even for a first book in a series, I feel like we don't get all that many answers to any of the thousand questions the narrative offers. I also feel that using such notable literary figures has led to a sort of assumed shorthand for their characters--no one is developed in any sort of depth, and in fact, I can't recall several named characters ever getting any physical description at all. The ones who do are mostly limited to hair color, which doesn't help when most of the men (Arthur being the notable blond exception) are dark-haired. I mean, can I get even a body type? Who's tall? Who's lean? Is anyone pudgy? Or are they all interchangeable dark, brooding muscle-heads? My other major issue is that no one (except Galahad) has even the tiniest level of chill. This entire story is set at 11 and it's a bit exhausting, especially when the three POV characters are all hot messes. Anna is deeply troubled, fine. Lancelot is a conflicted man trying to choose between love and duty--absolutely on point with the lore. Merlin, however, is dangerously unstable, it takes almost nothing to provoke him into losing control of his magic, and that's less than fine with me--he's the hero of the romance story line, and even in his past lives he's shown to ride a hair trigger between keeping himself in check and casually obliterating people. Should that be romanticized?

[rustcitybookcon]

Joining #RustCity17 - Jessica Jarman & Tonya Kappes

Joining #RustCity17 - @jessjarman & @tonyakappes11

Every book convention must have authors. There’s no question about it and I am working hard to ensure that we not only have a ton of fun people to hang out with, but there’s a wide range of genre talent as well. I know many readers tend to stick with their preferred genres, and there’s nothing wrong with that; but you never know what you’ll find, what you’ll like, until you take a leap of faith.

[literaryescapis]

Joining #RustCity17 - Jessica Jarman & Tonya Kappes

Joining #RustCity17 - @jessjarman & @tonyakappes11

Every book convention must have authors. There’s no question about it and I am working hard to ensure that we not only have a ton of fun people to hang out with, but there’s a wide range of genre talent as well. I know many readers tend to stick with their preferred genres, and there’s nothing wrong with that; but you never know what you’ll find, what you’ll like, until you take a leap of faith.…

[bronwyngreenauthor]

First Time: First Meeting

First Time: First Meeting

We’re starting a new feature for the blog group called First Time. We’ll be showcasing a variety of firsts from different stories. Some might be published. Some might be unpublished. It’ll be up to the author of the blog. 

This month, it’s First Meeting, so I’m going to share the first meeting of Rowan and Gwydion from SUMMONED which is one of the stories from THE CHARMED COLLECTION. 

“As I…

[tcm]

The Legacy of INTRUDER IN THE DUST (’49) By Jessica Pickens

When Juano Hernandez is on screen, your eyes are on him. The Afro-Puerto Rican actor has a commanding presence, and the characters he portrayed are memorable long after the film ends. “He also has one of the great faces ever in films,” said the late Robert Osborne, former Turner Classic Movies host and historian. “Once you see him, you never forget him.”

Hernandez’s first credited film role came in 1932, but it was in 1949 when he had his breakout role with INTRUDER IN THE DUST, his first film with a major Hollywood studio. In the 1930s, Hernandez primarily starred in “race films” produced between 1914 and the 1950s outside of major Hollywood studios and starring all-Black casts for segregated audiences. From 1932 to 1940, Hernandez starred in four race films, some of which were directed by Oscar Micheaux. INTRUDER IN THE DUST was his first film in nine years.

INTRUDER IN THE DUST is a film adaptation of William Faulkner’s 1948 novel. Hernandez plays Lucas Beauchamp, a Black man accused of shooting a white man in the back in a small southern town. Lucas looks to a white teenager, Chick Mallison, played by Claude Jarman Jr., for help. Lucas says Chick is still uncluttered of the notions older white men have. Chick, his friend Aleck and elderly Miss Eunice Habersham help discover what really happened.

Released by MGM, INTRUDER IN THE DUST is a captivating film disguised as a whodunit crime drama, and it explores racism in a small town. As the confident Lucas, Hernandez walks proudly through the town wearing a long dark coat, black hat and toothpick hanging from his mouth. Historian Donald Bogle calls Hernandez’s Lucas “one of the strongest Black male characters you will see in Hollywood movies, up to that time.”

Lucas is proud and won’t act subservient. He initially angers Chick because Lucas treats him like an equal. But Lucas also asks Chick to help him and to convince his uncle John (David Brian) to act as his lawyer. Reluctant to take the case, John says, “Has it ever occurred to you if you just said ‘mister’ to white people and said it like you meant it, you might not be sitting here now?” Lucas replies from his jail cell, “So I’m to commence now? I can start off by saying ‘mister’ to the folks that drags me out of here and builds a fire under me?”

During an interview with Robert Osborne, Bogle said, “It is a highly distinctive character. The character is proud and there is a kind of defiance he has. He has so much pride that he doesn’t care to prove anything to the whites in his community. He becomes a focal point for them, because he’s a Black man who will not play the role of one of their subservient figures.”

White characters in INTRUDER IN THE DUST view Lucas as haughty, and MGM studio heads felt similarly about the character. According to producer Dore Schary’s autobiography, Mayer felt that Hernandez’s character was “too uppity.” Mayer also complained that “He ought to take off his hat when he talks to a white man” and “he didn’t even say thank you to the lawyer.” Mayer wasn’t keen on veteran director Clarence Brown’s project , but Schary championed it. This was a departure for Brown from the ultra-glamourous, glittering films that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was known for.

INTRUDER IN THE DUST was filmed on location in segregated Oxford, Mississippi. The racism Lucas experiences onscreen was similar to what Hernandez experienced while making the film. Hernandez and the other Black actors had to live in a separate area from the rest of the cast. Hernandez stayed with a local undertaker, according to a 1949 New York Times article. While author William Faulkner coached Puerto Rican-born Hernandez with his southern accent and appreciated his performance, Faulkner did not invite Hernandez to dinner at his home, Rowan Oak, with the rest of the cast and crew. Hernandez also refused to go into any Oxford businesses that required only Black patrons to remove their hats when they entered.

Initially, the cast and crew were viewed with skepticism, because of the topic of the film. In order to be more welcome in the town, Clarence Brown had to charm the people of Oxford, cast some as extras and champion the economic development the picture would bring, according to Brown’s biographer Gwenda Young.

INTRUDER IN THE DUST was one of four movies dealing with racism released in 1949, but it was still unusual to highlight the issue in American films during this time. “Messages against racism were virtually nonexistent in 1940s Hollywood,” Claude Jarman Jr. wrote in his autobiography. “… [The film] may seem like a primitive step today, but in a time when racist attitudes were prevalent, making a movie of INTRUDER IN THE DUST was akin to taking a first step on the moon.”

To be sensitive towards the topic of racism, Schary consulted NAACP president Walter White, who praised the script but warned against the use of derogatory racial slurs used by some of the characters. The final product was an intriguing film with stunning cinematography by Robert Surtees and deft direction by Brown. Unfortunately, Mayer didn’t promote INTRUDER IN THE DUST, and Brown discovered race “problem pictures” were doing poorly in the box office, according to his biographer.

“L.B. predicted the film would be a dismal flop at the box office. I predicted it would be viewed in years to come as one of the best. We were both right,” Schary wrote in his autobiography. Critics provided mixed reviews, with southern critics largely praising the film while ignoring the racial issue.

However, Black author and critic Ralph Ellison championed it for its depiction of a Black man with courage, pride, independence and patience “that are usually attributed only to white men.” Comparing it to the other race relations films released that year, Ellison said, “It’s the only film that could be shown in Harlem without arousing unintended laughter, for it is the only one of the four in which Negroes can make complete identification with their screen image."

[intravenousgnostic]

trying to unbreak my brain a bit by reading again, so here's a list of books I've read this year (2022*):

Dec-Jan

The Transgender Issue - Shon Faye

Hons and Rebels - Jessica Mitford

Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters

Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett (read out loud, to my wife)

We Are Family: What Really Matters for Parents and Children - Susan Golombok

Girl, Woman, Other - Bernadine Evaristo

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

Tell Me I'm Worthless - Alison Rumfitt

The Bloody Chamber and Other Tales - Angela Carter

Feb

Modern Nature - Derek Jarman

Earthlings - Sayaka Murata

The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name - Audre Lorde

Everything (A Book about Manic Street Preachers) - Simon Price

Mar

Eric - Terry Pratchett (read out loud, to my wife)

The Walking Dead: Compendium One - Robert Kirkland, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn

Manhunt - Gretchen Felker-Martin

Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett (read out loud, to my wife)

May

Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett (read out loud, to my wife)

You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat] - Andrew Hankinson

June

Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett (read out loud, to my wife)

July

Our Wives Under The Sea - Julia Armfield

I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp - Richard Hell

Dagger: On Butch Women - Edited by Lily Burana, Roxxie Linnea Due

August

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett (read out loud, to my wife)

The Sandman (Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes) - Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III

The Madness - Narcís Oller (trans. Douglas Suttle)

Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation - Hannah Gadsby

September

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas - Ursula K. Le Guin

The Gate To Women's Country - Sheri S. Tepper

X - Davey Davis

I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy

October

README.txt - Chelsea Manning

November-December

We had a baby and I couldn't remember what day it was, let alone read a book

*technically since christmas 2021 but I'm counting it all together

[andreahamiltonblog]

T H E   C O L O U R   P R O J E C T

Through the lens of a single colour, Scarlet, from Andrea Hamilton’s Sea Chroma colour system, we explore the underlying structures and cultural reference points which determine how we see. By journeying into the monochrome, we discover how colours cue our emotions, memory, senses and the world around us, and provide us with unexpected and meaningful connections.

Chiharu Shiota, Me Somewhere Else, Image No1

“When my feet touch the earth, I feel connected to the world, to the universe that is spread like a net of human connections,” said the artist Chiharu Shiota, describing her expansive, site-specific installation, Me Somewhere Else, held at Blain|Southern, London in January 2019. Standing in front of this powerful piece, I was transfixed. The Osaka-born artist fills empty spaces with vivid scarlet yarn, in a distinctive triangular schematic; Me Somewhere Else featured an otherworldly lattice delicately touching ghost-white feet, defining how consciousness spreads beyond the tangible, the way arteries spread through a body. Shiota’s work features immersive, networked environments spun out of yarn, often tangled with vehicles like boats, or used possessions, haunted with memories. Her work is imbued with a longing for her motherland and the loss of her future life blood through ovarian cancer. My mother also had cancer and I immediately understood that feeling: when you are willing every cell in your body to win its war against the disease.

Shiota works in scarlet more than any other colour, and for good reason: it’s a hue that has an extraordinary resonance. In the western world its deep religious associations are entwined with displays of power and wealth. In China the colour represents happiness and good luck, and today, Chinese New Year, you’ll see an explosion of scarlet and gold throughout the country and enclaves around the world: exuberant dragon dances ushering in joy, peace and prosperity for the coming year. In Japan it is the hue of life: the scarlet double-T torii (gates) at the threshold of Shinto shrines ward off demons. It is also a red that signals danger, anger and of course, passion. It’s fascinating that one shade of red should carry the weight of so many – and contradictory – signals. It is laden with symbolism: from the umbilical cord at birth and the neural pathways in the human brain, to the familial and cultural connections that bind us together, scarlet is the colour of life: the colour of blood.

Blood cells are made from protein, iron and oxygen. Within red each cell is a protein called haemoglobin, with sub-units called hemes which bind oxygen with iron. So, the more we inhale, the more oxygen mixes with iron and the brighter our blood becomes. This mixing of elements is the very core of our existence. Derek Jarman, diagnosed with HIV, wrote Chroma the year before he died in 1995. I think that perhaps when you explore the prospect of imminent death, you feel more fully alive. With his own senses about to be extinguished, he tried to capture the essence of this experience.

“Each victory of the red cells brings death…for the virus is red. The dance of death. Red plague cross. Red as scarlet fever – the small pox. Red has always embraced the hospital. The tenth-century physician, Avicenna, dressed his patients in red clothes. Red wool tied around the neck protected. Like for like. Colour for cure. Red moved the blood. Avicenna made medicine from red flowers. If one gazed intently at red the blood would flow……RedStopRedStopRedStop”

Chroma, Derek Jarman. Vintage Classics 1995. ISBN: 9780099474913

Iron is the heart of our existence on a planetary level too: Earth’s core is a solid ball of iron, giving us magnetic poles and the ability to navigate. Thanks to iron, humans could explore and, crucially, get back home again. Mars has so much iron oxide – the same compound as our blood – that it appears as a rusty-red. As if to make this connection very clear, the first lunar eclipse of the year rose low on the horizon, cloaked in scarlet. This ‘Super Blood Wolf Moon’ was caused by the moon’s unusual proximity with the earth. In passing through earth’s shadow, our planetary companion acquired its reddish tint and for a moment, all of us were linked in wonder.

Blood Wolf Moon © Andrea Hamilton 2019

Scarlet is central to the Judeo-Christian story: the colour of sacrifice and atonement, of Christ’s blood. In 1464 Pope Paul II decreed that all his cardinals wear robes of scarlet, as they do to this day, both a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice but also a display of power and wealth. Scarlet dye was achingly expensive – in fact the word scarlet comes from the Arabic siklāt, meaning cloth dyed red. The original scarlet dye came from a tiny grub-like insect called kermes ilices, known in biblical times as the crimson worm: 80 kermes were needed for just one gram of dye. The insect’s fascinating life cycle is central to the faith: it parallels the Passion of the Christ, life out of sacrifice. When the female comes to lay her eggs, she forms her body into a hard shell around them and attaches herself to a branch. So firmly attached is she in fact, that this is her last act. The moment of birth is the moment of her death: as the newly-hatched kermes emerge from her shell/body, they are coloured red by her self-sacrificed remains and remain so for the rest of their lives, wearing their bloodline like a cloak. In the last, as her body disintegrates, the waxy white shells fall from the tree, leaving a snowy, woollen effect around the evergreen oak, like little sins forgiven. It’s beautifully illustrated in Isaiah 1.18:

‘…though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.’

Repairs in the Sky, no. 3 of 9, from the series What Is the Shape of This Problem? 1999. Louse Bourgeois. Image © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY.

If scarlet represents the Passion of the Christ and the blood of martyrs, one of the strangest contradictions is that it is also the colour of lust and adultery – the scarlet woman. This was fictionalised in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterwork, The Scarlet Letter. Written in 1850, and set in a 17th century Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony, it tells the story of Hester Prynne who conceives a daughter, though her husband is presumed dead, and for this shame she is required to wear a scarlet ‘A’ (for adulteress) on her dress. Hester’s innocent daughter Pearl is also stigmatised, which becomes the central question: how one can create a new life of repentance and dignity? It examines the notion of redemption – both personal and societal.

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850. Enhanced Media Publishing, 2017. ISBN: 9781387064564

Even in this day and age, wearing scarlet as a woman is to make a striking statement about sexuality and desire. Statistically, waitresses who wear red get more tips: a smear of Chanel’s Rouge Allure lipstick is a come-hither – and Jessica Rabbit’s scarlet dress, split to the thigh, a walking promise. As Derek Jarman wrote in Chroma, “Red protects itself. No colour is as territorial. It stakes a claim, is on alert against the spectrum”. It all comes back to the power of blood – that is the sensual promise of red after all, that a woman is sexually mature. Yet our relationship to the hue is mediated and controlled: women must not be flowing, open hearted, and passionate, to only ever allude to the workings of the body.

To Unravel a Torment You Must Begin Somewhere, no. 8 of 9, from the series What Is the Shape of This Problem? , 1999. Louise Bourgeois. Image © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY.

For artists like Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois, the use of blood red is empowering. Known for her exploratory, sexually explicit works, Kahlo’s cathartic response to finding her lover Diego Rivera in bed with her sister was to paint a riotous bloody scene, red paint spattered garishly all over the frame. Bourgeois painted whole rooms with it, sewed stories with it, and then made a lullaby out of red. Red is affirmation at any cost, it rises above the danger or contradiction of fighting for what we love.

Scarlet © Andrea Hamilton 2012.

In the end, scarlet is most truly the colour of joy – of being alive, of the rich panoply of human existence, from sacrifice to passion, from anger to love. As fashion designer Valentino said, “Red has guts… deep, strong, dramatic. A Goya red… to be used like gold for furnishing a house, it is strong like black or white.” My meditations on scarlet led from a surreal dawn on 11 April 2012, when after a long exposure I was lucky to capture a mirrored sea and sky of the warmest of light. I thought about how quickly red can be a deep pleasure or a pain, and ringing in my ears from generations of naval DNA was: “Red sky at night sailor’s delight, red sky at morning, sailor’s warning.” If you feel barely alive, listless and rigid – especially in these cold and dark months – harness the power of warm, rich scarlet to bring out your inner warrior. Refuse to be like others driving down the same road, and spring onto your own.

Explore Further:

Exhibitions: Now until 24 March: Louise Bourgeois, Artist Rooms, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. Now until 20 March: Chiharu Shiota: Lifelines. 100 Jahre Revolution, Berlin 1918/19. Podewil, Berlin. 22 February-27 April: Ken Currie, Red Ground. Flowers Gallery Kingsland Road, London. 16 March-18 August: Anish Kapoor. Pitzhanger Museum & Gallery, London. 11 May-24 November: Melissa McGill, Red Regatta. Venice Biennale, 2019, Venice. 20 June – 27 October: Chiharu Shiota, The Soul Trembles, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo.

Other Projects: Wondrous Strange

Wondrous Strange No. 2 © Andrea Hamilton

“These photographs aim to capture the fragile, the innocent emotions and developing identities of the adolescent models. In a way, they speak about something akin to a delicate but persistent memory that cannot be fully restored. Images that are enigmatic fascinate me, where there is an intriguing, disturbing feeling that reflects life’s challenges. Wondrous Strange’s photographs trigger within us a sense of something irredeemably lost yet still present.”

Colour Combinations: Scarlet/violet

No. 301 (Reds and Violet over Red/Red and Blue over Red) [Red and Blue over Red], 1959. Mark Rothko. Image © Museum of Contemporary Art.

When I think about rich reds, the combination of scarlet and violet comes to mind, because I see it frequently when gazing out to the sea at sunset. Towards the end of his life, Mark Rothko painted in rich, resonant colours: deep reds, bruised purples, sombre magentas, as if foreshadowing Jarman’s meditation on red at the end of his life. No. 301 [Red and Blue over Red] deep scarlet with a cool band of purple, keys into the beauty of floating fields of pure pigment, and reminds us that how colour is both deeply personal and also a shared experience – colour feeding emotion in the purest way.

[podilatokafe]

Jessica Jones Quartet - Nod (2017)

Jessica Jones Quartet – Nod (2017)

Republic of Jazz A historic gathering of musicians, this album features guest artists Joseph Jarman of the Art Ensemble of Chicago on bass clarinet and alto saxophone and Connie Crothers on piano, each contributing an original to the date. The band – Jessica & Tony Jones on tenor sax, Ken Filiano on bass and Derrek Phillips on drums – comprised the Jessica Jones Quartet of that era. Vocalist…