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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 years ago

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 1, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

August 1, 2021 (Sunday)

Last Sunday, educator and civil rights leader Dr. Robert Parris Moses died at 86.

Born in New York City in 1935, the son of a homemaker and a janitor, Moses was working on a PhD at Harvard when his parents’ health brought him back to New York City. There, he began to teach math in 1958.

In 1960, images of Black Americans in the South picketing for their rights “hit me powerfully, in the soul as well as the brain,” he later said. He moved to Mississippi and began to work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced “snick”). In 1961, he began to direct SNCC’s Mississippi Project to promote voter registration in Mississippi, where, although about 40% of the state’s population was Black, most Black Americans had been frozen out of the polls through poll taxes, subjective literacy tests, and violence. In his quest to get people registered to vote, Moses endured attacks from thugs wielding knives, white supremacists wielding guns, and law enforcement officers wielding power. He earned a reputation for being quiet and calm in times that were anything but.

By 1964, Moses was one of the key leaders in the effort to register Black voters in Mississippi. In April, working with Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker, he helped to found the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge Mississippi’s all-white Democratic Party.

That summer, Moses led the Freedom Summer Project to bring together college students from northern schools to work together with Black people from Mississippi to educate and register Black voters. On June 21, just as the project was getting underway, Ku Klux Klan members working with local law enforcement officers murdered three organizers outside Philadelphia, Mississippi: James Chaney, from Mississippi, and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner from New York. The white supremacists buried the bodies in an earthen dam that was under construction. When the men disappeared, Moses told the other organizers that no one would blame them for going home. His quiet leadership inspired most of them to stay.

On August 4, investigators found the bodies of the three missing men. The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party met on August 6 and decided to challenge the Mississippi Democratic Party to represent the state at the Democratic National Convention. And yet, when the Democratic National Convention met, the Democratic National Committee leaders and President Lyndon B. Johnson chose to recognize the all-white Democratic Party rather than the integrated ticket of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

At the end of 1964, Moses resigned from his leadership position in Mississippi, worried that his role had become "too strong, too central, so that people who did not need to, began to lean on me, to use me as a crutch." Key to Moses’s leadership was that he did not want to be out front; he wanted to empower others to take control of their own lives.

Civil rights historian Taylor Branch told reporter Julia Cass in a story Mother Jones published in 2002: “Moses pioneered an alternative style of leadership from the princely church leader that [the Reverend Martin Luther] King [Jr.] epitomized…. He was the thoughtful, self-effacing loner. He is really the father of grassroots organizing—not the Moses summoning his people on the mountaintop as King did, but, ironically, the anti-Moses, going door-to-door, listening to people, letting them lead.”

Moses was disillusioned when the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party did not win the right to represent the state in the Democratic National Convention. For all the work that individual sharecroppers and hairdressers and housewives had done in Mississippi, national leaders had let them down. “You cannot trust the system,” he said in 1965. “I will have nothing to do with the political system any longer.”

Moses turned to protesting the Vietnam War. He and his wife, Janet, moved to Tanzania when he was drafted despite being five years over the cutoff age. After 8 years in Africa, the Moses family moved back to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Moses resumed his doctoral work in the philosophy of mathematics.

Back in America, Moses turned his philosophy of empowerment to the schools, advancing the idea that mathematical literacy is central to the ability of young people to participate in the twenty-first-century economy. In the 1980s, he launched The Algebra Project to give young Americans access to higher mathematics. “I believe that the absence of math literacy in urban and rural communities throughout this country is an issue as urgent as the lack of registered Black voters in Mississippi was in 1961,” he wrote. “In the 1960s, we opened up political access…. The most important social problem affecting people of color today is economic access, and this depends crucially on math and science literacy, because the American economy is now based on knowledge and technology, not labor.”

Moses’s focus on empowerment and self-determination was very much in keeping with the original concept of American democracy.

And yet, his efforts, along with those of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, to turn to national politicians to cement gains at the grass roots were not in vain. In 1965, Congress passed and Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, protecting the rights of Black Americans to vote, focusing on states with historical voter suppression.

Just fifteen years later, in 1980, Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan spoke at Philadelphia, Mississippi, where he defended state’s rights, and the unwinding of the civil rights advances of the post–World War II years began.

Now, in 2021, we seem to be headed back to the one-party society Moses fought. In response to record voter turnout in the 2020 election, 18 states have passed 30 new laws that make it harder to vote. At the same time, Republican-dominated legislatures are gathering into their own hands the power to override the voters.

In Louisiana on Friday, Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder removed three Democrats and one unaffiliated member from committee leadership positions in retaliation for their unwillingness to override the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill banning transgender girls from participating in school sports. They will be replaced by Republicans.

In Georgia, legislators have begun the process of transferring control of the elections in Fulton County, one of the most reliably Democratic counties in the nation, from county officials to Republican state officials.

Public schools are also under attack, with Republicans threatening to cut funding to schools that require masks to stop the spread of coronavirus or that teach “divisive concepts” that make students uncomfortable, usually topics that involve race.

Republican lawmakers have proposed attaching funding to students rather than to schools, enabling parents to use tax dollars to enroll their children in private schools. This sounds like a revival of the all-white “segregation academies” that sprang up in the South after the Supreme Court required desegregation of public schools. Those academies, funded with public money, were so successful that, according to Professor Noliwe Rooks, an Americanist who specializes in issues of race and education and who chairs the Africana Studies department at Brown University, in 1974, 3,500 academies in the South enrolled 750,000 white children. As white students left the public schools, funds available to educate the many Black and few white children left behind fell drastically.

Unequal educational options were hallmarks of the one-party state systems Moses worked to undermine. When he explained The Algebra Project, Moses called the historically limited educational opportunities for Black children in America “sharecropper schooling.” “[Y]ou went through it, but your options were you were going to chop and pick cotton or do domestic work….”

In 1965, Congress and the president finally recognized that all the organizing in the world couldn’t overcome the apparatus of a rigged system. They used the power of the federal government to turn the work of individuals like Bob Moses, scholar and visionary, organizer and teacher, into the law of the land.

But watching the turbulence in American life last year, Moses warned that the nation “can lurch backward as quickly as it can lurch forward.”

—-

Notes:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2002/05/moses-factor/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/us/bob-moses-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/us/george-floyd-protests.html

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-july-2021

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/08/trump-schools-reopening-federal-funding-352311

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/opinion/cindy-hyde-smith-mike-espy-senate-mississippi.html

https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-8eaa96bcc646a118a70b95a06994c2d3

https://www.ajc.com/politics/capitol-recap-georgia-moves-closer-to-takeover-of-fulton-elections/O2ZVJZ3NKRD7HP5QHTSBIXUQ34/

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#political #biography #Civil Rights #history #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP

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agent-of-marvel-and-starwars · 4 years ago

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Bucky x Tasha: Their Story

Chapter 3:

*Three weeks later*

Julia and Tasha walked together down the streets of Washington D.C., keeping close together and acting as natural as possible. With their spy training, it was very natural indeed.

As they rounded a corner, the Triskelion loomed into view. The skyscraper, with its glittering pools and huge eagle logo, was more impressive than anything the KGB had ever constructed. “Wow,” Tasha breathed. “It’s beautiful,” Julia agreed, as the morning sun reflected off its spotless windows.

“So,” Tasha continued. “What are we going to tell them?”

Julia considered for a moemnt. “The usual. Everyone cares about the who, where, and what. We’ll give them a few of the officers’ names, the headquarters and Red Room location, and a few of their less high-profile projects. I know-”

But whatever Julia knew, Tasha never got to find out. They ducked in unison due to their improved senses. Just at that time, a knife embedded itself in the wall behind them. Julia grabbed Tasha by the arm and pulled her under a Jeep, drawing out their shotguns and turning the safety off.

Tasha covered Julia as Julia risked a glance at their enemy. What she saw chilled her blood. She knew that uniform, that characteristic metal arm.

As both Tasha and Julia drew back for momentary cover from their enemy’s bullets, Tasha stomped her foot in disbelief. “They sent the Winter Soldier?!” she cried. “The fricking Winter Soldier after us?!” “They must think the info we’ll be giving to S.H.I.E.L.D. is really important!” Julia shouted over the rapping of bullets hitting the Jeep’s doors.

Julia turned around as the Winter Soldier launched an explosive missile at them. Tasha dove on Julia, flattening her to the ground as the car exploded next to them. When they next stood up, Julia’s sleeve had been scorched and her arm was bleeding, but they sustained no worse injuries. Julia pushed Tasha behind another van as she decided to go in for hand-to-hand combat. They were running out of artillery and firepower. Besides, the versatile and flexible fighting style the Red Room taught the girls might just match the Winter Soldier’s infamous strong metal arm.

Julia quickly told Tasha her plan. Tasha agreed, pulling out her Glock 19 and distracting the Winter Soldier.

Julia slipped around the van and blended into the crowd, coming out behind the Winter Soldier. While the Winter Soldier was busy firing automatic rounds at Tasha, Julia jumped on him, pushing him down on the floor. The Winter Soldier rolled over, getting up on his feet as Julia aimed a double kick at him. He pushed away the first kick, but the second one caught him in the chest. Julia used the time he delayed to get in close, elbow him in the ribs and punch him in the face. But she got in a little too close than was necessary. He recovered and grabbed Julia by the arm, aiming a hard punch at her. Julia ducked and kicked the Winter Soldier away from her.

The Winter Soldier gave a grunt and tore off his mask and goggles. He unclasped a short knife from his belt. With a yell, he charged at Julia, and slashed at her face. Julia parried, ducked, turned, and jabbed with her own knife, but as they got closer together, he forced the blade out of her hand, twisted her arm behind her, and pressed his own dagger against her throat. Julia used all of her strength to hold him back, but the Winter Soldier’s Vibranium arm was too strong.

Just at the moment, a clever punch to The Winter Soldier’s chin made him stumble, and Julia grabbed the end of the dagger, unaware of the blood from her hand spilling onto the pavement, and kept it away from her throat. She tossed it aside and dove for her gun in case Tasha needed support. She couldn’t fire while they were so close together and moving so rapidly though. Tasha pushed him off, kicked him in the shin. He doubled over, as Tasha climbed onto his shoulders, drawing a string from her pocket and lacing it around the Winter Soldier’s throat. He grunted and grabbed Tasha by the scruff of her neck and flipped her off him to the ground. “Tasha!” Julia fired three rounds precisely at the Winter Soldier’s heart. The Winter Soldier held up his arm, and bullets deflected off it.

Julia couldn’t help thinking damn her own skill!

Just as Julia was going to go in for another attack, Tasha screamed for her to stop. Julia stopped in surprise, and so did the Winter Soldier. Tasha leaped with amazing skill, landed next to Julia and pulled her away from the Winter Soldier’s line of fire, and to cover.

“What are you doing?” Julia hissed, who had trained with Tasha and thought she knew all of her strategies.

“Don’t you realize?” Tasha asked as more bullets peppered the car they were hiding behind. “There must be some way to turn him off, or he’ll be running around murdering all the KGB officials!”

“Ну и что? (So what?)” Julia shouted in Russian.

“If we could turn him off...”

“We can’t!” Julia shouted. “Let’s not waste time on this.”

“Wait! Нет! (No!)” Tasha responded in Russian. “I think I know the password to turning him off.”

Julia froze, and cracked a smile. “How could I forget, гений (genius)? You chose the Winter Soldier as one of your involvement projects you wanted to do with the KGB.”

Tasha smirked, and sprang up. “хороший солдат!” she shouted at the top of her voice. The Winter Soldier stopped, turned and looked at her. He looked around.

“Hey,” Tasha said, smiling.

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skeletonpunching · 7 years ago

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Vatican Miracle Examiner sidestory - The Wonderful Boss’s Celebration (part 10)

In this sidestory update, in the immortal words of dril:

Actually, no, it’s still terrible.

[Parts 1 and 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, parts 7 and 8, part 9]

“Is it really alright to go without explaining the wine and dishes?” Julia persisted.

“Yeah, it’s fine. While waiting for the main course, how about a little game? Julia, didn’t you say that I was half right about the amuse-bouches just now? That portion was small, and the taste was dense, so I was just a little confused. I’ll get it next time,” Ruggieri replied, evidently fired up. His temperament was such that, when anything was framed as a contest, he couldn’t rest unless he won.

Like a little child...

Julia gazed coolly at Ruggieri’s serious expression.

“Is that so? The course has only just begun.”

Ruggieri nodded.

An hors d'oeuvre - a salad - was quietly set before them. Ruggieri tucked into this, thoroughly savouring it.

“Hmm. This is premium blue lobster tartar. The texture is elastic, and the taste clings; the sharp and crunchy shallots, the tang of lime, and the rock salt all shine through. Spice with a hint of saltiness, and the aroma of the meat-smoking wood chips… It really is a complex flavour. And the oil drizzled over it… Right, this scent - is it argan oil?”

Ruggieri looked at Julia with an expression of how’s that?

Julia applauded.

“Bravo. Argan oil has long been used among the Berbers in Morocco, for food, medicine, and cosmetic purposes. In recent years, it has been recognised for its level of Vitamin E and unsaturated fat, and so production has been trending upwards. But this was expressly prepared using the traditional method - by cracking the hard kernels of the argan tree, and grinding them into a paste to extract the oil. It’s a highly laborious process. So, Ruggieri, you’re almost correct.”

“That again? Well, it’s fine. I’ll definitely be spot-on next time.”

Ruggieri took a swig of wine, scowling.

The waiter brought them a soup; its colour was a deep, clear gold.

Ruggieri tasted a mouthful and sighed, “Delicious.”

“As soon as it entered my mouth, there was a steadily unfurling taste of umami. A complex flavour with an elegant finish, and a rich fragrance that fills the nose… Hmm. It’s like I’ve tasted this somewhere…”

Ruggieri pondered briefly, and then struck his hand.

“Got it - it’s Yezo sika deer. Isn’t it?”

“As expected of a gourmet. The ingredient for the soup’s unadulterated umami flavour is condensed consommé - the soup known as the highest distillation of the French culinary arts. Yezo sika consommé is especially difficult to clarify, and this poivrade is my chefs’ rare specialty. The deer bone and sinew are first cooked in the oven, and then placed in a pot with red wine, red wine vinegar, tarragon, thyme, and water. This is simmered for about eight hours, with the scum carefully skimmed off. The soup produced from this is added, bit by bit, to a mixture of minced deer meat, finely sliced vegetables, and egg whites. After another eight hours of boiling and delicate adjustments to the fire, it is strained through a cloth containing coarsely ground black pepper. Through this filtering and the infusion of the aroma, the poivrade is completed.”

“In short, I’m right this time?” Ruggieri asked, leaning forward. Julia parried him with a bewitching smile.

“Please wait just a little for that answer. The next dish will be along shortly.”

Ruggieri huffed a petulant sigh at Julia’s words.

“I don’t enjoy being kept on edge. Time is money, after all. But anyway, since I’m being kept waiting, how about I ask about the progress on the AI development project that you’re directing? However the presidential election turns out, intelligence operations are the key. We can’t have Robert Mercer’s methods getting ahead of ours.”

“Robert Mercer, is it? An early developer of artificial intelligence, and the co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies - a quant fund with investments of over a trillion yen, which has gathered the world’s top AI researchers. He is one of the largest donors to the Republican Party, after the Koch family, and is another leading figure in the Tea Party movement. He’s also known as an advocate of global warming denial.

“These days, there’s no discussing the world of investment without mentioning AI… More than that, you could say AI completely dominates the field. It monitors global economic indicators 24 hours a day, and through its overwhelming research prowess and automatic learning capability, it can discern the signs and conduct trades quickly and calmly.”

“Yes, and Robert made huge sums of money that way to spend freely on the election, becoming the single greatest backer of the current president. But what’s important is the method. He funded the election consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which launched a massive smear campaign against the opposing candidate. They used Facebook to illegally collect large amounts of personal data, analysed this data, and posted extensively on Twitter using numerous chatbots. That’s how they masterfully gained control over public opinion, and won the battle by a fractional margin.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that. Our intelligence-gathering network extends into every corner of the American political arena, and besides, Galdoune’s lower division makes use of high-performance bots that are equipped with faces, fictitious addresses, even human existences. Their responses are so smooth that they are indistinguishable from living humans. They already number over sixty thousand, and calculations show that a full thirty million ordinary citizens have come into contact with them, directly or indirectly.”

“Sixty thousand isn’t enough. Prepare two hundred thousand.”

“Understood. We’ll increase it to two hundred thousand within half a year. As for the especially powerful influencer AI, it’s also in the implementation stage.”

“Right. AI bots which pose as humans to spread information are becoming strategically indispensable... We’re in a strange time. But this is a world where wealth, and even human hearts and behaviour, can be manipulated using data. That’s the true nature of the world we live in now.

“We’ll outwit our opponents more skilfully than Robert, without revealing our identity. That’s work you’re familiar with, isn’t it?”

As Ruggieri spoke, his gaze fell to the dish of poisson that had arrived.

[to be continued 10th October]

#vatican miracle examiner #translation

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96thdayofrage · 3 years ago

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Caitlin Johnstone: Smearing US Critics as ‘Russian Agents’

Here’s what imperial propagandists achieve by framing Fox News host Tucker Carlson and others as a treasonous foreign intelligence operative.

Consortium News Also Smeared

Mass media pundits have recently insinuated or outright asserted that Fox News host Tucker Carlson is literally an agent of the Russian government.

Carlson, who is being made an example of, has been accused of promoting Russian propaganda by mainstream narrative managers for frequently criticizing the Biden administration’s hawkish posture toward Russia regarding the entirely unsubstantiated claim that Moscow is preparing to launch an unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.

We’ve been seeing things like Anderson Cooper innocently musing that “It is striking how neatly Kremlin propaganda seems to dovetail with Carlson’s talking points” and this CNN segment from December with Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter and tinfoil hat Russiagater Julia Ioffe wondering aloud about why Russian state media seem to be so fond of Carlson.

By mid-January, Democratic Party operatives were openly demanding that Carlson be investigated for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“This isn’t journalism, it’s an ongoing FARA violation. Tucker Carlson needs to be prosecuted as an unregistered agent of the Russian Federation and treason under Article 3, Sec. 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution for aiding an enemy in hybrid warfare against the United States,” tweeted former DNC official Alexandra Chalupa, best known for colluding with the Ukrainian government in 2016 on opposition research against Donald Trump.

The accusations and insinuations increased, eventually leading to Carlson outright denying being a Russian agent in a recent interview with The New York Times saying,

“I’ve never been to Russia, I don’t speak Russian. Of course I’m not an agent of Russia.”

Spinning the Denial

As you would expect, this denial was then spun by the same demented mainstream pundits who’ve spent the last five years being wrong about Russia as evidence that Carlson is a Russian agent.

“Tucker Carlson told The New York Times he’s not a Russian agent amid controversy over his pro-Kremlin stance,” blares a headline by Business Insider.

“What would a Russian agent say if asked if they were a Russian agent?” tweeted former FBI special agent Clint Watts in response to Carlson’s denial.

“They are pushing the belief that anyone is suspicious and sinister for questioning the official narrative about Russia.”

“Tucker Carlson Denies Being Russian Agent After Taking Kremlin’s Side,” says a viral tweet by former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi.

“Narrator: After he helped destroy American Democracy, it turned out he was, indeed, a Russian agent … though a rather silly one,” added MSNBC’s cartoonish “intelligence” expert Malcolm Nance.

“Tucker Carlson is walking proof that you don’t need to be an agent to be a useful idiot,” former FBI agent Peter Strzok told MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace, apparently less willing to commit to the bit than his FBI peers.

“Why hasn’t Tucker Carlson registered as a foreign agent?” reads a viral tweet from the notorious Lincoln Project.

[Consortium News was similarly attacked on the weekend by PropOrNot, the anonymous group that smears U.S. critics as Russian agents, as well as by Louise Mensch, the former British MP and current right-wing provocateur. CN was on PropOrNot’s original 2016 list, and its founding editor Robert Parry was repeatedly smeared as a “Kremlin stooge” for his independent reporting. The Washington Post called PropOrNot “experts” but allowed them to anonymously attack websites.]

I’ve never gotten used to the insane McCarthyite accusations which U.S. liberals will hurl without a second thought at anyone who disagrees with them. Every time it happens it startles and alarms me, and this latest trend of claiming that opposition to U.S. military posture toward a nuclear superpower constitutes evidence of being a treasonous foreign intelligence operative is a marked uptick in the madness.

I’m highlighting this deranged behavior not to defend the odious Carlson, but to point out that it works very much in the U.S. empire’s favor to have a bunch of influential narrative managers aggressively manufacturing the consensus that anyone who criticizes America’s posture toward Russia is suspicious and untrustworthy.

Anyone Can Be Suspect

The mass media, whose primary job is to propagandize the masses and who have an extensive history of lying to the public to manufacture consent for war, are not pushing the belief that Carlson is suspicious and sinister for questioning the official narrative about Russia. They are pushing the belief that anyone is suspicious and sinister for questioning the official narrative about Russia.

That’s the message that people are receiving from this line that’s being pushed by narrative managers and ex-federal agents. Anyone who is successfully indoctrinated with this belief will become inoculated against wrongthink about that nation because they will reflexively distrust the motives of anyone who says anything that differs from the officially authorized line.

That’s the real value of this framing for the imperial propagandists. They don’t care about Carlson, who serves their agendas more often than not. They care about making sure that current and future establishment narratives about Russia will be swallowed hook, line and sinker by the mainstream public without the slightest twinge of gag reflex. You don’t even need to silence dissent if you can simply render it impotent.

It’s worth considering the possibility that all the artificially manufactured Russia hysteria we’ve seen over the last five years has been geared toward building public support for the exact escalations we are seeing today. After all, it says a lot that Russiagate began with unevidenced claims by U.S. intelligence agencies who have an extensive track record of lying, resulted in the reignition of a new cold war against a nation long targeted for destruction by the U.S. intelligence cartel, and now there are tons of weapons being flown in to Ukraine and U.S. troops are being moved to Eastern Europe in response to a threat we’ve still seen no evidence is actually real.

Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. If you can control what people believe about a certain thing, then you can control what they will do and what they will allow in response to that thing. Controlling people’s beliefs about reality is controlling their reality. If you can convince people that anyone who disputes what you’re saying about a government you don’t like is suspicious and not to be trusted, then you can keep them believing everything you say about that government.

It’s clear that it is very, very important to the narrative managers that we believe what we are told about Russia. Now we’re just waiting to find out toward what specific end that agenda is being driven.

Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly at Medium. Her work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following her on Steemit, throwing some money into her tip jar on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of her sweet merchandise, buying her books Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix, Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone and Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.

This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com and re-published with permission.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.

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glitterypeanutmugnickel · 4 years ago

Text

August 1, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

Aug 2

Comment

August 1, 2021 (Sunday)

Last Sunday, educator and civil rights leader Dr. Robert Parris Moses died at 86.

Moses’s focus on empowerment and self-determination was very much in keeping with the original concept of American democracy.

But watching the turbulence in American life last year, Moses warned that the nation “can lurch backward as quickly as it can lurch forward.”

0 notes

pacocaballero · 8 years ago

Video

vimeo

To Build a Fire from Fx Goby on Vimeo.

TO BUILD A FIRE a film by Fx Goby

In the harshness of midwinter, a trapper is crossing the Yukon with his dog. Struggling to survive, he attempts to build a simple fire. To Build a Fire is widely recognised as a Jack London masterpiece and is a classic of American literature.

Based on the short story by Jack London

"To Build A Fire" is this week's Staff Pick Premiere! Read more about it here: vimeo.com/blog/post/to-build-a-fire

Directed by Fx Goby

A Composite Films production Executive producer Samuel François-Steininger Line producer Marie Corberand

In coproduction with Nexus Productions Charlotte Bavasso Chris O’Reilly

Fx Goby Films & Pictures

Carabine Productions Christel Delahaye

Lead animator Christian Boving-Andersen

Animation Paul Dabout Martin Hurmane Leni Marotte Juliette Peuportier Landariu Tinubu Sidonie Vidal Emmanuelle Walker

2D FX animation Matt Timms

Animatic Fabrice Fiteni

Art director Tristan Ménard

Background artists Antoine Birot Linus Carlson Damien Colbolchevik Joe Dennis Tonet Dura Guitty Mojabi

Visual Researches Colin Bigelow Fx Goby Oren Haskins Hélène Leroux Thomas Roisland Tristan Menard Guitty Mojabi Marthe Strand Mourier Marie Thorhauge

Clean up production supervisors David Blanche Jessica Lewis

Clean up artists Rosie Andrews Rosie Baker Joshua Barlow Danielle Bethel Lena Blaschek Kasia Brzezińska Georgina Cook Mohamed Fadera Leila Foong Rhian Jones Tom Legg Jessica Maple Leni Marotte Sara Moon Lewis Nash Toby Parry Juliette Peuportier Jamie-Lee Reynolds Andy Stevens Marthe Strand Mourier Joe Strange Riu Niyi Tinubu Adam Malcom Waters

3D modelers Dorianne Fibleuil Michal Firkowski

3D rig Pete Addington

Compositing Abel Kohen Fx Goby Quentin Pointillart Alexia Provoost

Editing Fx Goby

Narrated by Tony Fish

Original music Mathieu Alvado

Composed and recorded with the support of the SACEM in association with ALCIMÉ (Aubagne International Film Festival)

Performed by Members of the LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Conductor Mathieu Alvado

Orchestra manager Sue Mallet

Recorded at AIR Studios

Sound engineer Geoff Foster

Pro Tools Assistant Tom Bailey

Preparation Pro Tools session David Menke

Copyist Norbert Vergonjanne

Music mixing Samy Cheboub

Sound post-production FONIC

Sound supervisors Jake Roberts Barnaby Templer

Sound design and mix Barnaby Templer

Sound effects editing and recording Chris Swaine

Foley artist Sue Harding

Sound engineer voice JM Finch

Editor voice Marty O’Brien

Colour grading Jack McGinity / Time Based Arts

Administration ACC Caroline Garmirian Christophe Sanlaville

Communication Benoît Berthe Élodie Moïsa Emmanuelle Rodeghiero Marine Wong Kwok Chuen

Community Manager Alexander Lawrence Genevieve Stow Interns Chloé Mazzani Robin Soulisse Camille Jacques

Acknowledgements to all the backers of our Indiegogo corwdfunding and in particular: James Allen et Mike Skrgatic, Charlotte Bavasso, Paolo Polesello, Hélène Béjat, Benoît Berthe, Celyn Brazier, Patricia Claire, Xavier Egurbide, Angela Kaper, Brendan McCann, Scott Dresden, Sébastien Fournier, Philippe François-Steininger, Emilie et Jean-Sébastien Michelet, Nathalie François, Miguel Sanz, Renaud Futterer, Dominique Goby, Julien Goby, Vincent Guy, Paulette Hawkins, Jean-Marie Keene, Hélène Leroux, Tristan Ménard, Chris O’Reilly, Paolo Polesello, Janet Smith, Paul Tempelman, François Turquety, James Tomkinson, Samuel Colin, Emmanuel Tenenbaum, Nathan Goldenberg, Etienne Semelet

Acknowledgements to our sponsors Light My Fire® – Christian Ludwig Katadyn® – Steven Le Guellec Leatherman® – Roger Bjorklund & Julie Knapp A.R.T. SURVIE & Théo

The director wishes to thank the artists involved in this film, their artistic contributions, the time and energy they spent on this project, from several hours to several months, has been both fundamental and remarkable.

Christophe Taudière Arts university Bournemouth Paul, Ward & Peter Symons Natalie Busutil, Jo Bierton, Julia Parfitt, Luke Youngman Pôle Pixel et Rhône Alpes Cinéma Marie Le Gac, Grégory Faes, Emmanuel Bernard, Sébastien Thomas, Lauriane Mégny Lumières Numériques Pierre-Loic Précausta, Camille Geoffray Les Gobelins Moira Marguin & Aida Del solar, Sophie Lascoux, Valentine, Julien & Dominique Goby Hélène & Jean-Louis Rodeghiero Catherine & François Corberand, Cécile Nédélec, Claire Ageneau Saul Nash

With the participation of France Télévisions

Head of Acquisitions – Short Film Programming Christophe Taudière

International distribution France Télévisions Distribution

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loftstudios · 6 years ago

Photo

Sophie Rundle from Peaky Blinders as you’ve never seen her before! (probably!!) Unless you’re a fan of Gentleman Jack...

The self-confessed DIY nerd has a few projects in the pipeline which she is happy to chat about with You magazine, along with her forthcoming IRL nuptials!

Read the full article, which was shot at Loft Studios, here

https://www.you.co.uk/sophie-rundle-interview-2019/

Credits

You Magazine, August 18th, 2019

Photographer: Dan Kennedy

Photo Director: Siân Parry

Stylist: Sophie Dearden

Make-up: Justine Jenkins

Hair: Sven Bayerbach

Writer: Julia Llewelyn Smith

Talent: Sophie Rundle

By Sara Darling

8.10

#Loft Studios #you magazine #Sophie Rundle #actress #London #peaky blinders #Dan Kennedy #photographer #interview #sara darling #Sian Parry #Justine Jenkins #Sven Bayerbach #TV #drama #Gentleman Jack

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oratorealis · 8 years ago

Text

Dimepiece :: Mary Pinkoski

Why poetry?

because i have not yet burnt the skeleton bare/because the match struck willingly/because the flame/because the flood/

because i have not yet licked the bone dry/because the urgency came from within me/because the thirst/because the satiation/

because i have not yet worried the knot free/because the gnawing is not yet outside of me/because the anxious/because the calm/

because i have not yet dissected the heart clean/because there are still life-making things i know nothing of/because the thump/because the living

because i have not yet told the story whole/because the barren has not yet been filled/because of the loss/because of the divining

because i have not yet journeyed far enough with the stranger /because my body does not yet fully understand/because you/because all of us

because why not poetry?

What are you working on right now?

I have read that the perfectly pruned olive tree is one with enough spaces in between its branches for a sparrow to fly through without hitting its wings. So that is what is I am working on right now: becoming less bramble bush and more olive tree. I am trying to find the moments of quiet and contemplation that allow me to become a place that might house a sparrow, but also one that offers a path through. I guess I am also trying to become the sparrow. The sparrow that pauses long enough to sing a song important enough to the wind before flying back into world. There must, I think, be some undiscovered beauty in being both the sparrow and the olive tree. Once I find it, perhaps I too will be there for the offering.

What is your routine for writing? Do you have one?

1. Find a space that will allow me to suspend my disbelief in my ability for longer than 1.5 hours 2. Close the curtain to the outside world for a moment 3. Chew the pencil (aka bite the hook, aka open the laptop) 4. Remember what brought me to this moment 5. Ask of myself what Anne Waldman asks of outriders, though I am not an outrider: “How much backwards from your own death do you write?” 6. Dive head first into Rich’s wreck 7. Somehow get your being spiritually to the place of Harjo’s Kitchen Table 8. Round up Oliver’s Wild Geese 9. Light a candle, Write into it 10. Wait patiently until a shore upon which to land safely appears 11. Land on it 12. Twist the knob 13. Open the door 14. Let the ghosts out

What is the best advice you’ve received as a poet?

“Be gentle with yourself.” – Jack McCarthy

Why do you live where you do?

I Come Home

In spite of all the magic and the adventure I come home I come home so I can remember the way the sun Never quits on us here I learn to meditate to its rising in the morning And settle with its fall in the evening I come home to brush heavy with the promise of Saskatoon berries And the hardy comfort of rosehips I come home to a river valley that grows green Until it doesn’t And then I watch it shake itself empty of yellow and orange I come home to a white paper, blank slate landscape Threatening to blind my eyes with its cold snowy glare Still it makes me want to write a story across this cityscape I come home to shovels and snowflakes To radio advertisements of winter escapes I come home to collaboration and creativity To this city’s song bridges that reach from bank to bank Joining our verses and our choruses in diverse melody I come home to potholes and pavement To fields of fire, dancing flames of wheat To the last days of a garden Watching the earth close itself up for hibernation I come home to roots and sprouts To sink my feet and my fingers deep into the soil Until I know again where I am from I come home to ground myself To remind myself of the stories that have made me who I am To acknowledge the sagas of the ones that have made us who we are I come home to recognition and honour I come home to meeting place river banks Water lapping my arrival, Moving in the same spirit of welcoming that it has moved for centuries I come to history and harvest I come home to the wanting and pleading To the challenges and the turmoil I come home to hurt and also to healing I come home to learn how compassion can sit in the Body of a city, in its people I come home ready to recognize pain and strength I come home to endurance and survival I come home to learning To sharing I come home to teach and be taught I come home to tenacity To my heart thick with the desire to make a difference in this city I come home to understand that we in this city are not much different than the endurance of the sun I come home to remember we are a city that does not quit on itself I come home to watch us rise in each morning And to see how we give praise for each of us, For this place, For our role in it I come how to know once again How to give a praise that lights up this home every day

Where is the wildest place poetry has taken you?

To myself. It is both a welcoming and a returning every time.

What artists most inspire you, and why?

I am inspired by the ones who don’t just hold narratives between their teeth and only let us see it when they open their mouths. No, I am inspired by the ones who embody narratives in all ways. The midnight suns and the dark dawns. The creative and the clever. And most of all, they are by the grace of the universe, the ones who have held me and mentored me and guided me through my own poetic journey. I am proud to call them inspirations, but I am honoured to call them my friends. Lighting up this prairie girl’s heart, they are: Sheri-D Wilson, Regie Cabico, Jack McCarthy, Brendan McLeod, CR Avery, Evalyn Parry, Tanya Davis, Eva Foote (who forms the other half of my poetry-music project called The Low Down Self-Esteems), and Thomas Trofimuk.

(With fangirl shout-outs – don’t be judging on any of these - to Dolly Parton, Marina Abramovic, Sandra Bullock, and Julia Child).

I spend a lot of my life immersed deeply within an academic pool and while I know that we don’t often view academics as artists, I think we should begin to. I know that within the academy we can find those lighthouse people that Joan Didion speaks about, who provide these harbours of creativity. They stand aside, but a part of, because they make space for new ways of thinking, for beautiful ways to name how we make meaning of the world, and they articulate the very living we do in profound ways. I think there is an artistry in that. I would be negligent to not mention that I am inspired by these academics and the work they do/have done: Dr. Sara Carpenter, Dr. Jean Clandinin, Dr. Tammy Iftody, Dr. TL Cowan, Dr. Dia da Costa, and, of course without fail: Mr. Myles Horton.

What was the last book you finished reading?

Claudia Rankine - Don’t Let Me Be Lonely The Long Haul – Myles Horton

What has been one of your favourite moments on stage?

One of my most memorable moments was participating in the Underground Indies at the CFSW in Montreal. I somehow squeaked into the final three accompanied by the much more deserving Andre Prefontaine and Sabrina Benaim and, as the venue demanded we leave because they were closing, we performed our poems packed into a back alley. There was something magical about that, despite the fact that I tried to escape and go to bed.

I would be remiss to let this question go by without mentioning that I was also blessed to perform with Jack McCarthy at one of his final shows. I will forever hold on to that day as an inexplicable moment of grace that continues to smooth me around the rough times.

What would you like to be doing five years from now?

Making a fantastic loaf of bread and serving a wonderful soup. Tending a garden. Keeping myself open to world so that I might continue to do the hard work. Doing the hard work. With those who’ve chosen to work with me.

Mary Pinkoski, 5th Poet Laureate of the City of Edmonton (2013-2015), is an internationally recognized poet. She has performed on stages across North American and at the 2015 Winter Lights Festival in Reykjavik, Iceland. Her work has appeared in multiple anthologies. She is the 2011 Canadian National Spoken Word Champion and a winner of the 2008 CBC National Poetry Face-off. In 2015, Mary was recognized as an Edmonton Top 40 Under 40 and also awarded a University of Alberta Alumni Horizon Award for her poetry work in the Edmonton community, in particular for facilitating poetry workshops and her creation of the City of Edmonton’s Youth Poet Laureate role which she continues to help coordinate.

[Photo: Curtis Trent]

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artwalktv · 8 years ago

Video

vimeo

TO BUILD A FIRE a film by Fx Goby In the harshness of midwinter, a trapper is crossing the Yukon with his dog. Struggling to survive, he attempts to build a simple fire. To Build a Fire is widely recognised as a Jack London masterpiece and is a classic of American literature. Based on the short story by Jack London "To Build A Fire" is this week's Staff Pick Premiere! Read more about it here: http://bit.ly/2nYxggt Directed by Fx Goby A Composite Films production Executive producer Samuel François-Steininger Line producer Marie Corberand In coproduction with Nexus Productions Charlotte Bavasso Chris O’Reilly Fx Goby Films & Pictures Carabine Productions Christel Delahaye Lead animator Christian Boving-Andersen Animation Paul Dabout Martin Hurmane Leni Marotte Juliette Peuportier Landariu Tinubu Sidonie Vidal Emmanuelle Walker 2D FX animation Matt Timms Animatic Fabrice Fiteni Art director Tristan Ménard Background artists Antoine Birot Linus Carlson Damien Colbolchevik Joe Dennis Tonet Dura Guitty Mojabi Visual Researches Colin Bigelow Fx Goby Oren Haskins Hélène Leroux Thomas Roisland Tristan Menard Guitty Mojabi Marthe Strand Mourier Marie Thorhauge Clean up production supervisors David Blanche Jessica Lewis Clean up artists Rosie Andrews Rosie Baker Joshua Barlow Danielle Bethel Lena Blaschek Kasia Brzezińska Georgina Cook Mohamed Fadera Leila Foong Rhian Jones Tom Legg Jessica Maple Leni Marotte Sara Moon Lewis Nash Toby Parry Juliette Peuportier Jamie-Lee Reynolds Andy Stevens Marthe Strand Mourier Joe Strange Riu Niyi Tinubu Adam Malcom Waters 3D modelers Dorianne Fibleuil Michal Firkowski 3D rig Pete Addington Compositing Abel Kohen Fx Goby Quentin Pointillart Alexia Provoost Editing Fx Goby Narrated by Tony Fish Original music Mathieu Alvado Composed and recorded with the support of the SACEM in association with ALCIMÉ (Aubagne International Film Festival) Performed by Members of the LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conductor Mathieu Alvado Orchestra manager Sue Mallet Recorded at AIR Studios Sound engineer Geoff Foster Pro Tools Assistant Tom Bailey Preparation Pro Tools session David Menke Copyist Norbert Vergonjanne Music mixing Samy Cheboub Sound post-production FONIC Sound supervisors Jake Roberts Barnaby Templer Sound design and mix Barnaby Templer Sound effects editing and recording Chris Swaine Foley artist Sue Harding Sound engineer voice JM Finch Editor voice Marty O’Brien Colour grading Jack McGinity / Time Based Arts Administration ACC Caroline Garmirian Christophe Sanlaville Communication Benoît Berthe Élodie Moïsa Emmanuelle Rodeghiero Marine Wong Kwok Chuen Community Manager Alexander Lawrence Genevieve Stow Interns Chloé Mazzani Robin Soulisse Camille Jacques Acknowledgements to all the backers of our Indiegogo corwdfunding and in particular: James Allen et Mike Skrgatic, Charlotte Bavasso, Paolo Polesello, Hélène Béjat, Benoît Berthe, Celyn Brazier, Patricia Claire, Xavier Egurbide, Angela Kaper, Brendan McCann, Scott Dresden, Sébastien Fournier, Philippe François-Steininger, Emilie et Jean-Sébastien Michelet, Nathalie François, Miguel Sanz, Renaud Futterer, Dominique Goby, Julien Goby, Vincent Guy, Paulette Hawkins, Jean-Marie Keene, Hélène Leroux, Tristan Ménard, Chris O’Reilly, Paolo Polesello, Janet Smith, Paul Tempelman, François Turquety, James Tomkinson, Samuel Colin, Emmanuel Tenenbaum, Nathan Goldenberg, Etienne Semelet Acknowledgements to our sponsors Light My Fire® – Christian Ludwig Katadyn® – Steven Le Guellec Leatherman® – Roger Bjorklund & Julie Knapp A.R.T. SURVIE & Théo The director wishes to thank the artists involved in this film, their artistic contributions, the time and energy they spent on this project, from several hours to several months, has been both fundamental and remarkable. Christophe Taudière Arts university Bournemouth Paul, Ward & Peter Symons Natalie Busutil, Jo Bierton, Julia Parfitt, Luke Youngman Pôle Pixel et Rhône Alpes Cinéma Marie Le Gac, Grégory Faes, Emmanuel Bernard, Sébastien Thomas, Lauriane Mégny Lumières Numériques Pierre-Loic Précausta, Camille Geoffray Les Gobelins Moira Marguin & Aida Del solar, Sophie Lascoux, Valentine, Julien & Dominique Goby Hélène & Jean-Louis Rodeghiero Catherine & François Corberand, Cécile Nédélec, Claire Ageneau Saul Nash With the participation of France Télévisions Head of Acquisitions – Short Film Programming Christophe Taudière International distribution France Télévisions Distribution

#Videos & Films

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nssn · 6 years ago

Video

vimeo

● To Build a Fire TO BUILD A FIRE a film by Fx Goby In the harshness of midwinter, a trapper is crossing the Yukon with his dog. Struggling to survive, he attempts to build a simple fire. To Build a Fire is widely recognised as a Jack London masterpiece and is a classic of American literature. Based on the short story by Jack London "To Build A Fire" is this week's Staff Pick Premiere! Read more about it here: https://vimeo.com/blog/post/to-build-a-fire Directed by Fx Goby A Composite Films production Executive producer Samuel François-Steininger Line producer Marie Corberand In coproduction with Nexus Productions Charlotte Bavasso Chris O’Reilly Fx Goby Films & Pictures Carabine Productions Christel Delahaye Lead animator Christian Boving-Andersen Animation Paul Dabout Martin Hurmane Leni Marotte Juliette Peuportier Landariu Tinubu Sidonie Vidal Emmanuelle Walker 2D FX animation Matt Timms Animatic Fabrice Fiteni Art director Tristan Ménard Background artists Antoine Birot Linus Carlson Damien Colbolchevik Joe Dennis Tonet Dura Guitty Mojabi Visual Researches Colin Bigelow Fx Goby Oren Haskins Hélène Leroux Thomas Roisland Tristan Menard Guitty Mojabi Marthe Strand Mourier Marie Thorhauge Clean up production supervisors David Blanche Jessica Lewis Clean up artists Rosie Andrews Rosie Baker Joshua Barlow Danielle Bethel Lena Blaschek Kasia Brzezińska Georgina Cook Mohamed Fadera Leila Foong Rhian Jones Tom Legg Jessica Maple Leni Marotte Sara Moon Lewis Nash Toby Parry Juliette Peuportier Jamie-Lee Reynolds Andy Stevens Marthe Strand Mourier Joe Strange Riu Niyi Tinubu Adam Malcom Waters 3D modelers Dorianne Fibleuil Michal Firkowski 3D rig Pete Addington Compositing Abel Kohen Fx Goby Quentin Pointillart Alexia Provoost Editing Fx Goby Narrated by Tony Fish Original music Mathieu Alvado Composed and recorded with the support of the SACEM in association with ALCIMÉ (Aubagne International Film Festival) Performed by Members of the LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conductor Mathieu Alvado Orchestra manager Sue Mallet Recorded at AIR Studios Sound engineer Geoff Foster Pro Tools Assistant Tom Bailey Preparation Pro Tools session David Menke Copyist Norbert Vergonjanne Music mixing Samy Cheboub Sound post-production FONIC Sound supervisors Jake Roberts Barnaby Templer Sound design and mix Barnaby Templer Sound effects editing and recording Chris Swaine Foley artist Sue Harding Sound engineer voice JM Finch Editor voice Marty O’Brien Colour grading Jack McGinity / Time Based Arts Administration ACC Caroline Garmirian Christophe Sanlaville Communication Benoît Berthe Élodie Moïsa Emmanuelle Rodeghiero Marine Wong Kwok Chuen Community Manager Alexander Lawrence Genevieve Stow Interns Chloé Mazzani Robin Soulisse Camille Jacques Acknowledgements to all the backers of our Indiegogo corwdfunding and in particular: James Allen et Mike Skrgatic, Charlotte Bavasso, Paolo Polesello, Hélène Béjat, Benoît Berthe, Celyn Brazier, Patricia Claire, Xavier Egurbide, Angela Kaper, Brendan McCann, Scott Dresden, Sébastien Fournier, Philippe François-Steininger, Emilie et Jean-Sébastien Michelet, Nathalie François, Miguel Sanz, Renaud Futterer, Dominique Goby, Julien Goby, Vincent Guy, Paulette Hawkins, Jean-Marie Keene, Hélène Leroux, Tristan Ménard, Chris O’Reilly, Paolo Polesello, Janet Smith, Paul Tempelman, François Turquety, James Tomkinson, Samuel Colin, Emmanuel Tenenbaum, Nathan Goldenberg, Etienne Semelet Acknowledgements to our sponsors Light My Fire® – Christian Ludwig Katadyn® – Steven Le Guellec Leatherman® – Roger Bjorklund & Julie Knapp A.R.T. SURVIE & Théo The director wishes to thank the artists involved in this film, their artistic contributions, the time and energy they spent on this project, from several hours to several months, has been both fundamental and remarkable. Christophe Taudière Arts university Bournemouth Paul, Ward & Peter Symons Natalie Busutil, Jo Bierton, Julia Parfitt, Luke Youngman Pôle Pixel et Rhône Alpes Cinéma Marie Le Gac, Grégory Faes, Emmanuel Bernard, Sébastien Thomas, Lauriane Mégny Lumières Numériques Pierre-Loic Précausta, Camille Geoffray Les Gobelins Moira Marguin & Aida Del solar, Sophie Lascoux, Valentine, Julien & Dominique Goby Hélène & Jean-Louis Rodeghiero Catherine & François Corberand, Cécile Nédélec, Claire Ageneau Saul Nash With the participation of France Télévisions Head of Acquisitions – Short Film Programming Christophe Taudière International distribution France Télévisions Distribution | http://www.nicolasrosso.com

#nssn #n2Sn #Vimeo

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josiptaylor · 7 years ago

Video

vimeo

To Build a Fire from Fx Goby on Vimeo.

TO BUILD A FIRE a film by Fx Goby

Based on the short story by Jack London

"To Build A Fire" is this week's Staff Pick Premiere! Read more about it here: vimeo.com/blog/post/to-build-a-fire

Directed by Fx Goby

A Composite Films production Executive producer Samuel François-Steininger Line producer Marie Corberand

In coproduction with Nexus Productions Charlotte Bavasso Chris O’Reilly

Fx Goby Films & Pictures

Carabine Productions Christel Delahaye

Lead animator Christian Boving-Andersen

Animation Paul Dabout Martin Hurmane Leni Marotte Juliette Peuportier Landariu Tinubu Sidonie Vidal Emmanuelle Walker

2D FX animation Matt Timms

Animatic Fabrice Fiteni

Art director Tristan Ménard

Background artists Antoine Birot Linus Carlson Damien Colbolchevik Joe Dennis Tonet Dura Guitty Mojabi

Visual Researches Colin Bigelow Fx Goby Oren Haskins Hélène Leroux Thomas Roisland Tristan Menard Guitty Mojabi Marthe Strand Mourier Marie Thorhauge

Clean up production supervisors David Blanche Jessica Lewis

3D modelers Dorianne Fibleuil Michal Firkowski

3D rig Pete Addington

Compositing Abel Kohen Fx Goby Quentin Pointillart Alexia Provoost

Editing Fx Goby

Narrated by Tony Fish

Original music Mathieu Alvado

Composed and recorded with the support of the SACEM in association with ALCIMÉ (Aubagne International Film Festival)

Performed by Members of the LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Conductor Mathieu Alvado

Orchestra manager Sue Mallet

Recorded at AIR Studios

Sound engineer Geoff Foster

Pro Tools Assistant Tom Bailey

Preparation Pro Tools session David Menke

Copyist Norbert Vergonjanne

Music mixing Samy Cheboub

Sound post-production FONIC

Sound supervisors Jake Roberts Barnaby Templer

Sound design and mix Barnaby Templer

Sound effects editing and recording Chris Swaine

Foley artist Sue Harding

Sound engineer voice JM Finch

Editor voice Marty O’Brien

Colour grading Jack McGinity / Time Based Arts

Administration ACC Caroline Garmirian Christophe Sanlaville

Communication Benoît Berthe Élodie Moïsa Emmanuelle Rodeghiero Marine Wong Kwok Chuen

Community Manager Alexander Lawrence Genevieve Stow Interns Chloé Mazzani Robin Soulisse Camille Jacques

Acknowledgements to our sponsors Light My Fire® – Christian Ludwig Katadyn® – Steven Le Guellec Leatherman® – Roger Bjorklund & Julie Knapp A.R.T. SURVIE & Théo

With the participation of France Télévisions

Head of Acquisitions – Short Film Programming Christophe Taudière

International distribution France Télévisions Distribution

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themastercylinder · 7 years ago

Text

SUMMARY Sam Phillips and his child Tony are playing outside their farm. The father is abducted by a strong light. Three years later, the light returns, and plants a seed. A half-human, half-alien creature grows up, and when it moves it is run over by a car. Ben is attacked and killed when he looks for the crash victim. Jane, his companion, is also killed by the hybrid creature. The monster then moves to a cottage nearby and attacks and impregnates a woman living there, before dissolving and dying. When she returns to consciousness, her belly rapidly and painfully grows to a gargantuan size that it even tears through her dress, showing movement inside her belly, and she gives birth, vaginally, to a fully formed and bloody Sam, who is connected to her by an umbilical cord like a baby is to its mother, before dying. Sam washes the blood off, steals Ben’s clothes and drives his car without bothering to get rid of Jane’s corpse, which will be found by a lorry driver.

Sam seeks Tony, who lives in an apartment building in London, with his mother Rachael, her new boyfriend Joe Daniels, and a French au-pair Analise Mercier. Rachel and Joe are professional photographers and share a studio in town. Many nights, Tony has nightmares where he wakes up soaked in blood, but it’s not his, as the family doctor discovers. Sam picks Tony up from school, until Rachel finds them. Although Joe doesn’t like it, as he intends to marry Rachel, Sam goes to live with them, saying he can’t remember anything. Tony sees him eating his pet snake’s eggs and runs from him. Sam goes after him, talking to him smoothly, and drinks his blood.

Rachel finds Jane’s photo in Sam’s clothes, but he can’t remember her either. Tony discovers he has certain powers now, so he sends a human-sized toy soldier to kill their nasty neighbour Mrs Goodman, in revenge for killing his pet snake, and a toy clown becomes a human-like clown.

Sam and Rachel both decide to visit their former residence, the farm, while leaving Tony in Analise’s care. However, she brings Michael, her boyfriend, and they make love. Tony demands to play hide-and-seek with her. She does so, only to be knocked out by the clown and used as a womb for the alien eggs; Tony sends a toy tank to kill Michael. He discovers Analise and runs away, but a black panther kills him. The building keeper, Mr. Knight, is also killed when Rachel asks him to watch Tony, as nobody answers the phone at home. Sam and Rachel make love at the abandoned farm, but she gets afraid because his skin starts to bleed and decompose. Joe has taken Tony there. Sam and Tony go up a hill towards the alien light. Sam has now taken the form of an alien, and his scream kills Joe. Along with Tony, Sam enters the light and returns to the alien world. Rachel sits down in the field where Tony and Sam left, and the next day returns to her apartment, only to be seen full of eggs. She picks up an egg, only to be killed by the same creature that impregnated the woman in the cottage as her apartment door slams shut behind her.

DEVELOPMENT XTRO marks the feature debut of 32-year-old Harry Bromley Davenport. In 1974, on the advice of a mutual friend, Forstater saw Davenport’s short horror film, WHISPERS OF FEAR, and liked it very much. Davenport, who has an interest in the horror genre, had an idea for a film titled THE HORRIFIC MOVIE HOUSE MASSACRE. Forstater attempted to secure financial backing for the movie, and it was announced several times, but the project ultimately collapsed. Then Davenport and well known anthologist & author Michel Parry came to Forstater with the idea for XTRO.

The original story of XTRO was devised by its director, Harry Davenport in collaboration with Michel Parry, the latter a leading figure on the British fantasy scene, the editor of many short fiction anthologies in the genre. The final script was written by Robert Smith and lan Cassie, with the close participation of New Line Producer Robert Shaye in the script’s development. The resulting film shows a truly bizarre mixture of elements, influences ranging from I Married a Monster from Outer Space to ALIEN to Close Encounters. While the cast, particularly Philip Sayer as the Earthling turned-alien, do much to shore up the film’s believability, it’s a safe guess that many SF purists will be gnashing their teeth with indignation upon the picture’s release.

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“The thing that attracted us to it,” says Shaye, “when we saw Davenport’s first treatment, was his intention to include in the film several jaw-slackening moments, where you’d see things that might make you doubt for a moment that you were seeing things correctly. To me, the film is ‘science fiction’ in the same sense that Phantasm is science fiction. It’s really more of a horror fantasy picture; the science fiction element often gets integrated into this kind of story because, when you want people to accept a premise, characters and action that are very far out, the quickest way to do that is to bring in a creature from another planet. People expect something weird from another planet, not from down the block.

“The story really takes off from the end of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND,” says producer Mark Forstater “It’s about a guy who returns to Earth after having been away on another planet for three years.” But here turmsaltered into a life-form which terrorizes an isolated rural community. He impregnates a woman via a tentacle that emerges from his chest and she gives birth to the man as he was before he went on his intergalactic journey. The man returns to his family and converts his son, who carries on the father’s alien ways like infecting the maid by injecting eggs into her stomach and making his toys come to life. All these unearthly events unsettle the man’s wife and she chooses to fight back, too late to affect the hopelessness of the situation. Forstater was quick to point out that XTRO is not an exploitation genre piece like INSEMINOID, with which it shares some superficial plot similarities.

Philadelphia-born Forstater is no newcomer to unusual fantasy projects; he has also produced MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL and THE GLITTERBALL. He got involved with XTRO when co-writer director Harry Bromely Davenport came to him with a script written with Michel Parry. Forstater brought in two other writers, Robert Smith and lain Cassie. “The plot was kept intact,” he said, “but the new writers went off into weird and wonderful tangents. It’s a synthesis of ALIEN and a lot of recent ideas, but it’s really how you put them together, and the style with which you approach the material, that is important.”

Forstater met Davenport, who wrote the first draft of Peter Straub’s THE HAUNTING OF JULIA, during a screening of WHISPERS OF FEAR, Davenport’s directorial debut. “I was impressed with it,” said Forstater, “It is the hardest exercise of all to make a film for $10,000 and limit yourself to one set and one actress, but Harry pulled it off.”

XTRO is being financed by Ashley Productions Ltd. a subsidiary of a British investment group based in Manchester. “The company had dealings with the leisure industry before,” said Forstater. “When I introduced them to this project they liked it, found they could afford it, and that it gave them a chance to break into production.”

Harry Bromley Davenport on the Development and Making of Xtro How did the initial idea for Xtro come about? HARRY BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: Since I have no imagination, I tend to steal ideas from others as frequently as possible. Do you remember the ending of Close Encounters of the Third Kind all those airplane pilots and whatnot emerging from the big UFO? I wondered what happened to them afterward. That seemed like a good jumping-off point for a movie.

Describe the initial development process. BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: Michel Parry and I wrote the first draft together, but Michel is a far better writer than me, so he managed to impose a structure. Then Mark Forstater, the producer, sent me to New York, where I messed around with Bob Shaye at New Line for a couple of months, rewriting a load of old nonsense. Then Robert Smith and Iain Cassie came on. Jesus, this thing was rewritten about 40 times!

Tell us about the progression of the script. BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: The more we worked on it, the more bizarre it became That was not the intended result. It occurred because none of us had much of all idea what we were doing. But we wanted to be unpredictable and shocking. So if anyone had a wacky idea, into the script it went without further ado. And I think that’s why the film has stayed alive and available in one form or another for 30 years. It’s such arrant nonsense that viewers are constantly kept on their toes by this onslaught of drivel that passes for imagination. Mark Forstater and I would occasionally look at each other and say. This is just too ridiculous; we can’t do that, but Bob Shaye always encouraged us to go to the extreme.

How did you get the cast and crew on board? BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: We were fortunate that we were scheduled to shoot it February and March, which were not periods of heavy employment in the movie business, so we scored loads of really good technicians and actors who might otherwise not have wished to work on a little monster movie. But economic reality won out and we got Barry Richardson, who did the hair on Quest for Fire, and Robin Grantham, who did a lot of the transformation makeup on American Werewolf in London. Gallons of good people worked on that show.

Were there any obstacles to overcome during the shoot? BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: The damn panther. There’s no real reason for it to be there that I can recall, except that it was a whim that emanated from the imagination of Bob Shaye. Panthers are untrainable, you know, but Bob absolutely insisted that we somehow shoehorn in a scene where one jumps out and kills somebody. He said it would be “off the wall”. Well, he got that right. We had to get a shot of this damn panther jumping over the camera for the attack. So the crew and I were imprisoned in a cage while a trainer stood above us and waved a chicken at the panther. Now, I don’t know if you have ever seen a panther cat a chicken, but it’s a pretty ruthless operation, and afterward the panther gets lazy and spends an hour or so digesting and snoozing. And we were still locked in this cage, peeing into empty beer cans, Ghastly business. That poor animal cost us $6,000, and I doubt if it’s on screen for more than 12 seconds. But any scene with a live animal is hell to shoot, because even if the trainer Swears up and down that the creature is ready to Tock and roll, it never does it right. Never. And you spend hours rolling camera on bad takes.

Tell us a bit about the killer toys. BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: I always disliked that part because it was dated, even then. And that wretched clown. God, I hated him-personally, I mean, I remember that we all got a lecture about how we could not refer to him as a *midget.” He was to be called the clown.” Nasty little bugger, he was. He was the only midget in the UK who was not employed on Return of the Jedi playing an Ewok, and so he was horrid. I think he stole those clown shoes at the end of the shoot, too. They cost $120 and were custom-made. You don’t just tatter down the road and buy a pair of clown shoes, you see.

How about the incredibly gory birth scene? BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: That is the only truly original death in the movie. I am told that it has been imitated since on multiple occasions. It was a terribly messy business. Rehearsal is unheard of in low budget films, but we actually did a full rehearsal of that scene on a stage and shot film it so that the cast and crew could see how to improve it.

What can you say about the FX, which are pretty impressive? BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: There were some very entertaining people working in the special effects department. In those days, there was no digital manipulation possible, and opticals were too expensive for bottom-feeders like us, so all the effects were done live on the set. We went for quantity, and had very little money left over to spend on the quality.

What do you credit Xtro’s initial success to? BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: New Line promoted the shit out of it. They did TV commercials, and it played all over the world. The relative success of the film is entirely proportionate to the advertising budget. The actual movie has little merit. I wish we could take another shot at it, but thank goodness that’s not in the cards.

Xtro is obviously a cult favorite, what do you owe that following to? BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: That’s because there had not been a movie like it released for quite some time, and apparently, there was an audience out there who wanted to be shocked. “The more we worked on the script, the more bizarre it became… none of us had much of an idea what we were doing.’ pleased that Siskel and Ebert absolutely panned it. It was their lead-off review, and Ebert said it was “mean-spirited” and a bunch of stuff about how horrid the whole film was. That was immensely helpful to our box office, and caused lines around the block. When it was finished, I was far from proud of the film, because it should have been much better. But the older and more geriatric I become, the more forgiving of my weaknesses I am. I was angry with the movie, because I still don’t think I did a good piece of work. It should have been terrifying, and it became sort of campy. But what are you going to do when you’re dealing with rubber monsters and clowns and panthers?

Preproduction sketches from XTRO show how the actor’s head (upper right) fits inside the mask. Marginal notes indicate that “lower part of the alien face is a prosthetic mask” which will tear if the mouth is opened.

SPECIAL EFFECTS The bulk of the effects sequences, executed by NEEFX with makeup effects by Robin Grantham, seem designed to emulate illusions seen in films budgeted on a much grander scale. Because the effects are the primary focal point of the finished film, the plot takes some strange right angle turns in order to include some of the sequences devised.

The talented special effects team of Tom Harris & Francis Coates have both had wide television experience. With science fiction & horror subjects leading the state of the art in this area, it’s not surprising that even a low-budget film such as XTRO is filled with effects sequences. Forstater explained that the movie will contain “at least 3 or 4 major ‘buzz’ sequences” which would excite & awe an audience, and he had only praise for the team handling these often difficult scenes. Almost 40% of the effects work was completed during live-action filming because of the budget restrictions. This ranged from the radio-controlled toys to special Latex makeup effects & difficult multi-image opticals attempted directly inside the camera.

XTRO also offers 2 alien monster designs, which resemble H.R. Giger’s full-grown creature in ALIEN. Davenport & Forstater discussed these designs with artist Chris Hobbs, who is the film’s visual consultant. Hobbs came up with a number of effective ideas-not only for just the aliens but also for Forstater’s aforementioned “buzz” sequences: these include the impregnation of alien eggs under the skin of a young au pair, the decomposition of the creatures’ human bodies revealing the hidden alien forms within and, perhaps most startling of all, a woman giving birth to a fully-grown man! Hobbs’ pre-production artwork has a strong EC Comics quality.

Harry Bromley Davenport prepping the “Pregnancy Scene”

“Our six week shooting schedule meant we had to be incredibly precise about the effects we wanted,” said Forstater. “Francis came up with designs that we have had to stick to. Everything had to work the first time as couldn’t afford delay. Every time we shot an effect, three others had to be lined up in case something went wrong. If the prosthetic on the maid’s stomach didn’t work the first time, off it went and another one went on immediately.”

Chris Hobbs, a sketch artist, helped sort out the visual concepts for the production. Originally, a man in a faceless rubber suit was suggested for the creature, but was scrapped when Hobbs came up with a clever and original idea. “I hope the audience doesn’t realize this, but our creature is a man on his back, on all fours,” said Forstater. “He will have to arch himself as much as he can so this won’t be too obvious. We hired a trained mime artist, who perfected a strange scuttle. You only set the creature at night, so I think we’ll get away with it.”

Other special effects sequences involve a giant cocoon, the father infecting his son by implanting his lips into his shoulder, a scream exploding a man’s eardrums, and the father deteriorating so badly that he literally falls apart. Acording to Forstater, these ambitious effects will be dealt with in an elegant way. “We’ve gone for the dry, clean look,” he said. “There’s no gone or slime to invoke an uneasy physical response’. I know that audiences are now so sophisticated that they want to see it all, but we’ll get gross only as a last resort: if we decide that the effects aren’t working. We’ll do whatever is necessary to make them work and I won’t apologize for it if that’s what we have to do.”

FX artist Christopher Hobbs working the Xtro puppet

Xtro-Alternate Ending(1982)

Director Harry Bromley Davenport originally intended the film to end with Rachel coming home to find the apartment filled with clones of Tony, having apparently come from the alien eggs which the real Tony had been left in the refrigerator. But executive producer Robert Shaye, not thinking the scenes special effects were convincing enough, edited it out and released it for its New York debut with the film ending when Rachel sits down in the field after Sam and Tony have left. Davenport, however, not wanting to have it end on such an abrupt note, created another one which had Rachel going back to the apartment, picking up one of the eggs and being attacked by a face-grabbing creature similar to the one that attacked the woman in the cottage, and ultimately the film was released with this ending.

Xtro – Missing scenes (These scenes are missing from all current DVD releases of the film, yet were in the old VHS releases and also in the version screened by the UK sci-fi channel in 2005.)

DISTRIBUTION-RELEASE Xtro came under fire in the United Kingdom during the 1980s due to several graphic sequences; most notably the pregnancy scene. Were you shocked at this reaction and do you feel the censors overreacted?

BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: I was greatly surprised – and pleased. When the film came under the scrutiny of the censorship brigade, sales roared. I wish I could get that kind of attention today. Now it’s impossible to shock people. We’ve seen everything.

The first film mainly focused on abandonment issues, both of the child losing his father and the man losing both his family and his own identity. Was this something you intended on exploring in the next film?

BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: Wow! Abandonment? I guess so. I never thought of that. You’re right. Maybe I should ask Daryl to do yet another re-write of the current script to emphasise this abandonment issue. Does that ring true for you? Now that you force me to think about it, you may have tapped into something that helped the film to hold the viewer’s attention. Wow! Don’t ask perceptive questions like that.

In his review of Xtro, film critic Roger Ebert described it as ‘a completely depressing, nihilistic film, an exercise in sadness.’ How does this make you feel and would you say this is in any way accurate?

BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: I’ve seen that review on YouTube. And Siskel and Ebert look like a couple of nannies telling their children not to go near the swamp. It’s a statement of enormous self-importance. It is cruel too – designed to make him sound like the savior of mankind. I refute that observation. I find that real critics – not ‘reviewers’ like fat Ebert – take tenable positions about the films I have directed when they don’t like them. This dope just aimed at an easy target – a low budget independent exploitation film – and let rip.

I would like to remind your readers that the script for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls flowed from the pen of Mr. Ebert. I’m glad that I didn’t see that Xtro review until recently. Had I seen it when I was younger, it would have cut me to the quick. I hope that he gets eaten alive by an army of big black spiders.

CONCLUSION Upon its fairly successful 1983 U.S. theatrical release, Xtro was trashed by critics who dismissed it as a cheap, over sexualized variation on E.T. To add to the film’s notoriety, Xtro was labeled a “video nasty by the British Board of Film Censorship. It spawned two very unofficial direct-to video sequels, none having anything to do with the others beyond being directed by Bromley-Davenport—1991’s Xtro II: The Second Encounter and 1995’s Xtro : Watch the Skies.

With Michel Parry having written the original script, did you ever discuss collaborating together again on the subsequent sequels and how did you come to work with Daryl Haney?

BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: Michel, who is an accomplished writer, does not live in L.A., and for me to mete out sufficient psychic trauma on the writer, I need the victim to live here where I can maximize the misery I inflict. I am also very fond of Michel and would not wish to subject him to my hideous method of work. I met Daryl Haney through a remote connection with Roger Corman when we were putting together the third Xtro. Daryl talks a lot and has a fresh idea every thirteen seconds, which means that I don’t really have to do any work. Our method is to spend several months having lunch at Taix Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, where he expounds and I take notes. After sufficient money has been spent on these three-hour lunch marathons, Daryl disappears for a few weeks and then sends me a first draft screenplay which has no connection with anything we have previously discussed. But we have managed to actually make seven movies together and that probably means something – perhaps what idiots we both are.

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Promotional Art

New Line Cinema are known for exploiting their products as much as possible, yet they chose not to take part in the sequels. Why was that?

BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: Because I own the rights to the title Xtro and they do not. But I do not own the rights to the original story. This is caused by some quirk of the original production contracts. Strangely enough, they did call me a couple of years ago to discuss doing a ‘re-boot’, but Bob Shaye, the CEO of New Line, who co-produced the original film along with Mark Forstater, had been shown the ejector seat button and I didn’t care to deal with anyone there but Bob. He’s a wacky individual who is far more cultured than most film executives. However, Bob was in a bad mood for the entire shooting period of Xtro and that somewhat curtailed his desire to be nice to me. He was in ‘I-am-the-dark-demon-boss-Bob’ mode for some inexplicable reason. But he sure as hell promoted the shit out of the film in the States and for that I am grateful, although it is a mixed blessing to be associated with a film that, at the time, was considered somewhat shocking.

It seems inevitable that every cult movie is eventually remade; has this ever been discussed with Xtro or would you rather continue the series with further sequels?

BROMLEY-DAVENPORT: I was approached by New Line, which owns the original story – but I would rather shoot another sequel far from the interfering hands of the conventional Hollywood executive phone-monkeys. The fun part about having directed a movie which was, at the time, infamous, is that I frequently receive emails from people all over the world which tell me of how they first saw it when they were kids and how it terrified them. Or else it was a film which they couldn’t shake off.

Xtro Xposed Harry Bromley-Davenport Interview

Pure Destructive Records is proud to announce, an official licensed reissue of XTRO. The original score composed by the director, Harry Bromley Davenport.

Available @ Amazon

Xtro – Original Filmsoundtrack 1982

REFERENCES and SOURCES http://love-it-loud.co.uk/interview-with-harry-bromley-davenport-xtro/ Twilight Zone#10 1982 Fangoria#324 Fangoria#024 Famous Monsters of Filmland 191 Cinefantastique#05

Xtro (1982) Retrospective SUMMARY Sam Phillips and his child Tony are playing outside their farm. The father is abducted by a strong light.

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