#after Gregor Fisher

[scotianostra]

On February 5th 1941 the S S Politician, with a cargo of whisky, ran aground of the North Shore of the Island of Eriskay.

The SS Politician was an 8000-tonne cargo ship which left Liverpool on the 3rd February 1941 laden with amongst other things 260,000 bottles of whisky, bound for Kingston in Jamaica and New Orleans. The whisky was for the American market and therefore no duty had been paid. She sailed up past the Isle of Man towards the Hebrides where the winds increased to gale force.

On the morning of 5th February a young man was combing a beach in South Uist when he saw the ship in trouble and beginning to list. After a valiant struggle by the Captain, Beaconsfield Worthington, to keep his ship on course, the SS Politician eventually ran aground in the storm onto sandbanks off the Isle of Eriskay where she began to flood. Unfortunately as the ship had veered off course an incorrect location was given to the lifeboat crew on Barra. Local islanders were roused and they set forth in a sailing boat to offer assistance to the crew. The lifeboat finally reached the ship and all the crew were rescued.

When the locals learned from the crew exactly what the ship was carrying, a series of illegal salvage operations took place at night, before the customs and excise officials arrived. The islands supplies of whisky had dried up due to war-time rationing, so the islanders periodically helped themselves to some of the 260,000 bottles of whisky before winter weather broke up the ship. Boats came from as far away as Lewis as news of the whisky travelled across the Outer Hebrides. No islander regarded it as stealing, as for them the rules of salvage meant that once the bounty was in the sea, it was theirs to rescue.

This of course was not the view of the local customs officer, Charles McColl, who was incensed at the blatant thievery that was going on. Not a penny had been paid in duty for this whisky so Mr McColl whipped up a furore and made an official complaint to the police. Villages were raided and crofts were turned upside down. Bottles were hidden, secreted, or sometimes drunk in order to hide the evidence.

On 26 April at Lochmaddy Sheriff Court a group of men from Barra pleaded guilty to theft and were fined between three and five pounds. Mr McColl was furious at the leniency of the men’s sentences, but the police, being mainly locals themselves, were tired of the bothering the locals who had not, in their minds, done such a bad thing. However, Mr McColl continued his crusade against these illegal salvagers and some of the men were sentenced to up to six weeks in prison in Inverness and Peterhead.

Back at sea, the official salvage attempts were not going too well, and it was eventually decided to let the Politician remain where she was. Mr McColl, who had already estimated that the islanders had stolen 24,000 bottles of whisky, ensured that there would be no more temptation. He applied for, and was granted, permission to explode her hull and as one islander, Angus John Campbell, commented: “Dynamiting whisky. You wouldn’t think there’d be men in the world so crazy as that!”

In 1987 Donald MacPhee, a local South Uist man, found eight bottles of whisky in the wreck. He sold them at auction for £4,000.

The wreck of the SS Politician still lies off the coast of Eriskay, although it is below the water line as winter gales have destroyed the deck and cabins. In 1988 the island got its own ‘legitimate’ pub, named ‘Am Politician’.

The story was used by Compton Mackenzie for his book Whisky Galore, and later for the Ealing Studio comedy by the same name.A remake was released in 2016 starring James Cosmo and Gregor Fisher amongst others, I didn't expect it to be any good, but was pleasantly surprised.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Love Actually (2003)

Love Actually has grown to become a bit of a modern-day Christmas staple. I can see why, but won’t be including it in my roster. With a whopping 10 different stories interwoven through its 136-minute running time, of course some of them hit. The film has its sweet moments… but are they worth sitting through all the clichés and groan-inducing, painfully predictable, been-there-done-that scenes which could’ve been left out?

Set during the five weeks leading to Christmas, the characters and stories featured include:

Rock and roll legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) promoting his (terrible) Christmas single at the behest of his longtime manager, Joe (Gregor Fisher).

Juliet (Keira Knightley) learning her husband's best friend, Mark (Andrew Lincoln), is in love with her days after her wedding.

Jamie (Colin Firth) who discovers his girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) is cheating on him with his brother. After exiling himself to his French cottage, he begins falling in love with his Portuguese housekeeper, Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz), despite the language barrier separating them.

Harry (Alan Rickman), who is comfortably married to Karen (Emma Thompson) but tempted by his new secretary, Mia (Heike Makatsch). He does nothing to dissuade her advances, risking everything in the process.

Karen’s brother, David (Hugh Grant), is the recently elected Prime Minister. He cannot help but notice Natalie (Marine McCuthcheon), a household staff member of 10 Downing Street. The attraction is mutual but the pressures of the office compel David to push her away.

Newly-widowed Daniel (Liam Neeson), who finds solace from his grief by helping his stepson, Sam (Thomas Sangster), win over the girl he’s fallen in love with, Joanna (Olivia Olson).

Sarah (Laura Linney), has loved her co-worker Karl (Rodrigo Santoro) for years. When she’s told the entire office knows how she feels, she finally begins to muster the courage to act upon them.

Fed up with all of his unsucessful attempts to woo women, Colin (Kris Marshall) decides - despite the protests of his best friend, Tony Abdul Salis) - to travel to America and use his British accent to pick up ladies.

John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) are professional stand-ins for films in the middle of rehearsing a series of sex scenes. Delighted to find someone they can simply talk to during the long, boring stretches in which they stand around naked - without it feeling awkward - a genuine attraction develops.

The stories are tied together with knots of varying looseness. Colin is a waiter at Juliet and Peter’s wedding. On the way to the airport, Daniel and his son bump into Rufus (Rowan Atkinson), an obsessive jewellery salesman whom Harry approaches in a moment of weakness. Some people work together, or live next to each other but there isn’t much connective tissue except the overarching theme of romance and the upcoming Christmas holiday. The point is, no one in this whopper feels essential, which makes the bad stories feel worse. Colin and his quest to get laid is so awful you’re a little embarrassed for everyone involved. I kept waiting for it to spring a twist upon us but no, it plays out exactly like some fantasy a 14-year-old Brit would dream up. Nearly as terrible is the tale of Juliet, Mark and Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor). I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. If you've been harbouring romantic feelings for years, haven’t told the person how you feel and you just watch from the sidelines, lubricating yourself with your own tears at night, you’re not sweet. You’re a creep. It’s extra awkward that Peter plays no part in this story.

Most of the other tales are charming. Daniel working through his own grief by teaching his son about life is a highlight, as are the stories featuring Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. They both have that everyman kind of charm which makes you cheer for them and have terrific chemistry with their respective love interests. I’ll even add Bill Nighy’s segment on the “Nice List”. The rest are ok but severely hampered by the number of people and plot lines we’re supposed to keep track of. Sometimes, actors and actresses are gone for so long it takes you a moment to remember what role they play in this “epic”. When a link between the stories is revealed, you’re unsure if this is new information or something you just forgot about. There’s simply too much going on. No one gets properly fleshed, leaving your mind to fill in the gaps. Luckily for you, familiarity endears you to these people because you’ve seen these scenarios a thousand times before.

As “The Ultimate Romantic Comedy”, Love Actually leaves much to be desired. The ultimate rom-com should be universal. It should contain at least one character that isn’t young, white and attractive in a major role. How about a same-sex relationship too? Maybe that was too much to ask in 2003. What should’ve been apparent - even back then - was how overstuffed with clichés this ordeal is. Every sweet love story and appealing actor is eventually shoved aside to make room for another you like much less… making this a constant back-and-forth between satisfaction and disappointment. (On DVD, December 21, 2019)

[mwolf0epsilon]

As much as I like the Bad Batch, I hope we get to learn more about Howzer and Gregor. A bit nervous over how they portray Gregor as the crazy one tho. The way he acted in rebels made me cringe a bit.

I really hope to see Howzer again as well. He was a pretty cool character and he deserves his and his men's freedom after he stood his moral ground the way he did. Think he'd make a pretty good foil for Crosshair in potential future arcs! Especially considering I don't think the Empire will be too happy with him... If the Empire rescues him at all that is!

I would definitely love to see Gregor again. I recently watched his introduction in the Clone Wars, and comparing it with Rebels and what little we know, I can see why you'd hesitate a bit on his behaviour. But I have to disagree on him just being "the crazy one".

Gregor has survived a massacre that left him amnesiac, a close range explosion that shoulda definitely killed him, and recently in TBB getting shot. At this point he probably still has his chip but he's already displaying his giggles which I think might be a result of PBA (Pseudobulbar affect, a condition that causes episodes of sudden uncontrollable and inappropriate laughing/crying, and that typically occurs in people with specific neurological conditions or who've suffered head injuries). It's an impulse control thing that's honestly not surprising for him to have since he does have a bit of a history of head trauma. The point is, he's a bit giggly but he's capable of still doing things in accordance to his training, and has the foresight to sabotage the TK Troopers he's in charge of training. He's got his faculties straight.

In Rebels, Gregor does not have his chip, so Rex has taken it out in between TBB and Rebels... The thing is, Gregor's chip removal apparently caused some damage, which makes me think it might have been a rushed job...

I have no idea what happened in between TBB and Rebels, but I have a feeling Rex ending up on Seelos with just Gregor and Wolffe isn't because there was no one else to bunk with. I have a feeling Rex feels responsible for exacerbating issues Gregor and Wolffe were already dealing with prior to being de-chipped (Wolffe is incredibly paranoid to the point of needless violence, and Gregor seems to snap to attention and follow by example on instinct) and that he picked a place he was sure would be safe for them to live, away from people who might take advantage or cause them to suffer some kind of episode. Add to that the effects of their advanced aging, and the fact we have no prior knowledge of Jango Fett's family medical history, and we have no idea what else Rebels Gregor is dealing with on top of things he was already clearly living with (and honestly dealing with quite well until the de-chipping left it's mark).

Either way, despite all these things, Gregor is not just "the crazy one". Sure he acts odd, he's super giggly and gets overexcited, omits important information (like how joopas love to eat lasats so Zeb was live bait, but then again the boys were well practiced joopa fishers by then so Gregor probably felt confident enough that he didn't need to tell the crew, I mean... The guy is still an amazing shot, can you blame him for being confident in his own skills?), but he's also the most welcoming clone (even when being regarded with contempt by Kanan), and loyal to a fault. He went down defending his brothers and fighting for a good cause, not because he was too impaired to see the danger, but because he wholeheartedly accepted whatever may happen as long as it meant his brothers and new friends could live another day. Gregor is, more fittingly, "the brave one".

[maxwell-grant]

Your Top Five Pulp Heroes that you wish were better known? By Pulp Hero fans, I mean. Since pretty much all of them except Conan and Tarzan are fairly unknown.

It’s actually quite hard for me to narrow it down to just five, because I’m having to choose between characters that are my favorites that I wish were more well-known and appreciated (which is all of them), and characters that aren’t quite my favorites but I very much think should have achieved great popularity for a myriad of reasons. So instead I’m going to pick some of each. These are not necessarily ranked by their importance or my personal taste, just 5 characters I felt like highlighting in particular. 

Honorable mentions goes to characters I already talked about prior and don’t want to repeat myself on. These aren’t “lesser” picks, just ones that I already talked about: Imaro (who in particular definitely feels like he could, and should be, a pop culture superstar if he was only more well-known), Kapitan Mors (who’s got a lot in common with one of my favorite fictional characters, Captain Nemo, but also has a lot of interesting things going on for him as his own character). Sar Dubnotal (a character that appeals a lot to me and I think should be included much more often in pulp hero team-ups). The Golden Amazon (again, definitely a character that feels like it’s just begging to have a pop culture breakout, even comic books rarely if ever have female supervillains this ruthless and over-the-top), The Mexican Fantomas (who absolutely deserves a better name than what I’m calling him here, because he’s incredibly awesome and leagues ahead of just being a knock-off). And of course my homeboy, The Grey Claw, whom I would consider Number One of the list if it wasn’t for the fact that his obscurity has left him untouched by copyright and I got plans of my own for the character that wouldn’t be possible if he was more well-known, so I guess I’m ultimately glad he’s obscure (even if I’m still bothered by how little he’s known). 

Allright let’s go:

Number 5: Sheridan Doome

Sheridan Doome appeared in fifty-four stories and three novels from 1935 to 1943. As chief detective for U.S. Naval Intelligence, Lieutenant Commander Sheridan Doome’s job was a grim one. Whenever an extraordinary mystery or crime occurred in the fleet, on a naval base, or anywhere the navy worked to protect American interests, Doome was immediately dispatched to investigate it. Fear and dread would always precede Doome’s arrival in his special black airplane. For, in an explosion during WWI, he had been monstrously disfigured. 

He was six feet two inches tall; had a chalk-white face and head. It appeared as though it had once been seared or burned. For eyes, he had only black blotches; glittering optics, that looked like small chunks of coal. His nose was long, the end of it squared off rudely. He had no lips, just a slit that was his mouth. His neck was long, as white and as bony as his face…. Sheridan Doome looked more like a robot than a human being. He was tall and ghastly; his uniform fitted him in a loose manner. Long arms hung at his sides; his face was a perfect blank. He had no control of his facial muscles; consequently, his countenance was always without expression, chalky and bony.

But behind the ugliness was a brilliant mind. Sheridan Doome always got his man. Before Sheridan Doome became a staple in the pages of The Shadow magazine, two Doome hardcover mysteries were written in the mid-1930’s by acclaimed hard-boiled author Steve Fisher (I Wake Up Screaming) and edited by his wife Edythe Seims (Dime Detective, G-8 and His Battle Aces). Age of Aces now brings you both books in one huge double novel, presented in a retro “flip book” style. This book is currently Out of Print.

I sadly don’t have any more information on the character other than this. The book is unavailable for me to acquire in any capacity, and the text above is taken from the Age of Aces website as well as Jess Nevins’s personal profile for the character. I’m not even sure if any of those 54 stories even exist anymore, since although he was published as a backup in Shadow Magazine, there doesn’t seem to be reprints of them anywhere, at least as far as I can find, and the original Shadow magazines have largely turned to dust by now. 

A character who combines aspects of The Phantom of the Opera and The Shadow, whose adventures are set in a backdrop that can easily lead to ocean adventures? That’s like, what, three of my favorite things in the world combined. I really, really wish I could at least read the stories this character stars in, but as is, this description is all I can provide. Again, time really has been cruel to the pulp heroes. 

Number 4: Harlan Dyce

This is another character I’ve only been able to learn about through Jess Nevins’s archives and have not been able to attain any further information on, which is sadly the case with a lot of pulp heroes that nowadays only seem to exist as footnotes in his Encyclopedia or records in libraries. I don’t post more about these characters because I really would just be copying the stuff he wrote without much to justify me quoting him verbatim, and I hate the idea of doing that.

I especially hate that in Harlan Dyce’s case though. Here’s his description

“Dyce had brains, taste, money, ambition, and a total lack of physical or spiritual fear. But—

“Dyce was thirty-three inches tall and weighed sixty pounds.

“That was all the world could ever hold against him. That was what had made the world, most of it, in all the countries of the world, stare at Harlan Dyce, billed in the big show as “General Midge.””

Harlan Dyce is a misanthropic and venomous private detective. He has an “amazingly handsome face,” and the aforementioned brains. But all anyone sees is his stature, and he hates that and turns his cold eyes and acid tongue on them. 

The only person Dyce likes and gets along with (besides his dwarf wife, a former client) is his assistant, Nick Melchem, a six-foot tall former p.i.’s assistant with bleak eyes and a strong body. Melchem ignores Dyce’s stature and treats Dyce normally, which Dyce responds warmly to.

Dwarfs may be the single most maligned group of people depicted in pulp magazines, even more so than the Japanese in the war years or the Chinese during the peak of the Yellow Peril’s popularity. Evil dwarfs, murderous dwarfs, sexually depraved dwarfs, they are all loathsome, ugly cliches that are, sadly, the only instances you see of dwarf characters being represented at all, with the only ones who are awarded any measure of sympathy are doomed henchmen or tragic villains.  Even outside of the pulps, the only other examples of heroic, protagonist dwarfs I can think off the top of my head are Puck from Marvel Comics and Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones.

I’m not gonna say Harlan Dyce is great representation because I’m not a little person and can never make that kind of claim for a group I’m not a part of, but Harlan Dyce may be the first time I’ve ever seen a dwarf character in pulp fiction who was not a villain or a murderous goon or a victim, but an actual person and a heroic protagonist, and that definitely counts for something. I’m not sure how popular this character was or could be if someone picked up the concept and ran with it (and I’m pretty sure he’s public domain), but I definitely think this is a character that should exist and should be popular. 

Hell, this character has Peter Dinklage written all over it, give it to him. Maybe then he will get to play a smart, fearless, cynical, misanthropic but good-natured and heroic character in something where he actually gets to keep these traits until the show ends.

Number 3: Audaz, O Demolidor

Audaz is a Brazilian character who was created and published by Gazetinha, the same publishers of Grey Claw as well as properties exported from elsewhere like Superman and Popeye, and much like The Grey Claw, he is also completely unknown even here. I’ll get to Audaz more in-depth sometime but here I’m going to provide a quick summary: 

Audaz, The Demolisher is a gigantic crime-fighting robot controlled and piloted by the brilliant scientist Dr. Blum, his close friend Gregor and the child prodigy Jacques Ennes, who pilot the giant robot from a massive laboratory inside it's head rather than a cockpit. He takes on a variety of ordinary human criminals, mad scientists, supervillains and invading armies, towering over skyscrapers and grappling with jets.

Audaz was created in 1939 by illustrator Messias de Melo, a year before Quality Comics's Bozo the Iron Man and 5 years before Ryuichi Yokoyama's Kagaku Senshi, and decades before the debut of Mazinger Z. Although he is not the first giant robot of science fiction, he is the first heroic giant robot piloted by human pilots, and thus the first true example of "mecha" fiction.

Number 2: Emilia the Ragdoll

This is another Brazilian character, although nowhere near as obscure as Audaz as even a cursory Google search can show. Although Brazil did not have a “pulp era” in the same way the US had, we’ve long gotten past the point of sticking to it as a definitive rule, and I’m including Emilia as a pulp hero because she’s a 1920s fantasy literature character who was created under a publishing company that released pulp stories, because she doesn’t quite belong in the mold of fantasy literature characters she takes after, and because I like her and if I was putting a bunch of pulp heroes together in the same story, I would definitely include Emilia in it. It’s not like she really has anywhere else to go, now that she’s public domain and she’s outlasted her franchise.

As you can tell by the above image, Emilia’s had a lot of variations over the years and that’s because the work she was created for, Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (Yellow Woodpecker Ranch/Farm), has become a major bedrock of Brazilian fantasy literature, one of the only works created here that you can find substantial information about in English if you go looking for it. Here’s some descriptions of Emilia’s character:

Emília is a rag doll described as "clumsy" or "ugly", resembling a "witch" that was handmade by Aunt Nastácia, the ranch's cook, for the little girl Lúcia, out of an old skirt. After Lucia takes her on an adventure and the doll is given a dose of magic pills, Emília suddenly started talking, and would never stop henceforth.

Emilia has a rough, antagonistic personality, and an independent, free-spirited and anarchist behaviour. She is rogue, rebellious, stubborn, rough and intensely determined at anything she sets her mind on, eager to take off on just about any adventure. She is often immature and behaves like a curious and arrogant child, always wanting to be the center of attention.

She is extremely opinionated even when she constantly and confidently mispronounces words and expressions. Her attitude often gets her into trouble, and she very often has to fight against the villains who attack her home on the Yellow Woodpecker Farm and mistreat her friends.

In the stories, Emilia often takes the role of a heroine who travels through different realms and dimensions, as the books include not only figures from Brazilian and worldwide folklore, but also several characters both real and fictional, such as Hercules, King Arthur, Don Quixote, Thumbelina, Da Vinci, Shirley Temple, Captain Hook, Santos Dumont and Baron von Munchausen.

She's fought scorpions and martians and nymph hordes, her arch-enemy is an alligator witch, she rescued an angel from the Milky Way and tried to teach it how to become a human, and once shrunk the entire population of Earth to try and talk the president of the United States into ending war forever.

To little surprise, she has become the most popular character and the series’s mascot.

It’s a little strange to consider Emilia underrated considering she is one of the most famous original characters of Brazilian literature, but hardly anyone outside of Brazil even knows who she is, and regardless of the quality of the original stories (and Monteiro Lobato’s views on race that tar much of his reputation), Emilia definitely feels to me like a character that should be a lot more popular globally. 

She is the only character from Yellow Woodpecker Ranch that has transcended the original stories, since she was always the most popular character and there’s been a couple of stories written about her that usually separate her from the ranch and just set her out on the world by herself. The latest story about this character has been a series called The Return of Emilia, that’s about her stepping out of the books in 2050 and discovering a Brazil that’s been ruined by social and ecological devastation, and traveling back in time via a flying scooter in order to try and prevent this calamity. 

Now that she’s public domain, I definitely think there’s some great stories that can be told with the character that just about anyone could get to, and I definitely think she’s a character that deserves more appreciation. Anything goes in stories starring her and it’s that kind of free-for-all freedom that I think can benefit future takes on pulp heroes. I would be very happy to place Emilia among them.

Oh yeah, and there was one time she kicked Popeye's ass by tricking him with a can of mouldy cabbage instead of spinach, making him sick and then beating him, which possibly puts her as one of the all-time badasses of fiction, except she would be pissed at not being number one and likely embark on a quest to beat everyone else just to prove she could, because that’s how Emilia rolls.

Number 1: Luna Bartendale, from The Undying Monster (1922)

Not necessarily my favorite of the bunch, but one who sort of epitomizes what you asked, a character who is both incredibly obscure and incredibly underrated in every sense. Despite the book being somewhat known, mainly thanks to the movie, the character is so obscure that I don’t even have an illustration of her to display here, not even fan art, just one of the book’s covers that I think best conveys it. Luckily, the book is also available freely online, so you can all go check it out here. The movie adaptation does not feature the character of Luna Bartendale which makes it pointless to talk about.

To not spoil it too much, The Undying Monster is a very fascinating book, ahead of it’s time in quite a few ways. You expect it to just be a detective story centered around a werewolf cursed, except the subtitle of the book is “The Fifth Dimension” and then it goes to talk about dimensions of thought and post-WWI trauma and love and hypnotic regression that travels through time and ancient runes and Norse mythology. It’s not exactly an easy book to get through in one setting, but I’d recommend it much the same if only because it’s got supersensitive psychic sleuth Luna Bartendale, literature’s first female occult detective, and she’s an incredible character who absolutely feels like she should have become a literary icon. 

She lives in London but is world-renowned for her many good deeds. She is a small, pretty woman, with curly blonde hair, dark eyebrows and a high-bridged nose, and a slight build. She has a voice described as a light soprano that "does not make much noise but carries a long way". 

Petite, bedimpled and golden curled, Luna is completely in charge of events, dominating every scene that she appears in with her welcoming disposition and cleverness. 

Bartendale has various psychic powers, including mind reading. She is well-versed in psychic and occult lore, is a “supersensitive” psychic, and has a “Sixth Sense” which allows her to trace things and people through both the Fourth and the Fifth Dimension. (The Fifth Dimension is “the Dimension that surrounds and pervades the Fourth–known as the Supernatural”).

Her extensive knowledge of occult rites and practices puts John Silence, Carnacki and Miles Pennoyer to shame, and she beats them all with her "super-sensitive" gift of being able to psychically connect with troubled souls and hypnotize them.

She uses a divining rod for various tasks, including psychic detection and tracking, and distinguishing between benevolent and malevolent forces. She has various (undefined) powerful psychic defenses, can carry on seances, and can even cure a person of “wehrwolfism.” And she can always rely on her massive, intelligent dog Roska for help.

Luna sadly doesn’t show up in the book as often as I’d hoped, but everything about this character is so delightful. In a lot od ways she hardly feels like a pulp hero, at least the ones I usually talk about. She feels like a lost protagonist from an incredibly successful kid’s adventure series where a kind and eccentric detective witch and her giant dog go around solving occult mysteries and encountering all sorts of weird supernatural beings while counseling and helping people, like Ms Frizzle meets Hilda. Like this character is just waiting for Cartoon Saloon to make a film about her.

Its not so much “this character should/could be popular but it’s clear why that didn’t pan out”, it’s more me being confused as “why the hell isn’t she super popular? This character should have had a franchise ages ago, holy shit put her in everything””

[365days365movies]

February 27, 2021: Love Actually (2003) (Part 1)

We gotta start this Recap.

Just trust me here, this one’s gonna be a lot. Why? Because this is Love Actually.

And I really want to talk about it, I REALLY do, but...this is not only a long movie, but an anthology, so it’s gonna be...complicated. But, I will say one thing. If you’ve been reading this since January, then you’ll know that this blog was inspired by the book Shit, Actually by Lindy West, a collection of hilarious movie essays that I love. And, yeah, this film is its namesake. So, although I want to go more into it, we gotta get started. Sorry for the rush, but...TRUST ME.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

An airport! We see families and other loved ones reunited at Heathrow, as narration begins, telling us that love is everywhere. After name-dropping 9/11...TWO YEARS after it had happened (too soon, David), he states that “love actually is all around.”

Got it. So, as the 2003 film All Around begins, singer Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) is trying to sing a Christmas-themed version of “Love Is All Around,” which is pretty goddamn bad. His recording manager Joe (Gregor Fisher) agrees. Jamie (Colin Firth) tells his sick girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) that he loves her, and he takes off for something that he can’t attend.

Daniel (Liam Neeson), a fresh widower, calls his friend Karen (Emma Thompson) a mom bidding her daughter a good day as she heads to school. Jack (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) are...air humping on a set? I need to know more. Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Juliet (Kiera Knightley) are getting married in a church, with their friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln) as the best man. And FINALLY, David (Hugh Grant) has just been elected as the new Prime Minister, where he meets Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), a member of the household staff.

...Well, that is a lot. Goddamn. So, this is an anthology movie, huh? I’ll try to cover this as smoothly as I can.

Peter and Juliet say their vows, and as they walk out, they are surprised by a rendition of the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love”, organized by Mark. At the wedding is Jamie, whose brother is at his apartment when he returns home early. He’s there to fuck his girlfriend. Oh. Shit. Well, sorry, Jamie. 

Also at the wedding is Colin (Kris Marshall), a waiter and messenger who’s been trying to woo British women, but is constantly failing. When talking to his friend Tony (Abdul Sallis), he insists that he’s going to the USA, where the women will appreciate his accent. Tony tells him to simply accept that he’s a “lonely, ugly asshole”. Colin, in response, calls himself a God of sex on the wrong continent. A pair, these two.

Tony is a production assistant, working on the film that Jack and Judy are in. They’re apparently professional stand-ins, actors who substitute actors in film set-up, in order to figure out lighting and cinematography. Neat! Well, normally. Here, they’re standing in for a sex scene, and they ask Judy to go topless, to see how best to frame the shot. And it gets...increasingly awkward. And it’s pretty goddamn funny.

Meanwhile, a funeral. Oof, tone whiplash right there. It’s a funeral for Daniel’s wife Joanna, and she leaves behind him and her son, Sam (Thomas Sangster AKA fuckin’ Joffrey, but I won’t hold that against him). Back at the wedding, Mark stares on longingly at the dancing Peter and Juliet. A woman asks if he’s in love with Mark, and he replies no.

At an office building, another guest at the wedding, Sarah (Laura Linney), is a worker at a graphic design company run by Harry (...awww, Alan Rickman). His secretary Mia (Heike Makatsch) brings her in to Harry’s office, where he tells her that he and everyone else in the office knows that she’s in love with fellow worker Karl (Rodrigo Santoro), and that he should get it over with an ask him out. He walks by her, and she doesn’t say anything, while also recieving a call...from someone she refers to as “babe”. Well, I feel a little infidelity coming on.

On Mia’s radio, Billy Mack’s shitty Christmas song is playing, and a radio host agrees as Bill’s brought on for an interview. Bill shares the sentiment in what must be the most depressing radio interview I’ve ever heard. In that interview with Mikey (Marcus Brigstocke), he basically completely sabotages his own record, and probably his entire career. This interview is followed with news about the Prime Minister.

David, new PM, has been bonding more with Natalie, and the two definitely appear to like each other. He also comes up in conversation between Judy and Jack, as their stand-in sex scene has progressed to basically just straight-up sex, which feels...I feel like this doesn’t fucking happen with stand-ins in movies...right? Like, come on, that’s a LOT of breached privacy, and I feel like it’s not that realistic. Anyway, the two use the opportunity to make small talk, and Jack tells Judy that he appreciates having someone to talk to. She agrees, and it’s cute in an extremely awkward way!

Production assistant Tony is heading home, and is getting a ride from Colin, who announces that he’s bought a ticket for a trip to the beautiful land of Wisconsin, where he will certainly meet some hot, hot babes. Tony does not agree.

Back at Harry’s office, he and Mia plan the company Christmas party. Mia unsubtly notes that she kinda has the hots for him, and he’s not saying no. Meanwhile, Daniel and Karen are talking about the fact that his stepson Sam seems to be having a lot of trouble, understandably, and Daniel’s not doing much better. 

Karen does her best to help him through it, and Daniel does his best to help the troubled Samuel. But he can’t coax much out of Samuel to figure out what’s wrong. Samuel finally opens up, but tells Daniel that he’s in love. Daniel’s surprised, but he insists that he’s in love, with a young woman named Sansa Stark, but he must find a way to ensure her loyalty, if ONLY HER NOBLE FATHER WASN’T IN THE...right, sorry, Game of Thrones.

OK, anyway, Sam’s in love, and in complete agony about it. Daniel tries to coach Sam through his feelings, and is genuinely being a supportive-as-hell stepdad. Also in love and in agony is Sarah, staring at Karl from afar one night as the office closes down. And then, also in agony is Jamie, fresh off of his breakup with his cheating girlfriend. He’s in a GORGEOUS AS FUCK house in the French countryside, and sits down to write.

Back in London, David tries to get to know Natalie a bit better, and they...I mean, they’re 100% gonna get together by the end. We’re just working through the romantic folderol right now. Natalie leaves, and David asks a portrait of Margaret Thatcher is she had that problem, calling her a, uh...a “saucy minx.” Well, OK.

Billy Mack is on a television show, continuing his press tour and reminding us once again that he used to be addicted to heroin. Joe is not happy. Mark, an artist, calls Peter, and is put on the line with Juliet. Peter asks him to “be nice,” but when he they talk to each other, he’s rather short when she asks for some of his footage from the wedding.

Back at Harry’s, Mia is laying it on fuckin’ THIIIIIICK, Jesus, while Sarah ends up pining once more for Karl. At his college in the French countryside, a new housekeeper, Aurélia ( Lúcia Moniz), has been hired to take care of his place. However, there’s a serious language barrier between the two, as she’s Portuguese, and he’s too talkative, goddamn. It’s awkward. It’s a little awkward.

David’s got a meeting with the President of the United States (Billy Bob Thornton), who IMMEDIATELY notes Natalie’s attractiveness. Political tensions are also rough between the two and their administrations. The two have a private meeting later, and David leaves the room for a moment. However, when he goes back in, he sees Natalie kissing the President! Whaaaaaaaat? That’s a...fucking terrible idea, Mr. President, what the FUCK? HAVE YOU HEARD OF BILL CLINTON

The next day, at a press conference, David gives into his rage about the affair, and he acts more assertive towards the President, noting that he won’t bow to the President’s bullying. Wow. International crisis time because of a fuckin’ girl! Who’s the saucy minx, now, Thatcher? WHO’S THE SAUCY MINX NOW

Right afterwards, he gets a call from his sister: Karen. Huh. She notes her frustrations with his actions, but he’s too busy and hangs up. She states her frustrations to her husband: Harry. DOUBLE HUH. After everything, though, David retires for the night. The radio station plays a song for him, and David responds by dancing around 10 Downing Street. And it’s hilarious. And I love it?

At Jamie’s cottage, he and Aurélia start to bond regardless of their language barrier, and their conversations seem to gel with each other, despite them not understanding that themselves. It’s actually...kind of cute. I dunno, I kind of like it. I think it’s sweet. Overly saccharine, yeah, but sweet as the two fall in love. Yeah, I’m a fuckin’ sap, what can I say?

Juliet visits Mark, who’s once again acting fairly cold towards her. She confronts him about it, and notes that she wants to genuinely become friends with him. Mark seems to agree with this, but still notes that he has no video of the wedding. And yet, she finds it, only to discover that Mark doesn’t hate her. Actually, he likes her. Actually...he loves her. And, uh...fuck, yeah, he LOOOOOOOOVES her. And she figures that out once she realizes that the video of the wedding doesn’t feature Peter in it AT ALL.

Y’know, I’m really worried that this is becoming an infidelity situation, but I have to admit...Mark’s a good man, and a great friend to Peter. He knows that he loves Juliet, but he keeps his distance for the sake of his friend. And that is...actually amazingly honorable. Damn. You’re a good man, Mark.

At 10 Downing Street, David asks his assistant Annie (Nina Sosanya) to put Natalie in another position, as her presence is distracting him. And that is...responsible. That’s pretty damn responsible. OK, I can dig it. She’s soon replaced, and you can see that David is saddened by that.

His sister’s best friend's stepson, Sam, has just gotten bad news. His crush, Joanna (oh, yeah, his crush has the same name as his deceased mother, forgot to mention THAT little tidbit), is going back to the USA. After discovering that she’s American, Daniel decides to cheer him up by watching Titanic together. AND AGAIN. This relationship is adorable, and I love Daniel’s hardcore good dad energy.

Jamie and Aurélia need to bid each other goodbye, as Jamie is headed back to England. However, as they part, Aurélia kisses him goodbye, which seems to break him a little. Meanwhile, Billy Mack has shot a video for his terrible song, which inspires Sam to perform in a school concert to get Joanna to fall in lover with him and get her to stay. But he doesn’t play an instrument, and chooses to learn the drums, to Daniel’s dismay.

At Harry’s company Christmas party, Mia is hitting HARDCORE on Harry, which Karen notices. She’s speaking to Sarah, and encourages her to dance with Karl, while to two stand in front of Mark’s photographs, and...

TOO MUCH. IT’S TOO GODDAMN MUCH

I...I gotta take a break, and we’re at the halfway point anyway. See you in Part 2.

[thehypotensivegrad]

PP4 - A Story of Us (6/25)

Riff-Off Remix

Chapter Preview:

The other groups weren't easy competition either, but they had less of an impressive history than the other four. Final Frequency, a group of college kids in matching white and blue outfits, won the last three competitions. To the Clef was another all-male group. Stacie wasn't too scared of them. They could sing well, and they were for sure good enough to be in the competition, but the smug look on their faces made her feel like they should be easy chumps to knock out. Then there were Gregor Chants, a group whose members all wore some weird blood-red cloak, their hoods drawn up covering their faces. They stood still, reminding Stacie of mannequins, next to DSM. Stacie wasn't sure how to feel about them. The last two were interesting. Aural Addiction were the only all-female acapella group other than the Bellas. Each member oozed sex appeal, with each member having distinct ranges and vocal chaps to back them up. Stacie wondered if they could prove advantageous to eliminating the all-male groups. Last were the Overtones, a group composed of four middle-aged men and two middle-aged women, who won back-to-back competitions decades ago.

As for the audience, well, Stacie was quiet pleasantly surprised to see the place packed. There were die-hard supporters for each group in the crowd. Bumper had an obnoxiously big banner for Amy, so it was hard not to see him as much as Stacie wanted to ignore him. His presence at least made it easy to find where the Bellas' supporters were, with Benji and the rest of their family and friends with banners for the Bellas next to Bumper's. Stacie smiled when she spotted her parents with Bella right next to Benji. This was her chance to shine and make her daughter proud. The Bellas were going to go through, no matter what.

To no surprise of anyone at all, a good chunk of the audience were Beca's fans. There were even some celebrities in the crowd. A few of them were secret acapella nerds, others former members of acapella teams themselves, but most of them were artists who Beca had the pleasure of working with. The likes of Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Jordan Fisher, Justin Timberlake, Hayley Kiyoko, and Taylor Swift were all in the crowd. Hell, Stacie was sure she even caught a glimpse of Lionel Ritchie somewhere earlier.

The contestants couldn't exactly interact with each other once they got to the stage, and they were kept in separate dressing rooms earlier so that no one could play any dirty mind tricks. Stacie was thankful at the very least that the German she-wolf that led DSM couldn't get Beca to make a fool of herself earlier. That would be bad for group dynamics, especially since Chloe didn't look too pleased with how she was eyeing Beca at the moment. Beca, for her part, stuck with reviewing notes on her phone. Part of having a PR agent meant Beca had someone to help her prepare for interviews. In this case, Rhian, who the Bellas barely interacted with since they got to LA, helped Beca with a list of insults and prepared her for any and all interactions with the fearless leader of their archrival team.

But it's not only the DSM's fearless leader who was eyeing Beca up. Final Frequency members next to them kept trying to sneak a look at Beca who was busy engaged with Aubrey, Chloe, and Emily, drawing up "battle plans" for the riff-offs. Some of the other members of the different groups too, all fans of the famous singer-slash-producer. Stacie overheard one member of To the Clef make a comment about trying to ask Beca out on a date later on, after they make it through the next round. Tough luck for him. Stacie could tell Beca only had eyes for one person in room, and her name was Chloe Beale.

The stage lights soon focused on the different acapella teams on stage, while the rest of the lights at the center died down. The hosts for the night, fellow acapella singers from the Filharmonic, took the stage to greet the crowd. Along with Pentatonix, they weren't allowed to participate in the competition due to receiving funds, financing, and recording and management deals from some of the event sponsors. Lucky for the Bellas, Beca didn't have any conflicts of interest like the members of the other two groups. It wouldn't have been the same competing without her.

Jules, their vocal bass, was first to speak, reminding the audience of the purpose for the night's special events. He thanked the generous sponsors, and acknowledged the judges on the propped up stage not far away from them. Niko, the group's beatboxer, then stepped up to give a schpill on why each of the groups were selected. VJ, one of their tenors, took over to briefly recap the success stories of each of the contenders. Afterwards, Trace, another one of their tenors, reminded everyone that the proceeds from the tickets purchased for the event would all go to a handful of music charities – a mix of groups helping musicians in need, providing music education, health care, and other outreach.

Joe, the most recognizable of their Tenors, then took over, unveiling the wheel of musical categories, some of which reminded Stacie of some popular songs from different decades. He went over the rules, most of which the contestants already knew from the letter they received about a month ago. A category would be selected from the wheel, any team can start and kick things off. To cut someone off, one team just needed to step up and match the harmony of the song that the first team was singing. Each category pertained to lyrics of one of the popular songs coming from one artist's discography. The only songs they can sing in that round must be by that artist.

Simple enough.

But then Jules stepped up again, saying that they won't be saying who the artist was. The teams must know them already from the tiny bit of lyrics used as the category name. All the contestants were, after all, the cream of the crop. "Anyone who makes a mistake of singing a different artist's song is automatically out," Jules then said and the crowd gasped. "Fail to match harmonies, and your team is out. Fail to jump in and sing at any point in the round, and you're out as well. There will be a randomly generated timer per round, it will flash on the screen, and each team needs to sing at least once within that time limit. When time is up, the round is over and we move onto the next category. We are expecting nothing but flawless transitions and every bit of musical perfection."

Things only became more interesting from there. Niko stepped up once again. "The last five teams standing would automatically make it to the finals," he then said, "but life would be boring if five got eliminated from one round alone. So, we have this thing called perks. When we're down to five, the riff-off will continue. The last team standing will get a few special prizes, or perks, as we like to call them. If we get to a point where there are two teams still left standing, we enter a lightning round. Terms of which we will discuss when and if we get there."

"Last thing before we get started," VJ said to calm the audience members who were already getting hyped up. "Because we got a long email with bulleted lists of items for clarification," he went on to say before side-eying Aubrey. Stacie chuckled. Of course Aubrey was being clear on everything. She still hadn't gotten over the loss against the Trebles from a stupid contraction technicality when it came to matching words on a lyrics. "No worries on what word you cut in with, we're focused on melodies and harmonies. And yes, you can jump in with a tricked out mash-up of a song, but only if the song was already used earlier in the same round. Mash-ups must also strictly be by the same artist. If there's any doubt, if anyone makes a clumsy mistake, or if the harmonies aren't perfectly matched, we would be notified by our expert panel of judges. That's why they are here. To keep things fair."

"So if all our teams are ready," Trace then said, looking around at the different acapella teams. They all had their game faces on. Trace raised a hand. Silence. When he smirked, he turned to point at the wheel behind him. "Wheel of musical categories, take a spin!" he boomed.

_______________________________________________________________

More in the links below!

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29141841/chapters/71871765

ff.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13808923/6/A-Story-of-Us

[tanoraqui]

I've been thinking about Fisher Kings and the Vor. How tempting to have Miles' physical ailments trace themselves back to blighted Vorkosigan Vashnoi! And thus more weight to the fear of mutation, the class divide, the madness in the blood. But perhaps each member of a family only resonates with a certain part of their district - all the more reason to have as many children as possible, spreading the weight and keeping the heir from being the one attuned with the marshy bits that flood & rot. 1/

And what about marriages? Some ritual to sever the connection with your birth district and join with the new? Do you gain your partner’s domain or is it like a new birth? Or are you forever an outsider? And what about space travel? Non-Vor better able to stand the separation, and only those diluted with galactic blood or an oops in the lineage able to thrive in the black? A new levelling of the field, indeed. And the thoughts continue: 2/3

How mutual is it? Does Piotr (attuned to the mountains themselves, of course, as stubborn and as filled with deep thoughts) feel like he understands holding a child in the womb as the mountains shelter his men? (And feeling this, feel better equipped to make decisions about wombs) Can he help confuse Vordarian’s men wandering the passages after Cordelia’s diversion? If he can actively feel or effect the mountains, imagine fighting the Cetas. ¾ apparently

And Aral, the long lake, fond of sailing and capsizing. Fountain and lake metaphors as high compliments. His temper - “Superior, they say never gives up her dead when the gales…”, “come hell or high water”, etc. Being terraformed slowly. And Miles, as I said, VV - normally ideal in an heir, but not his luck. His first instinct to fall back on the radioactive property because what better to give than himself, even as collateral. Thanks for letting me ramble; it has been a fun day of pondering

I wish I had more to add but mostly I just love all of this a lot. Hmm…how it changes in marriage would depend a lot on how it happens in the first place, I think. Is it more induced by the humans, a ceremonial but also very real bond that can be broken by careful ritual? Or is it something in the land itself, this planet they came to claim that claimed them instead, and those who’ve bled on and for the land now have it in their blood in turn?

…Clearly that one. Always go with the answer that makes you get more poetic. So, you can’t marry out of one district and into another, any more than you can change the contents of the blood in your veins. Gene therapy won’t do it, either, though I bet that has to get settled as a case in the Council of Counts, eventually, over a question of inheritance. It’s easy enough to prove, at least.

Because, yes, of course the land reacts to its lords. Of course the Cetagandans itch at Piotr like the mountain ridges they climb are his own spine; of course the stones hide him and his men - don’t move, usually; don’t change color or form or anything unnatural like that, but hide them nonetheless, and even Cetagandan scanners can’t do much against walls of Dendarii rock. Vordarian’s men won’t find their way out of those caves either. Aral can sail any boat on any lack or river in Vorkosigan District; he could ride down from the spring of the highest, fast, mountain-snow-fullest on a plastic inner tube and the water would hold him like the favored child he is. 

I wonder if there’s a little more respect for Vor ladies, in this version of Barrayar? They would have the land in their blood just as much as their brothers. They’re at a loss if they move away, of course, and if society dictates that it’s the women who are sent away, well, that’s that…but it doesn’t need to be. Alys would end up in the capital no matter what, I think, but there’s still a hill somewhere that welcomes her home whenever she visits; the grass grows greener and the flowers bloom brighter, and she can relax for an afternoon. Maybe Lord Dono never happens because Lady Donna strides into the Council of Counts and demands her rights on the strength of her lord-brother’s wishes, the precedents of Countess Amelia Vorsoisson (50 years ago) and Countess Sofiya Vorpalopous (75 years ago) and Countess Katrina Vorkosigan (200 years ago, who had a spine of mountain granite as stiff as her many-times-great-grandson)? There are too many Vorrutyers to count tbh, but Donna has always been able to find her way on the wide open plains below the castle that rules their district, and the wind there answers her call.

Most houses spread the power, spread the burden. For nearly 30 years, there was only one Vorbarra. Gregor nearly shimmered with it, sometimes, in the right light at the right times of year (midsummer and midwinter, of course. When else?) When he was younger, he went sleepwalking more nights than not, called out to the streets of his city, the fields and hills of his countryside. It stressed his guards beyond belief, though it’s possible they didn’t need to worry - what’s an attacker against cobblestones and vines and the earth itself, rising up to swallow them down? On the other hand, technology has progressed, and there’s only so much even the air itself can do against plasma fire.

Crossing the border by air with Negri dying beside him as he flew felt like watching his mother be pulled away again. Going off-planet for the first time, to Komarr of course, he threw up long before they reached any wormhole - but it was relief as much as the loss of the ground beneath his feet. Gregor had never not known where exactly he was before. Hopping the ship as a mediocre technician and leaving the Empire entirely…it was like flying.

He never did it again until he had children, though. 

[2whatcom-blog]

The Secret Sauce for Environmental Downside Fixing

"Enough! Cut it with the prima donna nonsense. There is no 'I' in TEAM!" I can nonetheless see Mr. Stephensen railing at me and my rugby squad as we stood shivering within the rain and lined in mud, after being overwhelmed by a faculty we must always have trounced. "It's teamwork, collaboration that makes us mighty, better than the sum of our parts. We can always do better when we do it together." That's true in rugby, however is it true in science? My earliest heroes had been Gregor Mendel, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, E.O. Wilson, Rachel Carson and Margaret Mead. All gave the impression to be loners, solitary strivers, mulling and fixing life's hardest issues, and doing so largely by themselves. What would they consider the rising requires extra collaborative science? Would they see worth in additional donor-funded efforts to convey individuals collectively from totally different disciplines and with totally different experience in makes an attempt to resolve the massive questions of right this moment and tomorrow? I agree with my rugby coach that collaboration is an efficient factor. However solely when it's based on a vital ingredient: a coalition of the prepared. Collaboration might be stunningly profitable when the elements search out each other and self-assemble to resolve a shared drawback. Even when a bunch varieties from dissimilar organizations with, at occasions, opposite agendas and methods of working, the willingness of group members to collaborate typically helps to bridge these variations. Sadly, collaborations are sometimes born of, or tried by way of, the alternative of willingness: drive. Too typically I've been topic to partnerships orchestrated to encourage collaboration, however luring the person elements collectively, largely towards their needs, can fail spectacularly to attain the hoped-for outcomes. There are fashions, nevertheless, that present how funding that permits collaborations of keen collaborators can produce exceptional outcomes. One such instance is the working-group mannequin pioneered by the Nationwide Heart for Ecological Evaluation and Synthesis (NCEAS) and which undergirds the Science for Nature and Folks Partnership (SNAPP), itself a collaborative initiative between NCEAS, Wildlife Conservation Society and The Nature Conservancy. Within the late 1990s an NCEAS working group self-assembled to develop a concept of marine reserves that used the very best out there science and mixed the pursuits and considerations of fishers and the fishing trade with these of the conservation group. This groundbreaking collaboration not solely resulted within the publication of 33 journal articles and one e-book, but in addition laid the muse for a major enlargement of the state of California's marine protected space community in 2007. Extra not too long ago, and thru SNAPP, a novel combination of specialists from universities, conservation NGOs, insurance coverage corporations and the Military Corps of Engineers got here collectively to raised perceive the function that pure coastal defenses, resembling wetlands and mangrove forests, play in defending individuals and property from storms, sea-level rise, and different pure hazards. By means of their teamwork, they calculated first-ever greenback values of those coastal habitats by way of the losses they will stop, and they're now influencing the best way world insurance coverage giants like Lloyd's of London are doing enterprise. Importantly, initiatives like SNAPP present the repeated interplay that collaborations of the prepared must coax every particular person out of their consolation zone to hear and be taught from one another. It's extremely unlikely that the outcomes these two collaborations generated might have been achieved by a solitary genius toiling alone in a garret. Supporting areas the place ladies and men with totally different ability units and experiences can determine on their very own to convene and synthesize their information and views in a fail-safe approach is each enjoyable and illuminating. I've been fortunate sufficient to take part in a number of SNAPP working teams, and it's typically stunning what these groups can conjure as much as remedy knotty issues. Possibly the best barrier to collaborations of the prepared will not be a scarcity of donor curiosity and assist. Relatively, it's siloed people who, by way of no fault of their very own, are unaware of individuals outdoors of their slender self-discipline with whom it could be enjoyable and fruitful to collaborate on fixing that difficult drawback over which they've been struggling. I'm one among these siloed people. One of many biggest threats to wildlife in Africa derives from so many individuals missing options for meals outdoors of searching and consuming wild animals. Fixing this, my very own difficult drawback, requires that I work with specialists in livestock, household diet and demand elasticity. However as an ecologist working to preserve nature, I do not naturally have telephone numbers in my contacts for professionals in poultry manufacturing or youngster well being. Although it was straightforward for me to determine the best organizations to attach with, it was no small activity to seek out the very best particular person inside every organization--another key ingredient to forming coalitions of the prepared. Fortunately, there are individuals like Heather Tallis on the Nature Conservancy who perceive how one can convey prepared individuals collectively. By means of the Bridge Collaborative, she helped me join with the best specialists at one among their daylong collaboration "cocktail parties," the place hopeful problem-solvers in conservation, meals manufacturing and household well being can mingle and discover kindred professionals. An open thoughts and the best connections might sound so easy and maybe a bit trite, however they're arguably undervalued elements in efficient collaborations. By means of efforts just like the Bridge Collaborative and SNAPP, prepared collaborators have vital venues to seek out each other and prepare dinner that magic sauce we'd like for environmental drawback fixing. Read the full article

[scotianostra]

Johnny Beattie was born November 9th 1926 in Govan.

Johnny was entertaining Scotland since before I was but a glint in my auld man’s eye, after leaving St Gerard’s High School in Govan he joined the nearby dockyards in an apprenticeship, he got involved with amateur dramatics, and by the mid-1950s he had become a stand-up comedian and never looked back.

By the 60’s he had his own Saturday night spot on the BBC with Johnny Beattie’s Saturday Night Show, which featured him playing many different colourful characters, including his alter ego “Glaikit O'Toole”.

Johnny also done some acting and of course one of the shows is that old Scottish favourite Taggart, and on the big screen in The Big Man. On the set of Scotch and Wry he struck up a friendship with Gregor Fisher and went on to appear along side him in Rab C Nesbitt.

Johnny played Malcolm Hamilton in the Scottish soap opera River City, a role which he had starred in since the show began in 2002.

Beattie also had a couple of hit songs in Scotland, including the brilliant Glasgow Rap.

He also gave time to charitable causes and raised thousands of pounds for charities; the most notable of these were St Margaret of Scotland Hospice in Clydebank, the Scottish Showbusiness Benevolent Fund and Friends of Winter Gardens in Rothesay, he was also president of the Scottish Music Hall Society – a role he held for many years.

At 93 Johnnie Beattie’s health was fading and he was admitted to the St Margaret’s Hospice in Clydebank where he died on 9th July this year.

[micaramel]

Artist: Davide Stucchi

Venue: Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich

Exhibition Title: Light switch (Entrance)

Date: November 23, 2019 – January 25, 2020

Click here to view slideshow

Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.

Images:

Images courtesy of Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich

Press Release:

Anna Franceschini: Your title reminds me of a message left to a stranger, an instruction. Is it intended to be functional?

Davide Stucchi: Yes, the title waits to be activated. Like a light bulb connected to the light switch, which sits in a room waiting for a remote control. The switches ask for a presence, a body moving between the domestic environment.

A: Turn me on, turn me on, says the blind bulb…

D: Desiring to be lit…

A: Yes, but also not understanding the power which it already carries inside itself, the power of a thing, the potential of thinginess. What about the life behind/inside a switch? Is that an electric body?

D: Have you read “The Power” by Naomi Alderman? It sits on my bedside table for a while now. On the cover is a red background with a hand made by electric flows. A friend recommended it to me, because it has an interesting point of view on body awareness. Basically, its central premise is women developing the ability to release electrical jolts from their fingers, thus leading them to become the dominant gender. I am not saying that you can get a shock if you touch my switch… still, be careful!

A: Glad you said that! Inside the light switches I see hands arranging hair; can they turn on the kitchen lights while doing that?

D: You make me laugh, because I imagine you switching on the lights with your nose while arranging your hair! Often you make fun of me, because I rearrange common phrases or formulas, maybe here, too it is not about the gesture, but the interference while transmitting them?

A: Where do the images come from?

D: I ripped these images flipping through books, magazines and catalogues of my library. Actually, it’s not 100% mine, since I have to somehow agree with my ex-partner on how to use the library together, or how we will divide it. It’s weird how this idea manifested, it was just a joke I made while me and some friends were at a bar talking about revenge on our ex-boyfriends.

A: Does he know about these ripped pages?

D: Now that we talked about it, yes. I trust art as an infrathin language and he does, too. So he somehow knows it, I guess!

A: Instead of gently touching a flat smooth and anonymous surface, your switches invite one to put your fingers deep inside the electric, beyond which is filled up with gestures…

D: These movements I chose has been directed, they belong to models, performers, actors. Bodies that have been guided, asked or chosen. More and more often on (theatre, fashion, movie) sets you find the figure of the “movement director”, a person who specialises in movements, interested in body and physicality. Someone able to create a movement-scape, and look after the actors, which are like the instrument who carry the move- ment. We love to direct objects, don’t we?

A: Objects invite one to direction, while kindly but assertively obtaining the action they require. Is that what we call feticism? Are we objectifying performers when asking to do such and such a posture or movement on a set? Are we abusing a door when we ask the actress to open it one hundred times to find the perfect choreography for the drama we want to stage? What about that glass full of gin tonic thrown against the wall? And the window that crashes against the body of the fugitive? Are objects a majority treated as a minority?

D: This question is so subtle and relevant. It really pushes me in a corner. I try to concentrate by isolating myself from the outside and look straight to the digits of my computer, then my hands move to write my actions. When are we free or more easily apt to consider them as a majority? Looks like where you use them the most you free them the better, like theatre, cinema, asvertising, commercial, art? You and me have sometimes felt like being in a landscape where we want to serve objects as artists.

A: Minimalist intimacy, monumental solitudes that are episodically switched on by a scroll on a flat enlighted surface. What is it about domestic sentimentality?

D: I love to interrogate domesticity. There is so much work about queer space that always deals with exteriority, a cruising urbanity, publicness as transgressive act… So much of queer life happens at home – bourgeouis relationships, hiding from public, simulating the heteros… Very IKEA!

A: You refllect on IKEA minimalism while casting a Dada spell on it. What is the result? Animation of the inanimate? For example “La Linea” by Osvaldo Cavandoli?

D: I wish you were here, I would have let you step on the doormat and enter by the Donald Juddish-bookcase. You can see this intervention in space as a critique on minimalism, or more in the realm of what you suggested as a comic strip, or as a frame, a tv screen. I love “La Linea”, its obstacle, its difficult relationship with the hand of the cartoonist and its gibberish language. If you look at ankles height in the space, there are also “plugs” you can put chargers in. Other lines. And behind another bookcase hides a fallen curtain – or are all the lines drawn by Cavandoli?

A: I wish I woule be there, too. I wish I was a line and you could direct me in the empty, senseless space. I wish I was the hanger and the joint, the fisher and the switch. I wish I will always will be the gentle tool to play with and will make you feel at home.

D: Which tool?

Davide Stucchi (b. 1988, Italy) is an artist living and working in Milan. His recent shows include Davide Stucchi con Corrado Levi at zazà Naples (2019), 2546/9728 at Sundogs Paris (2019) and Davide Stucchi at Deborah Schamoni, Munich (2017). He and Anna Franceschini meet on set where Davide worked as scenographer for Anna’s film, like Bustrofedico 2019, a commission from the Italian Pavillion at La biennale di Venezia intended as a film-display, or Polaroids 2018, a Carlo Mollino’s room adaptation on screen.

Anna Franceschini (b. 1979, Italy) is an artist, filmmaker and researcher living and working in Milan.

Link: Davide Stucchi at Galerie Gregor Staiger

Contemporary Art Daily is produced by Contemporary Art Group, a not-for-profit organization. We rely on our audience to help fund the publication of exhibitions that show up in this RSS feed. Please consider supporting us by making a donation today.

from Contemporary Art Daily http://bit.ly/2OsiKs7

[deutschunterricht1]

UFC Charlotte, the Morning After: Fighters remind us what’s really important

At UFC on Fox 27 in Charlotte, I was reminded of The Important Things™. Sure, the violence (some of it) was fun. Mirsad Bektic’s straight right KO to the body was awesome, and not even the first body shot finish of the night, Cory Sandhagen’s being the first.

Ouch.

We had Drew Dober and Frank “The Crank” Camacho punch each other for all they were worth to open the main card. Yet, the fans were booing after that fight- partly because of the decision, a close call that went Dober’s way. Dober kicked off a series of refreshingly honest interviews by admitting he didn’t know about that decision, but he and Camacho were just happy to spill their blood in there for the fans. The life lesson? Enjoying the moment… and the process is sometimes just as important as the outcome. As tonight showed more than once, you can’t always control the outcome. You can only control the process.

Also from this fight:

The post-fight interviews would continue to show that the fighters had more important things on their mind. With Gregor Gillespie, it was fishing. “The Gift” never misses a chance to let us know he’s the best fisher in UFC, and judging by his Instagram, that’s completely true. After smashing their hometown fighter Jordan Rinaldi, he won over the confused crowd by asking them, “North Carolina probably has some good fishing, huh?” Who’s gonna boo after that?? Either way, the lesson here is clear: go fishing. Oh, and maybe take time to enjoy the outdoors, have a hobby, get good at something you enjoy. Fishing (or whatever you do to unwind) is damn important to a balanced life.

Dennis Bermudez probably did enough to win his fight against Andre Fili, but the judges didn’t see it that way. Fili, though, was most concerned about his grandma. She turned 70 last night, and he had been thinking about missing her birthday all training camp. Happy birthday to Andre Fili’s grandma, whoever you are. You are definitely loved. The lesson? Love your loved ones, especially the ones that won’t be around forever. (None of them will).

Even Jacare, who ended Derek Brunson’s night with a head kick that sent Brunson halfway across the cage, had his wife’s anniversary to remember. He was happy all night, his dancing walkout taking 3:40, just ten seconds less than the fight itself. Maybe that’s because he knew he was about to win and tell his wife happy anniversary on live TV. Maybe it’s because, as he also said, four months ago he was in a hospital. Jacare’s lessons for us are clear too: Count your blessings, because life is crazy. And remember your wife’s anniversary.

Now that we’ve got those life lessons out of the way, here’s some bonus fight footage for you to feast on before going to apply them.

You thought Jacare’s head kick KO was awesome? Then you’ll love this.

Down and out.

I love this triangle setup, because he was setting it up even before he hit the canvas.

Enjoy your Sundays, Maniacs!

Source Article

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[celebwiki001-blog]

Suzanne Collins Biography, Age, Weight, Height, Friend, Like, Affairs, Favourite, Birthdate & Other

This Biography is about one of the best Television writer Suzanne Collins including her Height, weight, Age & Other Detail… Biography Of Suzanne Collins Real Name Suzanne Collins Famous as Television writer Nationality American Personal life of Suzanne Collins Born on 10 August 1962 Birthday 10th August Age 54 Years Sun Sign Leo Born in Hartford City Connecticut Family Background of Suzanne Collins Father Michael Collins Mother Jane Collins Siblings Drew Collins, Kathy Collins, Joanie Collins Spouse/Partner Charles Pryor Children Isabel Pryor, Charlie Pryor Education Alabama School of Fine Arts, Indiana University Bloomington Net worth $60 million Hobbies Gymnastics, Reading, and Running Awards 2012 - Teen Choice Award for Choice Book - The Hunger Games trilogy 2013 – Kids  Choice Award for Favorite Book - The Hunger Games trilogy 2010 - Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award - The Hunger Games 2010 - Goodreads Choice Awards Favorite Book - Mockingjay 2009 - Goodreads Choice Awards Young Adult Series - Catching Fire 2010 - Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction - Mockingjay 2009 - Goodreads Choice Awards All-Time Favorite - Catching Fire 2009 - Hal Clement Award - The Hunger Games 2008 - Cybils Awards for Fantasy & Science Fiction - Young Adult - The Hunger Games 2010 - Goodreads Choice Awards Favorite Hero - Mockingjay 2010 - Goodreads Choice Awards Favorite Heroine - Mockingjay 2011 - California Young Reader Medal: Young Adult - The Hunger Games Personal Fact of Suzanne Collins Suzanne Collins, is a famous author of children’s books, best known for the trilogy, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. Having studied drama, and pursued specialization in writing for the theatre, the young woman started out writing scripts for popular animated television shows for children. She has written episodes of series like 'Clarissa Explains It All', 'Little Bear', and Oswald, all favourites of children. After pursuing a career in television scriptwriting for almost thirteen years, she decided to become an author of children’s books. She began with 'Gregor the Overlander', the first book of The Underland Chronicles. She says that her inspirations came from the classic favourite, Alice in Wonderland, assuming what would happen if someone slipped into a manhole rather than a key hole, and what they would find instead of the high tea. The book was declared a bestseller by The New York Times and she produced more books as a part of the same series. Soon, she wrote The Hunger Games, which became so popular that 1.5 million copies of it, and its sequel, Catching Fire, sold out quickly. She followed it up with a second sequel, Mockingjay, which too became widely read. With such popular books to her credit, she has made a name for herself as a writer of children’s and young adults fiction. This Biography Written By celebwiki.us   Read the full article

[moosterrecords]

New from Arrow Video US and Arrow Academy US

PULP Blu-ray and DVD (12/12)

Whiskey Galore! Blu-ray and DVD(12/12)

Donnie Darko [Limited Edition Steelbook] (Blu-ray) (12/12)

The Apartment - Limited Edition (12/26)

via MVD Entertainment Group

Get ready for the festive season as Arrow release four new titles across their labels in December. 

First up, two titles from Arrow Video. Michael Caine and Mike Hodges, the star and director of British classic Get Carter, reunite for 1972's Pulp, a crime comedy about a paperback writer inadvertently drawn into the world he writes about. The DVD and Blu-ray release of this neglected gem (a favourite of author J.G. Ballard) features a brand new, and long overdue, 2K restoration from original film elements, supervised and approved by director of photography Ousama Rawi, produced by Arrow exclusively for this release.

The second title is a Limited Edition Steelbook release of Richard Kelly's debut masterpiece Donnie Darko. This release contains their brand-new 4k restoration of the Theatrical cut as supervised and approved by Richard Kelly himself, plus a whole host of fantastic extra features and a 20-page collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by critic and author Nathan Rabin.

Meanwhile, Arrow Academy will release The Apartment, starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in Oscar-nominated performances as a couple who start an unlikely romance in late-1950s Manhattan. A note perfect production that went on to win Best Picture at the 1961 Academy Awards, many regard this as Billy Wilder's best work.

Finally, Arrow Films release the recent remake of Whisky Galore!, starring Ellie Kendrick (Game of Thrones), James Cosmo (Game of Thrones) and stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard (Hannibal). This charming and heart-warming tale of a Scottish island community is based on a true story during World War II and the story was previously told in the classic Ealing comedy of the same name. 

PULP Blu-ray and DVD (12/12)

A year after they'd created one of the defining British gangster pictures with Get Carter, three Michaels - writer-director Mike Hodges, producer Michael Klinger and star Michael Caine - reunited for another crime picture, albeit with a more oddball flavor...

Caine plays Mickey King, a successful pulp novelist responsible for such titles as My Gun Is Long and The Organ Grinder, who is invited to ghost-write the autobiography of a mystery celebrity. His client turns out to be a former actor, played by Mickey Rooney, well-known for his gangster roles and real-life gangster connections - but death is around the corner, and King finds his commission to be a lot more complicated than he first imagined.

A favorite of J.B. Ballard, Pulp has long existed in the shadow of its predecessor. Tonally, it could not be more different - Get Carter never had the time for sight gags and one-liners - but it's a real gem in its own right and fully deserving of a wider audience. This brand-new restoration from Arrow Films aims to right than wrong.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/DhlgIFxJqzg 

FEATURES

- Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements, supervised and approved by director of photography Ousama Rawi, produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release

- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

- Original 1.0 mono sound

- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

- Brand-new interview with writer-director Mike Hodges

- Brand-new interview with director of photography Ousama Rawi

- Brand-new interview with assistant director John Glen

- Brand-new interview with Tony Klinger, son of producer Michael Klinger

- Original theatrical trailer

- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet containing new writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

SPECS

Production Year: 1972 

Running Time: 108 

Number of Discs: 1 

Language: English 

Subtitles: English SDH 

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 

Blu-ray SRP: $34.95

DVD SRP: $24.95

Whiskey Galore! Blu-ray and DVD (12/12)

Whisky Galore! is the charming and heart-warming tale of a community of Islanders on a remote Scottish Island during WW2 coming together to relieve a sinking ship of its amber cargo.

Based on the true story of the cargo ship SS Politician running aground off the coast of Eriskay in 1941 and the ensuing battle between the Excise Men and the locals trying to salvage the lucrative cargo, that of 50,000 cases of Whiskey . The shipwreck and its cargo was like manna from heaven to the Islanders, whose island was totally 'dry', without any type of alcohol, which some would say is part of the life blood of the Scottish Islands!

Eddie Izzard, Gregor Fisher, Sean Biggerstaff, James Cosmo, Ellie Kendrick, Kevin Guthrie and Naomi Battrick stars in this charming remake of the Ealing classic!

Trailer: https://youtu.be/WzY3b90FLpY 

SPECS

Production Year: 2016 

Rating: Unrated 

Running Time: 98 

Number of Discs: 1 

Language: English 

Blu-ray SRP: $29.95

DVD SRP: $19.95

Donnie Darko [Limited Edition Steelbook] (Blu-ray) (12/12)

I WANT YOU TO WATCH THE MOVIE SCREEN.

THERE'S SOMETHING I WANT TO SHOW YOU.

Fifteen years before Stranger Things combined science-fiction, Spielberg-ian touches and 80s nostalgia to much acclaim, Richard Kelly set the template - and the high-water mark - with his debut feature, Donnie Darko. Initially beset with distribution problems, it would slowly find its audience and emerge as arguably the first cult classic of the new millennium. Donnie is a troubled high school student: in therapy, prone to sleepwalking and in possession of an imaginary friend, a six-foot rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end

in 28 days 06 hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds. During that time he will navigate teenage life, narrowly avoid death in the form of a falling jet engine, follow Frank's maladjusted instructions and try to maintain the space-time continuum.

Described by its director as "The Catcher in the Rye as told by Philip K. Dick", Donnie Darko combines an eye-catching, eclectic cast - pre-stardom Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, heartthrob Patrick Swayze, former child star Drew Barrymore, Oscar nominees Mary McDonnell and Katherine Ross, and television favourite Noah Wyle - and an evocative soundtrack of 80s classics by Echo and the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears and Duran Duran. This brand-new 4K restoration, carried out exclusively for this release by Arrow Films, allows a modern classic to finally receive the home video treatment it deserves.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

- Brand-new 4K restoration from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release, supervised and approved by director Richard Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster.

- Original 5.1 audio

- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

- Audio commentary by writer-director Richard Kelly and actor Jake Gyllenhaal

- Audio commentary by Kelly, producer Sean McKittrick and actors Drew Barrymore, Jena

Malone, Beth Grant, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross and James Duval

- Deus ex Machina: The Philosophy of Donnie Darko, a brand-new feature-length 'making of' documentary

- The Goodbye Place, Kelly's 1996 short film, which anticipates some of the themes and ideas of his feature films

- Twenty deleted and alternate scenes with optional commentary by Kelly

- Trailer

- 20-page collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by critic and author Nathan Rabin

SPECS

Production Year: 2001 

Running Time: 113 

Number of Discs: 1 

Language: English 

Subtitles: English SDH 

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1 

SRP: $39.95

The Apartment - Limited Edition (12/26)

In 1960, following on from the success of their collaboration on Some Like it Hot, director Billy Wilder (Ace in the Hole, Sunset Boulevard) reteamed with actor Jack Lemmon (The Odd Couple, Glengarry Glen Ross) for what many consider the pinnacle of their respective careers: The Apartment.

C.C. "Bud" Baxter (Lemmon) is a lowly Manhattan office drone with a lucrative sideline in renting out his apartment to adulterous company bosses and their mistresses. When Bud enters into a similar arrangement the firm's personnel director, J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity), his career prospects begin to look up... and up. But when he discovers that Sheldrake's mistress is Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine, Irma la Douce), the girl of his dreams, he finds himself forced to choose between his career and the woman he loves...

Winner of five Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, The Apartment features a wealth of Hollywood's finest talent - on both sides of the camera - at the top of their game. By turns cynical, heart-warming and hilarious, Wilder's masterpiece now shines like never before in this all-new, 4K-restored edition from Arrow Films.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/GX9-5Zxy5us 

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

- Limited Deluxe Edition Blu-ray [3000 copies]

- Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release

- Original uncompressed PCM mono audio

- Optional 5.1 remix in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio

- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

- Audio commentary with film producer and historian Bruce Block

- New appreciation of the film and select scene commentary by film historian Philip Kemp

- The Flawed Couple, a new video essay by filmmaker David Cairns on the collaborations between Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon

- Billy Wilder ABC, an overview by David Cairns on the life and career of the filmmaker, covering his films, collaborators and more

- New interview with actress Hope Holiday

- Inside the Apartment, a half-hour "making-of" featurette from 2007 including interviews with Shirley MacLaine, executive producer Walter Mirisch, and others

- Magic Time: The Art of Jack Lemmon, an archive profile of the actor from 2007

- Original screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond (BD-ROM content)

- Theatrical trailer

- Special collector's packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Ignatius Fitzpatrick

- Collector's 150-page hardcover book featuring new writing by Neil Sinyard, Kat Ellinger, Travis Crawford and Heather Hyche, generously illustrated with rare stills and behind-the-scenes imagery

SPECS

Production Year: 1960 

Rating: Unrated 

Running Time: 119 mins 

Number of Discs: 1 

Language: English 

Subtitles: English SDH 

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 

SRP: $49.95

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Arrow Academy Official Channels

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[scotianostra]

June 3rd 1863 saw the birth of Neil Munro, novelist and poet, perhaps best known for his "Para Handy"

Neil Munro is best known for his ‘Para Handy’ stories these days but his writing career encompassed journalism, poetry and criticism, as well as his novels, making him one of the most visible literary figures of his time. His books fell out of fashion for a while but reprints of his work in the early 1990s and the appearance of a biography has brought him to the attention of a new audience.

Born in Inveraray in Argyll, in 1863, he came from a family of Gaelic speakers and though the language was beginning to lose its currency in that part of Scotland and Munro wrote in English, its influence can be felt strongly in his writing.

He began his career as a journalist on newspapers in the Glasgow area. After the publication of a short story collection, followed by two or three novels, he cut back on the journalism to concentrate on his writing. The appearance of a new character, Para Handy, in a short story in 1905 introduced a new comic strain in his work and the three collections of Para Handy stories (including The Vital Spark) were immediately successful. They transferred to the small screen in two separate sitcom series with the eponymous hero played by Duncan Macrae in the 1950s/60s and Gregor Fisher in the 1990s.

Munro returned to journalism during the First World War, becoming editor of a Glasgow evening paper in 1918. He died in Helensburgh in 1930.

I've chosen a poem that Munro wrote about the Highland Clearances, it's called "Nettles" I have to add that poems likethis, by learned men like Neil Munro destroy the narrative that the unionists like Neil Oliver like to spread that the Clearances were a natural exodus of Scots.

O sad for me Glen Aora, Where I have friends no more, For lowly lie the rafters, And the lintels of the door. The friends are all departed, The hearth-stone’s black and cold, And sturdy grows the nettle On the place beloved of old.

O! black might be that ruin Where my fathers dwelt so long, And nothing hide the shame of it, The ugliness and wrong; The cabar and the corner-stone Might bleach in wind and rains, But for the gentle nettle That took such a courtier’s pains.

Here’s one who has no quarrel With the nettle thick and tall, That hides the cheerless hearthstone And screens the humble wall, That clusters on the footpath Where the children used to play, And guards a household’s sepulchre From all who come the way.

There’s deer upon the mountain, There’s sheep along the glen, The forests hum with feather, But where are now the men? Here’s but my mother’s garden Where soft the footsteps fall, My folk are quite forgotten, But the nettle’s over all.

[mavwrekmarketing]

Image copyright Graeme Hunter Pictures

Image caption The remake and original Whisky Galore film are adaptations of a book written in the 1940s

Tourism bosses hope a remake of Whisky Galore will boost visitor numbers to some of the lesser-known parts of Scotland.

The films are adaptations of a book by Compton MacKenzie, whose story was inspired by the sinking of the cargo ship SS Politician off Eriskay in 1941.

The cargo included more than 250,000 bottles of whisky, hundreds of cases of which were hidden by islanders.

The remake, starring Eddie Izzard, was filmed across Scotland.

Tourism body VisitScotland has now created a map of the filming locations, from the Aberdeenshire villages of Portsoy and Pennan; to St Abb’s Head in the Borders; Loch Thom in Greenock; St Monans in the East Neuk of Fife; and the Central Bar in Renton, West Dunbartonshire.

‘Dazzling best’

The original film was shot entirely in the Outer Hebrides.

Jenni Steele, film and creative industries manager at VisitScotland, said: “Since the novel by Compton Mackenzie was published back in 1947, Whisky Galore has been raising laughs for 70 years.

“Celebrating not only this nation’s love for the ‘Water of Life’ but also demonstrating the warmth, humour and spirit of our people, this new film shows off Scotland at its dazzling best.

Image copyright Graeme Hunter Pictures

Image caption Eddie Izzard is among the stars of the new Whisky Galore

“Our handy map will allow visitors to explore the Whisky Galore locations and enjoy a set-jetting holiday around Scotland.”

Gregor Fisher, who plays the postmaster, said: “I’ve been in this business for 40 years and I can honestly say this was one of the nicest, if not the nicest, job I’ve ever had.

“There were no negatives about it. On a seven-and-a-half-week shoot in Portsoy, it rained for half a day max, and even then it was very light drizzle.

“Normally when you take over a town, which we more or less did at Portsoy, there’s a bit of aggro because you’re closing roads and so on, but there was none of that.”

Lobster delivery

“We were welcomed with open arms to the point that when I expressed an interest in buying some lobster, four lobsters were delivered to my door the next day, free of charge.

“I couldn’t believe it. Half the community is in the film. It was a joy.”

Tourism Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “Scotland is widely recognised as an excellent location for film and TV productions.

Image copyright Graeme Hunter Pictures

Image caption The film was given its premiere in Edinburgh last year

“Whisky Galore has been added to the growing list of films shot here. This map allows visitors from home and abroad to walk in the footsteps of the actors and actresses that appeared in the film, and they can also enjoy the spectacular scenery that Scotland has to offer.”

The film is released in Scottish cinemas on Friday.

The SS Politician was headed for Jamaica when it ran aground on the northern side of Eriskay, in the Western Isles, in bad weather.

Scottish author Mackenzie published the novel Whisky Galore in 1947. It was adapted for cinema in a 1949 Ealing comedy.

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