#anthony frederick levin

[napoleonic-sexyman-tournament]

Friends, enemies, comrades, Jacobins, Monarchist, Bonapartists, gather round. We have an important announcement:

The continent is beset with war. A tenacious general from Corsica has ignited conflict from Madrid to Moscow and made ancient dynasties tremble. Depending on your particular political leanings, this is either the triumph of a great man out of the chaos of The Terror, a betrayal of the values of the French Revolution, or the rule of the greatest upstart tyrant since Caesar.

But, our grand tournament is here to ask the most important question: Now that the flower of European nobility is arrayed on the battlefield in the sexiest uniforms that European history has yet produced (or indeed, may ever produce), who is the most fuckable?

The bracket is here: full bracket and just quadrant I

Want to nominate someone from the Western Hemisphere who was involved in the ever so sexy dismantling of the Spanish empire? (or the Portuguese or French American colonies as well) You can do it here

The People have created this list of nominees:

France:

Jean Lannes

Josephine de Beauharnais

Thérésa Tallien

Jean-Andoche Junot

Joseph Fouché

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

Joachim Murat

Michel Ney

Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (Charles XIV of Sweden)

Louis-Francois Lejeune

Pierre Jacques Étienne Cambrinne

Napoleon I

Marshal Louis-Gabriel Suchet

Jacques de Trobriand

Jean de dieu soult.

François-Étienne-Christophe Kellermann

17.Louis Davout

Pauline Bonaparte, Duchess of Guastalla

Eugène de Beauharnais

Jean-Baptiste Bessières

Antoine-Jean Gros

Jérôme Bonaparte

Andrea Masséna

Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle

Germaine de Staël

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas

René de Traviere (The Purple Mask)

Claude Victor Perrin

Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr

François Joseph Lefebvre

Major Andre Cotard (Hornblower Series)

Edouard Mortier

Hippolyte Charles

Nicolas Charles Oudinot

Emmanuel de Grouchy

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve

Géraud Duroc

Georges Pontmercy (Les Mis)

Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont

Juliette Récamier

Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey

Louis-Alexandre Berthier

Étienne Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre Macdonald

Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier

Catherine Dominique de Pérignon

Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune

Jean-Baptiste Jourdan

Charles-Pierre Augereau

Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais

England:

Richard Sharpe (The Sharpe Series)

Tom Pullings (Master and Commander)

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Jonathan Strange (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell)

Captain Jack Aubrey (Aubrey/Maturin books)

Horatio Hornblower (the Hornblower Books)

William Laurence (The Temeraire Series)

Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey

Beau Brummell

Emma, Lady Hamilton

Benjamin Bathurst

Horatio Nelson

Admiral Edward Pellew

Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke

Sidney Smith

Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford

George IV

Capt. Anthony Trumbull (The Pride and the Passion)

Barbara Childe (An Infamous Army)

Doctor Maturin (Aubrey/Maturin books)

William Pitt the Younger

Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Lord Castlereagh)

George Canning

Scotland:

Thomas Cochrane

Colquhoun Grant

Ireland:

Arthur O'Connor

Thomas Russell

Robert Emmet

Austria:

Klemens von Metternich

Friedrich Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza

Franz I/II

Archduke Karl

Marie Louise

Franz Grillparzer

Wilhelmine von Biron

Poland:

Wincenty Krasiński

Józef Antoni Poniatowski

Józef Zajączek

Maria Walewska

Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski

Adam Jerzy Czartoryski

Antoni Amilkar Kosiński

Zofia Czartoryska-Zamoyska

Stanislaw Kurcyusz

Russia:

Alexander I Pavlovich

Alexander Andreevich Durov

Prince Andrei (War and Peace)

Pyotr Bagration

Mikhail Miloradovich

Levin August von Bennigsen

Pavel Stroganov

Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna

Karl Wilhelm von Toll

Dmitri Kuruta

Alexander Alexeevich Tuchkov

Barclay de Tolly

Fyodor Grigorevich Gogel

Ekaterina Pavlovna Bagration

Ippolit Kuragin (War and Peace)

Prussia:

Louise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Gebard von Blücher

Carl von Clausewitz

Frederick William III

Gerhard von Scharnhorst

Louis Ferdinand of Prussia

Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Alexander von Humboldt

Dorothea von Biron

The Netherlands:

Ida St Elme

Wiliam, Prince of Orange

The Papal States:

Pius VII

Portugal:

João Severiano Maciel da Costa

Spain:

Juan Martín Díez

José de Palafox

Inês Bilbatua (Goya's Ghosts)

Haiti:

Alexandre Pétion

Sardinia:

Vittorio Emanuele I

Lombardy:

Alessandro Manzoni

Denmark:

Frederik VI

Sweden:

Gustav IV Adolph

[rhapsodynew]

#On this day

Edgar Frese and Tony Levin

🎧🎸🎤✌HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!! 🎂🎈

Tony Levin (Anthony Frederick Levin) was born on June 6, 1946, an American musician and composer specializing in bass instruments - electric guitar, Chapman stick and electric bass. He also sings and plays the synthesizer. Lev is the author of the work with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. There was also an experiment with fluid tension in the upper extremities of Bruford Levin, Project One, HoBoLeMa and Project Four. He headed his community group "Stick Men". The author of session music, started in the 1970s, Levin has played 500 million more community musicians. We are currently a regular member of the King Crimson group and are conducting an experiment on liquid tension. 

Tony Levin demonstrates his own invention - "funk fingers", drumsticks for playing bass guitar:

Tony Levin Band - "Black Dog" (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones), Toronto, 2000

Phil Keaggy, Tony Levin, Jerry Marotta - "Stella Luna", Daryl's House Club, 2019

Tangerine Dream 70-x, from left to right: Christopher Franke, Edgar Frese, Peter Baumann.

King Crimson of the 80s, from left to right: Adrian Belo, Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, Tony Levin.

Edgar Wilmar Froese (1944-2015), German composer and musician, pioneer of electronic music, one of the founders and leading representatives of the Berlin School of Electronic Music, leader of the Tangerine Dream group, was born on June 6, 1944. In 1965, Frese formed the band The Ones, which played psychedelic rock, as well as rock and R&B standards. Playing in Spain, The Ones were invited to perform at Salvador Dali's villa in Cadaques. Frese's meeting with Dali greatly influenced him, inspiring him to experiment in music. The One disbanded in 1967, releasing only one single. After returning to Berlin, Frese began recruiting musicians for the free rock band that would become Tangerine Dream. He was the only permanent member of the band until his death in 2015.

Tangerine Dream, concert at Coventry Cathedral, 1975, TV recording on VHS:

Tom Araya – Slayer

Tom Araya, lead vocalist, bassist, author and one of the creators of the Slayer team, celebrates his birthday today. American thrash metallers have sold more than five million of their records in the United States alone and have been awarded two Grammys – at the same time, throughout their career they have been mercilessly criticized for their lyrics.

On June 6, 1970, James Christian "Munky" Shaffer was born, the rhythm guitarist of the renowned American band Korn.

Frank Beard, the drummer of ZZ Top, turned 73 today. It's funny that his last name translates as "beard" and he is in the most bearded group in the world. But he does not wear a beard himself, so as not to interfere with drumming!

Today, June 6, is the birthday of Steve Vai, a man whom it is impossible not to remember when talking about guitars and guitarists

Steven Ciro Wai is a three—time Grammy Award winner, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his soulful music exploring the depth of human emotions. The musical experience of a virtuoso guitarist is so great that his music cannot be attributed to any particular genre. His deep love for music motivates him to create unique sounds that are not only technically flawless, but also appeal to human emotions.

[jedivoodoochile]

TONY LEVIN

Anthony Frederick Levin

(born June 6, 1946)

[agendaculturaldelima]

#ProyeccionDeVida

🎬 “EL SILENCIO DE LOS CORDEROS” [The silence of the lambs]

🔎 Género: Thriller / Intriga / Crimen / Película de culto / Asesinos en serie

⌛️ Duración: 115 minutos

✍️ Guion: Ted Tally

📕 Novela: Thomas Harris

🎼 Música: Howard Shore

📷 Fotografía: Tak Fujimoto

🗯 Argumento: El FBI busca a "Buffalo Bill", un asesino en serie que mata a sus víctimas, todas adolescentes, después de prepararlas de forma minuciosa y arrancarles la piel. Para atraparlo recurren a Clarice Starling, brillante licenciada universitaria, experta en conductas psicópatas, que aspira a formar parte del FBI. Siguiendo las instrucciones de su jefe, Jack Crawford, Clarice visita la cárcel de alta seguridad donde el gobierno mantiene encerrado al Dr. Hannibal Lecter, antiguo psicoanalista y asesino, dotado de una inteligencia superior a la normal. Su misión será intentar sacarle información sobre los patrones de conducta del asesino que están buscando.

👥 Reparto: Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter), Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling), Ted Levine (Jame Gumb), Brooke Smith (Catherine Martin), Lawrence A. Bonney (Instructor FBI), Scott Glenn (Jack Crawford) y Anthony Heald (Dr. Frederick)

📢 Dirección: Jonathan Demme

© Productora: Orion Pictures

🌎 Pais: Estados Unidos

📅 Año: 1991

📽 Proyección:

📆 Martes 16 de Enero

🕗 8:00pm.

🎦 Cine Caleta (calle Aurelio de Souza 225 - Barranco)

🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Ingreso libre

🙂 A tener en cuenta: Prohibido el ingreso de bebidas y comidas. 🌳💚🌻🌛

[artkreator]

Anthony Frederick Levin ist ein amerikanischer Musiker und Komponist, der sich auf E-Bass, Chapman Stick und Kontrabass spezialisiert hat. Er singt auch und spielt Synthesizer. Levin ist vor allem durch seine Arbeit mit King Crimson und Peter Gabriel bekannt.

[nofatclips]

Hypersonic by Liquid Tension Experiment from the album LTE3 - Video by Christian Rios

[against1a1dark1background]

[against-a-dark-background]

[nametips]

A list of male names (I'm pretty sure I forgot many many names):

Aaron, Alan, Athan, Adan, Adrian, Ace, Alexander, Alex, Andy, Adam, Andrew, Ajax, Arlo, Arthur, Arnold, Anthony, Alouis, Asher, Amando, Adrien, Adrian, Ajan, Andrej, Andreas, Arik, Arian, Ahmad, Anton, Antonio, August, Austin, Arlan, Alban, Aleksei, Alejandro, Alessandro, Alec, Aslan, Avery, Abraham, Ariz, Adnan, Ahmed/-t, Alvin, Aurelius, Aurel, Alessio, Amaro

Ben, Benjamin, Bennett, Balian, Boris, Bruno, Blake, Bob, Boe, Brian, Blake, Brody, Benny, Beau, Both, Bodo, Berkan, Bano, Berat, Bowen, Bastian, Benedict, Bayek, Baxter, Barron

Cian, Connor, Charlie, Chris, Christopher, Craig, Chuck, Clement/-s, Cody, Cassius, Caspian, Casper, Cassian, Calvin, Can, Cem, Cathan, Callan, Conrad, Carl, Cooper, Cole, Collin, Corey/Cory, Colt, Colton, Cameron, Conan, Charles, Claus, Claude, Cedric, Clyde, Cliff, Cihan, Corwin, Callum/Calum, Chester, Calli, Cairo

Daniel, Dominic, Dmitri, Dennis, Deniz, Dylan, Derek, David, Don, Doug, Drew, Douglas, Damien/Damian, Dorian, Dan, Dave, Dale, Dane, Donovan, Devin, Diego, Damon, Dario, Dirk, Dexter

Ethan, Eduardo, Edward, Emmett, Everett, Erik/Erick/Eric, Ezra, Evan/Ewan, Emil, Emilio, Emanuel, Eddy, Elijah, Elijas, Elio, Elliot, Egan, Emir, Emre, Ellis, Elian, Elvin/Elwin

Finn, Finnegan/Finley, Frederick, Freddy, Fred, Frank, Fabian, Fabio, Flynn, Francis, Florian, Franklin, Felix, Franklin, Fernando, Fabrizio, Ferdinand, Fakir, Feraz

Gavin, Gino, Gabriel, George, Gregory, Greyson/Greyson, Grey/Gray, Greg, Graham, Gary, Giovanni, Gianno, Gian, Griffin

Henry, Harry, Hank, Hassan, Hugo, Hector, Hamad, Hunter

Iago, Ian, Isaiah, Isaac, Ilan, Ivan, Ivar, Igor, Ismael

Jacob/Jakob, Jusuf, Jamal, Jan, Jannis, Jannik, Julian, Julius, Jim, Jimmy, Jack, Jason, Jackson, James, Jonas, Juan, Joel, John/Jon, Jeremy, Jeremiah, Jeremias, Jedediah, Jededias, Joe, Jonah, Jonathan, Jerek/Jarek, Javier, Justus, Justin, Jamar, Jamie, Jeff, Jin, Jaris, Jace, Jake, Jairo, Jaron, Javon/Javin/Javen, Jasha, Janus, Josiah, Josias, Josua, Josh, Joshua, Jamilo, Jachai, Javan, Jaceo

Konnor, Konrad, Kalon, Kilian/Killian, Korey/Kory, Keith, Kenneth, Kenny, Kris, Kevin, Kuno, Klaus, Kasimir, Kai/Khai, Kalil, Kalle, Karim, Kani, Kian, Keanu, Kiano, Kenzo, Karim, Keno (not the lottery),Kalle, Kalli, Kino, Kurt(is), Kaden, Kairo

Linus, Leo, Leon, Leonardo, Leonard, Lennard, Louis, Luis, Lou, Liam, Laurenz, Lewis, Lars, Levin, Lukas/Lucas, Luka/Luca, Leif, Lian, Luan, Lee, Levi, Lev, Logan, Leano, Leander

Malian, Mirko, Miko, Mike, Mason, Malik, Marek, Mailo, Milo, Milus/Milos/Milas, Milan, Moritz, Mark, Manuel, Mahmut, Mustafa, Melvin, Merlin, Murat, Marcel, Marlon, Micah, Maceo, Malachi/Malachai, Malaki, Matt, Matthew, Matthias, Matti, Macias, Michael, Mikhail, Marvin, Mack, Mitch, Moe, Monty, Max, Maximilian, Maxwell, Marko/Marco, Marcus, Malcolm, Mick, Mekhi, Miguel, Marvin/Marwin, Martin, Miles/Myles, Matteo, Makai, Macklin, Misha, Mian, Maurice, Maiko, Macias

Niles, Nouis, Neil/Niall/Nial/Neil, Neilson, Nielson/Nilson, Niels/Nils, Nevin, Nolan, Newt, Niles, Nick, Noah, Noam, Nicholas/Nicolas/Nikolas, Nico/Niko, Nikolai, Nathan, Nathaniel, Naveed, Noel, Nilo, Nino

Oliver, Oleg, Ole, Olaf, Owen, Oskar/Oskar, Ollie/Olly, Otis, Osman, Omar, Otto, Okan, Orhan

Paul, Peter, Pete, Pasco, Paco, Pierre, Pio, Pius, Pedro, Pietro, Pablo, Patrick, Pascal, Phillip, Phillipe, Parker, Phil, Perry, Percy, Piero, Patricio, Pat

Quinn, Quince, Quest, Qais, Qaim, Quentin

Rob, Robbie/Robbie, Robert, Roman, Ross, Ryan, Rían, Richard, Ron, Ronald, Roberto, Roy/Ray/Rey, Roan/Rowan/Rohan, Rhys/Reece, Rick, Ricardo, Rory, Raphael/Rafael, Rámon, Rocco/Rocko, Rex, Ricky, Renee/Rene, Ralph, Rio, Rico/Riko, Remi, Ron, Ronald, Ruben/Reuben

Santiago, Samuel, Sam, Samu, Sammy, Shawn/Sean, Simon, Silas, Sage, Sasha, Steve, Scott, Seth, Samir, Stefan/Stephan, Said (Sah-id), Stellan, Sas(c)ha, Sven, Sebastian, Severin, Silvano, Silvan, Sofian, Soeren/Soren/Sören

Tom, Tommy, Tim, Timmy, Timothy, Tarek, Talon, Tomas/Thomas/Tomasz, Taylor/Tylor, Theo, Thiago/Tiago, Todd, Tony, Toby, Tobias, Tristan, Tatum, Ted, Timon, Timur, Tyson, Tyron,Tymon

Viktor/Victor, Vince, Vincent/Vincenc, Vladimir, Vito, Vitaly

William, Wyatt, Wayne, Wolf, Wyatt

Xavier, Xander, Xavi

Yunus, Yannis/Yanis, Yannik/Yanik, Yustus, Yusuf, Yael, Yoel, Yago, Yan, Yamir

Zack/Zach, Zachary, Zachariah, Zacharias, Zane, Zander, Zavier

[lifewithaview]

Jodie Foster in "The Silence of the Lambs"(1991)

as Clarice Starling

F.B.I. trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) works hard to advance her career, while trying to hide or put behind her West Virginia roots, of which if some knew, would automatically classify her as being backward or white trash. After graduation, she aspires to work in the agency's Behavioral Science Unit under the leadership of Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn). While she is still a trainee, Crawford asks her to question Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins), a psychiatrist imprisoned, thus far, for eight years in maximum security isolation for being a serial killer who cannibalized his victims. Clarice is able to figure out the assignment is to pick Lecter's brains to help them solve another serial murder case, that of someone coined by the media as "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine), who has so far killed five victims, all located in the eastern U.S., all young women, who are slightly overweight (especially around the hips), all who were drowned in natural bodies of water, and all who were stripped of large swaths of skin. She also figures that Crawford chose her, as a woman, to be able to trigger some emotional response from Lecter. After speaking to Lecter for the first time, she realizes that everything with him will be a psychological game, with her often having to read between the very cryptic lines he provides. She has to decide how much she will play along, as his request in return for talking to him is to expose herself emotionally to him. The case takes a more dire turn when a sixth victim is discovered, this one from who they are able to retrieve a key piece of evidence, if Lecter is being forthright as to its meaning. A potential seventh victim is high profile Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith), the daughter of Senator Ruth Martin (Diane Baker), which places greater scrutiny on the case as they search for a hopefully still alive Catherine. Who may factor into what happens is Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald), the warden at the prison, an opportunist who sees the higher profile with Catherine, meaning a higher profile for himself if he can insert himself successfully into the proceedings.~imdb~

[art-now-germany]

- SOLD - Swamp Forest, Collection: S. Ribbe,, Wolfgang Schmidt

Swamp Forest - Sumpfwald Sincerely to: Andy Hall, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Paul Allen, Edythe L. and Eli Broad, Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz, Patricia and Gustavo Phelps de Cisneros (Venezuela and Dominican Republic), Donald and Mera Rubell, Steven A. Cohen, Theo Danjuma, Maria Baibakova, Adrian Cheng, Ingvild Goetz (München), Victoria and David Beckham, Leonardo Dicaprio, Alan Lau, Camilla Barella, Ralph DeLuca, Arthur de Ganay, Ramin Salsali, Moises Cosio, Pedro Barbosa, Monique and Max Burger, Joaquin Diez-Cascon, Luciano Benetton, Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova (Russia), Robbie Antonio (Philippines), Hélène and Bernard Arnault (France), Maria and Bill Bell (United States), Peter Benedek (United States), Debra and Leon Black (United States), Christian and Karen Boros (Germany), Irma and Norman Braman (United States), Peter Brant (United States), Basma Al Sulaiman, Marc Andreessen, Laura and John Arnold, Camilla Barella, Swizz Beatz, Claudia Beck, Andrew Gruft, Robert and Renée Belfer, Lawrence Benenson, Frieder Burda (Germany), Richard Chang (United States), Kim Chang-il (Korea), David Chau and Kelly Ying (China), Pierre T.M. Chen (Taiwan), Adrian Cheng (China), Kemal Has Cingillioglu (United Kingdom), Nicolas Berggruen, Jill and Jay Bernstein, Ernesto Bertarelli, James Brett, Jim Breyer, Christian Bührle, Valentino D. Carlotti, Edouard Carmignac, Trudy and Paul Cejas, Dimitris Daskalopoulos (Greece), Zöe and Joel Dictrow (United States), George Economou (Greece), Alan Faena (Argentina), Mark Falcone and Ellen Bruss (United States), Amy and Vernon Faulconer (United States), Howard and Patricia Farber (United States), Larry and Marilyn Fields (United States), Marie Chaix, Michael and Eva Chow, Frank Cohen, Michael and Eileen Cohen, Isabel and Agustín Coppel, Anthony D'Offay, Hélène and Michel David-Weill, Antoine de Galbert, Ralph DeLuca, Amanda and Glenn Fuhrman (United States), Danielle and David Ganek (United States), Ken Griffin (United States), Agnes Gund (United States), Steven and Kathy Guttman (United States), Andrew and Christine Hall (United States), Lin Han (China), Henk and Victoria de Heus-Zomer (Holland), Grant Hill (United States), Maja Hoffmann (Switzerland), Erika Hoffmann-Koenige (Germany), Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Eric Diefenbach and JK Brown, David C. Driskell, Mandy and Cliff Einstein, Rebecca and Martin Eisenberg, Ginevra Elkann, Tim and Gina Fairfax, Dana Farouki, Michael and Susan Hort (United States), Guillaume Houzé (France), Wang Jianlin (China), Dakis Joannou (Greece), Alan Lau (China), Joseph Lau (China), Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy (United States), Agnes and Edward Lee (United Kingdom), Aaron and Barbara Levine (United States), Adam Lindemann (United States), Eugenio López (Mexico), Jho Low (China), Susan and Leonard Feinstein, Nicoletta Fiorucci, Josée and Marc Gensollen, Alan and Jenny Gibbs, Noam Gottesman, Florence and Daniel Guerlain, Paul Harris, Barbara and Axel Haubrok, Alan Howard, Fatima and Eskandar Maleki (United Kingdom), Martin Margulies (United States), Peter Marino (United States), Donald Marron (United States), David MartÍnez (United Kingdom and Mexico), Raymond J. McGuire (United States), Rodney M. Miller Sr. (United States), Simon and Catriona Mordant (Australia), Arif Naqvi (United Kingdom), Peter Norton (United States), Shi Jian, Elton John, Tomislav Kličko, Mo Koyfman, Jan Kulczyk, Svetlana Kuzmicheva-Uspenskaya, Pierre Lagrange, Eric and Liz Lefkofsky, Robert Lehrman, François Odermatt (Canada), Bernardo de Mello Paz (Brazil), José Olympio & Andréa Pereira (Brazil), Catherine Petitgas (United Kingdom), Victor Pinchuk (Ukraine), Alden and Janelle Pinnell (United States),Ron and Ann Pizzuti (United States), Michael Platt (Switzerland), Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli (Italy), Howard and Cindy Rachofsky (United States), Mitchell and Emily Rales (United States), Dan Loeb, George Lucas, Ninah and Michael Lynne, Lewis Manilow, Marissa Mayer, David Mirvish, Lakshmi Mittal, Valeria Napoleone, John Paulson, Amy and John Phelan, Ellen and Michael Ringier (Switzerland), David Roberts (United Kingdom), Hilary and Wilbur L. Ross Jr. (United States), Dmitry Rybolovlev (Russia), Lily Safra (Brazil),Tony Salamé (Lebanon), Patrizia Sandretto (Italy), Eric Schmidt (United States), Alison Pincus, Heather Podesta, Colette and Michel Poitevin, Thomas J. and Margot Pritzker, Bob Rennie, Craig Robins, Deedie and Rusty Rose, Stephen Ross, Alex Sainsbury, Alain Servais (Belgium), Carlos Slim (Mexico), Julia Stoschek (Germany), Budi Tek (Indonesia), Janine and J. Tomilson Hill III (United States), Trevor Traina (United States), Alice Walton (United States), Robert & Nicky Wilson (United Kingdom), Elaine Wynn (United States), Lu Xun (China), Muriel and Freddy Salem, Denise and Andrew Saul, Steven A. Schwarzman, Carole Server and Oliver Frankel, Ramin Salsali, David Shuman, Stefan Simchowitz, Elizabeth and Frederick Singer, Jay Smith and Laura Rapp, Jeffrey and Catherine Soros, Jerry Yang and Akiko Young (United States), Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei (China), Anita and Poju Zabludowicz (United Kingdom), Jochen Zeitz (South Africa), Qiao Zhibing (China), Jerry Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, Susana and Ricardo Steinbruch, Kai van Hasselt, Francesca von Habsburg, David Walsh, Artur Walther, Derek and Christen Wilson, Michael Wilson, Owen Wilson, Zhou Chong, Doris and Donald Fisher, Ronnie and Samuel Heyman, Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis, Evelyn and Leonard Lauder, Jo Carole and Ronald S. Laude, Francois Pinault (France), Udo Brandhost (Köln), Harald Falckenberg (Hamburg), Anna and Joseph Froehlich (Stuttgart), Hans Grothe (Bremen), UN Knecht (Stuttgart), Arendt Oetker (Köln), Inge Rodenstock (Grünwald), Ute and Rudolf Scharpff (Stuttgart), Reiner Speck (Köln), Eleonore and Michael Stoffel (Köln), Reinhold Würth (Niedernhall), Wilhelm and Gaby Schürmann, Ivo Wessel, Heiner and Celine Bastian, Friedrich Karl Flick, Monique and Jean-Paul Barbier-Mueller (Genf), Christa and Thomas Bechtler (Zürich), David Bowie (Lausanne), Ulla and Richard Dreyfus (Binningen und Gstaad), Georges Embiricos (Jouxtens and Gstaad), Friedrich Christian "Mick" Flick (Hergiswil and Gstaad), Esther Grether (Bottmingen), Donald Hess (Bolligen), Elsa and Theo Hotz (Meilen), Baroness Marion and Baron Philippe Lambert (Genf), Gabi and Werner Merzbacher (Zürich), Robert Miller (Gstaad), Philip Niarchos (St. Moritz), Jacqueline and Philippe Nordmann (Genf), Maja Oeri and Hans Bodenmann (Basel), George Ortiz (Vandoeuvres), Graf and Gräfin Giuseppe Panza di Biumo (Massagno), Ellen and Michael Ringier (Zürich), Andrew Loyd Webber, Steve Martin, Gerhard Lenz, Elisabeth and Rudolf Leopold.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Drawing-SOLD-Swamp-Forest-Collection-S-Ribbe/694205/2784259/view

[napoleonic-sexyman-tournament]

With two days left to submit nominees, here is where the list stands:

France:

Jean Lannes

Josephine de Beauharnais

Thérésa Tallien

Jean-Andoche Junot

Joseph Fouché

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

Joachim Murat

Michel Ney

Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (Charles XIV of Sweden)

Louis-Francois Lejeune

Pierre Jacques Étienne Cambrinne

Napoleon I

Marshal Louis-Gabriel Suchet

Jacques de Trobriand

Jean de dieu soult.

François-Étienne-Christophe Kellermann

Louis Davout

Pauline Bonaparte, Duchess of Guastalla

Eugène de Beauharnais

Jean-Baptiste Bessières

Antoine-Jean Gros

Jérôme Bonaparte

Andrea Masséna

Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle

Germaine de Staël

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas

René de Traviere (The Purple Mask)

Claude Victor Perrin

Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr

François Joseph Lefebvre

Major Andre Cotard (Hornblower Series)

Edouard Mortier

Hippolyte Charles

Nicolas Charles Oudinot

Emmanuel de Grouchy

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve

Géraud Duroc

Georges Pontmercy (Les Mis)

Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont

Juliette Récamier

Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey

Louis-Alexandre Berthier

Étienne Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre Macdonald

Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier

Catherine Dominique de Pérignon

England:

Richard Sharpe (The Sharpe Series)

Tom Pullings (Master and Commander)

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Jonathan Strange (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell)

Captain Jack Aubrey (Aubrey/Maturin books)

Horatio Hornblower (the Hornblower Books)

William Laurence (The Temeraire Series)

Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey

Beau Brummell

Emma, Lady Hamilton

Benjamin Bathurst

Horatio Nelson

Admiral Edward Pellew

Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke

Sidney Smith

Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford

George IV

Capt. Anthony Trumbull (The Pride and the Passion)

Barbara Childe (An Infamous Army)

Doctor Maturin (Aubrey/Maturin books)

Scotland:

Thomas Cochrane

Colquhoun Grant

Austria:

Klemens von Metternich

Friedrich Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza

Franz I/II

Archduke Karl

Marie Louise

Franz Grillparzer

Wilhelmine von Biron

Poland:

Wincenty Krasiński

Józef Antoni Poniatowski

Józef Zajączek

Maria Walewska

Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski

Adam Jerzy Czartoryski

Antoni Amilkar Kosiński

Zofia Czartoryska-Zamoyska

Stanislaw Kurcyusz

Russia:

Alexander I Pavlovich

Alexander Andreevich Durov

Prince Andrei (War and Peace)

Pyotr Bagration

Mikhail Miloradovich

Levin August von Bennigsen

Pavel Stroganov

Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna

Karl Wilhelm von Toll

Dmitri Kuruta

Alexander Alexeevich Tuchkov

Barclay de Tolly

Fyodor Grigorevich Gogel

Ekaterina Pavlovna Bagration

Prussia:

Louise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Gebard von Blücher

Carl von Clausewitz

Frederick William III

Gerhard von Scharnhorst

Louis Ferdinand of Prussia

Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Alexander von Humboldt

Dorothea von Biron

The Netherlands:

Ida St Elme

Wiliam, Prince of Orange

The Papal States:

Pius VII

Portugal:

João Severiano Maciel da Costa

Spain:

Juan Martín Díez

José de Palafox

Inês Bilbatua (Goya's Ghosts)

Haiti:

Alexandre Pétion

Sardinia:

Vittorio Emanuele I

Denmark:

Frederik VI

Sweden:

Gustav IV Adolph

[hannibal-obsessed]

Why Not Spend Your Lock-Down with Dr. Hannibal Lecter?

By Shannon L. Christie

You are cordially invited to spend your lock-down, dining in the company of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Menu

Reception

Dr. Hannibal Lecter is one of thee most iconic fictional literary villains, created in the 20th Century; Hollywood films has cemented his iconic status and his transformation into the 21st Century, via network television, has been carefully crafted under the watchful eye of executive producer, Martha De Laurentiis.

Hannibal Lecter sprang from the mind of novelist Thomas Harris; Lecter has been in our lives for almost 40 years; introduced with the publication of Red Dragon in October 1981; he has never left our consciousness for too long.

So where does one start?

Do you read the 4 novels, watch the 5 movies or the TV Series?

Do I start at the beginning with Harris's novel, Red Dragon?

There are several ways to feast upon Hannibal Lecter: read Harris' novels first: watch the movies and then dine on the TV Series; read the novels, watch the corresponding movies and then the TV Series; watch the TV Series and then go back, watch the movies and read the novels. Whatever way you decide, you will not be disappointed at the end of your feast!

The following menu outline would be my suggestion for how to feast upon the sumptuous offerings of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Amuse-bouche

In this course we are served small bit-sized morsels of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Red Dragon: Thomas Harris, 1981

Will Graham, a former FBI Special Agent with an instinct for profiling, is sucked back into consulting for the FBI on their latest serial murder case; involving the Tooth Fairy. Will's been living a quiet life in Florida with his wife and son, when his former boss, Jack Crawford visits, enticing Graham back into the game. In order to get that old scent back; Graham needs to get into the mindset of a killer, so he visits Dr. Hannibal Lecter at The Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where Lecter is serving 9 consecutive life terms for murder. Graham was the FBI Agent who finally caught Hannibal and it almost cost him his life and sanity.

Interesting Fact: Harris attended portions of Ted Bundy's trial for the Chi Omega Murders in Florida. The Prosecutors in the Bundy trial used bite marks left on one of his victims as evidence. Dolarhyde left bite marks on Mrs. Leeds, which allowed forensics to create dental impressions, creating a sample of Dolarhyde's teeth.

Manhunter: Directed by Michael Mann, 1986

Manhunter was written and directed by Michael Mann; starring William Petersen (Will Graham), Dennis Farina (Jack Crawford), Tom Noonan (Francis Dollarhyde, film spelling/Red Dragon/Tooth Fairy), Joan Allen (Reba McClane) Brian Cox (Hannibal Lecktor, film spelling).

Manhunter is now considered a cult classic; at the time of it's original release it fared poorly at the box office and met with mixed reviews. It's cult status may be partially due to the continuing saga of Hannibal Lecter and William Petersen's success in CSI. The film touches on many of the important elements of the novel and also misses on quite a few. What is Dolarhyde's motive? The movie is dated with a definite 80's Michael Mann vibe; in spite of that it is definitely worth a watch for Noonan's performance.

Interesting Fact: Film Producer Dino De Laurentiis purchased the movie rights to the novel Red Dragon in 1983.

Red Dragon: Directed by Brett Ratner, 2002

This is where I'll skip ahead and talk about Manhunter's remake, Red Dragon. You can either choose to watch Red Dragon here or move it to after Hannibal to watch in order of release – entirely up to you.

Dino De Laurentiis passed on the movie rights to The Silence of the Lamb, due to the poor showing of Manhunter at the box office. So when The Silence of the Lambs was critically acclaimed by the critics; a huge box office success; winning the top 5 categories at the 1992 Oscars; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay – Dino wanted another serving of Hannibal Lecter.

When Harris released his third Lecter novel, simply titled Hannibal, Dino De Laurentiis picked up the rights and saw this as an opportunity to remake Manhunter, this time using the book title, Red Dragon, especially considering the success of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. In fact, Red Dragon was released in theatres a year after Hannibal.

Lecter's role was beefed up with a few added scenes; Lecter enjoying the symphony with the exception of the violinist; experiencing one of Lecter's sinfully delicious dinner parties of the music council with the violinist as the main course; seeing the tete-a-tete played out between Lecter and Graham (Edward Norton) that nearly cost them both their lives.

Dolarhyde's (Ralph Fiennes) abusive childhood is explored, the motivation for his heinous crimes against families. We see more of the relationship between Dolarhyde and Reba (Emily Watson) and Dolarhyde's struggle to keep the monster at bay. Ted Tally wrote the screenplay (he wrote The Silence of the Lambs screenplay and passed on the Hannibal screenplay); he has a great sense of what is essential to the narration of a well conceived movie, without loosing too much of the original story told by Thomas Harris.

I am partial to Red Dragon over Manhunter for that reason; I love Ralph Feinnes portrayal of Dolarhyde; he's creepy without being overtly creepy like Noonan is in Manhunter. Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal Lecter beautifully as he always does. There are a few flaws in this version though, namely Edward Norton's portrayal of Will Graham. I love Norton – I just think he was wrong for the part and the bleached blonde hair drove me mad. I also have issue with Harvey Keitel as Jack Crawford, I just didn't get an FBI Special Agent in charge of the Behavioral Science Unit vibe from him. Keitel is the guy you bring in to rough up your suspect. On the plus side, the crime scenes are more graphic than in Manhunter, which I feel is essential to understanding the severity of the need to capture this fiend, because now he has a taste for it and he will not stop!

Interesting Fact: Dino De Laurentiis had to make a deal with MGM, so the shot of The Baltimore State Hospital building used in The Silence of the Lambs, could be used in Red Dragon, as the building had been demolished.

Dinner

Appetizer

In this course we are treated to petite, rich tasty morsels of Hannibal Lecter,

both of the hot and cold variety.

The Silence of the Lambs: Thomas Harris, 1988

The follow up novel to Red Dragon, Harris' third novel, Lecter was not a character Harris intended to use; he just showed up one day as Harris wrote. The Silence of the Lambs was the story of a young female FBI agent in training; female agents were a relatively new concept at Quantico. J. Edgar Hoover had died in 1972 and the FBI slowly started to drag itself into the modern age and out of the Mafia/Prohibition dark ages that it was founded on. Harris' story of Clarice Starling was an exploration of an agent in training along with a manhunt, headed by Jack Crawford, for a serial killer, only known as “Buffalo Bill”; who abducted girls, held them hostage for a few days; shot them in the heads, dumped their bodies in rivers; having partially skinned them post mortem. The FBI is stumped, they have no motive, no pattern and no connections between the victims. What should they do? Crawford sends Clarice Starling, an agent in training to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

The Silence of the Lambs: Directed by Jonathan Demme, 1991

As I previously mentioned, Dino de Laurentiis passed on acquiring the movie rights for The Silence of the Lambs; the rights ended up in the hands of Demme and Orion Films, without a fee paid to De Laurentiis. The screenplay was written by Ted Tally, who managed to highlight all the important aspects of the novel, creating a balanced story. The movie starred Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling), Glenn Scott (Jack Crawford), Anthony Heald (Dr, Frederick Chilton), Ted Levine (Jame Gumb/Buffalo Bill) and Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter),

Interesting Fact: Anthony Hopkins on screen performance of Hannibal Lecter, consisting of only sixteen minutes earned him an Oscar for Best Actor in 1992.

Entree

This course is a hearty and meaty dish of Hannibal Lecter, served with delicate red sauce.

Hannibal: Thomas Harris, 1999

Would Harris write another Lecter novel? As we eagerly waited to see – making us wait 10 long years, Harris' reward was Hannibal; a story centred around Dr. Hannibal Lecter. I think many people weren't prepared for the monster to be uncaged. It was bloodier and gorier than the previous two films and quite sadistic. Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs were considered psychological thrillers with a dollop of horror. Hannibal was a full on horror novel with a dollop of psychological thriller. Dr. Hannibal Lecter was free of his cage, just in-time for the new millennium and some readers were not happy.

When the novel, Hannibal, was released, many critics and readers were appalled by the goriness of it (we are talking about a man who kills people and eats them). I guess once the layers of the onion were peeled away; culture, music, art, culinary skills, courteousness – they were horrified by the monster at the centre – that was the point. Serial killers show society a veneer of acceptable personality traits; they keep the monster hidden away, until he breaks through and comes out to play. In that sense, the novel Hannibal, is spot on. He's your neighbour, your friend, your husband, your father, your brother and sometimes your son (The majority of serial killers are male, sorry guys). He wears a symbolic mask in public, to prevent you from guessing how sick and perverted he truly is.

Harris' novel, Hannibal, was the perfect GOTCHA moment! Harris had led us into a false sense of security; either intentionally or unintentionally, with Lecter's intro in Red Dragon; sure he tells Francis Dolarhyde to kill Graham's family – In The Silence of the Lamb; Lecter is so helpful trying to advance Clarice Starling's career; sure he kills several people while escaping from custody; we'll just chalk that up to acceptable carnage.

We start to rationalize that Lecter can't be all bad; he must have some redeeming qualities: he's a man of sophisticated tastes; he's knowledgeable; an incredible chef; a great musician and artist. We don't even mind knowing that he dined on Dr. Chilton, upon his escape; possibly thinking Chilton had it coming.

Harris let us peek briefly behind the curtain in Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs and perhaps Harris was dismayed to learn that upon the popularity of Hopkins portrayal of Hannibal Lecter; he'd become a pop culture icon and somewhat of a hero. Hannibal shattered that illusion.

We find Clarice Starling, 10 years later, working as an FBI Special Agent, in a stagnate career. She can't advance; being blocked by Paul Krendler.

Hannibal has been living in Florence as the curator of the Palazzo Capponi as Dr. Norman Fell (the real Dr. Fell disappeared under mysterious circumstances). Florence, Italy, the ideal spot for Lecter, a true Renaissance man. We discover there has been a string of murders by the fiend, know as Il Mostro.

Meanwhile, Mason Verger, Lecter's 4th victim, is on the hunt for Dr. Lecter, who left Mason disfigured, although technically by Mason's own hand. Verger has offered a $3,000,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Interesting Fact: Thomas Harris attended the trial of The Monster of Florence, Pietro Pacciani, in 1994, incorporating some of the aspects of the crimes into his Hannibal novel and hinting that Hannibal himself was Il Mostro (The Monster of Florence).

Hannibal: Directed by Ridley Scott, 2001

If some readers were unhappy with the novel, there were those unhappy about the production of a movie in the same vain. Ted Tally didn't want to write the screenplay, Foster didn't want to reprise her role as Starling and Demme wasn't interested in directing. The consensus was it was too graphic and gory and they wanted no part of it; a complete turnaround; they initially were chomping at the bit to be involved in the follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs.

Interesting Fact: Dino De Laurentiis was under the impression that given a good story even he could play Clarice Starling.

The extra dinner course you never needed; you were already full.

Hannibal Rising: Thomas Harris, 2006

From all accounts that I've read, Harris was gently coerced into writing Hannibal Rising. Dino De Laurentiis wanted an origin story to turn into a film and he'd do it with or without Harris. Harris eventually caved and produced the fourth Lecter novel, Hannibal Rising.

Harris uses the hardships of WWII as the starting backdrop for the development of young Lecter's transformation into “Hannibal the Cannibal”. This is perhaps a story that never needed to be told. We were given glimpses in the novel Hannibal that never made it into the movie and perhaps that was a mistake; not seeing the humanity in Hannibal before events unfolded to create a monster and he is a monster, however refined his tastes are. It would have made a good contrast to the harshness of Lecter's grotesque and sadistic actions in Hannibal; that's where a good screenplay, might have made a difference. Francis Dolarhyde, Jame Gumb and Hannibal Lecter weren't born evil, they were shaped and moulded by their harsh experiences as young, innocent, impressionable children. Monsters aren't born, they are made – the moral of the stories. The difference being Hannibal always took responsibility for his actions, never placing the blame at someone else’s feet.

Hannibal Rising: Directed by Peter Webber, 2007

This time Harris would be involved, writing the screenplay for the Hannibal Rising movie. While I enjoyed Gaspard Ulliel as a young Hannibal, I felt that the story was unnecessary.

And just when you thought that was all and Hannibal Lecter's story had been narrated from beginning to end; Lecter was resurrected in 2013 for Bryan Fuller's TV Series, titled Hannibal, for three seasons on NBC.

Dessert

A delicate balance of psychiatry, culinary skills, food porn, relationships, sex, beauty, horror

and murder tableaus, like the layers of a sinful Double Chocolate Torte.

Hannibal TV Series: Developed by Bryan Fuller, 2013-2015

I know what you're going to say; there's no way I'm watching a Hannibal TV show without Hopkins on NBC! Whether your a Cox fan or a Hopkins fan; they both played the part in their own style and both performances are top notch. Hopkins had a little more to sink his teeth into with The Silence of the Lambs; as the screen time was slightly longer than in Manhunter.

I was stubborn too! I didn't watch Hannibal during the originally airing for season one or two. I remember catching a glimpse of an episode as I was on my way out to photograph a band; I was a live music photographer for around three years, so many of my Friday nights were spent in Toronto. It was the episode with the horse and the coffin-birth, which ultimately left an impression. So in January 2015 I binge watched season one and two (26 episodes) in only two days; I couldn't stop watching!

There's been a string of missing girls attributed to one person, known as “The Minnesota Shrike” and the FBI are struggling for leads. Upon the eighth girls disappearance, Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) walks into Will Graham's (Hugh Dancy) classroom to request his help. Graham has the unique ability to empathize with narcissits and sociopaths and as he states, it has less to do with a personality disorder and more to do with an active imagination. Dr. Bloom expresses her concerns to Jack Crawford about using Will Graham for his special gifts and recommends keeping an eye on him; suggesting a colleague of hers, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Bryan Fuller's adaption uses Red Dragon as the main source material, with additional material from Hannibal and Hannibal Rising; expanding characters stories and switching some genders to give it a less male dominated cast. Characters like Margot Verger, who were left out of the Hannibal movie are slotted back in to give the Mason Verger story more substance. Cordell, Verger's valet and cook, is far cheekier in the TV series. Dr. Alan Bloom is transformed into Dr. Alana Bloom and Freddy Lounds, once played by the amazing Philip Seymour Hoffman becomes Freddie Lounds played by Lara Jean Chorostecki, who plays her less sleazy and yet still despicable.

Interesting Fact: Bryan Fuller incorporated some of the forward written by Harris in Red Dragon about his experience writing the novel.

Whipped Fresh Creme & a Cherry On-top!

Hannibal Fan Fiction

Season 3 of Hannibal ends on a cliff hanger and unfortunately NBC cancelled the show without a resolution. Not to worry, there is a buffet of Hannibal Fan Fiction out there for you to sink your teeth into. Hannibal fan fiction spans the spectrum of General Audience to NC-17 to pornographic; there is something to suit everyone's taste. If you don't find anything pleasing; you can always write your own fan fiction!

Interesting Fact: Some of the cast members have read Hannibal fan fiction.

Hannibal Fan Art

The amazing thing about the Hannibal fandom, whether you're old school or new school; there is incredible artwork to explore created by incredibly talented artists.

Interesting Fact: Bryan Fuller and the De Laurentiis Company are not dicks about copyright infringement, when it comes to fan art and fan fiction.

Hannibal Conventions

Red Dragon Con by Starfury: An all Hannibal Con in London, England.

Fannibal Fest: An all Hannibal Con with location tours in Toronto, Canada.

Sofa-Con by Fannibal Fest: Due to the lock-down situation around the world because of Covid-19 all conventions were cancelled in 2020. Fannibal Fest set of some Zoom meetings with guests that starred or worked on Hannibal.

There are several Hannibal fandom groups all over different parts of the world; who meat-up to dine and discuss their favourite topic, Hannibal. I am part of a GTA Fannibal group that centres around Toronto, Canada and we’ve met several times.

So, as we finish our dining experience with Dr. Hannibal Lecter; we'll eagerly anticipate another invitation to Lecter's dinner table, as a guest or if you're unspeakably rude, perhaps you'll be the main course; either way I'll meet or eat you there!

Shannon L. Christie

aka Hannibal_Obsessed

[aion-rsa]

The Silence of the Lambs and Clarice’s Lifelong Battle Against the Male Gaze

https://ift.tt/3tKs3GZ

Special agent Clarice Starling is breathing heavily as she forces herself to turn the next tight corner. Between deep breaths, she knows somewhere in the back of her mind that she’s being watched. And she can assume those invisible, cold male eyes are making a judgement of her five-foot and three-inch frame: She’s in over her head. Yet she pushes past any condescending skepticism, and she perseveres  through the proverbial dark.

At a glance, this could apply to the climax of The Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme’s masterful psychological thriller which finishes with a cat and mouse game of Starling (a peerless Jodie Foster) crawling through the dungeon created by Ted Levine’s Buffalo Bill. In that blackness, serial killer Bill most certainly watches her, playfully (mis)judging her aptitude for handling his house of horrors. Yet all of these elements are also evident in Silence of the Lambs’ very first scene.

On a sleepy late wintry morning in Virginia, we’re introduced to Starling already overcoming another manmade trap meant to exclude her. At the FBI’s Quantico obstacle course, we witness the quiet and earnest determination which defines Clarice as she ascends up a rope line and when she flips over a cargo net. She’s acutely aware that the deck is probably being stacked against her behind her back, but she remains unfatigued and undaunted. She doesn’t even wince when the FBI instructor who emerges from the shadows to summon her down to the office mispronounces her name: He calls her “Sterling.”

It’s only a few minutes at the top of Silence of the Lambs, but it’s shot with Demme’s signature attentiveness and subtlety. While the director never draws direct attention to his filmmaking and blocking techniques, his visual language is pristine and unmistakable.

From the jump, Clarice is in a maze, a labyrinth of manmade systems and challenges that appear to reject her very presence. And she never once steps away from their course. They’re with her at the finale in Buffalo Bill’s portal to hell, but they also manifest in the bureaucratic cages and then literal holding pens Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heard) ushers Clarice through as a power move—a brusque display of authority and arrogance after Clarice rebuffed Chilton’s sleazy pick-up line a moment earlier in the film. “See what an important man you missed the chance of getting to know?” he projects through a curdled sneer.

Chilton is, of course, taking Clarice to meet the man he calls “the Monster:” Dr. Hannibal Lecter (a mighty Anthony Hopkins who demonstrates the eviscerating power of stillness). And one doubts Dr. Lecter would disagree with that title. It’s easy to imagine the disgraced cannibal psychiatrist musing that if Clarice’s life is a series of mazes and evaded dead ends, then her lifetime amounts to a single, titanic struggle against a minotaur—the ultimate monster of Greek mythology who devoured young men and women fed into his maze.

Yet in Silence of the Lambs, the all-consuming Dr. Lecter is hardly the only monster in Clarice’s life, even if he is the creature at the center of Chilton’s labyrinth. Rather the real Monster (with a capital “M”) pursuing Clarice is just about every man she meets. Among them, Dr. Lecter is but an urbane drop in the ocean.

This is again foreshadowed during the film’s opening moments when, after coming down from the obstacle course, Clarice loads onto an elevator with a half-dozen other FBI trainees, each towering over her by at least a foot. Once more, Demme’s simple but eloquent framing of Clarice’s universe is devastating. In a snapshot, we can understand the white bread, buttoned up skepticism of the patriarchal institutions she’s attempting to join and improve. After all, in the next scene, her new boss Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) admits she caught his attention when she grilled him in a classroom over the FBI’s sordid history in the civil rights era.

Crawford welcomes Clarice’s earnestness and repudiation of the good ol’ boys’ club in law enforcement. Still, he only picks her for this assignment because he sees her as a proverbial honey pot meant to entice Dr. Lecter—a pretty face meant to appeal to the lonely and incarcerated cannibal. Hannibal takes it a step farther too when he asks if Clarice has considered that the kindly Jack Crawford is attracted to her? Dr. Lecter relishes planting the idea of Clarice’s boss fantasizing about her in the young agent’s mind. How else would Crawford think to pick her to interview the monster?

But these taunts, which are intended to embarrass, are rooted in Lecter’s two most powerful weapons: acute observational skills and the ability to speak uncomfortable truths. He uses them again during their final encounter before his escape, when Hannibal asks Clarice, “Don’t you feel eyes moving over your body?” Don’t you feel the male gaze objectifying and defiling?

One of the most remarkable things about Silence of the Lambs 30 years later is its intelligent and (much like Clarice) frank way of addressing the overt sexism and misogyny in society. This is not done in the sometimes ham-handed way of modern media, with didactic speeches and easily defeated abusers who get their deserved comeuppance. Instead this problem is shown to be the uncomfortable truth of our reality, and a truth that’s sadly changed little in three decades.

Even before Dr. Lecter verbalizes the oppressiveness of the male gaze, Clarice and the audience know it’s there in the elevator, and perhaps also with Crawford’s more smiling friendliness. It’s sometimes not even unwelcome, as when Clarice flirts with the gawky bug specialist at the Smithsonian (he even gets to attend her Quantico graduation later); but it’s constant, and mostly insulting if not outright predatory. Whether in the gaze of all those criminally insane patients whom Hannibal shares a cell block with or in a dozen hard stares from a West Virginian sheriff’s department, it is always menacing Clarice.

It’s fair to wonder whether it was harder for special agent Starling to draw a gun on Buffalo Bill or for Clarice to tell all those country bumpkin deputies to take a hike earlier in the movie so she and Crawford can examine the body of one of Bill’s victims. When she entered the funeral home with her boss, once again all these other law enforcement types had a foot above her in height, and their eyes closed that distance to cover her body. No one says an outwardly sexist or sleazy remark; they don’t have to. In fact, the only cruel word comes from her own boss when Crawford preemptively bends to the local prejudices by marking Starling as soft and lesser by virtue of her gender while chatting up the sheriff.

Later Crawford offers a halfhearted apology, saying he only did that to ingratiate himself with the regressive rube he needed information from. But Clarice is never one to let the right thing go unsaid.

“Cops look at you to learn how to act,” Clarice respectfully but assertively pushes back. “It matters.” Crawford smiles and shrugs, “Point taken,” before dozing off. But obviously the point is not taken, and the patronizing tone of even a decent man like Crawford belies his kindness. It demonstrates why the insidiousness of patriarchal double standards persists. Hence how at the end of the movie Crawford gets to go on the ill-fated raid of where the FBI thinks Buffalo Bill is living—leaving Clarice behind to actually crack the case on her own.

Even from his cage, Dr. Lecter can see this perpetual struggle within the moment Clarice steps before his plexiglass. She is, after all, a woman trying to advance in the FBI. Not that Hannibal is immune from this nastiness or is some kind of “ally.” In the same scene that Lecter asks about men’s eyes, his own stare attempts to consume Clarice whole. Long before Demme’s camera puts Foster in an extreme close-up, Hopkins’ baby blues are dominating the whole screen as Hannibal demands to know about the screaming of the lambs. Unblinking, they’re like the eyes of a deity. Or a devil.

And yet, Clarice can at least appreciate Hannibal’s bluntness and honesty about it, as well as the fact he always shoots straight with her, even when he lies or obscures the truth beneath word games. He’s the only man who admits to the double standards, and he points her in the right direction to capture Bill, albeit by leaving Clarice to put the clues together herself.

At the end of the day, Silence of the Lambs is Clarice’s story. Sure, Hopkins is spectacular as Hannibal, but even with her Oscar win for the role, Foster is often overlooked for her contributions as Starling. It’s a role that’s been imitated a thousand times since 1991—including with several other actresses playing Clarice—but it’s never been duplicated. There is a steadfast resilience here, sure, but also a quiet awareness that’s just as observant as Hopkins’ supervillain. She sees everything, including her own insecurities. Dr. Lecter brings them to the surface when he extracts the story of the screaming lambs from her memory, but she already knows what the crying lamb sounds like. She hears it almost every night.

Read more

Movies

Hannibal: Did Author Thomas Harris Try to Destroy Dr. Lecter?

By Don Kaye

TV

Clarice Review (Spoiler Free): No Hannibal, No Problem

By Tony Sokol

It’s all there in Foster’s own eyes, which is what gives her steely determination to overcome staying power in our minds. By the movie’s end, subtexts become text inside Buffalo Bill’s dungeon. For here is a basement that a man retrofitted into a torture chamber for women, members of the gender he covets and despises. As with the obstacle course, Clarice enters this space brazenly and defiantly, finding its labyrinthine center where Bill has turned off the lights.

Hidden behind his night vision goggles, the killer thinks he’s master, and Clarice is his next victim. One more sacrifice to feed upon. Finally, the male gaze we’ve spent the whole movie dreading from Clarice’s vantage is flipped, and we watch her through Bill’s green tinted voyeurism. This is the metaphor taken to its most extreme, with the camera sharing headspace with a serial killer. Yet it’s not too far removed from the Monster that’s stalked Clarice all her life. The grossness of Bill’s hesitant attempt to touch her hair, to take possession of Clarice’s body and personal space, is a reach every male in the film, save for Clarice’s father (the only other male the camera shares eyes with in a flashback), has made.

When Clarice once again turns the tables on this assumed authority and shoots Bill dead, she’s slayed one version of the minotaur and earned her perch in a system that’s resisted her. We see her triumph via the graduation at Quantico. Now she is a celebrity among the FBI. We also see it in Crawford’s genuine affection and admiration for the young woman.

Nevertheless, the maze he helped maintain persists, and the Monster takes another form. Thus even in her success, Clarice ends the film still framed in tight shadows, hanging onto the words of Dr. Lecter, who’s just put down the phone. She has the respectability and authority Hannibal lost long ago, but he can still move through this world in a way more liberated than any path Clarice has ever known.

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from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3rDUWT8

[eyeliketwowatch]

Unforgiven - Eastwood Apologies (of sorts)

The Western is given its long overdue oscar recognition with this deservingly complex and unromanticized directorial effort by Clint Eastwood. And is also the beginning of a long and (mostly) successful and critically acclaimed string of films that Eastwood would direct over the next few decades.

I love a film that rewards repeat viewings with new and different insights and interpretations, and this is one of those rare films. Disarmingly simple in its storyline, it tells the story of a trio of gun-men who travel to a small ranching town to kill a few cow hands who have had a bounty put on their head by a group of prostitutes after one of their number gets disfigured by one of the drunken customers. One of the gunmen is a reformed violent killer and outlaw, and he is accompanied by another aging 'partner' from the 'old days' and an irritating brash young braggart.

The movie goes to great lengths to make the morality of each and every character more complex than the usual 'good guy/bad guy' dichotomy, and the western conventions are treated with an unromantic approach that is refreshing in this genre. Certain lines keep getting repeated, i.e; "They had it coming", which culminates in a beautiful scene near the final shootout where the young killer confesses that this is in fact his 'first killing', and is obviously badly shaken up by it, and repeats the phrase once again, "They had it coming" to which Eastwood's character replies "we all having it coming kid".

Another bit I just picked up on my last viewing, was the repeated phrase that Eastwood says over and over, "I'm not like that anymore" (although he proves at the end, that he IS like that still), and when he is riding out of town and swearing oaths of vengeance against the townspeople, there is an american flag subtly waving in the background. I thought on my first viewing that the movie was a sort of apology by Eastwood for all the fascist/heroic/violent westerns and action films of his youth, but I'm beginning to think that it is more of a statement about America's bloody past, and even though we might proclaim that 'we're not like that anymore', perhaps there's more to the story. And I also got to thinking about Gene Hackman, and the significance of his 'building his home' (even though it is extremely flawed), and his seemingly pathetic excuse at the end just before Eastwood blows his head off - "but I'm building a house" -- and how our countries settling of the west was just that - building a home, and it's not perfect, and we sometimes forget ourselves and do things we regret, and maybe we shouldn't just whitewash our past, because it made us what we are today, good and bad.

5 stars

Released 1992, First Viewing December 1992 with several revisits since

[relaxvideobar]

Sabías que, Anthony Frederick "Tony" Levin, nació en Boston, Massachusetts; el 6 de junio de 1946, es un bajista estadounidense altamente respetado y es citado continuamente como influencia. Conocido por su espíritu innovador, es el principal responsable de popularizar el Chapman Stick. Si bien su línea de bajo en el tema de Peter Gabriel Sledgehammer es prácticamente reconocida por todos, los fanes y colegas del instrumento coinciden que su mejor trabajo se puede oír también en el material de King Crimson. Levin participó en cientos de grabaciones como músico sesionista, miembro permanente o artista invitado. Las siguientes grabaciones pertenecen al material donde el forma parte como miembro estable o compositor. @relaxvideobar www.relaxvideobar.com (at RELAX VIDEO BAR) https://www.instagram.com/p/CefcL_FstDv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=