#despite watching a film set in a movie theatre today the idea for it was unrelated and came before

[phasedsun]

Ultratober Day 22 - Hideous Mass

(bonus under cut)

is this the good ending?

[shutupholden]

What’s On My Shelf? #1: Stop Making Sense (1984)

David Byrne in Stop Making Sense.

The year is 2024, and streaming services are dominating the film and TV industry. They’re also collecting other streaming services like Infinity Stones and calling it “bundling”. What a time to be alive!

A lot of people out there think that physical media is dying. If your name is Best Buy, you apparently think it’s already dead. But it’s still very much alive and there’s still a market for it. I currently have over 200 titles sitting on my shelf and that number will absolutely continue to grow because I love physical media.

That brings me to the point of this post—and the potential series of posts to come.

A few weeks ago I had a random idea for a podcast called What’s On My Shelf?, which would involve me choosing a film in my collection at random and talking about it. Because I hate the sound of my own voice and do a better job writing my thoughts down than actually verbalizing them, I scratched the podcast idea and opted for the same thing but in blog form.

Today the randomizer, which pulls films from my Letterboxd lists that I use to digitally catalog my collection, chose 1984’s Stop Making Sense.

Conceived for the stage by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and directed by Jonathan Demme, Stop Making Sense captures the iconic band as they take the stage at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Shot over four nights and featuring hits like “Burning Down the House” and “Once in a Lifetime”, as well as the now infamous “Big Suit”, it is considered one of the greatest concert films of all time.

David Byrne in True Stories (1986).

I first got into David Byrne and the Talking Heads sometime in 2021. I became particularly obsessed with “Once in a Lifetime” and had it on repeat. That same year I watched David Byrne’s first and only directorial effort, True Stories (1986), which had a killer soundtrack. Sometime after that, I watched David Byrne’s American Utopia on HBO, which is a Spike Lee-directed recording of Byrne’s Broadway show of the same name. I loved the music so much and listened to it everyday for months.

Flash forward to 2023 when A24 announces that they’ll be re-releasing Stop Making Sense in IMAX. I was so excited that I went and bought a copy of the film, which in hindsight was a painfully unnecessary purchase but I had never seen it before and I wanted to as soon as I possibly could.

David Byrne and Chris Frantz in Stop Making Sense.

The film blew my mind when I watched it alone in my room, so when the time finally came for it to hit IMAX screens, I was ready. I picked up a buddy of mine (who lived an hour and a half away) and drove to the closest AMC that was screening the film (which was another hour away), and had my mind blown all over again. A24’s remaster looked and sounded INCREDIBLE in IMAX and was worth the drive. The underwhelmingly brief live-streamed Q&A afterwards… not so much.

The collector's edition of Stop Making Sense, released by A24.

Earlier this year, A24 finally announced a physical release of the film on 4K UHD, which I pre-ordered immediately despite already owning a copy of the film on Blu-ray… and not having the kind of income to just drop $60 on a movie like that. After months of waiting it finally arrived in the mail this week. I have yet to open it at this point, but I’m excited to watch it again!

There’s a reason Stop Making Sense is considered one of the greatest concert films of all time. The music, the staging, the choreography, the decision to have the band members and set pieces come in one by one—it’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. To quote my own Letterboxd review: “Just good vibes all around. Big Suit.”

[gonecontinental]

Day 0.5 to 1 - June 10th & 11th - Sydney

I flew into Sydney yesterday morning and was kindly collected from the airport by my gracious hosts Mandisa and Xavier. It was so great to see them after a long time apart and we had a beautiful and relaxing afternoon wandering Newtown, preparing for their friends 30th birthday party at the local pub. At the party, we had a great time chatting and drinking. While tipsy, we spontaneously booked the last 3 tickets to the Sydney Film Festival for the showing of the new Warwick Thornton movie New Boy.

When we got up today, we didn't have many plans beyond the movie and potentially seeing my friend sam in the afternoon. Despite this, the day unfolded like a russian doll of experiences - it just kept opening up on itself. We had a lazy morning big breakfast with avo on toast with all the trimmings then set off on a postcard perfect day in Sydney.

We took the train to the city and strolled from circular quay to the botanical gardens. We put $2 in a pair of tourist binoculars and looked at the boats bobbing along the harbour and the detail of the tiles on the opera house. The intricacy of the tiles was so arresting, my mind couldn't help but see the similarity between the thousands of sleek tiles and snakeskin. We stopped for coffee in the botanical garden cafe before wandering through the Fern Garden and moving on to Hyde Park, on the way to the State theatre for showing.

The theatre is unbelievably grand in the true sense of the word. I spent a solid minute in my seat with my head back on the velvet backrest, staring at chandelier and ornate latticework of the ceiling. The movie was poignant and beautifully shot with thought provoking themes surrounding colonisation and spirituality. Walking out of the stalls into the side alleyway, we saw the charmingly painted sign with the old school design of the finger pointing to "Stage Door" and paintings of old production company posters, which i loved.

After the movie we wandered to Chinatown for some dumplings and ran into one of Xav's old friends, who joined us for a late lunch. When we finished our noodles and dumplings we had a little shop in the Winter sale for hiking gear for Disa and Xav's upcoming Larapinta trail hike.

Walking back, we detoured via Darling Harbour as the sun was setting and Xavier suggested we hop on a ferry to watch the sunset from the harbour. A capital idea if there ever was one. We had a wonderful sightseeing experience as the ferry did "upsy-downsies" (as a little kid on board called them), and the lights of luna park twinkled against the darkening sky.

Hopping off the ferry, Vivid Sydney was starting and I was, to be honest, a bit surprised by the quality and how fun the experience was. We met up with my old friend Sam and his girlfriend Ange near "the big white star" installation and had a delightful time moving through the markets, under the bridge and past The Rocks. There were so many highlights. I loved seeing a wonderful spherical design projected into a fountain of water. Best of all, though, was the company. We laughed and shot the breeze against a beautiful backdrop of the city illuminated with an extra layer of brightness and art.

Heading home, our feet were tired but our spirits were high. It was the best first full day of the trip I could ask for. I loved, and there is very little hyperbole in this statement, every moment.

Particularly this moment, in which i turn on my audiobook and turn off the light, getting some needed rest before a huge day of travel. Tomorrow, it's Kowabunga, dude, let's do this. Tonight, it's sweet dreams.

[acharlescoleman]

Yesterday, I made some light donations to a few Indiegogo's I'd been following. It was a pay day so I figured why not. And that lead me to check out what projects were going on at Seed and Sparrrk. I hadn't checked them out in a long time. I like to give to mostly comedies but I'll give to anything that interests me.

Anyways, I'm on Seed and S and you can categorize your search by genre so I put in comedy and the first three short films that popped up all had to do with death. And that's fine but I kept scrolling down and almost everything they had under comedy sounded more like a comedy-drama which I irked me a bit because I was hoping to find just a comedy, feature or short, by someone who had a great idea and was like we're trying to make the funniest thing out there. No one did that. Now, some of that is partially due to the Seed and Spuh audience, as someone who's followed them for over a decade and has supported many films over there, they are the kind of movies that do well, comedy-dramas or anything really with a semi-serious socio/political bent to it. And that's fine but sometimes I just wanna grab onto the funniest thing out there, if there's a nice angle that allows for some topical material then that's a bonus to me. But ugh, where are the comedies that don't have dour premises?!!

Oh, and the other thing that irked me today was at times, these projects on, both Indiegaga and Speed & sperk, didn't provide updates. One of the ones I donated to did, and the other didn't. And that's something I just don't understand! That's one of the fun things about Kickstarter (I'm watching two now, they both end in the upcoming weeks. And again, one does updates while the other one doesn't!), Indiegogo, and Seed & Spark and so on, you're helping someone (s) get a short film/feature film off the ground or onto another stage of production and to me, it's fun to follow the journey. I'm very big on journeys!

One of the reasons why I love the Beatles music so much is they went from a Buddy Holly-knock off band from their earlier days to creating their own by their mid-point to sounding like a 70's band by Let it Be and Abbey Road. Their journey is endlessly fascinating to me.

How stuff gets made interests me very much and it's frustrating when these crowdfunding projects don't give their audience that. And then, almost doubly worse, downright odd to me, is when there's a crowdfunding project on like Seed and Spark and they don't provide a social media handle on their page. I thought it was a classic gimme but not anymore it seems on a lot of these pages. But again, what do I know because I did notice despite not having a social media page or doing the updates thing, a few of these projects were either close or had already crossed their set financial goals. And that's good.

Ultimately, I root for that kind of thing because it's nice to see people create art and if they have to go through the crowdfunding route then that's awesome! I'm for anyone and everyone to get their art made and done but I do side-eye these projects a bit who don't have a social media page or do updates. At least, pitch videos haven't completely died so there's that and I love those too, when they're done well. It's like omg, I wish I could win the lottery, and you know...oh well.

OH, and this off-topic but I updated Twitch on my phone and it might be one of the worst app updates ever. You log on and right away, a channel is playing, like wtf! Let me pick something first, don't do that!! Grr!!!

OH, oh and one last thing, I almost subbed to Audible, almost bought like an audio set of versions of Neil Simon plays, and then I checked my Libby app one more time to see if they had these plays because LA Theatre Works were the publishers. And I've listened to them before, they do stage plays with prominent actors, and you listen to the performances and I've listened to a couple. The stand outs are David Auburn's Proof with Anne Heche (never seen the movie but hearing her do the play with the other actors was wonderful.) and Noel Coward's Design for Living with Douglas Weston (google him, you've totally seen him in things), Claire Forlani (Mallrats), and Hamish Linklater (another google him dude, he's in so many things including the recent Batman that just came out on Amazon Prime). Anyways, so I've been wanting and needing an audio change of pace for my bus ride to and from work instead of music and podcasts. I was in the need for staged radio plays again. This happens to me every now and then. I got very, very lucky. I checked the LAPL web site and they said they had the Neil Simon in the eAudio section (FYI, they also have the CDs just in case you want them too.) and I was like whaaat???!! I had checked on Libby and couldn't find them and the reason why I couldn't find them was because I had been doing my searches on the app for books without even knowing it! Just dumb, dumb, dumb! So I clicked out of only books and boom, there it is! Neil Simon plays! I did another search and boom, there were more Shakespeare plays. So I'm a happy camper right now. I found what I wanted and I got to save some bread, whoopy!

Being an LAPL card carrier has saved the day again, go support your local library, become a member and take advantage of the free stuff they have access to, it's so good!

[aiden3963]

Bosko the Doughboy (1931)

Bosko the Doughboy (1931) October 17, 1931 Director: Hugh Harman Introduction: There are multiple characters in animation history that left an impression on people. Today we're going to talk about one of the early characters in animation named "Bosko". Created by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising in the early 1930s. The earliest adventure of Bosko called "Bosko the Doughboy" is a short movie which this blog post is going to be about. We are going to dive into his adventure. Our journey includes understanding the film's technique, representation, reception, and how it left a huge mark on people living in 1930s.

Technique: "Bosko the Doughboy" was produced by Warner bros. The animation technique used to create bosko was traditional hand drawn animation.There are multiple principles of animation used to create the film, but i would like to focus and embrace the ones which are eyecatching- squash and stretch and exaggeration.The sound effects sure are cherry on top as this movie had sound for whole length of it's film. Sound sure was important part of this movie as it gives way more depth to the movie.Throughout the whole movie Bosko finds himself in messed up situations which are perfect for his comedic character. As viewers are able to see his variation of dealing with things. Representation: Bosko,being a character was definitely affected by the racial stereptypes from his time. His character artist created him as a Character with black face and high pitched voice which is visible in the movie.Though it was a senstitive topic to many people they did go with their decision of Bosko being blackfaced.1930 was also the era where these things were common although they could've done better. But according to it's time bosko sure captured a lot of people and showed his comedic charm with his crazy ideas. The movie is easy to understand as it's about World war 1.Bosko was not only a fun and humorous character but he also showed various ways of handling things in his own personality he would do certain extreme things which people might find crazy or out of the normal because they wouldn't do those certain things and that's why they found it so humorous and someone they could connect to.

Reception: Upon its release, "Bosko the Doughboy" was well-received by audiences of the time. The short film gained the popularity of the Bosko character, delivering an entertaining story that suited to the tastes of early animation enthusiasts. Audiences were delighted by the film's humor, visual gags, and sounds effects In retrospect, the short film sure holds a significance in history as an example of Warner Bros into animation. It shows their ability to produce high quality cartoons and animation. It helped them later in life as they proceeded to Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.Bosko portrayed as racial stereotypical character played a certain role in shaping the animation industry. Conclusion: Bosco de Doughboy remains an amazing entry in vast landscape of Animation history. Despite its racial stereotypical representations and other things that surprised people at the time it also is a testament to technical achievements in early 1930s of Animation industry. By examining this short film we understand the depth of animation which was created back in 1930s as it also helped animation industry later down the road by setting certain rules and guidelines for the industry which was morally and logically correct for animators to follow. Going forward It's always important to understand from past and not follow the same mistakes again, that's how you become a successful industry and that's how animation has survived over the years gaining massive popularity and being so successful.I was able to watch Bosko on you tube as there are no certain theatres anymore which would show short films of history but after watching the hilarious movie it has me cackling.

Here are the links to all the information used to write this blog

[luckycheesefoodie321]

I posted 3,361 times in 2022

351 posts created (10%)

3,010 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mxcrowe

@cottonskittles

@lunaisace

@derinthescarletpescatarian

@lithi

I tagged 496 of my posts in 2022

#kdrama - 211 posts

#extraordinary attorney woo - 193 posts

#spoilers - 118 posts

#korean drama - 63 posts

#asian drama - 60 posts

#percy jackson - 23 posts

#the umbrella academy - 20 posts

#pjo - 18 posts

#manga - 15 posts

#percy jackson and the olympians - 14 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#like i can handle letting suyeon be with a judgemental bitch bc she’s i’ve known you so long i don’t need to be nice to you anymore vibes

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

As someone who has absorbed MLB almost entirely through tumblr and has only watched a few eps here and there but really wants to get into it, I like to visit the tag whenever it trends and was curious about today and what was happening. But as it turns out @buggachat (??) Bakery Enemies AU is straight up just thriving and from what I can tell, is 90% of why MLB is trending atm XD

264 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

#4

The subtlety of Park Eun-bin’s acting that you know the difference between Young woo’s natural aversion to eye contact and her actively trying to play coy and avoid Myeong Seok’s gaze when he accurately deduced she definitely jumped in on the arrest on the train bc she couldn’t help herself

295 notes - Posted July 29, 2022

#3

When Steven finds himself in Dr Harrow’s office and Harrow let’s slip that his mum had passed away and he explodes at him so Harrow backpedals and actually picks up the phone to “call” the mum… and just the increasing distress on Steven’s face as he practically begs him not to bother his mum until Harrow holds out the phone and just the grief on his face as Steven finally admits out loud that his mother is dead…

Give Oscar the Oscar and 15 motion picture deals.

311 notes - Posted April 28, 2022

#2

Fun things after watching The Batman

The movie sets a more crime-thriller, film noir take on Batman that really hones in on Bats as the world’s greatest detective as opposed to throwing in a bunch of action scenes as has been the norm of late for “superhero” films. The action choreo that is there feels so real and like an actual real person fighting, making Bats feel more grounded as a person, and the action set pieces just compliment all the build up through the quieter moments. Literally 80% of this film is him looking around a room for clues or inferring some sort of deduction from a conversation and I’m here for itttt

The actor who plays Tim Drake in Titans plays the scared kid who doesn’t wanna beat up the random guy. Not the same Batmen but how fun if that was Tim Drake’s origin story in another timeline

This whole time Bruce is majorly projecting on the Mayor’s son his own trauma as a kid who lost his parents to a brutal murder. In both Bruce and Bats forms, he holds eye contact with the kid. When Bats comes over to help the people trapped under the tower, and the mayor-elect Bella Reál hesitates to take his hand (bc he’s a vigilante who in many ways represents everything she’s been campaigning against, also bc he’s masked and dangerous etc) the first one to take his hand and thus demonstrate his trust in Bats is the kid. And the others follow (literally that shot with the flare and everyone following in the dark water was so beautiful I cannot)

The repeated use of Ave Maria whether in full form or hints throughout the score as a signal of impending danger

That opening title screen just stretching all the way across the theatre screen. Magnificent

Despite the “I am Vengeance” line being the mic drop-ish line from the trailer, basically everyone makes fun of Bats for using it the whole movie and then it comes back in a sinister way right at the end

People initially laughing at the idea of Robert Pattinson as Bats now saying his is one of the best interpretations of Batman so far, especially in terms of the detective aspect of the character

This version of Bruce reads as much younger than the other interpretations of Bruce Wayne. Like all of them are “would rather do XX than go to therapy” to some degree, but this version of Bats leans hard into this and feels really fresh on the scene. Guess it helps that when he’s Bruce he doesn’t switch immediately into a three piece suit and actually wears normal clothes. And he’s only 2 years into the game. I think it also adds to this image bc the playboy personality is nonexistent in this version of Bruce. He’s attracted to Selina (or at least drawn to her and the kiss just pushed it in a more romantic direction), but he also doesn’t push it beyond the opportunities she has presented to him. So idk. That seems very young of him?? I guess to be so caught up in the Batman of it all that he doesn’t recognise the potential for him and Selina until after she kisses him.

The fact that Selina’s leather suit actually has some give and slight bagginess to it. Like yes it is form fitting, but there’s clearly wiggle room and that’s a small thing but v important I think that it isn’t skin tight. Bc all other scenes she’s dressed in what I would say are very revealing clothing, as part of her job at that club that exploits women’s bodies and looks for profit. In this outfit, she clearly has so much more control and ownership of her body, and despite the typically slinky and seductive image of Cat woman, her suit feels quite practical and more like a uniform or battle outfit.

Paul Dano was freaking brilliant as The Riddler. But I also kept thinking “yo it’s that guy from Little Miss Sunshine” XD

1,836 notes - Posted March 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Crap

Pads

Sexy

Stripper

Cramps

All words that you don’t realise have impact until you suddenly hear them in a pixar movie and you double take way harder than you thought you would bc wow they said that so casually… bc yeah a 13yo prolly does say crap and sexy on occasion… and hey periods are perfectly natural so duh ofc the mom would bring out a pile of pads for her pubescent daughter, and talk about using herbal tea for cramps…

but also you don’t realise that you’ve never heard any of these things in a movie geared for children and pixar managed to do it so casually that it made you blink for a hot second before being quite pleased that it’s been included… that things like periods are discussed so openly in a film and pads are acknowledged and named and shown on screen rather than acting like it’s taboo or unnatural (not only the mom but also Abby/Priya?? saying she has pads for Mei)… to theme a film specifically on the female puberty experience… the change in body odour (when Priya whipped out deodorant for Mei??? Love that), the discomfort in your own body, the mood swings, the sweating, in many cases a greater physical and emotional attraction to others… an experience which in the past has been so greatly hush hush and treated like a shameful secret…

Then you think to yourself wow imagine if pixar had managed to include the lgbt+ character they had been hoping to insert in what would likely be a very respectful but also casual and natural representation that does not define the character purely by their presence but by what they as a person bring to the story (betting my life on Miriam and the potential for a Mir-Mei ship) had the Mouse not gotten in the way.

And this was meant to be a fun post about how casually Abby said “stripper music” and how I actually double-taked at Meilin saying sexy, but then i had other thoughts…

2,539 notes - Posted March 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[blessednereid]

Pity the Living

Daniel Sharman x Reader Series

A/N: The Much Requested, and By Requested, I mean @rogershoe wanted me to write this, MY DANIEL SHARMAN FANFICTION!!!!!! The character that Y/N plays is based on my OC for FTWD and is not an actual character in FTWD. Basic Premise of the setting for this chapter is that they're in high-school/ secondary school. But for the majority of the story(minus flashbacks) it's set in 2016/17 when s3 of FTWD was filmed.

Story Summary: When (Y/N) (L/N) reunites with a high-school friend on the set of the job she's been working on for the past 2-3 years, not only is she excited to work with the guy who inspired her to go into acting, but to hear about what he's done since she's seen him. But the more they talk, the more she realizes, this reunion is not going the way she had planned.

CW: Cursing? brief mention of alcohol, anxiety, mentions of food, fake dagger, fake blood, bets,

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Career Day

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

Most of the students around you were chorusing to the tune of your school anthem, but not you. You had heard the melody and sung it almost a million times. Whether you were exaggerating or not, not even you knew. Instead, you were whispering and laughing with one of your best friends, Daniel Sharman.

You met Daniel when you first came to the school. You didn't know many people. You didn't even know yourself in this place. It was a completely foreign experience, but he stuck by your side and showed you around.

Since then, you had made friends, joined the swim team, learned your way around the school without ending up in the boys' restrooms instead of the girls' ones. Despite not needing Daniel to show you around anymore, he still provided plenty of comedic support and pick-me-ups and was a great mate all around.

Your teacher had just finished introducing all the parents who were presenting at career day. The assignment being after the presentations were finished, you were supposed to think about what you wanted to be in the future. You had no idea what you wanted to be. But of course… Daniel did.

"An actor."

"An actor?" he nodded. "Like Macbeth?"

"No, Macbeth is a character. An actor is a person who plays the character."

"Why an actor?"

"Dunno. Just seems right."

You frowned. "Huh, that's nice. Knowing what you want to be."

"You could always try acting. It's worth a shot."

"Hah, if I ever tried acting, it would probably be when I'm old, senile, and look like Betty White."

"Oh, come on. You're a great actress!"

"What's that supposed to mean, Sharman?" you gasped.

"Just that you tell fibs and stories as if they were the truth. That's all acting is."

"I DO NOT!"

"How did you convince your mum that your dog jumped onto the table and ate the cake without making any noise last weekend, then?" You opened your mouth to speak before closing it.

"Cat got your tongue?" he teased.

"Shut up, Sharman."

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

L/N Residence

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

You and Daniel were both swimming in the pool in your backyard when Daniel asked you the question.

"Did you think about it?"

Still floating, you asked, "About what?"

"Acting."

You laughed incredulously. "You were serious?"

"Of course I was." He swam closer to you and pulled your leg down, making you flop around and splash water.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"Was just trying to get your attention," he remarked innocently.

You coughed. "You had it."

"Picture this," he waved you off. "Us, on the red carpet-"

"Who's red carpet?"

"Does it matter? We'll be each other's dates anyways."

"Why is that?" you asked.

"Because we're best friends."

"What if one of us has a boyfriend or girlfriend?"

He shrugged. "Ok, whatever. We're on the red carpet separately. It's both of ours red carpet-"

"So, does that mean we're in a movie together?"

"Yes, Y/N," he muttered exasperatedly.

"But that's impossible?"

"Why do you say that?"

You leaned closer to his ear. "BECAUSE I'M NOT BECOMING AN ACTOR."

He jumped away from you, proceeding to splash you with water.

"Mark my words. I know talent when I see it."

You sighed. "Could this just be you not wanting to be lonely in the acting world?"

He jutted his lip and spoke in a whiny voice. "Maybe…"

You laughed before splashing a giant wave of water at him. While he still had water in his eyes, you dove under and pulled him down.

He flailed around before his head popped up, and he calmed down.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"PAYBACK, SHARMAN!"

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Announcement

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

The intercom gave a heavy buzz, and static-y noises ran amok over the building before a voice actually came through the speakers.

"Hello, Teachers, Students, and Faculty. Welcome back to school. We hope that you all enjoyed your holidays and got the rest you needed to pay attention in class today," the last part was passive. Your principal gave more announcements for clubs and sports around the school, such as upcoming games or reminders for students to buy the school yearbook.

You were nodding along interested, or looking for interest really when something caught your best friend's attention.

"The school will also be hosting its first-ever play, Romeo and Juliet. Interested people should report to the music room before the end of the week to receive information."

You saw Daniel's eyes widen only moments before he spoke up. "Hey," he waved at you. "You should audition!"

"Daniel, are you insane?"

He chuckled, "No, but I think you'd like it."

You tried arguing, but he wasn't taking no for an answer. "You're the one who said you didn't know what you wanted to do after you graduated. Doing this cannot hurt."

"Yeah, it can't hurt until I trip on my costumes and break my neck!"

"That rarely ever happens," he said exasperatedly. "Ok, how about this? You audition, and if you end up getting a role and actually doing the play, I'll give you fifty pounds."

You squinted. "Do you even have fifty pounds to give me?"

"Do you even have to ask," he feigned shock in the accusation? You gave a sour face before he truthfully answered. "Fine, I don't have it now. But I will by the time the play comes around."

"What do I get just for auditioning?"

"I'll convince my mum to make that cake you like."

"Fine."

"BUT!" he exclaimed. "You have to audition for Juliet."

"You're kidding?"

He laughed. "No, I'm not. You have to audition for Juliet."

"I hate you," you mumbled before sighing a whispered 'fine.'

He gave a toothy smile. "Then we have a deal."

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Auditions

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

You reluctantly walked onto the stage, Daniel's widening grin so visible in the audience. He said that he only put his name on the audition sheet so he could watch the auditions. He would've already been gone by the time it was his turn.

"Hello, My name is Y/n L/n, and I am auditioning for Juliet," your lips pressing into a straight line after saying the sentence.

You stammered through your first few lines. "Sh-Shall I speak ill of him— that is my husband?" You said with a laugh.

"Ah," you paused and clicked your tongue. "Poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name… When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?"

You said your following line in an accusatory manner. "But wherefore, villain... didst thou kill my cousin?" you said, though your voice squealed trying to pronounce 'didst.' "That villain cousin would have killed my husband."

"Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring!" Your voice rose and fell several octaves. "Your tributary drops belong to woe, Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy." Fake tears spring to your eyes, your voice cracked, and you began slowly falling against an invisible wall.

You looked down at your paper for what to say next. "My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain; And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband. All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?" You wiped your cheeks dramatically.

"Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death, That murd'red me. I would forget it fain;" your lips quivered, and you sucked in deep, heaving breaths before speaking your line.

"But O, it presses to my memory. Like damnèd guilty deeds to sinners' minds! 'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banishèd!" You shouted.

You stood back up in a startling jump, and with a proud smile, you said triumphantly, "And Scene!"

The directors and some students in the audience, especially Daniel, gave a round of applause before the director dismissed you.

You took the steps to the stage and sat next to Daniel as the director called the next student to audition.

"You were amazing! The director might as well have given you the role right then and there."

You laughed, "Hang on, charmer. There were a bunch of Juliet's who literally said that entire thing so… fluently. I stammered through the whole thing."

"But you showed more emotion than anyone else. You only had a week to prepare. The actual show will be like child's play."

"They want people who can memorize and recite. The emotion can be added later, but it's worth nothing if they forget their lines."

"There is such a thing called improvising for a reason," he reassured.

"Who in their right, bloody minds wants to improvise Shakespeare?"

He turned his head and chuckled before waving a five-pound note in front of your face. "Here, I got to go before they call me, but you earned this at least."

"Five pounds for being forced to audition for a stupid play so you can prove a point? Wow, you must really fancy me, huh, Sharman?" you said sarcastically.

"Goodbye, L/n," he whispered before sneaking out the back door of the auditorium.

"Alright, next up. Daniel Sharman!" The director shouted your friend's name a few more times before giving up.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Headmasters Office

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

A week after your audition, you were called to the headmasters' office. Thus is the cause of the curious looks from your classmates. Oohs and Aahs flooded your ears as you grabbed your bag and headed out the door to the front of the school.

When you got to the front of the building and went into the headmasters' office, you saw the Theatre director, Ms Parker, standing behind the desk. "Headmaster Leo allowed me to use his office to do this. Isn't that cool?"

Ms Parker was one of the younger teachers in school. She was twenty-four, and this was her first year teaching after receiving her bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in music production. A fact she could astoundingly ramble about for fifteen minutes. As proven at the auditions.

"I didn't want to call you to the theatre room. That would be too predictable, correct?" You'd come to realize she was a very eccentric woman. "I have called you in here to inform you that you have been selected to perform in this year's play of Romeo and Juliet."

A wave of shock coursed through your body, and you were sure it reflected on your face. "Are you sure?"

"Darling, I'm positive!- your audition was totally spectacular! So brilliant-in fact- that I am completely sure in my choice to make you our female lead- Juliet!"

"What!" Your eyes widened into a blank stare. Your thoughts were running rampant in your mind. You thought that performing on the stage would be a breeze when you weren't the lead.

"Ms Parker, I didn't actually want the part of Juliet! It's just that my friend dared me to audition for Juliet! Is there no way I can get a smaller part? I'm no Juliet. The show would be ruined," you rambled.

The directors' facial expressions softened, "Darling, you are the only choice. None of the other people who auditioned can even compare to the amount of passion you produced in that audition. I am determined to have you as our Juliet."

You whimpered out an "Ok." Professors had a strange way of convincing you to do extra credit assignments or things that aren't necessary.

"We have a chemistry read for you and a few of our other choices for Romeo after school today. Do you need to contact a parent to let them know where you'll be?"

"Uh, yes, please."

After you made your call, you walked back to your classroom with shaky hands. The class period was almost over, but you had to tell Daniel that you had gotten a part in the show. Not just any part- THE PART!

You shuffled into the classroom reluctantly. All eyes were on you as every student had assumed you'd been in trouble. Either suspended, expelled, or told your parents were going to have a sit-down with the headmaster.

You took your seat next to Daniel before taking out a piece of paper and writing out a note, encompassing the words, "I got the part!"

You slid the sheet discreetly onto his desk. When he read it, his eyes widened, and he quietly moved his hands toward yours, beckoning for a high five.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

First Rehearsal

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

After the chemistry read, the role of Romeo was given to a kid named James Mercer-Allen got the part. Though it was more because the directors were starting to become tired.

The next day was the first rehearsal. Swimming season was last semester, so there was no clash in schedules with the play.

"Alright, this rehearsal is to get acquainted with the stage, your fellow actors, and directors," she insisted. "Now, let's introduce ourselves. Can our Romeo please stand up?"

James stood up and gave a brief introduction. You were called on next. You stated your name, "I was on the swim team last semester, and I'm in my thirteenth year. I hope I can do this role justice."

More students stood up to introduce themselves. The entire process took more than thirty minutes.

The next thing to happen was that the rest of the students were called to recite lines for various roles. The only parts that had been cast preliminarily were Romeo and Juliet.

You and James had sat on the wooden stools unless there was a scene going on that needed Romeo and/or Juliet.

By the end of the first rehearsal, the majority of the speaking roles were cast. You went home exhausted but not expecting the conversation that waited for you.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

The Talk

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

"We're moving?" you shouted at your parents from your seat across from them in the sitting room. "What do you mean we're moving."

"Honey, your dad got a job in the states, so we have to move," your mother argued.

"But what about school? No school will take me in the middle of the year, and it's my last year of secondary school. I don't want to spend the rest of my last year knowing nobody."

Your dad, the man of the hour, spoke up. "Dear, we're moving at the end of the year. After school ends."

"But- What about Uni?"

"You said you were taking a sabbatical year!"

"Yes, so I could intern in London!"

"Can't you intern in California?" Your mother whined.

"We're going to California? It's the furthest state?"

Your dad attempted to reassure you but failed. "Darling, it won't be that bad. Maybe you'll like it there more than you like it here!"

"I could never like anywhere more than I like it here!"

You agreed to go to your room and spent the rest of the day there. Later on, after you finished moping, you ringed up your closest friends to tell them you were moving. You did that until you were so tired you fell asleep on the phone with Sarah before you even called Daniel.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Confrontation

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"Why am I hearing from everyone besides you that you're moving?" Daniel appeared out of thin air behind you, and the accusation was an assault on your conscience.

You could lie and tell him that you wanted to reveal that to him in person, or you could just tell him the truth- say you fell asleep. Mix-and-Match? You ended up just telling the truth. "I fell asleep when I was making some of my other calls. I was going to tell you, I swear!"

"Why didn't you call me first. I'm your best friend?"

"That's why! It was too hard. I kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off because I didn't want to tell you, I don't want it to be true, and telling you of all people would make it feel real."

"Why can't you stay for Uni?"

"I already told my parents I was taking a gap year. I didn't apply to any colleges."

"Crap!" he sighed. "Ok, well, we're going to have to make the most of it. And! You're getting a going away party!"

"Daniel, I don't need-"

"No debate! You are getting a going away party!"

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Opening Night

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

Four months later, after all the rehearsals and memorizations of lines. After much running around the entire film department, it was finally opening night, and your nerves were shot.

You were scrambling all morning to find everything you needed. All your costumes were at the school, but you still needed to bring your black leotard, skin-coloured tights, and wear your hair in an up-do style.

You decided to do your skincare routine, but your panic got the best of you, and you forgot what every single product was used for.

Daniel came over and helped you get ready but found you practically hyperventilating.

Your parents drove you both to the theatre, and when Ms Parker told you that Daniel couldn't be backstage, you promptly told her that he was your emotional support. After much arguing, she finally let him backstage.

Around an hour before showtime, the director told Daniel that he had to go wait in the audience if he already bought his ticket or that he had to go do it now.

Before he left, he gave you a pep-talk. "Hey, so one time, I was in this play, and the idea was that I was expelled, and there was a piece of paper I had to give my 'mother,' but I lost it. So we had to improvise, but I couldn't find the paper, and I felt horrible. So just know, even if you forget your lines, you must improvise, and remember, it still probably won't compare to the embarrassment I felt that day. So you can laugh at my humiliation. "

You chuckled, "I will. Ok, go before you get in trouble."

"Ok, me, our parents and all your friends will be in the front row. I've already reserved the entire row. I brought a whole bag of jackets just for that reason!"

"You can't do that," you said in between cackles.

"For you, I'll do anything," he grinned.

A few hours later and the show was almost done. "What's here? A cup, closed in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end," you wept.

"O, churl! Drunk all and left no friendly drop to help me after? I will kiss thy lips; Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to die with thine restorative." You leaned over James and let your hair fall to the side of your head to cover your face. You pulled back without actually kissing James.

"Thy lips are warm."

A whispery voice came from offstage, "Which way?" The cue for you to take the poison, which was actually cranberry juice.

"Yea, noise? Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger!" You grabbed the dagger and brought it near your chest. "This is thy sheath;" you drew the fake knife back three inches from your chest and stabbed it to where the bag of more cranberry juice was and punctured the bag. 'Blood' soaked through your dress. "There rust, and let me die." You fell dramatically onto the altar and waited for the scene to end as the crowd cheered.

After the show, you dashed into the crowd where your friends and family waited for you. Ovations and Applauses were passed, lauded boxes of chocolates and gorgeous roses were given.

When you got to Daniel, he practically tackled you with a hug. "I actually thought you died for a split second. The blood looked so real."

"Daniel, most people don't bleed that fast, do they?"

"I don't know but fear kicked in, and I couldn't make sense of anything."

You grinned and almost went to your parents before Daniel grabbed your arm. "You don't have a date to the Leavers ball, do you?"

"No, I don't. Why?"

He sighed. "Well, I was thinking that you could go with me. I don't have a date either."

You squinted, thinking there was some ulterior motive behind his actions. "Ok, I'll go with you if you give me the money you owe me before then."

"It's right here," he smiled.

Your face scrunched up, but you reluctantly agreed. You only had a month of school left, and you might as well spend it having fun with your friends.

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

The Leavers Ball and the Getaway Party

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

You were dressed in a light blue, pleated, Mikado prom dress that cut off at mid-thigh. You had black wedges on your feet and a black pearl-beaded bracelet on your arm.

You were wearing a half-up, half-down style that framed your face and a silver necklace with a circle-shaped diamond.

You were sitting in the parlour when Daniel rang the doorbell. He was ten minutes late.

"Sorry," he said when your dad answered it. "I know I'm late. I was picking up Kat and James."

Kat and James were your and Daniel's respective friends who'd started last year after you and Daniel introduced them.

"Hi," you popped out of the shadows. "Alright, Mom, Dad, we're late, so we're just going to get goi-"

"Wait! I have to take pictures! Go get Kat and James."

"No, Mom. No pictures!"

"It's only right. I just want a few. We can take it outside."

You sighed but reluctantly caved into your mother's will.

The four of you took pictures outside of Daniel's Jeep Wrangler. You took ones with silly faces, just girls, just boys, and ones with all four of you before your parents allowed you to leave.

You were forty minutes late, and the ball was already in full swing by the time you got there.

You got on the dance floor immediately because one of your favourite songs was playing, but the DJ switched the song as soon as you found a decent spot. It was a slow song. You chuckled, and Daniel put his hands on your waist.

"Well, this is awkward."

A few minutes later, Daniel posed an interesting question.

"Did you know that I had a crush on you when you first came to school?"

"Uh, you stammered. "No, I didn't know that."

"Yeah, I did. It was short, though. Surface-level."

"Oh," you said. "Should I take offence to that?"

"What?" His eyes widened in realization with what he said. "No, that's not what I meant. You have an amazing personality. I just meant that… I just meant I like you more as a friend than to ruin that with any of those feelings."

"Oh, ok. You wouldn't have, though."

"I wouldn't?"

"No, everyone needs an ego boost every once in a while."

"Haha!"

"And besides, I've had feelings for you at one point too. But it was very cliche, so I tried to shake it as hard as I could."

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows. "And did you?"

"Like I said, as hard as I could. If it's still there somewhere, it's buried very deep, so much so that I was embarrassed."

"Embarrassed to like me?"

"I mean embarrassed to try and make my life seem like some movie."

"Oh, well, if you did, it would've just made you that much better as an actress. Speaking of that, would you consider acting in the least?"

"Maybe, now that I'm leaving, it's basically the last thing I have to connect me to you."

"No," he said, pointing to your bracelet. "You have that."

You had forgotten that it was Daniel who gave it to you, but the realization brought a smile to your face. "Oh yeah, I'll never take it off."

Later on, long before the ball ended, you saw many of your friends leaving.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" Daniel approached you.

"Where is everyone going?"

He wriggled his eyebrows. "Afterparty!"

"But it's not over?"

"Quit being a party popper and just come with us, L/N!"

You gave in, something you did a lot, and you all started driving. When you got there, you realized you were at Daniel's house.

"The afterparty is at your house?" you asked.

"Well…" James answered.

Kat joined in. "It's really an afterparty!"

"This is your going away party!" Daniel finished.

"But I'm not going away for another month."

"Well, now you have an entire month for people to give you gifts and stuff, and you don't have to worry about the party!" He reasoned.

"But why did it have to be after the Leavers ball?"

"Because you're already in a dress, and it has to be a surprise! Surprise!" Kat exclaimed.

"Alright, fine!"

The entire night you partied and danced, and though you didn't drink alcohol, plentiful amounts of pop and mocktails were passed around. The music was a delight to your ears with all your favourite songs. There were chips and pizza with all your favourite toppings.

"This party is awesome!"

Daniel grinned. "Well, I am an amazing party planner if I do say so myself."

☆◦ 。＼｜／。◦☆

Airport

☆◦ 。／｜＼。◦☆

Daniel's parents drove your family to the airport. Your parents had sold the car. Your dad would return in a week to close a deal on the house. Everything was official, and now you were leaving.

You got out of the car, and the tears forcefully began to fall.

"I'm really gonna miss you, jerk," you said disdainfully to Daniel.

He chuckled. "I'm going to miss you more."

"Impossible!"

He wiped the fallen tear from your eye, and for a moment, you could see every single multi-coloured speck in his eyes and noticed how sometimes they looked blue, and at others, they looked grey or green.

You noticed the curvature of his smile and the chisel of his jawline.You saw the hurt in his eyes that said, 'why do you have to go? You're killing me,' and wanted to never move from that position.

He continued to rub the tears that fell onto your cheek, and the sad moment was as sheltered as it could be. You felt safe with him, in his arms, just looking at his face and being reminded of how he comforted you in a place that felt as familiar as Oz felt to Dorothy.

"What am I gonna do without you?" you whispered.

"Get at least one acting job, get an assistant and an agent, I'll do the same thing, and then either one of us has our assistants reach out to our agents, so we get back in touch in case we ever lose touch."

He sounded so grave that you couldn't help but laugh. "That's assuming I do become an actress, Daniel."

"You're right," he whined. "But don't forget me."

"I promise."

And you tried to keep that promise. Throughout your first year, you interned at UCLA, working in the lab. You then applied to go to school there, and you still tried to keep Daniel in your mind. Maintaining a social life on campus combined with schoolwork already wasn't easy. However, you still wouldn't let yourself forget your best friend.

It wasn't until you entered your senior year and you were about to graduate that he started to wane in your memories. The things you did together became obsolete as new friends and memories replaced the old. The things he taught you were thrown out to make space for the new lessons you learned each day.

Even when you did become an actress, you never really remembered why you decided to. You remembered that your friend pushed you to do that play, but it was almost ten years ago, and for the life of you, you couldn't remember his name.

But you did do it, first as an extra, then a body double, and then you started getting l roles on smaller shows. But your big break was getting a quasi-lead role on the spin-off of a big television show, The Walking Dead. For two years, you enjoyed going to conventions and playing the complex character, Valeria Bishop, and you thought you had it all figured out.

But life has a funny way of coming full circle and throwing you a curveball that knows you off course and changes your life.

[pochiperpe90]

Here comes “The Old Guard”. Marinelli goes to Hollywood, alongside Charlize Theron.

“Alone, fragile and immortal.”

A story of love, friendship and compassion with an ancient warrior and a young African American, who has just discovered she is immortal, as protagonists. Because the world needs women and courage knows no gender differences. 20 years after “Love & Basketball” and after “The Secret Life of Bees” and “Beyond the Lights - Find Your Voice”, Gina Prince-Bythewood comes to the action movie with very clear ideas on how to reinvent the rules. We talked to her over the phone while she was in Los Angeles during the lockdown. 

A superhero movie that doesn't look like a superhero movie. Is that why you decided to make it? 

Absolutely yes, when I read the script I realized that despite the fantastic genre there was a very realistic background. These characters are real and it's easy for the audience to relate to them despite being immortal. They fight for goals and reasons that people understand. The more realistic the film, the more viewers can reflect themselves in the protagonists. 

In fact, the most fascinating aspect of the characters is their vulnerability: they are immortal, but up to a certain point, which is a paradox. They too have to deal with the sense of the end. 

There is a possibility that they may die, that their immortality is interrupted, that they still suffer from their wounds, and this brings them closer to us. The public still feels sorry for them when they see them in danger.

Immortals suffer, and not just physically.

Many think that being able to live forever would be extraordinary, but no one asks what this really means. Immortality has consequences: it can be a gift, but it can also be a curse.

And we don’t know why immortality fell to them. 

The thing I loved about the graphic novel and the script is the fact that there is no explanation. Not only do we not know it, but neither do the protagonists. But it is a trilogy and therefore there is still a lot to tell.

Could you offer your contribution to the script? 

It was a great script, with great roles based on the graphic novel so I stayed very true to the text. With the author, Greg Rucka, we wanted to reflect on the fear of taking someone's life, the one that sometimes overwhelms soldiers in war, whose psychology is often neglected. Hollywood films have never been very concerned with this aspect, as if killing had no consequences. The protagonists are forced to kill, but if someone has been doing it for centuries, for others it’s the first time. 

What struck you about Luca Marinelli? 

I could talk about him for days, I love him, he's the actor that all directors dream of having on set. He loved the character and gave him life in a very credible way. Between him and Marwan Kenzari is born a great complicity, necessary between two people who have been together for centuries. Luca's eyes are full of soul, his Nicky is the heart of the group, he’s the most sensitive character of all of them. 

Charlize Theron, who is also one of the producers, has an increasingly and more torn body.

Charlize has already played roles like this one, she is very credible in the genre of action and has been helpful to who had never faced it before. From her, who really worked hard, others learned to do the same. She is very credible in the role of a woman who lived for thousands of years.

Matthias Schoenaerts, on the other hand, has an insidious role. 

He embodies the tragedy of immortality, loneliness, betrayal. He is the actor who most resembles his character in the graphic novel. He wanted to make the film at all costs because he had never measured himself with the action genre and felt he had things to express. 

The film underlines how today it’s no longer possible to hide, images can capture you at any time. 

In a scene near the end, when the immortals look at photos and articles about them, they truly become aware for the first time of everything they have done to protect humanity. They understand the power of images from which they continually try to escape in order to hide their identity. 

And then we talk about science and profit. 

In the film, people from different places join forces to protect the world, a need even more relevant today. Yet it is increasingly evident that profit matters more than human lives. 

Do you think the film industry is becoming more inclusive with women? 

Things are finally changing and I am grateful that, despite having no other action films on my resume, I have been entrusted with The Old Guard. I am grateful for the trust they have placed in me. It should be taken for granted by now that women are capable of coping with any film genre and I think how much pressure from the industry Patty Jenkins, who directed Wonder Woman to success and opening the door for many of us, went through. But the door must be wide open because there are still few who have such opportunities. 

In your opinion, have opportunities grown with the arrival of platforms like Netflix? 

Netflix wasn't afraid to trust a series of directors. Which studio would have produced Roma or Irishman? He has the courage to make films that Hollywood deems too risky.

The Golden boy

“Luca Marinelli, as we have never seen him before: in his Hollywood debut, he becomes an immortal and fights with Charlize Theron to save the world.”

Just before the lockdown he was one of the jury members of the 70th Berlinale in the city where he has lived for years - and he swears he had so much fun watching three films a day. The audience awaits him in theatre in the role of Diabolik, in the film directed by Manetti Bros., but on July 10th he arrives on Netflix with The Old Guard, the action movie that sees him alongside Charlize Theron. And where he plays the Italian Nicolo, Nicky for the group of immortals he belongs to. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández, the film offers Luca Marinelli an insidious superpower, an endless love and a new opportunity to demonstrate his talent as a true champion. We reached him on the phone and he, less shy than usual, told us how he became a secular "superhero".

How did you get to the project? 

I auditioned in London, where I later returned and met the director. Lastly, there was a final meeting between me and Marwan Kenzari. We made a scene together and then they announced to me, "We'd love for you to be Nicky." 

What struck you about this character? 

The story fascinated me because it tells of immortals as if they were the damned. Nicky and Joe live this condition as a gift because they are linked by a wonderful love story and they are not alone. They met in an absurd and paradoxical situation, during the Crusades, ready to kill themselves. They did it a hundred times and then they looked at each other and fell in love. But others suffer from it, like Andy and Booker. In a beautiful scene, Booker, played by Matthias Schoenaerts, explains what happens to them: they see the people they love die and blame them because they cannot prevent it. And they are tired of watching the world repeat itself following the same dynamics. They fight to save people, but everything seems to go on the same way. Only in the end will they discover what they have done and what they are doing. 

How did it go with Charlize Theron? 

Well, it was wonderful! As I read the script I said to myself: am I really going to make a film with Charlize Theron? And hug as well! I was very excited and intimidated already while reading. She is an extraordinary actress. In the scene where we are at the table and everyone tells Nile something about us, Andy tells her what we are and it was nice to see her running and venturing into the midst of emotions and thoughts. Sometimes I got distracted and didn't say my line. But Charlyze is also a crazy athlete. You have to be really athletes, otherwise you don't survive at the end of the day. And Charlize is an athlete of the body and the heart. 

What about her athletic training? 

We got together a month before shooting to start working with the stunts. I had to get some athleticism back: when I arrived and they looked at me I think they were a little worried. We had to become familiar with martial arts and then we switched from the sword to other weapons and to hand-to-hand combat. We prepared scene by scene, including the choreographies, different for each fight, and each of us had his own rubber reproduction of the sword. It was an unforgettable training.

The immortals come from different places in the world. How much of Italy is there in Nicky? 

Apart from the pronunciation? They still laugh at some of the things I said. Marwan and Matthias, but also Charlize, speak Italian at different levels and every now and then I enjoyed shooting a few sentences to which they could answer me. 

Did you offer your character something that wasn't in the script? 

Well, being in such a group, shy as I am ... I tried. I have always focused on the bond between Nicky, Joe and the other members of the group, because I am interested in discovering what is inside a character, his feelings, how he looks at the world, what excites him. Nicky has lived for centuries, but still greets the people he meets in the desert with a smile, inside him there is the flame of an infinite good. Each character has a different sensitivity and their own armor. Nicky is perhaps the least armored one.

The challenge was also to make people believe in a love story that has lasted for centuries. 

Marwan recites a beautiful monologue in which he talks about their love story. I hope that each of us, in their short life, can say the same thing about the person they love. 

You’ve already had superpowers in “They Call Me Jeeg”. What is your relationship with this genre? 

I like it very much and I think that both films, very different from each other, have a very interesting soul. In Jeeg Robot, Enzo Ceccotti uses his superpowers to help others, taking on a social responsibility. In The Old Guard the protagonists put themselves at the service of others, even if no one has asked them to. “This is what we do,” they repeat over and over to each other. What they do is save people, participate in what they think is right. 

How do you think they would react to protests on American streets and around the world?

I don't feel like playing games, mixing reality and fiction on a terribly real subject like this. I think that in reality, outside of any cinematic fiction, it’s fundamental to fight for equality, within society, but also within ourselves. To go back to our film, if in a microscopic way we manage to carry a message in that direction, I would be very happy. 

What director was Gina Prince-Bythewood? 

She is always ready to listen, and I am someone who asks a lot of questions even at inappropriate times. She always had great patience and was very attentive to the emotional side of the film, to the interiority and beauty of the characters.

CIAK Magazine - Luglio 2020

Just wanted to translate this old interview for the non-italian’s fans ^^ (sorry for my English)

[joshjacksons]

Joshua Jackson interview with "Mr Porter" (2021)

Minutes before Mr Joshua Jackson joins me in a booth for a Friday afternoon drink at a vibey hotel bar in Santa Monica, he’s confronted by his past. Or rather, a woman in her early twenties who is binge-watching Dawson’s Creek, the teen show about a close-knit group of high-school friends coming of age in a sleepy American town, which made Jackson incredibly famous between 1998 and 2003. The series, which also made household names of Ms Michelle Williams and Ms Katie Holmes, went off air 18 years ago, but is now streaming on Netflix, to the bemusement of Jackson, who played lovable rogue Pacey Witter. “This girl was like, ‘Are you...?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, I am. He got old. I’m sorry to break it to you,’” he says, before ordering an iced tea and a charcuterie board to tide him over until dinner time. “It always surprises me when young people say they’ve just got into Dawson’s Creek. I’m like, ‘Is it a costume drama to you? Do you feel like you’re watching a historical documentary?’”

The idea of a Friends-style reunion episode or a Sex And The City revival feels equally far-fetched to Canadian-born Jackson, now 43 and wearing it well in a pale green linen shirt and tailored linen trousers by Oliver Spencer that complement his fading brown hair and Cali-tanned skin.

“I don’t know why you’d want to [bring it back],” he says. “Nobody needs to know what those characters are doing in middle age. We left them in a nice place. Nobody needs to see that Pacey’s back hurts. I don’t think we need that update.”

And Jackson doesn’t need Dawson’s Creek. From Mr JJ Abrams’ sci-fi series Fringe (2008-2013) to the Golden Globe award-winning The Affair (2014-2019), from Ms Ava DuVernay’s ground-breaking true-crime drama When They See Us (2019) to the recent Ms Reese Witherspoon and Ms Kerry Washington-produced Little Fires Everywhere (2020), he has commanded the small screen – with a collection of dynamic and diverse work – ever since.

His latest role as Mr Christopher Duntsch, the Texas surgeon convicted of gross malpractice when 33 of his patients were left seriously injured after he operated on them and two of them died, in chilling Peacock crime drama Dr Death, is only stepping his career up another gear.

“I’ve never played anyone irredeemable before,” says Jackson, who is joined in the eight-part series (based on the 2018 Wondery podcast of the same name) by Messrs Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin. “He is charming, gregarious and has a high-level intellect, but he’s also a misogynist, probably a sociopath, certainly a narcissist and a complete incompetent who is incapable of seeing himself.”

If Duntsch is terrifying, then Jackson’s portrayal is even more so. The artist formerly known as Pacey is virtually unrecognisable (thanks to prosthetics) in the opening scene, but the real challenge for Jackson was allowing himself to view someone who is so “spectacularly evil” as a human being in order to walk in his shoes. “It’s a more damning portrayal of the man to make him into a human being, rather than just make him the bad guy,” he says. “He really believes he’s the hero, he’s the genius and that he’s the victim, so once I got past my own judgment, all the other things fell into place.”

Jackson might have his pick of stellar roles – and challenges – now, but it has not happened by accident. Take it from someone who has been in the business since landing his first job aged 14 in Disney’s live-action movie series The Mighty Ducks, opposite Brat Pack alumnus Mr Emilio Estevez.

“You try to make it look like it happens accidentally,” he says, “but there is no way to do this and not be ambitious. I’d say I’m extremely ambitious because I’ve been doing this cutthroat job for nearly 30 years. I’m in the pay-off phase of my career now. One of the benefits of surviving for as long as I have is you get to learn from your own mistakes.”

Such as? “I wouldn’t say, ‘I wish I hadn’t done that,’ because it all becomes bricks in a path, but [after Dawson’s Creek] I was not choosy enough about the things I was doing. You get stuck. You start trying to perform the performance you think people are hoping to see you do. I was so used to working all the time that I just worked all the time. There was definitely a conscious moment in my mid-twenties when I realised I wasn’t really enjoying the work that I was doing. My manager at the time just said, ‘Take a breath. You’re burnt out.’”

The turning point came in 2005, when Jackson was offered a role in the two-hander Mr David Mamet play A Life In The Theatre, opposite Sir Patrick Stewart. “God bless him, Patrick could have made my life miserable because I had no idea what I was doing, ” he says. “I hadn’t been on stage since I was a kid and now I was in the West End in over my head. But it reminded me that I actually enjoyed being an actor, that it’s not about the red carpet or travelling around the world. What I really enjoy is working on good material with good people.”

It’s no surprise Jackson’s time on Dawson’s Creek led to a career crisis. From the ages of 19 to 24, he lived with his fellow cast mates in Wilmington, North Carolina, filming day in, day out, in an arrangement he likens to college. “You get to the end and they’re like, ‘Here’s your degree. Go live now. You’re an adult. Go out into the world,’” he says.

But most graduates don’t have to deal with global fame. “It’s transitory. You’re only ever cool for a moment and then you become much less cool. I was always pretty dubious about flatterers,” he says, recalling a time he was stung in London in the mid-2000s. “I went on a date in Hyde Park with a woman whose name I will not use – she was socialite-famous – and she was acting completely bizarre, looking over her shoulder the whole time. I came to find out that she had hired a photographer to follow us through the park and gave a whole story to the tabloids about how I was going to meet her family.”

It was his growing fortune, rather than fame, that caused Jackson the most anxiety. “Suddenly, at 19 years old, I was making more in a week than most of my friends’ parents would make in a year,” he says. “It was lovely to have the money, but it was that feeling of nobody is worth that kind of money. You feel like a fraud and it took me a long time to forgive myself for not being the thing that I was perceived as.”

Born in Vancouver, but raised in Topanga, California, until he was eight (before moving back to Vancouver following his parents’ divorce), Jackson bought his childhood home in 2001 and lives in it today with his wife, British Queen & Slim actor Ms Jodie Turner-Smith, and their 15-month-old daughter.

“My father unfortunately was not a good father or a husband and exited the scene, but that house in Topanga was where everything felt simple, so it was a very healing thing for me to do,” he says. Fast-forward to 2021 and his baby daughter now sleeps in her father’s childhood bedroom. “There was a mural of a dragon on the wall in that room that I couldn’t believe was still there, years later. The owner [who sold him the house] said, ‘I knew it meant a lot to somebody and that they were going to come back for it some day.’”

Becoming a first-time parent during a pandemic sounds stressful, but it afforded Jackson months at home with his wife and child that his normal work schedule wouldn’t have allowed.

“I now recognise how perverse the way that we have set up our society is,” he says. “There is not a father I know who works a regular job who didn’t go back to the office a week later. It’s robbing that man of the opportunity to bond with his child and spend time with his partner.”

Despite his obvious career ambitions, fatherhood has changed Jackson’s priorities in “every possible way”, he says. “It’s 100 per cent changed how I approach my work and my life. That has been made so clear to me in this past year. For me to feel good about what I’m doing day to day, my family has to be the central focus.

“There are plenty of things left for me to do, but now the thing that gets me excited is experiencing the world through my daughter’s eyes. I can’t wait to take her scuba diving. I can’t wait to take her skiing. I can’t wait to read a great book with her. I’m not worried at all she’ll be a wallflower. She’s been a character from the word go.”

Jackson met Turner-Smith, 34, two days after his 40th birthday. He had been single since his 10-year relationship with German actress Ms Diane Kruger ended in 2016. “I was not looking to fall in love again or meet the mother of my child, but life has other plans for you,” he says.

The couple met at a party. Turner-Smith was wearing the same The Future Is Female Ejaculation T-shirt Ms Tessa Thompson’s character, Detroit, wears in the 2018 film Sorry To Bother You. “That’s what I used to break the ice. I shouted, ‘Detroit!’ across the room. Not the smoothest thing I’ve ever done, but it worked. We were pretty much inseparable from the word go. It was a whirlwind romance and I can tell my daughter I literally saw her mother across a room and thought, ‘I have to be next to this woman.’”

A self-confessed “useless” shopper, Jackson gives his wife full credit for his current wardrobe. He is jewellery-free, apart from a wedding band and a gold signet “JJ” ring on his little finger (a present from his wife), and discovered tailored sweatsuits (by Stampd and Reigning Champ) in the pandemic.

“Jodie has influence in the way that a wonderful wife encourages you, through love, to dress well. She was like, ‘We’re going to throw away all the sweatpants from your past and I’m going to get you some that actually make you look like an adult male and you will still feel comfortable around the house,’ and I’m like, ‘What an amazing idea!’ Who knew you could get sweatsuits that actually look good on your body?”

Jackson’s style has evolved, he says, “from slovenly teen to it’s-nice-when-your-clothes-actually-fit-you”. The penny dropped after he auditioned for his former co-star Estevez, who was directing the 2006 Mr Robert Kennedy biopic Bobby. He said to me, ‘You only got this job because I know you. You came in here to play a very well-put together 1960s political operative and you’re wearing jeans and a hoodie.’

“I had to grow up a little bit. We are very much raised in Canada to never, ever show off, so it took me a while to recognise it’s OK to look good when you go out.”

Still, when you’ve grown up in front of the camera, “every pimple literally documented”, and lived (very successfully) to tell the tale, you can probably be forgiven for the odd fashion faux pas.

“I wore a silk Ascot to an event once in Paris and I still have nightmares about it,” he says. “I looked like Fred from Scooby Doo, but you live and learn.”

[s-horne]

Donuts and pink coffee

2000 words of established-relationship stony set in my Harley&Peter universe where Tony hates Valentine’s Day and Steve is a hopeless romantic without even trying

**

It was a stupid excuse for a holiday. Really, just stupid. What was the point of it anyway?

Did it matter that Tony had forgotten, because it wasn’t as though it were one of their anniversaries or Steve’s birthday, was it? It was just another day, just an over-commercialized day essentially created by corporations to take advantage of hype. Valentine’s Day was a money-making scheme if he wanted to get political about it. Not that Tony was bitter, or anything. He just didn’t see the point in it.

It was never made into a big thing when he was a child. Jarvis, his parents’ housekeeper, had usually bought his wife a single red rose that she would be wearing in her hair when Tony got home from school and ran into the kitchen to steal a quick snack before dinner, and he always made sure that Tony’s mom always got a box of chocolates taken to her room with her morning cup of coffee, but there was no other ‘love’ present just because it was Saint Valentine’s Day. There were never any gifts from his parents to each other, never more than a stiff kiss on the cheek from Howard to Maria before he left the room to go back to his study. They didn’t even smile at each other over dinner; Howard was always too engrossed in his work to remember the date. The same went for their anniversary and Maria’s birthday. And pretty much every other day of their lives together.

 -

Since he’d woken up on the stupid holiday, Tony’s day had only gotten worse. Not that it had started out great when he’d slept through his alarm and then run out of milk for the kids’ cereals so had had to try and convince them to have toast instead – only to find that there was no more peanut butter and Peter didn’t eat toast without it.  

Then, when he’d gone to his coffee shop on his way to work, he’d struggled to get a regular cup of his usual coffee as the baristas tried to perfect drinks in frankly disgustingly-unappetizing hues of pink instead. Even his usual croissant had been replaced by a new range of cupcakes with fondant decorations of hearts and what were probably supposed to be cherubs, but had looked more like swans in diapers.

When he’d finally made it to the office – coffee- and croissant-less – the day had been far from productive. All his staff had wanted to talk about were their plans for the evening and every meeting he’d conducted had been interrupted by deliveries of massive floral bouquets for his blushing staff. The more flowers that had arrived, the more people asked Tony what he was doing to celebrate with his gorgeous man – his secretary’s words, not his. (Not that he disagreed.)

Apparently, nothing was the wrong answer to that question, judging by the dropped jaws and side eyes he’d gotten. Tony just didn’t need a day to tell Steve that he loved him. He didn’t need a stuffed bear or chocolates or red roses that suddenly seemed to be five times the price that they had been when he’d ordered them for Steve’s mom a few weeks before.

In his defence, he and Steve been together for years and they were the fathers to two young boys. Honestly, they barely remembered to kiss before they collapsed into bed, never mind finding time to plan an entire day of romance. They’d done all that before – well, no, they’d never really done that, actually. Their courtship had been a whirlwind of stuffed toys for the boys as gifts instead of flowers, dates to museums or playgrounds instead of theatres or restaurants, and snatched moments of ‘grown-up’ time between babysitter deadlines and after-school clubs. But it worked for them.

By the time he was done with meetings and paperwork and could head home, Tony was honestly fed up of life in general. After feeling nothing but peer pressure all day, he had decided to try and do something to at least mark the day. He’d tried to order Steve’s favorite takeout, only to find that the restaurant was fully booked and were experiencing a wait time of a few hours for delivery.

All he’d seen all day were signs for flowers, posters plastered in near enough every shop window for roses in so many shades of red that it made Tony’s eyes hurt. But Steve didn’t like flowers around the house because they were likely to be knocked over by a rambunctious little boy playing a made-up game and spill water all over the floor, so that was no good. They also had enough candy in the house to last them for months so that idea was out too. Neither of them had the need, or the want, for a stuffed bear and Steve didn’t do jewelry. 

Tony was stumped.

 -

Finally, finally, walking through the front door, Tony felt the day’s tension fall from his shoulders. He couldn’t get to the kitchen fast enough, needing to throw off his coat and drop his bag down before they suffocated him.

When he was finally free of those, – and his shoes, tie, and belt – he looked around, only just noticing that he was alone. It was unusual for him to be left alone for so long on the days that he was kept at the office later than five and was more often than not ambushed as soon as his car pulled up to the drive.

Before he could go searching, he noticed the table. Two of the tiniest boxes of candy were set on the table next to a box of donuts, placed right where he usually sat for their meals. Someone was obviously a lot better at romance than he was. Make that three someones, he realised as he stepped closer and noticed three different sets of handwriting, one on each box.

Daddy! Happy V-day! :) proclaimed one box of candy, letters neat and small enough to fit in the white space on the packaging.

Daddyy!!! Happy velentins day!!!!!! said the other in a bright red pen, box a little bent from Harley’s blatant enthusiasm and finished with a little doodle of what was probably a heart in one corner.

Grinning, Tony turned to the last gift. It was a box of his favorite donuts and very obviously from his favorite bakery, even if the label had been covered with a post-it note.

Sweetheart, it said in a stark black, Happy Valentine’s Day. Love you today and always

Tony swallowed, tracing his finger over Steve’s cursive. It didn’t make sense, how much he had and who he had around him.

What had he done to deserve the life he had?

   -

It didn’t take him long to find his boys after that and he paused in the doorway to the living room, feeling any leftover stress ebb away as he took in the sight of Steve sprawled out on the couch with Peter draped over his legs and Harley tucked under his arm, all three of them completely enthralled by the bright film on the television.

“What are we watching?”

As soon as the words had left his mouth, Peter and Harley’s heads shot up and they scrambled to get off the couch. Harley managed it first and barreled across the floor, throwing his arms around Tony’s neck when he was close enough and wrapping his legs around Tony’s waist.

“Daddy! You’re home!”

“I am, babe. I’m sorry I’m so late.”

Despite always saying he was too cool for hugs whenever Steve or Tony initiated them, Peter quickly joined Harley and buried his face in Tony’s stomach, hands on his thighs. “Hi. Didja see the candy?”

“I did, you little superstar. Thank you very much. Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too.”

“Valentine’s!” Harley shouted, far too close to Tony’s ear for comfort. “Love you!”

“I love you, too,” Tony murmured, pressing a kiss to Harley’s temple before he set him on the floor where he scampered back over to the empty couch. Running his hand over Peter’s hair, Tony mentally counted down the seconds of hug he had left with his eldest. Five seconds was pushing it, most days. “Love you, as well, terror.”

All too soon, Peter pulled away and Tony let him go with a held-back sigh.

“Hello, handsome.”

Smiling, Tony turned his head. “Hi, gorgeous. Say, you wouldn’t know anything about a box of donuts in the kitchen, would you?”

“Hm, possibly? Are they in a yellow box?” Steve asked, stepping closer, brow furrowed a little.

“Don’t think so. Pink, if I recall.”

“Oh, those donuts. Right, yeah, I know something about those,” Steve murmured, taking a last step to him and curling his arm around Tony’s waist. “Think I saw them earlier. A secret admirer, perhaps?”

Tony let himself move to Steve’s body, his hands lifting automatically to rest on Steve’s chest. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he said, lower lip pushing out a little as he sagged in Steve’s hold.

“Yeah? Why’s that, then?”

“Cause it makes me look bad,” Tony said, dropping his head into Steve’s neck much like Harley had done to him. God, he needed a hug.

Steve laughed softly. “How?”

“I didn’t get anything.”

“I know, sweetheart,” Steve pressed a kiss to the top of Tony’s head, one hand settling on the small of his back, “it’s alright. I didn’t do it to get something in return.”

“Ugh,” Tony said eloquently. Steve had always been the better of the two of them. Better with words, better with thoughts. Apparently better with romance and remembering dates. “They only had pink coffee at my shop.”

“Uh oh. That doesn’t sound good.”

“It wasn’t.” Burying even closer, Tony let out a long sigh. “I didn’t even get a croissant.”

“Even worse,” Steve said, so much fake shock injected in his voice that it sounded like he was talking to one of the kids. When Tony pinched his side, he laughed loudly again. “Did you manage to salvage the day after that?”

Honestly, Tony couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter, either, not with his boys laughing at whatever movie they had gone back to watching and with Steve’s arms holding him tight. He must have made some sort of noise as Steve chuckled again.

“I’ll take that as a no. Want to crack open those donuts? There’s a bit left of this film and I said the kids could have something sweet before they went to bed – I swear they got more candy from school today than they did at Halloween.”

Tony made another noise. “In a minute. They’re watching the film for now and I’m perfectly happy where I am.”

“Okay,” Steve said softly, pressing another kiss to Tony’s hair as his arms tightened around him. “I’m glad you’re home.”

“So am I,” Tony said, eyes closing. “I love you. You know that, right?”

“Course I do. I’m incredible.”

Tony snorted. “You’ve been hanging around with me for too long. But even if I don’t do flowers and chocolate and donuts, I love you. So, so much. You are one of the best things that ever happened to me and I thank everything I can think of every single day for you coming into my life.”

There was a silence, broken only by the laughter of their sons and some noise from the movie that Tony still hadn’t identified. All too soon, Steve pushed Tony away from him ever so slightly. With wide eyes, he lifted shaking hands to cup Tony’s face, thumb stroking over the apple of Tony’s cheek.

“You, me, and our boys,” he said, voice serious and unwavering and sounding like something one would say at an altar. “I love you more than I will ever be able to tell you.”

“I want to spend my life loving you.” Whenever he had to get serious, Tony normally chose to do it in their bedroom, with his back turned to Steve and the lights down low. He hated baring his feelings, hated putting himself somewhere to be vulnerable, but it was less scary with Steve’s cologne surrounding him and his touch keeping Tony grounded. “With our kids and some donuts and no flowers and the discounted candy I’ll buy tomorrow.”

Steve’s smile was gentle as he ducked his head and brushed a kiss to the corner of Tony’s eye, just above where his fingers lay. “I’ll take that deal. On Valentine’s Day and every other.”

[arcticfox007]

The Bishop’s Wife

Destiel December Challenge 2020

Day 12: Cookies

Thanks to everyone who has been leaving kudos, comments, hearts, and reblogging. It means so much to know people are enjoying these!

If you’ve never seen the movie mentioned in this, I’d suggest checking it out if you get a chance. There is also a remake, The Preacher’s Wife, but I grew up surrounded by Cary Grant movies so I prefer the original.

This is a continuation from days 2-11 and will be continued on day 13. 

Check out my Master Post or AO3 if you need to catch up. 

***

               Cas and Sam arrived back at the motel with both cars to find Charlie and Dean waiting in the already packed up room. Charlie went to check them out and then declared she was stealing Sam for the day. They made plans to meet up for dinner before Charlie planned on ditching them for her Christmas plans with her girlfriend. In short order, Cas and Dean were left alone putting the various stuff they’d obtained on their trip into the Impala.

               Castiel was worried about Dean. He was acting strangely and the angel thought that perhaps Dean regretted kissing him last night. Cas had hoped it wouldn’t be a problem even if Dean didn’t care for him the way Castiel cared for Dean. Dean may have just kissed him because of the mistletoe and if Cas had hidden said faux-mistletoe in his pocket as a reminder, Dean needn’t know. What Cas did not want is for that kiss to ruin their current relationship, especially when things had been going so well recently. While kissing him had been the most wonderful rush of barely contained bliss, Castiel was worried more and more that he had made Dean uncomfortable. Dean kept avoiding eye contact as they had looked over the room one last time to make sure they hadn’t forgotten anything. The atmosphere had been tense enough that Cas had fled the room and used the time to buy some coffee from the inn as a back-up gift in case things continued to deteriorate. Cas didn’t think he had the will to share his wings with Dean if there was a chance it would push the beautiful man further away. Eventually Cas found himself hunched miserably in the passenger seat of the Impala as the tension between him and Dean grew more pronounced.

               “Cas, what’s wrong man?” Dean’s concerned voice startled Castiel out of his spiraling emotions. He once again regretted the control he had lost over the years; feelings were still unfamiliar enough to the angel that they easily became overwhelming.

               “I’m fine Dean. What would you like to do today?” Castiel was satisfied that his voice did not betray the tumultuous panic raging inside of him as he began to wish the previous night hadn’t happened. In fact, he suspected that Dean only noticed anything at all because he knew Cas better than the others did. The thought only made the angel more anxious.

               “Uh, well, I was wondering if you wanted to check out the historic movie theatre with me? They’re showing holiday movies all day. I mean, if you’d rather do something else that’s cool. Or if you want me to drop you off somewhere?” Dean’s voice became higher pitched as he spoke, which Castiel vaguely recognized as nervousness. Cas trained his gaze on Dean’s face trying, and failing, to discern the reason behind Dean’s uncomfortable fidgeting. He wasn’t sure what Dean would prefer, and because of this Castiel decided to take the chance and do what he wished to do – stay with Dean.

               “I would like to go to the movies with you.” Dean’s face lit up at Castiel’s words and the angel was more confused than ever. He felt himself relaxing at the obvious evidence that Dean did still want to spend time with him. They fell into a companionable silence as Dean drove back towards the city’s main road and looked for whichever parking offered the most protection for Baby. It was still cold today and it didn’t take much convincing for Castiel to get the knit Christmas hat back onto Dean’s head.

               “Hey, we should turn in the angel scavenger hunt list first. We have some time before the first feature starts.” Castiel agreed easily and trailed after Dean as he led them to the bakery that had been hosting the hunt. Dean was excited when he discovered the prize for completing the scavenger hunt was a small sack of freshly baked cookies. He let Cas pick out the type, and they left the store with freshy backed chocolate chip cookies. Dean happily declared that they now had snacks for the movie as they headed down the street towards the theater. Castiel was pleased to note that whatever strain had been between them was fading away as the day progressed.

               The theater was actually a gift store that had kept some of the original rooms of the building intact. Dean purchased their tickets and insisted they immediately find seats despite the movie not starting for a bit. Castiel listened to Dean explain how you had to go in early to get good seats but he didn’t really understand.

               “Dean, all the seats are the same design.” Dean rolled his eyes at the angel.

               “Cas, it’s all about where you sit. You can’t see as well from all the way in the back and the very front row isn’t great either. You’re so close it’s hard to see the whole screen.” Castiel decided to just trust Dean on this as it didn’t make much of a difference to him. After deliberating between two different rows Dean choose one that was further in the back than his explanation had indicated would be ideal.

               “I thought you said we didn’t want to sit in the back?” Dean didn’t respond as he tugged on Cas’ coat to get him to sit down next to him. Cas was pleased to note that Dean had pushed back the armrest in-between the seats as it allowed the two of them to sit more closely together.

               “Yeah, well, there are some good things about sitting in the back. More privacy for one.” Cas thinks that over but refuses to get his hopes up. He contents himself with the feel of Dean’s arm pressed against his and quietly accepts one of the cookies that Dean passes to him. While he can’t discern much of the flavor, he appreciates the sensation of warm chocolate on his tongue as he bites into the soft cookie. He offers Dean a small smile to communicate his enjoyment of the baked good. They eat in silence as a few other groups fill into the seats in front of them. The movie, The Bishop’s Wife with Cary Grant, begins to play, and the excited chatter in the theater dies down to occasional murmurs. Dean tilts his head to get closer to Cas’ ear.

               “You’ll like this one, Cary Grant plays an angel. Honestly I would have gone with calling you Dudley over Clarence.” Cas enjoys the feeling of Dean’s breath on his ear. Metatron may have left him with knowledge of human stories, Cas isn’t sure he knows this movie. Cas wonders why Dean thinks of him more like the angel in this film and pays closer attention.

               Castiel quickly catches on to the point of the story. The idea that the Bishop has lost sight of what’s truly important isn’t an uncommon theme. What surprises Castiel is the angel, Dudley, falling in love with a human. He can tell from the set up that nothing will come of it, but he empathizes with Dudley as the angel struggles to handle his unexpected emotions. When the movie ends the theater is left in darkness during the transition to the next film. Cas’ is pulled out of his thoughts when he feels Dean’s thumb wiping away tears he hadn’t realized were there.            

               “Hey, are you okay Cas?” Cas doesn’t know what to say. He feels the hopelessness of an angel falling in love with a human. He understands the happiness that comes with just knowing that person has some measure of joy, even if it’s not with you. He remembers how different the same story had been for him, how he had turned to Crowley when Dean had found happiness with Lisa and Ben. Even now he would leave if Dean would be happier without him, but for now, Sam had said he made Dean better. He would find joy in that.

               “I will be fine Dean. Yes, I feel that I have more in common with Dudley than with Clarence but I’m curious as to why you thought so.” Dean gives him a mischievous smile, although he still seems concerned about Cas’ wellbeing. Cas doesn’t mind when Dean uses the sleeve of his flannel to clear away the last of his tears.

               “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Cary Grant is much more attractive than Henry Travers.” Cas is surprised into laughter at this statement. He happily accepts another cookie from Dean and settles in to watch the next movie. Maybe Cas’ story won’t end the same way as Dudley’s. As Dean’s hand finds Castiel’s and their fingers entwine, the angel thinks that their kiss under the mistletoe meant more to Dean as well.

***

@galaxycastiel, @jellydeans, @my-favourite-hellatus, @nguyenxtrang

[extraneousdominomask]

Family.

This was, technically, Elyna’s second ever Día de Muertos.

That first autumn had bled into winter in a blur. Things in the house had been hectic, and tense. Understandably tense. Justifiably tense. Even without the exceptional circumstances, the ghost of a murderer hanging over this lovely home, it was easy for traditions to slide a little. It had taken a lot of careful effort to “adopt” her.

Oops. She was doing it again. The thing her therapist had pointed out where she didn’t classify the things that happened to her as real, because she didn’t see herself as real, but everything she felt was more than real so it only made sense to drop that habit and accept herself.

It had taken a lot of effort to adopt her. Yes.

That was what had happened. About fourteen months ago, this family, this wry and well-liked pillar of the local community, had revealed that they actually had a second daughter. Older and taller and much more purple than the pre-existing daughter. And they included her in everything. Last night, she had shared a wonderful Hallowe’en with them.

And now it was November 1st. From one holiday right into another.

Sly wasn’t a particularly spiritual man, despite - because of? - all the actual, literal undead creatures he had battled in his youth. He loved a good excuse to celebrate, though. As well as the big, basically secular holidays, he was happy to join his wife in her own traditions. The Montoyas and the Foxes were spread across pretty much the entire Spanish-speaking world and beyond, and at this point Carmelita essentially just picked her favourites. Factoring in all the globe-trotting they had both done, separately and together, the household’s annual calendar was… interestingly blended.

So, an archetypal Hallowe’en was always followed by a traditional Día de Muertos. It wasn’t a total shift in tone - it was important to remember the deceased with love and good humour, something this household could produce in industrial quantities - but there was a certain reverence to proceedings that was noticeably absent on the preceding night of pumpkins and candy and horror films.

Carmelita took this fairly seriously. That was why Elyna was dreading it.

Sly had stepped out, taking B with him. An annual raid for clearance candy. A shared activity Elyna preferred them to keep for themselves. This was her best shot. She had no idea how she was going to get through this conversation, even removing the possibility of her father bursting in with a poorly-timed joke.

‘Her father’. She reflected on those words as she stalked towards the living room. Sly Cooper was the source of half her genetics. The necessary ingredient that made her a test-tube baby instead of an unfeasible clone. And despite a… tense first meeting, she hadn’t had much difficulty accepting the fact he was her father. It was exactly that. A fact. His overtures of friendliness, everything he did to make her feel welcome, came with a solid, scientific basis.

His wife, though… 

Elyna let herself into the living room. It already looked so different from the makeshift movie theatre it had been last night. This was a small town, with an almost suspiciously low crime rate. There wasn’t that much work even for the Chief of Police, and that leftover energy meant quick and efficient decorating and undecorating and redecorating. 

The only survivors were the skeletons, grinning and painted, specific to Día de Muertos but certainly not out of place last night. But the pumpkins and cobwebs and big orange candles were gone. The back wall had been cleared, making space for several beautiful ofrendas. 

Elyna’s eye lingered on one corner, distinct from what was otherwise a sea of severe foxes. A photograph was the focal point, per tradition. It depicted two raccoons. One had black hair and sharp, intelligent eyes - still noticeably green in the otherwise faded colour palette. She was giving the camera a quiet smirk. The other was only identifiable as a raccoon by the hint of his striped tail sneaking up through the bottom of the frame. His arm was lovingly around the woman’s shoulders, but his face was totally obscured. 

Every year, Carmelita asked if Sly seriously didn’t have a better photo of his father, and every year, Sly would make a fresh joke about the man’s lifelong animosity with cameras. Just another tradition. Another ritual, part of the smooth running of the holiday.

“Your grandparents.”

Carmelita was adjusting a small figurine of an acoustic guitar with pinpoint precision, getting it in exactly the right spot relative to a smiling ancestor. But she had heard Elyna come in, and knew where those hazel eyes were focused.

“Conner Cooper, and his wife Beatrice,” she continued. “B is named after both of her grandmothers, actually. It’s made easier by the fact Sly’s mother preferred to be called Trixie.”

Elyna took another look at the bulk of the ofrendas, remembering her sister’s full name. “But, um, Zoe’s not up here, right?”

Carmelita smiled to herself. “Not yet she isn’t. Or my father. Too stubborn. At this rate, they might both outlast you.”

It was a harmless joke. One Elyna had to stop herself from hearing as a threat.

Carmelita straightened up, turning thoughtful. “We’re overdue for a visit,” she said. “I thought we had introduced you, but apparently not.”

These sorts of forgetful exchanges were becoming rarer. Elyna fiddled with a stand of her black hair - she was growing it out, and still getting used to it, and didn’t need distractions right now. Didn’t need to think about how she never met her father’s wife’s parents. Her step-mother’s parents. Her step-grandparents.

This was her chance. Her best shot. She should just follow her training and seize the moment. Without fear.

“I have a question,” she mumbled. “About this, I mean.”

“Oh?” 

“I, uh,” said Elyna, “have no idea whether I should put up a picture of my mom.”

The living room went silent.

Silence was one of the reactions Elyna had been expecting, and it was honestly one of the better ones. But that didn’t make it comfortable. “It’s just,” she attempted, “it’s kinda unclear to me if it’s all your family, or just the ones you…”

“The belief,” said Carmelita, crisply, “is that by setting up an ofrenda you’re inviting that person’s spirit into your home.”

“Right.”

“So you do it for people you want in your home.”

“Right,” said Elyna again, quieter.

A few moments passed. And then Carmelita sighed. Her posture, which had become rigid, uncoiled a little. “There’s no one answer,” she said, more diplomatically. “The spirit of the holiday is remembering the togetherness of family. But we both know that’s how things should be, not how they always are. Not everyone is so lucky.”

“I’m sorry.” Elyna was back to fiddling with her hair. “I know it’s a stupid question.”

“Not at all. I’ve always held there’s no such thing as a stupid question.” She put on an expression of exaggerated tiredness. “Or at least I used to say that, before moving in with your father…”

Elyna chuckled at that, and Carmelita smiled. That was always Sly’s strategy for smoothing a bumpy discussion - knowing when to include a soft joke. Carmelita had gotten better at it herself over the years.

“Has this been worrying you for long?”

“It’s kind of been in my head on and off for the past month. Sorry for only bringing it up now. And sorry for…” Elyna sighed. “I shouldn’t even be asking you about this. I know how much Mo- …how much Neyla hurt you both. Obviously you don’t want a picture of her in your living room.”

“The question,” said Carmelita softly, “is do you?”

Said question hung in the air for a few moments, unanswered. Carmelita intently watched the teenage girl in front of her. She looked so much like Neyla. But standing there, her paws awkwardly clasped, her gaze nervously on the floor, she couldn’t be more different.

“Do you know the origins of this holiday?”

Elyna managed to tear her eyes off the carpet, watching Carmelita carefully.

“It’s pre-Columbian,” she explained. “The practice of honouring the dead is rooted in the ancient cultures of Mexico. It was an important part of life for the people who lived there long before the Europeans came.  The modern version we celebrate today is a mixture of those original practices with a Catholic influence. That’s why it’s held on this date, for instance - to sync up with the church calendar. I think it’s important to remember it’s a blend.”

Elyna’s ear flicked. “A ‘blend’? That’s a pretty nice way of putting it. I’m no historian, but Hernán Cortés didn’t just step off his boat and ask everyone to play nice, did he?”

“No,” said Carmelita quietly.

“It’s not a blend. A blend would be if the Europeans and the natives set out to make something nice together. This is some kind of Frankenstein monster made when one group was just minding their own business and someone else came up behind them and-”

It was Elyna’s turn to fall silent.

“Oh,” she said.

Her face scrunched up a little, and Carmelita sighed. “That’s… not what I meant. Or at least not exactly.”

“You only kind of meant to call me a Frankenstein, got it,” muttered Elyna, who was, fantastical circumstances or not, still a teenage girl.

“I didn’t call you anything.” Carmelita’s voice was steady. Not sharp, but steely, leaving no room for argument. She hadn’t thought much about motherhood earlier in her life, but she had always been able to keep a firm grip on an unpleasant discussion, and that was one of the fundamental requirements. “Try not to assume the worst of what I’m saying.”

Elyna stayed quiet.

“But… yes. I suppose it might be an applicable metaphor. You’ve got two sides to you, too. You’re Neyla’s, and you’re Sly’s. You’re the result of some cruel revenge scheme, and you’re a person with your own desires. Who you are now is a product of both.”

“That’s… yeah.” Elyna rubbed her arm sheepishly. “That’s pretty much what’s been eating at me. Neyla was an objectively bad person. And like, I never even met her, so it’s not like I’m attached. Or at least I shouldn’t be attached…”

Not for the first time, Carmelita privately despaired at the uncertainty in the girl’s tone. That therapist had a lot to work through.

“…but the fact is, I wouldn’t exist without her. At all. And that’s… It’s just weird.” She paused. “Yeah.”

“And now all those confusing feelings have a physical problem. Whether or not to put up her picture.”

“Yeah…” 

“I’m not being flippant when I say I don’t know what to tell you,” said Carmelita. “Not everyone in my family tree was a saint. No-one can claim that. But as far as I know, we never had a Neyla.”

“As far as you know,” echoed Elyna. “That sounds like the answer, then. Monsters get written out of the family history.”

“They don’t get invited to parties, at least,” she replied. “Which, like I said, is the spirit. It’s keeping your family close, because you never want to forget their warmth.”

Elyna resisted the urge to scoff. Purely for Carmelita’s benefit - it wasn’t directed at her. ‘Remembering warmth’. There wasn’t any warmth to remember when it came to Neyla. To the brisk, clipped instructions Elyna had been left in lieu of a childhood.

She felt the decision click into place.

“Let’s not do it.”

Carmelita, to her credit, kept her reaction diplomatic. “You’ve decided?”

“Yeah. If the point is remembering the good times, well… A photograph of Neyla is just a waste of space.”

In other circumstances, Carmelita would have shown more enthusiasm for an insult that harsh, that confidently delivered. But she knew to tread relatively lightly, so she just offered Elyna a smile. “Well said. I’m glad I could help.”

“Yeah. Thanks a lot.” Elyna nervously returned it. “I was hoping you’d know what to do. And, I knew that you, y’know… I mean, I can ask Dad for advice on a lot of things, and it’s usually pretty good, but-”

“Happy Skeleton Day~!”

The door swung open, revealing a grinning Sly. They hadn’t heard him come through the front door, but he had no qualms about announcing his presence.

“How’s it going?” His eyes, the same hazel as Elyna’s, fell on the ofrendas. “Oh, wow. These look better and better every year, ‘Lita.”

“Oh, I didn’t do much differently…” said Carmelita, but her face betrayed how much she appreciated the comment.

He planted a kiss on her cheek, then planted himself beside her, husbandly. 

“Where’s B?”

“Oh, she ran straight to her room,” he said. “Pretty sure she’s stashing her candy in a secure location. Or locations. Who knows how many caches she might have…”

Carmelita sighed. “Is that raccoon behaviour, or fox behaviour…?”

“Oh, both. Absolutely both. It’s a marvel she eats anything at dinner.”

He turned his warm smile more towards Elyna.

“So, what are you two talking about?”

“Just, uh, holiday stuff,” said Elyna. “I had a weird question. Carmelita is a good person to ask.”

“She is! Honestly, I just follow her lead.” He glanced over to her. “Speaking of, there’s still a few things to figure out about the big dinner. Bentley and Penelope are easy to cook for, but I like to give Murray new options where I can. Any thoughts?”

Seizing this chance for a tactful retreat, Elyna began to drift towards the door. “I might, uh, go check on B.”

“Good idea,” said Carmelita. “Again, I’m glad I could answer your question. You can always talk to me, Elyna.” That earned a smile, once much less nervous.

“Thanks, Mom.”

There was a pause.

Sly was pretty sure that blushes weren’t supposed to show up through fur, and yet, the lilac of Elyna’s face seemed to briefly veer into a much more reddish purple. Her hazel eyes were wide and unblinking. “mrrghg,” she said.

“Come again?” said Sly, unruffled.

“I said ‘okay bye’,” said Elyna and she was gone an instant later.

The door clicked shut with surprising gentleness. Sly chuckled. “Well…”

He stopped, finally noticing his wife had a similar facial expression.

“‘Lita? Everything alright?”

She blinked, twice, and suddenly she was back. It was still hard to slow Carmelita Fox down. “Sorry. Just wasn’t expecting that.”

Sly’s smile was wry, but his voice was soft. “I was.”

Carmelita leaned against him, and they stood there for a moment, half-embracing in their living room. Logistical questions about dinner plans and decorations fell away, briefly, as they savoured the feeling in the air. What had just happened, and the unique atmosphere of the day, and, of course, each other.

The silence was broken by a soft murmur.

“She’s a good kid.”

“Really?” said Sly innocently. “She doesn’t get it from me!”

Carmelita scoffed. 

“Okay, maybe she does,” he admitted. “I have many wonderful qualities to pass on, as is evident in both our daughters…”

He cupped his wife’s cheek. Lost himself, for a moment, in those deep brown eyes.

“But you’re a better influence than I could ever be.”

Her reply was a kiss. 

The moment passed, slowly, but they didn’t hurry to get back to decorating. It was still early, and they had several hours before the annual dinner they held for Murray and Bentley and Penelope - familial relations just as important as the gallery of photographs in front of them. As the girls engaged in hushed discussion of cheap chocolate upstairs.

“Oh,” said Carmelita. “While she and I were talking, I realized that Elyna’s never met my parents. We should fix that.”

“We should,” said Sly. “Sometime in winter, maybe? Whenever suits your folks. Might take us a little while to get over there, but we could throw in a few detours on the way, really make use of the journey…”

She smiled. “And when did I say we’d be going to them? They’d be perfectly happy to come here. You’re just-”

“-taking every chance I see to go on a trip, yes,” he smirked back. “C’mon, ‘Lita, you can hardly be that surprised. Old habits, etcetera…”

“Are you really so eager to escape?”

She said it as a joke, but he didn’t bounce back with another quip. He stood there, in his living room. His daughters upstairs. His parents watching over him from behind the glass of their picture frame. His brothers and sister-in-law, still thriving, quietly, the same way he was, on their way in a few hours. And, above all else, the love of his life in his arms.

His smile was as warm as his voice.

“Nah. We’ve got something pretty good here.”

[tcm]

SCENT OF MYSTERY and the Lingering History of Smell in Cinema by Kim Luperi

"First they moved (1895)! Then they talked (1927)! Now they smell (1960)!" taglines for SCENT OF MYSTERY (’60) proclaimed. And smell it did – like wine, garlic, cigar smoke, banana and an array of other aromas.

SCENT OF MYSTERY qualifies as the most unique screening I’ve attended at the TCM Classic Film Festival because, well, it’s the only aromatic cinematic experience I’ve ever encountered, recreated for the only movie produced in this particular process, Smell-O-Vision. The mystery travelogue follows a vacationer (Denholm Elliott) in Spain who randomly happens upon a plot to murder a young woman and dashes off throughout the country to stop the crime with the help of a taxi driver (Peter Lorre). Shot on location, the “mistery” movie—as Olorama Technology coined it—aimed to create an atmosphere that smelled just as authentic as the real-life locations viewers saw onscreen.

Though the idea of mixing scent and cinema stretches back to 1916, when a Pennsylvania theater unleashed a rose fragrance on an audience watching a Rose Bowl football game, the novelty failed to compete with the advent of two other ideas that wowed the senses during the 1920s: sound and color. A mere decade later, though, Hans Laube introduced a new scented technology at the 1939 New York World’s Fair: Smell-O-Vision. Laube felt this olfactory experience, which circulated scents through tubes connected to individual theater seats, could open up many possibilities in Hollywood, but that wasn’t the case.

Cut to the 1950s, a time when Hollywood was desperate to entice audiences away from their television screens. According to a 2006 Wired article, SCENT OF MYSTERY producer Michael Todd Jr. approached Laube to create a “smell brain,” a set of bottled scents dispensed automatically as the film ran through the projector. But by the late 1950s, there was competition: AromaRama, which actually debuted first in late 1959 with the documentary BEHIND THE GREAT WALL. While the idea was the same, the method differed, as AromaRama fragrances circulated through air-conditioning systems already in place.

“I felt strongly that the idea of putting smells into a theatre was a wild one,” Todd Jr. was quoted as saying in The New York Times. “The process was fun and it should be used in a way that got the most fun out of it.” But his valiant attempt turned out a failed effort. Despite lofty goals shared in a 1960 Variety article of running the film in 12 locations worldwide by the end of the year, SCENT OF MYSTERY only played three cities: Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Critics bestowed mixed reviews, with some finding the plot uninspired and the scents a distracting crutch.

New York Times critic Bosley Crowther railed against the stunt, saying select odors were indistinguishable and belated; the aromas “are actually the least impressive” feature of the movie, he concluded, especially since some were meant to act as clues to the mystery! Additionally, the technology proved costly, estimated at around $12,000-$20,000 per location, with figures hitting $50,000 for a theater in Chicago. (For comparison, AromaRama installation ranged from $4,000-$8,000.) With those costs, negative critiques and flawed technology, fragranced innovation couldn’t save SCENT OF MYSTERY from bombing at the box office. The film was eventually removed from circulation and re-released, scentless, as HOLIDAY IN SPAIN in 1962.

TCM revamped the Smell-O-Vision experience for SCENT OF MYSTERY’s 2016 TCMFF screening in what I presume was a more cost-efficient manner, relying on audience participation via numbered mini perfume vials left on each seat and large Smell-O-Vision-branded units that pumped select fragrances throughout the theater. When our corresponding number appeared on screen, we spritzed away! Aromas including peach, peppermint, tobacco and fireworks wafted through the air throughout the movie, some more strongly than others as not every seat was occupied. The result? An amusing, if not slightly distracting, interactive experience that I remember – in all honesty – more vividly than the plot itself.

But aromatic cinema didn’t end with SCENT OF MYSTERY. John Waters revived the idea in his 1981 movie POLYESTER with an economical twist: Instead of elaborate scent systems, Waters crafted 10 scratch and sniff scents viewers unleashed signaled by numbers onscreen. In true Waters fashion, he played up the gimmick, dubbed Odorama, and subjected audiences to aromas of gasoline, pizza and flatulence, among others. Waters’ simpler, yet more reliable idea caught on (sans some of those smells!), and scratch and sniff cards were sold at convenience stories for 1980s television airings of SCENT OF MYSTERY and special screenings of RUGRATS GO WILD (2003) and SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD (2011).

So, where will the idea of scent and cinema go from here? Companies today are exploring the possibilities of integrating fragrances into virtual reality, digital chats and other web content, but how long before the fad finally dissipates is the question.

[jackie-talks-about-starkid]

A Very Potter Sequel (Rewatch #3, 9/23/2020)

YouTube publish date: July 22, 2010 [three years and a day from the book release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]

Number of views on date of rewatch: 4, 850, 972

Original Performance Run: May 14-16, 2010

Ticket price: Free! And available via email reservations! (because of parody-legality things) [x]

Director: Matt Lang

Music and Lyrics: Darren Criss

Book: Brian Holden, Matt Lang, and Nick Lang

Cast album price and availability: $9.99, on Bandcamp (x)  and iTunes

     Release date: 8/3/2010

Parody or original: a very original sequel parody (parodies Sorcerer’s Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Order of the Phoenix specifically while incorporating other elements of the Potter books, movies, and various other pop culture references)

Main cast and characters

Harry - Darren Criss

Ron - Joey Richter

Hermione - Bonnie Grueson

Draco - Lauren Lopez

Snape - Joe Moses

Dumbledore - Dylan Saunders

Umbridge - Joe Walker

Lupin - Brian Holden

Sirius - Nicholas Straus

Lucius Malfoy - Tyler Brunsman

Yaxley - Corey Dorris

Musical numbers

Act I

     *all music and lyrics by Darren Criss

“Not Over Yet” Characters: Lucius, Yaxley, and Death Eaters

“Harry Freakin’ Potter” Characters: Ron Weasley, Rita Skeeter, Harry, and Hogwarts Students

“To Have A Home” Characters: Harry

“Hermione Can’t Draw/Lupin Can’t Sing” Characters: Harry and Hogwarts Students

“The Coolest Girl” Characters: Hermione

“Gettin’ Along” Characters: Dumbledore and Umbridge

“Let The Games Begin” Characters: Company

“Those Voices” Characters: Harry, Sirius, James, and Lily

Act II

“Guys Like Potter” Characters: Lucius and Snape

“Stutter” Characters: Umbridge

“No Way” Characters: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco

“Days of Summer/Back to Hogwarts” Characters: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Company

Notable Notes:

The entire filmed version of AVPS premiered at the Harry Potter convention, Infinitus, which is one of (if not, the first) convention that StarKid officially attended as guests

A Very Starkid Album, which includes many songs from AVPS as well as the Darren Criss solo versions of “Ready to Go” and “Even Though” from Me and My Dick, debuted as #14 on iTunes Top Pop Album charts when it was released, earning a spot higher than Glee and Lady Gaga, whose albums were placed at #31 and #29, respectively (x)

Cultural Context: 2010

Hurt Locker wins Best Film at the Critics’ Choice Awards

The Winter Olympics happen in Vancouver

Matt Smith has his first appearance as the 11th Doctor on Doctor Who

Iron Man 2 opens on April 26th

One Direction is formed on X Factor

California’s Prop 8, banning same-sex marriage in California, is overturned

The global outbreak of the Swine Flu is still ongoing

Content Analysis:

There are a two things that stuck with me the most while watching AVPS for the umpteenth time that I could not stop thinking about:

     1. each character portrayed in the show shows off each actor’s comedic strengths perfectly, and

     2. despite not every single creative team member having a musical theatre specific formal education, growing up in and around musical theatre made the team more aware of the intrinsic musical theatre characteristics and formulas that aid a work like this in its success.

The first point should be somewhat obvious to those who have watched the show and are fans of the original source content, both book and movie universes. I cannot sing the praises of Lauren Lopez and Joey Richter’s comedic timing enough! I have no words for how incredible their performances are. Darren Criss’ performance is charming as always. Joe Walker as Umbridge is absolutely hilarious - StarKid’s comfortability with performing in drag is something I really admire that not a lot of productions can successfully pull off. I’d like to give a special nod to Tyler Brunsman as Lucius Malfoy who honored Lopez’s physicality as Draco perfectly while still making the overdramatic poses and gestures a trait that is the character’s own. Overall, 10/10 love the performances.

Now for the music. Darren Criss has an extensive background in musical theatre and theatre in general, so it isn’t surprising that he was able to make music that worked so well for a musical that he helped create. However, there are certain things about musical theatre that a person can’t learn via formal education and experience in professional settings. A lot of musical theatre (I’d say all of it, but that wouldn’t be giving professionals enough credit) is simply trial and error. While the loose idea of book-and-lyric/dialogue, song, and dance musical theatre has existed for over one hundred and fifty years (historians often attribute the first musical to The Black Crook which debuted in New York City in 1866), the modern-day formula for musical theatre was perfected, though by all means not invented, by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the 1940s with Oklahoma! They are often credited for creating the traditional musical theatre plot formula and song types that were used almost exclusively in the Golden Age of musical theatre in the 1950s, and are still commonly seen today, even with more experimental and non-traditional pieces.

Like how the Hero’s Journey in literature is so commonly used and reused over and over in different mediums and genres, even in theatre, there are certain types of songs that are traditionally used for servicing a musical’s plot and character development. A classic example of this would be the “I Want” song, such as ‘The Wizard and I’ from Wicked or ‘Something’s Coming’ in West Side Story. In A Very Potter Sequel, the “I Want” song is ‘To Have A Home’. Another common song trope in large cast musicals with one specific lead is something I like to call the “Hero’s Welcome” song, though I’m not sure if that phrase is the proper term for what I’m talking about. An example of this type of song is ‘My Shot’ from Hamilton or, in this case, ‘Harry Freakin’ Potter’. A personal favorite of mine is the “Jilted Lovers” song, like ‘Take Back Your Mink’ from Guys and Dolls and ‘Stutter’, from this show.

Anyone who is familiar with musicals, and particularly musical comedies, would recognize these kinds of songs and the roles that they serve in their specific productions, but the reason why it’s so hard to write successful musicals is because not every song a person writes for a specific part of a show fits the rights tone or follows the more traditional type of song seen in previous musicals that follow a similar plot structure of character introduction, conflict introduction, rising action, climax, and resolution (with a happy ending for a musical comedy). Yet Darren Criss, who was in his early twenties at the time, executes it so very well.

Even in the character performances, actors use very specific gestures and intonations when delivering a line or performing an action that the audience immediately knows the intentions of, because that delivery is so commonly used in whatever instance is being performed. One that immediately comes to mind is the scene in which Umbridge discusses the dorm rules with the girls. While explaining the cruel and unfair treatment the world gives for girls who aren’t as pretty and perfect as Cho Chang, Umbridge says,

“Because that’s just the way the world works for frumpy little turds like us! I mean…

*Umbridge stiffens with realization, then turns her neck in a very jilted fashion towards the girls*

Like you”

It’s the neck action that does it for me. I don’t know how or when that performative gesture became a physical symbol indicative of aggressive mental instability, but the media consumer inside of me knows that gesture is what is meant to be done at that moment in time to convey the threat Umbridge represents. And that’s what makes the comedy of StarKid, and the comedy in this production work so well for me. The cast and creative team just get what it means to perform something for an audience, and particularly an audience of fans. And it’s definitely because the cast and creative team are such adamant fans themselves.

[xoruffitup]

The Report Screening (I Successfully did a Thing!)

So this idea sparked in my mind when I first saw The Report back at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Not only does my organization work on rule of law issues in international development, but our Executive Director is also known as a whistleblower figure against the CIA torture program while it was happening. When I heard Scott Burns mention my Director by name in an interview, I knew there were too many connections to ignore. My org should host a screening of the film. 

After Toronto, I took the next chance I found to speak to our Director about the film. Lo and behold, he consulted with Scott Burns on the screenplay and had major input into the film. Beyond that, he knew Dan Jones while Dan was working on the Senate report. My Director was wholly behind the idea of hosting a screening.

Then, fast forward to the AITAF show in November. I’m at the reception beforehand with my Dad and my friends, and who do I recognize across the room but none other than Dan Jones! He was just mingling and chatting, casual as could be, and I freaked out a bit at the sight of him because this had to be a sign?! Knowing this was the chance to make those connections to bring my idea to fruition, I went up to him during the reception and introduced myself. I told him where and who I work with, explained we’d like to host a screening, and he said he’d be more than happy to help us set it up!

I knew from the get-go that Dan would be the most important highlight of the event. Hearing him speak right after you’ve watched the film is simply staggering. So between many Twitter DMs and emails, I finally found the date that worked for both Dan and my Director - December 12th. 

Then came the logistics - To have the event on or off site? How to play the film? After deciding to keep costs down and planning simply by holding the screening in our office event space, the problem then became streaming over our unreliable internet connection. Dan had asked in an earlier email whether we “needed help with Amazon,” so when I explained that we do, he sent one email to some exec and by the end of the day someone from Amazon was on the phone with me promising to ship us a DVD! (They also offered to rent us a theatre??! But by that point the event was less than a week away so there wasn’t enough time to plan for that. Would have been insanely cool though if Amazon paid for our private theatre rental ;))

I set up the catering order; I had our Outreach team make up promo flyers and send an announcement out to our member networks; I hyped up the event to colleagues internally and friends externally. Then today came, and despite all my planning I was still nervous as all hell, with everything resting on my shoulders. 

The film arrived in the mail the morning of, and I called the Amazon contact again so they could give me the password to access the disc. (Some fancy stuff, here.) But then cue three hours of our IT people trying to get the disc to play in our event space. Several near-breakdowns later on my side, we finally get it working with sound and everything. By this point I’m extremely anxious, worrying about IT problems and having really no idea how many people will even be showing up.

The time arrived! The catering came on time, and sure enough the trickle of arriving people quickly became a definite crowd. By the time it came time to start the film, we needed extra chairs!! I said a short welcome, our Director spoke a bit about the film and the legacy of the use of torture, and then (miraculously!!) the film played without even a spot of trouble!! Literally THANK GOODNESS, because an event at our office without any sound or video issues is basically unheard of. But tonight, the impossible happened and the film played all the way through without a single hitch! :’D

When 7:30 rolled around, the film was nearing its end and it was time for me to head downstairs to meet Dan Jones in the lobby. He arrived right on time, I brought him upstairs, and here queue twenty minutes of us sitting outside the event room watching the film through the glass door and just chatting?? He’s literally so chill and friendly and great to talk to? We talked about Star Wars a little and other movies? And I got to ask him a bunch of random questions about The Report I’ve been wondering. (Does he have sneaky cameos in the movie? Yes, he does. Would he ever work in government again? They’d have to drag him back kicking and screaming).

Once the film ended, our Director introduced Dan and he came in to much deserved applause. Our Director started Dan off with a few questions, then we opened up to what quickly became an incredibly engaged, thoughtful, and lively Q&A! A few external attendees were lawyers currently representing Guantanamo detainees, and their questions were among the best. Dan seemed to enjoy the discussion too - appearing much more in his element, in comparison to the Q&A environment/topics at TIFF.

We wrapped up the Q&A after about 45 minutes and that, ladies and gentlemen, was a wrap! Without a single technical snafu or delay!!! The event was incredibly well attended and so many people expressed gratitude to me on their way out. One woman who’s worked at our org for 30 years said it was the best event she’s ever been to! T_T

I couldn’t be more pleased with the evening! Especially considering how near to a breakdown I was this afternoon ;’) But everything literally went completely smoothly and exceeded all my expectations. I’m so glad I managed to actually bring this crazy idea to fruition, albeit with a few months of finagling and organizing. Seriously, couldn’t be happier. :’DD

Me and Dan Jones afterwards and yes I cropped out other people from my org because A) Kinda weird to post them? and B) I totally maybe have a crush on accomplished well-spoken humble funny incredibly chill Dan Jones???

(And Dan with Adam just because)

NOW I FINISH PACKING TO GO TO LONDON FOR TROS PREMIERE! AHHHHH LET’S GO and continue the crazy awesome whirlwind my life has been lately!!!! :’’D

(There was definitely a moment when I joked with Dan about maybe getting Adam’s autograph at the TROS premiere. Dan was like “oh haha are you like a superfan?” and I was immediately like “oh no haha nothing like that hahahahahaha” you know, like a liar. He might get to go to the CA premiere though so I hope he does! Then we can welcome him to the dark side of obsession! >:))

[ryanmeft]

Movie Review: High Life

I have a confession: this is the second Claire Denis film I have seen. You do not have to shame me for this: I am very prepared to shame myself. Having been absorbed completely by White Material and Isabelle Huppert’s portrayal therein of a woman so out of touch it was amazing she could tie her shoes, I continually added movies such as Let the Sunshine In and Beau Travail to my DVD.Com queue, only to get in the mood for a silent comedy and push them down the list. I watched Denis’ latest the other day, and you may be happy to know I have put Sunshine near the top and will be leaving it there.

This isn’t necessarily because High Life is a great film. There are things within it that can make even the most patient, most wine-sniffing art film snob slosh their fermented grapes impatiently, and I am about as far from that crowd as one can get; I’m an off-puttingly blunt midwesterner at heart, and there were times I wanted to turn it off. I didn’t, because it gave me something I crave like a drug, the very reason I watch so many movies, including this one, sight unseen: something I wasn’t expecting. No, better: something I never could have expected, because I could not have predicted it. It is a film where convicts set loose in space under the false pretenses of investigating a black hole cope with sex, loneliness, ambition, and parenthood. In service of this somewhat meaningless plot description, it includes a scene in which Juliette Binoche uses a sex machine and ceiling straps to imagine herself in coitus with a person in an animal suit.

If you read that sentence and thought “I’ll never see another film like this one”, and you liked that thought, you may understand why I’m going to give this movie a high rating despite an uneven execution. It stars, primarily, Robert Pattinson and Binoche as two of the convicts. We learn what Binoche’s character, a fertility-obsessed doctor named Dibs, did through dialogue; we get flashbacks to what Pattinson’s Monte did, which is for my money one of the film’s missteps. I was enthralled by Dibs’ story precisely because I had to take her word on it. The film begins with Monte, who has the charge of a baby girl named Willow, jettisoning the deceased bodies of his fellow crew out into space. It then skips back, showing how things reached that state, then forward to when Willow is a teenager, and sometimes it jumps back and forth between these times. What happened and how, questions of whether Monte is the girl’s father, become less important than the cadences of life on the ship, the push and pull of death and life. The latter is often represented by sexual fluids, those of both sexes, which the film is not shy about.

Before anyone groans with disgust at that, I want to remind you that nearly all of us laughed at a movie where semen was used as hair gel. We have little issue with the stuff of life and biology being on screen, as long as we are kept at a comfortably vague angle to it. I admit I flinched the first time the results of someone’s pleasure were seen; pop culture has conditioned me well. Yet these things are not in service to bawdy jokes or even cheap lustful thrills, but to the depiction of patterns of life. Dibs takes the sexual and reproductive measures of those on board---hostile, fiery Boyse (Mia Goth), forceful and demanding Chandra (Lars Eidinger), clinical and removed Nansen (Agata Buzek), grounded and pragmatic family man Tcherny (Andre Benjamin)---yet she gets close to no one, in any way, and lets cold machines take care of her needs. Pattinson’s Monte has moved to the opposite end of coldness, having declared celibacy---there’s a concept not much seen on film screens---an act with a dozen layers. He engages in the unavoidable human need for nurturing by working in the ship’s garden, and his non-sexual attitude is informed by higher awareness, as he seems the only person on board fully aware of and at peace with the truth of his own exile. Pattinson, sex symbol to millions of teenage female libidos of all ages, plays here a father who does not have sex. As he has done in indie roles from The Rover to Good Times, he continues to show how much more he is than fantasy characters. When he once again spends years in that realm as Batman, I will feel a bit cheated, though likely not for the same reasons as your average SDCC attendee.

The fact that High Life contrasts inspirational poster ideas of space against the true savagery of man elevates it as a philosophical piece, putting it in a camp adjacent to 2001. I say adjacent because Denis and her shifting team of co-writers don’t always manage to keep their grip on the material. The scene with Binoche I described above is an ideal example: by itself, it is daring simply to have it in there, to go against perceived notions of sex, especially sex that women have. In the context of the film, it feels like Denis daring you not to turn it off or look away, while trying her damnedest to do something that will make you do just that. She is forcing the audience to call her bluff. She almost seems to apologize for being so far out in left field when, later in the film, Monte gets the cliche catharsis of beating a scumbag half to death. The movie flows from outrageously daring challenges to moments of mundane cinematic complacency, as if Denis wants to shock you but then immediately regrets it once you start out of the room. Sometimes, both types of sequence work in context; Monte’s funeral for the crew successfully drives the plot and the curiosity, all the way through an ending whose ambiguity is necessary and a little frustrating. Sometimes scenes work, stop working and work again while they are still happening. I was enthralled either way, and as always I would rather watch a messy-but-fascinating film than an orderly-but-boring one.

It is a bit odd coming from a devotee of Ray Bradbury, but there may be nothing I hate more in science fiction that the overly optimistic, risk-and-lesson-free pop of things like Chris Nolan’s Interstellar or Ridley Scott’s The Martian. They left my mind as soon as I left the theatre. The old masters wrote hopeful stories of the future tinged with inevitable, creeping horror; a thing like The Martian Chronicles would be poorly received today, people throwing the book down in disgust at the morally complex ending. What a terrible, tragic waste of a genre mainstream science fiction has become, a world in which we learn no lessons nor much of anything else. Whatever bits of Denis’ work here don’t, well, work, the reality is that she has made a movie that will live in my head, warts and all, for years to come. Now to get to the rest of that queue.

Verdict: Highly Recommended

Note: I don’t use stars, but here are my possible verdicts.

Must-See

Highly Recommended

Recommended

Average

Not Recommended

Avoid like the Plague

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