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grigori77 · 3 years

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Summer 2021′s Movies - My Top Ten Favourite Films (Part 2)

The Top Ten:

10. WEREWOLVES WITHIN – definitely one of the year’s biggest cinematic surprises so far, this darkly comic supernatural murder mystery from indie horror director Josh Ruben (Scare Me) is based on a video game, but you’d never know it – this bears so little resemblance to the original Ubisoft title that it’s a wonder anyone even bothered to make the connection, but even so, this is now notable for officially being the highest rated video game adaptation in Rotten Tomatoes history, with a Certified Fresh rating of 86%. Certainly it deserves that distinction, but there’s so much more to the film – this is an absolute blood-splattered joy, the title telling you everything you need to know about the story but belying the film’s pure, quirky genius. Veep’s Sam Richardson is forest ranger Finn Wheeler, a gentle and socially awkward soul who arrives at his new post in the remote small town of Beaverton to discover the few, uniformly weird residents are divided over the oil pipeline proposition of forceful and abrasive businessman Sam Parker (The Hunt’s Wayne Duvall). As he tries to fit in and find his feet, investigating the disappearance of a local dog while bonding with local mail carrier Cecily Moore (Other Space and This Is Us’ Milana Vayntrub), the discovery of a horribly mutilated human body leads to a standoff between the townsfolk and an enforced lockdown in the town’s ramshackle hotel as they try to work out who amongst them is the “werewolf” they suspect is responsible. This is frequently hilarious, the offbeat script from appropriately named Mishna Wolff (I’m Down) dropping some absolutely zingers and crafting some enjoyably weird encounters and unexpected twists, while the uniformly excellent cast do much of the heavy-lifting to bring their rich, thoroughly oddball characters to vivid life – Richardson is thoroughly cuddly throughout, while Duvall is pleasingly loathsome, Casual’s Michaela Watkins is pleasingly grating as Trisha, flaky housewife to unrepentant local horn-dog Pete Anderton (Orange is the New Black’s Michael Chernus), and Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story) and Harry Guillen (best known, OF COURSE, as Guillermo in the TV version of What We Do In the Shadows) make an enjoyably spiky double-act as liberal gay couple Devon and Joaquim Wolfson; in the end, though, the film is roundly stolen by Vayntrub, who invests Cecily with a bubbly sweetness and snarky sass that makes it absolutely impossible to not fall completely in love with her (gods know I did). This is a deeply funny film, packed with proper belly-laughs from start to finish, but like all the best horror comedies it takes its horror elements seriously, delivering some enjoyably effective scares and juicy gore, while the werewolf itself, when finally revealed, is realised through some top-notch prosthetics. Altogether this was a most welcome under-the-radar surprise for the summer, and SO MUCH MORE than just an unusually great video game adaptation …

9. THE TOMORROW WAR – although cinemas finally reopened in the UK in early summer, the bite of the COVID lockdown backlog was still very much in effect this blockbuster season, with several studios preferring to hedge their bets and wait for later release dates. Others turned to streaming services, including Paramount, who happily lined up a few heavyweight titles to open on major platforms in lieu of the big screen. One of the biggest was this intended sci-fi action horror tentpole, meant to give Chris Pratt another potential franchise on top of Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World, which instead dropped in early July on Amazon Prime. So, was it worth staying in on a Saturday night instead of heading out for something on the BIG screen? Mostly yes, although it’s mainly a trashy, guilty pleasure big budget B-picture charm that makes this such a worthwhile experience – the film’s biggest influences are clearly Independence Day and Starship Troopers, two admirably clunky blockbusters that DEFINED prioritising big spectacle and overblown theatrics over intelligent writing and realistic storytelling. It doesn’t help that the premise is pure bunk – in 2022, a wormhole opens from thirty years in the future, and a plea for help is sent back with a bunch of very young future soldiers. Seems Earth will become overrun by an unstoppable swarm of nasty alien critters called Whitespikes in 25 years, and the desperate human counteroffensive have no choice but to bring soldiers from our present into the future to help them fight back and save the humanity from imminent extinction. Less than a year later, the world’s standing armies have been decimated and a worldwide draft has been implemented, with normal everyday adults being sent through for a seven day tour from which very few return. Pratt plays biology teacher and former Green Beret Dan Forrester, one of the latest batch of draftees to be sent into the future along with a selection of chefs, soccer moms and other average joes – his own training and experience serves him better than most when the shit hits the fan, but it soon becomes clear that he’s just as out of his depth as everyone else as the sheer enormity of the threat is revealed. But when he becomes entangled with a desperate research outfit led by Muri (Chuck’s Yvonne Strahovski) who seem to be on the verge of a potential world-changing scientific breakthrough, Dan realises there just might be a slender hope for humanity after all … this is every bit as over-the-top gung-ho bonkers as it sounds, and just as much fun. Director Chris McKay may still be pretty fresh (with only The Lego Batman Movie under his belt to date), but he shows a lot of talent and potential for big budget blockbuster filmmaking here, delivering with guts and bravado on some major action sequences (a fraught ticking-clock SAR operation through a war-torn Miami is the film’s undeniable highlight, but a desperate battle to escape a blazing oil rig also really impresses), as well as handling some impressively complex visual effects work and wrangling some quality performances from his cast (altogether it bodes well for his future, which includes Nightwing and Johnny Quest as future projects). Chris Pratt can do this kind of stuff in his sleep – Dan is his classic fallible and self-deprecating but ultimately solid and kind-hearted action hero fare, effortlessly likeable and easy to root for – and his supporting cast are equally solid, Strahovsky going toe-to-toe with him in the action sequences while also creating a rewardingly complex smart-woman/badass combo in Muri, while the other real standouts include Sam Richardson (Veep, Werewolves Within) and Edwin Hodge (The Purge movies) as fellow draftees Charlie and Dorian, the former a scared-out-of-his-mind tech geek while the latter is a seriously hardcore veteran serving his THIRD TOUR, and the ever brilliant J.K. Simmonds as Dan’s emotionally scarred estranged Vietnam-vet father, Jim. Sure, it’s derivative as hell and thoroughly predictable (with more than one big twist you can see coming a mile away), but the pace is brisk, the atmosphere pregnant with a palpable doomed urgency, and the creatures themselves are a genuinely convincing world-ending threat, the design team and visual effects wizards creating genuine nightmare fuel in the feral and unrelenting Whitespikes. Altogether this WAS an ideal way to spend a comfy Saturday night in, but I think it could have been JUST AS GOOD for a Saturday night OUT at the Pictures …

8. ARMY OF THE DEAD – another high profile release that went straight to streaming was this genuine monster hit for Netflix from one of this century’s undeniable heavyweight action cinema masters, the indomitable Zack Snyder, who kicked off his career with an audience-dividing (but, as far as I’m concerned, ultimately MASSIVELY successful) remake of George Romero’s immortal Dawn of the Dead, and has finally returned to zombie horror after close to two decades away. The end result is, undeniably, the biggest cinematic guilty pleasure of the entire summer, a bona fide outbreak horror EPIC in spite of its tightly focused story – Dave Bautista plays mercenary Scott Ward, leader a badass squad of soldiers of fortune who were among the few to escape a deadly outbreak of a zombie virus in the city of Las Vegas, enlisted to break into the vault of one of the Strip’s casinos by owner Bly Tanaka (a fantastically game turn from Hiroyuki Sanada) and rescue $200 million still locked away inside. So what’s the catch? Vegas remains ground zero for the outbreak, walled off from the outside world but still heavily infested within, and in less than three days the US military intends to sterilise the site with a tactical nuke. Simple premise, down and dirty, trashy flick, right? Wrong – Snyder has never believed in doing things small, having brought us unapologetically BIG cinema with the likes of 300, Watchmen, Man of Steel and, most notably, his version of Justice League, so this is another MASSIVE undertaking, every scene shot for maximum thrills or emotional impact, each set-piece executed with his characteristic militaristic precision and explosive predilection (a harrowing fight for survival against a freshly-awakened zombie horde in tightly packed casino corridors is the film’s undeniable highlight), and the gauzy, dreamlike cinematography gives even simple scenes an intriguing and evocative edge that really does make you feel like you’re watching something BIG. The characters all feel larger-than-life too – Bautista can seem somewhat cartoonish at times, and this role definitely plays that as a strength, making Scott a rock-hard alpha male in the classic Hollywood mould, but he’s such a great actor that of course he’s able to invest the character with real rewarding complexity beneath the surface; Ana de la Reguera (Eastbound & Down) and Nora Arnezeder (Zoo, Mozart in the Jungle), meanwhile, both bring a healthy dose of oestrogen-fuelled badassery to proceedings as, respectively, Scott’s regular second-in-command, Maria Cruz, and Lilly the Coyote, Power’s Omari Hardwick and Matthias Schweighofer (You Are Wanted) make for a fun odd-couple double act as circular-saw-wielding merc Vanderohe and Dieter, the nervous, nerdy German safecracker brought in to crack the vault, and Fear the Walking Dead’s Garrett Dillahunt channels spectacular scumbag energy as Tanaka’s sleazy former casino boss Martin, while latecomer Tig Notaro (Star Trek Discovery) effortlessly rises above her last-minute-casting controversy to deliver brilliantly as sassy and acerbic chopper pilot Peters. I think it goes without saying that Snyder can do this in his sleep, but he definitely wasn’t napping here – he pulled out all the stops on this one, delivering a thrilling, darkly comic and endearingly CRACKERS zombie flick that not only compares favourably to his own Dawn but is, undeniably, his best film for AGES. Netflix certainly seem to be pleased with the results – a spinoff prequel, Army of Thieves, starring Dieter in another heist thriller, is set to drop in October, with an animated series following in the Spring, and there’s already rumours of a sequel in development. I’m certainly up for more …

7. BLACK WIDOW – no major blockbuster property was hit harder by COVID than the MCU, which saw its ENTIRE SLATE for 2020 delayed for over a year in the face of Marvel Studios bowing to the inevitability of the Pandemic and unwilling to sacrifice those all-important box-office receipts by just sending their films straight to streaming. The most frustrating part for hardcore fans of the series was the delay of a standalone film that was already criminally overdue – the solo headlining vehicle of founding Avenger and bona fide female superhero ICON Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow. Equally frustratingly, then, this film seems set to be overshadowed by real life controversy as star and producer Scarlett Johansson goes head-to-head with Disney in civil court over their breach-of-contract after they hedged their bets by releasing the film simultaneously in cinemas and on their own streaming platform, which has led to poor box office as many of the film’s potential audience chose to watch it at home instead of risk movie theatres with the virus still very much remaining a threat (and Disney have clearly reacted AGAIN, now backtracking on their release policy by instigating a new 45-day cinematic exclusivity window on all their big releases for the immediate future). But what of the film itself? Well Black Widow is an interesting piece of work, director Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome) and screenwriter Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok) delivering a decidedly stripped-back, lean and intellectual beast that bears greater resemblance to the more cerebral work of the Russo Brothers on their Captain America films than the more classically bombastic likes of Iron Man, Thor or the Avengers flicks, concentrating on story and characters over action and spectacle as we wind back the clock to before the events of Infinity War and Endgame, when Romanoff was on the run after Civil War, hunted by the government-appointed forces of US Secretary of State “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) after violating the Sokovia Accords. Then a mysterious delivery throws her back into the fray as she finds herself targeted by a mysterious assassin, forcing her to team up with her estranged “sister” Yelena Belova (Midsommar’s Florence Pugh), another Black Widow who’s just gone rogue from the same Red Room Natasha escaped years ago, armed with a McGuffin capable of foiling a dastardly plot for world domination. The reluctant duo need help in this endeavour though, enlisting the aid of their former “parents”, veteran Widow and scientist Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) and Alexie Shostakov (Stranger Things’ David Harbour), aka the Red Guardian, a Russian super-soldier intended to be their counterpart to Captain America, who’s been languishing in a Siberian gulag for the last twenty years. After the Earth-shaking, universe-changing events of recent MCU events, this film certainly feels like a much more self-contained, modest affair, playing for much smaller stakes, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less worthy of our attention – this is as precision-crafted as anything we’ve seen from Marvel so far, but it also feels like a refreshing change of pace after all those enormous cosmic shenanigans, while the script is as tight as a drum, propelling a taut, suspense-filled thriller that certainly doesn’t scrimp on the action front. Sure, the set-pieces are very much in service of the story here, but they’re still the pre-requisite MCU rollercoaster rides, a selection of breathless chases and bone-crunching fights that really do play to the strengths of one of our favourite Avengers, but this is definitely one of those films where the real fireworks come when the film focuses on the characters – Johansson is so comfortable with her character she’s basically BECOME Natasha Romanoff, kickass and ruthless and complex and sassy and still just desperate for a family (though she hides it well throughout the film), while Weisz delivers one of her best performances in years as a peerless professional who keeps her emotions tightly reigned in but slowly comes to realise that she was never more happy than when she was pretending to be a simple mother, and Ray Winstone does a genuinely fantastic job of taking a character who could have been one of the MCU’s most disappointingly bland villains, General Dreykov, master of the Red Room, and investing him with enough oily charisma and intense presence to craft something truly memorable (frustratingly, the same cannot be said for the film’s supposed main physical threat, Taskmaster, who performs well in their frustratingly brief appearances but ultimately gets Darth Maul levels of short service). The true scene-stealers in the film, however, are Alexie and Yelena – Harbour’s clearly having the time of his life hamming it up as a self-important, puffed-up peacock of a superhero who never got his shot and is clearly (rightly) decidedly bitter about it, preferring to relive the life he SHOULD have had instead of remembering the good in the one he got; Pugh, meanwhile, is THE BEST THING IN THE WHOLE MOVIE, easily matching Johanssen scene-for-scene in the action stakes but frequently out-performing her when it comes to acting, investing Yelena with a sweet naivety and innocence and a certain amount of quirky geekiness that makes for one of the year’s most endearing female protagonists (certainly one who, if the character goes the way I think she will, is thoroughly capable of carrying the torch for the foreseeable future). In the end this is definitely one of the LEAST typical, by-the-numbers MCU films to date, and by delivering something a little different I think they’ve given us just the kind of leftfield swerve the series needs right now. It’s certainly one of their most fascinating and rewarding films so far, and since it seems to be Johansson’s final tour of duty as the Black Widow, it’s also a most fitting farewell indeed.

6. WRATH OF MAN – Guy Ritchie’s latest (regarded by many as a triumphant return to form, which I consider unfair since I don’t think he ever went away, especially after 2020’s spectacular The Gentlemen) is BY FAR his darkest film – let’s get this clear from the start. Anyone who knows his work knows that Ritchie consistently maintains a near flawless balance and humour and seriousness in his films that gives them a welcome quirkiness that is one of his most distinctive trademarks, so for him to suddenly deliver a film which takes itself SO SERIOUSLY is one hell of a departure. This is a film which almost REVELS in its darkness – Ritchie’s always loved bathing in man’s baser instincts, but Wrath of Man almost makes a kind of twisted VIRTUE out of wallowing in the genuine evils that men are capable of inflicting on each other. The film certainly kicks off as it means to go on – In a tour-de-force single-shot opening, we watch a daring armoured car robbery on the streets of Los Angeles that goes horrifically wrong, an event which will have devastating consequences in the future. Five months later, Fortico Security hires taciturn Brit Patrick Hill (Jason Statham) to work as a guard in one of their trucks, and on his first run he single-handedly foils another attempted robbery with genuinely uncanny combat skills. The company is thrilled, amazed by the sheer ability of their new hire, but Hill’s new colleagues are more concerned, wondering exactly what they’ve let themselves in for. After a second foiled robbery, it becomes clear that Hill’s reputation has grown, but fellow guard Haiden (Holt McCallany), aka “Bullet”, begins to suspect there might be something darker going on … Ritchie is firing on all cylinders here, delivering a PERFECT slow-burn suspense thriller which plays its cards close to its chest and cranks up its piano wire tension with artful skill as it builds to a devastating, knuckle-whitening explosive heist that acts as a cathartic release for everything that’s built up over the past hour and a half. In typical Ritchie style the narrative is non-linear, the story unfolding in four distinct parts told from clearly differentiated points of view, allowing the clues to be revealed at a trickle that effortlessly draws the viewer in as they fall deeper down the rabbit hole, leading to a harrowing but strangely poignant denouement which is perfectly in tune with everything that’s come before. It’s an immense pleasure finally getting to see Statham working with Ritchie again, and I don’t think he’s ever been better than he is here – he's always been a brilliantly understated actor, but there’s SO MUCH going on under Hill’s supposedly impenetrable calm that every little peek beneath the armour is a REVELATION; McCallany, meanwhile, has landed his best role since his short but VERY sweet supporting turn in Fight Club, seemingly likeable and fallible as the kind of easy-going co-worker anyone in the service industry would be THRILLED to have, but giving Bullet far more going on under the surface, while there are uniformly excellent performances from a top-shelf ensemble supporting cast which includes Josh Hartnett, Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice, Sicario), Andy Garcia, Laz Alonso (The Boys), Eddie Marsan, Niamh Algar (Raised By Wolves) and Darrell D’Silva (Informer, Domina), and a particularly edgy and intense turn from Scott Eastwood. This is one of THE BEST thrillers of the year, by far, a masterpiece of mood, pace and plot that ensnares the viewer from its gripping opening and hooks them right up to the close, a triumph of the genre and EASILY Guy Ritchie’s best film since Snatch. Regardless of whether or not it’s a RETURN to form, we can only hope he continues to deliver fare THIS GOOD in the future …

5. FEAR STREET (PARTS 1-3) – Netflix have gotten increasingly ambitious with their original filmmaking over the years, and some of this years’ offerings have reached new heights of epic intention. Their most exciting release of the summer was this adaptation of popular children’s horror author R.L. Stine’s popular book series, a truly gargantuan undertaking as the filmmakers set out to create an entire TRILOGY of films which were then released over three consecutive weekends. Interestingly, these films are most definitely NOT for kids – this is proper, no-holds-barred supernatural slasher horror, delivering highly calibrated shocks and precision jump scares, a pervading atmosphere of insidious dread and a series of inventively gruesome kills. The story revolves around two neighbouring small towns which have had vastly different fortunes over more than three centuries of existence – while the residents of Sunnyvale are unusually successful, living idyllic lives in peace and prosperity, luck has always been against the people of Shadyside, who languish in impoverishment, crime and misfortune, while the town has become known as the Murder Capital of the USA due to frequent spree killings. Some attribute this to the supposed curse of a local urban legend, Sarah Fier, who became known as the Fier Witch after her execution for witchcraft in 1668, but others dismiss this as simple superstition. Part 1 is set in 1994, as the latest outbreak of serial mayhem begins in Shadyside, dragging a small group of local teens – Deena Johnson (She Never Died’s Kiana Madeira) and Samantha Fraser (Olivia Scott Welch), a young lesbian couple going through a difficult breakup, Deena’s little brother Josh (The Haunted Hathaways’ Benjamin Flores Jr.), a nerdy history geek who spends most of his time playing video games or frequenting violent crime-buff online chatrooms, and their delinquent friends Simon (Eight Grade’s Fred Hechinger) and Kate (Julia Rehwald) – into the age-old ghostly conspiracy as they find themselves besieged by indestructible undead serial killers from the town’s past, reasoning that the only way they can escape with their lives is to solve the mystery and bring the Fier Witch some much needed closure. Part 2, meanwhile, flashes back to a previous outbreak in 1977, in which local sisters Ziggy (Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink) and Cindy Berman (Emily Rudd), together with future Sunnyvale sheriff Nick Goode (Ted Sutherland) were among the kids hunted by said killers during a summer camp “colour war”. As for Part 3, that goes all the way back to 1668 to tell the story of what REALLY happened to Sarah Fier, before wrapping up events in 1994, culminating in a terrifying, adrenaline-fuelled showdown in the Shadyside Mall. Throughout, the youthful cast are EXCEPTIONAL, Madeira, Welch, Flores Jr., Sink and Rudd particularly impressing, while there are equally strong turns from Ashley Zuckerman (The Code, Designated Survivor) and Community’s Gillian Jacobs as the grown-up versions of two key ’77 kids, and a fun cameo from Maya Hawke in Part 1. This is most definitely retro horror in the Stranger Things mould, perfectly executed period detail bringing fun nostalgic flavour to all three of the timelines while the peerless direction from Leigh Janiak (Honeymoon) and wire-tight, sharp-witted screenplays from Janiak, Kyle Killen (Lone Star, The Beaver), Phil Graziadel, Zak Olkewicz and Kate Trefry strike a perfect balance between knowing dark humour and knife-edged terror, as well as weaving an intriguingly complex narrative web that pulls the viewer in but never loses them to overcomplication. The design, meanwhile, is evocative, the cinematography (from Stanger Things’ Caleb Heymann) is daring and magnificently moody, and the killers and other supernatural elements of the film are handled with skill through largely physical effects. This is definitely not a standard, by-the-numbers slasher property, paying strong homage to the sub-genre’s rules but frequently subverting them with expert skill, and it’s as much fun as it is frightening. Give us some more like this please, Netflix!

4. THE SPARKS BROTHERS – those who’ve been following my reviews for a while will known that while I do sometimes shout about documentary films, they tend to show up in my runners-up lists – it’s a great rarity for one to land in one of my top tens. This lovingly crafted deep-dive homage to cult band Sparks, from self-confessed rabid fanboy Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim), is something VERY SPECIAL INDEED, then … there’s a vague possibility some of you may have heard the name before, and many of you will know at least one or two of their biggest hits without knowing it was them (their greatest hit of all time, This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us, immediately springs to mind), but unless you’re REALLY serious about music it’s quite likely you have no idea who they are, namely two brothers from California, Russell and Ronald Mael, who formed a very sophisticated pop-rock band in the late 60s and then never really went away, having moments of fame but mostly working away in the background and influencing some of the greatest bands and musical artists that followed them, even if many never even knew where that influence originally came from. Wright’s film is an engrossing joy from start to finish (despite clocking in at two hours and twenty minutes), following their eclectic career from obscure inception as Halfnelson, through their first real big break with third album Kimono My Place, subsequent success and then fall from popularity in the mid-70s, through several subsequent revitalisations, all the way up to the present day with their long-awaited cinematic breakthrough, revolutionary musical feature Annette – throughout Wright keeps the tone light and the pace breezy, allowing a strong and endearing sense of irreverence to rule the day as fans, friends and the brothers themselves offer up fun anecdotes and wax lyrical about what is frequently a larger-than-life tragicomic soap opera, utilising fun, crappy animation and idiosyncratic stock footage inserts alongside talking-head interviews that were made with a decidedly tongue-in-cheek style – Mike Myers good-naturedly rants about how we can see his “damned mole” while 80s New Romantic icons Nick Rhodes and John Taylor, while shot together, are each individually labelled as “Duran”. Ron and Russ themselves, meanwhile, are clearly having huge fun, gently ribbing each other and dropping some fun deadpan zingers throughout proceedings, easily playing to the band’s strong, idiosyncratic sense of hyper-intelligent humour, while the aforementioned celebrity talking-heads are just three amongst a whole wealth of famous faces that may surprise you – there’s even an appearance by Neil Gaiman, guys! Altogether this is 2+ hours of bright and breezy fun chock full of great music and fascinating information, and even hardcore Sparks fans are likely to learn more than a little over the course of the film, while for those who have never heard of Sparks before it’s a FANTASTIC introduction to one of the greatest ever bands that you’ve never heard of. With luck there might even be more than a few new fans before the year is out …

3. GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE – Netflix’ BEST offering of the summer was this surprise hit from Israeli writer-director Navot Papushado (Rabies, Big Bad Wolves), a heavily stylised black comedy action thriller that passes the Bechdel Test with FLYING COLOURS. Playing like a female-centric John Wick, it follows ice-cold, on-top-of-her-game assassin Sam (Karen Gillan) as her latest assignment has some unfortunate side effects, leading her to take on a reparation job to retrieve some missing cash for the local branch of the Irish Mob. The only catch is that a group of thugs have kidnapped the original thief’s little girl, 12 year-old Emily (My Spy’s Chloe Coleman), and Sam, in an uncharacteristic moment of sympathy, decides to intervene, only for the money to be accidentally destroyed in the process. Now she’s got the Mob and her own employers coming after her, and she not only has to save her own skin but also Emily’s, leading her to seek help from the one person she thought she might never see again – her mother, Scarlet (Lena Headey), a master assassin in her own right who’s been hiding from the Mob herself for years. The plot may be simple but at times also a little over-the-top, but the film is never anything less than a pure, unadulterated pleasure, populated with fascinating, living and breathing characters of real complexity and nuance, while the script (co-written by relative newcomer Ehud Lavski) is tightly-reined and bursting with zingers. Most importantly, though, Papushado really delivers on the action front – these are some of the best set-pieces I’ve seen this year, Gillan, her co-stars and the various stunt-performers acquitting themselves admirably in a series of spectacular fights, gun battles and a particularly imaginative car chase that would be the envy of many larger, more expensive productions. Gillan and Coleman have a sweet, awkward chemistry, the MCU star particularly impressing in a subtly nuanced performance that also plays beautifully against Headey’s own tightly controlled turn, while there is awesome support from Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh and Carla Gugino as Sam’s adoptive aunts Anna May, Florence and Madeleine, a trio of “librarians” who run a fine side-line in illicit weaponry and are capable of unleashing some spectacular violence of their own; the film’s antagonists, on the other hand, are exclusively masculine – the mighty Ralph Inneson is quietly ruthless as Irish boss Jim McAlester, while The Terror’s Adam Nagaitis is considerably more mercurial as his mad dog nephew Virgil, and Paul Giamatti is the stately calm at the centre of the storm as Sam’s employer Nathan, the closest thing she has to a father. There’s so much to enjoy in this movie, not just the wonderful characters and amazing action but also the singularly engrossing and idiosyncratic style, deeply affecting themes of the bonds of found family and the healing power of forgiveness, and a rewarding through-line of strong women triumphing against the brutalities of toxic masculinity. I love this film, and I invite you to try it out, cuz I’m sure you will too.

2. THE SUICIDE SQUAD – the most fun I’ve had at the cinema so far this year is the long-awaited (thanks a bunch, COVID) redress of another frustrating imbalance from the decidedly hit and miss DCEU superhero franchise, in which Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director James Gunn has finally delivered a PROPER Suicide Squad movie after David Ayer’s painfully compromised first stab at the property back in 2016. That movie was enjoyable enough and had some great moments, but ultimately it was a clunky mess, and while some of the characters were done (quite) well, others were painfully botched, even ruined entirely. Thankfully Warner Bros. clearly learned their lesson, giving Gunn free reign to do whatever he wanted, and the end result is about as close to perfect as the DCEU has come to date. Once again the peerless Viola Davis plays US government official Amanda Waller, head of ARGUS and the undisputable most evil bitch in all the DC Universe, who presides over the metahuman prisoners of the notorious supermax Belle Reve Prison, cherry-picking inmates for her pet project Taskforce X, the titular Suicide Squad sent out to handle the kind of jobs nobody else wants, in exchange for years off their sentences but controlled by explosive implants injected into the base of their skulls. Their latest mission sees another motley crew of D-bags dispatched to the fictional South African island nation of Corto Maltese to infiltrate Jotunheim, a former Nazi facility in which a dangerous extra-terrestrial entity that’s being developed into a fearful bioweapon, with orders to destroy the project in order to keep it out of the hands of a hostile anti-American regime which has taken control of the island through a violent coup. Where the first Squad felt like a clumsily-arranged selection of stereotypes with a few genuinely promising characters unsuccessfully moulded into a decidedly forced found family, this new batch are convincingly organic – they may be dysfunctional and they’re all almost universally definitely BAD GUYS, but they WORK, the relationship dynamics that form between them feeling genuinely earned. Gunn has already proven himself a master of putting a bunch of A-holes together and forging them into band of “heroes”, and he’s certainly pulled the job off again here, dredging the bottom of the DC Rogues Gallery for its most ridiculous Z-listers and somehow managing to make them compelling. Sure, returning Squad-member Harley Quinn (the incomparable Margot Robbie, magnificent as ever) has already become a fully-realised character thanks to Birds of Prey, so there wasn’t much heavy-lifting to be done here, but Gunn genuinely seems to GET the character, so our favourite pixie-esque Agent of Chaos is an unbridled and thoroughly unpredictable joy here, while fellow veteran Colonel Rick Flagg (a particularly muscular and thoroughly game Joel Kinnaman) has this time received a much needed makeover, Gunn promoting him from being the first film’s sketchily-drawn “Captain Exposition” and turning him into a fully-ledged, well-thought-out human being with all the requisite baggage, including a newfound sense of humour; the newcomers, meanwhile, are a thoroughly fascinating bunch – reluctant “leader” Bloodsport/Robert DuBois (a typically robust and playful Idris Elba), unapologetic douchebag Peacemaker/Christopher Smith (probably the best performance I’ve EVER seen John Cena deliver), and socially awkward and seriously hard-done-by nerd (and by far the most idiotic DC villain of all time) the Polka-Dot Man/Abner Krill (a genuinely heart-breaking hangdog performance from Ant-Man’s David Dastmalchian); meanwhile there’s a fine trio of villainous turns from the film’s resident Big Bads, with Juan Diego Botta (Good Behaviour) and Joaquin Cosio (Quantum of Solace, Narcos: Mexico) making strong impressions as newly-installed dictator Silvio Luna and his corrupt right hand-man General Suarez, although both are EASILY eclipsed by the typically brilliant Peter Capaldi as louche and quietly deranged supervillain The Thinker/Gaius Greives (although the film’s ULTIMATE threat turns out to be something a whole lot bigger and more exotic). The film is ROUNDLY STOLEN, however, by a truly adorable double act (or TRIPLE act, if you want to get technical) – Daniella Melchior makes her breakthrough here in fine style as sweet, principled and kind-hearted narcoleptic second-generation supervillain Ratcatcher II/Cleo Cazo, who has the weird ability to control rats (and who has a pet rat named Sebastian who frequently steals scenes all on his own), while a particular fan-favourite B-lister makes his big screen debut here in the form of King Shark/Nanaue, a barely sentient anthropomorphic Great White “shark god” with an insatiable appetite for flesh and a naturally quizzical nature who was brilliantly mo-capped by Steve Agee (The Sarah Silverman Project, who also plays Waller’s hyperactive assistant John Economos) but then artfully completed with an ingenious vocal turn from Sylvester Stallone. James Gunn has crafted an absolute MASTERPIECE here, EASILY the best film he’s made to date, a riotous cavalcade of exquisitely observed and perfectly delivered dark humour and expertly wrangled narrative chaos that has great fun playing with the narrative flow, injects countless spot-on in-jokes and irreverent but utterly essential throwaway sight-gags, and totally endears us to this glorious gang of utter morons right from the start (in which Gunn delivers what has to be one of the most skilful deep-fakes in cinematic history). Sure, there’s also plenty of action, and it’s executed with the kind of consummate skill we’ve now come to expect from Gunn (the absolute highlight is a wonderfully bonkers sequence in which Harley expertly rescues herself from captivity), but like everything else it’s predominantly played for laughs, and there’s no getting away from the fact that this film is an absolute RIOT. By far the funniest thing I’ve seen so far this year, and if I’m honest this is the best of the DCEU offerings to date, too (for me, only the exceptional Birds of Prey can compare) – if Warner Bros. have any sense they’ll give Gunn more to do VERY SOON …

1. A QUIET PLACE, PART II – while UK cinemas finally reopened in early May, I was determined that my first trip back to the Big Screen for 2021 was gonna be something SPECIAL, and indeed I already knew what that was going to be. Thankfully I was not disappointed by my choice – 2018’s A Quiet Place was MY VERY FAVOURITE horror movie of the 2010s, an undeniable masterclass in suspense and sustained screen terror wrapped around a refreshingly original killer concept, and I was among the many fans hoping we’d see more in the future, especially after the film’s teasingly open ending. Against the odds (or perhaps not), writer-director/co-star John Krasinski has pulled off the seemingly impossible task of not only following up that high-wire act, but genuinely EQUALLING it in levels of quality – picking up RIGHT where the first film left off (at least after an AMAZING scene-setting opening in which we’re treated to the events of Day 1 of the downfall of humanity), rejoining the remnants of the Abbott family as they’re forced by circumstances to up-sticks from their idyllic farmhouse home and strike out into the outside world once more, painfully aware at all times that they must maintain perfect silence to avoid the ravenous attentions of the lethal blind alien beasties that now sit at the top of the food chain. Circumstances quickly become dire, however, and embattled mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt) is forced to ally herself with estranged family friend Emmett (Cillian Murphy), now a haunted, desperate vagrant eking out a perilous existence in an abandoned factory, in order to safeguard the future of her children Regan (Millicent Simmonds), Marcus (Noah Jupe) and their newborn baby brother. Regan, however, discovers evidence of more survivors, and with her newfound weapon against the aliens she recklessly decides to set off on her own in the hopes of aiding them before it’s too late … it may only be his second major blockbuster as a director, but Krasinski has once again proven he’s a true heavyweight talent, effortlessly carving out fresh ground in this already magnificently well-realised dystopian universe while also playing magnificently to the established strengths of what came before, delivering another peerless thrill-ride of unbearable tension and knuckle-whitening terror. The central principle of utilising sound at a very strict premium is once again strictly adhered to here, available sources of dialogue once again exploited with consummate skill while sound design and score (another moody triumph from Marco Beltrami) again become THE MOST IMPORTANT aspects of the whole production. The ruined world is once again realised beautifully throughout, most notably in the nightmarish environment of a wrecked commuter train, and Krasinski cranks up the tension before unleashing it in merciless explosions in a selection of harrowing encounters which guaranteed to leave viewers in a puddle of sweat. The director mostly stays behind the camera this time round, but he does (obviously) put in an appearance in the opening flashback as the late Lee Abbott, making a potent impression which leaves a haunting absence that’s keenly felt throughout the remainder of the film, while Blunt continues to display mother lion ferocity as she fights to keep her children safe and Jupe plays crippling fear magnificently but is now starting to show a hidden spine of steel as Marcus finally starts to find his courage; the film once again belongs, however, to Simmonds, the young deaf actress once and for all proving she’s a genuine star in the making as she invests Regan with fierce wilfulness and stubborn determination that remains unshakeable even in the face of unspeakable horrors, and the relationship she develops with Emmett, reluctant as it may be, provides a strong new emotional focus for the story, Murphy bringing an attractive wounded humanity to his role as a man who’s lost anything and is being forced to learn to care for something again. This is another triumph of the genre AND the artform in general, a masterpiece of atmosphere, performance and storytelling which builds magnificently on the skilful foundations laid by the first film, as well as setting things up perfectly for a third instalment which is all but certain to follow. I definitely can’t wait.

#movies 2021 #werewolves within #werewolves within movie #the tomorrow war #army of the dead #Black Widow #black widow movie #black widow mcu #wrath of man #fear street #fear street trilogy #fear street movies #The Sparks Brothers #gunpowder milkshake #the suicide squad #a quiet place part ii #a quiet place part 2 #awesome sauce

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ourplaceinthecosmosphff · 4 years

Text

Chapter 16. Fight or Flight

‘I am healing by mistake. Rome is also built on ruins.' Eliza Griswold

“It’s a private street,” Harry explained as he walked me on quickstep towards the big black gates in red brick ahead. “Technically owned by the Crown Estate. Most of the houses are embassies or former embassies now owned by billionaires.” “Was someone supposed to have stopped me from just walking in?” I asked, already guessing the answer.

“A little weird to have a central London address mostly habited by dignitaries and rich people and forbid people from entering it, isn’t it?” He grinned. “So it’s open for pedestrians and cyclists twenty-four-seven. Cars only authorized. And, of course, they are free to kick you out if they think you’re behaving strangely.”

“Understandable.” I smiled.

“...So…” He started, shifting on his feet as he walked, adjusting my bag on his shoulder, “Where’s Christopher?”

“...Right now? Halfway to Canada, probably. On business.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “And… your security?”

I looked around at the street lights, avoiding his eyes. “It’s just me.”

“Right… but, should it be? Isn’t it a bit--?” Before he could finish -- ‘dangerous’ was probably going to be his last word -- I stopped, and looked at his, heaving a sigh. “This is weird. Isn’t it? I’m sorry, I can get a hotel.”

Under the moon and lamp post lights, I thought I saw his cheeks redden. “No, that’s not--! I don’t-- You’re welcome here, of course! I was just… worried. You shouldn’t be walking around on your own.”

At this charming revelation, said in an even more charming tone, I smiled, sheepishly. “Well, I am.”

“So, no… major changes after the… new succession?”

I sighed, remembering Joyce, my protection officer that had been replaced, and Cadie. “Some. Not tonight, though.”

We were quietly ushered through a pedestrian steel door a few steps after the big gates, which magically opened when Harry approached. His protection officer followed after us.

“Uh, sir?” He called when we kept walking.

Looking back, Harry startled slightly. “Oh, that’s right. Do you mind?” He looked at me, “They need to sign you in.”

“Oh, of course.” We walked to the security cabin near the bigger gate, where another guard, this one in uniform, smiled at us.

“ID, ma’am?”

I handed him my passport from my coat’s pocket, which I had kept handy for the train.

“I’m sorry about this,” Harry said, worried, “It’s… bloody protocol.”

“It’s alright.” I smiled. “You do remember I live in a palace, too? If there’s one thing I understand in life is protocol.”

He smiled back. “She’ll already be registered.” Harry told the guard. “She was here last October.”

I remembered, distantly, filling up my passport in security forms before the tour, and we had come to Kensington for tea once. A lifetime ago.

The guard returned my passport and wished us a goodnight, so Harry walked me towards the palace, now unaccompanied by any officers.

We didn’t go into the main building, however, like when I visited William and Catherine’s house, we went around it.

“So…” Harry started. “I don’t live in the main palace. I don’t got an apartment. It’s… small, my place. Really small. Two bedrooms! So, should be fine, but–”

“Is this--?” I stopped walking, my mind finally catching up to where I was and what I’d done. “Should I not have come? This is weird, right? I didn’t mean to barge in and--”

“No!”

“I’m sorry, I can get a hotel–”

“No, really– It’s fine!” He assured me. “I just wanted you to be prepared, because it’s not a… big, fancy place like my brother’s house, or my father’s house. It’s just… a cottage, really. It’s tiny. I live alone, so it’s quite good just for me–”

I sighed, feeling relieved. Now almost amused. “Agani, fellow royal. I live in a palace? I know how it works. It’s not all a palace.”

He smiled. “Yes… It’s just that people always seem to think it’s all very glamorous.”

The house was nice, it was, as he had mentioned, smaller than most, but it made up for it with that warm, comfortable look of a real home. The front door led into what seemed like one room, with sliding doors separating the smaller half – a kitchen with faded yellow cabinets that needed upgrading, but looked nice. The other half had a blue three-seat sofa and a matching armchair in front of a wooden chest of drawers in which was propped up a flat-screen TV – the only thing in the room that looked like he had actually purchased and not inherited, or maybe borrowed from the Royal Collection.

“It’s nice.” I told him in the silence. He was still watching me from the front door, which he’d just closed, my bag still hanging from his shoulder. “I like it.”

“Are you hungry?” He asked, with a smile, moving quickly into the kitchen. “We could order takeout. I like thai food, there’s a nice place not far from here. Or, I have stuff to make sandwiches, if you’d prefer– what?”

I was smiling at the way my bag would sway around as he moved quickly around his small table to reach the fridge, looking slightly frazzled. “Nothing.”

He smiled, too. “Or!” Excitedly, he walked over to the microwave and opened it, removing a small plate. “Ta-da!”

I approached, realizing he was holding a plate of the entrées from the wedding. “You stole the entrées?!” I laughed.

“I asked! Politely asked if I could have some of the leftovers. You were right, they were delicious.”

We laughed. “Scandalous!” I said, grabbing one and moving to the sofas. “I’m not that hungry, actually, but thanks.”

I sat on the larger sofa, realizing the room also had a small, marble-top coffee table on top of a Persian rug and a corner bookcase with picture frames. I got up to look at his books, realizing it was a mixture of books, CDs and DVDs, even some vinyls. My eyes were first caught by Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton, 1984, by George Orwell and Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. He also had Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Catch 22, by Joseph Heller, and The Complete Calvin and Hobbes collection, which made me smile. I pulled out an orange spine -- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Mark Manson -- and he moved behind me, the only time I heard him since walking over.

"That was a gift." He explained, in a justification tone.

I smiled back at him, returning the book to its place and noticing a white one with large black letters next to it, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, by Reni Eddo-Lodge, which had a summary that regarded it as 'the essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand race relations in Britain today.' I returned it to its place, smiling.

“So you like fantasy.” I concluded, when I found The Hobbit and at least two Harry Potters.

“More like sci-fi.” He replied. “I like The Hobbit, and I made an exception for Harry Potter, which is iconic.”

“I liked the movies.”

“You haven’t read the books?”

“Could never really get into it.” I shrugged.

He closed the distance between us, my bag still on his shoulders, and stared at me from up close, seriously.

“You didn’t like Harry Potter?!”

“What I said was I couldn’t get into it.” I repeated, fighting a grin.

“That’s what people say when they tried something and didn’t like it.”

“Well–” I reflected on the option. “You don’t have any evidence that’s an universal truth. Surely not that that’s how I meant it.”

“Okay, counselor,” he sighed, impatiently. A grin made its way into my lips. “Did you or did you not like reading Harry Potter?!”

“I believe I have a right against self-incrimination in Britain, I certainly do as a Savoy citizen, so I will be evoking that right at this moment.”

He took in a long breath, running a hand through his hair, “Wow.” He sighed, making me laugh. “Just… wow. I am… outraged. As a British man, as a human being–”

“Okay, calm down.” I laughed.

“Harry Potter is incredible!”

“It was just… really childish for me.”

“The first book was written for children! The tone changes as the books go along!”

“Yes, there’s like ten of them. It’s a lot.”

“Seven, and you went to Harvard! You can handle seven children’s books!” My bag fell off his shoulder at his exasperated arm movements, but he was quick to grab it by the handle before it hit the floor.

“And why are you still carrying that?”

“I just…” He shrugged, walking over to the armchair to put my bag there. “I imagine you’ll need it.”

He looked back at me, pulling his long sleeves up past his elbows.

“I--I imagine your protection detail will be ‘round shortly to collect you.”

I chuckled, nervously. “What–? Why? I told you, it’s just me tonight.”

“Yes, and you’re the next in line to the throne of a country. I can’t go anywhere without security, and I know my brother has at least two at all times, so I’m assuming you have at least one person looking for you out there by now.”

There was an awkward silence as I shifted on my feet, hands still in my coat pockets, mouth agape, searching for what to say. He didn’t look upset, and it wasn’t like I’d just committed a crime by omitting what happened, but it still felt as if I had done something incredibly wrong, and the more I looked at him, the more uncomfortable the thought of continuing to lie was.

“It’s–It’s… It’s not like they’ll rush in here screaming that you kidnapped me or something.” I said, nervously forcing a giggle at the thought. “I don’t even know if they’ve noticed I’ve gone yet.”

“Ah.” He nodded, slowly, sitting down on the larger sofa. “So you ran away when they weren’t looking.”

“They were asleep.” I corrected, feeling my whole body warm in embarrassment. “And I would object to the word ‘ran’, I very calmly walked off the train when it stopped in London. It’s not my fault they didn’t notice.”

“They were asleep?!” He asked, his voice going higher than I’d heard before.

“It’s a long journey… Especially from Northern England.”

“Well, it’s their job! That’s… that’s so unbelievably unsafe!”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” I raised my hands, in a placating gesture. “No harm done.”

“Well, you couldn’t have known that, could you?!” He asked, eyes widened. “But they sure should have, it’s their job! What if someone walked into the train and pointed a gun at you and forced you to leave?”

“What– I’m– I don’t even–” I sighed, frustrated. “Harry, I’m sorry, okay? Do you–? Would you like me to leave? I can get a hotel–”

“No!” He got to his feet. “I just–” He sighed. “I know how important security is, and… you… you’re a bigger target now, aren’t you? Your security profile must have changed since… you know.”

“I don’t.” I admitted. “They don’t really tell me much these days.”

I walked over, took off my coat, and sat down on the sofa. “Really, Harry, if this is a lot, I can get a place to stay, it’s no trouble.”

He walked over and sat next to me, laying his head back to rest atop the back of the sofa. “I don’t want you to leave.”

Relieved beyond understanding, I started to relax. So I sat back and laid my head next to his.

“So you didn’t miss the train.” He said, and seeing as it wasn't a question, I thought it would be best not to incriminate myself again.

“Marie? Did you?”

I looked at the ceiling. “Technically, I did. But I missed it because I got off.”

He let out a quiet, nasalized chuckle. “Why?”

I heaved a long sigh, and turned to look at him. “I don’t know… I just… I was in the train. And I couldn’t stop thinking about things. And I wanted to. And then we stopped in London. And I grabbed my bag and went to the bathroom, just to walk a little, to distract myself. But then I saw the doors opened. And my protection officers were asleep, so they didn’t even see me get up, so one second I was just fantasizing about how I could just… walk off, and the next I just… did.”

“I still think your security is incredibly irresponsible in this scenario.” He said, on a low tone, in which a hint of anger was only just noticeable.

“They have a right to sleep if we’re on a moving train.” I protested.

“What were you thinking about?” He asked.

“I just… I don’t know, okay? I just… The door was open and there was this colder breeze coming in, and I just… I just wanted to feel more of it. I don’t really understand it, either.”

“I actually mean… What were you thinking during the journey? That you said you didn’t want to think of anymore?”

“…Oh.” I looked back at the ceiling, biting my lower lip. “Everything, I guess. I just…”

I thought back to the train ride, the sound of the tracks, the dimmed lights as everyone seemed to either be asleep or blissfully entertained by their phones. To my heart, full of questions and… anger. I couldn’t tell him half of it.

“I just… I can’t–” I felt my voice break slightly as a knot found its way into my throat. “I can’t be in Savoy right now. I just… I don’t even– Sometimes it just feels like… Like–” I sat up, clearing my throat and turning to look at him, folding one leg to sit on top of it, facing him.

He’d opened his house to me out of nowhere. I knew how chaotic this must look. He deserved some explanation.

“It’s like they’re all playing a game and I’m the only one who wasn’t told the rules, but I’m still… part of it, you know? I’m the… I’m the game.” I said. “And I’m just… so tired of it.”

He was quiet, brows furrowed. He sighed… and then nodded.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. I’ll… I’ll go give security a call, and tell them if someone comes asking for you to say they haven’t seen you.”

My mouth opened, in astonishment, but I didn’t know what to say.

“And you… what do you want to do? Shower? Movie? Pizza? Sleep?”

I was still astonished, but I started to smile now. “A shower would be nice, I guess.”

“Great, let me show you to the bathroom and I’ll get you a towel.”

He got up, quickly grabbed my bag and smiled when he asked me to follow him. The guest bathroom was just around the corner from the living room, beyond the narrow, carpeted staircase up.

“This is the guest bath. You can use the one in my room, though, it’s better water pressure and you’ll be closer to the guest room.”

Upstairs, there was just a small hallway with three doors, one of which was a closet where he got me two towels. The one at the other end was his room.

The bed was made, but looked like it had been slept in recently. Another flat screen TV was mounted on the wall in front of it, with a paused Netflix movie displayed.

“Do you have pajamas, or–?.” He asked as he left my bag on the bathroom floor. “I can find you some of my clothes?”

I had a clean set of pajamas I’d brought to stay in the hotel overnight, but for some reason I smiled, sheepishly, and said, “That’d be great, thanks.”

“Sweatpants good? I’ll leave them in the bed. You can change here, I’ll wait downstairs.”

“Okay.” I smiled.

Inside, I got out of my travel clothes, brushed my hair down slowly, taking deep breaths, avoiding my reflection in the mirror. When I was done, I put my hair up in a tight bun, and finally looked at myself, but I couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re ridiculous.” I told mirror-Maggie.

As I showered, I tried to better answer the questions he had asked. I’d been thinking of Christopher, of his family ring, of why he would have decided to propose so soon after we got back together. I thought of why my father would say yes without consulting me. Of why my father would continually make decisions about my life without consulting me.

When I turned off the shower, I knew a couple of things for sure: I didn’t plan to run away. I just wanted to go to the bathroom on the train, to distract myself from my own thoughts. When I saw the door and realized that I could leave without my security seeing, all I wanted was to run. To feel… free. To be somewhere I wasn’t expected to give people the nice and polite answers they expected. For some reason, my heart decided this was that place. But this freedom also brought me guilt. What did that say for my relationship?

I wrapped myself in the towel and opened the bathroom door to find a pile of clothes in his bed. I brought them inside and got changed into a much too large for me black sweatpants and dark green shirt. Luckily – or maybe Harry had predicted this – the pants had drawstrings, so I could adjust them to my waist. I folded the bottom as best as I could.

When I did, my eyes fell on a bottle on the lower shelf of his cabinet. It was L’Occitane Cedrat Spray Deodorant. The name was familiar. I got up and realized there was another bottle on the shower caddie with the name – this one a shower gel. So I reached for the deodorant and sprayed a little of it in the air.

The smell almost knocked me to my feet. It was the smell Harry always had, the smell I remembered from London. The smell that brought me right back to an otherwise boring State Dinner, on a red dress, dancing barefoot in a room in Buckingham Palace where we weren’t supposed to be, his face leaning ever so much closer to mine, chills going down my spine, warming up my skin, getting on my tiptoes hoping to close the distance… before we were interrupted by my protection officer Joyce telling us it was time to go.

The smell took me back to flirty, happy texts planning a date. Running after Lourdes after she stole my phone. Waiting for a reply when Auguste and Montennon walked by with death on their faces… before everything changed.

I shook my head. I couldn’t add more things to the archive of stuff I had to think about.

Down the stairs, I found him in the kitchen. He bit down a grin when he saw me in his clothes. “Well, you look…”

“Ridiculous.” I smiled. “It’s a bit big.”

“No! You look cute.” He said, making me blush. “Security has been informed, by the way.”

“Right.” I sighed. “Thank you so much, Harry. I don’t think I said that yet.” He avoided my eyes, shrugging. “It’s not a problem. You’re always welcome here.”

“I know it’s... Weird… and I didn’t mean to interrupt your night.” I added. “I saw the TV on in your room.”

“Oh, I was just watching a movie. The new Transformers.” He told me. “It’s… not great. But in a good way? Does that make sense?” I smiled. “Kind of, yeah.” “Wanna watch it with me?” He asked. “I’d practically just started it. And it’s early-ish, still.”

“Sure.”

“Awesome.” He clapped his hands together and found a packet of popcorn in the kitchen cabinet.

A little while later, he handed me a bowl and a salt shaker. “Madame.”

I salted the popcorn as he walked around, grabbing napkins and a bag of M&M’s from a cabinet. “Chocolate or peanuts?” He asked. “And bear in mind, there is a right answer.”

“Dealer’s choice.” I returned.

“Coward.” He half-coughed, half-muttered, making me chuckle. “I have coke, orange juice, and beer.”

“Coke.”

“Right answer.” He nodded, approvingly, before turning to me with a slightly more serious expression. “I have… further questions.”

I pulled a chair and sat down, pushing the popcorn away. “Okay.”

“So… who knows– Did you tell Christop–” He sighed. “How many people know you’re here?”

I did the math in my head. “Five, or six, maybe?”

“Plus me and the security officers we walked by?”

“No, I– I mean you and the security officers.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“And the cab driver, but I don’t think he knew who I was.” He was quiet for a while, biting his lower lip. “Any other questions?”

He sighed. “Shouldn’t you tell someone?” At the way my face responded, he continued, quickly pulling up a chair and sitting next to me. “I mean, just that you’re okay, at least. They’ll think you were kidnapped!”

“If I turn on my phone they can track me.” I confessed. “All our phones are tracked by security headquarters.”

“Don’t you have a chip?” He asked, seeming genuinely surprised.

“Those tracking chips that go into your skin?” I asked, “No. The idea gets floated around every couple of years, but my siblings and I always hated it. And my mother thinks it’s too weird.” He nodded. “Do you have one?”

He smiled widely, teeth closed, and pointed at the right side of his jaw. “Just under this tooth here… But don’t tell anyone.”

I laughed. “Right, lesson one of anti-terrorism training. Your teachers would be very disappointed in you.”

He groaned, grinning. “Don’t remind me. Those guys are impressive, but they’re terrifying.”

“Do you ever get refresher training?”

“I think my last one was after my brother’s wedding, due to ‘increased media attention’.” He quoted, annoyed.

“Yeah, they made us take a refresher when Lourdes was born. It was awful.”

“Weren’t you, like, ten?!”

“Yes!” I confirmed, nodding enthusiastically. “That’s what made it awful!”

We chuckled, together.

He scratched his beard, looking at the ceiling. “God, we live weird lives.”

The TV in his room was bigger, so we took the popcorn, the cokes and the chocolate M&M’s – his favorite – upstairs where he started the movie from the beginning.

Admittedly, I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have, but I understood enough of it to know he was right: it wasn’t great. Great was the popcorn, the ice cold coke, and the chocolate M&M’s.

Eventually, though, my back started to hurt, so I slid down to lay on his pillows instead of sitting against the headboard, and my eyelids grew heavy, and the sound of explosions grew dimmer as I fell asleep. I shook myself awake a few minutes later, apologizing, but he only smiled and said, “It’s okay”, as he hesitated slightly, before reaching over and resting his hand by my head, brushing my hair so lightly I was asleep again in seconds.

When I woke up, the room was darker than before, the movie was over and the TV now displayed the long list of credits on a dark screen to a slow instrumental track. Harry nowhere to be found.

I heard steps from the hallway, and closed my eyes instinctively, just as I heard him come in. Slowly, I felt a warm blanket cover me, just at this moment realizing how chilly I had been a second before. I breathed in deeply, realizing how much his pillow smelled like him, and settled in to place to sleep again before I heard him step away. Opening my eyes, I realized he was leaving.

“Harry?”

He stopped at the door, and looked back. “Hey.” He whispered. “It’s okay, you go back to sleep. I’ll take the other room.”

“You should sleep in your own bed.” I said, forcing myself to sit up.

“It’s fine, Marie.” He smiled, approaching to gently tuck me back in, pulling the blanket up to my chest. “I promise, just go back to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He was almost leaving again, but my heart couldn’t take it.

“Harry?” I called, whispery, holding on tightly to two fistfulls of the blanket to stop from reaching out to hold his hand.

“Yes?”

I thought of his girlfriend, of my boyfriend, of the imaginary crown looming over my head, and yet, I couldn’t stop my lips from uttering, “Stay.”

He stared at me for one, two, three seconds before getting up. He walked around the bed and laid down, fluffing his pillows slightly as I stretched the blanket out to him.

We laid in silence, his warmth reaching over to me under the covers – or maybe my skin was just warmer than usual. I flipped over to lay on my stomach, hugging the pillow under me. When I did, my fingers hit something that felt like a needle. Carefully feeling it out, I realized it was a bobby pin. ‘This must be the side his girlfriend sleeps in when she’s over’, I thought, feeling suddenly sick to my stomach.

Turning to look at him, I breathed:

“Truth or dare?”

I heard his body move in the dark, and felt his knee brush against my leg as he turned to lay on his side, facing me.

“Truth.”

“Okay…” I held out the bobbi pin from under his pillow, pointing it at him. “Now, be honest… Do you curl your hair to sleep?”

His head raised from the pillow to look at what I was showing him, confused. “What–? Oh.” He smiled as I chuckled. “That’s–ha-ha, hilarious.”

He picked the bobby pin, and turned around to place it carefully in the bedside table next to him.

“Or does that belong to a lady-friend?”

He laughed. “A lady-friend?!”

“You never explained if you and Cressida broke up or not, so I wouldn’t want to speculate.”

“No, of course.” His tone was a mixture of sarcastic and teasing. “You’re just being respectful.”

There was a nice, quiet silence before I whispered, “You never answered the question.”

We laughed again. “No, Marie-Margueritte, I do not curl my hair before bed.”

“So how, pray tell, do you explain the evidence?”

“Objection, your honor,” he said, and I could still hear the giggle in his voice, “No follow-up questions, remember?”

I sighed, “Oh, right, that bullshit rule.”

“Enough stalling. Truth or dare?”

I smiled, sighing. “Truth.”

“…Do you think Clara could have done better than John? Be honest.”

I laughed. “You’re terrible.”

“Come on, we’re all thinking it.”

“Who’s ‘we’ in this scenario?”

“Every guest at their wedding.”

“You’re a terrible friend.” I giggled.

“Hey, I didn’t say that to him! I’m saying it to you, in confidence.” He justified, “And I can’t help but notice you’re avoiding the question.”

“Alright, fine. Admittedly, yes, she has dated guys I think were objectively better looking in a traditional way. But that’s not everything!”

“No!” He said, in an exaggerated way. “Of course not… that’s why your boyfriend looks like that.”

“What do you mean with ‘like that’?” I laughed.

“Oh, you know… the big, moussed up hair, the fancy suit, be honest, does he wear makeup?”

“Oh, my god!” I laughed. “You’re the worst. And you already asked your question. So, truth or dare?”

He sighed. “Truth.”

I considered for a long time what to ask. Long enough that he called out, “Marie?”

“I’m thinking.”

“Oh.”

Gulping, I tried to make the question sound as casual and playful as possible. “Who’s the mysterious owner of the bobby pin?”

“…oh.”

He was silent.

“Go on.” I laughed, nervously. “You must answer truthfully.”

“I–” He sighed. “It’s… It’s you.”

“I–” I startled. “What?”

He sighed, again, deeper now. “That day, my last day in Savoy. On the stairs. You were trying to remove your hat… I helped. I tried to give them back to you, but you– were distracted, I guess.”

“Oh…”

“Sorry.”

“No, don’t.” I turned around, laying in my side, facing him. “Harry, I’m the one who’s sorry… that day I was–I was acting completely insane.”

“Don’t apologize.” He asked. “You were going through so much–”

“Yes, but that doesn’t excuse hurting someone–”

“You didn’t hurt me.” He reached out, holding my hand in the space between us.

“I mean–”

“I know what you mean.” He assured me.

Breathless, I closed my fingers on his hold. I couldn’t know what he was thinking of, but I was thinking of the kiss. Or, more accurately, the almost-kiss. I could still feel his neck on my lips, his smell, right there on his pillow, had lived in my mind for the past five months. That‘s what I was apologizing for, but couldn’t say. I couldn’t speak of it. Speaking of it could lead to questions I had also been avoiding for five months like my life depended on it.

“Truth or dare?” He asked, without letting go of my hand.

Breathing in, deeply, and knowing I still wanted to talk about it, but it may not be the right time, I said, “Truth.”

Quietly, I felt his fingers brush mine, slowly.

“Why did you ask about my ex?” He asked, whispery, barely audible.

“…I…” I gulped. “I was curious… I guess– I guess it feels… sad? That we lost touch. I wanted to know what– you know, what you’ve been up to.”

He was quiet. I ventured a look past our hands, to his face, where I could almost see a smile on his lips.

His finger slowly traced mine. His next question came even lower than the first, as if scared to make it even a little bit more real than it had to be. “Were you jealous?”

I felt my heart jump on my chest. His soft touch on my hand, the guilty knot of anxiety in my stomach to be laying in bed with him, as platonically as it was… it all made it impossible to lie.

But I was a lawyer.

“No follow up questions, remember?”

A silent second. And then I heard his nasalized chuckle. “Wow…”

“Your rules.” I shrugged, painfully pulling my hand from his while I still could, and turning to the other side. “Goodnight, Harry.”

He let out another low, appreciative chuckle. “Goodnight, Mary.”

I fell asleep smiling as the name echoed in my thoughts: ‘Mary’.

--- ---- ---

[A/N: heeeeeeeeeeey. how ya’ll doin? I really wanna write something cute and funny here about the chapter or about how much I appreciate you reading but its 4 am on a monday and i spent all sunday working on overtime and i am exhausted so... just know I appreciate you A LOT seriously thank you so much for reading!!! let me know what you think???????? the end of this chapter made me smile when i wrote it and the next chapter made me cry so you have that to look forward to. THANKS BYEEE]

#Princeharryff #prince harry fanfic #prince harry fanfiction #princeharryfanfiction #Princeharryfanfic #prince harry #brf #modern royalty au #modern royalty fanfic #fanfiction #OPITCphff #chapters

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wfdwqfw · 3 years

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On what evidence would a man rely to prove

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explosionshark · 5 years

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Thanks for recommending Gideon the Ninth! It was so good! Do you have a book rec tag I could check out? :)

honestly i should, huh? i’ve read more books than probably ever before this year and i’ve talked about ‘em intermittently, but not with a consistent tag. i’ll recommend some right now, though, with a healthy dose of recency bias!

sf/f

the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon - a truly epic fantasy novel with one of the most beautiful, satisfying f/f romances i’ve ever read. the novel takes account nearly everything i hate about fantasy as a genre (overwhelmingly straight, white, and male centric, bland medieval European settings, tired tropes) and subverts them. incredible world-building, diverse fantasy cultures, really cool arthrurian legend influence. one of my favorite books i’ve ever read tbh.

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir - which you’ve read, obviously, but for posterity’s sake i’m keeping it here! sci-fi + murder mystery + gothic horror. genuinely funny while still having a super strong emotional core and more than enough gnarly necromantic to satisfy the horror nerd in me. makes use of some of my favorite tropes in fiction, namely the slowburn childhood enemies to reluctant allies to friends to ??? progression between gideon and harrow. absolutely frothing at the mouth for a sequel.

the broken earth trilogy by nk jemisin - really the first book that helped me realize i don’t hate fantasy, i just hate the mainstream ‘medieval europe but with magic’ version of fantasy that dominates the genre. EXTREMELY cool worldbuilding. i’ve definitely described it as like, a GOOD version of what the mage-vs-templar conflict in dragon age could have been, with a storyline particularly reminiscent of “what if someone got Anders right?”

this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone - i’m not usually big on epistolary novels, but this one really worked for me. spy vs spy but it’s gay and takes place between time traveling agents of two opposing sides of a war. the letter writing format really plays to el-mohtar’s strengths as a poet, the unfolding love story is weird and beautiful. it’s a really quick read, too, if you’re short on time or attention.

empress of forever by max gladstone - i just finished this one this week! if you’re in the mood for a space opera, look no further. imagine if steve jobs was an asian lesbian and also like not a shitty person. this is where you start with vivian liao. you get the classic putting-the-band-together arc with beings from all across the universe, your romances and enemies-turned-friends and uneasy alliances all over the place. really satisfying character development and some extremely cool twists along the way. it’s just a fun good time.

the luminous dead by caitlin starling - this one rides the line of horror so it’s closest to that part of the list. it reminds me of the most inventive low budget horror/sci-fi films i’ve loved in the best way possible because it makes use of the barest narrative resources. it’s a book that takes place in one primary setting, featuring interactions between two characters that only meet each other face-to-face for the briefest period. the tension between the two characters is the most compelling part of the story, with competing and increasingly unreliable narratives and an eerie backdrop to ratchet things up even higher. the author described it as “queer trust kink” at one point which is, uh, super apt actually and totally my jam. the relationship at the center of the book is complicated to say the least, outright combative at points, but super compelling. plus there’s lost of gnarly sci-fi spelunking if you like stories about people wandering around in caves.

horror

the ballad of black tom by victor lavalle - we all agree that while lovecraft introduced/popularized some cool elements into horror and kind of defined what cosmic horror would come to mean, he was a racist sack of shit. which is why my favorite type of ‘lovecraftian horror’ is the type that openly challenges his abhorrent views. the ballad of black tom is a retelling of the horror at redhook that flips the narrative by centering the action around a black protagonist.

lovecraft country by matt ruff - more of what i just described. again, lovecraftian themes centered around black protagonists. this one’s especially cool because it’s a series of interconnected short stories following related characters. it’s getting a tv adaptation i believe, but the book is definitely not to be missed

rolling in the deep / into the drowning deep by mira grant - mermaids are real and they’re the ultimate deep sea predators! that’s really the whole premise. if for some reason that’s not enough for you, let me add this: diverse cast, a romance between a bi woman who’s not afraid to use the word and an autistic lesbian, really cool speculative science tangents about mermaid biology and myth.

the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson - it’s halloween month so i’m thinking about hill house again. one of the greatest american ghost stories ever written. especially worth the read if you follow it up w the 1964 film adaptation (the haunting) and then the 2018 netflix series.

the hunger by alma katsu - i’ve always been fascinated by the donner party even though we now know the popular narrative is largely falsehoods. still, this highly fictionalized version of events scratched an itch for me and ended up surprising me with its resistance from the most expected and toxic racist tropes associated with donner party myth.

wounds / north american lake monsters by nathan ballingrud - nathan ballingrud is my favorite horror writer of all time. one of my favorite writers period regardless of genre. in ballingrud’s work the horror is right in front of you. you can look directly at it, it’s right there. but what permeates it, what draws your attention instead, what makes it hurt is the brutally honest emotional core of everything surrounding the horror. the human tragedy that’s’ reflected by the more fantastic horror elements is the heart of his work. it’s always deeply, profoundly moving for me. both of these collections are technically short stories, but they’re in the horror section of the recs because delineations are totally arbitrary and made solely at my discretion.

short stories

her body and other parties by carmen maria machado - tbh i almost put this in w horror but there’s enough weird fiction here for me to be willing to straddle the line. it was really refreshing to read horror that centered queer women’s perspectives. the stories in this collection are really diverse and super powerful. there’s an incredible weird fiction piece that’s like prompt-based law and order svu micro fiction (go with me here) that ends up going to some incredible places. there’s the husband stitch, a story that devastated me in ways i’m still unraveling. the final story reminded me of a more contemporary haunting of hill house in the best way possible. machado is a writer i’m really excited about.

vampires in the lemon grove by karen russell - my friend zach recommended this to me when we were swapping book recs earlier this year and i went wild for it! mostly weird fiction, but i’m not really interested in getting hung up on genres. i don’t know what to say about this really other than i really loved it and it got me excited about reading in a way i haven’t been in a while.

the tenth of december by george saunders - i really like saunders’ work and i feel like the tenth of december is a great place to start reading him. quirky without being cloying, weird without being unrelatable.

misc

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid - there’s something really compelling to me about the glamour of old hollywood. this story is framed as a young journalist interviewing a famously reclusive former starlet at the end of her life. the story of how evelyn hugo goes from being the dirt-poor daughter of cuban immigrants to one of the biggest names in hollywood to an old woman facing the end of her life alone is by turns beautiful, inspiring, infuriating and desperately sad. by far the heart of the book is in evelyn finally coming out as bisexual, detailing her decades-long on/off relationship with celia st. james, another actress. evelyn’s life was turbulent, fraught with abuse and the kind of exploitation you can expect from the hollywood machine, but the story is compelling and engaging and i loved reading it.

smoke gets in your eyes by caitlin doughty - a memoir by caitlin doughty, the woman behind the popular ‘ask a mortician’ youtube series. it was a super insightful look into the american death industry and its many flaws as well as an interesting, often moving look at the human relationship with death through the eyes of someone touched by it early and deeply.

love and rockets by los bros hernandez (jaime and gilbert and mario) - this was a big alt comic in the 80s with some series within running on and off through the present. i’m not current, but this book was so important for me as a kid. in particular the locas series, which centered around two queer latina girls coming up in the punk scene in a fictional california town. the beginning starts of a little sci-fi-ish but over time becomes more concerned with slice-of-life personal dramas.

#book recs #long post #SORRY IF THIS IS MORE THAN YOU WANTED #obviouslyending #book tag

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lydiasonlinelog · 5 years

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Research Point

Sato Shintaro

Source: http://sato-shintaro.com/work/night_lights/index.html (1)

09 Night Lights by Sato Shintaro (1997-1999)

Sato Shintaro is a Japanese photographer who often uses the artificial lights all around him to capture the atmosphere in his birth place, Tokyo.

In his photographic series ‘Night Lights’ he has captured the chaotic streets of Tokyo and Osaka at night. It illustrates that night photography doesn’t have to be dark. He believes that it is a good idea to have exposures quite high so you avoid isolated pools of light within a black frame.

He has avoided the more aesthetically pleasing locations such as the beach and the well known “subcenters” and focussed instead on what he calls ‘the everyday disorder of the streets.’

These photographs are brightly lit and normally filled with the hustle and bustle of life, but Shintaro has removed the people and the purpose of the light is somewhat lost.

The light standing alone reveals a view of the well known streets from a less familiar perspective.

I think Shintaro’s photographs are very effective at doing this because they seem to be illuminating a lack of life on the streets. Like he says, the point of the lights becomes obsolete if nobody is there to see them or be guided by them.

There are 43 photographs in this series and each one of them beautifully represents the artificial and neon qualities of the available light in the busy streets of Japan. By capturing this he has allowed the viewer to step into these streets and have their own look around, undisturbed by others.

Rut Blees Luxemburg

Sources: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blees-luxemburg-viewing-the-open-p78570 (2)

https://www.bjp-online.com/2018/02/rut-blees-luxemburg-modern-project-liebeslied/ (3)

Viewing the Open by Rut Blees Luxemburg (1999)

Rut Blees Luxemburg is a German photographer who works mostly within London. She spends time exploring the changing city at night from busy office blocks to abandoned buildings and she captures these from unusual perspectives.

Her series Liebeslied: My Suicides (Meaning lovesong), of which Viewing the Open is a part of, was a movement of the photographer from photographing buildings to exploring an immersion in urban space. The photographs in this series mostly show natural elements, such as water and nature, illuminated by artificial light.

This series and its romantic title indicates the photographer’s changing relationship with her environment. In a way, her work is a lovesong dedicated to where she lives and works.

This particular photograph uses the qualities of the artificial light to make something unremarkable become interesting. There are sulpherous yellow and orange tones which light this piece of ground and this adds texture and beauty to the image.

Elizabeth Manchester for Tate comments, “Blees Luxemburg has transformed a scene of urban decay into an abstract study of colour and texture through the use of light, a subject traditionally central to photography.”

I agree with Manchester here that Blees Luxemburg has used her large format camera to create something special. She has captured something similar to an abstract painting in that there are areas of different depths of colour. The reflections from the water and cracks in the concrete also add a strong emphasis on texture.

The colours in this photograph are mostly earthy tones, but you are still able to distinguish that they are artificial which is a clever visual paradox. They also hold an eerie quality, as if something extraterrestrial has come to visit.

Brassai

Sources: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2011/08/interview-brassai-with-tony-ray-jones.html (4)

Conversations with Picasso by Brassai, 1999 (5)

The Eiffel Tower at Twilight by Brassai (1932)

This photograh is part of a photobook published in 1933 titled Paris by Night only three years after Brassai began to take up photography.

Brassai immediately took up night photography as soon as he was loaned a camera because this kind of photography excited him.

When talking about his inspiration, Brassai said, “Perhaps I was influenced a little in Paris by Night by the painter Georges de la Tour with his candlelight paintings which gave me an idea of what things can produce at night, the hidden things and concealed lights.”

Many photographers believe that you should only work with available light but Brassai disagreed with this and thought it was important to light the subject if necessary.

Emerson, the British writer and photographer, awarded Brassai a medal for his photobook and included him in his writing about the history of photography because he believed that Brassai showed that photography could be art.

Picasso was fascinated by artificial light and his favourite photographer was Brassai. Rather than just capturing what he saw, Brassai used his own artistic voice to convey his vision of Paris.

Brassai said that the light he had at night was ‘magnificent’ and he preferred it even to natural light. He believed that the light set off every object and the shadows helped to form them.

When I look at this photograph of the Eiffel Tower I see the classic romantic setting that Paris is often made out to be. The artificial night time light here has illuminated the tower’s reflection in the water and this leads your eyes down from the bridge and to the boats. These boats represent to me, that Paris is not just a romantic getaway and that people live and work here. The train across the bridge shows the constant movement of people even in the apparent tranquillity of the night.

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Sources: The Photograph as Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton, 2014, pgs. 20-21, 46 (6)

Head #7 by Philip-Lorca diCorcia, 2000

Philip-Lorca diCorcia is a photographer who I have researched previously, but I think is more relevant to my work now than ever before.

In his series Heads, he placed artificial flash lighting on a scaffolding construction above a New York street. The movement of people below prompted diCorcia to trigger the flash and photograph the illuminated person within it using a long lens camera.

The people he captured do not know they are being photographed and therefore aren’t posed like they might be for a regular portrait.

The result of this allows us to look at the ‘normal’ which would ordinarily pass us by without the subjects being controlled or influenced in any way by the photographer.

The use of artificial light here is fundamental to the process of the photographer. If it weren’t for his flash, diCorcia wouldn’t be able to capture the individual passers by and highlight specific subjects.

Having looked at his work several times, I find diCorcia’s work fascinating. Usually staged in natural lighting, this series is somewhat different from his normal, but is still a sensetive and thoughtful look at portraiture.

The other work I have looked at with artificial lighting focusses on places or landscapes and that’s why diCorcia is so interesting here, because his work is out of the ordinary.

Studio lighting is a common way to use artificial lighting for portraiture, but diCorcia has been that bit more creative and gone out in public with his lighting to capture something truly unique.

Hand written notes and print-outs

Bibliography

Shintaro, S. (n.d.). Night Lights. Retrieved from Sato Shintaro: http://sato-shintaro.com/work/night_lights/index.html

Manchester, E. (2003, February). Rut Blees Luxemburg. Retrieved from Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blees-luxemburg-viewing-the-open-p78570

Abel-Hirsch, H. (2018, February 23). London: A Visual Love Song. Retrieved from British Journal of Photography: https://www.bjp-online.com/2018/02/rut-blees-luxemburg-modern-project-liebeslied/

The ASX Team. (2011, August 19). Tony Ray-Jones Interviews Brassai” Pt. I (1970). Retrieved from American Suburb X: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2011/08/interview-brassai-with-tony-ray-jones.html

Brassai. (1999). Conversations with Picasso. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Cotton, C. (2014). The Photograph as Contemporary Art Third Edition. London: Thames & Hudson World of Art.

#night lights #sato shintaro #art #photography #photographer #artificial light #lighting #brassai #Philip-Lorca diCorcia #rut blees luxemburg

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sampagnereads · 5 years

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Hi, lovelies! In July 2019, I’ll be hosting my first ever readathon, which is the DND Readathon, Race Edition! Basically, an edition of this readathon will take place about every two months (they won’t all be one-month long, though), and the main goal is to build up a DND character based on knowledge that can be found in the Fifth Edition Player’s Handbook! If you don’t have access to that, though, this website has a lot of information about DND that can be helpful. For more information on the readathon itself, I recommend following its twitter account right here! And just in case, here’s the thread that explains everything, and to which information will be slowly added throughout the month of June!

Basically, for this readathon, you need to complete all three challenges associated to a race for your character to be part of that race. You can try to complete as many challenges as possible, though, so that you have more options. Plus, if you read at least one book for a race, you’ll have an advantage when it comes to choosing your companions’ races! But, yes! Enough explaining! Let’s talk about my TBR now! I’m going to try to complete four races altogether, which are dragonborn, gnome, half-orc and tiefling! I’ll also be doing my best to read at least one book for all the other races. And so, below the cut, you can find all that I plan on reading for the readathon during the month of July!

DRAGONBORN

INVOLVES DRAGONS.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Shatter the Sky, by Rebecca Kim Wells. To put this summary really simply, it’s about a girl who plans on stealing one of the empire’s dragons to save her girlfriend, and basically, it sounds right up my alley. I was lucky enough to receive an eArc of it through Netgalley, and I honestly cannot wait to get to it. Obviously, there are dragons, or at least one dragon in this story, and so it fits perfectly for this challenge!

RECOMMENDED BY A PARENT/GUARDIAN/MENTOR.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Le Roi de fer, by Maurice Druon. This is called The Iron King in English, and is the first book in Les Rois maudits series (The Accursed Kings). It’s about a line of kings descending from a king who killed templars, and on whose family was placed a curse by one of those templars. It’s historical fiction, very much romanticized, and I’m oh so excited to read it. My mother has been trying to get me to read it for years now, and I’m so excited for us to be able to talk about it together.

BUDDY-READ.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Girls With Sharp Sticks, by Suzanne Young. This is a book about girls who go to this academy where they’re taught to be docile, obedient, and not have any opinions of their own, until one day they realize there’s more going on than they had originally realized. As for the buddy-read, I’ll be buddy-reading this book with two of my favourite people, aka Sage ( sageshelves ) and Kat ( stardustreviews )!

DWARF

FOIL ON THE COVER.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Mirage, by Somaiya Daud. This is a moroccan-inspired sci-fi fantasy about a girl who’s forced to become the body double of a princess who’s very much so hated by her subjects. Problem is, the main character starts to get used to life at court. This has foil both on the dusk jacket and underneath it (as I have the Owlcrate exclusive edition), so I think it’s a perfect fit for this challenge!

ELF

UNDER 200 PAGES.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Giant Days, Vol. 5, by John Allison & more. This comic series follows three young women who became fast friends in university, and I’ve been loving it so far. It’s a lot more interesting than the premise leads you to believe, and I cannot wait to get to the fifth volume! It’s only 112 pages, too, so that works perfectly for this challenge!

GNOME

BRIGHT COVER.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Prince Charming, by Rachel Hawkins. This follows an american teenage girl whose older sister is marrying the fictional prince of England, and who has a temperament that could lead her into some trouble, hence why the crown appoints a guy to help her like, chill! I don’t know if everyone would consider this cover to be bright, but I do, so! Yes!

5-STAR PREDICTION.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Captain Marvel, Vol. 3: Alis Volat Propriis, by Kelly Sue DeConnick & David López. This is the last volume in this particular run of Captain Marvel, who’s a superhero who mostly helps out in space. She’s my favourite superhero, and though I have given the first two volumes only four stars, I have a feeling like the third volume will get a higher rating than that!

CALLED UNDERHYPED AND/OR UNDERRATED.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Wild Savage Stars, by Kristina Pérez. This is the sequel to Sweet Black Waves, which is a retelling of Tristan and Iseult told through Branwen’s perspective, who happens to be Iseult’s lady in waiting, cousin and best friend. The first book is my favour of all time, and it is way too underhyped, in my opinion. I was lucky enough to get an arc of the second book, Wild Savage Stars, and so I’ll be reading it in July!

HALF-ELF

ONLY ONE POV.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling. It is definitely at least 99% told from one POV, so it definitely counts. I’ve decided to re-read the Harry Potter books physically this year, and so I’m planning on reading two of them in July! One of which you’ll hear about a bit later on in this list.

HALF-ORC

THAT ISN’T IN PRISTINE CONDITION.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi. This is an adult sci-fi novel about three people who are trying to salvage what they can from an empire on the brink of collapse. It comes highly recommended, and I cannot wait to get to it. It fits this challenge due to the fact that there’s a tear in the hardcover; I got it from BookOutlet and so I didn’t fuss about it, which worked out well for me since I can now use it for this challenge!

WITH A MORALLY GREY PROTAGONIST.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Sadie, by Courtney Summers. It’s a book about a girl who sets out on a revenge quest after her younger sister has been killed, and a podcast that talks about her and what happened. I heard a few people describe the main character of this book as morally grey, considering what she’s doing, and so I’ll be counting it for this challenge!

OVER 500 PAGES.

For this challenge, I’m either going to read Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon OR A Clash of Kings, by George R.R. Martin. Both are well over 500 pages long, and I know I’ll go for one of the two for this challenge. I’m currently reading A Game of Thrones, and so I feel like I might want to read the sequel next month, but also, I’m super excited for Priory, so! We’ll see!

HALFLING

WITH A POV THAT DIFFERS FROM YOUR OWN.

For this challenge, I’m going to be reading Blanca & Roja, by Anna-Marie McLemore. This follows latinx characters, and as I’m not latinx myself, it works perfectly for this challenge! Basically, this book follows two sisters who come from a family where, out of every two girls born to a woman, one will eventually be turned into a swan. Anna-Marie McLemore’s one of my favourite authors of all time, and I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet!

HUMAN

BORROWED AT THE LIBRARY.

This might change depending on whether or not it’s available at the library, but if it is, I’ll be borrowing I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 2: Fluff My Life for this challenge. This is an adult comic that will also work for The Book Junkie Trials, a readathon I’m also reading in July and for which I’ll post a tbr asap!

TIEFLING

BANNED BOOK.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter is one of the most banned series in the world, and so I feel like it will work perfectly for this challenge! I’m not reading the first book in July, though, because I read it just a few months ago. However, I am counting this as the start of my physical re-read of Harry Potter in English!

FOLLOWS A HUMANOID (BUT NOT FULLY HUMAN) CHARACTER.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Unnatural, Vol. 1: Awakening, by Mirka Andolfo. I’m not exactly sure what this is about, as I think it’s nice to go into some comics without knowing too much, but I do know that it follows a pig girl, and therefore a humanoid, but not fully human character, which is perfect for this challenge!

RECOMMENDED TO YOU BY SOMEONE YOU TRUST.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading La Reine étranglée (The Strangled Queen in English), by Maurice Druon. This is the second book in Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings in English), a series of historical fiction novels that are heavily romanticized. It comes highly recommended from my mother, and as I’m already reading the first book of this series for the readathon, and I’ve heard that I’ll want to continue straight away, I decided to add this book to July’s tbr!

#tbr #booklr #readathon #dndreadathon #sam's tbrs

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authorhenrijenkins · 5 years

Text

190822

It was on the ride home three days ago when I first noticed them. They could have been there weeks before without my having considered either or both. On the day I did see them, they were apart though I now feel certain working together. One, the squat older fellow sat on the back row beyond the door and facing my direction four rows away. There! And I was here just behind the operator facing the rear, trying to read my book in peace. It too is a mystery.

He wore scruffy jeans with hand-rolled cuffs, cheap imitation slip-on deck shoes without socks and a loose orange-red ombre shirt with black prints. Palm trees and pineapples I believe. He had but a few thin hairs, the jowls of a bulldog, a fat nose like a boxer and dark, beady eyes that did most of the work. He seemed particularly interested in her but didn't seem to take notice of me in the least. Thumbs for fingers, they mostly sat clenched on his lap in rounded prayer. His actual thumbs twirled away as if burning off the adrenaline of anticipation or fear or both. There was a pair of thick black frame glasses waiting in the shirt pocket. I presumed them more for distance than close work.

The other one, thin and tall sat there across the aisle from me. One row closer to and facing his cohort. His clothes were nicer though seemed somewhat out of place. I said he was thin but it was a sickly, almost terminal kind of thin. He didn't appear frail so I judged him a junky or severe alcoholic. He chain-smoked Marlboro Reds from a hard pack, stamped out the butts on the bottom of well-worn cap toed Derbies and flicked them out the open window only to retrieve another and light it with a stainless Zippo. It had a skull emblem with the American flag in it. The cover was loose and the fluid was running low.

My fingers rubbed at my lips then poked at my left pocket. I remembered my lighter was in the center drawer of my desk at home. He wore dark grey cuff-less slacks and an Oxford white shirt with the sleeves rolled just above the elbows, at least it was on the right. He had a tattoo on his right forearm but it muted to the point I never settled on what it was. I believe there may have been an anchor in it but as I said, I was left uncertain. His hair was short black but choppy in he cut it himself kind of way. Oh, his left ear was pierced. I noticed it when he looked to the window, a silver screw back and single clear stone setting. He had high cheek bones and a bridging nose.

"And Mrs. Ericksen, where was she?" the Detective asked.

She, missus did you say, I-I wasn't aware. My hand scraped at my face and consoled my chest. I knew her only as Diane and don't recall ever seeing a ring. She was always impeccably dressed, well enough I often questioned her riding a streetcar. It was queer. She seemed more a debutante than in anyone's employ. Anyway, she was here, the same row as the thin man but on my side of the aisle. With no one in the seats between us, we faced one another, her and I.

She would only sit in a forward facing seat. She said that to another one of the regulars some time back and it obviously stuck with me - Mrs. Whitney who had never learned to drive. Her husband Jack had driven her until his death in a car wreck no less. After that she began walking and using public transportation for the bulk of her travels. She too recently passed, though from natural causes as I understand it.

Though quite my junior I always held a certain affection for Diane and had multiple times sensed some interest from her. I felt she had an old soul. I could never afford to venture such a pursuit. Could you imagine.

It was a summery Spring day and she was wearing a knee length dress, white pleated skirt, large pleats with Pink Bougainvillea climbing the hem, a wide, crisp white leather belt with a flower applique buckle, pink bodice and an invisible back. She almost always wore simple round cut diamond studs of course each was bigger than a supermoon. She had a thin gold box chain with a subtle gold cross and a Faget hummingbird broach, a thin band gold watch on her right wrist, Longines I believe but no, no ring. I can't ever remember her wearing a ring, of any sort.

"I see," said the Detective.

And nylons and pink patent leather pumps, open-toed. That finished her outfit. Oh and she had a small white leather clutch with her.

"Do you recall her speaking to or with either of the men you described as suspicious?"

I'm not accusing them, just stating they seemed interested and knowing now what I didn't know then it seems so un-circumstantial. To think it was the last time I would ever see her alive. If I had only known but then how could I.

"So you have no recollection of them speaking?"

No sir I don't recall any actual conversation but there was something. The fat guy at her rear appeared to go unnoticed, oblivious to her, a trait I believe she developed in dealing publicly with her looks. She was a stunning beauty, easily could have been one of the top five models in the world in my opinion. Most of the time she seemed a million miles away in a world she created only for herself.

There wasn't anything said but I do remember at one point she looked ill-tempered in regards to the thin man. She looked around as if she was thinking of moving to another seat. I remember thinking it odd that she got off one stop before her usual departure. She seemed to be watching to see if the thin man was going to follow her. He didn't but the fat guy did get off. The thin man climbed off at the next stop and headed north, where we had come from.

"You did nothing to intervene?"

I-I didn't know, especially in the moment, I had no idea what would or could come of it. It wasn't until after that the pieces really started falling into place, hindsight being what it is. I love reading mysteries and have developed what most feel is an overactive imagination so I've learned its oft best to keep my thoughts to myself. And maybe that's all this is me imagining something that didn't happen.

"Sure, sure. I appreciate you meeting me here today. If there's anything else, I'll phone you."

I'm certainly happy to help, especially for Diane, um, missus, what did you say her married name was?

"Ericksen, Mrs. Charles Ericksen III of Ericksen Industries."

The family that owns the shipyard?

"Yes, the shipyard, a tug and barge line, barge manufacturing, rail cars, trucking lines, multiple food co-packer facilities, the largest beverage distributorship in the state and all in all, more money than the Pope."

And possibly more political power too.

"Right, so this one's being tracked with a stop watch."

Well Detective, whether it's the two I described or not, I do hope you get your killer.

"Thanks, all I have to do now is to find Laurel and Hardy."

If I come across either of them, I'll phone you straight away.

"You do that. Oh before you go maybe you could answer one more question."

I waited.

"You described the two men and Mrs. Ericksen so well, can you tell me about anyone else on the streetcar that day?"

I imagine so. I thought back to the day. George the building maintenance supervisor sat behind me, behind the operator William, they are both African Americans and friendly toward one another. They like to chat the whole way. George often brings an egg or tuna salad sandwich and a sandwich bag of Charles Chips that he shares with William. He not supposed to eat and drive at the same time but he's been doing it for so long, no one ever complains, it doesn't affect his performance. George rides all the way to the barn, the end of the line.

"Who else?"

The chatty Kathies were there that day in the seats directly across from me. They get off three stops before Diane's usual stop, seven before mine. All three are named some sort of spelling of Kathy and they all live near one another and believe it or not all three are paralegals. They work for different law firms and the chatter like hungry sparrows the whole of their ride. They typically keep the conversation at a respectful level but do occasionally get loud with a laugh or rebuff.

Old man Fine was there that day too in the front seat across from George. He had been into the city to see his wife at TMC, she was down with pneumonia, real bad from the sound of it. He was quiet with worry, his face was drench in it. He lives on the same street as me, but opposite side of the line. I thought about seeing him home but had a pressing engagement that evening. Beyond that, some college students and strangers got on and off here and there but nothing that stands out.

"What was your, how did you put it, pressing engagement?"

A retirement party for a man who was a great mentor to me most of my life.

"Ah. Good party?"

Actually, I never made it. I took to not feeling well soon after arriving home and wound up in bed early.

"That's too bad. There are far too few parties in my opinion."

Right.

"If I asked you about your ride to work the week before, would you be able to provide such detail?"

With some time to chew on it, I believe so.

"So do I Mr. Thompson, so do I."

Steve, please. Mr. Thompson is a son-of-a-bitch? The Detective snickered and shook my hand. I made my way home and cried for her and for failing her. I hoped I had provided some measure of assistance to Diane.

#authorhenrijenkins #henri jenkins #writing #writing prompt

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quackspot · 5 years

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imagine someone just going 1-200 and you have to answer 200 questions for a stranger

well u better strap up becuase im about to do it

200: My crush’s name is: i dunno who do u think my crush’s name is199: I was born in: a year which is 2004198: I am really: a homo sapien197: My cellphone company is: i think its samsung196: My eye color is: brown195: My shoe size is: 9 or 9.5 i think just 9194: My ring size is: WAIT RINGS HAD SIZES????? i dunno193: My height is: 5′4 ISH but i just say 5′4 because im actually really sensitive about my height and the less than an inch that brings me to 5′4 makes me somewhat happier with myself192: I am allergic to: maybe dustmites 191: My 1st car was: not yet190: My 1st job was: NOT YET189: Last book you read: technically a book called Dad Jokes theyre really funny jokes but if you mean story with plot then probably Grand & Humble unless if you include everything then yesterday i peeked in some books188: My bed is: a bed which i sleep in and that’s pretty much it actually i havent really made my bed in a while 187: My pet: jax and nibsy r the family pets jax is a shih-poo shihtzu poodle mix and nibsy is a cat186: My best friend: my brother185: My favorite shampoo is: shampoo184: Xbox or ps3: hard choice there’s xbox overall and little big planet this is actually a very hard choice lksiiro3jedsklmf,gsda little big planet is great........................183: Piggy banks are: piggy banks. theyre great182: In my pockets: I DONT HAVE POCKETS IM A WOMAN181: On my calendar: whats a calendar lol!!!!180: Marriage is: marriage 179: Spongebob can: dodod od odo dodooo178: My mom: IS GREAT i lov her shes a good mom177: The last three songs I bought were? i dont buy songs i listen to them176: Last YouTube video watched: i mean im listening to boyfriend big time rush on youtube right now but if you mean actual watching its snufkin saying “hi moomin” to moomin a quick 6 second clip175: How many cousins do you have? i duno174: Do you have any siblings? yeah173: Are your parents divorced? yeah172: Are you taller than your mom? probably not :(171: Do you play an instrument? i play the trumpet i did it today and it was really boring i dont want to go to any more graduations not even my own170: What did you do yesterday? things[ I Believe In ]169: Love at first sight: not really but somewhat and i like it because its a fun little thing to put in fiction 168: Luck: yea im very lucky167: Fate: its my destiny to die someday . . .. . in the futuuuuuuuuuuure

166: Yourself: as far as im aware no165: Aliens: yeah probably164: Heaven: i know it probably isnt real but i cant help believing163: Hell:i know it probably isnt real but i cant help believing162: God: only to blame them for stuff161: Horoscopes: yea theyre fun to read160: Soul mates: ehehehehehhe fun in fanfiction and would greatly b ok with it irl159: Ghosts: who else would hold my hand at night...... not even a ghost :) (but yea i do believe in them when i grow up i wana be a ghost)158: Gay Marriage: why wouldnt i believe in gay marriage 157: War: what is it good for156: Orbs: borb155: Magic: i like magic so i will believe in it [ This or That ]154: Hugs or Kisses: yes153: Drunk or High: probably high i guess152: Phone or Online: ONLINE151: Red heads or Black haired: black haired 150: Blondes or Brunettes: BRUNETTES dude blondes r ok but i personally like darker hair149: Hot or cold: hot148: Summer or winter: SUMMER I HATE WINTER SO FUCKIGNT OASJKU*($@IRWJKOSDIUOKLJEZUDIFLK:LDSK:LKF:LJIODSKZVDJFKL mostly becuase i hate being cold and i hate snow becuase i have to shovel snow and its so cold147: Autumn or Spring: either one 146: Chocolate or vanilla: choc o late145: Night or Day: night144: Oranges or Apples: apples143: Curly or Straight hair: curly but i guess straight is ok142: McDonalds or Burger King: burbger king good milkshakese141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: idk uhh milk chocolate140: Mac or PC: pc139: Flip flops or high heals: neither......138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: ugly and rich i can just buy surgeries to make me prettier lmao137: Coke or Pepsi: coke136: Hillary or Obama: i dont wanna answer this :(((((( i dont like being bullied135: Burried or cremated: cremated babye put me in the flames ;3c134: Singing or Dancing: i like singing i like dancing i like trains 133: Coach or Chanel: what132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: who are these people131: Small town or Big city: im just a mere small town babye ;3c big cities sound scary 130: Wal-Mart or Target: target has the good cheeseballs129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: i only know adam sandler128: Manicure or Pedicure: i dont do my nails 127: East Coast or West Coast: uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh both are coasts126: Your Birthday or Christmas: birthday i get more gifts then uwu125: Chocolate or Flowers: chocolate124: Disney or Six Flags: disney because idk what six flags is isnt it a restaurant or something123: Yankees or Red Sox: a baseball bat [ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: what is it good for!121: George Bush: idk 120: Gay Marriage: yeah gay rights119: The presidential election: im not that into politics so i dont understand the elections and i dont think their fair since i get all my facts from adam ruins everything this isnt even a joke118: Abortion: pro choice i dont giv a crap about some lifeless baby. its only alive if it can properly move its arms or cry or feel.117: MySpace: haha dead116: Reality TV: idk 115: Parents: theyre parents 114: Back stabbers: ow my back113: Ebay: website.... money112: Facebook: lizard man111: Work: what110: My Neighbors: idk who they are but my old neighbor was one of my best friends i should talk to him this summer109: Gas Prices: probably too high108: Designer Clothes: clothes107: College: something i dont plan on going to any time soon106: Sports: something i dont plan on doing any time soon105: My family: a family104: The future: spooky. very scary. idk what my job will be[ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: idk (update it was today)102: Last time you ate: 4:13 ish i made ramne101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: i duno100: Cried in front of someone: today i suppose i almost cried???? maybe my dentist appointment a few weeks ago??99: Went to a movie theater: lego movie 2 i think98: Took a vacation: 6th grade im in 9th grade now its been like 3 years97: Swam in a pool: over 1 year i dont go to the pool anymore96: Changed a diaper: NEVER AND I NEVER PLAN ON IT95: Got my nails done: i duno94: Went to a wedding: i also dunno its been too long93: Broke a bone: not that i can recal92: Got a peircing: never and never will91: Broke the law: i duno90: Texted: just now i told my mommy to pick me up it wasl ike 1 hour ago[ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: me88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: my momy and nibsy and jax and probably zach but he’d already move out by the time i leave87: The last movie I saw: i dont remember probably lego movie 2 or osmething on tv86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: next year drama club85: The thing im not looking forward to: dying?????? idk man 84: People call me: moto moto (not really idk what they call me)83: The most difficult thing to do is: the most difficult thing82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: never though i probs will someday81: My zodiac sign is: aquarius sun leo moon aries rising80: The first person i talked to today was: probably kiley79: First time you had a crush: kindergarten i think78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: myself77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: idk76: Right now I am talking to: nobody 75: What are you going to do when you grow up: *has a crisis over my future plans as i do not know*74: I have/will get a job: im gona work at target or burger king next year maybe it depends on if they like me73: Tomorrow: 5/20..............72: Today: today71: Next Summer: in a theater near u70: Next Weekend: my first summer weekend 69: I have these pets: I ALREAD YSAID WHAT PETS I HAVE I LOVE NIBSY WITH ALL MY HEART and jax with some extra parts of my heart68: The worst sound in the world: a sound67: The person that makes me cry the most is: me66: People that make you happy: me65: Last time I cried: ealier today64: My friends are: online63: My computer is: on62: My School: is a school61: My Car: nonexistent 60: I lose all respect for people who: are really mean and seem to hate people for being happy. people who make jokes that make me uncomfortable. i generally avoid them.59: The movie I cried at was: all of them58: Your hair color is: brown57: TV shows you watch: idk56: Favorite web site: idk probs youtube55: Your dream vacation: nowhere 54: The worst pain I was ever in was: A FEW WEEKS AGO I GOT STITCHES IN MY MOUTH AND IT REALLY HURT UGHGTUERIJOKFLDc53: How do you like your steak cooked: edible52: My room is: a room51: My favorite celebrity is: myslef..... just kidding idk any celebs 50: Where would you like to be: where i am 49: Do you want children: no 48: Ever been in love: hoo ha hoo ha i duno how love feels exactly47: Who’s your best friend: MY BROTHER46: More guy friends or girl friends: guys i think 99% of my friends are my brothers friends so45: One thing that makes you feel great is: being happy44: One person that you wish you could see right now: nobody right now but sometimes kiley43: Do you have a 5 year plan: 5 years??? haha no i only plan on using savings accounts to make a bit more money and MAYBE moving to kiley but idk for sure since i like my parents and my brother and my parents plan on driving around in an rv but idk man moving to another state would be HARD and im kinda lazy and i’d have to get a whole new driver’s license 42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: no41: Have you pre-named your children: lmao all my ideas are jokes40: Last person I got mad at: probably myslef39: I would like to move to: my bed???????38: I wish I was a professional: personer. talker. socialer. [ My Favorites ]37: Candy: probably snickers or a salted nut roll36: Vehicle: big car. tahoe shape. tahoe size. idk. something like a tahoe thats my only reference35: President: I Don’t Care34: State visited: probably florida its the only one of 3 states i’ve been to33: Cellphone provider: what32: Athlete: WHAT31: Actor: idk 30: Actress: idk29: Singer: not me? me? idk28: Band: taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally hall??? ? ?? ? ?? ? ? ? I DONT KNOWIJ DSKJZLFKSJKLDSHDLfjklskl;fdkl;sfk;laf 27: Clothing store: i legit have like no faves god this is the hardest part26: Grocery store: target probably25: TV show: maybe the simpsons???24: Movie: idk ive seen a lot of movies23: Website: one of them22: Animal: one of them21: Theme park: universal studios20: Holiday: none of them theyre all ok but ??? meh19: Sport to watch: none.18: Sport to play: idk i dont like being competitive but??????? gym class is a fun sport! :)17: Magazine: none of them16: Book: one of them15: Day of the week: wednesday sounds like a good day. maybe sundays. 14: Beach: what13: Concert attended: frankly the only concerts i’ve been to are my own12: Thing to cook: probably ramen11: Food: cheeseballs??????? burger king milkshake, a drink?10: Restaurant: buuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrger kiiiiiiiiiiing?9: Radio station: 101.9 kelo eff emmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm8: Yankee candle scent: what7: Perfume: what6: Flower: what5: Color: red or purple4: Talk show host: wha

3: Comedian: i duno2: Dog breed: one of them1: Did you answer all these truthfully? yeah i tried but i kinda gave up slightly after i came back from a graduation party though i also kind of gave up from the start so

#ohrat

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boricuareads · 6 years

Text

My Year in the Middle: a review/critical analysis

[image description: banner with pastel blue in the background, the cover of My Year in the Middle in the center with a bright orange light behind the cover, and the text saying “boricuareads Reviews: My year in the Middle by Lila Quintero Weaver”]

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Description:

In a racially polarized classroom in 1970 Alabama, Lu's talent for running track makes her a new best friend — and tests her mettle as she navigates the school's social cliques.

Miss Garrett's classroom is like every other at our school. White kids sit on one side and black kids on the other. I'm one of the few middle-rowers who split the difference.

Sixth-grader Lu Olivera just wants to keep her head down and get along with everyone in her class. Trouble is, Lu's old friends have been changing lately — acting boy crazy and making snide remarks about Lu's newfound talent for running track. Lu's secret hope for a new friend is fellow runner Belinda Gresham, but in 1970 Red Grove, Alabama, blacks and whites don't mix. As segregationist ex-governor George Wallace ramps up his campaign against the current governor, Albert Brewer, growing tensions in the state — and in the classroom — mean that Lu can't stay neutral about the racial divide at school. Will she find the gumption to stand up for what's right and to choose friends who do the same?

Review:

This review turned into a critical analysis of the book, but I promise it’s worth it. But, heed my SPOILER ALERT. You’ve been warned!

In reading Lila Quintero Weaver’s first foray into children’s fiction, I couldn’t help but think that this would pair well as a close analysis, keeping in mind Gloria Anzaldúa’s border theory. To keep it simple, Anzaldúa believed that immigrants, especially Latinx, and more specifically those of Mexican descent, not just live with the trauma of immigrating across the literal border. The theory also refers to the borders that have been socially constructed, such as racial categorization and sexuality just to mention a few. I’ll apply her border theory to this text because I believe most of the book is a study of said theory.

My Year in the Middle follows the last six weeks of Lu Olivera’s sixth grade in 1970 Red Grove, Alabama. Lu is the child of two Argentinian immigrants, which reflects the author’s own personal experience (this is explained at the end of the book with the Author’s Note). Lu considers herself to be a wallflower and does everything in her power to stay that way. But when the P.E. teacher decides that the girls will start running for the last six weeks of class, Lu becomes the surprise underdog. She outruns the entire class, which had been desegregated only the year before. In classrooms, however, an unspoken rule still divides Lu’s peers between black and white. Seeing as she identifies as neither, she occupies a seat in the middle row. In that way, she straddles a literal border.

“A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants” (Anzaldúa 3).

The way Lu sits in that racial border that has been constructed without her say in the matter, is much in the way she struggles with her identity as a Latina. She fears her Spanish is not too good and that her translation skills are too basic. However, above all else, she seeks acceptance among the white girls in her class. She fears being Othered, but also fears complete assimilation into whiteness. Anzaldúa said: “The only ‘legitimate’ inhabitants [of the borderlands] are those in power, the whites and those who align themselves with whites. Tension grips the inhabitants of the borderlands like a virus. Ambivalence and unrest reside there and death is no stranger” (4). Though death may not be something that’s talked about in the book, ambivalence is something the narrative strides to be against. Lu feels the tension between her black and white classmates, which at times escalates to physical violence. At some point, even Lu’s the victim of physical and verbal violence from an older white student who takes the bus with her. Lu thwarts this by stomping his feet and correcting that she’s Argentinian, but she has to constantly remind herself of something her mother says: “We’re foreigners. We’re not supposed to get involved.”

Thus, Lu becomes an agent of whiteness by not daring to mix with the black kids, even though she identifies more with them and wishes to befriend them. There is a border that she dares not cross, even though it’s not something her parents have taught her. Her parents have taught her to be implicit in white supremacy even though they don’t believe in it. When Lu finally decides to befriend Belinda, a black girl in her class who is also a fantastic runner, she worries about what her white peers might think of such relationship. She doesn’t hide it in public, and she defends Belinda in the face of a racist shopkeeper, but when she’s faced with the questions of her white peers she shies away from the courage she shows. It’s a slow process as she realizes the systems at play in her classroom, and though she has some help from white peers like her friend Sam, her “best friend” Abigail does the opposite and encourages Lu to assimilate.

In fact, most of the characters who wish that Lu assimilate are women. If it’s not Abigail telling Lu to read women’s fashion tips in magazines, it’s Lu’s mom telling her that sports aren’t for girls when Lu expresses her love of running. This is a sentiment that even Anzaldúa expresses: “Culture is made by those in power—men. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them” (16). By communicating that assimilation into a white heterosexual capitalist patriarchy or assimilation by ignoring your Otherness and that of your peers, Abigail and Lu’s mom transmit the messages of those in power, which Lu then internalizes.

The book mostly consists of Lu unlearning these internalized feelings and the text does so deftly and with the innocence of a sixth grader who’s only starting to realize the depth of US’s injustices. A good evolution is the image of Lu’s sister, Marina, who’s a college student as well as a volunteer for the Brewer campaign. This campaign is another subplot that’s almost always occurring in the background of Lu’s life. At moments she believes she wouldn’t be affected by the campaign, which is against rampant white supremacist ex-governor George Wallace and desegregationist Albert Brewer. But the book takes you on a sort-of ride-along as she goes to a Wallace rally because Abigail just wants to participate in a cake walk. As Lu feels horrible when the speeches start and the Confederate flags start flying, she bargains with herself and others that she only went to appease Abigail be a part of something with her white peers.

Lu doesn’t tell her black friends or her own family that she attended the rally, knowing it would be met with scorn, which means that she knew it was wrong. When her social studies teacher asks her to write an essay about her experience at the rally for bonus points, she does so, and gets full points while feeling guilty. That guilt is useless, however, seeing as it resembles the white guilt of her peers who want to rebel against the white supremacy in place at their school, but won’t do anything productive with it. It’s when Lu uses her guilt to defend her black friends that it becomes more productive.

At a white student’s birthday party, Lu becomes the target of harassment from her peers for being friends with the black students, especially Belinda. White fear comes bubbling up, and it’s only perforated when Lu finally owns up to her own prejudices and by calling out her peers’ racism in the process.

When Brewer loses the race, the sentiments explored in the book felt all too familiar. As the Brewer supporters start mourning the loss, the white Wallace supporters become even more assertive of their desire for white supremacy. The feelings paralleled the days after the election of Tr*mp. Keep in mind, the book is set less than 50 years ago, and the sentiments of white supremacy and segregationist laws are still present in the US. It is at that point that Lu’s reality comes crashing down on her.

At school, she finally decides to sit with the black students, eschewing the created border of the middle row, the false neutrality she thought she could keep. Lu finally overcomes “the tradition of silence” that Anzaldúa wished to do in regards of the censuring of her identity as a Chicana (59). And though, again, Lu isn’t a Chicana, it’s the best turning point for her as she accepts her Otherness and doesn’t give into white supremacy. In fact, she goes to a white man in power (the principal) to defend one of her black peers, who’s attacked by a white student in class.

Lu is constantly subverting the expectations set for her as the book moves along. She shows growth in the most hopeful and honest way. She’s constantly deconstructing the set default, though not always by herself, like in the scene in which Belinda is at her house and they’re going through the magazines that used to be Abigail’s. Belinda points out that there’s one black model for the overwhelmingly white publication, but she doesn’t worry because at her house they receive beauty magazines for black women. Lu can’t help but wonder that there’s no such thing for girls like her, girls from Latin America, and that she doubted she would ever find a black-haired model with brown skin. This scene is a short one, yet it puts into focus what has been set as the standard for beauty: Eurocentric features. It also helps as a way for Lu to deconstruct such standards, and to question why those are the default.

“It is not enough to stand on the opposite river bank, shouting questions, challenging patriarchal, white conventions. [...] At some point, on our way to a new consciousness, we will have to leave the opposite bank, the split between the two mortal combatants somehow healed so that we are on both shores at once [...] Or perhaps we will decide to disengage from the dominant culture, write it off altogether as a lost cause, and cross the border into a wholly new and separate territory. Or we might go a different route. The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react” (Anzaldúa 78-79).

And indeed, Lu acts. Most of the book is her reacting to injustice, and by the end she’s acting and choosing her own path. She chooses herself, she chooses her real friends, and her family. She also chooses running, with her entire family supporting her and her dad and sister helping her train before the big competition (a Field Day). It becomes a celebration of Lu’s identity as her parents shout encouragement in Spanish as she goes. Those screams allow her to win, seeing as her competition, an older white girl, gets distracted and falls on a pothole. This final scene settles the border paradox within Lu. She’s able to celebrate both her passion for running and her identity as a Latina, all while celebrating the friends she has. There’s no indication she wants to seek reunification with the white peers who turned their backs on her, or that she wants to seek some sort of revenge.

At the end, Lu is happy with forging her own path. She’s finally unafraid to embrace her actions, and leave behind the created borders. There are new borders, but she doesn’t wish to acknowledge them at the moment the book is finished. She’s proud of her growth, and so was I.

Works Cited:

Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Aunt Lute Books, 1987.

Quintero Weaver, Lila. My Year in the Middle. Candlewick Press, 2018.

An eARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! (this is why I couldn’t directly cite from the source book, since ARCs undergo a lot of changes before publishing)

You can find this book online at all available retailers. (amazon, barnes and noble, indiebound)

Review available on Goodreads.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @boricuareads, and make sure you check out my other reviews, as well as my book lists, edits, and more! If you enjoyed this, know that I put a lot of work into my reviews, so a monetary donation helps keep this blog going.

#mine #my year in the middle #lila quintero weaver #adriana reviews #read latinx #latinx books #middle grade

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tumblunni · 6 years

Text

Man i was just thinking again about that idea i had for a cliche gijinka app card game where the gijinkas are all Interesting Bugs instead of weird sexy anime george washington.

I've kinda got quite attatched to my idea for a leech gijinka as a super cuddly white mage who just happens to look emo and scary. And they'd be a great opportunity for nonbinary representation cos in real life leeches don't have binary sexes anyway. But i cant decide between whether i want them to look like a full plague doctor mask thing or a more cliche cutesy nurse but theyre like super tall and look like the monster girl from the ring so they get sad that people always run away before they can help them! So then i was thinking "hey, alternate skins!" Not like in the other games ive played where there's always one canon skin and all the others require hours of grinding and/or real money to buy. But just that there's like three or so randomized versions of the base character with all the same stats but a different costume. Just to spice up the pool of options a bit! Or maybe it could even be more than just the costume and you can get entirely different reinterpretations of that job class? Like the medusa jellyfish could be either a young kid or a grandpa!

Oh and i'm not really sure how to name this or anything? Cos its not really a clear category of animals, its not all insects or all worms or whatever. More like just..all the animals that are unfairly hated but have Cool Biology Facts that i can babble at u to maybe make u like them more. So i dunno.. Pests? Creepy crawlies? Some entirely made up fantasy term for them?

Also i think the setting will definately be jrpg fantasy! Just a world where all these critters are actually funky people on a comedically bad D&D quest. I wonder who the villains could be tho? Maybe theyre gijinkas of more commonly loved cute animals? Or like.. Not gijinkas but monsterfied versions? Hilariously over the top evil fluffums! hamsters are this setting's dragons! And i dunno maybe the ultimate dark lord is a dog with a cat for a royal vizier or something, cos theyre the kings of popularity.

This could also make it actually make sense why the Clione character could be a beserker like in real life! Cos theyre the most un-hated rare sea slug for looking cute, but their actual personality is big scary predator. But in this universe being seen as cute by humans = evil, so the Clione's fighty doom personality would make perfect sense! Im not sure if i should make them like a tormented Shadow esque antihero or a paladin-looking knight who has a dark streak or maybe even a viking? Cos in videogames theyre like the epitome of 'loves fighting but is still a nice hugs guy'. And it'd be neat to have a chubby buff clione instead of the more cliche bishie gijinka. But then i mean theyre literally nicknamed 'sea angels' or 'sea fairies' depending on country so yeah? Oh or maybe that could mean i make them an elf or an angel but theyre still mega buff! Viking guy with lil chibi wings and halo!

Also randomly i think that Slug will be the other nonbinary character along with Leech. Cos well there's a lot of bugs who dont fit the human gender binary but i'd probably be a bit too obnoxious if i had like 90% enbies and noone else. I always think about like 'if this is my first game project i need to go at a small and reasonable pace with all the Big LGBT Feels', yknow? But then every idea i do is always my first game project cos ive never completed any of them yet XD

Anyway i think Slug would be a more fashionable bishie kind of androgenous character, while Leech is a relateable cuddly socially awkward one who wears a mask. But definately also looks stylish in their own way, and i'm sure Slug is always complimenting them and trying to bolster their spirits! Aside from being super fashionable i also think maybe Slug would be a wandering bard? Cos somehow slow animal -> lazy human -> free spirited instead to be less cliche -> bard. Also the whole 'bard rolls to seduce every boss' meme, lol! So Slug is a very nyeheheh tricksy flirty adventuring song person who aint take nobody's shit. Instead of being sleepy they sleep on the concept of low self confidence! Full and powerful pride at all times!!! Goal in life is to be beautiful AF and handsome AF and make everyone swoon at your feet and also recite an epic poetry so cool that your enemies straight up die from the sick burn. Tho i mean i don't think anyone could actually ACHIEVE that, lol! It might be obnoxious if i actually have a character who's basically 'enby people are literally perfect in all ways'. So i just think Slug is a big ol dork who's like the Gaston archetype of the comically overconfident flirt, but like a good and heroic version who actually respects when people say no to their advances. And is also a great BFF to Leech and tries to help them get out of their shell, because well of course Slug is out of theirs XD

Also actually i dunno whether they should all just be named after the animal or have thier own names but the animal is mentioned on their profile as a job class name or something? Cos it might get awkward once we get to more specific obscure bugs with longer names or ones who only really have a scientific genus name. I'd feel like i'd have to make them all wizards cos their names sound like spells! Oh MAYBE THEYRE SPELLS!! Like each character could chant their own scientific name when they use their ultimate attack??

Oh and maybe Slug and Leech could be just based on the species in general but have their alternate costumes themed after more specific rare subspecies? Like Slug could have nudibranch themed costumes cos the vibrant colours would fit such an elegant fashioniste~ And leech could just be an opportunity to talk about how there's subspecies of leech that dont drink blood, though this character is based on the ones that do because otherwise they wouldnt really have a unique job class, lol. Maybe their rarest alt costume is a fashionable orange ensemble that symbolizes both Slug taking them out for a night on the town in their finest to feel more comfortabke in their self confidence, and also just the fact there's an orange tropical leech. Its kinda funny cos there isnt such a huge range of different colours for leeches, its mostly just different barely visible patterns and a spectrum from greenish brown to brownish black, lol. And then suddenly a bunch of wildly different red and orange ones! And nothing in between! Really does seem like a surprise makeover from your bestie, yknow?

Oh and then when i was thinking about other potential relationships between different magic bug people, i thought of Daddy Longlegs! Cos thats a name confusingly given to multiple bugs of wildly different species who're all mistaken for spiders when they really arent. And this mythical nonexistant daddy longlegs spider also has the myth of having 'the strongest poison but its fangs are too short to bite you' which is COMPLETE nonsense based on nothibg cos how would it even survive in the wild if it cant hunt? But its a real cool myth so it could be an awesome excuse to make them have a move that gambles on either an instant kill or a self debuff. ALSO THEY ARE MARRIED

I was thinking they could be a duo of fabulous zorro-looking assassin dudes who were sent to assassinate each other but instead fell in love and quit the business for good. Like 'you made me want to live again, and the only reason i threw my life away on this job was cos i wanted to die'. And to atone for all the bad mercenary stuff theyd done in the past, now theyre robin hood esque mercenaries who take jobs with world-saving hero groups like our protagonists. And they work for free as long as the cause is just! And they wish they could settle down someday and dream about having children of their own, but they feel like they dont deserve it after all that theyve done. They'd be a rare goofy bugmans that actually have a real emotional backstory! So anyway they're fancy fencing guys who're both the same class but maybe slightly different variants with different stat builds or abilities? More specialized and all. Like maybe one is speedy but weaker and one is slower but stronger? Or one relies more on luck based attacks and one is a consistant damage dealer but has a lower max damage cap? Or even one is status effects and one is attack and really even though they have the same job name theyre wildly different interpretations of it. Fitting for the entomology mistake husbands! I want them to be balanced so that they have special bonuses together but are still viable to use separately if your party setup only requires one of them. Also randomly i think their names would be Albedo and Rubedo? I was originally gonna make Rubedo the name of the leech cos i mean alchemy words and plague masks and all. But then it doesnt really SOUND like an alchemy word, it sounds like a fancy handsome dancer name. And then i started thinking about the cute once-sad-now-happy young assassin dads fighting together so well that it looks like one big dance between them, rather than a battle. And i got REAL EMOTIONAL over goddamn bug gijinkas! Man my heart is made of paper and mush!! Oh and maybe they have combo attacks together but also with all of the party members that are younger? Like special dad instinct combo! A built in ability that they automatically shield the kids from enemy attacks. YOU HIRED A MERCENARY BUT YOU RECEIVED A NICE MARRIED COUPLE WHO PROMPTLY ADOPT YOU. Oh and maybe their alternate costumes could just be each other's costumes? Like they'd already be wearing matching red and white versions of the same thing, but then albino dad wears ginger dad's version and vice versa. Or maybe their alt costumes are different complimentary colour pairs like black and gold or blue and pink? And maybe their ultra rare special costume is Big Cute Dorky Argyle Dad Sweaters! It must be capitalized cos it is IMPORTANT!

Oh and then i was also thinking about the idea i had before of bugs with a queen hive structure being like the workers are the common unit and the breeders and queens and such are rarer variants? But the workers are the only ones actually good in a fight, the others are just for collectables sake. Rare but useless, just like how the real queen bee is so big that she cant leave the hive, and never figjts a day in her life unless the kingdom has already fallen. So maybe queen bee is still unlockable as a rare character but she's just a support that makes worker bee stronger? Like you get a lil event of worker's boss coming to honor her with a knighthood for her good service, allowing her to upgrade her job class. Tho i think she still fights with construction work equipment, now its just like a golden jewelled shovel XD

#bug app game #if i actually make this it obviously wont be an app game cos im not capable of programming or funding that #itd just be a free rpgmaker project that spoofs all the cliches of this genre of gijinka gatcha nonsense #youd just earn coins to buy randomized new units via regular gameplay #and probably have a lot more ease of enjoyment features to balance it out and stuff #like your odds go up if you get lots of unlucky pulls in a row #i just want everyone to have fun and be able to see as many of my goofy characters as possible!#no need to stretch it out to 120 hours if nobodys getting money for it lol

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thoseofgreatambition · 7 years

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could you do an hc where george dates a hufflepuff muggleborn?

of course i can my darling!

i. george's favorite color is yellow. it's the sweater color his mother wore when she taught him how to fly a proper broom one autumn day and its the color of his favorite sweets.

ii. you've leant into the hufflepuff curve with your clothes. you've always loved bright colors and now you have an excuse to write your parents home and letting them know that you were put into Hufflepuff house (where the colors are yellow and black!) they can't afford to send you much, but when they can they send along a new sweater or a cardigan, mostly though you find yourself getting a new 2 pairs for 1 quid set of socks. not always yellow. but always bright and cheery.

iii. you rush into his life for the first time in your fourth year, a flurry of yellow in an oversized cableknit sweater and leave just as quickly as you realize the empty classroom you wanted to get into was inhabited by the infamous weasley twins, and you didn’t wanted to get pranked at the moment. george stares at the space you were in in the door. fred knows that george is already way in too deep.

iv. he wants to find you. he asks his friends if they’ve seen ‘the cute hufflepuff in the yellow sweater’. they laugh at him. that’s at least half of the hufflepuffs.

v. he wonders if he’ll ever see you again before he realizes you’re across him in charms. he hadn’t noticed you before the bright colors. you’re both in your robes. he stares, you wonder if you’re going to get pranked. you give him a small wave before he grins back at you. he has bright orange hair. you like bright things.

vi. “my name’s george weasley!” he rushes over to you after class is, leaving an amused fred and katie in his wake as they snicker at him behind their palms. you laugh as well.

“everyone knows who you are. you’re pranked us all.”

when he seems to have the wind stolen from his sails a bit you feel just a little bad, and you hold your hand out to shake, “i’m y/f/n y/l/n. it’s good to finally meet you.”

the smile comes back.

vii. he seeks you out. it’s winter in his fourth year, when the chamber of secrets has been opened and he’s a bit worried about you. well, more than a bit. everything is so grey and bleary and you’re always so bright and full of sunshine he worries about you being spotted first. he and fred stay next to you a lot of the days. you get a long well with them.

viii. you won fred over by being kind to his brother. also by sharing the muggle treats your mother sends you twice a month.

ix. george kisses you for the first time on valentines day. you’re wearing your yellow sweater-- when he asks you about it you shrug and say you simply like it. he kisses you softly, not too experienced with stuff just quite yet and grins into the kiss when he feels you press back.

x. when ginny goes missing you try to get into the gryffindor common room so you can be there for him. the fat lady yells at you for being out of bed. mcgonnagal does as well. you are a muggleborn out and about in very dangerous times. that’s not that you’re thinking though. you just want to be there for your boyfriend.

xi. you stay awake in the hufflepuff common room until you’re allowed to be out of bed without bothering to change out of your bedclothes. you fly into george’s arms when you see him and hold him close. you’ve heard the rumors that they found ginny. “is she okay? are you okay? you must have been frightened i’m sorry i wasn’t there i tried to get to the common room and they wouldn’t let me--”

george just squeezes you tight and presses a kiss to your head. everyone is safe. ginny is safe. ron is safe. hermione and harry are fine. he looks down at you, in your cyan pajamas and bright green robe and lets out a sigh of relief. you’re safe as well.

#george weasley #george weasley headcanon #george weasley x reader #george weasley imagine #headcanon #my writing #I LIKE THIS I HOPE YOU DO TOO AHHH #my imagines #my headcanons

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sirtravisjacksonoftexas · 4 years

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Is Jesus one of the Dying And Rising gods, and thus pure Myth? Um, NO, and gorillas will show you why…

Many Jesus Mythicists have tried to state that Jesus was one of several ancient deities in the “Dying and Rising” gods category. This idea became more prominent among both academics and laymen when Sr James G. Fraser, a cultural anthropologist, wrote the book “The Golden Bough” in 1890. In it, he claimed that Jesus was among several other dying and rising gods, which he claimed were associated with the agricultural cycle. This “dying and Rising God” category finds its way in our mythology books, and Jesus Mythicists use the category in their arguments.

However, there is a problem.

You see, the “Dying and Rising” god archetype has fallen out of academic favor. Its considered nowadays a misnomer. The reconstructions used to make the category required some serious mental gymnastics. Plus, the texts used to make the case for themwere unclear or very late (which is saying something, considering that the gods supposedly in this dying and rising god category are quite ancient). Many of the parallels are either not there or very weak (some equate Attis’ rebirth with Christ’s resurrection. I repeat, WEAK).

Indeed, there is a consensus that there were no dying and rising gods before Christianity. But let’s assume for argument’s sake that the category is sound, and that there were dying and rising gods before Christ. Let’s even assume that Jesus is in such a category.

Does that mean that Jesus never existed?

No, and here is why.

1. The Biblical account of creation is in the so-called “creation myth” category. This is not a problem for Jews and Christians, for we accept that the creation account of the Bible is the TRUE account of creation. We may differ on its interpretation (i.e. how long the days of creation were, divine creation vs theistic evolution, whether there is a gap of considerable time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, etc), but we accept it as true, as the real story, and the fact that other cultures had stories about creation has never been a problem for us.

2. Just because someone…or something is in a “mythical” or “folkloric” category doesn’t make it a myth.

How do I know the latter?

Simple: I asked the Hairy Wild Man of the Woods.

All the world over, there are many legends about hairy “wildmen”, beings that are in some ways man-like yet otherwise bestial. We have Bigfoot or sasquatch in North America, Yeti in the Himalayas, Yeren in China, the Woodwose of England, the Yowie of Australia, the Agogwe of Africa, the Ucu of South America, the tiny Orang Pendek of Sumatra, etc. Indeed, “Bigfoot” or “sasquatch” is really a catch-all term for various hairy Wildman monsters told about in Native American lore (As seen in “Cannibals, Giant and Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture” by Kathy Moskowitz Strain). Likewise, there is not one species of Yeti reported in Tibet, but three: the Meh-teh (what we think of when we hear the word “Yeti”), Teh-lma (or dwarf yeti), and the Dzu-teh, a massive brute that walks both on all fours and upright (the “giant” yeti). Now, we have many sightings and excellent books and documentaries on such creatures, but the fact remains…science does not recognize the existence of such “hairy wildmen of the woods” (at least most of them...). They won’t, without a body on a slab or a captured live specimen. Indeed, many scoff at the idea of such creatures existing.

I mean, its not like any of them have been found right?

Actually…some have.

Think I’ve gone nuts?

Think the cheese fell off my cracker?

Better read on…

You see, for many years, there were reports of a creature in Africa called the Pongo, a monstrous hybrid of man and monkey that lived in the wilderness (sound familiar?). It was said in some sources to walk upright (sound even more familiar?). Most would have written the monsteroff as a myth…

…until its discovery in 1847.

We don’t call them Pongos anymore.

We call them Lowland Gorillas.

A creature that fit the crypto-zoological category of hominid, the crypto “Hairy Wildman of the woods.”

Now some may object, saying that Gorillas can’t walk upright, like the Pongo was said to have done.

Well…

They actually can walk upright. They just walk on all fours most of the time. Indeed, there are videos of gorillas doing this.

Thus, a real-life flesh and blood “Hairy Wildman of the Woods.”

And he is not alone…

The Mountain Gorilla of the Virungas was likewise a hairy Wildman of the woods creature (called Ngila), until it was discovered in 1902.

Hairy.

Man-like.

Lives in the woods.

There you go.

Likewise, the Orangutan (whose scientific name is curiously “Pongo”) was thought to be human by some natives who lived among them. Indeed, the name “Orangutan” means “Person of the Forest.” They have even been known to grab human women and rape them, a behavior noted in bothSatyrs of Greek myth and the modern sasquatch (both in the hairy Wildman category).; They also use tools (including leaves for hats, protecting their heads from heat and rain). Orangutans would have been known to westerners only in stories and lore before they were discovered.

Hairy.

Manlike (actually was thought to be human by some native tribes. They were described as part human in some tales).

Lives in the woods…

Fits, doesn’t it?

Now, what if I told you that at least 1 type of Yeti…has already been discovered?

Indeed, what if I told you…that you could find it at your local zoo?

Think I’m crazy again?

Think I need to spend some time in a rubber room?

Not after you read the following…

Reinhold Messner, the “Michael Jordan of Mountain Climbing”, investigated the Yeti myth. Having traversed the Himalayas on several occasions, he knew the area and the people well, and after encountering the Yeti he decided to discover it. This trek led to him not only finding tracks of the beast, but even encountering one in a zoo. He put his findings in the book “My Quest for the Yeti” and presented it to the world.

And what did the Yeti turn out to be?

Ursus arctos isabellinus.

The Himalayan Red Bear.

A subspecies of brown bear.

In other words……a GRIZZLY!

Now, that doesn’t “sound” like the Yeti. I mean, isn’t the yeti supposed to be this mysterious ape that lives in the Himalayas?

Well, that’s a good description of the Teh-lma and the Meh-teh…but not the Dzu-Teh.

You see, people native to the Himalayas have always called theHimalayan red bear “Dzu-teh” (also called “Chemo” “Dre-Mo and “Dredmo”). Indeed, the term “Dredmo” means “brown bear”. We also have to consider the fact that the term “Yeti” derives from the Nepalese word “Yeh-the”, which is used for any large critter that roams the highmountains…including bears.

Keep in mind: Bears are man-like in many ways (similar shaped hindfeet, can stand upright, are omnivores like us, and when skinned look similar to a skinned human. Indeed, one can imagine how a standing bear, if it is looking skyward, canfrom a distance resembled a shaggy giant with a saggital crest (a ridge of bone on top of some animal's skulls. Gorilla's high-domed heads get their shape because of it).

Thus, the “Giant” Yeti actually exists, and it has been standing right in front of us all along.

Brown bears were not mistaken for yetis.

They ARE yetis!

Pretty amazing, huh?

Not as amazing as the Bondegezou, aka Dingiso...This small hairy wildman first came to the attention of science when a photograph of it was sent to an Australian scientist named Tim Flannery. The Bondegezou (a name which means “man of the forests”) was said to roam New Guinea, a hairy creature that climbed down trees feet first…just like a human.

Hairy, man-like (remember what its name means, and its method of climbing down trees) and lives in the woods...

Years later, Tim Flannery actually discovered this animal, and eventually showed to the world that it was not some mystery cryptid that didn’t exist; it was a flesh and blood creature.

And…are you ready for a surprise?

It wasn’t an ape.

It wasn’t a man.

It was…a new species of TREE KANGAROO!

Yes, the Bondegezou, aka Dingiso, is a black tree kangaroo with a white belly and a white star on its forehead. This hairy Wildman was once the stuff of crypto-zoology, the stuff of legend and lore, a creature that science would have all but ignored…until it was proven to exist.

Now, think about that for a minute.

Pongo, Ngila, Dzu-teh, Orangutan and Bondegezou. All hairy “wildmen” of the woods who turned out to be real.

They fit a crypto-zoological category that mostly entails creatures not proven to exist, creatures considered myth by the majority of scientists…and yet these are REAL.

Just as Jesus, though at one time placed by some in the “Dying and Rising God” category…is likewise REAL, recognized as a true historical figure (as mainstream history books show).

Jesus is real.

Sources:

“Evidence that Demands a Verdict” by Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, PhD, 304-5, 312 “The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus” by Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, 89-92 “Man Myth Messiah” by Rice Broocks, 124-26

https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dying-and-rising-gods

“The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Beings” by John and Caitlin Matthews, 613-14 Crypto-Zoology: A to Z’ by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark, 24-26, 46-47, 172-73,189-91, 242-43, 252-57

“The Year of the Gorilla” By George B. Schaller, page 4

https://books.google.com/books?id=P8ca5WXqkMAC&pg=PA4&dq=Gorilla%2BPongo%2Bwalked%2Bupright&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihlY6WwIPlAhWhJTQIHVfzDN8Q6AEwAnoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=Gorilla%2BPongo%2Bwalked%2Bupright&f=false

https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/gorilla/characteristics/

https://gorillafund.org/gorillas-walking-upright/

“Unexplained!” (New Edition), by Jerome Clark, 211 “Unexplained Phenomena: A Rough Guide” by Bob Rickard and John Michell, 293 “Sasquatch: True Life Encounters With Legendary Ape Men” by Rupert Matthews, 127, 200“Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide” by Michael Newton, 138

http://www.newanimal.org/pongo.htm

“Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science” by Jeffrey Meldrum, 77-79

https://metro.co.uk/2011/06/12/mummy-orangutan-makes-leaf-umbrella-to-protect-baby-from-rain-49820/

https://blog.wcs.org/photo/2014/12/26/person-of-the-forest-orangutan-great-ape/

https://8billiontrees.com/blogs/news/save-the-orangutans-why-they-need-our-help

“Orangutans” by Robert W. Shoemaker, 18, 23, 54-57

“Orangutans: Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation” edited by Serge A. Wich, S Suci Utami Atmoko, Tatang Mitra Setia, Carel P. van Schaik, page 195

https://books.google.com/books?id=uy3U8wMwr_MC&pg=PA195&lpg=PA195&dq=Orangutans+hats+rain&source=bl&ots=c-29SNCSsf&sig=ACfU3U05wIgqTF4MGa1euL7UVPx1QxJriw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi58rK2nITlAhUE7qwKHfsgCUE4ChDoATACegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=Orangutans%20hats%20rain&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjolCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT502&dq=bondegezou+dingiso&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwib_fziooTlAhUQLK0KHSwdBEQQ6AEwAnoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=bondegezou%20dingiso&f=false

"The Grizzly Almanac" by Robert H. Busch, 33-34, 104 "Bears of the World" by Lance Craighead, 9, 112 “Historical Atlas: A Comprehensive History of the World” (Chief Consultant Dr Geoffery Wawro (1 of 45 historians who worked on the book), 84-85“The Middle East” The Cradle of Civilization Revealed”, 294-96 “The West: Encounters and Transformations” Concice Edition, by Brian Levack, Edward Muir, Michael Maas, and Meredith Veldman, 111-113“The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas” by Jean Pierre Isbouts (a National Geographic book), 267-69

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/03/gorilla-walking-upright-bipedal-philadelphia-zoo-spd/

“Walking with the Great Apes”: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Biruté Galdikas” By Sy Montgomery, 151

https://books.google.com/books?id=QmIL1EvL0msC&pg=PA151&dq=Orangutans%2Brape%2Bwomen&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZm9-W24blAhVSiqwKHaTxBfgQ6AEwAXoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=Orangutans%2Brape%2Bwomen&f=false

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND April 19, 2019 - THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA, BREAKTHROUGH, PENGUINS

Yay! Another week where I haven’t seen any of the new releases! This is what happens when studios offer a single press screening rather than a few options, I guess.

After a rather dismal weekend, this weekend sees the release of a mixed bag of movies that will wrap-up the winter/spring movie season before Avengers: Endgame comes along and just destroys everything else in theaters. This is also Easter weekend and with no schools and many being off work for Good Friday, we’ll see a large bump with most movies being frontloaded for the weekend. (Easter Sunday is usually reserved for family meals, Easter egg hunts, etc, so not as much movie business.)

Beginning on Wednesday, we have two relatively family-friendly films in Fox 2000’s faith-based BREAKTHROUGH (20thCentury Fox) and DisneyNature’s PENGUINS (Walt Disney Pictures), again, neither which I’ve seen. The first is a higher-profile faith-based drama that’s being released in perfect timing with Easter, but unlike the movies of PureFlix, I feel that the marketing campaign could bring in a wider audience, especially with popular actors like Chrissy Metz, Topher Grace, Mike Colter and Dennis Haysbert. Penguinsis another Disney nature doc, this one a cute story about a penguin named Steve, voiced by Ed Helms, and its G-rating will help make it a choice for family with young kids over the holiday weekend.

Then on Friday (or rather, Thursday night) comes the latest horror film from producer James Wan, THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (New Line/WB), which looks like another solid scare-fest even if the reviews out of SXSW weren’t as strong as the ones for Pet Sematary (which I still haven’t seen!) and Us (which I’ve seen twice). I’m definitely interested in checking it out, especially the work of director Michael Chaves, who has already been attached to direct the next Conjuring movie (although this one is not related).

Opening in 300 theaters Wednesday is the Bollywood release KALANK (FIP), directed by Abhishek Varman, a romantic drama about six characters looking for love in the town of Husnabad, North India.

Also opening fairly wide this weekend is Michael Berry’s adaptation of Riley Thomas’ stage musical Stuck (Eammon Films), starring Giancarlo Esposito, Amy Madigan, Omar Chaparroand Ashanti as four of six New York commuters stuck on a subway car, as they sing their stories to each other. Sounds more fun than what normally happens in New York when the subway car stops between stations.

Apparently, Bleecker Street plans on expanding Max Minghella’s Teen Spirit, starring Elle Fanning, wider, although I don’t have a theater count at this point in time, so I’m not sure if it’s expanding enough to get into the top 10 or how many areas it will be in.

LIMITED RELEASES

My favorite movie of the weekend is Pamela Green’s doc BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ (Zeitgeist), which will open in L.A. at the Laemmle Monica Film Center then move to NYC on April 26. If you don’t know who Alice Guy-Blaché is then you really need to see this movie, since she was such an important part of cinema history. She was there from the very gestation of cinema in France as the first female director who was making so many inroads into various filmmaking techniques while being mostly ignored by the men in the industry, including those who documented the history of cinema. This is an amazing film to see all of Ms. Guy’s accomplishments, while also being demeaned by a philandering husband who took credit for much of her accomplishments. I was also amazed to learn while watching this film that Fort Lee, New Jersey used to be the hub of cinema in the early 20thCentury before Guy’s husband and others moved to California and set up Hollywood, mainly to get away from paying fees to Tom Edison. This is an amazing doc that I recommend highly if you consider yourself a film buff on any level.

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Another great doc opening this week – New York on Weds and in L.A. Friday – is Penny Lane’s new one HAIL SATAN? (Magnolia), which explores the Satanic Temple and its leader Lucien Greaves, who have created a political movement around the ideas that church and state should be kept separate. They do this by raising funds to set-up statues of Baphomet on the same capital grounds where governments have set-up statues of the Ten Commandments. They also do this with a sense of humor that reminds me of The Yes Men, whose own pranks have been documented well in film. Either way, this movie is not what you might think i.e. it’s not a commercial for Satanism as in the type that sacrifices babies. It’s just a group that uses the name of Satan to fight for religious freedom.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays a woman who goes on the run after her superpowers are discovered in Julia Hart’s FAST COLOR (Codeblack Films). This opens in select cities this week, and I’ve reviewed it over at The Beat.

It Follows director David Robert Mitchell’s new noir thriller UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (A24) seems to be getting dumped with a quick release in New York and L.A. on Friday before debuting for streaming on Amazon Monday. I guess the mixed reviews it got at its premiere at Cannes last year didn’t help matters. It stars Andrew Garfield as 33-year-old Sam who discovers the mysterious Sarah (Riley Kough) in his apartment swimming pool, but when she vanishes, he goes looking through L.A. to find what happened to her. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it’s looking unlikely I’ll see it in theaters now.

Dame Judi Dench stars in Trevor Nunn’s RED JOAN (IFC Films), playing Joan Stanley, a widow living in retirement when the British Secret Service arrests her for giving classified information to the Soviets for decades. Based on a true story, it will open at the Landmark 57 and IFC Center in New York as well as other theaters and On Demand.

Tessa Thompson and Lilly James star in Nia DaCosta’s feature film directorial debut LITTLE WOODS (NEON), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, at which DaCosta won the Nora Ephron award. Thompson plays Ollie, a North Dakota woman who was once arrested for smuggling prescription drugs across the border, something she gives up until her pregnant sister Deb (James) shows up needing $3,000 to save their family home. I’m hoping to catch it again sometime this week, since I want to give it another chance.

Currently playing on DirecTV and opening in select theaters and On Demand Friday is Fred Wolf’s DRUNK PARENTS (Vertical Entertainment), starring Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek. Semi-wealthy Frank and Nancy Teagarten are dropping their daughter off at college just before the repo man shows up at their door, so they do some drinking and hold a yard sale as to hide their deteriorating wealth.

Orange is the New Black star Taylor Schilling stars in Laura Steinel’s Family (The Film Arcade) as career-focused Kate Stone, who is asked by her estranged brother to babysit her ‘tween niece Maddie, as one night turns into a week.

Prolific Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo’s new movie Grass (Cinema Guild), will open at the Metrograph in New York. It’s a rather talkie piece that involves a bunch of people talking to each other in a café where a young woman (Kim Min-hee) eavesdrops and adds their characters to her story. I’m generally mixed on Hong Sang-soo, and this one seems a bit more artsy with less of a narrative, but I assume diehard fans will enjoy it.

Wanuri Kahui’s Kenyan coming-of-age drama Rafiki (Film Movement), the first Kenyan film to show at Cannes, will open at BAM on Friday. It follows the journey of Kena and Ziki, two young woman whose fathers are rival political candidates but who have formed a bond of friendship.

Just in time for 4/20 comes Robert Ryan’s doc Breaking Habits (Good Deed Entertainment) about Christine Meeusen’s decision to leave her cheating husband of 17 years with her three kids, reinventing herself as Sister Kate and setting up a cannabis farming business that would become the Sisters of the Valley medicinal marijuana empire.

Also, a reminder that Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, starring Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce, is supposed to get a limited release this weekend after its Fathom Events “one night only,” although I have no idea of number of theaters or locations or anything.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

As with every weekend, there’s a lot going on, and in New York, up at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, they’re kicking off this year’s ART OF THE REAL on Thursday and running through April 28. The Opening Night film is Frank Beauvais’ Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, compiling the thoughts and revelations of the filmmaker. I haven’t been able to get to any of the press screenings, but it usually has an interesting and diverse line-up which you can read more about at the link.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Fans of Brazilian cinema will want to check out some of the Metrograph’s new series about Brazilian filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos, which runs from Friday through April 28. The movies range from his groundbreaking 1955 doc Rio, 40º to 2011’s The Music According to Tom Jobim with nine films, few of which have received distribution in North America. This week’s Late Nites at Metrographinclude Sion Sono’s Anti-Porno and Bertrando Bonello’s 2011 film L’Appollonide (House of Tolerance), neither which I’ve seen, but the weekend’s Playtime: Family Matineesis Disney’s The Love Bug, one of my absolute favorite films from childhood.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Besides showing Henri-Georges Clouzet’s murder-mystery Quai Des Orfevres on Wednesday afternoon, Tarantino’s rep theater is showing double features of Hitchcock’s Family Plot (1976) and the thriller Black Sunday (1977) on Weds. and Thurs, the classic Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau The Odd Couple (1968) and Robert Redford/Jane Fonda’s Barefoot in the Park (1967) on Friday, then Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie (1980) and Ice Cube’s Friday (1995) on Saturday. This weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is a surprisingly recent movie in Universal’s Hop – cause it’s Easter weekend, get it? – and the midnight movies are The Hateful Eight on Friday night and the 1981 John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd movie Neighbors on Saturday. Sunday and Monday are double features of Only When I Laugh (1981) and I Oughtta Be in Pictures (1982). Monday afternoon is a screening of Martin Scorsese’s 1999 film Bringing Out the Dead, starring Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

One of the repertory series I’m most excited about since first hearing about it is the Film Forum’s latest series “Trilogies,” which this weekend will show all three of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy, and Sergio Leone’s Western trilogy with Clint Eastwood: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1966) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966). This weekend is also the start of Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition, while Monday is a trilogy of films by Jacques Beckere called his “Paris Youth Trilogy,” including Antoine and Antoinette. Sadly, they don’t seem to be showing Edgar Wright’s Three Cornetto Trilogy as part of the series. :( This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1985 crime-comedy Clue, based on the board game.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Word came out last week that Netflix is looking to buy the Egyptian, so hope they retain the repertory programming. Thursday is the new restoration of Bjork’s 1990 movie The Juniper Tree, Friday night there is a Brian Yuzna double feature of Society and Bride of Re-Animator, both from 1989 with Yuzna in attendance. Saturday sees a TRIPLE feature of Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness (1992), Waxwork (1988) and Fulci’s The Beyond (1985), all in 35mm!

AERO (LA):

The Aero’s “Classic Movie Clowns” series begins Thursday with a Harold Lloyd-Buster Keaton double feature of Safety Last! (1923) and The Navigator (1924), Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940) plays on Friday, as well as a series of Silent Comedy Shorts (with live music!) on Saturday, as well as Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert (1933) along with their shorts Brats and Helpmates. Easter Sunday sees a collection of Bugs Bunny and Friends animated shorts and a double feature of Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko (2001) and Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981).

IFC CENTER (NYC)

The IFC Center started its spring series last weekend, but I received the info too late to include. This weekend’s Waverly Midnights: ParentalGuidance is Hitchcock’s Psycho, while the Weekend Classics: LoveMom and Dad is Terms of Endearment and Late Night Favorites: Springis David Fincher’s Fight Club.

MOMA (NYC):

Modern Matinees: B is for Bacall this week shows the 1947 film Dark Passage on Weds, Howard Hawk’s To Have and Have Not (1944) Thurs, and The Big Sleep (1946) on Friday. Also the What Price Hollywood series continues with Clarence Brown’s 1931 film A Free Soul and Josef von Sternberg’s 1934 film The Scarlet Empress on Weds, the 1939 film Midnight and 1935’s Sylvia Scarlett on Thursday and more. They’re also showing Franco Rosso’s Babylonover the weekend.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

This week’s series is See it Big! Action with screenings of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Seven Samurai, Anne of the Indiesand The Adventures of Robin Hood. On Good Friday, the family program is the animated Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The Quad continues its Wild Things: The Ferocious Films of Nelly Kaplan this weekend with Charles and Lucie, Néa, The Pleasure of Love and more.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Thursday ends the The Anarchic Cinema of Věra Chytilováseries of the Czech film star.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This Friday’s midnight offering is Panos Costamos’ too recent to be repertory Mandy, starring Nicolas Cage.

STREAMING AND CABLE

Streaming on Netflix this week is Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s SOMEONE GREAT, starring Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez as an aspiring music journalst trying to get her dream job at a magazine, even though that would mean moving to San Francisco. Her boyfriend of nine years (Lakeith Stanfield) decides to break up so she and her two best friends (DeWanda Wise, Brittany Snow) decide to go out for one last adventure in New York City.

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend CurseOfLaLLorona Movies TheWeekendWarrior #BeNatural HailSatan

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