#one of my dream LM adaptations

[fremedon]

Brickclub 5.2.2, “The Ancient History of the Sewer”

This really is a weird chapter, and the book seems to know that--it orients us in the same way it’s introduced all our other grand and horrific setpieces (Waterloo, the convent, the barricade): by inviting us to consider the shape of a letter of the alphabet:

You will form a more accurate picture of this strange geometrical plan if you suppose that you are looking at some bizarre oriental alphabet, lying flat on a dark background, all jumbled up, and the misshaped letters welded together in apparent confusion and as if hapahazardly, sometimes end to end, sometimes at angles to each other.

Except this alphabet is illegible. (And also racist, but it’s not just a foreign alphabet, it’s an alphabet stripped of all sense even to people who know the language.)

The other letter-locations were grotesque, and sometimes sublime, but fundamentally comprehensible in a way this place is not--even while Hugo appears to be changing his argumentative strategy to an appeal to economics, he’s telling us this isn’t going to make a neat narrative.

@everyonewasabird‘s writeup points out how odd it is that Hugo is appealing to truth here, and praising the sewer as a final arbiter of truth, in a book that’s always been very pro-lying. I don’t think I fully have a handle on what Hugo’s doing, but I think this passage is doing some heavy lifting:

The sewer is the city’s conscience. Everything converges here and is brought face to face here. In this ghastly place there are shadows but there are no more secrets. Each thing has its true form, or at least its definitive form.

That’s a nice distinction but I think a very useful one: the sewer may reveal secrets--but that’s not necessarily the same thing as Truth (as Valjean’s confession will make painfully clear).

Hugo continues:

The pile of filth has this in its favour: it does not lie. ... This farrago is a confession. No more false appearances here, no possibly plastering-over; filth takes off its shirt; stark nakedness, all illusions and mirages dispelled, nothing other than what is, showing the ugly face of what is finished with. ... This is more than fraternity, this is intimacy. Everything that used to pretty itself is now besmirched. The last veil is torn off. A sewer is a cynic: It tells all.

Bird points out that the modern, post-Napoleonic sewer is basically Javert: yet another best instantiation of a bad system; so effective and efficient at consigning people to oblivion that the bourgeoisie never needs to be troubled by them.

But this is still the ancient ancient sewer--and it’s a cynic, a pile of filth that, whatever its other issues, at least doesn’t lie.

That’s Grantaire. That’s the cynicism that looks at the worst of humanity and thinks that a lack of comforting fictions is the same as truth.

In Hugo’s historical scheme, where the ancient sewer is the ancien regime, I think this is the view that crime and misery happen because some people are Just Bad, and the only reason to look deeper into them is for the thrill of horror; while the modern sewer is the society that understands that these things have reasons and causes and still would rather sweep them out of sight than address them.

And I think--I hope--we are meant to understand that this isn’t a wholly accurate view, and that the revelation of secret shames and sins doesn’t actually permit the kind of magical reconstruction the last paragraphs describe, from the last sentence:

In what remains, it finds what has been--good, evil, falsehood, truth, the bloodstain from the law courts, the ink-blot from the cavern, the drop of candle grease from the brothel, ordeals suffered, temptations welcomed, orgies spewed up, the kink that characters have acquired in abasing themselves, the trace of prostitution in souls whose coarseness made them capable of it, and in the jerkins of Rome’s street porters the imprint of Messalina’s elbow.

We know what makes a person capable of prostitution in this book, and it’s not coarseness of soul. Whatever secrets are revealed here--in the lowest mine, among the people society wants to throw away and forget--may seem, to someone looking in from above, like they’re telling their full stories. But we’ve seen those stories, and seen what little trace they leave; and we know that’s not true.

[pilferingapples]

started re-watching LM 2K with some friends who also make terrible life choices

went in honestly thinking , Hey! maybe I am forgetting things! Maybe it's not as bad as I remember it being!

well 1.5 hours into this 8 hour fever dream and I can say. I was forgetting things all right! quite a lot of things! but whoo boy I owe Past Me an apology, this is bad and every new Thing I Had Blocked Out Of My Mind makes it worse

Thoughts, While I Have Them:

why does it start literally on fire

I'll give John Malkovert this: he does seem disturbingly horny for the idea of inherent traits and inborn social hierarchy. Beeblevert didn't really seem to know what to do with his phrenology displays; Malkovert whispers to them lovingly at night and probably licks them. This guy feels about eugenics like Grantaire feels about Enjolras. This guy is messed up.

( ...filmmakers know that when they've got someone with lots of human skull measurements and phrenology and Types of Human displays, they're saying that character is into eugenics, right? I'm not saying it's a bad move, it can be very accurate and telling ,but like. They get what that's doing there, right? RIGHT???)

The dialogue...is bad.... it's so bad...

"yellow is the color of happiness"

this timeline is a shambles. Fantine doesn't have Cosette until after Tholomyes is gone, and then apparently holds out for YEARS in Paris, since Cosette is if anything a little older than her book age when Fantine meets the Ts; meanwhile Valjean doesn't get out of prison until AFTER Fantine has moved to M-sur-M. Which of course means there's no factory for her to work at!

...but then after Valjean (very intentionally) steals from Petit Gervais, we cut to Fantine working in the factory. The Nettle Cloth factory . Which means Fantine was doing SOMETHING before Valjean showed up to Disrupt the industry with his Tech Breakthrough but like. What. If she was doing something else then why doesn't she go do that some more after she's fired? Because she very much doesn't, she goes right to attempting sex work...badly

like trying it with Javert first Badly

and then he threatens to arrest her but doesn't?? who is this man, what kind of Javert is he ffs . Letting a Poor go unarrested? Seriously this doesn't even scan with his characterization in this series

Instead he starts stalking Fantine and giving her Helpful Hints. He comes in right after she has a client?? and tells her to go to the circus??

She goes and finds the dentist and tries to get him to pull TEN of her teeth bc for no reason he's giving 4 francs a tooth instead of 20 for the fronts. The dentist is the only character in this show with sense and says NO THAT'S TOO MANY TEETH, and he just cuts her hair instead And listen we've got another Fantine with Mostly Straight Brown Hair , it's not even that long, and I'm sorry but there's NO WAY that's worth more than teeth, why do adaptations keep doing this

also why do they keep making Fantine so passive, so dependent on people telling her what to do? She makes bad choices sometimes--often even!-- but she Makes Decisions and fast, she goes all in without any pushing, that is a defining part of Fantine's character! but everything she does here gotta be because someone told her she Should

another one where Javert inexplicably goes to M sur M to see Cosette. Why? What possible reason for this?? he almost seems like he has a weird crush on Fantine rather than JVJ but that's. That's incoherent, for this character. even in this series!!

I've written so much and haven't even gotten to Valjean officiating a wedding for, apparently, a famous former sex worker in the town ? this is mentioned once and I don't think it'll ever be relevant again

1.5 hours in, Points For: a very cute little donkey, Petit Gervais having his Marmot, some very nice architecture, Baptistine existing

Unpoints for: everyone's bafflingly inconsistent characterization, the absolute mess of a timeline, Myriel still living in the palace but letting homeless people sleep on the floor?? , lots of very pointless Walking Around Time , Thenardier Sex , why do directors think I want to see them get it on, Please Stop

[pureanonofficial]

LES MIS LETTERS IN ADAPTATION - Distractions, LM 2.6.5 (Shoujo Cosette)

It was a flute which was played in the neighborhood. This flute always played the same air, an air which is very far away nowadays,—“My Zétulbé, come reign o’er my soul,”—and it was heard two or three times a day. The young girls passed hours in listening to it, the vocal mothers were upset by it, brains were busy, punishments descended in showers. This lasted for several months. The girls were all more or less in love with the unknown musician. Each one dreamed that she was Zétulbé. The sound of the flute proceeded from the direction of the Rue Droit-Mur; and they would have given anything, compromised everything, attempted anything for the sake of seeing, of catching a glance, if only for a second, of the “young man” who played that flute so deliciously, and who, no doubt, played on all these souls at the same time. There were some who made their escape by a back door, and ascended to the third story on the Rue Droit-Mur side, in order to attempt to catch a glimpse through the gaps. Impossible! One even went so far as to thrust her arm through the grating, and to wave her white handkerchief. Two were still bolder. They found means to climb on a roof, and risked their lives there, and succeeded at last in seeing “the young man.” He was an old émigré gentleman, blind and penniless, who was playing his flute in his attic, in order to pass the time.

[bookcub]

Classics I’m Glad I’ve Read

inspired by @quillbit-reads

Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Midsummer’s Night Dream, Julius Caesar  by William Shakespeare- I’m really glad I read these plays by Shakespeare because they are referenced a lot in popular culture and I like being on the in joke with those. I also found them pretty enjoyable, at varying levels.  (much ado is a personal favorite) 

Beloved by Toni Morrison - this lived up to the hype and was so intense and I really need to reread it and also provide a list of trigger warnings. It’s a book about processing trauma: you’re own and your community’s and your history. fantastic. 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - love the story, love the characters, love the tone, love the commentary . . .. love reading and watching every adaptation i can get my hands on. also, it’s the basis of so many love stories (accurate or not, but the inspiration for in some way, filtered or not) it’s esp worth reading if you like commentary on love stories. 

The Color Purple by Alice Walker - another intense book but with lovely characters and told beautifully through letters. a book about self love and growing as an individual and it’s . . . I’m just glad I read it. 

Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery - a very biased and personal favorite of mine, very hopeful and uplifting and sweet. not a must for everyone but it was a must for me.

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger - one of the most notable books that calls out and has a very unreliable narrator. I loved the conversations I had in class about it about that aspect but def not a must for everyone. another book that’s fairly easy to read and also have fun conversations abotu after reading. 

The Outsiders by SE Hinton - I don’t remember much about this book except loving it a lot a lot

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - I think this book is really easy to read (always a plus). I’d argue in many ways this is a book written for white people about racism but it was certainly a book i needed to read at age like 14 when I did. I do think it’s talked about a bit too much when there are so many other books by Black people written about slavery and the legacy it’s left on the us, however, I am still grateful I had read it.

other messages: Le Petit Prince, Little Women, 

[booksasfurniture]

OK so like nerds the world over I love the ‘Who would you cast in the film adaptation of your favourite book that’s never been made into a movie’ game, and in the last two weeks I’ve seen Unicorn Store and Captain Marvel, which of course has led to gushing appreciation of Brie Larson. Anyway. I have a Thing about LM Montgomery, who, yes, wrote Anne of Green Gables (and don’t get me wrong, I do stan Anne Shirley, but I stan all of Montgomery’s other heroines harder- Nothing against Anne, just. She was the protagonist of Montgomery’s very first novel! And she had a writing career! That lasted decades! It would have been surprising if she hadn’t improved with time!) but my favourite of her books -one of my favourite books of all time, really- is The Blue Castle.  The Blue Castle is seriously underrated. It’s possibly the darkest of all of Montgomery’s novels -which doesn’t mean it’s gratuitously dark, but it’s got somewhat more serious themes than, say, the Anne books do. It was pretty daring to touch on issues like out-of-wedlock pregnancy and alcoholism in the 1920s and more daring, still, for the outcast single mother and her alcoholic father to be portrayed as people who deserve empathy and kindness, while the townspeople who look down on them are condemned for their elitism. And it’s bitingly funny- Like I said, I adore Anne, but it takes delving into Montgomery’s wider body of literature to realise just how funny she was; the woman had some serious skill with salt. There’s a scene where the protagonist, Valancy -downtrodden, desperately bored of life, bullied by her excessively proper family, socially anxious and, unbeknownst to anyone else, recently diagnosed with a terminal illness- having decided, fuck it, living to please other people has made me miserable, I’m going to do what makes me happy with what little time I have left on this earth, has the most fun she’s had in her entire life up to that point telling her relatives exactly what she thinks of them and their judgmental fuckery at a family dinner. I’ve re-read this book once a year or so since about 2001, and I always seem to find something new to appreciate in that bit.  So anyway. My vote is now firmly cast for Brie Larson as the Valancy Stirling of my dreams. I really think she could pull off; ‘Oh hey, family who’ve never had any inkling that I am in fact quite clever and capable because I’ve always been too afraid of you to display any sign of autonomy, just FYI I’m gonna move in with the town pariahs, go to dances and movies (scandal!), then marry this mysterious guy who y’all are pretty sure is a murderer in hiding because what other reason could he have for not caring about what you think of him?* Nah, nothing’s wrong with me, I just got bored of y’all. Die mad about it.’ *Did I mention that this book also has the cutest damn love story about two social outcasts encouraging one another to feel comfortable existing in the world and discovering together how to feel good about being who they are while they hang out on an island with a bunch of cats and owls? Because it totally does.

[salmankhanholics]

★ Ali Abbas Zafar: If a superhero is selfless, half the battle is won..

Roshmila Bhattacharya | April 24th 2019

Ali Abbas Zafar explains what makes Salman Khan a crowdpuller; recounts his journey from biochemistry to Bollywood’s wonderland

In jeans and a Tee, Ali Abbas Zafar looks more like a guy-next-door than Bollywood’s A-list director. His Eid offering, the Salman Khan, Bhushan Kumar, Atul Agnihotri-produced Bharat, will open on June 5 and Ali is in the midst of post-production. But when he settles into his chair at a suburban studio, there’re no signs of rush. In fact, there’s a rare thehraav in his demeanour, a mathematical clarity in his thought process as he states that cinema is an applied art and not a fi ne art. Excerpts:

■ Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Gunday, Sultan, Tiger Zinda Hai, and now Bharat, you are one of the most sought-after directors today. Enjoying the high or does the pressure give you sleepless nights?

(Laughs) Oh, lots of sleepless nights but since I’m doing what makes me happy, the days are satisfying. The pressure increases when it’s a big Eid release for a pan-India audience. There are people who watch one-two films a year and measuring up to their expectations keeps me on my toes.

■ You were doing your masters in biochemistry at the Delhi University. What brought you to Bollywood?

I’m a filmmaker by accident. Kirori Mal College has an active theatre group, Players, whose alumni includes Mr Bachchan (Amitabh), Satish Kaushik, Kabir Khan and Habib Faisal. I wanted to join the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) but after becoming a part of this group, I realised this is what makes me happy. So, though I had no background in TV or film — my dad is in the armed forces and my mom is a teacher — your typical-small town boy came to Mumbai to tell stories.

■ Tell us about your first attempt at direction?

That was Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (the 2011 romcom). The simple story, told earnestly, grew out of real life. It was set in Dehradun where I’d grown up and Delhi where I was studying. My brother lived in London while I was a struggling assistant director in Mumbai, like Imran Khan’s character. It was a customised Bollywood film with a three-act structure, an emotional and musical graph. It struck a chord.

■ Did you get the girl in real life?

(Laughs) No, but you can live your dreams in films.

■ What kind of films did you grow up on?

In mid-90s Dehradun, we either played sports or watched movies. I saw many films with friends after school and on holidays. But the only film I saw at home was Deewar which my dad said balanced out right and wrong in a human way.

■ Would you like to remake Deewar?

Sultan was very close to Deewar in the way its protagonist’s self-esteem/ego swings between right and wrong, and his redemption happens when he hits rockbottom and comes from within. Islam says the strongest jihad is the one you fight within yourself.

■ Sultan could have played any sport, why wrestling?

He could have been a rock star too, but I chose to make him a sportsman because I’d played hockey and football. It was wrestling because hundreds watch you fall in the akhada, making a loss a public humiliation, and the rise a public celebration. Kushti is a centuries-old sport that rises from the grassroots and has the soul of Hindustan which made it easier for the mass audience to identify with.

■ Bharat is the journey of one man over six decades, reflecting the country’s history. How old are you to attempt a fi lm with an epic sweep?

(Laughs) I’m 36, but it’s not so much about experience. If you understand life, even if you haven’t lived it but seen it in those around, you can mirror it. This is my third film with Salman (Khan) and much of the maturity in my work comes from his experience.

Bharat is the story of every Indian, of togetherness and responsibilities. A line in the film goes, “Desh logon se banta hai aur logon ki pehchan unke parivar se hoti hai.” And as the nation is a family, that’s the metaphor Bharat hinges on without being preachy or political.

■ Why adapt a Korean film, Ode To My Father, to tell the story of Bharat?

Emotions are universal and what I liked about Ode To My Father was the coherency of the emotions and the text. We’ve added a lot of Indian cultural subtext, the film reflects the events and changes from 1947 to 2010. My dad believes if you pick the right story that says the right things, you can’t go wrong. While many Hindi films revolve around the mother and son, the father has often been portrayed as a hard disciplinarian. My relationship with my dad and Salman’s with his (Salim Khan) is different and at the core of the film. That’s why only Salman could play Bharat.

■ How did the title come about?

Since the film isn’t only about a father and son, I didn’t want to translate Ode To My Father. I was tossing in bed at 5 am when the title came to me. Hours later, when I met SK and Atul I told them I had a title, Bharat. They froze for two seconds, then Salman said “yes”. Since this man symbolises the nation what better than Bharat.

■ How do your parents view your phenomenal success?

(Smiles) My father is my hero and my mother my superhero. They’re simple people, have never visited a set, not even mine. They’re happy for me but still urge me to complete my education. My brother has two MBAs and a Masters in Social Work, my parents are both post-graduates, I’m the only uneducated one (Laughs).

■ Salman’s Tiger comes out of a room full of poisononous gas, guns blazing, and the audience cheers. How do you create this suspension of disbelief?

Whether it’s Gunday, Tiger Zinda Hai, Sultan or Bharat, you have to connect with the audience in the first 20 minutes by showing something the character does or believes in that makes them root for him. Once that happens, they are with him even when he single-handedly decimates an entire army. If a superhero is selfless, and you have a star like Salman Khan, whom the audience loves, playing him, half the battle is won.

■ What makes Salman a superhero?

His honesty and earnestness. His communication with his audience is very direct. And even when he lives a character, Salman Khan doesn’t disappear 100 per cent. Whether its Tiger, Sultan or Bharat, his magical presence in there in the characters.

■ Has he evolved through the three films you’ve done together?

He was very evolved in the first film itself. I was the one who learnt from him. SK is a deep, mature and beautiful actor/human being, and when he identifies with an emotion, it just flows. There’s a scene in Sultan when he takes off his shirt and looks at his slightly out-of-shape body in the mirror. He avoided doing it till the last day, then suddenly stripped and faced the camera. It was a one-take shot and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. He’s so spontaneous when he’s in character. A star needs to be an actor, or he’ll fizzle out soon. Salman has been around for 30 years and his stardom has only grown.

■ Katrina Kaif and you share a beautiful relationship and she came on-board just days before Bharat rolled; after Priyanka Chopra confi ded her secret in you in the “nick of time” and exited.

Priyanka was doing the film but things happened. As a friend, she shared it with me and I told that her life is most important. She’s still a close friend. We laugh and talk twice a month. I’m very happy for her.

And I’m grateful to Katrina for stepping in. I was honest with her and told her I was sending her a script. If she liked it, we’d discuss it further. She’s my closest friend in Mumbai, we come from similar middleclass backgrounds, our values are the same, and we discuss everything. But on the work front, we’re very transparent with each other. If she doesn’t like something I’m doing, she lets me know and vice versa. In an industry where friendships don’t last even for months, ours has continued for over a decade.

■ What was her reaction to Bharat?

She told me it’s one of my best scripts and she’d do anything to be a part of the film. She’s done a phenomenal job. She’s grown as an actor, has a better command over the language now. She was loved in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Tiger Zinda Hai and even her performance in Zero was well received. She’s in top form and the maturity she has brought to Madam Sir’s character is commendable. There were times when on the sets, Salman would take me to a corner and say, “Sir, yeh scene to Katrina le gayi, ab mujhe kuch karna padega.” (Laughs) We are both very fond of her and together in a happy space, so he can crack such jokes.

■ Is your next with Ranveer Singh?

We’re friends, we keep meeting and discussing ideas, but there’s nothing concrete.

■ Sultan 2 or a Tiger 3 happening?

I have a couple of stories and I’d like to return with Tiger someday. I also want to do a love story.

■ With Salman?

(Smiles) There’s a possibility, he’s a big romantic hero. And I always narrate my stories to him first, he’s very objective. Aditya Chopra is another strong influence. In our field, it’s hard to find people you can trust, I’m lucky I have them as my first bouncing boards. But to get out of Bharat, a journey with many shades, I want to do a big action film next. But till Eid, my focus is Bharat.

Mumbai Mirror

[letterboxd]

Icon.

Our world was calm, well ordered, exemplary. Then we met the stars and director of the new sequel Mary Poppins Returns to discuss the legacy of the original, how to follow in Julie Andrews’ footsteps and rapping in a Disney movie.

Even in an era when seemingly every single film exploits something we cherish from childhood, it still feels brazenly sacrilegious to even attempt to sequel-ize Mary Poppins (1964), the iconic and timeless Disney movie.

One of the most universally beloved children’s films of all time, Mary Poppins is deeply imprinted on multiple generations of movie-goers, many of whom spent much of their childhood wishing (or indeed, believing) that Mary Poppins was their nanny.

To tread on such hallowed movie ground is risky indeed, but everyone involved in Mary Poppins Returns seems to realize that, and a great deal of care and attention has been applied to the new film to ensure it honors the original while captivating contemporary audiences.

The film gained a huge amount of instant goodwill from the casting of its title character. Few would argue that there’s anybody better suited to follow in Julie Andrews’ footsteps than Emily Blunt, who is an utter delight in the role. She doesn’t simply “do” Andrews, instead bringing her own flavor to the character, who returns to London to assist in the grown-up lives of her charges from the first film: Michael and Jane Banks, now played by Ben “voice of Paddington” Whishaw and Emily Mortimer, both also fantastic.

The film was directed by Rob Marshall, who in addition to helming 2003 Best Picture Oscar winner Chicago, also previously worked with Blunt on the 2014 adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods.

Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins.

Joining Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns is musical man of the moment Lin-Manuel Miranda, making his first major big-screen appearance since the phenomenal success of his Broadway smash Hamilton. Miranda is a great student and practitioner of musicals. He wrote many of the beloved songs from the Moana soundtrack, and you can check out his five favorite movie musicals here.

In Mary Poppins Returns, Miranda plays a cockney lamplighter named Jack, revealed to be an apprentice of Bert, Dick Van Dyke’s character from the first film. Well, one of them. In one of many winsome musical numbers, Miranda performs in the the rap-meets-Broadway style he popularized with Hamilton. Rapping. In a Disney movie. Try not to faint.

All the songs are pretty fantastic. They were written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, whose most famous collaboration was the hit Broadway musical Hairspray. Richard B. Sherman, the surviving half of iconic songwriting team the Sherman Brothers (who wrote the songs for Mary Poppins, among other iconic films), is a musical consultant on the film.

The result? Mary Poppins Returns won’t be destined for The Place Where Lost Things Go.

A man has dreams, and Letterboxd’s Dominic Corry had one of his come true when he got in a room in Beverly Hills with Blunt, Miranda and Marshall (and some other press) to discuss the film.

On the pressure of following up such a beloved movie: Rob Marshall: I thought to myself when this came my way, “if anybody is gonna do it, I would like to do it”. It was incredibly daunting at first of course, but I wanted to be able to, in an odd way, protect the first film and treat this film with great care and love. Musicals are very difficult to do, an original musical, there are so many layers to it, but with this one, creating an original musical from scratch was actually for me a dream, and I’ve never done it before and to be able to create it with this beautiful company was exactly what I was hoping for. The guiding message of this film about finding light in the darkness is honestly what drew me to it and kept guiding me throughout the whole process including until this very moment, when people are actually now seeing the film. And I’m just speaking for myself, but I feel people need this film now. I knew that I wanted to live in that world and be part of sending that message out into the world now of looking for hope and light in a dark time.

On how Emily Blunt came to the role: Emily Blunt: I got a voicemail from Rob, who is my dear friend and we have known each other a long time, and the voice mail certainly had a sort of charged energy to it. I was like, “Oh my God, what is it? What is this project?” And when he called me, he said, “We’ve been digging through the Disney archives and by far their most prized possession.” And I was like “What, what is that?” And when he said Mary Poppins, I thought the air changed in the room.

It was so extraordinary, such an extraordinary, rather unparalleled moment for me because I was filled with an instantaneous “yes”, but also with some trepidation, all happening simultaneously in that moment because she is so iconic. She had such a big imprint on my life and on everyone’s lives, you know? People hold this character so close to their hearts. And so how do I create my version of her? What will my version of her be? No one wants to see me do a sort of cheap impersonation of Julie Andrews because no one is Julie Andrews. And so she should be preserved and treasured in her own way for what she did. I knew this was going to be something that I wanted to take a big swing with and I knew I could do it with this man who is the most emboldening, meticulous, brilliant director in the world and I was in safe hands with him. However much I knew I had my work cut out for me.

Rob Marshall and Emily Blunt on set.

On how Blunt sought to differentiate her Mary Poppins from Julie Andrews’ take on the character in the 1964 film: EB: What I decided to do, even though I’d seen it as a child, was not watch the original so close to shooting our version, I think probably because she is so beautiful and so extraordinary, I would have maybe tried to accommodate in some way, and let that sort of bleed into what I wanted to do. So I just decided to go on my gut instinct from the book because she is rather different in all of the books [by P.L. Travers].

If I’m going to carve out new space for myself, it was gonna have to be without watching the details of what Julie did so close to shooting. I have this searing memory of Mary Poppins, but not of all of the tiny details of how she played the character. And so as soon as we wrapped I watched the original. I was just floored by it, and probably relieved that I hadn’t watched it because I was all, “My god, she’s amazing!”.

On how Lin-Manuel Miranda came to be involved in the project: Lin-Manuel Miranda: I remember going to the midnight premiere screening of Chicago at the Ziegfeld Theater [in New York], and seeing the greatest modern movie musical I’d ever seen in my life. So when I got a call from Rob Marshall, and [choreographer] John DeLuca saying, “We’d like to talk to you about something,” that became an immediate priority.

They came to buy me a drink between shows. I was still in Hamilton at the time and I had a two-show day. So I finished the matinee, rolled across the street to the Paramount Hotel and I met them for a drink and they said, “Sequel to Mary Poppins,” and I said, “Who’s playing Mary Poppins?” And they said, “Emily Blunt,” and I said “Oh, that’s good”.

I can’t give them enough credit for seeing this role in me because there is no childlike wonder in Alexander Hamilton. He has a very traumatic early life. He goes on that stage and he wants to devour the world and he wants to move so fast and he wants to do everything, whereas Jack in this movie, as they pitched him to me, has this childlike sense of wonder. He’s in touch with that imagination you all see in your kids when they can sort of play in their own imagination for hours. Jack never lost that and that was I feel so humbled that [Rob] saw that in me. From that moment, from that drink, I was in. It came along at the perfect time for my family too, you know. We had finished a year of performing Hamilton and then I chopped my hair off and left the country and jumped into Mary Poppins’ universe. It was like, beautiful. On rapping in a Disney movie: LM: I would urge you to re-watch the first film. Because everyone who is like, “Wow, there’s rapping in Mary Poppins Returns,” forgets that Bert has a 30-second rap about all the women he dated before Mary Poppins. You’ve forgotten it, but Jolly Holiday is one big flirt between Mary and Bert.

Lin-Manuel Miranda (top center) as Jack.

On balancing reverence with innovation: RM: I really felt that everyone who was a part of this needed to have the first film in their blood in some way because that’s what we were following. I use myself as a barometer because I thought well, what would I want to see? If I came to a sequel to Mary Poppins I would want to see an animation sequence with live action and I would want it to be hand drawn in a 2D world. I would want Cherry Tree Lane to have a curve to it because that’s the Cherry Tree Lane we all know. It was as simple as that, although we were finding our new way. There were sort of goal posts or sign posts throughout that we needed to hold on to because it’s in the DNA of the material.

I knew there needed to be a big huge production number with athletic dancers with Mary and Jack, Jack leading the entire piece. That needed to be in there in some way. I would feel that if it wasn’t there we’ve gone off track. It was this insane balancing act of honoring the first film, but at the same time forging our own way. Marc and Scott were incredibly careful about making sure that we didn’t abuse using [musical] themes from the first film. It’s so easy to use. We used it in very strategic places throughout the film. Most of it actually very much at the end where we feel we’d earned it by then. And that’s what Marc was very careful about doing. I did feel that we were coming from the right place and that was the key.

‘Mary Poppins Returns’ is in cinemas from December 19.

[moviestorian]

Reread the chapter where Marius meets Eponine and tell me how it's not out of character for him to have a wet dream about her (and here he's only just fallen in "love" with Cosette to make it worse)?

Ok, let me try to make this more clear cause I reread my paragraph and it's possible that I wrote it in a bit vague of a manner. Also no worries anon, I’ve reread that particular scene about a week ago, no need to be so angry at me. :)

What I was trying to say is that many people say that the ‘wet dream’ scene as if it was some sort of…character flaw or something really bad in general. And in my opinion it’s not; obviously Hugo doesn’t say a lot about his characters’ sexuality (or is very subtle about it). Marius is, generally speaking, a rather innocent person and doesn’t have a lot of experience (and this aspect of his character actually shows in the brothel scene, as much as I’m not a fan of it; he is genuinely shocked by everything he sees there and is clearly uncomfortable). But he is also a young man (he’s ca. 22 in 1832, even a bit younger when he meets Cosette/Eponine for the first time, if my memory and maths are correct.) and, you know, young people do have a sex drive, and there’s nothing wrong about it, really. Having a wet dream doesn’t make you less innocent or anything like that, in my opinion. It’s normal.

While I think it would be a bit weird for a book!Marius to have a wet dream about Eponine (he seems really uninterested in her in any way, besides, I would be slightly surprised to see such a moment in a Hugo’s novel, tbh), I think it makes a lot of sense in the bbc version of his character, considering what he saw in that brothel at the very same evening. What I do think was ooc is Marius thinking that one prostitute could be Cosette - honestly, wtf?

And I think we should remember one thing: every single adaptation is an interpretation of  its original source. We really like to compare every detail when we’re discussing the book vs. movie versions of the characters, but book!canon and show! or movie!canon are not exactly the same thing. Because someone else wrote it. Like, book!Javert is not exactly the same character as musical!Javert, or book!Enjolras is not the BBC!Enjolras. Also, book!Eponine and musical!Eponine are A LOT different, too. Or the Thenardiers. I could literally go on and on. And, in my opinion, sometimes it’s more important to check whether a certain character is coherent in the version it’s written in, rather than obsessively comparing them to their book version. If we’re looking at that scene in this way, I would say that: 1)For book!Marius, it would be a bit ooc because he’s not into Eponine at all aaaand it’s not exactly a passage you would expect to see in a Hugo’s book, especially considering that Marius is a self-inserted characted XD; 2)For BBC!Marius it’s very much in character; it looks like a natural (and involuntary!)reaction for everything that’s currently happening with his hormones. :P

If I can compare it with any other thing, I’d compare it with little Cosette saying “nosy old bitch” in the miniseries. I’ve also seen people complaining that it’s out of character. Yes, we never see little Cosette saying cuss words in the book, but I think it makes sense, hm, psychologically, considering that she spent a few years of her childhood (which is a very crucial part of shaping one’s personality; thankfully Cosette also spent the first two years of her life with her mum & JVJ got her from the Thenardiers relatively early)at the Thenardiers’. And we all know what are they like, and most of their customers probably aren’t much better, so obviously she’s gonna repeat some words she hears, because before JVJ there wasn’t anyone to tell her what is wrong.

PSA: as I said before, I still stand by the view that we could really do without the two unfortunate scenes in ep 4 (you know which ones I’m talking about), but not because I don’t want to see any sex scenes in a LM adaptation (I don’t have a problem with that actually), but because I think they were a) too long; b) not exactly necessary pacing-wise (like the pissing scene in ep 1).

[noi-the-tech-boi]

"Damn, you're the nosiest fucker here. Say, since I answered your stupid questions, by law you have to answer mine!! Check and mate. So, here goes!! What's better, Alice in Wonderland oooooorrrr, The Little Mermaid?? If you can't answer this, you're a fuckin' disgrace and I don't think you deserve to exist, sorry!! ( ;; v ;; )" -M

Hrm. Difficult question, not my genre... Alice in Wonderland - AW; Interesting. One of the classics that kickstarted the ‘it was all a dream trope’, whimsical, only downside - too many modern renditions that fail to capture original work’s whimsy. Little Mermaid - LM; Original story is upsetting cautionary tale, quite serious, teaches a better lesson than the new adaptations. AW: 7/10. LM: 6/10. 

N’oi believes Alice in Wonderland is better.

[harbingersystems]

How AI-Powered Teaching Assistance in EdTech is Making a Difference

The year 2020 showed us endless possibilities of how things can be looked at anew especially in imparting education. The entire education system revamp got accelerated through technology innovation. For the learners, shifting to a remote, online medium has meant absorbing more multi-media content. As for the educators, to make up for the lack of in-person interaction, I believe the new system demands creating engaging sessions that are content-rich to eventually ensure effective course outcomes.

This positive disruption in education has thrown open many opportunities for innovation, predominantly in technology. And while this is a welcome shift, it needs to provide teachers easy-to-use tools that help them enhance the teaching-learning process. Rather, teachers will be able to focus on their core task using technology tools as enablers.

Enter Artificial Intelligence

Videos are an extremely effective medium to impart education. However, there is a dire need to streamline the vast content. Many of the education videos available (for example, Open Education Resource) are too long and unstructured. These need to be clipped/snipped appropriately to retain only the most relevant learning content visible. Further, there is a need to logically structure these into micro-learning bites for easy information retention. In fact, this holds true for almost every learning content. Additionally, interactivity and gamification could provide better student engagement and outcomes.

I feel technology will play a crucial role in assisting the education sector for these needs. The one that is particularly making waves is Artificial Intelligence (AI). What can intelligence that is artificial do for us? Well, it has proved to be a resource worth investing in, especially to make technology an enabling function.

For instance, examples of AI usage are surfacing rapidly, be it for student selection, course recommendation, interactive and intuitive content modules, nudge learning, adaptive assessments, reinforced learning, and more. The often-quoted Georgia State University is a good case in point for having used AI effectively in making a difference in the overall student learning at the university.

In this blog, we will talk about two specific AI-powered tools that can help teachers make learning more effective: Quillionz and Skimthru.

Quillionz – Leverage the Power of Questions

In the age of information overload, I find that the key to a successful learning experience lies in asking the right questions. Powered by AI and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, Quillionz is a platform that lets you build a host of quality quizzes and assessments – within seconds.

Quillionz creates a variety of questions from any given content, including multiple-choice questions, recall questions, and short descriptive questions. Once the questions are ready, Quillionz can curate and enhance them. It lets you generate questions and also allows exporting questions into multiple formats, thus enabling you to directly upload questions on Learning Management System (LMS) or print the assessments.

Self-assessments are important and can be fun too for both students and teachers. Students can examine their own level of understanding without any judgment. Using QuilliQuiz, teachers can quickly reinforce key concepts whenever required. Basically, you can take a self-assessment, check your knowledge, identify areas of improvement, and also have fun sharing it with your peers. Creating editable notes is also very easy with Quillionz. It offers a concise and objective view of the original information so you can highlight important parts, summarize main points, and reinforce key concepts.

Additionally, Quillionz offer APIs for easy integration for product companies. It supports REST API and offers custom integration options with systems that use questions, such as EdTech platforms, assessments and quiz platforms, LMS, digital publishing platforms, and more. With multiple integration options designed to handle various OEM business needs, advanced tools and utilities, and custom input/output formats, Quillionz API can be tailored to suit your unique business needs.

Skimthru – AI-powered Video Navigator

This unique tool is equipped with an interactive video browsing feature making use of a patent-pending concept to create a set of Theme Clouds. Words used in a specific text are clubbed together to emphasize either their frequency or importance or even both. This as a Theme Cloud which helps focus on the core topic in a given video.

As an educator, say if you wish to use a particular YouTube video on a subject, then all you need to do is to ensure that the video comes with a transcript and enter the URL on Skimthru. With the help of AI, the Theme Clouds will get generated automatically based on the key words. As learners go through the video by moving along its timeline, Skimthru highlights relevant parts of the video and vice-versa. It is literally like skimming through the video. Such multiple Theme Clouds make up a Skimthru. This enables a better learning process as learners get precise relevant content that is easier to absorb and retain.

What the Future Holds

Artificial Intelligence, which was once just a dream, is now a reality – chatbots, recommendation engines, personalized tutoring, adaptive assessments, smart virtual assistants, and more, are already here. Educators agree that AI is essential for the future of learning and how it can empower both teachers and students and reshape the way we approach education.

We know that teachers have to handle varied tasks such as organizing educational material, evaluating assignments, grading exams, managing paperwork, communicating with the management, students, parents, etc. The good news is that AI can help teachers with all these administrative tasks in addition to providing all the teaching-learning aids.

I was recently a part of a Point of View session on 'AI-Powered Teaching Assistance in EdTech' where together with my colleagues, we have explained how EdTech stands to benefit from AI. Unfortunately, there is a notion that with the rise of AI technologies in education teachers may become obsolete. In reality, this is highly unlikely to happen as AI will instead become a reliable assistant for the teachers, helping them fulfil their responsibilities with higher efficiency. After all, while AI can be of great help, students will still need a teacher to connect with personally, and more importantly, to guide and inspire them in a way that no machine ever will.

[williamlwolf89]

13 Best Elementor Themes (According to Elementor!) in 2020

Looking for the best Elementor themes?

If you’re here, you’ve probably decided to join the three million plus other people using the Elementor page builder plugin.

However, if you want to build a custom website with Elementor (affiliate link), you need more than just the plugin — you also need a theme!

But here’s the thing:

Some themes work better than others with Elementor. It’s just not about basic compatibility (though that’s important!), it’s also about helpful features, like page-level controls to create the perfect canvas for your Elementor designs or importable demo sites built with Elementor.

So how do you pick the best Elementor theme?

Well, Elementor has a public list of themes that “work best with Elementor”, but it’s pretty barebones.

To make your decision a lot easier, we’re going to take that same list from Elementor, add a little curation, and break down each theme by the features that matter most to you.

And, if that’s not enough to help you make your decision, we’ll also share some data from a poll of over 800 Elementor users.

By the end of this post, you should be able to pick the right theme to set your Elementor website up for success.

Let’s jump in.

The 13 Best Elementor Themes

Hello Elementor

Astra

GeneratePress

OceanWP

Neve

Sydney

Rife

Page Builder Framework

Zakra

Phlox

Ashe

Hestia

Jupiter X

1. Hello Elementor

Overview of Hello Elementor

Hello Elementor (affiliate link) is the official theme from the Elementor team. It’s designed to provide the most lightweight foundation possible to pair with Elementor Pro (affilate link) and Elementor Theme Builder. To achieve that, it doesn’t come with any of its own styling, which is why the screenshot above looks so basic.

Think of it as a 100% blank canvas for your Elementor Pro Theme Builder templates.

Standout Features of Hello Elementor

Built to pair with Elementor Pro and Theme Builder

The most lightweight theme possible

…there’s not much else to say. The standout feature of this theme is that it has no features of its own!

What Users are Saying About Hello Elementor

After spending more than a decade working in WordPress and spending several thousand dollars on themes and packages, I have finally settled down with Hello Elementor.

Hello Elementor is the last theme I am going to need to build beautiful websites using Elementor Pro.

Finally, I no longer have to jump around in theme settings anymore. Alok Sharma

Final Word on Hello Elementor

If you’re planning to use Elementor Theme Builder to design your entire theme, Hello Elementor is the best option if you want to create a lightweight, performance-friendly website.

However, if you’re not planning to use Theme Builder, this theme is not a viable option because it doesn’t include its own styling — it’s just a lightweight canvas for you to build on.

Download Hello Elementor

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2. Astra

Overview of Astra

Astra (affiliate link) is a lightweight, customizable, free theme that pairs exceptionally well with Elementor thanks to its page-level controls and detailed customization options. It also includes integrations with other WordPress plugins to help you create online stores or courses.

It’s active on over 600,000 sites while maintaining a perfect five-star rating, which makes it one of the most popular Elementor themes on this list.

There’s also a premium add-on that tacks on extra functionality, but the free version has quite a few bells and whistles built right in.

Standout Features of Astra

80+ importable demo sites built with Elementor

Detailed options to control page layout, typography, and styles in the WordPress Customizer

Page-level controls to disable headings, use full-width templates, customize your homepage, and more

Under 50 KB which makes it still quite lightweight

WooCommerce support for eCommerce

Native AMP support

SEO friendly (aka Google friendly)

Integrations with the LifterLMS and LearnDash LMS plugins for online courses

What Users are Saying About Astra

Astra is a simple, fully customizable & fast theme that I can wholeheartedly recommend to all Elementor users. I love the fact that it comes with dozens of pre-built sites that were built using Elementor and that can be used to create a full website with one click. Ben Pines, CMO of Elementor

Final Word on Astra

Based on my personal experience and the Elementor Facebook groups that I’m in, Astra is probably the most popular theme that people pair with Elementor.

If you’re looking for a good multipurpose starting point, this is it. It offers a huge collection of pre-made demo sites built with Elementor, tons of customization options, and plenty of helpful integrations with other tools.

Download Astra

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3. GeneratePress

Overview of GeneratePress

If I had to describe GeneratePress in one word, it would be “lightweight”. It’s about as performance optimized as possible while still giving you multipurpose flexibility and tons of options in the WordPress Customizer.

Standout Features of

Page-level controls to disable headings, change widths, etc.

Less than 30 KB which is about as small as possible for an Elementor theme (I’ve tested it!)

Detailed customization options in the live customizer

Importable demo sites built with Elementor (only available with the premium add-on)

WooCommerce support for eCommerce

Lots of hooks to insert content or Elementor templates anywhere on your site (including your homepage)

What Users are Saying About

After switching from Thrive Themes FocusBlog to GeneratePress, my portfolio site’s page load times shrank from 1.877 seconds to 0.979 seconds. Colin Newcomer

Yes — that’s me, the guy writing this post. I use GeneratePress on my portfolio site.

Final Word on GeneratePress

GeneratePress is a great option if you value performance, which you should. Despite its lightweight package, it still gives you tons of customization options and you can use it for any type of website.

However, it doesn’t have quite as many design customization options as some other themes on this list, so there is still a small trade-off.

Download GeneratePress

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4. OceanWP

Overview of OceanWP

OceanWP is an incredibly flexible theme that comes with a dizzying array of style and customization options in the visual WordPress Customizer.

It’s still fairly lightweight, but it puts more emphasis on flexibility than achieving the absolute fastest foundation.

Standout Features of OceanWP

A huge number of style and page layout options in the WordPress Customizer

Page-level controls to create the perfect Elementor canvas

Detailed WooCommerce support (though many features require the premium version)

Includes a bunch of new Elementor widgets with the premium version

Search engine friendly (aka Google friendly)

Importable demo sites built with Elementor (in the premium version)

What Users are Saying About OceanWP

After spending money on fancy bloated themes I always come back to simple ones like OceanWP. Less is more. Works well with Elementor which seems to be the easiest graphical UI for designing web pages fast as on [sic] 2020. trovador

Final Word on OceanWP

If you want the absolute most style and customization options, then OceanWP might be the best Elementor theme for you. While GeneratePress and Astra both give you lots of options as well, OceanWP takes things even further.

However, you will sacrifice a bit of performance for that flexibility. OceanWP clocks in more around ~250 KB, whereas both Astra and GeneratePress are under 50 KB.

OceanWP does include a tool to conditionally disable scripts, though, which can help you make it a little leaner.

Download OceanWP

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5. Neve

Overview of Neve

Along with GeneratePress, Neve (affiliate link) is one of the most lightweight themes on this list, while still managing to pack in demo sites built with Elementor and tons of options in the WordPress Customizer.

There’s also a premium add-on that gives you more control over your header, footer, and WooCommerce store.

Standout Features of Neve

80+ importable demo sites, many of which are built with Elementor (though some also use Beaver Builder or the WordPress block editor, aka Gutenberg editor)

Under 30 KB in size, which, again, is about as small as it gets for a customizable Elementor WordPress theme

Page-level settings to control the canvas for your Elementor designs

Super flexible header builder (in the premium version)

WooCommerce compatibility

What Users are Saying About Neve

Because I work with Elementor, I needed a template that gives all the flexibility to create my site of dreams. Neve was of great help. I’m not that person who has information about HTML or CSS, so Neve was also of great help. Neve is a great template if you want all the flexibility and also to edit everything easy. David Romanowski

Final Word on Neve

Neve is another great option if you value performance but still don’t want to skimp on design flexibility. Along with GeneratePress, it’s one of the fastest themes that I’ve tested.

If you use Neve, I’d definitely recommend considering the premium add-on for its header and footer builders.

Download Neve

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6. Sydney

Overview of Sydney

Sydney is a flexible WordPress website theme that pairs well with Elementor.

Whereas many of the other Elementor themes on this list are multipurpose offerings that you can adapt to any niche, Sydney is specifically focused on helping small businesses and freelancers create an online presence.

Standout Features of Sydney

Focused on business websites

Detailed theme options in the WordPress Customizer

Responsive design

Includes custom Elementor blocks to help you control your design

Parallax background scrolling

Social media icons

What Users are Saying About Sydney

This theme caught my eye with its stunning beauty and interface. I believe it is one of the best looking and functioning free WordPress themes out there.

I have not done any coding in about 10 years, and was a little intimidated to design my own website through WordPress. Fortunately this theme was easy to set up and any time I ran into an issue, I was able to find similar questions already answered on the support forums. childersdavidson

Final Word on Sydney

Sydney is a great option if you want to build a business website with WordPress and Elementor. It’s not multipurpose like the other Elementor themes, but if you are looking to build a business website, that specificity can actually work in your favor.

Download Sydney

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7. Rife

Overview of Rife

Rife brands itself as a “creative multipurpose” theme and you can see evidence of that aesthetic in the seven importable demo sites, all of which are built with Elementor.

The same developer also offers an Elementor extension plugin with the same name that adds new templates and custom widgets.

Standout Features of Rife

Seven free importable demo sites built with Elementor (40 demos available in Pro version)

Detailed style and layout controls in the WordPress Customizer

Creative aesthetic

Companion WordPress plugin that adds more templates and further extends Elementor

WooCommerce compatibility

Mega menu support

What Users are Saying About Rife

The clear layout of this theme accommodates many applications. Through its feature-rich options you can use this theme to deliver professional websites that are awe-inspiring.

I have used both paid and free products from this designer/author and have been fully satisfied with their products! ryazhari

Final Word on Rife

While you can use Rife for any niche, you can definitely see its creative focus evident in the demo sites and templates. For that reason, I think Rife makes an especially good option if you are looking to build a creative site, like a photography portfolio.

Download Rife

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8. Page Builder Framework

Overview of Page Builder Framework

As the name suggests, Page Builder Framework is built specifically to pair with WordPress page builder plugins, including Elementor.

The basic idea is that you use Page Builder Framework to control your header, footer, and other non-content areas. Then, you can use Elementor for everything else.

The core features are available in the free theme, and there’s also a premium add-on with more features.

Standout Features of Page Builder Framework

Under 50 KB in size, which is still quite lightweight even if it’s not on GeneratePress and Neve’s level

Uses the WordPress Customizer for easy tweaking

Mobile responsive

Multiple navigation menu options

Page-level controls to control your page builder canvas

WooCommerce and WPML support

What Users are Saying About Page Builder Framework

No other theme I have tried works that a) fast and b) stable. I had OceanWP, Astra, Hello and many many others. That theme will stay with me for good. AND: I like that it has been developed by a true coding enthusiast who knows what matters when it comes to speed AND reliability. neuspurcom

Final Word on Page Builder Framework

Page Builder Framework is specifically built to pair with Elementor (and other page builders), so it’s got everything that you need and nothing that you don’t. You can use Elementor to build out your content areas while leaving everything else to Page Builder Framework.

It’s the same basic approach as a theme like GeneratePress or Astra, though, so your decision should really come down to whether you like Page Builder Framework’s unique cocktail of customization options more than the others.

Download Page Builder Framework

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9. Zakra

Overview of Zakra

Zakra is another lightweight multipurpose theme in the vein of GeneratePress and Neve. At 37.2 KB, it’s performance friendly, but it also doesn’t skimp on customization options and comes with tons of pre-built demo sites built with Elementor.

Standout Features of Zakra

10 free importable demo sites built with Elementor (30+ in Pro version)

Detailed style and layout options in the WordPress Customizer

Page-level options to control your Elementor canvas

Responsive design

WooCommerce integration

AMP ready

What Users are Saying About Zakra

This theme was exactly what I needed. I imported one of their custom pages and then customizaded [sic] and tweek [sic] it to meeet [sic] my needs. I found the combination of Zakra and Elementor really powerful. alvarowh

Final Word on Zakra

Zakra hasn’t been around for as long as something like Astra, but it’s quickly made a name for itself and offers another great option if you want a lightweight, multipurpose theme to go underneath Elementor.

If one of the demo sites catches your eye, you should give it a go.

Download Zakra

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10. Phlox

Overview of Phlox

Phlox is a popular Elementor theme that focuses on design flexibility and style. It includes a huge array of importable demo sites built with Elementor, as well as 30+ exclusive Elementor widgets that you can use in your designs.

Standout Features of Phlox

100+ pre-made demo sites built with Elementor (not all are free)

30+ new Elementor widgets

40+ page templates (beyond the full demo sites)

Focus on style and creative design freedom

Translation & RTL ready

What Users are Saying About Phlox

Phlox is a great multi-purpose theme which works best with Elementor, it has more than 35 exclusive elements, complete demos for Elementor with 1-click demo importer, and I can say Phlox is perfect for creating any kind of website with ease. Ben Pines, CMO of Elementor

Final Word on Phlox

Phlox puts more emphasis on style and design flexibility than creating the most lightweight foundation possible, which is a philosophical difference between it and a lot of the other Elementor themes on this list.

If you’re willing to sacrifice a little performance for that creative freedom, Phlox might be the theme for you.

Download Phlox

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11. Ashe

Overview of Ashe

Like Sydney, Ashe bucks the multipurpose trend of themes on this list, instead opting to focus specifically on blogging. It has a nice minimal design that works great for all different kinds of WordPress blogs.

Standout Features of Ashe

Minimal design style with lots of white space

Responsive design

Multiple blog layout options in the WordPress Customizer

WooCommerce ready

What Users are Saying About Ashe

I tried many themes for my cooking blog, none of them worked except for Ashe. Very useful, very easy to customize with amazing features! I had a lot of fun customizing my blog. So satisfied. Moreover, they offer perfect and fast support whenever needed. mygratitudecatalogue

Final Word on Ashe

Ashe is a little bit more niche-focused than the other Elementor themes, but I would say that it’s a great option if you’re looking to make a blog in the fashion, lifestyle, or creative niches.

Download Ashe

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12. Hestia

Overview of Hestia

Hestia is a multipurpose WordPress theme that implements material design principles, which gives it a unique look in comparison to many of the other themes on this list. It also uses a one-page design out-of-the-box, which is another unique feature.

Hestia comes from the same developer as the Neve theme from earlier on this list.

Standout Features of Hestia

Material design styling

One-page design

WooCommerce compatible

SEO friendly (aka Google friendly)

Four importable demo sites, some of which use Elementor

Mega menu support

What Users are Saying About Hestia

Going from Hestia Free to Hestia Pro helped us to make a better landing page without any third-party plugins. Combined with Elementor, we’re able to design all we want. Vincent Duvernet

Final Word on Hestia

The main reason to use Hestia over the other options on this list is if you like the material design styling. If you do, go with Hestia. Otherwise, you might prefer a more flexible theme to pair with Elementor.

Download Hestia

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13. Jupiter X

Overview of Jupiter X

Jupiter X is one of the all-time best-selling themes at ThemeForest, where it’s been purchased over 131,000 times.

It includes a massive collection of 290+ pre-made websites built with Elementor, as well as tons of detailed customization options.

Jupiter X costs $59, which gets you lifetime updates and six months of support.

Standout Features of Jupiter X

290+ importable demo sites built with Elementor

20+ pre-built header options, plus detailed header customization options

Visual footer editor

100+ block templates

Custom Elementor widgets for forms and other content elements

Mega menu builder

Includes tons of other Elementor extensions, including the Jet plugins for Elementor

What Users are Saying About Jupiter X

Not only does Jupiter X offers [sic] plenty of pre-made templates — Jupiter X is also really easy to use when you first get a hang of it. MarieW

Final Word on Jupiter X

The most unique thing about Jupiter X is its absolutely massive collection of 290+ pre-made websites built with Elementor. If you see a site you like, you can import it, tweak the content with Elementor, and be up and running in no time.

It also includes JetPlugins for Elementor which extends Elementor with a ton of new functionality that you can use in your designs. This bundled functionality can replace the need to purchase Elementor Pro.

All in all, if you like the abundance of demo sites, bundled plugins, and customization options, Jupiter X has a lot to offer.

However, it’s a bit bloated as compared to the more lightweight options like GeneratePress and Astra. If you value performance, I’d probably pick a different theme.

Download Jupiter X

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Still Unsure? Here’s How 800+ People Voted

Still unsure which of these Elementor themes to choose for your site?

Don’t worry — you’re not alone!

There’s actually an entire Facebook group dedicated to the topic. It’s called Elementor + Which Theme? and it has over 3,800 members who were similarly vexed about how to pick the best Elementor theme for their websites.

If you’re still struggling with which theme to choose, here’s what the wisdom of the crowds says from a poll with over 800 responses:

Astra — 320 votes

OceanWP — 258 votes

GeneratePress — 169 votes

Page Builder Framework — 28 votes

That poll is a little old, so here’s the data from the new version of the poll in 2020, which doesn’t have quite as many responses yet:

Hello — 19 votes

Astra — 15 votes

OceanWP — 12 votes

GeneratePress — 4 votes

Zakra — 1 vote

Based on those two polls (and my own experience), Astra makes a great starting point if you’re still on the fence. It offers an enticing combination of “design flexibility + performance optimization” that’s tough to beat.

Unless, that is, you want to build your entire theme with Elementor Pro Theme Builder, in which case Elementor Hello might be a better choice.

Back to Top

Pick One of These Elementor Themes and Get Started!

Elementor gives you the power to design your content with a visual, drag-and-drop page builder, but you still need to pair it with a quality WordPress theme.

With one of the Elementor themes on this list, you can be confident that your Elementor content has a foundation that sets it up for success.

All you need to do is pick the best WordPress theme that’s right for you, install it, and start building out your site!

About the author: Colin Newcomer is a freelance writer for hire with a background in SEO and affiliate marketing. He helps clients grow their web visibility by writing primarily about digital marketing and WordPress. In his spare time, he travels and curates graphic t-shirts.

The post 13 Best Elementor Themes (According to Elementor!) in 2020 appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/best-elementor-themes/

[untoadoption]

Book Club

New Post has been published on https://untoadoption.org/book-club/

Book Club

The first rule about Book Club is… you don’t stop talking about Book Club. I went and joined an actual, big-girl book club.

I’m pleased to report that I did indeed finish the first book on time and show up for the in-person discussion. This is what we read the first go-round: This is How is Always Is. I suspect would have missed this one had it not been selected for me, but I found it to be surprisingly endearing and insightful… and that’s basically what any good book club is all about.

Said book club even let me select our second book! This was one passed along from my college professor Auntie who never steers me wrong, so I’m hoping it’s a hit. It’s post-apocalyptic, with a YA feel, in the same vein as Divergent or Hunger Games. (I simply cannot take a serious photograph and I don’t know how I managed to do that to my face.)

Like I need to read more. Whenever I find a stray chunk of time (typically whilst waiting in the car for the kids at one activity or another) I crack the spine of a book.

  Additional recent reads:

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning was such a good, simple read in the spirit of Marie Kondo. My minimalist-loving brain was amen-ing in agreement throughout.

Untangled was SO informative, my much older sister and I read it in tandem as *ahem* we’re finding it extraordinarily *ahem* pertinent *ahem* these days.

A friend asked me to proof Hidden Joy in a Dark Corner, a touching and powerful (though oft difficult to read) memoir.

I enjoyed this thorough biography of LM Montgomery, House of Dreams. Quoted, from Maud, “If we write truly out of our own heart and experience, that truth will find out and reach its own.”

Running with Scissors is a brazen, bawdy memoir; I can’t recall who recommended it but it was similar in spirit to the Glass Castle, making the reader feel a touch insane themselves as they immerse within the author’s crazy past.

  The Fringe Hours has been an encouraging nonfiction read. Long on my radar, it only recently felt applicable and timely for the full season of life I’m in.

Aaaand for my wee bairns: 

I believe Rainbow Valley is the 7th installment from the Anne saga. It details her children’s lives and although charming (think Jo’s Boys) we’ve found it slower going than all the others before it.

Little Man enjoyed The BFG (I read it aloud to the girls before he was born), both book and film adaptations. He also enjoyed fizzy whizpopping frobscottle, but didn’t care so much for snozzcumbers.

He also enjoyed Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which I’d read to his big sisters our first year of homeschool.

Caused a brief side-step of a unit study for homeschool fun.

This is a big statement for a bookworm, but Charlotte’s Web might be my all-time favorite. For sure it was formative and helped shape me as a reader. My mom read it aloud to me as a youngster and I read it to the girls when they were tiny. Little Man was due. 

I picked up these fun, modern Shakespeare adaptations for the girls to read solo to compliment our proper study of the Bard and his works this year. OMG Shakespeare

And a few volumes I picked up just for looks, for my collection:

What are you reading? 

[pilferingapples]

Les Miserables Adaptations Tracklist

This is just a list for my own use to help me keep track of adaptations I’ve seen, mostly in groupwatches, and/or  /posts I’ve got about them! Going to be a WIP obviously! 

1897, Victor Hugo et les principaux personnages des misérables, a short film by the Lumière brothers:  really just a very quick Cosplay reel

1925, directed by Henri Fescourt:  one of the most brilliant adaptations! Stellar performances, great crowd scenes.

1934,  directed by Raymond Bernard and starring Harry Baur, another excellent classic version

1935, directed by Richard Boleslawski and starring Fredric March as Valjean, Charles Laughton as Javert- “Hayes Code Les Mis” , featuring some very conservative politics 

1943, Los Miserables, a Mexican adaptation directed by Renando A. Rovero; notable for starting at the convent, saving Valjean’s backstory for the very last episode. 

1948 I Miserabili: featuring ACTION VALJEAN!  The daring horse stealing escape! the foundry fire escape! the...honestly horrible bit with Catherine the doll...  Anyway still watching it but it belongs here now! 

1952, directed by Lewis Milestone, aka The One With Robert, and Valjean’s pottery factory

1958, directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois, starring Jean Gabin; feat. Waterloo, an OFPD scene, and the Wacky Chase Scene. Otherwise notable for being pretty boring, honestly!

1964, I miserabili, Italian TV-miniseries, almost 10 hours long; a thorough adaptation with the feel of theater and a lot of rarely-adapted scenes, including a musing on Waterloo and the escape from the Orion

1966, Gavrosh, Soviet animation short

1967, BBC miniseries, directed by Alan Bridges, starring: Frank Finlay as Valjean. 3 hours of one of the best adaptations I’ve ever seen, and two of the drunkest. 

1971, Los Miserables, Spanish production by TVE as part of the Novela TV series, directed by José Antonio Páramo and starring José Calvo as Jean Valjean; heavy on dream sequences/ surreal imagery, an interesting take!

1972, French TV miniseries directed by Marcel Bluwal, focusing almost entirely on the post-timeskip Paris events.

1977, Cosette, Soviet claymation short 

1978, a British telefilm directed by Glenn Jordan and starring Richard Jordan as Valjean, Anthony Perkins as Javert,  Javert does a flip into the Seine, I genuinely recall nothing else. 

1982, directed by Robert Hossein , AKA The One Where Catherine Kills Valjean

1992, a 26-episode French animated TV series by Studios Animage, AB Productions, Pixibox and Studio SEK

1995, directed by Claude Lelouch and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo; a multilayered adaptation , set in the early 20C , more about Les Mis as Les Mis and the way the issues and stories it tells keep playing out than a straight adaptation of the story.

1998, directed by Bille August and starring Liam Neeson as Valjean, Geoffrey Rush as Javert, Uma Thurman as Fantine, 

2000, 6-hour French TV /3 hour English TV movie miniseries starring: Gérard Depardieu; Everyone’s Problematic Least Fave!! Either horrible or just boring, depending on the version you see. 

2007, Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette, a 52-episode Japanese animated TV series

2012, adaptation of the stage musical

2014, Bedtime Story TV, a short animated adaptation covering only Valjean’s encounter with Myriel

2019, a six-part BBC miniseries by Andrew Davies: **stares into the distance**

2019, 2-hour Fuji TV Les Misérables Owarinaki Tabiji : Jdrama LM, Earthquakes and Reconciliation

[michaelfallcon]

The La Marzocco KB90: Better Living Through Ergonomics

News flash, breaking, extra extra: working on an espresso machine all day long is fucking bad for you.

Repetitive motions in the workplace that engage small muscle groups can lead to serious injury. This not a theoretical construct. It is a reality with which the coffee industry must grapple going forward if it intends to protect its own and develop paths to career longevity. It’s not going away.

So—what if we just said like, “no“? What if through a combination of research and implementation, the coffee industry stepped up and made a concerted choice not injure its own? The worst thing about “barista wrist” is that it is, at least in theory, largely an avoidable condition. We can, in theory, invent our way out of it, design and engineer our way into a better reality for the baristas who help drive coffee as a culture and community.

What’s changing is the “in theory” part. This style of new tech is fast emerging, and now today La Marzocco has stepped into the fray in a major way. Today they’ve launched a new espresso machine, the KB90, that addresses the ergonomic reality of the barista profession in what I think is a fundamentally transformative and disruptive way. They’ve done so by correcting one of the main stress points: the small muscle movement motion by which a portafilter locks into the espresso machine grouphead.

The result may be the most ergonomic espresso machine ever made.

Think about it with me for a minute. On a traditional espresso machine—any brand, including all versions heretofore of gear by La Marzocco—you have a portafilter in one hand, and it’s your job to get that portafilter to lock in to a little set of pin locks hidden in a grouphead. You place the portafilter unseen in the grouphead, then you twist a little bit with your wrist, maybe adjust with your thumb, and the portafilter locks into place.

This motion, though intimidating as all get out for new baristas (and journalists!), has long been accepted as “the way things are done” when using an espresso machine. That’s despite the fact that injuries directly related to the motion are literally among the most costly and time consuming injuries in all of food and beverage service.

On the KB90 you are required to make no such blind twisting motion. Instead you get the portafilter to click into the grouphead by simply… sliding the portafilter straight forward. It is deceptively simple both in concept and practice, but the engineering, design, and concepting work around it took years to perfect.

https://sprudge.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/3_4-straight-in-movement.mp4

  Using the mechanism feels like clicking on a pair of ski boots, or plugging in the Rumble Pak attachment to the controller of your N64. (I realize this reference dates me.) There is a uniquely satisfying haptic response, with bumpers that give a wonderful “click” sensation when the portafilter pops into place. Kent Bakke—who served as CEO of La Marzocco for decades—has been working since the late 90s to perfect this technology, and now, in the hands of the La Marzocco R&D team, that work is a reality. There is a reason why this is the first La Marzocco espresso machine named after an American.

The overall effect is tough to put into words; you simply have to click in and try it for yourself, which you’ll be able to do at upcoming marquee trade shows like Host and the 2019 SCA Event in Boston. There you’ll have the chance to see some of the other cool stuff this machine can do, including an automated group flush option that increases efficiency; a “Pro Touch” steam wand that uses double walled stainless steel to regulate temperature (no more burning the shit out of yourself on accident!); drip prediction tech adapted from the Modbar AV; improved ease of access for maintenancing the steam wand; and a design aesthetic that evokes the square block retro-futurist techno-chunk of a 1980s Ferrari, or the motorbike from Akira.

But even sitting here, writing this, a week or so removed from my preview time with the machine at LM USA headquarters in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, I can still hear and feel that satisfying *click*. There’s really nothing else quite like it.

“It’s fun,” Scott Guglielmino tells me. He’s a career espresso tech who has worked his way up through the company, starting first as an advisor on the Strada “street team,” to his role today as La Marzocco’s Global Product Manager. “Working on this machine is fun. But it also allows you to speed up while reducing hypertension—it’s supposed to be both fun and safe.”

Think about that for a second. Both fun and safe. Isn’t that the dream? In our shitshow of a toxic modern society, a slurry of constant aggressions both overt and micro, I think this might be all I really want in the world. For something to genuinely be both safe and fun.

La Marzocco conducted and outsourced a range of studies, including with the Italian ergonomics consultancy Faentia, that found the new tech in their filter holder required a lower amount of muscle engagement, could be used with the same efficiency by both left and right handed baristas, kept the forearm in a neutral position throughout usage of the machine, and engaged the whole arm-hand-wrist system while disengaging, as opposed to isolating movement to the hands and thumbs (a precursor for repetitive stress injury). It requires less total muscle engagement. It takes less time to train on. Execution time is shortened. As per the Faentia study this machine is safer and more efficient to use than the previous iteration of La Marzocco machines by a factor of twelve. 

It is both safe and fun.

There’s lots of ways to write about a new espresso machine, and at this point in my career (Sprudge turns ten years old this fall) I’ve done pretty much every version: technical, design-focused, brand-y, trade show beat, press release reblog, and on and on. But my response to the machine was above all else emotional. Technology in the right hands, in the right moment, has the power to make us feel stuff. That is an extraordinary power! The full summation of man’s command of the world around us! The orangutan fishing for grub worms with a stick dipped in honey, the Apollo space program engineer sending man to the moon and back on less computing power than an iPhone—a continuum of invention and innovation dating back before recorded memory, indeed, responsible for the technology to record memory in the first place. We can design and invent ourselves out of anything, from the earth to the heavens, including something as relatively conquerable and quantifiable as barista wrist.

The result is a sea change that I think is going to be integrated into the next several waves of espresso machine technology, wherein approaching any project with a health and safety mindset becomes not a novelty, not a disruption, but a basic tenet and focal point across the whole big wide world of coffee tech. This is a very good thing! Let’s see more R&D like this, more products dedicated to workplace safety for baristas, especially those without  subsidized access to healthcare. In twenty years I hope we look at “barista wrist” the same way we look at second hand smoke: a once-accepted workplace hazard of yesteryear. Big leaps in the interplay between tech and society quickly become mundane; that’s how you know they’ve been adopted. This is how you measure change.

This new espresso machine, the La Marzocco KB90, makes me feel optimistic about the future of coffee. What else is there really left to say?

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge. 

For more on the La Marzocco KB90 visits its official website. 

Disclosure: La Marzocco is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network

The post The La Marzocco KB90: Better Living Through Ergonomics appeared first on Sprudge.

The La Marzocco KB90: Better Living Through Ergonomics published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee

[mrwilliamcharley]

The La Marzocco KB90: Better Living Through Ergonomics

News flash, breaking, extra extra: working on an espresso machine all day long is fucking bad for you.

Repetitive motions in the workplace that engage small muscle groups can lead to serious injury. This not a theoretical construct. It is a reality with which the coffee industry must grapple going forward if it intends to protect its own and develop paths to career longevity. It’s not going away.

So—what if we just said like, “no“? What if through a combination of research and implementation, the coffee industry stepped up and made a concerted choice not injure its own? The worst thing about “barista wrist” is that it is, at least in theory, largely an avoidable condition. We can, in theory, invent our way out of it, design and engineer our way into a better reality for the baristas who help drive coffee as a culture and community.

What’s changing is the “in theory” part. This style of new tech is fast emerging, and now today La Marzocco has stepped into the fray in a major way. Today they’ve launched a new espresso machine, the KB90, that addresses the ergonomic reality of the barista profession in what I think is a fundamentally transformative and disruptive way. They’ve done so by correcting one of the main stress points: the small muscle movement motion by which a portafilter locks into the espresso machine grouphead.

The result may be the most ergonomic espresso machine ever made.

Think about it with me for a minute. On a traditional espresso machine—any brand, including all versions heretofore of gear by La Marzocco—you have a portafilter in one hand, and it’s your job to get that portafilter to lock in to a little set of pin locks hidden in a grouphead. You place the portafilter unseen in the grouphead, then you twist a little bit with your wrist, maybe adjust with your thumb, and the portafilter locks into place.

This motion, though intimidating as all get out for new baristas (and journalists!), has long been accepted as “the way things are done” when using an espresso machine. That’s despite the fact that injuries directly related to the motion are literally among the most costly and time consuming injuries in all of food and beverage service.

On the KB90 you are required to make no such blind twisting motion. Instead you get the portafilter to click into the grouphead by simply… sliding the portafilter straight forward. It is deceptively simple both in concept and practice, but the engineering, design, and concepting work around it took years to perfect.

https://sprudge.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/3_4-straight-in-movement.mp4

  Using the mechanism feels like clicking on a pair of ski boots, or plugging in the Rumble Pak attachment to the controller of your N64. (I realize this reference dates me.) There is a uniquely satisfying haptic response, with bumpers that give a wonderful “click” sensation when the portafilter pops into place. Kent Bakke—who served as CEO of La Marzocco for decades—has been working since the late 90s to perfect this technology, and now, in the hands of the La Marzocco R&D team, that work is a reality. There is a reason why this is the first La Marzocco espresso machine named after an American.

The overall effect is tough to put into words; you simply have to click in and try it for yourself, which you’ll be able to do at upcoming marquee trade shows like Host and the 2019 SCA Event in Boston. There you’ll have the chance to see some of the other cool stuff this machine can do, including an automated group flush option that increases efficiency; a “Pro Touch” steam wand that uses double walled stainless steel to regulate temperature (no more burning the shit out of yourself on accident!); drip prediction tech adapted from the Modbar AV; improved ease of access for maintenancing the steam wand; and a design aesthetic that evokes the square block retro-futurist techno-chunk of a 1980s Ferrari, or the motorbike from Akira.

But even sitting here, writing this, a week or so removed from my preview time with the machine at LM USA headquarters in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, I can still hear and feel that satisfying *click*. There’s really nothing else quite like it.

“It’s fun,” Scott Guglielmino tells me. He’s a career espresso tech who has worked his way up through the company, starting first as an advisor on the Strada “street team,” to his role today as La Marzocco’s Global Product Manager. “Working on this machine is fun. But it also allows you to speed up while reducing hypertension—it’s supposed to be both fun and safe.”

Think about that for a second. Both fun and safe. Isn’t that the dream? In our shitshow of a toxic modern society, a slurry of constant aggressions both overt and micro, I think this might be all I really want in the world. For something to genuinely be both safe and fun.

La Marzocco conducted and outsourced a range of studies, including with the Italian ergonomics consultancy Faentia, that found the new tech in their filter holder required a lower amount of muscle engagement, could be used with the same efficiency by both left and right handed baristas, kept the forearm in a neutral position throughout usage of the machine, and engaged the whole arm-hand-wrist system while disengaging, as opposed to isolating movement to the hands and thumbs (a precursor for repetitive stress injury). It requires less total muscle engagement. It takes less time to train on. Execution time is shortened. As per the Faentia study this machine is safer and more efficient to use than the previous iteration of La Marzocco machines by a factor of twelve. 

It is both safe and fun.

There’s lots of ways to write about a new espresso machine, and at this point in my career (Sprudge turns ten years old this fall) I’ve done pretty much every version: technical, design-focused, brand-y, trade show beat, press release reblog, and on and on. But my response to the machine was above all else emotional. Technology in the right hands, in the right moment, has the power to make us feel stuff. That is an extraordinary power! The full summation of man’s command of the world around us! The orangutan fishing for grub worms with a stick dipped in honey, the Apollo space program engineer sending man to the moon and back on less computing power than an iPhone—a continuum of invention and innovation dating back before recorded memory, indeed, responsible for the technology to record memory in the first place. We can design and invent ourselves out of anything, from the earth to the heavens, including something as relatively conquerable and quantifiable as barista wrist.

The result is a sea change that I think is going to be integrated into the next several waves of espresso machine technology, wherein approaching any project with a health and safety mindset becomes not a novelty, not a disruption, but a basic tenet and focal point across the whole big wide world of coffee tech. This is a very good thing! Let’s see more R&D like this, more products dedicated to workplace safety for baristas, especially those without  subsidized access to healthcare. In twenty years I hope we look at “barista wrist” the same way we look at second hand smoke: a once-accepted workplace hazard of yesteryear. Big leaps in the interplay between tech and society quickly become mundane; that’s how you know they’ve been adopted. This is how you measure change.

This new espresso machine, the La Marzocco KB90, makes me feel optimistic about the future of coffee. What else is there really left to say?

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge. 

For more on the La Marzocco KB90 visits its official website. 

Disclosure: La Marzocco is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network

The post The La Marzocco KB90: Better Living Through Ergonomics appeared first on Sprudge.

from Sprudge http://bit.ly/2CZhFl2

[festivalists]

António's spell

When Lola was running on the streets of Berlin in 1998, it was the cyber-excitement for interactive storytelling that repositioned her again and again on the starting point, up until the happy end. In the Lisbon-set ANTÓNIO ONE TWO THREE / ANTÓNIO UM DOIS TRÊS (2017) by Leonardo Mouramateus (part fairy tale of a self-made man, part millennials romance, part austerity challenge), the eponymous protagonist seems to run towards a three-act change. Our new contributor Andreea Pătru met in Rotterdam the director of this charming feature debut and his film star Mauro Soares in order to deconstruct António's agenda. Three, two, one – start!

Leonardo Mouramateus is a young film director, already known for several highly acclaimed shorts. His MAURO IN CAYENNE / MAURO EM CAIENA (2013) and THE PARTY AND THE BARKING / A FESTA E OS CÃES (2015) both won the Best Short Film prize at Cinéma du Réel, and STORY OF A FEATHER / HISTÓRIA DE UMA PENA (2015) screened at Locarno Film Festival. Born in Brazil, Fortaleza, he shot his first feature ANTÓNIO ONE TWO THREE / ANTÓNIO UM DOIS TRÊS (2017) in Lisbon, where he currently resides.

I had a chance to speak with Leonardo Mouramateus, and Mauro Soares, who played António, was kind enough to translate and participate in our conversation at IFFR, where the film premiered in the Bright Future Competition. Working with the possibilities of multiple representations of its protagonist, the director parted the film in three segments that delicately influence and interact with each other. In this triptych, not only the protagonist’s personality changes, the surroundings and his peers are also given slightly different roles. The film reaches its full potential as a whole because of the strengthened interrelation between its units, giving sense to isolated sequences that fit better into the bigger picture.

António is a student who leaves university to follow his own path in Lisbon, hiding away from his father at his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, a place where he has been the most happy. Leonardo Mouramateus’ film moves away from the conventional and classical narrative forms, and dares to approach a fresh and subversive type of plot. He controls very well the dramatic shifts in his stories by mastering a cinematic grammar of his own, a unique approach for a debut. The film depicts the youthful feelings and connects the constant evolution of its characters with the instability of the millennials’ world.

Andreea Pătru: In the description of your film, you state that the movie is inspired by Dostoevsky’s short story White Nights. To what extent did that work influence yours?

Leonardo Mouramateus: The movie is not directly an adaptation of the work, it is influenced as much as it is from the work of other authors like the poem of Nicanor Parra, Roberto Bolaño, a novelist that I really enjoy. I could talk about the influence of not only writers, but also from music or other pieces of cinema, like Charlot, because my protagonist is a little bit like him, and Lubitsch. Maybe Dostoevsky gained a little bit more attention because in the movie the director chose to adapt it for his theatre play too… and also because it was very fit for the things we wanted to talk about – youth, dreams…

AP: The main character plays various roles, but the majority are related to theatre. Why theatre, what is your relation with this art?

LM: Before cinema, I made theatre in Fortaleza, so for me it was the starting point to get used to a certain type of language, to work with a group and collaborate. Also, a lot of the people, with whom I work now, are related to theatre. I liked it because you can also express with your body, make jokes, the mise-en-scène, even if you are poor. Moreover, the theatre exerts a power over the imagination that interests me in cinema, its limitations are tools to explore my creativity. One of the most important things was my contact with João Fiadeiro, the actor who plays the father in the film. He is also a great choreographer, I got in touch with his system through one of his workshops, and I learnt about realtime composition. Even if it is not that strict of a method, it made me think of the self-sufficiency, of composition, and construction without the author as the master. Everybody, all the parts of the crew are important. Also, theatre appears in my film for its capacity of reconstruction and also because of its lively creativity, you can watch how ideas are born, and I also liked to illustrate the process.

AP: The three-part story you have chosen is an interesting tool for developing your plot. The stories merge into one another by repeating the characters, yet giving them different character development, to the point we do not know which story is the real one. Which was the first part you have developed?

LM: We shot the movie as it is presented, in the exact same order: one, two, three. After I shot the first part, we stopped for six months, and so on after each part. I do not know how would have looked if I changed the order, because I never experienced it. Maybe chronologically it wouldn’t be so visible, but the changes in the development of the character would be affected. There is something that changes and grows from the beginning to the end. For instance, in the first part we present the characters, in the second part there are other questions for António, and in the third one his issues from the previous parts are explored and get solved.

Mauro Soares: An observation, if I may: in a way, the character develops through the stories, since in the first one he has no perspectives whatsoever, then he goes from being a technician to the director of the theatre play.

LM: Yes, exactly. And somehow everything and nothing changes, because the only thing that changes is António. He crosses the three segments in an almost linear way, because we can assume he learnt something. He left school, but he knows enough to become a technician, and then because he lives in that basement and he is always there at the rehearsals, he also learnt something about acting, so that he can direct in the third part. So to me they are all linked in this way.

AP: Did any production limits restrict your intentions for António’s versions?

LM: Since I started making movies, the production and the writing were very well connected. To me the two come together and function together, they are not restricted to one another. To me, it is not important to put something crazy in the movie, like a whale or something. I am not attracted to far-away scientific experiences, I like to express what is important to me. I am attracted to words, funny little jokes, love stories, how people react when they are mad… and I have put that in my films.

AP: Talking about production and the formal structure of this story, how did the editing influence your previous intentions from the shooting?

LM: Since we had so much time in-between the shootings, we put the parts together so that we could follow the influences from the first part to the second one and so on. Even if sometimes things did not go as planned, one option was to change that, or even better, we thought of ways we could assume that and use those problems in our favor and put them in the film. Sometimes an error or an extra take were exactly what we needed. Because I could write after the previous part, I felt I can introduce something that did not feel well-fitted into the first one and make it work.

MS: For instance, I remember, when we were rehearsing, and we talked about the thing that António smiled when he ran away from his father, we thought the scene would be too heavy, and we did not want such drama. The intention was to have some youth to it, not like an inter-generational fight between father and son, so I proposed I could smile.

LM: Yeah, and I used this scene that otherwise looked intriguing as a discussion in the theatre group in the second part. These things inspire me, and I put them in the script accordingly. We were creating the film while it was creating us. I was an organically project that grew with us through the process.

AP: How would you describe the relation between reality and fiction for your own characters?

LM: There are no imaginary versions of António’s story, everything is reality. There is not one valid version and the other ones – dreams. The point is that, to me, the reality is not single-layered. Of course, maybe I can create an António four for five, but all these layers are as important to me as the first one. I intermingled António’s life with aspects from his play, because I had no desire to separate life from theatre. There is no lie or truth. To me, it is important to notice while watching it that everything is present.

MS: If there is a character that could be a little bit more aware of these different layers of reality, it is the neighbor, because she could cross all the stories. She is also passionate about tarot, maybe the cards can read the other dimensions, she can predict. [laughs]

LM: Yeah, because the same could be said about us as the creators of this film. There is also some kind of António plot that is also about us as filmmakers. The reality is composed through this metalinguistic declinations of the plot.

AP: Did you have in mind the same actor for all the three stories from the beginning?

LM: No. Firstly, because when I met Mauro I saw he has a tremendous talent in playing a variety of characters, and he was exactly what I needed, a comedy brunette guy. Another point is that there is only one António, even if he is present in three parts. It is the same character in different situations, reacting differently to the given environment and its changes. In some way, António is also a little bit like Johnnie, a guy who is heartbroken, and also Deborah in some way is like him, because she also left university. The most logical profile to me is that there is something of António in other characters, because he is not a single-sided character.

AP: Was it a challenge for you to re-direct these scenes in a different way?

LM: No, not actually. I had this idea of directing, and I knew some things would have to change from the first to the last part. But the things I wanted to change were very practical. Not only directing the actors, but also the mise-en-scène, the crew. For instance, in the first part António is more lonely, he does not interact that much, the relations are more closed. In the second part appears Johnny, that is like a mirror image of António, so I have to pull back the camera to fit these two people. The crew understood they have to mould, not only by my ideas but other factors, too. Aline Belfort, the photographer of the film, had to adapt too, because the parts were shot in different seasons, we started in winter, and the second part was shot in summer. She had to adapt to make all these changes in the way she was dealing with light, because of the materiality of what we were doing.

AP: How was for you the transition from short films to features?

LM: It came naturally, because my shorts were already lengthy, I have shot shorts of 30 minutes. In a way, you can think of my movie as a collection of three shorts, it is some kind of homage, although it is not a short film. Its rhythm, the approach is different. There is always this pressure for us, shorts filmmakers, when would we direct a feature. Like a grand transition should be expected. I was at this Mariano Llinás’ Anti-lab, and he was speaking exactly about young filmmakers that go through all sorts of workshops, mentoring, trainings, project development labs, and their scripts are destroyed by many experts. For me, it was important to start the project without this pressure and grow it organically.

AP: The iconic song I Put a Spell on You is a key diegetic piece in each of these parts of your film. Why did you choose to make the character sing it, and was its purpose within the work?

MS: Leonardo wanted to see me in the theatre, and he heard me sing a song from Jaques Brel – Ces Gens-Là. It was a very romantic moment, appropriate for the feeling of his film, so he wanted me to sing it in the movie. I did not want to repeat myself, since I was already working on the same piece for the play, so we chose Nina Simone’s I Put a Spell on You. [cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins’ original]

LM: And also it was maybe the most important element to connect the parts. The song crosses over. It was not thought of before since I did not have the script for the second segment, yet it naturally stand out as an element to link. At our second screening here, a music teacher from Amsterdam came and said that to him the film has the structure of music. I liked this comparison, I do not create films with the structure of a song in mind, but I like to use the structure of a song to help me deliver my film. The electronic music that accompanies the images was also very specifically placed, the beat having to come in a specific moment and taking into account these details.

AP: Could you please expand a little about the relationship between Johnny and António? Is it symbolic, like putting Brazil and Portugal in comparison, since like the character, you also emigrated?

LM: Not really, but the Brazilians and the Portuguese will always have their differences. My personal experience inspired me to put this into film.

MS: It is interesting, because Johnny is also a Brazilian director who goes to Lisbon to direct his first big thing. He wanted somehow not to prove himself, but to produce something that is significant. He is his alter ego, in a way… [laughs]

AP: Yes, but to me, all the characters oscillate between Portugal and Brazil. They all seem to go or return from somewhere. António seems to be the only stable element, why did you choose that?

LM: I never thought about it that way, but António has no problems with going or staying in. It is Johnny’s and Deborah’s issue. That is not a question for Ant��nio. He just wanted to be independent in Lisbon, living without his father’s support, without money, without even a home… in a way, he does an extreme gesture.

AP: You were commenting about his social condition and him not having money, and there are these screwball comedy elements in your movie. Do you feel that this style, which goes back to the Big Depression, is still actual to comment on the social conditions nowadays?

LM: The point of these comedies was not documentary, although it was meant to comment about the United States at that moment, and how money controls our lives and the way we think our relationships… Like in the comedies of Lubitsch, a comedy like NINOTCHKA (1939) is absolutely amazing and very actual. It is not only a satirical critique of communism but also comments on capitalism, and all of this while it is a dialogical film about love, love as a great principle, a political one also. I think that considering nowadays’ situation this is radical.

AP: Does the Portuguese or Brazilian cinema inspire you?

LM: I have always been moved by filmmakers like Eduardo Coutinho, or Pedro Costa, or Ernst Lubitsch, you know. Chaplin is also important to me. But before filming, we watched two important shorts. One was João César Monteiro’s WHO WAITS FOR THE DECEASED’S SHOES DIES BAREFOOT / QUEM ESPERA POR SAPATOS DE DEFUNTO MORRE DESCALÇO (1970), a film that also has a poor protagonist, wandering around in Lisbon, also heartbroken, like António… And it was also this other one about two guys who don’t have money to go to the cinema in Sao Paulo, so they do not enter, they just read the list of films, inspect the posters. I liked the feeling of these stories, it was very similar in a way with the plot that I was developing for ANTÓNIO ONE TWO THREE.

AP: I wanted to ask you if you have seen the films of Hong Sang-soo? He is also interested in these slightly different changes of plot. Do you want to pursue something as intransigent?

LM: Yes, I admire his work, and I think RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN / JIGEUMEUN MATGO GEUTTAENEUN TEULLIDA (2015) is an amazing film, but there are other directors that followed this path also, like Alain Resnais. I think that my influences are more from the literature, that is why I have chosen an adaptation as an excuse to explore different narratives. I have heard Hong Sang-soo showed what he filmed to the actors. In a way I avoided that at the beginning, because I was a little bit skeptical about it, I did not want the actors to close the character’s development. But in a way it was good because everybody contributed to the story. Even the photographer, Aline Belfort, she is Brazilian, but she went to Russia to study photography, and she returned to Lisbon to shoot our film. So her personal story coincides with Deborah’s.

If you are a film industry professional, you can watch ANTÓNIO ONE TWO THREE on Festival Scope