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jocia92 · 1 year ago

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Dan Stevens in an exclusive interview (Google translated)

Hollywood star Dan Stevens can currently be seen in the blockbuster “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” in cinemas. The film is currently topping the box office charts and is number one worldwide. We met the charismatic actor in Los Angeles and talked to him about his current film, his next two projects and his choice of roles.

April 5, 2024 by Grace Maier

Can you share with us your first reaction when you were offered a role in Godzilla x Kong: The new empire? It's always a pleasure to work with the same people several times, but this time it was extra special as Adam Wingard, the director, is an old friend. I was also invited to play with an even older friend, Rebecca Hall, as well as Brian Tyree Henry, who I have known and admired for years. It felt like I was being asked to play with friends.

What was it like entering the universe of these iconic monsters? Did you have any ideas or expectations? It's a fun task to be asked to stretch one's imagination to the size of such cinematic titans! I've worked with CGI on an epic scale before, so it wasn't too foreign, and I was surprised at how many practical locations we had.

How did you prepare for your role in this blockbuster? Were there any unique challenges or exciting moments during filming? It was really exciting to shoot in the Australian outback, in the Daintree rainforest - this incredible ancient jungle. That sense of adventure on the way to work every day, passing crocodiles along the river banks, waiting for pythons to be removed from the set, really fueled the mood for the Hollow Earth walk in the film.

“Godzilla x Kong: The new empire” promises to be an epic clash. Without giving too much away, can you give us a hint as to how your character fits into the plot? Trapper is initially brought in to help Kong with his toothache - he is a vet for all Titan creatures - and is then approached by Rebecca Hall's character, Dr. Andrews, invited to the mission. He's a kind of happy, carefree Han Solo type, good to have around, tirelessly optimistic and impressed by little.

The film contains a lot of CGI and visual effects. What was your experience like acting in such an environment and how did it differ from previous roles? I've worked with this type of thing before so it wasn't too scary. I actually really enjoy working with a VFX team and helping to create something using our entire collective imagination. It's truly incredible to see what they achieve long after you've left the process.

Were you a fan of the Godzilla or Kong films before joining this project? How does it feel to be part of their legacy? I feel like I've known these characters my whole life: they are such an integral part of cinema history. I've loved seeing them in all their different iterations over the years and of course being asked to perform alongside them - and even fix their teeth - is a huge honor!

The film will have some intense action scenes. Can you describe one of your most memorable moments while filming these scenes? While it's not the most intense scene, the way my character is introduced - rappelling from a floating vehicle into Kong's mouth to perform large-scale dental work - was one of the more exciting stunts I had to do!

How do you think fans of the franchise will react to Godzilla x Kong: The new empire? What can they look forward to most? I want them to enjoy the ride! You'll see things you've never seen before and meet some fantastic new creatures and characters, but also maybe some familiar fan favorites...

You also have the film "ABIGAIL" coming out in April. Can you tell us a little about filming and what audiences can expect? This is a completely different kind of thrill! Essentially, it's a vampire ballerina heist movie - you know the kind - directed by the Radio Silence guys, Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, who specialize in a particularly wacky brand of horror-comedy that I love .

“CUCKOO” will also be released in the summer. What particularly interested you about this film? Tilman Singer, the director, is a truly exciting new voice in cinema - he has a very distinctive style that is so captivating and artfully disturbing. I was also very curious to work with Hunter Schafer, the lead actress of Cuckoo, who is such a bright and brilliant artistic soul.

Your career is so dynamic. How do you go about choosing a role? I crave variety, challenge and surprise, so I'm often guided by the search for those things, but it can also be a certain quality in the writing, a desire to work with certain directors or actors. It's different every time!

#godzilla x kong: the new empire #godzilla x kong #abigail 2024 #cuckoo 2024 #abigail #cuckoo #dan stevens #l'officiel liechtenstein #interview #godzilla x kong spoilers

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latenightcinephile · 1 year ago

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Film #917: 'The Cool World', dir. Shirley Clarke, 1963.

For all intents and purposes, Shirley Clarke's landmark film about youth gangs in Harlem, The Cool World, is considered a lost film. It was produced by the famous documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, and when Clarke died in 1997, the rights went to Wiseman. Despite Milestone Films embarking on an eight-year project to restore and make available as many of Clarke's films as possible, Wiseman has never allowed The Cool World to be included in this series or any other. For over twenty years, the only way to see this film is to have been fortunate enough to see it at a film festival, arts show screening, or touring gallery event.

Or, hypothetically, you could find a copy ripped from a screening on German broadcast television, with the German subtitles hard-coded into the bottom of the screen, uploaded to a website you've never heard of before. This particular hypothetical uploader has made it their pastime, evidently, to track key black films from the 1960s and 1970s, and make them available to whoever wants to see them. So it could be possible to watch the film, after all. And if you did, you'd likely find that it is an amazing piece of filmmaking. And you'd likely be a little mad at Frederick Wiseman.

In 1960s Harlem, Duke (Hampton Clanton) is looking to rise through the ranks of his local gang, the Royal Pythons. Convinced that if he gets his hands on a gun, he will be a man to be feared and respected, he makes the acquaintance of a pimp and racketeer named Priest (Carl Lee). Duke's relationship with his mother, who clearly cares for him but finds him difficult to communicate with, declines, and when the Pythons take over an apartment to set up their base, Duke practically lives there full-time. The gang's current president, Blood, brings his girlfriend Luanne to stay in the apartment as the gang's resident prostitute. Luanne becomes sweet on Duke quickly, and she privately supports Duke's aspirations.Duke continues to try and save enough money to buy a gun from Priest by selling cigarettes and occasionally stealing. In his travels around Harlem, he is often witness to discussions about the future prospects of black men in society, and the tactics of the civil rights movement.

Blood is revealed to be a heroin addict, which is against the rules of the Royal Pythons, and he is ousted, with Duke taking his position. Blood challenges Duke to a fight, but the scene is interrupted by the news that Littleman, another member of the Pythons, has been killed by the Wolves, a rival gang. Duke decides to lead a rumble against the Wolves which will take place several nights afterwards. In the meantime, he takes Luanne on a date to Coney Island so she can see the ocean, but she disappears during the date and Duke returns to the gang's headquarters broken-hearted. The night of the rumble, Priest arrives, asking if he can lay low there for a few days, but does not explain the type of trouble he's in. Duke leads the rest of the gang in the fight, during which several members of both gangs are killed, but Duke manages to successfully kill the leader of the Wolves. Coming back to the headquarters, he discovers that Priest has been shot in the head, with the scene posed to make it look like a suicide. Frightened, Duke flees to his old home, but is arrested and taken away. As the credits roll, the soundtrack is filled with voices approvingly remarking on what a "cold killer" Duke is.

It should be noted that, while the version of the film I've seen does feel pretty complete, it does run for 15 minutes shorter than what several sources claim the film to be, and of course I have no other version to compare it to.

There is a valid criticism to be made of The Cool World, which is that it's a black story told by a white director and adapted from a novel by a white author. This criticism is not just a modern phenomenon: several reviews at the film's release, most notably the Los Angeles Times, observed that this type of story was better told by black writers and directors. That said, Clarke's empathy and engagement with the film's subjects is not in doubt. Films about youth crime were usually relegated to the 'moral panic' genre, as a problem that needed to be solved, and as a scaremongering tactic for prurient middle-class audiences. While Duke is arrested at the film's end, the film doesn't pass judgment on the validity of Duke's beliefs or ends. He thinks that a gun will get him power, and he is correct. Clarke presents a remarkably even-handed version of life in a New York youth gang, where violence is abrupt and meaningless, most crime is petty and interspersed with days of just roaming aimlessly, and arrest is likely but doesn't undo the status you've acquired.

Supporting this view throughout the film is the comparative sterility of the world outside the gang. While the life of the Royal Pythons isn't always interesting, it is a space of care and connection between its members, and the film's narrative pulls these details to the foreground. Duke brings Littleman comic books; Luanne wants to go to San Francisco to see the ocean and is enthralled when Duke tells her that they have an ocean in New York City too. Even in one of the most fraught scenes, where Duke ousts Blood as the gang's leader, Clarke fills the film with moments of silence where you can sense the uncertainty of the characters as they calculate the effects of their actions. In comparison, the school trip from which Duke flees at the start of the film is full of libraries and stock exchanges, a world that has no meaning or relevance to the lives of the black teenagers. They will never stay at the Plaza Hotel, the film says, so what's the point in showing it to them?

Likewise, Duke's mother has a life overstuffed with worries and concerns, and while she is anxious for Duke's future, his seeming apathy breeds resentment in her. He is making her life harder. A film with a strong moralising bent would suggest that Duke's interest in the Pythons is an indictment of his mother's failure, and an indictment of the absence of his father. In other words, it would normally be presented as a failure of the individuals to place themselves correctly. There is none of this in The Cool World. Duke simply moves from one set of social structures that have no meaningful space for him to another set of social structures that give him what he wants. Whether he should want that, or whether there are better paths for him to take, is ultimately irrelevant. Of course, it's not ideal that the world Duke lives in offers him no better alternatives, but Clarke's film is not interested in blaming Duke for that, and builds from the underlying premise that Duke is a sensitive, creative and capable young man who is doing the best he can with the lot he has been given.

One thing that is consistently remarked upon about The Cool World is its visual style. Clarke's director of photography, Baird Bryant, imbues every available shot with unexpected kinetic energy - even the school trip at the beginning of the film is shot from the window of a moving bus, with disconnected jump cuts, and the open credits roll right-to-left instead of bottom-to-top, against an almost Expressionist backdrop of sun through the trees. The rumble between the Pythons and the Wolves at the end of the film is similarly surprising, shot almost exclusively in extreme light and dark, with almost no mid-tones, and featuring fight choreography that feels gritty and balletic at the same time. Throughout, a jazzy score led by Dizzy Gillespie hits the same tones as the plot, lilting when it needs to be, before abruptly breaking into discordant and shrieking solos.

In regards to the film's style, though, I think the most powerful scene is the one in which Duke and Luanne visit Coney Island together. It falls at an important moment in the relationship between the two characters - until this point, Luanne has seemed sheltered, despite her sexuality, unaware that the Atlantic Ocean even existed, and it represents how significant her relationship with Duke has been in opening her eyes to a wider world. It's easy to read her abandoning Duke as a sign that she has made an escape into this wider world that she has discovered, while Duke is unable to make the same movement.

Meanwhile, this scene represents for Duke the most traditional moment of romance for him - he has the status and he gets the girl. While the audience may not trust Luanne's faithfulness, Duke certainly does. The editing of the scene, on both a visual and an aural level, performs double duty. For Duke, the giddiness of the jump cuts and the carnivalesque score and soundtrack fits perfectly with an enthusiastic jump into young love - an escape that he has never been permitted to experience before. However, Clarke uses rhythmic and overlapping editing, linking multiple carnival games together almost seamlessly, making it appear as though Duke is caught endlessly repeating the same actions. Somewhere in this chaos, Luanne disappears, and Duke is left alone, on an eerily deserted beachfront. Her disappearance is so complete that she leaves no trace behind on the narrative. It's as though she was never really there at all.

The Coney Island scene, more than any other in this brilliant and engaging film, makes me annoyed that Wiseman has never allowed it to be released to a wider public. I would love to be able to link to a video of the scene so that it can be appreciated as an excellent example of film editing. I would show this scene to first-year students if I could. I genuinely cannot understand why Clarke's most distinguished and successful film is being kept away from a wider appreciation. Milestone Films had a petition for a while, asking Wiseman to make the film available, but it was never successful, and I doubt a polite email would stand a chance of convincing a 94-year-old master documentarian to change his mind.

Maybe I will see The Cool World on the big screen one day, and find out once and for all if I've been writing about the film's full version. I'm not usually in the habit of encouraging people to go out of their way to pirate - I am a fan of supporting media producers where I can - but this might be your only chance to see an excellent film, if it appeals to you at all. The internet is an ephemeral place, where some things live forever but other things disappear before you realise what they were. The Cool World is one of the latter. I waited twenty years to see it, and it was worth the wait.

#1001 movies #shirley clarke #the cool world #lost media

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cleverhottubmiracle · 1 month ago

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Rihanna went from hiding her first pregnancy from the public to proudly showing off her baby bump in all its glory seemingly overnight. On January 31, 2022, the 34-year-old singer, designer, and beauty mogul revealed that she’d be having her first child with the rapper A$AP Rocky by braving the cold and exposing her belly in a staged photoshoot. And with the help of her stylist Jahleel Weaver, she continued to redefine mom-to-be fashion up until she gave birth and during her subsequent second and thrid pregnancies. “It’s been me personally saying, I’m not going to buy maternity clothes—I’m not gonna buy maternity pants, jeans, dresses, or [do] whatever society told me to do before,” she told Bustle in March 2022. “When I saw women dress during their pregnancy [in the past], I’d think that that was the only way. So I challenged myself to push it further and really just have fun with [maternity style].” Case in point: the pajamas she casually wore for a night out. A little over a year later, on February 12, 2023, Rihanna surprised everyone at her highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime show by revealing that she’s pregnant with her second child. Wearing a cherry red jumpsuit and leather coats, she signaled to the world that we’re in for another parade of top tier fashion. Over two years later at the 2025 Met Gala, she announced she’s expecting again, all while wearing a custom Marc Jacob looks. From her first pregnancy to how she’s approaching her third, see all of Rihanna’s best maternity style, here.Just days after announcing the news of her third pregnancy, Rihanna slipped into a tongue-in-cheek maternity look during a day out in New York City on May 9. She wore loose-fitting jeans, a cropped Martine Rose shirt, and an archival Fendi baguette. No, not the one made famous by Carrie Bardshaw—Rihanna’s Fendi accessory was shaped like an actual loaf of bread.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesThe star unveiled her third pregnancy at the 2025 Met Gala where she wore a bump-baring Marc Jacobs look in honor of that year’s theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”Later that evening, the Bad Gal slipped into a black outfit from Ann Demeulemeester to attend a Met Gala after-party. Of course, the look perfectly framed her growing belly.Rihanna stepped out for lunch with A$AP Rocky in Los Angeles wearing another bump-baring look, this one brimming with a punk rock edge. Clearly, the style star based the feel of her ensemble around her cropped white t-shirt which featured the name of rock band Rage Against the Machine across the front and another motif on the back. Her unbuttoned Balenciaga jeans were extremely baggy (she also wore them on a previous occasion) and had a variety of thin graphic detailing and embellishments. Rihanna rounded things out with a crystal-covered Olivia bag from Khaite, Balenciaga slip-on pumps, and a few flashy jewels for good measure.After attending Pharrell William’s debut show for Louis Vuitton in coordinating denim looks, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky headed to Nice, where they enjoyed dinner at Nespo. Clearly, Rihanna was inspired by the beachside town as she opted to wear a bikini for the outing—a sequined two-piece from Oséree. The singer showed off the bathing suit by topping it with a completely sheer Jean Paul Gaultier spring/summer 2001 halter neck dress from My Haute Wardrobe. She then kept accessories fairly simple for the look, just completing it with a pair of Tom Ford python padlock heels. Rihanna already has an impressive collection of sports-inspired high fashion pieces (just take a quick scroll through this story alone and you’ll see what we mean), but her closet is always growing. The singer showed off her newest vintage addition while heading out to lunch with A$AP Rocky in Los Angeles, stepping out in a vintage Jean Paul Gaultier jersey dress she acquired from Archive Vintage. Rihanna stuck to the sporty theme and paired the dress with a custom NFL bomber jacket she likely got after her Super Bowl performance earlier this year. She then added to the black, white, and red color scheme with some black suede Puma x Fenty sneakers, the Louis Vuitton X Yayoi Kusama’s Speedy bag from their recent collaboration, and a bright red lip. Rihanna went from no pants (see below) to sheer pants when she stepped out for dinner with her friend, Melissa Ford, at Giorgio Baldi. The singer wore a pair of crystal-embellished, completely sheer bottoms from Gucci’s fall/winter 2023 collection, which she dressed down with the help of a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas t-shirt. Always playing with the dichotomy of high and low-end fashion, Rihanna then paired the casual top with a fur coat from the same Gucci collection, decorated with a G-logo broach. She finished off the ensemble with silver Amina Muaddi sandals, a load of jewels, and an embellished Tom Ford-era Gucci bag. In some ways the look gave a bit of Sim outfit randomizer, but because it’s Rihanna, it worked. We would say Rihanna needs to follow her own advice, but it might be a little too late for that. The singer once again took over as head marketing agent of her Savage x Fenty line, sharing a slew of new images in a shirt from the brand on Instagram. The tee, which reads “Use a condom” in large white letters, is perfectly oversized, meaning it covered up her pregnant belly and hit low enough to justify the absence of pants. Rihanna accessorized the look simply, with a pair of slouchy, white stiletto boots from Amina Muaddi and white Maison Margiela x Gentle Monster sunglasses as she posed in a hallway and informed fans of what they likely already knew: “This shirt is old…”While bump-baring silhouettes have been a mainstay of Rihanna’s maternity style, she opted for cocoon-like outerwear during an afternoon stroll with A$AP Rocky in Los Angeles. The oversized blazer is plucked from the fall/winter 2022 collection of New York label Peter Do (who was just appointed as the new creative director of Helmut Lang) and features sloped shoulders, exaggerated lapels, and exposed stitch detailing. Though the runway version was paired with slim trousers, Rihanna kept the look comfortable with baggy white jeans, a Savage x Fenty crop top, and a pair of embellished Chanel flats. Of course, it wouldn't be a true Rihanna style moment without some killer eyewear—the star opted for a pair of vintage Dior wraparound sunglasses.Rihanna loves to support random sports teams in the name of fashion so yeah, just because she wore this New York Yankees jacket doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a fan. More likely, the singer was simply intrigued by the white, spray painted bomber jacket and mini skirt from Mowalola’s fall/winter 2023 collection. Rihanna pulled the look right off the runway and kept the all-white theme going, pairing it with Loewe lambskin toy boots and a Dior autumn/winter 2003 bondage bag from Pechuga Vintage. She then referenced the red of the logo with a bold lip, Jacob & Co. watch, and gorgeous Reza earrings. Gotham/GC Images/Getty ImagesRihanna kept things very cool and casual for a late night trip to Target in NYC, throwing on a classic white tank top and Citizens of Humanity baggy jeans (which she left unbuttoned so they’d fit around her stomach). This is Rihanna, though, and the singer had to dress up the look at least a little, which she did with the help of a John Galliano 1998 mink fur coat. She then accessorized the simple, yet luxe ensemble with Timberland boots, a Yankees hat, a large heart pendant from Lauren Rubinski, and a pair of Maison Margiela x Gentle Monster sunglasses. It’s been almost three months, but clearly, Rihanna still has her Super Bowl performance on the brain. The singer stepped out for a party in Brooklyn wearing an ensemble reminiscent of the one she donned for her halftime show, and it was courtesy of one of the brands that custom-made the original look. This time, Rihanna opted for a red, sheer long-sleeved bodysuit from Alaïa, which she wore with matching, slightly flared pants with an attached body-hugging skirt on top. Red-hot Saint Laurent heels kept the ensemble monochrome, as did the singer’s Tom Ford Gucci horsebit clutch bag, which she has been wearing a lot as of late. thecelebrityfinder/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty ImagesWe’ve seen Rihanna hit a few pretty major events since announcing her pregnancy, but this is a first time she’s showing off what she does best with baby #2—street style. The singer stepped out in Los Angeles and reminded us that no matter how far along she may be, she’s always going to serve.Rihanna went out for a stroll with A$AP Rocky while wearing a blue, white, and red striped polo sweater from the Loewe resort 2023 collection tucked up to expose her stomach. She paired the top with some low-rise, baggy jeans and classic Timberland boots. The singer then completed her outfit with Gucci sunglasses, a Louis Vuitton monogram box bag from the brand’s fall 2022 menswear collection, and a Y Project earring featuring a golden hand giving the bird. It doesn’t get more Rihanna than that. Michael Buckner/Variety/Getty ImagesAs showtime was nearing closer, it was beginning to seem like Rihanna had opted out of walking her first-ever Academy Award red carpet, but then she appeared fashionably late as she loves to do. For the big moment, Rihanna wore a custom Alaïa look inspired by Pieter Mulier’s fall/winter 2023 collection. The dress was composed of a chocolate brown sheer turtleneck bodysuit with a leather bandeau top and skirt featuring slits down the thighs. Rihanna then wore her hair in a messy bun and completed the ensemble with Moussaieff jewelry. Rich Polk/Variety/Getty ImagesNext, it was time for Rihanna to take the stage, and she did so in a Maison Margiela Artisanal look designed by John Galliano. The singer let her hair down and brought the drama as she performed her Oscar-nominated song, “Lift Me Up,” wearing a black silk tulle embroidered top and dark silver & blue silk brocade trousers. Black leather gloves and a pair of brocade tabi pumps completed the look. Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesBut the night was far from over, and Rihanna found time to pull out one final look, a mint green bustier and skirt, topped with a shearling stole set and leather gloves, custom made by Bottega Veneta. Rihanna posed backstage with A$AP Rocky (who wore Gucci to support his girlfriend’s big night) and showed off her final ensemble as well as the custom Area x Sergio Rossi green lace-up sandals and anklet from Briony Raymond.A date night in Milan called for a more feminine look in the form of a melon-colored, satin halter neck dress from LaPointe spring 2023. Rihanna paired the dress with custom strappy snakeskin Manolo Blahnik heels and added a bit of edge to the look with the help of a white fur-covered Tom Ford-era Gucci bag featuring two jewel-encrusted dragon heads on the front, and a rusted orange bomber jacket from the recently launched Italian-based brand PDF.ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty ImagesThe singer revealed her second pregnancy during her Super Bowl LVII halftime performance wearing a bustier top and jumpsuit from Loewe with a custom Alaïa coat. She accessorized the monochromatic red look with vintage brooches from Joseph Saidan & Sons, Messika earrings, and a Jacob & Co. watch. The icon, who had her first child roughly nine months prior, opted for sneakers from MM6 Maison Margiela x Salomon.Leave it to Rihanna to make boxers look suitable for going out. For a night on the town in Beverly Hills on April 8, she stepped out in a gingham pair by Alexander Wang, worn with her favorite crystal Balenciaga Hourglass handbag and a matching bedazzled pair of Nike x Cactus Plant Flea Market sneakers.Photo by The Daily Stardust/BackgridRihanna showed some love for the Los Angeles Fire Department with a baseball cap that matched the rib-knit Alaïa ensemble she wore to Nobu on April 6. She stayed true to the Dior saddle bag, this time in blue, and kept her footwear casual with Adidas sneakers. Rih turned dinner with friends in Santa Monica on April 3 into an event when she showed up in a pink tutu-esque dress with a feather trim by Saint Laurent.“Me and my date for Oscar Gold Party,” Rihanna captioned her Instagram of the sheer Valentino couture gown she wore to Jay-Z’s post-awards show festivities.Photo by MEGA/GC via Getty ImagesRih was in full date night mode when she wore a shirt that read “Who dat is? Dat’s jus my baby daddy” to dinner with Rocky on April 1. The jacket was from Martine Rose. Her bedazzled Balenciaga bag was on full display when she again proved her loyalty to Nobu on March 25, this time letting her baby bump breathe by only doing up one button of her sparkly shirt.Rihanna added an edge to the floaty Simone Rocha dress she wore out shopping on March 23 by pairing it with Air Jordan 4s.Photo by Kevin Mazur via Getty ImagesRihanna shimmered when celebrating the launch of Fenty Beauty at a Los Angeles outpost of Ulta on March 12, notably accessorizing her custom Coperni ensemble with a custom diamond belly chain by Messika.Courtesy of ShotbyNYP/BackgridLater that night, she grabbed dinner at Giorgio Baldi wearing an even bolder ensemble by Alexander Wang, plus more Coperni in the form of the label’s sunglasses collaboration with Gentle Monster. Her stylist Jahleel Weaver got a special shoutout via a pair of over-the-knee Amina Muaddi “Jahleel” stiletto boots.Rihanna no doubt could have snapped up Stella McCartney’s fall 2022 collection the same day it hit the runway, but we’re glad she didn’t: The aqua cut-out jumpsuit from McCartney’s spring 2022 collection that the singer wore to dinner in Paris on March 4 looked as if it were made for her in this stage of her pregnancy.We’d like to thank Glenn Martens of Y/Project for getting Rihanna to finally bundle up. She paired a long shearling coat from his fall 2022 menswear collection with boots that stretched up nearly the length of her legs when stepping out in Paris on March 5.Photo by Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty ImagesPresenting the nth example to date that Rihanna is impervious to the cold. On March 1, Rihanna ignored the fact that it’s roughly 50 degrees in Paris and became both the most pregnant and least dressed person in attendance at the fall 2022 Dior show. Photo by Marc Piasecki/WireImage via Getty ImagesShe stayed warm in a fresh-off-the-runway Diesel fall 2022 maxi coat—juxtaposed with a throwback in the form of a vintage Dior saddle bag in ostrich leather—when leaving the Off-White show on February 28, 2022.Photo by Pascal Le Segretain via Getty ImagesInside the show, however, Rih proved that she wasn’t so covered up after all. At least her salmon-colored Off-White mini dress was leather instead of something sheer. Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto via Getty ImagesOf course Rihanna’s baby attended multiple fashion shows before leaving the womb. The singer arrived fashionably late to the fall 2022 Gucci show on February 25, and no one seemed to mind when she held things up a bit further by allowing photographers to take in her baby bump, which she put on full display by pulling back her lavender faux-fur Gucci coat. The house was also behind her top, dragon motif pants, and chain-link headdress. Photo by Arnold Jerocki via Getty ImagesIt was undoubtedly colder later that night, but Rih still swapped out her non-fur ensemble for a sheer cutout dress that dates back to late ’90s Gucci. She casually completed the look with nearly $200,000 worth of jewelry from Orlov’s “Croco Dream” collection.Before jetting off to Milan Fashion Week, Rihanna celebrated her 34th birthday in London wearing more Gucci fur. Unlike her lavender coat, her sky-blue one wasn’t faux; it dates back to the late ’90s Tom Ford era, before the house stopped using the real deal.Photo by Rich Fury via Getty ImagesFor her first maternity style moment on the red carpet, on February 11 at an event for Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin, Rihanna went with a glittery custom ensemble by The Attico that was so busy, you’d have to squint to spot her $36,000 diamond bra by Jacquie Aiche.This article was originally published on March 1, 2022 Source link

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norajworld · 1 month ago

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stevestonbike · 2 years ago

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Went to see a Bike Race!

The Gastown Grandprix was last night. It is a cool event. They celebrated 50 years. It started the year I graduated High School. Damn!

It occurs in one of the oldest parts of Vancouver. It was the old waterfront and has a "colorful" history. There are many old brick buildings which is why it survived several massive fires over the years. The roads are paved with bricks though most have been replaced with modern concrete pavers as opposed to the old school fired bricks. So a bike race is on 1.3 km of bumpy roads.

There were several events. A youth event with A and B girls and boys. They all went at once spaced at the start a few seconds. Rapidly they became one big bunch. One kid was tiny easily half the size of some of the kids, and looked awkward on his bike. Everyone in the crowd thought he would quit after a few laps. He did not. He fell behind but kept going. By the end the crowd was cheering him on as if he was going to win. In a way he did.

'The men's and women's event are unique in that they have identical prize purses. The winner get $12,000.00. No surprise it pulls a lot of riders from not around here. The women's winner was from Los Angeles in the USA. Historically it was a major event in the professional North American cycling calendar. Covid blew it into oblivion for a few years.

Gastown has gone through two phases of gentrification. Many of the shops and bistros went under in the plague. New ones have popped up. My wife and I walked the whole loop and fully half the course was packed with bistros, coffee shops, artisanal this and that and more than a few tourist trap souvenir places. There are more places to eat and drink than I could count. We spent most of the last event watching from a small Italian Cafe enjoying some wine and pizza.

Thing about bike races is even in Crit races (this was a crit race) there is not much to see. Every so often a blur of bright colors and the sound of angry bees blows by you. I eventually found that the event was being streamed live(ish) and we watched it on my phone while sipping wine. There was a few second delay as the group would blow by us a short while before the image from a nearby camera. It did give you the excitement, and you knew who was ahead.

The women's race was tactical where they sped up and slowed down. Someone would race ahead only to get caught then they look at each other. There were some amazing athletes racing. Olympic gold medal speed skaters and even a woman who WON the Paris Roubaix Femmes. Not shabby at all. A team from LA worked hard to bring the win to their leader.

The men's race was 40 laps of the 1.3km course and they went fast the whole time. Usually strung out in a long line. The same LA team for Men tried the same thing, but another guy pipped them at the line. That's racing.

The awards were cool. Big Cheques and a trophy and bubbly wine. They even found the ORIGINAL winners of the men's and women's race to come out a present the prizes. Err yes geezers, but about my age oh dear.

There were a couple of VIP spaces. Well groomed men and women toddling about with wine and canapes pointedly not watching the racing.

They had two cars one in front and one behind the group. The lead one was to warn and clear the way of people crossing the course. The follower was to pull riders who fell too far behind. Both were Porches. One was electric (in front) the other was not. It was a tight course and they had to go fast, so of course.

The crowd made noise and I even brought my cow bell to contribute. A few hawkers were selling those and when one came up behind me and rang away his handful in my ear I turned around and returned the favor saying; "I already got one!" in my best Monty python voice.

It was a fun evening.

Years ago they had a thing called super week where they had three or four crit races a hill climb, and a fairly big road race in the area. Visitors could come and do a bunch of events. They still call it Super Week, but they need to revive those other events too. Maybe next year.

#bikeblr #cycling in vancouver #old man on a bike #gastown #gastown grandprix

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mayeetjim · 4 years ago

Note

Old Godzilla was hoppin' around

Tokyo City lika a big playground

When suddenly Batman burst from the shade

And hit Godzilla with a bat grenade

Godzilla got pissed and began to attack

But didn't expect to be blocked by Shaq

Who proceeded to open up a can of Shaq Fu

When Aaron Carter came out of the blue

And he started beating up Shaquille O'Neal

Then they both got flattened by the Batmobile

But before he could make it back to the Batcave

Abraham Lincoln popped out of his grave

And took an AK-47 out from under his hat

And blew Batman away with a rat-a-tat-tat

But he ran out of bullets and he ran away

Because Optimus Prime came to save the day

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

Good guys bad guys and explosions

As far as the eye can see

And only one will survive

I wonder who it will be

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

Godzilla took a bite out of Optimus Prime

Like Scruff McGruff took a bite out of crime

Then Shaq came back covered in a tire track

But Jackie Chan jumped out and landed on his back

And Batman was injured and trying to get steady

When Abraham Lincoln came back with a machete

But suddenly something caught his leg and he tripped

Indiana Jones took him out with his whip

Then he saw Godzilla sneaking up from behind

And he reached for his gun which he just couldn't find

Because Batman stole it and he shot and he missed

And Jackie Chan deflected it with his fist

Then he jumped in the air and he did a somersault

While Abraham Lincoln tried to polevault

Onto Optimus Prime, but they collided in the air

Then they both got hit by a Care Bear Stare

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

Good guys bad guys and explosions

As far as the eye can see

And only one will survive

I wonder who it will be

This is the ultimate showdown

Angels sang out

In immaculate course Down from the heavens

Descended Chuck Norris

Who delivered a kick

Which could shatter bones

Into the crotch

Of Indiana Jones

Who fell over on the ground

Writhing in pain

As Batman changed back

Into Bruce Wayne

But Chuck saw through

His clever disguise

And he crushed Batman's head

In between his thighs

Then Gandalf the Grey And Gandalf the White

And Monty Python and the Holy Grail's Black Knight

And Benito Mussolini And the Blue Meanie

And Cowboy Curtis And Jambi the Genie

Robocop The Terminator Captain Kirk And Darth Vader

Lo Pan Superman Every single Power Ranger

Bill S. Preston And Theodore Logan

Spock The Rock Doc Ock And Hulk Hogan

All came out of nowhere lightning fast

And they kicked Chuck Norris in his cowboy ass

It was the bloodiest battle that the world ever saw

With civilians looking on in total awe

The fight raged on for a century

Many lives were claimed but eventually

The champion stood

The rest saw their better

Mr. Rogers in a blood stained sweater

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

Good guys bad guys and explosions

As far as the eye can see

And only one will survive

I wonder who it will be

This is the ultimate showdown

(This is the ultimate showdown)

This is the ultimate showdown!

(This is the ultimate showdown)

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

Oh hell yeah

8 notes · View notes

yikes-strikes-again · 5 years ago

Note

Natalie, please read me a story!

well you see, young coomer...

once upon a time old godzilla was hoppin' around tokyo city like a big playground when suddenly batman burst from the shade and hit godzilla with a bat grenade godzilla got pissed and began to attack but didn't expect to be blocked by shaq who proceeded to open up a can of shaq fu when aaron carter came out of the blue and he started beating up shaquille o'neal then they both got flattened by the batmobile but before he could make it back to the batcave abraham lincoln popped out of his grave and took an ak-47 out from under his hat and blew batman away with a rat-a-tat-tat but he ran out of bullets and he ran away because optimus prime came to save the day this is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny good guys bad guys and explosions as far as the eye can see and only one will survive i wonder who it will be this is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny godzilla took a bite out of optimus prime like scruff mcgruff took a bite out of crime then shaq came back covered in a tire track but jackie chan jumped out and landed on his back and batman was injured and trying to get steady when abraham lincoln came back with a machete but suddenly something caught his leg and he tripped indiana jones took him out with his whip then he saw godzilla sneaking up from behind and he reached for his gun which he just couldn't find because batman stole it and he shot and he missed and jackie chan deflected it with his fist then he jumped in the air and he did a somersault while abraham lincoln tried to polevault onto optimus prime, but they collided in the air then they both got hit by a care bear stare this is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny good guys bad guys and explosions as far as the eye can see and only one will survive i wonder who it will be this is the ultimate showdown angels sang out in immaculate course down from the heavens descended chuck norris who delivered a kick which could shatter bones into the crotch of indiana jones who fell over on the ground writhing in pain as batman changed back into bruce wayne but chuck saw through his clever disguise and he crushed batman's head in between his thighs then gandalf the grey and gandalf the white and monty python and the holy grail's black knight and benito mussolini and the blue meanie and cowboy curtis and jambi the genie robocop the terminator captain kirk and darth vader lo pan superman every single power ranger bill s. preston and theodore logan spock the rock doc ock and hulk hogan all came out of nowhere lightning fast and they kicked chuck norris in his cowboy ass it was the bloodiest battle that the world ever saw with civilians looking on in total awe the fight raged on for a century many lives were claimed but eventually the champion stood the rest saw their better mr. rogers in a blood stained sweater this is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny good guys bad guys and explosions as far as the eye can see and only one will survive i wonder who it will be this is the ultimate showdown (this is the ultimate showdown) this is the ultimate showdown! (this is the ultimate showdown) this is the ultimate showdown of ultimate payless shoes.

#yikes anon tag #mouth dreams #neil cicierega #the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny #tusoud #usoud #yikes cicierega tag

19 notes · View notes

breadcrumbsonthefloor · 5 years ago

Note

Old Godzilla was hoppin' around

Tokyo City lika a big playground

When suddenly Batman burst from the shade

And hit Godzilla with a bat grenade

Godzilla got pissed and began to attack

But didn't expect to be blocked by Shaq

Who proceeded to open up a can of Shaq Fu

When Aaron Carter came out of the blue

And he started beating up Shaquille O'Neal

Then they both got flattened by the Batmobile

But before he could make it back to the Batcave

Abraham Lincoln popped out of his grave

And took an AK-47 out from under his hat

And blew Batman away with a rat-a-tat-tat

But he ran out of bullets and he ran away

Because Optimus Prime came to save the day

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

Good guys bad guys and explosions

As far as the eye can see

And only one will survive

I wonder who it will be

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

Godzilla took a bite out of Optimus Prime

Like Scruff McGruff took a bite out of crime

Then Shaq came back covered in a tire track

But Jackie Chan jumped out and landed on his back

And Batman was injured and trying to get steady

When Abraham Lincoln came back with a machete

But suddenly something caught his leg and he tripped

Indiana Jones took him out with his whip

Then he saw Godzilla sneaking up from behind

And he reached for his gun which he just couldn't find

Because Batman stole it and he shot and he missed

And Jackie Chan deflected it with his fist

Then he jumped in the air and he did a somersault

While Abraham Lincoln tried to polevault

Onto Optimus Prime, but they collided in the air

Then they both got hit by a Care Bear Stare

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

Good guys bad guys and explosions

As far as the eye can see

And only one will survive

I wonder who it will be

This is the ultimate showdown

Angels sang out

In immaculate course Down from the heavens

Descended Chuck Norris

Who delivered a kick

Which could shatter bones

Into the crotch

Of Indiana Jones

Who fell over on the ground

Writhing in pain

As Batman changed back

Into Bruce Wayne

But Chuck saw through

His clever disguise

And he crushed Batman's head

In between his thighs

Then Gandalf the Grey And Gandalf the White

And Monty Python and the Holy Grail's Black Knight

And Benito Mussolini And the Blue Meanie

And Cowboy Curtis And Jambi the Genie

Robocop The Terminator Captain Kirk And Darth Vader

Lo Pan Superman Every single Power Ranger

Bill S. Preston And Theodore Logan

Spock The Rock Doc Ock And Hulk Hogan

All came out of nowhere lightning fast

And they kicked Chuck Norris in his cowboy ass

It was the bloodiest battle that the world ever saw

With civilians looking on in total awe

The fight raged on for a century

Many lives were claimed but eventually

The champion stood

The rest saw their better

Mr. Rogers in a blood stained sweater

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

Good guys bad guys and explosions

As far as the eye can see

And only one will survive

I wonder who it will be

This is the ultimate showdown

(This is the ultimate showdown)

This is the ultimate showdown!

(This is the ultimate showdown)

This is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny

get help

8 notes · View notes

devinsfm · 5 years ago

Text

joe keery. cis male. he/him. ／ jack devin just pulled up blasting video killed the radio star by the buggles — that song is so them ! you know, for a twenty - four year old radio show host, i’ve heard they’re really impulsive, but that they make up for it by being so captivating. if i had to choose three things to describe them, i’d probably say obscure vintage horror comics, blurry photographs of mysterious figures in the woods, and vivid descriptions of spine - chilling tales . here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble ! ( sam, 23, est, she/her )

hey there, demons ! *ba tum tss* i’m sam and i never do this, but i really felt like it was time for a change, so i drew lots of inspiration from some of my favorite ocs and i love what i’ve come up with ! character info is under the cut and please feel free to message me if you would like to plot !

i. stats

𝔣𝔲𝔩𝔩 𝔫𝔞𝔪𝔢: jackson willard devin

𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔣𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔫𝔞𝔪𝔢𝔰: jack, spooky guy, the night watchman

𝔥𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔬𝔴𝔫: salem, massachusetts

𝔡𝔞𝔱𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔟𝔦𝔯𝔱𝔥: ocotber 31st, 1995

𝔷𝔬𝔡𝔦𝔞𝔠: scorpio

𝔬𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫: demisexual

𝔬𝔠𝔠𝔲𝔭𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫: host of the graveyard shift, a radio program airing every weeknight from 12am to 5am

𝔭𝔬𝔰. 𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔦𝔱𝔰: captivating, witty, resolute.

𝔫𝔢𝔤. 𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔦𝔱𝔰: impulsive, gauche, naive.

ii. history

jackson willard “jack” devin was born on halloween day ( yes, really ) in salem massachusetts ( yes, really ). his mother stayed home with him as he was growing up while his father is a boston cop turned sheriff of the county and he’s an only child.

outside of the popular tourist spots, his hometown has a very close - knit, stuck in the 80s vibe. it’s the sort of place where everyone knows everyone for their entire lives because no one ever leaves and no one new ever moves in. phone and internet signals are nearly impossible to come by, so the local arcade and the video store still have quite a booming business in the year 2020. jack grew up in a not - so - typical small town suburban gothic environment, his dad’s income being just enough for them to get by every month.

he was an energetic kid who cycled through all sorts of interests, trying out everything from little league ( disaster ) to music lessons ( not as much of a disaster, but he wound up getting bored of it ). nothing seemed to really stick until he got his first horror comic : a vintage issue of tales from the crypt with tattered, yellowing pages. he was five years old and paid five cents for it at an elderly neighbor’s yard sale and from that moment on he was hooked. it started with the comics, but he quickly expanded his horizons to movies, books, and television in the genre of horror.

he got intro drawing and that was the only thing besides his newfound interest in horror that he could sit still for. at first he would just try to re - draw the panels in his comic books, but soon he was drawing anything and everything that caught his interest and he was getting good. he was being homeschooled by his mother at the time, but once friends and family and, well, everyone took notice of his skill, they were encouraging his parents to nurture his talent.

his parents fought about it. his dad didn’t see the value in his skill and wanted him to instead focus on academics, aspiring towards his son one day becoming a lawyer or a businessman or even following in his footsteps. jack never wanted that for himself. he was homeschooled by his mom up until then and she believed in him. it was with her blessing that he would go to a real school for the first time at the age of fourteen, starting off his freshman year at a high school that was a thirty minute train ride away in boston and catered exclusively to youth who demonstrated an exceptional talent in some area of the fine arts.

jack did well in school, but his grades probably would have been a lot better still if he didn’t start purposely acting out as his relationship with his dad got worse and worse. he started skipping classes, getting caught trespassing in cemeteries at 2am, and smoking a lot of weed.

when it came time for college, jack planned to attend art school. he swears he did. he looked a few schools on the west coast to get away from his dad for a few years yikes and planned to apply, but on the deadline date he got so high that he forgot to submit his portfolios. yes, really.

he loaded up his van ( a turquiose monstrosity he painted to look like the mystery machine ) and headed out to california anyway after telling his parents that he would be attending UCLA. of course, they quickly found it that it was a lie and his dad was furious. the two got into a huge fight over the phone and things were said. the result is that jack and his father haven’t spoken to each other ever since.

he did lots of odd jobs while he was on the road and basically lived in his van, which didn’t change right away when he decided to settle in LA, but he eventually got a job fetching coffee for the late night employees at a local radio station.

it was the typical, cliché story : the regular late night host called out of work at the last minute, there was no one else around and they were going to be on air in ten seconds. jack was thrown in front of the microphone and told to think fast !

he did, and the listeners loved him for it. whether it was his ramblings about horror movies or his thick boston accent or his reckless use of swear words on live radio, he turned out to be a massive hit. the successful night earned him a gig as an occasional substitute deejay, and with each broadcast he grew more and more popular, and about two years ago he was finally given his own program.

the graveyard shift is a radio program that airs every weeknight from 12am - 5am in the los angeles area and on apps such as iheartradio. jack hosts the show as his ( thinly veiled ) alter ego the night watchmen and discusses topics such as the paranormal, conspiracy theories, and all things horror. it’s one of the most popular programs of the time slot in the country.

it’s something that he never expected or picturing himself doing, but now he can’t imagine doing anything else. he’s become really passionate about revitalizing the field and bringing radio into the 21st century. he signed a HUGE contract with the studio when his show first started and now he’s a quite well known radio personality in the area and across the country.

iii. extras

huge stoner. high as fuck 90% of the time, and the other 10% of the time he’s probably still high, just not as fuck.

well known for his on air antics. he’ll light a joint in the middle of his radio show, he’ll prank call a friend and broadcast it to the entire city, he’ll curse in every single sentence and skate by on the after hours excuse when he’s reprimanded for it. he’s so outlandish and bizarre and like nothing that’s ever been heard on the radio before, and it just draws people in.

he often seems shy in person, but it’s more like he’s just a little socially awkward, something which also shines through in occasional non - malicious but blunt remarks and general lack of regard for what people think of him. he really just...doesn’t care.

genuinely seems to believe it’s either halloween day and / or the year 1986 at any given moment as that’s about as recent as his pop culture references get. he’s never heard of the k*rdashians, he doesn’t know what the mcu is, and the phrase yeet means absolutely nothing to him. mention any of it to him and he’ll just stare blankly bc he honestly doesn’t have a clue.

HOWEVER, he did start the area 51 meme from last summer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

still draws. especially if he has to still for a stretch of time, then he’ll take out his latest sketchbook ( he goes through a lot of them ) and start doodling. he’s still quite good, mostly in his favored comic - esque style.

BIG CHAOTIC ENERGY and ZERO IMPULSE CONTROL

a chatterbox with friends but don’t be fooled...he’s been giving his own dad the silent treatment for almost seven ( 7 ) years now. it’s his preferred method of expressing anger towards someone because he isn’t really a fan of confrontation, but he’s maybe a liiiittle bit stubborn.

most of the time he’s a really easygoing person, a good friend and very loyal to the people he cares about. well - meaning, not the best at advice but he’s more likely to try and cheer a person up anyway.

he has a pet pied ball python named the crypt keeper ( tkc for short ) who he sometimes just carries with him because he likes to just chill wrapped around jack’s hand and arm.

iv. wanted connections

maternal or paternal cousins ( their grandparents probably live in boston or new england but otherwise anything goes for this )

close friends

friends

guests on his radio show

fans / haters of his radio show

people who don’t like him / find him annoying

exes ( 1 - 2, can be on good or bad terms )

“casually dating” but it might get real complicated soon - allie james

( these are just ideas and i’m trash at coming up with stuff, so please don’t feel limited by what’s listed here. )

#excess:intro #drugs tw #i decided that i needed something new but i just ''created'' this ''new character'' instead #countdown until i mess up his name has officially begun

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devinfm · 5 years ago

Text

hey there, demons! *ba tum tss* i’m sam and i also write parker ( @prkrfm ) which is the best place to contact me for plotting!

i. stats

𝔣𝔲𝔩𝔩 𝔫𝔞𝔪𝔢: jackson willard devin

𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔣𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔫𝔞𝔪𝔢𝔰: jack, spooky guy, the night watchman

𝔥𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔬𝔴𝔫: salem, massachusetts

𝔡𝔞𝔱𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔟𝔦𝔯𝔱𝔥: ocotber 31st, 1995

𝔷𝔬𝔡𝔦𝔞𝔠: scorpio

𝔬𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫: demisexual

𝔬𝔠𝔠𝔲𝔭𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫: host of the graveyard shift, a radio program airing every weeknight from 12am to 5am

𝔭𝔬𝔰. 𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔦𝔱𝔰: captivating, witty, resolute.

𝔫𝔢𝔤. 𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔦𝔱𝔰: impulsive, gauche, naive.

ii. history

the graveyard shift is a radio program that airs every weeknight from 12am - 5am in the los angeles area and on apps such as iheartradio. jack hosts the show as his ( thinly veiled ) alter ego the night watchman and discusses topics such as the paranormal, conspiracy theories, and all things horror. it’s one of the most popular programs of the time slot in the country.

iii. extras

huge stoner. high as fuck 90% of the time, and the other 10% of the time he’s probably still high, just not as fuck.

HOWEVER, he did start the area 51 meme from last summer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

BIG CHAOTIC ENERGY and ZERO IMPULSE CONTROL

a chatterbox with friends but don’t be fooled…he’s been giving his own dad the silent treatment for almost seven ( 7 ) years now. it’s his preferred method of expressing anger towards someone because he isn’t really a fan of confrontation, but he’s maybe a liiiittle bit stubborn.

he has a pet pied ball python named the crypt keeper ( tkc for short ) who he sometimes just carries with him because he likes to just chill wrapped around jack’s hand and arm.

iv. wanted connections

maternal or paternal cousins ( their grandparents probably live in boston or new england but otherwise anything goes for this )

close friends

friends

guests on his radio show

fans / haters of his radio show

people who don’t like him / find him annoying

exes ( 1 - 2, can be on good or bad terms )

“casually dating” but it might get real complicated soon - allie james

( these are just ideas and i’m trash at coming up with stuff, so please don’t feel limited by what’s listed here. )

#excess:intro #just posting for reference!

1 note · View note

harrisonstories · 7 years ago

Video

youtube

RTE Radio 2 Ireland - BP Fallon interview with George Harrison (18 Oct. 1987)

Photo by: Brian Roylance, Genesis Publications

This is an interview I’ve edited and uploaded to youtube because it’s quite long, and it was in two parts, so I’ve combined them together. You’ll notice at about 14:52 there’s a slight jump in the conversation which is where the second part begins.

I really love this interview. It’s one of - if not my favourite interview he ever did. I strongly suggest you give it a listen. Similarly to the Swedish Fan Club Tape, George is extremely calm and open, and Irish DJ BP Fallon asks refreshing questions. BP Fallon has himself had an interesting life, and at one point worked at Apple for Derek Taylor (You can also see him miming the bass in the Instant Karma Top of the Pops video). I’m guessing this related to why George felt relaxed. I hope you enjoy it.

Below I’ve included the written version of this interview by BP Fallon for The Sunday Tribune. It has some information not available in the audio (not sure if it simply wasn’t recorded, or if there’s another version which includes the full conversation):

"Sometimes it feels like another world, another life, some previous incarnation," George Harrison says. "I view it a bit through a haze but, y'know, people don't ever stop talking about it so it's hard to got too much distance between myself and The Beatles."

George Harrison doesn't mind that, not anymore. "I used to," he admits. "I used to not like it at all. I wanted to be free of it. Now I've learned to live with it. And also, don't forget, there was a period when The Beatles split up and there were all kind of court cases and bad vibes and stuff and that left a bad taste in the mouth for a while but after the years it's all cleared up, everybody's friends again."

He's sitting in a little office in the house owned by his company Handmade Films, just off Cadogan Square in Knightsbridge in London, a few streets behind Harrods. Fourty-four-years old this man is, he has a bit of a beard and his shortish hair is swept back and there are new lines on his face. He drinks coffee and smokes ciggies and when you sit talking to the geezer you can't help but feel warmth for him.

As one of John, Paul, George And Ringo, The Fab Four, as a member of the most popular, the most inventive, the most influential rock group of all time, he has gone through one of the strangest trips ever. They were Gods once, The Beatles. And sitting here now, George Harrison comes across as a normal bloke.

He was born in Liverpool, the fourth child of Harold and Louse Harrison. George's father was a bus driver - before that, he had been a ship's steward on the White Star Line for ten years and from one of his travels in America had returned with an old wind-up gramophone and records by bluesman and yodeller Jimmie Rodgers and country singer Hank Williams. Young George was smitten. He listened to skiffle, people like Lonnie Donegan and songs about the Rock Island Line. And then he heard Elvis Presley singing Hearbreak Hotel. "It came out of somebody's radio," George Harrison says, gazing out the window at the autumn light fading behind the trees, "and it lodged itself in the back of my head. It's been there ever since."

At the age of 13, for £3, he bought his first guitar. Two years later, Paul McCartney introduced George to his friend John Lennon (George - "this snotty-nosed kid" as Lennon recalled). George joined John and Paul in their skiffle group The Quarreymen. In 1962, when George was 19, John, Paul, George and their new drummer Ringo Starr made their first record together. It was a fresh-sounding bluesey pop record called Love Me Do and they now called themselves The Beatles.

They changed the world, these four Scouse moptops making new noises and singing about wanting to hold your hand and about walruses and about revolution and all you need is love.

And for eight years The Beatles were bigger than Jesus.

For a while, The Beatles - at very least by example - endorsed smoking dope and taking LSD. John, Paul and George were each busted at least once for breaking the cannabis laws. "A lot of the stuff that happened..." - and then George brings himself up to the present tense - that happens, it's just like when Prohibition was on. If they make a big deal about stuff it becomes bigger than it actually is. In moderation... you have to have moderation in everything. The worst drug of all is alcohol... it actually kills more people then heroin." He says he was fortunate as a kid to see a film about the trumpet player Chet Baker, about Baker's heroin addiction, "and that and maybe something else made me aware that this thing was just too much.

"Of course, the other things, the psychedelic drugs, are much different because they don't put your body in a stupour, they sort of..." and now he's laughing... "they sort of catapult you out into the universe. It's a totally different perspective." Then his voice is serious again. "These things obviously can be very dangerous too. I'd hate to have some right now because I don't think I could handle it. It just gives you too many things to think about all at once."

Love and peace went out the bathroom window when The Beatles split in 1970, with Paul McCartney publicly announcing he had left. George says he realised The Beatles weren't shaking a couple of years before that. "Everyone was just getting all uptight with each other. The new wives were coming in and, y'know, living under the piano and there was no privacy anymore for us as far as the group was concerned in what was normally the only privacy we ever had, the four of us when we got into a studio. And we'd just grown away from each other. One time or another every one of us left that group before we finally stopped."

George left during the making of what would be Let It Be. Ringo left another time "and went on holiday, and John was always wanting to leave and Paul too. You know, it was too much pressure and we'd been through those years. It was just too much.”

He emphasises that the remaining three Beatles are good pals, now. "Paul and I went through a shaky period but we're okay, now. All the old aggravations have passed a long time ago. There's no reason not to be friends."

By 1971 George Harrison was the most successful solo Beatle, with his triple album All Things Must Pass and the enormous hit My Sweet Lord. Four years later his single Ding Dong Ding Dong - a record even worse than McCartney's Mary Had A Little Lamb - was the first release by a solo Beatle to fail to enter the charts. Several years later a court ordered him to pay £260,000 damages for plagiarising the Chiffons' song he's So Fine with My Sweet Lord. That Harrison had modeled My Sweet Lord on another song, the gospel Oh Happy Day by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, was bad enough. That he had to pay the money to his former manager Allen Klein - "a looney who didn't take care of business" George describes him now- because Klein had scooped up the publishing of He's So Fine... that rubbed salt into the wound.

His career and also his marriage to his first wife Patti Boyd were in pieces. Patti had gone to live with George's close pal Eric Clapton, who had written Layla about his best friend's wife. George started drinking heavily, contracting a serious liver complaint that his friends feared might be the end of him.

George's chum Eric Idle had found it impossible to raise the necessary finance to make the Monty Python film Life Of Brian, so George chipped in with half the required money, £2,250,000. It turned out to be one of the best investments George had ever made, reaping a profit of more than £30,000,000. Since then, Harrison and his film company Handmade Films have scored with another Monty Python film The Meaning Of Life - banned in Ireland - and delivered films like Time Bandits and Mona Lisa as well as Shanghai Express, a disaster for its stars Sean Penn and Madonna and its producer Harrison. But what the heck. George isn't short of a few shekels.

In 1978, George married Olivia Trinidad Arias, a 27-year-old who had been born in Mexico and had been working as a secretary in A&M Records in Los Angeles. George's health had been desperate. He was fading away. Olivia contacted the Chinese acupuncturist Dr. Zion Yu and within weeks of treatment George had regained his energy and his spirit.

They have a nine-year-old son named Dhani - the Indian for wealthy - and the other day he asked his father to make him up a cassette of Chuck Berry songs. After George appeared at the Prince's Trust concert in London five months ago with Ringo, Eric Clapton and Elton John, Dhani came backstage. George had sung his own Beatle compositions While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Here Comes The Sun. "I asked him 'What did you think?' and he said 'Uh, you were alright Dad, but why didn't you do Chuck Berry songs like Roll Over Beethoven and Johnny Be Good and Rock'n'Roll Music?'"

He has a new LP out any day now, his first in five years. It's called Cloud Nine. "Have you heard the album?" he asks solicitously. "No? I'll see if someone's got a copy." George Harrison wanders off, and returns with a young woman who says "It's a bootleg I taped from the CD." George flips the cassette into the music system and spins it through, looking for a specific track. "I think you might like this one," he says in his dry Liverpudlian drawl, settling himself into another chair as he watches for reactions.

Ringo's drums with cellos straight from Lennon's I Am The Walrus lead into George singing with fondness for former Beatle times. It's a track that could fit on a Beatle record and it's called When We Was Fab. "Fab... but it's all over now baby blue" George sings, and at the end there's sitar sounds like George cosmicing out on Sgt. Pepper. It's... well, fab.

When John Lennon was murdered in 1980, George Harrison didn't suddenly lock himself away from the world in his Gothic mansion. Near the riverside town of Henley-On-Thames, this bizarre 70-roomed palace called Friar Park was remodeled a century ago by the eccentric Sir Frankie Crisp and is set in 33 acres of parkland with three lakes with secret stepping stones so one can appear to walk on water, underground caves linked by a river and a reproduction of the Alps that includes a perfect 100 foot high replica of the Matterhorn. George was already in hiding.

"I was already trying to hold onto some sort of privacy. I think everyone needs to have a bit of space, y'know. I mean, if you were just being mobbed and on the TV and that all your life you just turn into a loony, and long before John got shot I was already just digging in the garden, planting trees and just trying not to go on television, just having a bit of peace.

"But what it did, it affected me probably like anyone who loved John and who grew up with him and his music. And it was a very sad thing and, um, it didn't make me feel..." Harrison's voice trails off, and for a moment his eyes look away and he's lost in private thoughts. He looks back. " It made me wonder about ever gettin' into situations where there's fans, although at the time you can't blame fans for that. There's one loony in every crowd, I suppose. But I go on living normally. I don't panic unnecessarily."

There was talk that for Live Aid Paul, George, Ringo and Julian Lennon might let it Beatle together, but George dismisses any idea of reunions. "I don't think we'll play together. The Beatles certainly can't play again and I think it's best left as it is, y'know."

Long before Live Aid, George Harrison's Concerts For Bangladesh raised £45,000,000 for the starving. He didn't appear at Live Aid but says if he'd known more about it "maybe I would have done it but they did alright without me." George talks at length about the planet, his concerns about destruction. Last year he participated in an anti-nuclear rally in Trafalgar Square, and he's a member of the ecological organisation Greenpeace. "I love those people because they go out and actually do it. I mean, if it wasn't me that's the kind of thing I'd like to be, out there on a ship getting harpooned by Russians and Japanese."

At the turn of the Seventies, George became a benefactor to the Hare Krishna movement. He not only made records with them and talked about them publicly but also forked out a quarter of a million pounds to buy them a 15-room Elizabethan mansion with 17 acres of land.

Since then, George's friend His Divine Grace Guru Bhaktivechanta Swami, the leader and founder of the International Society For Krishna Consciousness, who was 77 when they met, has died. George feels that some of the remaining Krishnas have at times abused his patronage, and he cites letters from people who wrote saying that they were hassled at airports by devotees using Harrison's name.

Nevertheless, he still subscribes to "the Swami's ancient Vedic way of having God consciousness. The technique of chanting, just like the monks and Christians, they do it too really but it's just using beads and chanting these ancient mantras... they do have great affect. I wouldn't knock them at all. I am always a bit dubious about organisations and since the swami died it does seem to be chaotic, with all kinds of guys thinking they're the gurus. To me, it's not important to be a guru, it's more important just to be, to learn humility." And George still chants. "I've still got my bag of beads and they're really groovy now, all polished up."

Is he a happy chap? "Yeah, I'm okay. Sometimes I get depressed. It's a constant battle, isn't it? You have to consciously make an effort to be happy and considering everything, I've come along quite nicely. There's always room for improvement but, um, I have a laugh and I feel quite good about things." He believes in reincarnation. "The only reason we're actually in these bodies is to learn and develop love of God and liberate our souls from this round and round, the Memphis Blues." He reckons he'll come back again. "Well," he says laughing, "by the look of things I'll probably have to... but I'd like to give it a pass one of these incarnations!"

And, George Harrison, what would you like to be remembered for?

He pauses. "I don't know... I don't know." And then he smiles and looks you directly in the eyes and you see the face of a man still searching, still looking to extend his gentle vision for all time. He'd like to be remembered, he finally says, "just as somebody who's not bad, not that bad”...

"That'll do, yeah."

Fair play to you, George.

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killscreencinema · 7 years ago

Text

Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)

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Xenoblade Chronicles X, released by Monolith Soft “X”-clusively for the Wii U in 2015, takes place on an alien planet named Mira, where the last remnants of humanity have crash landed after Earth was decimated by a mysterious alien force known as the Ganglion. The human survivors live on in the form of “mimeosomes”, which are enhanced cyberorganic duplicates, which are being controlled remotely by their real bodies while in stasis in a massive vault known as the Lifehold.

You play as a freshly revived from stasis new recruit in an organization known as BLADE, whose mission statement, besides gathering resources and fending off hostile creatures for the residents of the fledgling city of New Los Angeles, is to find the Lifehold, which was lost during the crash landing, before it runs out of power, killing the rest of humankind in the process. The only problems is that BLADE is in a race to find the Lifehold against their old pals, the Ganglion, who are committed to finishing the extermination they started.

I normally don’t go into so much detail about a video game story, but goddamn if this one didn’t capture my imagination like no other video game in awhile, especially a J-RPG, with all of their tired tropes. In fact, while I greatly enjoyed the first game, Xenoblade Chronicles, I found the story to be disappointingly banal, especially from a studio like Monolith, who are known for complex plots since the days of ye olde PlayStation with Xenogears (when the creative team was working under Squaresoft). I love the idea of humans rebuilding civilization, with their main hub of New Los Angeles having the familiar California architecture juxtaposed against a strange, alien landscape. I love the idea of these people being trapped in cyber-organic bodies, which if killed, would merely trap their consciousness back in their real bodies in stasis. What a mind trip it would be for someone close to you to die, but if you’re able to find where their real body is tucked away, you might have a chance to bring them back for realsies! To the game’s credit, it deeply explores both the negative and positive psychological implications of such an existence, albeit in a melodramatic fashion one comes to expect from most anime (which J-RPGs are basically offshoots of). The characters are all well-rounded, with Elma, your commanding officer and all around badass bitch, being my favorite. I even love what Elma says whenever she levels up:

“Strength comes from experience. That’s true on any planet.”

Meanwhile, whenever my character leveled up she’d exclaim “MY GROWTH SPURT!!!” Which is... weird. I guess it’s better than your 13-year-old teammate, Lin, yelling that.

You’re well-advised to spend most of your time with Elma and Lin, getting them nice and strong. You can also choose fourth party member from a variety of characters you meet along the way. The longer you spend time with your team completing missions, the more your affinity grows with them. One you reach a certain affinity level, it opens a personal side-quest with each respective character, which are worth doing not only to further dive into the story, but for the “fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory”, as Indiana Jones would say.

While I can’t say enough things about the story, the gameplay is just as solid and immersive. It plays basically just like its spiritual predecessor, for it should be noted at this point that gameplay is the only thing is has in common with the first game as it does not continue the story. It’s almost like how Mega Man X *kinda* continues the story of the original Mega Man series, but with a darker, more sci-fi tone. Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 are pure fantasy (with a lil bit of sci-fi), while Xenoblade Chronicles X is sci-fi fantasy all the way. It’s pretty much the J-RPG version of Mass Effect, but without all the sex.

The battle system is in real-time, with your various special moves set up in slots. You can unleash them at will, or wait for your comrades to request a specific move, which is optimal as it is one of very few ways to heal your party. Plus, those special attacks have to recharge, so you don’t want to be stuck with no specials while your party’s HP is in the red, and one of them is begging for a heal. Aw~kward! I do like how streamlined it feels as opposed to the kind of turn-based fighting I’m used to in J-RPGs, although it’s always stressful not being able to control the three other party members beyond issuing generic squad orders like “Concentrate your fire” or “assemble with me” or “GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE” before running from danger like King Arthur and his knights running from that bunny in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

You’ll be using that order a lot by the way as, similarly to the first game, low level enemies cohabit alongside extremely high level enemies all over the world maps. While most of the time the super strong monsters will ignore your existence, unless you pick a fight or bump into them, others might not have such a chill disposition and will prefer to trample you instead. Running into an area populated by high-level enemies can feel a lot like when you accidentally wander into a dangerous neighborhood. There’s nothing like looking for a rare item in a cave only to realize it’s full of enemies twice your level, so you carefully back away like the Homer Simpson meme:

You might think I’m complaining, but I actually really enjoyed this in both games, as it really makes it feel like a truly open world and having to tread softly or risk sudden annihilation from a level 80 tyrant you didn’t know was there makes it feel more like an adventure. That being said... it can also be incredibly infuriating when you’re flying around in your mech suit, which are called “Skells” in this game, and you innocently bump into a powerful bad guy only for him to promptly blow up your Skells, leaving you with a salvage cost in the MILLIONS. Yep, that’s when you normally “save scum” by loading up a previous save, but damned if they didn’t make it a pain in the ass what with the obscene loading times and all the fucking menu screens you have to press A through. While it’s true that players who are savvy about planting mining beacons in the most optimal way to earn money will have more credits than they know how to spend, you will trash your Skells a lot, and that shit adds up, especially when you’re trying to save for more powerful Skells or expensive equipment.

By the way, I don’t want to understate how fucking cool it is that you get a giant mech robot to ride in halfway through the game. I was already onboard with Xenoblade Chronicle X before that happened, so adding a giant mech robot to the mix is like discovering for the first time how freaking delicious Fritos are in chili. Like... I love chili, but I had not idea it could be improved THIS much with Fritos! And just as the initial buzz of getting a Skell starts to wear off, YOU GET A FLIGHT MODULE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO FLY ALL OVER THE MAP WITH IMPUNITY! Hey, you like chili and Fritos? Howz about a blow job too? I mean, you’ll have to listen to an irritatingly catchy J-pop song while you’re getting the blow job, but still awesome!

Which finally brings us to the music. Holy shit. The music is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, who did the music for the anime series Attack on Titan. There are lots of great tracks for the game... well except for both the day and night themes for NLA, which will get stuck in your head so much you’ll scream into your pillow while trying to sleep at night (meanwhile in your brain you keep hearing, “Uh, yeah, uh, yeah, oh oh oh”). Even the worst track is forgivable if only because the main theme to game, innocously titled “Theme X”, is one of the most goddamn beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard in a game in years. Listen and let the goosebumps wash over you:

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It’s obvious I love the game, but there are negatives too. For one, I didn’t finish the game, because HOLY HELL are the final bosses difficult. Firstly, any hope that you have of beating them is with your Skells, so should they get wrecked somewhere along the way, there’s no way to bring them back, so you’re SOLAMWF (or “Shit out luck and mighty well fucked” as George Carlin coined). If you saved before the fight, your heard was in the right place, but guess what? You’re fucking trapped. You can’t leave to buy a stronger Skell or level grind. It’s a goddamn dead end, emphasis on the word “dead”. Fortunately, being a seasoned RPG player, when Elma asked me not only once, but TWICE, if I was ABSOLUTELY sure I’m ready to enter the Lifehold, I got the subtext and didn’t save once inside. However, stupidly, I did save after accepting the final mission, which effectively locks out the affinity missions, which can be much less redundant way to level grind than doing the “Basic Missions�� (which consists of tasks like fetch quests and monster bounties). I tried like hell to grind to level 50 and save up enough credits to buy a level 50 Skell (which were the minimum recommendations for evening the odds against the boss), but I still couldn’t beat him.

So out of frustration and boredom, I rage quit the game and moved on to something that will hopefully be a lot less strenuous... Bloodborne (wah-waaaaaah). I like Xenoblade enough that I’ll return to it and continue grinding away until I eventually beat it.

So yeah... Xenoblade Chronicles X is pretty fucking great. I would cautiously nominate it as the best RPG you’ll play on the Wii U (below Breath of the Wild of course).

#xenoblade chronicles x #Monolith Soft #jrpg #wiiu #nintendo #rpg #role playing games #scifi #skells #video games #xeno #anime

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