#raymond severn

[mariocki]

The Suspect (1944)

"Don't you think that an innocent man might be more tolerant in the cause of justice?"

"No, I don't. I think an innocent man might behave precisely as I have."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I can't agree with you."

"Why don't you arrest me? Here I am."

"I'd like to, believe me, but unfortunately I can't."

"No, you've run against a blank wall. You take my advice and don't beat your head against it."

[letterboxd-loggd]

The Suspect (1944) Robert Siodmak

December 2nd 2020

[emilybrocar]

Station Eleven

This dystopian fiction by Emily St. John Mandel takes readers on a journey between the past and the present. Opening on the evening when a catastrophic flu pandemic arrives in Toronto, within weeks, 99% of the world’s population is decimated. The main narrator of the present is a woman named Kirsten Raymonde, just 8 years old when the pandemic hit, she will never forget the night it happened for more than one reason. As a child actor in a production of King Lear, Kirsten witnesses famous Hollywood actor, Arthur Leander, suffer a fatal heart attack onstage. Fast forward 20 years, we meet Kirsten as she travels between the settlements of a world that is much changed. Her companions are a small troupe of actors and musicians, calling themselves the Traveling Symphony they have dedicated themselves to keeping the arts and humanities alive. Mandel creates a fantastic timeline that weaves her characters together in both the past and present, Station Elevenis a story of fate and luck, tenderness and violence. “Equal parts page-turner and poetry” (Entertainment Weekly), as the reader progresses through 9 carefully titled sections, it becomes apparent just how deeply each character’s futures are connected.

I’m going to attempt to outline this complex story without making things too confusing and still doing Mandel’s fantastic plot justice. As the novel gets going, we follow Kirsten and the Traveling Symphony on their journey to entertain the few people who are left on Earth with Shakespeare’s plays. They arrive in a settlement called St. Deborah by the Water, the Symphony has been here before and in fact, this is where they left two of their members, Charlie and Jeremy. Everyone quickly realizes, however, that something is very different about St. Deborah by the Water. It’s inhabitants are reluctant to talk to Kirsten about her friends and they soon discover what everyone is so afraid of, a man who calls himself “the Prophet” and digs graves for everyone brave enough to leave their settlement. After putting on a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Symphony makes a rushed departure from St. Deborah on the Water, hoping to put some distance between their troupe and the strange prophet. They quickly discover that a young girl named Olivia has stowed away in one of their caravans and when she reveals that she was to become the prophet’s fifth wife, the Symphony understands that they must take her with them. As members of their troupe begin to disappear into thin air it becomes apparent that the prophet is following them and he is not happy that Olivia is gone.

The more the story unfolds, we begin to realize that Kirsten is almost obsessed with piecing together Arthur Leander’s life. Her most prized possesions are two volumes of a comic book called Station Eleven that Arthur gave her during their time on the production of King Lear, as well as a paper weight that she received on the night he died. We experience the journey of a character named Jeevan Chaudhary, paparazzo turned EMT, who is present at the theatre the night Arthur dies and attempts to administer CPR to no avail. We see the night the pandemic hits through Jeevan’s eyes as he frantically stocks up on supplies and rushes to his brother’s apartment. Jeevan watches his brother lose his grip on reality as the newscasters say their final goodbyes. Eventually setting off on his own to walk South where he will become a doctor. Spanning decades, moving back and forth through past and present, as Arthur falls in and out of love and Kirsten finds herself caught in the prophets crosshairs. Time flashes back to Arthur’s first marriage to a woman named Miranda Carroll, we discover that she is the author of the Station Elevencomics. We meet one of Arthur’s oldest friends, Clark Thompson at a dinner party that takes place 31 years in the past. This is the same evening that Miranda realizes Arthur is in love with another woman, Elizabeth Colton. She becomes his second wife and the mother of his only child, Tyler. At the party Clark brings Arthur a gift, the beautiful paperweight that Kirsten cherishes so much. There are so many channels that connect the characters as the story comes to head at the fabled Museum of Civilization inside the Severn City Airport.

The overwhelming theme of fate that sews intricacy through Station Elevenis most apparent as the story draws to a close. The Symphony’s ultimate destination is the Severn City Airport, rumored to house the Museum of Civilization, is also home to Clark Thompson. He narrates much of the end of the novel as we begin to understand how he, Elizabeth, and Tyler ended up stranded there. He describes the mother and son’s descent into a kind of madness, Clark finds a young Tyler reading from the Book of Revelations to a quarantined plane full of dead people. Tyler tells them they died for a reason, that everything happens for a reason, the Georgia Flu happened for a reason, and those who survived did so for a reason. As the Symphony closes in on the airport, Kirsten and the prophet are thrown together in the most shocking twist of fate yet. She realizes he is Arthur Leander’s only son, Tyler, as he points a gun at Kirsten’s head yet one of his own followers shoots him before he can kill her. Just as Kirsten begins to understand why Tyler became the man he did, she sheds that single story she knew of him as the prophet and realizes his life after the pandemic must have been traumatizing for him. Another example of a single story comes in the form of the Museum of Civilization. Clark chose items that he felt reflected life before the flu, yet the items tell only a single story of who people were. A toaster oven, several pairs of stilettos, an American Express credit card; all items that tell a privileged story perhaps, but what about the rest of humanity?

[aion-rsa]

Station Eleven Ending Explained: The Circle Never Breaks

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains spoilers for Station Eleven.

“I’ve been adrift in the strangest galaxy for a long time. But I’m safe now. I found it again. My home.” – Dr. Eleven

It’s not an original observation that many, if not most, good stories are about stories themselves. After all, they say “write about what you know” and what does a storyteller know if not the power of story?

Even with that in mind, however, HBO Max’s Station Eleven is really about stories. Station Eleven, which just premiered its brilliant finale on Jan. 13, began on Dec. 16 with the end of everything. Starting with a superflu that kills seemingly more than 99% of humanity, the series immediately confronts viewers with images of apocalyptic decay: empty train stations, cracked highways, and theaters drowned in jungle. The world of Station Eleven is unambiguously over.

And yet…those left carry on anyway, as human beings always seem to do. Presented with the ultimate end of the Earth’s story, the survivors just turn to other stories once again. Lead character Kirsten Raymonde (Mackenzie Davis) joins the Traveling Symphony, a caravan of performers that journeys the Great Lakes region in a wheel pattern, bringing the same old Shakespeare stories to the same old audiences year after year. In-between gigs, Kirsten reads the graphic novel “Station Eleven” over and over again, memorizing each word in her heart like they’re from the bard itself.

Even when virtually the entirety of the human population is no longer around to hear them, the stories continue. That’s because good stories never really end. Narrative deep thinkers like Dan Harmon will tell you that a proper story is literally a circle to begin with. In the works of Stephen King, stories are “Ka”, a metaphorical wheel of fate whose only purpose is to turn just like the circular path the Traveling Symphony takes every year. 

This pitch perfect Station Eleven finale understands the natures of stories and circles as well as just about anything else ever has. In fact, its name is literally “Unbroken Circle.” The very first lines of the episode feature a flashback conversation between “Station Eleven” graphic novel writer Miranda Carroll (Danielle Deadwyler) and a young Kirsten. 

“What kind of job do you have?” Kirsten asks Miranda. “Logistics. “What does that mean?” “It’s the path that things take from A to B.”

The path that things take from A to B aptly describes logistics, but it also describes just about everything else. Everyone starts somewhere and then ends up somewhere. More often than not, A and B are the same, it’s just the space between them that varies. “Unbroken Circle” is about coming home in one way or another, just as Miranda’s astronaut Dr. Eleven does in “Station Eleven.” 

Here is how it all goes down and why both “Unbroken Circle” and Station Eleven are destined to stand the test of time like Hamlet himself. 

Miranda Carroll: Logistical Hero

Just like many other episodes of Station Eleven, “Unbroken Circle” takes place in both the present and the pre-apocalyptic past. This flashback, however, is understandably the most revealing one yet. While artist and ex-wife of Arthur Leander Miranda Carroll is the literal author of the “Station Eleven” graphic novel, she’s also the metaphorical author of the events of Station Eleven. 

Clark (David Wilmot), Elizabeth (Caitlin FitzGerald), Tyler (Daniel Zovatto), and the rest of the Severn City airport occupants really were set up perfectly to survive the end of the world. The airport provided plenty of food, shelter, and the potential for electricity, and was also situated on an island south of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Part of that was sheer luck. Another part of that was Miranda Carroll, as it turns out. If the Gitchegumee flight from Chicago had deplaned as planned, the citizens of the Severn City airport would have been infected with the deadly flu. The only reason they didn’t was thanks to Miranda’s intervention. 

With her last breaths (and the help of her colleague Jim Felps), Miranda gets a hold of Captain Hugo Bennett, the pilot of the plane. She tells Hugo about how her family died. Hurricane Hugo flooded her home in the Virgin Islands and then an unsecured livewire electrified them all in front of her. Miranda was only spared because she was on top of a counter drawing. Now the Severn City airport can serve as the top of the counter for countless innocent lives. 

And so the occupants of the plane die without setting foot back on the Earth’s soil, saving an entire civilization in the show’s most heroic act.

Little More Than Kin

In selecting a moment of climax, many post-apocalyptic stories would resort to some sort of battle or violent event. Stripped of the trappings of society, what is man if not a beast? Well, Station Eleven is obviously a little more sophisticated than that. The climax of this episode and the season at large features, what else?, a play. 

The Museum of Civilization at the Severn City Airport is the most advanced and opulent location that the Traveling Symphony has visited yet. As such, they bring out the big guns for them and choose to perform Shakespeare’s most famous play: Hamlet. 

While Kirsten is originally going to star in the play, she can’t help but notice there is a rare opportunity afoot. The dynamics among Clark, Elizabeth, and Tyler a.k.a. The Prophet are basically that of the central characters in Hamlet to begin with. Tyler is the brash, young prince of Denmark, Hamlet. Elizabeth is his mom Queen Gertrude. Clark is Claudius, newly-crowned king of Denmark following the death of his brother, Hamlet’s father. Taking on the role of director and casting the family as Hamlet’s leads, Kirsten is betting that the power of story will lead to a friendlier end than what awaited the real Hamlet.

Indeed it does. For while Tyler switches out a prop knife with a real knife, he cannot bring himself to kill his “uncle.” Clark whispers to Tyler that he loved his father too and decades of animosity begin to wash away. In many ways, this is more thrilling than any “final battle” could be. The camera periodically cuts to members of the audience who, watching real life ART being performed in front of them for the first time, wear expressions of rapturous joy and shock. It’s like they’re watching a miracle being performed in front of them, which in truth: they are. 

Jeevan and Kirsten

Speaking of miracles, the Station Eleven finale really enjoys teasing its viewers as to whether Kirsten will meet her childhood protector Jeevan Chaudhary (Himesh Patel) again. Jeevan, now a doctor as we saw in episode 9, arrives to the airport early on to care for Clark’s burn wounds. There he also keeps vigil at Sarah’s side as she peacefully passes away. 

Jeevan and Kirsten are so close to seeing each other once again. In fact, in one early scene Kirsten and Elizabeth walk past in the background as Jeevan speaks with Miles (Milton Barnes). Still, Station Eleven makes us wait until the performance of Hamlet is complete to reunite the pair. 

In the original Station Eleven book written by Emily St. John Mandel, Jeevan and Kirsten don’t share nearly as much screen time. In the show, however, Jeevan’s selfless stewardship of Kirsten for years forms the emotional backbone of the entire story. As such, one can scarcely imagine a more emotional reunion than this one. 

In the show’s very last scene, Kirsten and Jeevan walk down the same road together at the tail end of the Traveling Symphony as it rides off to its next destination. Kirsten and Jeevan’s paths will diverge again soon, with Kirsten carrying on to the next location on the wheel and Jeevan returning home to his children. But they’ll see each other again on The Wheel.

“Raising kids is hard, you know. Going in and out of sync. It’s like a yo-yo. You love ‘em but you get angry. You scare ‘em, they run away,” – Jeevan says.  “I was never scared with you,” Kirsten responds. “I was always scared.”

After that moment of breathtaking honesty and vulnerability, Jeevan lets Kirsten know that he’ll tell his children they met once again. They already know all about her from the stories he’s told them. Perhaps she’ll be more real to Jeevan’s kids now but the truth is she always was. Because if we’ve learned anything from Hamlet and “Station Eleven”, stories are just as powerful as the “real” thing, perhaps moreso.

Will There Be a Station Eleven Season 2?

God, I hope not. 

You may have picked up by now that this isn’t so much an “Ending Explained” as it is an opportunity to heap praise on a brilliant show while using an SEO-friendly headline to entrap unwitting readers (ha ha ha gotcha!). In truth, not much needs to be explained about Station Eleven’s ending because it’s basically perfect as is. 

There are certainly opportunities for the show to continue. After all, the circle never stops and the story never truly ends. Tyler, Elizabeth, Alex (Philippine Velge), and a veritable army of youthful recruits are attempting to break the circle, heading off into the unknown – far away from the wheel and the Museum of Civilization. There is certainly a story to tell there but I would argue that it doesn’t need to be told. 

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Like any good logistics expert though, Station Eleven got its characters from point A to point B. Just like Jeevan did with a young Kirsten, Station Eleven walked us all home. 

The post Station Eleven Ending Explained: The Circle Never Breaks appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3K73Lip

[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2020/12/29/michael-sheen-i-gave-up-obe-to-air-views-on-monarchy-without-being-a-hypocrite/

Michael Sheen: I gave up OBE to air views on monarchy without being a 'hypocrite'

Actor Michael Sheen has revealed he gave up his OBE so he could air his views on the Royal Family without being labelled a “hypocrite”.

The 51-year-old star, who has portrayed the likes of Tony Blair and Sir David Frost on-screen and Hamlet on stage, was made an OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours for his services to drama.

But he said the decision to give it back was prompted by researching the history of his native Wales and its relationship with the British state for his 2017 Raymond Williams lecture.

Sheen, from Port Talbot, told newspaper columnist Owen Jones that the “crash course” made him realise he could not both deliver his lecture and hold on to the honour.

“In my research to do that lecture, I learnt a lot about Welsh history,” he said.

Image: Sheen made the decision after researching Welsh history as part of a lecture he was giving

“And by the time I’d finished writing that lecture on this laptop that I’m talking to you on right now, I remember sitting there going, ‘well I have a choice – I either don’t give this lecture and hold on to my OBE or I give this lecture and I have to give my OBE back’.”

The Queen actor explained that Wales and England’s shared history was still a point of contention for many Welsh people.

He referenced the decision to rename the second Severn Crossing the Prince of Wales bridge in 2018, with a petition against the move receiving more than 30,000 signatures.

“These things have power,” Sheen said.

“The idea of the Prince of Wales and that being an Englishman and the history of that.”

He added: “Why Edward made his son the Prince of Wales (was) because it was part of keeping down the Welsh rebellion.

“These are things that happened so long ago but these things are resonant.”

Charles, the current Prince of Wales, is set to forfeit the title when he ascends the throne.

Sheen suggested it would be a “really meaningful and powerful gesture for that title to no longer be held in the same way as it has before”.

He said he chose not to announce his decision to hand back the honour in 2017 as he feared some people would find it insulting.

“I didn’t mean any disrespect but I just realised I’d be a hypocrite if I said the things I was going to say in the lecture about the nature of the relationship between Wales and the British state,” he said.

Source

[life]

70 years ago this week in the Mar. 10, 1947 MISCELLANY feature: FILM-STAR FAMILY - Incredible Severns of Hollywood have eight kids in the movies. This image ran with the following caption: "Yogi-like muscle exercises are demonstrated by Severn sons: Winston Franklin MacArthur, 4; William Churchill Roosevelt, 8; Christopher Aubrey (for C. Aubrey Smith) Reginald, 10; Ernest Smuts (for Jan) Hubbard (for Ebert), 13; Raymond Chesterton Shaw, 15; Clifford Ernest Benarr (for Macfadden), 21, and father. (Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) #thisweekinLIFE #1940s

[rosswatchrepairs-blog]

Raymond Weil watch battery replacement Upton-upon-Severn

Raymond Weil watch battery replacement Upton-upon-Severn

Raymond Weil watch battery replacement  Upton-upon-Severn,  Worcestershire and UK. We are able to repair any watch in the UK . This is due to our postal service.

The estimated turnaround on all watch battery replacements is only 2-3 working days. While manufacturers and jewellers, in some cases, can quote up to 3 weeks. We are rather fast…

[kwadejoslin]

An Early Synthesis of East-West Design: Antonin Raymond (18 photos) https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/85188894/list/an-early-synthesis-of-east-west-design-antonin-raymond/

Visitors to today’s Japan are understandably captivated by the singular shrines and temples of its romantic, distant past. While all too few of its more modern buildings remain, a healthy handful of residential structures have been preserved, and some of them are even open to the public....

Karen Severns

[photochrono]

March 17

John Davis was born on March 17,  1822 in Westbury-on-Severn, England.

Elizabeth W. Withington was born on  March 17, 1825 in New York, NY, USA.

Gottschalk Grelling was born on  March 17, 1826 in Berlin, Germany.

Mary Georgiana Caroline Filmer was  born on March 17, 1838.

Joseph A. Fuller was born on March  17, 1851 in Walworth County, WI, USA.

Edwin D. Whitney was born on March  17, 1860 in MI, USA.

Elizabeth Alice Austen was born on  March 17, 1866 in Staten Island, NY, USA.

James Milton Oakman was born on  March 17, 1870 in Detroit, MI, USA.

Arnold Mason Jenson was born on  March 17, 1873 in IA, USA.

Raymond S. Eaton died on March 17,  1873 in Centreville, MI, USA.

Felton Williams was born on March  17, 1886 in IA, USA.

Walter Erastus Sours was born on  March 17, 1887 in Henderson Township, MI, USA.

Ray Neville Blough was born on  March 17, 1888 in Johnstown, PA, USA.

George F. Nowlin was born on March  17, 1891 in Lapeer, MI, USA.

Sydney Culver Grayson was born on  March 17, 1891 in Mason, MI, USA.

Alfredo Valente was born on March  17, 1899 in Calabria, Italy.

Charles Sterling Procter died on  March 17, 1904 in Silver City, NM, USA.

James E. Weeks died on March 17,  1906 in Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Putsee Vannucci was born on March  17, 1921 in Williamsport, PA, USA.

Phineas Sheldon Loomis died on  March 17, 1921 in Brattleboro, VT, USA.

James Benson Irwin was born on  March 17, 1930 in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Stephen P. Brown died on March 17,  1934 in Bristol, NH, USA.

Ken Mattingly was born on March 17,  1936 in Chicago, IL, USA.

Herman L. Emmons died on March 17,  1945 in Snohomish, WA, USA.

Edward DePew Forstner died on March  17, 1965 in Chattanooga, TN, USA.

Robert M. Wilson died on March 17,  2010 in Nelsonville, OH, USA.

Meredith Allen died on March 17,  2011 in NY, USA.

[instapicsil2]

70 years ago this week in the Mar. 10, 1947 MISCELLANY feature: FILM-STAR FAMILY - Incredible Severns of Hollywood have eight kids in the movies. This image ran with the following caption: "Yogi-like muscle exercises are demonstrated by Severn sons: Winston Franklin MacArthur, 4; William Churchill Roosevelt, 8; Christopher Aubrey (for C. Aubrey Smith) Reginald, 10; Ernest Smuts (for Jan) Hubbard (for Ebert), 13; Raymond Chesterton Shaw, 15; Clifford Ernest Benarr (for Macfadden), 21, and father. (Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) #thisweekinLIFE #1940s http://ift.tt/2lU1xHy

[rosswatchrepairs-blog]

Raymond Weil watch battery replacement Stourport-on-Severn

Raymond Weil watch battery replacement Stourport-on-Severn

Raymond Weil watch battery replacement  Stourport-on-Severn ,  Worcestershire and UK. We are able to repair any watch in the UK . This is due to our postal service.

The estimated turnaround on all watch battery replacements is only 2-3 working days. While manufacturers and jewellers, in some cases, can quote up to 3 weeks. We are rather…