#the first part is Billy Quentin and Tim

[tothemaxie]

There's a bunch of characters I want to be.

And then there's a bunch of characters I'd want to be WITH.

And then there's the ones I wouldn't mind being OR being with.

[zorilleerrant]

fic writing notes on my phone currently:

outline for a chapter (notably not the first chapter) of a Monkey Prince Everything Everywhere All At Once AU

finished but unedited Joker Junior aftermath fic that’s essentially just Jason & Tim bonding

outlines of several chapters (not in order) of the Other Jason fic, which I do currently have several more chapters of ready to go if anyone wants them, but I’m not sure if anyone is still reading that

outline for the next chapter of my Monkey Prince OC fic

outline for a Death & Jason fic

outline for what I think is chapter 2 or 3 of my time traveling Terry & psychotic!Jason fic

outline for a Marcus/Billy fic I wrote because someone was sad it’s a rarepair and I want to bulk out the fic count

outline for a mistaken identity TimBer fic where Tim is the only member of the Batfam who turns out to be cis

outline for the second half of the sequel to Robin’s Egg Blue which is Marcus & Pigsy hilariously failing to communicate (which may only be actually funny to me)

outline for the first chapter of the Laura/Winston fake marriage AU where they’re on the run from the feds. part of the second chapter too

the beginning of an October Daye fic where Quentin is cursed into having a harem in order to summon Oberon back

outline for a Pennyworth fic about Patricia Wayne

outline for the conclusion of Kate And Katie Destroy The World

the beginning of the Monkey Prince Animal Crossing fic

outline for a Dead Dove PJO fic

outline for the next chapter of a Monkey Prince (platonic) soulmate AU, or at least I hope it’s the next chapter

outline for also the damn conclusion of a full series QaF rewrite where the emotional impact doesn’t exist because I didn’t write the rest of it!!

outline for an angsty SuperBat breakup fic (DKoS)

half an outline for Kryptonian Sex Ed (feat. my OC Dave)

outline for a rewrite of Jon-El coming out to his holodad

outline for a random scene in my The Graysons Live AU

outlines for like. 2.3 chapters in Batfam Goes to Therapy

notes on a very Dead Dove Gotham fic

outline for a chapter (not the next one!) of my Dick time travel story, where Dick and Constantine are talking about the ins and outs of the spell he used and how Dick is stuck there and also hot

outline for a random scene in my fic that is just titled, in both my notes and the word document, MCU Jason

the ending of a fic I was going to write (but at this point, realistically, probably never will) about that Chuck Tingle version of HP

finished but unedited fic about Jack & Jill from the Every Heart a Doorway series, kind of bleak for a fixit

something titled Draco Mpreg which is not as bad as it seems

something titled Harleycest which is probably worse than it seems but I can’t honestly tell anymore

an outline of a scene that would exist in an Arrowverse/Birds of Prey (2003) crossover, if I actually planned to write that fic, which I don’t, considering it’s mostly a setup to a stupid punchline (the punchline is that Tweety Bird is also a canary)

outline for a scene in a UtRH rewrite where Bruce kills the Joker and Jason, upon returning from the dead, vows revenge for such an egregious betrayal by becoming the Joker

finished but unedited Kate/Yelena fic

a scene snippet from an AU in which the Waynes are a low level mob family Alfred is a homeless vet who poses as Bruce’s grandfather so he’s free to dress up as a bat without intervention

notes on a YJ crossover about Dog

several scenes from a Grey’s Anatomy s/i fic that is only for me and not something I will be showing anyone (no offense)

a whole bunch of scenes from an AU in which Dick adopted Dami and is trying to take care of him as Ric

something titles Star War which I swear is a fic I already posted but I’m not even sure at this point

outlines of several scenes in the Other Damian fic which I do seem to have abandoned for the moment??? since I haven’t touched those notes since January apparently???

the beginning of a Marcus & Billy fic that I think was about The Trans Journey but honestly I never knew where I was going with it and hell if I remember it now

further scenes of the Xanthippe fic outlined

okay I definitely posted “““character study””” I am bad at labelling my notes in a way that I can remember what they’re even supposed to be about

outline for a chapter of Do You Remember Paige Tico Now

outline for the next two sections of the psychotic!Dick story which I think actually finishes the story and yet! I never managed to actually put those words on paper

random other notes about my oc Dave

okay is this the outline for the next chapter of my Gary/Casey story or the last one that I already wrote and did I finish that one? there are more notes on this story elsewhere, too!! somewhere!!

outlines for some scenes in my Spike Spiegel batfam AU

outlines for some scenes in my Doctor Who AU that’s like. opposite day I guess. it’s a character swap. mostly about Captain Jack’s brother Gray who is not actually called Gray Harkness but I haven’t checked what his character tag is on AO3. mostly this is funny jokes about translation errors across time and space

notes on Sparkles McVillain

outline for a super angsty scene in Earth 420 which is, as the name suggests, mainly supposed to be comedy

outline for Even More Bones, a Lucifer future fic

this is not including my origfic notes, or the shorter notes that are all smushed together into one note because they’re shorter. in conclusion I really need to go back on adderall you guys I would be completely unstoppable

I mean this is mostly a callout for myself but feel free to ask me about anything on this list. it might convince me to work on it. (for reference, outline means I need to add in details but it genuinely is the whole thing laid out)

tune in next time for: fics that I posted on tumblr but never managed to post to AO3, fics that are fully written on my computer but I simply haven’t posted and have no idea why, fics that are almost done but for some reason I haven’t managed to finish, and fics on my ideas list that don’t have enough information and I can no longer tell what they even mean

[dustedmagazine]

Music for Films, Vol. II: Chick Habit

For good and for ill, Quentin Tarantino’s movies have been strongly associated with postmodern pop culture — particularly by folks whose reactions to the word “postmodern” tend toward pursed lips and school-marmishly wagged fingers. There for a while, reading David Denby on Tarantino was similar to reading Michiko Kakutani on Thomas Pynchon: almost always the same review, the same complaints about characters lacking “psychological depth,” the same handwringing over an ostensible moral insipidness. Truth be told, Tarantino’s pranksome delight with flashy surfaces and stylistic flourishes that are ends in themselves gives tentative credence to some of the caviling. Critics have raised related concerns over the superficiality of Tarantino’s tendency toward stunt casting, especially his resurrections of aging actors relegated to the film industry’s commercial margins: John Travolta, Pam Grier, Robert Forster, David Carradine, Darryl Hannah, Don Johnson and so on. There might be a measure of cynicism in the accompanying cinematic nudging and winking, but it’s also the case that a number of the performances have been terrific.

The writer-director brings a similar sensibility to his sound-tracking choices, demonstrating the cooler-than-thou, deep-catalog knowledge of an obsessive crate-digger. Tarantino thematized that knowledge in his break-through feature, Reservoir Dogs (1992). Throughout the film, the characters tune in to Steven Wright deadpanning as the deejay of “K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the Seventies”; like the characters, the viewer transforms into a listener, treated to such fare as the George Baker Selection’s “Little Green Bag” (1970) and Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut” (1971). As with the above-mentioned actors, Tarantino has sifted pop culture’s castoffs and detritus, unearthing songs and delivering experiences of renewed value — and thereby proving the keenness of his instincts and aesthetic wit. “Listen to (or look at) this!” he seems to say, with his cockeyed, faux-incredulous grin. “Can you believe you were just going to throw this out?” And mostly, it works. If the Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling” (1974) has become a sort of semi-ironized accompaniment to hipsterish good times, that resonance has a lot more to do with Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel and Co. cruising L.A. in a hulking American sedan than with the Disney Co.’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

In Death Proof (2007), Tarantino’s seventh film and unaccountably his least favorite, soundtrack and screen are both full to bursting with the flotsam and jetsam of “entertainment” conceived as an industry. 

In just the opening minutes, we see outmoded moviehouse announcements, complete with cigarette-burn cue dots; big posters of Brigitte Bardot from Les Bijoutiers du claire de lune (1958) and of Ralph Nelson’s Soldier Blue (1970) bedecking the apartment of Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier); the tee shirt worn by Shanna (Jordan Ladd), which bears the image of Tura Satana; and strutting under all of it are the brassy cadences of Jack Nitzsche’s “The Last Race,” taken from his soundtrack for the teensploitation flick Village of the Giants (1965). Bibs and bobs, bits and pieces of low- and middle-brow cinema are cut up and reconstructed into a fulsome swirl of signs. And there’s an unpleasant edge to it; the cuts are echoed by the action of the camera, which has been busily cleaving the bodies of the women on screen into fragments and parts. First the feet of Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito), propped up on a dashboard; then Julia, all ass and gams; then Arlene’s lower half again, chopped into slices by the stairs she dashes up (“I gotta take the world’s biggest fucking piss!”) and by the close-up that settles on her belly and pelvis, her hand shoved awkwardly into her crotch. 

As often happens in Tarantino’s movies, furiously busy meta-discursive play collapses the images’ problematic content under multiple levels of reference and pastiche. The film is one half of Grindhouse (2007), Tarantino’s collaboration with his buddy Robert Rodriguez, an old-fashioned double-feature comprising the men’s love letters to the exploitation cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. In those thousands of movies — mondo, beach-cutie, nudie-cutie, women in prison, early slasher, rape-revenge, biker gang, chop-socky, Spaghetti Western and muscle-car-worship flicks (and we could add more subgenres to the list) — symbolic violence inflicted on women’s bodies was de rigueur, and frequently the principal draw. Tarantino shot Death Proof himself, so he is (more than usually) directly responsible for all the framing and focusing — and he’s far too canny a filmmaker not to know precisely what he’s doing with and to those bodies. The excessive, camera-mediated gashing and trimming is a knowing, perhaps deprecating nod to all that previous, gratuitous T&A. His sound-tracking choice of “The Last Race” metaphorically underscores the point: in Bert I. Gordon’s Village of the Giants, bikini-clad teens find and consume an experimental growth serum, which causes them to expand to massive proportions. Really big boobs, actual acres of ass. Get it?

Of course, all the implied japing and judging is deeply embedded in the film’s matrix of esoteric references and fleeting allusions. You’d have to be very well versed in the history of exploitation cinema to pick up on the indirect homage to Gordon’s goofy movie. But as in Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino doesn’t just gesture, he dramatizes, folding an authoritative geekdom into the action of Death Proof. In the set-up to Death Proof’s notorious car crash scene, Julia is on the phone, instructing one of her fellow deejays to play “Hold Tight!” (1966) by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. Don’t recognize the names? “For your information,” Julia snorts, Pete Townsend briefly considered abandoning the Who, and he thought about joining the now-obscure beat band, to make it “Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, Tich & Pete. And if you ask me, he should have.”

It’s among the most gruesomely violent sequences in Tarantino’s films (which do not run short on graphic bloodshed), and Julia receives its most spectacular punishment. Those legs and that rump, upon which the camera has lavished so much attention, are torn apart. Her right leg flips, flies and slaps the pavement, a hunk of suddenly flaccid meat. Again, Tarantino proves himself an adept arranger of image, sign and significance. Want to accuse him of fetishizing Julia’s legs? He’ll materialize the move, reducing the limb to a manipulable fragment, and he’ll invest the moment with all of the intrinsic violence of the fetish. He’ll even do you one better — he’ll make that violence visible. Want to watch? You better buckle up and hold tight. 

Hold on a second. “Hold Tight”? The soundtrack has passed over from intertextual in-joke to cruel punchline. It doesn’t help that the song is so much fun, and that it’s fun watching the girls groove along to it, just before Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) obliterates them, again and again and again. The awful insistence of the repetition is another set-up, establishing the film’s narrative logic: the repeated pattern and libidinal charge-and-release of Stuntman Mike’s vehicular predations. It is, indeed, “a sex thing,” as Sheriff Earl McGraw (Michael Parks) informs us in his cartoonish, redneck lawman’s drawl. Soon the sexually charged repetitions pile up: see Abernathy’s (Rosario Dawson) feet hanging out of Kim’s (Tracie Thom) 1972 Mustang, in a visual echo of Arlene’s, and of Julia’s. Then listen to Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) belt out some of Smith’s cover of “Baby It’s You” (1969), which we most recently heard 44 minutes before, as Julia danced ecstatically by the Texas Chili Bar’s jukebox. Then watch Abernathy as she sees Stuntman Mike’s tricked-out ’71 Nova, a vibrating hunk of metallic machismo — just like Arlene saw it, idling menacingly back in Austin, with another snatch of “Baby It’s You” wisping through that moment’s portent. 

For a certain kind of viewer, the Nova’s low-slung, growling charms are hard to resist, as is the sleazy snarl of Willy DeVille’s “It’s So Easy” (1980; and we might note that Jack Nitzsche produced a couple of Mink DeVille’s early records, connecting another couple strands in the web) on the Nova’s car stereo. Those prospective pleasures raise the question of just who the film is for. That may seem obvious: the same folks — dudes, mostly — who find pleasure in exploitation movies like Vanishing Point (1971), Satan’s Sadists (1969) or The Big Doll House (1971). But there are a few other things to account for, like how Death Proof repeatedly passes the Bechdel Test, and how long those scenes of conversation among women go on, and on. Most notable is the eight-minute diner scene, a single take featuring Abernathy, Kim, Lee and Zoë (Zoë Bell, doing a cinematic rendition of her fabulous self, an instance of stunt casting that literalizes the “stunt” part). Among other things, the women discuss their careers in film, the merits of gun ownership and Kim and Zoë’s love of (you guessed it) car chase movies like Vanishing Point. One could read that as a liberatory move, a suggestion that cinema of all kinds is open to all comers. All that’s required is a willingness to watch. But watching the diner scene becomes increasing claustrophobic. The camera circles the women’s table incessantly, and on the periphery of the shot, sitting at the diner’s counter, is Stuntman Mike. The circling becomes predatory, the threat seems pervasive. 

If you’ve seen the film, you know how that plays out: Zoë and Kim play “ship’s mast” on a white 1970 Dodge Challenger (the Vanishing Point car); Stuntman Mike shows up and terrorizes them mercilessly; but then Abernathy, Zoë and Kim chase him down and beat the living shit out of him, likely fatally. In another sharply conceived cinematic maneuver, Tarantino executes a climactic sequence that inverts the diner scene: the women surround Stuntman Mike, abject and pleading, and punch and kick him as he bounces from one of them to another. The camera zips from vantage to vantage within the circle, deliriously tracking the action. All the jump cuts intensify the violence, and they provide another contrast to the diner’s scene’s silky, unbroken shot. The sounds and the impact of the blows verge on slapstick, and our identification with the women makes it a giddily gross good time.

So, an inversion seeks to undo repetition. Certainly, Stuntman Mike’s intent to repeat the car-crash-kill-thrill is undone, and predator becomes prey. But, as is inevitable with Tarantino’s cinema, there are complications, other echoes and patterns to suss out. For instance: as the women stride toward the wrecked Nova, while Stuntman Mike pathetically wails, the camera zooms in on their asses. Bad asses? Nice asses? What’s the right nomenclature? To make sure we can put the shot together with Julia’s first appearance in the film, Abernathy has hiked up her skirt, revealing a lot of leg. Repetition reasserts itself. In an exacerbating circumstance, Harvey Weinstein’s grubby fingerprints are smeared onto the film. Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios is credited with production of Grindhouse, but Dimension Films, a Weinstein Brothers company, handled distribution.  

When the film cuts to its end titles, we hear April March’s “Chick Habit” (1995), with its spot-on lyric: “Hang up the chick habit / Hang it up, daddy / Or you’ll never get another fix.” And so on. Even here, where the girl-power vibe feels strongest (cue Abernathy burying a bootheel in Stuntman Mike’s face), there are echoes, patterns. Note how the striding bassline of “Chick Habit” strongly recalls the pulse beating through Nitzsche’s “The Last Race.” Note that March’s song is a cover, of “Laisse tomber les filles,” originally recorded by yé-yé girl France Gall. The song was penned by Serge Gainsbourg, pop provocateur and notorious womanizer. The two collaborated again, releasing “Les Sucettes,” a tune about a teeny-bopper who really likes sucking on lollipops, when Gall was barely 18; the accompanying scandal nearly torpedoed her career. Gall refused to ever sing another song by Gainsbourg, and disavowed her hits.  

Again, that’s all deeply embedded, somewhere in the film’s complicated play of pop irony and double-entendre and the sudden explosions of delight and disgust that intermittently reveal and conceal. Again, you’d have to know your pop history really well to catch up with the complications, and Death Proof moves so fast that there’s always another reference or allusion demanding your attention as the cars growl and the blood spurts. Too many signs to track, too many signals to decipher — that’s the postmodern. But perhaps we have become too glib, assuming that all signs are somehow equivalent. Death Proof insists otherwise. Much has been made of the film’s strange relation to digital filmmaking, of the sort that Rodriguez has made a career out of. Part of Grindhouse’s shtick is its goofball applications of CGI, all the scratches and skips and flaws that the filmmakers lovingly applied. They are digital effects, masquerading as damaged celluloid. Tarantino cut back against that grain, filming as much of the car chase’s maniacal stuntwork in meatspace as he safely could. Purposeful practical filmmaking, for a digitally enhanced cinematic experience, attempting to mimic the ways real film interacts with the physical environment and its manifold histories. Is that clever, or just more cultural clutter?  

Amid all the clutter that crowds the characters onscreen, and their conversations in the film’s field of sound, it can be easy to lose track of the distinctions between appearances and the traces of the real bodies that worked to bring Death Proof to life. Which is why Tarantino’s inclusion of Bell is so crucial. She provides another inversion: Instead of masking her individual presence, doing stunts for other actresses in their clothes and hair (for Lucy Lawless in Xena: Warrior Princess, or for Uma Thurman in Tarantino’s Kill Bill films), Bell is herself, doing what she does best, projecting the technical elements of filmmaking — usually meant to bleed seamlessly into illusion — right onto the surface of the screen. And instead of allowing one group of girls to slip into a repeated pattern, bodies easily exchanged for other bodies, Bell’s presence and its implicit insistence on her particularity (who else can move like she does?) breaks up the superficial logic of cinema’s market for the feminine. She disrupts its chick habit. There’s only one woman like her. 

Jonathan Shaw

[aion-rsa]

Biggest Movie Traitors and Backstabbers in Cinema

https://ift.tt/3u8zB6p

Last week, as part of the streaming service’s ongoing plan to bring Warner Brothers’ slate of theatrical releases to audiences at home HBO Max premiered Judas and the Black Messiah on the same day it opened in theaters. Directed by Shaka King, the incendiary historical drama centers on the rise of Fred Hampton, the charismatic Black Panther Party leader, and his tragic betrayal at the hands of FBI informant William O’Neal.  Daniel Kaluuya stars as Hampton, a scorched-earth performance that attempts to recreate the magnetism and magma-like intensity of the revolutionary figure, but Kaluuya is somehow not the star of the film.

The film’s true protagonist is O’Neal, played by LaKeith Stanfield. After getting himself into some hot water, O’Neal is propositioned by FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) to either infiltrate the Black Panther Party and report back on his findings or face jail time. At first O’Neal seems to luxuriate in the kickbacks he’s given by Mitchell for his intel but he quickly learns how dangerous it is to lead a double life. O’Neal also has to try to reconcile betraying the very movement he’s spent real time and energy trying to build.

Stanfield’s performance is filled with queasy anxiety and paranoia but also cockroach-like survival tics. It’s an all-time great turncoat performance, worthy of the biblical reference in the film’s title. To honor Stanfield’s turn as “Wild” Bill O’Neil, here’s a countdown of some of cinema’s greatest backstabbers.

Fredo Corleone – The Godfather Part II (1974)

Fredo Corleone, the least intelligent and most ineffectual of Don Vito’s children, has become something of a pejorative term used against anyone deemed to be the lesser sibling in a famous family. Played with a sense of melancholy and knowing pity by esteemed character actor John Cazale, Fredo’s betrayal of his brother Michael is due more to petty jealousy than it is to Machiavellian scheming or dreams of leading the Corelone Crime Family.

As the character pathetically rages, “‘Send Fredo off to do this. Send Fredo off to do that. Let Fredo take care of some Mickey Mouse night club somewhere’… I can handle things! I’m smart! Not like everybody says!” The worst part about Fredo’s actions against his family is that it’s unclear if Fredo actually knew what was being planned against his brother or whether he was just blindly jumping at the opportunity to be important and have something for himself.

Lando Calrissian – Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Perhaps the most lovable backstabber on the list, Lando at least shows some backbone and tries to make up for his nearly unforgivable alliance with the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. While serving as Baron Administrator of Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back, Lando is visited by Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett and told to help trap his old friend Han Solo and the Rebels seeking sanctuary in Cloud City in exchange for the safety of the city’s citizens.

After selling his friend out, Lando has a change of heart when he overhears Han being tortured and realizes that Vader and the Empire were already reneging on their promises. He helps Leia and Chewbacca escape, and is able to evacuate Cloud City before the Empire is able to retaliate. Later he participates in the near-incompressible plot to rescue Han Solo and serves as a key general in the Rebel Alliance. Still, even back when he’s on the wrong side of the fight, Billy Dee Williams is able to turn Lando an appealing character, making his eventual redemption that much sweeter.

Henry Hill – Goodfellas (1990)

Ray Liotta plays the ultimate rat. After a long and fruitful career as a capo for local boss Paulie Cicero, Henry Hill’s mafia lifestyle comes to a final, screeching halt after he’s arrested by narcotics agents while trying to facilitate unapproved drug deals with his Pittsburgh associates. Henry’s good friend Tommy jokingly posits that Henry would crack under questioning earlier in the film, but Henry’s damning testimony against his associates Jimmy Conway and Paulie is all about survival: Henry knows that if he doesn’t cover his own ass, Jimmy will have him and his wife killed.

Read more

Culture

The Real Goodfellas: Gangsters That Inspired the Martin Scorsese Film

By Tony Sokol

Movies

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone Proves a Little Less is Infinitely More

By Tony Sokol

Becoming the very thing that mafioso’s hate most of all, Henry turns on his friends and is forced into the witness protection program. All Henry ever wanted was to be a gangster, but in the protection program, he’s reduced to “an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.” It’s a fate that may be worse than death for him.

Mr. Orange – Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Arguably the villain of the story, depending on who’s side you’re on, Mr. Orange is actually L.A.P.D. undercover cop Freddy Newandyke. Looking to bring down crime boss Joe Cabot, Mr. Orange infiltrates his crew and takes part in diamond heist gone bad. In the ensuing chaos, Mr. Orange is shot and ends up killing an innocent civilian in retaliation. Played by Tim Roth, Mr. Orange screams and cries as he believes he’s fatally wounded, but it’s also possible that he’s airing out the guilt he feels in letting his undercover operation get so out of hand.

Without going into all of the bloodshed in the conclusion of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Orange’s double agent status is so sound that it eventually leads to the demise of almost all of Cabot’s colorful crew, and Orange then feels compelled to confess his deception, resulting in an ambiguous ending that most believe concludes with his death.

Dennis Nedry – Jurassic Park (1993)

Wayne Knight’s Dennis Nedry is probably the most cartoonish Benedict Arnold of the bunch, and if you think about it, the only human antagonist in the original Jurassic Park film, if you’re not counting short-sighted, megalomaniacal John Hammond. The slovenly Nedry is chief architect of the computer system at the fledgling Jurassic Park theme park, and he’s miffed by perceived low pay. So he decides to take an offer from Lewis Dodgson (“DODGSON, WE GOT DODGSON HERE!) of rival biotech company Biosyn to steal embryos of 15 dinosaur species in exchange for $61,500,000.

To make his grand escape with the embryos, Nedry shuts down the park’s security systems, including the electric fences surrounding the dinosaur paddocks. He also uploads a self-aggrandizing computer virus to prevent the systems from being quickly turned back on. However, a perfect combination of his own harebrained scheme and a nasty storm leaves Nedry stranded and at the mercy of a young Dilophosaurus. It does not end well.

Cypher – The Matrix (1999)

Cypher’s betrayal of the Nebuchadnezzar crew in The Matrix is pretty easy to see coming, and not just because the character is played by Joe Pantoliano, who’s portrayed many malcontents throughout his career. Cypher being a red pill dabbler and wishes he had taken the blue pill instead. He also outwardly makes his disapproval of Morpheus known throughout the movie. Using “ignorance is bliss” as his mantra, he strikes a deal with Agent Smith to return him to the Matrix and erase his memory of ever awakening from it in exchange for selling Morpheus out.

Read more

Movies

The Matrix 4 Already Happened: Revisiting The Matrix Online

By John Saavedra

Movies

Jurassic World: Top Jurassic Park Deaths by Dinosaurs

By David Crow

After tipping Smith off to a meeting with the Oracle, Cypher goes full villain and unflinchingly kills Dozer, Apoc, and Switch before finally being stopped and killed. At least he’s free from the reality he hated so much.

“Mad Eye Moody” (aka Barty Crouch Jr.) – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

What’s a bigger betrayal: Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. revealing that he’s been impersonating Alator “Mad Eye” Moody for the entirety of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts, or Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling revealing herself to be a transphobe, betraying many of the themes of her beloved book series? We’ll leave that one to you, dear reader.

However, Barty Crouch Jr. (David Tennant before he was the Doctor) memorably betrays Harry Potter and the Hogwarts community by using the Polyjuice Potion to impersonate the former Auror and ensure that Harry would get into the Triwizard Tournament and ascend to the Third Task, which was a trap to help Lord Voldemort return to a body of his own. At least the real Mad Eye didn’t actually turn his back on those that revered him (like Rowling).

Colin Sullivan – The Departed (2006)

The biggest rat in a film full of “gnawing, cheese-eating fucking rats,” Sgt. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is the criminal counterpoint to Leonardo DiCaprio’s undercover cop Billy Costigan, an undercover gangster who serves as the personal mole to Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson).

Played with smarm and cowardice by Damon, Sullivan eventually double crosses the police and Costello when he discovers that Costello is an FBI informant—a rat leading rats. Scared but trying to retain his high-ranking job, Sullivan misguidedly tries to position himself as a hero and tie up all loose ends, resulting in a shocking, bloody finale that finds cocky Colin Sullivan miraculously as the last man standing. Or at least the last man standing for the moment, as a final, forgotten loose end returns to give the audience what they want; another dead rat.

Robert Ford – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Well, it’s all right there in the title, innit? Played with a jealous, insecure bent by a creepy (in multiple ways) Casey Affleck, Robert Ford starts off as a Jesse James fanboy, desperate to join the outlaw’s gang with his brother Charlie (Sam Rockwell). When he finally gets close to the mythical criminal (a shadowy Brad Pitt), Bob begins to resent the man, eventually brokering a deal with the Governor of Missouri to either capture or kill Jesse James in exchange for a substantial bounty and full pardon.

Read more

Movies

Hamilton: The Real History of the Burr-Hamilton Duel

By David Crow

Movies

News of the World Review: Tom Hanks Western Has Rugged Warmth

By David Crow

Bob Ford cozies up to Jesse James even further, eventually earning the man’s complete trust, before cowardly shooting the man in the back—although in the film both carry an air of expectation that it needs to happen. Ford then lives out the rest of his days known as the coward punk that betrayed Jesse James until his eventual murder.

Aaron Burr – Hamilton (2020)

Close knit allies but ideological opposites, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton both fought in the Continental Army for independence from the British. However, when it came time to actual govern the new country that they fought to begin, the men drifted apart.

It’s unfair to call Burr the only backstabber in this relationship, because both men betray their former friend. Burr (Leslie Odom Jr.) becomes jealous that Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda) constantly has George Washington’s ear, and switches political parties to defeat Hamilton’s father-in-law in an election, ending their mutual admiration.

Burr also inadvertently pressures Hamilton to publicly reveal an affair, which strains the rivals’ relationships even further. However, when Hamilton endorses Thomas Jefferson (Daveed Diggs) in the third presidential election, a man that he doesn’t even like, to block Burr’s political malleability from the presidency, it becomes the final straw for Burr, who challenges Hamilton to a duel. In the ensuing gunfight, Hamilton throws away his shot, and Burr seals his fate to be remembered as the villain who killed Alexander Hamilton.

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[swiftsnowmane]

You have such great taste, so I'm coming to you for advice. What are your recommendations for art house Halloween movies?

Oh, what an excellent ask! I absolutely love artistic horror films, but I’m by no means an expert on them. Since I wasn’t sure if I had enough to recommend, I decided to just make a compilation that best exemplifies my personaltastes. Many do not have anything to do with Halloween, and some are not eventechnically ‘horror’ films at all, but are simply films and/or series that Ienjoy watching at this time of year.  :)

Below you will find a widevariety of recommendations, including silent film, film noir, gothic horror,sci-fi and dark fantasy, vampire films, zombie movies, tv series, comedies, parodies, mockumentaries,and my greatest love….folk horror.

Silent film:

- The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari (1920), dir. Robert Wiene – Iconic and a highly-influential silentGerman expressionist film about a creepy ‘doctor’ who hypnotizes a sleep-walker(a ‘sonambulist’) to do his bidding.

- The Phantom Carriage (1921), dir. Victor Sjöström–  On New Year’s Eve, the driver of a ghostly carriage forces a drunken man to look back at his wasted life.

- Häxan (1922),dir. Benjamin Christensen – Fictionalized Swedish-Danish documentary aboutwitches and witchcraft through the ages. Often categorized as folk horror, thisfilm contains evocative visuals and some memorable dramatizations, including a (literally) hysterical ‘nuns gone wild’ sequence. Despite its sensationalism, it is actually quite a sympathetic take on thetragedy of witch hunts, from the medieval era to the contemporary (1920s)treatment of women with mental illnesses.

- The Lodger(1927), dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Considered by critics to be the first true‘Hitchcock’ movie, this silent film is suspenseful, visually entrancing, and surprisingly moving. One of my personal favourites.

Other old movie classics:

- Double Indemnity (1944),dir. Billy Wilder – An insurance man falls for a married woman, and togetherthey begin to plan the murder of her husband. A noir classic, the first tocontain all the elements that would come to define the genre. A favourite ofmine.

- Laura (1944),dir. Otto Preminger – Another filmnoir fave, this time a murder mystery starring the mesmerizing Gene Tierney. Oneof the (many) inspirations for Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks. ‘Not just anotherdead girl,’ indeed.

- The Innocents (1961), dir. - [summary forthcoming]

- The Seventh Seal(1957), dir. Ingmar Bergman – This Swedish existentialist meditation on deathand mortality needs no introduction from me. Not a horror movie per se, but dueto its themes and visuals, it is very haunting all the same.

- Hour of the Wolf(1968), dir. Ingmar Bergman – Another Bergman classic, this time a surrealistpsychological horror-drama. A man lives with his pregnant wife on a remoteisland, and suffers from insomnia. He begins to be plagued by visions of‘demons’ and haunted by images from his past.

- Hitchcock films– Some of my personal faves include TheLady Vanishes (1938), Notorious (1946– noir classic), Spellbound (1945 -worth watching for the stunning surrealist dream sequence designed by SalvadorDali), Rear Window (perhaps not asvisually interesting as my usual picks, but a nostalgic fave that I used towatch with my dad), Psycho (1960 -cliché to list this  one, I know, but Ido  legitimately enjoy this film), Vertigo (1958 - another I used to watchwith my dad), and two of my absolute faves, Rebecca (1940 – see below) and the aforementioned The Lodger (1927).

-Hammer horror (aka British horror of the ‘50s-70s) - you can’t go wrong with the Hammer Dracula series, and/or anything starring Sir Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. -  [summaries forthcoming]

Halloween films:

- Sleepy Hollow(1999), dir. Tim Burton – Fave Tim Burton film. Fave Johnny Depp film. FaveHalloween film. Just fave.

- Trick ‘r Treat(2007), dir. Michael Dougherty  –  Of all the quintessential, straight up‘Halloween’ movies, this anthology horror film is another top pick. It’s justsuch good fun.

- The Crow(1994), dir. Alex Proyas - A list of my personal faves could not be completewithout this fantastical, noir-ish tale of lost love and revenge. A nostalgicclassic.

Other ‘scary movies’:

- Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006 mockumentary), dir. Scott Glosserman  - I’m not all that into *actual* slasher flicks (other than the original Halloween, which still to this day scares the shit out of me), but I’ve always greatly enjoyed this satirical take on the subject. :D

- Return of the Living Dead (1985), dir. Dan O’Bannon – While zombie films aren’t necessarily my fave horror sub-genre either, I can’t help but adore this one. Early Greg Nicotero visual effects on full display. Not to mention the iconic naked dancing in the graveyard scene.

- The Crazies (2010), dir. Breck Eisner – Probably my fave ‘zombie’ film. I use that term loosely as it’s not really about zombies, but it has a similar vibe. This movie immediately pre-dated The W@lking Dead, and now that I can no longer stand to watch that awful show, it has sort of become my preferred ‘version’ of this type of scenario.

Vampire films:

- Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust (2000), dir. Yoshiaki Kawajiri – With its incredibly rich anddetailed visual design, based on the art of Yoshitaka Amano, and an evocativepost-apocalyptic western/ gothic setting, this classic anime film is along-time fave. When I was younger I wanted to live (and die) inside the aestheticof this film, and to this day it remains my favourite vampire movie. Alsocontains one of my all-time favourite vampire/human romances, the Hades andPersephone-esque Charlotte and Meier.

- Let the Right OneIn (2008), dir. Thomas Alfredson  - Swedishvampire movie. Not the sort of thing you’re probably expecting, either.

- 30 Days of Night(2007), dir. David Slade – One of the few vampire films in which the vampires actually terrified me.

- From Dusk till Dawn(1996), dir. Quentin Tarantino – Over the top action-horror ridiculousness. Myfavourite thing about this film is that it includes a scene of a young girlgetting her white t-shirt splattered with blood. Bethyl fans will understandwhat I mean. ;D

- What We Do In theShadows (2014), dir. Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi – Mockumentary aboutvampires in New Zealand. Probably my fave thing I’ve seen in years. HIGHLYrecommended. :D

Dark fantasy/sci-fi:

- The Company ofWolves (1984), dir. Neil Jordan – A young girl in present day has a feverishdream in which she and her family live in a fairytale forest. After her oldersister is killed by a wolf, she repeatedly dares the dangers of ‘the wood’ tovisit her grandmother. Based on Angela Carter’s tale from The Bloody Chamber, with a screenplay co-written by Carter herself,this film is a must-see for anyone who enjoys a blend of eroticism and horrorin their Little Red Riding Hood tales. Despite the low-budget and cheesy qualityof some of the effects, I totally love this movie. :D

- Brotherhood of theWolf (2001), dir. Christophe Gans – Perhaps not the greatest film evermade, but I have an eternal soft spot for the legend of the Beast of Gévaudan.Not to mention my girl-crush on Monica Bellucci, lol.

- Angel’s Egg (1985) - [summary forthcoming]

- Pitch Black (2000),dir. David Twohy – The other films in this franchise might be more famous, butthe first entry is, imo, a sci-fi horror classic. My favourite part is thedynamic between the ‘boy’ Jack and the notorious criminal, Riddick.

- Pan’s Labyrinth (2006),dir. Guillermo del Toro - In 1940s Spain, a young girl finds escape from thebrutal fascist regime by visiting a labyrinthine underworld full of strange andmagical creatures.

- The Prestige(2006), dir. Christopher Nolan – In late 19th c. London, rival stagemagicians obsessively compete to find the best stage illusion, with strange,and often tragic, results. Not a horror film, but an intense and suspenseful thrillerall the same.

- Solomon Kane(2009), dir. Michael J. Bassett – Based loosely on the classic pulp-fiction stories ofRobert E. Howard (aka, creator of Conan the Barbarian), this film is a mix ofdark fantasy and horror elements. JamesPurefoy and Rachel Hurd-Wood in a SanSan-esque type dynamic. Super cheesy, yes,but such a guilty pleasure, OMG.

Gothic romance/horror (aka, ‘young woman goes to live at manor house and creepy things ensue’ ):

- Jane Eyre (2006BBC miniseries), dir. Susanna White – There are countless adaptations of thisclassic, and all have their merits. While the 2011 Hollywood movie has a higherbudget and some very lovely visuals, for me, nothing tops the version with TobyStephens as Rochester!!

- Northanger Abbey(2007), dir. Jon Jones – My personal fave adaptation of Jane Austen’s gothic horror satire, starring an adorable young Felicity Jones as thewide-eyed, imaginative heroine.

- Rebecca (1940),dir.  Alfred Hitchcock – A self-consciousyoung bride is tormented by the memory of her husband’s late wife. LawrenceOlivier and Joan Fontaine in a visually haunting Hitchcock classic.

- Dragonwyck (1946), dir. Joseph L.Mankiewicz – In the 1840s, a young women from a Connecticut farming community isinvited to the estate of a wealthy patroon.Worth watching for the ever gorgeous Gene Tierney and an extremely attractiveyoung Vincent Price. Such good chemistry!

- The Crimson Petaland the White (2011 BBC miniseries) – Based on the novel by Michael Faber,this is the story of Sugar, a prostitute in 1870s London, and what happens whenshe becomes the mistress of a wealthy soapmaker. At once sensual and deeplyunsettling. Plays heavily on the Victorian theme of ‘the angel in thehouse’.  Highly recommended.

- Crimson Peak(2015), dir. Guillermo del Toro – A culmination of all of the tropes andplotlines from the classics mentioned above (with the most direct nods to Dragonwyck).Guillermo del Toro takes the horror elements that are generally only present asundercurrent in these gothic romance stories and brings them, in all theirgrotesque and terrifying glory, to the surface.

Folk horror:

- The VVitch (2015), dir. Robert Eggers – In 1600’s New England, a puritan family must move from the safety of a settlement to the edge of the wilderness. One of my top favourite folk horror films, ever.  

- A Field in England (2013), dir. Ben Wheatley – Deserters of an English Civil War battle travel through an eerily empty English countryside landscape on a psychedelia-tinged trip. This film is not for everyone, but is visually stunning and ticks many of my personal boxes. HIGHLY recommended for anyone who enjoys alchemical themes and imagery.  A folk horror masterpiece.

- The Wicker Man (1973), dir. Robin Hardy – This iconic film needs no introduction. Features one of my all-time favourite Sir Christopher Lee performances, as the incomparable Lord Summerisle. A must-see for anyone remotely interested in the folk horror genre.

- Witchfinder General(1968), dir. Michael Reeves  –Another 17th century period classic, starring Vincent Price as the villainousMatthew Hopkins, aka the Witchfinder General. While perhaps not as well-belovedfor me as the three listed above, I very much appreciate this film’s settingand overall aesthetic, as well as its absolutely beautiful soundtrack.

- The Devil Rides Out (1968) - [summary forthcoming]

- The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971)  - [summary forthcoming] 

- Black Death(2010), dir. Christopher Smith - Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, and Carice VanHouten in a supernatural-tinged medieval thriller. Essentially, ‘The Wicker Man’-meets-‘Heartof Darkness’, set to the backdrop of the black plague.

- Apostle (2018) - [summary forthcoming]

Misc/other:

- The Devil’s Whore(2008 miniseries), dir. Marc Munden – Despite the title, this is not actually ahorror movie, but is an exquisitely beautiful romantic period drama, set duringthe English Civil Wars. One of my all-time favourite historical miniseries,ever.

- Flesh + Blood(1985), dir. Paul Verhoeven – Set in Italy in 1501, Rutger Hauer is a leader ofa ruthless band of mercenaries and Jennifer Jason Leigh is the young maiden whobecomes their captive. Not a ‘horror’ film in technical sense, but Verhoeven’stypical bloody visuals and dark themes and tone secure it a place on this list.TRIGGER WARNING: Contains an intenserape scene.  

- Imprint (2007),dir. Michael Linn – Native Americanfolklore-based suspense/thriller. One of the many reasons I love this film isthat it was actually filmed onlocation in South Dakota (you have no idea how many times filmmakers try to pass off California landscapes as ‘SouthDakota’, it’s soo annoying).

- Southern Comfort(1981), dir. Walter Hill - In 1973, a Louisiana Army National Guard squad ontheir weekend maneuvers in rural bayou country antagonize the local Cajunpeople and end up ruthlessly hunted. A southern gothic thriller, with someWicker Man-esque elements.

- Winter’s Bone(2010), dir. Debra Granik – A teenage girl in the rural Ozarks must track downher missing father in order to protect her family. Not a horror film, but aquietly intense thriller.  A personalfave of mine.

- The Revenant (2015), dir. Alejandro González Iñarrítu– [summary forthcoming]

- Wind River (2017), dir. Taylor Sheridan – [summary forthcoming]

- Dunkirk (2017), dir. Christopher Nolan –[summary forthcoming]

- Trollhunter (2010), dir. André Øvredal  – Taking the form of a ‘found footage’ mockumentary, this movie follows filmmakers who set out to capture images of elusive Norwegian trolls

- Ed Wood (1994),dir. Tim Burton – Not a horror film, but rather a biographical comedy-dramabased on the life of the titular B-movie producer. An underrated TimBurton/Johnny Depp classic.

- Clue (1985), dir. Jonathan Lynn - A classic comedy, and one of my all ‘round fave murder mystery movies. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, this infinitely quotable film still makes me laugh, every time.

- The Whisperer InDarkness (2011), dir. Sean Branney  –Independent film, based on H. P. Lovecraft story of the same name. Made with ablend of vintage and modern techniques, intended to evoke the style of filmsfrom the 1930s.

- From Hell (2001),dir. the Hughes brothers – Murder mystery/thriller based on the Alan Mooregraphic novel. Gruesome and memorable interpretation of the unsolved tale ofJack the Ripper.

TV series:

- Ripper Street (2012tv series) – A period-drama procedural set in the aftermath of the Jack theRipper killings in late-Victorian Whitechapel, London. Centers around ChiefDetective-Inspector Reid, who is haunted by his inability to catch the serialkiller, as well as by dark events from his own past. (I only recommend thefirst two seasons, however, as after that the quality of the storylines greatlydecreased, imo).

- The League of Gentlemen(1999 tv series) – Legendary dark comedy/folk horror series created by MarkGatiss, Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, and Jeremy Dyson. If you enjoy the bizarre and grotesqueside of British humour, look no further. (See also the Christmas Special (set between series 2&3), The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalyse (2005), and the most recent, and incredibly well-done, Anniversary Special (2017)). 

- Psychoville (2009BBC series) - British psychologicalhorror/black comedy sitcom, created by above-mentioned The League of Gentlemen’s Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. Memorablecharacters include David and Maureen (a hilariously creepy mother and son duo),Mr. Jelly, a grumpy clown who never removes his face paint, and Jeremy thelibrarian, who is tormented by a mysterious nemesis, the Lynchian ‘Silent Singer’.

- Inside No. 9 (2014tv series) – Another excellent show by the evil geniuses that are ReeceShearsmith and Steve Pemberton, this is a series of stand-alone episodes that Ican only describe as ‘short stories on film’, each in sightly different genre. Someare comedic, some are psychological, some homages to famous things, some sad,some bizarre, some are downright terrifying (there is an episode entitled‘The Devil of Christmas’ that was probably the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in a longtime).

- Twin Peaks(1991 tv series), by Mark Frost and David Lynch – Don’t think I even need toexplain why this seminal and endlessly influential show makes the list!

- Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012 tv series) – Not remotely scary, or even remotely ‘horror’, this is rather a delightful little romantic period drama about a lady detective in 1920s Melbourne, Australia. Cheesy as hell at times, but worth it for the absolutely delicious chemistry between the two leads.

- Stranger Things (2016 tv series) – The first season is iconic in its own right, and the second season did NOT disappoint. This show is just the right combo of creepiness and comforting nostalgia. Not to mention the wonderfully-written and endlessly endearing cast of characters. I love it so much.  

Currentlywatching:

- Bates Motel (2013tv series) – Started watching this over the summer, and it is extremelywell-made and most definitely creepy and unsettling in every possible way.  I was very impressed so far, but I had totemporarily stop watching because this past summer was a difficult timeemotionally, and I didn’t want to compound things by watching something sopotentially disturbing. I plan to resume it asap, though!

- Project Blue Book (2019 tv series) - [more detailed summary forthcoming] Creepy/mysterious period drama about UFO coverups in the 1950s.

On my ‘still towatch’ list (**updated 08/04/2019):

Kwaidan (1965)

The Love Witch (2016)

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

The City of the Dead (1960)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Picnic at Hanging Rock 

Penda’s Fen

Robin Redbreast

Tam-Lin (1970)

The Borderlands (2013)

Kill List (2011)  - tried watching this one, but struggled to get through it, tbh

Mullholland Drive (2001)

Penny Dreadful (2014 tv series)

I realize that the majority of these are not ‘art house’ films by any definition, but I hope this list is nonetheless of some interest. If I’ve left out anything essential, it’s probably because it’s either slipped my mind, or I simply haven’t seen it yet. 

Thanks again for the ask – it’s reminded me of some excellent films I hadn’t thought about in a while. :) 

[aztequin]

Cuando se habla de adaptaciones de comic al cine pensamos en hombres poderosos que vienen de otro planeta, vigilantes nocturnos, trepa-muros y vengadores que salvan al planeta pero, no todas las historias están basadas en eso.

La siguiente lista contiene las películas basadas en cómics que no son de superhéroes.

1. Heavy Metal

Director: Gerald Potterton Escritor: Daniel Goldberg, Len Blum Editorial:  HM Communications, Inc Elenco: Rodger Bumpass, John Candy, Joe Flaherty

Película para adultos basada en las historias de fantasía y ciencia ficción distópicas y violentas publicadas por Heavy Metal Magazzine enmarcada por una gran banda sonora.

2. Dick Tracy

Director: Warren Beatty Escritor: Jim Cash, Jack Epps, Jr. Editorial: Chicago Tribune, Blackthorne Publishing Elenco: Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Madonna

Película basada en los personajes creados por Cherster Gould y publicados en segmentos dominicales por el Chicago Tribune en la década de los 30´s, narra las aventuras de un detective que lucha contra la mafia, lo que hace increíble a esta cinta es que solo se usaron 7 colores básicos.

3. Sin City

Director: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino Escritor: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez Editorial: Dark Horse Comics Elenco: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Benicio del Toro, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood

Basada en las historias del escritor Frank Miller es considerada una de las mejores y más fieles adaptaciones de un comic al cine, copian prácticamente cada viñeta con un estilo y técnica narrativa muy innovadora en su momento.

4. Rocketeer

Director: Joe Johnston Escritor: Dave Stevens, Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo Editorial: Pacific Comics Elenco: Billy Campbell, Timothy Dalton, Jennifer Connelly

En 1982  Pacific Comics presentó un proyecto simple pero muy vistoso que vería su consolidación en el cine de la mano del director Joe Johnston (Captain América: The first avenger) recreando maravillosamente el Hollywoodland de los años 30’s y a este personaje con un cohete luchando contra los nazis.

5. Mars Attacks

Director: Tim Burton Escritor: Jonathan Gems Editorial: Topps Comics Elenco: Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Michael J. Fox, Annette Bening, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker

Esta hilarante película da un giro irreverente, divertido y cínico a las invasiones extraterrestres que quieren destruir el planeta.

6. The Crow

Director: Alex Proyas Escritor: David J. Schow, John Shirley Editorial: Caliber Press Elenco: Brandon Lee, Rochelle Davis, Ernie Hudson

Creado y escrito por James O´Barr, The Crow estuvo rodeado de polémica ya que el actor Michael Massee mató accidentalmente al protagonista Bandon Lee sin haber terminado la película, misma que concluyó con un doble al que le retocaron el rostro de manera digital, fuera de este hecho la película es fiel al primer arco del cómic.

7. Men in black

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld Escritor: Ed Solomon Elenco: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith Editorial: Aircel Comics

Los hombres de negro forman parte de una organización de espionaje que se dedica a investigar casos relacionados con alienígenas.

8. The Spirit

Director: Frank Miller Escritor: Will Eisner, Frank Miller Editorial: Dynamite Comics, Quality Comics y Fiction House Elenco: Gabriel Macht, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jaime King, Eva Mendes

El género pulp, negro y policíaco es parte de la narrativa de estos comics creados por Will Eisner, luego de varios intentos fallidos de llevarlo a la pantalla grande fue hasta 2009 que Frank Miller en la dirección dio vida a este peculiar detective que se embarca en la aventura de detener a un grupo de terroristas  con una cinematografía muy similar a Sin City.

9. Tin Tin

Director: Steven Spielberg Escritor: Joe Cornish, Steven Moffat Editorial: Le Petit Vingtième, Le Soir Elenco: Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell

Les Aventures de Tintin et Milou es uno de los comics más importantes y clásicos de Europa, creado por Georges Remi – Hergé fue llevado a la pantalla en un formato de animación que narra las aventuras de este chico y su perro.

10. V for Vendetta

Director: James McTeigue Escritor: Lana Wachowski y Lilly Wachowski Editorial: Vertigo Comics Elenco: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Stephen Rea

Basada en la historia escrita por Alan Moore en los 80’s en su versión en cine ha sido considerada una de las películas más influyentes de la historia, en un futuro la oscura dictadura fascista en Gran Bretaña y es cuando V un terrorista en este sistema tiene como objetivo despertar y alentar a la población para acabar con esa dictadura.

11. Road to Perdition

Director: Sam Mendes Escritor: David Self Editorial: Paradox Press Elenco: Paul Newman, Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig, Stanley Tucci, Jude Law, Tyler Hoechlin

Una historia de mafia en donde un padre y un hijo buscan venganza cuando su esposa y uno de sus hijos son asesinados durante la gran depresión.

12. Dreed

Director: Pete Travis Escritor: Alex Garland Editorial: 2000 AD Elenco: Karl Urban, Lena Headey, Olivia Thirlby

La primer película sobre este personaje se estrenó en la década de los 90’s, su reebot es más interesante, es una película simple y brutal, Dredd y una compañera novata quedan atrapados en un edificio de departamentos donde tienen que destruir una de las más poderosas organizaciones criminales.

13. Edge of Tomorrow

Director: Doug Liman Escritor: Christopher McQuarrie, Jex Butterworth, Jon-Henry Butterworth Editorial: Shūeisha Elenco: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt

Basada y adaptada del manga all you need is kill creado por Hiroshi Sakurazaka, estamos frente a una película de ciencia ficción en la cual su personaje principal es un soldado que combate contra una especie alienígena que invade la tierra, este soldado muere una y otra y otra vez repitiendo el mismo día en donde aprende a sobrevivir para así obtener la clave para terminar con los invasores.

14. From Hell

Director: Albert y Allen Hughes Escritor: Terry Hayes, Rafael Yglesias Editorial: Eddie Campbell Comics Elenco: Johnny Depp, Ian Holm, Heather Graham

La historia creada por Alan Moore nos narra la historia de Jack el destripador con una mirada más objetiva e histórica desde la perspectiva de Fred Abberline, inspector que sigue el caso de los asesinatos.

15. TMNT

Director: Jonathan Liebesman Escritor: Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec Editorial: Mirage Studios Elenco: Megan Fox, Pete Ploszek, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Alan Ritchson, Danny Woodburn, Whoopi Goldberg

Este reboot producido por Michael Bay este cuarteto de tortugas mutantes deja muy atrás su anterior trilogía, son más agresivas que nunca adaptando de manera más fiel a como eran en un inicio en los comics creados por Peter Laird y Kevin Eastman, la misión es detener a Shredder antes de que desate el caos en la ciudad.

16. Surrogates

Director: Jonathan Mostow Escritor: John Brancato, Michael Ferris Editorial: Top Shelf Productions Elenco: Bruce Willis, James Cromwell

Adaptada del comic creado por Robert Venditti vemos un futuro donde las personas han sustituido su cuerpo físico por uno robótico por control remoto, el agente Greer del FBI ha descubierto una conspiración tras un asesinato de un sustituto.

17. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Director: Stephen Norrington Escritor: James Robinson Editorial: America’s Best Comics Elenco: Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Jason Flemyng

Alan Moore es sin duda uno de los más excéntricos escritores que ha tenido más adaptaciones de sus obras al cine, para esta película nos presenta personajes de la literatura clásica formando un equipo para detener una amenaza mundial.

18. Mistery Men

Director: Kinka Usher Escritor: Bob Burden, Neil Cuthbert Editorial: A Fox Feature Comic Elenco: Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Greg Kinnear, Paul Reubens, Janeane Garofalo, William H. Macy, Geoffrey Rush

Película que es una parodia al mundo de los superhéroes, con personajes absurdos que tratarán de salvar al mundo de un malvado villano.

19. The Shadow

Director: Russell Mulcahy Escritor: David Koepp Editorial: Dynamite Comics Elenco: Alec Baldwin, Penelope Ann Miller, Ian McKellen, Tim Curry

El personaje creado por Walter B. Gibson fue llevado a la pantalla grande en 1994, contando la historia de este héroe que puede hipnotizar y leer sus mentes para detener a un peligroso descendiente de Genghis Khan.

20. Priest

Director: Scott Stewart Escritor: Cory Goodman Editorial: Daewon C.I. Elenco: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Lily Collins

Basada en el manga coreano donde un soldado de la iglesia está en una misión en la que tendrá que enfrentar a los vampiros que habitan en esta extraña tierra futurista.

21. 300

Director: Zack Snyder Escritor: Zack Snyder, Oscar Luna Barrera, Kurt Johnstad, Michael Gordon Editorial: Dark Horse Comics Elenco: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro, Michael Fassbender

Película que ya es un canon en cuanto a adaptaciones se refiere por su narrativa y cinematografía, este trabajo nos cuenta la batalla de Termópilas donde 300 espartanos hacen frente a la invasión persa.

Espero que esta selección sea de tu agrado y la disfrutes.

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21 Películas basadas en cómics que no son de DC Cómics o Marvel Cuando se habla de adaptaciones de comic al cine pensamos en hombres poderosos que vienen de otro planeta, vigilantes nocturnos, trepa-muros y vengadores que salvan al planeta pero, no todas las historias están basadas en eso.

[todaynewsstories]

Opera soprano Montserrat Caballé dies, age 85 | Music | DW

As announced by The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona, Montserrat Caballé passed away early Saturday morning. The famous operatic opera star will be laid to rest on Monday. 

When Montserrat Caballé was born on April 12, 1933, her parents named her after a nearby mountain range close to Barcelona. Yet no one in the family might have dreamed that the newborn would go on to conquer the lofty summits of coloratura singing, or would be revered as the “queen of bel canto.”

From Bremen out into the world

On stage in 1968

After studying voice at a conservatory in her native Barcelona, Montserrat Caballé made her debut in 1956 at the Theater Basel, where she played the consumptive Mimi in Puccini’s “La Bohème.” Three years later, the young soprano joined the ensemble of the Theater Bremen, where she consistently developed her repertoire and studied diverse soprano parts.

As audiences in the rather restrained northern German city of Bremen enthusiastically applauded the singer, foreign houses also became aware of Caballé. When in New York in 1965, the soprano stepped in for singer Marilyn Horne, who had fallen ill, and performed Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia” without a rehearsal. “This is the bel canto specialist we’ve been waiting for,” cheered enthusiastic critics after Caballé’s impressive performance.

Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti

On stage with Jose Carreras at a benefit concert in 1995

This sudden New York success might have surprised the singer but it was a pivotal step on her international career path. In an interview about the Italian vocal style decades later, she said of her New York performance: “Bel canto always sounded too much like the cry of a rooster. Mozart was better. The conductor simply told me to sing it as though it were Mozart.”

Although Caballé often interpreted works by Mozart or Richard Strauss, audiences especially wanted to hear her perform virtuoso coloratura parts in operas by Gioacchino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti. Indeed, rising demand for the soprano saw her soon make appearances at the Met in New York, as well as major international opera houses in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, London, Paris, Milan or Buenos Aires.

A friend of Callas

Just before singing the lead role of Imogen in Bellini’s ‘Il Pirata’ in London

After her meteoric ascent to the bel canto summit, Caballé became close with a colleague who was both admired and feared: Maria Callas. The two divas got along quite well, with the younger asking Callas for advice on difficult parts. The latter once described Caballé’s voice as a “light breeze on the skin.”

Caballé likewise had good relationship with soprano Renata Tebaldi, who was Callas’ fiercest competitor. The Spanish soprano was likely pleased after the international press labeled her the heir of the two celebrated divas in the 1970s and 80s. But amid the hype, bel canto remained the most important focus of Caballé’s wide-ranging stage repertoire.

Unafraid of rubbing elbows

Queen’s lead singer, Freddie Mercury, was a longtime fan

The soprano’s fans didn’t just stem from the classical music scene. One of the opera star’s most famous admirers was Freddie Mercury, lead singer in British rock group Queen. In 1987, he and Caballé collaborated on the album “Barcelona,” with the eponymous title song reaching the top of the European pop charts.

The album’s reissue for the 1992 Olympic Games was again a major success. On her 1997 album “Friends for Life,” Caballé collaborated with pop greats like Bruce Dickinson from band Iron Maiden (covering the Queen song “Bohemian Rapshody”), in addition to Johnny Hallyday, Jonny Logan, Vangelis and Helmut Lotti. 

In addition to her classical repertoire, the singer was also interested in the traditional music of her Catalan homeland. She performed numerous concerts with her daughter, the soprano Montserrat Martí.

A UNESCO ambassador, Caballé received countless honors such as the Federal Cross of Merit awarded by Germany. In 2007, she received the ECHO Klassik Prize for her life’s work.

The singer had said she “wants to die on stage”

‘The best voice in the world’

Freddie Mercury was just one of many who raved about Caballé’s voice, saying it was “the best in the world.” Critics praised the almost inexhaustible versatility of her repertoire, the unusually dramatic nature of her performances, and her mastery of vocal technique. She was revered not only as the “queen of bel canto,” but one of the greatest singers of her generation.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Jakob Dylan

Bob Dylan’s youngest son Jakob is certainly nowhere near as famous as his father but is clearly a successful musician, winning two Grammys as singer in the rock band “The Wallflowers.” Following in his father’s footsteps, he recorded two folk albums. Be it soft or loud, Jakob is musically versatile and has certainly inherited a great deal of his father’s talent.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Norah Jones

The American soul singer, born Geetali Norah Jones Shankar, has a famous father: Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. Making traditional music from India famous worldwide, he influenced Beatles’ guitarist George Harrison and others. “Come Away With Me,” her recording debut, gave Norah instant world fame and yielded seven Grammy awards.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Jeff Buckley

As a singer and songwriter, his father Tim once performed with the greatest of his time, including Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix. Jeff’s first and only studio album, “Grace,” was a thorough success. His rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is considered one of the most famous cover versions ever. Three years after its release, Buckley drowned in a river, age 30.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Nancy Sinatra

Nancy’s singing career peaked in the 1960s. “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” stormed the charts worldwide. The duets “Summer Wine” with Lee Hazelwood and “Something Stupid” with her father were also huge successes. For his film “Kill Bill,” Quentin Tarantino unearthed Nancy Sinatra’s song “Bang Bang.” Her fame has meanwhile faded, but “Old Blue Eyes” continues to be venerated, also by Bob Dylan.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Eliot Sumner

As front man for The Police and as a solo artist, her father Gordon Sumner, alias Sting, is one of the most famous musicians of all time. Eliot has enjoyed musical success as well. Using the name “I Blame Coco,” she landed a hit in 2011: “Self Machine.” The 25-year-old appears on her current album “Information” under her real name.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Julian Lennon

He’s to be thanked for the Beatles hit “Hey Jude.” Paul McCartney wrote it for Julian, who was sad over his parents’s separation. Like his father John, Julian is a musician of multiple gifts and embarked on a successful career after his father was murdered. The physical and musical resemblance of father and son cannot be overlooked – or overheard. On the right: half-brother Sean.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Ziggy Marley

Along with several of his (probably 10) siblings and half-siblings – including Damien, Sharon, Stephen and other Marleys – the oldest son of the iconic reggae artist Bob Marley carries on the tradition and is considered one of today’s foremost reggae artists. Along with musical gifts, Ziggy has a passion for football in common with his late father.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Rosanne Cash

Like her father Johnny, Rosanne is a country music icon. Since the 1980’s, the Man in Black’s eldest daugther has landed 11 No. 1 singles in the country charts. She often shared the stage with her father. Having passed age 60, Rosanne hasn’t tired of performing. Last year, her newest album won three Grammys.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Miley Cyrus

The famous country singer Billy Ray Cyrus had a first-hand view of his daughter’s meteoric rise to fame, depicting her father in “Hannah Montana,” the TV series that was her breakthrough. Initiating her singing career as a teenager, she’s sold in the millions since. Drug abuse and nude poses split the audience but have not impaired her success.

Walking in big footsteps: famous musicians and their children

Montserrat Martí

Of course it’s not just the children of rock and pop musicians who inherit the music gene. Martí was blessed with the exceptional voice of her mother, the Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé, regarded as one of the 20th century’s top operatic singers. Mother and daughter have made several joint appearances. Author: Felix Schlagwein/rf

Author: Felix Schlagwein/rf

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[hollywoodages-blog]

Marion Cotillard Height Weight Measurements

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Marion Cotillard Height Weight Measurements

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Marion Cotillard Biography

Marion Cotillard conceived 30 September 1975 is a French performing artist, artist lyricist, artist, naturalist and representative for Greenpeace who accomplished worldwide distinction with the film La Vie en Rose (2007). She is the beneficiary of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, two César Awards, an European Award, and a Lumières Award. Cotillard has showed up in more than 50 highlight films and is likewise known for being the substance of Lady Dior purses since 2008. She turned into a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France in 2010 and elevated to Officer in 2016. Was named “The Most Bankable French Actress of the 21st Century” in 2014, and depicted as “the colossal quiet film on-screen character of our opportunity” by Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph for her capacity to demonstrate feelings just with her eyes and outward appearances, in spite of the fact that she has never showed up in a noiseless film. She got France’s most elevated respect and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 2016. Cotillard had her first English-dialect part in the TV arrangement Highlander in 1993, influenced her film to make a big appearance in The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed (1994), her initially driving part in the TV film Chloé (1996), and made her leap forward in France playing Lilly Bertineau in the activity comic drama Taxi (1998), which earned her a César Award assignment for Most Promising Actress and was her initially film industry hit. She influenced her Hollywood presentation as Joséphine To sprout in Tim Burton’s Big Fish (2003). Since 2003, Cotillard has exchanged amongst French and English-dialect parts in standard and workmanship house creations, and has gotten universal praise and honors for her exhibitions in movies, for example, Tina Lombardi in A Very Long Engagement (2004), for which she won her first César Award for Best Supporting Actress. For her depiction of the French vocalist Édith Piaf in the biopic La Vie en Rose (2007), Cotillard accomplished overall acknowledgment and won her second César Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Lumières Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress, turning into the first and (starting at 2017) just performer to win an Academy Award for an execution in French, and furthermore the second on-screen character and one of just six on-screen characters to have won this honor for a section talked in a remote dialect. Her execution of Luisa Contini in the melodic film Nine (2009), earned her a moment Golden Globe selection. She next featured in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies (2009) as Billie Frechette, and played Mal in Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010). In 2012, she got boundless basic recognition for her execution as the twofold amputee orca mentor Stéphanie in Rust and Bone (2012), and was designated for the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Critics’ Choice, Screen Actors Guild and the César Awards. She was very acclaimed and granted for her lead exhibitions in The Immigrant (2013) and Two Days, One Night (2014), accepting a moment Academy Award designation for Best Actress for the last mentioned, which was likewise her second selection for a French-dialect film and the first run through a performing artist was assigned for a Belgian film. Cotillard wound up plainly one of just six on-screen characters to get numerous Academy Award assignments for remote dialect exhibitions. Cotillard played Joan of Arc in front of an audience in various nations in the vicinity of 2005 and 2015 in the oratorio Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher. Her English-dialect parts incorporate Fanny Chenal in A Good Year (2006), Adriana in Midnight in Paris (2011), Dr. Leonora Orantes in Contagion (2011), Miranda Tate in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (2015), Marianne Beausejour in Allied (2016) and Dr. Sofia Rikkin in Assassin’s Creed (2016). She gave voice acting to enlivened movies as The Rose in The Little Prince (2015), April in April and the Extraordinary World (2015) and Scarlet Overkill in the French rendition of Minions (2015). Her other prominent French and Belgian movies incorporate La Belle Verte (1996), Furia (1999), War in the Highlands (1999), Lisa (2001), Pretty Things (2001), Love Me If You Dare (2003), Innocence (2004), Toi et Moi (2006) and Dikkenek (2006). Cotillard was conceived in Paris, and grew up around Orléans, in an aesthetically slanted, “clamoring, inventive family unit”. Her dad, Jean-Claude Cotillard, is a performing artist, educator, previous emulate, and 2006 Molière Award-winning chief, of Breton drop. Cotillard’s mom, Niseema Theillaud, who has Kabyle family line, is additionally an on-screen character and show instructor. Her two more youthful siblings, Quentin and Guillaume, are twins. Guillaume is a screenwriter and executive. Cotillard started acting amid her adolescence, showing up in one of her dad’s plays. In the late 90s, Cotillard was involved with French on-screen character Julien Rassam. She had a long haul association with French performer Stéphan Guérin-Tillié from 2000 to 2005. They co-featured in the short movies Quelques jours de trop (2000) and Heureuse (2001), in the 2001 TV arrangement Les redoutables, and in the 2005 component films Cavalcade and Edy. She dated French vocalist Sinclair from 2005 to 2007. Since October 2007, Cotillard has been involved with French performer and executive Guillaume Canet. They had been companions since 1997, and co-featured together out of the blue years after the fact in the 2003 film Love Me If You Dare. Regardless of regular misguided judgment, the couple are not hitched. In spite of the fact that since 2010 Cotillard has been spotted wearing a jewel solitaire on her left hand – a present from Canet – they are not locked in either. In 2014, Cotillard denied being hitched to Canet, rather alluding to him as “my beau” in interviews. In 2011 they had their first youngster, a child, and in 2017 their second tyke, a girl was conceived.

Marion Cotillard Personal Info.

Full Name: Marion Cotillard

Nick Name: Marion

Family Members: Niseema Theillaud (Father) Quentin Cotillard (Brother) Guillaume Cotillard (Brother) Laurent Cotillard (Cousin)

Education: Her educational background is not known.

Date of Birth: 30th September, 1975

Birthplace: Paris, France

Zodiac Sign: Libra

Religion: non-religious

Ethnicity: White

Nationality: French

Profession: Actress, Model, Environmentalist, Voice Actor, Singer-songwriter, Spokesperson, Activist

Measurements: 35-24-34 in or 89-61-87 cm

Bra Size: 32C

Height: 5′ 6″ (168 cm)

Weight: 126lbs (57 kg)

Eye Color: Blue

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Dress Size: 2

Shoe Size: 7

Boyfriend/Dating History: Guillaume Canet (2007-Present) – Marion is as of now dating French on-screen character and executive, Guillaume since 2007. In any case, they met on the arrangement of 2003 motion picture Love Me If You Dare out of the blue. The couple don’t share their news about being as one to the media. Be that as it may, they are seen together every now and again shopping. They are living respectively and have brought forth their first youngster, a child named Marcel, which they declared on May 20, 2011. Johnny Depp (2008) – RUMOR

Known For: La Vie en Rose, Incepted, Rust and Bone

Active Year: 1993 (present)

Friend: Cécile Cassel (actress), Mélanie Laurent (actress), Élodie Navarre (actress), Kate Winslet (actress), Matthias Schoenaerts (actor)

Associated People: Hylda Queally (agent)

Favorite People: Will Ferrel (actor), Kate Winslet (actress), Maryl Streep (Fashion Idol), Toni Collette (Fashion Idol)

Favorite Bands: Radiohead, David Bowie, Elvis Presley

Favorite Accessories: Lady Dior Handbags

Instagram

Filmography

Year Title 1994 The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed 1996 My Sex Life… or How I Got into an Argument 1996 La Belle Verte 1998 Taxi 1999 War in the Highlands 1999 Furia 1999 Blue Away to America 2000 Taxi 2 2001 Lisa 2001 Pretty Things 2002 A Private Affair 2003 Taxi 3 2003 Love Me If You Dare 2003 Big Fish 2004 Innocence 2004 A Very Long Engagement 2005 Cavalcade 2005 Love Is in the Air 2005 Mary 2005 Burnt Out 2005 The Black Box 2005 Edy 2006 Toi et moi 2006 Dikkenek 2006 Fair Play 2006 A Good Year 2007 La Vie en rose 2009 Public Enemies 2009 The Last Flight 2009 Nine 2010 Inception 2010 Little White Lies 2011 Midnight in Paris 2011 Contagion 2012 Rust and Bone 2012 The Dark Knight Rises 2013 The Immigrant 2013 Blood Ties 2013 Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues 2014 Two Days, One Night 2015 Macbeth 2016 It’s Only the End of the World 2016 From the Land of the Moon 2016 Allied 2016 Assassin’s Creed 2017 Rock’n Roll 2017 Ismael’s Ghosts

1995 Snuff Movie 1996 Insalata Mista 1997 Affaire classée 1997 La sentence 1998 La surface de réparation 1999 L’appel de la cave 2000 Quelques jours de trop 2000 Le marquis 2001 Heureuse 2001 Boomer 2008 Lady Noire Affair 2010 Lady Rouge 2010 Lady Blue Shanghai 2011 Lady Grey London 2011 L.A.dy Dior

Television

Year Title 1993 Étude sur le Mouvement 1993 Highlander 1994 Extrême Limite 1996 Théo la tendresse 1996 Chloé 1996 L’@mour est à réinventer 1998 Interdit de Vieillir 2001 Les Redoutables 2001 Une femme piégée (aka Vertigo: A Woman in Danger) 2005 Une américaine à Paris 2008 Génération duo 2013 Le Débarquement 2014 Comedy Central’s All-Star Non-Denominational Christmas Special 2015 Castings

See Also: Doutzen Kroes Body Measurements

Search Terms: Marion Cotillard Height Weight

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[photoshop-creative]

Creating art for TV

Pop culture has long been a muse for so many artists, and Brazil-based Butcher Billy has made a name for himself on the internet by taking well-known icons and placing them into some unlikely, and often famous, scenes.

With hit Netflix show Black Mirror though, Billy took the entire series to an unfamiliar place. The show is comprised of unrelated standalone stories, all with a focus on the horror of technology and social media. Billy turned each of the eleven episodes into a set of posters that took this dystopian hit out of the near future, and into a classic comic-book era.

We asked the artist on his influences, the project and its reception.

Have you always had a passion for popular culture?

Definitely. I graduated in graphic design in college and I’d always been interested in graphic design as a kid. My subjects were always pop culture icons!

Who are your biggest influences?

When it comes to who inspires me one way or another, I’ve got a highly unlikely selection of influences, including Salvador Dali, Stanley Kubrick, Jack Kirby, Tim Burton, Osamu Tezuka, Nick Hornby, Steve Ditko, Bettie Page, Malcom McLaren, David Bowie, Quentin Tarantino, Andy Warhol, Oscar Wilde, Roy Lichtenstein and many others. Most of them have nothing to do with each other, but in my head they all make sense.

San Junipero

Can you tell us a bit about when you discovered Photoshop?

I’d heard about Photoshop before I got to college. In my first year, a classmate came in with a printed piece of paper with a simple chocolate milk label that he’d produced in Photoshop with his name instead of the brand. My head exploded when I saw it and I didn’t rest until I’d done the same, only with comics and movie logos. It was then that I really started playing with Photoshop.

Your fascination with popular culture has led to a lot of popular projects online. Which are you most proud of?

Recently I worked on ‘Butcher Billy Changes Bowie’, which involved taking the same image of Bowie and combining it with other icons – such as the Joker, RoboCop and Willy Wonka – to create different posters for each of his songs. Similarly the All-New Superpowered Post-Punk Marvels poster series combined post-punk singers such as Morrissey and Ian Curtis into classic Marvel posters and was featured by Behance’s Illustration gallery.

So where did the ideas for your Black Mirror series come from?

Well, I think overall the collection had to look as if there was a Black Mirror comic book back in the 70s that inspired the actual TV series. What interested me most is that the episodes are independent and have very distinct genres, which allowed me to play with classic comic styles such as romance, horror, crime and suspense.

Nosedive

Were you a big fan of the show?

I only discovered it recently when it featured on Netflix. But I immediately recognised a structure very much like vintage shows I used to love like The Twilight Zone and Tales From the Crypt, despite having a concept that deals with the future and modern technology. That contrast was what made me want to work with it. Tales From the Crypt was a comic in the late 60s when they decided to do the TV series in the 80s, so I thought it would be interesting to ‘reverse engineer’ Black Mirror.

How did you bring each of these posters to life? They all feel both coherent, yet clearly independent from one another.

It doesn’t necessarily have to start on paper, but it certainly has to start in my head. I spend a lot more time figuring out in my mind what I want to achieve than in the actual execution of it. I’m always amazed by the blend modes and filters in Photoshop, I love mixing that side of Photoshop with the illustrative side.

Charlie Brooker, the creator and writer of Black Mirror, actually retweeted the images when you posted them on Twitter: that must have been surreal!

Yes! Charlie retweeted all of the pieces and then wrote to me to say he loved the project and wanted prints for his office.

White Christmas

So will you be doing more posters for the fourth series of the show, which airs later in 2017?

Well, it’s a bit more than that – it turns out that I actually will be in the fourth series! Charlie invited me to collaborate on the production design of one of the upcoming Black Mirror episodes.

That is exciting! Do you have any other projects lined up in the future that fans of your work should look out for?

I’m taking part in a couple of exclusive pieces for a Transport For London exhibition in a couple of months. Also, a collection of approximately 20 different arcade cabinets decorated with my artworks is about to be released in Paris.

[mredwinsmith]

New Diamond Select Toys Products in April Previews Magazine

It’s a new month and there’s a new issue of Preview magazine. Check below for all the newest goods coming from Diamond Select Toys. If something catches your eye – ask you local comic shop to pre-order!

Aliens Covenant Movie Minimates Series 1 Asst.

A Diamond Select Toys Release! The most anticipated sci-fi film of the year is almost here, and DST is celebrating with a new assortment of Minimates! Springing out of the successful Alien and Aliens Minimates lines, this new assortment for Alien: Covenant will include four different two-packs based on the film, including crew members David, Tennessee, Daniels and a variety of new creatures! Each 2-inch Minimates mini-figure features 14 points of articulation and fully interchangeable parts and accessories. Each two-pack comes packaged on a full-color blister card. (Item # APR172627, SRP: $9.99/ea.)

DC Gallery Deluxe Batman TAS Harley Quinn 25th Anniversary PVC Diorama

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Harley Quinn is turning 25, but you get the present! The first-ever Deluxe DC Gallery PVC Diorama celebrates Harley’s 1992 debut on Batman: The Animated Series with a new diorama of the Joker’s gal pal sitting on top of a gift-wrapped Batman – an anniversary present to Harley from her Puddin’! Measuring almost 10 inches tall, this diorama features detailed sculpting and paint applications and comes packaged in a full-color window box. Sculpted by Varner Studios! (Item # APR172648, SRP: $60.00)

Dark Tower Movie Minimates Series 1 Box Set

A Diamond Select Toys Release! The epic novels by Stephen King are now an epic feature film, and DST is epically excited about it! This all-new box set of four Minimates mini-figures features four characters from the upcoming film – Jake, the Gunslinger, the Man in Black and one top-secret character – each with up to 14 points of articulation and fully interchangeable parts and accessories. All four figures come packaged on a full-color blister card. (Item #APR172628, SRP: $24.99)

Marvel Gallery Captain America Sam Wilson PVC Diorama

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Interest in the Marvel Gallery line of PVC dioramas has gotten so high that DST’s newest offering needs wings! Sam Wilson, the former Falcon and current Captain America, spreads his wings in his modern-day patriotic costume. This highly detailed sculpt features exacting paint details, as well as a removable shield that can be placed on his arm or on his back. In scale to all Gallery and Femme Fatales PVC dioramas, FalCap measures approximately 10 inches tall by 9 inches wide and comes packaged in a full-color window box. Sculpted by Jean St. Jean! (Item # APR172655, SRP: $45.00)

Marvel Gallery Civil War Movie Black Panther PVC Diorama

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Marvel Gallery Netflix TV Daredevil PVC Diorama

A Diamond Select Toys Release! The Netflix-based series of Marvel Gallery PVC dioramas continues with none other than Daredevil himself! Joining Luke Cage and the Punisher, this approximately 11” sculpture depicts the TV version of the horned hero of Hell’s Kitchen in amazing detail. Capturing the likeness and costume of actor Charlie Cox, this diorama sees Matt Murdock standing on a rooftop pedestal, his billy clubs at the ready. Daredevil is in scale to all Gallery and Femme Fatales PVC dioramas, and comes packaged in a full-color window box. (Item # APR172653, SRP: $45.00)

Marvel Netflix Minimates Iron Fist Box Set

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Marvel Premier Collection Psylocke Resin Statue

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Hello, ninja! The X-Man Psylocke has been a fan-favorite ever since her 1990s makeover into a psychic ninja, and now DST has created the ultimate Psylocke collectible! This full-size resin statue depicts Betsy Braddock on a burning rooftop, surrounded by ninja arrows. Measuring approximately 12 inches tall, the statue is limted to only 3,000 pieces, and comes packaged with a numbered certificate of authenticity in a full-color, hand-numbered box. Sculpted by Alejandro Pereira! (Item # APR172652, SRP: $150.00)

Nightmare Before Christmas Resin Busts

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Move over, elf – there’s a skeleton and a rag doll on the shelf! These highly detailed resin busts of Jack Skellington and Sally the Rag Doll from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas each measure approximately 6 inches tall and sit atop detailed bases depicting the buildings of Halloween Town. Limited to only 3,000 pieces each, they each come packaged with a numbered certificate of authenticity in a full-color, hand-numbered box. Sculpted by Joe Menna!

Jack Bust (Item # APR172629, SRP: $59.99)

Sally Bust (Item # APR172630, SRP: $59.99)

Nightmare Before Christmas Deluxe Cloth Dolls

A Diamond Select Toys Release! The deluxe cloth Nightmare Before Christmas doll line continues with two new characters! These large-scale dolls of Zero the Ghost Dog and Santa Claus are in scale to the previously released Jack, Sally, Finkelstein and the Mayor, and look like they came straight from the movie! Based on the classic Japanese imports, Santa Claus measures approximately 10 inches tall and features a real cloth costume and multiple points of articulation, while the fully sculpted Zero hovers over a doghouse diorama atop a clear support stand. Each comes packaged in a full-color window box.

Zero (Item # APR172632, SRP: $49.99)

Santa (Item # APR172633, SRP: $49.99)

Nightmare Before Christmas Minimates Series 4 2-Packs Asst.

A Diamond Select Toys Release! It’s a new series of Nightmare Before Christmas Minimates and they’re a dream come true! The cast of creepy characters expands with three new 2-packs: Snowman Jack with glow-in-the-dark Oogie Boogie, the specialty-exclusive Devil and Corpse Boy, and the also-exclusive Saxophonist with Undersea Gal! Each 2-inch Minimates mini-figure features up to 14 points of articulation with fully interchangeable parts, including a removable snowman costume! Each 2-pack comes packaged on a full-color blister card. (Item # APR172631, SRP: $9.99)/ea.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Select Action Figures Series 3 Asst

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is the gift that keeps on giving! Three new figure sets are coming your way for Halloween, including the Pumpkin King, Santa Claus, and Lock, Shock and Barrel, each sculpted in an approximately 7-inch scale with character-appropriate articulation. Plus, each figure set includes an exclusive figure or diorama piece – Lock, Shock and Barrel come with their walking bathtub, Santa Claus comes with an Elf and part of the town square diorama, and the Pumpkin King comes with part of the central fountain! Connect the Santa and Pumpkin King bases with other releases to make a larger diorama! Sculpted by Dave Cortes! (Item # APR172634, $149.94 per case)

Pumpkin King (Item # APR172635, SRP: $24.99)

Santa Claus (Item # APR172636, SRP: $24.99)

Lock, Shock & Barrel (Item # APR172637, SRP: $24.99)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Select Action Figures

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Avast, me hearties! Having dazzled audiences for over a decade, the swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise is headed into uncharted waters with the fifth installment, Dead Men Tell No Tales! These 7-inch scale action figures of stars Jack Sparrow and Barbossa are based on the new film and feature each actor’s likeness as well as approximately 16 points of articulation. They also include diorama bases that can combine to build the deck of the famous pirate ship the Black Pearl! Each figure comes packaged in the display-ready Select figure packaging, with spine artwork for shelf reference. Sculpted by Gentle Giant!

Jack Sparrow (Item # APR172650, SRP: $24.99)

Barbossa (Item # APR172651, SRP: $24.99)

Pulp Fiction Select Action Figures Series 1 Asst.

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Bring the coolness of Pulp Fiction home with you! Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 movie masterpiece is now a highly detailed line of 7-inch collectible figures, bringing the film’s cool-as-ice cast to your shelf! The first series includes go-for-broke boxer Butch Coolidge, born-again hitman Jules Winnfield and fearsome mob boss Marsellus Wallace. Each character is 7-inch scale, with detailed paint applications and the actor’s likeness, as well as 16 points of articulation and character-specific accessories. Plus, each comes with a diorama piece: Jules includes the room where the big shootout takes place, and Butch and Marsellus each come with a piece of sidewalk from their chase scene! Packaged in display-ready Select packaging with spine artwork for shelf reference. Assortment includes two of each figure. Sculpted by Gentle Giant! (Item # APR172649, SRP: $24.99/ea.)

Wonder Woman Movie Vinimates Vinyl Figures

A Diamond Select Toys Release! The Vinimates vinyl figure line explodes into the DC Comics cinematic universe with two vinyl figures based on the Wonder Woman movie! With one figure depicting Diana in her training gear, and one in her full Wonder Woman outfit, these two figures will kick off a line that will eventually unite the entire Justice League! Each 4-inch vinyl figure is sculpted in a pose straight from the movies, with an articulated neck to customize each pose. Each comes packaged in a full-color window box.

Wonder Woman Vinyl Figure (Item # APR172646, SRP: $9.99)

Wonder Woman Training Gear Vinyl Figure (Item # APR172647, SRP: $9.99)

from AwesomeToyBlog http://ift.tt/2nt6WdF

[imaginationworldstellacarrier]

Online Amazon Reviews Posted by Tuesday March 21, 2017 written by Stella Carrier (images and text from Amazon.com

shoes for crews review 

www.shoesforcrews.com

Falcon

547 Reviews

Men's, Black

Style# 6007

These Falcon shoes that are a size 9.5 Wide in Men’s were actually my second purchase  when I bought these on February 17, 2017. This was because I had ordered some Panther II shoes on October 9, 2016 that were not as comfortable. The positives to these Falcon shoes are that they are a definite improvement from the previous shoes that I ordered. Additionally, I currently am blessed to work at a University food service job that has quality work conditions yet also requires good non-stick shoes due to the fact that some of the floors can get a little slippery due to the high demand of food required to be served from the high volume of customers that sometimes come in during the week .These Falcon shoes do the job of helping to keep me slip-free when I take food back to the serving station that I work at andor haul dishes back to the dishroom (where it can sometimes get slippery despite best intentions). These Falcon tennis shoes stay comfortable for my feet both during my work shift and during the timeframe that I wear them walking to and from work.

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Public Reviews Written by You Show:   Most recent reviews  Most recent comments    Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-20 Draw 50 Buildings and Other Structures: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Castles and Cathedrals, Skyscrapers and Bridges, and So Much More... Offered by Random House LLC Price: $7.99 Eclectic House Drawings, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Draw 50 Buildings and Other Structures: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Castles and Cathedrals, Skyscrapers and Bridges, and So Much More... (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of Draw 50 Buildings and Other Structures: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Castles and Cathedrals, Skyscrapers and Bridges, and So Much More... by Lee J. Ames has a multitude of different images/drawings of a diverse range of houses. Some of the images that are shown for a person to draw; Leaning Tower (Pisa Italy), Big Ben (London England), Transamerica Building (San Francisco USA), Rheims Cathedral (Rheims, France), Chalet (Switzerland), Pagoda (China),Georgian House (New Hampshire U.S.A.), House, 1621 (Kent, England),Log Cabin, and more. Comment | Permalink How To Draw Cars - Step By Step Price: $9.99 Whether You Want To Draw Just For Fun or Other Ideas, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: How To Draw Cars - Step By Step (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of How To Draw Cars - Step By Step by Tim Rugendyke and Lukas Niklasson has details on both the materials and type of images to draw. For instance, ballpoint pens, clutch pencils, and colored pencils are some of the materials that are listed as good mediums for the drawings. Some of the marker brands recommended for drawing the cars are the copic markers, pantone markers etc. The authors also use various examples where a person could be shown in various steps (such as the 8 step tutorial on the Dodge Charger, Dukes of Hazard style). Comment | Permalink Future Trance - Hands Up Classics 10 used & new from $21.74 Galvanizing Music Tunes, March 20, 2017 This review is from: Future Trance - Hands Up Classics (Audio CD)This 3 disc collection of Future Trance-Hands Up Classics Box-Set is a various artist box set representing club, dance, and trance music. Evacuate the Dancefloor by Cascada and Jump With Me by Megastylez are some of the catchy dance tunes on this set. Currently, a full listing of this set can be found on Amazon Germany. Comment | Permalink Courage Under Fire DVD Price: $2.99 Bravery Under Duress, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Courage Under Fire (Amazon Video)Courage Under Fire stars Denzel Washington as Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling, Regina Taylor as Meredith Serling,Meg Ryan as Captain Karen Emma Walden, Lou Diamond Phillips as Staff Sergeant John Monfriez, Matt Damon as Specialist Andrew Ilario, Scott Glenn as Washington Post Reporter Tony Garten (as well as more actors/actresses featured in the film). I admit that it was an easy decision for me to check out the Courage under fire film because of the Magnificent Film that I saw last year that featured Denzel Washington (I went by the recommendation of a female coworker who admires Washington as an actor), and other actors/actresses in the Magnificent film. Nathaniel Serling has a challenging job of making sure to uncover the truth around what happened to Captain Walden while also balancing his family life with his wife Regina Serling who is naturally concerned about him. Andrew Ilario is one of the first men that Serling questions due to the fact that he was there and up close to Walden when certain events happened. Serling has an uncomfortable encounter with Monfriez that has him wondering why he is so defensive about what happened to Walden. Serling is also trying to sort out his own personal feelings around a recent event that happened when he gave out an order to Sergeant Patella (Sean Astin) that went much differently than planned. Nathaniel has to deal with all of this while also making sure to professionally and maturely handle himself around Washington Post Reporter Tony Gartner. Comment | Permalink The Ghost Writer DVD Price: $2.99 A Job That Is More Than It Appears, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: The Ghost Writer (Amazon Video)I unintentionally discovered this the Ghostwriter film at a Family Dollar store near where my husband and I reside but the dvd did not play properly once I got past the movie credits that were Letters to Juliet and Remember Me. As a result, I took a chance and bought this movie via Amazon video yet I am glad to have done so. The positives of the Ghostwriter film; As an aspiring writer it was fascinating to catch a glimpse into how the world of ghostwriting worked when the character of The Ghost (Ewan McGregor) is in talks for his next assignment with former British Prime Minister Adam Peter Bennett Lang (played by Pierce Brosnan). I recognized one of the characters named Rick Ricardelli (Jon Bernthal) who played an agent brokering/negotiating the ghostwriting deal because of his appearance in the 2016 Accountant film. Anyhow, The Ghost character (Ewan McGregor) realizes early on that his ghostwriting gig may end up being more than it initially appears to be when he meets former Prime Minister Adam Peter Bennett Lang, Adam Lang’s wife Ruth Lang (Olivia Williams) and Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall) a personal assistant of Adam Petter Bennett Lang. A mutual friend of both the former prime minister and his wife died less than three days later and The Ghost (Ewan McGregor) must work under tense conditions to get the memoir completed that he was tasked to do. Of course, there are more plot points as well as actors/actresses involved in a who done it type of film. The caveats; While the film was well-done and a scandalous slant to their personal lives thrown in for realistic measure I was correct in my guess as to who was responsible for the whole debacle. My husband had a different idea on who he thought was responsible for the outcome but he acknowledged that I was correct in my initial who done it assessment but for a different reason than expected. I would have loved for both my husband and I to be surprised by who did it, not just my husband. I also did not like the ending and felt that it could have ended on a more complicated andor open to mystery type of note. Aside from those caveats, this was a brilliant film to watch. It is listed towards the end of the movie that this the Ghostwriter film is based on the book “The Ghost” by Robert Harris. Comment | Permalink Four Rooms DVD Price: $2.99 Zany Rooms, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Four Rooms (Amazon Video)Four Rooms is a crazy yet watchable film that has the character of a bellhop by the name of Ted (Tim Roth) involved in some risky activities pertaining to his first night on the job. The Four Rooms begins with him attending to the needs of some women who are witches involved in a coven (Madonna as Elspeth,Ione Skye as Eva, Valeria Golino as Atheno,Alicia Witt as Kiva, Sammi Davis as Jezebel,Lilli Taylor as Raven,Amande De Cadenet as Diana. Jennifer Beals, Antonio Banderas, Marisa Tomei, Kathi Griffin, and Quentin Tarantino are some of the other people who feature in different roles within the movie. Events get crazier after Ted’s duties with the coven. The most hectic was probably the scene involving The Misbehavers (Antonio Banderas as the dad/husband, Tamlyn Tomita as the mother/wife, Lana Mckissack as Sarah,Danny Verduzco as Juancho, Salma Hayek, Patricia Vonne). In the misbehaviors scene the dad threatens and pays Ted good money to look after his kids and one can guess how that goes. Comment | Permalink Moneyball DVD ~ Brad Pitt Price: $4.75 119 used & new from $0.16 A Compelling Family Movie, March 20, 2017 This review is from: Moneyball (DVD)I unintentionally came across this Moneyball movie at the Family Dollar store near where my husband and I live. This film stars Brad Pitt (Rusty Ryan in Ocean’s Twelve, The Big Short) as Billy Beane, Jonah Hill as Peter Brand an assistant to Billy Beane (I remember Hill most recently from the War Dogs film and Wolf of Wall Street). I admit that I did not know that Chris Pratt (first Guardians of the Galaxy,upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy 2 film etc)played in the film as a baseball player by the name of Scott Hatteberg until after he is introduced as part of the new team that is being assembled. The character of Billy Beane is also shown juggling his professional life while trying to raise his daughter Casey Beane (played by Kerris Dorsey) who he co-parents with his ex-wife Sharon Beane (Robin Wright who also plays in the House of Cards with Kevin Spacey). Of course, there are more actors/actresses who feature in the film and the following are some of the bonus features of the dvd; Blooper-Brad Loses It, Deleted Scenes, Billy Bean Re-Inventing the Game, Moneyball Playing the Game. The end of the film lists that Billy Beane turned down the Red Sox Offer of $12,500,00 and chose to stay in Oakland California. Some of the credits list that Bennet Miller directed the film, Brad Pitt produced Moneyball, and this film is based on the book by Michael Lewis. I am thrilled to say that this is another film that my husband sat with me to watch and also liked. Comment | Permalink The Monuments Men DVD ~ George Clooney Price: $7.99 108 used & new from $1.71 More Than Just An Art Recovery Expedition, March 20, 2017 This review is from: The Monuments Men (DVD)This film The Monuments Men features an all star cast of people and even on the front of the dvd cover itself such as; George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. All of the men and the woman play roles in having to recapture art that had been stolen by some of the Nazi soldiers in World War II. The movie also shares some of the hardships that they had to endure on their way to working to triumph over regaining the lost art. Some of the special features of the film; George Clooney’s Mission and Marshalling the Troops. The film carefully illustrates that one reason why the men were able to put up a good fight in spotting the art had to do with some of the men having extensive expertise in the field of art related to the art they were tasked to recover. This was one of the films that my husband watched and enjoyed with me. Comment | Permalink

Public Reviews Written by You Show:   Most recent reviews  Most recent comments    Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-20 Creative Visualization for Writers: An Interactive Guide for Bringing Your Book Ideas and Your Writing Career to Life by Nina Amir Edition: Paperback Price: $14.05 43 used & new from $8.31 Author Mindset Guide, March 21, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Creative Visualization for Writers: An Interactive Guide for Bringing Your Book Ideas and Your Writing Career to Life (Paperback)I start this review by making it clear that I am reviewing Creative Visualization by Nina Amir as an amateur reviewer who has a passion for writing. I found out about this book after I had seen it featured in a Writer’s Digest magazine article. Some of the following fun tidbits included in this book;Creating a writing schedule to stick to through Monday to Sunday with included time log with an accompanying exercise for focusing on the time blog to write (pages 56-57), a goal template sheet to use for writing objectives (pages 91-94) etc. Last, but not least, there are affirmations for a writer to encourage themselves such as: I’m a positive, joyous, and passionate person. I know I am good enough, have enough, and am enough to succeed. (pages 198-199). Of course, there is so much more in this book. I admit that for my dream and intent to be a writer also has to do with spiritual reasons. For instance, I notice that the more I write regardless of any positive andor challenging attention/judgement that I face the more I am able to be more in touch with both my rational thoughts as well as my intuition. Additionally, I have noticed that many of my dreams have taken on an increased spiritual andor mystical qualities the more that I write. I am blessed to have a job that allows me to take time off for spring break this week. As a result, this is going to give me an important headstart on reflecting on my writing goals for the rest of my current lifetime. Comment | Permalink Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books: Creative Mentor, Book 1 Offered by Audible, Inc. (US) Tale Writing In Mentor/Audio Form, March 21, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books: Creative Mentor, Book 1 (Audible Audio Edition)This audible version of Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books: Creative Mentor, Book by Justin Sloan and Thomas Block uses information shared from different authors for people who have a passion for storytelling. Details are shared on seeing the structure of a favorite story can help in story creation. One of the writers that is interviewed is credited with such movies as Help For The Holidays, Cupid’s Bed & Breakfast, the script for the Extracurricular Activities film etc. There is advice shared to aspiring writers/writers to also use favorite movies/scripts for writing inspiration. Another interview out of the multiple interviews available on this audible version features Chris Jalufka is a former scriptwriter and has worked in the film and advertising industries. Comment | Permalink Improve Writing: How To Improve Your Writing Tonight! - 10 Simple Yet Powerful Techniques To Quickly Enhance Your Creative Writing Skills And Productivity! ... Hypnosis, Visualization, Concentration) Price: $2.99 Writing Enhancement Goals, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Improve Writing: How To Improve Your Writing Tonight! - 10 Simple Yet Powerful Techniques To Quickly Enhance Your Creative Writing Skills And Productivity! ... Hypnosis, Visualization, Concentration) (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of Improve Writing: How To Improve Your Writing Tonight! - 10 Simple Yet Powerful Techniques To Quickly Enhance Your Creative Writing Skills And Productivity! ... Hypnosis, Visualization, Concentration) by Mick McPherson caught my attention due to my intent and determination to improve my writing. Ideas such as starting with the title and strive to finish the research beforehand are discussed. Visualization techniques for improved writing are also shared. Comment | Permalink 99 Perseverance Success Stories: Encouragement for Success in Every Walk of Life Price: $3.99 Triumph Success Stories, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: 99 Perseverance Success Stories: Encouragement for Success in Every Walk of Life (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of 99 Perseverance Success Stories: Encouragement for Success in Every Walk of Life by Michael Stawicki and Jeannie Ingraham contain achievement outcome stories of people who persisted in their dreams. Some of the well-known stories in this exalting kindlebook; Walt Disney, J.K. Rowling, Emily Blunt, Alan Rickman. There is also a happy outcome story in this kindlebook of a woman named Inas Khammi who immigrated from Iraq to San Diego, California. Her family was part of a religious minority group (listed as Chaldean Catholic) that was listed to have been heavily persecuted before fleeing for the U.S. She was given 345 dollars for her first eight months in the U.S. but she was determined to be more self-reliant. Eventually, a caseworker helped her with getting connected to another counselor who helped her with starting a childcare business. Eventually, she succeeded in making $6,000 a month. There was also a motivational example of the writer in the kindlebook who had to persist rejection from multiple places for nearly 10 years before their work was accepted for publication. This inspired me to make sure to create and finish a story as a writer that I would be willing to submit for at least 9-10 years or longer if necessary. Comment | Permalink Writing Through Revelations, Visions and Dreams Price: $9.99 Stella Pope Duarte’s Journey As It Dovetails With Her Writing, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Writing Through Revelations, Visions and Dreams (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of Writing Through Revelations, Visions and Dreams by Stella Pope Duarte tells of a woman’s journey as a writer and how both her life and dreams have played a significant part in her journey as a writer. Stella Pope Duarte also shares of her journey juggling her family life with her career life working in academia. The story that truly touched me was when she mentioned about an elevator dream that she had in relation theprogression/spiritual evolution occurring in her life. Reading about her elevator dream helped me further understand some of the mystical dreams that I have been having. Comment | Permalink Blessed Are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives Price: $5.95 Being Ok With Being Unique, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Blessed Are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of Blessed Are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives by Jacob Nordby is a condescending-free and therapeutic guide to get if you are still in the process of embracing your uniqueness but you know that you must surrender the preference to fit in with the majority in your external environment. There is a section where he lists a multiple number of the well-liked andor famous celebrities who would be labeled creative yet different. He also quotes a very true yet also encouraging chapter for writers that pertains to Hemingway writing that it is important to be ready to write frequently without applause. Nordby mentions about hearing the calling of your soul, which I am in the process of working out. He also shares what happened when he met with a person who had attended one of his creative unbootcamps (which he lists to be an introductory class for aspiring writers). Comment | Permalink Novice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills Offered by Audible, Inc. (US) Encouraging For Various Goals, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: Novice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills (Audible Audio Edition)This audiobook from audible of Novice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills by S.J. Scott,Greg Zarcone, and Oldtown Publishing packed an abundance of informative content in the span of just three hours and two minutes. I confess that I actually know and I’m very aware (both logically and intuitively) what I want out of my life in various areas. As a result, I am aware that my passion of writing is going to indirectly help in these various areas. However, I am still elated to have come across getting both the kindlebook and audible version of Novice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills because of the various resources mentioned. I know that in addition to knowing what I want that I must knock andor go through the right/appropriate doors (metaphorically speaking)and this audible/audiobook gives me an outside the box way of doing so. There are details involved in uncovering the best classes and free resources to uncover in this goal (for example Lynda.com and massive open online courses for the classes, podcasts, joining groups related to the goal). I admit that the only caveat is making sure to consistently schedule in time for my goal and work it around my job that I am blessed to have. For instance, I did find some writing groups online that are close to where my husband and I currently reside through meetup.com (including even one of my facebook friends that are in one of the meetup groups pertaining to writing), However, I know that it is up to me to creatively find one that fits around my employment schedule andor decide to just join an online writing group. Additionally, my goal and intent to improve my writing is not just about becoming a published author but for other reasons I prefer to avoid disclosing for now but have to do with both practical (i.e. the way I express myself online, writing improvement when I enroll in future online courses etc.)and outside the box reasons. As a result, I understand how important is for me to listen to the audible again within the next 24 hours or less to digest the abundance of resources recommended in this guide. I like that there are even mentorship and coaching type of resources for if a person wants to turn to a mentor andor a type of life coach for advice related to their goal/endeavor. Comment | Permalink Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race Offered by Audible, Inc. (US) Radiant Audio, March 20, 2017 This review is from: Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race (Audible Audio Edition)The audible version of Hidden Figures (showing the images of celebrities Taraji P. Henson,Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer) caught my attention after I saw it featured online on a website that I was on. I decided to take a chance on it to broaden my mind. I am glad to have taken a chance on the audio despite the not so cheap price. One reason; the narrator shares one of the stories where one of the women admitted to have grown up in Hampton Virginia around successful role models who worked an accomplished living in field of education andor the federal government (NASA, National Advisory for Air Committee, mention of the Langley base in Virginia andor the sciences etc.) . This positively shaped her worldview on what was possible. Many of the women who applied at Langley were mentioned to come from accomplished employment backgrounds in education as well as having mathematical talents. There was mentioned that Langley employed multiple women in the field of computers. One of the women, Dorothy Vaughan is mentioned to have worked as a math teacher in Farmville, Virginia. Dorothy Vaughan’s in- laws were considered part of the financial upper-class in the area and mentioned to own a barbershop, a pool hall, and a service station. Their (Vaughan’s in-laws) activities made headlines at times through such media as what was mentioned in the audible version the Norfolk Journal and Guide. However, Vaughan was mentioned to be a modest person and aimed to carefully balance her family life with her career life. Vaughan’s academic accomplishments resulted in her becoming a valedictorian of her high school and attaining a full ride scholarship to Wilberforce University. The audio discussed that Vaughan performed so well to the point that one of the professors recommended her for a graduate program in Howard University. However, economic conditions after her graduation at Wilberforce University influenced Vaughan to hang up her graduate school dreams and pursue a career in teaching instead. She worked as a waitress at a hotel in Richmond Virginia until 1931 when she eventually moved on to her teaching job in Farmville Virginia. The audio shared that around this time Vaughan attracted the romantic attention of one of the area’s most eligible bachelors in Farmville Virginia. Of course, there are much more informative details in this audio. The Hidden Figures audible version by Margot Lee Shetterly, Robin Miles, and Harper Audio is a worthwhile purchase for people of various backgrounds (racial, socio-economic etc.) because of the theme of achieving success despite coming from a challenging environment/background as well as the abundance of historical information. I admit that I do not discuss my own full/paternal background not out of shame but more out of only knowing/being certain of my late biological mother and some of her background as well as showing some respect for both my adoptive father who is still alive and my late adoptive mother. Comment | Permalink The Writer's Block Myth: A Guide To Get Past Stuck & Experience Lasting Creative Freedom Price: $2.99 Path To Originality, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: The Writer's Block Myth: A Guide To Get Past Stuck & Experience Lasting Creative Freedom (Kindle Edition)This kindlebook of The Writer's Block Myth: A Guide To Get Past Stuck & Experience Lasting Creative Freedom by Heloise Jones is a helpful kindlebook on ways to tap into innovation for writing. For instance, Jones includes the following in her chapter titled 7 Greenlights For Success a.k.a. The Writer’s Permission Slips; read voraciously,changing scenery such as taking a new route andor going on a retreat,carving out time for your writing as time for yourself, envisioning your best creative life, making an evidence journal etc. Comment | Permalink I Think We're Alone Now Price: $1.29 Delightful 80’s Pop/Dance Tune, March 20, 2017 Verified Purchase(What's this?)This review is from: I Think We're Alone Now (MP3 Music)I admit that this song I Think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany played in one of my sleeptime dreams less than 18 hours ago. However, I remember also first enjoying this pop song when I was 7 years old (around the time I also got into Heaven On Earth by Belinda Carlisle) and I had even bought a cassette tape of Tiffany’s music around the time I was between 15-17 years old. Anyhow, I like this song I Think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany because of the light-hearted and summer like vibe of this song that is an elegant blend of an 80’s pop/dance mashup.