#vacant cinema

[absolutely-not-my-main-blog]

Was watching Lost almost simultaneously alongside Always Sunny, so it’s really funny to me which one I ended up deep dive analyzing more

[ghostofhyuck]

NCT Dream and 7 days with them.

Mark Lee ; Sunday church and brunch date

Sundays with Mark meant that it is the only time that he can live up to his faith. Sure, you're not really of that religious person but you're willing for your boyfriend. You two visit the nearest church around your place and would dedicate a small portion of your morning to attend it. You admire your boyfriend's dedication and faith so you just sit there and try to sink in what the priest's preaches. After church, you two would go out to have a brunch date! It'll compose of pastries and light breakfast while you two slowly sink in the cozy Sunday morning ambiance.

Huang Renjun ; Lazy Monday mornings

Monday mornings are the most dreadful time of the week. It wouldn't help either if your boyfriend is already whining that he's sleepy despite sleeping early that night. You have to drag him out of the bed because he's been pestering you with "five more minutes" every time you wake him up. When you succeeded with waking Renjun up, he'll be clinging to you like a koala bear as you drag him towards that the dining room where you prepared a heavy breakfast for him so that he can be fully-awake. <3

Lee Jeno ; Tuesday cinema promos

Tuesdays is when cinemas at your mall have promos. It can be the time where you drag Jeno to watch a movie with him. He's not really a huge fan of movies but hey, he can't complain when there's a promo. He'll be the type to pick the most random time slot like 10 am or 2:30 in the afternoon because the movie house is usually not crowded (especially on a Tuesday.) you two will watch the movie in silence, probably munch on the promo snacks you two bought and after the movie, you two would go eat inside the mall, reviewing the movie and whether or not the money was worth it. 

Lee Donghyuck ; Vacant Wednesdays

Wednesdays with Haechan can be a weird occurrence. It's that type of day where you two don't know what to do, stucked in the middle of week and pondering whether you two should do something productive or not. Some Wednesday, you two would go out and probably do a small shopping at the mall because you two want to buy out of impulse. Some Wednesday, you two are just in your apartment. Maybe sleeping the whole day away or doing a random deep cleaning as early as eight in the morning. 

Na Jaemin ; Happy Drunk Thursday

Thursdays with Jaemin meant Happy T! You two don't have any classes every Friday, so you two have planned to get drunk on a Thursday night. You two would dress up, do a pre-game at your place with a few bottles of beer or maybe a small bottle of vodka, then go straight to a club where you two dance the night away. Tons of people would either: hit up on you or Jaemin especially when one leaves the other to go the rest room, that's why don't be surprise if Jaemin has his arms around your waist the whole night. Maybe steals a kiss on you or two while giggling tipsily. 

Zhong Chenle ; Friday night-out

Fridays are the best especially when you have Chenle. You two would always find a way to make your Friday night the life of a party. If not going out to drink, Chenle would be the type to drag you to a karaoke bar just to sing your lungs out. Of course there will be drinks but singing >>> anything else. Friday nights are always an adrenaline for you two, one time, you two even rented an electric scooter and drove it around the empty streets of the city at an ungodly hour of 2 am. 

Park Jisung ; Saturday morning walks at the beach

Despite being a rest day, you and Jisung would try to be productive even though Saturdays can be so boring. Jisung would drag you out at five in the morning when the sun is barely out and it's a bit chilly. He'll drive you two at the local beach where a lengthy baywalk can be located. For once, Jisung would always tell you that you two should try to be fit by walking or maybe jogging at the beach. So walking it is. It'll be peaceful walk, with you two holding hands, as you two talk quietly while admiring the beach while the sun slowly rises.

[astroboots]

Cherry Lips

Summary: Steven really likes your lipstick.

Content: Inappropriate use of lipstick, messy blowjobs because like L'oreal, Steven is worth it.

Word Count: 2.4k

Author's notes: Inspired by this beautiful piece of artwork by @guruan-is-not-here

ASTROBOOT’S MASTERLIST | MOON KNIGHT MASTERLIST

The lipstick you're planning on wearing tonight is a striking shade of red. The shocking brightness of a stop traffic light. The bursting richness of pomegranates. Eye catching, alarming and dreamy all at once. It's your favourite and they stopped manufacturing it a while back.

Since you can't up and buy it anymore, you only pull it on special occasions. The last time you've worn it was at a close friend's wedding. You're not going to any churches or galas tonight, just the local cinema, which isn't an extraordinary occasion that justifies pulling out the old favourite shade. But it doesn't have to be the location that's special. Sometimes, what matters is the company you're with. And who is more special to you than Steven?

You're standing in front of the mirror that hangs over your hallway. On an ordinary day, when you're standing here on your own, the tiny hall can already feel a bit cramped, considering the size of your micro-studio of a London flat. Today though?

Today, the way that Steven is standing behind you, almost plastered to your back, you can barely maneouvre your hand far enough to apply the lipstick without jabbing your elbow into his eyesocket.

"Steven, shouldn't you be getting ready too?" you say, in a gentle attempt to goad him into moving into the main space of your flat. But Steven stays unmoving.

He can't hear you.

Mouth dropped open, jaw slack, he's staring at your mirrored reflection with wide-eyed attention.

You turn around and tilt your head in his direction to try to catch his attention. But even though he's staring right at you, he remains frozen. Trapped in some spell, his eyes are vacant. You have to repeat his name for a second and third time and even then the only physical reaction you get from him is a hard swallow, his Adam's apple bobbing in the hollow of his throat. 

At this pace, you're going to have to break out the smelling salts to snap him out of it. 

"Steven, everything alright?"

"Red," he murmurs, and you squeeze your eyebrows in confusion at his lack of coherence. 

"Your lipstick..." he sounds almost dazed. "It's very... red–very pretty! It's very pretty I mean, it looks amazing on you."

You follow the line of his eyes and the way he's staring at your lips. His tongue darts out to swipe across his own bottom one, leaving it glistening in the dim light of your hallway. 

Steven is looking at you, like you hung each individual star in the galaxy and created every constellation discovered by NASA. 

You can't help but smile as lean up and press your red lips against his. Your hand cups the back of his neck and you pull him down closer until you hear that breathless little gasp you love so much escape between his lips. Until that soft noise melts into a deep moan that you can practically taste on your tongue. 

It tastes like hunger. 

It's wonderful to feel so deeply wanted by someone. 

You pull away, leaning back and Steven looks like he's been knocked senseless. Eyes shiny like glass. Kiss swollen lips made more prominent from the red of your lipsticks smudged on him. He's drawing up his hand, thumb brushing against the red. 

Whipping around, you realise that he's staring at himself in the mirror. He looks enamoured with it, the smears of red that are on him like a mark seared into his skin of where you've touched him. 

It becomes something of a thing between you two. 

Before every date night, you'll apply a thick layer of red lipstick on your mouth, the kind that will smear at the slightest touch. 

Then you watch in amusement as Steven spends the whole of the evening trying to act discreet (and failing) as his eyes will unfailingly find themselves flickering back to your lips. 

You'll watch as he tries to steady himself at a dining table at the small intimate and cozy restaurant sat across from you, hand gripping on top of his knee as you lift your glass and leaves a clear imprint of your lips on the glass. 

Hear the small little gasp that escapes from his throat when you lean close to his ear to ask him what he's ordering. 

Feel the whole bodyshiver of his as you press your lips to his cheek sometime between dessert and the bill. 

Sometimes you even wear it on your lunchdates between work shifts when you know he's having a rough day. Because Steven likes the attention and you like to give it to him. Love the way that fascinating blush blossoms across his chest, travelling up his throat and adorns his cheeks as you pull him into an unoccupied bathroom of your favourite cafe and you leave soft kisses like stamps on a love letter on his skin. Ink of red, pressed into his chest and collarbone and the corner of his mouth. 

He doesn't wash it off after either. Wants it to linger for as long as it possibly can. It's why you start to leave the lip stains where his clothes will cover them. Can't have Steven looking like a crime scene when he gets back to work at the museum. 

You'll wear it when he comes to pick you home from work. Watch the way his whole body is thrumming with excitement on the tube ride back to his flat. Eyes never leaving your lips.

Those are your favourite special occassions. When you get to leave your mark on him uninterrupted in the dim lighting of his home in privacy. When you get to take your time to peel off his tie like a beautifully wrapped Christmas present adorned with a silk bow and glossy wrapping paper.

You'l leave kisses on the softness of his stomach that has his hips hitching upwards. The insides of his thighs, that will has his legs shaking and trembling and gasping.

Tonight, you have him seated on his armchair,  trousers pulled down to his ankles, while you're down on your knees, caged in by his thick thighs. 

You press your lips to his soft skin, feeling him tense and rigid above you. Knees trembling next to you, and you pull back to admire your work, the perfect imprint of your lips on his golden skin. 

"Love, love -- I, please..." 

He's a shivering mess. Soft curls plastered to his forehead, white teeth biting into his full bottom lip as he watches you through half-lidded eyes. 

So fucking pretty this one.

You press another kiss, this time on the inside of his thigh and you smile to yourself as his hips hitch up, chasing after your mouth with a choked gasp.

"Please, what, Steven?"

Flicking your eyes to his face, Steven is struggling to verbalise much of anything right now. Maybe you're not being very nice, because you know exactly what he wants.

He's hard. You can see the hardened outline of his excitement straining the front of his jeans. If you leave him hanging much longer, you swear that the seams are going to split open.

"Yo--your mouth, I--I--" he manages to finally stutter out. "Please, please."

God, he even begs pretty. For all that you would love to tease him more, have him tremble, begging and crying underneath you until tears are running down that gorgeous face, you find that it's impossible to deny Steven.

Your hand comes to the rivet of his jeans, popping it open and before you even have the chance to ask him to lift so you can pull them down, Steven's hips are bouncing off the chair so fast and so hard you nearly tumble backwards on your arse from the force of it. Luckily you recover fast enough, steadying your balance with both your hands on his hips. Then you pull the restricting garment down his thighs, far enough that you can free his cock from the barrier of his boxers.

His cock springs up and bobs and nearly slaps your cheek with the momentum, and he's already repeatedly murmuring embarrassed apologies as he forces himself to sit back down into the chair. "Sorry, sorry! Did I--Did I hit you?"

The concern in his voice makes you want to snort with laughter. But whatever laughter you had in your throat dies as you see him. All brain capacity is rerouted to the sight of his cock standing up in full attention between his legs. Eager and twitching, in a deep ruddy dark pink. The tip of his cock practically glistens under the dim light as precome oozes down the length. It makes your tongue salivate. Makes you want to take him into your mouth and try to swallow as much of him as your gag reflex will allow.

Before your brain fully finishes that thought, you lean down, parting your lips and do. Everything inside you aches and burns as you taste him. He's so fucking thick, heavy and absolutely perfect as the weight of his cock throbs on your tongue.

But you'd be lying if you said it wasn't a struggle to fit all of him, can wrap your lips down halfway before you feel your throat protesting, lungs burning, and tears prickling the corner of your eyes.

Underneath you, Steven is having a hard time keeping still. Hips stuttering into your mouth as you try to adjust and swallow around him. He's trembling so hard he's vibrating against you.

"Oh god, oh god, love, I--I-- fuuuck," the last word comes out as a broken moan as he he slides up and deeper into your mouth. Not a shred of restraint or control left in him. You're sputtering, your own saliva escaping from your lips that are wrapped tightly around him and dribbling down your chin, making an absolute mess of both of you.

And god, it's intoxicating to have him this way, you think it'd be worth the asphyxiation and lack of oxygen to your brain and whatever semi-permanent damage it would cause to your brain functions to just keep going, if it mean you can prolong this perfect moment.

The air around you thins, your chest feels tight and despite your hesitance and your desire to keep going, you pull off, gasping for air as the hard girth of him no longer blocks your airways.

You swallow down oxygen, as fast and deep as your lungs will allow, as you try to catch your breath, feeling more than a little bit lightheaded as you do so. Your chin is sticky, and as you bring the back of your hand to wipe it off, there's a residue of spit, precome and bright red smeared all over.

Fuck, your lipstick.

You grumble as you stare at your hand, you instinctively want to wipe it off on your clothes, but if you do, it'll never come out no matter how much Vanish stain remover you rub into it.

"Sorry, sorry," Steven's voice comes to you from somewhere above, and you tilt your head up to him. Hands hovering nervously as he's reaching over the side table for a wad of tissue. "I made a mess of you, didn't I?" he continues. Then he's leaning over, his hand gently cupping your jaw to tilt you up so he can clean you up.

You're almost giggling at how genuinely sorry he sounds, even as his cock, as hard as ever, is nestled between his thighs, twitching and jerking as if to protest the temporary lack of attention.

Steven's eyes follow yours, ducking his head until you're both staring at his cock. Smeared with the red stains and imprints of your lips on him.

An absolute fucking mess.

Leaning up on your knees, you grab the tissues from Steven and move towards him to repay the favour, but he stops you.

"Leave it," he says abruptly. No stuttering this time. No longer the sweet apologetic tone he held before. It sends a thrill across your nerves to hear him like this. Curt, demanding... greedy.

Tilting your head up, you observe him. The darkened eyes blown wide as he stares down at the red smears you've left on his cock. He looks enthralled by it. It's that same look as that evening by the hallway. Dazed like you've cast some witches' spell on him.

It makes your heart squeeze tight in your chest as you watch him. Emotions swelling and expanding until it even blots out the throbbing heat between your legs.

God you want to indulge him. Give him everything.

"Steven, get my lipstick from my bag."

He blinks up at you, until you're jutting your chin in the direction of your purse behind him. Even in his daze, obedient as he always is, Steven scrambles quickly to comply and starts rifling through your handbag before he finally finds the prize and hands the shiny tube to you with shaky fingers.

You smile to yourself as you pull of the cap and twist the tube. Before Steven, you'd barely used an inch of it, having been so careful to savour it and make it last. Now the lipstick is down to its last gasping breath depleted almost all the way down to the base, and with what you have in mind, it's going to completely run out by this evening.

Bringing it to your bottom lip, you look up at Steven who's watching you attentively, as you drag it slowly and decadently across your lip. An unnecessarily thick layer, as you see his mouth drop open.

Worth it, you think to yourself. Definitely worth it for that look on his face alone.

You pull the cap back on, then set it down on the floor next to you, as you scoot closer to Steven, pressing your lips to the base of his cock and watch the length of of it twitch and jump at your touch.

Then you lean back to observe your work. The perfect imprint of your lips marked in a striking shade of red. The red signal of a stop sign at a traffic crossing, except you have no intention of stopping.

Your lips part, wrapping your mouth around the flushed tip of Steven's cock as he throws his head back with a torn gasp, hands cupping the back of your head as he pulls you down deeper on him. Your face tingling with the warmth of his hand on you, as you try to swallow him down deeper.

You must be smearing the perfect imprint of lipstick all over the length of his cock. But that's okay. It just means you have to do it all over again. And that's okay too.

After all, you only use this lipstick on special occasions and who is more special to you than Steven.

Dedications and credit:

Wrote this in honour of @guruan-is-not-here gorgeous, beautiful and insanely horny thot sketches-- in particular the one where she had covered Steven with lipstick stains and my brain just did that funny thing where it imploded and turned into this fic. You can find more of her artwork here and her SFW account at @guruan where you'll be treated to some of the most beautiful Moon Knight fandom you'll see. Also do drop by her ko-fi. A single art piece can take hours and days and weeks for artists to do, and this amazingly talented genius is sharing her work with us all for free!

As always, this is also dedicated to @thirstworldproblemss because she had to listen to my insanity, but also also ALSO!!! This insane clown has written the most horny-beautiful-angst-smutty goodness fic of what happens when Marc sees those very same lipstick stains and I may or may not have written this for the sole purpose so that you good people can see the mindblowing excellence that is that fic. ILUUUUUUU TWP.

a/n: to be notified of new writing updates follow astroboots-writes and turn on notifs.

[the-desolated-quill]

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - Review

Not going to lie, I didn’t go into this film with high expectations. I loved Mad Max: Fury Road, and Charlize Theron’s Furiosa was a big reason for that. So the idea of doing a Furiosa prequel without the woman who helped make the character so iconic in the first place in my opinion seemed destined to fail, even with director and Mad Max creator George Miller still at the helm. Not to mention prequels are notoriously difficult to get right because you’re already at a disadvantage thanks to the audience’s prior knowledge of what’s to come. It’s hard to get people to care about your film when they already know how it will end.

Never have I been so disappointed to be right.

Anya Taylor-Joy is no Charlize Theron. Her shoes would be difficult to fill for even the most accomplished actress, and Taylor-Joy barely touches the sides. I don’t exactly rate her highly as a performer because in the few films I’ve seen her in she only ever seems to have one facial expression; vacant bewilderedness. But in her defence, she really has almost zero material to work with. It’s amazing really. Mad Max: Fury Road was able to tell a compelling story with very little exposition or dialogue. Furiosa, on the other hand, has tons of exposition and dialogue and yet has no story. To summarise the plot would be a fool’s errand because there really isn’t a plot to summarise. There’s some warlord played by Chris Hemsworth, wearing a very unconvincing prosthetic nose, who wants to take over Immortan Joe’s territory, except we know he won’t succeed and his reasons for why are vague and uninteresting. Furiosa gets passed from warlord to warlord like an unwanted sweater, and then she remembers that her mother was killed by these psychos and she should probably avenge her I guess. Meanwhile Immortan Joe (in name only because the original actor died and this new guy they’ve got cosplaying as him has all the stage presence of an irritable floor manager at your local supermarket) is busy discussing politics with his son Rictus, the People Eater, the Bullet Farmer and that guy from the Mad Max video game everyone has forgotten about. And good God do these guys love to talk. They talk and talk and talk some more, and then Chris Hemsworth arrives and starts talking and talking, and then some guy covered in tattoos starts talking and talking. There’s so much talking in this movie and yet, strangely, nobody is actually saying anything.

This film is an excellent example of the difference between story and lore. Furiosa has loads of lore. Loads of lore. But the story is practically non-existent and the information they provide is neither valuable nor necessary. This film is essentially a theatrical reenactment of the Mad Max wiki. No stone is left unturned. Ever wondered how the Organic Mechanic came to work for Immortan Joe? No? Well we’re going to tell you anyway. Do you want to know how the People Eater came to be in charge of Gas Town? Tough shit if you don’t because we’re going to lay it all out for you in laborious detail. Were you curious as to how the War Rig was built? I hope you were. Because we’re going to dedicate a significant section of the film detailing how it was built and them test running the fucking thing before having to fight a bunch of nameless goons in quite possibly the most boring action scene ever put to film. (This was the cardinal sin for me. I was so bored I actually fell asleep. The only time I’ve ever fallen asleep in a cinema was during that twenty minute underwater sequence in Avatar: The Way Of Water. Dozing off during James Cameron’s CGI circlejerk is one thing. Dozing off during a Mad Max film should be impossible).

It’s hard to believe this was made by the same person behind Fury Road. Back then George Miller seemed to understand that there was no point in bogging the narrative down in pointless exposition or needless backstories. What mattered was the characters, the relationships, the here and now. Remember the scene when Furiosa discovered her home was destroyed long ago and she takes her mechanical arm off, falls to her knees and screams her head off. All that pain and anguish and sorrow and regret all perfectly conveyed without a single line of dialogue. What can a prequel possibly add to this scene? Does knowing that Furiosa’s mother was beaten and burned alive in front of her when she was a little girl make that scene any more powerful? Of course not. It’s just an unnecessary detail that I didn’t need nor do I really care about. She lost her mother. Okay. So? I had already assumed that from watching Fury Road. I didn’t need her life story explained to me in a PowerPoint presentation. I suppose the only thing I was vaguely interested in was how Furiosa lost her arm, and even that is anticlimactic. She basically loses it by accident in a car chase. Now some of you may be getting annoyed that I’m giving away ‘spoilers’, but the truth is there’s nothing really to spoil. There’s no plot. Only lore. Specifically lore nobody really asked for in the first place. They don’t even bother fleshing out Furiosa’s relationship with the Wives. How’s that for irony? Fury Road was deservedly praised for its feminist themes and giving its female characters agency. Meanwhile the prequel has its male characters spouting literal pages of dialogue while the women, including Furiosa, get almost zero development and barely get a line in edgeways. Oops.

Furiosa astounds me. It astounds me that it’s made by the same man who made Fury Road. It astounds me that after nine years of struggling to get this film off the ground that this is the best George Miller can come up with. It astounds me that this cost $168 million to make when it would be much cheaper, quicker and less painful for the audience to just smack them in the face with a copy of the Mad Max Encyclopedia and be done with it. It astounds me that this boring slog of a film is actually getting positive reviews when this is a textbook example of how NOT to do a prequel. I’m just astounded. Apparently this film is bombing at the box office. Good. That may sound harsh, but it’s true. This is one of the most mind numbing, dull, pointless films I’ve ever had the displeasure of sitting through, and I’m never going to get those 150 hours back.

Sorry, did I say hours? It sure felt like hours.

[cannibalmetaphor]

something interesting I think in cinema is how gendered the descent into violent madness is. generally, the man is cold, vacant, empty. he is violent in an emotionless way. I’m thinking patrick bateman, I’m thinking funny games. and yet the woman’s descent into madness is so full of emotion. it is a build up of feeling. its release is cathartic. you are rooting for her, you are empathetic for her, you understand why she does what she does. when you watch female centric horror films as a woman - such as the black swan, or may, or perfect blue, or possession, or phantom thread, or even pearl - you are always aware that in another world, they could be you. women’s violence in cinema is always subversive. male violence is often just a reflection of our reality.

[cheezbites]

Chris McLean x Civilian

✎: Been wanting to drop this for a while :))

♡Summary: Chris McLean dating someone who isn’t famous.

━━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━━

Bf!Chris enjoyed your alone time as much as you enjoyed his; he’d do the most to secure it for you both. Even going as far as emptying an entire movie theatre solely from his high status.

“What do you mean? You just told them ‘Yo, It’s Chris McLean here. I’m going to need the cinema reserved for me and my girl at 5pm stat.’ Like, that’s insane.” You quipped, walking into the vacant cinema whilst locking arms with him.

He chuckled at your poor impression of his voice as he gave a nod of approval to one of the workers behind the til, they seemed to instantly recognise him as they allowed him into the theatre.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

Bf!Chris would commentate the movie as you watched; not too often to be irritating, but not being quiet so he’s not too silent. You’d listened with genuine interest as to what he had to say, no matter how cruel and uncanny it was.

“I could do that for Total Drama,” he mentioned in the midst of rubbing the stubble on his chin.

“What? Camouflaged bear traps around the wilderness?”

“Totally. Wouldn’t it be cool?”

“Sure…!”

Bf!Chris was a busy man with a bad habit of constantly forgetting stuff, which wasn’t a good mix for him. For subtle yet noticeable reminders, he doodled anything that would even mildly correlate to what he’s trying to remember on his palm/hand. But he never forgot about you, it’s like you were the main distraction. Most of the time, he forgets other things as he’s too busy thinking about you, what you were up to, how other filthy men would try steal you from him, maybe you thought about other guys - to put it simply, it drives him insane.

“Aw, that’s so cute!” You pointed at the sloppily drawn and evidently rushed cat drawing on his hand in black marker.

“Oh… I was meant to do that an hour ago,” he murmured, leaning forward to grab baby wipe on the coffee table before erasing it.

“Do what?” your face lit up at Chris’s sudden sweet side, you never saw him being a cat person. More of a ‘hostile bears in a remote island to maul oblivious teenagers’ person.

“Y’know how cats and lions are basically the same?”

“Basically…”

“We were going to get lions instead of stereotypical bears for this season,” he added before eventually wiping the ink off his hand.

“Not so ‘Aww’ anymore…” You couldn’t complain, though. You knew what you signed up for the moment you started dating him; like an unspoken contract that you just know about.

Bf!Chris hates everyone else but you. And Chef, of course. How could he after he served him loyally for so many years? He was on set, getting ready to film a segment for a show without you. He was disdainfully scrutinising everyone and appeared moody. But the moment he heard you were going to be there, his face instantly lit up, and his demeanor changed.

The set was bustling with activity as Chris mentally and physically prepared himself. His brow was furrowed, and he seemed unusually bossy and irritable as he glared at the crew members scurrying about. He mumbled something under his breath that was barely audible, but it was clear he wasn't in the best mood.

Just then, a crew member approached him. "Hey, Chris, guess what?”

“What?” he pulled down his tie to reposition it without even sparing the crew member a glance.

“Guess!”

“‘Don’t have time for games, Elizabeth. Spit it out.”

“Y/N's going to be here today. She's joining us for this segment."

Chris's eyes widened in surprise, and his moody demeanor shifted in an instant. A wide grin spread across his face, and he practically beamed with excitement. "Y/N's coming? Is she here yet?”

As if on cue, you entered the room and Chris rushed towards you, scooping you up in a tight hug. His attitude from earlier seemed completely forgotten. The crew members couldn't help but smile at the sudden transformation as they continued to set up for the shoot.

Bf!Chris made you garner a couple of thousand followers on socials just by being associated with him, and you didn't mind it too much. You even enjoyed the attention you received from it, often engaging with your new followers through Q&A sessions and sharing behind-the-scenes stories from your life together.

Bf!Chris loved it when you defended him for his sadistic behaviour. He stumbled across a Twitter thread between you and some random drama seeking influencer:

LolazLife: "Why are we not discussing how Y/N is dating Chris and standing by his toxic behavior? She needs to be called out and held accountable, too."

❤️ 28.5k 💬 2.9k ↪️ 1.2k

Y/N: "Is he really toxic? Or is it just the entertainment industry? Let’s put this into retrospect, he wouldn’t be the man he is if you guys didn’t constantly obsess over the ‘toxic show’ you all hate so much."

❤️ 74.6k 💬 7.3k ↪️ 2.5k

LolazLife: "Um, he hospitalized teenagers!"

❤️ 19.8k 💬 1.2k ↪️ 890

Y/N: "Um, those teenagers should learn how to read contracts before complaining! Too bad they can’t sue, huh? #legalitysucks #wompwomp”

❤️ 118.3k 💬 13.5k ↪️ 45.7k

People would confront you on a serious note, you’d argue with them for fun and for the sole purpose of your amusement, wasting their time and embarrassing them on the internet.

Bf!Chris is an attention whore, a clingy one, too. Be needs your attention constantly - it’s like he cannot live without you. He needs to breathe the same air as you, sleep in the same bed as you and even insists on sipping your smoothie when he thinks you're not looking.

"In the savannas of Africa, a sleek and agile predator roams the open plains with effortless grace. The cheetah, the fastest land animal on Earth…” the documentary continued in the background as you occasionally popped a few M&M’s into your mouth.

You were wrapped in a cozy pink robe, your feet snugly ensconced in fluffy white bunny slippers, and a rose-scented face mask enriched your skin. Chris then strolled in wearing his own smug blue robe, the one you had admired during that time you went 'window shopping'. He settled down beside you, his arms encircling your waist as he rested his head on your stomach, both of you were watching the documentary together.

You toyed with his hair before he reached his arm out to take a sip of your smoothie.

“Oi!” you yelped, playfully hitting his head.

He continued greedily drinking, but what he was drawn to the most wasn’t the flavour of the smoothie but the flavour of your cherry lipgloss that coated the straw.

Bf!Chris incessantly smothered you with gifts and affection. It made you feel like the damsel in distress at times, but it was all pure intentions and you knew that. Most of your jewellery? from him. As well as your fancy dresses and those getaways to extravagant restaurants with exotic dishes.

"There's a new restaurant in town. I got an invite, let’s go together.”

Chris was a foodie through and through, always eager to try new and or trendy restaurants.

"That sounds great! When is it?"

With a grin, Chris handed you the invitation. "It’s tonight, by 7pm."

As evening descended, you both arrived at the restaurant. The warm aromas of spices filled the air as you were greeted with a luxurious menu with intricate patterns on the border. You settled at a table draped with vibrant fabrics, ready to embark on this culinary adventure.

As the evening unfolded, you shared laughter, stories, and delicious food, all while building your relationship and having fun. Chris's passion for food was contagious, and you felt privileged to be his +1, enjoying delicious meals without pay.

Bf!Chris was infamously known for his cruel and twisted ideas, he was ruthless with them at times. He needed someone to balance him out -

that would be you. He’d even encouraged you to speak out if he got a bit too ‘yappy’ as he called it.

You both were seated on the porch on a summer afternoon, brainstorming for the upcoming episodes. Chris was pacing back and forth, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he shared his latest concept for a challenge involving flaming hoops, live alligators, and a trapeze.

You listened patiently, but it became clear that his vision was spiraling into pure insanity.

"Chris," you said calmly, standing up and stepping in front of him, "I think it's a great idea, but what about an idea from you and not from Mr Yappy, hm?"

Chris paused, his enthusiasm slightly deflated. He nodded slowly, considering your suggestion.

Bf!Chris has a secret soft spot for animals, especially cute ones, and he can't resist petting every stray dog or cat he comes across.

"Right, we need some tomato sauce and cheese as well," you noted aloud as you read from the list. But Chris was on the other side of the sidewalk, crouched down and cautiously petting a fluffy cat that purred within every touch.

You couldn't help but smile, appreciating this side of him that often went unnoticed. When he seemed mean or unpleasant, it was mostly just a front for his show and for the sake of his image.

As you continued shopping together, you thought about how complex and enigmatic Chris was. His on-screen persona might be sharp and occasionally ruthless, but off-screen, he had a warm heart, a genuine kindness, and an unexpected love for cute pets.

Masterlist

[alwayzraven]

Kardeşlerim Ep 116

Ayla left the house and went to Nebehat. She told her about her fight with Berk. Asiye was especially shocked and sad when Berk said that it was HIS money. Ayla asked Nebehat if she can stay with her until she finds a house and a job and Nebehat said yes. Nebehat told Ayla to work in the restaurant. Suzan's position is still vacant. Ayla said that she doesn't know if she can work there because Gokhan is a partner there. Nebehat said that she won't take no for an answer, Ayla will start working at the restaurant. When Nebehat told Gokhan and Sureya about Ayla working at the restaurant, Gokhan told her that she should’ve discussed this with the partners at the restaurant. In the end, Sureya didn’t object and Ayla got the job.

Aybike scolded Berk about his behaviour with Ayla. She told him to go talk with his mom and sided with her. Aybike didn’t like what his dad said about Ayla getting jealous over Berk and his dad’s relationship. Berk said that he likes how his father treats him, and how he calls him “my son”. Aybike told him that he can’t break his mother’s heart while trying to help his father.

Yasmin and Tolga fought over the shirt she got him and Elif and Susen joined the fight and stopped talking to their boyfriends.

Ayber were making fun of their shirt fight.

Berk: ”it's like a movie: a shirt fight, coming soon to cinemas near you”

Aybike:”I know right? Why are they overreacting like this?”

Berk:”Do you know what quality I love the most about you? You would never make me wear a shirt like that and you would never insist I do it”

Aybike:”Of course! You can never wear something like that! And even if you did and stood in front of me like that, I would pretend that I don’t know you”

Berk:”I am sure you will. I would’ve opened my arms and waited (for a hug) and you would’ve walked past me and left”

Aybike:”Definitely! But sweetheart sometimes I get a feeling from you…Remember how I am holding your romance ropes tightly, if I leave you alone for a bit, I feel like you would start doing what the girls did”

Berk:”Me? I give you that feeling?”

Aybike:”Yes”

Berk:”Don’t do this, my love. When did I ever say or suggested such things to you?”

Aybike:”If I loosen your ropes, I know you would do it! I know you, you are a romantic”

The way she told him “you are a romantic” was so funny because she was talking as if it was a bad thing and then in the end she told him:”you are a romantic” and there was a tone shift there. She wanted that statement to sound like that was a bad quality to have but ended up giving him heart-eyes while saying it because she loves that about him even if she pretends that she doesn't like it 😂

and then we have Berk’s face expression to her calling him “romantic”, he was so proud of himself 😂

I missed playful Ayber scenes like this so much 😭 

Ayla heard Gokhan and a friend of his talk about how he gambled the money Berk gave him and how he asked his friend to hit him and lied to Berk about getting robbed. Ayla waited for Berk to get back home and told him everything. Gokhan of course denied it and said that Ayla is lying. He asked Berk if he believes him and Berk told him that his mother has no reason to lie. Gokhan left the house. I am curious what his next move would be. He is going to try to manipulate Berk again but will Berk fall for it this time? I wish Ayla recorded what Gokhan said, that way Berk would’ve been sure that his father is a liar.

This was another boring episode. Next episode will most likely be Asiye's final episode on the show. I am going to miss her 😭

[jinruihokankeikaku]

Some minutiae on Episodes 3 & 4.

Note Misato's bedroom in Episode 3. A steering weel atop a pillar; an automobile poster hung upon a panel above her desk. It's truly a room well-suited to a car enthusiast.

Episode 3 is more entertaining still than Episodes 1 and 2, with many compositions of a particular taste that call to mind special-effects movies. The shot of the Fourth Angel passing beyond the lighthouse, the shot of Eva-01 and the Angel fighting between the pylons, and so on. The feeling of the shot with the car parked in the foreground when Unit-01 falls to the mountain could move one to tears, too. And the shot of the Angel and Unit-01 in silhouette against the backdrop of the sunset is real good.

Horaki Hikari addresses Suzuhara Toji as "Suzuhara" (sans honorifics), but calls Aida Kensuke "Aida-kun". Can we pick up on some subtlety of the girl's heart here?

anbirikaru keeburu - that is, the cable that's severed in Episode 3 - literally translated, means "Umbilical Cord Cable". That is to say, just like the umbilical cord transmits nutrients to the foetus, the Umbilical Cable transmits electricity to the Eva.

Note the scene in Episode 4 in which Shinji's entered an all-night cinema. Shinji, whose gaze had been vacant, reacts at the sight of a couple making out. One wonders what Shinji - who had fled from home, unable to effectively maintain his relationships with others - might have seen in that couple...it's a depiction that leaves the viewer the freedom to make that judgement, which might well be said to be characteristic of Satou Junichi's work.

About that word Toji says - "matanki". It's a very 70s sort of term. Such nostalgic expressions appear often, not just in Evangelion, but in all GAINAX works.

In Misato's bedroom after Shinji's run away in Episode 4, automobile magazines, MONO magazines, women's magazines, and such-like lie scattered about. Perhaps she's got so many magazines out so as to distract herself from the loneliness of Shinji's absence.

As for the NERV Security Intelligence Division automobile, which appears in the scene at New Hakone-Yumoto Station, the "NERV" lettering on its roof is striking. Upon closer inspection of the longer shot, so too is the "UN" lettering on the bonnet. "NERV" and "UN" are written on the sides. As for the make of the car, it seems it's a Cadillac.

[jojolovenotes]

Berryyyy hiiiii 💕 hope you’re doing well this fine week. It’s the 14th here so Happy White Day 💕

Also I love your f/o game idea and so I’d like to participate 👉🏼👈🏼 with Jotaro and 16 please? Thank you in advance ✨

Meet Cutes: 16. meeting in a cinema, both there with their friends, but sitting next to each other and accidentally grabbing each other’s hand when something scary happens on screen

You were excited to finally have some time off to spend with friends. It was exciting that you were all going to go to the movies; you actually couldn’t remember the last one you’d seen. At least this time you would be able to know what they were talking about! Your friends decided to go with a horror movie this time around, and while you didn’t mind the horror genre there was something different about watching it in a big theater in the dark. 

As your group walked into the cinema, you took a look behind you. It was already starting to get dark and you knew that meant the movie would be starting soon. You reached your hand out to hold on to one of your friend’s sleeves to be guided to your seat. 

“We’ve got these three seats here.” your friend said pointing at the seats. Your friends took the first two seats which left you with the innermost seat.

As you made your way to your seat, you noticed someone must be sitting next to you. Although you didn’t see anyone in the seat just yet, you saw a popcorn bucket and a drink to indicate the seat wasn’t vacant. Glancing over, you noticed a group of guys that were sitting next to the vacant seat… You wondered who would be sitting next to you, but for now you’d pay attention to the previews instead.

A couple of previews played, and the seat still remained empty… Now you wondered if the seat had been vacant after all, that was until you noticed the group of guys waving their arms out in the air to get the attention of their friend. You glanced over but couldn’t get a good look just yet at the guy that was going to sit next to you. From where you were sitting, all you could see was a tall shadow headed your way. 

You thought it might be best to just focus on the previews for now, but once the tall shadow was getting closer to his seat you couldn’t help but look over curiously trying to get a better look at the guy who was going to occupy the seat next to you. It was difficult to really make out his features using only the lights from the previews but he seemed to look like an intimidating type… You turned your attention back to the safety of the screen. 

—

Normally these genres of movies don't scare you, but it’s an entirely different experience watching it in a dark cinema with amplified sound. So many moments in the movie startled you - not because it was scary, but because the sound caught you off guard. You felt like you were beginning to be on edge not knowing when another loud noise might cause you to jump once more. 

You were getting by just fine, until a moment in the movie genuinely freaked you out, and you ended up reaching your hand for the closest thing to hold. You thought you were reading for the armrest from your seat, but you actually ended up reaching and holding the hand of the guy next to you. He didn’t seem to mind though, in fact he responded with a reassuring squeeze. You didn’t want to look over… There’s no way you wanted to deal with this embarrassment right now. The thing was though, when you tried to let go, it seemed the stranger didn’t mind to still hold your hand now giving you another reassuring squeeze.

Since he hadn’t let go, you finally mustered the courage to look over at him, but he had been keeping his eyes glued to the screen. You wondered if maybe, just maybe, this guy was a bit freaked out too. He sure didn’t show it on his features, but you noticed that he kept squeezing your hand a bit during those ‘jumpscare’ moments. This was… strangely comforting.

He might be a stranger, but you felt at ease now that you two were holding each other’s hands. Now you weren’t eager for the movie to finish, but at the same time now you were curious about introducing yourself to him once the film was over… You just hoped that your palms weren’t getting clammy from the nervousness and handholding!

[gotankgo]

«10-6-72, Charlotte - The Trans Lux Inflght had a screen for Exploitation, in this capture with PLEASE DON'T EAT MY MOTHER and THE TAKERS being the Boxoffice International double that night. On the other screen was Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin in PRIME CUT. "Any way you slice it" there was something for most adults that day.

The theatre turned into the Climax Cinema and later the Cinema Blue 2 for it's years as an Adult theater from 1975 to closing in 1987 - those years reportedly ran by Harry Mahony. If I'm guessing correctly it's been that eerie vacant building at the end of the land of a strip mall that's still standing with a Dollar Tree, Save a Lot, and Rose's Discount being it's best known tenants. Also of note in the theatre's history was hosting a club that had names like Weekends, Glory Days, and I think Dixie Electric - reportedly an "All Ages" time block on Sunday Afternoons happened at one point as well.»

[cinema-tv-etc]

Long-abandoned Art Deco cinema gets new life in Manhattan By Hannah Frishberg March 22, 2022

After 17 years of vacancy, the building is finally once again set to be put to use.

For 17 years, Manhattan’s Metro Theater has been collecting dust on the Upper West Side. Since 2005, the 82-year-old Art Deco theater has sat vacant, nearly home to numerous tenants — Urban Outfitters, Planet Fitness, Alamo Drafthouse, an arts education nonprofit — all of which eventually fell through. 

Now, though, it’s official: A lease has finally been signed and the historic building will stay a cinema. 

“There have been so many false starts and failed plans at The Metro; I think a lot of us started to feel like Charlie Brown with the football and had given up being excited,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine told The Post. When he heard yet another potential business was interested in bringing back the Broadway building, “I decided that I wouldn’t celebrate until I heard it directly from a tenant that a lease had been signed.” 

And now that’s finally happened. 

“This is real, I heard it direct from the head of the company: The lease has been signed so there’s no turning back,” he went on. “They’re asking for a bit of anonymity at this point, but I can tell you unambiguously that this is real, it’s happening, and it’s a best case scenario.”

The 10,260-square-foot building will become a “Community Entertainment” and “multi-screen cinema center, with restaurant facilities and community meeting rooms on a rental basis,” longtime owner Albert Bialek told The West Side Rag. Since being built in the 1930s, the two-story building has housed an art house cinema, pornography theater and two national movie chains, and still boasts the same landmarked exterior. Its interior, however, has since been gutted. 

“It kind of works for this new format because it’s going to be a large number of smaller screens,” Levine noted optimistically of the blank interior canvas.

The yet unnamed company of “renowned people” from California are refusing to reveal their identity until they “file their plans” in the next few weeks, but they’ll offer movie-goers an alcohol-equipped dine-in film experience, the Rag reported. 

In response to The Post’s inquiry, movie chain Alamo Drafthouse — which almost built a five-screen theater in the space before backing out in 2012 — offered no comment regarding if it is the secret new tenant. 

The news is a huge boon for the area, which has lost a lot of businesses during the pandemic and is now pockmarked by empty storefronts. 

“It’s been a rough two years,” said Levine, who represented part of the Upper West Side during his time on New York City Council from 2014 to 2021. “We had feared this would be a chain clothing store or a pharmacy, although anything would’ve been better than abandonment.”

Its vacancy has indeed been not only sad but also expensive: Bialek has been charged over $840,000 in city property taxes in the time the address has remained vacant, the Real Deal previously reported.

“This is gonna transform that area,” Levine went on enthusiastically. “This is just the boost that the neighborhood needed.”

[los-estudiantes-cinefilos]

La Edad de Oro del Cine Mexicano y el dominación México tuvó en la industria

La Edad de Oro del Cine Mexicano fue el tiempo cuando la industria cinematográfica de México fue número uno de todo Latinoamérica. Esta época de fama y fortuna empezó cerca de 1940, cuándo empezó la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Los Estados Unidos y los países europeos se enfocaban completamente en el esfuerzo de la guerra, y como resultado sus industrias cinematográficas declinaron mucho. Por eso había una vacante en la parte superior de la industria, y México la llenó y comenzó su Edad de Oro. Un factor definitorio durante esta época fue la versatilidad de los géneros de las películas que fueron producidas en México. Había películas románticas, cómicas, dramáticas, musicales y más, y yo creo que la razón por esta diversidad fue que los cineastas querían distraer a las personas de la guerra, y crear películas que personas con muchos diferentes intereses podían disfrutar.

Pero, había dos géneros en particular que fueron más populares en las décadas de los 30s y 40s: las películas de horror, y las películas de crimen, respectivamente. A mi me parece que las películas de horror de los que dominaron los 30s fueron un parte de la reacción emocional a la violencia de la revolución mexicana entre 1910 y 1917. Películas como La llorona (1933) y El misterio del rostro pálido (1935) contenían horrores sobrenaturales, cuerpos muertos con mucha sangre, y personas que fueron dementes. En los 1940s, el género dominante en la industria cinematográfica cambió a las películas que contaban historias de crimen. Pienso que este cambio fue conectado a la economía de México en este tiempo. México experimentó una bonanza económica en los 40s, y el país industrializó mucho. Pero, este desarrollo causó un incremento en los barrios bajos y pobres, y las películas enfocan mucho en las vidas de las personas que vivieron allá. Películas como Distinto amanecer (1943) y Crepúsculo (1945) estaban llenados con misterios, drama y traición, y tenían lugar en los barrios bajos y urbanos.

En mi opinión, el factor que realmente definió a La Edad de Oro del Cine Mexicano fue la creación de iconos y celebridades más populares que toda la historia de la industria cinematográfica mexicano. María Félix, por ejemplo, fue una de las actrices más importantes de la historia de México. Yo creo que sus partes principales en las películas Doña Bárbara (1943) y Enamorada (1946) representaban el comienzo de las producciones importantes de películas con protagonistas femeninos. Otras actrices como Dolores del Río se convirtieron en superestrellas y ella fue una de las actrices más famosas del siglo. Mario “Cantinflas” Moreno y Germán “Tin Tan” Valdés fueron actores del género cómico y tenían tantos seguidores fervientes que era como si fueran líderes de un culto. Pero, no solo fueron los actores y las actrices que fueron celebridades; directores como Fernando de Fuentes y Emilio Fernández son estrellas que son asociados con algunas de las películas más famosas de la Edad de Oro. 

Hoy, la Edad del Oro del Cine Mexicano todavía es considerada por muchos una de las épocas más exitosas de toda la historia de la industria cinematográfica.

-Wyatt

Fuentes:

Cocking, Lauren. 2016. “The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema: A Short History.” Culture Trip. The Culture Trip. November 17, 2016. https://theculturetrip.com/mexico/articles/the-golden-age-of-mexican-cinema-a-short-history/.

“Deep Focus: The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema | Sight & Sound.” 2019. British Film Institute. July 25, 2019. https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/deep-focus/deep-focus-golden-age-mexican-cinema.

[salmankhanholics]

★ Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan team up for India's BIGGEST action film written by Aditya Chopra!

July 4, 2022

On August 15, 2012, Salman Khan took charge as Tiger aka. Avinash Singh Rathore in Ek Tha Tiger. He followed it up with the sequel, Tiger Zinda Hai in 2017. Both the films proved to be the highest grosser of the year for the Hindi film industry. A year later, Hrithik Roshan made an impact as agent Kabir in War, the highest grossing film of 2017. The tremendous success of War in the espionage space resulted in the YRF Head, Aditya Chopra, taking the decision to spin India's maiden spy universe.

The universe expands further during the Republic Day 2023 weekend with Pathaan fronted by Shah Rukh Khan as a ruthless agent, which will also mark the first crossover of the franchise with Tiger aka. Salman Khan making an extended cameo. SRK will reciprocate the same gesture by making a cameo as Pathaan in Tiger 3, which opens on Eid 2023. And now, Pinkvilla has got an exclusive update on the future of this universe. According to our sources, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan will be teaming up soon on what could be the biggest film of Indian cinema.

Aditya Chopra plans to take things to the next level by mounting a two hero action spectacle featuring Tiger and Pathaan. It would be the first proper 2 hero collaboration for the two mighty Khan since the release of Karan Arjun (1995). Adi has been working on this idea for a while now and he will be extensively working on the script, screenplay and dialogues," revealed a source close to the development, adding further that team at Yash Raj Films is planning to take this yet untitled epic two hero crossover on floors by end of 2023 or latest by first quarter of 2024.

"Both SRK and Salman have kept their bulk dates vacant in the tentative period and the exact logistics will be locked once a combined narration takes place later this year. The director is also undecided, however, the entire creative control on the writing front is by the head of YRF - Aditya Chopra. He is keeping everything close to his chest at the moment," the source informed, adding further that the first ever narration of this Tiger x Pathaan film will be a joint narration at Yash Raj Studios with just 3 people - Aditya Chopra, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan.  

The narration is expected to take place once the first cut of both Tiger and Pathaan is locked. While Pathaan also features Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in lead, Tiger 3 also stars Katrina Kaif and Emraan Hashmi. Talking of budget, it will be the costliest film of Indian cinema, and Adi knows his responsibility in presenting two of the biggest superstars of Indian cinema in the best possible manner. "He has been toying with multiple ideas and he seems to have finally locked the most exciting of the lot," the source added.

Meanwhile, War 2 is also in the making with Hrithik Roshan in the lead. As reported by Pinkvilla before, a subject has also been narrated to Hrithik Roshan, who has loved the same and asked the team to develop it further. While the connection of Tiger and Pathaan is already established, we await to see how War aka. Hrithik is integrated into this world of heroic spies. The shooting timeline of War 2 will be locked soon, but given how things stand at the moment, even the War sequel is expected to roll by next year end, which would be independent of the Tiger x Pathaan film, though we won't be surprised if HR makes a cameo in the crossover and that's when the three spies unite for a epic mission. (More on War 2 soon)

We wonder if it's going to be Salman vs Shah Rukh or Shah Rukh and Salman in this two hero film. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla as we will continue to bring updates of what could be the biggest universe of Indian cinema.

[inapat17]

Text-screen relationships 4/4: Godard and Faulkner

I'm interested in the relationship, in a broad sense, between text and image. This article explores the relationship between literature and cinema through the works of Jean-Luc Godard and William Faulkner. It proposes a different vision from the traditional perspectives of adaptation and cases of influence or confluence. Rather than directly comparing written narrative and filmic narrative, or applying the techniques of one to the other, this article examines how their encounter produces a new form of expression: cinema as the transformation and rewriting of literature, and vice versa. The idea is to see writing not just as a process internal to a text or a film, but as the result of their interaction.

Jean-Luc Godard has always had a special relationship with literature. For a long time, he dreamt of being a writer, and his films are full of people reading (from Pierrot le fou [Pierrot the Fool], which opens with Jean-Paul Belmondo immersed in Elie Faure's History of Art, to the bookish argument in Une femme est une femme [A Woman Is a Woman], via the filmmaker himself reading The Idiot in Soigne ta droite [Keep Your Right Up], to the sublime reading of The Oval Portait in Vivre sa vie [My Life to live]). He has also ventured into the realm of adaptation, obviously with a twist (as in the case of Le Mépris [Contempt], Pierrot le fou and King Lear).

Last but not least, Jean-Luc Godard's work is riddled with quotations: Pierrot le fou is entirely under the aegis of Arthur Rimbaud, Alphaville is part of the world of Jorges Luis Borges but also summons Henri Bergson, Paul Éluard and Louis-Ferdinand Céline. And, of course, the films at the end of his career encapsulate all the figures of his aesthetic: Histoire(s) du cinéma and Le Livre d'images, for example, are packed with literary quotations and references, so many that it is impossible to list them here.

But there is one author whose presence is even more pervasive than the others, and who haunts all of JLG's work: William Faulkner.

From Jean-Luc Godard's first feature film to his last, Faulkner's work seems to hover like a shadow, more or less palpable, over the work of the famous Franco-Swiss filmmaker.

In À bout de souffle (Breathless), Jean-Luc Godard reworks the story of the Wild Palms: criminal lovers on the run. He also quotes its most emblematic phrase: “between grief and nothing”, to confront his character (Michel Poiccard) with the same dilemma as Harry Wilbourne in Faulkner's novel: total sacrifice in a quest for the absolute, and the choice between suffering (grief) and death (nothing). In this case, it is both a thematic and narrative reprise, but one that is integrated into the dialogue of the film itself: the characters are aware that they are part of the literary reference, which makes them literally second-degree characters.

Dans Grandeur et décadence d'un petit commerce de cinéma [The Rise and Fall of a Small Film Company], Godard quotes Sepulture South: Gaslight, a short story by Faulkner, inspired by a cemetery photograph by Walker Evans. It describes the impressions and feelings experienced by a young boy at his grandfather's funeral (and that's maybe the most beautiful things thah have never been written):

 « And three or four times a year I would come back, I would not know why, alone to look at them, not just at Grandfather and Grandmother but at all of them looming among the lush green of summer and the regal blaze of fall and the rain and ruin of winter before spring would bloom again, stained now, a little darkened by time and weather and endurance but still serene, impervious, remote, gazing at nothing, not like sentinels, not defending the living from the dead by means of their vast ton-measured weight and mass, but rather the dead from the living ; shielding instead the vacant and dissolving bones, the harmless and defenseless dust, from the anguish and grief and inhumanity of mankind ».

–      « Sepulture South : Gaslight » [1954], in Uncollected Stories [1979], Random House, coll. « Vintage Books », 1997, p. 455.

In the film, which tells the story of a search for an actor for a film whose producer has been murdered, Faulkner's phrase plays an essential role, as it is broken up to be spoken by unemployed people marching in front of a camera. This sequence can be divided into seven movements corresponding to the seven repetitions of the phrase in different orders, the sequence of words initially making no sense, until gradually the order of the original phrase is restored.

The actors' search thus essentially corresponds to the search for multiple speech, emanating from different bodies, which can convey meaning, rediscover meaning, which requires work figuratively through repetition, “stammering”, but also the movement of bodies in the filmic space. This movement is, moreover, opposed to the immobilitý of those whom the phrase describes, but Godard having removed its context and its beginning, the ‘all of them’ no longer refers to Faulkner's statues. Yet the final image of the sequence, in which we finally hear the last words of the sentence spoken in the correct order, is a photograph of James Dean, frozen forever in his splendour. We can guess that the dead we are trying to protect are, as the rest of the film makes clear, the great past figures of cinema history.

Godard thus displaces the Faulknerian theme: it is no longer the South that forms a gigantic sepulchre, but cinematic art. At the same time, through his deconstruction of the sentence, he reveals its very nature: its very reduced punctuation, its strange lyricism, the difficultý we experience in grasping its rhythm on first reading. Above all, the effects of loop and repetition added by the filmmaker indicate the vocation of the writer's style: to capture the time of myth in the fleeing movement of the present.

Another Faulkner phrase, this time from Requiem for a Nun, runs through Godard's work: "The past is never dead. It's not even past".

It appears in several films: in episode 3a of Histoire(s) du cinéma, in JLG/JLG and Hélas pour moi. The three films use the phrase in three different ways: fragmenting it through caesura in Histoire(s) to underline the division of the French between resistance fighters and collaborators (the reprise of the phrase is superimposed on a sound extract of Pétain's voice), inverting it through editing in JLG/JLG to reveal another dimension (the present is only repetition) and appropriating it for a touching confession (he now lives as much in the past as in the present), and repeating it tirelessly in Hélas pour moi to unfold a crystalline conception of the image (each version of a story, each image of an event constitutes the virtual face of another narrative and another image, there is no dichotomy between past and present, but a single image of time whose different faces are captured).

Repetition, loop, inversion: the figures of speech reworked by the film end up redefining not only Faulkner's style, but perhaps also his literary ambition, the very essence of his writing: the impossible quest in the order of language and text for a crystalline representation of time. If Faulknerian time has been defined as a time of return, of repetition, of circularity, without this being sufficient to define the relationship that the writer himself presupposes between the time of the sentence and that of the narrative, it is perhaps because we had to wait for a filmmaker, envisaging his writing as the object of his own work, to reveal its unfulfilled ambition : If, by its very nature, the cinematographic image cannot say that was constitutes a dimension of is, as Faulkner wrote over and over again, it can, on the other hand, literally fulfil this idea in its twofold present and virtual face. Writing is not enough to agglutinate time: it needs an image in which to reflect.

[ardn716anita]

Development of SkyWorld Research

Auckland building given WOF despite fire safety risks

The sky world bu8lding on queen st, one of Auckland's busiest locations, was granted a WOF in Jan 2016 despite having significant fire safety deficiencies

Identified issues included defective smoke alarms, smoke detectors, and smoke extraction systems

The issued this WOF based on a written promise from the owner, James Kwak, to address these problems

This seven story complex with various entertainment and retail facilities, attracts two million visitors annually, by owner failed to rectify the safety issues, leading the council to declare sky world a "dangerous building" on December 20 2016

The council noted the high risk of injury and death in the event of a fire and mandated the presence of fire wardens in every theatre

The notice was lifted May 16, 2017, after nearly five months

Auckland council affirmed that they took appropriate actions to endure safety and that the building owner is now meeting WOF obligations

Something is happening at Sky world

Auckland's metro centre stands largely deserted with padlocked doors, empty shops, and outdated movie posters

Is now stuck in a state of neglect, worsened by covid 19 protocols that have kept its businesses shut

What remains includes the cinema, bowling alley, arcade, and maze

Notable changes include the departure of the popular café okg to a new location, leaving tang Guo fu as the last food tenant

Sky world offers a vibrant dining scene with various options in its food court and several restaurants

There have been signs of rejuvenation

Construction equipment and temporary walls hint at ongoing renovations

Despite this, the building's future remains uncertain, with no comments from the owner

The building received a new warrant of fitness. Allowing it to operate further

Plans include brand new attractions from rooftop dining to a floating bar

An adventure every visit: From Skyworld’s glitzy launch to its bleak present

https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/17-06-2021/an-adventure-every-visit-from-skyworlds-glitzy-launch-to-its-bleak-present

Security oversee empty stores and closed toilets, and pigeons roam the vacant six story building

Screens still advertise defunct restaurants, reflecting its stark decline from its 1999 opening as the force entertainment centre, which promised a lively and memorable experience

The last operating outlet was yang Guo fu

The bowling alley still function, but the complex is mostly a ghost town

Rumours of renovations offer some hope, yet the transformation has been slow and limited

Sky world's opening was grand but problematic, the event organizer recalls the stress of an unfinished venue and technical glitches during the launch, which saw around 1400 attendees

The building, designed with a blade-runner inspired aesthetic by architect Ashley Allen, aiming to be a glamorous city landmark

Numerous setbacks included such as tenant closures, financial struggles, and ownership changes

By 2017, the building faced fire safety issues and operated without a proper WOF, further tarnishing its reputation

Despite some recent efforts to rejuvenate, it still remains as a structure filled with memories but little current vibrancy.

‘Exceptional redevelopment potential’: Auckland’s Sky world complex is up for sale

https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/25-03-2023/exceptional-redevelopment-potential-aucklands-skyworld-complex-is-up-for-sale

In 2023, sky world was listed for sale, offering a 'rare opportunity' for revitalization

Over the years it has deteriorated significantly, suffering from neglect and financial pressures of the covid pandemic, tenant closures, and halving it's income

With a few attractions operational, the rest of the building feels abandoned, with blown lightbulbs, broken displays, oil leaks, and missing ceiling parts

Efforts to renovate the food court have been abandoned, leaving the restaurants closed and out of bounds

Some outlets are left frozen in time as dust build up covers the tables and chairs

Architects have proposed modernizing Sky world to create a throughfare between the upcoming Aotea City Station city rail link terminal and queen st, but significant investment is required

Sky world once attracted 1200 daily visitors, now sees a fraction of that

With other parts of Auckland cbd struggling, the building is in need to revamping to its former glory and prevent it from further decline

[chrisryanspeaks]

Vacant Weekend Drops New Single “Talk,��� Teasing Upcoming Maxi-EP

Building on the success of their hit single “My Addictions,” the Manchester-based indie trio Vacant Weekend is set to release their new track “Talk” on April 24th. This track is the first glimpse of their upcoming maxi-EP, slated for a summer release through the Manchester indie label Cosmic Glue. Inspired by Mike Skinner's seminal “Original Pirate Material,” Vacant Weekend weaves narratives of stark reality and urban solitude into their music. Their latest single combines their trademark lively indie sound with themes that resonate with today's youth, encouraging listeners to both reflect and dance. "The raw, honest portrayal of the gritty and lonely aspects of everyday life for an indifferent early 20-something really struck a chord with us, and we've channeled that into our music," shares Vacant Weekend. "This is also the first track where Alex has fully embraced their vocal style, moving away from technical perfection in favor of a more genuine and personal expression. It marks a significant evolution in our sound—'I used to be the singer, now I just talk.'" Originating from Cumbria and now based in Manchester, Vacant Weekend was formed by three school friends in 2018. Influenced by a mix of disco, Motown, and 2000s indie rock from bands like Two Door Cinema Club and The Wombats, their music has been described as funk-inspired, groove-centric, cathartic indie rock. With increasing momentum, including features on Spotify and Apple Music editorial playlists, accolades from BBC Radio 6’s Chris Hawkins, and over 370,000 TikTok plays for their single 'Marlboro Reds,' Vacant Weekend's latest release signifies a pivotal step forward in their sound and artistic journey. Read the full article