#wheeler definitely doing more in-character stuff with this interview

[nextstopwonderland]

“Bryan has found that I definitely respond well to negative motivational tactics.” - Wheeler Yuta for Pro Wrestling Illustrated

[cosm0tology]

hey guys… more headcanons for my comfort characters because i said so 😁 for this one it’s mike wheeler!!

based off of this post

prev. part pt.1

you better believe this mf is the definition of neurodivergent.

autistic, adhd, ocd, synesthesia—brother is a quadruple threat.

genderfluid she/he/they!!! they have a lot more feminine days now that they’ve figured themself out

special interests r d&d, writing, and she collects rocks she thinks are cool or thinks will would like

he gives the rocks to will like a cat bringing their owner a dead mouse

speaking of will

she is like a koala with him. there is no getting mike off of that boy even if it’ll kill her

they have very strong feelings about words.

like literally if you set them off about words there is no stopping them

not in a bad way, there’s just something about how one word can have like 20 synonyms but another doesn’t

“no im being so serious like what the fuck. what the fuck do you mean i can use plethora, multitude, plentitude, abundance and surplus interchangeably but there’s no synonym for unique?”

will lets them rant about stuff like that but will have no idea what they’re talking about

“then there’s words with, like, six different meanings? don’t even get me started on those-” “[gently stroking mike’s hair] me too babe”

mike’s safe food is spaghetti btw. i don’t make the rules

he hates certain brands of yogurt because they put chunks of fruit in the yogurt and every time he eats one he loses his appetite for the next two days

 even if it’s not yogurt she just hates anything that has chunks of fruit in it

which is why they will never eat strawberry ice cream. ever

he’s okay with like walnuts and cookie dough and stuff like that but if it’s fruit?? get it away from her

“mike why aren’t you eating anything?” “yogurt.” “oh…”

he can only eat it if it’s those kinds of yogurt that separate the chunks from the actual like. yogurt

whenever he goes to a fast food place and gets a side with whatever he’s eating he has to eat the side first or he’ll explode

she definitely asks nancy or robin to do her makeup.

or even steve because robin has definitely taught steve how to do makeup

mike can do makeup for herself ofc but she likes it better when someone else does it. don’t ask why because she doesn’t know

after they came out as gender-fluid they started dressing like klaus hargreeves

like. everywhere. no matter where he’s going he’s giving off that vibe

even when they become an author and do interviews and shit.

“wow, mr. wheeler.. you have a very, uh, unique style.” “i know right? who knew you could find shit like this from thrift stores?”

him and el have very similar music tastes, so sometimes they just sit together and listen to music

they don’t even speak to each other most of the times they’re doing that

they’re just doing other stuff while they listen

but it’s nice to them

mike has absolutely zero filter after he comes out

whenever they want to stare at will because of how beautiful he is? they do it.

“mike? are you okay? is there something on my face?” “no, just your face” “then,, what are you looking at?” “you.”

[sttheorycraft]

I don’t mean to sound rude when I ask you this, I know it’s a sensitive subject but do you think El might not be ready for school? I know school doesn’t necessarily make you “smart” only stereotypically however in season one she was almost like a newborn or even a small toddler adjusting to life, in season two her vocabulary expanded but she had trouble controlling her emotions “telekinetic tantrum” and in season three she was like a six to three year old mentally, I don’t think Joyce would send her to school? She might not be able to keep up with her peers and surroundings, she’s only ever talked to a group of people and has no idea on social cues, she must’ve had no choice.

I’m sorry if this ask sounded rude at all I’ve been sitting contemplating on how to make it sound less offensive.

By the way, thanks for the kind words, Anon - I'm guessing you sent all of these recent Asks since they all came in at once :)

First of all I completely get what you're asking and I don't think you're being rude at all. But let me grab my soapbox and maybe piss some people off myself.

People are afraid to call El stupid. El is DELIBERATELY portrayed a certain way by the show, which we would probably loosely call "stupid" irl. She's absolutely not stupid, she actually improves her English UNREALISTICALLY fast given her upbringing. It's more like she's uninformed/ignorant/uneducated (there's a great GIF of her looking confused when everyone around her is buckling up in the S3 Wheeler Wagon). And it's not willful: she hasn't had time to learn what most of us have had way more time to, so she's constantly behind the others. But it's totally understandable and not an artifact of some innate limitation to her abilities or a refusal to learn.

BUT: at the same time, so what if she were "stupid?" It's really disappointing that that's so stigmatized. There's natural variation in intelligence, and our value as people isn't determined by this. I mean, Steve is one of the most loved characters of the show and he's deliberately written to be dumb. It's not that being smart is undesirable, it's just that "stupid" shouldn't be an insult imo. Especially because if people give themselves these labels, and ime people are WAY too ready to, they actually hamper their own development. It's just unhealthy all around. The only thing I want to stigmatize is when people are proudly ignorant. That's different from being stupid, but right now we use the same word for both, so people conflate the two.

Speaking of unhealthy, I also wish the environment online was more thoughtful, especially before trying to crucify people. If people are uneasy even asking a question anonymously, imagine how much interesting stuff you're missing out on reading by fostering environments like that...

Okay, end soapbox. To your question: I think El will be in school in Lenora Hills next season, but you're right that she probably shouldn't be. I wouldn't put her mental age as quite that low (e.g., in S2 she doesn't set off that trip wire, she knows enough to hitchhike on her own, etc), but she's definitely not prepared to go into what, freshman year of high school? The background knowledge alone that she'd be missing would be insane. To such an extent that it may require some suspension of disbelief next season.

And she's going to get hardcore teased in Lenora Hills, almost guaranteed (isn't it even in a couple of the new character descriptions? Can't remember).

Despite what I said about her language skills advancing unreasonably quickly, I would say that the WAY she expresses herself feels weird. I might be reading too much into it, but this is a show where when something feels slightly off, you can usually find a deeper reason for it. And I keep coming back to El's unnatural kind of mimickry being a hint of something. Probably that she's not actually human. The Duffers mentioned in an interview that they knew they were going to pick MBB for Eleven when she made this face that made her look not quite human. That that was such a selling point feels like a hint to me.

Anyway, I hope that satisfies your curiosity (and doesn't piss too many off, but I feel like it needs to be said... shouldn't really be that controversial imo either). Thanks for the Ask[s]!

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #402

“there’s a space kept in hell with your name on the seat  /  with a spike in the chair just to make it complete”

Have you ever had any really infected injuries? Not an injury, per se, but I've had at least one ear piercing get infected during the healing process. Shit sucks ass. Are you popular on any websites? No. What was the last song you listened to? "Savior" by SWARM. Are you considered popular at school? I wasn't. If you could host your own talk show, would you do it? No. I've got nothing interesting to talk about. If you were starving would you eat food out of a garbage can? I honestly don't know if I could with how squeamish I am about sharing food, even with family. And we're talking about sharing food that's been in the TRASH. Do you know anyone who has changed their first name? I do. Which one of your senses would you be the most devastated to lose? I THINK hearing. I hate silence, so that would just be... haunting. I want to be able to hear people's voices and other sounds. Do you know anyone who has been on life support, and survived? I have no idea. Do your parents have a strong relationship together? God no. They're divorced for a reason. Have you ever read any of Charles Darwin’s works? No. If there was such a thing as a mental health first aid kit, what would you want to be in it? Some ice cream and a Mountain Dew bc I'm an emotional eater, my "graduation" pebble from my partial hospitalization program to remember how far I've come, some cold water to run over my face (or drink), my iPod for music and phone to watch YouTube, a nice, big blanket to turn into a burrito in... that kind of stuff. If you’re in a relationship, are you happy? And if you’re single, are you looking for someone? I'm not actively searching for anyone, no. What is something that people make fun of you for? Always being on the computer. It makes me EXTREMELY self-conscious, and I really wish people would keep their mouths shut about it. Which supermarket do you like to shop at? Wal-Mart. Have you ever been told that your boyfriend/girlfriend wasn’t good enough for you? In the past. Do you think it’s okay to flirt with someone that’s already taken, as long as it goes no further? Fuck no. Do you struggle to say ‘no’ to things you don’t want to do? YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP. Someone attractive is staring at you. What do you do? Probably just kinda smile and blush and look down/away. Are you friends with someone a lot of people dislike? *shrug* Favorite photo search engine? Tumblr for gifs, Google or Pinterest for still images, depending on what I'm looking for. Do you doggie paddle or actually swim in a pool? I'll do both, I think? It's been too long since I've swum. Ever made a snow angel? Ye-ep. Would you ever take up smoking? No. I like having operational lungs. Do you laugh at racial jokes? No. Hate to break it to ya, but they're not funny. Book series you enjoyed reading recently? I've been loving Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland, even if I'm reading very slowly. My psychiatrist has given me a new way to approach my hobbies I have difficulty engaging in, so I'm hoping if I keep it up, my rate of reading will speed up! Are there any keys on your keyboard that have letters fading away? Ahaha, yeah... "a," "s," and "d." A true gamer. How "w" is still alive, I couldn't tell ya. Favorite non-chocolate candy? Sour Punch Straws, probably. The red ones, in specific. Last person you texted? My mom. What did you learn from your first job? That I can't work with people. Favorite website from your childhood? I was a Webkinz A D D I C T. Least favorite flavor of food or drink? Cranberry came to mind very quickly. Least favorite pattern? uhhhhhhh Favorite potato food? Either French fries or Lays wavy potato chips. PC or console gaming? I grew up as a console gamer, so I'm kinda biased. Writing or drawing? Don't make me choose!! I get more satisfaction out of drawing something I'm proud of, but I do way more writing. Who would you put before everyone else? My mom, probably. Lamps, overhead lights, fairy lights, or sunlight? Fairy lights are so cute. How many phone numbers do you have memorized? I shit you not, none. What is your third favourite colour? Hm. Maybe rose gold, or lilac. Can you remember your first phone? If so, what kind was it? I'm really not sure, but I WANT to say it was one of those slide-y, compact Blueberry ones? Who is your favourite character from Alice in Wonderland? The Cheshire Cat has always been very alluring to me. What is the last thing you looked up online? The definition to a word just to ensure I was using it correctly. Have you ever had your fortune read? No. I ain't wasting time or money on that shit. Can you read tarot cards? If you couldn't guess from above, I have zero faith in this kinda stuff, so I don't care to learn. Do you prefer lemons or limes? Lemons. I like lime flavoring in some stuff, though. Are your expecting anything in the mail? No. What would you like to see out of your window everyday instead of what you see now? The forest. Do you own a camera? I do, a Canon EOS Rebel T6. Have you ever written a special note in a book? Yes. Early into our relationship, Jason lent me a book to read, and I wrote a lil love letter in it for him. Do you have any artistic talents? I mean I like to think I'm a good writer and a decent artist. Do you remember the last movie you saw while on a date? Yeah, IT with Girt. It was fun because he's a horror pansy, haha. He did fine, though. What would you do if you found out you were pregnant? Freak the fuck out because I haven't had sex in many years, so that thing's coming the fuck out 'cuz it obviously ain't natural. Favorite thing to get at McDonalds? Look man, I'm shameless, I love me a Quarter Pounder w/ cheese. Plus some fries. :x Do you know anyone named Alex? I know multiple people named Alex, actually. Whose house did you last sleep over at? Sara's. In other words, it's been a loooong time.Would you ever record yourself having sex? God no. Like zero judgment to the people that do, but I get NOTHING out of watching others "do it." I've never actually tried watching porn, but I couldn't have less interest. I know I'd hate it, and a lot. Did the vacuum scare you as a child? I don't think it did, anyway. Have you or would you ever use a dating app? One of my most embarrassing secrets is that I was briefly on Christian Mingle. It makes me want to cringe into fucking oblivion. Who are you most nervous about introducing potential significant others to? My dad. He's... a character. What was the most important non-academic thing you learned in high school? That time fucking flies, so cherish every millisecond. Do you and your friends ever talk about your sex lives? Not really. Even when I was sexually active, I was private about that stuff. I don't care if others talk to me about theirs, but odds are I'm not saying much about myself. What were the best and worst interviews you’ve ever had? What made them so good/bad? I've never had a bad interview, but I mean, I've only had I wanna say four in my whole life. None were anything special either, though. Ever put someone else in the hospital? No. Have you ever sold anything on eBay? If so, what? No. What is the best surprise you have ever had? Finding a container of puppy chow underneath the Christmas tree one year. It was my parents' way of telling me we were getting a dog (which I had been nagging them about FOREVER), and next came Teddy. <3 I miss my boy. Is someone in love with you? I wouldn't know. Ever kiss someone on the first date? No. Ever sleep with someone on the first date? That's a hard no. Do you wear cologne/perfume/aftershave regularly? No. Do you snore? No, actually. Pretty astonishing for someone with such severe sleep apnea. When is the last time someone else slept in your bed? When Sara last visited. How often do you dust? Not... nearly enough as I'm supposed to. Mom gets on me about it all the time. What is the most ‘extreme’ activity you have ever done? Ha, nothing wild, I assure you. I guess riding a four-wheeler through the woods once with our former neighbors, who were good friends of ours.. Have you ever rode on a mobility scooter/wheelchair just for fun? Um, no? That's a jackass thing to do. Some people actually need those. Who’s the most controlling person you know? OH MY FUCKING GOD. OUR FAMILY FRIEND TOBEY. EASILY. She seizes control of EVERY situation, even if she has no right to be involved in it. Does anyone keep a photo of you in their purse/wallet, and if so, who? Not to my knowledge. Do you own a microphone? No. Do you enjoy trailers at the cinema? I do! I like arriving in time to see them. Have you ever been burgled? No, thankfully. Have you ever entered anything into Urban Dictionary? If so, what? No. What’s the last live performance you watched on TV? No idea. Have you ever been embarrassed to buy something from a shop? Not to my recollection. It helps that I'm not the one buying things, like ever. What’s the name of one of your friends’ dogs? Buster! :') He's a precious lil bean. Name a pet you definitely wouldn’t want. A GIANT CENTIPEDE. That's one pet in the invert community that I have ZERO interest in EVER owning. Those bitches are scary. Have you ever needed to wear a tie? If so, when/why? Nope.

[clive-owen-and-the-knick]

Clive Owen Interview about Second Sight TV series

Brit actor Clive Owen plays ace cop who is losing his vision in `Second Sight'

By Kinney Littlefield The Orange County Register

The eyes have it on the eerie murder miniseries "Second Sight'' the eloquent eyes of intense British actor Clive Owen. Owen plays troubled Detective Chief Inspector Ross Tanner on the surreally tinged English ``Mystery!'' two-parter airing Thursday and Oct. 7 on PBS.

His on-camera challenge: how to portray a cocky cop on the scent of a killer while his vision fractures and his brain hallucinates from the rare real-life disease called AZOOR (acute zonal occult outer retinopathy).

Minute to minute, Owen had to match his turn to the miniseries' fast, kaleidoscopic special effects -- distorted glimpses of suspects or crime scenes from Tanner's freaky point of view.

"This piece is slightly fantastic,'' Owen, 34, said from London recently. "The most important thing was that you didn't do fumbling, phony, I-am-losing-my-sight kind of acting.

"The piece lent itself to be subtle as you like because actually the audience is one step ahead of Tanner -- they're alert to his smallest hesitation ahead of times.

"Of course, when someone is losing his sight it's quite bleak. Tanner's a character who starts off young, confident, successful, very arrogant, divorced from his wife, having casual sex _ and then suddenly this devastating thing happens. And he's forced to change. Bizarrely, the dark, disturbing qualities also make for very sexy, entertaining television.''

"Second Sight'' was written by Paula Milne ("The Politician's Wife''), whose own father lost his vision. At times its tone approaches the unsettling vibes of "The Blair Witch Project'' or ``The Sixth Sense.''

Shortly after Tanner starts his hunt for the killer of troubled, affluent college student Matthew Bendrix (Tom Mullion) near the Bendrix family estate, he is diagnosed with AZOOR. Scared and disoriented, he tries to hide his condition from his colleagues on the force.

He starts relying more heavily on his intuition as he interrogates Bendrix's overly doting mother, withholding stepfather, the stepfather's disreputable twin brother and the family's nanny.

Yet in a kind of metaphor for seeing what we choose to see, faltering vision and gut instinct lead Tanner off the killer's trail.

"In AZOOR it's something to do with the nerve endings sending messages to the brain in a confused state,'' Owen said. ``The most common thing is thinking you see things where they were, even if they're not there.

"For me, playing Tanner, the most crucial element was spending long, long sessions with someone at the Royal National Institute for the Blind who helps run their help line, whose vision was very close to the condition I was supposed to have. He was able to talk about his emotional responses, tips on what he tried to do to disguise the fact that he was going blind, the terror of realizing he would have to change as a person.''

Tanner soon develops a repertoire of hesitant coping gestures. He tries to mask his dysfunction with his fingers -- furtively fumbling for the spigot he can't see on a water cooler, subtly searching his way along corridor walls.

"I was very helped because a lot of that stuff was scripted -- the finger across the wall and all that was all scripted by Paula,'' Owen said.

"And yes, vulnerable was one of the key, key elements I was playing.''

Tanner is thrown a lifeline of sorts. He is teamed against his will with ambitious, attractive Detective Inspector Catherine Tully (Claire Skinner).

When Tully guesses his secret they strike a bargain. She will help Tanner cover for his fading sight if he lets her pursue the investigation in her own way -- to advance her own career, of course.

An ambivalent relationship indeed -- which also gets steamy.

Owen: "If he didn't have this problem they definitely wouldn't have got on at all -- never mind get together. But they do this double act. They both want something from the other. Otherwise it would have been too cute. It's nice to play the ambiguity of that rather than to make it too comfortable.''

PBS fans may recognize Owen's piercing eyes and sculpted cheekbones from his title role on "Chancer,'' a two-season Brit series "about a young wheeler-dealer pulling corporate scams every week.''

Stage-trained Owen made a deliberate decision to get out of television for a while after "Chancer.''

"I didn't want to become a mainstream telly actor,'' he said. ``I've probably done seven or eight films here -- none of which have hit big in America. I did the play 'Closer' -- a huge hit here -- and a movie of 'Bent,' but I've never really traveled across the water.

"I mean if I had a choice I'd just do movies. Really, I think every actor wants to be a movie star -- even great figures of the stage.''

Owen also appeared in CBS' "Return of the Native'' and HBO's "Doomsday Gun.''

Coming projects: "I did the film `Croupier' in which I play a writer who becomes a croupier and it's all in voice-over as he just cynically works in a casino to get observations for a book."

And I did an American film, a quirky comedy shot here with the working title 'Greenfingers' about a group of prisoners who become champion gardeners."

And the last thing I shot was a lively low-budget film called `Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me'.''

Meanwhile, "Second Sight'' is ripe for a sequel. Owen will star in three more Tanner telefilms, to start shooting this spring.

Will Tanner recover? Will he still need to rely on Tully? Does she care a whit about him?

"We've had discussions,'' Owen said. ``I think -- and it's only my opinion -- that the way forward is to make it as hard as possible for Tanner. The audience will relate to his isolation. I think it's best to throw things very hard at him.

"Of course, it's all still open. And you do have to start addressing credibility.

"Usually I'm very concerned about keeping scripts absolutely credible. But I've always thought of `Second Sight' as being quite out-there anyway -- as being kind of ''60s, not so entrenched in realism. So it doesn't concern me so much.''

[ahouseoflies]

The Best Films of 2018, Part I

I’ll associate my moviegoing this year with two things: subscription models and superhero films. Realizing that I was the target audience, I signed up for Moviepass in March, then canceled just before they started extorting people in July. (I’ll remember you all semi-fondly, conniving alarmists in the Moviepass Reddit thread.) Thanks to Moviepass, I took full advantage of my free time over the summer, and I found some nice surprises that I wouldn’t have checked out otherwise. From there I joined AMC A-List, which is the rare corporate service that I cannot complain about in any way. Moviepass always felt like some kind of drug deal, whereas A-List is as easy and inviting an experience as possible. I get to seek out Dolby, IMAX, or 3-D showings instead of getting locked out of them, and the electronic ticketing helps with my last-minute availability. (I’ve mastered the art of lovingly putting my daughter to bed, only to desert her and my wife five minutes later. “You know, there’s an 8:10 showing of The Predator, which means 8:30 after previews...”) My overall viewing was up 11% this year, which I have to attribute to these subscriptions. Perhaps I saw too much though. After a self-righteous five-year ban on superhero movies, I caught up in 2019 like the madman completist that I am. On the plus side, I enjoyed Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy, and I vaguely feel more connected with the culture-at-large. But I could have been more selective. The diligence required to watch X-Men: Apocalypse late on a Thursday night took away from, say, my Orson Welles project or...reading books. To get some of the business out of the way, I haven’t seen Burning, Shoplifters, Destroyer, Cold War, The Sisters Brothers, Tomb Raider, The Wife, or The House That Jack Built. Not all of us get screeners or care about seeing The Wife.  Mostly for argument purposes, I list everything I saw and divide the movies into the categories of Garbage, Admirable Failures, Endearing Curiosities with Big Flaws, Pretty Good Movies, Good Movies, Great Movies, and Instant Classics. Hey, speaking of superheroes:  GARBAGE

123. Venom (Ruben Fleischer)- Venom was first announced as an R-rated film until it was neutered into PG-13 at some point in the development road. That was the right choice because this is a movie, in all of its broad, careless storytelling, for children. "So he's going to get married to her but then he looks at her email and then he interviews the guy and he gets fired so then she leaves him and he drinks now?" This is a dummy's version of what a journalist is or what a scientist is, and it never shades into more subtlety than exactly what is on the expected surface. I guess that Tom Hardy gets to jump into a lobster tank if that floats your boat, but the story is stuck on fast-forward for the whole movie, never relenting to develop character or do anything other than communicate information that we don't really need.

Venom is almost--almost--interesting as a new branch in the superhero economy. Why shouldn't Tom Hardy and National Treasure Michelle Williams trade the equity they've built for caring about their work into this trash? I don't begrudge them that for a second. I hope they make more money for the sloppy sequels. 122. The Equalizer 2 (Antoine Fuqua)- The first Equalizer was flat and pointlessly long with pedantic dialogue too, but at least it had the Home Depot sequence. This one makes very basic stuff incoherent and dawdles all the way to the end. Your boy is now an expert hacker too? I guess it's too late for Fuqua to start caring about scripts.

121. Mandy (Panos Cosmatos)- I need somebody to explain to me why, dramatically, this is good without something like, "It's so metal! What a midnight movie! Chainsaw fight lol!" If you want to talk about the visuals that are stylized within an inch of reality, then I'll listen. But there's nothing to hold onto dramatically. I think I've developed an overall irritation with revenge films, but this filthy dirge of a movie felt empty and endless by any standard. 120. Fifty Shades Freed (James Foley)- Its intentions are too guileless to upset me, but Fifty Shades Freed uses up the goodwill I sort of had for the first two by tugging the viewer relentlessly through conflict that always seems temporary. Part of the fun has always been how bizarre basic human interactions seem in this universe. (Has anyone ever returned from a vacation to be surprise-promoted?) But this entry expects way too much from its viewer's loyalty. 119. On Chesil Beach (Dominic Cooke)- There's supposed to be a disconnect to the behavior of the couple in On Chesil Beach, a movie that asks us to harken back to a time when newlyweds were so sexually innocent that they had trouble figuring out how to consummate a marriage. Their fumbling seems foreign to us, which is the point. But what's the excuse for none of the behavior in the movie ringing true to any human experience?

I'm talking about Florence refusing to tell her string quartet that she's engaged because she thinks they'll assume that her marriage will break up the group even though she's sure that it won't. I'm talking about her father, who feels the need to humiliate his son-in-law in tennis because that would prove that he's dominant over the boy in some way that being his employer does not already prove. I'm talking about a plot that literally would not exist if the characters had just engaged in one conversation that it seems like they would have had in the flashbacks, which frame them as a kind of open, reasonably affectionate, easy-going couple. But by all means, McEwan, change that whenever it suits you. 118. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (J.A. Bayona)- I reject the whole premise of this deliberate lowering of stakes that never rises above obligation. To paraphrase a Griffin Newman joke, it makes Jurassic Park 4 look like Jurassic Park 1.

While we're here though: Can I have a movie about the guy who compiled the guest list for the dino auction? I want to see a guy looking at a spreadsheet--or is it an Access file?--and getting to, like, Mark Cuban and weighing the options: "He probably has the $27 million to spare on weaponized recombinant DNA. He would definitely appreciate the wow factor of having his own Indoraptor. But is he more of a neutral evil or a chaotic evil? I guess I'll reserve a seat for him and send the invitation. If he says no, then he says no. Okay, we're still in the C's..."

117. Tag (Jeff Tomsic)- Tag is going to show up on a lot of "worst movies to ever win an Oscar" lists when Jeremy Renner wins an Oscar for it. 116. A-X-L (Oliver Daly)- This is a melodramatic movie about a weaponized robotic dog and the dirtbike kid who befriends it. Nothing wrong with that; a ten-year-old boy might like it, and there aren't enough movies specifically for that audience. But what's weird is how nonchalant the main character is about the whole thing. He immediately starts training this one-of-a-kind "war dog" android and imprints it with his DNA like this is a regular Tuesday. It's one of many things that is just kind of off in this picture.

This being a cheap genre film, you do get treated to those L.A. locations that have been around the block. I think the nondescript complex that houses Craine Industries is also the one from Sneakers and The Lawnmower Man. You know, Craine Industries, the company that is working on a $70 million prototype for the military but, because this is a cheap genre film, seems to have two employees.

I do think there's an interesting movie to be made about motocross. The movie kind of works when it's just about an underdog father and son fixing bikes, before it gets into all of the robot stuff. ADMIRABLE FAILURES

115. The Little Stranger (Lenny Abrahamson)- Dr. Faraday: "Wanna marry me?" Caroline: "Maybe. Do you actually love me?" Dr. Faraday: "Probably not." Caroline: "Hmm, I think I would marry you only as an excuse to go to London to get away from my dying mother and this crumbling house that probably has a ghost." Dr. Faraday: "Oh. Well, glad we're discussing it now because I want to marry you specifically to give me a reason to stay in this crumbling house that probably has a ghost. I'm drawn to it for some reason." Caroline: "Is it because you grew up poor?" Dr. Faraday: "Yes. All dry, cold British stuff ultimately comes down to that.

114. Damsel (David Zellner and Nathan Zellner)- Had I done my research, I wouldn't have watched this Zellner Brothers follow-up to Kumiko the Treasure Hunter, one of my least favorite films of that year. Like that movie, Damsel is a story of two halves, punctuated by a shocking moment that happens halfway through. Unfortunately nothing interesting happens before, and nothing interesting happens after. 113. Suspiria (Luca Guadignino)- This is a movie about duality that gets extended. English, German, and just a sprinkle of French. Six parts and an epilogue. A dual role (and a bit part). Personalities that clash until one pulls ahead. There are ideas here. But, especially considering I don't like the original Suspiria, I didn't find much to hold onto as a visceral experience. It's a long, foreboding sit. Guadagnino knows how to end his movies, but he still doesn't have much to say for the long middle parts. Shout-out to Amazon; I hope that, in some circuitous way, betting on maximalist Italians helps them to sell paper towels or whatever.

112. Early Man (Nick Park)- I still love the Aardman aesthetic, but this material was thin. It's too juvenile for adults and too adult for juveniles. 111. Beirut (Brad Anderson)- The screenplay takes an hour to set up what should have taken twenty minutes. Some of that time is dedicated to developing Hamm's burnt-out alcoholic wheeler-dealer, but he's a character we've seen a hundred times before anyway. Some shorthand would have done some good. Once the plot gets going, it's serviceable, but I was bored by that point. Pike and Hamm need to fire their managers. 110. Upgrade (Leigh Whannell)- I'll admit that I owed the film more attention than I gave it since I was nodding off the whole time, but nothing in the gloomy programmer interested me enough to want to go back.

109. Red Sparrow (Francis Lawrence)- Good as a steamy blank check provocation from the director and star--not much else. I'm sure people will take down the easy target of Jen Larry's Russian accent, but they're ignoring just how much she tries in something like this. She is a gargantuan Movie Star who commands the screen, and a lot of that presence comes from the commitment of, say, learning how to ballet dance for what must have been months. She hasn't slept through a performance yet.

I didn't think this endless movie made much sense, especially near its conclusion. Perhaps it's my personal distaste for the way that spy movies introduce major plot points without so much as a music sting to guide you. As soon as anyone says the term "double agent," my brain turns off.

108. Hot Summer Nights (Elijah Bynum)- If you want to direct a music video, just direct a music video. I like all of the actors in this, but the filmmaker has nothing to say. 107. The First Purge (Gerard McMurray)- Even James DeMonaco seems to be admitting that the bloom is off the rose a bit, since he only wrote this entry in the franchise--and his direction is missed in the action scenes. Just enough of the political subtext remains, (The New Founding Fathers get funding from the NRA, and a character uses "pussy-grabbing" as an insult. Thankfully, a Black church getting shot up by men with Iron Cross flags happens off-screen.)

But there are more characters I didn't care about than characters I did care about. Since its prequel setting doesn't reveal much about the world that we didn't already know, the film needed to do a bit more with the survive-the-night scenario that we already saw in the second film.

106. Vox Lux (Brady Corbet)- A movie that, up to and including the last minute, keeps promising something better than it actually is. Everyone here is making...choices… 105. Madeline’s Madeline (Josephine Decker)- I'm glad David Ehrlich liked this as much as he did. There are some intriguing ideas, most notably the suggestion that a mentally unstable person would be better suited for acting than a healthy person. What a debut for Helena Howard as well. But for it to add up to something by the end, I think I needed it to have more dramatic structure--the sort of fall of the Molly Parker character feels invented and insincere--or go all the way into experiment. 104. Shirkers (Sandi Tan)- One of those "you won't believe what happens next" documentaries that positions itself as an example of truth being stranger than fiction. But removed from a festival context, does it ever rise above its logline? Is it really even that odd?

[ramajmedia]

Kingdom Of The White Wolf Interview | Screen Rant

National Geographic photographer and explorer Ronan Donovan talks with Screen Rant about his journey to the arctic for the three-part event series Kingdom of the White Wolf. The series provides an unprecedented look into the lives of some extraordinary animals, as Donovan gets up close and personal with a species integral to the Arctic’s complex eco system, and also one that is misunderstood, or perhaps not understood enough. The result is a series that turns its subjects into real characters and their survival into one of the most compelling narratives on TV. 

But Kingdom of the White Wolf is more than another nature documentary. By making Donovan and his photography a central part of the series itself, the program becomes a hybrid of sorts, fusing top-notch filmmaking with some truly gorgeous photographs, captured while the series itself unfolds. As such, Kingdom of the White Wolf offers a fascinating viewing experience, one that simultaneously tells the story of a pack of white wolves and the individual documenting them. 

More: This Way Up Review: A Sweet, Sad, & Funny Look At Starting Over

In addition to speaking with Donovan to hear firsthand how the series came together, Screen Rant has two exclusive clips from the series. The first demonstrates how the wolves communicate, with their familiar and seemingly pensive howls. The second, offers a rare glimpse at a wolf pack forming and becoming a formidable hunting party. As Donovan notes, the predators are put in a strange predicament where, in order to eat, they must first venture into harm’s way. Check out the pack formation and wolf calls clips below, along with the interview with National Geographic Explorer Ronan Donovan. 

I wanted to start off by congratulating you on having the coolest job in the world. I also wanted to ask, is that notion difficult to process when you're out there actually doing what I assume is the difficult work of exploring and documenting nature in this way?

I mean the actual work is very hard, like physically, emotionally demanding. I mean, this last assignment in the Arctic, I tore the meniscus in both my knees throughout the assignment. The first one in my left knee in the first month of the project. I just had to walk it off and get on with it. And then I tore the second knee like three weeks before the end. I knew I did awful things to them, but I didn't really have much of an option to get help or stop working, because I had a lot of pressure on myself. So you know, it's a common sentiment that it's like, you know, this is a really amazing job, but it also has its great challenges as well. And that was definitely one of them for this last assignment.

How long are you actually out there following these subjects and what does that experience give you in terms of understanding these animals in their habitat? And then conversely, what do you learn about yourself when you're out there? 

Just following the animals and the subjects, the set up was, essentially there were two other guys on the team and we had a base camp that we set up that was about 20 miles away from the core range of this main pack of wolves. And so basically we had four wheelers to be able to keep up with the wolves, as well as carry the equipment, you know 150 pounds of equipment. Food, tent, your sleeping stuff and then another two full gas tanks in fuel cans to be able to keep up. So everything dictated how much the wolves were going to move. I had about 250 miles that I could get out of all the gas that I had in the machine that I would carry. 

You could do three or four days typically, because the wolves would just travel and then you'd have to make sure you didn't run out of fuel before you got back to camp. The longest day was 65 miles following the wolves continuously, while they hunted over the course of 40 hours. And that was the longest day that I did out there and it was just utterly exhausting. You know the sun's up the whole time. So you have this weird kind of ball of energy that never sets, and that's backed by all the continuous movement. You're on this machine, you're not sitting down, you're in the horse riding stance, getting bucked around on awful terrain. So you can't exactly fall asleep. It's not like driving a car where I could never last more than 20 hours driving a car straight because you're comfortable and you fall asleep.

The machine and the pace and following the wolves just keeps you up; it propels you to keep going. And they're hunting and you're having to try to document that, because it's one of the peak physical, mental evolutionary aspects of the animal's life that makes them what they are, and you're trying to capture all this. So that was what would keep me up and driving and doing horrible things to my body. What I learned about myself from doing this project is some of the things that make me really good at my job, which is kind of a stubborn drive to achieve and succeed and document and share these animal stories. That stubborn drive is also ... it can be a bit self-defeating in the sense that self care is really challenging, I think, on these longterm field projects. Just the physical aspects of it. I've harped on that a lot, but it's ... For this assignment it was by far the hardest all around and most demanding, physically and emotionally.

Additionally, I've never done television before and there was a lot of pressure involved; people went to bat for me a lot on this project, to give me this opportunity. It's big budgets. There's obviously big expectations and so there was a lot of that in my mind throughout. But that was interspersed with these incredible wildlife moments where you get to witness an animal that's rarely seen by anyone and even more rarely seen in its relaxed state, essentially just being wild wolves and ignoring my presence the whole time. And that was just an incredible opportunity and treat to be able to have that experience.

It's incredibly interesting watching the way the wolves were aware of you being there but didn't seem to really react to you all that much. Can you talk about the process of following the wolves around and getting to know them individually, and eventually earning their trust enough that you can insert yourself into situations they're in without distracting them from what they're trying to do? 

Initially, locating wolves, you're trying to find a wolf den. We used a helicopter for that process, just trying to cover a bunch of ground looking for these green patches in the landscape, which are indicative of a den that's been fertilized by urine and feces for hundreds of years on a pretty barren tundra desert-like landscape that doesn't have very much in the way of nutrients. So the wolves, just by being there and creating a den, create this lush little Eden spot on what's typically a brown landscape. So you find the den and then maybe it'll be active, maybe not. In this case, in the first episode, all the dens we found were all iced in and there were no wolves.

That added a freakout of like, 'Oh gosh, I just said I could do this project, that I can find wolves, and I can't.' And then once we did find a den with pups, it was in this far away valley, and it was pretty sandy soil, so it must not have had the same weather event. The rain event didn't affect it and it wasn't frozen in. That's why they were able to use that den. After that, it was just... gaining their trust is just a series of neutral encounters with them, because there's nowhere to hide, you're not trying to sneak up. It's not like you're sitting in a blind or a hide, which is typical of some of the other wildlife work where you're actually trying to keep yourself hidden. 

You just present yourself and they react accordingly. They're going to be curious probably about what you're doing because they've never been shot at or they've never had a negative encounter with people. Some of the wolves maybe have never seen people, especially the younger ones, at least the pups. They have no reason to fear anything other than other wolves and the occasional polar bear. So therefore, they're going to be curious about anything else. So that's how they saw me. And that's how they see humans as just kind of this interesting third animal in a landscape. We're not a threat, we're not seen as prey; we're just kind of another animal out there in some ways. It's a fascinating perception of what wolves think of humans in this part of the Arctic. They're not scared of us and they don't see us as prey.

Much of the first episode delves into the ways in which the pack has a social dynamic and cares for one another or shows affection toward one another. It also underlines the role that the wolves play in maintaining the ecosystem around them. In what way do you think the series will help dispel some misconceptions about these wolves and help create a new image for them? 

Yeah, I mean the main goal is to showcase a wild family of wolves that can exist in its own ecosystem, its own place, be a positive force in the landscape and have no negative encounter with people. Which is the honest story about how wolves have lived for tens of thousands of years and that it's only in recent times in human history where we as humans started to domesticate the animals that wolves prey on: sheep, goats, cattle. And then we came into conflict with the wolves because we wanted to eat the same thing. And so, on Ellesmere Island, there're no people who live there and raise livestock, and there is no competition with human hunters there, which is another conflict of the wolf/human relationship. And so it's this really exciting place just to show what wild wolves are like, without this haze, this cloud of human interaction. 

What I hope people will take away from it is seeing how intimate wolves can be among themselves, just in their family structure. How sweet they are to the pups, how sweet they are with each other. They have need to communicate and cooperate in order to achieve something together that they can't do on their own, which is why people live in social groups, because we can do greater things as a group than we can on our own. Trying to highlight those similarities, which is kind of the first step in empathy and understanding that humans are capable of when we're trying to understand other people, other cultures, and extending that into animals as well. 

You were out there for quite some time documenting these wolves, and I'm sure you had a lot of experiences that maybe didn't make the actual final cut of the series. For you personally, what was the most surprising thing you came across in the process of making this series and in your time documenting these wolves? 

One of the most incredible experiences and striking that didn't make it in, was the longest follow day where it was, 40 hours straight and 65 miles that we covered. This was after the matriarch female had disappeared from the pack, so the pack was in a little bit of disarray. They waited around for a number of days to see if she'd come back, and they got hungry so they had to go out and hunt. They brought the pups along that were about 12 weeks old at that time. And they went on this 65-mile jaunt, which is a really long way for little pup legs, and the adults were exhausted and the pups were dragging behind, whimpering and howling while they're running, and having this really, really hard experience. 

Later, the adults were hunting multiple herds of muskox, just testing them and failing. One of the wolves actually got smashed and steamrolled and stampeded, before getting up and trying to find another herd of muskox to test. And this was over 40 hours. They killed two Arctic hares that the adults wouldn't share with the pups because the adults were ravenous at that point. And kind of the code is: if the adults don't eat then there's no way the pups are going to get food. So the adults have to be strong and healthy in order to find more food for the pups. 

Then there was this really tense moment where [the wolves] went from sea level up to 2,500 feet over this mountain dropdown, this dramatic icy chute on the edge of this mountain. I thought they all died because it was ice. I couldn't follow them. It took me an hour and a half to get around the mountain to get back to them. I was thinking that at least a few of the pups must have died in this avalanche chute, basically. But I found them again, and they were all just curled up sleeping and taking a nap. They were totally fine.

That was just one of the most impressive feats of animal physical fitness, as well as seeing how they stay together as a cohesive pack. They didn't leave any pups behind. They didn't leave any other adults behind. They stayed together through a really challenging session and eventually they made another kill a couple of days later and had a really good feed. That was kind of heartwarming to think that they were able to keep going and function as a pack without their matriarch. 

One of the things that's really interesting about this series, is that it;s about the wolves, but on another secondary level, you and your photography become another aspect of the story. How does that work and how do you balance directing the audience and becoming a part of the story in this way. How does that work for you? 

Yeah, I mean that's not my happy place I would say [laughs]. This whole project came out of my wanting to do a magazine story as a photographer for National Geographic Magazine. The editor that I've worked with my entire five years at National Geographic, said to me, 'I would love to do this story. We just no longer have the budget to do this.' She said, "But you know, TV has those budgets. They're right across the hall. Let's go over and see what's possible.' So this whole project came out of our desire, myself and the editor, to do a magazine story, a photography story. And then it went through a couple of iterations and they asked would if I would be willing to go up there with a big crew and do this whole production and all this, and that's not the way to do it. 

So they turned that down and then eventually they asked if I would be willing to be on camera as one of the characters and be filmed doing the process. And I agreed. But you know, I never aspired to do television, to be on TV. I don't own a TV. I don't watch Nat Geo WILD. It's not like it was this goal of mine, to always do something like this. I wanted to tell the story of wild wolves, but I realized that television is the widest audience for consuming these types of wildlife stories. I wish the magazine had more of a following than it currently does, but that's just the nature of print media. And so I saw an opportunity in agreeing to be on camera and to be filmed doing my process as a photographer and filmmaker as a way to reach a wider audience.  

One of the hardest balances for me in this project  was that I'm also a wildlife cameraman, so I filmed half of the natural history for this series. And trying to juggle photographing for the magazine - because there's a story out in the current [September 2019] issue on the wolves - then also having to film for this TV series was really hard. There was another full time dedicated director of photography up there, his role was to film me during the process and then also to film natural history. And so the two of us would kind of shift back and forth. But that was hard. That was hard for me. Additionally, I was by myself a lot, so I wasn't able to do side-by-side video and photo. As a result, there were several moments where I had to choose what it was going to be. 'Is this going to be a sequence of photos or going to be a sequence of film?' That was a balance that was hard for me. 

Where do you go from here? What is your next project that you're working on, if you are working on anything at the moment? 

Yeah, well the immediate project is going back and trying to find that same pack again, but in winter. I always wanted to go see the wolves in winter. The powers that be were cautious about that, and they wanted to do this initial round in the summer and to see how it goes. It really comes down to how well this show rates. If it does well then I am going to push to go back in winter because these Arctic wolves, they're white wolves, they evolved on a predominantly snowy white landscape and they're at their strongest in winter, when their prey, the muskox, are at their weakest. So I want to see that. I want to go up there when it's negative 30 in February and the sun is just coming up from the horizon for the first time in five months when the wolves have these big, huge, bushy winter coats, and they're hunting muskox, which are tired and weak and there's breath and blood and white landscape. It would would just be gorgeous. 

Next: The Righteous Gemstones Review: Pitch Perfect Performances Elevate An Overstuffed Premiere

Kingdom of the White Wolf premieres Sunday, August 25 @8pm on Nat Geo WILD.

source https://screenrant.com/kingdom-white-wolf-interview-ronan-donovan-nat-geo-wild/

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Friends Reunion

Even as a huge Friends fan, I had mixed feeling when the Friends reunion was announced. I wasn't sure what new stuff would possible be shown because I have seen every blooper, every post Friends cast interview, and even the big specials on Friends which detailed specific aspects of what happened during the making of the show. But man, the special still got me hard. I mean, there definitely wasn't a whole lot that was new. It was a nostalgia field trip but in hard times like now, its nice to reminisce over something that was such a huge pop culture phenomenon. Seeing the cast back together was amazing and they immediately hit the right notes. The table reads were a lot of fun. I feel the cast, especially Schwimmer, Kudrow, and Le Blanc managed to slip back into character effortlessly. I mean, the best part about the reunion was definitely the cast just talking to each other about various aspects of the show and their experience. Its was great too see some guest cast like Reese Witherspoon talk about her experience, great to see Elliot Gould and Christina Pickles as well as Maggie Wheeler and Tom Selleck. I like the outsider perspective from some well known actors on Friends and how its a comfort show for so many people. I feel the same. For me, its a show where I can put on an episode when I'm feeling low and it never fails to make me laugh. I actually think the special could have been longer. I mean, we could have gotten a bit more from the guest cast because. They didn't really discuss some of the major things that happened on the show in much depth. I would have liked to see Paul Rudd, who was effectively the 7th Friend by the 10th season. I expect some of these were because Covid effected what they could and could not do. But for what it was, it felt like a warm hug for a Friends fan.

[iesorno]

Adam is the writer of the small press comic The Secret Protectors (we reviewed issues 1&2 here and read our interview with them here)

Like many of us, Adam balances a job and writing, looking to grow creatively and get his story out into the world. What appealed to me about The Secret Protectors particularly is that it’s a raw work, finding its voice and style and watching Adam and Ben Nunn (the artist on the series) grow is as much a part of the story as the actual comic.

They’re currently Kickstarting a collected edition of the first 4 issues of the series (you can sign up for the first two issues for free here and you can see art from the series throughout the article!!) You can back it here.

http://kck.st/2CKH9pP

You can find The Secret Protectors here

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Over to Adam

Secret Protectors

Can you tell us a bit about the first creator whose work you recognised?

Yeah of course, you know, I don’t think I realised it till I got a lot older, but the first creators who really left a lasting effect on me were Filmation (responsible for He-Man), Eastman & Laird who somehow thought up TMNT, along with Toei animation who created the Transformers cartoon. Perhaps even more important are husband and wife Eric & Julia Lewald, the two main creatives behind the X-Men animated series. That show, I can genuinely say, really taught me a lot and instilled in me morals I hold to this day. It was an absolutely great show! Crazy to credit that to a kids Saturday morning cartoon I know but I don’t think you can overestimate how important our younger years are in defining the adults we’ll grow in to.

  Which creators do you remember first copying?

I remember as a kid playing with my action figures and it was never enough to just have the good guys facing off against the bad guys for the sake of a cool battle. I can vividly remember trying to create the Secret Wars storyline with my figures. Instead of just Marvel characters though I’d have Turtles there as well, along with a bunch of other figures. I remember I couldn’t include Transformers or Thundercats though! They didn’t scale well! It would have been ludicrous to include them too! As for my adult years, I’ve tried to not outright copy anyone of course but at this point I’ve so many influences that play into my storytelling approach.

  Who was the creator that you first thought ‘I’m going to be as good as you!’?

Woah, tough one that! Creatively I’ve always wanted to try and have my own way. As a small press indie guy, I’m not sure its about trying to be better than someone else. I think it’s more about improving your craft, learning from your mistakes and growing as a person to improve your work!

  Which creator or creators do you currently find most inspiring?

There’s so many! If I had to narrow it down, I guess I’d have go with a top 5 format, so:

David Chase – The creator of, in my opinion, the best TV series ever – The Sopranos. It’s been labelled all kinds of superlatives, I’m not sure I can really add anything to the list. I’ve heard it described as an 86hr film, which is probably about right. It just never misses a beat and the storytelling is just so deep and rich. It’s the only series I’ve ever watched over from start to finish more than once. I’ll definitely been watching it a third time at some point in my life!

Spawn 300 by Todd McFarlane

David Simon – The man is responsible for a bunch of incredible TV series, such as The Wire, Show Me a Hero & The Deuce. I’m a pretty unemotional guy but Simon is phenomenal at drawing you in emotionally before then absolutely crushing you. Show Me a Hero in particular left me completely exhausted.

Christopher Nolan – He’s just never made a bad film, in fact, I’d argue literally all his work is top drawer stuff. Not only does he tell original, amazing stories, he does it in a way that is normally a way you’ve never been shown a story before.

Todd McFarlane – When Todd left Marvel and started up Image, he, along with the other founders of Image changed the industry forever. In Spawn, he has the longest running independent comic of all time and on a personal note, anytime I see an interview with him he just seems so humble and grounded. He worked his absolute arse off to get where he is and to improve himself. He’s gone from aspiring, struggling artist to a one-man empire! He makes comics, films and toys! The man must never sleep!

Chris Claremont – The man wrote X-Men for 25 years! The longevity and quality of his work is pretty much unparalleled. To quote the great late Stan Lee ‘Nuff said’.

There’s plenty more but this is a pretty good representation.

  Which creators do you most often think about?

I actually try not to really! I’d end up depressing myself by comparing myself to someone on top of the, figurative, mountain that I’d love to ascend! I kid, of course! That’s a tough one. I try to focus on being better personally. Just keeping my head down and doing ‘me’.

  Can you name the first three creative peers that come into your head and tell a little bit about why?

Sure, first up! Matt Stapleton – The mind behind What If? Stories. He’s such a great guy! He’s one of those people whose enthusiasm is just unrelenting! Some might find that jarring but it’s honestly infectious! In a good way! He’s so positive when taking on a challenge, like his recent Kickstarter for instance, he smashes it! If you’ve got a dream and want to make it happen, surround yourself with individuals like Matt. People who dream and believe!

Ben Nunn – 2000AD submission from sample script

Ben Nunn – The second half of The Secret Protectors duo. Ben’s great! We’ve been working together now on The Secret Protectors since 2017. We’ve both developed a lot since then but Ben’s improvement is remarkable. He’s never happy with his work and he’s constantly looking to do better. If I let him, he’d probably completely redo issue 1! Hahaha!

  Lastly. My wife! Kate Wheeler. Now, she’s not a typical creative. She is an actress but she’s not currently working. She had to get a real job to pay the bills unfortunately. But she is my muse. She’s the only reason I developed the belief needed to go out there and get my comic made in the first place! She is my number one confidant, partner, friend and consigliere! The Silvio to my Tony Soprano so to speak.

  Finally, can you tell us a bit about your recent work and yourself?

I’d love to shamelessly plug my Kickstarter which is Live right now! It’s for my comic book series The Secret Protectors! It’s Ben and mine’s take on the superhero genre. There’s sci-fi and fantasy aplenty but it’s more about the drama and tension between the characters themselves! It’s the story I feel I’m here to tell, essentially. There’s not a day that passes that I don’t think about it in some way, shape or form! It’s definitely my burden to carry! My curse!

(editor’s note — It’s here – remember!)

Merchandise available from their Kickstarter

I also recently wrote the short story ‘The Ville’ – download The ‘Ville – By Adam Wheeler. Completely different to anything comic related. To be honest, I just wanted to challenge myself to make something up new. Something that was a complete departure. Just to prove that I could, more than anything.

As for me, I’m Adam Wheeler a 35-year-old male. I’ve been creating & crafting stories since I can remember, not that anyone ever asked me too. I’m not so interesting. I’m just a working-class guy with aspirations. Cliché I know but it’s the best backstory I could come up with for myself.

  Thank you very much for taking the time to fill this out and let us into your mind.

all art copyright and trademark it’s respective owners.

content copyright iestyn pettigrew 2020

    Small (press) oaks – Adam Wheeler writer of The Secret Protectors talks influences and there a lot of 80's and 90's animation thrown about! Follow here @T_S_Protectors #comics #superheros #diversity #alternatereality Adam is the writer of the small press comic The Secret Protectors (we reviewed issues 1&2…

[thegloober]

A New York Story: Tamara Jenkins on Private Life

by Tomris Laffly

October 5, 2018   |  

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“I’m good. I just came from doing my Terry Gross interview and now I’m wandering the block in front of my house, so my husband doesn’t have to listen to me talk about myself.” This is what Tamara Jenkins, the writer/director of Netflix’s pitch-perfect “Private Life,” playfully tells me on the phone, the day after her film’s rapturous New York Film Festival screening, months after it opened the 2018 Sundance Film Festival to unanimous praise. Luckily however, we will get to hear her talk about herself this season, as the filmmaker has liberally poured a lot of her personal reality into her latest. A deeply generous and specific New York film about a 40-something husband and wife battling with fertility and IVF treatments, “Private Life” publicly honors a whispered-about emotional struggle middle-aged couples, who have delayed having children due to various contemporary social and economic factors, weather in their marriage. 

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Starring Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti as an arty East Village couple, and Kayli Carter as their helpful and intellectually curious step-niece, “Private Life” is Jenkins’ first film since “Savages” in 2007—another familial story anchored in relatable, heartbreaking truths. And she was busy during that decade, dividing her time between writing for hire, teaching and being a new mother, the successful outcome of her own experience with fertility treatments. She spent four years of that time, as she explained during the post-screening Q&A at NYFF, working on the film she was meant to make. She wrote and perfected her script in a remote office she had to rent, having transformed her second bedroom from a home-office to her daughter’s room. “Virginia Woolf was right,” she remarked after the screening. “You have to get a room of your own. Out of the house, so you don’t drift into domesticity and distractions from all the things you’re supposed to be doing in your office.”

Below, we delved deep into Jenkins’ process in making a timeless New York movie about a marriage, both hilarious and profoundly emotional at equal measure.

This movie comes from a deeply personal place for you, as you went through your own experience with fertility treatments. 

Yeah, my husband and I went through our own fertility saga. At the time, I certainly wasn’t cataloging it [as] great material. Although I think that there’s a part of writers and artists [that is] collecting things all the time even if they don’t know it. There’s a third eye keeping track of things that might be viable at some future date. When I was in the thick of it myself, I had a friend, Rebecca—she’s a filmmaker, a documentarian, and she was my confidant. When I would relay to her what was going on in all of the trials of either IVF or adoption or whatever things we were pursuing (we were pursuing international adoption as opposed to domestic adoption, which is what happened in the movie), she would say to me, “This is really good material. You should be writing this down.” And I was horrified. I’m not making a movie about this stuff. But, here I am and I have a movie about it. 

I think time went by and one thing that happened was that I started [hearing] a lot of people in my circle (including my friend Rebecca), who started having their own fertility drama. Many people I know, because of the nature of their lives, delayed having kids because of work and the kind of careers they had. Then [they] found themselves later pursuing parenthood. So I realized that it wasn’t my singular problem. You go to those waiting rooms and you look around and you’re definitely not the only one. I just started thinking that there was something I was being given permission to explore the subject beyond the things that the story of my own. 

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It was a successful procedure for you, yet your film is about a couple that doesn’t succeed, which, I thought, is really a generous way of honoring and sympathizing with people who went through the same battles as you did, but weren’t as fortunate as you. 

I feel like there are [already] a lot of these stories and then at the end there’s the happy baby ending. Even though the movie is about trying to have a kid, [about] that pursuit, to me it was always a story about a marriage and the existential crisis that this couple goes through and a mutual mid-life crisis story. That’s always the way I thought of it. The ending of the movie is about them and how they weathered this. And that, to me, was more important from a narrative point of view. And then, on another hand, I just felt like when I read other stories or memoirs and at the end it was like, “Hello! We got it!” I just found it fucked up. 

Most of the time, it doesn’t work. Statistically most of IVF, as we’d have to look at the numbers, doesn’t always work. And also, they’d had as many tries as they had. Who knows what happens in the future with the couple? We just leave them at Applebee’s, sitting there waiting for a potential birth mother. So we don’t really know what happens. For sure, many cycles fail. In the course of the movie, we see two failed cycles: one with one IVF cycle with their own eggs, and then a donor egg IVF cycle. And I think that was realistic. And then adoption isn’t simple and easy. Basically, if you’re not getting a baby the old fashion way, it’s hard. 

I can’t remember the last time I went from crying to laughing and back to crying in a movie this sharply and frequently. You struck a wonderful balance between comedy and drama and tragedy. Can you talk about your writing process, ping-ponging between the two?

That’s a high honor to think that I succeeded in doing that. I think it’s something that I’m just naturally [after]; that is my place of where I want to go. There’s an in-between place between the comedy and drama that shimmers. That’s where I strive to go, because I believe that it’s a more authentic landscape for talking with experience. I don’t think that anything is truly dramatic or truly kinetic. That’s what I’m attracted to in literature or movies or art.

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I’m also wondering if you set out to make a timeless New York movie—“Private Life” immediately feels like one. As predictable as this might be, the marriage of an intellectual, slightly neurotic New York couple inevitably draws Woody Allen comparisons. 

I felt that these characters grew out of the soil of the way that they live [in New York]. I totally see what you’re saying with the Woody Allen comparison, although its view of economic reality is different than a lot of his portraits. This is [an] East Village version. They’re holding on to their apartment by their rent-stabilized lease. The economic realities brought them to this place where they are when the movie starts; informed the choices that they made in their life. Leading the kind of lives that they have, by living hot book contract or a theater company, is so unstable economically that it probably informed why they delayed pursuing having a kid in the first place. They had a small apartment. What are they gonna do? They didn’t have health insurance. To me, that was really important to help inform who these people were. They’re freelance New York people, [they are] artists.

Every New York freelancer knows a thing or two about that, yes.

It might be a familiar world. It’s an unstable place.

I love the line in the movie Rachel and Richard are looking through the profiles of potential donors, they say, “Oh, she’s a film and journalism major. That’s why she’s probably selling her eggs.”

[Laughs] “She majored in film and journalism, with like a minor in cinema studies. Or a double major cinema studies and journalism. No wonder she’s selling her eggs, she can’t get a job.”

That New York-ness you’re talking about—the best description of it I can think of is lived-in. I just loved that messy, chaotic, but kind of organized/chaotic apartment that they had. Kathryn Hahn’s beautifully messy hair, those bulky sweaters and layered clothes … 

That makes me really happy that you felt that way, especially as a New Yorker and feeling that it was an authentic portrait. The language that you just used, lived-in, that was the language that me and the Production Designer and the Costume Designer and the Cinematographer [used]. That’s how we talked about getting the feel and the look that we wanted for the movie. The production designer Ford Wheeler [and I] (we had a limited budget) poured so much of our attention into that apartment and getting that apartment right, because it was such an extension of their character. All their history is kind of evident in the books on the windowsills, and the exposed radiator. All that was so important to tell the story without words.

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And your cast had a special kind of chemistry that achieved that lived-in feel. Did you do any rehearsals to prepare them appear as a family?

We had a very limited rehearsal period, but I got Paul and Kathryn together once. Once, several months before, we shot by accident. Kathryn was arriving in New York to do press for “Bad Moms,” and Paul was about to fly out to Eastern Europe to do a movie. There was one night that they were in the city at the same time, so I got to get them in advance of the production schedule kicking in. That was fantastic and it was the first time they’d ever met in their life. They got to go through the script and I made dinner. I gave them a couple of acting exercises. One of them was washing dishes, which I thought was a good marital acting exercise. It’s that truly domestic cap that echoes in marriages all the time. And we read through the script. Oh, I had them go on a donor egg website and select an egg donor. Then so many months later, we had three days of rehearsals and Kayli entered the picture at that point. I think we were lucky that there was a really natural connection between everybody. Then there was something also really great about Kayli. She is a relatively unknown actor. So her relationship to Paul and Kathryn as actors really reflected her relationship to Paul and Kathryn’s characters in the story, the way that she admired them. There was something about that that just kind of worked on two different levels that was pretty nice. 

There’s such innocence and wisdom in her performance. 

She’s so incredibly open. There’re moments where I remember doing her close up, like the scene where they ask her point-blank if she would like to be their egg donor and she’s eating the burrito and sitting on the floor, and feeling like it was catching lightning in a bottle. She was so alive and we were just capturing this beautiful lightning buzz. She was pretty astonishing. 

I also responded to the fact that her relationship with her mother was a part of the story. Then it became not only about different generations of women, but about women from different socio-economic realities, too. The intellectual New Yorkers versus a suburban mom, who might not be the most sympathetic at first, but we understand where she’s coming from.

I remember being worried about that with the Cynthia character. A friend of mine read the script and she was like, “Oh my god, I love Cynthia, she’s such a bitch.” And I thought, “Oh shit, like she can’t just be a bitch.” I think that she’s dimensional and I don’t want her to just be this brittle, super bitchy mom. So when the idea of Molly Shannon came to my mind, which was really like great burst (I saw her in “Other People,” where she plays a cancer mom), I thought, “Molly Shannon, Molly Shannon, she’d be perfect because she is so likable and approachable.” It was around the time that she had won a Spirit Award I think. I felt that she would help find the humanity in that character and she really did.

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For what it’s worth, I never viewed Cynthia as a villainous character. Her concerns are valid. And she’s trying to protect her daughter.

They’re totally valid. My goal as a writer, which I guess is every writer and actor’s goal, is putting myself in each person’s shoes and believing their truth. And I just feel like I’m all three of those women easily. They’re all different. From each one of their perspectives, I can see why they feel the way they do about what’s happening. 

Slightly off trail, but I’m thrilled about the way you weaved in Bach, especially The French Suites, in your film’s soundtrack. I felt they perfectly aligned with the rhythms of that couple’s relationship. 

Well, I love The French Suites. I’m really ignorant about classical music, but those, performed by Glenn Gould, are so beautiful. I don’t even know how I came upon them before this movie; I liked them for years. I didn’t think in advance, “Oh, I’m gonna use all this Bach.” But then I said to my nephew, the kid who plays the piano in [the] Thanksgiving [scene], “I want you to be part of the Thanksgiving scene, we’ll have you come and you’ll play the piano just like you would do if you were visiting my apartment.” (Although my piano is much smaller. But this is a suburban house.) And my nephew is really good. And now he composes music. I said to my nephew Nate, “Give me a list of songs that you could play. We want to make sure that they’re in the clear [so] we wouldn’t have to pay for them if we ended up using them in the movie. So he gave me a list of songs and one of them was the Bach piece, Invention 4. 

And so it was not part of The French Suites. But it’s a beautiful piece and I loved it, so I looked at all the pieces he suggested. And that’s what he ended up playing when we shot the scene. When I was in the editing room, I think that must have set off the Bach frenzy and I just said to my editor, “Oh, you know, there’s these beautiful French Suites, why don’t we start popping them in various places?” And it was really informed by my nephew. He did it. He started the whole Bach thing. There’s just something that feels so right about that rhythm. When we were finishing the movie, there was concern about the fact that because they’re [performed by] Glenn Gould, they’re much more expensive than if they’re by somebody else. So there was a discussion about having different renditions. And I just couldn’t bare it. His interpretation is iconic. The attachment I have to it is like … [imagine] having somebody do covers of a Beatles song. So we ended up being able to work it out financially.

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[riffrelevant]

(By Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker, Senior Writer/Journalist, RiffRelevant.com)

On Saturday, May 26, 2018, I was able to scratch a top band off of my own personal Bucket List of bands to see live: Nashville, Tennessee’s HOWLING GIANT!

The band itself, which is mostly the duo of guitarist / vocalist Tom Polzine and drummer / vocalist Zach Wheeler these days, has been on my radar for several years now. With a string of EP releases in recent times, HOWLING GIANT have cemented themselves as one of the heavy underground’s best rising acts but damn, their live presentation is a spectacle to behold!

They, along with regional support bands ELECTRIC PHANTOM and VIC CROWN, would bring HOWLING GIANT‘s recent “Escape From The Lab 2018 Tour” to an epic end at the Sly Grog Lounge in Asheville, North Carolina this night. But, before we get into all of that, let’s develop the tale with a bit of a prequel, shall we?

I, along with my trusty videographer / photographer and friend, Will Bouton of Fugo Films, would trek from our base in the mountains of the Kentucky – Virginia state line to beautiful AVL for this show. Now, though I frequent the town quite regularly, this would be my introductory visit to Sly Grog Lounge and wow, were we in for a treat.

The venue is a mostly open-air setting, one with a wide berth of seating areas toward the front then a bar and stage area toward a more enclosed back area. This is where things get interesting, i.e. the decor of Sly Grog Lounge – which is retro pop culture chic to the Nth Degree.

Oldschool, er, … “vintage” video game consoles ala early Atari, Nintendo, etc. adorn several play stations through out the place. A couple of pinball machines, video games, several shelves laden with books, VHS movie tapes, weird curios and other eclectic items are littered throughout also. All of this adds to, and ultimately creates one hella interesting spot to see a band, one that is intimate and entertaining both.

OK, now, let’s get down to the business at hand, which is, of course rockin’… and folks, let me tell ya: Business would be good, and good to go, on this humid summer night in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.

In the spirit of full disclosure, or my “tell it how it is” nature, take your pick, I was admittedly unfamiliar with this evening’s pair of initial prime movers, VIC CROWN and ELECTRIC PHANTOM. Sure, I’d briefly delved into each’s social media presence on Facebook prior to the gig but that did not provide a real feel for what they do musically.

No, that would have to be inspected, investigated and ultimately experienced in the live setting of the real-time rock ‘n roll show. First up: VIC CROWN, a quartet comprised of Falcon Faust (vocals), Colin Townsend (drums), Sam Steele (bass) and Patrick Rothe (guitar), and one that has got a damn groovy delivery, too.

VIC CROWN

Songs with such titles as “Knee Deep“, “BRN“, “Montreal“, “Here & Now“, “Caution” and “Trust“, were served with abundant punch and aplomb. Rut-deep riffs got galvanized with rumbling rhythms and the result was a solid early Clutch-meets-Scissorfight sound and style from these heavyweights. VIC CROWN clearly has a loyal fan following that turned out to support them and I must mention two facts of interest for me: First, Faust’s use of what I can only describe as an “antique-y” (???) mic that gives his vocals a cool, muddier output, and one that fits right nicely with the band’s sonic discharge. He also displays a great rapport with the crowd, often stepping out in their midst to present his vocals from right there, with the people and for the people.

VIC CROWN

VIC CROWN

Two, Townsend’s drumming. The guy is a damn dynamo of chaotic kit-work, one that’s engrossing to observe, thrilling to hear and energetically propels the songs while Rothe and Steele’s more laid back, relaxed playing rides tight upon those drums. I look forward to finding out more about VIC CROWN, especially their recorded material situation for any possible releases, out or upcoming, whichever.

ELECTRIC PHANTOM

ELECTRIC PHANTOM

From the moment ELECTRIC PHANTOM began setting up, I could surmise they were going to be of a “different” breed, or sort, whatever, altogether. How did I come to such a conclusion, you ask? After decades of doing what I do, I just know these things but that realization was helped along by their stage props, use of lights and colorful items, all that type stuff. Once the cast of characters, AKA “Mansome Dan” (Eli Williams – bass / vocals), The Bat (drums), and guitarists Zane and Ki, began playing, my surmising was validated as spot-on.

The freakish foursome – which I attach with all due respect and admiration – play a melded amalgamation of progressive rock and metal. They insert elements of punk, funk, speed metal and alt. country into it and Dan / Eli keeps shit comically enhanced with his zany banter and off-the-wall antics. Songs like “Witch Moon Baby”, “Phantom Man”, “Cooler Than You” and “Motormouth” were riddled with tempo alterations and applied with non-stop energy and like the preceding Vic Crown, ELECTRIC PHANTOM have a solid, adulating fan base for sure.

They would end their set on an interesting high note too, ala a country-fied cover of the Ludacris hit “Move Bitch (Get Out Da Way)“! Yep, all twangy and served with a side of hill-folk funk, ELECTRIC CROWN are definitely one of the more unique bands I’ve caught in awhile.

HOWLING GIANT

Speaking of country music – but not really – Nashville’s HOWLING GIANT commandeered the stage next and what would then ensue is the stuff of unforgettable recollections. Guitarist / vocalist Tom Polzine and drummer / vocalist Zach Wheeler, joined on this trek by touring bassist and friend Mike Kerr, would proceed to decimate those of us in attendance witnessing.

The trio would launch their set in a most appropriate place too, with the first song that introduces their 2015 S/T EP, “Husk“. They followed it with the last song from that same EP, “Camel Crusher” and let me tell you, Asheville was barely prepared for what these guys were transmitting. Super tight playing and precise interaction between the three in this live setting added a whole new dimension to the already epic music from HOWLING GIANT.

HOWLING GIANT

HOWLING GIANT

I, along with the crowd, were mostly lost in a sonic-fueled euphoria of frenzied headbanging amid animated activity at this point. The rapid-fire tempo changes and subsequent heavy musical discharge from the stage was incredible as the guys rolled out “Mothership“, “Visions” and “The Pioneer“. The songs were staples from HOWLING GIANT‘s recent pair of back to back, conceptually connected EP releases, “Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1” (2016) and 2017’s “Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2“. [Learn about that conceptual theme and more in my upcoming interview with Howling Giant here at Riff Relevant].

We then arrived at the heavily psychedelia-infused “Earth Wizard“, a lengthy tune rife with laid back jamming and heady vocals. See, that’s what HOWLING GIANT excels at, fantastic songs that meld progressive metal, doom and psychedelics into magnificent compositions. This would now be reinforced within the confines of “Whale Lord“, one of this night’s highlights where the threesome unfurled this hellishly massive song. Its ebbing, flowing music’s fluidity an absolutely enthralling delivery indeed, one made even better by Tom and Zach’s trade-off vocals.

HOWLING GIANT

Things would begin to wind down a bit at this point but not before we would be treated to a powerful reinterpretation of the Blue Öyster Cult classic “Godzilla“. Slowed down somewhat, with inserts of doom-ier nuances and choppier vocals, the song, much like its namesake, crushed everything in its path. The night would be brought to its cessation with a return to the aforementioned ’15 S/T EP for the set-ending “Doug“. Its’ upbeat, airier styling led everyone in the place to get active and involved.

I must mention that throughout their set, this trio of Tom, Zach and Mike delivered jaw-dropping individual performances that left me awestruck. From Mike’s manhandling of his bass, with the thunderous rhythms created, to Zach’s frenetic kit-work on the drums, both were engrossing and inspiring. Along with Tom’s monstrous riffery and fiery soloing fret assaults, the interactions between this live version of HOWLING GIANT was magnificent. Words fail to do it the proper justice but I have tried…..

*All photos courtesy of Will Bouton / FUGO Films.

  HOWLING GIANT-ELECTRIC PHANTOM-VIC CROWN @ Sly Grog In Asheville, N.C. [5/26/18] (By Pat 'Riot' Whitaker, Senior Writer/Journalist, RiffRelevant.com) On Saturday, May 26, 2018, I was able to scratch a top band off of my own personal Bucket List of bands to see live: Nashville, Tennessee's…