WutBJU found this little gem in the 1968 Vintage.

John Stormer was a featured speaker at Bob Jones University's Bible Conference in 1968. It's BIBLE CONFERENCE. And who does BJU invite?

A fear-monger that could be a model for Ron DeSantis' 2024 Presidential campaign.

The Greenville News reported on it. A transcription with commentary will follow.

"Forty eight hours ago a man was shot down by a sniper's bullet in Memphis, Tenn. Since then, at least 20 people have been killed in violence in 46 cities of the United States. As we meet here tonight (Saturday), troops have the White House and Capitol surrounded to keep mobs from burning it to the ground. We live in a troubled land; we live in a land which is in trouble."

Well, yeah.

Stormer's speech in Rodeheaver was on Saturday, April 6, 1968.

Anybody remember what happened on April 4, 1968? Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Does Stormer mention MLK ever? At all?

Of course not. He's just "a man." Can you even believe it? THE Martin Luther King, Jr. is nothing but "a man" in this Klandamentalist account.

These were the opening remarks Saturday night as John Stormer, author of "Note Dare Call It Treason," spoke to an audience of more than 4,000 at Bob Jones University. He said that within the last four years more than 150 people have been gunned down in the streets of America; thousands of others injured, more than a billion dollars worth of property burned or otherwise destroyed. "What is behind all the unrest and violence?" Stormer asked.

Oh what could it be? :/

He answered the question by saying that the President's Commission on Civil Disorders says that poverty, lack of economic opportunity, prejudice, and White racism are responsible. "Others, including, J. Edgar Hoover, grand juries in cities wrecked by violence, and police officials, have made it plain that Communists and other subversives have played upon the discontent, which stems from some of these conditions, to provoke the actual violence."

Here's a place to start reading about the Kerner Commission.

But the real problem in 1968 is, of course, a Red problem!

He quoted Hoover as saying that Communists and other subversives and extremists strive and labor ceaselessly to promote racial trouble and take advantage of racial discord in this country. Such elements were active in exploiting and aggravating the riots; for example, in Harlem, Watts, Cleveland and Chicago. Stormer said that all the rioters are not pro-Communist or anti-American. He quoted the Negro writer Louis Lomax, who after the Detroit riots, said that once the organized revolutionaries break open stores and get the violence started, then the human element begins to play into the hands of the revolutionaries.

And look at Stormer here. Does he sound any different than every white supremacist for the last three years?

Continuing, the conservative author said, "Men and women move in to satisfy their lusts for free cigarettes, free clothes, free booze, and anything else they can carry away. I have studied the cause for riots in the last several years, and I was puzzled for a long time, We have always had poverty in America; there has always been discrimination against any group as they have come to America."

Going back to the depression days, Stormer mentioned that during that time more than 15 million people were unemployed; the communists had a thousand members working actively to promote a revolution; and there were no riots. Why? "There are two principle differences between then and now," he noted. "In the 1930s it was a certainty that if trouble would break out and looting start, the government would move quickly and forcefully to put down any trouble. This is no longer the case."

Ah, yes! The good ol' days during the Great Depression!

There is a second element, as well. In the 1930s there was still a general acceptance among most of the population that there was at least a possibility that men would have to answer to God for his actions even if he weren't caught by the police. In the 1930s Christians, both black and white, and their churches were still faithful in proclaiming the message of God's judgment to come for all men. This puts a restraint on the natural wickedness of the heart of man.

Stormer told his audience that the function of the Christian was that which Jesus Christ referred do when he told his disciples, "Ye are the salt of the earth." "In the Lord's day," continued Stormer, "salt was used to preserve or to keep meat from getting rotten. If the Christian is serving his function in society, he tends to hold back corruption." In conclusion he said "Because Christians are not functioning as the salt of the earth and have lost their savor, Christians in all society are being trodden under the feet of men."

Have they ever changed?

I just saw some jackass on Twitter insisting that the Northman deserved every Oscar nomination over Everything Everywhere All At Once. When asked to explain, he refused to elaborate, just insisted that The Northman was true cinema.

Now let me just say this.

The Northman rubs me the wrong fucking way. For several reasons. It's simply not my genre is the biggest one, as I only like historical fiction that's post industrial revolution.

Or at the very least, character focused. Medieval ish stuff with swords is just so bleh to me.

Another one is that I can't stand revenge movies, if they're not like, John Wick levels of ridiculous. Revenge when it's grimdark and edgy and realistic is so fucking tiring.

But let me talk about the big reason this tweet pissed me off.

The Northman stans who are perpetually online tend to be fucking neo Nazis.

We all know how much Nazis love Viking culture and this fictionalized idea of vikings as rapists and plunderers of villages who did nothing but sharpen axes and cut off heads.

The northman is about a straight cis white guy on a grand quest to get revenge, fuck hot white women, murder a ton of people, and then die gloriously at the end.

That's literally the white supremacist's perfect fantasy. It relies entirely on this sensational and totally bogus concept of masculinity in the Olden Days, when men could kill indiscriminately and women were sex pets and it sure was fun.

An ahistorical viewpoint that celebrates and glorifies violence rather than actual history or culture.

It literally perfectly embodies neo Nazis' fantasy history too, this wonderful White group that once dominated the whole planet and did grand things and asserted their dominance through massacres and black people don't exist and white men only fucked white women and made perfect warrior white male babies.

You get the idea.

It's also literally certified by the fucking daily stormer, for fucks sake, that neo Nazi site run by that psychopath.

So. People who slobber over it ARE fucking suspect, especially if they're online all the fucking time.

So when I saw that tweet, I thought this guy...

Is insisting that the northman...is better than EEAAO...hm.

Perpetually online? Check.

Loves the northman and thinks it's the best thing ever? Check.

Is super fucking edgy? Check.

Thinks EEAAO isn't cinema??? Hm. Check.

This guy's definitely a fucking Nazi.

Like look at it objectively and tell me...

A male dominated story about an angry white man that tears out hearts and murders people and then dies gloriously at the end

Vs.

An older female led story about a family of Asian immigrants that emphasizes compassion over brute force and creating meaning in an inherently meaningless universe, with LGBT characters and male characters who choose kindness and family and community rather than violence or cruelty.

And you can't tell me why you'd just "connect" with the northman more than EEAAO? Right.

I know why you'd fucking connect with one over the other, you piece of shit.

God. I fucking hate Twitter.

EEAAO deserves to win every Oscar.

And I don't know any fucking person who's seen the northman or gives a fuck about it. I literally forgot it even came out this year. The only people I see still talking about are the perpetually online Nazis that wanna circlejerk over how edgelord stories about mass murdering protagonists are "peak" fiction.

Yeah, right.

Glad the fucking academy chose right, for once.

W11

This reflective blog was inspired by Daniels' (2018) article, which delves into how the 'Alt-Right' has commandeered social media as amplifiers for their ideology and examines how algorithms have created echo chambers for racist ideologies.

The reading references Matthew Prince, Cloudflare CEO, who hesitated to block the racist website The Daily Stormer provoked got me thinking. Prince's doubt about using personal or company values ​​as measures of access to online content is striking. Before reading this, I firmly believed that digital enterprises were responsible for ensuring only harmonious, equal, and respectful discourse on the internet, and they are inclined to do so, as creating a non-discriminatory and friendlier online environment helps build a positive company image and reduce controversies and risks. However, I completely ignored the point made by John Perry Barlow (1996) in the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace: The original intention of the Internet was to provide a "place" for the exchange of ideas, free from capital and government monitor, and without a strict dichotomy of right or wrong opinions.

This article prompted me to reflect: Should personal and corporate ethics dominate the censorship of online discourse? Should individuals and businesses have the authority to decide which content is appropriate for display? In this contemporary age where free speech and racial equality are both highly valued, I am in a contradiction. On the one hand, freedom of speech indeed encompasses all types of discourse, even unpopular or controversial, as they are an essential part of a pluralistic society and the public sphere. On the other hand, enterprises should practice their social responsibility to prevent the spread of hate speech and discriminatory information, safeguarding all users from harm.

This complex issue might never have a definitive answer, though s an Asian who often faces discrimination online, I believe there is a need to limit harmful speech. It is hard to summarize the reasons in a few words. Only those who have experienced it can truly understand the sadness and inadvertent low self-esteem felt when encountering such remarks.

References list

Barlow, J. P. (1996). A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence

Daniels, J. (2018). The algorithmic rise of the "Alt-Right ."Contexts, 17(1), 60–65. Retrieved from  https://doiorg.liverpool.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/1536504218766547

From September of 1974 to May of 1978, I attended an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church run, John Birch Society funded cult brainwashing high school called Faith Christian Academy. The campus was a former mafia-owned golf course in Florissant, Missouri that was seized by the feds and sold to Dr. John Stormer, mostly famous for his conspiracy theory classic None Dare Call it Treason, less well known for being one of the cofounders of the nation-wide Union of Christian Schools, to use for his (thankfully long-ago closed) Calvary Chapel church and its attached private school.

Although they did manage to (briefly) convert me to Biblical Literalist Christianity, I was never not a disappointment to them because if they couldn't unambiguously prove any one of their doctrinal claims, I would politely but firmly tell them that I was going to, well, assert my authority and responsibility to make my own moral decisions in prayerful contemplation of scripture using sound tools of Biblical exegesis, as they had trained me. Except that for all that they taught "priesthood of the believer," in practice, if you came to a different conclusion from them and refused to accept that that meant they were right and you were wrong, they called that "rebelling against the authority that God has placed over you."

For example, as my class (of 28 students) approached graduation, we were all pointedly told that there (a) we were all expected to graduate from college in order to make ourselves better able to bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth in the United States, but, importantly, (b) there were only four colleges we could attend and "remain within the will of God:" Bob Jones University, Liberty Baptist University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and one tiny little school I'd never heard of called ... Hyles-Anderson Christian College. Which I gather is a major target of the documentary linked above, Let Us Prey.

I politely told them that none of those four schools had a decent math department, that I had gotten admission and financial aid to attend a Methodist university, Taylor University, and that I could not possibly care less about their opinion on the subject. But a friend and classmate of mine, the captain of the cheerleading squad, did apply for and receive admission to Hyles, and was excited to go.

The next Easter vacation after that, when I was back in St. Louis, I spotted her entirely by accident in a local mall, walked up and said hi, you're back for spring break too, how are things at Hyles? And she freaked out. She begged me to walk away and forget that I'd seen her, to tell no one where she was. She swore and said now she might have to run away again, she was afraid of having someone know that she was back in St. Louis.

Because, she said, her parents had signed a contract promising to return her to Hyles-Anderson, by any means up to and including force, and she wasn't back for spring break, she had run away, was homeless and on the run, had only come into the mall to warm up. And she said that she would kill herself rather than go back.

"Brad," she said, "I'm too ashamed to even tell you what happens there. You have no idea." I didn't press her on it. I offered help and she was afraid to take it. I never saw her again. I'll probably never know what horror she was fleeing, and I'm afraid to guess.

(I left Christianity behind forever, went more or less back to the humanism I was raised in, just a few years after that, in 1983.)

When I just saw a movie trailer linking the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist denomination in general and Hyles-Anderson Christian College in particular with mass physical and sexual abuse, including against minors? I wasn't at all surprised. It made me think about the fear I saw on the face of my old friend Johanna. I hope they didn't catch her and send her back to that right-wing rape camp. I hope she's okay. I hope she found healing somewhere.

(No I’m not trying to start any ship drama or whatever, just thought it would be fun to list a bunch of my favorite ships and see which ones y’all also enjoy!)

Frans '70-30' to return for Stormers in derby DHL Stormers tighthead prop Frans ... #funny #memes #sports #live #tweets #win #twitter #tweet #bet #manchester #rugbymen #rugby union #irish rugby #super rugby

Dobbo's Diary: Hard lessons in Clermont

Dobbo’s Diary: Hard lessons in Clermont

Coach John Dobson is eager to see how the “hurting” DHL Stormers respond to the challenge of hosting London Irish in their Champions Cup home debut on Saturday. Losing hurts but it is a lot easier to take a lesson when you are hurting. Often there are few lessons taken on board when somehow you win in a match you all know you could have lost because the performance was not up to standard. The…

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92) Renegade - amerykańska, skupiająca zwolenników białej supremacji, teorii spiskowych i antysemityzmu, platforma medialna z siedzibą w Deltona na Florydzie. Założony przez Kyle'a Hunta projekt składa się z dwóch głównych punktów sprzedaży; Renegade Broadcasting, internetowa sieć radiowa założona w październiku 2012 r. oraz Renegade Tribune, założona w 2013 r. Projekt zerwał powiązania ze starszą siecią medialną Oracle Broadcasting. Renegade promował negowanie holokaustu i przedstawiał III Rzeszę i NSDAP Adolfa Hitlera w pozytywnym świetle, twierdząc, że to Niemcy, a nie Żydzi, byli ofiarami II wojny światowej. W 2014 roku założyciel Kyle Hunt promował „the White Man March”, opowiadając się za tym, aby Biali ludzie na całym świecie spontanicznie protestowali publicznie za pomocą znaków z frazami związanymi z teorią spiskową białego ludobójstwa. Renegade skrytykowało Donalda Trumpa i Władimira Putina. Twierdzi, że zarówno homoseksualizm, jak i mizoginia są powszechne w alt-right i alt-lite. Renegade poruszał również takie tematy, jak teorie spiskowe z 11 września, Pizzagate i teorie płaskiej ziemi. Znani współpracownicy to Michael McLaughlin, były przywódca British Movement. Renegade związał się z europejskim pogaństwem i był bardzo krytyczny wobec chrześcijaństwa. W sierpniu 2018 r. Renegade Tribune miał globalny ranking Alexa na poziomie 77 269. Renegade został zablokowany na Twitterze i YouTube. Firma Renegade została założona przez Kyle'a Christophera Hunta (urodzonego 18 listopada 1983) z Massachusetts, który wcześniej pracował w branży technologicznej. Przed Renegade, Hunt zaczął blogować o New Age i teoriach spiskowych w sierpniu 2009 roku za pomocą bloga WordPress, a później podcastu BlogTalkRadio pod nazwą Star Theory. Program radiowy Star Theory Hunta zaczął być nadawany przez sieć Oracle Broadcasting w kwietniu 2012 r. Sieć ta, współzałożona przez Douga Owena i Lee Rogersa (który później pojawił się ponownie jako scenarzysta w The Daily Stormer Andrew Anglina) obejmowała antysemickie teorie spiskowe i tym podobne. Teoria gwiazd Hunta zaczęła skupiać się na rasie i teorii spiskowej ludobójstwa białych, a także na rewizjonizmie historycznym dotyczącym Trzeciej Rzeszy (chociaż wyśmiewała amerykański neonazizm jako rzekomo „kontrolowaną opozycję”). Podczas gdy w Oracle Broadcasting dozwolone były nastroje antyżydowskie, biały nacjonalizm i negowanie holokaustu. Hunt, a także Michael Titorenko (pod pseudonimem „Mike Sledge”) z Deconstructions Live zostali następnie wyrzuceni z sieci w październiku 2012 r. Również w październiku 2012 roku Hunt założył internetową sieć radiową Renegade Broadcasting. W 2013 roku punkt ten rozszerzył się o serwis Renegade Tribune. Hunt prowadzi Renegade ze swoją partnerką Sineád Anne McCarthy z Nowego Jorku. Od 2013 do 2014 roku w programach Renegade Broadcasting prezentowali się Hunt, Titorenko, „Siegfried” i „Dana Antiochus” (alias Dana Roccapriore). W październiku 2013 roku grupa wydała film dokumentalny z trasy koncertowej, którą nazwali „ Renegade Roadshow”, który był finansowany przez społeczność za pośrednictwem IndieGoGo. W dokumencie wystąpili między innymi Kevin MacDonald, Charles Krafft i John Morgan. Okładka dokumentu zawiera rasistowskie karykatury i przedstawia Marka Potoka z Southern Poverty Law Center przywiązanego do dachu samochodu. W marcu 2014 roku Hunt i Renegade promowali ideę „White Man March”, podczas którego autonomiczne grupy białych ludzi miały tego dnia wychodzić w miejsca publiczne z plakatami i ulotkami z hasłami takimi jak „Diversity = White Genocide”, w nieujawnionych miejscach. W czasie marszu Hunt powiedział, że jest zwolennikiem American Freedom Party Williama Daniela Johnsona. Hunt planował zorganizować to wydarzenie w Nowym Jorku, gdzie wówczas mieszkał. Zachęcał ludzi do ubierania się w „parę jasnych spodni khaki i ładną koszulę” w ramach działań public relations. Według Davida Neiwerta z Southern Poverty Law Center, wydarzenie przyciągnęło znikomą liczbę ludzi, ale zgromadziło się w Nowym Jorku, Florence w Kentucky, Tempe w Arizonie, Birmingham w Alabamie, Branson w Missouri i Olimpii w Waszyngtonie. Według Neiwerta, marsz autonomiczny w Kentucky, zorganizowany przez byłego przywódcę Sojuszu Narodowego Roberta Ransdella, był przedmiotem szczególnej kpiny ze względu na obecność dwóch niezidentyfikowanych osób w mundurach Ku Klux Klanu. Hunt planował co miesiąc opowiadać się za tego rodzaju wydarzeniami, ale zmienił zdanie w kwietniu 2014 r. Po marszu Białego Człowieka, Titorenko publicznie zerwał z Huntem, a kilku innych współpracowników również odeszło. Hunt rozszerzył działalność i zwerbował innych byłych gospodarzy Oracle Broadcasting jako zastępców i przeszedł z hostingu w BlogTalkRadio do hostowania ich treści na własnej stronie.

Bible Conference in 1968 was strange:

The annual Spring Bible Conference is one of the outstanding features of the year at Bob Jones University. Running for eight days, the conference brings to the campus outstanding, orthodox Bible teachers, pastors and evangelists. All regular academic work is suspended for the conference which takes the place of a spring vacation.

This year's conference was considered one of the school's best. More off-campus guests were present than for any other event in the school's history.

Services were held in the 3,000-seat Rodeheaver Auditorium, and overflow crowds watched the services via closed-circuit television in the 1,000-seat Concert Center. For most of the sessions it was necessary to use a third auditorium the War Memorial Chapel, which has a seating capacity of about 700+.

Guest speakers at the conference included Dr. Robert T. Ketcham, national consultant (retired), General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, Chicago, Ill.; Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley, pastor of Raven hill Free Presbyterian Church, Belfast, Ireland, moderator of Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, editor of "The Revivalist," "Protestant Telegraph." Also, Dr. Charles S. Poling, pastor of the Church of All Christian Faiths, Phoenix, Ariz.; Dr. Glen Schunk of Greenville, evangelist; and Dr. H. C. Slade, pastor of Jarvis Street Baptist Church, Toronto, Canada.

The next Bible Conference will be March 30-April 7, 1968. Among the speakers scheduled are Dr. G. Archer Weniger, pastor of the Foothill Boulevard Baptist Church of Oakland, Calif; Dr. Noel Smith, editor of the Baptist Bible Tribune," Springfield, Mo.; Dr. Bob Wells, pastor of the Central Baptist Church of Anaheim, Calif.; Rev. John Balyo, pastor of the Cedar Hill Baptist Church of Cleveland Heights, Ohio; and John Stormer, author of' "None Dare Call It Treason."

John Stormer was an anti-communist speaker.

And then a WBJU story:

WBJU, the student-manned carrier-current radio station, is now in its second year of operation. Located in the radio television wing of the Fine Arts Building, the fully equipped radio station is designed to be heard in the eight student dormitories.

Though staffed entirely by radio students, the station's operations are supervised by Robert Pratt, chairman of the division of speech and head of the department of radio and television, and other members of the radio-television faculty.

According to Mr. Pratt, the carrier-current station serves as a "laboratory training unit for students who have dedicated themselves to using broadcasting as a Christian ministry." He said that the station also endeavors to supplement the listening interests of the student body.

The university grants the bachelor of arts degree in radio and television and the bachelor of science degree in broadcast engineering. WBJU is in addition to the commercial stations operated by Bob Jones University -- WMUU and  WMUU-FM in Greenville and WAVO and WAVO-FM in the Atlanta, Ga., area.

Dobson unfussed about enjoying newly-minted Boks forward of tour: Theyre out there and eager

Manie Libbok. (Picture by: Ziyaad Douglas/Gallo Photos) With Springbok administration saying earlier within the week that Springbok tour inductees can be withdrawn from United Rugby Championship (URC) squads this weekend, it was curious to see Manie Libbok and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu picked for the Stormers. The Stormers duo are a part of the principle squad that leaves for Eire on Saturday night, and with a sport towards the Lions at 16:00 on Saturday, confusion reigned within the press convention with John Dobson as he named his aspect for the derby. In line with Dobson, the Stormers have been solely made conscious of 5 gamers who wouldn’t be out there for them – Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Deon Fourie, Salmaan Moerat and Damian Willemse. “We have all the time labored on the premise that these 5 guys can be unavailable and everybody else was out there,” mentioned Dobson. READ | A gross sales pitch and first impressions: How Sacha Mngomezulu made Springbok tour roster The burning query was how a sport late within the afternoon might doubtlessly get in the best way of their Dublin itinerary. Dobson mentioned:  They’re positively enjoying [tomorrow] and eager to play. I do not know in regards to the logistics [of their travel]. I simply know that they are out there. The Stormers are represented by 14 gamers throughout each squads (9 within the so-called most important group), and that’s the place we discover Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Dobson mentioned the inclusion of the 2 gamers was met with positivity throughout the workforce. “They’re all happy with one another. It is a actually good feeling.” Groups: Lions 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Quan Horn, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Emmanuel Tshituka, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (captain), 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 PJ Botha, 1 JP Smith Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Morne van dern Berg, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Zander du Plessis Stormers 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Moist, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Brok Harris Substitutes: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Suleiman Hartzenberg Originally published at Irvine News HQ

[ad_1] 
 Evan Roos on the cost for the Stormers in opposition to Edinburgh. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)
 Former Springbok captain John Smit says combative Stormers No 8 Evan Roos mustn't lose his aggression however channel it higher.Roos was sin-binned for gratuitous aggression when he elbowed his reverse quantity Nick Haining within the Stormers' 34-18 win over Edinburgh.Smit joked that a few of his former teammates "suffered from the condition of over stimulation", in a thinly veiled reference to Bakkies Botha.Former Springbok captain John Smit says combative Stormers free ahead Evan Roos mustn't lose his aggression, which fuels his ardour, however discover methods to channel it higher on the park.The No 8 was yellow-carded for an pointless elbow to his reverse quantity Nick Haining's neck within the Stormers’ 34-18 win over Edinburgh in Cape Town throughout a cleanout final weekend.Roos additionally performs with a full-blooded aggressive fashion that makes him thrive involved and break the gain-line virtually at will, particularly when he will get a gallop.It's this conundrum that Smit tried to detangle: how does one tone down the very ingredient that makes Roos an excellent participant - in truth, probably the most excellent participant of the inaugural United Rugby Championship (URC) season - with out compromising the participant's qualities?READ | John Smit on Sharks' Powell-Everitt dynamic: 'I don't think either of them have big egos'Smit referenced Springbok enforcer Eben Etzebeth as the very best instance of an aggressive participant who skirts the authorized restrict however by no means crosses the road."What Roos' got to be able to do is find some kind of way to control that emotion," mentioned Smit throughout a URC roundtable dialogue."Players in the modern game get away with absolutely nothing. The most aggressive thing we'll see is somebody grabbing a collar and looking really angry."That's about as robust because it will get. Eben (Etzebeth) is a man that began within the older period and got here by means of and he will get the offended eyes however appears to have the ability to management it to the purpose the place it does not get him or his staff into bother."Evan can't lose that passion. He has to somehow know how to bottle it. You don't want to tamper with his enthusiasm but you also have to realise that the emotions you display, when they go out of control, they don't only cost you but the team."One traditional instance of a participant who usually crossed the road was World Cup winner in Smit's 2007 staff, Bakkies Botha.Smit joked that a few of his former teammates "suffered from the condition of over stimulation", in a thinly veiled reference to Botha."I certainly had a few guys in my squad that suffered from the condition of over stimulation, for want of a better word," mentioned Smit."I joked the other day when I did a Q&A with Bakkies Botha and I explained to them that when I was in the changeroom trying to gee the guys up, I'd always wait for Bakkies to go to the toilet or strap his knee so he didn't get the full Monty."Because then he could be in a barely overzealous temper within the first 5 minutes, which might usually be to our detriment."I don't think Roos is quite in the Bakkies Botha pedigree."And I additionally suppose that, given Evan’s background and historical past - the Sharks let him go, he was sitting in no man’s land and had a espresso with Jean de Villiers, subsequent factor he's coaching with the Western Province-Stormers squad, taking part in free of charge and hoping for a possibility and a 12 months or so later he's taking part in correct rugby - that [aggression] comes as a result of he’s pushed internally." [ad_2] Source link

Two More Brilliant Bands Show Their Support for Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas

‘Wake Up And Smell The Sun is happy and proud to support the needs of people in need. At Christmas, and at every moment throughout every year, people need our help, our compassion, our generosity, our forgiveness, our mercy, and our unpolitical goodness. We’re happy to help Crisis.org, and yet unhappy that such an organization should have to exist. Nonetheless, we are grateful of its existence and for every small victory of joy, if only in the feint smiles of the endless victims of loss’. John Murray.

Wake Up And Smell The Sun is a band and musical project created, written, and performed by John Murray, with collaborators on select songs and albums. 'Kris Kringle And The Midnight Soul' features John Murray on vocals and guitars, Patrick Berkery on drums, Robbie Bennett on piano and Hammond organ, and Brian McTear on bass guitar. Brian McTear and his partner Amy Morrissey at Miner Street Recording in Philadelphia produced, engineered, and mixed the song. Mastering was completed by Joe Lambert. Berkery and Bennett have performed with War On Drugs, with Bennett being the full-time keyboard player for the band. Berkery appears on the band's last three studio records: 2021’s I Don’t Live Here Anymore, the Grammy-winning 2017 album A Deeper Understanding, and 2014’s Lost in the Dream. He also has a long list of performing credits as a member of Danielson, Strand of Oaks, Pernice Brothers, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and others.

Brian McTear is an artist and songwriter and a world-renowned producer and mixer working with artists such as Sharon Van Etten, War on Drugs, Kurt Vile, Dr. Dog, Waxahatchee, and many others. He is also the creator of Weathervane Music and the award-winning studio documentary series Shaking Through.  The original mix of “Kris Kringle And The Midnight Soul”, was released in 2021 and has been remixed and remastered for the Crisis compilation in 2022. It was part of a 2-song follow up to 2020’s Electric Snow, entitled 'Ye Miner St. Christmas Hymnal'. Wake Up And Smell The Sun released a critically acclaimed Christmas Album, Electric Snow in November 2020, followed by the single “Yuletide Waves” in December 2020. More songs are on the way, including non-Christmas songs. Probably, anyway. No real plans ever exist. Life is fortunate enough to present obstacles to personal pursuits, which makes the opportunity to help the Crisis organization all the better.

The wonderful “Kris Kringle and the Midnight Soul”

https://wakeupandsmellthesun.bandcamp.com/

Back in February 2018, I decided to blog a feature on new bands that I had recently chanced upon and which I wanted to bring to followers’ attention. One of those bands (from a list which included Boy Azooga, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Sandra's Wedding, The Family Jools and Hotel Lux) was a Finnish combo Those Forgotten Tapes. The band hadn't played live, but their three Soundcloud demos were extraordinarily good. The band were kind enough to donate one of those tracks to last year’s V4Velindre compilation under the name of That Forgotten Band.

This time around the band were kind enough to write an original Christmas song for Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas. Massive thanks to Jari and Jussi for delivering another classic track. You can hear those demo tracks, including the one that I included on V4Velindre. The song that TFB is contributing to Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas, “Christmas Yet to Come”, is an absolute stormer.

https://soundcloud.com/thatforgottenband

  Stormers coach John Dobson said hooker Joseph Dweba would be given time to acclimatise to his new surroundings but insisted that his fundamentals remain sharp. “I know he can throw,” Dobson told reporters on Wednesday as if to almost assuage concerns over the Springbok hooker’s accuracy, which came under fire during his recent national team appearances. Dweba started three Tests this season for the Springboks (versus Wales, All Blacks and Wallabies) and came under fire for his performances. In May, the Stormers announced the acquisition of the 26-year-old from Top14 side Bordeaux-Begles. He’s a known hard runner of the ball who comes around the corner at pace, catching unsuspecting defenders off guard – something that Dobson is looking forward to, he admitted. READ | Stormers wing Senatla out for ‘many months’ as Dobson ponders string of replacements After being released from the Springbok camp last week, Dweba spent time with the Stormers and has been taking part in training ahead of their Edinburgh encounter this weekend at the Cape Town Stadium. “He’s looking good. He’s trained really well and in the mix for the weekend,” Dobson said. “He needs to play a lot … He needs a bit of both – squeezing and a bit of love; and for us to back him.” Dobson added that they have a “long journey” to go with Dweba in Cape Town. “I understand at Test level your margins are smaller and you’ve got make instant changes, but we have a long journey with Dweba. What blew me away was his scrumming. He’s got an amazingly powerful, strong hit. Another thing is his carrying – he’s a good carrier. “I don’t expect him to dominate the world this Saturday. He’s got to play quite a bit; get a feel for the environment and feel the support he has here and he’ll get better and better. I don’t think we’ll see the finished product yet.” Dobson added that Dweba has the potential to become a “cult hero” as he makes Cape Town his home for the next three years. The Stormers will name their team to tackle Edinburgh on Friday morning, with the game getting underway at 14:00 at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday. Dobson open to taking things slow with Dweba: ‘I don’t think we’ll see the finished product yet’ & Latest News Update I have tried to give all kinds of news to all of your latest news today 2022 through this website and you are going to like all this news very much because all the news we always give in this news is always there. It is on a trending topic and whatever the latest news was it was always our effort to reach you that you keep getting the Electricity News, Degree News, Donate News, Bitcoin News, Trading News, Real Estate News, Gaming News, Trending News, Digital Marketing, Telecom News, Beauty News, Banking News, Travel News, Health News, Cryptocurrency News, Claim News latest news and you always keep getting the information of news through us for free and also tell you, people. Give that whatever information related to other types of news will be Dobson open to taking things slow with Dweba: ‘I don’t think we’ll see the finished product yet’ & More Live News All this news that I have made and shared for you people, you will like it very much and in it we keep bringing topics for you people like every time so that you keep getting news information like trending topics and you It is our goal to be able to get all kinds of news without going through us so that we can reach you with the latest and best news for free so that you can move ahead further by getting the information of that news together with you. Later on, we will continue to give information about today’s world news update types of the latest news through posts on our website so that you always keep moving forward in that news and whatever kind of information will be there, it will definitely be conveyed to you people. Dobson open to taking things slow with Dweba: ‘I don’t think we’ll see the finished product yet’ & More News Today All this news that I have

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LGBTQ+ Characters in Comics from the 20th century I like

It’s June, Pride is here and rainbow colours are everywhere. So, I figured I’d be a little retrospective and share a short list of LGBTQ+ characters in comics from the 20th century I have a soft spot for. I’ve organized these by date of the characters first appearing but, happily most are still having stories written about them today.

Let’s start with three ladies from DC: 

Catwoman

Catwoman, specifically Selina Kyle has been around comics for a long time, nearly as long as the turbulence of her relationship with Batman. Though, Bruce isn’t they only character she has involved herself with over the years. I’ve got my share of comics featuring this fierce lady of many lives and antiheroine, including part of the New 52 run by Genevieve Valentine a few years back where her bisexuality was acknowledged as canon. Though, it was the film adaptation Batman Returns in 1992 with Michelle Pfieffer that blew me away when I was young. And remains, I think the most iconic Catwoman costume, which you can see in 4K now. Hear her roar.

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is another longstanding character and probably the most popular female superhero. I had comics as a child with Diana along with watching the sometimes campy 1970s TV series with Lynda Carter. Perhaps even more interesting than the Amazonian warrior herself is the passions of one of her creators William Marston and the themes of those earliest comics. (I’d suggest the book Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peters Comics 1941-1948.) And of course, also the controversy over a strong heroine standing on her own sparked by Fredic Wertham in Seduction of the Innocent.

Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy, or Pamela Isely with her sexual agency and connection to the Green, who admittedly may go about fighting for the environment as well as for women or children in the wrong way sometimes, is my top female character from American comics period. After again some rough treatment in comics recently, I wrote this year about her origins since 1966. Most people these days probably can’t think of Ivy without Harley, since it’s been 20 years since their first meeting in comics (longer for other mediums) but, these gals have a relationship that isn’t monogamous and has had it’s on again off again points too. (And note to DC maybe get it together on just how you define it since you waffle a bit hmm?)

 Taku and Venomm

Black Panther was one of the few Marvel comics characters whose stories I’ve wound up reading. (My mum had this thing against some comics and one of my older brothers mainly passed on DC issues to me.) The Jungle Action installments written by Don McGregor are to this day still memorable. And part of that should be due also to Taku and Venomm (Horatio Walters), the latter first appearing in the “Panther’s Rage” arc. Though, it would take time for the open acknowledgement of this example of early gay characters in comics. Sexuality outside the heterosexual among other topics was taboo in the 1970s yet, McGregor managed with a collection of artists to bring a vision of Wakanda focusing largely on its black inhabitants and difficult social issues in the world to publication.

 Juli Bauernfeind

I read The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio about boys at a German boarding school when I was 21. Juli was a character I connected to and the story had a profound effect on me. And I bawled my eyes out. It still makes me cry and is still one of the best comics I’ve ever come across. I reviewed the English edition a few years back. As well as wrote a post on the French bisexual author Roger Peyrefitte whose novel was adapted into a film which inspired Hagio.

 John Constantine

Full of politics, call it dark with a dose of nihilism but, Hellblazer with John Constantine is just damn good. Sometimes the world is awful, people are awful, you’re awful and well yeah everything is going to hell. Constantine is pretty much dreadful for the women he’s often involved with, or well anybody really. It was in the early 90s readers were first clued into the history of his love life made up of girlfriends and boyfriends. And can we fail to recall the later S. W. Manor from Ashes & Dust: In the City of Angels, one of the most visceral takes thru a character that is basically a stand in for Bruce Wayne, and his twisted relationship with John? I’m not. It’s been a strange trip over the years some adaptations really glossing over his sexuality. Though of late handling this aspect of his character appears to have gotten better.

 Stormer and Kimber 

The madcap Jem and the Holograms was one of my favourite cartoons as a child in the 80s. I even had some of the dolls and cassette tapes. Stormer aka Mary Phillips part of the Misfits was the rock star I loved the most. Dedicated to music and actually quite sweet with the optimum blue hair. I had to try the colour myself. The episode where she teams up with Kimber after both have differences with their respective bandmates is a classic. So, it was truly outrageous when the series was revived in 2015 in comic book form by Kelly Thompson and Sophie Campbell, and the Stormer and Kimber relationship that had been brewing came fully out for fans. (Btw the comic also added a new character, Blaze who is a trans woman and girlfriend of Misfit’s fan Clash.)

  Ash Lynx and Eiji Okamura

It’s been interesting to experience Banana Fish by Akimi Yoshida in different ways from first encountering the comic when I was a teenager, picking it up again in my twenties, and yet again the animated TV series last year. I wrote about the comic and first few episodes of the 2018 adaptation when it was airing. Though, I haven’t posted much more on it because there’s a tiny percentage of its fandom I want to avoid, as well as 30+ years on the series is still— pain. This one is a tragedy folks. However, it also has a beautiful healing love story and touched on a variety of hot button issues that are sadly still relevant today. My love for these two teen characters in a gritty USA will live forever.

  Chihaya and Kagetsuya

I’ve written before how the sci-fi title Earthian was what introduced and endeared respect for m/m comics from Japan for me. The art style of Yun Kouga has changed a bit over the years, nevertheless still stands out from the crowd. And Earthian with a taboo love between androgynous male angels remains my favourite of her work.

Michiru Kaiô and Haruka Tennô

Sailor Moon has become a multimedia sensation and is beloved around the world. Many kids and even adults of all sorts in the 90s will remember it in one form or another and cite it as an influence for pursuing careers in all sorts of creative fields. Along with countless fans recognizing or discovering something of themselves in the characters. There are several different characters for rep in the series. But particularly for me Michiru and Haruka were an opportunity in a very anti-LGBTQ+ climate (their relationship was even refashioned as being cousins when brought out in English for the first time) to nevertheless see such a loving, positive relationship.

Tomoyo Daidôji

Love is a theme the creative team CLAMP revisits and revisits and Cardcaptor Sakura is the magical girl comic series with a theme on all different forms. It is one of the first all ages titles from Japan that I will recommend to people. (Despite fyi containing a whopping four student-teacher relationships. Not the purpose of this post to go into right now though.) The best friend to Sakura, Tomoyo is one of my favourite characters. Always supportive, maybe a bit alarming popping out of bushes or other spots with her camera at the ready to catch either Sakura’s everyday life or battles, and possessing boundless fashion sense. (Btw, there are other characters in the series that are or could be interpreted as examples for my list as well. Sakura among them.)

  Isabella Yamamoto

Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa, a sequel of sorts to one of the huge girls’ comics titles of the 1990s Gokinjo Monogatari, introduced a group of teenagers on the verge of graduating, some with an idea of what to do with their lives and others questioning the path they’ve so far taken. Isabella from an affluent background but, who struggled for acceptance from her family or nearly anyone until she was gifted a handmade dress by her childhood friend George (who is Bi btw), studies pattern drafting at the same art school as Gokinjo Monogatari. The most mature of the main cast, refined, always listening and offering a cup of tea, she achieves her dream career and self-actualization in fashion. Since I have a degree in fashion design, I have to agree that clothes are so much more than just something we wear.

2021 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 2)

20.  ENCANTO – Disney have delivered another stormer that seemed almost tailor-made for the festive season, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas or the Holidays in general at all, the masters who brought us Zootropolis, Jared Bush (Moana) and Byron Howard (Tangled), putting together another precision-crafted family-friendly slice of magical wonder to reward the whole family.  Fifty years ago, a magic candle created a safe-haven for a small community in the heart of the Central American jungle, presided over by the family Madrigal, whose offspring were awarded special powers that have helped shape this little corner of the world into a paradise.  But now the candle seems to be waning, and it’s up to Mirabel (Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz), one of the youngest generation of Madrigal children, to save the magic and set everything right, but there’s a catch – Mirabel is the only sibling who has never been given any powers, which has been a source of great consternation for her since childhood, surely making her the least qualified candidate in the whole family, and yet … typical of Disney, there are some weighty themes mixed into all the magic and wonder on offer here, and Mirabel is the kind of perfectly-accessible emotional proxy for any viewer who feels they could or should be something else, something better, which makes her an ideal role model for many of the film’s intended audience. She’s also sweet and stubborn and tenacious and it’s an effortless thing to follow her on this adventure, you cheer her on every step of the way and your heart breaks along with hers when things are at their darkest.  That said, there are plenty of other great characters on offer here too, from super-strong (literal) big sister Luisa (up-and-comer Jessica Darrow) and flower-powered “perfect” sister Isabella (Doom Patrol’s Diane Guerrero) to mysterious black sheep prophet uncle Bruno (the great John Leguizamo) and shape-shifting little brother Camilo (Rhenzy Feliz), and while the action quota is lacking here there’s a riot of enjoyably colourful musical numbers to make up for it, while the animation and design work is first-rate, bringing the characters and settings to life with vivid beauty throughout, particularly in the story’s predominant setting, the Madrigal’s family home, the Casita, which is magically alive and essentially a character all its own.  This may be somewhat standard family entertainment by Disney animation standards, but when they can consistently turn out results of this pure quality I can’t fault them for it.  Spell-binding perfection, basically.

19.  WRATH OF MAN – Guy Ritchie’s latest (regarded by many as a triumphant return to form, which I consider unfair since I don’t think he ever went away, especially after 2020’s spectacular The Gentlemen) is BY FAR his darkest film – let’s get this clear from the start, anyone who knows his work knows that Ritchie consistently maintains a near flawless balance of humour and seriousness in his films that gives them a welcome quirkiness that’s one of his most distinctive trademarks, so for him to suddenly deliver a film which takes itself SO SERIOUSLY is a hell of a departure.  This is a film that almost REVELS in its darkness – Ritchie has always bathed in man’s baser instincts, but Wrath of Man almost makes a kind of twisted VIRTUE out of wallowing in the genuine evils that men are capable of inflicting on each other.  The film certainly kicks off as it means to go on – In a tour-de-force single-shot opening, we watch a daring armoured car robbery on the streets of Los Angeles that goes horrifically wrong, an event which will have devastating consequences in the future.  Five months later, Fortico Security hires taciturn Brit Patrick Hill (Jason Statham) to work as a guard in one of their trucks, and on his first run he single-handedly foils another attempted robbery with uncanny combat skills.  The company is thrilled, amazed by the sheer ability of their new hire, but Hill’s new colleagues are more concerned, wondering exactly what they’ve let themselves in for.  After a second foiled robbery, it becomes clear that Hill’s reputation has grown, but fellow guard Haiden (Holt McCallany), aka “Bullet”, begins to suspect there might be something darker going on … Ritchie is firing on all cylinders here, delivering a PERFECT slow-burn suspense thriller which plays its cards close to its chest and cranks up its piano wire tension with artful skill as it builds to a devastating, knuckle-whitening explosive heist that acts as a cathartic release for everything that’s built up over the past hour and a half.  In typical Ritchie style the narrative is non-linear, the story unfolding in four distinct parts told from clearly differentiated points of view, allowing the clues to be revealed at a trickle that effortlessly draws the viewer in as they fall deeper down the rabbit hole, leading to a harrowing but strangely poignant denouement which is perfectly in tune with everything that’s come before. It’s an immense pleasure finally getting to see Statham working with Ritchie again, and I don’t think he’s ever been better than he is here – he's always been a brilliantly understated actor, but there’s SO MUCH going on under Hill’s supposedly impenetrable calm that every little peek behind the armour is a REVELATION; McCallany, meanwhile, has landed his best role outside of his sterling work on Netflix’ excellent Mindhunters, likeable and fallible as the kind of easy-going co-worker anyone in the service industry would be THRILLED to have, but giving Bullet far more going on under the surface, while there are uniformly excellent performances from a top-shelf ensemble supporting cast that includes Josh Hartnett, Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice, Sicario), Andy Garcia, Laz Alonso (The Boys), Eddie Marsan, Niamh Algar (Raised By Wolves) and Darrell D’Silva (Informer, Domina), and a particularly edgy and intense turn from Scott Eastwood.  This was BY FAR one of THE BEST thrillers of 2021, a masterpiece of mood, pace and plot that ensnares the viewer from its gripping opening and hooks them right to the close, a triumph of the genre and EASILY Guy Ritchie’s best film since Snatch.  Regardless of whether or not it’s a RETURN to form, we can only hope he continues to deliver fare THIS GOOD in the future, and since he and Statham have already reteamed for imminent Continental crime caper Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, I guess we’ll find out soon enough …

18.  FEAR STREET (PARTS 1-3) – Netflix have gotten increasingly ambitious with their original filmmaking over the years, and some of 2021’s offerings have reached new heights of epic intention.  Perhaps their most ambitious release of the summer was this adaptation of popular children’s horror author R.L. Stine’s popular book series, a truly gargantuan undertaking as the filmmakers set out to create an entire TRILOGY of films which were then released over three consecutive weekends. Interestingly, these films are most definitely NOT for kids – this is proper, no-holds-barred supernatural slasher horror, delivering highly calibrated shocks and precision jump scares, a pervading atmosphere of insidious dread and a series of inventively gruesome kills that would make Wes Craven proud.  The story revolves around two neighbouring small towns which have had vastly different fortunes over more than three centuries of existence – while the residents of Sunnyvale are unusually successful, living idyllic lives in peace and prosperity, luck has always been against the people of Shadyside, who languish in impoverishment, crime and misfortune, while the town has become known as the Murder Capital of the USA due to frequent spree killings. Some attribute this to the supposed curse of a local urban legend, Sarah Fier, who became known as the Fier Witch after her execution for witchcraft in 1668, but others dismiss this as simple superstition.  Part 1 is set in 1994, as the latest outbreak of serial mayhem begins in Shadyside, dragging a small group of local teens – Deena Johnson (She Never Died’s Kiana Madeira) and Samantha Fraser (Olivia Scott Welch), a young lesbian couple going through a difficult breakup, Deena’s little brother Josh (The Haunted Hathaways’ Benjamin Flores Jr.), a nerdy history geek who spends most of his time playing video games or frequenting violent crime-buff online chatrooms, and their delinquent friends Simon (Eight Grade’s Fred Hechinger) and Kate (Julia Rehwald) – into the age-old ghostly conspiracy as they find themselves besieged by indestructible undead serial killers from the town’s past, reasoning that the only way they can escape with their lives is to solve the mystery and bring the Fier Witch some much needed closure.  Part 2, meanwhile, flashes back to a previous outbreak in 1977, in which local sisters Ziggy (Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink) and Cindy Berman (Emily Rudd), together with future Sunnyvale sheriff Nick Goode (Ted Sutherland) were among the kids hunted by said killers during a summer camp “colour war”.  As for Part 3, that goes all the way back to 1668 to tell the story of what REALLY happened to Sarah Fier, before wrapping up events in 1994, culminating in a terrifying, adrenaline-fuelled showdown in the Shadyside Mall.  Throughout, the youthful cast are EXCEPTIONAL, Madeira, Welch, Flores Jr., Sink and Rudd particularly impressing, while there are equally strong turns from Ashley Zuckerman (The Code, Designated Survivor) and Community’s Gillian Jacobs as the grown-up versions of two key ’77 kids, and a fun cameo from Maya Hawke in Part 1.  This is definitely retro horror in the Stranger Things mould, the perfectly executed period details bringing fun nostalgic flavour to all three timelines while the peerless direction from Leigh Janiak (Honeymoon) and wire-tight, sharp-witted screenplays from Janiak, Kyle Killen (Lone Star, The Beaver), Phil Graziadel, Zak Olkewicz and Kate Trefry strike a perfect balance between knowing dark humour and knife-edged terror, as well as weaving an intriguingly complex narrative web that pulls the viewer in but never loses them to overcomplication.  The design, meanwhile, is evocative, the cinematography (from Stanger Things’ Caleb Heymann) is daring and magnificently moody, and the killers and other supernatural elements of the film are handled with skill through largely physical effects.  This is definitely not a standard, by-the-numbers slasher property, and while it pays strong homage to the sub-genre’s rules it frequently subverts them with expert skill, and it’s as much fun as it is frightening.  Give us some more like this please, Netflix!

17.  THE HARDER THEY FALL – I love a good western, those who’ve been following me for a while should know this by now.  Netflix’ latest certainly fills that requirement in fine style, adding an intriguing and timely Black Lives Matter spin with a largely African American cast bringing a collection of famous real life black figures from the Old West to life in intriguing and sometimes quite surprising ways.  The main crux of the story is the fervent rivalry between outlaws Nat Love (The Last Black Man in San Francisco’s Jonathan Majors) and Rufus Buck (the indomitable Idris Elba), which is rekindled when Buck is broken out of prison (well, a train-bound prison transport, at least) by his old gang, prompting Love to go on the hunt for the man who gunned down his whole family when he was just a boy.  The resulting misadventure draws in the likes of Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beats), Cherokee Bill (Judas & the Black Messiah’s Lakeith Stanfield) and legendary black lawman Bass Reeves (the mighty Delroy Lindo), building to a substantial and thrilling all-action gun-battle climax in Buck’s outlaw stronghold of Redwood City.  On the surface, this is pretty standard Wild West entertainment, ticking all the narrative boxes both revisionist and classical, but there’s some real style and verve to this film, debuting feature director Jeymes Samuel (probably better known by his stage name of The Bullitts as a singer-songwriter and music producer) showing some impressive skill with action and actors as well as a sharp eye for some artful visuals while crafting a compelling story and razor-witted script with his co-writer Boaz Yakin (Safe, Remember the Titans), and it does a really fascinating job of capturing several of the true life subjects portrayed here (it’s certainly far better in realising its intended goal than similarly-styled but far less successful 90s guilty pleasure Posse).  Indeed, it’s the cast here that shines brightest – Majors is a compellingly complex and rewardingly fallible (anti)hero and Elba oozes understated menace in one of his best bad guy roles to date, while Stanfield is clearly having the time of his life, as is RJ Cyler (Me & Earl & the Dying Girl) as Jim Beckwourth, although the true star turns here come from the film’s three ladies, Beats delivering a masterful turn alongside Watchmen’s Regina King as Buck’s tough lieutenant/lover Trudy Smith (one of the film’s few purely fictional main characters) and Danielle Deadwyler (The Have & Have Nots, Watchmen, Paradise Lost) as unassumingly diminutive badass Cuffey (inspired by real life legend Cathay Williams) – but really, this whole movie is seriously hot stuff, a hard-edged but gleefully unapologetic nose-thumb at what’s traditionally been a white-led genre for decades.  If nothing else, this alone makes it worth a look.

16.  RAYA & THE LAST DRAGON – with UK cinemas still closed in the first half of the year I had to live with seeing ALL the big stuff on my frustratingly small screen at home, but at least there was plenty of choice with so many of the big studios electing to either sell some of their languishing big projects to online vendors or simply release on their own streaming services.  Thank the gods, then, for the House of Mouse following Warner Bros’ example and releasing their big stuff on Disney+ at the same time as in those theatres that had reopened – this was one movie I was PARTICULARLY looking forward to, and if I’d had to wait for the UK reopening in mid-May I might have gone a little crazy watching people lose it and dump major spoilers all over something I still hadn’t seen.  That said, it WOULD HAVE been worth the wait – coming across a bit like Disney’s long overdue response to Dreamworks’ AWESOME Kung Fu Panda franchise, this is a spellbinding adventure in a beautifully thought-out fantasy world heavily inspired by Southeast Asia’s rich, diverse cultures and fascinatingly varied histories, bursting with red hot martial arts action and exotic Eastern mysticism and brought to life by a uniformly strong voice cast dominated by actors of Asian descent.  It’s got a cracking premise, too – 500 years ago, the land of Kumandra was torn apart when a terrible supernatural force known as the Druun very nearly wiped out all life, only stopped by the sacrifice of the last dragons, who poured all their power and lifeforce into a mystical gem.  But when that gem is broken and the pieces are divided between the warring nations of Fang, Heart, Spine, Tail and Talon, the Druun return, prompting Raya (Star Wars’ Kelly Marie Tran), the fugitive princess of Heart, to embark on a quest to reunite the gem pieces and revive the legendary dragon Sisu in a desperate bid to vanquish the Druun once and for all.  Moana director Don Hall teams up with Blindspotting helmer Carlos Lopez Estrada (making his debut in the big chair for Disney after helping develop Frozen), flawlessly executing a thoroughly inspired screenplay co-written by Crazy Rich Asians’ Adele Kim which is full to bursting with magnificent world-building, beautifully crafted characters and thrilling action, as well as the Disney prerequisites of playful humour and tons of heart and soul.  Tran makes Raya a feisty and engaging heroine, tough, stubborn and a seriously kickass fighter, but with true warmth and compassion too, while Gemma Chan is icy cool but deep down ultimately kind of sweet as her bitter rival, Fang princess Namaari, and there’s strong support from Doctor Strange’s Benedict Wong and Good Boys’ Izaac Wang as hard-but-soft Spine warrior Tong and youthful but charismatic Tail shrimp-boat captain Boun, two of the warm-hearted found family that Raya gathers on her travels.  The big scene-stealer, however, is the ever-entertaining Awkwafina, bringing Sisu to life in wholly unexpected but thoroughly charming and utterly adorable fashion, a goofy, sassy and sweet-natured bundle of fun who grabs all the best laughs but also unswervingly champions the film’s core messages of peace, unity and acceptance in all things, something Raya needs a lot of convincing to take to heart.  Visually stunning, endlessly inventive, consistently thrilling and frequently laugh-out-loud funny, this is another solid gold winner proving that Disney can do this kind of stuff in their sleep, but it’s always most interesting when they really make the effort to create something truly special.  As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the studio’s finest animated features in a good long while, and thoroughly deserving of all the praise and attention it’s received …

15.  THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES – so what piece of animation, you might be asking, could POSSIBLY have won over Raya as my animated feature of the year?  After all, it would have to be something TRULY special … then again, remember Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?  Back in 2018, that blew me away SO MUCH that it very nearly became my top animated feature of THE PAST DECADE (only JUST losing out, ultimately, to Dreamworks’ unstoppable How to Train Your Dragon trilogy).  When I heard its creators, the irrepressible double act of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs), were going to be following that up with this anarchic screwball comedy adventure, I was VERY EXCITED INDEED, a fervour which was barely blunted when its release was, inevitably, indefinitely delayed thanks to the global pandemic, so when it finally released on Netflix at the tail end of Spring I POUNCED. Thankfully my faith was thoroughly rewarded – this is an absolute riot from start to finish, a cinematic gem I look forward to going back to for repeated viewings in the future, just to soak up its awesomeness – it’s hilarious to a precision-crafted degree, brilliantly thought-out and SPECTACULARLY well-written by acclaimed Gravity Falls writer-director Mike Rianda (who also helms here), injecting the whole film with a gleefully unpredictable, irrepressibly irreverent streak of pure chaotic genius that makes it an affectionately endearing and utterly irresistible joyride from bonkers start to adorable finish.  The central premise is pretty much as simple as the title suggests, the utterly dysfunctional Mitchell family – father Rick (Danny McBride), born outdoorsman and utter technophobe, mother Linda (Maya Rudolph), much put-upon but unflappable even in the face of Armageddon, daughter Katie (Broad City co-creator Abbi Jacobson), tech-obsessed and growing increasingly estranged from her dad, and son Aaron (Rianda himself), a thoroughly ODD dinosaur nerd – become the world’s only hope after naïve tech mogul Mark Bowman (Eric Andre), founder of PAL Labs, inadvertently sets off a robot uprising.  Cue a wild comedy of errors of EPIC proportions … this is just about the most fun I had with a movie all year, an absolute riot throughout, but there’s far more to it than just a pile of big belly laughs, with the Mitchells all proving to be a lovable bunch of misfits who inspire just as much deep, heartfelt affection as they learn from their mistakes and finally overcome their differences, becoming a better, more loving family in the process, McBride and Jacobson particularly shining as they make our hearts swell and put a big lump in our throat even while they make us titter and guffaw, while the film has a fantastic larger than (virtual) life villain in PAL (Olivia Colman), the virtual assistant turned megalomaniacal machine intelligence spearheading this technological revolution.  Much like its Spider-Man-shaped predecessor, this is also an absolutely STUNNING film, visually arresting and spectacularly inventive and bursting with neat ideas and some truly beautiful stylistic flair, frequently becoming a genuine work of cinematic art that’s as much a feast for the eyes as it is the intellect and, of course, the soul.  Altogether then, this was definitely one of the year’s most downright GORGEOUS films, as well as UNDENIABLY one of the most FUN.  Lord and Miller really have done it again.

14.  THE SPARKS BROTHERS – those who’ve been following my reviews for a while will know that while I do sometimes shout about new documentary films, they tend to show up in my runners-up lists – it’s a real rarity for one to land in one of my top tens.  This lovingly crafted deep-dive homage to cult band Sparks, from self-confessed rabid fanboy Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim), is something VERY SPECIAL INDEED, then … there’s a vague possibility some of you may have heard the name before, and many of you will know at least one or two of their biggest hits without knowing it was them (their greatest hit of all time, This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us, immediately springs to mind), but unless you’re REALLY serious about music it’s quite likely you have no idea who they are, namely two brothers from California, Russell and Ronald Mael, who formed a very sophisticated pop-rock band in the late 60s and then never really went away, having moments of fame but mostly working away in the background and influencing some of the greatest bands and musical artists that followed them, even if many never even knew where that influence originally came from.  Wright’s film is an engrossing joy from start to finish (despite clocking in at two hours and twenty minutes), following their eclectic career from obscure inception as Halfnelson, through their first real big break with third album Kimono My House, subsequent success and then fall from popularity in the mid-70s, through several subsequent revitalisations of their fortunes, all the way up to the present day with their long-awaited cinematic breakthrough, revolutionary musical feature Annette – throughout Wright keeps the tone light and the pace breezy, allowing an endearing sense of irreverence to rule the day as fans, friends and the brothers themselves offer up fun anecdotes and wax lyrical about what is frequently a larger-than-life tragicomic soap opera, utilising fun, crappy animations and idiosyncratic stock footage inserts alongside archive clips and talking-head interviews that have been made with a decidedly tongue-in-cheek style – Mike Myers good-naturedly rants about how we can see his “damned mole” while 80s New Romantic icons Nick Rhodes and John Taylor, while shot together, are each individually labelled as “Duran”.  Ron and Russ themselves, meanwhile, are clearly having huge fun, gently ribbing each other and dropping some fun deadpan zingers throughout proceedings, easily playing to the band’s strong, idiosyncratic sense of hyper-intelligent humour, while the aforementioned celebrity talking-heads are just three amongst a whole wealth of famous faces that may surprise you – there’s even an appearance by Neil Gaiman, guys!  Altogether this is 2+ hours of bright and breezy fun chock full of great music and fascinating information, and even hardcore Sparks fans are likely to learn more than a little over the course of the film, while for those who have never heard of Sparks before it’s a FANTASTIC introduction to one of the greatest ever bands that you’ve never heard of.  With luck there might even be more than a few new fans in 2022 thanks to this film …

13.  P.G. PSYCHO GOREMAN – one of the year’s undeniable top guilty pleasures was this fantastic weird, thoroughly over-the-top and completely OUT THERE black comedy cosmic horror that doesn’t so much riff on the works of HP Lovecraft as throw them in a blender, douse them with maple syrup and cayenne pepper and then hurl the sloppy results to the four winds.  On paper it sounds like a family-friendly cutesy comedy take on Call of Cthulu et al, but trust me, this sure ain’t one for the kids – the latest indie horror offering from Steven Kostanski, co-creator of the likes of Manborg, Father’s Day and The Void, this is one of the weirdest movies I’ve seen in years, but it’s also one of the most gleefully funny, playing itself entirely for yucks (frequently LITERALLY).  Mimi (Nita Josee-Hanna) and Luke (Owen Myre) are two small-town Canadian kids who dig a big hole of their backyard, accidentally releasing the Arch-Duke of Nightmares (Matthew Ninaber and the voice of Steven Vlahos), an ancient, god-tier alien killing machine who’s been imprisoned for aeons in order to protect the universe from his brutal crusade of death and destruction. To their parents’ dismay, Mimi decides to keep him, renaming him Psycho Goreman (or “P.G.” for short) and attempting to curb his superpowered murderous impulses so she can have a new playmate. But the monster’s original captors, the Templars of the Planetary Alliance, have learned of his escape, sending their most powerful warrior, Pandora (Kristen McCulloch), to destroy him once and for all.  Yup, this movie is just as loony tunes as it sounds – Kostanski injects the film with copious amounts of his own outlandish, OTT splatterpunk extremity, bringing us a riotous cavalcade of bizarrely twisted creatures and mutations (realised through some deliciously disgusting prosthetic effects work) and a series of wonderfully off-kilter (not to mention frequently off-COLOUR) darkly comic skits and escapades, while the sense of humour is pretty bonkers but also generously littered with nuggets of genuine sharply observed genius.  The cast, although made up almost entirely of unknowns, is thoroughly game, and the kids particularly impress, especially Josee-Hanna, who plays Mimi like a flamboyant, mercurial miniature psychopath whose zinger-delivery is clipped, precise and downright hilarious throughout.  There are messages of love conquering all and the power of family, both born and made, buried somewhere in there too, but ultimately this is just 90 minutes of wonderful weirdness that’s sure to melt your brain but still leave you with a big dumb grin when it’s all over.  Which is all we really want from a movie like this, right?

12.  SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS – the MCU’s top big screen offering of 2021 was, perversely, also the biggest chance the studio took in several years (yes, even more than the entertaining but ultimately underwhelming Eternals), folding in a C-list Marvel superhero who’s long languished as something of a sort-of-racist stereotype that the comics have been trying to dig out of that particular hole for years.  Thing is, this movie does a really beautiful job of pulling off that trick all in a single movie, while also delivering a genuinely excellent shot-in-the-arm corker for the franchise which compares very favourably indeed with similarly racially-charged recent offering Black Panther.  This time it’s South East Asia in general and martial arts action in particular that’s the focus here, and while MCU-debuting writer director Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12, The Glass Castle and Just Mercy) may not have previous form in this arena, he’s just the kind of talented indie cinema alumnus that the studio have always had such great luck with upgrading to big budget work in the past, and as with previous choices he proved impressively adept at ushering in just the kind of all-action thrill-ride with added emotional heft and fantastical wonder we’ve come to expect from the MCU.  Breakout star Simu Liu is perfectly cast as Shang-Chi, self-exiled former heir to the Ten Rings, the powerful Asian crime syndicate ruled over by his near-immortal warlord father Xu Wenyu (a typically masterful performance from the great Tony Leung), who seeks to bring his wayward son back into the fold, along with his estranged daughter Xialing (rising star Meng’er Zhang), to help him find the mystical hidden land of Ta Lo, a place of magic the siblings’ later mother came from.  Yeah, I know, sounds a bit out there, but the MCU’s gotten really good at making that kind of stuff work, and this is no exception, Cretton and his co-writers, David Callaham (Wonder Woman 1984 and the incoming Spider-Verse sequel) and Andrew Lanham, weaving a tight, compelling and thoroughly inspired tale of familial strife, clashing cultures and just a dash of (admittedly PG-13-friendly) cosmic horror which fits perfectly into the colourful tableau of the franchise at large.  The cast are all excellent as usual – Liu and Zhang handle the action duties with incredibly game skill and determination while also crafting rock-solid characters for themselves that promise a long shelf-life in the MCU at large, as does Leung, who effortlessly proves he can still handle himself just as well as the kids while also showing what a heavyweight, award-winning acting talent he still is (brilliantly realising one of the most sympathetic MCU villains to date), matched step-by-step by the true queen of Asian cinema, Michelle Yeoh, as Ta Lo’s faithful guardian (and the siblings’ aunt) Ying Nan, but in the end the film is roundly stolen by Awkwafina as Shang-Chi’s faithful and irrepressible best friend Katy, and the welcome return of a former MCU alumnus whose identity I refuse to give away here because it’s such a wonderful and absolutely inspired twist when they arrive – the action’s first rate, the second unit and stunt teams (as well as several very game cast members) creating some pretty hardcore and visually arresting fight sequences and chases (and for once even the now almost obligatory CGI-heavy climax is a STRONG ONE), and the sense of humour is, as usual, firing on all cylinders, while the film is frequently a rich and delectable feast for the eyes.  SCATLOTTR secures its place in the MCU with confident assurance and more than a little cocky swagger, all while maintaining an impressive record of cultural respect and positive representation, so it would thoroughly deserves its position on the franchise’s throne for 2021.  Had it not been for Loki …

11.  SPACE SWEEPERS – all throughout the pandemic and the interminable lockdowns, Netflix have been a consistent blessing to those of us who’ve been craving the kind of big budget blockbusters we’ve (largely) been unable to get at the cinema.  Some of my top movies of 2020 were Netflix Originals, and they continued the trend into 2021, having dropped some choice cuts on us over the past twelve months. This phenomenal milestone of Korean cinema, lauded as the country’s first space blockbuster, certainly went big instead of going home, writer-director Jo Sung-hee (A Werewolf Boy, Phantom Detective) delivering big budget thrills and spills in a bombastic science-fiction adventure cast in the classic Star Wars mould, where action, emotion and fun characters count for more than an admittedly simplistic but still admirably evocative archetypal plot – it’s 2092 and the Earth has become a toxic wasteland ruined by overpopulation and pollution, leading the wealthy to move into palatial orbital habitats in preparation for the impending colonisation of Mars, while the poor and downtrodden are packed into rotting ghetto satellites facing an uncertain future left behind to fend for themselves, and the UTS Corporation jealously guard the borders between rich and poor, presided over by seemingly benevolent but ultimately cruel sociopathic genius James Sullivan (Richard Armitage).  Eking out a living in-between are the space sweepers, freelance spaceship crews who risk life and limb by cleaning up dangerous space debris to prevent it from damaging satellites and orbital structures.  The film focuses on the crew of sweeper vessel Victory, a ragtag quartet clearly inspired by the “heroes” of Cowboy Bebop – Captain Jang (The Handmaiden’s Kim Tae-ri), a hard-drinking ex-pirate with a mean streak and a dark past, ace pilot Kim Tae-ho (The Battleship Island’s Song Joong-ki), a former child-soldier with a particularly tragic backstory, mechanic Tiger Park (The Outlaws’ Jin Seon-Kyu), a gangster from Earth living in exile in orbit, and Bubs (a genuinely flawless mocapped performance from A Taxi Driver’s Yoo Hae-jin), a surplus military robot slumming it as a harpooner so she can earn enough for gender confirmation.  They’re a fascinating bunch, a mercenary band who never think past their next paycheque, but there’s enough good in them that when redemption comes knocking – in the form of Kang Kot-nim (newcomer Park Ye-rin), a revolutionary prototype android in the form of a little girl who may hold the key to bio-technological ecological salvation – they find themselves answering the call despite their misgivings.  The four leads are exceptional (as is their young charge), while Armitage is a cracking villain, delivering subtle, restrained menace by the bucketload every time he’s onscreen, and there’s excellent support from a fascinating multinational cast who perform in a refreshingly broad variety of languages.  Jo also delivers spectacularly on the action front, wrangling a blistering series of adrenaline-fuelled and explosive set-pieces that rival anything George Lucas or JJ Abrams have sprung on us this century, while the visual effects are nothing short of astounding, bringing this colourful, eclectic and dangerous universe to vibrant, terrifying life; indeed, the world-building here is exceptional, creating an environment you’ll feel sorely tempted to live in despite the pitfalls.  Best of all, though, there’s tons of heart and soul, the fantastic found family dynamic at the story’s heart winning us over at every turn.  Ultimately, while you might come for the thrills and spectacle, you’ll stay for these wonderful, adorable characters and their compelling tale. An undeniable triumph.