#actual dialogue pg 40
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“A man with nothing to hide. You’d fit in fine at the temple.”
“You followed me.”
“Most people forget to look up.”
#atla#Yangchen#yangchen x kavik#kavik#atla kavik#actual dialogue pg 40#straight out of a film/book noir#aged up spy thriller or noir au#she came down the chimney#Atlantis lost empire reference lol#ATLAntis lost airbender#sorry I’ll stop now
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And further thoughts about the yaoi paddles.
If you’re under 20, and just now learning that fandom seniors in their late 20s, 30s, 40s, even low 50s, used to run around slapping eachother on the ass with yaoi paddles in anime and comic conventions after anime became a household media staple, you probably have.. questions.
You’re probably thinking, “Wow!! It was really lawless and anarchistic back then, wasn’t it! They never heard about personal space or sexual harassment laws! SOCIETY must have been SO different, back then!”
NO. I cannot stress enough, the Yaoi Paddle phenomenon was borne PURELY because the demographic MOST LIKELY to protest and be wet blankets about everything fun and sexual and admittedly VERY SKETCHY sometimes in fiction, and ALWAYS bad in reality.. turned off and said virtually nothing. Wokesters that’d protest about the environment and sexual assault against women would take off their Problem Glasses by night and act like paddling was harmless, contextually acceptable behavior.
Yaoi Paddle shit appeared because something absolutely magical happened in scifi and fantasy fandoms. It survived purely because boys didn’t complain, or their complaints were not taken seriously. I promise you, I assure you, if you grew up in the late 80s, your night time TV was INUNDATED with heavy handed messages about how sexual harassment (always male-on-woman flavored) was wrong, even proxy or indirect violence to women (tossing rubber gloves in their lap) was wrong, and to never, ever, ever do that thing or they’d rub your nose in it and consider you mentally diseased until the day you died.
Fandom was always niche, with sci-fi and fantasy stuff being off in its own little corner. Conventions, before the internet was king, was one of few places where more rural, disparate suburban and city-definition isolated geeks, nerds and dreamers could get together and just cut loose. Comic books, novels, video games. All that GOOD shit. But if you knew a girl in the 80s and 90s, you knew a girl that knew a girl that was getting them to be less tolerant and “more conscious and aware” (80s and 90s parlance for Woke) and when that happened, a new persona was created. A new bunch of dialogue options, created.
Suddenly they didn’t say stuff like, “Ew. Why is this character dressed like a SLUT? Typical male writers. Like we’d ever draw ourselves in this or put ourselves in this.” Because that’d be a personal, subjective opinion. Instead, the option to say, “It’s endemic in our western culture that male chauvinist authors and writers in a patriarchal system exploit femininity in media and reproduce misogynistic culture.”
And so assured this was true by mob mentality AND the idea that learned, educated, acredited and tenured academics had this opinion, they were scientists, and so they were right, permeated. Suddenly girl-fans had outlets to have justified apprehension for everything they saw and didn’t like or, if they actually liked it, STILL interpreted it through their lenses to be on, “the right side of history.”
It made fandom miserable and a sausage fest for a while, if only out of fear of driving away female friends. You couldn’t share that shit unless you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that your female peers and friends wouldn’t disregard you like a “typical misogynistic western male” for enjoying that stuff.
Sentiments and peer pressure thoughts emerged. Like, “The comic industry is hostile and cruel to women that try and enter it, and they exploit the image of women for cheap dollars.” So they simply weren’t interested in comics- mostly- unless the comics were written by women and sold with that virtue in mind. In which case, you had boys glowingly mentioning just how much they liked this authentically written adventure by this female comic author. Isn’t that just so special? Not like those horrid anti-woman cigar smoking old man stories, right?
There was always something to nag and get vitriolic about with the media. That’s part of why the Whedon brand of feminist writing got so popular in the 90s. it was low hanging fruit of peppy “sassy” girl characters doing girly things. They weren’t like “other” girls written in comics and cartoons. They were actually girly. Not idealized infantalized children, like those horrible white men write, you know.
Well. Things were looking really bleak for the forseeable future. Lots of boys just felt like comics and cartoons were lost to girls that weren’t specifically into them, and that meant more sausage fest conventions or hobbies, and signing off hope on those things being respected and accepted on the merits of what they are and were. The girls had embraced serials-filed-off radfem rhetoric and lenses, sometimes without even knowing the origins of where those truisms like the Male Gaze even came from, just assuming it was true and indisputable. And it complimented their insecurities, so they’d embrace that shit until they couldn’t anymore.
And then.. something absolutely miraculous and amazing happened that blindsided this whole vitriolic culture.
Anime.
And amazingly, every complaint that a lot of nerdy girls had about the very much sanitized, policed and made PG writing and characterization of characters in western comics and cartoons, just... fucking up and vanished. Seemingly within a fucking YEAR, the entire social culture of Problem Finders, finding everything wrong about these stories, the characters, the writer and the company that produced them being misogynistic male chauvinism, dried up. Those voices quieted, or were shut out of the groups.
Media from Japan was some of the most infantilizing, sexist, tittelating shit compared to mainstream American comics and cartoons and video games, and girls fluttered to it like flies to shit. We had Buffy basically subverting boogymen that a bunch of girls had been taught were still relevant after the 1950s by fighting crime in melee combat with men, and winning, while wearing jogging pants and cracking sassy, like Lola Bunny being a “tough girl.”
Japan had doe eyed, waif bodied ballet dancers that basically farted iridescent glitter, hearts and all the symbols and shapes of the Lucky Charms, riding unicorns and fighting evil in cute outfits. Being childish and not at all mature or professional to show how womanly and competent they were, basically being overgrown 11 year old girls fresh off the playground swing set.
And the fangirls loved it. Those nagging voices that would speak up and remind them about misogynistic, male chauvinistic “societies” and culture? Just.. they fucking VANISHED from the mind for AN ENTIRE GENERATION. I’m not exaggerating. Tolerance and fun and innocence was back again. The problem-glasses felt too ostracized and alienated, or didn’t even want to wear them anymore for personal reasons, and the Radfem Baby Wokes just seemed to grow out of that collective hysteria and pretend it never happened and never existed.
That’s why the very EXISTENCE of Yaoi Paddles at conventions was just so fucking bizarre to those of us that lived up to that point. After, “Stay in your own personal space, boy. DON’T even TOUCH a GIRL unless she VERBALLY AND PUBLICLY CONSENTS or it’s proof you’re just living up to this misogynistic, objectifying society’s evil history!” was drilled into us, day on the playground by day on the playground, by women with axes to grind and good-boy sycophants performing sharing those sentiments for brownie points, it was so fucking surreal to IMAGINE girls just running around sexually assaulting and physically assaulting random strangers because they thought they looked like cute, gay men.
It wasn’t that they didn’t know any better beforehand, it’s that they COMPLETELY put those sentiments away and up and decided, as girls, it was okay to violate male autonomy because they weren’t women, and “it’s okay to paddle a yaoi boy ^.^!” With NO self-awareness whatsoever.
The very fact it existed is testament to how attention starved boys were for girls approving gaze and playful interaction, that they’d tolerate some pocky fingered little cow stranger smacking them on the ass with a plank of wood because it was a socially acceptable way to just interact with girls in their lonely assed fandom and interest. It was an acceptable way to meet girls and positively interact. That’s the degrading bullshit boys said virtually nothing about at the hayday of yaoi paddles, purely to be welcoming to girls in anime and hentai approving spaces.
WE GREW UP hearing and watching horror stories and boogymen stories about true crime and sitcoms and crime shows about evil evil men violating the personal space of women for lewd and lecherous reasons. We had it drilled into our heads that the tolerance for boys and men doing that was negatives, and the general sentiment was men caught doing that (to women, or children of any sex) were effectively free game for any violence you personally felt like unloading on them, confident that in such outraged rape and sexual assault hating times, juries would excuse that passion as a defense.
So if you look back on the era of Yaoi Paddles and think. “WOW. That must be like driving cars before they invented seat belts and cough medicine before they invented the drug safety and scheduling legal system!”.. NO.
It was not like the 50s-70s, where many of the rules hadn’t been written yet so it was anarchy and chaos. Yaoi Paddles existed almost PURELY because girls HAD no rules if they didn’t want to respect them. The Yaoi Paddle phenomenon flew in direct opposition to how interactions were supposed to go, and ABSOLUTELY NO ONE would tolerate the reverse; no cis straight man could walk around randomly smacking women on the ass with a plank of even foam in pantomime, or ‘floating hand’ pretending to be a perverted character. The double standard was GLARING. The Double Standard was a fucking bugbear that had grown from a tiny screaming goblin and was now hanging upside down from the ceiling, roaring.
But because it was GIRLS inflicting it on BOYS, absolutely no party cared enough to raise a stink about it. The Radfems kept their mouths shut, because boys were the recipients. The Radfem Sympathizers really wanted to spank boys, so suddenly they couldn’t find their problem glasses and instead put on their neko ears. The boys were either stoic and amused by it or really wanted to be seen as cool and not buzzkills, so they tolerated to reveled in it.
Many times when you hear about things that happened either when you were a child just too young to really personally experience a thing, or before you were born, we’re quick to assume it’s a medieval place and the people were so uncultured as to have never pondered the social problems of spanking one another on the ass unprovoked. Violation of personal space, personal sovereignty- all that. That was NOT okay at the time. It happened because fujoshi decided it was okay and nobody argued with them to not do hat, or they were told to stop and did it anyway.
And as I’ve laid it out, that is the most bizarre and surreal element to the whole thing. They DID know better, but felt it didn’t apply to THEM because they were girls, and a girl slapping a boy on the ass “as a joke” didn’t mean anything- because it wasn’t happening TO them, FROM a man.
And irony of ironies, it was NEVER okay, EVER, throughout that entire era, for the reverse to be a thing. It was very specifically and exclusively not. As a man if you ran around slapping cute looking girls with the Yuri Paddle, you goin’ to either juvy hall, or prison, boi. Both sexes knew it. And yet, yaoi paddles STILL became a thing.
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zakki:re Q&A replies megathread
A translation megathread of the zakki:re Q&A contest letters Ishida sent back to winning contestants!
As far as I know there were 100 winners, though I only have around 40 in this post. There were more on Twitter, but some opted not to release them publicly on Twitter for personal reasons (such as if they asked personal questions). Some didn’t reveal their question, or all of Ishida’s replies, but I’ve tried my best to guess at their meaning if possible.
The ones I’ll post here are from Twitter, specifically if they came with pictures of Ishida’s art or handwritten replies. I’ll also mention some context if I felt that the conversation/topic between the OPs and Ishida was interesting.
If you see one that I missed, please let me know and I’ll update this post.
Enjoy!
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From songbirdfaraway (X):
No question or answer revealed. OP mentioned that since they drew Touka and Kaneki on the postcard they sent Ishida, that Ishida must have figured OP liked them and drew them in his reply.
From mochi_XIII13 (X):
A huge Juuzou fan. OP stated they asked something they’ve always wanted to know from the bottom of their heart for ages, and that they couldn’t stop crying when they got the answer from Ishida. (No question or answer revealed.)
From __rsks__ (X):
OP must have asked how Naki proposed to Miza, because:
Naki: (Oh yeah!) Dunno what kinda pose a “pro-pose-al” is, but I said we gotta be together ‘til we die!!
Miza: You didn’t need to mention that!
From choco__morinaga (X):
The answer was hidden because OP wasn’t sure whether Ishida minded if it was shared publicly since the info he gave in the answer wasn’t mentioned before. Ishida said it was okay to share, but I can’t seem to find OP tweeting anything about what the question and answer was.
Uta: It’s a secret. Just kidding.
From SatoshigeKiya (X):
OP mentioned they sent in a question that didn’t have anything to do with TG, and Ishida’s response:
Soba.
From 00ibushigin00 (X):
No question shown.
Ishida: Correct.
From tsukihoryst (X):
OP asked for Chie’s biography (one of two, actually!).
Hori Chie
Birthday: September 30th
136 cm / 33 kg / 21.5 cm
Currently on break from university. (Voluntarily on leave.)
Hobbies: photography, travelling, going for walks, enjoying drama
Tsukiyama: Little mouse, what are you doing?
Chie: I got asked a question.
From Hosaka_0405 (X):
Seems like it was a personal question, so I won’t translate.
From take2129 (X):
OP asked if Aunt Satou, Takizawa’s neighbour who was mentioned in his will, was killed by Ayato? But Ishida stated that it wasn’t Ayato who killed her, just some random ghoul.
From reirei_reina_ (X):
OP was so happy they got a nosebleed LOL. Not exactly sure what they asked.
Ishida: It’s great that I can know about the people who have been reading the series for a long time in this manner.
Touka: Thanks!
From cmnme17 (X):
OP’s question: Please give us more details about Hairu’s hairstyle!
Side:
(fluffy bangs)
Hairu: Hm...more details…?
Front:
Long straight across.
Back:
Looks like this from behind.
From go_t35 (X):
Seems like OP asked about the name of a fan club for Ishida based on another tweet of theirs (X)?
Ishida’s attempts: Ishida Club, The 9th Laboratory, Us [Oretachi], We [Wareware], umm? Muscle Lover’S [Kinniku Daisuki’S]. Please tell me of a good one you came up with.
(This is Tsukiyama-level naming lol)
OP later replies to Ishida, saying they were thinking of Sui Sui Club (“club” in kanji).
From 4njo_Usa (X):
OP’s question unknown.
Ishida: No matter how hard things get, don’t forget your goals.
From mishumi_jugem (X):
This OP also asked for Chie’s biography. Similar to the first one, except that she has blood type O.
Chie: Me? I guess I also like seeing drama.
From ChirolMaronLevi (X):
The question wasn’t sent by OP, but by his father. Both father and son are fans of TG (OP grew up reading Jump comics since the father reads them a lot), which amused Ishida greatly. OP is jealous, and his father is smug/happy about it lol (there’s a photo of him holding the zakki:re letter with a glove, with the letter itself wrapped in plastic, with a giant smile on his face).
Also a bit sadder to mention, but OP’s maternal uncle passed away from esophageal cancer. Hearing that his son (so OP’s cousin) has all the TG volumes, OP borrowed the letter from his dad to show to his cousin, which made the cousin happy.
Ishida: Isn't something like that decided at the very end?
You're admirable. Please do your best to stay till the end.
From inou_uoni (X):
OP’s question: This is related to Tokyo Ghoul:re. Ihei Hairu has pink hair, but why did you make her hair colour stand out from everyone else’s?
Hairu: Cause I’m cute, of course?
From 3110_mai (X):
OP asked some question about Urie, and the reply:
Urie: Why indeed.
OP is really amused Urie doesn’t know the answer, and it might even be possible that even Ishida himself doesn’t know.
From GW3Q1od9vzXccOM (X):
Funny enough, the preview of the postcards Ishida tweeted shows more of this illustration. (I’m planning on also translating those postcards that weren’t posted by their owners at the end). But it seems OP was concerned about Ui’s smoking habits, because:
Ui: It’s fine, I’ve got strong lungs.
From paralysis_2626 (X):
Seems like OP asked where Furuta’s pseudonym “PG” when he was masquerading as Souta came from. This is what I could salvage based on OP’s multiple photos:
Furuta: Eh, what “PG” stands for? Huuh, is that what you’re asking…? What to do...hmm, alright, this is just between us, but the truth is...PG is [redacted by OP]. What!! Just kidding~ Actually, [mostly redacted, I can make out the parts where OP didn’t blur the text in another image, something about eating bulgogi]. Ahaha!
This is just my personal guess, so take it with a grain of salt. But:
Bulgogi = プルコギ = purukogi = PurukoGi = PG…
OP did mention they were going to get bulgogi after this, so chances of this being right are pretty high lol.
From ute9pmr1 (X):
I think OP asked about what animal Ishida would want to become to relax (for example, OP wants to become a sea creature became they’re drawn to the ocean).
Ishida: If I’m given time to relax someday...I’d keep working as a human. I don’t really want to become an animal…
Ishida later adds in a tweet it’s more fun being a human.
From hare__1127 (X):
OP got back a Houji from Ishida when they asked about hojicha (roasted green tea).
Above Houji’s head: It smells nice.
Next to Houji: This is Houji-san.
From re_cord01 (X):
OP was debating whether they should keep it to themselves, but decided it’d be better for them to share so everyone can see (thank you OP, this is personally my favourite reply I’ve seen).
OP’s question: What is Kaneki-kun's life like now? (something small like a simple diary entry...)
Month X Day X
I wake up to the sounds of Touka-chan and Ichika's voices.
For some reason, they're excited over some news on TV.
I read through the documents related to Countermeasures [most likely something to do with the United Front] , and summarize my opinion on it until noon.
Time for lunch. Since Touka-chan went out to the shop, I make lunch for Ichika using the rice I bought.
"It tastes better than Mama's," she said, so I replied, "Keep that a secret from Mama."
In the afternoon, I think I'll take a short walk with Ichika, and try visiting Anteiku with her.
From Nia__86 (X):
Question or answer unknown.
From OKASHI_monster (X):
Question unknown.
I wasn't prepared at all...
If I think about this and that it makes me think, "Ah, I don't wanna do this," so there's times where it's easier not to think about it.
It may have been better if I had a "there's all kinds of things huh..." kind of resolve.
From utahira_flour (X):
Question and the full answer unknown. (The postcard on the left is just OP’s message to Ishida about Uta and Hirako).
Uta: Try it out?
From gongon0514 (X):
OP’s question: What is the name of Hirako Take’s Shiba Inu?
Ishida: Kotarou.
From S8OkMMRsYsB7H8i (X):
OP’s fiancee got the reply from Ishida!
OP’s fiancee’s question: Why does Takizawa, when he became a ghoul, begin to hold his fingers in his mouth?
Ishida: Like infants, the reasons can include stress, and suppressing his appetite.
I actually can’t find the OP for some reason, so if anyone finds it, please let me know!
Based on Ishida’s preview of the postcards, it seems like OP asked how Hirako felt when he first got his dog.
Ishida: Something like this.
Hirako: …(it’s a dog)
From tacto_0 (X):
Seems the question was personal, and I can only make out something about how once you’re satisfied it will end there.
The reason the mask is in the picture is because OP asked Ishida advice about making Kaneki’s mask a few years back.
From secret_fairys (X):
The first reply that Ishida worked on.
Ishida: I like guys that can win with a hard blow. The weapon is a two-handed sword.
Dialogue bubble: I will cut you down.
From kuranosukezemi (X):
I can’t say what Ishida replied to OP since the revealed text doesn’t really say anything substantial, but seems like OP asked something related to the final chapter based on their tweet.
From @S_R_Snow (X):
OP must have asked what Touka named her keychain lol.
Touka: No...since I’m not the kind to name things…
Yoriko: She called it Usakichi!
From @rio_080910 (X):
I have no clue what OP asked so the reply doesn’t really make sense. Basically if Ishida has tried doing something.
I never thought about it during serialization. But since it ended, I’m thinking it’d be good to try that kind of thing.
From @Utinni_jawamori (X):
OP seems to have asked a Star Wars-related question since Ishida drew Darth Maul.
Why of course...here.
But I also like Count Dooku.
Exar Kun symbol.
From @ume__oni (X):
Ishida’s reply was covered up by OP, but OP mentioned in their tweet how they named the onigiri Ishida drew “SSR onigiri”, and that they were thankful for receiving a reply despite their silly question.
Ishida replied to their tweet, and it seems like the question OP asked was about his favourite kind of rice or onigiri since Ishida mentioned something about koshihikari, a type of rice.
From bobriorio (X):
OP’s question: Is there a specific character’s expression that makes you go, “Drawing this face is fun, I love it!”?
Ishida: Something like this broken-looking face, for a lot of reasons…
From nato_noir (X):
OP didn’t mention what question they asked, but probably had something to do with the species of butterfly that appears throughout TG. They also mentioned they started reading TG in 1st grade of junior high, since Ishida addresses that in his reply.
From 1st grade of junior high! I'm happy to hear that.
It may look like a "butterfly", but specifically it's a moth called a mock swallowtail butterfly moth.
I drew it to symbolize the difference between humans and ghouls even though they look similar.
From Fyt120 (X):
Question is unknown.
Ishida/Matsuri: Even if it cannot be reached, it will be in your thoughts for eternity.
(Why do I get the feeling he’s talking about Urie lol)
From pencil_15 (X):
OP asked about Tatara’s biography.
Now published...!
Tatara (Zhū Lú) [朱鑪, 朱 means 'red' and 鑪 is fireplace, the kanji for Tatara]
186 cm / 96 kg
Blood type A
Hobbies: Go (taught by his older brother), reading (Takatsuki Sen)
From hachiyone_arai (X):
If you can't stop thinking about the person even though you know it will never happen, that is love.
...according to Matsuri.
(I love Urie too.)
Urie: No.
From nanasiFAST (X):
Miza: Hm...me?
I don’t really rank the things I love.
From Ishida’s preview (X):
Top right - Saiko: Kah!
Bottom right - Maid.
Top left - Nakarai: Recently, Japanese waxwings, I think. (has a rock look to it)
Bottom left - Ichika comic: (you can read here)
I’ll just summarize what I can figure out here since so much of it is concealed.
Higemaru - I think OP asked about how Higemaru ended up working for the CCG because it talks about his history at the Academy and the Qs. Also that Hige really looks up to Urie and wants to keep working with him.
Akira - I think OP asked for advice on dealing with the difficulties with their transfer family, because Ishida suggests using phrases such as, “I see...” or “That’s why~!”. (The alternative is Akira giving Inoue-san (from the transfer family) a Mado Punch lol)
Uta - A personal question, in which Ishida mentioned something about how if OP realized they messed up, and doing what OP needs to do.
Letter below Ui’s - Hide in :re volume 14, huh~
Kaneki also lost his way in OG volume 7 and :re volume 16.
[Something about other guys like Naki, and something about how deciding the most important thing is difficult]
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The end! If there’s any other replies from Ishida that you didn’t see here, please let me know!
#Tokyo Ghoul#Ishida Sui#zakki:re#Ishida Q&A#Translations#my translations#if you manage to get to the end#congrats :'D
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The Office Blind Date Chapter 20
* denotes extra line, expression, monologue not from main dialogue bubble (sometimes i might forget to add this symbol so yeah.sorry)
Pg 1
*blushing
Is it that bad? Just thinking of it makes you mad?
Pg 2
You know yet still ask me?!
He always calls early in the morning, I can't even rest at night as I've to go practice with him
I've to chase my train everyday because I was afraid to be late meeting him
*scream scream
*i'm sorry
Pg 3
*but
There must be a good thing right?
*grip
*pushed away
Good thing? You tell me what good thing
*if there's even one
Pg 4
You must be getting a lot of money right?
I did this for free you know!
What? How could that be?
Pg 5
Yes it ended up like that
It helps you to forget Min Woo right?
Actually that makes me miss him more
Pg 6
Don't be like that, just stay positive
We don't know how's life going to be
That's right
*friend(crack)ship
So here's where our friendship ends
Pg 7
What else do you want, you already have that guy
The one you told me your 'destiny' after you simply thrown away our 10 years friendship
Pg 8
Hey! That's mean of you!
How would I be without you?
Pg 9
Oh! Mr Sung Hun
Sung hun?
Yes, the director's head of secretary name is Cha Sung Hun
I don't want to know!
Pg 10
That's right
I was waiting for my destiny but I didn't expect to fall in love at first sight like this
Pg 11
Mr Sung Hun is kind, gentle and so cool
*this brat
Then you can live your life with just him
And without me!
Pg 12
Ha Ri~ don't be angry~ as it already happens, you should be nice with your director
What do you mean?
Pg 13
Didn't you ask me to get you a blind date to forget Min Woo?
Then I should be nice to the guy I meet at blind, what is it with the director?
Pg 14
Try to remember the things you want in a guy to meet for a blind date
Handsome, cool, smart as well as rich
A guy with face that rival Min Woo making him looks like a squid
Pg 15
There's only one guy in the world of that kind
Who? The Sung Hun guy you told me?
*no
Your director!
Pg 16
*since I was a kid this was my dream
*ha ri
Pg 17
This is the guy you want to meet for blind date
His name is Kang Tae Mu
*the weather is so nice
*just like mr kang tae mu's face
Pg 18
*double date
*double wedding
*a dream to live happily ever after with my friend Ha Ri
Pg 19
You can dream on!
If all you want to do is talk nonsense it's better you help with cleaning
Pg 20
*ah! Destiny is really romantic
*you aren't listening are you
The only guy fits your expectations is Kang Tae Mu & the person he wants to see is you right
Whether I want it or not I have to steer you right towards your director. That's destiny
Pg 21
Don't talk nonsense! Do you want to die?!
Wait! I'm just saying, just saying
Pg 22
Even if Kang Tae Mu attitude is like that
Just consider that you only have to look at his face to live
Jin yeong seo!
*erupt
Pg 23
You better watch out not to get caught!
Sorry Ha Ri, this is my fault!
Pg 24
-
Pg 25
Ha Ri!
Pg 26
Are you done with your official trip?
Pg 27
Don't you have other places to go besides being here on night like this?
Haven't you figure that out?
Pg 28
Why exactly are you here?
Are you saying I can't even visit?
I say that because you came here without permission when the owner wasn't present
Pg 29
This company is mine why should I ask for permission?
The director's office is mine
I'm the grandfather of the director
Pg 30
That means you aren't the owner
You cold hearted kid when your grandfather is only visiting yet you speak rudely to me
You don't even offer me a drink
*chilly
I'm busy
Pg 31
*what is your order?
You can ask for Secretary Cha
Pg 32
*professional secretary
Secretary Cha isn't a cafe manager nor the president's secretary
Pg 33
That kid is like my own grand nephew
Pg 34
If it's 'like' grand nephew then he's not really your grand nephew
Even if he is, you can't simply order him to do your bidding
Pg 35
Then where has Secretary Cha gone?
*rude kid
He already went home
Pg 36
It's only 21.30 & he's gone home? Is it that late for you?
For working hours it is quite late
So why haven't you go home?
Pg 37
As you can see
I'm busy
Pg 38
Busy my ass (t/n: lmao i cant think a more polite brush off 🤣)
It's not very efficient, when will the company prosper
When I first started this company
Pg 39
Mr President
What are you trying to say?
Pg 40
I heard you got rejected
What?
I heard you're rejected by your blind date?
You even got shouted at
That was what Secretary Cha said
Pg 41
Rejected?
Rather than that
Shouted at?
Ah, what I mean is
Who else will report it but Secretary Cha?
*somewhere else
*why do I feel uneasy
Pg 42
He didn't say that I have 'another woman' to marry?
Yes he did say that too
Then why is it about me being rejected?
It's obvious. You're ashamed because you were rejected so you're trying to find other excuses?
Pg 43
I already found it weird when suddenly you said you want to get married
It's impossible for a guy like you to fall for that woman at first sight
It's even weirder if somehow after meeting you that woman will want to marry you
Pg 44
If you know me so well then why do you still force me to go to the blind date?
*bear
Because magical thing could happen
Pg 45
*it's better to work
Then next week
What do you mean?
Pg 46
Blind date
With an even richer family
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Fic: Between A Rock And A Hard Place (Part Three)
Timeline: Season 10 (replaces My Struggle in the All The Choices We’ve Made ‘verse - Visitor + Resident + etc.)
Rating: PG
Characters: Mulder, Scully, Tad O’Malley, Sveta (established MSR)
Content warning: canon-typical body horror (mentions of abduction, forced pregnancy, etc.)
A/N: I’m collecting all the related stories that go with Visitor/Resident under the title “All The Choices We’ve Made”, because it felt right at the time. This story is an alternate My Struggle that reflects M&S’ growth/change in the ATCWM ‘verse. I’m weaving canon dialogue into the stories in an attempt to keep the reframing plausibly in line with canon.
Part One | Part Two
They drop Scully and Sveta off at the hospital. Driving the limousine into the non-emergency lot at Our Lady of Sorrows feels even more pretentious than cruising the streets of DC, but at least Scully can still leverage a few privileges there.
"Call me when you're done," Mulder says to Scully. They're standing in the corner of a hospital waiting room with their heads close together. It feels like old times. He's aware of how easy it would be to slide back into that life. There are some things worth salvaging from their days on the X-Files, but they've worked hard to rebuild the rest.
"Where will you be?" she said, tipping her face up to his. It always made him want to kiss her. It still does.
"I don't know. He seems to have a plan." He jerks his head slightly at Tad O'Malley, who is staring into his phone again, conspicuous by the door. "Divide and conquer, right?"
"We're too smart for that, aren't we?" she murmurs, more than a hint of irony in his voice. "Mulder, he's got to have something he wants only you to see."
"Don't take the bait," he says.
"You too," she says. He leans down and kisses her on the cheek, because what the hell, he can. Their attachment to each other is no secret. She closes her eyes briefly. "Be safe."
"You know me," he says, and winks.
"That's why I worry," she tells him. He chuckles as he turns away and strides back over to O'Malley.
"I think they've got this," Mulder says.
"Good, because I've got something to show you," O'Malley says. "Something for the eyes of true believers."
"And seekers of truth?" Mulder asks.
"Them too." O'Malley nods at the limo. Let's get going."
It doesn't take that long to get there, or at least, not as long as it took to get to Low Moor. They stop at a gas station, and O'Malley reaches into a bag Mulder hadn't noticed and takes out a black hood.
"Top secret," O'Malley says. "I'm afraid I have to ask you to wear this."
"I'm not signing any dungeon-related paperwork," Mulder jokes. He reaches for the hood. "Allow me."
"I expected more resistance than that," O'Malley says.
"This isn't my first top-secret rodeo," Mulder says. "At least it's not a rubber gorilla mask."
"Didn't see that in any of the reports," O'Malley says.
Mulder slips the hood on. "Just don't break any fingers," he says. His voice is muffled by the cloth. It's hot, of course, but at least it's smooth, and it smells fine. Could be worse. He doesn't try to keep track of the twists and turns. There's no point. He just sits back and relaxes until the limo stops. O'Malley opens the door and then helps Mulder out. Mulder walks obediently wherever he's guided. He hears the creak of heavy metal doors opening.
"I want to prepare you," O'Malley says, a little too close, "for what you're about to see."
He pulls the hood from Mulder's head. Mulder blinks and looks around. It's what he expected: empty space, esoteric equipment, men in blue coats. A scientist sees them and starts walking toward them. Somehow there are rarely any women doing this kind of science. At this point, he's convinced it's because women have more sense than to fall for it. There's something recognizable, though.
"A Faraday cage?" he says. "For what?"
"Do you know what an ARV is?" O'Malley asks in a smug voice.
"That's what you brought me here to see?" Mulder asks.
O'Malley just smirks. "This is Garner," he says as the scientist arrives. "He'll walk you through the science."
"Right this way, Mr. Mulder," Garner says, and Mulder and O'Malley follow him through a gate into the Faraday cage. There's a craft inside, triangular and glossy. It's surrounded by a team of scientists who are making adjustments and taking readings. The thing is covered with little panels.
"That's an alien replica vehicle?" Mulder asks.
Garner nods. "Given your background, I would've thought you'd seen one before."
Mulder gazes at it. "Seen the real thing, or as real as it gets. Seen some convincing fakes too. Never seen one like this."
"What we're showing you, we do at great risk," Garner tells him. "Colleagues have had labs burned to the ground and work destroyed by our own government."
"I know how that feels," Mulder says. "May I?"
"Of course," Garner says, inclining his head. "Be my guest."
Mulder reaches out to touch one of the panels. It's smooth under his fingertips, warm and vibrating gently. The craft hums slightly louder and begins to hover, rising until Mulder's hand slides off it. One of the scientists is controlling it, he's certain, but it is impressive.
"It's running on toroidal energy," Garner tells him. "So-called zero-point energy. The energy of the universe."
Mulder imagines Scully would have something to say about that. "You're talking about free energy?"
"We've had it since the '40s," O'Malley interjects. "No fuel, no flame, no combustion."
"A simple electromagnetic field," Garner says, frowning very slightly.
"Kept secret for seventy years while the world ran on petroleum," O'Malley says dramatically. "Oil companies making trillions. The Middle East tearing itself apart. For nothing."
Mulder refrains from commenting on the quality of O'Malley's political analysis or the fact that O'Malley profits from every conflict. He gazes at the craft. Garner steps to his side.
"What I'm going to show you next is the most unbelievable part," Garner says. He's talking only to Mulder, Mulder thinks. O'Malley believes a little too much, tries to build hype around it when the facts are shocking enough. Garner thinks Mulder will see past the hyperbole to the actual miracle. Garner waves two fingers at one of the other scientists, who nods and flips a switch. The surface of the craft flickers and the air around it almost shimmers. When the glimmer clears, the craft has vanished.
"Gravity warp drive," Mulder breaths, and Garner nods. "How?"
"Element 115," Garner says. "Ununpentium."
"Where did you get it?" Mulder asks. "We can create it under lab conditions, but not in any stable state, and not in any quantity."
"Salvaged," Garner says.
"From where?" Mulder asks.
"You know where," O'Malley says. "Roswell. 1947. Along with the original craft and its pilots."
"Of course," Mulder murmurs.
"That's where it all came from," Garner says. Another flip of the switch and the ARV shimmers back into existence.
"It all comes back to Roswell," O'Malley says dramatically. "Every advance we've made. Every war we've fought. Do you see?"
"I do," Mulder says. It's the only answer O'Malley wants.
"We should be getting back," O'Malley says. "It's late."
"That sounds like my cue," Mulder says, and O'Malley hands him the hood.
"You see how important my pursuit of the truth is," O'Malley says in the car, once he's freed Mulder from the hood again.
"I see that it's made you rich," Mulder says. "Funny how much truth looks like conspiracy."
"You of all people would know," O'Malley says.
Mulder shrugs. "My pursuit of the truth has never been lucrative. I lost everything."
"And yet you fought to get it back," O'Malley says. "I respect the struggle."
Mulder smiles tightly. There's nothing to say to that. O'Malley cannot conceive of what he and Scully and their families have been through, to say nothing of the countless people he's interviewed with stories like Sveta's. Stories of pain and suffering. Stories of loss. Not clickbait to spook the masses and sell airtime at a steep markup to war profiteers.
They drive back to collect Scully and Sveta from the hospital. Scully looks a little pinched and Sveta looks tired. Mulder gives Scully a questioning look and she shakes her head almost imperceptibly. <i>Later.</i>
"I think we'll just get an Uber back to our car," Mulder says. "It's a long drive back to Low Moor. We don't want to keep you."
"Oh, I'm putting Sveta up in a hotel for the night," O'Malley says. "I've got a show to tape in the morning. Got to look fresh."
"I could stay if you will need me again, Dr. Scully," Sveta says.
Scully hesitates. "That might be wise."
"Don't worry about it," O'Malley says, patting Sveta on the shoulder. "It's my privilege to help her share her story with you." He hands Mulder a card. "This is my personal number, if you need me."
"Glad to hear it," Mulder says. "Good night, Sveta. Mr. O'Malley."
"Good night," Sveta says.
It doesn't take long to find an Uber. Mulder and Scully climb inside and talk about nothing, as if their day hasn't been filled with abductees. Scully checks her email. Mulder reads a message board. Not until they get into their own car does she turn to him.
"Mulder, whoever that girl is, something has definitely happened to her. I don't know about alien DNA, but she's traumatized, and her body shows signs of something strange. She has stretch marks that could have resulted from a pregnancy. She also thinks she can read minds."
"Can she?" Mulder asks.
"She knew we're together," Scully says, "but that isn't a stretch. She said that you had been depressed in the past."
"That isn't a stretch either," Mulder jokes, merging into traffic.
"She said we had a child together," Scully says quietly.
Mulder says nothing for a moment. "I don't think that's a secret," he says finally. "We were being watched. Surely that information is out there."
"She doesn't seem like the kind of person who would have dug that deep," Scully says.
"Did Byers?" Mulder asks.
Scully sighs. "She also claims to be telekinetic, but says she can't move things with her mind all the time."
"That's the rub, isn't it?" Mulder asks. "Can't get that Vegas gig bending spoons for the crowd unless you're consistent."
"She says it comes from the alien DNA," Scully says, and he knows she's thinking of William.
"When will you have the results?" Mulder asks.
"Soon," Scully says.
"Do you believe her?" Mulder asks. He pinches his lower lip between his fingers. God, he could go for some sunflower seeds.
"She seems to believe in her memories," Scully says. "I've seen strange things in the course of our work. Inexplicable things. I'm inclined to accept the possibility that something happened to her that has not been fully investigated."
"But not that it was aliens?" Mulder teases.
"It wasn't aliens who took me," she says. "At least, I don't think it was."
"There was a ship, Scully," Mulder says.
"There was a light," she says. "A light so blinding it could have obscured the less-than-extraterrestrial origins of an experimental plane. Whoever did what they did to me was human, Mulder, starting with Duane Barry and ending with the chip that CGB Spender gave you to put back in my neck."
"I remember chasing the train," he says. “One of the trains where they did their work.”
"Cassandra Spender was taken to one of those trains," she reminds him. "If aliens took her, humans took her apart."
"She reminds me of Max Fenig," he says. "Sveta, I mean."
"I agree," Scully says.
They are silent for a moment, remembering Max.
"I don't trust Tad O'Malley," Scully says at last, as they're parking on their street.
"Nobody should," Mulder says, setting the emergency brake. Just one of the many precautions he takes these days. "He's a snake oil salesman peddling poison."
"He wants to divide us," she says.
"I agree," Mulder says. "And I think you're right, he'll come to you next."
Scully makes a disgusted noise.
"Not ready for the lifestyles of the rich and famous?" Mulder teases. "I'm sure he'll offer you all that and more."
"He's a sleazebag," Scully protests. "Handsome enough, but a sleazebag."
"And what do you say behind my back, Agent Scully?" Mulder asks, reaching for the door handle.
Her face softens. "I love you," she tells him.
"The most inexplicable thing," he teases her, and they go into their house together.
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i want to write a megapost about how bioware's "there's no sexism in thedas" is actually bullshit but i'll admit i'm a bit lost on where to start. since you're the resident keeper of da lore i was wondering if you had any examples to start me off? off the top of my head i can only think of "no women in grey wardens/chevaliers" and the female priest thing... love ur blog! ♥
Honestly when I write longer meta shit, I just start. Like, just start writing whatever comes to mind, (lately keep track of all my sources at the bottom as I go,) and then only begin to format it in an actual, readable way halfway through. Hell, use bullet points to begin with if that is helpful!
Anyway...
Some things that come to mind from the books:
She was as much a soldier as the men she led, and while it was not unheard of in Ferelden for a woman to be skilled in the art of war, it was uncommon enough to be surprising.--The Stolen Throne, pg 86
Picking up the reins, she rode over to where her own lieutenant was waiting. A stout woman by the name of Branwen, the lieutenant was one of the few other women who served with the rebels as a soldier. Rowan knew that many of the men who didn’t know either of them well believed she had promoted Branwen for that reason only, but it wasn’t so. The lieutenant was strong and determined, perhaps because she had more to prove. Rowan knew exactly what that was like.--The Stolen Throne, pg 110
Gaspard was silent beside her for a moment. Then he burst out laughing. “Maker’s breath, Celene!” He slapped his leg. “You’ve never lacked for courage, I’ll give you that. Were you a man, you’d be leading the armies yourself.”“Is that why you must plot against me, Gaspard?” she asked, looking over. “Because I’m not a man?”He actually seemed to think about it. “No,” he finally said, “the real problem is that you aren’t me.”--The Masked Empire, pg 36
It had been Celene who had taught Briala to watch, since a girl, especially an elven girl, could not act as a man did. A man who acted quickly and aggressively was praised as bold and daring. A woman who did the same was foolish or desperate. As an elf and a commoner, Briala could not even defend herself from insult or assault, at least not while wearing the Valmont family servant’s mask.--The Masked Empire, pg 40 (A double-barrel of sexism and fantasy racism)
Some things that come to mine from the games:
Female wardens and Hawkes deal with sexual harassment with nearly ever other conversation with male NPCs, sometimes played for humour. Just two examples:
The games even go out of their way to do this, recording separate dialogue depending on who the player is playing as.
Ditto for just fitting in slurs. How many times do we hear female characters get called sexual slurs, both the PC and NPCs? For example, in Mark of the Assassin, when Duke Prosper dies, his last words to a purple male Hawke is “You... blasted... turnip!” And his last words to a purple female Hawke is “You... filthy... whore!”
How about the fact that the very first thing Isabela says to a female Hawke is to watch out for herself, because she’s “nothing but tits and arse to the men around here.”
Or Isabela’s comments in this scene, during the quest The First Sacrifice; “The world’s not kind to women.” Like, I don’t think it could be any clearer than this that “there’s no sexism in Thedas” is plain false.
I hope that’s helpful in getting you started. I would love to read it when it’s done, BTW!
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The Amandas
Ah yes, the most exciting time of the year for film enthusiasts. The award season is winding to a close (we’re in the final month) and many of us are left disappointed.
I know everyone secretly hates those articles where people give their own version of the Oscars. People award films they feel were snubbed (although usually weren’t) through their own personal recognition of the film. Yes, it can be boring. But you know what? I’m doing it anyway.
You’ve seen the Oscars, get ready for the Amandas.
First up: Best Picture
Best Picture
If Beale Street Could Talk
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemia Rhapsody
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Halloween
Did I just go there with Halloween? Yeah I did.
Granted, my five nominees are quite similar to the Academy Award Best Picture race, it was more of who I left out of my own race. Roma and Black Panther never made it on my list. I debated about Vice, which would probably be my sixth pick.
I’ve heard that Beale Street was this close to making it into the Oscar Best Picture race, probably landing ninth out of the eight nominees. I rewarded it on my list, as it was truly one of the most phenomenal movies I’ve seen this year and I see no reason it shouldn’t have been on the official list. It was beautiful. It was powerful. The acting and directing worked seamlessly together. I was a huge fan of Moonlight, so I was all about this new Barry Jenkins film. I could definitely feel a little bit of Moonlight in the way Beale Street was shot. I think Jenkins has a style that will continue to stick with him, which is great news for me because I love it. I had read an article where he discussed how little dialogue there was in Moonlight and when he took on Beale Street he felt the characters would never stop talking. Despite this, he didn’t miss a beat transitioning from one kind of script to another.
I wish I had seen BlacKkKlansman multiple times in the theater to really absorb all of it. Yes, it’s obviously a narrative of our society then and today (and how little we’ve come between these two times) but it’s also a wild ride. The stakes are high for everyone involved and it’s entertaining to watch. And yes, as shallow as it is, I can’t help but love watching Adam Driver because he is so good looking in this film. Alright, besides his looks, I also enjoyed Adam’s acting. The partnership between him and John David Washington was fun to watch. Overall the way Spike told an important story, that needed to be told, was still entertaining. He had something to say and he said it. I was never bored in this film.
Ah Bohemian Rhapsody. The most conflicting film on this list. I’ll say it, I loved BoRhap (as it’s affectionately called now by fans, using a term uttered by, I believe, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor in the film). I’ve seen it five times (a feat I was proud of until I talked with someone who had seen it 27 times...) and I’ve enjoyed it each and every time. I’ve heard the controversy and read articles about it that happen to pop up on my News Feed. These allegations are real, and I feel like you can’t discuss the film without addressing them. I, myself, am still struggling with where we separate people’s works. Obviously the director is extremely important. A film couldn’t come together without a director. But there are so many other parts of a movie. Do we punish the cast by not recognizing their talent, which they most likely had before the film? Do we throw the whole thing away? Or do we push one segment (the director) out and trudge forward? I do think we need to talk about it, but I’m not doing so here.
I will talk about the film as a whole. Listen, I love any film about music. Real, made-up, documentary, biopic. You name it, I’m there. I even loved A Star is Born, though not to the extent of awards chatter. I know a lot of events in the film didn’t happen in real life. I understand the film could have been better and, as I’ve heard multiple times, was a PG version of Freddie’s life. But I loved this film for what it was. I’m not a Queen fan in the sense that I know anything beyond their music. So I went into this with zero expectations about how things would go down and therefor, I loved the story. The acting was superb (and I fell in love like four times), Rami Malek delivers a stellar performance as well as the rest of the cast who transformed in their own way. Plus who doesn’t love a good concert without having to be in a sweaty/smelly crowd?
Wow so let’s move on to a less controversial film, shall we? I loved Can You Ever Forgive Me from the very first few minutes. Give me a film with a muted color palette set in New York in the winter and I’m already hooked. That’s my dream. Anyway, things only got better from there with the magnificent Melissa McCarthy in a serious, no-nonsense role and her companion, Richard E. Grant killing it as the BFF. The two were probably my favorite duo of any film, ever. They weren’t romantic partners, not even friends for the whole film, but they worked so well together. It is a true story, but it seems so outrageous that it works as a made-up script. It’s a slow burn and I can see how some (uncultured) people wouldn’t like it. But that’s what makes it feel the way it does. God, I love this film.
Finally, yes. The moment you have probably waited for or maybe even scrolled to the bottom for. The explanation of why Halloween is nominated in my top five. For the most part I agree with the Academy on who they choose. I’m a self-proclaimed film snob. But every once in a while I think, “what did I really like?” I don’t think it should have been nominated for an Oscar (Like Beale Street or Forgive Me) but if I’m making a list of my own, why not go for it. I absolutely L O V E the original Halloween. I’m also fond of the sequel and the totally irrelevant third movie. But if you ask me, “Amanda, what’s the best classic horror film” and I don’t answer Halloween 1978, take me to the hospital because I might be dying. I had been following this film for a while, after hearing it ignored the “fun yet totally ridiculous many sequels” that followed, I was intrigued. With John Carpenter’s approval, I felt I could see this in good faith. I went on Halloween night (the only acceptable time), 40 years to the day after my mother had seen the original Halloween in theaters. As soon as that iconic score started I got goosebumps. This was a fun film. The problem I have with so many horror movies in current times (I sound 80 years old but bear with me) is that we miss the fun element of it. Yes there’s a slasher and you have to keep people’s attention and look real. But classic horror movies are fun. You jump out of your seat and then laugh with your best friend about it. You find yourself yelling at the screen for the babysitter to not open the door. You become a character, constantly looking around for Michael Meyers because that music starts playing.
The other cool part of this movie is seeing Laurie Strode in a completely different setting than 1978. And it makes sense! She was attacked by a psychopath and now lives in a remote cabin surrounded by weapons. She’s been preparing this whole time, even teaching her daughter defense strategies knowing that he would eventually come back. It even recalls the classic haunted house setting when the characters eventually find themselves back there with him hot on their tail. It’s scary, it’s fun, and it’s a classic to me.
So who is my winner of 2019?
Obviously this is so much harder than picking my winner of the actual Academy Awards because these are all my favorites. I actually stressed about this. I’d watch every single one of these films again (and I will once they start streaming) and there’s so many aspects of each one I loved. People are going to give me so much crap for this but...I have to go with the film I’ve already seen multiple times (five...to be exact).
The winner of my favorite film of 2018 is Bohemian Rhapsody. It maybe wasn’t the “deepest” film of 2018 but it was fun and enjoyable (and gave me the love of my life, Ben Hardy). I liked it.
#Bohemian Rhapsody#Can You Ever Forgive Me#Halloween 2018#If Beale Street Could Talk#Blackkklansman#the Amandas 2019#Picture 2019
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1-50 do it if you dare
ohoho challenge accepted
(also i love you omg how did you know i love to talk about myself)
(most of them under the cut bc I don’t want everyone to hate me lol)
1.What made you start writing?
My teachers always said I was good at it and tbh I’ve always made up stories with like dolls or stuffed animals or whatever
2. How old were you when you started writing?
I was 12 when I started my first novel (and that’s still the only novel I’ve ever finished, how about that)
3. What was the first story you ever wrote about?
That first novel is what I’ll count, it was basically self-insert Merlin fanfiction before I knew what fanfiction was, and I changed all the names so nobody would be any the wiser
4. What’s your favorite genre?
I’m really into modern fantasy at the moment, like anything mystical set in modern day I love
5. What’s your least favorite genre?
I can’t do hard sci-fi, I wish I could but it’s too much for me
6. What’s your biggest strength as a writer?
Probably dialogue? I write a lot of scripts where dialogue is the only thing that really matters so I work on that the most
7. What’s your biggest weakness as a writer?
SETTING DESCRIPTIONS nobody knows what anything looks like anywhere and I’m so sorry
8. What writing projects are you currently working on?
I’m waiting for NaNo to start so I can get working on They Met in a Cafe, which is about an art thief who falls in love with the journalist who’s been writing about him
9. Who’s your favorite author?
I think I have to say Tolkien, he was just so iconic
10. Who’s your least favorite author?
Cassandra Clare.
11. What’s your favorite book?
The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen (it’s so good)
12. What’s your least favorite book?
This book called Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie, it took me so long to read and it wanted to be Game of Thrones so badly but it just wasn’t
13. What’s your favorite trope?
MUTUAL PINING (gets me every time)
14. What’s your least favorite trope?
Enemies to lovers (unless done really well) doesn’t always sit well with me, but I know that’s a popular one on here
15. Have you ever gotten anything published?
I don’t think so lol writing is very much just a hobby for me
16. Do you prefer to type or write by hand?
Type, I can write much faster and closer to the speed of my thoughts lol
17. What’s your favorite literary magazine?
I uh…don’t have one
18. Are there any topics you don’t feel comfortable writing about?
Yeahhh nothing too graphic (in terms of torture, sex, death, etc.) I keep it fairly PG-13 except for swearing haha
19. Where do you get your inspiration from?
Literally everywhere, I’ve never had an original thought in my life
20. Do you prefer to write fiction or poetry?
Fiction, I am so bad at writing poetry
21. How long is the stuff you usually write?
Usually I give up around 15-20k into a story, which is unfortunate
22. How do you deal with writer’s block?
I either take a break from writing as long as I can, or I outline the scene as best as I can until I start getting ideas for how to write the actual scene
23. Have you ever taken any creative writing classes?
None specifically dedicated to creative writing, just the general high school ones
24. Which of your characters has the most in common with you?
Of my current characters, definitely Cam from Descendants of the Earth, he is so soft and loves his friends so much and that’s just me af
25. Who is your favorite character you’ve written about?
I loved my character Colin from my first novel, Stay True, writing him just made me really happy (I think because at the time I was obsessed with Merlin, and he was the Merlin in my story lol)
26. Who is your favorite fictional character in general?
I would die for Samwise Gamgee but he would never let me
27. What time of day do you usually write?
I’m trying to get in the habit of writing in the morning on the bus, but it’s usually in the evening when I should be doing homework
28. How much planning and/or research do you do before you start writing?
Usually none at all, I just make stuff up, but for Cafe I’m actually doing a lot of research bc art history is fascinating and I want to represent cystic fibrosis accurately
29. What writing related accomplishment are you the most proud of?
I think the fact that I actually won NaNo last year while also being a college student
30. Have you ever dreamt about your characters?
No but I wish I could omg
31. What is your ideal writing environment?
In my bed, under a blanket, computer on my lap, nobody else in the house bothering me haha
32. Which published book do you wish you had written?
The Forbidden Game (by L.J. Smith), that book influenced my writing style so much and I love it a lot
33. Which themes do you like to write about the most?
I think I do a lot of found family/ragtag group of friends stuff, and happy endings for everyone who deserves one
34. What is the best advice you have for a beginning writer?
Literally just write. And it will suck and you won’t like to read it. But it’s so much fun if you just do what you love and enjoy it while it’s happening.
35. What is the worst writing advice you’ve ever heard?
Idk I try to avoid most writing advice, probably just anything that says “never” write something in particular because like….that’s ridiculous
36. Do you prefer pens or pencils?
Pens! I worry about pencil smearing.
37. What traits do your protagonists usually have?
They’re usually stale cinnamon rolls, like they used to be so happy and pure and now they’re cynical and tired. And everyone is so sarcastic, because thats how I am
38. What is your ultimate writing goal?
I would love to be traditionally published someday, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon if ever
39. What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever written about?
The weirdest thing I actually tried to turn into a full novel was this series about a group of girls who each had different supernatural things happen to them (one was selected to be a fairy princess, one had the power to manipulate fate, one was the daughter of Hades, and one could go back in time)
That actually sounds really cool summed up like that but…it was middle school, it was not good
40. What is the most random fact you’ve ever learned while doing research for a story?
I just recently learned that having cystic fibrosis makes your skin taste salty, so that’s a thing
41. What would you do if you were suddenly teleported into your WIP?
Hug the heck outta Leo (he needs all the hugs) and also try to join the heist crew lol
42. How many drafts do you usually go through before you finish a piece?
One and a half, I’ve never edited a damn thing in my life lol but I do usually do a read-through after it’s finished and fix some things that I don’t like before calling it good
43. Has your writing ever made you cry?
Not as such, but I’ve made myself really sad while writing Voice of Treason (which is a feature film, not a novel)
44. Would you rather have your WIP adapted into a movie or TV show?
Lol well since Cafe is based on a book within a movie I produced, I have to say that I’d want it made into a movie
It would also make a good movie tbh
45. Where do you share your writing?
Only on here, and I post finished (or close to finished) things on Wattpad
46. What’s your favorite line of your current WIP?
Well I’ve only got the one small section so far, but I really like this line.
She laughed softly, her warm, coffee-stained breath fanning across his face.
47. What’s the first sentence of your WIP?
Currently it’s “Leo nervously slid into the coffee shop, glancing behind him” but that’s subject to change once NaNo starts
48. What’s the last sentence you wrote?
It was actually for DotE, and it was “Logan watched and laughed, grateful to be invited into the fun despite declining the offer.”
49. What inspired you to write your WIP?
This is actually my favorite question. So I worked on this movie two years ago with these dumb guys, and within the movie there was the character of this writer girl, and she was writing a book called “They Met in a Cafe” and throughout the movie you see her acting out these scenes from the book with her imagination, which takes the form of this cute guy (it was not a good movie lol)
Anyway I decided to take those scenes and basically write the book that she was trying to write in the film, but I’m gonna make it make sense and it’s gonna be so good (hopefully)
50. What’s your favorite thing about your WIP?
I love the whole concept of it, it really just appeals to my silly romantic sensibilities as well as my fascination with art and history in general, I just think it’s really fun
THANK YOU FOR ALL THESE QUESTIONS!! I literally love talking about myself so much and I was in such a bad mood bc my roommate has people over but this made me feel so much better so thank you
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The Weekend Warrior 8/13/21 - CODA, FREE GUY, DON’T BREATHE 2, RESPECT, THE LOST LEONARDO, WHAT IF, and More!
Well, that was kind of a disappointing last weekend as James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad pretty much tanked at the box office, making less than Birds of Prey did back in February 2020 with all sorts of backseat analysis explaining why it didn’t do well as anyone, other than a scant, few thought. I mean, I’m still kind of stunned, even though COVID and the Delta variant seem to be losing steam as far as being news. It certainly didn’t help that HBO Max decided to release the movie concurrently on HBO Max on Thursday at 7pm.
The nice thing about this week is that we have three new movies, none of which are on streaming or On Demand at the exact same time, so if you want to see any of them, you’ll have to put on your N96 masks and get yourself to theaters. Two of the three movies are originals, while the third is a sequel to quite an original horror movie from about five years back. All of them are pretty good, actually. We’ll get to them soon...
But first, let’s start with this week’s “The Chosen One” and it’s gotta be Siân Heder’s CODA i.e. “Child of Deaf Adults,” which will play in select theaters and on Apple TV+ starting Friday. If you hadn’t heard, it was the belle of the ball at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, winning the Jury Prize and Audience Award alike. Heder previously directed Tallulah and is the showrunner on Apple’s Little America, but this really is a very special film that I’ve enjoyed on repeat viewings now.
It stars Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi, the sole hearing person in her family of Gloucester fishermen, who are out every day on the sea making the latest catch in their nets. Ruby has other aspirations, and when she joins the school choir, the teacher, Mr. Villalobos (Eugene Derbez) sees talent in Ruby that he thinks might get her into the Berklee College of Music. Ruby has to weigh that with her family’s need to have her as an interpreter while dealing with the other fishermen of the town.
I didn’t know what to expect when I saw this at Sundance back in January, and it still surprised me when I rewatched it again, because it’s a movie that involves a lot of elements that shouldn’t necessarily work, between the fishing and the singing and all the ASL between the amazing ingenue, Ms. Jones, and the deaf actors playing her family, including the one and only Oscar-winning Marlee Matlin. If not for these disparate elements, Coda might be a fairly standard indie family drama, but Heder finds just the right balance of showing how these disparities in Ruby’s life make it hard for her to pursue her dreams.
Ferdia Walsh-Peelo from Sing Street plays the classmate who Ruby is set up with to perform a duet at their high school recital, and of course, he also becomes an unwitting love interest. Unfortunately that’s the aspect of the film that’s the weakest, because Jones’ scenes with Matlin and the other actors, including Derbez, as well as Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant, as Ruby’s father and brother, are just so powerful and moving even if they’re all in ASL with no dialogue or even incidental score.
Coda is Heder’s second film after Talllulah, a movie starring Elliot Page that never really connected with me, but Coda is such a strong and exceedingly crowd-pleasing film that I have to imagine that this would connect with everybody. I’m not sure if Apple’s gonna be able to get this movie all the way to Oscar night, but I do like its chances for Adapted (?) Screenplay, and maybe Matlin and Kotsur Supporting? I don’t know, because it’s so early and hard to tell, but hopefully the decision to wait so long after the virtual Sundance won’t hurt this movie as it hurt other Sundance award-winning films. Coda is just a joy that I’m sure will be many people’s favorite movie.
You can read my interview with Ms. Heder over at Below the Line.
Incidentally, in last week’s column, I talked about the 20th New York Asian Film Festival, but I didn’t realize that it was only running at Film at Lincoln Center for a week before going down to the SVA Theater on 23rd Street, and you can check out the schedule of movies playing there at the official site. And of course, there’s still the Virtual Festival that’s running through August 22. Also, Fantasia is still going on in Montreal, and I still haven’t had time to watch very much. What can I say? I suck.
Let’s get to some wide releases, shall we?
First up and probably the most likely to win the weekend is Ryan Reynolds’ new action-comedy, FREE GUY (20th Century Studios), directed by Shawn Levy and co-starring Jodie Comer from Killing Eve. The high-concept comedy has Reynolds playing Guy, a bank teller, who actually is a non-player character in a video game called “Free City” that’s kind of a cross between Grand Theft Auto and Fortnite. When he meets Comer’s character in the game, he falls mady in love and decides to do whatever it takes to get on her level. (Get it?) In doing so, Guy ends up becoming a hero for Free City, as well as a viral sensation across the globe as gamers thrill to Guy’s adventures.
Free Guy is Ryan Reynolds’ first live-action starring role theatrical release since…. Oh…. the action-comedy sequel The Hitman’s Bodyguard’s Wife a little under two months ago. Considering that barely made half of what its predecessor did, and that’s with Reynolds sharing the screen with Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek, one wonders if his draw as an A-lister can be maintained during a pandemic. Before that, you’d have to go all the way back to 2018’s Deadpool 2 for a fully live Reynolds movie, because he wasn’t seen as himself for most of his role in and as Detective Pikachu. Of course, Reynolds’ unmistakable voice was back in DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age, the sequel to the 2013 blockbuster that made the ballsy move to be one of the first movies to open during the pandemic. It grossed $58.6 million in theaters, which was slightly more than Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and even more than the Warner Bros. sequel, Wonder Woman 1984.
This is also a big movie for Jodie Comer, who won an Emmy and was nominated for two Golden Globes for Killing Eve, but hasn’t really been in too many movies, other than playing Rey’s Mum in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Later this year, she’ll star in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel and may possibly be back in the awards game again, we’ll see. The movie also stars Lil Rel Howery, who seems to be everywhere and in everything these days, as well as Taika Waititi who is super-hot right now due to 2019’s Jojo Rabbit, and his various television projects, as well as having a small role in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad last week.
In some ways, Free Guy is gonna be a test for a lot of things, the first one being whether Reynolds is a big enough draw when not playing Deadpool to get people into theaters, just as people are starting to get skittish again about going into movie theaters. More importantly, it will show whether not having a movie on streaming or VOD means that people who want to see it will put aside their fears and return to theaters… like they did with F9 and Black Widow and Godzilla vs. Kong. Is an original non-franchise movie like Free Guy enough to get people interested in getting their butts off the couch and into a far more comfortable movie theater seat? (I’m being facetious, if you didn’t guess.)
After The Suicide Squad last week, I’m really not sure whether I can trust my own instincts, but I also don’t want to lower my prediction to something ridiculous out of fear that the pandemic really is destroying any chance of the box office fully recovering. One thing working in Free Guy’s favor, besides its PG-13 rating is that it’s not available on streaming and VOD. Anyone who has been intrigued by the film’s great reviews will HAVE to go out to a movie theater to see it or else, they’ll have to wait 45 days.
Maybe if this opened last month, I could see it open in the $30 million to $40 million range, but with things being the way they are, I’d probably go with high $20 million, so close to $30 million but not quite.
You can read my review over at Below the Line, and I’ll have an interview with the film’s Production Designer, Ethan Tobman, fairly soon.
Also opening Friday is the horror sequel DON’T BREATHE 2 (Sony/Screen Gems), starring Stephen Lang as the blind former Navy Seal who terrorized a bunch of kids who broke into his house in 2016’s Don’t Breathe.
The original movie, which starred Jane Levy, reuniting with director Fede Alvarez after the two remade Evil Dead for producer Sam Raimi, opened in late August, on the fourth weekend of the original Suicide Squad, in fact, and it knocked the movie out of the #1 spot. Its $26 million opening in 3,000 theaters was impressive for the time, partially because late August has never been great. It stayed #1 for a second weekend, over Labor Day, and it ended up grossing $89.2 million in North America, which is great for an R-rated horror film.
Levy isn’t around for the sequel and Alvarez has moved into a co-writer/producer role for his creative partner, Rodo Sagayes, to take over the directing reins, but honestly, I’m not sure how many people will know or care, because Lang’s character and the film’s violence and chills are it’s real selling point. Like many horror movies, there isn’t much in terms of star power other than Lang, but that has never really hindered the success of a horror movie in the past.
As with every movie I cover in this column, there’s the pandemic in the room and whether that might hold people back from going to theaters. I wish there was a way to calculate the effect that’s had on moviegoing, because it seems to affect movies differently. For instance, the recent The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was able to open with $24.1 million just two months ago, although that was down from the $40 million of the previous two chapters. So that’s about a 40% drop-off in a similar five-year gap between movies. (Actually, it’s kind of strange that 2021 is replicating 2021 with three sequels to movies from five years earlier.) There’s no denying that the number of Covid cases are way up since June and movie theaters are still being painted as the “enemy” even though no significant cases have been traced back to the movies.
We also have to look at Sony’s last horror sequel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, which I quite enjoyed, but it ended up opening with about $10 million less than the original movie a few years back. We can probably expect Don’t Breathe 2 to have a similar pandemic drop-off even if it’s another movie that won’t be on streaming or VOD this weekend.
I think Don’t Breathe 2 should be good for around $15 million this weekend since it’s catering towards a young audience that’s a bit more devil-may-care about going out to theaters. It will also probably appeal more to older single guys than something like Free Guy, which seems different enough to pull in a different audience.
My review will be posted over at Below the Line later on Thursday, plus I have a bunch of interviews coming, including this one with Rodo Sayagues and Fede Alvarez.
Next up is RESPECT (MGM), the long-awaited Aretha Franklin biopic (for those that didn’t see Genius, like me, I guess), starring Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson as the Queen of Soul. The movie directed by Liesl Tommmy was supposed to be released in January to take part in last year’s Oscars race, but I guess MGM wanted to make sure it got a proper theatrical release, which wasn’t possible since NYC and L.A. movie theaters didn’t reopen until March after the cut-off. But MGM had already decided to push the movie back to the summer in hopes of having more theaters able to play the movie, which is kind of true now?
It’s been a while since we’ve seen JHud in a high-profile theatrical release, and unfortunately, the last one was 2019’s Cats, a movie in which she probably was the best thing, although it still only grossed $27 million domestically, a flat-out bomb. Before that, she provided her voice for the animated blockbuster Sing in 2016, and then a bunch of smaller movies before that. She’s joined in the movie by the likes of Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Titus Burgess, Mary J. Blige, Marc Maron, and Audra MacDonald, quite an impressive array of talent that shows how many wanted to be involved with this project. Director Liesl Tommy is making her feature directorial debut after directing a ton of theater and TV shows like The Walking Dead and Jessica Jones.
Even so, it’s obviously that the ongoing popularity of Aretha Franklin, especially since her death in 2018, is going to go a long way into getting people into theaters, which includes a lot of older black women who really haven’t had much to get them out into theaters in recent months. Will this be enough?
Before Respect was delayed from its original January release, many thought that Hudson would receive another Oscar nomination for her performances. Having not seen the movie at the time of this writing, I can’t confirm or deny those chances. If that’s still the case, then releasing the movie towards the end of the summer (similar to The Help, successfully, and The Butler, not so much) is an odd decision rather than just holding the movie for festival season by holding until next month.
Either way, I think the love Aretha’s fans have for the Queen of Soul as well as Hudson’s fans, Respect should be good for between $8 and 10 million this weekend -- hard to pinpoint exactly without knowing how many theaters MGM is getting for it against the stronger summer movies.
Mini-Review: I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Respect, even after seeing the trailer a couple dozen times in front of other movies, but it’s a respectable biopic that cover 20 years in the life of the Queen of Soul from singing at a young age in her father’s church to returning to church for the gospel records as captured in the recently-released doc, Amazing Grace.
But first, we go back to 1952 where Aretha is a young girl (played by Skye Dakota Turner) is uncertain of her future as she’s being ordered about by her preacher father (Forrest Whitaker) and trying to find direction. The movie casually sets up the fact that young Aretha was sexually abused by a family friend, and maybe she got pregnant, too? It’s hard to tell and maybe a little odd since she would only have been 10 at the time, but it’s something that will be brought up (just as subtly) over the course of the film.
Jennifer Hudson takes over as Aretha as she turns 19 and goes to New York City to start recording, meets Marlon Wayans’ Ted White, makes him her manager and marries her, which basically has her going from one abusive man in her father to another one. It feels like the movie spends a long than normal time on the ‘60s, which is when Franklin’s career really took off with “Respect” and then a series of hits that took her all around the world. That whole time, she’s dealing with Ted’s abuses and jealousy while trying to write and record those hits, before her dark demons return and she starts drinking heavily.
As you might imagine, you go to see Respect to see how well Jennifer Hudson pulls off the Queen of Soul, and she’s an incredibly complex character that needs a nuanced performance, which Hudson tries to pull off by bringing different aspects of her life into different scenes.
There are some scenes that don’t work as well as others, and it feels like there’s a bit of time-crunching or futzing around so that at a certain point, her father seems to be de-aging, although I was just as impressed (possibly even moreso) with Forrest Whitaker, whose performance as Aretha’s father is more than just a full-on villain despite his violent treatment of his daughter. Wayans is also good and almost unrecognizable at first, and there are a few other nice performances in there as well, including Marc Maron as record label head Jerry Wexler.
But the performances Hudson gives as Franklin are goosebump-inducing, leading up to the recording of her record-selling gospel record as depicted in the aforementioned doc.
A fairly decent representation of Franklin’s little-known life leading up to her fame, Respect probably succeeds the most when Jennifer Hudson is performing as the Queen of Soul, but she’s also created a fairly moving portrait with strong dramatic moments that far outweigh any of the film’s issues. Rating: 8/10
With that in mind, this is how I see the weekend looking with two of the new movies bumping Suicide Squad down to third place where it will be facing off against Respect.
1. Free Guy (20th Century/Disney) - $28.5 million N/A
2. Don’t Breathe 2 (Sony/Screen Gems) - $15 million N/A
3. The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros.) - $10 million -62%
4. Respect (MGM) - $9.6 million N/A
5. Jungle Cruise (Walt Disney Pictures) - $8.7 million -55%
6. Old (Universal) - $2.5 million -36%
7. Black Widow (Marvel/Disney) - $2.4 million -39%
8. Stillwater (Focus) - $2 million -39%
9. Space Jam: A New Legacy (Warner Bros.) - $1.3 million -43%
10. The Green Knight (A24) - $1.1 million -56%
Donnie Yen stars in Bennie Chang’s RAGING FIRE (WELL GO USA), which premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival on Monday and at Fantasia in Montreal on Tuesday, and I’m not going to review this, because honestly, it’s such a cookie-cutter Hong Kong police action-thriller that I’m not sure I really have much to say about it, so I won’t.
On the other hand, I do have more to say about Andreas Koefoed’s documentary, THE LOST LEONARDO (Sony Pictures Classics), the Leonardo being Da Vinci, the master artist behind the Mona Lisa and many other works. Since I don’t really follow the world of art, I really didn’t know about the Salvator Mundi painting found about 10-12 years ago that was thought to be an original Da Vinci worth in the hundreds of millions, often dubbed “The Male Mona Lisa.” But it’s also a painting that was surrounded by controversy due to the 5-year restoring job that may have left very little of the original painting.
As the film began, I was groaning a little about sitting through another movie of art experts and historians talking about how important a find this is and why it’s either great or horrible, depending on who is being interviewed. Eventually, the film gets more interesting as it starts getting into the idea of selling it. After being sold to a wealthy Russian oligarch by an unscrupulous Swiss art dealer who made a nice profit on it, the painting ends up being auctioned by Christie’s, and the story just keeps getting more and more interesting as it goes along.
While I’m not one to go ga-ga over any painting by Da Vinci or otherwise, I do like a good mystery or suspense-thriller, so good on Koefoed for realizing about halfway through this movie that the talking heads will never be as interesting as actual footage. And that’s what happens here, too. I actually feel a little ignorant that I wasn’t aware this was going on as it was, maybe because I don’t really follow the art world in that respect. Maybe I just missed it, so it’s good that Sony Classics (who loves making movies about art) is giving this a fairly high-profile release following its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival a few months back. In that sense, The Lost Leonardo is quite a gem.
Heinz Brinkman’s USEDOM: A CLEAR VIEW OF THE SEA (Big World Pictures) is a somewhat intriguing doc about the Baltic island of Usedom, the location of a number of imperial German health resorts, beaches and such, and how the Jews were kicked out by the Nazis before Usedom was split into a German and Polish half after WWII. I wish I could get into this more, but I just have a limited mental capacity for a lot of German talking heads.
Which brings us to Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein’s THE MEANING OF HITLER (IFC Films), the new doc from the team behind Gunner Palace, which looks at the cultural fascination with Hitler and Nazism and the recent rise in white supremacy, antisemitism and the “weaponization of history itself.” I don’t know what that last part means, because I got so swamped this week that I didn’t get to watch this, and like another recent doc on the subject of Naziism and the Holocaust, I just couldn’t get into the right head space to hit play on this doc. Maybe I’ll watch it sometime down the road.
Similarly, I didn’t get around to watching Dutch filmmaker Jim Taihuttu’s THE EAST (Magnet Releasing), which I may like as a fan of Paul Verhoeven’s Dutch WWII films, and I probably should give this a look, but I just ran out of time this week. It’s about a young Dutch soldier who joins an elite unit led by a mysterious captain called “The Turk,” and it takes place in the Indonesian War of Independence after World War II.
As far as TV goes, Wednesday sees the debut of Marvel Studios’ WHAT IF...? on Disney+. I’ve seen the first three episodes, and I was a pretty big fan of the comics in the ‘70s (sadly, part of the giant collection that I sold a few years back), and I guess this is okay. The first episode is the one with Haley Atwell voicing “Captain Carter” i.e. Peggy Carter gets the Super Soldier Serum, which is one of the more obvious What Ifs that could possibly done, so that we can get another “women are as good as men, and they need to be heard” storyline that’s in 90% of the Marvel movies already. On the other hand, the first episode does include the voices of Sebastian Stan and others, so it’s quite a coup in that sense, but whoever wrote it, clearly doesn’t understand that people spoke differently in the ‘40s. I liked the 2nd episode, a mash-up of Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy, which is a fun idea that brings together a lot of great characters -- including Chadwick Boseman’s last voice performance -- but again, hearing the voices just isn’t the same when the writing isn’t as good as the movie. I feel like the animation for the show is okay, maybe not quite on par with some of the great Batman or Superman cartoons we’ve gotten over the years. On the other hand, the entire series features the great voice of Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher, acting kind of like the Rod Serling for the series, much like the Watcher does in the comics. I also dug the music by Emmy winner Laura Karpman (Lovecraft Country), and I’ll watch the rest of the series as it debuts, but I’m not sure it’s as much a rush to see each episode to avoid spoilers as with Loki or WandaVision.
Hitting Netflix this week is the limited series, BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOR (Netflix), starring Rosa Salazar, Eric Lange, and Catherine Keener. The tagline is: “Lisa Nova (Rosa Salazar) comes to LA dead set on directing her first movie. But when she trusts the wrong person and gets stabbed in the back, everything goes sideways and a dream project turns into a nightmare. This particular nightmare has zombies, hit men, supernatural kittens, and a mysterious tattoo artist who likes to put curses on people. And Lisa’s going to have to figure out some secrets from her own past in order to get out alive.”
Also, TITANS Season 3 debuts on HBO Max, but since I haven’t watched seasons 1 or 2 yet, it might be some time before I get to it.
Next week looks like it could be a bit of a dog with four or five new wide releases but nothing that really jumps out, plus I’ll be in Atlantic City all next weekend, so who knows how much I’ll be able to watch or write about?
#The Weekend WArrior#Movies#Reviews#Coda#Free Guy#Respect#Don't Breathe 2#the Lost Leonardo#Box Office
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Epic Movie (Re)Watch #233 - National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Spoilers Below
Have I seen it before: Yes
Did I like it then: Yes.
Do I remember it: Yes.
Did I see it in theaters: No.
Format: Blu-ray
1) There are five theatrical films in the Vacation franchise, this is the only one I’ve seen. I’ve never seen the need to see the other ones, honestly. This one’s already good enough.
2) The opening animation over which the credits is a strong start to the film. It establishes a classic Christmas vibe and silly/slapstick humor. There’s nothing particularly PG-13 about the animation, just PG. It’s not raunchy or rude, just funny. I think that’s an important thing because it’s what makes Christmas Vacation as good as it is. Not the occasional raunch (which is very limited, I think) but instead the silly family elements. Not to mention it sets up a great original song.
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3) The opening carols scene in the car with the Griswold clan does well to establish that dynamic. Clark is a little TOO enthusiastic but it’s sincere, Ellen is supportive, and the kids are kind of over it all.
4) This first encounter with the truckers is very strong. It shows two of the films best comedic elements: Clark’s ability to take things too far and then the build of it. Each choice makes the situation worse and worse leading to an inevitable, unexpected, hysterical climax to the scene.
5) I love Ellen.
Ellen: “Clark, stop it! I don’t wanna spend the holidays DEAD!”
6) Honestly, there are a lot of great little dialogue exchanges in the movie. I dig it.
Ellen: “Clark.”
Clark: “Yes honey?”
Ellen: “Audrey’s frozen from the waist down.”
Clark: “That’s all part of the experience, honey.”
7) When you make a comedy, you HAVE to have a good sense of humor. That’s the entire point! This film succeeds there. It’s odd, ridiculous, slapstick, and silly. Born from escalating problems and crazy “solutions” as well as a nice element of absurdity humor. Clark’s sticky fingers, everything on Christmas Eve, the sled, it all lends itself to this idea.
8) Julia Louise Dreyfus is in this movie. That is all.
9) Of course Chevy Chase is great in this movie, he’s freaking Chevy Chase! But Beverly D’Angelo is equally as good.
While the straighter of the two actors, the one who sees more clearly, D’Angelo gets a number of clever and hysterical moments in the film. She has a great chemistry with Chevy Chase but helps to make her Ellen MORE than Mrs. Griswold. She’s her own character, full of life and personality, patience and flaws, just truly wonderful.
10) I always like that Clark has a Tasmanian Devil coffee mug. It speaks to his fun energy as a character.
11) I never really got why Clark lies to Mary about not being married. It gives Chase a funny outlet to play flustered, but there’s nothing in this film which suggests to me he’d cheat on Ellen.
12) The arrival of the extended Griswold clan is perfectly done. A clear sense of family conflict and insanity is conveyed not only by the performances but the quick editing and off kilter camera angles. It’s very well done.
13)
Clark: “Russ, when was the last time I overdid anything?”
14) Remember how I said Beverly D’Angelo is crazy funny?
Audrey: “Do you sleep with your brother? Do you know how sick and twisted that is?”
Ellen: “Well I’m sleeping with your father.”
15) Much of this film benefits from a pacing that allows us to check in with the whole family here and there, supporting its heart and characters.
16) I actually analyzed the scene where Chevy Chase falls off the roof for a Physics for Filmmakers class. The class was horrible but I had fun with the project. I’d share some of what I wrote but it’s long and boring. Basically the gist of it is the ice can’t travel to the gutter like that but also the velocity of the gutter changes between shots.
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17) I don’t know why, but my family always quotes this line like crazy.
Margot: “And why is the carpet wet, TOD?”
Tod: “I don’t KNOW Margot!”
18) Clark’s failed lights attempt.
There are two things which stand out in this scene: Clark’s in-laws are freaking awful and his immediate family are great. The in laws just relentlessly mock Clark leading Audrey to stand up for her dad.
Audrey: “He worked really hard, Grandma.”
I love that. I love seeing Audrey getting to show some real love and support for her dad instead of being sidelined as a stereotypical teenage girl. It’s freaking great.
19) Clark in the attic.
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Firstly, Clark’s mother in law is an idiot. “Oh, the ladder to the attic is open. It must’ve just fallen or something, there can’t be ANY way a person is up there. I shouldn’t check or anything.” Jerk.
But most importantly, the attic scene is the best representation of the film’s heart. Holiday movies need a good heart to it, good emotion, otherwise they’re just a lazy cash grab. This film’s heart, its focus on family and familial love, are one of the reasons it has held up as well as it has 28 years later. Clark’s sentiment over watching old home movies, supported by a great Ray Charles song, is one of the best parts of the film.
20)
Clark: “Honey, you honestly think I’d check thousands of tiny little lights if I wasn’t sure it was plugged in?”
21) The fact that the solution to the problem with the lights is so abundantly simple is great. Also relatable. How many of us have plugged something into the wrong plug and obsessed over what was wrong?
22) Cousin Eddie just showing up when he does helps give the film an extra bit of energy to propel it in its last hour. Honestly if we had stuck with what was going on with no change or development it might’ve gotten a little dull, but Eddie is just a perfect source of fun family conflict.
23) Some of Clark’s asides when Eddie shows up are just freaking hysterical.
Clark: “If I woke up tomorrow with my head seen to the carpet I wouldn’t be more surprised than I am right now.”
24) Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie.
Eddie is this film’s ultimate scene stealer. Quaid, reprising his role from the first Vacation film, plays Eddie as totally sincere and honest. Yes he’s a dumbass, yes he causes problems, but there is not a hint of malice in his performance and that’s important. You need to like Eddie, despite his idiocy, you need to root for him along with the other characters. He’s a sweet guy, he just causes a lot of problems, and he fits perfectly with the rest of the cast.
25) Brian Doyle Murray as Mr. Shirley is a great Scrooge-like character in this film. You understand he’s pretty much a pill before you even learn what he did about Christmas bonuses.
26) The saucer sledding scene is crazy fun, but I never got how Cousin Eddie and the kids were able to see Clark go as far as he did. Like, we see him go through woods where no one else is, across a highway, and into a WalMart. And they’re just up on the hill reacting?
27) Clark’s pool fantasy.
The key part to this fantasy is not the presence of a pool, but how happy it makes his family. Clark doesn’t want to let anyone down. He wants to be a traditional patriarch and provide for his family. To not succeed 100% feels like a failing to him, that’s why the pool is so important to him.
28) The conversation Clark and Ruby Sue have together about Santa Claus continues to show off the film’s heart but mores how it balances heart and humor. There’s some crass language mixed in but it doesn’t undermine the emotion of the scene.
29) And now it’s Christmas Eve, and EVERYTHING on Christmas Eve is just one big problem after another. The night descends further and further into chaos before the movie is over which is truly freaking great!
30) Aunt Bethany and Uncle Lewis are a great late addition to the film. For animation fans, the actress who plays Aunt Bethany is also Betty Boop and Uncle Lewis is Dr. Finklestein from The Nightmare Before Christmas. They’re totally nuts, nonsensical, and just fun to watch.
31) All the cat-in-the-box movement is done by Chevy Chase.
32) That Turkey is SO dry!
All the crunching is so uncomfortably funny, leading into a hysterical extended dinner table scene which is a lot of fun.
33) Honestly these next batch of notes are going to be commenting on how each gag works so well. For example: the dad cat gag, for some reason, is extremely funny!
34) Ah, the Christmas bonus.
youtube
This scene is so freaking great. The entire film set it up, we’ve been waiting for this bonus. Meaning the surprise of it is as great for the audience as it is for Clark. The big setup, how much is riding on the bonus, means the fall is even greater. And Chevy Chase’s rant is one of the greatest movie rants EVER! I love it.
35) Clark’s following mania is great to watch, specifically the hilarity and insanity of the squirrel chase.
36) I’m just gonna leave this here.
Clark: “This is a full blown four alarm Holiday emergency here! We’re going to press on and we’re gonna have the hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny FUCKING Kaye!”
37) The heart to heart between Clark and his dad is a nice reclaiming of the heart that Clark almost lost with his rant. And just when everything seems okay…
38) Eddie happens.
39) I love Ellen.
Ellen: “I’m sorry, this is our family’s first kidnapping.”
40) The police response seems a little excessive, but I guess when a wealthy white guy is kidnapped they bring out the freaking marines.
41) Where Ellen’s hand is in this scene (and where it returns to) was improvised by Beverly D’Angelo.
42) And despite the movie ending on a joke, the ending does have a nice sweetness to it. A sincerity about the madness of the holiday spirit and its equal success.
Christmas Vacation is a holiday treat that grows better with time. The humor is supported by a strong cast and equally strong heart. Chevy Chase is obviously great, but other cast members such as Beverly D’Angelo and Randy Quaid get their time to steal the show. Filled with endlessly iconic holiday movie moments, it’s a great treat for the holiday season.
#Christmas Vacation#National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation#Chevy Chase#Beverly D'Angelo#Randy Quaid#Epic Movie (Re)Watch#Jimming the Camera#Brian Doyle Murray#Movie#Film#GIF
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This is the full essay that I wrote, before it was cut down to meet the word count.
Transformers: Prime is a 2010 children's CGI animated series, produced by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orzi, and Jeff Kline. The character of Starscream, as he appears in the show, is a character of contrasts; evident in his design, movement, and his role in the narrative. It is arguably these contrasts which make him a compelling character, and give him appeal as a villain.
Atkinson (Animation Notes #5) paraphrases Thomas and Johnston, on the subject of appeal in The Illusion of Life; explaining that appeal in an animated character is equivalent to "charisma" in a live-action character; it comes from design, but also from actions: "personality development that will capture and involve the audience's interest". Starscream's varied narrative roles and mannerisms, and the contrasting nature of his design, can be said to supply ample appeal, even in cases where the application of certain design choices may be controversial.
Starscream fills the role of multiple character archetypes defined in Vogler's The Writer's Journey (2007, pg. 94, 100, 112). Although like all the Decepticon characters, his primary archetype in the story is that of shadow to the heroes (the Autobots), he is notable among Prime's villains for being the most prominent and frequent shape shifter. He changes allegiances multiple times over the course of the show; sometimes working for the Decepticons, sometimes aiding the Autobots, sometimes striking out alone, and on one occasion partnering with a secondary villain opposed to both sides of the main conflict. Such frequent switching of allies establishes him as an opportunist, as mercurial, and conniving - and this is reflected in aspects of his design.
As is typical of many villains, the semiotics applied to Starscream reflect danger and instability. Now You See It (2016) describes the use of triangles in character design: "Evil characters... have sharper features: pointy ears, noses, and long, curly fingers." Triangles can be found everywhere on Starscream (fig. 1), from his pointed face, to his tapering chest, to the angles of his wings and his sharp claws. This emphasises both his changeability and his capacity for causing harm, immediately establishing him as untrustworthy and a threat.
Obfuscobble (2011) makes reference to Starscream's body language often being animalistic, likening him to both cats and birds; he extrapolates from this that Starscream is a physical shape shifter in more than the obvious sense. This is supported by commentary from the show's lead character designer - Jose Lopez, as quoted in Sorenson (2013, pg.65), says that Starscream's final design was settled upon due to its resemblance to a cobra; this comparison to a snake also aligning with Starscream's treacherous, shapeshifting nature.
These changes and contrasts in how Starscream moves could be said to mirror his status as an archetypal shape shifter within the narrative. Indeed, the changes in body language are linked to the changes in how the character presents himself. When written as a serious threat, his movements become languid and predatory; he walks with a more confident, measured pace, and there may be lingering shots of his claws, to emphasise danger. When he is portrayed as Megatron's subservient subordinate (sincerely or not), he adopts a more hunched, non-threatening posture, head bowed and lethal claws tucked in close to his body, rendering them less noticeable. When framed as a potential ally to the Autobots, he is frequently given a different sort of submissive posture: often seen sitting or kneeling before them, having been injured or captured, and with emphasis placed not on his claws, but his large, expressive eyes; thus humanising him, and making him sympathetic through use of neoteny.
In addition to the roles of shadow and shape shifter, Starscream also embodies something of the trickster archetype. Many moments of humour in Prime are due to his actions and words, whether at the expense of other characters, or executed so that the audience is encouraged to laugh at him; which adds another facet to his character, as well as another motivation for viewers to pay attention to him.
This range in character expression and presentation, as well as complexity in a narrative sense, may be key to Starscream's appeal; they complement and are motivated by each other, giving him depth and a sense of being well-rounded. Beiman (2010, pg.20) holds that all character movement must communicate thoughts and emotions via "pantomimic expression"; she stresses that the "why", or purpose of the movement, is as important as the movement itself. Starscream exemplifies this, with his shifting motivation from scene to scene feeding into his expressive animation, keeping him unpredictable - both as a visual spectacle and as a part of the story - and thus compelling. Beiman (2010, pg.40) again lends support to this - stating that "[t]he one-note hero... may be upstaged by secondary characters that show more emotional variety." In comparison to the conventional, rigid morality of Prime's protagonists, Starscream appears more complex.
Certain aspects of Starscream's appeal may be made possible because he is a villain, rather than in spite of it. Examining the portrayal of the Transformers brand's opposing factions in Michael Bay's films, Ellis (2016) notes that when designing the robot characters, there is a need to distinguish between the two warring sides - the Autobts are identified partially "by contrasting [them] with the otherness of the bad faction". She does refer primarily to design in this case, and the contrast is arguably less vital in Prime, given the greater length of the cartoon compared to the films; however, her comment still has resonance in relation to Starscream. Starscream is 'othered', through the mannerisms and dialogue he is given, in a way often used historically to signal a character's villainy: namely, queer coding.
Queer coding is defined by lgbtfiction.com (2017) as characters or relationships being given "traits associated with LGBT people without explicitly stating that they are queer". This technique is used in a manner of different ways, by giving characters stereotypical design elements, voices, body language, or even dialogue, and for male characters it is often, as lgbtfiction.com explains, used to create contrast with a more traditional, heterosexually-coded and masculine hero. In Starscream there can be identified a number of these traits. His design features hyper-feminine elements, despite his being a male coded character: a narrow, tapered waist, emphasising the feminine shape of his hips and legs, and feet designed to explicitly resemble high-heeled shoes. He also has a 'feminine walk', as defined by Art Babbit, quoted in Beiman (2010, pg.72); his walk seemingly follows a single line, as close to placing one foot directly in front of another as the mechanics of his animation model will allow. This is in notable contrast to the wider gaits of other male coded characters. Such attributes suggest a measure of gender fluidity in the character - interestingly, this may be due not only to the queer coding of villains, but to his non-human status. Caldwell (2014, pg. 36) identifies the majority of gender-nonconforming characters in children's animation as "definitively not human".
Within the narrative, Starscream is remarked upon by other characters in ways which draw attention to his apparent otherness, without explicitly addressing it. At one point his referred to as a "stiletto-heeled freak," which, as well as establishing the hyper-feminine aspects of his design as unusual in-universe, also implies an inherent wrongness in them, with the negative connotations of 'freak'. In another scene, he is said to have "come crawling back to Megatron"; the specific phrasing of which is often used in the context of an unstable romantic relationship. When he occupies the aspect of his trickster role in which he is intended to be laughed at, his mannerisms become more expressive and dramatic - but arguably also more mincing and effeminate, and his voice moves into a higher register. All of these carry implications of homosexuality as well as gender fluidity, and this almost subliminal way, Starscream's queercoding is underlined for the purpose of humour, without his status as an actual queer character ever being confirmed or denied.
Although at face value this is potentially harmful to perceptions of LGBT people, there is also precedent for queercoded villains being embraced and reclaimed by members of the community; thus making them appealing to this subgroup. John Waters, as quoted by Lang (2015), has expressed disdain for the notion that LGBT characters must be "good"; Lang himself claims that "embracing... problematic queer archetypes" within media ties into the values of the queer community as a whole. 'Queer' itself is a slur that has been reclaimed by some circles - Lang's argument is that villainous, queer coded characters should be likewise assimilated and celebrated. In this way, it can be understood that although Starscream as presented by Prime's creators is potentially a problematic character, there is also potential for him to be embraced and enjoyed because of his implied otherness, and that his status as a villain should not deter this.
Starscream is a complex, contrasting, and potentially transgressive character, both in mannerism and design. However, in spite of his villainy; in spite of his being queer coded whilst being a villain, these very qualities that have been attributed to him are those which have the makings of a character with appeal to a range of audiences. The choices that went into making him are, therefore, choices to take note of - even in the case of potentially offensive choices, as they may act both as a guide to creating subversive characters, and a warning to learn from.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
AlanBeckerTutorials (2017) 12 Principles of Animation (Official Full Series). Available at: https://youtu.be/uDqjIdI4bF4 (Accessed 06 November 2017).
Atkinson, D. (2017) Animation Notes #5: 12 Principles of Animation. Available at: http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_principles.html (Accessed 11 November 2017))
Beiman, N. (2010) Animated performance - bringing imaginary animal, human and fantasy characters to life. Lausanne: AVA Academia.
Caldwell, M. (2014) The Occurrences, References and Projected Attitudes about LGBT Lifestyles in Children’s Media: A Content Analysis of Animated Films, Portland State University Library. Available at: http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/honorstheses/111/ (accessed 05 November 2017).
Lang, N. (2015) ‘Evil but fabulous: in praise of films’ complicated, queer villains’, The Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/08/praise-complicated-queer-villains-film (Accessed 10 October 2017).
Lgbtfiction.com (2017) Queer coding. Available at: http://lgbtfiction.com/index.php?title=Queer_coding (Accessed 10 October 2017).
Lindsay Ellis (2016) Designing the Other: Aliens on Film. Available at: https://youtu.be/srul5Xd2kT4 (Accessed 06 November 2017)
Lopez, J. (2010) Starscream [Image used in fig. 1] Available at: https://desoluz.deviantart.com/art/Starscream-191616540 (Accessed 16 November 2017).
Lopez, J. (2011) Starscream Development. Available at: https://desoluz.deviantart.com/art/Starscream-Development-243088890 (Accessed 05 November 2017)
Martinez, R. (2015) ‘Fabulously Fiendish: Disney Villains and Queer-Coding’, Margins magazine. Available at: http://www.marginsmagazine.com/2015/12/18/fabulously-fiendish-disney-villains-and-queer-coding/ (Accessed 10 October 2017).
Now You See It (2016) Movie Geometry - Shaping the Way You Think. Available at: https://youtu.be/lLQJiEpCLQE (Accessed 09 November 2017).
Obfuscobble (2011) ‘TF:P Presents Character Design 101’, 27 October. Available at: http://obfuscobble.tumblr.com/post/12018324401 (Accessed 08 October 2017).
Railton, M. (2015) ‘The art of designing appealing characters for your animation’, Explanimate, 18 December. Available at: http://www.explanimate.com.au/2015/12/18/the-art-of-designing-appealing-characters-for-your-animated-video/ (Accessed 04 November 2017)
Sorenson, J.; Eisinger, J. (ed); Simon, A. (ed) Transformers: The Art Of Prime (2013). San Diego, CA. IDW Publishing.
Transformers: Prime (2010), The Hub/Hub Network. Available at: https://www.netflix.com/gb/ (Accessed 08 October 2017).
Vogler, C. The Writer's Journey: Mythic structure for writers. (2007) 3rd edn. Saline: McNaughton & Gunn Inc.
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Joseph Adolphe – HEAVYWEIGHTPAINT
Joseph Adolphe se mudó a la ciudad de Nueva York en 1992 para asistir a la Escuela de Artes Visuales donde recibió su MFA en 1994. Ha recibido varios premios por su arte, incluido el primer lugar en el concurso «Figura ahora 2010» en la Universidad de Fontbonne en St. Louis, Missouri. Su trabajo ha sido presentado en más de cuarenta exposiciones desde 1998 en todo Estados Unidos e internacionalmente. Ahora vive con su esposa e hijos en New Haven, Connecticut, y es profesor de Bellas Artes en la Universidad de St. John en Nueva York.
Las pinturas al óleo de Joseph Adolphe representan incertidumbre, ansiedad y vulnerabilidad en la actualidad. Ya sea que sean derrotados combatientes, bestias ágiles o niños inocentes, sus súbditos parecen agobiados por el conflicto y el peso del mundo. No obstante, son personajes fuertes y resistentes, ya que su confianza y valentía le dan a las pinturas un optimismo innegable incluso cuando el tema es oscuro. «Toro Bravo», la primera exposición individual de Adolphe en BDG fue un éxito rotundo. En el verano de 2012, su pintura, Mars No. 1, fue elegida para la portada del Anual Internacional de Pintura de la Galería Manifiesto, y Joseph Adolphe y su trabajo aparecerán en el próximo documental, HEAVYWEIGHTPAINT. Las pinturas de Joseph Adolphe se encuentran en muchas colecciones privadas y corporativas en los EE. UU. Y en el extranjero
PREMIOS Y HONORES
2014 Conferenciante principal, Simposio internacional sobre diplomacia cultural, Naciones Unidas, NY. 2011 ManifestGallery.org, INPA2, International Painting Annual 2. Finalista. Elegido para la imagen de portada.
2011 ManifestGallery.org, INDA6, International Drawing Annual 6. Dos dibujos a gran escala seleccionados.
2010 Ganador del 1er lugar, The Figure Now 2010, International Juried Exhibition, Fontbonne University, St. Louis, Missouri. «Una exposición internacional con jurado, que reconsidera los enfoques tradicionales y contemporáneos de la figura.
2009 Studio Visit Magazine, volumen ocho y volumen nueve. Publicación con jurado.
1998 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant.
1992 School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, MFA Program, Beca Académica Completa
EXPOSICIONES INDIVIDUALES SELECCIONADAS
Galería Bertrand Delacroix 2014, Nuevas pinturas, Nueva York, Nueva York
Galería Bertrand Delacroix 2012, Toro Bravo, Obra reciente, Nueva York, Nueva York 2011 Galería Kehler Liddell, Nuevas pinturas, New Haven, Connecticut
2010 Galería West Rock, Pinturas de Italia, New Haven, Connecticut
2009 Kehler Liddell Gallery, Affinities, New Haven, Connecticut
2008 Kehler Liddell Gallery, Deconstruction & Resurrection, New Haven, Connecticut 2005 Galerie Françoise, New Works: Figures, Baltimore, Maryland
2003 Galerie Françoise, Joseph Adolphe: Urban Landscapes, Baltimore, Maryland 2003 Gallery 119, Joseph Adolphe: Urban Landscapes: Brooklyn & Rome, Jackson, Mississippi
2003 The Object Image Gallery, New Paintings, Brooklyn, Nueva York
2002 The Late Show, Rome: Paintings from the Eternal City, Kansas City, Missouri
2002 Pulmone Pulsante, Joseph Adolphe: Drawings 1993–2002, Rome, Italy
2002 The Late Show, Urban Landscapes-Brooklyn, Kansas City, Missouri
2002 North 6th Gallery , Joseph Adolphe: Drawings and Paintings, Brooklyn, Nueva York 2001 Bogigian Gallery, Joseph Adolphe: Paintings, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
EXPOSICIÓN DE GRUPO SELECCIONADO
2014 New Zones Gallery, G’ddy Up !, Calgary, Canadá 2014 Axelle Gallery, Winter Collective, Boston, MAMÁ. 2013 The Art Directors Club, Round ZERO, NYC 2012 Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, NYC
2011 Jonathan Frost Gallery, New Artists Showcase, Rockland, Maine
2011 Norwalk College Gallery, Zoology 101, Norwalk, Connecticut
2010 A-Space Gallery @ West Cove Studios, Large Works Show, West Haven, Connecticut 2010 Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery, Figure Now, St. Louis, Missouri
2010 Kehler Liddell Gallery, Size Matters, New Haven, Connecticut
2009 Paper New England, Go Figure, Newspace Gallery, Manchester, Connecticut
2009 Paper New England, Current Connecticut, Artspace, Hartford, Connecticut
2009 Ct. Com. on Culture & Tourism, Touring Connecticut, CCCT Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut
2008 Kehler Liddell Gallery, Change, New Haven, Connecticut
2005 Delgado-Tomei Gallery, Figuratively Speaking, Brooklyn, New York
2005 NY Law School, Imprimir: OIA Group Show, Nuevo York, Nueva York
2004-5 Manhattan Graphics, Touring Group Show: monoimpresiones, en toda la India
2003-5 Conversaciones, Exposición colectiva itinerante, Comienzo en Baltimore, Maryland
2004 Evergreen House, Universidad Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland. 2 de octubre al 23 de enero
2004 Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, Delaware. 6 de febrero al 23 de mayo
2004 Universidad de Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut. 15 de julio a agosto 20
2003 Galerie Françoise, Summer Group Show, Baltimore, Maryland
2002 The Object Image Gallery, Brooklyn Artists, Brooklyn, New York Gallery 2002 119, The Self Portraits Show, Jackson, Mississippi
FERIAS DE ARTE
2014 ArtMRKT SAN FRANCISCO, Stephanie Breitbard Fine Art, San Francisco, CA. 2014 Dallas Art Fair, Newzones Gallery, Canadá,
2014 Miami International Art Fair, Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, Nueva York.
2014 Feria de Arte Contemporáneo ArtPalmBeach, Galería Bertrand Delacroix, Nueva York. 2013 Red Dot Art Fair, Miami, Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, NYC
TEACHING
2000-Profesor actual de arte, Departamento de Arte y Diseño, St. John’s University, NYC
PRENSA
Rae, Haniya, «Heavyweight Paint», Guernica Magazine, 26 de junio de 2013, Documental 2010-2014, Heavyweightpaint. www.Heavyweightpaint.com
PoetsArtists, Joseph Adolphe, número 40, noviembre de 2012, págs., 8-10
Sepulvida, David, Westville Painter hace el corte «Heavyweight», The New Haven, Advocate, 4 de junio de 2012. Versión web:
The Coffin Factory, Shelter, Paintings by Joseph Adolphe Issue 3, pgs 43 y 46
Sepulvida, David, New Haven, Independiente, «Open Studios Meets Westville Renaissance», 15 de octubre de 2010. Sección de Artes.
Hoffman, Hank, A Continuum of Gesture, The New Haven Advocate Pg. 35, 7–13 de enero de 2010
Catlin, Roger The State Through Artists ‘Eyes, The HartfordCourant, sección Art Week, pág. 12, 6 de noviembre de 2008
Duran, Elvira J. Elección de la crítica, Todos necesitamos un poco, New Haven Magazine, pág. 38, octubre de 2008
City Wide Open Studios Catalog, 2008–2009 Artists Directory, pág. 159
Glaser, Brian Visual Arts Journal, School of Visual Arts Magazine, Alumni Exhibitions, Nueva York, NY, Volumen 16, Número 2, pág. 90, 92.
Birke, Judy Dos artistas, dos enfoques hacen un buen espectáculo en Kehler Liddell, New Haven Register & (NewHAvenRegister.com), Sección E pg.1–2, 3 de febrero de 2008
Duran, Elvira J. Joseph Adolphe en La Galería Kehler Liddell, New Haven Magazine, pág.
48–49 , enero de 2008 Kobasa, Stephen, V. Painting Thick, The New Haven Advocate, pág. 39, 14 y 20 de febrero, edición de 2008.
Hoffman, Hank Más que rascar la superficie, ctartscene.blogspot.com, Connecticut Art Scene: Dedicado a cubrir la comunidad de artes visuales en Connecticut, jueves 21 de febrero de 2008
Art in America, (agosto de 2004). «Guía anual de museos, galerías, artistas», pág. 15 (2665)
“Ganadores de premios honrados” (noviembre de 2003) Charities USA, New York p. 26
Chalkley, Tom, (12/10/03) “Dialogue Boxes” City Paper, The Arts Section, Baltimore, MD.
Benoit, Julie, (noviembre de 2003). «Conversaciones: influencia y colaboración en el arte contemporáneo», Radar 8, Baltimore Arts & Culture, p. 22
Giuliano, Mike, (20 de julio de 2003). «Dos galerías ofrecen dos tomas del mundo», The Messenger, p.11
M.FA Alumni, «Illustration as Visual Journalism», School of Visual Arts Films, Documentary Video
Modenstein, SA (2003, primavera). «The Magazine Rack, Alumni Notes» Visual Arts Journal, p.42 y 46
Brown, Kenneth (2003, 10 de marzo). «Nuevo escaparate para el artista canadiense» Park Slope Courier, vol. XXV No. 10, pág. 4
Hackman, Kate. (2002, noviembre / diciembre) «Eterno / Glorioso». Revisión, p. 14
Barnaba, S. (2002, junio). «Citta e dintorni». La Repubblica Trova Roma, p. 9.
Sacca, Annalisa. (2002, junio). «Joe Adolphe: Disegni-Sulla Soglia Dello Sguardo». Ilfilorosso 32, p. 57.
Selvaggi, Giuseppe. (2002, 22 de junio). «La rivolta di Narciso». Il Giornale D’Italia, p.14. Hackman, Kate. (2002, mayo / junio). «Joe Adolphe en el Late Show». Review, p. 18.
Johnson, Dustin. (2002, julio / agosto). «Habitaciones con vistas familiares». Revisión, p. sesenta y cinco
Miller, Joe (2002, 23-29 de mayo). «Pinturas de Joe Adolphe». Pitch Weekly p. 24
«Need a Art Fix: The Late Show Provides» (25 de mayo de 2002). The Kansas City Star sección F, pág. 7
Grapa, Capricho. (14 de junio de 2002). «Un artista ha crecido en Brooklyn». The Kansas City Star sección F, pág. 33
Lucas, Jerez. (2002, 24 de marzo). «Autorretrato». The Clarion Ledger sección F, pág. 5. «Exposición Adolphe en la Galería Bogigian» (9de febrero de 2001) The Wilson Billboard, pág. 3 «Artista de Nueva York en Wilson» (marzo de 2001) The Chambersburg Gazette, pág. C3
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The Office Blind Date Chapter 19
* denotes extra line, expression, monologue not from main dialogue bubble (sometimes i might forget to add this symbol so yeah.sorry)
Pg 1
Because you have spoiled my blind date
What else do you mean?
Pg 2
Grandfather won't believe I went to other blind date
So..
*so...
Pg 3
This has to look like we're dating to be married
Pg 4
With that in mind
*with that in mind
*do physical skinship 10 times Ms Kim Shin after push up stand up & hurry hold my hand
We've to practice like we're going to war
Pg 5
What do you need for practice?
Ti-time?
You got it, you also know what I dislike right?
*wasting time
Pg 6
Isn't this too much?
I only did it for friendship & rent money
Those aren't sins
Why should I be punished like this? I won't have it
*angry
Pg 7
*I want to say that TT Ah I've rotten luck
Yes.. I'm sorry for wasting your time on that blind date
Pg 8
Well, how about next week? Meeting with your grandfather?
*right.. As how it is, I should quickly end this thing & return to my normal life back
Pg 9
Are you ready to act perfectly in a week?
I won't accept failure
Pg 10
*nod
If I fail obviously I have to keep dealing with this guy
Most importantly I have to succeed
Pg 11
*smile
Arrange a meeting with your grandfather next week
Pg 12
-
Pg 13
I really like
Her reaction especially when she knew I knew everything
Pg 14
But, you believe it right?
Didn't you hire me because of my acting skill?
Pg 15
*stop
If so until now you still don't believe me?
Pg 16
Really funny
*hihi
Pg 17
This isn't like me
Before this I never think about anything else when I'm in the office
But now I'm always thinking of that woman
Pg 18
It's nice when we're holding hands
And that time too
Pg 19
Secretary Cha, where's the popular dating place nowadays?
What?
Try to find out
It's right to ask secretary Cha
Pg 20
Good morning director
May you have a nice day
Pg 21
Yes good morning
*whisper
He greeted back?
What's with director?
Did anything good happen?
That made him smile like that
Pg 22
*I only need to wed but to actually like the woman
*I'm really lucky
Pg 23
I've gone mad!
*whose voice's that
Pg 24
She's also like that today
Pg 25
My sin for meeting the wrong kind of friend...
Has cause chaos in my life
*she'd a bad memory for bashing her head like that
Pg 26
This is the third time I see her
But it always
Feels like I'm watching a mysterious fauna world
*impressive
Pg 27
*swing swing
*zombie
Pg 28
Ouch!
Pg 29
What's it?
Pg 30
Hah! Director!
Pg 31
Are you okay? I didn't expect you to be that shocked so I didn't manage to catch you
Yes I
*oww
Am alright
Pg 32
*stand up
Your voice.. Are you really okay?
*it doesn't seem like nothing
Yes, this is nothing
*when I just want to take the lift cause I'm tired
Pg 33
I'm going first!
Pg 34
This feels familiar
As if I've met her somewhere
Pg 35
Jin yeong seo you cruel woman!
Pg 36
I'm sorry.. That's why I'm here to help to right the wrong
*peek
*scream
You feel guilty but only show up after a week?!
I've to work & when I called your home they said you weren't here?
As you're home today I come here straight after work
Pg 37
Ah! That..
Most importantly how dare you drag me into a tiger's den?!
*scared scared
Pg 38
I'm really really sorry. I only have to put the radish & soda here right?
Pg 39
Ha Min, this has half original half with flavoring (t/n: fried chicken order)
One of this is original
Okay noona (t/n: word that younger guy used when addressing older woman)
Pg 40
Careful on the road
Ha Ri, please don't be mad anymore
If you were me would you not be angry?
Have you any idea how my life has become this whole week because of you?
Pg 41
Day 1
Ha.. lo
I already made my phone call late 1 hour, are you still sleeping?
*early dawn morning call
It's still only at 5.30 a.m.
Pg 42
*sightseeing date
Pg 43
Day 2
Today I've to receive the call well
Halo
Good morning
*morning call
So you're up? Well then next time I'll call you at 6
Nooooooo!
Pg 44
*date at expensive restaurant
*awkward
Pg 44
Day 3
*date at rocky road
Day 4
*cinema date
Pg 45
Day 5
*date at river
Pg 46
Ouch
Pg 47
That day I felt the director's heart beat
It still lingers in my fingertips
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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Up An Asshole
So Venom is better than it had any right to be. Also, it’s a f*cking quandary, man. Like, straight up, Venom is not a good film. It’s not. But, at the same time, it’s not terrible. It’s the oddest sh*t i’ve ever experienced. There is a lot of good here. In theory, this should have worked and it kind of does but not really. Full disclose, i am approaching this as a thoroughly versed in the language of Spider-Man and his mythos. I know a great deal about the Venom character. In fact, he’s my third favorite Marvel character. Spider-Man, Dr. Doom, Venom, Captain Marvel, and X-23. Top five, right there. I’m going to do my best to be as objective about this review as possible but, understand, i am wildly biased.
The Good
The performances in this thing were really f*cking good. It’s rare that i see a flick where every major character gives it their all like this. In a bad movie. That’s the thing about this; I don’t know if it’s really all that bad. Independently, the components are mediocre to terrible but together, with an added lift by how great the leads are in their respective roles, this thing gets elevated considerably. it’s schlock, don’t misunderstand, but it’s schlock handled with care, love, and reverence which makes it more? I dunno, man.
Tom Hardy does his thing as usual. I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying this is the worst he’s been since his last terrible performance but that’s not the case. I don’t think those people actually understand the character of Venom. I don’t think they get that he’s a dark reflection of Peter Parker so, yeah, he’s gonna be quick in an edgelord, try-hard, kind of way which is exactly what Hardy gives you. Dude is one hundred percent true to who Eddie Brock and Venom are as characters.
Michelle Williams as Brock’s Ex-fiance (Ex-Wife in the comics) Anne Weying was phenomenal. She’s everything i wanted Mary Jane or Gwen Stacey to be in Sony’s Spider-Outings. Madame is intelligent, strong, and a force all in her own right. Plus, i mean, but dat She Venom, tho!
Rhiz Ahmed does a fantastic job as Carlton Drake. Seriously, he does insidiously sinister Elon Musk brilliantly. There was a quiet danger to this cat that just seethed with every second he was on screen. This is a man who knows he can destroy a person with little more than a phone call. His metered, subtle, insanity is just f*cking breathtaking to watch. Drake, as the main antagonist, would have been spectacular if he maintained a kind of Kingpin-esque level, someone who is just out of reach of our protagonist, as Brock tried to find a way to topple his entire regime. Think Lex Luthor. Bring in Cassidy to play the part of The Joker but with more slaughter, and you’d have a rather compelling narrative to follow through a trilogy of films, i think. But Sony dumb and blew their load on this one movie so we’ll never get to see just how smarmy of a sociopath Rhiz could have crafted with Drake.
The adaption of Lethal Protector for film was pretty dope. I like the liberties they took with the characters while still hearkening back to the comic origins. I didn’t think Venom could work without Spider-Man but it kind of does. There is a lot here to unpack for a first attempt but, as a first attempt? it got a lot right. There is a solid foundation to build something better on and that bodes well for the future. Unless this thing doesn’t make any money. it might not make any money...
The Meh
Everything is cohesive, for the most part. The pacing here is brisk but competent. You get from one scene to the next, all in service toward head-biting and tongue-punching. It’s not the most smooth in it’s stride but it gets to where it needs to, even if it stumbles more of then than it should.
The script was ehh. You can tell someone had some ideas and they are very apparent but the execution just didn’t do it justice. I don’t know if it was the overall plot or the characters, themselves, or the corny dialogue but everything felt just under good. Not pitch enough for me to say it stinks but nowhere near good enough for me to praise it.
The fact that this flick is PG-13 is a goddamn disservice. Seriously, there is, apparently, 40 minutes of raw, violent, footage left on the cutting room floor. This movie probably needed that.
The tone of this flick is mad jarring. I feel like if it was hard R but kept that rather sarcastic, nonchalant, tone, it would have been a better film overall. Not quite like Deadpool but more like Kiss Kiss Bang. I think this film’s strength was when it was calling out the absurd nature of it’s own premise. Which brings me to my net point....
The direction in this film is... wrong. Like, it doesn’t fit the film, you know? Ruben Fleischer, the guy who did Zombieland, helms this and he does a decent job. Dude sucks at directing action but the interpersonal parts, the actual character dynamics, are spectacular in this film. I particularly enjoyed the weird love (?) triangle between Eddie, Anne, and Venom. While i was pleased with what Fleischer gave us, i can’t help but feel like this was the perfect vehicle for Shane Black. HIS version of Venom would have been spectacular.
The Bad
The plot holes in this thing are ludicrous. There are entire subplots just dropped. Main characters are killed off left and right. There are rules established, things inherent to the logic of the world that was created for Venom, that are just thrown out the goddamn window for plot convenience. It’s f*cking insane
Riot is a flaccid antagonist. I understand you don’t blow your load with Carnage in the first film, but really? Riot wasn’t even good in the comics. Dude was a red shirt symbiote. Seriously, he gets consumed and amalgamated, along with, like, three other ones, into a D-Class antihero called Hybrid. If i’m not mistaken, Scream, a female symbiote from the same lot, is the only on that doesn’t get fridged by the end of that Life Foundation arc. To make him the big bad was ridiculous.
That climax was sh*t. I literally didn’t know what the f*ck was going on. Nonsense looked like a f*cking Pollock painting with teeth.
This movie looks like sh*t. The CGI is poor, man. Almost unforgivably so. This thing cost 100 million to make and it looks like it cost a quarter of that. There’s been a lot of comparison to Upgrade but for the money, Upgrade is a FAR superior situation. I can’t say if it was a better film overall but it definitely did the whole takeover thing just as good as Venom, but for a fraction of the budget. Hell, f*cking Life is a better looking Venom movie and it only cost 70 mil!
Why are all of the goddamn symbiotes named human things? The host comes up with that name in the comic. What f*cking alien even understands the English word “Riot”?
The Verdict
Overall, Venom was entertaining. There are a TON of issues, man, but i don’t think it’s as bad as everyone is saying. This sh*t ain’t Shakespeare but it definitely isn’t Batman vs Superman either. There is a lot to like and a clear path toward something better. I think, in the hands of a better director who understand how to execute this type of film, we could have something fantastic. Still, for what we have, it’s pretty decent. I’d say give it a chance. It’s mad entertaining and watching Hardy do his thing is more than worth the price of admission.
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I Found My Voice As A Writer In Justin Timberlake Fan Fiction
Simone Noronha for BuzzFeed News
At 13 years old, there was one thing I knew for sure: If ever I were to meet Justin Timberlake, it would have to be under the pretense that I wasn’t a fan.
Trust, I’d given it a lot of thought. Imagining all of the possible ways I could end up in the same room as JT was at the top of my list of favorite pastimes, right next to listening to NSYNC. I knew the most likely way to meet him would be in the capacity of a fan, maybe at a meet-and-greet or by winning backstage passes, but I also understood that if I wanted Justin to take me seriously — and that was key, if we were going to fall in love — I couldn’t come across as some embarrassing, giddy, fawning fan. Which, of course, I was.
So I spent hours imagining our possible love stories — as I was falling asleep, when I was daydreaming in class, wherever. These were PG-rated rom-coms, starring future me and (somehow) 1998-era Justin Timberlake. The scenarios were convoluted; they had dialogue; I knew what I’d be wearing and exactly how I’d win him over. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was creating fanfic — more than a decade before I knew there was such a thing.
I fell hard for NSYNC, and Justin, in 1998, right around when the “Tearin’ Up My Heart” video came out. Before that, I’d been dismissive of boy bands. I was raised primarily on rap and R&B, my parents hailing from what my dad called, to my great embarrassment, the “Boogie-Down Bronx.” So I knew what good music was, and this pretty-boy stuff was not it. But then TRL became a thing, and these boys were unavoidable. And then I saw the video. More specifically, I saw Justin’s arm in a tank top, bent over his glossy blond curls and pouting lips — just so.
I am not hyperbolizing when I say something deep within me shifted in that moment. I’d had celebrity crushes before, but I was mostly too embarrassed to even admit them to myself. (In a fill-in-the-blank journal from when I was 8, I’d crossed out an “I have a crush on ____” prompt and substituted in tiny letters above it, “I sort of think the Fresh Prince is cute.”) Those were the fleeting interests of an amateur; this crush — this passion — settled into my core. As a chubby, bespectacled middle schooler who had heavy bangs long past the time everyone else had grown them out, I was scared of people in general and terrified especially of boys. But man, those biceps sure seemed like they’d be fun to touch.
Part of loving a famous icon is the acute agony of knowing he is unreachable.
Within months, I was all in. I owned approximately 40 pieces of NSYNC merchandise: multiple posters, pins, one giant pencil, a journal, a folder, pens, stickers, patches, every magazine with the band on the cover, lip balm, their official book, textbook covers, dolls, shirts, and, of course, CDs. I recorded (on actual VHS tapes!) every music video and MTV appearance, as well as their HBO special, and I watched a random segment from those tapes with a bowl of cereal every morning before school. I went to two concerts and cried both times. I read every bit of trivia. I memorized Justin’s birthday (Jan. 31) and favorite movie (The Usual Suspects). And when MTV linked up with Star Wars for a trivia sweepstakes, the prize for which involved a one-on-five date with the boys, I saw The Phantom Menace in theaters four times to try to answer their list of questions. I didn’t win.
People who’ve never experienced this specific brand of boy-idol love might be baffled by the fact that it often brings millions of girls to tears. What they don’t understand is that part of loving a famous icon is the acute agony of knowing he is unreachable. I loved Justin Timberlake so much, just like millions of other girls in the world, and not only would I never be with him, but I’d never be able to appreciate a real relationship, because I’d know the person I ended up with would not be the man I loved the most. [Quick note to say hi to my boyfriend, whom — I want to be clear — I love much more than I love Justin Timberlake.] I felt this massive injustice as a true, powerful, physical pain. The only way I was able to mitigate it was to distract myself with stories that placed me and JT in a universe where we could be together.
By the time I was fully under siege by NSYNC obsession, I’d begun writing, and abandoned, three novels. I loved reading, I wrote in my journal every day, and I knew I wanted to be a writer when I grew up — either that or a singer (still on the fence, to be honest). But when I tried to write fiction, I hated what came out. I’d suddenly lose any imagination I had. The dialogue didn’t make sense. Nothing sounded as real or natural as the stuff I was reading. I didn’t know how people got ideas, and, if they were lucky enough to come up with one, how they didn’t get bored with it.
But love stories about me and JT? Those came easy.
One of my favorites: I’m 18, finally, and super hot (finally). NSYNC is still touring because they will never ever break up, and they’re holding a contest (a singing contest), and the winner gets to sing a song with them onstage. I’m not planning on trying out, but I go with a friend who is. When we get to the audition room, after my friend sings well but not too well, Justin (who is, obviously, judging) asks what I’ll be singing. And I say, Oh me? No, no, I’m just here for support, I couldn’t possibly.
And then my friend says, She actually has a great voice.
And Justin smiles wryly, and I’m like, Well, if you insist, though I’m hardly prepared!
Justin, the rest of the boys, and my friend needle me until finally I close my eyes and just go for it, belting (usually, though, this detail changed from time to time) some vintage Mariah Carey. I nail it, a cappella, and everyone — especially Justin — is blown away. And then I win, and then we fall in love.
In these imagined futures, Justin played an important role, but the real star was future me.
Or: I bring my younger cousin to a concert, and we wait outside afterward because she wants to meet the guys. When they come by to say hello (because of course they do) I kind of smirk and shrug and say, I’m sorry to bother you guys — she’s just such a fan. And Justin, who is floored by the fact that this cool (and hot, so frickin’ hot) chick isn’t remotely impressed by him, says, And you’re not? And I say something so chill, like, Pop music isn’t really my speed. And then he asks if I want to hang out. And then we fall in love.
The fantasies were many and varied and provided a vital, immersive respite from the life I was actually living — one consisting mainly of wondering what made the popular kids popular, how people mustered the courage to speak up in large groups, and why I’d gotten stuck with a body all plump and wrong, so unlike all the others I saw on TV. In these imagined futures, Justin played an important role, but the real star was future me. And she was everything I needed to believe I’d become — attractive, witty, and, above all, bold. If I could trust that self was waiting for me, those in-between years seemed a little more manageable.
There is a name for what I was doing, though I didn’t know it at the time. I was creating fanfiction — those amateur, fan-written, oft mocked stories featuring characters created by other writers (or real pop stars) as well as first- or second-person narration, which have found vibrant communities on websites like Tumblr and Wattpad. But I kept mine to myself. The stories I actually wrote down, and eventually showed to other people, never starred dreamy pop idols. It didn’t seem like something a "Real Writer" would do, as if “good” writing and joy were mutually exclusive. But I now find kinship among those who contribute to these platforms. To say fanfiction stories are nothing but personalized soft porn for horny girls (which, to be very clear, is an important part of what they are, and which I’m 100% for) is to greatly underestimate their power.
That fanfiction has real commercial power is now well-acknowledged; Fifty Shades of Grey, originally written as Twilight fanfic, is probably the most mainstream, but Anna Todd also turned her One Direction fanfic After into a six-figure book deal and a wildly successful trilogy. Then there are the “retellings,” i.e. fanfic approved by the literati: Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, the series and musical about Frank L. Baum’s Oz witches, or Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, an imagined prequel to Jane Eyre. Which is to say, writers pull inspiration from all manner of sources; sometimes the result is a love story that asserts the validity of a young woman’s (often dismissed) desire. Sometimes it is a channel through which a burgeoning writer can deliver and refine her talent.
My stories, like those of many fanfic writers, were as much about building a narrative as they were about enacting a fantasy.
My stories, like those of many fanfic writers, were as much about building a narrative as they were about enacting a fantasy. I can remember how problems of character motivation seemed so much less abstract when they were considered through the lens of an imagined, but possible, future — Justin Timberlake was a real (if mythic) person, and structuring the narrative became a sort of problem-solving. What could a person like me do to meet a person like him? I struggled to figure out what an 8-year-old would do if she found a secret portal to a fantasy world (my second abandoned novel), but I loved putting myself in conversation with my ultimate crush and asking, What next? What next?
There is a simple, dizzying joy in writing (or reading!) a story in which you and your dream crush are the stars, but also intrinsic to that setup is the understanding that you — the writer, the reader — deserve the star treatment you’re receiving. If this is something you don’t believe (and certainly, when I was imagining my own love stories, I didn’t believe it), it can be comfort enough to pretend you do, to indulge the notion that you might be good enough to be the protagonist of your own story for long enough that it no longer feels that far-fetched.
I didn’t meet Justin Timberlake (and haven't yet). But I did grow into my confidence and my voice — a voice which I know was honed by the stories I told myself. Without those stories, there would be no writing career, no novel, no unrepentant gushing over the things (and people) who drive my creativity. There’s probably a lot more of 13-year-old Arianna in me now than 13-year-old Arianna would have wanted. But, at 30, I can see she was always cooler than she believed, anyway. I like to think, had Justin met me then, he would have at least been kind of charmed. ●
Arianna Rebolini is author of the novel Public Relations with Katie Heaney. She was formerly a deputy editorial director at BuzzFeed. You can follow her @AriannaRebolini or check out her writing here.
Learn more about Public Relations here.
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Lawrence of Arabia
The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
Release Date: December 11, 1962
Director: David Lean
Rating: PG
Last month I posted another movie by the great David Lean - Bridge on the River Kwai. Again, as with so many films by David Lean, this epic is renowned for its immersive sweeping visuals. Additionally, Peter O'Toole is superb in the role of the young and arrogant T.E. Lawrence. Lawrence of Arabia costars Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, José Ferrer, Claude Rains and Omar Sharif. Needless to say, a great cast!
The events of the movie follow the true exploits of Lawrence as he works with various Arab Tribes in World War I to fight the Turks. The movie was filmed in Jordan, and on Lean's first scouting mission for filming locations, he discovered the remains of the actual Turkish locomotives and railroad tracks Lawrence had destroyed during the Arab Revolution. After 40 years in the sun, they hadn't even rusted. So, I guess the filming location was rather accurate.
T.E. Lawrence
We want two large glasses of Lemonade.
Also, here is just a random fun fact, at 226 minutes long, there is not a single line of dialogue spoken by a woman. A Hollywood record.
So, when it comes to food based on the movie, this one gets a little touchy. The world, particularly that region of the world is so radically different from what it was over 100 years ago. So, I looked at the cuisine of Jordan, where the events took place and the movie was filmed. And while there are many foods from Jordan, I have stuck with the internationally know option so that someone halfway around the world, such as myself, could still make the recipe. And with that, I give you Hummus.
Hummus
TRAILER
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