My followup movie tonight was Krull, after seeing it at Walmart with a sleeve that tries to sell it as a VHS classic rental. A fairly basic mix of sci-fi and fantasy, a low budget film trying to appeal to 12 year old boys alongside Star Wars, Flash Gordon, and who perhaps have read Lord of the Rings.

I loved ever second of it.

Destiny

A Roswell New Mexico/Krull AU Fanfic

And since 9/10 in the fandom probably don't have any clue about such an old movie:

High Fantasy Sci-Fi AU in which the Invaders were aliens, there was a lot of magic, the main ship came from warring kingdoms, and one member of the said ship spends the whole movie captured by the villain. I picked Michael to get stuck being captured and Alex to be the rescuing party cuz Alex is the bigger badass to me, not gonna lie.

Also, all I wrote was the opening scene, because technically more characters die in this film than there are main characters in Roswell, and I already messed up by having Max and Isobel in the beginning instead of be other characters later.  That was way more intro than needed.

-----

“Michael.”  Isobel approached where he was pacing in the grand hall.

“Alex should have been here by now, Iz.”

“The Alighting control all the roads. He’ll have to take to the mountain paths to get through.  If he can.”

“He will.”  Michael told her without hesitation.

“You know Mara isn’t happy with this.”  Max had entered without the other two knowing.  “Neither am I. They’ve been our enemies for generations.”

“The Alighting is a threat to us all, Max.”  Michael reminded him.  “We need this alliance.”

“We can make a treaty with them.”  Isobel brought up.  “It’s not necessary for you to marry one of his sons.”

“It’s the only way we can guarantee the alliance.”  Michael disagreed.  “This marriage is my choice.”

“If it was anyone but Jesse Manes’ son.”  Max protested again.

“Alex is a fierce soldier.”

“Soldiers make bad husbands.”  Max told him.

“Speaking from experience?”  He nudged his side.  Max snorted, and Isobel shared a grin with him at the jest.

A cry came up from the courtyard, announcing the arrival of troops.  “Looks like he made it.”  Isobel told him.  She and Max headed out to see, but Michael hung back - waiting.

------

Jesse Manes had yet to climb down from his horse as Max and Isobel entered the courtyard.  “We sent for assistance.”  He snarled. “Yet not one of your men came.”

“Twenty soldiers were dispatched to lead you here.”  Max snapped at him.

“We lost three hundred.”

“I didn’t choose this marriage, Manes."

“Nor did I, Evans.”

“I chose it.”  Alex spoke up, voice breaking off the two’s argument.  “Your cousin chose it.  It will be done.”

“And this is the army you will lead with ours against the Alighting?”  Max challenged.  There wasn’t many of their soldiers left after their trip from their own castle.

“Whatever army I have I’ll lead against them.  Until we’ve won.  Or we’re dead.”  Alex returned, climbing down off his own horse.  The twins didn’t move from the steps as their men started heading inside.  He’d faced Max in battle before, it was odd to be standing in the same courtyard as him. It was something they’d all have to get used to.  “Where is Michael?”

“You’ll see him tonight at the ceremony.”  Max told him, crossing his arms.

“Max.”  Isobel nudged him. The twins exchanged a look, sharing a communication outside of words.  Whatever was said, Max sent him one more suspicious glance before climbing down the steps and heading across the courtyard to the main gates to speak to the guards there.  When Alex looked at her Isobel glanced to where a smaller staircase than the main one led higher upwards to the second floor.

Alex nodded at her before taking the stairs up two at a time.  The stairs were a side entrance to a grand hall on the upper level.  The ceiling vaulted upwards, and windows lined one side of the room.  At the front of the hall a large marble well held a pool of water.  He heard footsteps, but at first glance saw no one. He moved forward casually, keeping to one side of the room where the wall gave him coverage on one side. The barest hint of a shadow skirting a pillar to his left caught his eye, and a smile curved his lips.  He moved forward as if to continue down the side he'd been walking, but then turned at the last moment to come around the other side just as Michael moved to dodge to the next pillar.

The other man was brought up short, taken by surprise, and the two of them took a moment to take each other in.  “I chose well." Alex offered before the silence could stretch further.

A cocky grin stretched Michael's lips, and he  purposefully let his eyes trace up and down the form of his future groom.  “So did I.”

Alex burst out laughing at the display.

The teasing smile faded quickly, and Michael nodded toward the windows that overlooked the courtyard.  “I overheard.  Your journey here wasn’t easy.”

Alex glanced out toward the windows as well.  His father hadn’t exaggerated.  The soldiers of the Alighting had decimated their troops.  Being on the move out in the open was always a vulnerable position.  Hard to fight back from. “No, but it was necessary.  The Alighting must be stopped.”

“There are those in my mother’s court who believe it is already too late.”

“It’s not too late.”  Alex disagreed.  

The other prince nodded.  They were united in their determination to take on the Alighting and win.  He’d sent the first letter to Michael, against the wishes of both their family's, seeking an alliance against their mutual enemy.  The letters that had begun so formally had quickly warmed between them.  He’d fallen in love with a man he’d never met, and who he’d only been able to exchange a few written words with.  Standing in the hall with him now, the connection between them only felt stronger.

“Is this where the ceremony will take place?”  He glanced toward the pool of water where he had no doubt traditional vows had occurred for centuries.

“Yes.  Tonight, after the moons rise.”  Michael glanced at him - a small smile playing across his lips.  “My cousin says soldiers make bad husbands.”

“Your cousin seems very opinionated.”  Alex crossed his arms.

“You have no idea.”  The smile stretched into a grin. “So, you disagree?”

“I suppose that depends on if you expect a husband to follow you around and jump at your every command.”

“Oh, you’re not the jumping kind?”  Michael mocked.  “Not even for me?”

There were a lot of possible answers to that.  None of which were probably a good idea to say when Michael wasn’t yet his husband.  Alex kept his gaze even and challenging.

“I suppose not.  You’re a warrior, right?”  Michael’s tone was still teasing, but his eyes had warmed.   Their gazes locked, and time stood still.  When Alex took a step forward, Michael surged forward to meet him, their lips locking in a fiery kiss.  As the passion ebbed, Alex rested his forehead against his, taking in the ease of which even this was between them.  Like something meant to be.

A cough broke them apart, and they turned to the doorway where Isobel stood with one eyebrow raised.  “Your mother is asking for you, Michael.”

“Coming.”  With one last glance at Alex, Michael exited the room.

“I thought I’d show you to your quarters as the rest of your entourage has already been taken.”  Isobel asked.

“You’re in direct line to the throne after Michael, isn’t that task beneath you, Princess Isobel?”  Alex asked her.

“After the ceremony tonight you’ll become my King.”  Isobel returned.  “I think I can spare time to show my future King to his temporary quarters.”

Alex nodded, taking one last look around the room where he would be wed in a few hours, before following Isobel out a different door than she’d entered by.

Fini

Video Games 1983: Events The fourth Arcade Awards are held, for games released during 1981-1982, with Tron winning best arcade game, Demon Attack best console game, David’s Midnight Magic best computer game, and Galaxian best standalone game. At the first Golden Joystick Awards ceremony (held in 1984), Jetpac takes Game of the Year. Video Game Crash of 1983 A major shakeout of the North American video game industry (“the crash of 1983”) begins. By 1986, total video games sales will decrease from US$3.2 billion to US$0.1 billion. These are some of the best video games released in 1983! Video Games Featured in this Video: Mario Bros Arcade Congo Bongo Arcade Track and Field Arcade Lode Runner Home Computer Spelunker Atari 8-bit Bomberman MSX Digger IBM PC Battlezone Atari 2600 Phoenix Atari 2600 Enduro Atari 2600 Hunchback Arcade Vastar Arcade Keystone Kapers Atari 2600 Laser Gates Atari 2600 Krull Atari 2600 Space Ace Arcade Dragon’s Lair Arcade Punch-Out Arcade Baseball Famicom Popeye Famicom Donkey Kong Famicom Donkey Kong Jr. Famicom Donkey Kong 3 Arcade Frostbite Atari 2600 Texas Chainsaw Massacre Atari 2600 Dracula Intellivision Congo Bongo Sega SG 1000 Guzzler Sega SG 1000 I, Robot Arcade Major Havoc Arcade Vote for Your Favorite Video Games of 1983: https://ift.tt/2Zj5Dw4 Home Computers in 1983 Apple Computer releases the Apple IIe, which becomes their most popular 8-bit machine. Microsoft Japan releases MSX, an early standardized home computer architecture. Sega releases the SC-3000, a personal computer version of the SG-1000 console, in Japan. Consoles in 1983 SG-1000 console by Sega and Famicom console by Nintendo were released in Japan, on the same day! Shortly after Famicom's release, complaints begin to surface about rampant system instability, prompting Nintendo to issue a product recall and to rerelease the machine with a new motherboard. Vote for Your Favorite Video Games of 1983: https://ift.tt/2Zj5Dw4 Gaming innovations: 1.First arcade laserdisc game: Sega’s Astron Belt 2.Third generation of home consoles started with releases of 3.Nintendo Famicom and Sega SG-1000 consoles (released on the same day) 4.Ultima III: Exodus by Richard Garriott, one of the first role-playing video games to use tactical, turn-based combat 5.Koei releases Nobunaga’s Ambition and sets a standard for the historical simulation and strategy RPG genres Console Games in 1983 Mattel Electronics publishes World Series Baseball for the Intellivision, one of the first video games to use multiple camera angles. Activision’s final big year of Atari 2600 releases includes Enduro, Keystone Kapers and Robot Tank. Computer Video Games 1983 Infocom releases Planetfall, which becomes one of their top sellers. Origin Systems publishes Ultima III: Exodus, one of the first role-playing video games to use tactical, turn-based combat. ASCII releases Bokosuka Wars for the Sharp X1 in Japan, precursor to the tactical role-playing game and real-time strategy genres. Koei releases Nobunaga’s Ambition for Japanese computers Electronic Arts publishes its first titles: Hard Hat Mack, Pinball Construction Set, Archon, M.U.L.E. and more. Also, Bug-Byte releases Matthew Smith’s Manic Miner, a platform game, for the ZX Spectrum. Rare, releases its first video games, Jetpac and Atic Atac. Hudson Soft releases Bomberman. Psion releases Chequered Flag, the first driving game published for the ZX Spectrum, one of the first computer car simulators, and the first driving game with selectable cars. Vote for Your Favorite Video Games of 1983: https://ift.tt/2Zj5Dw4 Arcade Games in 1983 Namco releases Mappy. Atari releases Star Wars, a color vector graphics game based on the popular film franchise. Sega releases Astron Belt. It was the first laserdisc game in Europe, second in Japan. It uses pre-rendered, computer-animated film footage as backdrops, overlaid with sprite graphics. Nintendo releases Mario Bros., which features the first appearance of Mario’s brother, Luigi. Cinematronics releases Advanced Microcomputer Systems’s Dragon’s Lair, the third laserdisc video game, and the first in the American market. Other Arcade Video Games 1983 Namco releases Pac & Pal exclusively in Japan. Bally/Midway releases Spy Hunter. They also release Jr. Pac-Man and quiz game Professor Pac-Man without Namco’s authorization, and the latter is an immediate flop. Nintendo releases Punch-Out!! in Japan. Williams releases Blaster, which was originally programmed on an Atari 8-bit computer. Thank for watching the video! Please like this video and subscribe to the channel :) Music used in this video: 1.Punchout CPS2 Remix 2.Donkey Kong Arcade Main Theme Remix 3.Mappy Theme Song (Trap Remix) 4.C64 Longplay - Frantic Freddie (HQ) All rights for the music belong to the authors I do not own any rights for the music by Retroconsole

Money Heist: How Season 5 Changed the Series Forever

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This Money Heist article contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 5.

The long-awaited final season of Netflix’s most popular foreign language series Money Heist blew up everything we though we knew about the show. Every fan has been eagerly waiting to see Gandia (José Manuel Poga) get his just desserts for his cold-blooded killing of Nairobi (Alba Flores) last season. Season 4 ended with the gang chanting “For Nairobi!” at the end, a rallying cry for revenge. But the price of Gandia’s death was way too high. It cost the life of the show’s leading character, Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó), taking Money Heist in a completely new, much darker direction. 

Tokyo’s Death

Tokyo’s death is one of the most daring character kills ever seen on television. It’s even more of a showstopper than the death of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in Game of Thrones. The Mother of Dragons died towards the end of the series and wasn’t nearly as central a character as Tokyo. Money Heist still has another finale volume of episodes to go. 

Although Money Heist is an ensemble cast, Tokyo has always been the focal point. Corberó gets the first credit in the show’s intro. More importantly, Tokyo has been the narrator throughout the entire series. We’ve watched both heists through her eyes. Corberó’s sultry voice has guided us through the chaotic absurd plot twists and the edge of our seats cliffhangers that make Money Heist so addictive.  

As a character, Tokyo’s charisma is spellbinding. She’s the ultimate bad girl: smart, sexy, empowered, and tough with attitude to spare. Tokyo has been the eye of the storm and the most watchable character of the show. Even the intro theme song, “My Life Is Going On” performed by Cecilia Krull, is inspired by Tokyo. Corberó brought to life one of Money Heist’s most unforgettable characters and her death is pivotal. 

Read more

TV

Money Heist Season 4 Recap: For Nairobi!

By Gene Ching

TV

Money Heist Season 5: What to Expect

By Gene Ching

Tokyo is an international breakout role for Corberó. Corberó has been acting in Spanish productions for nearly two decades. Since 2002, she has appeared in over a dozen Spanish television series. In 2007 she started working in Spanish films, as well as doing some voice work in the Hollywood animated features like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, The Secret Life of Pets, and The Emoiji Movie. However, those roles didn’t give her the global exposure that Corberó deserves. Recently, in 2021, she grabbed some spotlight as the Baroness in the feature film Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, stealing every scene she was in. But Tokyo is Corberó’s defining role to date. And Season 5 is so much about her.

Money Heist set us up for the kill by spending an inordinate amount of Season 5 revealing Tokyo’s tragic backstory. In flashbacks, we meet René (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), Tokyo’s first partner in crime. We learn how she found her true love in him, and then lost him when he was shot down before her eyes in a failed bank heist. We understand how that loss hardened her heart, making her into what she is in the series. It’s a brilliantly poignant storytelling device, one that makes us adore Tokyo even more as we marvel at her complexity. Plus it gives Corberó full range to show off her fierce acting chops. 

When her new boyfriend Rio (Miguel Herrán) desperately struggles to rescue her, and she knows he will fail, she tells him “But now is the first day of your next life. You’ve gotta live a lot of lives, my love.” Now knowing how she lost her love, and how that fed into her aloofness about her romance with Rio, it’s one of those gratuitously heartrending scenes that Money Heist delivers with such unapologetic style, twisting that knife at the devastating loss of one of the show’s most beloved characters.

Tokyo’s final seductive wink at Gandia when she reveals that she’s pulled all the pins on the grenades strapped across her chest is just so Tokyo. She goes out with a bang, a huge self-sacrificing bang that takes out the gang’s biggest threat. And in classic Tokyo style, she goes out on her terms. Money Heist has delivered so many death scenes now, each more moving than that last. We can only wonder what the finale season will bring, keeping our tissue box at the ready. 

How Will Money Heist End?

Season 5 was just Volume 1 of the final installment. Volume 2 is the real finale, the final five episodes, due in December. But how can Money Heist go on without Tokyo? Will Tokyo continue to guide us, narrating posthumously like Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) in American Beauty? Will Tokyo return via a ridiculous Disney death? Maybe this is all a bad dream, a hallucination, or some deviation in the multiverse. The latter seems very unlikely, even for Money Heist. 

Many characters have died in the show already, most never to return. In the wake of Nairobi’s death last season, Flores reprised the role for Season 5 in one small cameo. It’s a sweet intimate scene, a foreshadowing flashback where she discusses what happens after death with Tokyo. However, despite all the impassioned chanting of “For Nairobi!” at the end of Season 4, Nairobi remains very dead. 

Berlin (Pedro Alonso) remains the only character that has “survived” his death in Money Heist. At the end of the first heist in Season 2, Berlin sacrificed himself so the gang could escape just like Tokyo (he had a terminal illness anyway, akin to Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). Nevertheless, Berlin has been a reoccurring character throughout the second heist in flashbacks. 

In Season 5, there was a separate story arc devoted to Berlin and a new character, his son Rafael (Patrick Criado). That’s an entirely separate past heist where Berlin shows his son the ropes of thievery. It’s a dangling arc, which has nothing to do with the rest of the events in Season 5, so we can only assume that Rafael will come into play in the final five episodes. 

How Season 5 Changes the Money Heist Game

Season 5 can be characterized into three main intertwining story arcs: Tokyo’s backstory, Rafael’s indoctrination into a life of crime, and the battle at the Bank of Spain.  The tone of Season 5 is different than the previous seasons. This is all out war. The Spanish Army launches a full out military attack, sending in the special operative Sagasta (José Manuel Seda) and his black ops squad after the gang. It’s full of firefights, grenades and even a flamethrower. This season is by far the most violent. 

If someone were to just watch Season 5, it is a poor example of the series overall. Money Heist has been building tension for four seasons and Season 5 is the explosion. With the Professor (Álvaro Morte) chined up at gunpoint by Inspector Sierra (Najwa Nimri), his chess-like tactics aren’t in play and the gang only manages one significant win against their adversaries. Season 5 is more about the gun fights, explosions, and loss. Everything blows up. 

Conspicuously absent is the show’s revolutionary anthem “Bella Ciao.” The soulful WWII anti-fascist ballad gained renewed international airplay due to Money Heist, encapsulating the show’s attitude of resistance. The song has been echoing throughout the show, a reminder of the gang’s defiant struggle. However, Season 5 descends into all-out war. Whatever values the gang might have had going into the heist have fallen away and now it’s strictly about survival. 

The Epilogue – Money Heist: From Tokyo to Berlin

After Netflix turned La Casa de Papel, the original cancelled Spanish TV show, into the international juggernaut that is Money Heist, they released a documentary Money Heist: The Phenomenon. This doc explained the show’s meteoric rise as a global influencer and symbol of resistance around the globe, as well as revealed plenty of ‘making of’ content, along with cast interviews. It went deep into the filming of the death of Nairobi, including Flores’ tearful reaction to leaving her beloved character behind. 

Money Heist: From Tokyo to Berlin capitalizes on a similar device, opening with behind-the-scenes footage of the death of Tokyo. It’s a much-needed salve for heartbroken fans who’ve just watched Tokyo’s death scene, picking up right where the season finale left off. The documentary begins with the filming of Tokyo’s death as the set crew announcement is overheard “Let’s say goodbye to Úrsula” sealing Tokyo’s fate. Then it cuts to Corberó’s signature narration where she says: “Yup, I just died.”

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It’s nearly impossible to imagine Money Heist without Tokyo. She is such a central role. But Money Heist has conquered the impossible so many times before. Jesús Colmenar, the producer of Money Heist promises us one thing about the show’s future “We get this complete vision of everything and this is not the end of the bank robbery, but the end of Money Heist, which is quite a huge thing.”  Money Heist Season 5 Volume 2, the final episodes of the series, comes to Netflix on December 3rd.

The post Money Heist: How Season 5 Changed the Series Forever appeared first on Den of Geek.

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The List - the Meat Life Reviews the Avengers: Infinity Saga

It’s back!  the Meat Life’s The List returns to rank all of the MCU Infinity Saga movies from Iron Man all the way to Spider-Man: Far From Home.

With the home release of Avengers: Endgame, I thought it would be a great time to revisit the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Two summers ago, after I had watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and about a month before I got to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming, I ranked the MCU movies.  You can find that ranking here.  Now that I have watched what Kevin Feige describes as the final installment in Marvel’s Infinity Saga, I go through the movies again and rank all 23 installments including the last two --- Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. For the ones I ranked in the first one, I have included their old ranking in parentheses. And since Tumblr now limits pictures in entries to ten, I will include pictures of the new reviews.

#23 (15) - The Incredible Hulk (2008)

This is the second film in the first phase of the MCU.  The movie is mostly forgotten in the MCU, including by me.  It wasn’t a bad movie (certainly a marked improvement from 2003′s Hulk), but it felt like something was missing from it.  Of course, there is only so much you can do with a character in its own movie.  We find Bruce Banner (played by Edward Norton in this movie) being chased by General Ross, the man who spearheaded the project to create super soldiers that created the Hulk. Ross will become an important figure 8 years later in Civil War. And of course at the end of the movie we have a Tony Stark-building a team cameo and this was the intro of OG Avenger Bruce Banner/Hulk. Was the worse MCU movie in my initial ranking, and it remains there.

#22 (14) - Iron Man 2 (2010)

The weakest of the Iron Man movies.  They replace Terrence Howard’s Rhodey with Don Cheadle, who in the long run has better chemistry with Robert Downey Jr, but in this movie is just weird to see instead of Howard.  The villains are also probably the weakest of the MCU, with Ivan Vanko looking to exact revenge against the Stark family and Justin Hammer as the head of rival weapons manufacturer looking to take down Tony Stark. Totally didn’t notice the Elon Musk cameo until about the fourth time I watched it, a big inspiration for the Tony Stark movie character. The biggest contribution to the MCU/Infinity Saga is the introduction of OG Avenger Black Widow.

#21 (10) - Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Loki is one of the better villains of the MCU, and in The Dark World he is on full display. Is he good? Is he bad? In this installment, Thor must work with Loki to defeat the Dark Elves who are going after Jane Foster because she has the Ether within her. The cliff-hanger style ending makes it almost unfulfilling. The plot isn’t really as important as the introduction of the Ether, later known as the Reality Stone and the movie’s use in Avengers: Endgame.

#20 (9) - Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Although Age of Ultron was seen as a step back from the first Avengers, it is still a very solid film especially after knowing the full picture of the Infinity Saga. This is very much a set up movie, though.  We see Tony Stark accidentally create Ultron out of feeling the need to further protect the world (and also created Vision to counter). We see Hawkeye with a family and a Romanov-Banner romance.  We see the introduction of the Maximov kids, with Quicksilver’s death toward the end and Scarlet Witch joining the Avengers. And whilst on the run we also see some of the seeds of tension between Stark and Rogers as well as the leveling of the Sokovia that are important later in Captain America: Civil War. I also didn’t notice that much when I first watched but they introduced Wakanda as the source of vibranium and the vibranium poacher Ulysses Klaue.

#19 (13) - Thor (2011)

I did enjoy the movie, although I will say that this is one of the weaker entries in the MCU.  As the heir to the throne of Asgard, the arrogant Thor loses his hammer and must prove his worthiness before getting it back.  He bumps into scientist Jane Foster played by Natalie Portman (yes!).  He humbles himself and eventually earns back his hammer and has to fight the forces of his brother Loki. We see the first appearance of Hawkeye who will become one of the OG Avengers.

#18 (11) - Doctor Strange (2016)

Arrogant doctor Stephen Strange travels to Nepal in search of a treatment for his hands that were devastated from a car accident.  He gets trained by the Ancient One to reveal powers in how to access different dimensions and wield mystical weapons.  He has to harness these powers to fight Kaecilius, who has stolen pages of an ancient handbook to access the Dark Dimension.  Some of the mystical stuff might not be for everyone and I only stuck with it because I like Benedict Cumberbatch and I’m glad I did. I’ve heard Doctor Strange described as Iron Man but with magic, and that’s not wrong.

#17 - Captain Marvel (2019)

We see Carol Danvers, who has lost her memory of her origin and has an unrealized power, think she’s Kree, a sort of police warrior race. She eventually goes against them when she figures out they exiled Krulls and lied to her about her human origin. Along the way she goes to Earth in the 1990’s and does sort of a buddy cop detective case with the SHIELD agent Nick Fury to figure out who she is. It was cool to see how Fury loses his eye and seeing the old Tesseract/Space Stone. While Captain Marvel is not a bad movie, in my opinion this would have been a much stronger movie if they leaned more into her backstory of being held down and knocked down a lot more. Unintentionally, but in my mind this will always be measured against Wonder Woman, about the only thing in the MCU era that DC did better than Marvel.

#16 (6) - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) 

I had this ranked higher in my initial ranking but I must say after a while I liked some of the other titles better than this one. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 picks up where the last left off, mixing the right amount of humor and action and pulling on just enough heartstrings for you to be pulled right in.  The Guardians have to face against someone they never expected: Peter Quill’s dad.  We see the introduction of Mantis and her addition to the Guardians.

#15 (8) - Ant-Man (2015)

Ant-Man grew on me.  Marvel may well have a formula now with the mix of humor and superhero action, but it’s a formula that works.  Here we follow unlikely hero Scott Lang played by Paul Rudd, a former engineer turned petty criminal, training to break into Pym Technologies using Hank Pym’s old shrinking suit to take down the corrupted Pym protege Darren Cross.  Rudd’s humor, chemistry with Evangeline Lilly’s Hope van Dyne, along with humorous sidekicks played by Michael Pena and T.I. are the glue to this movie.

#14 (7) - Iron Man 3 (2013)

I think most don’t give the final installment of the Iron Man trilogy much credit.  We are reminded of why we love the Tony Stark character.  In spite of his arrogance there is a tremendous heart, and we see both on full display here.  Set after the events of the first Avengers, Stark is going through PTSD.  He tries to navigate through that while being attacked by new threats. And it was good after the large scale of the first Avengers movie to get something more down to Earth.

#13 - Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

We pick up after the events of Captain America: Civil War, where Scott Lang is serving the back end of a two-year house arrest for breaking the Sokovia Accords. Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne are underground and developed a quantum accelerator in the hopes of getting Hank’s wife Janet van Dyne out of the quantum realm. Arms dealer Sonny Burch and unstable phasing Ghost are after the accelerator. After the heaviness of Avengers: Infinity War, it was nice to have a little relief on a smaller scale. And Paul Rudd doing Paul Rudd things is always pleasant.

#12 - Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Picking up after the events of Captain America: Civil War (and apparently “eight years” after the first Avengers movie), we see Peter Parker filling his time being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man under the distant watchful eye of Happy Hogan and Tony Stark. That is, until he finds The Vulture’s henchmen Shocker one and two selling weapons infused with alien tech from the Invasion of New York. We get a great sequence where Peter learns the night of homecoming that his love interest Liz is actually the Vulture’s daughter and all the tension that follows. With all due respect to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland fits the Spider-Man/Peter Parker role the very best. And at the end, we get something that rarely happens with Marvel villains...the Vulture lives and goes to jail.

#11 (12) - Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

This movie has aged very well over time. Steve Rogers, a scrawny kid from New York, wanted to serve his country in the middle of World War II.  He was selected for experimental super soldier program and became the face of the US military, spending time raising money for the USO.  Then he starts hunting down Nazi science division Hydra and its leader Red Skull.  It ends with Rogers downing a Hydra bomber and crashing it in ice, preserving him until modern time. It also heartbreakingly separates Rogers from love interest Peggy Carter, SSR Agent who helped him through his WWII missions and promised a dance. This pays off later.

#10 (5) -  Iron Man (2008)

The film that kick started the entire MCU.  Here we follow Tony Stark and the origin of Iron Man, birthed from Stark being captured by a mercenary terror group and called to action after seeing his company’s weapons in the wrong hands.  This was a role ready-made for Robert Downey Jr, a great mix of arrogance, empathy, and quick wit.  And there’s plenty of action. And with that first movie we get the first post-credit scene, a now trademark Marvel touch, introducing Nick Fury the Director of SHIELD recruiting Stark into a “bigger universe.”

#9 (4) - Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

I’ll admit, when Marvel announced Guardians of the Galaxy, I had planned on skipping out.  I knew nothing of the comic and it looked cheesy.  So yes, I had my doubts about a group that included a talking raccoon and a fighting tree.  But I gave it a chance and Guardians ended up being one of the stronger movies of the MCU.  We see the origin of Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord and how the Guardians came together.  This has that right mix of humor, action, chemistry, and 80s mix tape. And we see the introduction of the Orb containing the Power Stone.

#8 - Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Eight months following the events of Avengers: Endgame, we get to see some of the aftermath of the world after “The Blip,” including a hilarious school news tribute video of our fallen heroes set to Whitney Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You.” We see Nick Fury commandeer Peter’s summer class trip to Europe to initially help Mysterio battle what looks to be Elementals from another dimension set to destroy Earth. Little do we know that it’s all an illusion that Mysterio and a crew of technicians in an effort to destroy Tony Stark’s legacy and become the biggest savior of the world. That’s about as in depth I’ll go since this movie is still in theaters so I won’t spoil the fun. But I will say that this is probably the best version of a Spider-Man movie with all the awkward teen moments, his heavy weight of responsibility of being in line to be the next Tony Stark, and the sweet interplay between Parker and Zendaya’s MJ as well as bestie Jacob Batalon’s Ned. The MCU is in good hands post-Infinity Saga with Spider-Man on board. And there is a great surprise in the end credit scene.

#7 - Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

This Thor. Marvel finally figured out how to use Thor and Chris Hemsworth’s comedic timing. Right from the opening monologue you get that this is a different movie from the other two Thor’s. After Odin’s death, Thor’s half-sister Hela takes over Asgard as Thor and Loki disappear to the planet Sakaar. Thor is imprisoned as a gladiator-style fighter where he bumps into his “friend from work” Hulk. They all link up with Valkyrie, a former Asgardian warrior to escape Sakaar and save the Asgardian people from destruction. We see great comedy and chemistry between all the main characters, Idris Elba’s Heimdall get a lot of screen time protecting and hiding the Asgardian people from Hela, and hilarious performances from Karl Urban’s Skurge and Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster. In the end credit scene we see Thanos’ ship coming in for the events directly preceding Avengers: Infinity War.

#6 (3) - The Avengers (2012)

Director Joss Whedon pulled off what people once thought impossible...a superhero team-up movie. We see Nick Fury pull together Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and later Hawkeye for the first time to figure out and stop Loki’s plan to use the Chitauri warriors to take over Earth. The Avengers definitely is an action movie with some dramatic elements but the thing that sticks out about this is even with New York City in peril, the ride is great!  The chemistry of the entire ensemble is on full display.  Before Thanos, Loki makes for probably the strongest villain in the series.  When this came out, it was hard to see Marvel top this. And we see a glimpse of Thanos for the first time in a post-credits scene.

#5 - Black Panther (2018)

Marvel never stops amazing world building, a vibrant look at the fictional nation of Wakanda included. Black Panther picks up after the events of Captain America: Civil War, but to open we get a flashback of Oakland, California in 1992 that will impact the entire plot that follows. We then see Prince T’Challa get crowned king upon his return to Wakanda, following the death of his father T’Chaka in Civil War. Mysterious American Killmonger works with vibranium poacher Ulysses Klaue at first seemingly to steal more vibranium. As the movie progresses it is revealed that Killmonger is actually Wakandan whose father was killed in the opening scene in Oakland and is after the throne. Upon several viewings, there are multiple layers as there are in Ryan Coogler directed movies. This movie is part James Bond (with T’Challa’s sister Shuri playing the Q role), part family drama, part political thriller, and of course part Marvel movie. Black Panther tries to tackle political issues like inclusion, globalization, and immigration while also addressing how a family’s mistakes from the past can haunt and impact a family’s future. Michael B Jordan’s Killmonger is a top three MCU villain and there are wonderful performances from Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross, and Andy Serkis’ Klaue. The end credit scene shows a relaxed Bucky talking to Shuri about his recovery.

#4 (2) - Captain America: Civil War (2016)

In this installment, the Avengers find themselves under hot water after an accident on a mission.  The UN votes to approve the Sokovia Accords that limits the Avengers decision making, splitting the team between those who support it who stand with Iron Man and those who oppose it who stand with Captain America. During the signing, we see an attack that initially looked like it was done by the Winter Soldier but is really carried out by a former Sokovian special forces soldier who is seeking to destroy the Avengers for indirectly killing his family. Civil War has probably the coolest fight scene of the series at a German airport.  The newbies Black Panther and Spider-Man are a sight to see.  And there is a twist ending that’s really heart wrenching that splits our two main Avengers in Iron Man and Captain America. 

#3 - Avengers: Endgame (2019)

I reviewed this a few months ago, so I’ll provide the link to my review here. What I will discuss here is how great this movie is. I almost put this at number 1. The storytelling and the conclusion to many of the main characters is so satisfying as a fan. It just felt so good to watch. I may rank this higher if I ever revisit the Infinity Saga, but for now I think top three at the very least is very very good. And it is the most satisfying ending to a movie series since The Dark Knight Rises. But I placed the other two above it for the reasons I will outline.

#2 (1) - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Wow. For so long this has been my favorite MCU movie and probably still is. We see Cap and Black Widow running from SHIELD, out to hunt down the Winter Soldier for the assassination of Nick Fury. Out of all the MCU, this movie had a modern real world feel with its questions about how to determine whether or not someone is a threat. It kind of revisits a concept dealt with in Minority Report, whether someone’s free will determines their criminality or their preconceived conditions. It had great action sequences. And it defined the direction of the MCU with its revelation that Hydra was secretly controlling SHIELD for all those years. In this installment in the MCU, we see the possibility of how these movies can be dealt. There can be genre movies within the comic book genre. This was the political spy thriller of the MCU, in the same vein as some of those political thrillers of the 1970s. And as it pertains to the bigger Infinity Saga story, we find out Steve Roger’s old buddy Bucky is the infamous assassin The Winter Soldier. And we get the introduction of Sam Wilson, the Falcon.

#1 - Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

I never got to review this when it initially came out. This is basically a Thanos movie disguised and named as an Avengers movie. The best MCU villains have the most fleshed out backstories, and in Infinity War we get Thanos’ background, how his world collapsed and how he came about his reasoning behind wanting to eliminate half of the universe’s inhabitants. You see his rational, and even though he goes about things the wrong way (I mean, he is a villain), you get to see his reasoning and motivation behind his quest. For this alone, I felt compelled to rank it number one just because of how different the approach was and how effective the execution turned out.

Then, inter-spliced with Thanos’ story is the present day struggle. The beginning of the movie we see the destroyed Asgardian ship with Thanos and his disciples taking out most of the leadership, but not before Heimdall uses the Bifrost to get Hulk back to Earth. We see Heimdall and Loki die and Thor left for dead before Thanos moves on with the Space Stone and already in possession of the Power Stone.

The story builds toward two separate teams. The space team with Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Nebula, and the Guardians minus Rocket and Groot defend the Time Stone with the ultimate face off with Thanos on the collapsed planet Titan. Before that, Thanos had a skirmish with the Guardians on Knowhere before ultimately obtaining the Reality Stone from the Collector, kidnapping Gamora in the process. Thanos killed Gamora on the planet Vormir to obtain the Soul Stone. Before the fight on Titan, Dr. Strange looks into the future and sees 14 million possible outcomes and only one where they win. The Earth team with Captain America, Falcon, Black Widow, War Machine, Bruce Banner, Scarlett Witch, Vision, Black Panther, and the Wakandan military protect Vision while Shuri tries to unlink the Mind Stone to destroy without harming Vision while battling the Chitauri and some of Thanos’ disciples in Wakanda with Thor, Rocket, and Groot dropping in toward the end.

The space team almost grabs the gauntlet from Thanos but ultimately fail (partly due to Peter Quill’s temper after finding out Gamora was killed by Thanos). Thanos then descends to Earth into Wakanda and some of the Earth team, in particular Captain America holds him off long enough for Scarlett Witch to destroy the Mind Stone, killing her love Vision. But Thanos uses the Time Stone to turn Vision back long enough to restore the Mind Stone and obtain the last stone he was searching for. Right before he is able to snap his gauntlet fingers, Thor drops down with his new ax Stormbreaker, thrusting the ax into Thanos’ chest. But Thanos is still able to snap his fingers, dusting half the population of the universe including some of our heroes: in particular Black Panther, most of the Guardians, Dr. Strange, and, in probably the most emotional scene outside of Endgame, Spider-Man.

If you were a moviegoer in a previous era and didn’t know they were already shooting Spider-Man: Far From Home, the impact of The Snap would have resonated so much more. Even in this era, though, the ending of the film was sharp, jarring, and effective.

—————

That’s my list! I may revisit years down the line, and some of these movies may age better than others. But I feel pretty comfortable about where these movies ended up. Let me know what you think! And enjoy the home release of Avengers: Endgame!

Chapter 3: When does the plot start

As teased, the chapter opens with Wade logging into the chatroom of his best (and only) friend "Aech". This is pronounced like the letter H, for unexplained but definitely revelatory reasons. 

The room is Aech's personal space, known as "The Basement", and fully rendered as a three-dimensional space you can walk around and interact with. If you immediately pictured a gawdy wood-paneled rec room full of 80s junk, you nailed it because that's exactly what it is. The Angry Video Game Nerd would feel right at home in this lair of nostalgic fetishism. Except actual nostalgia is a pretty natural response to the memories we had when we were younger, a fondness for the things that we used to have and can never really experience the same way again. But this is second-hand nostalgia; born of unquestioning adoration for their billionaire digital warrior god. It's a worship of media that only has value due to the association with their hero. You may as well build a culture around loving peanut butter and banana sandwiches or shooting TVs because Elvis is your favorite singer, regardless of your lifelong nut and revolver allergies. 

Aech, one of the highest-ranked competitive gamers in the world, met Wade one day in a public gunter chatroom and they hit it off right away, because they both share the same obsession with James Halliday's easter egg hunt. Why this is at all noteworthy in a chatroom expressly about this subject isn't worth dwelling on.

Aech and Wade also bond over their status as solo gunters, the respected loners who don't need no clan to seek the poorly-defined means for acquiring a disgusting fortune. Make no mistake though, Aech may be one of the best gamers on the planet but even he can't measure up to our hero's innate skill. Right after Wade destroys him at a game made 40 years before either of them were born, they spend the next two pages of this ten page chapter arguing about whether or not the film Ladyhawke is good or "a crapburger". This carefully-reasoned discussion totals more words about Ladyhawke than have been written about it in the two and a half decades between when it came out in theaters and when this miserable book was released.

The chapter closes with further nerd signaling as Wade thoroughly owns an obnoxious gunter in their midst. No one likes this guy but he's still allowed to hang out in this private chatroom for the express purpose of making themselves feel smarter. This poor sap refers to himself as "I-r0k" but he may as well be called "Str4w-m4n".

What follows is essentially a Wikipedia entry about the Swordquest video games series on the Atari 2600, broken out in a dialogue scene where Wade dominates this pathetic oaf with his incredible mastery of Atari trivia. I-r0k is even told to read said Wikipedia to educate himself on this important topic. Their pathetic foe vanquished, Wade and Aech agree to meet up again after school to continue this meeting of the minds, to their excitement and my dismay.

Pop Culture references: 58 (5.7 per page)

Video Games

Intellivision I Contra I Golden Axe I Heavy Barrel I Smash TV I Ikari Warriors I Tron: Deadly Discs I Astrosmash I Atari 2600 I Swordquest IIIII II Adventure I

Television

Star Trek I Spaced I

Movies

Japanese giant monster films I Rutger Hauer I Ladyhawke IIIII III Star Wars IIIII I Airplane! I Howard the Duck I Krull I Highlander II I Blade Runner I Ferris Bueller's Day Off I WarGames I The Goonies I Superman: The Movie I Legend I

Music

Duran Duran I Alan Parsons Project I

Comics

Swordquest II

General nerding

Dungeons & Dragons III Starlog II Wikipedia I

Technology

Betamax I LaserDisc I

I'd love to hear your opinions on A Wrinkle in Time :)

OH BOY!!!!

 *jumps up and down excitedly*

A few sentences and then bullets, because they help organize my scattered thoughts…

Once upon a time around 11 years ago, I ran a rinky-dink blogger blog that was all about fangirling media …mostly films.

I can’t tell you how many posts I wrote about the need for not just basic representation, but expansive representation in entertainment.  

In other words, not just limited to comedy,  “black niche”, action, side-kicks, villains, and sitcoms… but period projects, where black characters weren’t slaves or servants (I specifically mentioned Dido Elizabeth Belle as a great possible subject and I got to see Belle happen!) and especially genre, LEADING roles in major tentpole projects, with the budget and cross-cultural/international push that has always typically gone to white-lead projects.

…And here I am, alive to see A Wrinkle in Time and Black Panther happen next year. :’)

So, here are my bulleted reasons why this is awesome, and why I shed actual tears just seeing the damn trailer…

Ava DuVernay, has the eye for not only filming resonant emotional intimacy on camera, but also to capture the beauty of color, not just backgrounds and sets, but skin.  …And so many so-called pros have failed in that.  So, I know I get to see those gorgeous gold/red/brown hues of the skin on people of color actually “glow” on the big screen…I have honestly, never seen Mindy Kaling’s skin look as radiant as those two seconds in the trailer

Meg!!!!! She’s played by an unknown young actor.  Storm Reid, who only had one other small, but resonant role in 12 Years a Slave.  Storm Reid, a black girl, a black child is being given the same “discovery” opportunity that so many fresh white actors have gotten over the years. And is the first to do so in such a high-budget tentpole fantasy production.

MIXED RACE LEADING FAMILY!! I reblogged a post earlier that asserted the existence of interracial relationships are not innately advancing. And that is absolutely true.  We would not have so many Black Americans and Black Latinos of various hues and mixes descended from enslavement if that were the case. And even today, people bring whatever racial baggage they have to ALL of their interactions. However, a mixed family existing in this particular context, being seen all over the world with regular human challenges and just being a family in a major international film is advancing. It exposes people to people; it embodies the idea of film and tv being an “empathy machine”.  …Allowing people to identify, possibly even against their will with ‘the other’ (see: the racist fan who ID’d with Uhura in Star Trek TOS who disavowed that hateful life because of it). It also means the world to the growing number of mixed-race families out there, reflecting us more accurately.

The women.  I’ve been a fan of Ms. Reese since Legally Blonde, even moreso, now because she has her own production company to specifically seek out works by women to produce.  Mindy Kaling, the dark-skinned Indian-American woman who has written her own show, becoming the first woman of her nationality and hue(!) to reach those heights in Hollywood, and Oprah… the epitome of black woman’s power. Directed by Ava DuVernay, the first black woman to gain the kind of power that so many before her have earned, directing this massively funded Disney blockbuster-name brand fantasy (hopefully) franchise. 

I remember seeing the TV movie A Wrinkle in Time, and I was assigned the book to read in grade school (I’ll admit, I only checked those SparkNotes).  It was a decent watch, but was visually small for the ideas presented.  This feels as expansive as the” fantasy science” deserves.

The best Chris is in this…  I guarantee Chris Pine begged his agent to do this movie because he was already a fan of Selma and wanted to work with Ava (most of us have seen him crying at the Academy Awards over the Selma presentation).  Chris has taste.  Also, given the reputation of more than a few self-indulgent and cruel, white male directors who somehow still keep getting work, I bet he was grateful to work with pros who weren’t like that (in Patti Jenkins and Ava Duvernay).

I am a woman who is a “genuine fan” of films in the genre, I’m talking everything from Krull to Howl’s Moving Castle. I was a black girl who always loved these films despite them lacking any semblance of my reflection (hey, that empathy machine!). And now, I’m a middle-aged black woman who finally gets to see that reflection, that child who loved this so much, exist as a lead in her favorite genre. :’)

TV openings- What Works

I really like this opening. The glitchy rock music perfectly works against the heavy visuals of close-up weapons. The colour scheme makes it intense while the sound is chilling, the motif of smoke brings out a matching motif within the music that is also oddly uplifting and motivational.

Story wise, this doesn’t give anything away, it is far more abstract but also gives the impression of the titular character getting ready for a fight, which is accurate of the entire show.

Though there is a slight variation between every two episodes in the form of a teaser and catchup of what has happened and is going to happen in this episode. This opening is oddly chirpy for the events of the show, but it works to match the cheery pessimism that seems to flow throughout the show. The visuals of a conspiracy web being plotted and connected feels well timed against the consistent beat of the music, without actually being quite in time with it. 

The sepia and black and white colour filter over the top of certain parts are a great way of communicating that this is a past story being told from a future perspective. There are also several motifs within the visuals, from the constant eyes, tied into the secret organisation in the show that is also emphasised by the repeated lyric ‘Look away’. This ‘Look away’ also directly addresses the audience, another feature of the show the titles set up, as there is a narrator throughout all of it as he tracks the story of the Baudelaire orphans.

Now this is cool. For a show all about a meticioulslcy planned and detailed heist and the repercussions of when it goes wrong, I don’t think anything would have worked better as a title sequence than a highly detailed paper model of the ‘Royal Mint of Spain’. The sequence starts with the model disassembled, laying in sheets on a table, then shifts to a built up wall where the lights flicker on suggesting the planning and then commencement of said plan. From there it shifts to shots within the model, as more and more drawn detail appears on each surface, after the initial drawings it is the details and key persons involved in the plan.

I feel that it is important to note the development of this sequence, as it tells a much clearer story than some of the other openings that are less clear, choosing to mix up images to keep the audience guessing. This sequence has a lot of detail, yet gives away nothing of the actual plot, only that there is a plan and who is involved. There is development, but of the plan, not of the show.

The cold, soft music exert from ‘My Life Is Going On’ by Cecilia Krull is probably my personal favourite part of this sequence, it is an eery backdrop to the meticioulslcy detailed titles, while also being the first suggestion that something is going to go wrong. The protagonist of this show is Úrsula Corberó, known to the other heist members as Tokyo, (so as to not form proper connections and also so they are unable to name the others if one is caught). 

This is significant to the song as it feels like she could be singing it, and that she doesn’t actually care about the heist as a result of the relationship she has with Rio, (another member of the team who causes the heist to go wrong). The lyric ‘if I’m choosing wrong, I don’t care at all’ is the best example of this connection between the titles and the show.

So for a comedy show about ghost inhabiting people’s bodies, exorcisms and people who can see said ghosts and kill them by shoving poles... where the sun don’t shine (I’m not joking that’s how they kill the ghosts), this title sequence definitely fits the show. Visually it isn’t as impressive as some of the others on this list, panning across a scene of chaos and teases at some of the content of the show, but it gets the job done through the use of the upbeat ‘Kill of the Night’ by Gin Wigmore that keeps the audience invested until the neon silhouettes start swinging weapons and hit that final dramatic pose when the title is lit up.

http://www.harryhandyside.com/crazyhead

I think the first thing I like about this sequence is how it starts, overlaying the action prior to it with a black title card where the text is a window to allow what came before to continue for the first few seconds as Dave Porter’s music interrupts the sounds before. And this title card overlay motif is repeated throughout the sequence, overlaying images and small clips of film with the names of the cast. Each image or clip pertains to that character whose card covers it, so we don’t need to be shown the actual characters to know who it is referring to. 

Porter’s score here is beautifully western, with all the croaky horns, drum beats and chorus of ‘OOs’ to really get that feeling of being in the violent, broken town the first series is based in. What’s surprising is how well the song works in the other two series, despite not being in the same location as the first. The opening is actually quite cheery, but almost in a sarcastic way, it contrasts so much with the frequently-dark show that the opening seems to be poking fun at the trope of typical western music by not being what we expect for the show and parodying what we expect for a western instead.

Empress Of- When I'm With Him

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (3/7-3/10-19)-

Thursday

Damien Jurado is playing at Highland Park Ebell with Anna St.Louis opening

Justus Proffit is having a record release party at Zebulon with Pardoner and Orchin also performing

MOCA Grand Avenue is having the last iteration of its Blame the Audience free film series organized by Jason Simon. Tonight features the films Tiger Morse by Andy Warhol, If Andy Warhol’s Super-8 Camera Could Talk by Roddy Bogawa, and Outfitumentary by K8 Hardy.

There's an art walk and block party with live music, live artists, vendors, art, and more in Mar Vista

Brooklyn based multimedia artist Miss Eaves will be performing her songs at The Hi Hat (free)

Adia Victoria is playing at the Moroccan Lounge with Dick Stusso and Sofia Bolt opening

Friday

ArtNight Pasadena returns with its free evening of live music, performances, and free admission to museums and galleries in Pasadena. There will also be free shuttles to take you around to the various locations.

Artist Carrie Mae Weems is combining music, text, projection and video for her performance based work Past Tense at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel. The work looks at the famous work Antigone and its relevance to today's political times.

French for Rabbits and Kate Teague are playing a free early show at Gold-Diggers

Big Wild are playing at The Novo with Robotaki and Mild Minds opening

Rosie Tucker will be performing at The Hi Hat to celebrate the release of her new LP

Small Forward and Jerkagram are opening for Reptaliens at The Satellite

Black Midi are playing at the Bootleg Theater with SK Kakraba and Superet opening

Saturday

Empress Of is playing at the El Rey Theatre with Salt Cathedral and Saro opening

At Bergamot Station there will be several artist talks starting at 10:30am with Stan Edmonson, Lou Beach and Pierre Picot speaking at Craig Krull; Laurie Raskin at Skidmore Contemporary Art at 11:30am; and Gabriel Sanchez and Carlo Macucci at Lora Schlesinger Gallery at 12:30pm

Helms Bakery District has free screenings all day of over 24 short films on architecture and design. They will be shown on a loop in the six participating showrooms.

Atlas Obscura and Adam Papagan are hosting a screening of Public Access Talent Show, which focuses on performances unique to LA, at Zebulon

Beatriz Cortez and Rafa Esparza will be at Craft Contemporary to speak about their collaborative relationship as artists and friends and their work (free but rsvp)

Hauser & Wirth will have a free daylong screening of Piero Manzoni Artista in conjunction with his exhibition at the gallery- Piero Manzoni. Materials of His Time

Sad Park are playing at The Smell with The Groans, Gold Vine and .XOM

Julia Holter is playing Lodge Room with Tess Roby opening

Sammy Brue, Alaska Reid and Will Fox are playing a free show at Bootleg Theater

Sunday

Zebulon has a free screening of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove- Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb and later they are hosting Weirdo Night with Dynasty Handbag, Patty Schemel and other performers along with a screening of the 1983 film City of Lost Souls, a queer punk musical starring Jayne County

It's the last day to see Ralph Ziman's Casspir Project at The Rendon Gallery and the second day of live painting that Ziman will be doing at the gallery with fellow artist Keya Tama

Smokescreens and The Molochs are opening for The Monochrome Set at the Echoplex

DJ Windows 98 (Win Butler of Arcade Fire) will be performing at 1720

Lowland Hum are playing at the Bootleg Theater

Jonathan Bree is playing at The Echo with Big Search and Das Kope opening

Things around this year finally thank different

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So what are some good examples and counter examples for titillating stories?

INDIVIDUAL EXAMPLES

(Trying to name some of the strongest, most obvious examples for me; the “level 3 ones”)

“Bad Company”

“The Sea-wolf”

“Les Liaisons Dangereuses”

“Pinocchio” (1976 tv series)

“Le Dernier Chant des Malaterres”

“Our Lady of the Flowers”

”Cowboy Bebop”

“Lolita”

“The Vampire chronicles”

“The Wire”, because of its portrayal of the black gang coolness, outfits, body language, “vida loca”.

“The Lies of Locke Lamora”

“Huckleberry Finn”

“Berlin, Alexanderplatz”

“Kids”

“Spirited away”

“The Name of the Wind”

“Breaking Bad”

“Game of Thrones”

“Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull”

“Brazil” (Updike)

How about “The Soparanos”? ---> Would probably have to count as an example, too although for my personal taste, family life takes something of a big share, plus the criminal machinations are a bit too business flavoured, rather than petty crime flavoured, as one would expect from a story about the Mafia.

INDIVIDUAL COUNTER EXAMPLES

(that I still enjoyed watching / reading)

“Mad Men”

“The Simpsons”

“Futurama”

“House”

“Friends”

“The Big Bang Theory”

EXAMPLES / ENTIRE GENRES

This is a super sweeping statement of course, with lots and lots of exceptions; but ...

(Gonna write “most” instead of “all”, to be on the safe side.)

Most Picaresque novels.

Most fan fiction.

Most erotic fiction.

Most adventure stories.

Most pirate stories.

Most vampire stories.

Most fantasy stories.

Most Film Noir.

In a weaker, more general sense:

Most Space Operas.

Most superhero stories.

Most Romantic Comedies.

COUNTER EXAMPLES

Most comedy.

Most sitcoms.

Most “serious, ambitious fiction, that deals with the important social and moral questions of the day”, so to speak. Stories that deal with problems and issues, like the precarious life of illegal immigrants, or the devastating consequences of drug abuse, or the situation of any minority you can think of, that faces some kind of prejudices or injustices from general society. “Any subject matter that has a good chance of wining you an Emmy”.

Although, having said that ….

It's kind of hard to name what is or what isn't material for building fantasies around it, since the answer is highly subjective.

Doesn't have to be quality, or seem justified to anyone but the author him/herself.

Rants by “angry old men”. “Teenage Angst” stories, or tv series addressed to young adults, like UK's “Skins”, that kind of humour their audience by making it seem like there was nothing more serious than the challenges of growing up.

Generally: Any kind of “serious”, non trivial fiction, where the author's focus, rather than being on things that he finds titillating, is on things he/she struggles with, without deriving any kind of twisted satisfaction from this; like, say, chronic disease, parents splitting up, experiencing the end a long relationship oneself, losing a close person.

Most action films?

Most Thrillers?

(I don't watch those enough, to be able to tell.)

How about crime?

Crime stories are an interesting case, as they offer the chance to get away unscathed while showing lots of morally questionable or fascinatingly morbid things, by ascribing all the titillating bits to the bad guy(s).

So whenever you have a crime story, that spends a lot of time and effort on portraying the bad guy and his/her kinks --- there is a fair chance that this might be “titillation with a moral alibi”.

Stephen King, if it is Ausmalung at all, definitely isn't level 3 Ausmalung, but more Ausmalung of the urban legend, sensationalist kind.

Same for Quentin Tarrantino.

Now different people might come to very different conclusions here, since there is so much variation between people in what we find and what we don't find titillating.

Also, even for two people that show surprising amounts of overlap in what they find titillating in principle, it is still possible that they might watch the same film, where a slight hint of some dodgy constellation that takes up no more than, say, 50 seconds of an entire film, might light a whole firework of associations in person A's brain, because for some reason he was all primed for this, while going all but unnoticed by another person, because he wasn't primed for this.

So yeah.

There are bound to be huge amount of disagreements on this, but it seems to me that it could still be interesting to see how big the consensus between different people would ultimately be. (Relative to all these differences in people's taste, there is a surprising amount of agreement on what kind of faces we find physically attractive, for example.)

Happy weekend! Memphis In May continues this weekend with the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest… but, hey, if “BBQ Fest” isn’t your thing, then there are plenty of other options. Here are five picks for your weekend guide. Check the calendar for more. read more about Gourmade food truck here 1. Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Tom Lee Park, Wednesday through Saturday, all day, $12, all ages Teams from all over the world have set up camp in Tom Lee Park to compete in this weekend’s Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. Think of this as ton of private parties/team cookoffs all gathered together on the river  and not a festival free-for-all. You must have a invite from a team in order to enter the tents, or you can check out BBQ Alley. Read more here. 2. Latin Night, Hattiloo Theater, Friday, 6:30 p.m. – 10 p.m., $45, 21+ Sample cuisine from local Latin restaurants, enjoy performances from Salsa Memphis, plus mariachi and Latin dance music. They’ll also have a silent auction and a preview of the 2018-19 season. Tickets include appetizers and a cocktail, the event raises funds for the Dia De Los Muertos parade in Overton Square. 3. Cooper Young Garden Walk, Cooper Young Neighborhood, Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., $25 day of event, all ages/kid-friendly Tour more than 75 home gardens in this eclectic neighborhood in the second annual CY Garden Walk on Saturday or Sunday. Tour the homes at your own pace, hear a special speaker, and grab lunch or dinner at one of the CY businesses offering specials. See many more details here. 4. Family Fun Days There are a couple of Family Fun Days happening this Saturday, so pack up the kids and have some Memphis fun at one of these spots: – Dixon Gallery & Gardens, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. enjoy art activities, snacks, and special performances (free) – Metal Museum, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., enjoy art activities, hands-on fun, demos, an Iron Pour, and Gourmade food truck (free to enter, extra cost for ) – Agricenter Fishing Rodeo, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., kids ages 5-13 catch catfish in the heavily stocked Catch’em Lake ($10) 5. Time Warp Drive-In: More Gods and Monsters, Malco Summer Drive-In, Saturday, 7 p.m., $10, all ages Cult classics from the 80s on the big screen at Malco’s Summer Avenue outdoor theater. Gates open at 7 p.m., films begin at 8:15 p.m. and go all night: The Princess Bride, The Secret of Nimh, The Last Unicorn, and Krull. See more on the calendar. Are you a home owner in Memphis, with a broken garage door? Call ASAP garage door today at 901-461-0385 or checkout https://ift.tt/1B5z3Pc

http://ilovememphisblog.com/2018/05/5-things-to-do-in-memphis-5-18-5-20/

The Big Five Dive

Begun in 2015, PADI Women’s Dive Day, held every July 15, has spawned 700 events in 77 countries. The Big Five Dive, held in the Great Lakes in 2016, was one such event.

PADI Women’s Dive Day and the Big Five Dive

PADI Women’s Dive Day began in order to strengthen and grow the female dive community. As a result of the initiative, both male and female divers take part in hundreds of events across the globe each year. Part of the second annual event in 2016, the Big Five Dive connected 14 female divers from all walks of life, intent on a mission: to dive an historic site in all five Great Lakes in less than 24 hours.

“We hope to inspire the next generation of female divers to explore both careers and recreational opportunities in our underwater world, whether it’s in the Great Lakes or the ocean,” says Nick Myers, Big Five Dive sponsor and owner of Michigan PADI Dive Center Great Lakes Divers.

The Big Five Dive team included a graphic designer, two underwater archaeologists, an environmental educator, and a college student. Joining this core group were eight women, all a part of the all-female Sedna Epic Expedition. Sedna plans to snorkel all 2,000 miles of the Northwest Passage to bring global attention to disappearing sea ice in the Arctic.

Choosing the Great Lakes

When putting together the dive plan, the Big Five Dive reconnaissance team reached out to Great Lakes dive networks to find suitable dive sites. With the short time frame, they needed to find locations shallow enough to allow for multiple dives and a range of abilities. By tapping into local knowledge, the team connected to different communities, all linked through the Great Lakes watershed. “We’ve been so impressed with how supportive the Great Lakes maritime heritage community has been,” says maritime archaeologist Stephanie Gandulla.

“Whether it’s shipwreck experts sharing their knowledge, or locals at each site helping out with logistics, everyone has been really interested in exploring our Great Lakes via the Big Five Dive.”

Known for its rich maritime history, the Great Lakes hold thousands of shipwrecks. With all of the incredible dive spots, the Big Five Dive crew initially struggled to select historic sites. The 24-hour timeline, however, helped to narrow options. The wrecks needed to be both shore-accessible and close to major roads. The sites that the group settled on included top tourist destinations in the Great Lakes, and many community members came to support the divers throughout their journey. They began at midnight in Lake Superior.

Dive No. 1: Lake Superior

12:00 am | Pendills Creek, Michigan | Unidentified wooden shipwreck

Two minutes before midnight on the southern shore of Lake Superior, 14 women stood on the beach in scuba gear ready for the first of five dives, one in each of the Great Lakes. As they awaited the go-ahead to plunge into the dark water, they contemplated what lay before them…the largest freshwater system on earth.

Buddy teams quickly entered the dark, 46-degree water, and fin-walked for about 100 feet through crashing waves before it was deep enough to submerge. The divers swam on the surface, focusing on two kayakers with lights stationed at the shipwreck site. After just a few minutes of swimming, most teams had reached the small, unidentified wooden wreck and descended to a maximum depth of 15 feet for the first dive of the night.

Dive No. 2: Lake Michigan

2:40 am | Headlands International Dark Sky Park, Michigan | Unidentified wooden shipwreck

Lake Superior’s rolling waves gave way to placid waters in Lake Michigan at the next site, an hour and 20 minutes south on the northern tip of mainland Michigan. A cloudless, starry night greeted the women at the Headlands Dark Sky Park as they geared up and gathered for a quick dive briefing before scrambling down a cobble beach to the entry point. One buddy team after another, they entered the water and set out for a lengthy surface swim. The divers navigated to the unmarked shipwreck with the aid of a full moon, and of course, their dive lights. Adding to the stress of limited visibility was the constant reminder of their timeline…the clock was ticking.

Lake Michigan’s water was calm compared to the crashing waves of the first dive, and although the dive would last only 10 minutes, the women enjoyed a peaceful exploration of another unidentified wooden shipwreck, about 17 feet deep. The water was warming up as the team dove and drove their way south — Lake Michigan was a balmy 52 degrees.

Dive No. 3: Lake Huron

5:30 am | 40-mile Point, Michigan | Joseph S. Fay, wooden freighter

The sun had not yet peeked over the horizon as the divers arrived at the third dive site, 40-mile Point, a picturesque spit of land nestled in the northeast corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The backdrop on land was as striking as the imminent sunrise: an 1896 lighthouse, a freighter’s wheelhouse, a fog-signal building, and even shipwreck remains littered the beach and surrounding grounds.

Encouraged by Lake Huron’s uncharacteristically calm waters, the group swam out into Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and enjoyed their dive on the largest and most intact shipwreck they would experience that day. The Joseph S. Fay went down in a gale in 1905, and is one of nearly 100 shipwrecks that the sanctuary protects. It’s a stunning example of the preservation possible due to the cold, fresh water of the Great Lakes. When the divers surfaced after a 10-minute dive, the morning sun brightened and warmed their return to shore. Enthusiastic supporters cheered as they emerged from the lake and prepared for the next, and longest, leg of the journey.

Dive No. 4: Lake Erie

4:42 pm | Private residence, Ohio | Penelope, wooden tugboat

The fourth dive was the greatest challenge for the team. The women had been monitoring the weather on Lake Erie as they got close, and conditions were not looking good.  Entry to the site was generously provided by shoreline homeowners, but a storm had recently washed out the access point. The waves were fierce, and unpredictably smashed into the damaged break wall.  The team decided to go for it with some careful planning for entry and exit. Churning waters made actually seeing the shipwreck difficult, with visibility ranging from 6 inches to a few feet.

When the dive was over, the homeowners and other supporters formed a “bucket-brigade” line to receive tanks, BCDs, and fins from divers before they helped haul them out of the water onto the break wall. After everyone survived, the women knew they could make it to Lake Ontario and complete their final dive in time.

Dive No. 5: Lake Ontario

10:17 pm | Niagara County Krull Park | dock remains at the site of the Olcott Beach Hotel

Dangerously close to the 24-hour deadline, the divers were anxious to don their gear one last time at the final site in Lake Ontario. Nervously glancing at dive watches, the women quickly entered warm, shallow waters along a sandy beach in downtown Olcott, New York. The site was the former location of a historic hotel and docks. Some divers searched the lake bottom looking for artifacts from the 19th-century hotel, and spectators on shore saw what seemed to be a mysterious freshwater bioluminescence as 14 softly glowing lights crisscrossed the shallows in search of Great Lakes historic treasures.

Award-winning filmmakers Mad Law Media followed the divers to document the adventure. The film will premiere at the Thunder Bay International Film Festival in January 2018 in Alpena, Michigan. Click here for more information about the film. NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries’ Earth Is Blue Campaign also highlighted the Big Five Dive. Watch the video here:

The Big Five Dive brought together divers with varied experiences and backgrounds, many of them meeting for the first time. During the surface intervals — 993 miles on the road — they shared life stories and genuinely connected. Pushing one another outside of comfort zones, the divers not only saw new dive sites, but also experienced cold and exhaustion. They learned not only about themselves but gained a new diving network as well.

Great Lakes Divers, a PADI Dive Center in Alpena, Michigan, sponsored the Big Five Dive.

By guest authors Stephanie Gandulla, Meaghan Gass and Sarah Waters

The post The Big Five Dive appeared first on Scuba Diver Life.

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SANTA SANGRE (1990), DIR. A. JODOROWSKY

A childhood in the circus is interrupted for young Fenix when a series of traumatic acts of violence wrack his family. Years later, he is in a mental asylum, broken and almost inhuman. A field trip excites his memories, and reunites him with his mother, who has plans of her own for him…

The lure of Jodorowsky and circuses drew me to this title, unavailable as part of the recent US Anchor Bay retrospective of his work. This lack of US availability is a pity, as this is a beautiful film, albeit one full of grotesque and disturbing imagery amidst the beauty. Though the movie more than flirts with misogyny, I feel that by the end it has redeemed itself, at least somewhat, though even that redemption is rather problematic. Though it’s clear that emphasis is supposed to lie on the second half of the movie, I preferred the first, with its almost serene look at the latent horrors of childhood — in that light, this film seems in good company with otherwise unrelated (though equally surreal) fare such as Valerie and her Week of Wonders in depicting the rite of passage into adolescence as a nightmarish, dangerous place. However, the critical difference seems to be that in such stories focused on this transition in the female experience (Valerie, Company of Wolves, Innocence, Lemora, etc.), the terror in such a passage is in the simultaneous fear of and curiosity about burgeoning sexuality, while in this film (and perhaps others in a more mainstream, commercial, adventurous context — Krull, Neverending Story, etc) the young male protagonist is hampered by his inability to act coupled with a cluelessness about what to do when the right time comes. There’s probably something more to this idea…

Star Wars Rip-Offs: The Good, the Bad, and the Weird

A more innocent time, when a Swedish actor playing an Asian villain bothered no one.

As a major, SJW-infested corporation trots out another installment of a beloved franchise, devoid of excitement and fresh ideas but pumped to the gills with Social Justice, it’s interesting to go back to an earlier, more innocent time, shortly after the first Star Wars (1977) came out.  Not only was it legitimately excellent, it also became an insane success that changed the very economics of the film industry from a system dominated by directors making serious art for adults (think Network (1976), Chinatown (1974), or even more action-oriented fare like The French Connection (1971)) to one focusing on special effects-laden blockbusters for teens.  Many, myself included, would argue this was ultimately for the worst, but that’s a topic for another column.

The point is that in the wake of Star Wars’ success (the second-highest grossing film of all time when factoring in inflation, after Gone with the Wind (1939)), there were a slew of imitators.  Ignoring obvious foreign crap like the infamous Turkish Star Wars (1982), let’s look at a few of these.

Flash Gordon (1980)

Sure, Flash Gordon started as a comic strip in 1934 and there were several film serials released in the late 30s and early 40s.  But would there possibly have been a big-screen adaptation 40 years later if not for the success of the Star Wars franchise at the time?  Not a chance.  And it was produced by none other than Dino de Laurentiis, the brilliant, incorrigible, and utterly insane Italian mogul.

The film is a mess in many ways.  It went through numerous directorial changes (at various points, Fellini, George Lucas, and Sergio Leone were all considered!) and according to script writer Lorenzo Semple Jr, they couldn’t figure out whether to make it more serious or comical, eventually settling on the “wrong” choice of a cartoonish approach.  The lead Sam Jones physically looks the part of a tall, well-built, handsome American hero.  Unfortunately, being a nude model with no acting experience, he lacks charisma and even basic personality.  A disagreement with De Laurentiis also led to much of his dialogue being overdubbed.  Beyond that, the movie is a series of one set piece after another, frequently mediocre, with little rhyme or reason for them, but full of Three Stooges style hijinx.

And yet, there is a definite charm to the picture.  While Jones fails to impress, future James Bond Timothy Dalton is a fine roguish prince, the great Max Von Sydow is a solid villain, and the wonderful British character actor Brian Blessed, with his booming voice, is a memorable leader of the Hawkmen.  It’s a loud, boisterous movie, with colorful costumes and a genuine energy to it, no matter how silly the set piece.

And of course, it features a genuinely great soundtrack by Queen.  When most people think of the film, the opening lines of the theme play in their heads, and many of its other flaws melt away.  The song being used for the final, climactic battle is genuinely thrilling.

Krull (1983)

Reminds me a little of the character select screen for Golden Axe!

As I’ve mentioned in the comments here, this is my absolute favorite of the Star Wars rip-offs, which is equal to or even superior to the original in many ways.  Directed by the great, now slightly forgotten English director Peter Yates, it was my favorite movie as a child.  I dreaded revisiting it as an adult, as my reaction to most of what I liked then was “How the hell did I ever like THAT?!  This is crap!  I must have been a dumb kid!”  However, watching it as a jaded adult, not only did I enjoy it, but at its best, it inspired the same feelings of awe and wonder I had felt as a child.

Krull is a sprawling epic, with a ragged band of adventurers going on a hero’s journey to rescue a princess in a beautiful, enchanting, and deadly world.  Unlike Flash Gordon mentioned above, the set pieces in this movie are incredible, and feature considerable ingenuity.  Even the mystical weapon in the movie, a multi-bladed mix between a shuriken and a boomerang called a glaive (not to be confused with the actual historical weapon of the same name) proved so popular it has been many used in many fantasy properties since.

The fights are thrilling, the heroes likable, and the villains, including their creepy, insane castle, are dark and menacing.  In fact, it succeeds at many of the same metrics that Star Wars did, if not to the same extent.

However, in one regard it is clearly better than Star Wars, and that is the soundtrack.  Yes, Star Wars is excellent there, but I consider James Horner’s work on Krull to be the best in all of film history.  Even better than Basil Poledouris’ work on Conan the Barbarian (1982) or Ennio Morricone’s numerous masterpieces.

The music is ever-present, a constant element throughout the picture, elevating each scene.  If the picture wasn’t fundamentally good, the soundtrack wouldn’t matter so much.  But in this case, it infuses with that additional drama, pathos, and heroism to go from good to great.  The main theme is outstanding and the Ride of the Firemares is thrilling, but my personal favorite is The Widow’s Lullaby.

If my enthusiasm didn’t make it obvious enough, I encourage every reader here to check out this simultaneously overlooked and underrated classic.

Wizards (1977)

“Dull, adventure-less fantasy of propaganda and Marxism” would be more accurate.

Okay okay, I’m cheating here, as this was actually released three months before the first Star Wars.  Still, I can’t resist highlighting this left-wing, scaremongering screed masquerading as a fantasy film, since it shows the pitfalls of political propaganda in movies and was made 40 years before the current year.   It’s similar to Star Wars in some ways, including an earlier use of plasma rifles.

The plot of this animated movie would make any fairy tale seem complex.  In a post-apocalyptic world, magic is everywhere, and a Good Wizard defeats an Evil Wizard but spares him.  The Evil Wizard then stumbles upon an old reel of Nazi propaganda (I wish I was kidding), which he displays on a projector to a bunch of monsters.  Instead of being confused at what the fuck they’re watching, the monsters become an unstoppable killing machine, routing elves and other good creatures in battle.  The Good Wizard, along with a few travel companions, go on a journey to stop the Evil Wizard.

I’m not simplifying this, either.  The Good Wizard is even named Avatar and the Evil Wizard Blackwolf.

The use of film as a weapon of propaganda is classic SJW projection, as Wizards is as heavy-handed as anything by Leni Riefenstahl.

The story is thoroughly idiotic, features no adventure and little in the way of excitement.  Instead, it is constantly cloying and preaching what would have been cutting-edge leftist sociopolitical orthodoxy back then.

Amusingly, as soon as the projector goes out, Blackwolf’s unbeatable Nazi army of hulking monsters gets easily slaughtered by a bunch of scrawny elven wimps.  I thought this was illogical and stupid when I saw it, but it makes perfect sense now, understanding the pathology of leftist thinking.  They always think it will be a piece of cake to defeat their enemies, contrary to all evidence.  (Admittedly, this is a trap certain right-wingers fall into as well, in the opposite direction)  And American leftists never appreciate what a force the Nazis truly were, which is also an insult to their victims.  Being a Russian Jew, with many ancestors who had fought in the war, the sober assessment I heard growing up was that the Germans were the best soldiers in the world then.  But in this film, Blackwolf’s army is actually weak, and their success is based around a single film projector.  Ergo, the menace of the villains is revealed as illusory, and there is nothing significant worth celebrating in the elvish victory.

Also, in a climactic scene, the hippy, non-violent good wizard Avatar, who had spared Blackwolf and preaches non-violence and mercy, shoots Blackwolf dead with a gun.  In cold blood.  There is nothing wrong with such a solution by a different protagonist in a different situation, but after all the preaching we’ve heard, it makes Avatar nothing more than a hypocrite, fraud, and very possibly evil himself.  It also renders the high-minded leftist themes that the movie had pushed so hard as nothing more than trite bullshit, to be disposed of whenever convenient.  (Gee, doesn’t that attitude sound familiar?)

Anywho, I hope you have enjoyed this look at some old movies similar to Star Wars.  Sadly, among major studio releases these days, one is far more likely to get a picture in the mold of Wizards than that of Krull!

Star Wars Rip-Offs: The Good, the Bad, and the Weird published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi

30 Promotion Design Projects from Across the U.S.A.

I’m always thrilled to see the release of the annual PRINT Regional Design Award winners: the best of the best in design from each region in the United States. But around this time of year—when we at HOW are amping up for our own Promotion & Marketing Design Awards, it’s my custom to take a deeper look at the winners and explore the exceptional promotion design work in each gallery. It’s particularly intriguing to see how promotion design work from each region draws upon cultural elements and the unique aesthetic of that area. You’ll see what I’m talking about below, in the poster designs, packaging, marketing collateral and more—including client and personal promotion design work—from firms around the U.S.

And while you’re at it, be sure to enter your finest promotional designs into the HOW Promotion & Marketing Design Awards. The deadline is March 13, so get your work in today.

Promotion Design Work from the Southwest

1. Banned Books Week Collateral

Spindletop Design, Houston; www.spindletopdesign.com: Jennifer Blanco (creative director/art director/designer), John Earles (creative director/art director), Laura Thornock, Josh Higgins, Travis Smith (designers), Workhorse Printmakers (printing/assembly); Brazos Bookstore (client)

Each year, Brazos Bookstore in Houston hosts Banned Books Week, an annual event celebrating freedom of speech and the freedom to read, and Spindletop Design creates the collateral for it. Learn more about Spindletop here.

2. RBMM Oktoberfest Stein

RBMM, Dallas; www.rbmm.com: Jeff Barfoot (creative director), Garrett Owen (art director/designer); RBMM (client)

[Related: Great Typography in Promotion Design | 10 Beautiful Promotional Posters & Print Designs]

3. Design Week Global

IBM Design, Austin, TX; www.ibm.com/design: Oen Michael Hammonds (creative director/art director/designer/illustrator); IBM (client)

4. SUR 512

The Matchbox Studio, Dallas; www.matchboxstudio.com: Liz Burnett (creative director), Zach Hale (art director/designer); JPI (client)

5. University of New Mexico Water Fountain Posters

Scott McFadden Creative, Dallas; www.scottmcfaddencreative.com: Scott McFadden (creative director/art director/designer/illustrator), David Morris (writer); Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (client)

Marketing & Promotion Design Work from the East

1. #TYPE

Cynda Media Lab, Englewood Cliffs, NJ; www.cyndamedia.com: C. J. Yeh (creative director/designer), Christie Shin (art director/designer); Museum at FIT (client)

2. American Voices Poster

Karnes Poster Company, Philadelphia; www.erickarnes.com: Eric Karnes (creative director/art director/designer); Philadelphia University School of Liberal Arts (client)

3. Carnegie Mellon University, School of Drama 2015 Season

Wall-to-Wall Studios, Pittsburgh; www.walltowall.com: Larkin Werner (creative director), Doug Dean (art director/designer); Carnegie Mellon University, School of Drama (client)

4. Stevenson University School of Design Poster Brochure

Tré Seals, Accokeek, MD; www.tresbien.design: Tré Seals (creative director/art director/designer /illustrator); Stevenson University School of Design (client)

Marketing & Promotion Design Work from the Far West

1. National Parks Campaign

Pendleton Woolen Mills In-House, Portland, OR: Kathy Monaghan (creative director), Andrea Capp (designer/illustrator/photographer); Pendleton Woolen Mills (client)

2. Neenah Paper Beauty of Letterpress Poster

Gee + Chung Design, San Francisco; www.geechungdesign.com: Earl Gee (creative director/art director/designer/illustrator), TPD Design House (concept/design/printing); Neenah Paper (client)

3. Interflow Design Conference

Academy of Art University, San Francisco; www.academyart.edu: John Nettleton (creative director/ art director), Alex Chen (creative director/art director/designer); Academy of Art University (client)

4. San Francisco Design Week

Character, San Francisco; www.charactersf.com: Ed O’Brien (creative director/art director), Tish Evangelista, Ben Pham (creative directors), Michael Mason, Will Geddes (designers), Todd Tankersley (photographer); AIGA San Francisco (client)

Marketing & Promotion Design Work from the South

1. AIGA Design Month Creative

Elephant In The Room, Winston-Salem, NC; www.elephantintheroom.com: Will Hackley (art director/designer); AIGA Triad NC (client)

“We were charged [with] designing graphics to promote design month events for the regional AIGA chapter. Feeding off the concept of North Carolina barbecue, we used visuals that connected to the barbecue heritage of the Triad region.”

—Elephant in the Room (02)

2. The Avett Brothers Township Posters

The Half and Half, Columbia, SC; www.thehalfandhalf.com: The Half and Half (creative direction/art direction/design); The Avett Brothers (client)

3. Habitat for Humanity Brochure

Lewis Communications, Birmingham, AL; www.lewiscommunications.com: Roy Burns III (creative director), David Blumberg (art director/designer), Jeffery Williams, Cary Norton, Bob Miller, Rob Culpepper (photographers), Anthony Vachris (writer); Habitat for Humanity of Greater Birmingham (client)

4. PechaKucha Night Asheville Vol. 9

Open Door Design Studio, Asheville, NC; www.opendoordesignstudio.com: Shantanu Suman, Marisa Falcigno (creative directors/art directors/designers), Shreedavy Babuji (writer); PechaKucha Asheville (client)

5. UT-Chattanooga Art Department Promo

The Official Studio, Chattanooga, TN; www.theofficialstudio.com: Aggie Toppins (creative director/art director/designer); The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Department of Art (client)

Marketing & Promotion Design Work from the Midwest

1. FPC Custom Corrugated Portfolio & P.O.P. Corrugated Promo

Charles S. Anderson Design Co., Minneapolis; www.csadesign.com: Charles S. Anderson (creative director/art director), Erik Johnson (designer/illustrator); French Paper Company (client)

2. 20 Liters Campaign

Extra Credit Projects, Grand Rapids, MI; www.extracreditprojects.com: Rob Jackson (creative director), Chad Hutchison (art director); 20 Liters (client)

“20 Liters is an international nonprofit organization based in West Michigan helping to raise funds and awareness of the global water crisis facing our world.”

—Extra Credit Projects (2)

3. Detroit Loves …

Team Detroit – The Park, Dearborn, MI; www.teamdetroit.com: Toby Barlow (creative director), Nick Allen (creative director/ writer), Ryan Breight (art director), Michele Silvestri, Christine Jones (designers), Jason Smith (designer/illustrator), Cristina Lorenzetti (writer); Team Detroit (client)

“As part of our 60 Seconds to SXSW campaign, we created postcards that flipped negative stereotypes about Detroit into compelling messages that celebrate the city, and passed them out at SXSW to build brand awareness for the agency while shining a positive light on the city of Detroit.”

— Team Detroit – The Park (18)

4. God Hates Goods

Design Ranch, Kansas City, MO; www.design-ranch.com: Ingred Sidie, Michelle Sonderegger (creative directors/art directors/writers), Morgan Stephens, Frank Norton (designers), Claire Gude (writer); God Hates Goods (client)

“We are spreading the good with our human rights campaign. God Hates Goods is a line of clothing and ephemera intended solely to raise eyebrows and standards. The intention is not to spread hate but instead [to] poke fun at those who do.”

—Design Ranch (23)

5. Land of Goodness Poster Campaign

Shine United, Madison, WI; www.shineunited.com: Michael Kriefski (creative director), John Krull (creative director/art director/designer), Jeff Foster (illustrator); Wisconsin Cheese (client)

6. Ubumwe Center, Rwanda Posters

Ron Foth Advertising, Columbus, OH; www.ronfoth.com: Ron Foth Jr., David Henthorne (creative directors), Nikki Murray, Gene Roy (art directors/designers); Ubumwe Center (client)

Marketing & Promotion Design Work from New York City

1. Holiday In-Store Product Promo Animation

Department of Advertising and Graphic Design, MoMA; www.momadesignstudio.org: Hsien-Yin Ingrid Chou (creative director/art director), Derek Flynn (art director/designer); MoMA Design Store/Retail Division (client)

2. Shakespeare in the Park 2015 Campaign

Pentagram; www.pentagram.com: Paula Scher (creative director/ art director/designer), Jeff Close, Kirstin Huber (designers); The Public Theater (client)

3. Vitaminwater Relaunch Campaign

Collins + Partners LLC; www.wearecollins.com: Leland Maschmeyer (creative director), Ben Crick, Esther Li, Leo Porto, Gabe Benzur (designers); Vitaminwater (client)

“We are revitalizing the brand through a new visual language. … This system builds on their design heritage in a way that is authentic to the original brand yet crafted for a new audience. It also encourages far more flexibility in its expression while still keeping the product itself [as] the focus.” —Collins + Partners LLC (49)

4. Border Crossing

Siegel+Gale; www.siegelgale.com: Mike Tyson (creative director/art director/designer/writer); The University of the Arts (client)

5. Disposable Film Festival

Selman Design; www.selmandesign.com: Johnny Selman (creative director), Katie King Rumford (designer), Calvin Waterman (motion designer), Mike Scandiffio (producer); Disposable Film Festival (client)

“The Disposable Film Festival is an annual juried international festival of short films. … We worked with Carlton Evans, codirector of the festival, to create an identity that could be retrofitted and reused for years to come.”

—Selman Design (17)

6. M&M’s 75th Anniversary

jones knowles ritchie; www.jkrglobal.com: Tosh Hall (creative director/art director), Danny D’Arcy (design director), Erin Dameron, Catherine Wyatt (designers), Ian Brignell (typographer); jones knowles ritchie (client)

Think you can compete with the excellent projects above? Enter your finest promo work and marketing materials into HOW’s 2017 Promotion & Marketing Design Awards!

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