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A Barcelona summer evening classic is back. Sala Montjuïc is here again with more films and music in one to the city’s most spectacular settings, Montjuïc Castle.
This year, with sessions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 5 July and 6 August, it has a new, bigger screen. It is 16 x 9 metres, that is, 32 square metres more.
This year’s programme is a varied one that includes popular classics like Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange and Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday by Jacques Tati.
However, the “main dish” consists of more recent films, namely a selection of independent films popular with critics and the public, like the vampire movie Let Me In, the “anti-romantic” comedy In Search of a Midnight Kiss and the acclaimed French film The Class.
Apart from that, there will be a concert cinema session with The Gold Rush, by Charles Chaplin, accompanied by live music played by an orchestra conducted by Guerassim Voronkov.
The programme also includes animated films like My Neighbour Totoro from Japan and the documentary Waltz with Bashir. As for the closing film, you can vote for the one you like best out of three Catalan films.
The Sala Montjuïc programme is complimented by live concerts, prior to the film session, and there is also the chance to have a picnic. You can hire a deckchair too, so you are more comfortable.
Castell de Montjuïc -> Ctra Montjuïc, 66 | Sants-Montjuïc |
A wonderful place if you prefer to stay in a nature-based resort. You can find the best collection of orchids, butterflies and ofcourse the colourful birds.
A perfect place for weddings as well.
The flowers, birds, sculptures, the coitage accommodation. The bird show is a must to see.
It is one of the first "star-rated" hotels in the city and a by-word among business travellers. The hotel's ballroom and several function rooms make it a preferred choice for conventions and exhibitions as well as special events like wedding reception, debut, party, etc.
Living up to its name, the rooms provide a view of Mt. Apo from a distance and the busy streets below. It is also located at the intersection of several roads providing easy access to public transpo.
Aside from the pool, I like to stay here because of its fitness center. Fitness Advantage runs the center and checked-in guests can use the facilities and attend aerobic classes.
Bagobo is a minority tribe in Mindanao. But far from being a replica of the tribe's house, the hotel rooms are equipped with urban facilities. Although a bit dark for my liking (there were only 3 lamps inside the room) and not so spacious, it has aircon, TV and hot/cold water. They also provide shampoo in sachet in addition to the standard soap and towel.
There is a coffee shop at the lobby or you can request for room service. The thing I noticed and left a lasting impression on me is the very prompt service of the staff.
I like its location - directly across and short walking distance to several fast food joints (especially my McDonalds); adjacent to a department store, cinema and beauty salon; few blocks away from a pharmacy, hospital and church - practically everything you need is right at your doorstep, including cabs.
This is my second choice of hotel when I am on work travel to Davao as it is only a block away from our office.
Each room is equipped with basic amenities such as aircon, TV and hot/cold shower. They also provide basic necessities such as soap and towel.
However, not all rooms have windows which is a "must requirement" for me. Hence, when booking I make it clear and make sure that they will give me a room with a window.
Just like other standard hotels, it has a coffee shop at the lobby. But its "outstanding" feature is its swimming pool which other hotels in its class do not have.
Tower Inn is my first choice of hotel when I am in Davao for work reasons primarily due to its location. It is right beside our branch office making going to the office no sweat and no hurry. Also, I can work late into the night content in the knowledge that my hotel is just a few steps away.
Although its name classifies it as an "inn", I would say Tower Inn is comparable to other standard hotels. It has the basic amenities - aircon, TV, towels, soap and hot/cold water. It also has a coffee shop at the lobby serving continental dishes.
There's really nothing unique with the hotel except that moment I step out into the street, there are cabs and jeepneys available.
The hotel is the tallest hotel /landmark (18 floors) in Davao City, and even the whole Mindanao.
It is also relatively new, got great lobby and five star hotel amenities.
I like this hotel very much, very competitive price, great buffet breakfast @ Cafe Marco, rooms are huge, and have a view of the city.
Next to the hotel is the Aldivenco Shopping Center :-) really cool place for shopping of batik and local crafts..
The hotel got a swimming pool. Several restaurants with great view of the city.
The lobby is huge, and got an eclectic feel to it, mostly Muslim inspired, even got a local weaver weaving tinalak.
All facilities can be recommended. Personally I liked the huge variety of tropical fruits and the friendly service at the restaurant and also at the pool.
Always my favorite, outside of the city, quiet, accomodation excellent, the gardens are well kept, swimming pool or seaside beach where you can hire a boat to the nearby pearl farm.
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- Discover Paradise
- Business Directory
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- Contact Us
Come and discover the treasures of Paradise! Our intriguing gold-rush past and equally compelling present beckon visitors and newcomers to our beautiful mountain community amid the pines and above the fog.
Find Your Paradise here!
Small-town values with big-town conveniences. Unique shops, antiques, dining for all tastes, beautiful parks and friendly, good-hearted people. Well-established theater, dance and symphony programs of exceptional quality. Your Paradise is as active or restful as you like! Enjoy your peace of the pines.
The Paradise Ridge features affordable housing, excellent medical facilities, and cultural/educational opportunities through proximity to both a community college and a state university. The character of Paradise is largely defined by the small, independent businesses that invest in our thriving community.
The roads to Paradise are paved with spectacular sights. From Lake Oroville on Pentz to the “Little Grand Canyon” on Skyway, the Ridge is rimmed with breathtaking vistas.
There are activities, sights and attractions to meet every desire.
The Gold Nugget Museum, dedicated to preserving and protecting the Ridge’s proud Gold Rush heritage, will satisfy history buffs.
Performing arts fans will find a plethora of entertainment at the Paradise Performing Arts Center, and Theatre on the Ridge, the longest running community theatre in the Northstate. Northern California Ballet attracts dancers from all over the world to train and perform with local youth. We even have a seven-plex Cinema!
Looking for something more athletic? The Ridge is home to a multitude of hiking, biking, and walking trails, hunting, fishing and boating opportunities and parks for picnics and relaxing. Golfers can tee off at Tuscan Ridge and Lava Creek Golf Courses, and Trailhead Adventures has everything for the outdoors person. Check our events calendar for tournaments, relays and adventures for the sports-minded.
Every month there’s an event happening in Paradise that will be right up your alley - foodies, car buffs, gardeners, bird watchers, music fans, history lovers, wine enthusiasts, runners, cyclists and more will find their heart’s desire here! On Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, volunteers place 1080 flags along the Skyway in a breathtaking display. In March, the Ridge blooms with more than 60,000 daffodils. Join us for Johnny Appleseed Days, California’s longest running harvest festival.
Stop by and see us at the Paradise Visitor’s Bureau located in the Chamber of Commerce office on Skyway.
Hikers, download this handy hiking guide: Hiking Trails.
We in invite you to find your very own Paradise! |
Fota Wildlife Park:
Fota Wildlife Park was opened in 1983. Located in the south of Ireland, in County Cork, the park is set on 75 acres, and is home to nearly 30 mammal and 50 bird species. Many of the animals roam freely with the visitors, such as the ring-tailed lemurs and squirrel monkeys. The larger animals, including the giraffe and bison, live in spacious paddocks with unobtrusive barriers. This allows visitors to enjoy an up close and personal experience with the animals.
The museum exhibits have 3 themes i.e. the History of the Barracks, Michael Collins and Peacekeeping with United Nation Missions. Although the core collection has a wide range of memorabilia associated with Michael Collins, it also boasts displays from donated private collections e.g. uniforms, weapons etc. The exterior layout presents a Shaker cannon from the 1550s, a rare mobile ordnance workshop, a 2 pounder 1940s field artillery piece and a Panhard Armoured Personnel Carrier.
The Everyman theatre located on MacCurtain street on Cork. Originally opened in 1897/98, it is the oldest purpose built theatre building in Cork. The Everyman has undergone many changes, through its days as “Dan Lowrey’s Palace of Varieties” (hosting Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chapman, life as a cinema, periods of disrepair, and reinvigoration as a modern theatre in the 1980s.
Cork Guide - http://www.cork-guide.ie/
Travel Ireland - http://www.travelireland.org/
Ireland Car Hire -http://www.irelandcarhire.com/
Contemporary Summer Arts Festival in Ireland featuring Theatre, Performance, Dance, Music, Comedy, Visual Art
The Cork Jazz Festival is an annual music festival held in Cork City, Ireland in late October every year since 1978.The Festival is Ireland’s biggest jazz event and attracts hundreds of musicians and thousands of music fans to the city each year. Renowned as Europe’s friendliest Jazz Festival, the event has hosted many of the jazz ‘greats’ in its history
Southern Ireland’s premiere venue for the best in Irish and international concerts, comedy, drama, dance, family fare and opera, performed in a 1000-seat venue, located in the heart of the city and only a few minutes walk from our Hotel
Bus Eireann (National Bus service): |
just another Monday in Jaipur
Monday, 5 November 2012
Hey! Photodiary from this afternoon, we were just walking around in the streets of Jaipur, looking and learning about the magical Indian culture. I made myself a little friend aswell, a 10 year old Indian boy who spoke SUCH good English! I thought he was just beeing cute, asking questions about me and telling me about himself, he even gave me his businesscard (wich 10 year old has his own b.card btw?!), but after almost an hour it turned out to be just another strategy to get money out of another blonde tourist…. Didn’t work. I guess I’m too heartless. No, I’m not heartless. I just use my heart less.
Oh, and I almost got married away out there! This lady grabbed my arm, looked at me and yelled something in Indian to her son. She was apparently asking him about what he thought of me, he answered that I was beautiful, and then his father tried to buy me for some spices or whatever. What a flirt.
Guys holding hands is a common observation in the streets of India. Here, it doesn’t mean anything else than real friendship. That is so wonderful!
The pink city, preparing for a festival.
xoxo Indian traffic.
pt_priv (c) Jaipur, India
Oh, this has been a(nother) great day, and I’m SO looking forward to see what the pink city will bring us tomorrow aswell! I know we are going to this monkey temple, an Indian market and then we’re gonna watch a Bollywood-movie at the local cinema in the evening. Just for the experience, not really for the movie, haha. I’ve heard that it’s normal to chat, beeing on the mobile, scream and run around during the film down here, that’s gonna be a total contrast to the “shut up, I’ll kill you”-cinema-culture of Norway, for sure!
Good night, superpeople! See you tomorrow!
Til mine norske lesere: Google translate it. Jeg er for trøtt til å konsentrere meg på norsk i kveld…. |
Katy Perry Confirms 3D Concert Movie 'Part Of Me' For July US Launch
The 'Part Of Me' singer has said her new film will be out in cinemas this July in America.
The 'Teenage Dream' singer announced at the start of March that she will launch her own cinema hit called Katy Perry: Part Of Me, which will chart her 2011 California Dream tour and behind-the-scenes of her life.
Katy told E! reporter Kelly Osbourne at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards that the film will be out in cinemas for 4th July weekend, and told fans to, "Go and see it and be a firework".
The production company Magical Elves, who were behind Justin Bieber's own cinema hit Never Say Never, are said to be in talks to direct the project.
Katy Perry made the comments ahead of her performance at Saturday night's awards ceremony, which saw her take to the stage to sing her current hit single 'Part Of Me' . |
The 20th century, perhaps uniquely in history, produced at least two distinct periods when artists and writers felt emboldened to declare that anything is possible and everything is permitted. The first of these was at the turn of the century in Europe, as hidebound moral constraints collapsed and the avant garde energies of surrealism, Dadaism and other modernisms were released. The most recent, at mid-century in the U.S., injected an intensely repressive, scare-mongering period of Cold War paranoia with a surge of creative release that still astounds us today, or should. The Beats: Ginsberg, Kerouac, et al. and groundbreaking novelists like Joseph Heller, Ken Kesey and William S. Burroughs, produced a string of literary firecrackers aimed at shooing the demons conjured by the nightmare imaginations of Puritanical authorities with nuclear weapons. It’s arguable that the times themselves made it possible for that generation to produce its best work, making it urgent and essential and widely popular. And also, in many cases, wildly funny.
Less well-remembered now, but no less worthy of mention in this company, was Terry Southern.1 Southern was and is primarily known as a satirist, I suppose, but that’s like saying the guys who designed the atom bomb were “just” mechanics. He wrote both satirical and non-satirical pieces in a variety of genres: journalism, novels, short stories, screenplays, reviews, and precocious, unclassifiable mélanges of fact and fiction.
Probably the best-known work attached to his name is Dr. Strangelove, the classic Cold War farce-majeur of nuclear annihilation. Director Stanley Kubrick is Strangelove’s originating genius, of course, but Southern collaborated with him on its unforgettable screenplay. The extent of his contribution is apparently still contentious, and this may be an indication of why his career path led him to greater obscurity than many of his peers. The movies have been a cruel medium for many writers, and Southern’s later writing was almost entirely in collaborations on screenplays.
But if you read any of his prose, you’ll see that his particular sensibility, highly involved with depicting the clownishness and deadly “preversity” (his preferred rendering of this term) of the powerful is there throughout the film. You can bet that signature dialogue from each of its indelible cast of characters, and possibly their monikers themselves, from General Buck Turgidson to Colonel “Bat” Guano (“If indeed that is your name,” as Peter Sellers’ Captain Mandrake remarks tellingly during a crucial exchange) come from Southern. And personally I would hazard that General Ripper’s obsession with Russian infiltration of “our precious bodily fluids” through the monstrous Commie plot of fluoridation, which initiates the whole chain of events that ends in Armageddon, is a Southern contribution as well. And thus many equally brilliant touches in one of the world’s great satirical works, in any medium, of any age or land.
Another Southern collaboration, with Mason Hoffenberg, produced the novel Candy, in which Voltaire’s iconic innocent Candide is reconceived as a dim but preternaturally sexy small town girl who travels far (and wide) and finds her ultimate happiness in a very preverse manner. On his own, Terry Southern is perhaps best known for the novel The Magic Christian, a less transcendent but intermittently brilliant lampoon of human greed. Both of these stories became not-so-great movies, their wild imaginativeness stunted by a medium that Southern may have had too much confidence in, after experiencing it at its best with Kubrick. Later interviews with him indicate that he saw the medium to which he’d hitched his fortunes with a very jaded eye.
That’s why you need to read the stories. Southern’s short stories, both satirical and “serious,” are distinguished by prose mastery, subtlety and a truly mind-blowing range of genre and subject matter, possibly unique in U.S. fiction, from the magic realism avant la lettre of a Texas dirt farmer battling a mythical sea-monster in his melon patch, through the minutely examined lives of tragically hip expatriates in Paris, and insider views of the French working class, to the anomie and casual sadism of disaffected young boys. Whether the boys in these stories are in south Texas (where Southern grew up) or New York City, the dialogue is always pitch perfect and the milieu is coolly exact.
Most of his best stories were collected in the superb 1967 anthology Red Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes, along with some classic pieces of New Journalism, such as “Twirling at Ole Miss,” from 1962, which Tom Wolfe considered foundational to the genre. Here Southern reports on a baton-twirling convention at the eponymous deep South university, full of creamy white pubescent girls in drill team fetish attire, at the height of the dogs-and-firehoses period of the Civil Rights movement. His voice is deadpan and his eye for the telling detail is dead on. There is an exemplary moment in his visit to the college library, when he opens a first edition copy of William Faulkner’s Light in August and finds it raggedly inscribed with “Nigger-Lover” on the title page.
Southern’s most creative period was spent toiling in what he dubbed the “Quality Lit Game,” the smug and self-serving world of New York magazine publishing. This world can only be barely imagined by most of us today, not because it’s gotten any less smug and self-serving, but because it’s so diminished in cultural power. But through those then-ascendant, smoke-filled Madison Avenue corridors Southern rambled in a drug-enhanced state of ribald bemusement. He gives us inside looks in completely crazy-ass pieces like “Blood of a Wig,” whose fantastical sequence of events still grounds itself in a kind of realism with fly-on-the-wall boardroom dialogue, in the form of editors who say things like “let’s stroke this one for awhile and see if we get any jism out of it.”
Southern, somewhat like his contemporary Lenny Bruce, was fascinated with our night-selves, the unexpurgated utterers of all that language that narrow-minded ideologues of all stripes tend to fear and despise. This marks him as a spirit impossibly out of synch with our times, but quintessential in his own. The stuff he dredged up out of the mid-20th century psyche has all seen the light of day many times over now; concupiscence among the powerful and repressed no longer has the power to shock most of us. Incest, necrophilia, coprophagy, whatever: it’s a commonplace of 24-7 news feeds. And yet, in some way because the times demanded it, Terry Southern made his own uniquely delicious froth out of it all, that’s still tasty today. And still radical, even if it doesn’t shock. (The two qualities are often confused.) Why? Because he forces us to permit ourselves to imagine anything, and his wild and generous humor shows us what a pleasurable act such imagining can be.
Southern’s fecund sexual fantasies are always so over the top as to be self-satirizing—which this feminist critic at least would say is quite an apt way of looking at bourgeois male heterosexuality. For a slightly different take on gender relations, there is his gleefully mock-outraged letter to Ms. Magazine in the posthumous collection edited by his son Nile, Now Dig This! (which contains a whole section dedicated to Terry’s spoof complaint letters). He admonishes the editors that if women wish to be taken seriously as full citizens in modern society, they will have to stop acting like “rutting [...] wildcat[s],” during sex: “moaning, sobbing, writhing, scratching, biting,” and so forth (Southern’s italicized list of shocking female copulatory behaviors is much longer). There is an unusual generosity of spirit here—often lacking in satirists from Jonathan Swift onward—that is the antithesis of misogyny or misanthropy.
I haven’t even begun to talk about his boundless love of drugs. You’ll have to experience that for yourself; suffice it to say that avid consumer doesn’t do justice to it, and that Southern’s reality is always somehow like a drug experience, even when no drugs are involved. Now Dig This! contains a hilarious transcript of a conversation with Burroughs, as he and Southern go through a bag of pharmaceutical samples Terry has acquired in a mostly futile quest for the real thing. Terry’s exclamation-pointed enthusiasm for the trial and error method of drug testing is dryly riposted by the world-weary Burrows. It’s an overlooked classic of drug literature. Southern paid for that exuberance with his health of course, in later life, as everybody does. How drearily real.
So why am I invoking Terry Southern now, when he’s been gone for almost 15 years? Because even in another landmark period for the triumph of folly, I’ve found no other writer in any medium who can generate the deep, hard, hearty and (still) surprised laughter at quintessential Amur-rican absurdity that Southern can, and who is able to do so precisely because of his mastery of the written word. Almost regrettably for those of us who savor the power of words alone to move and enlighten, Southern was not a lit snob: he moved into film and basically left fiction behind because he saw the cinema’s potential to tell the stories he wanted to tell in a powerful way. And so we have Dr. Strangelove, thank God. And of lesser brilliance but still worthy: The Loved One, Barbarella, Easy Rider and The Magic Christian. He even took a stab at writing for Saturday Night Live, but it was way too tame, by the early ‘80s, when it was largely considered to have gone seriously bad anyway. He would have had to survive into the era of cable, perhaps, to find a home in TV writing.
And even so, I don’t think so. Southern lived until 1995 but produced almost nothing of note from the early 1970s onward. The times had changed, you see. The historical moment from and to which he spoke most eloquently, when “All Power to the Imagination” was not an empty slogan, was utterly gone. (His unforgettable piece “Groovin’ in Chi” about the 1968 Democratic National Convention, suggests that that hope-slaughtering horror show may have been precisely when and where it died.) While our lives have continued to be coldly revolutionized in the technological sense, far too much human failure, particularly of the social imagination, has intervened since that statement was made for it to resonate in the same way with us now.
While some may think the U.S. has become more a more open, more culturally sophisticated society since Terry Southern’s time, I have my doubts. Rather we often seem to me like weird masochists choosing to keep ourselves in cultural lockdown, breathlessly mouthing the words “individual freedom” and “creative potential” and “no limits” and what-not, while our corporatist system, looking metaphorically like the gruesome self-caricature of the late-period Mae West dressed in red-white-and-blue burlesque house lamé, gleefully and unstintingly whacks us with its Naugahyde cat-o-nine tails. Oh, Freedom™.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t fresh and marvelous (and funny) stuff bubbling out there today amid all the homeland insecurity, or that there won’t continue to be. Reports of our cultural death tends to be greatly exaggerated. At the same time, factors too numerous to list here—everything from demographics (an aging U.S.) to global economics (an impoverished U.S.) and the exhaustion of natural resources (ditto)—all of which affect the production of culture in ways we ignore at our peril—bode against another upwelling of creative energies in the U.S. with the transformative power and scope of Southern’s time in the foreseeable future.
So now in this metaphorical late winter light, as we wait for some chance of another spring, let’s raise a joint or a syringe or a glass or a spoon and toast Terry Southern. Reading his best work gives you the pleasure of believing again, however fleetingly, that anything is possible and everything is permitted. |
Luxury to the Max...pamper Yourself in This Stunning
- This condo sleeps 10
- Swimming pool
- Hot tub
Welcome to our beautifully furnished second home located in the quiet mountain community of Wildernest. We are at the top of Buffalo Mountain just above the towns of Silverthorne and Dillon. Wildernest is located just minutes from five 'World-Class' ski resorts; Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mtn, A-Basin, and Loveland. The resorts of Vail and Beaver Creek are within 30 minutes. After a fun filled day of winter or summer activities; Relax on the leather sofa in front of the rock fireplace and take in the magnificent views of the Rocky Mountains from the wall-to-wall picture windows. In the morning, enjoy the breathtaking sunrise over the Continental Divide from the breakfast bar which seats four or the lodge-style dining table which seats eight. The views from inside the condo or from either of the two decks are spectacular any time of the day or night. After an incredible sunset, the slopes of Keystone Mountain twinkle before you, ready for night skiing. After a wonderful meal prepared in the remodeled and fully equipped kitchen, 'the best clubhouse in Summit County' awaits to soothe and rejuvenate your senses. Just steps away, the clubhouse hosts a pool, 2 bubbling hot tubs, tennis and raquetball courts, pool table, foosball, ping pong, sauna, showers and a comfy lounge area with large screen T.V. and rock fireplace. Back at the condo an extensive movie library and HD 37" flatscreen await your viewing pleasure. A good night's sleep is sure to follow when you retire to the "Western" or "Outdoor Sports" rooms, which boast queen beds with luxury pillowtop mattresses and down comforters. Or you may choose the upstairs bunk room which houses 2 more queen beds with doctor's choice matresses (oh, so comfy), 2 twin loft beds and 2 twin trundles. In any case you're sure to feel pampered. For the outdoor enthusiast, miles of cross-country, snowshoe and hiking trails are literally right off the back deck. There is so much to see and do in Summit County from dining to nightlife to movie cinemas, rec centers, gyms and spas to outdoor sports, both winter and summer. There is a free shuttle which picks up right in front of our complex and drops you at the outlet mall or right at the base of Breck, Keystone, Copper or A-Basin. You can't beat it! It will also take you to restaurants, the cinema or for a night out on the town. It runs daily from 6:00 am to midnight or 2:00 am depending on the season. |
ECC Tools has created The Binary Rig to give DSLR cameras the functionality and usability of a cinema camera. HDSLR cameras have the ability to capture beautiful cinematic images, but they lack features necessary to use the cameras reliably under the rigors of film production. The Binary Rig integrates the functionality that film industry professionals have come to expect, without sacrificing cost to the owner.
The Binary Rig is an open platform that supports most DSLR cameras, allowing the user to stay current to changing trends in digital cinematography. The cornerstone of The Binary Rig is its modular system that both addresses and conforms to industry hardware standards. Whether for run and gun or high end studio production work, the user has the option to customize and utilize whatever accessories deemed necessary the job.
See ECC Tools for more details. |
June 13—August 11, 2013
540 West 21st Street at 11th Ave, New York, NY
The legendary Williamsburg video cinema and dining room with four screens returned for a pop up, limited engagement in Chelsea, at Eyebeam in the Summer of 2013. Two seatings each night: 7pm and 9:15pm.
We are now CLOSED. Please sign up for our email list above, for future information about Monkey Town 4.
21 Artists/Filmmakers on 4 Screens
We released tickets for 4 Limited Engagements in August:
Thur, Aug 1: R Luke DuBois + Emilie Baltz + Andre Vida Sold Out
Sat, Aug 3: The Shining (Backwards and Forwards) Sold Out
Thur, Aug 8: Christina Vantzou + CC Carana Sold Out
Sun, Aug 11: The Shhhh Show & Dome Theater Sold Out
Our Nightly Video Program features: Jack + Leigh Ruby (produced by Eve Sussman and Simon Lee), Shana Moulton, Tara Sinn, Errol Morris, Trisha Baga, Zefrey Throwell, Kathy Rose, Peter Burr, Will Rahilly, Annie Pearlman, Brian Close, Ben Ridgway, William Strobeck, Lily Sheng + Antonia Kuo, Petra Cortright, Jeremy Couillard, Alison Mennor, Bunny Rogers and Filip Olszewski, Chris Rice, Theo Angell, Montgomery Knott, Astrid Menze
NOT SO SMALL PRINT
— All menus subject to change based on seasonal ingredients, whims of the chef, or unforeseen forces.
— Tickets must be purchased In Advance through Brown Paper Tickets
— No refunds (unless shows are cancelled by act of gods)
— Tickets can be exchanged for another date and time, up to 3 days (72 hours) before the event by calling Brown Paper Tickets directly at 1.800.838.3006
— Not recommended for children under 16 (unless they’re really cool children)
— Vegetarian Options are only available on Fridays and Saturdays. After purchasing your ticket(s), please write us at [email protected] and note the Date and Time you will be attending and how many Vegetarian Options you are requesting |
Kaleidescape has announced the arrival of its latest DVD movie server - the Cinema One - which replaces the Kaleidescape Mini System.
The Kaleidescape Cinema One is described as bringing "the award-winning Kaleidescape experience to a broader set of customers".
That broader set obviously being people that couldn't afford the £7,000 or so for the Mini, but are happy to splash out £4,195. Hmmmm.
Anyways, enough quibbling about the large price-tag - let's take a look what's on board.
The Cinema One can handle up to 225 DVDs to be loaded onto its system, or 2,500 CDs if you're more of a music man, and allows for instant playback of your titles.
You can also hook it up in two different rooms, allowing you to watch a flick in one room, whilst your house buddies get their groove on in another.
It also comes with a child friendly remote control which, when used, switches the on screen menus to a more kiddy UI.
"We have found that families tend to have the largest collections of DVDs, since most children’s content is in that format," said Kevin Dawson, MD of Dawsons Group, a leading audio and video retailer.
"Cinema One is an excellent fit for this market since it enables even toddlers to select and start their own movies – without the delays and complexity caused by menus, trailers, and advertisements."
"Our dealers and customers have been asking for a simple-to-install Kaleidescape System," said Michael Malcolm, CEO of Kaleidescape. "The Cinema One makes it possible for many more customers to enjoy the richness of the Kaleidescape experience."
Yep many more. At £4,195 people will be no doubt be queuing outside the doors. |
Dakota Fanning, Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, Jared Leto among stars to attend Mill Valley Film Festival
Mill Valley Film Festival 36 opens Oct. 3 with NEBRASKA and THE BOOK THIEF. Dakota Fanning, Ben Stiller, Andy Garcia, Jaret Leto, famed director Costa-Gavras are among just some of the stars slated to attend.
Dakota Fanning, Ben Stiller, Andy Garcia, Jared Leto, famed director Costa-Gavras are among just some of the stars slated to attend the Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF mvff.com).
Actors, directors, producers, musicians are set to descend upon Marin County (just north of San Francisco) when the 36th edition of the increasingly influential film festival kicks off next month. As organizers point out the last five Academy Award-winners for best picture (Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker, The King’s Speech, The Artist, and Argo) received their Bay Area premieres at MVFF.
MVFF opens with two films on October 3, and runs 11 days.
Shot in black and white across four states, Alexander Payne’s Nebraska stars Bruce Dern as a cantankerous father who thinks he’s struck it rich, and Will Forte as the son who gets wrangled into taking a road trip. Both Dern and Forte are scheduled to appear at the screening which takes place at the Cinéarts@Sequoia cinema.
The Book Thief, based on Markys Zusak’s best-selling novel, will screen simultaneously opening night in Corte Madera. Starring Geoffrey Rush (last seen at MVFF in 1996 with Shine) and Emily Watson as a young German girl who discovers that stories have extraordinary power to sustain the human spirit. Directed by Brian Percival (of Downton Abbey), the film is set for a November release.
It left me changed for days, and I’ve never felt like that before.
As in past years, several tributes, and spotlights are scheduled. Director Costa-Gavras, actors Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club), Steve McQueen and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Dakota Fanning (Effie Gray), and musicians Thomas Dolby and Mike Bloomfield will all be honored this year.
A tribute to actor/director/writer/producer Ben Stiller closes out MVFF on October 13th with a special screening of his new film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Christmas release).
“He’s such a big star, you forget he has a big body of work as a director,” noted festival founder and executive director Mark Fishkin at the press conference today in San Francisco.
Peter Coyote will interview legendary French director Costa-Gavras followed by a screening of his new film, and then reception.
“He’s a game changer, and life changer for many people,” said Zoe Elton, director of programming. “We’re very glad to be bringing him to Mill Valley with his economic thriller Capital (Le Capital). There’s no beating a master.”
Dallas Buyers Club
There’s a lot to like this year; and perhaps this is the most star-studded line-up yet. One particular film that caught my eye was Dallas Buyers Club. I noticed that Elton and Fishkin were both emphatic discussing the film this morning - passionately describing the “amazing” performances of the two leads. That would be Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey. Based on a true story, it focuses on the unlikely bond that develops between a transsexual (Leto) and a homophobic, serial womanizer (McConaughey). MVFF is supremely well curated, so this is a film worth keeping tabs on.
How timely (coincidence?) that one of the major themes that appears to have arisen in this year’s docket is that of “Black America.” With the Zimmerman story-line seemingly continuing in perpetuity we have Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave – the true story of Salaman Northrup, a free black man abducted into slavery in 1841. Both the British filmmaker and his lead Chiwetel Ejiofor will be on hand in what surely will be an emotional, intriguing evening of film.
“It left me changed for days, and I’ve never felt like that before. It’s the pulse of what we’re thinking about,” said Elton.
The Young Veteran
At 19, it might seem slightly unusual to describe someone as a “veteran,” but that’s exactly the case with Dakota Fanning. Check out her IMDB page and you’ll find a long list of film and television credits for the Georgia born actress. Like Geoffrey Rush, MVFF36 also marks her return. A few years back she was here for The Secret Lives of Bees (2008). This time she’ll be on hand for the screening of Effie Gray (director: Richard Laxton), another film based on a true story – do I detect a trend here? It’s Fanning’s first adult leading role.
Time to find your old Jaba the Hut Costume
Star Wars fans once again have something to cheer about. Each year it seems as if MVFF is throwing a party for an Indiana Jones or Star Wars film. And, sure enough, 2013 happens to be the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi (regrettably now called Star Wars: episode VI – Return of the Jedi). Look for stormtroopers, dreamy princesses, and laser-toting heroes soon on the streets just outside the Corte Madera cinema (October 7).
On Digital Film – The Story Rules
“Digital transition has happened,” said Mark Fishkin during his opening remarks.
“Now that it’s happened the industry–agents, distributors, independent filmmakers– have accepted this fact regardless of where these films will play, be it on an iPad, smartphone or big screen.”
“Audiences are always one step ahead of the industry. They are looking for compelling story-telling, diversity in terms of art. The audience wants a diverse selection of films. That’s where we come in.”
“The frenzied award season probably won’t go away. Many of these films will be part of that. Whether a film budget is $200 million or $200,000 it does matter — the audience still want great story-telling.”
Because this press conference took place at Dolby Labs, inside their tricked out screening room no less, it was probably no surprise that we were given a demo. And, man, it was pretty darn awesome. It was for something called “Dolby Atmos” (Not my favorite name). The minute or so trailer featured 360-sound, thundering (and I mean thundering) bass that was still clean, and incredibly specific sound placement for effects such as thunder, water, etc. as we sat, transfixed within the “hemisphere.” Apparently the new technology has been used so far in 50 films including The Hobbit, Star Trek and Life of Pi. Only 4 or 5 theaters in the Bay Area are equipped, but I’d expect that number to increase as the industry continues to try to pull us out of our living rooms (hey, what happened to 3-D?!)
See you at MVFF
There you have it, a sneak peek at the 36th edition of the Mill Valley Film Festival. As in past years, Stark Insider will be working the beat, running from theater to theater, getting as many sound bites, interviews, and on location reports as possible. If this year is anything like the past, expect to see a few of these artists and films find their way onto the short lists of Academy voters. |
The cheetah is not only the fastest land animal in the world, it is also the name of a Barcelona native that is steadily making a name for himself in the European blading scene.
What do you know about the Spanish blader known as Tony Cheetah? Well, to be honest, our knowledge is slim to say the least. We know that he was briefly sponsored by the now defunct boot brand Nimh and is now riding for Valo. We are also aware that, over the past couple of years, he has produced some frustratingly short edits that show a lot of promise. The Barcelona native has been flickering on our radar for a while now, so we decided to find out a bit more and discover what the story is behind that nickname.
Wheel Scene: Many people know you as Tony Cheetah but what is your real name? Where did the name Tony Cheetah come from?
Tony Cheetah: My name is Juan Antonio Alvarez and I got the nickname ”Cheetah” about nine years ago because of some OG bladers I used to blade with in my hometown. It’s a long story and it makes no sense at all. My name is Tony, that’s all. I hate nicknames but everyone calls me Cheetah and I can’t change it. Anyway, like a good friend said, it could have been Tony The Elephant! Haha!
When did you start blading and how did you get into it?
I have been skating most of my life. When I was six or seven years old, I started to blade with my dad and my little brother. When I was like 13 or 14, I started to skate street because we never had a good park, so I spent years jumping stairs and doing grabs and airs and frontsides ‘til the first day I bought a blade video and realised all the stuff that could be done with skates – that video was Thrash by Jan Welch. Five years ago, I met two friends that were the biggest influence I had on my skating and I started to skate the streets to create something of my own, to see new places, go on tour see every corner of my city and more awesome things. I also started to save money to get a camera and a decent computer.
Who are your current sponsors?
Jon Julio gives me Valo skates – the only thing I need. I am also sponsored by Inercia Skateshop and I support Josue Diaz from Psyko Clothing.
Do you have a job or are you studying at the moment?
I work at Inercia Skateshop and do some other freelance stuff. I am also studying communication.
What do you like to do when you are not blading?
Music in all aspects – playing, collecting, composing – I spend all my money in it. I appreciate the arts, like painting, cinema and drawing with my lovely girlfriend.
What are the best and worst aspects of living in Barcelona?
Best: Home, spots everywhere, good weather, friends, Balas Perdidas.
Worst: Hard to find new shit, Barcelona cops, stupid laws against skating. Spain is the worst. There are no jobs, political corruption, streets full of dumb people and their only goal in their life is to consume football. Plus, the Spanish blading scene is really close minded and full of park rats.
Are you filming for any sections at the moment?
Probably, I don’t know. I try to get clips every day and who knows what it will become.
If you only had to listen to five albums for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Stiv Bators - Disconnected
Peter Murphy – Deep
Bauhaus – BBC Sessions
David Bowie – Aladdin Sane
Kind grind up by Kiku Comino
Roll to makio by Chris Dafick
Backslide up and down by IMPRO
Gap transfer to bank by Kiku Comino
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There are box office flops, there are turkeys and then there is Heaven’s Gate. The epic 1980 western destroyed the career of Hollywood’s hottest young director, helped to sink a studio and arguably changed the direction of American cinema.
But now Heaven’s Gate is back with a new 216-minute, digitally restored director’s cut, soaking up acclaim at festivals, with a DVD and Blu-ray release scheduled for next month.
It will be screened this week in New York, scene of the original’s catastrophic world premiere, for the New York Film Festival. On October 21, the actress Isabelle Huppert, now European art |
PEOPLE AND LIFESTYLE OF MAHARASHTRA
Life Style : Simple, Spirited and Sedulous
Renowned Personalities : Chhaturpati Shivaji and Babasaheb Ambedkar
Popular Costume : Nauveri (Nine Yard Sari)
Spoken Language : Marathi
The simplicity and the traditional costumes and customs of the people of Maharashtra and their simple lifestyle will surely leave you in awe. To experience the simple lifestyle of Marathi folklore and to see their rich customs and traditions that are much depicted in their fairs and festivals. Also the believer of diverse religion the people of Maharashtra mainly follow Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity.
Traditional Maharashtrian Wedding
The people of Maharashtra are highly influenced by the international metropolitan city of Mumbai and also home to the Hindi film industry Bollywood. It is a maxim that where there are films there is fashion. The people of the state are flamboyant and are known to spend generously to remain up to date with the latest fashion trends. At the same time the Maharashtra folklore did not completely lost their traditions they are going hand in hand with the changing times and protecting the heritage of their ancestors as well. Over the decades the state has been blessed with some of the legendary heroes like Chhaturpati Shivaji and Babasaheb Ambedkar who dedicated their life bringing freedom and reforms in the country. Visit the state of Maharashtra and you will see how the traditions of the state are surviving with the whirlwind growth of the fashion industry.
The people of Maharashtra have a rich traditional heritage. Proud and brave Maharashtrians have a very simple life style and believe in hard working. Unlike the Nawabs of Lucknow and the Rajputs of Rajasthan who lived the lavish lifestyle, the Marathas of the state did not believe in having too many spacious palaces and mansions in-fact these people have lived a hard life and were inclined towards freedom struggle. The rustic lifestyle of the people can also be observed in the country-side of the state where people have a belief on universal cult of brotherhood, where the people of all religions lives as a one community. A place where the revered saints like Sai Baba, Osho and Haji Ali preached the religion of peace and prosperity. Visit the state and interact with the locale, as it is the only way to know the about the people and lifestyle of the state.
The state of Maharashtra has a majority of the Hindu
population while in minority there are Muslims, Buddhists, Parsis, Jews
and Jains. Parsis migrated to the state from Persia and established many
Zoroastrians fire temples in the city of Mumbai and is presently the
dominant community in the state. Muslims mostly belonging to the Sufi cult
is the second popular religion of the state with shrines and mosques
sprawling throughout the state. Jews now 3000 in number, before the
migration to Israel counted around 20,000. The Synagogues established at
the Alibag, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Pen and Revadanda are still active. The
Shirdi Sai Baba, Osho's commune, Haji Ali, Ajanta and Ellora are the other
famous Hindu pilgrimage destinations in the state.
The Most popular language of Maharashtra is Marathi and its history dates back to third century, the tribal population Gondi is also spoken in the central Maharashtra. The filmy language of the Hindi cinema called Tapori ( vagabond lingo) is the latest slangish language, bit awkward to the ears, catching a pace among the youths throughout the country. When you will be visiting the state learn the terminology of tapori language and it will prove very useful to you.
Maharashtra Folk Dance
It is worth to see the women folk of the state in their traditional sari called Nauvari (nine yard) which has a history of its own. It is said that the women started wearing this attire during Maratha's rule, as it looks like the trousers women started it wearing it at the time war to help there males in the battle field. Men usually wear the shirt and Doti or trouser. If going through the urban area you can find women in Kurta Pyjama or jeans and shirts and men in pant and shirts. Make a tour to the city and experience it yourself.
The Maharashtra has a rich history of traditions. A better look of its people and lifestyle can be observed at the time of its fairs and festivals when all the people belonging to diverse regions, religions, caste assemble together to celebrate. Plan your holidays according to the schedule of fairs and festivals of the state and interact with the local people on the common food joints, in their fields, market places and you will see the unique nature of its people.
Top 5 Highlights of Maharashtra's Lifestyle
Prefect Blend of Culture and Modernity
Nauvari Attire of Battle-Women
Tapori Lingo of Vagabonds
Confluence of Religions
Bollywood Influenced The Souls
Caves and Beaches
Unique Rajasthan and Goa
Adventure Tour of India |
28 Boulevard des Capucines,
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Located close to the Paris Opera House. This building has a special historic interest for cinema buffs, as it was here in the hall of the ‘Grand Cafe’ of the Olympia, where on 22nd March 1896, the Lumiere brothers gave the first public performance of the Lumiere Cinematograph.
Originally opened in 1889 as the Montagnes Russes, a cabaret room operated by Joseph Oller, the owner of the famous Moulin Rouge. It was re-named Olympia in 1893.
In 1928, it was converted into a full time cinema, with seating provided for 2,000. Cinema use continued until 1944, when it converted back to music hall use. Edith Piaf gave many performances at the Olympia from January 1955 until October 1962.
Today, it is in use as a concert venue, featuring top name stars from around the world.
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater |
February 27, 2007 - Jumper - Next Filming in Mexico - "By 11:30 a.m., though, he'd talked to two cameramen and a visual effects person, who told him that the film crew heads to Mexico next for some shooting." Read the entire article about Friday's filming here at Ann Arbor News
February 27, 2007 - Jumper Filming in Ann Arbor - According to reports from the IMDB message board, the previous news item describes a scene being filmed about young Millie and young Davy played by Anna-Sophia Robb and Max Thieriot. Also present for filming was Teddy Dunn who plays Mark.
February 27, 2007 - Jumper Filming - Beware Spoilers - "Ann Arbor goes Hollywood - The mercury only reached the 20s Friday, but Ann Arbor’s Gallup Park felt like Hollywood, thanks to the presence of a film crew working on the feature “Jumper.”................The scene being rehearsed, and repeatedly filmed from several different angles, featured two students emerging from between two school buses. The boy, Mark, is playing keep-away with the girl’s snow globe, and when Davey (star Hayden Christensen’s character, played by a stand-in yesterday) gets involved, Mark throws the globe toward the frozen lake. As Davey makes his way to retrieve it, the others try to stop him, arguing that it’s not safe." More at Ann Arbor News
February 27, 2007 - Factory Girl - London Premiere, March 13, Leicester Square - "Win hot premiere tickets" - "SIENNA MILLER'S Factory Girl is at cinemas everywhere from March 16 and to celebrate its release, Sun Online are giving you and a friend the chance to attend the star-studded premiere in London." More information at The Sun Online.
February 23, 2007 - "A cynic might be tempted to brush off George Hickenlooper’s Factory Girl, the newest addition to the life-story-as-legendary-cinema genre, as just one more attempt to replicate the Oscar-friendly formula. Like the best of its predecessors, though, the film succeeds by delving deeper into the purportedly well-known story of its subject matter. In addition, Factory Girl turns out to be surprisingly novel in its storytelling - its worth extends beyond the demands of generic autobiographical cinema." More at The Yale Herald.
February 22, 2007 - Factory Girl Poster - "Congratulations to Nashvillian Dimitri LaBarge, who won a national poster contest for the movie Factory Girl sponsored by The Weinstein Company. For his work (seen above), LaBarge won a full-size print of the poster autographed by the cast (including Sienna Miller, Hayden Christensen and Guy Pearce) and a private screening for him and 25 friends." Poster and article at Nashville Scene.
February 22, 2007 - Jumper - With stars in their eyes More than 300 show up for movie casting call (Ann Arbor News) - "Scenes from the movie "Jumper'' will be shot locally this weekend; representatives of the The Talent Shop of Bingham Farms were on hand to review applications and snap digital photos of the applicants." More at Ann Arbor News
February 21, 2007 - Factory Girl - Jimmy Fallon is scheduled to appear on Conan O'Brien on Thursday, February 22 on NBC, 11:35 P.M. Central Time. (Source: TV Guide)
February 21, 2007 - Factory Girl - Winner of FACTORY GIRL Poster Design Contest Announced - "NEW YORK, Feb. 21 PRNewswire — After receiving thousands of outstanding entries from across the country, The Weinstein Company is pleased to announce that Dimitri LaBarge, from Nashville, Tennessee, is the winner of the contest to create the best movie poster for the film FACTORY GIRL." View the winning poster at Factory Girl Movie. Source: Digital 50
February 21, 2007 - Jumper - Hollywood pays Huron High a visit - "A crew for the Hollywood film "Jumper'' is expected to arrive in Ann Arbor for three days of shooting Thursday. Based on Steven Gould's 1992 young-adult novel about a young man who, after his mother dies, discovers that he can teleport himself, "Jumper'' stars Hayden Christensen, Dianne Lane and Samuel L. Jackson. Area native Tom Hulce also reportedly appears in the film. The director is Doug Liman." Ann Arbor News
February 19, 2007 - Factory Girl Set- "Jimmy Fallon, Sienna Miller, and Hayden Christensen in a video talking about Scott Morrison. Fool: A Hero Story
February 18, 2007 - Factory Girl - If you missed Sienna Miller on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, you can catch a repeat of the episode on February 21, at various times during the day and 11:00 P.M. (Eastern Time) on Comedy Central.
February 17, 2007 - Factory Girl - "Christensen dominates one of the film's odder scenes when he visits the Factory and proceeds to heap scathing insults upon Warhol and his band of artists before walking out on Edie." Santa Cruz Sentinel
More Factory Girl Reviews, February 17, 2007:
Factory Girl Screening Event in Shreveport - "Casting coordinator Ryan Glorioso, who helped manage 1,000 to 1,100 extras when the movie was shot in Shreveport in late 2005 and early 2006, said it was a fun project to work on because he got to cast all of the Factory freaks and about 15 local parts." Shreveport Times
"[The Musician] Christensen, as a man who sees himself as Warhol's opposite (all content to Warhol's all fashion), creates a worthy competitor. He brings out the surly recessiveness of a star who wants people to come to him, and the subterranean virility, too." Baltimore Sun
"But gradually Warhol grows tired of his "superstar," especially when Edie begins an affair with a legendary folk singer (Hayden Christensen, looking uncannily like the Bob Dylan of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" LP." Wichita Eagle
February 16, 2007 - Factory Girl - Warhol's Woman - "What truly breaks up her friendship with Andy is her love of "Billy Quinn" - in reality, Dylan - whom the film mostly dubs the "rock star." He's played by Anakin Skywalker himself, [Hayden] Christensen, and once the initial shock of Darth as Dylan wears off, one sees his performance is actually quite good." Source
February 15, 2007 - Factory Girl Clips - Check out Hayden Christensen News Fix for a really cool behind the scenes video clip from Factory Girl. Hayden is almost unrecognizable in one scene where he is totally immersed in his character. Hayden Christensen News Fix
February 15, 2007 - "The good news is that Americans are still making movies in Canada, thus creating more work for Canadians. Those roles and larger parts in Canadian films and TV shows have given exposure to several young actors. Canadian film and television alumni Hayden Christensen, Adam Beach, and Rachel McAdams all came close to winning nominations in the last few years, and it would appear they’ll be around a while. Throw in Gosling and it’s possible that we are on the verge of creating a core group that will help promote our own industry and even bring a little Canuck glamour to the Oscars." Source
February 14, 2007 - Breach Movie Review - "In his remarkable 2003 debut feature, Shattered Glass, the director Billy Ray never quite came out and explained why Stephen Glass, the ambitious young New Republic reporter who made up articles out of whole cloth, did what he did. Yet watching Hayden Christensen's super-sharp performance, you saw how Glass built each ghost of a lie around a childlike need for approval, and the result was a generational X-ray into a new kind of office sociopath a suck-up so pathological that he made his needs more important than reality. Now Ray has directed his second film, the abysmally titled Breach, and it's a bona fide companion piece, another true-life tale of duplicity gone secretly insane." Source
February 14, 2007 - Factory Girl - "Another surprising performer - Weinstein Co.'s MGM-distributed "Factory Girl" - continued to disprove its pre-release bad buzz by coming in second with an impressive $10,872 average from 18 runs. It had expanded upward from the previous weekend's three theaters in New York and L.A., where it had averaged $29,159 and led the iWBOT."
"George Hickenlooper's "Factory Girl," featuring Sienna Miller as troubled Warhol "superstar" Edie Sedgwick, is now ready for the kind of wide theatrical release the late Sedgwick could only dream about. "We are pleased with the film's strong performance and our expansion strategy. We are going wide this weekend on over 300 runs," said Harvey Weinstein in a brief email statement." Source
February 13, 2007 - Factory Girl - Special Screening Event Set in Shreveport. "The movie “Factory Girl” will open for a one-week run at the Louisiana Boardwalk’s Regal Cinemas on Friday . The movie stars Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce and was shot in Shreveport last year. It tells a story about fashion icon Edie Sedgwick and her relationship with artist Andy Warhol."
"There will be a special screening at 7:50 p.m. Friday. Organizers are working to recreate a 1960s atmosphere for the event. Moviegoers are asked to wear 1960s-style clothing, but dress participation is not mandatory. The event will feature a question-and-answer session with persons who worked on the movie. The lobby also will offer a display of art and 1960s “mod” fashion wear."Click here for more information.
February 13, 2007 - Awake - "Waking up during surgery: It's scary, but not common - Anesthesiologists won't be pleased when the psychological thriller "Awake" is eventually released. It stars Hayden Christensen ("Star Wars: Episode III") as a man who finds himself awake and alert, but unable to move or speak, because he didn't get enough anesthesia during heart surgery." More from the Charlotte Observer
February 13, 2007 - Factory Girl Boxoffice Numbers - "MGM's second weekend of the Weinstein Co.'s "Factory Girl" was strong. The Sienna Miller starrer grossed $184,000 on 18 screens, up 15 from the previous frame. The R-rated film boasted a per-screen average of $10,222 for a cume of $310,215." Source The final weekend total for Factory Girl according to Box Office Mojo was $195,698 for an average take of 10, 872 per screen.
February 9, 2007 - Jumper On Location in Egypt - From November 2006 - Pictures and brief article about Jumper filming at one of the pyramids in Egypt. The production crew is pictured preparing for the shoot. Egypt Productions (Thanks Sophie.)
February 8, 2007 - According to Hayden Christensen News Fix the Japanese blog reporting on Jumper filming in Tokyo says that filming has finished there and Hayden has gone back to Canada. He will then be going to Baja and then on to Chicago for more filming. Read More
February 8, 2007 - Steven Gould has a hardcover preview on his blog of the prequel to Jumper and Reflex. The story is about Griffin, the character played by Jamie Bell in the movie currently filming. The book is scheduled for publication August 21, 2007 with mass publication art to tie in with Jumper. Source
February 8, 2007 - 411 Mania - Factory Girl -"This is Christensen’s best work to date. Later this year, many other actors will portray Dylan during various points of his life in I’m Not There, but I liked Christensen’s work here." More at 411 Mania
February 8, 2007 - Website Update - January News has been added to the archives. Catch up on all the news here: January News Archives
February 7, 2007 - The Jumper production is scheduled to finish shooting in Tokyo on February 8, 2007. The production is then scheduled to move to Baja, Mexico/California.
February 7, 2007 - Factory Girl Suprises - "We are proud that 'Factory Girl' opened so strongly and we plan to expand it over the next few weeks. Audiences clearly want to see this provocative, sexy and compelling film," said Harvey Weinstein in an email statement." More from IndieWire
February 6, 2007 - As reported tonight on E!'s The Daily 10, another legal battle may be brewing over Factory Girl. Chuck Wein, portrayed in the movie by Jimmy Fallon, has had his lawyers send a cease and desist letter to Factory Girl distributors, The Weinstein Company. Wein says the film is "vulgar and historically inaccurate" and defamatory and says that changes must be made to the movie or he must be conspensated. If a settlement can't be reached he intends to sue. More at The New York Post
February 5, 2007 - Factory girl - "Christensen may have an even tougher part, essentially playing Dylan without getting to admit it, but he's helped by an uncanny resemblance to the folk poet as a young man, as well as an ability to capture the truth and bluster behind a young Dylan. The various scenes between Sedgwick, Warhol, and/or semi-Dylan all have an odd, alluring art-project charge. But Pearce and Christensen aren't onscreen all the time -- they can't stick around for Sedgwick's druggy fade-out -- and the movie suffers without them." Read the whole reveiw at Filmcritic.com
February 5, 2007 - I've been slightly pre-occupied with the Factory Girl release and promotion in the news but there is other news. Hayden has been on location in Japan filming Jumper with castmate Jamie Bell. News and photos have mainly come from Japanese fan blogs and have not been in English but you can catch up on what is known about the shoot at Hayden Christensen News Fix.
February 5, 2007 - E! Online Weekend Box Office Report - "On the art-house circuit, Factory Girl, featuring tabloid-fixture Sienna Miller's turn as doomed Andy Warhol protégée Edie Sedgwick, was the standout, making a big $95,291 in only three theaters. Its per-screen average of $31,764 was easily the weekend's highest." More from E!
February 4, 2007 - Factory Girl box office numbers in - According to Variety, Factory Girl made a strong showing in just 3 theaters grossing $95, 291 for an average of $31,764 per screen. Look for Factory Girl to expand to more theaters across the country on February 9th.
February 3, 2007 - Check out E!'s The Daily 10 Weekend and E! News Live Weekend for clips and news stories on Factory Girl.
February 3, 2007 - On Friday's Daily 10, E!'s Ben Lyons gave a big thumbs up to "Factory Girl" saying that as a New Yorker, he absolutely loved it. Continuing, he says that Sienna just knocks it out of the park and there's a great performance from Hayden Christensen as a young Bob Dylan who's only given the title "musician" but you figure out that it's Dylan.
February 2, 2007 - MTV Movie Review - "Billy is played by Hayden Christensen, who manages to make something sly and improbably hunky out of this doomed-to-fail imposture. With his harmonica rack, pea coat, Ray-Bans and adenoidal honk, he seems unmistakably intended to be Dylan, even though the filmmakers contend he's a composite that also includes Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison, of the Doors. Please. When Billy tells Edie, "It's not real, babe," the pretense becomes futile." More at MTV
February 1, 2007 - Factory Reject - "The movie's best scene pits Warhol (movingly incarnated by Guy Pearce) and Dylan against each other in a junior-high-school-style showdown for the attentions of the popular girl. Dylan, invited to the Factory to film one of Warhol's "screen tests," refuses to sit down to be filmed, and Warhol refuses to give him any direction at all. The resulting power struggle is both funny and painful, with each artist trying to out-"I don't care" the other as the eager-to-please Edie hovers in the background. It's a rare moment in which the movie has something to say about the constant small humiliations of the famous, and the desperate insecurity of those who depend on their favor." More from Slate
Be sure and check the December and January Archives for more reviews of Factory Girl and other news |
One of the best reasons to attend the O'Reilly Open Source Convention is the unprecedented gathering of top-notch presenters, leaders, and experts. Core developers, unique users, and visionaries share their knowledge with you to help you solve your computing or programming challenges. You won't find a gathering like this at any other convention.
Our speaker list is growing daily. Please check back regularly to see who we have lined up for you.DJ Adams
DJ Adams is an old SAP hacker who still thinks JCL and S/370 assembler is pretty cool. In recent years he's been successfully combining Open Source software with R/3 to produce hybrid systems that show off the power of free software.
He is the author of O'Reilly's Programming Jabber, contributes articles to O'ReillyNet's P2P site, and has to own up to being responsible for the Jabber::Connection, Jabber::RPC and Jabber::Component::Proxy modules on CPAN.
Click here for more info.Brian Aker
Brian Aker is the director of architecture for MySQL when he helps set direction for technology and looks for opportunities to harness and shape the MySQL database for efforts in Web, OEM, and telephony. In his copious amounts of free time he works on Apache and Perl modules, and hacks on the Asterisk Telephony System (hence, never has a working home phone number). In the past, he has been involved with projects for the Army Engineer Corps, The Virtual Hospital, Splunk, and Slashdot. He lives in Seattle with his dog Rosalynd.
Click here for more info.Dennis Allison
Dennis Allison is a consultant and Stanford University lecturer with forty-five years of experience in the computer industry as both hardware and software designer.
Click here for more info.Jeff D. Almeida
Jeff Almeida is Chief Scientist for a company delivering web-based HR solutions. He has spent the last seven years working as a web developer and sysadmin, building solutions for high-profile clients like Sprint and the Green Bay Packers. He and his family currently live near Dallas, TX.
Click here for more info.Matt Asay
Matt Asay is VP of Business Development for Alfresco. Prior to Alfresco Asay co-founded Novell's Linux Business Office, founded the Open Source Business Conference, and ran embedded Linux vendor Lineo's Network & Communications division.
Click here for more info.John Paul Ashenfelter
John Paul Ashenfelter is CTO and founder of TransitionPoint.com, where he builds web-based business applications for startups and small companies. He has written the aboutSQL column for O'Reilly's onLAMP.com site, written several books, and speaks about data warehousing and other topics at open source conferences.
Click here for more info.Michael Athanas, Ph.D.
Athanas' unique application of the intersection of his skills and experience as a scientist, data analyst, software architect, developer, IT architect, and project and team manager has provided measurable benefit to many leading life science companies. Formerly Director of Scientific Consulting at Blackstone Computing, Athanas led a highly reputable team of scientists and developers focused upon enabling large-scale vendor-neutral scientific computing solutions. He is the inventor (patent pending) of unique scalable data balancing algorithms that have provided core IP to Blackstone software products. As a Bioinformaticist at Cereon Genomics, he collaborated in the transcriptional profiling team as well as created software infrastructures for high-throughput analysis including a scalable workflow engine based upon mobile agent technologies. Previous to Cereon, Athanas was a Research Scientist at Cornell University¹s Wilson Synchrotron Laboratory exploring four-quark bound states produced in photon-photon interactions. At Cornell, he was Co-Architect of the Nile Project, a National Science Foundation project addressing large-scale databases and distributed computing in experimental elementary particle physics. Athanas received his Doctorate in Physics at the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.
Click here for more info.David Axmark
David Axmark is one of the founders of MySQL AB and has been working with MySQL since before it had a name. His involvement with MySQL began with the idea to make an open source SQL RDBMS to replace an old terminal-based tool named UNIREG.
Click here for more info.Mitchell Baker
Mitchell Baker is CEO of Mozilla Corporation, and Chief Lizard Wrangler for the Mozilla project as a whole. The Mozilla project strives to maintain choice and innovation in key Internet applications by delivering great, user-friendly software, such as the Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client. As one of the world's largest open source software development projects, the Mozilla project includes paid and volunteer staff members, engineers at numerous companies who are paid to work on Mozilla, a volunteer population numbering in the thousands, a range of spin-off projects, and a set of companies using Mozilla technology to build products.
Click here for more info.Stas Bekman
Stas Bekman is an open source developer, spending most of his time working on the ASF mod_perl project. He is an ASF member, online columnist, and a co-author of Practical mod_perl, published by O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Click here for more info.Melissa Benn
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Artur Bergman
Artur Bergman spends most of the time achieving the impossible. He has co-founded four companies ranging from Internet based stock exchanges to content management system solutions. In the open source world, he was mostly involved in the Perl 5 development process as well as working on a wide range of topics from open source large scale storage systems to distributed peer2peer version control systems. Today he works managing the engineering team at Six Apart that develops the software run by LiveJournal.com; another impossible feat.
Click here for more info.Gunther Birznieks
Gunther Birznieks' early involvement in cutting edge biotechnology research brought him to the Web to manage collaborative research from the start and eventually went on to be a cofounder of eXtropia in Asia where he is CTO. Throughout this time, Birznieks has subsequently published multiple books and talks in various areas of web programming including the CGI Programming with Perl book from O'Reilly.
Click here for more info.Ask Bjørn Hansen
Ask Bjørn Hansen is a software developer and consultant focused on Perl, Apache, Linux and other open source technologies. He has worked with Perl for more than eight years, building large and small systems in Perl, including mod_perl systems serving thousands of requests per second. He is a member of the Apache Software Foundation and has been building and managing much of the perl.org community infrastructure since 1999.
Click here for more info.David N. Blank-Edelman
David N. Blank-Edelman is the Director of Technology at the Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science and the author of the O'Reilly book Perl for System Administration. He has spent the last 18 years as a system/network administrator in large multi-platform environments, including Brandeis University, Cambridge Technology Group, and the MIT Media Laboratory. He has served as Senior Technical Editor for the Perl Journal.
Click here for more info.John Bobowicz
John Bobowicz, aka "jbob," is the Community Manager of java.net and is an employee of Sun Microsytems, Inc. During his five years at Sun, he has worked as Technical Manager and Engagement Manager in Sun Professional Services in NYC, as well as Emerging Technology Strategist in Field Marketing and most recently Chief Software Evangelist in the Software Division. Prior to Sun, he has 10 years of IT management on Wall Street building and supporting datacenters, trading floors, and development environments for Merrill Lynch, Chase, and Prudential. Jbob is currently based out of Florida and travels globally to work with CxOs as a trusted advisor and chairing discussions, briefings, and working sessions on applying technical strategies to business objectives. He specialized in Java, wireless, application architecture, and open source technologies. He is on the board of the SIIA Software Division and a founding member of The Lighthouse Council. Jbob has a B.S. in Computer Science from Upsala College.
Click here for more info.Terry Bollinger
Terry Bollinger is an IT analyst for The MITRE Corporation, a non-profit technical consulting organization that works closely with the Department of Defense. He is the primary author of a recent widely-read report documenting use of free (or open source) software (FOSS) in the U.S. Department of Defense, and he is also the author of the Wiley Encyclopedia of Software Engineering article on Linux and open source. Bollinger was co-editor of an issue of IEEE Software on open source software, and he was Assistant Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Software for software construction. Bollinger received an IEEE Millennium Medal for his many years of service to the software community, and he was a co-recipient of the Potomac Forum Leadership Award for his work on open source.
Click here for more info.Tony Bowden
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Rich Bowen
Rich Bowen is a member of the Apache Software Foundation, where he works on the documentation of the Apache Web Server. He's also the web guy at Asbury college (asbury.edu) in Wilmore, Kentucky.
Click here for more info.Jason Brittain
Jason Brittain is co-author of Tomcat: The Definitive Guide (forthcoming from O'Reilly), and a Senior Software Engineer at CollabNet Inc. where he works on collaborative software project hosting infrastructure software made up of more than fifty open source software packages. He has also contributed to many Apache Jakarta projects, and has been an active open source software developer for several years.
Click here for more info.Leon Brocard
Leon Brocard (a.k.a. acme) is an orange-loving Perl/Parrot Eurohacker with many varied contributions to the Perl community, including the GraphViz module on the CPAN. YAPC::Europe was all his fault. He is still looking for a Perl Monger group he can start which begins with the letter 'D.'
Click here for more info.Merijn Broeren
Merijn Broeren has been looking after the Perl infrastructure of Morgan Stanley for three years, ensuring all platforms have access to binaries, modules and support software in a consistent manner. Before this he worked on content management systems written in Perl.
Click here for more info.Zach Brown
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Dan Bruns
Bruns is president of Prospero Technologies, a provider of web-based collaboration services for major web sites including Major League Baseball, Fox Entertainment, and NASCAR.com. Bruns is also the chief architect of Prospero's real-time chat, presence, and instant messaging services and oversaw the recent development of Jabber-compliant systems. Earlier in his career, Bruns became well-known for his role as president and CEO of Delphi Internet, one of the first consumer online services, which was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
Click here for more info.Ken Brush
Ken Brush is enslaved in the Applications Group at WireX Communications. In his last daring misadventure he was a sysadmin for a dot bomb. He likes cats and tea.
Click here for more info.Paul Buck
Paul Buck, Director IBM Eclipse Development and worldwide Director, IBM OTI Labs, dedicates his career to advancing software application development and supporting the community of software developers. Previously President and CEO, Object Technology International (OTI). Prior to joining OTI he was the director of IBM's Center for Java Technology in Cupertino and Product Manager for IBM's award-winning VisualAge for Java, Paul founded the VisualAge for Java project. His leadership guided the release of the Eclipse Platform and formation of the eclipse.org open-source community. Paul currently is IBM's representative to the Java 2 Micro Edition Executive Committee of the Java Community Process. Paul's IBM career started in 1984 at the company's Toronto Development Lab in Canada. Paul holds both M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in computer science from Queen's University at Kingston, Canada.
Click here for more info.Tim Bunce
Tim Bunce has been a Perl5-porter since 1994, contributing to the development of the Perl language and many of its core modules. He is the author and maintainer of the Perl DBI module.
He is the founder and CTO of Data-Plan Services, a Perl, database, and performance consultancy with an international client base. He is co-author, along with Alligator Descartes, of Programming the Perl DBI, the definitive book on DBI, published by O'Reilly Media.
Click here for more info.Katie Capps Parlante
Capps Parlante spends her days working on Chandler, the open source PIM from the Open Source Application Foundation, where she's immersing herself in all things Calendar. She's passionate about open standards and great user experiences. She studied Human Computer Interaction and taught introductory programming at Stanford University, and has programmed desktop and web applications at a variety of small silicon valley companies.
Click here for more info.Maciej Ceglowski
Maciej Ceglowski is lead developer at the Vermont-based National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, where he helps to create advanced open source search engines and runs the NITLE Blog Census (http://www.blogcensus.net). He is an avid Perl programmer and the author of several CPAN modules, including Search::ContextGraph, WWW::Blog::Identify, and AI::General. He keeps a weblog at www.idleworlds.com.
Click here for more info.chromatic
chromatic is the technical editor of the O'Reilly Network. He edits ONLamp.com, the Linux Dev Center, and Perl.com. In his spare time, he is a prolific CPAN developer, a member of the Perl 6 design team, and a contributor to Perl 5, Parrot, and Pugs.
Click here for more info.Wesley J. Chun
Wesley J. Chun, author of Core Python Programming, the Python book for Prentice Hall's popular "Core" series, has over a decade of engineering and instructional experience. He is a principal and founder of CyberWeb Consulting, offering website design, software engineering, technical editing, and corporate training services. While at Yahoo!, he helped build Yahoo!Mail and Yahoo! People Search using Python. He can be reached at cyberweb at rocketmail.com.
Click here for more info.John Coggeshall
John Coggeshall is a Technical Consultant for Zend Technologies where he provides professional services to clients around the world. He got started with PHP in 1997 and is the author of three published books and over 100 articles on PHP technologies with some of the biggest names in the industry such as Sams Publishing, Apress and O'Reilly. John also is a active contributor to the PHP core as the author of the tidy extension, a member of the Zend Education Advisory Board, and frequent speaker at PHP-related conferences worldwide. His web site, http://www.coggeshall.org/ is an excellent resource for any PHP developer.
Click here for more info.Damian Conway
Damian has been a vi addict for quarter of a century. His h, j, k, and l keys are polished blank with overuse. He's noremapped his space and tab keys to more useful functions. His .vimrc is over 600 lines long, about 90% of it scripting code. VIM is his second favorite programming language and his only IDE.
Click here for more info.Joseph Conway
Joe Conway has been involved with PostgreSQL as a contributor since 2001. His Postgres work includes implementation of set-returning (a.k.a. table) functions, improvements to bytea and array data types, several "contrib" libraries, and other miscellaneous features and fixes. Conway holds an MBA from San Diego State University and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech. He has twenty+ years' of professional experience in a wide range of business, engineering, manufacturing, and software development tasks.
Click here for more info.Laura Creighton
Laura Creighton has twenty years experience in programming, software training, and Human Factors Engineering. She is a founder of AB Strakt, and a founder and Treasurer of The Python Business Forum, an international non-profit trade association for businesses which develop in Python.
Click here for more info.Ward Cunningham
Ward Cunningham is a founder of Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc. He has also served as Director of R&D at Wyatt Software and as Principle Engineer in the Tektronix Computer Research Laboratory. Ward is well known for his contributions to the developing practice of object-oriented programming, the variation called Extreme Programming, and the communities hosted by his WikiWikiWeb. He is founder of the Hillside Group and has served as program chair of the Pattern Languages of Programs conference which it sponsors.
Click here for more info.Dave Dargo
Dave Dargo is vice president of Oracle's Linux Program Office and the Performance Engineering team within the Platform Technologies Division at Oracle Corporation. He leads a cross-division and cross-company team responsible for delivering an enterprise enabled Linux distribution supporting all Oracle products. As part of this role, Dargo is responsible for driving the value-added engineering, product management, partnering and marketing of Oracle products and technologies in the Linux market. In addition to his role with Linux, Dargo also has responsibility for leading the team responsible for testing performance characterizations of various workloads across multiple hardware architectures and operating environments.
Prior to his role in the Linux Program Office, Dargo had responsibility for the Enterprise Platforms Division, which included the development and delivery of products across IBM's operating environments including AIX and OS/390, Oracle's relationships with IBM, EMC, Network Appliance, and other storage and systems management partners and the overall development and delivery of Oracle's integration technologies for IBM platforms.
Dargo has also served in product management and sales consultant roles at Oracle.
Prior to joining Oracle thirteen years ago, Dargo spent six years in various roles as a mainframe database consultant and systems programmer for a large retail food company.
Click here for more info.Miguel de Icaza
As the founder and leader of the GNOME Foundation, de Icaza is one of the foremost luminaries in the Linux development community. With his seemingly boundless energy, de Icaza has galvanized the effort to make Linux accessible and available to the average computer user. He brings this same excitement to his role as CTO of Ximian. de Icaza was instrumental in porting Linux to the SPARC architecture and led development of the Midnight Commander file manager and the Gnumeric spreadsheet. He is also a primary author of the design of the Bonobo component model, which leads the way in the development of large-scale applications in GNOME.
Click here for more info.Jesse Dougherty
Dougherty comes to ActiveState from Mindquake Software, a full-service outsource development shop. As their vice president, Dougherty was responsible for business development, project management, and software development, and helped grow the company from inception to over sixty fulltime developers. Dougherty has also worked as a software developer at the precursor company to ActiveState, hip communications in the mid-1990s. Dougherty's role at ActiveState is to lead the company's anti-spam initiatives. He also manages and schedules development resources to improve product quality and timeline accuracy. Dougherty sits on the board of Brightwave Ventures.
Click here for more info.Peter Drayton
Peter Drayton is a Program Manager in the Common Language Runtime team at Microsoft, where his mission is to ensure that Rotor and the CLR is a great place for programming language and virtual machine research & development.
Click here for more info.Micah Dubinko
Micah Dubinko serves as an editor and author of the W3C XForms specification. He works at Cardiff Software as a Principal Software Engineer and Chief XML Architect. Micah is the author of O'Reilly XForms Essentials available online at http://dubinko.info/writing/xformsand has launched a companion tutorial site, XForms Institute at http://xformsinstitute.com.
Click here for more info.James A. Duncan
James Duncan is Fotangos Evangelist and spends a lot of his time attempting to improve software and save us from "yak-shaving". He has been active in the open source community for over 10 years and a speaker at conferences for 5. In his spare time he tries to become proficient at all forms of DIY. This effort has, thus far, been futile.
Click here for more info.Robin Dunn
Robin Dunn, the creator and maintainer of wxPython, has been working in the software industry for 18 years on a wide variety of applications. He discovered both wxWindows and Python in 1995 while looking for a cross-platform toolkit and has never (willingly) looked back. Dunn was awarded the ActiveState Programmers\u2019 Choice Award at the 2002 O\u2019Reilly Open Source Convention. He is working for the Open Source Applications Foundation, improving wxPython for use in their flagship product, Chandler.
Click here for more info.Andy Dustman
Andy Dustman works as a system administrator and Python programmer at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. His current project is moving a large, mostly static website (with bits of PHP and Cold Fusion and Apache mod_rewrite) into a real content management system.
Click here for more info.George Dyson
George Dyson is a boat designer, writer, and historian of technology whose interests have ranged from the development and redevelopment of the Aleut kayak (Baidarka, 1986) to the evolution of digital computing and telecommunications (Darwin Among the Machines, 1997) and, most recently, nuclear bomb-propelled space exploration (Project Orion, 2002).
Click here for more info.Ryan Eatmon
Ryan Eatmon is an EDA specialist for Texas Instruments. He has contributed several Perl applications to the Jabber project and maintains the Net::Jabber Perl library. He is currently serving on the Jabber Council and the Board of Directors for the Jabber Software Foundation (JSF).
Click here for more info.Jack Emery
Jack S. Emery is a registered patent attorney, veteran litigator, and author of a textbook on civil litigation, now embarked on a much more agreeable second career as a college professor teaching Perl and Java at a small college in the mountains of Southeastern Arizona. He is writing, consulting, and pursuing graduate studies focused on the use of artificial intelligence tools in computational biology and bioinformatics.
Click here for more info.Justin Erenkrantz
Justin R. Erenkrantz is a Senior Software Engineer at Joost. He currently serves as a Director for The Apache Software Foundation. He has been a long-time contributor to the development of the Apache HTTP Server, Subversion, APR, Serf, mod_mbox, and flood.
Click here for more info.Schuyler Erle
Schuyler Erle is a free software developer and activist. He is responsible for NoCatAuth, an early open source wireless captive portal, and geocoder.us, an open source U.S. address geocoder. Erle wrote O'Reilly's Mapping Hacks with Jo Walsh and Rich Gibson, and Google Map Hacks, also with Rich.
Click here for more info.Lara Fabans
An open source proponent for fourteen years, Lara Fabans has worked at both open source and closed source companies. The past four years, Fabans has been working as an offsite consultant. She is proud of having converted two sites from a non-proprietary language and database to open source. Fabans' latest focus is on how to make distributed work teams more effective through online collaborative tools (open and proprietary), and new development methodologies.
Click here for more info.David Fetter
David Fetter has worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past six years in various dotcoms, non-profits and educational institutions including Match.com, bravekids.org and the UC Berkeley Extension. He has worked extensively with Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Perl, PHP, PL/SQL, Pl/PgSQL, vi and ErWin on large transaction processing systems, some of them with hundreds of thousands of page views per day, others designed for world-wide use. He has also been called in to solve critical database problems on extremely aggressive schedules, usually with much success.
In his free time, he does ceili dancing, brews beer and mead, rides his bicycle and helps run several organizations for computer professionals including the San Francisco Perl Users' Group and the San Francisco Wireless Users' Group.
Fetter will be speaking on Geekcruises' Linux Lunacy III.
Click here for more info.Mike Fitzgerald
Mike Fitzgerald is a writer, author, programmer, and teacher. He is the author of Learning Ruby (O'Reilly, 2007), XML Hacks (O'Reilly, 2004), and Learning XSLT (O'Reilly, 2003). He also wrote Building B2B Applications with XML (John Wiley, 2001), and XSL Essentials (John Wiley, 2001).
Click here for more info.Rob Flickenger
Rob Flickenger has been writing professionally since 2002. He has written and edited several books, including Building Wireless Community Networks and Wireless Hacks, published by OReilly Media. In 2006 he founded Hacker Friendly LLC, an independent publishing company that uses wiki software and print-on-demand technology to produce books. In its first year, Hacker Friendly produced "How To Accelerate Your Internet" bwmo.net and "Wireless Networking in the Developing World" wndw.net, which have been widely distributed in Africa and South America.
Click here for more info.Adele Goldberg
Adele Goldberg has lectured extensively on programming languages, methodology, and project management--co-authoring the original books on Smalltalk-80, on visual programming, and object-oriented project methodology. She was research laboratory manager at Xerox PARC, founding CEO of ParcPlace Systems, and a former President of the ACM.
Click here for more info.Jody Goldberg
Worked on Wall St with lots of spreadsheets. Got fed up with unfixable bugs in spreadsheets. Decided to write one.
Click here for more info.Harold Gottschalk
Harold Gottschalk has over twenty years of experience in the development of software products. Gottschalk has been involved in all aspects of the software development process, from individual contribution to software product management to large-scale organizational development of products that have twice won, and twice been a finalist for, the most innovative software product of the year awarded by the UCSD CONNECT program. Over the last ten years, Gottschalk has successfully managed large software organizations and provided technical leadership leading to successful software products and satisfied clients.
Click here for more info.Michael Granger
Michael Granger is a journeyman who aspires to mastery in his chosen craft: programming. He has nine years of professional experience in Perl, Ruby, and C, and has contributed modules to both CPAN and the RAA, including the MUES game engine, Test::SimpleUnit, Text::Templar, Ruby-Poll, HashSlice, Ruby-ODE, and Class::Translucent. He is the project lead of the FaerieMUD project, and lead programmer at RubyCrafters.
Click here for more info.Paul Grassie
Paul Grassie has been programming in Perl since 1990 and has an extensive background in programmer training and course development. He has over twenty years' experience with Unix programming and administration and has been conducting Unix programmer training seminars for more than fifteen years.
Click here for more info.Zak Greant
Zak Greant's love of free software and open source is turning him into a penguin. The only visible changes (so far) are a gradual accumulation of blubber, a loss of hair (which he hopes is the prelude to feather growth), and a growing preference for raw fish. When not practicing how to waddle or wear a tuxedo, he works with eZ systems AS as their managing director for North America; with the Mozilla Foundation on various community issues; and volunteers with the Free Software Foundation's Compliance Lab.
Click here for more info.Perry Greenfield
Perry Greenfield is the head of the Science Software Branch at the Space Telescope Science Institute which is responsible for developing software to calibrate, reduce, and analyze Hubble Space Telescope data. His efforts over the past few years have centered on moving as much as the HST scientific software development into Python as possible while retaining easy user access to a large body of legacy applications.
Click here for more info.Christian Gross
Christian Gross is a Trainer/Mentor interested in all aspects of Software Engineering, which relate to Internet, XML, Java, Apache, or .NET. Gross has given talks at conferences, including ApacheCon, DevConnections, and TechEd. He has also written various books like A Programmer's Introduction to Windows DNA and now is authoring Software Engineering Using Apache Jakarta.
Click here for more info.Peter Gulutzan
Peter Gulutzan, co-author of four computer books including SQL Performance Tuning, helps plan new MySQL-server projects from his Edmonton, Canada, base while writing occasional articles and delivering talks on MySQL. He is an enthusiastic proponent of MySQL's efforts toward standards compliance and performance monitoring.
Click here for more info.Kip Hampton
Kip Hampton is a freelance Web Developer living in sunny Southern California. In addition to having written the monthly Perl/XML column for XML.com, he is the also the author of the XML::Schematron and XML::SemanticDiff modules, co-author of the XML::SAX distribution. He sits on the Apache Software Foundation's Project Management Committee for the Apache AxKit XML Publishing and Application Server project, and has written XML Publishing With AxKit published by O'Reilly & Associates. When he is not hacking Perl or writing, he enjoys avant-garde cinema, improvisational comedy, and off-roading in his Jeep.
Click here for more info.Piers Harding
Born a "Kiwi," Harding has been involved in the SAP community for longer the he would wish to remember. In more recent times he has fallen in love with the open source community, and its original ideals, becoming an enthusiastic advocate when ever possible.
This has prompted him to make some contributions -
Click here for more info.Perrin Harkins
Perrin Harkins is a senior engineer at Plus Three, an open source-oriented consulting company. His prior experience includes development at large web-based businesses like eToys.com and CitySearch.com. He has published articles on perl.com and contributed to several books about web development. He is a frequent participant in open source projects, and a member of the Apache Software Foundation.
Click here for more info.Erik Hatcher
Erik Hatcher co-authored Lucene in Action and Java Development with Ant. He has spoken at numerous conference and symposiums worldwide, including OSCON and EuroOSCON. Most recently he has been integrating the blinding speed of Lucene (via Solr) with the simplicity of Ruby on Rails to build Collex, a folksonomy grounded scholarly tool.
Click here for more info.Myron Hattig
Myron Hattig works on a strategic research project within Intel Research focused on open source robotics with the goals of enabling proactive computing and developing emergent platforms through robotics. Previously held positions at Intel include software manager for a team of developers working on DSL/Cable residential gateway products and manager/architect for home networking initiatives in Intel Labs. He chaired the IP/1394 Working Group within the IETF that produced RFC 2734, helped form the IETF Zeroconf WG, represented Intel at IEEE, EIA, and other industry standards committees, and presented at several Intel Developer Forums and other industry conferences. He holds a US patent for a 1394 service discovery protocol. Hattig has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Montana.
Click here for more info.Ron Hitchens
Ron Hitchens is a California-based computer consultant and educator whose career dates back to the disco era. His first exposure to computers was operating mainframes in the Air Force. His first programming language was COBOL, learned from a friend's borrowed textbook. Since that time Hitchens has used just about every computer system and programming language you can imagine: from 6502 assembler to XSLT.
Hitchens spent much of the 1980s at the University of Texas at Austin, as student and staffer, where he burrowed deep into the Unix kernel and assisted with many interesting research projects.
Hitchens spent the next several years doing kernel work for clients such as IBM and Unisys. He has also developed and taught professional development courses for the same clientele.
Following a brief flirtation with C++, Hitchens fell in love with Java and has spent the last several years employing server-side Java technologies to build Web applications for clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Hitchens is Founder and President of Ronsoft Technologies.
Hitchens is also the author of O'Reilly's Java NIO.
Hitchens lives in California with his wife and co-pilot, Karen, and a dog named Boomer. When Ron isn't working (hah!) he and Karen enjoy snorkeling, bicycling and walking the dog.
Click here for more info.Steve Holden
Steve Holden has a lifetime of experience in information technologies and has supported open source software for twenty years. He is a director pf the Python Software Foundation, chaired the first three PyCon conferences, and is the author of Python Web Programming
Click here for more info.Jeff Horwitz
Jeff Horwitz has been a system administrator for the past eight years, and is currently Manager of Production Systems at TargetRx, Inc. He has written several Perl modules available on CPAN and is the author of Unix System Management Primer Plus (SAMS Publishing).
Click here for more info.Sterling Hughes
Sterling Hughes is a PHP core developer, whose contributions, among other things, include writing the SimpleXML, cURL, XSLT, and Mono extensions. He is the author of the PHP Developer's Cookbook and currently writes a monthly column for the PHP Magazine entitled "Programming with PHP."
Click here for more info.Jason Hunter
Jason Hunter is Principal Technologist with Mark Logic, specializing in large-scale XML content manipulation using XQuery. He's the author of "Java Servlet Programming" (O'Reilly Media) and the creator of the JDOM open source project for Java-optimized XML manipulation.
Click here for more info.Brian Ingerson
Ingy döt Net is a hacker with more current projects than years to complete them. Some of his more well-known creations are Inline.pm, Kwiki, and YAML. He is currently homeless, traveling worldwide from hackathon to hackathon.
Click here for more info.Keith Jackson
Keith Jackson is currently a Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he has been involved in developing a PKI based authorization system, and a secure advanced reservation system. He is currently involved in developing component-based interfaces to "Grid" services, and prototyping large-scale "Grids." His interests include distributed systems, access control, distributed system security, advanced reservations, network quality of service, web services component based middleware, and PKI based applications. Prior to joining LBNL, Jackson worked at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Click here for more info.Eric Jones
Eric Jones has a broad background in engineering and software development and leads Enthought's product engineering and software design. Prior to co-founding Enthought, Jones worked in the fields of numerical electromagnetics and genetic optimization in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Duke University. He has taught numerous courses about Python and how to leverage it for scientific computing. Jones holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University in Electrical Engineering and a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Baylor University.
Click here for more info.Christopher Judd
Christopher Judd is the president and primary consultant for Judd Solutions, LLC, international speaker, open source evangelist, Central Ohio Java Users Group coordinator, and co-author of Enterprise Java Development on a Budget and Pro Eclipse JST. He has spent eight years developing software in the insurance, retail, government, manufacturing, service, and transportation industries. His current focus is consulting, mentoring, and training with Java, J2EE, J2ME, web services, and related technologies.
Click here for more info.Mitchell Kapor
Mitchell Kapor is active in the world of open source software as the founder and president of the Open Source Applications Foundation, which is developing Chandler, a new personal information manager, and as chair of the Mozilla Foundation. Kaporl founded Lotus Development Corporation in 1982 and designed Lotus 1-2-3, the "killer app" which made the PC ubiquitous in business. He is also the co-founder (in 1990) of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and currently serves as a director of the Mitchell Kapor Foundation and of the Level Playing Field Institute.
Click here for more info.Marc Kerr
Apart from a brief foray into the world of retail management, Marc Kerr has worked as a software developer for many years and occasionally has been known to reminisce about the joys of Assembly Language programming. A reformed astrophysicist, newly discovering the beauty of pure mathematics, he is a regular speaker at the Belfast Perl Mongers, and is engaged in a long-running battle to rid the Perl community of intellectual corruption.
Click here for more info.Richard Kilmer
Richard Kilmer is the founder of Virginia-based software and services company InfoEther, Inc.. His background includes peer-to-peer software, wireless web, workflow, and pen computing. His current projects make production use of Ruby on several DARPA research projects. He is an active member of the Ruby development community working on Alph, FreeRIDE, RubyGems, RubyJDWP, Jabber4R, and hosts RubyForge.org.
Click here for more info.Satya Komatineni
Satya Komatineni is the creator of Aspire/J2EE: a declarative RAD tool for developing server side applications. He has published over 20 articles with O'Reilly on Java, .Net, XML, and Architecture. He has also created 'Aspire Knowledge Central' for knowledge gathering and disemination. He regularly contributes to java.net via weblogs. He is an active member of an SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) team at Indent, Inc., resulting in a number of SBIR grants including a recent phase2 grant. You can also find him in the IT trenches coding everyday java.
Click here for more info.Peter Kropf
Peter Kropf is a software architect at Legato Systems. In his software development career he has written device drivers, kernel code, financial applications, commercial web sites, electronic commerce applications, system administrative software, real-time systems, distributed systems, and developed various GUIs. Plus things that he's specificly choosen to forget. In his spare time, he enjoys watching chaos in action.
Click here for more info.Mike Kruckenberg
Mike Kruckenberg is a long-time MySQL devotee who has used MySQL personally and professionally since the early days of web-based applications. Besides being the go-to guy for all things MySQL at his day job, Mike is an active member of the MySQL community. Mike is the co-author of Pro MySQL (Apress) and the MySQL Cluster Certification Study. He did the technical review for Expert MySQL (Apress) on MySQL source code modifications. Mike is a member of a few MySQL Guilds, regularly presents at tech conferences, and actively writes about MySQL and other (mostly) technical things at mike.kruckenberg.com.
Click here for more info.Bradley M. Kuhn
Bradley M. Kuhn currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer of the Software Freedom Law Center. During most of the 1990s, he worked as a system administrator and software development consultant on Free Software systems for both small and large companies. In early 2000, he was hired to work for FSF, and he served as its Executive Director from March 2001 until March 2005. Kuhn holds a summa cum laude B.S. in Computer Science from Loyola College in Maryland, and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Cincinnati.
Click here for more info.Scott Kveton
Scott Kveton is a Network Engineer for Oregon State University and maintainer of ftp.orst.edu. Kveton is also the lead developer for Ampache and Maintain, which are both PHP applications.
Click here for more info.Chao Lam
Chao wears multiple hats as the Chandler product manager at the Open Source Applications Foundation. He coordinates and gathers user, developer and community requirements and has responsibilities for what makes it into each product release and the general direction of Chandler. Having successfully started and sold two venture-backed companies, ShoppingList and ClickOver, he is at the same time a veteran, beneficiary and casualty of the Internet boom.
Click here for more info.Tom Lane
Tom Lane has over ten years open source development experience. He is widely known as organizer and lead programmer of the Independent JPEG Group. Involved with PostgreSQL since 1988, Lane is now a member of PostgreSQL's core steering committee. Most of his Postgres work is on the query planner/optimizer, though he does fix bugs in many other parts of the system. Lane holds a PhD in computer science as well as a bachelor's in electrical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University. He has twenty-five years' professional experience in a wide range of systems software development tasks.
Click here for more info.Rob Lanphier
Rob Lanphier serves as "open source busybody" from Linden Lab's new Seattle office, working with the community in regular in-world office hours as well as via more traditional venues, and ensuring everyone has the tools they need to be productive participants. Rob worked at RealNetworks from 1996 to 2005, helping craft two key multimedia standards (RTSP and SMIL) and coordinating RealNetworks' open source initiative (Helix Community). Immediately prior to joining Linden Lab, he was a freelance consultant specializing in MediaWiki/PHP development.
Click here for more info.Robert "r0ml" Lefkowitz
r0ml is an software architect and systems designer with over thirty years of experience. For two decades, r0ml worked on Wall Street, developing market data, trading, risk management, and quantitative analysis systems. More recently, as chief technical architect at AT&T Wireless, he drove the improvement of their CRM, ERP, commission, and data warehousing systems. Over the last several years, r0ml has become increasingly interested in open source software strategy at large enterprises, and is a frequent speaker on the topic.
Click here for more info.Andy Lester
Andy Lester petdance.com has been aprofessional programmer for over twenty years and Perl evangelist for a decade. As one of the core Perl developers, Andy's interests in Perl focus on quality assurance. He maintains eight testing modules on the CPAN, as well as the Perl QA website. Andy is a frequent speaker at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, YAPC, and at Perl Monger meetings around the country.
Click here for more info.Hanna Linder
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Ray Lischner
Ray Lischner is a professional goof-off, striving to perfect the art of evading gainful employment. He is the author of C++ in a Nutshell and other books and articles about programming. When he has the free time, he teaches computer science at Oregon State University.
Click here for more info.Erik Logan
Logan co-founded Pogo Linux in 1999 with Tim Lee, CEO, with a shared vision that the power of Linux and open source software. Logan is passionate about educating businesses and fellow Linux users about the benefits of Linux, and is an active participant in the Northwest Linux users network. Logan attended University of California, Santa Barbara and majored in computer science.
Click here for more info.Ed Lyons
Ed Lyons is a senior consultant at netNumina, a consulting firm specializing in custom enterprise applications. Ed has eight years experience in Java development and has designed and developed many J2EE apps using open source components. He has spoken at previous O'Reilly conferences on open source and enterprise Java.
Click here for more info.Dr. Tim Maher
Since 1982, Tim Maher has taught many thousands of software professionals to program in C, C++, Shell, Awk, and Perl on behalf of major UNIX vendors and Consultix. He's a CPAN author, a frequent speaker at Perl conferences, and a White Camel award winner. He'd rather be programming in Visual Awk or Awk++, but Perl comes pretty close.
Click here for more info.Ayesha Malik
Ayesha Malik is a Senior Consultant at Object Machines, a software engineering firm providing Java and XML solutions to businesses. Malik has worked extensively on large XML and messaging systems for companies such as Deutsche Bank and American International Group (AIG). Most recently, she has been researching new ways to make schemas extensible and object-oriented. She also serves on the Architecture Working Group of FpML (Financial Products Markup Language), a data-interchange standard set forth by ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association).
Malik holds a B.A. with honors from Harvard University and an M.S. from Columbia University, where she studied operations research, applied mathematics, and computer science. She also worked on computational genomics projects as a graduate student and is currently taking classes in bioinformatics at Stanford University. You can contact Malik at [email protected].
Click here for more info.Alex Martelli
Alex Martelli is Uber Technical Lead at Google, Inc. Martelli holds a laurea in Ingegneria Elettronica from Bologna University. He wrote Python in a Nutshell, and also co-edited the Python Cookbook. He's a member of the Python Software Foundation, and won the 2002 Activators' Choice Award. Martelli spent 8 years with IBM Research, earning three Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards; twelve as senior consultant (Win32, Fortran, C, C++, Java, etc), think3 inc; and three as a Python freelance consultant, mostly for AB Strakt. He has taught Programming, Numerical Computing, and OO Design at Ferrara University and other venues.
Click here for more info.Anna Martelli Ravenscroft
Anna Martelli Ravenscroft has an extensive background in use, coaching, and consulting on office applications. Ravenscroft is not a programmer; she just uses Python to get things done. Ravenscroft has been a speaker at several Python Conferences, a technical reviewer on several Python books, and is a co-editor of the Python Cookbook 2nd edition.
Click here for more info.Yukihiro Matsumoto
Yukihiro Matsumoto ("Matz"), the creator of Ruby, is a professional programmer who worked for the Japanese open source company, netlab.jp. "Matz" is also known as one of the open source evangelists in Japan. He's released several open source products, including cmail, the emacs-based mail user agent, written entirely in emacs lisp.
Click here for more info.Mark D. Matthews
Mark Matthews manages development for the J2EE and Microsoft Windows platforms at MySQL AB, and developed the most popular JDBC driver for MySQL, MM.MySQL, which later became MySQL Connector/J, the official JDBC driver for MySQL.
Click here for more info.Jason Matusow
Jason Matusow is the Director of the Shared Source Initiative for Microsoft Corporation. He is responsible for the business strategy and implementation of Microsofts global source licensing initiative. Under his direction, Shared Source has grown to cover a broad spectrum of Microsoft technologies reaching more than 1.5 million participants around the world. Matusow continues to work closely with the core Microsoft product teams to determine the optimal collaborative development and community strategy for their intellectual property assets.
Click here for more info.David McCorkhill
David McCorkhill is an entrepreneur who recently founded RubyCrafters to promote programming as a craft and to provide a place for companies to find consultants for Ruby (and C extensions for Ruby). He has contributed to modules on both CPAN and the RAA, including the Multi-User Environment Server (MUES, the FaerieMUD engine) and Text::Templar. He is a primary contributor to the FaerieMUD project and president of RubyCrafters.
Click here for more info.Andy McKay
Andy McKay is a core Plone developer and in his spare time is writing the Plone book. He has been developing in Zope and Python for over three years. Sites McKay has developed include the Python Cookbook and ZopeZen. When not in front of a computer he can be found white water kayaking, canoeing, or hiking.
Click here for more info.Craig McLane
Craig McLane is VP of Technology at Ticketmaster.
Click here for more info.Jeffrey McManus
Jeffrey McManus runs Platform Associates, a consultancy that helps platform technology companies bring platform products to consumer and developer audiences. Jeffrey is also the developer of Approver.com, a site that makes it easy to share documents with friends and co-workers online. Previously, Jeffrey led developer relations initiatives at more than a half dozen companies, including eBay and Yahoo!, where he co-founded the Yahoo! Developer Network. He has served as a champion of web services, web syndication, and open source within these businesses. Before that, he worked for nearly a decade as a consultant helping software development teams adopt new technologies. He is the author of six books on software application development.
Click here for more info.Peter Millard
Peter Millard is a programmer for Jabber, Inc. He has written open-source win32 clients and libraries including Winjab, JabberCOM and Exodus. He writes enterprise level jabber server components for Jabber, Inc.'s commercial products. He is currently serving on the Jabber Council.
Click here for more info.Pat Mochel
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Bruce Momjian
Bruce Momjian is a co-founder of the PostgreSQL Global Development Group, and has worked on PostgreSQL since 1996. He is the author of PostgreSQL: Introduction and Concepts, published by Addison-Wesley. Momjian is employed by Software Research Associates (SRA) in their PostgreSQL support division. Previously, he was vice president of Database Development at Great Bridge LLC, another PostgreSQL support company. He has spoken at many international open source conferences.
Click here for more info.Bram Moolenaar
Bram Moolenaar has worked on open source software for more than ten years. He is mostly known as the creator of the text editor Vim. Currently, he is working on a project called A-A-P, which is about creating, distributing, and installing (open source) software. His home page is http://www.moolenaar.net.
Click here for more info.Dana Moore
Dana Moore is a division scientist at BBN Technologies, and is an acknowledged expert in the fields of software agents, P2P, and collaborative computing. He is author of Peer-to-Peer: Building Secure, Scalable, and Manageable Networks and Jabber Developer's Handbook, and over twenty papers for refereed journals. He has lectured extensively on these subjects at O'Reilly P2P Conferences and other venues.
Click here for more info.W. Phillip Moore
W. Phillip Moore recently left Morgan Stanley, where he was executive director of UNIX Engineering. There, Moore was a senior architect, responsible for the evolution of the firm's UNIX/Linux infrastructure. With over 15 years of experience deploying solutions to problems of extreme scalability, his past accomplishments include the deployment of Morgan Stanley's Perl development environment, global filesystem (AFS), and transactional messaging infrastructure (MQSeries). He is the original author of the MQSeries suite of Perl modules, and a member of the OpenAFS Advisory Council.
Moore left Morgan Stanley to more fully participate in the open source community. He is an open source advocate and enterprise technology consultant.
Click here for more info.Patrick J. Moran, Ph.D.
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Ian Murdock
Ian Murdock is Chief OS Platform Strategist at Sun Microsystems and chair of the Linux Standard Base (LSB), the Linux platform interoperability standard. Prior to joining Sun, Ian was CTO of the Linux Foundation (formed through the merger of OSDL and the Free Standards Group, where he was CTO) and cofounder, chairman, and chief strategist of Progeny, a Linux distribution vendor that builds custom Linux platforms for companies building server appliances and other Linux powered products. A longtime Linux user, developer, and advocate, Ian founded the Debian project in 1993. Today, Debian is one of the most popular Linux distributions in the world, with millions of users worldwide. Debian is also widely considered one of the most successful and influential open source projects ever launched: More than 1,000 volunteers in all parts of the world are currently involved in Debian development, and the founding document of the open source movement itself (the Open Source Definition) was originally a Debian position statement. Ian was also a founding director of Linux International (1993-1995) and the Open Source Initiative (1998-2001). Ian holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Purdue University.
Click here for more info.Milton Ngan
Milton Ngan is the chief architect for the technical infrastructure of Weta Digital. He has been at Weta Digital for nearly 10 years and was integrally involved with the setup of the facility for the "Lord of the Rings" project. Since then, Ngan has continued to lead the IT department through other major projects such as "I-Robot" and most recently, "King Kong." Ngan received a M.S. degree from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
Click here for more info.Alan Nugent
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Norman Nunley
Norman Nunley, Jr. is a Senior Systems Archetect for Peak Strategy, Inc, where he programs in many languages, including Perl and Java (and occasionally Perl that generates Java code). He is a quiet, but active, member of the open source community, but is currently caught up in his most recent project, Winston Ives (Proof) Nunley, who was released on April 20th of this year.
Click here for more info.Patrick O'Brien
Python expert Patrick O'Brien is the author of PyCrust, an interactive, graphical Python shell, a developer of the PythonCard wxPython application construction kit, and leader of the PyPerSyst team, which is working on object persistence mechanisms for Python applications. His articles have been published by O'Reilly, IBM, and LinuxFormat Magazine.
Click here for more info.Tim O'Reilly
Tim O'Reilly is founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world. In addition to publishing pioneering books like Ed Krol's The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog (selected by the New York Public Library as one of the most significant books of the twentieth century), O'Reilly has also been a pioneer in the popularization of the Internet. O'Reilly's Global Network Navigator site (GNN, which was sold to America Online in September 1995) was the first Web portal and the first true commercial site on the World Wide Web.
Click here for more info.Karen Pauley
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Marty Pauley
Marty Pauley is a Hacker and GNU Guerilla at Kasei. He was a fanatical free software user before people started calling it "open source."
He has been working as a programmer and consultant for over a decade, using C, Perl, and GNU/Linux to build database and network systems.
Click here for more info.Stormy Peters
Stormy Peters joins OpenLogic from Hewlett-Packard (HP) where she founded and managed the Open Source Program Office. As an early adopter of open source, Stormy was responsible for HPs open source strategy, policy and business practices. She was also a founding member of HPs Linux Division. Stormy is a frequent keynote speaker on business aspects of Open Source Software at major conferences such as the Open Source Business Conference and the O'Reilly conferences. She has addressed the United Nations, European Union and various U.S. state governments on open source software.
Click here for more info.Tom Phoenix
Since 1982, Tom Phoenix has been working in the field of education. After more than thirteen years of dissections, explosions, interesting animals, and high-voltage sparks during his work at a science museum, he started teaching Perl classes for Stonehenge Consulting Services, where he's worked since 1996. Since then, he's been traveling to any number of interesting locations, so you might see him soon at a Perl Mongers' meeting. When he has time, he answers questions on Usenet's comp.lang.perl.misc and comp.lang.perl.moderated newsgroups, and contributes to the development and usefulness of Perl. Besides his work with Perl, Perl hackers, and related topics, he spends his time on amateur cryptography and speaking Esperanto. His home is in Portland, Oregon.
Click here for more info.Chris Pine
Chris Pine got his start programming computer games, working on such titles as Alpha Centauri, Alien Crossfire, and most recently Civilization III. Though Pine was happy enough with programming in C/C++, he was a quick "convert" to Ruby. Now he gets to use it every day at HelloTree, Inc. Currently, he's using it to write auto dealership management software.
Click here for more info.Mike Pyle
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Antoine Quint
Antoine Quint is an independent SVG consultant also participating in the W3C SVG Working Group as an invited expert. He lives with his über-cat Stig Elmer and has a book in the works with his pal Robin Berjon.
Click here for more info.Michael Radwin
Michael J. Radwin is an engineering manager for Yahoo!'s Infrastructure Software group that develops and supports web platform technologies such as Apache, PHP, MySQL, and more recently SOAP/REST toolkits. His team has been instrumental in helping Yahoo! migrate from proprietary to open source software.
Click here for more info.Allison Randal
Allison Randal is co-chair of O'Reilly's Open Source Convention and Energy Innovation Conference. Her first geek career was as a research linguist in eastern Africa. But eventually her love of coding drew her away from natural languages to artificial ones. Allison is the architect of Parrot, on the board of directors of The Perl Foundation, and founder and president of Onyx Neon. She co-authored Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials, and has edited various O'Reilly books on dynamic languages including Perl Hacks and Programming PHP.
Click here for more info.Daniel Ravicher
Dan Ravicher is a registered patent attorney and an associate with Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler in New York. A significant portion of Ravicher's practice involves open source software legal issues. In addition to counseling clients on these issues, Ravicher has also published numerous articles and made several presentations on the subject.
Click here for more info.Randy Ray
Randy J. Ray is a long-time member of the Perl community and the author of several CPAN modules, including an XML-RPC implementation. He is also the co-author of Programming Web Services With Perl (O'Reilly). He has been developing in Perl for 13 years and web technologies for ten.
Click here for more info.James Reynolds
James Reynolds is a member of the University of Utah's Student Computing Labs Mac Group. His main duty is the deployment of Mac OS X. Most of his responsibilities include the OS customizations, scripts, and security of the Mac OS X lab and kiosk computers supported by SCL.
Click here for more info.Michael Rimov
Michael Rimov is the Senior Developer for Corvallis, Oregon-based Centerline Computers where he is responsible for directing the web application consulting arm of the company. He has been instrumental in the development of the open source Expresso framework and has been the lead developer for the past year.
Click here for more info.Amy Roh
Amy Roh is an engineer in the Java 2 Enterprise Edition team at Sun Microsystems, Inc. She is also a committer for Jakarta Tomcat project at Apache foundation.
Click here for more info.David Rolsky
Dave Rolsky is an author and consultant specializing in Perl. Embedding Perl in HTML with Mason, which he co-authored with Ken Williams, was published by O'Reilly & Associates in November 2002. He is the author of numerous CPAN modules. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Click here for more info.Greg Sabino Mullane
Greg Sabino Mullane does bioinformatics at the National Human Genome Research Institute, and is a developer of DBD::Pg and PostgreSQL. He often uses the GnuPG program, and invites everyone to attend the PGP keysigning BOF.
Click here for more info.Peter Saint-Andre
Peter Saint-Andre is Executive Director of the XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF), Director of Standards at Jabber Inc., editor of the XMPP RFCs, and author of numerous XMPP protocol extensions.
Click here for more info.Brian Sam-Bodden
Brian Sam-Bodden has spent over ten years working with object technologies, with an emphasis on the Java platform. He holds dual bachelor degrees from Ohio Wesleyan University in Computer Science and Physics and is the president and chief software architect for Integrallis Software, where he focuses on object modeling and Java, particularly J2EE, SWT/JFace applications. Sam-Bodden also co-authored the Apress Java title "Enterprise Java Development on a Budget: Leveraging Java Open Source Technologies." Aside from spending time with his wife and son, Sam-Bodden spends most of his time writing code or on the mat practicing Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.
Click here for more info.Aleksey Sanin
Aleksey Sanin is the author of XML Security Library--the first open source C library implementing major W3C XML Security specifications: XML Digital Signature and XML Encryption. He enjoys hacking and researching new technologies.
Click here for more info.Gurusamy Sarathy
Gurusamy Sarathy has been heavily involved in maintaining the mainstream releases of Perl for the past seven years. He served as the core language Release Manager for the 5.005 and 5.6 releases of Perl. Sarathy holds Undergraduate and Graduate degrees in Architecture and a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.
Click here for more info.Randal L. Schwartz
Randal L. Schwartz is a two-decade veteran of the software industry--skilled in software design, system administration, security, technical writing, and training. He has co-authored the "must-have" standards: Programming Perl, Learning Perl, Learning Perl Objects, References, and Modules, and Effective Perl Programming, as well as writing regular columns for several magazines. His offbeat humor and technical mastery have reached legendary proportions worldwide (but he probably started some of those legends himself). Since 1985, Randal has owned and operated Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc.
Click here for more info.Michael G. Schwern
Michael G Schwern has authored and maintained more Perl modules than he can remember, and some we'd all like to forget. Test::More, Test::Inline, Exporter::Lite, Class::DBI, Class::Accessor and Sex.pm are some of his creations while ExtUtils::MakeMaker and Test::Harness are under his maintenance. Due to clerical oversight, Michael is the Perl 1 Pumpkin King.
Click here for more info.Chris Shiflett
Shiflett is a leader in the PHP community - a popular speaker at industry conferences worldwide, the founder of the PHP Security Consortium, a contributor to the Zend Framework, and an author of the Zend PHP Certification.
A prolific writer, Shiflett is the author of the critically-acclaimed Essential PHP Security (O'Reilly) and HTTP Developer's Handbook (Sams). His writing has also appeared in numerous articles for php|architect and PHP Magazine, as well as a number of other popular books including Programming PHP (O'Reilly) and PHP Cookbook (O'Reilly).
Click here for more info.Itamar Shtull-Trauring
Itamar Shtull-Trauring has been programming since 1994. He has worked on projects ranging from multimedia applications to web sites, distributed servers, and remote object protocols. He has contributed to Python and Zope, and is one of the main developers of Twisted. He is currently seeking employment. Full Resume.
Click here for more info.David Sklar
David Sklar is a software architect at Ning and the author of Learning PHP 5 (O'Reilly), Essential PHP Tools (Apress), and PHP Cookbook (O'Reilly).
Click here for more info.Dave Smith
Dave Smith is the founder of the Passel project and a former core member of the Jabber project. He now works for Ping Identity as the Senior Architect for the PingFederate product line.
Click here for more info.Robert Spier
Robert Spier is an engineer at Google, working on RT and other open source projects. In his spare time, he maintains the perl.org infrastructure and volunteers at a local dog rescue.
Click here for more info.Simon St.Laurent
Simon St. Laurent is an XML-focused computer book author and editor living in Ithaca, NY. His books include XML: A Primer, XML Elements of Style, and Programming Web Services with XML-RPC. He is a contributing editor to XMLhack.com and an occasional contributor to XML.com.
Click here for more info.Bob Stayton
Bob Stayton is the principal consultant of SageHill Enterprises, an independent center for DocBook development and implementation. He has been engaged in computer-based publishing since 1980, starting with WordStar and a daisy wheel printer, progressing to desktop publishing and laser printers, and now implementing XML-based publishing systems for multiple output formats. As Architect of Technical Publications at The SCO Group from 1989 to 2003, Bob designed and implemented computer-based publishing systems for technical documentation. Bob is a member of the OASIS DocBook Technical Committee that develops and maintains the DocBook DTD standard. Bob is also a member of the technical team for the DocBook Open Repository Project on SourceForge that develops the stylesheets and other tools. He is the author of DocBook XSL: The Complete Guide, published by Sagehill Enterprises.
Click here for more info.Greg Stein
Greg Stein is an engineer at Google, working on their open source efforts.
Prior to that, Stein was a director of engineering at CollabNet where he managed the Subversion project and releases of their SourceCast product. He also worked at Microsoft as a development manager, in the Commerce Server and Site Server groups. Stein was a co-founder and the corporate technologist of eShop, one of the first electronic commerce software companies, before its acquisition by Microsoft.
In Stein's spare time, he works on many open source projects, such as Subversion, WebDAV, and Python. He also spends time with Apache projects and is the current chairman of the Apache Software Foundation.
Click here for more info.Wendy Street
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.David Stutz
David Stutz has been a professional musician since boyhood. Despite this impediment, he has also managed to actively participate in the evolution of a number of computer languages, programming models, and developer tools - most recently Microsoft's "Rotor" project. As a software architect and kibitzer, he has been involved in the early design stage of many technologies, including software component models, systems, database products, network protocols, and a whole lot of other hard-to-categorize plumbing. Despite repeated attempts to go clean, he remains obsessively attracted to distributed systems, winegrape growing, and the mechanisms of biology.
Click here for more info.Louis Suarez-Potts
Louis Suárez-Potts is the community manager for OpenOffice.org, as well as the chair of the governing Community Council. An employee of CollabNet, Suárez-Potts has managed OpenOffice.org for more than five years. He is currently working on a study of the contradictions implicit in liberal accounts of open source development.
Click here for more info.Dan Sugalski
Dan Sugalski is the lead designer and alleged head of the Parrot project, tasked with designing the world's fastest and most full-featured z-code capable virtual machine. (It will also run Perl 5, Perl 6, Ruby, and Python code for extra flexibility in text gaming) He's been at this for near four years with no sign of land yet, though as long as he avoids the dragons he figures things can't be too bad.
He's also been a long-time contributor to Perl 5, for a while handling much of the VMS Perl port, tried very hard to get the original Perl threading model working, and has written more than a dozen XS-only Perl modules, all of which likely explain this bio.
Click here for more info.Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan joined the Toronto offices of Afilias in 2001, where he helped to launch the first new gTLD on the Internet. He supervises the Afilias data group. He holds an M.A. in Philosophy. Sullivan lives in Toronto with a collie named Latrax and a human named Jill.
Click here for more info.Scott Sweeney
Scott Sweeney is the creator of SLiP, an open source “Sorta-like Python” syntax for creating XML instances in a quick and terse manner. Formerly a Program Manager for Microsoft, he drove development of their Community infrastructure and various aspects of the Microsoft web sites. Always straddling the fence between business and technology, Sweeney is back on the business side pursuing an M.B.A. from the University of Washington.
Click here for more info.Autrijus Tang
Born in 1981 CE, Autrijus Tang is a self-educated i18n geek, net a(ctiv|narch|rt)ist, and serial entrepreneur. In his spare time from translating Free Software and related books to Chinese, Tang engages in open source and wearable computing advocacy.
Click here for more info.Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas has been writing software since the mid '70s, and hopes one day to get it right. In the meantime he and Andy Hunt run The Pragmatic Programmers, a consultancy that helps folks develop better software. Hunt and Thomas have co-authored The Pragmatic Programmer and Programming Ruby, and speak at conferences and give tutorials around the world.
Click here for more info.Laura Thomson
Laura Thomson is a Principal at OmniTI, a consultancy specializing in scalable internet systems design and development. Laura came to OmniTI from Australia, bringing more than ten years experience in web development, IT consulting, and research. She is the co-author of the best-selling "PHP and MySQL Web Development" (Sams Publishing) and "MySQL Tutorial" (MySQL Press), and has spoken at many conferences worldwide.
Click here for more info.Doug Tidwell
Doug Tidwell is a Senior Software Engineer at IBM. He was a speaker at the first XML conference in 1997, and has spoken on technical topics around the world. He works in IBMs Software Strategy group, evangelizing emerging XML standards such as XForms, SCA and SDO.
Click here for more info.Phil Tomson
Phil Tomson has been a software engineer for the past ten years and prior to that he was a hardware engineer working in ASIC design. His main interest is in EDA (Electronic Design Automation) software. He has developed in Perl, C++, Java, and most recently in Ruby--his current favorite. Tomson is active in the Ruby community and has contributed some modules to the Ruby Application Archive, including: TaskMaster, installpkg, and Win32::process. He also helped to start the Ruby Weekly News.
Click here for more info.Adam Trachtenberg
Adam Trachtenberg is the senior manager of Platform Evangelism at eBay, where he preaches the gospel of the eBay platform to developers and businessmen around the globe. Before eBay, Trachtenberg co-founded and served as vice president for development at two companies, Student.Com and TVGrid.Com. At both firms, he led the front- and middle-end web site design and development. Trachtenberg began using PHP in 1997, and is the author of Upgrading to PHP 5 and coauthor of PHP Cookbook, both published by O'Reilly Media. He lives in San Francisco, California, and has a B.A. and M.B.A. from Columbia University.
Click here for more info.Diane Trahan
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Theodore Ts'o
Theodore Ts'o has been a C/Unix developer since 1987, and has been a Linux kernel developer since September 1991. He led the development of Kerberos V5 at MIT for seven years, and is the primary author and maintainer of the ext2/ext3 filesystem utilities. Theodore currently serves on the board of the Free Standards Group and contributes to the development of the Linux Standard Base. He currently is a Senior Technical Staff Member with the IBM Linux Technology Center.
Click here for more info.Adam Turoff
Adam Turoff is a longtime Perl programmer who has strived to learn a new programming language every year for the last six years. Recently, he has focused on Haskell and functional programming. He currently lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife.
Click here for more info.Kirby Urner
Kirby Urner studied philsophy with some of the best in the business at Princeton University. He first contacted Fuller with a paper on general systems theory, based on experiences with his family in Cairo, Egypt. Later he become the first webmaster for the BFI (B. Fuller's Institute), snagging the domain name bfi.org with help from Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Fuller's adjuvant. Today, he administers grunch.net and 4dsolutions.net, both domains having literary significance to students of Fuller's philosophy, an off-shoot of New England transcendentalism ala Emerson and Thoreau.
Click here for more info.Mark van der Veer
Mark van der Veer is a software test engineer working in Beaverton, OR. He has been using python for just about one year and finds the language to be, if not the holy grail of test, pretty darn close!
Before finding his true love as a software engineer, van der Veer had a twenty-plus year career in banking and finance.
Click here for more info.Eric van der Vlist
Eric van der Vlist is a consultant and contributing editor for xmlhack and XML.com and author of the O'Reilly books RELAX NG and XML Schema.
He has created and maintains XMLfr, a French portal dedicated to XML and is the editor of the ISO/DSDL Part 10 specification in progress: Validation Management.
van der Vlist is a seasoned software engineer and active contributor to XML and XSL mailing lists. He is one of the authors of the RSS 1.0 proposal and the creator of examplotron and XSLTunit.
Click here for more info.William Jay Van Etten III, Ph.D.
Willian Jay Van Etten III is an independent HTC and Informatics Consultant.
Van Etten received his Doctorate of Philosophy in Genetics at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Following his graduate research, Van Etten was Senior Software Engineer at the MIT/Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research where he contributed to the genetic mapping of the rat, and was the Head of Informatics for the Mouse Radiation Hybrid Mapping Project as well as Whitehead¹s contribution to the SNP Consortium. Van Etten was involved with the generation of 2 million DNA sequences, and the discovery of 1.4 million Human SNPs; having developed and optimized novel algorithms for SNP discovery.
Van Etten took these high-throughput computing (HTC) research skills to Blackstone Computing as Principal Bioinformaticist where he designed, built and configured HTC environments to support in-silico research for life sciences. Van Etten served as Project Manager for HTC solutions provided to Biogen, Orchid BioSciences, US Genomics, GPC, and the Whitehead Institute, and contributed to HTC solutions provided to Celera Genomics, Astrazeneca, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Research Genetics, and Partner¹s Health Care.
Click here for more info.Bruce Walker
Bruce has worked on single system image Unix clustering for over 20 years. Bruce has written 2 books, published a dozen articles and given many talks on clustering. For the last 2+ years he has been leading an open source team to develop single system image clustering on Linux
Click here for more info.Larry Wall
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Andy Wardley
Andy Wardley is the author of several CPAN modules, including the Template Toolkit. He is one of the authors of the O'Reilly "badger" book, Perl Template Toolkit, and a regular speaker at the Open Source Convention. He is currently working for Fotango, developing version 3 of the Template Toolkit and other related software.
Click here for more info.Holly Watson
Holly Watson is a Sr. Software Development Engineer for RealNetworks, working on the Producer product. She has been at RealNetworks for 5 years, developing both custom systems and software products. Watson received her Bachelors degree from the University of Puget Sound and Masters in Software Engineering from Seattle University.
Click here for more info.Luke Welling
Luke Welling is a Security Analyst at OmniTI. He has been using PHP for nearly ten years. PHP and MySQL Web Development, co-authored with Laura Thomson (Sams 2004), is the best selling open source programming book of all time. He is a regular speaker at open source conferences around the world.
Click here for more info.Casey West
Casey West specializes in developing open source based high-availability solutions. He spends free time hacking on Perl and its community, as well as contributing to other OSS projects. At pair Networks he is a Software Developer working on hosting and domain registration solutions for hundreds of thousands of users.
Click here for more info.Michael (Monty) Widenius
Michael "Monty" Widenius is the lead developer for the popular MySQL RDBMS project and is CTO of MySQL AB, a company that he co-founded to provide licensing, support, and other services for the MySQL RDBMS. In a past life, he has worked on games coded in assembler, software for a single-card computer used by power companies, a multitasking OS for an 8-bit Z80-based computer, and a lot of data warehousing. He has worked in assembler, BASIC, C, C++, Commmon Lisp, shell and Perl, and some other less common languages. Widenius lives in Helsinki, Finland.
Click here for more info.Timothy Wilde
Tim Wilde is co-owner and founder of DynDNS.org, a major provider of dynamic DNS services built entirely with Perl. He has been using Perl on a daily basis since starting the company in 1998, first in writing the DynDNS.org systems, and now as systems administrator. DynDNS.org has made contributions to the Perl Foundation, and offers free DNS services to sites which promote and advance the Perl community.
Click here for more info.Lisa Wolfisch
Lisa Wolfisch has eleven years of experience designing and developing Internet-based services. As a Senior Internet Technology Architect on the Census Bureau's Internet Staff, she creates customer-friendly web sites, researches new technology, and advises on accessibility concerns. Ms. Wolfisch is a persistent advocate for accessible, user-centered design in delivering government services over the Web.
Click here for more info.Thomas Wouters
Thomas Wouters is a System Administrator and programmer at Dutch ISP XS4ALL, where his jobs include maintaining and developing the Apache-running webservers, and writing tools in Perl and Python to administer the systems.
Click here for more info.Chris Wright
Speaker biography coming soon.
Click here for more info.Geoffrey Young
Geoffrey Young is a member of the Apache Software Foundation and a frequent contributor to the mod_perl community. He currently works for Ticketmaster. When not programming or writing, he is busy spending time with his growing family, slowly rebuilding their house a room at a time.
Click here for more info.Jeremy D. Zawodny
Jeremy has been with Yahoo! for over six and a half years. His Yahoo! career started with the high-traffic Yahoo! Finance site, where he worked to make MySQL part of the site's core infrastructure in large batch operations, as well as real-time feed processing and serving content directly on the site.
Click here for more info.
© 2003, O'Reilly Media, Inc. |
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
I never understood what made a pregnant woman walk this way and I was fascinated to find out for myself. I couldn't figure out if it was the weight you're carrying or just what it was that brought on this condition. I was also fairly determined to not be a victim of it, let's admit it, it's not the most flattering.
Well I've figured it out (at least my experience), something no one mentioned to me… these very pregnant woman waddle because their poor feet hurt! It has nothing to do with the weight, the back issues or the exhaustion, it all about the swollen puffy feet and the inability to do anything about them.
I'm doing my best to avoid the waddle, often I catch myself and have to straighten up. I'm sure looking forward to having my feet back again.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
- Kudos to our 1:00 crew that were so efficient they made our 6:00 crew unnecessary and we were able to leave Calgary 4 hours earlier than planned.
- Never have I seen a move go that quickly. My two brothers, my Mom, Dad and Brad unloaded our truck in 20 minutes. Those boys were moving mattresses on their own and doing everything so quickly that the Denise and Jenny just stood aside before they were run over (there will be much more for you to do on the 17th, we can stay inside the new house and move boxes to the proper rooms)
- You would think I'd learned the lesson in the last move… my flour and sugar buckets can't just have the lids put on them, they need to be taped. Last move it was the flour that tipped over and spilled, this move it was the sugar. It's a good thing we'd thought to bring a broom.
- Our U-Haul experience was entirely satisfactory and we'll be happy to use them again.
- As we packed up in Calgary Brad did an awesome job of fitting things in Tetris style until we realized we didn't actually need that much room. Apparently we should have tied things down (don't worry, nothing broke).
This leads me to scoff and, laugh and say, "I wish" or "Not even a little".
We've had this really frustrating moving situation so for the next week and half we're sort of homeless. All of our stuff has been moved down to Lethbridge to a friends garage (thanks Michelle, it all fit perfectly). We were supposed to move into our new house that weekend but those plans fell through and our new, new house isn't available until August 17th. So until then we store our stuff and we've been living with Brad's parents.
The 17th will include a second U-Haul truck and hopefully some Elder's Quorum moving help since I'll be even more useless.
So do you we have a nursery ready yet? I'd sort of like to have a bed for myself first and then I can focus on the nursery, although we'll be in trouble if this little girl decides to come early.
I've always really liked to swim so I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner but never have I felt more weightless and graceful and cool and comfortable then when I slipped into that pool this weekend. My feet returned to their natural size, I was able to throw my nephew around a little (at his request of course) and for a little while I could feel like my old self. I did make my Mom a little nervous by jumping off the diving board but what's a trip to the Magrath pool with out it.
The feeling was so great that we recreated it last night with a trip to Cardel and nothing could have snapped me out of my awful mood quicker. I see many return trips in the remaining 7 weeks. The only drawback is how extremely heavy I feel upon exiting the pool, it takes some time to get used to all that weight again.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Well it's suprising how quickly that can all change.
I've become hot and puffy, my shoes don't fit anymore and I miss my wedding rings. I wear flip flops all the time which now hurts the balls of my feet.
I can't sleep on my back because it hurts my back but sleeping on my side hurts my ribs, I have to use 5 pillows just to be comfortable and don't even get me started on how often I have to pee lately.
I'm hoping this is just a phase and I'll go back to enjoying things because otherwise it's going to be a long 7 weeks. I need to start looking on the bright side again.
I'm not impressed
Monday, July 20, 2009
This last weekend has involved pretty much nothing but packing and I have not been enjoying it. The bending down and sitting and standing and leaning has been hard on my back and at night I fall into bed an exhausted heap. I can't wait for Saturday night when it's all done (at least until the second leg in August).
Thank goodness I have an awesome husband who does all sorts of lifting, moving boxes and fetching tape and scissors for me, I couldn't do it without him.
The weekend also involved a trip to a random dumpster to get rid of stuff that made us feel guilty and like criminals, I'm not sure we'll do that again.
- What time did you get up this morning? The alarm first went off at 6:10 but it was 7:00 before I actually forced myself to get up.
- How do you like your steak? Medium rare. It's not worth eating if it's well done and tough.
- What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Brad and I went and saw Transformers this weekend, it's not that great.
- What is your favorite TV show? So You Think You Can Dance, Malcolm in the Middle though it's in syndication and the episodes are starting to get repetitive. I've begun replacing it with One Tree Hill, completely soapy, crappy show but I'm loving all the drama.
- If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? I'm sort of picky but not at the same time… I'd be happy anywhere as long as I have family around. I love being so close to Brad's siblings and I'd be thrilled if mine were closer too. I wouldn't mind somewhere that doesn't get as cold as here but it also can't have giant spiders.
- What did you have for breakfast? A Strawberry smoothie. Smoothies are my new favorite and I have a different kind every morning for breakfast.
- What is your favorite food? I really love food. I have a hard time picking a favorite because there are so many options. I really like pizza and almost any kind of dessert. Macaroni and Cheese (not yucky Kraft dinner, homemade stuff) would be high on the list of favorite too.
- What foods do you dislike? Mushrooms and olives. I was saying to Brad the other day that one of us should learn to love olives since neither of us will eat them, he was fine with the plan as long as I was the one of us, blech.
- Favorite Place to Eat? At just about any restaurant I can find something I love so this is a hard one. I really love the pizza at Boston Pizza though and the Calamari at the Olive Garden is so yummy. I love Spicy Hut and Diner Deluxe and the list goes on and on.
- Favorite dressing? I've never bought it but I love that Kraft Asian Sesame one, it makes such a yummy salad.
- What kind of vehicle do you drive? A 2004 Honda Civic
- What are your favorite clothes? I love all of my maternity clothes, especially my jeans. I'll be really sad when I don't get to wear them anymore because they're comfy and super cute. I can't imagine going back to my boring pre-pregnancy clothes.
- Where would you visit if you had the chance? Hawaii, Disneyland and I know Brad would love to go back to Montreal.
- Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 1/2 full, although sometimes it's 1/2 empty.
- Where would you want to retire? Anywhere close to family, I really like Calgary though.
- Favorite time of day? I love 4:00 on Brad's day off when he comes and picks me up. Sometimes he'll come meet me for lunch too, that time is pretty great. I also really like bedtime.
- Where were you born? Magrath, Alberta.
- What is your favorite sport to watch? Baseball.
- Who do you think will not tag you back? I'm skipping this one since I'm not tagging anyone.
- Person you expect to tag you back first? Same as 19.
- Apparantly there's no 21
- Bird watcher? I'm really not. Brad does have this fascination with birds of prey though, he'll point out hawks and stuff when he sees them. One time at the Wiebe house there was an owl outside and every was in awe and gathered around the window… in my head I was thinking, "meh".
- Are you a morning person or a night person? I'm not a morning person but not particularly a night person either. Midday? Although these days I need a nap at noon.
- Do you have any pets? No and we'd like it to stay that way. We're going to be those mean parents who don't let their kids have pets, we're just not animal people.
- Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? It's not really news but we're moving on Thursday. Boy it'll be a relief when that's done.
- What did you want to be when you were little? I always wanted to be a mother. Now as that actually gets closer I'm starting to feel pretty nervous about it.
- What is your best childhood memory? I loved our trips to Disneyland. We'd drive down and camp all the way. I remember the yummy breakfasts we'd eat at the KOA's and there would inevitable be some pretty good arguments but overall it was a fun time.
- Are you a cat or dog person? I like cats though Brad's allergic. Neither of us like dogs, especially since Brad's convinced they all want to eat him.
- Are you married? Best decision I ever made, he makes me so happy every day.
- Always wear your seat belt? Absolutely.
- Been in a car accident? Not any major ones. I rear ended a car once when it was super slippery out, there wasn't much damage though. Once before Brad and I were dating he turned left and it's wasn't actually all that clear and we got hit, that was stressful for him.
- Any pet peeves? Smokers. I become less and less tolerant every day. I hate walking to the bus behind someone who's smoking. Or getting on the bus and someone sits beside you who just put out their cigarette, it's so gross and proven to kill you! I don't get it.
- Favorite Pizza Toppings? Pesto, Feta and tomatoes – so yummy together!
- Favorite Flower? Lisianthus (that's probably spelled wrong). I'd never heard of it before until the florist who put together my wedding flowers picked it out, it's a pretty purple flower.
- Favorite ice cream? Anything with lots of stuff in it. I think that vanilla is a topping, not something to be eaten on it's own so I need a bunch of goodies in my ice cream.
- Favorite fast food restaurant? Taco Del Mar, they have the yummies burritos
- How many times did you fail your driver's test? Once, I sped through a playground zone… I know, it was stupid. I did much better the second time.
- From whom did you get your last email? Brad
- Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Right now it would be a furniture store, maybe Leons? It'd chuck all of our furniture, buy brand new everything and have it all delivered so we didn't have to deal with it in the move (I hate moving).
- Do anything spontaneous lately? We went out for dinner on Saturday. Not terribly spontaneous but it hadn't been planned in advance. We also showed up at Brad's parents hoping we could eat some lunch yesterday, again, not planned. That's about it though.
- Like your job? Not even a little bit, I only have 15 days left though so I can handle it (let's hope none of my co-workers read this)
- Broccoli? Love it. Brad doesn't though so I seldom cook it anymore though I have convinced him he likes Broccoli Cheese Soup.
- What was your favorite vacation? Mexico with Brad for our honeymoon. We sat around and ate lots and did a cool canopy tour and had so much fun. I'd love to do something like that with him again.
- Last person you went out to dinner with? Brad. We went to the Olive Garden, mostly for their Calamari. It was really just an excuse to not go home to our really messy house that was waiting for more packing to be done.
- What are you listening to right now? Typical sounds around the office. There are some muffled voices, but mostly I'm listening to the sound of myself typing. Betty just asked if I'm writing a novel so apparently that's what she's listening to as well.
- What is your favorite color? I love green. I don't own very much in green but I really like it. I love to decorate in brown too, I think if I had the money to redecorate the whole house would be brown (I know, so boring).
- How many tattoos do you have? None. I almost got one once but then thought better of it. That was such a wise decision.
- How many are you tagging for this quiz? None
- What time did you finish this quiz? 12:40 pm
- Coffee Drinker? I can't stand the smell even. I do like Starbucks Hot Chocolate though.
Friday, July 17, 2009
There was the first apartment where there was confusion about whether it was ours or not and then the whole heat debacle. We lucked out and found a lovely new place where we've been since January and we've enjoyed it a lot.
Then there was our Lethbridge house. We had everything lined up months in advance only to have it all fall apart a couple days ago. We were pretty stressed out about it as we have no time to go look at new places and we were supposed to move our things in a week.
One thing about me, I hate looking for apartments, I think it's a long, tedious and frustrating process and my previous landlord history has made me nervous to speak to them at all so I'm lucky I was blessed with a husband who takes care of that for us. I just make sure I'm real supportive and we're both happy. We were a little picky about this Lethbridge house. I really wanted 3 bedrooms, a dishwasher and I was not living on the West side, so when Brad sent me an email and photos of a house on the West I wasn't interested at all, until I looked at the first picture when I thought, "I'm in trouble". This house is beautiful, I'm not sure how you could turn it down. It's less than two years old, meets all our criteria (except the location) and is only slightly out of our price range (we can make it work). The move will not be as smooth as it will now involve a storage unit for a month but at least we know where we'll end up eventually.
Click on the photo below for more photos of our soon to be home.
Here's hoping the location sacrifice is worth it because I'm excited to have such a beautiful house.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
- When was your engagement? March 23, 2007 (maybe the 24th). We called all of our family right after and then we got to go to an activity where all of our friends were. It was fun to be able to tell people so quick.
- When is your marriage anniversary? June 30, 2007
- How long have you known your spouse? 5 years ish? Most of those years I didn't know him well though, we were friends for about a year and a half.
- How long did you date before you got engaged? 3 months. I know it's crazy short. I used to hate it when people would say, "When you know, you know". I thought that was hogwash, you can't know you love someone in 3 months. And then I knew and I didn't want to wait. I like to think it helped that we'd been friends for so long.
- Where did you meet your spouse? The first time we met was pretty unmemorable for the both of us, it took us a long time to come up with it. I was playing my clarinet in a performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Brad came to sub on the drums for a practice or two until he left on his mission. The meeting left no impression on either of us though. While on his mission I happened to become friends with 3 of his siblings so we naturally ended up in the some of the same places when he got back.
- What is your spouses full name? Bradley Earl Wiebe
- Do you have any children? Catie Mae is coming in September
- How many? Just the one that's still cooking
- Do you have any pets? Nope. We're going to be those mean parents that don't let their kids have any pets, we don't like dogs and Brad's allergic to cats. One day maybe we'll let them have goldfish, in a bowl though, no fancy aquariums.
- Do you own or rent? We rent though we move at the end of the month and the new place we had lined up just fell through. Hopefully we're not homeless or living with my parents.
- Do you live in the country, city/town? City unless we end up at my parents, Magrath is definitely a town.
- What is your favourite activity you do together? We love spending time together, it doesn't really matter what we're doing as long as we get to do it together. We do really love going out for dinner though.
- Do you have a favourite vacation spot? Brad would definitely say Shushwap Lake but I'd probably say Disneyland or Hawaii. I want to take him to both eventually.
- How many siblings do you have including in-laws? Oh man, this is getting complicated. I have 3 brothers and 1 sister, they're all married except one brother. Brad has 1 brother and 4 sisters and they're all married so that gives me a whole lot of in-laws. If you add them all up it totals 17 siblings and in-laws.
- What church do you attend? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
- Is this the church you got married in? We got married in the Cardston Alberta Temple
- What town is your current address? Calgary, AB though as I mentioned we're heading down to Lethbridge soon.
- Do you work or stay home? I work for another 4 ½ weeks and then I get to go on maternity leave.
- Where did you go for your honeymoon? We went to Puerto Vallarta. It was amazing but I don't think we'd go back, next time we'd go to the other side of Mexico, we've heard such great things about it. The beaches are supposed to be way nicer.
- Leave a piece of marriage advice: My favorite piece of advice is given on the wedding day, "May be today be the day you love each other the lease." I like that the amount you love each other grows more every day.
Marrying Brad was the best decision I've ever made, I look forward to lots of years of fun together.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Brad is amazing though and managed to turn the whole day into just what I wanted even if I didn't know I wanted it. He started things off first thing in the morning. These days we've taken to watching Breakfast Television while we eat our breakfast and when the birthday's came on he turned it up real loud, he'd actually called them to put my birthday on tv, so cute! (I had joked about him doing this the day before so I loved that he followed though, sadly there was a miscommunication and I didn't actually make it on tv. They said they could get it on this morning instead though so we watched anxiously, and still there was nothing. There were only two other birthday's up there today so I think my chances of winning that Marble Slab cake were high but sadly it fell through again. It's certainly the thought that counts though and I loved that he tried.)
As mentioned in yesterday's entry I picked up some cupcakes, a pack of 12 assorted mini cupcakes that Brad and I have been sharing between us. So yummy, I highly recommend the caramel.
Later that evening we went for dinner at La Dolce Vita and had the most incredible meal! The bruschetta was to die for and my pasta brought out yummy noises on every bite. We had great service and a great view. It definitely deserved a cheer at the end and we'll definitely go back.
And, saving the best for last… for about a week now Brad has occasionally mentioned how excited he is about my birthday present, saying that other than the cupcake courier it's the best he's ever given me. I tried to think of what it could be but couldn't even come up with a guess so I was pretty curious when he handed over an envelope.
First a little background… I have this thing for big cats. I'm fascinated by them and could watch nature programs about lions all day (that YouTube video about Christian the Lion nearly made me cry and just about convinced me that a lion would make a great pet after all). I often ask Brad if he'll buy me a lion and strangely he always says no. When I saw a photo of my Brother and Sister-in-law holding a baby tiger I was insanely jealous.
How surprising that Brad managed to buy me Lions for my Birthday! On August 5th Brad and I have a date to go behind the scenes with the Lions at the Calgary Zoo! I'm so excited! We get to talk about the lions and then we follow the zookeepers behind the scenes with the lions! The groups are all less than 20 people so it will be small and intimate. I'm not actually expecting to be able to hold a Lion but you bet I'll be looking for an opportunity to sneak one into our car as my new pet, hope Brad isn't allergic.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
I'm surprised it took me this long to think of it but what better way for me to enjoy a birthday than with a yummy cupcake. There's pretty much nothing that could stop me from heading down to Bliss & Co. at lunch and eating a super yummy cupcake (maybe two)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
As mentioned in my last post I've started to be a little puffy, this morning I went to put my shoes on and they were just a little tight and I was unwilling to suffer all day so I'm wearing flip-flops. I'm just waiting for the email from HR to come, we'll see how long I can pull these off (it is Stampede week after all).
Monday, July 6, 2009
On June 30th Brad and I celebrated our second anniversary. This year was especially casual as we were out at the lake all week. We did go on an anniversary canoe ride but I didn't want to let to day go by completely unmentioned.
Here's a list of 24 reasons (one for every month of marriage) I'm thrilled I married Brad. Sorry if the list is boring for everyone but Brad.
- He was perfectly willing to stop to let me pee twice as many times as usual on the way to and from BC.
- Everything to do with Catie, finding out about her, hearing her heartbeat, seeing her tiny feet. It's all made me love him so much more.
- He kills all the spiders for me.
- He makes me laugh with his unique silly-ness. It's a shame I'm the only one that gets to enjoy it.
- Is so helpful with packing, unpacking and getting ready for our next move.
- He often will put his face on my belly and try to get Catie to kick him in the face, so cute.
- He's willing to share a DQ Blizzard with me because they're just a little too large for both of us.
- He loves to play softball with me.
- Is the kindest person I know.
- He appreciates me and is always quick to say thank you if I've done something nice for him.
- He does the majority of the laundry and is happy to do it.
- We share the same ideas on parenting (not that we know anything about it yet) and we're excited to see how we do together.
- Sometimes his hair does this awesome flip thing in the morning if he's slept on it wrong, I like that.
- I can ask him any question, no matter how stupid and he'll never make me feel dumb. He explains things to me so clearly without being condescending.
- No one makes better cookies.
- Doesn't complain at all about my super annoying pregnancy snoring, even when it keeps him up at night.
- He drives me to work every morning even though it makes him 40 minutes early for work. In two years he's never once complained about that.
- If he's not at work he insists on picking me up after I'm done work, even if it's not convenient for him.
- I'm happiest when it's just the two of us together and so is he. We're excited to make it the three of us.
- He likes to surprise me by doing things he knows I'll like, like doing the dishes or the laundry.
- I don't know how he does it but he drinks water so loud! It glug, glugs all the way down. I like that he has random quirks like that.
- When I'm sick he won't let me lift a finger, he insists on taking care of me the best he possibly can and would go out and get me anything if it would make me feel better.
- He loves new electronic toys and has to find out every possible feature or cool trick available on said toy
- He's super musical. I love to listen to him sing and I love that he's so talented.
- He loves me in a way no one else would. Listens to me, is super affectionate and looks at me different than everybody else. No one makes me feel better about myself than him.
I'm so grateful for the two years we've had together and I can't wait to see what the future brings.
Why does it take so little time to be ready to go back? |
Fast and The Furious 6 Review By Adam
Question: When is Vin Diesel better than Leonardo DiCaprio? The real answer is never, but if you were to compare their current releases at the cinema, ol’ crome dome has the three time Oscar nominee beat, and I’m not just talking about the financials. I know, how the fuck can a sixth film in a brain dead franchise (Fast & Furious 6) possess a higher rating on rotten tomatoes than an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby ? The answer: genre expectations. I’m on the record as saying that that every film needs to be judged according to the genre it inhabits. Sure, I have preferred genres, but I don’t carry a bias; a five star horror film (The Descent) may have a lower over-all quality than a five star drama (Argo), but if it achieves its intended goal — namely, to scare the shit out of you — then I have no problem awarding it full marks. Gatsby promised drama, romance and glamour but (in my opinion) only delivered the last part. Now, I think the majority of the Furious films suck, but they do make simple promises: burnouts, biceps and big ass set pieces, and this latest entry more than hits its requisite quota, in fact, it’s the best of the bunch.
Following the convoluted (and frankly, confusing) timeline of the previous films, Furious 6 finds Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his ethnically diverse gang (Hello, international box office!) living happily after their successful heist in Rio. The gang are lurched out of their ludicrous retirements (no pun!) when Special Agent Hobbs (The Rock) comes calling. Hobbs is up against a zippy new threat — immaculately Goateed terrorist Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) — and Hobbs needs a crew of Toretto’s calibre to bring him to justice. Hobbs offers amnesty to the gang, but that is not the driving force (ok, that was definitely a pun) behind their involvement: one of Shaw’s henchmen/henchwoman is one of their own, Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez).
Full disclosure: I’ve never liked one of these films, not one. There are some that I can tolerate (the first and the fifth) but the majority of these films suck the fat one, and not just in a general sense, but an action sense. Most of the previous films have failed to utilise their resources: instead of stunts we get CGI, instead of bravado we get posturing, and instead of Vin Diesel we get Paul fucking Walker. Luckily, all of the aforementioned traits have been swapped around for this sixth entry (though Paully ‘Dead Eyes’ Walker still gets a subplot). In what must be a cinematic first, Director Justin Lin (responsible for entries 3, 4, 5 & 6) must actually listen to criticism and has been slowly rectifying the mistakes made in his previous films – hell, the way he is going, by the time they get to Sweet Fast 16, it might be up for Best Picture.
While Lin’s skill set is getting progressively better, the same can’t be said for recurring scribe Chris Morgan. Despite conjuring some enjoyably preposterous action sequences, Morgan’s characters are still thinly sketched at best and most of his emotional crises invoke yawns instead of tears. Luckily, Morgan’s sloppy, clichéd framework is elevated by lively, boisterous performances.
While it would be easy (and expected) to sleepwalk through this material, most of the cast seem intent on earning their pay checks. With the exception of Mr Walker, the old guard acquit themselves well, especially Mr Diesel, who, despite needing a lozenge, seems fully committed to the absurdly stoic Toretto – his administering of a flying head butt is one of the cinematic treats of 2013. One of this franchise’s smartest decisions (some would argue, it’s only) is its rapidly expanding cast; each entry brings new blood. The Rock readministers the charisma (and steroid) injection he gave Fast 5, Gina Carano threatens to out-pout Michelle Rodriguez and Luke Evans gives this series it’s most compelling villain yet (his ramp/go-cart is the balls).
Now, I must reiterate, Fast 6 is no masterpiece, but I must concur with the critical reception described in the first paragraph: I liked it more than Gatsby. I was dreading sitting through another one of these films, but Furious 6 kept me pinned to my seat, unlike Baz Luhrmann’s latest extravaganza. This is a perfectly serviceable (if lunkheaded) Friday night distraction, and in my book, that’s alright. So, if you’re getting dragged along to this, don’t fret, and, if you happen to be a card-carrying member of the rev head brigade, wear baggy pants, as this film is guaranteed to give you an erection (it took my housemate ten minutes to rise after the credits). |
Redrock ultraCage expansions
I have been using Redrock Micro accessories since I first got in to filmmaking with the Canon 5D mkII. They were one of the first companies out there offering support solutions for HDSLR filmmaking, which we all found out became essential due to the, shall we say "less than ideal" ergonomics of the HDSLR cameras.
I’ve since started using a variety of digital cinema cameras on my productions – as have many filmmakers who started out with HDDSLR. While these cameras offer the functionality of a camera meant for shooting video as well as a price point that has only recently become attainable for most lower budget productions, these cameras often still lack in the ergonomics department. That is to say that while many of these cameras have the proper internals for video, their external designs are still simply not conducive for building out a cinema rig with the proper support. So it’s nice to see that Redrock has continued to expand their line of support solutions to include these digital cinema cameras that are also in need of modified ergonomics. These also happen to be some of the sleekest, most refined cage systems out there, both in build quality and also in the way they are thought through with things such as built in power management and the ability to attach a variety of accessories.
You may have seen my review on the ultraCage | blue earlier this year, which was launched in tandem with the Canon 300. The C300 is an amazing camera. It has all the bells and whistles of a proper digital cinema camera, but it’s body design, while lightweight, is not easily useable with standard support accessories and definitely needs a little love when you are going to put it into an actual production – as opposed to a solo handheld shoot.
The base of the camera is awkwardly shaped and there are additionally no threaded holes for mounting accessories on support arms. The ultraCage | blue solves this problem with a baseplate that is made to specifically support the shape of the C300 baseplate and provide a standard rod to lens height, as well as multiple 1/4" 20 and 3/8" 16 mounting points. The ultraCage | blue also has additional accessories such as the powerPack, which can be powered by an external battery, such as an Anton Bauer, and has 3 power outs, two 12v regulated, and one variable 5-12v DC. This means that everything on your rig can be powered from a single source. I can’t tell you how much grief this saves – not to mention that it’s industry standard in the cine world to power an entire camera and its accessories of a single power source whenever possible – both in terms of convenience, and weight.
There is also a rear chassis that extends your cage, adding 48 more mounting points and a place to attach the backPack, which can hold whatever external battery you are using for power, or for external recorders, FIZ controllers, wireless etc.
Now Redrock has extended their line of ultraCage systems to include baseplates and cages for the C100 and BMCC cameras. The C100 is similar to the C300 baseplate int hat the bottom is shaped the same, but the uprights have been reconfigured to fit the new curves of the C100 body. Also like the C300 cage, the C100 cage can use the back chassis system.
The BMCC cage is different from both of these, as it is machined to fit the odd size and shape of the camera (you can read two of our reviews on that camera HERE and HERE). This cage is slightly more customizable, as you are able to buy many of its components as standalone options. There is the baseplate, which will give you the standard rod to lens height, as well as a top plate that converts the three mounting points on top of the camera into 14 mounting points, and a hot shoe mount. The show mount can then be utilized to attach the top rail mount. The full cage for the BMCC does not add any width to the camera, and has been machined to include vents that allow the camera to properly ventilate. Once this is attached you can then attach the uprights, which gives your even more mounting options and allows you to mate the cage with the back chassis. Both the BMCC and C100 cages can be used with the powerPack to provide power to the camera using the correct cables.
Of course there are many out there who still shoot on the Canon 5d mkII/mkIII, and their is a cage system for you too. As I mentioned above, these cameras are in the most need of support. The ultraCage | blue DSLR provides a baseplate that fits the bottom of most DSLR’s and provides an opening beneath the battery door so that you can swap batteries without taking your rig apart. There is also an option HDMI wire lock that locks in your HDMI mini connection and provides a more solid full size HDMI connection when you are using video out for an external monitor (As I am sure many of you have experienced, the HDMI connection is not the most solid and can come loose quite easily). This is a KEY accessory.
There are also uprights with multiple accessory mounting points, and a top mount that provides 15mm top rail support and allows you to attach the back chassis support. The powerPack can also bemused with this iteration of the ultraCage | blue system. However, Redrock does not currently sell a cable to power the Canon cameras. However, they do sell a pigtail for the variable voltage out not eh powerPack which can be spliced with a Canon DR-E6 – so powering your camera off the rig is still an option. |
- They look more like father and son.
- For r1:
- Absolutely not. Styles just stopped dating an older women. He's fucking pussy hound.
Remember the infamous, "Think how much pussy you're going to get?", line he got caught mouthing to the winner on X-Factor?
He's one of those people who I say there's no way in hell is gay. He's straight as an arrow.
- They're both ugly.
- Sorry for the typos.
Oh, dear to me!
- He could be bi, r3.
- r6, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever of him being bi. He is so straight, it's depressing. I wish he at least swung both ways, but all he cares about is pussy, pussy, pussy.
The tabs catch him everywhere courting another girl. He's also got a nudity fetish. They can't keep his clothes on. It was no wonder that his cock got leaked a few months ago. He sent it back to a fan who made a necklace for him. And yes, it was a girl.
Honestly, I don't know if I'd even want to get with him if given the opportunity. That boy must be full of so many diseases.
- Is this the kid whose cock David Walliams said he wanted to suck?
- Sorry, I've refused to listen to the Beeb since they canned Cuddly Ken.
- no, they aren't dating. he's with a member of his band, louis tomlinson. louis is 'dating' a model but he and harry live together in london and have always said they'd never leave each other.
- LOL, they are all straight. They are also all utterly and totally talentless. It's depressing to think this very, very bottom of the barrel shit is considered music.
- Yes, r8, that's him.
- Hm, I see r3/r7 is the same guy who posted the pics of Russell Tovey and his bf on the "Gay British Actors" thread, so he seems to know his stuff.
- r13, I don't have any close connections to Styles, so... Anyone who's had to listen to the media talk endlessly about Harry, probably knows the same amount that I do.
The boy is somewhat like a "frat guy" type, but totally gay friendly.
I give it a year or so when they announce that he's leaving and going solo. Honestly, I feel bad for the other members in that "band" having to deal with all the attention he gets.
- Yeah they are dating or at least sleeping together which is gag-worthy seeing that Nick is annoying, unattractive and a celebrity hipster leech. Harry never dated Caroline, it was just PR by the band management and her own to get their names out there. Caroline has been a close friend of Nick's for years and she allowed herself to be used as a scapegoat for to protect the real relationship. Harry and Nick have been seen together out on dates, Harry was snapped leaving Nick's place more than once in the wee hours of the morning but the public are throughly convinced that he is a straight pussy-thirsty 18 year old, see R3, so no one has figured out that straight teenagers don't just up and become bff with 27 year old gay guys.
- [quote]Caroline has been a close friend of Nick's for years and she allowed herself to be used as a scapegoat for to protect the real relationship
If this is true she is either very stupid or very brave. The scandal their fling (real or not) generated is astonishing and probably hurt her career. She is not liked at all and even got some death threats over it.
- R16 Yes it was risky but there is no such thing as bad publicity. I know very few people that knew she existed before this relationship began. And for the record all alleged girlfriends' of boybands receive deathtraps. Liam, another memeber of the band, girlfriend has had to cancel appearances with her group over death threats.
- *death threats* funny mistake.
- The look on the woman's face at 40 seconds in is priceless!
- R16 She's disliked by 15 year olds, and how much clout so they have really beyond getting their parents to but them lots and lots of boyband merchandise?
R15 Are you just guessing, or do you know? This seems a very random rumour.
- For what it's worth, the Guardian's celebrity columnist Marina Hyde seemed to think the Flack thing was just for publicity, too.
- R20 You can say that I am in a position to hear about these things. Nick is gay not publicly out but gay to everyone who cares enough to look at him twice. He has a rep for liking them young and was spotted stroking a very young guy's thigh at a celeb event. There was also a rumour he gave head to Joe Jonas some years back in a loo at a model show some years ago, but that's just a rumour. So based on what I know about Grim there is no way he is just being a father figure to young Harry, no way.
- So, do most people in UK showbiz circles think they are an item, r22?
And have you ever heard anything about one of the other One Direction boys?
Last question: what do you think is the reason for Nick not being publicly out? It hasn't hurt Scott Mills, after all.
- R23 I may have misrepresented myself a bit with my previous post. I only know about Nick because I have acquaintanes who have/is working with him. I only know Harry exist because I have been told he is screwing or being screwed by Grim. I know nothing about the rest of One Direction, and to answer your first question I am an outsider to all this and I know, so I am guessing most people know.
- Ok - thanks, r24.
- R22 Anyone with an internet connection could have told what you wrote in your post, (also you seem to be posting from different IP addresses...) I don't mean to have a go!
Do these acquaintances of yours think he's an ok bloke?
- R26 Yeah I am posting from my laptop, so that might explain the different IP addresses. Nick, from what I hear is a nice enough guy but a bit of a famewhore. He positions himself next to every supposedly happening hipster. He allegedly had a girlfriend some years ago and she left him and he was left heartbroken, an hasn't officially dated a woman since, or that is the story he gives. He is gay though I don't think he has had or have any interest in women what so ever. That's as much as I know about this situation, I can tell you though, more and more stories are going to come out about Harry and Caroline hooking up to cover up this affair. To be honest neither people in this relationship is fascinating enough for anyone to take particular notice in what is really going on.
- [quote]He allegedly had a girlfriend some years ago and she left him and he was left heartbroken, an hasn't officially dated a woman since, or that is the story he gives. He is gay though I don't think he has had or have any interest in women what so ever
That's just...ok then. Why bother with a story like that if everyone knows you're gay anyway? Though I suppose he's not the first gay person to have had straight relationships.
- It's funny, Harry looks as if he has just raided George Lamb's wardrobe, and there were rumors Grimmy and Lamb hated each other while on E4.
I think Lamb is a homophone, he's a Chavvy yuppie and big into Jamaican Dancle-hall, and use to play songs with called for the torture and killing of gay men.
If Grimmy is gay, then that's what that was all about. Having said that almost every DJ of BBC6 hated Lamb too.
- Niall Horan and Niall Breslin
- Watching the Brits Louis came off as the gay one, but I guess that says nothing.
There were rumors he was very close to the welsh singer John Adams from 2011's The X Factor Auditions, but I don't know of it was anything other than hetero male friendship.
There was a whole heap of rumors to why the ditched him in boot camp, as he was an early favorite.
- He has that same ridiculous hair style. I still think Louis is the gay one in the group.
- R29: can you please explain to me once again what the relationship between George Lamb and Nick Grimshaw is? Why you think Nicks staying in the closet has anything to do with George?
- Not r29, but George Lamb is suppose is be really homophobic, he use to play and support extremely homophobic artists like Buju Banton and Beenie Man on his radio show all the time, including playing some graphically violent songs. He was big fan of Shabba Ranks, a dance-hall artist that publicly stated all gay men should be executed.
There use to be some talk about it on forums and a huge on-line petition to have him removed which eventually was, but that was more to do with the fact he was one the worst djs ever.
If Nick Grimshaw is gay and George Lamb is homophobic I'm sure that would cause dislike between them.
- Thank you, R34 but what has this to do with Nick?
Did they work together? Why would a homophobic DJ keep Nick Grimshaw in the closet but not Scott Mills? There is apparently a link between George and Nick but I don't know it (I'm not British, so if it's really obvious sorry in advance)
- Well there isn't r35, but I think r29 was saying it's ironic that Harry seems to style himself on Lamb, Lamb started the whole bow-tie and suit revival in the UK, while Nick and Lamb apparently have a dislike for each other.
- I think you misunderstood r29, r35 - he wasn't suggesting that George Lamb had something to do with the fact that Nick Grimshaw wasn't out, he was just saying that Nick being gay explains the animosity between the two.
- I wonder who this guy sitting with Harry in a hotel bar last week is. Never seen him before.
- Here they are leaving together:
- (No, wait, it looks like they're arriving, not leaving.)
- could be an agent? Harry at the end of One Direction will have something to fall back on. He seems or wants to be connected.
- [quote][R26] Yeah I am posting from my laptop, so that might explain the different IP addresses.
That's not how it works, unless you were posting at, I dunno, a Starbucks? Somewhere where you're not using your internet access. If you have one modem in your house, you will be using the same IP, regardless.
At any rate, I'm telling you, Harry ain't gay. I wish he were. I want that smile. If he didn't have it, he wouldn't have a career. I hope he has it insured!
- The only guy who looks slightly hot in this boyband is the paki. This Grimshaw is starting to get that permanently-wasted look and it can only go worse from here.
- r44, I'll finish that for you:
- I said he looks hot. I can't be racist!
- Zayn is gorgeous. I hope he'll come over to our team.
- r43 racist
- He does have a beautiful smile, r42, but he's beautiful when he's not smiling as well.
- To me he has a little dapper Nick Jonas (the youngest of the three Jonas Bros.) thing going in OP's picture.
- Do people mix up Harry and that Frankie Cocozza kid?
- They must really hate the Wanted for sneaking in and taking their place.
- I think it's more the other way around, r52. The Wanted have been badmouthing One Direction a lot lately - I think they're worried that they're going to steal their thunder.
One Direction are just getting started in the US. My prediction is that they're going to blow up this month, and will soon overtake the Wanted.
- i know everyone is going on about harry but just wanna say that on knowing nick - he is a lovely lad!!!! thats all i have to say.
ps .... who cares??????
- Boybands are back? Really?
Seeing OP's pic I would shag shaggy haired Harry.
- [quote]At any rate, I'm telling you, Harry ain't gay. I wish he were. I want that smile. If he didn't have it, he wouldn't have a career. I hope he has it insured!
God what a load of crap!
I have no idea if Harry is straight, gay or bi (in my personal op, I think he's closeted and not the only one either and the Flack thing was absolute publicity bullcaka from 'start' to 'finish') but your shrill insistence stands out on this thread the same way the Jake is Straight troll (who also sounded like a middle-aged, paid PR rep) tried to drown threads out.
- One Direction--ew. Why are they making it in the US when the far talented (and just as manufactured) Girls Aloud never had a prayer here?
- [quote] One Direction--ew. Why are they making it in the US when the far talented (and just as manufactured) Girls Aloud never had a prayer here?
Because their fans are little girls, just like with Justin Bieber. Girls Alouds fans aren't as young and crazy.
- I love this discussion so much. There has been so much speculation about Harry Styles' sexuality. I for one, am sure he likes girls and boys. Him and the presumed gay one in One Direction (Louis) are unnaturally close. I am a one direction fan (eww I know lol), the damage control their handlers do after every time these lads are caught in compromising situations is absolutely ridiculous. harry was linked to about three girls in one weekend after a very compromising video of him and louis drunk was put up. Louis has a beard tho. No matter how hard he tries he's just not convincing enough with her. But the pre teen girls seem to think so.
- R15, Just wondering, was any of this actually true in the end?
- Well Nick Grimshaw has come out now!
- I wholeheartedly agree with any union between Messrs Styles and Grimshaw, be it real or faux (born of necessity).
- Harry and Nick at Reading Festival tonight.
- [quote]Well Nick Grimshaw has come out now!
Yes, he has!
[italic]One page of a fan website is given to trying to decipher whether or not he's gay – "the truth is that no one really knows because he's not directly answered that question," it puzzles, before adding hastily, "we all love 'Grimmy' either way!" – today, at least, he seems happy to acknowledge that he is. [/italic]
[italic]But, quite aside from the fact that he's a gay man [/italic]
Hmmm maybe there is something about that rumor with Harry?
- Nick and Harry hanging out again (the blonde girls are apparently Harrys cousins).
- Urm, I think we are all forgetting that Harry has a boyfriend waiting at home...His name is Louis Tomlinson....
- go back to tumblr, r66
louis and harry have been over for a long while
- Harry spent last christmas with Nick. Then Nick hosted a birthday do for Harry in february when Harry got back from America. They then spent valentine's night together. Whenever Harry returns from USA etc Grimmy is the first person he goes to. They see each other practically every day, and Harry frequently stays over at Nick despite having his own flat (shared with Louis Tomlinson) in North London. Harry's mother invited Nick over for tea in Holmes Chapel when he visited his family in Oldham. When Nick's parents visited him in London, Harry went out to dinner with the 3 of them.
All this would be suggestive of no more than a very close friendship if Harry did not accompany Nick to work so much. That to me feels more like "I really struggle to function without you" or "I just can't get enough of you". He'll drive Nick to Radio 1, then either hang around the studio or the vicinity (on at least one occasion he went out and bought cakes for everyone) then drives Nick home after the show. And Nick's show ends at 12 midnight. This is a so called babe magnet/lady killer spending all his spare time following a 28 year old gay man around...
Whetever they are up to, it is clear they make each other happy (unlike his recent interactions with Louis - something is up between these two, and it isn't good). One Direction's PR and management would like Harry, as the most popular member, to remain single but seemingly available to the hordes of teenage girls who buy their records. That he may be a submissive 18 year old in a relationship with a 28 year old man could alienate a significant portion of their fanbase, and so the public will continue to be drip fed tales of Harry's escapades with blondes, and Nick is such a good sport he'll roll with it.
- Interesting, R68.
- I think a lot of people from what was basically the Harry/Louis thread might transfer here.
R68 Why do you say submissive? Nice summary of the relationship and why it's valid, though.
I love that he bought cakes for everyone, he just sounds so sweet and nice. And not at all the homewrecker the tabs have been trying to portray; or the rampant toyboy, pursuing older women.
He definitely seems happy around him - almost always smiling and laughing.
Unless he's being kissed by men.
- My gay gene is smirking at the use of Nick 'rolling with it'.
- I wonder what's up with the seeming revelation that Grimshaw has never had a proper relationship. It's hardly good PR for a 28-year-old.
- Neither did Mary until she had Jesus but nobody questions her PR.
- Any relation to fellow gay Aiden?
- Has the Louis Tomlinson thread 8 been deleted?! (can't open it?)
- I don't really know One Direction but my money's on Louis and Niall being the gay ones. All this Niall/Demi Lovato coverage seems fishy.
- I can't open it either, r75. Weird.
- So for whatever reason I can't get into part 8 of the Louis Tomlinson ass thread. Nevertheless I thought this was quite interesting. When you watch this one go have a look at Louis. Interesting to say the least.
- I can't get in The Ass of Louis thread either.
R78 I love how even the palm reading says Harry will go solo in a couple of years.
- WTF it says the thread no longer exists...
- Prance Ponies! Prance!
- Was anything controversial posted in thread 8?!
I didn't see the last 20 or saw posts?
- Yes, thread 8 appears to have vanished. Might be maintainence, could be the Webmaster hates us again.
On another note, you have to admit, sometimes the tumblr girls are geniuses...
- R83, Can the site delete threads they don't like & is it likely to come back?
I just want to know what was posted on it yesterday that got it removed?
- R82, idk as of last night but someone called Nick Grimshaw a paedophile few days ago and that he was supplying Harry with drugs.
I dunno, but if that got back to me and it was untrue I'd be unhappy about it. I questioned the poster and got called a paedophile defender.
But sometimes a thread goes down for no apparent reason only to reappear later.
- R85, Thanks. Shame a few posters got the whole thread removed (good for you for defending grimshaw though)
Hopefully someone will start a thread 9.
The Webmaster hates us again? Have other One Direction/The Ass of Louis Tomlinson threads been deleted before?
- I meant us in general r87, at DL. Sometimes threads just go down.
- The Ass of Louis threads are the only thing keeping DL alive... the Webmaster should realize that!
- Do you know who I could see Harry with, seriously?
He comes over as friendly, freespirited, loving and someone that doesn't put anyone else down. He is funny and does his own thing creatively. And he's kind of a bear already.
- Come on, don't derail this thread. This one is about Grimmy and Nick not the band and the others from 1D.
Here's a new advert about Grimmys new breakfast show (which will be one of the biggest radio shows in the UK). And guess who is in it and in his bedroom?
- Rumour du jour:
That Harry and Louis were still in LA (as of yesterday) at a tattoo parlour after the other boys had split (Lou's foot allegedly present, pictured) and Harry driving a (partially pictured) male about, though cropped out.
Louis also tweeted 'ouch' around the same time which made people think he'd also got a tattoo done but in the midst of an 'argument' with that Nathan chick from The Wanted.
There's nothing inherently ohlala about any of this outside of two besties rolling round town poss. getting tattooed but the Larry shippers are delighted, bonus implied sharing of hotel suite mentioned, there's no sign of TB on Harry's and Lou's 'date' (as it being called) and all is well today.
Tomorrow may be a different matter. I am wondering if Nick will turn up to spanner the works again. (!)
- R91, we're a bit homeless until Thread 8 returns or someone starts a new one if it does not.
- One assumes you meant Grimmy and Harry R91.
A little goss about Nick from an English showbiz forum. Someone posted that Nick had hooked up with the poster's mate a few years ago and that Nick is a lovely guy. This gossip was posted originally before Nick came out and then the poster returned to ask if people now believed him as a few had questioned the veracity as they were unsure if Nick was gay.
- I always guessed Nick was family. I'd say it was pretty obvious.
He's obviously discreet with his relationships.
To Harry's credit, when people debate how he seems to trail round after either Louis or Nick, I have seen plenty of pictures of him playing golf with One D or at his local club with other friends/acquaintances and he also seems to just take off on his own too.
So I don't think he's this doomed lapdog some people assume, just extremely upfront with his affections for his friends.
I'd guess a lot of conflicting bunkum is put out so they can all move about without fuss and I'm sure decoys are sometimes employed.
- R95 I find it hard to believe anyone thought Nick was straight but there you go.
Fey straight men are not uncommon in Britain.
- R97 I am a Brit. I just assumed it was common knowledge Grimmy was gay despite his not having made any statement to the press. You could hardly even say he was glass closeted I think it is beginning to reach the stage where it is becoming a non issue particularly among some sections of the community and it doesn't occur to anyone that the press are even vaguely interested.
- R99, I think Grimmy handled it well, the kind of open-ended, 'I fancy so and so (insert guy's name)' or 'I've never had time for a boyfriend' sort of statement seems to be the way to go rather than grandiose Lace Bass 'I'm Gay!' cover stories.
Basically tip people the nod without making a giant fuss and they can join the dots themselves.
- Also pretty sure we're not entirely done with Harry and Grim-related hanging out and papping in the coming days/weeks when he gets home.
The Larry fandom has had a fluffy few days and it never seems to last.
I reckon another rendezvous might be on the cards.
- A young Harry with school(?)friend?
- Off Topic: Did Nick Grimshaw and Will Young ever date?
- Harry Styles features in one of the adverts for Nick's new radio show
- r104 meet r91
- I just want to know what posts got thread 8 removed?!
Did anyone see the last 15-20 posts? (the last one i saw was just about 1D being rubbish dancers?!)
- Talk of quiffs and of Harry Styles balding/looking like Morrissey. Harry's 17Black tattoo. Harry and Louis in Los Angeles (was Louis in the car). A post about the obvious relationship between Nick and Harry. I think I missed the last few posts. I'm curious too.
- R107, Thanks. Nothing out of the ordinary then?
It was the first of the 'Louis' threads that was pretty much dominated by gossip on Harry/grimmy. I wonder if it's disappearance means something?
- [quote]It was the first of the 'Louis' threads that was pretty much dominated by gossip on Harry/grimmy. I wonder if it's disappearance means something?
The webmaster ships Larry?
- R109, Ha ha, maybe..
Caroline Flack 'favourited' a tweet by Harry about 'being unable to sleep as he has so much on his mind..'
She 'unfavourited' a couple of days later.
I'm never sure whether their relationship was real or not (& the Grimmy rumours are all rubbish)
Things like the tweet thing make me think she may still be on the scene? Does anyone else think that or is it just me?
- L Girl might share that opinion, though she was firmly swayed to the Grimshaw side of things recently. Unless, of course, you are L Girl sans signature.
Isn't Harry treading towards the situation r99 and r100 write about? Regardless of him dating anyone, he seems like he's bi/gay in plain sight, which is great.
- I am London girl and you're right I was starting to discount Flack but each time I do, she seems to pop up in this saga again?
I just wondered if i was the only one who thought she may still be relevant here?
Then again, there does seem to be very strong reasons to believe in G/Harry so I'm really not sure.
R99 & R100's views do seem plausible. I just find it hard to believe that their mgmt would allow that for any of them so early in their career?
Would be great if they did though.
- [quote]Yes, thread 8 appears to have vanished. Might be maintainence, could be the Webmaster hates us again.
AGAIN?!?! how many times has this happened? maybe you should take this as a sign, and STOP talking about them? You have driven people away from the other threads. Now all that's left are those worshipping Grimmy, thinking he's perfect. Sad indeed.
- Harry has reportedly flown back to the UK today, alone.
- The UK gossip rags have started reporting on Nick and Harry's Bromance- have been called inseparable.
- [quote]AGAIN?!?! how many times has this happened? maybe you should take this as a sign, and STOP talking about them? You have driven people away from the other threads. Now all that's left are those worshipping Grimmy, thinking he's perfect. Sad indeed.
Do you need a couch to lie on?
I answered the person that asked a while back it was nothing to do with the One Direction threads) so go read this thread instead of flinging insults because you are bone fucking idle, Cordelia.
For the rest, I can buy Harry and Grimmers, Flack not so much (way too overhyped and convinient) but can't help feeling Louis is not out of the picture. The look on he and Harry's faces whenever they are sat/stood around one another makes me think Louis permanently has his hand down Harry's trousers.
And why not.
- He's the ugliest of the bunch so who cares?
- Apparently a tattoo artist revealed today that he had recently tattooed a guy from a very famous British boyband with the initials of his secret girlfriend.
Harry & Caroline ??
- Article on Modest Management taking Rebecca Ferguson to court.
- I've never bought the "Larry is a secret romance" theories. A lot of them started when 1D broke internationally, and new fans started viewing interview clips out of context, photoshooped pics and slowed down gifs without witnessing how the friendship developed during the series.
The whole Larry bromance thing was very cleverly played out for fans. When the x factor was on (sept-dec 2010) the ITV2 website didn't stop going on about Louis and Harry's friendship and kept uploading video clips to show us this fantastic bromance - the same clips people are now using as evidence of a relationship. The ITV forums were inundated with early Larry shippers even then, so they knew how popular the bromance was.
Back to Nick and Harry. Now this is the "friendship" I'm interested in. Louis is presently on holiday with his girlfriend and Harry is back in London, so expect new "Gryles" sightings. Nick hinted at Harry being on his final late show tomorrow which will be interesting, as they often giggle like schoolgirls when they chat to each other on radio.
- I haven't heard the show but tonight from Nick Grimshaw's Radio One slot:
[quote]So I've got a different popstar spooning with me.
Has talked about Harry again.
There's a part 2 of the advert where he gets woken up, supposedly. This may be tomorrow.
Just going by the buzz out there.
- By the way, just so people don't lose sight of the fact there's a straight 1D fandom out there who are every bit as "invested" as Larry shippers, in what boybands represent to them, check this out.
- well Harry now has the letters A and G tattooed on himself, I don't buy that the A is for his mom btw when he was asked about it he stammered and stuttered and only after a moments thinking time did he come up with "that's for my mum"
- Aiden Grimshaw?
- People are so unfair about Harry. They project so many fantasies onto him about being the innocent romantic. He's barely human in the eyes of the fanbase. He's messianic. Even on here, I find the presumptions about his affections repulsive. He's just a lad from Yorkshire finding his feet in the world & you all want to break him in before his time.
- It could be but...timing. Always timing in this damn fandom. And also why has it always to be Harry with a secret girlfriend and secret tattoos?
When you go and get a tattoo, you don't have to say whose initials it is. So it stikes me someone wanted this known about and is purly to keep people guessing. There might not even be a tattoo. It may all be to get fans hopping.
Why can't this be Niall (who is strongly rumoured to have a secret girlfriend back home in Mullinger, they had to tone it down because she got Twitter hate) or Liam (what if Peazer's a showbiz beard?). Or gawd forbid, Louis? Zayn is a pretty strong contender too, he's so under the radar he almost hurts. And the thing with the girl from Little Mix is pure Simon Cowell/X Factor publicity.
- Isn't he like, 12? Prance ponies prance
- [quote]well Harry now has the letters A and G tattooed on himself, I don't buy that the A is for his mom btw when he was asked about it he stammered and stuttered and only after a moments thinking time did he come up with "that's for my mum"
The A is for his mum supposedly and the G looks like the Green Bay Packers icon, whose rug he was wrapped in of late/owns a tee shirt of so is probably a fan?
If this radio interview is British and the tattoo artist is also it was done weeks or months ago, recent but not one of the American ones. There's also no way of knowing if Liam or any of the others gets inked and doesn't make it known, here or abroad.
You can argue this sort of stuff is as much fanservice as some feel Larry is.
Especially when you don't have to publicise anything private.
- R125, Harry seems like a lovely lad.
However, he was involved in a very high profile (not to mention controversial) romance that he and others seemed keen to advertise to the nation on a weekly basis (through the Xtra Factor and press)
It is only natural that people will speculate about his love life.
- I don't understand people that come to a specific thread and start criticising posters as if they are internet police. The thread is very self-contained, it goes nowhere and certainly doesn't affect the fans in general.
You don't have to click on the thread title, right?
[quote]Isn't he like, 12? Prance ponies prance....by: Never heard a note reply 127 09/11/2012 @ 06:34PM
If you haven't a clue why not just stay away? There are plenty of other threads you can go to.
- It seems that Harry is into older guys (or women).
- Anne & Gemma?
- I'm assuming that Harry is most likely the one with the secret tattoos because the tattoo artist would presumably know what the initials CF would stand for?
Harry would therefore not really be able to keep it private from the guy?
I guess it could be Niall though? Sounds plausible.
I just can't shake the idea that Flack never really left the scene (despite the strong evidence that Harry may be involved with Grimmy)
- 126 fair point but Harry is the one who was photographed only today with a G tattooed on his arm so naturally he would be one of the top suspects.
as I said Harry's claim that the "A" is for his mom isn't very convincing. That is not to say it isn't the truth but that I myself am unconvinced that it is.
Link to interview in question:
- Harry seems to hide in plain sight. So if he did have some sort of secret GF I would not be suprised at all. My thing is, why is the whole ladies man image still bring projected on him? He's anything but a ladies man and that is soo obvious.
I don't think Caroline flack has left the scene either. There are so many ways for him to hide what's really going on.
Harry and Louis..
Harry and nick..
Harry and caroline..
Harry and married DJ
Harry and that English model.
And that's just to name a few. I think whatever or whomever he's hiding is being hidden so well because there is so many stories out about him it's hard to keep up, and all this other shit throws everyone off. Also zayn has a very obnoxious tattoo that says 'ZAP' I feel like it means Zayn and perrie.
- R135 "Also zayn has a very obnoxious tattoo that says 'ZAP' I feel like it means Zayn and perrie"
No, Zayn got the ZAP tattoo to impress Louis for whatever reason. There have been interviews where they explain this; one comes to mind where they are giggling and Louis is admiring the tattoo while Zayn just beams.
I have wondered about those two for awhile.
- Wait, I should clarify. The "zap" thing is a special joke or something between them, they explained this in the interview(s). I just think it is quite a large, obnoxious, front-and-center tattoo right there on his forearm... a bit "much" for an inside joke between a boybander and his bandmate, dontcha think?
- I won't take that tattooist account as gospel. He may not have been talking about One Direction - in the UK many people use 1D for headlines and as long as he doesn't name an individual, he can get away with it.
I don't think the Caroline Flack thing was anything more than a couple of sexual encounters made into a big thing for publicity. Possibly also to cover up the real story i.e. Grimmers. They were only seen together once, and then Harry was photographed leaving her flat one morning. And that was it, despite photographers stalking him 24/7 at the time.
- This is Harry's new tattoo. I'm not sure if it's a "G".
- r139, looks more like a rainbow.
- The G tattoo, if you look a it sideways on it resembles the Green Bay Packers logo but it's poorly done and probably one of his self-inflicted ones. The filling in of his star is interesting and there is a theory roaming round out there but I ain't bringing it in as it could be wrong. It's interesting though.
I have to wonder why even announce something like the secret gf? Why ruin someone's secret when you don't have to? Harry will be automatic suspect going by his tattooing fetish but there are plenty of other candidates: people from The Wanted and JLS. Fwiw, I linked the article about Niall's supposed "secret gf" below. It's recent.
And would it be so hard to introduce a Harry girlfriend to the public by now? You'd have thought with all the anti-homo effort their people have gone to the idea of either bearding Harry up with a woman or slowly introducing a civilian female into the mix would be reasonable, especially as Niall is still "single" and Zayn is kind of meh with Perrie anyway. He could easily play the single card again. Harry's had ample opps to couple up for a great length of time but hasn't seemed to have bothered. A large chunk of his time appears to be taken up by Nick Grimshaw tbh.
To me Harry seems on a crash course with something else (based on his behaviour and the signals he sends out) but who knows. You have to keep an open mind in this game.
To be honest I can't be arsed guessing anymore. Ideally it'd be nice if people could come out and have done with it without grief or drama but that's life.
I may check back in if there's any major developments or someone says/does something that doesn't seem smokescreenish or designed to confuse.
- One little one, the new tattoo is thought by some to be a partially-finished lambda symbol. Which would explain the simplistic look because it's a pretty poor quality GBPackers replica otherwise. Something else would make more sense I guess.
Have fun! Hope all works out okay.
- R142, I think it would only be difficult introducing a girlfriend for Harry if it were Flack.
Party because of the grief she would get but also, people (rightly so) would assume they didn't split up and Harry would look very dishonest.
Just curious but were you a Larry fan/poster from the Louis threads?
They all seemed to have dissapeared along with thread 8?!
- Wow.. Louis is totally checking out the hot male twins in this video. And people still think this gay boy is straight? He showed more interest in those two guys during the 10 seconds than I've seen him show his own girlfriend the year they've been together (well.. 10 or 11 months, who knows how long they've been together, he doesn't either).
Oh, and the moment I'm talking about starts at around 5:20
- r143 - I saved the first seven or six as PDFs because I suspected they would be purged at anytime. I could share if there is interest. Was the purging because of F&F style Prancing Ponies complaints or something more sinister? Thoughts?
- Yes, R143, the larry shippers disappeared because of repeated bullying from the Grimmy worshippers in here. Maybe they got tired of being laughed at..
- I didn't see the last 20 or so posts but up to that point there were a few posts that about Grimshaw being into drugs/teenagers that could have been a problem?
Could that have got it removed? I've only ever posted here and only in the last few months. Is it normally that threads get deleted without explanation?
I'm just surprised Larry fans haven't started another thread? (although they are quite welcome here IMO, it's all relevant)
- R146, I think the bullying went both ways.
I think a mix of different views makes for a better debate.
- R147, so you don't see anything at all wrong in bullying other people? you don't think that could have been part of the reason? I doubt it was the drug issue. People constantly comment about celebrities being anorexic and doing drugs here on DL. Fact is that the thread got nasty because of certain people, and it drove some posters away. I was personally disgusted by the attitude from some of the posters in here. There's one thing discussing a topic and having a different opinion, it's completely different to actually mock people for their opinion and say that other people are idiots, when you have no proof what so ever that Grimmy is with Harry either. Yes, it is likely. But again.. it's all speculation.You have no more proof than anyone else, so please respect other people's opinion.
Why would they start another thread anyway? When I suggested that to the Grimmy worshippers in here I was called a bunch of insults, and was met with comments like "how DARE you force me off this thread". But it's ok now because it's the Larry shippers we're talking about?
It's so funny that you complained about this exact same behavior from the Larry shippers, but now you're doing it yourself. You guys drove people off this thread. There was no room for the Larry discussion, everything you said was obviously true, and nothing at all of what the Larry shippers said could possible be true. It's all just fantasy of course, like some rude poster in here said.
I have talked to some of the Larry shippers who felt they were bullied off the thread, and it was no fun discussing anything anymore, because they were shut down no matter what they said. I can personally say that I'm not a larry shipper, but I still believe Louis is gay and that his girlfriend is a cover up. When I said that in the previous thread, I got shut down because there's "no evidence", just like there's no evidence of Harry being with Grimmy either.. it's all speculation. yet, of course my opinion was worthless, and their opinion was all that mattered.
We should all be allowed to have different opinions. Just please don't mock other people for their opinions, it's rude, offensive, and just in general bad behavior.
- R149 Then leave, because all the same people are going to be here until further notice.
As shown above, anyone who leans towards Harry/Grimmy has been more than happy to say the Larry guys can be here; but no one wants the drama.
No one has been bullied. A few idiots have made rude comments, but in my opinion, that should be very easy for mature adults to ignore and carry on with their own debates. Having your views challenged is not bullying.
I don't know who you are from the last thread, but you need to let that shit go; how angry you are about it is unhealthy. This is a forum, not your blog, there are going to be trolls who say mean things; if you let it upset you, you shouldn't get so involved in things like this.
Anyway, if you ask me, create a thread for just Louis and Harry and you wouldn't have that much to discuss; photoban there may be, but that means there's nothing new cropping up. Until then, it makes more sense to discuss things which are concrete, rather than purely theory and conspiracy.
Apparently Harry's going to be on Nick's final late night show tonight, anyway! I would have been listening anyway (I've been a fan since my teens of his radio shows and presenting and I think he's very funny), but it'll be nice to hear them interact again; I don't think we've had anything except photos since Call or Delete?
The tattoo ... God knows. It'd be a poorly done Packers symbol (I have no idea what sport that is or who they are; and I doubt Harry's that much more clued in either, if it's American sport); a very obscure G (not related to Nick's tweet, by the way, that's just a "gangsta" way of saying mate; but could be his initial, I suppose); and I'm sorry, but it looks nothing like lambda. It's impossible to tell until we see it more head on. And knowing Harry, it could be absolutely anything.
- You're all management!!!
- My goodness R149, if you think differing opinions on an anonymous board is bullying then God help you should you come across the real stuff. The trick with these boards is to take every last thing with an enormous pinch of salt and have a laugh about it. It's meant to be fun - unless the discussion is about Mitt Romney in which case you might need to keep the vomit bowl beside you.
Ah well, keep calm and carry on. :)
- R149, My post in response to you didn't save but was pretty much the same as Links so I won't rewrite it.
I will add though that I wasn't suggesting anyone should start a new 'Louis' thread because they weren't welcome? (in fact I actually stated the opposite?!)
I simply commented that I was surprised they hadn't started one? (given the fondness for the topic & the fact some Larry fans may not be aware of this thread?)
One last thing. Given most posters are anons, it's not actually possible to say how many Larry fans deserted. They may have remained but simply changed their views? Most people on these threads are pretty open minded?
Just a thought.
- Not that I have given this much thought... but I reckon Harry's tattoo is a Green bay Packers logo in honour of his friend Cal Aurand. He and Harry have become very close, and Harry spent the last few days in Cal's LA home with his wife Jen. He's a freelance documentary videographer and chilled as f**k. He does Ben Winston's job when the boys are in USA/down under. And he's a massive massive Green Bay Packers fan. When Harry was in LA he was papped wearing a Packers T-shirt and Cal photographed him with a Packers towel/rug round his shirtless torso. Getting a Packers tattoo seems like a very Harry-esque thing to do at the end of a trip like this.
Ps: I haven't come across any Grimmy "worshippers" on this forum, so goodness knows what forum R149 has been reading.
- R154 See I did think this (and Cal sent Harry a lovely tweet after his visit, linked), but it's just that it's a bit of a shoddy job? Not very sharp. If it weren't for Harry's pictures in Packers towel and t-shirt, would the link ever have been made?!
- R155 - true, but in this case the link was made thanks to Cal's tweets etc unlike some of his others (Hi, the shamrock). People were able to work out what the A, iced gem and Gemma in hebrew were, as well as the Sweet disposition lyrics. And I think the others are all a bit random (padlock, star etc)
Now I sound like a Harry stalker! Anyway looking forward to Grimmy's last show - fingers crossed Harry is on it. As you said we've seen many pics of them together but haven't heard them interacting for a while. I think the last time they chatted on radio was when Harry did "the going home song" when Grimmy was covering drive-time for Greg James, but that was really short...
- Nick and 1D were on Mills' show in the morning a few weeks ago, if that counts. It did give us this lovely bit of innuendo:
Harry [telling Scott what he'd been up to recently]: A man squirted me in the face yesterday.
Nick: Oh really Harry?
- R156 Even better, there will be webcam; the first time we'll see them interacting on film (oh God, is this really something I'm excited for?). And on the "going home song" they didn't actually talk to each other; Harry spoke to Ian (producer?) and Grimmy commented about Harry just casually popping round his house in a tiz about doing a radio feature (adorbs).
I think people make too much of tattoos. There are the ones which clearly mean something special (related to his family) and there are those which are just related to things he likes. That's what my tattoos are about, anyway. I certainly don't think he's leaving clues for people on his body; contrary to popular stupid belief, Harry will be well aware they are permanent.
People always say Hi is in Louis's handwriting; if you ever see some, it actually looks more like Harry's own.
- R152, umm.. NO. I actually respect other people's opinions. I do not call what they think "fantasy", I do not mock them, and I do not shoot them down because of a different view point. You all made fun of the Larry shippers in the other threads.. it was simply bullying. You can state your view and your opinion without sounding condescending, rude or even offensive. I personally didn't like the direction the other threads went, NOT because people believe in Harry and Grimmy.. people should be allowed to have their opinions.. it was more the way you treated everyone else with a different view point than your own.
R153, or maybe YOU drove them away? Maybe they felt there wasn't any room for their opinions? I have talked to at least three people that were on this thread, but are not coming to this thread anymore.. all state bullying as a cause. Oh.. and guess what, it's not because they changed their opinions at all.. because they still believe in Larry.
Oh, and one more thing.. actually, suggesting a new thread is exactly the same as I did when I was shot down, because people didn't think they were welcome. At least I apologized. I just wanted to keep the thread about LOUIS actually about LOUIS, and not about Harry and Grimmy. At least I apologized for making people not feel welcome, because that wasn't my intention at all. While you just continue with your bullying, mocking other people for their opinions and saying people who don't share your opinion can use another thread. That is not ok... to use your own words "I will not be bullied away from this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
- R157 - I forgot about them on Millsy for the Teen Awards! And R156 - you're right, Harry didn't actually speak to Grimmy; Grimmy just did an imitation of him. I get all these interviews muddled in my head.
I really hope Harry is there tonight. Grimmy didn't confirm anyone - so far we know Example is confirmed, but no-one else. I can't imagine Harry not being there though.
Ps: I agree about the tattoos. The "Hi" looks like MY handwriting ;)
- r157, don't forget:
Harry: "I felt a bit degraded."
- R149/159, it sounds like you might be a little too sensitive to post on datalounge. We're notorious for making fun on things and views. It's nothing personal. Just some debate and shit stirring for fun.
I didn't post much on the other thread and only read some of the pages but nothing sounded insulting. Maybe it's because I'm accustomed to it here. It's possible that those who are sensitive to this type of disagreement might be more comfortable on tumblr or places a 15 year old girl would feel free to comment on their Larry love/shipping.
Harry's tattoo is hideous. Talk about being a poseur.
- [quote]Then leave, because all the same people are going to be here until further notice.
I did leave when this turned into a "Grimmy is sooooo perfect and pretty and aww.. they are sooooo cute together" worshipping thread. I just came back to comment on why the thread was probably closed.. because nobody can deny it got nasty, so I just wanted to give my view on what happened.. because it seems like most of you guys are totally oblivious to what happened, and still defend your own behavior.
[quote]As shown above, anyone who leans towards Harry/Grimmy has been more than happy to say the Larry guys can be here; but no one wants the drama.
Yeah.. because your opinion is the only valid one, Larry shippers are all insane, and Grimmy is a perfect guy and Harry and Grimmy are prefect together. That was basically all the other 8 threads summed up. Just saying other people are welcome is not enough when you just mock them for their opinions anyway. Who would want to discuss something when they are being shot down every single time they want to say something? People don't want to be mocked, people don't want to hear what they think is all "fantasy". Bring on valid arguments.. argument against it, just please do not degrade what other people think about an issue.
[quote]No one has been bullied. A few idiots have made rude comments, but in my opinion, that should be very easy for mature adults to ignore and carry on with their own debates. Having your views challenged is not bullying.
Yes, they have.. people have made some extremely mean comments on this thread. I have been on Datalounge for 6 years. I know how to handle sarcasm.. I have grown a hard skin from being here for so long. But you guys took it way too far, you crossed the line. Mocking people for their opinion, and not letting them in on the discussion is uncalled for. It's wrong. Like I said.. I have talked to Larry shippers who still believe in Larry, but said they left this thread because they couldn't discuss anything anymore because everything they said was being shot down, and people were basically labelled insane. Again, it's not the fact that people have different opinions I'm talking about here, it's how you treat people with different opinions.
[quote]I don't know who you are from the last thread, but you need to let that shit go; how angry you are about it is unhealthy. This is a forum, not your blog, there are going to be trolls who say mean things; if you let it upset you, you shouldn't get so involved in things like this.
I will let it go.. as I have no interest in Grimmy whatsoever. I'd like to discuss Louis, his gayness, and his obvious bearding arrangement, but that isn't allowed in this thread, because it's all about Grimmy and Harry being perfect together and everyone else having a different opinion, like Louis possibly being gay, are labelled insane.
[quote]Anyway, if you ask me, create a thread for just Louis and Harry and you wouldn't have that much to discuss; photoban there may be, but that means there's nothing new cropping up. Until then, it makes more sense to discuss things which are concrete, rather than purely theory and conspiracy.
I would if I could.. but I don't have a subscription. A lot of things have happened in the last few weeks with Louis.. not all "conspiracy" either. I know you like to label everything the Larry shippers say as "conspiracy", but I think there's some truth to it. They may not be together, but some stuff just is suspicious as hell.. but of course, this is all fantasy, right? I am done with this thread. I don't think there's room for anyone besides those worshipping Grimmy. I'm not even a Larry shipper. I think it's very likely that Harry and Grimmy are together. I just wanted to stand up for those who left this thread because of your actions.
- I missed them on Mills! It's while I'm at work and I rarely listen back to his show, even though I love him. Does anyone know where there's some audio (if at all?).
R161 Is that from the same interview? Sounds like it was a cracker!
R160 Completely, they all start to meld into one big, great interview after a while!
Time for the show ...
- R163 Okay.
- But still. You've got to love them...
I really like Nick. But Harry and Louis is just, perfection. And I have the idea that Harry feels the same way. Whether he is in a relationship with Nick or not. But that is just a feeling.
- After what just happened on Grimshaw's show, I'm now convinved Harry's gay.
- I want everyone in this thread to watch this clip & remember to keep your mouths shut and think before you make further assumptions about these children:
I'd say it either means he definately is
He is so straight that their ridiculing the rumours?
Not sure which though. Either way, I love how shy Harry seems.
- He did sound like he kind of denied it?
- What did Harry say?
- L Girl, did he? all he said was "hey words hurt" and in a jokey way and he did a similar mock hurt "hey" later on when someone made a comment about something (can't remember what)
Not something you can read a lot into tbh
- R172, Maybe you're right. If it was a denial, it was a pretty weak one!
- R163, Oh for goodness sake, stop with all the belligerent posts.
If all you want to do is cause trouble, go and do it somewhere else.
- Is that recent grimmy show up yet? Anyone have a link?
- Harry and nick seem to be a thing. No doubt about it.
- I'm with r175. Who's got audio?
Love Brideshead Revisited. Who do the characters represent in the 1D/Grimshaw situation? Previously, it was used to characterize Harry's affection for Louis.
- Do people think Nick was outing Harry on his show tonight? I thought he definitely was, but then I'm seeing varying opinions and now I'm not sure it wasn't just joking around.
- R178 PLEASE tell me Nick did NOT do that!!! Even if he was only joking around, I will seriously be furious. Now is NOT the time for Harry to be coming out, Nick surely knows this. Arrrggghhh! Can someone please post a link to the show when it is available?
- I don't think nick said it. I think it was the other guy. It sounded as though Nick laughed at him though.
Harry is definitely gay or bi. He's definitely not straight. This would be the second time he's been subtely outed on Nicks show. The first time being the call or delete bit.
- Nah, Nick wasn't outing Harry. The whole thing was meant to be a joke. The "I'm coming out is Harry's next single" to "Like a virgin isn't Harry's next single" was hilarious. Even if the boy is gay the comment was intended to be tongue in cheek.
Great chemistry between the two whether it's close friends, fuck buddies or dating.
At least the kid has a sense of humor.
- What's the fascination with Harry anyway? Ia Zayn gay or bi? He's fucking gorgeous.
- [R181] I agree. I'm not entirely convinced they're dating (I'd like to be wrong) but I love the relationship between them whatever it is.
This was especially cute:
- [R179]Yes, he did. Nick was giving song options for the karaoke they were going to do, and he gave "Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out," and then he points at Harry off-camera and looks at him significantly. The rest:
Example: That's Harry's next single. *everyone laughs*
Nick: Madonna, Like A Virgin
Example: That's NOT Harry's next single. *everyone laughs*
- 178, 181 I'm not sure he was intentionally outing him but essentially I think he did.
It was a radio show which was being filmed, the way Nick pointed at Harry then seemed to think better of it like he realised "oh shit there is a camera" then thought better of it.
Example may not have any more of a clue about Harry's sexuality than any of us, I think he was just a straight guy "mocking" another by suggesting they are gay (as some straight men are want to do from time to time) The awkwardness in the room following Example's joke perhaps tells the real story.
- [R182] I've been trying to figure that out too, because Zayn is definitely the most beautiful and has the best voice. But he tends to be quieter. Harry has a bit more personality and for some reason the British press is fascinated with him. Although personally, Louis is my favorite.
I don't know whether Nick and Harry are involved or just good friends. I think it could go either way, but I tend to think they have a relationship, given how much time they spend together and their age difference (why would Nick be interested in being 'just friends' with an 18 yr old, even if he's in a world famous boy band?). Plus, in the radio show last night, they talked about how much time he spends at the studio during Nick's show.
- I just don't know about Harry and Grimmy.
Going on about all the time Harry spent at the studio implies they are a thing.
But then he apparently drove home last night rather than stay and celebrate with them all.
Surely if they were a 'thing' he would definately have stayed around?
Even if they weren't a thing, I would have thought he would have unless he has someone else he had to go back for? (Flack)
- Harry did go out with them last night. I think he just changed first. They went to Groucho club.
- R187 - are you referring to the reports in the British press that Harry was seen driving home after the event? The after-show party began in the live lounge adjacent to where the show was being recorded, so the party began there. Then they all left to go to the nearby Groucho club. Whenever Harry and Grimmy socialise together, they arrive and leave in separate cars (even taxis - one never sees them sharing a taxi, despite evidently arriving and leaving at the same time). So we don't know whether Harry went to the Groucho club with the others, as it's a private members' club i.e. no paparazzi allowed. Harry was just seen/papped driving away from the radio 1 building. He could have gone anywhere, unless the journalists followed him all the way to N12.
On the subject, the one time Harry and Grimmy were seen in a car (Grimmy's) together was when some girls decided to go to the milkshake shop beside the boys' N12 apartment complex, hoping to see Liam there with his visiting friends (as there was such a rumour going round twitter). Liam and friends never showed up, but to their surprise a mercedes drove out of the gated complex and stopped at the milkshake shop; Harry came out and ran into the shop. Grimmy was at the wheel. This was of course captured on camera and posted on twitter shortly after the sighting :)
- He was at Groucho last night. Here's pictures of him leaving with some friends.
- R188, Really! How do you know?
- Thanks for that link, R190 - so R188 was right. Harry is too close to Nick to not attend his farewell party, and remember the papers are under strict instructions from HackfordJones PR to give no hints regarding the "Gryles" situation. No doubt they'll try linking Harry with Pixie.
Regarding Grimmy's show last night - this was the first time we'd seen and heard H and Nick together (we've seen pics, heard them on the radio, but never interacting) and I particularly liked: Grimmy asking Harry if he wanted to sit down, Harry play punching him (we've seen a pic of this before), and just Harry's behaviour around Grimmy's friends, and vice versa. And Henry Holland and Gells' Diesel models story. I really really enjoyed the show, but then I love Grimmy anyway, and have been a loyal R1 listener since the days of Mark and Lard, Moylesy at drive-time etc, so this was a seminal R1 show for me, Harry aside. He did make it a lot more interesting though!
- Ew, not Pixie Geldof! Dear God, anyone, ANYONE but her!
- I clicked on this thread just to say -- Jesus Christ! Who cares?
- People know Harry was out with Nick and friends because there is actual photographic evidence for it, L Girl -unlike your increasingly tiresome Harry/Caroline Flack fantasy.
- Can you explain about the "strict instructions from Hackford Jones PR"? Who did they rep? Any evidence to back this up?
Not a Brit here - what's wrong with Pixie Geldof? Besides her first name.
- Exactly, r194. Why would people on a gay gossip forum care whether the biggest teen idol in the world (ok, second biggest, after Bieber) is in a gay relationship with an older man or not? It makes no sense.
- R195, I really dislike the idea of Harry and Flack together (which is probably why I may read too much into things about them)
If you think my views on them are akin to fantasy, I'm quite comforted by that tbh! (& pleased to see pics of H still partying with Grim. I like them a a couple)
R189 & R192, You sound like people in the know...
- I dont get the people bitching about "bullying". People are snarky here, everyone gets ribbed. Who gives a shit.....unless you have no life outside of celebrity discussion forums.
I really wish I could care about Nick Grimshaw. I loved the Louis/Harry speculation, I was here every few days to catch up. But with this guy, all I can think is "eeewwww!". Dont think I'll be back.
Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
I don't think Nick is gross or anything but I'd rather Harry be with Louis. To be honest I'd rather read gossip about Harry and Caroline.
- This Nick Grimshaw is 28 years old, right? And Harry is 18. I'm sorry but this relationship it does not seem cute or healty at all, rather perverse. Grimshaw can't find sexual parteners his age or what? Harry is an impressionable and (I think) not fully matured boy and this guy take advantage because he is obsessed with him (Grimshaw himself confessed that many times). A grown man obsessed with a teenager needs a really good check to the doctor, imo.
- Pixie Geldof is totally cute. She's a sexy girl who needs to go home with someone who wants a piece. That's clearly not Harry. Of course I'm way over 10 years older than that girl so I'm sure R201 would call me a perv for my nasty nasty thoughts!
The blah, blah, blah about Harry being oh so young and impressionable is fucking retarded. By his age I was fucking a 38 year old woman. Going older sometimes happens and 10 years older is nada in the scheme of things. Neither of these two look like they are using the other for anything beyond sharing some laughs.
Point is these two interact really well. More likely that Harry would be cockteasing Grimmy, although I'm doubting it. Either the two are fucking or they've established clear boundaries as friends. Obviously they share certain characteristics that has allowed their friendship to thrive. Even though *gasp* there is a decade difference in age. Will no one think about the children?! (Not like I'm currently thinking currently thinking about Pixie Geldof b/c that would be inappropriate).
- If Harry and Louis ever had a thing I fully believe Grimmy is the reason they broke up. His evident dislike of Louis (saying on his show that he's not a fan of this boy, trying to humiliate him by implying he is fat in front of Harry) and the influence he has on Harry are sufficient proofs of this.
- So what exactly IS the CURRENT living situation of Louis & Harry??? I know they were sharing an apartment together, then all of a sudden they were supposedly house/apartment shopping separately. Regardless of whether either have bought real estate of their own, has it ever been actually confirmed that either of them moved out of their apartment?
- R204 They are still living together although it sends the anti-Larry brigade into a frenzy of denial.
- They still share a flat, which the Larry brigade use as evidence that they are dating. Completely ignoring the fact that Harry spends so many nights over at Grimmy's. Harry admitted himself that he used to go to Grimmy's Radio 1 10pm-12 midnight show practically every night, which we knew anyway.
- Who cares if Larry share a flat. That's not really evidence for anything. Members in bands have been known to share flats since the beginning of working in a band. Whether successful or not doesn't matter. Especially boyband members who tend to be products and are expected to spend a lot of time together due to their singing, dancing, promoting, etc.
Zayn is really the hottest one and the one who can sing. Hopefully his career doesn't stall after the group breaks up.
- R199 A very under-dressed Caroline Flack was at Dermot O'Leary's wedding today on her owney-own.
- Can someone start an Ass of Louis Part 9 thread already???
- Thank you to those who responded to my post R204. I just have some thoughts about different things that I am trying to sort out.
So they continue to live together in the flat. Alrighty then. I'd like to touch on the "Larry Denial But Not Really" interview from late May, link provided, starts at about 16:00. It is obvious that the boys (and mgmt)knew they were going to be asked about Larry, and it was clearly decided before-hand that Louis would be the one to handle the answers.
What strikes me about the Larry part of the interview is their behavior. If they are truly just best mates who care about each other in a purely platonic way, why aren't they laughing and joking around about "Larry"? They could have easily done so without offending/alienating the Larry shippers. If these boys are just good friends then there is really no good reason for why they couldn't laugh it off and then gently state to the effect that they are NOT in a romantic or sexual relationship.
Instead, they appeared extremely uncomfortable and rather serious. Harry is clearly agitated and not happy at all. Louis, I am torn... he is trying to be diplomatic in his response, it appears that he is trying to spare Harry's feelings. BUT... is it because they are "together" and he feels bad having to lie about it? Or... WERE they together and are no longer, and Louis feels guilty about having to pour that salt on Harry's wound? Either way, I find it crazy ironic that in the midst of their attempt to convince the world that there is no Larry, they keep touching each other. It's like Louis could not help himself from putting his arm around Harry to comfort him. Shortly after, Harry is touching Louis' chest. And most importantly... did they ever really deny anything??? No! :)
Notice also that the other boys jump in to try and help them out. When the interviewer asks something to the effect of "why do the fans focus on you two so much" Liam chimes in "well, it's probably because they live together". Followed by the collective face-palming of the entire 1D mgmt team.
Funny how only days later, on June 2nd, the Examiner runs an article titled "Louis Tomlinson buys six-bedroom home in north London for $4 million". And this blurb: "Tomlinson is the second member of One Direction to buy his own home. As previously reported, Harry Styles, 18, bought a London apartment for $920,000 (or £575,000) in early 2012. Styles and Tomlinson used to live together in a London luxury apartment, in a building where the other members of One Direction (Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan) still live."
So what happened to this real estate that Louis & Harry bought independent of each other? Did that ever really happen, or was it a diversion tactic? Smokescreen?
Here we are, mid September, and Louis & Harry are STILL living TOGETHER in their ORIGINAL flat (is that correct?)
If Harry & Grimmy are together, well... Grimmy is certainly a very understanding boyfriend. Knowing how fond Harry was/is of Louis, he must really trust Harry to be ok with him continuing to live with Louis. Especially since Harry has plenty of $$$ to move somewhere on his own. If he really wanted to. Just sayin'.
I know this has been brought up before and I agree... for two boys who are "best mates" and who continue to live together I don't understand why they are NEVER seen together outside of their apartment. When is the last time they were pap'd together, aside from 1D-related? Sorry, it's just WEIRD. That's my opinion.
Oh, and yes, I DO think that living arrangements in this particular situation could be important. But again, just my opinion. :)
- Apologies in advance for this essay, but I feel obliged to address the points R210 raised.
R 210 - you only find it confusing if you're hellbent on believing "Larry" is/was a secret relationship being hidden by management. It is pretty obvious that Harry has had a huge crush on Louis since forever - probably abating as he gets closer to Nick, but that's me guessing, as I'm not in his head - but I have never seen any evidence of Louis's love for Harry being anything more than "little-brotherly".
Louis went along with the bromance thing initially, t.A.T.u-style, but when people started interpreting all their tweets and actions as signs of a romance, he started doing less of it and in any case he was becoming serious with his new girlfriend. What sort of secret relationship would make someone tweet stuff like "we live together, deal with it" or "just bought this album cover with my love's face on it"? This sounds like just what the McFly lads used to do (they were worse in fact - Harry and Dougie would pretend-kiss, lie in bed together and strip each other off, knowing it drove many fans wild). And who can forget t.A.T.u doing the same thing years ago?
As has been said, there's nothing strange about their living arrangements. 2 of JLS shared a flat in the same apartment block, and all the Little Mix girls are sharing (Jade with Perrie, Leigh Ann with Jesy) right now. The reports about the boys buying expensive houses (wasn't just Louis and Harry - Zayn had a story too) were most likely a PR plant to keep them in the UK press when they were away, and to give people the impression that the band is really sucessful (they've sold fewer albums than most people would think, considering the hype).
One reason they're never papped together around the complex is because Harry is rarely there. Most Harry off-duty sightings are around Primrose Hill, Kentish town and Hampstead (i.e. where Nick lives) and Louis seems to have morphed into a middle-aged man, choosing to spend almost all his spare time wirh Eleanor, either at home or shopping, her favourite past-time. The apartment block is huge and gated, so unless paparazzi wait outside it 24/7 there won't be pics of the boys coming and going, and how would that be of any interest to anyone? UK paps don't hang around celeb's homes anyway unless there's a huge story breaking about them. And Louis and Harry very rarely socialise together - contrary to what many fans think there is no photo ban on pics of "Larry". This can only be done (here in the UK) via an injunctionm and no such injunction exists.
Finally, regarding Louis and Harry's behaviour when Larry is brought up. I don't see what is confusing about a guy aware that one of his best friends has a huge crush on him which is mostly unrequited. He reacted in the same way both times, speaking carefully with a comforting arm round Harry's shoulders. It's not Larry being a secret romance that made him so measured, it was most likely his close friend beside him whose feelings he didn't want to hurt. However we know how he (Louis) really feels about Larry as he, Eleanor, his mother, sisters, and mother's boyfriend have all blocked Larry tinhatters on twitter. The tinhatters believe this was in fact "management's" doing, which just sums up this sorry saga for me.
Ps: isn't it funny how Larry "believers" proudly promote themselves as gay rights supporters and accuse non-believers of homophobia, but the minute it seems Harry may truly be in a gay relationship but with another man, suddenly it's "not cute, eww, sordid, gross, yukky, borderline paedophilia" etc....
- This thread is absolutely hilarious.
It's possible for straight men and gay guys of different ages to be friends. Harry's like any modern open-minded British kid. He just doesn't care.
Harry's straight. Get over it.
So straight that he can't stop touching the leg of his best friend during this whole interview.
Now say that this best friend is straight as well, and I think you AND this thread are absolutely hilarious.
- Thanks to the internet PDAs between men is more popular than ever.
I feel like an old fart already for remembering the whole youtube clips fad of emo guys kissing each other for shits and giggles.
- R212 I think most of this thread know it's perfectly normal for a straight man and a gay man of different ages to be good friends, that isn't really the issue here. It's more the sheer AMOUNT of time they've been spending together, plus the fact the things they do together are so couple-y. E.g. spending Valentine's day together, having dinner with various members of Nick's family, going to his house for Christmas, etc etc.
I'm personally not convinced they're in a relationship (or that Harry is anything other than straight) but I can absolutely see why people would think they are.
- Grimmy's comment about Harry's karaoke go-to being "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross leads to me to believe that they're not in a relationship and Styles is not gay.
I was interested to hear that every Sunday morning, Grimmy's flat has been a turnstile of models.
- R216 - That comment related to when Grimmy, Henry Holland and Gillian Orr shared a house over a year ago. It was an interesting comment though, as Grimmy likes to give the impression that his love life is nonexistent.
And it wasn't Grimmy who made that comment, it was Example. And someone else in the background laughed and shrieked nervously. Grimmy just pointed at Harry, who was off-camera at the time.
- If they are just friends they have hardly been apart recently and who knows a few months ago when they weren't being followed so much as not as many people where questioning if they are together or not.
- I'd be more interested if Harry was dating posh hottie totty Jack Whitehall.
- Harry is gay and him and Grimshaw have a thing, imo. The rumours about him (in gay community) are substantial,the proofs are numerous, you only need to open your eyes and not be fooled by his reputation as ladies man (well maintained by his management). Only woman with whom he had a "relationship" is Caroline Flack, more than 9 months ago (practically he was seen leaving her house in the morning just one time and this was the big "proof" they slept together. Let's not forget Flack is a very close friend of Grimshaw. Louis I really believe is straight (maybe bi-curious?). The rumours about him being gay are nonexistent. He just come home from a long vacation with his girlfriend. I don't think somebody (read management) forced him to spend time with her, I think she is trully his girlfriend.
- If Styles was gay, Grimshaw would not joke about "I'm Coming Out", because coming out would be a real, serious issue to a pin-up pop star.
- As a female who's been involved with both sexes. These two (Louis and Harry) thoroughly confuse me. Grimmy is definitely gay, but I get the feeling that Louis is really fucking confused.
I see it as Harry being the one that is comfortable in his sexuality, whatever it may be. While Louis seems deathly afraid to acknowledge it. Harry is an open book, while Louis seems to be so guarded and defensive. I think Harry wants what he has with grimmy, with Lou. He wants to be open he wants all that shkt but it's complicated and confusing.
I think Harry is definitely gay or bi and Louis is still trying to find his way. Eleanor could be a beard, but who needs a beard around on your time off. Ever since the VMA's they've been attached at the hip. It doesn't make sense.
If Harry is gay, why not give him a beard than instead of Lou? These two are a complete mind fuck.
- It wasn't really Grimmy that made the joke though. He pointed of camera where no one would have known he was talking about Harry and then Example said the part about it being his next single. I don't think he's full blown gay, but I think there's a lot pointing at him not being straight. It seems like everyone tries to play all that off as coincidence, which it could be sometimes, but I feel like when you put everything together, it's just way too much.
- Haha, just as I predicted...
- The next day after the final radio show, Harry was pictured looking at luxury cars. One or two people commented on Twitter that Harry was wearing a Grey t-shirt very similar to the one Grimmy wore to the final show and on the night out. The pics were not that close up that I saw, so I'm not sure. Maybe he only left with her?
- Pixie and Harry are acquaintances, not friends. She has a boyfriend, and she only ever socialises with Harry as a group which always includes Grimmy. She is a very close friend of Grimmy's and holidayed in Ibiza with him in July. Most likely they were all heading to Primrose Hill, but as usual Grimmy and Harry left in separate cars.
The Examiner article below got it right:
- He was also wearing the smart shoes and jeans from the night before and was in Hampstead so it does look like he may have stayed over?
Also, the pics of Pixie and Harry being driven away in his car also show Aimee Phillips and another woman In the car. I doubt there is anything to that story.
On a different note, Robbie Williams was discussing the comparisons between Harry and himself this week. He said;
"Everyone is a ladies' man or a man's man, whatever your persuasion might be. He (Harry) is just having a nice time"
He was probably just being PC but it struck me as an unusual thing to say? (particularly given Harry's rep with women)
- Apparently Louis outright denied Larry on twitter today, referring to it as "the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard."
The tweet is deleted now but someone screen capped it.
- It's not deleted - people forget to press view replies. It's still visible on phones, where there isn't the option to hide replies.
Of course the usual is flying around, that it was management or that Louis's just not ready to come out. I think it's pretty clear the tweet is Louis. And I think it's becoming clear that Eleanor is actually his girlfriend (he DM'd someone about her and it's been screenshotted if anyone can find.)
That tweet sounds like someone exasperated and annoyed. Shipping is fine, but the Larry fandom don't seem to understand the rules - it's not shipping for them anymore, it's a quest to uncover the truth. Whether those involved want that or not; and whether or not the whole thing is true in the first place.
- That was a terrible move - no doubt by Louis. Not tactful at all. Whether Larry is real or not, that was probably the worst way to react to that fan.
It's never good to be seen screaming the equivalent of "I'm not gay!"
- I love that people are still discussing One Direction on here. It's so cute! Not be sarcastic btw.
- Out of ALL the tweets, he sees that one. The girl didn't even tweet to him. I have no idea what to say about their conundrum. It's weird.
Wouldn't it just be easier to address supportive fans, than to pick that tweet to respond to? It doesn't make sense. Meanwhile Harry pays no attention to any of this.
- That's the danger of 'shipping'. It's all fun and harmless at the beginning, but then some hardcore fans get all 'Misery' and obsess about it.
Personally I am a bit put off by all that blatant gaybaiting now. Larry, Sterek (Stiles and Derek from Teen Wolf), the Harries twins, etc. When it's PR it doesn't matter if it is gay or straight themed. It's still fake and its goal is to make me pay attention and more importantly pay good money on celebs' products.
PR kills honesty and WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).
But on the other hand the overwhelming fakeness makes me even more interested in the stuff celebs and their handlers doesn't want me to know about.
- I'm assuming most on this thread are british becuase i have no clue who these names are. I know OD but i really couln't give faces to the names.
Isn't it exhasting trying to guess peoples sexualities? Let them do what they want, if they want to hide their sexuality, let them hide. Maybe they are straight, who knows, who really cares.
- That Larry tweet was freaking HILARIOUS. Oh lord the meltdown of fangirls. Idiots. As was mentioned, fans need to understand that there are boundaries. Chill the fuck out. At some point the parties involved get annoyed if they are constantly bombarded by the fangirls pushing the slash. Whatevers. The whole crying, shaking, upset, 'boo hoo management is so EVUL' is always amusing in these cases.
The Sterek gaybaiting is also ridiculous but at least the girls know it's a show. They are just too stupid to realize that Jeff Davis is fucking with their head and won't be making Sterek an official pairing. Which is the norm since most shows screw up and don't use male/male chemistry to their advantage by giving them an actual gay storyline.
- I hate when people go to threads just to say "Does it matter?" or "Who cares?" Obviously sexuality doesn't, or shouldn't, matter. It's called curiousity. People are always curious about celebs lives. They want to know what kind of music they like, they favorite colors, and who they may be dating. I don't see why discussing their sexuality is any different than discussing all that other stuff. None of it's more important than the other.
- L Girl, Robbie Williams isn't being PC, he's bisexual. There were rumors about him and one of his boyband mates back in 1990. I remember my friend told me about all the gay rumors about Robbie hooking up with Mark Owen or was it Gary Barlow? I don't remember, she was the one into that ship back in the day. That's why I joke that the Larry shippers don't know their history. Take That members also played it up and got shipped back during the prehistory internet era of e groups.
Point is Robbie would make a comment like that since hello, we know he's sucked his fair share of cock (whether he sucked one of his bandmates from Take That, it's another matter).
- Old school, It was Mark, I remember those rumours! My friend's hairdresser also caught him with some guy at Fridge in Brixton, apparently...
Assumed it was all rubbish at the time though.
Seeing more and more tweets from industry peeps re Harry though. Definately think there is something to those rumours.
You can understand Louis' frustration if Harry really is the one with the secret rather than him.
- In news regarding the subplot mystery of whether Harry is Jewish, he wished his Jewish followers a happy Rosh Hashanah for the second year in a row.
- This already posted?
"Harry Styles thinks Liam Payne would make a great boyfriend"
- r235, Sterek shippers are next I can feel it...dylan o'brien (Stiles) is a big fan of One direction and is prob taking notes.. same thing with MTV who is aware of fandoms on tumblr they tagged the ship names like "STEREK" and "Larry"
- Well, I always thought that Lirry was the [italic]real[/italic] pairing...The ass of Liam part one?
- L Girl, was it Mark Owen who got caught with the dude or was it Robbie? I just assumed Robbie was the only cockhound in that group! Of course the others were young and who knows what happened.
Re: Sterek. Oh man I could see those Sterek girls ultimately going the same route as 1D fangirls. They are nutso over Jeff Davis' b.s. about possibly making Sterek a pairing. I personally see more chemistry between the two male actors versus characters. The actors play it up and they are so very adorable in their bromance (real or not). I could totally see the fans going nuts on poor Dylan O'Brien. Aww, Dylan is such a cup cake. Jeez, he and Pixie make me feel like an old pervert.
Old School, who usually doesn't check out the kiddies
- r243,Jeff is obviously trying to sink the Sterek ship with the rumors of Derek getting a female love interest and making him much older than 23. He's just being extra nice to the fandom because of the gay snub from the EW poll which got bad publicity and was even mentioned on tv. Honestly I feel bad for the sterek shippers because Jeff is clearly fucking with them.
- Can't believe you guys aren't commenting on Louis' Twitter meltdown today.
My sense, though it's pure speculation because I have no proof of anything, is that Louis and Harry messed around a little but were never a full-fledged couple. I think Harry's really gay while Louis may be bi or just experimented a few times with guys.
I wonder if Harry started hanging with Grimshaw et al to take the pressure off Louis but it doesn't seem to be working. Louis blows a gasket like every other week now.
- Old School, Nope, not Mark. Just some random.
- R244, you got it right. Jeff is going to sink that ship. He knows he has to tiptoe around the situation/intense slash fans but it's going to go down like the Supernatural fandom and their craziness. Although those SN girls put the 'crazy' in 'batshit crazy', I should know I'm part of that fandom (not the J2 which is an even crazier fandom, but SPN...God help me).
BTW have you checked out the afterelton slash awards? L-U-N-A-C-Y. Some of those little girls think that if Sterek wins the afterelton slash pairing vote that somehow it's going to convince MTV/Jeff. Hello, they have no idea that MTV ain't going to make one of their show's heartthrobs a cocksucker much less two (although we can argue that Dylan may not be a hearthrob in the usual sense). Fandom sometimes doesn't realize that the majority don't give a shit about the ship. Sure the intense minority make noise but that isn't going to change squat.
Getting back. Harry knows how to stick a knife in those poor girls. Mentioning Liam being his bf choice, ha.
- Old School, sorry, just reread your question. It was Robbie caught with a random (apparently)
- r245 - Louis be crazy. Here are some selections for the twitter meltdown.
[quote]I love all our true fans so fucking much! That's a promise ! I assure you all I'm always true to myself ! #embarrassingtweet
[quote]@skyleridk Hows this , Larry is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. I'm happy why can't you accept that.
[quote]Still months on reading ridiculous conspiracy theories.It's upsetting that I have to read them daily.Thank god for the lovely people on here
- R244 - Louis blows a gasket because of people insisting he's gay or bi when he has only ever dated women and is in a serious relationship with a girl. The so-called evidence that he was dating Harry is bullshit - like people in a secret relationships go around kissing each other's dolls and pictures to the cameras. The boys were clearly close friends playing up their bromance for popularity like many before them had done, but with 1D having an unusually young fanbase, and with a lot of the videos being viewed after they have been altered (slowed down, re-captioned, viewed out of context) the bromance suddenly became a 'secret romance' overnight.
I feel sorry for 1D as I think Louis has underestimated how many fans believed this romance nonsense (I'd say a significant percentage of new fans) and it could affect their sales/tour tickets as a lot of fans like them for "Larry" and not much else, and then invest in them almost as an aside...
- Surely a measured and official denial would have worked wonders for quelling the rumors. Now, they have a boybander who looks desperate in not being perceived as gay as well as a bully. And probably the worst from the meltdown:
[quote]@KylieeAlex people like you reflect so badly on our incredible fan base. Go and waste your time somewhere else.
Who singles out fans like that? Isn't the first rule of celebrity not responding personally online? Yikes.
- I was glad louis called out the Larry fans but now with his recent tweets I just feel sorry for all of them. Larry was the part of the reason 1 direction became popular..
- But I think the intensity of Louis' anger suggests he's hiding something. If he were really 100% straight and comfortable with his sexuality, wouldn't he just laugh it off and move on? Whether he's gay, bi or straight he's definitely insecure about himself.
Harry's been a bit more mature about the whole thing and just tried to distance himself from Louis. I get the feeling Harry would rather be out but he's towing the line to satisfy management and Louis.
- Harry's easy going attitude and open-mindness makes me respect him even more... him hanging out with a gay man who is 10 years older and is clearly flamboyant is much more dangerous to his popstar reputation thn little girls shipping "Larry Stylenson"..I bet Louis wouldn't be caught dead being seen with Nick.
- The intensity of his anger only suggests that he's at a breaking point. He stated it clearly, everyday he's dealing with these girls harrassment. His gf's school gets emailed by the fans, his sisters get bothered. It's pretty obvious that the idiots are the fangirls who broke the fourth wall. That shit has always been around (shipping) but most fans weren't stupid enough to bother the real life people with their inane conspiracy theories. Hell, most of us felt weird when one of the girls would confront the guys in real life about it and that didn't happen as often as it's going on with Louis. If these fans had any common sense they wouldn't have pissed off half their dream pairing with their ridiculousness.
- They seem really gay in their videos.
- BTW, I love how the bitches on ONTD are ripping Larry shippers a new one over this. They keep on posting the inane fangirl meltdown posts from tumblr and twitter. Days like this are always good on ontd.
- I agree with R 255. People assume that as he's rich and famous, there's no way Eleanor would ever end the relationship but of course she can, at any time. She's the one who has to read stuff like "the reason Louis takes El to starbucks so much is because they allow dogs" and surely he must be shitscared he'll lose her? I've seen men fall out with family and close friends over girlfriends, and I'm sure we've all read of men who kill themselves when their relationships end etc. People assume Louis is very secure in the relationship, but they've only been together for a year and considering how much time and money he has invested in her, it seems (to me) that he thinks the world of her. I think this is why he lost it today.
I'm glad he called the shippers out but he could have done it more diplomatically, and without swearing. I do feel sorry for Harry - the tweet about Zayn was unneccessary and I felt belittled his close friendship with him. As usual Harry has stayed out of it, tweeting about buying toes from ebay - bless him.
- I don't think it's fair to blame it solely on the fangirls and shippers. A lot of young celebrities have crazy stuff said about them but they don't let it get to them like Louis does. Maybe it's partly youthful immaturity but these meltdowns just feed the "conspiracy theories" even more.
- You only act that way when you're in denial. Simple.
- Paying attention to social media and what the 1D fangirls did makes it clear why he got pissed. Everyone has a breaking point. I'm surprised he didn't go off earlier.
Twitter, tumblr and the immaturity of some fandoms have changed things for the worse for some acts. 1D is young and just a product. They weren't boys who worked for years with one another and took time to become famous. They became a phenomenon like is typical for 15 minute boybands.
Not surprising Louis made the comments he did. It's the one's excusing the batshit crazy fan behavior that I don't understand. Those of us who've been in fandom should look at our fandom objectively and understand that some members fuck everything up with their obsessions and lack of interpersonal skills/boundaries. In addition, the fangirls will look to anything and say that it's a 'sign' that their conspiracy theory is valid. If he never addressed it, that would feed their conspiracy theory. If he got pissy, that feeds their conspiracy. If he walked down the street, that would feed their obsession. Doesn't matter what he does.
BTW got to give props to Louis gf who seem to be handling everything better than Ryan Ross' exes. I remember Ryan's gf's would have online blog/lj breakdowns when fans harrassed them. Or in the case of Ryan and Brendon's ex's when the group was getting famous, the girls messaged that Ryden was gay for one another.
Ryden had more conspiracy theories and true believers than 1D but the fans were a little bit older and many were part of bandom so they mostly towed the line in terms of no overharrassment of the guys (although the pissy pic of Brendon when asked to hold up the Ryden Exists sign looks like he was at his last nerve. And it was taken a few months before the band broke up, aww).
- r260. Agreed. Plus, several ex-schoolmates have let slip that Louis bullied several gay kids particularly hard. Part of me wants to think he's out and healthy to the people around him and not self loathing, but he's probably inbetween or a straight man with major insecurities.
Old school - it totally matters how this was done. This was one of the worst ways for a denial to get out there in the way it is both damaging and provoking in all the wrong ways. Because of the anger, the hatred to a fan, and the insistance that he's happy while melting down on twitter and being exasperated at the mention of him possibly being gay is more interesting than anything.
[quote]@skyleridk Hows this , Larry is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. I'm happy why can't you accept that.
- He could have gone about it without calling out teenaged girls in front of millions of people. I understand why he'd be upset, but he's a 20 year old man calling out young girls when he should know how much hate that would get them sent. I do think fans should stop sending the boys and people close to them things about Larry because obviously it does nothing but cause problems, but I think he went a little too crazy on twitter today. Then with the tweet to Zayn, it seemed like he tried to make it seem like him and Harry aren't even friends at all anymore. Most of just seemed a little over the top and unnecessary.
- The fans are overreacting to the twitter comments. Based on online comments many people understand louis position. Since he denied it before in a light manner, it's not as if he could state it in any manner w/o the overreaction from the overly invested fanbase. This will die down until Harry and nick's next picture together looking like lovebirds and then that will bring the Larry fans new drama.
- First, @ R210, I'd like to make it very clear that I am NOT a "Larry Shipper" :). You bring up some very good points... I can see now that it is very possible that the reporting on their real estate shopping was done to promote a successful image of the group; I found the timing quite odd but it was probably just coincidence and perhaps I read more into it.
I cannot agree, however, with a simple brushing off of Louis' involvement in the "Larry" drama as him just going along with Harry's little crush on him. While I agree that Harry's feelings for Louis were more intense, they were certainly reciprocated.
Louis' tantrum on Twitter today... I just don't even know what to say that hasn't already been said. I noticed that the Huffington Post ran two articles within the past week or two on Larry Stylinson, complete with Larry YouTube videos and all... it was really over-the-top. Maybe the recent dredging up of Larry in the media is what is pushing Louis over the edge.
It is possible that the Zayn tweet was meant to snub Harry, but it is also possible that Louis felt Zayn could relate seeing as Zayn just went through his own Twitter meltdown a few weeks ago.
- He could have done what Zayn did before he deleted his twitter. He tweeted that he was upset with what people were telling him about his relationship being fake and talking about him cheating. He said he was deleting because he didn't want the drama and that was that. Yeah people were still upset, but they were upset that he deleted not at what he said because he had the right to say it. He didn't call anyone individually out and said what he had to say without going crazy. He has the right to protect the people he cares about from hate, but calling people out individually just fuels the fire in my opinion.
- However it's fine that out of the whole band, Louis gets singled out and bullied for his "treatment" of Harry by thousands of fans? And if someone was tweeting him homophobic comments, no one would bat an eyelid at an angry reaction, at someone being singled out for what they've sent, but because the comments are often heterophobic and misogynistic (to his girlfriend, his sisters, his mum) he should just lie down, take it and/or ignore it?
And throughout it all, cuppycake Harry comes out smelling like roses for saying nothing at all.
He's allowed to be straight and he's allowed to voice his dissatisfaction with how people are portraying him or talking to him, whether they think they're being "supportive" or not.
Eleanor won't put up with the hatefullness for long and nor should she. His actual relationship, with a girl he has continually professed to be in love with, is being threatened. If people continue to say they believe in it because there's no denial, what exactly was the next logical step for him to take in order to show his girlfriend he doesn't accept their treatment of her or their relationship?
If you'd told him two years ago he'd be in this situation, he probably would have kept his affection for Harry to himself and away from the cameras or just told them to fuck off. What he deals with isn't normal fan behaviour at a normal level; especially when, in comparison to Harry who gets nothing but love and understanding and compassion from these misguided fans, he gets hate and a bad reputation as a homophobe and a coward.
- He can voice his opinions, deny Larry, and defend his girlfriend all without singling young girls out.
- If you're prepared to directly contact someone seeking their praise, especially on a sensitive subject such as this, you have to be prepared to accept what they have to say back. He's not an automated robot, nor is he a mature adult; he's a young man whose relationship and personality are constantly under attack.
I understand the girl he tweeted the bullshit comment to did not directly tweet him; but she probably has done in the past. If she hasn't then he shouldn't have picked her out of the blue. However, when she says on her twitter that the messages she gets makes her depressed - imagine how it feels to get that and feel that way everyday. She's allowed to scream and shout and insult to the people who offend her, but comparitively Louis can do very little.
And the girls who say that Larry not being real or Louis's words have made them depressed or even started them cutting again - he does not exist to make you happy by being someone he's not. They can't blame him for their emotional states and I think telling someone they're the reason you are unhappy or that you have made moves towards suicide is just as bad, if not worse, than flippantly telling someone to go die. Putting that on someone's shoulders is completely wrong.
- Oh, my god:
- Wow.. this thread. LOL. Actually, Louis' behavior today just reinforced what most Larry fans believed, that Harry and Louis are together and that his girlfriend is fake. If he had nothing to hide he wouldn't be overreacting like he did. If he knows he's straight and he loves his girlfriend.. why not laugh it off, like the guys in Panic at the Disco do? They just laugh it off.. Zayn laugh it off. I'm in another fandom right now, with lots of bromances.. they even play it up and post pictures of their bromance and caption it with the bromance name. Guess what.. they just *gasp* laugh when people think they're together! truth be told, guys who are secure in their own sexualities just laugh it off.. they know they have nothing to hide. Then you can ask yourself WHY Louis had this complete and utter meltdown.. if he really was completely straight and in love with his girlfriend, that should be enough.
And no.. I don't think it's fair to blame this on the Larry shippers. Don't get me wrong, larry shippers can be insane, and yes.. they have sent hate to Louis and Eleanor, and that is obviously not ok.. at all. It only makes it worse, but they don't get that. Anyway, first of all.. I just want to say that it's really unfair to blame the whole Larry fandom for what some idiots do on twitter. Fact is that the tumblr Larry shippers despise the Larry shippers on twitter, exactly because they don't respect the fourth wall. So not all Larry shippers are like that at all. Second, this time Larry shippers were NOT to blame. There was actually little talk about Larry on twitter before Louis' outburst. And he didn't reply to hate like some people here are implying.. no, he looked up a Larry shipper and bashed her. The Larry shipper didn't even tag him, which means he must have searched for Larry on twitter. Then you might ask why the outburst.. why now? I think something has happened.. something made him insecure. And I don't think it was hate this time.. it was something else.
The thing is, what Louis wrote was so unnecessary. He was totally out of line. Even IF he received hate (which I don't think was the case this time), there's ways of dealing with hate, and this is not the right way of dealing with hate. He should ignore it instead of drawing attention to it. If someone did harass his girlfriend, he should have said "please don't send hate to my girlfriend, I love her and please respect this. Larry is not real", or something like that. What he said was so out of line. You have to remember that Larry shippers are mostly teenage girls. Many of these have now received death threats from Elounor shippers. This brings me to another point.. Elounor shippers actually managaed to trend "Harry Styles should go kill himself" worldwide on twitter.. yet not a single peep from Louis or Harry about this.. it's ALWAYS the Larry shippers fault. Elounor shippers get away with everything, even asking other shippers to go kill themselves, hell.. even asking Harry to go kill himself. How come this goes ignored and Larry shippers are always attacked?
Louis was an idiot. he should have kept his mouth shut instead of drawing attention to it. He just made everything worse. Yes, they all receive hate, but this is not the way to deal with it. It just makes it look even more suspicious, because in ALL other fandoms they just laugh it off. If people were harassing Eleanor, why not address that instead of lashing out on ALL Larry fans? It doesn't make sense at all. Liam reacted a completely different way when Danielle received hate.
And if you ask me.. I still think Louis is gay and Eleanor is a cover up for his sexuality. No, I don't believe in Larry.. I think it's very likely that Harry is with Grimmy. But I do think that Louis is gay. My view on that hasn't changed, not even after this outburst. I still believe he's gay, because well.. I have eyes. And I still believe his relationship with his girlfriend is fake, because well.. I have eyes. That does not mean I support sending either of them hate OR tweeting them about Larry or about the gay issue.
- Links.. what you don't seem to get is that the Larry shippers are now killing themselves NOT because Louis denied Larry, but because they receive death threats from Elounor shippers. This gave ammunition to the people worshipping the ground that Eleanor walks on.
And btw.. I'm still baffled that you can think this gay boy is straight and his girlfriend is real. I tried having a straight face reading this thread, but wow.. reminds me why I stayed away from it in the first place.. and why I will continue to stay away. I just wanted go state my opinion on this whole twitter fiasco.. because the only voice heard in here is "Harry is great, Grimmy is great, they are perfect together, Louis is an asshole, but he's a straight asshole and obviously together with Eleanor."
Whatever. I know I'm right. So lets just see in a few years when he comes out with his tell all book. I can't wait to say to all of you "I told you so". But if you think that gay boy is straight and that his fake ass relationship with Eleanor is real.. then ok. Believe whatever you want. I don't even care, because I know I'm right.
Oh, and btw Links.. not all larry shippers are misogynic or women haters. I respect Eleanor. I have never sent her hate, but I refuse to be bullied into changing my opinion... it's not my fault some people believe everything they read. It's also hilarious that yet again Larry shippers receive all the hate. It's always their fault. Yet not one mention about Elounor shippers trending "harry should die" on twitter, or Elounor shippers on tumblr saying "Eleanor and Louis belong together.. a love is between a man and a woman" and other bullshit like that. Truth is many (not all.. but many) Elounor shippers are extremely homophobic. Yet nobody comments on this. It's always the larry shippers fault. They harass Eleanor and don't respect her (some send her hate.. but far from all). Yet this always gets attention, never the homophobic stuff from the Elounor shippers, and Louis is never called out on his homophobic tweets either.
You all play the victim game when it's obvious that you have no fucking idea what you're talking about. It's all black and white for you guys. Links for example mentioning Larry shippers being misogynic and aww, Eleanor is being a victim and we should feel soooooo bad for her, but not a single word about the homophobia in the fandom.
Whatever. I don't even care anymore. The entire fandom is fucked up. I do not like Louis, but I'm still convinced he's gay and I still think his girlfriend is fake. And yes, Harry as always is a saint, he's perfect. He's smart enough to shut up.
- What age is Louis? 21? Who among you would want that attention on your sexual orientation?
- R272, Make an appointment with a doctor love.
You're clearly crazy.
- r274: Co-signed.
- R274, R275, I third that.
Links, just wondering what your take was on Grimmy's last show (with Harry)?
- Oh L Girl the last show was a bit of bliss for me! I thought it was really interesting to see them interact on film for the first time (discounting the ads for Grimmy's show if that came before, I can't remember).
So I suppose the most controversial thing was the "outing" - well for one, no one was outed. The suggestion was made, first by Grimmy with his pen-point to Harry, which I think is more important, because did he know the camera was on him? If not, it was a pretty amateur mistake - he's used to having guests on with webcam (I suppose not as often as not, but still) and he knows the positioning and would be careful just in case it was the one showing at that moment. On the other hand, it was a very quick and also silent move, meant to be subtle and not heard by the listeners.
Example's contribution after that is pretty null and void - it was a loud and blatant joke, not homophobic I might add there's no reason to believe Example has a problem with people being gay. Either way, I don't think he'd out him - he's known the 1D boys generally for quite a while and doesn't have anything against them that we know of. The only thing you could call it - being tinhatty - is a double-bluff.
I just wish we'd seen Harry's face during this. His joking "hey, words hurt Grimmy" was pretty vague and didn't give much away.
So what actually hinted to a relationship? Well, the obvious "I'm here all the time, like every night" comment was very revealing. Friendly support maybe, but why is Harry spending two hours from ten until midnight in a studio where he can't talk or be seen on air and where his interaction with Nick must be fairly limited? It also koshes any any comments of "they don't spend THAT much time together, just a few nights out" because Harry's obviously with him fairly constantly. And I like to think going home with him afterwards.
Also - neither of them spend so much time with their respective (best) mates. So yes, fine, you could say it's two good friends hanging out - but they don't spend so much time with people they've known longer.
I thought physically they were quite cute, but not overly affectionate or touchy. Key moments for anyone interested were the "on air spoon" - which looked a bit like Harry half sitting on Grimmy but it's unclear. The play fighting after Grimmy's joke about Harry being in the wanted (for fannish types the wrist grab is a treat). Grimmy gives Harry a gentle face-punch during the kareoke section.
Which in itself was interesting - Harry seemed painfully shy of singing in front of Nick and his friends (not unusual - he's used to playing huge and very impersonal arenas and not for anyone whose opinion he cares about or who he wants to impress, and we know he does get stage fright I think). Nice that Nick didn't make him feel bad for this and kind of tried to make him feel more comfortable, as I think did Example, with their terrible singing and joking around.
Overall I think it's clear Nick's not using him or making fun of him - he obviously likes having him around and most importantly loves that Harry likes him (to whatever extent). They might not have "heart eyes", but I thought Nick looked at him kind of adoringly at times and Harry seemed very playful and sweet around him. And obviously always is from what Nick said about when he's in the studio (again, all the time).
Loved Henry Holland's Diesel casting story! Harry's very obviously not bothered by Nick's sexuality - or his promiscuity (although if the tweets we've seen are true, and from Nick's comments on Harry's virginity during the show, Harry's not got low numbers - did Nick seem smug, or is that just wishful thinking?).
Speaking of which, you mentioned more tweets L Girl - any links? And did you watch/listen to the show yourself?
- R 272 - all I can say is: dear oh dear. Agree with the universal suggestion of a medical review.. No wonder Louis flipped.
Great summary of Nick's wednesday show, Links. Took me right back! I had work the following day but stayed awake playing back my best bits until 2am that morning.
What did you think of the person who shrieked "oh my god" between Nick pointing at Harry and Example's "next single" joke?
- All of these entitles pukes look like their wigs are on backwards. Not attractive young men at all. They have the attitudinal air that they're so damn hot...Sorry, no way.
- Attitudinal air. El Oh El.
- [quote]Old school - it totally matters how this was done. This was one of the worst ways for a denial to get out there in the way it is both damaging and provoking in all the wrong ways. Because of the anger, the hatred to a fan, and the insistance that he's happy while melting down on twitter and being exasperated at the mention of him possibly being gay is more interesting than anything.
I have got to say that Twitter just goes too far anyway. The whole thing is madness in my eyes. But if One Direction's people had done the sensible thing of creating a General Update account rather than exposing the boys to the level of crazy that goes on, not just from some Larry fanatics but from all corners, then maybe this wouldn't happen. I sometimes wonder if Louis has a life outside of chasing people down on Twitter. He himself has gotten involved with arguments that did not concern him and his message to Rebecca Ferguson basically made me realise he lacks restraint and manners, though he cries for it from others. I say 'he', though it's hard to tell who is tweeting from these accounts.
To me Louis, and his whole family, are hugely over exposed on Twitter and have been for some time. It was never sensible. They all should have had private accounts.
In complete contrast though is Harry's seeming endless ability to steer clear of any retaliatory bullshit that flies about. He seems so much better than all of this.
- Of all the 1D boys, I think Harry gets twitter the most. I half expected him to tweet "I just had a Fro Yo. It was... frozen." midway through Louis' outburst. More than anything I love that he has an interesting life outside 1D. Today he's at the Burberry Prorsum show at LFW, and yesterday he was at his one year old god-daughter's birthday party. Thursday he was at Primal Scream's show for Ray Ban, and he attended weddings on both friday and saturday. And of course there was Nick's show/after-show party wednesday night. He's not mooching at home defending the universe and scrolling through abuse on twitter - or if he is he doesn't let on.
I think the next big story (or rehash of an old story, in this case) involving Harry will be that he's dating Cara Delevingne. I know it'll be a PR exercise as they've been pals since last year, but Cara would benefit from the publicity and Harry's PR people would love it. I adore them both anyway so I'd be more than happy to support their "relationship". I may be wrong though, but there is at least one article being penned on the subject as we speak - look out for it tomorrow :)
- Does anyone think the play fighting punches cheek touching during Grimmy's last show seemed a bit flirty especially the first ones after the wanted introduction.
- Agree with the consensus, R272 needs an intervention.
The only fans who approve the craziness are the more disturbed 12 year olds. The mature 12 year olds aren't offended by Louis' tweets.
Online the belief for many is that some Larry shippers go too far. Harassing Louis' sisters and mother included, so it's not just the girlfriend. Part of the twitter issue had to do with his mom being bashed. It's silly.
What's the worse that could happen? Are the fans going to drop Louis. No. Although I'm sure he wouldn't mind if the disturbed ones stopped being his fan.
Stuff like the following only makes the fans look bad. Most of us are sympathetic to Louis. The only exception being those who's investment has led them to thinking that they can break the 4th wall and act like obnoxious twits without suffering the consequences (getting called out).
"The 20-year-old embarked on the explosive Twitter rant against trolls last night when a deluded fan abused his mother, and another tweeted her saying she should have ‘aborted’ the pop star.
‘Can I ask why this is ok? To think someone would speak to my Mum like that sickens me. Grow the f*** up!’, he tweeted to his near six million followers.
Along with the comment he posted a screen-grab of what appears to be from his mobile phone with an abusive message from a fan directed at his mum.'
- We didn't even have to wait that long, R282. The mention has already been made; I did wonder if Cara was walking and if that would reignite the rumours. Harry attended LFW last year, though, and I think he has a genuine interest in style. The DM ran another article (I'll link in a follow-up post, for ease); implying Harry was looking at both Dita Von Teese (sat next to him) and the legs of the models; in their demonstrative pictures of this, his eyes were actually on neither.
R279 The oh my God actually came from whoever was filming the video on their laptop! You can tell from the volume of the voice and the clarity in comparison to those on the webcam. Also, the oh my God was present when watching live (which I managed to do - and then replayed the YouTube faves constantly until 2AM just as you did, snap!).
I found Grimmy's comments on Harry's virginity absolutely hilarious:
"Like a Virgin ... not Harry's next single" at which point Example cracked up, "released in the past. You can't even get that back on, like buy it back on EBay."
Just loved his smirky face when he said "released in the past"; in my head, he has been subject to Harry's non-virginal ways. In reality, probably just a joke.
Actually, rewatching (and I'll link the vid here so it makes sense and the articles referencing Harry, Cara and Harry's wandering eyes afterwards); at about 1.15, Harry asks "is that the never gonnna dance again one?" (on Careless Whisper) and Grimmy gives him a little proud (?!) nod. I am aware I'm going tinhatwards but the two of them make it very hard not to.
- Harry Styles of The Wandering Eye.
- Harry Styles only went to Burberry to scope out Cara.
- Thanks Links, great appraisal as always.
I did listen to the show and a few things stood out for me.
Re the 'outing', Grimmy seemed a bit awkward when mentioning the song, Example just seemed jokey and Harry seemed to respond with 'mock hurt'? I don't know whether they were mocking the rumours as they are NOT true, hinting that they ARE true or simply referencing them as they don't really care?
The comment about how much time H spends at the studio was interesting. Assuming it's true, it might suggest he has no significant other? (relevant as i still think it's possible he is secretly with Flack although I know I'm the only one) How candid he was on the subject was also surprising and could be interpreted as a sign they are just friends? However, there have been obvious attempts to hide the level of socialising they do together which contradicts that theory?
I agree with your point about how much time they spend together. G appears to spend most of his time with female friends, gay guys and Harry with Harry seemingly his most frequent companion. I know gay and straight guys can be close but I still think this situation is unusual?
I also thought H came across as very young, shy and a bit out of his depth (banterwise) with Grimmy's friends. Prompting the question whether he is part of that set simply as a 'friend' ?
All in all, it left me no clearer as to whether they are just friends or something more?
Regarding the tweets I mentioned, i won't link them as I wonder whether the tweets linked in thread 8 may have contributed to its demise but I'll outline them:
A london based gay guy that writes for a UK blog tweeted " Harry & Grimmy eh..."
Another London based gay guy who writes music reviews for the BBC responded " what, more, when, again!!"
Another London based gay guy who writes for a couple of uk gossip blogs (holy moly being one) tweeted the pic of Harry at James Corden's wedding and wrote " the gay triumvirate of Harry styles, Tom Daley & Russel Tovel in the same room at the same time"
Obviously, none of these serve as any sort of confirmation but there are an awful lot of industry people hinting or gossiping about the same thing now?
- [quote]If Styles was gay, Grimshaw would not joke about "I'm Coming Out", because coming out would be a real, serious issue to a pin-up pop star.
I just figured that it was with Harry's complete consent, as these shows are planned in advance to the letter. To get people desensitised to it by doing it in a bantery way?
[quote]I may be wrong though, but there is at least one article being penned on the subject as we speak - look out for it tomorrow :)
Already been done. All this week a rag or two was pushing that story, regarding New York. And then it was Pixie Geldof.
I think Harry will be an enigma until he decides to say what's what, if he chooses to. Until then it seems anyone can have a piece of Harry pie. He satisfies the gays and the straights with all his partying, soujourns to Nick's and the obvious press plants, probably by his own people.
I loved the tweet awhile back between Ed Sheeran and some male student about Harry wanting to get his number. A Larry shipper flipped out and accused him of having 'no right' to out Harry, even though she called herself 'Stylinson' and butted into a private conversation! Godamn Twitter! Even though we all know she was pissed because...OTP oh no.
I still think...maybe these boys lead a life the public don't see so they could be anything.
Louis, for all his public meltdowns (swiftly followed by reconciliatory charity tweets and fan overtures) may even be (shock!) a real live out gay male behind the scenes. The one thing I do not believe is that the girlfriend is real. I like her. But I don't buy that. Way to overcooked and contrived. That's off. And that's going on lots and lots of digging on my part. BUT, that's just opinion, I wouldn't dream of tweeting these people.
Though I like the idea of Harry with Louis I think it's now toxic. Harry may suddenly get a girlfriend or even continue to play the gay card but personally I think he and Louis are too different. If they had anything it seemed to me a very heated lustful fling that hasn't seagued seamlessly into the present. I would like to see Harry with Nick or some other person who is fun and is not afraid to be seen out with him.
He's very young so there's still plenty of time.
- There was an entire episode (pretwitter) of The West Wing about this.
Bad idea to engage the crazies.
- R282, I just wondered about something you said in a post a while back about the press and Gryles?
You said that Hackford Jones had instructed the press not to hint at Gryles when reporting on them?
I just wondered if you knew this for a fact or were assuming?
Also, if they have done this, would the papers agree to it and would they ignore other gossip by request?
I just wonder as Harry attended Dermot's wedding on Friday but no press mentioned it? They must have been aware of it?!
- [quote]The mature 12 year olds aren't offended by Louis' tweets.
Of course Louis has every right to put his foot down against harassing fans - but the way he phrased it was incredibly, incredibly ill-judged.
After all, if I'm not mistaken, the term "Larry" is not just used by the hardcore shippers (who are called "tinhatters", I think), but by many other fans as well, simply to describe the affectionate friendship between the two - not necessarily with implications of an actual romantic/sexual relationship.
Saying "Larry is the biggest bullshit I've ever heard" makes it seem like he's not only denying that he and Harry are romantically involved, but like he's denigrating the whole friendship (even if that wasn't his intention - and I don't think it was).
And since the friendships between the boys form a large part of their appeal, the tweet was, from a PR perspective, suicidal. I am utterly convinced that their PR people have already ripped him a new asshole over this.
- Btw, thank you to the person that posted the Zayn and Harry link.
Zayn is one I could always see with Harry, even more than Louis, because Zayn is just cool. They are pretty fruity with each other but in a less in your face way. But he also seems to really like Louis (who was calling out for Zayn's attention on Twitter, as if he's his confidante).
I wonder if Zayn ever feels tested? Not just loyalties, but other stuff...
Nod wink cough
- [quote]Saying "Larry is the biggest bullshit I've ever heard" makes it seem like he's not only denying that he and Harry are romantically involved, but like he's denigrating the whole friendship (even if that wasn't his intention - and I don't think it was).
Well 'Larry' is basically the 'fans eye view' of what he and Harry are about. I should expect that to Louis, he and Harry, whatever they are or aren't, are simply 'Louis and Harry'. Not engineered by teenage girls.
Because 'Larry' has been romanticised by teenage girls into an overtly doomed love story it doesn't necessarily take into account, things that never were, breakups, time outs, other err, bedfriends, etc.
He is probably less berating he and Harry as an entity than the completely off the charts Larry phenomenon that doesn't reflect he and Harry's reality, even if they are together.
It may also be nothing to him, nothing to him any more, or he simply wants to get people off his back and defend his privacy. Who knows. Could be anything.
I just think the guy spends far too much time on Twitter trying to swat people away. He should practice his vocal range instead.
- Hell, he's young enough he may just be crushing on Grimshaw. Straight boys do.
- [quote]Harry attended LFW last year, though
Didn't Nick too if I remember rightly? But a different show?
Sure I saw that in the wretched DM.
- I told you from the start Larry was bullshit. They were too similar to be lovers. Harry & Zayn on the other hand...
- [quote]Hell, he's young enough he may just be crushing on Grimshaw. Straight boys do.
Indeed, with a veritable palette of female beauties of all ages/shapes/sizes at his immediate disposal, I think it's splendid that straight boy Harry Styles chooses to "crush on" a 28 year old single gay DJ whose parents he lunches with, whom he drives to work: "I'm always here" and (allegedly) peels parsnips with the family at Christmas.
As you say it's surely just a flash in the pan. Couldn't possibly be anything else.
I think I'll keep an open mind meself
- Before I vamoose again, little thing on the grapevine so take with immense grain but apparently Cara is dating a girl, according to one rumour.
I can't back that up but I do remember someone tweeting her recently with did she like 'meat or fish' and she replied 'bit of both'.
I hope she never trims her eyebrows. They're awesome.
- Since the beginning..Harry was always the most popular one in the band. Louis was the useless one with no talent.. the only reason they like him in the first place is because of his friendship with Harry.
- Links - re the "oh my god". Of course! Even though I listened to it live it didn't occur to me that there'd be extraneous noise in subsequent recordings. I know I shouldn't be all tinhatty, but it did feel like it was Nick and friends on one side, and Harry Styles, Nick's *___* on the other. E.g. when Harry said "you guys are awful" etc.
R299 - I was going to mention just that in my R282 post but changed my mind! I reckon like Harry she's still figuring stuff out, but she is allegedly in a same sex lovin' stage at the moment... that's the word on the street. Emphasis on the allegedly!
LGirl - Regarding my Hackford Jones PR mention, well, someone I "know" (not in real life - I got to know this person after they contacted me online through a forum I post on to ask if they could use a post I'd written for an article). Anyway this person wrote a somewhat searching online article on H and N, not far off from the discussions on this thread. I don't want to say too much as I'm posting anonymously here and hopefully you can join the dots, but this tale ends with this person pulling said article and writing another article much like the one we see online all the time (Harry: babe magnet. Nick: wingman).
I'm interested in your Caroline theory. I don't see it at all as I don't believe Harry had anything more than a passing schoolboy crush for her, and he really seems to have moved on now. Compared with the intensity of his male friendships, girls/women only seem to play a peripheral role in his life. Apart from Lou Teasdale, but then she's also a work colleague and I think his closeness to her partially developed from from how isolated from the other boys he often is while on the road.
Regarding Dermot's wedding - Harry most certainly was there, and I think the lack of mentions is down to lazy journalism, similar to the lazy reports that Justin Bieber was at Nick's last show. Harry probably made a back door entrance to avoid taking attention off the couple, so he was not photographed entering or leaving, and all the tabloid stories were spun around the pap pics of people coming and going. Caroline was there, so that would have been the perfect opportunity for the usual non-story, but our tabloid hacks seemingly cannot put a story together if there are no helpful tweets or pap pics. Whatever happened to good old investigative tabloid journalism? (the phone-tapping scandal, that's what)
R300 - Harsh but... preach!!
- Harsh but accurate, R300. Louis has no vocal range whatsoever and it's a mystery to me how he ever got through his X Factor audition. The only thing that ever made him interesting was his friendship with Harry and he seems to have lost that.
Harry I can see having a viable solo career in the future, Louis will be back in Doncaster wondering what happened.
- R301, Thanks for replying.
I was (I think) the person who originally bought the idea of Grimmy & Harry to DL months ago and was pretty much convinced (as much as one can be without actually 'knowing' ) That they were a 'thing'
I have only become less sure about them in recent months because of the reappearance of Flack.
When they were 'together' they were reportedly 'in love' (although Flack has since stated 95% of the reports were false) However, there are few things that makes me believe they were involved (Flack's sister dropping him off, H admitting they were together to a journo before hastily retracting it, her leaving his flat etc..)
IF they were serious, I don't believe they would have ever split (for real) and therefore see it as a possibility that they could still be together?
A few things support this theory imo; the necklace, her moving the week H returned, Flack telling a barman "they were still on" a couple of months ago)
That said, I see equally strong evidence (for want of a better word) that H is gay/bi and involved with Nick. If it weren't for Flack, I would be pretty convinced they were together in some way.
What I am pretty sure of is that Harry's womanising image peddled by the press is a cover. A cover for a relationship with Flack, Grimmy or simply gay/bi leanings Harry may have.
(I should add that I think the idea of H with Flack is pretty unpleasant so it is quite possible I might read too much into info about them)
- Louis and his family are far too over-exposed on Twitter, R281. His 8 year old twin sisters have an account (they got "Eleanor Flawless Calder" trending today) and his mother over-shares and engages in silly arguments with teenagers that don't make anyone look good. She seems to like the attention though.
The tweets from Louis yesterday suggest he deliberately goes searching for "Larry" even when said tweets make no mention of him by name. That's a level of obsession that's really quite odd for a wealthy, successful 20 year old popstar; hasn't he got better things to do?
- [quote]If they had anything it seemed to me a very heated lustful fling that hasn't seagued seamlessly into the present.
Which is why the "Larry is the biggest load (load, omg) of bullshit ever" tweet sounds more like the shout from a discontent ex-lover than a real denial of anything.
r290 - that episode was inspired by Sorkin's real life postings on TwoP...which were far less inflammatory when compared to Louis's crusades. Another great crazy fan put down was Tina Fey's acceptance speech for her Golden Globe (at the link).
- R301, Sorry, meant to ask in my previous post, was the rewritten N & H article you referred to posted on an 'official' online news outlet, one that I might be familiar with? Or, written by someone with a personal blog?
- Hi again, L Girl. The thing with Flack though was that so many of those stories were made up. After H was photographed leaving her flat, paparazzi started camping outside the boys' complex and Caroline's then Muswell Hill flat to get the inevitable photo of them together but this never happened, which supports my theory that it was a very short-lived fling. Also we were/are constantly drip-fed stories about Harry pining for Caroline, secretly texting Caroline, planning to move in with Caroline, planning to get back with Caroline... if there were no stories like this (which as far as I'm concerned are just press plants) I'd be more inclined to believe there's something there, and that the relationship is something their PR company/management would prefer to hide.
I never heard about a necklace - is there a proven link with Caroline? Also, she now lives in east London and Harry is never seen there - all off-duty sightings of him seem to be in the two mile radius around Nick's home. Which makes me wonder where he really lives.
Caroline has form for this - a few years ago she allowed a rumour circulate that she had a fling with Prince Harry. As if! She's been desperate for a TV gig for ages and the publicity she got from this was incredible. If "Haroline" hadn't happened she may have gone the way of Konnie Huq.
Regarding the online article - no, it wasn't a blog - it was one of those online newspapers/magazines - not sure what they are called! Like Huffington Post?
- [quote]If "Haroline" hadn't happened she may have gone the way of Konnie Huq.
Hey, watch it!
- R307, I do agree with much of what you say which is why I am in two minds about F& Harry.
However, there were other photo's of them together? One of my companies magazines printed a photo of Flack entering Harry's complex at night (grainy and from a distance) and then much clearer, close up pics of her leaving the next day? And there was the pic of Flack dropping him off an the pic of her sister dropping him off?
Re the necklace, all I know is that it was the exact same model (a female necklace) that she was pictured wearing in a photo shoot around the time the rumours started. H wore it from that point on up until very recently?
Also, according to those living in East London, Harry is always being spotted in Dalston and Shoreditch. There was even an article in Grazia this week about 'Harry hunters' that search for him in these areas. They also claim H has bought a flat in Dalston?
So i agree, whilst all the stories did seem like plants, there are some reasons to think it was genuine. I also read at the time they 'broke up' that their mgnt did introduce them and potentially used it for publicity not realising they would actually get serious?
- Harry cut Louis loose a while ago R302. They don't spend time together unless they have to.
- [R289] Interesting! I hadn't heard of Ed tweeting that. Do you have a link or know when about that happened?\t
- I think he is still with Caroline Flack, the rest is just a cover up to stop the fans going mad at her.
Also Nick Grimshaw is on holiday in Ibiza at the moment without Harry, why would he go away without him if they really were together.
- R 308 - haha!
L Girl - Something definitely happened between them, but it ended before the new year - in fact long before it was reported. Everything you're posting supoorts this, and I don't think anyone's disputing that, but that was then - Harry isn't with her now. Pretty certain I would have picked something off the grapevine all this time if there was any truth to your Caroline theory.
Caroline once wearing what looked like Harry's necklace for a photoshoot doesn't really suggest anything. I was more intrigued by the ring which appeared on Harry's right middle finger after his week-long date with Grimmy. Harry has worn the same necklaces since pre-Caroline (he has recently added a 3rd one).
And Harry would be spotted in East london every now and again as firstly, that's where Lou and Sam Teasdale live/work (BleachLondon in Dalston) and secondly, Nick is a member of Shoreditch house and often takes Harry there. On the subject, I remember seeing a random tweet from a journalist who said H and N were "all kissy etc" in Shoreditch house. The tweet's still there I believe - just use the twitter search engine.
Harry does not speak to the press about Caroline, so all these stories that pop uo every now and again about them aren't coming from him - don't you wonder where they're coming from? Who stands to gain from stories like this? The people making them up, that's who...
- Maybe because Grimmy only has this 1 week off until he starts new radio show and Harry had to attend weddings and the fashion show. Maybe he has other commitments later in the week or will he go out to Ibiza we'll have to see what happens. They did seem to spend every day together before harry went to America and straight back together when he returned
- R313, Thanks, appreciate your opinion. What you say does make sense.
I still think H & F are a possibility but I hope I'm wrong and you're right.
If you don't mind me asking, do you have access to some sort of source? I just wondered how you know when they spit up? (don't worry if you can't say)
- * Split
- Gay men acting like teen girls while posting from mom's basement.
Exhibit A: This thread.
- R 312 - using that logic, Harry was on holiday in LA recently without Caroline. Why would he go away without her if they really are together?
As R 314 explained, Grimmy had a few days free - just 4 days in fact; he's back tomorrow (he went on thursday) so it wasn't as if he was away for ages. Just a long weekend, really. Harry had 2 weddings, his goddaughter's 1st birthday party (no way was he going to let Lou and Tom Atkin down) and today's Burberry show. When they are both in London they see each other practically every day, and considering they don't work together that takes some effort...
- The Advocate and AfterElton both posted today about Louis' meltdown. He is not helping himself at all. While the stories were careful not to insinuate anything, they certainly had the effect of raising questions. People will assume where there's smoke there's fire, whether or not it's true.
- Haha..this is a great site...if only I had blue eyes this would be a perfect song.
I'm sure Mr Grimshaw has the good taste to not get involved with a cad like Mr Styles..
- A cad? What does that mean?
- The below linked gifs make me sad that Harry fawned/s over defensive drama queen Louis (who to be fair, didn't used to be at all) instead of the lovely lovely Zayn, with whom he seems to have a really quite tactile and interesting relationship. There are actually a lot of deep looks exchanged. But I'm glad it never took off fully because the Zarry fans are so unassuming and lowkey it never causes drama like "Larry" did/does. I like that Zayn and Harry fly under the radar with whatever it is they have.
They would/have made a good pairing. Zayn seems a lot more mature than Louis with his odd outbursts and propensity to go looking for trouble. He seems to act as a go-between and a calm head but idk, I sense an "interest" in Harry from Zayn, and I hope someday that's taken up because these two rule.
- [quote]The tweets from Louis yesterday suggest he deliberately goes searching for "Larry" even when said tweets make no mention of him by name. That's a level of obsession that's really quite odd for a wealthy, successful 20 year old popstar; hasn't he got better things to do?
Someone from that camp goes searching for Larry. And it's such a tiny (if vocal) minority of the entire fandom. Not suited with #Eleanor Flawless and #Lou and El Marry trends his minions start up daily he instead goes off goosing the odd Larry shipper, Rebecca Ferguson and this silly pointless battle with The Wanted, etc.
It is as if he or his Twitter persona goes looking for horns to lock with over things others would just brush off.
Even the Wanted's "mascot dog", Benson, hilariously told Louis he's 'turned into a massive bellend' (using simply a picture of a bell - Brits will recognise the meaning). I do feel sorry for Louis, but he's also the only one that comes off as having this obnoxious, angry streak but you can bet he'll show up smiling and tanned, looking like butter wouldn't melt, when next we see him.
I can't wait for this thing to end. I basically stick around in the hope Harry will jump Grimmy live on air or Zayn announces he and Harry have always been 'the real' secret couple (then this would all have made sense) or they're spotted on an intimate date. Well I can hope for nothing!
- Should mention in interests of fairness that I am always careful not to assume Louis Tomlinson is a complete villain. Yes he's become...odd and insecure imo...but if someone as sweet as Harry and the others can get on with him for the most part he can't be all bad.
I think this is probably a rough phase for him. If it is him tweeting he should take a real break from Twitter, let them war over him, who cares. All publicity, yada yada, right?
If it's not him he needs to put his foot down if someone is tweeting this bs from his account as it's really muddied his rep and so may not be entirely his doing. I do get the sense he's a bit of a management puppet, more than the others.
- Wow, the hatred you people have for Louis is incredible. I can't believe you spend so much time hating this boy. Better to enjoy the obvious affair Harry and Grimmy have or if you are a shipper, ship Harry with Zayn to the moon and back, if you like. Why do you fell the need to destroy Louis, to humiliate him so? You are really pathetic. You sound like a bunch of middle-aged postmenopausal bitches, pardon my expression.
- And you sound like a disgruntled Larry shipper, r325.
Right to the wire
- 326, or maybe you are 12 years old girls disappointed that Louis is not in luuuurve with sweet Harry like you hoped. Be happy Harry love a real man (Grimmy) and support them; but your hatred is really pathetic, like I said.
PS I am not a Larry shipper, I just don't understand your hate.
- [quote]The thing with Flack though was that so many of those stories were made up.
Whilst I don't have a firm opinion on whether they did/do have a genuine thing (suspect not) it did garner Flack enormous publicity and hater fangirls soon fade away. She didn't refute it in any major way until about 3-4 weeks AGO, when she told the widely read Daily Mail '95% of what was written (about her and Harry) was fake". That's a HELL of a lot of bullshit she just suddenly felt the need to rule out that she seemed happy to keep quiet on before. And of course now she is a person in her own right, a celeb, seen everywhere, and doesn't need her name to be co-signed by Harry (though the UK press still do at times).
[quote]After H was photographed leaving her flat, paparazzi started camping outside the boys' complex and Caroline's then Muswell Hill flat to get the inevitable photo of them together but this never happened...
Can someone confirm or deny this but I have heard from a few places that after Harry was pictured supposedly coming out of Flack's apt. Nick sidled out not long after?
[quote]Also we were/are constantly drip-fed stories about Harry pining for Caroline, secretly texting Caroline, planning to move in with Caroline, planning to get back with Caroline...
Drip-fed to a nauseating extent during that period. Like, everyday. It was embarrassing but I'm old skool. So who was updating these sources, every/every other day? And the likelihood of someone in the press knowing every time someone 'secretly' texted someone else was, as ever, just riduculous and nigh on impossible - but people will believe what they are told I guess.
[quote]I never heard about a necklace - is there a proven link with Caroline?
I sometimes wonder if this link was Nick. Because she did this favour for friends. That is if it was all platonic and an arrangement. Like Harry wearing it as a thank you. Idk, jewellry's a strange area.
[quote]Caroline has form for this - a few years ago she allowed a rumour circulate that she had a fling with Prince Harry.
Dear lord, she must feel like she's dodged a bullet now.
- R327, oh pardon me,
I naturally assumed I was allowed an opinion (not sure about 'hate') on Louis Tomlinson, a public celebrity, who seems to be able to have an opinion on who he pleases, and directly tweets them, though I have never contacted him once and never will.
Naturally I also assumed people were allowed to be critical of celebrity behaviour without the need to be labelled a 12 year old girl from someone with a bounce-around-the-floor argument that sounds as if it's written by...a 12 year old.
And I think it would be cool if Harry is with Grimmy, thank you for suggesting what several of us have been saying on a thread titled 'Nick Grimshaw' and not 'Louis Tomlinson's Ass'. I have no argument with you there. Or just someone (note gender neutral pronoun) that doesn't have to deny him in a magazine every other week. How nice would that be.
- "Why do you fell the need to destroy Louis, to humiliate him so?"
LOL. Somehow, between his vast success, looks, and enormous bank account, I think he'll find a way to go on.
But I'll light a candle for him.
- Btw, it appears that the original starter of this latest drama, a Twitter user, aptly named 1DHater (now suspended) began the ranting. The person tweeted Tomlinson's mother and called his gf a 'skank' (so probably British), but not necessarily an automatic Larry candidate. Just a hater by the look of it, though I came in on the aftermath.
Then Louis had his meltdown with everyone in spitting distance. A lot of the Larry shippers are all 'what did we do now' and 'we didn't start this' but somehow it has rebounded on them more than anything else? I don't know, there may be more to it but that's as much as I can find out atm.
Stupid, I know. All totally pointless. His mother is coming in for a bit of questioning for leaving the tweet up and yet again, drawing attention to it all, rather than just letting it go.
"You are really pathetic. You sound like a bunch of middle-aged postmenopausal bitches"
So it's not acceptable to express 'hatefull' opinions on a celeb you've never met but it is acceptable to express 'hatefull' opinions regarding people on this thread?!
Please practise what you preach.
- R328, The necklace mentioned is worn by Harry (he has worn it constantly since they started dating).
It is a ladies necklace and the exact same one that Flack wore around the time they got together in a photoshoot.
Apparently H only wears Jewellry which has significant meaning to him.
To me, this is very strong evidence that he may still be with her? (If it were thankyou to her for 'covering' as somone suggested, he would surely have gifted HER Jewellry? Not the other way around?)
Anyway, this is just my view and I appreciate no one else agrees with this!
- L Girl, yes but I don't think wearing anything feminine would bother Harry. He was wearing a bra at about 3.
Given the digging people have done, I'm not ruling it out being something to do with Nick. But that's just me.
Poor Harry must be at a loose end today, watching Jeremy Kyle. I must admit it's a guilty pleasure of mine. Though nothing beats the days of the Jerry Springer shoe and chair throwers with their food fights/bare-chested hillbilly brawling.
- R334, How do you think it's connected to Grimmy?
I agree, I don't think Harry would have an issue wearing a feminine necklace.
I just think it's too much of a coincidence that it's the exact same one as Flack's and I have never seen a pic of him not wearing it.
Just seems very significant to me but that's just my opinion.
- Why are you talking so much about Louis here? He is irrelevant to Harry and Grimmy. Please leave him out of the question or start a thread about him.
- Such an embarrassing thread. I can't believe you are writing paragraphs and paragraphs on these people. You're like some crazy 9/11 conspiracy theorists, except with Nick fucking Grimshaw.
I don't for a second think Harry is gay. Bi, maybe. Whatever. Who cares? Popstars' sexualities are covered up all the time. But there's no way a gay teenager would ever shout "IMAGINE HOW MUCH PUSSY YOU'RE GOING TO GET", as Harry did in Matt Cardle's ear.
- R337, I think most of us on here have enough self awareness to know how riduculous this thread is but it's a guilty pleasure.
As all gossip is!
- R 328 - Won't at all be surprised if the story of Nick sneaking out after Caroline was true; sounds very plausible. And I'd link the necklace to Nick over Caroline too. L Girl: None of Harry's necklaces are female btw - all 3 are unisex.
Anyway enough of "Haroline" - it's like one of those boring storylines in the soaps that just won't go away! Back to the subject of this thread :) Nick is back in Blighty, and lovely to hear that his friend Kelly Osbourne kept Harry company at the Serpentine party last night in his absence.
R 334 - I don't think Harry is at a loose end today. Nick returned from Ibiza this morning and is probably chilling at home, watching trashy telly. Jeremy Kyle, perhaps?
- I remember resting Nick was there as well as Caroline but can't member who wrote it or where it was written. It did make me wonder at the time why Nick was there too
- Laughing at all the Harry-the-stud articles around today! All centered around him giving "amazing" Cara a kiss, partying with Kelly O and later celebrating with Pixie (yesterday was Pixie's birthday and Harry went for dinner and karaoke with her, Alexa and others). Grimmy missed out on so much between friday and last night - but I suppose he had unexpected time off berore he starts Breakfast and just felt compelled to book a short holiday. And it meant Harry wasn't hanging onto his side all night...
R 338 - Aye! This thread is most certainly my guilty pleasure. Much kinder to the hips than eating pralines and cream ice-cream directly from the 500ml tub...
- A few people saw Harry at the airport today with no luggage. Said it looked like he was picking someone up. Yesterday was Nick's last day of holiday and he should be returning today. Catch my drift? ;)
- Nick arrived earlier today though - his flight left at 9am and it is a relatively short flight. The Harry sightings were 2-3 hours ago. Wonder who he's picking up? And which airport? (Nick arrived at Gatwick)
Ps: neither Caroline nor Louis have recently left our shores, in case anyone suggests them
- I won't keep going on about Flack as I know I'm the only one who thinks they could still be together but I really don't understand why people are linking the necklace with Grim as Flack was the one pictured wearing it!? (not grimmy?)
Harry was picking up a girl that works for Sony apparently? (called Claudia possibly?)
- My two cents:
Seconding the above comments about Harry not being with Louis. Possible fling/psuedo-relationship at the beginning.
Including Zayn, no one else in the band has any homosexual tendancies.
Harry is not with Grimmy. He's more like a really good friend, psuedo-mentor figure.
Not trying to be creepy but I actually want to send a letter to Harry. I'm just not sure where to because I doubt he'd actually get it via One Direction fan mail. Thoughts?
- Meh, not really substantively. Fuck it. Time for shots
- yolo, what are you planning to put in your letter? Not to encourage this from more than one person, but I think his home address is out there as fans are always pictured outside of his family house. Of course they probably throw all of the mail out. His neighbors, though, if they got some mail that looked relatively important...well, you catch my drift. Or maybe you don't. Address it to attn: Anne Cox/Harry Styles/whatever and purposely send it to a neighboring street number who's resident will personally deliver the mail to Harry (or his mom lol).
Now as payment, you have to post your letter here for us to read too.
- Nick is not dating Harry Styles.He may linger on a hope because Harry has that indistinct way about him and he's brilliantly beautiful /i can see is a fascination there in the fact that Harry has got that Superstar germ that appears once in a billion.Nick may want to manage Harry's career in the future.I really think Harry has some Bob Dylan's cool and Mick Jagger sex appeal rolled in one.
Now Harry is fascinated with Nick way of living,underground circuit &most impotant they are both Kind,fun ,genuinely nice people.I see reflected mirrors of eachother.They see aspects of themselves that they long to- Harry the pop Star and Nick is the credible &respected guy all pretentious music artists go to.They are perfect friends.They can learn from each other,help grow and thrive.That's all there is.
- Yeah you see r350, you only problem is Harry Styles is utterly talentless. To mention Harry and Bob Dylan in the same sentence only highlights the stupidity and moronic think of a One Direction fan.
And as for Nick Grimshaw being credible, he is a kids TV presenter and a DJ on CHAV FM, he has no idea bout real music. He hypes up user friendly silly chart indie crap.
- I agree that Harry is probably still with Caroline.
When they were papped together at a party after the Brits, 1D's management made the pap delete the photo. If there is photoban on anyone, it's likely them.
Harry partied with her at Nicks, they went to the same party the following weekend, a wedding last friday, a party on sunday etc ect..
Harry spends alot of time with the Teasdales who are best friends with caroline so likely they meet up then too? (the week he spent with Nick was the same week the teasdales and Caroline were away)
He is always spotted in East London where she lives and moved to as soon as he returned from touring. He has also now apparently moved there.
Given that he was papped with Caroline's family at the end of Jan (a week before they broke up) it seems highly unlikely they really did split up.
And neither of them have been seriously been linked with anyone else since then.
They originally got together with the help of their managment. They publicised it to begin with and then, when both the relationship and the abuse Caroline got became serious, they leaked a fake split so they could carry on confidentially.
No one knows where either live now. It wouldn't be hide for them to carry it on and they clearly still see each other all the time.
Only last week, Caroline 'favorited' a tweet Harry wrote about having a lot on his mind (she then deleted it a few days later when people on twitter realised what she had done)
They even played 'Sweet disposition' when she visited R1 today (isn't that the song Harry is always quoting about fighting for a forbidden love?)
At the end of the day,out of Harry and Grimmy, Harry and Louis and Harry and Caroline, the latter are the only ones with a verifiable history.
- R 352 - The huge flaw in your theory (which is all it is) is that 1D's management and PR don't and did not have a problem with the Harry and Caroline story. All that stuff about photographers being asked to delete a pic, management trying to hide their relationship etc was all part of the publicity around the relationship which was fed to the tabloids. A couple of broadsheet journalists correctly sussed out the whole thing being one big publicity stunt (a bit like Niall and Demi would be if she plays ball) and now we know from Caroline that most of the stories were made up.
The rest of your post tells us what we know already, which is that Caroline and Harry have remained friends. But no, they are not secretly dating, as much as many of the old "Haroline" fans wish they were.
Ps: "No-one knows where either lives" - really??
- R353, I'm not saying that their management have/had a problem, I'm saying that Caroline and Harry probably had a problem with it (particularly caroline)
Also, their management may not have had a problem with the story then (when they needed it) but might now (given the negative resposnse to it?)
And the incident with the deleted photo was observed by the celeb writer for the Daily Star (so not a story fed to him from mgmt unless you are suggesting he is 'in on it' too??)
People might have a rough idea where they live but I doubt they know their addresses like they did before? Harry is said to be living in Primrose Hill, Highgate, Barnet, Hoxton, Dalston and Stoke Newington??
And yes, your right, this is a theory but I'm assumming that your views that they are not togther are nothing more than theories also.
- [quote]Yeah you see [R350], you only problem is Harry Styles is utterly talentless. To mention Harry and Bob Dylan in the same sentence only highlights the stupidity and moronic think of a One Direction fan.
And here we go with this bullshit. Before you call someone on their stupidity, you might want to brush up on your reading comprehension skills.
Harry is not utterly talentless and even if he were, R350 didn't say his talent was on the level of Bob Dylan or Mick Jagger. He's referring to his charisma and sex appeal which he has, whether you like or not.
- R 354 - I really don't have a firm theory. Harry may be single, he may be with someone, he may be gay, he may be bi, he may be straight. I don't know. I don't know him.
However one thing I do know is 50% of a PR company's work is keeping certain stories away from the public. The rest of their work is feeding desirable stories to the public. There have been no obvious attempts to keep Harry/Caroline stories from the public, but clear efforts to keep the story alive. In the nicest way possible, please don't use the Daily Star as evidence for anything - I assume you're not from the UK as otherwise you'd know that the majority of stories it publishes are made up. No one here takes it seriously.
I have no real preference for who Harry dates. I only became interested in this subject when I read a tweet from a journalist I follow which suggested that the public would be in for a shock if they knew the truth about H's leanings. This was several months ago, when all the talk was about Caroline and cougars. I was irritated by the comment at the time (I don't know why) but increasingly I saw mentions in press blogs and on a closed media forum I visit which made similar suggestions. I started investigating the matter myself for no other reason than sheer curiosity.
If the tabloid press and Harry's 1D bandmates are to be believed, Harry is a manwhore who has a different girl in his bed each week. If the gossip on the street is to be believed, it is all a cover for Harry's emerging same sex leanings. And we know what the "Larry" fans think his preference is - "Louissexual" i.e. hopelessly in love with Louis Tomlinson. I'm inclined to believe all 3 theories - they are in fact not in conflict with one another, and support the seemingly in the know regular on popbitch who hinted at one of 1D (was clearly H) being somewhat insatiable to the extent that they happily bat for either team, as long as their itch was scratched.
It's the Caroline angle I just don't buy, as it's the one I've read no evidence for beyond the obviously made up tabloid stories we've seen in recent months. Caroline is a media luvvie and she has everything to gain by an ongoing association with Harry as it means she gets talked about, which is why she talks about him in every interview she does. On the other hand Harry has no need for the association and unsurprisingly makes no reference to her or their fling in interviews etc. One of Harry's friends spoke to the press a few months ago though, and the way he described the Haroline thing was (I felt) the closest we got to Harry's real view on the matter.
- R356,I am from the uk and therefore aware that the Daily Star is total trash but the particular columist I mentioned(James Igham) seems quite reputable and he witnessed the demand that the photo be deleted which gave the story credence in my opinion.
You sound like you are privy to infomation that some of us are not and I take on board what you say for that reason but there are a few things that still don't make sense?
why was Harry photographed with Caroline's sister a week before they apparently split up?(particularly if all they had was a couple of one night stands)
With regards to hiding tabloid stories, how would we know that this isn't being happening? If they had done their job effectively, we would not know about the story in the first place and therefore not know it was being hidden?
Also, I agree with you that all 3 theories mentioned in your post could coexist and in a way, that gives weight to all of them. However the level of womanising Harry is supposed to do seems implausible and the Sweet disposition tattoo, tweeted lyrics etc do suggest a hidden love? (as does caroline making a deep tweet of his a favourite in her twitter)
Couple of questions, Who was the journalist that made the comment and if you don't want to reveal that, can you say who they write for?
Also, what is a closed media forum? what sort of people have access to this and what was being said on there?
- Please the only people that go on X-Factor are the utterly talentless, and the reason they do that is because they have no real talent to make it without a low brow gimmick show that is perhaps the worst thing ever to happen to music.
- "Harry has that indistinct way about him and he's brilliantly beautiful /i can see is a fascination there in the fact that Harry has got that Superstar germ that appears once in a billion."
That's so fucking HILARIOUSLY over the top honey. Harry has front man charisma. AT best charisma on the level of Gerard Way, Justin Timberlake, Brendon Urie and Ryan Ross. Harry doesn't even have the musical ability of Brendon and JT, nor the songwriting ability of Ryan Ross and Gerard Way. Hell, he's more on the level of charisma of Pete Wentz (once again without the songwriting ability of Pete or Patrick's musical ability). Harry's like every other pop tart outside of the long term ones like Madge and Brit Brit. He's as manufactored as Britters but unlike her crazy ass unexplainable IT factor that keeps people's interest, Harry's star will die in a few years. Comparing him to genuine stars (Dylan, Jagger) is reduculous.
- R357 - I don't know much more than I post on this forum, really. And I post here anonymously so I can't really say much more about myself as that'll defeat the purpose! There's nothing to say anyway. By a closed forum I meant one where you have to register and log in with your real (i.e. work-related) email address. It is closed in the sense that it can't be accessed unless one is logged in.
There's no such thing as a reputable Daily Star journalist - if they were reputable they won't write for the Star. All I'm saying is that I just haven't come across anything aside from obvious tabloid plants that hints at Caroline and Harry being something that went on past last winter. None of the stuff you're posting points at an ongoing secret relationship.
Finally, Harry being given a lift by Caroline's twin sister earlier this year equating to them being in a secret relationship in september 2012 is the kind of bizarre logic the "Larry" fans use. Harry and Caroline's fling ended amicably - it was never serious anyway which made it easier - and this is most likely why they are still friendly towards each other. And of course they have common friends - the Teasdales, Grimmy. You haven't commented on Harry very recently accompanying Grimmy into work almost every night and then spending the night at his, Harry and Grimmy going for dinner with Grimmy's parents and Harry spending christmas and valentine's night with him - surely that's more compelling "evidence" than a lift from someone's sister months ago?
Anyway this is honestly giving me a headache - and I'm sure others too who are here to post/read about Harry and Grimmy :) Hopefully there'll be no need for me to post on the "Haroline" subject again. But thanks for the chat!
- Explain why Harry's first album sold more than all of those acts. He's one popular bitch, no denying it. He's ugly cool, hideous chic, and has a huge dong that everyone under the sun seems to be interested in. That's the recipe for staying power.
- R360, Well I enjoyed your chat with the 'Haroline' poster!
I am more interested in G&H but don't think you can discuss that without considering Flack?
Anyway, could you confirm who the journo was that made the comment re H's leanings? (or like the other person said, who they write for?)
Also, do you mind me asking if you work in PR?
I appreciate you don't want to give too much away about yourself (I work in the media and won't say which publisher I work for either)
You do sound like you have a media connection though?
- Nsync sold more than One Direction R361. Call us when Styles survives it as long as Justin Timberlake.
- Harry Styles is just 18 years old.Don't forget that.He could write the Oddysey for what's worth.He's not talentlesss only a ignorant person would say that.For now he's got it..and he must take it from here.
- Harry Styles is a member of a boyband. Every few years we have a boyband explosion because there are new young girls in the landscape who have disposable income to spend on these kids.
There have been successful boybands who made one or two records. If we want to discuss sales we could mention BSB which were more successful than any of the young men mentioned so far. That would mean we'd compare Harry to Nick Carter.
Also Timberlake wrote for Nsync. Styles isn't the only person who's accomplished writing a song.
- God, this thread has become depressing already ... I know there's not been much H/G news, but do we really have to harp on the old Caroline/Harry track and/or the "Is Harry really talented?!" discussion?
Harry's a good singer (personally I think him and Zayn are the better two in the band, albeit with very different styles and tones suited for different musical styles). We do not know if he's a good lyricist; we don't know what his instrumental skills are (who cares?! like we've ever seen Madonna cracking out the guitar every time she's on stage); and we don't even know if he would WANT to go solo. He's clearly stated he's more comfortable in a band; and from what we've seen/heard (depending on truth) he's got a case of nerves and a bit of shyness.
Harry and Caroline ... to be honest, I think everything that's been said sums it up.
Why is he spending his evenings in a radio station with Grimmy, which no one knew about (note; he can do things without people finding out), when he could have been curled up on a sofa with Cazza?
Them having the same necklace means nothing. They both liked it and bought it without the other knowing? Harry saw her wearing it, asked if he could borrow and ended up keeping it? Jewellery is very dodgy; it can look like it means a lot when it means next to nothing. This is the same for the whole "is Harry wearing Nick's ring" thing.
Call or Delete - this is assuming Sam Teasdale (as said, good friend of Caroline's) and Grimmy both know the relationship is still on - and I would be surprised if they didn't. Why didn't Sam just laugh and allude to Harry's girlfriend/make it very clear he was taken? You'd have to call the whole thing a set-up for her not to have mentioned Caroline at all - or for not stating something about Harry's relationship status in general.
Yes Harry spent a lot of time with Nick while Caroline was on holiday with the Teasdales (were they on holiday - how do we know?), but he was spending a lot of time with him before that week as well. And even in candids, Caroline was not in the vicinity.
I will say I'm biased. I hated Caroline on kids TV; I hate her on the X Factor now. Harry or no Harry, I don't like her television persona, though I have nothing against her as a person. And generally I don't quite understand them as a couple.
Harry gets on very well with women, it seems. He gets on well with Nick's female friends and is clearly quite the charmer. His flirting to me, however, always seems very sexless; where in the media, he'll be portrayed as a sex-mad minx who attempted to bed the media, to me it seemed almost like autopilot mode for him. It's sweet and cheeky and charming, but there's nothing lying underneath. I don't know if that's just me, though. I don't mean he doesn't genuinely mean what he says, or is being fake, just that flirting is a natural way of speaking to him and not necessarily always a sexual or romantic tone.
God, I hope Nick and Harry do something soon that we can ooh and aah over, before this thread becomes darker than Louis Walsh's latest dye-job.
Have a picture of Harry looking well-fucked (Grimmy off travelling, sad face).
- I was just watching the iTunes Festival coverage on Channel 4 and Annie Mac was teasing Grimmy about how much he loves 1D, apparently turning into a hysterical fangirl whenever they perform. It was cute.
I think the boys are actually at the festival tomorrow, so that means the potential for more on-screen G/H interaction since he'll probably be interviewing them.
- Hey who doesn't want to Bang Harry Styles ?.I know i would &i respect Nick Grimshaw for trying.More power to him if he does but i doubt that.Harry has some abandoment issues that's why he likes the company of older people he likes to feel wanted and appreciated..also some mommy issues because all the cougars & his mother is stunning.I think they are just friends but he likes that Nick is infatuated with him.What i get from him is that he may like to be dominated in some way.He is not gay not even bi .I find him a very sexy &rafined individual .If it was for them to be lovers they would be alot more careful and shielded by being seen together. They just don't care .
- @r368 I remember bringing up abondonment issues to someone once and they laughed in my face. His father was pretty much absent from his lives growing up. He never had a father figure only his mom. I could definitely see where his attraction to older people stem from.
There's a lot more to him than meets the eye.
- I was walking near my school today and this really cute girl I barely know stopped me and was like “heyy, I got shit tons of whipped cream, would you like some?” and a person should never, ever turn down whipped cream (or cute girls) so of course I took her up on the offer. When she was handing over the can to me she noticed that I had “I can’t change” written on my outer wrist and she grabbed my hand and looked on my inner wrist. I of course had “Bravery” written there and when she saw it, she wrapped her arms around me and started kissing my face. Then she pressed her wrist that had “Bravery” written on it against mine. We both started crying and hugging even tighter. After a few seconds she got really close to my ear and whispered “I’m gay and you are the first person I’ve told because I know you’ll still love me.” That is when I lost my shit.
Bravery is more than a word. Larry is more than a bromance. We are talking about love, inspiration and perseverance. People finally finding the courage to open up about who they are simply because they see just how happy two boys can be and then seeing the lengths people will go through to support them. So yeah… Thank you. I love you all so much.
- When did the drugs wear off, R370?
- Also this story is all over Tumblr, taken from an ask, so I doubt you're the original author.
To anyone who hadn't guessed, it's total BS.
- Harry's parents divorced when he was 7, R369. His mum remarried. Harry seems to get along just fine with his dad and his stepdad.
- Apologies, I didn't mean to bring the thread down (or encourage 'Haroline' supporters to join!)
I just think Flack is a very real possibility that I personally would not ignore.
Anyway, on a different note, Harry has been spotted in hampstead/highgate a lot recently? (& less so, east London)
I know they are next door to PRH but I wonder If he has bought there? (it was one of the places he was rumoured to be looking in)
- He was photographed buying pizza in Kentish town yesterday
- Sorry L Girl that wasn't directed at you specifically - and she is important I agree - I just really don't like Caroline Flack. I don't get this hipster status she seems to have garnered when to me she appears to be a bit more like a WAG type.
Personally I've heard he lives in Stoke Newington - and that when he was looking in PRH he was actually just helping Lou Teasdale househunt. But that's just rumour and could be incorrect.
Kentish Town, eh?! Who does he know up that way! I wouldn't have said that was particularly close to anyone we know he's friends with - taking into account that you'd think pizza buying would be a close to home thing.
- is this a stalkers page?You people are mental...and 370 ?WTF are you on a mushroom trip.trolL Harry Styles may date Cara Delavigne now so stopp those pizza binoculars.Freaks,zombies and vampires all over the poor kid's atmosphere.CREEPY
- No it's not a stalkers page. If someone in the public eye goes in to a pizza shop there are bound to be one or more people who will recognise him and then pics and reports soon get posted on Twitter etc.
- Links, I don't like Flack either (& she was definitely channelling 'WAG' at Dermot's wedding)
I heard the Lou Teasdale rumour too but only via 1D fans on twitter? I've always assumed it to be fiction propagated by the Larry contingent in denial over their 'babies' leaving their 'love nest' (I also doubt she could afford PRH but who knows?)
I think the pizza place was in the Highgate end of Kentish Town?
One last thing. I occasionally scan digital spy and saw a discussion re H spending lots of time with G at the studio. Someone added a comment:
" They both spend a lot more time together than people know.."
Wonder if that's true..
- Just read that Grimmy is on the cover of fabulous mag free in The Sun this Saturday and he will comment on his bromance with Harry
- [quote]But there's no way a gay teenager would ever shout "IMAGINE HOW MUCH PUSSY YOU'RE GOING TO GET", as Harry did in Matt Cardle's ear.
1. People say all kinds of crazy shit, especially teenagers. It doens't have to be logical.
2. Please link to where any gay has never made a comment to a straight man about pussy.
3. If we're going to get all batshit then pussy can be universal, girlpussy, boipussy. Many teens talk about 'pussy' as gender neutral concept.
He was saying it in relation to Cardle's else's sexuality, not necessarily his own.
- [quote]in relation to Cardle's else's(!!??) sexuality
Sorry, dunno how that stupid thing happened.
- L Girl, the house hunting with Lou Teasdale was in at least one newspaper (Daily Mail). Both Harry and Liam were photographed with her on different days.
- [quote]Harry was picking up a girl that works for Sony apparently? (called Claudia possibly?)
Someone else said he was picking up his dad.
As ever, confusion reigns.
- If Nick is in some magazine related to a tabloid he needs to be careful what he tells them because by the time they've chewed it up and spat it out it'll read like pants anyway.
I shouldn't bank on it being truth or half-truth. Hopefully he'll just play coy. I'm sure he knows what's what.
Props to the poster who said there are no reputable journos writing for these rags because ain't THAT the truth. Tabloids like the Star tell so many lies they forget the lie they told last week, or earlier the same week.
The headline often reads differently to the body of the story e.g. headline: 'Harry Styles is dating Pixie Geldof' text = Harry was out partying with Pixie Geldof, though a source said they were not on a date.
Basically voiding the entire point of the headline, but by then people have read the headline, which makes more impact, skimmed the text and allowed the paper to manipulate their thinking. I see so many comments that buy into this idea of Harry Styles manwhor and bodice-ripper it's really a testament to how utterly gullible the general public are and the hold over them that punchy 'exciting' tabloids have.
Sometimes I would love for like, Derren Brown, to rip the tabs a new arsehole on one of his shows, and prove just how much they manipulate peoples thinking around to whatever angle they push or are told to.
- Harry's lovely mum doing her bit for TeamGrimmy.
Of all the One D mum's she's always been my fav. He looks a lot like his mum.
- R383, I read that article. I meant the view that it was for Lou Teasdale came from Larry fans not the fact that the house hunting happened.
That article, or maybe another one (I can't remember) was specific that H was the one house hunting & had £1.5m to spend.
Also, I just don't think lou Teasdale would take a couple of teenage boys with her for opinions if she were the purchaser?
(And she and her partner look more like the Dalston types to me)
I maybe wrong, I just reckon Harry and Liam are more likely to have a PRH budget than a hairstylist (albeit one employed by cowell)
There were also rumours he had bought in Hoxton months ago though so could have all been a PR stunt?
- Hey Links @ R366 - you mean proper fucked?
- I know, Harry, I know.
- R388 You can take whatever you like from my wording. It could go either way really. But I chose well-fucked on purpose.
I love Harry's mum - I think she wants to be Nick's mum too.
- Fantastic shot of a soaking wet Zayn in the new music video - I think he's channeling Elvis?
- Harry's tactile affection around men seems very genuine to me. More than anything else, any other sexuality or behaviour he displays. He's one of the most tactile and open people I've seen in entertainment for a long time and this appears to go right back to his schooldays. It's just nice to see someone who is that openly loving towards the same sex.
While I'd love to think he is 'with' Nick I have to keep an open mind to all other possibilities, Flack, a secret girl or boyfriend (civilian) and even the perenially smug-looking Louis with 'his' obsession for actively seeking issues to nitpick over. Stranger smokescreens have happened in this business.
- Harry is so delightful in the new video. Something about his expression. He has such an open face, an open heart. May it never leave him.
- I'm a bit disappointed by the new single tbh, but the video is cute.
- Harry's mother is gorgeous. She's like a brunette Diana Dors.
- I think Harry could very easily quit the band and become movie star, if he wanted. He could have a Cary Grant quality - he's has already established a particularly distinct persona, the stuff of which stars are made - if only they were still making those kind of movies.
I'd say the same for Zayn, but his class of star is older than Harry's - going back to the silents. Valentino, Navarro, those are of Zayn's ilk. He would have excelled as a silent actor but alas, they are not making those movies anymore either.
I don't want the glamor of these boys to go to waste, especially on the kind of music pop which, while a lot of fun, is not exactly enhancing their incredible potential as stars. Their management seems help bent on keeping them in a kind of hyper-active 12 year old mentality. I don't want that for Harry and Zayn. I want them to be transfigured and I want them to understand the joyous power of provocation.
- I don't know people but to me Harry seams the least gay guy in the whole band.He's very boyish and quite solemn.I would bet my money on Zayn if i was to choose one .Well Harry is that tipe of person people would do stupid things for/ he's somrhing else in itself.i would say ethereal .It is very easy to fall for him.
love love the new song very naughty and catchy
- This must be a record for Harry - he's been linked to 3 women just this week alone! The latest name is Natalie Imbruglia - he apparently spent the evening of James Corden's wedding reception flirting with her. Cue Grimmy asking him about his favourite cover that ID perform during the itunes interview last night and Louis joining in (Harry claimed it was "Use Somebody, Louis suggests it's "Torn"). Was pretty obvious there was an inside joke there...
- Oh, my god:
- So Harry is going for woman more than double his age now then?
- So are we assuming the natalie imbruglia story is true then?
Harry did seem genuinely embarrassed when being teased about it last night?!
(if it is, at least it means he can't be secretly dating Caroline!)
- I wondered about the joke about Natalie's song Torn but Harry said his favourite was Use Somebody. Could this mean anything. Another in joke perhaps?
As most songs are about relationships love etc it's difficult to know.
- Did you know that Natalie Imbruglia was one of Britney Spears' main influences at the start of her pop career - she mentions her in this video! I wonder if 1D will follow Britney's lead and start getting hardcore by the time they hit 21? Will they have their Slave 4 U moment?
- R402, Na, think he was just trying to deflect from Torn and the teasing.
- R404, Err.. Isn't this thread supposed to be about harry and Nick?!
I'm all for extending the content where relevant but Britney spears.. really?
- Britney was also a teen idol. I see no harm in drawing comparisons.
- R406, It's just not relevant to Harry's love life?
- r407 - you only want Harry for one thing - so get out get out get out of this thread.
- R408, Er... I don't want harry at all thanks?
Just don't want to talk about Bloody Britney Spears!!!
- Fine. Let's talk about Harry AND Britney Spears. Don't you think they were both sweet teenagers?
- R410, No. I think Britney was one of those awful irritating stage school brats with next to no talent who's career was soley as a result of an effecive marketing campaign.
Much like 1D really (minus the stage school part)
Harry does seem like a sweet boy though.
- Yes, and Britney was a sweet girl. Precisely why I brought it up.
- R412, Not sweet by my definition.
Back to Harry and Grimmy - do you think the Natalie rumour is true or made up?!
- who knows if Natalie rumours are true but true or false no doubt in my mind they have been fed to the papers by Harry's people (like most other stories involving his womanising) Perhaps that was the in joke...that they all knew there was a story going to be in today's news about it and were winding him up. Doesn't make it true, just that they find the endless womanising stories as amusing as many of us...
- Very true, R414. Since Monday stories about Harry and four different women (Cara Delevingne , Pixie Geldof, Alexa Chung, and now Natalie Imbruglia) have been in heavy tabloid circulation. There doesn't seem to be much in any of the stories: the much-touted kiss between Harry and Cara at the Burberry show was positively awkward rather than intimate.
- As well as the boys and Grimmy, Annie Mac also made a point of bringing it up.
Given this was only hours before the story was released (and the teasing was also mentioned in the original mirror piece) do you think the teasing was staged to give the story added credibility?
Or am I being a bit too conspiracy theoristy!?
- Cynical perhaps, R416, but there's nothing wrong with that! These boys are a global phenomenon bringing in millions of dollars in record sales, merchandise, and endorsement deals. I think it would be naive to believe that their image isn't controlled to a great extent in order to market them to the widest possible audience.
- There was also this tweet from Nick yesterday (which I didn't get at the time):
- R418, That's what I mean.
it all seems a bit coordinated?
The story breaking hours after the teasing (friday's as odd day to break that sort of story?)
No denial from either camp?
They clearly weren't bothered about hiding the story.
The one thing that gives it authenticity in my eyes though was Harry's seemed geneuinely seemingly genuine embarrasement?
It certainly painted Nick as one of the boys ribbing Harry as apposed to his 'partner' or is that what we were supposed to think?
IDK. It kinda worked on me.
- I think the Natalie connectionwas mentioned too many times yesterday to be genuine,but who knows. I have also read about H and N being seen kissing etc in clubs on more than one occasion and people are surprised no pics have appeared,but again who knows this could be made up
- Everyone knows that an easy way to get yourself in the UK tabloids right now (i.e. to get anyone to care enough to write a story about you or take an interest in a career you're trying to resurrect) is to be linked with Harry Styles. The longer the duration of the "link" the better. And all publicity is good publicity - how did Katie Price a.k.a Jordan become a millionaire?
From 1D's point, they are on the verge of a new album campaign, so let the Cougar tales begin. Can't be doing with all these Larry Stylinson and Grimmy stories circulating...
- Just watched the itunes interview again and noticed at the start as N says hello to 1 direction, he seems to look H up and down and smirks and H smiles and giggles
- ^^ Yup, noticed that.
I feel this gif sums up that interview...
- Harry had a hole in his microphone and he was showing it to him(laughing about it)That was all about look closely they are talking about it.Annie is asking him about the mic also.You guys hear just what you want to hear.Diggers
- R 424 - who here mentioned hearing anything? Wierd...
- Oops - weird, not wierd!
- It was their facial expressions
- Pics of her with her bf just this Wednesday. Don't think it's true. I think nick here's about all the rumors of him with women and thinks it's funny and likes to tease him about it. Reminds me of how he tweeted about reading the death threats Pixie Geldof was getting, when everyone thought she was with Harry, and laughing about it.
- It seriously is strange why Harry is linked to so many women.
- Where can you read about them kissing in clubs.
- Link to itunes-interview, please.
And looking at Natalie Imbruglias BF it's quite clear she's no cradlesnatcher anymore.
- I've heard about Harry being seen kissing men in clubs, although not specifically Grimmy - would love a source or something to read about that.
Re: Natalie Imbruglia:
- As has been stated, she has a boyfriend.
- Where is the evidence that they did in fact flirt, other than what has been hyped up by the joking in the iTunes interview and newspaper stories? Has anyone actually AT the wedding quoted this as something that happened?
- Harry for a moment seemed genuinely confused, and then cottoned on. If he did flirt with her - I think he flirts with all women, generally, but it's not necessarily sexual. He's obviously comfortable with women and talking to them in a way which is interested and flattering; he was brought up by women, and many of his close friends seem to be women/girls as well. It's not that common for men to be that way - straight or gay, I would say - and I think it's a bit of a novelty for some people, that he can charm women so easily. Hence the joking.
- The beginning of that interview was quite flirty (Harry/Nick, that is); but generally, you can't draw TOO much from it. Without everything else we know/everything we've read into their relationship (from more concrete facts), it's easy to project those feelings onto their interactions. Discounting what we know, what happened in the interview might have been overlooked.
- The same goes for Louis's so called "bitch faces". If Larry wasn't a thing, if people didn't have their fandom view of Louis as the jealous ex-lover, would you really have read so much into how he acted? Because to me, for most of the interview, he was very pleasant and joking. Not too hyper, either.
I think the benefit of Harry being linked with all these women - irrespective of what his sexuality might be - is that while an attainable male popstar is very attractive, an unattainable one is even more so. Not unattainable as in they have a girlfriend - that implies something long-term that a fan couldn't break through - but someone who sleeps around a bit, likes women and will be with them for short stretches of time ... it's aspirational for many young girls/women. Just as much as being single, this shows girls that they have a chance.
Shagging male radio DJs does not, but.
Last night didn't really add or subtract any beliefs I have about Harry/Nick.
If anyone CAN show me why the Natalie Imbruglia stuff might be more credible than past links, then please do, I'd love to see some sources about it, because I've caught on quite late.
Same re: Harry and Nick kissing in clubs - don't leave us hanging!
(this thread seems to be moving quite fast lately, I'm sure I'm forgetting to respond to some stuff ...)
- Someone who went to the gig last night claims to have seen lots of interaction between H & Grimmy (she says she saw Grimmy watching from one of the balconies with Annie M)
Apparently she saw H singing to G during certain songs and Joking with him during the breaks.
(This info originated from tumblr though)
Re the kissing in clubs. I believe the tweet I saw about the two being all over each other, simply because it was so long ago (before they were papped together, way back in mid jan)
- I read about them kissing much more recently but can't find where now sorry
- R403, and then they would shave their heads and make home orgy video. Would love to see that!
- This is interesting.. sounds like Zayn's voice to me. If it's real then it basically proves that Harry is straight. Well, he might be bi, but certainly not gay.
- As I said in post R356:
If the tabloid press and Harry's 1D bandmates are to be believed, Harry is a manwhore who has a different girl in his bed each week. If the gossip on the street is to be believed, it is all a cover for Harry's emerging same sex leanings. And we know what the "Larry" fans think his preference is - "Louissexual" i.e. hopelessly in love with Louis Tomlinson. I'm inclined to believe all 3 theories - they are in fact not in conflict with one another, and support the seemingly in the know regular on popbitch who hinted at one of 1D (was clearly H) being somewhat insatiable to the extent that they happily bat for either team, as long as their itch was scratched.
- the next recording should be the first person who goes up to Zayn and introduces themselves as Christabelle Riley
- did something happen to the louis thread? or are we here now?
- I think the last Louis thread was tanked because of Harry's underaged nudes.
r436 - interesting. Second time Zayn has been compromised. That one blog who knew everything seems to really have known everything. Too bad they stopped posting.
- I like the way Zayn always seems to be ordering his prospective sex partners around - turns me on tbh.
- We may never find out if that recording is real (it does sound very much like Zayn though) but the stories of Harry/Zayn foursomes just don't go away - the first time we heard about this unholy alliance was during the X Factor tour. There was a video clip going round recently which was allegedly one of the reasons Zayn deleted his twitter - I've forgotten what it was about, but the take home message was that whilst on tour, Zayn invites fans to his hotel room for sex. Which I imagine is par for the course if you're young, rich and single.
Will be interesting to see how they wangle out of this one though, with all the claims that the girls were underage. If the tabloids don't take up the story I suppose they'll be able to get away with ignoring or denying it.
(Didn't Perrie say that the first time Zayn chatted her up, it was with a view to sex later on that night? Charming!)
- When I watched X-factor they year they were on, I thought Liam was the gay one, before the band was put together. Harry def not, one of Hurts told Caz how he met one the band, sounded like had to be Harry, in the loos and Harry talked to him about scoring with all the fit birds.
The guy mentioned how precocious and cocky he (Harry?) was.
- I do think Liam and Louis are the possible gay ones of the group.
- Yes, R442. I don't know what to think anymore.. On the one hand there's excessive rumors about him hooking up with girls. Maybe they're true, maybe not.. idk. On the other hand you have rumors about him and Louis and him and Grimmy. Idk.. maybe Harry is bi. He's certainly not gay though, as in having sex only with men.. at the most he's bi. I can even picture him being in an open relationship, whether it's with Grimmy, Louis or someone else.. the guy just seems to need his freedom, and to enjoy it too.
- I don't think Liam is gay. I still think Louis could be, he gets a little to defensive about it.
- damn zayn needs to be more careful. This is twice now. I don't get why fans leak this stuff though.
- R445 - Indeed, all part of living while (he's) young I suppose! Reminds me of the stories all those years ago about Bowie and Jagger, rehashed in the Daily Fail article below...
- The boys were at a signing today, and a girl said Louis was kinda rude/bitchy, he just wanted to talk to Harry. I wasn't sure if I believed it or not.. but then a video came out and Louis had the biggest bitch face ever. LOL. What they said was true. The only one he cared about was Harry. They got to sit next to each other for once too.
- That's what happens in every signing, R449. Louis always ignores fans, chats to whoever is sitting beside him and has his bitch!mode on blast.
- i saw some videos and he was acting no different than the other guys.
- I've never heard Zayn so aggressive before. Does he want them in the hotel room for a card game, or something?
- Zayn is such a little whore. Best voice, best looking one and in control. No wonder he's my favorite.
Young groupies are not new. Joey Fatone used to bang everybody and their mother (literally, I'm sure some tweenie Nsync fan's moms got some Joey dick). Can't blame the player for playing the game.
- So someone gave louis a balloon that said something about larry and and shipping bullshit. It's awkward. What do you make of his reaction?
- I think Zayn has a R&B voice not the best in my oppinion,to mushy ,also i don't see him as the best looking.But he would make an amazing actor.He comes off a bit dull and boring and quite a poser.I appreciate him no doubt about IT.he is a lovely guy and lately he seems more engaged and genuine.i like that
Harry on the other hand is just a rolling stone he really resembles Mick Jagger ,he is a cool and sexy guy ; his voice is very rock &roll it could find a place anywhere.I think Harry Styles is a diamond in the rough.I just can't get enough. he's got an abstract way of thinking which helps in this industry.
HE IS HOT AND IN DEMAND
- Louis and Niall are the only ones who I really find interesting. Zayn is painfully dull, though I think he did well in their latest video, much cuter personality there. At least he is finally making an effort. Liam... oh dear, he's a sweetie, but just doesn't have natural charisma or personality. Good voice though. Harry... I liked him at first but now he's just kinda "out there". He always looks like he is hearing voices in his head, kwim? Harry just comes across to me as very fake lately... this story, that story... who is Harry, really? Louis, my favorite, I could stare at him forever... but wtf was he wearing in the new video??? Gawdawfu! He's still gorgeous though. What would you rate his legs on scale 0-10? And Niall just keeps getting better & better in every way, he's my 2nd fave.
- Harry is not "out there "the media is interested in his lifestyle a lot more than the other members.He is the most haunted by paparazzy .I bet the other guys go out as much as him ,have friends ,interact and eat in restaurants it's only natural.It's not his fault he is popular & people are interested.I don't think he gets a thrill out of it at this moment.I am sorry for him in a way sometimes because he's got no privacy at all..the wolves are on the loose
Harry Styles , Nick Grimshaw
- R457 I think you misunderstood me. By "out there" I did not mean that he is out & about in public. In the US at least, "out there" means acting strange, weird, or someone not acting like themselves for any number of reasons. I hope that makes sense, that's the best way I can describe what I meant by "out there".
- R455, I was being facetious. I've already mentioned that 1D is a shitty boyband. Their voices range from the bland to the boring to the mediocre. Zayn having the best voice out of that manufactored boyband is a clear joke since none of them are particularly good or have an interesting voice. I understand you're a little fangirl in loves with mr. poseur 'rock and roller Mick Jagger protege' but beforreal And sure Harry and Zayn are cute little kitties. One is more white bread and the other has more spice. Boybands are manufactored to fit the different taste of the tweeners. Every fan will have her favorite, lol.
Clearly, none of 1D have the vocal chops of BSB. Heck, they don't even have the vocal chops or talent of NSync. Lastly R455, at least most of us who were grown ass fans of Nsync recognized that JC had the most range/best voice while Justin's baby girl goat voice was distinctive, therefore, a gem in it's own.
Honestly, 1D would never have made it up against BSB nor NSYNC. Both those boybands had vocals while dancing which ain't easy. I understand the fangirl love and pathetic illusions but come on, let's be honest about the 'talents' or lack of, of 1D.
Getting back. Paps get courted by the artists/stars so it's likely that Harry and his people are doing the courting to get him attention. Eh, the label typically plays these little PR games with their manufactored product so it's no biggie.
- Harry is the only thing that interests me about 1D. I haven't even bothered watching their new video, and the new song is nothing to get excited about. I don't own any of their records and have never seen them in concert/at a signing etc. I'm not really a fan of their music, but then I'm older than their target audience of 11-16 year olds.
But I find Harry Styles very intriguing. Any interest I have in the other boys is only in relation to them being his bandmates. Now he's hanging out so much with Nick, someone I've liked/admired for years, he has become even more interesting to me ;) It's not his fault that the media can't get enough of him! He comes across to me as by far the nicest of the 5, for want of a better word - always happy to take photographs with fans, doesn't respond to twitter needling, doesn't go on about not being disturbed on his days off (the other 3 minus Liam are guilty of this) and seems the most mature despite being the youngest (no irritating antics during interviews). He's been my favourite since judges' house, and it's no surprise he's the most popular with the press, the public and fellow celebs.
Louis is my least favourite - he's just an ex-chav (sorry!) who now brushes up well. Poor voice, little charisma, rude to fans, irritating during interviews, thinks he's funny but isn't, and I can't stand his speaking voice. And he has small man syndrome.
2nd favourite is Niall, then Zayn. Liam seems lovely but really dull. Voice-wise Harry's raspy Richard Marx-esque tone is the only one I like, with Zayn a distant 2nd. Liam's voice is reliable but uninteresting, Niall's is below average and Louis' is a nasal non-event.
I can't wait for the inevitable announcement that Harry is leaving them to go solo. With his taste in music you just know he won't release an album of anodyne pop, and he has enough support in the industry for it to be (at the very least) mildly successful.
- R460 Why do you admire Nick?
- Same as [R460] i really like Nick Grimshaw and it wouldn't be a surprise if in 10 years time he's gonna take over BBC radio 1 in entirety.
I am so glad Harry associates himself with some smart,prolific and talented people .That says a lot about him.A lot.
I don't think Harry is bisexual he just has plenty of things in common with Nick and the other way around.
Nick Grimshaw is a champion.
- R461 - I think Grimmy is fab at what he does. I started listening to him when he took on weekend breakfast years ago (Radio 1 is the default station chez moi - it's just on all the time) but I'd "known" him from C4's Freshly Squeezed. I wasn't happy with his move to the late night slot as it clashed with bedtime, but I still caught his show when I could and grew to love him in that "new music" slot. Through him I discovered new and interesting artists, and I realised we had very similar tastes in music.
What I really admire though is his broadcasting style. With someone like Chris Moyles I always felt like I was listening in on the popular guy at school holding court, cowering in the corner lest he noticed and picked on me. With Grimmy, I feel like he's in the room with me, on the same side - like I could easily be a guest on his show, enjoying the same music, laughing at the same jokes. He made a 2 hour show feel like 40 minutes, that's how effortless his style is. Ben Cooper made an inspired call promoting him to breakfast, and for the first time in years, I will enjoy listening to the radio on my drive to work. Kick off 6.30am tomorrow - I have everything tightly crossed for him!
- All the money and fame in the world don't make Louis any less of a chav R460! When the mask slips it's not hard to see how unpleasant he really is. Probably because he knows he has no career after 1D.
Harry gets the attention because he's interesting and because he doesn't go out of his way to make enemies. Liam seems like a nice guy but he's just dull.
- I am going to completely stick my neck on the line here. Not only do I think Harry is bisexual I think if only men existed on the planet he'd be in his element.
He has tons of chemistry with males. And all of the so-called cougaring and chemistry with women is less evident and more written about by sleezy rags like The Mirror based on fleeting unproveable instances or associations like, a peck on the cheek.
The Natalia Imbruglia thing, is just a plant imo. I think Harry was embarrassed because the whole sex-by-association embarrasses him. And there could be more same-sex innuendo to it than anyone knows. Imo. All this guy has to do is stand next to a woman and zap! they've "hooked up". There is something up when one young guy gets linked to several different women a week on virtually no solid evidence, yet his constant soujourns with Nick Grimshaw get overlooked as 'pal' fodder for the rags to giggle at. Oh look, there's Harry out with his 'pal' buying a banana - Maybe he'll use it on Natalie Imbruglia?
It's so fucked up.
And screams of Hackford 'eye of the storm' Jones feeding the likes of The Mirror. Then again, they have free reign to make their own bullshit up anyway. Ditto The Sun, Star and Daily Mail.
I cannot believe a.) the evidence from my own eyes, esp. around Louis and the other boys b.) what appears very much to be attempts to out himself partially on radio and in interviews c.) Nick Grimshaw d.) all these journalist and gay community tweets and underground buzz (see L Girl), amount to absolutely nothing.
I think Harry is gay. But if he ever comes out it will be as bisexual because that's the safest bet for his audience. At some point I do think Louis was involved but he seems to have pissed on his own chips these days and that's that.....
- The only thing that nags me(that doesn't affect sexuality) is Harry's actual connection with Nick. Yes I think their friendship seems genuine, yes it goes back some way and clearly before people even 'knew' about them.
And example being right at the height of the Flack rumours - and possibly before the first Louis thread appeared here - someone on a UK gossip forum I frequent surprised everyone (who were rving about the CF - HS age gap) that said HS was actually the 'boyfriend of a grim northern DJ'. This was MONTHS before anything and right at the time only Caroline Flack was news.
And yes there are unexplainable things like Harry rushing off to spend Valentine's day with Nick and leaving Louis at home (and what boyfriend would be comfortable with that?), things that place Nick above Louis in the apparent pecking order. BUT, at what point did Grimshaw, as much as I like him, know he was to be a replacement for Chris Moyles?
Moylesy's a tough tough act to follow and the suits at Radio One had to know that Grimshaw as logical successor would lose a chunk of die-hard Moyles listeners (aka straight men). Grimshaw is much much more about music over comedy (though he can combine the two) he still has a bent for homofication of his subject matter on his own show. That works on his own show. He'd have to reign that in for a daytime audience. Because that, sadly, would put off a lot of straight male Radio 1 listeners, so what better way to absorb the loss than by bringing Harry Styles in in a Big Friend Way and attracting a new wave of indie kids and One Direction fans, interested in the association and also new hipster style listeners.
As it's got closer to the change over Harry has been more upfront (see, papped) in Nick's circle. The romantic in me says there's reason for this but then the cynic says that coupled with the latest cougaring tales (obvious PR plants) and Nick's new show, the focus is less on a 'free' Harry than a smooth tranisiton for Radio One, using Harry. Who will slump back into being everyone's unfavourite woman-using whore once this is done (and which appears to be already starting).
But then all this pushing of the envelope between Harry and Nick on his show may also have been Harry's 'reward' for helping out too. To free himself in small stages. Maybe I'm lookig at it wrong. But there seems to be method to it?
I'd be interested to hear Links' views on this and anyone else.
- Btw, the 'recording of Zayn' is interesting but could also be fake/d.
You can't even hear a response from anyone in the background and the tone is generally jokey. Though to be unbiased it could be what it is, boys getting it on with girls. It's highly risky though, knowing phone convos can be recorded and leaked. He is either extremely stupid or it's been timed to coincide with oher things. These are American girls, so some time ago, why not release when it happened?
It's just another 'angle' to the conundrum that is this group and I don't think it makes anyone's sexuality any clearer. I'm more interested in rumours and stuff from British sources because they are, by default, closer to any insider action.
- The grim northern dj story was from about mid December and I'd even seen a pic of them at a fancy dress bonfire party before that so they have been good friends at the very least for a long time
- Louis reaction to the "I ship Larry" or whatever balloon some fan handed him. Oh dear.
Harry just laughs. Louis does his best barely concealed deathglare.
- I hope no rumour (mentionned here) is true because that much pressure and living under so much scrutinity could kill this kid.Can you imagine even for a second living in his shoes ?.mentally K.O A good comparison in a way it would be gladiators throw to the beasts in the roman arenas.Non Stop.I just hope he will break free because he's a Great guy he deserves only the best.
- Interesting reaction from Louis/Harry onstage at iTunes t'other night.
I have no idea what it's in relation to, for either picture. Obviously the Larry ship is in full sail once more, the recording of 'Zayn' is being debunked and then this turns up.
- I also sensed some discomfort between Louis and Nick Grimshaw at the interview though this could just be because (I think) Louis finds interviews quite hard anyway. Unless he is the natural centre of attention with a specific story to tell he seems to fall back on the others a little more and this is indicative of shyness. He definietly did not say 'Hi' when introduced even though everyone else did.
When asked to describe one another at iTunes Zayn said Harry was 'sexy' and Louis said Harry was 'kind', which was quite a nice thing to say.
I did delight in that Louis and Nick's gigantic quiffs seemed to be in competition with each other. Both are just ludicrous!
And I also love Harry's mum. She's a complete fox and also seems very loving and grounded.
- I couldn't agree more, R464! Perfectly summed up :)
R466 - I think we're on the same page on this. However Nick's closeness to Harry began well before february when Ben Cooper took over as controller of radio 1. Their friendship evolved very quickly - Harry had already met Nick's parents before the christmas invite - and I think people were so distracted by Harry the cougar hunter and Louis that they failed to join the dots.
A small example: during 1D's first American tour (late feb - April) Harry used to spend a lot of his time on an app called Draw Something. Coincidentally Nick started mentioning being on Draw Something with his "friend" in America around the same time. The boys did a webchat and one of them mentioned how much time Harry spent on this app. It doesn't prove anything, and neither does Harry hanging out with Nick's partner-in-crime Aimee Phillips whenever he was in NY (never reported) but I think the talk of Harry being a lonely "cupcake" pining for Louis during their last tours minimised the fact that he had a significant other in his life.
Then he returns to London and hangs out with Nick all the time, and looked a bit lost when Nick went on hols to Ibiza in July. Listening to Nick's show it was pretty obvious he was incredibly fond of Harry, and again this predates Cooper's arrival and overhaul plans. No-one thought Moyles was leaving before his contract ran out in 2014, but Cooper got round this by offering him whatever free slot he wanted (Nick's old slot, Fearne's maternity cover... anything). If he refuses, then that's his choice as no-one's contract in R1 ties them to a particular slot. I honestly think Nick's promotion was a genuine surprise to him. I (and I'm sure many others) expected Greg James to move to breakfast with Huw or Grimmy taking over drive.
What I think the link is here is Ben Cooper's actual decision to give Grimmy the breakfast slot. When he decided Moyles had to go, he must have listened to all the potential DJs, maybe stalked their twitters and at the same time assessed what's popular at the minute, and realised Greg James may lose listeners but won't neccessarily bring new and younger ones, ditto Huw and Fearne. Grimmy was being mentiomed in the tabloids in relation to Harry, and that's what you want from your number 1 show host - good press coverage. When was the last time anyone saw Greg James in the Sun or Mail online?
When Nick was away laat week, Harry went to Pixie Geldof's birthday dinner/karaoke. If the Nick thing was for Radio 1 publicity he won't need to become increasingly friendly with Nick's friends, which again predates the R1 promotion (cf: Aimee Phillips in NY). Harry's mum Anne won't tweet Nick so much as she's not Radio 1's target audience. It just feels like everyone close to them knows that at this point in time they are each other's significant other, whetever that means..
PS: This is just a sunday morning pre-breakfast ramble. My thoughts may be more coherent once I have food in me!
- PPS: New Grimmy interview in today's Sun. For the first time ever (I think) he sounds defensive about Harry. I wonder if we're now going to see less of them together?
Anyway interview in the link below:
- R473, thanks a lot for that. I was trying to iron out whether this was a publicity grab, though I do this with reluctance as I'd like to think Harry and Nick have a genuine friendship and maybe more whatever it is. It seems from what you've said that Harry and Nick predate any impending replacement for Moyles and strategising for a new audience. I'm glad about that! I would not like to think they were fake. ("No punchies!")
I cannot, much as I try (and it's definitely not shipper syndrome because I think the entire straight/gay One Direction fandom is 75% mad as spoons) write Louis out of the equation with Harry. I dunno whether I think it's a longstanding/off-on relationship, a "friends with benefits" scenario or if all the innuendo and affection is simply two young guys of a similar persuasion JUST making fun of that situation and egging one another on, without the physical aspect many fans have always assumed.
In some form, Louis, considered himself Harry's 'boyfriend' (whatever he figured that meant) according to 'his' Facebook page of around August 2011 during their Leeds festival romp.
I try not to be too harsh on Louis because it must be incredibly tough for him pretending to be this image of a nice straight boy dating a nice girl and this camp flamboyant young guy who used to be incredibly open and cute about his sexuality, unafraid to be seen/linked with Harry and even revelling in it. That changed when they went to the USA this year in May and that's when Louis and his whole personality started to become harder, defensive and more guarded, esp. as Eleanor came into focus more. I do think he gets huffy more to protect her and her reputation, because these things he never cared about before.
So that conflicts. Nick could be a very supportive and caring friend but there just seems more substance to it than anything else. As someone said earlier, that Harry spends much of his free time late into the night (self-confessed) waiting around for Nick rather suggests Nick is important in a social way that even Louis doesn't factor into. Or seemingly.
- I think you've got it r475, even though you are unsure. Even the detail of Louis's facebook page (then under the name Invisie Invisiman - or something like that, which is totally a celeb thing) sounds like the correct placement of things.
- Well, r476, those are just my thoughts and I could be way off base, but it makes sense to me taking into account a bisexual/gay subtext.
In the meantime, I bid you a happy Sunday with a pic of a total doll, the lovely Niall.
- R456, I would agree with majority of your post.
I'm never sure whether H is involved with Flack or Grimmy but I do feel (relatively) sure that H isn't straight (although not convinced he is exclusively gay either)
There has just been too much in the way of 'evidence':
Anon posters on gossip sites, tweets from the gay scene, tweets from media peeps, tweets from London professionals with 'valid sources' comments on online articles, tweet from the girl with links to H's family. the Canadian boy etc..
All of this has been going on since last year (before G&H or L&H were highly publicised) The gossip is sufficiently different to suggest it isn't one rumour being repeated over and over (H is gay, H is bi, H had a 3some, H is with grimmy, the Canadian boy etc..)
The video of H clearly referring to a 'Him' when talking about what he looks for in a 'girl' was odd?
As was an interview in March where H was asked when he last kissed a girl. He answered "yesterday" Liam then chipped in "but when did you last enjoy it?" A joke I guess, but a very odd one to make??
Then there is the relationship with Grimmy which is unusual which ever way you look at it.
Grimmy's evasiveness in the Sun interview adds credibility to the rumours IMO?
ALL these rumours surround the member of the band that is the most heterosexual seeming of the lot? That says something in itself, surely? (although he does also have the largest profile so this may also contribute to this)
R466, re your second post, I would agree largely with R473 although I think the BBC have capitalised on the relationship recently (and understandably)
I don't think it invalidates their friendship/relationship though (& I've noticed many attempts by Grimmy to conceal the level of time they spend together)
- Correction, was agreeing with R465 not R456.
- Good point L Girl, Grimmy does try quite hard to play down the amount of time he spends with Harry (even in that Sun interview he says they don't spend their downtime together, which is not true as they've been photographed together many times just hanging out).
Perhaps the attempt to downplay is a result of their relationship (whatever that is) attracting increasing comment?
- Hi again R475 - I agree one can't completely take Louis out of the equation. But I think once Louis decided to get serious with Eleanor he made a clear point of putting her above Harry in his priority ladder. Harry in turn did the same with Grimmy, but this was less obvious as he is seen more with 1D/Louis.
Unlike the Larry tinhatters I don't see anything untoward about the Louis/Eleanor relationship. It's pointless comparing it to his relationship with Hannah, Liam/Danielle etc as every relationship is different and Eleanor allegedly overlapped with Hannah, whcih easily explains him sounding non-committal in the early days and being vague with dates etc.
The facebook thing I can't take seriously. Louis played up the bromance when it was in his interest to do this. He benefitted (by association) from Harry's popularity, but as soon as the mainly American fans (who were seeing stuff out of context) started tinhatting and asserting on tumblr/twitter that it was DEFINITELY a romance hidden by MANAGEMENT and that Eleanor was a paid beard, he began to downplay their friendship, and has continued to do so. They're probably still close friends, just not as close as they were time last year.
I think it's tough trying to convince people that having a high pitched voice, being a bit camp and having an obviously played-up bromance with a close friend does not mean you're gay. The McFly boys did worse (seriously, Larry is nothing compared to Pudd) but no-one took them seriously. As was the case before 1D went to the states. I think the whole thing just got lost in translation, not helped by all the edited/photoshopped stuff. I still think Harry had a man-crush on Louis, and it may have been mutual at a point, but all the stuff about them being in a secret relationship with Eleanor recruited to hide it is nonsense and teenage wishful thinking. In my opinion, of course!
- L Girl : I agree the BBC have capitalized on the friendship. I meant that I didn't think Nick and Harry's closeness related to publicity for the breakfast show, although indirectly it may be that Nick needed Harry around him more as the time approached for emotional support.
I thought the Liam comment was just a reference to the Katy Perry lyric (I kissed a girl and liked it) as he said "when was the last time you liked it?" (the question was "when was the last time you kissed a girl?") I suspect Harry was telling the truth - he'd been at Lily Halpern's apartment the night before and knowing Harry and his flirty ways, I believe they shared a cheeky kiss (and no more) as she sounded rather giddy on twitter talking about him around the time, all this before she was linked with him.
The alleged "him" sounded more like "them" to me, which Harry always says. I agree with the rest of your post though - Grimmy's evasiveness reminds me of his "ban" on mentioning Harry on his show. "Harry" became "my friend" but it just made him talk about him even more.
- I'm sorry but I think a lot of people here are projecting onto Harry. You assume he lives in absolutes. That he pictures a perfect relationship with a man. Tell me any body at 19 or 20 who fantasises about settling down with anybody. What you fantasise about at that age is multiple experiences in love - with BOTH sexes.
- "Rumour has it a certain very popular boyband member who is alleged to favour the cougar women is close to being outed."
Just nicked this from an English gossip forum. It was posted a couple of days ago. They are more reticent about naming people directly but it's obvious who they are referring to. Large pinch of salt required as usual.
- According to the sun mag article they met at teen awards which took place early October last year and by bonfire night they appeared to be going out socially to a fancy dress party. Anyone know if they met through work in that month? I wonder how they became friends that went out partying together in that space of time?
- R482, I don't know. I know he normally says 'em' but it definately sound like a 'him' to me (& I would normally be very sceptical about anything pointed out by a Larry fan!)
The Liam thing makes sense now though. I didn't remember the exact words said but you're right. It probably was a reference to Perry.
In the sun interview, I expected Nick to either be very open about Harry or make some subtle reference confirming he is straight.
I was surprised he did neither.
- R484, Which forum?
R485, Usually, grimshaw says they met a bit through interviewing when H was on the x factor in 2010 but then swapped number when they were sat together at the GQ awards at the end of September 2011.
- "Don't know if this has been said but I heard an absolute blinder today.
A certain presenter of an Xtra tv show is getting a lot of flack for her relationship with her young BF.
However apparently said young BF is actually the BF of a grim northern radio DJ."
This was posted on same English forum as mentioned before but in a different thread on 15th December 2011. I know this was mentioned here earlier but now you have an exact date.
- DS R487. I don't generally post here and only occasionally read this thread but if I see the odd snippet I post it here and people can make of it what they will. I actually think Harry and Grimmy are just great friends but it is always a bit of craic to speculate otherwise.
- R489, Thanks, do you know which thread it was?
- The 100% blind items thread in the showbiz section. The other one was a thread speculating about closeted celebs. I tend to go there for scd news and end up reading all the other shite.
- Reply490 try using Google to search using the cryptic words for H's bf
- You People are tragic,obsessing about the love life of a teenager. get a hobby
- R493 Which of my hobbies would you like to hear about? I have many which varied and interesting to me. I read here sometimes for a bit of a giggle. What do you do for light entertainment? I'm here today because I have a heavy cold and feel crap. This cheers me up when I can't be arsed doing anything more energetic or requiring concentration.
- LMAO.. you think Louis is straight and really with Eleanor when EVERY TIME he is with her he looks so fucking miserable. Yep, you're right. It's totally natural for all guys to look miserable with their girlfriends, right? LOL. I can't believe you call us tinhatters just because we can see the truth, and don't believe all the BS the media tells us. I'm not even a Larry shipper, but there's no way in hell I will EVER believe that gay boy is straight. Too much about his relationship don't match up.. like him sending "I love you" to his girlfriend when he was asleep on a plane. Or him looking miserable every time he's with her, or the perfectly planned release of the instagram photos.. like the one with Eleanor and Louis' family when his family was away on holiday. Every photo I've seen with Eleanor he has a fake smile. And don't give me the BS about not every relationship is the same.. so fucking what? He still has the same fake smile with Eleanor as he does with fans. Then there's all the carefully staged publicity stunts, fake affection etc. It's a fake, fake, fake relationship. I don't buy it at all.. fake kissing at the Olympics taken by an OBVIOUS paparazzi, but they just "missed" the lips, right? LOL. Or what about the obvious cover ups aka reenactments? he went to the grocery store with Harry, then did with Eleanor. He went skiing with Harry then voila with Eleanor too. And then there was the photo Eleanor tweeted with the "I love Louis" t-shirt just happening to be laying on top. In all the photos I've seen of them that are NOT taken by the paps, he looks miserable. Every single time. Oh, and speaking of paps.. weird how we get 80+ photos of them at a fucking airport, but 1 grainy photo of Liam and Danienne when they're on vacation.. well.. unlike recently when they were in Venice, because management realized the mistake in not having paps stalk them too.. it looked fishy as hell, so they paid a pap so Louis relationship with Eleanor would look more real. We had like 5 photos of Liam and Danielle after a year of being together.. we had a million HQ photos of Eleanor and Louis after 1 year of being together (Oh, I'm sorry.. is it one year? I don't know, and neither does Louis.. he doesn't know where they met either).
But whatever.. I know that whatever I say you will just think I'm tinhatting anyway. I don't even care. It's not my fault you can't see a fake relationship when it's so fucking obvious. I can't wait until Louis spill the beans in a few years. Lets see who's right. I'm certain I'm right. That boy is gay.. he gets boners while staring at his male best friend. He has no interest in his girlfriend what so ever. They look so awkward together all the time.. his body language speaks volumes. But of course, you think he's sooooo in love with his girlfriend. My mind boggles. But oh well.. believe what you want. If you think Louis is straight and in love with his girlfriend then fine. I know I'm right so I don't give a fuck.
But I will say this.. you guys are completely clueless and missing a gaydar if you think Louis is straight. I'm also rolling my eyes at you for saying Louis is an asshole when you don't know him at all. I would be angry too at the fans for being such idiots. Yes, I believe Eleanor is a paid, fake girlfriend, but fans are idiots tweeting him about it. I would lose it too if I had idiot fans like that. Louis freaking out on twitter doesn't mean squat. It doesn't mean that his girlfriend is real, like some of you people seem to think. It just means he's protecting her, because they ARE friends after all. He's also acting, which is his job. Lashing out on Larry fans just means his relationship with Eleanor seem more real.
But whatever. I'm done. You've already made up your opinion. Nothing I say or do can convince you otherwise, and there's no way in hell you can convince me that his girlfriend is real. So we'll just have to agree to disagree.
The reason I left this thread in the first place was because it's so extremely one sided. You all hate on Louis, calling him an asshole etc.
- R495, you are our resident Larry shipper?
May I ask, some while ago you (I think) posted about someone telling you Zayn and Harry had a dabble. You didn't want to say because someone had told you in confidnce.
Would you be comfortable in expanding on that now as so much time has gone by and you don't need to name names or be specific. There is so so much conflicting rumour, gossip and general bullshit out there it would barely make a dint anyway.
I am just curious as one blogger thinks Zayn is bi (I do too).
- R495 - delivered in the usual deranged style of the Larry tinhatter. I have helpfully linked your tumblr blog below as your claim that you are not a Larry shipper is a Lorry-load of bullshit.
Ps: You keep saying you're done, so God knows why you keep coming back!
- For L Girl and our other DigiSpy lovers. I noted you and Old School were discussing Robbie Williams (affectionately known on DS as Fat Bloke From Stoke, lol!) and spotted this today:
[quote] Robbie Williams is Bi as my ex partner was a Roadie on his last but one tour and he was going with men then. Even though hes had a baby, he's a history of being with men.
One of the very best threads there was the one about the alleged love triangle between cheeky Geordie TV presenters, the inseparable Ant and Dec and Williams, a few years ago. Highly hilarious and I think it got pulled because everyone ended up tinhatting (what? noooo! lol.) It was funny as hell though and quite intriguing. Someone else said that RW liked male rentboys back in the day dressed in masks (I think that came from a blindie though).
Edit: someone chimed in recently to say Ant and Dec have been holidaying in private together in Devon. And didn't want anyone to know. Bless.
- Keep your teen girl squabbles on Tumblr, R497 (and R495). We don't care.
Being passive-aggressively helpful
- R498 - I think "fat dancer" was his rather harsh nickname. Those DS threesome stories just didn't go away, even though Dec had 2 fairly serious relationships (Claire who did Dancing on Ice and the lass from Sky) and Ant had a longterm relationship with his now-wife Lisa. I never believed them, though I believed the earlier rumours of Robbie and Jonathan Wilkes as they seemed too close for comfort at a point. But both are now happily married, as far as we know.
On the subject of fake relationships, the one Robbie had with Rachel Hunter was as suspect as they come; at the time the gay/bi rumours were everywhere and he was trying to break internationally. I think in the short-term it did him more harm than good as everyone saw through it.
R499 - teen girl squabbles? Lol. It's been a long time since I was a teen. And no, you're being provocative, not helpful.
- R499, I get what your saying but I'm with R497 on this.
I have no problem with Larry believers and hope that they stay on this thread as it makes for a better debate. I think their views are totally plausible even though they are not my views.
However, this girl misquote everyone, contradicts herself, is rude about the people she talks about, labels anyone that disagrees with her a 'bully' and is arrogant. On top of all that, she is dishonest (which I can't stand)
- I don't think Harry is gay, but he is a huge flirt, I think he likes making people (men & women) want him.
- Cheers L Girl - very well summed up. I try to be restrained when I post, but her rants wind me up something rotten.
- L Girl, you are quite right; it's been one of those days. Not knowing the backstory, it simply came across to me as a schoolyard spat. I still don't think that comments like "you guys are completely clueless" and "usual deranged style of the Larry tinhatter" really help the debate either way though!
Like you, I like to see a variety of viewpoints on here, whether they agree with mine or not.
- R498 I wasn't reading to closely and did wonder who the fat bloke from Stoke was. Hilarious. I do love DS sometimes because no-one really gives a shit and it's all in good fun mostly. I do find people take things a tad too seriously on here both the shippers and the trolls. It would be nice if Grimmy could just get himself a bloke and be open about it. He's a good sort a deserves that.
- people actually think harry is gay after that phonecall of zayn trying to get girls for them for sex? Like I don't get it, if anyone of them is gay it's Louis.
- [quote][R498] I wasn't reading to closely and did wonder who the fat bloke from Stoke was. Hilarious. I do love DS sometimes because no-one really gives a shit and it's all in good fun mostly. I do find people take things a tad too seriously on here both the shippers and the trolls. It would be nice if Grimmy could just get himself a bloke and be open about it. He's a good sort a deserves that.
The one thing I'm hoping is that all this attention doesn't drive Grimmy and Harry down the eventual path of denial and backtracking. As the 'Gryles' ship sets sail. Fangirls have already fallen for their 'thing', including some of the Larry fans, who seems to have taken to Nick quite well. I think this rouses a deal of interest. The fact that it's two men, the age difference, the hipster factor, etc. That Nick and Harry are both quirky, free spirited types.
To some extent I felt their papped outings of late were done with reason in mind. They seem so quietly solid in their friendship/relationship it'd be shame for it to turn into a media frenzy.
- From the Fab interview:
[quote]Nevertheless, his friendship with the 18-year-old Romeo, has raised eyebrows. At 10 years his junior, Hazza is not an obvious companion. So what’s the deal with these two?....Nick’s not keen to explain. “We met at the Teen Awards last year and we’re doing it again this year. We’ve got the same sense of humour…” he says before tailing off. “He’s smart and we’re both northern, I dunno…”
Louis could take a few notes here. Instead of belittling what they have he starts to explain their compatibilities. There's definitely a caginess about some of his answers if you read the whole segment. And this is good:
[quote]His disarming smile gets bigger and the subject of Harry seems closed.
This is classic Grimshaw drawing the shutters. Why so coy, Grimmy?
But I think he handled this really well.
- R505 - I think Digitalspy is worse than here! Have you visited any of the appreciation threads on there? They are very scary places! And any thread on race or sexuality ends up being pulled with one or two people suspended. I just browse there every now and again, usually during X factor and SCD. And Downton - the Downton non-spoiler thread there is great!
R507 - Re Nick and Harry, I have a feeling we're going to see less and less of them together and more denial, downplaying and backtracking :( The press are now tiptoeing around the subject and with a new 1D album imminent (Harry needs to be seen as available to their teen fanbase; Gay/bi rumours won't help that) and Nick's new job (Harry bromance - good PR, Harry romance - not so good PR, maybe) they may both agree between them to be less visible for a period. Alternatively Harry may be linked with someone for longer than a week (Cara, Caroline again, an older woman in need of a career boost)
- R503, Likewise.
- R509 I don't do appreciation threads nor Big Brother ones which are really nasty. I go to the Strictly sub forum and the showbiz sub forum.
- R509, I totally hear what you're saying but sometimes I think Harry just doesn't care about demographic. But he is contracted no doubt into 2013 and likely beyond so like all of them he too will have to play by 'rules' he may not always find easy. I think Nick represents a sort of freedom from that stifle.
I did find Niall's (Nick interview) comment quite interesting. He said something about 'this is the last time we'll be doing this' or something, maybe in reference to iTunes but I dunno. They talked about 'endgame', in reference to One Direction's follow up album but 'endgame' is also a term used by the Larry shippers. Probably only coincidence and more likely with ref to the worry that album number two needed to live up to the first one. I wondered if they were perhaps hinting that this would be it for the group, that after this album and tour the job was done.
- He's a diva but he still has his moments.
Would you kick that out of bed?
- That audio recording of Zayn ordering the girls to hurry to the hotel room actually bothers me. He always seemed like the type that respected women having been raised in a family of girls. This talk about Harry having to wait for "booty" is despicable. Is it peer pressure that makes these boys get so desperate for sexual pleasure that they will resort to aggression and intimidation in order to have it at any cost? What the fuck, Zayn and Harry.
It's patriarchy, plain and simple. women as objects etc.
You do know his surname is Malik, right?
- [/quote]Is it peer pressure that makes these boys get so desperate for sexual pleasure that they will resort to aggression and intimidation in order to have it at any cost?
The girls were giving it back as good as they got it. The girls could've said no. These girls aren't victims or being coerced. They wanted to fuck as much as the boys did.
- this is cute, it's nice to see them looking happy. The shippers need to just let them be and stop shoving it in their faces. Maybe they would go back to the way they used to be, Louis just seems uncomfortable most of the time now.
- 514, he's a man whore basically. He's a teenager, he wants sex I don't really blame him he is getting girls thrown at him all the time.
- r516 - but what about his girlfriend Perry?
And those girls are just as bad. They want to be objectified and half a chance, they want to be rough handled in bed. Is it self loathing that makes the boys not want to seduce their sex partners properly?
- I think r514 was more referring to his tone towards them - like they were vagina delivery women running late with his order.
- [quote]That audio recording of Zayn ordering the girls to hurry to the hotel room actually bothers me. He always seemed like the type that respected women having been raised in a family of girls. This talk about Harry having to wait for "booty" is despicable. Is it peer pressure that makes these boys get so desperate for sexual pleasure that they will resort to aggression and intimidation in order to have it at any cost? What the fuck, Zayn and Harry.
How do you know it even is Zayn? 'Zayn' could be voiced by anyone and why is he louder and clearer over a cellphone than the girl on her rattly cell?
- On the nose, r520. I always pinpointed Zayn and Harry's appeal to be a sense of regarding THEMSELVES as the objects, like self worshipping cats.
There was a kind of desperation in Zayn's voice which unnerved me. I really did not think him and Harry would want to dominate or coerce anybody. I genuinely thought they didn't give a fuck if people wanted to have sex with them or not. I admired them so much for maintaining a kind of at home with themselves appeal.
This recording just changed everything!!!
- Wouldn't it be more sensible to wait and see if it does turn out to be Zayn procuring 'underage girls' rather than just assuming?
- His poor girlfriend :/
If he wants to go out being wild and free, hooking up with girls left and right, why have a girlfriend?
- its def zayn. It sounds like him, and they used their makeup artists name. I doubt they were underage though since they were driving.
- Should correct myself the term used during the interview was 'game over' not 'endgame'. Sorry about that.
Found this on tumblr. Observation last week pertaining to Nick and an X Gacktor contestant called Nicolo Festa. Harry Styles in special cameo appearance. Naturally.
[quote]Nicolo Festa was a contestant on the X Factor the same year as One Direction. He wasn’t very good and he got eliminated in the first round I think, but he was pretty funny? Idk I don’t remember him that well but he was good friends with Matt Cardle and Aiden Grimshaw while living in the house. Anyway, there was a rumour that he was dating Nick; I’m trying to find out where it originated, but this is all I can find right now. And yeah, the rumour could be false, but I don’t see why anyone would want to make something like that up, they really weren’t that famous. They used to tweet each other quite regularly, and then there’s that picture of Nick in Nicolo’s jumper, so yeah. Also, there was an audio post going around a little while ago where Aimee was talking about Grimmy trying to impress a certain X Factor loser and hurting his foot; that was probably about Nicolo. People seemed to think they were talking about Harry, but Aimee said Nick had to go to London Fashion Week on crutches; I just did a quick google search, and the pictures of him on crutches are all from February 2011, which was before he’d met Harry. Oh, and there’s that video from when Grimmy had Cher Lloyd on his show and he’s asking her which X Factor contestants she still talks to, and when he mentions Nicolo, the producer of the show starts laughing, so idk. Make of that what you will.................................................................................I actually have no idea when they broke up, but they seem pretty friendly still? Grimmy’s last tweet to Nicolo was apparently in December 2011, but for various reasons I really don’t think they were still together back then, they must have broken up a long time before that. Also, judging from his tweets, I think Nicolo went back to Italy to finish his studies. His tweet about Harry is a bit weird though? He hadn’t tweeted Grimmy in ages, up until about a week ago, when he tweeted him twice. And then two days ago he tweets saying that he wants to change his surname to Styles. Idk, it could mean anything, I’m not going to analyse it and turn it into something it probably isn’t.
- People stop speculating about Harry Styles and Nick Grimshaw.We will never going to find out.Nick is gonna be Harry's manager in the future and they will live happily ever after .Artists shouldn't make their duty to come out it's fucking private.Let them be.It's work not life..
I think Nick Grimshaw is very very smart - who knows he can be the new Simon Cowell / he's got this ability to spot new talents and people with IT factor as seen on his radio show.Harry is One.
i don't think there is anything else than mutual appreciation and respect,friendship and a bit of infatuation coming from Nick.
that is All we need to know.
I really hope Harry quits the band and decides to go solo.I would love to see him playing guitar and writing songs.I hold on a hope...Or maybe he and Zayn could form a group like Oasis..hehehe.No
Harry Styles is wickedly interesting and Nick knows it.
To end this i would say what i love about Harry Styles beside his looks and voice.
He never complains and he is very graceful.To me that is the blueprint of an arist.I really root for him
- 527, don't be shy, just call Harry Styles your personal saviour and be done with it. A lot of crazy and obsessed people here, cougars infatuated with a teenager. Nice.
- it looks like Nick was always interested in Harry Styles this twit dates from 26 Dec 10
I'll swap you jared leto's number for harry style's" HML
he just has an unrequited love syndrome or something like that.Greedy much?
- Hm, r529, to me it looks more like he's talking about somebody else wanting to get Harry's number from him, and offering him Jared Leto's in return. Not sure, though.
- i think he's got Jared's number they did an interview way back and they were very flirty and fond of each other... in the interview they stated the met plenty of times before .You should listen it's hilarious.iit's on soundcloud from what i remember
- harry magazine cover
- louis magazine cover
i really like his.
- I also find it bizarre that anyone still doubts that Zayn is a raging heterosexual.
And I havent even listened to the new tape. I'm just working on the unquestionable footage of him trying to sneak a girl past a handler in a hotel corridor. He quit twatter after that footage was released if I recall correctly.
No my fellow DLers, this boy is clearly very indiscreet. If he was hooking up with guys there would be plenty more evidence than just "the way he looks at his bandmate".
- R534, yes I think Zayn is bisexual.
- what a flaming straight boy
- At the risk of triggering a flame war, whats the evidence of Zayns alleged bisexuality??? Blind Items? The staged bromancing of bandmates? As careless as he is, why isnt there some independent evidence confirming this alleged bisexuality?
- Harry Styles is fiery on that cover..Sexy beast!Intense.Poised.Ahhhhhh.
I would fuck the shit out of him .Continuum.
- I don't think Zayn is bisexual. Where did that come from, R537?
- Couple of Grimmy/Harry updates for anyone interested...
Saw a couple of tweets:
A girl tweeted that H was gay and dating G. She tweeted she found this out from 'her agent's friend' who works with G.
Another girl tweeted H was going out with G. She tweeted she was told this by a friend who knew one of the producers that worked with G. When someone asked her what the proof was, she replied "it will be leaked V soon"
Both were based in London and not 1D fans by the look of it. Tweets might not mean anything but interesting all the same.
Also, this morning, Grimmy talked about going to a screening of a film this afternoon for an interview he is doing tomorrow. He said he was going with his producer.
Another media outlet (presumably there for the same reason) just tweeted that Grimmy was there watching with Harry.
Bet they're chuffed...
- R539: From a number of posts on this thread, including R535.
- L Girl, I never really bought into Larry - just a show bromance in my opinion. I am more inclined to accept the Harry - Grimmy relationship. Mainly because of tweets like you have listed by seemingly non fans commenting. Still not convinced though. I do think the mainstream media are starting to pick up on the unusual closeness of a gay man with the supposedly straight Harry. Interested to see how it plays out. As I said before I hope Grimmy lands himself a decent bloke soon if there is nothing more than being mates between him and Harry which is what I suspect.
- Thanks for that, L Girl. I saw the OmgYahoo mention of Harry/Grimmy seeing the Emma Watson film together but didn't realise Grimmy had earlier claimed he was going with his producer. Sadly I'm only able to listen to the Breakfast show from 6.30 till around 8, and not uninterrupted. At least I'm not staying up till 12 midnight like I did when he was in his old slot!
The bits of Grimmy's show I've caught thus far make it so very crystal clear that he's hopelessly in love with Harry. What Harry's feelings are towards Nick, and whether their relationship has been kept platonic depsite Nick's massive crush is what I'd like to know. Having said that, I hope if there's anything going on no-one outs them without their consent as in all honesty, half the fun is the speculation.
- i don't think they are banging but with Nick's determination i guess he's gonna make it happen.He is crazy about Harry and very focused on what he wants.
- r536 - Louis should go full tilt with the fey. He should loose the chavy tan and cut loose with the canned one-liners. He's brilliantly funny when he doesn't come off as so retentive. The interview with him on E was fucking great.
- I keep changing my mind with these two. For months I thought they were together from what I'd read and photos. Then recently thought it was N who was obsessed with his friend. I'm changing my thoughts again to there being something going on as surely H wouldn't spend so much time with just a friend.
- Meanwhile, someone's made a Harry/Nick fanvid. I's pretty cute actually.
- Gryles is the new Larry. I lost my faith completely.
- 545, he was on E?
- Yes. And not the network, r549. At least that was the consensus when the interview was fresh.
- I've been away from these threads for awhile so I'm just astonished by everything I am reading.
If Management is as invasive and controlling as Larry believers claimed why are they allowing Harry to put his rep on the line like this?
He is constantly hanging with an older openly gay man who gives curious answers to queries over their friendship and oh... neither of them is attached. This is what a glass closet looks like.
As for Louis, I'm happy to believe that he is an effete straight man. They do exist. Just as masculine acting gay men exist too, even if they are a minority.
- can u post the tweets
- I think that Harry is bi, and in love with Louis. I think that L+H fucked each other. Grimshaw is obviously in love with Harry.
Then, I have a few options in my head:
1) Louis made it very clear that he doesn't want to be in a relationship with him. So he decided to move on last year (when Louis fell in love with Eleanor), and started dating Grimshaw. But he is still in love with Louis.
2) L+H were in a secret relationship. (But for whatever reason, they broke up during the US tour.)
--> Harry started dating Grimshaw when he came back.
--> Harry and Louis are still circling around each other. Harry was looking for some affection when he came home, and he found that in Grimshaw. Friends-with-benefits.
--> Harry and Louis are still circling around each other, and Grimshaw is just a friend.
3) Forget all of the above. Harry is straight, Louis and Nick are his friends.
The thing is, why would Harry still make it so obvious that he is in love with Louis, if he believed that Louis is straight? That doesn't make sense. And it's not like he is trying to stop it. He was all over him in Germany last weekend. If there was nothing (to wait for), why would he do that? And why on earth would he do that if he is in a relationship with Grimshaw? Isn't he supposed to focus his attention on Grimshaw, then?
Sorry for my grammar, English is not my first language.
- I think Louis is a gay in denial.
- Does anyone knows anything about Harry and Aiden Grimshaw..there was definitely something very intense between them in the x FACTOR days/ tour
i heard some rumors that Harry broke his heart (i don't take it seriously) but in the video is this love he is holding an H necklace. Strange.The fact they are Not keeping in touch.in a interview Aiden said his ex doesn't answer his calls because he was a dick or something.His lyrics are all about indecision and heartbreak.Anyone?????
- Bloem, your post was nice.
r555 - hmmmm.
- Don't have a clue what chav is but if this is chav then fucking gimme some, I love it!!!
- Louis isn't a chav, he probably was when he was younger judging from old pics. He's the member I am most attracted to.
and rumor has it liam and danielle broke up which is pretty surprising.
- @ R558, people upthread were calling him a chav. Bitchesss pleeez... he's perf
@R553 Your post was great and I am in agreement, I feel along the lines of #2 except I think Harry & Grimmy have hooked up, and more than once :) But yes, Louis has never been completely out of the picture.
L Girl (and others), thank you for taking the time to post your morsels of gossip here... much appreciated!
I was also wondering... regarding Harry and they way it seems he is helping to promote Grimmy for his show... does Flack at all benefit (directly or indirectly) from the success or lack thereof of Grimmy's show?
- I read about Liam and Danielle early this morning and I didn't see that coming! They seemed really happy together, but the 1D boys are really young and Liam started dating her when was 17. She has been off twitter for 4 days which is unlike her, so it's probably true. It could well be a PR exercise to make more of them available pre-album 2, but I'd like to think Liam won't cooperate with crap like that.
R559, Flack has nothing to gain from Grimmy's show doing well or badly. She does a TV show on a rival broadcaster so there's no overlap really.
- From BBC Radio 1
From 8am to 6pm on Saturday 6th October each member of One Direction will present their very own Radio 1 show live from a top secret location. They’ll be picking tunes, giving shout-outs and maybe even making the tea.
Here’s the line-up:
• 8am to 10am - Gemma Cairney & Liam Payne
[bold]• 10am to 12pm – Nick Grimshaw & Harry Styles [/bold]
• 12pm to 2pm - Scott Mills & Zayn Malik
• 2pm to 4pm - Huw Stephens & Niall Horan
• 4pm to 6pm Greg James & Louis Tomlinson
- From BBC Radio 1
From 8am to 6pm on Saturday 6th October each member of One Direction will present their very own Radio 1 show live from a top secret location. They’ll be picking tunes, giving shout-outs and maybe even making the tea.
Here’s the line-up:
• 8am to 10am - Gemma Cairney & Liam Payne
[bold]• 10am to 12pm – Nick Grimshaw & Harry Styles [/bold]
• 12pm to 2pm - Scott Mills & Zayn Malik
• 2pm to 4pm - Huw Stephens & Niall Horan
• 4pm to 6pm Greg James & Louis Tomlinson
- Man, Grimmy really hates Louis, isn't it? It was obvious this morning on the radio. And I don't understand, if he is with Harry, why be unsecure about your relationship, why do you act like an immature brat live?
- R563 - That sort of thing is par for the course on Radio 1 Breakfast, and Grimmy has been rude about everyone in 1D at various points this year. That's what being the Breakfast show DJ is all about - they're not paid to arselick unlike their commercial counterparts.
In other news, we know Harry went to see Perks with Grimmy and Ian Chaloner yesterday, but Nick just said Harry couldn't stay till the end. Looks like he went over to Nick's later and got at least a cuddle off him :)
- Nick met up with Harry again later and went out for a meal from what he said about eating taramasalata
- Just remembered Grimmy talking about seeing popstars in videos and imagining kissing their soft lips or something similar. I wonder who was making him think about that?
- R563 I'm in the US so spill please, what did Grimmy say about Louis on his show?
- To be honest Grimmy's show this morning was filled with little hints about him and Harry. I'd almost have thought he was doing it on purpose were it not for the fact he was calling him "my friend" (it was only after Emma Watson tweeted about it that he had to concede it was Harry he'd been referring to).
One bit in particular that caught my attention when when he talked about not being able to sleep last night because he was "playfighting" with someone...
- I don't think grimmy hates louis. He defended him when someone called him the annoying one.
- When was this R569?
- I didn't hear it myself, but saw it on tumblr
Fearne Cotton just called Louis “The Annoying One”
Nick answered with “He’s not annoying, he’s full of energy which is good for the radio.
- His show sounds incredibly annoying. He spends it talking about hanging out with his teen bf? Wow! He gets paid to say that shit?
If I was Management, I would be very worried about him pulling Taylor Swift if theres a bitter falling out. Its not like Grimmy himself is closeted.
- r555 if you are open minded to the fact something may have been/be between them (and I am) Aiden's lyrics make for interesting reading ;)
"you are staring at the rainbow but your eyes are colour blind"
- grimmy name drops everyone. i honestly don't think harry and him are together and they're just friends.
- This thread will probably be full by the end of the day.
Can anyone that is a paid up member of the site start a new thread when it's nearly full?
(I think a lot of us on here are not and therefore unable to)
Thanks very much.
- They have got to be more than friends, seeing a film in the afternoon, later having a meal out and then later in his own words when he was trying to sleep, playfighting and getting him excited again.
Also read the omgyahoo mention about the film and something about the film and it said "Yes, finally we have beared witness to the actual curls and yes, they are as bouncy as you would imagine.
As are Nick and Harry's little feet which didn't stop shuffling around throughout the film."
- Harry and Grimmy were/are at minimum, friends with benefits. Grimmy talked on air in September 2011 that he had gotten to second base with Harry Styles (then 17) and that was before Harry was documented spending 24/7 with him. Harry has been constantly photographed with Grimmy, spending the night at his house, wearing matching outfits, etc. for almost a year. Harry sits on his lap, holds his hand walking down the street, etc
Nick has also on many occasion implied all kinds of sexual things going on between him and Harry, as well as Harry with many others. I think there was a tweet implying that Harry let's himself be used by almost anyone and that he is wild at parties. There are photos of Harry smoking and some say he was caught with drugs. Most feel that Grimmy has outed Harry on air on many occasions but people just say he was joking because they don't want to give up their image of Harry
Nick said that Harry is hardcore and wilder than him is. Nick who by all accounts takes drugs and hooks up in bathrooms with strangers.
Harry also has some kind of COMPLICATED relationship with Louis Tomlinson. Most agree that when Louis and Harry are in the same room they gravitate towards each other like magnets and shut almost everyone else out.
The One Direction interview with Grimmy at the itunes festival last week was interesting. Louis wasn't happy and this was the first time Harry's attention wasn't mostly focused on Louis. Harry seemed to be trying to please Grimmy, although he did look a Louis a few times. Naill lost it and laughed his head off at the tense situation.
Events of the last month suggest that Louis and Harry had a major falling out in August.
Falling out has to be tempered because by all accounts Louis is caught in Harry Style's web and doesn't even try to get out. Even when Louis is mad at Harry, he won't try to hurt him or shut him out. Louis is Harry's caregiver at ALL times. Most think that Louis and Harry still live together and probably always have. There is a song by Example that many think Harry Styles wrote the lyric to about hurting his love.
Harry and Louis made up when they went to LA for the MTV VMA's. Then last week had a huge fight which caused Louis to go crazy on twitter. They made up last Thursday at the itunes festival. Most think that Louis agreed to whatever Harry wanted because Harry smiles like the sun in Louis' presence currently.
We are also getting the first photos of them together in the same place, sitting next to each other, etc...in a very long time.
Louis has been through something these last few weeks. He used to look and act like Peter Pan only 2 months ago. Now, all of our current views of him are that he went through a war and is no longer a child. He has been sitting very still and being very quiet when before, many probably thought he was ADHD at times.
Grimmy's started hosting the Breakfast show on Monday and already people are commenting on how often and intimately he mentions Harry Styles. Far more then they think someone who is only a BFF would mention him. He references him like someone would a spouse. Also, people are saying that he used his relationship with Harry to get the job since it's likely Harry will be a frequent guest as he was on Grimmy's nightime show
People think there is drama between Louis and Grimmy. Louis was supposed to be interviewed on the Breakfast show today but wasn't. Those who tuned in weren't told the reason why. In August, Louis and Grimmy were civil to each other during an interview. I wonder if things have changed or if people are reading more into things then there is.
On Monday when Harry called into the Breakfast show, he was clearly distracted. Nick implied that he was occupied with someone else at the time having anal sex. Nick kept saying that his finger had slipped. Although,he was referencing playing an incorrect song before he played One Direction's new single.
So the current situation seems to be that Harry and Louis are back together as boyfriends, even though Harry is still spending lots of time with Grims
- R578/Green - I'm sorry to say this, but your post is a load of nonsense and potentially libellous. You have thrown around accusations with no evidence whatsoever to back them up - I don't even know where to start!
- R578 Thank you for the complete conjecture, put across as fact. Unless you spend a great deal of time in their presence, I can't quite see how you could know some of those quite intimate details; details which, with all due respect, sound a little fantastical. Very much like an episode of Eastenders or Corrie.
I haven't had a chance to listen to the whole show yet (I start work at half eight), but I'll be interested to hear about the cinema trip.
One last point; Nick Grimshaw did not get the radio gig because of Harry Styles. He's friends with far cooler people who would give him more credibility to name drop - Kate Moss or Jamie Hince to name two. Also, even having Harry Styles as your mate and phoning him/having him as a guest every so often wouldn't save you if you were a shit DJ.
Grimmy has covered day time shifts before; his late night show is popular; he has an irreverent, friendly and humourous styles which, given time, will develop and people will respond to. It was bound to be a rocky start; Moyles has been on that show for eight years and has a hardcore following, even if they're not the target audience. And it's not just their age; it's their taste. Very FHM/Nuts crowd.
I personally think Grimmy's a great change and I've enjoyed the last three shows waking up in the morning. I would very rarely tune in to Moyles, mainly because of the lack of music.
He will have to be careful he doesn't turn it into the Grimmy ft. One Direction show; but they're his record of the week, he has an interview with one of them each day (contrary to the rumours going around, he never confirmed the order they would be interviewed in, he merely asked Harry's opinion and reeled it off; in reality, their management team will be deciding who's free or best to talk to when. Fincham sorts out the actual calling anyway.) and after this I think it will calm down.
He mentions Harry most frequently only as "my friend"; and even then, there will be occasions when he's not actually referring to Harry, who is not his only friend, but fans will want to believe he is. This is the same for the moniker "pop star", which he seems to use frequently to describe most singers he knows.
I absolutely hate Fearne Cotton, she thinks she's so bloody likable, but she's an absolute snob about music (she likes, after all, the coolest band in the WORLD Mumford and Sons ...).
Greg James has now tweeted Louis saying about the radio thing. There seems to be now ill-will, but who knows. I doubt Nick hung up on Greg; it would be very unprofessional and stupid in his first week. And I don't think he's either. He's wanted this job for a long time; he's not going to jeopardise it just to get a dig in at Louis Tomlinson (if indeed that's even his aim, which I highly doubt). His sarcastic comment about "he seems thrilled" (which I must say I have yet to hear) sounds like just that; a sarcastic joke he maybe thought would come across better.
On the other hand maybe he and Louis are at war over Harry's affections, while Harry plays them off against each other, but is secretly always going to be deeply in love with Louis while Grimmy is just a bit of fun on a rainy day. Oh, and apparently is going to become Harry's beard, just like Eleanor is Louis's. That sounds far more plausible.
- The Fangurl in me loves your post Green. Love triangles with plenty of angst - love it.
But the adult in me wonders how much we can possibly know so much about people we dont live with. How could anyone know about break-ups & make-ups based on minutes of footage spread over many months?
I maintain that Grimmy needs to shut his trap about Harry (& the rest of his famous pals). Its tacky as hell.
- r581 - I'm with you. I want more from Green, with the reasons Green believes what Green is typing.
- I think Harry and Nick make a very funny couple, they complement each other nicely. I am happy Harry isn't with Louis, as I always said they don't look good together. However I find Louis and Liam's friendship very hot. It was reported they were inseparable at Itunes festival (I saw the videos, they smiled and looked at each other constantly) and in Germany. People at the hotel in Germany said they were all over each other. I want to see how this will play out especially now that Liam aparently split with his girlfriend. Liam always had a big crush on Louis. Their almost kiss in Australia in April is the hottest thing I've seen. It is a classic. Watch Louis's reaction and Liam's guilty look at 0:35. I cannot wait to see them in concerts and interviews.
- Lilo is a great pairing.
- Regarding Nick mentioning Harry all the time - he really can't help it as he obviously adores him and spends a lot of time with him. If he just liked Harry from afar he could get away with it more, like he did in his earlier T4 days when he had a crush on Zac Efron. On an average show he'd talk about his crush (e.g. Zac) something he did with a close friend he sees all the time (e.g. "alcoholic" Gells) or family, and then a famous-friend anecdote or two (e.g. Alexa, Mark "Rhonda" Ronson). Harry ticks all 3 boxes now and it must be really really hard for Grimmy to reign in the Harry/Harold mentions. I think he will next week after the 1D promotion, but there'll be the Radio 1 takeover, the teen awards and then their album push...
I don't mind the mentions at all as I adore both parties, but I think others will start to find it a bit much. That's what I miss about his late evening show - he could get away with anything (within reason), including Harry hanging out in the station night after night. He's got a much bigger (and more critical) audience now,
Links - I'm glad there's someone else who can't bear Fearne! I disliked her when she did the chart show with Reggie. For someone presenting a show which by its very description is going to be varied and mainstream, her music snobbery was grating. I remember her championing Bon Iver when they were starting out, and she put me off them completely with her "they're the only thing worth listening to in the entire top 40" sneer.
- A lot of people have mentioned the theory that Grimmy has a massive crush on Harry but that it's not necessarily reciprocated?
I don't disagree with the 'Grimmy has a crush part' but find it hard to believe a straight 18 yo would spend nearly all his spare time (or so it seems) with a gay guy clearly infatuated him if there wasn't something on both sides?
R585, I don't suppose you could sign off your posts going forwards? (makes it easier to see who you're talking to!)
- R583, you're getting dangerously close to the exact same territory that Larry shippers have been called out over on plenty of occasions on this thread! If you slowed the gif down it would no doubt look like an epic LiLo romance, right?!
That was not a nearly kiss, though I admit I think Lou and Liam would make a good couple because the dynamic seems less fraught. In a similar way, Harry's dynamic with Nick is much less fraught than when he is under the spotlight with Louis.
Someone said further back that Louis should ditch the straight mofo image and just let his inner rainbow child run free and I agree. I wonder if his sour demeanour of late has had anything to do with his natural fruit being reined back? He is quite the comic when let loose and I always thought he'd do better in acting than music. I hope there's a standup gig for him after One Direction finishes.
There was a lot of Gryles today and the fangurls are loving it. I personally think the deal here is really simple, and that's to get Harry out, step by step, be it with Nick, as a partner, and let people just join the dots in their own time, whilst layering other elements of the fandom with innuendo about cougars/Natalie Imbruglia/Cara, etc (hence keeping everyone happy) and again I hazard a guess that perhaps someone has had a word with their managaement and said enough is enough and they'd like a bit more freedom since we've made you all this lovely money?
One Direction are basically Modest's main/only trump card, in a world of disgruntlement. I'll let others work that out. It may or may not be relevant.
Just speculation on my part but I cannot see One Direction going on beyond this tour. And I can't see them wanting to, because I don't think (at least) some of them would be able to exist in a routine boyband for years. And that's perfectly logical. As we speak a new clone UK One Direction is already in the offing. One of them even dresses exactly like Louis.
So, Nick quote today re: Harry. He said something along the lines of 'I'm not his protector, he knows more than me...blah blah' and I thought that was genius because it was as if he was saying 'that's not why we're friends'. Like, I didn't come into this to babysit someone who's already been round the world and knows the ropes.
L Girl and Links, your comments are always welcome and interesting. L Girl, please could you expand on a previous post where you stated some girl friend of Harry's family made some tweets about him? TIA.
- [quote]and that's to get Harry out, step by step, be it with Nick, as a partner, and let people just join the dots in their own time,
Should have said (but went off on one) 'or on his own'.
I just get a sense that for these last few months Harry in particular is not only branching away from One D on some level but is also steering his own destiny a bit more as regards his personal choices? Could be wrong but I def get the vibe that he could be quite independent of all of this.
Nick offered him a job at Radio One and he just said there and then he'd do it. And though it was all in fun I think he would.
- [quote]Both were based in London and not 1D fans by the look of it. Tweets might not mean anything but interesting all the same.
How recent were these?
- R587, I saw a tweet from a girl (twitter is sooo good for gossip lol!) who seems to know (based on their conversations) a women who appears to be very close friends with H's mum (I don't think the girl know's H of his family though)
She tweeted about the Lucy Horribin story a few hours before it was released (presuming others knew about it) and also tweeted info that wasn't reported (the DJ got the sack for the affair)
This implied (at least to me) that she has 'insider' type gossip.
She then tweeted a couple of months back something along the lines..
"NG is my favourite person ever, accept when he is corrupting boyband members I fancy"
Her friend retweeted this and the girl simply responded back...
"I'll never get over it"
That she was referring to an 'involvement' between the two is all speculation on my part.
However, the fact the girl in question knew the Lucy H gossip before it was 'out there', has links with a friend of the family and wrote the tweets re N&G quite cryptically suggested to me that they might mean something?
Of course they may not mean anything.
- Anyone interested in starting a new thread btw?
- R589, This week.
- A nice bit of Zayn and his wandering Harry hand from Germany this week:
- Grimmy is kind of sexy.
- Thanks L Girl, you're a gem.
- New thread here, ladies and gents.
- L Girl: good idea re signing off. I'm not at all used to forums like this where every post is anon! I'll sign off as NW3 :)
- I've read through this entire thread because I came across it on tumblr. I. All for ships in fandoms, it's fun, it's hillarious and its nice to pretend. But it's entirely another thing to do what your doing. YOUR INSANE. Just because harry wears his emotions on his sleeve doesn't mean he's gay. He gets attached to his friends, and follows them around because he's sweet and that's what he does. How can you sit there and say "I know for sure harry is gay or bi" you honestly have no idea whatsoever. It's like if you went to school and every day of your life someone told you that you were gay. And you weren't but they said it over and over and over. How do you think harry feels having people like you sitting at home and analysing his friendships with people to the very last detail. Harry made it ovbious he likes girls, and if anything he's one of the boys that would just say exactly how he felt and not let management stop him. He's done it before, whereas Louis quite clearly hides things because they tell him too. He's closeto grimmy and yes grimmy is gay but so what? If harry was close to a girl this wouldn't exist, you wouldn't be speculating. It's almost like you want him to be gay because you think that's "cool". Harry doesn't flirt with guys, he doesn't stare at them like Louis does, or anything. I've even seen posts on here saying you think Zayn and Niall are gay. Are you serious? Let them live their lives and stop writing out what YOU want to happen.
Finally I want to say again about grimmy. You say that because they stay at each others houses, share clothes, go to party's together that they must have a "thing" lots of guys do this, it's not uncommon in the slightest and your blowing it so fucking out of preportion. For example harry used a gender neutral word and everyone jumped on it and went "OMG HARRY AND GRIMMY ARE SHAGGING" please, save yourselves the embarrassment and save harry from getting hurt by your constant telling he's gay and just stop.
Get some perspective. You're probably outraged because you want to fuck one or more of them, and if they were gay, the possibility of doing so would be gone.
Just like many of the guys posting on this thread want to fuck them, hence the gay speculation.
- Can I say I agree with the last anon they have a point can we all just accept that nick probably has a crush on harry but its not felt by harry? And stop forcing harry to be gay, don't say you "know" he is when you don't x |
Friday, 27 November 2009
Everbody Needs An Education
Today I'll show you some lovely images from the delightful new film, An Education. Set in the early 60's, the story is set around sixteen year old Jenny, played by promising new comer Carey Mulligan. Jenny is interested in good books, music and all things French, yet her parents are pushing her towards Oxford. She is bored beyond belief until and a handsome - and much older! - suitor comes along, and her life is turned upside down... but I shan't spoil it for you! My personal highlight of the film was the Parisian sequence, which reminded me of a cross between A Bout De Souffle and Funny Face... wonderful, non?
Aside from an intriguing coming of age story, a witty script written by the excellent Nick Hornby and some Lula magazine-worthy imagery, it features some absoloutely beautiful costumes. Jenny transforms from a pretty school girl to an Audrey Hepburn-esque stunner before our very eyes, in brocade shift dresses and chic up-do's courtesy of the equally well-dressed, loveably dim-witted Helen. It's not just the girls, either; the gents are equally dressed to the nines. Anyway, I hope you are inspired to go and see this film, it is well worth the hype it is recieving, not just from yours truly but everyone coming out the cinema! Enjoy. |
Bee Movie Game Review
What is the deal with these licensed movie games?
Activision's Bee Movie Game, based on the Jerry Seinfeld-fronted animated feature that's currently inching out of theaters, is better than expected. There were just too many opportunities to turn this game about the plight of Barry B. Benson into a rote 3D platformer with some honey-collecting scavenger hunts, so it is to developer Smart Bomb's credit that the Bee Movie Game actually pushes out the expectations of a licensed kid's movie game. That's not to say that the Bee Movie Game is a resounding success, because there are a few hitches and hiccups in the Wii edition of the game that will likely frustrate the target audience.
When the Bee Movie Game opens, Barry is recounting his life's experience to the reporter Jeanette Chung. Chronicling his life prior to the adventure depicted in the movie, Barry humbly discusses his roots in a series of small vignettes that employ a nice sense of humor. These cutscenes are not the kind you pound on the A button to skip through. Cutscenes that use in-game models actually look quite good and are a stark contrast to the scenes sliced from the movie itself, which are garishly compressed and ruined with terrible color. Seriously, check out the skin tone on some of the humans -- especially Vanessa, the woman Barry develops a, er, relationship with. Does she have jaundice?
After the set-up, we're dropped into Barry relatively banal life in New Hive City. Since this is before his legal crusade against humanity's honey thievery, Barry must earn a living by performing a collection of odd jobs. New Hive City is a decently bustling metropolis, full of bees just going about their daily routines. Barry must earn honey in the city in order to buy flight licenses that let him leave the hive (and thusly go on to the story-driven missions). To pocket some of the sweet stuff, Barry visits a job terminal inside New Hive City to accept gigs such as a factory worker, delivery boy, or cab driver. He can also race other bees.
New Hive City is hardly Liberty City, but there are some much-appreciated sandbox elements. Kids will enjoy just exploring the city and trying out these jobs. The taxi driving missions get progressively longer, as Barry zips around the downtown area taking bees to local sights, such as the Queen Bee statue or the movie theater. At the Honex factory, Barry enlists in simple tasks like collecting honey in buckets or operating a crane. These mini-games use the Wii Remote in very basic ways. Perhaps that's great for the six-year-old in your house, but slightly older gamers might be turned off by such simplistic mechanics as turning the Wii Remote to move a bucket or direct a crane.
In one of the more quizzical design decisions, Barry explores New Hive City in a car -- despite having his species preferred mode of transportation sprouting right out of his back. Driving controls are simple; it's mapped to the nunchuk with C and Z used for gas and brake. While exploring the city, players will find lots of things to gawk at, including an arcade full off classics that have been re-imagined for bees, such as Frogger and Space Invaders. This is a nice addition, even if the quality of the arcade games is mixed.
But if players want to leave the hive, Barry must fall in with the Pollen Jockeys. These high-flying bees are the hive's pollen collectors, responsible for bringing back the goods to produce honey as well as defend the hive from encroachers, such as dragonflies and wasps. When Barry leaves the hive, players enter into two different types of story missions. The better of the two is the interactive cinema, which plays out much like those classic arcade gems, Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. The free-flight sequences stumble thanks to overly complex controls that will quickly frustrate any game, young or old.
While outside the hive, Barry experiences the full brunt of the absolute rat race of a modern city. Barry must weave in and out of traffic, avoid trouble with humans, and in one of the game's most clever sequences, survive a tennis game. In these scenes, Barry is controlled by moving the Wii Remote and pressing buttons as directed on-screen. As Barry approaches a bus, for example, the player must direct the Wii Remote down to duck under it. But when Barry comes out in front of it, you must jam on the A button to keep him from getting sucked into the front grille. There are also moments where you must point at specific spots on the screen and press A to dodge an incoming danger or attack a target, such as a stock worker trafficking in stolen honey.
These scenes look great. They flow smoothly, filling the screen with a brilliant flurry of colors. The situations Barry gets into in these interactive cinemas are entertaining and players will want to play each of them a couple times to really see everything, especially since you spend most of the first run through just frantically looking for the on-screen prompts.
Where Bee Movie stumbles is when you have complete control over Barry. The controls scheme here is unnecessarily complex and the lock-on system does it no favors. In the wild, Barry must pollinate flowers while looking out for incoming enemies, such as those aforementioned wasps. To pollinate flowers, Barry must zoom up to a healthy flower, lock on to it, and extract the pollen by holding down the A button while pointing the Wii Remote at the bloom. After filling up his pollen gun, Barry then searches out withering flowers and douses them with pollen. When fully revived, a flower dispenses oodles of honey drops. Locking on to these flowers is iffy. Very often, Barry will lock on to a different flower or one behind the screen flower dominating the screen.
When battling other insects, Barry uses his pollen gun as a weapon. Using the nunchuk to accelerate toward trouble, players point at enemies and unload with the A button. Aim really seems to be loose. Just pointing in the general direction of a marauding dragonfly and jamming on A usually does the trick. In some garden scenes, Barry can use the environment to escape danger or defeat enemy bugs. When nearing a spider web, shake the nunchuk to send Barry speeding through it. The bug in pursuit gets caught up in the web and is consumed by a giant spider (off-screen, mercifully). Be sure to shake that nunchuk at a good distance, because if Barry gets too close -- and it's difficult to judge space in these 3D scenes -- he get caught in the web and must shake free.
Another menace in these free-flight sequences is rain. Barry cannot withstand many direct hits from rain droplets, so players must carefully chart routes in a drizzle. After zipping through the rain, Barry can rest under an awning, umbrella, or bench to recover any lost vitality. Barry does have a secret weapon to use against the rain, though: Bullet time. By pressing the d-pad, Barry slows time for a few seconds, allowing the player to dash around the droplets while seeking cover. After bullet time runs out, Barry must wait several seconds before using it again. Also useful for avoiding rainn damage -- wind gusts that rips Barry through the droplets.
The Bee Movie Game does a decent job using the Wii Remote and nunchuk combo; there is lots of shaking, pointing, and gesturing. Nothing here is necessarily revolutionary, though. Need to buzz in the face of a human to make them back off? Point Barry into the center of the screen and then shake wildly to buzz-buzz. This is only marginally better than just jamming on a button. Smart Bomb also does a solid job creating a busy, colorful game that really looks alive -- save for those awful, compressed movie scenes. This is one of the nicer-looking Wii games of the season.
The younger gamer in your home will likely get a kick or two out of the Bee Movie Game, especially the New Hive City exploration and the interactive flying cinemas. (In fact, older gamers might even want to hijack the Wii Remote for those, too.) There is a lot to see and do in here, from story missions to mini-games to races. This holiday season is getting crowded with quick cash-in games for the Wii, but Bee Movie deserves to stand out from the filler. |
Hot Docs 20 announces festival programming, opening night film
The Hot Docs documentary film festival is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year–from April 25 through May 4–and from what was unveiled at this week’s press conference at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema (a wonderfully restored movie house that is one of the only cinemas solely dedicated to documentary films in North America) the organizers and programmers have decided to make it a spectacular one.
A total of 205 films will be screened from 43 countries–45 titles from Canada–spread over 11 different programs and the first order of business at the presser was to announce the opening night film, Shawney Cohen’s The Manor, which is a deeply personal film about Shawney Cohen’s family life over the past three decades. Three decades ago Shawney’s dad bought a strip club in Guelph, Ontario and the film is about life in a family whose business is a strip joint (Shawney is a filmmaker slash strip club manager to this day).
From the International Spectrum program scenes were presented from an ultra stylish doc depicting a young kid who is trying to join the notorious and unique street gang that terrorizes the streets of Baltimore called the 12 O’clock Boys, the gangsters roar around the city streets on dirt bikes and ATVs openly taunting and accosting the police who are trying to coral them. From the program known as Rule Breakers and Innovators Simon Klose’s fascinating film Tpb Afk: The Pirate Bay Away From The Keyboard–which details the epic battle with Hollywood waged by the co-founders of the world’s biggest file sharing sites.
The Canadian Spectrum program is also particularly strong this year with a couple highlights being the hard hitting and compassionate film NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, which is John Kastner’s film dealing with the rights of the mentally ill who commit crimes weighed against the protection of their potential victims. And, on a much lighter note–Oil Sands Karaoke, about a group of singers who double as oil sands workers in Alberta, or are they oil sands workers who double as singers?
What has also distinguished Hot Docs around the world as one of the leading documentary film festivals is the number of filmmakers, industry professionals and special guests who make appearances and give talks designed to raise the enthusiasm level and the passion for not only documentary filmmaking but seeking out documentaries when they are playing in cinemas and supporting them. To this end one of the big Hot Docs sponsors, Scotiabank, is backing a series called Big Ideas.
Scotiabank’s VP of Sponsorship and Partnership Programs, Jackie Ryan, was on hand to announce from special films and the special guests attending to support them. Fight Like Soldiers, Die Like Children follows Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire as he returns to Rwanda where he has remained committed to helping decades since the horrible times in 1993 when he was UN Forces Commander there. Romeo Dallaire and filmmaker Patrick Reed will be at the festival discussing the film and General Dallaire’s work with war-affected children in Africa.
Anita is a dramatic film about the life of Anita Hill whose life was drastically affected by her testimony at a Senate confirmation hearing regarding a Supreme Court justice whom she was involved with. Hill went on to become a best selling author and professor of women’s studies and social policy at Brandeis University. Anita Hill will also attend the festival with filmmaker Freida Mock.
A particularly delicious announcement involved a special 20th anniversary screening of a film that revolutionized documentary filmmaking and the way docs were perceived twenty years ago–the Oscar winning documentary The War Room (about the campaign to get Bill Clinton elected to his first term) that will be held as a big outdoor screening on the grounds of the University of Toronto. Filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker will be at Hot Docs for the screening and a forum to discuss how his film changed the feature documentary landscape and what the future might hold for documentary feature filmmaking.
Hot Docs has become a world renowned documentary festival through the hard work and determination of a group of people who have done it without the attached glamour of Hollywood that has so significantly benefited and bolstered TIFF–for that they are to be soundly congratulated as the service provided by Hot Docs to filmmakers and film goers is invaluable. Hot Docs highlights films and filmmakers who do what they do for all the right reasons–passion, commitment, heart, curiosity, desire–and the stories shared by them can be found here at Hot Docs and very few other places. That is also something that Hot Docs has been venturing to change as well with ever-increasing success. |
Site created 12/15/97.
review added: 4/9/01
Triumph of the
Edition - 1934 (2001) - The Film Preserve (Synapse Films)
review by Brad Pilcher of
The Digital Bits
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras):
Specs and Features
120 mins, NR, full frame (1.33:1), B&W, single-sided, RSDL
dual-layered (layer switch at 1:05:14, in chapter 14), Amaray keep
case packaging, film-themed menu screens, audio commentary by Dr.
Anthony Santoro, Professor of History, Leni Riefenstahl's short
documentary Days of Freedom,
scene access (18 chapters), languages: German (Mono) subtitles:
that I was talented." - Leni Riefenstahl
Triumph of the Will is just
one of those movies. You know the ones... the kind where the quality
is so superb and memorable, and yet they're still dwarfed by the
power of the story behind them. In this case, the immense talent of
Leni Riefenstahl is put on display in a film that utilized a huge
crew and tremendously elaborate camera set-ups. Even cameramen on
rollerskates were used, which only illuminates the inventiveness and
experimentation of Riefenstahl. In the end, she edited sixty-one
hours of footage into two, and put out what is easily the finest
documentary/propaganda hybrid film of all time.
The problem for Riefenstahl is that this film was made for and
about the Nazis, specifically their 1934 Nazi Party Convention in
Nuremberg. That she made several other films for Hitler, who
personally selected her after viewing her 1931 release,
The Blue Light, certainly
hasn't helped her cause. So despite her enormous talent for
filmmaking, "Hitler's Favorite Actress" has never been
able to shake her Nazi-connections and was effectively blacklisted
following World War II.
To be sure, the degree and nature of sympathy Riefenstahl had for
the Nazi party is a question of some debate. She has made numerous
efforts to distance herself from the Nazi ideology, if only out of
professional necessity, but has remained unrepentant for the films
she made. The whole controversy is as interesting as any of her
films, but it's had one indelible effect. Documentary filmmaking has
forever been changed by Triumph of the
Will. Riefenstahl's fusion of propaganda with documentary
techniques has skewed the assumption of objectivity afforded the
Getting back to the film itself, the documentary opens with Hitler
flying into Nuremberg for a week of events. These are made up mostly
of marches and speeches by various officials, which makes sense
given that this was designed to both introduce the new Nazi
leadership to the people of Germany and also to pump those people up
with displays of national unity. It probably did both very well for
the ten years it ran in Germany, but to say it gets repetitive would
be an understatement. Two hours of saluting crowds, marching
uniformed Nazis and Hitler's ranting can grate on the nerves, and I
can resolutely say that I find the subject material boring as well
However, the structure and style of this film is as mesmerizing as
Hitler's speeches were to the Germans of his time. Riefenstahl's
cinematography is stellar, to say the least. From religious
iconography, such as Hitler's cross-shaped plane shadowing the
ground and the halo of light around him, to the early shot of a
night rally through a sheer Nazi flag, the movie is still visually
amazing some 67 years later. It set new standards for documentary
cinema when it was first released. As a film student, or someone who
appreciates film in general, you simply can't escape the talent
involved in the creation of Triumph of
the Will. The saddest part of all of this, is that
Riefenstahl's gift has never been fully appreciated due to the sheer
depravity of her subject material.
So let us all thank Synapse for bringing this film to DVD. Almost
70 years after its original release, and with the knowledge that
history has not been kind to this print, we have a stunningly
high-quality piece of video here. Of course, there are still source
defects - some grain and even water damage here and there. But you
can't expect a black-and-white film of this age to be pristine.
Culled from a master negative held by the Robert A. Harris' Film
Preserve, Triumph of the Will
just looks great on DVD and, given the film's artistic and
historical value alone, this is a blessing. The image is relatively
crisp, with solid blacks (as solid as they get considering the age
and period of the print) and surprising depth. I've seen many "classic"
films and, on DVD, they've all looked wonderful. But here I can go
beyond the customary, "it looks better than it ever has."
It looks damn good.
It also sounds good too, considering that this is a mono track from
an era when recording technology introduced plenty of quibbles, pops
and snaps to the audio. The speeches are powerful in their force -
surprisingly so. The musical score, an element of her films for
which Riefenstahl is famous, comes through nicely as well. Even
background noises like the cheering crowds are pretty distinct, all
things considered. Overlook the audio defects that remain, as
they're simply unavoidable after this much time, and focus on the
relative clarity here. It's simply impressive.
Even the extras here leave you feeling satisfied. Right up front,
it's important to note that much more could have been done here
considering the history of this film. How cool would it have been to
get the documentary on Riefenstahl The
Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl with this?
That said, I'm not going to bash Synapse for not seeking out more
supplemental material (especially since Kino has the rights to that
documentary). What they have included is top-notch. First of all,
you get Riefenstahl's short film Days of
Freedom, which runs about 17 minutes. It can be said that
this is nowhere near as good as Triumph
of the Will. Still, it serves as a further exploration of
Riefenstahl's style, and is referenced in the commentary track. It
turns out that this film, which documents the German armed forces,
was only made because they wouldn't stop whining about getting short
shrift in Triumph.
The other major bonus item is, in fact, the commentary track, which
really shines and makes this DVD worthwhile. Featuring a professor
of history, Anthony Santoro, it starts out as a sort of
play-by-play, with no allusions as to the real opinions of our Ph.D.
Then, as we reach a portion where various Nazi officials are shown
in snippets, Santoro starts ripping in with how much he thinks these
guys are garbage. We learn about the pornography of one guy, the
person who should've been executed (according to Santoro) but offed
himself before they could try him, etc. The shift sort of throws you
at first, but then you just smile at the genius of this commentary.
It's full of information, and Santoro's even, nonchalant delivery
makes the opinionated zingers all the better. Watching this film
without the commentary can be tough, but I sat happily through the
whole two hours of Santoro.
Given the subject nature of this film, I feel like I have to put my
own opinions (zinger-less though they may be) in here before I
close. Hitler was a major league bunghole... but he sure knew how to
pick his filmmakers. Riefenstahl displayed tremendous ability here -
ability that forever redefined the documentary form and set a new
standard for filmed propaganda. If you look past the vile nature of
this material, you'll find a rock-solid and important DVD. It's
absolutely worth a look. |
The Cinema Society with Dior & Vanity Fair held a screening of ‘Rust and Bone’ at Landmark Sunshine Cinema in New York City yesterday evening.
Marion Cotillard was of course in attendance, wearing yet another look from the Christian Dior Spring 2013 collection… yep, that’s four looks now.
On this occasion she wore a cape-like sheer shimmering dress with black web-like sequin embellishments.
While I like the idea behind the look, it’s too shapeless for my personal tastes. I would’ve been tempted to belt it, but that would ruin the trailing effect at the back.
Allowing her natural beauty to shine through, the French actress opted for minimal makeup and a high, tight bun.
Dior pointy black patent pumps completed her look.
Credit: Style.com & Getty
MORE FROM RED CARPET FASHION AWARDS:
Posted by Catherine Kallon on November 9th, 2012 In: |
Michael Fassbender - Michael Fassbender's Nudity 'Stir'
Director Steve McQueen does not believe any comment would be made if Michael Fassbender's nude scene in 'Shame' was played by a woman.
Michael Fassbender's nudity in 'Shame' would not be commented on if it was played by a woman, the film's director claims.
Steve McQueen, who has previously worked with the Irish-German actor on film 'Hunger', does not believe the short shot of him completely naked is a big deal, and thinks too much pressure is placed on men in modern society.
He said: "Just having Michael walk naked round a corner onscreen causes a stir. If it had been a woman, no one would say anything.
"I think 'Shame' is about what it is to be a man now. It's about all of us. I want the cinema to be like a mirror that reflects us. So people see this guy isn't a freak. He's one of us. It's difficult, being a bloke."
He also believes Michael - who won Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival for his portrayal of sex addict Brandon in the movie - was perfect for the role because he combines both the masculine and feminine.
Steve added to Esquire magazine: "He's a man's man, but there's a vulnerability to him, a femininity, that can be very beautiful. I don't think a lot of actors could have played Brandon." |
An artifact from The MacGuffin Library (02008) by Noam Toran and Onkar Kular
Image via Electric Sheep Magazine
Image via Electric Sheep Magazine
Legendary suspense film director Alfred Hitchcock famously used the term "MacGuffin" to denote the object in a movie narrative which would drive the plot forward: "In crook stories it is almost always the necklace and in spy stories it is most always the papers." The MacGuffin, in other words, is a sort of embodied pretext, however flimsy, for the conflicts and other relations between characters, which is where the true dramatic potential resides.
Artists Noam Toran and Onkar Kular have recently run with this concept in an interesting direction by setting up a library of MacGuffins from hypothetical films, as part of an exhibition called Wouldn't it be Nice... Wishful Thinking in Art and Design, at central London cultural venue Somerset House.
Toran's website explains:
The MacGuffin Library proposes the foundations for a library of MacGuffins, produced by first authoring a series of film synopsis' [sic] which are used to inform a collection of objects to be designed, manufactured and catalogued. The film plots address themes stemming from a disparate range of interests and inspirations: Re-enactments, unorthodox fantasies, Borges and Carver short stories, forgeries, urban myths, high and low brow cinema, alternative histories, and the relationship between media and memory.
The objects were manufactured on-site with a 3D printer [video via moleitau's Flickr photostream] and placed alongside their paragraph-long "film synopsis" counterparts.
Image via markselby's Flickr photostream
In an interview with Pamela Jahn for Electric Sheep Magazine, Toran says:
Although we are not making the film we are hopefully producing a space between the object and the synopsis where an audience can create the film themselves, and where they can think of what we are intending to present cinematically.
It’s the beginnings of a library, but that library is one that is based on a process of producing a piece of work. And we’ve found that this medium, the object and the synopsis together, is the basis for conversations that we have between ourselves about art themes and other interests that we have, for example, alternative histories, unorthodox fantasies, the way cinema influences reality and vice versa. To some extent, we hope that audiences will also add their own ideas to that, and that the library will become an open source.
Some of the MacGuffins are based on films that we wanted to do, one in particular, that I wanted to do. Getting the budget to produce this film is currently totally unfeasible, so actually getting it out there in this manifestation is great.
This hypothetical film-prop approach resonates with our "tip of the iceberg" principle of future artifact creation (compare this work, for example, to the Americana: Hawaii exhibit that FoundFutures did a couple of months back). There's a resemblance both in the invitation to imagine the scenario cinematically, to fill-in-the-blanks opened up between object and story synopsis, and also in the strategically economical evocation of an idea or narrative which may be too large and expensive to manifest in a more fully-fledged representational format (e.g., by making the actual films).
In light of this it's no surprise to me to learn that Toran and Kular are associated with the Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby school of hypothetical product design at the Royal College of Art. Indeed, Toran's work Accessories for Lonely Men (02001; see this Régine Debatty interview from 02006) was part of the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition at the MoMA earlier this year (noted at this blog a while back), together with the work of several other RCA alumni, whose artifacts were conceived and produced specifically to spur imaginations and conversations around various future scenarios. (The future artifact-like work of Dunne and Raby and their talented design-school protégés remains a topic for me to address here in much greater depth.)
Meanwhile, props to Toran and Kular for a really interesting installation.
The MacGuffin exhibit came to an end on 5 October, but the larger show of which it was part (Wouldn't It Be Nice...) runs until 7 December.
> Hawai'i: The Lost Years
> Cheap prototypes, valuable insights
> Outdoor installation takes cover
> Choose your instincts wisely
(via Magical Nihilism) |
Instructor: Rembert Hueser
Ossi Oswalda, the German Mary Pickford, starred in several early German films by Ernst Lubitsch, such as I Don't Want to Be a Man (1918) and The Oyster Princess (1919). Ossi usually plays the spoiled brat who likes to stick out her tongue, throw things around, and smash up the place when she does not get her way. This class will discuss the emergence of the star system in early German cinema. It will focus on female leads such as Ossi Oswalda, Pola Negri, Brigitte Helm, and Lil Dagover. Recommended first reading: Richard Dyer: Stars (British Film Institute, 1998).
Instructor: Rembert Hueser
Cinephilia and market interests often converge in fantasies of controlling the channels of distribution. Our class will explore ways in which film collections, search engines and the formation of canons are connected, and also how they can be set in motion once they have been established. The foreign film collection of Netflix will serve as a point of departure for our inquiries. What is a foreign film supposed to be? How do Netflix and its recommendation pattern work? And why haven’t we seen a good German film for quite a while?
None of the films that we will see in class will be available on Netflix. As a result, many of them won’t have English subtitles, but we shouldn’t let this intimidate us. Film topics will include architecture, singing cowboys from the GDR, splatter & necrophilia, Karl Rossmann going to Amerika, female drinkers, surveillance specialists, home movies, Germany’s contribution to the rocket program, the basic training of managers, German mercenaries in Africa, and Oktoberfest. We will also pay interest to the work of some of the German-speaking filmmakers coming to the Walker in February and March.
Instructor: Leslie Morris
This course will explore what a poetics of Diaspora might mean in a range of literary, film, and visual texts from diverse geographical locations. We will explore how notions of the border, migration, nationhood, immigration, displacement, hybridity, dispersion, transnationalism, deterritorialization, the loss of origin and "reality," and nostalgia for the homeland constitute what we will call Diaspora poetics. The course will also examine the shifts within the term Diaspora in a variety of cultural and geographical contexts, with special emphasis on the complex reconfigured social and cultural spaces of Europe today. Discussion will explore the relationship between interior poetic spaces and geographical spaces of dispersion; the tension between poetic utterance and assertion and negation of place; the relationship between place and exile; and the critical interrogation of the meaning of "origin."
Instructor: Rembert Hüser
Die Republik, edited by Uwe and Petra Nettelbeck and first published in 1976, is by far the most innovative and uncompromising contemporary German journal. Written by various authors, modeled after Karl Kraus's Die Fackel, and published in book-length thematic issues, Die Republik has the reputation of standing at the core of various aesthetic and political debates, as well as of helping us understand the importance of certain topics that seem random at first sight. In our class, we will read Die Republik and will deal with a series of projects: Kraut Rock (Faust); crime fiction and the emergence of the surveillance state; the ideology of the "essay;" the question of how (and how not) to write a dissertation; artistic drawings, censorship, experimental film; criteria for the critical editing of literary texts; the German and English competition in mountaineering in the 1920s and 1930s; anti-Semitism in the 18th century; the writing of film criticism; portraits of the French Revolution; and transcripts of German TV shows. We will read texts by Heinz Emigholz, Harun Farocki, Gustave Flaubert, Frieda Grafe, Herman Melville, Uwe Nettelbeck, Gertrude Stein, August Strindberg, Klaus Theweleit, and Charles Willeford, among others.
Instructor: Rick McCormick
This course borrows its title from Siegfried Kracauer's famous study, From Caligari to Hitler (1947), which we honor – but also critique. One basic aim of the course is to introduce students to a crucial period in the history of the German cinema: its "golden age" in the Weimar Republic (1918-1933), up until the Third Reich. We will of course look at the work of famous directors like Lubitsch, Murnau, Lang, and Pabst. But understanding their films will also necessitate a familiarity with aesthetic/historical categories: Expressionism and "Neue Sachlichkeit," (i.e., "New Objectivity") – two important manifestations of German modernism – as well as "American" melodrama and Soviet-influenced montage. In addition to the film-historical context, the course places films into their socio-historical contexts, with a special emphasis on modernity and shifting notions about gender and sexuality. We will investigate some of the critical discourse that has shaped the way we think about these films (no matter how inaccurate some of that discourse may be). We will examine Kracauer's famous post-World War II study, with its social-psychological analysis of Weimar cinema viewed retroactively through the experience of Nazism, as well as Lotte Eisner's art-historical study, The Haunted Screen (orig. 1952). We will critique these classic works of film history with the help of more recent film scholars, such as Patrice Petro and Thomas Elsaesser. Also of importance is the question of Weimar sexual "decadence": was it, as Kracauer and so many critics after him have argued, something that facilitated the rise of the Nazis? Or was it about emancipation from rigid gender and sexual identities, something that threatened the Nazis and their sympathizers? Something "postmodern" – or even "queer" – in a positive sense?
Instructor: Evelyn Firchow
This course, taught primarily in German, is intended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. The course is designed to be taught over two semesters. The first semester will trace the development of the German language starting with Indo-European through Middle High German; the second semester will continue with Early New High German up to present-day German. There will be no midterms or final examinations. In the first semester, class participation, occasional quizzes, take-home worksheets and oral reports will determine the final grade. In the second semester occasional quizzes, oral reports and a term paper will be required. Assignments for undergraduate and graduate students will differ.
Instructor: Anatoly Liberman
The course addresses both the language and literature of the “middle” period. By the end of the semester, the students will form a good idea of the style of several great poets of the period and will have mastered enough grammar and vocabulary to be able to read Middle High German with a dictionary. Since the course does not presuppose any previous exposure to language history, the beginning will be slow, but after the first month we will pick up speed.
Instructors: Kaaren Grimstad and Ray Wakefield
Two monumental thirteenth-century epic texts, the Middle High German Nibelungenlied and the Old Norse Saga of the Volsungs, represent the southern and northern literary reflexes of a widespread and enormously popular cycle of traditional oral legends surrounding figures from the Germanic migration period. The aim of this course is to introduce students to these epics, as well as to other medieval versions of the legends, in order to examine the development of medieval European narrative tradition. Our material is ideal for such an enterprise because we have extensive documentation of the legend cycle, in the form of both literary texts in prose and poetry from three medieval Germanic cultures (Old English, Old Norse, and Middle High German) and in stone and wood carvings of scenes from the story in medieval England and Scandinavia. Our goal is to demonstrate that medieval audiences had a broad awareness of both the Nordic and German versions of the legend that came into play in understanding the version of the story they were told, and that all extant literary versions of the story are equally valid and must be considered in interpreting any one discrete version.
Instructor: James Parente
This seminar is intended to introduce students to the study of medieval literary and historical texts through the lens of Germanic medieval culture from 1200 to 1518. The course will provide an introduction to the political, social, religious, and cultural-historical context in which medieval writing of the High and Late Middle Ages was produced. We will focus on central problems in the interpretation of medieval texts, investigate the invention of medieval studies by historians and literary scholars, and examine the afterlife of medieval writing in later centuries. Topics to be considered include Arthurian romance in both a Germanic and European context; love, gender, and sexuality; medieval historiography; orality, literacy, reading and the emergence of the culture of the book; medieval education; medieval mysticism; autobiographical writing; the relationship between German medieval texts and medieval Dutch writing; the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; and the reception and invention of medieval culture in later centuries. Readings will include texts from 1150 to the Renaissance, including such writers as Wolfram von Eschenbach, Gottfried von Strassburg, Heinrich der Glichezaere, Der Stricker, Wernher der Gartenaere, Konrad von Würzburg, Heinrich Kaufringer; Mechthild von Magdeburg, Elisabeth von Nassau-Saarbrücken, Hans Schiltberger, Heinrich Wittenweiler, Hermann Bote, Emperor Maximilian I, and a variety of poems, epics, chronicles, hagiographic texts, and dramas from medieval Latin, German, and Netherlandic traditions. We will read theoretical and critical writings by a wide range of literary scholars, historians (Kantorowicz; Huizinga), and social theorists (Elias; Dürr) alongside the primary texts. Reading knowledge of Latin or a medieval Germanic language is not a prerequisite for the course, but students with a command of Latin and/or one or more medieval languages may work with the original texts. All primary readings will be available in modern English or German translation. This course is designed to appeal to students with no previous familiarity with medieval literature as well as to more advanced students in Germanic medieval studies.
Instructor: James Parente
This seminar will provide an introduction to literary writing in the German Empire from the late Middle Ages until the early eighteenth century through the exploration of the concept of "Germany" and "the German" that formed the basis of a wide range of writings throughout the early modern period. We will explore early modern writers’ conceptualization of the German past, both the ancient Germanic past and the German Middle Ages; writers’ representations of the German and the Germans’ interaction to other European and non-European cultures; the evolution of the idea of a German state with a distinct national culture; the construction of a German literary language; and the origins of German literary history. We shall also investigate the manner in which early modern writers fashioned themselves as uniquely German, the construction of the idea of the "model German", and the way in which gender distinctions and sexuality were incorporated into the discourse of the nation. Readings will include religious and political treatises, geographic and ethnographic studies, historical chronicles and commentaries, as well as poems, dramas, and novels. We will discuss major authors such as Luther, von Hutten, Frischlin, Opitz, Moscherosch, Zesen, Andreas Gryphius, Grimmelshausen, Lohenstein, and Thomasius alongside several lesser-known writers. Theoretical readings include Benedict Anderson, Eric Hobsbawm, Ernest Gellner, and Adrian Hastings, alongside parallel discussions of nationhood and ethnicity in medieval and early modern Italy, France, England, and the Low Countries.
Instructor: Ruth-Ellen Joeres
Seeing the eighteenth century through less-than-traditional lenses is the purpose of this seminar. Most of the readings tend to be canonical, but our ways of reading and discussing them are meant to be different. In order to work with analytical categories such as class, gender, and sexuality, however, we must think in cross-disciplinary ways about what we are reading, establishing contexts for our discussions that cannot and should not confine themselves to purely literary issues. Thus, in addition to the various German literary texts that we read, we will consider:
But above all, our ways of reading will occupy us throughout the semester. How do we do justice to the literary texts as products of a very specific environment – but at the same time, how can we understand these texts from our early 21st-century vantage point? We will thus focus our attention on current theoretical and historical writings on the German 18th-century Enlightenment.
Instructor: Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres
The methodological focus of this seminar will center on the historical concept of the “Long Nineteenth Century,” i.e. 1780-1918, and what happens when that concept is applied to a literary and cultural study of the same time period. The historians who have propounded this enlarged understanding claim that the revolutionary developments of the late 18th century – most specifically, the French Revolution and the “industrial revolution” – should be seen as part of the larger issues of the actual 19th century (and that the years up to the end of World War I bring the 19th-century developments to a “logical” moment of transformation). A principle question in this seminar will therefore investigate what the inclusion of the literary and cultural activities of the last two decades of the 18th century as well as the first two decades of the 20th century in an examination of the long 19th century does to our understanding of the century from 1800-1900. The readings – literary texts, critical readings, and contemporary commentaries – will allow us to think, among other things, about history and literature, epoch-vs.-century, the canon, and traditional historical thinking. We will use the analytical categories of class, gender, and nation to ground our study, and we will trace the changes in each concept as the long 19th century progresses. The literary texts, all but one of them short prose, include works by Friedrich Schlegel, Dorothea Schlegel, Karl Gutzkow, Heinrich von Kleist, Eugenie Marlitt, Louise von François, Theodor Fontane, and Arthur Schnitzler. Schiller will weigh in with a philosophical essay.
Instructor: Leslie Morris
The visual has, to a large extent, shaped debates about memory in German culture: "the visual" has become metonymic for memory, and "memory" has become metonymic for the Holocaust. Exploring modes of anxiety at the center of cultural theory and works of art, the seminar will focus on the acoustic aspects of the memory of anxiety, with particular attention to the phenomena of paranoia, surveillance, and eavesdropping. We will think about the specificity of German anxiety – anxiety about modernity, anxiety about Jews, anxiety about urbanization, anxiety about being German – and how sound and listening bear on these. In turning away from the primacy of the visual to foreground sound, we will also examine what might be meant by the sounds of memory; the relationship between reading texts on translation and eavesdropping; homophonic poetry translation; and the complex relationship between sound and meaning. We will start with Freud's "Problem of Anxiety" and move to works by Benjamin, Adorno, Brecht, Pessoa, Derrida, Barthes, Kittler, Attali, Henze, Schönberg, Kafka, Thomas Mann, Bachmann, W.G. Sebald, Adeena Karasick, Marcel Beyer, Syberberg and Fassbinder.
Dealing with the German cultural archive of the last 30 years means dealing to a large extent with representations of militant left politics of the seventies and of the response of the German state apparatus. One can't help thinking that almost all authors, filmmakers and artists have contributed to this discussion at some point in their careers: Kluge, Jelinek, Vesper, Fassbinder, Heiner Müller, Goetz, Meinhof, Petzold, von Düffel, Abish, Delius, Böll, Cosgrove, Polke, Beuys, Haines, and Cabaret Voltaire, to name just a few. How do versions of the story of German terrorism in their diverse media and genres vary over the past three decades? How do concepts of the relationship between politics, violence, and aesthetics change? What notions of the terrorist, the partisan, and the urban guerilla are employed in the discourse of terror? What fantasies of control are deployed in the memoirs of politicians, bureaucrats and terrorists?
This class is about the o-eyness of the O. And the a-eyness of the A. And about how letterforms from A to O work in literary texts, advertisements, fine arts, architecture, and films.
How do we read the meaning of the letter? Analyzing a broad range of texts, both historically and systematically, we will deal with letterpress printing in Early Modern Europe, with type and national identity, with the cult of the lower case, with spacing, with the meaning of helvetica, and with moving typography in film title sequences in the digital age. We'll deal with egg-poems of the Baroque, the monstrous text of Hamann, the advertisements of Schwitters, the exoticism of letterforms, with hieroglyphs and calligraphy in comparison, and with the question of how to film Mallarme's A Coup des Dés. We will read The Telephone Book and The Making of the Typographic Man, Peirce, Derrida and Giesecke. O je! (Geez!)
On October 2, 2007, DaimlerChrysler and Sony announced to sell their property in the centre of the Potsdamer Platz as they had “overrated the importance of Berlin for their business.” Also this year, and after much political pressure, the Freie Universität finished ninth and last in the consolation round of the so-called ‘Exzellenzinitiative’ to identify “elite universities” in Germany. (Humboldt Universität and the TU did not qualify.) The Love Parade moved to the Ruhrgebiet. A second attempt after 1970 to sell a so-called “Berliner Schule” of filmmakers did not catch on. In June 2004, Texte zur Kunst, the most important German journal of contemporary art and culture, which had emphatically moved to Berlin in 2000, published issue 54, titled “Escape to New York?”. What’s wrong with Berlin? Nothing, of course! It’s not Berlin’s fault that it cannot live up to its hype. The class will look at the Berlin hype both in Germany and the USA in historical perspective. What has fueled the Berlin fantasy since the 19th century? What is Berlin kitsch? What has become of the repeatedly proclaimed encounter of the East and the West? What does it mean to understand culture in terms of center and periphery? What constitutes a city? We will look at films, literary texts, works of art and architecture, and scholarly and journalistic texts.
Instructors: Leslie Morris, Amy Kaminski
Fünf Minuten Amerika, Mein Bummelleben in Amerika, Amerika ist anders, Amerika und Griechenland, Paradies Amerika, Yankeeland, Im Dollarland, Amerika wie ich es sah, Drüben steht Amerika, Hallo, hier spricht Amerika - in the 1920's tons of books with titles like these were published in Germany. They begin with sentences as 'Seitdem er aus Amerika zurückgekehrt war, war mit dem Mann nichts mehr anzufangen", they end with sentences as “Wir stehen jetzt Aug' in Auge dem lebendigen Amerika gegenüber - was kümmern uns noch Bücher!" Even the yearbook of the Goethe Society had to publish an article ‘Goethe in Amerika' in 1929.
What are the semiotic/touristic markers these authors deploy in their travelogues? What versions of America do they narrate? Which topoi can be isolated from their books? Why are Germans so fascinated by elevators? Why are German men afraid of the American Girl? The course will focus on how 'Amerika' functions as Europe's other in these texts. Most America/Europe binaries that are still used nowadays – such as 'surface' vs. 'tradition', 'superficial' vs. 'profound' – had become popular in the years after World War I. In the late eighties and early nineties, the German band FSK launched a series of albums (American Sector, Son of Kraut, The Sound of Music, Original Gasman Band) that explored various forms of cultural transatlantic imports and re-imports. Its frontman, Thomas Meinecke, one of the forerunners of so-called German 'Popliteratur', says that when looking for Germany you have to go to Texas. What are the strategies of these artists for displacing Euro-American-Euro desires?
In the last part of our course we will see what happens to German authors with literary projects sitting in New York on September 11. How do Germans witness the first major historic event of global society?
Questions of gender and citizenship in the West have their roots in the transatlantic "age of revolutions," and they have remained central to political developments in Europe and the Americas to the present day. Subsequent moments of intersection between transformations in gender relations and political struggles, such as the feminist movements of the second half of the twentieth century, have also been transatlantic phenomena. These recent periods of movement resurgence lend themselves to analyses that parallel the research on the late-eighteenth century and early-nineteenth century revolutionary moments.
This seminar is organized around analyses of and comparison across a series of key historical moments when challenges to the political order and challenges to the gender order intersected in Europe and the U.S. It will integrate literary, historical, and sociological perspectives on these struggles. By using literary texts and political tracts produced by women themselves in diverse revolutionary moments, as well as secondary analyses theorizing these transformations, we examine issues of political language and identities, perspective, voice, and intersecting inequalities. We consider competing definitions of feminism, radicalism, transformation, inclusion, equality, and citizenship in European and American politics from 1776 to 2000.
The periods/transformations on which we will focus are:
Instructors: Arlene Teraoka and Ruth-Ellen Joeres
Our seminar addresses literary and cultural theories and primary texts in German studies in an exploratory spirit on various levels of complexity, using a team-based and case-based approach to learning. We seek to develop an interpretive practice based on fluid collaborations between all seminar participants: between students, between students and faculty, as well as between faculty. Our goal is collaboratively to explore and to articulate a complex interpretation of texts that incorporates different, even competing, standpoints and analytic categories. We are most interested in learning to talk about texts where a discussion of one category of difference (race, for example) leads to problematic erasures, assumptions, or tacit claims about another category (for example, class or gender). While we will familiarize ourselves with various critical approaches that form the foundation of our discipline, we want to integrate the study of theory with the complex and often messy practice of interpretation. We do not think it is easy to read texts, and our seminar seeks to explore, to exploit, and to articulate that difficulty to its fullest extent. We hope to invite several guests to speak with us about their own work as cultural critics in an educational institution ostensibly committed to diversity.
The assignments will be selective in order to allow time for discussion and analytic depth. They will encompass a variety of genres, from critical essays to novels, from short stories to films, in English and in German. Primary texts will include the film Beyond Silence, Bernhard Schlink's Der Vorleser, Caroline Auguste Fischer's "Wilhelm der Neger," and Franz Zorn's Mars. Readings will include classic (foundational) and current writings in feminist theory, cultural studies, minority discourse, and queer theory.
Instructor: Jochen Schulte-Sasse
The course, which is cross-listed with Comparative Literature and CSDS, offers a close reading of Kant's Critique of Judgment. Although most sessions will focus on close readings of particular sections of Kant's third critique, several sessions will be dedicated to the philosophical, historical and biographical background of Kant's third critique. Lectures on the philosophical background of the third critique will focus on the notions of self-consciousness and intellectual intuition in Kant and German Idealism, on the concept of “inner sense” from Locke to Kant and on the relationship of the third to the first critique (Critique of Pure Reason).
Instructor: Jochen Schulte-Sasse
This course focuses on short theoretical texts (such as fragments and aphorisms). While a few short essays are on the reading list (by Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, Engels, and Nietzsche), the main focus will be on sayings, epigrams, aphorisms, apothegms, and fragments written (roughly) between 1784 and 1996. Besides the ones mentioned, authors include Friedrich Schlegel, Novalis, Benjamin, Adorno, and Hans Blumenberg.
Instructor: Poul Houe
The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55) was one of the most original thinkers and writers of the 19th century. Deeply indebted to Christian scriptures but also to philosophical writings from Plato to Hegel, he assaulted traditional Western philosophy and the social and religious smugness of his time. Probing the question, “What does it mean to be(come) a fully human being?” Kierkegaard made a compelling case for the personal and subjective and paved the way for the literary and philosophical movement of Existentialism. He became one of the dominant cultural forces of the twentieth century, and in the twenty-first century his influence seems unabated.
This topics course is an introduction to Kierkegaard as a literary, philosophical, psychological, social, and Christian writer. It relates his work to the Golden Age of early- to mid-nineteenth century Denmark and outlines his later influence upon thinkers and writers worldwide from the nineteenth century onward. His controversy with systemic reason and institutionalized religion will be explored in texts that are of particular interest to today's readers. Attention to the dialectical and poetic dimensions of Kierkegaard's oeuvres is key to an understanding of his concerns. When he communicated his uncompromising ideas indirectly – under the guise of pseudonymity, irony, and other artistic devices – it was to entice each of his readers to undertake a personal search for existential and religious truth. Far from advocating an anti-social stance, Kierkegaard wished to counter what has been called "the self-interested individualism of modern civil society."
Instructor: Kaaren Grimstad
The aim of this course is twofold: to introduce and set in their historical context the major primary sources for the tales we think of as constituting Scandinavian (or more properly Norse) mythology; and to examine the narrative structure of the mythological tales themselves. In order to facilitate the integration of the two parts of this goal, the course has been structured in the following manner: during the first six weeks we will read and discuss the primary material and a selection of articles dealing with medieval historiography and interpretation of the texts; the remaining nine weeks will be devoted to reading and discussing specific groups of tales. Lectures and discussions in the first part of the course will focus on the historical background of the primary sources (Snorri Sturluson's Edda and Ynglinga saga, the Poetic Edda, Saxo Grammaticus's History of the Danes) and will introduce the theoretical material. Discussions in the second part of the course will focus on questions about the individual tales that could be answered by applying the theoretical material.
Instructor: Kaaren Grimstad
How would you like to spend your fall with shape-shifters, dragons and dragon-slayers, witches and wizards, man-eating ghouls and giants? These are some of the characters from traditional Icelandic folklore and legend that you will meet in the 13th-century Icelandic sagas. This course surveys the historical-fictional prose chronicles written in thirteenth-century Iceland known as sagas. We will read a selection of these sagas and attempt to understand both how they are structured and what they tell us about medieval Icelandic society. Students will read some critical studies of sagas and participate in group discussions.
Instructor: Poul Houe
The course explores milestones of Scandinavian fiction, lyrical poetry, drama, and criticism since WWII. The dominance of modernism will be seen as challenged by strands of realism and by reconfigurations of modernism itself: postmodernist modes, new strategies and roles for the reader. Around 2000, a simultaneity of literary discourses and voices appears to have supplanted the more univocal scenarios of previous decades, and the literary scene seems to have increasingly become a field of artistic and media transformations. In-depth discussions will address individual texts and authors, socio-cultural trends, and national and transnational characteristics.
Instructor: Göran Stockenström
We will study the selected plays by Ibsen in the context of modern theater, with special emphasis on different critical methods of interpretation. Our starting point is always in the dramatic text and its potential transformation on the stage. Close reading will be our main objective, and together we should be able to open new wedges into the heart of the matter. This course will offer different models of entering and, in turn, being entered by the imaginative world of these wonderful plays. A couple of articles on the sign system of theater will introduce you to the visual, corporal and nonlinguistic signs that are such integral parts of the theater form, text to performance. To offer as broad a spectrum as possible of Ibsen's scholarship, I have also selected a number of divergent critical articles. All texts are studied from a historical perspective and as such they mirror significant changes within drama and theater in the nineteenth century with important ramifications for theater in the twentieth century.
Instructor: Göran Stockenström
In this course we will examine Strindberg's naturalistic tragedies from The Father (1887) to Creditors (1890), and what Eugene O'Neill termed his "supernaturalistic" or "behind-life plays" from To Damascus (1898) to The Pelican (1907). Theater can develop essentially in two directions: to bring the audience closer to a mimetic/objective "reality," and to take the audience into the realm of interiority by imaginative and expressive means. The accelerating hunt for the illusion of reality on the stage culminates in the latter part of the nineteenth century. At the turn of the century, dramatists seek to formulate different solutions to the dilemma of representation. The continuum from realism to expressionism is reflected with varying emphasis in different movements in the art and literature of the twentieth century. This course will attempt to study the latter in the context of Strindberg's literary and dramatic oeuvre, taking as its starting point the crisis in the theater in the late-nineteenth century. Our analysis will center on the dramatic text and its transformation through the mise-en-scène of the theater.
Instructor: Poul Houe
World-renowned author of the fictional autobiography Out of Africa (adapted by Sidney Pollack into an Oscar-winning movie featuring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in the lead roles) and four major collections of stories and tales, Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen was an immensely astute and fastidious practitioner of the art of storytelling. Her deeply historical yet unconventional imagination and mode(s) of narration make her writings a gem for avid readers and literature buffs. While Dinesen/Blixen's (Danish) background is deeply European, her outlook is colored by indelible life experiences in colonial Africa; and while her visions and artistic devices are informed by layers of cultural tradition and by the canon of world literature, their boundary-crossing range is second to none. A knowledgeable student of the past, Dinesen is a modern writer of great consequence, boldly defying received wisdoms about the roles of men and women, gender and sexuality, societal order and individual freedom, religion and society, persona and identity, desire and destiny, to say nothing of irony, humor, and tragedy. The course will explore Dinesen/Blixen's tantalizing life and work in its 20th century socio-cultural context. Close readings will decode her post-romantic interlacing of history and myth and the intricate functions of narrator and style, artist and characters, nature and society within her texts; we will explore their existential, psychological, philosophical, and political affiliations from a variety of perspectives, such as narratology and semiotics, feminist and post-colonial theory. The question of Dinesen/Blixen's bicultural/bilingual artistic profile will be addressed in the context of reader responses to her work worldwide in the twenty-first century. Lectures and class discussions will be staggered, and group work will alternate with individual student presentations. Brief orientations about past and current Dinesen/Blixen scholarship will be provided, and film adaptations of two stories will be incorporated as well. In addition to oral contributions in class, two term papers and one final take home essay exam are required; Scan 5670 students will need to utilize at least one secondary source in each of their term papers.
Instructor: Poul Houe
The course will focus on Georg Brandes (1842-1927) – arguably the foremost Nordic and European literary critic of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century – and his importance for modern literary (and cultural) criticism.
An immensely versatile, innovative, and influential critic of European literature past and present, Brandes wrote extensively on several principal European writers (e.g., Goethe and Heine) and literary currents (e.g., German Romanticism). He also introduced Nietzsche to the world, initiated research in Hans Christian Andersen and Kierkegaard, inspired both Ibsen and Strindberg, and triggered a modern breakthrough in Nordic literature. Personally connected with countless European intellectuals and artists, Brandes was the outstanding cosmopolitan humanist of his time, devoted equally to international peace and to minority rights.
Representative selections from his multifaceted work will be studied in historical context and English translation, and those which have best stood the test of time will be discussed in depth. Brandes was an activist critic whose involvement in decisive and divisive socio-political controversies invites comparisons to such recent intellectual icons as Edward Said.
Instructor: Kaaren Grimstad
The course will be devoted to developing an understanding of the grammatical structure and acquiring a reading knowledge of Old Norse/Old Icelandic by reading texts, with a secondary focus on general aspects of the culture and its literature, including some practice reading aloud using modern Icelandic pronunciation. In order to accomplish these goals, thoughtful attention to the assigned paragraphs on grammar and some memorization of paradigms will be required. Translation techniques will include both close reading of texts with sentence analysis (parsing/identifying grammatical forms) and rapid reading for content only. In order that students have maximum opportunity to work together and help each other learn the grammar system, I will eventually ask pairs of students to be responsible for acting as teachers and leading the parsing of certain passages. All readings from the reader, An Introduction to Old Norse by E.V. Gordon, will be genuine Old Norse texts from the thirteenth century. We will read a selection of some of the greatest literature of medieval Iceland.
Instructors: Kaaren Grimstad and Ray Wakefield
In this graduate seminar the Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch offers a unique "two-for-one special": two great, medieval Germanic stories (Tristan by Gottfried von Strassburg and The Saga of Tristram and Isond), two medieval languages (Middle High German and Old Norse), two instructors – and only one day a week! The course is designed so that students only need reading knowledge of one of these languages, and qualified undergraduates are also encouraged to participate. We will look at such diverse topics as translating, narrative structure and cultural themes, character portrayal, and audience. The course will include sessions on medieval illustrations of the story, Wagner’s Tristan, and a 20th-century movie version. |
Zahoor Ilahi, a Pakistani immigrant who sells peanuts on a midtown sidewalk, usually greets passersby with an innocuous Very delicious nuts. But hes been a bit fired up ever since the nuclear tests began back home. Ab dekhna kaun pancho India hamare saath takkar legi, he shouts -- Lets see how that sister-fucking India can take us now.
Over in Jackson Heights, Gian Singh, a retired soldier, would be only too happy for the chance to try. Standing ramrod straight outside a music shop, the native Indian brags about his countrys newfound nuclear capability. Im happy that we have tested these bombs. So what if Pakistan has also? They are smaller.
Such belligerent voices are a familiar aspect of the escalating tensions on the Subcontinent. Each days news brings more images of hawkish politicians rattling their sabers. But despite the huge numbers of transplanted Indians and Pakistanis now living in New York, these sentiments are surprisingly rare on our shores. Uprooted from the soil where the old poisons reside, the populations that once lived on opposite sides of a hostile border now live cheek by jowl. In bustling neighborhoods like Jackson Heights and the East Twenties in Manhattan, they occupy the same buildings, shop in the same stores, and attend the same schools, all under the new umbrella term South Asians. Often, restaurants run by Pakistanis call themselves Indian, so as to avoid confusing the locals.
Look, basically we are here to make money, says Shiv Dass, the mild-mannered owner of the Shingar Boutique on 74th Street in Queens. I am being honest. We are businessmen. Traders, you know. We dont like politics. If we talk about politics, we talk about it at home. Theres so much enmity between India and Pakistan, and these nuclear tests are bad, very bad. I dont like them. No one in Jackson Heights does.
Next door in Sona Music Center, the customers are all enjoying Ho Jaayegi Balle Balle, the hit song by Daler Mahndi, Indias latest pop sensation. But Gurpeet, a young Sikh who works there, shakes his head and mutters darkly: These tests. Why? Do they want world war? Theyre crazy. Stupid.
The experience of the countless Indians and Pakistanis living in New York is far from universal among the citys immigrant groups. Many other expatriates have found that the animosities of their native lands remain just as strong in America as back home. Within the five boroughs, numerous conflicts have flared -- often violent ones -- that originated on other continents, or even in other centuries. But the logic of the currently intensifying contest between the nuclear communitys two newest members seems remote to its émigrés.
The surrounding debate, on the other hand, is often altogether too present. My real issue is with the shrill preaching and self-righteousness weve had to listen to from others, said Neeraja Narayanan, a young executive with a major bank. As an Indian woman living in New York, its been impossible for me to get away from this topic, and Im frequently accosted by wild-eyed evangelists condemning this dastardly act. Theres no escape, and frankly, Im getting rather sick of it.
In addition to the common drive to succeed, these expatriates say theyre brought together by their outsider status here in New York, where most people arent even aware of these two nations bloody history. As Mohammad Ashfaque, a cab driver, explains, Brother, you are Indian. I am from Lahore, from Pakistan. You are in my taxi. I have a bomb, you have a bomb. But we are the same people. He points to a car driving alongside. Look at that driver, hes an American. Can he know who is a Pakistani here and who is Indian? You tell him youre from Lahore, and will he know?
Indians and Pakistanis have their shops side by side, said Ishrat Ansari, the owner of a stylish café in the West Village. They mix. The only time theres a rivalry is when there is a cricket match. I remember in 1996, during the cricket World Cup, India was playing Pakistan in the quarterfinals. The match was shown live at a cinema in Queens, and there were slogans. There was more rivalry then than there is now. |
Victoria Phillips is head of employment rights at Thompsons Solicitors
As of July this year, Employment Tribunals stopped being free to access. The Ministry of Justice claimed this was to save money for the tax-payer and clamp down on workers who chose to unnecessarily escalate workplace disputes to a tribunal.
No doubt aware of the backlash this move would generate, the government sugared the pill with a facility whereby vulnerable low-earners could receive a full or partial waiver of tribunal fees.
However, in a reminder of the government’s true colours, this week has seen new restrictions come into force which drastically weaken this essential safety net leaving the remissions scheme almost worthless and playing into the hands of unscrupulous employers who want to take advantage of workers.
Now individuals – or their partners – with savings or investments of just £3,000 will have to pay the full £1,200 fee, whether or not they are out of work or on a low wage. That’s £250 upfront and £950 due on the day of the tribunal.
Research commissioned by the TUC shows that just one in 20 workers over the age of 50 are now likely to be fully exempt from paying the full amount. And, with fewer than one in four workers over 50 likely to receive any kind of financial support, those sacked because of their age may end up paying the full amount as well. The analysis also shows that, even among households where someone is on the minimum wage, less that a quarter of workers will benefit from any support.
The change also means that disabled workers are more likely to be disadvantaged, with only one in nine exempt from paying the full £1,200.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady has commented that the changes “could mean thousands of older workers having to raid their retirement savings if they want to seek justice against an employer that has mistreated them [and] make it easier for rogue bosses to get away with mistreating staff, not paying them properly and dodging the minimum wage.”
Read Thompsons’ response to the fees remission consultation at: http://www.thompsonstradeunionlaw.co.uk/information-and-resources/moj-fees-remissions-thompsons-response.htm
Click on the image to access the full Thompsons Labour and European Law Review
Paul Moloney is a member of the Unions21 Steering Committee and Industrial Relations Manager for the Society of Radiographers
There has been a lot of criticism of the lack of substance to the policy announcements from the Labour Party during conference week. Important announcements about abolishing the bedroom tax, freezing fuel bills and the promise to repeal the 2012 Health Act should not be underestimated and the impact these will have for working people and the working in and relying on our NHS will be immense.
Nevertheless the policies announced are all details and the lack of an over-riding context for them plays into the hands of those who claim there is really little difference to choose between all three main parties. This of course is further evidenced by Nick Clegg’s apparent indifference to who he will get into bed with, as long as he can get into bed.
So you have to go back to the Andrew Marr interview before the start of the conference to find the most important announcement made by Ed Miliband, and also to find the issue that will win the next election outright for the Labour Party if articulated correctly.
During the interview Ed Miliband referred to the fact that, for the first time in Britain’s post war history the link between economic growth and improving the standard of living of the majority, working people, has now been well and truly broken. Even Thatcher was not able to do this.
Members of my own union, the Society of Radiographers, have not had a pay increase above RPI for 5 years. Even with annual increments their pay has failed to keep up with inflation. In addition more of their disposable income is now spent on pensions so their standard of living has decreased significantly. Pay cuts have also become more common place as highly skilled workers responsible for delivering high levels of patient care find their jobs re-banded downwards.
This is true of other sectors where pay freezes and even cuts have become the norm in both the public and private sectors.
For the last 3 years RPI, however measured, has been higher than average earnings. But it is not the statistics but the message behind the figures that matters. If the statistics say inflation is higher than earnings then that means quite simply that any improvement in the economy is not being translated into improving standards of living for the vast majority. In the past, although the distribution was unequal, there was still an overall improvement when the economy grew. The fact that this has come to an end will be seen by those the Tories represent as the holy grail of politics and the ultimate aim of the Thatcher revolution. To the rest of us it is nothing short of the cynical use of austerity measures for political and ideological means.
So Ed is right to highlight the problem. But to win the election he must do two things. He must ensure his policies ensure the link between economic growth and earnings growth is restored and he must ensure the Tories and their coalition partners are held to account for exploiting the austerity measures in a way that has deliberately broken the link. If he does, and the TUC and individual unions work with him, then victory at the election is not just possible but will be meaningful.
So let’s not have a debate about the links between different sectors of our movement and instead start talking about the link that really matters for working people, the link between economic growth and earnings growth and in so doing expose the deeply ideological approach of this Conservative led coalition.
Joe Dromey is Head of Policy and Research at the IPA. He writes in a personal capacity.
The financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed were supposed to mark an historic watershed. There could be ‘no more business as usual.’ Yet this is exactly what we have returned to.
Britain’s model of corporate governance – based on the principle of shareholder primacy – is not fit for purpose. Shareholders have proved themselves unwilling or unable to undertake their role as custodians of our large companies. With shares being held for increasingly short periods of time, the system has incentivised a focus on short-term profits over long-term investment. They have failed to curb excessive executive pay or to identify and address unsustainable business practices. And shareholder primacy means that other stakeholders – including employees – are not given a say.
We need to reform our corporate governance in order to give employees a voice at the top table – on both the board and the remuneration committee.
More than anyone, it is employees who have the greatest interest in the sustainable success of the company. Employees understand the business, its services, products and customers – and, with the right training and support, they can really contribute to decision-making. Workers on the board will add a dose of realism to discussions at the top table; bringing an understanding of how things really are at the shop floor. And by breaking the cosy clique on remuneration committees, we could also reverse the process whereby the share of profits going to wages has fallen whilst executive pay has soared.
There is a wealth of evidence of the benefits of participation at work. On an individual level, it is correlated with engagement and wellbeing. On an organisational level it is associated with productivity and innovation. It should therefore be a serious concern that Britain has the second lowest levels of employee participation in the EU, beaten into last place only by Lithuania. By adopting more participative ways of working – including employee representation at the top – we could improve both the workplace experience and productivity.
So what are the arguments against employee participation in corporate governance? Some might say it is unworkable or radically left-wing. Yet in most other EU states – including Austria, France, Germany the Netherlands and Sweden to name a few – worker representation on the board is required by law. It works well and is largely uncontroversial.
Others argue our adversarial industrial relations and opposition from employers would make it impossible in the UK. But this is to assume that such attitudes are fixed and unchanging. In fact, as the High Pay Centre has shown, employee representation on boards was bitterly opposed by employers in Germany. It was only after implementation that they came to accept and indeed value the measure.
Some insist employees simply aren’t up to the job. In their response to the Government’s consultation on executive remuneration, the CBI claimed employees would ‘add little’ to the process of decision making as they have an insufficient ‘understanding of the business’ compared to non-exec directors. These arguments risk sounding patronising and dismissive. And if workers in Europe are capable of sitting on the board, why should British employees not be?
Employee representation on boards and remuneration committees would be a massive opportunity for the labour movement. It would give employees a say at the top table for the first time. In organised workplaces, it would give unions another channel through which they could influence employers. In those without unions, it could offer the opportunity for them to organise and gain membership.
But it also poses a significant challenge to trade unions. In her exceptional Attlee Memorial Lecture in April, Frances O’Grady highlighted the union movement’s ‘strategic failure’ to embrace co-determination and industrial democracy in the post-war era, focusing instead on fighting incrementally to improve terms and conditions. O’Grady claims that to do so would have meant taking on a role that ‘is not just more ambitions but more demanding, than the one we usually have now. It means accepting responsibility, moving out of our comfort zone of short-termism, to taking the long view and championing the greater good.’
For a movement used to adversarialism, board level representation may require a change of mind-set; from sitting across the table from the boss to sitting around a table together. Unions, as they do in Europe, would still retain the independence to fight for their members both individually and collectively. But they would also be responsible for working collaboratively to set the direction of the organisation. Such a system would only work if there is good-will, trust and commitment to develop a workable consensus on all sides. Of course, such a cultural shift would be required of many employers too, but as the German experience shows, it is possible.
Having employees sitting on boards and remuneration committees would strengthen workplace democracy, encourage long-termism and ensure fairness. It would be good for workers, good for business and good for the country. And after all, what could better define a One Nation Economy than having workers take their rightful place at the top table.
Joe Dromey (@Joe_Dromey) is Head of Policy and Research at the IPA. He writes in a personal capacity.
Victoria Phillips is head of employment rights at Thompsons Solicitors
The weekly Thompsons Solicitors Blog
You might think the outcry after a report revealed that more than a million people are on zero hours contracts would make government ministers think twice before bragging about other ruses to take advantage of desperation for work. But not this government – or, at least, not Lord Freud, the Minister for Welfare Reform.
As ever, nasty stuff has a euphemistic name – ‘slivers of time’ – the idea being to create a marketplace where workers bid against each other to see who can offer the lowest price to do very short, sub part-time, periods of work.
Some local authorities, including Tory-led Hammersmith and Fulham, have been using it for several years, and Tesco opened up slivers of time to its workforce in 2010.
The champion of this scheme, Lord Freud, is a man with no background in social policy and who is best known for leading the somewhat botched floatation of Eurotunnel.
He is responsible for spearheading government attacks on the Welfare State and is notorious for commenting that Scottish welfare claimants should get a job if they wanted an extra bedroom.
At a fringe session on welfare at the Conservative Party Conference, Freud described slivers of time as ‘a marketplace for short hours’ where an employer would say ‘right, we want three hours on Wednesday afternoon – what am I bid?’ That group would then say ‘I’ll do it for £10 an hour, £15 an hour… whatever’.
In other words, slivers is a Dutch auction for job seekers’ time, set up to encourage it to be sold as a commodity in a race-to-the-bottom. And, if people are forced to work at rates below the national minimum wage, such contracts could potentially be unlawful.
In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference, David Cameron announced that 16 to 25 year olds ‘Neets’ (Not in Education Employment or Training) who refuse to take up offers of education, work or training will have their benefits stopped.
But rather than conjuring up ideas for finding random hours of work to fill on shoddy terms, the government should concentrate on how best to place people into real jobs on a fair rate of pay.
Slivers of time may well have positive applications in limited circumstances if done on the worker’s own terms. But its integration into a benefits regime that operates on compulsion takes us back to the Victorian days and the fundamentally exploitative nature of workers having to tout for anything they were lucky enough to get.
Read the Labour & European Law Review on zero-hours contracts
We march and we protest on the hoof – but do we change anything?
It is a mainstay of trade union activity and it is an activity we willingly engage in where a government, or some other institution, refuses to listen, engage, negotiate or modify their stance on a direction or policy that we do not agree with.
The question is not so much whether a march has any value, moreover do we really think that a mass protest will change anything or have value?
The march in Manchester on the 29th was without doubt a success. It was about the future for the NHS but this did not stop many more pressure and protest groups coming on board to express their opinions on a very wide range of issues. I was struck by how many ‘fringe’ elements joined us and at one point did wonder if their presence would water down the key message. But to think this is to miss the point. The small but vociferous pressure groups have just as much right to protest as the rest of us. The fact that we have the numbers and the organisation helps them to make their mark on the political spectrum and the fact they are present illustrates that discontent with the government is far deeper than just a bunch of ‘Tradies’ venting their spleen about the NHS.
But leaving the composition of the march aside, why do we march and why do we think that it is necessary to do so? Are we merely participating in a group hug or are we serious that by taking to the streets we will begin to see change but realistically, we accept that we are preaching to the converted. At one point in the March I noticed a person on the sidewalk holding a placard that listed all the things that were wrong with this government. The placard was aimed at the marches. But why show this to us? We know what is wrong, we know why we are traipsing through Manchester- turn around and show the sign to the people passing by and bemused by our presence. It is they who need to be educated and asked to think.
There is a certain element of togetherness about marching and this is more than just a group hug. It is an expression that we are passionate about our beliefs and we are willing to give up our time to publically express our opinions. Marching often comes at a time when frustration is high and campaign fatigue has begun to set in so that our participation with other like minded people reinvigorates our resolve and gives us a necessary boost to not give in or become complacent.
The mass display of banners and other paraphernalia of protest and the diversity of engagement are uplifting and few would argue that it is not. But the central question is ‘does a March change anything?’
The answer to this is ‘maybe’ but not ‘yes’. A mass protest is never the game changer that many of us hope that it will be. It is one of many means in our arsenal that we use to promote our cause and our beliefs. Even the press cannot ignore us despite the sad fact that they prefer a March that is controversial to one that is peaceful and the politicians will praise us, condemn us or try to ignore us depending on where they stand in the political arena.
If you are marching for a cause or a belief, you are there because you have opinions and can say that you were willing to be a part of a process for change, you are one of many and not merely a bystander.
Ed Miliband’s superb performance at the Labour Conference in Brighton, has changed a few things. ’Labour’s New Energy’ (‘Guardian’), ’Decisive shift to the Left’ (The Times’),were the typical commentators’ take on it. More significantly, all the trade union leaders, especially Len McLuskey, (the darling of delegates at this conference), were ‘over the moon’ with the Labour leader’s list of concrete pledges and the general tenor of his virtuoso hour long performance without a note.
They even drew comfort from Ed’s very brief mention of their other main concern, his plans for ‘changing our politics’ viz., ‘party reform’ of the union political levy. Yet there was no hint that he is abandoning this attempt to change what he clearly sees as an outmoded form of the link. His contrast of ‘hearing the individual voices of people from call centre workers to construction workers’, with the hearing the collective voices of union leaders, could not have been more pointed. Yet there was still no detail about how he proposes to do it. Most union and many party activists remain extremely sceptical about how his ‘mass membership’ of political-levy payers could be realised.
Yet his new status as a substantial Labour Leader in the more conventional social democratic tradition, means that many will suspend judgement until we see more flesh on the bones of Lord Ray Collin’s surprisingly slim interim report to this conference. In it he stated that ‘Ed does not want this individual relationship with trade union membership to damage the collective relationship and the institutional links between the party and the union organisations. Ed wants to mend - not end – the link.’ But, as unions say, ‘the devil is in the detail’.
The Collin’s statement also said, ‘we do not believe there is any need to change the laws around the right of trade unions to hold political funds’. The Labour Opposition may not intend to go there, but the government party leaders, especially Clegg, seem intent on it. My fear would be that they would do that ‘dirty work’ whilst in government. At the Unions 21 conference fringe on ‘Thatcherism’, the Tory ‘envoy’ to the union movement, [now] Lord Balfe, said just that.
I suspect, therefore, that the genie is now well and truly ‘out of the bottle’ and will never go back to where it was. It seems that the Labour leadership chose their ‘Falkirk moment’ to challenge what they saw as undue mega-union political power, in their Party policy and structures. Their concerns seem also to have arisen in the context of their discussions with the Liberal Democrats, and the unions fear some unprincipled deal for a Lab-Lib Dem coalition.
There will therefore be some real heart searching from now until the proposed special Spring conference and the Collins’ report will be the subject of close attention.
The History & Policy Trade Union Forum has been looking at the whole relationship of the unions with all the parties historically in a series of seminars involving senior union figures (such as Billy Hayes of the CWU). Each one has been written up on our website (http://www.bit.ly/tuforum). In November, we will be pulling the threads together and drawing some conclusions as to the future policy options for unions and the parties, and this will be of interest as a historical context of this whole debate.
Helen Goodman MP’s speech to our joint Musicians’ Union, BECTU and Equity fringe meeting at Labour Party Conference: Britiain Entertaining the World
It’s very nice to be here and thank you for inviting me. I feel slightly terrified actually, I don’t normally feel terrified in meetings, but having heard John, Jean and Gerry and they’re all so eloquent, and all so clear, and they’ve all made such passionate cases, that I hope my response can live up to it.
As far as the National Union of Musicians is concerned, I just want to say I’m really grateful to you because you gave me the first nomination I ever had for a Parliamentary seat. Actually, I wasn’t selected but we won’t go into that…
You’re all absolutely right about the vitality of the creative sector and the economic contribution. And I want to divide what I say into two parts. I want to say something about the economic aspect and then I want to say a little bit also about the intrinsic aspect. Because I think missing the intrinsic aspect is the thing that politicians most frequently do that really winds up people in the sector. I don’t know whether you saw there was a great essay by David Edgar in the Guardian a few months ago that was about this.
It really came home to me, so we’re very good at the numbers but maybe we’re not so good at the messages.
Support and training
Now, I won’t repeat the financial contribution, but I will tell you that we’ve done quite a lot of work on having an economic strategy for the arts. It has 6 elements:
Obviously, in what all of you have described the people are essential to the success of the creative sector. This is true in your sector in a way which is quite different from, let’s say the car industry where technology’s very important, or banking, where let’s say money is very important. In this sector the individual, and what the individual brings to it, is the most important thing.
So the first thing that we need to look at it is whether we are equipping young people properly. And one of the things that we have been campaigning for is to prevent Michael Gove from narrowing the school curriculum and from only measuring Maths and English grammar and those things, and further trying to push to one side drama and painting.
We’re also, as you know, very keen to make sure that young people get the proper support which they need in further and higher education, because brilliant as I’m sure [the Musicians' Union’s] members are, they did need professional training and we do need to make sure that we’ve got a continued stream of people coming through.
The next thing that you’ve spoken about is money. Now there are issues around public money and the cuts, but there’s also the issue, and I guess this might affect the BECTU and the Musicians slightly more, but it’s the issue of access to finance for private firms and for private companies.
And it’s quite clear that we do need to get the City and the banks to concentrate on this. Because it’s a specialist field with particular kinds of risk and this needs to be understood so that people can set up successful companies which can grow and develop over time. So that’s the second part of what we want to do.
The next thing that we’re very hot on is a proper intellectual property regime, which I think you’re all concerned about and we’ve had the conversations with the Googles of this world and we are keen to look at a way to implement the Digital Economy Act, which was passed just before the last Labour government fell.
We’re keen to have am intellectual property regime which works. Now, I’m not going to stand here and say that I’m totally confident that the clauses in the Digital Economy Act as they stand would work, because they’re a bit OTT really. Cutting somebody’s broadband off because their child once illegally downloads some pop music does seem to be a bit sledgehammer and nut.
So, we’re very keen to have a workable solution, and if we look at what’s happened, we’re also keen that the industry itself looks at ways of monetising its product. I think music industry unfortunately has been less successful on this issue than the publishing industry looks as if it’s going to be, but it’s important that we learn from the bad experience that the music industry had on that.
Local authorities and the regions
Now, I’m not going to make a commitment about local authority financing today. That would be an extraordinarily foolish thing to do when I haven’t discussed it with my colleagues in my Communities and Local Government team and Treasury team, but I will take your idea away.
We could also use the Creative Councillors’ Network to take a regional approach. Because there’s another thing we’re keen on: that all culture isn’t within the M25. I mean, I represent a seat in County Durham and it’s just completely impossible.
I did a survey in the summer of my constituents and my party members to ask them what things they would like to do in this area and what things they couldn’t do and what the barriers were. And one of the things that was very interesting was that everybody, virtually everybody, who answered had bought a book. And virtually everybody who answered had been to the cinema, but people would really like to go to the theatre more but they can’t afford the tickets. It’s no good if we add on to the cost of this ticket, a train ticket half way across the country.
Plainly, we have to be doing things in peoples’ communities. And we have to be doing things which, as you were saying, relate to their life experience and their social issues and their particular heritage. I’m a 1000% opposed to the commercialisation and constant Americanisation of our culture.
And we went to see the French Ambassador because the French are actually much more energetic in protecting the French film industry, than we have been traditionally. I went to talk to him to see if we could actually say to them ‘well if we win we’ll buddy up with you’ [to exclude cultural products from the proposed US-EU trade deal]. I think they make a good point because plainly Shakespeare is not like hamburgers and we all know it.
Exporting the arts
Then, there’s the whole issue of pursuing an international strategy to promote Britain overseas but also to get inward investment. The man who invented Downton Abbey who Tories have put into the House of Lords [‘Julian Fellowes!’, yelled the audience], he did actually go on a trade mission but this is a new thing and I think we really want to see the arts and culture taking their place alongside the other industries when we do have overseas trade missions because, it is a very successful industry. One of our big, big, big international strategic competitive advantages is the English language. We are incredibly lucky.
We want to have that as a special strand, the international mileage. We’re absolutely clear that we want to do something about that.
Equality and representation
Also, we’re very concerned about equality of access and opportunity. Harriet [Harman]’s been saying a lot about having middle aged women on telly. As a middle aged women, you know, I think she’s absolutely right.
But there is also a party issue about who is getting access, who is it who can afford for their children to do a three month internship and find somewhere for them to live and all of that? We all know that this is not the way to open up the arts.
And that moves me into the second issue, which is about the intrinsic nature and what we want, because we must have a vibrant sector that is saying something to people about the world in which they live and which is challenging them and which is experimenting and which is doing these things. And the fact of the matter is that if everybody comes from a very comfortable life experience, they are much less likely to be challenging and to be critical, and that we will be a great loss to our national culture, and that’s true in the performing arts, but it’s actually also true in literature, it’s also true in novels. If all that’s ever happened to you is that you’ve been to a very good school, you’ve been very successful and then you’ve been to a university and got a top degree, you haven’t got the same material, have you, for doing things?
The future of change
So, I think this issue about equality of access and opportunity is important… What [New Labour Culture Secretary] Chris Smith managed to do was make free museums such a central part of British cultural life that the Tories have not been able to attack it, and that was a great achievement. That is really significant. So sometimes we really can make progress and root things down, bolt them down so hard, that it is much more difficult for anyone to try and uproot them.
Now it seems to me, that access is good, open access is good, but I think maybe we should be moving. The next thing we should be thinking about is participation because I imagine that the participation bit will be a stronger experience and will be a more transforming experience for people and that the more people and the more possibilities we have to enable people to participate in lots of different ways – the better it will be and the more satisfying their lives will be.
So, that’s really like us to do. Now, I don’t think that’s a very easy thing to do, but that is where I would like us to go after the 2015 election.
Here’s the speech that Cat Hobbs, founder of We Own It, gave at their Unions21 hosted event at Labour Party Conference
“Thank you so much for coming today, it’s great to see you all. I thought I’d start our discussion today by reading you the story of someone who got in touch to support us recently. He wanted to be kept anonymous so let’s call him Dave.
This is what Dave said to us:
“This is probably the single most relevant issue in today’s politics. As far as I am aware the Green party are the only ones who are promoting renationalisation. Which is scary as if the facts were publicised it would surely be a vote winner for any party, demonstrating nicely that policy in all the major parties is driven by party donors and lobbyists not by informed public opinion and definitely not common sense.
If it’s any use to you my personal example of privatisation not working is this:
When I arrive in my lab each morning it generally hasn’t been cleaned properly, some times not at all. I call the Sodexo help desk and report it and then quickly clean anything that is really nasty myself before the first patient arrives. As far as I know Sodexo suffer no penalty for not fulfilling this part of their lucrative hospital cleaning contract and therefore has no interest in improving the service they provide. They continue to make a profit. Meanwhile the taxpayer pays for me, on pay band 7, to mop floors. A very expensive way to do it, especially if you have already paid a cleaner to. Hospital management don’t take any interest as they have already shown a saving on their cleaning services. What a load of BS.”
It’s not just Dave. People all over the country are frustrated about their services being sold off or handed over to companies who don’t care, and don’t deliver.
They are frustrated about high water bills, energy bills and rail fares.
They are frustrated with G4S and Serco being allowed to bid to run probation services while they’re being investigated for defrauding the taxpayer.
They are frustrated that even though many councils are bringing public services back in-house because it works better, others, like Barnet, are locking themselves into 10 year contracts with private companies like Capita. They are doing this against the will of local people, supported by the government’s ‘open public services’ agenda (a bit of lingo that could come straight out of 1984).
Labour has got to do better than this. Not a bit better, by default, because it’s quite easy to be better than this government without even trying. It needs to be a lot better.
We are giving Labour a ready-made solution: start by committing to a Public Service Users Bill, to promote high quality services and give all of us a voice when it comes to how they are run.
Labour is already against Royal Mail privatisation. It should be in favour of giving us a say over whether it happens by requiring public consultation before any public services are privatised or outsourced. Nearly 80% of people would support this.
Many Labour MPs are fighting for East Coast to stay public. It would be logical to require local and national government to look at public ownership best practice whenever they contract out, and put forward an in-house bid when they do. 80% of the public support this idea.
Shadow Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan has committed to applying Freedom of Information legislation to private companies running public services. That’s great but they should also be required to share performance and financial data, and we should have a right to recall them when they do a bad job. Again, 80% of people would support a right to recall, including, surprisingly, 90% of Conservative voters.
Labour wants to increase the role of cooperatives and real mutuals in our economy. It should be prioritising organisations with a social purpose above private companies in the bidding process for our public services.
The Bill we are calling for is feasible and practical. Today we’re asking Labour to commit to it. Do it for Dave. Not Dave Cameron, the other Dave, at the hospital. Actually, do it for Dave Cameron too – to prove that Labour is different, and better.”
Victoria Phillips is head of employment rights at Thompsons Solicitors
The UnionHome Thompsons Solicitors Blog
I am not easily surprised by the double standards of this government, but even I was taken aback by its brazen hypocrisy a few days ago when it invoked ‘protection of personal privacy’ to oppose a European Union cap on bankers bonuses.
The government gets all protective about bankers having to disclose details to the EU of their vast rewards but when it comes to the privacy of more than seven million union members whose names, addresses and personal correspondence it wants powers to access they are not just less fussy, they don’t care.
Part 3 of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill gives the government’s Certification Officer – and potentially hundreds of his staff and contractors – scope to require unions to hand over membership records and private correspondence.
The government is over-riding the right to privacy in the European Convention on Human Rights for millions of union members – while at the same time invoking the very same right to defend a handful of bankers.
If we needed any more evidence of this being a government for the few and not the many, this could hardly make it clearer.
This harmless-sounding legislation on trade union ‘administration’ is being rushed through Parliament after a cursory consultation over the summer, riding roughshod over trade union concerns.
For years now, unions have had to submit annual membership returns to the government’s Certification Officer (CO). It’s been open and transparent, giving union members the right to check the records and complain to the CO if something is wrong – and no one has since 2004.
Under this Bill, the government wants to intrude much further by:
- Requiring unions with more than 10,000 members to appoint an Assurer from among ‘qualified independent persons’ as named or defined by the Government
- Requiring unions to submit an annual ‘Membership Audit Certificate’ (prepared, in the case of those with more than 10,000 members, by an Assurer)
- Giving the Assurer the right to access membership records and require union officers to provide information.
- Giving the CO and CO staff and CO inspectors and Assurers powers to require production of documents and to make copies of them, including individual membership records and private correspondence from ‘anyone who appears…to be in possession of them’ if there is ‘good reason to do so’.
If the bill goes through, literally hundreds of state personnel and contractors will have the power to access the personal information of more than seven million union members.
The TUC has said: “It is not the business of the State to know who is or who is not a trade union member, and where they live”.
But the government is invoking article 8(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to over-ride data protection laws.
That article says the right to privacy can be limited only by ‘the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.’
By implication, the government is saying trade unions are a threat to all these things – and therefore it is okay to do what they propose.
The Bill has come from business secretary Vince Cable’s department, yet again displaying a shocking lack of liberalism from a Liberal Democrat minister – and a complete disregard for internationally recognised privacy and trade union rights.
I hope everyone who values the right to privacy and freedom of association will lobby their MPs to defeat this legislation. For more information: Click here
Should union membership be extended to every un-represented worker?
Rafael Gomez is professor at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto. Alex Bryson is senior research fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics
Two of Canada’s largest unions – the CAW and CEP – have recently merged creating the largest trade union in Canada. Named Unifor, the union comprises over 300,000 workers. Regardless of the merits of such a mega-merger, one idea that has been centre-stage in the new deal is the idea of extending Unifor’s membership privileges to workers who lack workplace representation. The proposal has garnered considerable media attention because of its supposed novelty and applicability to today’s younger, more mobile and precarious workforce. “It’s a thought we have worked on for many years” said CEP president Dave Coles “but we have not been able to get our head[s] around how to do it” This last comment is somewhat surprising given that academics have been writing about this idea for some time and that peering back even further, to the foundations of the labour movement both in North America and in Europe, one finds plenty of examples ‘unaffiliated membership’ (i.e., accepting workers who are favourable to unionisation but who are otherwise not members of any trade union at work).
The idea of extending membership to all workers, even if they fail to have a certified union at their workplace, was actually floated a decade ago by two academics; Richard Freeman (an economist) and Joel Rogers (a sociologist) in a piece published in The Nation titled “A Proposal to American Labor”. In it the authors spell out just how such a proposal could work and be financed for little or no cost given the ease in which the internet – which at that time did not even include social networking sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn — had allowed groups to communicate and share vital information.
Opening up to new members who are in favour of unions (or even neutral about representation) would open up doors to employees who work for an employer in which collective bargaining is not on offer. Freeman and Rogers cleverly termed this idea “open source unionism” (OSU) and argued quite persuasively how this could give labour an immense boost in its leverage and reach as well as gaining strategic information on employer behaviour. For workers without majority status at the workplace, the OSU model would mean access to some of the bread-and-butter services that unions traditionally offer (e.g., advice and support on their legal rights, career guidance, access to training and so on).
Elsewhere we have argued how unionism is and always has been an ‘experiential service’ in the sense that the true benefits of being part of union and having access to the benefits of some form of collective representation are revealed with experience at work and over time. The fact that a worker with access to union services is more likely to have a pension plan, a grievance procedure, more vacation time and family friendly polices is not something obvious. It has to be learned and experienced. The idea of extending some of these privileges to the unrepresented worker can only enhance the view workers have of a ‘union’ job.
The roots of this idea go back to the birth of the labour movement. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, directly affiliating with a union was not only possible but actively encouraged. It is only in the last half-century that labour has become closed in its membership, extending privileges only to those workers where a majority support unionisation and the union is recognized by the employer as the exclusive representative of workers for the purposes of collective bargaining. In the first half of the 21st century that model has come to its nadir, and it’s about time more trade union officials ‘got their heads around that.’ |
EPISODE 12 - The Obenson Report
Sponsored In Part By Act Now Foundation
THE OBENSON REPORT PODCAST on Black Film / Black Cinema @ BLOGTALKRADIO.COM
RECORDED THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH, 2007
TRT 28 Minutes
Hosted by Tambay A Obenson
TOPICS THAT WERE COVERED:
- Weekly Rant:
1.) Remembering Katrina
2.) "Mumblecore Mania" What About OUR Film Movement? My Letter To Filmmaker Magazine & Their Response.
ARE YOU IN? I am!
Simply click on this link, THE OBENSON REPORT, and you will be taken directly to the listening page.
To listen to previous episodes, go to http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/31034 and scroll down to the PAST EPISODES header.
You can also open up iTunes on your computer and search for Obenson Report in the podcast store section. |
Martin Scorsese and innumerable conspirators have struggled for almost three decades to produce Gangs of New York, and yet it is a terrible movie. A hellish horror of failed ambition, it should freeze the blood of any artist who has held too long to a primal obsession and fears that a life's work will be shown up as a Promethean folly.
A colleague I respect thinks it's "the best Western since Unforgiven," and I look forward to his review. But the defenders of Scorsese's poorest pictures of the past decade, like Casino, will surely again sound like minions of a cult, humming Scorsese's praises just because he's Scorsese. (Or was, once upon a time.) Those who give Gangs of New York an "A" for its aspiration will be deceiving themselves about this clotted, overproduced historical epic. As with the preposterous raves for the undernourished Bringing out the Dead, the improvident praise for this clumsy, puerile picture has already begun, with the grand quote courtesan of them all, Rolling Stone's Peter Travers, anointing it his movie of the year.
The violent tale is both simple and unduly complicated: a coming-of-age story in which a young man comes to manhood by seeking revenge against someone who becomes a father figure to him. Personal vendettas play out against a social backdrop that is readily footnoted, but almost impossible to follow on screen. Leonardo DiCaprio, who is joyously carefree in Catch Me If You Can, is a puffy cipher as Amsterdam Vallon, a young man who exits Hellgate House of Reform after 16 years into Civil War-era Manhattan in the Five Points, the nation's most reviled slum. He has one goal: revenge on his father's murderer, gang boss Bill "the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis, an Oscar for whom is suggested by the baroque character of his garb, lingo and epic hamming). They share the love of a damaged young woman, a spirited cutpurse named Jennie Everdeane (Cameron Diaz, who gives a focused performance even when her speeches are schematic). There's a bustle of other characters, particularly well-acted by Brendan Gleeson and also by Jim Broadbent, whose performance, as might be expected, is a marvel of harrumphing complexity as corrupt Boss Tweed.
The dandified result is of the variety David Mamet dismisses as "a pageant." It preens, it postures, its streets are cluttered with props and costumes and Dante Ferretti's lovely battered buildings, yet the characters aren't interesting and its depiction of gang slaughter and the decade's violent Draft Riots are more self-important than self-explanatory. Scorsese's many interviews explaining all his sound and fury are about as relevant as the horribly misguided, redundant voiceover. Blood and capital were spilled, we get that point. But it is all indicated instead of dramatized, willed instead of embodied.
This is chilly work that attempts a hot surface, wanting to be an operatic rendition of a lost era in a defunct neighborhood in Manhattan's dirty, brutal history. In this Sunday's New York Daily News, veteran New York observer Pete Hamill damned any pretense to verisimilitude: "The true tale is part of all our histories, not a simple entertainment, and we ignore it at our own peril."
Whether it were cut to two hours or ran a full three, as an earlier version reportedly did, I cannot imagine the clotted, jerrybuilt form of this grandiloquent disaster to have any emotional impact. Yet the ending manages to be majestic, standing tall above the windy disaster that precedes those transcendent instants.
Scorsese's visual vocabulary is seldom composed of telling images -- note Roman Polanski's upcoming The Pianist, by contrast, for superlative use of capturing meaning through metaphor and telling juxtapositions. Shockingly, Scorsese resorts to editing and image-manipulation techniques that seem drawn more from the grammar of coming attractions trailers rather than the abundant loam of classical cinema in which Scorsese steeps. I'm sure he could tell you what he's quoting, alluding to, paying homage to or attempting to purloin in each sequence, but that is the stuff of DVD commentaries and not of competent storytelling.
Of the ending, it gives nothing away to point out that Scorsese does two things, one with scenery and one with sound, that take the viewer's breath away. I wish Scorsese had made a film as beautiful as those two masterstrokes, as wistful, as heartfelt, as wondrous, as meaningful. That way, I would have cried for 165 minutes instead of only five. |
Ben Ainslie knighted and Cornish charity workers honoured in New Year's Honours list (From Falmouth Packet)
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Ben Ainslie knighted and Cornish charity workers honoured in New Year's Honours list
6:30am Saturday 29th December 2012 in News
Falmouth’s Ben Ainslie has been given a knighthood while Cornish charity workers and business owners have been recognised in the New Year’s Honours list.
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Ainslie, who became the most decorated sailor in the Games’ history with his win this summer, will now be known as Sir Ben.
Ben, who went to school in Truro and learnt to sail at Restronguet, is already a CBE and is one of only four members of Team GB to be given the knighthood.
Among those in Cornwall being decorated is David Williams, managing director of WTW Cinemas, which includes Truro’s Plaza. He is to be made an MBE, for services to regional cinema.
Mr Williams, 65, has been in the industry since 1966 and became managing director in the 70s. In 1996 he took over the Plaza, which had closed, and after extensive refurbishment reopened it in 1998.
Lugina Oates, from Redruth, is also to be an MBE, for services to the community in West Cornwall.
The Portreath Parish Council clerk has spent almost three decades working in the community, with roles over the years including secretary and treasurer of the Friends of Truro Samaritans, secretary for the League of Friends of Trengweath Hospital (later Longreach House) and a fundraiser for Macmillan Nurses.
She has been with the West Cornwall Cancer Friendship Group for more than 20 years, was chairman of the governors for Portreath School, worked with New Connections in Camborne looking after homeless people and has been part of Meals on Wheels for more than two decades.
Finally in this area, American-born Dr Melissa Hardie-Budden has been made an MBE for services to heritage and the arts in West Cornwall.
She helped form the Hypatia Trust that was formed to support and oversee the maintenance, development and protection of the Hypatia Collections first brought together at the Jamieson Library in Newmill, Penzance.
In 1997 Dr Hardie-Budden and her husband Dr Phil Budden donated the majority of their personal collections to the Trust, in the hope they would be used for public benefit.
For the first time in 20 years, British Empire Medals are also being given. These have not been handed out since 1992, but were brought back for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Among the recipients of these will be Alison Bevan, director of Penlee House at Penzance for services to cultural heritage in Cornwall, 84-year-old RSPCA fundraiser Dorothy Fisher from Camborne for services to animal welfare and the community in Cornwall, Amanda Kimmins for services to the community of St Agnes, and 64-year-old Phyllis Madron, fundraiser for the RNLI Penlee and Penzance, for services to maritime safety.
Cornish recipients in the New Year's Honours list
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Dr Melissa Hardie-Budden, services to heritage and the arts in West Cornwall (Penzance)
Lugina Oates, services to the community in West Cornwall (Redruth)
Kevin Penhale, services to border protection (Liskeard)
David Williams, services to regional cinema (Wadebridge)
Medallist of the Order of the British Empire
Lynn Bartlett, services to the community in Polruan (Fowey)
Alison Bevan, services to cultural heritage in Cornwall (Penzance)
Dorothy Fisher, services to animal welfare and the community in Cornwall (Camborne)
Amanda Kimmins, services to the community of St Agnes (St Agnes)
Pamela Richards, services to the community in Foxhole (St Austell)
Barbara Snowling, services to the community in Crafthole (Torpoint)
Phyllis Madron, services to maritime safety (Penzance)
Comments are closed on this article. |
SilverDocs Picks 75 Films for Second-Annual June Festival
by Sandra Ogle
The second-annual SilverDocs, the American Film Institute and Discovery Channel's documentary film festival has finalized its 2004 festival lineup; the festival will be held in Silver Spring, Md. (a suburb of Washington, D.C.) from June 15-20. Marjan Safinia and Joseph Boyle's "Seeds," a portrait of a summer camp in Maine where children from Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan, and other countries brainstorm brighter futures for their countries, will have its world premiere on the festival's opening night. The D.C. premiere of Jehane Noujaim's lauded "Control Room" will be on June 16, followed by a discussion with Noujaim, former Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke, and Al Jazeera journalist Hassan Ibrahim. Another festival highlight is the preview of George Butler's new film, "Tour of Duty," which focuses on Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's war stance.
In its first year, SilverDocs attracted more than 10,000 people during its four-day run and an estimated 20,000 people attended Community Day, the closing event of the festival. This year, seven international and nine U.S. films will premiere among the 75 films selected out of 1,200 submissions. During the festival, 11 of these films will compete for a $25,000 award.
Among the competing features, Rithy Panh's "The People of Angkor" documents the bloody past and hopeful present of natives in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, James Miller's "Death in Gaza" was completed after the filmmaker's death, Carey Schonegevel's "Original Child Bomb" revisits the atomic bombings in Japan through experimental filmmaking, and Jan Krawitz's "Big Enough" examines how dwarfs adapt to an average-sized world.
In the World View section, films include Liz Mermin's "The Beauty School of Kabul," Zana Briski & Ross Kauffman's "Born into Brothels," Tim Nackashi & David Sampliner's "Dirty Work," David Ofek's "No. 17," Murray Nossel's "Paternal Instinct," and more. The On the Road section will screen Jon Muir & Ian Darling's "Alone Across Australia," Reinhard Wulf's "James Benning: Circling the Image," Paul Stekler's "Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style," and Nina Davenport's "Parallel Lines." SilverDocs will also offer three shorts film programs, in addition to shorts playing with features.
"SilverDocs celebrates the creativity and passion of independent filmmakers and their power to make us think, alter our perspective, and expand our world view," said festival director Patricia Finneran in a prepared statement.
Symposium screenings, featuring both filmmakers and documentary experts, will be held each day of the festival. The second-annual Charles Guggenheim Symposium will honor two-time Academy Award winning director Barbara Kopple. A screening of her 1976 film "Harlan County USA," about the hardships endured by 180 coal mining families during a year-long labor strike, will be screened prior to the symposium's panel discussion featuring Kopple's mentor Al Maysles, a leader in the cinema verite movement. On June 18, a "drive-in" screening of Dick Rude's Joe Strummer doc "Let's Rock Again!" will be held outdoors followed by live music.
Richard Pena, director of the New York Film Festival and program director for the Film Society of Lincoln Center, will serve as chair of the festival jury. The festival will be held in the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, a restored 1938 art deco theater, in downtown Silver Spring.
The SilverDocs International Documentary Conference will be held concurrently from June 16-18, bringing together filmmakers, funders, programmers, and other industry executives for networking sessions, master classes, panel discussions and more.
More information can be found at http://www.silverdocs.com. |
I was shaped by the heroic religious films of the 1950s and 60s. The powerful messages of epic movies like Ben Hur, Quo Vadis and The Robe planted within my young Christian heart an awareness of nobility and radical self-sacrifice.
About twenty years ago, I spent a year doing graduate work in education. One of my Educational Psychology classes was taught by a professor who was a devotee of Transactional Analysis. I don’t recall too much about TA, aside from one of its principles that resonated with me.
It’s a concept called Life Scripts. Without going into great detail, it is an often subconscious notion of how we “think” our lives will or should play out. It’s adjusted throughout our lives, but the basic theme is established when we are quite young.*
A recent article says “script is broadly understood as a series of decisions, formed as coping strategies in childhood, which continue to shape the life course outside of awareness.”**
It was only as an adult that I realized just how significant an impression these virtuous stories made on me. I recalled the countless times I lay in bed at night rehearsing the story of The Robe. I was the unbelieving Roman soldier, converted by the gentle witness of the wrongfully persecuted Christians.*** Ultimately, I took my stand with them, defending them and voluntarily laying down my life for Christ.
That same plot line still echoes through my mind and soul.
I consider myself blessed to have been exposed to such positive influences while my self identity was being shaped. And I pray for children today whose parents allow them to be exposed (at terribly vulnerable ages!) to violent, fearful and morally ambiguous influences.
Those precious minds and hearts are scarred by the vulgarity and immorality that are endemic in modern cinema, television and music. May God have mercy on them.
C.S. Lewis lived during the era when the virtuous dramas such as those named above were at the peak of their influence.
In a diary entry from the mid-1920s, he mentions Quo Vadis in passing. He is describing his weekend schedule.
Saturday 22 April: Got up about 6.30 and did the same jobs as yesterday. Was settled to work by 9.5 o’clock and put in an excellent morning . . . Sheila Gonner—jolly child—came to tea. Dorothy is to come back tomorrow: so we shall no longer be servantless. At her request I lent her my crib to Tacitus’ History for her sister Rose— I wonder what makes her imagine that she would like it? Possibly early Christian novels of the Quo Vadis type. Worked again after tea, and from supper till ten o’clock, finishing Herodotus. The last few pages of the IXth Book I now read for the first time, having got tired of it on my first reading . . .
I find this diary passage intriguing, in the way that Lewis posits a reader’s potential interest in classical literature as arising from their exposure to ancient Rome via contemporary novels. That’s precisely where my own lifelong fascination with the Roman empire was born.
If you’ve never seen these three movies, I commend them to you. I would also encourage you to consider reading one or all of the novels. They are available for free download in various digital formats.
* I’m a pastor and historian, not a psychologist, so I don’t pretend to understand all of the implications. Because of that, I don’t endorse TA as a fully valid theory. What’s more, in our fallen world it’s obvious that many early “life scripts” can be based on wounds inflicted on neglected or abused children. In such cases, particularly where the scripts are destructive, we are not “destined” to live out a tragedy. By the grace of God, even the saddest of stories can be redeemed and “rewritten” into tales of hope and wonder.
** From “Script or Scripture?” by Jo Stuthridge in Life Scripts edited by Richard Erskine (Karnac Books, 2010).
*** It didn’t hurt that the main Christian disciple in the film was the lovely and chaste Diana, played by the British actress Jean Simmons. But that’s another story, and it’s important to note that these life scripts are pre-pubescent creations, so they are motivated by much deeper impulses than hormones. As the previously footnoted quotation referred to them, they are fundamentally “coping strategies” for survival in the calm (or frequently turbulent) world in which children find themselves. |
- Position Type : Year Round
- Start Date : October-17-12
September 26, 2012
TIFF, a vibrant not-for-profit arts organization, is accepting applications for the casual part-time position of:
This will be an exciting year for TIFF as we present unique programming in our new home and the world's premiere centre for film, TIFF Bell Lightbox. We are seeking a highly motivated individual who wants to be part of a new era in Toronto's cultural history.
Usher/Concessions Attendants prepare and serve Popcorn and other concession items including hot and cold drinks, candies and baked goods. Usher/Concession Attendants also provide direction to visitors, maintain the cleanliness of the theatres and lobby areas and present a professional image of TIFF. Usher/Concession Attendants report to the Cinema Manager.
• Represent TIFF Bell Lightbox to visitors.
• Ensure that all visitors present a ticket before entering ticket events or areas. Collect and process ticket stubs.
• Prepare and serve a variety of concession items.
• Accurately process cash, credit and debit transactions.
• Prepare accurate deposit and inventory reports.
• Provide an excellent and personal Customer Service Experience to all visitors to TIFF Bell Lightbox.
• Maintain cleanliness of concession and lobby areas.
• Reliably arrive prepared and on time for scheduled shifts.
• Maintain knowledge of TIFF Bell Lightbox programming and events.
• Provide complete Customer Service resolving any complaints or escalating to a manager.
• Perform a variety of specialized assigned tasks including Cinema Usher, Coat Check, Information Usher, Concession Cash, Runner and Mobile Concessions Stand.
• Provide support to third party events and partner festivals as required.
• Complete assigned tasks effectively and promptly.
Start Date: October 17th, 2012
• Adaptable to a flexible work schedule including evenings and weekends.
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• Film knowledge an asset.
• Due to the nature of some of the programming at TIFF Bell Lightbox all applicants must be 18 years of age or older.
Please submit cover letter, resumé and the names and phone numbers of 3 references attached as a PDF or Word document (we do not accept Cloud hosting or File Sharing programs), by 5pm on October 8th BY EMAIL ONLY to the attention of Hiring Committee: Usher/Concessions Attendant
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21. Shrieking Spiders
"It is his fault, father." Aralith began. "I know it is. Who else lets spiders into the palace!"
: Spiders? : Legolas thought with confusion. "What spiders?" he asked feeling slight exasperation rise in him. What had he said about spiders lately? He thought he was here because of Bilbo.
"It seems," Thranduil interrupted before Aralith could give vent to his own ire. "That Aralith is being.uh, followed by a spider. Here in the palace. Do you know anything about this, Legolas?"
"Of course not. Gwibess wouldn't follow him around."
Aralith glared at him.
"You are the only one who seems to want them in the palace. How many of them are there?" He asked in an accusing tone. He truly didn't like having his fear ever before him and wanted the stalking to end. He shuddered involuntarily, eyes darting about the room wondering where the spider was right now.
Legolas frowned again. He had no idea how many of them there were or for that matter where they were. He didn't even know where Gwibess was. Then he thought back to his father's face the morning after the "Dread Pipeweed Incident", perfectly made up. The other spiders. He swallowed. Were they still here?
"Are we remembering now, little Greenleaf?" Thranduil asked, a rather too bland expression on his face. He, too, was wondering if Aralith's spider was one of the ones that had decorated his face with berry juice.
The youngest Mirkwood prince grimaced.
"I .I really don't know how many there are. But I didn't let them in! Father, you know I wouldn't do that!"
"Do I?" Thranduil raised one elegant eyebrow. "Well, you are going to let them out. Today! Go find Tavor and Brethil and get them out of here."
Legolas sighed and nodded. At least his father hadn't mentioned Bilbo. Perhaps Thranduil would forget about Bilbo if they could make the spider chase an interesting enough tale.
Aralith scowled at him, folding his arms over his chest.
"And make sure they take them far from here, Father." He said smugly.
"Make sure they take them far from here?" Thranduil said, turning to his middle son. "But you are going with them, Aralith."
A strangled cry emitted from his throat and Aralith turned imploringly to his father.
"But.but you can't send me with them!" he began.
"I can and I am. It is time you faced up to your fears and conquered them. This seems a good place to start. A prince of Mirkwood afraid of spiders indeed." Thranduil looked quite pleased with his solution to the spider problem and watched his sons smugly.
Legolas tried to hide his own satisfied smile as he whispered: "The king is wise and good." But Thranduil noted it and turned to him.
"And little Greenleaf. When the spiders have been taken care of, you are to come find me. And by then you had better have a good answer to this question: Who is Bilbo?"
Stifling a groan Legolas left the room, followed by a muttering Aralith.
"This is all your fault, little brother." Aralith hissed. "We had better find that monster fast!" He shuddered and glanced down the torch lit hall. "I can't take this any more. I hate spiders!"
Legolas shook his head.
"Go get your bow and meet us by our old tree house."
"My bow?!" He gasped. "Alone? You want me to go to my room alone?!"
Mirkwood's youngest prince turned to look at his brother. He could see the dread and fear in the dark blue eyes. He almost felt sorry for him. But not quite enough. How many times had the roles been reversed? How many times had Aralith tormented him about Silivren Hithlain Man? He laughed.
"Yes. Alone. Unless you are afraid the big bad spider it going to get you first. Where is your Magic Spider Spray, big brother?""
Aralith narrowed his eyes.
"Very well, Legolas the Sparkly Green! At least I still have all my hair!" With that he spun away toward his room, ignoring the fear that hammered in his heart.
Legolas' fingers strayed to his hair.
"Ai, Valar." He moaned. "When will all this end? Why did we ever think taming Gwibess was a good thing! Wild spiders loose in the palace! Taking father's jewelry and robes. And then I will have to make up something about Bilbo." He shook his head. "I wish those Dwarves had never come to Mirkwood. I wonder why they did. And to think Bombur doesn't want to leave." His eyes widened. What could that mean? He frowned trying to remember exactly what he and Bilbo had been discussing. It had been about the Dwarves. Bombur didn't want to leave, and Gloin was thrilled with the Warrior braid that resided by his heart. And the song they had sung: the barrel song. "I hate that song." He whispered, walking down the hallway toward the magic doors. And then they had spoken of the empty barrels floating down the river. And the water-gate. Bilbo had seemed to be particularly interested in that part of the conversation. And then the island of the Men. And the Dragon in Erebor. Piece by slow piece the puzzle fell into place in his mind. "Oh, no!" he groaned. "Bilbo is going to free the Dwarves! Oh, no. And I know about it! Ai, Valar! I know about it!! I don't want to know. I don't want to know.I don't want to know! No! That can't be it! That can't! It.It is something else! Yes. He isn't going to free the Dwarves.he really isn't.he really." he groaned. "He really is. He is.and Father is going to ask me all about it.Elbereth help me! I can't afford another attack of Brethilitis!" Then slowly a twisted grin crossed his face. "Maybe a spider will get me first. Yes. That would solve everything. A spider bite! Yes! I will have to get one of them to bite me. Yes! That is the solution!"
Several Elves glanced in concern at their prince as he passed out the magic doors, muttering to himself about spider bites.
Remmith, Hiwdil, and Cablas had found an unused storage room that they had made their own. Since Remmith had acquired Aralith as a Master, the other two felt they didn't need one, since this one gave them anything they asked for. Many sparkling things adorned their room and several soft, glowing robes adorned their large bloated bodies.
"Who needs Masters?" They creaked happily, fondling their treasures.
"I think Gwibess is foolish to have Masters." Hiwdil said, stroking his long violet robe, his many eyes riveted on the silver, gold, and green stitching on the hem and the sleeves. "I look very nice. Perhaps I should be the Aran. [king] I wonder how loud I can be."
Cablas and Remmith exchanged skeptical glances.
"Why would you want to be the Aran of the shining ones?" Cablas asked, holding up a mithril chain with a smooth white stone dangling from it.
"THEN I COULD HAVE ALL THE SPARKLY THINGS AND SOFT ROBES FOR MYSELF! How was that?" He looked at his two fellow arachnids, grinning, fangs flashing.
They winced at the unexpected shriek and stopped their ears with their front legs.
"You have a lot now." Cablas said. "Remmith's new Master brings us everything we want. And I don't think the shining ones would like one of us as their Aran. They hate us!"
"And besides that," Remmith commented, lowering his legs. "You weren't nearly as loud as Thrumb Dumb."
"I wasn't?" He cleared his throat. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I WASN'T AS LOUD AS THRUMB DUMB!!?? Was that better?" He smiled hopefully.
Remmith shook his furry head and put on an emerald necklace.
"Not nearly as loud."
"HOW ABOUT NOW!!!"
"Not yet." Cablas commented dryly wondering how long they would have to listen to Hiwdil trying to out-shriek Mirkwood's Aran.
"What is that?" Tavor asked, hearing a rather high pitched sound bounce down the corridor they were walking in as they hunted for the wayward spiders.
"Spiders!" Aralith shrieked and jumped forward to grab Tavor's arm, his dark blue eyes wide with terror.
Tavor grimaced and shook his hand off.
"Really, Prince Aralith." He said, shaking his head with disbelief. "You should learn to control yourself. Honestly."
"Just as you controlled yourself when you called my father immature and a spoiled child? Or when you tamed a spider? A spider?!" Aralith shot back.
Tavor turned to stare at him.
"How do you know what I said?" He asked, his face reddening.
"I know a lot of things. The three of you never control yourselves! You always do things without thinking. That is why we are here hunting spiders! In the palace!"
Brethil stared at him and shook his head.
"We are really sorry about that spider, Prince Aralith. Honestly, we don't know where it came from. Gwibess is a harmless spider. She would never hurt anyone. She is really rather sweet for a spider. And she looks so cute in Legolas sparkly green robes from the feasts. And when she puts on the jewelry we gave her - well, your father doesn't look as pretty as she does! And well, it is true that we were going to use her to scare you, but-"
"Shut up, Brethil!" Tavor and Aralith hissed.
Only Legolas remained silent. He was still wondering how he could manage to get a spider to bite him.
This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author. |
Archive for the ‘Film’ Category
I’ve decided to release a free ebook (a pamphlet, really): TWO ESSAYS ON JERRY LEWIS. The book contains, unsurprisingly, two essays I have recently written on Jerry Lewis. The first essay is about his final self-directed feature film, Smorgasbord (retitled Cracking Up by the distributor). It appeared in the online film journal La furia umana, but it is currently unavailable due to website restructuring. The second essay, “The Jerry Lewis Assemblage,” takes off from a scene in Lewis’ film The Patsy in order to give a more general discussion of the mechanisms of his comedy (and how Lewis provides us with a synthesis of Henri Bergson and Karl Marx). This essay will be appearing in a book on Lewis edited by Toni D’Angela (the editor in chief of La furia umana). I am putting the two essays together here, in the hope that they will be read more widely. Consider it as part of my ongoing effort to help Jerry Lewis — a comedian and filmmaker more recognized in Europe than at home in America — fully gain the recognition he deserves as one of the great artists of world cinema.
The ebook is available for free download:
Joseph Kahn’s Detention (2011) is one of the best new films I have seen in the last several years. I have given a talk on it several times, and I have been meaning to write a polished, academic article or chapter about it. But I am too busy with other things this summer (namely, finishing my book on Speculative Realism and Whitehead). So what follows is basically an infodump of my disconnected and unpolished notes about the film. If this inspires any one else to see it, then I will feel that I have done my job.
[WARNING: MY DISCUSSION UNAVOIDABLY CONTAINS LOADS OF SPOILERS]
Detention mashes together multiple genres, including slasher horror and science fiction, with intimations of softcore porn; but it is mostly comedic, and it remains true to the general format of the teen/highschool comedy. It is hard even to describe the plot of the movie. It is extremely convoluted; and in addition, everything happens at a breakneck pace. The commentary on the DVD notes that (contrary to the usual practice) the filmmakers deliberately did not leave in any empty time for the audience to react to the jokes. There is more to be said — which I haven’t quite worked out yet — about the sheer speed of the film. To me, Detention is the perfect antidote to the current academic fad for “slow cinema” — which to my mind is a reactionary and reactive aesthetic move, wrongly championed as a form of “resistance.”
In the opening sequence of Detention, Taylor (Alison Woods), the most popular girl in Grizzly Lake High School, addresses the camera directly, boasting to the audience about her awesome life; at which point, she is attacked and killed by somebody dressed as “Cinderhella,” the slasher in a horror film series popular with the students.
The second sequence introduces us to our actual hero(ine), Riley (Shanley Caswell). She complains about how pathetic everything in her life is. She is the second most dorky student ever to attend Grizzly Lake High School. Fortunately, there was once someone who was even dorkier: the girl who went down on the school mascot, the enormous statue of a bear, nineteen years earlier. But Riley never seems to get anything right. She’s in love with Clapton Davis (Josh Hutcherson), the most popular boy in the school; but he regards her as just a friend; so she is always the awkward third wheel at any social gatherings. As she walks to school on the morning the film begins, she even gets robbed of her iPod by a lame hipster — that just shows us how low she feels.
The elimination of the bitch/powerful character, which allows for the ascension of the timid or dorky one, is a staple of teen comedy and drama. But here it leads to the turning inside-out of affective regimes; a turn from irony to what the film itself calls “post-irony.” Thus: At the climax of the film, the “Cinderhella” killer reveals who he is, even as he is attacking and trying to kill Riley. The two exchange one-liners. She tells him how lame it is that he dresses up as a movie character. He replies: “Read a book — it’s called post-irony.”
Actually, I find this profound. There was a time when we found slasher films scary (say, the time of Halloween, 1978). Then, we became so familiar with the rules that we could only enjoy a slasher film ironically and self-referentially, “in quotation marks” (this is the moment of Scream, 1996, and all its sequels). This is the same time when postmodern academic theorists were reading Baudrillard, and deploring the alleged “death of the real.”
But today, the situation has changed. For now we know that all those citations and remediations and so on and so forth are themselves altogether real, part of The Real. The exacerbated irony of the “postmodern” 1990s eventually imploded into what we can see today as a multifaceted immanence. We have moved on frrom Baudrillard’s “death of the Real” to Laruelle’s sense of radical immanence, or the Real as One. Irony is dead, not because of some supposed “new sincerity,” but because all the hierarchies of reflection have collapsed. Today, there can be no ontological privileging of referentiality and self-referentiality. There is simply no difference between reality and the mediatic representation of that reality, because the latter is itself entirely real, in exactly the same way that what it ostensibly represents is real. Hyperrealism has been transformed into Bazinian or Laruellian realism. I am taking this formula from John Mullarkey’s recent article, “The Tragedy of the Object.” Mullarkey says: “Neither the observer nor even the film can be taken any more as pictures of reality: they are (in) reality. The film’s frame does not contain the film in isolation from the Real, but diffuses it into the Real.” Detention is one of the first films to express and register this shift. (Arguably Leos Carax’s Holy Motors, which was made at almost the same moment as Detention, is also a film that expresses and registers this shift. In the horror genre, Cabin in the Woods addresses the same situation, but to my mind far less interestingly).
But let’s get back to the plot of the film. Everything in Detention is so ridiculous, and yet so well and carefully articulated, that it almost seems like the movie is a parody of the “Screenwriting 101″ rule that everything has to be motivated, and all the loose ends must be tied up by the end of the movie. If you show a gun in Act One, they say, it has to go off in Act Three. For example: I mentioned how Riley had said, at the beginning, that fortunately she was only the second dorkiest student ever to attend Grizzly Lake. But it turns out, by the end of the film, that Riley was herself that girl. There is a time-travel device hidden inside the bear, which allows Riley to travel from 2011 (the present time of the film) to 1992; but when she tries to return to her own time, the mechanism gets stuck, and she has to tug at the lever to make it work, which places her in that apparent blow-job position.
What’s more, we also learn at this point in the film that the photograph of Riley apparently going down on the bear, which has circulated through the school ever since, was taken by a student named Elliott Fink (Walter Perez), who we met earlier in the film when he was in detention. In fact, Elliott has been in detention every day for nineteen years, ever since he took the photo — and he has not grown any older in those nineteen years. We now learn that it is because he took the picture that he was sent to detention in the first place; the 1992 principal was adamant that he be punished for being a “pornographer.” I should note that, in the course of the film, Riley herself gets accused by the school’s uptight principal (Dane Cook) of being a “porn star,” because, due to a “wardrobe malfunction” at a party, her breast gets momentarily exposed, an event that is of course video-recorded on somebody else’s phone and uploaded to the Internet.
Everything in Detention is like that: the plot of the movie is excessive and hilariously insane, but every last detail is tied together in the manner of a purely classical narrative. Indeed, there are many ways in which the movie combines old with new. Despite all the post-irony and post-post-modernism, we are still very strongly invited to identify with, and root for, the main character, Riley. As in so many teen movies, the dork/misfit character is valorized, and finally triumphs. Despite her many humiliations, Riley eventually succeeds in her passage through and beyond adolescent anguish. Her attempted suicide is averted: she tries to hang herself, but realizes that she wants to live after she is attacked by Cinderhella. Riley doesn’t overcome dorkiness so much as she becomes happy with it; by the end of the film, she has dispatched the slasher, and she even gets Clapton, the guy she was pining for all along.
So the film asks us to identify with Riley, and to enjoy her triumph at the end. To this extent, Detention offers us a traditional sort of subjective identification. (Of course, classical Hollywood had us identify with men much more than with women; but comedy was always a genre where female characters were able to hold their own — just think if Bringing Up Baby, where Katherine Hepburn manages to get the man of her dreams, an extremely silly but wonderful Cary Grant).
But what sort of subjectivity is this that we are being offered in Detention? We cannot really say that the film endorses authenticity, as opposed to cultural stereotypes. For it seems to go out of its way to suggest that everything we think or do is a cultural stereotype. The movie evidently prefers certain stereotypes to others, but it does not suggest that there is any position outside of all these stereotypes, defined as they are by how you dress, who you hang out with, what music you listen to, etc. Authenticity (if that is even the right word any longer) only exists within the stereotypes, within the incessant rhythms of cultural circulation. This is a new way in which subjectivity is embedded in the social, or in culture: in reality television, in pop music, in uploaded viral videos. Detention, embraces this situation, explores it, and tries to think about what it might mean. The movie, therefore, is not a critique in the traditional sense — though this suggests to me, not a failure of the film, but the inadequacy of traditional notions of critique.
Here’s another intuition I have, that needs to be thought out more fully and expanded: There is an equivalence (or an identity in the One, Laruelle would say) between the short-circuiting of reflexivity in what I am inclined to see for various reasons as the “nonphenomenological perception” associated with new media in terms of form, and the extended circuits of networked pop culture in terms of content.
Beyond these general comments, there are three sequences in Detention that I would like to discuss in detail:
The first is when Riley is at a low point. Almost everything that could have gone wrong for her, has. She has failed in love and failed at suicide. The police won’t believe her when she tells them that she has been twice attacked by Cinderhella. Her stint as the actual school mascot (wearing a bear costume) has ended ignominiously with the star of the football team puking all over her, after revealing that he has undergone a transformation reminiscent of Jeff Goldblum’s in Cronenberg’s The Fly. She has lost the school debate, where her ardent plea for vegetarianism was ridiculed by a meat-eating Canadian exchange student. The principal has just chewed her out for being a “porn star.” And so on. Riley sits despondently in the school gymnasium, while behind her wrestling practice is going on: two guys trying out all sorts of holds and flips and falls on one another. Riley sits in a heart-to-heart with a 30-something male teacher, why sympathetically tries to get her to reorient her chakras. “There’s always a new way of looking at each other,” he tells her, quoting the words of a “wise man,” Deepak Chopra. (Not everyone will find this hilarious; but I do).
Caught up in the moment, Riley starts coming on to the teacher. Our identification with Riley is both reinforced by the closeups of her, and disrupted by the wrestling in the background. In the conversation, we go from closeup shot reverse shots to the two of them in the same shot facing each other (with the wrestling precisely positioned in the space between them). Riley and the teacher embrace: we see this from behind him. Yhe camera moves in closer to Riley’s face as she starts to feel for him, then down his back following her hand as she caresses his back. Riley then puts her hand on the teacher’s thigh. He gently removes her hand, then gets up and walks towards the exit door — where his boyfriend is waiting for him; they kiss on the lips, and the boyfriend claps him on the ass as they exit together.
Then we see Riley’s reaction shot, as the camera moves back from the two men kissing to Riley sitting alone, and closes in on her facial expression, which changes from initial startlement to a broad smile. It is indeed the case, quite unexpectedly, that “there’s always a new way of looking at each other.” As Riley comes to this recognition, we follow the process of a movement of self-disidentification. For this is indeed the turning point of the film. Riley moves out of the self-pitying narcissism that has been her problem up to this point, and to a new understanding.and a new ability to do things actively. Something has changed, or broken free, within her.
I’m not sure I can articulate what the wrestling has to do with this moment of illumination, but the scene wouldn’t have worked without it. (Indeed, on the commentary track of the DVD Joseph Kahn says that he first shot the scene without the wrestling, but it just didn’t work until the counterpoint of the wrestlers was added in. Here, at least, absurdism doesn’t destroy emotion, but punctuates it and makes it seem more, well, real).
The second moment that I want to discuss takes place when the students are in detention, in the school library on a Saturday (it’s reminiscent of Breakfast Club, in yet another of Detention‘s many cinematic and pop-cultural allusions). Suddenly all the other students notice somebody sitting in the circle with them who they don’t recognize. It’s Elliott Fink, who I’ve mentioned already: the guy who has been in detention every day for nineteen years, without ever growing a day older. As he tells his story, the camera moves back in time with him, from 2011 back to 1992. It does this by going around in a circle; Elliott is always sitting there, dressed in a hoodie and working out equations on his desk by cutting them into the wood with a knife. The students in detention all sit in the same postures and places — but with different clothing styles, accompanied by changing songs on the soundtrack, as we regress from 2011 back to 1992. Only Ellliot remains the same.
What can we say about this sequence that moves back in time in the course of a (seemingly) single shot? I want to suggest that this scene suggests some important things about cinematic temporality. But that requires a theoretical detour.
Deleuze writes that “it is a mistake to think of the cinematographic image as being by nature in the present” (Cinema 2, 105). And he goes on to describe how, in Orson Welles, depth of field produces a profondeur of time as well as space; where pre-Wellesian flashbacks merely depict past moments when they were present, Welles’ explorations in depth of field present us with the past in its (Bergsonian or Proustian) pastness (105-116). Later directors of the time-image, most notably Alain Resnais, continue with this exploration of the past, in and as depth.
Today, however, we are no longer in the realm of Deleuze’s time-image, or of high modernist pastness and duration. David Rodowick complains that the digital lacks duration; I want to suggest that his intimation is correct, without accepting his nostalgic despair over what he is only able to regard as a loss. We have gone beyond the time image, to something else. Our problem is to determine the nature of this something else; to create a concept that is adequate to the current digital regime of audiovisual images, in the same way that Deleuze’s movement image (with time as the indirect measure of the primary movements of bodies in space, or in narrative) works to describe the form of classical cinema, and his time image (with duration freed into its own autonomy, and presented directly to the spectator) works to describe the form of modernist cinema (the French New Wave, the New Hollywood, etc.).
Several critics have recently made important suggestions along these lines, proposing candidates for a third sort of Deleuzian “image.” Patricia Pisters proposes what she calls the neuro-image, associated both with the multiplication of screens in digital culture, with the Eternal Return as an irruption of the future into the present, and with the increased importance of the nonhuman or the cosmic in cinema and in culture more generally. And Nick Davis proposes what he calls the desiring-image, active in recent queer cinema.
I would like to propose my own candidate for a third, digital regime of audiovisual images, although I don’t have a good name for it yet. I want to suggest that the Elliot Fink sequence in Detention gives us an exemplary figuration of what this third regime, currently still in process of emergence, might be like. Instead of penetrating back into the past through the exploration of depth of field, Kahn gives us a superficial or lateral movement, without deep focus, in the form of a repeated circling, a multiple-360-degree tracking shot. What we have here is a kind of “spatialized” conception of the past: exactly the sort of thing that Bergson and Deleuze disliked. It is like a Moebius strip: there is no depth, and no “other side.” If a modernist literary reference is needed, we might think less of Proustian duration than of Mallarmé’s “Un peu profond ruisseau calomnié la mort” (“a shallow stream, much maligned, death”). There is sort of an infinite superficiality of time. I am still trying to work out the implications of this different approach to time and space; but I want to insist that it is not a mere regression back to the movement image; and that it has its own expressive powers, and shouldn’t been seen in the negative terms that Bergson and Deleuze (and Rodowick) use when they discuss spatialization.
This conceptualization of time seems to have more to do with 21st-century informatics, and beyond that, with 20th-century physics, than it does with psychological interiority. “Selves” are defined by things like clothing styles and musical preferences — these are infinitely swappable, but the same spatial configuration underlies them. This doesn’t mean that the teens don’t have real feelings — but it does have to do with the gap between affects that cannot really be spoken, and the data that nonetheless work to express them. It also suggests the multiple scales of modern physics: from the microscale of quantum mechanic to the macroscale of general relativity — as well as the idea that the universe is ultimately composed of nothing but digital information (as the physicist John Wheeler famously said: “it from bit”).(It is worth noting that, quite hilariously, all the classes in the high school seem to involve graduate-level quantum physics). I myself do not believe that everything is information; but it is certainly the common assumption of our digital age.
I should briefly mention that there are other instances of this new audiovisual “image” throughout the film. For instance, the credit sequence near the beginning involves a tracking shot down the main corridor of the high school. When the various 2011 students go back in time to 1992, we get a formally identical tracking shot, in the same location — though of course with different contents (different students, different fashions, different music, etc). I also haven’t yet worked through my ideas about the time travel body swapping section of the film: a mother and daughter swap bodies, so that the mother becomes a teenager again in 2011, while her daughter goes back to 1992 and becomes her mom back then, at her current age; and possibly even becomes pregnand, so that she will be able to give birth to herself. (To work this out, I think I will need to consult David Wittenberg’s recent book on time travel narratives).
In any case, I wanted to conclude with a brief mention of the third sequence in Detention that I found especially interesting. This is also when the students are in detention. They don’t know who the killer is yet; and in order to figure out his next move, they figure that they need to see the next film in the Cinderhella slasher series. But the new movie hasn’t been released yet. No matter; they are able to use a cell phone in order to access a work print that has been pirated on the Net. They view a scene of young people seated in a circle much like themselves, who try to figure out just how they are in danger by watching a pirated film on the Net. And in that film… well, the same thing happens, down to four levels of self-referentiality.
There is nothing more familiar at this point (as I have already mentioned) than modernist and postmodernist self-reflexivity, or fractal self-similarity at multiple scales. But Detention turns this whole idea into a joke. It proclaims, not infinite meta-levels, but rather the collapse of any meta-level. The reason for this is that the image quality progressively degrades as we move into the past, from one meta-movie into another. People watch on a cell phone a movie of people watching a movie on a desktop computer, in which the people watch a movie on q VHS tape. As we go back in time, the image quality degrades, and the movie productions themselves become cheesier and cheesierRather than self-reproducing, everything ultimately fuzzes out in an analog manner. We regress through the history of slasher horror films, and back to its coincidence with what looks like Italian softcore porn of the 1970s, something like an inadvertent collaboration between Dario Argento and the early John Waters. (I was also reminded of a film made after Detention: Berberian Sound Studio). I think that this sequence, by pushing the mise en abime to the point of its reductio ad absurdam, works as a reproach BOTH to postmodernist pop-culture’s ironic self-referentiality (as in the Scream films), AND to postmodernist highbrow-theory’s valorization of the infinite mise-en-abîme as ultimate expression of the simultaneous necessity and inescapability of self-reflexivity (as in Derrida). Once again, we have a new presentation of time: one that is neither simply past, nor simply present, nor a Deleuzian or deconstructionist “past that never has been present.” How do we conceive this new “image” (really, an audio-visual presentation, rather than just a visual one) of time? I think that this is someplace where the artists really are ahead of the philosophers. We need somebody to do for Joseph Kahn (and other innovative contemporary directors) what Deleuze did for Welles, Resnais, and Antonioni.
This post has already gone on long enough, so I will leave matters hanging there. — Or better, I will end my account with Riley’s decisively non-nihilistic words at the end of the film, after she has come through all this madness: “”The only way to change the past is to change the present… It’s just high school, it’s not the end of the world.”
Audiovisually speaking, SPRING BREAKERS is utterly ravishing. It is so gorgeous as to negate or suspend the uneasiness one might legitimately feel about 1)the use of GIRL POWER as an alibi to empower a straight white dude’s jerk-off fantasy; & 2)the “wanna-be-black” fantasy by means of which straight white dudes compensate for (supplement, in the Derrida sense) their own feelings of impotent inferiority by adopting, with a vengeance, the most viciously racist stereotypes of “black masculinity” that our culture currently likes to circulate. I notice these things, but I am helplessly & successfully disarmed by Harmony Korine’s relentless audiovisual seduction: the sunsets, the colors, the slow-motion, the breasts, the throbbing but sublimated yearning of the electro score, the intellectual montage that layers Britney over thuggery, and gorgeous beaches over willful stupidity, the heartfelt spirituality of Selena Gomez’s voiceovers. with the mantra-like repetitions of her monologues and other fragments of dialogue… All this as an almost didactic demonstration of the way that, in our neoliberal culture, there is no distinction whatsoever between hedonism and self-help, or between transgression and hypernormativity.
Here is my response to the SCMS panel this afternoon on “primordigital cinema,” with talks by Jonathan Freedman, Richard Grusin, and Selmin Kara. Grusin’s paper is available at http://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/post-cinematic-affect-scms-march-9-2013/.
All three of these papers point to ways in which the new is never entirely new, but always involves a return to – and what Grusin calls a remediation of – the old. Technological transformation calls forth what Grusin in his paper calls atavism. Digital technologies have at this point entirely displaced the older technological bases of the cinema; this has led both to new forms and new sorts of content, but also to the surprising revival of older forms, contents, and techniques. Sometimes these revivals and remediations involve a nostalgic hearkening back to what has been displaced or lost; but at other times, we may see them as necessary or unavoidable consequences of the very process of social and technological change. All three of these papers consider, and shed interesting light upon, such mixed cases.
I think that Marshall McLuhan still provides us with the best framework for understanding such transformations. So I will use McLuhan’s schema in order to consider what we have learned from these three papers. McLuhan identified four tendencies, or what he called “laws of media”: four ways in which a new medium, technology artifact relates to its environment. This environment consists, in fact, of the older media, technologies, and artifacts that are in process of being displaced by the new. McLuhan describes the four tendencies as follows; each one provides a series of questions that we may ask:
- ENHANCEMENT: “What does the artefact enhance or intensify or make possible or accelerate?”
- OBSOLESCENCE: “What is pushed aside crobsolesced by the new ‘organ’?”
- RETRIEVAL: “What recurrence or retrieval of earlier actions and services is brought into play simultaneously by the new form? What older, previously obsolesced ground is brought back and inheres in the new form?”
- REVERSAL: “When pushed to the limits of its potential, the new form will end to reverse what had been its original characteristics. What is the reversal potential of the new form?”
All of these films suggest a progressive movement of enhancement and forced obsolesence of previous modes, and an atavistic retrieval of such modes and reversal back into them, all at once.
Jonathan Freedman untangles the ambiguities of digital cinema in his discussion of INGLORIOUS BASTERDS and HUGO. Quentin Tarantino uses computer-generated imagery precisely in order to celebrate the power of per-computerized, analog movie technology. The power of the old, analog cinematic image is celebrated in BASTERDS in “the shot of Shoshona’s disembodied face projected, ghostlike after her death onto the flame-engulfed theater”; this spectral image proclaims revenge even as the movie theater bursts into flame due to the combustibility of celluloid; so Tarantino both celebrates the power of celluloid, and portrays its destruction. Similarly, in HUGO, Martin Scorsese recreates George Melies’ lost or ruined films by means of 3D digital rendering. In both cases, new media technologies ironically allow the films’ directors to RETRIEVE certain of the lost powers of an older cinema. Digital film ENHANCES the powers of spectacle that already belonged to an older cinema; more specifically, it RETRIEVES the “cinema of attractions” that was made obsolete by conventional (classical) narrative (as well as certain old technologies, e.g. the hand-cranked projector –cf. Tony Scott’s use of hand-cranked cameras).
What is OBSOLESCED in this process, however, is a certain measure of naturalism or realism, or representational accuracy. This erasure of actuality, as a result of the new cinema’s ability to impose its own imagined events without impediment, potentially even reaches the dimension of historical falsification – this is the reason for Freedman’s worry about how BASTERDS achieves its fantasy of revenge against, and defeat of, the Nazis at the price of repressing the actual horrors of the Holocaust. He is less concerned with Scorsese’s mystification of early film history, because this doesn’t have the same ethical weight as Holocaust revisionism. But it still participates in what Freedman calls “the effacement of the signs of history by means of the perfections of digital technology.”
I am sensitive to Freedman’s point here, even if I am not as worried by the ethical and political consequences of this sort of “revisionism” and historical oblivion as he is. This is because I think that our new digital powers to alter historical images at will does not just mean a falsification of memory. But rather this transformation is one part of a whole new articulation of both (collective) historicity and (individual) memory: one that is no longer based in the sense of deep time, or of the density of Bergsonian duration, as was the case for much of the 20th century. David Rodowick deplores what he sees as the loss of duration in digital cinema, just as Fredric Jameson, more generally, criticizes the ways in which the spatialization enforced by postmodernity leads to a loss of history, since now all past moments are equally available for appropriation, outside of sequence, in a sort of eternal present, and with their import reduced to the status of commodified cliches. But it seems to me – and Jameson in certain moods would probably even agree – that this needs to be seen as an ambiguous situation rather than as a decline of formerly available powers. It is the terrain on which, for both good and ill, our political and cultural interventions need to operate.
In this regard, I would contrast INGLORIOUS BASTERDS with another Jewish revenge fantasy – one of its evident sources – that imagines Hitler killed prematurely, so that not only are the Nazis defeated, but the worst horrors of the Holocaust are, as it were, retrospectively averted in advance. I refer, of course, to Jerry Lewis’s 1970 film WHICH WAY TO THE FRONT?, which has no compunctions about transforming the traumas of the War into kitsche. In this film, Lewis’ character impersonates a German General and thereby manages to kill Hitler during the Allied invasion of Italy – hence well before D-Day. Despite its much earlier date than Tarantino’s film, and consequent much less technologically advanced use of (analog) special effects, Lewis’ film already takes for granted the “postmodern” image of history deplored by Jameson. But Lewis’ historical revisionism operates according to far different codes than that of Tarantino (comedy instead of war/macho cliches), to better and more progressive effect. I would even claim that Lewis’ film, despite its temporal priority, can be seen as the tendential REVERSAL of Tarantino’s digital reworking of history. (As perhaps THE ERRAND BOY is in relation to Scorsese’s nostalgic re-creation of early cinema).
Richard Grusin’s talk convincingly rereads Lars von Trier’s MELANCHOLIA as a kind of mourning for the death of cinema. Grusin refers specifically to the death of an atavistic cinema of attractions, and suggests that the film refuses the audiovisual practices of contemporary “fast” cinema. I am not sure I agree entirely with this, since the first half of the film involves a Dogme95-style nervous handheld camera. (Does photographic cinema equate with the primitive cinema of attractions?).
But in any case, the apocalypse figured in the film is also, or perhaps even primarily, a self-reflexive technological one. Grusin thereby reworks my own reading of MELANCHOLIA, by pointing to aspects of the film that I overlooked. Von Trier, in effect, uses digital technologies – especially in the film’s Overture and in its imaging of the planet Melancholia coming towards and finally obliterating the Earth – in order to OBSOLESCE the myths of progressivism that were central to 20th century filmic narrative. He mourns the death of cinema by proleptically welcoming this death and finding it a source of comfort, and an opportunity to act humanely – as it is for Justine within the film. In this way, the film remediates, or RETRIEVES, a kind of archaic pictorialism that is found in images reaching back to the very birth of cinema (of a cinema largely of attractions) – and beyond this as well, to various pre- and anti-modernist visual sources. The affective “pull” of cinema is ENHANCED at the very moment of its disappearance – which is dramatized in the film by the way the end of the film, or of any film, is synchronized with the end of cinema itself. The end of the story is synchronized with the vanishing of the cinematic image.
In place of Grusin’s reference to the Lumiere Bros’ “Arrival of the Train,” and to the final shot of “The Great Train Robbery,” I would rather recall Godard’s WEEKEND, whose final title reads, instead of the usual FIN, rather FIN DU CINEMA. In 1968, Godard felt that he had exhausted the possibilities of cinema, both formally and politically. Recall that Godard also said that a film must have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but not necessarily in that order.
Despite the militant Maoism to which Godard aspired at the time, I think that one can find a despair here that von Trier RETRIEVES in a depressive (instead of angrily nihilistic) mode. In this case, the REVERSAL is a kind of (implicitly endless) living-on of the very scene of catastrophic obliteration. By aestheticizing the disaster in this lyrical way, i.e. by using his digital special-effects technology to give us delicate double-moonlight and double-shadow effects, in contast to the FX apocalypse porn of so many other films, von Trier manages to find a sort of comfort in this final destruction precisely by lingering over it at the culminating or liminal point of its advent. And this means a kind of REVERSAL of the very apocalyptic culmination that he is mourning and deploring: which is precisely the way that the new digital technologies incorporate the atavistic.
Selmin Kara’s account of THE TREE OF LIFE, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, and (to a lesser extent) NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT, directly links these films’ technological innovations – and especially the FX sequences of extinct life forms in the first two of these films – to the metaphysical questions that they raise. These films both involve the sort of ways that, as Lev Manovich has recently argued (in contrast to his earlier position) the digital enhances – rather than negates or substitutes for – the analog realism of traditional cinematography.
If these FX inserts are jarring to some audiences, because the compromise the otherwise-maintained sense of naturalism in the films’ depictions of families and their losses, Kara shows that these technological ENHANCEMENTS also work to disturb, and indeed to OBSOLESCE, the humanistic pieties that the films might otherwise seem concerned to maintain. They combine human an nonhuman temporalities. Both films RETRIEVE the sense of what Quentin Meillassoux calls “ancestrality,” or the primordial insistence of that which is irreducible to the human, since we cannot apprehend it even as a past presence; it is rather something that never was and never could have been present, never had the possibility of being “given” to an apprehending consciousness, since it absolutely precedes the existence of any such consciousness.
The crucial ambiguity of these films has to do with the way that this absolute antecedence is nonetheless “given” to us in a certain sense, through the “perceptual realism” of the computer-generated imagery, and through what Kara calls both films’ palpable “nostalgia for a proto-digital sense of naturalism.” I myself have no problems with speaking of speculative realism, despite the fact that the term has been criticized and rejected by the original participants.
Formally, TREE OF LIFE remediates, or works as a sort of remake of, Tarkovsky’s MIRROR. And the CGI sequence of creation and the dinosaurs seems to emulate Kubrick’s 2001. But, despite the atavistic reversion to the creation or origin of the universe, Malick’s film has a much lessened sense of thick temporality than Tarkovsky’s does. The scrambling of scenes via disjunctive editing has a thinness compared to Tarkovksy’s time traveling. It also entirely lacks the cynicism (if that is the word) with which Kubrick treats Arthur C. Clarke’s vision of cosmic evolution – despite the fact that Malick refers to Darwinian evolution as well as to Christian creationism. Unlike Kara, I don’t really see a “thanatological” alternative to Christian eschatology here. I don’t necessarily mean to imply that these are artistic failings; it has to do rather with the changes in our very conceptualization of temporality that I have already mentioned.
I think, actually, that this is more ambiguous than Kara says, since to my eyes the CGI doesn’t entirely succeed in its pseudo-naturalism, but retains a certain “uncanny valley” feeling to it. In this way, I think, the films in question (and Malick’s in particular) raise the question of the nonhuman that has become so urgent in contemporary speculative realism, and engage in salutary speculation – but also that they RETRIEVE, or retreat back to, the sort of existential sense of finitude that is precisely what Meillassoux and Brassier reject – Brassier in particular criticizes the adequacy of Nietzsche’s and Heidegger’s stances towards death. Malick’s film seems to me to recuperate the nonhuman temporality of cosmic origins into human terms. The question that for me still remains unanswered is to what sort of REVERSAL the tendencies of these at once forward-looking and atavistic films might lead.
Liberalism has often been criticized (rightly, in my opinion) for for its unwavering emphasis upon means rather than ends, procedures rather than goals. As Carl Freedman puts it, in his great account of Richard Nixon:
Liberalism begins by abjuring positive social policy in favor of a formal proceduralism, pragmatically trusting that the application of a certain set of rules will “work” in the sense of yielding the fairest attainable results. But such results are absolutely precluded by the initial liberal move of waiving the question of justice: for justice is a social goal with positive, determinate content…
In other words, liberal proceduralism is concerned that actions must be conducted “fairly,” and not at all concerned with the question of whether the outcome of the action is actually fair. If fairness or justice is a Kantian regulative ideal, then 20th and 21st century liberalism is obsessed with the “regulative” aspect in and of itself, to the point of entirely forgetting the “ideal” which is what really matters.
Liberal proceduralism is one aspect of the “instrumental reason” whose annihilation of true rationality Horkheimer and Adorno warned us of two thirds of a century ago. And if anything, this proceduralism has become even more pronounced today than it was in the mid-20th-century. It has become the nearly unquestioned basis of all aspects of government and social life. Everything from the “reforms” that are currently decimating the US educational system, to the way that American foreign and military policy is conducted, adheres to a strictly procedural logic. (In a full social analysis, we would have to say that there is in fact an end in sight: the further accumulation of capital by the tiny minority that already “owns” it, and the exacerbated dispossession of the “99%” in the US itself, not to mention the much more severely disadvantaged global poor. But of course, this “end” is not publically avowable. And as Marx long ago pointed out, the “end” of capital accumulation isn’t really an end or an aim, since it has no goal in view aside from its continuing exacerbated expansion. On the largest scale, capitalism is itself a “liberal” process of proceduralism without any additional or external aim).
I think that it is because we live in such an overwhelmingly “proceduralist” society that the genre of the *procedural* has become so ubiquitous in television and film. This genre used to be known as the “police procedural,” exemplified today by (for example) the ever-popular CSI group of TV shows. But procedurals have also become the staple genre for some of our most interesting film directors. Thus Olivier Assayas gives us a procedural of terrorism (Carlos), and David Fincher gives us procedurals of detective work beyond the police department (Zodiac) and of corporate strategy in the age of the Internet (The Social Network).
And this, to me, is the genius of Zero Dark Thirty. When I wrote before about Kathryn Bigelow, I noted that her characteristic techinque as a director is to immerse herself, and us, in the element, or environment, in which the story takes place (night in Near Dark; the seashore and the waves in Point Break; the realm of inner-psychic-life-as-virtual-reality in Strange Days; and the desert in The Hurt Locker). I also noted that The Hurt Locker marked her move to the genre of the procedural, in order to convey this elemental reality (which seems not to be “political” only because it is, in fact,the necessary precondition and container of the political).
Well, perhaps this is because I am such an unregenerate auteurist, but I find the same principles at work in Zero Dark Thirty as well.
Zero Dark Thirty is the ne plus ultra of proceduralism, its ultimate expansion and reductio ad absurdum. It’s all about the well-nigh interminable process of searching for, and then eliminating, Osama Bin Laden. The premise and initial impetus of this process is of course the mythological demonization of Bin Laden, as the ultimate culprit responsible for Nine Eleven. But in the relentless proceduralism that the film presents to us, this goal or rationale is abraded away. The torture which the film has become controversial for depicting is of course part of this. But so is the process of painstakingly correlating irrelevant information, the accidental discovery of leads in years-old records, the repetitive tracking of the vehicle of the suspected courier, the endless bureaucratic meetings at which officials seek to decide if the information is valid and what should be done about it, and above all the military operation in the last thirty minutes of the film (has military action ever been depicted in the movies with such relentless a focus on operational techniques, in a manner that is utterly devoid alike of the horror of war and of the glory and heroism that are so often invoked to justify it?). The goal has been so absorbed into procedural routine that the ostensible climax of the film, the actual killing of Bin Laden, occurs offscreen; and we barely even get a glimpse of the corpse, zipped as it is into a body bag, which is to say treated entirely (and literally) according to Standard Operating Procedure.
The film makes a sort of feint by implying that its real subject is the passion of its protagonist Maya (Jessica Chastain), who continues to pursue the search for Osama when everyone else has given up on it. But her obsession is itself entirely contained within, and articulated by, the proceduralism which is her job as a CIA analyst, and which seems to be the only world she knows. Every potentially dramatic action in which she finds herself (bombings and armed ambushes included) is drained of drama, and subsumed within proceduralist routine. Every affect, and every reason for doing what one does, is sucked into a black hole. This is why Maya is so emptied out at the end of the film.
We are immersed into an overwhelming environment in Zero Dark Thirty, just as we are in all of Bigelow’s films. But in this case, the environment is the numbingly anonymous one of Big Data, of the numbingly repetitious accumulation of “information” (whether by torture, surveillance, physical search, or collation of records), and of instantaneity (the annihilation of duration) mediated through video screens and telecommunications technologies.
As I was watching Zero Dark Thirty, I found the relentlessness with which all this was depicted almost unbearably intense. I’ve never seen (or heard) so powerful a depiction (or better, I should say,so powerful an enactment) of entropic dissolution and decay. All meaning, and all feeling, was draining away before my eyes and ears, without even the prospect of any sort of negative finality or conclusion. I realize that this weird inverted intensity won’t appeal to everyone; it’s the reason, I think, that many people I know simply found the movie tedious and boring. (But such differences of response are of course, as Kant knew, beyond argument).
In any case, Zero Dark Thirty embodies the truth of liberal proceduralism as an organizing principle of all governmentality and all social life today. Embodying and testifying to a truth in this manner is not the same as offering a “critique.” In this sense, it is perfectly true that the movie does not offer any critique of our government’s systematic use of torture. It is also perfectly true, at least in a literal and banal sense, that (as the filmmakers have themselves defensively claimed) the movie doesn’t “endorse” torture either. But I think that to have an argument on this level is to miss the point. Critique is important, but it isn’t everything. It might well be argued that, at this late date, even the most accurate critique doesn’t accomplish very much; it is itself too much part of an all-too-predictable procedure. Embodying the truth of a situation, as I think Zero Dark Thirty does, has important aesthetic and political consequences, more important perhaps than those that come from making an accurate and moral judgment. Zero Dark Thirty doesn’t show us a way out from the nightmare of liberal proceduralism, but it makes this nightmare visible at a time when its sheer ubiquity might otherwise leave us to take it for granted and thereby ignore it.
My long (18000 words) essay on Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, previously available in the open-access, online film journal Sequence, is now available as well as a free ebook (in epub, mobi, and pdf formats).
My book on Post-Cinematic Affect, and my subsequent discussion of post- continuity have received some interesting responses recently.
First of all: in the latest issue of the open-access film journal La furia umana, Therese Grisham, Shane Denson, and Julia Leyda hold a roundtable discussion on the role of post-continuity in recent cinema, with particular reference to District 9 and to Hugo. This complements a previous roundtable discussion in the same journal a year ago, in which I participated, that focused on the Paranormal Activity series of films. There are a lot of important insights here, and I regret that I didn’t have the time to participate in the roundtable myself. However, we are trying to continue and expand this discussion. If our panel proposal for next spring’s SCMS is accepted, then I will be joining the roundtable participants for more discussion on post-continuity. My own contribution to this prospective panel will be focused on the late Tony Scott’s amazing 2005 film Domino.
And secondly: on her blog It’s Her Factory, Robin James considers how my observations on developments in contemporary film might be related to recent developments in contemporary music. I have argued that certain constellations of affect, composing a “structure of feeling” that is basic to our current neoliberal moment, are reflected or expressed or generated (I do not want to choose between these verbs for now, because I think what’s happening involves a bit of each of them) by certain formal changes in film and related media. The displacement of continuity editing by editing styles that are no longer centered upon a concern for the transparency and intelligibility of narrative go along, not just with new digital technologies, but also with new forms of subjectivity that are emerging in a world of just-in-time production, precarious labor, and neoliberal techniques of quantification and management. James suggests that analogous processes are at work in current popular music production, in response to many of the same shifts in the current (neoliberal) mode of production. Music production is of course quite different from film/video (or more properly, audiovisual) production, so we should not expect any sort of simple correspondences between what songs or dance tracks do and what movies do. But in both cases, there are mutations in media technologies and in principles of formal structuration, which in both cases respond to (or index, or express, or help to constitute — once again I would like to leave the equivocation between these terms intact) the social, political, and economic changes that we are currently experiencing. I hope to get the opportunity to continue this discussion as well.
Today marks the inauguration of REFRAME, “an open access academic digital platform for the online practice, publication and curation of internationally produced research and scholarship” on film, media, and music. REFRAME is edited by Catherine Grant, of the School of Media, Film, and Music at the University of Sussex; she also runs the invaluable Film Studies for Free blog.
Among other things, REFRAME is publishing Sequence: Serial Studies in Media, Film, and Music, a new, peer-reviewed open-access scholarly journal.
And I am proud to say that the first issue of Sequence features an article of mine about Lars von Trier’s 2011 film Melancholia, entitled “Melancholia, or the Romantic Anti-Sublime”. This is the most sustained work I have done since my 2010 book Post-Cinematic Affect; it is about 18,000 words long — which is too long for a conventional academic article, but too short for a book. I am thrilled, therefore, that it can now be published digitally, as the online format allows for more varied lengths than is possible with conventional print. I am also thrilled that this publication is open access: which is something that, I strongly believe, all academic work should be. In this way, my essay is available to contribute to future work by others, who may respond to it in all sorts of ways. |
Today I’m home alone. Bodra is in Fulham with Paul watching a football game. It’s a superb day for it, very sunny. I have been watching from our lounge window the many people walking by in summer attire- there is a canoe race happening across the road. Definitely a welcome change as just last week I saw people going to work in their long thick coats, and I didn’t believe for a minute we would get a taste of Summer this year. I should be out in it, but I’m still down with the flu, and I can see loads of pollen floating in the air too. So this is the perfect opportunity to catch up on our activities!
I recently turned 30 and to celebrate the occasion I met with a group of friends in London- Dawn, Kim, Ez, Nik, Ross, Jono, Cat, Alanna, Russell, Dewi, Waty, Cam, Rueben, Ela, Steph- to partake in the Jack the Ripper Tour from Tower Hill, led by Donald Rumbelow. I was still recovering from the flu which we’d picked up along our travels in Egypt, so I missed out on some of the commentary due to being at the back of the crowd, attempting to contain my bugs. But from what I picked up, the Ripper was a very violent killer with the throat-cutting and body mutilation. I never really contemplated the meaning of his name, as I’ve always heard it in that sequence and accepted it. However, Donald went into quite graphic detail with what he did to his victims and I was appalled at how blood-thirsty his actions were. He was very crafty as he knew to commit his crimes in ill-lit areas. He even managed to murder one of his victims in a square where every few minutes a policeman was doing the beat, and all his victims were prostitutes. I was surprised to hear they never caught the Ripper, but hopefully that’s because he died falling into the Thames one night, or contracting syphilis.
After the tour we had an interesting dinner at the Lahore Kebab House. It was a crazy atmosphere, basically a hall with dozens of long tables and chairs, a couple of screens showing cricket and BYOB. Most of the restaurant was filled with men and they were all getting their Friday drink on. We had a few issues getting the food ordered but in the end everyone seemed pleased with their super spicy meals and enjoyed the boisterous energy coming from all the super drunk men.
We were meant to go to the Callooh Callay Bar for a delicious cocktail afterwards, but it had become quite late and Bo and I still needed to make our way back to Reading. So hopefully one day in the near future I will be able to do that.
On Easter Sunday, Dewi and her siblings- Waty and Martin- took us to Monkey World in Dorset as a surprise birthday treat. Monkey World is a 65 acre park set up in 1987 by Jim Cronin for providing a home for rescued primates. They have over 160 apes and monkeys- Gibbons (Siamang, Golden-Cheeked, Mueller’s, Agile and Lar Gibbons), Chimpanzees, Bornean Orang-utans, Capuchins (rescued from a laboratory in Chile), Lemurs, Woolly Monkeys (part of the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme), Marmosets, Squirrel Monkeys (rescued from a Dutch laboratory) and Stump-tailed Macaques (rescued from a British laboratory where they were used for Asthma research). We had a wonderful time watching the primates play, but definitely felt saddened at seeing some of the unusual behaviour being displayed, due to the trauma that some of the primates had suffered before they came to the park. Monkey World pics and vids.
When Bodra returned we went for a lovely 8 Mile walk from Aldermaston to Mortimer. It was a real animal fest as we saw cats, dogs, donkeys, horses, and a deer, super friendly sheep & goats, cows, birds and lambs. Bodra almost got a kiss from a sheep; we were so surprised at how tame the animals were! Perhaps it is a Spring thing. We also found a 300 year old Yew tree outside Padworth Church which was a very special experience. Pics and vids.
I took a big step the next week as I signed up to do some supply teaching with Select Education. The week afterwards I had my first day of teaching at St Martin’s Primary School where I was with year 3 & 4 students. It was a really stressful experience, not so much the actual teaching, but just all the mental processing beforehand and during. I’ve realised now that I’m not prepared to put myself in that space any longer. So for now I’m just a trophy wife, staying at home until we get back from our June/July adventures. Hopefully afterwards I’ll be able to find some work until we head back home in November. I’m quite worried about what I will do for a career when I get home, but there is a lot of time in between now and then so fingers-crossed that I’ll attract some answers to that one!
David O’Leary has returned to the UK so we met him and Paul and Rachael at a vegetarian restaurant in Camden called the Green Note. It was really good catching up with all of them, and David has started working in Frome, Somerset just out of Bath so I will be able to visit him one day soon. (We tried visiting him today but the train tickets were £70 for the both of us, so we figure it’d be better to hire a car.)
That night Bo & I went to a party at Scala with Kim, Ez, Russ and Alanna, where Protoculture and Rinkadink were playing. We managed to get in for free, as we had previously attempted to attend a party at the same venue, but due to a poorly managed door check we had been kept waiting outside the club for over an hour, thus we missed the performances that we had intended on seeing. It was November so the temperature was freezing, and as the queue had only moved about five metres we decided to forgo the party and send in written complaints. This evenings party was much different as the attendance wasn’t as high- Bodra and I got in without queuing at all. There was heaps of space to dance, the only thing was as the night progressed and people’s buzzes began to wear off, I noticed the conviviality wane and more and more people began to bump into me without even an apologetic glance. I had heaps of energy for dancing and kept on my feet for most of night, but as soon as Protoculture began his set (around 5am) all my energy was zapped. We had really enjoyed Rinkadinks set so we chose to leave before we had no energy to get home.
The next day we spent some well-deserved relax time in Paul and Rachael’s backyard. It was a mostly sunny day, so I rested in Paul’s chair-hammock, reading and dozing in the sun. Back home at the end of the month, Danijel & Inas welcomed their daughter, Violetta, into the world.
The beginning of May gifted a Bank weekend, so Bodra, Ezra, Kim and I went to the Isle of Wight for one night. Saturday found us in Primrose field in Whippingham with three others- Chuck, Gemma and Paul. Paul was our guide from the Good Leaf Tree Climbing Company, previously an arborist who had decided to share his passion for climbing trees. Within the field were a few large trees and one of the Oak trees had six ropes dangling from it. Paul taught us the techniques for pulling ourselves up the tree and soon we were all away, scaling the tree and perching on branches while taking in the view. It was quite a simple skill and we all got it immediately. After the climbing we were rewarded with homemade flapjacks and a cup of tea.
In the afternoon we found ourselves at an Ale Festival on the grounds of a Rail museum. None of us were particularly impressed with our Ales (I tipped mine out part way through) so we’re mostly sworn off Ale now. After that we journeyed into Ryde to find our accommodation at the Kasbah. This was a pub with rooms above. As we were on a budget we had booked the family room which was directly above the main drinking area. There was a private party going on that evening so we resolved to get ourselves more than tiddly to enable an ignorant sleep. We downed a shot of Gold Schlager (very delicious) then went for an amble around Ryde, out to the Pier and then to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and jugs of cocktails.
We spent the majority of Sunday driving around the Isle of White, as hundreds of others did using all manners of transport. There seemed to be some kind of cycling convention that weekend as we shared the roads with dozens of people on a variety of recumbent and modified trikes, as well as hundreds on the usual bicycles. We took in the Garlic Farm- where Bodra and Ezra tasted the super fiery Dragons Blood sauce, the Isle of Wight Studio Glass- where I fell in love with a vase from the Undercliff Collection that was outrageously expensive, the Wisteria laden cottage (aptly named Wisteria Cottage), Compton Bay- where we stopped for ice-cream and a wander along the coast, and finally Alum Bay to see the famed Needles. My Mum turned 60 on the Sunday so I enjoyed photographing the Wisteria as a way of connecting in with her energy on her special day.
The next week I had some unsettling news. Luke Deveraux, one of my old friends from the days I had spent in Christchurch, had taken his life. I hadn’t been in contact with him for quite some time; friendships often become quite strained when there is distance. I had tried to reach him when we first got to the UK but the email address I had for him was no longer valid. It just makes me angry with myself, like I should’ve tried harder to reach him, I knew he was struggling. But a person is always free to make this decision; obviously it is the right one for them when confronted with a space they cannot cope with. A friend, David Colyer, is organising a garden in his memory, so I look forward to visiting it and sharing some peace there.
We were back in London the following weekend. We saw Baka Beyond perform on the Friday night, and then on Saturday we watched Star Trek with Paul at the Wimbledon Odeon Cinema. I had a little girly time with Rachael wandering around the shops, while Bodra and Paul went looking at shirts for their upcoming wedding in February. Rachael showed me one of the dresses she had in mind so I was very privileged to see her in that! Then we met the boys back at Paul & Rachael’s place and spent the afternoon and evening playing Guitar Hero World Tour.
Bodra started coming down with flu symptoms the next week so he had four days off from work. He had to endure my infatuation with “The L Word” (which was encouraged by Lauren) series, but luckily I have finished that now. Bodra has decided to take on a new diet in order to address his skin and energy issues. This involves omitting processed food, fungi, mould, yeast, sugar, dairy, gluten, wheat, additives and any food containing these substances. It’s a very challenging diet, especially as it rules out fruit and mushrooms. I’m kind of doing the diet with Bodra, but first someone has to eat all the foods in our pantry which are not safe to eat… I polished off a bag of ‘crisps’ today for lunch- heehee! It will be an adventure as I’m sure we will discover new foods- for example these tortilla chips by R.W. Garcia which are made from veges- spinach and garlic, red beetroot and onion, tomato and sesame. Anyway, Bodra intends to keep the diet up until we go on our trip to Canada- he had a bit of a crash on Friday but hopefully he will adjust soon.
Yesterday we went for a wander around Kew Gardens. We started off in the Princess of Wales Conservatory where we took in the Cacti, Orchids, Ferns, Carnivorous Plants and the Titan Arum. Then we walked through the Rose Pergola (we’ve decided we would like a rose pergola to go down the length of our driveway) towards the Bonsai House. We found a gazebo wrapped in Wisteria next to a Ginkgo tree. Then we took the Princess Walk over to the Rhizotron and Xstrata Treetop Walkway. It was a perfect afternoon for the gardens and I hope we can go there again one day.
Last night we saw Deva Premal, Miten and Manrose perform at the Union Chapel in Islington. There were loads of New Age types there, wearing their serene garments, bedecked with crystals and mandala symbols. Bodra and I seated ourselves in the centre of the back row. They performed mantras and Miten’s songs and we were encouraged to sing along. I quite enjoyed the concert although I would’ve preferred just to hear the mantras as the songs were a bit cheesy. Deva taught us a mantra for compassion and the Goddess Tara which I really enjoyed. Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha.
This week I will be journeying to Ludlow, Stockport and the Peak District with Dewi. I’ll be seeing an old school friend, Jenny Chandler, in Church Stretton too, and Dewi’s friend, Dan O’Neill, will be joining us for some tramping. Then the following weekend we will be going to New Forest for a celebratory cycle for Kim’s 30th. Lauren will be joining us for a few days in the second week of June and Bodra will be going to Amsterdam for work. Then on the 14th of June we will be making our way to Calgary. It’s hard to believe how quickly the time has passed, before we know it we will be homeward bound! |
Exclusive Video Interview With the Voice of Andy From 'Toy Story,' John Morris
By Zach Dionne Posted Jun 17th 2010 10:30AM
Morris chatted with PopEater about playing his character at three different formative ages, what great voice-acting requires and Andy's role in 'Toy Story 3,' out Friday. Watch the video!
The film is receiving glowing advance reviews and looks to continue Pixar's admirable winning streak with critics and audiences. "Woody, Buzz and playmates make a thoroughly engaging, emotionally satisfying return," writes The Hollywood Reporter.
For more 'Toy Story 3,' check out Moviefone's page! See the trailer here:
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With Joana Preiss in person
Presented with support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States
France. Dir. Joana Preiss. 2011, 82 mins. DCP. With Preiss, Bruno Dumont. Filmed entirely by Preiss and her then lover, Dumont, mostly in the claustrophobia of a train car on the Trans-Siberian Railway, Siberia is an intense and raw observation of a relationship’s denouement. With unflinching honesty and a Direct Cinema approach, Preiss’s documentary is a fascinating psychological exploration of love, dependency, and the bounds of romantic privacy.
Free with Museum admission. A First Look series pass, allowing the holder admission to the Museum and all First Look screenings for the run of the series, is available for $40. Order online or call 718 777 6800. |
Former actress and wife of music composer Aadesh Shrivastav, Vijeta Pandit, is sickened and distraught with worry about her sister Sandhya Singh, who has gone missing since December 13.
Vijeta, whose fear is that her sister was killed for her jewellery just as she was about to enter a bank, is baffled that Mumbai police have not been able to gather any information on her whereabouts.
Crazed with worry Vijeta says: "What has happened to my sister? We don't know! She's happily married and she is the prettiest among us sisters. She's two years older than me. Unlike Sulakshana didi and me, she never wanted to be part of the cinema industry. She's happy being a housewife. The police seem clueless. For 13 days I've been traveling back and forth from my home to the police station to my sister's place in Vashi. So far we've hit only a dead end. My sister was so happy. Her husband was a commissioner in the excise department and she had two lovely children whom she was extremely fond of."
Then Vijeta corrected herself: "Why am I speaking of her in the past tense? We're all praying she would return. Sandhya's one weakness is jewellery. She is too attached to jewellery and wears tonnes of it. She has lots of her husband's ancestral ornaments and she loves to flash them around. I always warn her not to travel with so much jewellery. Whenever she comes home I make her take off all the jewellery and tie it up in a handkerchief, put it in her purse before she travels back home to Vashi."
Vijeta's other sister Sulakshana stays with Vijeyta and Aadesh. She has still to be told of the trauma the family faces, as she is considered too weak to handle such news.
Vijeta said: "If Sulakshana didi comes to know that our sister is missing, she wouldn't be able to take it. She wouldn't be able to bear the shock."
"We're hoping the criminals would take the jewellery and release my sister," Vijeta says. |
Mumbai: Actress Neha Dhupia, who got pigeonholed for her bold role in ‘Julie’, says that as of now she is not interested in doing a sequel, but may do it after a couple of years.
After the 31-year-old won the Miss India title, she started receiving offers from Bollywood. However she decided to opt for movies down South before making her debut in Hindi Film Industry with Harry Baweja`s ‘Qayamat: City Under Threat’.
The movie did averagely well at the box office. Then she rose to fame with her bold role of a sex worker in ‘Julie’ (2004).
"It (`Julie 2`) is something that I don`t want to do right now. May be couple of years down the line I will do it but not now. I have got a bunch of films which are different from each other. I am going to wait for them to release, do well and take it from there," Neha said.
She has been a part of the industry for almost eight years and has done performance-oriented roles in films like ‘Ek Chalis Ki Last Local’, ‘Mithya’, ‘Dasvidaniya’, ‘Phas Gaye Re Obama’ and ‘Dear Friend Hitler’ among others.
"I don`t have a godfather who would tell me do this or that. I am not satisfied but I am happy. I think everybody who is doing cinema today has certain magic of their own and I don`t compare myself with anybody," Neha said.
"I want to do films that have good scripts. I have been a part of big projects as well," she added.
The actress will now not work with Vinay Pathak and Rajat Kapoor, with whom she did films like ‘Mithya’ (2008), ‘Dasvidaniya’ (2008), ‘Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi?’ (2009), ‘Phas Gaye Re Obama’ (2010) and ‘Pappu Can`t Dance Saala’ (2011).
"We all took a conscious decision not to work with each other for sometime... As we are used to working together," she said.
Neha has a string of interesting projects in her kitty including ‘Maximum’ alongside Sonu Sood and Naseeruddin Shah, ‘Rush’ opposite Emraan Hashmi and a film with Karan Johar`s home production.
"In `Maximum`, I play a housewife. While in `Rush`, I play somebody who runs a media house, sometimes his (Emraan`s) friend, sometimes his enemy. I am not playing a journalist," Neha said, without divulging anything about Karan Johar`s film.
Directed by Kabeer Kaushik, ‘Maximum’ will release on June 29 while ‘Rush’ is slated for a September release. |
Such is the pace at which we're speeding into the new age of austerity, it's easy to miss much of the scenery along the way. And yet I couldn't help but pause for thought last weekend at the recent holding forth of "guerrilla filmmaker" Chris Jones, who announced in the Observer that the real problem with British film was its "frittering" away of vast sums of money on impossibly expensive productions that then fail to find two paying customers to rub together. Bold words – and more than slightly suspect ones.
Because to me, just as the feeling lingers that the coalition's first wave of cuts has been informed less by fine-tuned economic policy than the urge to squash things they don't like, Jones's comments seem to be not so much a clinical diagnosis as a calculated slapdown for a certain type of movie. Which, at a time when the public funding of film via the lottery is (at best) in flux and noisy voices in the press seem to be carry undue weight, is worrying.
On the one hand, there is something a little rum about the idea that the sets of British films are like luxuriantly-appointed day spas with the pampering broken up only by the occasional gentle close-up or two. Despite his last feature being made in 1998, Jones will clearly have a greater knowledge of life on set than me, but what I can say is that quite apart from the deeply sporadic nature of jobs in the British movie industry, very few of the various sound engineers and cameramen I know would recognise his portrait of their day at work. What many of them do share, however, are experiences of low-budget filmmaking in which the burden of that low-budget is, perhaps, shared out unevenly among the personnel.
Certainly, while I know there are plenty of low-budget filmmakers for whom it's a point of principle to ensure the cast and crew get as fair a deal as possible, others are less bothered by such details, so that actors and technicians are expected to pitch in for the cause and be paid next to nothing (or, in fact, nothing), before producers then sell the finished film for a rather healthier sum. While I'm sure Chris Jones has always been conscientious in his own career, the reality of "guerrilla filmmaking" does often seem to depend on talented professionals working for free. As with any call to tighten belts, it's interesting to wonder whose belts will end up tightest – and to note the echo between Jones's bleak warnings of an industry destroyed by money-grubbing and those used down the ages to keep uppity staff in line with the threat of their P45.
But there's something queasy about the other side of this equation too: the finger-wagging tallying of unrecouped funds, with the implication that British film should be solely focused on movies made to turn a profit (often described with varying accuracy as "films people want to see"). All very sexily hard-headed, of course – but at the same time meaningless. Every Hollywood studio exists to make money – they also know that every film is a gamble, and cheap, explicitly commercial movies die lonely deaths at the box office just as often as every other kind.
There are no safe bets. Witness the example of producer Allan Niblo, much esteemed after his low-budget smash StreetDance 3D and, with the absurdly inexpensive Monsters now gathering buzz prior to its release, quoted alongside Jones telling British film-makers to be more "inventive". But, while I wouldn't dispute Niblo's record as a talent spotter, before rushing to anoint him as the sage of British cinema we should also keep a place in the collective memory for his involvement in the likes of It's All Gone Pete Tong and Dogging: A Love Story. I'm not making any judgments about these films' quality; the point is that for all their apparent mainstream appeal, they still didn't make any actual money.
But I can't help feeling that on the other side of this particular debate there are all manner of judgments going on. After all, it seems strange that Jones doesn't mention the £30m bomb that was The Boat That Rocked as an example of financial profligacy, but chooses instead to focus on Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank. Leaving aside the huge acclaim Fish Tank brought to British cinema, it does take a certain perspective on the issue to single out a film that cost only £3m to start with, made back two of them, and which I'm fairly sure involved precious few "drivers sitting in Mercedes cars all day, waiting to take stars home [and] being paid hundreds of pounds a day".
There again, given the predictable hostility in certain quarters towards anything that could be described as capital F Film, it makes sense to promote a brand of stodgy populism as the answer to the ills of British film, complete with pops at the likes of Arnold and the also-criticised Michael Winterbottom. Either way it's a result for Chris Jones, who until last week was unknown outside a small corner of the industry. Now we're all talking about him, and at a time when the very future of the country's movie business seems up for grabs. Ah well – I suppose for some people, every crisis really is an opportunity. |
Sunday school may have taught them the words of the Gospels, but for millions of children, Hollywood provided the pictures. They were pretty pictures: stained glass in motion, from the First Church of De Mille. Handsome men their beards neatly curled and trimmed, their robes immaculate trod on tiptoe through a Judea as verdant and manicured as Forest Lawn. They may have represented Israelites of two millenniums past, but they often looked Nordic; God must have had blue eyes. And they spoke the King's English: King James', with an assist from any screenwriter willing to gussy up his fustian. In these prim tones, the heart's revolution that Jesus preached became an Oxford don's lecture, and his ghastly, redemptive death a tableau painted on velvet.
Mel Gibson's first achievement in "The Passion of the Christ" is to strip the biblical epic of its encrusted sanctimony and show biz. It takes hard men to work this Holy Land, men who labor under the twin burdens of poverty and the oppression of Roman occupation. Their clothes are dirt-dry and sweat-drenched. By jolting the viewer to reconsider Hollywood's calcified stereotypes of the New Testament, Gibson wants to restore the immediacy of that time, the stern wonder of that land, the thrilling threat of meeting the Messiah on the mean streets of Jerusalem.
Any Jesus film with violence is bound to roil some people. But the film's carnage is emetic, not exploitative. The crowning with thorns, the scourging at the pillar, the agonized trudge up Calvary show what Jesus suffered and why; and James Caviezel's spiky, ferocious, nearly heroic performance is a perfect servant to the role. This is not a movie for all believers or for all moviegoers. But it is, nonetheless, a believer's movie. Gibson believes in the power of Jesus' message. He believes in the power of cinema to rethink traditions, to make Jesus live in a skeptical age. And those willing to accompany Gibson on his dangerous ride through the Gospels may believe he has created his masterpiece.
I didn't write this review last week about "The Passion of the Christ." I wrote it in 1988 about Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ," changing only the names and the movie title. In manner and method, the two films have much in common. In theology and box office, they're worlds apart. "Last Temptation": liberal, condemned by conservative Catholics. "Passion": conservative, condemned by liberals, agnostics and many Jews. "Last Temptation": boycotted by religious groups, defended by the major studio that released it, earned $8 million in its entire run. "Passion": boycotted by major studios (little Newmarket released it), defended by the faithful, earned $23 million on its first day.
Just between the few of us, I'm written out on the Gibson movie. I did a review in the magazine ("The Goriest Story Ever Told"), which was maybe the only mixed review the film got. And I wrote about some of the attacks on Gibson and his "Passion" ("Holy Hypocrisies") on this web site. In the day since that was posted, I've received more than 150 e-mails, the vast majority of them with subject headings like "Thank you," "Well put," "Bravo," Kudos," "Amen, brother," "Loved the article!" and "wow." Most of the notes cheered me for pointing out what reader David Tuggy called "the deep intolerance of the professionally tolerant." And while any old leftie is naturally squeamish about being praised by cultural conservatives for attacking those usually on his own side, I am surprised by and grateful for the e-mail, and take this opportunity (in lieu of individual replies) to thank you who wrote in.
And now, allow me to baffle or anger my new flock by getting to today's subject: a simple, informative survey of a dozen or so film biographies of Jesus, noting particularly how their depiction of the Messiah's conviction and death compared with Mel Gibson's. The alleged Messiah is once again hot (in the more attractive sense of that word), and readers may be helped by these scattershot notes on other examples of the genre. All of the films, including "Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter," are available on video and/or DVD from amazon.com. Let's get to it.
FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS , 1912
Here is the first major film on the Jesus story, and probably the earliest feature-length film 1hr.12min. in its restored version made in America. Directed by Sidney Olcott (who made 18 other shorter films that year) and written by its Mary Magdalene, Gene Gauntier, the picture was shot in Palestine and Egypt. One charming shot shows Mary and Joseph sitting in front of the Sphinx. Virtually every shot is a static scene, a tableau, illustrating the intertitles.
Like Gibson, but 92 years before him, Olcott uses a blue filter for the Holy Thursday night scenes in Gethsemane. The Passion section, which consumes the last 14 minutes, has no more juice than the rest of the film. Back then, of course, directors didn't have access to the fake-blood squibs and other effects of today's gore artists. (The blood Mel used was fake, wasn't it?) Remember, too, that in 1912 film was in its infancy; that D.W. Griffith and others were still creating the medium's visual vocabulary and sentence structure; and that, for most Christians and lots of non-Christian moviegoers, "From the Manger to the Cross" was not simply a novelty. It was, in cinematic and possible religious terms, a revelation.
THE KING OF KINGS, 1927
Cecil B. De Mille, a preacher's son but with some Jewish ancestry, had scored a titanic hit with "The Ten Commandments" in 1923 to its time, the top-grossing film after "The Birth of a Nation." Four years later, the extravagant auteur went from Old to New Testament. Another hit, thanks to De Mille's showmanship and expert marketing, and a color sequence for Easter Sunday, with Jesus surrounded by enough doves for a John Woo movie. "The King of Kings" played around the world for decades after it was released, until the proselytizing efforts of the Church of the Nazarene managed to put the 1979 film "Jesus" (with Brian Deacon as the Christ) in towns and villages all over the world. Except for the Bible, it is probably the most visible tool of missionary propaganda.
In the book "Spectacular! The Story of Epic Films," the elegant historian Carlos Clarens (using the pseudonym John Cary) gave a fair evaluation of "King of Kings": "De Mille's version of Christ was a fundamentalist one: H.B. Warner was indeed 'a sweet Jesus, meek and mild,' and this time sheer reverence held De Mille in check. There were a couple of zebras drawing Magdalene's chariot, and the earthquake that follows the crucifixion was as stunning as the Red Sea parting, although virtually thrown away.... De Mille's sincerity was on a par with his stern ruling that, during production, the actors portraying the Christ and the apostles refrain from drinking, gambling, cussing, night-clubbing and even having intercourse with their wives."
In the 1hr.52min. edition distributed by Kino International, 48 mins. are devoted to the Passion and Resurrection. As Clarens notes, the De Mille signatures of gigantic sets (a 30-ft. eagle statue in Pilate's chambers) and special effects (in the earthquake a man grabs at a rock that breaks off and carries him to a crashing death) take a back seat to the hallowed story and processional pace. H.B. Warner's Jesus is in the gaunt El Greco mode; the scenes are essentially brisk illustrations of the Gospels. Nearly all the dialogue and narrative intertitles are from the Gospels. The exceptions: a few that mitigate supposed Jewish guilt for Jesus' death. Magdalene: "The High Priest speaketh not for the people." And a Pharisee, at the end: "Lord God Jehovah, visit not Thy wrath on Thy people Israel I alone am guilty."
KING OF KINGS, 1961
Samuel Bronston reinvented the epic for the '60s. Actually, he exploited the popularity of other people's late-'50s Biblical spectacles ("The Ten Commandments," "Ben Hur") to acquire financing for grand frescos of national heroes ("El Cid") and collapsing monarchies ("The Fall of the Roman Empire") in smart, stately films from screenwriter Philip Yordan and ace auteurs Nicholas Ray and Anthony Mann. Ray's "King of Kings" has Jeffrey Hunter, who was gorgeous and effusively manly in "The Searchers" a few years before, as a Jesus with star quality to spare which the original must also have had. In orange hair and what looks like portable Nativity-color underlighting, Hunter is such an erotic slab of beefcake, he turns every Messianic agony into an ecstasy.
The film, though, has a strange, stately calm, an antidramatic tone that the melodramatic music tries to vivify. The Passion scenes (about 40 mins. of the 2hr.40min. film) lack wallop, especially in comparison to the hammer-on-nail-through-flesh-into wood impact of the Gibson film. The raising of Jesus' cross, a big moment in any Gospel film, is shown from above a God- or pigeon's-eye view of the crucifixion. Count on the pictorials to keep you awake; watching the movie is like having someone thumb, slooooowly, through a book of religious art history. The film's last shot, after Pentecost, shows the fishermen leaving their nets in a string on the beach, and the long thin shadow of Christ bisecting it, to form the final image of the cross that symbolizes Jesus' sacrifice for humanity.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW, 1964
Gibson has snorted his derision over the two earlier Jesus films that have earned the most sustained critical acclaim. Asked a year ago by TIME correspondent Jeff Israeli for an analysis Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Il Vangelo secundo Matteo," (The Gospel According to St. Matthew) he faked a big yawn. Of Martin's Scorsese's "Last Temptation," he said, "You've got Harvey Keitel as Judas saying" and here Gibson shifted into a Brooklyn accent "Hey, you ovah dere." Maybe his was just dissing his strongest competition. He knew that these films were closest to his, in setting, rigor, power and bloodshed.
Seen when it opened, the Pasolini film was a tonic shock: a low-budget black-and-white pastoral Christian film, worlds removed from the elephantine variety of Hollywood's Biblical epics, made by an atheist Marxist homosexual. "The Gospel" seemed stranger in light of Pasolini's later work, which grew more sensational, culminating in the 1977 "Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom," which transposed de Sade to the Nazi era.
Pasolini said he responded to the literary brilliance and narrative propulsion of the Matthew gospel. He made the film, in part, to show that the greatest story ever told was, among other things, a great story. His dark-haired, dark-eyed, unibrowed Jesus (played by Enrique Irazoqui, a Basque Jew who, like the other performers, was not a professional actor) spits out the parables and prophesies with a brisk ferocity, like a union organizer with a spiel to finish before the end of the lunch break. He is testy with his inquisitors and abrupt with his Apostles. He's a man-God in a hurry to fulfill his mission. Sooner dead, sooner resurrected.
Thus, in the 28-minute Passion segment of "Il Vangelo," does Jesus stride to his death, across the same countryside (Matera, in Puglia, near the heel of the Italian boot) where Gibson shot much of his film. And the mob rushes after him. One screams: "His blood be on our children!" This is the phrase, implicitly condemning Jews for the murder of Christ, that Gibson said he removed from his film. (Turned out, he removed only the subtitle for the Aramaic translation of the curse.) We leave for another day the debate over whether a film is anti-Jewish if it repeats a line swathed in 18 to 20 centuries of Gospel tradition. Anyway, in the Pasolini film, with Italians chasing Italians, the curse seems one not of race or religion but of clan. Besides, Pasolini, a poet before he was a filmmaker, would be unlikely to excise a controversial line from a text he felt bound to honor.
THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, 1965
Not! George Stevens' 3hr.20min. effort his is the longest Jesus film to play theatrically (I think), and monumentally, genteelly, stupefyingly reverent. It watches most off the action from a subservient distance, as if Jesus were too magisterial to approach within 100 paces. On the soundtrack, the heavenly choir trills away earnestly. The Passion segment (44 mins.) couldn't be less so. Connoisseurs of intentional camp treasure "TGSET" as the movie where John Wayne, as a Roman centurion, glowers and says, "Truly this was the Son of God." Pilgrim.
Max von Sydow, alighting from the Ingmar Bergman films, certainly brings height and hauteur to the role and if you're going for the Renaissance masters' vision of Jesus as a European, he might as well be Nordic. (Though, as I was reminded by TIME.com's Tony Karon, my guru in all things political, Jesus was a Semite; if he was tall, lank, bearded and dressed in flowing robes, as von Sydow is, the person he would have resembled most would be...Osama bin Laden.) The actor's iconographic superiority gives this Jesus the big frosty balls to tell his followers, "Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. For a day will come when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren...' " Was Jesus sanctifying gay marriage here?
This Hassidic hippie show, by John-Michael Tebelak and composer Steven Schwartz, spawned the Top 20 charter "Day by Day" ("Oh Lord, three things I pray: To see Thee more clearly, To love Thee more dearly, To follow Thee more nearly, day by day"). Director David Greene set the 1973 movie on Manhattan's city streets and the climax in a city playground. The other night on "The Daily Show," Rob Corddry accurately described the "Godspell" Christ figure as "a '70s pop rainbow suspendery kind of Jesus." Brown-eyed, frizzy-haired Victor Garber, who 30 years later has a career on Broadway ("Art") and TV ("Alias"), stresses Jesus' gentility in sensitive-clown makeup: teardrop eyeliner and a sweet heart on his forehead. The rest of the young cast follows suit, miming up a storm, sipping imaginary sacramental wine from invisible chalices. Drinks for the Last Supper are served in paper cups. Was Jim Jones watching?
Since this Jesus is a creature of woozy gentility, the Passion takes only about 10 mins. Jesus is propped up on the sort of round platform suitable for an elephant's foot and crucified against a chain-link fence. "Oh, God, I'm dying," Jesus intones, and the Apostles chime in, "Oh, God, you're dying." "Oh, God, I'm dead." "Oh, God, you're dead." (Oh god, poor God, Judas hung you in the playground and you're feeling so odd.)
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, 1973
The West End and Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice arrived on screen a few months after "Godspell." The first rock opera transferred to the stage, it was calcified in the made-in-Israel film version by Norman Jewison who, if you're wondering, is not Jewish. Blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus (Ted Neely) faces off against a black Judas (Carl Anderson). The show had two hit songs, the anthem "Superstar" and the ballad "I Don't Know How to Love Him," but its theatricality got lost out there in the desert.
The Passion here consumes about 45 minutes. Jesus undergoes a torrent of taunting from Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas and the mob. "We turn to Rome to sentence Nazareth, We have no law to put a man to death," the high priest beseeches Pilate. And the crowd hollers, "We need him crucified, It's all you have to do." Pilate accedes, singing to Jesus: "Don't let me stop your great self-destruction, Die if you want to, you misguided martyr." (Does that rhyme in Aramaic?) Except for Gibson's "Passion," this is the Jesus film that goes heaviest on the torture. In the scourging at the pillar, Pilate counts out the 39 lashes as if he's an auctioneer at an SM club. Jewison gets into the act, showing the raising of Jesus' cross on Golgotha in an overlapping quartet of shots from different angles, extending the action as Jackie Chan would later do with his more lavish stunts. Other than that, it's a brief crucifixion.
GOSPEL ROAD, 1973
A big year for Jesus musicals, 1973 also saw the emergence in the Bible belt of a family production: "Gospel Road," produced in Israel by June and Johnny Cash. The Man in Black, who had recently embraced Christ, ambles through the Holy Land while quoting Scripture and telling a story of Jesus' life and sacrifice. As Cash intones the words, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased," it's easy to imagine that God just must have a Southern accent. The pauper-budgeted simplicity and naivete of "Gospel Road" its irrefutable good intentions overwhelm the weirdness of a movie in which the director (blue-eyed, blond-haired Robert Elfstrom) plays Jesus and the star's wife is Mary Magdalene.
Cash, who also wrote the script with Larry Murray, gives his record and stage-show fans a treat: eight fine Christian songs, written by himself, John Denver, Larry Gatlin, Kris Kristofferson, Joe South and other top country singer-composers. But he also lays out the plot to discredit Jesus: "He's to be followed and spied on by the Scribes and Pharisees throughout His ministry." As Gibson's film does, Cash's puts the blame on a corrupt segment of the religious hierarchy. And in the last 20 minutes, "Gospel Road" gets around to the Passion. Jesus is lashed, kicked and spat on a few clumsy times, then totes his cross up a deserted city street. He dies in close-up, and the camera pulls back to reveal a modern American city (L.A.? Nashville?) a strange but potent payoff, indicating that the Savior died not only for the sins committed up to His time but for the ones we are still committing.
JESUS OF NAZARETH, 1977
What "It's a Wonderful Life" is to Christmas, and "Yankee Doodle Dandy" to Independence Day, this Franco Zeffirelli miniseries (6hr.26min. in the DVD version, of which the Passion section takes about an hour) is to Easter: definitive TV entertainment for a holiday, or holy day. Lusciously pictorial, elaborating on the Gospel narrative while tightroping above controversy, the film is the fullest standard text from which more extravagant versions like Pasolini's and Gibson's are encouraged to meander freely.
The script by Anthony Burgess and top Italian filmwriter Suso Cecchi D'Amico ("Open City," "The Bicycle Thief," "Big Deal on Madonna Street," "The Leopard") makes clear the legal grounds for killing Jesus. Under Mosaic law, blasphemy ("I'm Yahweh") is a capital crime; under Roman law, calling yourself King of the Jews is treason. The writers' touch is especially careful and coherent in the trial scene. The Sanhedrin is no lynch mob; they are a group of elders searching for common ground, trying to understand a young rebel who gives them no quarter. ("I beg you, bring peace to our gathering tonight.") The rabbis here are burdened with too much religious lore, or have too little imagination, to accept that the ragged fellow is God. In a way, they don't condemn him; he condemns them. Nobody's blood gets on anybody's children.
In Robert Powell, Zeffirelli found the Jesus of a million dining-room icons: agate-blue eyes, cheeks that didn't need to be sucked in for that dishy aesthetic look, a strength to match the facial sensitivity. For a while Powell had the lock on brainy charisma; he played Gustav Mahler, Henry Higgins, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Victor Frankenstein. After months on the Zeffirelli film, Powell said, "I hope Jesus Christ will be the last in my line of sensitive young men for quite a while."
Zeffirelli stuffed his cast with stars of varying aptness: Laurence Olivier rolling his eyes as Nicodemus, Rod Steiger spuming as Pilate, Ernest Borgnine in the John Wayne role. Olivia Hussey, less than a decade after Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet," is Jesus' mother (another movie where the actors playing the son is older, here by seven years, than the actress playing his mother). Anne Bancroft is Magdalene the casting director must have mixed up the two Marys.
The scourging lasts only eight or nine lashes, but they snap and sting; the soldiers wind up for their work like Olympic discus throwers. At Jesus' death there's no earthquake, only rain. Zeffirelli suggests that the response to a Savior's death would be the tears of angel, not the rumblings of subterranean spirits.
MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN, 1979
What's changed in the quarter-century since I first saw this movie? Possibly my sense of humor. I didn't find "Life of Brian," at least the 30 min. Passion section, much fun this time. The sextet devoted way too much ribaldry to speech impediments and Jesus' termagant mum, and the filmmaking craft, which I'd remembered as spiffy, now looked slack. Only the strong central metaphor remains: of a fellow who is mistaken for Christ and crucified. "The Last Temptation of Christ" has a similar theme: a man slowly discovers he is God or may be.
"Brian" gets smarter at the crucifixion, when 139 people are to be crossed up, and this perpendicular Golgotha gang displays all manner of traditional English class snobbery, transported to Palestine. "Under the terms of the Roman occupation, we're entitled to be buried in a purely Jewish area," sniffs one man, whose wife (crucified next to him), says me too. Eric Idle has a few good bits as various incorrigibly sunny prisoners. "See," he tells Graham Chapman's Brian as their crosses are planted, "not so bad when you're up." Idle tops this with the immortal music-hall cheerer-upper, "The Bright Side of Life," which has since become a rally song for English footballers. Words to live and die by:
a piece of shit
When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show.
Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you
And always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the right side of life.
THE DAY CHRIST DIED, 1980
Judas gets his props in this TV movie written by Oscar-winning Edward Anhalt ("Becket") and "Greatest Story Ever Told" survivor James Lee Barrett, and directed by James Cellan Jones, specialist in Masterpiece Theatre-style minis ("The Forsyte Saga," "The Golden Bowl," "Jennie," "Oxbridge Blues," "Fortunes of War") and series ("Rumpole of the Old Bailey"). Barrie Houghton hasn't a winsome face, but his Judas is given every opportunity to seem plausible, contorted, remorseful, pleading with the religious elite to exculpate his crime of betrayal.
Like Gibson's "Passion," this one covers the last hours of Jesus' life, and alludes to earlier events by flashbacks. In the Gibson films they are visual, here verbal: in long testimony during the trial, witnesses describe some of Jesus' miracles, sermons, claims to royalty or divinity. Happily fashioning a cat's cradle from the tangle of religious and secular politics, the movie pins most of the blame on the Romans, whose second in command tells his soldiers, "Be sure that it is technically the Jews who make the arrest, and that he is brought to the house of the high priest." That's Caiaphas, played by Colin Blakely (who a decade earlier was Jesus in Dennis Potter's TV play "Son of Man," accused by some BBC viewers of blasphemy).
Chris Sarandon conquers a strange hair day (it's curly and pouffed out, as if by Mr. George of Galilee) to show a supernal, coiled sexiness. Thirteen lashes at the pillar. As the first nail hits his wrist, Jesus writhes in anguish and the film slows to a freeze frame. In the version shown on Fox Movie Channel, the movie ends abruptly, with a last conspiratorial chat between Herod and Caiaphas. "The Day Christ Died" is thus closer to a "Who Killed J.C.?"
THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, 1988
In Morocco, on a pinchpenny budget of $6 million, Scorsese recreated a Palestine of sere deserts and balding meadows. He found actors whose faces, most of them, boast Semitic heritage; whose voices hold the raspy, urgent cadences of Brooklyn, Appalachia and other frontier outposts of working-class America. (Only Satan and the Romans speak with British accents.)
Scorsese's style is impatient, intimate, conspiratorial, the camera scurrying ever closer to the heart of the matter X-rays of souls in stress. His films are also, thematically, the same film. In "Mean Streets" and "Raging Bull," "The King of Comedy" and "The Color of Money," "Goodfellas" and "Gangs of New York," he has made his own kind of buddy movie. Two men are bound by love or hate; one must betray the other and thereby help certify his mission.
In the Nikos Kazantzakis novel and Paul Schrader's script, Scorsese has found a story vibrant with melodrama and metaphor. This Jesus (Willem Dafoe) is not God born as man. He is a man who discovers or invents his own divinity. And he is both tormented and excited by the revelation. This Judas (Harvey Keitel) is a strong, loving activist. He wants to overthrow the Roman occupiers, while Jesus wants freedom for the soul. To fulfill his covenant, Judas must betray not Jesus but his own ideal of revolution. He must hand the man he most loves over to the Romans.
Any Jesus film with sex and violence is bound to roil the faithful. For Scorsese, though, these elements are bold colors on the canvas, images of the life Jesus must renounce and redeem. The sex scene (in which Barbara Hershey's Mary Magdalene entertains some customers) exposes a strong woman's degradation more than it does her flesh.
JESUS CHRIST, VAMPIRE HUNTER, 2001
After an orgy of solemnity, after ten or so films where I could mouth half the dialogue because it came straight from the Gospels and the earlier Jesus movies, I needed a good laugh. But I got hardly a giggle from "JCVH," the first kungfu-lesbian-horror-Mexican-wrestling musical comedy. (Could there be a second?) The premise, from screenwriter Ian Driscoll, is piquant: Jesus H. Christ joins forces with a priest to rid Ottawa of a vampire coven. He's an activist Savior ("If I'm not back in five minutes, call the Pope") who kicks beaucoup d'ass. He's closer to a standard Mel Gibson hero than to the hero of the new Mel Gibson movie. But the comedy is slack, the song lyrics feeble, the pace torpid. Note to cultists: A movie may be incompetently acted and amateurishly shot. That doesn't mean you have to like it.
SOUTH PARK, 1997-2003
Strange that Trey Parker and Matt Stone's wonderfully irreverent animated sitcom on Comedy Central should be the one place on entertainment TV to find pointed, pertinent theological debate. Is, though. In the quiet Colorado mountain town of South Park, four nine-year-old boys delve into eschatology nearly as much as scatology. Jesus Christ is a palpable presence in South Park not surprising, since he lives there and hosts a cable access talk show ("Jesus and Pals"). A good and mild man in a mad and wild world, Jesus has fought a championship boxing match with Satan (episode 108), attempted to calm Millennium jitters at a Las Vegas concert with Rod Stewart (episode 316), and battled evil cult-magician David Blaine with the help of his Super Best Friends Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, Krishna, Lao Tse and the Mormons' Joseph Smith.
Like Gibson's Messiah, Parker and Stone's Jesus has Father issues. In the millennium episode (314), young Stan Marsh asks Jesus, "Why does God hate me?" and the Savior mutters, "Huh? He doesn't hate you, he hates me. He's gonna let me be crucified again." Jesus is also not always comfortable with his job. At the end of the episode, when a booing crowd comes to its senses, the elementary school chef says, "Jesus, we're sorry. Can you ever forgive us?" He puts his halo back on and replies, "Aw heck. Do I have a choice?" (All dialogue for these episodes is available on the invaluable fansite, the South Park Scriptorium.)
In this town, it seems, everyone is Catholic. The boys often take Christ's name in vain, but the sweetest kid in South Park, Butters, is also the most devout. When he says Jesus, it's not a swear word but a desperate prayer: "Uhoh, great Jesus, son of Mary, wife of Joseph, what are we gonna do, huh? Huhoh, sweet Joseph, husband of Mary but not father of sweet Jesus!" Butters' mom was right when (after she tried to kill him), she said, "You're the best son in the whole world."
The one Jewish kid is Kyle Broflofski, whose presence allows "South Park" to address the Jewish question that has dogged Gibson. In a great episode (410), Kyle's three friends Stan, Kenny and Cartman are prepared for their first Holy Communion and scared crapless that they'll go to hell if they don't confess all their sins. Kyle, equally, panicked, wants to confess too. But the very conservative priest, Father Maxi, informs Kyle solemnly that he and his hapless kind are condemned to wade forever in the wretched lake of fire. His colleague, the more liberal Sister Anne, is shocked: "I think that as long as Jewish people are good, they will get into heaven." The priest is incensed: "Sister, the Jews crucified our Savior. I mean, if you don't go to hell for crucifying the Savior, then what the hell do you go to hell for?!"
Know that Maxi is quickly punished for his doctrinal heresy. He's found fornicating in the confessional, and the shocked children start their own church. Indeed, they often flirt with religious cults, other sects ("All About the Mormons," episode 712) and Christian rock. In "Christian Rock Hard" (episode 709), Cartman forms a trio called Faith + 1 that zooms to the top of the Christian charts with such romantic ballads as "I Wasn't Born Again Yesterday" and "Three Times My Savior." The record executives are troubled by the intensity of Cartman's lyrics: "It appears you are actually... in love with Christ." Cartman shrugs: "Well, what's the difference? You love Christ, you're in love with Christ I mean, what the heck is this?" What it is, is a profession of faith more lurid than Gibson could have dreamed, as in the uptempo spiritual, "Body of Christ," with these sensuous lyrics:
The Body of Christ! Sleek
swimmer's body, all muscled up and toned!
The Body of Christ! O, Lord Almighty, I wish I could call it my own!...
Lord Almighty oooooooooo, I've never been so enticed!
Oh I wish I could have the body of Christ!
True believers can take their choice: the bloody body of Christ, courtesy of Mel Gibson and James Caviezel, or the muscle-beach Jesus of those theological scamps at "South Park."
I'm thinking, I'm thinking. |
Dry Summer (Susuz yaz)
Description: Two brothers, Osman and Hasan, disagree over allowing neighboring villagers to use the water on their land. Osman surrounds the water with barriers to prevent others from using it. Being a good man, Hasan argues that the others should also use the water. Confessing a murder actually committed by his brother, Hasan is convicted and sent to jail. After his release he learns that Osman used deception to take away his wife and marry her. Hasan loses control. In the ensuing fight, he drowns Osman in the water and then clears away the barriers.
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With archive film clips and interviews, this brief look at a frequently overlooked historical period of filmmaking acts as an introduction rather than a complete record. Features interviews with some of the genre’s biggest stars, like Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and Richard Roundtree.
Director Melvin Van Peebles discusses the historical importance of his landmark film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. For a contemporary perspective, the excitable Quentin Tarantino offers his spirited commentary and author-critic bell hooks provides some scholarly social analysis.
The music of Blaxploitation films is rightfully discussed, focusing on Curtis Mayfield’s Super Fly and Isaac Hayes’ Shaft. Also features interviews with writer-director Larry Cohen and film historian Armond White. BaadAsssss Cinema was originally shown on the Independent Film Channel in August 2002 as part of a week-long Blaxploitation film festival. |
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Qube Cinema will introduce QubeTouch, a new graphical user interface (GUI) that works with all of its digital cinema servers, at ShowEast (Nov. 5-8, 2012 in Hollywood, Fla.). QubeTouch is an interactive server interface that uses either a web-based or Android app. As a result, theatre managers and projectionists now have a reliable, intuitive and interactive way to monitor their shows.
"QubeTouch has an extensive set of features that enhance server operation," said Rajesh Ramachandran, president and CTO of Qube Cinema. "Intuitive dialogs, common action icons and buttons allow users to easily manage media and keys, automate show schedules and adjust system configuration settings."
QubeTouch offers convenient access to everyday functions such as basic show and playback controls, as well as advanced system health monitoring and usage information.
QubeTouch comes as a touch-enabled HTML5 web app built into the Qube server and is accessible on all browsers, including those on the iPad and other tablets. QubeTouch Remote is an Android application that will be available soon at the Google Play app store, where it will be free for a limited time. As a standards-based platform, QubeTouch does not require a dedicated management system or a proprietary touch panel, ensuring low cost and high productivity.
Visitors to ShowEast can see the new QubeTouch first-hand at booth #920 at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Fla., Nov. 5-8, 2012. Qube Cinema also will be showing the XP-I server, Xi IMB and the mastering capabilities of QubeMaster Xport and QubeMaster Xpress 2 at ShowEast.
In the beginning, there was film. Images captured on light-sensitive material that could be shared among many viewers. Later came magnetic material called “videotape” and it was good for many things. Then a revolution! The computer and digital charged onto the field.Read more...
The western states, as a whole, are filled with more scenery than people. There are, of course, pockets of population that skew that logic – Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas, and a few other cities – and they tend to be very urban areas, filled with views that can be found in cities east or west, But the grandeur of the land away from the cities is what attracts film makers from all over the world.Read more...
In the western United States, studios and soundstages often come with a distinguished Hollywood heritage. In Santa Fe, N.M., Garson Studios was founded by an Academy Award-winning actress. In Hollywood, Fox Studios carries the cachet of one of the legendary major studios. Moving north, the stages of San Rafael, Calif.’s 32TEN Studios once hosted Lucasfilm blockbusters, while the new Reno Tahoe Studios in Nevada seeks to establish its own heritage as production incentives promise to attract film and TV business to the state.Read more...
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FirstCom Music 2013 Credit Reel
A blue sky sprawls between ridges frosted in deep evergreen, framing Alder Gulch much as when Native American tribes traversed this landscape 800 years ago. The town of Virginia City sprang up virtually overnight in the summer of 1863; within one year, it was the largest city in the Inland Northwest, with an estimated 10,000 residents. These days, few people continue seeking gold in Alder Gulch. But for filmmakers seeking ready-made Old West locations, the towns of Virginia City and Nevada City offer one more chance to strike it rich.
Chrosziel Camera accessories are the professionals choice! Chrosziel's broad range of well built, German designed and manufactured camera accessories offer reliable operation to last your professional career. Matte boxes in a variety of filter sizes and filter stages, with or without a swing away arm, Follow Focuses for smooth and accurate focus pulls with no backlash are available as single or dual sided versions and Vari-Lock, a Chrosziel exclusive, offers you the ability to set hard stops for quick focus pulls. Chrosziel offers a broad line of camera bases including 19mm bridge plates, lens supports and much more for Blackmagic, Canon, JVC, Panasonic, RED & Sony cameras. |
"Where is Fitzsimmons? He was supposed to be here to sign his calendars!"
Why shove your religion down your employee’s throats when you can use Hobby Lobby’s new “True Believer” throat suppositories. Coercion required!
The governor’s selection of the Child Advocate Response Examination Team is the right step. Particularly gratifying is the selection of Charles Flanagan to chair the team. Flanagan, director of the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, is the most articulate and skilled child advocate…
Health insurance discrimination against gender-variant people is supposed to be a thing of the past under president Obama’s health law.
The botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act is the big issue in the races for two Arizona congressional districts — which are among the hottest races in the nation.
Arizonans who want to purchase subsidized health insurance under President Obama’s new law must do it through the federal government, which is operating the state’s marketplace.
TEA PARTY REPUBLICANS SHUT DOWN UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WITHOUT HIJACKING AIRLINERS
A Tucson-based insurance company is diversifying from covering only government plans and will be part of the Arizona marketplace created under President Obama’s health law.
Navy doctor Lt. William Ridgway, of San Francisco, Calif., works on a seriously wounded Marine who was cut down while fighting on the western Korean front only a few hours before the signing of an armistice at Panmunjom on August 2, 1953. Hospital Corpsman Stanley Baker, of Los Angeles, is a…
A 50-year-old Tucson man had lost his job after a heart attack. He needed a new battery for his defibrillator, but had no access to health care.
Nurse practitioner Ruth Wiley examines Elizabeth Knowles at a Walgreens Take Care Clinic in Indianapolis. The clinics are expanding the scope of services offered. Walgreens has 330 clinics offering the new services.
Walgreens, the largest U.S. drugstore chain, is expanding into treatment of diabetes, asthma and other chronic illnesses to lure new customers including millions gaining insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
Pima County is moving to a self-insurance model for its employees' health benefits, which could save taxpayers money in the long run.
MHC Healthcare names new director
“The party of capitalism must become the party of social insurance, for capitalism’s own sake.”
A film that features Tucson author and integrative medicine expert Dr. Andrew Weil is scheduled to open at 7 p.m. this Friday at The Loft Cinema in Tucson.
Residents of the Green Valley and Sahuarita area will at long last get a hospital and an emergency room, TMC says.
PHOENIX — Federal authorities say an Arizona hospice has agreed to pay $3.7 million to resolve civil allegations that the company submitted false claims to Medicare. |
On June 24th, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced some momentous news about next year's Oscars--there will be 10 nominees for Best Picture, instead of the usual 5. This is probably the biggest embarkment the Academy has taken since the inception of the supporting actor/actress awards in 1936. "After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year," said President Sid Ganis. "The final outcome, of course, will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009." This was clearly done in response to much debate concerning the exclusion of certain genres of films, such as animated features and action/adventure films, namely "WALL-E" and "The Dark Knight". The Academy's decision opens the doors for more movies to vie for the ultimate honor of being named Best Picture of the Year.
Being director James Cameron’s first non-documentary feature since his monster epic Titanic which was over twelve years ago, I was honestly expecting a great deal more, especially considering that this is a movie that he wrote, directed and produced. However, he does have a track record for technically advanced films that often fall short on plot and structure. And Avatar is no exception to this trend. This is probably the most overly hyped film of the year. Aside from the radiant special effects and masterful editing, there was nothing too impressive about this movie. Cameron had originally written an eighty-page scriptment some fifteen years ago and filming was supposed to commence immediately after Titanic. But he held off on pursuing its development and production because the visual effects capabilities were limited at the time. Cameron had a vision of what the film would look like and did not want to cheapen his foresight of this imagined world on screen. This kind of integrity for a filmmaker is indeed admirable, and I am not saying that this is a bad movie nor am I saying that Cameron’s work isn’t without merit. What I am saying is that Avatar simply isn’t as great as people have been making it out to be. (Read More Here)
Rating: ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: Although a visually stunning spectacle, it is an overly hyped epic that is essentially just Dances With Wolves in Sci-Fi.
2. The Blind Side
Directed By John Lee Hancock
Starring Sandra Bullock, Kathy Bates, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Ray McKinnon, Jae Head, and Lily Collins
“This team is your family.” This line stuck out the most with me, on a personal level. A very close friend and teammate of mine recently conveyed very similar sentiments to me, having not been playing with them or even around much this past fall season. This concept of a team being like your family is the overriding theme of this film. There is much to be said about anything that unifies people from different walks of life and improves upon their very existence. This is the reason I have always loved playing team sports. Very few things in my own life have afforded me the kind of trust in my comrades and belief in my contributions as playing football and rugby. And that is precisely what The Blind Side so auspiciously conveys. Sandra Bullock, who portrays Leigh Anne Tuohy in the film, commented in a recent interview, “A family unit doesn’t work unless everyone’s working together. The Team doesn’t work, if everyone’s not working together… Working as a team or a family advances people faster and better than someone by themselves.” (Read More Here)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: Even if you're not a fan of football, you will appreciate the message behind this film. It is the feel good movie of the year!
3. District 9
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Staring Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and David James
In 1982, a massive star ship bearing a bedraggled alien population, nicknamed "The Prawns," appeared over Johannesburg, South Africa. Twenty-eight years later, the initial welcome by the human population has faded. The refugee camp where the aliens were located has deteriorated into a militarized ghetto called District 9, where they are confined and exploited in squalor. In 2010, the munitions corporation, Multi-National United, is contracted to forcibly evict the population with operative Wikus van der Merwe in charge. In this operation, Wikus is exposed to a strange alien chemical and must rely on the help of his only two new 'Prawn' friends. -Kenneth Chisholm
4. An Education
Directed by Lone Scherfig
Staring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, and Emma Thompson
An Education is a coming of age tale about a sixteen-year-old girl who falls in love with a man twice her age. Relatively unknown Danish director Lone Scherfig has created a film that truly captures the innocence of youth. The script itself is based upon the memoirs of British journalist Lynn Barber who didn’t originally publish her story until this year. There was an essay written in the "Granta", a student publication at Cambridge University, which featured Barber’s personal story. Screenwriter Nick Hornby read this and immediately was draw to the story. He states that what appealed to him most was this “suburban girl who's frightened that she's going to get cut out of everything good that happens in the city. That, to me, is a big story in popular culture. It's the story of pretty much every rock 'n' roll band.” Hornby, a novelist himself, also wrote the screen adaptation for such popular films as High Fidelity and About a Boy, and applies his usual shrewd understanding of pop palatability again here. (Read More Here)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: A remarkably distinguished coming of age story that truly embodies the angst and emotional trauma of life's many lessons.
5. The Hurt Locker
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Staring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty
“The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.” This opening quote from New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges’ novel “War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” is the perfect summation for this movie. People throughout the ages have faced the front lines of the battlefield and endured the sacrifice of themselves for a greater cause. This is not that kind of war story. In fact, to classify this as an Iraqi War movie is a hasty assumption. The Hurt Locker is more a story about three men, three soldiers, and the emotional duress they endure while defusing bombs in Baghdad. There isn’t some greater cause that will serve some exorbitant conclave, or some revolutionary mission for the betterment of man, or some lofty discernment of some geopolitical purpose. The film focuses on the characters themselves and not the superseding circumstances of the war at hand. It separates itself from this A-typical scenario that so many preceding films of this kind have fallen to. (Read More Here)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: Finally a modern war film set in the Middle East that isn't cliché. A great film that focuses on the characters not the politics.
6. Inglourious Basterds
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Staring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Mélanie Laurent, and Til Schweiger
When anyone mentions the name Quentin Tarantino, a mélange of words come to mind: extreme, audacious, impudent. But much of his style is modeled after the numerous cult cinema classics and Inglourious Basterds is no exception to this. Tarantino not only has remade the original version of the 1978 film of the same name only spelled correctly (Inglorious Bastards), but he has crafted a parody on World War II films in general that rings to the tune of The Dirty Dozen, Where Eagles Dare, and The Great Escape, to name a few. The drastic difference here is that Tarantino distributes an equal amount of screen time between the good and bad guys. Many of the more esteemed war epics often ignore that realm of contradictory regard. So while Tarantino may ignore the factual accounts of the period, he executes a balanced story that enhances the perspective of the enemy, though still diabolical, simply by allowing them face time. He focuses on the story, not just the history. This is precisely why he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction. Though his approach is indeed noteworthy, the film itself falls short on the whole. (Read More Here)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: Entertainingly glorifies violence in a way we have not seen in some time.
Directed by Lee Daniels
Staring Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton, and Lenny Kravitz
With all the hype surrounding this movie, I had expected an extremely moving film about the hard knocks of life. That was a huge underestimation on my part. This film relinquishes any preconceived inner-city stereotypes that one might have and exposes a down right horrific world of destitution and misfortune. To call Precious merely a social statement is like saying that Titanic was about a sinking boat. Director Lee Daniels has created a disarming film that doesn’t force false empathy or emotion from its viewers. The story line alone pushes the audience to feel for these characters with seeming constructed or imposing. With each scene there is a new revelation, some are hopeful but most are disarming. It is a rare occurrence for a movie to entice such a deplorable emotion reaction. (Read More Here)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Bottom Line: A heart-wrenching story about the hardships of an abused and seemingly hopeless teenager in Harlem. Masterful acting performances take this film to a whole other level.
8. A Serious Man
Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
Staring Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Sari Wagner Lennick, Fred Melamed, Aaron Wolff, and Jessica McManus
There are two groups of people who should go see this movie: 1. anyone who is Jewish and 2. anyone who knows someone who is Jewish. Writers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen have done it again with their latest parody on American-Jewish culture in the sixties. The public has come to know their style of film making to be intricately elaborate and situationally extremist, and A Serious Man is most certainly both. Personally, I wish I had gone to see this with one of my Jewish friends, but only so that I would have had an on-hand expert to immediately clue me in on some of the scenarios depicted in the film. There were several scenes where the audience bursted out into laughter without any real premise to do so; it dawned on me that these must have been some sort of Jewish inside jokes, if you will. Despite my lack of cognition, the movie was highly entertaining and not just in a Coen Borthers sort of way. We have seen this approach from them before in such films as Raising Arizona and Fargo that embrace a known ethnology that we may not all know personally, but certainly know of. This pre-establishes a level of endearance to audiences because most can certainly relate to the idea of what these characters are going through. So even if you're not of any kind of Jewish decent, the predicaments are so intriguing that it arouses a curiosity to want to know about being Jewish. Or at the very least, want to know about these characters. This is what makes this such a great film. (Read More Here)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: A must see! Especially if you can appreciate the dark farcical style of the Coen Brothers.
Directed by Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson
Staring Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer and Jordan Nagai
From the Academy Award-nominated team of director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.) and co-director Bob Peterson comes Up, a comedic adventure taking off and lifting spirits. Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate, and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell, gives him a new lease on life. Up takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures. When seeking adventure - look Up.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: A candid tale of two explorers who find themselves through the help of the other. Heart-warming from beginning to end.
10. Up In The Air
Directed by Jason Reitman
Staring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, and Sam Elliott
Have you recently lost your job? Is your business suffering because the consumer market is on a severe down? Have you felt the repercussions of the poor economy in any way, shape or form? If you are living anywhere in America right now, you probably answered “yes” to one of these questions. And if so, I highly recommend that you see this film. Director Jason Reitman has once again crafted a movie that drives its message home by focusing on characters through lightweight existentialism. Much like his prior films, Juno and Thank You For Smoking, Up In The Air takes a typically nontraditional protagonist and gives us a rare window into their unconventional existence. Reitman co-wrote the screenplay with Sheldon Turner, whose previous work is limited to mediocre horror film remakes and a bad Adam Sandler movie. Although it is based upon Walter Kirn’s novel of the same name, the film takes a vastly different approach than the original story. I would not be surprised if both Reitman and Turner take home an Oscar this year for their lofty adaptation. (Read More Here)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: A splendid contemporary glimpse into one man's ventures that induces us to reflect upon our own lives. An absolute must see!
The Short List:
"Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," commented Ganis. "I can’t wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February." |
! = recommended
* = all-ages
Don't see your show on our calendar? Contact our calendar editor.
Ah, SIFF. Back again, so soon, in all its magnificent, bloated, astonishing, brilliant, annoying, magical, all-consuming glory. "Go inside film, get outside yourself," says this year's marketing tagline. I've been outside myself quite a lot these past ten days, and as I approach my 30th screening I submit for your approval a few assorted musings on my experience so far.
First, let’s get this perennial gripe out of the way now and I promise not to mention it again during SIFF '10: the Egyptian Theatre’s restroom situation leaves much to be desired. Especially if you happen to be male. This has been the case during all eleven SIFFs I’ve been fortunate enough to attend, and I wager it’s not going to change anytime soon. (Proximity to the door and hallway are one thing, but would it kill them to at least install a splashguard somewhere in the few scant centimeters between the two urinals?) For those of you who’ve never endured it, let’s just say it’s not a setup that accommodates crowds well. Those of us with any degree of modesty have learned the hard way that unless you get in there during a non-peak window (i.e., the middle of a screening) it’s just best to arrange for business to be handled elsewhere beforehand, to prepare for an Egyptian screening the way you prepare for surgery (no food or liquid after midnight), or to shut up and suffer in silence. Can I get an amen, fellas?
But many of the other typical SIFF annoyances of years past haven’t seemed so intense so far: the queues haven’t been bad at all (especially when you arrive five minutes before a screening as I tend to do – an ill-advised strategy but I’m nothing if not honest), audience behavior has actually been ok (occasional inevitable popcorn-crunching and cellophane-rattling aside), and this year’s pre-film SIFF bumpers are holding up well to repeat viewings (though why would The Nightmare Before Christmas be a September film?). But it’s early yet; ask me about these again next week at this time.
So opening weekend was Shortsfest – most of which took place at SIFF Cinema, a lovely venue with a far more favorable lavatory scenario – and I made it to the Ambiente and (Amie's favorite) Pandemonium Boulevard packages there. I enjoyed most of the shorts, hated at least one per set (par for the course), and didn't come away considering anything a bona fide classic. Same goes for the Straight From NPR program at the (WC-deficient – oops, sorry, last time I'll mention it I swear) Egyptian; I left it, my bladder full to bursting, wishing for a bit more This American Life and a bit less All Things Considered.
Speaking of creative nonfiction, documentaries succumbing to the too-long-for-comfort tendency (I'm looking at you, The Oath) should take a cue from Queen of the Sun, an enlightening and briskly-paced enviro-doc about the alarmingly poor state of the US honeybee population. It's no Food, Inc. or Fresh or (director Taggart Siegel's more well-known film) The Real Dirt on Farmer John, but it would make a good companion piece to any of these for the agri-conscious eco-citizen. Other non-fic delights to date have included Alamar (about a Mexican coastal-fisherman father imparting Mayan heritage to his citified lil' son), Restrepo (harrowing first-hand account of US soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley), and The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (which ChrisB liked a lot too).
On the fiction side, I've been enchanted by The Hedgehog (based on Muriel Barbery's dark and hilarious novel), roused by the great Ferzan Ozpetek's gay Italian confection Loose Cannons, heartbroken and hope-filled by the French movie-family-in-crisis drama Father of My Children, and enthralled by The Maldives' live-scored Riders of the Purple Sage.
But the highlight of week one – and when all's said and done, possibly of my SIFF '10 in general – was the ravishingly gorgeous I Am Love. It's the Savage Grace of this festival – an arty, grandiose, diva-fronted eurodrama that I can't get out of my mind but which is virtually unrecommendable to most people I know. Many will find it deliberate, slow, and overly talkative. I find it a near-masterpiece, with its operatic, glistening mix of lifestyle porn (oh my God, wealthy Milan!) and food porn (Tilda Swinton gets her groove back with a hot young chef whose delectable treats aren't limited to the well-appointed kitchen). Director Luca Guadagnino is one to watch.
The joy of SIFF is its international-ness, the glimpses of elsewhere-life it provides. So far audiences have been given opportunities to hang out with the motley crew of regulars at an American-style soul food diner in Hamburg (Soul Kitchen), observe the long-term effects of Sri Lanka's civil war (Between Two Worlds), take part in an emotional and violent manhunt in the Missouri Ozarks (Winter's Bone), and tag along on an intensely affecting search for a missing father in Iraq (Son of Babylon). And there are still many, many glimpses to be had.
But if said magic is scheduled to happen at the Egyptian, just remember to pee first. |
BIBLIOGRAPHY TO ENERGY FLASH a.k.a. GENERATION ECSTASY
For space reasons the bibliography has been left out of the updated/expanded 2008 edition of Energy Flash. For those who feel the absence here it is, with the addition of a section at the end on significant and useful books and articles on rave/techno/electronic music that have been published in the ten years since Energy Flash/Generation Ecstasy first came out. This is a work in progress and will be added to regularly. Suggestions for books, magazine articles, and online work/resources/etc are welcomed.
ADORNO, THEODOR W.
"On The Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening". In Arato, E & E. Gebhardt eds. The Essential Frankfurt School Reader. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1978.
"Perennial Fashion--Jazz". In Prisms, trans. Samuel Weber and Shierry Weber. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1981.
Noise: The Political Economy of Music. Trans. Brian Massumi. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985.
BEADLE, JEREMY J.
Will Pop Eat Itself?--Pop Music In The Soundbite Era. London: Faber & Faber, 1993.
BECK, JEROME and MARSHA RONSENBAUM.
Pursuit of Ecstasy: The MDMA Experience. State University of New York Press, 1994.
Jeff Mills interview. Jockey Slut, June/July 1996.
The Empty Fortress: Infantile Autism and the Birth of Self. New York: The Free Press, 1967.
T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism. Brooklyn, New York: Autonomedia, 1991.
Omens of Millenium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection. New York: Riverhead, 1996.
Lacan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1991
"Chicago: Still Rockin' Down The House". iD, April 1995.
Among The Thugs. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 1992.
Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject In Postmodern Science Fiction. Durham, North Carolina and London: Duke University Press, 1993.
"The Artificial Infinite". In Cooke, Lynne and Peter Wollen ed. Visual Display: Culture Beyond Appearances. Seattle: Bay Press, 1995.
ed. Disco Biscuits. London: Sceptre/Hodder & Stoughton. 1997.
"Trance Tripping" [Goa trance]. In iD, The Real Issue, 1996.
COLLIN, MATTHEW, with JOHN GODFREY.
Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House. London: Serpent's Tail, 1997.
"Plunderphonics". In Musicworks/60, Fall 1994.
DELEUZE, GILLES, and FELIX GUATTARI.
A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Trans. Brian Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987.
"The History of Detroit Techno Part One" and "Part Two". In Detroit Metro Times, May 17-23 and May 24-30, 1995.
The Recording Angel: Music, Records and Culture From Aristotle to Zappa. London: Picador, 1988.
Dialogue with Kevin Kelly, in Wired, May 1995.
Carl Craig profile. iD, April 1995.
Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1996.
Neuromancer. New York: Ace, 1984.
The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1993.
"The Amnesiacs/Happy Daze Are Here Again". [Balearic and Acid House]. In iD, The Body Issue, 1988.
"Rationalisation and Democratisation in the New Technologies of Popular Music". In Lull, James, ed. Popular Music and Communication. Sage 1992.
Rhythm And Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1996
GRAY, CHRIS HABLES
ed. The Cyborg Handbook. New York and London: Routledge, 1995.
GREENFELD, KARL TARO.
Speed Tribes: Days and Nights With Japan's Next Generation. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
GRINSPOON, LESTER, and PETER HEDBLOM.
The Speed Culture: Amphetamine Use and Abuse in America. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1975.
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture. London: Routledge, 1992.
"Millions and Millions of Potential Alices". In Guattari, Felix. Molecular Revolution: Psychiatry and Politics. trans. Rosemary Sheed. London: Penguin, 1984.
Cut 'n' Mix: Culture, Identity and Caribbean Music. London: Comedia, 1987.
HENRY, STUART and MIKE VON JOEL.
Pirate Radio: Then and Now. Poole, Dorset: Blandford Press, 1984.
"Wonderland U.K." [Drug excess/ennui] in The Face, January 1993.
"Feeling Mighty Real: Disco as Discourse and Discipline". In Village Voice Rock & Roll Quarterly, Summer 1993.
The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Mentor, 1958.
"Subjective Effects Of Nitrous Oxide". In Mind, Vol. 7, 1882, pp. 186-208. Reprinted in Tart, Charles T. ed, Altered States of Consciousness. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.
KEIL, CHARLES, AND STEVEN FELD.
Music Grooves. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
ed. History of House. London: Sanctuary, 1996.
"The Mancunian Candidates: Happy Mondays and Stone Roses". In Kent, Nick. The Dark Stuff. London: Penguin, 1994.
The Possessed Individual: Technology and the French Postmodern. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992
Spasm: Virtual Reality, Android Music and Electric Flesh. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993
KROKER, ARTHUR, and MICHAEL A. WEINSTEIN.
Data Trash: The Theory of the Virtual Class. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.
LUDLOW, FITZ HUGH.
"The Hasheesh Eater: being passages from The Life of a Pythagorean". Extract reprinted in Strausbaugh, John and Donald Blaise ed. The Drug User: Documents 1840-1960. New York: Blast Books Inc, 1991.
"Harder Than Hardcore" [Gabba]. In iD, The Europe Issue, 1993.
Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties. London: Verso, 1990
Food Of The Gods: The Search For The Original Tree of Knowledge. A Radical History of Planets, Drugs and Human Evolution. New York: Bantam, 1992.
"The Ecstasy of Disappearance". In Redhead, Steve, ed. Rave Off.
"Ecstasy Evangelists and Psychedelic Warriors". In Melechi, Antonio, ed. Psychedelica Britannica: Hallucinogenic Drugs In Britain. London: Turnaround, 1997.
Voodoo In Haiti. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959. In
MILLER, PAUL D.
"Yet Do I Wonder". Village Voice, February 8th, 1994.
Anarchy & Ecstasy: Visions of Halcyon Days. London: Aporia Press, 1988
NEWCOMBE, DR RUSSELL.
"Raving and Dance Drugs: House Music Clubs and Parties in North-West England". Liverpool: Rave Research Bureau paper, 1991.
"Passing Poison" in Observer Life magazine, 9th October 1994.
Reprinted in Kureishi, Hanif and Jon Savage ed. The Faber Book of Pop. London: Faber & Faber, 1995.
"Feel The Noise-- Techno Kids: The Working-Class Avant-Garde" [New York hardcore]. Village Voice, September 24, 1991.
"Paradise Lost" [Paradise Garage/Larry Levan]. In Vibe, 1993.
"The King of Ecstasy" [Lord Michael]. Village Voice, April 1, 1997.
"Black Secret Tricknology" [Tricky]. The Wire, March 1995.
Interview with Brian Eno, in Request, November 1995.
PRINCE, DAVID, and MATT ADELL.
Interview with Terence McKenna. Reactor, March 1993.
Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1994.
Football With Attitude. Manchester: Wordsmith, 1991.
ed. Rave Off: Politics and Deviance in Contemporary Youth Culture. Aldershot, Hampshire: Avebury, 1993.
"Living The Dream".In Redhead, Steve, ed. Rave Off.
"The House Sound of Chicago". Working Papers In Popular Cultural Studies No. 8. Manchester: Manchester Institute For Popular Culture, 1993.
Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace. HarperCollins, 1994.
E For Ecstasy. London: Nicholas Saunders, 1993
Ecstasy and The Dance Culture. London: Nicholas Saunders, 1995.
SCHAFER, R. MURRAY.
The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 1994.
Waiting For The Man. The Story of Drugs and Popular Music. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1988
SHAPIRO, PETER and RACHAEL PHILIPPS.
"Something For The Blunted" [Coldcut and Ninjatune]. The Wire, May 1996.
"Techno Rebels: Detroit's Agents of Change". In Urb no. 50, August/September 1996.
The Acoustic Mirror: The Female Voice in Psychoanalysis and Cinema. Bloomington and Indianopolis: Indiana University Press, 1988.
"Us Boys Together Clinging: One Night in a Gay Club" in Smith, Richard. Seduced and Abandoned: Essays on Gay Men and Popular Music. London: Cassell, 1995.
"The Basic Unit of Contemporary Art Is Not The Idea, But The Analysis of and Extension of Sensations". In Stearn, Gerald Emanuel ed. McLuhan: Hot & Cool. New York: Signet, 1969.
"The Booth, The Floor and The Wall: Dance Music and the Fear of Falling". In Public, No. 8, 1993.
Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1997.
Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital. Hanover, New Hampshire: Weslyan University Press, 1996.
Future Shock. New York: Random House, 1970.
The Third Wave. New York: Bantam, 1981.
Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary Worlds. London: Serpent's Tail, 1995.
"Behind The Groove". [Early Eighties New York DJ's] In Collusion, September 1983. Reprinted in DJ, March 11, 1994
Giorgio Moroder interview. The Wire, April 1992.
Aesthetics of Disappearance. New York: Semiotext(e), 1991.
VIRILO, PAUL, and SYLVERE LOTRINGER.
Pure War. New York: Semiotext(e), 1983.
The Acid House. London: Jonathan Cape, 1994 and New York: Norton, 1995.
Marabou Stork Nightmares. New York: Norton, 1996.
Nobody Nowhere: The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic. London: Doubleday, 1992, and New York: Times Books, 1992.
A SELECTION OF BOOKS AND ARTICLES PUBLISHED AFTER ENERGY FLASH'S ORIGINAL RELEASE
Mireille Scott, Rave America: Inside Club Culture (ECW Press, 2000)
Entertaining and well-researched history of rave culture in North America. Journalistic rather than theoretical/critical, it does for the New World what Matthew Collin's Altered State did for Blighty. The 'North America,' as opposed to USA, is a crucial distinction, as one of the best chapters is on the nuttily Anglophile scene in Toronto, long this continent's bastion of all things ardkore and jungalistic.
Tim Lawrence, Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979 (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, October 2003)
Fascinating and highly detailed history of the 1970s disco underground-- house music's prehistory, in other words. Look out also for Lawrence's forthcoming critical biography of Arthur Russell.
Peter Shapiro, Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco (London: Faber & Faber, 2006)
A good complement to Lawrence's scholarly and New York-centric book, with which it overlaps somewhat, Shapiro's chronicle is broader-ranging both geographically and timespan-wise (e.g. fascinating stuff on the early 80s Northern Italy 'cosmic' scene) and is also more vividly written while being no less authoritative and trainspotter-friendly in terms of esoteric facts.
Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey (New York: Grove, 2000; revised 2006)
B&B are house bods, so you don't get much on rave or indeed techno in this volume (it's like Energy Flash inverted, in fact). But this a knowledgeable, entertaining and affable history of the disco-house continuum, particularly strong on club culture before Ibiza-acieeed-XTC.(Exhaustively strong, with a long collection of famous DJ fave track playlists from various legendary NYC clubs of the 70s and early 80s). Brewster & Broughton also wrote a useful manual on the craft of deejaying, How to DJ Right: The Art and Science of Playing Records (Grove, 2003), if this had come out before we had kids I might even have taken the plunge and bought a second Technics…
Dave Haslam, Adventures on the Wheels of Steel: The Rise of the Superstar DJs (London: Harper UK 2002)
Useful book about the rise to hegemony of deejays in UK pop culture by Hacienda deejay and author (see also his Manchester, England history which naturally covers Madchester and baggy with an insider's perspective)
Peter Shapiro (editor) Modulations: A History of Electronic Music: Throbbing Words on Sound. (New York: Caipirinha Productions/D.A.P, 2000.)
Spanning the genrescape from musique concrete to trip hop and all points in between, an attractively designed compendium of essays by David Toop, Kodwo Eshun (a particularly good one, on house music), Rob Young, Tony Marcus, Kurt Reighley, Mike Rubin, Chris Sharp, yours truly (on Krautrock), and editor Peter Shapiro. "Throbbing" might be a bit strong but a jolly good read nonetheless.
Jeremy Gilbert and Ewan Pearson,Discographies: Dance Music Culture and the Politics of Sound (London: Routledge, 1999)
The best academic treatment of techno and rave culture I've come across--wide-ranging, theoretically probing, and lively and approachable in style. Pearson incidentally went on to prove equally adept at praxis as theory, becoming a well-respected deejay and remixer and in 2007 released his very fine contribution to Fabric's series of dj mix-CDs (Fabric 35).
Michel Gaillot, Multiple Meaning: Techno: An Artistic and Political Laboratory of the Present (Editions Dis Voir).
Thought-provoking and elegantly written… monograph, I think you'd have to say (121 pages)by philosopher and art critic Gaillot, whose basic argument, crudely simplified, is that rave culture is not apolitical so much as pre-political, a reversion to primordial forms of sociality that only works because people check their ideologies at the door along with their coats.
Kodwo Eshun, More Brilliant Than The Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction (Quartet, 1997).
Named after the sample in Origin Unknown's "Valley of the Shadows" aka "Long Dark Tunnel"!!! I have plenty of disagreements with Eshun's stance (see reviews here -- and I do think it's problematic that he never defines the "blackness", even the "post-essentialist blackness", that flickers in and out of the argument like a sort of spectral-rhetorical presence that conjures a vague counter-hegemonic edginess). But there's no denying that this is a supremely potent countervision to the sociohistorical approach nearly everybody else takes, mashing down all opposition less through argument than through the delirial intensity of the prose. Strong stuff.
Some of the most provocative and intoxciating work in a post-K.Eshun vein was done by the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit, aka CCRU, who aimed to do for crit theory what breakbeat science did for rhythm. Deleuze goes darkside, their uncontrollable textual spew--monographs, pamphlets, essays, prose poems, fictions--are probably impossible to get hold of in hard-copy form, but check out the CCRU website and the cluster of sites connected from it. In fact go here for the digital versions of pieces in their Abstract Culture journal series.
O[rphan] D[frift>], Cyberpositive.
Self-published book of prose-poetical theory-delirium exploring intermeshcape between cyberpunk and technokulture, sampling heavily from appropriate philosophers and allies like Sadie Plant and Nick Land (of CCRU fame) weaving that with their own sadomasochistic evocations of extreme experiences at the cutting edges of the drug-tech interface. More info here
Also on the web, Drew Hemment's unpublished thesis Microgroove: simulation/amplification/intoxication , recommended by Jeremy Gilbert as
"the best example of a thoroughgoing Deleuzian study of dance music"
Jeremy also recommends Maria Pini's Club Cultures and Female Subjectivity (Palgrave 2001)-- which is available online here and Alexander Weheliye's Phonographies: Grooves in Sonic Afro-modernity (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2005) which as the title suggests is some black sonic fictionalist biznizz in a post-KEshun style.
Arun Saldanha, Psychedelic White: Goa Trance and the Viscosity of Race (University of Minnesota Press, 2007)
Only just got this so not had time to do more than flick'n'skim, but having spoken at length with the author--a professor of geography at the University of Minnesota--when I was over for the Spark electronic music festival in Minneapolis, this looks to be a fascinating and provocative study of psy-trance and the phenomenon of rave tourism, based on field research in Goa, pursuing lines of analysis both postcolonial and DeleuzoGuattarian, and containing some shocking revelations about trancepackers and their exploitative relations with the local people.
Richard Benson (ed). Night Fever: Club Writing in The Face 1980-1997. London: Boxtree, 1997.
Useful compendium of journalistic reports and opinion pieces on club culture and dance music from the style Bible, albeit with not that much on rave (the Face's idea of dance culture was always geared to the Eighties nightclub ethos), but lots of good pieces including stuff by the late great Gavin Hills, whose own writings can be found in Bliss to Be Alive: The Collected Journalism of Gavin Hills (a posthumous anthology from 2000).
Tobias Rapp, Lost and Sound: Berlin, Techno und der Easyjetset Suhrkamp (Frankfurt und Main, 2009).
A fascinating study of the phenomenon of raver tourism in Berlin. Ultra-cheap air fares from Easyjet and Ryan Air et al have created this sort of Euroraver class, who fly into Berlin, don't bother with booking a hotel because they're not planning on doing any sleeping, and instead spend the money they save on partying hard . An entire micro-economy has sprung up to cater to these weekend warriors flying in from every corner of the Continent. As yet available only in German, although it looks likely there will be an English translation.
Graham St John e.d., FreeNRG: Notes from the Edge of the Dance Floor (Melbourne: The Humanities)
"Frontline communiqués on technotribes, contemporary musical practices and dance culture. Captures the spectrum of youth phenomena at the edge of the dance floor."
Graham St John, Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures (Equinox, 2009)
More information here.
Graham St John (ed) Rave Culture and Religion (London, New York: Routledge, 2004)
Tara Rodgers, Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound (2010: Duke University Press)
Interesting collection of interviews with 24 female electronic musicians from Pauline Oliveros to Mira Calix via Maggi Payne, Jessica Rylan and Blevin Blectum, conducted by the founder of Pinknoises.com
More information here
A vast area. First tentatative toes in the ocean:
Philip Sherburne, Microhouse feature, The Wire, September 2001
Tricia Romano, The Next Brooklyns: New York's DJs flee overseas to Berlin and Barcelona. Village Voice, July 28, 2004. Read it here.
Dancecult, a new international journal of academic and para-academic writing about electronic dance music culture, edited by Graham St John. Issue #1 contains a couple of pieces elaborating on the hardcore continuum seminar at UEL in 2009, and Issue #2 has a couple more on the whole debate, including by me.
DJHistory -- Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster's web site related to their books and chock full of articles, interviews, and so forth, with classic pieces soon to be added by guest writers like David Toop, Sheryl Garratt, Dom Philips and so forth. |
2.75 GPA, 4 semesters of college-level Spanish (or equivalent), must have valid passport at time of application.
Click the Application tab.
Designed for students with varying levels of Spanish, this summer program in Alicante, Spain helps develop students’ Spanish language skills and increase participants’ knowledge of Spanish art, cinema, and culture. Housing in Spanish-speaking homes as well as supplementary visits and excursions, content courses in Spanish, and direct enrollment at the University of Alicante help to promote program objectives of linguistic development and cultural immersion. This program is administered by the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) on behalf of an academic consortium of which the University of Iowa is a member. UI participants on the program join a group of students from other U.S. colleges and universities.
The summer program in Alicante provides an opportunity for short-term, intensive study of the Spanish language. The program is open to qualified undergraduates with an interest in Spanish language and contemporary Spain. Language classes are taught entirely in Spanish and are offered at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. Students are given a placement exam in Alicante prior to the start of classes to determine appropriate placement for the language course. All students are required to take one Spanish language course and one content course for a total of 6 semester hours.
Spanish language courses focus on grammar, reading, composition, and conversation. The language classes are small, maximizing student-to-professor interaction with attention to individual issues in language acquisition and skills.
Content courses are taught in English and Spanish. In general, students who place into the beginning level of Spanish take their content course in Spanish or English. Those who have completed four or more semesters of Spanish usually place into advanced Spanish. Advanced students must take their content course in Spanish.
UI students earn resident credit which may be applied toward the following General Education Areas: Foreign Civilization & Culture, Foreign Language and Humanities. Credit earned on this program may satisfy requirements for the Spanish major or minor as well as other majors/minors.
Supplementing the academic program are field trips and excursions to points of interest in the province of Alicante, the Valencia region, and Spain. Field trips and visits highlight topics covered in class. Past excursions have included Granada, Valencia, and visits to local castles and monuments. The program typically includes one overnight trip in addition to several day trips and museum visit within and around Alicante.
This summer program takes place from mid June to late July.
Please come to the Study Abroad Resource Room for a CIEE program catalog that contains much more detailed information than available on our webpage.
With a population rapidly approaching 350,000, Alicante is a thriving Spanish city. Located on the Mediterranean coast, Alicante provides a warm and inviting place to begin your exploration of Spain or to continue a previous journey you may have made. Alicante’s skyline is dominated by the brooding Moorish castle of Santa Barbara, an ever-present reminder of the city’s ancient roots. Below the castle hill are the narrow, winding streets of Barrio Santa Cruz, the “old town”. Along the harbor, a departure point for North Africa and Mallorca, runs the palm-fringed Esplanada de España. In recent years, Alicante has mirrored the growth of Spain, becoming a more cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Despite recent modernization and the rapid expansion of the tourist industry, Alicante retains a distinct Spanish flavor.
Students live either in Spanish-speaking homes or in off-campus residencias with other international and Spanish students. In the homestay option all meals will be provided. Homestays are the best housing arrangement because of their practicality and contribution to the program’s objectives of language and cultural immersion. Only one program participant is housed in each home. Students opting to live in the residence hall take all of their meals there as well.
Housing is located in the Alicante metropolitan area with access to public transportation. All students take public transportation to the University. The residencia is near to the University of Alicante which is approximately 40 by bus minutes from downtown Alicante.
A 2.75 cumulative GPA is required. For CIEE content courses taught in Spanish, 4 semesters of college-level Spanish or equivalent is required. Students must have a valid passport at the time of application.
This program fee includes an optional on-site airport greet, tuition, housing and meals, orientation, cultural activities, local excursions, and the UI administrative fee.
The program fee does not include transportation, personal expenses, books and supplies and local transportation.
Applications are to be submitted to the UI Office for Study Abroad. Final admission decisions are made by CIEE in Portland. Well-qualified candidates endorsed by the Office for Study Abroad are seldom rejected. Application forms and further information are available from the Study Abroad, 1111 University Capitol Centre.
The application deadline is March 11 for the summer program.
All participants attend a pre-departure orientation specific to the program as well as a general study abroad orientation. CIEE also conducts online orientations for their students.
Do you have any photos to share with us? If you do, please contact us at: [email protected]. |
'Sex' duo meet at 'Family Stone'
Though Sarah Jessica Parker‘s former “Sex and the City” femme cohorts were not on hand for the Cinema Society/Vogue screening of 20th Century Fox’s “The Family Stone” on Monday, Mr. Big (Chris Noth) showed up.Evening, hosted by Parker and Oscar de la Renta to benefit Martin Scorsese‘s Film Foundation, brought out a mix of revelers from the film, television, fashion and music scenes to the Tribeca Grand Hotel. Guest list included Oliver Stone, Barbara Walters, Anna Wintour, Damon Dash, Mikhail Baryshnikov, “Sex and the City” author Candace Bushnell and former Miramax exec Meryl Poster. Repping the project was writer-director Thomas Bezucha. Commenting on her first feature post-”Sex,” Parker said her character is “physically and emotionally a completely different person than Carrie (Bradshaw). She is complicated and not immediately likable.” |
TG2 intro used until 2010
|Starring||See Presenters section|
|Country of origin||Italy|
|No. of episodes||N/A|
|Running time||generally 30 minutes|
|Original channel||Rai 2|
|Picture format||16:9 SDTV|
|Original run||November 1961 – present|
TG2 (TeleGiornale 2) is the brand for the news programmes of Rai 2, the Italian state-owned television channel. The programmes are shown several times throughout the day — domestically on Rai Due, and across Europe, Africa, Americas, Asia and Australasia on Raitalia. It was launched in 1961 as Telegiornale del Secondo Programma before adopting its current name in 1976.
Editor and political leanings
The programmes are generally presented by a single newsreader but with additional newsreaders for sports features. Most items are pre-recorded reports and are generally followed by a correspondent reporting live from the scene of the report.
|TG2 Non Solo Soldi|
|TG2 10 Minuti|
|TG2 Costume e Società||fashion and styles|
|TG2 Dossier Storie|
|TG2 Neon Cinema||film|
|TG2 Neon Libri||literature|
|TG2 Medicina 33||health|
|TG2 Non Solo Nero|
|Meteo 2||weather forecast with data provided by Aeronautica Militare (the Italian Air Force)|
|TG2 Sì Viaggiare||travel|
|TG2 Eat Parade||cooking|
|TG2 Chip||consumer technology|
- TG2 Mattina — broadcast Monday through Friday at 10:00 (runtime: 60 minutes); Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 and again at 9:00; runtime: 60 minutes.
- TG2 Giorno — broadcast daily at 13:00.
- TG2 Flash L.I.S. — broadcast Monday through Friday at 17:45; Saturday and Sunday at 10:30; runtime: 5 minutes, in Italian Sign Language).
- TG2 18:00 — broadcast Saturday and Sunday at 18:00; runtime: 5 minutes.
- TG2 18:15 — broadcast Monday through Friday at 18:15; runtime: 30 minutes.
- TG2 20:30 — broadcast daily at 20:30; runtime: 30 minutes.
- TG2 Notte — broadcast daily at night (between 22.30 and 23.50 from Monday to Friday; between 0.00 and 01.35 Saturday and Sunday); runtime: 12 – 15 minutes.
- tg2.rai.it, official website (in Italian language)
|This Italian television programme-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.| |
As it says on the website for the podcast of the show, “Tonight on Inquiry we welcome back Wheeler Winston Dixon. He is the James Ryan Endowed Professor of Film Studies and professor of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His new book is Streaming: Movies, Media and Instant Access. Professor Dixon declares that we are now in the “postfilmic era”, a time when movie film will no longer exist and all movies will be shot digitally. DVDs will also cease to exist as all films will be “streamed” and movie houses, those that are still extant, will only show digital copies of movies. But what are the implications of all of this for the art of film, the preservation of old films and how we watch movies? The answers are disheartening and a little bit frightening. Tune in and find out why.”
Archive for the ‘Life’ Category
Here’s a great collection of behind the scenes stills from such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Alien and numerous others. This is a really stunning set of stills, kicking off with some extremely rare stills from the set of Fritz Lang’s science fiction classic, Metropolis.
As I write, “Some people get into the movie business because they have a passion for film. Some have dreams of creating the ‘great American movie,’ or rising to the top of the Hollywood Dream Factory. But as mainstream films become ever more expensive, routinely costing $100,000,000 or more simply to produce, and then under-performing at the box office – Pacific Rim and The Lone Ranger are two prime examples – it seems that the old system of making movies is broken.
The risks are simply too great – a few bad bets can sink a studio. Low budget films like The Purge and The Conjuring, both made for a pittance, rule the multiplexes. Spectacle and special effects just don’t bring in audiences anymore; people want something new, and outrageous, for their entertainment dollar. And a relatively new studio in Hollywood, The Asylum, is dedicated to doing just that; giving the viewer something the majors won’t. Something like Sharknado (2013).
The Asylum is following in a long line of low budget Hollywood production companies. Independent film studios, like American International Pictures in the 1950s and 60s, and Roger Corman’s New World Pictures and Concorde/New Horizons in the 1970s and 80s, offered viewers something the mainstream studios couldn’t; films aimed directly at their target audience – outlaw movies that made up their own rules as they went along.”
Here’s another amazing artifact from the early days of cinema.
Helen Keller meets Charlie Chaplin at his studio in the 1920s; thanks to Dana Miller for sending this along, and also for the image of the MGM lion, posted on this site below. A look at a time when the world was younger, more innocent, and when people communicated directly, and not through an electronic interface.
This is an astonishing image.
As I note in the interview, “I’ve watched film change and morph for more than half a century. As I grew up, everything was being shown in theaters in 35mm, and at colleges, universities and libraries in 16mm, and there was, of course, no such thing as home video, VHS or DVD. Films screened on television were really ’streaming’ – they were broadcast at a certain date and time, and you had to be present at that time to see them.
I remember vividly setting my alarm clock for 1 a.m. or later to see films on WCBS TV’s The Late Show, and then The Late, Late Show, and even The Late, Late, Late Show, which is how I saw most of the classics growing up. I would also haunt revival theaters in New York City, such as the Thalia and the New Yorker, to see the classics projected in their proper format.
Video, of course, has been around since the early 1950s, but I don’t think anyone, even professional archivists, ever thought it would completely replace film, but it has. 16mm is completely defunct as a production medium, except in the case of Super 16mm which is used sometimes in features (such as The Hurt Locker) to save costs, but then blown up to 35mm, or now, skipping that step entirely and moving straight to a DCP.
Film is finished. It’s simply a fact. 35mm and 16mm projection are now a completely rarity, and screenings on actual film are becoming ‘events,’ rather than the norm. This is simply a platform shift, and it comes with various problems, mainly archiving the digital image, which is much more unstable than film.
But with the image quality of RED cameras for production, and digital projection taking over, it’s an inescapable fact that shooting on film is now the moving image equivalent of stone lithography. So now, my own viewing habits have moved to DVD and Blu-Ray, and I have a ridiculously large collection of DVDs in my home library, some 10,000 or more.
I have to have them in this format, because I can’t count on the quality of streaming videos from Netflix, Amazon, or other online sources. Blu-Ray, in particular, yields a truly remarkable image. So that’s how I watch films now, and in any event, the revival houses, even in major cities, are all now pretty much a thing of the past.”
As I note at the beginning of my essay, “in the early 1960s, director Roger Corman was on fire. Coming off a wave of ultra-exploitational titles for the fledgling film production/distribution company American International Pictures (AIP), which arguably defined late 1950s teen cinema, with such titles to his credit as Premature Burial, Pit and the Pendulum, Creature from the Haunted Sea (all 1961), Last Woman on Earth, The Little Shop of Horrors, House of Usher (all 1960), The Wasp Woman and A Bucket of Blood (both 1959), as well as She Gods of Shark Reef, Teenage Cave Man, Machine-Gun Kelly, War of the Satellites, I Mobster (all 1958), and Sorority Girl, Teenage Doll, Rock All Night, The Undead, Attack of the Crab Monsters and Not of This Earth (all 1957), Corman had mastered genre filmmaking, and was looking around for a new challenge.
The range of Corman’s work during this period is astounding; Pit and the Pendulum and House of Usher were the first two Gothic horror films in Corman’s long-running and highly influential series based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe; A Bucket of Blood and The Little Shop of Horrors were two of the first truly ’sick’ comedies, both shot in a matter of days; Machine-Gun Kelly introduced a young Charles Bronson to audiences, in a period piece designed as a nod to the Warner Bros. gangster films of the 1930s; Teenage Doll and Sorority Girl were pure teen exploitation; and Attack of the Crab Monsters, War of the Satellites and Not of This Earth were clear-cut science fiction.
Most of Corman’s films during this formative period were shot in a week, on budgets of $100,000 or less – The Little Shop of Horrors was famously shot in two days and a night, for roughly $40,000 – although the Poe films represented a real step up for the young director, at least in terms of physical production values. With 15-day schedules, budgets in the $300,000 to $400,000 range, Panavision and Pathécolor, Corman could relax a little, and take some more time with the material.
But even on these films, he often finished ahead of schedule, and he seemed driven to make one film after another, all of them incorporating thematic concerns outside the realm of conventional genre cinema; teen crime, peer pressure, consumerist materialism, even humanist parables, as in Teenage Cave Man, in which the ‘Stone Age’ the protagonists are living in is revealed in the film’s final moments as actually being a post-apocalyptic world after the Third World War has destroyed most of the planet.
While Corman could dabble in social commentary in these films in a rather light and tangential fashion, as a lifelong liberal filmmaker he longed to do something utterly uncompromising. Bolstered by the continuing commercial success of all of his previous films, he decided to direct a film on the racial tensions of the 1960s, shot on location in the American South. And so, right in the middle of his run of commercially successful films for AIP, Corman went off on his own and, with his own money and no studio support, made The Intruder (1962) for a mere $80,000, creating one of the most brutal, honest, and unflinching examinations of American racism in cinema history.”
As Hillary Busis noted in PopWatch on June 14th, under the tags “boatloads of money, head scratcher, to care or not to care” among other designations, “Paramount and Regal Entertainment have partnered for what they’re calling the ‘ultimate fan event’ — a World War Z package offered at just five theaters nationwide, including screens in Orange County, Houston, San Diego, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. Its price tag? A hefty $50.
To be fair, those who purchase these ‘mega tickets’ will get more than just a pass to see Brad Pitt fight zombies. The bundle includes a ticket to see World War Z in RealD 3-D two days before its official release, a pair of custom RealD 3D glasses, a small popcorn, a limited-edition movie poster, and an HD digital copy of the film once it’s released for home viewing.
Knowing this, let’s break down the mega ticket’s cost. An adult evening ticket for a movie comparable to World War Z — Man of Steel — in RealD 3D at the five theaters listed as mega ticket partners costs $16.30 on average before tax, according to prices listed online. A small popcorn at a theater was $4.75 on average in 2009, and that number has certainly gone up in the past four years; let’s estimate it conservatively at $5. An HD digital download of a newly-released film — Oz the Great and Powerful, for example — costs $19.99 on iTunes and $14.99 on Amazon, so let’s average them to get $17.49
Add those together, and you get $38.79 (plus tax) — meaning that Paramount and Regal are charging around a $11.21 premium for a poster, the custom glasses, and the privilege of seeing the movie in advance.
Is that fair? Considering that $50 can buy you eight $6 beers at a reasonably-priced bar, or six months (plus one week) of unlimited streaming titles on Netflix, or 50 McDoubles at McDonald’s, it doesn’t really seem to be.”
I agree; I can’t imagine paying this, and I’ll add one other fact to Ms. Busis’s summary; today I went to see The Purge at the 12:20PM show in a theater that seated more than 500 people, and I was the only one – the absolute only person – in the theater, and that cost me $6.75 for a 2-D matinee. If you can’t fill theaters at $6.75 a pop in summer with The Purge, a film that’s already demonstrated that it’s a solid hit, how on earth are you going to get away with charging $50 for a souped up ticket for World War Z?
Madman, shaman, mystic, brilliant actor and filmmaker and a complete pain in the neck, Dennis Hopper started out in the early 50s with a chip on his shoulder and enormous talent, falling in with James Dean and appearing in Rebel Without A Cause, though clashes with the director, Nicholas Ray, caused his part in the film to be severely cut down. What followed was an epic journey through the last days of the Hollywood studio system, the making of the counter-culture classic Easy Rider, and his lost masterpiece, The Last Movie, which as Folsom makes clear went through so many different edits that a “definitive” version of the work is almost impossible to identify. After that, a spiral into drugs and madness, and then one of the biggest comebacks in film history in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, a whole second career as a director of his own films, an artist, and a world class collector of other people’s work.
Using archival sources and interviews, writing in a free form style reminiscent of both Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe, Folsom paints a compelling, multifaceted picture of this deeply conflicted and influential filmmaker, pursued by countless demons of his own making, and yet still able to create work of lasting beauty and quality despite it all. I met Hopper just once, at a screening of The Last Movie at Preview Theater in New York in 1971, just before the film came out; I was editing one of my own films there, and stumbled into him in the hallway, looking for change for the Coke machine. He invited me to the screening, which was specially set up for critic Judith Crist — who clearly didn’t like or understand the film — and was polite and forthcoming about the difficulties of the film even for an unsympathetic viewer, which Crist clearly was. Universal hated the movie, too, and dumped it in one theater, where it closed in a few weeks; never mind that it had won the Critics Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
For myself, I was knocked out by the film, and had another connection to it — my friend and colleague Brad Darrach at Life Magazine, where I worked as a writer and critic in 1969-70, had gone down to South America for the shoot, and witnessed all the madness, excess and brilliance of the production first hand, so I had a pretty good idea what to expect. Sadly, and somewhat amazingly, the film isn’t available legally on DVD, though bootlegs and downloads abound, perhaps appropriately for such an outlaw film. But it would seem that it’s time for Universal to put out The Last Movie in an official version, so that everyone can see for themselves what Hopper was capable of when left alone with a decent budget and complete creative freedom, including final cut — one of the most adventurous, challenging, and utterly original movies ever made.
Bomb Girls was an ambitious Canadian television series shot on a break neck schedule and minimal budget in Toronto with a converted furniture factory in Etobicoke standing for the fictitious Victory Munitions Factory, which dealt realistically and sympathetically with the vicissitudes of life in wartime Canada, as women struggled to contribute to the war effort, and also to gain equal rights, as well as equal pay for their efforts. The series ran for two seasons.
As the series’ production website notes, “Bomb Girls tells the remarkable stories of the women who risked their lives in a munitions factory building bombs for the Allied forces fighting on the European front. The series delves into the lives of these exceptional women from all walks of life – peers, friends and rivals – who find themselves thrust into new worlds and changed profoundly as they are liberated from their home and social restrictions.”
Season 1 was filmed from September 12 to November 16, 2011, a very tight production schedule from any point of view; Season 2 was shot with equal speed and efficiency. With standout performances from Meg Tilly, Jodi Balfour, Charlotte Hegele, Ali Liebert, Anastasia Phillips, Antonio Cupo, Sebastian Pigott, Peter Outerbridge and others, the show was a refreshing change from the endless series of cop shows, detective procedurals, dreary reality series and serial killer dramas — the same thing year after year.
Bomb Girls was something fresh and original, and you could see that everyone in the series was working as hard as they could to get the most out of every production dollar. In addition, several excellent directors were attached to series, including Anne Wheeler, whose film Bye Bye Blues (1989) was an equally interesting and compelling World War II drama told from a feminist perspective.
However, despite critical acclaim and a growing fan base on April 22, 2013 Global TV and Shaw Media announced that Bomb Girls would not return for a third season. They did however suggest that a two hour TV movie serving as a series finale could air sometime in early 2014. Disappointed viewers have launched a campaign via savebombgirls.com in an effort to get this decision reversed.
As Kate Taylor wrote in The Globe and Mail, “when it launched as a six-part miniseries on Global in January, 2012, Bomb Girls got mixed reviews, but it quickly caught the attention of viewers and critics for its content. Depicting the lives of female munitions workers played by Meg Tilly and a group of younger actors, it has covered such issues as sexual harassment, infidelity, abortion and lesbianism.
This year, Bomb Girls won the best-drama category at the Gracie Awards, the prizes for women’s television in the U.S., where the show runs on the digital cable channel Reelz. It also airs on more than 40 countries in Latin America and Europe. At home, industry insiders gave points to Global, a network with a feeble track record of producing successful Canadian content, for illuminating an unusual chapter in Canadian history.
In part, the show owes its success to the way it fits into two increasingly popular genres: the period drama, represented by Mad Men and Downton Abbey; and female-centric shows such as Girls. Its social-media presence reveals a strong following among young women charmed and intrigued by the story of how their grandmothers fought to get jobs and respect. Initial ratings in Canada were very strong for a Canadian series: The first episodes drew well over a million viewers to Global.
The second season, which concludes Monday, also started well: 1.1 million watched the premiere. Bomb Girls’ producers add that the show reached another 200,000 to 300,000 viewers who recorded it to watch later. Ratings remained in the 800,000-to-900,000 range, they said, until the show got bumped off the schedule in February. ‘We lost 25 per cent of our audience between February and March,’ says executive producer Michael Prupas. Even in the 600,000-to-700,000, range, the show would be competitive with many dramas in CBC’s predominantly Canadian lineup.
Getting the right spot on a crowded schedule is a tricky proposition for any show in any market, but Canadian series are at a significant disadvantage. The reason: Canadian broadcasters maximize ad revenues by accommodating popular U.S. programming first. (Under Canadian regulations, a broadcaster can require the cable and satellite operators to drop Canadian ads into a competing U.S. signal when the broadcaster airs a show at exactly the same time as the U.S. network.)
Simulcasting means that commercial Canadian TV schedules are largely determined in Los Angeles, and Bomb Girls was the unusual Canadian show that won a weeknight, wintertime spot. Global airs its other prime-time Canadian drama, the cop show Rookie Blue, in the summer, when U.S. dramas are on hiatus.
Ironically, when Bomb Girls returned to a new Monday-night spot in late March it was up against not only the U.S. shows The Following and Two Broke Girls but also the CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries. The competition between two rather similar Canadian shows might not have been the wisest use of tax dollars: It is not only the CBC that uses public money to make Canadian TV. Typical of Canadian dramas, Bomb Girls depends on the Canadian Media Fund for 25 per cent of its budget, while another 30 per cent is covered by government tax credits.
Seeing how successful Murdoch has been since it moved from CITY-TV to the CBC in January, some observers have speculated that the public broadcaster could rescue Bomb Girls. They have received, however, scant encouragement. ‘Our schedule for next season is set and … there’s no room to pick anything else up,’ says Kirstine Stewart, head of English-language services at the CBC. ‘Fans of Bomb Girls should talk to Global.’
But Global says it backed Bomb Girls to the hilt, and had always intended to program it in six-week arcs, like a miniseries. ‘We put massive support behind the show,’ says Barb Williams, senior vice-president for content at Shaw Media. ‘When it returned from hiatus, Bomb Girls was scheduled between heavy hitters like Bones and Hawaii Five-O and we put more marketing and publicity support behind it than any other Global show – in the hopes that the audience would grow over these successive story arcs.’
The broadcaster is now talking to the producers about creating a two-hour special next winter to wrap up the storylines. The producers want to proceed with that project – which Global unveiled this week in a press release that disguised the cancellation as an announcement of the special – but point out it has to be done in a way that leaves the door open.
“What we are trying to do, going ahead with this movie, is to ensconce Bomb Girls as an iconic show, so hopefully we can come back to the characters at some later stage,” Prupas says, pointing to British shows like Prime Suspect that have been revived after a long break. ‘Keeping the title alive is important to us. We hope it will have a future.’”
Much has been made of Soderbergh’s supposed “retirement” from filmmaking, but I’m beginning to suspect that the whole thing is just a ploy to make it more of a “coup” when someone snags him for a new project. Yes, Behind the Candelabra wrapped before Soderbergh announced he was stepping down, but now he’s in talks to do a new series for Cinemax entitled The Knick starring Clive Owen — which sounds like a very interesting project indeed, and I look forward to it — but it seems to me that his self-imposed exile just makes him all the more attractive to selective, high profile projects.
Which brings me to Behind the Candelabra — does it work? In a word, no. I was rather disappointed, because at his best, as in Magic Mike (which was on HBO right before Candelabra, and thus offered an immediate and welcome contrast to the the film), he’s a really accomplished filmmaker, both in directing the actors, and staging the entire production — but here he seems content to set it up and shoot it, for as usual, Soderbergh does his own cinematography under the alias of Peter Andrews, and then cuts it together — here, in a really routine fashion — again using an alias, as Mary Ann Bernard.
The resulting film is flat, predictable, and uninvolving, and though Douglas attacks the role of Liberace with gusto, he doesn’t really have the “larger than life” punch that the character requires. The rest of the cast tackle their roles with varying degrees of success: Rob Lowe is a standout, perfectly creepy as an unscrupulous plastic surgeon; Debbie Reynolds is all but unrecognizable as Liberace’s mother, and really doesn’t make an impression; Matt Damon is appropriately wide-eyed as Scott Thorson, and Dan Ackroyd is matter-of-fact as Liberace’s business manager.
I was surprised to see former sitcom star Paul Reiser in a very small role as Thorson’s attorney near the end of the film, and the film is certainly well mounted, with no skimping on production values. But in the end, it feels exploitational and hammered out, as most TV movies are. Magic Mike reminded me just how good Soderbergh can be when he really clicks with a project, but Behind the Candelabra too often descends into clichés and has a really syrupy finish — by the end of the film, I really didn’t care about anyone; the whole thing seemed like an animated waxworks, and little more.
About the Author
Wheeler Winston Dixon, Ryan Professor of Film Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is an internationally recognized scholar and writer of film history, theory and criticism. He is the author of numerous books and more than 70 articles on film and appears regularly in national media outlets discussing film and culture trends. Frame by Frame is a collection of his thoughts on a number of those topics. To contact Prof. Dixon for an interview, reach him at 402.472.6064 or [email protected].
- Academic Conferences
- Animated Cartoons
- Career Retrospectives
- Comic Books
- Digital Cinema
- Digital Culture
- Experimental Cinema
- Film Business
- Film Criticism
- Film Genre
- Film History
- Film Industry
- Film Noir
- Film Preservation
- Film Theory
- Films That Need a DVD Release
- Foreign Films
- Inside Stuff
- New Technology
- Pop Culture
- theater direction
- Video Games
- Video Installations
- Web Culture
- December 2013
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- January 2013
- December 2012
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- December 2011
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In The National News
National media outlets featured and cited Wheeler Winston Dixon on a number of topics in the past month. Find out more on the website http://newsroom.unl.edu/inthenews/ |
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Scrabble word: FADE
In which Scrabble dictionary does FADE exist?
Definitions of FADE in dictionaries:
- noun - a golf shot that curves to the right for a right-handed golfer
- noun - gradually ceasing to be visible
- verb - become less clearly visible or distinguishable
- verb - lose freshness, vigor, or vitality
- verb - disappear gradually
- verb - become feeble
- To lose brightness, loudness, or brilliance gradually; dim: The lights and music faded as we set sail from the harbor.
- To lose freshness; wither: summer flowers that had faded.
- To lose strength or vitality; wane: youthful energy that had faded over the years.
- To cause to lose brightness, freshness, or strength: Time has faded her beauty.
- To move back from the scrimmage line.
- To meet the bet of (an opposing player) in dice.
- A gradual diminution in the brightness or visibility of an image in cinema or television.
- A periodic reduction in the received strength of a radio transmission.
- To appear gradually.
- To cause to appear or be heard gradually.
- To disappear gradually.
- To cause to disappear gradually.
- adv - to lose color or brightness [v FADED, FADING, FADES] : FADEDLY
There are 4 letters in FADE: A D E F
Scrabble words that can be created with an extra letter added to FADE
All anagrams that could be made from letters of word FADE plus a wildcard: FADE?
Scrabble words that can be created with letters from word FADE
Images for FADE
SCRABBLE is the registered trademark of Hasbro and J.W. Spear & Sons Limited. Our scrabble word finder and scrabble cheat word builder is not associated with the Scrabble brand - we merely provide help for players of the official Scrabble game. All intellectual property rights to the game are owned by respective owners in the U.S.A and Canada and the rest of the world. Anagrammer.com is not affiliated with Scrabble. This site is an educational tool and resource for Scrabble & Words With Friends players. |
Multisystem TV: Five Great FeaturesVisit Majon's Article Marketing Directory for more great articles
There are so many choices when it comes to television sets and other entertainment systems. If considering a multisystem TV for your next purchase, you'll be glad to know that these TVs come with a number of amazing features. There are multiple brands of TVs with multisystem capabilities as well. Hitachi, Pioneer, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, JVC, Sanyo, Panasonic and others offer a number of sizes and styles to meet your needs and budget. No matter what brand you choose, here are five great features that are common with most multisystem televisions.
2. Multiple Panel Choices
With a multisystem TV, you're not limited to just one type of panel. These come in multiple panel styles, including LCD and plasma screens so you can get the type of picture you prefer. There are multiple screen sizes to choose from as well, so you can get a multisystem television whether you need a 32-inch screen or a home theater style 50-inch screen! The high pixel count on LCD TVs allows for fine detail, ensuring high quality HDTV capabilities as well as video reproduction from your computer. With HD connectivity, you can use your TV as a personal computer!
3. No Converters Needed
With many electronics, you must buy voltage converters to convert the voltage in other countries, such as converting from 110/120 volts to 220/240 volts to be able to plug into another country's standard outlets. Multisystem TVs come with dual voltage so you won't have to buy a converter. This saves time and hassle, and it ensures you can use the TV wherever you go.
4. Adapters to Fit
While this type of TV will likely not need a voltage converter, there might be times when you'll need a plug adapter due to differences in outlet styles. Adapters are inexpensive and readily available online for any type of need. Just make sure it's the right size and style for the area or country you plan to visit and for the type of appliance or electronic for which you're planning to use the adapter.
5. Better Overall Picture Quality
Multisystem TVs are also known for having a better picture than most. They don't have the scan lines like traditional sets because there's no electron beam. A multisystem set uses built-in line doubling, which improves the picture's overall quality. This, combined with a flat screen (with no interfering curvature) eliminates the chances of the picture becoming distorted around the edges. Some LCD TVs have 10,000:1 screen contrast ratio and a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. They have special picture enhancements to reduce image flicker, improve color and enhance contrast. And many plasma TVs have cinema-style monitors with a 16:9 wide screen cinema aspect ratio, an anti-reflection coated screen, ultra bright displays and more great features to enhance the user's experience.
Check out websites that offer several brands of multisystem TVs along with adapters and other accessories. Many of these also sell code free DVD players (required with these types of TVs), step up and down voltage converters or transformers, deluxe automatic voltage regulators, and more great products. Don't waste another moment with poor picture quality; find a mutisystem TV that meets your needs today!
For more information and informative related articles and links about this subject matter and content, please visit Majon's Electronics | Consumer | Parts directory: http://www.majon.com/directory/electronics-consumer-parts. Also visit our Shopping Directory Marketplace for more related sites.
About the Author
+Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2013 (Tue Jun 28 2011) Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource internet marketing web site at: http://www.majon.com |
Sky Blue, the slightly (around 2 minutes) cut and dubbed version of the South Korean animated feature Wonderful Days, hit international shores a couple of years after its 2003 debut in its homeland. A somewhat groundbreaking release, featuring photo-realistic CGI-rendered backgrounds and traditional cel-animated characters, director Kim Moon-saeng’s first and, to date, only outing feature film (Kim is better known as a director of commercials) attempts to weave a futuristic high-octane adventure with commentary on pollution, class struggle, and environmental issues. With The Simpsons (whose production moved to South Korea in the show’s early days) being the best known work of Korean animation, how well does the distinct origins of Sky Blue hold up for international tastes ?
Set in 2142, Sky Blue introduces the viewer to an advanced dystopia called Ecoban, built to harvest energy from pollution, used to generate power for the city. On two separate sides of the track we have Shua, a carbonate extraction worker, Jay, an Ecoban security officer, and her superior, Cade. When a terrorist plot brings them all together, past heartbreak and present conflict comes along as well.
Rebellions, unknown lands, fallen civilizations ? Slight cinematic deja vu ? Well, Sky Blue does not boast a completely original storyline, but backed with the unique visuals, frequent action set-pieces, and an uber-cool set-up of a rainy, cold future at least we’re on the right track. In regards to the visuals themselves, the mixture of photo-realistic backdrops, CGI-visuals and traditional cel-animated characters who inhabit them can often be jarring, especially in high-movement, high-energy scenes. Common, small objects are often processed with CGI which, at times, seems unnecessary. The film does have a distinct look – the combination of different animation techniques is definitely a feat to praise – but whether it’s to a viewer’s tastes will be completely down to the individual.
The presence of voice artists who have mostly worked in children’s television can’t help but give the film a small-screen film feel. Marc Worden as Shua gives a hopelessly subdued, monotone tough-guy performance which verges on unintentionally comical in most dialogue exchanges with other characters. Cathy Cavadini is fine, in no less than three roles, but again the voice work doesn’t rise above anything on offer in a Saturday-morning cartoon. Sadly, at times, characters and their motivations feel shoe-horned in and the story, which seems to want to present intelligent social commentary, fails in its unwillingness to go into any depth about it’ world or characters apart from mere surface observations and heavy-handed expositions. The plot seems a tiny fragment of a much bigger picture.
The soundtrack, on the other hand, is mostly well-suited; beautiful acoustic arrangements and operatic passages tangle with some high-energy electronic pieces (no less, a small riff from The Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” is given a re-working) which, overall, produce a somewhat muddled thematic pallet for the film to play in. Each track, however, is well-suited to its accompanying scenes.
Peppered with striking visuals, backed with its quick-to-please CGI visuals and kid’s TV favourites on voice duties, Sky Blue can not shake the feeling of a production aimed at children’s sensibilities. Packing stereotypical characters, heavy-handed emotion and CG glitz, the film works on the most very basic levels and unfortunately dumps any depth in favour of a visual treat for the easily entertained. In its original Korean, is it a better movie? Possibly. On mere guesswork, the Korean voice track may be more appropriate, but does the loss of two minutes footage make it a completely different film? My guess is no, but as for the film in its international Sky Blue form, it lacks the class and distinction to roll with any of its Japanese cousins.
Tom Kent-Williams is an amateur writer and co-host over at the Podcast On Fire Network, currently residing in Birmingham, England with his soon-to-be-fiancée Shannon. He has been in love with Asian cinema since seeing Akira for the first time and has a slight man-crush on Chow Yun-fat. Hong Kong cinema floats his boat big time, along with synthpop, retro gaming and cups of tea in large mugs. |
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Warner Brothers Sued by J.R.R. Tolkien and Harper Collins
Warner Brothers has been sued by the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and publisher Harper Collins for the licensing of the characters and plots in gambling and online games derived from “The Lord of the Rings” movies, according to Reuters. The lawsuit is seeking $80 million.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday in Los Angeles with the U.S. District Court. It claims that Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema, a subsidiary, infringed on copyrights licensing to casino slot machines, games, online gambling and downloads. Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema own the merchandising rights to “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings.” The estate of Tolkien has accused Warner Brothers of “infringing conduct.”
“Not only does the production of gambling games patently exceed the scope of defendants’ rights, but this infringing conduct has outraged Tolkien’s devoted fan base, causing irreparable harm to Tolkien’s legacy and reputation and the valuable goodwill generated by his works,” the lawsuit stated.
According to the lawsuit, Warner Brothers made millions of dollars from the sale of legal merchandise that was related to “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which grossed over $3 billion at in theatres worldwide. HarperCollins, a section of News Corp., is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, which seeks $80 million in damages. |
Two giant stages
Visit the Turvak Museums to make a first-hand acquaintance with the 90-year history of Turkish cinema and the 250-year history of Turkish theater...
" What is love!" the lovely Asya asks herself. Before her stand two men: Ilyas, the man with whom she was smitten by a purple passion and married, father of her son Samet, in other words, the man who abandoned her. And Cemsit, who took Asya and her son under his wing and has looked after them for years. With tears in her eyes, Asya gazes at her erstwhile love, ilyas, whose eyes are dull like lead...
Seyit Ali is contemplating murdering his wife, who has fallen into evil ways. Should he cleanse his honor or shouldn't he? He turns to his friend: "My mind is against me. How can a man's own mind work against him?"
The year is 1964. The place, Haydarpasa Railroad Station, first stop for passengers arriving in Istanbul from Anatolia. On the steps of this landmark station in the city 'whose streets are paved with gold', stands a family from Maras with wooden suitcases in their hands and hope in their hearts. |
SEARCHING FOR THE
Find Out Who (In Theory) is the Riskiest in FilmmakingFebruary 29, 2012
By KAMMIE DANIELS
To find out the degree to which Hollywood’s hottest directors are likely to take risks, we turn to a little biology, and take a taste of astrology, to explore whether height, age, sex and astrological sign could influence the method to their madness.
|6’4||Clint Eastwood||5’7||Steven Spielberg|
|6’2||James Cameron||5’6||Catherine Hardwicke|
|6’1||Quentin Tarantino||5’6||George Lucas|
|5’11||Tim Burton||5’5||Peter Jackson|
|5’11||Kathryn Bigelow||5’5||Sofia Coppola|
|5’9||Ron Howard||5’5||Woody Allen|
|5’7||J.J. Abrams||5’4||Martin Scorsese|
In a new study in connection with the Institute for the Study of Labor and the University of Bonn, over 20,000 participants were asked to rate their willingness to take risks on a scale from zero (not willing) to 10 (very willing). They were then asked to imagine having won the lottery, and state their highest assessment for potential investment. For every centimeter in height, the amount willing to risk rose by 200 euros.
The front runner in this category (according to the study), Clint Eastwood, has certainly made bold choices throughout his career, but has remained smart about it. Valuing originality and following his instinct, Eastwood took risks when he thought safe to do so.
“None of the pictures I take a risk in cost a lot, so it doesn't take much for them to turn a profit,” said Eastwood. “Most people who'll remember me, if at all, will remember me as an action guy, which is OK. There's nothing wrong with that. But there will be a certain group which will remember me for the other films, the ones where I took a few chances.”
Though the littlest on this list, one can’t rightfully say Scorsese hasn’t taken chances in his career. In fact, Scorsese seems to think the connection between cinema and risk taking quite imperative. Goes to show success is relative, and height is certainly not everything in this business.
|40||Sofia Coppola||57||James Cameron|
|45||J.J. Abrams||60||Kathryn Bigelow|
|48||Quentin Tarantino||65||Steven Spielberg|
|50||Peter Jackson||67||George Lucas|
|53||Tim Burton||69||Martin Scorsese|
|56||Catherine Hardwicke||76||Woody Allen|
|57||Ron Howard||81||Clint Eastwood|
In 2005, a Temple University psychological study analyzed 306 individuals ranging from adolescence to elder adulthood. Amongst their findings, the scientific team found that risk taking and risky decision making decreased with age - further supporting the idea that adolescents are more inclined toward risky behavior.
It seems that young Sofia Coppola’s work certainly falls in line with this idea of adolescent risk-taking. Her fearless approach towards the culture of Hollywood has definitely sparked conversation and hushed whispers among the more traditional. In the past decades, Coppola has been publicly praised, booed, laughed at, and scorned - behavior that clearly indicates a risk taking directorial diva.
“What the studios want now is "risk-free" films but with any sort of art you have to take risks,” said Francis Ford Coppola. “Not taking risks in art is like not having sex and then expecting there to be children.”
Like father like daughter.
(Easy enough to figure out)
Many studies have noted that young males are more prone than females to take risks in relation to sexual behavior, conflict, stressful situations, and in one degree or another, under life-threatening or dangerous circumstances. But what about the everyday? A 2006 University of California study set out to discover just that.
Regarding basic gender differences, men reported a greater overall likelihood of engaging in risky behaviors. Women judged potential negative consequences as more likely to occur and changed their behavior accordingly.
In this race, however, it’s quite likely these creative women could give their male colleagues a run for their risk taking money. We’ll just call this one a tie.
|Aries||Quentin Tarantino||Libra||Catherine Hardwicke|
|Taurus||Sofia Coppola||Scorpio||Peter Jackson|
|Taurus||George Lucas||Scorpio||Martin Scorsese|
|Gemini||Clint Eastwood||Sagittarius||Steven Spielberg|
|Cancer||J.J. Abrams||Sagittarius||Kathryn Bigelow|
|Leo||James Cameron||Sagittarius||Woody Allen|
|Virgo||Tim Burton||Pisces||Ron Howard|
The three signs of the zodiac most likely to take risks are rambunctious Aries, free-spirited Sagittarius, and vibrant Leo.
Aries (21 March - 20 April) is represented by the ram, acting in true form through their strong-willed and daring attitude. Aries is also a masculine sign, again mirroring the results we found in the previous segment that men are more daring than women.
Steven Spielberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Woody Allen
Those under Sagittarius (23 November - 22 December) are confident and quick to move from place to place or person to person (just look at Allen’s love life). Always curious to further explore, a Sagittarius will take whatever risks necessary to find what makes them truly happy.
Leo (24 July - 23 August) is ruled by the sign, vibrantly and confidently seeking fierce competition and ample reward. Though perhaps thought of as arrogant, the Leo remains unaware of their outward impressions.
While craving risk on some level is part of being a true filmmaker, it’s still fun to look at some of the factors that might have played a part in their development. Maybe next time you watch a film, you’ll recall that Spielberg is a Sagittarius or Eastwood is 6’4 and think, “Oh, now I understand why they did that.” |
WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
Red Bull GmbH v. Gestapex SL
Case No. D2006-1645
1. The Parties
The Complainant is Red Bull GmbH, Fuschl am See, Austria, represented by Schonherr Rechtsanwalte GmbH, Austria.
The Respondent is Gestapex SL, Barcelona, Spain.
2. The Domain Name and Registrar
The disputed domain name <redbullpascher.com> is registered with eNom, Inc. dba Dynames.com, Inc.
3. Procedural History
The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on December 22, 2006. On December 26, 2006, the Center transmitted by email to eNom, Inc. dba Dynames.com, Inc. a request for registrar verification in connection with the domain name at issue. On January 15, 2007, eNom, Inc. dba Dynames.com, Inc. transmitted by email to the Center its verification response confirming that the Respondent is listed as the registrant and providing the contact details for the administrative, billing, and technical contact. The Center verified that the Complaint satisfied the formal requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”), the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Rules”), and the WIPO Supplemental Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Supplemental Rules”).
In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2(a) and 4(a), the Center formally notified the Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on January 17, 2007. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5(a), the due date for Response was February 6, 2007. The Respondent did not submit any response. Accordingly, the Center notified the Respondent’s default on February 7, 2007.
The Center appointed John Lambert as the sole panelist in this matter on February 14, 2007. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. The Panel has submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with the Rules, paragraph 7.
4. Factual Background
The Complainant markets throughout the world beverages known as “energy drinks”. One of its products is called RED BULL which is distributed in 138 countries. More than 2,500 million portions of that drink were sold between 1987 (when the product was launched) and 2005. Annual sales of the drink are about €2,100 million.
Very large sums of money have been spent by the Complainant on advertising and promotion, including:
- €2,900 million between 1987 and 2005 of which €922 million was on radio, television and cinema advertising; and
- €699 million since 2005 of which €158 million was on media promotion.
The Complainant also sponsors various spectator sports. Its teams include the “Red Bull Sauber Petronas” team in motor racing and “FC Red Bull Salzburg” and “Red Bull New York” in association football.
The Complainant has registered various signs consisting of or incorporating the words RED BULL as trademarks for various goods and services in trademark registries around the world.
The disputed domain name consists of two common English words (the noun “bull” and adjective “red”), the letters “pascher” and suffix “.com”. the nearest english word to “pascher” is “pasha”, which was the title of a senior official of the ottoman empire. however, the letters “pascher” break down into two common french words, “pas” and “cher” meaning “not” and “dear” (in the sense of “expensive”) respectively.
The disputed domain name appears to have been used as the URL (universal resource locator) for a website on December 22, 2006. A screen dump of the home page of the site is enclosed with the Complaint. The bulk of the screen consisted of 12 panels headed “Produits Importants”, 9 of which appeared to offer packs of cans of the Complainant’s drink for sale in various quantities at different prices with free delivery to all regions of France (“Port gratuit pour toutes les régions de France”). For instance, a pack of 54 Red Bull was offered for sale at €90. The remaining 3 panels offered packs of sugar free Red Bull for sale (“Red Bull Sans Sucre”) on similar delivery terms. A side panel depicted a carton of Red Bull, an array of Red Bull cans, a bottle of Ricard pernod and another of 51 pastis. The home page was headed “Redbull Pascher” under which tiny French, British and Spanish flags appeared. There also appeared to be hypertext links to “Page Principal” (“Home Page”), “Qui Sommes Nous” (“About Us”), “Nos Partenaires” (Our Partners) and “Paiement et Livraison” (Payment and Delivery). However, no other page was enclosed with the Complaint.
The Panel tried to visit the site late in the evening of February 27, 2007, and again early on the morning of February 28, 2007 British time using different machines over different networks (one broadband and the other mobile phone) but was unable to access the site.
The only other information on the identity or business of the Respondent that has been provided is its corporate name and address mentioned above.
5. Parties’ Contentions
The Complainant is the registered proprietor of a large number of trademarks comprising or including the words RED BULL for a wide range of products around the world. It also has a considerable reputation and goodwill in the words RED BULL. Consumers and distributors throughout the world associate those words with the Complainant’s energy drink and none other.
The disputed domain name incorporates the words RED BULL in their entirety, the only variation being the letters “pascher” which probably stand for “pas” and “cher” or “cheap”. The Complaint fears that members of the public may be led to believe that a connection exists between the Complainant and the Respondent’s website, which is not the case. The Respondent is neither expressly nor impliedly licensed and appears to use the Complainant’s trademarks and has no other right to do so.
The obvious purpose of registering the disputed domain name would be to divert consumers of the Complainant’s product to the site described above which would amount to registration and use in bad faith.
For the above reasons the Complainant requests that the disputed domain name be canceled and offers to submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of the place where the Respondent is incorporated.
The Respondent did not reply to the Complainant’s contentions.
6. Discussion and Findings
Paragraph 4(a) of the Policy requires the Complainant to prove:
(i) the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights; and
(ii) the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(iii) the disputed domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
Each and every one of those elements must be present.
A. Identical or Confusingly Similar
The Complainant’s trademark registrations include CTM number 52787, which is a device consisting of the words RED and BULL above the image of 2 bulls charging towards each other superimposed on a circle, registered for a wide range of goods and services in several classes. The registration appears to be valid and subsisting.
The disputed domain name consists of the English words RED and BULL combined with what appear to be the French words “pas” and “cher”.
The Panel finds the variation to be trivial and concludes that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to a trademark in which the Complainant has rights.
B. Rights or Legitimate Interests
There is no evidence to contradict the Complainant’s assertion that the Respondent is neither expressly nor impliedly licensed to use the RED BULL sign and/or that it is not known by, or otherwise entitled to use, that name.
It occurs to the Panel that the Respondent could deal in genuine Red Bull products at a discount and that the site described above could be an e-commerce or advertising site for those goods. However, since the Respondent declined to respond to the Complaint there is no allegation or evidence that that is the case. Moreover, the Panel was unable to find any such evidence from the searches and enquiries that he had time to make over the internet.
The Complainant had, however, anticipated that argument and referred to a number of previous decisions on the point, including, in particular, Motorola Inc v. NewGate Internet Inc, WIPO Case No. D2000-0079 and Experian Informaiton Solutions Inc. v Credit Research Inc., WIPO Case No. D2002-0095. The Complainant conceded that the registration of a domain name in connection with the distribution of branded products could be justified but only where (1) the goods or services offered for sale are genuine, (2) the site is used only to distribute such products or services, (3) the site accurately discloses the relationship between supplier and distributor, and (4) the Respondent does not try to corner the market in domain names that incorporate the registered mark. The Complainant says that the Respondent would not meet those requirements, not least because the site mentioned above advertised pernod and pastis.
In the absence of any allegation or evidence that the Respondent does indeed deal in genuine Red Bull products it is not necessary to consider the point any further. Accordingly the Panel concludes that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name.
C. Registered and Used in Bad Faith
Paragraph 4(b) of the Policy lists various circumstances, which, if found by the Panel to be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith. These include:
“(iv) by using the domain name, you have intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your website or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your website or location or of a product or service on your website or location.”
The only evident purpose of a website of the kind described above is to advertise drinks for sale. The obvious purpose of using a domain name that translates into English as “Cheap Red Bull” is to attract French speaking consumers to such site. Such visitors are likely to conclude from the use of such domain name that the site belonged to or is in some way associated with the Complainant or one of its authorized distributors. The Panel also considers it more likely than not that the domain name was registered or obtained with intent to benefit commercially from the fame of the Complainant’s RED BULL mark. Accordingly, all the elements of paragraph 4(b)(iv) of the Policy appear to be present.
In the absence of any contrary evidence, the Panel finds that the disputed domain name to have been registered and to be used in bad faith.
For all the foregoing reasons, in accordance with paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the domain name <redbullpascher.com> be canceled.
Dated: February 28, 2007 |
On Saturday, September 24, 2005, the most impossibly glorious week of my life was just beginning. I was sitting on a Union Square park bench next to The Prettiest Girl In The World, unable to believe that this was really happening. When a stranger approached us and offered two tickets to a free documentary playing at the Cinema Village, we skeptically accepted. I must confess, my expectations were quite low. That film was OCCUPATION: DREAMLAND.
If you read this blog, you'll know how deeply that film affected me. Garrett Scott and Ian Olds were there for a Q&A after the film, and I was mesmerized by their complete and utter lack of pretension. They were thoughtful, honest, and sincere, qualities that were reflected in their profoundly moving work. OCCUPATION: DREAMLAND doesn't preach to the converted and it isn't coated in a layer of hyper-intellectualism. It bravely humanizes these soldiers and allows the horrifically muddled situation in Iraq to expose itself naturally. Most filmmakers would succumb to their weaker tendencies and deliver a pointed diatribe or outright condemnation. Scott and Olds, on the other hand, made a conscious effort to stay out of the way. The result is an infinitely more valuable statement than something like FAHRENHEIT 9/11.
I never actually met Garrett Scott, but I have tried my best to spread the word about OCCUPATION: DREAMLAND. I'm fortunate enough to have a DVD of the film, which I intend to watch tonight, with my parents. They are conservative people, but I have a hunch that the film will help them to see the situation in a different light.
Rest in Peace, Garrett. You have left a lasting impression on my life. Thank you. |
Robert Greene is a documentary filmmaker, film editor and writer. His films include Fake It So Real and Kati with an I. He has written on nonfiction film for Filmmaker Magazine, the site Hammer to Nail and the Indiewire blog Press Play.
Follow him on twitter @prewarcinema.
1 - 3 of 3
Your world inside out: ¡Vivan las Antípodas! and Kossakovsky’s Ten Rules
Victor Kossakovsky, documentary visionary, through his words and eyes. By Robert Greene.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Expiry and its discontents: Let the Fire Burn and How to Survive a Plague
Two new ‘archival verité’ movies find creative ways to offset documentary cinema’s reality problem. By Robert Greene.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Alive and spinning: Only the Young
Robert Greene on why a gentle portrait of three skateboarding California teens marks the cutting edge of nonfiction cinema.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
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Aaron Apps (2013) published his first book of poetry, COMPOS(T) MENTIS (Blaze Vox Books) in 2013. Currently he is a PhD English candidate at Brown University. His second book, Intersex, is forthcoming from Tarpaulin Sky Press. His manuscript Dear Herculine was an honorable mention for Ahsahta Press’ 2013 open reading period. Aaron’s work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in LIT, Denver Quarterly, The Los Angeles Review, PANK, Spork, Caliban, House Fire, The Doctor TJ Eckleberg Review, Carolina Quarterly, and Sleeping Fish.
Isaac Butler (2013) edits the culture and politics blog Parabasis and co-founded and co-edits the website StageGrade. Isaac received Honorable Mention in Nonfiction for the 2011 AWP Intro Awards for his essay, "Gay Like Me."
(Mary) Feng Sun Chen's (2013) book of poetry, BUTCHER'S TREE, was published by Black Ocean in 2012. Radioactive Moat published her chapbook, Ugly Fish; this year another chapbook, blud, was published by Spork. She was one of Poets & Writers "debut poets" in 2013.
Sally Franson (2013) is a contributing writer to The Fiddleback and The L Magazine, as well as a teaching artist at The Loft Literary Center. Her work has been featured in Witness, Room, elimae, Bartleby Snopes, among others. She is the recipient of a 2012 GRPP and a 2013 Gesell Residency at the Anderson Center.
Christine Friedlander (2013) graduated from Bucknell University in 2009 with a degree in English-Creative Writing, and earned her graduate certificate in publishing at the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute.
Rose Hansen (2013) is from Sitka, Alaska and is a graduate of Oregon State University. Prior to pursuing an MFA at Minnesota, she worked as a recreation-based forester, a financial firm assistant, a whale naturalist, a commercial pilot, and on the slime-line at a salmon cannery.
Kathleen Johnston (2013)
Kate Petersen (2013) is a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University for 2013-2015 (read more at the Star Tribune). Her work has been published in The Kenyon Review, Crazyhorse, New England Review, Iowa Review, Western Humanities Review, Brevity, The Collagist, The Rumpus, Paris Review Daily and elsewhere.
Adriane Quinlan (2013) received an Overseas Press Club Scholarship to research and write in Asia for the summer of 2013. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, The Awl, N+1, and Paper Magazine, among other publications. She is now a reporter for the Times-Picayune, covering Jefferson Parish in New Orleans.
Kerry Voigt (2013) will be a Teach for American Fellow in Mississippi beginning fall 2013.
Lucas de Lima (2012) has published poems and reviews in Action Yes, Mudfish, Rain Taxi, and other journals. He is a contributor to the culture blog Montevidayo, a translator of Brazilian poetry, and author of the chapbook Ghostlines (Radioactive Moat Press). In 2005 he was the recipient of McGill University's Peterson Memorial Prize in English Literature.
Sarah Fox (2012) is the author of Because Why and The First Flag, both from Coffee House Press. Her docupoetry work-in-progress, Mother Substance, will also be published by Coffee House. She has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bush Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Jerome Foundation, the Gesell Family Foundation, and the Graduate Research Partnership Program. Recent work appears in Fence, Conduit, Spout, Rain Taxi, La Petite Zine, Action Yes, and others. She contributes to the multi-author blog Montevidayo, is co-founder of the Center for Visionary Poetics, and works as a teacher and a doula. Her poetry rituals and other interactive performance installations are an evolving aspect of her ambition to complicate and expand the experience of poetic space.
Molly Sutton Kiefer (2012), author of PINE was a finalist for the 2013 Noemi Book Award for Poetry.
Amir Hussain (2012) resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Mizna, Beloit Poetry Journal, Faultline, Water~Stone Review, Midway Journal, and other places. His love poem to the environment, “Again and Again I Marry the Earth,” appeared in the Poets for Living Waters response to the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010. Amir's thesis involved ecological representations and examined human relations to nature. He earned his BA in Environmental Studies and English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, where he received awards for undergraduate literary criticism on the poems of Robert Lowell and Sharon Olds.
Wahida Omar (2012) is the Community Technology Empowerment Project (CTEP) member with youth programs at Intermedia Arts. She would love to hear from you @wahidao.
Colleen McCarthy (2011) was a finalist for the 2011 Sawtooth Prize in Poetry for her manuscript. Siren.
Brian Laidlaw (2011) will have his first poetry collection, Narcissus the Stuntman, published by Milkweed Editions in 2015, along with a companion album of original music. Brian is an adjunct professor at McNally Smith College of Music. His work has been published in The Iowa Review, PANK, Lungful! Magazine, KNOCK, Abjective, 32 Poems, Handsome, and many other journals. He is the recipient of an Intermedia Arts Emerging Writer Fellowship. He was a finalist for the 2012 Loft-McKnight Fellowship in Poetry.
David LeGault (2011) was cited as a Notable Essayist in the 2013 edition of Best American Essays (edited by Cheryl Strayed) for his essay “Significant Screams,” originally published by Barrelhouse.
Colleen Coyne (2011) received a 2011 residency at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. She won the 2011 Academy of American Poets James Wright Prize for Poetry, judged by Garrison Keillor.
Edward McPherson (2011) is the author of two nonfiction books: Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat (Faber & Faber) and The Backwash Squeeze and Other Improbable Feats (HarperCollins). He has written articles for the New York Times Magazine, the New York Observer, I.D., Esopus, Salon, and Talk, among others. A recipient of a Minnesota Arts Board grant, he is finishing a collection of short stories. In 2013, he published a story in Epoch magazine. Edward is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing in Washington University's MFA program.
Josh Morsell (2011) has been awarded writing residencies at the Anderson Center, Blue Mountain Center, and Mesa Refuge, has been published in Northwoods Anthology and New Settler, and is a former managing editor of dislocate literary journal.
Swati Avasthi (2010) Swati's work has appeared in The Portland Review, Water~Stone Review, and Special Gifts. She received a Loft’s Mentor Series Award and her fiction has been nominated for Best New American Voices. Her debut novel, Split, won a silver Parents' Choice Award and is in its second printing; German rights have been acquired by Bertelsmann. YALSA named the book a Best Fiction for Young Adults title for 2011. Split was nominated for a 2011 Minnesota Book Award in Fiction. Her second book, Chasing Shadows (Knopf) will be published in fall 2013.
Meryl DePasquale (2010) is a letterpress printer and participates in a collaborative mail art project called Four-Letter Press. Her chapbook Dream of a Perfect Interface is forthcoming with Dancing Girl Press. Her first book of poems Shadow Across Skin is a finalist for the Pleiades' Lena-Miles Wever Todd Poetry Book Prize. Her poems have appeared in Handsome Journal, DIAGRAM, Interim Magazine, Paper Darts.
Benjamin Doty (2010) has published fiction in Literary Imagination, the Colorado Review, and other places. He was a recipient of a 2010 Minnesota Arts Board Grant.
Patrick Hueller (2010) received his BA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. He is the author of a young adult novel, Foul, written under the name Paul Hoblin (Lerner Books, 2011). He is currently an adjunct professor of creative writing at Hamline University.
Priscilla Kinter (2010) has published work in New Delta Review, Caketrain, Hotel Amerika, Sentence, Orion Magazine, and Midway Journal. Her essay "Sea Change" was selected as the winner of Phoebe's 2012 Creative Nonfiction Prize, judged by Mary Roach; it will appeared in issue 41.2 of the journal.
Kevin O'Rourke (2010) New work can be found in Seneca Review, Word/forWord, Tammy, 580 Split, The Brooklyn Review, and at 300Reviews.com.
Wilson Peden (2010) grew up in a number of places before he returned to his family's hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. He earned his BA in English at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He enjoys playing the banjo and other string instruments, watching freight trains, wading in rivers, and looking for little towns that have disappeared from the map. These are also his favorite subjects to write about.
Shantha Susman (2010) Her writing has been published in a handful of journals. She received a Minnesota State Arts Board grant in 2010.
Holly Vanderhaar (2010) Her work has appeared in The Pinch, South Loop Review: Creative Nonfiction + Art. She worked as a writer and researcher for American Public Media's The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor. She received a Minnesota State Arts Board grant in 2012.
Emily August (2009) is a PhD candidate in English Literature at Vanderbilt University. Her poetry has been published in Hayden's Ferry Review.
Matt Burgess (2009) Matt's debut novel, Dogfight, was published by Doubleday in fall 2010. It was chosen by Publisher's Weekly as a top ten debut novel for fall 2010. Vanity Fair called the book electrifying and Barnes & Noble plucked it for the “Discover Great New Writers” series. Matt has appeared on NPR, the Leonard Lopate Show, and has been featured in Metro Magazine and Bookslut. Dogfight was nominated for a 2011 Minnesota Book Award in Fiction. Matt was a 2011 Fellow in Fiction at the Breadloaf Writers Conference. His second novel, Uncle Janice, is forthcoming from Doubleday.
Thomas Cook (2009) Three chapbooks: Homespun (Spout Press, 2006), This I'd Know of Birds (Pudding House Press, 2008, and Anemic Cinema (horse less press). Thomas is a co-founder and editor of TAMMY, a journal of poetry and prose. He is a PhD candidate at SUNY.
Katie Leo's (2009) chapbook, Attempts at Location, was published in 2009 by Finishing Line Press. She received a 2011-2012 Loft Mentorship in nonfiction. Her writing has appeared in Midway Journal and Kartika Review.
Laura Owen (2009) is now a theatre reviewer for Tucson Weekly and a contributer to the website Hello Giggles.
Luke Pingel (2009) Luke has two chapbooks: All Types of Breath Included (Further Adventures, 2009) and Storm That Killed the Tree (Pudding House Press, 2008). A new cycle of poems called "How the Wind Erased Your Name," was published by Trade Wind Press in 2012. Luke is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Saint Catherine.
Ethan Rutherford's (2009) short story, “The Peripatetic Coffin” is included in the 2010 edition of The Best American Short Stories. This is the title story of his debut collection, set for publication by Ecco Press in May 2013 and recently named a Barnes & Noble Disover pick for summer 2013. It was originally published in American Short Fiction. His fiction also appeared in the 2008 anthology, Fiction on a Stick (Milkweed Editions). In 2011, Ethan received a McKnight Fellowship for Writers ($25,000) and a Minnesota Emerging Writer's Grant.
Emily K. Bright (2008) Emily's chapbook, Glances Back, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2007. She recently had work published in Broken City Review. Her book for K-12 teachers, Powerful Ideas in Teaching: Creating Environments Where Students Want to Learn (co-written with Dr. Mickey Kolis), was published by Rowman & Littlefield Education. Her debut short story published in the autumn issue of Kansas City Voices. Her poetry appears in three anthologies due out in November: The Heart of All That Is: Reflections on Home (Holy Cow! Press); FEAST: Poetry and Recipes for a Full Seating at Dinner (Black Laurence Press); and, A Ritual to Read Together: Poems in Conversation with William Stafford (Woodley Press). Her first story for radio, "Labor of Love," aired on Interlochen Public Radio in October.
Emily Freeman (2008) had a story in the 2010 edition of Best New American Voices.She was a 2008-2009 Loft Mentor Series winner. She received a 2010 Minnesota State Arts Board Grant.
Arlene Kim's (2008) debut collection of poetry, what have you done to our ears to make us hear echoes?, was published by Milkweed Editions in summer 2011.
Ann C. Linde (2008) Ann's chapbook, Courting Light, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2007. She has poems in the Gettysburg Review.
Nate Slawson (2008) is the founder and editor of the online literary magazine, dear camera, devoted to one writer/artist collaboration per issue. His first collection of poetry, PANIC ATTACK:USA, was published by YesYes Press in fall 2011.
Ryo Yamaguchi (2008), author of The Refusal of Suitors was a finalist for the 2013 Noemi Book Award for Poetry.
Eric Dregni (2007) is the author of several nonfiction books including In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream; Zamboni: The Coolest Machines on Ice; Weird Minnesota; The Scooter Bible, Vikings in the Attic. He is an Assistant Professor and Dean of the Language Village at Concordia College in Saint Paul. Vikings in the Attic was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award in General Nonfiction in 2012.
Carla Elaine Johnson's (2007) essay, “Family Time," appeared in the anthology Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical (Cascade Press, 2009).
Stephanie Resnik (2007) was a 2008-2009 Loft Mentor Series winner in fiction. Her work has appeared in Wisconsin People and Ideas (2008). Stephanie passed the California bar exam and is now applying to waive into the Washington, D.C. Bar. She is currently working as a first-year associate at a large law firm in D.C.
Amanda Coplin (2006), author of the novel The Orchardist, won a Whiting Writers Award, a $50,000 prize given annually to 10 writers who show "exceptional talent and promise in early career." She was also a 2008-2009 Provincetown Arts Center Fellow in fiction. Her 2012 debut novel, The Orchardist, is a New York Times bestseller, a Publishers Weekly top ten pick, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and a top ten for fall '12 O Magazine selection. She also won the Barnes & Noble "Discover" Award for Fiction, a $10,000 purse. In 2013 she was named one of the National Book Awards' "5 under 35."
Charles Conley (2006) is the recipient of a 2010 grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation, which he will use to travel and write in South America. He also received a fellowship to the Sozopol Fiction Seminars in Bulgaria at the end of May. He is a former fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and received a Second Year Fiction Fellowship in 2011-2012.
Jennine Capo Crucet (2006) received the 2009 Iowa Short Fiction Prize for her debut short story collection, “How to Leave Hialeah,” published by the University of Iowa Press in fall 2009. The novel was awarded the John Gardner Prize for Fiction, the 2010 Devil's Kitchen Award, and was named a Best Book of the Year by the Miami Herald, the Miami New Times, and the Latinidad List. The title story from the collection won a PEN/O. Henry Prize and will appear in the 2011 PEN/O. Henry Prize Anthology. Her fiction has appeared in Crazyhorse, The Southern Review, and Ploughshares. She is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Florida State University.
Laura M. Flynn (2006) is the author of the memoir Swallow the Ocean (Counterpoint Press, 2008). Laura won a 2009 Bush Artist Fellowship ($50,000) and was a finalist for 2009 Minnesota Book Award. She is an adjunct professor of creative writing at Hamline University. She is also the recipient of a SASE/Emerging Writer Fellowship. She is on the adjunct faculty of Hamline University's MFA program.
Nicole Johns (2006) Nicole's memoir, Purge: Rehab Diaries, was published by Seal Press in April 2009. Nicole was featured in a Q & A in Marie Claire magazine in May 2009; interviewed for the Huffington Post; and appeared on Twin Cities Live. She is currently studying for an MA in Psychology at St. Mary's University in Minneapolis.
Eireann Lorsung's (2006) first collection of poetry, Music for Landing Planes By, was published by Milkweed Editions in 2007. Her fiction has been published in the 2008 anthology Fiction on a Stick (Milkweed Editions). Her new collection of poetry, her book, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in summer 2013. She received her PhD from Nottingham University in 2012. She is the founder and co-editor of MIEL Press.
Brian Malloy (2006) Brian is the author of the Minnesota Book Award-winning young adult novel, Twelve Long Months (2008, Scholastic); the novels Brendan Wolf (St. Martin's Press, 2007 and The Year of Ice (St. Martin's, 2003). He is the Education Director at the Loft Literary Center.
Michael Medrano (2006) is the host of a poetry/prose interview show on KFCF 88.1 FM in Fresno, CA. “Radio Patlakas" airs every other Thursday at 3 pm. Michael's first collection of poetry, Born in the Cavity of Sunsets, was published by Bilingual Press in 2009.
Rachel Moritz (2006) Rachel is the author of two chapbooks: Night-Sea (New Michigan Press, 2009) and The Winchester Monologues (New Michigan Press, 2005). She is the recipient of a 2009 SASE/Emerging Writer Fellowship and two Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowships in Poetry (2004, 2010). Her first full-length collection of poetry, Borrowed Wave, will be published in 2014 by Kore Press.
Francine Tolf (2006) Francine has published two chapbooks of poetry: Like Saul (Plan B Press, Fall 2008), Blue-Flowered Sundress (Pudding House Press, 2007.) http://www.francinemarietolf.com/ She is the recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board grant. Her first collection of poetry, Rain, Lilies, Luck, was published by Antrim House Press in 2010. Joliet Girl, a memoir, is now in its second printing from North Star Press. Her work recently appeared in anthology Dust and Fire. Her new collection of poetry is Prodigal. A chapbook, Twenty Poems to God and a Poem to Satan, was recently published by Red Bird. She published her essay, “Sheeba at Twenty,” in the current issue of Under the Sun, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2013.
Michael Walsh (2006) Michael's debut collection of poetry, The Dirt Riddles (2010), won the inaugural Miller Williams Poetry Prize from the University of Arkansas Press and the Thom Gunn Prize for Gay Poetry. He is the author of the chapbook Adam Walking the Garden (Red Dragonfly Press, 2004). His fiction can be found in the 2008 anthology Fiction on a Stick (Milkweed Editions).
Shana Youngdahl's (2006) chapbook, Donner: A Passing, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2008. She received a mini-grant from the Iowa Arts Council in 2010 to complete final revision of her poem “Of Nets,” which will be published by Gendun Editions in 2011. Shana's debut collection of poetry, History, Lies and Other Half-Truths, was published in spring 2013 by Stephen F. Austin University Press.
Kate Hopper (2005) celebrated the launch of her memoir, Ready for Air, at the Loft Literary Center on October 3rd. Read more about it on the Star Tribune. Kate's writing has appeared in Literary Mama, mamazine, nytimes.com, and Brevity. She has been the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, a Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant, and a Minnesota State Artist Initiative Grant. Kate is the co-editor for Literary Reflections at Literary Mama. Kate's first book, Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers, was published in spring 2012. Her memoir, Ready for Air, will be published by the University of Minnesota Press in fall 2013.
Marge Barrett (2005) won 2nd place in Fine Lines' 55-word fiction contest and published work in Talking Stick, Plains Song Review, and The State We're In, published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Marge's chapbook of poetry, My Memoir Dress, was published in 2011 by Finishing Line Press.
Kevin Fenton (2005) won the 2009 Associated Writing Programs award for the novel for Merit Badges. It was published by New Issues Press in spring 2011. He is now the Board Chair of Rain Taxi. Merit Badges was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award in the Novel for spring 2012. His memoir, Leaving Rollingstone, will be published in fall 2013 by Minnesota Historical Society Press.
Amanda Fields (2005) has had fiction published in Indiana Review 29.1 and nonfiction in Brevity 30 http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/index.htm and Cerise Press. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona. She wrote a guest post about motherhood and writing on the Superstition Review blog, and co-edited the collection In, Around, and Away From Tahrir: Emerging Expressions of Egyptian Identity, which will be published in 2014 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Cheri Johnson (2005) Cheri's chapbook, Fun and Games, was published by Finishing Line Press in summer 2009. Cheri has received a Bush Artist Fellowship and was a Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Fellow. In 2010, Cheri received a second-year fellowship to the Fine Arts Work Center.
Laurie Lindeen (2005) Laurie's memoir Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story was published by Simon and Schuster in 2007. Laurie was a finalist for a 2009 Bush Artist Fellowship and has received a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant. http://www.laurielindeen.com/
Stephanie Johnson (2005) won the 2009 Many Voices Project award from New Rivers Press. They published her debut poetry collection, Kinesthesia, in 2010.
Suzanne Rivecca (2005) was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and Radcliffe Institute Fellow. Her debut collection of short stories, Death is Not an Option, was published by WW Norton in 2010. She received a 2011-2012 Rome Prize in Literature and was a finalist for the Story Prize. Her work will appear in Best American Short Stories 2013.
Amy Shearn 's (2005) debut novel, How Far is the Ocean from Here?, was published by Shaye Areheart/Random House in 2008. Her second novel, titled The Mermaid of Brooklyn, was published by Touchstone in 2013, and has been chosen by Target for their Emerging Authors set, and by Hudson News airport booksellers for its Summer Reading Program. Shearn writes a popular parenting blog, Household Words.
Steve Pacheco (2004) is one of four poets featured in Shedding Skins: Four Sioux Poets (Michigan State University Press, 2008).
Alex Lemon (2004) The Wish Book was named to The Library Journals’ list of "Ten Essential Poetry Titles for 2014." Alex is the author of four additional poetry collections: Mosquito (Tin House/Bloomsbury, 2006), Hallelujah Blackout (Milkweed Editions, 2008), at last unfolding congo (horse less press), Fancy Beasts (Milkweed Editions) and the memoir Happy (Scribner, 2010). Alex was featured in Esquire Magazine's “Best & Brightest” of 2010 issue. A section from “Hallelujah Blackout” appeared in The Best American Poetry 2008. He is an Assistant Professor of English at Texas Christian University.
Karen Rigby-Huang (2004) Karen's debut collection of poetry, Chinoiserie, won the 2011 Sawtooth Prize and will be published in 2012. She has two chapbooks: Savage Machinery (Finishing LIne Press, 2008) and Festival Bone (Adastra Press, 2004). http://www.karenrigby.com/ Karen is a co-founder and editor of Cerise Press, http://cerisepress.com
Lightsey Darst (2003) Lightsey hosted the popular “The Works: A Writer's Salon" series from 2009-2011 at Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis. Her chapbook, Ginnungagap, is available now from Red Dragonfly Press. Her first full-length collection of poetry, Find the Girl, was published by Coffee House Press in spring 2010. Find the Girl was reviewed in Entertainment Weekly and won the 2011 Minnesota Book Award for Poetry.
Brady Johnson (2003) "Michiganders, 1979” appeared in Best New American Voices 2004.
Kathleen Glasgow's (2002) poetry has appeared in Buffalo Creek Review, Cimarron Review, Bellingham Review, Clackamas Litererary Review, Roanoke Review, dislocate, and other journals. She has received three Minnesota State Arts Board grants, a SASE/Emerging Writer Fellowship, and was a Loft Mentor Series winner in poetry (2000-2001). She won the 2011 Alumni Fiction Award from MINNESOTA Magazine.
Dominic Saucedo's (2002) story “Knowing You in Snow” appeared in the 2008 anthology Fiction on a Stick (Milkweed Editions). He is the recipient of two Minnesota State Arts Board grants and was a Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Fellow. He had a novel excerpt, “The Train,” in the Summer 2010 issue of Cerise Press. http://www.cerisepress.com/02/04/the-train Dominic received a McKnight Fellowship for Writers ($25,000) in 2011. He is a member of the English faculty at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
Yuko Taniguchi (2001) is the author of a novel, The Ocean in the Closet (Coffee House Press, 2007) and a collection of poetry, Foreign Wife Elegy (Coffee House Press, 2001). She has received a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, SASE/Emerging Writer Fellowship, and a Loft-McKnight Writer's Fellowship. She is the Director of Writing Programs at the University of Minnesota-Rochester.
Michelle Matthees (2001) was awarded both an Arrowhead Regional Artists Fellowship and Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant in 2011. She has recent work appearing or forthcoming in Prose Poem Project, Proof Magazine, The Mom Egg, 22 Magazine, Memorious, Specs, Anderbo, Defenestration, Third Wednesday, Paradise Review, Humber Pie, Thrice Fiction, Cider Press Review, 5 Quarterly, Sou'Wester, and the anthology, "Migrations: Poetry and Prose for Life's Transitions" (Wildwood River Press, 2011). She is currently looking for a publisher for her book-length collection, "Between Languages."
Julie Gard (2000) Julie's chapbook, Obscura: The Daguerreotype Series, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2007. She is an Assistant Professor of Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Joe Hart (2000) Nonfiction, Skid Row: The Life and Death of Minneapolis's Skid Row, (University of Minnesota Press, 2002).
Mary Winstead (2000) Memoir, Back to Mississippi (Hyperion, 2002). Mary's writing has appeared in MINNESOTA Magazine.
John Colburn (1999) lives in Northeast Minneapolis. He’s an editor and co-publisher at Spout Press and the author of Invisible Daughter and Psychedelic Norway (Coffee House Press), as well as two poetry chapbooks, Kissing and The Lawrence Welk Diaries. He has taught at Hamline University and Perpich Center for Arts Education. He is also a member of the improvised music collective Astronaut Cooper’s Parade.
Mark Anderson (1999) Memoir, Jesus Sound Explosion (University of Georgia Press, 2003), winner of the AWP Award for Creative Nonfiction in 2002.
Haddayr Copley-Woods (1999) Multiple short stories in Strange Horizons, Polyphony, Best American Erotica, Ideomancer, Flytrap and other journals. http://www.haddayr.com
Anna Reckin (1999) First book-length poetry collection, Three Reds, was published in 2011 by Shearsman, see: http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/catalog/2011/reckin.html. Her writings have also appeared in Infinite Difference: Other Poetries by UK Women Poets, edited by Carrie Etter (Shearsman, 2010), and In Their Own Words: Contemporary Poets on their Poetry, edited by Helen Ivory and George Szirtes (Salt, 2012). Reckin was recently awarded an Arts Council England grant to work on her second collection. Her website, www.annareckin.com, will be up soon
Lauren Fox's (1998) debut novel was Still Life with Husband ( Knopf, 2007). Her second novel, Friends Like Us, was published in February 2012 by Knopf.
Kathleen Melin's (1998) homeschooling memoir, By Heart: A Mother's Story of Children and Learning at Home, was published in spring 2009 by Clover Valley Press. http://www.clovervalleypress.com
Scott Muskin's (1998) first novel, The Annunciations of Hank Meyerson, Mama's Boy and Scholar, won the 2008 Parthenon Prize for Fiction (Hooded Friar Press, 2008). http://scottmuskin.com
Shannon Olson (1998) Two novels: Children of God Go Bowling (Viking, 2004) and Welcome to My Planet (Viking, 2001). She is an Associate Professor of English at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Gayla's Marty's (1997) nonfiction book, Memory of Trees, was published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2010.
Anna Cypra Oliver (1997) Memoir, Assembling My Father: A Daughter's Detective Story, (Houghton Mifflin, 2004). http://www.annacypraoliver.com/
Elissa Raffa (1997) is the author of the novel Freeing Vera (Permanent Press, 2005).
Norah Labiner (1996) is the author of three novels: German for Travelers (Coffee House Press, 2009), Miniatures (Coffee House Press, 2003), and Our Sometime Sister (Coffee House Press, 2000).
Sherry Quan Lee (1996) CHINESE BLACKBIRD, a memoir in verse (Asian American Press, 2002).
Erin Hart (1995) Erin's new mystery, False Mermaid, was published in March 2010. She is also the author of Lake of Sorrows and Hallowed Ground. http://www.erinhart.com
Alison McGhee (1993) Adult novels: Falling Boy, (Picador, 2007); Was It Beautiful (2003); Shadow Baby (2000); and Rainlight (1998); children's picture books: Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth (2004) and Countdown to Kindergarten (2002); middle-grades novel, Snap (2004). She has received several Minnesota Book Awards. http://www.alisonmcghee.com/
Todd Temkin (1992) Enloquecidos Moradores de un Mundo Sin Quehacer / Crazy Denizens of the Lost World, a bilingual edition of poems (2004), and La guerra que viene: incongruencias y encrucijadas sobre el nuevo Valparaiso, a collection of essays. Both books were published by the University of Valparaiso Press (Chile).
Alex Jones (1991) published essays “Matinee” in the fall issue of the Santa Monica Review, and “The Big Breakfast” in this winter’s issue 45 of Harvard Review.
Gretchen Legler (1991) On Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station, Antarctica (Milkweed Editions, 2005). She is Professor of English at the University of Maine-Farmington.
Marianne Herrman (1990) Story collection, Signaling for Rescue (New Rivers Press, 2007). http://www.marianneherrman.com
Rosanne Bane's (1990) latest book is Around the Writer's Block: Using Brain Science to Write the Way You Want (Penguin/Tarcher, 2012). www.rosannebane.com
Ian Graham Leask (1986) is the author of the story collection The Wounded and Other Stories About Father's and Sons (New Rivers Press, 1992). He is the founder and former editor of Scarletta Press: http://www.scarlettapress.com. He currently works for Tumblehome Learning, a children's science publisher. He is also a host and producer of the radio series, Write-On Radio.
Current MFAs and alumni have appeared in: Harpers, Fence, Sonora Review, Rattle, Beloit Poetry Journal, Bellingham Review, Clackamas Literary Review, Cimarron Review, Pleides, Gulf Coast, Threepenny Review, Rain Taxi, Star Tribune, Field, New England Review, Alaska Quarterly,Cincinnati Review, Faultine, Natural Bridge, Salt Hill, Agni, and Black Warrior Review, Shenandoah,Prairie Schooner, TriQuarterly and many other magazines and journals.
Recent Awards: McKnight Artist Fellowship for Writers ($25,000), Bush Artist Fellowship ($50,000), Wallace Stegner Fellowship, Minnesota State Arts Board Grants, SASE: Emerging Writer Fellowships, AWP Award Series for Creative Nonfiction, AWP Intro Journals Award, Luce Fellowship (Thailand), Fulbright Fellowships, Rotary Scholarships, Tamarack Award for Fiction ($10,000), Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship, Prague Seminar Fellowships.
Residencies: Millay Colony, Vermont Studio Center, Anderson Center, Devil's Tower, Fishtrap, Yaddo, Breadloaf, Macdowell Colony. |
Bike Love and more random photos..
Here's some bike love...Tonic Fab friend Greg Melms sends over a couple more photos of his completed bike. Like myself, many people have enjoyed watching this bike's progress. Not bad for a first stab at bike building...
Greg's bike is loaded with interesting details..however here's one of the most important..this bike is meant to be ridden.
A drawer of the Tonic Fab Tool Box. I'll put some tooling photos up soon..
Howie chainstay end-caps awaiting attachement.
Style. Like the supreme court definition of pornography; you'll know it when you see it.
Chaz and P.Funk interpret a scene from the American Cinema Classic "Dumb and Dumber" at Tonic Global HQ.
The Baaron with a little bike love. 20 years ago Chris Moeller wrote about his bike as an unfailable companion. 2 days ago Alfred Bobe expressed the same sentiment. Believe it. |
Find great deals on quality Sikkim, India hotels & resorts, or indulge at one of our luxury resorts. Take advantage of the many amenities that can be included with your stay such as in-room internet access, wifi, room service, fitness center, pool, hot tub, steam room, and shuttle services to and from the airport. Browse our Sikkim, India hotels and resorts and plan your Sikkim, India vacation today!
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Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - Located on Tibet Road, just five minutes walk away from the main market M.G. Marg, the Chumbi Residency is away from the noise of the market of traffic.
Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - Located near Denzong Cinema Theatre amidst the three main markets of Gangtok, Denzong Inn offers warm hospitality combined with personalized service. Chung
Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - Offering breathtaking views of the mighty Himalayan range, Delamere is a host to 20 well furnished rooms with a warm staff always ready to help. The hotel
Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - Surrounded by natural beauty, this leisure stay option on Upper Sichey Road, near Tamangumpha offers comfort and luxury within a homely ambiance. There
Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - Designed with a thatched roof-top, this four story brick-coloured property maintains 14 rooms, which offer the breathtaking view of the Kanchanjunga mountain
Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - This Resort Was Built in the Theme of Monastery and is a Combination of Sikkim
Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - Centrally located and opposite to Sadar Police Station, this budget hotel houses well-maintained rooms for guests to stay. Kitchen facilities are available
Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - Hotel Golden Heights, is located at a distance of 125 kms from the NJP railway Station and 124 kms from the Bagdora Airport. Bearing a total of 17 comfortable
Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - Situated in the heart of the city, this hotel bears a total of 20 elegantly-furnished rooms. Offering warm hospitality combined with personalized service
Gangtok, India Hotels & Resorts - Amidst a scenic ambiance and set in three acres of paddy fields with wonderful views of the Himalayan Mountains, this retreat at Rumtek is maintained with
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Cinemark inks for Texas Instruments platform
Texas Instruments has announced that its “next generation technology platform” for digital projection will include a 4K option, providing four times as many pixels as standard 2K projectors, and it has already lined up exhibitor Cinemark to buy its 4K tech.The platform will be available by year’s end, with 4K to follow some time in 2010, depending on how quickly projector makers include it in their designs. Alan Stock, CEO of 2,700-screen Cinemark, said TI’s DLP platform will be “our exclusive platform of choice for 4K deployments.” TI does not manufacture projectors under its own name but licenses its DLP tech to Barco, Christie Digital and NEC. All become potential competitors for Sony Electronics, which has had the 4K d-cinema market to itself. “When DLP cinema decided to do 4K, I think the reaction has been ‘Wow, that’s great, because we wanted DLP and now we have the option,’ ” said Nancy Fares, business manager for DLP Cinema Products Group. Sony has pacted with AMC and Regal to outfit their screens with 4K projectors (Daily Variety, March 30). Sony has been a proponent of 4K filmmaking and projection at the studio and corporate levels, as has Warner Bros. Paramount has also released pictures in 4K. Gary Johns, VP at Sony’s Digital Cinema Systems division, said, “We feel 4K is the right resolution for this industry, and if TI has decided to endorse that resolution, we’re happy they agree.” TI says its platform will improve color on DLP-based projectors and make them bright enough to show 3-D on 75-foot-wide screens. Fares said the 4K DLP chip will be the same size as the standard 2K DLP chip already in use, which should make it easier for projector makers to adopt the higher-resolution standard. |
What did I learn over the course of the Milwaukee Film Festival’s Cinema Hooligante Program? Five things specifically:
1: I love living in a city that gives a shit about fucked up, unlovable, and/or unsung movies.
2: The creepiness of spiders is inversely proportionate to their size.
3: Those whacky Danes make me blush.
4: Inbred mutant plots are still (thankfully) going strong in quality movies.
5: Claymation is probably the only thing that can still bring me close to reintroducing my beer to the world. (Other than peeing. But then it’s urine and not beer. Right? Right.)
It’s been a fantastic two weeks of being assaulted and offended by some gruesome and inappropriate flicks. And while the festival has scheduled cult films in the past (“House of the Devil” being one passed example), 2012 marks the inaugural year of a specific program dedicated to the fringes. Below you will find some highlights from this year’s Cinema Hooligante. Elsewhere on the site you can download our podcast on V/H/S and read Eric’s full reviews of that film as well as Beyond the Black Rainbow (even though BBR is much better than what he’s letting on but don’t tell him I told you).
"The Best Damn F*#@ing Midnight Program Ever. Sh*t."
This shorts program was a veritable smorgasbord of depravity, surrealism, and enough weird shit that if your parents saw you watching it they would second-guess their reasons for not sending you to military school. Stand-out shorts include “Mouthful”, the insistently frank comedy about penis envy in which girlfriend Bliss (Ellis Cahill) is forced into reassuring her neurotic, egocentric boyfriend Bobby (Conor Casey) that he is adequate…enough…well maybe not. Then there is the rather trippy experience across time and character perspective in “Sea Meadow”. Directed, written, and starring Lily Baldwin the film spins into crescendos of manic bliss and nerves that create an illusory, ebbing stream of consciousness. I also have to mention “Bobby Yeah” from UK based filmmaker Robert Morgan. In this stop motion jaunt through sickly, sweaty surrealism, a “petty thug” steals a pet that looks like a pigtail with a bulbous wiry head—supposedly constructed from the filmmaker’s toenails. Gross, disturbing, hilarity arises and does not let up. Fuck me this movie came close to giving me nightmares.
By now most regulars of the site or followers of movie news in general have heard of the satanic trash that is “V/H/S”. This found-footage anthology horror film directed by a number of up and coming genre directors has garnered attention ever since it’s premiere at Sundance last January. And, to put it succinctly, I had a lot of fun with “V/H/S”. It’s a reductionist opinion for sure. But this focus on recreating or reframing “fun” turned out to be the most compelling aspect about the film. Ever since the early 90s—or perhaps even earlier with the advent of home video and fan magazines—the fluency of genre fans with their preferred narratives has drastically increased. The focus of fandom becomes more diverse in not only the appreciation of uniqueness and novelty but also in the individual’s ability to know the reference points and a film’s production history. Wes Craven’s “Scream” is a direct reaction to this mentality. The “fun” of going to such pictures then becomes a game of Six-Degrees of “The Exorcist” or “Psycho”. But by reframing some admittedly generic material through a found-footage aesthetic “V/H/S” enlivens a movie-going experience with extra doses of the grotesque and cathartic. Even some of the uneven segments (I’m looking at you slasher in the woods) have an understated cleverness about them that may appeal more to genre fans than first timers. (Seriously though, what does Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees look like on video!?) But when considering the merits of “V/H/S” compared to other found-footage films it becomes apparent that the aesthetic and all its tactics are running a little thin. Indeed the film leaves you with the feeling that you probably don’t need to see another food-footage film anytime soon. That being said, “V/H/S” is an exemplary social theater experience that deserves to be enjoyed with a crowd of geeks late at night.
This was my favorite discovery at Cinema Hooligante. Written and directed by Ciaran Foy, the film follows reclusive Tommy (Aneurin Barnard) who has recently experienced a traumatic event that left his wife in a coma and him in sole charge of their newborn child. As Tommy attempts to vacate a derelict housing project he finds himself incapable of overcoming his fear of the unknown…and of a group of feral, hoodie-clad adolescents who seem to be stalking him. The film captures a subjective sense of Tommy’s agoraphobia that proves intensely effective while never seeming manipulative, grounding a majority of its scares in the simplicities of just being home alone. It is a beautiful example of how the smallest anxieties and superstitions prove most effective in generating truly frightening results. “Citadel” is an adept film that borrows some rather old school narrative tropes and incorporates them into a film exploring the contemporary anxieties of housing collapse and social medicine. And while the film’s conclusion leaves matters tied up a little too conveniently “Citadel’s” stylistic techniques and allegorical insights continue to resonate.
"Mark Borchardt Presents: The Giant Spider Invasion"
This was everything I’ve come to expect from a cult movie showing. Rowdy audience. Committed, passionate, and self-effacing artists. Slovenly manicured hillbillies and scantily clad vixens. Simply delightful. It also didn’t hurt that a giant spider designed by local artist Meghan Elizabeth Savagian had been carted around to various events throughout the fest for photos. Being my first experience with “The Giant Spider Invasion” I was genuinely surprised at the ribald sense of tongue-in-cheek humor the film has. It is apparent that everyone is in on the joke and they are more than willing to throw themselves into all its messy, awkward, hilarious, and gross results. Presented by local celebrity filmmaker and actor Mark Borchardt, director Bill Rebane did a Q&A following the film detailing some of the hard work that went into making this “piece of shit” live on screen. Highlights include fire-extinguisher foam used for splatter effects and a giant spider mobilized by a retrofitted VW Bug. Rebane stuck around at a local bar afterwards to have his picture taken with said giant spider and hand out autographs. It was a fantastic evening full of nerdery, good humor, and passionate words on cult horror in Wisconsin.
Lastly is the Wisconsin produced “infected” apocalypse film Dead Weight. I had a chance to sit down with co-directors and co-writers Adam Bartlett and John Pata as well as composer Nicholas Elert to discuss the film. The four of us conversed on a number of topics including the obstacles of independently funded micro-budget filmmaking, the collaborative process, the balancing act of scoring a horror film, as well as “The Thing” and something called “cinematic blue balls”. Be on the look out for that interview to post next week. In the meantime you can read my full review for Dead Weight on the site.
We laughed, we cowered, we shrieked, we had a few. And maybe we just learned a little bit about ourselves…Oh, how I can’t wait till next year’s Cinema Hooligante! In the meantime you can check out more info on these films and the full Cinema Hooligante program at Milwaukee Film’s website. |
This pseudo-lavish adaptation of the Marques de Sade's classic novel "Justine" was one of the first products of the fruitful collaboration between wayward Spanish oddball Jess Franco and TV & radio veteran turned feature film producer, Harry Alan Towers; It illustrates both the strengths and weaknesses that came to characterise most of the films they made together during the late sixties: rare flashes of intriguing brilliance are consistently constrained and overshadowed by the results of ultra-tight scheduling and the constant need to placate the requirements of the "drive-in" market. Nevertheless, the film has always been a source of fascination for Franco fans since it represents the one time the great man came anywhere near acquiring a half-decent budget ($1,000,000), although most of this was apparently spent on the period costumes!
"Justine" tells the immoral tale of two young orphan girls, Justine and Juliette, and the very different lives they come to lead thanks to their differing moral decisions. When both girls are cast out of a nunnery due to lack of funds, Juliette turns to prostitution, thieving, and eventually, murder -- while Justine refuses to compromise her virtue and is rewarded by being abused and cheated-on by almost everyone she meets! Juilette's lack of moral scruples though, are rewarded with a life of luxury and a rich husband! The film follows both girls across a picturesque Spanish countryside (presumably doubling for France) as the innocent Justine falls into the hands of increasingly dubious characters, while her one-time friend's life only increases to improve in material terms as her moral decay accelerates.
Franco was brought to the attention of Towers by his 1967 surrealism-tinged opus, "Succubus". The producer was mining a lucrative seam by adapting the public domain works of Sax Rohmer and Edgar Wallace for the screen, and was looking for a suitable director to helm a feature based on the work of the Marques de Sade. The dreamlike eroticism of "Succubus" convinced him Franco was the man for the job! The director was set to work on the latest in a series of Fu Manchu films ("The Blood of Fu Manchu") while Towers thrashed out a screenplay under his pen-name, Peter Welbeck. The film was eventually shot in Barcelona amid buildings designed by 19th century architect Antonio Gaudi and a virtual who's who of Euro-cult cinema. It's one of the most sumptuous looking Franco movies but is ultimately a rather stilted affair; even the eroticism is rather discreetly done, and the film ends up feeling not really representative of either Franco or de Sade.
Franco's direction is mostly rather bland and generic and this was a problem that seems to have afflicted most of his work for Towers. Franco could always be relied on to bring in a film on time and on budget, but the tight filming schedule would inevitably takes its toll on quality, and Franco's direction would often be very much of the "point-the-camera-and-hope-for-the-best" variety. Ironically, the director had a relatively luxurious schedule of six weeks for "Justine" but is stuck with a rather uninteresting interpretation of the story from Towers' screenplay and an uninspiring lead actress in the form of Romina Power, daughter of actor Tyron Power, who Franco was forced to use through studio pressure. The gorgeous looking cinematography, expensive period costumes and a lush score from Bruno Nicolai all help to disguise the faults to some extent, as do the visually stimulating locations, but Franco's trademark twisted eroticism is mostly missing despite the large quantity of euro-babe flesh on display.
Luckily there are enough good qualities to save this from being a total yawn. Although burdened with a poor lead actress, the film is resplendent with some top notch performances from some of Europe's finest. Maria Rohm, wife of Harry Alan Towers and a regular in all the Franco/Towers films, is as always, magnificent as the beautiful but degenerate Juliette -- as is her criminal cohort and lover Rosemary Dexter (originally Franco's choice for the lead role). Klaus Kinski and Jack Palance seem to bring out the best in Franco, since it is their sections of the film in which the director seems to spring to life, and we get some of the menacing, erotic nightmare quality of Franco's best work. Kinski plays de Sade in a series of short vignettes, filmed intensively over two days with Franco himself behind the camera, which are meant to represent de Sade being haunted by his own tormented characters as he writes the story in jail. Palance, meanwhile gives a crazed and drunken performance (mainly because he WAS crazed and drunken on the set according to Franco) as a debauched self-styled monk who has started up his own sect in the middle of the French countryside, devoted to the pursuit of pleasure through sadism. It is in these sequences that we find the true spirit of Franco's cinema. Bold and irrational lighting schemes of neon magenta, vibrant lilac, and florescent blues and greens; actors and actresses arranged in bizarre mannequin-like posses; erratic camera zooms and out of focus shots; and unsettling, dreamlike, serpentine scenes of candy-coloured torture ... all these elements we find in Franco's best, and most personal work; and thanks to the magnificent transfer on this DVD, they have never looked as vivid and compelling as they do here! But unfortunately, these elements only account for about twenty minutes of the film's two-hour running time! The rest of the time we have a mildly titillating, beautifully photographed, historical melodrama that does little to stimulate the senses. The major theme of the original story involves Justine coming to enjoy the abuse and torture she experiences, but according to Franco, Romana Power was incapable of understanding the concept, let alone acting it out! Ultimately the film cheats, and draws away from de Sade's razor-sharp dissection of religious hypocrisy at the very last moment, negating the force of everything that has come before with a simple-minded moral lesson that would have made de Sade laugh out loud.
The Anchor Bay UK DVD is fabulous -- the film has never looked better. We get a valuable twenty-minute featurette on the making of the movie in which Franco and Towers contradict each other throughout, and the usual collection of biographies and art galleries. But the real star of the show is the transfer (created by Blue Underground and ported over for the UK release) which at least makes the film a visually appealing spectacle even when there is not much else to get excited about! |
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"I'm not dead" ... Gotye took to Twitter with this simple statement dispelling rumours of his death.
Sure he's had a No.1 song in every country that he used to know, performed on hit American comedy series Saturday Night Live and parodies of his tune are a meme of their own (with particular love for The Star Wars That I Used to Know) but Gotye can now feel assured he has made it as a celebrity after having to deny his own death. Ever since Mark Twain quipped that reports of his death were greatly exaggerated, the highest of the profiliest have had to denounce their death. So following in the footsteps of Jeff Goldblum, Justin Bieber and Bill Cosby, Australian musician Gotye aka Wouter ''Wally'' De Backer has taken to Twitter to make the simple statement ''I'm not dead'' after iReport, the user generated portion of CNN's website reported his suicide. While bandmate Tim Shiel chose to respond to the hoax with humour, tweeting ''It saddens me to confirm the news of @gotye's passing - he suffered cardiac arrest while flying a unicorn over a double rainbow,'' the rumour was ''very easy to refute'' according to Gotye's management, who assured us that ''he is in absolutely amazing health and relaxing at home before his world tour''. For the overly suspicious, management promise to perform a very public habeas corpus (a concert) in December at the Sydney Entertainment Centre ''just to prove he's alive''. He may also play some songs.
Michael Chamberlain, whose book, Heart of Stone, was published yesterday, declined in the writing to retaliate for the slagging he got from his former wife, Lindy, in her book, Through My Eyes, published in 1990. But after saying Lindy was ''not the same woman'' when released in 1986 after three years of incarceration, he did provide some tidbits, such as when he and Lindy negotiated with producer Verity Lambert and director Fred Schepisi in 1987 over the making of the film, Evil Angels. Lindy and Michael bickered, because Michael wanted a broad sweep and Lindy was a stickler for detail. Michael was thunderstruck meeting Meryl Streep, who played Lindy. ''I gasped inwardly,'' he said. ''I was in the presence of a screen goddess.'' Sam Neill, who played Michael, went on his own ''emotional journey'' representing Michael as ''a deeply wounded and confused person that I was'', Chamberlain said. Then, inevitably, came the scene when Sam and Meryl were to bed down together and to ''act out their version of romantic love between Lindy and I''. Michael said: ''Sam invited me to be his double with Meryl and teased me about being filmed in bed with her. I was at once in shock and awe. There was no telling what that might have done to Lindy's and my fragile relationship!''
DIVIDE AND CONQUER
Four houses were auctioned on The Block on Sunday, but did you realise they were sold in three separate shows? Seeking to take out all three medal places for the evening (and possibly renovate the podium quickly and flip it for a profit), the Nine Network broke the reality show final into three episodes: The Block - Grand Final, Auction and Winner Announced. The three separate ''episodes'' then took out third, second and first place respectively. Winner Announced was watched by an average of 2.7 million viewers (five capital cities), peaking at 3 million and in the process winning the night for Nine everywhere except Perth. That's down from last year's final of 3.37 million, but what they lost in audience they made in profit (see Page 2). Interestingly, the final brought new viewers to television as rival programs Sunday Night and MasterChef kept the majority of their audiences, both watched by 1.1 million viewers and marking only slight drops on the previous week. Nine's first win on a Sunday without The Voice combined with Wednesday's anticipated Origin ratings win should see it coast to victory for the week and leave Seven on a knife edge as we reach the halfway point in the ratings calendar, just in time for the Olympics. Nine will be hoping Sunday's Domestic Blitz special can carry them across the line once more.
BLOCK, TAKE STOCK
As for The Block stars, the four couples may want to invest their combined winnings of $1,843,001.01, as today's reality star and tomorrow's very well promoted busker, The Voice winner, Karise Eden, found out when only a few hundred fans rocked up to see perform free in Pitt Street Mall on Friday.
A BIG DAY FOR … PULLING STRINGS
SHE'S played in some of the world's leading music venues as part of the Takacs Quartet and is one of America's most-respected viola teachers, but yesterday Geraldine Walther stopped by a Circular Quay fruit stand for a brief one-on-one lesson with a local musician, after coincidence brought them together. Walther, who is in town with the Quartet for Musica Viva, had been on her way to rehearsals two years ago when she stopped at the fruit stand near Customs House to buy bananas. ''That's a viola case there, isn't it?'' asked Bill Haire as he sold her the fruit. ''How did you know?'' she shot back and they started chatting. Bill's son Ben was a violist he explained, studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Their friendship grew and this year when she was coming back to perform, Walther asked if the budding musician might want a few pointers. Unsurprisingly he did, leading yesterday to one of the most unusual lessons and from two of the most unlikely performers the Quay has ever hosted. ''Ben is a fantastic young violist,'' Walther said, ''it was a real pleasure to meet him and have a lesson with him. He's a really talented young player!'' Ben, in his second year of a bachelor of music, was suitably happy with the moment and said, one day he hoped to have a similarly successful career as Walther.
STAY IN TOUCH ...
WITH A SWEARING, STONED TEDDY
WHO said guys don't go to the cinema any more? The ribald comedy Ted, starring Mark Wahlberg and a foul-mouthed, dope-smoking stuffed teddy bear, took an exceptional $4.38 million from previews alone in Australian cinemas at the weekend. Garry Maddox reports it was topped only by the $4.89 million taken by the considerably more family-friendly Ice Age 4: Continental Drift on more than twice as many screens. The MA-rated movie was written, directed and featured the voice of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane as Ted, a character cheerfully described by The New York Times as ''a fire hose of vulgarity, ethnic insult, homophobia and misogyny''. And all this vulgarity, ethnic insulting, homophobia, etc, clearly worked for Australian movie-goers on one of the year's biggest weekends for another male-dominated distraction - watching sport on TV. Ted also opened strongly in the US, topping the box office with an estimated $US54.1 million.
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
Sharmill Films launched Season Four of its National Theatre Live series this week and once again had me salivating at the choices they are presenting. One of the best things about these seasons of live plays on screen is that you don’t have to travel to London to see them. But that is also one of the worst things. Your appetite is whetted for the sense of inclusion that an audience at a performance “In the round” might feel, and there is a sense of separation at having the screen as a “4th Wall”. Having said that, I can only wonder at how intense and remarkable this must have been for the audience at this filmed performance…..it was quite remarkable even seated in a small cinema, and I yearned to be part of that live audience. Nevertheless, a chance to see brilliant stage productions should be grabbed and relished by all theatre lovers. Sharmill has more goodies for us over the season – for more details see our earlier coverage - http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/news/fourth-season-national-theatre-live...
The play itself is award winning playwright Simon Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel – which is our hero Christopher’s written account of what happened from the night he discovered Wellington, Mrs Shears’ dog, dead and impaled on a garden fork, just a few minutes after midnight. What follows is an investigation into the crime, led by Christopher; but more importantly a journey to truth, and growth and self. Christopher is autistic, with severe Asperger’s – a fifteen year old boy with a brilliant brain that simply doesn’t compute emotion or empathy. He has never been beyond the end of his road until he sets off on his journey of discovery. It’s an astonishing role played by an even more astonishing young actor, Luke Treadaway, who, although 28 years old, is completely convincing as a dysfunctional 15 year old. Since the entire play is through his point of view, we virtually take a trip through the chaotic yet strangely ordered (just one paradox) world of his brain. Alongside Treadaway’s brilliant performance is the stunning design, by Bunny Christie and an expert team, of the autism spectrum….the map of Christopher’s understanding. This includes video, music and lighting and sound design of the highest order. Flat, projected, images used horizontally take on the characteristics of a three dimensional vertical set, and the actors’ movements provide extra dimension when needed. Director Marianne Elliott (of Tony winning War Horse fame) is nothing less than brilliant in her handling of the cast and the material.
The supporting cast includes some of Britain’s finest actors. Niamh Cusack, as Luke’s “special needs” teacher Siobhan is compelling and compassionate. Paul Ritter as his Dad, Ed, an ordinary man trying to deal with extraordinary circumstances and a child with a disability, portrays that rare combination of love and frustration that any father would feel. Nicola Walker (I always loved her as Ruth in Spooks) is Judy, the mother Christopher believed had died, only to discover she left him because she simply couldn’t cope. Her performance is heart-breaking and touching, yet with an edge of selfishness which keeps us in a constant state of flux. Of the remaining very excellent cast, Una Stubbs, long a British favourite, makes her mark as the surrogate granny, Mrs Alexander. But it’s Treadaway’s play to own, in one of the most astonishing performances you will ever see. |
9 Jan, 12 | by BMJ Group
No more sad/happy movies for me. I hate the thought that someone might see me blubbering in the cinema. Alpha males shouldn’t cry. Tonight it was The Well Digger’s Daughter. I will not spoil it for you by telling you what happens. Lovely scenery, good acting, nice story. But, I had to pretend I didn’t really like it. Not many moved before the credits had finished—I guess they had to dry their eyes too.
Teenage unmarried mother. Nothing new. A career in general practice means I have seen many. Before pregnancy tests became so easy, girls had to see you first before sending in a urine sample. Youngsters in school uniforms, uneasy students, career girls caught out. I cannot understand how even the most conservative straight laced fundamentalist doesn’t melt when faced with the tears of a distraught unexpected mum. These things happen. We are all human. I have seen their mothers run out of the consulting rooms shrieking, fathers ready to murder, and pregnancies concealed to term without anyone suspecting. But, give it a year. Sometimes it works out. Babies do strange things to people. Happy supportive grannies at the baby clinic, grandfathers beaming with pride, and teenagers coping wonderfully. Lives may have changed dramatically but, it’s seldom the expected disaster.
For every teenage pregnancy, there is someone hoping. Years ticking by and longing for a baby. No sign, not even of a man. Some, who have given up chose to have a baby on their own. Lesbian couples, Gay couples. Funny how you can start off with ideas of what should be and finish up thinking there is no such thing as should be. General practice does that to you. Life is a sad/happy movie. Sometimes I even have to dry my eyes between consultations. But, please don’t tell anyone.
Domhnall MacAuley is primary care editor, BMJ |
Behind the Scenes of “Old Man River” (DVD)
Throughout his life, the late actor Jerry Fujikawa (Chinatown, M*A*S*H, Taxi) harbored a secret that even his children didn’t know about.
As one of Hollywood’s busiest Asian-American performers, he spent over three decades in the public eye. But privately, few were able to penetrate his characteristic silence about his past. Hidden in the shadows of his young adulthood during World War II was a surprise that would leave his daughter stunned and questioning everything she thought she knew about him—and about herself.
In the film Old Man River (adapted from her acclaimed, one-woman, off-Broadway play and now available on DVD), writer-performer Cynthia Gates Fujikawa recounts the mystery that surrounded her father and the unexpected journey it later inspired. Moving, emotional, mordantly witty and concluding in triumph, the story has touched audiences with its universal themes.
“I’ve frequently had the experience of people, after seeing the play or the film, coming up to me to talk about themselves and not about the work itself,” Fujikawa explains. “It made them think of Uncle Louie or Grandma so-and-so, who’d spent time in Siberia and never talked about it. Or that relative they never found. Or that conversation with Dad they always meant to have. And I find their sharing these stories with me the ultimate compliment, because it’s apparent they see reflections of themselves in my family’s experiences.”
And it was self-reflection that also helped Fujikawa find the right narrative framework for Old Man River.
“The biggest challenge in writing the piece was finding my place in the story,” she says. “Growing up, I always thought that the story of the wartime internment of Japanese Americans was obscured from the public. And my dad’s tale was a particularly dark one that also was an internment story, so I was determined to tell it. Yet after I began, I realized that it wasn’t his story that I was telling. It was mine: the story of my identity. And finding one’s identity is something that everyone does, something that the average Joe can empathize with.”
Old Man River was directed, photographed and edited by Emmy award-winning documentarian Allan Holzman, who worked hard to ensure that Fujikawa’s intensely personal stage play made an effective transition to film.
“We videotaped the performance during the final week of the Los Angeles run,” Fujikawa says. “Allan had the idea of putting the camera onstage. Since I talked to the audience during the performance, I would now talk directly into the camera. It preserved what worked really well in the show, which was a sense of intimacy, like it’s just me and the listener.”
The film has received top honors in prominent film festivals across the nation, and Fujikawa has nothing but praise for her collaborator Holzman.
“Allan became a director by way of being an editor,” she notes. “And the editing is really the other star of the show. After we put the performance footage into the computer, Allan began to request things of me. More family pictures. More clips of Dad’s work as an actor. He would put together a sequence, and then I’d think of an image that would work really well, and the next thing you know we had taken out about a quarter of the original monologue and replaced it with a lot of compelling visuals. Allan was duly acknowledged with an A.C.E. Eddie award by the American Cinema Editors (A.C.E.) for this film.”
Fujikawa says she finds the film’s accolades especially gratifying because of the Japanese American internment’s “extreme relevance” to pressing current issues in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“We’ve had redress, we’ve aired our feelings, we’re all supposedly clear about the wrongs of our history, and now we Americans are being challenged to preserve civil rights and as we ‘defend’ the country all over again,” she remarks. “I don’t think we’re doing such a hot job. But at least we're talking about it a little. That’s progress.”
A SPECIAL “DOUBLE FEATURE”: DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
Also included in the “Bonus Materials” section of the Old Man River DVD is Day of Remembrance, Cynthia Gates Fujikawa’s short documentary highlighting comparisons between the Japanese American internment and the post-9/11 detentions of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans. |
I Love You, I Don't (Je t'aime moi non plus)
Description: Two men are driving a refuse truck to a dump site and stop for a hamburger. Krassky (Joe Dallesandro), one of the two, strikes an acquaintance with Johnny (Jane Birkin), the girl who works in the restaurant. They swiftly become lovers. However, Krassky is basically a homosexual, and must consummate their lovemaking in a slightly unusual way. His fellow truck-driver, Padovan (Hugues Quester), is also his lover. Padovan is intensely jealous, and attempts to kill Johnny. When Krassky fails to defend her, Johnny berates him, and he and Padovan resume their journey together.~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
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Matt Stokes is involved in an ongoing investigation into the history of a defunct rave organisation called Out House Promotions – four friends from in and around Windermere in the Lake District, who came together during the Acid House phenomenon of the late eighties.
Although Out House contributed to the early underground scene in the region, the group achieved notoriety after staging a series of raves in a cave, at a remote slate quarry near the village of Coniston. As word of mouth publicising and rumours about the 'Cave Raves' grew, they attracted increasing numbers people from across the UK. As a consequence, the local police became involved and raids made to seize equipment. Access to the quarry was blocked and as a last resort, the entrances to the caves were drilled for blasting (halted only due to a failure to apply for planning consent).
The organisational drain and the mounting pressure on Out House from the police to cease the parties eventually sealed their fate. Despite this, for a brief period the group successfully retained their position within the club and free festival circuit. Finally, disillusioned by the commercialisation of rave music, worn down by the excesses of the scene and after having further equipment confiscated the 'Cave Crew' disbanded in 1993.
Stokes is currently developing work in collaboration with the former members of Out House Promotions and people who attended or were affected by the Cave Raves. His work for ‘Space Between Us’ forms part of a broader project, using a collection of research material and artefacts, which will document the impact of rave culture on South Lakeland communities.
Minerva researched a number of projects which would feed into the Grizedale Arts touring show Roadshow, including the design of two stickers adapted from the ‘Del Monte’ food sticker and the British Farm Standards logo (the latter was adapted to read ‘Fool’). The stickers were intended for placing
on food products as part of an intervention in supermarkets nationally and internationally.
The Fool Sticker (which read ‘the little red tractor means very little’) was enlarged (approx. 2’) as a circular plaque and shown at Ambleside Flower Show (9, 10, 11 August 2002) and the exhibition One Monkey Don’t Stop the Show - part of the Grizedale Show (Sep 14 2002).
Minerva also developed an idea for the Grizedale Arts Christmas theatre event which stemmed her interest in multinationals and focuses on Coca-Cola and it’s involvement in supporting a number of dubious organisations, events and causes.
Minerva’s idea took the three polar bears that Coke used in their Christmas ad campaign and placed them at the centre of a drama. This idea was then put out to scriptwriters who worked up a script incorporating information provided by Minerva.
The resulting collaboration was Coke on the Rocks by Paul Francis – based on an idea by Minerva Cuevas.
Minerva also produced a poster for Roadshow, which was pasted up and given away at each venue.
Nathaniel developed a body of work that was exhibited at The Changing Room Gallery, Stirling 5 April - 24 May; The Turnpike Gallery, Leigh
14 June - 26 July; The Brewery Gallery, Kendal 3 - 31st August.
The show was called Prince Lightning and comprised of photographs, music and a sculptural installation.
Prince Lightning is a rap-star for the British countryside. He was conceived by Mellors during his residency and inspired by the discovery of a specialist collection of rare soul records in Cumbria.
Prince Lightning is a romantic phantom born of generic sources. He is an attempt to mutate the pop-cultural symbol of the black soul man into 3-dimensional being. He represents the desire for an alternative position to mainstream cultural influences. At the same time, because he is sourced from the limited iconography of the mainstream, he remains a flawed and tragic construction.
The 12-track album The Long Scratch Mellors produced is an original composition featuring rare soul samples and Mellors/Prince Lightning’s rapping and guitar-work. It plays inside a 30-foot long crucifix-shaped nest. The photographs demonstrate Prince Lightning at work on stage and in the woods. The images have a seductive but dislocated quality and alongside the music reflect upon Prince Lightning’s Frankenstein-like identity crisis.
The Long Scratch is a continuation of Mellors’ satirical work dealing with the processing of human interests through entertainment structures.
Mellors also developed a new 16mm film called Pod War which was screened for the first time at all Roadshow venues. Based on an abstract idea of an enemy & psychological warfare, the film was shot on location in Grizedale, incorporating local children form the Honeypot estate in Ulverston and actors. Mellors also produced the soundtrack for the film.
Paul researched a number of phenomena and organisations in the Lakes, from local psychics to the Beatrix Potter Museum. Paul developed a rock opera called Tony’s a Winner, based on a press cutting found in the Stan Laurel Museum in Ulverston which outlines how the man who used to do the voiceovers for the Generation Game went to America with Isla St. Clair & Larry Grayson and met and married Stan Laurel’s daughter. The resultant musical was performed by Paul and a group of others live at each Roadshow venue. Please see Events, Past Projects & Events 2003 for more information.
Roddy & Colin worked with local charcoal burners to create a raft made of charcoal, which was shown at their Milton Keynes show in 2002. They also made 24-Hour Heel Bar, which was shown at Lawless in 2002 and toured with Roadshow in 2003. Please see Events, Past Projects & Events 2003 for more information.
Simon & Nick responded to the local situation of post foot and mouth during their residency and proposed re-designing farmer’s cattle feeders. This proposal is still on the backburner due to difficulties in generating funding.
Tatsuo created The Grizedale Museum dedicated to local Grizedale people, which included objects, ephemera donated by them. The exhibition (still on display at Grizedale) includes vitrines with the personal objects in and text in Japanese and English with background information on the local individuals.
Tatsuo also produced the Pocket Museum at the Ambleside Flower Show in 2002, which involved engaging the public in exchanging whatever was in their pocket for one the objects on a series of plates.
During his residency Micz developed an interest in ‘The Blair Witch Project’, making associations with the environment and Grizedale Arts’ history and narratives within the film. The nearby village inspired the video ‘The Blawith Project’ - a re-reading of ‘The Blair Witch Project’ in the context of land art and his residency in Grizedale. Micz also developed Text To Speech Radio (TTS-FM) during his residency. TTS-FM is an on-line/on-air solution allowing delivery to talk radio across the poor connectivity to the local FM transmitter via a text-to-speech synthesis application. On the website, visitors could e-mail to [email protected], post messages directly or supply him with URLs from the web. In return he posted some diary entries to TTS-FM for the outside world to enjoy.
Any message posted to TTS-FM was converted into spoken word and stored as an MP3 file. Once a day, a local computer in Grizedale connected with the central server and retrieved the new texts. Once downloaded, the material was be converted into audio files and played as loops on the local FM transmitter.
Throughout Micz’s residency TTS-FM was used to plug the outside world into the airspace around Grizedale. Whatever the rest of the world believed Micz was missing out on whilst on residency, this was their way of delivering the world to his doorstep. All e-mails and postings were broadcasted on a local FM-transmitter. This way he had the opportunity to check his e-mail via radio, an exciting experience while walking the woods!
Amongst the contributors to Micz’s content rescue system were media theoreticians Geert Lovink, Adam Hyde, practitioners from various countries, such as Zjelko Blace from the Media Centre, Zagreb and Akos Maroy from Radio Tilos, Budapest, as well as a number of artists including Nick Crowe, Becky Shaw, Graham Parker and others. But many of the postings were anonymous or came from people he had not directly contacted. Altogether there were around 100 e-mails and contributions to the programme. Most important to Micz was the exchange he had with Matt Campbell, a blind programmer who has been very influential on the way he ‘saw’ the web and who has given him interesting thoughts on further ideas for the TTS-FM radio.
Some of the material Micz posted as diaries on the site were also used in a video production he developed for the ‘Lawless’ show at Grizedale Arts in the middle of September. Micz combined some of his entries with interviews he conducted in the visitor area. The video combined his account of a fairly long term residency, the adjustment for a New Media artist that comes with this environment and the statements from visitors, who he’d asked about their perception, understanding and expectations of art and nature in general and notions around the sculpture park in particular.
Micz became involved with the Tech_2 event, which came to Grizedale after a brief stay at Folly in Lancaster. In preparation for the Grizedale event of Tech_2, Micz went to Lancaster and took the opportunity to assemble a dedicated router for Grizedale as part of the Tech_2 programme “build your own media lab”. This machine was then taken back to Grizedale to be installed and set the frame for the Tech_2 event in early September.
As a result of the Tech_2 event he also created a more professional PC lab for Grizedale Arts’ artists in residence, in the studio along with a dedicated router, 10Mbit Ethernet network and HUB. He also installed a dedicated multimedia PC for video editing and provided a number of workshops and training sessions.
Micz also became involved with Tech_2, who were resident at Grizedale Arts from the 4th – 8th September 2002. Tech_2 was part of a Media Art Projects production, in 2002 with Folly (Lancaster), Grizedale Arts (Cumbria), and Redundant Technology Initiative Access Space (Sheffield). During their time at Grizedale Tech_2 investigated possibilities for wireless networks in and around Grizedale Forest.
Micz chaired a lively talk/discussion in conjunction with Tech_2, who engaged locals (predominantly non-arts based) in a thought provoking discussion about the use of digital technology and art, held in a local village hall. (Digital Technology – But Where Is The Art? Micz Flor and Tech_2 at Wateryeat Village Hall Thursday 5 September).
Micz also ran workshops for children – please see past education projects for details.
Wowhaus are a collaborative partnership who worked with Barrow council and the residents of the Hindpool estate in Barrow. The Hindpool Residents Association were consulted by Wowhaus on their desires and requirements for the plot of land that would become vacant once a number of houses were pulled down within the community. Wowhaus’ consultation process led to a number of visualisations with the community and engaged the large population of Hindpool in meetings and discussions which fed into the development of this space, encouraging a creative approach and connecting groups of the community who had not been in contact before.
Jorg developed a multimedia sound-based performance, which he presented at Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, Grizedale Live May 2002. The performance was based around language and generated through a computer, utilising text and graphics to produce a visual and audio feast.
Inksetter and Livingstone’s work was affected quite radically by their time at Grizedale - they capitalised on the landscape and environment to develop their practice outdoors, including engaging visitors and the local community.
Their research and experimentation resulted in a number of performance videos that they previewed during Grizedale Live (1-9 June) in the Forestry Commission Visitor Centre shop, Grizedale Arts’ shop, and the exhibition One Monkey Don’t Stop the Show in the Grizedale Arts gallery.
They also led a workshop with the Honeypot Youth Group – please see past education projects
FlatPack001 were commissioned to co-curate Roadshow, a Grizedale Arts Touring Show. They commissioned Henry V111’s Wives, Guy Bar-Amotz, Mark Titchner and the designer, Robert Johnston and developed and designed all the marketing materials with Mark Titchner.
FlatPack001 also designed and produced iDeath, the touring structure which provided the platform and hub for all the touring works, including cinema screen, re-configuring it for the exhibition in Dundee.
Mark Beasley also initiated the Vilma Gold project and was a contributing editor to the catalogue. Please see Events, Past Projects & Events 2003 for more details.
website design & build by theusefularts.org. |
Much as I love grindhouse cinema, I'll confess some of the themes--the rape-revenge and WIP sub-genres in particular--often leave me feeling soiled and soured on humanity, walking the streets adrift like a Tennessee Williams heroine, pining for dead ideals and sensing only brusque, licentious hostility all around. As an English major at Syracuse during the mid-to-late 1980s, I was caught up in a time of great liberal backlash/sexual hysteria--Satanic panic and the dawn of PC thuggery--wherein sensitive new age guys like me were conditioned to feel guilty for every impure thought. I've since been protective of women to the point where I forget to be aggressive; moves go un-busted for years and years.
That's why, perhaps, I've always long been in love with dangerous women, the type who kick ass, smoke, drink, dose, wear fur coats over nothing but jeans and a torn t-shirt, carry guns and laugh at the cosmic joke and can beat a frat boy to death with a champagne bottle all at the same time. Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted is my guru. Yes, I know, that's a pretty bad choice for a guru.
And yet, look at America; it's got some bad taste in gurus. I'm right with the times digging psycho bitches since the poster girl for the era is Sarah Palin. I love her tan and form-fitted bright red raincoat and MILF glasses, standing on a podium surrounded by crisp Alaskan snow; her hot breath steaming the microphone, spouting enough fear-inducing fascist rhetoric to make Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate wince. In that film Lansbury used her husband as the dummy while Palin is her own dummy and I dig that. Chicks be doin' it for themselves.
Of course if Palin became president I would leave the country, but I dig when girls rise up and use their sexual super powers for evil instead of good, and if they can't have their revenge on Seattle like Francis Farmer in that Nirvana song, then let them destroy all the side-burned swingers, angry lawyers, priests, parents, and homeless they can get their claws on! Hence my deep love for: Spider Baby, Don't Deliver Us From Evil, Faster Pussycat, Kill! KilL!, Vampyres, Mesa of Lost Women, Daughter of Darkness, and so on (if you know any others, do let me know).
Thank heaven, then, for little Girly. The film's treacly decor (lots of dolls and paneling) could have been too much to handle, but director Freddie Francis does the impossible and makes the whole dreary Brit tackiness thing seem actually cozy-- the real thing--instead of soap opera imitation. Girly possesses a sense of giddy feral freedom. There's a remote broken down castle in the Shire, some delusional family members and a hot young maniac, what's not to love, even as the axe comes roaring down? The insanity of the matriarchy resembles Grey Gardens at times, but it comes by it naturally: dolls, pre-empathic (latent) sadism, games like 'grocery store' and cowboys and Indians are all part of a devolution brought on by incest and trust funds. They have no father to initiate the children into the social order; it all comes down to lots of finger sucking, macabre nursery rhymes and chants, strange "rules" of the house, and the way, as it ever does, sex destroys everything.
A knock-out of the Sue Lyon as Lolita /Jill Banner as Virginia (aka Spider Baby) / Carrol Baker as Baby Doll / Darryl Hannah as California Mountain Snake in Kill Bill variety, Vanessa Howard captures the spirit of wicked evil as only young girlies can. Her eyes are alight with unholy mischief, and then -- later, the guilty pangs of blossoming womanhood--and all the drag that implies. And she's got lovely legs. They're always on display in mod skirts, including a beech-skin cowboy costume. Her straight blonde hair demarks a princesses and her simmering red schoolgirl uniform is like a pomegranate-squeezed hallucination against the perennial grey garden fog of the green, brown and stone English countryside. She bites into her character with such a cunning glee that you want to lick the juice off her chin.
Man, this film's got my number. I'm trying to less subjective here but when you write about a film you truly love, you can't help but be autobiographical. At least I can't. If I love a film I take it very personally. Love kills everything it touches, including objectivity. As Burt Lancaster said in Visconti's The Leopard: "Marriage is six months of fire and 40 years of ashes." If you ever were a swinger, you might use that line to justify a lifestyle that includes occasionally waking up from a two-day benders on a stranger's couch, snuggled against a snoring pit bull with a severed hand in its mouth, like a cigar. In the words of our celestial Desi: Wha happen?! I still don't know, but you've chosen the swinging path over that of the spouse and ungrey garden and that's your life, and you'll probably do it again. Such is our hero's lot in life, the male version of Looking for Mr. Goodbar.
Man, I'm off topic! Let me pull in some help from one of 60s-70s-era British cinema's best friends, Cinebeat's amazing Kimberly Lindbergs:
Before Freddie Francis started directing horror films he worked as a cinematographer on celebrated British dramas such as Room at the Top (1959) and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960). His unique talents helped give birth to the British New Wave and he was partially responsible for ushering in a new era of British cinema. Francis considered Girly to be one of his best films and I think it’s fascinating to view the movie as an extension of his previous work as a cinematographer. In some ways Girly could be seen as a seamless blend of Francis’ early beginnings as a member of the British New Wave combined with his bleak sense of humor and macabre sensibilities.Speaking of stingers, I dedicate this blog entry to my favorite new show: Investigative Discovery Channel's TV crime doc series, DEADLY WOMEN! And on that note, free Brenda Wiley!
And strange coincidence, almost all my own films have the same Venus Flyrtrap / Vagina Dentata theme, particularly QUEEN OF DIC/SKS. |
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Planned for release in 2008, “My Girlfriend is a Cyborg” has cast Ayase Haruka, who appeared in “Crying Out Love in the Center of the World,” to play an active, sassy girl and Koide Keisuke, who appeared in the drama “Nodame Cantabile,” to play a timid boy.
The fantasy romantic comedy evolves around a cyborg girl who comes back to the present from the future to help her boyfriend. Wire action and computer graphics will be used for vivid action scenes.
Kwak said that he cast Ayase because she is not only cheerful and tough but also pure and innocent. The Japanese actress is devoting herself to practicing playing a cyborg by watching the Hollywood film “Terminator.” She is also receiving training for the action scenes.
With an expected budget of 1 billion Japanese yen or 8 billion won, the movie began shooting on Jan. 17.
Another film in the Korean director’s “girl” series, “Windstruck,” drew the most viewers among Korean films released in Japan, with box office earnings of 2.7 billion yen when it was released in 2005. The other film “My Sassy Girl” also received a good response in Japan.
The film’s Japanese producer, Amuse, however, said Thursday that some people think the new film is a sequel to “My Sassy Girl” and “Windstruck” because Kwak is directing it, but it is actually a brand new picture that has nothing to do with the previous movies.
source: kbs grobal
Technorati tags : Nodame Cantabile /Kwak Jae-yong /Koide Keisuke /My Girlfriend is a Cyborg
/Korean director /korean movie /my sassy girl /Ayase Haruka
The Korean romantic comedy "200 Pound Beauty" starring actress Kim Ah-
jung entered the country's accumulated top ten box office hit list on its 42nd day of release.
Production agency KM Culture says 5.83 million moviegoers watched the movie since it opened on December 14th, moving it past the 2000 hit "Joint Security Area," which previously held the tenth ranking.
Showing on 250 screens nationwide with daily average ticket sales of 50,000, the film is expected to surpass the 6.12 million viewership of the ninth-ranked "My Boss, My Hero" by Saturday.
With a break-even point of 2.3 million, 200 Pounds Beauty has already earned profits of 15 billion won. Excluding investors' stake, the production company will get five billion of the 15 billion. The original soundtrack released online also raked in some two billion won for close to a handsome four billion total earnings for KM Culture.
source: kbs grobal
Technorati tags : Korean romantic comedy /200 Pound Beauty /korean film
Monday, January 22, 2007
Korean Actor Ha Jung-woo left for the U.S. to attend the Sundance Film Festival, which kicked off in Park City, Utah on Saturday. His movie Never Forever has been nominated in the festivals American Competition section.
Ha attended the red carpet event and the premiere of the movie on Sunday. On Monday, he gave a press conference along with director Kim Gina and costars Vera Fierberg and David Mclnnis.
Going to the Sundance Film Festival is what I have dreamed of as an actor. I am thrilled and nervous to see my dream come true, the actor said. I will do my best to promote the Korean film overseas.
Co-produced by Koreas Now Film and the U.S.Vox3 Films, the producer of films such as Secretary and Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, Never Forever deals with a bold and clandestine love affair set in New York.
Since the festival has established itself as the most important film festival discovering new films and directors, the nomination of his film can serve as a stepping stone for Ha to expand his activities to Hollywood.
source: kbs grobal
Technorati tags : korean actor /Ha Jung woo /Sundance Film Festival /korean film
Saturday, January 20, 2007
But a lesser known fact about Cha is that he has formal credentials as a singer. Previously, he released two music albums, and got a couple of songs climbing high on the local music chart for a while.
The unexpected problem for Cha is that no one takes him seriously when he sings; a far from pleasant development for the talented actor.
However, hope is at hand with a turning point looming. In "Highway Star (Bokmyeon dalho)," to be released on Feb. 15, Cha does not have to worry about the unintended and unwanted blending of his comic image and serious singing talent. His primary role here is to sing as comically as possible - and this is not a joke.
The movie, co-directed by Kim Sang-chan and Kim Hyeon-soo, pushes Cha to a throat-vibrating terrain of melodramatic Korean popular songs - a genre known here as "trot" that is quite similar in melody and words to Japanese melodramatic enka songs. Cha plays Dal-ho, a seemingly clueless rock star wannabe in a rural area. One day, a recording company head (played by Im Chae-moo) sees potential in this young man and encourages him to take a chance by becoming a trot singer.
Technorati tags : Cha Tae-hyun /korean actor /Korean popular songs /korean movie /korean film /Korean Wave star
“My Father” is the feature debut of director Hwang Dong-hyeuk, who attracted plaudits at home and abroad with his short film “Miracle Mile” starring Karl Yune. Kim Young-chol plays Henney’s father.
Technorati tags : Daniel Henney, korean actor ,My Father
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Technorati tags : Daniel Henney /My Father /korean movie /korean film
Monday, January 15, 2007
A young man is sentenced to death for his role in the murder of three people. Meanwhile, encouraged by a nun, a former pop star starts to visit him in jail, and gradually becomes close to him.
Cast : Kang Dong Won (1 % of Anything, Too Beautiful to Lie, Temptation of the Wolves, Magic, Duelist)
Lee Na Young (Ruler of Your Own World, Who Are You, Please Teach Me English, Ireland, Someone Special).
Director : Song Hae Sung (Rikidozan, Failan).
Yu-jeong, a suicidal young woman, is introduced to a man on death row named Yun-soo by her aunt, Sister Monica. Raised by an abusive father, Yun-soo has led a hard life. It got even harder when he was left in an orphanage with his younger brother after his father"s suicide and his mother"s abandonment. Growing up in the gutter, he became involved in a violent crime, for which he was convicted of three counts of murder. Yu-jeong, on the other hand, comes from a rich family. However, her childhood was marred by traumatic neglect, which has led to her self-destructive impulses. These two wounded souls slowly open their hearts and find the motivation to live on in each other"s compassion. Yu-jeong realizes how spoiled her life has been compared to Yun-soo"s, and embraces his guilt that would otherwise never be forgiven
Technorati tags : Kang Dong Won /Lee Na Young /Our Happy Time /Maundy Thursday /korean movie/ korean film
Saturday, January 13, 2007
The movie’s release in France is attributable to great local interest in Lim and writer Hwang Seok-young, on whose same-titled novel the film is based. The Korean director has achieved such recognition that he will personally direct the French version of his previous film “A Good Lawyer’s Wife,” while the Korean writer, who is now staying in France, has seen six of his works including “The Old Garden” translated into French, all receiving a good response.
First shown at the San Sebastian International Film Festival held in Spain in September, the movie has been invited to the World Cinema Section of the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It will be released in Korea on Jan 4.
source: kbs global
Hyun-woo steps out of prison after a 17-year sentence for his anti-government activities. During his long imprisonment, everything has changed even his fellow anti-government protesters have become mundane. His mother then tells him of the death of Yoon-hee, who harbored and loved him right before he was caught 17 years ago. To cherish memories with her, Hyun-woo goes back to the place where the two had spent a few months together like a couple of honeymooners. Reading through Yoon-hee’s diaries and letters, Hyun-woo discovers that she was the only one who remained loyal to him to the end. Because of her faith and love, the despair and loneliness that Hyun-woo felt after his imprisonment is slowly healed. He also discovers that Yoon-hee left him another gift behind – their daughter.
International Film Festivals
2006 Donostia San Sebastian Int'l Film Festival, Official Selection
Technorati tags : The Old Garden /Korean writer /Lim Sang soo /korean movie /korean film
Friday, January 12, 2007
Director: Kim Tai-sik
South Korea / color / 92 minutes
film by Korean director Kim Tai-shik will be screened next week at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the U.S.
"Driving with My Wife's Lover" is a comedy about a man eager to punish his wife and her paramour.
The low-budget work is enjoying rave reviews abroad and is also scheduled to be shown at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, one of Europe's "big five" movie festivals. There it will be screened in the Cinema of the Future category dedicated to feature-length films by up-and-coming moviemakers.Arirang News
read more information :http://unofficiallysundance.com/films/show/283
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
The Japanese press reported Wednesday that “The Host” ranked third in the foreign film category of the 80th Kinema Junbo Best 10 2006.
On the top of the list was director Clint Eastwood’s “The Flags of Our Fathers,” followed by “Letters from Iwo Jima,” also by the same director. Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” came in fourth and Bennett Miller’s “Capote” fifth.
It is a noticeable achievement that the Korean film beat Hollywood blockbusters.
The best Japanese movie was “Hula Girl” directed by Korean-Japanese director Lee Sang-il. The award ceremony will be held at the Ashahi Hall in Tokyo on Feb. 10.
Domestic film agency Vision Link Global (Pres. Lee In-hyeong) said Tuesday that South Korea, China, the U.S. and France will invest 50 billion won to produce a movie temporarily titled "Melanie's Violin" for simulataneous global release around October next year.
The movie is about a renowned Jewish violinist who flees to Shanghai to escape the fascist massacres at home. There, the musician, with a Chinsese pupil, brings people faith, hope and freedom through his music.
Vision Link, who will plan and produce the film, recently signed a joint production deal with a Chinese corporation.
The vice president of France's Studio Canal also signed the contract in Seoul late last year, while final negotiations will soon take place with U.S. counterparts.
Melanie's Violin is a human epic based on a Chinese novel with the same title, and has been dubbed "an Asian version of 'Schindler's List.'"
Vision Link says that while Korean movies have focused on projects with Asian partners, the partipication of the U.S. and France makes the upcoming film a global project.
The yet undecided director and cast may likely be top Hollywood names. The filming crew will also comprise staff members who worked on films like "Schindler's List" and "The Pianist."
Korean American musican Ji Park will take on the task of developing the movie's soundtrack. His earlier works include Kim Ki-deok's films "Samaria" and "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring."
A Vision Link official says the project, currently in a free production stage, will cost a record 50 billion won. For secure financing, the total production cost will be raised prior to filming by introducing the Hollywood system in which the film's copyright is sold in advance worldwide.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Topping the female chart were actresses Song Hye-gyo and Kim Tae-hee who tied with just over 20 percent. 156 people evenly voted for the two women. Other names included Lee Young-ae and Ha Ji-won.
In the male category, no.1 was the heartthrob singer/actor Rain, garnering 24 percent or 189 votes. Trailing behind were names like Jang Dong-gun, Lee Jun-ki and Bae Yong-joon . Arirang News
source :chosun ilbo
Technorati tags : Rain /Song Hye-gyo /Jang Dong-gun /Lee Jun-ki /Bae Yong-joon
Japan's major production and talent agency Amuse will fund the movie while hiring an all-Japanese cast and crew. Other than the production costs of over US$8 million, details have yet to be released.
Kwak already boasts high name recognition in Japan as both his romantic comedy "My Sassy Girl" and melodrama "The Classic" received good feedback there.Arirang News
source :chosun ilbo
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Starring Im Su-jung ,Hwang Jung-min Release Date 2007
Synopsis :Young-soo has enjoyed his life in Seoul before he finds himself suffering from cirrhosis. Losing any desire to live, he decides to leave the city and go to a sanatorium in the countryside. He meets a girl, Eun-hee who is also suffering from a critical disease. They start to live together. But one day, his old girlfriend appears in front of him, asking him to return to the life they once had before. He leaves Eun-hee to live with his old girlfriend. As time passes, he misses Eun-hee, and goes down to the house they used to live together. But he finds the empty house and Eun-hee who is waiting for her last moment in the sanatorium.
Source: mediaplex.co.kr popcornfor2.com
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
In an interview with the Associate Press, the movie's producer Terence Chang said they conveyed the offer to the Korean actor. 'Battle' is Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo's latest motion picture.
Chow Yun-Fat is set to play the role of Liu Bei and Tony Leung Chiu Wai will play Zhuge Liang.
Chang said they are discussing the matter with Jeong but nothing is decided as Jeong hasn't read the script yet.
Chang did not elaborate on Jeong's role while he denied reports that "Last Samurai" star Ken Watanabe was also cast.
The Battle of Red Cliff is one of the highlights from the Chinese classic novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Filming will start early March.
source: kbs grobal |
This Minute at Runco
Posted by Jennifer Blasen
My boyfriend Curtis and I used two Regal Cinema movie passes we receive from family every Christmas to view Sherlock Holmes last Saturday evening. Holmes took us on an adventure of mystery, action, and suspense to find the truth, save the world from evil and reignite the legend of detective Holmes – the Nancy Drew of the 1800’s.
Robert Downey Jr as Dr. Sherlock Holmes is extreme, neurotic, and entertained by performing sleep-inducing experiments on his dog (the dog-lover in me was not amused). Holmes battles fiercely in the first scene and later fights in a bare-knuckle boxing match in London. Between detective work and battle scenes, the film carefully develops the ‘bromance’ between Holmes and his loyal partner Dr. Watson played by Jude Law. Holmes is afraid of losing Watson, even to a woman, and disapproves of his engagement. Their bond is obvious but not overdone or fake.
I was curious to see how Rachel McAdams would portray a woman in the 1800 Victorian era, as her recent roles have been lighter in films such as: Wedding Crashers, The Family Stone, and my favorite romantic book turned film The Notebook. In the film McAdams plays Holmes love interest, Irene Adler. Although we don’t fully understand the history between Holmes and Adler we understand the connection between them and Holmes unyielding willingness to save McAdams from the villain Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). I expected a step-up acting opportunity for McAdams, but was a disappointed by her appearances. Perhaps it wasn’t entirely her fault- there was a huge lack of lines and plot given to the Irene Adler character altogether.
I would recommend adding Sherlock Holmes to your BluRay collection for its spectacular images of developing London such as a gravel road to Big Ben and the construction of London Bridge. The Runco QuantumColor Q-750i will enhance and enrich black tones in night scenes (there are several in the film- watch the movie trailer to see a few). By the end of the film, like all good mysteries, each clue is realized and the pieces of the puzzle come together with the help of the fearless sleuth, Sherlock Holmes.
~Jennifer is a Linfield College Wildcat and has enjoyed her work with Runco for the past 3 years. In her spare time she enjoys running, golfing, working in the garden, and trying new things in the kitchen.
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Posted by Jennifer Davis
I took the kids to see this movie today (let’s just say that with all the holiday excitement and sugar consumption, we really needed to get out of the house) and they enjoyed it.
The story gist is different than you might remember the story. In this rendition, the kiss doesn’t turn the frog back into a prince; it turns the girl (who wasn’t a “real” princess) into a frog. This sends this workaholic waitress and a selfish, penniless prince immediately off on an adventure involving voodoo, soul-searching, a delusional fire fly, a wanna-be jazz musician alligator, and more.If you have any princesses in your home, as I do, they’ll love the story.
Like all the Disney flicks before it, Princess and the Frog is a great movie to watch on a Runco flat panel at home (where you are likely to watch the Blu-Ray or DVD over-and-over-and-over again). The Runco LCD line, the Crystal Series™, featuring OPAL™ technology will allow the dark shadows of Doctor Facilier or the Bayou at night to strike the right kind of fear, while maintaining the brightness of the firefly parade and the fairly-tale mansion architecture of the Garden District of New Orleans – even in a bright family room environment in your home.
If you have a light-controlled basement theater or playroom, your family will love to watch it on a Runco plasma display, from the CinemaWall™ or PlasmaWall™ series, which has really rich blacks which will help illuminate the dark corners of Charlotte’s room or Mama Odie’s tree house boat (I know it sounds strange, but that is what it is).As an emissive display technology will make the lights of the French Quarter during the Mardi Gras parade sparkle!
Special props to Anika Noni Rose who voiced the main character, Tiana and did an awesome job.Bruno Campos, who you may recognize from bit parts on a lot of the most popular television shows, gives voice to the only Disney prince besides the Beast to ever have a story line of his own. And, who can forget Oprah Winfrey as Tiana’s mother Eudora.
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Posted December 27, 2009 by Pippa Edelen
To jumpstart getting in the holiday spirit, my hubby and I dropped $31 at our local multiplex to check out the IMAX 3D Disney remake of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, starting Jim Carrey. Having played Mrs. Cratchit in Hallinan Elementary’s riveting showcase of A Christmas Carol in 5th grade, I was familiar with the story and had both read Dickens’ original and seen a range of versions, being particularly inclined to the version featuring Scrooge McDuck. Given the various iterations I felt fairly well prepared for what to expect in terms of the undead and blatant lesson of “do unto others;” however, I substantially underestimated how frightening this tale can be. As someone who startles easily, and hates to be startled, my neighbors in the theater were tickled the first time I screamed, rather loud, when something popped out of the screen accompanied by 30,000 watts of sound. They were understandably less charmed the third time I did this. And the fourth. And the fifth. The story holds nothing back in terms of death, ghosts, the afterlife and should come with a precursor this interpretation can be flat-out freaky. I cannot tell you how many kids I saw hiding or crying as they left the theater, so take note that this is definitely a movie only appropriate for audiences with double-digit ages. For the younger Christmas movie enthusiasts, I highly recommend the aforementioned tale featuring animated relatives of Donald Duck.
My previous exposure to big-screen 3D started with Jaws 3 in the 1983 and, most recently, the hastily-added 14 minutes to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. As someone who is prone to vertigo and miserably suffered through Beowolf with only my sour Skittles as comfort, I was delighted with the realism and execution of A Christmas Carol and give an enthusiastic thumbs-up to the incredible advancement in the 3D technology and application. Particularly impressive are the scenes where Scrooge and various ghosts are flying over London and the details and texture in the otherwise ordinary, everyday things, like the wrought-iron fence and the characters’ skin. The animation still lacks a small detail of realism, particularly in the characters’ eyes, which fail to sparkle and light in a way that simulates lifelike. But the people are so well animated that you can, upon being introduced to new characters, guess the actor voicing them instantly, particularly Colin Firth as Scrooge’s nephew who plays a well-wishing opposite to his cold uncle. You’ll find yourself trying to guess each actor as we meet new guests and ghosts.
My favorite scene in A Christmas Carol, which does a particularly good convincing job using 3D to suspend disbelief, shows Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present watching a Christmas party through the floor of Scrooge’s vast London manse. I was impressed by the visually-stunning semi-opaque wood that is blends to be both the floor of the mansion and the ceiling of the party. Watch for the grains of wood disappearing into nothing and for the pressure caused by Scrooge’s hands on the ceiling. Its small details and effects like this that make this picture particularly enchanting and rather whimsical, spookfest-aside. At the end of this scene, Scrooge looks up at the ghost and, if shown the image as a still frame, in 3D, next to a photograph of the character, I would have been hard pressed to guess the animation from the actor. The talent is simply terribly impressive and represents a true advancement because instead of merely forcing a illness-inducing gimmick into an otherwise enjoyable movie, A Christmas Carol and the storytelling is instead enhanced by 3D.
The story is timeless, but the application of the latest 3D animation technology, as well as the affect from really talented actors, including my personal favorite, Gary Oldman, make for a stunning holiday movie that may be the first movie I’ve seen that’s worth the $15.50 for admission.
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This Saturday is not going to be the same. For Telugu cinema lovers, there are some important releases scheduled today and let us see the list. They are Nikhil and Colors Swathi starring 'swamy rara,' Varun Sandesh, Hasika's 'Priyathama Neevachata Kusalama,' Dhanush Priyamani's 'Rowdy Rudrayya' and one more small budget film 'Masti.'
Obviously the major attention will be on 'swamy rara' directed by debutant Sudheer Varma and storu being based on crime-comedy. There are positive reports flowing in film circles on this movie. 'PNK' will also be interesting because director Trinadhara Nakkina has earlier delivered a meaningful movie 'Mem Vayasuku Vachcham.' Let us wish all the best to all of them, |
Posts tagged Steven Niles
Recent Battle Skirmishes
I’m a little behind on putting together some thoughts on recent industry discussion on Jack Kirby, and the situation with Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich. The latter has prompted a few changes on this site that have taken some time to put together. Before we get into all that, here’s a little recap of recent events.
A fresh round of community angst seems to have started with creator James Strum calling to boycott Marvel over their mishandling of the Jack Kirby legacy, following in the footsteps of the Steven Bissette call for a similar boycott last summer. We’ve posted about it here and here on this site. Talk about the Kirby legacy saturates the comics web community. As happened with the Bissette controversy, discussions in fandom forums on the Strum boycott quickly degenerated into arguments over the effectiveness of such a measure and whether Jack Kirby even created the characters that comics history gives him credit for. It’s an interesting and all too familiar phenomenon that turns fandom forums into a battleground between publisher supporters and those of creators. A revelry of aggression, confusion, disinformation, distortion and conflict that has nearly paralyzed such calls to action and halted what could have been a more effective display from comics fandom in support of such campaigns.
Then news broke of the judgement on the Gary Friedrich litigation against Marvel for the character Ghost Rider. Daniel Best has posted some reports which can be seen here, that have spread across the comics net and also to some mainstream media. The litigation started around the same time as the release of the first Ghost Rider film Marvel licensed in 2007, starring Nicholas Cage. It ends now on the eve of release of the second film, which looks very much to be a box-office success and one of the popular film events for 2012.
The familiar battleground fodder in the Kirby campaigns managed to overpower debate in this case also, at least if measured by talk at Bleeding Cool forums and The Beat comments, which together seem reliable enough as a compass for the general mood in fandom on these issues. In a counter-suit against Friedrich, Marvel had also won a judgement for payment of $17,000 from Gary in compensation for his profits from selling Ghost Rider covers, posters, art and paraphernalia for the last couple of decades since not having any income from writing comic books.
Part of the discussion is about Marvel’s counter-suit and victory against Friedrich, which is feared to have ramifications and become a serious challenge to creators who even sell sketches of copyrighted characters through their web sites or at conventions – even though it’s been assumed, by unspoken waiver, to be a legitimate means of raising supplemental income for artists. Heidi MacDonald elaborates in this post, which also explains why there’s a considerable amount of back-stage talk that Marvel had no choice given how Gary conducted the case. Marvel seems to be saying this will have no ramifications on other artists. Ty Templeton seems to tow the company line with an “ouch” critique of Friedrich’s case in this cartoon. Steven Bissette disagrees with Ty and the judgement against Friedrich in this Facebook Note.
Tom Spurgeon raises the ante in this reverberation, which is worth reading between the lines…and words.
Steven Niles, bless his soul, rose to action with a PayPal donation account to help Gary, who has been ill, financially devastated from the trial costs, and is apparently in danger of losing the home he and his family own. The call has been picked up and supported in much larger numbers than what the general mood in fandom hinted at. Neal Adams posted a statement to the comics community urging everyone to pitch in and help give Gary a little financial breathing space. Just to remember that Gary Friedrich is the primary co-creator of a character starring in one of this season’s expected blockbuster superhero movies. The film opened this weekend and looks to be a pretty good production at this stage, on its way to a healthy profit margin.
The campaign to raise funds for Gary Friedrich, given the verdict and judgement against him, seems paramount for the writer’s well-being and that of his family. Anyone who can donate original art or other items for auction is urged to contact Neal Adams. Paypal donations at Steven Niles site. Please consider helping out.
With that behind us, let’s all sit up for a moment and get a little uncomfortable.
The Lies We Live With
We, the community of fans, journalists and creators, concerned about this and similar issues, have inadvertently become paralyzed by our own reluctance to use tools available to us in order to help improve the conditions we all operate under in the comics industry. We are playing by the rules of the enemy, namely DC and Marvel, who, like most other profit driven corporate entities, have taken advantage of a runaway, renegade and mostly hostile-to-the-common-people world economy, and have brought the comics industry to a state of near demise in order to maximize profits outside of comics publishing, utilizing the properties they get from creators, which they control.
We will remain at near paralysis until we are able to break the unspoken taboo that assumes us beholden to DC and Marvel as industry leaders and foundation stones, whom we are reluctant to confront effectively, on the deeper issues that affect the medium and everyone contributing to it.
The Big Lies
If there was any doubt that DC and Marvel are intentionally keeping the comics publishing business on a death bed for everyone else as well, last summer’s New 52 reboot from DC seems to dispel any remaining confusion. The reboot was preceded with the self-serving trumpet sounds of DC putting comic books back on the map. They said this re-writing the DC Universe would open the market for new readers. They promised to utilize mainstream media, television and cinema advertising to make it popular for everyone to be seen with comic books again. They said it was the dawn of a new day for the comics.
Six months into the hoax and the DC bubble seems to have burst with as little fanfare as being able to claim a slightly larger market share than Marvel for the initial months of the reboot. No new reader base and no serious publicity campaign for the comic books. To make things worse, the hoax was accompanied by a digital sales initiative that’s diverted attention away from the plight of printed comics books and has been followed suit by most every other publisher, cementing a feeling that the printed books are now on notice of termination. That entire hoopla last summer, all that noise and public relations pretension, has effectively died out without improving, not in the very least, nor promising to improve, anything in the business of comics publishing for the common good of the market.
Like everything else DC and Marvel do, they do it for a public relations buzz which only helps their other-than-comics merchandise. That’s all they need to do, really.
The Bigger Lies
DC and Marvel don’t need nor want the business of publishing comics to grow and flourish. Because if it did, then there would be many more Siegel/Shuster/Kirby/Friedrich cases dragging them to spend exorbitant funds to defend their absolute control of the properties and absolute corporate greed. They rather prefer to spend immense resources on lawyers battling creators instead of just being a little more fair with the artists and writers who’ve been the content backbone of the companies, without whom there would be no comics industry.
A perpetually dying medium, especially one that continues to produce raw material for exploitation in other arenas, is the best way to keep getting the raw material at the lowest possible cost. No one will ask for more from a publishing industry hanging by a thread.
Armed with this grim reality, DC and Marvel, owned and managed by the most powerful media conglomerates in the world, can posture themselves as doing “what they need to do” by virtually raping the destitute creators who helped build their expansive property base. And they do it with a brazen enough face that we, the comics community, are left to bicker among ourselves as to the merits of one particular circumstance, while ignoring the larger dilemma that publishers are driving the industry into, effectively paralyzing any action that could put a little more pressure on them to do the right thing for the collective good of the comics industry.
The War Imposed Upon Us
In our near paralysis to help improve the general state of affairs, comics industry activists are not entirely impotent, as evident in the overwhelming grass-roots support to help disadvantaged creators when a need rises. We live with the situation because we are basically at war, even though we are reluctant to acknowledge it. We are at war not only against DC and Marvel, but the entire world population is at war with an economy whose heads have altogether shed any semblance of collective responsibility. We are at war against a prevailing attitude that the strong among humanity have no collective responsibility for the general welfare. At war with the notion that the strong hold the upper legal prerogative to rape and plunder every good portion of this world that their hands can reach.
We are at war but we are not yet training to be soldiers. We’ve settled for being as paramedics who tend to our wounded – but we have few soldiers on the front lines. These few who are fighting the good fight are operating in a near vacuum without the needed full support of populist systems such as the voice of fandom and the comics press behind them…who all tend to agree that something’s wrong and needs to change. But we are not yet fighting the war that’s been waged upon us, which we need to do in order to help bring a change.
I’ve long held that the way we live our lives is itself the training ground for the wars imposed upon us in our journey through this world. I also understand the notion that taking a defensive measure in offence to wars imposed upon us, by itself defines us as warriors also. I’m alright with that, though I understand that a lot of voices in the periphery disagree with the need for such a definition.
Within this outlook on life, I’ve been somewhat of a gypsy soldier in training myself, moving around the comics web community where I’ve been able to try to add something to the talk that stimulates towards seeing the larger picture we’re contending with. The Web Activism section at my Wikipedia biography highlights some of these activities that have been covered in the comics press.
As such that the entire world is our training ground, I’ve not concentrated much on a focal discussion forum for these activities at this site. A previous attempt to start something like that here was apparently too early and suffered a natural fadeout. It may still be too early or entirely unsustainable for such an environment here. But like I hinted at the head of the article, it seems that an imperative move is needed at this juncture. And so, even in suffering a potential fail, I’ve started somewhat of a discussion forum training ground for myself and anyone interested in participating.
Announcing FUSION Fourms
FUSION Forums is a registration-free think tank, at this stage.
Its goal is to take a step beyond discussion, into the realm of web activism on behalf of the common people within the comics industry and beyond.
Its hope is to establish a sort of task force of activists who will slowly saturate the comics web community with the need to take a stand and apply a little more public pressure on the “strong forces” who are waging the war against us.
It may take some time to come together, or it may not do so altogether.
But we will at least have tried to fight back.
If you see the war coming, join us and help prepare yourself and others.
An excellent new publication from Richard Evans and Co. Warlock #1 opens with an article by Steve Niles and continues with an impressive collection of comics previews, full stories and articles, including the Open Letter to DC & Marvel from the Comics that launched the campaign, appearing on page 11. Best of fortune to this very fine piece of work.
I know you’re trying to help but the sounds I’m hearing at the bottom aren’t being helped by it. There is a momentum that can be seized right now and the comics press is missing it by ignoring these voices because they also don’t want to point blame.
The dynamics of the situation are that change will only come if the big players feel the people have had enough. I am entirely convinced that only good will come of this and it can’t harm the industry any more than it’s hurting now. The reason it’s hurting is because the big players don’t feel accountable to the comic book market anymore.
I’m honestly sorry that we’re in this position. I think creators have to stand together. All of us. That’s why we never were able to affect a change when we had a chance in the 70′s. Everyone was looking out for themselves and couldn’t take a chance for improving things for everyone collectively.
DC, Marvel and Diamond will lose nothing by this. In their blind irresponsibility, they have much to gain by being slapped in the face right now and considering a change of policy.
The people have the real power over corporate policy. It’s not the other way around, as it appears now. The people can save this ship, not the conglomerates. We have to allow their voice to be heard.
You are a great achiever who’s made it by your own strength and prowess. Nothing I say takes away from the great push forward you’ve given the medium and the inspiration you are to others. But you also represents something by writing about what creators need to do. In a situation where their voice is being suppressed by the comics press and some of the creator community, that voice has to find an outlet past these roadblocks.
I am convinced that you’re in a position be more direct and vocal without it compromising your standing in the industry. Just the opposite, publishers have shown more respect for many creators speaking out. Who would have believed DC would take back Frank Miller for DK2 and Batman & Robin after everything he said about them on the tails of DKR?
I love with all my being what you are doing and the responsibility you feel on your shoulders. It’s from this point that I say the things I do.
- From talk on Facebook
UPDATE: This is Steve Niles’ response to this post. I’ve placed it on top because I believe it’s more important than what I’ve written. Thank you, sir.
Sorry, I don’t see where choosing sides gets us. As I’ve said if I take sides against corporate comics, then I’d just be a hypocrite. Sorry to drive you crazy, but I’m not going to go off the rails just to please people. We have to be smart, slow and steady. If I had a bigger flag to wave, I would. Right now, the entire ship is going down and I don’t want to spend my last gasps of air pointing blame. Again, sorry I’m driving you crazy.
Or…Why is Steve Niles Trying to Drive me Crazy?
It’s not a secret that I’ve been nominated several times as contender for the crackpot comics creators club, competing with the likes of Steve Ditko, Dave Sim, Neal Adams, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Frank Miller.
But is this a good reason for Steve Niles to try to drive me completely over the edge with his comments on the creator revolution? You’re a good man, Steven. A visionary and skilled writer who is certainly deserving of having been dubbed the king of modern horror, or the writer who’s brought the fright genre back into public appeal. Which lays all the more responsibility on your shoulder when your commentary on the creator revolution is lifted into an embracing but sometimes fluffy comics media as spearheading the movement. It was your first article that ultimately overshadowed Eric Powell’s video and its after effects are what caused him to remove it. That is a very big responsibility that you bear, good sir.
What’s driving me nuts is that I’m not sure what side you’re on anymore, Steve. Are you with the creator revolution or are you maybe a double agent for publishers and distributors who are doing everything they can so the revolution fails? That’s the question driving me nearly crazy right now, which I’d like you to also ask of yourself and maybe feel a taste of the lunacy I’m talking about.
Ever since your comment in your first article: “First off, this is in no way an anti-Marvel or anti-DC thing. Those are great publishers to work for if you can find the work.” I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about this sentence that’s trying to drive me to the funny farm. But after reading your most recent entry, I’m almost convinced you want to do me in without even the benefit of a fair therapy session.
You see, Steve, I know that most people who think they’re sane agree with you about the greatness of Marvel and DC. I know it takes a real loony to pierce into the truth and realize that there’s nothing great about them – and that they are only made to appear great by the greatness of the great creators who endowed them with the false notion of their being great. Jack Kirby was great. Stan Lee is great (I know I switched the order but I’m just trying to bring back some balance into what greatness is about). Gene Colan is great. Dave Cockrum was great. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were great. Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Arnold Drake, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Denny O’Neil, Roy Thomas, Walter Simonson… all these creators and many more too countless to mention, are great people who don’t need DC and Marvel to be great. They are great because of the greatness within them. DC and Marvel have no such greatness within them, that is not bestowed upon them by these great creators.
And when you spearhead a creator revolution, you have a big responsibility to properly represent the greatness of your brothers the creators – and not pass it on undeservedly to the publishers as if anything they do is great, or as if they are even great to work for. Working for DC and Marvel is better than being run over by the train of economic oppression, but it’s not great, Steve. Not by a long shot.
But what’s really got me batty today is the statement in your last entry:
The one sticking point for me is that direct digital distribution can potentially cut publishers, retailers and even Diamond out of the revenue flow. This is good news for creators, but not good for those folks, so I’m on the fence.
Somebody help me pull all my hair out please, because I can’t believe you’re saying this Steve. Are you paying attention to what you’re writing at all? Don’t you understand that DC, Marvel and Diamond have made millions and billions of dollars on the backs of creators, only to shut them out in the cold and end their lives destitute because these publishers and distributors are operating with the stone heart of thieves and liars as they drive the comics business into the ashes of extinction so they don’t have to be fair with the creators who make them look great? Don’t you understand this, Steve?
Don’t you know that by your attitude of “…good news for the creators, but…” you’re gonna get me committed to an even bigger hall of insanity than the one everybody tried to put me in before? Is this what you want, Steve? I don’t think I know anymore. Maybe that’s what you’re really trying to do.
And the bottom line is that if the creators benefit a little and publishers and distributors might have their enormous revenue flow affected by it, then this causes you to sit on the fence.
I never heard about a revolutionary such as you, Steve. I don’t think there’s a revolutionary in the world who sits on the fence. Revolutionaries know exactly what they’re fighting for. They know exactly where their heart is. Revolutionaries don’t sit on the fence.
I just don’t know what to say anymore, really. And the worst part is that the weakest part of your position is the one lifted up by the comics media as if it really represents what your brothers the creators are fighting for. As if it is any type of reflection of the voices coming from the comics community who have had it up to the wazoo with publishers and distributors (I’m leaving the retailers out of it because they’re victims themselves) who have callously trampled every good lot in the comics industry. The mainstream comics media has sadly lost touch with its audience, Steve. Your spearheading the revolution with comments like these, is a good example of what’s really thwarting it.
I have an idea. Why don’t you come down from your fence and take a walk with me into the loony bins of comics history. Let’s take a walk into the funny farms of great people who’ve made these publishers look great – and let’s see what shape they’re really in beneath all the flowery words you write about the revolution.
It’s alright. We can always come back. I’ve done it a few times and they’ve been the greatest lessons that I’ve learned about this industry.
Let’s try to get off of fence and decide, once and for all, what side our hearts really belong on.
It seems the creator revolution, as dubbed by Heidi MacDonald, is taking a mid-semester break.
It is expected actually because how many really engaging ideas can Indie creators come up with for dodging comics shops and DC/Marvel’s dominance of publishing? Adding to this venue is the stifling notion that most news sites don’t seem interested in the subject as they load their web pages with more and more fluffy and fun news about the colorful projects and creators making headlines.
But I’m of the mind that we have to take ourselves more seriously sometimes, like a lot of us did in school – and that everything doesn’t only have to be fun and fluffy. In school we had to take things seriously if we wanted good grades. And I don’t think it’s serious to talk about a creator revolution when we’re in denial about what we’re revolting against.
By default, a revolution means an overthrow of an undesirable regime. So, patting ourselves on the back as if we’re conducting a revolution when we’re acting more like scaredy teenagers seems silly at best. We have to get our hands dirty to start rebuilding our fallen house of comics.
This is my virtual class on the creator revolution, and for lack of anyone else stepping up, I’m going to be the teacher who grades everyone. Until I see an initiative better than the petition cited at the head of this page, everyone’s grades will be relative to their position on it. No offense really intended to any of the students. If you want a better grade, study the situation with a little more depth to understand why we need to promote and sign the petition. Or you can make your own virtual class and grade it as you like.
Here we go with the class report card.
Eric Powell: (A+) – Well done Eric for getting the ball rolling with your poignant and hilarious video. The serious message that followed the first… ahem, act… is one of the more inspiring observations the class has seen. Unfortunate that your fellow students couldn’t bear your message and compelled you to remove the video. But it did its job in opening the dialogue and for that you are commended.
Steven Niles: (C+) – That you are an extremely talented writer may not be enough for a good grade in the class of the creator revolution. Your well received article in response to Eric’s video fed the fears of your fellow students and discouraged their courage. What do you mean by “First off, this is in no way an anti-Marvel or anti-DC thing. Those are great publishers to work for if you can find the work.”?? This is a revolution class! Not for smoochy goochy with DC and Marvel. Let’s do some more homework, sir.
Kurt Busiek: (C+) – You’re also an amazingly talented writer with a lot of credits in comics, but the revolution needs more than good comic books right now. It needs the courage to stare into the eyes of the undesirable way the business is being strangled, dominated and neglected by DC and Marvel who seek greener pastures outside of comics. Your challenging the teacher’s comments as if to say that the big 2 are working in good faith for the good of the industry, is an extreme case of denial – not the river in Egypt. It is not the best way to get a good grade in the revolution against an oppressive regime holding down the comics. A little more consideration of human nature, my good fellow, could help improve the grade in the next semester.
Mike Dubisch: (A+) – You’re a brilliant artist and creator with a heart of gold and courage of a tiger, who drew me into the class with a call to hear me out, after challenging Steven for his kid gloves treatment of DC and Marvel. The revolution needs you Mike, right up there in the top ranks of leadership.
Tom Spurgeon: (A+) – You’re a light to your fellow class members. The clever way you fed the fire of revolt is nothing less than brilliant. But the articulate speech you delivered to explain what we’re up against will become a lesson for generations to come.
Rik Offenberger: (A+) – You were not only a trailblazer for the comics on the internet, but are now also trailblazing the way for the creators with your excellent interview. With it, you’ve paved the way for the dialogue that needs to now be nurtured amongst the creators, reporters and fandom.
Heidi MacDonald: (B-) – You know I think you’re one of the more promising students, and you are the one who led the charge in spreading the word about the revolution. But because you take sides in the debate and effectively influence discussion on it, you’ll get a less than excellent grade right now. Chin-up though, a word or two about the petition, which is a viable and reportable story, will go a long way towards taking you to the top of the class… where you really belong.
Rich Johnston: (B-) – You’re also one of the more promising students. And though you haven’t led a charge for the revolution, you did help out with a runaround in the beginning. But it’ll be imperative for you also to fulfill your destiny as a reporter and tell your readers about the petition. There will be no way around that… unless you come up with a better incentive for public pressure on DC and Marvel. Which I don’t put past you at all. Either way the grade will improve in accordance with next semester efforts.
Daniel Best: (A+) – You, my friend, are a front line power in the war against publishers who’ve driven the comics into the mud. There isn’t a better researcher who’s mindful of the injustices of the industry to its creators.
Jon B. Cooke: (A+) – Though your contribution will only be known in the upcoming issue of The Jack Kirby Collector, your signing the petition openly is a brave statement by one of the more revered comics historians in the industry.
Comicon Pulse: (A) – Just for being a good fighter and helping pass the word around. You built a great vehicle and community and are destined to do very big things things with them.
J. Caleb Mozzocco: (B+)Your nice words on the open letter are only rivaled by the awesome comment on the beard. You deserve a better grade but your blog has no contact info in order to send you updates. What kind of an outfit are you people running at Blog@Newsarama anyway? Shouldn’t you have an accessible link for sending in stories? Let’s get it together guys and plug the petition already.
Fandom: (AAA+) – A special grade for all the special things that you, the fans, do to help spread the word on the petition and campaign…and who are the lion’s share of signatories. You are the grassroots voice of the people that will guide the comics into victory. It’s only a matter of time that more creators begin to discover the faith and trust you place in them…and begin to reach for the role of leadership that you know to be their destiny.
Recent rumblings around the comics creator community regarding the state of the comics medium are gaining momentum. On our side, the Open Letter to DC & Marvel from The Comics has been mentioned at three of the high profile industry sites:
I sometimes talk to my comic books, but apparently some of the comic books are talking through Michael Netzer.
- Rich Johnston’s Bleeding Cool Friday Runaround also carried a quote and link to the Open Letter. Scroll down. The revolution is happening indeed.
You probably knew Michael Netzer was an incredible artist and an incredible beard haver, but did you also know he could channel the voices of comic books?
More extensive coverage of the last few days was delivered twice by Heidi MacDonald @ The Beat, where she highlights Steven Niles first post on supporting creator owned projects, followed by Eric Powell’s video with CREATORS FRONT FOR DIVERSITY IN COMICS. Heidi’s second item on grassroots creators rumblings pretty much agrees with the assessment of DC and Marvel in our open letter. She’s much more diplomatic, however, but her insight encourages a thought on the role of journalism at such a critical juncture that I hope to publish here soon. |
A journey that I want to share:
Hello and thank you for your visit to the Beetle schools’ page, please can you just watch my video before reading this presentation, images always tell more than words when it's about cinema.
When I was 21 years old, I went to the desert for the first time of my life. I was the presenter of a music festival in the Moroccan desert, and this was a great opportunity for me to hear a mysterious and a magical music; it was the blues of the desert, coming from the north of Mali. I was so attracted and I wanted to know more about the people who make such beautiful music, and about where they come from.
Six months later, I went to the north of Mali, and I discovered the Tuareg to be an amazing ethnic minority. The Tuareg are nomadic people, who live in the desert between Mali, Algeria, and Niger. I went there three times since that first encounter, every year, I worked hard during my school year to be able to go again and to meet those fantastic people, and to learn about their lifestyle and he deep meaning of life as they understand it.
Unfortunately, this community suffered from three wars and three genocides since 1960. And, now, when you are reading this page, they are suffering from a new war. My film is not about war and genocides, but my purpose is to share with you the same human experience that I had during my travels, it's a film about life, about hope, about human value, and about love.
What my film is about:
The film is a school year we are going to spend with Dicko "the main character in the video abobe", Children and their families. We are going to follow them in an observational style.
This nomadic school thrives in a refugee camp where most of the refugees are Tuareg, nomadic people who moved from the north of Mali to escape the ongoing war. The school is initiated by Dicko, 37 years old illiterate man and a former rebel who try to reaffirm the Tuaregs’ culture and identity despite the ravage of war.
The school year is going to be interrupted several times due to different reasons: lack of money, materials, political instability… Dicko always struggles to keep the school alive. And if he succeeds, it doesn’t mean that all children will continue their education. They are nomadic children, and it’s a big deal to keep them around the school. Also by the end of this special year, the oldest children should leave the camp, and go to the city to continue studying. If it’s not the case, this project will just be useless.
I'm a filmmaker of 25 years old, I'm Moroccan, and I have just finished my studies. I have two degree: I graduated first from the High Institute of Drama as an actress and a director. Then I got the Diploma of High School of Visual Arts of Marrakech as cinematographer. I have been working in this project since 2009. The images you see above are from a shooting I made in 2011 by myself, with my own resource and material. I went to the north of Mali 3 times trying to make my film, but alone I couldn’t, this is why I'm seeking your generous contributions.
Why I want make this film now, and how your contributions could help me?
I really need to realize this film now that the war is going on, in this current situation; because this film is for peace, for the development and the education, and against war and genocides. I have been working years and years on this project, and finally because of the current situation some TV channels and producers are interested to provide financing for my documentary, but they need to see more images, especially of children as characters and of the school itself. Your contribution will help me to make this additional images, that can allow to me to have access to documentary funds and may be, if I can have enough money, make the film, why not? I'm invited to Sheffield Festival in June this year to present my project, and I don't want lose this chance to get the production for my film, and this is why it's too important to make my promo video before June.
The money you are going to give is for:
Rent a camera and a sound material.
Pay the travel cost and accommodation.
Pay the sound recorder, the translator...
Help the children in the school (furniture, clothes, food... And their families if possible)
Pay a hard drive and the cost to edit the material.
If I can’t collect all the money I am asking for, I'll be obliged to work with a cheap camera (a 7D that I can have for free), and try to make savings on my travel and accommodation expenses. Furthermore, I will be forced to make the shooting shorter. But I'll 100% use it for this project, as you can see, I already filmed with my own money, I worked hard when I was student to make it, so be sure that your money will be in good hands and for the best use possible. Of course, if I can get more money, I will spend it in the location, working and filming, until I finish the shooting. This film depends on your contribution, I can really make it true with your help.
Just trust in me, with your contribution, you are going to help me to tell a beautiful story:
To tell to people that despite of war, of genocides, of a whole situation, we can still build and make life around us. This is a philosophy of live that I learnt thanks to my travels to the North of Mali to get to know the Tuareg nomadic minority, and this is something I want to share with everybody. Also, this is my way to help my friends in a situation of war. Dicko is a very close friend of mine, making this film, would helpe his project and his community. If you help this project, be sure that you will give a smile to a beautiful nomadic child.
Even if I'm a young filmmaker, be sure that I can make this film, because I want it, I need it, as a cinematographer, I can convince you that I'm a good one please watch this short film that I made last year:
This me using the camera, and I'm going to be the cinematographer of this documentary.
Be sure that you are going to give your money to a talented, courageous and ambitious young women and filmmaker.
Please, share my project with those who can be interested.
Thank you very much. |
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (Academy) and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) are pleased to announce their two major beauty sponsors – Lancôme and L’Oréal Professionnel – for the first ever Canadian Screen Awards’ 2-Hour Live Broadcast Gala Sunday March 3, 2013 @ 8pm (8:30 N.T) on CBC.
"The Academy is very excited about our two major beauty sponsors. Lancôme and L’Oréal Professionnel are a dream come true,” says Helga Stephenson, Academy CEO. “Lancôme is Canada’s leading luxury beauty brand and L’Oréal Professionnel is the number one professional hair care brand used amongst the top hairdressers in Canada," she adds.
"We are thrilled to have L’Oréal Canada, a leader in style and innovation, as a partner for the inaugural broadcast of the Canadian Screen Awards on CBC," said Alan Dark, General Manager, CBC Revenue Group.
“In collaborating with the Canadian Screen Awards, L’Oréal Professionnel, the Parisian House of Hairdressing, is honored to support and help showcase Canadian talent from coast to coast. We are and always will be committed to applaud beauty in all its forms. Creativity and artisanal excellence are a common ground both our industries share” said Doriane Dalati, Vice-President, General Manager, Professional Prestige Brands.
“Lancôme is proud to support the Canadian Screen Awards. This partnership goes hand in hand with the brand’s natural passion for arts and beauty, as well as its mission to promote excellence across Canada”, said Stuart Leitch, General Manager Lancôme Canada.
With this partnership, CBC will develop three features that will air during the broadcast (March 3), designed to showcase Lancôme and L’Oréal Professionnel talent and beauty expertise. The brands will also provide hair and makeup for presenters and CBC's on-air talent. L’Oréal Canada's integration with the awards’ show aims to drive deeper engagement of viewers with selected brands. |
Japan, 1985, 162 Minute Running Time
Additional Countries: France
Genre/Subjects: Action/Adventure, Family Issues, Foreign, War
Language: Japanese English Sub-Titles
Special Hi-Def Digital Presentation - For his 27th film, Akira Kurosawa transposes Shakespeare’s KING LEAR to feudal Japan. RAN is the tragic tale of Lord Hidetora, a warlord who decides to divide his empire among his three sons on the eve of his 70th birthday. With its magnificent costumes, breathtaking settings, and amazingly photographed battle sequences, the film is truly stunning. An epic on the grandest of scales, RAN is not only one of Kurosawa’s finest films, it is a glorious masterpiece of Japanese cinema.
Ran received four Oscar nominations, including Best Director, Cinematography, and Art Direction, with Emi Wada winning for her dazzling, three-years-in-the-making costumes.
DIRECTOR: Akira Kurosawa
US Distributor: Rialto Pictures
Official Film Website |
News & Features - Movies
“We do not have a motto per se,” explains Terry Lai, honorary chairman of Intercontinental Group Holding Limited (IGH), “but our philosophy has always been to be excellent within our moral and legal guidelines, and to always align our needs and wants with those we serve, whether it be the film producer or the movie viewer.” More »
Wang Changtian, president of China’s largest and fastest-growing private media entertainment company, Enlight Media, will be honored with the CineAsia Production & Filmmaker Award on Dec. 12 at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. More »
New York City’s outer borough of Brooklyn continues to grow more “in,” thanks to a new and wholly unique media space for storytelling creation in our digital and technologically evolving era. More »
Stephen Frears’ best and most successful movies have gotten him thisclose to the Best Director Oscar—The Queen in 2006 and The Grifters in 1991—and these are indicative of the two different worlds in which he functions: the fact and the fiction. More »
“It’s a World War II story we’ve never seen before,” says writer-producer Grant Heslov about The Monuments Men, the Feb. 7 Columbia Pictures release directed by George Clooney, his longtime filmmaking partner. More »
Italian filmmakers over the years have depicted Rome in many ways, from tragic (Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 Rome: Open City) to a city gone euphoric (Matt Tyrnauer’s dazzling 2008 Valentino: The Last Emperor doc). More »
Even by industry standards, Nebraska has had a long gestation period. More »
The god of thunder is off to a booming start, with Disney and Marvel Studios' Thor: The Dark World surpassing pre-release tracking and breaking $100 million overseas in its first four days—and it's yet to be released in China, Japan and Italy. More »
Percival’s quest: ‘The Book Thief’ adapts best-seller about orphan girl in Nazi Germany who finds solace in reading
At the end of Markus Zusak’s young-adult novel The Book Thief, the story’s narrator, Death, wry, urbane and sporting a transparent cynicism in lieu of a black cloak, leaves his audience with a few parting words. More »
Twenty years ago, an Austin, Texas high school run by Richard Linklater in Dazed and Confused turned out a class of future stars that included Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Cole Hauser, Milla Jovovich, Adam Goldberg, Renée Zellweger, Anthony Rapp and, lest we forget in the role of a hunky hick, a 23-year-old Matthew McConaughey. More »
Lionsgate executive VP of distribution operations Mike Polydoros, who has had feet in both exhibition and distribution, now steps up at ShowEast as recipient of the 2013 Al Shapiro Distinguished Service Award. More »
ShowEast’s Salah M. Hassanein Humanitarian Award this year goes to Kyle Davies, president of worldwide distribution at Relativity Media. More »
Journey of a country priest: Malgoska Szumowska explores a Polish cleric’s struggle with 'In the Name of'
"Oh, it was easy!" So says Malgoska Szumowska about getting funding for her film In the Name of, the Film Movement release debuting on Oct. 30. More »
What is it about film festivals, whether giants like Cannes or Toronto or the more manageable, always dependable smaller boutique operations like the just-ended Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF), that keeps them immune to the changes other entertainment and media sectors experience? More »
The 2013 holiday lineup brings both fantasy and action heroes (Katniss Everdeen, Thor, Bilbo Baggins, Jack Ryan) and real-life exemplars of courage (Nelson Mandela, the Monuments Men). And then there are the would-be heroes like Walter Mitty and Ron Burgundy. In all, the movies promise to “stay classy” this season. More »
Portrait of a struggling, stubborn folksinger in 1961 New York is a Coen Brothers triumph, and one of the year’s best films. More »
» Blue Sheets
FJI's guide to upcoming movie releases, including films in production and development. Check back weekly for the latest additions.
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A man of many worlds, Robert Gardner is a descendent of Boston aristocrat Isabella Stewart Gardner (as in the Museum), the founder (and funder) of Harvard’s Film Study Center, and mainly the globetrotting ethno-aesthete of American cinema—a filmmaker whose documentaries have been hailed by the avant-garde's godfather Stan Brakhage and anthropology's grand dame Margaret Meade.
Shot in the highlands of New Guinea, Dead Birds, the 1964 feature that established Gardner’s reputation—and opens his week-long Film Forum retro on Friday, with the filmmaker on hand—is an amazingly bleak and undeniably beautiful vision of human existence made in the course of an expedition whose other members included novelist Peter Matthiessen and the later-to-vanish Michael Rockefeller. Dead Bird’s sense of downbeat, almost psychotic otherness, if not quite that of a culture predicated on endless feuds and vengeance murder, was recapitulated a decade later in Rivers of Sand (1974), a contemplation of spousal abuse and survival skills among the Hamar tribes people of drought prone southwestern Ethiopia.
As visceral as Dead Birds and Rivers of Sand are, Gardner came into his own as a visionary with the exquisitely shot Deep Hearts (1980), a shamelessly expressionistic documentary of the annual political convention cum beauty contest held by the Bororo herdsmen of the upper Niger. (By Gardner’s request it was first shown at Film Forum with Peter Kubelka’s avant-garde Unsere Afrikereise.) The Bororo have an idea of themselves as “an exclusive and beautiful people.” Using a wide-angle lens and super slow motion, Gardner makes his subjects even more exotic than they are—at the very least, it’s impossible to draw a line between his aestheticism and theirs.
Even headier are Gardner’s two Indian films. The fiercely lyrical Sons of Shiva (1985) records an elaborate four-day ritual that temporarily effaces caste differences among the hash zonked Shiva-worshippers of West Bengal. Its fauvist color schemes are exceeded only by the hues of Gardner’s 1986 masterpiece Forest of Bliss, a portrait of the gaudy Ganges-side necropolis Benares that includes an astonishing catalogue of images: carrion-seeking dogs, flaming orange garlands, toothless healers and hawkers of sacred fire. Is it authentically Indian? Who knows?
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Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's Romance Dramas Continue
Both in real life and on screen, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart's romantic dramas are set to continue after reports that they have been asked to star in a movie about cheating come to light, as well as rumours that R-Pattz told Kristen that she's on probation until Valentines Day.
As Entertainmentwise reports, it'll be a case of "art imitates life" if the pair choose to take up the offer of starring in The Sandpiper remake, which originally starred Hollywood heavyweights, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. "[Rob] recognises there's a certain screen magic when he and Kristen are together. Besides, there's less chance she'll get in trouble again", an insider told the website. Of course, the majority of those who have seen the terrible Twilight movies and aren't between the ages of 12 and 19, see that there really isn't any magic on screen at all.
Nevertheless, with a high profile couple like that, people would flock to the cinema to catch them in a narrative that's about cheating. Particularly given Kristen's adulterous antics last summer when she had a brief affair with the Snowwhite and the Huntsman's married director, Rupert Sanders.
In related news, a source told Now magazine that Kristen's still on probation after that act. Despite all good advice and good sense Pattinson took Kristen back, but they said: "Rob's planning to skip most of the upcoming awards parties and spend January focusing on his relationship. He's set a Valentine's Day deadline to decide whether he's in it for the long run... So there could be a proposal on the cards - or a decision to end it." |
The vast majority of imported Asian films are unambiguously feel-good, middle-class, semi-Westernized Miramaximations, while an occasional few are critic-acclaimed art-house big dogs. Subway Cinema's annual Anthology series fills in the potholes, spigoting out otherwise unscreened mainstream comedies, infernal exploitation, and delusionary genre hybrids. Although Hollywood rip-offs are common, it's their bughouse particularities that make these movies both beautiful and impossible to sell to a sociocentric America.
The Japanese movies on the docket are dominated by the shaggy-dead-dog presence of Takashi Miike, whose concurrent Anthology mini-retro includes his butcher-block musical The Happiness of the Katakuris.The fest features his new Graveyard of Honor, but what may dent the stateside forebrain most deeply is Ichi the Killer(2001). Miike at his most bubble-card Sadean, Ichi is an all but nonsensical duel of bloodletting between a suicidally masochistic hit man and a homicidal masked avenger. The torture-garden set pieces are as brie-ish as the emotional thrust. In a sense, this is what the Woo-Tsui Sino-noirs have mutated into; there's no mistaking the sexual subtext rising like intestinal steam out of the twisted characters' plaintive need for each other's pain.
Gunplay is universal, but then there's Fumihiko Masuri's Ping Pong(2002), which fleshes out a rah-rah Karate Kid scenario around the world's fastest sporttoo fast to film, it seems, without digital assistanceand Masato Harada's Bounce Ko Gals (1997). Forgoing formula hyperbole, Harada's chaotic odyssey follows a gaggle of harried teenage hookerswho stun-gun suckers, turn tricks in their school uniforms, and peddle their soiled underwearthrough a single, nasty night of Tokyo man-baiting. Harada likes to shoot his characters from a distance, as they navigate crowds, and the upshot is queasily convincing.
The most distinctive of the HK films on view, Lam Wah-chuen's rough indie Runaway Pistol (2002), plays Madame de . . .with a WWII surplus revolver that gets passed from one hyperventilating criminal to the next, itself narrating to us along the way its dismal take on humankind. Dastardly ironies proliferate as the ubiquitous TV news vomits preposterous tragedy and doom. The gun itself admits that, thanks to a habit of misfiring, it has never actually killed anyone. People kill people after all.
Wholesale bullet-spray also preoccupies Ram Gopal Varma's Company (2002), an Indian mobster epic whose sweaty shoot-outs outnumber musical numbers four to one (but the songs rock), and Yuthlert Sippapak's Killer Tattoo(2001), the sole Thai film on display and a jujube-colored, Bangkok-in-2011 splooge that also thieves the old Tsui Hark syntax of hysterical crossfire and architectural vertigo. The Taiwanese entry, Chen Kuo-fu's Double Vision(2002), is a brooding riff on Seven, with FBI guy David Morse and Taipei nihilist Tony Leung Ka-fai morosely inspecting the corpse path left by a serial killer who doesn't seem to be quite humana notion that, in this Taiwan, gets straight-faced consideration.
Unsurprisingly, the Korean movies, with their infectious visual sophistication, faith in mundane behavior, and lust for absurdity, rule. Even Ahn Byung Ki's The Phone (2002), a shameless replay of Ringthis time, it's a haunted cell-phone numberis crafted with a cool, uncanny knack for goose pimples, and a knotted plot that involves the discomfiting psycho-possession of a five-year-old girl. Likewise, you could slam Jang Sun Woo's Resurrection of the Little Match Girl (2002) as a Matrix leech, but it's closer to a tommy-gun reprise of Tron, in which a nebbish gets lost inside a video game (complete with intermittent menus) and eventually wins by initiating Armageddon. The action is already fast, cheap, and out of control (with Jin Xing, a famous Chinese transsexual, as an acrobatic, disco-dancing hit woman) when a virus hits the game, turning the titular heroine into a psychopathic mass murderer.
Ready for an Adam Sandler buy-up like so many Korean comedies, Jang Hang Jun's Break Out(2002) may be too frenzied and too witty for Hollywood, pitting an archetypal sad sack against a hapless gangster on a rocketing train full of trouble, all for the sake of a disposable lighter. But the fest's best films inhabit that odd Korean nexus between contemplative art film and blood-boiling pulp. Im Jong Jae's My Beautiful Days(2002) is a superb portrait of lostness, a demi-Graduate that dallies with rom-com conventions but instead opts for a heartbreaking void. Slyer if not wiser, Park Chan Wook's epic Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) follows the horribly falling dominoes nudged over by a young deaf-mute metal worker who, seeking only to obtain a donor kidney for his dying sister, decides to kidnap a preschooler. It's composed and shot with a diamond-cutter's eye and fisherman's patience, and may be some kind of sad masterpiece.
What can one say about Park Jin Pyo's Too Young to Die(2002)? A gentle, meta-film in which an elderly couple play themselvesfucking, arguing, fucking, singing, fucking, massaging, fucking some more. The fuel here is intimacy and loyalty, not lust, and for that this mini-movie is a leveling counter-charge to pop culture's cartoonization of sex. Scout's honor: Seniors with dates will be admitted free.
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- 'Batman: Arkham Origins, Joker' (3D)
& 26 new images by jocz !!!
- 'Exploartions for the Bane thug elites' (2D)
& 19 new images by Manuhell !!!
- 'FireFighter drone concept' (3D)
& 3 new images by zxcman !!!
- 'Mecha ape (final)' (3D)
& 4 new images by wolfreim !!!
- 'IRON KNIGHT -åéééª-my game' (2D)
& 5 new images by MrPink77 !!!
- Illustrated #30 Poll- Dante's Inferno
Image by Jose Arias
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Fox Render FarmOne of the Leading Online Render Farm
05-18-2012, 07:57 AM
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While I slowly simmer in procrastination to write a new tutorial I’ve decided to make another graphic illustration roundup, this time from the DC universe and another summer blockbuster for 2011 (Please don’t let it be a disappointment). “The Green Lantern” is scheduled to be released on June 17, 2011 in 3D.
In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan. – wikipedia
Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan the first human “Green Lantern” and “Thaal Sinestro” will be played by Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes) at the directors chair sits Martin Campbell (Casino Royale).
In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light! – Green Lantern Oath
All comic-togists know there’s been quite a few human Green Lanterns in the DC Universe timeline but the most famous of them all aside from he’s really my favorite is Hal Jordan. Dude, it’s like asking who’s the best James Bond, Sean Connery or the other guys. I tried my best to make this roundup as Hal Jordan-ish as possible, but there’s just too many kick-ass graphics out there that I can’t help myself but include them here. Not to mention that the maestro Alex Ross is much into the Golden Age of the DC Universe. So it doesn’t matter if it’s Hal Jordan or Alan Scott, even Guy Gardner or John Stewart at the most you may find some Kyle Rayner in the mix but look past into the character background and you will still have the “Green Lantern”.
For me Alex Ross can make any comic book super hero come alive with depth. His style of painting, his attention to detail and the way his characters are always staring off into some far away place is uncanny.
A kick-ass fan art painted in Photoshop Essentials
Michael Myers illustrations was first featured here @prodigalconcepts in LOST – Michael Myers (the animated series) awhile back. Some of his work are grungy vintage art deco minimals like this “Green Lantern” poster.
I’m guilty of self promotion here, I got inspired during my search of graphic materials for this article and decided to include it.
A scanned sketch rendered in Illustrator and colored in Photoshop.
Created in Zbrush, Cinema 4D, PsCS4 and a few hours later, tadaaa, even comes with a tutorial it’s in Spanish though so better ready that trusty Google translate.
A commissioned art deco poster of the Green Lantern corps, I’m really loving this minimalistic stuff.
Another collaboration giving new life to an already awesome line art.
Simply hand drawn oldschool with a brush pen, white colored pencil, and Copic markers on 8.5 X 11 textured cardstock.
What pure unadulterated talent can do with a sketch pad, markers, white ink and correction pen.
Pencils -n-inks done in Manga Studio colored in CS4.
A cool attempt on a teaser poster, pretty early on after the announcement I suppose. The year’s a bit off but the result is brilliant.
More minimals, I don’t think I will get enough of this wonderful pieces of art. They’re so simple, just lines flat colors but still comes out with a power punch.
And another one, two in a row, this one done in a stained effect to give it more of a vintage feel.
I don’t feel Hal Jordan here, maybe it’s the hair style but the sketch and colored markers work for me.
A Photoshop 7 creation, brings a lot of memories.
Another marker masterpiece from Cinar.
It’s still me, this time with mask and lantern logo, a bit self indulgent I suppose because I even included my sites URL, my bad. I hope you guys appreciate it though.
I love how the eyes and the chest insignia seems to be glowing.
“Green Lantern 41″ alternate cover penciled by Eddy Barrows, colored by Bakanekonei.
It’s like hearing sweet music, Cinar’s work is unmistakably his, a commission piece. Done with markers and correction pen.
Official “Green Lantern” movie freebie desktop wallpaper from their website, just click the image to grab yours.
I think this is the last minimal for this set, admire it one more time, the lines, the flat colors, the textures, ahhh this must be love.
by Alex Ross
No need for an intro, this is Alex Ross country. Not exclusively Hal Jordan or “Green Lantern” for that matter, in fact I think it’s way better. Featuring the Green Lantern with other members of the Justice League making their appearance together. Grab em while you can. |
GRIT AND WHIMSY IV: THE BEST OF RECENT BELGIAN CINEMA
Screening & Belgian Beer Reception!
Presented by the Consulate General of Belgium in Los Angeles, in cooperation with Flanders Image and Wallonie Bruxelles Images, and with the support of BevMo!
Belgian beer reception following the screening.
Aero Theatre • Wed, Aug 21, 2013 • 7:30pm |
29/07/2011 | by Tom Copsey
We’re still waiting on the twel2ve trailer to drop (apparently it’s due later this month), but the guys over at Absinthe Films just announced their European Movie Tour stops. Go watch it on big screen, it’ll be worth it!
Snowboard moviemakers Absinthe Films are hitting the road with their new feature film twel2ve. The now legendary 21-city European premiere tour is back again. This rolling, pre-season shred party kicks off September 6 in Absinthe’s home base of Zurich, Switzerland and hits a new city every night for nearly a month! From a tour van bursting with the films’ featured pros and the whole Absinthe entourage, this premiere tour brings the very best in shred action to big screens and hungry riders across the continent.
Featuring a dirty dozen of snowboarding’s most progressive pros riding in epic backcountry, powder and urban environments, twel2ve takes Absinthe’s code of “full- spectrum snowboarding” one step further. In addition to twel2ve, the tour will also screen the new short film YES. it’s a movie from the YES. snowboards crew. And that’s not all: Premiere-goers can enter to win an exclusive 2-week snowboard/ski camp session in Canada worth € 4000! With stops in London, Milan, Barcelona, Prague, Munich and beyond, this tour is shaping up to be the best one yet. Don’t miss it.
For full tour infos, schedule, and maps, click here
European tour sponsors
Bench, Saas-Fee, hOme, ESL – language studies abroad, Anon, Dakine, YES.
Absinthe Films European premiere tour 2011
Sep/06/2011 Zurich (Switzerland) – Kino Corso
Sep/07/2011 Bern (Switzerland) – Kino Bubenberg
Sep/08/2011 Lausanne (Switzerland) – D!Club
Sep/09/2011 Lyon (France) – Cinéma Gaumont Pathé
Sep/10/2011 Barcelona (Spain) – Cinema Malda
Sep/11/2011 Milano (Italia) – Cinema Anteo
Sep/13/2011 Chur (Switzerland) – Kino Apollo
Sep/14/2011 Innsbruck (Austria) – Kino Metropol
Sep/15/2011 Munich (Germany) – Kino Sendlinger Tor
Sep/16/2011 Wien (Austria) – Gartenbaukino
Sep/17/2011 Prague (Czech Republic) – Venue Music Club
Sep/19/2011 Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) – Kino Harmonie
Sep/20/2011 Stuttgart (Germany) – CinemaxX Liederhalle
Sep/21/2011 St. Gallen (Switzerland) – Kino Corso
Sep/26/2011 London (England) – Prince Charles Cinema
Sep/27/2011 Antwerpen (Belgium) – Fakkelteater
Sep/28/2011 Den Haag (Netherlands) – Filmhuis
Sep/29/2011 Hamburg (Germany) – Zeise Kino
Sep/30/2011 Köln (Germany) – Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld
Oct/01/2011 Dresden (Deutschland) – Rundkino
Oct/08/2011 Saas-Fee (Switzerland) – Popcorn
Bode Merrill, Gigi Rüf, Dan Brisse, Nicolas Müller, Sylvain Bourbousson, Wolfgang Nyvelt, Romain DeMarchi, JP Solberg, Annie Boulanger, Lucas Debari, Johnnie Paxson, Mat Schaer
Canada (BC), USA (SLC, Jackson Hole, Mt.Baker, Alaska), Sweden, Turkey, Russia, Japan |
Mary A. Waters
June 3 – September 12, 2010
Born in 1957 in London. Works and lives in Galway (Ireland) and Utrecht (Netherlands).
Mary A. Waters grew up in Ireland, where the access to the masterpieces of the museums and to the rich illustrated books of the libraries was very difficult.
Fascinated by the Italian Renaissance art and the Dutch and British Golden Age art, she had to satisfy her curiosity with the reproductions, often in black and white, she could find on catalogues. This indirect contact with artworks deeply impressed her reflexion, and the use of reproductions is at the core of her artistic approach.
For Mary A. Waters, the symbolic value of an original (economic and historic values) as well as the context in which we observe it, influence our sensing, whereas a reproduction allowing both the contact and the necessary distance, gives us the opportunity to experiment fully these masterpieces.
Thus, in her artist's statement, Mary A. Waters acts as an image-hunter : on her canvases she reclaims characters from the most famous portraits of the History of Art that she combines with a contemporary touch. The meticulous treatment of the old elements contrasts with a free use of colors and loans from photographic and cinematographic techniques : close-up, studio cinema screen size canvases, monochrome backgrounds as the ones of a photographer’s studio.
These ostentatious figures, who display the attributes of their power and wealth, are shown in an inappropriated surrounding which annihilates the message of superiority that these images used to carry. Playing on fake anachronisms, the artist invites us to reconsider the way we
apprehend artworks, especially the emblematic images from the Western European culture.
Through these skilfully elaborated images, presented out of context and time, the artist initiates us into feeling above all the timelessness and the power of Painting.
For the first show of Mary A. Waters in France, Galerie Pièce Unique presents at 4, rue Jacques Callot a new painting of the artist, realized especially for the space, and at 26, rue Mazarine at Pièce Unique Variations, a selection of her paintings. |
History and adventure lie just beyond the islands’ famous beaches.
The Aloha State is the obvious choice for an escape to sunny shorelines, but don’t rule out sightseeing by mule or a helicopter ride over its color-filled landscape. Molokai and Oahu pack a lot of nature-packed punch for clients, with lots of local and international history thrown in for good measure.
Just 20 minutes by air from Oahu, Molokai is inarguably one of the world’s most spectacular islands, kept pristine and untouched—you’ll find no high-rises or public transportation here, but plenty of 4WDs instead (clients will want to rent a car to get around). A recent visitor described the rich, mystic forests of Molokai as “something out of ‘Avatar’—sometimes it almost feels as if you’re in a cloud.” Its beaches are said to have some of the softest sand ever touched by man. It’s an unpolished jewel often overlooked by those who love to be in close contact with nature.
Kalaupapa National Historical Park is the gem of Molokai, offering limited accessibility by hiking, mule tour or by small airplane. Because much of the park is unavailable to visitors, many of its species are blessedly protected, including the Hawaiian monk seal. More often than not, visitors take in the park’s natural sights on a hike or mule ride with Kalaupapa Mule Tour. Trained mules take visitors down the Molokai Sea Cliffs, the world’s tallest, and along some of this hemisphere’s most dramatic vistas. The entire trek down is approximately 2.9 miles and descends 1,700 ft., past remote areas and hundreds of plant species.
Once you reach Kalaupapa at sea level, Damien Tours takes over. You’ll learn about Father Damien’s efforts to care for Hansen’s disease victims, who were once banished to this part of Molokai, and his canonization just a couple of years ago. Keep in mind that Damien Tours, working with Kalaupapa Mule Tour, gets entry permits for those who book with them, as visitors are not allowed into the park without prearranged permits from the State Department of Health. A full-day mule and park tour includes lunch and entry permits and is priced at $199; a hiking tour is $69. There are also flight-inclusive options for travelers who need to get to Kalaupapa from Honolulu.
There aren’t many accommodation options on the island, but the most popular seems to be the oceanfront Aqua Hotel Molokai from Aqua Resorts, with Polynesian-inspired bungalows, a freshwater pool and spa facilities. The hotel is just a 5-minute drive from the central town of Kaunakakai, with rates starting at $159 per night. Or, book four nights with Apple Vacations and get the fifth night free; call for rates.
Aqua also has agent FAM rates at its hotels on different islands through 2011 with a 3-night minimum stay. A gardenview room at the Molokai property is $99 per night. Make sure you take your IATA card (call the number at the end of the story or [email protected] to book).
Clients who’re heading to Molokai next month might want to stop by the 20th Annual Ka Hula Piko Festival, which celebrates the birth of the hula May 12-14 in Kaunakakai. The town’s main strip, Ala Malama Avenue, offers plenty of shopping and dining options, plus there’s also a great farmer’s market on Saturday mornings that’s a good place to buy shell necklaces, crafts and lots of fresh local produce.
on to oahu After “roughing it” in Molokai’s simplicity, Oahu comes calling with plenty of modern comforts but also a generous measure of Hawaii’s natural attractions and another peek into the state’s past. A good way to dig a little deeper into Hawaiian history is to visit various landmarks in Honolulu. The ‘Ioiani Palace, completed in 1882, is a National Historic Landmark and a symbol of Hawaiian monarchy, beginning with beloved “Merrie Monarch” King Kalakaua, the last elected King of Hawai’i (a Merrie Monarch Festival takes place each year in Hilo, celebrating the king’s support of the arts). ‘Ioiani is the only royal palace in America; two floors are open to the public, with guided tours available Monday through Saturday.
Across the street from the palace is Aliiolani Hale, home of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. Other stops in the city: Honolulu Hale, the official seat of the city government, and the Hawaii Theatre, a Vaudeville house and cinema listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places. Designed using a variety of architectural styles, the theater is still open for performances and offers guided tours on Tuesdays. |
[Steven Spielberg is part of a god-hating conspiracy !]
hollywood leans to one side of the fence. God and Jesus aren't too popular in films and havent been since the sixties. That is fact.
When the first two (I'm going to pretend DOOM didnt happen) had the quest be for something about God and Jesus, it was very original because in Hollywood, this didnt happen much. Especially during the maverick-seventies era when God and Jesus were basically reverted to being curse words in cinema. So both these plots were very different, and, since Hollywood doesnt dig God much, it was kinda controversial too.
Aliens, on the other hand, have become the Native Americans of cinema. Beloved, and mythical. A replacement to a God that is NOT politically correct.
So when people on this board say GOD AND ALIENS are the same... I must disagree.
Aliens at this point are overblown; the new messiahs; but when RAIDERS and CRUSADE came out, GOD and JESUS were very rarely mentioned in mainstream films. At least not in a positive light.
IN A NUTSHELL: LAST CRUSADE would never be made today. Jesus is practically illegal now; half of what he preached would now be considered HATE SPEECH. And thus, HATE CRIMES.
So people complaining of Aliens are simply TIRED of aliens. Enough already.
Nuke_fridge, IMDB 32 Comments
[6/10/2008 3:14:43 AM]
Fundie Index: 2 |
|Name||Kareena Kapoor / Karina Kapoor / Karena Kapoor|
|Date of Birth||21st September, 1980|
|Birth Place||Bombay, Maharashtra, India|
|Kareena Kapoor Height||5’5″|
|Eye colour||Black (Hair-Brown)|
|Schoool Days||Jamnabai Narsee School in Juhu, Bombay, Welham Girls’ Boarding School, Dehra Dun|
|College Days||Government Law College in Churchgate, Bombay,|
|Hobbies||Reading, swimming, eating and making friends|
|Favourite stars||Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, and Abhishek Bachchan|
|Favourite color||Black and Red|
|Favourite song||“Rahe na rahe hum mehaka karenge…”|
|Favourite food||Chinese, Italian and Thai|
|Favourite Book||Master Of the Game’ by Sidney Sheldon|
|Profession||Modeling & Acting|
|First movie ______________||Refugee|
Biography / trivia
# Karina Kapoor went to Harvard to pursue a course in microcomputers and information technology but left the course to join a drama school.
# Karina practiced YOGA especialy ‘Pranayama’ to prepare herself for Yash Chopra’s film ‘Tashan’ which was shot Ladakh, situated at high altitudes.
# She actively participated in raising money for the victims of Tsunami.
# The hot actress played negative role in Fida for the first time in her career.
# Karina Kapoor took admission in Government Law College at Churchgate to become a lawyer but left it in the middle to enter cinema industry.
# Now she is dating Sai Ali Khan .
# Karina was in the news when MMS showing her kissing Shahid Kapoor was largely circulated.
# The actress was the only actress, whose name was listed among the highest tax payers of 2006-07.
# Karina Kapoor was ranked fourth on the list of Filmfare’s “Top Actresses” list (2003-2005).
# Karina was featured in the list of Rediff’s “Bollywood’s Most Beautiful Actresses.”
# The hot actress also featured in the list of Rediff’s “Bollywood’s Hottest Heroines”
# She also featured in the list of Rediff’s “Bollywood’s Best Dressed Women”
# The actress was crowned as the winner of PETA’s “Cutest Vegetarian Celebrities”
# She appeared on talk show Koffee with Karan with Rani Mukerji.
# “I had no affair with Hrithik. People rumored about me that I went there to marry Hrithik when I visited the Dargha of Ajmer Sharif during the shooting of ”Ashoka”.
# “Ever since I was a kid, I knew my sister was going to join the industry. I used to see her talking about films. Both of us would chat about it as well. In our family, women were not supposed to join the industry. I guess my sister broke the ice and I am following the tradition.”
# “Of today’s stars, I only admire Kajol and my sister. My sister, for her dedication and hard work. And Kajol, because I think she is a brilliant actress.”
# “Among actors, I would say Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. I think they are just too good. I have enjoyed watching all of Amitji’s films. And Shah Rukh is great.”
# “I have no interest in doing a routine film. Such films have already affected my career. So, I have been choosy in this regard.”
# “If people say I’m arrogant, so be it, Yes, I’m arrogant, but only with what God has gifted me with – my talent and demeanor, which are raw materials for filmmakers to mould as they please.”
# “As an actor he is better, at least I find him a thousand fold better… His father was the best, but he is going tobe better than the best. As a person he is wonderful, he is one of my closest friends.” [about Abhishek Bachchan]
# “I have always admired Nargisji and Meena Kumari. They are my idols. I want to and hope to be like them”
# “Life is full of happiness and tears, be strong and have faith.”
# “I was happy I had a good co-star. The director is like family to me. There was nothing on the sets that made me nervous.” [about her first day of the shoot]
Best movies list
- Omkara ( Ajay Devgan , Saif Ali Khan , Karina Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi , Konkona Sen Sharma , Bipasha Basu , Naseeruddin Shah )
- Fida ( Karina Kapoor , Shahid kapoor , Fardeen Khan )
- Yuva ( Ajay Devgan , Abhishek Bachchan , Vivek Oberoi , Rani Mukherji , Esha Deol , Karena Kapoor )
- Dev ( Amitabh Bachchan , Om Puri , Amrish Puri , Fardeen Khan , Karena Kapoor )
- Chameli ( Karena Kapoor , Rahul Bose )
- Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham ( Amitabh Bachchan , Jaya Bachchan , Shahrukh Khan , Hrithik Roshan , Kajol , Karena Kapoor )
- Ajnabee ( Bobby Deol , Karena Kapoor , Akshay Kumar , Bipasha Basu , Johnny Lever)
- Asoka ( Shahrukh Khan, Karena Kapoor , Danny Denzongpa , Hrishitaa Bhatt , Rahul Dev )
- Mujhe Kuchh Kehna Hai ( Tusshar Kapoor , Karena Kapoor )
- Refugee ( Abhishek Bachchan , Karena Kapoor , Atul Kulkarni , Saif Ali Khan)
- Jab we Met ( Shahid Kapoor , Karena Kapoor )
- Golmaal Returns [Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi]
- Kambakkht Ishq [Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani]
- 3 Idiots [ Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor]
- Golmaal 3 [Mithun Chakraborty, Ajay Devgan
- Bodyguard [Salman Khan, Raj Babbar]
- Ra.One [Shahrukh Khan, Arjun Rampal] |