#|| Sebastien Shadis ||

[mychemicalnations]

Assigning a bunch of my characters Will Wood songs because my writing server enables my antics

This is going to be a long post, I apologize.

Not really

Blorbo Pandemic WIP

Baraphim Devorak - Misanthrapologist

You’re dangling a lantern Over the event horizon Thinking it’ll thank you For the light you’re sacrificing Bide time in orbit like a satellite Remind yourself The world don’t revolve ‘round you So don’t you revolve ‘round someone else

And, rock me Amadeus God don’t explain the way time and space made us Though with the wavelengths bending, it makes sense to me The only thing that’s meant to be is gravity And what comes up must go down

Sebastien Shadis - ¡Aikido! (Neurotic/Erotic)

Holding breath by graveyards, salt over my shoulder, I’m obsessed with you Rainbow-walking cave-heart never will be bolder, I’m obsessed with you Chickenscratch Rembrandts of your likeness, all this nonsense makes me think My insides cry “try thy finest” - why, then, am I at my brink?

Sebastien Vlastomil - ...And If I Did, You Deserved It

I want no less than the best but the best I can do Is do the worst thing first and leave the rest up to you I'm realistic Everyone's a critic If I keep beating myself up I'll keep on winning the fight And get my ass kicked I'm poisonous, not toxic I'll admit when I'm wrong but only to be right And if it fits in the song I'll rhyme that with contrived Don't meet your idols Hey, fuck you, I'm your idol But the only label that I'll sign is in the DSM5 'Cause my flaws are sorta on the pathological side Don't call me eccentric, call me mentally sick Cause I ain't sold enough tickets yet to be rich and that's the only difference

No Ethics Here (rp with @deadlier-than-i-look )

Vivienne Rose - Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!)

We’re only tuning to the tone of the bell curve now Ask not for whom it tolls But with my head up in the clouds, I can see so much ground And from up here you look like ants in a row It doesn’t take a killer to murder It only takes a reason to kill We’ve all got evidence of innocence, it’s "everything’s coincidence" The difference twixt fate and free will Is whether you’re singing

Silas Foster - Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to The Fusiform Gyrus)

Damn, I thought you’re not your imposter You’re so sure you’re not gonna get caught Dead in your own skin But you didn’t choose what you were born in And another man in your repertoire Ready in your head and fed upon your memoirs Still the same rules apply From the birthday to the mourning What you feel and what you do Are those things really you? And if not, then what is? (Never never never) So, my God, what’s wrong with you? And I’m still asking who that is Never, never, never Never, never, never Never, never, never No, never!

Genshin OCs

Aleks Rogov - BlackBoxWarrior - OKUltra

A bloody knife to split your infrastructure, wine to rev your motor function Coital machinations of the dead Well you mainline your animus, karate chop your abacus And learn to be an animal instead But I never did think you better than this, your modus operandi Causes Nazi/Skoptzyism and suicide Why to thine own self be true when it is you who are the problem Not the things you do but something sick inside Lithium and Dialectics, boy you really is defective CBT don’t seem effective for that Cluster B, accept it Offer up your innocence, please ignore the side effects You’ve lost your mind and almost lost your life before, so you’ll be fine

Fortune Bringer (Jiayi) - Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY

Lumps in throats and petticoats Your baby teeth would pray for you A selfish book is always open And some of the best liars only want the truth All love starts as a scheme So, wake me up, I’m tired of sleeping They say that beauty’s just skin deep So obviously, please show me your Bones, bones, bones Let me see your bones Well, I don’t wanna know if the feeling follows home Bones, bones, bones Hell, we’re all alone If I come home, baby, will you show your bones?

Kalevi Maarinen - Love, Me Normally

If I could live in third person, well, I don’t think life would be much worse than it is In the current tense, presently, this sentence ending in question marks or dot, dot, dot Is it courageous or escapist to leave the quarantine when you’re contagious? It may just be a cold, and besides I don’t wanna get old, yeah I drank myself to death to be the afterlife of the party When the afterparty came, I was rolling in my grave

D&D/Pathfinder

Yesanith Olorona - Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave

Who makes the call? What’s a symptom, what’s a flaw, can it be both? Well I suppose that’s an answer Would you give up your humanity for just a touch of sanity? 'Cause God knows it’s not like it’s cancer And good news to the purists: they’ve discovered a cure for the symptoms of being alive It’s a painless procedure with a low rate of failure But very few patients survive And a little conformity never hurt nobody, but lately I’ve been worried that you’re losing yourself So how many milligrams of you are still left in there? 'Cause back in my day we didn’t need no feel-good pills and no psychiatrists No, we just bled out in our baths And god damn it, we liked it

Amrynn Yethana - RED MOON

Red, red moon, keep on rising The sunset soon indeed will bleed in my horizon The crescent rests, tethered to the west Waxing to the rhythm writhing in my chest That crack between the watercolor sky and sea is the Corner where you’re born in the mist I might deride the tide, 'cause I'm pulled as it pools around my feet Towards your stolen light, while I'm held in your slight gravity Well, I walk the equator, chasing the light; little do I know it orbits close behind I might remember or might assume, but I only turn around every once In a red, red moon I said I only turn around every once in a red, red, moon

Aranyth Inamaris - (Cover This Song) A Little Bit Mine

I never thought, and if I did, I forgot while blacked out in-love That’s what’s only starting would come to an end But now I’m hungover and hung out to dry, and I’m giving it time Does not knowing the truth turn my words into lies? What can I say to convince you or do to make you agree with me? I don’t need you to be with me, just try to remember what you’d see in me I’m just a little bit crazy about you Just a little bit out of my mind Just a little insane without you Please come back and be just a little bit mine Just a little bit mine

Tarron Olaric - When Somebody Needs You [Song]

So we come and we go, we know and are known There's too many people to trust Well, it seems to me what we want and we need are the same And that's someone who'll worry about us 'Til death do us part, please keep breaking my heart 'Til it ceases to beat, please be mine Well it seems that that's what it means When somebody Ohh So if love conquers all, then all else must have failed I mean, who wants to fall, can't we just take the stairs? Well it seems that that's what it means When somebody needs you It seems that that's what it means When somebody needs you

Other

Eila Saarinen - Yes, To Err is Human, So Don't Be One. (Song)

I could drink your blood if you let me, baby Hang from your rafters, patchwork and paisley I could suck you dry on the rocks with a twist But just like a vampire, I don't exist Walkie-talkie static, white noise telepath Can you read between the Morse code lines? Dead from the neck up, but living just enough To beg you, "pretty boy, please, let me die" Well, I could drink your blood if you let me, baby Drain you of your love until you hate me

If you've read this far, blame @zonnemaagd <3

[typeonpaper]

𝐦𝐢𝐦𝐢    ;    ʙᴇᴀᴄʜ ʜᴜᴛ ᴄᴏɴꜰᴇꜱꜱɪᴏɴᴀʟꜱ  #5 !  ( day 17 )

are you happy with how the recoupling went for you? did you get your first choice ?

  “ luke was my first choice, and i'm happy i got to pick him, although i do kind of wish he'd had to pick...” mimi admits, twiddling a lock of hair around her finger. validation is important to her, almost as much as touch, so it’s nice to hear when someone admits ( in front of everyone )  that they want you.  “ i guess after the whole sitch with dylan, it would've been nice to hear him grovel. i do have some reservations, what with the kissing and the lying, but fingers crossed we can move past it. ”   mimi holds her hand up in the air, one finger crossed over the other.  “ don't fuck up again, luke ! haha. ”

what was the biggest surprise of the recoupling for you ?

 “ kenny picking romi, for sure. i felt like she'd go for someone less... married off. like yeah, it’s fun to rock the boat, but if you’re like, rocking the boat just for the sake of making a stir, and you’re not actually gonna get anywhere with the person you chose, it feels like a wasted shot, no ?  callie would have been the obvious choice. callie and kenny... calkenny ? kencal ? whatever. i'm rooting for them. ”

how do you feel about losing charlotte ?

 “ oh crap. charlotte ! ”   mimi starts, clutching her face in shock. she knew they were missing someone !    “ yeah, that's literally devastating. couldn't have happened to a nicer gal, I-M-O. but also like, not being shady, but it's hard to make a lasting impression if you blend into the background ? don't get me wrong i LOVE charlotte. but that's probably just because she agrees with everything i say. ”  on reflection, most of mimi’s strongest female friendships start that way. big personalities and more argumentative types tend to rub her the wrong way.  “ anyway, charlotte, if you're watching this, you're doing amazing, sweetie. i can't wait for your dms to blow up with kind, sweet, princes ready to whisk you off your feet ! give my love to enzo. ”

what do you think of the new bombshells, maddox and sebastien? are either of them your type/someone you’d go for?

“ hell yeah. i mean, i probably shouldn't say that — i'm back with luke now — but last time i was in here i was like, producers ! send me a sexy bombshell !  and they sent two ! damn. ”  not that they were sent specifically for mimi. and clearly neither of them were that interested. “—and NEITHER of them picked me for a date. also damn. like, what the fuck ?  i feel like seb has this fun, infectious kind of energy to him that's impossible not to like. and maddox... well... he's like if someone got dwayne the rock johnson and rege jean page and mixed them in a blender. every time i look at him, my mouth starts to water. but he picked naomi for his date, so he's made his bed ( though clearly not with naomi )  so i guess he might as well sleep in it. ”  she’s done the whole being-second-best-to-naomi thing. she’s not about to catch that vibe again. not only is it exhausting, it’s demeaning. what’s so fucking great about naomi anyway ?  other than a fat wallet and a reliable father figure, what does she have that mimi doesn’t ?    “ boy, bye ! ”

who do you think they’re most likely to go for ?

“ maddox is clearly gunning for naomi. ”  which has her miffed, to say the least.  “ he picked kenny too, but i feel like that's a dead ting. i'm pretty sure i'd have more luck with kenny than maddox would. she's not batting for maddox's team. i actually think it's like, a totally different sport. with seb, it's harder to guage. maybe marcus, although that would be a gamble. i hope he goes for dylan. that way, he'd be out of mine and luke's hair. ”   god knows they could do without the added stress of another love triangle.

is there anyone in the villa outside of your couple that you’re still trying to get to know?

“ totally controversial, and this is strictly off-record, but i get the vibe that there’s like, unfinished business with josh. i don't care, i'll say what i want. ” she shrugs, tossing her hair over her shoulder, and placing a sizzling finger against her own ass.  “ and maybe maddox ? if i can get over the fact that he didn't pick me for a date. ” 

[kokakku]

OC list + their tags

General OCs

Seiji Yoshida / Sebastien Alarie

25

He/him

Bisexual, cisgender

Artist, hitman, serial killer

Kind of a slasher OC I guess? Serial killer

His Pinterest board

His playlist

#🎨

Red

Ageless entity, physically and mentally as mature as whatever they are can be

Any pronouns, defaults to they/them and it/its

Pansexual, genderfluid

Former creepypasta OC, then a salshersona, they’re kinda just their own thing now though. Which tracks

Their Pinterest board

#🔴

Sawyer Crane

15

She/her

Bisexual, cisgender

Sawyer is a ghost, but there's an AU where she lives :^)

Timeline is 1984-1999 (life) and 2000-present (as a ghost and her non ghost AU, she died on new year's eve '99)

Her Pinterest board

#🌙 (main tag) #🌙🍂 (Sawyer lives/ is alive AU)

Brit Miller

22

She/her

Bisexual, cisgender

College Student, serial killer

Slasher OC

Her Pinterest board

Her playlist

#💄

Henry Miller

47

He/him

Bisexual, cisgender

Writer, serial killer

Brits dad

Slasher OC

His Pinterest board

#📝

Shot Dead (band)

Foxe, 20, they/she/he, genderfluid, pansexual, lead singer, #🦊

Skye, 23, she/her, cisgender, arospec lesbian, bassist, #🎸

Jax, 21, he/they, demiboy, bisexual, rhythm guitarist, #🛹

Aliyah, 23, she/they, genderqueer, pansexual, drummer, #🥁

Danny, 24, he/him, cisgender, aroace spec bisexual, lead guitarist, #📷

Band tag: #🔫💀

Their Pinterest board

Their playlist

Lydia Hansen

25

She/they

Bisexual, demigirl

Werewolf

Art student and hobbyist musician

Ivys gf

Her Pinterest board

#🐺

Ivy Bolton

23

She/her

Lesbian, cisgender

Vampire

Business student, musician (her real passion)

Lydias gf

Her Pinterest board

#🎀

Parker Moore

28

They/them

Pansexual, nonbinary

Mortician by day, supplier to shady corporations and serial killers by night

Their pinterest board

#⚰️

Donovan Sweeney

245 (physically 25)

He/him

Bisexual, cisgender

Vampire

Owns and runs a nice little bakery/cafe and feels absolutely horrible about having to feed on people and animals

His Pinterest board

#🥖

Birdie Pierce

23

She/her

Bisexual

Psychic medium that keeps trying to die/get closer to death to gain more power and knowledge

Her Pinterest board

#👻

Fester

Literally 7, physically and mentally about 26-28

He/it

Pansexual

Massive Frankensteins monster type guy who is very nice but often doesn’t realize his own strength

His Pinterest board

#⚡️

Fandom OCs

Elijah Lewis / Ichor

24

He/him

Gay, cisgender

DC comics OC, antihero/rogue

Ability to control blood

Shipped with Jason Todd

His Pinterest board

#🩸

Shade

20

They/he/she

Pansexual, genderfluid

DC comics oc, rogue

Ability to control and teleport through shadow

Their Pinterest board

#⚫️

Tori Bennett-Myers

Age depends. born Sept 8, 1986 in her main timeline

She/her

Biromantic (closeted), asexual, cisgender

Halloween OC, accidental Michael Myers kid

Her Pinterest board

#💊

Siobhan Murphy

24

She/they

Bisexual, nonbinary

Magnus archives OC, avatar of the lonely

Her Pinterest board

#🌫

Casey Myers / Hypnos

30

He/they

Bisexual demiromantic, nonbinary, ftm

DC comics oc, rogue

Ability to cause sleep, create illusions, and influence/enter dreams (especially nightmares)

Something going on with the scarecrow…they’re both pretty weird about it

His Pinterest board

#💤

Catscratch

mid-late 20s

they/he/it

nonbinary, pansexual but mostly aroace

Creepypasta OC but also kinda his own thing a little

Their Pinterest board

#🐈

[dasphinxone]

Book of Nile: Burlesque AU

Shout out to @winterequinoxx @yeahwellyourface @druidspell @rainofdreams29 @shebattlesman @highlightcity159 @ruby-white-rabbit​ and the Book of Nile chat for this one. Y’all are legit INSPIRING.

Based on the super corny and cheesy but “Awesome when I watch it while drunk” movie Burlesque starring Cher and Christina Aguilera.

Nile is an aspiring singer who left Chicago for Los Angeles in order to realize her dreams of becoming a recording artist. She writes her own songs and has a voice that is devastating, a born star. However, she’s down on her luck when she stumbles into the burlesque theater owned by one Andromache or “Andy” as everyone calls her. Andy’s wife, Quynh, is the main costumer of the performers. Nicolo “Nicky” is the club’s choreographer for the routines. He’s married to Yusuf or “Joe” as his friends call him. Yusuf plays the trumpet and is the band leader for the in-house jazz ensemble.  And then there’s Sebastien “Booker” le Livre. An older, washed up bartender, he also originally came to L.A. to be a songwriter. Except his dreams died long ago after his wife left him and moved back home. His life spiraled out of control and the only reason he’s got the job as the burlesque’s bartender is out of pity from Andy. He’s bitter, bored out of his mind and feels like his life is going absolutely nowhere...well, that is until Nile breaks out into singing Etta James’ Something’s Got a Hold on Me when there’s a glitch on the lip syncing track during a burlesque performance at the club. 

Booker falls head over heels for her right then and there. Inspired by this siren, her work ethic and sheer unadulterated talent, he starts secretly writing music again.  For she’s his muse who he imagines performing his songs. He keeps it all to himself though. Because there’s no way in hell a woman like her will go for an old failure like him. Content to watch Nile perform and her star rise with each passing week, Booker thinks being able to look but not touch is enough to sustain him.

That is until Nile’s motel room where she’s staying gets broken into and she gets her life savings stolen. Since she has no savings and no safe place to stay, Booker finds himself offering to let her stay with him in his bungalow that he used to share with his ex-wife. Nile takes him up on the offer and moves in with him. Except she soon finds herself attracted to him. Sure, he’s sarcastic and all up in his maudlin feelings when he drinks. Yet he’s also doing little things for her around the house. Every time she tries to pay him back, he waves her off. It’s almost like he lives to serve in his deference to her. 

Meanwhile, Andy has mortgaged her club far too many times and owes the bank hundreds of thousand of dollars. Merrick, a shitty real estate developer, is gleefully waiting in the wings for Andy to default on her latest mortgage. He’s pissed because she keeps rejecting his offers to buy the place. So he sends his minion in Keane to spy on the club and make sure Andy defaults so that Merrick can take over the property. He plans to demolish it to build luxury condos on the site. 

While at the club, Keane spots Nile and wants her for himself. He starts pursing Nile and she starts dating him. However, she quickly realizes her heart isn’t into it. Not to mention, Keane comes off as more and more of a raging asshole with each passing date. Even after he wines and dines her and gifts her a killer pair of crystal, Louboutin red bottom heels.

At the same time, Booker and Nile find themselves falling for each other. There’s so much sexual tension and neither of these beautiful idiots have any place to put it. That is until they hook up one night after stumbling home drunk from the wedding reception of one of Nile’s fellow burlesque dancers. They sex is mind blowing and they realize that perhaps, maybe this can turn into a relationship. The problem? Nile wakes up to Booker’s ex-wife screaming at her in their bungalow. Turns out Booker never finalized the divorce and his ex wants him back. That also means he technically cheated with Nile since he’s still legally married to his wife. Understandably pissed the fuck off, Nile moves in with Joe and Nicky and tells Booker to never speak to her again. 

While Nile lives with them, Joe and Nicky reveal to her the rocky start to their own relationship. Nile is stunned, as they’re clearly still in love with each other after all of their years of marriage. 

Trained as a ballet dancer in Genoa before moving to Milan to dance at the famous La Scala Theater, Nicky sustained an injury that ended his career. He wandered the world trying to find himself. It ultimately led to him ending up in L.A., broke and with no idea of to do with his life. That’s where he met Quynh and Andy, who gave him a job as a first line dancer at their club. After seeing his talent, they promoted him to the club’s choreographer.

Meanwhile, Joe loves playing jazz, but it’s a dying art. So he while he adores working at the club before Nicky got there, Nicky was a snotty asshole to Joe since Joe didn’t write his own music. Mostly, Joe would provide the instrumentation to the music Booker wrote, which is how he and Booker became best friends. Unfortunately, Nicky saw Joe as creatively bankrupt while Joe pointed out that Nicky was a failure in his ballet career. They hated each other initially. Over the years, Nicky became less of an asshole, taking pride in his choreography. He also found himself falling in love with Joe. Working to earn Joe’s forgiveness for his initially bristly personality, Nicky made amends. He and Joe started dating and soon Joe proposed. They’ve been inseparable ever since. 

Joe quietly reminds Nile that Booker is a broken man who needs to heal himself before he’ll find himself worthy of her. He knew Booker before his life went to shit and his wife divorced him. Once Nicky finally made amends with Joe, Booker became Nicky’s friend as well. So they both know Booker can be a good man. But again, he needs to work on himself.  

As for Nile and Keane? The final straw comes when she sees the plans for Merrick’s condo at Keane’s place. She realizes that Keane has been working for Merrick the entire time and doesn’t give a fuck about the club being shut down and her losing her livelihood. Nile dumps Keane and takes her information to Andy.  With only a few days before Andy defaults on her loan, Nile realizes that they could potentially save the club. As there’s another luxury condo development being currently built across the street. They ask to meet with the owner, who turns out to be Copley. Copley used to work for Merrick but quit after he found out Merrick’s shady business dealings. So Copley is all too happy to pay Andy for the air rights to her club. This guarantees that Copley’s luxury condos retain their views of the Pacific Ocean. It also gives Andy the money she needs to pay off the mortgage and save the club. 

Booker finally apologizes to Nile and shows her the paperwork that he’s in the process of finalizing his divorce from his wife for real this time. He also confesses his true feelings for Nile, showing her all of the songs he’s written that she inspired in him. He also admits she’s been his muse and apologizes if that comes off as creepy. He really does see her as an equal and was straight up overwhelmed with his feelings for her when he saw her sing for the first time.

They reunite and everything closes out with Nile singing a song she and Booker cowrote that works with Nicky’s choreography and Joe’s instrumentation skills with his trumpet and leading the band.

Playlist

Yoncé/Partition - Beyoncé

A Night Like This - Caro Emerald

Ended With The Night - Caravan Palace

Jolie Coquine - Caravan Palace

Something’s Got a Hold on Me  - Etta James

Chambermaid Swing - Parov Stelar

All That Glitters - Earl

Gnossienne 1 - Erik Satie

Toxic - Britney Spears

Could’ve Been - H.E.R.

Cuz I Love You - Lizzo 

Undo - JAMi2

Forgive Me - Chloe x Halle

Rocket - Beyoncé

Bomba -  JAMi2 

[fictionfromafar]

Unmissable International Crime Fiction Novels from April 2021 onwards

1 April

The Untamable by Guillermo Arriaga

MacLehose Press

A gripping coming of age thriller of vengeance and destiny set between Mexico City's murderous 1960s underworld and the bleak tundras of Canada's most remote province. By the BAFTA-winning screenwriter of Amores Perros.

Yukon, Canada's far north. A young man tracks a wolf through the wilderness. In Mexico City, Juan Guillermo has pledged vengeance.

1 April

Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka, translated by Sam Marissa

Harvill Secker

Five killers find themselves on a bullet train from Tokyo competing for a suitcase full of money. Who will make it to the last station? A bestseller in Japan, Bullet Train is an original and propulsive thriller which fizzes with an incredible energy as its complex net of double-crosses and twists unwinds to the last station.

15 April

Silenced by Sólveig Pálsdóttir, translated by Quentin Bates

Corylus Books

After a turbulent few years, Guðgeir Fransson is back with the Reykjavík police force and is called on to look into the suspicious suicide of a young woman in a cell at the Hólmsheiði prison. On the surface, it looks like a straightforward investigation. As he digs into the dead woman’s past, he unearths links to a man’s disappearance more than twenty years ago.

My review of The Fox:

15 April

We Trade Our Night for Someone Else’s Day by Ivana Bodrožić, translated by Ellen Elias-Bursac

Penguin Random House

Nora is a journalist assigned to do a puff piece on the perpetrator of a crime of passion–a Croatian high school teacher who fell in love with one of her students, a Serb, and is now in prison for having murdered her husband. But Nora herself is the daughter of a man who was murdered years earlier under mysterious circumstances. And she wants, if not to avenge her father, at least to bring to justice whoever committed the crime.

15 April

How To Betray Your Country by James Wolff

Bitter Lemon Press

Following on from the acclaimed debut novel Beside the Syrian Sea, this is the second title in a planned trilogy about loyalty and betrayal in the modern world. An authentic thriller about the thin line between following your conscience and following orders. James Wolff is the pseudonym of a young English novelist who “has been working for the British government for the last ten years”.

22 April

Trap for Cinderella by Sebastien Japrisot

Gallic Books

A beach house at a French resort is gutted by fire. Trapped inside are two women - one rich and the other poor. Only one of them survives, burnt beyond recognition and in a state of total amnesia. Who is she, the heiress or her penniless friend? A killer, or an intended victim?

29 April

Geiger by Gustaf Skordeman

Zaffre

The landline rings as Agneta is waving off her grandchildren. Just one word comes out of the receiver: 'Geiger'. For decades, Agneta has always known that this moment would come, but she is shaken. She knows what it means. Retrieving her weapon from its hiding place, she attaches the silencer and creeps up behind her husband before pressing the barrel to his temple.

29 April

Facets of Death by Michael Stanley

Orenda Books

Detective Kubu, renowned international detective, has faced off with death more times than he can count... But what was the case that established him as a force to be reckoned with? In Facets of Death, a prequel to the acclaimed Detective Kubu series, the fresh-faced cop gets ensnared in an international web of danger—can he get out before disaster strikes?

29 April

The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson

Michael Joseph

Una knows she is struggling to deal with her father's sudden, tragic suicide. She spends her nights drinking alone in Reykjavik, stricken with thoughts that she might one day follow in his footsteps.

So when she sees an advert seeking a teacher for two girls in the tiny village of Skálar - population of ten - on the storm-battered north coast of the island, she sees it as a chance to escape.

13 May

Seat 7a by Sebastian Fitzek, translated by Jamie Bulloch

Head of Zeus

Psychiatrist Mats Krüger knows that his irrational fear of flying is just that – irrational. He knows that flying is nineteen times safer than driving. He also knows that if something does happen on a plane, the worst place to be is seat 7A. That's why on his first plane journey in 20 years – to be with his only daughter as she gives birth – he's booked seat 7A, so no one else can sit there. If no one is sat there, surely nothing will go wrong.

My review of Passenger 23 :

https://fictionfromafar.tumblr.com/post/643950323513311232/passenger-23-by-sebastian-fitzek-passenger-23-by

13 May

The Assistant by Kjell Ola Dahl, translated by Don Bartlett

Orenda Books

Oslo, 1938. When a woman turns up at the office of police-turned-private investigator Ludvig Paaske, has accepted a routine case to find evidence of a cheating husband but soon enough his assistant Jack Rivers has been accused of murder. Rivers is no angel, and Paaske must dig deep to find out what’s going on. The secrets he uncovers go all the way back to 1920s Norway when smugglers, pimps and racketeers ruled the Oslo underworld.

20 May

Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored by Philippe Georget, Translated by Steven Rendall

Europa Editions

It’s the middle of a long hot summer on the French Mediterranean shore and the town is full of tourists. Sebag and Molina, two tired cops who are being slowly devoured by dull routine and family worries, deal with the day’s misdemeanors and petty complaints at the Perpignan police headquarters without a trace of enthusiasm. Out of the blue a young Dutch woman is brutally murdered on a beach at Argelès, and another disappears without a trace in the alleys of the city. A serial killer obsessed with Dutch women?

20 May

Oxygen by Sacha Naspini, Translated by Clarissa Botsford

Europa Editions

Laura disappeared into thin air in 1999, at eight years old. She was found in a metal container, fourteen years later.

Luca is having dinner with his father dinner when they are interrupted by a visit from the carabinieri, who take his father away. Luca can only watch the scene unfold, helpless. The charges brought against esteemed anthropologist Carlo Maria Balestri are extremely grave: multiple counts of abduction, torture, murder, and concealing his victims’ bodies.

27 May

The Waiter by Ajay Chowdhury

Harvill Secker

Disgraced detective Kamil Rahman moves from Kolkata to London to start afresh as a waiter in an Indian restaurant. But the day he caters a birthday party for his boss's friend on Millionaire's Row, his simple new life becomes rather complicated. The event is a success, the food is delicious, but later that evening the host, Rakesh, is found dead in his swimming pool.

27 May

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed

Viking

Mahmood Mattan is a fixture in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, 1952, which bustles with Somali and West Indian sailors, Maltese businessmen and Jewish families. He is a father, chancer, some-time petty thief. He is many things, in fact, but he is not a murderer.

So when a shopkeeper is brutally killed and all eyes fall on him, Mahmood isn't too worried. It is true that he has been getting into trouble more often since his Welsh wife Laura left him. But Mahmood is secure in his innocence in a country where, he thinks, justice is served.

10 June

In the Shadow of the Fire by Herve Le Corre, translated by Tina Kover

Europa Editions

The Paris Commune’s “bloody week” sees the climax of the savagery of the clashes between the Communards and the French Armed Forces loyal to Versailles. Amid the shrapnel and the chaos, while the entire west side of Paris is a field of ruins, a photographer fascinated by the suffering of young women takes “suggestive” photos to sell to a particular clientele. Young women begin disappearing, and when Caroline, a seamstress who volunteers at a first aid station, is counted among the missing, her fiancé Nicolas, a member of the Commune’s National Guard, and Communal security officer Antoine, sets off independently in search of her.

10 June

The All Human Wisdom by Pierre Lemaitre

MacLehose Press

In 1927, the great and the good of Paris gather at the funeral of the wealthy banker, Marcel Péricourt. His daughter, Madeleine, is poised to take over his financial empire (although, unfortunately, she knows next to nothing about banking). More unfortunately still, when Madeleine's seven-year-old son, Paul, tumbles from a second floor window of the Péricourt mansion on the day of his grandfather's funeral, and suffers life-changing injuries, his fall sets off a chain of events that will reduce Madeleine to destitution and ruin in a matter of months.

15 June

The Transparency Of Time, Leonardo Padura, translated by Anna Kushner,

Bitter Lemon Press

Mario Conde is facing down his sixtieth birthday. What does he have to show for his decades on the planet? A failing body, a slower mind, and a decrepit country, in which both the ideals and failures of the Cuban Revolution are being swept away in favor of a new and newly cosmopolitan worship of money. Rescue comes in the form of a new case: an old Marxist turned flamboyant practitioner of Santería appears on the scene to engage Conde to track down a stolen statue of the Virgen de Regla—a black Madonna. This sets Conde on a quest that spans twenty-first century Havana as well as the distant past to uncover the true provenance of the statue.

My review of Havana Fever:

https://fictionfromafar.tumblr.com/post/631759758177746944/havana-fever-written-by-leonardo-padura

24 June

The Wrong Goodbye by Toshihiko Yahagi, translated by Alfred Birnbaum

MacLehose Press

In a nod to Raymond Chandler, The Wrong Goodbye pits homicide detective Eiji Futamura against a shady Chinese business empire and U.S. military intelligence in the docklands of recession hit Japan. After the frozen corpse of immigrant barman Tran Binh Long washes up in midsummer near Yokosuka U.S. Navy Base, Futamura meets a strange customer from Tran’s bar. Vietnam vet pilot Billy Lou Bonney talks Futamura into hauling three suitcases of “goods” to Yokota US Air Base late at night and flies off leaving a dead woman behind. My review:

https://fictionfromafar.tumblr.com/post/641412317374988288/the-wrong-goodbye

24 June

Sleepless by Romy Haussmann, translated by Jamie Bulloch

Quercus

It's been years since Nadja Kulka was convicted of a cruel crime. After being released from prison, she's wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven - free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja's boss - kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can't seem to be able to refuse.

29 June

Black Ice by Carin Gerhardsen

Scarlet

January in Gotland. The days are short, the air is cold, and all the roads are covered in snow. On a deserted, icy backroad, these wintery conditions will soon bring together a group of strangers with a force devastating enough to change their lives forever when, in the midst of a brief period, a deadly accident and two separate crimes leave victims in their wake.

1st July

The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason

Harvill Secker

A woman approaches Konrad with new information and progress can finally be made. But as Konrad starts to look back at the case and secrets of the past, he is forced to come face to face with his own dark side. In What the Darkness Knows, the master of Icelandic crime writing reunites readers with Konrad, the unforgettable retired detective from The Shadow District.

1 July

Resilience by Bogdan Hrib, translated by Marina Sofia

Corylus Books

Stelian Munteanu has had enough of being an international man of mystery: all he wants to do is make the long-distance relationship with his wife Sofia work. But when the notorious Romanian businessman Pavel Coman asks him to investigate the death of his daughter in the north of England, he reluctantly gets involved once more in what proves to be a tangled web of shady business dealings and political conspiracies. Moving rapidly between London, Newcastle, Bucharest and Iasi, this novel shows just how easy it is to fall prey to fake news and social media manipulation.

8 July

The Therapist by Helene Flood, translated by Alison McCulloch

MacLehose Press

A voicemail from her husband tells Sara he's arrived at the holiday cabin. Then a call from his friend confirms he never did. She tries to carry on as normal, teasing out her clients' deepest fears, but as the hours stretch out, her own begin to surface. And when the police finally take an interest, they want to know why Sara deleted that voicemail.

13 July

Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro translated by Frances Riddle

Charco Press

After Rita is found dead in a church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation, Elena Knows unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.

My review of Betty Boo:

https://fictionfromafar.tumblr.com/post/633225446612484096/

15 July

The Basel Killings

Hansjörg Schneider

Bitter Lemon Press

It the end of October, the city of Basel is grey and wet. It could be December. It is just after midnight when Police Inspector Peter Hunkeler, on his way home and slightly worse for wear, spots old man Hardy sitting on a bench under a street light. He wants to smoke a cigarette with him, but the usually very loquacious Hardy is silent—his throat a gaping wound. Turns out he was first strangled, then his left earlobe slit, his diamond stud stolen. The media and the police come quickly to the same conclusion: Hardy’s murder was the work of a gang of Albanian drug smugglers. But for Hunkeler that seems too obvious.

20 July

The Double Mother by Michel Bussi, translated by Sam Taylor

W&N

Already shown as a serial on Channel4’s Walter Presents (as The Other Mother), four-year-old Malone Moulin is haunted by nightmares of being handed over to a complete stranger and begins claiming his mother is not his real mother. His teachers at school say that it is all in his imagination as his mother has a birth certificate, photos of him as a child and even the pediatrician confirms Malone is her son. The school psychologist, Vasily, believes otherwise as the child vividly describes an exchange between two women.

22 July

Girls Who Lie Eva Bjorg AEgisdottir

Orenda

When single mother Maríanna disappears from her home, leaving an apologetic note on the kitchen table, everyone assumes that she’s taken her own life … until her body is found on the Grábrók lava fields seven months later, clearly the victim of murder. Her neglected fifteen-year-old daughter Hekla has been placed in foster care, but is her perfect new life hiding something sinister?

My Review of A Creak On The Stairs:

https://fictionfromafar.tumblr.com/post/631717704661942273/

22nd July

The Doll Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Hodder & Stoughton

It was meant to be a quiet family fishing trip, a chance for mother and daughter to talk. But it changes the course of their lives forever. They catch nothing except a broken doll that gets tangled in the net. After years in the ocean, the doll a terrifying sight and the mother's first instinct is to throw it back, but she relents when her daughter pleads to keep it. This simple act of kindness proves fatal. That evening, the mother posts a picture of the doll on social media. By the morning, she is dead and the doll has disappeared.

5 August

The Soul Breaker by Sebastian Fitzek, translated by Jamie Bulloch

Head Of Zeus

He doesn't kill them, or mutilate them. But he leaves them completely dead inside, paralysed and catatonic. His only trace a note left in their hands. There are three known victims when suddenly the abductions stop. The Soul Breaker has tired of his game, it seems. Meanwhile, a man has been found in the snow outside an exclusive psychiatric clinic. He has no recollection of who he is, or why he is there. Unable to match him to any of the police's missing people, the nurses call him Casper.

12 August

Cold Sun by Anita Sivakumaran

Dialogue Books

Bangalore. Three high-profile women murdered, their bodies draped in identical red saris. When the killer targets the British Foreign Minister's ex-wife, Scotland Yard sends the troubled, brilliant DI Vijay Patel to lend his expertise to the Indian police investigation. Stranger in a strange land, ex-professional cricketer Patel must battle local resentment and his own ignorance of his ancestral country, while trying to save his failing relationship back home.

August date TBC

Skin Deep by Antonia Lassa, translated by Jacky Collins

Corylus Books

The corpse of an elderly millionaire is discovered brutally scarred with acid burns. Her young lover is the chief suspect but the authorities admit they are baffled. It will take the intervention of private detective Albert Larten to explore all the complexities of desire, and ultimately reveal the truth.

19 August

Come Hell Or High Water by Christian Unge

MacLehose Press

The first in a new Swedish crime series featuring Tekla Berg – a fearless doctor with a remarkable photographic memory

With 85% per cent burns to his body and a 115% risk of dying, it’s a miracle the patient is still alive. That he made it this far is thanks to Tekla Berg, an emergency physician whose unorthodox methods and photographic memory are often the difference between life and death.

30 September

Night Hunters by Oliver Bottini

MacLehose Press

The fourth in the Black Forest Investigations - by the four-time winner of the German Crime Fiction Award. Over the course of several days one hot summer, a female student from Freiburg disappears, a father is murdered in a brutal attack, a teenage boy drowns in the Rhine in suspicious circumstances. It soon becomes evident to Chief Inspector Louise Boni and her colleagues at Freiburg's criminal police that the three cases are connected - and that others are now in terrible danger. Including Boni herself.

07 October

Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun

House Of Zeus

Focusing on the unsolved murder of teenage girl, this literary crime novel offers insights into gender, class and privilege in Seoul, and marks the English-language debut for award-winning Korean author, Kwon Yeo-sun.

In the summer of 2002, my big sister Hae-on was murdered. She was beautiful, intelligent, and only nineteen years old. Two boys were questioned, but the case was never solved. Her killer still walks free.

12 October

Bread: The Bastards of Pizzofalcone

by Maurizio de Giovanni

Europa Editions

Sometimes it takes facing a formidable adversary to truly know one’s worth. The Bastards of Pizzofalcone may have found just that: when the brutal murder of a baker rattles the city, they are ready to investigate. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do to prove themselves to their community. But this time the police are divided: for the special anti-mob branch, the local mafia is doubtlessly responsible for the crime, but the Bastards are not so sure and think there may be another reason for the murder of the renowned artisan, whose traditionally baked bread attracted customers from far and wide. A rivalry between the policeman and the magistrate is formed, one that, in the end, will extend to more than just their work lives.

12 October

The Corpse Flower by Anne Mette Hancock

Crooked Lane Books

It's early September in Copenhagen, the rain has been coming down for weeks, and 36-year-old journalist Heloise Kaldan is in the middle of a nightmare. One of her sources has been caught lying, and she could lose her job over it. And then she receives the first in a series of cryptic and ominous letters from an alleged killer.

28 October

Inertia by Camilla Grebe

Zaffre

Inertia is an eerie psychological thriller from the award-winning Swedish bestselling author Camilla Grebe. When 18-year old Samuel finds himself at the centre of a drug deal gone wrong, he is forced to go underground to escape the police and an infamous drug lord.

October date TBC

The Commandments by Oskar Gudmundsson

Corylus Books

On a cold winter morning in 1995, Anton, a 19-year-old boy, met a priest outside Glerárkirkja in Akureyri. After that, he was never seen again. Two decades later a priest is found murdered in the church in Grenivík. When the police investigate the case, they finds that a deacon has also been executed inside Akureyri.

28 October

Cold as Hell by Lilja Sigurdardottir

Orenda Books

Icelandic sisters Áróra and Ísafold live in different countries and aren‘t on speaking terms, but when their mother loses contact with Ísafold, Áróra reluctantly returns to Iceland to find her sister. But she soon realizes that her sister isn’t avoiding her … she has disappeared, without trace.

As she confonts Ísafold’s abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend Björn, and begins to probe her sister’s reclusive neighbours – who have their own reasons for staying out of sight – leads Áróra into an ever darker web of intrigue and manipulation.

28 October

The Rabbit Factor by Antti Toumainen

Orenda Books

What makes life perfect? Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen knows the answer because he calculates everything down to the very last decimal.

And then, for the first time, Henri is faced with the incalculable. After suddenly losing his job, Henri inherits an adventure park from his brother – its peculiar employees and troubling financial problems included. The worst of the financial issues appear to originate from big loans taken from criminal quarters … and some dangerous men are very keen to get their money back.

2 November

Bricklayers

Selva Almada

Charco Press

Oscar Tamai and Elvio Miranda, the patriarchs of two families of brickmakers, have for years nursed a mutual hatred, but their teenage sons, Pájaro and Ángelito, somehow fell in love. Brickmakers begins as Pájaro and Marciano, Ángelito’s older brother, lie dying in the mud at the base of a Ferris wheel. Inhabiting a dreamlike state between life and death, they recall the events that forced them to pay the price of their fathers’ petty feud.

My review of Dead Girls:

https://fictionfromafar.tumblr.com/post/642554449326489600/dead-girls-charco-press

4 November

The Night Will Be Long

Santiago Gamboa

Europa Editions

When a horribly violent confrontation occurs outside of Cauca, Colombia, only a young boy is around to witness it. But no sooner does the violence happen than it disappears, vanished without a trace. Nobody claims to have seen anything. Nobody claims to have heard anything. That is, until an anonymous accusation catalyzes a dangerous investigation into the deep underbelly of the Christian churches present today in Latin America. The Night Will Be Long is a dark, twisting thriller filled with moments of humor and pain--a story that will stick with readers long after they turn the last page.

11 November

The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee

Harvill Secker

When a Hindu theologian is found murdered in his home, the city is on the brink of all-out religious war. Can officers of the Imperial Police Force, Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee track down those responsible in time to stop a bloodbath? Set at a time of heightened political tension, beginning in atmospheric Calcutta and taking the detectives all the way to bustling Bombay, the latest instalment in this 'unmissable' (The Times) series presents Wyndham and Banerjee with an unprecedented challenge.

[vandalamagazine]

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After two very successful annual events, the classic rock extravaganza known as the Arroyo Seco Festival was put on hiatus this year. The two-day festival was a glamorous offshoot of the most prominent American music event, Coachella. While Coachella continues to cater to an ever-younger audience, Arroyo Seco was targeting a more mature audience. The event took place mainly on a golf course and public park adjacent to the Rose Bowl. On August 31, The iconic New Wave rockers, The Cure took over the same venue for a one-day celebration of music mostly from the Goth genre. The show was the brainchild of The Cure’s creator Robert Smith. He handpicked the nine opening acts for a unique line up of bands all with immense musical talent and original creativity.

The Saturday show took place on a blistering summer day with temperatures reaching near triple digits. The entrance to the festival was a struggle for some 25,000 music fans waiting in lines on the hot pavement of the parking lot for over an hour to pass through security checks. But once inside music fans were treated to a serene setting across the massive festival grounds, with grassy rolling hills. The Pasadena Daydream festival took advantage of two of the three-stage areas of Arroyo Seco festival, one a large tent and the other a large outdoor stage. Food and beverage vendors were stacked in strategic areas across the vast green fields. A pond with a water fountain stood at one end of the park. In the far corner, a cooling area with giant fans and misters helped beat the heat for fans lounging in soft inflatable furniture. The festival grounds were so immense that some concertgoers could barely see the stage from where they planted their blankets. Many concertgoers opted to take advantage of strategically cooler areas with groves of shady trees rather than be closer to the stages. But the majority of the crowd pressed closer to the two stages as the day wore on.

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The Scottish group, The Twilight Sad, was the first to take the outside Oaks stage.  The post-punk/indie rock band has been producing original music for more than ten years. The band features lead singer James Graham, Andy MacFarlane on guitar, Johnny Docherty on bass, Brendan Smith on keyboards and Sebastien Schultz on drums. Graham seemed to be channeling the late Ian Curtis from Joy Division during his performance. The Goth punk band was well received by the early-bird crowd singed by the early afternoon sun. Unfornatanely most of their set was plagued by a failing PA system that kept cutting out. But the band soldiered on, and luckily the technical issues were solved by the time the next group,  Mogwai took the stage.

Mogwai is also a Scottish band formed a decade earlier than The Twilight Sad, back in 1995. The band features lead singer and guitarist Stuart Braithwaite, Barry Burns on guitar, piano, synthesizer and backing vocals, Dominic Aitchison on bass and Martin Bulloch on drums. Braithwaite led the band in 45 minutes of compelling moody jam band material. The group ended their set with their 1997 classic jam song. “Mogwai Fear Satan.”

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Over on the Willow stage, a string of female vocalists brought a more demure, all be it Goth inspired, mood to the tented venue. The darker atmosphere seemed to fit the mood of many in the crowd in full Goth regalia, from thick black clothing to Kabuki style makeup. Kælan Mikla, a three-piece punk/no-wave band from Reykjavík Iceland, opened with a short, moody set. The group consists of three girls who perform their own poetry and have been described as an avant-garde, fresh breeze into the Icelandic music scene. The prodding Goth sound would be a good soundtrack for a Game of Thrones Episode. Emma Ruth Rundle, an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and visual artist based in Louisville, Kentucky,  followed with another short, moody set, a bit more folk-inspired. Chelsea Joy Wolfe, an American singer-songwriter and musician, followed with another 30-minute set. The California native led her band blending elements of gothic rock, doom metal, and folk music into a crowd-pleasing cocktail.

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Over on the Oak stage, the most massive crowd of the day had gathered in the still scorching sun for a searing set of music by full metal rockers the Deftones. The aptly named California band is well known for its earsplitting manic live performances that incite mass stage diving and mosh pit madness. Singer Chino Moreno impishly whipped the crowd into a sweltering frenzy. Moreno whirled about the stage as the rest of the band played like madmen on ear-shattering tunes like “Knife Party” and “Hole in the Earth.” The Sacramento band was well received by the Southern California crowd that had swelled massively by the time the band ended their hour-long musical assault.

Two more great sets took place over in the Willows tent, featuring the Welsh band The Joy Formidable and the Rhode Island veteran rockers Throwing Muses. Unfortunately, most people in the vast audience missed their sets as they crowded the MainStage and didn’t want to lose their place.

Black Francis (Frank Black) has been leading the Boston based Pixies as an alternative band since 1986 with punk-inspired rock music that sounded like Grunge before Grunge rock was a musical genre. The singer guiltiest seemed to be reveling in the moment during his 75 minute set in Pasadena. As the massive crowd got a second wind in the setting sun, the band tore through some of their well known, classics eliciting an occasional sing-along.  Songs like “Bone Machine,” and “Caribou,” inspired the sweaty crowd to respond emphatically. The bands cover of Jesus And Mary Chain’s ”Head On,” seemed to fit the festival perfectly.

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After the Pixies set no one left the front of the stage during the hour-long set change. Much of the crowd began to press in more tightly. A man frantically searched for his wife after he went to the restroom. A couple from Mexico city seemed to be lifted off their feet as they were swept forward in the crowd. “We are closer than we were in Columbia,” the man exclaimed. Everyone began to test cell phones to capture the moments. As massive smoke machines began to eclipse the stage in fog, a euphoria seemed to pass over the exhausted crowd. The band emerged eliciting screams from the crowd pushing ever closer to the stage. Then out of the thick fog, Robert Smith emerged onto the stage like a Gothic deity, and a thunderous roar echoed from the massive gathering.

The English band The Cure are probably best known for their string of New Wave hits in the ’80s, but the band was really on the forefront of the Gothic rock genre even before that. Charismatic lead singer and guitarist Robert Smith, the mastermind of the Cure, looks much the same at 60 as he did in the ’80s, resembling a Gothic Teddy Bear. The beloved singer thankfully has maintained surprisingly eloquent vocal skills throughout his career. While the band plays hit songs that is not what distinguishes their live shows from other groups in their genre. The band under Smith’s tutelage is first and foremost a jam band. The groups live performances are legendary, and they are simply the best live band of their musical genre. The two and a half-hour show in Pasadena was a relatively short one for the group known for their marathon performances. But they managed to squeeze a wealth of music including 27 songs, into the phenomenal set. The band can seemingly take a song in any direction they fancy on Smiths whim. The group can jam a song like the epic “ A Forest” for 30 minutes or more. But they can also play a perfunctory version like at the Santa Barbara Bowl in the last millennium. At that three hour-plus show the band performed past the venue’s curfew and played a mini two-minute version of “ A Forest” as their final encore before being cut off. The Pasadena show saw about an 8-minute version of the moody jam song.

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The current line up of the Cure features a powerhouse quartet of rockers backing up Smith. American guitarist Reeves Gabrels has played with the band since 2012. He was David Bowie’s former guitarist in the band Tin Machine.  He brought relentless lead guitar riffs to the armada of jam songs. Animated bassist Simon Gallup has been bringing heart-thumping rhythms to the band on and off since 1979.  Roger O’Donnell has played keyboards with the band on and off since 1987 and brought magical sounds to the Saturday show. Drummer Jason Cooper joined the group in 1995.

The Pasadena show followed the formula set in London by the band last year during their 40th Anniversary tour by playing most of their 1989 Disintegration album as the core of their show.  The band opened with “Plainsong” before fading into a moody “Pictures of You.” Smith seemed to be enjoying the euphoric mood in the crowd. He would walk to the edges of the stage between songs smiling devilishly. The crowd would surge forward, chanting his name. The enchanting singer also played guitar frequently and even a penny whistle at one point. The band continued mixing deep cuts with some of their biggest hits including,

“High,” “Lovesong,” “In Between Days” and “Just Like Heaven.”  Bassist Gallup shined on a moody jam of  “Fascination Street.” Smith seemed especially giddy while belting out “Friday I’m in Love.” Spirited versions of  “Close to Me” and “Why Can’t I Be You?” followed.  An obviously elated Smith ended the set by saying, “It’s been the best day of the summer.” Then the band launched into a sing-along crowd-pleasing rendition of  “Boys Don’t Cry.”

The Cure Brings a Festival of Goth to California After two very successful annual events, the classic rock extravaganza known as the Arroyo Seco Festival was put on hiatus this year.

[mekana47]

ooooohhh concubine nicky?

First of all, I'm like 99% sure that's not actually the term I want for the situation, but that is what I named the file.

Nicolò has grown up trained in the art of giving pleasure, knowing he would be gifted to the ruler of another kingdom, so he isn't surprised when it finally happens. He is surprised, though, that the ruler Jafar ignores him entirely and that Yusuf, Jafar's slightly older step-brother who all of the advisors expect to make a play for the throne at some point but who is actually genuinely happy to not be in charge, falls for him. Nicolò's equally smitten, but suddenly, Jafar's ordering Nicolò to report on Yusuf's activities, and there's a whole multi-kingdom political scheme I haven't worked out, which is the number one reason this is still a WIP.

(Number two is the length.)

The rest of the team are also going to have minor roles to some extent, but at the moment it's limited to Sebastien and James seeming shady (whether or not they actually are) and Andromache being odd but in a that's-just-how-Andromache-is kind of way.

Thanks for asking! And feel free to ask me about another one if you want. This is fun.

Ask Me About My WIPs

[aion-rsa]

Netflix’s The One: Ending Explained

https://ift.tt/2OpdEA1

Netflix thriller The One is bookended by the same line. It starts and ends with Rebecca Webb, CEO of the genetics-based dating service central to the series, standing on stage saying: “I have a secret I want to share with you.” 

Both times, Rebecca’s talking to a crowd of receptive clients eager to hear that her company is going to find them scientifically approved, DNA-based true love. In episode one, the ‘secret’ is all part of a spiel about her having grown up with parents who didn’t love each other and how, thanks to her company, that won’t ever have to happen again. 

By the finale though, the audience knows that Rebecca really does have a secret. She has several in fact, starting with the deeply shady origins of her billion pound company. By the end of the series, is Rebecca about to make a public confession? Join us as we delve into that and the other cliff-hanger questions left by the finale…

Will Rebecca confess?

To three murders? We don’t know but it’s not likely is it? That one’s pure corporate shark, from her expensively styled quiff to her designer shoes. The finale leaves us with the suggestion that Rebecca – now with no company, no Matheus and, in her own words, nothing left to lose – might be about to tell all, but a confession would be a massive leap for a character so conscience-free who’s gone to such extreme lengths to protect herself until now. 

What happened to Ben on the night of the party?

First Rebecca pushed him off the rooftop of the Millionth Match party venue during an argument, then she pressured James into helping her cover up Ben’s death and dump his body in the Thames. Before Ben went into the water though, Rebecca realised that he was still alive and that she could try to save him. Instead, she rolled him into the river, killing him – a secret she’d kept even from James. 

Why did she do it? Because Ben had realised that Rebecca was behind the data breach that got him fired from his job. He confronted her on the rooftop, threatening to go public with what he knew and send her to prison. When Matheus and Fabio showed up at Rebecca’s place on the day of the Millionth Match party, Ben realised that Matheus had previously taken part in a medical trial for his old company. That’s how he knew that, if Rebecca and Matheus had matched, she must have stolen the database that gave her access to Matheus’ genetic profile. 

Who stabbed Matheus?

David Cooper, the man who’d been protesting outside The One headquarters all series, holding a placard reading ‘A Match Made in Hell’. When Cooper’s wife had used The One to find her match, she’d left him and taken their two young children with her. Enraged, Cooper had attacked his ex-wife’s new partner and lost custody of the kids. He then channelled his frustration and anger into a campaign against Rebecca, eventually stalking her to her home address. He followed her to the new headquarters of her medical research lab, where she was secretly meeting Matheus. Cooper lunged at Rebecca with a knife, but Matheus saw the attack, span Rebecca around and saved her life, taking the knife and dying in the process. Rebecca later had Cooper stabbed to death in prison.

Read more

TV

The One Review (Spoiler-Free): Not a Match Made in Heaven

By Louisa Mellor

TV

New on Netflix UK March 2021: The Irregulars & Moxie Streaming This Month

By Louisa Mellor

Why didn’t Rebecca save Fabio?

For the same reason that she killed Ben – because he was threatening to send her to prison for a past crime. Unlike Ben though, Fabio could be paid off and was blackmailing Rebecca for cash. Having spoken to Ben on the day he disappeared, Fabio knew that Rebecca had reason to kill him, and so when he saw the news report about Ben’s body being dredged up from the Thames, he demanded two million euros in exchange for not telling the police what he knew. Hence, when she found him passed out, she chose not to try to save him. 

Megan, Hannah, Mark and the baby

This is messy. When Hannah went to apologise in person to Megan – the woman she’d befriended after discovering that she was her husband Mark’s genetic match – during a hug, Megan stole a strand of Hannah’s hair. We later saw her use the strand to send to The One and find Hannah’s match. Although Megan told everybody she was planning to move back to Australia, she may be hoping that once Hannah meets her match, she’ll leave Mark and then he and Megan can be together. Mark lied to Hannah about having seen Megan while they were separated, so she doesn’t know that they had sex. Megan, on the other hand, doesn’t know that Hannah is currently pregnant with Mark’s baby. Like I said – a messy business.

Kate’s sibling love triangle with Sophia and Sebastien

After Kate and Sophia were matched, Sophia’s brother Sebastian told Kate he was strongly drawn to her, as if they were also matched. Kate, who’s bisexual, felt a similar pull towards both siblings. The last we saw her she was looking at Sebastien’s social media profile, which included photographs of his fiancée. She closed the tablet and kissed Sophia, perhaps indicating that she’d made her decision, but we also know that Sophia and Kate were both invited to Sebastien’s approaching wedding… In short then, she seemed to choose Sophia but the jury’s out. 

James and Yasmin: a happy ending?

It looked like it. Strangely, even after she had Connor beat him up, James ended the series still friends with Rebecca and likely heading up the scientific arm of her new charitable medical research facility. We saw his match Yasmin, a Somalian refugee and IT worker with a young daughter, get his information and the two of them meet up and get along, suggesting that his lonely, guilt-ridden days are over.

Is The One all a lie?

It very much seems like it. As Kate discovered, despite the company line that there’s only one genetic match for everybody out there, it is possible to be matched with more than one person. Rebecca told James that the company was getting a few cases of people reporting feeling matched to two different people, “mostly between siblings with a high degree of chromosome recombination.” The entire premise, therefore, that there’s one true match out there for everybody, is false – the kind of news that could bring the company to its knees. Good job Rebecca got out when she could, eh?

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The One is available to stream now on Netflix

The post Netflix’s The One: Ending Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3lb8uU5

[chelsanitys]

How and why in the world did Scott and Jessica dated for so long. She seems moody, immature and her attitude sucks (ie Worlds throwing the flowers down in the kiss&cry on TV). Wasn't she was kinda nasty to both her partners? There were rumors Jessica hated Tessa or was it the other way around?

u know everyone was always like freakin out about jess dube and i was like lmao........why. this is clearly not going 2 last. she was cheating on him with bryce constantly and even left him for bryce at one point and he took her back anyway lmao

and yes jess was the biggest fuckin brat. the way she split up with bryce and hooked up with sebastien wolfe was some SHADY shit. she made 95% of the mistakes on the team (like idnw to blame the victim here, but the only reason he hit her in the face w/ his skate is bc SHE travelled during the spin lol) but whenever he made the rare mistake she would pout and glare and huff in the kiss and cry like a 5 yr old. also she clearly didnt like tessa lol, she still doesn’t follow her on instagram even tho she follows literally every other person who has ever been on a canadian figure skating team ever. also remember when tessa got her hair cut into a bob in 09 and jess did too lmao?? scott’s gfs need 2 stop single white femaling tessa, they could turn it into a horror movie at this point

[italianaradio]

SIDERNO Chiude in bellezza la XXII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival

Nuovo post su italianaradio http://www.italianaradio.it/index.php/siderno-chiude-in-bellezza-la-xxii-edizione-del-pentedattilo-film-festival/

SIDERNO Chiude in bellezza la XXII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival

SIDERNO Chiude in bellezza la XXII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival

R. & P.

Il Pentedattilo Film Festival si conferma un appuntamento di eccellenza, una preziosa occasione per il pubblico calabrese per vedere in esclusiva cortometraggi da tutto il mondo. Riconosciuto dalla Regione Calabria come Grande Festival di rilievo internazionale, cofinanziato dalla Regione Calabria nell’ambito della programmazione dei fondi Pac 2014/2020, il Pentedattilo Film Festival, patrocinato dal Comune di Melito Porto Salvo, ha fatto breccia anche nel cuore del pubblico della Locride, in occasione del gran finale al Cinema Teatro Nuovo di Siderno.

“I corti selezionati tra i quelli proiettati in prima regionale lo scorso novembre, in occasione del concorso internazionale di cortometraggi svoltosi a Pentedattilo, hanno entusiasmato il pubblico anche in questo tour conclusivo svoltosi tra Siderno e Reggio Calabria. Molto apprezzati, in occasione della maratona serale al Cinema Teatro Nuovo di Siderno, non solo le storie inedite di nuovi talentuosi cineasti, ma anche i lavori più rappresentativi e interessanti del momentonel panorama dei cortometraggi provenienti da tutto il mondo. Film brevi che questo Festival ormai propone, anno dopo anno, in esclusiva al pubblico calabrese“, hanno commentato il direttore artistico del Pentedattilo Film festival, Americo Melchionda, e la direttrice di produzione, Maria Milasi.

“Siamo stati davvero contenti di aver intrecciato la nostra mission di promozione della Locride con il Pentedattilo Film Festival al quale ci accomuna la passione per i territori e il desiderio di offrire alla cittadinanza momenti significativi di crescita sociale e culturale. Grazie alla lungimiranza di Aristide Bava e della sua famiglia, il Cinema Teatro Nuovo rilancia il suo impegno per costruire a Siderno, nella Locride ed in Calabria un luogo in cui qualità ed eccellenze possano incontrarsi e alimentarsi vicendevolmente”, ha commentato il direttore artistico del cinema teatro Nuovo di Siderno, Pasquale Giurleo.

Il pubblico del PFF ha viaggiato seguendo le vicende del giovane e tenace bambino congolese Samuel, protagonista del corto Debout Kinshasa! (Francia – Congo 2016)di Sebastien Maitre, vincitore del premio della Critica e, ex aequo con Ce qui nous tient (Francia 2017) di Yann Chemin, anche del premio Miglior Cortometraggio nella sezione Territori in movimento al Pentedattilo Film Festival. Una denuncia in narrazione dei diritti essenziali negati anche ai bambini. Sul grande schermo anche la storia familiare dai toni scanzonati, divenuta la storia di un intero quartiere, dal titolo He said: “Mommy”(Russia – Georgia 2017)di Arsen Agadjanyan. Particolarmente apprezzata la performance di Loria Mamuka, miglior Attore del Pentedattilo Film Festival. Spazio anche per il cortometraggio di ispirazione shakespeariana Macbeth (Polonia 2017)diPrzemysław Wyszyński e Maciej Pukzynskie per un altro affresco adolescenziale segnato da un trauma, intitolato Fifteen (Belgium – Egypt 2017)di Sameh Alaa, rispettivamente premiati a Pentedattilo per il miglior Editing e la miglior Regia.

L’incontro tra cinema e danza contemporanea ha primeggiato nella cornice di un istituto di cura singolare almeno quanto l’inabilità da curare, ossia quella di smettere di ballare, e nel corto diretto da Jessica WrighteMorgann Runacre -Temple intitolatoCurling Albrecht (Regno Unito 2017), commissionato dall’English National Ballet, prodotto in collaborazione con il Manchester International Festival e premiatoal Pentedattilo Film Festival per la migliore Colonna sonora. Il travaglio dell’identità in una società avvezza ai pregiudizi è il tema trattato nel video musicale Ultrasound – Kon Tiki (Regno Unito 2016) di Andrew Rutter, vincitore del New Renaissance Film Festival di Londra emenzione d’onore sezione Music video al PFF.

Molto particolare l’ambientazione di un altro corto musicale intitolato A Hand of Bridge (Usa 2017) diretto da David Miller, ispiratosi all’omonima opera teatrale di Samuel Barber e incentrato su un tavolo da bridge attorno al quale i giocatori, in realtà due coppie, segretamente desiderano, sognano e riscoprono le loro paure. Successo anche per Retouch (Iran 2017)di Kaveh Mazaheri e per la storia di una donna e della sua piccola per le quali  un incidente consumatosi in casa e la morte del marito, del tutto inaspettatamente, schiudono la possibilità di una nuova vita. Questi ultimi due corti sono stati premiati al Pentedattilo Film Festival rispettivamente per il miglior Suono e la migliore Sceneggiatura.Retouchè anche il corto vincitore del premio Best Narrative allo short Tribeca film Festival di New York, fondato da Robert De Niro, e del premio Best Live Action al Palm Springs ShortFest.

In occasione di questa maratona serale a Siderno, nell’ottica di una rete che crei e alimenti sinergie tra le professionalità del territorio, il tour conclusivo della XII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival ha ospitato anche la proiezione del video musicaleCardia di Francesco Loccisano,liberamente ispirato al film “Essere John Malkovich” di Spike Jonze (1999). Presente il regista del video, Vincenzo Caricari, originario proprio di Siderno.

In occasione della serata, il cortometraggio Piccole Italiane (Italia 2017), diretto da Letizia Lamartire prodotto dal Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, si è aggiudicato  il riconoscimento delle sezione Cineducationalcome film più apprezzato dagli oltre 1500 studenti delle scuole secondarie di secondo grado che sono stati spettatori attivi delle proiezioni a loro dedicate. Il riconoscimento è stato assegnato a conclusione del tour finale dopo le tappe di Reggio Calabria (ottobre /marzo presso i Cinema La Nuova Pergola, Multisala Lumiére, Odeon) e di Siderno (marzo Cinema Nuovo). Le delegazioni degli studenti di Reggio Calabria che hanno assistito alle proiezioni sono state quelle dei liceo Scientifici Alessandro Volta e Leonardo Da Vinci, del liceo classico Tommaso Campanella, dell’istituto tecnico industriale Panella – Vallauri, dell’ istituto tecnico economico Piria, del Liceo delle Scienze Umane e Linguistico Tommaso Gulli di Reggio Calabria. Le delegazioni degli studenti della Locride, invece, sono state quelle dell’istituto di Stato Industria e Artigianato (Ipsia), dell’istituto professionale Statale Servizi Alberghieri e Ristorazione di Siderno e del liceo Scienze Umane e Linguistico Giuseppe Mazzini di Locri. Anche per gli studenti una programmazione di cortometraggi di notevole spessore ed interesse. I corti Event Horizon (Regno Unito 2016)di Joséfa Celestine Nightshade (Olanda 2018)di Shady El-Hamushanno esplorato i delicati temi dell’adolescenza e del bullismo, dell’immigrazione e del destino che i padri scrivono per i figli. La multiculturalità e i conflitti familiari generati dalle scelte di vita sono stati al centro del corto di Hleb Papou (Italia 2017)intitolato Il legionario. Spazio anche al video musicale Ultrasound – Kon Tiki (Regno Unito 2016) di Andrew Rutter e ai corti Curling Albrecht (Regno Unito 2017) di Jessica WrighteMorgann Runacre-Templ e Ninadi Mario Piredda (Italia 2017); quest’ultimo è uno dei sei cortometraggi che compongono la Webseries 13.11 ambientata nel giorno della strage di Parigi del 13 novembre 2015. I confini geografici e le barriere culturali che degenerano in conflitti e persecuzioni sono stati raccontati con ironia da Mark Playne in 2 by 2 (Turchia 2017), mentre la Storia che si intreccia con la quotidianità di una bambina rimasta libera nel pensiero ai tempi del Fascismo ormai in decadenza, si è dipanata nel corto di Letizia Lamartire Piccole Italiane (Italia 2017), votata dagli studenti come miglior Cortometraggio Cineducational.

Dopo la prestigiosa masterclass di recitazione diretta dal maestro John Strasberg, svoltasi al teatro Cilea di Reggio Calabria nell’agosto dello scorso anno, e il concorso internazionale svoltosi lo scorso novembre al quale hanno partecipato circa 80 corti (selezionati tra i circa 300 pervenuti), provenienti da oltre trenta paesi del mondo, tra cui Italia, Nuova Zelanda, Giappone, Russia, Stati Uniti, Messico, Turchia, Cipro e Iran, la XII edizione del Pentedattilo Film festival si è conclusa con questo tour finale svoltosi tra Reggio Calabria e Siderno. A scandire questo tour, la serata di proiezioni al Cinema Teatro Nuovo di Siderno e la maratona pomeridiana al cinema Metropolitano di Reggio Calabria durante la quale è stato proiettato in prima regionale anche il film collettivo 13.11, ambientato in sei città europee nel giorno degli attentati di Parigi del 13 novembre 2015 e prodotto in Italia da ElenFant Filmnel 2017. Alla proiezione presente uno dei sei registi, Mattia Petullà, originario del comune calabrese di Marcellinara.

Notevole successo anche per la tappa di San Quirico D’Orcia in provincia di Siena dove il pubblico ha accolto calorosamente la kermesse calabrese e le proiezioni targate Pentedattilo Film Festival. Al Teatro Chigi, diretto dal Francesco Chiantese, l’altro direttore artistico del Pentedattilo Film Festival,Emanuele Milasi, e la responsabile del rapporto con i registi, Alessia Rotondo,hanno arricchito questa XII edizione del festival con l’avvio di una nuova virtuosa sinergia con un’altra fucina culturale al servizio del territorio, attiva nell’incantevole borgo toscano.

  Siderno, 28 marzo 2019

      R. & P. Il Pentedattilo Film Festival si conferma un appuntamento di eccellenza, una preziosa occasione per il pubblico calabrese per vedere in esclusiva cortometraggi da tutto il mondo. Riconosciuto dalla Regione Calabria come Grande Festival di rilievo internazionale, cofinanziato dalla Regione Calabria nell’ambito della programmazione dei fondi Pac 2014/2020, il Pentedattilo Film Festival, patrocinato

Gianluca Albanese

[italianaradio]

PENTEDATTILO FILM FESTIVAL Ultime proiezioni al cinema Nuovo di Siderno

Nuovo post su italianaradio http://www.italianaradio.it/index.php/pentedattilo-film-festival-ultime-proiezioni-al-cinema-nuovo-di-siderno/

PENTEDATTILO FILM FESTIVAL Ultime proiezioni al cinema Nuovo di Siderno

PENTEDATTILO FILM FESTIVAL Ultime proiezioni al cinema Nuovo di Siderno

Oggi ultimo giorno di proiezioni dei cortometraggi da tutto il mondo in occasione del tour conclusivo della XII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival. “A Siderno, al Cinema Teatro Nuovo, le ultime occasioni per vedere una selezione dei migliori cortometraggi piu’ rappresentativi del momento, tra quelli premiati a Pentedattilo lo scorso novembre. Tutto pronto per una programmazione ricca di corti in lingua originale e sottotitolati per la seconda e ultima matinée, destinata alle scuole secondarie di secondo grado del territorio, e per la maratona di proiezioni programmata per stasera alle ore 20:30. Siamo particolarmente contenti di questa collaborazione con il Cinema Teatro Nuovo di Siderno che ci consente di concludere nella Locride questa XII edizione del PFF“, hanno commentato il direttore artistico del Pentedattilo Film festival, Americo Melchionda, e la direttrice di produzione, Maria Milasi.

 Per le delegazioni dell’istituto di Stato Industria e Artigianato (Ipsia) e dell’istituto professionale Statale Servizi Alberghieri e Ristorazione di Siderno e del liceo Scienze Umane e Linguistico Giuseppe Mazzini di Locri, i cortometraggi Event Horizon (Regno Unito 2016) di Joséfa Celestin e Nightshade (Olanda 2018) di Shady El-Hamus esplorano i delicati temi dell’adolescenza e del bullismo, dell’immigrazione e del destino che i padri scrivono per i figli. La multiculturalità e i conflitti familiari generati dalle scelte di vita sono al centro del corto di Hleb Papou (Italia 2017) intitolato Il legionario mentre il travaglio dell’identità in una società avvezza ai pregiudizi è il tema trattato nel video musicale Ultrasound – Kon Tiki (Regno Unito 2016) di Andrew Rutter, premiato in concorso con la menzione d’onore sezione Music video del PFF e vincitore del New Renaissance Film Festival di Londra. I confini geografici e le barriere culturali che degenerano in conflitti e persecuzioni sono raccontati con ironia da Mark Playne in 2 by 2 (Turchia 2017) mentre la Storia che si intreccia con la quotidianità di una bambina rimasta libera nel pensiero ai tempi del Fascismo si dipana nel corto di Letizia Lamartire Piccole Italiane (Italia 2017). L’incontro tra cinema e danza contemporanea nella cornice di un istituto di cura singolare almeno quanto l’inabilità da curare, ossia quella di smettere di ballare, viene raccontato da Jessica Wright e Morgann Runacre -Temple in Curling Albrecht (Regno Unito 2017), commissionato dall’English National Ballet, prodotto in collaborazione con il Manchester International Festival e premiato dalla direzione artistica e dai selezionatori del Pentedattilo Film Festival per la migliore Colonna sonora. A completare il mosaico della matinèe la proiezione di Nina di Mario Piredda (Italia 2017), uno dei sei cortometraggi che compongono la Webseries 13.11, ambientata in sei città europee nel giorno degli attentati di Parigi del 13 novembre 2015, prodotta in Italia da ElenFant Film nel 2017 e proiettata interamente, per la prima volta in Calabria, al cinema Metropolitano nell’ambito della tappa di Reggio del tour conclusivo della XII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival.

C’e’ gia’ grande attesa per il gran finale, stasera alle ore 20:30 sempre al Cinema Teatro Nuovo di Siderno. Una serata che si preannuncia imperdibile con la proiezione di Debout Kinshasa! (Francia – Congo 2016) di Sebastien Maitre, vincitore ex aequo con Ce qui nous tient (Francia 2017) di Yann Chemin del premio miglior cortometraggio nella sezione Territori in movimento a Pentedattilo e destinatario del premio della Critica assegnato dal circolo del cinema Cesare Zavattini. Esso apre una riflessione sull’infanzia, sui diritti negati in alcuni angoli di mondo afflitti dalla povertà e sulla perseveranza e l’incrollabile forza d’animo di un ragazzino africano che non si arrende di fronte alle molteplici difficoltà. Ed ancora in programma Curling Albrecht (Regno Unito 2017) di Jessica Wright e Morgann Runacre-Temple, A Hand of Bridge (Usa 2017) di David Miller, ispirato all’omonima opera teatrale di Samuel Barber e incentrato su un tavolo da bridge attorno al quale i giocatori, in realtà due coppie, segretamente desiderano, sognano e riscoprono le loro paure. Poi ancora Retouch (Iran 2017) con il quale il regista Kaveh Mazaheri ambienta la storia nell’angolo di una casa dove un incidente, del tutto inaspettatamente, schiude ad una donna e alla sua piccola la possibilità di una nuova vita. Questi ultimi due corti sono stati premiati dalla direzione artistica e dai selezionatori del Pentedattilo Film Festival rispettivamente per il miglior Suono e la migliore Sceneggiatura. Retouch è anche un corto vincitore del premio Best Narrative allo short Tribeca film Festival di New York, fondato da Robert De Niro, e del premio Best Live all’Action Palm Springs ShortFest.

Sul grande schermo stasera anche la storia familiare dai toni scanzonati, divenuta la storia di un intero quartiere, dal titolo He said: “Mommy” (Russia – Georgia 2017) di Arsen Agadjanyan. Particolarmente apprezzata la performance dell’attore Loria Mamuka al quale la direzione artistica e i selezionatori del Pentedattilo Film Festival hanno assegnato il premio di Miglior Attore. Infine spazio anche per il cortometraggio di ispirazione shakespeariana Macbeth (Polonia 2017) di Przemysław Wyszyński e Maciej Pukzynski e per un altro affresco adolescenziale segnato da un trauma, intitolato Fifteen (Belgium – Egypt 2017) di Sameh Alaa, rispettivamente premiati dalla direzione artistica e dai selezionatori per il miglior Editing e la miglior Regia.

Stasera, inoltre, nella sezione Cineducational sarà assegnato un riconoscimento al corto piu’ apprezzatto dagli studenti nell’arco dell’intera manifestazione. Sarà anche proiettato il trailer del cortometraggio Respira diretto da Lele Nucera, attore e regista della Scuola nazionale Cinematografica della Calabria.

Siderno, 26 marzo 2019

        Oggi ultimo giorno di proiezioni dei cortometraggi da tutto il mondo in occasione del tour conclusivo della XII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival. “A Siderno, al Cinema Teatro Nuovo, le ultime occasioni per vedere una selezione dei migliori cortometraggi piu’ rappresentativi del momento, tra quelli premiati a Pentedattilo lo scorso novembre. Tutto pronto per una

Gianluca Albanese

[italianaradio]

PENTEDATTILO FILM FESTIVAL Presentato al cinema Nuovo di Siderno il programma dell’edizione 2019

Nuovo post su italianaradio http://www.italianaradio.it/index.php/pentedattilo-film-festival-presentato-al-cinema-nuovo-di-siderno-il-programma-delledizione-2019/

PENTEDATTILO FILM FESTIVAL Presentato al cinema Nuovo di Siderno il programma dell’edizione 2019

PENTEDATTILO FILM FESTIVAL Presentato al cinema Nuovo di Siderno il programma dell’edizione 2019

R. & P.

Tornano protagonisti i Cortometraggi dal mondo della XII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival, cofinanziato dalla Regione Calabria con i fondi Pac 2014/2020e prodotto da Ram Film, in occasione del tour finale che dal 22 al 26 marzo farà tappa a Reggio Calabria e a Siderno. Saranno proposteproiezioni tratte dalla sezione Cineducational per gli studenti e una selezione di cortometraggi vincitori e destinatari dei riconoscimenti speciali in occasione del concorso internazionale svoltosi lo scorso novembre nell’affascinante borgo di Pentedattilo.Il cinema teatro Nuovo di Sidernoha ospitato questa mattina la conferenza stampadi presentazione del ricco programma.

Tutto pronto per questo ultimo scorcio di attività scandite da tre matinée con le scuole secondarie di secondo grado(alle ore 9 venerdì 22 marzo al cineteatro Odeon di Reggio Calabria e lunedì 25 e martedì 26 marzo al Cinema Teatro Nuovo di Siderno), dall’appuntamento pomeridiano al cinema Metropolitano di Reggio Calabria domenica 24 marzo dalle ore 18:30 e dalgran finale martedì 26 marzo alle ore 20:30, sempre al cinema teatro Nuovo di Siderno.

Previste persabato 23 marzo anche altre proiezionifuori Regione al teatro Chigi di San Quirico D’Orcia in provincia di Siena, diretto da Francesco Chiantese, alla quale presenzieranno l’altrodirettore artistico del Pentedattilo Film Festival,Emanuele Milasi, e la responsabile del rapporto con i registi, Alessia Rotondo.

Protagoniste, anche in questo scorcio finale, le scuole secondarie di secondo grado del territorio che avranno l’occasione, attraverso i cortometraggi, di conoscere fermenti e prospettive del cinema contemporaneo. Dopo il successo delle matinée svoltesi a Reggio Calabria lo scorso ottobre con il coordinamento di Kristina Mravcova, gli studenti tornano protagonisti delle proiezioni mattutine programmate per le delegazioni dell’istituto di Stato Industria e Artigianato (Ipsia)e dell’istituto professionale Statale Servizi Alberghieri e Ristorazione di Siderno, del liceo Scienze Umane e Linguistico Giuseppe MazzinidiLocri,del liceo Statale Tommaso Gullì e del liceo Scientifico Alessandro Voltadi Reggio Calabria.

“Abbiamo voluto fortemente che le proiezioni conclusive della XII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival avessero luogo qui nella Locride, convinti come siamo della natura itinerantedi questa manifestazioneche unisce territori e comunità nel segno dei cortometraggi e della loro capacità di coniugare brevità e racconto della realtà.

Proporremo anche qui una selezione dei migliori cortometraggi protagonisti delle proiezioni che hanno avuto luogo nella cornice dell’affascinante borgo di Pentedattilo lo scorso novembre, al fine di garantire la massima partecipazione e un ampio coinvolgimento della comunità calabresealla manifestazione”, ha sottolineato Maria Milasi, direttrice di produzione del Pentedattilo Film Festival.

“Siamo particolarmente contenti di proiettare anche nella Locride i cortometraggi del Pentedattilo Film Festival, manifestazione che vediamo con soddisfazione e orgoglio crescere edizione dopo edizione nella sua dimensione di festival capace di portare in Calabria diversi e affascinanti sguardi dal mondo e sul mondo, valorizzando la vocazione di questa terra, fucina millenaria di contaminazioni culturali. La Locride ha in passato ospitato qualche nostra tappa Cineducational e adesso siamo davvero contenti di poter proporre, unitamente al programma per le scuole, anche alla cittadinanza una maratona serale di cortometraggi”, ha spiegato il direttore artistico Americo Melchionda.

“Accompagno volentieri Aristide Bava e la sua famiglia in questa sfida legata a questo Cinema Teatro Nuovo che a Siderno si propone come cantiere culturale in cui ci auguriamo che talenti e professionalità del luogo, e non solo, possano convergere. Esso ha radici in questo territorio ma si proietta lontano, nutrendosi di atmosfere e abbracciando orizzonti di ampio respiro.

Come nei cortometraggi anche nel nostro programma c’è l’idea della sintesi e dell’essenzialità in cui il rumore ceda il posto alla sostanza e alla sobrietà”ha spiegato il direttore artistico del cinema teatro Nuovo di Siderno, Pasquale Giurleo.

“Un tempo per le strade di Siderno e Locri correva un ragazzo che tutti etichettavano come folle. Era   Francesco Panetta poi diventato campione del mondo. Anche il nostro e’ un cammino fatto di passione e impegno che auspichiamo possa portare lustro e crescita in questa terra”, ha commentato Aristide Bava, giornalista della Gazzetta del Sud.  “La strategia vincente credo debba nutrirsi non solo di passione e talento ma anche di reti e relazioni. Noi ci crediamo e siamo particolarmente contenti di questo incontro con il Pentedattilo Film Festival e di questo Cinema Teatro Nuovo che a Siderno sta offrendo uno spazio culturale importante, una casa per tutti gli artisti per confrontarsi e creare. A proposito di cortometraggi abbiamo proprio in cantiere l’idea di investire sulla realizzazione di corti teatrali”, ha commentato l’attore e regista Lele Nuceradella Scuola nazionale Cinematografica della Calabria. In occasione della serata conclusiva, martedi’ 26 marzo al Cinema Teatro Nuovo di Siderno, verra’ anche proiettato il trailer del cortometraggio “Respira” diretto dallo stesso Lele Nucera.

Adesso i dettagli del programma.

Al via già venerdì 22 marzo 2019, con la prima maratona mattutina al cine teatro Odeon a partire dalle ore 9, poi replicata per le scuole di Locri e Siderno al cinema teatro Nuovo di Siderno lunedì 25 e martedì 26 marzo sempre con inizio alle ore 9. I corti Event Horizon(Regno Unito 2016)di Joséfa Celestine Nightshade(Olanda 2018)di Shady El-Hamusesplorano i delicati temi dell’adolescenza e del bullismo, dell’immigrazione e del destino che i padri scrivono per i figli. La multiculturalità e i conflitti familiari generati dalle scelte di vita sono al centro del corto di Hleb Papou(Italia 2017)intitolato Il legionariomentre il travaglio dell’identità in una società avvezza ai pregiudizi è il tema trattato nel video musicale Ultrasound – Kon Tiki (Regno Unito 2016) di Andrew Rutter, premiato in concorso con la menzione d’onore sezione Music video. I confini geografici e le barriere culturali che degenerano in conflitti e persecuzioni sono raccontati con ironia da Mark Playne in 2 by 2 (Turchia 2017) mentre la Storia che si intreccia con la quotidianità di una bambina rimasta libera nel pensiero ai tempi del Fascismo si dipana nel corto di Letizia LamartirePiccole Italiane (Italia 2017). L’incontro brioso tra cinema e danza contemporanea si celebra grazie a Jessica WrighteMorgannRunacre -Templeche dirigonoCurling Albrecht (Regno Unito 2017),premiatodalla direzione artistica e dai selezionatori del Pentedattilo Film Festival per la migliore colonna sonora. A completare il mosaico delle matinèe la proiezione di Ninadi Mario Piredda (Italia 2017), uno dei sei cortometraggi che compongono la Webseries 13.11 ispirata alla strage di Parigi del 13 novembre 2015.

Il film collettivo, realizzato nel 2017 da sei registi italiani in diverse città europee, sarà interamente proiettato, in prima regionale, in occasione della maratona pomeridiana programmata per il 24 marzo al cinema Metropolitano di Reggio Calabria a partire dalleore 18:30. Esso propone uno sguardo caleidoscopico su un momento di violenza e morte che ha colpito il cuore dell’Europa nel 2015. Mentre la mano terroristica colpisce e uccide, la vita altrove scorre in un fluire di eventi solo apparentemente sfiorati da quella tragedia; in realtà quell’evento terroristico scardina equilibri politici e sociali, scuote coscienze e sconvolge prospettive e storie personali. In questa occasione, quindi, i sei corti saranno proiettati tutti. Con i due corti già proposti al borgo di Pentedattilo lo scorso novembre, ossia 19’35” di Adam Selo e Ninadi Mario Piredda, saranno proposti ancheEl hijo de Fatimadi Carlotta Piccinini, Anna and Bassamdi Davide Rizzo, What God wantsdi Michele Innocente e Hoje NaoLisbonadi Mattia Petullà. Proprio il regista Mattia Petullàsarà ospitedella manifestazione e parteciperà al dibattito che seguirà la proiezione del film collettivo al cinema Metropolitano di Reggio Calabria, domenica 24 marzo. La programmazione domenicale nel cinema reggino sarà arricchita anche dalla proiezione di Debout Kinshasa (Francia – Congo 2016)di Sebastien Maitre, vincitore ex aequo conCe qui nous tient (Francia 2017) di Yann Chemin del premio miglior cortometraggio nella sezione Territori in movimento a Pentedattilo e destinataria del premio della Critica assegnato dal circolo del cinema Cesare Zavattini. Esso apre una riflessione sull’infanzia, sui diritti negati in alcuni angoli di mondo e sulla perseveranza di un ragazzino africano che non si arrende di fronte alle molteplici difficoltà. Ed ancora in programma a Reggio Calabria  Curling Albrecht (Regno Unito 2017)di Jessica WrighteMorgannRunacre-Temple, A Hand of Bridge (Usa 2017) di David Miller,ispirato all’omonima opera teatrale di Samuel Barber e incentrato su un tavolo da bridge attorno al quale i giocatori, in realtà due coppie, segretamente desiderano, sognano e riscoprono le loro paure. Poi ancora Retouch (Iran 2017)con il quale il regista Kaveh Mazaheri ambienta nell’angolo di una casa un incidente domestico dal quale del tutto inaspettatamente nasce la possibilità di una nuova vita per una donna e suo figlio. Questi ultimi due corti sono stati premiati dalla direzione artistica e dai selezionatori del Pentedattilo Film Festival rispettivamente per il miglior Suono e la migliore Sceneggiatura.

Sarà Siderno ad ospitare al Cinema Teatro Nuovo il gran finaledi questa XII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival, martedì 26 marzo alle ore 20:30. Ancora Cortometraggi dal mondo scandiranno la serata con una ricca programmazione che comprenderà anche la storia familiare, divenuta la storia di un intero quartiere, dai toni scanzonati dal titolo He said: “Mommy”(Russia – Georgia 2017)di Arsen Agadjanyan. Particolarmente apprezzata la performance dell’attore Loria Mamuka al quale la direzione artistica e i selezionatori del Pentedattilo Film Festival hanno assegnato il premio di Miglior Attore. Infine spazio anche per il cortometraggio di ispirazione shakespeariana Macbeth (Polonia 2017)diPrzemysław Wyszyński e Maciej Pukzynskie per un altro affresco adolescenziale segnato da un trauma, intitolato Fifteen (Belgium – Egypt 2017)di Sameh Alaa, rispettivamente premiati dalla direzione artistica e dai selezionatori per il miglior Editing e la miglior Regia.

Uno scrigno di incontri, quindi, il Pentedattilo Film Festival che si appresta a chiudere questa edizione con altre proiezioni, altre emozioni, altre occasioni di guardare la realtà da diversi punti di vista e di appassionarsi al mondo affascinante dei cortometraggi.

Siderno, 21 marzo 2019

      R. & P. Tornano protagonisti i Cortometraggi dal mondo della XII edizione del Pentedattilo Film Festival, cofinanziato dalla Regione Calabria con i fondi Pac 2014/2020e prodotto da Ram Film, in occasione del tour finale che dal 22 al 26 marzo farà tappa a Reggio Calabria e a Siderno. Saranno proposteproiezioni tratte dalla sezione Cineducational per

Gianluca Albanese