#1991 press reel

[saleintothe90s]

Daily press, September 28, 1989

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 35 years ago people in South Carolina were still reeling from Hurricane Hugo. Very strange how people could just go to someone's house to donate (see left column) back then.

Imagine getting ready to get on a plane to London when you collapse at the airport.

I'd never heard of the comic Outland, it was a spinoff of Bloom County that ran only on Sundays. Here is Mortimer Mouse:

(eBay seller Erickson Comics and Paper)

I found this Sunday night, and then Monday night, I find out that Pete Rose died! VHS Tapes Old newspapers are magic.

Even in 1989, the clothes in these A&N ads already looked outdated. It was always like this with them. I could pull up a newspaper from 1994, and the clothes would look like the clothes people wore in ... 1989.

ooh, we have a Phar-Mor alert. We were not a Phar-Mor family, we did not visit the mythical store known as Phar-Mor. My mom said that area was too crowded. It was like a giant variety store with a pharmacy, right?

I was nosy, and looks like they broke up in 2001. So the Yorks were trying to gain "custody" of their embryo from a lab in Norfolk (they lived in California). I'm not sure if the couple were successful at having children though.

Oh no! It's our boy David Merritt! We remember him from the August 1, 1993 newspaper entry. Remember, his restaurant didn't open until 1992, and was hyping that it was going to open on April 7, 1990.

These ads are magnificent.

Old Mill? I gotta say it:

For you dead mall fans out there, both Outlets Ltd and Great American Outlet Mall are long gone.

I never thought that My Two Dads needed one censor, let alone two. I gotta watch My Two Dads, it has Paul Reiser and Dana from Step by Step! I love that podcast she has with Christine Lakin about Step by Step.

Speaking of censorship, STOPLESS GIRLS. I looked up the address, and looks like it was torn down.

No Cathy in this strip, but there are Fax jokes. Remember faxing in your lunch order? Onion rolls seem so old skool, I feel like I remember seeing them at the bakery at the grocery store when I was a real little kid, and then never again. Is it a regional thing? Do people not eat onion rolls in Hampton Roads anymore?

Garfield was upsetting that day.

OH I almost forgot. Speaking of upsetting:

A man on his bike was hit by a car down the street from the newspaper offices. So just you know, walk down the street and take a photo of it and put it on the front page of the local section. I hope Allen was ok. The McDonalds where it happened is long gone, but the building remains.

/edit/

So the day I went to publish this, I had to take the long way home from Suffolk, and I drove by this intersection on my way to the James River Bridge. Old newspapers ARE magic.

I know we make jokes about certain people putting raisins in potato salad, but what about raisins in your chicken.

I love the names of these raisin recipes! Silk Stockings?! Model T?! I would try a lil bite of each of these.

I can't remember where I mentioned this place, but it amuses me SO MUCH that back in the day you could go to Coliseum Mall and buy steaks.

wait. Bryers made jelly? I wonder if that's the same fruit that was in that yogurt they used to make that was so good. Breyers ice cream is soo bad now.

!! This was my friend Paul's mom! I about flipped when I saw this. This is exactly how five year old me remembers her. She would give me rides to school sometimes in her old jeep and would pick my mom up for room mothers.

Finally, this Eastern Airlines ad is beautiful. They had about a year and a half left, closed in 1991.

I completely forgot to post for September, I got 🦠 at the end of August that went into the first week of September, then I had to get ready for the Norfolk Zine fest, then then this weekend? Is Richmond Zine fest. Don't forget, my zines are available on my Etsy shop.

And there's a new design over at my TeePublic.

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[degrassi-fanatic]

Time, Wondrous Time

The first time Ted Lasso and Rebecca Welton meet is not in her office at Nelson Road in 2020.

No, the first time Ted Lasso and Rebecca Welton meet is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 1991.

It had been his mother’s idea to go on the school trip. She had a love of travelling that Ted couldn’t wrap his head around and she wanted to share that with him so he could go and live out some of her dreams for her. 

At least, that’s what she said. 

Ted knows that the real reason that she sent him off to Amsterdam was to get him out of the house.

It’s funny. 

Before everything with his father went down, his mother used to scold him for running around town with his friends, begging him to just stay inside for one night. 

Now, she begs at his bedroom door every night for him to come down and eat dinner. 

It’s funny in the worst way possible. 

His mother had told him that she didn’t want him to miss out on any memories with his classmates and Ted didn’t have the heart to tell her that he didn’t care much about memories. In fact, these days, Ted doesn’t care much about anything anymore. 

That’s how he ends up in some museum having a staring contest with some damned sunflowers. 

“What did Van Gogh ever do to you?” he hears a British accent pipe up from behind him.

He turns to the source of the sound and finds a girl about his age dressed in a school uniform.

Her blonde hair is tied up in a neat ponytail with a couple of stray pieces framing her face. She’s so tall that he has to check that she isn’t wearing six-inch stilettos. She flashes him a smile and he can see the pink bands of her braces. 

His palms grow clammy and he wipes them on his slacks as sneakily as possible. 

“Uh…I...” he stammers, “Just don’t really get the appeal of sunflowers, there’s about a bajillion better flowers to choose from.”

She barks out a laugh.

“Is that your real accent?” 

His heart sinks.

He should’ve known better. How on Earth would a girl like her, who's probably from some expensive part of England, be into the whole Yankee Doodle situation he's got going on?

Ted simply nods before turning his attention back to Van Gogh and his damned sunflowers. 

“I like it.” she says warmly as she walks over to stand beside him, “Where’s it from?”

“Uh, Kansas.” he answers, “What about you? Where are you from?”

“Surrey.”

“Oh, I was just asking where you’re from.” he repeats as he faces her front on, enunciating a little bit more. 

She gives him an odd look. 

“Surrey… As in South East England.”

“Oh!” Ted exclaims, “I thought you were just saying sorry!”

She laughs loudly, breaking some silent rule or two in the museum as they garner the attention of other patrons. 

Ted pays them no mind as he stares at the way she throws her head back chuckling. He smiles when he hears her snort.  

“What’s your name?” he asks. 

“Becca Welton.”

He offers his hand and Becca accepts it, shaking it firmly like she’s probably been taught in those posh etiquette classes. 

“Theodore Lasso.” 

In the corner of the room, he sees girls dressed in the same uniform as Becca begin to make their way to an adult holding a clipboard. 

“Hey Becca, I think your class might be leaving.”

He points in the direction of the group. As soon as Becca makes eye contact with the group, they begin to motion her over urgently, tapping insistently at imaginary watches. 

“Oh, shit, thanks” she answers, “It was nice meeting you, Theodore.”

For a moment, Becca doesn’t make any move to leave despite her words indicating a goodbye. Instead, she stares at his face intensely. For a moment, Ted's worried he broke some cultural norm and Becca is going to sock him in the jaw for it. 

Then, she grabs a hold of both of his shoulders and reels him in to press a short kiss to his cheek. 

Becca backs away shortly after, burning bright red. She turns away without another word and rushes over to her class, her ponytail flicking back and forth as she goes.

Dazed, Ted brings a hand up to his cheek to feel the sticky imprint Becca’s lip gloss left. 

Maybe, Amsterdam wouldn’t be all bad. 

[allatariel]

This is the first half of the 1991 press reel for The Secret Garden, the musical through which I first discovered Mandy Patinkin could sing, and how! It’s also composed and written by women, Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman, as well as based on a novel written by a woman, Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I performed a few of the solos back when I was still studying, many years ago. This is the first time I’ve ever seen any of the staging! Thanks to aurora spiderwoman for making this available!

[what-goesaround-comesaround]

List of newsies resources masterpost:

Hi! So I made out a list of general resources and information I usually use while researching newsies that I thought I would share. If anyone would like to send me any more videos, essays or information of importance to add to this list, do!! Please note, this list is constantly updating.

Newsies scripts

Newsies 1992 script

Newsies stage script & sheet music

Newsies jr. edition script

Newsies 1991 revised script

The original "Hard Promises" script (the original when newsies wasn't going to be a musical. A LOT was changed in the rewrites)

Newsies books, merch and info

Newsies production handbook

Newsies 1992 novelization by Jonathan Fast

Newsies promotional paper (1992) collected and posted by @queenofbrooklyn

The original North American VHS cover of Newsies

Newsies press kit booklet collected and posted by @queenofbrooklyn

2011 Papermill Playhouse Program by @letter-from-the-refuge

2011 Papermill Playhouse audience guide by @letter-from-the-refuge

The Big Bad Book of Newsies by the Bryan Denton Worshipers

A UK version of one of the Newsies theatrical posters, where it was originally released as “The Newsboys” posted by @queenofbrooklyn

Newsies posters different eras by @brooklynbadboys

Listing of characters

List of Newsies characters (both movie and stage) by @newsiepedia

A list of "who's whosies" from the film made by @letter-from-the-refuge

A guide to the stage characters

A guide to the film characters

Trading cards photos and their bios

An intro to the newsies by @ask-newsies

Newsies historical research

"Kids on strike!" novel by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Some things we know about the real Kid Blink, part one by @newsieshistory

"Mapping out newsies" essay made by @letter-from-the-refuge

Notes on the Refuge made by @newsiesquare

Newsboys information Google drive made by @newsboys-of-1899

How the Newsboy’s Strike of 1899 Was Reported on in Cities Other Than New York by @musicalhistory

The women of the newsboy strike by @newsboys-of-1899 and The Girlsies by @pioneergirlsie

Jewish Immigration and the Jacobs Family in Turn of the Century New York by @newsiesquare

Names/list of real life newsies found on @newsieshistory blog

"Kid Blink beats The World" picture book by Don Brown

Information about Jack's dime novel by @letter-from-the-refuge

Essays via The Newsboys Of 1899 website

A historical recount of The New York House of Refuge by @lousy-old-shrimp

Some great blogs to look at if you want a historical point of view! @newsboys-of-1899 @newsieshistory @newsiesquare @newsiesandhistory-blog

This is just a list of historical essays I find important however if anyone would like me to add anything, please add it/link it!

Interviews with the casts

Masterpost of newsies videos, particularly of the stage cast and tour interviews made by @lizzy88musicalsblog

Newsies Minute (Podcast) Interview with Michael Goorjan (Skittery) which focuses on the behind the scenes spoof horror movie they made, BDHONS

Newsies Minute (Podcast) Interview with Kevin Smets (Ten Pin)

Newsies, The Ultimate Broadway Fan Film on YouTube.

Newsies 1992 interview with Aaron Lohr (Mush), Max Casella (Racetrack), and David Moscow (David Jacobs)

D23's from the vaults: Newsies at Walt Disney studio

Max Casella - "Betting on Racetrack"

Newsies—An Oral History: How It All Happened

Deleted scenes and songs

List of deleted scenes (1992)

Cut songs from Newsies Paper Mill Playhouse production (2011)

"The Truth About The Moon" a cut song for Sarah sang by Dan DeLuca & Joey Barreiro

Carrying the banner deleted scene

Bloopers and observations 1992 Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3

Jack's cut rope trick (1992)

Newsies gag reel

Newsies gag reel (without the age restriction) Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 from @lousy-old-shrimp

David being kicked while selling - deleted scene

Behind the scenes

Blood Drips Heavily on Newsies Square on YouTube Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 which is a spoof horror movie made behind the scenes by the cast of newsies 1992

Newsies The Ultimate Broadway Fan Film again, I really recommend this!!

Behind the scenes (1992) videos here and here

Newsies backstage Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 on Kevin Stea's Youtube Channel (Swifty the Rake)

The map of the Newsies set on the Universal backlot by @annihilatedthenightstalker

Other newsies videos & audios

West end cast audio boot by @waterfaery

Newsies Drug PSA VHS Tape

Second released Newsies Trailer

Newsies Broadway Reunion charity stream

92sies vs livesies comparison video

Santa Fe vs Bet On It choreo comparison

"Finding the appeal of Newsies" video essay on YouTube.

"Newsies | Based on a true story" on YouTubube

Newsies websites

My masterpost on newsies fan websites

Link to the infamous newsiesfreak.com (updated as the original URL was changed) and another link just in case things get changed or lost again.

The brief history of newsiesfreak.com by @queenofbrooklyn

Newsies fanlore

Explanation to why people call Spot and Race "Anthony" and "Seán" in fics, art, fanon ect by @letter-from-the-refuge

Screencaps of every frame of the film

How Boots got his name

Understanding "Juck" by @undercover-vampire

The story with Jack's brother by @letter-from-the-refuge

Newsies findings & essays

A transcript of The Banner by @lousy-old-shrimp

Irish Newsies essay made by me (hi!)

Jack Kelly as the canonical My Little Pony character, "Fine Print"

All of my newsies playlists

An article quoting that David and Les' surname is "Baum" in the Papermill Playhouse production

"Spot Conlon Makes Us A Little Nervous" by Honest Iago

Timon as Racetrack by gooseberry007 on Devianart

La Pandilla - Newsies promotional pictures Part 1 and Part 2

Newsies accounts you should look at!

@ask-newsies

@jackkellystories

@newsiesstocking

@newsiesgiftexchange

@santafejackkelly

[unpopularwiththepopulace]

Chicago at Long Beach, LA, 1992: A Story of Bebe Neuwirth, Choreography, Riots, Revivals, and Relevance

Recently and rather excitingly, more footage made its way to YouTube of the 1992 version of Chicago staged at Long Beach in LA, featuring Bebe Neuwirth as Velma and Juliet Prowse as Roxie.

Given its increased accessibility and visibility, this foregrounds the chance to talk about the show, explore some of its details, and look at the part it might have played as a contribution to the main ‘revival’ of Chicago in 1996 – which has given the show one of the most resonant and highly enduring legacies seen within the theatre ever.

This Civic Light Opera production at Long Beach was staged in 1992, four years before the ‘main’ revival made its appearance at Encores! or had its subsequent Broadway transfer, and it marked the first time a major revival of Chicago had been seen since the original 1975 show disappeared nearly 15 years previously.

This event is of particular significance given its position as the first step in the chain of events that make up part of this ‘new Chicago’ narrative and the resultant entire multiple-decade spanning impact of the show hereafter.

But for all of its pivotal status, it’s seldom discussed or remembered anywhere near as much as it should be.

This may be in part because of how little video or photographic record has remained in easily accessible form to date, and also because it only played for around two weeks in the first place. As such, it is a real treat on these occasions to get to see such incredible and unique material that would otherwise have been lost forever after such a brief existence some 30 years ago.

This earlier revival of the show still feels like what we have come to identify “Chicago” as in modern comprehension of the musical, most principally because the choreography was also done by Ann Reinking. As with the 1996 production, this meant dance was done “very much in the master’s style” – or Mr Bob Fosse.

The link below is time-stamped to Bebe and Juliet performing ‘Hot Honey Rag’. As one of the most infamous numbers in Broadway history, it’s undoubtedly a dance that has been watched many times over. But never before have I seen it done quite like this.

https://youtu.be/4HKkwtRE-II?t=2647

‘Hot Honey Rag’ was in fact formerly called ‘Keep It Hot’, and was devised by Fosse as “a compendium of all the steps he learned as a young man working in vaudeville and burlesque—the Shim Sham, the Black Bottom, the Joe Frisco, ‘snake hips,’ and cooch dancing”, making it into the “ultimate vaudeville dance act” for the ultimate finale number.

Ann would say about her choreographical style in relation to Fosse, “The parts where I really deviate is in adding this fugue quality to the numbers. For better or worse, my style is more complicated.” The ‘complexity’ and distinctness she speaks of is certainly evident in some of the sections of this particular dance. There are seemingly about double the periodicity of taps in Bebe and Juliet’s Susie Q sequence alone. One simply has to watch in marvel not just at the impressive synchronicity and in-tandem forward motion, but now also at the impossibly fast feet. Other portions that notably differ from more familiar versions of the dance and thus catch the eye are the big-to-small motion contrast after the rising ‘snake hips’ section, and all of the successive goofy but impeccably precise snapshot sequence of arm movements and poses.

More focus is required on the differences and similarities of this 1992 production compared against the original or subsequent revival, given its status and importance as a bridging link between the two.

The costumes in 1975 were designed by Patricia Zipprodt (as referenced in my previous post on costume design), notably earning her a Tony Award nomination. In this 1992 production, some costumes were “duplications” of Zipprodt’s originals, and some new designs by Garland Riddle – who added a “saucy/sassy array” in the “typical Fosse dance lingerie” style. It is here we begin to see some of the more dark, slinkiness that has become so synonymous with “Chicago” as a concept in public perception.

The sets from the original were designed by Tony Walton – again, nominated for a Tony – and were reused with completeness here. This is important as it shows some of the original dance concepts in their original contexts, given that portions of the initial choreography were “inextricably linked to the original set designs.” This sentiment is evident in the final portion of ‘Cell Block Tango’, pictured and linked at the following time-stamp below, which employs the use of mobile frame-like, ladder structures as a scaffold for surrounding movements, and also a metaphor for the presence of jail cell bars.

https://youtu.be/4HKkwtRE-II?t=741

Defining exactly how much of the initial choreography was carried across is an ephemeral line. Numbers were deemed “virtually intact” in the main review published during the show’s run from the LA Times – or even further, “clones” of the originals. It is thought that the majority of numbers here exhibit greater similarity to the 1975 production than the 1996 revival, except for ‘Hot Honey Rag’ which is regarded as reasonably re-choreographed. But even so, comparing against remaining visible footage of Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera from the original, or indeed alternatively against Bebe and Annie later in the revival, does not present an exact match to either.

This speaks to the adaptability and amorphousness of Fosse-dance within its broader lexicon. Fosse steps are part of a language that can be spoken with subtle variations in dialect. Even the same steps can appear slightly different when being used in differing contexts, by differing performers, in differing time periods.

It also speaks to some of the main conventions of musical theatre itself. Two main principles of the genre include its capacity for fluidity and its ability for the ‘same material’ to change and evolve over time; as well as the fact comparisons and comprehensions of shows across more permanent time spans are restricted by the availability of digital recordings of matter that is primarily intended to be singular and live.

Which versions of the same song do you want to look at when seeking comparisons?

Are you considering ‘Hot Honey Rag’ at a performance on the large stage at Radio City Music Hall at the Tony Awards in 1997? Or on a small stage for TV shows, like the Howard Cosell or Mike Douglas shows in 1975? Or on press reel footage from 1996 on the ‘normal’ stage context in a format that should be as close to a replica as possible of what was performed in person every night?

Bebe often remarks on and marvels at Ann’s capacity to travel across a stage. “If you want to know how to travel, follow Annie,” she says. This exhibits how one feature of a performance can be so salient and notable on its own, and yet so precariously dependent on the external features its constrained to – like scale.

Thus context can have a significant impact on how numbers are ultimately performed for these taped recordings and their subsequent impact on memory. Choreography must adjust accordingly – while still remaining within the same framework of the intention for the primary live performances.

This links to Ann’s own choreographical aptitude, in the amount of times it is referenced how she subtly adapted each new version of Chicago to tailor to individual performers’ specific merits and strengths as dancers.

Ann’s impact in shaping the indefinable definability of how Chicago is viewed, loved and remembered now is not to be understated.

An extensive 1998 profile – entitled “Chicago: Ann Reinking’s musical” – explores in part some of Ann’s approaches to creating and interacting with the material across a long time span more comprehensively. Speaking specifically to how she choreographed this 1992 production in isolation, Ann would say, “I knew that Bob’s point of view had to permeate the show, you couldn’t do it without honoring his style.” In an age without digital history at one’s fingertips, “I couldn’t remember the whole show. So I choreographed off the cuff and did my own thing. So you could say it was my take on his thoughts.” Using the same Fosse vocabulary, then – “it’s different. But it’s not different.”

One further facet that was directly carried across from the initial production were original cast members, like Barney Martin as returning as Amos, and Michael O'Haughey reprising his performance as Mary Sunshine. Kaye Ballard as Mama Morton and Gary Sandy as Billy Flynn joined Bebe and Juliet to make up the six principals in this new iteration of the show.

Bebe, Gary and Juliet can be seen below in a staged photo for the production at the theatre.

The venue responsible for staging this Civic Light Opera production was the Terrace Theatre in Long Beach in Los Angeles. Now defunct, this theatre and group in its 47 years of operation was credited as providing some of “the area’s most high profile classics”. Indeed, in roughly its final 10 years alone, it staged shows such as Hello Dolly!, Carousel, Wonderful Town (with Donna McKechnie), Gypsy, Sunday in the Park with George, La Cage aux Folles, Follies, 1776, Funny Girl, Bye Bye Birdie, Pal Joey, and Company. The production of Pal Joey saw a return appearance from Elaine Stritch, reprising her earlier performance as Melba Snyder with the memorable song ‘Zip’. This she had done notably some 40 years earlier in the original 1952 Broadway revival, while infamously and simultaneously signed as Ethel Merman’s understudy in Call Me Madam as she documented in Elaine Stritch at Liberty.

Juliet Prowse appeared as Phyllis in Follies in 1990, and Ann Reinking acted alongside Tommy Tune in Bye Bye Birdie in 1991, in successive preceding seasons before this Chicago was staged.

But for all of its commendable history, the theatre went out of business in 1996 just 4 years after this, citing bankruptcy. Competition provided in the local area by Andrew Lloyd Webber and his influx of staging’s of his British musicals was referenced as a contributing factor to the theatre group’s demise. This feat I suspect Bebe would have lamented or expressed remorse for, given some of her comments in previous years on Sir Lloyd Webber and the infiltration of shows from across the pond: “I had lost faith in Broadway because of what I call the scourge of the British musicals. They've dehumanized the stage [and] distanced the audience from the performers. I think 'Cats' is like Patient Zero of this dehumanization.”

That I recently learned that Cats itself can be rationalised in part as simply A Chorus Line with ears and tails I fear would not improve this assessment. In the late ‘70s when Mr Webber noticed an increase of dance ability across the general standard of British theatre performers, after elevated training and competition in response to A Chorus Line transferring to the West End, he wanted to find a way he could use this to an advantage in a format that was reliable to work. Thus another similarly individual, sequential and concept-not-plot driven dance musical was born. Albeit with slightly more drastic lycra leotards and makeup.

But back in America, the Terrace theatre could not be saved by even the higher incidence of stars and bigger Broadway names it was seeing in its final years, with these aforementioned examples such as Bebe, Annie, Tommy, Juliet, Donna, or Elaine. The possibility of these appearances in the first place were in part attributable to the man newly in charge as the company’s producer and artistic director – Barry Brown, Tony award-winning Broadway producer. 

Barry is linked to Bebe’s own involvement with this production of Chicago, through his relationship – in her words – as “a friend of mine”.

At the time, Bebe was in LA filming Cheers, when she called Barry from her dressing room. Having been working in TV for a number of years, she would cite her keenness to find a return to the theatre, “[wanting] to be on a stage so badly” again. The theatre is the place she has long felt the most sense of ease in and belonging for, frequently referring to herself jokingly as a “theatre-rat” or remarking that it is by far the stage that is the “medium in which I am most comfortable, most at home, and I think I'm the best at.”

Wanting to be back in that world so intensely, she initially proposed the notion of just coming along to the production to learn the parts and be an understudy. Her desire to simply learn the choreography alone was so strong she would say, “You don’t have to pay me or anything!”

She’d had the impetus to make the call to Barry in the first place only after visiting Chita Rivera at her show in LA with a friend, David Gibson. At the time, the two did not know each other that well. Bebe had by this point not even had the direct interaction of taking over in succession for Chita in Kiss of the Spider Woman in London. This she would do the following year, with Chita guiding her generously through the intricacies of the Shaftesbury Theatre and the small, but invaluable, details known only to Chita that would be essential help in meeting stage cues and playing Aurora.

Bebe had already, however, stepped into Chita’s shoes multiple times, as Anita in West Side Story as part of a European tour in the late ‘70s, or again in a Cleveland Opera Production in 1988; and additionally as Nickie in the 1986 Broadway revival of Sweet Charity – both of which were roles Chita had originated on stage or screen. In total, Velma would bring the tally of roles that Bebe and Chita have shared through the years to four, amongst many years also of shared performance memories and friendship.

They may not have had a long history of personal rather than situational connections yet when Bebe visited her backstage at the end of 1991, but Chita still managed to play a notable part in the start of the first of Bebe’s many engagements with Chicago.

After Bebe hesitantly relayed her idea, Chita told her, “You should call! Just call!”

So call Bebe did. One should listen to Chita Rivera, after all.

Barry Brown rang her back 10 minutes later after suggesting the idea to Ann Reinking, who was otherwise intended to be playing Velma. The response was affirmative. “Oh let her play the part!”, Annie had exclaimed. And so begun Bebe’s, rather long and very important, journey with Chicago.

In 1992, this first step along the road to the ‘new Chicago’ was well received.

Ann Reinking with her choreography was making her first return to the Fosse universe since her turn in the 1986 Sweet Charity revival. Diametrically, Rob Marshall was staring his first association with Fosse material in providing the show’s direction – many years before he would go on to direct the subsequent film adaptation also. Together, they created a “lively, snappy, smarmy” show that garnered more attention than had been seen since the original closed.

“Bob Fosse would love [this production],” it was commended at the time, “Especially the song-and-dance performance of Bebe Neuwirth who knocks everyone’s socks off.” High praise.

Bebe was also singled out for her “unending energy”, but Juliet too received praise in being “sultry and funny”. Together, the pair were called “separate but equal knockouts” and an “excellent combination”.

Juliet was 56 at the time, and sadly died just four years later. Just one year after the production though, Juliet was recorded as saying, “In fact, we’re thinking of doing it next year and taking it out on the road.”

Evidently that plan never materialised. But it is interesting to note the varied and many comments that were made as to the possibility of the show having a further life.

Bebe at the time had no recollection that the show might be taken further, saying “I didn’t know anything about that.” Ann Reinking years later would remark “no one seemed to think that the time was necessarily ripe for a full-blown Broadway revival.” While the aforementioned LA Times review stated in 1992 there were “unfortunately, no current plans” for movement, it also expressed desire and a call to action for such an event. “Someone out there with taste, money and shrewdness should grab it.”

The expression that a show SHOULD move to Broadway is by no means an indication that a show WILL move. But this review clearly was of enough significance for it to be remembered and referenced by name by someone who was there when it came out at the time, Caitlin Carter, nearly 30 years later. Caitlin was one of the six Merry Murderesses, principally playing Mona (or Lipschitz), at each of this run, Encores!, and on Broadway. She recalled, “Within two days, we got this rave review from the LA Times, saying ‘You need to take the show to Broadway now!’” The press and surrounding discussions clearly created an environment in which “there was a lot of good buzz”, enough for her to reason, “I feel like it planted seeds… People started to think ‘Oh we need to revive this show!’”

The seeds might have taken a few years to germinate, but they did indeed produce some very successful and beautiful flowers when they ultimately did.

In contrast with one of the main talking points of the ‘new Chicago’ being its long performance span, one of the first things I mentioned about this 1992 iteration was the rather short length of its run. It is stated that previews started on April 30th, for an opening on May 2nd, with the show disappearing in its final performance on May 17th. Less than a fleeting 3 weeks in total.

Caitlin Carter discussed the 1992 opening on Stars in the House recently. It’s a topic of note given that their opening night was pushed back from the intended date by two days, meaning Ann Reinking and Rob Marshall had already left and never even saw the production. “The night we were supposed to open in Long Beach was the Rodney King riots.”

Local newspapers at the time when covering the show referenced this large and significant event, by noting the additional two performances added in compensation “because of recent interruptions in area social life.”

It sounds rather quaint put like that. In comparison, the horror and violence of what was actually going on can be statistically summated as ultimately leaving 63 people dead, over 2300 injured, and more than 12,000 having been arrested, in light of the aftermath of the treatment faced by Rodney King. Or more explicitly, the use of excessive violence against a black man at police hands with videotaped footage.

A slightly later published review wrote of how this staging was thus “timely” – in reference to an observed state of “the nation’s moral collapse”.

‘Timeliness’ is a matter often referenced when discussing why the 1996 revival too was of such success. The connection is frequently made as to how this time, the revival resonated with public sentiment so strongly – far more than in 1975 when the original appeared – in part because of the “exploding headlines surrounding the OJ Simpson murder case”. The resulting legal and public furore around this trial directly correlates with the backbone and heart of the musical itself.

I'm writing this piece now at the time of the ongoing trial to determine the verdict of George Floyd’s murder, another black man suffering excessive and ultimately fatal violence at police hands with videotaped footage.

I think the point is that this is never untimely. And that the nation is seldom not in some form of ‘moral collapse’, or facing events that have ramifications to do with the legal system and are emotionally incendiary on a highly public level.

Which perhaps is why Chicago worked so well not just in 1996, but also right up to the present day.

Undoubtedly, we live in a climate where the impact of events is determined not just by the events themselves, but also the manner in which they are reported in the media. Events involving some turmoil and public outrage at the state and outcome of the legal system are not getting any fewer or further between. But the emphasis on the media in an increasingly and unceasingly digital age is certainty only growing.

[fullmetalscullyy]

Royai prompt: Are you flirting with me, Colonel?

thank u sm for the prompt!! it was so fun to delve into this even if i can’t flirt to save my life lmaooo hope u enjoy some royai banter and roy just trying to make riza smile uwu

rated: t | words: 1991 | tags: wedding, alcohol, romance, flirting

read on: ao3 | ffnet

The atmosphere in the room was electric as Roy made his way through it. The party was in full swing and the dancefloor was filled with people, dancing their cares away and having a good time.

Roy watched as Edward danced with Winry in the centre of the dancefloor. Alphonse and Mei were beside them, all four laughing together as they moved in time to the music. Havoc was trying to impress Catalina with his “moves” but they weren’t very impressive. He looked quite hopeless, unable to find the beat properly, but he was still having a good time and that was all that mattered. Catalina laughed with him though and the way she hung onto his arm told Roy that it didn’t really matter. She was impressed by him despite his awful timing with music. Fuery and Breda were deep in conversation with Falman and his wife, talking animatedly with red rosy cheeks, flushed from the alcohol and their amusement.

It was a wonderful scene to witness. It made Roy smile widely as he wandered over to where his companion was waiting for him, a glass in each hand.

Riza was sitting at the table they’d been allocated for the meal, opting to remain there and watch, pleased, as everyone had fun and celebrated Edward and Winry’s wedding.

The dress she was wearing was high backed and formed a collar around her throat. It was a pale pink colour and fell down to her ankles, swishing mesmerizingly every time she walked. It also revealed her shoes which matched the colour of the dress perfectly. The heel on them was small but it was still enough to give her an extra inch in height. On her wrist there was a silver bracelet she’d received as a gift “a long time ago”. Roy had bought her it for her birthday once. He’d been surprised to see her wearing it and Riza had just smiled warmly at him once he noticed and recognised the piece of jewellery, saying nothing more on the matter.

Taking a deep breath, Roy tried to collect himself as he approached her. She was the epitome of beauty and grace today and it was extremely distracting. But in the most wonderful of ways.

“Excuse me, Ma’am?” Roy grinned and dropped his voice as deep as he could, changing it completely.

The effect worked because Riza turned around at the surprised interruption. It was clear she didn’t recognise who it was who’d approached her. Once she realised though her shoulders fell, and she shook her head fondly at his antics.

“Is this seat taken?” He continued his charade, pleased to have gotten such a surprised reaction from her from his joke.

She rolled her eyes and said nothing. Roy did manage to catch the smile she tried to hide though once she looked away.

“A pretty lady like you shouldn’t be left sitting alone at a party such as this,” he added, speaking lowly as he handed her the wine glass in his left. “You should shoot the bastard who left you all alone. How rude of him.”

“Are you flirting with me, Colonel?” The Lieutenant lifted a disapproving eyebrow that strongly hinted that he better not be. “Well,” she smirked, “are you trying to?”

“You wound me, Hawkeye.” He clutched at his chest for dramatic effect. “So what if I am?” His reply was nonchalant as he settled into his chair and took a sip of his whisky. It went down smooth, settling inside his chest and spreading warmth across it.

“I would have to disapprove, of course.” Her tone gave nothing away so Roy tilted his head so he could get a better read on her out the corner of his eye.

“You would ‘have to’, huh?”

“Of course, sir,” she replied evenly. Her wine glass lifted to her perfectly painted lips and Roy was distracted for a moment as he watched her move. “It would be highly unprofessional, wouldn’t it?”

Roy hummed noncommittally, pulling himself out of his distracted thoughts.

“In response to your violent proposal,” she added, “lucky for you, my weapon is concealed, and I don’t intend to remove it at a friend’s wedding, sir.”

That interested Roy. He hadn’t seen a weapon anywhere on her person. But then, Roy thought dumbly, that was the whole point.

Damn this alcohol and your ability to be so easily distracted by her. Not that he really minded that last part though.

“Like you said, it’s a wedding. It’s where people show their love for one another,” he shrugged.

“By trying poor pickup lines on me? Now you’re begging me to shoot you,” she deadpanned, and Roy laughed to himself as he watched the rest of the room. “At least if I do it will keep you quiet.”

“Well, I can turn it on more if you’d like me too?” He flashed an excited smile at her.

Riza groaned in response. She pressed a hand to her face. “Please don’t.”

“So, do you come here often, Ma’am?” His voice dropped to the same deep one he’d used before as he joked with her. It resulted in a sideways glare from Riza.

“That’s another poor effort. Even from you.”

“So, it’s not working?”

She scoffed. Loudly. “Not one bit.”

He sighed dramatically. “Darn.”

“I would’ve expected better than that from the likes of you.”

“Well, I thought it was funny,” he snickered, thoroughly enjoying their banter.

“You would.” There was no real ire in her eyes, nor irritation. Just fondness as she shook her head at him.

“All right,” he relented, lifting his hands in surrender, “I’ll stop.”

“I think that would be best, sir.”

Looking over, he was worried she really was annoyed at him now, but her expression was neutral. However, there was a hint of a smile on her face and she shook her head minutely as she placed her glass back on the table.

“Your flirting is so terrible that I cannot bear to listen to it any longer,” Riza added after a beat. One corner of her mouth quirked up into a smirk as she laughed at his surprised expression. “I can’t believe you actually use those on your dates.” She was enjoying teasing him.

His jaw had gone slack and he huffed in mock indignation. “It wasn’t that bad,” he joked, pretending to be sullen.

“It was torture.”

“Hush, you,” he glared at her.

“Is that an order, sir?”

The mood of the conversation shifted. Roy refocussed his attention on Riza as he picked up her husky tone. She looked at him over the rim of her glass. Her smile was playful and her eyes were sparkling with amusement. However there was something else in there too. Something that wasn’t completely innocent.

Roy swallowed. “Do you want it to be?” He was dumbstruck suddenly, left reeling by the wanting look in her eyes.

Her expression broke down and she started to laugh. Roy blinked and was snapped out of the spell she’d cast upon him with just a single look and one suggestive question.

“What?” He recovered quickly then frowned at her laughter.

“That’s how you do it, sir.” She’d leaned in close to speak to him softly and Roy was caught off guard by the wonderful smell of her perfume that wafted his way.

“You played me,” he cried as loudly as he dared. No one was around but it still wouldn’t do to draw attention to them both loudly.

She giggled. Riza actually giggled. Once more, Roy was rendered mute. All he could do is stare at her as she winked at him playfully and nudged his knee with her own underneath the table.

“I’m simply better at it than you. Clearly,” she snorted.

Roy huffed and crossed his arms over his chest with a scowl.

“Don’t feel bad, sir.” Her neutral tone was back however she still looked far too pleased with herself. “We all have our strength and weaknesses.”

He muttered to himself underneath his breath.

“But,” she sighed, “I suppose we should stop. I wouldn’t want to ruin your reputation any more than I already have.”

“You are relentless today, Lieutenant,” he muttered.

“You said it yourself. Call it payback for leaving a lady alone by herself at a party.”

He uncrossed his arms and sat up straighter in his chair. “I didn’t say that.”

She narrowed her eyes at him with a smile. “Yes you did.”

“No,” he shook his head. “I said a pretty lady.”

The skin of her nose and cheeks turned a shade pinker after his compliment. Riza coughed and looked away from him but Roy could see her hiding her smile behind the rim of her glass.

“And that was the truth,” Roy added, tilting his body over towards her and dropping his voice low. “I wasn’t joking when I said that.”

“Sir,” she scolded lightly.

He lifted his hands in surrender. “Just telling the truth,” he defended.

Her mouth snapped closed and she was silent for a moment. “Hush, you,” she muttered finally, cheeks still pink.

“Are you telling me to lie, Riza?” He acted scandalised, opening his mouth in shock at her suggestion.

“Fine,” she relented, looking around their vicinity to see if anyone could overhear, but there was no one to be found. “I’ll admit, it is nice to hear.” She mumbled it so quietly that Roy had to lean forwards to hear her.

“I’ll just have to tell you at every opportunity I can then.”

A warning look was shot his way.

“And I’ll do it, too,” he grinned brightly. “You know I will.”

“Maybe I will extract my weapon.” She lifted a hand to her chin and tapped it with one finger as she pondered the thought.

The two fell silent, laughing quietly together as all joking was dropped for the moment. Her eyes lingered on his for a moment longer and Roy couldn’t look away no matter how hard he tried.

“Thank you, Roy,” she murmured.

“For what?”

“For being so good to me.”

“It’s what you deserve,” he replied simply. “If I could show you it every day then I would.”

“I know,” she reassured him with an appreciative look. “I would do the same.”

“You already know you own this,” he added quietly. He stretched above his head but as his hands lowered he tapped the left side of his chest above his heart, feigning that it was just a tic of his. “That will never change.”

Riza’s hand slowly moved underneath the tablecloth, as if she was moving to fix her dress. She tapped his knee with the back of her hand and Roy slid his own hand underneath it too. Riza latched onto it tightly, giving it a hard squeeze of gratitude. Roy smiled at her, lost in her eyes, and stroked his thumb over the skin on the back of her hand. Suddenly, everything else just fell away. The party, the noise, the music, it was all gone. It was just the two of them.

Subtly looking around one final time, Riza deemed it was safe to speak what was on her mind. Still, her glass was lifted to her lips so her mouth was hidden from the rest of the room, but Roy could still see it moving. She paused before she took a drink.

“I love you,” she breathed.

Roy squeezed her hand tightly in his. Then, he extracted it from her hold but didn’t let Riza move far. He guided her hand to rest flat atop his knee. The warmth from her palm seeped into his trousers, making him smile to himself. Maintaining eye contact, he drew a love heart on the back of her hand and placed his own atop hers, covering it completely.

“That’s a new one,” she commented softly.

He grinned at her. “I like to keep things fresh, Lieutenant. And I return your sentiment. Wholeheartedly.”

[anthonyed]

Buckytony "come cuddle"?

i missed writing buckytony so much that i was excited to get this prompt and my fingers tripped and it got flirty and - well, read it for yourself  (from this list:  “Come cuddle.”)

-//-

Never in a million years - or more realistically a hundred and two years of his life - has Bucky ever thought God would grant his wildest, dirtiest dream to see his lover spread out on a bed, looking like the sweetest sugar, call him to cuddle with a sultry wink which clearly means something more and hear himself say, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Tony laughs, red tie lying diagonally across his chest, clad in silky baby blue shirt that stretches taught over his torso, suit jacket spilling ink black under him, over the stark white sheet of a displayed mattress. 

"No. Come on," he waves, "Come cuddle with me."

Liar, Bucky thinks. Squinting at the way a pink tongue peeks out for a deliberate lick over Tony's lower lip, in that practiced nonchalance pose Bucky's so used to seeing Tony when he's stripped naked, fucked out raw, and in post orgasmic bliss. 

Swallowing dry, he rasps out, "Fuck off."

Some kid screams 'language!' at the top of his lungs, tiny fingers pointing at Bucky, wild eyes looking at his mommy and Bucky turns just in time to receive dirty eyes from her. 

"Come on, Charles," she ushers the boy away with a haughty accent, turning around from a distance to give one more disapproving look in Bucky's direction. 

Hidden from her sight, still spread out on the Ikea bed, Tony laughs, covering his mouth. 

Bucky rolls his eyes, stepping into the mock room and plopping on the edge of the bed, next to Tony's feet. "Happy now?"

"Blame Steve. Sounds like his influence if you ask me."

"Yeah," Bucky sighs, "fuck him," not caring what to say anymore. Mind still reeling from the sight he'd just seen; Tony. 

He buries his face in his hands and shakes his head clear; elbows propped on his knees, fingers raking through his hair and he glances at Tony from an angle. 

"You can't pull that shit in public, sugar. You're killin' me."

And Tony, his dearest sweetheart, his sweetest fella, catches the end of his tie and brings it to his mouth. Bites it with a devilish grin and he asks, "What? This?"

Bucky buries his face back in his hands and groans, "Now you're really asking for it, doll."

"I am, aren't I?"

Bucky straightens up, scrubs his face raw and he sweeps the perimeter with one quick glance before he lands his hand on Tony's ankle. 

"Wanna get outta here?" He asks, voice lowered two tones, fingers pushing the hem of Tony's pants up; warm skin meets warm skin, curling around the bones of Tony's ankle, squeezing, and he relishes in the slight hiss that comes with it. 

He loosens his grip, rubs a thumb on the inside of his ankle where the imprint he'd left from last night love-making is the reddest and he looks up at Tony. 

Brown eyes blown dark meet him in heat. "How about here?" Tony challenges. 

Bucky presses his thumb pointedly into the bone and he admits regretfully that, "Miss Potts would skin us alive, darlin'. The last time in that gas station caused her too much trouble, remember?"

"When you plugged me?" Tony sits up, scoffing and he’s disgruntled but relenting. 

Bucky smirks, recalling nasty bathroom stall and the lustful urgency that had trumped comfort.

Behind him, Tony scoots closer so his legs are spread out to sandwich Bucky in between, and he wraps his arms around Bucky's neck. Throws himself over Bucky’s back and he props his chin on his shoulder and sighs, "Sure, I remember that."

Bucky hums, his hand cupping Tony's kneecap now that their position had shifted, and he gives it a squeeze. 

Some time passes in silence; them taking in their surroundings and then watching a couple of kids run around, playing hide and seek in various display rooms and Bucky asks monotonously if there's anything else to see in this Ikea place. 

(Which is essentially a big build-yourself furniture shop. Might as well saw the woods himself and start, Bucky thinks, rather than spending hundreds for low quality planks. But Tony had been especially enthusiastic to bring him here so, Bucky came - would follow him to the pit of Hell even.) 

And Tony replies, just as monotonously - distracted by those gleeful children, jaw working close to Bucky's ear, breath fanning hot against the skin of his neck as he clings to Bucky like a koala - that, "Nope, just wanted to lie on their bed and seduce you."

Bucky lets that information sink in. Then he asks, already knowing the answer, "You're not gonna buy this, are you?"

"A four hundred dollars bed?" His voice rises, scandalised, "What d'you take me for, muffin? Your boyfriend's a billionaire."

"He bathes in money." Bucky nods. 

Tony snorts, "That's 1991, honey. Now I just bathe in credit cards. Not very comfortable which makes me want design them to - 

Chuckling, Bucky turns to catch Tony's still rambling mouth in a kiss and effectively shuts him up. 

"Let's go home," he noses his cheek, thrilling from the feel of whiskers on his lips, and he drags his hand down to wrap around exposed ankle. Giving it a squeeze, he husks out a promise, "You repeat that thing you did here in our bed and I'll love you real good, you'll forget your name.” 

Tony shudders, bites Bucky’s earlobe and tugs, and he hums into his ear, "Take me home, sugarplum, and I’ll show you more than that.”

[morethanboomtschk]

Alan Oldham: The Art of Techno Futurism

Alan Oldham is just that – a forward thinking futurist and former radio jockey whose work has long fused the not-so-distant worlds of art and music. Creating illustrations under his own name and spinning under the moniker DJ T-1000, Oldham’s status as a sci-fi visionary has made him one of the most unique and important figures to come out of the Detroit techno movement. “Detroit techno, in my view, was originally about futurism,” he says. “Futuristic black music. Look no further than Juan Atkins for that. A lot of old sci-fi movies and TV shows portrayed a future that had no blacks in it. Detroit techno was a statement that black people would be around in the far future. You can also connect Sun Ra and Mothership Connection-era Parliament/Funkadelic to that aesthetic.”

In the tradition of Sun Ra’s Arkestral manuevers and P-Funk’s explorations of funk’s outer limits, Oldham brings forth elements of science fiction, cultural awareness, higher levels of consciousness and even mythology to forge a sensibility from a future state of existence – with nods to realism interwoven. He believes those talents are innate. “I'm a natural,” says Oldham. “I had an art class in high school, but that's about it. I've been drawing since I was born.” His style – sharp, angular, forward and revolutionary – reflects both the evolution of his craft and his consistency. “My style has matured a bit, especially with my move to paintings,” he says. “But essentially, it's the same as it's always been.”

Oldham began his artistic career as a comic book illustrator, writing for small companies such as Hot Comics, Amazing Comics, Renegade Press, Caliber Comics and a few others. “I started out like everybody else, trying to draw superheroes and trying to get in at Marvel or DC by aping their basic style,” he recalls. “I came up with my own rip-offs of characters, then a few originals of my own. But once I stopped trying to draw like other people, I was able to get in on the indie comics scene of the late ’80s. Anime and manga influences were coming in. It wasn’t so much the basic Marvel or DC styles anymore. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles famously came from that scene, so it was a gold mine back then. Anybody could do anything and it would sell. You could come out with a black and white comic and sell 50,000 copies. We did over 15,000 on Johnny Gambit #1.” - Johnny Gambit is an indie comic book Oldham created at Visual Noise, a studio he put together in the late ‘80s as a place to ink and letter the comic. The name was recently resurrected for an art show Oldham mounted at the Record Loft in Berlin, where he is currently based. Yet in 1986 in Detroit, Derrick May took notice of Johnny Gambit and Oldham’s advanced illustrative style – and he introduced Oldham to the developing techno sound stemming from the Motor City.

“When I went to Wayne State University years ago, there was a place on campus called Student Center,” Oldham remembers. “We all used to hang out there between classes. Some semesters I had long gaps between day and evening classes, so I was there a lot. I was drawing Johnny Gambit at the time and I would have my art supplies with me. Derrick May used to work at this video arcade right off campus on Woodward, and lived a block away from WSU, so I began to run into him. I had known Derrick since we were kids, by the way. Like 10-11 years old. Anyway, he was coming through Student Center when he saw me working on Johnny Gambit. He said he was starting this new label and he asked me to do the label art for it. He offered me $50 for both sides, so I did the designs. $50 was a lot of money in 1986. The record turned out to be ‘Nude Photo’ b/w ‘The Dance’ and it turned out to be very famous.”

It would become the first of dozens of album illustrations for the Detroit techno community. “Derrick had this buddy who needed a logo for his label called KMS,” says Oldham. “So he brought Kevin Saunderson down to Student Center one day, and I met him. I ended up doing the first KMS logo, the one that’s on ‘Truth of Self-Evidence,’ ‘Bounce Your Body to the Box,’ etc. And it just went on from there.” - Oldham was landing gig after gig. In 1987, one of those gigs brought him to a different world: radio. An intern at WDET (a Detroit Public Radio station) the summer prior, he was then offered his own show, which was aptly called “Fast Forward,” holding true to Oldham’s futuristic approach to life. “Fast Forward” had become Detroit’s first-ever all-electronic radio program and ran between 1987-1992. Oldham had a graveyard shift initially – 3 AM to 6 AM – but his audience was vast, as he played everything from classic favourites to burgeoning techno beats from colleagues and friends.

Some of the music given to him for his radio show was from Jeff Mills and Mike Banks, who had just formed Underground Resistance, and they recruited Oldham for yet another gig – this time in the area of public relations for the newfound collective. “Jeff Mills was another childhood friend,” Oldham describes. “Mills lived down the street from this kid I used to draw with. This kid’s dad had this high-rise at 1600 Lafayette that we used to gather at to play Monopoly every week and Jeff was in the group. Years later, Jeff had hooked up with Mike Banks to form UR. By this time, I had my radio show on WDET, and they used to feed me reel-to-reels and white labels to play on the air.

“By 1991, UR was getting stronger and they needed PR help. I minored in English and learned to write press releases in school, so I started doing that for UR for gas money. We were all crammed into Banks’ mom’s basement. Rob Hood was in the group, too, designing flyers, pasting up stuff. This was pre-Mac, of course.”

Oldham’s involvement with Underground Resistance led to his introduction to DJing. “When Jeff left UR in ’92 and they had an Australian Tour all lined up, Banks asked me to be the replacement tour DJ,” he says. “Everybody had code names in UR, so that's when DJ T-1000 was born. I went at it with gusto, ’cause it was my big break. And that was that.” - However, the development of DJ T-1000 also led to the temporary demise of Oldham’s comic illustrations. “Once I got into DJing and traveling every weekend and making music, doing comics took a back seat,” he says. “But with the slow demise of the music business as I once knew it, I’m back to the first love, making comics and art again.”

His travels and constant connections resulted in Oldham creating art for an impressive roster including Derrick May, Miss Djax, Ben Sims, Richie Hawtin, Astralwerks, Third Ear Recordings, Opilec Music, Steve Bug, Cisco Ferreira (The Advent), Delsin Records, AW Recordings and many others. “Because of my work for Djax-Up-Beats, robots have become a theme in my artwork,” Oldham says. “People know me for that, so I decided to continue the theme in my big canvases. Big booties, stiletto heels, spaceships and robots.” Oldham’s art garnered international attention through the DJs and labels, especially in Europe, where there was (and still is) a deep fascination with Detroit techno. “When I started emphasizing on doing gallery shows in Europe, the techno art got even more popular,” he says. Although he felt something special stirring out of the Detroit techno movement, Oldham knew his calling was overseas. “All that interest from Europe… for me, just the chance to get out of Detroit and see the world and make so many international friends was a very big thing, and still is,” he says.

Today, Oldham travels the world showcasing his art, as well as his music. He continues to spread the futuristic message of Detroit techno on an international level through his talents. “My number one goal with both my art and music is to impact my audience in a positive way,” he says. “No negativity, just mood and cool. I’ve got paintings hanging in people’s homes and studios, and my music in their iPods. I want to push my aesthetic out there and leave my mark.”

This article was published on the Red Bull Music Academy website in November 2014. Written by Ashley Zlatopolsky.

[theresasnakeinmybootleg]

Definitely not a list of Boots with Snakes on it

Note: I’m not that active on Tumblr so send me an email at psychocreepo@gmail.com if you want to initiate a trade.

13

13 - Broadway - September 16, 2008 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master)

13 - Broadway - December 29, 2008 (Has missing files)

40-45

40-45 - Flanders - 2018 (Preview) (Pro-Shot's master)

ANASTASIA

Anastasia - Broadway - September 6, 2017 (NYCG8R's master)

BARE: A POP OPERA

Bare: A Pop Opera - Los Angeles - December 30, 2000 (Soundboard's master) (Audio)

Bare: A Pop Opera - Off-Broadway - April 17, 2004 (Preview) (Pro-Shot's master) 

Bare: A Pop Opera - Off-Broadway - May 27, 2004 (Closing Night)

Bare: A Pop Opera - Wheeler Art's Center - Indianapolis - July 28, 2008 (Pro-Shot's master)

Bare: A Pop Opera - LA Revival - September, 2013 (Pro-Shot's master)

Bare: A Pop Opera - 15th Anniversary Reunion Concert - October 12, 2015 (ren598's master)

Bare: A Pop Opera - 15th Anniversary Reunion Concert - October 12, 2015 (Audio)

BARE: THE MUSICAL

Bare: The Musical - Off-Broadway - December 19, 2012 (Matinee)

Bare: The Musical - London Reunion Concert - October 12, 2017 (Audio)

BE MORE CHILL

Be More Chill - Broadway - August 11, 2019 (Closing Night) (notjustthespongenextdoor's master)

BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER

But I'm a Cheerleader - London Reading - December 6, 2013 (House-Cam's master)

CHICAGO

Chicago - Broadway Revival - 1996 (Highlights) (Pro-Shot's master)

COME FROM AWAY

Come From Away - West End - August 31, 2019 (EmeraldSkulblaka's master) (Audio)

DEAR EVAN HANSEN

Dear Evan Hansen - Washington, D.C. - July 26, 2015 (Audio)

Dear Evan Hansen - Broadway - November, 2016 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master)

Dear Evan Hansen - Broadway - November 15, 2016 (Preview) (Token Goat's master) (Audio)

Dear Evan Hansen - Broadway - December, 2016 (Highlights) (SJ Bernly's master)

Dear Evan Hansen - Broadway - June 24, 2017 (SunsetBlvd79's master)

Dear Evan Hansen - Broadway - February, 2019 (NYCG8R's master)

Dear Evan Hansen - Broadway - June, 2019 (StarCuffedJeans's master)

Dear Evan Hansen - Broadway - January, 2020 (StarCuffedJeans's master)

Dear Evan Hansen - West End - February 26, 2020 (theatrehufflepuff's master) (Audio)

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO

Doctor Zhivago - UK Concert - September 1, 2019 (Closing Night) (EmeraldSkulblaka's master)  (Audio)

DREAMGIRLS

Dreamgirls - Broadway - December, 1981

FALSETTOS

Falsettos - Hartford Stage (March Of The Falsettos & Falsettoland) - September-November, 1991

Falsettos - Broadway - January-February, 1993

Falsettos - Broadway Revival - January, 2017 (Pro-Shot's master)

FINDING NEVERLAND

Finding Neverland - Pre-Broadway / Cambridge - September 3, 2014 (SunsetBlvd79's master)

HAIRSPRAY

Hairspray - Broadway - January 31, 2006

HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL

Heathers: The Musical - West End - November 24, 2018 (Closing Night) (NYCG8R's master)

THE KING AND I

The King and I - Revival Tour - December 15, 2016 (SJ Bernly's master)

LEGALLY BLONDE

Legally Blonde - Pre-Broadway / San Francisco - February 24, 2007 (Closing Night)

LES MISERABLES

Les Misérables - West End - May 9, 1987 (House-Cam's master)

Les Misérables - First Broadway Revival - November 11, 2006

LOVE NEVER DIES

Love Never Dies - Melbourne - September 15, 2011 (Pro-Shot's master)

MEAN GIRLS

Mean Girls - Broadway - July 4, 2018 (Matinee) (SunsetBlvd79's master)

NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 - Broadway - August 13, 2017 (SunsetBlvd79's master)

NEWSIES

Newsies - First National Tour - September 11-15, 2016 (Pro-Shot's master) 

PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL

Pretty Woman: The Musical - Broadway - July, 2018 (Preview) (NYCG8R's master)

THE PRINCE OF EGYPT

The Prince of Egypt - West End - February, 2020 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master)

THE PROM

The Prom - Pre-Broadway / Atlanta - September 17, 2016 (SunsetBlvd79's master)

The Prom - Broadway - January 8, 2019 (Audio)

The Prom - Broadway - February, 2019 (NYCG8R's master)

The Prom - Broadway - March, 2019 (StarCuffedJeans's master)

The Prom - Broadway - August 11, 2019 (Matinee) (Closing Night) (StarCuffedJeans's master) (TRADER'S NOTE: Has a big watermark throughout the video)

RENT

RENT - Broadway - September 7, 2008 (Closing Night) (Pro-Shot's master)

SHREK: THE MUSICAL

Shrek: The Musical - Broadway - October, 2009 (Pro-Shot's master)

SIX

Six - Broadway - February 19, 2020 (Preview) (Today4UTomorrow4Netflix's master) (Audio)

Six - Pre-Broadway Tour - November 30, 2019 (Opening Night) (myroadofgoodintentions's master)

SPRING AWAKENING

Spring Awakening - Broadway - February 10, 2007 (SunsetBlvd79's master)

WAITRESS

Waitress - Pre-Broadway / Cambridge - September 2, 2015 (SunsetBlvd79's master)

Waitress - Broadway - June 14, 2016 (SJ Bernly's master)

WICKED

Wicked - Broadway - October, 2003 (Highlights) (Press Reel's master)

Wicked - Broadway - October 12, 2003 (Preview)

Wicked - Broadway - January 9, 2004

Wicked - Broadway - July 18, 2004

Wicked - West End - December 30, 2006 (Audio)

Wicked - West End - July 16, 2008 (Matinee) (Audio)

Wicked - Broadway - March 23, 2010 (Audio)

Wicked - West End - November 16, 2013 (Matinee) (Audio)

Wicked - First National Tour (Emerald City) - February 25, 2014 (SunsetBlvd79's master)

Wicked - Broadway - December 27, 2016 (Matinee) (SJ Bernly's master)

Wicked - Broadway - June 30, 2017 (SunsetBlvd79's master)

Wicked - Second National Tour (Munchkinland) - October 28, 2018 (myroadofgoodintentions's master) (Audio)

Wicked - Broadway - December 11, 2018 (bubbledress's master) (Audio)

Wicked - Broadway - March, 2019 (StarCuffedJeans's master)

Wicked - West End - April 10, 2019 (blueberrybacon's master) (Audio)

[mysticalhearth]

Take Me Out - Broadway - March 26, 2003 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Daniel Sunjata (Darren Lemming), Neal Huff (Kippy Sunderstorm), Denis O'Hare (Mason Marzac), Frederick Weller (Shane Mungitt), Kevin T Carroll (Davey Battle), David Eigenberg (Toddy Koovitz) NOTES: Digital; excellent picture and sound, nice closeups Tanz der Vampire - Vienna - October 4, 1997 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Steve Barton (Graf von Krolock), Cornelia Zenz (Sarah Chagal), Aris Sas (Alfred), Gernot Kranner (Professor Abronsius), Eva Maria Marold (Magda), James Sbano (Yone Chagal), Anne Welte (Rebecca Chagal), Nik Breidenbach (Herbert von Krolock), Torsten Flach (Koukol) NOTES: There are English subtitles available for this video in .sub/idx format. Tarzan - Broadway - March 30, 2006 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Jenn Gambatese (Jane Porter), Merle Dandridge (Kala), Shuler Hensley (Kerchak), Chester Gregory (Terk), Tim Jerome (Professor Porter), Donne Keshawarz (Mr. Clayton), Daniel Manche (Young Tarzan) NOTES: Filmed during previews, the show is a little dark at times, but a great Dvd. Crystal clear picture and sound. A Tarzan - Broadway - July 30, 2006 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Jenn Gambatese (Jane Porter), Merle Dandridge (Kala), Horace V Rogers (u/s Kerchak), Chester Gregory (Terk), Tim Jerome (Professor Porter), Donne Keshawarz (Mr. Clayton), Daniel Manche (Young Tarzan), Nick Sanchez (u/s Snipes) NOTES: Nice filming, not as dark as other Tarzan Dvd. A Tarzan - Oberhausen - November 21, 2017 (Rumpel's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Anton Zetterholm (Tarzan), Tessa Sunniva van Tol (Jane Porter), Isabel Trinkaus (Kala), Andreas Lichtenberger (Kerchak), Matt Farci (Terk), Japheth Myers (Professor Porter), Rudi Reschke (Mr. Clayton), Simeon Pauls (Young Tarzan) NOTES: HD capture with great sound and no obstructions. The cast is amazing and the changes in the show, compared to Hamburg and Stuttgart, are suitable and refreshing. Tarzan - Scheveningen - June 23, 2007 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Ron Link (Tarzan), Chantal Janzen (Jane Porter), Chaira Borderslee (Kala), Jeroen Phaff (Kerchak) NOTES: No zoom due to directorstape, but soundboard Sound, also some footage from after the show (cleaning etc) Tarzan - Stuttgart - August 21, 2015 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Gian Marco Schiaretti (Tarzan), Merle Hoch (Jane Porter), Willemijn Verkaik (Kala), Jan Ammann (Kerchak), Massimiliano Pironti (Terk), Maik Lohse (Professor Porter), Léon Roeven (Mr. Clayton), Matthis Lernhardt (Young Tarzan) NOTES: Willemijn and Massimiliano's first show. Tarzan - Stuttgart - October 3, 2015 FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: John Vooijs (Tarzan), Merle Hoch (Jane Porter), Willemijn Verkaik (Kala), Jan Ammann (Kerchak), Alessio Impedovo (Terk), Maik Lohse (Professor Porter), Léon Roeven (Mr. Clayton), Miguel Strasser (Young Tarzan) Theory of Relativity - Workshop - April 13, 2013 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Josh Blackstock, Joanna Fraser, Curtis Brown, Jade Repeta, Jenny Weisz, Adrian Zeyl, Dana Jean Phoenix, Carter Easler, Trevor Patt, Beth Robertson, Andrew Perry, Charles Douglas, Natasha Kozak, Katie Kerr, Josh LeClair, Emma Pedersen  

They're Playing Our Song - Los Angeles - October 2, 2010 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Jason Alexander (Vernon Gersch), Stephanie J Block (Sonia Walsk) Thoroughly Modern Millie - Broadway - April 13, 2002 (Preview) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Sutton Foster (Millie Dillmount), Gavin Creel (Jimmy Smith), Marc Kudisch (Mr. Trevor Graydon), Harriet Harris (Mrs. Meers), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Muzzy Van Hossmere), Angela Christian (Miss Dorothy Brown), Ken Leung (Ching Ho), Francis Jue (Bun Foo), Anne L Nathan (Miss Flannery) NOTES: Shot from the second row with lots of close-ups. Very clear and steady video with very good sound. The Three Musketeers (Raby, Leigh, Stiles) - North Shore Music Theatre - August 20, 2007 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Aaron Tveit (D'Artagnan), Allison Blackwell (Landlady of the Inn), Anne Tolpegin (Dona Estefania), Heather Koren (Queen Anne), Holly Davis (Cecile), Jeff Edgerton (Bonacieux), Jimmy Smagula (Porthos), John Schiappa (Athos), Kevyn Morrow (Aramis), Kingsley Leggs (Treville), Mark Aldrich (King Louis), Matt Stokes (Cardinal Richelieu), Mick Bleyer (Rochefort), Nick Dalton (Duke of Buckingham), Steven Booth (Planchet), Kate Baldwin (Milady) NOTES: No audience, proshot from the dress rehearsal. Nicely filmed from the North Shore Music Theatre. tick, tick... BOOM! - Korea - 2002 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Joey McIntyre (Jon), Jerry Dixon (Michael), Natascia Diaz (Susan) NOTES: Features 20 minute Joey McIntyre concert after the show tick, tick... BOOM! - Off-Broadway - May 31, 2001 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Raúl Esparza (Jon), Jerry Dixon (Michael), Amy Spanger (Susan) tick, tick... BOOM! - Off-Broadway - September 18, 2001 FORMAT:  MKV (HD) CAST: Raúl Esparza (Jon), Jerry Dixon (Michael), Amy Spanger (Susan) tick, tick... BOOM! - Workshop/Concert - November 25, 1991 (Highlights) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD)  CAST: Jonathan Larson (Jon) NOTES: 4 songs. The original Tick Tick Boom before it was adapted into a 3 person show. Tina - The Tina Turner Musical - West End - September, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Aisha Jawando (alt Tina Turner), Ashley Zhangazha (Ike Turner), Angela Marie Hurst (u/s Zelma Bullock), Edward Bourne (Erwin Bach), Oscar Batterham (Roger Davies), Irene Myrtle Forrester (Gran Georgeanna), Jammy Kasongo (Richard Bullock/Raymond Hill), Cameron Bernard Jones (Craig Hill) Titanic - Australia - November 30, 2006 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (SD) CAST: Hayden Tee (Thomas Andrews), Nick Tate (Captain E. J. Smith), Brendan Higgins (J. Bruce Ismay), Alexander Lewis (Frederick Barrett), Matthew Willis (Harold Bride, Radioman), David Goddard (Henry Etches, 1st Class Steward), Ana Marina (Caroline Neville), Katrina Retallick (Alice Bean), Robert Gard (Isidor Strauss), Joan Carden (Ida Strauss), Belinda Wollaston (Kate McGowen), Cameron Mannix (Bandmaster Wallace Hartley) NOTES: Single camera proshot with soundboard audio. Sometimes listed as 2005, but the production ran from October - December 2006. Titanic - Bad Hersfeld, Germany - August, 2017 (Rumpel's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: David Arnsperger (Thomas Andrews), Alen Hodzovic (Captain E. J. Smith), Veronika Hörmann (Alice Bean), Stefan Grego Schmitz (Edgar Bean), Gabriela Ryffel (Kate McGowen), Anja Backus (Kate Murphy), Christine Rothacker (Kate Mullins) Titanic - Broadway - 1997 (Highlights) (Press Reel's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Michael Cerveris (Thomas Andrews), John Cunningham (Captain E. J. Smith), David Garrison (J. Bruce Ismay), Brian d'Arcy James (Frederick Barrett), Martin Moran (Harold Bride, Radioman), David Elder (Frederick Fleet), Don Stephenson (Charles Clarke), Judy Blazer (Caroline Neville), Victoria Clark (Alice Bean), Bill Buell (Edgar Bean), Theresa McCarthy (Kate Murphy), Erin Hill (Kate Mullins) Titanic - Broadway - November 12, 1997 FORMAT:  MKV (HD) CAST: Michael Cerveris (Thomas Andrews), John Cunningham (Captain E. J. Smith), David Garrison (J. Bruce Ismay), Brian d'Arcy James (Frederick Barrett), Judy Blazer (Caroline Neville), Bill Buell (Edgar Bean), Larry Keith (Isidor Strauss), Jody Gelb (Eleanor Widener) NOTES: Camcorder video, mostly wide shot with a few zooms. The only known video of this production. Titanic - First National Tour - September 2, 2000 FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Kevin Gray (Thomas Andrews), William Parry (Captain E. J. Smith), Adam Heller (J. Bruce Ismay), Marcus Chait (Frederick Barrett), Dale Sandish (Harold Bride, Radioman), Timothy J Alex (Frederick Fleet), Christianne Tisdale (Caroline Neville), Liz McConahay (Alice Bean), David Beditz (Edgar Bean), S Marc Jordan (Isidor Strauss), Taina Elg (Ida Strauss), Richard Roland (Jim Farrell), Melissa Bell Chait (Kate McGowen), Kate Suber (Kate Murphy), Jodi Jinks (Kate Mullins), Raymond Sage (3rd Officer Herbert J. Pitman) Titanic - Redondo Beach - March 20, 2001 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Richard Kline (Captain Smith), Eve Cohen (Kate McGowen), Wendi Bergamini (Kate Murphy), Moriah Angeline (Kate Mullins), John Bisom (Jim Farrell), Tracy Perry (Lightoller), Mark Capri (Mr Ismay), Jamie Snyder (Pittman), Elizabeth Loyacano (Caroline Neville), Tony Adelman (Thomas Andrews), Lois Bourgon (Ida Strauss), Bob Lauder Jr. (Isidor Strauss), Kevin Earley (Stoker Frederic Barrett), Richard Israel (Harold Bride), Paul Greene (Charles Clarke), Gibby Brand (Henry Etches),Danny Michaels (Murdoch), Kent Melwig (Frederick Fleet), Douglas Carfrae (Mr Astor), Jill Simonian (Madeleine Astor) Titanic - The Netherlands - 2001 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Tony Neef (Thomas Andrews), Bert Simhoffer (Captain E. J. Smith), Hugo Haenen (J. Bruce Ismay), Danny de Munk (Frederick Barrett), Dick Cohen (Harold Bride, Radioman), Jon van Eerd (Henry Etches, 1st Class Steward), Annick Boer (Alice Bean), Céline Purcell (Kate McGowen) Titanic - West Palm Beach - February, 2019 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Christopher Pappas (Thomas Andrews), Colton McDonald (Captain E. J. Smith), Kyler O’Brien (J. Bruce Ismay), Chris Santiago (Harold Bride, Radioman), Olivia Henley (Alice Bean), Finnigan Anthony (Edgar Bean), Alli Graves (Kate McGowen), Jonathan Allen (1st Officer William Murdoch), Ethan Spell (2nd Officer Charles Lightoller) NOTES: running time 2'23; complete multicam proshot of West Palm Beach's King's Academy 2019 production. [title of show] - Broadway - July 5, 2008 (Preview) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Heidi Blickenstaff (Heidi), Hunter Bell (Hunter), Jeff Bowen (Jeff), Larry Pressgrove (Larry), Susan Blackwell (Susan) [title of show] - Broadway - July 6, 2008 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Heidi Blickenstaff (Heidi), Hunter Bell (Hunter), Jeff Bowen (Jeff), Larry Pressgrove (Larry), Susan Blackwell (Susan) NOTES: Cute little show about making it to Broadway. Heidi was my favorite part of the show. There were some very funny parts to the show, especially if you are a theater buff. There are about 10 mins of total blackouts, which is mostly a chunk in within the first 13 minutes. Depsite that, a nice capture and the audience was very into the show. A- To Kill a Mockingbird - Broadway - July, 2019 (Hollis Mizner's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Jeff Daniels (Atticus Finch), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Scout), Will Pullen (Jem), Manoel Felciano (Horace Gilmer), LaTonya Richardson Jackson (Calpurnia), Aubie Merrylees (u/s Dill), Dakin Matthews (Judge Taylor), Gbenga Akinnagbe (Tom Robinson), Frederick Weller (Bob Ewell), Danny Wolohan (Boo Radley), Erin Wilhelmi (Mayella), Neal Huff (Link Deas), Liv Roth (Miss Stephanie), Phyllis Somerville (Ms. Dubose) NOTES: Very shaky video, never really settles down. Filmed nearly entirely through close-ups, which means a fair bit of the action is missed. Tootsie - Broadway - December, 2019 (theaterfan64's master) FORMAT:  MOV (HD) CAST: Santino Fontana (Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels), Lilli Cooper (Julie Nichols), Andy Grotelueschen (Jeff Slater), Sarah Stiles (Sandy Lester), John Behlmann (Max Van Horn), Julie Halston (Rita Marshall), Reg Rogers (Ron Carlisle), Michael McGrath (Stan Fields), Britney Coleman NOTES: Full stage shot of the show during it’s run on Broadway. There is washout, as it’s a full stage shot, but it is very very watchable. About 8 minutes is missing right before the Act 1 finale. Tootsie - Pre-Broadway / Chicago - September 11, 2018 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Santino Fontana (Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels), Lilli Cooper (Julie Nichols), Andy Grotelueschen (Jeff Slater), Sarah Stiles (Sandy Lester), John Behlmann (Max Van Horn), Julie Halston (Rita Marshall), Reg Rogers (Ron Carlisle), Michael McGrath (Stan Fields), Anthony Wayne, Britney Coleman, Diana Vaden, Drew King, Harris Milgrim, James Moye, Jeff Kready, John Arthur Greene, Katerina Papacostas, Leslie Donna Flesner, Paula Leggett Chase, Shina Ann Morris NOTES: Excellent HD capture of the first PreBroadway preview performance. This is a fun show with terrific performances based on the 1982 movie. Santino gives a wonderful performance and earning early Tony buzz for Best Actor! A+ Translations - National Theatre - July 31, 2018 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Colin Morgan (Owen), Seamus O'Hara (Manus), Ciarán Hinds (Hugh), Dermot Crowley (Jimmy Jack Cassie), Adetomiwa Edun (Lieutenant Yolland), Rufus Wright (Captain Lancey), Michelle Fox (Sarah), Judith Roddy (Maire), Laurence Kinlan (Doalty), Aoife Duffin (Bridget) Travelling Light - National Theatre, London - February 9, 2012 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MKV (HD)|Subtitles CAST: Tom Allwinton, Norma Atallah, Roy Baron NOTES: National Theatre Live 9th February 2012 mkv, 5.46GB Hardcoded English subtitles

Treasure Island - National Theatre - January 22, 2015 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Arthur Darvill (Long John Silver), Patsy Ferran (Jim Hawkins), Oliver Birch (George Badger), Raj Bajaj (Job Anderson) Tuck Everlasting - Broadway - April 4, 2016 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Carolee Carmello (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: Excellent capture of the Broadway transfer from Atlanta. Many changes and direction from the out of town tryout. A Tuck Everlasting - Broadway - April 4, 2016 (Preview) (NYCG8R's master) FORMAT:  DVD ISO (SD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Carolee Carmello (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: A more rare recording of the same performance as a more common capture. Single Disc Tuck Everlasting - Pre-Broadway / Atlanta - February 5, 2015 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Carolee Carmello (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: Beautiful HD capture of the PreBroadway tryout in Atlanta. This was Carolee's final performance due to leaving for Finding Neverland. Wonderful show, performances and music! A+ Tuck Everlasting - Pre-Broadway / Atlanta - February 6, 2015 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Beth Leavel (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: Beautiful capture of the Pre-Broadway tryout in Atlanta. This was Beth Leavel's first performance taking over for Carolee in the final few weeks of the run. Great performances and music! A+

[tcm]

Rediscovering Bob Hope by Susan King

I once turned down Bob Hope’s offer to take a piece of his pumpkin pie. It was a week after Thanksgiving in 1991. I had been dispatched by my editor at the Los Angeles Times to interview the comic legend, then 88, for his upcoming Christmas special on NBC, Bob Hope’s Cross-Country Christmas, which featured Macaulay Culkin, Reba McEntire, Miss America and the Associated Press All-America Team (football).

Hope had been with the Peacock network for 54 years at that time and he had been doing holiday specials for them since 1953.

All press interviews took place at his famed mansion in Toluca Lake in a Vermont Country Store-decorated family room that overlooked his expansive backyard which was spread over several acres. Lunch was served during the 30-minute interview. Though he was extremely hard of hearing, Hope refused to wear his hearing aids. So, interviewers were placed on his left side at the table because his hearing was better in that ear.

We were served a delicious warm chicken salad with bacon. But the highlight of the meal was a pumpkin pie with warm homemade whipped cream. All conversation stopped while we ate the heavenly dessert. Hope still had once piece left when he forked it and proffered it to me.

“I’ll give it to you for 25 cents,” he said laughing. I didn’t have any change, so I politely turned down the offer. He smiled as he popped the piece into his mouth.

Most baby boomers like myself grew up with Hope. I remember my mother taking me at the age of five to see his last good movie, 1960’s THE FACTS OF LIFE, which also starred Lucille Ball. And on early Sunday evenings, one of the TV stations had a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby Theater, which featured their slaphappy Road comedies (1942’s THE ROAD TO MOROCCO is my fav), as well as such solo Hope hits as 1940’s THE GHOST BREAKERS and 1949’s SORROWFUL JONES, with Ball. And in the 1960s, Hope’s NBC specials, especially the ones where he entertained the troops, were must-see viewing. 

When I was old enough to finally see the Academy Awards, I found him the perfect Oscar host. In fact, he would host the ceremony 19 times either solo or as part of a team. Though he always joked that he was never nominated for an Oscar, he actually received four honorary Oscars as well as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

But the quality of his movies dropped drastically in the 1960s. I remember sitting in horror in the theater during 1966’s BOY, DID I GET A WRONG NUMBER! and 1967’s EIGHT ON A LAM. And I rarely watched his specials from the 1970s on. He seemed out of touch and too conservative. Hope’s once fun shows seemed wheezy.

When I talked to Richard Zoglin for the L.A. Times in 2014 about his biography, Hope: Entertainer of the Century, he noted that the comic alienated viewers during the Vietnam War.

“He was so sure that we were doing a good thing over there in Vietnam,” he said. “He had been convinced by the generals he met over there that the military was being hamstrung by politicians and if we went all out, we would win this war in a couple of months. He hated that there were protesters out there picketing. He was from the World War II generation. He started speaking out. He would bad-mouth picketers.”

Hope died July 27, 2003, just two months after his 100th birthday. There haven’t been any major retrospectives of his classic films. In fact, the Bob Hope Airport has been renamed the Hollywood Burbank Airport. (Its legal name is still Bob Hope Airport). In a 2016 interview with the L.A. Times, Burbank commissioner Don Brown said that “Bob Hope isn’t doing it. We’ve been told by our travel agencies here and been told by the airlines that we’ve got to do something, and the name Bob Hope just doesn’t identify with this airport.”

I think it would be great if the new decade started with a rediscovery of Hope, who not only conquered film, but vaudeville, Broadway, radio and television. And he was the complete package. Not only was he funny, but he could sing and dance.

Even before he made his feature film debut in 1938’s THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1938, he had starred on Broadway in 1933’s Roberta. Hope and Eve Arden introduced the standard “I Can’t Get Started (with You)” in Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, and he and Ethel Merman turned Cole Porter’s “It’s De-Lovely” into a major hit in 1936’s RED, HOT AND BLUE. “Thanks for the Memory,” the Oscar-winning song from his first film, became Hope’s signature song and a decade later he introduced the Oscar-winner “Buttons and Bows” from his hysterically funny 1948 farce, THE PALEFACE.

Hope really came into his own with the 1939 mystery-comedy THE CAT AN THE CANARY with Paulette Goddard. It was the first time he played what would become his on-screen persona of the brash, wisecracking coward who loved women. Woody Allen later admitted his reel-life character was inspired by Hope.

Hope told me in 1991 that he had been offered a return to Broadway after he came to Hollywood, but “I got lucky after my third picture, THE CAT AND THE CANARY. I turned into box office. When Cat and the Canary came out (people) started running to the theaters. Then Paramount ran over to my dressing room with a contract for seven years. So, I signed up for seven years.” He made one hit after another in the 1940s and 1950s.

“They were not great films, but Hope is great in them,” Zoglin told me. “You can see how focused he is as a performer, how in character he is all the time. He’s good physically, and verbally he’s absolute perfection.

Film and TV historian Stan Taffel also explained to me in 2014 that Hope was as “perfect as Chaplin was. He knew where the camera was, and he knew how to pose for the camera. He didn't take his character so seriously, so we could have fun with it. I think his movies in that era are the best things he ever did.”

Save for the wan 1962 THE ROAD TO HONG KONG, the Road comedies with Crosby and Dorothy Lamour are perhaps his finest achievements. The comedic chemistry between the three is hard to match. Hope noted in my interview that he and Crosby had no idea that 1940’s THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE would kick off a successful franchise. “We didn’t care,” he said. “We used to do anything for a laugh. After about a week [into production], the director, Victor Schertzinger, went into the commissary and sat down at the table and said, ‘I got the easiest job, all I have to do with these guys is say ‘Start.’ But I don’t want to say ‘Stop.’ It was fun.”

The last time I saw Hope in person was at the taping of the special Bob Hope: The First 90 Years in early May, 1993, executive produced by his daughter Linda Hope. The special would go on to win the Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Musical or Comedy Special.

It was an extraordinary evening. I was at the front table with Karl Malden ad his wife and Telly Savalas and his wife. Les Brown and His Band of Renown was to my left. Michael Feinstein and George Burns were sitting behind me. Lamour was at a nearby table and so was Ginger Rogers. I looked to my right and saw President Gerald Ford sitting with Walter Cronkite.

Johnny Carson, who had retired from The Tonight Show opened the special in what would be his last monologue. He told the crowd that it was “astonishing” how much Hope had accomplished over his near seven-decade career, adding that the world is a “better and happier” place with Hope in our lives.

There wasn’t a dry eye int the house when veterans of several wars talked about what it meant to them when Hope came during the conflicts to entertain them.

Back in 1991, I asked if he would ever retire.

He smiled: “Not as long as I feel good. It is too much fun. God, you just have fun just doing things with people. You have fun writing. …It keeps your mind alert and keeps you thinking.”

[aion-rsa]

Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the Seduction of Old School Movie Magic

https://ift.tt/3j6X6Ga

It was one of the most challenging shots in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Sitting before Roman Coppola’s second unit camera was a 50/50 mirror, the kind that was once commonplace in any illusionist’s magic shop, but which hadn’t seen the inside of a Hollywood studio in decades. On the other end of the glass lay Winona Ryder in bed, ostensibly asleep but soon to be bedeviled by a monstrous vampire.

Yet co-star Gary Oldman wasn’t on hand that day. Instead, at about a 90-degree angle away from Ryder’s boudoir, stood a duplicate set of the same size and shape, but buried in black velvet Duvetyne. And in that blackness, smoke created by dry ice was oozing its way around the velvet. When lit by green lights and reflected in the mirror, a sentient emerald mist suddenly appeared in the same room as Ryder. Dracula manifested out of thin air.

“That was a good one, if I may brag a little, in that it was a backwards photography [shot] with a 50/50 mirror,” Roman says in 2020. It’s been nearly three decades since that day on set at the legendary Culver Studios, and Roman Coppola is a bit older and far more seasoned, yet when he looks back at what he and his team achieved on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, he can’t help but marvel. After all, you could now run a video taken by your iPhone in reverse with the swipe of a finger. But there they were in 1991, “puppeteering” dry ice fog in reverse, so it would appear to be sneaking below a mattress when reflected off a mirror and captured at a 45-degree angle in a camera that was running its film backwards.

In truth it’s more or less the same effect John Henry Pepper invented in 1862 to conjure a ghost on stage. Literal smoke and mirrors in the digital age.

When Bram Stoker’s Dracula opened in November 1992, it astonished the industry and silenced many of Francis Ford Coppola’s sharpest critics. Snarked about in the press beforehand as “Bonfire of the Vampires”—a reference to Brian De Palma’s misbegotten Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)—the whispers were that director Coppola had created a lurid and weird vampire movie based on one of the most oversaturated characters in fiction. Well, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was certainly lurid and weird, but in the best possible way.

Originally conceived as a Victorian man’s repressed anxieties about lust and passion being given demonic shape, Coppola’s vision for Dracula was entirely divorced from the pop culture image of Bela Lugosi in a cape. While the movie was marketed as the director of The Godfather going back to the 1897 source novel that no one had ever faithfully adapted (which turned out to be only partially true), the movie’s true appeal lies in its decadent imagery. It’s a marriage of lavish costumes, freaky makeup, and half-forgotten magician’s effects. And the last bit was given new life by Francis’ son, Roman, who became the film’s visual effects director.

Somehow it all came together, with performers such as Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Waits, and Ryder going so big that their cries threatened to burst through the soundstage walls. The hypnotic union thrilled audiences, who made Bram Stoker’s Dracula a surprise holiday blockbuster, and was ultimately celebrated by the industry, which awarded the movie three Oscars, including one for Eiko Ishioka’s dazzling costumes and Greg Cannon’s makeup. The irony is that, in its way, it was the industry’s skepticism toward Francis Ford Coppola that made the movie’s unusual vision possible.

 “For some reason I always thought it was unfair I had the reputation of being a director who spent a lot of money, which is not really the case,” Francis said in a recent interview with film critic F.X. Feeney. “The only movie that I really spent a lot of money on, and went way over budget, was Apocalypse Now.” 

Be that as it may, when Ryder first piqued Coppola’s interest about making a Dracula movie, which as it turned out was a favorite novel from his youth, he knew the studio would never agree to Coppola’s first inclination: As with going to the jungles of the Philippines on Apocalypse Now or Sicily in The Godfather, Coppola initially imagined shooting Dracula in Transylvania and inside actual crumbling castles.

“I knew the studio would be a little leery of getting this director with three names to do this Dracula picture, and possibly go off to Romania, and it’d be a Heaven’s Gate scenario, or Apocalypse Now scenario, so I played into that. I said, ‘You know, we could go and make the film in Romania, we could go to the real Castle Dracula… or I could make it all in the studio… In fact, I’ll make the entire picture right in a soundstage, a group of soundstages right under your noses. They just loved it, they ate it up.”

That was how Francis pitched himself into the movie, but how he made it worthwhile stemmed from two separate ideas bleeding into one otherworldly vision: First that the laws of physics would never apply when you were in the presence of a vampire; and second, if he was going to attempt to authentically return to the Victorian world of Stoker’s 1897 novel, he also would return to the early world of cinema where the laws of physics were never even considered.

“The period of the turn of the century was the birth of movies,” Francis said. “And movies, as you know, largely came about because of magicians who started to use the cinema to make illusions…. That’s when I became excited about the idea of [having] this story 100 percent shot in soundstages and not only using illusions and magic, and effects, but using effects as they were done at the turn of the century, which was in-camera.”

Thus entered Roman Coppola. Only 26 when Bram Stoker’s Dracula went before cameras, Roman wasn’t necessarily his father’s first choice to lead the visual effects. While Francis’ accounts have varied over the years as to whether his first head of special effects quit or was fired, the one consistency in Francis’ telling is that modern effects experts were exasperated by the idea of using almost no optical printers or new digital effects, and instead focusing on in-camera tricks. “Absurd” was the word Francis heard. But as it so happened, his son already had a passion for magic and the old ways, absurd though they may be.

“I was involved [on the movie] already,” Roman says. “I was going to be second unit [director], and we wanted the effects and second unit all to be one group effort, and do that stuff live. And when I started to take certain leadership and do storyboards, and supervise certain preparation, it was just clear that I was able to direct these efforts in a way that was more in my dad’s wishes, which is to really genuinely, deeply embrace the idea of total adhesion to ‘how would they have done it back in the day?’”

In retrospect Roman taking over leadership on the effects in Bram Stoker’s Dracula—to the point where he’s given the title card of “Visual Effects and Second Unit Director” in the end credits—seems natural. Ever since his uncle David Shire introduced him to theatrical magic as a young child, Roman has had a lifelong fascination with the tricks of illusion and sleight of hand. He still recalls boyhood days spent at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Magic store and San Francisco’s House of Magic, learning the trade of visual trickery, such as John Pepper’s “Pepper’s Ghost,” and staying up to watch Paul Michael Glaser in the 1976 TV movie The Great Houdini. In San Francisco, he saw Tony Slydini on stage.

“After 12 and 13, I stopped being so active,” Roman says. “But later, as a younger person in my 20s, I started to get back into it and get a lot of books, and collect certain apparatuses. It’s just something I found a real love for.”

Read more

Culture

The Bleeding Heart of Dracula

By David Crow

It also perfectly positioned him to spearhead Dracula’s visual effects. And one of the first things Roman and his team did was curate a film reel, or “visual library,” of all the points of reference from classic cinema they could use as inspiration.

“The movies that were much more points of reference are a touch later, but still drawing on the same principles,” Roman says when we mention early cinema pioneers, including Georges Méliès. “Jean Cocteau was a particular influence, Beauty and the Beast [1946], Orpheus [1950], and Blood of a Poet [1930]. So those are all movies that we drew a lot of inspiration from.” 

Indeed, during the scene where Keanu Reeves’ Jonathan Harker explores Castle Dracula, a single carved arm in the wall is holding a candelabra in homage to Beauty and the Beast. Meanwhile Mario Bava’s Black Sunday (1960) inspired the nightmarish imagery of Harker’s carriage ride through a desolate mountain range, with the ominous passing tree branches actually being grips whacking the carriage as it was rocked in place.

Other films in the reel might include F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) or Carl Th. Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932), but Roman cites the biggest influences as being actual books on magic he turned to for research. Some were as old as Stoker’s novel itself. Erik Barnouw’s The Magician and the Cinema (1981) was a major touchstone on the movie; Sam Sharpe, author of Neo Magic (1932) and Conjurers’ Optical Secrets (1985) was another; and then crucially there was Magic: Stage Illusions, Special Effects and Trick Photography, which was written by Albert A. Hopkins in 1897.

Explains Roman, “Those books were the bibles of the research, and those have all sorts of references.” For instance, recall the grandiose prologue of the film. With baroque glee the movie begins not in 1897 but 1462. That is the year the real-life Vlad the Impaler repelled the Ottoman Empire and protected Christendom by slaughtering thousands of Turks. The sequence was Francis’ invention, and one he called his “Origin of Batman” scene on the set. But rather than actually film a battle scene, or even actual daylight, the warring portion of the sequence is completely captured via unnatural silhouette, with shadow puppets before a blood-red sky standing in for actual humans as they are impaled on a forest of pikes.

Says Roman, “If you get the book of Hopkins’ Magic, you will see other things like shadowgraphy, which is using shadow puppets. There was a guy named Caran d’Ache, who I think became famous because he’s the namesake of the Swiss colored pencil company. But he was the originator, or at least excelled in, shadowgraphy. And when you see the opening of Dracula, all those shadow puppets, that was inspired by an example from that book.”

This focus on the classical principles of stagecraft and magic, reverse photography and compositing images with a forced perspective, is the secret of Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s lingering appeal. As Roman points out, there were no effects they feared wouldn’t work. If they could achieve how things were done then, they’d appear inexplicable in the dawning age of digital effects.

“There’s a lot of steps and a lot of process that can be painstaking, but I don’t think we did anything that was pushing a boundary,” he says. “I think everything was an accepted principle that we knew, ‘Well, this is going to work if we do it right.’ There was nothing groundbreaking. We adhered to all the old tricks.” 

There could certainly be setbacks, Roman recalls during Dracula’s voyage to London on the doomed Demeter that they exposed the same negative to five passes of filming. This is to say they attempted to combine five separately filmed images as the camera swung on the set by rewinding the film before each new pass. But because the frame line was incorrect on one of the passes, the whole multi-step take was ruined.

But the effects they did achieve all have a potency that register as alien to our modern eye. Some can be as simple as running the film backward in the camera, giving a macabre, unnatural sense of movement as Sadie Frost’s newly turned vampire Lucy climbs into her coffin after being accosted with a crucifix. In reality, she was filmed simply climbing out of it. Others might be slightly more complex, such as a black matte box being used over multiple passes.

For instance, when rats appear to run upside down on a girder above Jonathan Harker in the castle, two passes were used. In the first, the camera was upside down with the black matte covering the top of the lens as rats ran across a piece of set; then the camera was turned upright, the film rewound, and the other half of the lens was exposed while the original portion was covered as Reeves was burned into the negative.

Read more

TV

BBC/Netflix Dracula’s Behind-the-Scenes Set Secrets

By Louisa Mellor

Among my personal favorites is the extreme perspective of Ryder’s 1462 Princess Elisabeta flinging herself from a castle parapet into a river, which Roman reveals “was basically a puppet with a forced perspective, and a little river below, [with] some tricks to make the scale look correct.”

Another was the much more complex series of techniques used during the vignette of Jonathan Harker traveling by train into Transylvania. In the finished film, Reeves sits in a shadowy train compartment with stark mountains out the window. Soon they fade away into darkness as Oldman’s predatory eyes appear on the horizon. Outside the train, Harker’s journal entry about the day’s travel is visible in the frame, running the length of the train track and just below the crossing transport.

“That was done by Gene Warren Jr. at Fantasy II [Film Effects], and that was multi-pass, multiple exposures,” Roman says. Among them was a rear projection created over two passes on the same piece of film. The first was comprised of multiple layers of the mountain range background moving at different speeds from right to left, while the camera moved left to right. In the second pass, the lights were turned out and Oldman’s eyes, as filmed by Roman, were projected as the only source of light onto the same background. All of this was then rear projected behind Reeves in a separate shot while he sat in his carriage. Conversely, in one of his close-ups, a map of 19th century Transylvania appears on his face via front projection.

And as for the journal in the same frame as the train? According to visual effects camera operator Christopher Lee Warren in “In Camera: The Naive Effects of Dracula,” they built a 20-foot wide replica of Harker’s journal entry so it could stand 10 feet in each direction between the camera and a miniature train, all to get the right type of sunset shadow being cast across its pages.

As just one in a string of intricate effects and set-pieces achieved by Roman and his team, the effects’ cumulative impact is immeasurable. In its way, Bram Stoker’s Dracula works on the level Francis wanted: He was able to bring it closer to Stoker’s world and plot, if not necessarily Stoker’s themes. As Francis more openly admits in recent years, when Ryder first approached him with a draft of James V. Hart’s script for Dracula, it was about a gushing love story between the dashing Count and Mina Murray Harker.

Ironically, that may be the element of the film that lingers most on subsequent pop culture depictions of Dracula. But it was Francis’ insistence on the script being rewritten, and rewritten again, to incorporate all of Stoker’s narrative beats, side characters, and supernatural wickedness, as well as the sense of a British society in upheaval. It was the dawn of a new century, the twilight of an old monarch, and an age for scientific discovery and technology, be it in the realm of blood transfusion… or moviemaking.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is at its best when it drinks deeply from its dreamlike environment and atmosphere, capturing the base dread in Victorian culture of suddenly being confronted by what it deemed irrational or lascivious. And those elements mingle to gory delight when the aspects Coppola cared about most took center stage.

“The focus [was] on the actors, the costumes, and this unusual way of doing live-action and multiple take effects done in-camera,” Francis said. And when it’s Hopkins, Richard E. Grant, and the rest of the ensemble standing around Sadie Frost in an extravagant 19th century wedding dress while being filmed in reverse, its sense of tone and style is overwhelming.

Read more

TV

Talalay’s Terrors! The Director Breaks Down Her 5 Scariest Scenes

By Kayti Burt

On his end, Roman met that goal, and underlined the movie’s macabre madness, with ideas as primal and orgasmic as firing waves of blood out of air cannons during the scene where Dracula kills Lucy—“That was just a total last minute thing of like… ‘Hey don’t we have a bunch of blood bullets? Let’s put it in those air cannons and see what happens”—and it also paid off in old-fashioned Hollywood bravura, like the climax where Harker and the other vampire hunters chase Dracula down the Borgo Pass.

As second unit director, Roman shot much of that finale—as well as about 20 percent of the finished film—on the same soundstages where Merian C. Cooper filmed King Kong (1933) and David O. Selznick burned Atlanta in Gone with the Wind (1939). And a few years before Jurassic Park changed movie effects forever, Roman and his father were in that space, filming Reeves, Hopkins, and the rest approaching on horseback an enormous looming castle… which was created by Michael Pangrazio and Craig Barron by painting it on matted glass.

“That is remarkable that that would still be done in our time,” Roman reflects. “It’s hard to imagine that will ever happen again, latent image matte painting. It’s a great way to do something, but you need to have the skill to do it… and that’s just sort of a dying art.”

Not that Roman doesn’t still indulge the old ways. Many of his modern collaborators adore miniatures, for example. “I work with Wes Anderson often, and he likes to use miniatures, and he does it pretty liberally,” Roman says. “So I think there’s always a place for that.” 

But composite shots? One where you put a sky or castle in the same shot with a miniature and live-action over multiple passes?

“It’s not possible to imagine someone wishing to do that on an optical printer, because for one, they don’t really exist [anymore],” Roman says. “Number two, it degrades the image, and there’s a lot of reason not to.”

Like the in-camera effects that fascinated two generations of Coppolas, even the optical printing techniques they were largely forgoing in 1992 have become obsolete in the age of computer generated imagery. Even the backwards-looking Bram Stoker’s Dracula has a single CG effect, with Roman conceding the transformation at the end of the movie, where demonic Dracula turns back into Prince Vlad in death, was done with CGI. But as Roman says, it was used judiciously at the conclusion as “a real punctuation mark.”

And perhaps Bram Stoker’s Dracula is itself a punctuation mark. A last hurrah for antiquated styles of moviemaking that were long gone, or about to be, and a chance to open a magician’s bag of tricks to fool the eye into believing, as Francis says, “the earth doesn’t rotate at exactly the right speed” in the presence of a vampire. It’s why the movie has aged like fine wine (if you drink the stuff), and likely will continue to do so while many other effects-driven movies are practically timestamped by their imagery.

“It was unique to a time and place,” Roman says. “I’m sure other movies, other horror movies in particular, over time will represent a time and a place, but this seems to be the one that represents that time and place.”

That time, and perhaps that of a century earlier.

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[fiftytwotwenty]

Movie Monday - May 11th, 2020

"My Last Movie On VHS"

The Fast and the Furious (2001):

Ah, the Video Home System, We had a good run.

From the reported First VHS, a South Korean Film: The Young Teacher (1972) - Released in 1976...

To Hollywood's (debatable) reported Last Released Movie on VHS: A History of Violence (2005 - released on VHS on March 14th, 2006)...

It's just a trip thinking about a format just dying off - In the Life Span of the Videocassette my relationship was short lived.

I bought my first VHS (Dumb and Dumber) in 1996 and my last VHS in 2002 - only 6 years into building my Film Brick Library containing My Childhood Favorite Films Classic Gems such as Space Jam, Men in Black, Celtic Pride, Goldeneye, Nothing to Lose, the Lethal Weapon series, the Indian Jones series, and of course The Fast and the Furious.

Looking back now I cannot remember making a conscious decision to convert from VHS to DVD - it was something that just happened - I was not fully aware even though the VHS' demise was highly apparent.

DVDs were widely introduced into the market on March 31st, 1997 (Twister (1996) being one of the first mass produced DVDs), during the holiday season of 2006 Target, Wal-Mart and other major stores decided to phase out VHS tapes from their shelves, and in my own home our VCR was constantly on the fritz - Static was continuously distorting either the top or bottom half of the picture and no amount of smashing the tracking button could resolve the issue, so our Dad removed the casing of the VCR exposing its mechanical innards and he taught us to take a Q-Tip and press on one of the reels to clear up the picture - innovative but unrefined - imagine a family member having to get up in the middle of James Cameron's Titanic - While the Rose and Jack are freezing-floating in the Atlantic your sister is squatting in front of the TV with Q-Tip in the VCR -- If only I had a disposable camera to capture the moment.

Not to mention the bulkiness of the tapes - VHS tapes took up a lot space especially if you had Disney movies in the mix. By the early 2000's VHS tapes served as Artful Building Blocks and Dominoes for my nephews.

Steering back to The Fast and the Furious - I got a lot of mileage out of the old cassette. The movie was released in the prime of my middle school years and accompanied me and my teammates on multiple Charter Bus Trips for school sports - Yes, nothing works better at rallying the troops for an away game better than the poetic stylings of Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Michelle Rodriguez - such classic lines as:

" *Rawr* I smell *Sniff, Sniff* skanks. Why don't you girls just pack up before I leave tread marks on your face"

Or

Vince: "Yo! Try Fat Burger from now on. You get yourself a Double Cheese with Fries for $2.95, f****t."

Brian: "I like the tuna here."

Vince: "Bullshit, Asshole! Nobody likes the tuna here!"

This script should be archived as an early 2000's artifact - just collecting dust in a vault next to a copy of Casablanca.

Nowadays, The Fast and the Furious is a mere footnote in the ever expanding franchise that went from plausible to utterly unbelievable in the story/plot department. In 2001-2002 The Fast and the Furious served as an introductory "Gear Head" film to the masses. It would be years later before a friend pointed out the strong parrallels between Point Break (1991).

By the time I entered college the VHS still held enough value as it accompanied me into college where it would be played on a Combo VHS/DVD player (the ultimate piece of technology thats says, "I just can't let go").

I no longer have a device which will play a VHS cassette tape, but I still have my VHS collection - as I said earlier, they are artful building blocks - my nephews no longer stack and play with them, but rather they just sit on a shelf amassing dust.

It kind of reminds me of the lifecycle of the Vinyl Record - killed off by the CD and buried by Digital Downloads - yet Records still found a way to rise from the ashes with a resurgence in nostalgia and blossoming of hipsters.

I highly doubt the VHS will make another comeback however Bumblee (2018) had a limited-promotional VHS tape releasing on April 1st, 2019 - a Bogus April Fool's Joke it was Not!

So until I can find either a functional VCR or a VCR repairman - The Fast and the Furious will have to sit on my shelf as piece of art.

[queermediastudies]

Milk - It’s not just for cereal anymore.

Milk, is a biographical film based on the life of Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay San Francisco politician, who was gunned down by a disgruntled city supervisor. This film was also not just about the life of Harvey Milk, it was also a film that depicted the time frame in which he lived in, the 1970’s, a time where men and women came together to fight the injustice and inequality that was being levied against the population of the city of San Francisco, and across the United States of America. The film follows the last few years of Supervisor Milk’s life, starting on his 40th birthday and follows him to his 48th birthday, as well as following his endeavor to incite change and provide for not only the LGBTQ community, but for everyone (seniors, minority, kids, and heterosexuals). Milk is the story of leaving a mark on society, and helping cause change that would affect the lives of the people around you.

The film originally started to gain traction when Oliver Stone showed interesting producing the film, in early 1991 (Gus Van Sant); however, after signing a director in 1992, the film production fell on hard times in 1993 and was not revisited until 2007, when Van Sant wanted revisit the biopic. Before filming, Harvey Milk’s life was heavily researched, and many one of the sources used to recreate the life of Supervisor Milk was the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco, his personal belongings, as well as speaking with people who knew the City Supervisor. With several weeks of photographs, researching film, video, historic textiles and other resources ( The Times of Harvey Milk, a documentary that was released in 1984, directed by Rob Epstein, was a huge resource) Milk started filming until January 2008, after a second project, helmed by Brian Singer, met its demise due to a writer strike.

Milk provided a look into the life of the first openly gay city supervisor in San Francisco, however the cast was made up of primarily of a heterosexual cast. At the time, this was seen to be common place for Hollywood, however as the times are changing there is the potential for blow back of having a heterosexual actor portraying an openly gay politician. Was the issue of representation at the time? Or was it as Dr. Martin states “cisgender heterosexuals are “brave” in taking on roles different from themselves” (Martin, 2018)?

While the main plot point of Milk was that of equal rights for gays and lesbians, the production company responsible strayed from the belief that City Supervisor Milk strived for. Was the film more successful or successful because of the actors that were picked to portray their on-screen versions of their real-life counter parts? While the performances that were delivered in a manner that would be considered believable, if not true to the real man that the film was based off, were there not other actors capable of giving authentic performances as well. This topic is something that has just, in the last decade or so started coming to light, the casting of heterosexual actors/actresses. This has been a hot topic as there has not be fair representation of the LGBTQ community on television or film, but there is change coming, this change is due, and slow to come.  With equality balancing slowly for the LGBTQ community, more and more actors/actresses have been accepted in larger and larger films, they are no longer bottom of the barrel actors/actresses in mediocre movies, or low budget straight to DVD movies.

While watching the film, I also had noticed that there were minorities being represented in the film as well, but once again they were being represented by cisgendered heterosexual males. This did not bode well for LGBTQ community members who are a minority. While there was minority representation in the film, again the bigger roles were filled by the heterosexual actors, and unfortunately there was no way for me to ascertain if any of the smaller actors (extras) were of the LGBTQ community. However, as progress is being made with equality for those of LGBTQ community, the biggest being that members of the of the LGBTQ community are being included, nay, not included but being placed in positions on where they have the ability to put real life back into art. More importantly, they are putting themselves, their culture, on to the screen. In away they are educating masses, they are providing information on what was one considered to be a taboo, disgusting life style. As Milk took a chance to show us life back in the 1970s for members of the LGBTQ community had to face, but as mentioned before, progress has been made. Take for example, the show Pose, has been taking strides and advances to create equality at one level. “But there is something transgressive about what Pose is doing” (Fallon, 2018), they are placing trans actors in main roles, they are placing them in the writing rooms; Ryan Murphy, creator of show, chose a cast of actors and actresses who are breaking ground and creating a foothold in territory controlled by the heteronormativity. Murphy placed Janet Mock, the first openly trans woman of color, not just in the writing room for Pose, but also behind the camera allowing her to direct an episode of the popular show.

Now, as the bard say, here in lies the rub; the creation of shows and film that cast LGBTQ members, placing them in staring rolls, are great educational tools that don’t require the violence that has been exposed in the past. The history, the hate, the animosity that the people have faced is something that cannot be erased; more importantly it is something that can be untaught, but it will take time and patience. As the Stonewall riots brought a physical stand, the line that drawn in the sand so to speak, about equality rights; shows like Pose are just a new face on a prolonged battle equality.  In the third chapter of Stonewall and Beyond, it was brought to our, no my attention that there were shows in the past that were attempting to make the same head way as Pose, “the success of the 1972 TV movie That Certain Summer drew the attention of activists because of the potential it demonstrated for television to reach national audiences” (Gross,2002,p.43). This allowed for more people to become aware of the issues that men and women of the LGBTQ community were facing, I say this in the sense that it opened the eyes of millions to the fact that there were people hiding their true selves from the rest of the world, because of fear and persecution.

Watching Milk unfold on the screen in front of me has opened my eyes about a lot of things, and being a person who has seen themselves as a neutral party for my those of my friends who are of the LGBTQ community, I find myself trying to find a reason as to why people need to be afraid of difference. I am a minority, a member of the heterosexual norm, so to speak, of a near complete college education. I find that to me; it is neither my sexuality or my skin color that influences my engagement on this topic. It is, the education that I experienced in the real world. I have friends, I have served with men and women, who are members of the LGBTQ community; and it is from those men and women that I have learned my lessons. As a friend to these men and women, equality is starting to play a big factor into my understanding on how society runs and how we a species, are so willing to draw a line in the sand and shun people are on the other side of that line. Critically, looking at the movie, I am some what dismayed that Milk did not take the time to break more barriers at the time. Opening the door on a politically charged topic like equal rights, would have been a great platform on which one could have chosen actors who were of the LGBTQ community to be the cast of characters, creating a stronger foothold for which to spread the word of equality. Despite that, Milk was a great film, the story telling was complied with real new reel footage that was shot during the time of Harvey Milk’s rise and untimely fall, added more of a personal touch to the film, as well as having an actor who bore a similar resemblance to the late Harvey Milk. In the end, consuming Milk opened my eyes to one thing that has been, until recently, and that is “writers seem to continue you balk at the idea that queer characters of color are deserving of dynamic and standalone narratives” (Leiva, 2017). The research and writing that went into developing this film did not leave out any of the characteristics of Jack, portraited by Diego Luna, as Milk’s second lover in the film, who suffered from serious depression, alcoholism and suicidal thoughts. While, Sean Penn delivered an award-winning performance, and being able to humanize the character so that people unfamiliar with the plight of the LGBTQ community and the on-going battle for equality had a better connection to the story and struggle.

   Jr, A. L. M. (2018, August 2). Pose(r): Ryan Murphy, Trans and Queer of Color Labor, and the Politics of Representation. Retrieved from https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/poser-ryan-murphy-trans-queer-color-labor-politics-representation/.

Gross, L. P. (2002). Up from invisibility: lesbians, gay men, and the media in America. New York: Columbia University Press.

Fallon, K. (2018, June 1). 'Pose' Isn't Just Great TV. It's Making Trans History. Retrieved from https://www.thedailybeast.com/pose-isnt-just-great-tv-its-making-trans-history.

Leiva, L. (2017) TV Is Getting More Progressive, But It's Still Failing Queer People Of Color. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bustle.com/p/tv-is-getting-more-progressive-but-its-still-failing-queer-people-of-color-64520.

[hopewritcs]

what’s a point break?

pairing: thor odinson x reader ( platonic )

word count: 3.1k

summary: y/n is one of tony stark and pepper potts’s assistants, having been a behind the scenes liason between pepper & stark industries.  after the events of infinity war, y/n has taken on a bigger role at the compound, and one day finds thor watching the newscast again.  a little educational movie night ensues, showing thor the film point break (1991). 

notes: set post infinity war and pre endgame, but there are mentions of events in endgame.  sooo, basically, point break is probably one of my favorite movies of all time and this is kind of a self indulgent thing ( an excuse to rewatch the film for the millionth time ).  i spent a lot of time with this, writing dialogue in between the movie and pausing things to get something down even if I wasn’t going to have them talk during the movie.  i probably watched this movie in about four hours and its a two hour long movie.  also, i haven’t written for the mcu before, or for thor, so i hope i did it justice.  i was really nervous about writing this tbh.  

warnings & possible triggers: i tried not to spoil the entire film point break for those of you who haven’t seen it, but it’s kind of impossible when writing a fic like this to not let some spoilers go.  triggers include mentions of things in the film.  i tried to avoid the more major stuff in the film.   

marvel tag list: n/a 

The compound was always quiet now.  

Before, it had been filled with life.  Laughter.  General sounds as people pattered through the hallway.  Someone had almost always been in the kitchen, cooking for the group.  Even Y/N had felt welcomed, from the moment she arrived.  She’d expected her move from Stark Industries to the Avengers Compound to be a bit more of a hassle than it was.  She’d expected much more paperwork than she’d been given.  She was moving from working as Miss Potts’s personal assistant to a liaison between both the Avengers team and Miss Potts.  From her arrival, Y/N felt welcomed wherever she’d gone in the halls.  She felt like a part of the family.  

Now the hallways were always empty, somber.  It had been two and a half weeks since the battle in Wakanda.  There was no laughter heard in the compound.  In fact, Y/N barely heard any sounds.  People were keeping to themselves, or their offices, for the most part.  Everyone was still processing what happened, the general tone of the compound was like walking through a funeral hall.  All the time.  Almost like you needed to be quiet.  

When Y/N walked through the halls with her files held against her chest, it was almost like there were ghosts walking there with her.  With those murals and electronic portraits hung wherever people could see them, she felt like she was being watched by those who they had lost.  Even the happier pictures that had been hung with care over the years of working and living in the compound held a sadness that she couldn’t explain in their frames.   

Everyone thought Tony was dead, there was no reason to believe he could be alive.  They hadn’t heard from him since he had left in the spaceship with Spiderman and Dr. Strange.  But, there had been much communication between those left alive, the ones who they could find.  Clint, for example, had dropped off the map by the time everyone had arrived home at the compound and they were working on tracking him down.  

A constant line to Wakanda was left open, just in case.  News stations were left muted in the background.  Someone had managed to get FRIDAY to give news alerts if something happened they needed to be aware of.  

People were losing the hope that they had.  It seemed as though everyone was walking around with their head downcast, afraid to make eye contact, or see what was in front of them, or maybe just afraid.  The death toll was still rising every day, from all the accidents that the snap had caused.  

Y/N had mostly been doing busy work, making sure that both the Avengers and Stark Industries had press releases ready for anything that could happen.  Her job was to edit them and send them to Pepper and the Avengers for approval.  For now, it was solely falling to Pepper’s shoulders.  

She’d just left Pepper’s office in the compound and made her way to the kitchen, getting some food.  It was sparse in the kitchen, and Y/N made a note in the back of her mind for when things cooled down to send someone out ( or even simply let FRIDAY know about the grocery list ).  A bottle of beer in one hand and a bag of chips in the other, Y/N was making her way back towards her bedroom when she caught the sight of Thor in the common room.  

He was slumped on the couch, dressed as casually as she’d ever seen him before.  It seemed as though the God of Thunder’s new look wasn’t his Asgardian war clothes, but sweatpants, a t-shirt, and zip up hoodie as well.  His eyes were glazed over as he watched yet another news reel.  

Y/N didn’t want to disturb him, she’d been friendly with him before but she didn’t know him well enough.  And she didn’t want to startle him.  It felt like most people were easy to startle these days, so she stood in the corner for a couple of moments, watching him watch the TV.  

“I can hear you breathing.”  The God commented in his deep voice, barely turning his head to look in her direction.  But he had turned it enough to see who it was standing in the corner of the room.  

Bashfully, Y/N ducked her head down and moved toward the couch, taking a seat in the farther corner from him.  She sat in the corner, half propped up to face Thor and half facing the television.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.  What are you watching?”  She asked the question, even though it was obvious what he was doing.  The news was quiet, but she’d caught the familiar telephone number on the bottom of the screen--a hotline to call for more information.  She could hear the familiar newscaster’s commentary, probably reading from the teleprompter or his notes.  Thor had bags of junk food around him, some opened or half opened or crumpled up, and he looked disheveled.  

“Some news report.  The casualty toll, they’re talking about it again.  Another fallen aircraft was found.”  

“Thor, we shouldn’t be watching this all the time.”  She reached over gently to grab the remote control sitting on the couch when he grabbed her hand.  Forceful was his tug on her wrist, but not to cause pain.  It simply shocked her.  

“We should be doing something about this.”  Thor’s eyes are darker than she’s ever seen them before.  They’re usually so blue and now they look almost black, overtaken by anger and grief.  

“We are.”

“We should be doing more!”  he shouted, hand falling on the couch beside him with a reverberating thump.  Some of the bags beside him fell, leaving a spillage of pretzels and chips on the floor.  “I should have stopped this.”  

“You tried,”  her voice is soft as she flips her hand over to hold onto Thor’s instead of being held onto by him.  He flinched away from her touch, but turned his gaze to really look at her.  His eyes were like storms brewing before her.  “You all tried.  And you’ll be there to try again.”  She wasn’t sure how she was still so positive.  Did she really believe that there would be something else to come?  That there would be another battle to fight?  Maybe she did.  She worked with Tony Stark, and if that taught her anything it was that it was all possible.  

“There is no again, Lady Y/N.  We’ve lost the war.”  Thor slumped down, his shoulders sagging against the pillows on the couch as he turned back to look at the television screen.  

“FRIDAY please turn off the news channel in the common room.”  

“Hey!”  Thor protested beside her as the AI responded.  

“Yes Miss.” FRIDAY’s reply came, sounding almost relieved ( as relieved as any artificial intelligence can sound ) to do so.  It made Y/N wonder how long Thor had been sitting in this exact position.  

“What was that for?”  He’s completely turned in his seat to look at her, anger still dominating his eyes.  

“Thor, we need to do something to get you out of this...this funk.  With Tony,” Y/N paused.  The mention of Tony’s name so freely in the moment felt right, but it still sent shuttering pain and sorrow through her body.  She had to close her eyes and collect herself before continuing, “if I ever caught him in a funk in his lab, I would tell FRIDAY to put on some of his favorite songs and I’d distract him with an impromptu dance party.  He just needed to get out of his head.”  

“Yes, I could hear the music all the way from the kitchen sometimes.”  Thor nodded, his head glancing toward the kitchen.  It’s lost all darkness, and now he seems to be caught in a memory.  After a couple of moments, Y/N almost thinks she’s lost the God of Thunder, and is about to ask him a follow up question, when he speaks again.  “Do you know why Tony would call me Point Break?  I’ve been on Midgard for some time and I still cannot figure the name out.”  She laughed at that, a full bodied laugh that caught her off guard.  She’s not even responded when Thor’s face scrunched up in confusion and then realization.  “So you do know this!  What is it?”  

“It’s a surfing term.  Well, technically it is.  But it’s this movie from the nineties.  Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves.”  Y/N hummed her response, finally looking around and nodding her head.  “I can see why he’d say it.  I can see a bit of Swayze in you.”  Thor’s expression is still confused, as if he doesn’t completely understand her comment.  So Y/N waves her hand, dropping the comment before shifting in her seat.  “I think FRIDAY’s got the movie on the files.  Do you want to watch it?”  

Thor studied Y/N for a moment.  He almost wanted to turn back on the news broadcast, but he does know that she’s right.  He is in a funk that she called it.  “Perhaps watching the film will help me understand why Tony calls me this.  I still believe I should have been called the strongest Avenger.”  He grumbled, recalling the attempt to escape in the plane only to be caught off guard by the identification.  

Y/N nodded her head, a genuine smile on her face.  She moves a bit closer on the couch, shoving some of the wrappers to the floor between them and lifted her head toward the ceiling.  “FRIDAY?”

“Yes Miss Y/L/N?” 

“Do you have Point Break?” 

“I have both the 1991 and 2015 versions, Miss. Though I must recommend the ‘91 version, as--” 

“’91, please.”  Y/N had cut the AI off, already knowing which she would have chosen.  The television switches to a different screen as FRIDAY begins to cue up the film for them.  Y/N leaned over to whisper to Thor ( even though no one else was in the room ), “the 2015 remake was awful.  At least in my opinion.  Nothing beats the original.”  She explained, tapping his shoulder when the movie’s ready to start.  “You can start it now, thanks FRIDAY!”  

“No problem Miss.” 

Thor offered Y/N a sip of his flash--what she assumed to be some of the ale he’d brought from Asgard with him--and she shook her head, showing him the beer bottle in her hands which she opened with the key to her room before taking a sip as the movie begun.  

As the beginning rolled on, Y/N watched Thor out of the corner of her eyes.  She’s unsure how many films he’s seen here on Midgard.  She’s seen the film enough times that she can focus on Thor’s watching of the movie instead of actually watching it, though it is one of her favorites.  

“There’s a couple of references I do not understand.”  Thor murmured a couple of minutes into the movie as he glanced toward Y/N.  They were both leaning back against the middle of the couch now.  

“I’ll explain all the dirty jokes when the films over.”  Y/N chuckled teasingly, turning her eyes back to the screen.  

“What does a virgin and prom night have to do with anything?”  Thor asked, gesturing to the screen where the two agents were talking about the bank robbery.  

“Nothing, it’s a joke.  Meant for the ha has even if it isn’t that funny."  Sighing, she gives in for a moment and asked FRIDAY to pause the movie so neither of them missed anything.  “It’s this concept here that everyone has sex on prom night.  Like that’s the big thing in the media, that everyone who hasn’t already wants to lose their virginity on prom night.  Never occurred to me growing up, but they always mentioned it on the big screen.  So, on prom night since everyone’s having sex all the virgins are gone.  Like the bank robbers, in and out.  Gone quickly.”  Y/N hopes that the explanation helped him understand better.  

Thor nodded his head, turning his attention back to the film as it started back up.  A couple more times he turned his head to look at Y/N, like he wants to ask more questions but she simply put a finger to her lips a silent way to tell him to be quiet.  “Ask questions at the end, okay?”  He nodded his head at her words, turning back to the film.  

It’s clear he’s got questions and comments he wants to make, but he’s keeping quiet per her request.  But his eyes have moments of clarity, like he’s taken note to mention a certain scene or line again later.  

Thor is like Bodhi, Y/N realized throughout watching the movie, but it’s in the softer bits of this character.  Bodhi may be a character who’s a bit too focused on his own goals and a bit headfirst--which is similar to the stories that Y/N had heard about Thor, God of Thunder, before he had been banished to Midgard and before everything essentially began--but there’s more complexities to his character as well.  He’s not just the tough surfer guy, or the controlling my way or no way leader of his friend group.  That’s not all, there’s his passion and his sensitivity.  Bodhi understands what the world does and, though he views it in a skeptical and skewed way that he attempts to exploit for his own personal gain, he does understand it.  

And there are bits of this character that are very much like the God sitting on the couch beside her.  Both men have certain aspects of their character; a passion for something that cannot be contained, they value their friends ( their families ) lives above everything, they take control and can be a bit too full of themselves but never completely selfish, and they both have a way with words that astounds her at times.  One quote of Bodhi’s in the film always sticks with her after rewatching the movie, even after all this time, “fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true.” 

However, Y/N can’t be sure that Thor’s similar look ( a similar hairstyle and some features, especially in the film ) to Patrick Swayze isn’t why Tony actually picked the nickname.  

Finally, the movie came to a close and Y/N had FRIDAY turn off the television before she turned in her seat to face Thor fully.  “Okay, now you may ask whatever, or make comments.  But, please, before you start, I have no idea if this is how an actual agency does things.  I’m only working with the Avengers as an assistant.  The closest I get to any agents is when Fury called for Pepper and I had to tell him she had a meeting and needed to get back to him later.  He’s kind of scary.” 

That got a chuckle out of Thor, who sat up straighter on the couch and turned to face Y/N as well.  He took a couple of moments to collect his thoughts before he started speaking, and they spent the next half an hour or more discussing the movie.  

 “So that Agent Utah just used her parents death?  Pretended as though his were dead to get an in with her?  Do agents really do that?”  

“From what I’ve seen undercover can get you into deep shit.” 

“Are you expected to not form genuine attachments on undercover missions?  Should they not have seen this coming?”  Y/N almost doesn’t expect this question, but then again Thor was never a SHIELD agent, so he wouldn’t know anything about undercover work.  Y/N only knows the things she does from overhearing conversations, people telling her stories, or brief reports that have passed by her desk.  

“I think the point is that you’re supposed to understand that at the end of the day it’s a job.  But lines get blurred quickly when you’re in that position.  That’s why I could never be an agent.  I did think about it, especially when I got the job at Stark Industries.  But instead I decided to stick to self defense and boxing lessons.” 

“In that one scene, where Tyler finds out, she had never shot a weapon before, yes?” 

“I don’t know.  Probably not.” 

“How could she know it wouldn’t hit him?”  

“Thor, it’s a movie, not real life.”  

“Do you know how to shoot a gun?”  

“I’ve taken self defense since I started working here, I’ve trained with a couple of the agents.  You don’t need to worry about me.” 

 “I was unsatisfied with the ending.”  

“What?  That’s like the most satisfying ending they could have done!”  

“But what about--” 

Y/N’s cut Thor off, knowing what he’s going to say, “It’s not about her.  It’s about them.  They’re the main story.  It’s about the fight between them.  The struggle between doing what’s right and being too close to see straight.” 

“But nothing’s resolved.”

“Isn’t it?” 

“Surfing seems very interesting.  I might like to try it someday.  Have you ever tried it?”  

“No chance in hell, I’m not coordinated enough for that.  I’d be like Johnny the first time he’s out in the ocean, probably fall down and get lost in the waves.”

“Do you think Tony really thought the nickname through?”  Thor asked Y/N after a particularly long silence.  

Y/N’s shoulders shrugged, “I don’t know.  Maybe?  He could also have thought you looked like Bodhi--Patrick Swayze.  The hair and everything, like I said earlier, I can see the similarities.”  she ruffled his hair slightly, though it was more like gently running her hand through the much shorter locks that he wore now.  “Even now, I can see it.”  

“What other films has he been in?”

“Oh, Patrick Swayze was in a ton of films.  We could have a whole Swayze movie marathon, if you want.”  

Thor considered this for a moment before nodding his head, “I’d enjoy that, Y/N.”  

“Good, we can continue with The Outsiders!” Y/N grinned and turned toward the screen, already readying to call FRIDAY to get the other films queued up.  Thor’s hand on her shoulder stopped her in her movements and she turned back to look at him.  “What’s up?”  

“Thank you.”  He doesn’t elaborate on whether it’s thanks for showing him the film, or thanks for getting his mind off of everything going on in the world outside around them, but he doesn’t need to.  

She understands.  

She nodded her head back to him, curling back up on the couch in her original spot as she called FRIDAY to ready the next film for them.  

And maybe, things would get better.  

[borhapparker]

special victims unit  |  borhap cast x oc female character

a/n: this is a new series, based around the show “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”. the borhap cast are detectives in this series, and i do partly follow the timeline in the show. the backstories are not the same and there will be unexpected cliffhangers, and deaths. feel free to let me know if you’d like to be on the taglist for the series! reblog and like!

word count: 1029

series masterlist  |  full masterlist

Marrisa "Astrid" Morrison (born December 23, 1991) is the commanding officer of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. Prior to taking over SVU, Morrison worked as an SVU detective and was partnered with James Friar for 8 years. After James' resignation, she was partnered with Detective Joe Mazzello, before becoming a Sergeant and took over the unit. After that, she was promoted to Lieutenant and is now in charge of SVU. When she was a detective, her badge number was 4015. As a sergeant, her badge number was 01139 and as a Lieutenant, she no longer has a badge number.

Joshua "Josh" Gillian (born April 26, 1991) is the Sergeant of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. Prior to being second in command as Sergeant, Gillian worked as an SVU detective and was partnered with Michael Davis, Julia Mills and Robert Peters before becoming Sergeant. As a detective, his badge number was 7021 , and as a Sergeant his badge number is 0231.

Rami Malek (born May 12, 1981) is the Commanding Officer of the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. Prior to being commanding officer, Malek worked as an SVU detective and was partnered with Terence Fields, Samuel Muggins, and Lucy Boynton before becoming Commanding Officer. He has a relationship with Detective Lucy Boynton, which caused for a change in partnership when it was revealed to the administration. As a detective, his badge was 4530 and as Commanding Officer his badge is now 0945.

Joseph "Joe" Mazzello (born September 21, 1983) is a former police detective who transferred to the Special Victims Unit  from narcotics and warrants in 2011. He is charismatic and charming and often used his charm to get difficult witnesses who do not cooperate to talk. His prior partnerships were Bryce Reels, Julia Vasquez, and Astrid Morrison. His badge number is 0840.

Ben Hardy (born January 2, 1991) is a detective assigned to the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. He was transferred to the precinct after Lieutenant Astrid Morrison put in a request for an "experienced, empathetic Detective". He was in Staten Island SVU for two months, Brooklyn for almost a month and Queens for a week (before that, he was a patrol officer on Staten Island). He has a knack for interrogations, by pretending to empathize with suspects and getting them to open up to him. His badge number is 0458.

Lucy Boynton (born January 17, 1994) is a detective assigned to the Manhattan Special Victims Unit, in September 2011, after moving to New York City from Atlanta, Georgia. She's tough towards her co-workers when it comes to bringing in personal opinions into cases. Her prior partnerships were Rami Malek, Jenny Raines and Phillip Wales. Her badge number is 3894.

Gwilym Lee (born November 24, 1983) is the former ADA assigned to the Sex Crimes Bureau. Lee is a by-the-book, no-nonsense ADA who requested a lateral transfer from Brooklyn to Manhattan shortly after a certain case compromised his department. Lee will put pressure on whomever he needs to win the case, wether it is the victim or the arresting officers. He obtained a scholarship to Harvard University, where he studied law.

-

"I've got eyes on both of them. Atlantic and 4th Avenue."

The suspects spotted them, one nudging the other as they took off running in the opposite direction.

"NYPD! Stop!"

They pushed through the crowds, onlookers getting thrown to the ground by the impact as the officers ran.

"Out of the way! Move!"

They ran into an alley, turning the corner and seeing the other detectives before quickly turning around towards a fence. Grabbing onto the chain, they started pulling themselves up before the detectives grabbed their jackets, pulling them down and against the wall.

"Arms behind your back. You're under arrest."

Two officers handcuffed them, as the other two pointed guns at the suspects, a taunt to ensure that they wouldn't run. Witnesses on the street watched, some with phones filming the arrest as the detectives groaned.

"Come on guys, move along."

The detective that caught a suspect shook his head at the crowd. "Thanks a lot people. No, thank you. Citizens of New York, I applaud you. Give yourselves a hand. Yeah, take a picture."

Walking away, the crowd dispersed, as the suspects were put into patrol cars, and taken to the station for processing.

Two escorted one of the suspects into an interrogation room, as the suspect groaned in frustration. "Come on. I'm staying out of trouble."

"Is that why you ran?" a detective asked as the suspect sat down.

"You people were chasing me."

One of the two leaned their hands on the table, eye level to the suspect. "Where were you Wednesday night Juan?"

"I'm not sure." he paused, looking down at his hands before back up to the detectives. "What did Ronnie say?"

In another interrogation room, Ronnie pushed a tablet away from him on the table.

"Man, we met that waste case at the cafe. All we did was try and help her get home."

One of the detectives jumped in. "You mean you dragged her home, beat her and raped her?"

"It wasn't us. As soon as we got right outside the cafe, she got all belligerent and took off."

"Then why do we have witnesses that put you at her building?"

"That's a bluff." Ronnie said, smirk on his face. "I saw the news. No one called 911."

The lieutenant watched her detectives interrogate the suspects as she pressed the mute button for the speaker, watching the ADA walk over to her.

He knocked at each of the glass windows, the detectives inside excusing themselves and leaving. They all reconvened outside, the ADA wanting to hear what they have to say.

"Where are we on these boys?"

"Nowhere." the ADA said, "Ronnie and Juan are lying as we speak."

The lieutenant shrugged, "Well, Will wasn't any help either."

One of the detective spoke up. "Ronnie had a second cell phone on him. The call log was deleted."

"Send it to TARU, see what they find?" the female detective asked, as the lieutenant nodded.

"In the meantime, get a photo array over to Libby's building."

The ADA looked over, raising san eyebrow. "Maybe one of our Good Samaritans can make an ID."

"Yeah." she sighed, as they both headed out of the squad room and to a cell, where Will had been waiting to be processed.

-

tags:

@hollandroos  @me-a-hopeless-romantic @shuri-owns-my-heart @im-grac3ful-but-fi3rc3  @thebohemianpenguin  @misterf4hrenheit @sofarxitsalright @lolabean1998  @sailing-race @desperately-bisexual @desir-ae @cl0ve @theimpossiblehologramtree @peachllobotomy @rrrogah-tayluhh @allaroundaddict @orchideax