#2020 Ford Edge Pictures

[adamwatchesmovies]

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

When you put the finishing touches on a film, you always hope it will be a hit but few must know for sure how the public will react to their hard work. When Steven Spielberg wrapped production on Raiders of the Lost Ark you wonder if he knew. Packed with wall-to-wall excitement, unforgettable characters, one memorable scene after another, deliciously evil villains, a romance that draws you in and a protagonist so cool it’ll make you want to become an archeologist so you can imitate him, this is the kind of movie that reminds you why you love movies.

In 1936, American archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is sent to investigate a dig funded by the Nazis. Rumor is Indy’s old mentor discovered the location of the Ark of the Covenant, that whoever possesses it will be granted invincibility and that the last clue to its location is in the headpiece of a staff Abner Ravenwood left to his daughter, Marion (Karen Allen).

You can simply sit back and enjoy the show but if you’ve got an eye for filmmaking, Raiders of the Lost Ark takes you through a masterclass. The opening scene is a dazzler. The way it sets up Indiana Jones, it’s like they designed the character to be recognizable from his silhouette alone - guaranteeing his iconic status. As our hero, Harrison Ford practically embodies the definition of manliness. He’s crafty and methodical. He’s always got a snappy remark to ensure his opponents are dumfounded even before he throws a first punch. When he encounters an opponent stronger than he is, his well-oiled brains make up the difference. The chemistry between our favorite archeologist and the beautiful Marion (who winds up kidnapped and captured more than a couple of times but is otherwise tough and resourceful) is unmissable. You want them to get together almost as much as you want them to find that mysterious Ark.

When you look at the whole picture, there’s nothing grandiose about the characters and their relationships. The sadistic Major Arnold Toht (the wonderfully slimy Ronald Lacey) is evil through-and-through. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever except that he excels at making you intimidated. The film has a tiny bit of something to say about the value of archaeological finds in that Indy’s rival, Dr. René Belloq (Paul Freeman) sees every ancient trinket as an object that randomly happens to be valuable, whereas our hero sees the non-monetary value they will earn from future generations. What makes it so special, then? It's the emotions the story stirs within you. Even if you've never sat through the Saturday morning serials Philip Kaufman, George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan and Steven Spielberg saw as children, you immediately understand what made them special because this is essentially one of those blown up and made by fine artists. Every cliffhanger has you on edge, wondering what’s next. As soon as our heroes make it out of one jam, you get a bit of a breather to laugh… but then you’re thrown right back into the thick of it with another spike pit or goon looking to cause trouble. Every frame of Raiders of the Lost Ark fulfills the kind of childhood desire that guarantees you leave satisfied.

You could watch Raiders of the Lost Ark 100 times and always find something new in it. From the characters to the action and the romance, there's too much to drink in for just one sitting. It's no wonder we're still talking about it today. (On Blu-ray, April 10, 2020)

[cinenthusiast]

films watched in september 2023

had another really incredible month of viewings

186. the truman show (1998, weir) (no idea what viewing) (dcp, brattle theater, "barbie's roots" series) 187. josie and the pussycats (2001, kaplan & elfont) (not sure what viewing) (35mm, brattle theatre, "barbie's roots" series) 188. johnny o'clock (1947, rossen) (1st viewing) (16mm, harvard film archive, 'any number can win' all night gambling marathon) 189. any number can win (1963, verneuil) (1st viewing) (dcp, harvard film archive, 'any number can win' all night gambling marathon) 190. pale flower (1964, shinoda) (35mm, harvard film archive, 'any number can win' all night gambling marathon) 191. bay of angels (1963, demy) (1st viewing) (dcp, harvard film archive, 'any number can win' all night gambling marathon) 192. croupier (1998, hodges) (1st viewing) (35mm, harvard film archive, 'any number can win' all night gambling marathon) 193. california split (1974, altman) (1st viewing) (dcp, harvard film archive, 'any number can win' all night gambling marathon) 194. air mail (1932, ford) (1st viewing) 195. living skeleton (1968, matsuno) (1st viewing) 196. house of usher (1960, corman) (1st viewing) 197. the picture of dorian gray (1945, lewin) (1st viewing) 198. wishmaster (1997, kurtzman) (1st viewing) 199. house of the dead (2003, boll) (1st viewing) 200. flesheater (1988, kurtzman) (1st viewing) 201. laughter (1930, d'arrast) (2nd viewing) 202. clearcut (1991, bugajski) (1st viewing) 203. eyes of fire (1983, crounse) (1st viewing) 204. celia (1989, turner) (1st viewing) 205. il demonio (1963, rondi) (1st viewing) 206. tokyo twilight (1957, ozu) (1st viewing) 207. berlin express (1948, tourneur) (1st viewing) 208. house of bamboo (1955, fuller) (1st viewing) 209. the eighth happiness (1988, to) (1st viewing) 210. the agfa horror trailer show (2020) (1st viewing) 211. no hard feelings (2023, stupnitsky) (1st viewing) 212. cobweb (2023, bodin) (1st viewing) 213. day of the dead (1985, romero) (5th viewing) 214. land of the dead (2005, romero) (1st viewing) 215. the shiver of the vampires (1971, rollin) (1st viewing) 216. fascination (1979, rollin) (1st viewing) 217. jagged edge (1985, marquand) (1st viewing) 218. barbie (2023, gerwig) (IMAX) (3rd viewing) 219. stop making sense (1984, demme) (10th-ish viewing) 220. castle of blood (1964, margheriti) (1st viewing) 221. lisa and the devil (1973, bava) (2nd viewing) 222. the psychic (1977, fulci) (2nd viewing) 223. phenomena (1985, argento) (2nd viewing) 224. show people (1928, vidor) (1st viewing) (35mm, somerville theatre) 225. pilgrimage (1933, ford) (1st viewing) 226. hackers (1995, softley) (3rd viewing) 227. pennies from heaven (1981, ross) (1st viewing) (35mm, brattle theatre, christopher walken in the 1980s series) 228. stop making sense (1984, demme) (IMAX) (11ish viewing) 229. the signal tower (1924, brown) (1st viewing) 230. psycho iii (1986, perkins) (1st viewing) 231. edge of sanity (1989, kikoine) (1st viewing) 232. ivy (1947, wood) (1st viewing) 233. floating weeds (1959, ozu) (2nd viewing)

[cinema-tv-etc]

Why The Godfather Part III has been unfairly demonized

By Caryn James1st December 2020

he mafia trilogy ended with a closing chapter that has long been vilified. But as a new recut is released, 30 years on, Caryn James says it deserves to be re-evaluated. T

The final part of the Godfather trilogy is considered such an artistic disaster that you'd think Francis Ford Coppola had forgotten how to make a film in the 16 years that followed The Godfather Part II (1974). Part III's most famous dialogue – Al Pacino as the aging Mafia don Michael Corleone snarls, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" – has become an easy laugh line.

But 30 years after its release, it is time to rescue Godfather III from its terrible reputation. Pacino's eloquent, fiery, knowing central performance is supported by several bravura set pieces that are mini-masterpieces in themselves. With deliberate echoes of the earlier Godfather films, there is singing and dancing at a family party, a bold murder during the San Gennaro street festival, a tragedy on the steps of an opera house in Sicily.

In the film’s confusing main plot, Michael gets tangled up in dealing with the Vatican  

Hindsight alone would tell us how seriously the film has been undervalued, even without Coppola's newly restored, re-edited and renamed version. It now has the title Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. Calling it a coda emphasises its connection to the earlier instalments, and even hints at its lesser stature. And the word 'death' signals its dark inevitability, although the meaning of that word is slipperier than it first appears.

Twelve minutes shorter, it rearranges some key episodes, eliminates a few minor scenes and trims a line here or there. But until its altered ending, it is fundamentally the same film, better in parts than as a whole. It is too flawed to come close to the accomplishments of The Godfather (1972) or its sequel, both among the most towering and influential films of the 20th Century. They have penetrated the culture, from their language ("I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse") to their quintessentially American story of immigration and upward mobility. But the new version clarifies Coppola's epic vision, revealing how much the Corleone story was always Michael's, a deeply moral saga of guilt and redemption. He just happened to be a mob boss.

For me the tragedy of The Godfather, which is the tragedy of America, is about Michael Corleone – Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola was always lucid about the trilogy's vision, even when others were confused. "For me the tragedy of The Godfather, which is the tragedy of America, is about Michael Corleone," he says in the extras on a DVD set of the three films released in 2001. He wanted The Death of Michael Corleone to be the title back in 1990, but Paramount, the studio releasing it, did not. The film's initial reception was measured disappointment, not dismissal or horror as we now assume. Roger Ebert actually loved it. Pauline Kael did not love or hate it, but offered the withering, condescending assessment. "I don't think it's going to be a public humiliation." Expectations were high because of the legacy of the earlier films, yet low because Part III came with a whiff of desperation and of selling out. Coppola had resisted making another Godfather for years, then wrote the screenplay (with Mario Puzo) and edited it in a rush to meet its Christmas Day release. It even got seven Oscar nominations, including best picture and director. It is an odd example of a movie whose reputation has declined over the decades.

Why the film is misunderstood

Then and now, the series has largely been misunderstood. Crime movies like Coppola's and Martin Scorsese's are so seductive that audiences have embraced them for apparently glamorising the love of raw power and the concept of honour among thieves. Beneath the Mafia-friendly surface, though, they are built on ethical themes their more hot-headed characters don't grasp. The Godfather Coda tells us that crime really doesn't pay when you're ready to search your soul. The young Michael struggles with the idea of killing and crime in the first Godfather. The consequences of his decision are central to Part III, which takes place in 1979, 20 years after the events of Godfather II. Michael, a billionaire living in New York, has made his businesses legitimate and is left to grapple with his guilt for so many crimes, especially ordering the murder of his  brother Fredo, who betrayed him.

The film still has problems that no amount of editing can change. In a needlessly confusing main plot, Michael tries to take over a European conglomerate called International Immobiliare. By buying the Vatican's shares, he'll be bailing out the corrupt Vatican bank. The family part of the story revolves around Michael's nephew, Vincent Mancini, the illegitimate son of his brother Sonny. Andy Garcia is as good a Vincent as you could hope for, handsome, swaggering, rough around the edges, dynamic on screen. But his character never makes much sense. Vincent has his father's explosive temper and appetite for violence, but somehow goes from a not-so-bright thug to a shrewd, controlled crime strategist in a matter of months. His change is far from the engrossing, methodical character trajectory that takes the young Michael from idealist to murderer in the first Godfather.

And the film's most severely criticised element is no better than anyone remembers. Winona Ryder, who had been set to play Michael's daughter, Mary, dropped out weeks before filming started and was replaced with unabashed nepotism by Coppola's teenaged daughter, Sofia. Today, we know Sofia Coppola as a brilliant director, but it's easy to see why her amateurish performance made her another target of Godfather III jokes, particularly for the unintentionally awkward and passionless romance between Mary and her cousin Vincent. Coppola actually snipped a couple of Sofia's lines in the new version.

He makes a major change at the start of the re-edited film, eliminating the lovely original beginning. It set an elegiac tone by showing images of the abandoned family house in Lake Tahoe from Part II, and includes a flashback to Fredo's death, while Nino Rota's familiar soundtrack music evokes the past. The new version begins with a duplicitous archbishop soliciting Michael's help for the Vatican, a scene originally placed later in the film. The change highlights the finance plot without making it any clearer.  

The exhilarating start

But the film soon picks up with its true, exhilarating beginning. Several generations of Corleones, along with friends and business associates, gather at a party celebrating Michael. His sister, Connie, sings an Italian song, while shady-looking visitors pay homage to Michael in his office. He now has bristly grey hair and a lined face, and controls his family and business with authoritarian power. The extravagant 30-minute sequence echoes Connie's wedding at the start of The Godfather, and the First Communion party in Lake Tahoe that began Godfather II. Michael's office even has the same light slanting through the blinds that we saw in his father's office in the first Godfather, when Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone received visitors. Throughout, these call backs to the previous films add resonance while trenchantly revealing how things have changed.  Michael is burdened by conscience in a way Vito never was. "I don't apologise," Vito tells Michael near the end of The Godfather, justifying his brutality because he was trying to save his family. Godfather III is all about Michael's need to atone.  

Al Pacino's performance may have become an object of derision, but he knows what he's doing.

The party scene flows easily as it brings every character up to date. Diane Keaton is as deft as ever as Michael's ex-wife Kay, who pleads with him to allow their son, Tony, to pursue a career as an opera singer. Kay can be chilling. "Tony knows that you killed Fredo," she warns Michael. Yet she has never got over him, as we see in a later scene when they have a tearful tête-à-tête in Sicily, a scene Pacino and Keaton make painfully real.

Connie, played with glorious sharpness and wit by Talia Shire, has morphed into Lady Macbeth. Mafia princesses can never run things, but they can pull the strings. It's Connie who ruthlessly tells Vincent, "You're the only one in this family with my father's strength. If anything happens to Michael I want you to strike back." She has asked the right person.

Vincent is central to many of the set pieces. During a meeting of Mafia heads in Atlantic City, when Michael announces he is out of the crime business, a helicopter approaches the window and shoots most of them dead. Vincent rushes Michael, the main target, to safety. The intrigue and rapid-fire violence in the perfectly orchestrated scene might obscure the real point: Michael can't escape his past. That attack causes his cry: "Just when I thought I was out..." Pacino's performance may have become an object of derision, but he knows what he's doing. He is raw and angrily over-the-top in some scenes, but modulates those outbursts with quieter moments. When a stress-induced diabetic attack sends him to the hospital, in his delusional state he calls out Fredo's name. Pacino shows us a conflicted Michael, weakened yet clinging to power.

The power of the re-edited finale

The tone becomes more ominous and the themes more spiritual when the entire family goes to Sicily for Tony's opera debut. (There are spoilers here, but the time limit on spoilers has expired after 30 years.) Michael grapples with the Sicilian Mafia, for reasons linked to the Immobiliare deal, but that is less important than his inner crisis. He makes a confession to a cardinal, breaking down in tears as he says, "I'm beyond redemption." When his protector, Don Tommasino, becomes another victim of Michael's power struggle, he sits by the coffin and says to God, "I swear on the lives of my children, give me a chance to redeem myself and I will sin no more." In this version, Coppola eliminates lines in which Michael asks why he is feared and not loved, removing that plea for the audience's sympathy. Michael gives Vincent control of the family, but does he really have a clear conscience when he knows too well the vengeance Vincent will plan?

The Trump era has been full of Godfather references; Trump himself regularly attacks CNN's Chris Cuomo by calling him Fredo.

That revenge plays out in the elaborate, gripping final sequence at the opera, a counterpart to one of the most famous episodes from The Godfather, when a baptism is intercut with a series of murders. That first sequence was about Michael's rise to power; now he suffers the consequences. While the family watches Tony on stage, Coppola weaves in scenes of Vincent's crew settling scores. One shoots an enemy who plummets off a beautiful spiral staircase. Another murders a rival by stabbing the man's own eyeglasses into his neck. At the opera, hitmen are after Michael, which leads to the shooting on the steps, and a bullet meant for him that kills Mary. For him there is no coming back from that, no possible way to forgive himself.  

As the film ends, Coppola makes a brilliant editing choice. The original ending flashed ahead years to the elderly Michael, sitting alone in a gravelly yard as the camera closes in on a face still full of desolation and sadness. He falls to the ground, obviously dead.  With a tiny cut, Coppola transforms the meaning of the scene. It now ends with the close-up of Michael's face, still alive. Living with his guilt is his true death, a death of the soul and of hope. Coppola adds text at the end, which says: “When the Sicilians wish you ‘Cent'anni’... it means ‘for long life’... and a Sicilian never forgets.” Michael is doomed to a long life of remembering.

Godfather, Coda restores Coppola's original darker vision, but one element creates a jolt even he couldn't have seen coming. The locations listed in the end credits include Trump Castle Casino Resort in Atlantic City, where the exterior of the helicopter attack was shot. The Trump era has been full of Godfather references. Some are from mainsteam media, including a 2018 Atlantic Magazine article with the headline Donald Trump Goes Full Fredo, comparing a Trump tweet saying that he is “like, really smart” to Fredo famously insisting in Godfather II, “I'm smart! Not like everybody says, like dumb, I'm smart!”  Similarly, Twitter trolls routinely mock the president's circle and his grown children as Fredos, portraying them as weak and bumbling like the character,  including pasting Donald Trump Jr’s head on a photo of Fredo's body.  Donald Trump himself regularly attacks CNN's Chris Cuomo by calling him Fredo. Godfather II even turned up in court documents charging Trump's advisor Roger Stone with obstructing justice, citing an email in which Stone asked someone to protect him the way Frankie Pentangeli covered up for the Corleones. Today the location credit lands like a coda to the end of the Trump presidency, and offers a reminder of how influential the Godfather films have been, even when they were embraced for all the wrong reasons.

Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is available on BluRay and streaming from 8 December.

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https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201201-why-the-godfather-part-iii-has-been-unfairly-demonised

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201201-david-fincher-hollywoods-most-disturbing-director

[steves-on-a-plane]

Festival

For @thefanficfaerie​‘s OTP Challenge (2020)                 Words: 787 Pairing: Tony Stark x Reader             Prompt: Spooktacular Halloween: Day 30- Festival Summary: The day of the Tony Festival has arrived and it’s time for Tony and Reader to debut their Alexander and Eliza Hamilton costumes.

“You know, period garb looks good on me.” Tony commented, adjusting his jacket. He looked to his left where you were walking beside him. “But it looks even better on you.” He smirked.

“I just know how to work my angles. Plus it doesn’t hurt that I made the costumes.” You laughed. “So, what are we going to hit up first? Games, rides, the food?”

“How about games?” Tony suggested. “It might be fun to fill Baby Stark’s nursery with all the prizes I win.”

“I’ll have you know I used to have a reputation as Queen of the Ring Toss.” You informed him.

“Well from ages five to seven I had a nanny who took me to Coney Island every Friday. So, we’ll see who the Queen of the Ring Toss is.” Tony took your hand and walked with you through the festival booths. The two of you kept your eyes out for the Ring Toss.

“How do you do with the balloon pop?” Tony asked. He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the booth.

“Ugh, I’m terrible at it.” You complained.

“Perfect.” Tony smiled mischievously. Tony stepped up to the booth and paid the attendant. The attendant handed him five darts. Tony picked up the first one and began to take aim. From behind you, you heard girls giggling and you turn to see what the excitement was.

“I’m telling you it’s him.” One girl whispered loudly. She was standing with two other friends, each of them barely over twenty-one.

“You really think Tony Stark and his wife came to the town festival the day before Halloween?” One of her friends asked before sipping from her beer.

“Well, why not?” The third girl asked. “They live in the town, don’t they?”

“On the edge of the town.” The second girl commented.

“Don’t look now,” You whispered to Tony as he tossed his second dart towards the wall of balloons. “But you’ve got some admirers.”

“Hm?” He looked over his shoulder. He saw the same three girls. Tony waved at the girls before turning back to his game. After Tony had tossed the last of his darts he was gifted a small bear as a prize. “First one is for you.” He handed the bear over with a kiss. “Next one’s for baby.”

“Hi, um, I’m sorry if this is like totally crazy but are you Tony Stark?” The first girl in the group was finally brave enough to ask.

“Well, tonight my name is Alexander Hamilton.” He answered with a wink. “This is my wife, Eliza.”

“I get it!” The girl nodded. “You want to keep a low profile. We totally understand.” She began backing away towards her friends.

“Would you girls like a picture?” You offered.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.” The second girl insisted. “You two should enjoy your night together.”

“C’mon.” You waved them all over. “How often will you get a chance to meet Alexander Hamilton?” You asked them.

“Twice.” Tony answered. “Once now and if they ever wander across Lin Manuel Miranda at a Halloween Festival. Do you think Lin is here? Should I call him?”

“You have Lin Manuel Miranda’s phone number and you never invited him over for dinner?” You questioned.

“Of course, how do you think I got us those Hamilton tickets for Surprise Date Night?” He questioned.

“Wow. You two are officially my favorite celebrity couple.” One of the girls gushed.

“Okay ladies, I’ve got big plans to try and eat an entire blooming onion by myself so the offer is going fast. The three of you want photos?” You asked them with a smile. The three girls looked among each other before nodding excitedly. “Great. We can do individual photos and them one group picture. I’ll happy take them the only thing I ask is that you don’t post the photos on social media until tomorrow. Let Mr. Stark and I enjoy our date night, okay?”

The three girls agree before lining up and posing for photos with Tony. Once the group photos were done the girl thanked you multiple times before Tony was finally able to drag you away.

“That was nice of you.” Tony commented as you stepped in line for a blooming onion.

“I remember what it was like at their age. I think I would have died if I had seen Harrison Ford at a town festival when I was younger.” You told him.

“Really?” Harrison Ford?” Tony asked.

“I liked Star Wars as a kid, sue me.” You shrugged. The two of you stepped forward in line. “And I can’t help it if I have a thing for guys with crooked grins and an abundance of confidence.”

TAGS: @thefanficfaerie​ @littlegasps​

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 12/12/2020

Men’s singles division - babyfaces

Jon Moxley

Cody Rhodes

Darby Allin (AEW TNT champion)

Orange Cassidy

Hangman Page

Lance Archer

PAC

Dustin Rhodes

Scorpio Sky

Matt Sydal

Men’s singles division - heels

Kenny Omega (AEW men’s world champion, AAA mega champion)

MJF

Brian Cage (FTW champion)

Ricky Starks

Eddie Kingston

Sammy Guevara

Powerhouse Hobbs

Matt Hardy

Shawn Spears

Wardlow

Unranked: Brandon Cutler, Colt Cabana, Michael Nakazawa, Peter Avalon

One of the things I like about AEW is that they’ve got so many guys in the mix and I usually know off the top of my head what any of them is up to.  Granted, some of these guys aren’t doing very much, but I at least have a sense of their character and storyline while they’re on the back burner.  I used to like that about WWE, years ago.  But somewhere around 2000 they lost the ability to focus on more than a handful of characters at any given time, which is a big problem when you have a hundred performers on your roster.

As a result, it feels more organic to me when guys like Eddie Kingston and Team Taz jump out of the undercard into the AEW title picture.  On Raw, these guys would be random nobodies in R-Truth skits until Vince McMahon suddenly decided to present them as killer threats to Drew McIntyre, and then they’d lose the title match and be nobodies again.  In AEW, there’s a better flow between “beating jobbers on Dark” and “beating name guys on Dynamite” and “punking out a champion to disrupt the rankings” and “recovering from a big loss by beating midcarders.”  That’s something I haven’t seen in US wrestling for so long, I forgot how much I missed it.

PROTIP FOR TONY KHAN: Try doing that with the women sometime, kthx

Men’s tag team division - babyfaces

The Young Bucks - Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson (AEW tag team champions)

Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian

Best Friends - Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

Lucha Bros. - Penta El 0M & Rey Fenix

Jurassic Express - Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt

Private Party - Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy

Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss

The Gunn Club - Billy Gunn & Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn

The Varsity Blondes - Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison

Top Flight - Darius Martin & Daunte Martin

Men‘s tag team division - heels

FTR - Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler

Chris Jericho & Jake Hager

Miro & Kip Sabian

The Butcher & The Blade

Evil Uno & Stu Grayson

John Silver & Alex Reynolds

The Hybrid2 - Jack Evans & Angelico

The Acclaimed - Anthony Bowen & Max Caster

Chaos Project - Luther & Serpentico

Alan Angels & Preston Vance

This has to be the deepest tag team division I’ve ever seen in pro wrestling.  I suppose maybe some group in Mexico might have more teams.  But 20 active teams is practically unheard of for a major-league US promotion.  Even New Japan could only find 10 teams for World Tag League, and half of them were one-off combinations.

One caveat is that the “Jericho and Hager focus on tag wrestling” thing may or may not be a long-term direction.  And Colten, Pillman, Garrison, and Serpentico are not (to my knowledge) under contract.  But that’s balanced out a bit by the tandems that haven’t competed in the last 30 days (Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall, Santana & Ortiz), and the potential for other alliances to be full-time dedicated tag teams (MJF & Wardlow, Team Taz).

The advantage of having this many teams is that you get booking in the tag division like you’d see in the singles divisions of most promotions.  You can actually have four or five teams on hot streaks, because there are plenty of lesser teams to put them over, so they don’t have to go 50-50 with each other.  You can actually have a group of teams acting as a midcard, that lose to the top guys but can beat anybody else.  And there are maybe six teams here that I’d call jobber teams, but they still win sometimes because they beat each other, or the freelancers on AEW Dark.  It’s a good ecosystem.

Women’s singles division - babyfaces

Hikaru Shida (AEW women’s world champion)

Big Swole

Serena Deeb (NWA women’s world champion)

Thunder Rosa

Leva Bates

Shanna

Leyla Hirsch

Red Velvet

KiLynn King

Women’s singles division - heels

Nyla Rose

Britt Baker

Abadon

Anna Jay

Penelope Ford

Diamante

Ivelisse

The AEW women’s division suffered a lot this spring from injuries and travel restrictions, but I’d say they’ve mostly recovered from those setbacks.  Most of the women listed above weren’t even in the company before March.  Collaborating with the NWA (Thunder Rosa) and pushing freelancers (Diamante, Ivelisse, Hirsch, Velvet, and King) has yielded a deeper roster than they had in 2019.

That being said, TV time is still an egregious problem for this division.  AEW is clearly wary about chasing viewers off to NXT if they run too many women’s segments on Dynamite.  If feels like they’re waiting for something that’ll make it the right time to actually push the division.  But the perfect moment will never come, so they might as well go with the hand they have.

It looks like the brewing Brandi Rhodes vs. Jade Cargill feud is going to expand to include (at least) Nyla, Swole, Deeb, Velvet, Diamante, and Ivelisse.  So if we see various matchups among those women for a few weeks (alongside Shida vs. Abadon and Baker vs. Rosa), then great!  If it just means one multi-woman tag on Dynamite, then it doesn’t really address the problem.

No matches in the last 30 days: Emi Sukara, Jade Cargill, Mel, Santana, Ortiz, QT Marshall, Riho, Tay Conti, The Bunny, Yuka Sakazawi

At some point CIMA and T-Hawk were quietly removed from the roster on AEW’s website.  With Shanna and PAC back in Jacksonville, that only leaves Sukara, Riho, and Sakazawi as the contracted performers out of action because of the pandemic.

Part-timers: Awesome Kong, Dallas Page, Dasha, Rebel, Sting

Kong has been out for nearly a year with no explanation besides a kayfabe injury.  My understanding was that she would be taking time off to film GLOW, but then the show was canceled, so I don’t know if she’s healing from real injuries or taking time off or what.  DDP is 64 and the last time I saw him on AEW programming he was mentoring QT Marshall from inside his house, so I’m pretty sure he won’t be back until after the pandemic.  Dasha and Rebel aren’t listed by AEW as wrestlers but they’ve each had matches this year.

Interestingly, Sting is listed on the official roster as a competitor with a 0-0 record in the promotion.  That seems like the surest sign yet that AEW plans to book him in a match.  He’s 61, but I suppose DDP wrestled this year at 63 years old.  He was forced into retirement with spinal stenosis, but I suppose Edge came back from that after a lot of rest and for a lot of money.

Inactive

Brodie Lee (ankle - undisclosed injury)

Brandi Rhodes (arm - storyline injury)

Kris Statlander (left knee - ACL tear)

I’m kinda surprised there aren’t more people on the shelf than this.  (And technically Brandi isn’t really hurt and probably won’t be selling it much longer.)  It feels like AEW has had a lot of injury problems this year, but I suppose they’ve managed to avoid a lot of major surgeries.

[dansnaturepictures]

16/10/2020-Lakeside and more on a very sunny Friday: 10 different pictures in this photoset to the ones I tweeted tonight 

I took the first seven pictures in this photoset today as I went for my Lakeside lunch time walk in yet more glorious sunshine this week it really did look brilliant with the blue sky too out today, the seven photos are of flowers in the garden before I went for the walk, three landscapes, nice yellow autumn leaves which I photographed yesterday and lots of my pictures have included these distinctive tall trees at Lakeside which really stand out in the landscape lately, another landscape and some leaves on trees starting to turn red. Red and yellow leaves dominating my walk once again today, I also enjoyed seeing some flowers and mushrooms and taking pictures of them which I tweeted on Dans_Pictures earlier this evening. 

As I walked back along the path between the two fenced off nature reserve areas at Lakeside whilst it was another very peaceful and pleasant walk today it was rather without its incident for wildlife watching. Shown nicely by the fact I did the walk, in at the north east gate entrance, down to by the steam railway station, along to the visitor centre, along a path to the south near to the ford area then around concorde lake over the bridge and out past beach lake much quicker than I have done a walk for a long time really with less stopping to watch wildlife and take photos of it. Obviously a landscape picture which most of today’s were I can unusually take quickly rather than wildlife I might have to edge carefully closer to a species or change a lens to take it. 

This was until as I had wondered if they were about as I have seen them twice in this field the northern fenced off area as they do tend to frequent certain areas within Lakeside at different stages of the year I have noticed this year and I was delighted to see a Roe Deer in the long grass of this area. With my macro lens on for most of the walk, change lens I did have to getting my big lens on. Behind the fence this deer was less than 10 metres away from me and sensing me so I stood in the middle of the path getting my big lens on as quietly as I could whilst thoroughly enjoying one of my best Roe Deer views this year as it seemed to look at me a real intimate moment. I got the big lens on and it made it a perfect moment for a photo, my best of the day I tweeted on Dans_Pictures I produced over 30 pictures today so I have got exclusive ones to Twitter in this blog and to take it the sun which was present but in an autumnal way could be blocked out for a moment or two quite easily was shining right on the Roe Deer. It was a fantastic moment I loved watching this beautiful species, the amount of deer species I have seen so well lately here, at Bushy Park, in the New Forest, back in Norfolk I am loving the experiences I’ve had with four species these last few months with the other two UK ones I’ve seen this year too. I was proud of that photo probably one of my best Roe Deer ones ever. I was so happy watching this Roe Deer as the sun stopped shining on it for a bit and then started again. It soon bounded off into the nicely compared to everything else round here now long grass still and its mate which I wondered where it was I could now see with nice antlers as they went further back. I got another picture of the deer with its mate visible too the eighth in this photoset. 

As I walked on I heard and then saw a Carrion Crow “crowing” very loudly which was interesting. 

When home this afternoon I took the ninth picture in this photoset of the tree visible from my room looking nice again its getting some autumnal leaves on it which I am looking forward to seeing it go the nice yellow colour it does as this is what first made me notice the tree seeing it in autumn over the last few years I am not sure why but until this year I never noticed it in blossom or go nicely green as it did in the summer but this year that was a fantastic thing to observe whilst working from home. So to see it come full circle at the time of year I first saw it will be nice. Interestingly yesterday again I walked past this tree as I walked around the roads to get to Lakeside rather than over the green out the front so I walked behind this tree its very weird seeing it up close and from a different angle something I see so often from my room and am so familiar with. 

This evening I did my usual second Friday walk going into the northern path at Lakeside and coming out again, last week was the first one for ages I didn’t do this walk to Lakeside. With things a bit quieter this week I had no real species to see or subjects to photograph for the main purpose of the second walk it was rather just a good chance to get a bit more exercise with more time on a Friday and lull me gently into the weekend and bring the week to a close in my mind. But I wanted to really make sure I got out this evening purely for the fact that my second Friday walks’ days are numbered or any I may do on any other day with the clocks going back soon and it will be pretty much dark around five and even half four when I finish on a Friday as it goes on and not to mention obviously if we go into local lockdown or a circuit breaker national lockdown and exercise may be restricted again I would likely weather permitting stick to the lunch time walk as my one walk if needs be as I always like getting out during my hour off in a day. Obviously everyone’s health has to come first and I fully support any further action now which may have to happen. 

I took the tenth picture in this photoset of a view on tonight’s walk with the sun setting I didn’t get out until quarter to six this evening. It did become a sunset walk as I tweeted more pictures of the sun setting too and saw some glorious scenes of the sun heading down with some nice orange scenes. A lovely walk to end a brilliant day. I hope you all have a great and safe weekend. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Black-headed Gull, Starling, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Common Darter dragonfly fairly well and Roe Deer.

[madsenatthemovies]

My 2020 Oscar Ballot (for Gambling Purposes Only)

There are some great and terrible films being honored this year, but that doesn’t mean YOU can’t make some $MONEY$

If you like to gamble on 5-hour award shows, here are my picks that may help you on your way to winning.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Dcera (Daughter) Hair Love ✅ Kitbull Memorable Sister

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

In the Abscence Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) ✅ Life Overtakes Me St. Louis Superman Walk Run Cha-Cha

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

Brotherhood ✅ Nefta Football Club The Neighbors’ Window Saria A Sister

BEST SOUND EDITING

1917 ✅ Ford v Ferrari <----Potential Upset Joker Once upon a Time... in Hollywood Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

BEST SOUND MIXING

1917 ✅ Ad Astra Ford v Ferrari <----Potential Upset Joker Once upon a Time... in Hollywood

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

1917 Bombshell ✅ Joker Judy Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1917 ✅ Avengers: Endgame <----Potential Upset The Irishman The Lion King Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” Toy Story 4, Randy Newman “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” Rocketman, Elton John & Bernie Taupin ✅ “I’m Standing With You,” Breakthrough, Diane Warren “Into The Unknown,” Frozen II, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez “Stand Up,” Harriet, Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1917, Thomas Newman <----Potential Upset Joker, Hildur Guðnadóttir ✅ Little Women, Alexandre Desplat Marriage Story, Randy Newman Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, John Williams

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The Irishman, Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson Jojo Rabbit, Mayes C. Rubeo Joker, Mark Bridges Little Women, Jacqueline Durran Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Arianne Phillips

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1917 <----Potential Upset The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood ✅ Parasite

BEST FILM EDITING

Ford v Ferrari, Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker ✅ The Irishman, Thelma Schoonmaker Jojo Rabbit, Tom Eagles Joker, Jeff Groth Parasite, Yang Jin-mo <----Potential Upset

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1917, Roger Deakins ✅ The Irishman, Rodrigo Prieto Joker, Lawrence Sher The Lighthouse, Jarin Blaschke Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Robert Richardson

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

American Factory ✅ The Cave The Edge of Democracy For Sama <----Potential Upset Honeyland

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

Boże Ciało (Corpus Christi), Poland Медена земја (Honeyland), Macedonia Les Miséables (The Miserable Ones), France Dolor y gloria (Pain and Glory), Spain 기생충 (Parasite), South Korea ✅

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World I Lost My Body Klaus <----Potential Upset Missing Link Toy Story 4 ✅

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Irishman, Steven Zaillian Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi ✅ Joker, Todd Phillips and Scott Silver Little Women, Greta Gerwig <----Potential Upset The Two Popes, Anthony McCarten

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1917, Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns Knives Out, Rian Johnson Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino <----Potential Upset Parasite,  Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won ✅

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell Laura Dern, Marriage Story ✅ Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit Florence Pugh, Little Women Margot Robbie, Bombshell

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes Al Pacino, The Irishman Joe Pesci, The Irishman Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood ✅

BEST LEAD ACTRESS

Cynthia Erivo, Harriett Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story <----Potential Upset Saoirse Ronan, Little Women Charlize Theron, Bombshell Renee Zellweger, Judy ✅

BEST LEAD ACTOR

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood Adam Driver, Marriage Story Joaquin Phoenix, Joker ✅ Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

BEST DIRECTOR

1917, Sam Mendes ✅ The Irishman, Martin Scorsese Joker, Todd Phillips Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino Parasite, Bong Joon Ho <----Potential Upset

BEST PICTURE

1917 ✅ Ford v Ferrari The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Joker Little Women Marriage Story Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood Parasite <----Potential Upset

[awesomelephuoclocblog-blog]

Dropshiply Review: OTO + BONUS + DEMO + DISCOUNT – EASY MANAGE DROPSHIPING BUSINESS

https://lephuocloc.com/dropshiply-review/

Presentation OF DROPSHIPLY REVIEW With OTO, BONUS and DISCOUNT

Welcome to my total Dropshiply Review, which reveals to you how this DROPSHIPPING programming award clients to deal with their redistributing affiliations effectively and advantage that makes clients 7 figures each day with an unmistakable 7 stage structure and you will have a high store change orchestrated to take orders in minutes!

It has One Front-End (Main Product), 5 OTO and 9 POWERFUL BONUSES, I have audit Every Part of this Software… … .

Dropshiply Review: OTO + BONUS + DEMO + DISCOUNT – EASY MANAGE DROPSHIPING BUSINESS

Dropshiply Review: OTO + BONUS + DEMO + DISCOUNT – EASY MANAGE DROPSHIPING BUSINESS

Did you comprehend that electronic business deals are completely upsetting retail now? At the present time, a consistently growing number of individuals are purchasing things on the web, and redistributing is getting likely the best strategy that different eCommerce business visionaries use to develop their points of interest.

So this is the best an ideal open entryway for you to quit paying month to month charges for an unapproachable stage like Shopify to pass on your things. We should abuse your noteworthy opportunity of a lifetime with an as of late out of the holder new thing call Dropshiply to begin making 7 puppets dependably.

This thing is absolutely a control stage by point and snaps "get hands", paying little psyche to what you have done as of now, it will be essential for you to make your own gainful redistributing store. We should look down to inspect my full surveys which will assist you with picking the correct choice to proceed…

WHAT IS DROPSHIPLY?

Dropshiply is a perfect "total" online business stage that will offer you a full scale redistributing store in minutes ... it accomplishes all the work for you! You can relate your stores or make one with no arranging and deal with your business inside this thing.

Dropshiply will make your own profitable store TODAY Works in 3 fundamental advances…

It's associated with running an absolutely profitable re-appropriating store in minutes, paying little brain to in the occasion that you're a finished understudy or an actuated advertiser! To be fruitful with this structure requires distinctly no experience! Everything is completely AUTOMATED to permit you to supportively assemble 6 digits of Income. Proposing the finishing of lack of protection. No persuading inspiration to pick things to sell through your re-appropriating provider and HOPE they will genuinely SELL.

Dropshiply expels ALL ideas with the target that YOU appear at deals records each time whether YOU are a completed adolescent! This is the thing that you have to benefit gigantically in 2020 and past. In any case, flood, it's basically open unexpectedly and the concise riser rebate will be removed in a few hours from now. Possibly you get it now, or you monitor things for the going with awe inspiring thing (which without a doubt won't work - like the last time). To find a few solutions concerning this Software we should look down to the Next Part of My DROPSHIPLY REVIEW

ABOUT THE CREATOR

Dropshiply is a deliberately endeavored attempt by Devid Farah and Matt Ford. Devid has gained notoriety for being maybe the best ace in eCommerce with a long relationship with the field of MMOs.

About The Creator

A piece of their obvious things are Targeting Academy 2.0, Tee Niche List, eCom Sniper, and T-shirt Confessions, eCom Product List, and so forth.

They are flooding with their insight in eCom which has put aside a long exertion to test and distil.

This is their first dispatch in 2020 considering the way that they expected to test it overall from October 2019 until the point of convergence of this current year.

Enduring fundamental outcomes is compulsory before giving it to purchasers. I unflinchingly recognize that this thing will be completely their next advancement.

My Dropshiply survey contains all that you have to know, we should proceed ahead to the going with partitions.

Highlights OF DROPSHIPLY?

Dropshiply Review – Software highlights breakdown

WP Connect: Automatically encourage Dropshiply into your current WP stores

Store encounters: Instantly watch and deal with the entire of your store information clearly here in your dashboard

Web piece improvement bits of information: Get total SEO estimations .. title, meta depiction, space authority, page authority, page arranging, SEO score, Alexa generally speaking arranging, nation arranging, and that is only a trace of something bigger!

Second space search: Don't have a zone for your store? Make an effort not to sweat it! Our second space generator will pick a region for you quickly!

Specialty Intelligence Technology: Know which qualities WILL GENERATE MONEY before making your store!

Ali Express Spy Tool: We have joined the whole AliExpress stage inside Dropshiply App so you can discover THOUSANDS of things which it is difficult to know exist without broad stretches of meticulous evaluation!

eBay Spy: Identify the best eBay things and get thing examinations from the limitation so you can anticipate how the courses of action will go!

Walmart thing search: Discover boundless things on Walmart, you can sell on your store immediately!

Alexa Spy: Discover traffic encounters and generally speaking rankings from a huge number areas and tap into new markets

FB Interest Explorer: Discover an extensive number of profitable watchword phrases for your FB propelling undertakings

1-click thing shipper: Import various things into your store in minutes with only a lone tick!

Editorial manager encouraged into the application: Don't you like a specific thing? Do whatever it takes not to worry over it! In a concise moment alter thing delineations, title, regard, marks, class, pictures, arrangements, and that is only a trace of something bigger!

Dropshiply Review - You can make a beneficial web business store

This thing robotizes the aggregate of the most overwhelming assignments basic to run a 6-digit redistributing area with no month to month costs. So you can begin in beginning a redistributing business in 2020

Head chief: Manage the entirety of your things, sales, and clients in a single tick!

Direct requests: View, change, erase engineers here! See full subtleties .. thing name, SKU, whole, regard, charging, and dispatching data and the sky is the limit starting there!

Control things: Our "server side preparing" headway licenses you to deal with the entirety of your things at the same time!

Direct clients: All customers are promptly followed and showed up in Dropshiply. Every single new requesting on your store will in like way be subsequently restored here!

Oversee various enrollments: Instantly pass on another record, oversee different records, or change every single current record.

Synchronize orders: All requesting in your stores will be ordinarily synchronized with Dropshiply powerfully!

Adjusted control headway: Dropshiply puts in the sales and fills the territory with a single tick!

Thing checking: Monitor every single worth change and update them hence.

Stock watching: Monitors stock changes and restores things therefore. You will never sell something that your provider doesn't have any more!

Worth screen: Monitor every value change and update it in this way!

United worth edges: Create evaluating rules so as to have obvious edges for all the things you sell!

Thing reports: Get escalated gives an account of the measure of things sold in your stores!

Premium subjects: Our topic store wires more than 100 free and premium eCommerce focuses masterminded by experts that you can use for your own store!

WooCommerce mix: Dropshiply joins absolutely with WooCommerce so you can show the total of your things in your dashboard.

Melded App Store: Dropshiply has a sorted out App Store where you can download our free and paid online business applications to develop your business and improve your traffic, showing and deals!

Dropshiply Review - It likewise permits you to make records

20+ mix API: Dropshiply enough orchestrates with in excess of 20 APIs to make your life less troublesome and work snappier and less troublesome!

Redone noting mail and joining of messages: We have direct mixes in with Aweber, GetResponse, Mailchimp and Sendy. You can comparatively compose with some other application with our custom blends.

https://lephuocloc.com/dropshiply-review/

https://lephuocloc.com/

[filmspun]

Oscar Nominations 2020: The Complete List

The Academy Awards will air on ABC on February 9, 2020

Best Picture:

“Ford v Ferrari”

“The Irishman”

“Jojo Rabbit”

“Joker”

“Little Women”

“Marriage Story”

“1917”

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

“Parasite”

Lead Actor:

Antonio Banderas “Pain and Glory”

Leonardo DiCaprio “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Adam Driver “Marriage Story”

Joaquin Phoenix “Joker”

Jonathan Pryce “The Two Popes”

Lead Actress:

Cynthia Erivo “Harriet”

Scarlett Johansson “Marriage Story”

Saoirse Ronan “Little Women”

Charlize Theron “Bombshell”

Renee Zellweger “Judy”

Supporting Actor:

Tom Hanks, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”

Anthony Hopkins, “The Two Popes”

Al Pacino, “The Irishman”

Joe Pesci, “The Irishman”

Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Supporting Actress:

Kathy Bates, “Richard Jewell”

Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”

Scarlett Johannson, “Jojo Rabbit”

Florence Pugh, “Little Women”

Margot Robbie, “Bombshell”

Director:

Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman”

Todd Phillips, “Joker”

Sam Mendes, “1917”

Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Bong Joon Ho, “Parasite”

Animated Feature:

“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” Dean DeBlois

“I Lost My Body” Jeremy Clapin

“Klaus” Sergio Pablos

“Missing Link” Chris Butler

“Toy Story 4”  Josh Cooley

Animated Short:

“Dcera,” Daria Kashcheeva

“Hair Love,” Matthew A. Cherry

“Kitbull,” Rosana Sullivan

“Memorable,” Bruno Collet

“Sister,” Siqi Song

Adapted Screenplay:

“The Irishman,” Steven Zaillian

“Jojo Rabbit,” Taika Waititi

“Joker,” Todd Phillips, Scott Silver

“Just Mercy” Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham

“Little Women,” Greta Gerwig

“The Two Popes,” Anthony McCarten

Original Screenplay:

“Knives Out,” Rian Johnson

“Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach

“1917,” Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino

“Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho, Jin Won Han

Cinematography:

“The Irishman,” Rodrigo Prieto

“Joker,” Lawrence Sher

“The Lighthouse,” Jarin Blaschke

“1917,” Roger Deakins

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Robert Richardson

Best Documentary Feature:

“American Factory,” Julia Rieichert, Steven Bognar

“The Cave,” Feras Fayyad

“The Edge of Democracy,” Petra Costa

“For Sama,” Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts

“Honeyland,” Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov

Best Documentary Short Subject:

“In the Absence”

“Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone,” Carol Dysinger

“Life Overtakes Me,” Kristine Samuelson, John Haptas

“St. Louis Superman”

“Walk Run Cha-Cha,” Laura Nix

Best Live Action Short Film:

“Brotherhood,” Meryam Joobeur

“Nefta Football Club,” Yves Piat

“The Neighbors’ Window,” Marshall Curry

“Saria,” Bryan Buckley

“A Sister,” Delphine Girard

Best International Feature Film:

“Corpus Christi,” Jan Komasa

“Honeyland,” Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov

“Les Miserables,” Ladj Ly

“Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodovar

“Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho

Film Editing:

“Ford v Ferrari,” Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland

“The Irishman,” Thelma Schoonmaker

“Jojo Rabbit,” Tom Eagles

“Joker,” Jeff Groth

“Parasite,” Jinmo Yang

Sound Editing:

“Ford v Ferrari,” Don Sylvester

“Joker,” Alan Robert Murray

“1917,” Oliver Tarney, Rachel Tate

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Wylie Stateman

“Star Wars: The Rise of SkyWalker,” Matthew Wood, David Acord

Sound Mixing:

“Ad Astra”

 “Ford v Ferrari”

“Joker”

“1917”

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Production Design:

“The Irishman,” Bob Shaw and Regina Graves

“Jojo Rabbit,” Ra Vincent and Nora Sopkova

“1917,” Dennis Gassner and Lee Sandales

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh

“Parasite,” Lee Ha-Jun and Cho Won Woo, Han Ga Ram, and Cho Hee

Original Score:

“Joker,” Hildur Guðnadóttir

“Little Women,” Alexandre Desplat

“Marriage Story,”Randy Newman

“1917,” Thomas Newman

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” John Williams*“The King,” Nicholas Britell

Original Song:

“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” “Toy Story 4”

“I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” “Rocketman”

“I’m Standing With You,” “Breakthrough”

“Into the Unknown,” “Frozen 2”

“Stand Up,” “Harriet”

Makeup and Hair:

“Bombshell”

“Joker”

“Judy”

“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”

“1917”

Costume Design:

”The Irishman,” Sandy Powell, Christopher Peterson

“Jojo Rabbit,” Mayes C. Rubeo

“Joker,” Mark Bridges

“Little Women,” Jacqueline Durran

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Arianne Phillips

Visual Effects:

“Avengers Endgame”

“The Irishman”

“1917”

“The Lion King”

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”

[themovieaffection]

Oscars 2020 Predictions

Another year where in some categories there can be only one winner, but in some other everything can happen. Hoping also for some surprises.

Best Picture

Will Win: 1917

Should win:

By Heart: Joker

By Mind: Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood

Directing

Will Win: Sam Mendes for 1917

Should Win: Sam Mendes for 1917 or Bong Joon Ho for Parasite

Leading Actor

Will Win: Joaquin Phoenix

Should Win: Joaquin Phoenix

Leading Actress

Will Win: Renée Zellweger

Should Win: Scarlett Johansson

Supporting Actor

Will Win: Brad Pitt

Should Win: Brad Pitt

Supporting Actress

Will Win: Laura Dern

Should be here and Win: Jennifer Lopez

Animated Feature Film

Will Win: Klaus

Should Win: Klaus or I Lost My Body

Original Screenplay

Will Win: Parasite

Should Win: Parasite

Adapted Screenplay

Will Win: Jojo Rabbit

Should Win: Jojo Rabbit

Cinematography

Will Win: 1917

Should Win: 1917

Film Editing

Will Win: Parasite

Should Win: Ford V Ferrari

Production Design

Will Win: Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood

Should Win: Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood

Costume Design

Will Win: Jojo Rabbit

Should Win: Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood or Jojo Rabbit

Makeup and Hairstyling

Will Win: Bombshell

Should Win: Joker

Visual Effects

Will Win: 1917

Should Win: 1917

Original Score

Will Win: Joker

Should Win: Joker

Original Song

Will Win: “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman

Should Win: “Stand Up” from Harriet

Sound Mixing

Will Win: Ford V Ferrari

Should Win: Ford V Ferrari

Sound Editing

Will Win: 1917

Should Win: Ford V Ferrari or 1917

International Feature Film

Will Win: Parasite

Should Win: Parasite 

Documentary Feature

Will Win: American Factory

Should Win: For Sama or The Edge of Democracy

Documentary Short Subject

Will Win: Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)

Live Action Short Subject

Will Win: Brotherhood

Animated Short Film

Will Win: Hair Love

[viktorjerner]

Min tippning inför 2020 års Oscarsgala. Titlar/namn markerade med ✔ och fetstil är de jag tror kommer vinna i respektive kategori, följt av de jag tycker borde vinna och de som borde ha varit nominerade. 

Best Picture Ford v Ferrari ✔ 1917 The Irishman Joker Jojo Rabbit Little Women Marriage Story Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Parasite Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Borde ha nominerats: Uncut Gems

Best Director Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Martin Scorsese – The Irishman Sam Mendes – 1917 ✔ Bong Joon-ho – Parasite Todd Phillips – Joker Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Bong Joon-ho Borde ha nominerats: Greta Gerwig – Little Women

Best Actor ✔ Joaquin Phoenix – Joker Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Adam Driver – Marriage Story Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory Jonathan Pryce – The Two Popes Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory Borde ha nominerats: Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems

Best Actress ✔ Renee Zellweger – Judy Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story Cynthia Erivo – Harriet Charlize Theron – Bombshell Saoirse Ronan – Little Women Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Saoirse Ronan – Little Women Borde ha nominerats: Elisabeth Moss – Her Smell, Florence Pugh – Midsommar 

Best Supporting Actor ✔ Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Joe Pesci – The Irishman Anthony Hopkins – The Two Popes Al Pacino – The Irishman Tom Hanks – A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Borde ha nominerats: Willem Dafoe – The Lighthouse

Best Supporting Actress ✔ Laura Dern – Marriage Story Scarlett Johnasson – Jojo Rabbit Margot Robbie – Bombshell Florence Pugh – Little Women Kathy Bates – Richard Jewell Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Florence Pugh – Little Women Borde ha nominerats: Zhao Shuzhen – The Farewell

Best Original Screenplay Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach ✔ Parasite – Bong Joon-ho Knives Out – Rian Johnson 1917 – Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino Borde ha nominerats: Pain & Glory – Pedro Almodóvar

Best Adapted Screenplay The Irishman – Steven Zaillian Joker – Todd Phillips & Scott Silver ✔ Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi Little Women – Greta Gerwig The Two Popes – Anthony McCarten Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Little Women – Greta Gerwig

Best International Film Corpus Christi – Poland Honeyland – North Macedonia Les Miserables – France Pain and Glory – Spain ✔ Parasite – South Korea Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Parasite – South Korea Borde ha nominerats: Portrait of a Lady on Fire – France

Best Documentary Feature ✔ American Factory The Cave The Edge of Democracy For Sama Honeyland Borde ha nominerats: Apollo 11

Best Documentary – Short Subject In the Absence ✔ Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) Life Overtakes Me St. Louis Superman Walk Run Cha-Cha

Best Animated Feature Film How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World I Lost My Body Klaus Missing Link ✔ Toy Story 4 Borde vinna bland de nominerade: I Lost My Body

Best Film Editing ✔ Ford v Ferrari The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Joker Parasite Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Parasite Borde ha nominerats: Uncut Gems

Best Cinematography The Irishman Joker The Lighthouse ✔ 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Borde vinna bland de nominerade: The Lighthouse Borde ha nominerats: Little Women

Best Production Design The Irishman Jojo Rabbit 1917 ✔ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Parasite Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Borde ha nominerats: Little Women

Best Costume Design The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Joker ✔ Little Women Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Little Women Borde ha nominerats: Pain & Glory

Best Makeup & Hairstyling ✔ Bombshell Joker Judy Maleficent: Mistress of Evil 1917 Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Bombshell Borde ha nominerats: Little Women 

Best Visual Effects Avengers: Endgame The Irishman The Lion King ✔ 1917 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Borde vinna bland de nominerade: The Irishman Borde ha nominerats: Ad Astra

Best Original Score ✔ Joker Little Women Marriage Story 1917 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Little Women Borde ha nominerats: Waves

Best Original Song “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” – Toy Story 4 ✔ “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” – Rocketman “I’m Standing with You” – Breakthrough “Into the Unknown” – Frozen II “Stand Up” – Harriet

Best Sound Editing Ford v Ferrari Joker ✔ 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Ford v Ferrari Borde ha nominerats: The Lighthouse

Best Sound Mixing Ad Astra Ford v Ferrari Joker ✔ 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Borde vinna bland de nominerade: Ad Astra

Best Live-Action Short Film Brotherhood Nefta Football Club ✔ The Neighbors’ Window Saria A Sister

Best Animated Short Film Dcera (Daughter) Hair Love Kitbull ✔ Memorable Sister

[nearmidnightannex]

Brutal honesty about Oscar

To be brutally honest in return, what stands out about how this person voted (and they’re not hugely different from other people in this series) is both how political and how petty a lot of it is. Surprisingly little has to do with what they think was “best” or most affecting about a nominee in a particular category. And the rah-rah nationalist bites are quite unexpected and eyebrow-raising.

Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot: 'Irishman' "Was Boring," Tarantino "Amazing," "I Want an American Director to Win" (hollywoodreporter.com)

5:00 PM 2/4/2020 by Anonymous, as told to Scott Feinberg

As voting ends, a female member of the Academy's actors branch, granted anonymity to speak freely, shares which films earn her precious vote (and — gulp — why).

Best Picture: [...] I didn't care about any of the people in [The Irishman]. I really liked Ford v Ferrari — I loved the two actors and the moral of the story — and I wish they had promoted it more; it's worthy of more attention than it has gotten. Parasite is beautifully done, but it didn't hold up the second time, and I don't think foreign films should be nominated with the regular films. I liked Joker more than I thought I would; I put off seeing it for a long time, but it was actually a beautifully done film about mental illness, and I thought about it for a long time afterward, which is always a good sign. I loved 1917, but Quentin Tarantino's film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, was even better the second time than the first. I was in L.A. in the '60s, and I thought he captured that era perfectly. 1917 was a very good but pretty straight-on story about the horrors of war; Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was more complicated and stayed with me longer. MY VOTE (1) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; (2) 1917; (3) Joker; (4) Parasite; (5) Ford v Ferrari; (6) The Irishman; (7) Marriage Story; (8) Jojo Rabbit; (9) Little Women

[EDITOR’S NOTE: For “Best Picture” -- and only for that category -- the Academy uses a ranked preference ballot, and assigns values based on that rank. If any film receives an outright majority of first-place votes (which appears not to have happened any time recently), then the vote count is complete. Otherwise ... things get complicated quickly:  How the Oscars preferential ballot turns the best picture race into a celebration of the ‘least disliked’ (latimes.com)]

Best Director: I can't vote for Marty [Scorsese, of The Irishman] — nobody wants to say it, but it's just not that good. Todd Phillips did an incredible job on Joker, as did Bong Joon Ho on Parasite, but not the best. I liked 1917 and Sam Mendes' direction, but I thought Quentin did a great job, and I want an American director to win. The Oscars is an American thing; English things win BAFTAs and the French vote for the French, and Quentin Tarantino should be honored for a great American movie.MY VOTE Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

[EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s one thing to say that Quentin did a great job -- that’s a comment on quality. It’s another thing, and rather eyebrow-raising, to say that it should only go to an American director. Apart from anything else, in the specific examples she cites, those awards do in fact nominate people from outside their nationality, and did this year. All that said, for an even more bracing look at who may win Best Director and why:  6 reasons why ‘1917’ is destined to march to 2020 Oscar glory as Best Picture (goldderby.com), in which the reason for their prediction is simply, “Testosterone”.]

Other “Brutally Honest Oscar Ballots” from years past.

For a less deeply cynical (and very different) take on this year’s Oscars:  Three anonymous Oscar voters share their super-secret ballots in key categories (latimes.com). I will note that the opinions expressed in this article may make it less surprising if Scarlet Johanssen can pull off a major upset by beating out Renee Zellwegger for best actress, and if “Knives Out” manages to edge “Parasite” for original screenplay (... although I fully expect both of them to lose to Tarantino, so.):

WRITER, woman in her 40s

Original screenplay: It was between “Parasite” and “Knives Out” for me, but Rian [Johnson] writes one hell of a screenplay. Not a word wasted, rich characters, plenty of twists and an exceedingly original idea. I watch Rian’s movies for the immersive worlds he creates, big or small, and for the new language he seems to create for every single movie. That always starts with the script....

And for a return to cynicism about what happened and why:  Oscar Ballots Due Today As Academy Quells Tweetstorm Over Glitch In New AMPAS “Prediction” Site (deadline.com) in which it appeared briefly as though the Academy -- which, after all, actually knows the winners ahead of time -- was “predicting” the results of the awards. That’s apparently not exactly what was happening, but given the various issues the academy has had to deal with this year and in recent years, it is, shall we say, not at all a good look for them.

[chorusfm]

Oscar 2020 Nominees Announced

The 2020 Oscar nominees have been announced. Best Picture Ford v Ferrari The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Joker Little Women Marriage Story 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Parasite Best Director Martin Scorsese, The Irishman Todd Phillips, Joker Sam Mendes, 1917 Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Bong Joon-ho, Parasite Best Actress in a Supporting Role Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell Laura Dern, Marriage Story Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit Florence Pugh, Little Women Margot Robbie, Bombshell Best Actor in a Supporting Role Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes Al Pacino, The Irishman Joe Pesci, The Irishman Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Actor in a Leading Role Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Adam Driver, Marriage Story Joaquin Phoenix, Joker Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes Actress in a Leading Role Cynthia Erivo, Harriet Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story Saoirse Ronan, Little Women Charlize Theron, Bombshell Renée Zellweger, Judy Adapted Screenplay The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Joker Little Women The Two Popes Original Screenplay Knives Out Marriage Story 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Parasite Costume Design The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Joker Little Women Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Sound Mixing Ad Astra Ford v Ferrari Joker 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Sound Editing Ford v Ferrari Joker 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Original Score Joker Little Women Marriage Story 1917 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Original Song “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” Toy Story 4 “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” Rocketman “I’m Standing With You,” Breakthrough “Into the Unknown,” Frozen II “Stand Up,” Harriet Documentary Feature American Factory The Cave The Edge of Democracy For Sama Honeyland Documentary Short Subject In the Absence Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone if You’re a Girl Life Overtakes Me St. Louis Superman Walk, Run, Chacha International Feature Film Corpus Christi (Poland) Honeyland (North Macedonia) Les Misérables (France) Pain & Glory (Spain) Parasite (South Korea) Production Design The Irishman Jojo Rabbit 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Parasite Editing Ford v Ferrari The Irishman Jojo Rabbit Joker Parasite Cinematography The Irishman Joker The Lighthouse 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Visual Effects Avengers: Endgame The Irishman The Lion King 1917 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Makeup and Hairstyling Bombshell Joker Judy Maleficent: Mistress of Evil 1917 Animated Feature Film How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World I Lost My Body Klaus Missing Link Toy Story 4 Animated Short Dcera (Daughter) Hair Love Kitbull Memorable Sister Live Action Short Brotherhood Nefta Football Club The Neighbors’ Window Saria A Sister --- Please consider supporting us so we can keep bringing you stories like this one. ◎ https://chorus.fm/news/oscar-2020-nominees-announced/

[enginerumors]

2020 Ford Edge Changes, Colors, Release Date

2020 Ford Edge Changes, Colors, Release Date

2020 Ford Edge Changes, Colors, Release Date – Going into the market since the next era, the 2020 Ford Edge will get some changes and updates. Gossips said that there would have been a new engine, reduced body bodyweight, decreased fuel ingestion and improved performance. Some new line is added for its outer component with additional modern capabilities you will find in the cockpit.

2020 Ford…

[wrestlingisfake]

Raw Fake Rankings, 9/1/2020

Men’s heavyweight singles division - babyfaces

Drew McIntyre (WWE world heavyweight champion)

Keith Lee

Kevin Owens

Apollo Crews

Cedric Alexander

Mustafa Ali

Ricochet

R-Truth (WWE 24/7 champion)

Men’s heavyweight singles division - heels

Randy Orton

Seth Rollins

Bobby Lashley (WWE United States champion)

MVP

Dolph Ziggler

Shelton Benjamin

Buddy Murphy

Akira Tozawa

Unranked: Dominick Mysterio, Humberto Carrillo, Riddick Moss, Titus O’Neil

A quick note about some format changes: I keep track of wrestlers who haven’t had a TV match in over 30 days, but now I’m including the online-only B-shows (in Raw’s case, Main Event).  The main reason is because AEW Dark has elevated the importance of that type of show.  As for WWE, their changes this year have made it a bit of a moot point--most of the “sit in catering” types were cut, so there aren’t nearly as many people appearing only on Main Event and not Raw.  While I’m on the subject, I’m not counting the Raw Underground fights as true matches, since they just seem to be random, vaguely defined brawls.

Drew McIntyre is technically out with a kayfabe injury, but since they’ve already booked him for a title match against Randy Orton later this month I didn’t see the point of putting him on the inactive list.  It’s feeling more and more like Orton will end up as world champion, with McIntyre and Lee chasing him as dominant powerhouse babyfaces.  Now let’s see if Vince McMahon can find a way to screw that up.

Other key programs for September seem to be Kevin Owens vs. Aleister Black, dissension between Seth Rollins and Murphy, and the Hurt Business (MVP, Lashley, and Benjamin) vs. the midcard faces (Alexander, Crews, Ali, Ricochet, etc.)  Dolph Ziggler appears totally directionless right now.  With Rey Mysterio hurt, it’s not clear what’s next for Dominick, especially if Rollins moves to a full breakup with Murphy.

Women’s singles division - babyfaces

Asuka (WWE Raw women’s champion)

Mickie James

Bianca Belair

Women’s singles division - heels

Billie Kay

Peyton Royce

Natalya

Unranked: Lana, Zelina Vega

I’m not sure what the point is to breaking up Kay and Royce unless one is going to turn face and/or start a big singles push.  I’m also not sure what the plan is for Natalya and Lana’s new act, since it seems to be about making them a bigger part of the show without actually, y’know, winning any matches or gaining any momentum.

Women’s tag team division - babyfaces

Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan

Women’s tag team division - heels

Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax (WWE women’s tag team champions)

I kinda quit listing the women’s tag division as a thing a while back, because having two teams isn’t much of a division.  Since then, though, I’ve realized that the men’s tag division (on all three WWE brands) has similarly deteriorated.  Which isn’t exactly what I mean when I demand gender parity in wrestling, but I guess fair’s fair.

The stupid thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way.  You could package Lana and Natalya as a tag team, and not break up Kay and Royce, and call up more women from NXT.  You could have women’s tag teams work across all three brands, instead of just letting the champions do it.  But WWE just can’t find the will to make any of that happen.

Men’s tag team division - babyfaces

The Street Profits - Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford (WWE Raw tag team champions)

The Viking Raiders - Ivar & Erik

Men’s tag team division - heels

Andrade & Angel Garza

I wonder if Dawkins, Ford, Andrade, and Garza are sick of wrestling each other over and over and over.  I wonder if the Viking Raiders wonder why they’ve been left out of the title picture when there’s only three teams in the division.  I suppose Cedric Alexander and Ricochet haven’t exactly broken up, but they haven’t exactly been teaming lately either.  Maybe MVP and Shelton Benjamin could make a run for the tag titles.  That’s not enough, but it’d be something.

No matches in 30 days: Akam, Aleister Black

Black just turned heel to start a feud with Kevin Owens, so hopefully he can stop disappearing from TV for months at a time.  Akam’s still waiting for Rezar to return from his injury.

Part-time/semi-retired: Big Show, Shane McMahon, Triple H

Inactive

Becky Lynch (maternity leave)

Charlotte Flair (breast implant maintenance)

Edge (arm - triceps tear)

Jinder Mahal (knee - unspecified injury)

Rey Mysterio (arm - triceps tear)

Rezar (right arm - biceps tear)

Robert Roode (travel restrictions)

Samoa Joe (concussion)

I haven’t seen updates for most of these performers.  Flair is expected back before long, which is probably why they haven’t made more serious efforts to create a top rival for Asuka.  Early reports on Rey’s injury suggest he won’t need surgery and will be back in a couple of months.  Joe could be cleared next week or not for another year.  I suspect that Roode can enter the US despite the closed border with Canada, but WWE just doesn’t have a good enough reason to bring him in yet.

[dansnaturepictures]

02/07/2020-Flowers on the balcony and Common Sandpipers and more at Lakeside 

This morning I took the first three pictures in this photoset of the lovely flowers on our balcony within them some of the key characters as such I have photographed a lot lately and some new ones. Its lovely to see them all look so ripe and in colour. 

I took my lunch time Lakeside walk and again saw a short shower, beforehand I took the fourth and fifth pictures in this photoset of one of many open winged Ringlets I saw today which was great to see and yet another Magpie picture for me this year I do like photographing them. I had an exciting moment this morning when a Jackdaw a fellow crow flew down into our back garden on the bird table not a common visitor actually in the garden so that was nice. 

After the shower I took the sixth picture in this photoset of a nice bit of little flower meadow area. I then cut across a bigger meadow by the path up into the woods and saw the Marbled White butterfly in the seventh picture I took today in this photoset, it looked very flesh and was flapping its wings gently it looked to be newly emerged I think great to see. As I turned around the slight early signs of autumn was added to really when I saw the tree in the eighth picture in this photoset with apples on. I then walked around the lakes on the western path alongside them and was happy to see two Great Crested Grebes still on nests. I took the ninth picture in this photoset of a nice flower beside the lake. 

Next I had my moment of the day. I looked at Mallards in my binoculars the other side of the lake and on what it turned out was a little thin blue buoy by low branches on the edge of the lake were some sandpipers. I sort of thought they can’t be sandpipers can be but they were. I needed to see both Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper still this year I don’t often get to July not having seen one of the two I do often have one to see at times as well. A place with mostly fairly deep lakes is really not where you’d expect to find either sandpiper they’re known for wading on shallow edges of lagoons, lakes that have shallower areas and suchlike. But I could see these were sandpipers, its subtle between green and common with how they look quite a lot. But I knew in my head this could not be a Green Sandpiper at this stage as they do frequent the areas above largely coastal as well. But Common Sandpipers frequent rivers too and I had seen them there regularly. Monks Brook, a tributary to the River Itchen the main river I’ve seen them at before at different bits runs alongside Lakeside. So of course a Common Sandpiper could easily have found these lakes from along there, there is a ford area across Monks Brook which I’ve photographed a bit of late at the bottom of Lakeside which would be great sandpiper habitat. I zoomed in with my camera and saw on the birds the distinctive markings of the Common Sandpiper, I’d confirmed my wild thoughts really they were Common Sandpipers! There were four of them and one flew off and bobbed so wagged its tail a bit something they’re known for doing a bit like a Dipper. Then they all flew down lake a bit then came back and I took the record shot the tenth and final picture in this photoset of one of the Common Sandpipers on a blue buoy . 

The reason it was such a wild thought and it was amazing to see them is I have never seen a Common Sandpiper at my very local Lakeside before or even heard of them being here, so I did not expect to find one as I walked alongside this lake a route I had only decided late on to do as well! Very thankful that I did do it. But it was a glorious moment, it felt like a find and just like when I saw my first Common Tern and Whitethroat of 2020 here in April and May respectively it was an amazing surprise for me. A wonderful thing to record on my patch as such. But even better really that this was a year tick for me a bird I was starting to wonder when I’d see or if this year. It takes my year list to 167 but perhaps just as special is that its a year tick in July 2020 for me. That means I still have not gone one month since November 2015 where I didn’t get at least one bird year tick. In that amazing near five year run for me July has proved the hardest month to secure a bird year tick at times I think because its naturally quieter for birds over the summer between migrations and you’ve usually seen most things but I’ve always managed it, this year every month since April I’ve had that question of could this be the month I don’t get a bird year tick in we are in a pandemic so it couldn’t matter less but it was just intriguing but I’m still going with the run. With no trip to Rutland likely and the Ospreys we always see there seen on Sunday at Fishlake Meadows as I said then August is by no means a given I’ll get a bird year tick this year so I’m going to make the most of being on this run and it was a great moment when home to realise what this year tick meant. 

As I was watching the Common Sandpipers the richness of day in terms of water birds was revealed further as a cracking Kingfisher flew quickly over the lake towards me. I have long since known I won’t see one of my favourite birds the Dipper in the flesh this year for the first since 2016. But watching a bobbing Common Sandpiper, three others and another of my favourite birds the Kingfisher could be the next best thing. What a 24 hour period for me a special one for photos and bird and butterfly watching.

Wildlife Sightings Summary: My first Common Sandpiper of the year, two of my favourite birds the Great Crested Grebe and Kingfisher, Mallard, Moorhen, Greylag Goose, Black-headed Gull, Magpie, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Swift, House Sparrow, Robin, Small Skipper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Marbled White and Common Blue Damselfly.