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ocean--grey · 2 months ago

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Here's my attempt at Smegtober 2024's Day 3 prompt, "Parents" :)

Word count: ~1300 words

Warnings: brief mention of Lister and Rimmer's canonically terrible childhoods, Lister leaving the twins behind in the Parallel Universe

Edit: now on AO3 :)

Ten months after one of the strangest mistakes of her life, Deb Lister was convinced she’d never get used to the responsibility of looking after her sons.

It was just under a month after Dave had dropped off the twins – Jim and Bexley – and she hadn’t got a full night’s sleep with all the time she spent fretting over them. They’d arrived almost fully grown, physically eighteen, but had seemingly reverted in every way over the past few weeks into children, an apparent compromise between their recent birth and accelerated ageing due to being born in another universe.

In all fairness, she felt like Dave got the short end of the stick, forced to give away his kids just three days after giving birth to them, never able to see them naturally progress into adulthood. She’d seen the regret in his eyes as he handed them over – it wasn’t as though he had a say in the matter though. The universe had decided his kids wouldn’t survive with him, so it wasn’t like he’d chosen to abandon them. If they’d been conceived in Dave’s universe, he’d have been able to raise them, but then Deb would have been the one to let them go.

Just unfortunate luck, really.

The kind of unfortunate luck that also left Deb herself in an awkward situation: trying to teach the kids. She’d be the first to admit academics weren’t her thing – in the few occasional weeks she’d properly tried to go to school regularly, maths and art were the only subjects she did decently in.

She’d ask Kryten, the newest member of the group, for help, but Deb was still busy replacing her wiring after that crash on the asteroid, and could confidently say that the mechanoid would be out of commission for a while longer.

Dog wouldn’t be great with teaching the kids phonics and the like - he communicated mainly through smells rather than words, and thought human books were for decorating the floor of the bunkroom like confetti.

Hilly was no help either. Still hung up on the doppelgänger crew’s computer, he’d changed appearances to mirror the object of his affection and skulked off to the furthest corners of Red Dwarf’s electrical system to read Anthony Christie novels in peace, occasionally turning up to snark and bemoan about his lost love.

This process of elimination left Rimmer. God, Deb didn’t even want to think about what her roommate would consider a good quality education. Probably teach the twins twice-daily mandatory Ionian etiquette lessons, threaten to toss them out an airlock if they didn’t pronounce stuff with that nasally stuck-up accent of hers, stuff like that. Actually, Lister bet the smeghead would probably turn her nose up at stooping so low from her post as to actually help her roommate out with Jim and Bexley.

Which was why, all things considered, when Arlene actually offered to teach the kids the month after they arrived, and was a damn great teacher at that, Lister was gobsmacked.

Somehow, the smeghead managed to command the attention of the twins enough to get them writing full sentences within a few weeks. She’d screech in horror, of course, whenever they got something even slightly wrong (which Lister had been worried about at first) but somehow it seemed a comical kind of screech rather than her usual demeaning one. Mock horror, almost.

Whatever it was that made Rimmer such an great teacher for the boys, it made the lessons entertaining enough that soon Jim kept coming up to Rimmer to show her short stories he’d shakily written, or Bexley would grab her attention with an “Auntie Arlene, look at this new word I can spell!”

Oh yeah, and the “Auntie Arlene” remarks kept coming. It seemed the boys considered their temporary teacher almost as much of a parental figure as Deb herself.

Which, of course, Lister was completely fine with, totally. Didn’t feel threatened at all, actually.

So when Jim asked her one night, when she tucked the twins into bed, “Mum, do you and Auntie Arlene not like each other?”, she swallowed down an immediate scathing retort and instead muttered “We have our differences, but don’t fret about it, ‘kay?”

The next day she’d cornered Rimmer on the main deck.

“Why the smeg do the kids like you so much? What can you offer them that I can’t?”

Rimmer’s lips had curled at this. “Instilling a good sense of hygiene, perhaps? Or maybe a comprehensive understanding of the importance of structure and law-abiding?”

“Rimmer, the only laws you actually follow to a T are the ones you’ve implemented yourself! Besides, stuff like that doesn’t really matter when there’s only us on the ship.” She scrambled to speak again as Rimmer’s nostrils twitched. “Also, it’s not like you can offer them any comfort. Emotionally you’re a wasp’s nest on the best of days, and you’re not even physically here!”

Rimmer’s mouth gaped open like a suffocating fish, before pursing tight. “Thanks for reminding me of my death, you goit! My, you lack so much tact its value’s practically negative. Great example for your kids, aren’t you?”

With that, the hologram stormed off through a wall.

Lister found her a few hours later, after tucking the twins into bed. Rimmer had been slinking around the fuel decks, apparently sulking silently except for a few half-hearted attempts to kick at the pipes along the walls – unsuccessfully, of course. By the time Lister found her, she had slid down a wall, staring down at her lap.

Deb crouched beside her before slouching against the wall too, curling her body in to face Rimmer. Letting out a sigh, she began.

“Listen Rimmer, I went too far back there. Honestly, I feel like I’m not handling this well – any of it actually. I’m so scared I’ll be an awful parent to the twins –”

“You’re not, though.”

Deb’s rant careened off its tracks and exploded, leaving only debris behind.

“… Eh?”

“You’re not. An awful parent, I mean. You’re still learning and, considering the general lack of support around here, you’re doing pretty fine.”

“Thanks. I think?”

Rimmer’s eyes rolled. “That was actually a compliment, directed towards you, from me. Yes I know, it’s impossible!” A grin flickered across her face for a split second, before returning to a careful neutral expression as she resumed studying her lap. “Besides, you’re doing better than I ever could by myself.”

Deb hesitated, then replied “Honestly, I’m not doing it all by myself. You’ve actually been a lot of help. Look,” here she uncurled her body, and Rimmer’s eyes connected with hers, “you’re not half bad either, considering what you’ve told me about your mum. I think all things considered we’re both doing a decent job, eh?”

Rimmer nodded, seemingly only half listening as she kept locking eyes with Lister.

“Listen, I’m sorry I said that smeg earlier. I just… don’t want to feel like I’m failing the boys in any way, and seeing them so excited to talk with you about your lessons and stuff made me think you were…”

Rimmer cut in harshly, “What, trying to steal them away from you?”

“A bit like that, yeah. But not only that? I was expecting you to make parenting into a kind of competition between us, y’know, who can help the kids grow and develop better than the other, the kind of smeg you used to pull all the time.”

“Key phrase there being used to.”

“Well, still do it sometimes, don’t you?” Lister chuckled.

The conversation faded as they listened to the pipes hum for a minute. After a while, Rimmer replied.

“Well, I’m not planning on making this a competition. Not this time. Too much at stake, the kids and all that. Wouldn’t want to mess them up over petty rivalry.”

“Nah, we wouldn’t.”

“So… truce?”

Deb felt the weight on her shoulders loosen, even if only by a tiny bit. “Sure.”

She spat on her hand, and reached out to shake. Rimmer rolled her eyes again and gestured down at her hologrammatic body. Lister paused for a second, then announced to the room “Hilly, can you seal the deal for us?”

She strolled away, chuckling once more, to the sound of her roommate trying to stifle her own guffaws even as she tried to shake the spit off her hand.

#smegtober #smegtober2024 #my fics #ocean•grey•art #red dwarf #feel like this ended abruptly but I wasn’t quite sure how to finish this and I think it’s okay tbh? Pretty good for a first go

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cirie-won-thirty-four · 6 months ago

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Ok so here is my ACOTAR casting, avoiding super A listers

1. Feyre Archeron - bailee madison (she needs to be in SOMETHING oh my god)

2. Tamlin - Will poulter

3. Rhysand - Dev Patel (I know he’s basically an A lister but like w.e! I’m making an exception! Pay him what he needs to be paid I NEED him as Rhysand lmaoo)

4. Morrigan (Mor) - new actress, plus size stallion type, think iskra Lawrence

5. Cassian - Rahul Kohli

6. Azriel - in my head, I see aaron Johnson but realistically, Taylor Zakhar Perez

7. Nesta Archeron - Alicia debnam-carey

8. Elain Archeron - sophie nelisse

9. Amren - Courtney Eaton

10. Lucien Vanserra - New actor, Undercover biracial, think pete wentz or Rashida jones

Supporting Characters:

1. Alis - Michelle Buteau or new light-skinned plus size actress

2. Ianthe - dove cameron

3. Tarquin - nick sagar or rege-jean page

4. Thesan - Keiynan Lonsdale

5. Helion - trevante rhodes or martin Imhangbe cause trevante may be too famous

6. Beron Vanserra - I always picture tywin Lannister tbh lol but I know fey have that eternally youthful thing so maybe Anthony starr?

7. Eris Vanserra - Nick robinson

8. Jurian - Justin Baldoni

9. Amarantha - Sophie turner (Its not a recurring role and its also a pivotal one so I think she’d take it)

10. King of Hybern - I always picture Andrew Scott so him probably

11. The Bone Carver -

as kid - New child actor, gives new talent a chance to shine.

as older - Avan Jogia

12. The Weaver,Bryaxis,the suriel and more of the fantasy creatures can be played by anyone since heavy makeup will be involved anyway, but i’m always in favor of giving unknown talent a chance

13. Emerie - Simone ashley is what I see in my head but tbh she might be too famous so maybe Avantika Vandanapu

14. Gwyneth - In my mind I picture Sadie sink but Maybe too famous for a side character, maybe Ellie bamber

#acotar #acowar #acomaf #acosf #sarah j maas

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manyfandomocs · 2 months ago

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Okay in honour of finally finally finding a version of pretty smart that I could download/convert/turn into Gregg scene packs I have to ask

Any crossover ideas for the new army of Gregg ocs? 🥺👀

Absolutely I tried to keep these relatively short but it was hard lmao

Wyatt Hayden

Adrian Nelson & Amanda Weston (idk if poly vibes or bestie vibes but something)

Allie St. James

Annabel Harkness (just vibes)

Anthony Byrne (doppelgänger fun)

Ashley Nardini (Cinderella Story: A Christmas Wish said this is a necessity)

Bekah Chamberlain (Idk I think she’d be fun for him)

Casey Boone

Chelsea Geller (idk idk just vibes)

Conrad Huntzberger (I’m just gay. That’s it this is just for Me)

Cosette Gerard

Gabi Mariano

Harry Bechtel & Troy Donahue-Castillo (again I’m just gay)

Heather Belleville

Kaitlyn Lister

Kaylee Hayden (we’ve already talked about them but)

Kippi Doose

Lia Belleville (idk why I’m vibing with the Belleville’s)

Maisie McCrae

Malcolm & Marianne Medina (I couldn’t pick)

Marley Tinsdale

Paige Huntzberger

Romy Danes

Sage Hall

Sophie Dugray

Verity Huntzberger

And then just every Gilmore

Rhett Sheppard

Abigail Claremont-Diaz (either instead of crushing on Alex forever he’s crushed on her or he still has crushed on Alex but seeing Alex and Henry makes him realize it was Abi all along??)

Caroline Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Oliver Cochrane

Cate Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor

Isabel Luna

Kennedy Quinlan

London Carter

Madison Richards

Margaret Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor

Cooper Sullivan

Ainsley Winchester

Anna Winchester

Cybil

Dinah Novak

Elle Winchester

Esther Colt

Evelyn Jacobs

Kat Smith

Katia McKinley

Nevaeh Murphy

Samira Devlin

Maximillian Sterling (forgot about my Genevieve Sterling from Riverdale so his last name maaaay change we’ll see)

Abigail White

Blair Dupont

Dominic Forrest (I’m gay)

Eva Gilbert

Harry Saltzman (I’m gay)

Karina Mikaelson

Karissa Marshall

Ronnie Lockwood

Rowan Saltzman (poly with Caroline perhaps perhaps)

Graham Donovan

Anastasia Campbell

Annette Diggory

Bobbie Fortescue

Carina Goldberg (Squib kids squib kids)

Clio Lupin

Danica Lestrange

Elvira Lestrange

Laurel Prewett

Lianne Slughorn

Lyarra Vance

Lysithea Sewlyn

Maia Lupin

Maristela Carrillo

Mavis Bardot

Miranda Granger

Nineve Weasley

Talia Lovegood

Venus Malfoy

Maaaaybe the Invictus crew if we want Andrew to have a doppelgänger too

#answered #randomestfandom #crossover list

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nazmulbd00m-blog · 6 days ago

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#IFTTT #Hollywood News – FNNEWZ

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anthonysstupiddailyblog · 6 months ago

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Anthony's Stupid Daily Blog (790): Thu 16th May 2024

We got the news this morning that Red Dwarf will be coming back in 2025 for three more episodes (by "we" I mean my fellow Red Dwarf fans not the yellow liquid that comes out of penises and vaginas). Reactions to this announcement has been mixed as most are delighted that the show will be coming back but some are questioning if they should be doing more or if the actors are too old to be doing this anymore (this show I mean obviously they could still do other things). A while back Robert Llewellyn said that he couldn't play Kryten anymore due to his age but someone clearly talked him into it. Personally I think that Craig, Danny and Chris would still be perfectly capable of playing their roles and the problem of Robert not wanting to be donning the Kryten suit any more could be remedied by just making Kryten the new ship computer to replace Holly. I also think it would be a shame not to do anymore because in terms of writing the revived show has been on par with the quality of writing during the show's hayday. I understand that due to Red Dwarf's setting it's not exactly the kind of show you can do a series of every single year so I wouldn't be surprised if Naylor and the cast willingly decide to call it quits for good soon. Personally I think that think they should do one more series then a movie and the movie should be the conclusion of the story. Being the sentimental little prick that I am I really hope that the series concludes with Lister and Kochanski married and living on Fiji with Cat and Kryten and Rimmer becoming the new Captain of Red Dwarf. You don't get happy endings in British sitcoms much as they just sort of fizzle out but I think this would be the perfect way to end the show.

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jcmarchi · 8 months ago

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Sleeping Supermassive Black Holes Awakened Briefly by Shredded Stars - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/sleeping-supermassive-black-holes-awakened-briefly-by-shredded-stars-technology-org/

Sleeping Supermassive Black Holes Awakened Briefly by Shredded Stars - Technology Org

A new investigation into an obscure class of galaxies known as Compact Symmetric Objects, or CSOs, has revealed that these objects are not entirely what they seem. CSOs are active galaxies that host supermassive black holes at their cores. Out of these monstrous black holes spring two jets traveling in opposite directions at nearly the speed of light. But in comparison to other galaxies that boast fierce jets, these jets do not extend out to great distances—they are much more compact. For many decades, astronomers suspected that CSOs were simply young and that their jets would eventually travel out to greater distances.

This image, captured by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), shows the Compact Symmetric Object (CSO) known as J1734+0926. The red blobs are the ends of a powerful bipolar jet emanating from an unseen black hole. Image Credit: M.L. Lister/Purdue University

Now, reporting in three different papers in The Astrophysical Journal, a Caltech-led team of researchers has concluded that CSOs are not young but rather lead relatively short lives.

“These CSOs are not young,” explains Anthony (Tony) Readhead, the Robinson Professor of Astronomy, Emeritus, who led the investigation. “You wouldn’t call a 12-year-old dog young even though it has lived a shorter life than an adult human. These objects are a distinct species that live and die out in thousands of years rather than the millions of years common in galaxies with bigger jets.”

The team reviewed literature and past observations of more than 3,000 CSO candidates in the new studies, verifying 64 as real and identifying an additional 15 CSOs. All these objects had been previously observed by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other high-resolution radio telescopes had observed some. “The VLBA observations are the most detailed in astronomy, providing images with details equivalent to measuring the width of a human hair at a distance of 100 miles,” Readhead says.

This illustration shows how Compact Symmetric Objects, or CSOs, likely form. When a single, massive star wanders too close to a black hole (left), it is devoured. This causes the black hole to shoot out an ultrafast, bipolar jet (center). The jet extends outward and its hot ends glow with radio emissions (right). Image credit: B. Saxton/NRAO/AUI/NSF

The team’s analysis concludes that CSOs expel jets for 5,000 years or less and then die out. “The CSO jets are very energetic jets but they seem to shut off,” says Vikram Ravi, assistant professor of astronomy at Caltech and a co-author of one of the studies. “The jets stop flowing from the source.”

As for what is fueling the short-lived jets, the scientists believe the cause is a tidal disruption event (TDE), which occurs when a single star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole and is devoured.

“We think that a single star gets ripped apart, and then all that energy is channeled into jets along the axis the black hole is spinning around,” Readhead says. “The giant black hole starts out invisible to us, and then when it consumes a star, boom! The black hole has fuel, and we can see it.”

Readhead first suspected that CSOs might be fueled by TDEs back in the 1990s, but he says the idea went largely unnoticed by the scientific community. “The hypothesis was all but forgotten because years went by before observational evidence began to mount for TDEs,” he says. At the time of his original hypothesis, only three CSOs had been found.

Fast forward to 2020. Readhead, who had paused his studies of CSOs to delve into different problems in radio astronomy, decided it was time to revisit the topic. He gathered some of his colleagues together on Zoom, and they decided to comb through literature and weed out objects that had been misclassified as CSOs. Over the next two years, the team investigated more than 3,000 CSO candidates, narrowing the group down to only dozens that had the criteria to be real CSOs.

This image, taken by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), shows two supermassive black holes, which appear as the blobs with red strips. The black holes are in the center of an elliptical galaxy. Colors represent different spectral slopes in radio emission, with red showing the most dense regions surrounding the black holes. The black hole on the right has likely recently devoured a massive star, which caused it to shoot out two ultrafast jets. The ends of those jets appear as green blobs above and below the black hole. This object, called J0405+3803, is referred to as a Compact Symmetric Object (CSO), because its jets are relatively close-in (or compact), compared to other black holes with much larger jets. Image Credit: H.L. Maness/Grinnell College

Ultimately, a picture began to emerge of CSOs as an entirely distinct family with jets that die out much sooner than their gigantic brethren, such as those of the extremely powerful Cygnus A, a galaxy that shoots out extremely powerful jets that glow brightly at radio wavelengths. These jets stretch to distances of about 230,000 light-years in each direction and last tens of millions of years. In contrast, the CSO jets extend to about 1,500 light-years at most and die out by about 5,000 years.

According to the astronomers, the CSO jets likely form when a supermassive black hole snacks on not just any star, but a substantial one.

“The TDEs we’ve previously seen only lasted for a few years,” Ravi says. “We think that the remarkable TDEs powering CSOs last far longer because the disrupted stars are very large in size, very massive, or both.”

By analyzing the varied collection of CSO radio images, the researchers say they can trace how the objects age over time, almost like looking at a photo album of a CSO’s life to observe how its jets evolve. The younger CSOs have shorter jets that are closer to the black holes, while the older objects have jets that extend further out from their black hole. Though most of the jets die out, the scientists estimate that one in 100 will go onto to become long-lived like those of Cygnus A. In those rare cases, the galaxies are likely merging with other galaxies, a turbulent process that provides a large quantity of fuel.

If the discoveries of Readhead and his team are confirmed with additional observations, the CSOs will provide a whole new avenue for studying how massive stars at the centers of galaxies interact with supermassive black holes.

“These objects are indeed a distinct population with their own distinct origin, and it is up to us now to learn more about them and how they came to be,” Readhead says. “Being able to study these objects on timescales of years to decades rather than millions of years has opened the door to a whole new laboratory for studying supermassive black holes and the many unexpected and unpredictable surprises they hold.”

Written by Whitney Clavin

Source: Caltech

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

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ladytp · 10 months ago

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Thank you for the tag @littlefeatherr! But uh oh, I don't really have a regular repeat playlist to mention... I listen to the internet radio favourite channels, and sometimes a random Spotify playlist. I do have a list of podcasts on Spotify though, so I list a random 10 from there:

Fall of Civilizations by Paul Cooper (currently listening)

The History of Byzantium by Robin Pierson (listening whenever he drops a new episode)

Byzantium & Friends by Anthony Kaldelist (recently started listening)

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society by Kate Lister (not yet listened)

The Cryptid Factor by Rhys Darby, Dan Schreiber and Leon Kirkbec (listening whenever a new episode is dropped)

A History of Italy by Mike Corradi (not yet listened)

The History of China by Chris Stewart (not yet listened)

The History of Rome by Mike Duncan (listened in full)

History of the Papacy by Stephen Guerra (not yet listened)

The Making of the Islamic World by Chris Gratien (not yet listened)

I tag anyone who wants to play - podcasts or songs!

Okay, so. Rules. Shuffle your on repeat playlist and post the first 10 tracks, then tag ten people.

Thanks to @randomfoggytiger for tagging me!

Emoji of a Wave ~ John Mayer

The Weight of Us ~ Sanders Bohlke

Heather ~ Conan Gray

Labyrinth ~ Don Davis

Landslide (Live on PBS in Boston) ~ Fleetwood Mac

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) ~ Morgan Harper-Jones

Clarinet Concerto in A Major, Adagio - Wolfgang Mozart

Let It Be Me ~ Ray LaMontagne

look up ~ Joy Oladokun

The Road ~ Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

For those curious few, the repeat playlist is titled Vincent & Diana. The muse approves. 😉

I'm tagging... @habitofmind @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly @kateofthecanals @daisies-cats-and-spacemen @storybycorey @dd-is-my-guiltypleasure @xxsksxxx @tossingmyglossymane @littlefeatherr @cecilysass

Don't play if you don't want to. No pressure.

#meme #playlist shuffle #podcasts #oh there is theme in mine?#fancy that...#😉

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anthonylister · 3 years ago

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The Real Introduction Of Anthony Lister | All Achievements In 2021-2022 |Defining Artistic Vision

While walking down the main drag of any urban enclave in Australia, You would surely be hard-pressed not to come across at least one of Anthony Lister's irreverent and kinetic artworks.

Anthony Lister artworks are unmistakably his own; in a way, they are identity-defining. And, all of his aerosol-based artworks differ wildly in scale. Nonetheless, Anthony Lister's body of work is often dark, gestural in appearance still shot via vivid colour.

Anthony Lister has turned his focus back to the figure of a female and form of a human ever since his shows in Los Angeles and Milan

Anthony Lister's Artistic Vision for the World

Having been born in the year 1979, the industry experts describe Anthony Lister as a leading and one of a kind Australian contemporary street artist.

After completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Queensland College of Art in 2001, Anthony Lister pioneered the street art and stencil movement in Brisbane. In 2003, he settled in New York City and worked under Max Gimblett, a New Zealand-born painter.

Anthony Lister holds a tremendous interest in social value judgment on culture and cultural values at large. With an added interest in philosophical reflections and inclination to break art, Anthony Lister views the ballerinas in his artwork as a stripper who is never willing to take their clothes off.

Anthony Lister is known for employing a sophisticated, painterly style and fine art owing to his strong background in the street art genre. In Anthony Lister's drawings, paintings, and installations, Low and high cultures clash.

The content of these mediums ranges from boorish superheroes, bad-tempered old masters, and flirtatious ballet dancers to imperious vamps. These imaginative characters live and rapidly deteriorate inside Anthony Lister's head while raucously co-existing at the party.

Anthony Lister's Documentary: Have You Seen the Listers?

As a prolific Australian street artist, Anthony Lister was the subject of a documentary, Have You Seen The Listers?, released in Australian cinemas on April 5, 2018, nationwide.

Directed by Eddie Martin, the documentary provided the audiences with candid, previously unseen and new insights regarding the private and professional lives of Anthony Lister, a singular street artist. Furthermore, the documentary film presented his life as Australia's best known and was premiered at Melbourne Film Festival.

Just like the installation, the documentarily functions ostensibly and in a similar manner. Eddie Martin was given unprecedented access to Anthony Lister's, a father of three, personal archives.

The access provided Martin with all the details he needed about his trajectory in life. The trajectory ranged from his childhood in the suburbs of Brisbane to his first experiments with marriage and drugs to Anika, Anthony Lister's high school sweetheart.

While Anthony Lister was battling his demons, he suffered a lot from legislative and illicit issues. The documentary sheds light on these events that lead to the collapse of his relationships. Moreover, Anthony Lister has had well-documented troubles with the local authorities.

One such event involved Brisbane City Council taking him to court. The same council that once offered the encouragement he got to develop his now street art-based lucrative practice.

Anthony Lister's Identity Defining Exhibitions

Apart from regular global exhibitions, Anthony Lister was named by Art Collector Magazine, in 2010, as one of Australia's most collectable 50 artists.

With exhibitions in Newcastle and London in November of 2012, at the Outsiders/Lazarides Galleries, Anthony Lister was the first artist to occupy both Outsiders galleries simultaneously. It was the first of its kind feat ever since David Choe made his UK debut in the year 2008.

Anthony Lister has had solo exhibitions in New York City, Miami, Sydney, Los Angeles, and London since 2012.

In Melbourne, Anthony Lister made a record at Menzies' sale of Important Australian and International Fine Art in June of 2015. He broke his own auction record with the sale of 2014 work Supernatural Disorder 4 for a sum of $19,636.

https://www.streetartbio.com/artists/about-anthony-lister-biography/

https://www.artsy.net/artist/anthony-lister

https://www.fireworksgallery.com.au/artist/anthony-lister

http://www.artnet.com/artists/anthony-lister/

https://mirusgallery.com/artists/anthony-lister/

https://www.metrogallery.com.au/artist-anthony-lister

#anthony lister #Anthony Lister News #Street Artist Banksy #Anthony Lister Street Art #los angeles #street artist #Best Graffiti Artist #street artist melbourne #street artist prints

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angeladatre · 7 years ago

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Anthony Lister’s The Art of Fact opening shot for Allouche Gallery

April 19th, 2018

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reminiscingtonight · 3 years ago

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Sharing Is Caring (Pt. 1)

Scarlett Johansson x Reader

Word Count: 2.7k

[Main Masterlist]

Part Two

“Watch out for that one.”

Those were the first five words you were greeted with the second you stepped onto set. It was your first day shooting for the new Marvel movie, so you were understandably taken aback by those words.

When you had first heard of the Marvel project, you auditioned not expecting to get a call back. After all, it was Marvel and you were just a new actor coming onto the scene. However, you were woken up in the middle of the night a couple of weeks later, your agent excitedly telling you to hop onto the first plane to Los Angeles.

In your head you had painted an image of a relaxing shoot. Of making friends with all these A-listers that seemed to have their fingers wrapped around the entertainment industry. You knew better than to live in a fantasy, but you hadn’t heard one negative comment about any of the actors you would be working with, so it was easy to imagine a warm welcome from these people. The last thing you expected was to get a word of warning from one of them before your day even began.

You furrowed your brows, not really sure what to say until you saw the sparkle of laughter in Chris’s eyes. You followed his thumb as he pointed over his shoulder, head gesturing to the person in question.

Your mouth nearly fell open when you saw who it was.

“Scarlett has a knack for stealing people’s clothes. So we’ve made it a rule to warn every new member that joins our little Marvel family.”

Scarlett Johansson has always been an idol of yours. You grew up watching her projects, wishing nothing more than to be like her. Of course she had also been your first celebrity crush, but you were adamant to push away the love eyes in order to establish some sort of professional relationship with her.

You awkwardly chuckled, thanking Chris for the warning. “I’ll be sure to keep my clothes under lock and key.”

He snorted before leading you towards the table where Scarlett and the other cast members were gathering in front of.

Lizzie was the first to notice you, eyes lighting up when she saw you strolling over with Chris. You had met Lizzie at your audition, the producers wanting to see the chemistry you’d have with cast members. The two of you instantly clicked. If someone asked for an example of platonic soulmates, you were sure you’d found yours.

She greeted you with an overexcited hug that you found yourself enthusiastically returning. The comfortable air was quickly broken when a voice cut through the air.

“You gonna introduce us to your friend?”

Lizzie pulled away, ready to scold the culprit of the interruption, only to be beaten to it when he keeled over at the contact of Sebastian’s elbow to his gut.

“Don’t be rude, Mackie. This is of course the one and only (Y/N) (Y/L/N).” You perked up, a bit surprised that the man knew your name. After all, you’ve only done a couple small indie films so far. “I’m Sebastian. I’m a huge fan of your work.”

“Suck up,” comes back the response from Anthony, and you have to try hard to stifle your laughter. You take the offered hand and give him your best smile.

The round of introductions was quick, many of the actors having done their own research on the new cast members joining the set. Your cheeks were burning pink by the end of it, each actor making sure to pay you a compliment for your previous roles.

When you got to Scarlett, you didn’t miss the way her eyes trailed you up and down. You flushed red at the attention but managed to stutter through a timid greeting to her.

Scarlett merely let out a small bark of laughter in response. “No need to be afraid, hon. I don’t bite.”

Then, leaning in as if she was telling you a secret, she whispered, “Unless you ask me to.”

You instantly choked on your spit, eyes widening in surprise.

Your reaction earned the two of you a sigh from Chris, who leans in to put an arm around Scarlett’s shoulder. “Jeez, don’t break the kid, Scar. We still need them to film the movie.”

Scarlett simply sends you a mischievous wink before letting the actor lead her away. You’re lost watching the two departing figures that you don’t notice Lizzie calling your name until a hand is dropped onto your arm. You jump, body only relaxing when you meet her green eyes sparkling with mirth.

“You doing okay there?”

You barely mumbled out an affirmative before you’re being dragged away to start your costume fitting.

You’re only able to sigh heavily. Something told you that today was going to be a long day.

---

You were right.

By the time the day was over, you were barely staying up on your feet. You weren’t used to such big shoots, and you were looking forward to crashing in your hotel room. Swinging by your trailer, you quickly grabbed your bag before making your back to where the others were gathering to leave.

Although they invited you out with them to celebrate the first day of shooting, you declined. “I’ve got a hot date with my bed.”

Chuckles followed you all the way to your car. Soon you’re pulling out of the set lot and into the parking lot of your hotel. Making sure to grab your things, you tiredly made your way up to your room.

Your bed was a welcome sight, but you knew you had to take a shower before hitting the sack. Sighing, you quickly opened your bag, trying to speed up the process of unpacking so you could shower as quickly as you could.

After a couple minutes of shuffling around your things, you frowned. You even went as far as to dump out all of the things in your duffle, but you still came up one piece of clothing short.

Scratching your head, you took a seat on the bed, trying to think back to your day. You could’ve sworn you stuffed your hoodie into your bag before filming started. You briefly remembered telling the crew you had to drop by your trailer to do just that.

But with how many hours you’ve been working it’d be no surprise if you had just made that up in your head. Thinking nothing of it, you quickly grabbed a fresh set of clothes to go shower.

You’d find your hoodie when you got back to set tomorrow.

---

You did not in fact find your hoodie the next day.

Although you went through everything with a fine-tooth comb, you were unable to locate it.

Huffing out a breath of annoyance, you made a mental plan to buy another one to make up for the one you lost. It had just been a simple black hoodie, but you’ve had it since your first audition, and the loss of such a piece of clothing irked you.

Making sure to place your jacket into your duffle, you carefully shut your door before making your way to set. You had to make sure to take better track of your clothes, otherwise you’d never hear the end of it from your parents.

After all, how hard could it be?

Turns out the answer was very hard.

Because it happened, again and again. Next it was your college crewneck. Then it was your favorite sweater. And then it was your puffer. Although every loss made you want to scream, this last one was the last straw. A puffer was such a big and warm jacket. How in the world did you manage to lose it?

Before you knew it, your closet was running thin. The only conclusion you could come to was that someone was stealing your stuff. But who would do that? You could’ve sworn Marvel would have hired some of the best security guards. So how were people getting in to steal your things?

You made a note to bring it up to the directors when you got onto set the next day, but it seemed as if your worries were unneeded, because you found out exactly what was going on the next day you showed up to set.

Usually you weren’t there so early. Most of your scenes didn’t take too long, so you usually didn’t need to come in early for them. But today you had to shoot a complex fight sequence so they had asked you to show up for the early morning film session.

After dropping your bag off at your trailer, you made your way back to the set. And that’s when you froze.

Because there it was. Draped around someone’s shoulder was the light black hoodie you lost on the very first day.

You were about to lay it out on the person until you realized who it was.

In an instant, Chris’s words crossed your mind and you wanted to groan.

At once, everything made sense. All of the frantic searching, all of the questions if you were losing your mind, it all led to her.

“That’s a pretty nice hoodie you have there.”

Scarlett turns, a little surprised to see you approaching, but she shrugged, a faint smirk quickly replacing her look of surprise. “It’s quite comfortable, I’ll admit.”

“Well, you see that’s what happens when people put a lot of work into wearing it into a comfortable state.”

There’s a sheepish smile on her face, and you both knew she was caught. But it seemed as if Scarlett wasn’t going to give up your things without a fight.

She sidestepped to avoid your hand when you tried to pluck it off her shoulders.

“Scarlett.”

“(Y/N),” she responded evenly.

You made another step towards her, which she easily dodged.

“Come on, I’m running out of warm clothes.”

She gave you a pout, but you shook your head.

“Fine. You won’t give them back?”

Scarlett instantly narrowed her eyes, hands tightening on the sleeves of her (your) hoodie.

“Two can play this game.”

She’s about to ask you what you meant, but a shout of your names has the two of you turning towards the make-up trailers where the artists were gesturing for the two of you.

Scarlett shot you one last look before making her way over there, hands continuing to hold on tight to your hoodie.

You smirked to yourself as you slowly trailed behind her.

Game on.

---

Your choice of clothing was the spotlight of everyone’s attention when you showed up the next day. Lizzie narrowed her eyes at you, head tilting in confusion as she ran a hand down the sleeve of your jacket.

“Isn’t that--”

“Scarlett’s? Yes. Yes, it is,” you finished for her.

Turns out it was fairly easy to snag the piece of clothing. Although Scarlett snuck around to grab your clothes, she didn’t take as much care to put her things away. All you had to do was scoop up her jacket that was hanging against the back of her chair when she went out for a shoot.

If Scarlett was going to steal your clothes, you were going to give her a taste of her own medicine.

Her mouth dropped open in shock when she saw you approach the breakfast table the staff had set up for you guys.

“That’s mine.”

“So is that,” you shoot back, gesturing at the jacket she was wearing without turning around to face her.

Although everyone else watched on in confusion, Chris let out a bark of laughter, knowing exactly what was going on. The two of you simultaneously flip him off, now interlocked in a staring contest.

“Are you going to give me back my clothes?”

Scarlett narrowed her eyes at you before responding with one word. “Nope.”

“Fine. Have it your way.”

The rest of your week continued on the same. The two of you did your best to hide your clothes, but the other would still somehow sniff them out. The next day you would stroll up wearing the other’s things.

All the while, the rest of the cast watched on in amusement. While they all thought it was hilarious, most of them were just glad to not be the target of Scarlett’s clothes-thieving.

You woke up today thinking that everything was going to be the exact same. You made sure to pull on one of Scarlett’s sweaters before making your way to set. You ignored the way her perfume lingering on the clothing made your heart beat heavily in your chest.

You ran into Lizzie by your trailers and the two of you made it to where the cast was eating an early lunch together.

The two of you were lost in a conversation when your feet suddenly came to a stop. Lizzie stuttered to a stop, turning around to follow your eyes.

There it was, your last name in all caps splayed out on Scarlett’s back.

Your mouth ran dry as you took the sight in.

You knew it had been a mistake to pack your varsity jacket from high school into your suitcase when you had left for this shoot. It still fit perfectly, but you had been planning to just wear it in the comforts of your hotel room. How were you to know that it would end up being your last available jacket? And of course, Scarlett just had to snag it from you the other day when you wore it to set.

You had been expecting her to steal it, but what you hadn’t expected was how well she would look good in it.

Throwing her head over her shoulder, Scarlett made eye contact with you before smirking. Fully expecting some sort of comment from you, she’s taken aback when she’s met with a blush breaking out on your face.

You nervously cleared your throat as you made your way over to her. “You, uh, you look good in my jacket.”

Scarlett’s eyes briefly widened in surprise before she masked it again in an air of confidence. “Oh I know.”

She quickly gave you a twirl, once again showing off your name on her back. “I’ll have to say, this one’s probably my favorite out of all of your things.”

You blinked, not fully able to comprehend what she was saying. The Scarlett Johansson was saying that not only did she like your clothes, she liked wearing clothes with your name on her back.

Once again you felt all the moisture leave your mouth. The smell of Scarlett’s perfume clouding your senses was only making it harder for you to stay in this conversation. You quickly found yourself regretting putting on her sweater today.

You opened your mouth, attempting a feeble response, only for Robert to break the two of you out of the moment. “My goodness, just ask each other out already. This is getting really pathetic to watch.”

You whipped your head around, watching the man with wide eyes as he sighed loudly.

From the corner of your eyes, you could see the other cast members failing to hold in their own laughs.

Before you could feel too embarrassed, the feeling of fingers lightly grabbing your chin has you turning back to the actress who now seemed to be even closer to you than you last remembered.

Scarlett’s green eyes pierced through your soul as you quickly found yourself getting lost in them. “If you want your clothes back, pick me up after we’re done shooting tonight.”

And this time your breath does leave you when a soft kiss is pressed against your cheek. And with one last wink thrown your way, Scarlett leaves to start her day.

Your parents always told you that good things would come your way if you shared with others. And it turns out they were right.

-----------

Tagged: @olsensnpm, @invictusbabey, @idek-5, @vancityfire13, @cosmicwidows, @lostandsearching, @xxromanoffxx, @ithoughtyouweresokovian, @3and30aresoultwins, @peabrain112, @wandadarlingg, @wellsayhelloaagin, @useless-nblw, @marvelwomen-simp, @pnsteblnme, @owloftheshadows, @evilcr0ne, @rightwereyouleftme, @xxxtwilightaxelxxx, @gimaximoff, @milfloverslut

#scarlett johansson #scarlett johansson x reader #scarlett johansson imagine #Ace writes

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twh-news · 3 years ago

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5 Reasons Loki Should've Been A Movie (& 5 Why It's Better As A Disney+ Series)

Given the character's popularity and Loki's stellar reception, many fans wondered if Loki deserved to get the spotlight as a feature film instead.

2021 saw the grand introduction of the MCU's next sprawling saga with the complex beginnings of Phase Four. 2021 also found the world's most lucrative franchise begin streaming through Disney+. 2021 was the debut of quintessential series such as WandaVision and The Falcon And The Winter Soldier.

The MCU's most anticipated series, featuring the tumultuous return of Tom Hiddleston's Loki, reshaped the fabric of the MCU. Given the character's popularity and Loki's stellar reception, many fans wondered if Laufeyson deserved to get the spotlight as a feature film instead.

10 Movie: The Story Picks Up From A Movie

Much like Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff and Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, Loki finds his story kicking off in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. What sets Loki apart from his MCU colleagues is he's still alive, considering his demise at the hands of Thanos during 2018's Avengers: Infinity War.

To avoid undermining the God of Mischief's noble sacrifice in Infinity War, the screen writers opted to turn Endgame's Loki into a variant. It lead him straight into the hands of the Time Variance Authority, a.k.a. the TVA. Given how much of Loki's set-up requires Endgame, fans could be forgiven for believing this movie thread demanded a cinematic sequel.

9 Series: Inspired By Other Sci-Fi Series

Among the 2021 slate of MCU Disney+ series, Loki most assuredly touts itself as one of the wilder stories. This is, in part, due to its sci-fi inspirations. Loki takes cues from other popular sci-fi series and borrows complex concepts. The idea of variants came from Rick And Morty, and the mechanics of time travel came from Doctor Who.

Loki's head writer, Michael Waldron, was a former producer and occasional writer for Rick And Morty. Given the prolonged success these franchises have had as series (especially Doctor Who), Loki could find similar success as a multi-season series.

8 Movie: Has A Singular Overarching Story

As a series, Loki has an overarching story working against it. Hiddleston's God of Mischief works alongside his variant, Sylvie Laufeydottir. The pair try to uncover the mysterious machinations and secrets behind the seemingly all-powerful TVA. Each episode tries to outdo the last.

Loki ultimately escalate, choices have such cataclysmic consequences they seem made for the silver screen. The introduction and subsequent death of the reality-eating Alioth are two such examples. Given the cosmic proportioned twists that occur, fans can't help but question the sustainability of Loki's increasingly ludicrous plot.

7 Series: TVA Allows For An Episodic Format

Marvel Studios presented Loki in an episodic format, like WandaVision and What If...?, which is something of a missed opportunity. Fans initially believed the God of Mischief would be visiting and messing in various parts of human history after discovering the wonders of time travel.

The only real payoff to this promise that fans got to witness was Agent Mobius playing back his favorite memory of Loki as the infamous D.B. Cooper from the 1971 plane heist. Loki does take fans to other places like Lamentis-1 and the Void. However, these locations could've sported stronger individual storylines to give Loki a more episodic feel.

6 Movie: Cameos From Other MCU A-Listers

Fans were treated to a surprise cameo from Jaimie Alexander's Lady Sif in Loki. However, one of the early pitfalls of Loki is the lack of major cameos from MCU A-Listers. These create the team-ups flicks the MCU is known for. Disney+ shows must rely on new talent to propel the properties to success.

Had Loki been a movie, fans may have seen cameos from established Thor actors like Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, or Idris Elba. The God of Mischief certainly benefits from his time in the spotlight. However, fans have been eagerly awaiting a reunion between Laufeyson and the God of Thunder since the former's death in Infinity War.

5 Series: Can Introduce Complicated Ideas

A significant downside to films are its time constraints. Usually clocking in at 2 or 2 1/2 hours, movies simply aren't afford the same luxury of time as TV series. As such, the ideas and concepts presented in films must be easily digestible so audiences can follow and absorb the plot.

Shows like Loki aren't burdened with such constraints. They are allowed the space and room to tackle more complicated ideas, like time travel and alternate realities, over several hours of world building. This allows Marvel to integrate concepts like the multiverse into the MCU as the franchise moves towards events like Secret Wars.

4 Movie: Introduces Major Villains Like Kang

Movies have been the MCU's bread and butter for the past decade. Usually, the biggest reveals for the franchise are often saved for major films and pivotal moments. Like the reveal of Thanos at the end of 2012's The Avengers or the truth behind Tony Stark's parents' death during Captain America: Civil War.

Following Thanos' defeat during Endgame, fans couldn't help but speculate who the next big bad in the MCU was going to be. Galactus or Kang the Conqueror could have filled the role. It's highly surprising when Kang debuts in Loki as He Who Remains then, especially given his feature film debut in the upcoming Ant-Man: Quantumania.

3 Series: Gives Time For Loki To Redevelop

One of the best arguments for Loki being a Disney+ series is to give the God of Mischief the chance to develop into the character that his Earth-616 counterpart became by the events of Infinity War. Loki picks up after an alternate Loki escapes imprisonment from 2012's Avengers, Laufeyson very much finds himself in the role of a villain.

Unfortunately, Loki chooses to forego these opportunities of character redevelopment. It compressed Loki's MCU growth into a single episode. Though Loki still tries to pull off a scheme or two (albeit unsuccessfully), they're rather tame. Especially in comparison to the malice Laufeyson harbored in his early MCU entries.

2 Movie: MCU Loki Is As Popular As Thor

When Chris Hemsworth's God of Thunder first debuted, he didn't garner the same attention as the likes of Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man or Chris Evans' Captain America. Tom Hiddleston arguably steals Hemsworth's spotlight as the antagonistic Loki. Look no further than 2013's San Diego Comic-Con for proof.

Given the fan following that the God of Mischief has amassed, it was surprising when Marvel elected to turn a Loki-centric story into a Disney+ series. If rumors are to be believed, Loki was the MCU's most anticipated and watched series in 2021.

1 Series: Explores The Psyche Of An Antihero

Executive producer Stephen Broussard was asked about Marvel's choice to make Loki a TV series on Marvel Studios: Assembled. He revealed that television is the best medium for antihero stories. He cited iconic television characters like Mad Men's Don Draper, The Sopranos' Tony Soprano, and Breaking Bad's Walter White.

Tom Hiddleston's Loki begins his series as a villain. Broussard and other Marvel executives felt audiences would benefit with more time to unpack the ambiguous nature of the MCU's God of Mischief. Exploring why he behaves and thinks the way he does, it allows the antihero to form his own identity away from Thor.

#LOKI #loki series #tom hiddleston #cbr #article

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about-faces · 3 years ago

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BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN LIVEBLOG (3/?)

(Continued from Part 2)

We cut to Arkham Asylum, which is now on top of a mountain like something out of Castlevania. It sounds like a bad joke: “The mental health care at Arkham is so terrible!” “Yes, and such tough roads to get there!” Yes, they apparently have mountains in Gotham City. It’s like The Simpsons’ Springfield, where there are mountains, swamps, and deserts, and any other terrain the plots require.

It’s a scene in Arkham, so you know what that means: CAMEOS! Penguin is here, because we’ve already established that Gotham doesn’t care if you’re mentally ill or not, just so long as you’re funny-lookin’. Hm, that implication’s a rather troubling can of worms! Let’s move on! Weird choice to give Oswald the Batman Returns look rather than try adapting the Tim Sale version. Do these filmmakers want to adapt this comic or don’t they?

Then there’s Mad Hatter, looking like a little gremlin who goes to Vigo the Carpathian’s stylist, possibly alongside the Scarecrow there. Yes, that’s meant to be Crane, looking like a burned-out rockstar with male pattern baldness. It’s certainly a take, especially given they already changed Alberto to look like a perfect Crane from the comics. Did he have that hair back when he was a professor? Did he put it in a ponytail like an evil version of one of those cool-guy professors who wants to seem hip and approachable?

We learn that Harvey was the one who sent the rogues to Arkham, rather than Gotham Penitentiary (going with the classic name rather than Blackgate?), much to Batman’s cold-blooded approval. Okay, first of all, that wouldn’t be the District Attorney’s call. Only a judge could do that. I’m really starting to suspect that this screenwriter doesn’t know anything about how the law works.

Second, why Arkham? Why would the district attorney NOT want to send them to prison instead? Why send them to a mental health facility? Well, I guess the answer is that Arkham has rarely been depicted as anything other than a prison, but more hellish, which would mean that both Batman and Harvey are being sadistic and vindictive, wanting them to suffer. I hope I’m not interpreting that right, because I do not have time to unpack that right now.

Aaaand here we go with the Calendar Man, the original holiday-themed rogue. He looks slightly different from his comic counterpart, between his beefiness, his lack of eyebrows, and a general resemblance to Handsome Squidward.

I’ve always kinda suspected that Loeb had started TLH and went “Oh wait, shit, I forgot Calendar Man exists!” and decided to throw him in there, where he served absolutely no purpose but to be a Hannibal Lecter reference. I miss the days when Calendar Man was a flamboyant C-lister who would wear different themed costumed for each heist. No one has ever found anything interesting to do with Day since he was redefined and ruined as a poor man’s Lecter. All this despite the fact that we never learn what his crimes were, nor why we should find him so dangerous and creepy.

I’m not really comfortable with how... fey this take on Calendar Man is. Between his speech, his mannerisms, and those eyelashes, he reminds me of one of those homophobic stereotypes in anime. Also, it’s giving me flashbacks to an old audiobook of Red Dragon where Lecter was depicted as VERY swishy by narrator Chris Sarandon. In the comic, he was somewhat mercurial, but here he’s being played as “creepy gay.” Also, they removed his eyebrows, which he had in the comic. Hot tip: unless your character is live action and actually played by someone like Anthony Carrigan, don’t give your villain alopecia areata for creep factor. It’s icky.

Unlike with the comic, this scene at least serves a narrative purpose. Sure, the Calendar Man is absolutely useless, but he helps to ratchet up Jim and Batman’s suspicions of Harvey, and he also reveals that--oh right, you might find this interesting--the Joker has escaped.

The Joker shows up at the Dents’ new house, decorating the tree and singing twisted a twisted version of “Tis The Season” with his own lyrics. They’re not clever, but still, this is another improvement on Loeb, who just had the Joker singing standard carols in lieu of actually trying to write something for him.

Okay, as tired as I am of the Joker, he’s pretty fun here. If this stays true enough to the comics, then this will be one case where the Joker doesn’t end up hijacking the story. As such, I can just enjoy him popping up to stir shit and then vanish. God, we never see that anymore.

He’s especially fun because he’s voiced by Troy Baker, who proved in Arkham Origins that he’s an excellent backup when Mark Hamill isn’t available. I’m just sad Baker isn’t voicing Harvey as well, given his excellent and underused performance(s) in the Arkham games. Josh Duhamel is doing an okay job so far, but he’s not up to Baker’s level. That’s because Baker is a voice actor, and Duhamel is not. He just kinda sounds like a gym coach.

Yeah, I admit it, I smiled. It’s rare to see a Joker who elicits any kind of mirth from me these days, so points to Baker and the animators for that.

Using Harvey’s gifted revolver in one hand and a Holiday .22 (which the Joker got from... somewhere?), the Joker starts blasting Harvey, who hides behind a couch. It’s a lot more action-packed than the comic, where they just traded a couple punches, but we eventually get there too. Harvey gets a few in before the Joker kicks him in the crotch, and Harvey goes down for the count. We get the whole “If I find out that the rumors are true and you are Holiday, I’ll kill you and your wife because there’s only room for one homicidal maniac in this town” bit, and Harvey passes out. There’s no scene of Gilda coming in, finding him and worrying whether or not he’s okay. He’s just left there, and the incident is never spoken of again.

We cut to the back alley behind Maroni’s Italian restaurant, where Boss Maroni--making his animated debut after almost eighty years of being cut out of Two-Face origins!--is dealing with the grinning corpse of a goon. The Joker’s been making the rounds, and Batman shows up to express cold satisfaction at the sight of another dead mobster.

I like Maroni here. He’s the only one willing to call out Batman for being such an aggressive asshole. It provides a good segue for Maroni to deliver the comic/movie message that the old-school mobsters are being replaced by the costumed “freaks,” and he puts the blame directly on Batman.

Me:

Batman continues to badger Maroni, who remains unflappable. He sees this take on Batman for what he is, and he ain’t impressed.

Again, this movie is making it explicit that Batman’s a bad detective. He never even considered that maybe having basic deduction skills might be handy in a war on crime. Shit, even the young asshole Batman of Arkham Origins knew how to be a detective! Given that this is a murder mystery, I can only assume this is meant to be his “detective origin” arc, which they’re establishing by having Batman be the absolute worst at this. It’s similar to how Geoff Johns’ Batman: Earth One tried to show Bruce’s inexperience by having him fail to cross a rooftop, so he just fell on his ass and nearly died. That at least worked because it was kinda funny!

I get what these stories are going for: oh, it’s a subversion of expectations! This isn’t the Batman we know and love! He’s relatable and human and makes mistakes, and we get to watch him grow! All of this might hold true for this movie, which has gotten heaps of critical praise from fans. They probably also loved the fact that he’s still a badass hard case who’s more in keeping with The Shadow’s ruthlessness. But why should I give a shit? He’s just an asshole, one of several characters wrestling for control of the Idiot Ball.

The Joker makes his next stop at the Roman’s penthouse, where he criticizes the mobster’s drab wardrobe options of “navy, navy, charcoal, black.” It’s pretty rich, given how washed-out and drab this whole movie is. Every frame looks like it’s been left out in the sun after being fished out of the gutter.

Leaving the Roman unharmed, the Joker flees the penthouse while laugh-hooting like Daffy Duck. Yes, this is exactly what I want from the Joker. I’m not being sarcastic this time. More of this plz.

As with the comics, he’s followed outside by the Roman’s bodyguard, Milos, who is a lot beefier than he was in the comic. But he’s about to be just as murdered.

With the Christmas murder over, we know what’s coming up next: New Year’s Eve, on the Roman’s yacht, with the big “death” that changed everything in the original story. The movie makes some changes to the situation, first by revealing that it’s a charity benefit for a children’s hospital that was established by the Roman and Thomas Wayne. This movie has apparently decided to strengthen the link between the Falcones and the Waynes, which will undoubtedly set up Harvey’s ill-considered vendetta against Bruce later on. For the first time ever, Bruce heeds Alfred’s advice to attend, only because Selina will be there. Never mind the cancer stricken orphans or whatever, boobies!

Oh, never mind, forget what I said about them reducing the Godfather similarities. Not only is there a rose in his lapel, but the Roman looks more like Vito Corleone here than he even did in the comics. I mean, he looks like Vito after getting a dose of Bane’s venom, but still, that’s Brando. Chad Brando.

The Roman makes a big speech to pay tribute to a young man he loves, someone he’s disagreed with from time to time, but in the end, they’re family and that’s what matters. Naturally, he’s talking about Bruce Wayne, much to Alberto’s visible anger and anguish. Angruish! Poor Alberto, he really is the Milhouse Van Houten of this movie. But is he going to be a Milhouse of pity, or a Milhouse… of murder???

Cut to the New Year’s Eve party at Gotham’s equivalent of Times Square, where we see Harvey and Gilda fighting over her frustrations at him always working. You never call, you never write, you’re always at the office, slaving over a hot desk! This is the biggest difference we’ve yet seen from the Gilda of the TLH comics, although it does have shades of other, better Gildas where she’s had more fortitude. But in practice, it’s setting up a “wife nagging her husband, making a public spectacle” scenario right out of too many movies. Not to mention it’s a complete 180 of the woman who sat alone on a swing all night waiting for him, just to beg him to “Please stay.”

What the fuck is this character design? She looks like an indignant egg.

Their argument is interrupted by Jim and Barbara (the wife, not the daughter; blame Frank Miller for the confusion) Gordon, who are already feeling incredibly awkward about the situation. Jim tells Harvey that this event has “the biggest police presence” in the city that night, so they’re prepared in case Holiday strikes.

Okay, but why would Holiday attack here? The killer’s targets have never been civilians, only mobsters. In fact, that very night, there’s a concentrated gathering of all of Gotham’s top mobsters on the yacht! Between the two, where the hell would Holiday be more likely to strike?! Did he even think to put at least one police dinghy in the waters to keep an eye on the giant floating target of a mob-obsessed serial killer? I’m betting he didn’t, or we wouldn’t have our next murder victim!

In a backfiring attempt at pleasant small talk, Barbara says her kids are staying with her mother (who apparently moved to Gotham, I assume to keep a closer eye on Jim after the whole “Sarah Essen” thing) and suggests that maybe Gilda would be great with children. Harvey makes what I assume to be an incredibly awkward attempt at lightening the mood, or he’s just being horribly oblivious.

Gilda’s a lawyer! So they’re doing like they did with Grace Lamont in Batman: The Animated Series, where Harvey fell in love with another lawyer. It implies their relationship was based on professional common ground, which is a serviceable shorthand to explain how they got together if you’re not gonna flesh it out. While I wish someone would remember that Gilda was canonically a professional sculptor, this already gives her more backstory substance than she usually gets! It’s certainly more than Loeb thought to give her!

Oh for fuck’s sake.

We cut to the yacht, where Selina and Bruce have a “this thing between us isn’t working out, we’re from two different worlds” talk. After dumping him from their non-relationship, she walks off and Bruce notices his watch is gone. Aw, a sentimental keepsake! I actually like this moment, because instead of him being mad, Bruce tells her he was actually impressed and wants to know when she did it. Selina tells him not to ask questions like that, because…

AHHHHHHHH LIKE A CAT GET IT? GET IT? IT’S CLEVER. NOD WITH PLEASED COMPREHENSION. I should just be grateful that I didn’t notice her going “purrrfect” once, which at this point is a sign of admirable restraint in Catwoman writers.

All the same: Selina, honey, what have they done to your hair? What is with these design changes from the comics? Not a single one has been an improvement on Tim Sale’s designs! One of the best things about Sale’s Selina was her HUGE nest of pitch-black hair! It contrasted her full-head cowl look, and it looked great! Given the animation here looks cheap at times, such as with choppy walk cycles, I guess they didn’t have the budget to do her hair justice.

Not surprising, since apparently they can barely afford noses for the women. Gilda and Selina keep getting angles where they look like Voldemort. Speaking of Gilda, let’s check back in on her incredibly tense evening with Harvey, guest-starring the increasingly-awkward Gordons.

FOR GOD’S SAKE GET A DOG. A HOBBY. VOLUNTEER AT THE LOCAL ORPHANAGE. SOMETHING. “I told myself it was okay because it would get better,” she laments. “But it hasn’t.”

Okay. It’s clear that she’s going through some shit. I get it. I empathize deeply. I’ve also been in the situation of moving out to a place I don’t know and being horribly alone because my mental and physical health prohibits me from forging new connections. But my empathy can only go so far, because I know there are some distinct differences between my circumstances/choices and her own. And that makes this scene incredibly hard to parse, even if I were going full spoilers.

What’s more, it’s clear that Harvey doesn’t know what she’s going through. She’s never told him and/or he’s never asked. That could explain why, instead of actually trying to talk through her feelings, he does the thing partners too often do: trying to offer “solutions” to problems he doesn’t fully comprehend, while also showing he hasn’t really been listening to what she’s trying to say. This communication style can be incredibly invalidating and isolating.

While Gilda has clearly been mum about the reasons why she can’t conceive, it seems like Harvey doesn’t believe her when she says that she can’t, or that she hasn’t exhausted all options. Again, this is passive invalidation. He doesn’t come out and say “why don’t we just try harder?” but he might as well. Suggesting through subtext, “Have you considered I might know more about your uterus than you?” is....whew. Not the way to handle this emotionally delicate situation, Harvey.

All this is doing is highlighting a severe lack of communication skills between them, with Gilda not opening up to her husband and Harvey not trying to encourage her, while also being oblivious to the few details she’s told him. It’s agonizing to watch and I’m not sure if that’s in a “realistic spouse fight” way or a “bad writing because we need to lay the groundwork for the greater mystery plot line at the expense of character” way. Instead of taking this moment to finally learn something about his wife, Harvey presses the nebulous “options” thing harder, which just makes her more upset.

Again, Loeb’s take on Gilda was entirely centered around having a baby with Harvey. What this movie is doing here is a complete reversal, perhaps to add further mystery for comic readers who already know the story. This Gilda doesn’t want a baby because whatever happened to make her infertile was so traumatic that she can’t bear the thought of children at all. So I guess adoption is out, not that it was ever in.

Which again, WHY DO THEY HAVE A SWING IN THE BACKYARD WHERE SHE SPENDS ALL HER TIME? Wouldn’t that be a constant reminder of her pain? Well, maybe that’s the point. That could be what the screenwriter was going for. She could be immersing herself in her painful memories and trauma every second of every day that she’s not spending with Harvey. She’s entirely dependent on him for any fleeting traces of happiness. And he doesn’t seem to press her on any painful details, just wanting to offer snuggles and old movies.

Jesus. This is a deeply dysfunctional relationship. And that’s incredibly upsetting to me because you know I’m a huge Harvey/Gilda shipper from the comics. I already knew we wouldn’t get the ship we deserve because this is The Long Halloween, the story that destroyed their relationship in comics. But jesus, this is so much worse. And we’re just getting started.

Oh lordy loo. Yep, there’s another man in Gilda’s past. Someone else she’s loved, possibly even her one true love. Compared to him, at least in this moment, she finds Harvey wanting. Could it be that this other man was more intuitive and/or attentive to her needs? We don’t know. I’m gonna bet we’re not going to find out what exactly she means here, and in what way Harvey should be “more like” the other man.

Frowning, Harvey asks, “More like who?” She keeps mum. His frown softens and he says, gently, “I’m only one man.” BECAUSE HE WON’T BE FOR LONG HAHA I GET THAT ONE TOO. Gilda says “I can’t do this now,” and walks off into the crowd. Harvey excuses himself from the Gordons, who watched this whole thing, and walks off in the opposite direction. So that’s fine. That’s healthy. Get into a public argument about stuff you should have talked through before marriage, then ditch your crying wife without offering any emotional support. Great.

Barbara starts to ask Jim if he knew anything about the Dents’ marriage troubles, and before Jim can answer in a way that I’m sure would have been insightful and not at all something an old dismissive cop might say, the Joker shows up in a poison-rigged crop duster to wreak havoc.

I take back everything I said about this Joker actually being funny. And then it gets worse! Bruce ditches the yacht, suits up, and somehow manages to travel into the city in time to fight the Joker. In fact, Batman is convinced that the Joker is Holiday, given that Milos the bodyguard was murdered seconds after the Joker fled the Roman’s penthouse. Never mind that the Joker was probably still in Arkham during the time of the first two murders.

The Joker rightly points out that he couldn’t be Holiday because he likes the attention too much to keep his murders a secret. In fact, he wants to find and kill the real Holiday, because he “won’t be number two,” so he plans to gas “half the city” so he has a “50-50 chance” of getting the serial killer. Jesus, they’re now outsourcing Loeb’s groan-worthy two-pun lines to the Joker! Yes, yes, I get it movie, you’re laying down thematic references to Two-Face! Very subtle!

It’s a perfectly cromulent explanation of the Joker’s twisted motives, but this Batman is thick as a brick, so he still asks why the Joker is obsessed with finding Holiday. The Joker replies, “Because just like you, I love a good puzzle!” Batman’s eyes widen, because this is an awkward line that only serves to make Batman apparently think, “Puzzle? Puzzle?! Oh my god, there’s only one man in Gotham who likes puzzles: ALBERTO FALCONE.”

Batman takes down the Joker, who has already released clouds of Smilex gas, which is what I’m calling it because fuck you that’s what it is. We don’t see any effects this has on the city, but come on, that’s at least a few dozen people dead. But who cares, Batman stops the Joker and saves the day! Just ignore the grinning corpses littering the streets! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We cut back to the yacht, where we find Alberto alone at the bow. For comic readers, this is going to be a pivotal moment, and the movie isn’t about to rush it. Selina joins Alberto to strike up conversation, wanting to know what it was to grow up in the “Roman empire.”

I think I already mentioned this, but if not, I’ll spoil it anyway: she believes the Roman is her father. Her entire motivation in this and Loeb’s story is to stalk him to find out the truth. Man, I hate how Jeph Loeb retroactively changed Selina’s attack on the Roman in Year One to making it all about her having daddy issues. This subplot wasn’t even explicitly in Long Halloween! It was hinted at in Dark Victory and explored in When in Rome--notably flying in the face of the history established in years of Selina’s own solo comics. (Furious Henchgirl noises from behind me.)

Why is her entire character based around The Roman? Comics Catwoman had her issues, but they were family issues, poverty issues, street-kid-who-fell-through-the-cracks-in-the-broken-system issues. All of that added up to a character who enjoyed theft for the freedom and security it provided, and who played a Robin Hood role occasionally to help those who grew up the way she did. But now it’s all the same old “Daddy wasn’t there” thing we’ve seen a million times before.

Anyway, that’s why she’s making an effort to connect with her brother, who has no idea who or what she is. And Alberto is all too willing to share, because this is a rare case of someone actually being nice to him.

He went to Oxford, where he learned more about business than his stooge of a dad could ever know, and he fell in love with an unnamed woman. I think you can probably guess who she was, and why Alberto sent flowers to the hospital, but I’m gonna try to keep being cagey so I don’t get ahead of myself.

Alberto says that they were forced apart because of his disapproving father, who did “terrible things” to this woman as punishment. And because Alberto was desperate to please his father, he acquiesced and pushed his lover away, even after those aforementioned “terrible things.” In so doing, he ironically proved that he was just as “weak” as his father says. He lives in constant shame and loneliness, staying by his abusive father who disdains his very existence.

What is this emotion I’m feeling? Do I actually… care about Alberto Falcone? As a person? That doesn’t seem right.

Alberto wonders why he feels so comfortable talking to Selina and opening up like this, but of course Selina doesn’t tell the truth. Which makes it incredibly awkward when Alberto moves in to kiss her. Yikes!

Selina is saved from this awkward situation by Batman, who has crossed the whole city and harbor again to get back on the yacht. In her surprise, Selina immediately blabs “BRUCE!” in front of Alberto. Weird enough that this movie has chosen to make Selina already know Batman’s secret identity, but holy shit, that’s just so… so… GOD WHY IS EVERYONE IN THIS STORY SO BAD AT EVERYTHING

With absolutely ZERO EVIDENCE, Batman accuses Alberto of being Holiday, saying he wanted to stir up a crisis in the Falcone crime family, so he could be brought in from the benches and take over. And sure, the movie has made you want to think that, given that fits the Roman earlier telling Alberto that he will never succeed him as Godfather. This movie is trying to subvert expectations from the comics, that Alberto wants to surpass his father in infamy, one way or another.

It makes sense that we would suspect Alberto, but it’s something else entirely for Batman to just make wild accusations about a guy he knows nothing about! It’s a whole lot of supposition based purely around a half-baked idea of who Alberto is and the fact that he likes puzzles! That’s it! That’s all Batman’s working with here!

Alberto justly lashes out at Batman’s wild accusations, shouting about how he never wanted power or infamy or any of that, and all he’s ever wanted was a normal-ass life. Which, ironically, is what the Roman wanted of Alberto in the comics!

Alberto’s true desires are just to have a nice home and family, much like a certain someone else in Loeb’s original story. Except unlike Loeb’s Gilda, who wanted a family because “she’s a woman” is all the explanation he thought we’d need, Alberto is actually given a backstory and motivation. And the result is that he’s actually interesting! Even sympathetic and tragic! I can’t believe I actually give a shit about Alberto fucking Falcone! Which of course adds impact to what happens next:

In the comic, Alberto was “shot” and fell off the bow of the yacht, faking his death. It’s not clear whether or not he was actually shot by someone, or if he faked that too. He fell into the harbor, which ran red with blood, which he somehow also faked. It was stupid. It was a cheap and terrible fake-out to eliminate him from the list of suspects. But here, we see that he actually has been shot, and what’s more, we see Holiday looming above. This Alberto is not Holiday, or even one of the Holiday killers. Unless it’s another fake-out?

It’s (presumably purposely) unclear whether Alberto is speaking to Holiday or Batman. I’m going to go with Holiday, and further suppose that Alberto knows exactly who they are. Even with that in mind, it’s hard to tell what he means by “you couldn’t know.” Couldn’t know what? Is he absolving his killer for making a terrible mistake? I don’t think that will make sense. What does, however, is “you’re missing so many pieces.” We’re supposed to think he’s talking about puzzles, but he’s not. Oh god help us all, he’s not.

Just to make it more certain, Holiday shoots Alberto two more times, and he falls over the bow into the water. But it could still be a fake-out! Maybe Alberto is actually colluding with Holiday, which is something the comic should have done for that plot to make more sense. Perhaps this movie is doing that?

Oh, we’re actually seeing his body sinking. But okay, okay, it could still be a fake-out. This isn’t…

Welp. Never mind.

So long, Alberto. You were far more interesting here than you ever were in the comics. At least you got a hilariously gory death to make it clear that this story is going in a different direction than the comic.

So giving Alberto that whole gimmick about doing “logic puzzles” isn’t going anywhere. It was just a thin excuse to have Batman suspect Alberto of being Holiday. Jeez, they couldn’t even give him a connection to the Riddler or something.

I think this is the clearest look at Holiday’s face we’ve seen thus far, which seems intentional on the film’s part. Whoever Holiday is, this couldn’t possibly be either of the killers from the original comic. One is dead, and the other… well, just look at Holiday. That’s not the same person as the final killer. It can’t be, unless lots of makeup, prosthetics, and body padding is involved.

Will the final reveal address this discrepancy? Can the killer morph their face once the hat and scarf go on, like Alec Baldwin in The Shadow? Or could Harvey be the killer after all? Because they sure seem to want us to think it’s Harvey, especially given who was just killed, and why Alberto happened to be chosen as a victim this particular night. That’d be a hell of a choice, to subvert the comic so much that they made the red herring the killer after all!

(For clarity’s sake, I’ll spoil this much: no, it’s not Harvey. And yes, it’s probably who you think it is, no matter how much that doesn’t fit the way Holiday looks here.)

Batman and Selina, meanwhile, have just stood by and watched all this happen. Neither of them made a move to go after Holiday, who was just standing there in plain sight, easily within reach of a vigilante. It’s only after confirming that Alberto has been reduced to chum that Batman pursues Holiday, chasing the killer through the throngs of rich jerks.

Holiday leaps on a speedboat and escapes, while Batman watches helplessly despite the fact that he already showed he was able to make a round trip from the yacht to the city using only his grappling gun. I should just be grateful Batman didn’t go, “Damn, if only I’d been prepared” and we get the secret origin of the Bat-Boat.

The yacht’s guests depart at the dock, where the police are waiting to investigate Alberto’s murder. Harvey shows up wearing a coat and scarf that could easily be the same that Holiday wore. They’re really leaning into him being the red herring, aren’t they?

Do you think Jim Gordon is kicking himself? I sure hope he is, but that would highlight the fact that he’s also a terrible detective, which is not what this narrative wants us to believe. He has to be the mentor to Batman, the actual terrible detective. Gordon at least has to have the pretense of knowing what he’s doing. Right?

WAIT WHY IS GORDON SURPRISED?! WHEN DID HE EVER SUSPECT ALBERTO WAS HOLIDAY? HE DIDN’T! ONLY BATMAN DID, JUST BEFORE HE STOPPED THE JOKER, AND HE JUST RAN STRAIGHT BACK TO THE YACHT! DID BATMAN JUMP DOWN FROM THE ROOFTOPS, TALK TO GORDON, AND THEN RUSH OFF TO THE YACHT? NO HE DIDN’T BECAUSE BATMAN NEVER TALKS TO ANYONE! THIS IS BAD.

“... But I was supposed to save him.” Oh good, just what Batman needs to make him interesting: MORE GUILT.

Post-credits scene! Bruce attends Alberto’s funeral, where I assume they buried his damp scraps of the crossword in his coffin. The Roman decides to approach the man he respects more than his own son about going into business, which Bruce refuses to do “so long as I’m in control.” Rather than go “You dare to disrespect me? On this, the day of my son’s funeral?” the Roman introduces Bruce to his associate to help with his little “control” issue.

Vines grow out of her hand to ensnare Bruce, whose becomes entranced by Poison Ivy, who shares Gilda and Selina’s near nonexistent nose. Before her eyes flashed green, I could have totally accepted that this was Gilda, and she’d somehow gotten plant powers.

End of Part 1! Which is to say, end of Part 3 of this liveblog! Sorry if it’s confusing, because god knows this movie ain’t gonna be any clearer on that count! TO BE CONTINUED GOD HELP ME

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