#Cinematic innovation

[theomenmedia]

The Trailer Of Steven Sodenberg's Next Film "Presence" Is Out Now!

Dive into the unseen with Steven Soderbergh's Presence, where the ghost isn't just watching... it's you. Experience horror from a new angle.

Check out the bone-chilling trailer right here: https://www.theomenmedia.com/post/steven-soderbergh-s-presence-a-cinematic-ghost-story-that-haunts-from-a-unique-perspective

[organicbeing]

Beyond Time: Pioneering Sci-Fi Films that Shaped Our Future

Sci-fi films pave the way for new storytelling techniques and push the boundaries of what is possible, inspiring technological advancements and shaping the future of entertainment. These cinematic masterpieces delve into themes that resonate with the present and speculate on the future, making them timeless and ever-relevant. Metropolis (1927): Building the Future One of the earliest sci-fi…

[tmarshconnors]

 Avoid being an ignorant fanboy or fangirl.

Xbox is the element of community. The Xbox player base enjoys multiplayer games and has bonds that can last for years. PlayStation is the element of single-player games. They range from being cinematic to having great gameplay. PC is the element of freedom PC gamers appreciate the most popular and niche titles and the community has some really funny mods Nintendo element of variety they love to experiment and be innovative when they find something that works. They make it incredible. It’s important to see the good in all gaming platforms. This is how you avoid being an ignorant fanboy or fangirl. The four nations lived happily until the mobile gamers attacked.

[trendynewsnow]

Exploring AI Innovations in Visual Effects at Metaphysic

Exploring the AI Frontier at Metaphysic The Los Angeles headquarters of Metaphysic, a groundbreaking visual-effects start-up that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to create stunning digital renditions of the human face, were far less impressive than I had envisioned. Instead of an awe-inspiring tech haven, I found myself in a dimly lit, three-room office space overlooking the…

[03349656115]

appleiphone

[gursimrankaur03]

Exploring the Dynamic World of Film Production Companies in Los Angeles

Unveiling the Epicenter of Filmmaking Excellence: Film Production Companies in Los Angeles

This city is currently regarded as the amusement capital of the arena where: The enfants who aspire to become filmmakers of film production companies in Los Angeles congregate Side by side with the prohbet experts. Amidst the concrete jungle of this world city, lay the film production companies in Los Angeles and each contributing to the greatness of the heritage. With its wealthy records, various subculture, and remarkable property, film production companies in Los Angeles emerges because the integral hub for the ones enthusiastic about the paintings of storytelling via film.

Navigating the Realm of Creativity and Innovation: Film Production Companies in Los Angeles

Since it is a town of dream chasers where the film production companies in Los Angeles known as Los Angels are set in a environment that is extremely charged with creativity and advanced technology. From careful script selection, location scoping, and casting through beautifully shot sequences and polished post-production, one receives a crescendo of how film production companies in Los Angeles work as a well-architected system of professional services, technology, and what some might call artistry in relation to narrative construction. Embracing technology and defying the law of reinvention, these film production companies in Los Angeles are changing the dynamics of the motion picture industry and the movie lovers worldwide.

Embracing Diversity and Inclusion: Film Production Companies in Los Angeles

In the heart of film production companies in Los Angeles, there is a promise of diversity reflected in the variety of ranges that the city was named after. The following independentfilm production companies in Los Angeles act as agents of change that advocate for unlikely stories and bring forward the truth as the world perceives it. Due to the inclusive casting, multiple narratives, and other tasks undertaken to ensure the representation of a diverse crew behind the scenes, film production companies in Los Angeles are leading the way to a more inclusive and representative silver screen.

Forging Connections and Shaping Futures: Film Production Companies in Los Angeles

Newcomers to film production companies in Los Angeles encompass would-be administrators, actors, and other occupation authorities given that appearing factories for creating possibilities and the enchantment of risk. Film production companies in Los Angeles serve no longer most effective as creators of content but additionally as mentors, collaborators, and gateways to achievement. Through workshops, networking activities, and collaborative initiatives, film production companies in Los Angeles nurture skills, foster creativity, and form the destiny of the enjoyment industry.

Contact Us: 

Email: hello@clickplayfilms.com 

Phone: 646–417–5330 

Address: 54 W 40th St New York, NY 10018

[slots-a-fun]

The Impact of Technology on Slot Design

Explore the impact of technology on slot design, from RNGs to immersive graphics. Discover how digital advancements revolutionized casino gaming

Slot machines have undergone remarkable transformations throughout their history, but perhaps none as profound as those brought about by the digital revolution of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The advent of microprocessors and advanced computing technology ushered in a new era of slot design, characterized by complex algorithms, immersive graphics, and interactive gameplay…

[techdriveplay]

How Drones Are Changing the Face of Adventure Photography

The advent of drone technology has revolutionized many industries, but perhaps one of the most visually striking transformations has occurred in the realm of adventure photography. Drones are changing photography in fundamental ways, offering unprecedented perspectives that were once impossible or financially out of reach for most photographers. This article delves into how drones have become…

[vchannelmusic]

Capturing Adventures: Exploring the DJI Ronin 4D Price in the USA

Read More:

https://arvinovoyage.com/dji-ronin-4d-price-in-the-usa/

Lights, Camera, Action! Capture every shade of brilliance! Learn all about the DJI Ronin 4D price in the USA. Dive into the world of pro video capture and join the league of independent creators who are embracing this game-changing technology.

[ariyan24]

Spitfire Audio – The Complete Ólafur Arnalds Collection Download

The Complete Ólafur Arnalds Collection by Spitfire Audio is a breathtaking musical masterpiece, offering musicians and composers an unparalleled sonic journey into the evocative world of Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds. This downloadable treasure trove is a meticulously curated assortment of meticulously sampled instruments and sonic textures, serving as an ideal palette for crafting emotive and cinematic compositions.

This collection is a testament to Spitfire Audio's commitment to sonic excellence. It features a diverse range of instruments, from intimate pianos and haunting strings to ethereal ambient textures, all capturing the essence of Arnalds' signature sound. With meticulous attention to detail and world-class recording techniques, the collection allows users to tap into the same sonic landscapes that have defined Ólafur Arnalds' acclaimed career.

Whether you're scoring a film, creating ambient soundscapes, or crafting modern classical compositions, The Complete Ólafur Arnalds Collection is an indispensable tool. It empowers musicians and producers to infuse their projects with the same emotional depth and sonic richness that has made Ólafur Arnalds a celebrated figure in the world of contemporary music. With this collection at your fingertips, you have the power to create music that resonates with audiences on a profound level, making it a must-have for any composer or musician seeking to elevate their craft to new heights.

[prolifeproliberty]

Hey, I'm stumped on this objection, if it's alright, I want your input on this

"For these types of people I always give them a hypothetical situation for them answer So if you knew your wife was going to die by giving birth to the child would you let Your wife get an abortion or would you let your wife die in the child grow up without a mother?"

What do you think?

I would answer that the choice is never actually that simple. We imagine this cinematic moment where the doctor comes out to talk to the anxious husband in the waiting room and says “Sir, we can only save one of them. Should we save your wife or your child?” and he has to make that choice.

That makes a very dramatic movie scene, but it’s not real.

There are three categories of “life of the mother” situations:

1. Very early pregnancy. Mother has a life threatening condition and cannot be kept stable until the child reaches viability (now around 22 weeks with evidence-based best practices). Even in these situations, a direct abortion isn’t the life-saving care. Usually we’re talking about the mother needing a treatment for her life-threatening condition that risks the life of the baby. Most ethical choice is to treat the mother. If the baby dies as a result of the treatment, that is a tragic loss. If the baby doesn’t die, awesome! In this category, there is no way to save the baby without saving the mother, because if the mother died, the baby would too. Ectopic pregnancies fall in this category because there is currently no way to save the baby. If we developed the ability to get ectopic embryos to successfully re-implant in the uterus, that would become the ethical option.

2. Late-term complications. I’m going out of order here for a reason. This is anything where the mother’s life-threatening health issue starts after viability, but especially when we’re talking 30 weeks and on. Baby’s chance of survival with an early delivery goes up rapidly as baby approaches full term. In these cases, if the mother needs immediate treatment for a life threatening issue, she doesn’t actually need her baby to die. There is no reason to choose between the mother and child. A C-section is actually safer than a late-term abortion, since third trimester abortions usually still involve the mother laboring and delivering a dead baby. If the concern, as posed in the original hypothetical, is that she would “die by giving birth,” then she probably just needs a C-section (or a better doctor).

3. The third category is the most complex one. This is when the life threatening issue for the other begins when the child cannot yet survive outside the womb, but may be able to in a few weeks. This is where the difficult decisions are made. This category includes women diagnosed with cancer who might decide to delay treatment to protect their child until their child can be safely delivered. However, even here we can see examples of mothers who choose to receive treatment without first killing their child, and doctors who find innovative ways to treat life-threatening illnesses without harming preborn children.

The true answer is “save them both.” We can’t always - just as any doctor knows in a triage situation they can’t always save all the patients. The decision of who to save is never based on which patient is more human, more valuable, or more worth saving. The answer is instead based on how the doctor can save the greatest number of patients. If the doctor can save everyone, they do. If the doctor knows a course of action means for sure saving one patient, while another might not make it, but the alternative is losing both, then they will choose to save at least one. We almost never see a situation where the doctor has to arbitrarily choose between two patients - the decision is always based on the condition of each patient, the resources available, how much time there is, etc. There are algorithms for this kind of thing.

Basically I refuse to let unrealistic hypotheticals dictate actual policy on saving children.

Because people believe in the “we can only save one, choose!” scenario, we get doctors telling women that they will die if they don’t get an abortion, and then they cry to the media that they had to go to Colorado or California to get their “life-saving procedure.” The reality is that either the doctor could have treated the mother without first killing the baby and given the baby a chance to survive, or they could have delivered the baby and then treated the mother.

Anyone who says they couldn’t do the first option under ____ state abortion law is either lying or ignorant. If the mother’s condition is actually life-threatening, every state allows doctors to treat the mother. Killing a child doesn’t cure any illness.

[weaselandfriends]

Post-postmodernism in Pop Culture: Homestuck’s Revenge

I recently saw an excellent video essay titled Why Do Movies Feel So Different Now? by Thomas Flight. Though the title is opaque clickbait, the video is actually about major artistic zeitgeists, or movements, in film history. Flight describes three major movements:

Modernism, encompassing much of classic cinema, in which an earnest belief in universal truths led to straightforward narratives that unironically supported certain values (rationalism, civic duty, democracy, etc.)

Postmodernism, in which disillusionment with the values of modernism led to films that played with cinematic structure, metafiction, and the core language of film, often with more unclear narratives that lacked straightforward resolutions, and that were skeptical or even suspicious of the idea of universal truth 

Metamodernism, the current artistic zeitgeist, which takes the structural and metafictional innovations of postmodernism but uses them not to reject meaning, but point to some new kind of meaning or sincerity.

Flight associates metamodernism with the “multiverse” narratives that are popular in contemporary film, both in blockbuster superhero films and Oscar darlings like Everything Everywhere All at Once. He argues that the multiverse conceptually represents a fragmented, metafictional lack of universal truth, but that lack of truth is then subverted with a narrative that ultimately reaffirms universal truth. In short, rather than rejecting postmodernism entirely, metamodernism takes the fragmented rubble of its technique and themes and builds something new out of that fragmentation.

Longtime readers of this blog may find some of these concepts familiar. Indeed, I was talking about them many years ago in my Hymnstoke posts, even using the terms “modernism” and “postmodernism,” though what Flight calls metamodernism I tended to call “post-postmodernism” (another term used for it is New Sincerity). Years before EEAAO, years before Spider-verse, years before the current zeitgeist in pop cultural film and television, there was an avant garde work pioneering all the techniques and themes of metamodernism. A work that took the structural techniques of postmodernism--the ironic detachment, the temporal desynchronization, the metafiction--and used them not to posit a fundamental lack of universal truth but rather imbue a chaotic, maximalist world of cultural detritus with new meaning, new truth, new sincerity. That work was:

Homestuck.

That’s right! Everyone’s favorite web comic. Of course, I’m not the first person to realize the thematic and structural similarities between Homestuck and the current popular trend in film. Just take a look at this tweet someone made yesterday:

This tweet did some numbers.

As you might expect if you’re at all aware of the current cultural feeling toward Homestuck, many of the replies and quotes are incredibly vitriolic over this comparison. Here’s one of my favorites:

It’s actually quite striking how many elements of the new Spider-verse are similar to Homestuck; aspects of doomed timelines, a multiversal network that seems to demand certain structure, and even “mandatory death of parental figure as an impetus for mandated personal growth” are repeated across both works. The recycling and revitalization of ancient, seemingly useless cultural artifacts (in Homestuck’s case, films like Con Air; in Spider-verse, irrelevant gimmick Spider-men from spinoffs past) are also common thematic threads.

As this new post-postmodern or metamodern trend becomes increasingly mainstream, and as time heals all and allows people to look back at Homestuck with more objectivity, I believe there will one day be a rehabilitation of Homestuck’s image. It’ll be seen as an important and influential work, with a place inside the cultural canon. Perhaps, like Infinite Jest, it’ll continue to have some subset of commentators who cannot get past their perception of the people who read the work rather than the work itself even thirty years after its publication, but eventually it’ll be recognized for innovations that precipitated a change in the way people think about stories and their meaning.

Until that day, enjoy eating raw sewage directly from a sewer pipe.

(Side note: I think Umineko no naku koro ni, which was published around the same time as Homestuck and which deals with many similar themes and then-novel ideas, will also one day receive recognition as a masterpiece. Check it out if you haven’t already!)

[confetticutey]

I was really worried that Larian wouldn't get to step onto the stage at all after winning multiple impressive awards. If they had not won game of the year they wouldn't of been able to accept an award, give a speech, and talk about the passing of their cinematic animation lead - Jim Southworth. TGA rushed speeches (such as with Neil Newbon's speech), and speedran through award announcements meaning many teams didn't even get to see the stage at all. So many indie studios and innovative game teams did not get to accept their awards and thank the people they wanted to thank. Disappointing.

[thydungeongal]

do you happen to have any elf-kissing game recommendations on hand? 👉👈

With the caveat that not all of these games feature elves and that the most important thing to me in an elf-kissing game is that the mechanics are in some way opinionated about love and romance:

So, to start with a trifecta of games that center romance but have other stuff going on there, there's Monsterhearts (which, admittedly, is modern urban fantasy, but there's Fae in there and those count as elves), Thirsty Sword Lesbians, and Dungeon Bitches. Monsterhearts is the one I have the most experience with and it is one of my favorite games, period. It is ultimately a game of teen monster melodrama in the style of Vampire Diaries and Twilight, but with influences also taken from Ginger Snaps, Jennifer's Body, etc. It has my absolute favorite sets of mechanics for handling social interactions, called strings.

Of the other two, Thirsty Sword Lesbians is the safer option and while I think it's an okay game it kind of leaves me wanting because it plays things so safe. It's a game about dashing girls with swords fighting against bad guys while brazenly flirting with each other. It is great for swashbuckling action with girls being gay at each other.

Dungeon Bitches is my favorite of the two "lesbians with swords" games, mainly because unlike Thirsty Sword Lesbians it is entirely uncompromising and also kind of fucked up, which as a fan of dark fantasy I like. It's ultimately a dungeon-crawling game that centers gay women, and the big thing of the game is that while dungeon-crawling is fucked up and dangerous it is preferable to living as a gay woman in a repressive patriarchal society.

On the more trad side of things, Pendragon, an RPG about playing knights in the Britain of Arthuriana, has rules for knights going courting, getting married, and doing romance. One of the key innovations of Pendragon at its time of release was the introduction of psychological traits like Vices and Virtues, but also Passions which are more unique to each character. Thus, a character could have a Passion of Love (My wife), which could be utilized mechanically to a variety of effects.

More recent editions of RuneQuest have also nabbed the idea of Passions from Pendragon, as has my beloved Mythras. While still very trad adventure fantasy type of games RuneQuest and Mythras are less singularly concerned with dungeon-crawling and more concerned with the beliefs and connections that tie characters into their worlds.

Finally, there's Blue Rose: the AGE game of romantic fantasy, which is also a very trad Dungeons & Dragons type of deal but with the addition of rules for forging relationships and the various ways in which those can manifest during gameplay. This one I am less familiar with, but the AGE system seems fine and seemingly makes for nice, cinematic action!

[whateverisbeautiful]

♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#12: The Building (1.02)

gif cred: @nerd4music

It was such a welcomed sight to see Michonne build bonds with people who cared about her and her goals and even wanted to aid her along the journey. And the person she built the closest bond to is particularly good at building things himself and that comes in handy along the journey. However, things sadly take a tragic turn when Michonne and co have their first run-in with Rick's captors - the CRM 😟...

After parting with Nat's group, we see Michonne in the very scenario we saw in the TWD series finale as she takes out a walker and approaches a massive horde looking regal in her armor on the horse.

Undeterred, Michonne charges forward and it’s a great cinematic shot. Also, this is how you know she is crazily in love with Rick because she sees the largest sea of walkers imaginable and still intends to go through that biblical-sized horde to get to him.

gif cred: @chaoticroad

Michonne uses the scream sticks to try and create an opening in the horde but that gas man catches fire and explodes, knocking her off her horse and turning the walkers' attention to her.

She gets up and takes out her sword prepared to take out as many as possible which is wild and shows her ultimate determination. But fortunately, she doesn’t have to do any of that because Nat’s purple light toys part the walkers like the Red Sea.

Michonne turns around to see that Nat and co have left their group and followed Michonne to help her on her journey. And again, seeing Michonne receive genuine friendliness and support was super refreshing. 🙌🏽🥹

gif cred: @nerd4music

They sit by a fire at night and I love Michonne and Nat’s dynamic as he addresses her falling off the horse and her defending that she was knocked off. Their banter makes me smile. 😊 Michonne looks all cozy as she asks about the purple light and Nat explains he has a lot of toys and inventions. He’s clearly extremely smart and innovative.

Nat explains why he stayed in the caravan group for years and how he knew it was time to go a long time ago. Michonne thanks them and they thank her for waking them up to realize their community was not it.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Michonne observes Aiden and Bailey and immediately picks up on something going on with them. Nat says, “I know how to build things and I know how to burn things. But it takes more than that at the end of the world. You showed them that. You showed me that.”

Look at Michonne always showing people the way and them knowing she shows them the way too. 🥰 And no one knows that more than Rick who told her that very thing in Say Yes and in his letter to her in the TWD series finale.

Then I love Nat saying, “We’ll take you as far as you need” Yes supporting her. 👏🏽😭 It’s everything Michonne deserves. And then I especially love Michonne saying, “When I get Rick, you’ll come back home with me all of you. You’ll be a part of it. It’s just gonna take a little building” I love it because she’s so hospitable and because she finally said Rick's name. I think it’s our first time hearing her say his name aloud since she found out he’s alive. 

gif cred: @nerd4music

Nat excuses himself off to bed and Bailey says he’s going to get Aiden something to eat. Aiden tries to assure that she’s fine but Bailey is all lovingly determined to take care of her, and I know Michonne recognizes that type of love.

Michonne watches their exchange and says, “You’re pregnant.” Aiden confirms and says she had been craving honey and Bailey was determined to get it for her and surprise her.

Michonne listens and smiles hearing the story and it’s so bittersweet because I know this makes her think about how Rick wasn’t there during her pregnancy. 😢 You just know Rick, the ultimate gift-giving loverboy, would have searched far and wide to get Michonne whatever she craved when she was pregnant with RJ. And the fact that didn't get to happen is just...

Michonne, the always kind comforter, tells Aiden that she and Bailey should just head to ASZ now. Aiden is adamant that, “We want to be there when you find Rick” and I know a Richonner when I see one and this woman is a Richonner, y’all. 😋 She was eager for that reunion just like us lol. I know she can just sense that whatever love Rick and Michonne have is one they don’t want to miss bearing witness to.

Even when Michonne is adamant and says no they should go to ASZ, Aiden says, “We will. After you find Rick” and I’m glad that after it felt like characters were only allowed to directly say Rick's name once or twice a season after he left now we’re hearing Michonne and others just outright talk about Rick. 

Michonne smiles and says ok as she warmly pats her and again I’m loving the friendships. But also Michonne is always right so…they probably should’ve just went to ASZ when she told them to because what happens next is pretty darn tragic for everyone involved. 😬

The next day Michonne walks alongside Nat as more of the group follow and Michonne playfully questions why so many people followed Nat if he only likes her, Bailey, and Aiden. Nat teases that the others have gone up a letter grade but not quite to like, which is a testament to Michonne’s likability that he wholeheartedly liked her so quick while others he traveled with longer are still not quite there in his book. Nat basically said...

Michonne smiles and asks, “Who else in your life?” and I just really like seeing characters talk to get to know each other. I feel like at some point in the main show it was starting to feel like characters didn’t talk like this anymore so watching Michonne and Nat’s bond build through these conversations was nice to see.

I like how Nat says “me” as someone he likes lol and he also says his mom. Nat gives insight into some of his backstory as he shares that his dad wasn’t in the picture since he didn’t want a ‘little’ little kid and he had a lot of bullies so he started burning things and blowing things up in the woods.

Then Nat goes into a story that I realized on my rewatch very much parallels Michonne in a really sweet way.

gif cred: @chaoticroad

Nat starts to talk about this guy Danger who his mom met and who became his stepdad. Who also became a stepparent to a young boy? Michonne.

Nat shares that Danger met his mom at a time when she worked a horrible job and “had one very troubled kid who hated Danger as soon as he looked at him.” Who also met her true love while he was in a very tough predicament and had a troubled kid who didn’t seem to like her at first? Michonne.

gif cred:chonesmint

Nat says, “And this guy, with this stupid name, looked at that and said ‘hell yes’.” Who also looked at a person who would run around a prison seeing things and a kid who initially tried to push her away and ultimately said hell yes to them and embraced them as her family? Michonne.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

I love how Danger and Nat's story connects to Michonne and Carl - one of TWD's best duos, besties, and mother and son. 

Nat, whose a great storyteller, continues saying, “Anyway, he married my mom and right after he moved in suddenly Danger had these problems that he needed solved. You know like that he needed me to solve.”

That reminds me of how Michonne too made Carl feel like a valued member of the group and not just some kid to write off. She even told Carl info about herself first that she hadn’t yet told anyone else, like about her son Andre, because she cared to connect with him as a person. 

gif cred: @thewalkingdeadgifs

Nat explains all the things he’d build around the house for Danger and then in a moment of great acting from Matthew Jeffers he begins to wonder if Danger really needed all that help or if he focused him up on how he can build things instead of burn them.

Nat says, “I guess that’s somebody else I liked” and Michonne says, “Sounds like you loved him.” Such a sweet moment and really well done in getting us to feel even more invested in a new character.

gif cred: @richardgrimes

I also really appreciate the way this pays homage to the beauty of step-parents who step up in a child’s life and come to mean the world to their kid. They could have made Danger a neighbor, teacher, uncle, etc, but making him a stepparent is definitely intentional here if you ask me. Because the great thing about TOWL is that every single scene is Richonne/Grimes family-related.

And hearing a story about a kid’s love for his great step-parent really reflects and pays homage to the great step-parent Michonne became to Carl and how he really loved her too. 🥲

I love how people stay telling Michonne life stories that parallel her own.

Nat’s friends tell him they love him as he tells them to shut up and then the love fest is brought to an explosive end as a helicopter flies over them.

gif cred: @perryabbott

It’s crazy finally seeing Michonne learn of the helicopters. They watch it fly and then Michonne quickly realizes this helicopter is here for nefarious reasons. She yells for the group to scatter as the helicopter bombs them with chlorine gas. The attack is brutal and has rapidly damaging effects.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Michonne and friends just barely make it inside a mall and when they do finally get in, they place Aiden on the bed as it’s clear she’s not going to make it. The chlorine gas also had a bit of negativity-gas laced in it because these hopeful Richonners no longer think the mission to find Rick is worth the risk.

On her deathbed Aiden tells Michonne, “Go back to your babies. Don’t risk it” and it’s really sad because you know she knows she’s not going to live to see her unborn baby and she doesn’t want Michonne to miss out on seeing hers again. 

Michonne knows a medical plaza where they might be able to get oxygen tanks because they can’t get air. Always the one willing to go, Michonne prepares to go back out into the toxic air and get the oxygen tanks and she tells Bailey not to fall asleep next to his girlfriend. That always stands out to me that Michonne advises this because it’s almost like she knows from personal experience that when you lose your soulmate it makes you want to just stop fighting and be with them.

As Michonne wheezes her way back inside the mall with the oxygen tanks it's unfortunately too late. She finds Aiden and Bailey both have turned. Nat is still alive, surrounded by fire and Michonne keeps Bailey from getting to him. This fire yet again speaks to the message of how fire both destroys and saves.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Nat thanks Michonne because he couldn’t bring himself to take out his close friend and then he too expresses that he thinks the rescue-Rick mission is futile as he says, “She was…she was right. When you can, you need to go home. It’s been too long...He’s gone” The way he says 'he’s gone' I was like damn they really dropped the mission quick. But not Michonne tho as she adamantly says, "No."

Because see, while the episode may be called "Gone", Michonne knows her man is not gone. Rick is still out there, she still feels him, and she is still fueled by that belief. It’s just now the trifling CRM has put a delay on things. A year-long delay. 😣 The CRM has to burn for that among many other things.

So now Michonne is stuck in this mall - but even here in these circumstances, we get to see the resilience that is Michonne Grimes. Because this journey isn’t over until she says it is. 😌👌🏽 

[blackswaneuroparedux]

If Caravaggio were alive today today, he would have loved the cinema; his paintings take a cinematic approach. We filmmakers became aware of his work in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and he certainly was an influence on us. The best part for us was that in many cases he painted religious subject-matter but the models were obviously people from the streets; he had prostitutes playing saints. There’s something in Caravaggio that shows a real street knowledge of the sinner; his sacred paintings are profane.

Martin Scorsese on Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi, known to most of us as “Caravaggio,” was born on September 29, 1571 in Milan, Italy, to parents who were from the small town of Caravaggio. In the span of his 38 years long life he revolutionised painting with innovations like a unique use of chiaroscuro - with dark shadows contrasting with dramatic areas of light - and a deep sense of realism that later inspired the Baroque movement. But most of all, he developed such an iconic style that most of us can probably look at a painting and know if it’s a Caravaggio, or Caravaggio-inspired. 

Merisi spent the first few years of his life in Milan, studying painting, and later moved to Rome, where his early talent impressed Cardinal Del Monte, who introduced the young painter to other high-profile Catholic figures who became commissioners of some of Caravaggio’s best work. It seemed there was no end to the artist’s creative genius. Caravaggio, much to his patron’s delight, would pump out one masterpiece after another. It seemed the more out of control his personal life became (cheating, brawling and murder were standard fare), the more his art would become more refined, more potent.

In the long list of masterpieces he left behind, both secular and religious works stand out. But it is perhaps in his religious works that the artistic transition of the master is more evident. Caravaggio is, in fact, known to have changed his style after harsh personal life experiences led him to reassess his outlook on life.

In May of 1606 Caravaggio took part in a deadly brawl in Rome and was charged with murder. He fled to Malta, in search of asylum from the Order of Saint John, a Catholic order dedicated to helping the sick and the poor. The order commissioned some of the most important late life works of the Milanese artist.

It is in these works that we notice the shift in Caravaggio’s art, from a strong focus on aesthetics to an interest in the spirituality of his subjects, which critics believe was motivated by his own introspection.

On the streets surrounding the churches and palaces, brawls and sword fights were regular occurrences. In the course of this desperate life Caravaggio created the most dramatic paintings of his age, using ordinary men and women - often prostitutes and the very poor - to model for his depictions of classic religious scenes.

By representing biblical characters in a naturalistic fashion, typically through signs of aging and poverty, Caravaggio's populist modernisation of religious parables were little short of trailblazing. Although not without his critics within the church, by effectively humanising the divine, Caravaggio made Christianity more relevant to the ordinary viewer.

For some, though, his art was too real. Bare shoulders, plunging necklines, severed heads; this raw humanity didn’t always fly in 17th century Rome. As a result, many of his pieces were rejected as altar pieces and as church hangings. One such piece, the Madonna of Loretto (now hanging in a church in Rome) was widely criticised upon its unveiling. The people of the day were shocked to behold the Mother of God leaning nonchalantly against a wall in her bare feet while holding baby Jesus in her arms.

It is ironic that the very art that today we consider “classical” and “iconic” to the Catholic faith was considered questionable and perhaps void of modesty and virtue. Yet, the fact remains that no individual artist has made such a lasting impression on the world of modern art. Truly, many have called Caravaggio the “first modern artist”. It is no surprise, then, that his style has sparked both widespread admiration and imitation throughout the centuries.

Before Pope John Paul II refined a theology of the body beautiful, Caravaggio's paintings suggested a reverence for the inherent beauty of human form.

Troubled though he may have been, his art speaks eloquently of the dignity of the mundane. Though the original medium may be weathered and cracked, the message of beauty still echoes down the centuries. And this same beauty still fuels, escapes and reduces artists to relentless seekers as surely and as forcefully as it did in Caravaggio's life.