#General JOhn Nicholson

[panelshowsource]

helloooo everyone happy tuesday (barely)!

first, some recent uploads on googledrive:

all of guy mont spelling be, nz and au (new eps!)

new audiobooks by bob mortimer and rhys nicholson

john kearns – the varnishing days

jessie cave – an ecstatic display (recorded at the fringe 2024)

note that you can find the last leg in paris here, plus taskmaster nz here and here, and i want to mention again that the googledrive i share on my main account has some beautiful rips of great british comedy/-adjacent films i highly recommend: withnail and i, boiling point, gosford park, monty python and the holy grail, the personal history of david copperfield, the full monty, and more

second, i'm moving this week!!! i'm still an nyc girlie of courseee, but now i'll be in park slope 🥹 if anyone is nearby, give us a shout!! i may be a little slow uploading this week, but i should have wifi every day and be able to make sure the new gmsb and tut episodes are up within a day or so~ and i'll be back to posting gifs shortly!

third, thank you so much to everyone who sent me a tip on my new kofi page 🥹😭 they were very generous, not to mention they paid for half of the googledrive for this month! so thoughtful, thank u again ❤️

[fractualized]

So I saw Joker: Folie à Deux, and I thought it was… fine. Enjoyed myself at parts, felt disappointed at others, which was better than my complicated feelings about Joker. (My reaction was much the same as Jenny Nicholson's.)

Gonna ramble a bit with, like, all the spoilers.

Obviously, since Joker wasn't really a Joker movie, that aspect was highly unlikely to change in the sequel. Perhaps some elements could've moved more in alignment with the General Comics Joker vibe, but that doesn't happen. Funnily enough, in it's own way, this movie is about how it's not a Joker movie!

And then there's Harley. They nixed her accent and bubbliness, of course, 'cause that's not gritty enough. They also called her Lee, while mentioning that her legal name is Harley Quinzel, not Harleen, because the movie industry loves the IP but gets too in their heads about names seeming "grounded" or whatever. Anyway, there's a bit of a fakeout at first where she indicates she's in Arkham because she's a pyromaniac, but we learn midway that she actually went to school for psychiatry and lives with her wealthy parents, and she checked herself into Arkham because she wanted to get closer to Arthur after seeing him murder Murray Franklin. Lying is her way of getting closer to him, and Arthur doesn't mind as much as he should, because she makes him finally feel less alone.

So she is an obsessive Harley, but it's not the typical jarley story, is it? As a Telltale fan, I can't be too spicy about that, though I was wondering if Arthur would try to manipulate her back. He is manipulative, after all. He develops an OK rapport with the Arkham guards, and when his lawyer's psychiatrist asks him leading questions that assume he has DID and Joker is one of his alters, Arthur goes along with that defense, repeating elements of her questions like they're facts. Arthur wants to trust Harley so badly, though, that he doesn't try to deceive her; when they first meet, he even confesses that his mother is among his victims.

It's sad, but it does take it too far from what I want to see in jarley, personally. Even John Doe lied to his Harley!

The end of Harley's story is a let-down. Near the end, Arthur confesses that "Joker" is not an alter; Arthur killed those people and his mother. He says that ultimately there is no Joker, and Harley is disillusioned with this man who inspired her with his audacious violence and leaves the courtroom along with other supporters. Later, when the guilty verdict is read, the proceedings are interrupted by the side of the court room fucking exploding, which was an exciting twist— at least when I assumed it was Harley. I thought she'd had her own break and had decided to take on a chaotic Joker persona of her own. But no. It seems a car bomb was planted by some other random supporter. Harley and Arthur have a final meeting, and she just reiterates her disappointment that he's disowned Joker, and she leaves. Eh.

That actually leads me something that did make me think of Comics Joker, specifically Amnesia Joker from Batman (2011) #48. There've been some recent posts about him, but the poor bastard is often on my mind regardless. The nameless butcher quite obviously wants to stay in his quiet life; even if he doesn't remember explicitly who he used to be, he certainly knows he doesn't want to go back. So when Arthur ends up trying to escape the Joker persona that he embraced by the end of the 2019 film and for much of Folie à Deux, it does align with Joker feeling no fulfillment from his chaos.

Throughout the movie, he seeks that fulfillment in his sudden connection with Lee, which is obviously doomed because of said suddenness. But that's where the music comes in! There's been a lot of "is this a freaking musical or not??" and it is very much a musical using old standards. Both Gaga and Phoenix sing, and for the most part I enjoyed it. I will say, though, that I wish they leaned harder into the musical aspect, with more numbers spinning into fantasy sequences with setpieces, and that they had original songs. But anyway, the point of the songs is to highlight how Arthur finally feels like he's connected with somebody.

But there's no real foundation to the love. Arthur ends up alone back in Arkham, and I don't think we learn if he got an official death sentence before he's horribly stabbed to death by another inmate, who wants to tell him a "joke" with the same punchline delivered to Murray Franklin.

Whereas at the end of the first movie Arthur felt like he got society to finally see him by committing murder and igniting chaos, this movie follows through on how that was just a kind of malicious high. Nobody cares about Arthur; both his supporters and the justice system are responding only to his worst acts, not the whole of his person. Only the lawyer he ends up firing is focused on getting him into a real hospital. When Arthur tries leaning into the power of the Joker persona, it leads to unspecified but brutal abuse by the Arkham guards he once charmed, followed by a horrible scene in solitary. Another inmate sings in solidarity with Arthur, and then Arthur listens to a guard murder him. Arthur's moment of power was fleeting, and in actuality he's still under the thumb of the system (and doesn't live in a franchise where Arkham has a revolving door). He dies in that system.

I'd say it's worth watching if you're prepared for another dose of bleakness, though this time with singing and a little dancing! Often I thought during this movie (and during my rewatch of the first one last night) that there were many elements I wish I could see in an actual Joker movie. Unfortunately since it's "already been done," that chance is probably even lower than it already is. But hey, if we got three different Spider-men in a twenty-year period, maybe I'll see a full Broadway-style, for-reals-supervillain, Batman-loving Joker before I die!

(Oh, I guess I should mention that. The Waynes and their murder don't come up at all, and thank god, because I remain hostilely uninterested in Joker possibly being Thomas's son.)

[wheel-of-fish]

Updated stream list

Everything we've watched so far!

Longtime crowd favorites (streamed at least three times) are marked with a single asterisk.

Why isn’t [specific actor/video] on this list?

The video is currently marked not for trade.

We haven’t gotten to it yet.

The footage does not exist or is too incomplete.

It isn't on a platform I can stream it from.

There's something particularly off-putting about the video or actor.

How can I get a copy of a video listed here?

There's a list of publicly available bootlegs here, and there are many other adaptations on the Phantom Retrospective channel. Otherwise, contact @glassprism (or another trader) for a possible trade, or check her website for info on which master(s) to contact.

For general stream info, please see the Saturday Streams FAQ.

On to the list!

Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (Dividing these by decade because there's a character limit per text block!)

1980s/90s

1988 Broadway: Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, Steve Barton

1989 Broadway: Cris Groenendaal, Rebecca Luker, Steve Barton

1989 Los Angeles: Michael Crawford, Dale Kristien, Steve Barton

1990 Los Angeles: Michael Crawford, Mary D’Arcy, Reece Holland*

1991 Los Angeles: Michael Crawford, Dale Kristien, Michael Piontek

1993 U.S. Tour: Franc D’Ambrosio, Tracy Shayne, Ciaran Sheehan

1993 Vienna: Alexander Goebel, Luzia Nistler, Alfred Pfeifer*

1994 Sapporo: Eiji Akutagawa, Hisako Hanaoka, Masayuki Sano*

1994 Toronto: Peter Karrie, Teresa DeZarn, David Rogers

1995 Broadway: Davis Gaines, Tracy Shayne, Ciaran Sheehan

1995 London: Ethan Freeman, Jill Washington, Simon Bowman*

1998 Broadway: Thomas James O’Leary, Tracy Shayne, Gary Mauer

1998 Los Angeles: Davis Gaines, Marie Danvers, Lawrence Anderson*

1998 San Francisco: Franc D’Ambrosio, Lisa Vroman, Christopher Carl*

1998 Toronto: Peter Karrie, Elizabeth DeGrazia, David Rodgers*

1998 Broadway: Thomas James O'Leary, Sandra Joseph, Gary Mauer

1998 Broadway: Thomas James O’Leary, Tracy Shayne, Gary Mauer

1999 Broadway: Howard McGillin, Adrienne McEwan, Gary Mauer

1999 Toronto: Paul Stanley, Melissa Dye, Laird Mackintosh

1999/2000 Mexico City: Saulo Vasconcelos, Irasema Terrazas, Jose Joel*

Early 2000s

2000 Antwerp: Hans Peter Janssens, Inneke van Klinken, Michael Shawn Lewis

2000 London: Scott Davies, Meredith Braun, Matt Cammelle

2000 London: Scott Davies, Charlotte Page, Matt Cammelle

2001 Hamburg: Ian Jon Bourg, Colby Thomas, Kyle Gonyea

2001 Hamburg: Ian Jon Bourg, Olivia Safe, Kyle Gonyea

2001 Hamburg: Michael Nicholson, Olivia Safe, Christopher Morandi

2002 London: John Owen-Jones, Celia Graham, Robert Finlayson

2003 Broadway: Howard McGillin, Adrienne McEwan, Jim Weitzer

2003 Broadway: Hugh Panaro, Julie Hanson, Jim Weitzer

2003 Broadway: Hugh Panaro, Lisa Vroman, John Cudia

2003 U.S. Tour: Brad Little, Lisa Vroman, Tim Martin Gleason

2004 Madrid: Luis Armando, Teresa Barrientos, Armando Pita

2004 Stuttgart: Thomas Schulze, Maike Switzer, Carsten Axel Lepper*

2005 Broadway: Hugh Panaro, Julie Hanson, John Cudia

2005 Broadway: Hugh Panaro, Sandra Joseph, Tim Martin Gleason

2005 Broadway: James Romick, Marie Danvers, John Cudia

2005 Essen: Thomas Borchert, Sandra Danyella, Nikolaj Brucker

2005 London: John Owen-Jones, Rachel Barrell, Oliver Thornton

2005 U.S. Tour: Gary Mauer, Marie Danvers, Michael Shawn Lewis

2006 Essen: Ethan Freeman, Anne Gorner, Nikolaj Brucker

2006 Essen: Uwe Kröger, Beatrix Reiter, Lucius Wolter*

2006 London: Earl Carpenter, Rachel Barrell, David Shannon*

2006 São Paulo: Saulo Vasconcelos, Kiara Sasso, Nando Prado

2006 U.S. Tour: Gary Mauer, Elizabeth Southard, Jim Weitzer*

2006 U.S. Tour: John Cudia, Jennifer Hope Wills, Adam Monley

2007 Broadway: Gary Mauer, Jennifer Hope Wills, Jason Mills

2007 World Tour: Simon Pryce, Julie Goodwin, John Bowles

2008 Broadway: Howard McGillin, Elizabeth Loyacano, Jeremy Stolle

2008 Las Vegas: Anthony Crivello, Kristi Holden, Andrew Ragone*

2008 World Tour: Simon Pryce, Ana Marina, Alexander Lewis

2009 Australia: Anthony Warlow, Ana Marina, Alexander Lewis

2010s

2010 London: David Shannon, Gina Beck, Simon Bailey*

2010 London: David Shannon, Gina Beck, Will Barratt

2010 U.S. Tour: Tim Martin Gleason, Trista Moldovan, Sean MacLaughlin

2012 Broadway: Greg Mills, Marni Raab, Kyle Barisich*

2012 Broadway: Hugh Panaro, Trista Moldovan, Kyle Barisich

2012 London: Marcus Lovett, Anna O’Byrne, Simon Thomas

2013 Broadway: Jeremy Stolle, Samantha Hill, Greg Mills*

2013 Broadway: Peter Joback, Samantha Hill, Jeremy Stolle

2013 Broadway: Peter Joback, Elizabeth Welch, Kyle Barisich

2013 Broadway: Hugh Panaro, Sierra Boggess, Kyle Barisich

2013 London: Marcus Lovett, Sofia Escobar, Simon Thomas

2014 Broadway: Greg Mills, Mary Michael Patterson, Jeremy Hays

2014 Broadway: Hugh Panaro, Sara Jean Ford, Jeremy Hays

2014 Broadway: Hugh Panaro, Elizabeth Welch, Jeremy Hays

2014 Broadway: Jeremy Stolle, Mary Michael Patterson, Jeremy Hays

2014 Broadway: Laird Mackintosh, Kaley Ann Voorhees, Jeremy Hays*

2014 Broadway: Laird Mackintosh, Sara Jean Ford, Jeremy Hays

2014 Broadway: Norm Lewis, Sierra Boggess, Jeremy Hays*

2014 Broadway: Paul Schaefer, Mary Michael Patterson, Jeremy Hays

2014 Hamburg: David Arnsperger, Lauri Brons, Nicky Wuchinger

2014 Hamburg: Mathias Edenborn, Daniela Braun, Nicky Wuchinger

2014 Moscow: Dmitry Ermak, Tamara Kotova, Evgeny Zaytsev

2014 Moscow: Ivan Ozhogin, Tamara Kotova, Evgeny Zaytsev

2014 U.S. Tour: Cooper Grodin, Grace Morgan, Ben Jacoby

2014 U.S. Tour: Cooper Grodin, Julia Udine, Ben Jacoby

2014 World Tour: Brad Little, Kristi Holden, Anthony Downing

2015 London: Geronimo Rauch, Harriet Jones, Richard Munday*

2015 Moscow: Dmitri Ermak, Tamara Kotova, Evgeny Zaycev

2015 Moscow: Ivan Ozhogin, Tamara Kotova, Ivan Rak

2015 Prague: Marian Vojtko, Michaela Gemrotova, Tomas Vanek

2015 Prague: Marian Vojtko, Monika Sommerova, Tomas Vanek

2016 Broadway: Laird Mackintosh, Julia Udine, Jeremy Hays

2016 Moscow: Andrey Schkoldychenko, Elena Bahtiyarova, Evgeny Zaytsev (act 2 only)

2016 Oberhausen: Brent Barrett, Elizabeth Welch, Max Niemeyer

2016? Prague: Marian Vojtko, Michaela Gemrotova, Tomas Vanek

2016 Stockholm: Peter Jöback, Emmi Christensson, Anton Zetterholm

2016 U.S. Tour: Derrick Davis, Kaitlyn Davis, Jordan Craig

2018 Broadway (Sept.): Ben Crawford, Ali Ewoldt, Jay Armstrong Johnson

2018 Broadway (Oct.): Ben Crawford, Ali Ewoldt, Jay Armstrong Johnson

2018? Prague: Radim Schwab, Monika Sommerova, Tomas Vanek

2019 Copenhagen: Tomas Ambt Kofod, Sibylle Glosted, Christian Lund*

2019 London: David Thaxton, Kelly Mathieson, Jeremy Taylor*

2019 London: Josh Piterman, Kelly Mathieson, Alistair So*

2019 São Paulo: Fred Silveira, Giulia Nadruz, Henrique Moretzsohn

2019 São Paulo - Fred Silveira, Lina Mendes, Henrique Moretzsohn

2019 São Paulo: Thiago Arancam, Daruã Góes, Fred Silveira

2019 São Paulo: Thiago Arancam, Giulia Nadruz, Fred Silveira

2019 World Tour: Jonathan Roxmouth, Meghan Picerno, Matt Leisy*

2021–present

2021 Broadway: Ben Crawford, Meghan Picerno, John Riddle

2021 Broadway: Jeremy Stolle, Emilie Kouatchou, John Riddle

2021 London: Killian Donnelly, Holly-Anne Hull, Rhys Whitfield

2022 Broadway: Ben Crawford, Kanisha Marie Feliciano, Paul A. Schaefer

2022 Broadway: Ben Crawford, Emilie Kouatchou, John Riddle

2022 Broadway: Ted Keegan, Emilie Kouatchou, John Riddle

2022 Broadway: Ted Keegan, Elizabeth Welch, Bronson Norris Murphy

2022 Broadway: Jeremy Stolle, Emilie Kouatchou, Jordan Donica

2022 London: James Hume, Holly-Anne Hull, Matt Blaker

2022 London: Killian Donnelly, Anouk van Laake, Rhys Whitfield

2022 Sydney: Josh Robson, Georgina Hopson, Callum Frances

2023 Broadway: Ted Keegan, Emilie Kouatchou, John Riddle

2023 Broadway: Ted Keegan, Julia Udine, John Riddle

2023 Broadway: Laird Mackintosh, Julia Udine, John Riddle

2023 Broadway: Greg Mills, Emilie Kouatchou, John Riddle

2023 Broadway: Greg Mills, Julia Udine, Paul A. Schaefer

2023 Broadway: Jeremy Stolle, Julia Udine, Paul A. Schaefer

2023 London: Earl Carpenter, Paige Blankson, Ralph Watts

2023 London: Earl Carpenter, Eve Shanu-Wilson, Connor Carson

2023 London: Killian Donnelly, Lucy St. Louis, Matt Blaker

2023 London: James Gant, Holly-Anne Hull, Matt Blaker

2023 London: James Gant, Paige Blankson, Matt Blaker

2023 Madrid: Geronimo Rauch, Talia del Val, Guido Balzaretti

2023 Shanghai: Ayanga (various clips)

2023 Shanghai: He Liangchen, Yang Chenxiuyi, Li Chenxi

2023 Thessaloniki: Tim Howar, Harriet Jones, Nadim Naaman

2024 Helsinki: Kevin Greenlaw, Emma Kajander, Olli Tuovinen

2024 London: Jon Robyns, Eve Shanu-Wilson, Joe Griffiths-Brown

Love Never Dies

2010 London: Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Dean Chisnall

2011 London: Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Dean Chisnall

2013 Vienna concert: Drew Sarich, Milica Jovanovic, Julian Looman

2018 U.S. Tour: Bronson Norris Murphy, Meghan Picerno, Sean Thompson*

2023 London concert: Norm Lewis, Celinde Schoenmaker, Matthew Seadon-Young

2024 World Tour: Luke McCall, Manon Taris, Niall Sheehy

Other stage adaptations

1991 The Phantom of the Opera starring David Staller

1992 Tom Alonso’s The Phantom of the Opera**

1993 Yeston/Kopit’s Phantom (Wichita, Richard White)

2011 Spiritual Twist’s The Phantom of the Opera

2013 Ken Hill's The Phantom of the Opera (Tokyo)**

2019 Spiritual Twist’s The Phantom of the Opera

2018 Yeston/Kopit’s Phantom (Takarazuka Revue)

2018 Yeston/Kopit’s Phantom (Seoul)

2020 Sasson’s Das Phantom der Oper (Germany, with Uwe Kröger)**

2021 Yeston/Kopit’s Phantom (proshot, Seoul)

Movie adaptations

1925 The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney

1937 Song at Midnight**

1943 Phantom of the Opera starring Claude Rains**

1962 Hammer Horror: The Phantom of the Opera starring Herbert Lom**

1974 Phantom of the Paradise

1987 The Phantom of the Opera (animated)

1989 Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge

1989 The Phantom of the Opera starring Robert Englund**

2004 The Phantom of the Opera starring Gerard Butler

TV adaptations

1983 The Phantom of the Opera (TV movie, Max Schell)**

1987 Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater, "The Phantom of the Theater"

1990 The Phantom of the Opera (TV miniseries, Charles Dance)

1994 Lamb Chop in the Haunted Studio (TV special)**

1995 Wishbone, S1 E37, "Pantin’ at the Opera"*

1995 Goosebumps, S1 E7, "Phantom of the Auditorium"

1999 The Triplets, S5 E9, "The Phantom of the Opera"

2000 Are You Afraid of the Dark?, "The Tale of the Last Dance"

Miscellaneous

1994 Australian Phantom cast Easter charity concert ("Phantales")

1995 The Phantom of the Opera on Ice*

2017 Broadway: Prince of Broadway (in honor of Hal Prince)

2017 The Phantom of the Empire (Turning Tydes Theatre Company)

Stolleboot (fan edit starring Jeremy Stolle as the Phantom, Raoul, Piangi, and Passarino)*

*Longtime crowd favorite (streamed at least three times)

**We’ve watched it, but it was technically streamed by another host I used to alternate with.

[incorrect-koh-posts]

Other than leper king and his heirs which book would you recommend for research on Baldwin iv of Jerusalem?

All right then, buckle up for some nerdery! 😁

I will preface this by saying that I am not a total expert on Baldwin and haven't done a colossal amount of research specifically on him. I could chew your ear off prattling on about the general world of the crusader kingdoms, their politics, and about Raymond III of Tripoli and Sibylla of Jerusalem in particular, but Baldwin isn't my main interest here. Also, as far as I know, Hamilton's study is the only longer academic work centred solely around Baldwin. Hence, in order to learn more about your fav and the world he lived in, I'd recommend reading a little more broadly. Being a king, he is featured (at least in some capacity) in most publications that deal with the Latin kingdoms in the latter half of the 12th century.

That said, have a list:

Piers D. Mitchell: "Leprosy and the Case of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem: Microbacterial Disease in the Crusader States of the 12th and 13th Centuries", International Journal of Leprosy, vol. 61, no. 2, 1993, pp. 283-91. Pretty self-explanatory. You can find this article on the internet; Mitchell also has a few other publications that deal with medicine in the crusader states, so you might find some additional Baldwin stuff there as well.

Elma Brenner: "Recent Perspectives on Leprosy in Medieval Western Europe", History Compass, vol. 8, no. 5, 2010, pp. 388-406. Has a little bit on Baldwin, might be useful if you want to find out more about how the disease was regarded by his contemporaries.

Helen J. Nicholson: Sybil, Queen of Jerusalem, 1186-1190. Routledge, 2022. This is a really good and really recent one that I was lucky enough to find in my uni library. Of course Sibylla-centred, but gives a good overview of the politics in Outremer and of course has passages about Baldwin in it. Also look into some of Nicholson's other publications if you're interested in the role of women in the context of crusading.

Kevin James Lewis: The Counts of Tripoli and Lebanon in the Twelfth Century: Sons of Saint Gilles. Routledge, 2017. Obviously mostly a Raymond-centric source, but it is also relatively recent and has a good chunk on Baldwin in the chapter where Lewis talks about Raymond's time as Baldwin's regent.

Joshua Prawer: Crusader Institutions. Oxford University Press, 1980. More politics to be found here, but very well put together. Prawer was an extremely prolific scholar where the history of the Latin East and the crusades was concerned, so - once again: if you're interested, look up his other works.

Jonathan Riley-Smith: The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, Oxford University Press, 1997. Good overview that goes into detail about the mentality among crusaders and aspects of daily life. Again, Riley-Smith is one of the authorities in the field, so looking into his bibliography might be worth a shot.

If you're into military history, the works of Benjamin Z. Kedar, John France - or, if you want something more dated, R.C. Smail - might be of interest to you. They mostly cover general points of Frankish and Muslim warfare or the Battle of Hattin in particular (other than in Hamilton or in some of the primary sources from the crusader period, I've never come across an article on the Battle of Montgisard), but might be helpful if you want to get a feel for what life was like at the time.

Hans-Eberhard Mayer is also definitely worth a look as a scholar, even though his works are a bit older now. However, I'm not sure how much of his stuff you can find in translation - I've only read him in German.

For the physical setting of crusader-period Jerusalem and the material culture, I very heartily recommend two works written or edited by Adrian J. Boas: Jerusalem in the Time of the Crusades: Society, Landscape and Art in the Holy City under Frankish Rule (Routledge, 2001) and The Crusader World (Routledge, 2016). I consult both of these frequently for world-building in my fic writing.

If you want something on the general concept of the knight / chivalry, Maurice Keen's Chivalry (Yale University Press, 2005) might be a good start. For a detailed analysis of medieval courtly culture, I recommend Joachim Bumke's Courtly Culture: Literature and Society in the High Middle Ages (2000, English translation by Thomas Dunlap). That thing was invaluable when I was writing my BA thesis. And if you'd like to know more about the literary life of the crusaders, there is a recent publication called Literature of the Crusades (Cambridge University Press, 2019) edited by Simon Parsons and Linda M. Paterson that I also found rather good.

For fashion: The various Osprey Military History books are a good choice if you want visual representations of knightly dress. There's also a collection of essays called Encountering Medieval Textiles and Dress: Objects, Texts, Images (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) edited by Désirée Koslin and Janet Snyder, which is one of the better ones I've found, as most books about medieval fashion focus mostly on later centuries. This one might be a bit hard to get through, though, if you don't have some kind of background knowledge about medieval texts or architecture.

If you want something less strictly academic and more in the vein of popular history, you might want to try James Reston's Warriors of God (2002) or the much more dated but rather fanboy-ish The Crusades: A History (also sometimes titled The Dream and The Tomb) by Robert Payne, which is very pro-Baldwin.

Other than that, I'll link you an older post about fictional depictions of Baldwin and other assorted good bois and girls from KoH. I hope this will scratch the Baldwin itch for you!

And: If anyone has more suggestions, of course do feel free to add them!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Arthur Delaney, Paul Blumenthal, and Jonathan Nicholson at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON — The mood in Congress among Republicans following Donald Trump’s announcement of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) as his pick for attorney general was best summed up by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho): “Are you shittin’ me?” Several Republicans on Wednesday said they were “shocked” and skeptical that the Senate would approve Gaetz next year — but there are rumblings on Capitol Hill and among conservatives that Trump is not “shittin’” them and would exercise unprecedented powers to go around the Senate and install his controversial pick anyway. The Constitution gives the president limited authority to make appointments when Congress is not in session, and it also gives him the power to adjourn the House and Senate, though no president has ever done so in order to staff his administration.

Trump threatened to adjourn Congress to make appointments toward the end of his first term, and some fear he will actually follow through on the scheme in his second term. And he has already called for the Senate to let him make recess appointments so Democrats can’t slow down the confirmation process. “This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. “We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!” There’s some indication the Senate won’t cooperate with Trump’s demands that Congress get out of his way. Asked about recess appointments on Wednesday, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), who had just beaten out Trump’s choice of Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) for the position, didn’t outright say whether he would support or oppose Trump sidestepping the Senate, but suggested he’d prefer the chamber to maintain its role in confirming appointments.

[...] So Trump’s recess appointment plot would need to be deployed against Senate Republicans if he thinks they would be unwilling to approve his nominees. How would it work? First of all, it’s possible the mere threat will cause Senate Republicans to buckle and back Gaetz. Plenty of them already do.

[...] Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution states that “in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, [the president] may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper.” The president could, therefore, exercise this power to adjourn both chambers of Congress if one chamber votes to recess while the other does not. While no president has done it before, there is Supreme Court precedent stating that this power does, in fact, exist. In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in NLRB v. Canning that presidents do have the power to make recess appointments, but that they cannot do so during short Senate breaks or when the Senate holds pro forma sessions. The majority opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer and joined by the liberal justices and Justice Anthony Kennedy included one line addressing this very scenario: “The Constitution also gives the President (if he has enough allies in Congress) a way to force a recess.” The line included a citation to the constitutional provision above.

[...] Let’s say the Senate does not want to give up its advice and consent powers to confirm executive branch nominees, as seems likely. House Republicans could, theoretically, vote to adjourn the chamber on a set date and for a set time. When Senate Republicans decline to do this, Trump could, again, theoretically, resolve the conflict by adjourning both the House and the Senate. Temporarily dissolving Congress in order to bypass Senate opposition to his nominees and make recess appointments would theoretically give Trump unchecked power to staff the entire executive branch. It would be a step toward fulfilling his desire to be a “dictator on Day 1.” This sounds nuts because it is nuts. No president has ever exercised this power before. It also would not be easy, or maybe even smart, to pull off. First, it would require a majority of House Republicans to vote for a resolution to adjourn the chamber. With a likely majority of 221 Republicans to 214 Democrats, they would need to hold all but four members of their conference. If this maneuver is being deployed to slip Gaetz past the Senate, will the seemingly large number of House Republicans who hate his guts go along with this?

Second, going around Senate Republicans would likely anger them. Does Trump want to begin his presidency by humiliating Senate Republicans? Knowing his history of enjoying humiliating supplicants and the fact that he sent a mob to attack Congress, maybe he does. Third, the scheme would immediately wind up in the courts. As has happened throughout Trump’s political reign, the courts would need to address a constitutional provision that has been effectively silent for over 200 years. The only word on this is from Breyer’s opinion in NLRB v. Canning. But the Supreme Court’s newer conservative members may not agree with that opinion.

The Orange Fascist’s plan to bypass Congress in forcing recess appointments sets a bad precedent.

[antaxzantax]

(1/2) You know who Alfred reminds me of? Brigadier General John Nicholson. You probably heard of him. He worked for the East India Trading Company and was so bad, even they thought him excessive. He helped suppress various Indian rebellions, was a brutal colonialist bully, and even supposedly had a cult that worshipped him.

These characters have in common that they attended British boarding schools and were then sent to the British colonies. This is relevant because British boarding schools are holes of physical and emotional violence from which all kinds of monsters emerge.

There is a recent book that details just that: Sad Little Men: Private Schools and the Ruin of England by Richard Beard. The book is summarized as: “A furious denunciation of the private boarding school system which produces damaged men prone to dissembling, hypocrisy, snobbery - and a blind belief in their right to run the country.”

In the chapters in which Alfred goes to school I have attempted an interpretation of this experience to recreate a fundamental part of the life and formation of global elites. Basically, these are boarding schools where children between the ages of 13 and 18 are institutionalized to be indoctrinated into English nationalism, ultra-conservatism and the status quo. In Alfred's case, it would also be Scottish nationalism, Catholicism and imperialism.

Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that Alfred developed a strong preference with sadism.

[dear-indies]

hiii i hope you're doing well, and i'm sorry to hear you've been having a tough time lately <3 i was wondering if you could help me with an fc?? i'm looking for a male fc, late 20's-mid30's, who has a chris evans or jason mamoa kind of build?? any ethnicity works!! thank you!!

Joel Kim Booster (1988) Korean - is gay and has bipolar disorder - has spoken up for Palestine!

Caio Castro (1989) Brazilian.

Laith Ashley (1989) Afro Dominican - is a trans man and asexual - has spoken up for Palestine!

Shamier Anderson (1991) Afro Jamaican.

Oliver Stark (1991) - although I'm suspicious on his views, he's been very vocal on climate change but has been silent Isr*el's pollution and Palestine's environmental destruction, 281,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide has been estimated to have been generated in the first 60 days following the 7 October, but I haven't been keeping up with celebs for months so I hope he's said something.

Cristo Fernandez (1991) Mexican - has spoken up for Palestine!

Ali Burak Ceylan (1991) Turkish - has spoken up for Palestine!

Daniel Ezra (1991) Afro Jamaican.

Marlon Teixeira (1991) Brazilian [Portuguese, Unspecified Indigenous, Japanese].

Josh Hutcherson (1992) - has spoken up for Palestine!

Vinnie Bennett (1992) Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Ngā Puhi, White - has spoken up for Palestine!

Drew Ray Tanner (1992) Chinese, African-Jamaican, and White.

John Boyega (1992) Yoruba Nigerian.

Ray Nicholson (1992)

Jacob Scipio (1993) Indo-Guyanese.

Franz Drameh (1993) Gambian.

Stormzy (1993) Ghanaian - has spoken up for Palestine!

Eli Goree (1994) Black Nova Scotian.

Gabriel Basso (1994)

Aaron Pierre (1994) Jamaican, Curaçaoan, and Sierra Leonean.

Kedar Williams-Stirling (1994) Afro Jamaican - has spoken up for Palestine!

Jordan Bolger (1994) Afro Jamaican / White - has spoken up for Palestine!

Brandon Soo Hoo (1995) Chinese - has spoken up for Palestine!

Alejandro Speitzer (1995) Mexican.

Brandon Perea (1995) Puerto Rican / Filipino.

Emilio Sakraya (1996) Moroccan / Serbian.

Froy Gutierrez (1998) Caxan Mexican / White - is queer.

Tanner Buchanan (1998) Filipino (maternal grandfather) and White.

also!

Chella Man (1998) Hongkonger and Jewish - is deaf, trans genderqueer and pansexual (they/them) - has spoken up for Palestine!

I hope these suggestions are useful!

[t-jfh]

Jules Joseph Lefebvre. 1875.

Chloe. oil on canvas.

Currently resides at Young and Jackson Hotel, Melbourne.

(Photo: Peter Nicholson)

(L) Jules Joseph Lefebvre. 1875. Chloe. Young and Jackson Hotel, Melbourne.

(R) John Peter Russell. 1886. Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Chloe: The Vincent van Gogh Connection

The untold “female” history of Chloe, the nude artwork by French artist Jules Joseph Lefebvre, was the inspiration for my doctoral project, and a new novel-length work of historical fiction. This beautiful painting, which has hung at Young and Jackson Hotel in Melbourne for over a century, has been igniting the imagination of admirers ever since its first unveiling in the Australian colonies at the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879.

By: Katrina Kell

October 14, 2019

•

•

In presence of the muse: novelist Katrina Kell, with the painting Chloe in Young and Jackson hotel. (Photo: Chris Hopkins)

Her portrait has won hearts for generations, but there is more to Chloe than meets the eye

She’s the star of one of Melbourne’s best-known pubs and generations of patrons have taken the vibrant French painting called Chloe to their hearts.

Soldiers came to Young and Jackson hotel to drink in front of Jules Lefebvre’s celebrated nude, for luck before they went off to war, and returned to toast to her if they made it home.

The painting is on tourists’ and even locals’ must-see lists, and art students come to sketch her.

But most know little about the model who posed for the striking oil on canvas in Lefebvre’s Paris studio 150 years ago.

In the latest instance of the painting’s power as a muse, academic and writer Katrina Kell has written a novel titled Chloe, inspired by Marie Pellegrin, who she believes was Lefebvre’s real-life model.

By Carolyn Webb

The Age - February 28, 2024

•

[scotianostra]

On March 22nd 1875, Alexander “Greek” Thomson died in Glasgow.

Thomson was an architect and architectural theorist in Victorian Glasgow and Scotland.

Thomson was born on 9th April, 1817, to a bookkeeper, John Thomson, and his wife, Elizabeth Cooper Thomson. He was the ninth of twelve children, but his father died when he was just seven years old.

More tragedy followed, as Alexander’s mother, sister, and three of his brothers died between 1828 and 1830. Alexander’s older brother, William, took in the remaining children. They lived together at a house in Hangingshaw, south of Glasgow, with William’s wife and child.Thomson’s career properly began when he was apprenticed to Robert Foote, a Glasgow architect. Later, he was offered a post in the office of the draughtsman John Baird. Together, John Baird II and Thomson set up their own practice in 1848. As well as his business partner, Baird was Thomson’s brother-in-law, having married Thomson’s sister, Jessie, in 1847. Thomson was married on the same day to Jane Nicholson, in a double wedding ceremony with Baird and his bride.

The Egyptian Halls Building on Union Street, Glasgow. Built by Alexander "Greek" Thomson in 1871.

Between 1856 and 1857, Thomson designed and built the Caledonia Road Free Church. Sadly, the interior was destroyed in a fire in 1965, but the exterior still remains.It is a notable work due to its asymmetrical layout and its combination of styles. These styles include ancient Greek and provincial Italian.After nine years of working with Baird, Thomson set up a practice with his brother George, heralding the start of his most productive years as an architect. He built two more churches, Queen’s Park United Presbyterian Church and St Vincent Street Church.The latter is the only complete surviving church of Thomson’s, as Queen’s Park Church was destroyed in the Second World War.

Between 1856 and 1857, Thomson designed and built the Caledonia Road Free Church. Sadly, the interior was destroyed in a fire in 1965, but the exterior still remains.It is a notable work due to its asymmetrical layout and its combination of styles. These styles include ancient Greek and provincial Italian. After nine years of working with Baird, Thomson set up a practice with his brother George, heralding the start of his most productive years as an architect.He built two more churches, Queen’s Park United Presbyterian Church and St Vincent Street Church., the exterior and interior are among the pics. The church is the only complete surviving one of Thomson’s, as Queen’s Park Church was destroyed in the Second World War. Greek influence Thomson, at first, combined several different architectural styles, such as Greek, Italian, Egyptian and Levantine, but later, the Greek style won through.Perhaps the best example of his Greek influence is Holmwood House, as seen in the second pic, which is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland.During renovations of the house, nineteen panels of classical frieze were discovered, which depict scenes from Homer’s Iliad. Thomson has also been credited with the introduction of some elements of sustainable housing.In 1868, he submitted designs to the Glasgow City Improvement Trust, which called for open-ended tenements and glazing, the former providing ventilation, and the latter providing warmth and protection.Alexander Thomson died on this day, 1875, in one of his own houses, on Moray Place in Glasgow.He was buried in Gorbals Necropolis four days later. His widow, Jane, joined him in 1889. One of his most important legacies was the Alexander Thomson Travelling Studentship, which allowed Charles Rennie Mackintosh to study architecture in Glasgow.In 1897, William Clunas, one of Thomson’s former assistants, wrote a glowing description of his employer: “His general appearance was indeed, very much in harmony with the strength and elegance which he imparted to the structures he designed, while the genial smile which so often overspread his face might be fittingly compared to the finished enrichment which was so marked and pleasing a feature of his compositions.”

[rhombusboy]

haunting adeline review

I put this up on goodreads but no one is going to read it so I figured I'd post it here too.

To paraphrase my hero Jenny Nicholson, I've ordered my thoughts into a numbered list. General warning for spoilers below.

1. The paperback version of this is 583 pages, and the font is not large. Furthermore, this feels like a 583-page long book, which is interesting because it's not some grand epic with years and years of events to cover. As the main character realizes right at the end, the whole book covers about three months. Which brings me to my next point.

2. I really feel like this could have worked with at least 100 (but preferably 200) pages shaved off. I sped through the first 300 pages, and everything fell off very quickly after that. My patience for the characters, my patience for the writing, the speed at which I was reading, my will to finish the book...

3. But, you may be wondering, cutting out that much of the book would surely cut out some of the plot, right? Well, yeah. And that's a good thing. Zade's whole weird Batman/John Wick thing was not enjoyable. I didn't pick up this book for cringey descriptions of a hacking coalition and our indestructible hero going all Jason Bourne on some henchmen. I picked this up for the romance, dammit! All of Zade's stuff and the murder mystery felt like subplots that got way too big for their own good and overshadowed what parts of the book were actually fun to read.

4. Speaking of Zade's big motivating cause, his crusade against human trafficking, it felt to me like a very obvious move by the author to make Zade's mission in life so undeniably good, that all the bad and unethical things he was doing with Adeline would seem fine, because he's actually a really good person, okay? Which felt like a weird inclusion to me, because this is clearly a dark romance. We don't need the fucked up hero to be redeemable, but that's exactly how this went down. Adeline finds out about how Zade has made it his life goal to save trafficked women and children and it gives her this whole crisis of "Well, he can't be all that bad. Look at all the good he does for these people!" And like, whatever. But Zade could have just been a pediatric neurosurgeon or something and it would have accomplished the same thing, without the pages and pages of his own little action novel shoved into the plot.

5. Zade's whole trafficking takedown plot is the reason there's a warning at the beginning of the book that says, and I shit you not, "The conspiracies found in this book have nothing to do with QAnon or antisemitism." The next time I find that preceding a story I'm taking the red flag for what it's worth and not reading the book. Essentially, there's a secret society of rich and powerful people in government and across the planet (who are literally called The Society) who do terrible things to women and children, perform literal blood magic rituals, and supposedly sell their souls to Satan to commune with "otherwordly entities" to achieve Eternal Rebirth. There are so many reasons for this plot not to be in the book. And also, if you notice the conspiracies in your book are VERY similar to real-life conspiracies that have harmed people for years and continue to do so today, maybe just don't leave that in the book? In addition to that, the book also says a lot of stuff that I found super uncomfortable along the lines of "Beautiful women get kidnapped into human trafficking all the time. It happens in grocery store parking lots, or even on the front porch of your own home. All it takes is for the wrong person to see you, a beautiful [read: white] woman, and they're going to come after you." Ugh.

6. The writing is just not good. Think of the most stereotypical example of "fanfiction writing" you can come up with. This book is pretty much that, down to literally calling eyes "orbs" more than once. There's also a lot of explaining things that the book was actually showing and not telling just fine on its own. Adeline is being stalked and is clearly not reacting to it the way a person usually would. That's evident from the book. But the author still felt the need to include paragraphs of inner monologue from Adeline here and there just to make sure you're really getting it. Stuff like "I know a normal person would be calling the cops right now. But I've never been that kind of person. It's fucked up, I know. But the adrenaline is making me feel some type of way." (not a real quote, but that's the essence of it)

7. I'm telling you now: if you don't like the way Sarah J. Maas writes smut, you are not going to like this. There's a lot of "to the hilt," "our tongues battled for dominance," "he consumed my lips with his own," stuff like that. Don't say I didn't warn you.

8. I will say, had this just been a dark romance and nothing more, I would have liked it. The smut was not written super great, but the scenarios were creative, and I liked them. It's a shame they end up not even feeling like the focus of the book.

[direwombat]

HMMM what about 13 but instead of just Syb, what about all your FC5 OCs, please? - fourlittleseedlings

13. What are their views on sex?

adsf;lakjdfs ok gonna divide my answers by cult kiddos and non-cult kiddos because i have so many fc5 ocs (most of whom i don't talk about oops) all under the cut bc sex talk but also i have a lot of ocs so this is gonna be long lmao thank you this was a super interesting one!

CULT KIDDOS

jonah seed:

staunchly anti sex before marriage and anti-masturbation to the point where he gets kind of homoerotic about god. strongly believes in and follows the project's rule of celibacy and looks down on most people who have been marked with the sin of lust (ie, everyone except joseph). lowkey thinks john is going to hell regardless of the cleansing :/ has a lot of sexual energy and anger that's been pent up for all his life and tbh is probably very close to bursting by the time the deputy kills him.

augustine la roux:

ah. heh. well he has some catholic anxiety about it. i think he falls somewhere on the ace spectrum so there's the general inexperience and also the guilt of wanting someone like that and the fear that they won't return the feeling. then there's also the idea he has that lusting after someone and that lust isn't reciprocated then it's a sin, but also somehow asking if those feelings are reciprocated is him being greedy. all of these feelings just intensify when he falls in love with the Father :'(

benjamin shaw:

has no real strong opinions about sex. it's nice sometimes but it's not something he prioritizes in his life. he has no particular preference towards the gender of his partner and he and pratt start fucking on the down low not long after the reaping kicks off.

lizzie sinclaire:

(who for context, is seventeen at the time of the reaping and was younger when joseph started manipulating her) also believes that sex outside of marriage is a sin and is unlearning her belief that her attraction to other girls is a sin. but also she's young and doesn't have any relationship experience to have any views on sex beyond that.

valerie king:

valerie ended up joining the cult during the pre-montana days because joseph preached more love than she heard at home so she ran off when joseph was forced from her town. she's horribly repressed and awkward about sex. she flushes during the sermons preaching chastity and gets absolutely flustered by the young woman she's been tasked by the father to protect. her faith.

NON-CULT KIDDOS

sybille la roux:

she's pro-sex and has had her fair share of it with a handful of partners of multiple genders. she's pretty open minded and is willing to try most things if it's something her partner wants to try. she found BDSM interesting but it wasn't something she'd really experimented with because of her trust issues. she never really thought she'd be comfortable on either end of a dom/sub dynamic but was proven wrong after accidentally stumbling into one with jacob. but she is a little ashamed of it. she never considered herself the kind of person to submit herself to someone like him (dominant. male. a little too much like her father if she starts thinking about it), and it's embarrassing for her that she's he gets her to act like that.

robin sherwood:

has a perfectly healthy relationship and perception of sex. is of the no-shame mindset and thinks it's fun! she prefers to have it with people she's formed some sort of romantic connection with but doesn't judge if other people don't feel the same as her. adventurous but not necessarily kinky.

joshua smith:

sees sex primarily as a means of stress relief. he doesn't do emotional attachment and is perfectly content with the fact that his sexual history is a long string of one-night stands.

kip nicholson:

i mean. he's an old gay rancher in rural montana. he's seen a few crazy nights in missoula and is confident enough in his own experience to firmly believe that he could probably fix john (and john is frustrated because he can't figure out which sin he wants to mark kip with). he's besties with addie and while he's not quite as Like That as she is, but he can keep up with her for sure. (occasionally flirts with xander but doesn't mean anything by it, he and addie just think its funny).

[agendaculturaldelima]

#ProyeccionDeVida

🌎 Cine Club del Banco de la Nación, presenta:

🎬 “TRECE VIDAS” [Thirteen Lives] 🌊🌏⚽⚠️✨

🔎 Género: Drama / Thriller / Basado en Hechos Reales / Supervivencia / Submarinismo / Buceo / Catástrofes

⌛️ Duración: 142 minutos

✍️ Guion: William Nicholson

📕 Historia: Don MacPherson y William Nicholson

🎼 Música: Benjamin Wallfisch

📷 Fotografía: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom

🗯 Argumento: Basada en hechos reales, se retrata el emocionante rescate de un equipo de fútbol juvenil y su entrenador, atrapados en la cueva de Tham Luang, por las lluvias torrenciales y peligrosas inundaciones, en Tailandia ocurrido en el año 2018.

👥 Reparto: Viggo Mortensen (Richard Stanton), Colin Farrell (John Volanthen), Tom Bateman (Chris Jewell), Pattarakorn Tangsupakul (Buahom), Sukollawat Kanarot (Saman Kunan), Teerapat Sajakul (Capitán Arnont), Vithaya Pansringarm (General Anupong Paochinda), Joel Edgerton y Paul Gleason.

📢 Dirección: Ron Howard

© Productoras: Storyteller Productions, Magnolia Mae Films, Imagine Entertainment, Bron Studios & Xm2 Pursuit.

📼 Distribuidora: Amazon Prime Video

🌎 Pais: Reino Unido

📅 Año: 2022

📽 Proyección:

📆 Miércoles 08 de Enero

🕡 6:45pm. 

🎥 Auditorio Artes de la Nación (av. Javier Prado Este 2499, 5º piso - San Borja)

🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Ingreso libre, previa reserva: https://info.bn.com.pe/CineclubBN

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jonathan Nicholson at HuffPost:

Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up her attacks on former President Donald Trump over reports by former aides that he has authoritarian tendencies, agreeing during a CNN town-hall-style event Wednesday that he is a fascist. “Yes, I do,” the Democratic presidential nominee said when moderator Anderson Cooper asked if she agreed with a recent characterization by his former White House chief of staff John Kelly that Trump fits the definition of a fascist. Harris’ concurrence with Kelly was an incremental sharpening of criticism she made earlier in the day in remarks to reporters in Washington. “We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power,” she said, while also taking aim at something else Kelly said: that Trump expressed admiration for Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler and his generals. Kelly is not the only former Trump aide to be quoted recently as thinking Trump wants to consolidate government power within the Oval Office if he is reelected.

Retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Trump administration, called Trump “fascist to the core,” according to a new book by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward. “I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist,” Milley is quoted as saying in the book. In her CNN appearance, Harris said people who worked in the White House and knew Trump best should be listened to when they call him “unfit and dangerous.” Kelly’s comments, in particular, amounted to “a 911 call to the American people,” she said.

Kamala Harris opened the CNN Town Hall last night by forthrightly stating that Donald Trump is a fascist when questioned by moderator Anderson Cooper on the topic. #CNNTownHall

See Also:

The Guardian: Harris praises John Kelly for sending ‘911 call’ to the US over Trump’s fitness to serve

[earcandle]

ECP0903 Litquake at Blue Macaw, Camera 2, 100910

Ear Candle Productions captures one of the Litquake Festivals featuring four of our literary masters sharing their works on 10/9/10 in San Francisco, CA, Camera 2.

Jack Boulware is the MC for this evening. 



Here we see Susie Bright, Lynn Breedlove, John Law, and Chicken John Rinaldi talking story at the Blue Macaw on Mission St, the same space that used to be known as the 12 Galaxies and is currently the ECHO SFC.

Currently, on their website, we were happy to report that Litquake returned October 5-21, 2023 in San Francisco, CA! Please support this program to continue to honor the characters we grow that can still talk story. We have lost so many great characters during this pandemic as well as the health crisis in general. 

 Ear Candle Productions is a small music label, video production, and eLearning website designed to be a place for the arts to stay and to be a venue for the creative products of the owners, John Bassham (AKA J Neo Marvin) and Debra Nicholson Bassham (AKA Davis Jones). We live in San Francisco. Come visit our website, check out our YT, Bandcamp, Ear Candle Radio, and other pages at https://earcandleproductions.com

[ulkaralakbarova]

Basket-case network news producer Jane Craig falls for new reporter Tom Grunnick, a pretty boy who represents the trend towards entertainment news she despises. Aaron Altman, a talented but plain correspondent, carries an unrequited torch for Jane. Sparks fly between the three as the network prepares for big changes, and both the news and Jane must decide between style and substance. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Tom Grunick: William Hurt Aaron Altman: Albert Brooks Jane Craig: Holly Hunter Ernie Merriman: Robert Prosky Jennifer Mack: Lois Chiles Blair Litton: Joan Cusack Paul Moore: Peter Hackes Bobby: Christian Clemenson Bill Rorich: Jack Nicholson Martin Klein: Robert Katims George Wein: Ed Wheeler Gerald Grunick: Stephen Mendillo Young Tom: Kimber Shoop Young Aaron: Dwayne Markee Young Jane: Gennie James Jane’s Dad: Leo Burmester Elli Merriman: Amy Brooks Anne Merriman: Jane Welch Clifford Altman: Jonathan Benya Mercenary: Frank Doubleday Lila: Sally Knight Spanish Cameraman: Manuel Alvarez Guerilla Leader: Luis Valderrama Guerilla Soldier: Francisco Garcia General McGuire: Richard Thomsen Commander: Nat Benchley Date-Rape Woman: Marita Geraghty Weekend News Producer: Nicholas D. Blanchet Makeup Woman: Maura Moynihan Floor Manager: Chuck Lippman Paul’s Secretary: Nannette Rickert Edward Towne: Timothy W. White Tom’s Soundwoman: Peggy Pridemore Emily: Emily Crowley Newsroom Worker: Gerard Ender Donny: David Long Chyron Operator: Joshua Billings Technical Director: Glenn Faigen Technical Director: Robert Grevemberg Jr. Control Room Director: Richard Pehle Weekend News Director: James V. Franco Assistant Director: Jimmy Mel Green Assistant Director: Raoul N. Rizik Technician: Mike Skehan Audio Visual Engineer: Franklyn L. Bullard News Theme Writer: Glen Roven News Theme Writer: Marc Shaiman Lecture Host: Alex Mathews Aaron’s Cameraman: Steve Smith Aaron’s Soundwoman: Martha Smith Mother in Hall: Cynthia B. Hayes Young Tough: Dean Nitz Young Tough: Phil Ugel Young Tough: Lance Wain Ellen: Susan Marie Feldman Tom’s Female Colleague: Jean Bourne Carinci Cab Driver: M. Fekade-Salassie Uniformed Cop: Gerald F. Gough Defense Dept. Spokesman: Robert Rasch NATO Spokesman: Robert Walsh Angry Messenger: John Cusack Film Crew: Producer: James L. Brooks Production Design: Charles Rosen Casting: Ellen Chenoweth Editor: Richard Marks Director of Photography: Michael Ballhaus Unit Production Manager: David V. Lester Music Editor: Bob Badami Associate Producer: Kristi Zea Original Music Composer: Bill Conti Camera Operator: David M. Dunlap Co-Producer: Penney Finkelman Cox Foley Editor: Mark P. Stoeckinger Costume Design: Molly Maginnis Executive Producer: Polly Platt ADR Recordist: Charleen Richards Associate Producer: Susan Zirinsky Color Timer: Bob Hagans Boom Operator: Joseph F. Brennan Hairstylist: Colleen Callaghan Foley Editor: Cindy Marty ADR Voice Casting: Barbara Harris Still Photographer: Kerry Hayes First Assistant Editor: Karen I. Stern Stunt Coordinator: Jery Hewitt Construction Foreman: Steve Callas Sound Effects Editor: Patrick Drummond Supervising Sound Editor: Robert Grieve Makeup Artist: Carl Fullerton Property Master: Mark Wade Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Rick Kline Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Donald O. Mitchell Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Kevin O’Connell Dialogue Editor: Dave Kulczycki Location Assistant: Peggy Pridemore Script Supervisor: Mary Bailey First Assistant Camera: Gábor Kövér Dialogue Editor: Jacqueline Cristianini Dialogue Editor: Frank Smathers ADR Editor: Jessica Gallavan Construction Coordinator: Bruce J. Gfeller ADR Editor: Jeff Rosen Set Decoration: Jane Bogart Best Boy Electric: Jerry DeBlau Unit Publicist: Anne Marie Stein Gaffer: John W. DeBlau Sound Effects Editor: Linda Whittlesey Production Coordinator: Cynthia Streit Sound Mixer: Thomas Causey Supervising ADR Editor: Beth Bergeron Second Assistant Director: David Sardi Negative Cutter: Donah Bassett Key Grip: Dennis Gamiello Location Manager: Stuart Neumann Dolly Grip: John Lowry First Assistant Director: Yudi Bennett Se...

[gerbilmongolski]

Inspiration for Francis Xavier Gordon El Borak: Brigadier General John Nicholson CB, Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS, Major-General Charles George Gordon CB, Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence CB DSO