#George O'Connor

[smashpages]

George O’Connor and Fernando Pinto team up for Vampires on Mars, the first issue of a series where the first human on Mars may not exactly be human. The 28-page comic, described as a science fiction/dark comedy hybrid, will also include an interview with Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer, on the current challenges facing manned missions to Mars and new technology being developed that could help.

Read more

[autumnmobile12]

What is a line in a work of fiction that stuck with you?

My Top 5

~“It’s not that I don’t trust you.  It’s just, well, the world is full of dishonest people.”  -Olympians Book 3:  Hera, graphic novel by George O’Connor.

~"You needn’t worry about them.  They’ll be all right--and thousands like them.  If you’ll come along, I’ll show you what I mean.” -Watership Down by Richard Adams (Spoken by The Black Rabbit, essentially death, to a dying character who’s worried about leaving his family and descendants behind.)

~‘I nodded slowly, fearing that my brain would slip out of one of my ears and onto the cold floor beside me if I did it too hard.’ -Callings, a Storm Hawks fanfiction written by PhaerynTao.  (Spoken by a very sick character.  This is and old fic, but it’s such a visceral visual.)

~“Down with the door, Poole!” -Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. (Spoken when the characters are about to kick in a door.  Makes me laugh every time.)

~“I love you right in the face.” -Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente.

[geekcavepodcast]

Marvel Comics and Abrams Books Announce “Marvel Super Stories”

Abrams Books is releasing a collection of stories for middle-grade readers. Marvel Super Stories is an anthology consisting of new six-page stories from some big names in comics. John Jennings is the editor of the book.

Characters and stories in Marvel Super Stories include:

Black Panther from Jerry Craft

Wiccan rom Mike Curato

Miles Morales Spider-Man from C. G. Esperanza

Iron Man from John Gallagher 

Shang-Chi from Gale Galligan 

The Hulk from Chris Giarrusso

Spider-Man from Nathan Hale 

Captain America from Michael Lee Harris 

Hawkeye from Ben Hatke 

Ms. Marvel from Priya Huq 

Daredevil from John Jennings 

Thor and Loki from George O’Connor

Namor from Lincoln Peirce 

Squirrel Girl from Maria Scrivan 

Ghost Spider from Jessi Zabarsky 

Marvel Super Stories goes on sale on October 17, 2023.

(Image via Marvel Comics - Cover of Marvel Super Stories)

[isabelleneville]

KINGS & QUEENS REGNANT OF ENGLAND ACCORDING TO STARZ

Henry VI (1 September 1422 - 4 March 1461, 3 October 1470 - 11 April 1471 second reign) as portrayed by David Shelley in The White Queen Edward IV (4 March 1461 - 3 October 1470, 11 April 1471 - 9 April 1483 second reign) as portrayed by Max Irons in The White Queen Edward V (9 April 1483 - 25 June 1483) as portrayed by Sonny Ashbourne Serkis in The White Queen Richard III (26 June 1483 - 22 August 1485) as portrayed by Aneurin Barnard in The White Queen Henry VII ( 22 August 1485 - 21 April 1509) as portrayed by Jacob Collins-Levy in The White Princess Henry VIII (22 April 1509 - 28 January 1547) as portrayed by Ruairi O'Connor in The Spanish Princess Edward VI (28 January 1547 - 6 July 1553) as portrayed by Oliver Zetterstrom in Becoming Elizabeth Jane Grey (10 July 1553 - 19 July 1553) as portrayed by Bella Ramsey in Becoming Elizabeth Mary I (19 July 1553 - 17 November 1558) as portrayed by Romola Garai in Becoming Elizabeth Elizabeth I (17 November 1558 - 24 March 1603) as portrayed by Alicia Von Rittberg in Becoming Elizabeth James I and VI of Scotland (24 March 1603 - 27 March 1625) as portrayed by Tony Curran in Mary & George Charles I (27 March 1625 - 30 January 1649) as portrayed by Samuel Blenkin in Mary & George

[sudokuplayer]

George MacKay and Josh O’Connor at a screening of “La Chimera” in NY.

[1donoow]

MIX FANDOM FANFIC REC PT.1

[Fanfics i've read]

Edited

......

♡ - smut

Mostly fluff

......

The letter room [richard alonzo muñoz]

MPHFPC [Alma peregrine][Enoch O'Connor]

encanto [the madrigals][camilo madrigal]

a series of unfortunate events [klaus baudelaire][violet baudelaire]

harry potter [weasley twins][neville longbottom][luna lovegoods]

narnia [Edmund pevensie]

triple frontier [santiago garcia]

·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·

———THE LETTER ROOM———

richard alonzo muñoz

@marvel-and-mischief - matching pyjamas

——————MPHFPC——————

@dapperappleton - imagine being an ymbryne and having your own loop

- imagine taking care of clair and olive

·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·

Alma peregrine

@vostokovasmelina - sleeping next to alma lefay perigine would include

@multifandomfix - imagine alma loving it when you paint her and the children

@zafirosreverie - an special case

·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·

Enoch O'Connor

@she-writes-with-kisses - quiet

- space jump

@dapperappleton - imagine being able to create death and dating enoch

@clean-bands-dirty-stories - shirtsleeves

@klineinie - blanketed

@imaginefan - story time

@y2fandom - sending him cute things

@frost-queen - no pain

@maeby-bby - you fluster me

@pink-princess-pussy-pop - dating enoch would include

————— ENCANTO ——————

madrigal

@cloud-9ine - madrigal reacting to being called their full name

@camilosnovia - there's two of them

- Madrigal Adults reacting to child!reader giving them gifts

·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·

Camilo madrigal

@sesamestreet47 - camilo w/ a tall s/o

- Camilo with a shy, sweet girlfriend

- friends

@nixthewolf - camilo simping over reader

@radiorenjun - shape-shifting frolics

@madrihoes - camilo nickname

@cloud-9ine - with or without you

@magicalencanto - camilo's s/o having power like pepa

@multificsworld - ___

- Tu Alma Tan Hermosa, Como La Luna

@caramellahoney - future daughter-in-law

- wait no wait-

@luvrcami - camilo headcannon

@bumblesimagines - being friends with camilo

@mihlo - camilo with fem s/o who wears glasses

@dos-oroguitas - angelita

- ay mamacita

— A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS —

klaus Baudelaire

@strangerdangerwrites - incompatible

@a-second-hand-sorrow - goodnight

- Not a problem

@ssadumba55 - not that easy

·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·

violet Baudelaire

@trustsalvatorewriting - dating violet Baudelaire would include

————HARRY POTTER————

@archivesofthevoid - Pulling their hair while making out

- The boys (+ Percy) stealing a kiss on the way to class hc

@lithiumfae - sexy habits they have (marauders)

·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·

weasley twins

@therandomficwriter - The Weasley Twins Having A Crush On You

@lilahisntsadanymore - Slytherin sunshine (fred)

@moonlit-imagines - ___

@therandomficwriter - weasley twins with a non ticklish s/o

·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·

neville longbottom

@hogwartseighthyear - crush

@very-unsirius - blurb

·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·

luna lovegoods

@iamthemain-character - Falling in Love with Luna Lovegood

@fromforeigntofamiliarity - taming cowardly lions

@sublimecatgalaxy - ___

——————NARNIA——————

Edmund pevensie

@pink-princess-pussy-pop - dating edmund would include

@wrenwreads - she's enough

- wardrobe malfunctions

@witchthewriter - being king edmund's wife would include

@pariahsparadise - warm pt.2

———TRIPLE FRONTIER ———

@violentdelightsandviolentends - tethered ♡

·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·—·

santiago garcia

@stormkobra-5 - ___♡

[popculthub]

the leading men who are dancing kings

Fred Astaire

Gene Kelly

Donald O'Connor

Danny Kaye

Buddy Ebsen

Dick Van Dyke

George Chakiris

John Travolta

Patrick Swayze

[musicmags]

[trixiesol-blog]

Sinead O’Connor being cheeky and boy George lovin it!

[smashpages]

Preview pages for Vampires on Mars #1 by George O’Connor, Fernando Pinto, Ellie Wright and Justin Birch., which is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter.

Read more

[nomilkinmyteaplease]

Ronan Raftery in a hot tub in Royal Rendezvous

[noneun]

(photo)

[letterboxd-loggd]

Paid (1930) Sam Wood

April 17th 2024

[kiki-de-la-petite-flaque]

Sinead O'connor & Boy George

[dweemeister]

The Strawberry Blonde (1941)

During the height of the Old Hollywood Studio System – when studios themselves contracted directors, actors, writers, and other craftspersons – Warner Bros. found its niche as the “dark” studio. Warners might not have invented the gangster picture, but they codified its archetypes and tropes, becoming synonymous with the subgenre. In the early 1940s, director Raoul Walsh (a film noir pioneer; 1940’s They Drive by Night and 1941’s High Sierra) was nearing the peak of his career and actor James Cagney (1938’s Angels with Dirty Faces, 1949’s White Heat) was perhaps Warners’ most bankable star. Walsh was known for his proto-noir works and crime dramas; Cagney arguably the era’s definitive gangster actor. By 1941, both needed something different to work with.

Adapted by brothers Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein from James Hagan’s pastoral stage play One Sunday Afternoon, The Strawberry Blonde was exactly what both men sought. The Strawberry Blonde – often billed as a romantic comedy because it is a much lighter adaptation than 1933’s One Sunday Afternoon (starring Gary Cooper and Fay Wray) – is a celebration of simple, unadorned love. Though not a gag-a-minute comedy, Walsh’s uncharacteristic film shines through the performances from Cagney and especially Olivia de Havilland (three years removed from The Adventures of Robin Hood and two from Gone with the Wind). It is a joyous and nostalgic production; perhaps it should be no wonder it was a career favorite film for Walsh and a highlight for Cagney.

The Strawberry Blonde occupies two time periods. The film is set in New York City sometime in the late nineteen aughts or early 1910s, but primarily told through flashback during the late 1890s. In the flashback, Biff Grimes (James Cagney) aspires to become a dentist and yearns for a strawberry blonde socialite named Virginia Brush (Rita Hayworth; whose singing voice is, in a fleeting scene, not dubbed for the only time in her career). Along with his buddy and soon-to-be business partner, Hugo Barnstead (Jack Carson), they go on a messy double date with Virginia and her friend, the nurse and suffragist-leaning Amy Lind (Olivia de Havilland). Upon first impressions, Biff considers Amy to be the less attractive, amusing, and sociable girl. When fate – or, more precisely, Hugo’s duplicity – intervenes, Biff and Amy find love together and marry. While Biff begins studying for a dentistry diploma by mail correspondence, the two navigate financial and personal travails. Despite the marriage, Biff harbors a stewing resentment towards Hugo and a lingering covetousness towards Virginia apparent in the film’s bookends.

Among the bit players are Alan Hale as Biff’s father; George Tobias as Biff’s and Amy’s Greek immigrant friend, Nicholas Pappalas; Una O’Connor as Mrs. Mulcahey; and George Reeves (a future television Superman) as a belligerent, loudmouth, mustachioed college man who – due to his sweater – I choose to believe is from Yale. The four actors listed here, all Warner Bros. contractees at the time, each have their memorable moments.

The Strawberry Blonde serves as a memorialization to the time of Walsh and Cagney’s upbringing, similar to Vincente Minnelli’s Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and, if one wants to draw a modern throughline, the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things. In many ways, the film also feels like a musical. There are numerous diegetic performances of songs – whether by our central cast or a band – popular during the turn of the century. “The Band Played On” (from which the film derives its title; “Casey would waltz with a strawberry blonde / and the band played on”), “Bill Bailey”, “The Fountain in the Park”, “Meet Me in St. Louis”, “Wait ‘Till the Sun Shines, Nellie”, and much more fill the soundtrack. Composer Heinz Roemheld’s (1942’s Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1947’s The Lady from Shanghai) work adapts many of these songs into a boisterous, energetic score. Roemheld knows when to dial his orchestra back during the film’s most intimate scenes, but this wall-to-wall score evokes the period. Ostensibly, according to the screenplay, it was a time of romantic walks and live music performances in almost all social settings. In a sense, these decisions make The Strawberry Blonde into a sort of half-musical.

With his most recent movie being the film noir High Sierra (1941) with Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart, the transition from a largely outdoors-set crime drama to interior-heavy romantic comedy nevertheless suited Walsh. Walsh receives immeasurable help from one of the best cinematographers ever in James Wong Howe (1941’s Abe Lincoln in Illinois, 1963’s Hud). Howe’s signature high-contrast, low key lighting – generally associated with film noir – is not present much in The Strawberry Blonde. But what Walsh and Howe accomplish is making a bygone decade contemporary again. Outside the film’s romantic scenes including Cagney and de Havilland or Cagney and Hayworth, the film’s frames overflow with activity. With masterful use of blocking and mise en scène in these moments, Walsh and Howe’s frames are always dynamic, moving – but not swooping – alongside masses of extras and supporting characters rather than staying put, as if taking still photography. A static camera during Biff’s dates out on town would immediately render The Strawberry Blonde as a dusty artifact, a creaky throwback. Stationary cinematography has its uses when there are plenty of actors on-screen, but such a decision would make this remake too much like its 1930s original. Instead, in conjunction with Orry-Kelly’s (1951’s An American in Paris, 1959’s Some Like It Hot) outstanding costume design, the past leaps out of the history books and memories to be present again.

The notable instances in which Walsh and Howe keep their camera as rigid as possible are when Biff finds himself at the park bench where he and Amy first met. The set for the park also happens to be art director Robert M. Haas’ (1941’s The Maltese Falcon, 1949’s The Inspector General) plainest craftsmanship in the entire film. These scenes are the most obviously soundstage-bound moments – the too-perfect grass, the flatness, and lack of discernible lighting – despite the extras strolling in the deep background. The Strawberry Blonde’s park scenes mark the beginning and the renewal of Biff and Amy’s relationship, rendering them arguably the romantic highlights of the film. The contrast from these scenes to places such as the beer garden, the Central Park Zoo, or the Statue of Liberty make them the least “present” of the film. Some viewers less experienced in Old Hollywood (or those who, wrongfully, dismiss the style altogether) might complain about the obvious artifice in those park bench scenes with Biff and Amy, but my goodness does the aesthetic contrast make one take notice. Not only that, but the Epstein brothers’ dialogue for Cagney and de Havilland here is gently funny, and filled with warmth.

James Cagney, with his vaudeville background, was known for his physically exaggerated performances that nevertheless maintained a raw emotional core. That works to his benefit throughout The Strawberry Blonde, in which the character of Biff often sounds calm and measured, but his words bely fearfulness and bitterness. Despite the tough-guy gangster persona he often played in Warners’ gangster pictures, there are shades of Cagney’s later performance as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy here. Look at the grace in his dancing at the beer garden, a seemingly spontaneous cartwheel upon learning wonderful news, and how he putters about restlessly when conversing with Amy for the first time while expecting Virginia to show up. But also notice his weariness during the film’s bookends, how he accepts – but does not despair about – his station in life.

Olivia de Havilland is Cagney’s equal in this film, and a great foil to Rita Hayworth (whose character of Virginia is depicted as more conventionally attractive, but possesses a casual cruelty and vanity that gradually reveals itself). A middle-class nurse is an unusual role for an actress known at the time for mostly playing rich women and/or Errol Flynn’s love interest in swashbucklers or Westerns. As Amy, de Havilland curiously receives two “introductory” scenes in the film – both radically different from the other in storytelling function, reflecting the rarity of a second first impression and Biff’s tendency to see only surface details. Seemingly reserved but playful when she wishes to be, de Havilland’s Amy is an absolute delight of a character from the moment she appears. One crucial moment late in the film – in which Biff is dancing around an implied truth so that he can soften the blow for Amy – is heartbreaking acting from both. De Havilland’s movement and her glance outside the window in that scene epitomizes the agony in that moment. Knowing both actors’ resumes, I initially came into The Strawberry Blonde thinking that, on paper, Cagney and de Havilland would be a romantic mismatch. What a happy surprise it is to be completely wrong.

Unlike contemporary films that might take a nostalgic trip to a decade like the 1970s, ‘80s, or ‘90s, The Strawberry Blonde feels, at times, truly transporting. The incredible attention to visual details and especially the diegetic music (too often those newer nostalgia-driven movies resort to pin drops of non-diegetic music) help immensely. Though the film suggests an immigrant experience that would have been appropriate for turn-of-the-century New York, The Strawberry Blonde declines to say more about it – most likely a result of the original source material (“pickaninny”, a derogatory term that refers to black or dark-skinned children, is casually used in a song’s lyric).

At the center of this rich period detail lies an honest love between two people flowing through life’s currents. Sometimes their love is troubled with melodramatics, but they find ways to comfort and help the other with humor and goodness. Sure, it can be sentimental stuff. But it endures an upsettingly difficult test. The Strawberry Blonde has no designs to being other than a sincere love story and a fond lookback of another time. As such, it triumphs – with just one more chorus of “The Band Played On”, if you please.

My rating: 7.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL). Half-points are always rounded down.

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.