#Hes brave so he probably interviews William the most

[soupmanspeaks]

silly salvaged and its greg interviewing everyone (all the animatronics) for a marketing class at school or something

[noreligionisgood]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/28/opinion/hulk-hogan-vance-harris.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The Democratic Party must join the battle for the hearts and minds of young men. It matters not just for this election, though the vast and growing gender gap means that disaffected men could hand Donald Trump the presidency. It matters for how we mentor young men, and it matters for how we view masculinity itself.

And yes, the Democrats can do it. Within the Kamala Harris coalition, there are men who can show a better way.

If you ever wondered whether the Republican Party sees itself as the party of men, I’d invite you to rewatch the last night of the Republican National Convention. Prime time featured a rousing speech by the wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, a song by Kid Rock and a speech by Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship — all as warm-up acts before Trump delivered his acceptance speech. Republican manliness was the capstone of the convention.

But what kind of men were featured? They’re all rich and powerful, and as a longtime fan of professional wrestling, I loved watching Hogan as a kid, but none of them are the kind of man I’d want my son to be. White was caught on video slapping his wife. Kid Rock has his own checkered past, including a sex tape and an assault charge related to a fight in a Nashville strip club. Hogan faced his own sex scandal after he had a bizarre sexual relationship with a woman who was married to one of his close friends, a radio host who goes by “Bubba the Love Sponge.”

We know all about Trump, but it’s worth remembering some of his worst moments — including a jury finding that he was liable for sexual abuse, his defamation of his sex-abuse victim, the “Access Hollywood” tape and the countless examples of his cruelly insulting the women he so plainly hates.

JD Vance is different. No one should denigrate his personal story. He has overcome great adversity, served his country honorably as a Marine and, by all accounts, is a good husband and father. But he now wears Trumpist masculinity like an ill-fitting suit. Last week, he was justifiably attacked for a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson in which he declared that the country is run, “via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies.” He identified Harris (who has two stepchildren) as just the kind of person he was talking about.

For a brief period last week, I thought Harris might answer the Trumpists with a man who puts to shame every person who took the stage that Thursday night. She was reportedly considering Adm. William McRaven — a Navy SEAL, a former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and one of the key architects of Operation Neptune Spear, the mission to kill Osama bin Laden — as a potential running mate.

He quickly pulled himself out of consideration, saying that “there are far better candidates” for the position. Politically, he’s probably right. Realpolitik requires picking a politician who can help carry key swing states, but McRaven still matters. His ideas matter. His comportment and bearing matter. What he says matters. And Democrats should embrace McRaven’s conception of how to live as a direct contradiction of Trumpist masculinity.

It’s not just McRaven, of course. There are other good and brave men who’ve rejected MAGA. Whether I’m speaking of Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former fighter pilot and astronaut, or Mark Hertling, my former division commander in Iraq, who is a Biden appointee to the American Battle Monuments Commission and a leading proponent of Ukraine’s cause, or James Mattis, a former secretary of defense who did his best to serve Trump honorably but could not abide Trump’s disloyalty to our allies.

But I highlight McRaven for a reason; he has perfectly articulated how to attack MAGA masculinity. Ten years ago, he gave one of the most powerful commencement speeches in recent American history. He addressed the graduates of the University of Texas, Austin, and three YouTube versions have racked up more than 70 million views combined.

It’s known — oddly enough — as the “Make Your Bed” speech. While it wasn’t aimed only at men, every person who forwarded it to me was a man. It appealed to universal values, but it connected with men I know at a deep and profound level.

McRaven draws on his SEAL training to teach students how to change the world. It begins with the small things, like accomplishing that tiny first task of making your bed, because “if you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right.”

Each new principle is rooted in his experience, including “If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not by the size of their flippers.” Here’s one that’s particularly salient in the face of Trumpist bullying: “If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.”

The address builds to a conclusion that is alien to Trumpist masculinity: “Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up when the times are the toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden and never ever give up — if you do these things, the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today.”

You can see the contrast. Trumpist masculinity is rooted in grievance and anger. McRaven’s message centers on honor and courage.

There’s a seductive quality to Trump’s masculinity. Grievance is a form of counterfeit purpose, and anger is a form of counterfeit courage. For a time, your grievance can give you a mission — fighting the hated foe. And when you’re in the midst of an online temper tantrum, taking on all comers in your social media feed, you can feel a little bit brave, even if all you’re doing is tapping out vitriolic posts from the safety and comfort of your couch.

When you center masculinity on grievance and anger rather than honor and courage, you attract men like Hogan and Kid Rock and White. Worse, that is how you mold the men in your movement, including men like Vance.

Many conservatives rightly decry the way in which parts of the far left tend to use the words “straight white male” as a virtual epithet, as if there were something inherently suspect in the identities of tens of millions of men and boys. And if men feel that Democrats are hostile to them, they’ll go where they feel wanted, the gender gap will become a gender canyon, and more men will embrace Trumpism because that’s just what men do.

But that’s the masculine equivalent of a sugar high. For solid food, look not to Hulk Hogan. Look to William McRaven. It’s often said, and I generally agree, that politics is downstream of culture, but we also cannot ignore the cultural power of our politicians. We aren’t simply electing women and men; we’re electing role models, and Trump has unquestionably been a role model for countless men. He has molded not just the policies but also the ethos of the Republican Party. But America’s men need different role models and a different ethos.

I’m not the only person who sees this need. At The Atlantic, my friend Tom Nichols (who’s also written about the dangers of Trumpist masculinity) argues that men like Kelly, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina also offer better models for men than Trump, and Nichols is right.

But let’s return for the moment to the Navy SEAL who served his country for decades, who helped kill one of America’s deadliest foes and who declared to American college graduates, “You must have compassion. You must ache for the poor and disenfranchised. You must fear for the vulnerable. You must weep for the ill and infirm. You must pray for those who are without hope. You must be kind to the less fortunate.”

When I heard those words, I thought: That’s the message American men need to hear. That’s a message the American people need to hear.

This might sound strange, but I wonder if Democrats should answer the Republican men’s night with a men’s night of their own — a night that features heroes instead of bullies and showmen, a night that answers the Republican appeal to men’s basest instincts with an appeal to their highest ideals.

When Vance says, “Our people hate the right people,” that’s the language of grievance and anger. But there’s a better way for men — for all of us. It’s rooted in honor, courage and love. Or as McRaven put it, “For what hero gives so much of themselves without caring for those they are trying to save?”

[lulusoblue]

this isn’t me vagueing or anything, or I’m not intending to because people have previously expressed the same of what I’m about to rant on, and I don’t want to @ or refer to any blog specifically for reigniting my bafflement of this take because this isn’t a personal grudge match against anyone, just a general *what* of this concept, but

jesus h christ on a stick, why do people want BioShock Infinite’s Elizabeth to have been a racist?

I get an AU fic of another timeline where Comstock’s motives weren’t messy as fuck and he didn’t just plan to force his messiah with a spinal shock collar from the word go, like “what if” stuff, but like saying she should have been racist in the original game and actually wanting this change because it would “improve” her character?

like, disclaimer because I am a white woman who may not have a say in things like this anyway, but honestly the racism angle was a huge mistake in Infinite in the first place, and should never have been done in this game because the lead writer is a white man and I can bet my bottom dollar he most likely did not consult anyone on race or racism beyond what historically accurate heinous racist acts to not depict in the game so players could “sympathise” with the flying racists getting their dues post-Finkton.

You know how important the racism of Columbia is to him? How relevant is it to the ending of the game? Answer: it isn’t. BioShock 1’s ending has the failings of Rapture relevant to the ending regarding the player’s choices. The ending of Infinite, however, focuses on Elizabeth, Booker and the multiverse, where nobody mentions the Vox or how Columbia was a failure or anything. Nothing with the Vox Populi or Columbia’s hubris is linked to the game’s ending. Both are left feeling superfluous. It was just something to stick into the background rather than be a story element that properly tied in with the story’s real focus. If you wanted Levine to write a better racism story I would have to ask you why??? Do you trust him to?????

What reason was there that we switched from extreme nationalism and its consequences in the demos as late as 2012 to “racism bad but the victims of it are also bad if they fight back” in 2013? Who fucking knows. Probably shock value, because I don’t see how time and resources would cause such a change from what Irrational put out there in interviews leading up to release. Given how Levine tried to retcon Daisy’s story in Burial at Sea (and keep in mind Black Lives Matter didn’t start as a movement until a few months after Infinite’s release and before BaS Episode 2 was released) he certainly didn’t commit to “Daisy and Comstock are the same”. If he had conviction for his “both sides” story, he wouldn’t have tried to rewrite it to Daisy choosing to play monster as a necessary sacrifice for her cause (which itself is its own can of worms with how it now plays out).

Considering as well how we had that article revealing how long it took to get a playable build out of Irrational thanks to Levine’s lack of solid direction, as well as the recent revelation that he had never read Ayn Rand when making a game about a city BUILT ON HER IDEOLOGY, I’m pretty sure the poor writing around Columbia’s racism and the Vox Populi in the final game was just made up as he went along to push out a finished product, because it had been five years at that point and 2k was piiiiiiissed.

Then we have how Elizabeth is your companion character, your escort mission. Friends, do you know how escort mission characters were viewed back pre-2013? Bad. The AI could just look at a player funny and they’d draw a 5 page comic on how awful a character they were and post it to deviantart. One of the worst levels in BioShock was when we had to escort a very killable Little Sister with a fishbowl filter on our FOV, and one of the major complaints people had with BioShock 2 was how they had an OPTIONAL escort mission to get more mutation juice. We didn’t start getting games with escort characters like Elizabeth or Clementine or Ellie, characters people actually cared about and WANTED to protect, until around 2012-2013.

You think the people creating Elizabeth, the escort mission character built to be a likeable, enjoyable to be with and empathise with her character, who can never get hurt or kidnapped in combat and actively helps the player, should have had her been a racist??? In a post-Mass Effect world??????

Ashley Williams is a woman from a military family. She is a proud member of the Alliance military who has concerns on working with aliens after having had no prior experience working with aliens. However, you can ease those concerns and help her warm up to building alliances in the first Mass Effect game. Ashley grows to trust alien squadmates, and even without your character’s influence will regard two anti-alien groups with disgust for their outright racism and human centrism.

And here’s the kicker, even with that nuance to her character, in a game of plenty of other more overtly racist and prejudiced characters? ASHLEY IS STILL THE BUTT OF THE SPACE RACISM JOKES. She had flaws, she developed, she proves her loyalties to the point of refusing to work with you when you’re forced to join one of the human centric groups, AND SHE’S STILL MOCKED FOR SPACE RACISM. EVEN IN PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL SHE’S RETROACTIVELY REGARDED AS BEING DIFFICULT TO WORK WITH. THAT IS HOW MUCH THE FANDOM AROUND MASS EFFECT HAS AFFECTED HOW ASHLEY IS SEEN.

And you want Infinite to have Elizabeth be very obviously racist with real life racism? (which is the vibe i’ve been getting) Like, you think all the people behind Elizabeth’s design, her game functionality, her interactions and personality, would give players ammunition to hate a character you’re supposed to enjoy having around on purpose? You think they’re going to give the actual racists and bigots and nazis of the internet a mascot????? Because we already had the facebook header image debacle for a Columbian propaganda poster, you KNOW they would.

And personally I don’t think it would make great character development, because the game is not in the format for that kind of exploration of character’s story. BioShock Infinite is not an RPG with you making dialogue choices with squadmates where you feel like you really influenced them to see the error of their ways. Infinite is a linear shooter. There is no real sense of the passage of time in a linear shooter, the player will experience it like it really doesn’t happen in the span of 20 hours.

Unlearning racism and religious brainwashing is not a quick fixit, and a quick fixit is how it would feel in the 20-40 hours you take to play through the entire game. If Infinite had had Elizabeth going from “I’m racist” to “*sees a black person suffering* maybe racism is wrong???” to “i am no longer racist, I see the error of my ways, you can like me now” in the span of what feels like less than a day to players in a linear game, people would be super critical of the pretty white girl getting cured of her bigotry way too quickly and how the game makes it like we’re supposed to applaud her for being so brave and mature and open-minded, and how much Levine really doesn’t understand nuance or anything about how internalised racism works.

BioShock Infinite’s final release proved that the Vox Populi should not have been handled the way they were. Yes, more media should be discussing and making audiences aware of what is racist, and how irrational it really is when you get down to it, but BioShock Infinite should not have been that media. It was originally written for two opposing sides in a city built on extreme nationalism, much like how BioShock was for objectivism, and then changed relatively last minute. It was written by a white man who’d already written the franchise’s only gay named character as a horrific monster of a man (Cohen) and has expressed how autism is what made a person evil (Tenenbaum). It was written with Elizabeth in mind, a main character who was literally designed to be an escort mission players would actually enjoy, most likely from Day 1 given how much behind the scenes stuff we know of her.

I wouldn’t trust someone like Levine to write a story of a character unlearning racism over the course of a game’s story, i don’t think he should ever have touched a story where racism is a such a prominent element with a 100 foot pole.

[p-and-p-admin]

Interview given to The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello Lariope and welcome to Behind the Quill, it is a pleasure to talk with you.

Many of our group’s members requested you as an interview subject, but amongst more than a dozen stories in the HP universe you are probably best known for Killing Time, Second Life, and Advanced Contemporary Potion Making.

Okay, let’s jump right in. What's the story behind your pen name?  

So, there's a really common plant in my area called Monkey Grass. Most people use it as landscaping filler. I thought it was pretty and asked someone who had some what it was called. She told me that it's technical name is Liriope, which I heard as Lariope. This was around the time that book 6 was released, and it struck me as a very witchy name, particularly as JKR likes flower names. Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most? Wow. Probably Neville. I'm certainly not as brainy or as confident as Hermione, not as out-there as Luna, not as athletic as Ginny. I'm less angsty than Harry and less apt to charge off in my own direction. And I am certainly not as thoughtless as Ron, not as strict as McGonagall, not as dark as Snape. And if you've read Second Life, you know my feelings about Dumbledore! But I was someone who took some time to come into my own. Often bumbling or nervous, but when my back is to the wall, brave and honorable. So I'm going with Neville. Do you have a favourite genre to read? (not in fic, just in general) 

I love fiction, but honestly, other than Harry Potter, I don't read fantasy! I tend to like "domestic" fiction, as in Anne Tyler, and literary fiction. I also really love Stephen King, oddly enough. Do you have a favourite "classic" novel? 

By classic do you mean like, the literary canon, or just not fanfiction? My top five favorite novels are, in no particular order, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, It by Stephen King, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, The Temple of Gold by William Goldman, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I'm not big into the classics, which is weird for an English major to say. At what age did you start writing? 

I've been writing all my life. The first time I saw Stand by Me at 11 years old, I rewrote it with a new ending because I could not bear the death of Chris Chambers. I think I've always been interested in working with other people's texts. How did you get into writing fanfiction? 

I loved Harry Potter so intensely. I came to it as an adult at a particularly lonely time in my life. When book 6 was released I read it all in one gulp, and then felt kind of despondent when it was over. I thought of the good old rule of the internet, that if it exists, there is porn of it, so I went looking for what I called "Potterotica," figuring that it would give me an opportunity to read more about the characters I loved. I didn't yet have a concept of fanfiction, let alone fanfiction that wasn't erotica! As I read, I had the persistent feeling that I hadn't yet found exactly the story I was looking for. I kept feeling that I would do this or that differently. Then after the release of book 7, I was tormented by the fate of Snape. I really felt I needed to save him. That I couldn't relax until he'd had some love in his life before his death. I didn't have the sense yet that I could change his fate, only that I needed him to have happiness and love before he died.  I have a Master's Degree in fiction writing, so I decided to just give it a try. My first story was terrible!!! It was called If Memory Serves and was archived only on the Restricted Section. But it definitely forced me to reawaken some skills, and whetted my appetite. What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works? 

Hm. I'm not sure how to answer this question. I know that one of the things that I respond most strongly to in fic is a feeling of inevitability--that regardless of how or when, these characters had unfinished business with each other. I hate to use the word destined... but that feeling that there were many points in canon where something minor could have changed which would have changed everything and brought two characters together--and that that could have happened at any point, in any number of ways. I like very much when canon is reimagined or reinterpreted to make that relationship deeper--like reimagining the scene where Snape insults Hermione's teeth to have a totally different meaning in the context of their relationship. I think I am remembering Somigliana's The Traveller being particularly gratifying in that way. Obviously I play with canon a lot in my own work. I like for fanfiction to feel "real" as in, possible in a canonical context. What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter? 

Almost none! I've been fannish all my life, but Harry Potter was the first experience I ever had of "fandoms," that is to say, community built around a narrative. I usually just freaked out over things in private. After HP, I tried very hard to get into the Sherlock fandom, because I had a dear friend from the SS/HG community who was into it, but in the end, I could just never become invested in quite the way I had with Harry Potter. Subsequently, I had children, so I mostly support their fannishness now. If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon? 

I wish Snape could live. I really do. He had a lot left to learn and a lot left to give to the world beyond the sacrifice of his own life to the cause. There are certain things I have ultimately accepted as head canon, as far as pieces of fanon are concerned. Honestly, they are so ingrained that I'm having trouble thinking of any! Sometimes when I watch the movies with my kids, I think, but wait, what about?... oh yeah, I forgot that wasn't canon. Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet? 

I need dead silence to compose, because I hear the words in my head as I write and I can't be distracted from them. But I often pick pieces of music that I listen to obsessively in my downtime when I'm writing a story, that I think of as sort of like theme songs. Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova was one for Second Life. Table for Glasses by Jimmy Eat World still calls up Dark Santiago for me. What are your favourite fanfictions of all time? 

Oooh. Ok. So I read a lot of Drarry, and I pretty much love everything that Sara's Girl has ever written. Somigliana's work--the Traveller was amazing. All the Best and Brightest Creatures by Wordstrings (Sherlock). I also really loved greywash's Sherlock fic. There was an SSHG that has been long since removed that was called Dear January--I still think of it.  I loved all the epics of my particular time in the SSHG fandom. Mia Madwyn, Subversa, Loten. Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process? 

Definitely a plotter. I kept pages and pages of working notes and planning points as I was writing Second Life. I always began a chapter with a working document of where I thought the chapter was going, as well as a reread of that portion of canon.  Points of discovery along the way still happened all the time--I'd be in the midst of something I had planned when all of a sudden I'd see some point of connection I hadn't even thought of, and something would open up bigger than I had thought it would be. I remember in particular the end of the Bathilda Bagshot chapter of Second Life, when Snape is running toward James and Lily's house and feeling like time is doubling back on itself--I didn't see that parallel until I was in it.  I think you always have to have room to surprise yourself, even in the thick of your planning. That sense of discovery affects the reader's journey through your work. What is your writing genre of choice? 

Haha, fanfiction is my writing genre of choice. No, I wrote short stories when I was pursuing my degree in fiction, which is kind of hilarious now, as I became sort of known for my long-windedness. Why say 100 words when 10,000 would do? I grew to love the novel during my time in fanfiction. It would be hard to imagine turning back to a shorter form now. But who knows. I always tell myself that once the children are grown I will get back to writing. I was beginning a sort of cross between fantasy and domestic fiction when I had children and I still think the idea has legs. Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why? 

Oh, different ones for different reasons. I think Dark Santiago is the most structurally tight and sound thing I've ever done. Second Life is like a miracle that it even happened, that I was able to control such a behemoth and bring it home. I was terrified the whole way. And weirdly, there's a drabble series that is called The Sins of Severus Snape that I am still really proud of. I think of those like linked poems. A real exercise in being concise for someone who likes to sprawl all over the page. Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote? What did you learn from writing it?  

I think I've pretty much covered those questions in all my ramblings. I knew the general structure, I was happily surprised along the way, and I learned to write novels from writing fanfiction, Second Life in particular. How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write? 

There's not a lot of personal parts of the story to me in Second Life. I mean, every character is drawn from me, in a way, just because they come into being informed with my way of looking at and understanding the world and other people. But there isn't a lot in there that echoes my experience. Advanced Contemporary Potion Making was personal, and I think you can feel that in the story. It takes the biggest step away from canon. It wasn't hard to write, but it was hard to live. And now, as I look back, I have a different perspective on my life and on the story itself than I did at the time that I wrote it. What books or authors have influenced you? How do you think that shows in your writing? 

Oh man, Stephen King is all over my writing. I don't think I've ever written a sex scene that didn't have a grain of that scene in the sewers of It inside it. Not because of the child thing--I know that skeeves people out about that scene--but because in it, Beverly discovers the power of sex--sex as a force, a life-giving force, something with teeth. I think that idea shows up a lot in Second Life. I like fiction in which you are very much inside the character's heads, and I think that's apparent in my writing. I think I got that initially from Stephen King, who leaps around inside his different character's heads sometimes in the same paragraph! I also think the theme of unending loyalty, the power of friendship, the triumph of good over evil--those are very Kingian themes that I recognized in Potter and then carried into my own writing. Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction? 

Yes. That wasn't always the case. During the time that I was active in the fandom, I was a young elementary school teacher, and I dreaded anyone finding out that I wrote sex scenes with children's book characters. I was very private about my fanfic then, and even a few of my closest real life people did not know. My parents still do not know. My children are teenagers now and into fanfiction in their own right; they know I wrote it, but they don't know my ship or my pen name. My husband has read most of Second Life. I recently started a new job, and during one of those "get to know you" games, I was asked to share something that other people wouldn't guess about me. I said that I had once been a fanfiction writer. How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"? 

Mmm. I wrote the stories I wanted to read. Do you know what I mean? I wrote things because that's how I wanted to see them, how I wished they were, and I wrote to my own preferences. But writing in real time, for people who were actually reading and responding--that was crucial to the process. My biggest fear during the writing of Second Life was that I wouldn't finish it, or that I would lose control of it and it would become crap. "Breaking the story," I used to say, and I was terrified of breaking the story. But the fact that there were people experiencing it with me and waiting for it, reacting to it, and giving insightful feedback--that helped keep me very focused and motivated. I never wrote something because I thought it would be appealing to others, but I was so gratified that what I wrote did appeal to others. How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media? 

I had a LiveJournal and although I was not a frequent poster, I read my friends list every day during that time. I read what everyone else was reading and talked about the stories and themes that everyone else was talking about. I made a number very close friends during that time--other authors, people who were reading my stories and commenting. We talked on the phone frequently, and I had a team of beta readers. I went to conventions. I participated in the ss/hg exchange. A lot of those people were my audience, were reading my stories. And many of them became my good friends. I had a policy to answer all reviews when I was writing Second Life, and I did that until I was unable to do it anymore. When I had multiple stories it got much harder. That community changed a lot toward the end of my time in it. People were leaving LiveJournal, and Tumblr was on the rise, which felt like a much bigger pond. AO3 was replacing the smaller archives on which I had really grown as a writer. And once the movies were over and there was no more "fresh canon," people started to drift away. I do think that I might have lasted longer if that tight knit community had stayed in place. It played a big role in my commitment to my work and continued enthusiasm. As a side note, one of the friends I made in the SS/HG community is still my best friend. She is the "aunt" to my children, and we still talk on the phone weekly and visit at least yearly. What is the best advice you've received about writing? 

If you want to write, then write. Make a routine. Write a certain number of words a day. Read them out loud to yourself. You'll hear your own bad habits and improve them.

What do you do when you hit writer's block? 

If I'm already in a project, I will force myself to write a certain number of words per day. I will hold a scene that I'm longing to write out in front of myself like a carrot. Like, if you write this transition part that feels yucky and like you are stuck in it, then you can write the big reunion scene that you know is coming. If I'm not in a project... well, then I don't get through it. I just don't start a new project.  If I need to write a story, as I did during graduate school or during the ss/hg exchange--I would do this thing one of my professors suggested--pick three headlines, words or ideas that have interested you over time and force them into the same story. Dark Santiago was that way. I had the prompt of fortune telling. I added an idea about the way magic works for muggleborns and the ocean town where I was living. Voila: Dark Santiago.   Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing? 

I'm sure it has in ways I can't even see. I remember once talking to a friend on the phone about Second Life as I was writing it, and she pointed out that the fact that I'm a Quaker was informing the story--like my own perspective on war and the horrors of violence were bleeding into the the kind of philosophy of Second Life. Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser? 

I don't. I wish I did! I often miss my time in fandom, the spirit of creativity and community, all those ideas just bubbling out in every direction. Any words of encouragement to other writers? 

I don't believe that the end goal of fanfiction is to become a published writer, just as I don't think every guitarist has to have the goal of selling out a stadium, or every golfer has to want to compete in the Masters. I think you can love a thing without making it your livelihood. You become a "real" author the minute someone else reads a story that you wrote. Many of you reading this right now are people who made me an author. It is, as Stephen King once wrote, a kind of telepathy. I thought of something once, in 2008, in the southeast of the US, and you can read it right now wherever you are, and experience the thoughts and feelings I was dreaming up then. It's a wonderful gift, writing. And working among people who are dedicated to improving their craft and talking about stories and ideas--that is just the very best ground for making something that makes YOU proud. Thanks so much for giving us your time.  

Thank you! I am really honored to be asked

[williamismyhomeboy]

Interview from www.popmusicfan.com 2005

If you only choose one new band to listen to this year, don't let it be anyone other than The Academy Is. With a brand new debut CD out on Fueled by Ramen records and a tour with labelmates Fall Out Boy and Gym Class Heroes, this band is ready to show everyone that they take their music seriously -- but still have fun while doing it. We hung out with lead singer William Beckett on the April 14th stop of their tour and somehow braved the freezing Florida weather.

How's the tour going so far? William: Well, the tour has been pretty spectacular so far. This is our first tour having had the record out and it's been really overwhelming, the response from people and from the other bands as well. We're good friends with all the bands on tour, we didn't know Silverstein until like two days ago, but they're really cool guys. But yeah, it's been great, I miss Midtown... but there's always next time. If you had to choose three bands for the ultimate tour, either to go see or to play with, who would you choose and why? William: Fleetwood Mac because I love Fleetwood Mac, they're one of the great rock bands that did it in a pop way, in a really classy way, too. Led Zepplin.. to go see or to go play with? Jennifer: Either one. William: Oh, yeah, it'd be the same anyway. Pink Floyd, I wouldn't want Pink Floyd because it'd be bad to play with them, they're just too conceptionally profound. Their show is far too extravagant, we'd look like amateurs. Jennifer: Well, if you were just going to see them... William: Oh, yeah, so Pink Floyd. What are your pet peeves about the other guys in the band? William: I've never been asked this before, this is interesting. Yeah, there's a lot. It's a cool thing about being in the band, you never spend that much time with anyone ever. Even married couples don't spend that much time together and that's not even just one on one, that's seven or eight dudes sleeping on a bus. So yeah, we have our differences, just being different people, having different personalities. One day we'll be in a bad mood, one day we'll be in a good mood, one day someone will smell bad and we won't, you know... But for the most part, it's a really brotherly love/hate relationship like most brothers and sisters. For us, we're like a family, the way that we sort of stick it through, for the most part. If you found out you were adopted and you had two celebrities as your birth parents, who would you want them to be and why? William: Wow, I haven't been asked these questions before, this is really cool. If I found out I was adopted... do they have to be like during the same time? Jennifer: Nope, whoever. William: For a mom, I'd probably go with Audrey Hepburn and I'd probably go with... this is tough. I should pick someone like Abe Lincoln or someone crazy. Yeah, I'm gonna pick George Bush. Jennifer: Which one? William: GW, I'm gonna pick GW. Jennifer: Do you like Bush? William: I don't want to talk about it. But his kids seem to have a good time. [everyone laughs] Jennifer: True! William: Right? So there we are.

What's the most embarrassing CD you have in your collection? William: Well, I have a lot of guilty pleasures, stuff most people would think is like, 'What?' Like Rod Stewart and Prince, a lot of stuff that you guys probably don't like or listen to. But my first hip hop CD that I ever bought was Ginuwine so bad. Jennifer: That's not that bad, it could be worse! William: No way, that's so bad, that's so terribly bad. Jennifer: What about Sisqo or something? William: Well, that's... wait, is that you? Jennifer: No! [everyone laughs] Well, I do have his CD, but it's from like seventh grade! William: Yeah, Ginuwine... well, Sisqo's probably worse. But at any rate, I'm a big opera fan, too. That's not really an embarrassing thing, but yeah. Jennifer: Have you seen Phantom of the Opera? William: Yeah! Jennifer: Was it good? William: Uh, no. I've seen the actual opera before... Jennifer: I did, too! On Broadway? William: Yeah! And it's amazing, I was raised on the Andrew Lloyd Webber performance disc and then I saw the movie and it was cool, but they changed some lines and it was just really Hollywood. The singing wasn't great, all the actors actually sang so it was cool but they just didn't do it very well, I don't think. Who's the most famous person that you have in your cell phone? William: Probably, like... I don't like name dropping. Jennifer: You can do it, we'll forgive you. William: [laughs] I should make a joke... Pete Wentz, and that's a joke, but Pete's getting pretty famous. That I actually talk to? Jennifer: Um... yeah. Or do you have any random people in there that you just got from a friend or anything? William: Yeah, I have Jakob Dylan's number but I never use it. I have, I don't know, I don't really look for famous peoples' numbers but the most famous person I have is probably Lyor Cohen, you probably don't know who he is. He owns Warner Brothers and Electra and Atlantic. He's like a multi-billionaire and he's one of the coolest guys in the world. I've met a lot of label people before but yeah, he's probably the most admirable one. If you had to describe yourself in five words, which ones would you choose? William: Myself? I'm really bad with self description, I'm really good with self reflection and creation and song writing and things like that, but actually flat out 'this is who I am?' Honest, passionate, polite, moderately-conservative... hyphenated! And, uh, sexual. Jennifer: Oh, that's a good one! Just kidding. William: I'm actually kidding, that wouldn't be my top five. Jennifer: None of them? William: No! None of them wouldn't except for sexual. Kidding once again, there we are! There we are, just joking. So there's my four. What's the biggest purchase that you've made since getting signed and everything? William: Other than my laptop... uh, yeah, it's my new Mac G4, I don't know I feel like a nerd talking about it. But yeah, my new laptop, probably. I try to conserve, to save my money, I don't really like to spend it on a lot of things. What are one of your favorite lyrics from one of your songs? William: It's really hard because... I think you'd have to take each song for it's whole, the song in it's whole is the work, you know what I mean? But I guess in the bridge of "Down and Out," I don't know if you know which song that is, but that song is the closest to me personally. The bridge is really cool and really close to me and all of our friends, just because we name dropped all of our good friends who really helped us and who we wouldn't be here without, and a bunch of records that we were influenced by during the writing process. Like, uh, Johnny and Tony, if you know the lyrics, they started a small record label called LLR and we had our EP on there. I had a solo project in high school.. Jennifer: Wasn't that Remember Maine? William: Yeah! Wow! You did your homework. So that was sort of like the moment in my life where I was making the decision to do music versus going to school, and no one believed in me really except for me and Johnny and Tony. It was a little bit later on that Tony came into the picture but Johnny was and is my best friend and the reason why I'm here, so he helped us get our foot into the door and we've sort of had this success since then which surpassed what they did for us. But we kind of took them with us, like now Johnny is head of retail at Fueled by Ramen. We were like, 'Hey, Fueled by Ramen, this dude is awesome, pick him up!' And Tony is our tour manager, on tour with us, so it's great, it's awesome. That's pretty much the bridge. Jennifer: We were kind of talking about that last night, about how random all the names are and stuff? We were wondering about that. William: Well the song sort of starts with this story about domestic abuse and escaping and getting away from something that you're afraid of or harmed by, it's sort of really dark. But the whole essence of the song, we didn't want to just focus on that, we wanted to focus on the ups and downs of life and growing up. The second verse says a lot about that growth process and friends and coming to that realization that most of your friends in high school, you're going to have to say goodbye to relatively soon and that's something that's hard for everybody I think, to say goodbye to anyone, be it death or be it whatever someone chooses or ends up having have happen to them. But for us it's not about like finding a dark corner and hiding and blaming other people and getting angry and aggressive, it's about accepting darker times and sort of welcoming those things when they happen, you know, to better understand and appreciate the great things in your life and the people that love you. Are you okay? Jolene: Uh huh! William: You're just cold, aren't you? Do you want my jacket? Jolene: No, it's okay. William: Are you sure? Jolene: Yeah, I'm fine! William: So yeah, for us it was really fitting to make the song about more than just that instance, you know, to make it a little more well-rounded so that was just, yeah.

What's something that people would be surprised to learn about the band? William: Probably our seriousness and what we're trying to accomplish. We have a lot of fun, we do, we indulge but our main scope isn't to be a big band and get famous and get chicks, or to get drunk and do drugs and be like this icon. Like, no one will tell you that unless they're just straight up rockstars, but for us, we really want to help people and change the world in the smallest way or globally and that's really what our end of the road goal is. To transcend age, to transcend sex, to transcend race, to transcend languages. Bands like U2, bands like Pink Floyd and bands that I was talking about earlier, bands that shaped generations and shaped people. It's like, 'You're playing these indie tours, you're playing to these young kids, how are you supposed to change the world?' But for me, I see that as an opportunity also. I also want to appeal to older crowds, I want to appeal to people our age, or maybe people that are a little bit older, like twenty-six, twenty-seven years-old and I think that our record does and will once they hear it. But for the future, as we expand and grow and as our minds grow and as our musicianship and our scope and those things grow, we want to be one of those bands that can make a difference and can help people. We want to be that band that you saw when you were fourteen, like our parents loved the Beatles or whoever when they were fourteen years old and they still love them today, and they're like fifty or sixty years-old. That's the band that we're going to be, because we're going to be the band or the songwriters that stick with the generations. I think the way you do that is being fucking straight up honest and genuine and unselfish. If you write about things that are self-loathing and very trendy and very high school angst, those are the people you're going to appeal to and that's it. You know, your mom's not going to listen to a band that sings about slitting their own throat or hanging themselves or crappy metaphors that are in like, Goosebumps books, you know? I think being genuine and honest and smart and unselfish and really looking at the world in a different light... if you have a minute, I try to do this exercise every morning. I think about people's minds, in this example let's think about the musician or whoever that's on a label that's writing these lyrics, okay? I sort of think of their creative mind as a room and let's take one of these singers that sings about one of these things like self-loathing or slitting wrists or something. So they're in this room and it's totally dark, and they have this candle in front of them and it's creating this light that they can only see like three inches in front of their face. They can only relate to those three inches in front of them which is their own little isolation bubble where they can't relate to anything beyond that because they don't know it exists. So they're so wrapped in themselves, writing about how much life sucks and how much it's unfair and about how much they've been mistreated. Or also things that are very self-righteous, like, 'I'm the best, this is how you do it,' things like that. There are those people everywhere, they're in high schools, they're parenting children, they're on their death beds... they're everywhere, you know? These people, I think, especially these artists are too wrapped up in themselves to realize that there might be a wall behind them with a light switch and if you flip that switch there's this whole room around you that illuminates. And for me, that's the world around me, that's everything. That's this tree, that's you guys, that's my family back home, that's this show, these people that are here, the people that are staying at this hotel. It's how it's cold and you're cold and I'm sorry that you're cold, you know? It's the world around you. Every morning I try to wake up and turn on the light, I try to turn on my creative room light to make sure that I'm always viewing the world in the way. I think if more people did that, a lot of things could change for people in their own lives and in other people's lives. That's one of the main things that I'm trying to convey, especially in our newest stuff that we're writing for the next record, so yeah, that's sort of something that people probably don't know about me or us. Jennifer: You're awesome, I decided that. Just now. What's the strangest voicemail or answering message that you've ever received? William: Received? I've given a lot of crazy ones. Probably the strangest one I've ever received... man, it's on the spot, you got me again. I'm tongue tied. Ohhh yeah, this is awesome! [everyone laughs] There was a point when I got a lot of prank calls when people hated me and stuff, it was that stupid, like... Jennifer: Jealousy? William: Kind of, but it was before I had really any success, it was just myself going for what I believed in. Since I was doing something different and not going for a screamo band or something, so it was a big deal when I was playing an acoustic guitar and singing melodies, so it was like 'What the hell?' It was a big uproar. So I got like crazy ones like, 'You're a faggot, you should kill yourself,' stuff like that. Jennifer: That's so mean! Jolene: That's terrible! William: Yeah, but it's awesome, though. No, for real! It's so funny, I know for a fact that that person has grown up and has seen me live by example and that I went for my dream and it's totally paid off, and it's going to pay off in the future more fruitfully than ever. Instead of me feeling anger and being like, 'Fuck that guy, I hope he's burning in Hell' or whatever, I hope that he realized that the way that he was living and the fear that he had about being his own person, I hope that he turned that around, so yeah, it's kind of funny. Jennifer: What about one of the funny ones that you've left people? William: Oh, man, there were some nights that I just called people singing crazy songs that I totally made up at four in the morning, I don't even know, man. I can't really get into too much detail, there were some wild ones. I do voices, I'll be like, 'Hey, yo-a, it's Johnny from over at Auto Repairing, I got your car and it's looking sweet.' [everyone laughs] I have this British voice and this gay voice and some other shit and it's hilarious, I would leave people messages like that and not tell them who I am. What's the last movie that you saw? William: Last movie? Oh, man, that's bad, that's terrible. I had a journal that I write on the website and I actually just talked about this. I'm on this weird horror movie kick right now, and I'm into crappy old horror movies right now. Not even old, like eighties or nineties. I don't recommend them to anyone, it's like Pet Sematary and From Dusk Til Dawn. Well that's like a Quentin Tarantino movie so that's actually a good movie, but the last movie I actually watched was House of 1000 Corpses. [everyone laughs] Jennifer: Oh, God. Jolene: Did you like that? William: I think it's great! For two reasons, alright. One, it's not original by any stretch of the imagination as far as a horror film, it's like Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets something vile, you know. It's basically like Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets a strip club, that's what that movie is. But, BUT-- Jennifer: Oh, I want to hear the but, because I don't think there's any defending this movie. [everyone laughs] William: The way that the movie is edited and the way that the movie is shot, with the color contrast and the way that it looks is just fucking phenomenal. I think the movie is so cool purely because of the way that it looks and because of the cinematography of it, but I'm just a geek like that, those are the kinds of things I look for. But if we're talking about movies that are actually good, go buy Big Fish, it's a great movie. Jennifer: Is it good? I heard that it's really depressing. William: Did you? No way. Jennifer: I work at a video store and that's what everyone's told me, I haven't watched it. William: But those people that told you that mind be those people-- Jennifer: Oh, the close minded ones, yeah. William: The people with the light off! If you watch that movie it's so cool because it seriously confronts some issues like death and memories and relationships being parents and fathers and mothers and their children. I thought it was a really heartwarming movie, especially at the end. It's not this cheese fucking Hollywood ending that everyone wishes would happen but doesn't, you know, but yeah I think it's a great movie. Jennifer: Have you seen I Heart Huckabees? William: I have not, yet. Jennifer: It seems like a movie you'd like. William: I'm sure I would like it. Jennifer: It's kinda like, off the wall, it seems like one you'd like. William: My girlfriend got it and said that it was pretty cool and I'd probably like it. Yeah, I should probably get it. Jennifer: Yeah, I didn't like it that much. William: You didn't? Jennifer: I like my stupid girly movies. William: Like what? Like what? Jennifer:: Like, have you seen the Notebook? William:: I haven't seen that one yet! Jennifer: What?! It's so good. You will cry, I bet. William: I'm one of those dudes that cries in movies, like seriously. Jennifer: Everyone cries in that movie! William: Dude, I even cried in, this is so embarrassing, I even cried in A Walk to Remember. Jolene: Oh, I cried in that one. Jennifer: That movie is so sad! William: I cried like seven times in that movie ALONE, I was alone! I have a huge crush on Mandy Moore, too, like a Hollywood Crush. Jennifer: That one was really sad. William: But at the same time, you know, it's also very... Jennifer: No. William: You don't think so? Jennifer: No! She should've lived. William: But she did through him! She changed. Jennifer: I know, I know! But wouldn't it have been better if she just lived forever? William: Well, it's not Hollywood. Jennifer: I know! What's in your pocket right now? William: Like, seventeen cents in change and a guitar pic, and that's it. Oh, and my cell phone is in my jacket, if that counts. Jennifer: It counts! William: These are cool questions! Did you make them up, too? Jolene: No. [laughs] William: Maybe you should let her make some up next time! Jennifer: I tried! I was like, 'Jolene, help me think of some questions.' She said, 'We're going to do it on the way there.' Two and a half hours later, oh no, no questions. [everyone laughs]

What's in your CD player right now? William: I have an I-Pod. Jennifer: Well what's on your I-Pod that you're listening to a lot lately? William: I'm just going to be difficult. No, I have an I-Pod, sorry. [everyone laughs] I listen to tapes, I don't even have a CD player. No, uh, what am I like loving right now? I'm loving Ryan Adams right now. I'm loving Muse. Jennifer: Oh, they're so good! William: I was on this huge Muse thing and I totally forgot about it and didn't listen to it for forever. I listened to them again today and I was like, AH! I was like, [does Italian voice] yes, yes, yes, this is so good. [everyone laughs] I'm listening to a lot of Radiohead, I'm always listening to Simon and Garfunkel, I'm a huge Simon and Garfunkel fan. Prince, I'm listening to a lot of Prince, a bit of Bowie. It's sort of today's little shuffle encompassed, so that was that. What's the last concert you've went to, other than one that you've played at? William: Damn... I was at South by Southwest but I didn't see any bands, I was just wandering throughout the streets. Last time I was at a show, watching bands... oh, yeah! it was an acoustic show in Chicago, it was Bob Nanna from Hey Mercedes and Justin Pierre from Motion City Soundtrack. They just played acoustic, it was really cool. What are some questions that you hate hearing in interviews? I probably should've asked you this at the beginning so I wouldn't have asked you any of them. William: [laughs] Yeah, right! There really aren't any questions that I really hate, I encourage tough questions. I enjoy people asking tough questions. Hard hitting questions or ones that are condescending because it's their right as journalists to ask those questions. I wouldn't ask somebody, 'What songs do you hate? And I won't write those.' No, I wouldn't ask anyone that, I would just write what I love and write what I want. So yeah, that's my answer. What's a question that you've been wanting an interviewer to ask you but they haven't? William: I haven't thought of one because with every interview, with a few exceptions, I've been asked new questions that I haven't heard before, like today for instance. That's enough for me to keep interested.

[elizasvintagemoviesblog]

Dirk Bogarde: Denial and daring...a star with a secret never told

https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2011/07/16/16/624945.bin?w968

David Benedict on an actor, soon to be celebrated at the BFI, who let his choice of roles do the talking

Sunday 17 July 2011 

Hot Hollywood agent Diane is in crisis: her cute movie star client Mitchell is on the rise, on magazine covers and, to her horror, on the brink of coming out. It's time for straight-talking. "Are you British? Do you have a knighthood? If not, shut up!"

The laugh that gets in Douglas Carter Beane's 2006 play The Little Dog Laughed reveals its truth. Take Sir Ian McKellen and Rupert Everett out of the picture and now try naming another out gay male movie star. You can't? That's because there aren't any. None. With secrecy and the fear of discovery still engulfing gay actors in 2011, is it any wonder that the career – and life – of the entirely closeted Dirk Bogarde was a conundrum and a contradiction?

A seriously handsome, bona fide star who had made 35 films by the age of 40, Bogarde was both British and knighted and made more arrestingly bold choices than any actor of his generation, taking name-above-the-title roles in The Servant and Accident with Joseph Losey, Death in Venice and The Damned for Luchino Visconti, The Night Porter for Liliana Cavani, Providence for Alain Resnais and Despair for Rainer Werner Fassbinder. All that from a man who as early as 1958 was the biggest draw at the British box office – pulling bigger audiences than Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn and Elvis Presley.

In addition, by the time of his death, in 1999, he had reinvented himself. He published six novels, plus collections of correspondence and criticism, and, crucially, seven best-selling volumes of memoirs throughout which he staunchly claimed to be straight. Actress Glynis Johns, a contemporary most famous as the suffragette mother in Mary Poppins, tartly observed, "I never believed more than one sentence of what Dirk wrote." She should know: she was once married to Tony Forwood who had divorced her and subsequently lived with Bogarde as his "manager" for almost 40 years.

Bogarde's position was, initially, understandable. Born in 1921, for his first 46 years homosexuality was against the law. Any man caught in "homosexual acts" faced imprisonment. That prohibition was ruthlessly policed. In 1955, 2,504 men were arrested for "homosexual offences", ie, about seven people every day. Even Ian McKellen, 18 years younger, didn't come out until 1988, when he was 49. Bogarde never did.

Although fully entitled to privacy, his blanket denials on television, radio and in print post-1967 legalisation became, for me, increasingly hard to stomach. Posthumously, the man behind the painstakingly maintained mask was uncovered in home movies and commentaries from family and friends in a BBC documentary The Private Dirk Bogarde (2001) and John Coldstream's biography. The great irony of Bogarde's position, however, is that no other screen actor has given such affecting and extraordinarily powerful gay performances.

Even now, the industry regards playing gay as being potentially career-damaging, an act so "brave" that your Oscar virtually comes with the contract – step forward William Hurt for Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1985), Tom Hanks for Philadelphia (1993), Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005), Sean Penn for Milk (2008). Probably the only reason Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal didn't win for Brokeback Mountain was that their dual presence cancelled one another out.

Regardless of the authenticity – or lack thereof – of those performances by straight actors, they pale beside the still astonishing impact of Bogarde's shockingly truthful performance back in 1961 as a barrister embroiled in a secret gay affair in Victim.

Bogarde plays married barrister Melville Farr who discovers that a blackmailed young man who loved him has hanged himself in police custody rather than reveal their relationship. Realising Farr's intention to uncover the plot, the blackmailers threaten to expose him. In the central scene – whose dialogue was rewritten to more explicit effect by Bogarde himself – Farr is confronted by his distressed wife (played by Sylvia Syms).

Shot in high-contrast black-and-white, edged with the darkness of a sitting-room at night but trapped in a fierce spotlight, Bogarde is mesmerising. Crisply suited, dry-voiced and on the edge of tears, he painfully stifles the emotion threatening to destroy him. With the camera locked in close-up, he lifts his chin ever so slightly in defiance, his eyes widening into a glare of triumph that costs him everything.

"You won't be content until I tell you, will you, until you've ripped it out of me. I stopped seeing him because I wanted him. Can you understand – because I WANTED him."

I can still remember being transfixed – and terrified – by that moment when I first saw it by accident on television one night. It was the 1970s, I was a guilt-ridden, fiercely closeted teenager and I had never, ever seen or heard a man on screen or off express such piercing desire for another man. I felt physically torn between an absolute need to keep watching and the cramping fear that my parents would come in and instantly understand why I was watching something so incriminating.

Bogarde always maintained that the camera photographed thought. Nowhere is that more true than in that scene. It wasn't just this teenager who recognised the staggering truth behind that performance and its implications for the actor.

In a television interview to promote the film, he was asked the not-so-veiled question: "You must feel very strongly about this subject to risk losing possibly a large part of your audience by appearing in such a bitterly controversial film?"

With manufactured insouciance, Bogarde counters, "I don't think so, no. This is a marvellous part and in a film I think is tremendously important because it doesn't pull any punches: it's quite honest. I don't have to use any old tricks for the fans, it's a straightforward character performance."

Necessarily disingenuous as that was, in hindsight it's also seriously unconvincing due to his immensely camp "who me?" manner, his left eyebrow arched, his fingers playing with his ear and chin.

Being able to pinpoint a scene that changed a career is rare, but that's what that Victim scene did. And having just engineered his release from his constraining 14-year-old contract with the Rank Organisation, Bogarde accelerated to an international reputation taking on increasingly complex roles with adventurous directors. Contrarily, the finest of those performances were in roles amplifying his hidden sexuality.

He was memorably viscous as the vicious Barrett, the manservant manipulating imperilled, upper-class James Fox into sex-and-power games in Losey's superbly elliptical (and Pinter-scripted) The Servant. And, in 1971, he crowned his career with Death in Venice, playing a man who falls fatally in love with the ideal of beauty exemplified by a beautiful boy. With almost no dialogue, the film amounts to a 125-minute reaction shot. As casting director Michelle Guish observed of Helen Mirren the day after the first Prime Suspect aired, no other British actor could have played that role that well because no one else had that depth of screen experience.

Was it arrogance that pushed the controlled Bogarde to the brink of self-exposure in this and other defining roles? He destroyed almost all of his personal papers, so we'll never know. Whatever conclusion we try to draw, the screen evidence survives.

'He Who Dared', a two-month Dirk Bogarde retrospective, begins at the BFI Southbank on 3 Aug

source: independent

[dailytomlinson]

[DISCLAIMER: Stunt parts not mentioned]  Louis Tomlinson’s first single in more than a year doesn’t hold anything back. “You’ll never know how much I miss you/ The day that they took you/ I wish it was me instead” he sings on “Two of Us”, a surprisingly raw pop ballad about losing his mother, Johanna, to leukaemia in December 2016. As he sings “I’ll be living one life for the two of us” on the chorus, he sounds like a man making a pledge. When we meet at a Hertfordshire hotel near his home, I tell Tomlinson it’s brave to put these feelings out there. “Yeah, it is,” he agrees from his seat by a window he’s smoking out of. ‘Two years into One Direction, I felt like I was treading water a bit’ “To be honest, I’ve wanted to write this song for a while. But it’s a bold thing to do, and when I had those thoughts, I wanted a few more years of experience as a songwriter before writing it. This is one of the most important songs to me, and I had only one chance to get it right.” Songwriting has always been important to him: racking up co-writing credits is how he kept his head as the member of One Direction who lacked Zayn Malik’s vocal range or Harry Styles’ flashy charisma. On stage, Niall Horan often played guitar and Liam Payne would handle the business of the gig – thanking fans for coming, reminding them to buy the new album – so Tomlinson carved out a niche behind the scenes. “I always pushed for the band to write as much as we could. Probably two years in, I felt like I was treading water a bit,” he recalls. “I didn’t really feel like I had a solid place – what was I contributing? There were some sad times like that, so I said to myself: ‘I wanna pick myself up and be the most prolific writer in the band.’” After forming writing partnerships with Payne and several professional songwriters, Tomlinson duly became just that, co-writing more than 30 One Direction tracks including the big hits “Steal My Girl” and “Perfect”. “So then at awards shows, or even in our performances, I could take real credit outside of whatever my contribution was to any particular song,” he says enthusiastically. “Just having an involvement in the songwriting was a real big step in terms of me building my confidence.” Tomlinson, who was born in Doncaster and turned 27 on Christmas Eve, says he also gained confidence from his role on The X Factor last year, where he mentored the Jamaican-born singer Dalton Harris to victory. It was hardly a stellar year for the show, which got thumped in the ratings again by Strictly Come Dancing, but Tomlinson’s unshowy judging style felt reassuringly natural, especially next to the souped-up husband-and-wife banter of Robbie Williams and Ayda Field.  Tomlinson, who was born in Doncaster and turned 27 on Christmas Eve, says he also gained confidence from his role on The X Factor last year, where he mentored the Jamaican-born singer Dalton Harris to victory. It was hardly a stellar year for the show, which got thumped in the ratings again by Strictly Come Dancing, but Tomlinson’s unshowy judging style felt reassuringly natural, especially next to the souped-up husband-and-wife banter of Robbie Williams and Ayda Field. The X Factor also put Tomlinson on level terms with long-time mentor Simon Cowell, who created One Direction on the show in 2010 and signed them after that year’s final. After the group went on hiatus in January 2016, Tomlinson was the only band member to stick with Cowell for his solo career. “Without being too soppy, loyalty is really important to me,” he says. “And the reality is, I wouldn’t be sat here having this chat with you if it wasn’t for Simon. Staying with him was kind of the obvious decision for me. He did all right with One Direction, didn’t he?” Read more: Boyzone interview: ‘There’s no one out there as raw as we were’ Given that the group sold more than 70 million records, and Tomlinson’s personal fortune has been estimated at £42m, it is difficult to disagree. Tomlinson thinks he and Cowell click because he isn’t afraid to “push the boundaries a bit” with him. “I’ve never met anyone who’s as cheeky to Simon as I am. I’m not sure anyone else really tries it,” he says. “Yes, I’m in awe of him creatively, but we do have this funny relationship where I enjoy winding him up. Some people are naturally intimidated by him. But once you’ve been around him a while, he’s a good lad.” Tomlinson’s first two solo singles went gold, but “Two of Us” represents something of a comeback after the pop-punk-flavoured “Miss You” stalled at number 39 in December 2017. It was his first proper flop after four years of hits with One Direction. “I miss the band every day – I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. Of course I do,” he says. “It was an amazing time, so when you don’t have that same rhythm, you feel it. But that’s what drives me. It gives me something to aim for again. ‘Being in the spotlight, that was hard. It was like a runaway train’ “And obviously in an ideal world, who knows when, we get back together at some point and you know… whatever. But having that idea in my head of working really hard every single day, that gave me a target.” I’m struck by how relentlessly positive Tomlinson is about his One Direction years. He doesn’t complain about the group’s workload (“As long as I got six hours’ sleep, I was fine. But anything less than four and I was going to be a proper arsehole that day”) or seem bothered by their famously full-on fans. “Larry Stylinson” was the name given to a fictional romantic relationship they imagined for Tomlinson and Harry Styles.  “You never want to sound ungrateful – or feel it even,” he says. “Being in the spotlight, that was hard, especially for the first year or 18 months – it was like a runaway train. Until I found my place in the group, I found it really difficult. Because when I’d go back home and talk to friends, I couldn’t take enough ownership of what I was doing. “That started from being on The X Factor and not singing a lot, if I was singing at all. And taking negative comments about that was tough. We were all really young, and it was a really emotionally challenging time, which is why we were so lucky to have each other.” He gives a knowing grin. “You know, I’m not going to name names, but there is one celebrity in particular – and I’m sure it’s the first name we both think of – who’s been a bit of a dickhead throughout his career in pop. There have been times when I’ve looked at him and thought, you know what, how impossible would it have been to have done this at an even younger age, and all on your own? “This job really is difficult at times. It takes strength, and it takes people around you to say: ‘Chill out a bit, and don’t be a dickhead.’ And luckily, we always had that.”

[avidroyalfan]

My 2018 Tumblr Top 10

1). 456 notes - 27 February 2018

2). 340 notes - 24 April 2018

3). 279 notes - 07 September 2018

A snippet from Zara Tindall’s interview on BBC Breakfast this morning. Very brave of her to talk so openly about such difficult...

4). 139 notes - 26 April 2018

Just walked past Kensington Palace and the guy mowing the lawn shouted at me: “It’s Arthur.”

5). 137 notes - 05 May 2018

6). 136 notes - 14 June 2018

7). 135 notes - 01 April 2018

8). 126 notes - 14 June 2018

9). 117 notes - 18 April 2018

Funny moment today as Prince Harry explained the difference between Band-Aids and plasters to US-born Meghan Markle

10). 115 notes - 28 June 2018

This is me meeting William. It starts a little bit after he came over and took the flowers. I couldn’t breath. Shout out to the...

Created by TumblrTop10

As I am too lazy to do a follow forever or a “favorite moments” post or anything of this kind, I thought this would be a good way to wrap 2018 on my blog. Some of my favorite posts made the list, and the top one is probably the one I spent the most time on. I can’t believe the video of me meeting William is only at the 10th spot, y’all are sleeping on some great content of me almost dying + having a stroke. 

[thecostumeplot]

Episode 14: Midsommar & Crimson Peak

Please consult these Instagram slideshows for accompanying images: Midsommar Crimson Peak

Both: Welcome to The Costume Plot!

Jojo: I'm Jojo Siu

Sarah: and I'm Sarah Timm. We're professional designers with a passion for costume design and the performing arts. Our podcast does contain spoilers! Accompanying slideshows for each movie are linked in the episode description.

Jojo: we hope you'll join us every other week as we delve into the wonderful world of costume design in The Costume Plot. [music]

Jojo: hello and welcome!

Sarah: welcome back!

Jojo: It feels like it's been forever.

Sarah: I know!

Jojo: every time.

Sarah: that's okay, I was listening to a podcast today and they were like, "we never know what to do in the intro!" so I think it's pretty common that people just... it's a little bit awkward just to start talking.

Jojo: socially awkward for the first five minutes.

Sarah: exactly. Well... welcome to The Costume Plot, we're glad you're here.

Jojo: Yay!

Sarah: We have a quick plug at the top, um, Jojo and I, just yesterday we were just on our friends' podcast. Tim and Ashley Espinosa. It's called Breaking the Fourth Wall...

Jojo: Yeah!

Sarah: ... and we had a really lovely conversation with them about theater, about design, our jobs, what we want to see change in the world of theater, you know... what we love about it, that kind of thing. So go check it out!

Jojo: Yeah there'll be some--there'll be some plugs and things to kind of get you guys to know where to go. To listen to our little interview.

Sarah: yeah. I'll put the link in the description of the episode and then there's also going to be a post in our instagram feed like, you know, showing you where to go. So yeah, it was really really fun and I'm excited to listen to their podcast, actually.

Jojo: Yeah!

Sarah: Because the conversation was so great that I want to keep listening so...

Jojo: they've got some pretty good interviews. And apparently we were their first designers on their podcast!

Sarah: Yeah!

Jojo: So that's really exciting. But yeah, shout out to other podcasts, and really we love to support other podcasts that are talking about theater as well!

Sarah: Totally.

Jojo: So, really exciting. Great! So you want to get into our topic, for our theme for this week, Sarah?

Sarah: so today's theme is has been a little bit exciting for us because, um... it's horror and neither of us watch a lot of horror. So it was a bit of an adventure for both of us.

Jojo: to say the least.

Sarah: I'm a scaredy cat. I'll speak for myself, I don't watch a lot of horror 'cause I'm scared.

Jojo: oh me too, me too!

Sarah: So yeah, I'm going first and my movie is Midsommar.

Jojo: oh, so scary.

Sarah: it was SO scary, I was ... shook.

Jojo: for those of you who are also not horror movie watchers, I tried to watch 10 minutes of this movie and then like, very promptly had to just find the Wikipedia explanation and promptly decided that I wasn't going to watch the rest of it. So Sarah is very brave for taking one for the team.

Sarah: I am VERY brave. I went in blind. I was like, "you know what? I'm not going to read any plot synopsis." I had no idea what it was about. I knew it was like, culty, and that's about it.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: I knew Florence Pugh's in it, I really like her.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: ...and I was SO scared. [both laugh] So I'll just dive in, uhhh... let me open my notes and THEN dive in.

Jojo: I'm already scared! [both laugh] This first image.

Sarah: I'm not going to jump scare you, Jojo!

Jojo: I know. [laughs] Thank goodness.

Sarah: so this movie, Midsommar, came out in 2019, directed by Ari Astor. Also written by Ari... I think he's a boy, written by him. He is known for Hereditary, which is another horror movie that made a big splash when it came out. Which I will not be watching, I'll just say that. [laughs] I'm sure it's great.

Jojo: I didn't even hear about it, so I mean...

Sarah: the costumes are by Andrea Flesch, who you might know as the designer of Collette, which was a Keira Knightley movie that came out a few years back. And then she's- she has had a lot of- she's been working a lot, but not a lot of titles I recognized. But this is obviously like— this is a really good costume movie. So I'm sure she'll be... we'll be seeing more of her. I think she's Hungarian. She lives in Budapest, I think. And this movie won for best costume design at the Fright Meter Awards, which I think is a horror awards thing.

Jojo: sounds like it.

Sarah: yeah, Fright Meter sounds, yeah... it sounds like horror. So the setting is modern day. And we start in maybe New York? It's never said, but it looks kind of New York-y. You know, young millennial people, very hip. I always assume that they're in New York. [laughs] And then we go to a remote commune in Sweden. And so the basic premise-- I'll just do a quick run down of the plot--is that Florence Pugh's character Dani and her boyfriend are in a really tenuous, like... crappy relationship. Where he wanted to break up with her and didn't. And then she goes through this horrible personal tragedy where all of her family dies. By the way, this movie is very rated R. So I'm not going to go into a ton of detail because our podcast is not rated R! [both laugh]

Jojo: yes!

Sarah: yeah, so then he can't break up with her because she's going through this. And then his friends are in grad school and they're gonna write... one of them, played by William Jackson Harper, who we love from The Good Place. Chidi on The Good Place. Is writing his thesis on mid-summer traditions in Europe. So they're gonna go to this commune that their Swedish friend grew up on to see their mid-summer traditions. So that's where we go. And then, uh... horrible things ensue. Lots of death.

Jojo: so many horrible things!

Sarah: lots of gore. A lot of- it's been a long time since I watched a horror movie, and really felt the the build-up of the tension and the unease that they build. It was like, I felt unsettled for most of it. [laughs] Okay, so that's basically the plot and like, I'm not gonna give away a ton of stuff because, as I said, it's super rated R and I don't need to describe what happens. I think if you've seen it, you know, and if you don't like gore you won't like it. Uh... yeah.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: okay so let's start with Dani. This is kind of, um... this is after she's already had her horrible family, like... trauma. Tragedy. So she starts the movie in very drapey neutrals. Everything looks really soft. I think she's a student, so it's all kind of basic. It all looks... like, it doesn't look cheap, you know? She doesn't look poor, but it's... this is kind of dark, but that's- that's kind of where we find her. And then quickly we go to Sweden. And this is her and the group of guys, the American people.

Jojo: Mmhmm.

Sarah: And then the guy in the blue shirt in the middle, the light blue shirt, is the Swedish friend. So I found this really interesting, that like... how they look as a group together, nobody's wearing pattern at all? It's all just solid colors, like really soft muted t-shirts.

Jojo: Mmhmm.

Sarah: Which is, I think, unusual. Like, when you have a group of American people, usually somebody's gonna be wearing some sort of plaid or a stripe, right? A logo.

Jojo: Right, right.

Sarah: So that was an interesting choice, I thought. Here's a front view of her outfit. She wears a lot of these cuffed pants. And they look like they might be linen, which makes sense because it's summer, so it's probably hot.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: so then this contrasts with the people that they meet in the commune, which is called... Hårga.

Jojo: [laughs]

Sarah: I'm excellent at Swedish, as you can tell! [both laugh]

Jojo: I would not be able to help you, Sarah!

Sarah: so we get to the cult. And classic cult, everybody's wearing white.

Jojo: Mmhmm.

Sarah: I will say, this is not... this is gonna be a little different from our usual coverage, because there's not a lot of specific costumes that I want to call out. It's kind of just like, overall themes, and you know... because everybody in the cult is pretty much dressed the same. So I'll have the opportunity later to give some information that I got from articles with Andrea Flesch. Just like, how— her process and stuff.

Jojo: Mmhmm.

Sarah: So yeah, it feels, um... folky? You know, apparently this movie, the genre is technically folk horror. That's what I learned.

Jojo: I didn't even know that that was a category! [laughs]

Sarah: apparently it is. It's possible that Midsommar invented it.

Jojo: right, right. [laughs]

Sarah: It's also like, everything happens in the daylight? Which is so unusual for a horror movie. Everything is very brightly lit.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: you know usually horror is all about the, what's dark, around the corner.

Jojo: that's almost more terrifying.

Sarah: yeah!

Jojo: they're hidden in plain sight.

Sarah: yeah. So basically, their midsummer tradition is like a seven day feast? Like a feast every day. So the designer started everybody off in mostly all white, and then as the movie goes on, brings in sort of one color at a time. Adds like, little hints of color, and then by the end they've all got color mixed in. So I thought that that was pretty cool.

Jojo: oh! Interesting.

Sarah: yeah. Here's more, more cult stuff. [laughs] So then like, the first ceremony is the first real scary scene. It's like, it's basically like a suicide ceremony. And it's- so these two people end up dying. They're very visually divided from the rest of the group obviously, they're wearing special outfits because they are the special people in the ceremony.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: And then we've got everybody else bringing in sort of hints of blue along with the white.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: oh, I love this stripy vest right here.

Jojo: yeah!

Sarah: I kept noticing this guy in all the scenes and being like, "there's that vest!"

Jojo: and he's got multi-colored buttons!

Sarah: Mmhmm. Some stuff I learned from the articles that I read is that, you know, they're really cut off from like, modern society. So they make all their own clothes. So everything looks very homespun...

Jojo: Mmhmm.

Sarah: ...looks like they made it themselves. And she said she intentionally made some of it look better made than others, like to, you know... because it depends on who made it, or whatever.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: I'll get-- I'll do some more information from those articles that I read. So she said not everything that she used, like... the embroidery, textiles, colors, are necessarily specifically Swedish. But she borrowed stuff from other folk traditions, like other Scandinavian countries... Hungary. She listed other countries, but I didn't write them down, so good job... me. [both laugh] But she basically kind of pick-and-choose what she wanted to use, and made her own sort of folk look.

Jojo: Mmhmm.

Sarah: and I think it's super effective.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: they filmed in Hungary, and they didn't have a huge budget, so she did a lot of her shopping in Hungary.

Jojo: Interesting.

Sarah: And she said that she found 700 yards of this linen that was a hundred years old! So like, a lot of it is made of hundred-year-old linen. Can you believe?

Jojo: that's fantastic!

Sarah: I know!

Jojo: like, when do you get a story like that? Especially for a horror movie!

Sarah: also where do you find hundred-year-old linen?

Jojo: so true! I guess in Hungary!

Sarah: I gotta go to Hungary! I would love to fabric shop in Europe. I've never been.

Jojo: Oh, agreed.

Sarah: I can't even imagine how...

Jojo: that should be our next trip,

Sarah: Okay, great.

Jojo: maybe when we get rich and famous, this podcast can pay for us to travel. [laughs]

Sarah: we'll do a little Costume Plot tour, we'll do some live shows!

Jojo: that would be amazing!

Sarah: oh, that would be fun.

Jojo: so fun! Down the line, down the line.

Sarah: I feel like we could... okay not to go too off topic. But like, the movie analysis podcasts I listen to, they do live episodes, and all we need is a projector and we do a slideshow, and we do this thing live! Wouldn't that be fun?

Jojo: that would be so fun! Okay, ten year plan....[both laugh] Five-year plan! I'd hope that this would be happening in five years but...

Sarah: DM us if you want to come see us live, and then we'll, um... Venmo us ten dollars for your ticket right now.

Jojo: then you can finally see our faces. [both laugh]

Sarah: exactly. Okay. Anyway. The embroidery is all done by hand and like, she found teams of people in Hungary to do embroidery for her. So I just love that it all looks handmade.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: that's very effective.

Jojo: I love that lady's I don't know if it's a bodice?

Sarah: that one?

Jojo: yeah the one you're pointing at. Oh, that's so beautiful. And her hat!

Sarah: she had another bodice later on that I really liked, and I couldn't find any good pictures of it, and I got sad. But she's always doing a cute bodice.

Jojo: mmhmm.

Sarah: so what's next? Oh this is a nice little shot that we get of this girl who's going after Dani's boyfriend. She's like, carving something to put under his bed. But we can see the embroidery on her cuff, and...

Jojo: oh wow.

Sarah: it's just like, really beautiful little details. Really well done.

Jojo: it almost looks like it's printed on the fabric too. Like a stamp or something?

Sarah: this? Yeah, she's-- she mentioned that some of it is painted, so I think that this red pattern right here is painted on rather than embroidered.

Jojo: ooh.

Sarah: beautiful. Beautiful! I labeled this picture "death". [both laugh] Because this is from the death ceremony. And this scene was really visually striking. Because like, the white outfits really blend in with sort of the white rocky backdrop. And so the outsiders who have been brought in are so visible. You can see this guy back here, his name's Simon. He dies. Everybody dies. [both laugh] You can see, like...

Jojo: classic horror movie trope.

Sarah: everybody ends up dead. Except DanI, spoiler alert.

Jojo: right. [laughs]

Sarah: the Americans, and here they are, they're not... I mean, they're not next to the crowd in this picture. But like, you can see they're so much darker in color--their clothes are--than everybody else. So like, in the big crowd shots, you can really pick them out, and they really stand out as being different from everybody else.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: here's Dani. So this is toward the end, I pretty much skipped the whole middle of the movie, if that's okay...

Jojo: [laughs] no worries.

Sarah: it's more folk costumes, you know, more white. So this is her doing a maypole dance with the women of the community. And I'm going to talk about these symbols right here on the front of her blouse, let's see... where is it... here. This is from an article on fashionista.com. They used a runic alphabet to create their own language called Affekt. And every person in Hårga has a rune assigned to them that has meaning for their life or their role in the community.

Jojo: Mmhmm.

Sarah: So then they give her this outfit to wear for the maypole dance, and apparently the runes on the front of her blouse, the hourglass one means "helplessness or innocence" and the backwards R "forebodes crisis and death." [both laugh] So...

Jojo: you know, just in case you needed some foreshadowing. At the end of the movie.

Sarah: They're like, "your role is crisis and death! Here you go, enjoy your dance!"

Jojo: oh gosh.

Sarah: and then we've got lots of flower crowns happening. Beautiful.

Jojo: those are very beautiful.

Sarah: they made all of them, they made everything. You know you can't rent 500 white costumes and stuff, so...

Jojo: right, right.

Sarah: it's all very well done. Beautiful, beautiful.

Jojo: I do love those flower crowns. I feel like when I think about making flower crowns now, it's like... I don't think I have any flowers that would make it that full looking. Like, mine would just look really sad and droopy!

Sarah: I think a good flower crown is the fuller the better.

Jojo: yep, agreed.

Sarah: This is like, a full body shot of later because she...

Jojo: Oh my gosh, it gets bigger!

Sarah: ... she wins. She won the maypole dance. So they named her the May Queen, and they give her this, which is-- apparently this little flower cape is actually an actual real thing. They based it on real regalia from midsummer traditions. so that's cool. Oh yeah, but then later on they kind of make it into something that does not exist in real life. I'll show you that in a second. I like this headdress, it's like....

Jojo: oh there's a space! I didn't realize it goes up.

Sarah: yeah it's like a... it's almost like a...

Jojo: like the top of a basket, holder?

Sarah: yeah! Like a little handle. But in some shots it looked almost like it was horns. So it was a really interesting evil... foreboding... pretty...

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: like, contrast. I like that. And I like this, her skirt, too. It's got like, a little apron, so cute.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: honestly like, I would wear a lot of the clothes in this movie. [both laugh] I don't want to be in a Swedish death cult

Jojo: it's weird thinking about, "I don't want to be IN the movie, but..."

Sarah: I will take a cute linen skirt...

Jojo: "...but they look beautiful!"

Sarah: ...any day of the week. And then here's another shot of the side, where you can see the embroidery on her blouse. It's so beautiful.

Jojo: Mmhmm.

Sarah: such beautiful little details. And then this girl over here.

Jojo: yeah it is very like, I mean, forgive my ignorance. But it does look very Scandinavian or Norwegian. Which I think is so lovely.

Sarah: I thought that too, and I was like, "do I just not know?" Because she said you know, it's not necessarily Swedish. But like I think it looks pretty Swedish, based on Swedish stuff I've seen. I don't know.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: yeah. I'm not an expert but... yeah.

Jojo: that folksy, uh... folksy look that we all associate with east European countries.

Sarah: yeah!

Jojo: or like north European?

Sarah: oh and you can see in this, so this is toward the end of the movie. So like, we've got the white, and then we've got blue, red, and then there's some yellow that comes in too. To like-- as the celebrations continue the most important one has the most color.

Jojo: okay.

Sarah: And then so here we have this lady, who seemed to be in charge. I'm not sure what her role was, but she's like a priestess sort of role? She was like, doing the ceremonies and stuff, so um... I don't know what her rune means, but there it is.

Jojo: interesting.

Sarah: yeah, and then she has a cool headdress.

Jojo: yeah. Oooh.

Sarah: I don't know what that's called, looks good. And then this is her in her house, which is like.... crazy looking.

Jojo: mm-hmm.

Sarah: it's got, like...

Jojo: oh my goodnes.

Sarah: ...stuff all over the walls, yeah.

Jojo: it's like, tiles. But like, tarot card tiles.

Sarah: yes they do kind of look like tarot cards.

Jojo: but in white. [laughs]

Sarah: yeah. So she wears this for the whole movie. But I just wanted to show it because I like it.

Jojo: her hat looks very Danish almost.

Sarah: I'll take your word for it.

Jojo: But like, that could also be Scandinavian.

Sarah: yeah.

Jojo: I don't know. Someone out there who's Scandinavian, please-- please educate us. [laughs] Because I would love to know.

Sarah: yeah, I did a little research but I didn't do that much research, you know. Like, I didn't research into what things are called.

Jojo: it's really lovely, it's a really lovely silhouette.

Sarah: Mmhmm. And it looks like it's really soft. I don't know what it's made of, maybe wool?

Jojo: mm-hmm, like a felted wool, almost.

Sarah: yeah.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: Very cool.

Jojo: it does look very soft.

Sarah: what do we have next? Oh, these are… this is a scene of like, all the women that are— they're comforting her in a moment of scary… scary stuff happening. [both laugh] I'm not gonna talk about it. So you can see how they're ready for the party, so they're wearing super colorful stuff. I love these tassels. I love all of it. And you can see their hair too, very Swedish looking with the milk maid braids and stuff.

Jojo: Mmhmm.

Sarah: pretty.

Jojo: look at that blue trim!

Sarah: I know.

Jojo: so pretty.

Sarah: gorge. Yeah, I’ll also shout out— the production design is really cool on this movie. Like, even before we got to the Swedish commune, I really liked the color palette we were working with. Like, it's such a very clear visual language. You can tell that this director is one of those directors who has a vision, and I like that. It kind of gave me the same feeling as Parasite, where I was like, “this feels so well designed all of it.”

Jojo: right, right.

Sarah: So this is… this lady, how do I describe what happens to her in non-rated R terms? [laughs] She has a… fertility ceremony, let's just say that.

Jojo: Okay.

Sarah: And then after that, she she gets to wear this bodice. Which is— I think it's because she's like, more of a like a woman? She's like, moving into the next phase, or whatever. And she's wearing a red lip, which… nobody else is.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: so she must be special. [both laugh]

Jojo: I do love that vest, or like, bodice? It's not quite a vest. But it’s beautiful.

Sarah: I would call it a bodice, yeah. It's got like, tabs with lace around it. Floral print. Gorge.

Jojo: so pretty.

Sarah: what's next? Oh, here's more crowd people wearing all their colors. That's sad Christian.

Jojo: this is such a disarming movie because I feel like visually… if, you know, me just looking at all of these stills is like, “oh, this can't be a horror movie. Everyone looks so happy!” [both laugh]

Sarah: yeah

Jojo: it's like, that's what makes them more terrifying.

Sarah: that's why— okay so I had seen some pictures and I was like, “oh yeah, that movie looks beautiful,” you know. And I heard it was scary but I think I was… misled by the photos I've seen, about…

Jojo: [laughs] yeah.

Sarah: … like, it being scary. I was like, “it's probably like a little bit creepy, but not super scary.” It was SUPER scary.

Jojo: that's what I heard, yeah. Because I think when I first saw it on Netflix I just saw the the cover photo. And it's like, her crying. And so I was just like, “oh, maybe it's just like a really intensely felt emotion from the actual Midsummer Night's Dream?” Nope, that is not at all what it is. [both laugh]

Sarah: apparently Ari Aster originally was approached about making— well, I don't know if it’s his idea. Don't quote me. But it was originally just gonna be a slasher movie set in sort of like a Swedish cult…

Jojo: Okay.

Sarah: …and then he actually went through a breakup in his own life. And so he decided to make the movie about a relationship ending.

Jojo: yeah. Sarah: so that’s— you know, that's the central thing that's happening to the protagonist as she is also being tormented by these…

Jojo: right.

Sarah: …cult members. I mean, in this picture— so this is her boyfriend Christian. He's been given a paralytic and he can't move or talk, but he’s awake and cognizant.

Jojo: oh, that’s terrifying. Terrifying!

Sarah: yeah. Okay so… grand finale, are you ready?

Jojo: okay! I’m ready.

Sarah: boom.

Jojo: oh my gosh!

Sarah: yeah.

Jojo: she just keeps growing!

Sarah: so this is… not a very good quality picture. But this is what I could find. It’s— for those who haven't seen it, it's like a conical dress made entirely of flowers. And there's no sleeves, it's like she's in a cone made of flowers.

Jojo: Right.

Sarah: So I have some information about it. This is the thing that they made up. Like, this is not something that exists, in…

Jojo: okay.

Sarah: …folk traditions. It has a structure underneath it of a hoop skirt which is, I— like, that's kind of what I would expect to be under there.

Jojo: yeah, exactly.

Sarah: yeah. And it's got fabric and then they used over 10,000 silk flowers. And the designer was like, “well, you know, in my in my dream world we would have used real flowers but it took us weeks and weeks to make so that wouldn’t have worked.”

Jojo: they would have died. [laughs]

Sarah: yeah. And apparently, based on the interview I read, it seems like the costume designer herself was working on this piece.

Jojo: Wow!

Sarah: Like, was there sewing on flowers and gluing the flowers with her team. Which I was excited to see;

Jojo: yeah!

Sarah: That’s kind of unusual.

Jojo: I feel like I do that so much, it's like… [laughs] it's like, nice to hear that other designers are doing that too.

Sarah: if it's a lower budget movie, you know, they're all on location in Hungary, they're getting it done. Like, if it needs to get done, I can make— it make sense that she'll get in there and help out, so…

Jojo: yeah, and contribute.

S; Yeah, I love that. So yeah it's it's very striking, it's very strange.

Jojo: [laughs] she looks so upset being in there, too.

Sarah: that’s Florence Pugh's signature face. She has a downturn in her mouth.

Jojo: she really does.

Sarah: it’s really distinctive. Yeah, she's basically watching everybody die during this scene so it's traumatic.

Jojo: Ahh, got it.

Sarah: yeah.

Jojo: and stuck in this cone of flowers!

Sarah: apparently in between takes they would put a little chair inside the cone so she could sit in it. [both laugh] Because apparently it was really heavy and hard to move around in, which…

Jojo: right.

Sarah: …makes sense. So yeah, that's the end, I have one more picture and it's just a rendering. And I don't think that Andrea Flesch did this, I think she had them done, but they are beautiful.

Jojo: yeah!

Sarah: just a nice little rendering to cleanse our palates. Do I have anything else from the articles I didn't mention? No, I pretty much said everything! Yay me.

Jojo: yay! I know, it’s— it's funny because it's exactly like what you said, I think looking at all these images, anyone else would be totally fooled that this is a horror movie. [laughs] Because you don't see any of that, like…

Sarah: yeah.

Jojo: you just get trapped, and then and then you find out it's a horror movie, and then it's too late.

Sarah: I will say, blood and gore is also very jarring against the background of these all-white costumes.

Jojo: yeah. Oh, yeah.

Sarah: …and landscape and stuff. It was— it's visually very striking.

Jojo: right.

Sarah: I'll just say that.

Jojo: right. Whew!

Sarah: so yeah, that's Midsommar. I'm not gonna say I'm traumatized, but— because I'm okay, I have not been having nightmares or anything. But it was it was quite an experience. To watch.

Jojo: that's good, that's good. I do feel like as I've gotten older, I mean— scary movies will still scare me. Which is why I still choose not to watch them. But I don't feel like I get nightmares as frequently as I used to when I was younger, because I— I don't know, maybe my overactive imagination was just more rampant when I was younger. [laughs] I don't know. But yes, I feel like there's a lot more scary movies that I'm able to kind of push myself through. And then at the end of it I'm kind of like, “okay great, now I know how to compartmentalize that and just put it away and try not to think about it while I'm sleeping.”

Sarah: I will say that this— I can handle the violence and the people doing bad things to each other. What keeps me up at night and will give me nightmares is ghosts or demons.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: Like, haunted stuff really freaks me out. I can handle like just like creepy humans but not ghosts.

Jojo: I think watching ghost movies is much worse for me, like you said. But I do feel like I've gotten to a point where seeing that much violence is also— it's starting to— it gets to me when I'm watching too much of it over and over and over again.

Sarah: yeah, I mean, I think we are all a little too used to violence in our media.

Jojo: yes. Yeah.

Sarah: so it is good to kind of take a step back and be like, “is it a good thing that I'm used to this and it doesn't bother me?” Like, probably not.

Jojo: Yeah. There's still definitely moments where, I mean, even action movies sometimes, I'm just like, “OH! I was not expecting that to happen.” So…

Sarah: right.

Jojo: yes, I know that feeling.

Sarah: yeah.

Jojo: well thank you, Sarah! I'm glad I didn't get any information about what the actual scary parts of that movie were. [both laugh] But still got to see some beautiful costumes!

Sarah: yes, yes! I was watching it being like, “how am I gonna…?” And I was like, “you know what? I don't need to describe the plot.” Like, that's not what people are listening to us for. They're not listening to us for a plot summary.

Jojo: [laughs] it's true, very true.

Sarah: If they need to know what it's about they can go read Wikipedia or just watch it, because we're here to talk about the clothes.

Jojo: so very true. Okay, so…

Sarah: all right, I'm so ready to see yours. I've seen costumes from this movie and they're beautiful. I've never seen the movie, but…

Jojo: it's funny, because I had been talking about this movie, because I had covered it in class. And it was something that like— I was using a previous Powerpoint that had already been made. So I was kind of just talking about the same thing. But then I was like, “oh yeah, I forgot about this movie!" And I really really love Guillermo del Toro. I haven't seen Shape of Water yet, which I still really have to see, and would love to see. But I absolutely loved Pan's Labyrinth, which is also directed by him, if you don't know. But you know, just really really stunning. And again, I consider this a horror movie, but I really do feel like he's very much a kind of gothic romance type of director.

Sarah: Mmhmm.

Jojo: Because there's always a sense of romanticized fantasy about his horror stories. So yes, I will I will talk about that shortly. But I decided to cover the movie Crimson Peak, which again is directed by Guillermo del Toro, who's done Pan's Labyrinth, The Shape of Water. He actually also did both of the Hellboys, which I totally forgot about.

Sarah: yeah.

Jojo: He did Pacific Rim, and then he actually got really into animated movies recently. And I don't know if you've ever seen the show Troll HunterSarah: Tales of Arcadia?

Sarah: no.

Jojo: it’s— I mean, every once in a while I’ll watch animated shows, and tv shows, and stuff. But this one was really really good, I would highly recommend watching that as well. The storytelling is just really really great and the animation is actually pretty good as well. And apparently he's down to do an animated stop-motion version of Pinocchio, which I'm very excited to see. Obviously it's going to be a much darker Pinocchio, because it's Guillermo del Toro, but I'm excited to see where it goes.

Sarah: I think that story is already dark, like…

Jojo: oh, yeah.

Sarah: …Pinocchio is not my favorite story. It's creepy and weird.

Jojo: It’s definitely creepy.

Sarah: so I think a creepy weird adaptation is appropriate. [laughs]

Jojo: yes. Yeah. So it'll be interesting to see his take on it. And then the costume designer for Crimson Peak was Kate Hawley, who actually did Suicide Squad.

Sarah: Oh!

Jojo: she also did Edge of Tomorrow, she worked with Guillermo on Pacific Rim, she also did The Call of the Wild, and then she also worked with Guillermo quite a bit on the Hobbit trilogy. And so she has a lot of experience just working with creatures, and also just very fantastical elements, and also huge casts. So this was actually really great for her. And then she also did the movie Lovely Bones, which I included on there because that is also a kind of true crime, horror, psychological thriller-type movie.

Sarah: yeah.

Jojo: But it's actually— it’s also a book written by someone who wrote about her experience at Syracuse University, where I went! So…

Sarah: oh!

Jojo: so there's some terrifying real life stories about Syracuse that she based on her first book. Sarah: Really?

Jojo: But anyways, I just thought that was really interesting, that she also did Lovely Bones. So, the setting for this movie, of course, is in two locations. Which, actually— while I was thinking about it, this is not in interviews or anything anywhere, but she sets it in Buffalo. Or sorry, Guillermo, who also wrote Crimson Peak, sets the story in Buffalo, New York, where they start. And then as well as Cumbria, England, where they eventually go. And it reminded me a lot of Dracula, actually. Because, you know, he does kind of— I mean, it's a little bit backwards because they start off in Transylvania and then he comes to America. But it's this idea that there's this haunted sort of otherworldly building or location that the two—antagonists, I guess you could call them—are from. And then they come to America, and our leading protagonist is from Buffalo, New York.

Sarah: cool.

Jojo: So it's set in the early 20th century, which is the 1900s and it's a very Edwardian silhouette, for those of you who are costume history buffs. Which I think is such a lovely silhouette.

Sarah: yes.

Jojo: And she really— Kate really, really did some beautiful work for this costume— or, for this movie, set in that time period. And obviously, she pushed some things in terms of color and fabrics, and just silhouette, and surface decoration, that is probably a little bit more exaggerated than that time period. But there's also some very, very traditional— like, you see them in all the fashion plates for the Edwardian era. And it's very, very clear that that's the setting we're in.

Sarah: I love Edwardian, and I feel like it— it doesn't get done enough? Like, I think Victorian is what everybody always thinks of as “oldey-timey.”

Jojo: yes! Yeah.

Sarah: But Edwardian deserves some attention too.

Jojo: yeah, and there there is some leftover 1890s silhouettes, and almost even bustle silhouettes? That kind of carry over into some of these characters, because this idea of this house being kind of left in its old history, and sort of stuck in a period, and never moving forward. That's a big part of where we land when we go to England. But I'll talk a little bit more about that. So just to kind of give you a breakdown of the story first of all, the idea is that Edith, who is played by Mia Wasikowska— I think that's how you say her name.

Sarah: sure! [both laugh]

Jojo: ...who plays Alice in the new Alice in Wonderland. But she is our leading lady, and she's from Buffalo, New York. She comes from a very wealthy family. Her father is— I want to say he kind of owns a lot of land, and he's head of this conference of men who basically help fund different projects. So of course, this very wealthy man Thomas Sharp ends up coming to Buffalo, New York to ask her father for funding for this big project that he's trying to take care of on his land in England. And he's basically trying to dig up clay from his land to create this big thing. And he's created this invention and he's made a little model of it to bring into this first meeting with her father. But of course in the meantime, as he's coming to Buffalo, New York, he meets Edith on her way to basically publish a book. So she's kind of the “Jane Austen of her time,” is what they call her, because she's sort of this bookworm. She's very intelligent, she's very smart, she's always kind of the bright light in the room. And she actually— again, we don't really go into backstory of a lot of the characters. So I can’t— it sounds very much like I'm kind of confused about who the characters are because there are a lot of characters.

Sarah: Mmhmm.

Jojo: so there's a lot of backstory here. But basically, she comes in, she's this very naive and very innocent character. So as our protagonist, she's always seeing the positive. And she starts off the story talking about how she believes that ghosts are real, and that she's basically seen them since she was little.

Sarah: Ohh.

Jojo: So she lost her mom to… I want to say it was the the black plague? Or, sorry, black cholera. So she lost her mom to an illness when she was very young. But her mom immediately came back as a ghost when she was probably middle school age. So the first scene is basically her in her bedroom, seeing her mother come into her bedroom as a ghost…

Sarah: that’s scary.

Jojo: …and telling her not to go to Crimson Peak. Or, “beware of Crimson Peak” is the first thing that she says.

Sarah: Ohh.

Jojo: And of course she completely forgets about all of that. Her mom never reappears to her again until she grows older.

Sarah: right.

Jojo: So that's kind of the premise of the story. The protag-- or sorry, the antagonists that come that come into this world are Thomas Sharp, who's again trying to build his invention. And he comes in with his sister Lucille Sharp, who is played by Jessica Chastain. And she is gorgeous in this movie.

Sarah: She’s beautiful.

Jojo: all of the costumes are gorgeous in this movie. But she really comes in, and she's very mysterious, and there's this very standoffish feeling that you get from Jessica Chastain. So I will go a little more quickly into our costumes. [both laugh] I’ve talked very much about the story. Let’s see, let me go ahead and open our first one. Okay, one big thing I did want to talk about is that the costume designer talks a lot about how she associated Edith and Lucille with different kinds of butterflies/moths. So Edith is kind of our butterfly, very colorful, very vibrant. A lot of her color palette is kind of golds, creams, and warmer colors, in contrast to the moth. Who is kind of a reflection. Jessica Chastain's character Lucille is kind of the colored moth, where everything is very dark, very muted, and much darker than you would see in a lot of Edith’s costumes. So let's move on, so this is actually the first scene that we ever see Edith in. And this is— it’s kind of like her nightgown…

Sarah: wow.

Jojo: …she’s in this quite a bit during the movie, because we see a lot of scenes where she wakes up at night. And she's always in this very— this looks a little bit more Victorian to me.

Sarah: yeah.

Jojo: and it's almost like a combination of a couple different periods. Because she's got kind of the Victorian sleeves, but she also has the frilliness of the 1890s. She's got the high collar, which is very turn of the century, but then they've also added almost like a ruff? Which is a little bit Elizabethan, almost.

Sarah: yeah. I was thinking that, yeah.

Jojo: and again, this is also— being the first image, I think this is the other reason why I thought so much of Dracula. Because, you know, there's the new Bram Stoker's Dracula with Eiko Ishioka's costumes, and it's very, very similar in silhouette and shape. This idea that it's kind of this transparent white nightgown.

Sarah: Classic.

Jojo: And again, this is a kind of jump forward to the very end of the movie. And then they don't explain how she got here, what happened, they just show her in this quick moment first. And then, of course, you repeat back to it at the very end.

Sarah: right.

Jojo: so, kind of a haunting image. And she's also surrounded by by snow, because in England it's snowing at this time. Another nightgown shot…

Sarah: Oh, wow.

Jojo: …but again, you can kind of see her body through it. And this is— I just, again, that naivety and that innocence of her. This image was actually I just wanted to show this because it's just so luxurious. Like, it feels like you can taste these fabrics. [both laugh]

Sarah: Mmhmm!

Jojo: Like, everything is just so luscious on this set. And this is when they're still back in Buffalo, and her friend who's the investigator, who… you're not sure if he's in love with her the whole time, but he never really says anything. And Guillermo never really touches on that whole relationship, but this is his mother. So she, of course, is talking about the Sharps coming to England. You know, this is her daughter next to her. And they're very high society ladies, and they're bragging about how they're gonna catch Thomas Sharp's eye, and how he's gonna marry the next wealthy heiress to his humongous mansion. So they're coming in with all of these beautiful fabrics, and just the… mix and shapes of all the sleeves that she put into these costumes is… oh, it's just so lovely.

Sarah: beautiful, so sumptuous.

Jojo: yes. And even the hats and all the decoration that goes into that. I mean, even the ladies in the back, who you see for two seconds. You can see how much luxury is on here.

Sarah: Mmhmm.

Jojo: Which is pretty incredible. And then in contrast, Edith is in this very, very turn of the century silhouette. This is pretty standard, it's in a lot of fashion plates, but I love again that she's put her in this butterscotch sort of yellow-golden color. And she kind of remains in that color quite a bit throughout the movie. She kind of goes back and forth between this and the cream-white kind of nightgown that she's in a lot. So I just wanted— I just thought this was pretty, there was nothing else I wanted to say about it. [laughs]

Sarah: it’s very pretty.

Jojo: so this scene, again, kind of going back with that butterfly idea. This is actually a scene pretty early on in the movie, where she's talking to her father. She hasn't really met Thomas Sharp yet, but she's just been talking about trying to bring her publishing notes to a publisher. And it's interesting, because I watched this movie after Little Women, but I'm pretty sure they made it before Little Women. But it's a very similar idea, of this woman trying to publish her book. And she's trying to write this kind of scary story. Like, she jokes about how she wants to be Mary Shelley, and of course the the publisher tells her that she needs to include some sort of romance in there in order for it to be published. So she has this whole big—

Sarah: that is very Little Women.

Jojo: it is! And so it was just funny that she kind of had the very similar conversation.

Sarah: I mean, Little Women the book is very old. So you know, maybe they took a little bit of inspiration from it.

Jojo: it is, it is. Yeah, very much so. And I i think that also speaks a lot to her character, that she is this kind of naive— you know, she wants— she has such ideas about, you know, being this great author in this society where that's still not really quite accepted yet. Even though we are a little further along than Little Women.

Sarah: Mmhmm.

Jojo: But I think that was part of her character too, is that she keeps experiencing all these things that she doesn't really understand. She's always very innocent, and even in the way that her clothing is very, very transparent. I think that was something that the costume designer really talked a lot about wanting to emphasize, in contrast to Jessica Chastain's Lucille character that we'll talk about later. So this was just another close-up of how beautiful it is, and just look at that beautiful lace.

Sarah: I love that.

Jojo: one of the other things that Kate Hawley also talked about was wanting to really stick as closely as she could to the traditional kind of mourning practices of that time. So this idea, during during the 1900s, this idea of having human hair. Especially hair from a lost one, or someone who died, made into some sort of a jewelry item or accessory item that you could wear. And that way, you could always keep that person with you. So she actually made this belt out of human hair.

Sarah: what!

Jojo: and then they actually— I believe she said she also had someone make… they made a mold out of ivory, of these hands that she she found. Which are very from that period.

Sarah: So the belt itself is all hair? Or it just has hair in it, or…?

Jojo: yeah. It's all hair.

Sarah: Wooooow!

Jojo: like so, the braided part on the side. I wish I had… I had a image, and then I decided not to pull it. But it's it's a close-up image of the the belt. Maybe I’ll include it on YouTube.

Sarah: yeah, we have to edit ourselves down, unfortunately. [both laugh]

Jojo: I know! And I was like, “well, this is enough.”

Sarah: I take your word for it. It looks great.

Jojo: but yes, so all the the braiding on the side is all from human hair. Which I was like, “terrifying!” But, you know, for this time period, is very normal.

Sarah: I mean, yeah. Super normal. Kind of a weird idea for us, but like it was so… it was so normal back then.

Jojo: yes, absolutely. And then just again, having these little kind of delicate lace patterns and embroidery on there, that I think was very reminiscent of the butterflies that she keeps bringing back as a theme, in the differentiation between the two.

Sarah: Mmhmm.

Jojo: there's actually a whole scene where they're in a picnic in the park, and they're just picking up these dead yellow swallowtail butterflies. Which I was like, “oh that's so sad!”

Sarah: Aww!

Jojo: yes, terrifying. But yes, you see a lot of that in Edith's costume.

Sarah: oh I've seen this! Yes.

Jojo: yes, so this is prior to her going to the first ball. And she's been invited by Thomas Sharp, he's come quite late to pick her up out of his way to pick her up. And her father and her friend who's the investigator have already left. So she's in this robe getting ready to go to sleep, she’s not planning on going out at all. And this is what she's wearing before Thomas comes to her house. But even the fact that she's got this sumptuous robe, and it's got these beautiful flowers. Which— they talked at length about how everything was hand done and all the flowers were hand sewn. Which again is just an amazing feat.

Sarah: so much work.

Jojo: so that's all I had to say about that.

Sarah: gorge. Love it.

Jojo: so pretty. I wanted to pop this quick photo in there, because it just goes to show how wealthy everyone else in in this town was. Like again, this is the mother of her investigator friend who's trying to sell her daughter off to Thomas Sharp. And she's the one kind of running the party, and she's trying to get everyone to dance, but she's introducing Thomas Sharp, to say that he's gonna introduce how to do the dance— or, do the waltz, for everyone. He's gonna do a demonstration. And so she, of course, is expecting that he's gonna ask her daughter to dance with him. And he's walked in with Edith already, so everyone knows he's going to ask Edith. Except for this woman, apparently. But I wanted to just in indicate— you know, again, these giant sleeves, this really thin fabric. I think everything about this world, the costume designer really, really took the time to give everyone this sense of fragility. And almost this lacy see-through everything, but also mixing that with these luxurious fabrics, either satin or velvet. Also very of this time period. And really to show off that wealthiness of Edith and this woman.

Sarah: beautiful.

Jojo: so these are a couple images… I'm not going to talk too much about this, because we're going to go into this later, but just some images actually from— I believe this is from the FIDM exhibit.

Sarah: it is. You can tell, the mannequins always have that paper hair. [both laugh]

Jojo: yeah, I was gonna say, also the the text of the Crimson Peak in the back. But yeah, so just a couple of the of the costumes from the exhibit that I wanted to talk about, and we'll go in more detail about those later. So going back to the red dress. Guillermo talked a lot about wanting Jessica Chastain's first appearance in the ballroom, and first appearance on the screen, to be kind of like this “drop of blood”…

Sarah: Ooh.

Jojo: …in this presence of, you know, all these different dancers. So of course, this is her first dress. Just again, the sheer amount of work that went into building this dress. It's so beautiful. And it kind of looks a little bit more bustle period, because again, she's sort of frozen in the past?

Sarah: Mmhmm.

Jojo: but this is also the first kind of intimidating experience that you see, when we first meet Jessica, whose name is Lucille in the movie.

Sarah: I would be very intimidated.

Jojo: and she's a very accomplished piano player, very talented, she kind of runs ship at her house with her brother. And she's very, very close to her brother, so there's this very weird but also very tight-knit relationship between the two of them, and you're never really sure why. It's just creepy throughout the whole movie. And that's part of the unsettling idea, is that you don't really know if she's on your side or not on your side, and you never really know if she's for Edith or against Edith. Actually, most of the time you're pretty sure she's against Edith.

Sarah: [laughs]

Jojo: but she's the one who wants Edith and her brother to get married. Yeah, so there's a lot of sidebar conversations at the very beginning that kind of hint at what's gonna happen, but you're still kind of left with a lot of questions. Of like, who is this woman really? And what is her relationship to the brother? This is just a little more close-up of just the detail that goes into her dress. And again, it's I think it's velvet. it looks like it's like a velveteen, almost. And then they actually hand made all of it. Like, she has the same kind of pattern of leaves, kind of decaying and dying leaves, on most of her dresses, if not all of them. But just in different colors. So on this one, it's all the red, and then she has a blue dress later on. And it's a brown—like, really looking like it's rotted—trailing down her dress.

Sarah: interesting.

Jojo: So again, all hand done, all hand sewn, just really, really lovely. So I wanted to also go through another dress of hers, this is actually when they're in the park. And this is kind of the first time we see the Sharp siblings. And whenever they're in Buffalo they're pretty much always in this black, very somber colors. And then when they go to their house, it's funny because they get more color. But it's supposed to look a little bit more like their house, which is kind of decaying, so they're in blues when they go into their house.

Sarah: Mmhmm.

Jojo: Which we'll talk a little bit about later. But this is a very, very bustle silhouette. But you can still see some of that same kind of decaying leaf pattern that is also on this outfit, and just sort of artfully placed in a very different way than in her red dress or her blue dress. So then, of course, Thomas ends up asking Edith to marry him, at the dismissal of her father. Her father really doesn't like him, doesn't have a good feeling about him, basically is totally against the idea. And then her father gets his head bashed in, and gets murdered.

Sarah: Oh no!

Jojo: So, of course there's no one to say that— you know, we don't know who's murdered him. But he gets murdered pretty much the day that Thomas is asked to leave town, and basically breaks Edith's heart. And so Thomas waits behind anyways, and says, “I want to marry you, come live with me.” And she says yes. So this interesting first entrance— he kind of goes back to the blue of his house, which you can see here. It's distressed in such a way that it's meant to look decayed.

Sarah: Yeah.

Jojo: And then in the meantime, she's kind of dressed, again, as this beautiful butterfly. All of these flowers were hand done and hand tacked onto this beautiful coat. And muff that she's got, matching muff. [laughs] But even the hat, and the detail, and the sumptuous velvet that you see all over her. She's in a much lighter color again, to kind of reflect this idea of her being the beacon of hope in the midst of this very sad mansion that he's been trapped in for a long time with his sister.

Sarah: Yeah.

Jojo: So I thought that was a really nice contrast that the designer did. Just some more pictures of the back, you can see it's all hand done in the back as well.

Sarah: Wow, look at that.

Jojo: so beautiful! But yes, very deep care was taken to every part of this costume.

Sarah: Mmhmm.

Jojo: …and all of her costumes. This was sort of a quick— like, I'm not going to talk too much about him, because he actually is hired by her father to investigate the Sharps. The friend right next door is the one that I was talking about, the scientist who's also the investigator. But one thing I wanted to just mention about this costume was that I love this kind of green plaid that he's in. He almost looks a little bit like a leprechaun? [both laugh] But it's actually a three-piece suit that matches. And I love that he's also next to a green chair. So again, Guillermo plays around with a lot of this color matching, and sort of tone-on-tone-on-tone. Or same tone-on-tone-on-tone. So I love this this image of him, and the fact that he's got these crazy side burns that are also very period. Which, again, just small details for costume historians. But I just— again, he's not a major character, I just really liked his outfit. One thing that is very creepy about this mansion is that all of the clay, and the land that the house is built on, is all a red clay. So everything comes out red, and it's this really vibrant, almost bad horror movie blood red. So everything that you see in the house is sort of covered in red, or in some sort— or you see stains of bleeding red. So the house just constantly looks like it's kind of bleeding.

Sarah: wow, creepy.

Jojo: Which is very, very creepy. [laughs] And all the costumes—I think that was another thing, too—because there is, I mean, it is a very gory movie. So there's a lot of— they had to make multiples of all of these things. Which is the other humongous feat. Okay, so I'm gonna skip to… well, not skip to, but this is just some more of Lucille's costumes.

Sarah: wow, look at that.

Jojo: this is her costume when she's in the house, so remember, we see her in that red first, and then we see her in black when she's in Buffalo. But once she returns back to her house, her brother and her both return to this really deep blue velvet. And this is pretty much the dress she stays in for the rest of the movie. One of the things they talked a little bit about was that they wanted this idea of the decay, and the molding, and everything dying, to sort of carry over into the costumes. And they joked about her train being, like— getting longer and longer each time. Almost as if it was… I think they said it was like “the umbilical cord tying her to the house.”

Sarah: Oh, wow.

Jojo: Because she is very, very attached to this house. There's this whole idea of— Thomas tries to go away at some point, because Edith tries to convince him to leave. Because something in the house is clearly trying to hold him back. And she just refuses, and she obviously gets very angry that he's even considering leaving the house, because there's something mentally wrong with her. So you see that reflected in her dress. So not just the long tail, but also just the bustle idea. Again, this very dated look for this time period. Even the fraying and the kind of dying leaves that you see repeated, it goes— not just the front, but it also goes into the back. And again, all hand done. So…

Sarah: wow, SO much work.

Jojo: I think the next—

Sarah: Oh my gosh.

Jojo: yeah, these are some close-ups of all of that kind of dead, decaying… like, it almost looks like she's got even bullet… it's like those bullet casings? I mean, it's not, but it's this idea that she's got these dead… everything. Kind of growing on vines on her. Which the costume designer talked about a lot.

Sarah: It’s SO pretty. Oh, wow.

Jojo: yeah. Okay! Then… reflecting back to the swallow tail color of Edith, this is just kind of in contrast with the darkness of Lucille. And I wanted to just focus on how beautiful this looks. I think this is also from a 1900s portrait, I believe.

Sarah: Oooh.

Jojo: There’s actually a dress that exists like this. It's funny that it kind of reminded me a little bit of Mirror Mirror too, with the bow in the back.

Sarah: oh yeah, yeah.

Jojo: but there's a close-up of the flowers that they also hand tacked on there.

Sarah: [gasps] wow!

Jojo: it's so crazy!

Sarah: so much work!

Jojo: but yes, just so much stuff. So much everything. A lot of embroidery.

Sarah: beautiful.

Jojo: So this, I just wanted to focus on this, because this is the last scene that we see Lucille's character in. And I don't know if you care about the spoiler, but…

Sarah: no. [laughs]

Jojo: I guess this is not a spoiler-free podcast, we’ve mentioned…

Sarah: it's not! We say it at the top.

Jojo: but you find out that Lucille is clearly sleeping with her brother.

Sarah: I … thought so.

Jojo: So there's like this whole incestual relationship between the two of them, and so she's been controlling him, and causing him to kill all of these other women in order for them to gain money. To uphold the house.

Sarah: Interesting.

Jojo: so the whole time, he’s basically been going around and marrying women, and then killing them after he's gotten their money.

Sarah: wow.

Jojo: which was going to be the case with Edith, but he actually ends up falling in love with Edith because of her innocence. And when he finally gets the courage to try to up and leave, she ends up killing her brother. So this is the last look that she's in when she's doing all of that. And it’s— I mean, not only do you find her in her brother's arms, that's when Edith catches them. But she remains in this for the remainder of the movie, when she's basically trying to… not just kill her brother, but also kill Edith, as she's trying to chase Edith out the house. And it just kind of goes to show, this sort of— now that she's opened up and she's free, and this is, you know— everything's out in the open. She runs around in this, and this is also a very sheer garment. So it almost is like— it kind of reflects what Edith is wearing in a lot of her nightgown scenes, but in a much more regal way, as opposed to Edith's very done-up and conservative nightgown.

Sarah: Mmhmm.

Jojo: So just a couple more pictures of it, you can see how sheer it is on the dress form.

Sarah: So beautiful. So delicate, the fabric.

Jojo: yeah, so crazy. And then all the delicate lace at the top as well, and then this was just another image of the little… sleevelet.

Sarah: those sleeves are gigantic!

Jojo: yeah, they are. [laughs] It's SO much.

Sarah: so much fabric.

Jojo: it's so full, but also because it's so light and so sheer, you kind of really see how free she really is. But also kind of the most terrifying moment, because this is when she’s— when she's in the final stages of her gore, blood bath. Yep, that was it!

Sarah: awesome!

Jojo: that was the last one.

Sarah: I bet that that was a fun garment to wear, it looked really flowy.

Jojo: especially in contrast to all the other stuff, because I think the other ones, she actually had all the extra layers.

Sarah: corsets.

Jojo: they showed an image of an old corset that she had to wear, but it didn't make it into the movie. But it was a very old S-bend corset…

Sarah: Oh, gosh.

Jojo: …so it was really really restricting, and I think that was sort of to help her get into the character. Of feeling like she's trapped in this house and that she has to be a certain way.

Sarah: for those who don't know, an S-curve corset is the hardest corset to wear, because the ideal silhouette of the time was a full bosom and like— your pelvis tilted back, so that your hips were full and your bum was full in the back. So it puts your spine in this really horrible position where you're always tilted forward.

Jojo: Yeah.

Sarah: So if you're ever going to wear a corset, don't pick an S-curve one. [both laugh]

Jojo: don't do it.

Sarah: don't do it to yourself.

Jojo: one really quick quote I wanted to leave off with that was by— I believe it was by Kate. It said, “Edith reflects the Buffalo sunshine, whereas Lucille's heavy dark gown absorbs it. She looks like she's in mourning with the red rose detail as the only blast of color, and it mirrors the family heirloom…” which is the wedding ring that Edith gets from Thomas. And ends up going to all of the people that he kills. “…While also matching the crimson of her ancestral estate, and it takes its place over her heart that belongs to her brother. Whereas Edith wears a cornucopia of floral adornments on her hat and blouse to reflect new life.” So I think that was definitely carried throughout the movie. I think she did a really good job very— very kind of symbolic in all of the costumes. And I think I didn't focus so much on the men because there was just so much to look at for the women…

Sarah: [laughs] yeah.

Jojo: …but I did love that Thomas at least reflected his sister in terms of color palette.

Sarah: it's funny because I hear about that symbolism and I'm like, “Oh, that sounds a little bit heavy-handed.” But I think that that's only because I'm thinking about it, you know?

Jojo: Right.

Sarah: Like, if you're watching the movie, it's something that you might subconsciously recognize, but only if you're analyzing it do you think about how literal it is. So that means that it's not heavy-handed.

Jojo: yeah, right, right. Exactly. And you do focus a lot more on how beautiful these costumes are, because she focuses on luxurious textures, which I think is done very successfully.

Sarah: cool, I want to watch it now!

Jojo: so yeah… I know, it’s— like I said, this one is probably not as scary as Midsommar. [both laugh] I think because I kind of was like, “Oh okay, something is off about this relationship,” and then by the end you're like, “Okay, I kind of saw that coming.” There's a few jump scares, but there's not too many. I think I had my volume low enough that it also didn't make it as scary. [laughs]

Sarah: I've seen the trailer, I remember the trailer came out and being like, “So the brother and sister are definitely together, right?” Like, it's pretty clear. [both laugh]

Jojo: yeah exactly I was just like, “Uhhhh… something is off!”

Sarah: “…And I think I know what it is!” [laughs]

Jojo: yeah!

Sarah: well, cool.

Jojo: I will say, I think one thing that did bother me was the fact that I think Mia Wasikowska's character still looks so young… that it does feel a little bit like he's marrying a child bride.

Sarah: gross.

Jojo: Like, I think that is— I mean, it's emphasized with her costumes too. But it definitely gives you kind of like a creepy, “he's a little too old for you” vibe. Like, I mean, even though he's probably not that much older…

Sarah: yeah, and not uncommon, especially back in the day.

Jojo: true, true.

Sarah: but maybe not…. super comfortable to think about that hard. [both laugh]

Jojo: yes, very true. So yes, that's our horror episode!

Sarah: we made it!

Jojo: we made it. [both laugh] I know!

Sarah: it might be a while before we do another horror episode.

Jojo: yeah very true. [both laugh] Keep those suggestions, maybe on the limit.

Sarah: yeah, keep in mind that we're scaredy cats.

Jojo: yes.

Sarah: we haven't actually— I don't know that we've gotten any horror requests yet, so… good.

Jojo: that’s true.

Sarah: continue… not doing that, thanks.

Jojo: we haven't hit the horror niche yet.

Sarah: yeah. I mean, I think that, like… horror costume drama is a whole other, you know… genre. Because it's not like we're gonna—

Jojo: very true.

Sarah: I mean, I personally am not gonna just be like, “Oh yeah, I'm gonna cover Friday the 13th,” you know?

Jojo: [laughs] right.

Sarah: Like, it's not something that— Crimson Peak I think of as a costume drama.

Jojo: yeah.

Sarah: …AND a gothic horror movie.

Jojo: yes, very much so. Cool, well thank you, Sarah!

Sarah: great job. Thank you, Jojo. [both laugh] Okay, well…

Jojo: thanks, listeners!

Sarah: thank you! Don't forget to check out Breaking the Fourth Wall, the podcast that we're on. Once again, it'll be linked in the description. and thank you so much for listening

Jojo: see you on the next one!

Sarah: See ya, bye bye!

Jojo: bye!

[OUTRO]

Jojo: thank you for listening to The Costume Plot! You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @thecostumeplot. If you have a question, comment, or movie suggestion you can email us at thecostumeplot@gmail.com.

Sarah: our theme music is by Jesse Timm, and our artwork is by Jojo Siu. Please rate and review us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

[tristealven]

All The Way Home I’ll Be Warm

Written for the Skam Secret Santa exchange, this is my love letter to Eva Kviig Mohn and my gift for Jemma @holocene-days. Hopefully your Christmas was lovely :)) I want to wish you the Happiest New Year & a safe flight if you see this before you leave. Welcome to Europe!!! I really hope you’ll enjoy your gift, bby!!

xoxo, your Secret Santa a.k.a. Elina

AU where Even never transferred to Nissen. Pairings: Eva/Jonas and Isak/Even. Vilde/Magnus and some others mentioned. Title is from Let It Snow – much love to Kit @towonderland72 for suggesting it, giving invaluable advice & betaing this <3

Also on AO3. 

***

Originally it had been Vilde’s idea to volunteer at the youth centre in Løkka. She’d been thinking a lot, she said, about that letter Sana wrote them, especially about the social worker who had claimed that Sana had anger issues. It could be good for young kids to experience a more positive presence in their lives. To meet adults that are supportive. Not that they felt like adults, Eva thought, although almost all of them had turned eighteen already.

Sana had decided to take summer courses this year. Unlike the others, she had actual plans for her future and she was serious about getting to study medicine after high school. Noora had gone back to Madrid after her relationship with William had crashed and burned. (Again). But Vilde, Chris, and Eva went to the centre a few times a week. They helped younger kids with their summer reading and organized board game tournaments or baked cupcakes and cinnamon rolls. It was kind of like Kosegruppa, but with people who actually appreciated Vilde’s efforts and didn’t roll their eyes constantly.

Chris stopped coming after a while. She had started hanging out with Mutta a lot, which was good; It seemed that she was finally completely over her disastrous break-up with Kasper. And by the end of summer even Vilde seemed to have less and less time to come to the centre. She had to help her mom with something, apparently.

Eva shrugged it off and continued to go by herself. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do. Her mom was gone most of the time, her dad was busy with his new family in Bergen, like always, and Jonas had FIFA nights with Isak and Magnus and Mahdi pretty much every other night. While Eva used to get along with Isak, the other two boys always managed to make her feel like an outsider. She was sure that they didn’t mean to hurt her, because they seemed like good guys and Magnus made Vilde happier than Eva had ever seen her. But the way they sometimes talked about girls made her skin crawl nonetheless.  

Sometimes Eva wondered if Jonas was like that, too, when she wasn’t around. He was kind of an asshole back when they first dated a few years ago, that she could admit, but she liked to think he had grown up since then. They both had. Things had been going very well between them, lately. They finally talked everything out after Sana’s Eid-party, stayed up the whole night whispering apologies.

A few days later they were officially officially back together.

***

Wednesdays were Eva’s favourite nights at the youth centre. From five to seven they offered group activities for children under 13 and after seven dance classes for anyone interested. When the resident dance instructor, Guro, had injured her ankle during a competition, Eva let it slip that she had taken ballet and street classes all through elementary and middle school. All of a sudden she had a paid gig as a substitute dance teacher. And it turned out that she had really missed it.

She had dropped the classes back when the workload had gotten too much in high school and her mom had suggested that she should focus more on her studies. But now that she was dancing again, she found herself wishing she had never listened to her mom in the first place. She had never been good at academics, and there was a time when she had thought that she wasn’t particularly good at friendships or relationships, either. A time when making out with Vilde and pretending it didn’t mean anything, a time when sleeping with the biggest fuckboy of the century had felt like a better option than letting herself be emotionally vulnerable ever again.

Now Eva was slowly realising that she could be a good friend, and she could be a good girlfriend. She could be a good girlfriend to any boy or any girl of her choosing, now that she had admitted that what she felt for Vilde last year wasn’t just friendly, and it wouldn’t probably be the last time she felt something like that for another girl.

It had been scary to think of at first, and even scarier to talk about with Jonas once they got back together. But Jonas had just smiled and petted her hair. And then they had made nachos together and watched some Netflix. God, she loved him. Had never stopped, really.

So, Eva knew she might not be that good at school, her grades would probably never be above average, but she was starting to believe she was a good person. And she was a good dancer. Nothing could give her more joy than that feeling of her body taking over, her mind completely empty apart from the beat of the music, the beat of her big, big heart that had been through so much.

Teaching dance classes gave her a chance to spread that joy and see it in others. When a kid finally got a dance move right after god knows how many tries, she felt like jumping up and down. And if someone couldn’t get it right at all, she told them that they were probably good at something else. Everyone is good at something, she said, and wished that someone had told her that two years ago when she had been at her lowest point.

She would never have guessed it, but kids actually loved her. Granted, they didn’t love her as much as they loved Even – the new volunteer leader of the children’s group that met right before Eva’s dance classes. But then again, everyone seemed to love Even, children and adults alike. He was a university student who had started at the youth centre in October, around the same time Eva had found out that Guro’s injury was much worse than originally thought and that she had stay on the sidelines until Christmas, at the very least.

Even had started with a bang – during his first night he didn’t bring out board games or cupcake pans. Instead he asked how many of the kids had their own smartphones and made them write their own short film scripts. He showed the best free video editing apps and said that they could make their own Youtube channel as long as everyone got a permission from their parents. Eva was early at the centre that night, nibbling her banana and trying to do her homework while she waited for the dance classes to begin. Soon she was too enthralled to do anything but watch Even work with the kids. She had never seen them more excited.

Every week Even lingered at the centre after the most of his group had long gone to their respective homes. He helped Eva move the furniture around and make room for the dance class. When the class started, he sat quietly in the corner with a notebook and seemed to sketch something.

At first Eva was worried that Even was into her. She didn’t know how to casually bring up that she had a boyfriend, so after a few weeks she asked Jonas if he was interested to see what she did at the centre.

Jonas was kind of excited to come; he had started rambling about how it was important for kids from different social backgrounds to have a chance to do something they enjoy. He realised that could interview Namra, leader of the centre, for his social studies essay. Jonas’ excitement made Eva feel warm all the way to her toes. Deep down, she still remembered that time Jonas accused her of not having interests and opinions of her own. Now Jonas actually wanted to be part of something that was important to her.    

So, Jonas came and went, but Even didn’t seem particularly upset to find out that Eva was taken. He continued to help with the furniture, he continued to tell stories about his first year at the university and continued to sketch during Eva’s classes. It was safe to assume, Eva concluded, that Even wanted to be her friend.

Eva had never really been good at being friends with guys, truth be told. Actually, the only guy she had been friends with that she hadn’t ended up sleeping with at some point was Isak. And not for the lack of trying from her part, because she had definitely tried to hit on Isak at that stupid Penetrator fundraiser. And she may have blacked out after that, but Noora had told her enough about it to make her face burn with shame every time she thought about it. It had just turned out that Isak was very, very gay and decidedly not interested.

But, yeah, Eva could be friends with Even. She could.

***

The Wednesday before Christmas it had been snowing the whole day, and the weather only kept getting exponentially worse. Even had planned to make alcohol-free gløgg and gingerbread cookies with the kids. They were going to upload their films on Youtube today, so that everyone could show them to their families during the Christmas break.

In the end only two kids showed up and Namra decided it was best to cancel everything for the night. She sent a group text to everyone who was supposed to come to the dance classes later that evening and promised to take the kids who had braved the weather back to their homes. After she had asked at least five times if Eva and Even would get home okay, she wished them a merry Christmas and reminded them to lock the doors when they left.

“Trams aren’t running,” Even said, staring at his phone with a deep crease on his forehead. He had just put the gingerbread dough back in the fridge and was in the process of putting all his layers of clothing back on. Eva took her phone out and pulled the RuterReise app, but it said exactly the same thing. Not a single tram was running and half the buses were cancelled as well.   

“Did you have plans for tonight? I’m sure we could wait here until the worst of it is over,” Eva asked after she had mentally gone through all the options she had. She could probably go to the kollektiv even though Noora didn’t live there anymore. It was only a few blocks away.

Eskild would welcome her with open arms. Linn would barely notice they had a visitor. And Isak would be okay with Eva showing up unannounced, too. They had mostly patched up their friendship, although they didn’t hang out as much as they used to. They both had friends other than Jonas and each other now.  

At first when they got back together, Eva had been hesitant to talk to Jonas about Isak’s involvement in everything that had happened during their first year at Nissen, but it turned out that Jonas had guessed the most of it already. Isak had come out to the boys around Christmas last year, and while he had never outright told what he did, he had hinted at it. Jonas was a smart guy. It didn’t take a lot for him to figure it out.

They hadn’t really talked about it, all three of them, but at least Jonas had agreed that Isak wasn’t the only one who fucked up back then. They all did, and there was no point in blaming anyone after all this time. Eva had a feeling that Jonas had forgiven Isak way before he even knew everything. Just like Eva herself had forgiven him before she found out it wasn’t her Isak had feelings for. Probably before he apologized to her at that cold park bench, even.              

So, yeah. While Eva could definitely go to the kollektiv, it would be rude to leave Even here all by himself.

“Hmmm?” Even asked just then, still scrolling through his phone.

“I said we could probably wait here until the worst is over,” Eva repeated.

“Yeah, I guess.” Even took the beanie and scarf off again.

“Okay, I’ll text Jonas first. Then we can entertain each other.”

Eva (16:54) Where r u? Namra cancelled the class but I can’t make it home. Trams aren’t running

Jonas (16:56) Got some christmas money from abuelo 😎  Isak and I are going to get pizza @villa paradiso

Jonas (16:56) You want pizza btw? We could come to the centre. Its closer than the kollektiv

Eva (16:57) Ofc 😋  can you get me that veggie one, primavera I think? It was so good that time mom took us there

Jonas (16:57) Yupppp

“Jonas is coming here,” Eva informed Even, “with pizza.”

“Nice, do you think he could bring one for me?”

“Sure, I’ll ask. They’re at Villa Paradiso.”

“Wow,” Even said, raising his eyebrows. “I’m impressed. Is your boyfriend loaded or something?”

“Nah, but he got some christmas money.”

After googling the menu Even made his decision. “La Risacca sounds good. If it’s okay? I’ll pay for it.”

Eva (16:59) Hang on, even says he wants la risacca. Can you bring tht one too?

Eva (16:59) he’s stuck here with me 🤷‍♀️

Eva (17:00) Ill give him your number so he can send money.

Jonas (17:01) Yeah, okay. Do u want a cola or sth?

Eva (17:01) yes pls!!!

Even suggested that they bake gingerbread cookies while they waited. After all, they had perfectly good cookie dough just sitting in the fridge, and it would be nice have some snacks if they had to stay at the centre for a long time. Even rolled the dough while Eva rummaged around in the drawers and cupboards for cookie cutters. Soon enough they had a nice rhythm going on, cutting cookies and placing them on a sheet in a companionable silence.  

Just as the first batch went to the oven, Eva’s phone pinged with a new message.                  

Jonas (17:31) Ok, got the pizza now. Will be there in 10 mins tops 💛

Eva (17:31) 👍🏻                                

“They will be here soon,” Eva told Even, but he seemed to be completely focused on cutting the next batch of cookies and humming to himself. She doubted that he had actually registered what she said, but guessed that it didn’t matter.

Eva felt suddenly relieved that the night had turned out the way it did. The last couple of weeks had been filled with ridiculous amounts of exam prep and anxiety. She had barely seen Jonas since the party Mahdi had at his place the week before, and hanging out and eating pizza sounded pretty much perfect right now.  

As much as Jonas and Isak had made fun of Eva’s bus plans during the first year, the boys actually had a russebus of their own, now. It was Magnus who suddenly decided he didn’t want to miss that experience and didn’t want to do it without ‘his best bros’. And it seemed no one could say no to Magnus. Not even Jonas. So in the end they had joined Julian Dahl and some other guys who had a bus already.

Never in a million years would Eva have thought that Jonas would do the russ thing. And now he was the one with an actual bus, while Eva and the girls were happy with their loser van.

The boys’ bus was called Vivà la drità. Jonas had tried to point out that viva didn’t usually have an accent on top of a, but no one listened. So Vivà la drità it was, and last friday the boys had had the sickest party of the year at Mahdi’s – also according to Magnus. Not that Eva would know. She and Jonas had ducked out pretty early and spent hours at McDonalds, feeding each other french fries and giggling at things that would probably have been a lot less funny had they been more sober.

The next day Jonas had read from the boys’ group chat that Mahdi’s house got completely trashed. Eva guessed Mahdi’s parents weren’t going to buy his good Catholic school boy act anymore.

Aaaand, Isak had apparently hooked up with a cute first year, a sassy little thing. Russ guys hooking up with first years was such a cliché, like Vilde had been quick to point out, and the guy, Sander, didn’t actually seem like Isak’s type at all, but who was Eva to judge? She had slept with guys way worse.

Chris Schistad, for example.

Since Isak had been avoiding Sander steadfastly ever since the weekend, Eva guessed that it had been more a drunken mistake than anything else, but people liked to talk. Just the other day she had heard a group of first year girls discussing excitedly how to get Isak and Sander together. At least they had looked ashamed when they realised that Eva and Vilde were in the same bathroom.

***

Jonas and Isak arrived covered in snow, with four pizza boxes, two big bottles of coke, and a six-pack of Ringnes.

“What the fuck? You can’t drink beer here, this place is for kids,” Eva snapped immediately. Isak didn’t bother with an answer, just rolled his eyes and began getting rid of the clothes that were dripping on the floor already.   

“I didn’t think there would be any kids here,” Jonas pointed out, looking only mildly apologetic.

“There isn’t, but you could be a little more respectful. I work here and I want to actually continue working here.”

“I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal.” Isak’s words were muffled by the sweater that was currently stuck over his head.

As soon as he managed to free himself, though, his eyes locked with Even’s and he seemed to stop in his tracks. Eyes wide, he stared at Even two, three, maybe five seconds too long. It wasn’t until Jonas nudged him gently that he seemed to realise what he was doing and turned quickly away, cheeks suspiciously pink.     

Even, for his part, looked like a deer caught in headlights. He coughed uncomfortably.

“Eva?” he asked. “Could we talk a little?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Jonas gave a questioning look as Eva and Even retreated to the other end of the big common area, stumbling over the beanbags and going round all the mismatched sofas. Eva just shrugged back. She had no idea what Even’s problem was.

“You didn’t tell me that Jonas was going to bring a friend,” Even mumbled, his voice oddly hoarse.

“I thought I did?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Why does it even matter? Isak is a great guy.”

Even looked down. His cheeks were tinted a little pink, too. That could easily be from baking and standing next to the hot oven for the past thirty minutes or so, but.

“Oh my god, Even!” Eva raised her eyebrows, amused.

“Shut up!” Even hissed, still not looking at Eva. Eva couldn’t help but laugh. Never before had she seen Even act so shy.  

“He’s gay, by the way. And single,” Eva said grinning widely and turned around, leaving the flabbergasted Even behind.

Eva knew it wasn’t exactly her place to tell, had learned her lesson after that time she and Noora blabbered about their suspicions to Eskild. Once Isak had actually come out, Eskild had made them promise that they would never ever tell Isak they’d known, and that they would never again treat someone’s sexuality like a piece of gossip. But somehow Eva had a hunch that Isak wouldn’t mind her meddling this time. At least she hoped he wouldn’t.   

“C’mon Even, we don’t want the cookies to burn. Or the pizza to get cold.”

As soon as Eva and Even came back, Isak and Jonas stopped talking, almost mid-sentence. Jonas beamed at Eva and took her hand, intertwining their fingers, but Isak was tearing the label of his beer bottle, not looking at anyone.

“Ooo-kay,” Eva decided to break the silence before it had a chance to get too uncomfortable. “I don’t think you and Even have met?”

Isak looked up and swallowed, with an unreadable look on his face. Even regarded him quietly and raised his brows. Eva wasn’t sure, but it felt almost like they were having a silent discussion.  

“Isak, this is Even,” she continued the introductions, regardless, motioning with her free hand. Isak gave a tiny nod, averting his eyes almost immediately. “And Even, this is Isak. Isak is a shithead I’ve known for years. Even studies media at the UiO and volunteers here.”

“I’ve definitely seen you before, Isak,” Even said, smiling a little now. He seemed to have gotten over his initial surprise, or whatever that was, pretty quickly. “You know, at the Kaffebrenneriet that’s on Markveien? I work there on weekends.”

Isak’s head snapped up again and he assessed Even for a moment before shrugging and mumbling something about it being Eskild’s favourite coffee place.

Even looked thoughtful. “Is Eskild the redhead who keeps hitting on me?”

“That sounds like him,” Eva laughed.

“Eskild hits pretty much on everything that moves, don’t take it too personally,” Jonas said, with a casual glance at Isak. “You want a beer, Even?”

Even shook his head. “I think I’ll just drink coke, but thanks.”

An hour and almost three and half pizzas later they were ridiculously full and the centre smelled like gingerbread cookies no one felt like eating.

“Oh shit, I’m never going to eat anything ever again,” Isak groaned, yawning, and blushed promptly when he noticed that Even was looking at him. They had been glancing at each other almost constantly, and for some reason seemed to be under the impression that they were being subtle. Eva would have laughed at them but thought it was too early to embarrass them.  

She felt Jonas’ eyes on her, his hand giving her thigh a gentle squeeze. She turned towards him and found him jerking his head slightly towards Even and Isak, a knowing smile on his face. Eva smiled back and gave a tiny nod. She knew it was enough, that Jonas would know she understood and agreed. Isak deserved to be happy. And after whatever that fiasco with Sander had been last weekend, he definitely deserved to meet someone he actually liked.

After a moment Jonas’ smile softened, turned more private. Eva felt a soft kiss on her forehead, then two pecks on the top of her head. She closed her eyes and hummed contentedly, burrowing even closer to Jonas.

It had been six months, and there were still times she could barely believe she was allowed to have this again. To have Jonas again. To have Jonas and Isak in her life. The three of them almost like they used to be. But better.      

“You think it’s still snowing?” she asked quietly. “Maybe we should go and check?”

It was still snowing.

Eva and Jonas stayed at the door for a while, looking at the world covered in thick snow. It was quiet apart from the wind whipping between buildings. Further away there was a lone figure walking down the street, trying to hold the hood of their parka up with both hands. Eva shivered a little, but the cold felt almost good, too, with all the warmth she suddenly had inside herself.           

“Do you think they’re making out already?” Jonas wondered. “Or should we stay here a little longer?”

Eva let out a laugh and gave Jonas a quick kiss. “Let’s stay five more minutes, then we can go back and yell at them if they’re not making out.”

When they came back Isak and Even were not making out, but it was a near thing. Even had apparently decided to teach Isak how to make gløgg from scratch, and explained how he had mixed all the spices with elderberry syrup and water the night before. Now all he had to do was to filter the spices out and heat the liquid slowly in a pot. (“Just remember you’re not supposed to let it boil, never let it boil, Isak!”)

Isak stood so close to Even it looked like his hair was almost tickling Even’s face, and he kept nodding like gløgg was the most important thing in the world. More important than getting a six in biology, even. He looked at Even through his lashes, with a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth, and asked why the gløgg was white instead of red.

Jonas was about to take a step towards the kitchen, but Eva stopped him with a hand on his bicep, shaking her head quickly.  

“My grandma is from Sweden,” Even explained. “She’s lived here for 55 years but this is how they used to make it where she’s from. She adds usually a little bit of honey and a lot of white wine, but I don’t have wine with me, obviously. This was supposed to be for my kids.”

“Your kids?” Isak asked with a teasing tone.

“Umm, uh, I’ve sort of gotten into the habit of calling them that. It’s easier to say than ‘children I’m hanging out with and sort of teaching at the youth centre’. I know it sounds weird.”  

“I don’t think it sounds weird,” Isak whispered and took a step even closer.

Eva grabbed Jonas’ hand and dragged him back to the hallway. The moment they were witnessing felt too private for their eyes.

“I’ve known Isak since we were six and I’ve never seen him like that,” Jonas admitted once they weren’t within the earshot anymore. He looked like he’d seen a revelation, almost. “I mean, I’ve seen him flirt with tons of girls, and even some boys this past year, but he’s never looked at anyone like that. Never.”     

“They are so fucking cute,” Eva sighed. “Were we ever that cute?”

“I think we were,” Jonas answered. “We still are,” he decided after some contemplation, closing the distance between them and pecking Eva repeatedly on the lips. “We’re.” – Kiss – “the.” – Kiss – “cutest.” – Kiss. “The fucking cutest. And don’t you dare doubt that.”

Before they had a chance to get any further with that thought, they were interrupted by an abrupt noise and some muffled cursing coming from the kitchen.

“What happened?” Eva asked once they reached the boys. Even’s hair was a mess and his whole face was very red. Isak didn’t look much better. Eva raised her eyebrows at Jonas. Some progress had definitely been made here.   

“We boiled the fucking gløgg,” Even admitted, running a hand through his hair and messing it up even more.

Isak rubbed Even’s arm almost absentmindedly. “I’m sure it will taste fine.”

“It won’t.”

Isak gave Even a look that was somehow both fond and exasperated at the same time and poured some gløgg for himself. He raised the mug to his lips, blew gently on the hot liquid and took a sip.

“Oh shit, that’s gross,” he spluttered. “And way too hot. It tastes like metal or something.”

“I told you, it gets a metallic taste from the pot if you let it get to the boiling point.”

“Ugh, I burnt my tongue too,” Isak vinced, turning on the faucet and filling his mug with cold water instead.

“Poor you,” Even said, smiling gently, brushing his knuckles quickly across Isak’s cheek. “I’m sorry, I should’ve stopped you before you drank that.

“Wasn’t your fault,” Isak mumbled.  “And I’m sure the gløgg would’ve been very good if we had taken it off the stove a little earlier.”

Even beamed at him. “Oh, you think so?”

“Definitely,” Isak nodded, smiling so wide now he looked suddenly a lot younger. A lot like the Isak Eva had known before Nissen.

“And why’s that?” Even asked.  

“Because it was you who made it,” Isak said, giving Even an almost shy glance through his lashes.

Jonas decided to clear his throat, because it seemed that their presence had been forgotten. “It’s getting late,” he said. “And I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere in this weather. Do you think we could sleep here?”

“We could go to the kollektiv,” Isak suggested, like it was only occurring to him now. “It’s only 400 meters from here, and you and Eva could take Linn’s bed. She’s spending the christmas break at her parents and left this morning.”

“What about me? I suppose you have a couch for me or something?” Even asked, biting his lip.

Isak blushed. Eva swore she’d seen Isak blush more times tonight than in the past five years combined.

“Yeah, the couch in the living room is pretty good,” he stammered. “Noora slept there like for months last year.”

Even laughed warmly. “Okay, lead the way, then.”

***

The next morning Eva was tiptoeing back from the bathroom when she heard voices coming from the kitchen. It was still completely dark outside, but the kitchen was bathed in an artificial, yellowish light from the lamp. Even was stirring something in the pan and humming along to a catchy pop song on the radio.

“Morning, Even.”

“Oh, hi Eva,” Even turned around and directed his blinding smile towards Eva. “Good morning! Did you sleep well?”

“I did, actually. And you?”

“Yes, I did,” Even answered, turning back towards the stove with a tiny, private smile on his face. He looked happy, contented. Eva couldn’t help but think that happy was a good look for him.

She decided to tease a little. “Sooo, the couch was comfortable, then?”   

“Nah, I didn’t sleep on the couch,” Even shrugged, trying to sound casual. He couldn’t hide his pleased smile, though, and glanced quickly at Eva. “I’m sure you already knew that.”

“I guess I did,” Eva admitted, grinning.

Eva and Jonas had seen Even to disappear into Isak’s room last night after Isak had mumbled something about having an extra pair of pajamas Even could borrow. And they most definitely hadn’t seen him come out of there. They had stayed up and talked in the living room at least an hour after that.

It didn’t exactly take an hour to change into pajamas, Eva didn’t think.

Suddenly she had an urge to hug Even. The sweet, kind, beautiful Even who seemed to like Isak just as much as Isak seemed to like him.

She almost did, too. But Eskild stumbled into the kitchen just then, his eyes bleary and his ridiculous silk robe half open.

“Morning, Eva,” he said, yawning, and seemed to notice Even mid-yawn, because his face did some very interesting things right there. “Oh, hello. Am I still dreaming, or are you that hot barista Isak is always ogling at Kaffebrenneriet?”

Even laughed so hard that his eyes turned into small slits. “I don’t know, am I?”

“Are you what?” Isak’s voice sounded from the doorway. He looked very confused, standing there in boxer briefs and a threadbare t-shirt with Simpson’s print. Half-asleep and trying to understand the scene unfolding before him.

“Oh, I was just saying --,” Eskild began, but was interrupted by Even who – in only few steps – managed to reach Isak and cradle his face between his hands.

“Morning, Isak,” Even whispered and bent down a few centimeters to capture Isak’s lips in a quick, soft kiss. “I made you breakfast. I hope you like scrambled eggs.”

Isak nodded, looking a little dazed still, but followed Even to the table and accepted the plate Even offered him.

Eskild turned towards Eva and raised his eyebrows before skipping to the coffeemaker and pouring two cups of coffee, bringing the other one to Eva. Eva took the cup, smiling thankfully and leaned on the windowsill. She didn’t understand how someone could be that perky so early in the morning.

“Aren’t you going to introduce your friend, Isak?” Eskild asked, sitting down at the table and offering his hand to Even. “I’m Eskild, Isak’s roommate and guru.”

Even shook Eskild’s hand and introduced himself, looking amused. “Even.”  

Isak, on the other hand, did not look amused. He kept shooting daggers at Eskild while Eskild took small sips of his coffee and regarded Isak and Even with a faux-contemplative look.        

“So,” he finally questioned, ignoring Isak’s angry glares completely and clapping hands together. “How did you two lovebirds meet?”

“Eskild!” Isak whined, his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, and let his head hit the table.

Even let out a laugh and rubbed Isak’s arm, looking at him fondly.  

“I’m friends with Eva, she introduced us actually,” he answered with a warm glance at her, like some of his fondness towards Isak had poured over and radiated now at every direction, reaching all the way to Eva.   

Eva smiled at him. She had definitely thought they were friends, had even referred to Even as “my friend” while facetiming with Noora. It was just that she hadn’t been sure if Even saw it in the same way. Turns out he did.

“Well, that’s completely unfair,” Eskild complained. “Eva has never introduced me to any hot guys.”  

“She introduced you to me, didn’t she?” Jonas asked, stepping into the kitchen and making a beeline for the coffee pot.   

“Umm,” Isak protested. “Since when are you hot? Besides, I’m pretty sure I introduced Eskild to you?”

“No, I think it was Eva,” Eskild said, grinning. “At that party, when they didn’t know that you lived in the b--,” he faltered a little and glanced quickly at Even before babbling some more. “I mean, when they didn’t know you had moved here. She introduced us too, I think. Or tried to. Because we knew each other already, of course. You and me. Or is it you and I? I never remember.”

“Right, I did introduce you two,” Eva admitted, remembering now.  

Even looked at Isak questioningly, like asking what he had missed now. Eva saw how Isak took his hand, played with Even’s fingers, and mouthed something that looked like “I’ll explain later”. Even nodded and smiled, and soon the corners of Isak’s mouth were turning up, too.

Some of the tension seemed to leave Eskild at that, like up until now he had been seriously worried about ruining something.    

Jonas drank the last of his coffee, put the mug into the sink and took a few steps towards Eva, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Halla baby,” he whispered, nuzzling his face into her hair. “How do you feel about skipping today? Going out for breakfast?”

***     

Snow was mostly removed from the streets and sidewalks, but the world was still blanketed in white as Eva and Jonas walked hand in hand towards Baker Hansen in St. Hanshaugen. The sky was grey, but it wasn’t snowing anymore. Cars parked next to the curb didn’t look like cars at all, more like big white lumps of snow, and the plow that had cleared the street earlier that morning had packed even more snow around them. It would probably take a lot of work to get any of them to move before spring. Eva smiled a little, feeling laughter bubble up inside her at the thought of people trying to remember where they had parked and shovelling snow only to find a completely wrong car underneath it.

She stepped closer to Jonas and smiled at him softly. Jonas smiled back, squeezing her hand. They were going to skip school today, because exams were over and there wouldn’t be anything important anyway.

Just five minutes earlier, mom had sent a message that she would be home for christmas after all. Jonas was going to buy her breakfast. Eskild had promised not to pester and embarrass Isak too much.

Stepping inside Baker Hansen, Eva felt light, happy, and warm.     

[snughuz]

Piers Morgan article copied. No pictures

PIERS MORGAN: Meghan and Harry's nauseating two-hour Oprah whine-athon was a disgraceful diatribe of cynical race-baiting propaganda designed to damage the Queen as her husband lies in hospital - and destroy the Monarchy

By PIERS MORGAN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 07:33 EST, 8 March 2021 | UPDATED: 07:47 EST, 8 March 2021

Sickening.

Shameful.

Self-pitying.

Salacious.

Scandalous.

Sanctimonious.

Spectacularly self-serving.

Those were just my initial thoughts after ten minutes of the Oprah whine-athon with Meghan and Harry, and while restricting myself to only using words beginning with the letter 's'.

By the time I'd finished the whole two-hour orgy of pious, self-indulgent, score-settling twaddle, the steam was erupting out of my ears like an exploding geyser, and my lexicon of rageful epithets extended to the full range of the alphabet.

Never have I watched a more repulsively disingenuous interview.

Nor one more horrendously hypocritical or contradictory.

Here we had the Duke and Duchess of Privacy flinging out the filthy family laundry for the delectation of tens of millions of people all over the world, whilst simultaneously bleating about press intrusion.

They moaned about the terrible pain of their royal titles but were also outraged their son Archie wasn't allowed to be a Prince.

They told of their constant trauma from nasty newspaper stories, but repeatedly insisted they never read any of them.

They claimed they were forced to sign gazillion-dollar deals with Netflix and Spotify because Prince Charles cut off their allowance, despite Harry inheriting millions from his late mother Princess Diana and having his entire life bankrolled by the Royal Family.

And so, it went nauseatingly on.

In the middle of a pandemic that has already taken over 2.5 million lives, a staggeringly rich and entitled couple living in a $14 million sun-kissed California mansion wanted us all to know that THEY are the real victims around here.

Meghan even compared her former life living in a palace to the crippling freedom-robbing existence of coronavirus lockdowns, which must have sounded so empathetic to large families living at the top of tower blocks with three kids they're trying to home-school and no job to pay for food.

'I couldn't even meet my friends for lunch!' wailed the Duchess of Delusion, who flew to New York for a $500,000 baby shower with all her new-found celebrity pals, then flew back to London like any good eco-warrior on George Clooney's carbon footprint guzzling private jet.

But amid all the relatively trivial gossipy stuff emerged some incredibly damaging bombshells deliberately detonated to do maximum damage to the British Royal Family and the Monarchy.

First, Meghan claimed to have been left suicidal by the pressure of being a Princess and had her requests for help rejected by the cold, heartless Palace.

We weren't told who did the rejecting, or why she couldn't seek her own therapy or treatment if that's what she felt she needed. After all, her husband has spent years talking about mental health and has close connections with all the major mental health charities.

Instead, we're left to believe the Palace spurned a pregnant suicidal woman in her hour of desperate need.

But that wasn't even the most explosive revelation.

No, that came when Meghan told Oprah that a member of the Royal Family had queried what colour her baby would be during a conversation with Harry.

In fact, she said there were several conversations, whereas he said there was only one.

But neither of them would name the offending Royal.

Harry said he would never reveal the name.

So, we're now left to view all the Royals as racists.

Nor were we given any details of exactly what was said, or in what context it was said.

Would an older senior Royal innocently asking Harry what skin colour his baby might have, given that Meghan's mother is black and her father white, constitute racism?

It would if there was any derogatory tone to the question, or any suggestion that it would be a problem how dark the child's skin was. But we don't know the answers to those vital questions, because having let off the racism bomb, the Sussexes won't say any more.

I find that cowardly.

And the racism charge got worse.

Meghan followed up by asserting, without providing any evidence, that the Royal Family decided to change the rules specifically to prevent her son Archie from being a Prince, because of his skin colour.

Again, no name was given for the appalling racist at the Palace responsible for such a disgusting discriminatory decision.

But, as Meghan and Harry both know, the only person who has final say over titles is the Queen.

So, in making this astonishing unproven claim, they're effectively branding Her Majesty, Harry's grandmother, a racist.

It's hard to think of a more disgraceful slur to make against a woman who has devoted her whole life to the service of her country and the Commonwealth.

The Queen is not a racist and has never been a racist.

To even suggest that she might be is disgusting.

But to do so at a time when her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip has spent the past few weeks lying seriously ill in hospital is worse than that, it's contemptible.

Nothing that Meghan Markle said in this interview surprised me.

From the moment Oprah announced her scoop, I predicted to anyone who asked me that Meghan would aggressively play the mental health and race cards to deflect from any criticism of herself and her own behaviour or accountability.

I also cynically suspect it's the reason why she chose to do such a sensational interview when she's five months pregnant. Why would any woman do that after suffering a miscarriage last year, knowing the obvious controversy, media attention, and stress it would provoke? The answer, I fear, is that she thought the pregnancy would afford her another layer of protection against the inevitable furore and criticism that would result from her trashing the Royal Family.

Having had personal experience, on a very small scale, of Meghan Markle's ruthlessness when dispensing of anyone in her life that's ceased to be of use to her, it was no great shock to see her lighting a gigantic bonfire that will surely cause irreparable damage to her husband's family.

After all, she's torched all her own family, along with her ex-husband and most of her old friends.

This was the acting performance of her life, with every word, every facial expression carefully planned and choreographed.

In fact, it it's not late, someone should nominate it for the Oscars.

I mean, this is a woman who was photographed on the railings of Buckingham Palace as a starry-eyed teenager but now wants us to believe she knew nothing about the Royals and never once Googled her handsome Prince when they met.

Given these are both obvious lies, why should we believe anything that comes out of her mouth?

'Nobody told me how to curtsy or sing the British national anthem,' wailed a 39-year-old woman, married to someone who can probably help with both.

But make no mistake, this interview will be a triumph for Meghan in America. Her narrative of a poor, vulnerable, unsuspecting bi-racial woman thrown to the wolves by a white, racist Royal Family and racist British press is already being heralded as 'courageous' and 'brave' and 'iconic' across the United States.

She's got exactly what she wants: her homeland feeling sorry for her.

And woe betide anyone who criticises Meghan, for you will be instantly lambasted as a 'racist bully' towards a woman who stands accused of subjecting her own young female Palace staff to horrendous bullying.

But what about Prince Harry, and his own homeland of Great Britain?

How on earth could he allow his wife to take down his family like this on TV, and attack and belittle the very institution held so dear by his grandmother?

He even let her chuck his brother William's wife Kate - a woman who has never once said a bad word about Meghan in public - under the bus by saying she made her cry in a row over kids' wedding dresses.

That 'space', which is how Harry framed his current fractured relationship with William, will now be the size of 1000 Grand Canyons.

And then Harry gleefully joined in the Sopranos-style whacking too, revealing incredibly intimate secrets about his father Prince Charles of the type that he would scream in fury over if they'd been revealed by the tabloid press.

He claimed Charles stopped taking his calls last January after he and Meghan quit their country and the Royal Family and cut off his massive financial allowance too. And Harry's still furious with his Dad, apparently, for letting him down.

Yet, what has Charles done wrong exactly, other than try to deal with his headstrong younger son's constant self-pitying hunger for drama?

He bankrolled Harry and Meghan for years, and even stepped in to walk her down the aisle when her father pulled out after suffering a heart attack and was disowned by his daughter (where were Oprah 'nothing's off limits' Winfrey questions about that?) - yet they now pay him back with this open back-stabbing treachery.

Harry disloyally says Charles and William are 'trapped' in the institution of the Monarchy because they are the heirs to the throne.

'They don't get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that,' he claimed.

Oh please.

He and Meghan bang on endlessly about their compassion yet show the complete opposite to their own families.

If Charles or William wanted to leave, they could do exactly what Harry's done, and what Edward VIII did when he abdicated the throne.

Any royal can 'leave'.

But only Edward and Harry actually did it, both coincidentally after falling in love with American women.

The only difference is that Edward and Wallis Simpson never spoke badly in public about the Royal Family or trashed the Monarchy.

Within hours of the Oprah interview airing, the hashtag #AbolishTheMonarchy was trending on Twitter.

That's the effect that Meghan and Harry's accusations have had with their shockingly poisonous allegations.

Ms Markle won't care about the damage she's done to an institution she clearly reviles.

But Harry should.

The fact he's so willingly taken part in such a despicable public attack on the Royal Family – HIS family - and the Monarchy is utterly shameful.

And to have caused so much extra hurt to his 94-year-old grandmother the Queen at a time when her husband lies seriously ill in hospital, is just appalling.

When it comes to mental health and having a heart, it appears Meghan and Harry only care about themselves.

Share or comment on this article: PIERS MORGAN: Meghan and Harry's nauseating two-hour Oprah whine-athon was a disgraceful diatribe.

[foreheadfucking]

I feel so many things since last night

In no particular order:

It was a beautiful episode. A clever story.

It’s in some ways the William I envisioned, in some ways not. It’s certainly not how I envisioned his story.

I can’t get past his looks. He doesn’t just not look like them, he also is kind of strange-looking. I don’t like his hair. I don’t like his teeth or the shape of his face.

I was bothered by how Monica looked at first, too. And how she was written. And if I am quite frank she wasn’t that great of an actress. But she grew on me. I look back on that character fondly, now.

I am glad that William is being fleshed out as a real character, now. It’s one of the biggest things I wanted for him.

I am glad Scully got to see what he looks like now, and learn a little about the person he has become. I am glad that she knows he is alive and (relatively) okay. That he had a happy childhood. She has some measure of peace now, and it is the thing I wanted most for her. She doesn’t have to wonder, now.

If Chris gives us nothing else this season, we have that.

I like that he is clever. I like that he is scrappy, insecure, paranoid, brave, tenacious, a spirited child, troubled, insatiably curious, imaginative, impulsive, quick-witted, selfless, self-loathing, compassionate. Complex. He is real. Many of these things were on my wishlist, and I got them.

The biggest thing I felt when I woke up this morning was a general sense of finality. And sadness. There is certainly more to his story on the way, but from the interviews James Wong has given lately, it’s just one episode more. A typical Carter-penned mythology episode is not heavy on character development. There is expositional dialogue to rattle off, mythology threads to unravel. There will be chases and fights and things to explode. This leaves little room for family time. It will probably come at the end, in a scene that David, Gillian, and possibly Miles were given little time to prepare for.

...In short, I am preparing myself for the possibility that most of the William-Mulder-Scully character arc is now behind us.

I’m also preparing myself for the possibility that the meat of this season is behind us, and the end is near. Next is the Skinner episode. Which leaves only 3 non-mythology episodes left. One, episode 7, has only Mulder and Scully in it and very little dialogue, which interests me a great deal. But it is being written by inexperienced writers which makes me nervous. Episode 8 is more of a classic Morgan & Wong episode which has one “emotional thing that happens to Mulder and Scully” which I presume means the bulk of the episode will be case-driven. As far as I know, nothing is known about Episode 9.

Maybe I am extrapolating too much. So little is known about these remaining episodes. But I guess I am being superstitious because I *really* did not expect this season to be so consistently good, and I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or whatever the appropriate turn of phrase is.

/feelings

[shorthaircutsmodels]

Katy Perry's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles - 25+ - https://shorthaircutsmodels.com/katy-perrys-short-haircuts-and-hairstyles/ - Katy Perry's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, While her natural hair color was actually light blonde / brown, this darker hue was her signature. As her pink hair color faded, Katy opted for a pretty pastel color fashioned with chunky pink highlights. She also styled her hair into a sleek, jaw-grazing bob for a fresh, modern look. It's hard to imagine a time when she wasn't a household name, but today she wasn't the Katy Perry we always knew and loved. Her great fame today is from her early beginning as a gospel singer, Katy Perry is the Queen of transformation. And she's no stranger to hair transformations, either. Katy Perry's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles Katy Perry's Short Haircuts, has made incredibly bold, bold and adventurous hair choices over the years. 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He rose to prominence on the Billboard Hot 100 after the songs “ I Kissed A Girl” and “Hot n Cold". Katy Perry's Haircuts Katy Perry's Short Hair, We're not saying this is a byproduct of her recent change in relationship status, but there's nothing like an update after a major life change and she's recently having a field day with her hair. Of course, Perry has always been down to trying out hair color, but this change has been more dramatic than usual. She first switched to the platinum blonde color of our dreams in February. Katy Perry's Hairstyles Katy Perry's Haircuts, Then in March, the famous Chris McMillan. Known for his short haircuts and in 2021 he directed Miley Cyrus ' Pixie. Took everyone's hairstylist lob to a pixie-not just any pixie. Katy Perry hair now She's a fairy with a bottom cut inspired by Michelle Williams iconic cut, but buzzing on either side of her head in typical Katy Perry fashion. 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While most face shapes can take out short hairstyles, the key is finding the right balance to best accentuate your features. Katy Perry | Short hair styles, Short hair styles pixie Use the belt of your eyebrows as a guide, keep this top section the longest and then keep it shorter on the sides, " Vernon François, celebrity hairdresser and founder of the Vernon François collection tells Allure. We had to take a double shot while looking at Katy Perry's latest Instagram as the singer gave us big Miley Cyrus vibes. Katy Perry Haircut Styles: Short, Blue Blonde & More Miley shocked everyone by dyed her hair platinum and giving up her long locks for a super short cut, before shocking the world with her wardrobe and bawdy performances. Katy, who recently changed her. Look by sporting a set of wigs, decided to go baby yellow. Katy Perry natural hair color Katy Perry's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Coincidentally, celebrity stylist Chris McMillan, the same man who cut. As for colour, Katy thanked celebrity colourist and dpHUE creative director Justin Anderson and colourist Melinda Miller-rider for taking her. Katy Perry brown hair Typically brunette locks to the lightest possible level. Katy documented the process in her Instagram story, showing her dog, Butters, grabbing a hold of pieces of chopped hair and finishing with a photo of Michelle Williams, who she said she was inspired by. Katy Perry hairstyles 2020 - 2021 Take a look at the messages of the process and try to tell us you're not surprised at how much Katy and Miley look like each other. View yourself with Katy Perry hairstyles. We also provide easy "how to style" by reporting tips on which hair can match face shape, hair texture and hair density. Katy Perry Looks Totally Different With Her New Long Hair The snow white look is very different to me because it's a very short bob, but we were inspired by The Art Deco era-a bit flapper-y, a bit of the 1940s. I love Bob with my nails and the little curls around him. I think it's a bold look for me. Katy Perry hair colour But I've actually done a fairy cut before. I had a black fairy when I was 17, so I felt like I was reliving that part of my life. It's really cute. I probably would have worn that look again, but I wouldn't have done it for long.In "adult explosions genre," Katy Perry always worked. Crazy Katy Perry Hairstyles You Need To Check Out! Hairstyle-from raven curls to bubbly blondes to bubble gum pink. She fiddles with her hair, from super short haircuts to different hair colors. She's also rocked some amazing make-up and beauty looks and sported swanky piercings, too. But, has his recent buzz trimmed his daring look yet? We'll let you decide. Katy Perry's Short Hair and Flawless Style! Do you need to shake your hairstyle and a great inspo from one of the most versatile beauty icons in pop this season? Choose your favorite style from the book to look at. Katy Perry new hair It below From her long Princess locks to her fairy cut, singer Katy Perry put great effort into her hairstyles. Her much-hyped new cropped look remains the talk of Tinseltown. Katy Perry haircut short Katy admitted in an emotional interview with the therapist at Viceland that her decision was also about connecting with her true self, Katheryn Hudson. (Those who know will whisper in your ear that Kathryn Hudson is Katy's real name. Katy Perry hair Katy Perry. He is one of the biggest names in Pop music and dominates the charts all over the world. And the girl knows how to keep us on our toes-especially in the beauty department. Katy Perry Says Her Short Hair Makes Her Feel Katy Perry is known for her quirky. Fashion sense apart from being a great singer. The experience was with her clothes but also her hair and haircut. She was recently seen rocking some short waves. Before which she made heads turn in a fairy cut. Here are some of the good short-haired looks sported by Katy Perry. Katy Perry's Hairstyles & Hair Colors No doubt she's a Queen of hair transformation and forever gives us a flogging situation with her always brave new ' dos. In the past she has been rocked by black, pink, blue, purple, grey, platinum blonde and every hair color you can think of. Katy Perry hair american idol Friday Instagram to share a photo of herself rocking a new, long blonde bob with beach waves, as she literally did it all, Perry took to Instagram on Friday to share a photo of herself rocking a new, long blonde bob with beach waves. Katy Perry haircut american idol Celebrity hairdresser Chris Appleton, who is in charge of the new look, stands behind him in the photo, his hands still in the Masterpiece. Refinery29 reached out to Appleton's representative for comment, but did not respond at press time. Katy Perry haircuts 2020 - 2021 It doesn't matter how famous you are — if you change your hair dramatically, everyone wants to know why — and the same is true of celebrities. When OU returns, the reason behind Katy Perry's pixie cut is actually quite. Katy Perry black hair Interesting and goes beyond an image update. Perry debuted glamorous, sideswept looks in March that took her normally long, wavy locks and glacial blonde into a dark, asymmetrical wave. Katy Perry Hairstyles, Hair Cuts and Colors Katy Perry's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Almost immediately, the internet lit up with some people claiming that Perry was trying to copy Miley Cyrus ' look from 2020. Then, on April 20, for national analogy day. Katy Perry's Short Hair Cut Katy Perry's Short Haircuts and Hairstyles, Because there's nothing more refreshing than a celebrity who knows how to mix it. To celebrate the hair chameleon that is Katy Perry, let's take a trip down memory lane and collect the best (and most remarkable) haircuts, hairstyles and hair colors over the years. Katy Perry Short Hair: Blonde Pixie Crop Look how small it is. Fresh-faced and bright-eyed, the former Katy wore her jet-black hair in a shaggy, loose style, because that's how you roll in 2020 (along with flared jeans and Converse sneakers, of course). So yes, having a naked neck can make you feel 900 kinds of uninhibited. You can get out of bed, shower and leave the house for an hour without drying, ironing or teasing your hair. Katy Perry hairstyles short If you thought Perry was going to stand there, he proved you. So wrong-because he got a new, even shorter haircut on his Instagram. If there's one star who manages to shake off almost every cut, hue and conceivable style, it's probably Katy Perry. Katy Perry Haircut Timeline The" Swish Swish " singer rose to fame almost a decade ago with the release of her second album, one of the boys. At the time, she had her signature glossy black hair (usually worth it with some extravagant accessories inside) and since then, we've seen her hair change from black to pink to Blue, Platinum yellow and another colour you might think of. Katy Perry new haircut photos The Star Is 32nd On October 25. in honor of his birthday, we decided to pay homage to all the different hair of California Gurl over the years. She seems to have never met a hair color she couldn't embrace, from blonde to blue to black, even pink and green. Katy Perry's Ageing Haircut So who is this colourful character, Katy Perry, and her hair long and short of the story? The 34-year-old popstar, born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, rose to fame in 2021 when the singles “I Kissed a girl” and “Hot n Cold” reached the top 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Since then, he has been a “teen dream”and one of the "California Gurls". Katy Perry Hairstyles Archives Her 2020 album, Prism, helped Katy become the first artist to receive a billion views on vevo for "Roar” and" Dark Horse.""Short hair, I don't care. Tuesday, October 16, celebrity hairdresser and Joico ambassador Rick Henry sat dapper at a Joico lunch with Nine Zero One at Fig & Olive in West Hollywood to eat Katy Perry's ever-changing hair. she is healthy and why she loves her short locks at the moment. Katy Perry new hairstyle We've just completed a year-long tour where there's a lot of styles, so make sure you use products that will benefit and not harm our hair," says Katy Perry's hair evolution. "As you can tell, we always bleach their hair, so constant conditioning treatments are key to keeping hair strong and healthy. Katy Perry natural hair And apparently, care is worth it to try and create tone of style. "Katy is a very creative person, so normal hair is not fun for her "makes a great canvas to work on," she said, " since then, Katy Perry has continued to release popular music and recently performed at Coachella with Zedd. Katy Perry Pixie Haircut Tutorial She is also a judge on American Idol and has appeared in films such as The Smurfs and Zoolander. Over the past few years, her songs have not quite hit heights like her first few albums, but Katy. Who does Orlando Bloom, is still front and center due to her live personality and catchy hits. Still playing on Radio 10 years later. And then there's the ever-changing hairdressing parade. Katy Perry Short Haircut 2020 - 2021 Katy Perry's haircut has caught many eyes for how colorful and. Unique each one is, and this year she has made platinum blonde looks and pixie haircuts. If you like colorful hairstyles, you're lucky to come across this article. He said: "I can't hide behind it now. Katy Perry new haircut I still feel beautiful and I wanted to know that I could love myself without it. It's fun, it's liberating, it's liberating, and 'sexiness' and 'femininity' are just one thing—I don't think it's long hair. I think the goal is to redefine what femininity means to me."Review the article and take inspiration from Katy Perry's hair looks. Katy Perry hair short First, on the Katy Ellen DeGeneres Show, she claimed her. Cut was a compulsory act of beauty-painting her long, often multi-coloured. Her plan to restore the health of her hair was to go minimalist. The story was.the only problem with eyle: it's Ren.the genie didn't go for it. Katy opted for a short, vibrant platinum blonde blunt fairy cut.

[msarki]

Best Books I Read in 2017

The year 2017 motivated my wife and I to consider making new and enormous changes to our daily lives.  In light of this upheaval, it proved to be a rather good year for serious reading. Returning to Florida after a summer in northern Michigan somehow provided a balm for all that ails us, even while facing the nagging memory of dealing in September 2016 with hurricane Matthew, our first hurricane, and then being freshly attacked by that beast of a lady Irma in 2017. Because of having to repair our wooden fence again, re-staking a few dozen trees, and performing extensive debris cleanup, my wife and I decided to list for sale our little renovation project, buy a travel trailer, and hit the open road.  Our new home on wheels went into production on December 21 and will be ready for us to retrieve come March 6 of 2018. The house has been listed for sale since Thanksgiving.  

In 2017 I did manage to read my fair share of good books, but again woefully lacked the number of five-star reads I historically have grown accustomed to procuring.  I restrict my annual year-end report to only those books that garner a five-star ranking from me. This does not mean the lesser seventy or so books I read were not worthy of my time or trouble. I often remember segments from minor works more vividly than those worthy of five-stars. Notable authors whose books I did read that surprisingly failed to warrant that coveted ranking included Thomas Bernhard, Per Petterson, Henry David Thoreau, Raymond Carver, Sam Shepard, Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Berger, Deborah Levy, Michael Perry, Adam Phillips, Christine Angot, Eric Clapton, Nick Mason, and Karl Ove Knausgård.  I did enjoy reading these authors, and a few of them even more than once. For example I read the entire oeuvre of Wisconsinite Michael Perry and at least three additional titles by my favorite contemporary philosopher Adam Phillips.

The first of my five star classifications for the year went to A Really Big Lunch: Meditations on Food and Life from the Roving Gourmand  by Jim Harrison. Regardless of Harrison’s periodic poetic dirges of drivel, he is an American treasure. An iconic figure cut of gluttonous gourmet and storytelling of the first rank. That is, when his writing centers on food, friends, hunting, and fishing. A sad day indeed when it was reported he had died. But we who read him for over forty years knew it was coming. He drank too much and lived too heartily to have lasted even as long as he did. And this fascinating and rewarding book proves it. Quite an amazing and captivating read.

A courageous new fiction title produced a year ago that has yet to receive its rightful due is my own Ailene Nou, a novella of the first rank regardless of its rather sporadic and spotty readership. I am certain that one day the book will be discovered.  Meanwhile, I am happy simply to continue living my life as I read and I write.  

Damion Searls produced not only a riveting study on the man Rorschach and his Inkblot Test, but what was to come from his labor and where it might be leading us now. The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing is a work crafted by a master wordsmith obviously willing to delve deeply into his subject.  I could not recommend a book more highly than I do this one.

For probably the fourth time since its publication I again read Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett. Such an amazing book, seemingly about nothing, but brimming with meaning.  Every chapter feels as if you had been sitting there in the kitchen as she relates perhaps insignificant details about her life to you but makes them full and always clever, charming, and extremely interesting.  The more she shares her travails and proclivities the greater involved I become and thus grow more than enamored with her as a person of interest to me.  Never do I deem her choice of words pretentious or out of place with what she is accounting.  Needless to say, I love her style.

For me, Lily Tuck’s Sisters was a barn burner. I first learned of Lily Tuck in a fiction-writing class Gordon Lish was conducting during the summer of 1995 in Bloomington, Indiana.  Tuck was another of the many writers Lish had acquired in his writing stable as editor for seventeen years at Alfred Knopf.  Lish loudly championed the skills of Lily Tuck and brought her to the attention of perhaps hundreds of his students. And because there were so many writers the great Lish published in his tenure at Knopf, and for the most part commercial failures amounting to a high percentage, Tuck has gone basically unnoticed by the mainstream, even though she won the coveted 2004 National Book Award in fiction for her novel The News from Paraguay.  Her first book however, Interviewing Matisse or the Woman Who Died Standing Up, published by Knopf and edited by Gordon Lish, was a tiresome and rattling drivel inaccessible to me which felt somewhat pretentious. But after reading this five-star wonder titled Sisters I am intent now on a sufficiently renewed attack on her other books as soon as possible.  Tuck is certainly sophisticated, obviously born of the cultural elite.  And few writers can make you feel you are with them in the room.  She plays her instrument adroitly, disregarding the consequences of infidelities, and making them all feel worth it.

The Book of Dolores by William T. Vollmann was one of three titles written by him that I read this year. Though very good, the other ones did not measure up to this book. Vollmann put his heart on the line here, and shared with this reader the greatest demand placed on it; his agonizing need to belong.  How many of us are brave enough to say it, and strong enough to thrive in spite of it? Meanwhile, I am slowly plowing my way through some of his other literary offerings, which amount to many.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. Not much to offer in the typical plot-driven genre, but a generous array of dream states in which only the best hallucinogens could induce. Hard to believe it took this long for me to pull this book off the shelf.

Nate Blakeslee in American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West is a riveting history of the wolf, long-hated and feared for centuries due to myth and innuendo, and its re-introduction to protected lands once eradicated of them. The feature story throughout this sad but fascinating book centers on its main characters, good and bad, both man and wolf.  Uplifting and at times defeating, this fine work brings important focus on a subject well worth our time.  The fact that Congress and our bureaucracies continue to enable and sell-out to the corporate hunting and ranching industry at the cost of the treasured wolf is a travesty.  Every year our government agencies, established to serve and protect us, destroy thousands of wolves on our tax dollar. There is detail galore in this book to help us learn more about the social behavior of wolf and man.  And it is sad that wolves prove themselves more humane and conservative than humans are.

Why Bob Dylan Matters by Richard F. Thomas ranks at the top when it comes to being scholarly.  Part of a long-standing Harvard class taught by Thomas, this distillation dissects no few examples of Dylan’s now-classic role in producing great works by stealing from others.  More importantly, however, Bob Dylan makes what he steals his own.  No small task and something only a very few distinctive artists can pull of successfully. But the great ones in fact do exactly that.  What interests me most is Dylan’s process of creation based on the studies, experience, and knowledge of the professor’s obsession with great Classic art.  It is no stretch to state that Dylan is one of the best in the business and well-deserving of his 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Bookmarked

by Brian Evenson is a multi-faceted memoir and critical review focusing on the work of Raymond Carver as well as the writing career of the author Brian Evenson. This engaging work highlights the parallels and genesis devolved within both their somewhat parallel literary relationship with the infamous editor Gordon Lish.  Evenson details similar editing practices in his own personal relationship with the editor Lish. To Evenson’s credit he admits to sometimes happily, and at times reluctantly, accepting a Lish revision, but he also had the courage to resist him. Carver did not exhibit the same courage in confronting the great Lish until Carver was already famous. Raymond Carver holds his own personal place setting strapped into the yoke and hardware of sin of their collaborative endeavor.  And as much as I love and admire the fiction of Raymond Carver, he was not exactly honest in his portrayal of what really did occur. This book chronicles a most fascinating piece of literary history.

In I Married You for Happiness by Lily Tuck, Nina’s husband Phillip is dead.  By holding his gradually cooling hand, Nina, for one entire night, remembers the defining moments of their long life together as husband and wife. Private intimacies, dark secrets, and overwhelming joys.  How to connect with someone, even after living forty years with them? All are individuals. Best we can hope for are momentary connections. Memories. Challenges. Threats to what we deem secure. Imagine spending the entire night alone with your dead spouse. Touching, but more importantly, something she needs for closure. And for those contiguous moments she remains too shocked to grieve.  Lily Tuck in 2017 has twice bought me all out with her sophisticated prose.

I finished this five-star year with Joan Richardson in How to Live, What to Do: Thirteen Ways of Looking at Wallace Stevens which produced for us a most distinctive and valuable tool in order to help us view the world through the eyes of Wallace Stevens. And in essence, Stevens provides us new glasses in which we may see for ourselves the possibilities that will always exist if we maintain the courage to keep looking.  Richardson provides an advanced course a scholar might take in discovering an even better way into the mind and work of Wallace Stevens.  But this is not the book to initially begin with.  Too much would be lost on the unspoiled and uninitiated among us.  Instead, the greater primer would be to simply read Wallace Stevens. And if his poems resound, or connect to you in any way, further study may be warranted and result in your seeking out this book.

Stevens’s poems are exercises in meditation, designed to loosen inherited, outworn habits of thought inappropriate to honoring the life of all things on the planet of which we are a part…

To all my friends, please enjoy a happy and safe holiday.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Jan. 24, 2020 – THE GENTLEMEN, THE TURNING, THE LAST FULL MEASURE

If you read last week’s column, you’ll already know that I’m no longer with The Beat, so I’ll more than likely be doing all of my box office stuff here for a while. I just won’t promise to write so much about each movie as I did in my Box Office Preview, because a.) I don’t have time, and b.) I’m not getting paid to write this. Sorry if that’s a bit too blatantly honest, but getting paid for my writing matters to me, especially having done it for 25 years.

Before I forget, tonight, Wednesday, January 22, I’m hosting a 30thanniversary screening of Brain Dead, the freaky thriller starring Bills Pullman and Paxton, Bud Cort and George Kennedy. If you’re looking to check out crazy mind-fuck of a movie from 1990, there are still a few tickets left.

Anyway, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t get paid for last week’s column cause I way, way, WAY underestimated the power of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence to bring in audiences after 17 years since Bad Boys II. I thought the movie would make somewhere between $35 and 40 million over the four-day weekend, but it ended up making almost $60 million just over the three-day weekend, and $73 million for the four day, the second best after American Sniper. Obviously, Sony is already developing a fourth movie in the series and presumably they won’t wait another 18 years. Personally, I really liked Bad Boys for Life, as it was way better than Bad Boys II and it was a generally enjoyable and entertaining action-comedy.

Universal’s Dolittlealso did more than I predicted, but it wasn’t as vastly different, just closer to my original prediction last Wednesday before I thought I might be overestimating and lowered it. Waugh, Waugh…

Let’s get to this week…

The movie I’m most excited about this week is THE GENTLEMEN (STXfilms), which is Guy Ritchie’s return to ensemble crime comedy after his foray into large-scale Disney adaptations like Aladdin, which I quite liked, and his “Sherlock Holmes” movies, the first of which I also loved.  Ritchie has a great cast for this one including Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant, Henry Golding (from Crazy Rich Asians and the underrated 2019 film Last Christmas), Michelle Dockery (from Downton Abbey) and one of my favorite character actors, Eddie Marsan! Honestly, I don’t know very much else about the movie (as I’m only seeing it on Monday night) but I loved what I saw at CinemaCon last year, and I’ve just been such a huge Ritchie fan going all the way back to Lock, Stock and Two Smokin’ Barrels. (Sadly, I wasn’t able to interview him for this movie due to my other part-time job, but you’ll get an actual review instead!)  Also, I think the movie will do decently but probably not more than $10 million since STX is dropping it into around 2,000 theaters, which isn’t particularly wide.

Mini-Review: Back in the late ‘90s, when Guy Ritchie first made his big debut with Lock, Stock, he was coming on the tail end of a new breed of directors like Tarantino and Smith who proved that screenplay-driven ensemble movies could deliver big audiences. In the time since then, Tarantino has gotten bigger and bigger for that feat, while Ritchie has tried a lot of different things, including last year’s Aladdin.

It’s pretty exciting to see Ritchie returning to the world of crime and to jolly old England with the addition of a few Americans like Matthew McConaughey as mega-wealthy drugdealer Mickey Pearson, who has turned his upper-class connections quite literally into a farm industry. Mickey is ready to sell the business, hoping to get $400 million from Jeremy Strong’s interested investor.

The story is told through a framing sequence involving a strange character named Fletcher, played by Hugh Grant, having an extended conversation with Charlie Hunnam’s Ray, Mickey’s “fixer,” of sorts. It’s another fantastic performance by Grant that really allows him to push the envelope with a heavy cockney accent. Another great performance comes from Colin Farrell as the coach of a group of young and bratty MMA fighers who break into one of Mickey’s farms.

Using this storytelling method, Ritchie doesn’t give his entire hand away at once, instead revealing just what’s necessary to keep the viewer tuned in. The film features another witty script and it’s thoroughly entertaining, although it’s also somewhat confounding at times trying to keep track of all the characters and how they relate.

In that sense, The Gentlemen is slightly flawed, but it’s also a welcome return for Ritchie to do what he does best, and there’s no denying that there’s quite a bit to enjoy here. Rating: 7/10

The third horror movie of January (with another one next week!) is THE TURNING (Universal), a horror take on Henry James’ novel “The Turn of the Screw,” starring Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate), Finn Wolfhard (It) and the adorable Brooklynn Prince from The Florida Project. The basic premise involves a nanny played by Davis, who is brought to an enormous mansion to care for two kids. Once there, she is told by the kids that there are dark forces in the house, and she starts to believe them.  I had a chance to speak to the film’s director, Floria Sigismondi, an amazing visual artist whose only previous feature film was The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart.  The movie is also written by the Hayes Brothers, who wrote the original The Conjuring, and produced by Roy Lee (The Conjuring and It), so there’s quite a decent pedigree for this movie. I also conducted a great interview with Ms. Sigismondi that you can check out on Next Best Picture.

As the third horror movie this month, I’m not sure this can deliver where the previous two (The Grudge and Underwater) failed, especially without much star power, but because it’s January, and there’s very little else to do, it can probably make $8 to 10 million in its 2,500 theaters.

Opening in moderate release this weekend  (theater count TBD) is filmmaker Todd Robinson’s THE LAST FULL MEASURE (Roadside Attractions), a military drama that the director has been trying to make for a decade. He’s pulled together an amazing cast that includes Christopher Plummer, Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris, Diane Ladd, Sebastian Stan, Bradley Whitford, Peter Fonda, William Hurt, Jeremy Irvine and Michael Imperioli. I still remember Robinson mentioning this project when I spoke to him for his excellent movie Lonely Heartswhen we spoke for ComingSoon.netway back in 2007, having seen that movie at the Tribeca Film Festival.

It involves a group of Vietnam vets trying to get a brave soldier, Airman William H. Pitsenberger Jr. (played by Irvine), the Medal of Honor for his actions on the battlefield to save them 34 years after his death. It sounds like a terrific premise, so it’s a movie I’ve been waiting to see for a very long time.  I’m not sure exactly how many theaters Roadside Attractions will release the movie into, but I doubt it will be enough to get it into the top 10, as I think it will end up making $2 to 3 million at best. (This probably would have been a good movie to release over Veterans’ Day, but I guess it was afraid of Roland Emmerich’s Midway, which did end up winning that weekend.)

Mini-Review: It’s pretty obvious what a passion project this must have been for filmmaker Todd Robinson from the time it’s taken for him to get this movie made, but once watch how this story plays out, it’s much more obvious why he was so driven. Even fifty years after the events depicted in the film’s Vietnam War flashback

It’s 1999, and Sebastian Stan plays Scott Huffman, an Air Force attorney working at the Pentagon who is assigned the duty of investigating the heroics of Airman William H. Pitsenberger Jr., who dropped into one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War to save a number of soldiers. William Hurt plays Tulley, the soldier that comes to Huffman, although the lawyer tries to put him off due to the upcoming regime change. Against his will, Scott has to pursue this endeavor, so he goes to interview a number of the living men who were there on that fateful day.

What’s amazing about Robinson’s film is that while it focuses mainly on Stan’s character, the various actors he meets on his journey deliver some absolutely amazing performances, from Christopher Plummer (as the dead airman’s dying father), Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris and the late Peter Fonda.

At its worst, The Last Full Measure veers into TV movie melodrama, so it takes some of the stronger actors to drag it back. The worst example of this are the scenes between Stan and his ersatz family, which seems the most like needless scenes added to create some sort of artistic license. It probably will be little surprise that many of the names and circumstances have been changed for similar reason.

It’s a shame that Roadside Attractions doesn’t have enough faith in this movie to give this a bigger push, instead dumping it into a January weekend with little fanfare. Sure, this is certainly the type of movie that cynical film critics like tearing apart, trying to find faults over the good…. And there’s a lot of good to be had. There’s no denying that this is an important story that needs to be told, and hopefully, the audiences that might appreciate it will be able to find it. Rating: 7.5/10

What should be interesting to see if the horror film The Turning does well enough to surpass Dolittle for third place or falls just short. Either way, Universal will have three movies in the top 5, which is quite remarkable considering what a horrid December the studio had.

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Bad Boys for Life (Sony) - $29.5 million -53%

2. 1917 (Universal) - $13 million -41% (up 1 million)*

3. Dolittle (Universal) - $10.1 million -54%

4. The Turning (Universal) - $9.3 million N/A (up .2 million)*

5. The Gentlemen (STXfilms) - $8.6 million N/A (up .1 million)*

6. Jumanji: The Next Level  (Sony) - $5 million -48%

7. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Lucasfilm/Disney) - $4 million -52%

8. Little Women (Sony)  - $3.5 million -45%

9. Just Mercy (Warner Bros.) - $3.1 million -47%

10. Knives Out  (Lionsgate) - $2.6 million -40%

- The Last Full Measure (Roadside Attractions) - $2 million N/A (down .5 million)*

* UPDATE: Not a ton of changes but mainly a little bit of tweaking due to revised theater counts

LIMITED RELEASES

Not a ton of limited releases of note that I’ve seen, although I did see Richard Stanley’s sci-fi thriller COLOR OUT OF SPACE (RLJE Films), starring the one and only Nicolas Cage, and I even spoke to Stanley, an interview you’ll be able to read on Next Best Picturehopefully later this week. It’s based on HP Lovecraft’s short story, and in the movie, Cage plays an Alpaca farmer whose family is affected by a meteorite that falls on the property, causing all sorts of bizarre changes both mentally and physically. It’s another movie where Cage can go a little nuts, but I also liked the performances by Madeleine Arthur and Joely Richardson, who ALSO appears in The Turning this weekend. There are also some smaller roles from Q’orianka Kilcher (from Malick’s The New World) and the great comic, Tommy Chong.  There will be a special screening tonight in select cities with a satellite QnA with Stanley and Cage, and then it opens for real Friday. Being RLJE, it should be On Demand shortly afterwards.

Oddly, I haven’t seen any of the movies in the franchise that brings us DETECTIVE CHINATOWN 3  (Wanda Pictures/WB International), but the previous installments of director Sicheng Chen’s police action-comedy must have done well enough for people to want to see more of detectives Tang Ren (Baoquiang Wang) and Qin Feng (Haoran Liu) to get a third movie. The first movie made $120.6 million worldwide while the sequel made $544 million, so yeah, a third movie was inevitable. The sequel made less than $2 million domestically but one can expect that Chinese audiences in America will help the third movie do similarly. For comparison, the latest installment of the Ip Man franchise, starring Donny Yen, has grossed $3.5 million in North America. This will open in about 150 theaters.

Sadly, I also didn’t get a chance to see Dante Lam’s The Rescue (CMC Pictures), the Chinese filmmaker’s follow-up to his global blockbuster Operation Red Sea, before writing this column, but this is clearly one of the major Chinese tentpoles being released for the Lunar New Year movie season. It stars Eddie Peng from Operation Mekong as the captain of an elite rescue team, and it’s shot by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s Oscar-winning cinematographer Peter Pau.  I’m hoping to see it this coming Friday.

Terry Crews stars as John Henry (Saban/Paramount) in Will Forbes, in this case Henry being an ex-gang member who puts aside his life of violence to take care of his aging father (played by Ken Foree from Dawn of the Dead )in South L.A. where he meets two immigrant kids on the run from his former gang leader (Ludacris), putting him in a tough spot. It will open in select cities and On Demand this Friday.

Bertrand Bonello, who made the excellent Nocturama a few weeks back, returns with his eighth feature Zombi Child (Film Movement), which is a very different take on the genre.  It draws from the true story of Clairvius Narcisse, who was reportedly zombified in 1962 Haiti, this one centering around Narcisse’s (fictional) orphaned granddaughter who is trying to fit in with the mostly white girls at her boarding school. It will open in New York at the Quad Cinemaand at Lincoln Center.

Lastly, there’s the Bollywood film Panga (FIP) from director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, starring Kangana Ranaut as a middle-class Indian woman and former kabaddiworld champion looking for new meaning as a wife and mother, who decides to return to the sport despite her age and responsibility to family. It will open in roughly 100 theaters.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Opening Friday at the Metrograph is the 1stU.S. release of the director’s cut of Jia Zhangke’s 2010 documentary I Wish I Knew,which looks at the past and present of Shanghai in a documentary full of interviews with people from all different walks of life including local actresses and fellow filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien. It also follows Zhangke’s favorite actress Zhao Tao, who was amazing in last year’s Ash is Purest White, as she explores the site of the Shanghai World Expo Park as it’s under construction. It’s a great film to learn more about the history of mainland China, something I greatly appreciated having been such a longtime inhabitant of Chinatown.

Even more exciting is that the Metrograph is starting a retrospective series for indie filmmaker Hal Hartleythis Friday, which is exciting since I’ve been such a big fan but haven’t seen nearly as many of his films as there are out there, having only seen his debut The Unbelievable Truth (1989) a few years back, also at the Metrograph. Hal Hartley will be at the Metrograph this Friday night, January 24, and then back on February 1 for screenings of Henry Fool (1997) and its 2006 sequel, Fay Grim. This weekend, you can see Trust from 1990, Simple Men (1992), 1994’s Amateur and more.

With the nomination of Julia Reichert and Steven Bonar’s American Factory receiving an Oscar nomination, Metrograph has put together a last-minute series, “The Academy-Nominated Films of Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar,” a program of three shorts including the 2009 short The Last Truck(shown with American Factory), 1976’s Union Maids and 1971’s Growing Up Female, and the 2006 miniseries A Lion in the House.

This weekend’s Late Nites at Metrograph  is the Jackie Chan action classic Police Story (1985). Oops, I made a little error as Playtime: Family Matinees, was supposed to be Taika Waititi’s 2016 film The Hunt for the Wilderpeople, but it got changed to Peter Weir’s 1989 movie Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams, which is also quite good.

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE BROOKLYN (NYC)

Besides tonight’s “Weird Wednesday” of Brain Dead (1990), they’re doing a Troop Beverly Hills “Quote-Along” tomorrow night. If that isn’t good enough, on Monday, you can see the Lonely Island’s amazing Popstar: Never Stop Stopping either as part of the monthly “Out of Tune” hosted by my pal Jeremy Wein at 7pm or at 9:30 as a Sing-Along, well except that both are very close to sold out. Next week’s “Terror Tuesday” is the Japanese horror classic Ringu (1998) (I’ll be there) and then “Weird Wednesday” is 1979’s Killer Nun.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Wednesday’s “Afternoon Classics” is Ernest Borgnine’s 1955 film Marty, and then Weds. and Thurs’ night’s double feature is Bob & Carol & Ted & Aliceand Jacques Demy’s Model Shop, both from 1969. Friday’s “Freaky Friday”… um… “Afternoon Classics” is the 1985 vampire thriller Fright Night, and Friday night’s midnight screening is Tarantino’s Django Unchained. (The Saturday midnight screening of Scorsese’s Goodfellasis already sold out.) The weekend’s “Kiddee Matinee” is Miyazaki’s How’s Moving Castleand then the Monday Matinee is the 1971 thriller Klute. (Most of the weekend evening slots are taken up by Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, just to make sure all the Oscar voters have a chance to see it in the next couple weeks.) Monday and Tuesday night is a Henry Hathaway double feature of The Lives of a Bengal Lancer(1935) and The Trailer of the Lonesome Pine (1936).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

While the “Black Women: Trailblazing African American Performers & Images, 1920 – 2001” continues this weekend with the 1934 and 1959 iterations of Imitation of Life, as well as screenings of What’s Love Got To Do with It, the Tina Turner biopic starring Angela Basset, who received an Oscar nomination for it, and then the Film Forum Jr. screening is The Wiz, starring Michael Jackson and Donna Summer. Other movies in the series include Cleopatra Jones, Gone with the Wind and Spike Lee’s debut She’s Gotta Have it. Film Forum is also doing a special Homage to Anna Karenina, the late Jean-Luc Godard muse who starred in many of his classics including Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, Pierrot Le Fou, plus six other films will be screened beginning Wednesday and through January 30. On Sunday, Film Forum is showing Lee Grant’s 2005 documentary A Father … a Son … Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is about Kirk and Michael Douglas with Grant in person doing a QnA. The theater will also screen William Wyler’s 1951 film Detective Story, which stars Grant on Sunday and next Tuesday.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

This weekend begins “Cinematic Void 2020” with the Friday selection being Dario Argento’s The Cat O’Nine Tails (1971), followed on Saturday by a 5-movie Giallo Marathon, including Argento’s Opera(1987), Bava’s A Blade in the Dark (1983), Fulci’s The Black Cat  (1981), and two more. Joe Dantewill be on Sunday for his 16mm Spotlight, showing 1972’s Richard. This week’s “Sunday Print Edition” is Carol Reed’s Night Train to Munich(1940) in 35mm in the afternoon and then Richard Benjamin and Dyan Cannon will be on hand to discuss the amazing 1973 thriller The Last of Sheila, one of my favorite movies.

AERO  (LA):

Besides a matinee screening of Scorsese’s Goodfellas on Thursday (free to Cinemateque members), the AERO begins a “Ford Vs.” series with a double feature of John Ford’s The Quiet Man  (1952) with Sam Peckinpah’s classic Straw Dogs (1971). Friday is Ford’ sStagecoach(1939) with Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff  (2010). Saturday at 9AM, you can watch a triple-feature of Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, and then in the afternoon, the AERO will show Toy Story 4 with guests. That’s a full day of Toy Story viewing! Saturday night’s “Ford Vs.” is Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance with Akira Kurosawa’s Sanjuro, both from 1962. Sunday night’s double is Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West  (1968) with Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946). Tuesday’s Scorsese matinee is his debut Mean Streets.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

You can still catch a few of the movies in the lead-up to Bonello’s Zombi Child with another screening of I Walked with a Zombie on Weds. night, as well as De Palma’s Carrie and the Extended Director’s Cut of The Exorcist on Thursday.

MOMA  (NYC):

Modern Matinees: Jack Lemmon will present the classic Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot  (1959) on Wednesday, Black Edwards’ The Great Race (1965) on Thursday and 1968’s The Odd Couple on Friday. 

IFC CENTER (NYC)

This week’s Weekend Classics: Luis Buñuelwill screen a double feature of the classic short Un Chien Andalou (1929) with the doc L’Age D’or (1930) while Waverly Midnights: Hindsight is 2020s will screen Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men and Late Night Favorites: Winter 2020goes with Argento’s Suspiria… again.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

On Saturday, there will be a “Texas Chainsaw Double Feature” of the first two movies from 1974 and 1986 as part of the “Disreputable Series.” Also, the museum continues to screen Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as part of its exhibition.

ROXY CINEMA(NYC)

The Nicolas Cage love continues on Weds. with Martin Scorsese’s 1999 movie Brinigng Out the Dead, and then on Saturday, Bottleneck Gallery will screen 1987’s The Monster Squad and 1986’s Night of the Creeps.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

Friday’s night’s midnight movie is John Carpenter’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Christine (1983).

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

The New York Jewish Film Festival continues through next week so no rep stuff.

STREAMING AND CABLE

On Sunday, Netflix will stream the first season of Fast and Furious: Spy Racers, which I have little to no interest in. I have a little more interest in Star Trek: Picard, which will begin streaming on CBS All Access on Thursday.

That’s it for this week. Next weekend is the Super Bowl, but that’s not gonna stop the releases of Gretel and Hansel(U.A. Releasing) and Blake Lively’s The Rhythm Section (Pararamount).

[paulbenedictblog]

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Cnn news FBI director reacts to report on Russia investigation: Exclusive

Cnn news

Cnn news In a broadcast original, Wray reacted to a Justice Division watchdog epic.

December 9, 2019, 9: 40 PM

8 min read

FBI Director Christopher Wray equipped blended reactions to a Justice Division watchdog epic that uncovered "extreme performance failures" on the portion of agents occupied with the Russia investigation but in some device determined the bureau turned into as soon as justified in launching its probe.

In an original broadcast interview with ABC Data, Wray lamented "actions described in this epic that [he] considered as unacceptable and unrepresentative of who we are as an establishment." However, he said it turned into as soon as "main that the inspector well-liked chanced on that, in this particular instance, the investigation turned into as soon as opened with appropriate predication and authorization."

Justice Division Inspector Out of the ordinary Michael Horowitz on Monday launched his 478-page epic chronicling the situations surrounding the FBI's surveillance of members of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential marketing and marketing and marketing campaign, at the side of Carter Web page, who had lived and labored in Russia. In his epic, Horowitz asserted that the FBI resolution to surveil Web page turned into as soon as factual.

“We did no longer earn documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or unsuitable motivation influenced the FBI's resolution to sight [surveillance] on Carter Web page,” Horowitz wrote.

However the president and his allies have known because it "a indispensable SPY scandal" and accused these alive to of engaged on behalf of the "Deep Suppose."

Wray did no longer answer on to the president, but pushed reduction on the "Deep Suppose" characterization of the bureau's work.

"I mediate that is the roughly label that's a disservice to the men and girls who work on the FBI who I mediate kind out their jobs with professionalism, with rigor, with objectivity, with braveness," Wray said. "So as that's no longer a duration of time I'd ever exercise to describe our work drive and I mediate or no longer it's an affront to them."

Horowitz's epic described a sequence of main errors and omissions linked to the surveillance utility concentrating on a previous Trump marketing and marketing and marketing campaign aide that "made it appear that the records supporting probable cause turned into as soon as stronger than turned into as soon as in fact the case."

"In my be conscious, every error and omission is indispensable and or no longer it's one thing we must exercise severely," Wray steered ABC Data.

The president and his allies have lengthy alleged that the Trump marketing and marketing and marketing campaign turned into as soon as illegally spied on, aggressively accusing both the Obama administration and the FBI of accomplishing what Trump has known as "some of the finest political scandals in historical past."

Asked whether he view the FBI unfairly focused the Trump marketing and marketing and marketing campaign, Wray equipped a blunt overview: "I enact no longer."

Criminal real Out of the ordinary William Barr made headlines in April 2019 when he steered a Senate panel that "spying did happen" on the Trump marketing and marketing and marketing campaign, adding there turned into as soon as a must "explore" whether the probe turned into as soon as "adequately predicated." Wray has beforehand said "spying" is "no longer a duration of time I'd exercise," and on Monday reiterated that level.

"All yet again, a amount of folks have a amount of colloquial terms," he said, " but we exercise terms esteem ‘investigation' and ‘surveillance.'"

Wray also pushed reduction on a widely debunked theory attach forth by the president and his allies that Ukraine, no longer Russia, interfered in the 2016 election – and sounded the fright on the Kremlin’s plans for the 2020 cycle.

“We have not got any recordsdata that means that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election,” Wray said, adding that “to this point because the [2020] election itself goes, we mediate Russia represents essentially the most indispensable menace.”

Wray took over the FBI's high space in August 2017, months after James Comey's dismissal from the attach. After releasing his epic Monday, Horowitz is anticipated to face lawmakers on Wednesday in a public hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

ABC Data' Jack Date, Alex Mallin, Luke Barr, and Olivia Rubin contributed reporting.