#May twenty seventh 2021

[whileiamdying]

All the Films in Competition at Cannes, Ranked from Best to Worst

The twenty-two films that premièred in the 2024 festival’s main program offered much to savor and revile.

By Justin Chang May 26, 2024

The seventy-seventh annual Cannes Film Festival came to a startling and joyous conclusion on Saturday night, when the competition jury, chaired by Greta Gerwig, awarded the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honor, to “Anora,” a funny, harrowing, and finally quite moving portrait of a sex worker’s madcap New York misadventures. It was startling because the movie, though one of the best-received in the competition, had not been widely tipped for the top prize, which seldom goes to a U.S. film; with “Anora,” Sean Baker becomes the first American director to win the Palme since Terrence Malick did, for “The Tree of Life” (2011), thirteen years ago. And it was joyous not only because the award was bestowed on a worthy and remarkable film but because Baker used the occasion to deliver the best, most eloquent and impassioned acceptance speech I’ve ever heard a Palme winner give.

Reading from prepared remarks, Baker singled out two other filmmakers in the competition, Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg, as among his personal heroes. He dedicated the award to sex workers everywhere, a fitting tribute from a filmmaker who has put their lives front and center, with drama, humor, and empathy, in movies like “Starlet” (2012), “Tangerine” (2015), and “Red Rocket” (2021). He tossed some exquisite shade in the direction of the “tech companies” behind the so-called streaming revolution—including, presumably, Netflix, which came away as one of the night’s big winners; its major acquisition of the festival, Jacques Audiard’s musical “Emilia Pérez,” won two prizes. And, in a moment that drew rapturous applause, Baker delivered a plea on behalf of theatrical films, declaring, “The future of cinema is where it started: in a movie theatre.”

I was fortunate to see all twenty-two films in the Cannes competition on the big screen, projected under superior conditions in houses packed with fellow movie lovers. It’s my hope that, when these movies are released in the U.S., as the great majority of them likely will be, you will seize the chance to see them on the big screen as well—even “Emilia Pérez,” which Netflix may not keep in theatres for long, but whose bold dramatic and stylistic risks have the best chance of winning you over if they have your undivided, wide-awake attention.

I have ranked the movies in order of preference, from best to worst. Here they are:

1. “Caught by the Tides”

Jia Zhangke, a Cannes competition veteran, has long been the cinema’s preëminent chronicler of modern China (“Mountains May Depart,” “Ash Is Purest White”), mapping its social, cultural, and geographical complexities with great formal acumen, and also with the longtime collaboration of his wife, the superb actress Zhao Tao. Jia’s latest work, drawing on an archive of footage shot in the course of roughly two decades, unfurls a story in fragments, about a woman (Zhao) and a man (Li Zhubin) who fall in love, bitterly separate, and have a melancholy reunion years later. It’s an achievement by turns fleeting and monumental: a series of interlocking time capsules, a wrenching feat of self-reflection, and a stealth musical, in which Zhao dances and dances, standing in for millions who have learned to sway and bend to history’s tumultuous beat.

2. “All We Imagine as Light”

As the first Indian feature invited to compete at Cannes in nearly three decades, Payal Kapadia’s narrative début (after her 2021 documentary, “A Night of Knowing Nothing”) would be notable enough; that the movie is so delicately felt and sensuously textured is cause for outright celebration. Winner of the festival’s Grand Prix, or second place, it tells the story of two roommates, Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha), who work as nurses at a Mumbai hospital. It teases out their personal circumstances—Prabha’s estrangement from her unseen husband, Anu’s frowned-upon romance with a young Muslim man (Hridhu Haroon)—with a quiet truthfulness that, like the glittering lights of the city, lingers expansively in the memory. (A forthcoming Sideshow/Janus Films release.)

3. “Grand Tour”

The Portuguese director Miguel Gomes (“Tabu,” “Arabian Nights”) delivered some of the most virtuosic filmmaking in the competition—as the jury recognized by giving him the Best Director prize—with this characteristically yet extraordinarily playful colonial-era travelogue. Shifting between color and black-and-white, set in 1917 but full of fourth-wall-breaking anachronisms, the movie tells a story of sorts about a roving British diplomat (Gonçalo Waddington) and a fiancée (Crista Alfaiate) he’s in no hurry to marry. But its true fascination lies in the humid atmosphere and wanderlust-inspiring splendor of its East and Southeast Asian locations, ranging from Singapore and Bangkok to Shanghai and Rangoon. It’s a movie to get lost in.

4. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

It’s impossible to absorb this blistering domestic drama without thinking of its dissident director, Mohammad Rasoulof, who recently fled Iran after being sentenced to prison and a flogging. (His appearance at his film’s première made for one of the most emotional moments in recent Cannes memory.) Shot entirely in secret, the story follows a Tehran-based husband (Missagh Zareh) and wife (Soheila Golestani) who are increasingly at war with their progressive-minded young-adult daughters (Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki) during nationwide political protests led by women. The result is a thriller of propulsive skill and blunt emotional force, marrying the muscularity of an action film to the psychological intensity of a chamber drama. (A forthcoming Neon release.)

5. “Anora”

The director Sean Baker is near the height of his storytelling powers with this dazzling (and now Palme d’Or-winning) portrait of a Manhattan strip-club dancer (a revelatory Mikey Madison) who impulsively marries the ultra-spoiled son (Mark Eydelshteyn) of a Russian oligarch. Much comic chaos ensues, some of it pushed past the brink of plausibility, but Baker’s multifaceted love for his characters proves infectious and sustaining, as does his belief that acts of unexpected kindness can redeem even the darkest nights of the soul. (A forthcoming Neon release.)

6. “The Shrouds”

Early on in this elegantly sombre yet mordantly funny new movie, which stars Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, and Guy Pearce, the director David Cronenberg, a master of cerebral horror, unveils his latest invention: a technologically advanced burial shroud that allows people to watch a loved one’s body decomposing in the grave. So begins a drolly fluid inspection of classic Cronenberg themes—the deterioration of the flesh, the instability of the image, the paranoia-inducing incursions of technology into every aspect of life—but imbued with a nakedly personal dimension that the director has noted in interviews; the story was inspired by his wife’s death, in 2017, from cancer.

7. “Megalopolis”

In this legendarily long-gestating passion project, which I’ve written about at length, Francis Ford Coppola posits that our fragile, battered civilization is headed the way of the Roman Empire. The grimness of that prospect is unsurprising from a director accustomed to peering deep into the heart of American darkness (the “Godfather” movies, “The Conversation,” “Apocalypse Now”). For all that, the filmmaking here glows with a particularly hard-won optimism, even a welcome sense of play—borne out by an ensemble of actors, including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and especially Aubrey Plaza, who fully embrace Coppola’s rhetorical and conceptual flights of fancy.

8. “The Substance”

Sympathetic or sadistic? Feminist or misogynist? Coralie Fargeat’s body-horror bonanza, which won the festival’s award for Best Screenplay, has been one of the competition’s more polarizing hits, which is unsurprising; divisiveness should be expected from a story about an aging actress and TV fitness guru who, desperate to regain her youthful bod of yesteryear, effectively splits herself in two. Whether the outlandish premise (think “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by way of “Death Becomes Her”) and its blood-gushing fallout withstand intellectual scrutiny, there’s no doubting the ferocity of the two leads, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, or Fargeat’s sheer filmmaking verve as she pushes her ideas to their sanguinary conclusions.

9. “Motel Destino”

Just a year after the Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz appeared in competition with a surprisingly stiff-corseted English period drama, “Firebrand,” it was bracing to watch him rebound with the competition’s most sexually uninhibited and flagrantly horny title; corsets don’t apply here, and even underwear proves blissfully optional. Set at a seedy roadside motel where the clientele never stops moaning, it’s a feverishly shambling erotic thriller starring three very game actors (Iago Xavier, Nataly Rocha, and Fábio Assunção) in a romantic triangle that plays like James M. Cain with sex toys—“The Postman Always Cock Rings Twice,” as it were.

10. “Emilia Pérez”

A trans-empowerment musical set against the backdrop of Mexico’s drug cartels might sound like a dubious proposition on paper, and, for the many detractors of this genre-melding big swing from the French director Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet,” “The Sisters Brothers”), what actually made it onto the screen was no better. But I was disarmed from the start by Audiard’s quasi-Almodóvarian vibes, his touchingly imperfect embrace of song-and-dance stylization, and, most of all, his three leads: the remarkable discovery Karla Sofía Gascón, a scene-stealing Selena Gomez, and a never-better Zoe Saldaña. All three (along with Adriana Paz) were recognized with the festival’s Best Actress prize, awarded collectively to the movie’s ensemble of actresses; Audiard also won the Jury Prize. (A forthcoming Netflix release.)

11. “Oh, Canada”

After a tense trilogy of dramas about male redemption through violence (“First Reformed,” “The Card Counter,” “Master Gardener”), the writer and director Paul Schrader has taken a gentler turn with an adaptation of “Foregone,” a 2021 novel by the late Russell Banks. (It’s his second Banks adaptation, after the 1997 drama “Affliction.”) In exploring the fragmented consciousness of an aging documentary filmmaker (played at different ages by Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi), Schrader bravely forsakes the narrative fastidiousness of his recent work and takes on grand themes of memory, mortality, and artistic self-reckoning, to formally ragged but sincerely moving effect.

12. “The Girl with the Needle”

This stark and terrifying black-and-white drama from the Swedish-born, Polish-based director Magnus von Horn (“Sweat”) was perhaps the competition’s bleakest entry. Set in Copenhagen immediately after the First World War, it pins us so mercilessly to the hard-bitten perspective of Karoline (an excellent Vic Carmen Sonne), a factory seamstress who becomes pregnant out of wedlock, that we scarcely notice her story shifting in a different, more sinister direction. It’s a bitterly hard-to-stomach brew of a movie, at once hideous and beautifully made, with a chilling supporting turn by Trine Dyrholm as a friend whose interventions turn out to be anything but benign.

13. “Three Kilometres to the End of the World”

The setting of this well-observed but emotionally opaque drama, from the Romanian actor turned director Emanuel Pârvu, is a small rural village where a closeted teen-age boy, Adi (Ciprian Chiujdea), is brutally beaten after being caught in an intimate moment with a male traveller. Pârvu teases out the legal, psychological, and moral fallout with the pitch-perfect performances and laserlike formal focus that have become hallmarks of new Romanian cinema. But, though the movie is persuasive enough as an indictment of small-town religious fundamentalism and homophobia, it proves curiously incurious about Adi’s perspective, to the detriment of its own human pulse.

14. “Kinds of Kindness”

After his Oscar-winning period romps “The Favourite” (2018) and “Poor Things” (2023), the Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos scales back—but goes long—with a sprawling, increasingly tedious compendium of comic cruelty. My favorite of the film’s three disconnected stories, all featuring the same actors, is the one where Jesse Plemons (the ensemble M.V.P., as the jury recognized with its Best Actor award) plays Willem Dafoe’s Manchurian candidate; my least favorite is the one where Emma Stone joins a sweat-worshipping sex cult. The one where Stone slices off her finger and cooks it for Plemons falls—much like the movie in Lanthimos’s over-all œuvre—somewhere in the middle. (A Searchlight Pictures release, opening June 21st in theatres.)

15. “Bird”

My admiration for the English filmmaker Andrea Arnold (“American Honey”) is such that I’m eager to revisit her latest rough-and-tumble coming-of-age story and find that I undervalued it. Arnold is certainly skilled at integrating recognizable actors, which in this case includes Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, into her grottily realist frames, and she has an appealing lead performer in Nykiya Adams, as a twelve-year-old girl who overcomes persistent abuse and neglect. But the story may lose you—as it lost me—with a magical-realist turn that magnifies, rather than minimizes, the tortured-animal symbolism that has often dogged Arnold’s work.

16. “Beating Hearts”

An exchange of insults at a high-school bus stop provides a saucy meet-cute for a good girl (Mallory Wanecque) and a ne’er-do-well boy (Malik Frikah); so begins a raucous and endearing love story for the ages, in which the director Gilles Lellouche, with outsized glee and little discipline, merrily appropriates the conventions of classic Hollywood musicals and gangster flicks. The result is much too long at nearly three hours—the story spans several years, with Adèle Exarchopoulos and François Civil playing older versions of the two leads—but I can’t say I didn’t warm to its rambunctious cornball charm.

17. “Limonov: The Ballad”

Why make a film about Eduard Limonov, the globe-trotting Russian dissident poet and punk provocateur reviled for his pro-fascist sympathies? The filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov never musters a satisfying answer in this muddled English-language bio-pic, despite an energetically uninhibited central performance by Ben Whishaw and a cheeky panoply of filmmaking techniques—jittery camerawork, lengthy tracking shots—meant to catch us up in the épater-la-bourgeoisie exuberance of Limonov’s revolt. Considering his earlier work, I prefer the rebel-youth vibes of “Leto” (2018) and the dazzling cinematic assaults of “Petrov’s Flu” (2021), both of which also screened in competition here.

18. “Parthenope”

Nearly every new picture from the Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino could be reasonably called “The Great Beauty,” the title of his gorgeous 2013 cinematic tour of Rome. (It left that year’s Cannes empty-handed, but won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.) His latest work remains most intriguing for its ambivalent but still sensually overpowering vision of the director’s home town, Naples, from which springs a modern-day goddess, named after Parthenope, a Siren from Greek mythology. She’s played by Celeste Dalla Porta, a great beauty indeed and an empathetic screen presence, though only fitfully does her character seem worthy of this movie’s epic enshrinement.

19. “Wild Diamond”

Another disquisition on beauty and its discontents, this time from the débuting French writer and director Agathe Riedinger. She hurls us the life and busy social-media feed of a nineteen-year-old, Liane (a terrific Malou Khebizi), who has nipped, tucked, and tailored every part of herself to realize her dream of being selected for a hot new reality-TV series. Part influencer-culture cautionary tale, part bad-girl Cinderella story, the movie glancingly suggests the soul-rotting effects of beauty worship, but it falls victim to the trap that Liane is trying to avoid: in a sea of worthy candidates, it doesn’t especially stand out.

20. “The Apprentice”

Donald Trump’s attorneys have threatened legal action to block the release of this drama about his early rise to fame and wealth under the mentorship of the attorney Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). It speaks to the useless proficiency of Ali Abbasi’s movie that the prospect of such censorship provokes more indifference than outrage. Shot to evoke cruddy nineteen-eighties VHS playback, the movie is well acted by Strong, Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, and an increasingly makeup-buried Sebastian Stan as Trump himself, depicted from the start as a sack of shit that gets progressively shittier. It’s not dismissible, but it’s hardly the stuff of revelation, either.

21. “Marcello Mio”

In this trifling meta-comedy from the French filmmaker Christophe Honoré (previously in the 2018 Cannes competition with the lovely “Sorry Angel”), the actress Chiara Mastroianni embarks on a strainedly whimsical personal odyssey to examine the legacy of her late father, the legendary Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, and her own conflicted place therein. To that end, she spends much of this overstretched movie in “8½” and “La Dolce Vita” black-suited drag as she navigates a roundelay of industry in-jokes; among the French cinema luminaries making appearances are Fabrice Luchini, Nicole Garcia, and, most welcome, Chiara’s mother, Catherine Deneuve.

22. “The Most Precious of Cargoes”

The French director Michel Hazanavicius continues his uneven post-“The Artist” run with this animated Second World War fable, adapted from a 2019 novel by Jean-Claude Grumberg (and narrated by the late Jean-Louis Trintignant). It has an affecting opening stretch, in which a baby girl, thrown by her desperate father from an Auschwitz-bound train, is rescued and raised in secret by a woodcutter’s kindhearted wife. But when the child’s provenance is discovered, stoking local antisemitism, the movie becomes a bathetic wallow in Holocaust imagery, drowned in an Alexandre Desplat score whose every surge turned my heart increasingly to stone. ♦

[leclerc-s]

honest series timeline

(white events indicate an official date, blue events indicate no official date, red indicates which events have corresponding parts)

1989

july first: daniel ricciardo's birth december thirteenth: daphne jones' birth

1994

september first: carlos sainz's birth

1996

february seventh: pierre gasly's birth

1997

march second: penelope trevino's birth september thirtieth: max verstappen's birth october sixteenth: charles leclerc's birth december eleventh: rowan todd's birth

1998

june sixteenth: natalia ruiz's birth

1999

may eleventh: mae jones' birth march twenty-second: mick schumacher's birth november thirteenth: lando norris' birth

2000

october fourteenth: arthur leclerc's birth november twenty-first: freya vettel's birth december thirty-first: logan sargeant's birth

2001

april sixth: oscar piastri's birth july tenth: dulce perez's birth september seventh: bailey winter's birth

2002

january twentieth: isabella perez's birth february twentieth: zoya torres' birth trevino family moves to madrid, spain first meeting between penelope and carlos

2003

first meeting between natalia and charles

2004

2005

freya's adoption

2006

october twenty-fourth: daphne's debut album release

2007

2008

november eleventh: fearless release

2009

september thirteenth: daphne gets interrupted by kanye west at the vma's

2010

twenty-fifth: speak now release

2011

july tenth: daniel ricciardo's debut grand prix

2012

october twenty-second: red release

2013

2014

june twenty-seventh: mae's debut in girl meets world october twenty-seventh: nineteen eighty-nine release

2015

march fifteenth: max verstappen and carlos sainz's debut grand prix april fifteenth: eyes wide open release mae and max begin dating first meeting between daniel and daphne

2016

february twelfth: kanye west releases famous february fifteenth: daphne seemingly shades kanye west at an award show july sixteenth: kim kardashian releases video footage of kanye's phone call with daphne, daphne issues a statement defending herself after the leaked call september twenty-eight: daphne and daniel begin secretly dating october fourteenth: evolution release october twenty-third: daphne performs after the us grand prix mae and max break-up

2017

daphne disappears for a year august twenty-third: daphne announces reputation october first: pierre gasly's debut grand prix november tenth: reputation release

2018

march twenty-first charles leclerc's debut grand prix november ninth: singular act i release natalia and charles' friends with benefits relationship begins

2019

pierre and rowan's situationship begins march sixteenth: lando norris' debut grand prix june thirtieth: scooter braun purchases daphne's masters july first: lover release july nineteenth: singular act ii release september thirtieth: seven release (see seven for further info) november twelfth: zoya's debut on high school musical: the musical: the series

2020

january thirty-first: miss americana release march twenty: the entire phone call between daphne and kanye get leaked july twenty-fourth: folklore release december eleventh: evermore release daniel and joshua reunite mae and max

2021

lando and bailey's fake relationship begins april ninth: fearless (daphne's version) release march twenty-eighth: mick schumacher's debut grand prix may twenty-first: sour release september: filming for daisy jones and the six begins november twelfth: red (daphne's version) release mae and max begin dating again

2022

march: filming for daisy jones and the six wraps natalia becomes pregnant july fifteenth: emails i can't send release september twenty-eighth: daphne and daniel get married october twenty-first: midnights release pierre and rowan accidentally get married in vegas september twenty-eighth: daniel and daphne get married november twentieth: sebastian vettel's final race

2023

january seventeenth: baby leclerc is born rumors of daphne and fernando dating begin (see the daphlonso scandal for further info) lando accidentally leaks daphne and daniel's secret relationship during a livestream (see the daphlonso scandal for further info) march fifth: logan sargeant and oscar piastri's debut grand prix march seventeenth: daphne's eras tour kicks off and emails i can't send fwd release mae and max get secretly married the first meeting between logan and zoya july seventh: speak now (daphne's version) release july eleventh: daniel replaces nyck de vries at alphatauri august twenty-third: mae and max's familial wedding party september eighth: guts release october twenty-seventh: nineteen eighty-nine (daphne's version) release november 11th: daphne's famous line change, "karma is the guy on the track" (see karma is the guy on the track for further info) november fifteenth: mae and max's vegas wedding party (see what happens in vegas never stays in vegas for further info)

2024

january 25th: charles leclerc extends his contract with ferrari for a disclosed amount of time (see divorcegate for further info) january 26th: lando norris extends his contract with mclaren for a disclosed amount of time (see divorcegate for further info) february 1st: lewis hamilton announces his departure from mercedes, and announces his multi-year contract with ferrari. (see divorcegate for further info) february 4th: the 66th annual grammys, daphne announces her new album, the tortured poets department ( see let him be a trophy husband! for further info) march 2nd: the 75th formula one season begins. april 19th: the tortured poets department release june 21st: the secret of us release july 29th: carlos sainz to williams racing announcement august 23rd: short n' sweet release august 27th: logan sargeant's departure from williams racing september 26th: daniel ricciardo's departure from visa cashapp rb december 8th: the final eras tour show

… more events to be added

[writemarcus]

Playwrights Set for THE FIRE THIS TIME Festival 7th Cycle Of New Works Lab

The seventh cycle began in October 2024 and will meet monthly through May 2025.

By: Chloe Rabinowitz Oct. 24, 2024

The Fire This Time Festival, an annual festival of new work by playwrights of African and African-American descent, has revealed that playwrights Melda Beaty (2022 International Black Theatre Festival's Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award for "Coconut Cake"), Rachel Herron (2022-2023 resident playwright with Colt Coeur), and Marcus Scott (Princess Grace Award finalist) have been selected to develop full-length plays in the seventh cycle of their New Works Lab. The seventh cycle began in October 2024 and will meet monthly through May 2025.

In 2015 The Fire This Time established The Fire This Time Writers' Group with the mission to provide TFTT alumni and writers from the TFTT community the opportunity to develop new work in a nurturing and supportive environment. In 2017, the initiative was renamed the New Works Lab. From its inception to the present, the lab has been co-directed by educator and playwright Cynthia Grace Robinson ("Letters From Loretta," "Freedom Summer" "What If?" "Dancing on Eggshells") and A.J. Muhammad, a producer with TFTT. Funding for the 7th cycle of the New Works Lab was made possible by generous support from The Black Seed Fund.

Since its launch, over twenty playwrights have developed work in the New Works Lab including Kendra Augustin, Ngozi Anyanwu, France-Luce Benson, Kim Brockington, Tyrell Bennett, Christine Jean Chambers, Edgar Chisholm, Adrienne Dawes, Danielle Davenport, Khalil Kain, Jay Mazyck, Maia Matsushita, Liz Morgan, Shawn Nabors, Deneen Reynolds-Knott, T.R. Riggins, James Anthony Tyler, William Watkins, Shamar S. White, Mars Wolfe, and Antu Yacob.

Melda Beaty is an enthusiastic playwright of eight stage plays: "Front Porch Society," "Coconut Cake," "Thirty," "The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story," "Feebleminded," "COVID Be Damned," "Gaslight Garden" and "Guess What's for Dinner?" Her plays have enjoyed national productions and/or recognition. Most recently, she received the 2022 International Black Theatre Festival's Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling World Premiere Award for her stage play, "Coconut Cake." The play will receive five professional productions between 2024-2025. She was also a 2021 Confluence Fellow with the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. In addition, Melda is the author of two books. When not writing, she serves on the Board of Directors for the August Wilson Society and as a contributing editor for Black Masks magazine. Melda resides in Chicago, Illinois with her three talented daughters and is an assistant professor of English at Olive-Harvey Community College. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her graduate degree from Illinois State University.

Rachel Herron is a Black, queer, multidisciplinary artist residing in Brooklyn. She is currently a company member of Colt Coeur Theater, where she was a 2022-2023 resident playwright. Her plays include "It's Only a High School Reunion" (Live and In Color 24 Hour Festival), "Red Red Wine" (Fire This Time Festival 13th annual Ten-Minute Play Program), and "Token" (O'Neill Center Semifinalist). Additionally, her playwriting portfolio has landed her as a finalist for the WP Theater Lab and a semi-finalist for the June Bingham Commission with Live and In Color. She's written several original pilots, of which she was named a CBS Writers Mentoring Program finalist (2019), a Mentorship Matters semifinalist (2021), and a two-time Disney Writing Program finalist (2022 and 2023). She is a mentee in the #startwith8 program for women of color trying to break into television writing. She wrote, directed, and starred in a short film called IDOL CHASER, which premiered in Fall 2024 at Katra Film Series and took home the Audience Choice Award. Her satirical writing is featured on McSweeney's Internet Tendency. She received a BFA in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Marcus Scott is a dramatist and journalist. Full-length works: TUMBLEWEED (finalist: 2017 BAPF & 2017 Austin Playhouse Festival of New American Plays; semifinalist: 2022 O'Neill NPC, 2022 Blue Ink Playwriting Award & 2017 Princess Grace Award), SIBLING RIVALRIES (finalist: 2023 Normal Ave's NAPseries, 2021 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference & 2021 Judith Royer Excellence In Playwriting Award; semi-finalist: 2022 Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, 2021 Blue Ink Playwriting Award & 2021 Princess Grace Award), THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD (finalist: 2023 Princess Grace Award, 2023 Blue Ink Playwriting Award; semifinalist: 2024 BAPF, 2024 Fault Line Theater's Irons in the Fire & 2024 O'Neill NPC), CHERRY BOMB (recipient: 2017 Drama League First Stage Artist-In-Residence). Heartbeat Opera commissioned Scott to adapt Beethoven's FIDELIO (Co-writer; Met Live Arts at the MET Museum, NY Times Critics' Pick). Scott is the recipient of the Chelsey/Bumbalo Playwriting Award (2024). He is a finalist for the 2024-2025 Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellows Program, 2022 Many Voices Fellowship, 2021 NYSAF Founders' Award and is a 2021 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award semi-finalist. His articles appeared in Architectural Digest, Time Out New York, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill, Elle, Out, Essence, The Brooklyn Rail, among others. MFA: NYU Tisch.

The Fire This Time Festival was founded in 2009 by playwright and producer Kelley Girod to provide a platform for playwrights of African and African-American descent to write and produce evocative material for diverse audiences. Since the debut of the first 10-minute play program in 2010, presented in collaboration with FRIGID New York, The Fire This Time Festival has has produced and developed the work of more than 90 playwrights including Katori Hall, Dominique Morisseau, Radha Blank, Antoinette Nwandu, Jocelyn Bioh, korde arrington tuttle, Stacey Rose, Aziza Barnes, C.A. Johnson, Kevin R. Free, Charly Evon Simpson, Angelica Cheri, James Anthony Tyler, Jordan Cooper, Nathan Yungerberg, Nia A. Robinson, and Cris Eli Blak.

The Fire This Time's first anthology, "25 Plays from The Fire This Time Festival: A Decade of Recognition, Resistance, Rebirth, and Black Theater" edited by Kelley Girod was released by Bloomsbury Publishing in February 2022. www.firethistimefestival.com

FRIGID New York's mission is to provide both emerging and established artists the opportunity to create and produce original work of varied content, form, and style, and to amplify their diverse voices. We do this by presenting an array of monthly programming, mainstage productions, an artist residency, and eight annual theater festivals that create an environment of collaboration, resourcefulness, and innovation. Founded in 1998, the aim was and is to form a structure, allowing multiple artists to focus on creating and staging new work and providing affordable rental space to scores of independent artists. Now in our third decade we have produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. www.frigid.nyc

[shenspen]

Personal Essay: My Experiences in Cuba

Your late teens and early twenties can sometimes feel like a chain of never-ending epiphanies. It’s a rocky road that feels as if it will never come to an end. But as you grow up, you will soon enough realise that, as cliche as it sounds, everything does happen for a reason, because you learn valuable lessons from life’s trials and tribulations. Also, soon enough, you will realise that many things that you once made a huge fuss over don’t really matter. Remember how life felt like it was coming to an end when you failed an exam or lost a friend who turned out to be less genuine than you thought? Well, guess what? Life didn't end, and most importantly, you learned very valuable lessons. I think my greatest epiphany happened during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, when I moved to Havana, Cuba. That was certainly a time to remember for all the good, bad, and in-betweens. From my experiences there, the resilience of the Cuban people will be etched into my mind forever; plus, I will be eternally grateful for my country, Jamaica, and the privileges she has afforded me. 

Before moving to Cuba, I heard about how much harder it was to get certain items in stores there, but with global shortages as a result of the pandemic and newly imposed U.S. embargoes, what I faced there was far worse than I could possibly imagine. Imagine standing in a line that spans a modest two blocks until it breaks because of a street intersection and continues down the road until it is out of sight, just for groceries. You’d imagine that they must be giving something away there, not that these people are waiting in line for hours to get a chance to buy groceries. Unfortunately, once the stock is diminished, which usually takes around 3 hours after the stock is replenished, everyone who didn't get a chance to purchase has to go home empty-handed to their disappointed families. To make things worse, that store will be empty for almost a week until they get new stock. 

I never once thought of being able to access groceries as a privilege. In Jamaica, we have the privilege of going to grocery stores with shelves overflowing with goods and a wide variety of products. But after my experiences in Cuba, every trip to the grocery store feels like such a blessing. Accessibility is an unappreciated privilege that, as humans, we take for granted until we are in a situation where we are in dire need. 

Shortages in Jamaica are few, and even when we do have a shortage of one item, there is always another we can purchase, so we are never really in dire need of anything. In Cuba, week after week came with shortage after shortage. One week it was flour, so all the bakeries nearby were closed because they couldn't make bread. I never craved bread so much until it wasn't accessible, but it is innately human to want the things we can't have. Another week, it was sanitary pads. My landlady came to me asking if I had any extras, and thankfully I brought enough from Jamaica to share. She had to swallow her pride to ask me for such a necessary commodity, and she was so appreciative, as she said she had to be using toilet paper instead. As a woman, I felt for her because toilet paper can only do so much and no more, not to mention that toilet paper is also a scarce commodity, so of course sacrifices had to be made.

Chicken was also very hard to get, and as a Seventh-Day Adventist, this was a huge cause for concern because that was my main source of protein, and in Cuba, the most readily available source was pork. The chicken shortage caused me to eat out basically every day. Although it wasn't available in grocery stores, restaurants had it, and when they didn't have it, I'd go for their vegetarian options. You may be thinking to yourself that that must be so expensive, but the reality is that in Cuba, everything is insanely cheap compared to what I'd pay for things in Jamaica. So buying my meals was financially viable. 

As I lived there for more time, I soon enough realised that everything was cheap there, and I took full advantage of this. I would go to the salon every week to get my hair and nails done because it would cost me the equivalent of around $30 USD to get my fingers, toes, and hair done at the fanciest salon in my area. However, going to the salon allowed me to open my eyes and see for myself how immense the wealth gap in Cuba was. 

From my perspective, everything seemed very cheap because I was constantly comparing it to prices in Jamaica, my democratic homeland. In Cuba, the average member of the working class makes the equivalent of $200 USD a month. Providing for your family with that amount in the midst of ever-increasing inflation seems unfathomable, but they made it work. And they did so gracefully while they smiled through the hardships, never once complained in my presence, and found happiness in the little things in life. 

Going to the salon opened my eyes to the kind of wealth that exists amongst Cuba's upper class, including those who have generational wealth because they happened to be on the right side of the revolution and those who work in government. The salon I went to had a very elite clientele consisting of wives and daughters of politicians, expats, and diplomats. What I noticed was that these women were clad in designer clothing, had the latest iPhones, and were picked up in brand new European cars. Yes, brand new European cars. You may have thought that Cuba was filled with old cars, but that's a common misconception- only tourist areas were filled with vintage cars. It's possible to get a new car there if you have the right connections and, most importantly, the right amount of money.

I think I realised that communism was a scam in that very salon. I sat there and realised that the ideologies of communism only make sense in a perfect world where the ruling class won't exploit the working class in the name of equity while making themselves richer. It made me feel for the people of Cuba because the handbag that a particular politician's wife carried costs what a Cuban would make in around two and a half years. 

Yes, Jamaica does have significant wealth gaps, but democracy is built on that very principle. Our government has never once preached equity for all, so it has never been something we expected. A large wealth gap in a democratic society is only natural. Both countries are in no way better than the next, and the institutions that rule us both are to be blamed. Seeing the disparity that exists made me feel deeply for the people because they were promised equity, but true equity will never exist in a world of greed. 

The world that we live in today is very imperfect, so when you've lived in your country your whole life, you get to pick at all its flaws, and you often overlook the privileges that come with living there. Living in Cuba has allowed me to gain a greater appreciation for Jamaica. So whenever something about my living circumstances here gets me down, I stop and look at all that I have to be grateful for. 

[twins2994]

Baltimore Orioles-Minnesota Twins Series Preview

7.6.23-Cole Irvin LHP (1-3) 6.32 ERA Vs. Bailey Ober RHP (5-4) 2.70 ERA

7.7.23-Tyler Wells RHP (6-4) 3.19 ERA Vs. Sonny Gray RHP (4-2) 2.50 ERA

7.8.23-Kyle Gibson RHP (8-6) 4.73 ERA Vs. Joe Ryan RHP (8-5) 3.42 ERA

The Orioles At A Glance- The Orioles split a four-game series with the Yankees this week. They out-scored New York 20-4 in the last two games and now head to Minneapolis to close out the first half. Aaron Hicks was scratched from Thursday’s game with left Achilles soreness. Austin Hays has a hip issue and was out of the lineup on Thursday. Cionel Perez was put on the injured list with left forearm soreness. Ryan O’Hearn has been hot lately with a .368 average in July. Adley Rutschman is hitting .346 this month. Ramon Urias and Anthony Santander are both hitting .333 in July. The Orioles starting staff has a 4.57 ERA, which is twenty-first in baseball. The bullpen has been a strong point with a 3.78 ERA, which is seventh-best in MLB. Felix Bautista has locked down twenty-three saves and allowed just five earned runs over forty innings. Yennier Cano has finally harnessed his control. He has a 1.51 ERA over 41 2/3 innings. Danny Coulombe has found a home as a left in the Baltimore bullpen. 

The Twins At A Glance- The Twins are back on track with five wins in their past six games. The team has an off day at home on Thursday before closing out the first half against the Orioles this weekend. Jorge Polanco has been working out with the team and doing some high-effort sprints. Nick Gordon is out of his cast and is with the team during the homestand. Royce Lewis has a Grade 2 left oblique strain and will miss at-least six weeks. Brock Stewart and Caleb Thielbar should be back after the All-Star Break. Jorge Lopez and Cole Sands are back. Carlos Correa is hitting .350 with a double and an RBI in July. Max Kepler is hitting .375 with five RBI over his past five games. Byron Buxton has a .313 average that should be higher. He’s been hitting into some tough luck and great defensive plays lately. In the last six games, Twins starting pitchers have an 0.88 ERA over forty-one innings with fifty-one strikeouts. Griffin Jax has thrown 16 2/3 scoreless innings. I could see Cole Sands getting some higher leverage innings this weekend if needed. Griffin Jax will get the eighth inning and Jhoan Duran should get the ninth if the Twins are ahead. The bullpen didn’t pitch on Wednesday and has the day off on Thursday. 

What To Watch For- The Twins took two of three games from the Orioles last weekend. Minnesota outscored Baltimore 10-3 in the series and still lost a game. The Orioles were walked off twice in their last trip to Target Field. Byron Buxton took Jorge Lopez deep for a walk-off homer in the series opener then Jose Miranda lined a walk-off single to left off Lopez on the next day. Cole Irvin has allowed two runs over 11 2/3 innings in two starts against the Twins. Bailey Ober threw seven shutout innings last Saturday against the O’s. Tyler Wells has a 1.88 ERA in 14 1/3 innings against the team that drafted him. Sonny Gray is (6-5) with a 4.19 ERA in thirteen games against the Orioles. Kyle Gibson threw eight innings and gave up three runs in his lone start against the Twins on May 4, 2021. He is (32-36) with a 4.70 ERA in 96 games at Target Field. Joe Ryan has given up three runs over 11 2/3 innings versus Baltimore. This should be a fun series to close out the first half. 

-Chris Kreibich-

[californiafacts]

Richard Engel Net Worth: How Much He Is Rich Now In 2023?

Richard Engel Net Worth: The question is, how rich will Richard Engel be in 2023? Born in the United States on September 16, 1973, journalist and author Richard Engel serves as NBC News' top international correspondent. Following his tenure as the network's Middle East correspondent and head of the Beirut bureau, he was promoted to his current position on April 18, 2008. When the Iraq War began in 2003, Engel was working as a freelance journalist in Baghdad for ABC News before joining NBC in May of that year. Because of his reporting on the Arab Spring, the Syrian civil war, and the Iraq War, Engel has gained widespread recognition. He is fluent in Italian, Spanish, and Arabic, and can read and write in all three. After reading his "War Zone Diary," Engel was honored with the Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism. Published in 2004, A Fist in the Hornet's Nest is Engel's account of his time spent reporting on the Iraq War from the capital city of Baghdad. And Then All Hell Broke Loose, published in 2016, is the culmination of his two-decade long career as a freelance correspondent in the Middle East. After finishing his degree at Stanford, Engel uprooted to Cairo in search of the next great news story. His desire to "ride the train of history rather than watch it go by" is what drew him to journalism. He first stayed in Cairo for four years, during which time he studied Egyptian Arabic, worked as a freelance journalist, and occupied a shabby apartment on the seventh floor of a rundown building. Kate Hudson Facelift: See Photos of Her Transformation Over the Years

Richard Engel Net Worth In 2023

Richard Engel Net Worth: Richard Engel is expected to have a net worth of $4 million by 2023. Richard's famed career in journalism is the primary source of his income and wealth. It is estimated that NBC correspondents earn an annual salary of $79,000, plus a $6,000 bonus. This number likely rises to around $200,000 for someone with Engel's level of experience. Richard's well-received books, in addition to his work as a journalist, provide him with a comfortable income. Specifically, you can purchase War Journal on Amazon for around $15. You can get a hard copy of his other book, Defeating Isis, for twenty dollars. As of the year 2021, Richard Engel has amassed a net worth of $1.5 million.

Richard Engel Net Worth

Richard Engel Career

Richard Engel career: American writer and journalist Richard Engel is NBC News' primary overseas correspondent. He was appointed to his current position on April 18, 2008. A former Middle East journalist and head of the network's Beirut office, Engel is a familiar face in the media world. From areas like Syria and Iraq, he has reported on the situation on the ground. His works include A Fist in the Hornet's Nest and And Then All Hell Broke Loo.

Richard Engel Personal Life

Richard Engel Personal Life: Richard and Mary Forrest married each other. Reportedly, the couple tied the knot on May 29, 2015. By 2021, they will have been together for a total of six years. It was in the year of his parents' wedding that Henry entered the world. When Henry was just two years old, his doctor diagnosed him with a form of Rett Syndrome. The inability to move or speak is just one of the many symptoms of this extremely rare brain condition. Both Richard and Mary put in a lot of time and energy to assisting their child with developing his fine motor skills. Theo, the younger of the two children, was also born in 2019 and will be two this year. In an interview from last year, Richard opened out about how heartbreaking it was to see his son Theo walk while knowing that Henry may never be able to. Before their divorce later that year, he was married to a woman who had attended Stanford. Richard Engel net worth and salary https://t.co/v2RMp2cruU — Hi5connectgh.com (@hi5connectgh) August 18, 2022

His Son Diagnosed With Rett Syndrome In 2017

Henry was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome in 2017, a rare inherited neurological illness that causes significant physical and cognitive disabilities and is now incurable. In May, Engel stated that Henry's condition had "taken a turn for the worst," and that his prognosis had "progressed." Engel's 2-year-old son Theo may be seen in a Twitter post kissing Henry on the forehead as he sleeps. The journalist who covered Henry's tale lamented in the video's description how horribly bad things had gotten for everyone involved. As his health worsened, he developed dystonia, which is characterised by uncontrollable stiffness and shaking. His letter said that after six weeks in the hospital, Henry was "home and getting adulation from brother Theo." Because Henry "misses a conductor gene," a medical team at Texas Children's Hospital is "searching for a medicine that could greatly help," Engel told PEOPLE in 2019. Read More: - Are Isha And Michael Still Together From Twentysomethings? - Gabriel Kuhn and Daniel Patry: Autopsy Pictures and Story Explained with images - Drake’s wife trainer Hamza Lavezzi (UPDATED) Know About His Age, Girlfriend, And Net Worth Read the full article

[frequentandmany]

One of the things I miss most is being with someone in the companionable silence of watching a movie together. I can make a silly or banal comment here or there, but there is no pressure to speak unless I don’t want to. It’s a very simple way to show affection. I am comfortable with you in my silence. I feel no need to fill it with empty words or keep you entertained.

Nothing can be done to replicate the feeling of our feet tangled together in the middle of a couch, or the way a blanket is warmer when you’re under it with me. There is no way to replace how I accidentally left my drink on your side of the coffee table, would you hand it to me please? No way to tap-tap-tap your leg when something funny happens and I can’t control myself.

But we can replicate the silence. The silence and empty chat box offers, of knowing you’re on the other end, that we’re living together in the moment no matter how far apart we are.

There’s no word in the English language that covers the same emotions as a frantic keysmash, no way to verbally convey the same thing as ‘!!!!!!!!!’ Actually crying does not share the intention of a ;-; and there is no practical way to make an ‘uwu face’ in real life.

With every decision, something is gained, and something is lost.

I rate screen-sharing co-watching services three stars.

[animatedrapture]

SYNOPSIS: Sure, you have more than just a tiny crush on Suna Rintarou, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get to know him as friends... Right?

Or, in which: It’s hard to get Suna’s attention when he’s at the center of it all, especially not if he might have someone else he already likes.

PAIRING: Suna Rintarou x f!Reader.

TAGS: strangers to lovers. mutual & one-sided (?) pining. fluff. crack. angst. jealousy. slight college au. lowkey some bullying. explicit/sexual content. set in timeskip. friends with benefits.

WARNING: NSFW & extremely suggestive themes, MINORS DNI (this means that if you're below 18, go away); mentions of alcohol use. profanity.

NOTES: has a few written parts. also, she/her pronouns are used for the reader.

TAGLIST: closed.

STATUS: on-going. / on hold. UPDATES: the world may never know.

start date: June 3, 2021

PLAYLIST.

DIRECTOR'S CUT!

"you are — suna & yn's fwb (smut.)

comfort and warmth — suna & yn. (fluff.) ; tba

and i stand before you — suna. osamu. (angst.) ; tba

from the outside — atsumu. (n/a) ; tba

looking in." — n/a. (n/a) ; tba

meet the cast! – the mess | the gossip & support group

『 first: my baby 』

『 second: couldn't be me 』

『 third: a solid 3 』

『 fourth: ah, fuck 』

『 fifth: a hot idiot 』

『 sixth: kana's great 』

『 seventh: just like them 』

『 eighth: pretty girl 』

『 ninth: bigdick.com 』

『 tenth: on my hands and knees 』

『 eleventh: you wanna kiss me so bad 』

『 twelfth: politely ask if you're single 』

『 thirteenth: what the fuck tooru 』

『 fourteenth: busy being yours 』

『 fifteenth: i'll call you 』

『 sixteenth: liked you too 』

『 seventeenth:

— makin' me jealous

— pretty girl's number 』

『 eighteenth: so what if i do? 』

『 nineteenth: apocalypse 』

『 twentieth: i need a drink 』

『 twenty-first: all yours 』

『 twenty-second: your fault 100% 』

『 twenty-third: i'd hate to ruin your plans 』

『 twenty-fourth:

— you know what you did

— sick of me

— with kana 』

『 twenty-fifth: please wait for me 』

『 twenty-sixth: he loves her back 』

『 twenty-seventh:

— block kana?

— always, always 』

『 twenty-eighth: wake up bitches 』

『 twenty-ninth:

— we were something — don't you think so? 』

『 thirtieth: get a hint. 』

『 thirty-first: delete me. 』

『 thirty-second: 』

you promised

selfish

the lucky one

— chapter titles subject to change.

answered smau asks: #smau ; as friends

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Lord will give all this great multitude into your hand...

26 In the spring Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. 27 After the Israelites had been mustered and provisioned, they went out to engage them; the people of Israel encamped opposite them like two little flocks of goats, while the Arameans filled the country. 28 A man of God approached and said to the king of Israel, “Thus says the Lord: Because the Arameans have said, ‘The Lord is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys,’ therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” 29 They encamped opposite one another seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle began; the Israelites killed one hundred thousand Aramean foot soldiers in one day. 30 The rest fled into the city of Aphek, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left.

Ben-hadad also fled and entered the city to hide. 31 His servants said to him, “Look, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings; let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.” 32 So they tied sackcloth around their waists, put ropes on their heads, went to the king of Israel, and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ” And he said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” 33 Now the men were watching for an omen; they quickly took it up from him and said, “Yes, Ben-hadad is your brother.” Then he said, “Go and bring him.” So Ben-hadad came out to him, and he had him come up into the chariot. 34 Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the towns that my father took from your father, and you may establish bazaars for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” The king of Israel responded, “I will let you go on those terms.” So he made a treaty with him and let him go.

A Prophet Condemns Ahab

35 At the command of the Lord a certain member of a company of prophets said to another, “Strike me!” But the man refused to strike him. 36 Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, as soon as you have left me, a lion will kill you.” And when he had left him, a lion met him and killed him. 37 Then he found another man and said, “Strike me!” So the man hit him, striking and wounding him. 38 Then the prophet departed and waited for the king along the road, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. 39 As the king passed by, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the thick of the battle; then a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if he is missing, your life shall be given for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ 40 While your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.” 41 Then he quickly took the bandage away from his eyes. The king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. 42 Then he said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Because you have let the man go whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall be for his life and your people for his people.” 43 The king of Israel set out toward home, resentful and sullen, and came to Samaria. — 1 Kings 20:26-43 | New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE) New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved worldwide. Cross References: Genesis 25:20; Genesis 37:34; Exodus 16:12; Joshua 13:4; Judges 6:3; 1 Samuel 11:1; 1 Samuel 13:5; 1 Samuel 28:18; 1 Samuel 29:1; 2 Samuel 3:31; 2 Samuel 11:1; 2 Samuel 12:7; 2 Samuel 14:13;  1 Kings 13:17-18; 1 Kings 13:24; 1 Kings 14:2; 1 Kings 15:18; 1 Kings 15:20; 1 Kings 17:18; 1 Kings 20:3; 1 Kings 21:1; 1 Kings 21:4; 1 Kings 22:25; 2 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 10:5; 2 Kings 10:24; Jeremiah 48:10

[sugareey-makes-stuff]

Happy birthday to @yourtokentrophywife, a fellow snek! Here’s a fortune cookie and a rec list to celebrate how awesome Sam is! I am so glad to have Sam as a friend because she has been such a Flintwood inspiration! Let’s be honest, I’ve poked at this ship on and off for years. I definitely wanted to read more fics with Marcus and Oliver, but I wasn’t even sure if there were any more active creators for this ship, tbh. When I found Sam’s work though, I became instantly hooked. She’s a brilliant writer who knows her characters really well. She has all sorts of ideas and everything down to the tee. Sam has such a way of writing Marcus and Oliver that’s believable, from the push and pull of their rivalry and UST to their teasing and ridiculous banter. I was sold on their dynamic because they have a constant buzz of energy whenever they’re around each other, and that’s from reading Sam’s fics. Her puns, lines and smut are all Chef’s Kiss. So clever, so smooth and the way Marcus and Oliver go at each other (as rivals to lovers) is on fire. They’re hot, sexy and pure magic. Whenever I want to read fic and I’m looking for these vibes, I'll go back and reread Sam’s Flintwood fics since they scratch that itch. Also, did you know Sam draws? I love it when writers dabble in art too! Her Flintwood art makes me grin, just like her writing. I love this footballer piece (and she has more drawings in this Flintwood Challenge 2021 post). If you want to dive into Flintwood, here are my favourite Sam fics to get you started: >> Boyfriend (E, 4.8k): Summary: Oliver wants a boyfriend for the off-season. Alternatively: Angelina is a bad-ass, gorgeous woman who sees through Oliver's bullshit. I love this fic because Oliver’s PoV on what he thinks he wants and what he actually wants is just so him. What an over-thinker (but then again, I don’t blame him!). Lots of denial of feelings, delicious smut, and of course his friends see everything before Oliver finally gives in and accepts that maybe the thing he has with Marcus is actually something more.  >> The Keeper and the Key (E, 3k): Summary: The morning of Marcus’ twenty-seventh birthday becomes a rather horrid affair, much to his surprise. It really sets the scene for Marcus’ PoV since we get an insight on his family and Pureblood politics. It’s super in character of him to think of what he has with Oliver as some sort of arrangement and nothing more (lies and insecurity, of course!). And the dry humour in this makes this worth the read. Such a fun fic, and the typical miscommunication and banter is spot-on. >> The Inked Snitch (also includes Blaise/Neville, T, 23.9k): Summary:  While Oliver’s quidditch days may be over, his quidditch supply shop is near perfection. Perhaps he’s a little lonely and a tad sheltered too, but Oliver would much rather keep to himself than have his heart broken. That’s not too much to ask for is it? Though when a magical tattoo shop opens up next door, Oliver’s in for a lot of surprises, including bad flirting, third-wheeling and the return of an old rival.    If you want some feelings, this fic has a lot of it. I think this is the first Flintwood fic I read where Marcus and Oliver are seriously working through their shit and they are trying to establish themselves as people beyond athletes. And OMG, the ridiculous amount of terrible flirting that happens between Blaise and Neville is hilarious. Such precious idiots in love. Not saying that Marcus and Oliver aren’t idiots in love either. They definitely are. >> ALSO: I am finnnallllyyy starting, Big Brutes and Frappuccinos (E, 20.5k, mind the tags), since it’s almost done, and well, who doesn’t love a good football AU with UST? There’s some Parkweasel in there too, which I’m also a fan of. Summary: Marcus Flint plays for West Ham and he's absolutely fine with being the most violent player in the league. He's twenty-six and got a good ten years left of play in him. Nothing can ever come between him and the game. Then Oliver Wood, keeper for Queens Park Rangers, makes an appearance in his life. Oliver's his childhood rival, he's openly gay and he has an addiction to sugary drinks from Starbucks. Oh, and he's gorgeous. Not that Marcus is some shirtlifter or anything. I usually see a lot of hockey or rugby AUs with these two, so it’s definitely a treat when I do find a footballer AU. Really fun so far! Let me know what y’all think if you’re reading/have read this fic. Check out more of Sam’s work, and let her know how much you love her contributions for keeping Flintwood alive! Sam, thanks for being a super star, and I hope your day is fantastic!

[vorfreud]

films on youtube: part i

Updated on September 29th 2021.

Below is a selection of films available on YouTube. As I try to update this list as regularly as possible (for this is a lenghthy process), please refer to the original post for the newest version.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Apparently, Tumblr restricts the number of links you can have all on one post. Therefore, this list is divided into two parts. You can access part two by clicking on the link below:

PART II HERE.

For a visual reference of all the movies available, click here.

Titles are alphabetized by director, and organized by year of release.

Gozāresh (1977), Abbas Kiarostami

Close-Up (1990), Abbas Kiarostami

Taste of Cherry (1997), Abbas Kiarostami

Shirin (2008), Abbas Kiarostami

Dreams (1990), Akira Kurosawa

Trans-Europ-Express (1966), Alain Robbe-Grillet

L'Homme Qui Ment (1968), Alain Robbe-Grillet

Rien Que Les Heures (1926), Alberto Cavalcanti

They Made Me a Fugitive (1947), Alberto Cavalcanti

Downhill (1927), Alfred Hitchcock

The Lodger (1927), Alfred Hitchcock

Elstree Calling (1930), Alfred Hitchcock and Adrian Brunel

The 39 Steps (1935), Alfred Hitchcock

Sabotage (1936), Alfred Hitchcock

Young and Innocent (1937), Alfred Hitchcock (Part I / Part II)

The Lady Vanishes (1938), Alfred Hitchcock

Rebecca (1940), Alfred Hitchcock

Spellbound (1945), Alfred Hitchcock

Notorious (1946), Alfred Hitchcock

The Paradine Case (1947), Alfred Hitchcock

Under Capricorn (1949), Alfred Hitchcock

The Trouble with Harry (1955), Alfred Hitchcock

Salomé (1923), Alla Nazimova and Charles Bryant

Goodbye Again (1961), Anatole Litvak

Ivan’s Childhood (1962), Andrei Tarkovsky

Andrei Rublev (1966), Andrei Tarkovsky (Part I / Part II)

Solaris (1972), Andrei Tarkovsky (Part I / Part II)

Stalker (1979), Andrei Tarkovsky

Nostalghia (1983), Andrei Tarkovsky

The Sacrifice (1986), Andrei Tarkovsky

Very Nice, Very Nice (1961), Arthur Lipsett

21-87 (1963), Arthur Lipsett

A Trip Down Memory Lane (1965), Arthur Lipsett

The Chase (1946), Arthur Ripley

A Separation (2011), Asghar Farhadi

Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), Béla Tarr

The Turin Horse (2011), Béla Tarr

Un Homme Qui Dort (1974), Bernard Queysanne

Il Conformista (1970), Bernardo Bertolucci

By the Bluest of Seas (1936), Boris Barnet

Sherlock Holmes Jr. (1924), Buster Keaton

The General (1926), Buster Keaton

Steamboat Bill (1928), Buster Keaton

Mikaël (1924), Carl Theodor Dryer

Love One Another (1922), Carl Theodor Dryer

Night Train to Munich (1940), Carol Reed

The Way Ahead (1944), Carol Reed

Odd Man Out (1947), Carol Reed

The Running Man (1963), Carol Reed

Behind the Screen (1916), Charles Chaplin

The Gold Rush (1925), Charles Chaplin

City Lights (1931), Charles Chaplin

Modern Times (1936), Charles Chaplin

Monsieur Verdoux (1947), Charles Chaplin

Statues Also Die (1953), Chris Marker, Alain Resnais and Ghislain Cloquet

La Jetée (1962), Chris Marker

Sans Soleil (1983), Chris Marker

If I Had Four Dromedaries (1966), Chris Marker

The Seventh Veil (1945), Compton Bennett

Come Back, Little Sheba (1952), Daniel Mann

Brief Encounter (1945), David Lean

Oliver Twist (1948), David Lean

Madeleine (1950), David Lean

Summertime (1955), David Lean

Il Sorpasso (1962), Dino Risi

The Monsters (1963), Dino Risi

Shockproof (1949), Douglas Sirk

Interlude (1957), Douglas Sirk

Man With a Movie Camera (1929), Dziga Vertov

Twenty Years Later (1984), Eduardo Coutinho

Mikey and Nicky (1976), Elaine May

Agony: The Life and Death of Rasputin (1981), Elem Klimov

Come and See (1985), Elem Klimov

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Elia Kazan

A Face in the Crowd (1957), Elia Kazan

The Kreutzer Sonata (1956), Éric Rohmer

Stéphane Mallarmé (1968), Éric Rohmer

Ninotchka (1939), Ernst Lubitsch

That Uncertain Feeling (1941), Ernst Lubitsch

Journey Into the Night (1921), F.W. Murnau

Faust (1926), F.W. Murnau

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), F.W. Murnau

City Girl (1930), F. W. Murnau

Tabu (1931), F. W. Murnau

Love in the City (1953), Federico Fellinni …

La Strada (1954), Federico Fellini

The Swindlers (1955), Federico Fellini

Nostos: The Return (1989), Franco Piavoli

Voices Through Time (1996), Franco Piavoli

Landscapes and Figures (2002), Franco Piavoli

Fragments (2012), Franco Piavoli

7th Heaven (1927), Frank Borzage

A Farewell to Arms (1932), Frank Borzage

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Frank Capra

Meet John Doe (1941), Frank Capra

Marketa Lazarová (1967), František Vláčil

Die Nibelungen: Siegfired (1924), Fritz Lang

Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (1924), Fritz Lang

Metropolis (1927), Fritz Lang

M (1931), Fritz Lang

Hangmen Also Die (1943), Fritz Lang

Scarlet Street (1945), Fritz Lang

Cloak and Dagger (1946), Fritz Lang

House by the River (1950), Fritz Lang

Major Barbara (1941), Gabriel Pascal

The Cigarette (1919), Germaine Dulac

The Battle of Algiers (1966), Gillo Pontecorvo

Coração Materno (1951), Gilda de Abreu

Death Laid an Egg (1968), Giulio Questi

Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939), Gregory Ratoff

Simple Men (1992), Hal Hartley

Hamlet (1921), Heinz Schall and Svend Gade

Kiss of Death (1947), Henry Hathaway

Woman in the Dunes (1964), Hiroshi Teshigahara

After Life (1998), Hirozaku Kore-eda

Bringing Up Baby (1938), Howard Hawks

His Girl Friday (1940), Howard Hawks

Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951), Ida Lupino

The Hitch-Hiker (1953), Ida Lupino

Crisis (1946), Ingmar Bergman

Summer Interlude (1951), Ingmar Bergman

Summer With Monika (1953), Ingmar Bergman

The Seventh Seal (1957), Ingmar Bergman

Wild Strawberries (1957), Ingmar Bergman

The Virgin Spring (1960), Ingmar Bergman

Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Ingmar Bergman

The Silence (1963), Ingmar Bergman

Winter Light (1963), Ingmar Bergman

Persona (1966), Ingmar Bergman

Hour of the Wolf (1968), Ingmar Bergman

Shame (1968), Ingmar Bergman

The Passion of Anna (1969), Ingmar Bergman

Cries and Whispers (1972), Ingmar Bergman

La Belle Noiseuse (1991), Jacques Rivette

Playtime (1967), Jacques Tati

Man Friday (1975), Jack Gold

Diamonds of the Night (1964), Jan Němec

Who Saw Him Die? (1968), Jan Troell

The Flight of the Eagle (1982), Jan Troell

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), Jaromil Jireš

[dansnaturepictures]

23/08/2021-Day off at Shipton Bellinger: Butterflies, moths, flowers and more

With today booked off work also we explored somewhere we’d never been before, some renowned butterfly habitat around Shipton Bellinger near to Hampshire’s border with Wiltshire. We had come to see if we could see a Brown Hairstreak a butterfly we’ve never seen which a few people we know locally have seen here recently. We didn’t see this butterfly today so may try again but it was still a very enjoyable walk. It was a lovely stretch of countryside with nice meadows and trees and I really enjoyed taking this in it had some great panoramic typical countryside views too as we walked around an initial meadow type area we found as suggested by some of the people we knew who’d come and parked at. I took the one, fourth, seventh and eighth pictures in this photoset of views at this bit.

Wildflowers really caught the eye again throughout the day here with especially lots of lovely pink and green wild basil I tweeted a photo of some on Dans_Pictures tonight and other species seen included; self-heal, rosebay willowherb, agrimony, red bartsia, ragwort, yarrow, carrot, fennel, woolley thistle, other thistle, bird vetch, hawksbeard, viper’s-bugloss which I do really like, bindweed, field scabious as shown in the third picture I took today in this photoset, eyebright, a few poppies, traveler’s joy, tiny black medick, white clover, possible weld and some lovely yellow goldenrod adorning some hedges which I learnt today. There were some charming wayfaring tree berries around too looking a divine combination for me my favourite colour scheme of red and black which was interesting to see.  On our first of two stints here it was nice to see some Holly Blue and Meadow Brown butterflies the latter shown in the sixth picture I took today in this photoset and a sweet charm of Goldfinches shown in the fifth picture I took today in this photoet flying into a bare tree which was nice to see. I also loved spotting another precious hornet mimic hoverfly after seeing my first ever yesterday at Farley Mount a brilliant species. I also saw Straw-barred Pearl and Bird-cherry ermine moths here another two new ones for me this weekend another strong aspect of it with four new ones observed, I took the second picture in this photoset of the former. With the needed sun to help with butterflies coming out more not poking through we relocated to an area within the village where some people also looking for Brown Hairstreaks had said they’d seen some around an ash tree along the track which I took the ninth picture in this photoset of. This wasn’t to be either but it was nice to see some House Sparrows and Jackdaws here. We returned to the original patch and with the blue sky just starting to show when we left this area the sun had now well and truly come out. It did hide behind clouds again at one or two moments but the second spell here was much brighter and sunnier and this did bring out the beautiful butterflies. Loads of Holly Blues danced along a well vegetated tree line where we focused our efforts as the place the Brown Hairstreaks were, it was very special to see certainly the most Holly Blues I’ve seen at once this year and possibly ever there were so many. Red Admirals were a bright and colourful delight along this vegetation too, as one other person commented one looked really nicely fresh, with lots of Brimstones about now. And after thinking I’d not seen many more of them after seeing a little second emergence late last month after seeing a few Brown Argus and Common Blue which I saw re-emerge at the same time some bright orange Small Heaths came out at the base of the grass which was nice.

I came away feeling I’d used another what became with our Rutland trip done on Friday and Saturday off day off very well. And it was also another day where we spoke to so many brilliant fellow wildlife enthusiasts we had really good quality, good humoured and much valued conversations with everyone we met which could be said about many walks this year and a lot of this weekend and today there was a real in it together spirit of what was a bit like a butterfly twitch. Something the Bird Fair which we usually go up to Rutland Water for our trip this year brought this too is such a prominent part of my year for too the social interaction so it was good today.

The tone was set for a gorgeously bright sunny summer’s evening and on the way into the house when home I liked taking in and photographing as I tweeted a trio of plants growing outside the fence the back horseweed, sweet little yellow hawksbeard glowing in the ideal sunlight and the yarrow still going strong with a common green bottle fly on which I liked noticing. In the back garden bright coloured chrysanthemums for photos and other flowers either for macro photos or just to look at caught my eye. This was a perfect end to one of my weekends of the year and ever with the two insect and flower dominated walks in Hampshire complimenting by amazing return to Rutland Water of birds and more so well as I posted about over the last twenty four hours with the Rutland Water trip  blogs, yesterday’s and this one. Thanks for all your appreciation of my posts and photos and I hope you have all had a good few days.

Wildlife Sightings Summary for Shipton Bellinger: My first ever Staw-barred pearl and Bird-cherry ermine moths, two of my favourite butterflies the Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell, one of my favourite damselflies the Beautiful Demoiselle, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Holly Blue, Common Blue, Brimstone, Small Heath, Goldfinch I am seeing so many on walks lately a familiar one in the garden too, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Jackdaw, Hornet Mimic hoverfly, other hoverflies and bees.

[ontowanderlust]

Animanga

Jujutsu Kaisen

❅ Rewritten Fate : Platonic!Junpei & OC; First Year!Junpei Yoshino

What would’ve happened if the events that night changed? What if an anomaly showed up just when he needed it and completely rewrote his fate?

Sword Art Online

❅ Let’s rewrite history, shall we? : Eugeo/OC

Eugeo Headcanons no one asked for. That may or may not be a story later on. So what happens if Eugeo’s already an established character from the start?

❅ A Forewarning : Eugeo/OC

Second part of Eugeo headcanons where he and Kirito meets the guild, and a potential ally...

Imagines

Robbie Kay

❅ Smile, for me?  

POTC Co-stars!AU. Can you describe your perfect guy? 

Shawn Mendes

❅ 2 AM

Two insomniacs going for an adventure of their own 

❅ I Love You  

How does one try to confess without the person ever knowing it? 

❅ Let’s play a game!  

“You’ll pretend you don’t know how I feel, and I’ll pretend I’m not breaking inside.” 

❅ Only a Moment  

You say you’ve already moved on from him but why does he still have this effect on you? 

Tom Holland

❅ Hogwarts AU  

Remind me, whose fault was it why we’re not talking anymore? 

Ian Nelson

Supernatural School Series

The idea behind this story sprouted from my daydreams after reading this story. However, this series focuses more on the relationship between Ian Nelson (The guy who played young Derek Hale in Teen Wolf) and the reader where they happened to be co-stars and Ian had always harbored a crush on the Reader. This series may also known as the Party Games series.

❅  Two Truths and a Lie ❅  Twenty Questions ❅  Would you Rather?

Marvel

Loki Laufeyson

❅ Loki Dictionary

Loki Laufeyson., n.

Prince of Asgard., Rightful ruler of Jötunheim., Master Magician., Sorcerer., Trickster., Silvertongue., Agent of Chaos., god of mischief., god of lies

But there’s so much more to him than what meets the eye, isn’t there?

❅ 1 AM

Established!Loki x Reader where Reader is an Enhanced whose ability is to foresee and experience a stranger’s death

❅ I can’t lose you  

Sometimes, you need to know when to step back or walk away

❅ Is this what [love] feels like?  

Because of a misunderstanding, Loki expects his relationship to burn down in flames but Reader kept on surprising him

Peter Parker

❅ 5 Times Peter thought Tony was hugging him and that one time he actually did  

Based on this fanart, fanfiction about Tony Stark and Peter Parker’s relationship

Musicals

Newsies

❅ Spring time : Jojo Dela Guerrera/Reader

Spring time madness for our lil ray of sunshine  

❅ Party Games Series : Racetrack Higgins/Reader

How do you admit to yourself that you’ve fallen for someone? Through party games, of course. ❅ Truth or Dare

Otome Games

Mr. Love Queen’s Choice/ Mr. Love Dream Date

❅ MLQC Dictionary

It is after all, a love story in the form of dictionary, with entries from dialogue to epistolary, from aberrant to zenith, only a handful of which are longer than a page.

Mystic Messenger

❅ Bright like you

A Luciel entry for @/gureishi’s June event for the Choi twins: #More than words 2021. There are more than enough meaning for your name but I think this one is the best meaning out of all...

❅ Give me the stars

Another Saeyoung entry for @/gureishi’s June event for the Choi twins: #More than words 2021. He loves her... and that scares him the most. 

Potterverse

Felix Rosier

❅ Soulmate AU 

Felix week ‘18 entry. Inspired by a friend’s dream where one bears a burden while the other bears hope.

❅ HPHM MC

A little background of Lillian Sanguine, a character in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

❅ HPHM Veela!MC

Headcanons about MC being a veela

❅ HPHM Jacob

Hogwarts Mystery Event Day 5. MC’s dear old missing brother.

❅ HPHM Actor! AU

A little fun idea between writers

❅ HPHM Angst! AU

What’s life without little angsts?

❅ Centerfold  

Coffee shop AU for Felix week ‘18. A single photo can convey what the heart can’t say.

❅ E correi  

5 instances Felix called you those words and the one time he meant it.

Sibling!Jacob

❅ See you again  

This isn’t an illusion isn’t it? This isn’t a dream of a dream where your brother is right there, right within your reach, is it?

TV Series

Once Upon A Time

❅ Fascination : Peter Pan/Reader

“Why can’t I read you?”

❅ The Boy who could’ve been : Peter Pan/Reader

“Is this who you’ll be?”

❅ What is Happiness? : Henry Mills/Reader

“How do you define happiness?”

❅ Scars : Emma Swan/Reader

Established Relationship! Where Emma asks for the meaning behind the scars

❅ It’s a mad, mad world : Peter Pan/Reader

Cursed!AU where Reader and Peter can’t stand each other

❅ Goodbye means : Peter Pan/Reader

Hero!AU where Peter Pan is one of the good guys and Reader sees the world in grey who happens to like Peter but does he like you as well?

❅ Jealousy Series : Peter Pan/Reader

Cursed!Peter Pan x Reader where Peter learns that there are different types of jealousy existed...

❅ The First Type: “I’m jealous but I’ll live,”

❅  Seven Kisses Series : Peter Pan/Reader

Cursed!AU where Reader and Peter Pan was swept by the curse just like everyone else. Reader is the princess of the Underworld whose True Love happen to be the Prince of Lost Boys.

❅ First Kiss (On the back of her hand) ❅ Second Kiss (On her knees) ❅ Third Kiss (On the nose) ❅ Fourth Kiss (On the forehead) ❅ Fifth Kiss (On the cheek) ❅ Sixth Kiss (On the neck) ❅ Seventh Kiss (On the lips)

The Flash

❅ Even if it hurts? : Barry Allen/Caitlin Snow

“You pause for a minute and two then try again”

The Umbrella Academy

❅ 7 times he confessed and the 1 time she accepted his confession : Five Hargreeves/Reader

For all it’s worth, he just want to confess his feelings, dammit!

❅ When he’s drunk ❅ When he’s overwhelmed ❅ When he’s trying to apologize ❅ When there’s only one bed  ❅ When they’re dancing  ❅

Original Works

❅ 5 Stages

The rollercoaster of emotion called love

❅ 12:12  

‘Tis a story of a guy trying to slip through the cracks of a broken girl

❅ I grew up

At what cost?

❅ I wonder

It’s all fairytales and stories until...

❅ That Kind of love  

It’s not unrequited love, but it isn’t a requited love either...

Inner Musings

❅ Rain  ❅ Writers ❅ Comfort ❅ Notebook ❅ Hands ❅ Affection  ❅ Play Pretend  ❅ Tell me  ❅ How’s it like?  ❅

Poetry

❅ Don’t tell me ❅ Vulnerable  ❅ What I truly mean  ❅ I only love three things  ❅ Melody  ❅

❅ None yet ❅

❅ None yet ❅

❅ None yet ❅

❅ Forget the Past Series

An original story of mine created back in high school which depict the story of five girls who experienced the same heartbreak, created a band to forget what they’ve been through while doing so, they had forgotten what it really means to live their lives....

❅ Fall

“What’s gonna make you fall?”

❅ If Only  

“Should I let my heart keep listening?”

❅ The 72nd Hunger Games Series

Before Katniss Everdeen volunteered for her sister’s place in the 74th Hunger Games and eventually igniting the flame of rebellion, there had already been several unfortunate children who had been fighting for their own little sparks.

❅ District 1 Female: Reaping Story

[creepingsharia]

New York: Bronx Immigrant Pleads Guilty in $1.5M Romance Fraud, Money-Laundering Ring Targeting Elderly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Bronx Man Pleads Guilty To Laundering $1.5 Million In Fraud Proceeds From Business Email Compromises And Romance Scams Targeting Elderly For Ghana-Based Criminal Enterprise              

Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Jonathan D. Larsen, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), announced that ALHASSAN IDDRIS LARI, a/k/a Hassan Lari, pled guilty today to conspiring to commit money laundering and operating an unlawful money transmitting business, in connection with his involvement from at least in or about 2014 through in or about 2020 with a Ghana-based criminal enterprise that has fraudulently obtained millions of dollars through business email compromises and romance scams that targeted the elderly.  The plea was entered in front of U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels.  LARI is the seventh defendant to plead guilty in the case.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “Alhassan Lari and his co-defendants operated an online criminal enterprise whose profile included romance schemes targeting the elderly. Navigating the anonymous world of the internet, and especially online dating, is oftentimes complicated enough without the added peril of fraudsters lurking to scam would-be daters. This case exemplifies the need to always remain alert and cautious on the internet – especially when being asked for money by a stranger, don’t hesitate to swipe left.”

...

According to the Indictment and other filings and statements at public court proceedings in the case:

From at least in or about 2014 through in or about February 2020, LARI was a member of a  criminal enterprise (the “Enterprise”) based in the Republic of Ghana (“Ghana”) that committed a series of business email compromises and romance scams against individuals and businesses located across the United States, including in the Southern District of New York.  LARI, while in the Bronx, New York, received or otherwise directed the receipt of at least approximately $1.5 million in fraud proceeds of the Enterprise in cash from co-conspirators or directly from victims through bank accounts he controlled.  Several of these bank accounts were opened using a shell shipping company, in order to avoid detection and hide the fraudulent nature of the transactions.  Once LARI received the fraud proceeds in bank accounts under his control, he withdrew, transported, and laundered those fraud proceeds to other members of the Enterprise, including those located in Ghana.

LARI also operated an unlicensed money transmitting business located in the Bronx, New York used by co-conspirators of the Enterprise to facilitate and transfer fraud proceeds from the United States to co-conspirators in Ghana.                                 *                            *                      *

LARI, 48, a citizen of both the United States and Ghana,

pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison, and one count of operation of an unlawful money transmitting business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  LARI will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels on June 16, 2021.

The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Other defendants in this case who have been sentenced include Muftau Adamu, a/k/a “Muftau Adams,” a/k/a “Muftau Iddrissu,” 32, of the Bronx, New York, who was sentenced to 51 months in prison on June 7, 2019; Prince Nana Aggrey, 45, of the Bronx, New York, who was sentenced to 30 months in prison on May 10, 2019; and Assana Traore, 41, of the Bronx, New York, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison on October 8, 2019.   Adamu and Aggrey each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and Traore pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to receive stolen money.  Each of the defendants was sentenced by United States District Judge Denise L. Cote.  

-----------------------------------

At least one of the defendants appears to be a repeat offender who pleaded guilty in a separate NY-Ghana cyber fraud crime ring - again with Muslim immigrant co-defendants.

INTERNET FRAUD: 5 Ghanaians plead guilty in New York court after duping U.S businesses and wiring $10m to Ghana

The first four defendants – Tourey Ahmed Rufai aka “Joe Thompson,” aka “Joe Terry,” aka “Rufai A Tourey,” aka “Ahmed Rufai Tourey,”; Prince   Nana Aggrey, Abdul Rasheed Masoud and Mubarak Baturi aka “Eben Karsah,” were arrested in 2018 and pleaded guilty earlier this year.

[jkhilger]

Copyright Notice

Copyright Notice

Copyright Notice: All rights reserved re common law Copyright of trade-name/ trade-mark, Jennifer Kathryn Hilger© as well as any and all derivatives and variations in the spelling of said trade-name/ trade-mark common law Copyright© 2021 by Jennifer Kathryn Hilger© said common-law trade-name/ mark, Jennifer Kathryn Hilger© may neither be used, nor reproduced, neither in whole nor in part, nor in part not any manner whatsoever, without the prior, express, written consent and the acknowledgement of Jennifer Kathryn Hilger© as signified by the hand signed, red ink signature of Jennifer Kathryn Hilger© hereinafter “Secure Party”. With the intent of being contractually bound, any juristic person, as well as the agent of the said juristic person, shall not display, nor otherwise use it in any manner, the common-law trade-name/ trade-mark Jennifer Kathryn Hilger©,nor the common-law Copyright described herein, nor any derivative of, nor any variation in the spelling of, Jennifer Kathryn Hilger© without the prior, express, written consent and acknowledgement of Secure Part, as signified by Secure Part’s hand signed signature in red ink.

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Authorized Representative

All Rights Reserved

Without Prejudice

[jackmovies]

Netflix Movie ‘The School for Good and Evil’ Starring Charlize Theron Begins Filming

All appropriate and evildoers have fun! Filming for the version of The college for exact and Evil novel has begun! With the film scheduled to reach on Netflix in 2022, we’ll be right here to offer all of the most important updates for the movie, consisting of filming updates, trailer releases, casting news, and the Netflix launch date.

The school for correct and Evil is an upcoming Netflix original myth drama based totally on the fine-promoting novels of the identical name by means of writer Soman Chainani. Directing the movie is Paul Feig who formerly directed the Ghostbusters reboot, secret agent, the heat, and episodes of The office. Chainani has been given credit score for also writing the screenplay for the movie, alongside David Magee. Malia Scotch Marmo, screenplay writer of Hook has also been given a writing credit score. what's the manufacturing status of The faculty for top and Evil? professional production status: Filming (final up to date: 12/05/2021) The Belfast Telegraph suggested on April twenty seventh, 2021 that filming for The faculty for desirable and Evil had started, with taking pictures taking location at Belfast Harbour Studios. enthusiasts on Twitter have shared some in the back of-the-scenes pics of the film, with pictures of the solid’s chairs and their names revealed. Roth films is at the back of the production of The college for desirable and Evil and is most well known for their paintings on different stay-motion fairy tales together with Snow White and the Huntsman, Alice in Wonderland, and Maleficent. Jane Startz Productions is also credited with production, even as NVIZ is in the back of the special effects and Siam Costumes worldwide for props. what is the plot of The faculty for true and Evil? every four years on the night time of the eleventh day of the 11th month,  kids aged 12 are stolen from the village of Gavaldon and lively away to the faculty for true and Evil. Sophie, honest-haired and delightful, has desires of being taken to the school, and live out fortuitously ever after as a princess with an adoring prince. however, Sophie’s satisfactory buddy, Agatha, couldn’t be more opposite being unsightly with darkish hair, bulging computer virus eyes, and her graveyard domestic. both are perfect candidates for the faculty, but upon the fateful night time of the kidnapping, to the pair’s horror both of them are sent to the “wrong” school. Sophie arrives as a scholar for the faculty for Evil, becoming a “by no means,” even as Agatha will become a pupil at the faculty for good and turns into an “Ever.” are we able to count on to peer greater movies tailored from the books? Given how famous the books are, we’d expect to look the movie carry out extremely properly when it arrives in 2022. Any sequels rely closely on how well the film performs. If a success, Netflix can adapt a further five novels into films, giving them a big increase to their lineup of authentic content material. at the time of writing there are six books set within the world of The school for precise and Evil: The college Years 1. The faculty for true and Evil 2. A international without Princes 3. The remaining Ever After The Camelot Years 4. Quests for Glory five. A Crystal of Time 6. One genuine King whilst is The college for exact and Evil Netflix launch date? fans wishing to peer the film arrive in 2021 may be sorely disappointed because the school for desirable and Evil is destined to arrive on Netflix someday in 2022. It’s unclear whilst the movie is arriving in 2022, but considering filming started out in April 2021, we’d expect to see it arrive on Netflix in the Spring or summer season. Movies Near Me