#Mike Gentile

[clubnate]

Decaydance Records & WhatABabe.com

[musicmags]

[ichooseyoupikajew]

I saw these tags made @fdelopera on this post and I can't help but think about how the same applies to media. Especially when activism has become so 'fandomized' online.

There's a certain aggression that some develop when Jewish actors, like Tara Strong and Mike Pollack, speak up in defense of Israelis and the response by the fandom is to...draw cartoon characters like Twilight Sparkle and Dr. Eggman saying "Free Palestine" and waving Palestinian flags.

Gentiles resent Jews existing in media, unless they can control them. Fictional characters will never disappoint them; fictional characters can reflect whatever the viewer wants. They can be the eternal "good Jew" - or, even better, not Jewish at all - while the actors who helped bring these characters to life are demonized. Representation in media didn't help gentiles develop empathy for Jews. Representation made gentiles feel like they can control us and shape us in the way that they feel most comfortable.

[girlactionfigure]

 THURSDAY HERO: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Twerski

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Twerski was a Hasidic rabbi and psychiatrist who authored dozens of books, helped tens of thousands recover from addiction, and was a blessing to everyone he met.

Born in Milwaukee in 1930, Rabbi Twerski was the scion of two illustrious Hasidic dynasties: Bobov and Chernobyl. His father Rabbi Jacob Israel Twerski was a Russian immigrant and leading rabbi who was beloved by the Milwaukee Jewish community. Abraham was one of five brothers and the first to be born in America. He was raised in a traditional Orthodox home but attended public school.

After being ordained as a young man, Abraham served as his father’s assistant rabbi, and was in awe of his father’s ability to connect with people and counsel them. He later said, “I didn’t see my life as a performer of rituals, and I felt that if what psychiatry is doing is what my father used to be doing, well, then that’s where I’ll go. So I went to medical school to become a psychiatrist to do what I wanted to do as a rabbi.” He graduated from the medical school of Marquette University  in 1960 and served as clinical director of the psychiatry department at St. Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh for many years.

In 1972, Rabbi Twerski founded Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh, a program so successful that there are now 22 Gateway centers in Pennsylvania and Ohio, serving both Jewish and non-Jewish patients. The current CEO of Gateway, James Troup, said “Dr. Twerski is our founder, inspiration leader and the person we think of every day as we execute our mission and vision.”

His granddaughter Chaya Ruchie Twerski remembered growing up with her beloved zaydie. “My grandfather used to pray on Saturday mornings in Chabad and when we would walk home from synagogue, every single Shabbos was the same thing. Cars would honk, people would roll down their windows and shout, ’Sending our love,’ or ‘Five years clean, Dr. T!’”

At that time it was rare for an Orthodox rabbi to be an expert in secular subjects such as medicine. It was also a common belief in the Jewish community that alcoholism and addiction were gentile problems. Rabbi Twerski challenged both assumptions by becoming a prominent psychiatrist who wrote over 80 books and helped thousands of Jews and non-Jews recover from substance abuse – all while maintaining his identity as a pious and visible Hasidic Jew. He tackled subjects nobody else in the Jewish world was addressing, such as domestic abuse and drug addiction.

Those who knew Rabbi Twerski remembered that his favorite word was “gem” because he believed that every human being is a precious gem. Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, executive director of the Aleph Institute in Pittsburgh, said of his beloved rabbi, “He would never throw anyone away. He would say, ‘We just have to polish them off and wipe away the dust.’”

Rabbi Twerski was the first Jewish leader to embrace the 12-step program created by Alcoholics Anonymous, despite the program’s association with Christian teachings. A renowned expert in spiritual and secular subjects, Rabbi Twerski wrote dozens of best-selling books, all with the same theme – self-esteem. A fan of the Peanuts cartoon, Rabbi Twerski co-wrote two books with Peanuts creator Charles Schultz. Noted psychologist Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb said of his mentor, “He was a great believer that there was no contradiction. A person could be a person of great faith and a rigorous scientist.”

In his long life, Rabbi Twerski made use of every moment. Besides treating patients, authoring books, and traveling the world to lecture and advise, Rabbi Twersky founded multiple organizations including Nefesh, an organization for mental health workers, the Kollel Learning Center, and Transitions, for boys from Orthodox homes battling substance addiction. Pittsburgh resident Mike Pasternak, co-founder of Transitions, described Rabbi Twerski as “an amazing person who cared about everyone. Every day I spent with him was an experience seeing someone be the ultimate mensch, caring for everybody.”

Besides his work as psychiatrist and spiritual leader, he was a gifted singer and composer. Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld of the Lubavitch Center of Pittsburgh said that Rabbi Twerski “had a beautiful voice and was a great composer of songs… He was an unusual kind of person. A person that was down to earth, but at the same time very spiritual. He had a foot in and was able to reach out and be effective in the entire world.”

Rabbi Twerski died in Israel on January 31, 2021 at age 90 and was survived by his wife Dr. Gail Bessler-Twerski, four children, and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. His first wife Golda died in 1995. Rabbi Twerski’s will specified that there should be no eulogies at his funeral, instead mourners should sing a melody he composed for the words of Psalms 28:9, “Deliver and bless Your very own people; tend them and sustain them forever.”

For saving lives and blessing the entire world with his saintly presence, we honor Rabbi Abraham Joshua Twerski as this week’s Thursday Hero. May his memory be a blessing.

[seaoflove07]

~ Summer Breeze ~

•A Commission Artwork done by The Drawables. Etsy Shop•

🔪Azusa & Rose🌹

For life and love and summer breeze

For memories that fly with ease

For days with you that bring to mind

The greatest joy that I may find

For music that reflects the sun

For you and I to be as one

For roses that perfume the air

as fingers ruffle through your hair

For thoughts of peace that fill my heart

For knowing we will never part

For saying I will always stay

Until my breath should wing away

- Poem by Mike Gentile.

[skjam]

Pulptober 2024 Day 9: The Avenger/Weapons of Justice

Before the tragedy that turned him into the frozen-faced Avenger, Richard Henry Benson was already an omnicompetent pulp adventurer. Let's talk about his signature weapons, streamlined and "silenced" .22 revolver "Mike" and needle-like throwing knife "Ike" and what they tell us about him.

One of the stories reveals that Benson killed a man during a gunfight when he was still quite young, and the horrific event convinced him that he never wanted to directly kill again. In light of this, he trained intensively to be able to shoot a person with a glancing bullet to the skull, knocking them out without permanent damage. (Do not try this at home.) Likewise, he trained to throw knives to disarm or pin rather than to kill.

The Avenger's weapons sacrifice stopping power for speed, accuracy and stealth. Fortunately, he seldom goes up against armored opponents.

Benson designed and built Mike and Ike personally, showing us his weapon-smithing skills. They're very much *his* personal weapons, balanced exactly for his hands and body. If someone were to borrow or steal them, that person would not be able to get the same use out of them.

They're carried in calf sheaths, which makes them easy to conceal, but sometimes tricky to get to. Benson would need even more training to be able to quick draw from those, and some distinctive fighting moves.

And lastly, the names, Mike and Ike, show a bit of whimsy on Benson's part, a precious bit of humor from before he became so emotionally repressed. (The first Avenger story was published in 1939; the candy brand was first sold in 1940.)

Here's a few Avenger reviews from my blog!

[hero-israel]

one fringe and somewhat-less-important-than-the-wholeass-war-israel-is-currently-in thing im worried about is that. the political climate surrounding israel both on and offline- where, after an inhumanely evil slaughter of over a thousand israeli civilians in a single day by an outspokenly antisemitic arab terror group, the survivors are being viciously mocked and jeered by the left and witnessing their country being dragged to the hague on false charges of genocide by *south fucking africa*- might result in a sharp veer towards the right-wing movement, at least among the younger generations. i know Netanyahu had an incredibly shaky and slim supporter base even when he was elected and the closest thing I've seen to spoken support to him has been people saying he, and his party, should all just resign (as opposed to being shot dead, for example) but, even then, this kind of shaky, fearful, uncertain time has historically been the kind that has allowed shitty far-right heads of state to rise to power like trump, Bolsonaro, several military dictatorships, and even facists like mussolini. (and also that one other guy... but i shan't compare anybody to him)

this is a relatively petty thing to focus on as a gentile on the other side of the world, but i am *not* a fan of the idea of a historically queer-friendly state like Israel (even if they overstate their own achievements in that area) going in that direction.

then again, I'm not there. am i just spewing shit or do you think something like that is going on?

Netanyahu and his allies would be wiped out in an election, nearly all Israelis hold them responsible. AND Israelis may very well end up voting for other right wingers. It would still be a major improvent. From a national functioning standpoint, there is a big difference between President Mike Pence and President Mike Lindell. We should only be so lucky as to have Israel be upgraded to a government run by Ayelet Sheked and Avigdor Liberman. As is, the polls say it would go to Gantz and Lapid, who are pretty moderate by Israeli standards.

[wolfiekb]

a clara era um demônio com vc tb ou era um anjo?

Todo mundo fala assim dela, mas ela nunca foi assim. Pelo menos não comigo. Acho que com a Daisy e com a Jamie ela também nunca foi assim. Eu pelo menos só lembro dela perturbando o irmão, o Remy e o Mike. Mas comigo ela sempre foi cuidadosa, gentil. Ela gostava de fazer cafuné no meu cabelo e gostava de ouvir as músicas que eu ouvia. Ela sempre limpava meus machucados quando eu caía de skate também e ela falava que eu tinha um sorriso bonito.

Enfim.

[danzameccanica]

Oggi è un luglio del 2021 e credo che sia la prima volta che riascolto Vespertine dopo almeno quindici anni. Questo è l’album che quando ero al liceo mi ha aperto all’elettronica, alla musica intima, a tutto quello che non era metal. È grazie a Vespertine che poi ho inziato a comprare la rivista Ritual e a scoprire il gothic rock; questo album è stata la chiave di volta che ha poi sorretto tutto il muro della mia crescita sopra le colonne del metal estremo. Senza Björk non ci sarebbero stati i Massive Attack, i Radiohead, gli Oasis, i Verve, i Sigur Rós e tutto il resto… Vespertine, per uno che ha amato tantissimo Björk, forse è l’ultimo album accessibile, orecchiabile, facile nell'assimilazione. Ricordo con dispiacere l’uscita di Medulla: ricordo tantissimo il potenziale di quell’album e il concept ma che, sfortunatamente, non era riuscito a fare colpo. La Björk di quegli anni non era più “solo” e “semplicemente” una musicista ma un’artista a 360 gradi. La tragica esperienza di Dancer in the Dark è stata solo un caso isolato; in questi anni Björk si muoveva nel mondo dell’arte contemporanea, delle performance, della body e video-art (anche coadiuvata dal compagno dell’epoca Matthew Barney). Posso certamente dire che da questo momento in poi l’aspetto visuale di Björk è aumentato in maniera esponenziale ma anche inversamente proporzionale all’impatto musicale.

Vespertine è l’ultimo album “pop”; l’ultimo disco dove puoi fischiettare le canzoni una per una. "Hidden Place" è un intro struggente e drammatico, intimo e fragile che segna quasi il passaggio dall’inverno allo sbocciare della primavera; gli archi durante il ritornello sono arcobaleni che si aprono sopra i grigi ghiacci islandesi. "Cocoon" è una ballad su un registro di toni altissimi ma delicati: come se Björk cantasse una ninnananna alla rugiada sulle ragnatele, ultimi testimoni di una notte fatata che scoppietteranno a breve fra il noise-glitch gentile di questa meravigliosa composizione. Anche "It’s not up to you" è una graziosa interrogazione ai baccelli della foresta, musicata da una specie di post-drum’n’bass col contrabbasso jazz. "Undo" e "Pagan Poetry" (uno dei picchi più alti del disco) rivelano tutta la fragilità di questo bozzolo nel quale Björk si è rinchiusa cantando della sua terra. Ci sono i ricordi drammatici di "Bachelorette" e c’è questo strano sentore di catastrofe o – ad ogni modo - dell’irreversibilità della situazione. "Frosti" è una strumentale di carillon che evoca una magia notturna che prosegue naturalmente in "Aurora" e torna ad essere drammatica in mezzo agli scratch e breakbeat di "An Echo a Stain". "Sun in My Mouth" riprende il carillon ma ricorda qualcosa di Debut. Dietro al mixer e alla produzione di questo album siede Mike ‘Spike’ Stent che aveva già collaborato in Homogenic ma anche in Bedtime Stories e Music di Madonna; poi i Matmos che si porterà sul palco in almeno un paio di tour mondiali. Riascoltandolo oggi, mi rendo conto che forse le ultime 4-5 canzoni non sono così memorabili ma contengono le stesse sonorità delle precedenti mantenendo un perfetto filo-conduttore fino alla finale "Unison", un’allegra ballata che ricorda tanto i connazionali Sigur Rós. Ma la potenza, l'unicità e l'efficacia di Vespertine (ma in generale di tutti i primi album di Björk fino ad ora) è il suo utilizzo della voce come se fosse lo strumento principale; e, infine ma non per ultima cosa, utilizzare la sua voce per creare melodie principali. L’effimera natura di questo album, il suo essere freddo ma nella sua ultima fase, quella prossima al disgelo, lo rende davvero unico e speciale; Vespertine è un disco che sicuramente chiude una fase di crescita di Björk e ne apre un’altra verso la sperimentazione; purtroppo, per quello che mi riguarda, è davvero l’ultimo album magico, capace di raccontare qualcosa che a sua volta riuscirà a piantare un seme dentro l’animo.

[abatelunare]

Sono stato taggato...

La gentile @tendreestlanuit mi ha coinvolto in questo giochino basato sul tag. Non so se ho ben capito quel che devo fare, ma io ci provo. Giudicherete voi. Allora: indico di seguito cinque personaggi che ho apprezzato particolarmente in una fiction. Altri dovranno votarli per stabilire il migliore.

Ecco fatto. Spero vada bene. Non taggo nessuno: chi è interessato aderisca pure. Buona giornata.

[readingoals]

Books I've hauled in the last couple of months. Unfortunately the day after I took these I bought another one 😬 list of books below the cut.

Sadgirl Novel by Pip Finkemeyer

Carnage by Mark Dapin (non-fiction)

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Clarke by Holly Throsby

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild

After She Wrote Him by Sulari Gentill

One Year of Ugly by Caroline Mackenzie

The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan

The Drop-Off by Fiona Harris and Mike McLeish

Baking Yesteryear by B. Dylan Hollis (cookbook)

The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker

The Birdcage Library by Freya Berry

Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet

The unpictured book I bought the next day is: The Woman In The Library by Sulari Gentill

[aspencovehq]

bem vindos a aspen cove, BARBIE, EDWINA SHARMA, ELIJAH MIKAELSON, LEXA KOM TRIKRU, NATASHA ROMANOFF & VICTOR VAN DORT. espero que aproveite o seu tempo aqui e nem pensem em ir embora... sem dizer tchau! ahri, você tem 24 horas para enviar o(s) tumblr(s) dos seus personagens. não se esqueça de seguir o passo a passo da checklist, e divirta-se!

ei, aquela ali é MARGOT ROBBIE? não, é só BARBIE, uma personagem CANON de BARBIE. ouvi dizer que ELA tem TRINTA ANOS, mora em aspen cove há SEIS MESES e é uma COLUNISTA em THE DAILY COVE. ela TEM suas memórias, o que pode justificar o fato dela ser um pouco DETERMINADA e DRAMÁTICA sempre que a vejo andando pela cidade.

ei, aquela ali é CHARITHRA CHANDRAN? não, é só EDWINA SHARMA, uma personagem CANON de BRIDGERTON. ouvi dizer que ELA tem VINTE E CINCO ANOS, mora em aspen cove há UM ANO e é uma DESIGNER FLORAL em KABLOOM. ela TEM PARTES DE suas memórias, o que pode justificar o fato dela ser um pouco ROMÂNTICA e INGÊNUA sempre que a vejo andando pela cidade.

ei, aquele ali é CHARLIE WEBER? não, é só ELIJAH MIKAELSON, um personagem CANON de THE ORIGINALS / THE VAMPIRE DIARIES. ouvi dizer que ELE tem QUARENTA E CINCO / (+MIL) ANOS DE IDADE, mora em aspen cove há DOIS ANOS e é um ADVOGADO em RICHARDSON & FLINCH LAW. ele TEM suas memórias, o que pode justificar o fato dele ser um pouco CORTÊS e SUPER PROTETOR sempre que o vejo andando pela cidade.

ei, aquela ali é ALYCIA DEBNAM-CAREY? não, é só LEXA KOM TRIKRU, uma personagem CANON de THE 100. ouvi dizer que ELA tem VINTE E SEIS ANOS, mora em aspen cove há OITO MESES e é uma BOMBEIRA em ASPEN COVE FD. ela NÃO TEM suas memórias, o que pode justificar o fato dela ser um pouco VISIONÁRIA e DESCONFIADA sempre que a vejo andando pela cidade.

ei, aquela ali é JESSICA CHASTAIN? não, é só NATASHA ROMANOFF, uma personagem CANON de MARVEL. ouvi dizer que ELA tem QUARENTA ANOS, mora em aspen cove há TRÊS ANOS e é uma AGENTE SECRETA / BAILARINA. ela TEM PARTES DE suas memórias, o que pode justificar o fato dela ser um pouco ADAPTÁVEL e RESERVADA sempre que a vejo andando pela cidade.

ei, aquele ali é MIKE FAIST? não, é só VICTOR VAN DORT, um personagem CANON de A NOIVA CADÁVER. ouvi dizer que ELE tem VINTE E OITO ANOS, mora em aspen cove há DEZ MESES e é um MUSICISTA. ele TEM suas memórias, o que pode justificar o fato dele ser um pouco GENTIL e EVITATIVO sempre que o vejo andando pela cidade.

[runningwriteon]

Daniel Spellbound is back in the Top Ten at Netflix! And hopefully, many of you will watch it so we can keep it in the Top Ten for a good long while. We worked very hard to make a fun show and I am proud of how it came out! It has become increasingly rare in animation to work on a brand-new IP that you can build from the ground up, ESPECIALLY in the comedy-action space. Daniel Spellbound gave me a golden opportunity to try out all the theories and thoughts I collected after years of working with amazing showrunners and creative mentors. I will always be grateful to this series for the chance to help build a new world populated with funny and diverse characters. The road to get here has been very long (I’ve been working on Daniel Spellbound since late 2019!), and I want to thank a few people:  The show creator and creative mastermind of Daniel Spellbound, Matt Fernandes. Thanks for believing in me. My fantastic team of writers:  Doc Wyatt & Kevin Burke, Anne Mortensen-Agnew, Mark Fujita, Chris Gentile, Roni Brown, Anne Toole, Evan Narcisse and Jake Fox.  Exec Producers, Tammy Semen and my true brother, Chapman Maddox.  Trevor, Sonya, Mike and Alan at Industrial Brothers. Megan, Julian and Prince at Netflix. And most importantly, my wife, Kristen, who heard the name Daniel Spellbound more than one person who never worked on the show should have. I love this team and this world and I hope we get to show you more of it. It all comes down to how this season does! Don’t you want to know what Burden is up to?!?  Let’s goooo!

[tuzolelewattpad]

"Mike

Mon coeur a aimé commencé à l'aimer. Il est très beau. Il est vraiment canon.

A part ça il était aussi gentil au fond.

Tout le monde le trouve fier et il aime bien faire semblant d'être orgueilleux. Mais en vrai, je sais qu'il s'en fout. Il frime pour du faux, il est beaucoup plus humble qu'on ne le croit. Enfin je crois...

Il a été si dure avec ses mots alors que cette même bouche a été si douce avec moi.

Lui qui m'a fait découvrir de nouvelles sensations.... Oh comme ses lèvres sont douces et tendres

J'ai vécu tellement d'émotion, de désir, de peur, de plaisir et de crainte. Et cette chaleur qui me prend dans tout le corps quand il ne fait que me toucher, ou à peine il effleure une partie de mon corps. 

Mon premier.."

[power-chords]

Another excerpt from Mark Harris' bio of Mike Nichols, this time about the casting of the HBO film “Angels in America,” based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Harris' husband Tony Kushner. The anecdote reflects something I've long been curious about:

[Al] Pacino had agreed to portray Roy Cohn, the play's vicious, droll, and profane embodiment of ruthlessness and self-deception. “I wanted Mike to cast Dustin Hoffman,” says Kushner. “I love Al Pacino, and of course I ended up thrilled with his Roy. My only initial worry was that when he was young, he was gorgeous. He was Michael Corleone—someone born into power. What I wanted for Roy was someone who'd had to struggle all his life for every bit of power he had. The day after Pacino was announced, I was at a party and I felt someone kind of hit me from behind. I turned around and it was Dustin Hoffman, and he said, 'Al Pacino's Jewish?! Fuck you, and fuck Mike, too!'”

I've always been curious if it bugs Jewish actors when Italians in particular are cast as Jewish characters. Apparently it does. Or at least this one Jewish actor. One wonders if Dusty did the same to Martin Scorsese after he cast the Jewish “Casino” gangsters with his usual Italian crew. “Robert De Niro's Jewish?! Fuck you!”

And it raises a couple of interesting points. Whenever people talk about inappropriate racial casting, they bring up almost every overlooked group but Jews, and probably for this reason: Jewish people are generally not absent from positions of power in Hollywood. Which means when most people talk about racial miscasting/appropriation, they're really talking about something else. They're talking about power. Ten white people deciding a white actress should play an Asian character is one thing; two Jews deciding a gentile should play a Jewish character is another.

Which leads to the second interesting point—a pattern I've noticed in the way Nichols cast roles. “The Graduate” called for a blonde WASP and Nichols cast Dustin Hoffman. “Carnal Knowledge” called for a Jew and he cast Jack Nicholson. “Heartburn” called for a Jew and he cast Mandy Patinkin, then fired him and cast Jack Nicholson again. Then Pacino for Roy Cohn. Nichols' WASP antihero becomes Jewish while his Jewish villains become gentiles. Don't know if there's a there there, but it's intriguing.

Erik Lundegaard, 'Al Pacino's Jewish?!'