#Peter Gorski

[sacredwhores]

Gustaf Gründgens & Peter Gorski - Faust (1960)

[lookcaitlin]

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

A very long but worthwhile read chronicling the liberal descent into antimask/vax madness and the doctors who led the charge.

The full article includes a wealth of helpful links I can't reasonably transfer. Follow the link to find them! I'll try to transfer as many images and videos as I can.

Emily Oster, Leana Wen, Ashish Jha, and Zeynep Tufekci Betray America

Public Health in America is having its Budd Dwyer moment.

We were told time and time again how crucial it was that Kamala Harris defeated Donald Trump this past November. Well, it was recently revealed that Harris' internal polling never showed her defeating Trump. Instead of retooling her campaign and doing what's necessary to defeat Donald Trump, even if it meant giving Wall Street the middle finger, Harris and the Democrat Party burned over a billion and a half dollars praising Dick Cheney and putting Donald Trump back in the White House - as well as leaving 65% of races uncontested nationwide, simply handed to the Republicans on a silver platter. Giving Oprah a million dollars, spending six figures to re-create a podcast set that resembled a dentist's waiting room, and countless other thoughtless grifts, made it clear that Kamala Harris and the Democrat Party were never serious about defeating Trump - a blatant insult to every liberal and Democrat voter that put their faith in the opposition party which insisted "democracy was on the ballot" as their Vice Presidential nominee livestreamed Sega Dreamcast games.

Now we all get to live with the consequences of such a horrific act of political irresponsibility and cowardice. David Gorski of Science Based Medicine, Walker Bragman of Important Context, and the Death Panel podcast have all done extensive breakdowns of how Trump's handpicked crusaders against vaccines and public health have a long history of getting countless children sick, hospitalized, disabled, and dead. This isn't an article about retreading the same territory as the above-mentioned outlets, which have covered these nominees and their long history of failures and moral depravity in excruciating detail.

What's most important about these appointees is what they all share - a dangerous combination of two traits: utterly incompetent and arrogantly dishonest. We are talking about scientifically illiterate narcissists who, when soundly rejected by the overwhelming consensus of their colleagues in medicine and science, as well as...reality, instead embraced sadistic billionaires such as Peter Thiel and the Koch oil dynasty, taking to social media to spread their message amongst right-wing cranks and contrarian media in the hopes of fooling Americans into embracing their unethical delusions. The fantasy of these inept contrarians being brave medical geniuses, censored by The Man, became a popular fiction amongst conservatives and conspiracy theorists across social media; adolescent fantasies of the brave Rebel Anti-Vax Alliance hero Luke Skywalker brandishing his fully erect lightsaber against the evil giga-vaxxed Lord Vader of the Galactic Public Health Empire.

Sadly, we are now watching liberals in journalism and academia begin to embrace and even endorse this depraved crankery in a total betrayal of the public that puts their trust in them, legitimizing the same old tired anti-vaccine crankery that has haunted us for centuries - at one point, smallpox was even advertised as harmless and beneficial. We are witnessing the beginning of a total rewriting of the history of the past five years, even when the facts are readily available, in order to push false equivalences or outright lies to grant legitimacy to the utterly illegitimate, just weeks before a second Trump Administration is set to be sworn into office. There is no excuse for such a gross violation of every professional and ethical standard in the world of medicine, science, and public health - yet liberals in academia and journalism are happy to openly engage in such obscene banjaxing.

Lobbyist Leana Wen and Economist Emily Oster Endorse RFK Jr. on Raw Milk, Fluoride, and Vaccine “Choice”

Take it from a cattle farmer with over a decade of hands-on experience shoveling manure: Unpasteurized or “raw” milk can make you very sick and possibly even kill you. (FDA) This is a well-documented, basic scientific fact that has been well-established for a very long time. (Wikipedia) Pasteurization is, essentially, the process of boiling milk in order to kill bacteria and other threats to human health, because humans are not cows - or bats. There are no meaningful health benefits to drinking "raw" milk, a frankly bullshit term that is an insult to any serious farmer. We are also now at a point where H5N1 is being detected in "raw" milk products, risking the start of another pandemic within our own borders. Dr. Noha Aboelata of Roots Community Health breaks this down in detail in a 30-minute briefing:

Potential head of the HHS under Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. - who has already gotten countless children killed from his anti-vaccine advocacy (Mother Jones) - pushes the imaginary health benefits of this garbage to his easily deluded audience. Unsurprisingly, liberal pundits like Leana Wen and Emily Oster are rushing to defend these sorts of "choices" using fraudulent data, just as much as they worked overtime to confuse parents about COVID-19, which has already killed and disabled many children; a fact that both paid opinion havers are still in serious denial of.

We previously profiled Leana Wen in January 2023, a Brookings Institute lobbyist and M.D. who has experienced the COVID-19 pandemic from the safety of her couch. We've also talked extensively about Emily Oster over the past two years: an economist with zero medical or scientific credentials and a long history of morally depraved garbage to her name - from claiming “it isn’t economical” to give Africa drugs to treat AIDS, (Forbes, Archived) to declaring that the right of pregnant women to drink alcohol (Twitter) is a feminist issue, to taking money from bloodsucking fascist Peter Thiel (Twitter) to publish fraudulent data in order to get countless children killed and disabled by COVID-19. These are not legitimate medical or scientific experts.

Both Emily Oster and Leana Wen took out opinion editorials (Oster in the New York Times, Wen in the Washington Post) recently citing the same JAMA Pediatrics study claiming that fluoride in drinking water is potentially a biohazard - using the racist, long-debunked concept of "Intelligence Quotient points," in order to legitimize Robert F. Kennedy's depraved conspiracy theories and baselessly attack one of the most effective public health initiatives in our lifetime. If you actually read this study for yourself, you will find the results to be…utterly inconclusive. Epidemiologist Abby Cartus breaks this down in extensive detail on her newsletter Closed Form. Wen and Oster think you are too inept to read for yourself and form your own conclusion from the reality that this single study is... worthless!

Why any self-respecting woman would carry water for a depraved, exploitative wretch who drove his wife to suicide by keeping a black book of all his affairs, rating each woman he had sex with based on how extreme a sex act he was able to perform with them, is utterly beyond belief - achieving absolutely nothing but completely destroying their own professional reputations in the process. If you truly hate yourself on this level, you're supposed to either seek professional help or drown out your sorrows with a bottle of whiskey in the privacy of your own home, instead of publicly humiliating yourself in service of an abusive, misogynistic creep that considers you subhuman for the unforgivable atrocity of having a uterus.

Unsurprisingly, Biden's final COVID-19 Czar Ashish Jha went to bat to endorse his fellow Brown University laptop class academic Emily Oster, writing on Twitter that this was merely a crisis of "public health messaging:"

"Great [Emily Oster] piece about how to do public health messaging better. Some public health experts believe the public can't handle nuance. That's nonsense. Talking to folks about the complexity of the evidence, tradeoffs, and strength of recommendations is good. Want to rebuild trust in public health? Treat the public as adults."

There is no "nuanced" argument legitimizing the selling of "raw milk" and other scam health products with serious public health risks, especially with a potential H5N1 pandemic on the horizon. It’s not “complex” to state that children should be vaccinated against COVID-19, and the overwhelming majority of pediatric COVID-19 deaths are in unvaccinated children. There are no meaningful “tradeoffs” for putting safe amounts of fluoride in water fountains. These are all basic scientific facts, and a large part of maturing into an adult is having to accept the reality of being told "no," and realizing when you're simply dead wrong. As Final COVID Czar under Joe Biden, Ashish Jha's primary goal was not to "treat the public as adults," but as bleeding piggy banks to be exploited for profit from unmitigated COVID-19 infections.

As a handpicked crusader for "privatizing the pandemic response," Ashish Jha oversaw millions of Americans winding up disabled by COVID-19, often losing their careers in the process - falling into poverty, homelessness, and deaths of despair. Women are disproportionately affected by Long COVID disability, and the messaging of the failed Harris campaign was that these women were to be abandoned (Twitter) and brutalized by the same police that the Biden-Harris administration diverted pandemic relief into buying more weapons and military toys for.

Ashish Jha smugly shrugged his shoulders and took out an opinion editorial telling everyone to "ignore COVID" whilst accepting prestigious awards. If we lived in a just society, he would be living out of a cardboard box under a freeway overpass, begging for pocket change. Unfortunately, we live in the world where the Brown University Dean of Public Health is comfortable making public endorsements of sadistic anti-vax cranks, such as Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya, to senior government positions.

Biden's COVID Czar Ashish Jha Endorses Mehmet Oz, Jay Bhattacharya & Marty Makary for CMS, NIH & FDA Directors You've likely heard a version of the phrase "if one Nazi is sitting at a table of a dozen people, you have a table of a dozen Nazis." The same is true of anti-vaxxers and their depraved ideals, which are often rooted in a naked embrace of fascist eugenics. You simply cannot find a "reasonable middle ground" or stake out some sort of enlightened "centrist" view that legitimizes the opinions of the arrogantly incompetent & dishonest, who champion pestilence whilst fearmongering about safe & effective vaccines for their own personal gain. By lending credence to these frauds, you establish your priorities: saving lives is less important than not hurting the feelings of sadistic cranks, or one's own personal comfort.

With a second Trump administration about to be sworn in, Democrats should be in open revolt that the Biden Administration left the COVID response in charge of anti-vax cheerleader Ashish Jha, who in a November 24th, 2024 post on Twitter wrote:

"I think [Marty Makary] at FDA, [Mehmet Oz] at CMS, and [Jay Bhattacharya] at NIH are all pretty reasonable...They are smart and experienced."

This is, undeniably and objectively, an absolute lie from the former Biden Administration official, similar to how Biden parroted the lies that Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction" as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2003. It shouldn't be surprising that rewarding failure only breeds more failures, even when a nation is gripped by a once-in-a-century pandemic disaster.

For starters, Mehmet Oz is a morally depraved quack celebrity doctor who once boldly proclaimed that the public has "no right to health," and has frequently abused his daytime television platform to peddle quack cures to exploit his elderly audience. If put in charge of the CMS, Oz's priority is privatizing Medicare and Medicaid so that he may profit from companies that he is personally invested in, leaving the elderly and disabled with substandard, privatized "Advantage" plans that do not cover essential medical needs - driving more American families to medical bankruptcy and begging strangers on GoFundMe to survive, or more likely: homelessness & deaths of despair.

This is what the Brown University Dean of Public Health, Ashish Jha, considers "pretty reasonable."

Marty Makary's claim to fame was as a cheerleader for nakedly embracing COVID-19, falsely proclaiming the end of the pandemic via "herd immunity" multiple times, starting in early 2021. In September 2021, he claimed that getting COVID-19 protects you from COVID-19 - try telling that to the countless American children who have had it half a dozen times already, and are losing their health, dreams, and futures as a consequence. When it became clear that this approach of nakedly embracing COVID-19 had obviously failed, disabling millions of Americans in the process, Makary took out an opinion editorial in the Wall Street Journal in December 2022, attacking Long COVID - claiming it was "long anxiety" on Fox News. The evidence is overwhelming at this point, and it all says that this supposed practitioner of "evidence-based medicine" was dead wrong and is too craven and pathetic to admit that he was dead wrong about the disease he simped for to millions of FOX News views.

Makary would also fearmonger about the COVID-19 vaccine, claiming that the disease - which has killed tens of millions worldwide, according to the Economist - is essentially harmless, while the vaccine is supposedly causing massive epidemics of myocarditis. Marty would falsely label COVID-19 as "omi-cold" and "nature's vaccine," both objectively false lies that got countless thousands of Americans killed and disabled in the winter of 2021-22. Makary openly celebrated parents not vaccinating their children against COVID-19; of the thousands of pediatric COVID-19 deaths in America, they were overwhelmingly unvaccinated. Their parents would likely prefer a child with a sore arm instead of a child who is now six feet under, in a coffin. Marty has never apologized to these parents or lifted a finger to help pay for the funerals of these children who have been forever silenced.

This is who Biden's COVID Czar, Ashish Jha, considers "smart."

Last but not least, we have Jha's endorsement of Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford "health economist" who made bold proclamations about the alleged harmlessness of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the comfort of his couch, taking money from the Koch oil dynasty - which has already funded an incredible amount of unscientific climate collapse denial propaganda as well as the "Tea Party" which would evolve into Trump's "MAGA" hordes - to champion a mass infection strategy for COVID-19 as it was overwhelming hospitals, driving some doctors and nurses to suicide. Bhattacharya was happy to openly demand millions of American teachers risk death and disability from COVID-19 in early 2020, long before a vaccine was available, in order to preserve “normalcy.” It’s worth noting that teaching is a predominantly female-dominated profession.

These sorts of Little Eichmanns (Wikipedia) have always existed in society in one form or another; morally depraved sadists desperate to play God with the lives of their supposed inferiors. They must always be condemned, combatted, and outright rejected by polite society. Instead, liberals like Ashish Jha are openly lying in public displays of support for these lecherous, vapid narcissists who can only derive self-worth via forcing suffering upon others.

Much like how the Third Reich was helmed by incompetent scam artists cooked to the gills with methamphetamines, Stanford's Jay Bhattacharya looked at the COVID-19 pandemic and his inability to do anything to treat COVID-19 patients & save lives - as he never bothered to put in the work to attain a medical license - and decided to make the largest mass death event in the history of the United States all about how he could promote the most important "health economist" in America: himself. Starting off 2020 by conducting a fraudulent seroprevalence study (Twitter) and publishing false conclusions, Smilin' Jay never bothered to stay grounded in reality whilst his fellow Americans were dying and being disabled by COVID-19. Jay's priorities were rooted in growing the public profile of Jay Bhattacharya, no matter how wrong he was or how many Americans he would get killed in his sycophancy for a deadly and disabling virus he refused to learn a single thing about.

Employed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, Jay Bhattacharya would get countless Floridians killed in 2021 by failing to vaccinate the population before the Delta variant struck, after boldly proclaiming that he "protected the vulnerable." Smilin' Jay never apologized for this failure, or his many others - and why would he? He's been generously rewarded for his loyalty to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with liberals like Ashish Jha cheering him on. As part of his narcissistic fetish for spouting unscientific nonsense in front of any camera he could find, Jay Bhattacharya would also fearmonger about the COVID-19 vaccine, fearmongered about PPE, falsely portrayed himself as a victim of "censorship," falsely proclaimed getting COVID-19 protects you from COVID-19, openly embraced anti-vax conspiracy theorists, and even endorsed Canadian white nationalists whilst tweeting "Honk Honk" - a dogwhistle for Heil Hitler.

This is what Ashish Jha considers "experienced." This is who Biden and the Democrats put in charge of the final months of the COVID-19 response: a vocal supporter of abusive, scientifically illiterate anti-vax cranks that nakedly endorsed conspiracy theories whilst advertising pediatric illness as beneficial for your child’s health. If you voted for Biden in 2020 in the hopes that he would treat the very real domestic threat of COVID-19 more seriously than the blatantly false threat of a "smoking gun" from Saddam Hussein, you should be outraged: you have been made a fool of, and the anti-vaccine movement is now primed to unleash a torrent of pestilence upon you and your children via the federal government.

Liberal pundits, such as sociologist Zeynep Tufekci of the New York Times, are now working overtime to try and rewrite history - even if it means legitimizing anti-vax cranks like Jay Bhattacharya in a craven attempt to save face.

Desperate to establish herself as some sort of Enlightened COVID Centrist in "the paper of record," Zeynep was a vocal loyalist to the Biden Administration's vaccine-only strategy of mass infection from 2021 onwards. As the consequences of such a failed strategy came to light, such as COVID-19's negative impacts on the immune system - a well documented fact now in 2024 (PAI) - Zeynep would frequently cherry pick experts that validated her pro-viral opinions, and abuse her own platform to attack developing science in a failed crusade to falsely equate COVID-19 reinfections as "mild," on par with the common cold and influenza. This required endorsing obscene, unscientific views like "immunity debt," (PAI) a myth easily debunked by opening any Immunology 101 textbook.

The Pandemic Accountability Index will provide a full profile of the years of disinformation that Zeynep Tufekci peddled to the public in due time, but for now, it's worth noting that on November 27th, 2024, Sociologist Zeynep Tufekci would write an opinion editorial in the New York Times titled "Trump's Pick to Lead the N.I.H. Gets Some Things Right." Zeynep would open this drivel by making an objectively false statement that disqualifies anything which might come after:

"It's a welcome sign that, unlike many of Donald Trump's picks to lead parts of the nation's health system, his pick for director of the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, is actually qualified."

Fact Check! There is zero tradition of the National Institute of Health employing "health economists" such as Jay Bhattacharya, especially in a leadership position, and especially when they have a morally depraved history of making obscene claims like "health insurance encourages obesity." Jay is, by any serious definition of the term "qualified," utterly unqualified for the responsibilities of heading the NIH. We know this, because thanks to his previous experience under Ron DeSantis, he got countless Americans killed by COVID-19.

To pretend otherwise, one has to completely erase the history of Jay Bhattacharya's activities over the past five years. Zeynep Tufekci of the New York Times is either too dangerously incompetent to handle the responsibilities of medical journalism, or so utterly dishonest that one has to wonder if she's been contracted by the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself to function as a Public Relations spokesperson. This sure as hell has nothing to do with sociology, but this hasn't stopped Zeynep from asserting her supposed expertise on topics she clearly knows very little about.

Zeynep would also claim on Twitter that Bhattacharya "has made valid points about the pandemic;" mainly her insistence that SARS-CoV-2 must have come out of a laboratory, and that repeated COVID-19 infections are protective against... COVID-19. Zeynep is too scientifically illiterate and devoid of ethics to answer the very serious question raised by such "valid points:" if you seriously believed SARS-CoV-2 was designed in a lab, why would you take money from the Koch oil dynasty to argue that we should rapidly infect hundreds of millions of unvaccinated Americans, including children, with said lab-designed virus less than a year after it touched our shores, well before we had any comprehensive understanding of the harms it posed to the human body? Are working Americans and their children little more than lab rats?

Tufekci would also make more absurd, blatantly false claims in defense of Jay Bhattacharya via Twitter:

"[Jay's] dismissal as 'fringe' by public health authorities, and even censorship on social media, was unjustified and wrong. Not every point was completely wrong, and besides, they deserved addressing, not silencing. The public has a stake in such major decisions."

In reality, Jay Bhattacharya and his deranged ideals of letting COVID-19 ravage hundreds of millions of Americans well before a vaccine was widely available *was* addressed by an overwhelming consensus of scientists, doctors, and public health experts...in the fall of 2020. David Gorski for Science Based Medicine, Epidemiologists Abby Cartus & Justin Feldman with the Death Panel podcast, and countless other voices from experts around the world, including the Royal Bank of Canada Global Asset Management, published extensive rebuttals about such a horrific idea from the same mind that brought you "the thin are subsidizing the gluttony of the obese via health insurance premiums." Liberal pundit Zeynep Tufekci is outright lying and rewriting history, silencing critical voices in order to construct a false legitimacy to anti-vax social media grifter Jay Bhattacharya’s appointment to lead the NIH.

To claim that Jay Bhattacharya is an "unjustified" victim of "censorship" is a morally depraved and outright fictional statement. A laptop-class loudmouth being told "you're dead wrong" by doctors and scientists with real-world responsibilities isn't censorship. Privately owned social media networks, such as Twitter and YouTube, are entitled to moderate their platforms as they see fit and does not qualify as "censorship." Jay Bhattacharya isn't some oppressed dissident voice that the public needs to hear; to embrace his sage wisdom about how COVID-19 infections protect against COVID - Jay is backed by wealthy billionaires that have, for decades now, peddled the same unscientific propaganda that alleged liberal journalists like Zeynep Tufekci are supposed to vigilantly oppose - not launder - in the newspaper.

Every single "point" that Jay Bhattacharya has spouted about COVID-19 has been completely wrong, time and time again. This is a well-documented phenomenon, all across the Internet, because Smilin' Jay simply cannot shut his own goddamn mouth for five minutes. Yet again, Zeynep Tufekci of the New York Times thinks the general public is too incompetent to verify her outlandish claims in defense of a cruel, manipulative fraud that has incited violence against doctors and scientists that are tasked with actually saving lives.

In Closing People are rightfully afraid to fear of what might come to pass if America's federal public health apparatus is put in the hands of a gaggle of unscientific anti-vax cranks who already have the blood of countless Americans on their hands. It will be crucial for real experts to raise hell and get their teeth bloody in angrily rejecting whatever bullshit comes out of the mouths of these frauds - and guerilla, grassroots public health, in whatever form that may take, will become crucial to safeguarding the health and wellbeing of Americans over the next four years - especially that of our children. What we simply cannot do is embrace outright fiction in order to legitimize and empower bad actors that have long proven themselves utterly incapable of handling the real-world responsibilities of managing public health in America.

Every single liberal academic & pundit you see going to bat to endorse Trump's hand-picked social media sycophants - bloodthirsty zealots waging a crusade against public health and regulatory authority on behalf of their billionaire backers - is committing a grave act of treason against their fellow American, on behalf of a nefarious villain that dates back to the origins of human civilization. Countless thousands of years ago, ancient mythology was a tool to pass down essential knowledge from one generation to the next via oral tradition, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were no different. These are forces that have shattered human societies throughout our long and bloody history - War, Death, Famine, and yes, Pestilence - infectious diseases. This war that medicine has waged against disease has a long tradition; you can read up on the mother of modern medicine, Florence Nightengale, (PBS) on the importance of clean air in preventing the spread of disease, or Death in Hamburg (Internet Archive) on the class politics of pandemics - or read up on saboteurs in 1830 claiming that smallpox is a "New Year's Gift to the world." (Twitter)

As long as we have civilized society, we will always have this fight against infectious diseases, and those who insist we nakedly embrace them will never have your best interests in mind. This is a basic fact that any credentialed sociologist getting paid to write about public health should know quite well by now.

There is no good reason for any liberal to waste a drop of ink legitimizing these grandstanding carny hacks. Going forward, one has to wonder how liberal journalists & academics will help forward Trump’s crusade against public health.

We have a long four years ahead of us, and mainstream institutions like the New York Times will try again and again to rewrite history. The Pandemic Accountability Index refuses to let this pass, and only with your support is our archival work and reporting possible. If you haven’t already, please consider taking out a paid subscription or making a one-time donation.

[rhaenyra-the-gracious]

All males, because I'm straight. :)

I was tagged by lovely @nataliajames, thank you, Nat!

I tag:

@atlantidea

@redthreadoffate

@keikomiura

@carrionsflower

@nynazenik

@aryasnow

@theroncharlize

@bloodbuzz-ohio

@yenneferschaos

@bymine

@christopherherondale

@euphcme

@starswerealigned

@widowkills

@lucy-ghoul

@lordlykisses

@henrywinteris

[gusty-wind]

WHEN DO THE ARRESTS, PROSECUTIONS & EXECUTIONS FOR PREMEDITATED MASS MURDER, GLOBAL GENOCIDE, TREASON FOR PROFIT, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY…BEGIN!?!

-Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer

-Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna

-Pascal Soriot, CEO of Astra Zeneca

-Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson and Johnson

-Dr. Rajiv Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation

-Klaus Schwab, President of the World Economic Forum

-Tedros Adhanhom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO

-Anthony Fauci

-Peter Daszak

-Francis Collins

-Bill Gates

-George Soros

-Barack Obama

-Hillary Clinton

-Bill Clinton

-Joe Biden

-John Podesta

-John Brennan

-James Comey

-Adam Schiff

-Peter Strzok

-Mark Zuckerberg

-Melinda Gates

-Nancy Pelosi

-Lindsey Graham

-Gen. Mark Milley

-Volodymyr Zelensky

-Henry Kissinger

-Ralph Baric

-Blackrock, Vanguard, Statestreet

-MN Gov. Tim Walz & Keith Ellison

And about100 other treasonous bastards in politics,7 Dem. Governors Grandma & Grandpa Killers, Judges, Prosecutors, Federal Agencies, Darpa, DOD, FDA, CDC, WHO, WEF, WEF Health Governors, United Nationals, *Liberal Main Stream Media*, *Big Tech*, Medical Field, Hospital CEOs, Pedowood/Pedoland/Pedo-world, Banks & Corporations, etc…..

NEVER EVER FORGET WHAT THEY ROBBED YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES OF…

THE DEMOCRATS CAN NOT WIN ANY ELECTION WITHOUT CENSORSHIP, LYING, RIGGING, STEALING, CHEATING AND DOING THE UNTHINKABLE…

WE WANT THESE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, ARRESTED, PROSECUTED AND GIVEN THE DEATH SENTENCE. UNLESS THEY PAY THE ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT, IT WILL ONLY BE REPEATED AND WORSE THE NEXT TIME!

[byneddiedingo]

Gustaf Gründgens in M (Fritz Lang, 1931)

Cast: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widman, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke, Theodor Loos, Gustaf Gründgens, Friedrich Gnaß, Fritz Odemar, Paul Kemp, Theo Lingen, Rudolf Blümner, Georg John, Franz Stein, Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur. Screenplay: Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang. Cinematography: Fritz Arno Wagner. Art direction: Emil Hasler, Karl Vollbrecht. Film editing: Paul Falkenberg. 

Point of view is everything in a thriller. Let the viewer see events through the wrong eyes, and suspense goes out the window. The remarkable thing about Lang's great thriller is that the point of view changes so often. It starts with that of anxious parents, knowing that a child-killer is on the loose, then narrows to one particular parent, waiting for her daughter to come home from school for lunch. But then we see the object of her fears, her daughter, making contact with a strange man, and our suspense builds as we return to the worried mother. But as strongly as we sympathize with the mother, we also eventually learn to focus our anxieties elsewhere: on the beleaguered police, on innocent victims of people's suspicions, on the criminal underworld harassed by the police, and eventually even on the murderer himself. There are even moments when, as he becomes the object of the manhunt, trapped in the attic of a building swarming with the criminals in search of him, we find ourselves semi-consciously rooting for him to escape. Then we find ourselves rooting for the criminals to capture him and to escape being caught by the cops. And then, when he is put on trial by the criminals, we root for the police to arrive and rescue him. In short, the movie is a study in the ways in which sympathy can be manipulated. Lang and his soon-to-be-ex-wife Thea von Harbou wrote the screenplay, and the atmosphere of the film is superbly maintained by the cinematography of Fritz Arno Wagner and the sets of Emil Hasler and Karl Vollbrecht. But none of it would work without the presence of some extraordinary performers, starting with Peter Lorre as the sniveling, obsessed Hans Beckert: a career-defining performance in many ways, considering that Lorre had been known for comic roles on stage before Lang made him a movie star. Then there's Otto Wernicke as Inspector Lohmann, whose performance was so memorable that Lang brought him back as the same character in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), stereotyping Wernicke as a cop for much of his career. And Gustav Gründgens, the imperious leader of the criminal faction, who later became identified with the role of Mephistopheles in stage and screen versions of Goethe's Faust (Peter Gorski, 1960) -- not to mention in Klaus Mann's 1936 novel, Mephisto (and István Szabó's 1981 film version), based on Gründgens's embrace of the Nazis to advance his career.

[isharaneith]

Whumptober 2023 Masterpost

No 1 – Stargate SG-1 – Jonas Quinn

No 2 – Eureka – Zane/Jo

No 3 – Being Human US – Josh Levison, Josh & Aidan

No 4 – Alice (2009) – Hatter

No 5 – Stargate Atlantis – John & Ronon

No 6 – Dark Matter - Raza crew

No 7 – Firefly - Mal Raynolds

No 8 – The Bastard Son & The Devil Myself – Annalise, Nathan, Gabriel

No 9 - Travelers - Core Traveler Team

No 10 – Lucifer – Lucifer Morningstar

No 11 – MCU – Bucky Barnes

No 12 - Dollhouse - Topher Brink

No 13 – Primeval – Captain Hilary Becker, Becker & Matt

No 14 – Killjoys - Alvis Akari, Alvis & D'avin

No 15 – Timeless – Wyatt Logan

No 16 – Forever – Henry Morgan

No 17 – Shadow & Bone - Kaz & Inej

No 18 - Farscape - John Crichton

No 19 – Supernatural – Dean Winchester

No 20 – Grimm – Nick Burkhardt

No 21 – Being Human UK – Hal Yorke

No 22 – The Boys – Frenchie/Kimiko

No 23 Alt 1 – Fringe – Peter/Fauxlivia

No 24 Alt 12 – Once Upon a Time – Killian Jones, Killian/Emma

No 25 – Warehouse 13 – Claudia & Steve

No 26 – Sense8 – Will Gorski

No 27 – Carnival Row - Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate

No 28 – Babylon 5 – Marcus Cole

No 29 – Wednesday - Tyler Galpin

No 30 – The Wheel of Time - Moiraine & Lan

No 31 – Daredevil – Matt/Claire

I'll be updating this post with links and new entries throughout October.

[beermanoftana]

I’m pretty sure I’m missing other people…and like my wonderful tagged, @rhaenyra-the-gracious , all males because I am romantically straight (but sexuall confused) 🫶

Tagging later!

[svenhemingway]

Film-Rezension zu "Faust" (1960)

Ein wahrlich alter Schinken - aber besser wird's nicht

Es war 1960 - ein volles Jahr vor der ersten Singleveröffentlichung der Beatles (Love Me Do) - als Regisseur Peter Gründgens-Gorski die Theateradaption von Goethes Faust I wiederum als Film adaptierte und damit ein Werk für die Ewigkeit schuf.

Die Theateradaption Faust ist natürlich die, bei der Mephistopheles (oder kurz: Mephisto) von Gustaf Gründgens verkörpert wird - dem Adoptivvater des Regisseurs. Zum Zeitpunkt des Drehs war Gründgens bereits 60 Jahre alt, was man ihm keineswegs ansieht. Er war es, der die Forderung stellte, dass dieser Film die "goldene Mitte" zwischen Theaterstück und Film finden müsse - ein Unterfangen, das den Machern dieses Faust-Films zweifellos gelungen ist. Des Weiteren in den Hauptrollen sind Will Quadflieg als Heinrich Faust und Ella Büchi als Margarete. Für den Schnitt verantwortlich war Walter Boos und für die Kamera Günther Anders.

Größtenteils folgt der Film der Handlung von Goethes Faust I sehr genau: Mephisto geht eine Ijobs-Wette mit dem Herrn ein, während der Gelehrte Faust unzufrieden mit seinem Leben als Mensch, der nie in der Lage alle Geheimnisse der Welt (und was sie im Innersten zusammenhält) zu lüften, ist. Mephisto und Faust schließen einen Pakt, der Faust das Höchste der Gefühle versprechen soll. So kommt es, dass Faust sich verjüngen lässt und sich in Margarete verliebt, in der sie das Ebenbild Helenas (bekannt aus der griechischen Mythologie) sieht. Der Beginn der Liebesaffäre ist der Beginn der Gretchentragödie: Gretchens Mutter stirbt durch einen Schlaftrank, ihr Bruder Valentin wird von Faust erstochen, Gretchen tötet ihr uneheliches Kind und letztendlich stirbt Gretchen selbst im Kerker - wobei sie aber vom Himmel gerettet wird.

Stellenweise wurden Dialoge leicht verändert. Auch wurden Dinge ausgelassen, wie zum Beispiel das Intermezzo - das Stück im Stück - das im Drama in der Walpurgisnacht stattfindet. Da die Walpurgisnachttraum-Szene die Handlung nicht vorantreibt, ist das Auslassen dieser allerdings kein großer Verlust und sogar eine gute Entscheidung, da der Film mit 123 Minuten Spielzeit bereits ausreichend lang ist.

Da es sich im Kern eben doch um eine Abfilmung eines Theaterstückes handelt, komplett mit immer lauten Dialogen und simpler Szenerie, kommt alles "Filmische", das die Umsetzung ausmacht, aus der Arbeit mit Kamera und Belichtung. In diesem Bereich wurde aber wirklich alles rausgeholt, was es rauszuholen gibt. Kamera und Licht tragen maßgeblich zur Atmosphäre bei und machen Goethes Lebenswerk um einiges intensiver. Ein wunderbares Beispiel ist die Debüt-Szene der Hauptfigur: In der Dunkelheit mit irrem Blick schaut Faust auf seine merkwürdige Apparatur, während er halb gut zu sehen und halb selbst von der Dunkelheit eingenommen ist. Genau zu Beginn sieht man von Augenhöhe aus die Verzweiflung in seinem Gesicht. Kurze Zeit später aber sieht man ihn oft aus einem Winkel von unten, sodass er erhaben wirkt, wie er es ist, als jemand, der alles gelernt hat, was ein Mensch wissen kann, und selbst nach oben schaut, wie wir zu ihn aufsehen. Nur, dass er in den Himmel und ins Universum schaut, wo der Mond ist, mit dem er so gern spazieren würde.

Auch bei seiner ersten Begegnung mit Mephisto fällt die Kameraeinstellung auf: Mephisto als Teufel ist es nur gestattet, über dort zu fliehen, von wo er hereingekommen ist, und ist damit Fausts Gefangener. Als Mephisto die Bitte äußert, das Studierzimmer verlassen zu dürfen, ist er vor Faust ganz klein. Ein wenig erinnert die Szene an die Treppen-Szene aus … denn sie wissen nicht, was sie tun (Originaltitel: Rebel Without a Cause) aus dem Jahr 1955, in der Hauptfigur Jim Stark (gespielt von James Dean) auf der Kellertreppe steht, zwischen seiner erhabenen, engstirnigen Mutter und seinem unterwürfigen, rückgratlosen Vater, der sich von Frau (und letztendlich auch Kind) herumschubsen lässt. Sehr bildhaft werden die Beziehungen zwischen den Figuren in beiden Szenen dargestellt.

Großartig ist ebenfalls die erste Szene der Nachbarin Marthe Schwerdtlein, die erst von Kopf bis Oberkörper am Tisch sitzend sichtbar ist und über das Verschwinden ihres Ehemanns jammert. Beim Monolog kommt die Kamera immer näher an ihr Gesicht und letztendlich liest man sehr deutlich aus ihrer Mimik, dass ihre Worte nicht ihre wahren Gefühle widerspiegeln.

Zu loben sind auch die Übergänge zwischen den Szenen. Häufiger zu sehen sind Überblenden, die den Zuschauer entspannt von einer Szene in die nächste begleiten. Teilweise gibt es aber auch harte Schnitte, wie zum Beispiel die genannte Szene mit Marthe, die einen mit einem Schlag auf den Tisch ihrerseits fast schon erschreckt. Ganz nach Hemingways Eisbergmodell, ist auch das Auslassen eine Kunst: Am Ende der Dom-Szene gibt es gar keine Art von filmischen Übergang; stattdessen reißen sich die betenden Leute die schwarzen Kleider vom Leib und werden auf einmal zu tanzenden Hexen auf dem Blocksberg in der Walpurgisnacht. Gründgens-Gorski, Anders und Boos machen mit ihrer immensen Kreativität Goethe alle Ehre.

Faust (1960) ist nicht allzu kompliziert gestaltet, aber doch meisterhaft mit dem, was da ist, und könnte von jedem jungen Regisseur als wertvolle Inspiration betrachtet werden.

Die schauspielerische Leistung ist enorm - allein schon deshalb, weil es vermutlich ungeheuer schwierig für alle Akteure gewesen sein dürfte, all die Texte auswendig zu lernen und dann auch noch in so einer hohen Geschwindigkeit vorzutragen. Auf eine sympathische Weise werden viele Dialoge geradezu runtergerattert, damit die Handlung auch zeitig voranschreitet. Dadurch wird dem Zuschauer auch keine Chance gegeben, sich zu langweilen. Immerhin möchten die komplizierten Dialoge noch verstanden werden. Der Film bittet den Zuschauer nicht um einen Teil, sondern um all seine Aufmerksamkeit. Faust ist kein Film, der es einem erlaubt, nebenbei noch etwas zu tun, wie etwa auf sein Handy zu starren. Man muss ihn aufnehmen und sich von ihm aufnehmen lassen. Goethes so schon wundervollen Texte werden auf eine Weise vorgetragen, die teilweise Gänsehaut aufkommen lässt. Zu Beginn im Prolog bereits wären da zum Beispiel die drei Erzengel, die den Herrn für seine Schöpfung loben und zu dritt abschließen mit den Worten:

Der Anblick gibt den Engeln Stärke,

Da keiner dich ergründen mag,

Und alle deine hohen Werke

Sind herrlich wie am ersten Tag.

Während alle Schauspieler gute Arbeit leisten, ist einer natürlich (noch einmal) hervorzuheben: Gustaf Gründgens. Mit seiner Dichtung hat Goethe das Grundgerüst gelegt - vollendet hat die Figur von Mephisto dann Gründgens. Wüsste man es nicht besser, würde man meinen, Goethe hätte die Rolle direkt für ihn geschrieben. Wann immer von Mephisto die Rede ist, kommt nur ein Bild im geistigen Auge auf: das von Gründgens schneeweiß angemaltem Gesicht mit den spitzen Augenbrauen und der schwarzen Haube, die man gerade so als Haar erkennen kann. Und die Stimme im Ohr kann auch nur die von Gründgens sein. Während die anderen Figuren alle glaubhaft von anderen Schauspielern ersetzt werden können, wird es wahrscheinlich niemals jemanden geben, der Gründgens ersetzen kann. Das muss wohl auch Maik Schuntermann erkannt haben, der in seiner Faust-Verfilmung aus dem Jahre 2020 aus Mephisto eine Frau namens Meph gemacht hat.

Will Quadflieg als Heinrich Faust darf aber auch nicht unterschätzt werden. Er schafft es, die Hauptfigur in all seiner emotionalen Bandbreite überzeugend und fesselnd zu verkörpern - sei es Fausts Verzweiflung und Skrupellosigkeit zu Beginn, das Erkennen der eigenen Gefühle (Armsel'ger Faust! ich kenne dich nicht mehr) oder die Wärme, die er seiner Gretchen entgegenbringt. Es ist wundervoll, dass auch diese schauspielerische Leistung mit diesem Film verewigt wurde.

Ebenso wundervoll ist, trotz des etwas unangenehmen Altersunterschiedes, die Beziehung zwischen Gretchen und Faust. Wie im Original sind die beiden ein Paar voller Gegensätze. Gretchen, das junge, unschuldige, christliche, hart arbeitende Mädchen trifft auf Faust, den älteren, skrupellosen, ungläubigen, im Studierzimmer lebenden Herrn, der auch noch mit dem Teufel selbst befreundet ist. Diese extreme Gegensätzlichkeit ist schon ziemlich formelhaft, aber bereits in Goethes Originaltext dennoch effektiv. Ella Büchi und Will Quadflieg hauchen ihren Figuren und deren Beziehung nochmal so viel Leben ein, dass der Beigeschmack der Konstruiertheit komplett verschwindet und die gemeinsamen Szenen sehr menschlich und real wirken. Wie Gretchen so viel Zärtlichkeit aus dem anfänglich depressiven Faust herausholt, ist wahrlich eine Sicht.

Ein weiterer wichtiger Punkt der Umsetzung sind die Figurendesigns. Diese Faust-Verfilmung ist insofern auffällig, dass er deutlich ein Produkt seiner Zeit ist und das Mittelalter-Setting von Faust I nur skizziert. So hat Gretchen offensichtlich blond gefärbtes Haar, da ihre Augenbrauen noch dunkel sind und der Herr hat eine mittellange Wachsfrisur, anstelle von langen Haaren mit Mittelscheitel wie man es von vielen Darstellungen aus anderen Filmen und Medien gewöhnt ist.

Der absolute Höhepunkt der Aktualität ist allerdings in keinem Charakterdesign wiederzufinden, sondern in der Walpurgisnacht-Szene, als Faust am Ende des Tanzes zum Himmel schaut und ein Clip von einer echten Atombombenexplosion eingeblendet wird. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg fanden zahlreiche Kernwaffentests statt. Bekannterweise in den USA, aber auch in Frankreich in den Jahren 1960/61. Somit verfügt der Film über einen gewissen Aktualitätsbezug und erinnert den Zuschauer an das Weltgeschehen um seine Erscheinungszeit. Wer sich eine Zuflucht von der Realität erhofft, ist hier also wortwörtlich "im falschen Film". Wie Faust (1960) über Goethes Originalwerk hinaus so unapologetisch eine eigene Identität entwickelt, verleiht ihm nur noch mehr Charme.

Unter Berücksichtigung aller Aspekte bleibt letztendlich zu sagen, dass - genau wie Goethes Werk selbst - diese theatralisch-filmische Umsetzung von Faust I nie in Vergessenheit geraten darf. Wäre es polemisch, zu behaupten, dass es sich hier um die beste und wichtigste deutsche Literaturverfilmung aller Zeiten handle? Wahrscheinlich. Doch angesichts aller Tatsachen: Welcher Film soll an diesem schon herankommen?

[pavspatch]

What does the future hold for Stalybridge Celtic?

PEOPLE have been on at me over the last week, asking me to pen some thoughts on Stalybridge Celtic’s relegation.

Here goes . . .

THE pictures show thousands of people in Armentieres Square. They've gathered to salute their heroes — players like Steve Pickford, Martin Filson, Kevin Parr and Matty McNeill — who have just stepped off an open-top bus after a triumphant tour of the town.

In their hands, being proudly shown to the vast crowds, are the the Cheshire Senior Cup and the Northern Premier League championship trophy and President's Cup. A couple of months later a fourth piece of silverware will be added, the Peter Swales Shield.

That was 2001. Move forward 22 years and it's a completely different scene. Stalybridge Celtic have gone from being Tameside's most successful club, and membership of the National League, to relegation to the NPL's first division west — the lowest level of foot ball they have experienced since their North West Counties League days 40 years ago.

Ostensibly, Celtic's decline mirrors that of Mossley in the 1980s. However, while the Lilywhites collapse was sudden — two NPL titles and three runners-up spots followed by a plunge to bottom place in 1983-84, Stalybridge's decline has been much more gradual and painful.

As recently as 2008 they were facing Barrow, now members of EFL League Two, in the National League North play-off final. Four years later they spent the first half of the 2011-12 season vying for the championship with Hyde United who ultimately won it. In 2015 they reached the first round of the FA Cup.

At the same time, Celtic's slick commercial operation was the pride of the area. Every match seemed to be preceded by a packed sponsors' lounge. The club exuded professionalism from the moment you stepped through the doors and saw the trophy cabinets and team pictures. Other clubs could only look on with envy.

In my BBC Radio Manchester days I would regularly describe Celtic as among the most successful of sides. And then I'd get a phone call from my late friend Keith Trudgeon who would point out that Bridge hadn't actually won anything since 2001.

So what went wrong? Or should that be what didn't go right?

There have been plenty of false dawns, such as the plan to move the stadium to the town centre, which collapsed almost as soon as it was announced. The squad briefly went full time, and there have been personalities who arrived at Bower Fold promising great things and then quietly departed.

Many, perhaps even most, people would lay the blame for Bridge's steady decline at the feet of one man. Indeed an ex-manager I asked about Celtic's problems actually answered: "You can sum it all up in two words — Rob Gorski."

But not every former boss is of the same opinion. Another commented: "Whenever the resources were provided to bring good players in, it was down to Rob Gorski.

"At any level, if you have a big budget, you should be able to push for the top. The board all worked tirelessly to make it a great club.

"It's a long road back. Those days can return but without the money, and leadership on and off the park, the club will struggle. Hopefully they can bounce back."

I know from personal experience that when things aren't going well people fall out at non-league football clubs. Jobs that would normally be taken care of without fuss can be ignored or become the cause of arguments and ill-feeling. People are constantly quitting or threatening to.

The departure of one or two key people can also leave huge gaps to fill. At Hyde United, Steve Johnson is constantly mocked as a silly old duffer, but when he stands down in ten or 15 years' time, who will replace him?

Will there be another person waiting in the wings who wants to spend their every waking hour at Ewen Fields working in the tea bar and doing a host of other jobs from accounts to emptying bins, and for no payment? Such people are extremely difficult to find.

With any luck relegation will prove to be a catharsis and Celtic will indeed start to bounce back. It is possible.

In 2009, Hyde United were wound up in the High Court for a week. After their two seasons in the National League they suffered three consecutive relegations. Now, they're among the serious candidates for promotion from the Northern Premier League.

Curzon Ashton, Tameside's only National League North outfit, had a terrible time in the mid-1990s, falling from the NPL first division north into the Northern Counties East League and then the NWCL second division.

As Bridge manager Chris Willcock stated in his message to supporters, Celtic are at a crossroads but one where the club has the power to choose its path forward. The massive setback it has just suffered can be a catalyst for positive change. Energy needs to be channelled towards creating a brighter future.

At some point soon, the majority of fans will get what they want. Rob Gorski will find a buyer for his shares, he'll cut his links, and Stalybridge Celtic will have a new owner with a new broom and a new plan. Whatever people may think of Rob Gorski, and his methods and motives, he wouldn't risk the club's future by selling to a swindler. He genuinely loves Celtic.

There could be a bigger role ahead for the supporters and all manner of other possibilities.

While those who fail to learn history's lessons are doomed to repeat them, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, it's equally true that you can't fixate on the past. You have to look to the future and that's what Stalybridge Celtic need to do now as they pick themselves up off the canvas.

[fridaythe13ththeseries]

Night Prey

Episode Recap #60: Night Prey Original Airdate: November 25, 1989

Starring: Louise Robey as Micki Foster Steve Monarque as Johnny Ventura (as Steven Monarque) Chris Wiggins as Jack Marshak

Guest cast: Michael Burgess as Kurt Bachman Eric Murphy as Evan Van Hellier Genevieve Langlois as Michele Vincent Dale as Tom Baker Jill Hennessy as Vampire Woman Donald Carrier as Finn (as Don Carrier) Dan MacDonald as Father McKinnon Tamara Gorski as Hooker Kirk Austensen as Young Preppie Matt Birman as Doorman Helen Sofos as Woman with Michele Wally Bolland as Security Guard (as Wally Bollard)

Written by Peter Mohan Directed by Armand Mastroianni

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Open on Jack, sitting on a bench by the water, remembering about a time in 1969 and when someone he knew took a wrong path. We see a couple enjoying a romantic dinner back then, unaware another man is watching them from the shadows. Later, they stroll by the shore, and kiss, when suddenly, the man from earlier swoops down. He knocks the man out and bids the woman to come with him. She falls under some trance as the man reveals vampire fangs and bites her as her paramour awakens. He calls to Michele as she is lifted off as the vampire flies away.

Cut to credits.

Cut to the present, and a voiceover from Jack saying for 20 years the man, Kurt Bachman, learned the ways of the vampires and hunted them. Jack thinks this hunt twisted the man. But that this night, Kurt's path crossed with Jack's.

A woman is leading a man away from a club. The hunter Kurt follows them. The young man is reluctant, since she leads him to an alley, but he goes. They make out a bit, the hunter grows closer. She bites the man's lip, then kisses it. Suddenly, she bares her fangs and attacks the young man, killing him. As she rises up, Kurt appears with a crucifix, which she knocks aside with him. She goes in for the kill, but he has a wooden stake and she lands on it and dies. Kurt takes off.

As he runs, he hears a vampire above somewhere, screeching. Kurt breaks into a church to hide and finds a crucifix in a glass case. He breaks it open and a priest comes out to stop him. They struggle and Kurt accidentally kills the priest when a blade comes out of the bottom of this cross. It then glows in his hands. The vampire is levitating outside the window, watching. Another priest comes out, in shock at the body, and Kurt takes off. Outside, he can't find the vampire. He hides the cross in his coat.

Later at the church, Jack and Micki are told about the death of the priest, who was an old friend of Jack's. Micki asks about the stolen cross, and the young priest says it was valuable, called The Cross of Fire, and that it was from The Crusades. He mentions the blade inside, as well. He also describes the hunter to them.

Back at the store, Johnny has beer and pizza, but Jack is in no mood. Micki explains about the priest, then looks in the manifest to see if the Cross of Fire is one of their items.

Outside a club, Kurt watches as people arrive. He sees the vampire from year ago with a woman he thinks is Michele. He tries to follow them in to the club, but the guard stops him. The vampire, Evan Van Hellier, is the owner of the club. Kurt is turned away.

Micki and Johnny find the cross in the manifest.

Kurt tries another way in to the club, but the guard again stops him. Kurt pulls out the still glowing cross, and a beam of fire and light shoots out of it and kills the guard. Kurt runs when he hears other guards and Van Hellier come to investigate.

Johnny shows Micki an article about the murder at the club, the description matching the man who killed the priest. They also read about the woman killed in the alley and wonder if it is all connected. Jack tells them to visit the young Father Finn for more information and he is going to go talk to Van Hellier.

In an old factory warehouse, Kurt is also reading the article and holds the cross, repeating Evan Van Hellier's name.

Jack arrives at Van Hellier's mansion. An assistant, Tom Baker, answers the door and says Van Hellier is away. Jack asks about the murder at the club, and mentions that he thinks it is connected to the priest's murder. Jack mentions the stolen cross, but Baker has no more information. Jack leaves his card.

At Curious Goods, Micki fills them in on the Cross of Fire, which was first used outside of Transylvania, but seems to be used by superstitious people. Jack says Lewis' curse could have made it into a true vampire killing weapon. Jack tells them about being unable to see Van Hellier. They speculate that the man using the Cross may be using it to hunt actual vampires. He sends Micki and Johnny to stake out the club.

Kurt shows up at the mansion asking to see Van Hellier. The security guard is reluctant, but Kurt shows him the Cross and says his boss might be interested in it. Kurt then releases the blade and kills the guard, powering up the cursed item. He runs toward the mansion.

Breaking in a door, he slips inside, looking for Van Hellier. The place is dark, but then Van Hellier slams the piano. Kurt accuses the vampire of killing his wife. Van Hellier asks who he is, then bares his fangs and tosses Kurt to the floor. Kurt pulls out the glowing Cross and the vampire flees.

Kurt makes his way upstairs and finds two vampire women in bed. He uses the cross to kill one of them, and finds that the other vampire is his wife, Michele.

Kurt brings her back to the factory, where he chains her up. He has a shrine for her with old photos and candles. He tells her not to be afraid. He says she'll be safe once he kills Van Hellier, but she says to stay away, she isn't the person he remembers. She just wants to be let go, but Kurt wants vengeance.

Jack is surprised when Micki is home, but she says the club closed at 3am and everyone went home. Jack says the clubgoers might have been vampires. Micki wonders why her and Johnny weren't attacked. He tells Micki to go to bed, he has to write the eulogy for the priest's funeral tomorrow. Micki is worried about Jack. He feels like even with all they do, there is still so much death.

Van Hellier and Baker arrive at the factory, since the vampire can sense Michele is inside. The go to find her. Michele can also feel his presence, and Kurt grabs the cross to find them first. Kurt and Baker, the assistant, struggle, as Van Hellier tries to get past all the garlic and protections keeping him from Michele. Van Hellier cuts his arm so Michele can feed on his blood.

Kurt stabs Baker, but he he pushes Kurt off and runs. A weakened Van Hellier also flees. Outside, then sun hurts Van Hellier, so Baker pushes him into the car and they speed off. Baker mentions Jack having visited the mansion and maybe they can get answers from him.

Kurt goes to Michele, who tells him that holding her there is killing her, but Kurt only sees the woman he used to love and cannot free her. She then asks him to feed her.

Jack and Micki are back home after the funeral, having a drink in his friend's memory. As Jack goes to change, Micki notices a man at the door, who introduces himself as Evan Van Hellier. Micki invites him inside. He says he has information that could help Jack. Van Hellier slightly works his charms on Micki, but Jack comes back. Van Hellier says he owns the old warehouse, and rented it to Kurt Bachman, who showed him the Cross he had. As Van Hellier talks, Jack notices a mirror and Van Hellier has no reflection. Van Hellier gives them the warehouse address, and Jack plays it cool. After the vampire leaves, Jack gets some holy water. He tells Micki they are going to pick up Johnny and head to the warehouse.

Kurt walks a street and approaches a prostitute. He takes her back to the warehouse, where the woman is surprised to see Michele. But Kurt reminds her he paid already, so she goes to Michele, who acts gentle and then lightly bites. The woman gasps, but Kurt holds her and tells her not to be afraid. Michele then feeds on her, killing her, as Kurt watches. They hold hands.

Micki, Johnny and Jack arrive at the warehouse, and Kurt goes to investigate. Michele tries to stop him, and says Van Hellier never hurt her, he loves her. Kurt asks if she loves him and she doesn't answer. He takes off.

Kurt finds Micki and tries to kill her with cross, but Johnny intervenes. Micki gets the cross, Kurt runs off. Jack tells the others they need to get out of there.

A frustrated Kurt goes back to Michele. She tells him to go while he can, but he won't go without her.

Outside, Van Hellier and Baker watch Micki and crew leave the factory with the Cross. They go to enter the factory to find Michele.

Kurt wants Michele to turn him into a vampire, but she is reluctant. Kurt kisses her as he pleads. She bites him.

Micki wants to go back in to stop Kurt and whatever is going on, but Jack doesn't want to endanger their lives since they have recovered the Cross. He knows Van Hellier tricked them. Micki says without the Cross, Kurt is a sitting duck. Jack says they can't save the whole world. He gets in the car, but Micki runs back inside, followed by Johnny.

Van Hellier and Baker look around inside for Kurt and Michele. Kurt kills Baker, and Van Hellier is shocked to see that Michele turned Kurt into a vampire. She says Van Hellier lied to her, having told her Kurt was dead. Kurt flies up to fight his foe, and Van Hellier gets tangled in a chain and falls, hanging upside down. Kurt jumps down. Van Hellier frees himself and the two struggle on.

Micki and Johnny hear the commotion and go to investigate.

Just as Van Hellier is about to kill Kurt, Michele begs him not to, for her. He drops his weapon, but Kurt grabs a piece of wood and stabs him. Michele watches Van Hellier die. Kurt then goes to attack Micki when she arrives, but Jack shows up and tosses holy water on him. Kurt falls, then bursts into flames as Michele screams. She hisses and bares her fangs. Jack tells Micki and Johnny to go and raises the holy water, but Michele stops. Jack leaves with the others as Michele screams.

At the store, Johnny and Micki wait on Jack, who hasn't come home yet. Johnny is surprised Jack let Michele survive. Johnny says he'll wait for Jack to come back, but they can't understand why he let Michele live.

Cut back to Jack as he was at the beginning, on the bench by the water, contemplating all that happened. He wishes he could have the wisdom the vampires have, almost envious of how much they learn over centuries of life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My thoughts:

First up, the night scenes are sometimes so dark here, it is hard to see what is actually happening. I know it might be a combo of the time and not great resolution, but sheesh.

The set up here was odd, too, with Jack so melancholy by the water. I get it, once we see the frustration he's feeling about all the death that surrounds him, but at first it made me think Kurt was an old friend of his, as well. And in the flashback to 1969, I was unsure if the man was just a younger version of Jack. Wasn't made very clear who was who.

Glad they showed that Jack isn't always the rock that isn't bothered by the curse and all the deaths. It would get to anyone, so it's glad to see this side, even if it is brief.

Also liked Micki being understanding up until Jack wanted to just take the cross and go. She ran back in their with no weapons and at least two vampires waiting! Brave of her. Dumb, but brave.

Kind of funny how this vampire and his club have been there awhile and it is only now that Jack and crew are clued in to it. Also, if Jack was such good friends with the priest, why did the man never mention that Cross to him? Or Jack even just notice it when visiting? Nitpick, I know.

Wonder what became of vampire Michele? Guess we will never know.

Next week: Femme Fatale

[voguemadrid]

Coppelia - Varna International Ballet at De Monfort Hall Review

Coppelia at De Montfort Hall, Leicester performed by Varna International Ballet | Review*

A family-friendly introduction to ballet Performed by Varna International BalletChoreography by Alexander Gorsky and Gergana KaraivanoyaAccompanied by a live orchestra Varna OrchestraArtistic Director Daniela DimovaMusic Director Stefan BoyadzhievConductor Peter Tuleshkov The Varna International Ballet have jeté’d their way around the UK on their first-ever tour and this week its De Montfort…

[im-goin-mad]

power bottom ! mephistopheles

[vagabondedlife]

Faust - Gustaf Gründgens, Peter Gorski

[from-ib-to-asshai]

So in the 1960 movie adaptation of Goethe’s play “Faust”, they chose to give the devil Mephistopheles a very different look than how he’s usually portrayed.

Here are a few images of what Mephisto is usually shown as looking like:

 so just your very average looking devil/demon figure with a hat, you know?

But here’s what Mephisto looked like in the 1960 version:

I can’t describe how much I love this

[hoidn]

Longmire Meme: Episodes (3/7)   |    A Good Death is Hard to Find, 2x12

So a man has his loneliness, mistaken as pride.