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stranger-who-writes-fiction · 4 years ago

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Me, throughout the entirety of 6x05:

And I suppose I could just leave it there but NO, we’re doing a LIST. Of all the excellent things from “Prom Night!”

SPOILERS!

AV Club reviewer giving this episode the first ‘A’ of the season: :D

AV Club reviewer still insisting that “Midvale” was filler: D:<

Forever destined to disagree with the AV Club reviews in some way or another...

Okay, so! We begin with a very helpful reminder from Alex that things are different, in this Post-Crisis World!

(I mean, on the one hand, am I slightly distressed that key aspects of the Pilot and the WHOLE of “Midvale” are now gone, along with Earth-38? Yes.

On the other, Kara remembers her lived-experiences of everything that had transpired in the Earth-38 timeline, so they still sorta happened and have informed her characterization.

So...it’s fine. It’s fine. This is fine.)

I do love that, ‘Kara punched a meteorite out of the sky’ is now a Thing That Happened, though.

(Well perhaps NOT ANYMORE but I’m getting ahead of myself.)

KENNY LIIIIIIIIIIIIIVES!!!!!

“Scooby-Duo” listen, as someone who has already imagined all these kiddos in Hanna-Barbera cartoon style, running around Midvale, solving crimes and saving the day, I loved this description.

Alex being like, ‘DO. NOT. SCREW UP. MY PAST.’ ahhhhh we love to see that scary Older Sibling energy on full display.

And then Brainy and Nia are off to the past!

The only thing that could’ve made the utterance of ‘totes’ worse would’ve been the addition of, ‘magotes’. Thank goodness they exercised restraint in the writers’ room.

FORTUNATELY the terrible ordeal of reliving dated slang is offset by some truly excellent lines and line-reads throughout the rest of the episode.

For instance! Loved Brainy’s, ‘the perfect optical illusion’ and ‘off the dash, please.’ So great.

Other honorable mentions: ‘Damn it, Mitch!’ ‘That’s a LOT of exposure’ and I forget the line itself but when Cat’s like, ‘normal town my a--’ and then the cut to commercial break AAAAAHHHHHH so good.

Okay, back to the episode, Nia and Brainy, on the Legion Cruiser, AND THEN!

AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN!

OUR KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDS!!!!!

I love them. It won’t happen, but gosh, I want a Midvale spin-off so bad.

Like, the Crisis retcon made some space in the girls’ past for a spin-off to actually...kinda work.

(But sustaining the premise across multiple episodes/seasons would be tricky and there would always be the threat of running up against like. The current show’s continuity.

But hey! They could just ignore it, I guess! That’s what the Superman show is doing!) *insert frowny emoji here*

So the kids have gathered with Alex for milkshakes, which is delightful.

But ALL IS NOT WELL! As Alex reads about the ‘luckiest town’ and is like:

(Except with a lot more anxiety and frowning)

I feel as though we already knew Alex went to Stanford but I can’t remember if Kara’s (terrible) resume revealed that she went to National City University?

*Checks* Yes it did.

Another thing I LOVE is just. Alex as the Responsible One, whose anxiety is perpetually cranked to a 9.5, driving the Scooby-Duo around in the suburban mom van for super-ing jobs.

Also, ‘super-ing’ is an excellent verb, 15/10

Young Cat Grant! ....More on her later.

Nicole and Jesse did such a great job with the comedy in this episode--their initial attempt at a cover story/lie is so good.

And the masterful transition into an actual good lie that Nia knew would win Kara over...VERY NICE.

Kara being so obviously thrilled that there are OTHER ALIENS! WITH POWERS! HERE, IN MIDVALE! RIGHT HERE!

Fandom has ruined the whole ‘Kara has golden retriever energy’ as is their way but I must say...very much getting ‘excited puppy energy’ here.

Nia and Kara comparing powers was so CUUUUUUUUTE!!!!

As was the picture on Kenny’s desk of him and Kara. D’aaaawwww.

(But OH NO SADNESS...BECAUSE A BREAKUP IS IMMINENT.)

Okay in addition to all of the incredibly adorable content we also get lots of FAMILY FEEEEEEELINGS, which: Yes, good, yes.

But Eliza is only here as a PICTURE on Kara’s nightstand and a NAME on Alex’s badge, I am sad. :C

(Hope Helen Slater is in this last season at some point...need that soothing mom energy after all the Phantom Zone angst)

I think I’m out of order now but Kenny wanting to help Kara help people is just. The most adorable thing.

Spoiler alert: I use the word ‘adorable’ a lot in this list. Sorry...but also not.

The Brainy music when he’s in the school computer lab watching the printer is really great. I think we’ve heard it before, but it meshed so well with the whole vibe of both the character and the episode, just stood out nicely, I guess.

Okay, so. Do we think that Jesse could always do the baseball bat tricks, and the writers wrote it in, or do we think that he learned them for the show? My money is on the former.

Either way, very impressive.

And now for the truck situation! I kinda thought it would turn out that it was Cat’s doing, as she was trying to suss out the ‘super’, but nope, it was the blue dudes.

(Which makes more sense, since they have no qualms about endangering other people.)

And ON THAT NOTE, the blue guys! They are the perfect level of ridiculous, and they are wonderfully straightforward in ways that the Phantoms are not.

Also, I love that one of them is named Mitch?

Nia and Kara save the day!

After Kara busts the brakes and is like, ‘uhhh....they’re not working’

I noticed the Metropolis license plate and while yes it’s a little strange that plates are...apparently city-based in this corner of Earth Prime, stranger still is that Cat presumably drove clear across the country to check out this story. Right? Like, that’s the only way she has that plate out in Midvale?

Wait, wait. Totally forgot to mention Kara and Nia’s EXTREMELY OBVIOUS ‘don’t be suspicious’ sunglasses gambit at the Midvale College campus you absolute DORKS.

Right, so.

Remember those FAMILY FEELZ??? WELL!

We’ve got Nia’s call to her mom, which, oof. OOOOOF.

And then we have even MORE FEELINGS aka: The garage talk.

Okay. OKAY. So even though I’m a little sad “Midvale” no longer occurred in Earth Prime’s timeline, I am fascinated by the ways this new series of events have impacted Alex, Kara, and their past. (Also thrilled that Kenny lives, natch). Alex’s resentment and the burden of ‘protect Kara, PROTECT KARA’ have been left to simmer while Kara’s determination to help people has led to some...earnest but slightly careless secret hero work. The building blocks of the conflict introduced in “Midvale” are still there so while it might at first seem a little...repetitive, for Alex to lay all this out to Kara, it’s really just the reveal of a new boiling point; a post-crisis update on the scene in Midvale where Alex is like, ‘I had two parents before you showed up.’

AAAAAAAAAHHHHH IT’S EMOTIONALLY DEVESTATING I LOVE IT.

And then like. The new, but also not-new angle, of Alex leveraging her world-weariness against Kara’s youthful optimism/somewhat reckless desire to help, and then Kara throwing BACK that she’s explored other solar systems.

The LAYERS.

Also that Alex is like, ‘we need weapons, let’s tell mom and also call the DEO,’ classic Alex.

The garage talk ends with Kara determined to come clean to Kenny...BUT OH NO, THE HERO HIDEOUT IS SO CUTE, AND KENNY IS SO DEAR.

And the reveal that the almost-kiss in “Midvale” actually happened d’awwwww these kids.

Like. I am legitimately torn, here. I totally understand and support Kara in being honest with Kenny about the whole college situation--but also GAH. KENNY IS SO NICE AND CUTE AND EARNEST.

You know what ELSE is nice and cute and earnest?

Nia singing “9 to 5″ to Brainy to cope with stress and boost morale.

Heckin’ adorable, gosh.

Aaaaaand some other stuff occurred as the episode closed out but I don’t have them in my notes and BASICALLY I want the next hour like, now. Right now. Because this was WONDERFUL. FROM START TO FINISH.

So some Overall thoughts!

I said we’d get to Cat ‘CJ’ Grant later, so here we are: I...think I liked her? Overall? It was a performance that gradually won me over, is how I would describe it.

Absolutely wild that Cat built a media empire in a mere six years.

Also her whole, ‘I am going to find this extraordinary being and name them and kick Lois Lane into the classifieds’...I mean she eventually gets two out of three, there.

As I already started to mention, sad that Eliza wasn’t here! But it makes sense, since a lot of this, Kara is trying to keep on the DL.

Obviously, I am ALWAYS down for these flashback situations with the young Danvers. But it was also nice to take a break from the Phantom stuff. The plot here is simple/streamlined in a way the Phantom stuff...isn’t. I love the emotional character stuff coming out of the Phantom Zone arc but wow, the Phantoms are just. Needlessly complicated.

The little episode recap where Lena is explaining that Phantom Prime is like a bloodhound was like, ‘oh right, they do that too...in addition to all the other stuff that they apparently do.’

So, yes. Welcome change.

The change of scenery + type of action was nice too!

Though RIP to everyone’s hair, fighting against the moisture.

This episode also handled the Brainy/Nia relationship really well, IMO. Like, due to the whole, ‘trying to fit so much in, always’ approach to Supergirl episodes sometimes results in a bit of...one-sidedness, for various characters. Think for instance of Kelly needing to cheer everyone on in episode 2, but not having space for her own feelings/emotional needs in that episode.

I’ve felt that a bit with Brainy and Nia thus far--one will sort of take up more narrative space, so the relationship feels a little lopsided.

NOT SO HERE! They are both going through some stuff, they are both struggling to cope, they both come to rely on one another for help.

YES. GOOD. YES!!!!

Something I’m loving about season 6 overall is that so far, it doesn’t feel like the plot is stepping on character development too much. Like, it still isn’t a perfect balance, and some episodes manage it better than others, but compared to season 5? Leaps and bounds.

Everything was so nicely tied together and the dialogue was witty, the humor was delightful, EVERYONE WAS ADORABLE AND EARNEST AND DID I MENTION ADORABLE?* but they never lost sight of the themes and emotional through-lines and GAAAAAHHHHHH MIDVALE EPISODES ARE THE BEEEEEESTTTTTTTTT!

*Okay Alex was mainly stressed out but that’s to be expected.

TL;DR - Best episode of the season thus far? Best episode of the season thus far.

#SG post #long post #supergirl spoilers #supergirl season 6 spoilers #gif

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doomonfilm · 4 years ago

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Review : All Day and a Night (2020)

You’d think that a pandemic would have been enough to knock 2020 way down the list of memorable years, but leave it to America to continue with its national past-time, the racist and unjust treatment of minorities. Many companies, as a response, made attempts to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and Netflix did so by showcasing a number of films either made by Black directors or focusing on race-related issues. Of the many films rolled out at that time, one caught my eye specifically : All Day and a Night.

After shooting drug dealer Malcolm (Stephen Barrington) and his lady in cold blood (and in front of their daughter), aspiring rapper and street muscle Jahkor (Ashton Sanders) is facing a lifetime prison bid. Despite many people questioning his motivations for the seemingly senseless act, Jahkor stays silent as he undergoes the trial process and prepares for prison. Upon arrival to prison, he is reunited with his estranged father JD (Jeffery Wright), but due to their strained relationship and rocky history, not to mention Jahkor’s pressing concerns of retaliation, the reunion is timid at best. With nothing but time in his foreseeable future, Jahkor takes a personal inventory of his life and all of the factors that led him to his current resigned fate.

All Day and a Night hones in on the ripple effect of pain in the black community, showing how the unhealthy transference of pain and frustration through violence and exploitation has become the sad, institutionalized norm rather than the exception to the rule. As a result, many black communities serve as fodder for the pipeline to mass incarceration, as the opportunities many try to take advantage of to survive are often illegal. With the temptations of evil on all sides, and often present for the entirety of some people’s life span, it is not an unfamiliar scenario to see short-sighted individuals living in a manner fueled by temporary gains. Joe Robert Cole is clearly aware of all of this, and uses this reality as a way to shape his story about being trapped in a cycle… as eloquently stated in the film, he captures how “crazy (it is) to have nothing to give and want to give everything”. It is interesting how he chooses to make Jahkor an inspiring rapper as well, specifically because he uses the vulnerability of hip-hop as a trigger for tension in the standoffish world of gangsters and drug dealers, rather than an actual manner of breaking out of the hood cycle.

In terms of themes, Cole locks in on the phenomena of generational trauma, directly displaying how the doomed lifestyle is often handed down by a mixture of nature and nurture that traces back to slavery. The conditioning of the mind and soul that comes with nonstop exposure to violence and poverty is found in Jahkor, who starts as a young, weak and innocent boy who learns to harbor his rage and fear for the purpose of channeling it into hyper-focused violence against anyone who questions his character or threatens his livelihood and the people he loves. Paradoxically, Jahkor also seems to have a strong set of standards, but is unable to exact them due to the savagery of the world he lives in. The trauma of Black men fighting a war at home is displayed, and with the presence of LaMark, examined in a manner that shows how many Black men are unable to win no matter which side of the game they land on, which in turn has left an absence or inability to perform in the realms of family and community responsibilities. The predatory nature of America from all sides is a present element in the story as well, with the film serving as a parable of how appeals to kindness and loyalty often fall on deaf ears in these areas.

The look of the film could be described as “high contrast darkness”, with rich colors attempting to emerge from the general visual muddiness that represents the world of the film. The pacing is deliberate, still and stirring, making us wait for Jahkor to validate his actions and choices as the film rolls out his recollections of his life experiences. The strong but subtle cinematic score punctuates the weight of the drama, and is used in place of hip-hop songs and beats used for score. That being said, tons of Oakland culture shines through and through, including occasional songs popping up from legends connected to the city. Most importantly, the film opts for attempting to give respect to people trapped in these bad situations, rather than glorifying the negative aspects of this struggling population while propping up trope-like heroes, antiheroes and villains.

As previously mentioned, All Day and a Night is a film all about dramatic weight, and Ashton Sanders carries it like a seasoned professional, portraying the strain of every burden while managing to stay a vibrant on-screen presence… he likely won’t be getting any award nominations next season, but he certainly deserves them. Jeffrey Wright and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II both get to play wonderfully against type, leaning wholly into all of the macho posturing and aggressive energy they can muster before crossing the line into satire, and maintaining beautiful harmony the entire time. Isaiah John brings a similar intensity, but keeps the innocence of lost youth tethered to it, which results in a brooding energy with all of the potential to blow up dramatically. Christopher Meyer brings a nobility to the table meant to offset the posturing present in the rest of the cast. Kelly Jenrette manifests the struggles of trying to raise a family in a world of madness, channeling her pain into a sort of shielding judgement to fend off hurt, while Regina Taylor attempts to bring wisdom into a mix of reckless energy. Supporting appearances by James Earl, Rolanda D. Bell, Andrea Lynn Elsworth, Stephen Barrington, Shakira Ja’nai Paye and Gretchen Klein round things out.

All Day and a Night wisely stays away from glorification of the hood and the lifestyle that Jahkor lives, opting instead to stand as more of a “truth of the matter” presentation of events. While the story that is told is not a unique one, or one that is new to the world of film, it is one worth telling nonetheless, and luckily, Joe Robert Cole tells it extremely well.

#ChiefDoomsday #DOOMonFILM #JoeRobertCole #AllDayAndANight #AshtonSanders #JalynEmilHall #JefferyWright #ReginaTaylor #YahyaAbdul-MateenII #ChristopherMeyer #AndreaLynnElsworth #BailyHopkins #GretchenKlein #AndrayJohnson #StephenBarrington #RolandaDBell #IsaiahJohn #KellyJenrette #ShakiraJa'naiPaye

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dustedmagazine · 4 years ago

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Listed: Spencer Cullum

Spencer Cullum is a Nashville-based, London-born pedal steel player and guitarist. Cullum is co-founder of instrumental group Steelism and a member of Miranda Lambert’s band. His latest album as Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection, explores the classic folk of 1960s Britain and the motoric drive of 1970s krautrock in a gentle, glancing way that hardly features pedal steel at all. In her review, Jennifer Kelly observed that, “This self-titled sounds like a long lost, 1960s British folk album, stuffed in the racks behind the Pentangle, Fairport, Donovan and Incredible String Band discs, so that no one noticed it until now.”

Gong — “I Never Glid Before” (Live 1973)

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The roots of electronic prog folk that encapsulates unbelievable musicianship and free form jazz. I first discovered their record Angel Egg when I was in my teens and it always felt like anything was possible, musically. It is easy to pin Gong’s approach as silly and ‘out there,’ but you try starting a band, making it look like a cult, arranging the most complex music and then trying to market it. Now where do I get one of those wizard hats?

Kevin Ayers — “May I”

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Kevin Ayers is a big part of my new record, someone recently said his music and band reminded them of an English Velvet Underground, I can see that. It’s artistic and expressive to where it keeps its naïve beauty. Now where do I get one of those beautiful tartan flat caps that the accordion player is sporting?

Icebreaker play Eno/Lanois (feat. BJ Cole) — “Deep Blue Day (Apollo)”

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I think this is the open window to where the pedal steel guitar can be taken. I’ve always treated the steel guitar as an instrument that can be treated as ‘orchestral.’ Never getting in the way but adding to a texture that lifts a piece of music and makes something panoramic.

Ian Dury and the Blockheads (feat. Wilko Johnson) — “Blockheads”

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Essex’s Finest! Ian Dury was a force of nature. I’ve always been sometimes a little embarrassed of my thick Essex accent and stigma that surrounds Essex (especially Romford) and then I put on Ian Dury and realize its best to not give a fuck about that and be proud of your roots and manipulate them to your advantage.

Dr. Feelgood — “Roxette”

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Sticking with my roots. Canvey Island down the road from where I was born (and where my father grew up) is some of the deepest British blues I’ve heard...THE THAMES DELTA!! Something in that Essex water! Or maybe it was all those jellied Eels they were eating.

John Martyn — “Couldn’t Love You More”

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It’s really hard to watch this as you can see a man battling his demons. To see how John Martyn was so reckless and wild but to sound so fragile and beautiful. Solid Air was a gateway into my obsession with English Folk music. It’s a must!

Joni Mitchell — “In France they Kiss on Main Street”

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I looked this video up and also found lots of bass player YouTube videos of them playing the Jaco parts to it. YES, its utter jazz nerd fusion music but its Joni at the helm which makes it one of the most beautiful evolving records made. I’ve been re-discovering late 70s /80s Joni Mitchell and even the songs that are slightly on the cusp of being self-absorbed they always have a way of being pulled back to make the listener feel they are relatable. Her 1985 record Dog Eat Dog has been a regular on the turn-table.

Pentangle — “Wedding Dress”

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Tis winter time which obviously means that it’s Pentangle listening season. Some beautiful banjo playing from Bert Jansch which you rarely see him play. This era Pentangle is from the Reflection album which has been seeing a lot of playtime at my house.

Elyse Weinberg (with Neil Young) — “Houses”

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My wife recently showed me this song (always ahead of the curve), and due to me living under a rock it seems to play a lot on every hip Netflix show or when I’m grabbing coffee at a local coffee shop it’s subconsciously playing on their playlist. I love the idea of a deep cut 70s folk song coming to life and being circulated around the world.

Ivor Cutler — “Pickle Your Knees”

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I honestly cannot give you a short paragraph about Ivor Cutler. But why is there not a monument statue of him in Scotland, I don’t know, as he is a god amongst the poets and comedians or the 21st Century. ENJOY... and then listen to his back catalogue.

#dusted magazine #listed #spencer cullum #gong #kevin ayers #icebreaker #brian eno #daniel lanois #bj cole #ian dury #wilko johnson #dr. feelgood #john martyn #joni mitchell #pentangle #elyse weinberg #neil young #ivor cutler

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themusicenthusiast · 7 years ago

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Friday, June 9th, 2017 – Reckless Kelly Makes Their Levitt Pavilion Debut, Delivers a First-class Performance

All photos by Jordan Buford Photography The summer concert season is in full swing at the Levitt Pavilion in Arlington, and this particular weekend was one of its biggest, as it kicked off the Downtown Arlington Center Stage Music Festival, an event where several local businesses around downtown bring in bands and musicians to perform. To make it everything it can be, they even tap some bigger name talent to perform at the Levitt Pavilion, and helping to get the festivities underway was Austin’s own Reckless Kelly. These free events always attract a crowd, though the sprawling lawn that the Levitt sits on seemed exceptionally crowded this night, few empty spaces remaining when Bri Bagwell opened the show around seven. By the time Reckless Kelly took the stage it was a sea of people in lawn chairs, while others sat along the little wall that surrounds the park. It’s not often you get the opportunity to see a band like them for free and no one was going to pass it up. Willy Braun stepped out onto the stage at 8:41, opening their set in a solo and acoustic with a cover of one of Bruce Springsteen’s songs. Far from the first Springsteen cut Reckless Kelly has tried their hand at the best thing about their selections is they dig deeper into the acclaimed musicians catalog. Everyone knows the hits and has surely heard some band cover them before, but “If I Should Fall Behind”, that’s one the casual Springsteen may well not even know.

Steeped in Americana and stripped down to its bare bones, Willy’s rendition, I dare say, one-upped the original. It felt more behooving of the lyrics, better capturing the poignancy and overall emotion of it. “…But each lover's steps fall so differently. But I'll wait for you. And if I should fall behind, wait for me,” he crooned, exuding more of a sadness as he sung. As the final notes rang out Cody Braun, David Abeyta and Joe Miller stepped into view and assumed their positions. Noticeably absent was Jay Nazz, and as was explained later the drummer’s niece had asked him to be at her Sweet 16, a family event like that taking priority over any gig. So, filling in with them was Davis McLarty, the drummer for Joe Ely’s band. While these songs may have been new to him, McLarty made it look as if he had been playing them for years, his status as a veteran musician being incredibly apparent as he nailed “Break My Heart Tonight”; smiling near constantly as he hammered out the beats.

“Here’s one off the new record. It’s about the radio…” Willy remarked, speaking of last fall’s Sunset Motel (out via No Big Deal Records), the band’s ninth studio album. “Radio” was where they really let loose, the quintet being on fire as they raced through the song about how the music industry has changed, people now pushing more of a brand than a product. The roaring riffs it boasts allowed Abeyta to go to town on his axe, demonstrating a complete mastery over the guitar as he effortlessly wailed on it; and upon hitting one line, Willy swiftly outstretched both of his arms, the gesture adding an extra emphasis to the lyrics. “Ragged as the Road” only built upon that momentum, Abeyta using his solo to stroll up to the forefront of the stage. A crowd of dozens had made their way up there to the front, the guitarist working to excite that most dedicated bunch of the several hundred spectators out this evening, motioning at them to pump them up before getting back to shredding. That did it. Just a few songs in and they guaranteed themselves everyone’s undivided attention.

They would do a handful of new tracks this night, and before “The Champ”, Willy provided everyone with some insight on it, saying he had thought of the title several years earlier, thinking it would be a good song but was uncertain what he should write it about. Eventually settling on anyone who was a champ, from veterans to boxers and so on, he was candid in noting he had done some research, working to find a term that would “make me sound smart” he said. The Parthian retreat or Parthian shot was what he discovered, explaining the tactic to the concert goers. That extra context made the song that much better, the first few lines especially making more sense; and with mandolin currently in hand, Cody got to show off his might with a bit of a solo, the instrument adding a beautiful, delicate quality to the track.

Some licks from the acoustic guitar led them right into “Mirage”; Cody swapping out to his fiddle for a bit then, much to the audience’s delight. And even better than that was hearing a true classic from the band’s catalog, going all the way back to their debut record in celebration of twenty-one years together. Seldom touched, Millican contains several excellent numbers, “Back Around” being at the top of the pack. That energetic number combined with the deepened chemistry the members of Reckless Kelly have crafted over the last couple of decades, being seasoned pros by this point, resulted in it sounding exceptional. It sounded more vibrant, the mood being absolutely electrifying as they killed what is one of the best things they’ve ever written… and that’s saying a lot. “Is everybody having a good time tonight?!” Willy asked afterwards, the rave applause they had earned continuing on. It even became rather raucous once he mentioned that they were going to “take it on down to Ireland”, their Celtic influenced “Seven Nights in Eire” being a true fan favorite, particularly among those clustered around the stage on this night. It even sparked some movement, a few people dancing along with the infectious tune.

“We got to do this one or we’ll never make it out of here alive,” remarked Willy, who regaled everyone with a tale of a place they used to play a lot when they would return to their home state of Idaho, staying up late and talking with their friend and owner of the venue, listening to records and drinking whiskey. They needed little convincing to cover the song he kept prodding them to do, though according to Willy, their time was “not well managed” back then, circling back to the fact that they liked to stay up late drinking whiskey and listening to albums. But then they did finally learn it, and arguably even perfected what they declared was the finest song ever written about red head and motorcycles. He was right on them not making it out alive if they didn’t do it, as Richard Thompson’s “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” isn’t a mere staple of their shows in the eyes of the fans, but one that is expected, the audience letting them know just how much they enjoyed it; and as it neared the end, Cody, Willy, Miller and Abeyta strode towards the edge of the stage, jamming together in a staggered lined, ensuring it came to an epic finish. “I Hold the Bottle, You Hold the Wheel” went out to the designated drivers, after which Willy picked up a neck rack with a harmonica in it, and if that didn’t give away the next song then the gentle plucking of the strings on the acoustic did. Cheers erupted once everyone realized it was “Wicked Twisted Road”. A little more force added to it from the album recording, the full band jumped in after a couple verses, still keeping it toned down to an extent, though the rhythm section and more pronounced mandolin yielded more emotion.

By that point, the end clearly approaching, it was about time they got to something off 2003’s Under the Table and Above the Sun, “Desolation Angels” being the first cut they tackled from that release. Unexpected, it was also a pleasant surprise, the positive outlook portrayed in the lyrics making the audience all the more chipper as some even echoed along with that refrain.

The mood turned a bit bitter with one of the singles Sunset Motel created, “How Can You Love Him (You Don't Even Like Him)” being pure Reckless Kelly. An instant classic even, it nicely captures that resentment felt when you see someone you like and have been there for with someone else. It also afforded Cody a chance to showcase his skills on the harmonica, his souls adding a brilliant quality to it.

The other Braun brothers got a shout-out (Micky & The Motorcars happened to be playing just one city over this night), Willy remarking, “Here’s a song I wrote with Micky,” thus setting up the beloved, “Nobody's Girl”. From there on out it was nothing but hits that everyone could sing along with, a few even coming from other artists’ catalogs. Since they had Joe Ely’s drummer for the night it only made sense they fully utilize his skills and work in some Ely covers. Anything less would have been a “wasted opportunity” according to Willy. McLarty had seemed right at home performing everything this night, but as they broke into a rendition of “Dallas”, his demeanor changed. He grew even more confident with that song he’s done countless times over the years, his drumming becoming more charged as they tore through that all too appropriate cover.

With a couple left, they had saved the best for last, the gentle chords that begin “Vancouver” eliciting some more fanfare; the song concluding with the Braun Brothers, Miller and Abeyta marching towards the onlookers, smiling at them and sending them into more of a frenzied state as they brought it to a tight finish. And then they seamlessly wound it into what was easily the most anticipated song of the night. “Crazy Eddie's Last Hurrah!” multiple people had been shouting throughout the show, finally getting their wish as it wrapped up this 78-minute long set. “I’d like to thank Cross Canadian Ragweed for making this more popular than we ever did,” Willy remarked before the third verse of the revenge-fueled and murderous tale that had the audience sounding more boisterous than they had been all night, the show drawing to an impeccable close. However, no one was ready for it to be over just yet. That was made readily apparent as people shouted for an encore, those in front of the stage not budging, and relatively few people from the lawn trickled out. They were rewarded with a couple more tunes: an original and a cover.

Some furious and rapid beats courtesy of McLarty launched them into one of the most uplifting tracks from Sunset Motel, “Moment in the Sun” focusing on being grateful for what you had with a person, even if it wasn’t meant to be forever. It acts as another shining example of what a great piece of work that release is, the album in general offering a bevy of classic sounding Reckless Kelly tunes that put it on par with some of their most revered work. Ultimately the fan reception will be what dictates the outcome of the songs at shows, but really, there’s no reason most of what they played from it this night shouldn’t become staples for years to come. It is that amazing. As was stated not long before, it would be a waste to not fully take advantage of having McLarty sharing his talents with them this night. So, to wrap things up they tried their hand at one more of Joe Ely’s songs, turning “Cool Rockin' Loretta” into a fierce and downright epic 12-minute long piece of work.

A lengthy jam was what allowed them to stretch it out so much, which eventually tapered off to become a lead guitar solo, Abeyta laying down some wicked licks. Cody ultimately chimed in, a great chemistry surrounding the pair as they worked off one another’s energy. The break that gave Willy allowed him to brighten the nights of a few little kids out there, grabbing a few picks and coming over to the spectators, handing them out to the young fans before ultimately joining in as they amped it back up. “Cool Rockin' Loretta!” he growled slightly, the show ending in a phenomenal fashion. It can be easy to lose people’s attention doing something like that, making a jam out of a song and turning it into such a long thing. However, no one seemed to lose interest. In fact, it highlighted their musicianship incredibly well, both as individuals as well as a collective, and that in itself was transfixing, also reminding everyone that not only does Reckless Kelly produce great sounding and well-written songs that are pure Americana/country, but they are also first-class performers, the likes of which few can rival.

All of that was on prominent display this night as they trekked through their hour and a half long set, the collection of hits they drew from helping the time just melt away. It didn’t seem like they had been up there nearly that long by the time things ended, the orchestrated performance and personal and/or story-oriented songs allowing the listeners to just get lost in it all, something only the best can pull off. Easily one of the best Texas country artists of the modern era, Reckless Kelly blends that old school country style with a rocker mentality. That’s easily their biggest appeal, as they deliver the best from both worlds, and also a reason for their longevity, that mix of music combined with their energetic and commanding shows ensuring people keep coming back for more. Their calendar is filled with dates up through the fall, from all over the Lone Star State to shows out around the West Coast. And this coming August, from the 10th through the 12th, they’ll be back in Challis, ID for the Braun Brothers Reunion. Other shows include a two-night stand at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, TX on July 14th and 15th; the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA on July 27th; and October 7th they’ll be performing at the Texas Rice Festival at Winnie Stowell County Park in Winnie, TX. A more thorough listing and further details on their tour dates can be found HERE; and check out Sunset Motel and their previous releases in iTUNES or GOOGLE PLAY.

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truthbeetoldmedia · 6 years ago

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Shameless 9x13 “Lost” Review

Next week, the ninth season of Shameless will come to a close, and Emmy Rossum who plays Fiona will make her final exit (as far as we know). The seasons to come must be carried on the backs of the remaining Gallaghers we’ve come to know and love. But what does the future look like for those whose lives will continue to play out offscreen?

In the second to last episode of the season and Fiona’s onscreen story, we begin to get a glimpse at what her life may become, and how she might get out of the Southside in a more positive way than her brother Ian, who may show up again next season as teased by Cameron Monaghan, who plays him.

After being given an ultimatum by Lip, Fiona seems to wake up having done a complete 180. After helping an injured Frank get to the hospital, she meets with a public defender who tells her if she gets a job and attends AA, a jury may believe she’s contributing to society and overlook her previous felony when deciding how to rule. This is, of course, in relation to her punching a woman while drunk a few episodes back. Fiona follows the woman’s instructions, attending a meeting and getting a job at a gas station doing the overnight shift.

Kevin and Veronica get into their own legal trouble when the daycare they’ve sent twin daughters Gemma and Amy to discovers that they aren’t the same person. The nuns give them two options: Either they can pay a hefty fee, or Kevin can play Jesus in an upcoming pageant. He’ll need to drag an extremely heavy cross the 150 feet from the school to the church, but Kev agrees, thinly avoiding being charged with fraud.

Meanwhile, Lip chases a closed-off Tammi around town after discovering she’s going to see a doctor without him. Lip wants to support her and his unborn child, especially after her father showed up at his house questioning his motives, but Tammi doesn’t want any help making decisions regarding her and the baby. Eventually, she confides in Lip that she got tested for the BRCA gene, which will determine if she’s at high risk for developing breast cancer and if so, whether or not having children will decrease her risk. This is essentially where the conversation ends, as Lip can’t get much more out of Tammi.

Across town, Frank undergoes surgery after stumbling out of Fiona’s old building just as demolition starts. The hospital staff attempts to figure out how they can get him out as quickly as possible, as Frank has a reputation for stealing pills and not paying any of his bills.

At work, Carl faces an armed robber and wins by using his pent up anger from Kelly dumping him and beating him with various objects on the counter. When he gets back to the house, the bad blood between him and Debbie continues as she hangs out with Kelly. The two girls bond while shopping for military gear, as Kelly is about to head back to school. Feeling closer than ever to her, Debbie attempts to kiss Kelly as they’re cuddling on the couch. Unfortunately, her feelings are not reciprocated and she’s left feeling sad and a bit naive when Kelly decides to leave.

Though Debbie is heartbroken, Carl manages to cheer her up, and the two bond over their hatred for the girl who hurt both of them. It’s a nice moment between siblings especially after the strain that’s been on their relationship lately. Carl also tells his sister that he didn’t get into Westpoint, to which she offers a simple but sincere “Sorry.”

And all the while, Liam is at his friend’s house playing video games, watching movies, and eating homemade biscuits. Though his siblings have been texting and calling him all day, Liam is bitter that it’s taken them two days to notice he’s gone (I don’t blame you, Liam). So, he doesn’t answer any of them and continues to live lavishly with his buddy — which definitely beats staying in the Gallagher house.

While Fiona is working her first shift, Max comes into the store. He tells Fiona that the building she invested $100,000 in actually is going to be turned into a nursing home at some point in the next year, and that he wants to buy out her share. Stunned, Fiona can’t do much except agree to figure out logistics in the morning. It looks like this might be her first and last shift at the gas station.

So, it looks like Fiona isn’t going to leave Shameless in a cop car or a body bag after all. Throughout her emotional decline, it’s seemed like the eldest Gallagher sibling might not be able to pull herself together. Her siblings weren’t helping her, her friends weren’t helping her, and she certainly wasn’t helping herself. Now, though, Fiona has a chance that the audience thought would be handed to Frank through the Hobo Loco games — a surplus of money. And with the family just not the same as it once was, I won’t be surprised if Fiona decides to abandon the home she’s spent most of her life building.

In this episode, Fiona and Lip did finally have a conversation about getting back up and trying again. This particular conversation is extremely satisfying, but again, seems long overdue. Having been through an alcohol addiction and the recovery process from that addiction, there’s no reason Lip couldn’t have encouraged his sister to get up and try again when she got fired from her job for being drunk all the time on the clock.

And, sidenote, how is it that Fiona was spending her entire last paycheck on alcohol just last episode, but now seems to be having no trouble refraining from drinking? Even just one shot of Fiona looking at a bottle longingly for a few seconds could’ve made her crawl out of alcohol dependency more believable. Even if she isn’t actually an alcoholic, it’s hard for me to follow that she’s suddenly fine, going to an AA meeting and getting a job all within one episode.

This brings me back to my issue with the show’s pacing this season. There were so many episodes of Fiona walking around town drunk, interacting with a few people, going home and going to bed. All of this filler could’ve been replaced with actual plot points, like Fiona getting arrested and fired, a lot earlier. Then, she would’ve had this motivation to get better and we would’ve watched her struggle to do so. Unfortunately, we now have one more episode for a grand total of two in which Fiona is attempting to recover and get her life back together, and it’s being fast-tracked by a large sum of money. Can somebody say “rushed”?

Ignoring the pacing, this season has all around been fairly uneventful, sans Fiona and Lip’s storylines. Lip says he might get to see Xan in a few days, and Tammi might be keeping the baby. There’s a lot of what ifs right now, and a lot that I’m hoping the finale will resolve or at least raise the stakes of. I’m having trouble caring about Xan when there’s also the pregnant Tammi storyline, though even that is hard to care about when she’s so standoffish and argumentative. I feel like she and Lip are just going in circles about what’s going on with the baby, and I for one don’t know how much longer I can stay on this ride — I’m getting dizzy.

This episode felt like a lot more filler, Frank being given a completely new storyline that can’t go much of anywhere with just one episode left in the season, and Debbie and Carl resolving a petty fight over a girl. And then there’s Kev and V, picking up a long-abandoned storyline after Kev’s vasectomy provided a couple episodes of laughs and not much else. Even Liam, who’s been absent for a while now, spent the episode playing video games with his friend.

The highlight of 9x13 was Fiona being offered her $100,000 back. Though it’s out of nowhere, I guess we just have to accept that this is how Fiona is going to better her life — unless of course she gives it to Frank to help pay off his medical bills, but I somehow doubt that’ll happen.

In the preview for the finale, we see Fiona visiting Ian in prison and also sitting down with Lip, asking him to take care of Liam, presumably, for her. I’m glad that we’ll finally get some loose ends tied up and even see a familiar face before the season ends. I’m just having trouble figuring out what questions we’re going to be left with going into Season 10, besides maybe Tammi’s decision regarding her pregnancy.

Going into the season finale, I’m hoping and praying for a huge plot twist. With the relatively slow and uneventful nature of this season, it only makes sense that the finale would be totally unexpected and jaw-dropping. As a lot of people probably are, I’m hoping deep down that Jimmy/Steve will make his return to whisk Fiona away and start a new life with her. I’ve always been on the fence about them as a couple, but I think Fiona has shown us that she needs her life to be exciting. I’d love to see Jimmy/Steve come back as a better person, but still with that dash of recklessness that Fiona needs. Regardless of if this happens or not, I just hope Fiona finds adventure somewhere. All will be revealed next week, I suppose.

Shameless airs Sundays on Showtime at 9/8c.

Jessica’s episode rating: 🐝🐝.5

#Shameless #Lost

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nerdylittleshit · 7 years ago

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Thoughts about Spn 13x20

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

It is that time of the year where, as they say, the plot begins to thicken. Only three episodes left we are heading to the grand finale, so almost everything that happened in this week’s episode can be seen as a foretelling of what we can expect. Which unfortunately is neither rainbows or kittens, but when did this show ever? That being said it was a neat episode and for the first time since his comeback I had fun watching Gabriel. I liked what we learned about his past and how they moved his character forward. A quick update on all the feels, apocalypse world version. But in the end the most interesting part to me was what this episode told us about Sam and Dean’s current state and what it might mean for their future.

But as always, let’s have a closer look.

Wings & Things

Starting at the apocalypse world, where we learn that since the last time we saw them Jack made good on his promise and started to fight the angels. We already know that he is more powerful than an average angel, so it’s not surprising that so far he has been successful. Back in 13x02 we learned that Nephilim can become more powerful than their angelic parents, which in Jack’s case would be an archangel. So technically he could be powerful enough to beat Michael, but storywise it would be too easy. Besides as Mary reminded us Jack is currently almost too confident in his powers, a little reminder of season 12 where hubris was the downfall of the BMoL. Mary as well has learned her lesson the hard way and warns Jack that his recklessness is what will lead him to make mistakes.

Their whole relationship was portrayed as that of a mother and a son, and Mary later textually confirmed that by calling Jack “her boy” (while also reminding us that she saw Cas as her boy as well and still thinks he is dead). I really liked seeing them that way, because I think they give each other what they need. Jack is acting much more than a child than Sam and Dean. Because technically he still is, even if he doesn’t look like it. He needs guidance, he needs support and someone that loves him and cares about him. Kelly had been the empty space in his life, that neither Sam and Dean or Cas could fill. He looked up to them as role models, but Mary fills in a different role, that of a mother.

Mary on the other hand sees the other world as a place where she can redeem herself. The first step was to realize that not making the deal had horrible consequences in this world, that she was a victim as well, and that there was never really a right and a wrong choice. Now, just as Jack, she sees her purpose in trying to save this world. She knows that Jack needs her, as the mother he never had, while at the same he replaces the children she lost when she died. Mary’s relationship with her sons became so estranged because she felt unable to act like a mother to them. They no longer needed a mother, at least not in the way they remembered her. Mary had been taken away the chance to see her sons grow up and to raise them. But with Jack she has been given another chance.

The other interesting thing about this storyline was the return of Kevin. I already talked in my episode review on 13x18 about the different characters we met so far in the other world, and how much they changed or stayed the same without knowing the Winchesters. Both Bobby and Charlie are pretty much the same. Bobby is still a hunter because he always has been one. Charlie still fights the good fight, because she already did that (though in a different way) before the apocalypse happened. Kevin though is a different story. He is still the same kid who just wanted to go to school and was not ready for the supernatural to be a part of his life. But in our universe the Winchester take him in and that makes all the difference. Their relationship had never been easy, but in the end they became a family. They gave Kevin something to fight for, even though he had still lost his friends and (seemingly) his mother. In the apocalypse world Kevin became what he was meant to be in our world as well, an instrument of the angels. I don’t think that any of his actions in the other world were out of character. This is how Kevin would have reacted, all hope lost. And even then he decided not to wait for Bobby and the other survivors, to lessen the body count.

This draws a pretty good picture of the Michael we will be facing very soon. He doesn’t simply kill, he does it in the most sadistic way, with the only attempt to break Jack. Jack on the other hand proves to be a real Winchesters when he wonders what his purpose is if he can’t save everyone. Which is pretty close to Dean’s current state of mind.

Some other things:

- Mary mentions that with all the new people coming to their camp they will soon run out of supplies. This could lead to conflicts within the camp, but it also tells us that by beating Michael and the angels the job isn’t done. They have to rebuild their entire world.

- Mary tells Kevin that heaven is just full of memories, that none of it is real. This is a pretty stark contrast to the suicidal Mary we saw last season, who longed for her own heaven. It is also possible that the dream state we saw in 12x22 was her own heaven and that by letting go of it she left behind her desire to go there again as well.

- It is implied that Michael in the other world decides who goes to heaven and who doesn’t. Given that most angels in the other world fight down on earth it is possible only the bare minimum of angels and new souls stay in heaven, to keep everything running.

- There is probably a lot to say about the image of Jack’s wings protecting Mary and her unconscious body in his arms, which were all pretty biblical, so I let some other people talk about it.

Gods & Odds

As I said I liked Gabriel in this episode better than I did in 13x18. His scenes felt more lighthearted and closer to the character we saw in season 5, while at the same time the Winchesters had a chance to call him out on his past actions and to give the character another chance to change.

Gabriel, who has seen “Kill Bill” one too many times, is on a quest for revenge. After Asmodeus he tries to track down the norse Gods who once sold him to the evil colonel. Others have already pointed out that everyone seems to face their abusers this season. Cas had to face Naomi and Sam and Rowena have yet to face Lucifer (which given the promo will happen next episode). The question is how one deals with the trauma and the abuse they had to suffer through. Are you ever able to truly let go? Can you only rest if the one responsible for your pain got his/her punishment? In 13x12 Sam told Rowena that no matter how powerful she will be she won’t feel any less vulnerable and helpless facing Lucifer. And yet by the end of the episode he gave her the tools to her full power back, hoping she might be able to kill Lucifer.

Sam and Dean learned the hard way that revenge won’t make you feel better. There is no satisfaction in it, there is no healing of old wounds. And yet Sam bonds with Rowena, bonds with Gabriel, because they both have become victims the same way he did. He understands their need to do something, anything, to get some sort of control back. I do hope Sam and Rowena can end Lucifer, because I am beyond tired of his storyline, but chances are he lives at least long enough to meet his son. The real answer how to face their trauma however has already been given last week by Billie/Death: “Sometimes life is unfair and sometimes we lose things and sometimes we make mistakes. And some of these things can never be fixed no matter how powerful you become. Some things just are, and everyone has to live with that”. Let’s hope both Sam and Rowena have listened.

The reveal that Gabriel impersonated the real Loki did mostly fit with the theme of things looking like other things, or in this case two things who looked the same. And apparently demi-gods are powerful enough that they can transform vessel into their own doppelgängers? The more you know. Apart from that the real Loki had two narrative purposes. For one he told Dean that despite the fact that his father Odin despised him he still wants to revenge his father’s death, making it clear that Dean of all people would understand. There has been a big negative space all season long with mentions of fathers and more precise John, the same way season 11 had been build around Mary and her absence and we all know how that ended. I’m not sure how and in which way they could build in John, though I’m not a huge fan of the character and I rather they wouldn’t at all.

The other thing is what Loki told Gabriel: that he lived for pleasure and stood for nothing. It is the same thing that Sam and Dean accused him off, that when they needed him he ran away. Gabriel got his revenge, but it didn’t make him feel better, the way Dean knew it wouldn’t. But after he starts to wonder if there was some truth in Loki’s words, if it is finally time to give his life a meaningful purpose. This is what it looked like back in season 5, where Gabriel had seemingly sacrificed himself in order to stop the apocalypse. It is why I wasn’t very fond of bringing his character back, because it took away the meaning of this death, that had never been real in the first place. Gabriel is now on a journey we thought he had already been. It is a weird repeat of a story that had seem already finished, so I’m still a bit conflicted as to why they had to bring the character back in the first place.

Let’s talk for a brief moment about the other scene I know everybody is already talking about. Gabriel talking about his time in Monte Carlo and of course the porn stars. We see two versions of this story, one with the porn starts, one without. It is possible Gabriel simply forget to mention them the first time and what we see then is how it happened. The other interpretation however is that the version without them is how Sam pictured the scene and the other version with the porn starts is how Dean imagined it (which would be a callback to 2x15, the first time we saw Gabriel, where we had the story told from two different perspectives as well). Say the porn star version is Dean’s imagination, then it features a male porn star. With dark hair, in an ascot. Flirting not with the flamboyant brother but rather with the manly bearded dude. I’m sorry but there is no heterosexual interpretation for this.

The for me most important scene however was the last scene. Sam calls out Dean for going alone after Loki, after he already left Sam behind to go with Ketch into the other world. Dean falls back to treating Sam like a child instead of his equal. With Lucifer free and a Michael from another world ready to conquer our world it seems like a second apocalypse is on the horizon. This brings back Dean’s worst memory: Sam’s death and his time in hell. Back then Dean could do nothing to prevent this as it was the only option to save the world. But he can’t get through it again so Dean is willing to rather give his own life than to let anyone he cares about die again.

In 12x23 Dean lost everything and there was nothing he could about it as well. Instead of waiting for another tragedy to happen it seems Dean now takes matters into his own hands. Just like Jack he feels like a failure if he can’t protect everyone.

The whole scene felt to me as if the show is starting to prepare us what will happen in the finale, which given all spoilers is very likely to be Michael!Dean. Dean acts reckless, he even says he doesn’t care about his own life, as long as his family is safe. He falls back into old destructive patterns, but so does Sam. His promise to die together is the same inability to let go of his brother that Dean shows. Dean can’t lose Sam so he rather dies instead to protect him; Sam can’t lose Dean so he rather dies with him. In the end though we will likely see a reverse “Swan Song”, with the brothers separated, and while not dead one of them will no longer be himself.

Until then though let’s hope next week gives us the ultimate power couple: Gabriel & Rowena! See you then.

#supernatural #spn 13x20 #unfinished business #spn meta #spoilers #my meta

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bbcbreakingnews · 3 years ago

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Chicago cop is fired 10 years after he ‘accidentally shot friend in the head’

A Chicago police officer has been fired for allegedly shooting a friend in the head, leaving him with a brain injury, and then lying about it for a decade.

Patrolman Patrick Kelly learned of his termination after the Chicago Police Board voted on Thursday to oust him from the force for the January 2010 shooting of Michael LaPorta and the coverup that followed.

Kelly told investigators that LaPorta, a close friend, shot himself with the officer’s gun in a botched suicide attempt during a night of heavy drinking. The officer was off-duty at the time and denied being drunk.

Chicago Police Board has voted 8-0 to fire Patrolman Patrick Kelly (left) for the 2010 shooting of Michael LaPorta (right), leaving him with a traumatic brain injury and in a wheelchair

The shooting left LaPorta with a traumatic brain injury that has rendered him unable to walk, real or live independently.

Kelly was never criminally charged. Cook County prosecutors reviewed the case and determined a jury was unlikely to find the longtime patrolman guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Kelly was stripped of his police powers after he refused to answer questions on the witness stand during the trial of a lawsuit that LaPorta had filed against him.

For years, Chicago city lawyers defended Kelly, but when the case was reviewed in 2017, investigators concluded that Kelly was the one who pulled the trigger and then blamed the shooting on LaPorta.

LaPorta, known as Mikey, spent two months in the hospital after the shooting, followed by two more months in a rehabilitation facility. The bullet from the shooting remains lodged in his head to this day.

Also in 2017, a federal jury found the city repeatedly failed to identify Kelly as a problem before he shot LaPorta, and set the damages at $44.7million – the most ever awarded in Illinois in a police misconduct case.

But this past February, the 7th US Court of Appeals tossed the record-setting judgment against Chicago, ruling that the city cannot be held liable for the shooting because Kelly was off-duty and none of LaPorta’s federal rights were violated.

Kelly claimed that LaPorta (pictured), a close friend, shot himself with officer’s service weapon in a botched suicide attempt after night of drinking

Kelly remained employed by the Chicago Police Department and received his $87,000-a-year salary until he took disability leave in 2019.

On Thursday, Chicago’s police disciplinary body voted 8-0 to fire Kelly.

‘[Kelly’s] actions in shooting of Michael LaPorta in the head were reckless, violent, and unjustified,’ the Chicago Police Board wrote. ‘The Board finds that returning [Kelly] to his position as a police officer, in which he would be armed and authorized to use deadly force, poses an unacceptable risk to the safety of the public.’

Kelly could appeal his firing to the Cook County Circuit Court.

LaPorta’s attorney praised the firing as a ‘small measure of justice’ for his client and blamed the Chicago Police Department for keeping Kelly on the force all there years, even as he racked up misconduct allegations and use of force reports.

‘After years and years of egregious and violent behavior, and police denials that Patrick Kelly was a danger to the community, it is no more than a relief that he is finally off the force,’ said lawyer Antonio Romanucci.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/chicago-cop-is-fired-10-years-after-he-accidentally-shot-friend-in-the-head/

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hadarlaskey · 4 years ago

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First Cow

In the year of our Lord 2008, I was a victim of subtweeting before the term had entered into the popular lexicon. For those who remain blissfully unaware of the word’s origins, it’s essentially a form of stealth criticism whereby one is called out for an opinion or action taken, but remains unnamed, allowing for a level of “blind item” anonymity to those not in the know. As a wide-eyed journalistic lickspittle, I had been commissioned to review the film Wendy and Lucy by the director Kelly Reichardt for the pages of hallowed arts listing organ, Time Out London.

At that time, and under the auspices of a, shall we say, “wacky” new editor-in-chief, Time Out no longer rated art out of the traditional five stars. Now things were out of six. The malformed guiding principle behind this decision was that the final sixth star equated to something otherworldly and unique – an example of untrammelled genius, never to be repeated or replicated. So astounded was I by Wendy and Lucy’s portrait of a young woman foundering on the precipice of the American margins, I decided to cash in all my chips and lay down for the big one: six shining yellow stars. It was a very big moment. Being able to proselytise about this film in such a hyperbolic manner made me feel alive. Sometimes, it’s what makes this game worth playing.

Yet the high was short-lived. Three days after the review appeared in print, I found myself surfing the salmon-pink pages of the Financial Times, whose film critic at the time was the august and unpredictable Nigel Andrews. I had long been a fan of his writing. His reviews were like dainty little diary entries where literary flourishes adjoined neatly with hyper-articulate analysis (he is now retired). He did not like Wendy and Lucy at all. His archly dismissive review compared it to sentimental slush like Lassie Come Home. His coup de grace was to call out the critic at Time Out (me) for reckless mismanagement of the time-honoured star system, and for drastically overrating what he considered to be a textbook example of American indie mediocrity.

Let me first say that this anecdote is not intended as an act of retribution or late-game bitterness: then, as now, it was water off a duck’s back. If anything, I was flattered that this legendary critic was reading my words. Sometimes you can be made to second guess a judgment, maybe through a conversation, or reading other criticism, or perhaps as a result of your naturally maturing and expanding definition of personal taste. For a long time I wondered whether I had overrated the film, to the extent that I was a little scared to rewatch it. What if my youthful zeal was misplaced? What if Nigel Andrews was right?

Upon belatedly rewatching Wendy and Lucy, not only were my paranoid fantasies instantly debunked, but in fact the film was even more rich and sad than I’d initially supposed. A seven star film, if you will. This should have come as no surprise, as in the intervening years, Reichardt has delivered one extraordinary film after the next, nary leaving so much as a perfectly calibrated frame out of place. The lovely term “pocket symphonies” is often used to describe the music of the Beach Boys, and it also applies to Kelly Reichardt’s cinema.

Via extremely modest means and assiduous cinematic construction she is able to whip up melodious, sweeping and tactfully political dramas which cut deep into the often-challenging experience of living, working and thriving in America. They are the small formal acorns from which tall thematic oaks grow.

Her latest film, First Cow, is a hushed, intimate, heartbreaking story about nothing less than the birth of modern America. It is the thoughtful, bookish cousin to Martin Scorsese’s mythically-inclined fisticuffs aria, Gangs of New York, from 2002 (with a dash of 2012’s The Wolf of Wall Street thrown in as well) but this actually manages to do and say a lot more with a lot less.

For Reichardt and her trusty co-screenwriter Jon Raymond (their fifth collaboration), it is about two men who find themselves unwittingly at the centre of a push for American cultural expansionism and a nascent form of supply and demand economics. And as usual, Reichardt is interested in the concept of the dashed dream, and particularly how the promise of those dreams usually arrives laced with peril and degradation. We only see folly when it’s too late.

“Via extremely modest means and assiduous cinematic construction, Reichardt is able to whip up melodious, sweeping and tactfully political dramas.”

At its core, First Cow is the tall tale of two pals who decide to capitalise on a collective yen for sweet baked comestibles among the members of their Midwestern fur-trapping community circa 1820. Otis ‘Cookie’ Figowitz (John Magero) is a lovably effete baker’s apprentice displaced to the Oregon wilds where he works as a commercial food scavenger. While rustling through the brush in search of sustenance, he finds a naked Chinese man, King-Lu (Orion Lee), who is on the run from some Russians.

Cookie helps out King-Lu, and when they later reconnect, Cookie becomes King-Lu’s houseguest in his idylic woodland shack. As in the famous ‘A Woman’s Touch’ scene from the Doris Day western-themed musical, Calamity Jane, gender roles are furtively assigned among this same-sex twosome and a genteel domesticity is formed, with Cookie dusting and baking, and King-Lu foraging and chopping.

Beyond our central pair, every member of the ensemble hails from a different part of the globe. This choice hasn’t been made to emphasise discord: quite the opposite. Reichardt is more interested in stressing common ground among this ethnically diverse enclave, with these pitiable characters either yearning to be transported back home, or keen to exist (and persist) as a far-flung totem of national character. Toby Jones’ stovepipe-hatted English popinjay, Chief Factor, takes a bite of fresh oily cake, glances to the middle distance and exclaims in almost teary-eyed exultation: “This tastes likeLondon.”

The cow referred to in the film’s title is another of Factor’s little home comforts, allowing him to have a dainty splash of milk in his tea. Cookie and King-Lu have other plans, as they sneak into his meadow at night and extract the milk for their own nefarious means, namely producing rudimentary baked goods for the hungry fur trappers to waste their money on. Prior to their scheme, King-Lu makes the offhand comment that all successful businesses are based upon some aspect of criminal endeavour, and this apparent joke seals the friends’ fate before ingredients have first been combined.

The docile cow is a symbol of wealth and success, and also represents the possibility of progress. Aside from Lily Gladstone’s bemused First Nation translator, the cow is the only other female character in the film, and Reichardt very subtly presents her as being the subject of a very blithe form of male exploitation. As Cookie lovingly extracts the cow’s milk in the light of the moon, he coos sweet words to her and talks to her like a nervous John might to do an experienced Madame. It is through a bout of violent jealousy that our heroes are eventually scuppered, and the film switches from a tone of hushed comic frivolity to an almost fugue-like death rattle.

Within Reichardt’s immaculate canon of films, First Cow does have something of a megamix quality to it: there’s the bashful male kinship of 2006’s Old Joy; the idea that we can overreach even the most humble of personal ambitions as articulated so poignantly in 2008’s Wendy and Lucy; there’s the perfume of violence that hung in the air during the pioneer days from 2010’s Meek’s Cutoff; and the idea of crime being justified by a destabilised form of personal morality in 2013’s Night Moves.

I often see Reichardt’s films as all being about the struggles of being an independent artist, and the roadblocks that come from prizing originality and trying to work off of the mainstream grid. In the story of Cookie, King-Lu and their beloved but illicit treats, the metaphor works once more. And at the same time as being part of this close-knit cinematic family, the film is entirely unique: a shaggy cow saga one minute; a treatise on class, ethnicity and the mechanisms of capitalism the next; and then, in its final moments, a rumination on how storytelling, cinema and a curiosity in the past is the only practical way of keeping the dead alive.

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ANTICIPATION. A new film from one of the best directors currently working? Yes please! 5

ENJOYMENT. A simple story of a gentleman baker that channels the danger and excitement of early capitalist endeavour. 5

IN RETROSPECT. It’s a McCabe & Mrs Miller with cows, and there can be no higher praise than that. 5

Directed by Kelly Reichardt

Starring Toby Jones, Orion Lee, John Magaro

The post First Cow appeared first on Little White Lies.

source https://lwlies.com/reviews/first-cow/

#movie

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brian-lozano91 · 7 years ago

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Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi review

The Last Jedi is the ninth film in the Star Wars series and the sequel to The Force Awakens and is Directed by Rian Johnson (Looper, Brick) it stars Daisy Ridley, Mark Hamill, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie. The story is Luke Skywalker's peaceful and solitary existence gets upended when he encounters Rey, a young woman who shows strong signs of the Force. Her desire to learn the ways of the Jedi forces Luke to make a decision that changes their lives forever. Meanwhile, Kylo Ren and General Hux lead the First Order in an all-out assault against Leia and the Resistance for supremacy of the galaxy.

This film is getting a lot of controversy, in one in hand fans are loving this and others are hating this. Reading and watching a lot of those reviews I can understand why.I want to talk about the best part of the film. The best parts of the film has to do with everything with Rey, Kylo and Luke. That entire storyline which is the main focus is absolutely fantastic, the reason is the character of Luke is great because it’s different from what you think the character was going to be. Everyone thought he was going to be another Obi-Wan, Yoda or the way he was in the Expanded Universe. However making Luke a grumpy man who doesn’t want anything to do with Rey, the force or the jedi. The fact that he has lost his way and belief because of what happen with Kylo is great storytelling. Also the way they shot the flashbacks with Luke and Ben in the hut and the way they showed what happen and the different perspectives on the people telling it, which makes Rey and the audience think what was happening and who’s telling the truth and felt reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon. Which has different perspectives on what happen in the story and makes the audience think about who is telling the truth and who’s lying.

I loved that, it was something new and different from what Star Wars usually does and I do like Rey and Luke’s dynamic with each other. Rey’s reaction to the way Luke is the way the audience feels about Luke. She wants Luke to come back and help them. Also Rey trying to find some kind of closure to who her parents are and where she belongs in the force and wants Luke to be her mentor. Everything here is on point and I feel this is where the screenplay shines. But not only the screenplay but the acting is fantastic here. Mark Hamill as Luke a character he hasn’t played since Jedi is really good here. I Love the fact that Luke was really grumpy and didn’t care, then we find out why in flashbacks and the way Mark Hamill acts in those scenes are so powerful. He is really good and I’m glad he came back. Then when we get to the end, I know a lot of people were kinda disappointed when he came back. But I feel it did show Luke’s full power and finish his character arc in this movie and finishes his storyline completely, giving a nice finale to his story.

Daisy Ridley is really good in this and is proving she is an actress to lookout for, she is not as charismatic as she was in the first one but her role in this movie doesn’t call for that. She is more serious and dramatic. I liked her is this film, she unsure of herself and where she belongs in the universe. She looking for a parent figure someone to show her the way and the fact that Luke isn’t willing to help her and when she starts talking to Kylo, she starts to wonder if Luke was telling the truth then trying to get him back into the fight. She is great, I felt for her character, I wanted her to find out about her parents. Then when we find out about her parents is so different and new that I understand why people didn’t like that because it felt like a really big deal in the last one and then when you find out and it’s not, I get it but to me this was so much better. She is not related to anyone important, she’s her own character, unique that what we need for a character. She doesn’t interact with the rest of the characters until the end of the film so the whole time it’s Luke and Kylo

Then you have the second side plot where we have Poe and Leia trying to survive fighting against the first order. I really like this part of the story because it did something different with the character type of Poe, because Poe in this movie it the typical hero character that does whatever he wants and does reckless things and will always work out in the end. In this movie his actions have consequences, in the beginning Leai slaps him and gets mad at him for not following her orders. From their he keeps making reckless and rash decisions because he doesn’t trust Holdo. He learns a lesson in the movie and it was nice to see that in a big movie. Also Oscar Isaac’s role is bigger here because in the last movie he really didn’t do anything except in the beginning and the end, here he was the main side plot.

Going into the negatives, I thought that the side plot with Finn and Rose is not that great, it’s not bad but it could’ve been better or actually taken out of the entire film because it doesn’t effect the plot whatsoever and it felt that they were just giving them things to do because we couldn’t come up with anything to do, which is a shame because the actors John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran are really good and both are charismatic and had chemistry but their side story was so unnecessary. The problem is their story is dealing with saving animals and not that you can’t incorporate them in a movie but it’s just so on the nose and also we don’t need to see this in a Star Wars movie, this idea would work in a Star Trek. At least in the episode films if you need a spinoff and had this story idea then I feel it could work, but the main films need to stay away from the real world problems, then we get some bad dialogue or motivations that don’t make sense at the end. For example, Finn was going to kill himself at the end to save everyone but then Rose saves and pushes him out of the way, the reason for that is because as she says we must learn to save ourselves. Because love is what will win this battle. Why? The scene would’ve been more powerful if Finn had died at that scene, his arch felt like it was finished especially from the last movie and it would’ve given Rey more of a purpose for the next film to stop the first order for Finn and we would’ve been behind him because we like Finn.

Also I noticed this in the film and it took me awhile and listening to a lot of reviewers that this new Star Wars does feel a little to political. Like for example, most of the men in this movie do feel kind of dumb and angry and easy to react. Why do we need this in Star Wars and why now. Previous female and male characters in the old E.U. and even recently in Force Awakens, Clone Wars TV show, Rebels, Rogue One and the new canon books felt well written. Both genders felt the same and none were different then the other. So I don’t know why they did it here it makes men look stupid and kinda sexist, which I don’t think it was their intention I think they just wanted to make strong female characters. But you don’t make them like this and don’t shove a political message down our throat if you wanna do it be subtle. Also the way Disney is treating the old fans is disrespectful telling them they don’t matter and discontinuing the E.U. or now Legends doesn’t make sense. I understand that they want to do a new cannon but why not have both. Also saying that your theories are stupid, come on man just explain why you did the changes and you feel like it was the right one, but don’t bash the fans who don’t like it.

Their is so much controversy with this movie, the fandom is so divided with it. I understand why their our things in this movie that would make people upset, they change things that people didn’t expect and Luke’s character is up for debate, I liked it and made sense to me but I’m not argue with anyone if they didn’t like it and also the political message and the way they depicted the men and women in this movie. I get it and people are allowed not to like this movie and are allowed to be angry because of Disney behind the scenes. They are clearly trying to get rid of the old which I understand but I wish they could do it in a better way. But I still really like this movie. As for a recommendation I still don’t know about that, I say see it just to form your own opinion.

4 out of 5 stars

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dustedmagazine · 4 years ago

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Listed: Lithics

Lithics, out of Portland, has been making minimalist post-punk for half a decade and three albums. Their latest, Tower of Age, fits into a well-established tradition of deadpan, off-kilter punk, borrowing the irregular rhythms of Kleenex/Liliput, the rough mechanical dance-i-ness of Fire Engines and the apocalyptic Android funk of Pere Ubu. In her review, Jennifer Kelly concluded, “Tower of Age isn’t radically different from Mating Surfaces, but it feels at once sharper and looser, as if the musicians in Lithics had gotten so precise and skilled at their razory art form that they could afford to take some risks. There’s a lot of post-punk out there, but very little as good as this.”

Kleenex/LiLiPUT – The Complete Recordings

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I got the Kleenex/LiLiPUT 2xCD compilation from Kill Rock Stars when I was 16 and that album was one that truly impacted my life. I was really into the first disk of the more raucous and repetitive punk tunes for a long time and then as I got older, I got a lot more into the second disk of their more mature sounds. It’s something I’ve come back to again and again throughout my life. (Aubrey)

Grace Slick & The Great Society – Live at the Matrix

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In the summer of 2018 I got extremely into this Grace Slick & The Great Society live at the Matrix album. I’ve been pretty obsessed with it ever since. It consists of two live performances from the mid-sixties. They were such a good band, it’s a shame she moved on to the much more boring Jefferson Airplane, taking along a couple of the Great Society’s good songs, but there are so many more! Darby Slick’s guitar solo on "Grimly Forming" is my favorite guitar solo of all time and Grace’s vocals are so incredibly strong throughout. (Aubrey)

Swell Maps – “Midget Submarines”

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I’m picking just this song and not the album, it’s on Trip to Marineville, only because it was my introduction to the band. Everything about this song and recording is perfect. It encapsulates so many ideas, somehow successfully tying together a range of disparate musical threads: punk, psychedelic, dub, sound collage, motoric, noise... Pure joy for the ears. I still get goosebumps when I hear the opening drum beat. (Bob)

Half Japanese – “Live In Hell”

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I don’t know much about the context of why or where this footage was shot, but it is 1985 Sing No Evil era Half Japanese (their peak lineup in my opinion) delivering a completely feral performance in front of a backdrop of flame while identical twins (?) in skeleton costumes jump all over them. Jad smirks while strumming an unplugged guitar, and David goes apeshit, dancing himself into a frenzy. The mix heavily favors John Dreyfuss’ Funhouse-esque sax, a unique perspective that I wish was represented more on their studio albums of the period. This is rock ‘n’ roll in its highest, wildest form. (Bob)

The Luv’d Ones – Truth Gotta Stand

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The Luv’d Ones were an amazing band that I will take any opportunity to spread the word about. Char Vinnedge is one of my favorite guitarists, laying down hypnotic minor key riffs and piercing squalls of fuzz, often both in the same song. They were extremely ahead of their time, and it’s maddening to think they never got a chance to record a full album. I especially love the demo songs later in the album that manage to be wilder and more internal than the singles. (Mason)

Devo – The Mongoloid Years

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As a 15 year old browsing the Devo section of my local CD shop, I found a new $17.99 copy of Freedom Of Choice, and a heavily used $8.99 copy of The Mongoloid Years. Luckily, I decided to save some money that day and bought the best recordings Devo ever released. I love how tight and blown out they sound, and the studio albums always sounded a little muted and mellow by comparison. The album ends with an early “hardcore” era performance, baiting the audience with comically inept nightmare music and getting kicked off stage. An inspiration. (Mason)

L.O.X. – L.O.X. Time

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Who are they? I have no idea, but these strangers used to practice across the hall from us and it wasn’t long before they became one of my favorite bands. They reference bugs often, in lyrics and cover art, but it seems like a deeper theme within the album. “Ants” feels like it was written by ants. Like you’re in an ant hill, and somewhere down one of the tunnels, there’s an ant clawing at a piece of sheet metal in time. Nobody really knows who they are, but if you’ve heard this record you know that they rule. (Wiley)

Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat

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Few records make me want to burn all of my possessions, knock myself out with a frying pan and float down a river into the night, but this is one of them. Every once in while I’ll check back in with it and be astonished by its creation. While I love the majority of this bands catalog, I particularly like the recklessness of some of the recording performances in this era. The deluxe edition has some great alternate takes of VU classics, as well as some overlooked live gems such as “Guess I’m falling in love.” (Wiley)

Honey Bucket – Furniture Days

Furniture Days by Honey Bucket

Portland’s now sadly defunct Honey Bucket are a collective favorite of all of us in Lithics, and a band that I will always fondly identify with a particular time in this city. Their music was energetic, highbrow, and fun; perfectly reflecting the personalities of the three talented humans behind its creation. Not a day goes by that we don’t miss this band, Honey Bucket forever! (Bob)

Mope Grooves – Desire

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Mope Grooves are, by this point, something of an institution in Portland. Primarily the brainchild of singer/lyricist/ multi-instrumentalist Stevie Pohlman, it still has the feel of a community effort. The sound has gradually evolved along with a shifting lineup of local musicians culminating in their latest LP Desire, their most fully realized work to date.

#dusted magazine #listed #lithics #kleenex/liliput #grace slick & the great society #swell maps #half japanese #the luv’d ones #devo #l.o.x.#velvet underground #honey bucket #mope grooves

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dweemeister · 5 years ago

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Three Little Girls in Blue (1946)

Most reviews on this blog are American films from the Golden Age of Hollywood. If you have read a handful of them, you may know that, during the height of the Hollywood Studio System from the silent era to the early 1960s, cast and crewmembers were often contracted to work for a certain studio. If Bette Davis appears in a melodrama, it’s probably a Warner Bros. movie. Bob Hope and/or Bing Crosby making you laugh? Try Paramount. Vincente Minnelli directing? Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). For a 20th Century Fox musical, Alfred Newman (who composed the Fox fanfare) is either the film’s composer or its music director. If the musical’s plot revolves around two or three cash-strapped women attempting to attract and marry a millionaire, that is also a strong indicator of a 20th Century Fox production. Released by Fox in 1946, H. Bruce Humberstone’s Three Little Girls in Blue has both those indicators – Newman as musical director and the millionaire-chasing plot. The film is a romp, most enjoyable when its three principal actresses are singing and the supporting men are nowhere to be found.

It is 1902. There are three little girls in blue. On a chicken farm in Red Bank, New Jersey live the Charter sisters: Pam (June Haver), Liz (Vivian Blaine), and Myra (Vera-Ellen). This farm, inherited from their aunt, is their springboard to travel to Atlantic City in order to find rich husbands. The plan is put on the fast track when they learn the monetary inheritance is not nearly as bountiful as they expected. Basing their operations out of an expensive waterfront hotel, the Charter sisters agree that Pam will masquerade as a wealthy heiress, “Ms. Charters”, while Liz serves as secretary and Myra as the maid. For whatever reason, the sisters have not looked up the hotel’s rates for the suite they are staying in. “Jiminy Crickets,” Myra yelps, “why, the rate for this suite is $9.25 per day!” Before you start giggling, that amount is approximately $277 in 2020’s USD – chump change that is not. The Charter sisters soon meet three men, flush with cash, who knock them off their feet with their charms: Steve Harrington (Frank Latimore), Mike Bailey (Charles Smith; uncredited), and Van Damm Smith (George Montgomery).

Van Damm Smith? That name is a headline writer’s dream!

Financial and romantic crises mount, and the film’s tangled plot in its second half is not worth a brain strain. Three Little Girls in Blue also marks the film debut of Celeste Holm, who plays Steve’s sister, Miriam. Holm, who appears late in the film, is a comical delight. For Haver, Blaine, and Vera-Ellen, they nail the sisterly ties (and rivalry) that set up almost all the situational comedy in Valentine Davies’ (1947’s Miracle on 34th Street, 1949’s It Happens Every Spring) screenplay. Latimore, Smith, and Montgomery are amiable enough, but beyond their handsome coiffures and white smiles, they do not surprise romantically, comically, dramatically, or musically. Other than the reckless plotting and dreadful romantic dialogue as the film nears its conclusion, the male leads are among its weakest features. With greats like Victor Mature and Cesar Romero leaving the film as production commenced (being replaced by Montgomery and Latimore), Three Little Girls in Blue is a movie in desperate need of steadier actors for the romantic interests.

With the plot in disarray, Three Little Girls in Blue is (mostly) redeemed by its eye-catching Technicolor and musical score. Finding a quality print of Humberstone’s film in order to enjoy that Technicolor might be tricky. Three Little Girls in Blue has only been released once on home media (2013 DVD), but Fox’s record in restoring their older films for home media releases is spotty, and that unfortunately seems to have been the case for this movie – the situation is probably worse now because of the Walt Disney Company’s purchase of Fox and their policy towards older Fox films. The print that made its debut on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) last March was more presentable, with gorgeous saturated colors that bring out the Charter sisters’ color-coded dresses when they arrive in Atlantic City and gallivant across Steel Pier (one of the oldest amusement parks in the United States). Even as story devolves into farce, Three Little Girls in Blue is always fantastic to look at – it just depends on the quality of the print one has access to.

At the height of the Hollywood Studio System, the unspoken consensus among cast and crewmembers specializing in musical films across the industry was that MGM made the best musicals. Art is subjective, yes, but that is wisdom – at this time in Hollywood history – I will not contradict. However, MGM’s musical dominance, to industry insiders, was not absolute. The studio of Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, and Arthur Freed (lyricist and producer; 1943’s Cabin in the Sky, 1951’s An American in Paris) may have had the best stable of musical actors, producers, and directors. But Fox, those same industry specialists believed, had the better arrangers and orchestrators, individual instrumentalists, and orchestra – like actors and actresses, musicians were also contracted by studio and the major studios boasted an in-house orchestra (in 1946, for example, MGM’s orchestra might record the score to The Yearling, followed the next workday by recording a Tom and Jerry short film.) Thus, attentive listeners will notice that Fox musicals from the 1930s-1950s will sound richer than their counterparts from Paramount, RKO, or Disney.

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For Three Little Girls in Blue, Alfred Newman serves as the musical director supervising composer Josef Myrow (1947’s Mother Wore Tights, 1950’s Wabash Avenue) and lyricist/producer Mack Gordon (1940’s Down Argentine Way, 1943’s Hello, Frisco, Hello). Myrow and Gordon’s songs contribute the plot better than most musicals during this era, which could sometimes approach the material like a revue musical. Many of the songs are integrated in the film’s score, none more than “On the Boardwalk (In Atlantic City)” – which has become an unofficial anthem for Atlantic City. Other than the film’s opener, “A Farmer’s Life is a Very Merry Life”, this is the only time where all three actresses (Vera-Ellen’s singing dubbed by Carol Stewart) sing as a trio. It is a merry waltz, full of optimism and yearning to escape their modest means. In all its innocence, the tune is quoted by the score across the film as a reminder to the audience the goals and wide-eyed personalities of Pam, Liz, and Myra. The lush orchestrations one expects from a Fox musical appear in “Somewhere in the Night” (sung by Vivian Blaine) and the film’s most iconic number “You Make Me Feel So Young” – famously covered by Frank Sinatra and, given the probable age of Vera-Ellen’s and Charles Smith’s (singing voice dubbed by Del Porter) characters, make little lyrical sense.

Beside that quibble for “You Make Me Feel So Young”, one does not cast Vera-Ellen in a movie without giving her a dancing number. With dance direction by Seymour Felix (1936’s The Great Ziegfeld, 1942’s Yankee Doodle Dandy), Vera-Ellen athletically moves and taps her way across a fantastical stage, recalling the childhood frills of first crushes and a surrounding world that is larger than life. It may not be set amid hypnotic production design that could be expected in an MGM or Busby Berkeley-choreograph Warner Bros. musical, but the individual choreography is dizzyingly complex – mixing tap, ballet, and jazz dancing. This dance plays into the lyrics, swung gently by the orchestra, and cementing the song’s place as a mid-century standard. Other reviewers are more qualified to comment on Vera-Ellen’s moves than I, but there is no denying her footwork and physicality here.

Of the film’s three principal actresses, Vera-Ellen would proceed to have the most accomplished film career. June Haver would be overshadowed by other actresses at Fox; Vivian Blaine, who began her career as a stage actress, returned to the stage. Vera-Ellen reeled off one critical and commercial hit after another, but as demand for movie musicals waned in the late 1950s, so did her film career. Only appearing for a few minutes, Celeste Holm is the actress who would have the greatest presence in Hollywood history. Within several years, Holm’s career included memorable roles in Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) opposite Gregory Peck and All About Eve (1950) – Holm would be somewhat judgmental of anyone, however, to anyone who listed either of those two movies as their favorite Celeste Holm film.

20th Century Fox, before its purchase by Disney in 2019, seemed disinterested in or lacked the resources to promote its classic library. Now under new ownership that is sending signals that they do not give a damn about the enormous film library they have just acquired, the status of Fox’s catalog is uncertain. Films released within the last few decades should be safe, and maybe the odd classic movie like All About Eve (which in any case probably won’t be made too available because it doesn’t adhere to the contemporary Disney brand) and The Sound of Music (1965; which fits with the brand). But a film like Three Little Girls in Blue – its plot bunk, its male characters baloney – may be endangered. This is not one of the eminent musicals in Fox’s library, nor will it garner much attention on home media or streaming (this is a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma, though, because many potential viewers do not realize what a classic Fox musical is and, because of Disney’s policies, it is not easy for them to find out whether they might want to see such a movie). But the committed performances, solid musical score, and posh Technicolor are worth preserving, commemorating, writing about, and viewing.

My rating: 7/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

#Three Little Girls in Blue #H. Bruce Humberstone #June Haver #George Montgomery #Vera Ellen #Vivian Blaine #Celeste Holm #Frank Latimore #Charles Smith #Mack Gordon #Josef Myrow #Alfred Newman #Valentine Davies #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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marymosley · 5 years ago

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Why The Government Can Shut Down Church Gatherings During Pandemic

Below is my column in The Hill newspaper. This weekend the Kansas Supreme Court ruled with the Governor in upholding her order to close church services over 10 persons. That is particularly notable since, as mentioned in the column, Kansas is a state with enhanced protections for the free exercise of religion.

Here is the column:

“Jesus bore it so that you would not have to.” If that recent declaration by the Awaken Church of Jonesboro in Arkansas is true, Jesus might also be viewed as the first coronavirus offender, because the Last Supper hosted three disciples too many under the social gathering limits in most states during this crisis. At the time, of course, Roman Governor Pontius Pilate was trying to contain Christianity itself, which now some church leaders accuse American governors of doing. Some churches plan to defy state public health directives by carrying out large Easter services.

The issue is playing out in several states. In Kansas, Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has barred religious gatherings with more than 10 people. That action prompted the Republican controlled state legislature to then vote to rescind the order as an attack on free exercise of religion. Kelly asked her staff to explore all her legal options. Under the Constitution, she is on strong grounds to issue such an order. While untested, the free exercise clause is not a license for religious spreaders in a pandemic.

This may be the most compelling use of the belief that the Constitution “is not a suicide pact.” I have been critical of that often repeated reference by those who want to ignore fundamental rights. It was originally attributed to Abraham Lincoln after he had violated the Constitution by unilaterally suspending habeas corpus. It is more often attributed to Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, without noting that he used the line in one of his most reprehensible opinions, a dissent to the Supreme Court extending protections to a priest arrested for his controversial speech.

These churches would convert the free exercise clause into a suicide pact of sorts. The interpretation not only puts the faithful at risk of infection but also their communities. No constitutional rights are truly absolute. Rights such as free exercise of religion and free speech can be overcome with a sufficiently compelling purpose of state and the least restrictive means of achieving that purpose. There is nothing more compelling than battling a pandemic, and limiting gathering size is the only effective deterrent to the coronavirus spreading until a vaccine can be made available.

However, that has not stopped defiance. In Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis overruled local orders limiting or barring church gatherings. In Arkansas, Pastor Chad Gonzales of Awaken Church defied demands to end services. His declaration of Jesus as a coronavirus victim was based on the belief that Jesus took away every sin and disease on the cross, a particularly powerful message for Easter. Similarly, Pastor Tony Spell of the Life Tabernacle Church in Louisiana was arrested for holding large services. Spell declared his intention to hold large Easter services and insisted that he will never yield to this “dictator law.” Even more chilling was his statement that “true Christians do not mind dying.”

If this were a matter of just congregants dying, a constitutional argument could be made for the right to make a self destructive decision based on faith. Adults can forgo simple medicines or transfusions that would save their lives. Likewise, the snake handlers in West Virginia can still engage in that dangerous practice based on a passage in the Bible that the faithful “shall take up serpents” and the story of Paul surviving a venomous viper. Yet even in practices that kill only the faithful, many states have outlawed snake handling as dangerous to both humans and snakes.

One of the key factors in any constitutional review is whether free exercise of religion is truly being denied, as suggested by these pastors. There is a curtailing of free exercise of religion, including the important element of congregating together in faith, but these orders only temporarily halt one form of faithful expression and do not stop worshiping. Most faiths have moved online during the lockdown. Just as states can force churches to satisfy building or fire codes, they can bar congregating in churches and temples as public health risks in a pandemic like this one.

The objection from these pastors is not frivolous as there is a substantial curtailment in an expression of faith. But this is not an effort to establish a favored state church. It is content neutral on particular faiths impacted by the limitation on crowd size. Their views are not frivolous, but they are still reckless. Free exercise of religion does not allow dangerous acts, even if they are part of a demonstration of faith. A pastor should not be able to disregard public health limits on congregation size to fight a pandemic threat any more than he can disregard a fire safety threat.

The real issue here may be more about state law. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt declared that “Kansas statute and the Kansas Constitution bill of rights each forbid the governor from criminalizing participation in worship gatherings by executive order.” Kansas law goes beyond the First Amendment in its protections. However, even the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act allows for a denial of forms of free exercise when based on a compelling state interest and least intrusive means. Schmidt notes that the orders do not stop grocery shopping and other gatherings. But religious services can be supplied online, while grocery shopping for most people continues to take actual visits to the stores.

This Easter will feel different for many of us. Yet the heart of the holiday, both religious and social, has never been stronger or more defining. This pandemic has drawn millions of Americans, believers and nonbelievers, to rediscover faith, family, and other core values. Our separation during this period is part of our sense of obligation to our neighbors as well as to our health care workers in a time of crisis. I am not so sure about Jesus being a coronavirus sufferer, as Awaken Church says, but I know he is a symbol of collective responsibility and of treating others the way you would wish to be treated. This includes protecting others from the spread of a deadly disease, just as you would wish to be protected by them.

The Constitution does not leave the states as mere bystanders forced to watch as pastors such as Tony Spell bus in hundreds of people for church services. Such services are worse than a “suicide pact.” They are a pact to serve potential spreaders. Spell may declare that “true Christians do not mind dying,” but their neighbors might mind a great deal.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can find his updates online @JonathanTurley.

Why The Government Can Shut Down Church Gatherings During Pandemic published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.tumblr.com/

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dukereviewsmovies · 5 years ago

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Duke Reviews: The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift

Hi Everyone, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Where Today We Are Continuing Our Look At The Fast And Furious Films By Talking About The 7th Movie...

I Mean 3rd Movie?...

Technically It's The 3rd Movie But Ever Since That End Credits Scene At The End Of Furious 6, It's Become A Spin-off Film. But Can A Fast And Furious Film Be Good Without Vin Diesel And The Original Cast?

When It Came Out, No, Now? We'll Have To Find Out This Is The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift...

This Film Starts With What I Only Can Describe As The Most Boring Opening Credits Ever, The Look Of Them Is Horrible And The Song That Plays Over The Scene Is Dull But Throughout Them We See Our Main Character's School Life.

However Our Main Character, Sean (Played By Lucas Black) Gets His Car Made Fun Of By A Beautiful Girl (Played By Nikki Griffin) Which Leads To Sean Flirting With Her. But Unfortunately Her Boyfriend (Played By Home Improvement's Zachery Ty Bryan) Doesn't Like This At All...

(Boyfriend) For Your Information, My Dad Does Not Own A Viper!, He Owns A Hot Rod...

Mad That He Dissed His Dad's Car, Brad Throws A Baseball At The Window Of Sean's Car...

No Offense, Brad But I Thought You Were More Of A Soccer Player Than A Baseball/Football Guy...

With The Girl Saying To Let Their Cars Do The Talking, Brad Challenges Him But Sean Declines Saying That He Only Races For Pink Slips But With Brad Saying..

The Girl Ups The Stakes By Saying That The Winner Will Get Her...

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(Start At 4:10, End At 4:16)

I Think You Guys Get The Gist...

Liking That (And Who Wouldn't Seeing How Hot She Is) They Go To A Housing Development Area Where They Hold The Race...

Now I'm Not Going To Comentate The Races Like I Did In My Other Fast And Furious Reviews, Because This Film Is Basically A Spin-off Now And I'm Only Doing This Movie So I Can Talk About Furious 7 Next Week...

And Since We're Cutting Things Short, Nobody Wins This Race....

Yeah, Nobody...

Brad Ends Up Crashing His Car Into A Billboard, And Sean Damages His Car To The Point He's Lucky To Be Alive...

Taken To The Police Station, The Girl Is Picked Up By Her Mom While Brad Is Picked Up By His Dad (Who Looks Nothing Like Tim Allen) But As For Sean He Apparently Has 2 Priors For Reckless Driving And Willful Destruction Of Property Moving To Different Cities With His Mom In The Last 2 Years And Unfortunately She Doesn't Want To Move Again So, She Sends Sean To Live With His Father In Tokyo...

Once There, He Lays Down 3 Rules Go To School, Come Back And Stay Away From Cars. The Next Morning, Sean Starts School Where He Meets Twinkie...

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No, Not Twinkie The Kid, Just Twinkie (Who Is Played In This By Lil' Bow Wow) Who Tries Selling Sean Everything From Laptops To Cellphones To Air Jordans...

But When Sean Sees A Steering Wheel Twinkie Got For His Car, Sean Is Putty In His Hands As He Takes Him That Night To Show Him His Car...

The Incredible Hulk-Mobile...

No Way In Hell Are We Going To Let Marvel Make A Stand Alone Hulk Movie But Sure We'll Allow The Fast And Furious Movies To Make A Car Out Of Him!

Seriously, It Looks Like One Of Those Die Cast Disney Cars You Buy At The Parks That Looks Like Characters From Stuff That Disney Owns In Fact...

Yeah, They Made Their Own Hulk Car! And To Tell You The Truth That Looks More Like A Vehicle The Hulk Would Drive Than What Disney Came Up With!

What I'd Like To Know Is What Happens When You Press The Horn Does It Say Phrases Like....

"Hulk, Smash!"

"Puny God"

"Hulk Like Fire, Thor Like Water"

"Take The Stairs, Hate The Stairs! So Many Stairs!"

Also No Offense But Shouldn't The Music Playing Over This Scene Be...

I Got More Hulk Jokes About This Outrageous Vehicle But I Think It's Time That I Continue This Review Anyway, Twinkie Takes Sean To A Parking Structure Where They Find A Bunch Of Racers With Cars Ready To Race And It's There He Meets Neela (Played By Dynasty's Nathalie Kelly) But Neela's I Don't What He Is Takashi (Who's Known Around There As DK) Doesn't Want Him Hanging Around Her Because He's An American Yankee...

And Of Course Twinkie's Like "Yes, Sir We Leave Right Now, Sir" But Sean's Not Willing To Back Away So Easily (But What Sean Doesn't Know Is That DK's Uncle Yamata Is Part Of The Yakuza (Chinese Mafia)) Challenging DK To A Race, DK Declines At First Because Sean Doesn't Have A Car However, Our Old Friend, Han Enters Telling Sean That He'll Lend Him His...

Going Up The Elevator, Sean Finds Out That Racing In Tokyo Is Different Than America...

Telling Sean That Han's Car Is Basically His Baby Or Mona Lisa As Twinkie Puts It...

Hmm, I'm Surprised He Didn't Call It Giselle...

So In Other Words, Twinkie Tells Him, You Break It, You Buy It...

And When The Race Begins, Takashi Wipes The Floor With Him While Sean Damages Han's Car While Trying To Keep Up...

Han Tells Sean That He'll Be In Touch As Sean Returns Home To His Dad Who's Upset At Him For Being Out So Late, Saying That If He Breaks The Rules Again, He's On An Airplane Home...

The Next Day After School, He's Met By Han Who He Thinks Is There For Money To Repair His Car But Turns Out He's Not As He Tells Sean To Get In His Car...

Taking Sean To A Sauna, Han Tells Sean That There's A Guy With A Tattoo Of A Paw That Owes Him Some Money And He Wants Sean To Get It For Him...

Well, Give Sean An A For Effort As Tries But He Gets His Ass Handed To Him By The Guy Who Looks Like A Sumo Wrestler...

Eventually, Getting His Cash, Han Takes The Kid For A Ride To Tell Sean That He's Going To Handle Pick Ups And Deliveries For Him Calling Him Maybe Once A Week Or Once An Hour And He Doesn't Care If He's Sick As Or In Bed With Beyonce, He's Gonna Do It....

Sean Tells Him He'll Do It, On One Condition, He Teaches Sean How To Drift, Saying That It's Not A Negotiation, Sean Tells Han That He Wasn't Negotiating...

Taking Sean To The Pachinko Hall Where Ernie Got That Pachinko Machine That Lord Zedd Turned Into His Pachinko Head Monster. Han Meets Up With DK To Give Him His Pay For The Week. One Of DK's Men Asks Sean When His Next Race Is As He'd Like To Be There To See It, However Sean Goats Him By Saying Why See It When You Could Be In It?...

With DK Asking If Han If He's Ready To Lose Another Car, Han Replies Telling DK That He'd Like To Take His 86 Corolla Off His Hands Which DK Agrees On Only If Han Offers Up His 72 Skyline, Which Han Agrees On...

Heading Out Front While Han And DK Discuss Business, He Goes To A Pay Phone Where Sean Calls His Dad Saying That He Had To Stay After School For Extracurricular Activities And That He'll Be Home Soon, Hanging Up, He Runs Into Neela, Who Asks What He's Doing Here Which Leads Sean To Say That He'd Drop By To Ask DK For Drifting Lessons...

To Which She Warns Him To Not Be Apart Of The Drifting World Which Leads To Sean To Say That If It's Good Enough For You Then It's Good Enough For Me But Then She Says That He Doesn't Know Her As Well As He Thinks He Does When Really He Does...

With Han Returning To His Car, Sean Asks Han If Everything Went Okay With DK? Which He Says That It Did However, Sean Says That He's A Little Worried About Han Because DK Is Yakuza, Han Reminds Sean That DK's Uncle Is Yakuza And That All DK Is Just A Kid Playing Gangster In A Storage Room But Like It Or Not He's A Necessary Evil That Keeps His Uncle At Bay Because They're On His Turf And Being Close With DK Gets Him A Discount...

Asking If Han Has Ever Raced DK, Han Tells Sean No, Because There's No Point To It And That If He Was To Do It, It Would Have To Be For Something Very Important Or Why Do It At All And He's Only Letting Sean Race Because He's DK's Kryptonite...

Taking Sean To A Club, They Go Into Another Room, Filled With Women Where They Find Twinkie Before Heading Into Another Room Where The Real Magic Happens...

Han Gives Sean A Red Evo Because He's Representing Him Now, Sean Begins Practicing Drifting However, Sean Keeps Crashing Into Things...

Oy Gevalt, I'm A Japanese Guy And Yet I Sound Jewish Go Figure!...

About To Go To School, He Sees His Dad Working On A Car He Said That He Found, Sean Tells Him That It Has Potential. Which Leads Him To Send Sean Off To School...

With Friends Of Han Getting Sean, They See Some Guy Knocking Around Twinkie Because An Ipod He Got Off Of Him Was Busted...

Giving Him His Ipod To Get Him Off Twinkie's Back, Twinkie Gets Mad At Sean Because He Doesn't Do Refunds Or Exchanges...

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(Start At 0:31, End At 0:34)

Talking With Sean About What He Did, He Apologizes To Neela About Last Night And She Walks Away...

Later That Night, Han And Sean Watch As Friends Of Theirs Play Soccer Which Leads Sean To Ask How Han Ended Up In Tokyo...

(Han) Ah, You Know The Old Story, Boy Falls For Girl, Boy Ends Up With Girl, Girl Dies Trying To Save Guy's Life...

Asking Han Why He Let Him Race His Car When He Knew He Was Gonna Wreck it...

All He Says Is Why Not? He Has Money (Probably Left Over From The Rio Heist) And It's Trust And Character He Needs Around Him Because Who You Choose To Hang With Lets You Know Who You Are...

Wow, I Hate To Say This About This Movie But That Is So True...

Asking What Han Does Drift For? If Not To Win, He Decides To Show Sean And It Turns Out He Does It To Impress The Ladies....

You Know I'd Like To Know To Know If This Takes Place Immediately After Furious 6 Or A Few Years After Furious 6 Because If Its Immediately After Furious 6, Han Sure Got Over Giselle Quickly...

This Leads To Han Teaching Sean How To Drift By Basically Saying That There's No "Wax On Wax Off" With Drifting, You Just Do It...

But As This Montage Continues We See Sean Moving Out Of His Dad's House And Moving In With Han And Twinkie...

So, With Sean Winning The Race, DK Gives Up His Corolla To Han...

Wow, That's A Burn To Your Ego...

Going Out With Neela, Sean Finds Out That Her Mom Died When She Was 10 And She Came Out To Tokyo When She Finished High School And That All She Knows About Her Mom Is That She Used To Work In A Hostess Bar But After Her Death, DK's Grandmother Took Her In...

Ha, Why Do I Have A Feeling This Is Like How Thanos Adopted Gamora...

Talking About His Family, Sean Tells Neela That His Parents Split Up When He Was 3, And Him And His Mom Moved Around A lot Mainly Because Of Him...

Drifting In The Mountains With Neela, She Takes Sean To A Place She Used To Go To When She Was A Kid, Where Sean Talks About The Day He Got His Driver's License...

The Next Day, DK Punches Sean In The Face, Telling Him To Stay Away From Neela, Seeing Sean's Wounds At School, Neela Confronts DK To Tell Him She's Leaving Because He's An Asshole, Which Leads Him To Say The Classic Villain Phrase Of We're Not So Different, You And I...

Because They're Both The Products Of Screw Ups And If They Hadn't Taken Her In She'd Be Just Like Her Mother But No Matter What DK Says Neela Still Leaves And Moves In With Sean, Han And Twinkie...

Being Visited By His Uncle Yamata, DK Gives Him The Week's Pay Through He's Not Able To Understand Half Of The Paperwork There, But One He Does Know Is That Han Is Stealing From Them, DK Doesn't Believe It At First Stating That If It Was True, He'd Have Caught It Which Then Leads Yamata To Say In His Own Way Deal With It Or Else..,

Visiting Han, DK Is Pissed Off And Ready To Kill Han, Which Leads Twinkie To Lower The Doors, So Han Can Fight And Escape...

With Sean And Neela Getting In One Car And Han In Another, DK And His Cronies Follow Them In A Chase Across The City...

Which Leads To The Crash Heard Around The Entire Fast And Furious Franchise...

And Where Do I Begin To Talk About This Scene?

Red Dot=Sean And Neela

Blue Squiggle=Shaw

Gold ?= Han

First Off, I Know That This Was Just The 3rd Movie And Furious 7 Wasn't In The Blink Of Their Eyes Yet But All I'm Doing Is Giving A Funny Analysis Of A Scene That Was Way Different Then Than What We Know Now And Second, I'm Not Going To Go "Oh, There's No Cross There For Dom To Find" Shaw Could Have Planted That When The Camera Panned Up...

But Now Onto What I Have To Say, Starting With...

Sean Tries To Save Han Just As The Car Explodes!...

First Off, Shaw Would Not Take Any Chances, He Would Hold Sean Back To Make Sure The Car Exploded And That He Got What Wanted Then When Sean Asks Him "Why He Did That?" He Wouldn't Say A Word, He Would Kill Sean By Either Shooting Him Or Breaking His Neck Before Going After Neela Because They Were Witnesses! Then After That He'd Call Dom Saying...

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(Start At 1:19, End At 1:27)

And Second, As We Get An Up Shot Of Sean And Neela Watching Han's Car Burn, We See That Shaw's Car Is Still There Beside Them! If There's One Thing I Know About Killers It's That They Always Flee The Scene Of The Crime Which Means Shaw Should Be Gone By Now Especially If There's Police Coming!

So, To Finish This Part Off, Shaw's Car Should Have Been Gone After The Job Was Finished And Sean And Neela Should Be Dead Now, This Review's Over, Bye!

Okay, It's Not Over, It Should Be, But It's Not Anyway, Sean Takes Neela To His Dad's Where They're Found By DK Who's Ready To Kill Sean, But Sean's Dad Is About Ready To Do The Same To DK Only For Neela To Say That She'll Go Back With DK If She Spares Sean So, He Does...

Ready To Put Sean On A Plane Home, Sean Tells His Dad That He's Not Running This Time, He Made This Mess, So It's Up To Him To Fix It To Which Dad Gives Him Credit For Trying To Fix His Problems..

With Twinkie Arriving In The Hulk-Mobile, He Tells Sean That Maybe It's Best He Listen To His Dad And Run But Sean Says He Can't, Deciding Instead Solve His Problems By Dealing With The One Person That DK Listens To And Can't Disobey, His Uncle!

Using Cash That Han Gave Him, Sean Manages To Get Into See Yamata By First Apologizing, Saying That Him And His Nephew Have Disrespected Themselves By The Way They've Been Acting And That He Wishes To Offer A Peaceful Solution By Challenging DK To Another Race With The Winner Staying In Tokyo And Loser, Leaving Town, Never To Return...

With Yamata Agreeing To Sean's Terms, Sean Gets To Han's Garage To Build A Car But Unfortunately, They Have Nothing, Police Confiscated Everything, However, They Do Find The Car That Sean Damaged In His First Race Against DK Which Leads Them To Combine What's Left Of That Into The Car His Dad Found..

Wait A Minute! The Hulk Mobile Has Hulk Toys And A Hulk Bobblehead On It's Dash!?! Oh, God, I Am So Glad I Am Done With Hulk Mobile Jokes Because There's A lot More I Could Take From This...

With The Car Built, The Night Of The Race Is Upon Them As Both Contenders Go To The Starting Line...

And I Think We Know What Happens, Yep, Sean Wins The Race And The Title Of DK With Neela Going Back To Him, Takashi Leaves Tokyo Forever And Everything Seems Happily Ever After. However, One Night At The Parking Garage, Twinkie Comes Over To Sean Saying That Someone Who Knows Han Wants To Race Him Saying That Han Was "Family" So Getting In His Car, He Sees A 1970 Charger, Gee, I Wonder Who's Driving It? Yep, Who Else But Good Old Dom...

And We Never Find Out Who Wins. This Movie Is Okay...

While This Film Does Have A Few Good Moments, It's Mainly Outweighed By A lot Of Bad, While The Setting Is Great, I've Seen Tokyo In A Lot Of Movies And TV Shows (More Recently On The Reality Show Better Late Than Never And If You've Got A Brain Please Watch It, It Is The Funniest Show You Will Ever See, It's Not On Tv Now But If You Have Hulu Watch It On There They Have Both Seasons) But Besides Me Doing A Promotion For An NBC Show, The Cast Was Very Bland Only Cast Member That Was Good Was Sung Kang As Han And While Some Of The Cars Were Well Designed Others Like The Hulk Mobile Were Ridiculous So In Other Words, Just Skip This Film And Go Right To Furious 7 Cause, You'll Be A Lot Happier If You Do...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

#The Fast And The Furious Tokyo Drift #lucas black #the fast and the furious #vin diseal #Zachery Ty Bryan

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bbcbreakingnews · 4 years ago

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How Yahoo Serious vanished from the spotlight after his Hollywood film career stalled

It has been a sad fall from grace for Australian former film star Yahoo Serious, who is facing eviction from his Sydney home after owing more than $27,500 in rental payments.

In his prime, Serious – born Greg Gomez Pead – achieved widespread acclaim for his role in the 1988 comedy film Young Einstein, which cemented his star status in Hollywood.

However, the 66-year-old vanished from the spotlight after receiving lukewarm reviews for his third film, Mr Accident, which was released in 2000.

Serious has since navigated through a challenging two decades, in which he unsuccessfully launched a lawsuit against search engine Yahoo! for trademark infringement and split from his wife, Lulu Pinkus, following 20 years of marriage.

In the latest blow for the reclusive star, he is now struggling to make ends meet and has been ordered to vacate his three-bedroom rented home in Avalon Beach after failing to pay his rent for five months.

Struggles: It has been a sad fall from grace for Australian former film star Yahoo Serious, who is facing eviction from his Sydney home after owing more than $27,500 in rental payments. Pictured in 1988 comedy film Young Einstein

Following the release of his 2000 film, Mr Accident, things took a tumultuous turn for Yahoo as he launched a lawsuit against search engine Yahoo! for trademark infringement.

The case was later dismissed after the actor couldn’t prove he sold products or services under the name Yahoo – and therefore couldn’t demonstrate that his career suffered harm or confusion due to the popular search engine.

Yahoo had his final crack at stardom in 2007, after he attended the Cannes Film Festival following his last on-screen role in the 2007 short documentary, In The Cannes.

After vanishing for ten years, Yahoo suddenly resurfaced in 2017 when he was snapped strolling through the streets of Sydney.

In 2010, News Corp reported than Yahoo had split from wife Lulu Pinkus in 2007 after almost 20 years of marriage.

Former movie star: In his prime, Serious – born Greg Gomez Pead – saw widespread acclaim and success for his role in the 1988 comedy film Young Einstein [pictured], which even cemented his star status in Hollywood

Stalled film career: However, the 66-year-old vanished from the spotlight after receiving lukewarm reviews for his third film in 2000, Mr Accident – which was released twelve years after his impressive debut

The rarely-seen former actor is now said to be living by himself.

Yahoo’s reclusive lifestyle is a far cry from the fame and admiration he earned in the late ’80s after shooting to fame in Young Einstein, which he acted in, directed, co-produced and co-wrote.

At the time of its release, the film ranked as the second most successful Australian film in box office history, behind Crocodile Dundee, ultimately grossing $33 million worldwide.

The film’s success also landed Yahoo, then 34, on the cover of TIME and MAD magazines, as well as The Yahoo Serious Show on MTV, as he became a popular entertainer in the United States.

Yahoo followed up Young Einstein with another zany comedy, Reckless Kelly, in 1993, which was another local box office success.

He has now fallen on hard times with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordering him to pay his landlords $15,000 and vacate his three-bedroom rented home in Avalon Beach.

Troubles: Yahoo has since navigated through a challenging two decades, which involved him unsuccessfully launching a lawsuit against search engine Yahoo! for trademark infringement [Pictured 1993]

Flying solo: Yahoo also endured a tough split from his wife, Lulu Pinkus [Pictured together in 2006], following twenty years of marriage

The landlords, Tanya and Andrew Barlow, sought that their residential tenancy agreement be terminated after Serious fell more than $27,500 behind in rent.

The 66-year-old and his production company Serious Productions Pty Ltd began renting the property in March 2017 for $1350 per week.

The tribunal found he fell behind on his payments in November 2019 and had not paid any money since February 25 this year.

Serious argued his income was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, like most who work in the artistic and creative industries.

‘With the pandemic reshaping the movie industry towards home entertainment, the project on which the first tenant was working has been impacted,’ the tribunal said in its judgement, published on Thursday.

However, bank statements tendered during the proceedings failed to provide proof he had any income prior to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Rare sighting: After vanishing for ten years, Yahoo suddenly resurfaced in 2017 [pictured] when he was snapped strolling through the streets of Sydney

Rise to fame: Yahoo’s reclusive lifestyle is a far cry from the fame and admiration he earned in the late ’80s after shooting to fame in Young Einstein [Pictured with co-star Odile Le Clezio] , which he acted in, directed, co-produced and co-wrote

‘The tenants say that by March their income was already affected, but the simple fact is that the Tribunal has no evidence of pre-pandemic income for the tenants,’ the tribunal said.

Under amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act, enacted to protect people whose livelihoods had been affected by coronavirus, tenants are able to apply to re-negotiate rents and are covered under a moratorium on evictions.

However, they are only eligible if they can prove their income has been reduced by 25 per cent or more.

Serious applied to be allowed to stay in the property and begin paying rental arrears with a promise he would be able to catch up on payments by the end of December.

However, he was ordered to hand back the keys by August 13 and pay a $192-per-day occupation rate until then.

When asked whether he had applied for rental assistance, Serious told the hearing he had gone to Centrelink and been advised to apply for the old age pension as he was about to turn 67.

Pay up: He has now fallen on hard times with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordering him to pay his landlords $15,000 and vacate his three-bedroom rented home in Avalon Beach

The post How Yahoo Serious vanished from the spotlight after his Hollywood film career stalled appeared first on BBC BREAKING NEWS.

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#AUSTRALIA

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