#Rex Steiner

[okidokidev]

[gives you an opportunity to go off about xenoblade 2]

A huge part of Xenoblade 1's charm for me is how... weird it looks. I say this with the utmost affection, but OG Xenoblade 1 is pig-ugly. It's so atypical from every other JRPG that was coming out at the time and even to this day, and that made it immediately charming for me. They also scale back on this in Definitive Edition, but I think the DNA of the original is still there.

2 just looks straight up bad. Not weird or different, just bad. They bit off way more than they could chew on underpowered hardware and paid the price with dizzyingly low resolutions coupled with motion blur for some fucking reason? and some of the most aggressive post-processing sharpening I've ever seen in a game that just only makes it look worse.

It is also just incredibly confused aesthetically. Trying to wrap my head around how many drastically different artists had their hands on this game makes me feel like I'm reading off the Scott Steiner "THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE" promo. Thankfully, they seem to course-correct in 3, but god damn.

More than any real insightful criticism I can give about this game, though, is the simple truth that I just hate Rex. Wholly. He sucks to look at with quite possibly the worst character design I have ever seen for a !! PROTAGONIST !! You know, the guy you're going to be looking at the longest out of anyone. He sucks. It's impossible for me to look past this and try to appreciate the game's attempts to make me like him because the hater goggles have permanently melted onto my skin.

[jasvvy]

yep, he’s a steiner alright. 

[blueonwrestling]

oh my god i’ve just realised.

samoa joe is in nxt, rick steiner’s son is in nxt.

A STEINER AND SAMOA JOE ARE IN THE SAME PLACE AT THE SAME TIME.

SAMOA JOE’S CHANCES OF WINNING HAVE DRASTIC GONE DOWN.

REX STEINER IS GONNA WIN THE NXT TITLE.

[dalekofchaos]

Rex Steiner is the next big thing and Rex Steiner or Bronson Steiner is the perfect name for him

Looks like a young version of his Dad. 

Has a similar physique to the Steiners. 

Similar Wrestling Attire to the Steiners. 

Looks like a badass just like the Steiners. 

The name Rex Steiner is already great name.

So OF COURSE THEY CHANGE HIS NAME TO BRON BREAKKER BECAUSE THEY JUST CAN’T FUCKING HELP THEMSELVES

This is a petty revenge for Scott Steiner knocking WWE for the last 18 years, hence why they stripped him of the Steiner name

Either that or this is proof that if the Vince of today was the Vince in the 90′s then Stone Cold would’ve been forced to be named “Chilly McFreeze”

[mrawkweird]

It's to bad they changed Rex Steiner's name. Especially you since you can tell he's his father's son anyway.

WWE could not wait to show that they got a new Bron.

[turbobyakuren]

Zidane: The bravest soldiers this land has known... The most courageous, most fearless, the strongest warriors! Freyja... Beatrix... A... A.... (looks at smudged writing on hand) A Dilbert Stimbo...

[majingojira]

Dinosaur Music

There are 4 Elements to making Good Dinosaur Music. The first three to appear in film are:

Mystery Might Melancholy Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals have been with us since the dawn of cinema. Their films helped define movie music going forward (King Kong), but there are elements to them that I find interesting to look at.

King Kong, composed by Max Steiner, established a lot of what we see not just in dinosaur music, but in music in movies overall. The bombast of action movie scores, but it encapsulates the first three Ms of Dinosaur Music.

Kong's theme is a prime example of melancholy (It's three notes on a descending scale), but the real key Dinosaur piece of music is The Bronte.

After this, we get The Rite of Spring, where Stravinsky's suite of the toil of farm labor is turned to evolution and prehistory by Disney animation at the height of their powers. This defined the 'stone age' of dinosaur media music as much as Kong did.

Not much changed for decades, and those changes can best be illustrated by one of the more fanciful dinosaurs of the 1950s.

The march became the go-to style for dinosaur music to show off the might of the prehistoric monster thanks to Godzilla and friends (and Akira Ifukube).

I think the best 'typical' example from this period goes to One Million Years B.C. by Mario Nascimbene mixing marches and the toil of Rite of Spring into a pretty rousing theme.

In 1977, BBC Horizon and PBS NOVA published a documentary: "The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs," brinring the Dinosaur renaissance to the public for the first time. While Dinosaur Music got... weird.

We got The Legend of the Dinosaurs and Monster Birds with its deeply inappropriate and funky soundtrack, the power ballad for The Last Dinosaur, and the out-there synth scored Planet of Dinosaurs.

The themes of Might, Melancholy, and Mystery are in full force, but things were changing about how they were balanced. The Melancholy began to lose its toil, and something was growing.

Jerry Goldsmith's score for Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend is the easiest to find an example of for this mid-period. It's one of his favorites and he has every right to be proud of it (even if the movie ain't that great).

The Mystery and Might gain prominence over the melancholy of everyday life. What melancholy remains goes to their loss.

Documentaries actually pick up the thread here and get proper soundtracks. Dinosaur! hosted by Christopher Reeves (1985) does not have a soundtrack release, but the Synth scores by Peter Scherer and John Holbrook captures the moment in dinosaur media quite well.

A series of documentaries hosted by Gary Owns and Eric Boardman about Dinosaurs (and other prehistoric animals) does have a soundtrack release and for a documentary, it's a pretty solid set. (Music for Dinosaurs by David Spear). It's very hard for me to pick just one track from this list. "I Need More Dinosaurs," "The Mystery of Extinction," "Rex's Late-Night Snack," "The Puzzle of Paleontology," and "Fossil Impressions" hit a lot of what I'm talking about, but they definitely lean into the Mystery aspect of them all.

I also have a soft spot for the up-beat-ness of the Son of Dinosaurs Main Title.

1989's "The Great Dinosaur Hunt" (an episode of The Infinite Voyage) had a synth/orchestral soundtrack from Jack Illar and William Loose. This was the last gasp of truly melancholic themes to the overall soundtrack of dinosaur films. Though, again, the melancholy is no longer focused not on the brutality of ancient life, but on the loss of animals the documentary itself describes as "truly magnificent."

Then in 1993, everything changed when Jurassic Park added a new "M" to the trio.

Majesty.

John William's score for Jurassic Park changed the game for dinosaur music as the film changed how dinosaurs were seen in the public eye.

After John Williams, composers like Ben Bartlett (Walking with Dinosaurs and its related follow-ups) picked up and carried the torch for dinosaurs that were not just Mysterious, Mighty, and evoke Melancholy at their loss, but were truly Majestic.

While Movie Soundtracks are now in a low form given directors keep using Premier and other editing programs to edit things to music before that music is delivered, one last truly great Dinosaur soundtrack came out. No, not from Jurassic World (though I must give props to the opening of Fallen Kingdom).

But from Prehistoric Planet.

Now, Majesty is at the forefront. No hint at the melancholy of their loss. Their might is in the backseat to their beauty and strangeness. Mystery is no longer a factor, even though there is still so much to learn. Now, they are treated like animals in the fullest sense of the documentary experience. The theme, and overall music, by Hanz Timmer, Andrew James Christie, Anze Rozeman, and Kara Talve contribute a lot to the success of the documentary. It's not just the theme people remember, but music for specific scenes. Modern movies can't even boast that.

Dinosaur have truly evolved.

[madnessroleplay]

Rules and Muses

Hello, I’m 28+ years old, and this is my multimuse Roleplay blog! Simply put, just be polite and kind, and chances are we’ll get along!

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3. No racism or discrimination of any kind. Any hating will be blocked...

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[nagdabbit]

...do you mean bron brekker?

rex steiner, yes.

[mjfass]

Bron Breakker/Rex Steiner is the next big thing.

He definitely is. Until now, I have no problem with that. I don’t know much about him, but from what I have seen of him as a wrestler, the dude can really become a huge star.

[nettvnow-blog]

Hazel Jeffs | Away From It All

A recent English graduate with a passion for web series, Hazel Jeffs is excited to have brought to life her modern take of Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy in her web series, Away From It All (AFitA). Learn more about the series below!

netTVnow: Can you share with readers a quick synopsis of the series how you’ve turned it into a modern web series?

Hazel Jeffs: In Far From the Madding Crowd, Bathsheba Everdene is an orphaned milkmaid who inherits her uncle’s large farm and fortune. The novel focuses on Gabriel Oak (Bathsheba’s unfortunate shepherd who once proposed to her before her change of fortune) and his enduring love for her as she attempts to run the farm as a single woman and navigates the attentions of the local gentlemen, with tragic consequences. 

Our modernized version sees Ellie Bathsheba Everdene (Deborah Couch) as a 21 year-old waitress who turns away from her sad home life, and the attentions of vet student Gabriel (Edward Gist), for a new start as the colourful landlady of a village pub. Her companion of the novel, Liddy (Anna Lloyd), is now an amateur vlogger who records the interesting newcomer’s attempts to win over the village and encourages her romantic life, unaware that the pub’s new waiter knows Bathsheba of old. The story is primarily seen through the private videos and multimedia content stored on Bathsheba and Gabriel’s phones as well as Liddy’s in-world vlogs.

netTVnow: Your series prides itself on having broken the mold of traditional literary web series, what were the key differentiators?

HJ: Back in it’s earliest conception, Away from it All was going to be a fairly low-key literary New Media project where the story would just be told through social media accounts and the texts, notes, images and maybe a couple of videos on the two protagonists’ phones with a big focus on the way characters presented themselves to different people and audiences as opposed to who they were in their private lives, we ended up diverging from that a lot in development, especially with the addition of Liddy’s vlogs, which brought us back into more established LIW territory, but I think you can still see the roots of it in how we still use the phones and transmedia as a whole. Other literary series such as Rex, The Misselthwaite Archives and Serena Berg have used “out of world” videos, but I think our framing for them is unique and it negates a lot of the “why would you post this/why hasn’t every character seen this” angst that a lot of other series have to negotiate. 

It’s not necessarily a unique thing but, as someone for whom watching and discussing every Literary Web series I could get my hands on has been a large and joyful part of my life for the last four years leading a writing team of LIW fans and creators, I think we were very conscious of the tropes used again and again in other series. A lot of these (“The Tour Video”, “cut before the kiss”, “Ooops I left that camera on and recorded an entire conversation”) we fondly embraced but others we had fun playing with or subverting too. 

I also think, especially on the lower production side of things, a lot of other literary web series tend more towards the comedy side of dramedy, and we definitely go the other way and also try to connect the story to an exterior physical landscape in a way that not a lot of vlog-style shows since The Autobiography of Jane Eyre have done.

netTVnow: What was the creative process like for you? Do you think the process is easier or harder knowing that there is a literary piece to refer to?

HJ: Oh I love going through the creative process so much. This was an especially weird one though. AFitA started off as a theoretical concept for me to base my final year university dissertation (Mostly about new media audience interaction) around and I had to write a few example scenes and transmedia pieces as part of that, but then I found myself spending that entire university year writing completely unnecessary 20-page character docs and stressing over every part of the potential plot and setting up tumblrs for the protagonists, all the while remaining absolutely certain and telling everyone who would listen that I’d never actually make or write it. 

I handed in that project, relaxed for literally 2 days before realizing that: 1. I cared too much about the story to not make it, even if I had no idea how. And 2. Because of a job I had lined up, if I was going to make it it HAD to be finished shooting by the end of that summer. So then I got a writing team together and we went through group development of the characters, plot etc over 3 weeks, then wrote and edited all 50 episodes in a month while I also sorted out cast, crew and locations and then we filmed the whole thing in less than 3 weeks. So it was a year of me turning it over in my head and then less than 3 very intense months of a whole gang of us doing everything for it.

In terms of source text, I definitely find it a lot easier to have that jumping off point, it’s tricky sometimes when you get stuck on being faithful to certain aspects of the book or thinking how potential audiences will react to how you’ve adapted things, but equally writing from scratch can be really intimidating so I find the former problems a lot more manageable. I’ve always been utterly fascinated with adaptations anyway and, especially in development meetings with the team, the process of creating AFitA also felt like a really self-aware process of literary criticism and as a recent English Graduate I am deeply into that, especially when it’s a complicated book like Far From the Madding Crowd where there’s so much to say. 

netTVnow: What was your favorite part about seeing the series come to life?

HJ: In every series I’ve been a part of so far, the initial development meetings/written discussion have been my favourite part of the whole thing, there’s always so much energy and so many off-the-wall ideas and in-jokes bouncing around as well as getting to be a huge geek about books and character arcs, it’s a huge amount of fun.

In terms of specifically bringing it to life, the few days where we were shooting almost all the big group scenes and had a crew of four whole people for once were so busy but had a lot of life in them. Those were the days we all hung out the most after each day’s wrap too so that was lovely. The day we went out to film most of the outside episodes (including the first one) was amazing too, Woodbury Common is always beautiful but it really pulled out all the stops for us with that sunset and we could not get over it.

netTVnow: What were some of the particularly hard things you had to deal with as showrunner?

HJ: I think it’s a truth fairly universally acknowledged that pre-production is the worst and I did a lot of that on my own. Learning about the equipment needed and how to find cast and crew for the first time and then instantly having to do that and do all the scheduling on top of writing all of my episodes and helping to edit every episode script made for an interesting few weeks.

The scariest moment was probably when our initial choice for Gabriel dropped out and we still hadn’t re-cast someone on our third day of shooting when we needed him on the fifth! Luckily our cast and crew were amazing with putting the word out for that, we eventually found Ed because he went to school with both of our cinematographers. 

netTVnow: Can you talk about the transmedia aspect of the series and how that played a role?

HJ: The series plays out in real time and all of our characters have Twitters and some have Tumblrs, Instagrams, Pinterests etc. We also have a website that updates a few times a week showing the some of the contents of Bathsheba and Gabriel’s smartphones that week, including text messages, private notes, google searches and playlists. You can also find all of this together with the videos on our Storify account.

The novel flips between quite a few different points of view and all of the main characters have secrets and interior lives that they wouldn’t share on public social media, but I still wanted to find a way to show them. 

I think a lot of our audience just follows the videos on YouTube and maybe a couple of Twitter accounts and I think you can definitely access the main story fairly smoothly that way, with a couple of exceptions that we heavily highlight in the videos, but all the rest of the transmedia just adds more depth and nuance. 

netTVnow: Is this your first work in the web series community?

HJ: Not quite, I was a development assistant and wrote 2.5 episodes and some multimedia pieces for The Misselthwaite Archives. I’d been involved with the very early development of Pencil Ink’s upcoming series The Cloisterham Case Files before we began proper work on AFitA too. I’m still working on that with them, as well as being a writer on a new series called Maggie Hale’s Corner and another developing series created by one of the AFitA writers. 

netTVnow: What are some of your favorite web series?

HJ: My all-time favourite web series is The Autobiography of Jane Eyre, with The Candlewaster’s Nothing Much to Do and Lovely Little Losers as close runners up along with Betwixt Production’s The Writing Majors. I just love vlog-style literary series that feel like the characters are inviting you into their warm, messy lives as a friend and equal.

Outside the literary sphere, I really like Wavejacked, The Vault and Couple-ish.

netTVnow: What do you love most about the web series community and what advice would you give those looking to get more involved in the industry?

HJ: I know a lot more about the literary web series community than the wider web series community and I think those are very different places. The Literary web series community is quite possibly a relatively temporary space but it’s a crossroads of a lot of my favourite things in the world: pretty much everyone who’s excited about classic lit, new media and giving voice to young, frequently queer, women is a potential friend in my book, so that entire community just feels like home for me.

The wider web series community is a lot more varied, has more solid links to filmmaking as a general and I think tends to take itself a little more seriously. In both places there’s so much innovation going on in transmedia, format and audience interaction, so many chances to tell narratives that would get silenced anywhere else and so many creators are just fascinating and will talk to you on completely equal grounds, we’re on the cutting edge of storytelling here and I love it. 

To get involved I would just say talk to people mostly, the community’s super active on Twitter and interested in opinions coming from everywhere. And just make things with whatever time and resources you have, it doesn’t have to be a lot, and see what happens. 

netTVnow: Awesome! Lastly, do you have any upcoming Projects to share or anything else you'd like to add?

HJ: Nothing immediate for me but I’m part of the team for Maggie Hale’s Corner and The Cloisterham Case Files, so look out for them some time in the future!

Lastly, I'd like to give a quick shout out to the amazing things other people in the AFitA family are doing, one of our lovely writers, Anya Steiner has her new web series The Merry Maidens coming soon and the infamously productive Jules Piggot is soon releasing her fourth series, The Emma Agenda.

Follow Hazel Jeffs Twitter

Follow Away From It All Facebook | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube

[jj-lynn21]

Do you still like the taste of beer? part 3

Part three: Love, sex, and consequences

warnings: Smut, consequences. Note: I feel the overwhelming desire to help this extremely flawed character. I have no problem with him wanting random sex but I do not condone cheating. Can he learn & grow? song: All I wanna do is make love to you by Heart

  read ch 1  ch 2                       

I wake before Ella as I always do. Her naked body turned away from me in sleepy splendor. The way her hip curves to her side up to the side of her breast is such a lovely view in the morning. I get up and brush my teeth before returning to wake her softly.

I graze my hand over her shape and dare to press my lips to her shoulder. That makes her stir. She turns her sleepy eyes opening them slowing as she smiles.  without saying a word she always knows what I want more than coffee every morning. She kisses my lips and I grab the back of her head with one hand keeping her here as I kiss her deeper.

Her lips on my neck do things to another part of me. As she lays sucking kisses down my torso my stomach muscles flex as another muscle is ready for her warm mouth. "Yeah, Ella. That's so good, Princess."

Her small hands always fondle my balls a great deal before she ventures a hand down my shaft to start...fuck that's new. "Ah  ah easy on the balls in your mouth, Princess. Oh damn, yeah..."

She gags as I just thrust a little into her that precious mouth. "Sorry, try again, Princess." I fucking love that choking sound. "Oh, yes...fffffuck."

She is the best and even starts the coffee before she showers. She takes an Uber leaving me with the rental car so I don't fuck the driver I guess. Maybe I should just fucking grow-up and spend my life with the women that loves me. Yeah, I don't think I'm ready yet. Maybe when we start having kids.  I'll even go to some meetings to appease her.

Sweet kisses of love before we part. Those cupcake lips make me want more time this morning but we are off to our separate jobs. Yeah, I see the camera taking pictures as I have to shift my junk in front of the apartment. Damn American photographers or paparazzi or life moment stealing trash mongers love catching an awkward moment. And I'm sure there are people that like looking at others awkward moments like we are animals in a zoo.

Steiner Studio is the other side of town. It really doesn't take me long to get there this early in the morning but I doddle and pickup another coffee at some coffee house near the studio that I heard Robert De Niro often stopped. He's not here today. It's just a place full of wanna be actors and tourists trying to bump in to him like that will make their fucking life so special.

A guard stands at the studio door where a sign said, CLOSED SET. Close set is code for secret projects or nude scenes of any kind. I guess they are going with a porn aspect of my book instead of something more philosophical. That figures. It will probably sell to the masses better. With my deal I get royalties from everything involved in the show. So the better it does at the box office the more I make.

Yes, I feel like a fucking sell out. Most people would have tried for the same deal if they got the chance. Plus I wrote the screen play and rewrote and today will probably have to write something different to get the director’s vision of my book how he wants it. The bastard doesn't care about the thought. He only cares about people being able to fuck who ever they want. And it really isn't about that. It is more fulfilling a need than an emotion.

If he gives these people fucking emotions for each other I swear I will..."Oh Hey Jake, I have the rewrites for today. You want me to stick around to rewrite on the fly if needed?"

Jake is one of the hot ass actors that just started directing. I mean I'm not really into guys usually but if I was feeling horny and he was cool I would fuck him. He was a poster boy in teen magazines in the States when he was young. When a story came out about him fucking an actress he was dating in a dressing room that was over. From what he said and what I read about, she was pretty vocal during the whole thing. There is a video on the internet that you can hear her moaning plane as day. He's a cool guy other than destroying my work.

He is a huger. I'm okay with that. I never shy away from physical contact. So he hugs me, "Hi William. Glad to see you man. Of course I want you around to see your masterpiece being filmed. I hope I don't need any more script changes at this point."

What he really means is he most definitely will need changes, so he is glad I'm down with that. "Cool, I have nothing else on my plate today other than working on my newest book but I can do that anytime."

"That's great man," He pats my back as we walk through the bar set. It gives me chills. Not the set but him patting my back. His hair is longer pulled back in a crude ponytail to keep off his face i guess. It isn't long enough for a decent manbun. "Let me introduce you to the main cast."

He takes me over to a table where I can see a blonde guy with facial scruff going over his line with a blonde that has her back towards me. She bounces her shapely leg over the other with her black heel suspended on her toes. She has the kind of legs I like. I could just crawl under the table and ease open and she would let me I bet...

"This is Rex and Randy," Jake introduced them. "Rex and Randy this is the writer of your script William Söder."

I bet she is randy. She turns and our eyes lock. Fuck it's the chick that out stayed her welcome last year, What are the fucking odds. Did she fuck Jake for the part. There is no doubt in my mind I'm going fuck her again when there is a break. "Nice to meet you Rex and..." I smile and wink at her. "Randy." She turns red which is a sure sign she wants more.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Söder." Her cheeks getting more crimson as she looks at me is fucking sexy as hell.

"You can call me William." I kept my eyes a her a few more seconds before shaking Rex's hand."You can both call me William. If you have any questions about the script feel free to ask." This gives me an excuse to be in her dressing room later. She wasn't loud as far as I remember so I shouldn't have Jake’s issue.

I sit back in a chair they marked writer. Not even my name on it. Can you believe that? I watch these actors do a basic bar pick up scene twenty times. Rex is coming off a some desperate loser who women would see and run from if they were smart. That is not how I ever pictured the guy in my book. And he is reading a fucking poetry book. He to fucking obvious he wants laid. He should be more subtle to only attract those that really just want a release.

Randy on the other hand is perfect for every take. She knows how to do this because this is what she does. This is real for her. There really shouldn't be so much dialog here. She is ready to leave with him as soon as she asks about his lame poetry book.

Great, Jake yelled cut. I can cut me another nice piece of Randy. I've never gone back for seconds before. Leaning against the wall by her dressing room door I can practically smell her excitement. She opens the door before I even knock. "Hey, you want to go over some script changes."

"Fuck more changes," she seemed more frustrated than aroused, but I can take care of...

"Mommy," a small voice squealed.

I glanced at the man holding the small child. As they walked closer, I look back to Randy who is lighting up like it is fucking Christmas morning. The man walks right over and kisses her cheek.

"What a nice surprise." I gain my composure as she introduces me. "Larry this the script writer William. He was dropping off new pages. William this is my husband Larry and our son Billy."

Shit. Before the kid buries his face in Larry's neck I saw my own eyes staring back at me. It couldn’t be. I shake Larry's hand politely as I check in his eyes. They are brown. Hers are blue. Billy looks exactly like me as a child. How the fuck.. what the fuck...

"Nice meeting you. I think you have an hour before you need to be back on set Randy. Enjoy your family time."

Fuck, fuck, fuck...

[blueonwrestling]

What’s the best thing going for WWE at the moment

In terms of Raw, Riddle/Sheamus/Priest have all been the highlight in terms of the men, they've been going out here week by week just having knockdown brutal fights and it's been great.

Smackdown, Smackdown hasn't had much of anything as the womens title scene has been a bit of a mess, Biancas rise to the top has been great for sure.

NXT: Odyssey Jones and Steiner Jr are by far the standouts of the new NXT, and Roddy Strong cementing himself in Diamond Mine has been top quality.

Post brand split? No clue.

[dalekofchaos]

Stupid name aside and not choosing Rex Steiner to begin with

Bron Breakker is the next big thing

Looks like a Steiner

He wrestles like his father

Talks like his uncle(I expect a very tense math lesson in the near future)

Dresses like the Steiner Brother

And he is just a perfect example of what could be the next big star in WWE if they don’t fuck it up.

He needs to demolish the entire roster and eventually take out Ciampa at one of the upcoming Takeovers or whatever PPV the 2.0 has in store. 

Bron Breakker is the future.

[uneminuteparseconde]

Des concerts à Paris et alentour en gras : les derniers ajouts :-: in bold: the last news Mars 02. DIIV – La Gaîté lyrique ||COMPLET|| 03. Napalm Death + EYEHATEGOD + Misery Index + Rotten Sound – La Machine 03. Scorpion Violente + Air LQD – Quai de Bourbon 03. Handle + CIA Debutante + David Fenech – Espace B 03/04. The Mission – Petit Bain 04. David Fenech & Laurent Perrier + Phanes – Quai de Bourbon 05. Dorian Pimpernel + Mooon – Supersonic (gratuit) 05. TZII + Sacrifice Seul – Quai de Bourbon 05. Instant Voodoo + Laurence Wasser – Le Zorba 05. Orange Blossom : “Sharing” avec les machines de François Delarozière – Élysée Montmartre 05. King Dude + Biere noire – La Boule noire 06. Frustration + Italia 90 – Le Trianon 06. Electric Fire + Fantazio et les Turbulents (Sonic Protest) – Les Voûtes 06. UVB76 + Gaël Segalen – Café de Paris 06. France + Autrenoir + Aho Ssan + Astrid Sonne + Keki + Janomax – La Station 06. Violent quand on aime + Officium + Matière danse – Espace B 06. Chris Liebing + AZF – Dehors Brut 07. Sourdure – La Lingerie|Les Grands Voisins (gratuit) 07. L’atelier d’éveil musical du centre social Raymond-Poulidor + Foudre rockeur (Sonic Protest) – Les Voûtes 07. Substencia + Eastel + MZA – tba 07. Dave Clarke + Kuss + Murd + Toscan Haas – Dehors Brut 07. ABSL + Mind Matter + NN aka Primitive Tribe – Caves Lechapelais 07. Alcest + Birds In Row + Kælan Mikla – La Machine ||COMPLET|| 07. Ensemble intercontemporain joue Steve Reich : cinéconcert sur un film de Gerhard Richter – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie ||COMPLET|| 10. Tempers + Alessio Peck + Josee Laïka – Supersonic (gratuit) 10. Jerusalem in my Heart + Méryll Ampe et les élèves de l’Ensapc + Lucretia Dalt (Sonic Protest) – La Dynamo (Pantin) 10. Arnaud Rebotini : live pour “Fix Me” d’Alban Richard – Centre des Arts (Enghien-les-Bains) 11. Mopcut + F-Space + We Use Cookies + Astra Zenecan (Sonic Protest) – La Station 11. Morrissey – Salle Pleyel 11. Nada Surf + John Vanderslice – La Cigale ||COMPLET|| 12 Thomas Bégin + JD Zazie (Sonic Protest) – La Muse en circuit (Alfortville) 13. Russian Circle + Torche – Bataclan 13. Jean Jean + All Caps + Quadrupède – Quai de Bourbon 13. Bernardino Femminielli – Le Zorba 13. Emptyset + Hair Stylistics + Méryll Ampe (Sonic Protest) – L’Échangeur (Bagnolet) 13. Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal – Le Colombier (Ville d’Avray) 14. Panico Panico + Tabatha Crash + Cosse – ESS’pace 14. Lonely Walk + Tamara Goukassova + Shock – Espace B 14. Why The Eye + WAqWAq Kingdom + Maria Violenza + Fleuves noirs + Jean-Marc Foussat + Julia Hanadi Al Abed + Pierre Gordeeff (Sonic Protest) – L’Échangeur (Bagnolet) 15. Nosfell (Mondial du tatouage) – Grand Halle de La Villette 15. Das Synthetische Mischgewebe & Anla Courtis + Ricardo Dias Gomes & Loïc Ponceau + Seijiro Murayama & Florian Tositti + Phanes – Les Pianos (Montreuil) 16. Hällas + La Secte du Futur + Meurtrières – La Maroquinerie 17. Chelsea Wolf – La Gaîté lyrique ||COMPLET|| 18. Pelada + Eye + Fiesta En El Vacio (Ideal Trouble) – Petit Bain 18. Lee Scratch Perry & Adrian Sherwood + 2Decks + Zaraz Wam Zagram (Sonic Protest) – Église Saint-Merry 18. This Quiet Army & Tom Malmendier + John Robin-Bold – Quai de Bourbon 19. HP (Haswell & Powell) + Inga Huld Hakonadrottir & Yann Legay + Asmus Tietchens + Regreb “2 Cymbals” (Sonic Protest) – Église Saint-Merry 19. Boubacar Cissokho (Paris Music) – Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris 19. Maulwürfe – Musée d’Orsay 20. Bleib Modern + Order 89 + Blind Delon + IV Horsemen + Paulie Jan + Codex Empire + Opale + Panzer + DJ Varsovie (fest. des souvenirs brisés) – Petit Bain 20. Jon Hopkins – Salle Pleyel 20. Martin Kohlstedt + Manu le Malin joue Barbara (Paris Music) – Musée des Arts et Métiers 20. Yan Wagner + Madben (Paris Music) – Cathédrale américaine 20. Monolithe noir + Paulie Jan – Quai de Bourbon 20. Senyawa + Bonne humeur provisoire + Black Trumpets (Sonic Protest) – La Marbrerie (Montreuil) 20. Paula Temple + 16H07 b2b Ket Robinson + Ma Čka – Yoyo|Palais de Tokyo 20. Ellen Allien + Shlømo – Dehors brut 20. Ensemble Dedalus : "Occam Ocean" d'Éliane Radigue – Le Studio|Philharmonie ||COMPLET|| 21. Stephen O’Malley – Médiathèque musicale de Paris (gratuit) 21. Mind/Matter + Die Orangen + Mitra Mitra + Qual + Rendered + Verset Zero + Years of Denial (fest. des souvenirs brisés) – Petit Bain 21. Container + Muqata’a + OD Bongo + Diatribes & Horns + Jealousy Party + Urge + Wirklich Pipit + Me Donner + Cancelled + FLF + 2Mo (Sonic Protest) – Le Générateur (Gentilly) 21. GZA – La Marbrerie (Montreuil) 21. ABSL + Anetha + Hektos Oaks + High Future + Randomer + Sugar – tba 21. Front 242 + She Past Away – Élysée Montmartre ||COMPLET|| 21/22. Laurie Anderson : "The Art of Falling" – Cité de la musique|Philharmonie ||COMPLET|| 22. Mike Cooper + Yann Legay + Will Guthrie & Ensemble Nist-Nah + Cheb Gero (Sonic Protest) – théâtre Berthelot (Montreuil) 24. Skemer + IV Horsemen + Silly Joy – Supersonic (gratuit) 24. Joe Gideon – Espace B 24. I’d M Theft Able + Teenage God + Suicide Motorhead + Notre Travail bénéfique – Le Balto Otlab (Montreuil) 25. Low House (Eugene S. Robinson & Putan Club) + Moodie Black – Petit Bain 25. Wrekmeister Harmonies – Espace B 25. Buzzkull + Kontravoid + Crystal Geometry – Badaboum 25. Kumusta + Crash Normal – L’International 25. Li Li-Chin + Onceim & Li Li-Chin – Église Saint-Merry 25>28. Èlg + Vincent Epplay & Timo Van Luijk + Dominique Petitgand… (Fest. Interférences) – Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (gratuit) 27. Lebanon Hanover – La Gaîté lyrique 27. Baston – L’International 27. Maggy Payne : « Crystal » (diff.) + 9T Antiope + John Wiese + Matthias Puech + Nihvak (fest. Présences électronique) – Studio 104|Maison de la Radio 27. Mongolito + Biere Noire + Bisous De Saddam + Léa Jacta Est + Club Passion (Croux fest.) – Café de Paris 28. Ensemble Links : "Drumming" de Steve Reich + Cabaret contemporain joue Kraftwerk – théâtre de la Cité internationale 28. Iannis Xenakis : « Mycenae Alpha » (diff.) + Marja Ahti + Rashad Becker + Nina Garcia + Kode9 (fest. Présences électronique) – Studio 104|Maison de la Radio 28. Cut Hands + NAH + Shit&Shine + France Sauvage + Burris Meyer + UVB76 (dj) – Petit Bain 28. Satan + Noyades + S.O.L.A.N + Traitors + Accès de faiblesse (Croux fest.) – Espace B 28. Denis Frajerman + David Fenech – Plateforme 28. Balladur + Bracco + Coeval + Bajram Bili (dj) – La Boule noire 28. 14anger + Brecc + Oguz + Fuerr + Draugr + Atim – tba 29. Ivo Malec : « Recitativio » + Eve Aboulkheir + Richard Chartier + Lee Gamble + Will Guthrie & Mark Fell (fest. Présences électronique) – Studio 104|Maison de la Radio 31. M!R!M – Espace B 31. Leandro Barzabal + AVC + Vulcanizadora – Instants Chavirés (Montreuil) Avril 01. Lea Bertucci – tbc 02. The Futurians + CIA Debutante – Instants Chavirés (Montreuil) 02. Shannon Wright + Melaine Dalibert (Piano Day) – La Marbrerie (Montreuil) 03. Kuniyuki Takahashi & Henrik Schwarz + Hugo LX & DJ Nori + Akiko Nakayama (Japan Connection fest.) – La Gaîté lyrique 03. Tamara Goukassova + Constance Chlore – Le Zorba 03. Victoria Shen + Meryll Ampe + Golem mécanique – Instants Chavirés (Montreuil) 03. CocoRosie – Le Trianon ||COMPLET|| 04. Hiroaki Umeda + Nonotak + Aalko + Make It Deep Soundsystem (Japan Connection fest.) – La Gaîté lyrique 04. Satoshi Tomiie & Kuniyuki + Hiroshi Watanabe + DJ Masda + Akiko Kiyama + Daisuke Tanabe + Intercity-Express (Japan Connection fest.) – La Gaîté lyrique 04. Ash Code – Espace B 04. 2kilos &More & Black Sifichi + Plurals – Le vent se lève 04. OOIOO – Lafayette Anticipations 04. Katie Gately – Sacré 04. Wow + Laura Palmer – L’International 06. Julie Doiron – Espace B 06. Bauhaus – Grand Rex 08. Föllakzoid + UVB76 – Espace B 09. Will Samson + Northwest + Lyson Leclercq – Le vent se lève 09. The Chap + Rubin Steiner Live Band – Badaboum 10. Ventre de biche + Badaboum + Videodrome + A Ten Year Later + Paolo Tecon + Le Compas dans l’œil – La Station 10. Manu Le Malin + Popof + Nout Heretik + Noisebuilder + Electrobugz + Krïs Heretik + Broke Heretik + Aness Heretik + Split Heretik + Tom Buld'r.Heretik + Limka + Le Jall + Boubou Antinorm17 – tba 11. Infecticide + Astaffort Mods + Mono Siren – Supersonic (gratuit) 11. IAMX – Café de la danse 12. VTSS + Hadone – tba 14. Lucy Railton & Joe Houston jouent "Patterns in a chromatic field" de Morton Feldman – Instants chavirés (Montreuil) 14/15. Metronomy – La Cigale 16/17. Metronomy – La Cigale ||COMPLET|| 17. Facs + ISaAC – Petit Bain 18. Siglo XX – La Boule noire 19. Rome + Primordial + Moonsorrow – La Machine 20. Big ‡ Brave + Jessica Moss – La Boule Noire 23. Volkor X + ToutEstBeau + Aphélie – Supersonic (gratuit) 23. Health + Pencey Sloe + Dead – Petit Bain 24. Parade Ground – L’International 25. Selofan + Jupiter Jane – Supersonic (gratuit) 25. Tim Tama + Vladimir Dubyshkin + Trym + Regal + Parfait – tba 26. Pharmakon + Deeat Palace + Unas (Ideal Trouble) – Petit Bain 26. Igorrr + Author & Punisher + Otto Von Schirach – La Cigale 27. Dean Wareham joue "On Fire" de Galaxie 500 – Petit Bain 27. Caribou – L’Olympia 27. The Foals + The Murder Capital – Zénith 28. Ulver – L’Alhambra 29. Protomartyr – La Boule Noire 29. Movie Star Junkies + Sam Fleisch + Tibia – Gibus 30. Conflict + The Filaments – Gibus Mai 02. Richie Hawtin – T7 05. The Sonics + Messer Chups – Trabendo 06. hackedepicciotto + Laurence Wasser – Espace B 07. Laurent Perrier & David Fenech – Souffle Continu (gratuit) 07. Trrmà – Le Zorba 08. Max Richter : "Infra" + Jlin + Ian William Craig – Cité de la musique|Philharmonie ||COMPLET|| 09. Max Richter : "Voices" – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie 09. Jonas Gruska + Leila Bordreuil + Jean-Philippe Gross + Kali Malone (fest. Focus) – Le 104 09. Extrawelt + Oxia + Popof + Wuza + O'Tawa – Le Kilowatt (Ivry/Seine) 10. Iannis Xenakis : « La Légende d’Eer » + Folke Rabe : « Cyclone » et « What ??? » (fest. Focus) – Le 104 10. Max Richter : "Recomposed" & "Three Worlds" – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie ||COMPLET|| 11. Cannibale + Frankie and the Witch Fingers + Euromilliard – La Maroquinerie 11. The Electric Soft Parade + Tim Keegan – Petit Bain 13. Wire – La Maroquinerie 13. Austra – Badaboum ||COMPLET|| 14. Aksak Maboul + JFDR + Powerdove (Le Beau festival) – La Boule noire 15. Palberta + Michelle Blades + Good Morning TV (Le Beau festival) – La Boule noire 16. Tops + Corridor + Polycool + Myriam Stamoulis + La Veillée Pop (Le Beau festival) – La Station 16. Black Midi – Carreau du Temple 19. Swans + Norman Westberg – Le Trabendo 16. Hermann Kopp & Lorenzo Abattoir + Fusiller + Sang-Foutre – Quai de Bourbon 20>24. Giant Swan + Otoboke Beaver + Sinead O’Brien + Kills Birds + Vanishing Twin + Kit Sebastian + Jardin + Rouge Gorge + Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek + Holy Fuck + Gabber Modus Operandi + Balladur + Crystallmess (dj) + Squid + Glitter + Black Country, New Road + Murman Tsuladze + Tôle froide + Sorry + Donny Benet + La Créole + La Récré + Lewsberg + Lido Pimienta + Moesha 13... (Villette sonique) – La Villette 20. The Jesus & Mary Chain jouent “Darklands” + Carla Del Forno (Villette sonique) – Grande Halle de La Villette 21. Yves Tumor + Pottery + Disq (Villette sonique) – Trabendo 22. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe + Kristin Anna (Carte blanche Stephen O’Malley/Villette sonique) – Grande Halle de La Villette 22. Kim Gordon (Villette sonique) – Cabaret sauvage 22. François Bayle : « Le Projet Ouïr » + Marco Parini : « De Parmegiani Sonorum » + Yan Maresz (fest. Akousma) – Studio 104|Maison de la Radio 23. Tout Est Beau (Villette sonique) – parc de La Villette 23. Julien Négrier + Hans Tutschku : « Provenance-émergence » + Félicia Atkinson : « For Georgia O’Keefe » + Warren Burt + Michèle Bokanowski (fest. Akousma) – Studio 104|Maison de la Radio 24. Philippe Mion + Pierre-Yves Macé : « Contre-flux II » + Daniel Teruggi : « Nova Puppis » + Adam Stanovitch + Gilles Racot : « Noir lumière » (fest. Akousma) – Studio 104|Maison de la Radio 23/24. Damon Albarn – Salle Pierre Boulez|Philharmonie ||COMPLET|| 25. The Church – Petit Bain 26. Minimal Compact – La Machine 30/31. Paula Temple + Dave Clarke + Ben Klock + Len Faki + 999999999 + VTSS b2b Shlomo + DVS1 + François X… (Marvellous Island) – île de loisirs de Vaires-Torcy Juin 01/02. The Dead C – Instants Chavirés (Montreuil) 03. Bambara – Espace B 04. Phill Niblock + Tim Shaw – Instants Chavirés (Montreuil) 05. And Also The Trees – La Maroquinerie 06/07. Four Tet + Nils Frahm + Park Hie Jin + Modeselektor… (fest. We Love Green) – Bois de Vincennes 12. The Breath of Life + Box and the Twins – Gibus 13. Flat Worms (Ideal Trouble) – Gibus 14. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Bercy Arena 18. Acid Mothers Temple – Espace B 27. Meryem Aboulouafa + Nicolas Godin (Days Off) – Cité de la musique 28. Ensemble Social Silence joue “Music for Airport” de Brian Eno (Days Off) – Studio|Philharmonie 28. Wooden Elephant joue “Kid A” de Radiohead (Days Off) – Amphithéâtre|Cité de la musique 29. Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto + Echo Collective joue “12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann” de Jóhann Jóhansson (Days Off) – Salle Boulez|Philharmonie 30. Emilíana Torrini & The Colorist Orchestra + Agnes Obel (Days Off) – Salle Boulez|Philharmonie Juillet 01. Apparat – Le Trianon 01. Arandel : “InBach” (Days Off) – Amphithéâtre|Cité de la musique 02. Orchestre de Paris : “Symphony No. 1 "Low"” de Philip Glass + “Music for Ensemble and Orchestra” de Steve Reich (Days Off) – Salle Boulez|Philharmonie 03. Perfume Genius + Anna Calvi  (Days Off) – Cité de la musique 04. Nicolás Jaar : musique pour la pièce chorégraphique “¡miércoles!” de Stéphanie Janaina (Days Off) – Studio|Philharmonie 04. Kevin Morby + Andrew Bird Symphonique (Days Off) – Salle Boulez|Philharmonie 04. Boy Harsher + Partiboi69 + Otim Alpha + Jonny Rock + La Famille Maraboutage + Catu Diosis… (Macki Music) – Parc de la Mairie (Carrières/Seine) ||COMPLET|| 05. Ben UFO + Jamie Tiller b2b Orpheu The Wizard + Murman Tsuladze + The Pilotwings + Flegon… (Macki Music) – Parc de la Mairie (Carrières/Seine) 05/06. Suzanne Vega, Ensemble Ictus & Collegium Vocale Gent : “Einstein on the Beach” de Philip Glass (Days Off) – Cité de la musique 07. The Rapture + Sons of Raphael (Days Off) – Salle Boulez|Philharmonie 17. Björk – Seine Musicale (Boulogne-Billancourt) 17/18. Grim + Galerie Schallschutz + Am Not + Linekraft + Deathpanel + Detrimental Effect + African Imperial Wizard – Les Voûtes 18. Oh Sees – Cabaret sauvage 20. Björk – Seine Musicale (Boulogne-Billancourt) Août 29. Massive Attack (Rock en Seine) – parc de Saint-Cloud Septembre 27. Mudhoney – La Maroquinerie 30. Peter Hook & The Light : Joy Division. A Celebration – Bataclan

[claudia1829things]

"BAND OF ANGELS" (1957) Review

"BAND OF ANGELS" (1957) Review I have been a fan of period dramas for a long time. A very long time. This is only natural, considering that I am also a history buff. One of the topics that I love to explore is the U.S. Civil War. When you combined that topic in a period drama, naturally I am bound to get excited over that particular movie or television production.

I have seen a good number of television and movie productions about the United States' Antebellum period and the Civil War. One of those productions is "BAND OF ANGEL", an adaptation of Robert Warren Penn's 1955 novel set during the last year of the Antebellum period and the first two years of the Civil War. The story begins around 1850. Amantha Starr, the privileged daughter of a Kentucky plantation owner, overhears one house slave make insinuations about her background to another slave. Before Amantha (or "Manthy") could learn more details, she discovers that Mr. Starr had the offending slave sold from the family plantation, Starwood. He also enrolls Amantha in a school for privileged girls in Cinncinati. A decade later in 1860, Amantha's father dies. When she returns to Starwood, Amantha discovers that Mr. Starr had been in debt. Worse, she discovers that her mother had been one of his slaves, making herself a slave of mixed blood. Amantha and many other Starwood slaves are collected by a slave trader and conveyed by steamboat to New Orleans for the city's slave mart. Upon her arrival in New Orleans, Amantha comes dangerously close to be purchased by a coarse and lecherous buyer. However, she is rescued by a Northern-born planter and slave owner named Hamish Bond, and becomes part of his household as his personal mistress. She also becomes acquainted with Bond's other house slaves - his right-hand-man named Rau-Ru, his housekeeper and former mistress Michele and Dollie, who serves as her personal maid. Although Amantha initially resents her role as a slave and Bond's role as her owner, she eventually falls in love with him and he with her. But the outbreak of the Civil War and a long buried secret of Bond's threaten their future together. Many critics and film fans have compared "BAND OF ANGELS" to the 1939 Oscar winner, "GONE WITH THE WIND". Frankly, I never understood the comparison. Aside from the setting - late Antebellum period and the Civil War - and Clark Gable as the leading man, the two films really have nothing in common. "GONE WITH THE WIND" is a near four-hour epic that romanticized a period in time. Although "BAND OF ANGELS" have its moments of romanticism, its portrayal of the Old South and the Civil War is a bit more complicated . . . ambiguous. Also, I would never compare Scarlett O'Hara with Amantha Starr. Both are daughters of Southern plantation owners. But one is obviously a member of the Southern privileged class, while the other is the illegitimate and mixed race daughter of a planter and his slave mistress. Also, Gable's character in "BAND OF ANGELS" is a Northern-born sea captain, who became a planter; not a semi-disgraced scion of an old Southern family. Considering the political ambiguity of "BAND OF ANGELS", I suppose I should be more impressed with it. Thanks to Warren's novel, Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts' screenplay and Raoul Walsh's direction; the movie attempted to provide audiences with a darker view of American slavery and racism. For instance, Amantha's personal journey as a slave proved to be a harrowing one, as she deals with a slave trader with plans to rape her, a traumatic experience at the New Orleans slave mart, Bond's lustful neighbor Charles de Marigny and her attempts to keep her African-American ancestry a secret from a Northern beau later in the film. The film also touches on Rau-ru's point of view in regard to slavery and racism. Despite being educated and treated well by Hamish Bond; Rau-ru, quite rightly, is resentful of being stuck in the role of what he views as a cosseted pet. Rau-ru also experiences the ugly racism of planters like de Marigny and slave catchers; and Northerners like some of the Union officers and troops that occupied New Orleans and Southern Louisiana in the movie's last half hour. I also noticed that the movie did not hesitate to expose the ugliness of the slave trade and the system itself, including the reveal the fate of a great number of slaves who found themselves being forced by Union forces to continue toiling on the cotton and sugar plantations on behalf of the North. There are other aspects of the movie that I found admirable. Not all of "BAND OF ANGELS" was shot at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank. A good of the movie was shot on location in Louisiana. I have to give credit to cinematographer Lucien Ballard for doing an exceptional job for the film's sharp and vibrant color, even if the movie lacked any real memorable or iconic shot. If I must be honest, I can say the same about Max Steiner's score. However, I can admit that Steiner's score blended well with the movie's narrative, I just did not find it memorable. Marjorie Best, who had received Oscar nominations for her work in movies like "ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN" and "GIANT", served as the movie's costume designer. I was somewhat impressed by her designs, especially for the male characters, ironically. However, I had a problem with her costumes for Yvonne De Carlo. Nearly dress that the Amantha Starr character wore, possessed a low cut neckline that emphasized her cleavage. Even her day dresses. Really? After reading a few reviews about "BAND OF ANGELS", I noticed that some movie fans and critics were not that impressed by the film's performances. I have mixed feelings about them. Clark Gable seemed to be phoning it through most of the film. But there were a few scenes that made it easy to see why he not only became a star, but won an Oscar well. This was apparent in two scenes. One of them featured the Hamish Bond character recalling the enthusiasm and excitement of his past as a sea captain. And in another scene that impressed me, Bond recalled the "more shameful" aspects of his past. At age 34 or 35, I believe Yvonne De Carlo was too old for the role of Amantha Starr, who was barely into her twenties in the story. Some would say that the role could have benefited from being portrayed by a biracial actress and not a white one. Perhaps. But despite the age disparity, I still thought De Carlo gave a very strong performance as the passionate and naive Amantha, who suddenly found her life turned upside down. Ironically, I thought her scenes with Sidney Poitier seemed to generate more chemistry than her ones with Gable. Speaking of Poitier . . . I might as well say it. He gave the best performance in the movie. His Rau-ru bridled with a varying degree of emotions when the scene called for it. And the same time, one could easily see that he was well on his way in becoming the Hollywood icon that Gable already was at the time. There were other performances in "BAND OF ANGELS", but very few of them struck me as memorable. The movie featured solid performances from Rex Reason, who portrayed Amantha's Northern-born object of her earlier infatuation - Seth Parson; Efrem Zimbalist Jr., who not only portrayed Amantha's later suitor Union officer Lieutenant Ethan Sears, but was already on the road as a television star; Carroll Drake, who portrayed Hamish Bond's introverted and observant housekeeper Michele; Andrea King, who portrayed Amantha's hypocritical former schoolmistress Miss Idell; William Schallert, who had a brief, but memorable role as a bigoted Union Army officer; and Torin Thatcher, who portrayed Bond's fellow sea captain and friend Captain Canavan. Many critics had accused Patric Knowles of bad acting. Frankly, I found his performance as Bond's neighbor and fellow planter Charles de Marigny effectively slimy . . . in a subtle way. Ray Teal was equally effective as the slimy and voracious slave trader Mr. Calloway, who had conveyed Amantha to the slave marts of New Orleans. The only performance that hit a sour note from me came from Tommie Moore, who portrayed one of Bond's house maids, the loud and verbose Dollie. Every time she opened her mouth I could not help but wince at her over-the-top and if I may say so, cliched performance as Dollie. I think I could have endured two hours in the company of characters like Prissy and Aunt Pittypat Hamilton from "GONE WITH THE WIND" than five minutes in Dollie's company. I guess I could have blamed the actress herself. But a part of me suspect that the real perpetrators were screenwriters John Twist, Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts; along with director Raoul Walsh. I wish that was all I had to say about "BAND OF ANGELS". I really do. But . . . despite the movie's portrayal of the ugliness of slavery and racism, it ended up undermining its attempt. Quite frankly, I found "BAND OF ANGELS" to be a very patronizing movie - especially in regard to race. And the most patronizing character is this movie turned out to be Hamish Bond. Someone had once complained that although the movie initially seemed to revolve around Amantha Starr, in the end it was all about Bond. I do not know if I could fully agree with this, but I found it disturbing that the character "growths" of both Amantha and Rau-ru revolved around Bond and their opinion of him. One aspect of "BAND OF ANGELS" that I found particularly bizarre was Amantha's opinion of Hamish Bond's connection to slavery. At first, she simply resented him for being her owner. But she eventually fell in love with him and opened herself to being his mistress. Amantha certainly had no problems during that ridiculous scene that featured Bond's field slaves lined up near the river side to welcome him back to his plantation with choral singing. Really? This was probably the most patronizing scene in the entire movie. Yet, when Amantha discovered that his past as a sea captain involved his participation in the Atlantic slave trade, she reacted with horror and left him. Let me see if I understand this correctly. Once she was in love with Bond, she had no problems with being his slave mistress or his role as a slave owner. Yet, she found his participation in the slave trade to be so awful that she . . . left him? Slave owner or slave trader, Hamish Bond exploited the bodies of black men and women. Why was being a slave trader worse than being a slave owner? Not only do I find this attitude hypocritical, I also noticed that it had permeated in a good deal of other old Hollywood films set in the Antebellum era. Even more disturbing is that after becoming romantic with an Union officer named Ethan Sears, Amantha has a brief reunion with her former object of desire, Seth Parsons. He reveals knowing about her mother's ancestry and her role as Bond's mistress, and tries to blackmail her into becoming his. In other words, Seth's knowledge of her racial background and her history with Bond leads Amantha to run back into the arms of Bond. And quite frankly, this makes no sense to me. Why would Seth's attempt to blackmail Amantha lead her to forgive Bond for his past as a slave trader? The movie never really made this clear. I found the interactions between Rau-ru and Hamish Bond even more ridiculous and patronizing. Rau-ru is introduced as Bond's major-domo/private secretary, who also happens to be a slave. Despite receiving education from Bond and a high position within the latter's household, Rau-ru not only resents Bond, but despises him. And you know what? I can understand why. I noticed that despite all of these advantages given to Rau-ru, Bond refuses to give him his freedom. Worse, Bond treats Rau-ru as a pet. Think I am joking? I still cannot refrain from wincing whenever I think of the scene in which Bond's friend, Captain Canavan, visited and demanded that Rau-ru entertain him with a song without any protest from Bond. This scene struck me as very vomit inducing. What made the situation between Rau-ru and Bond even worse is that the former made an abrupt about face about his former master during the war . . . all because the latter had revealed how he saved Rau-ru's life during a slave raid in Africa and - get this - some bigoted Union Army officer tried to cheat Rau-ru from a reward for capturing Bond. The former sea captain/planter ended up leaving his estate to Rau-ru in a will. How nice . . . but I suspect he did so after Amantha had left him. If not, my mistake. And why did Bond failed to give Rau-ru his freedom before the outbreak of war? Instead, Rau-ru was forced to flee to freedom after saving Amantha from being raped by Charles de Marigny. In Robert Warren's novel, Rau-ru eventually killed Bond. Pity this did not happen in the movie. Overall, I see that my feelings for "BAND OF ANGELS" is mixed. There are some aspects of the movie that I found admirable. I might as well admit it. The movie especially benefited from Lucien Ballard's colorful photography, an interesting first act and an excellent performance by Sidney Poitier. Otherwise, I can honestly say that "BAND OF ANGELS" focused too much on the Hamish Bond character and was a bit too patronizing on the subject of race and slavery for me to truly enjoy it.