#Robert Kaplan

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Alfred Stieglitz of Georgia O’Keeffe in 1919.

* * * *

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.”

Georgia O'Keeffe

(Robert Kaplan)

[scarlet--wiccan]

Agatha All Along, the highly anticipated follow-up to WandaVision, begins airing this week on Disney+. Now is the perfect to revisit some important information about both shows and the context in which some of Agatha's new characters are being introduced.

WandaVision primarily followed the character Wanda Maximoff and expanded on her family history by introducing her late parents as well her twin sons, who are born from magic and age rapidly over the course of the series.

In the Marvel comics source material, Wanda is part of a large, multigenerational family of Jewish and Romani characters whose stories frequently reflect the systemic violence and oppression that both communities face-- including Romani Holocaust victims, who are critically underrepresented in both education and media. In the MCU, these identities and histories are completely erased, and the characters are all played by white actors. Alternate versions of these characters also appear in the Fox X-Men films, and are similarly whitewashed.

The Romani people are a racialized minority that originated as a South Asian diaspora, and who face severe systemic oppression in Europe and North America. The modern Romani population is quite diverse, but they are not of white ethnic origin, and despite the fact that Wanda and her family have historically been drawn with white features, they are minority characters and ought to be considered as such.

Depictions of witches and witchcraft are often entwined with antisemitism and anti-Romani racism. In pop culture, witches and fortunetellers are typically portrayed as visual stereotypes of Romani women. In the real world, fortunetelling is a profession born from survival work, one which Romani families are often heavily policed and racially profiled for practicing. While Wanda usually subverts these tropes, they are often played straight elsewhere in the superhero genre, and any story about witches, especially one featuring Romani characters, needs to be critiqued in this context.

Agatha All Along introduces viewers to a new cast of characters, including Lilia Calderu, played by Patti LuPone, and the enigmatic "Teen", played by Joe Locke, who is heavily speculated to be an incarnation of Wanda's son, Billy.

In the comics, Lilia is a member of a prominent Romani family in Wanda's community. Often lauded as the "witch queen of the gypsies," Lilia embodies many racial stereotypes about Romani women. In Agatha All Along, Lilia is depicted as an older Sicilian woman, however, being portrayed as a batty fortuneteller with a tawdry psychic shop, she still embodies an offensive trope. Although Lilia is far from "good" representation, this is not an improvement-- if anything, it's even more exploitative.

Billy was raised in a Jewish American household and places a very strong emphasis on his Jewish identity, in addition to having Romani heritage. His identity as a young gay man is always presented in conjunction with this heritage, not in spite of it. Though there is a significance to Locke being a gay actor playing a gay character, his casting-- if he is indeed playing Billy-- is not authentic. White gay representation should not supersede racial inclusivity, and it is not an excuse for whitewashing or Jewish erasure.

Marvel Studios recently announced that the character Doctor Doom will be played by Robert Downey Jr., who is returning to the franchise after many years in the role of Iron Man. In the source material, Doom is also a Romani character with a very similar background to Wanda's. This identity is central to Doom's character-- although he is written to be both morally and politically challenging, the liberation of his people has always been a primary motive.

Clearly, this type of whitewashing is an ongoing pattern in the MCU franchise. Although "Teen's" identity is still unconfirmed and Lilia may, ultimately, be of little consequence, they are part of a larger problem, and Agatha All Along needs to critiqued in that context.

[maastrichtiana]

the mcu’s corporate aversion to eastern europe has to be studied

[videoreligion]

Amityville 3-D (1983)

[dadsinsuits]

Robert Steven Kaplan

[crocdocz]

Paneling test (?)

ID: [ Two teenagers , Phoebe and Meyrem are in a hall way. Phoebe is seen from behind looking at Meryem who tells her: “Phoebe….With all due respect…You’ve got some issues and should probably see a therapist” ]

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Best Jodie Foster movies and performances:

1. The Silence of the Lambs - Jonathan Demme (1991)

2. Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese (1976)

3. Un long dimanche de fiançailles - Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2004)

4. Contact - Robert Zemeckis (1997)

5. The Mauritanian - Kevin Macdonald (2021)

6. The Accused - Jonathan Kaplan (1988)

7. Carnage - Roman Polański (2011)

[enjoying-entertainment]

“Kotter is something very special in my life. It’s sentimental, because a lot of people are gone now — Bobby Hegyes, Ron Palillo, Marcia Strassman, Johnny White. It’s just Gabe, John and I now. You know, we were all actors, and it was our job, but we were all friends, too. What was lucky about us in the Welcome Back, Kotter years is that we became a family.” Laurence Hilton Jacobs, 2021

[tomorrowusa]

Sam Bankman-Fried, the indicted crypto con-man, just had his bail revoked by Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan for discussing his case in the media. He will now await his trial in the slammer. Donald Trump should learn from this – but probably won't.

A prominent billionaire is arrested on criminal charges. At his arraignment, the presiding judge releases him pending trial on condition he not try to influence potential witnesses and orders him not to speak with the media about the pending trial. He repeatedly violates the order. Eventually, the judge has had enough. He revokes bail and orders him jailed pending trial. I’m not referring to Donald J. Trump — although on Thursday, Judge Tanya Chutkan designated witness interviews and recordings as covered by a protective order and warned Trump once again against trying to influence or intimidate potential witnesses. Trump had spent much of the past week blasting former Vice President Mike Pence — likely to be a key witness — and others. No, the person I’m referring to is Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Bankman-Fried — whose wealth had soared to $28 billion before the collapse — had been under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, since his arrest in December on fraud charges stemming from FTX’s implosion. At a hearing yesterday, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court in Manhattan revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail and ordered him to await his October trial in jail. Prosecutors showed that Bankman-Fried had twice tried to interfere with witnesses, including by giving documents to reporters and engaging in numerous conversations with others in the media despite the judge’s order not to do so. “He has gone up to the line over and over again, and I am going to revoke bail,” Judge Kaplan said from the bench. Bankman-Fried was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. There is a lesson here for Donald J. Trump, as there is for other ultra-wealthy people who for too long have assumed that the law doesn’t really apply to them because they can buy their way out of whatever fix they’re in. Federal prosecutors and the federal courts are not buying it.

Judge Kaplan's words about Bankman-Fried ("He has gone up to the line over and over again") could easily apply to Donald Trump's behavior. Given that Trump is a pathological blabbermouth, I'd say the chances of pre-trial detention for him are over 50%.

Trump should not be allowed to use his upcoming trials as campaign stops for 2024.

Few things would do more to restore public confidence in the justice system than for people to see wealthy celebrities not getting preferential treatment in court. So Judge Kaplan and Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan seem determined not to let billionaire defendants hijack trials.

Judge Repeatedly Reminds Lawyers Trump Will Be Treated Like Any Criminal Defendant

[discoursets]

new year. new tote. new cup. 🍜

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Hello Darkness #3

Hello Darkness #3 preview. Try and prepare yourself for another unsettling issue of the nightmarish modern horror anthology #comics #comicbooks

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

(Robert Kaplan)

[jrtelfer]

On Monsoon by Robert D. Kaplan

Monsoon (2010) by Robert Kaplan continues a geopolitical dive seeking historical context into current events. Like Zaharia's The Post-American World 2.0 (2011), this book emphasizes the geopolitical importance of the region surrounding the Indian Ocean.

On Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power by Robert D. Kaplan, published in 2010. Three things stuck out, (1) realities, (2) reorientation, and (3) resilience. Robert Kaplan is a journalist who has published many books on international travel and geopolitics. In Monsoon, he describes his experiences in and perspectives of countries bordering the Indian Ocean. Kaplan also…

[videoreligion]

Amityville 3-D (1983)

[csuitebitches]

2024 reading list

The $100 StartUp

The E-Myth Revisited 

The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Hooked

The Checklist Manifesto

The Lean Startup

Creativity Inc. 

Who - smart and street

Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters by Steven Pinker

The School of Life: An Emotional Education by Alain de Botton

Rapport: The Four Ways to Read People by Emily and Laurence Alison

Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me) Third Edition: Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris

Upstream: How to Solve Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

The Revenge of Geography by Robert D. Kaplan

The World: A Brief Introduction by Richard 

The Quest by Daniel Yergin

Who Rules the World? by Noam Chomsky

Day of Empire by Amy Chua

India’s China Challenge by Ananth Krishnan

How to Stage a Coup – Rory Cormac – 2022

Secret History of the Five Eyes (2022) – Richard Kerbaj

Xi: A Study in Power (2022) – Kerry Brown

The India Way by S. Jaishankar

Michael Lewis: Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon

David Rubenstein: How to Invest: Masters on the Craft

Elon Musk by Isaacson, Walter

The Man Who Knew - Sebastian Mallaby

Blood and Oil - Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck

Brazillionaires - Alex Cuadros

Empire Of Pain- Patrick Radden Keefe

The Match King - Frank Partnoy

McMafia - Misha Glenny

[crocdocz]

Confide.