#Shakespeare: Rise of A Genius

[safedistancefrombeingsmart]

Martin Freeman in the BBC documentary Shakespeare: Rise Of A Genius Martin couldn't help himself and he was swearing twice. 😂

[martinfreemanspotter]

We briefly returned to yellow after not having done that for ages. It was a quiet month, but still interesting. (that leak!!)

October 2nd

The trailer for Miller's Girl got leaked. Lionsgate (the big studio behind the movie) did a good job in removing it from the web. If you're very keen to watch the trailer anyway, you can still probably find it somewhere. (I'll just go to my HDD.)

October 11th

Today it was announced that Martin will appear in an upcoming documentary about William Shakespeare, Shakespeare: Rise Of A Genius.

October 16th

Martin was finally spotted again in Liverpool, filming The Responder. ( x ) ( x )

October 18th

We got a short video with the Breeders crew! 🥳

October 19th

We got this lovely interview with Martin and Daisy, promoting the UK release of the 4th season of Breeders.

October 20th

We were blessed with this lovely Behind the Scenes video from the set of Breeders.

Also, the 4th season of Breeders finally arrived in the UK.

October 26th

Martin is presenting a new podcast about The Beatles to celebrate the band’s upcoming new track release.

October 27th

Double spotting today: Martin was seen once again in Liverpool, filming the 2nd season of The Responder and he has a short scene in the trailer for the upcoming documentary Shakespeare: Rise of A Genius.

October 30th

Martin was spotted filming in Liverpool. 🙂 (thx @colourfulwatson 😘)

I am curious what we'll get to see in November. Maybe the offcial release of the Miller's Girl trailer? Some more pics/ videos of Martin filming season 2 of The Responder. And Rachel is due for another update. ;)

[judi-daily]

Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, 2023 Photo credit: 72 Films/BBC

*Another one from this, as tis such a beautiful photo of the Dame.

[themousefromfantasyland]

Megalopolis Review, or, Why Nobody Seems to Realize the King is Naked

Brace yourselves, this will be a long post @ariel-seagull-wings @thealmightyemprex @the-blue-fairie @mask131 @tamisdava2

Today I watched Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis and never has a movie made me so frustrated and irritated as I’m now. 

The film is absolutely awful. Not in a so bad it’s good but in a so awful it’s awful. Pardon the language but not even if Coppola broke into my house and shit on my face I would be as angry as I am for him having made this movie. 

But let’s go in parts.

The Premise

The film is a mixture between soft sci-fi and magical realism. We are in an alternate universe where the United States is a direct continuation of the Roman Empire and New York city is instead the capital of the empire, New Rome. 

Cesar Catilina is a brilliant architect and scientist that gained a Nobel Prize for inventing the Megalon, a miraculous substance capable of doing anything. Cesar is a mysterious and lonely genius, with a mysterious past involving an accusation of murdering his own wife and the power to stop time itself. 

He wants to use the metal to rebuild New Rome into a utopia, Megalopolis. Because of that he wages a political battle against the mayor of New Rome, Franklyn Cicero, who wants things to stay the way they have always been. The Mayor has a daughter called Julia, and she falls in love with Cesar. Meanwhile a gossip reporter called Wow Platinum has her eyes on both Cesar and his rich uncle, while Cesar’s cousin, Clodio, a decadent playboy wants to destroy Cesar once and for all.

The Problems

Now that we went into the premise of the movie, let’s see in all the ways this premise falls apart

1 - The Film as a whole makes no sense

Film is art, and art doesn’t need to fit in traditional plot structures or pacing styles. 

But art is about communication. An artist has to communicate ideas, feelings, and impressions to their public. A piece of art that can only be understood by its creator is a bad piece of art.  

A good film, as a good piece of art, has to have the minimum of coherence and cohesion to express the ideas, feelings, and impressions of the filmmaker to their public. If the movie is unable to do that, then the movie is a bad piece of art. 

A good film has to either have coherent story, characters, or at least themes.

Megalopolis doesn’t have either of those.

Megalopolis has a complicated plot filled to the brim with pointless characters and it goes nowhere. Some of the characters are killed off in cut-way jokes and the climax happens in the last twelve minutes of the film. The film lasts more than two hours, and still feels rushed, with scenes that feel missing and scenes that seem superfluous.

It has long surreal sequences that don’t fit the characters, the themes or the story. It’s weirdness for weirdness’ sake. It means nothing. 

The characters are painfully shallow and have nothing to say but famous quotes and juvenile language filled with profanity. 

The film draws painfully long scenes quoting Shakespeare among other writers and philosophers, trying to say something deep about humanity, civilization, politics and the pursuit of utopia, but everything that comes out of it is shallow and contradictory.

In some points Cesar’s desire to build his utopian city is framed as almost an act of anti-consumerism and anti-materialism, vices that are endorsed by Mayor Franklyn Cicero. But then Cesar demolishes several apartment buildings, leaving hundreds homeless and hungry, and the movie almost becomes Atlas Shrugged, where the genius has to rise above the stupid masses that drag him down. 

Cesar’s jealous cousin, Clodio, is built as a Trump stand-in, but then his politics are about helping the immigrants and the poor against Cesar’s plans. And he openly dresses in drag. 

In some way, Clodio is a mixture of Trumpism, Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter in a single character, ignoring the obvious ways these ideologies are completely different from each other.

In the end Cesar gives a passionate speech to the crowds that Clodio aroused, and it’s no deeper than Facebook messages of “We can disagree politically and still be friends”.

The film has a lot to say about culture and politics, but with a simple glance you realize that Coppola doesn’t understand neither politics or culture. 

Megalopolis is a film that has a lot of things to say about humanity, culture, and politics, and almost everything is pure gibberish.

2 - The film is misogynistic, biphobic and a little bit transphobic.

It’s no wonder that Coppola took almost 30 years to finish this film, because the script has the trademarked sexual prejudices of the 1980’s. 

Only two female characters are really important in this story, and they role seem to reinforce the madonna x whore dichotomy that Coppola seems to believe in.

We have Julia, our madonna. She has a Mary Magdalene complex. She’s initially presented as a shallow, decadent socialite, who only knows how to party all day and kiss passionately her female friends. She is implied to be bisexual, but her bisexuality is presented as just another vice of the decadent elite of New Rome.

Then she meets and falls in love with Cesar and becomes nothing more than his love interest. She becomes the one responsible for his moral support. Her bisexuality is stripped away and she is resumed to nothing more than  a supportive wife.

Then we have Wow Platinum, a gossip reporter that marries Cesar's uncle, is interested in Cesar himself, and has sex with Clodio, Cesar's cousin. She is a shallow gold digger and the film uses every chance it has to slutshame her. She is a typical femme fatale without any nuance or complexity, a disgusting sexist and demeaning caricature without any depth. 

And then we have Clodio and his drag scene, and just like Julia, his crossdressing is presented as just another form of the decadence of New Rome.

3 - Vesta

There’s a plot point that comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere. 

New Rome has a pop star called Vesta, and she is meant to mirror the Vesta priestesses of Ancient Rome. She is clearly modeled after Taylor Swift. 

Clodio forges a video of Cesar and Vesta having sex, and since Vesta is a minor, he is arrested. But then Julia discovers that Vesta was lying about her age and is actually a 23-year old woman. After her true age is revealed and after the video is revealed as fake, Vesta reinvents herself as a provocative pop-rock star.

This whole plot point lasts ten minutes and has no bearing on the overall story.

I know for sure that it was written in the late 2000’s, because more than being inspired by Taylor Swift, Vesta is inspired by the transition that Miley Cyrus had from sweet Disney girl to provocative pop star. 

It’s very creepy and off-putting considering everything that we now know about how Coppola deals with young women.

Honestly it just feels like he wanted to fuck Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift back in 2010. 

4 - It’s just a giant ego trip

Only one thing is consistent in Megalopolis, how Cesar is portrayed as a genius that has to fight to have his vision of utopia come to life, and it’s obvious how he is an author self-insert.

It’s so annoying and irritating watching Coppola worship himself for over two hours.

He paints Cesar as this tragic figure that is misunderstood by society and how everyone should just listen to him. How he is a genius that has all the answers to solve humanity’s problems.

It’s the equivalent of watching Coppola masturbating while looking at himself in the mirror for two hours. 

The King is Naked

Listen, I too was at first excited about Megalopolis. I wanted this project to succeed. I wanted to see a creative and bold vision. I wanted to see more authoral cinema. 

But Coppola is just a rich creep with delirious visions of grandeur. 

He used this film to worship his obscene ego and to sexually exploit extras on his set.

And now I see people trying to find excuses for him, or trying to defend this thing.

Listen, if you found something positive about Megalopolis I respect your opinion, but this film is a huge piece of shit made by a more gigantic piece of shit, and his talent and past accomplishments can’t excuse this.

The film is awful, the director is awful, and the king is naked. He doesn’t need protection. 

Can we be totally sincere with this film? At least with ourselves?

I want to see films that are original and take risks, but I want from creators who aren’t megalomaniacs, sexual perverts or that at least can develop coherent ideas. 

[nicolikesmoms]

gonna discuss two topics that are very similar in regards to pjo that may be controversial. One annabeth chase would not listen to taylor swift, i dont even think she would like taylor swift. And if you don't like this opinion please just block me, dont leave hate comments. Annabeth grew up in chb, with satyrs and nymphs. She would not support someone who's personal carbon emissions are as high as taylor swifts. There may be some projecting in this, as someone who doesn't like Taylor swift. People like to say taylor swift is proof you can rise to fame without nepotism especially because apparently she was raised on a farm (a Christmas tree farm i believe) but her family was well off as well i believe. I respect her remaking her albums and the reason behind it but i do not respect her carbon emissions and i believe annabeth wouldnt either. She wouldn't give her monetary support. I also believe even if she liked taylor swift she wouldnt be a huge swiftie, who practically worships her or even someone who views her as a lyrical genius,. Again maybe self projecting. Maybe a few quotes here and there. But every time any mentions not liking taylor swift they are called a pick me. I literally saw a video on tik tok with every agreeing with that statement. They bring up the taylor swift or Shakespeare thing like idc and i dont think annabeth would either mainly for the fact i think annabeth would for sure get it right. Any way i don't want to ramble on that however second topic i do think annabeth is very crane wives coded and would listen to them and her favorite song of theirs is hand that feeds, but the moon will sing is a song she likes to listen that reminds her of both luke and her dad in different ways in the fact that their relationship was very complicated and she fits the lyrics in a different depending on how she is feeling. And can not explain but keep you safe feels exactly like annabeth but not at the same time. Anyway my opinion please don't leave hate or anything just block if you disagree.

[tavtiers]

could you analyze a Prince of Mind with a potential planet? thanks

The Prince of Mind [symbols: crown, neuron]

The Prince class has its basis in Machiavelli's The Prince. An example would be Prince Hamlet from the Shakespeare play.

The Mind aspect’s main theme is intuition. You can find its official description here.

A Prince of Mind is among those who alter the individual’s impact. This is the “classpect group” they belong to. Members include: the Sylph, Maid, Bard, and Prince of Heart/Mind. These classes are all opposites or inverses of each other that alter the Heart/Mind dichotomy (the individual’s impact). A description of classpect groupings can be found here.

The Prince of Mind actively destroys the Mind aspect. Active classes tell themselves what to do and do so for their own benefit. They are more likely to stand up for themselves, but more likely to be cruel. Princes and Bards destroy their aspect and everything it symbolizes, while using that same aspect as a weapon. In doing so, they leave their opposite aspect in their wake. Due to their actions, they come across as their opposite aspect. Simplified, the Prince of Mind is motivated by themselves to destroy intuition. In personality, they come across as the Heart aspect, seemingly defined by instinct.

On the subject of personality, the Prince of Mind wants to have control over things and enjoys challenges. Personality descriptions can be found here.

Their archetype is the Promised Genius, defined by control and intuition. Archetypes are explained here.

Their opposite is the Bard of Heart, who passively destroys instinct.

Their inverse is the Sylph of Heart, who passively assists instinct.

A classpect or “god tier” is an individual’s best self. All classpects go through a journey from unrealized, to struggle, to realized. When a character is unrealized, they neutrally exist as their inverse. On their struggle, they will wildly flip back and forth between their inverse and true classpect. In their worst moments they will act as their inverse, in their best their true classpect. When realized, they will stabilize as their true classpect. They will still have room to grow, but will become happier, more successful people.

This means that the Prince of Mind begins life motivated by others to assist instinct. When their struggle arrives and they are at their worst, they will continue this behavior in negative extremes. However, when at their best, they will find purpose in instead destroying intuition for themselves. When realized, they will stabilize and continue to destroy the Mind aspect actively, in a positive way.

They share their archetype with the Mage of Blood, the Genius Promised.

The Prince of Mind would quest on a planet similar to the Land of Heart [Opposite Aspect] and Mind [Aspect]. An example would be the Land of Clones and Chess. An explanation of planet naming conventions can be found here.

Two possible gods, or denizens, to reign over their planet would be Athena (Goddess of Justice) or the Sphinx (the legendary creature who posed riddles to travelers). Other Mind aspect denizens can be found here.

When the Prince of Mind completes their planet quests and dies on their quest bed, they would rise to ascension on the wings of dragonflies (symbols of mental maturity). A list of soul animals can be found here.

The characters that I have currently classpected as Princes of Mind are: Steve Dayton from Doom Patrol, Vislor Turlough from Doctor Who, Noiz from DRAMAtical Murder, Riddler from Batman, Imshael from Dragon Age, Napoleon Bonaparte from Night at the Museum, Dr. Bubby from HLVRAI, and Windom Earle from Twin Peaks.

If any of the links not connected to my blog break, the content can be found on my Google Drive.

Official Aspect Descriptions

Personality Descriptions

Aspect Denizens

[heyho-simonrussellbeale]

At the heart of the initiative is the three-part documentary series for BBC Two and iPlayer titled Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, featuring contributions from Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Adrian Lester, Lolita Chakrabarti, Martin Freeman and Jessie Buckley, alongside academics and writers including James Shapiro, Jeanette Winterson, Lucy Jago, Jeremy O’Harris and Ewan Fernie.

The documentary series will be made available from 8 November at 9pm.

A whole host of archived productions and Shakespeare-based films will be released across October and November to celebrate the contributions made by the First Folio.

There will also be specially created new introductions for many of these, featuring David Tennant on Hamlet, Richard Eyre on King Lear, Janet Suzman on Wars of the Roses, Gregory Doran on the Shakespeare Gala from the RSC, Russell T Davies on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mirren on As You Like It, Hugh Quarshie on Othello, Steven Berkoff on Hamlet at Elsinore, Simon Russell Beale on The Hollow Crown, and Ian McKellen on All is True.

[ghostsandgod]

Kinnikuman Fanfiction Masterpost 🤩🤖

Fic links under cut:

💥 Kayfabe: Series 💥

A series in which Warsman gets up to no good, up to and including marriage to Robin's daughter. Also, special guest: H.P Lovecraft.

🦑 Kayfabe : Part One of Kayfabe. Chojin Crown shenanigans, and Warsman sulking at Robin's party.

🐙 Back To Wrestling School : Part Two of Kayfabe. Warsman vs his greatest challenge ever: Marriage. Lord Flash refuses to be put in the closest, and develops his own digital life, much to his creator's chagrin.

🦑 X Signal : Part Three. Warsman's self-sabotaging involves the dMp, and 'Live Laugh Love' connoisseur: Mars.

🐙Smartening Up : Part Four. Kevin has his life ruined for the umpteenth time. Also, the Earth is almost exploded.

🦑 Cheap Heat : Part Five. Lord Flash is fed up of being friend zoned.

🐙 Five Moves Of Doom : Part Six. Cthulhu rises, and the end of the world finds the Justice League busy trying to winkle Warsman out of a sulk.

🌟Stand-Alone🌟 :

💖 Anything Is Possible In Space : My Lord Flash abomination from 'Kayfabe', contracts Hanahaki Disease. Library visits ensue.

⭐Boys Will Be Boys : Robin touches Warsman's ley lines without permission. Disaster ensues.

💖 Do You Deny Neptunemania, Brother? : Kinnikuman Beach Episode: Shakespeare Style

⭐Trainee Training for Trainers : Lord Flash abomination adopts a trainee.

💖Serial Killers and Sunflowers : Warsman vs Jason Voorhees.

⭐How Do I Shot Web : Love letters between Warsman and his stolen wife.

💖We Have Walking Dead At Home : Zombie AU. Just before Chojin Crown Finals. Kevin and Lord Flash navigate the perils of a zombie apocalypse.

⭐Thinking Out Loud - Kinnikuman Edition : Kinnikuman off cuts and prompt fills.

💖Daddy's Boys : Warsman (and Kevin) end up in Fallout 3.

⭐Dating Kevin Mask Would Include : Even the hottest guys aren't hot if they're cowards.

💖 In Costume : Lord Flash saves a plane.

⭐ Sensitivity Training : Warsman is the most sensitive of them all.

💖 Teddy Bear's Picnic : Lord Flash is a genius.

⭐ Deliveryman : Various characters receive flowers for St Valentine's day.

💖 Taming of the Bear : Warsman and Jacqueline play with each other.

⭐Flash Lad : Warsman as 17th century highwayman.

💖 Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous : You agree to marry Lord Flash fro some stupid reason.

⭐Wars and Babies : Warsman experiences family bliss.

💖 My Struggle : Kevin gets married.

⭐I am Kevin Mask : The Kevin Mask experience.

💖 Crackship : The saga of Kevin and Olga continues.

⭐Photo Bomb : Kevin and Charlotte from 'We Have Walking Dead At Home' go on holiday.

💖 1981 - Stayin' Alive : Warsman discovers Western music.

⭐Beauty and Beefy : Prince Kevin keeps running away.

💖 Twice Baked : Lord Flash and Kevin travel to Scotland for authentic shortbread.

⭐The King Wants Eggs : Lord Flash the dragon, needs Jacqueline to take care of an egg.

💖Bittercuck : Warsman, Fallout protaganist extraordinaire, is bodyswapped with Bittercup.

⭐Slasher @ Band Camp : Teapackman and friends attend band camp...in New Jersey.

💖 King & Queen of the Damned : (Werewolf!) Warsman and (Vampire!) Jacqueline go on holiday to the Yorkshire Moors and the Whitby Goth Weekend.

⭐King of Swing : The Courier (Warsman) and Dean Domino prepare to leave the Sierra Madre together.

💖Rush Hour : Just Kevin and Lord Flash travelling.

⭐The Cyborg, the Knight, and the Love Troubles of Yog-Sothoth : AI parody of my story 'Kayfabe'.

💖The Deep Ones : Atlantis develops a fixation on Robin Mask's mermaid daughter.

⭐Stardouche Valley : Warsman ends up in Stardew Valley.

[helmstone]

BBC to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio

BBC to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio

The BBC has revealed a host of programmes across TV and radio to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio. Published seven years after his death, it’s the reason his name and works are still so well known so long after his passing. Highlights from the BBC include: Major three part boxset for BBC Two and iPlayer – Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius with an A-list…

[denimbex1986]

'We are on the verge of a "Hartnettaissance."

Josh Hartnett recently had impressive performances on TV ("Black Mirror") and in movies ("Oppenheimer").

Since he's known best for his work on the big screen, we're highlighting Hartnett's top movie roles.

14. John Tate in "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" (1998)

In his big screen debut, Hartnett played John, the son of Jamie Lee Curtis' character, Laurie.

It's what you'd expect — he runs for his life from Michael Myers. It's not the most memorable performance, but landing the role did help catapult him into the "next big thing" conversation in Hollywood.

13. Hugo Goulding in "O" (2001)

In this modern-day retelling of Shakespeare's "Othello," Harnett plays the evil Hugo (essentially an adaptation of the Iago character in the classic play), who plots against his supposed friend Odin (Mekhi Phifer) to get the attention of Desi (Julia Stiles) and ruin Odin's life.

Released at a time when Hartnett's star was rising fast, the movie helped show that Hartnett was more than just a pretty face.

12. Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert in "The Black Dahlia" (2006)

Though this Brian DePalma-directed adaptation of James Ellroy's classic pulpy noir didn't get the acclaim you'd expect with such legends attached, Hartnett still shined as a detective investigating one of Los Angeles' most notorious murders.

In a cast that also featured stars like Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson, and Hilary Swank, Hartnett proves here that his dramatic acting chops are on par with those of genuine movie stars.

11. The Drifter in "Bunraku" (2010)

A rare impressive performance from the decade or so where Hartnett found himself in B-movies that often went straight-to-video or On Demand, Hartnett has a blast in "Bunraku" playing the movie's lead, The Drifter, who stumbles upon some interesting characters — and a lot of blood.

10. Matt Sullivan in "40 Days and 40 Nights" (2002)

Hartnett leans heavily on his heartthrob status in this rom-com, in which he plays a guy who gives up any sexual contact for Lent.

Playing up his character's wide eyes and penchant for hyperventilating as his hormones gradually get out of control, Hartnett delivers big on the laughs and the charm here.

9. K.C. Calden in "Hollywood Homicide" (2003)

A year after doing the rom-com thing, Hartnett teamed up with Harrison Ford for this studio action comedy.

Harnett holds his own across from Ford, delivering a playfulness he doesn't often give us in his filmography.

8. Ernest Lawrence in "Oppenheimer" (2023)

In Christopher Nolan's biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Hartnett stars as one of the real-life physicists who joined the Manhattan Project to create the atom bomb alongside Oppenheimer.

Hartnett plays Ernest Lawrence as a man who is not just friendly with Oppenheimer, but who tries to make the genius understand that his actions, especially his favoritism towards Communist thinking, can lead to problems.

7. Trip Fontaine in "The Virgin Suicides" (1999)

In Sofia Coppola's feature directorial debut about the tragic lives of five teenage sisters, Hartnett plays Trip, the movie's heartthrob who dates the most rebellious sister, Lux (Kirsten Dunst).

Hartnett plays his role perfectly, and Coppola frames him as a high school God on screen, complete with a flowing 1970s-style haircut and stylish outfits.

6. Dave "Boy Sweat" Hancock in "Wrath of Man" (2021)

The recent "Hartnettaissance" can be traced back to this Guy Ritchie action thriller.

This revenge movie set in the world of armored truck guards finds Hartnett playing one of the guards who befriends Jason Statham's character.

It won't be the last time Ritchie calls on Hartnett to bring one of his characters to life.

5. The Salesman in "Sin City" (2005)

As the slick assassin in the Robert Rodriguez adaptation of Frank Miller's iconic comic series, Hartnett's character plays a key role in bookending the movie.

His voiceover narrates his target at the start of the movie at a party. Then, dressed as a doctor at the end of the movie, he encounters a woman in an elevator. She knows from the sight of him that her fate is set.

Though Harnett doesn't get a lot of screen time, his presence in both scenes is thrilling and chilling.

4. Matt Eversmann in "Black Hawk Down" (2001)

Hartnett is front and center in Ridley Scott's acclaimed war movie, which follows the aftermath of a Black Hawk helicopter crashing in enemy territory in Mogadishu in 1993 during the Somali Civil War.

The role was a breakthrough in positioning Hartnett as not just a heartthrob, but a good actor in his own right.

3. Danny Francesco in "Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre" (2023)

Teaming again with Guy Ritchie, Hartnett delivers one of his best performances in recent memory. In this Ritchie action movie, Jason Statham plays a spy who must track down a device before an arms dealer (Hugh Grant) sells it to the highest bidder.

Hartnett plays the dealer's favorite actor, whom Statham's character uses to infiltrate the dealer's world.

Here, Hartnett gets to flex his comedic chops, as his egotistical actor character suddenly has to be as tough as the characters he plays on screen.

2. Danny Walker in "Pearl Harbor" (2001)

Michael Bay's blockbuster fictional epic about the attack on Pearl Harbor was slaughtered by critics and became a punching bag for audiences throughout the summer of 2001. But despite all of that, it features one of Hartnett's best performances.

Starring alongside Ben Affleck as two best friends who survive the attack, the role marks the biggest studio job Hartnett has had to date. Not only does Hartnett deliver an impressive dramatic performance, but he also carries the movie's main love story, alongside Kate Beckinsale.

1. Zeke Tyler in "The Faculty" (1998)

The same year Hartnett made his big-screen debut in "Halloween H20," he also starred in Robert Rodriguez's sci-fi horror "The Faculty."

As the rebellious, drug-dealing student at an Ohio high school who is repeating his senior year, Hartnett delivers all the qualities that would go on to make him famous: His boyish good looks, his brooding intensity, his signature deep voice, and that late-1990s look where you wear a long-sleeved shirt under a T-shirt.'

[safedistancefrombeingsmart]

A trailer for the BBC Shakespeare documentary has been a released and we can see a short glimpse of Martin. He is clearly trying to kill me. I mean, look at him!!

[martinfreemanspotter]

November was a very. quiet. month. Very quiet. But it ended with a bang: an International Emmy Award!

November 8th

Martin had a few things to say about William Shakespeare in the BBC documentary Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius.

November 10th

Martin was seen in Liverpool again, taking photos with fans while filming the 2nd season of The Responder.

November 11th

Martin and Breeders have been nominated for the I Talk Telly Awards 2023.

November 16th

Martin was spotted once again in Liverpool.

November 17th

Madness released a new album and Martin supplied a special prologue running through the entire album.

November 19th

You can bid on a pair of Martin's shoes - for charity.

November 21st

🥳🥳🥳 Martin wins the International Emmy Award 2023 for Best Performance by an Actor for The Responder. 🥳🥳🥳

Hopefully, December will be a bit more generous with new content.

[judi-daily]

Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius, 2023 Photo credit: 72 Films/BBC

[art-of-manliness]

Odds & Ends: May 2, 2024

Huckberry’s Mother’s Day Shop. Mother’s Day is May 12. If you’re looking for a gift for the moms in your life, check out Huckberry’s special gift shop. A few standout items amongst their curated collection include this cabana robe for moms who plan on doing a lot of lounging by the pool this summer, classic Birkenstocks for moms who wore them with their socks in 1998, and this Western blanket from Filson for pistol-packin’ mamas.  If you need another Mother’s Day gift idea, pick Mom up a copy of Stacy Lyn Harris’ Love Language of the South. It’s a cookbook full of both tasty Southern recipes and stories from Stacy’s life and a culture of hospitality; it’s inspiringly wholesome. For a taste, check out this recipe for black pepper burgers. Our Entire Society Is Becoming Addicted to Sports Gambling. Whenever I watch professional sports on TV, I’m always dumbfounded when I see online gambling sites as sponsors of the NFL, NBA, and MLB. If I remember my sports history correctly, we used to keep a significant distance between sports leagues and gambling to avoid scandals like the 1919 “Black Sox.” In this article, Alex Shephard argues that a partnership between professional sports and gambling has given rise to an even bigger scandal than thrown games: a huge rise in gambling addiction, particularly among young men. We’re already seeing an increase in bankruptcy and relationship problems due to online gambling. I suspect we’ll be reading more about the problems of online sports betting in the coming years.  Discover Your Genius: How to Think Like History’s Ten Most Revolutionary Minds by Michael Gelb. I first read this book back when I was in high school and a lot of the ideas have stuck with me. Gelb takes a look at 10 “revolutionary minds” from history like Plato, Shakespeare, and Thomas Jefferson and extracts lessons from them on how to think better. He also provides exercises you can do to think like these great individuals. This is where I first learned about Jefferson’s 10 rules for life. It’s a fun book that’s also edifying.  How Does Kodak Make Film? I’ve enjoyed the videos Destin at Smarter Every Day has made for the past 10+ years. A series that I found particularly captivating was his tour of a Kodak film factory and the complicated process that’s involved in making a roll of old-school photography film. One of my takeaways watching this series is that Kodak is more of a chemical company than a photography company. I never would have imagined the amount of chemical engineering that goes into making a roll of film.  Quote of the Week When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take — choose the bolder. —Field Marshal William J. Slim Help support independent publishing. Make a donation to The Art of Manliness! Thanks for the support! http://dlvr.it/T6Nc52

[daimonclub]

T.S. Eliot thoughts

T.S. Eliot thoughts T.S. Eliot thoughts, opinions, ideas, reflections, quotations about literature, poetry, society, culture, existence, men, history, freedom and other topics. The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an 'objective correlative'; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked. T.S. Eliot Whoever has approved this idea of order, of the form of European, of English literature, will not find it preposterous that the past should be altered by the present as much as the present is directed by the past. And the poet who is aware of this will be aware of great difficulties and responsibilities. T.S. Eliot The critic must compose his differences with as many of his fellows as possible in the common pursuit of true judgement. T.S. Eliot And so each venture Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate With shabby equipment always deteriorating In the general mess of imprecision of feeling, Undisciplined squads of emotion. T.S. Eliot The greatness of literature cannot be determined solely by literary standards though we must remember that whether it is literature or not can be determined only by literary standards. T.S. Eliot Moving between the legs of tables and of chairs, rising or falling, grasping at kisses and toys, advancing boldly, sudden to take alarm, retreating to the corner of arm and knee, eager to be reassured, taking pleasure in the fragrant brilliance of the Christmas tree. T.S. Eliot You think me reckless, desperate and mad. You argue by results, as this world does, To settle if an act be good or bad. You defer to the fact. For every life and every act Consequence of good and evil can be shown. And as in time results of many deeds are blended So good and evil in the end become confounded. It is not in time that my death shall be known; It is out of time that my decision is taken If you call that decision To which my whole being gives entire consent. I give my life To the Law of God above the Law of Man. Those who do not the same How should they know what I do? T. S. Eliot In the seventeenth century a dissociation of sensibility set in, from which we have never recovered; and this dissociation, as is natural, was aggravated by the influence of the two most powerful poets of the century, Milton and Dryden. T.S. Eliot To believe in the supernatural is not simply to believe that after living a successful, material, and fairly virtuous life here one will continue to exist in the best-possible substitute for this world, or that after living a starved and stunted life here one will be compensated with all the good things one has gone without: it is to believe that the supernatural is the greatest reality here and now. T.S. Eliot If you find examples of humanism which are anti-religious, or at least in opposition to the religious faith of the place and time, then such humanism is purely destructive, for it has never found anything to replace what it has destroyed. T.S. Eliot And Shakespeare himself takes liberties which only his genius justifies; liberties which Dante, with an equal genius, does not take. To pass on to posterity one’s own language, more highly developed, more refined, and more precise than it was before one wrote it, that is the highest possible achievement of the poet as poet. T.S. Eliot To be truly great poets it is not enough to have language and vision; it is also necessary to possess a great philosophical and/or theological system, which Shakespeare lacked and Dante did not. T.S. Eliot Can we only love Something created in our own imaginations? Are we all in fact unloving and unloveable? Then one is alone, and if one is alone Then lover and beloved are equally unreal And the dreamer is no more real than his dreams. T.S. Eliot There are several symptoms Which must occur together, and to a marked degree, To qualify a patient for my sanatorium: And one of them is an honest mind. That is one of the causes of their suffering. T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot thoughts and quotations No one can become really educated without having pursued some study in which he took no interest- for it is a part of education to learn to interest ourselves in subjects for which we have no aptitude. T.S. Eliot We must believe that "emotion recollected in tranquillity" is an inexact formula. For it is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor without distortion of meaning, tranquillity. It is a concentration, and a new thing resulting from the concentration of a very great number of experiences which to the practical and active person would not seem to be experiences at all; it is a concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation. These experiences are not "recollected" and they finally unite in an atmosphere which is "tranquil" only in that it is a passive attending upon the event. T. S. Eliot It is not enough to understand what we ought to be, unless we know what we are; and we do not understand what we are, unless we know what we ought to be. T.S. Eliot As a rule, with me an unfinished thing is a thing that might as well be rubbed out. T.S. Eliot There's no vocabulary For love within a family, love that's lived in But not looked at, love within the light of which All else is seen, the love within which All other love finds speech. This love is silent. T.S. Eliot We are being made aware that the organization of society on the principle of private profit, as well as public destruction, is leading both to the deformation of humanity by unregulated industrialism, and to the exhaustion of natural resources, and that a good deal of our material progress is a progress for which succeeding generations may have to pay dearly. T.S. Eliot It's harder to confess the sin that no one believes in Than the crime that everyone can appreciate. For the crime is in relation to the law And the sin is in relation to the sinner. T.S. Eliot No scheme for a change of society can be made to appear immediately palatable, except by falsehood, until society has become so desperate that it will accept any change. T.S. Eliot I do not believe that any writer has ever exposed this bovarysme, the human will to see things as they are not, more clearly than Shakespeare. T.S. Eliot Every nation, every race, has not only its own creative, but its own critical turn of mind; and is even more oblivious of the shortcomings and limitations of its critical habits than of those of its creative genius. T.S. Eliot Every experience is a paradox in that it means to be absolute, and yet is relative; in that it somehow always goes beyond itself and yet never escapes itself. T.S. Eliot I take as metaphysical poetry that in which what is ordinarily apprehensible only by thought is brought within the grasp of feeling, or that in which what is ordinarily only felt is transformed into thought without ceasing to be feeling. T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot reflections Poets in our civilization, as it exists at present, must be difficult... The poet must become more and more comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect, in order to force, to dislocate if necessary, language into its meaning. T.S. Eliot Tennyson and Browning are poets, and they think; but they do not feel their thought as immediately as the odour of a rose. A thought to Donne was an experience; it modified his sensibility. T.S. Eliot So far as we are human, what we do must be either evil or good: so far as we do evil or good, we are human: and it is better, in a paradoxical way, to do evil than to do nothing: at least we exist. T.S. Eliot We dwell with satisfaction upon the poet's difference from his predecessors, especially his immediate predecessors; we endeavour to find something that can be isolated in order to be enjoyed. Whereas if we approach a poet without this prejudice we shall often find that not only the best, but the most individual parts of his work may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality most vigorously. And I do not mean the impressionable period of adolescence, but the period of full maturity. T.S. Eliot Mr. Aldous Huxley, who is perhaps one of those people who have to perpetrate thirty bad novels before producing a good one, has a certain natural - but little developed - aptitude for seriousness. T.S. Eliot If we are moved by a poem, it has meant something, perhaps something important, to us; if we are not moved, then it is, as poetry, meaningless. T.S. Eliot We can at least try to understand our own motives, passions, and prejudices, so as to be conscious of what we are doing when we appeal to those of others. This is very difficult, because our own prejudice and emotional bias always seems to us so rational. T.S. Eliot The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; the historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature of Europe from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order. This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional. And it is at the same time what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his contemporaneity. T. S. Eliot And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. T.S. Eliot Those who talk of the bible as a monument of English prose are merely admiring it as a monument over the grave of Christianity. T.S. Eliot I hate university towns and university people, who are the same everywhere, with pregnant wives, sprawling children, many books and hideous pictures on the walls... Oxford is very pretty, but I don't like to be dead. T.S. Eliot Gradually we come to admit that Shakespeare understands a greater extent and variety of human life than Dante; but that Dante understands deeper degrees of degradation and higher degrees of exaltation. T.S. Eliot More can be learned about how to write poetry from Dante than from any English poet.... The language of each great English poet is his own language; the language of Dante is the perfection of a common language. T.S. Eliot There are three conditions which often look alike Yet differ completely, flourish in the same hedgerow: Attachment to self and to things and to persons, detachment From self and from things and from persons; and, growing between them, indifference,.... T.S. Eliot We do not quite say that the new is more valuable because it fits in; but its fitting in is a test of its value - a test, it is true, which can only be slowly and cautiously applied, for we are none of us infallible judges of conformity. T.S. Eliot The purpose of a Christian education would not be merely to make men and women pious Christians: a system which aimed too rigidly at this end alone would become only obscurantist. A Christian education must primarily teach people to be able to think in Christian categories. T.S. Eliot Then it seemed as if men must proceed from light to light, in the light of the Word, Through the Passion and Sacrifice saved in spite of their negative being; Bestial as always before, carnal, self seeking as always before, selfish and purblind as ever before, Yet always struggling, always reaffirming, always resuming their march on the way that was lit by the light; Often halting, loitering, straying, delaying, returning, yet following no other way. T. S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot thoughts and quotes The poet's mind is in fact a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together. T.S. Eliot As things are, and as fundamentally they must always be, poetry is not a career, but a mug's game. No honest poet can ever feel quite sure of the permanent value of what he has written: he may have wasted his time and messed up his life for nothing. T.S. Eliot We do not quite say that the new is more valuable because it fits in; but its fitting in is a test of its value - a test, it is true, which can only be slowly and cautiously applied, for we are none of us infallible judges of conformity. T.S. Eliot The difference between being an elder statesman And posing successfully as an elder statesman Is practically negligible. T.S. Eliot No generation is interested in art in quite the same way as any other; each generation, like each individual, brings to the contemplation of art its own categories of appreciation, makes its own demands upon art, and has its own uses for art. T.S. Eliot We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors' victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph. T.S. Eliot A good half of the effort of understanding what the Indian philosophers were after - and their subtleties make most of the great European philosophers look like schoolboys. T.S. Eliot What a poem means is as much what it means to others as what it means to the author; and indeed, in the course of time a poet may become merely reader in respect to his own works, forgetting his original meaning. T.S. Eliot And would it have been worth it, after all, Would it have been worth while, After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets, After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor - And this, and so much more? - T.S. Eliot And we all go with them, into the silent funeral, Nobody's funeral, for there is no one to bury. I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you Which shall be the darkness of God. T.S. Eliot O Lord, deliver me from the man of excellent intention and impure heart: for the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. T.S. Eliot I take as metaphysical poetry that in which what is ordinarily apprehensible only by thought is brought within the grasp of feeling, or that in which what is ordinarily only felt is transformed into thought without ceasing to be feeling. T.S. Eliot We might remind ourselves that criticism is as inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it, for criticizing our own minds in their work of criticism. T.S. Eliot Blown hair is sweet, brown hair over the mouth blown, Lilac and brown hair; Distraction, music of the flute, stops and steps of the mind over the third stair, Fading, fading; strength beyond hope and despair Climbing the third stair. T.S. Eliot I must tell you that I should really like to think there's something wrong with me- Because, if there isn't, then there's something wrong with the world itself-and that's much more frightening! That would be terrible. So I'd rather believe there is something wrong with me, that could be put right. T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot quotes and thoughts At the violet hour, when the eyes and back Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits Like a taxi throbbing waiting, I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives. T.S. Eliot But the Church cannot be, in any political sense, either conservative or liberal, or revolutionary. Conservatism is too often conservation of the wrong things: liberalism a relaxation of discipline; revolution a denial of the permanent things. T.S. Eliot What happens is a continual surrender of himself as he is at the moment to something which is more valuable. The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality. T.S. Eliot Composing on the typewriter, I find that I am sloughing off all my long sentences which I used to dote upon. Short, staccato, like modern French prose. The typewriter makes for lucidity, but I am not sure that it encourages subtlety. T.S. Eliot What is this self-inside us, this silent observer, severe and speechless critic, who can terrorize us, and urge us onto futile activity, and in the end, judge us still more severely for the errors into which his own reproaches drove us? T.S. Eliot If time and space, as sages say, Are things which cannot be, The sun which does not feel decay No greater is than we. So why, Love, should we ever pray To live a century? The butterfly that lives a day Has lived eternity. T.S. Eliot When we read of human beings behaving in certain ways, with the approval of the author, who gives his benediction to this behavior by his attitude towards the result of the behavior arranged by himself, we can be influenced towards behaving in the same way. T.S. Eliot We might remind ourselves that criticism is as inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it, for criticizing our own minds in their work of criticism. T.S. Eliot History may be servitude. History may be freedom. See, now they vanish. The faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them, to become renewed, transfigured, in another pattern. T.S. Eliot Moving between the legs of tables and of chairs, rising or falling, grasping at kisses and toys, advancing boldly, sudden to take alarm, retreating to the corner of arm and knee, eager to be reassured, taking pleasure in the fragrant brilliance of the Christmas tree. Read the full article