#Simon Neal

[mozart2006]

Oper Frankfurt - Lulu (recensione in italiano)

Foto ©Barbara Aumüller Per i lettori che hanno difficoltà con la lingua tedesca, ecco la mia recensione tradotta in italiano

[earthjrnl]

"My love is too delicate to have thrown back on my face" - Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf.

[brw]

simon, why is your agent calling you babe. simon. simon is there anything you want to share with the class.

MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS VOL 1 #119

[lovetgr76]

Be Now, a short film (2015) starring Saskia Reeves as Helen.

[pleas3pretendimnothere]

Read a strange variety of books this month... Let's talk about them!

THE LOST ART

By Simon Morden - Sometimes, it's fun to go to bookstores and take a risk on a book you've never heard of. You read the descriptor, you don't look up any reviews, and you hand over a couple bucks to the cashier. This can lead to finding hidden gems or harmless time-wasters. So what's the verdict on Morden's Art?

Well, this book was very strange. The first half was interesting, albeit slow, the world confusing but grounded. The characters had intrigue, and the plot was weird enough to keep my attention. However, lots of issues ended up ruining this read. Characters that are at first mysterious end up predictable archetypes. Interesting storylines go absolutely nowhere. A book about the future keeps you in the past. Female characters throw themselves at the lead, nothing is explained, and all of the sudden, the book is over.

Left me feeling unsatisfied and bored, which is the worst thing a book can be. Morden's following works are praised, but I see why Art isn't talked about. It's absolutely un-special, B-movie blandness. SKIP IT!

THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE

By C.S. Lewis - Somehow, I have never read the Narnia series. As a very young child, my mother gifted to me a boxed set of Lewis's masterpiece, and I only ever read The Lion. Despite losing interest, I've still never let go of my original copies, and over two decades later, I finally decided to tackle them!

Lewis's prose is phenomenal. For that alone, the series is worth reading. Nephew is the weaker of these first two books, essentially comprised of only a handful of scenes surrounding the mystical creationism of Narnia, but there is great charm in our two leads and their short adventure. The pacing suffers near the end, but the first half in the forest and witch's dead kingdom is magical. The Lion takes off fantastically; Narnia is now a fully realized world, and the danger feels wicked and tangible while never lacking in whimsy and imagination. This sequel is a delight. Both books are easy, quick reads that make for excellent bedtime stories (if you don't mind Lewis's unashamed religious inspirations). I look forward to continuing the rest of the series, but so far, I would suggest you RENT IT!

A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA

By Ursula Le Guin - I don't have much to say about Earthsea that hasn't already been said. Prose? Check. World? Check. Characters, story, stakes, pacing? Check, check, check, check. People call this book a masterpiece, and they are right.

You naturally fall in love with the main character. You love the magical world, and you fear its mystery. You want things to end happily, but they end how they should--the right way. It's satisfying, it's gut-wrenching, it's beautiful and it's fun. That's it. All I got to say! Fantasy thanks you, Le Guin!

All the best fantasy comes from before the 2000s, don't they? Romantasy and Sanderson have ruined the genre for me! I'm getting Earthsea's sequel, OBVIOUSLY. BUY IT!

SCYTHE

By Neal Shusterman - Another highly praised book I've had on my shelf for ages and ages. I don't even remember how I got this book, but I did, and it was time to read it. It's a weird one, but it's special.

The book is not without flaws. There's a weird aside where a character travels to another country that feels like a silly YA page-filler. The ending is campy and lackluster. Most notably, the two main characters are quite flat--this somehow both helps and hinders the story. They both feel cold and distant, which gives intrigue to their journey; however, they come across as calculating and unfeeling, so it feels natural when they develop schemes but unnatural when they develop feelings. Luckily, the romance takes a backseat, and overall, this is some sharp YA fiction.

My best comparison is to the Persona series--cool, weird, and genuinely interesting. I would totally recommend Scythe. It's bizarre and creepy, it's nonsensical and sometimes thought-provoking in its analyses of a world without death. I had many issues with the character work, but the plot and pacing is gripping, and I could not put this book down. It just left me feeling uneasy, and I will definitely be getting the sequels. RENT IT!

REDWALL

By Brian Jacques - I started reading a piece of modern fantasy, and I just could not tolerate the prose. It was so average, so normal, and coming off of Narnia, Earthsea, and then Redwall? It went back on the shelf unfinished. And I looked at Redwall, and I thought, "Damn, Jacques. Why can't they all be like you?"

This is a children's story, so Redwall suffers in the way children's stories do. The pacing is slow, the characters one-note, the story predictable. Nonetheless, this is how you write children's fiction! Despite slow pacing, episodic adventures help the story still feel fresh as it rolls along. Despite flat characters, they are adorable and loveable, and you root for Constance, you cry for Methuselah. Despite a predictable ending, Jacques shocks you with sudden betrayals, injuries, battles and violent deaths! Jacques is not messing around here!

Awesome literature, and something I'd recommend to all elementary school kids who read ahead of their level and adults like me who didn't love fantasy until they were "too old" for Redwall. This is a classic in the genre, no doubt, and anyone who cares about fantasy needs to have a copy of this on their shelf! BUY IT!

[makeminebronze]

2024 brings us 60 years of the Scarlet Witch!

[oh2e]

I love reading stories about people where it’s “of course I chose you there’s no way it wouldn’t be you”. People who are ride or die for each other. “It’s rotten work but for you I would do it every day.” People who come as sets. You get one, you get the other(s). Not necessarily romantic or platonic, just plain old devotion to each other.

[hotcomicstv]

Batman Black and White explained 

[prehistoric-superheroes]

Happy World Frankenstein Day!

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

Mojo can't use the name Wonder Man cause it has been licensed off to Marvel Comics... so he just gender-bends him into a female by the name of Wonder Wo... ah ah ah! can't use that either....

[forensicated]

Admittedly it's taken binge watching to bring it to the fore but it never fails to amuse me just how ship!driven Gina is and how she enjoys participating in the gossip of people falling in love/flirting/getting together.

She is a complete cliché of a trope, God love her! The woman who can't deal with her own feelings/relationships/let most people close to her and who broke up with Adam ONLY because she knew he wanted to have children and she was infertile is also the same woman who loves other people falling in love and can - depending who it is - be the adult version of the kid shoving two dolls at each other shouting "NOW KISS!" She's also the mother of her entire relief of overgrown children police officers.

Early PM Gina is currently shipping Tiny Ears Luke and Kerry whilst simultaneously shipping Craig and Luke. She just doesn't know that her Pet Sgt's mystery man is Luke yet. She only knows that he has BIIIIG FEEEEELLLLIIINNNNGZ for someone (and he's driving her mad that he won't tell her who it is!) and she lights up like this....

... each time she gets some more information out of Craig, especially when she finds out they've kissed. She makes sure to ask him how his love life is and if there's any updates on his Mystery Man almost every single time they chat and tells him to essentially just grab him and go for it! (Later she'll also be the one who finds Craig and Luke in bed together on the morning of Luke and Kerry's wedding and has to run around trying to keep a lid on it as well as deal with the situation and bash Craig about the head for it).

(though how the woman who sees all and knows all has not realised what's going on right under her nose I really don't know!)

She's often teasing - or admonishing Smithy for his bad choices* around women over the years, especially when it's Kerry who to Gina at least has treated Smithy very badly over the last few weeks of her life - including unofficially accusing him of rape and then refusing to decide whether or not she's making it official and almost getting him murdered by Irene and her sons (though she doesn't know that bit which always wrangled with me! Especially as Irene went on to kidnap Gina herself!)

*Let's face it, the only women he's kissed on-screen who haven't gone on to die in a v horrible way (that we know of!) are Cherry from Bad Habits, the irritating shop assistant in A Night To Forget/A Day To Remember and Stevie! (Potentially the nurse in Zero Tolerance but I don't think that went anywhere - at least not onscreen). Ah and not forgetting (sadly!) Kezia.

In the 400's, Rod has just asked June out for a date and Gina is behind the front desk, veeeeeeerrrrry slowly but obviously stepping forward to listen in whilst pretending she isn't and then teases June about it.

She's still teasing her about it like 10 eps on:

And again the episode after that one!

"From Rod is it? Just a friend is it?" "Yeah!" "Yeah yeah!"

If only she'd actually opened up to Jonathan when she'd gone to do so to tell him that she was ready to commit - but then didn't because he was leaving Sun Hill (and only leaving because she wouldn't commit!)😢

[mozart2006]

Oper Frankfurt - Lulu

Foto ©Barbara Aumüller Die Oper Frankfurt wurde zum achten Mal mit dem Titel Opernhaus des Jahres ausgezeichnet, der jährlich von der Zeitschrift “Opernwelt” verliehen wird Continue reading Oper Frankfurt – Lulu

[head-vampire]

CyberRad Deathwatch 2000 (1993) Issue #1 Page 16 Linework

Art by Neal Adams

Source

[brw]

Do you have any thoughts on Simon’s manager, Neal?

I think he's interesting as the kind of person Simon ends up spending time with / representing him. He's generally depicted as an absolute scumbag who continuously sells out Simon to make money out of him without any regard for his consent, wellbeing or happiness, and Simon is someone who doesn't really have the best sense of self-worth and you do see that with how long he stayed with that man. I mean, from 1991 to 2007 he is Simon's agent until he's murdered! Even when Simon lays down what he isn't interested in doing, boundaries, ethics etc, Neal continuously pushes on them and tries to force him in another direction. I think there is something interesting there about the intersection of how toxic an environment Hollywood is and how toxic an environment Simon grew up in but those lines were not really drawn while this character was alive. I'm interested to see how much of the original Neal characterisation will show up in the MCU show, because while it was always played for comedy that he sucked so bad I also don't know if they'd want such a scumbag representing the idea of agents in L.A.

[wilsons-hotlittleprettyboymouth]

If you’re into fun & poignant YA lit I’d recommend reading Unwind by Neal Shusterman. I read a lot of melodramatic YA lit but this particular story about the unwanted in society (largely convicts and children without parents) being sent to a camp where they’re taken apart to be separated into parts for transplant was probably one of the best ones I read. I even owned a copy so you know it’s serious. He made a sequel years later but I didn’t finish it because the adhd was truly flourishing by then, but from what I did read it was actually pretty good.