#also with every episode that releases i look at tessa and want to put my head through drywall

[phoet]

soul operator ep 5

I LOVE BEING RIGHT

okay so this episode confirmed the theory i've held since episode one.

Tessa is actually being “operated” in a sense of the world. Since the podcast is based on solo ttrpgs, it stood to reason that Tessa is the character being played, and she is put through the world by someone. the Operator of her Soul, so to speak.

AND WE PRETTY MUCH HAVE CONFIRMATION OF THAT SO. YOU KNOW.

[wingtrap]

Season Two, Episode One

In My Time of Dying

2:16 Sam would have shot the demon had he tried to hurt them. He showed in the finale of the last season that he would put family before hunting the demon. This small bit just reiterates that.

3:03 The paramedic says that Dean’s BP is 180/60 - which would indicate a brain hemorrhage. I’m not qualified to the level of a paramedic, but usually internal bleeding means a low BP. The exception the brain where the BP goes up. I think the heart rate is for John, but 95 is normal, on the high side, but considering the situation.

3:08 And someone should really be holding the head. Cervical collars just serve as a reminder not the move the head. And tell Sam that his brother and father are alive - you want him to calm down and not saying anything makes the answer feel like it’s a no.

3:27 The music of this scene makes it seem a little out of it. We learn that Dean is more of a spirit - I don’t think he’s a true spirit yet. There’s also some odd shots - like at 3:52 when we’re looking up the stairs. It’s an odd angle.

4:05 The camera also feels floaty. I think to add a feeling of not quite with it, if that makes sense.

6:29 Presumably they’ve already discussed surgery or Dean’s had it. Again, not an expert, but I think they can release pressure - cerebral edema is swelling in the brain caused by a trapped fluid (thanks google). It’s possibly a question of cost, or the injury is severe enough that it’s too risky?

11:11 You haven’t called a soul for help - Dean. So in the nicest possible reading, John gets that there’s nothing they can do and doesn’t want to draw the process out. But you can see how much this hurts Dean and would Sam as well. Because John isn’t even trying here. His focus is still on the demon.

11:25 I’ve given everything I ever had - Dean. Dean really has given up everything - friends, relationships, interests that didn’t relate to hunting. One thing that this season starts to do is to explore who Dean is without John and for Dean to define himself. There isn’t a final conversation between John and Dean. In fact, John and Dean don’t talk one on one at all. Unless you count a couple of phone calls where it’s obvious from Dean just answering ‘yes sir’ that it’s orders. This is essentially their one on one conversation, and John’s actions are speaking for him.

12:35 That would have to be a pretty horrid position to be in for Dean. He’s right there, with people who could help metres away, but he can’t save her. That’s just out of reach.

19:04 It’s just fate - Tessa. That’s crap. You always have a choice - Dean. We’ve already seen that Dean doesn’t believe in a god, but this articulates that he also doesn’t believe in fate. It’s a position of wanting to fight despite the odds.

19:57 Again, someone that Dean can’t save. On one hand, they can fight against fate, but they also won’t win every time. Dean can’t place their deaths in his hands.

31:49 You’re about to become one. The same thing you hunt - Tessa. We see this also play out with Gordon later in the season, and with Sam having demon blood. The line between hunter and monster; good and bad. It’s a line that becomes increasingly blurred through the seasons.

32:43 The way Azazel brings up Sam, that offhand way. And the way John drops his gaze when Sam comes up. Sam’s still the focus here.

36:27 Can we not fight? You know, half the time, I don’t know what we’re fighting about - John. I particularly dislike this line from John. It’s him shifting the blame to Sam and shifting the focus of the conversation. John knows perfectly well what Sam has a problem with - the fact that John is lying and is still preoccupied with hunting the demon. John is having a last conversation with his two sons, but it isn’t a satisfactory apology for either of them.

36:45 Dad? Are you alright? - Sam. John giving them an apology and admitting that he’s made mistakes is what tips Sam off that something is wrong.

39:08 I want you to watch out for Sammy, okay? - John. I think John did mean what he said, but this is the important part. The why, and the reason John’s willing to sacrifice himself here. Dean needs to be there to look out for Sam, and John can’t do that.

39:32 John’s last order is to look out for Sam, but that’s always been about protecting Sam and keeping him safe. With this last message to Dean, that we don’t hear, it’s very much complicated. What John said and what Azazel wants with Sam become major problems in the season. So now Dean knows and this becomes about him dealing with that knowledge along with the need to protect Sam.

[aion-rsa]

How Roger Corman Finally Restored His Uncensored Vision for The Masque of the Red Death

https://ift.tt/3cl3Pwr

The Masque of the Red Death, Roger Corman’s masterful 1964 adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, has been fully restored and can now be seen in all its diabolical splendor. The seventh of eight “Poe Cycle” films Corman made in the 1960s, Masque is arguably the best. Before its release, Poe had already delivered Corman from the low budget black and white films he shot in 10 days in the 1950s to the relative luxury of three-week shoots and psychedelic underworlds. 

The new DVD/Blu-Ray is the first fully uncut, extended version of the film to be available. Besides restoring cinematographer Nicolas Roeg’s sumptuous camerawork, we get extra scenes which were cut by censors. The package also includes a 20-page booklet with a new essay from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ film preservationist Tessa Idlewine.

The original “The Masque of the Red Death” short story was published in 1842, and it is only 15 paragraphs long, shorter than a Cracked article. To fill out the horror feature, screenwriters Charles Beaumont, who wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone as well as The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, and science fiction author R. Wright Campbell incorporated Poe’s short story “Hop Frog” as a subplot, and added elements of the short story “Torture by Hope” by Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam.

While Corman’s The Masque of the Red Death has discovered new life as a comforting modern parable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was released in 1964, many took the film to be a comment on the nuclear nightmares of the Cold War era. It did open the same year as Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. And atomic bomb fallout resulted in its own “Red Death,” leading to an entire generation to be assured the living would envy the dead. The film was filmed during the Profumo Scandal of 1963, and British tabloids were filled with stories of “Man In The Mask Parties” in Hyde Park Gate.

“I have Tasted the Beauties of Terror”

As an Anglo-American horror movie, The Masque of the Red Death continues European genre progressions set by the Italian Gothic film, Beatrice Cenci, directed by Riccardo Freda in 1956, and Mario Bava’s 1963 film La frusta e il corpo (The Whip and the Body). Corman’s influences went beyond genre, however, incorporating the post-apocalyptic imagery of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. In Masque, Death’s messengers report survival rates to their Master, who calculates only “a dwarf jester and five other people remain alive in the world.”

In an interview about the film’s restoration with Den of Geek, Corman admits he “should watch more genre films to keep up with it. But I’m more inclined towards somewhat more serious films, and particularly foreign films.”

The Masque of the Red Death also appears to owe a great debt to American experimental independent filmmaker Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of The Pleasure Dome (1954), and recalls Michael Curtiz’s 1933 horror film, Mystery of the Wax Museum, which was shot in the pink-and-green two-color Technicolor process.

After years of black and white exploitation pictures for American International Pictures (AIP), Corman’s Poe cycle began his move to color, and the exciting new challenges of shooting beyond monochrome. The adaptation of The Masque of the Red Death set a new level of excellence in Corman’s use of set dressing, lighting, and costume design. They are given a fuller palette.

Says Corman, “I always thought that Poe represented the unconscious mind, and I shot according to that. It was one of my themes.”

In Poe’s story, the pride of Prince Prospero’s palace is seven rooms. Each is decorated and illuminated in a specific color: blue, purple, green, orange, white, and violet. The last room is black and bathed in light which shines a deep color of blood. All of the furniture is black, including a clock, which chimes each hour. At the chime of the clock, the revelers at the masquerade freeze. The musicians stop playing. The dancers strike a pose, and all conversations stop. Revelry resumes when the chiming stops. The rooms represent the human mind, the blood and time infuses corporeality. Corman’s direction manages to let that seep into every frame. The tone is both mischievous and chilling.  

The Masque of the Red Death is atmospheric. The dialogue is more important than the action, but the settings and framing are paramount. “I felt the unconscious mind doesn’t really see the world,” Corman explains. “The conscious mind sees the world with eyes, ears, and so forth, and simply transmits information. So, I made a point on all of the Poe films of never going outside unless I absolutely had to. I wanted to have full control, to shoot within the studio. Whether it came through to the audience, I don’t know. But at least in my own mind, I was able to deal with special effects with a number of things, with the concept of the unconscious mind.”

The cinematography was done by Nicholas Roeg. While Corman hadn’t yet become acquainted with Mario Bava, Roeg’s camera allows the Italian horror director’s psychedelic influence to surge through the camera. The Masque of the Red Death “was the first I had done in England,” Corman tells us. “And they showed me a work of a number of English cameramen, and I thought Nic was the best of the group. And the collaboration went very well. I thought he did really, a brilliant job [with the] camera work.”

Roeg would go on to direct classic independent cinema with films like Don’t Look Now, Performance starring Mick Jagger, and the David Bowie cinematic encapsulation, The Man Who Fell to Earth. “I never knew, did I inspire him to be a director, or did he feel ‘if Roger can do it, anybody can do it?’” Corman wonders.

While Corman had a bigger budget and more time to make the film, cost- and labor-cutting alternatives occasionally provided fortunate outcomes. “Danny Heller, my art director, and I, always went to what was called a scene dock in studios where we’re going to work,” Corman says. “The scene dock contained flats from previous pictures, just individual flats. When we did Masque of the Red Death, we found these magnificent flats from Becket.”

The Price of Evil

Vincent Price has the most delicious delivery in this film. His devil worshipping Prince Prospero is the cruel sovereign of a village plagued with an all-consuming Red Death, and Price’s inflections are infectious. His voice is seductive, and his cruelty brims with good humor.

“He had the character pretty much set in mind when he came into it,” Corman remembers. “Vincent always did a great deal of preparation. We would discuss the characters, just Vincent and me, before the rehearsals. He and I were in agreement on the character, and then he would bring that character to the rehearsals. We did not do a great deal of rehearsing because of the Screen Actors Guild rules. They charge you as if you are shooting when you rehearse.”

Price played Roderick Usher in Corman’s first Poe adaptation, The Fall of the House of Usher. For The Masque of The Red Death, the director only gave one note. “As I remember, I said, ‘The really key to Prospero’s character is that he believes God is dead,’” Corman says. “And everything stems from that belief. That with the absence of God, he was free to do anything he wanted.” 

Ultimate power breeds ultimate corruption. The film is set in a country decimated by an epidemic. While the prince of this unnamed land offers refuge for his courtiers, he derives perverse satisfaction in condemning his subjects to death by their exclusion. While Prospero is making his annual deign-to-see-the-peasants day, one of the townspeople dies of Red Death. 

The prince intended to offer peasants some crumbs in appreciation of their labor, but young Gino (David Weston) mocks him. To make matters worse, the ungrateful worker’s lover Francesca (Jane Asher) defends the man, prompting Prospero to label both of them insurrectionists. He burns the village to the ground, throws Gino and Francesca’s father into one of the most foreboding castle dungeons in horror history, and puts Francesca up at his palace. Tempted by the idealism and faith of the village’s “resistance,” Prospero corrupts and sacrifices for sheer joy.  

Read more

Movies

The Masque of the Red Death: Roger Corman Talks Pandemics and Restoration

By Tony Sokol

Culture

When Paul McCartney Braved the Set of Roger Corman’s The Masque of the Red Death

By Tony Sokol

Meanwhile the prince promises his aristocratic guests that they will be immune to the scourge, unless they displease him. He throws a masked ball and forbids anyone to wear red, as it would be in bad taste. He is actually preparing a mass sacrifice in exchange for Satan’s favor. Asher’s Francesca is an incorruptible innocent who seems to have perfect faith. The Satanic prince will not tolerate any Christian worship on his estate, so he delights in tempting the faithful into the “velvet darkness” of evil. Prospero hopes to turn her into a Satanist or drive her mad.

For the Uninvited, There is Much to Fear

The film was hit with heavy censorship. In the U.S, the Catholic Legion of Decency sent a list of changes, and in the UK, the British Board of Film Censors required a separate set of cuts. The Legion of Decency bemoaned the “Satanism and erotic costuming” on the screen, according to the booklet which comes with the DVD/Blu-Ray package. Father Sal Miraliotta, a separate reviewer from the Legion of Decency, first approved the film and then changed his grade to a B, which meant morally objectionable. He ultimately downgraded it to a full Condemned rating, blasting the Satanic worship and its malignancy of the soul, and mocking the screenwriters’ “strung-together gibberish” and “mumbo-jumbo Latin.”

Hazel Court’s Juliana is captivating and as conniving as Prince Prospero. She’s also more subtly insidious. Juliana dedicates herself to the service of Satan and receives the ultimate payoff. While most of Juliana’s satanic invocation was left in, censors wanted the word “Alleluia” removed. The U.S. version also censored the film’s climax. When the Man in Red is talking with Prince Prospero, the dialogue was changed from “Each man creates his own God for himself. His own Heaven – his own Hell” to “Each man creates his own Heaven – his own Hell.” This takes out the idea that God could be created by man, something Ian Anderson would explore on Jethro Tull’s classic 1971 album, Aqualung.  

When asked whether all this divine intervention made Corman think he just might be going to hell, he says, “No, that never occurred to me. I’m sort of a lapsed Catholic, and I don’t believe there is a hell.”

Some of the cuts had nothing to do with blasphemous ideology. The tiny dancer Esmeralda is played on camera by young actor Verina Greenlaw, but her dialogue was dubbed over by an adult woman. Skip Martin’s clever Hop Toad character plots vengeance over her royal mistreatment at the hands of Alfredo, campily played by veteran actor Patrick Magee. One unsettling scene was removed from the U.S. version because it seemed Esmerelda’s relationship with Hop Toad was more than friendship.

Corman also cut nine frames from the scene where Francesca is stripped down and thrown into a bathtub because it gave the illusion of nudity. The removed frames ensured Asher’s breasts would not appear on screen.

“I’ve Already Had That Doubtful Pleasure“

The irony, upon seeing the restored scenes, is how they actually feed into the surprisingly righteous conclusion of the film. The Masque of the Red Death is rife with blasted, unholy incantations, but the prince’s callous sacrifices and lifelong debauchery mean nothing to a master who answers to no one. Talk about moral relativity! The hero of The Masque of Red Death is Death, and Death worships no gods and no devils. The depths of Prospero’s belief turn out to be mere demonic delusions.

Corman shot the low-budget Poe pictures through bulky Mitchell cameras on 35mm film and the restoration breathes a new life to each underfunded frame. Composer David Lee’s soundtrack of tambourines, fifes, and brass evokes the medieval period, as do the elegant costumes by Laura Nightingale. The restoration highlights the lushness of both, as they mix to underscore the “velvet darkness” with subliminal subtext of renewal and hope. At the same time, the restored cut actually makes the darkness darker.

The Masque of Red Death ends with the words “Sic transit gloria mundi,” Latin for “thus goes the glory of the world.” Corman’s take on Poe’s apocalyptic parable is a truly inglorious achievement. The film is proof that no budgetary restrictions hold back artistic vision when lunatics get the run of the asylum. They can create and destroy a whole crazy world.

The Masque of the Red Death is available on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital now.

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The post How Roger Corman Finally Restored His Uncensored Vision for The Masque of the Red Death appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3t5uvHA

[useyourrwords]

2019 Ahead // It’s Twentybiteen, You Ready?

I’m back! Again!

Your fave chaotic disaster queer took time off once again to get her shit together! Did I???? Kinda???

I’m glad I took the time off, I needed that time and space to sort out and find balance in my life and did I???? Kinda???

So now I’m back! There are going to be a few changes! But I’ll go through that a little later in this post.

2018 was fucking hard man. It was maybe the worst year of my life so far which is not an easy feat, let me tell you!

I’m glad it’s over, I’m thankful for the lessons it gave me but more than anything I’m grateful for the foundation in providing for the next chapter of my life.

2019 so far has been just getting through the delayed effects of the last part of 2018 honestly. But I’m hopeful it’ll only get better from here.

         TBR

So what are the books I plan to read this year?? Honestly too many but here are the books I definitely want to get to in 2019.

I was going to talk about my anticipated releases BUT literally, everyone has done that so it’s not like I’d be sharing new information with anyone. No shade! Y’all those lists are amazing and I love them because I am always behind on what is coming out. Those posts just aren’t for me personally to write. But mostly it’s because this year I am focusing on books I actually own and neglected all of last year while I was busy having a love affair with my library.

│The Raven Cycle│Maggie Stiefvater│

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│

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I read the first book in 2017 and then my mum bought me the whole series for my birthday in 2018 and do you think I’ve read them yet??? Of course not! So I want to this year for sure!

│Shadow and Bone Series│Leigh Bardugo│

│

I loved the Six of Crows duology and now that the Grishaverse is getting a Netflix series I have to read the first series! Undoubtedly I will probably reread the Six of Crows duology after.

│The Conqueror’s Saga│Kiersten White│

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│

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I loved the first book in this series and I’ve bought the other two books as soon as they came out but did I read them??? No.

│Montague Siblings│Mackenzi Lee│

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│

│

I really enjoyed the first book in this series even though I was in a major reading slump and it heavily dampened my experience but I still enjoyed it so I’m looking to rereading it and then following it with the last book!

│Villains│VE Schwab│

│

│

│

I loved the first book and I can’t wait for the second one to come out. I ordered it in December but I entered my address wrong so I ended up going to my neighbour’s house to ask if they had it and they did!!!! Thank god for that!

I think I’ll wait to read them until I can get the paperbacks though since I like to annotate but not in my special editions.

│The Dark Artifices│Cassandra Clare│

│

│

│

I loved the first book so much and I meant to read Lord of Shadows asap but then didn’t??? Now I’m just waiting for the last book to come out in the small paperback so I can read the series start to finish.

│Harry Potter Series│JK Rowling│

│

│

│ I’m not putting LGBT rep because it’s not actually in the book and JK’s intentions don’t seem genuine to me.

The first time I read this series was 2011. And I didn’t finish it. So I’m gonna try again and watch the movies as I go to compare as well! And every time JK does some dumbass shit I am thankful I bought my copies secondhand.

│Sharp Objects│Gillian Flynn│

│

│

I fucking loved the TV series, it was so intense! I’m looking forward to reading the book!

│Sadie│Courtney Summers│

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I’ve heard such good things and I need to read it but there’s a huge wait at the library and they do not have enough copies across the state library network so I might just end up buying it??

│Sawkill Girls│Claire Legrand│

│

│

I’m planning on reading this one this month if I can get a hold of it from the library!

│The Hate U Give│Angie Thomas│

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I neeeeeed to read this one pronto!!!!

│Rejected Princesses│Jason Porath│

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│Bygone badass Broads│Mackenzi Lee│

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│

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So I decided on my new Structured TBR each month (More info in my Month Ahead post!) I’m going to read a certain amount of entries in these each month over the year.

│Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda│Creekwood Series│Becky Albertelli│

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│

I need to read the book for my fave romcom guys, I just have to.

│Children of Blood & Bone│Legacy of Orïsha #1│Tomi Adeyemi│

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I literally bought this the day it came out and so, of course, I haven’t read it yet.

│City of Ghosts│Cassidy Blake #1│Victoria Schwab│

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│

I have to read it, it’s a Schwab book. But I am pumped for it!!!

│Percy Jackson and the Olympians│Rick Riordan│

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│

A childhood classic I never fucking read as a child. Also, I now own almost all or Riordan’s books because they were super cheap secondhand and so I have to read them.

Past Grey Reads

 Book Review // Girl Made of Stars – I Am Broken

 Book Review // Everything Leads To You – A Quite Love Story

 Book Review // The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – What Do You Mean She’s Not a Real Person???

        TBW

Basically here’s a bunch of movies and seasons released this year that I want to watch!

│The Hate U Give│

│Jan 31│

George Tillman Jr.│

Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby│

Australia sucks so this only just came out here but I am ready.

│On The Basis of Sex│

│Feb 7│

Mimi Leder│

Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux│

Looks like a good feminist film!

│Captain Marvel│

│Mar 7│

Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck│

Brie Larson, Gemma Chan, Samuel L. Jackson│

What is this??? The first solo Marvel film for a female Avenger??? I have been waiting!

│Avengers: Endgame│

│Apr 24│

Anthony Russo, Joe Russo│

Brie Larson, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan│

I am not ready. Not even a little bit. I’m just glad it’s confirmed that our lil spidey survives somehow.

│Detective Pikachu│

│May 9│

 Rob Letterman│

Suki Waterhouse, Ryan Reynolds, Kathryn Newton│

When I first saw the trailer I legit thought it was a very cleverly put together fan trailer and died when I realised it was real.

│Aladdin│

│May 23│

Guy Ritchie│

Will Smith, Billy Magnussen, Naomi Scott│

I am so excited, it’s gonna be so magical!

│Rocketman│

│May 30│

Dexter Fletcher│

Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, Taron Egerton│

I never knew I needed it but then I heard of it and then I watched the trailer and now I’m already a fan.

│Men in Black: International│

│Jun 13│

F. Gary Gray│

Rebecca Ferguson, Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson│

This movie is for the bisexuals.

│Spider-Man: Far From Home│

│Jul 4│

Jon Watts│

Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, Cobie Smulders│

Okay blogging secret, when it comes to the directors, creators and stars of this segment I always just copy and paste from IMDB because I’m lazy and can we just appreciate the fact that Tom Holland—the literal star of the movie, the person who plays the main character—isn’t even listed at the top as part of the top stars.

Also, I’m very excited to watch this. Tom and Zendaya are my children and they must be protected at all costs.

│It: Chapter 2│

│Sep 5│

Andy Muschietti│

James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Skarsgård│

I’m ready for adult loser club thanks.

│Star Wars: Episode IX│

│Dec 19│

J.J. Abrams│

Keri Russell, Adam Driver, Richard E. Grant│

I’m always happy with a new Star Wars film.

│To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 2│

│

Susan Johnson│

 Lana Condor, Noah Centineo│

YES YES YES YES YES.

│Brooklyn Nine-Nine│Season 6│

│Jan 10│

Daniel J. Goor, Michael Schur│

 Andre Braugher, Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz│

I’m so glad NBC saved this!!!!

│One Day At A Time│Season 3│

│Feb 8│

Gloria Calderon Kellett, Mike Royce│

Justina Machado, Todd Grinnell, Isabella Gomez│

This is probably mine and mum’s fave sitcom that makes us piss ourselves laughing but also makes us sob.

│Game of Thrones│Season 8│

│Apr 14│

David Benioff, D.B. Weiss│

Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington│

I won’t make it to the end of 2019, not because of depression

 but because I’m going to die while watching this, I know it.

│Stranger Things│Season 3│

│Jul 4│

Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer│

Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Winona Ryder│

I just want the gang together and happy.

│Mindhunter│Season 2│

│

Joe Penhall│

Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv│

I gotta watch it and live text my thoughts to my aunt who is hugely into true crime (so much so that she is studying criminology). Because I’m hilarious and also I know she’ll appreciate it and also I no longer have a best friend to do this shit with.

│Big little Lies│Season 2│

│

David E. Kelley│

 Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley│

Big Little Lies rocked my world and made me realise I actually like thrillers.

│RuPaul’s Drag Race UK│Season 1│

│

I’m just excited to see what a season would look like that isn’t hosted and judged by RuPaul.

Past Grey Watches

 Grey Watches // I Wanna Bone Jude Law and Kate Winslet – The Holiday

 Grey Watches // It Has To Be A Shit Show – A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

 Grey Watches // I Hate It So Much I Love It – A Christmas Prince

Yes I know I said I wouldn’t change the appearance of my blog while I was gone but we all know I’m a dirty liar.

Besides, it’s only some small tweaks here and there and I won’t be going back through my past posts to edit everything to match. A year of posts is too many. I promised myself and my mum I wouldn’t do it again.

This year I’m going to be posting less! Like half the amount I did last year.

Last year I eventually got to a schedule of four posts a week and this year I will be doing two.

I’m doing this for a couple of reasons.

I exercise and eat healthy now and it turns out those two things take up so much time.

I wanna start actually dedicating time to working on my new WIP and maybe have a draft by the end of the year????

I’m planning on doing more Grey Watches post this year, and my book review posts will now be called Grey Reads and I might try and do more discussion posts called Grey Speaks and maybe WIP writing updates in Grey Writes??? It’s all about that branding.

But who knows what I’ll do, honestly I don’t even know myself! I’m terrible with follow through but we’ll see!

My Ancient Archive posts will be moved to once every two months as well because those posts take ages and as much as I love them I just don’t have that kind of time. And they’ll also get a rename—Grey Learns

I was also going to start requesting physical ARCs from publishers but ahhhh turns out I don’t actually enjoy writing reviews??? And there’s always the risk that I’m not gonna like it and I’ll feel obligated to finish it and I don’t have time for that either so I’m not doing that, I’ll be requesting far, far less from Netgalley.

I’ll be posting book reviews roughly once or twice a month, instead of once a week. I’ll still be writing reviews for all the books I read but they’ll be a lot shorter and I’ll mostly just post them on my Goodreads.

If you notice I am reading a book you wanna see a review of over on here, let me know and I’ll be sure to post it!

Past Month In Review

 Month in Review // Christmas is Over Thank Fuck – December

 Month in Review // November – I Already Hate Christmas

 Month in Review // July, August, September & October – New Post Series!

Goals

 Get to a point where I walk 10000 steps a day.

On the reg, like every day for the most part. At the moment I just have my step goal as 8000 a day because small steps literally.

But I hit my first 10000 steps on the 16th of last month so that was very exciting for me especially since it was on the day I don’t go for a walk and proved why that is my day off because it’s my shopping day so I’m clearly walking plenty, to begin with!

 Find a way to be more financially stable somehow.

Whether that be by a full-time job or maybe work out a way to get paid for doing what I love??

I don’t know. I’m trying to be more open to different paths to get to a place I want to be.

Also, it seems like I may be forced into this sooner rather than later thanks to things out of my control so that’s exciting but also terrifying because ANXIETY.

 Finish a draft for my WIP.

Have I started writing it yet? Absolutely not but I’m gonna try!

And I’m very excited about the concept. Think queer banshees and witches and strong women and girls supporting each other. That’s the plan.

 Read 50 books.

I read 100 last year and 130 the year before that but with focusing on writing and my health I feel that trying to keep reading that many books is just going to stress me out so I’m not doing it!

Also, I’m already struggling to get through a book a week right now and I need to if I have any hope of just reading 50.

 Legally change my name FINALLY!

And guess what guys that one is very close to being complete!

I’ve submitted to the paperwork and now it’s just the waiting for it to get approved and then I can pick up my new birth certificate!

I’ve been waiting for this moment for years so I’m very excited!

 Continue going to therapy.

I’m in a much better mental space than I was last year but I still need therapy. Especially since last year was basically just me venting about how fucked up my family is and this year is about me so I want to use my therapy to focus on my shit, get official diagnoses and maybe testing out medication???

Also find a better way to deal with my paranoia because guys, it’s been especially rough lately.

 Take regular mental health days

This is much needed!!!!!

And by mental health days I mean spend one whole day doing nothing but maybe watching Netflix and reading and crying if I need to.

My mum and I don’t really stop and so we get hit with emotions at really inconvenient times so I’m hoping that if we schedule a day where we can allow ourselves to be emotional then it might help?

I want to aim for once a month but we’ll see.

 Play more video games.

Because they’re fun and I like them and I keep telling myself I don’t have time because it’s not important but fuck important, sometimes you just gotta do shit because it’s fun and pointless.

Past Month Ahead

 Month Ahead // Happy Birthday To Me + Hiatus Announcement – January

 Month Ahead // December – I Already Hate It

 Month Ahead // November – New Post Series

2019 is all about growth and glow ups guys, I can feel it.

What are you doing this year? What are you reading? What are your goals?

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[twh-news]

When asked what fans can expect from the latest instalment of Thor, director Taika Waititi somewhat unhelpfully says it will be “Taika-esque”.

Asked if he could perhaps describe it in literally any other way, he laughs. “I can’t! There’s no way!”

As far as whetting the appetites of Marvel fanatics goes, it’s a little counterproductive. Thor: Ragnarok will be watched by many more people who are familiar with the franchise than those who know Waititi’s work – but this may be the film that makes the New Zealand director a household name.

The big-budget Thor is a far cry from the Flight of the Conchords, of which Waititi wrote and directed a few episodes, and from What We Do In The Shadows, the 2014 vampire mockumentary he made with Jemaine Clement. And it’s almost the antithesis of Hunt for the Wilderpeople: the family friendly little-Kiwi-film-that-could, which was a surprise hit at box offices around the world last year.

But while the types of projects may differ wildly, his treatment of them – the bit that makes them “Taika-esque” – doesn’t. Even Waititi’s government-funded anti-drug-driving campaign, Tinnyvision – made in collaboration with Snapchat in 2014 – has the same warm, sly humour of his features.

And yet, after 41 years’ experience of being “Taika-esque” himself, he still struggles to describe it.

“If someone asked, ‘What are your films like?’, the best I can come up with is that they’re, like, a fine balance between comedy and drama. And they deal mainly with the clumsiness of humanity.”

Well, that’s definitely true of Tinnyvision.

As evidenced by his decision to set Ragnarok outside the Marvel universe – a ballsy move, given the size of the fandom and budget in question – Waititi is one to do things his own way. And it’s paying off.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople reportedly made as much as US$23m worldwide (with takings of more than $8m in its home country) and spent some eight weeks in the top 10 at the Australian box office. It placed among the top 100 films of all time on Rotten Tomatoes, where it is 97% “certified fresh” from 171 reviews, and was the New York Times and LA Times’ critics’ pick, as well as Empire magazine’s film of the year.

“I knew it would play well with audiences, I just didn’t know if anybody would have any idea how to market it or sell it or get people in cinemas to see it ... It’s not like [New Zealand is] known for churning out really big blockbusters every year.”

At home, Waititi has gone from hit to bigger hit. His first feature film, the oddball romantic comedy Eagle vs Shark, was nominated for the grand jury prize at the Sundance film festival in 2007 – as was his second, Boy, in 2010.

He may not be quite as big a celebrity as his long-time collaborator Clement, with whom he won New Zealand’s top comedy award as the Humourbeasts in 1999, but he’s close. And when Hunt for the Wilderpeople became the highest-grossing local film at the New Zealand box office in May last year, it broke Boy’s record. (At the time, Waititi called it “the happiest and saddest day of my career”.)

In late February, Waititi was named the New Zealander of the year. I ask where the honour ranks in among nominations at the Academy Awards and Sundance and wins at festivals in Berlin, Edinburgh, Hawaii, Melbourne, Taipei, Toronto and Warsaw.

“It’s up there,” he answers. “There are a lot of nominations for things I never won and this is something I actually did win – it feels like I’ve followed through on this one.”

Waititi’s Academy Award nomination came in 2005 – before any of his feature films – for his 11-minute short Two Cars, One Night. He infamously pretended to be asleep during the ceremony.

That outsider’s mentality has persisted, despite the successes of the interim 12 years. The best picture fiasco of this year’s Academy Awards was “great”, he says. “I loved it. I thought it was hilarious ... They take this stuff so seriously, don’t they? It’s almost like launching a rocket into space.” Sam Neill: New Zealand cinema is 'like nothing else on the planet' Read more

Keeping a home far away from Hollywood has been grounding for Waititi; it’s hard to get caught up in all the glitz and self-importance from New Zealand, where he and his family are based. He has two daughters, aged four and one, and a stepson with his wife, the producer Chelsea Winstanley.

But another way to look at his geographical distance is as a buffer, or a safety net. You can always go home again – and why wouldn’t you, when you’re already a massive success there?

“Having had pretty much four successful films at home, I know there’s an audience for my work,” he says. “A lot of people are trying to get out of their home country and think ‘making it’ is if you’re able to work in another. For me ... I’d be quite content to keep doing my own little films down there for the rest of my filmmaking career.”

The New Zealand Film Commission will be glad to hear that, I say.

“That’s why I said it,” he replies.

That may all change, with Thor: Ragnarok set to be by far the biggest commercial success of his career to date. (Thor: The Dark World made $644m worldwide in November 2013.)

With Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum and Wilderpeople star Sam Neill joining Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, anticipation is high for the third instalment of the franchise – not least because Waititi, with his background in indie comedies, was such an unusual pick.

The day we speak, the first stills from the film have been released, with Blanchett, Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in character on the cover of Entertainment Weekly.

Social media is delighted with Goldblum’s turquoise eyeliner (“If the new Thor film is nothing but Goldblum sitting silently looking like this, then I will still see it six times,” says one tweeter) but mixed on Hemsworth’s short hair.

Waititi is unfazed: “Crazier things happen to Thor than new hair.”

His apparent lack of reverence for the Marvel universe – illustrated in part by the mockumentary-style teasers that have been released in the film’s lead-up – led Forbes to call Ragnarok the studio’s “wild card” for 2017; others have taken it as a vote of confidence in Waititi’s pitch.

“Why am I excited for Thor: Ragnarok?” wrote film critic Sarah Marrs. “Because Taika Waititi talked Marvel into overhauling an entire franchise, AND THEY LET HIM.”

Waititi says. “I’ve always felt that I wanted to make a Marvel film ... I just want to make sure I’m not making an episode.”

With the film due out in November, he will be based in Los Angeles until the end of the year. For the first time ever in his career, he has an office, he says. The challenge seems to be battling against his short attention span.

“With Thor, I’m trying not to do any other things. ... There’d be nothing worse than the film not being as good as I think it’s going to be because I didn’t spend enough time on it. I don’t want my focus pulled away, as it usually is.”

Still, he admits he’s starting to make plans for life after Ragnarok, considering which of four of his own scripts to tackle next – “something super-fast and a bit more carefree”. A werewolf spin-off of What We Do In The Shadows and the stop-motion animation Bubbles, about Michael Jackson’s pet chimp, are also on the cards.

Waititi likens his approach to filmmaking to a buffet. “I want to try every little every thing from either end. I don’t want to go straight to the chicken. I’ll put some grapes on the plate, a bit of gravy and mix it all up.”

But that analogy – the mixing of the grapes with the gravy – suggests an indiscriminate approach, when Waititi is picky about what projects he takes on – particularly when others’ ideas tend to interest him less than his own. Ragnarok was not the first big-budget Hollywood script he’d been sent, he says – it was simply the first he’d felt moved to take up.

Waiti wrote the first script of the Disney animation Moana before opting in 2012 to return to New Zealand to make What We Do In The Shadows. He’d just had a child. “I basically didn’t want to be living here, working in an office, writing someone else’s movie,” he says.

All that remains of his original script is “EXT: OCEAN – DAY”, he jokes. But the final product was “good”.

“I was relieved it was not insulting to Pacific cultures. That was a big worry for me. I was very nervous about it. You often ask yourself, ‘Oh my god, do I get involved with something like this?’”

Waititi is half-Māori himself and much of his work is steeped in New Zealand’s indigenous culture, celebrating that which makes it unique – particularly its humour – while not shying away from the challenges it faces. (His attention goes beyond simple representation: he said hiring Indigenous people to work on Thor was his “responsibility” as a filmmaker.)

Boy, set in a remote coastal village much like the one Waititi grew up in, revels in the comedy and joy to be found in the midst of poverty. He told NPR that part of its appeal was that it did not perpetuate stereotypes: “Indigenous people in films, it’s all like nose flutes and panpipes and, you know, people talking to ghosts ... which I hate.”

These considerations were front of mind when he was approach for Moana. “I thought, well, the best way of them not making something that’s insensitive or shallow was to involve people from that community, from the Pacific ... If there’s some way I could be at the table and help try and make this not a bad film, then I’ll try.”

His involvement ended with the first draft. “It wasn’t anything to do with the process, I just got b–”. He stops short of saying “bored” but not quite short enough. “Like I do all the time, I just ended up wanting to do my own thing again and make a vampire movie instead.”

Waititi’s script – focusing more on Moana’s family relationships – contributed an irreverent, “very Pacific humour” to the film, according to producer Osnat Shurer. Shurer also said it gave the filmmakers “permission to continue down that road, because he’s from that culture”.

Waititi thinks they could have taken it further. “I know the danger is they’ve got to be respectful but Pacific islanders and Polynesians have some of the least respectful humour on the planet,” he says, laughing.

“[But], as Americans making a film about another culture, and having been criticised in the past for their depictions of minorities, they have to be a bit safer.”

At least there’s a Polynesian Disney princess now, I offer? Waititi doesn’t sound convinced: “Yeah. I guess so. Yeah. I dunno. Haha! I dunno. Luckily, through the phone, you can’t see my face.”

Waititi is not good at censoring himself – or, at least, not fast enough. He often stops himself short as, I imagine, he pictures his words in print and what doors they might close for him. One he seems happy to shut himself is a future biopic, which he volunteers as “the worst type of movie”, committing the cardinal sin of being boring.

“They’re always subject to such scrutiny. Like ... ‘Oh, they really learned to play piano, they went around wearing blue suede shoes for the entire shoot’.

“I think, why is that interesting for an actor? Who cares?”

The way Waititi hates biopics, I note, is the way many people hate films like the Marvel movies: big blockbuster franchises built on sequels to sequels, held up as the antithesis of the small indie films he’s best known for back home. Is it possible for the two to coexist?

“So far they’re existing well for me,” he says. “I know that after this I’ll go back and do an independent film. Then I’ll hopefully come back and do another studio thing. I would kind of like to dwell between both worlds.”

[latestnews2018-blog]

There Were Zero Things Better This Week Than Tessa Thompson’s Earrings In ‘Sorry To Bother You’

New Post has been published on https://latestnews2018.com/there-were-zero-things-better-this-week-than-tessa-thompsons-earrings-in-sorry-to-bother-you/

There Were Zero Things Better This Week Than Tessa Thompson’s Earrings In ‘Sorry To Bother You’

Welcome to Good Shit, HuffPost’s weekly recommendation series devoted to the least bad things on and off the internet. 

When Lakeith Stanfield compliments Tessa Thompson’s earrings in “Sorry to Bother You,” the camera cuts close to the ornaments framing Thompson’s face.

In quirky block letters, one earring says “MURDER MURDER MURDER,” the other says “KILL KILL KILL.” They’re the first of many audacious pairs that Thompson, playing a fiery artist-activist, wears in Boots Riley’s fantastic new movie. Others display men in electric chairs, Bob Dylan and Prince lyrics, and the apt words “WILDLY ORIGINAL” ― all accentuated by Thompson’s electric-orange curls.

As rowdy as the earrings may be, they’re one of the more grounded oddities in this surreal odyssey about race, capitalism and loud manifestos. ― Matthew Jacobs

Romelu Lukaku, A God

Watch Lukaku’s run. Drags the defender inside to create space for Meunier and then dummies it brilliantly for Chadli. Brilliant work. pic.twitter.com/RKseQLdX7q

— Jake. (@YedIin) July 2, 2018

I want you to stop, for one moment, and watch the video of this run by Romelu Lukaku, Belgium’s star striker, in the dying moments of Belgium’s 3-2 win over Japan in the World Cup’s round of 16. (In the above GIF, he’s the guy in red who starts at the bottom left of the screen.)

Lukaku, like many black soccer players, is often stereotyped as a big, strong, physical athlete whose greatness is defined by those qualities. But while he is all of those things, he’s also smart as hell when it comes to his positioning and his ability to see how a play should unfold before it does ― and then make it unfold exactly that way. This run is proof: Watch how Lukaku drags the defender nearest him toward the middle of the field to create space for the first pass. Watch how he follows that by pulling another defender in the opposite direction to create space for the next pass. And then, watch how he dummies that pass, stepping over it so that it runs to an open Nacer Chadli ― who is only open because of Lukaku ― on the far post. It’s brilliant. It’s all beautifully, mind-numbingly brilliant.

Lukaku is Belgium’s leading scorer, but he’d spent the first 89 minutes of the match against Japan failing to find the back of the net over and over again. No one would have blamed him for trying to bury that shot ― it was the last minute, the match was tied, he’s their best player, he’s there to score goals. But he knew the right play was to take the defenders out of the play completely, to let the ball run to Chadli, to let the wide open guy nail home the win instead. Romelu Lukaku is God. Also: he’s fluent in at least seven languages. He is brilliant, and I love him. ― Travis Waldron

The Charming Netflix Rom-Com That Makes Up For That Adam Sandler Movie

Listen, Netflix, I’m never going to forget that you made “The Ridiculous 6” possible, nor should I. BUT. Today I’m feeling nothing but gratitude for the proliferation of streaming-content creators, and Netflix in particular. See, I love a good, old-fashioned, stomach-flipping romantic comedy, and in this superhero-crazed environment I rarely get one as fun and unabashedly sweet as “Set It Up.” I missed it when it came out last month, but now that I’ve seen the Claire Scanlon-directed confection, I plan to watch it daily at least. 

The premise: Harper (Zoey Deutch) and Charlie (Glen Powell), the beleaguered assistants to, respectively, a hotshot sports journalist (Lucy Liu) and a venture capitalist (Taye Diggs), decide to prod their bosses into dating each other in hopes that a fresh romance will prove a distraction from work. They manufacture a relationship between their bosses ― and accidentally start to fall for each other. The movie gleefully subverts numerous rom-com tropes, like the grand running-to-the-airport gesture, while maintaining the goofy-sweet heart of a true romantic comedy. 

The cast is peppered with brilliant comedic turns ― Tituss Burgess, Meredith Hagner, Pete Davidson ― and the leads are a delight. Deutch is so winsome, I literally wished I could wear her as a skin suit, and Powell looks at her in that heart-melting way that every rom-com hero must do to win my heart. It was a bit disappointing to see the actors of color pushed, as usual, into supporting roles (of course in a rom-com about the oft-ignored assistants, it’s the assistants who are white). Here’s hoping the rumors that Lucy Liu’s character may get a sequel come true. ― Claire Fallon

This NYC Teen’s Valedictorian Speech

@StuyvesantHigh valedictorian: Find a way to diversify my school. #SHSAT #StuyAlum #MatteoWong https://t.co/g1pjCIyBxm

— Stuyvesant High (@StuyvesantHigh) June 28, 2018

The best writing I read this week came courtesy of a teenager. His name is Matteo Wong, and he is the most recent valedictorian at Stuyvesant High School, an elite New York City public high school that finds itself enmeshed in a larger battle over how (or how not) to combat racial inequality in the city.

The simple question of which students should go to which schools is an intensely emotional one for many parents, especially white ones, who have been known to yell when people propose that schools should reflect the demographic makeup of the city that surrounds them. It is widely considered an incredibly complex question as well. But that’s what makes Wong’s valedictory speech ― a version of which was published in Crain’s New York Business ― so fantastic. His writing is clear and measured, uplifting while also based on the facts.

“The problem: New York City’s best public high school is less than 4 percent black or Hispanic, demographics which compose nearly 70 percent of the city’s school-age population,” he writes. “This debate revolves around two truths. One: These statistics are unacceptable. To accept them is to buy into a racist myth of black and Hispanic inferiority that has very real, physical and psychological repercussions. To accept these demographics is to make Stuyvesant a toxic environment for black and Hispanic students. The way forward is unclear, but the status quo is broken.”

The 850-word speech, which I suggest you read in full, just gets better from there. If only adults could speak with the same level of candor. ― Maxwell Strachan 

An Incredibly Boring (And Great!) Reality TV Show

I’ve been told to watch “Terrace House,” an unassuming Japanese reality television show in which three young men and three young women live in a house together, for years, and this week the Netflix algorithm gods blessed me by finally suggesting I put it in my queue. I’m only a handful of 28-minute episodes into the show, and yet I’m already a convert. If you’re looking for a way to soothe your news-ridden, tweet-ridden, over-stimulated soul, binge your way through this series. (Parts 1 and 2 are already on Netflix, and Part 3 is being released at the end of this month.)

The weird thing about “Terrace House” is that very little happens and yet it’s completely captivating. As a consumer of American reality TV, specifically the “Bachelor” franchise, I’m primed for high drama ― big fights, lots of tears, ominous music cues, carefully produced confrontations and very little eating on camera. “Terrace House” flouts these conventions, opting instead to lean into the seemingly mundane. It makes you wonder why American shows keep trying to raise the emotional stakes of reality television when the Japanese have figured out a way to draw in audiences with no stakes at all. ― Emma Gray

Amy Adams In Anything (But This Week In “Sharp Objects”)

HBO is back with another limited series in “Sharp Objects,” based on the debut novel of author Gillian Flynn. Alongside showrunner Marti Noxon and director Jean-Marc Vallée, the “Gone Girl” scribe brings her dark crime thriller to the screen in a compelling fashion.

The always superb Amy Adams plays reporter Camille Preaker, who returns home to Wind Gap, Missouri, to cover the mysterious murders of two young girls. But it’s her own past that haunts her as she’s reunited with her overbearing mother (Patricia Clarkson) and rebellious teenage half-sister (Eliza Scanlen) in a hometown burdened with pain. It premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. ― Leigh Blickley

Bron Snow, AKA A Clash Of Kings, AKA June 19, 2016

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On Sunday, June 19, 2016, I watched on a split-screen as the Cleveland Cavaliers won Game 7 of the NBA finals and Jon Snow defeated Ramsay Bolton in the Battle of the Bastards on “Game of Thrones.” Yes, it was two years ago, but it was beautiful. The days of the Cavs championship drought and of Jon Snow making his pouty face — not because it was cool, but because his life kinda sucked ― were over.

Now, with LeBron James leaving the Cavs and “Game of Thrones” coming to an end, it’s good to remember that moment can never be taken away from us. Some of my own colleagues, who are now celebrating LeBron in LA, counted him out of that 2016 series from the start, much like many doubted the White Wolf.

But the North remembers. Cavs fans remember! We know no king but the kings in the North and Northeast Ohio. I don’t care if they’re bastards or they moved to LA ― Ned Stark’s blood and Cavs wine-and-gold run through their veins! They’re my kings from this day until their last day! ― Bill Bradley

Tina Lawson’s Instagram Account

Tina Lawson, the mother of our true saviors Beyoncé and Solange, has the Instagram feed from Heaven. But this photo of her and her man, Richard, waiting to see Smokey Robinson is the blackest thing I have seen this week. I am fucking LIVING for it. I grew up listening to Smokey Robinson because of my mama and nana. So I feel like this could be my parents and that warms my soul in a way I can’t fully explain.

Also, look at that selfie. It’s just terrible enough to be a fantastic auntie and uncle pic. I love it. I love them. I’m crying. ― Julia Craven

Comedian Kate Berlant

HBO/ANNAPURNA PICTURES/NETFLIX/GETTY/VIMEO

Remember that time Roseanne Barr shrieked the national anthem at a San Diego Padres game? That is not my recommendation for the week. My recommendation for the week is the human being who wrote a thesis on the deconstructionist milestone that was Barr’s scream-performance: Kate Berlant. (She did this in grad school, really!) 

Berlant is in the new film “Sorry to Bother You,” which according to my colleague Matt Jacobs, you should really see. But she’s also appeared in “Search Party,” “High Maintenance,” “The Characters” and “555.” She’s a prolific scene-stealer and best friends with John Early, with whom she’s apparently writing a film. I recommend it! Them! Her! ― Katherine Brooks

A ’70s Gangster Film, Why Not?

For years, I’ve been trying to track down Elaine May’s mid-’70s masterpiece “Mikey and Nicky,” starring John Cassavetes and Peter Falk as childhood friends turned low-level gangsters turned frenemies. The film, which is now streaming on Kanopy, was well worth the years of searching. It’s better than every other Netflix crime show you’ve just binged.

The premise is simple: Cassavetes’ character knows there’s a contract out on his life and calls Falk to help him out. The rest of the film concerns what Falk does with his friend’s fate during the course of one boozy, cigarette-stained night. You can see the movie’s influence all over “Goodfellas” and shows like “The Sopranos.”

But the thing that will stay with you long after the film is over are the spare scenes with the women in their lives ― the ones who take their late-night calls, their abuses and their endless, tormented need. You see it in their eyes. They know what’s up. ― Jason Cherkis

Red Shorts, Blue Shirts: A Phenomenon

We’ve uncovered an international phenomenon: Each summer, dudes across the world bust out red shorts and, after very little consideration, decide that the only fashionable pairing is a blue shirt. Two of our reporters have been documenting this for four years — but this is bigger than our circle of friends now. Prepare to have your third eye opened. We bring you the RedShortsBlueShirt Instagram page and a whole hell of a lot of red shorts-blue shirt combos. ― Andy Campbell

Kumail Nanjiani’s Cheeseburger Freakout

I still can’t stop thinking about Kumail Nanjiani’s cheeseburger-related freakout in “The Big Sick.” We’ve all been on the wrong side of a customer service issue at the exact worst moment, and watching Nanjiani channel that is perfection. He strikes just the right notes of sympathetic and ridiculously funny. It’s hard to pick a favorite moment from the scene because I loved all of it ― from his yelling “Who the fuck is we, man?” to his knocking over the trash can and then feeling bad and slowly, sadly picking it all up again. ― Anna Krakowsky

Inner Peace

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