#anyone who would answer that sort of thing to the actors themselves.. is a brave soul..

[heartvisor]

apparently at a special screening + q&a for shin kr (for those who attended 10+ showings of the film), there was a point where mister moriyama (actor portraying ichirou) asks the audience their thoughts about the assassin aug duo... wild....

[ghostlyerlkonig]

Hiii I know you said that you wouldn't answer asks about that anti censorship post but if you'd be willing to answer this I'd be grateful.

Why do you think actors safety on sets would get worse if scenes that required more levels of safety for emotional and sometimes physical protection? Would getting rid of them not get rid of the need?

howdy, im fine answering this, my contempt was related to the people trying to catch me and squash me into a corner for themselves.

so ive talked about it before some but I have a degree in stage management, if you dont know what that is, im so sorry its too vast a position in theatre for me to explain and duties vary from country to country, so ill focus on the relative parts of the job.

im going to try and keep this concise but please understand this is a very vast topic that the lack of care toward in the industry as older people in it are stubborn assholes a lot of the time and my living in Utah (otherwise known as 'most dramaturgs helping create a season here will have to stick to reccing family friendly shows due to the mormon population' capital has soured my want to be in theatre at the moment.

Part of a stage managers job as it has developed in the USA (and from what i glean from the British SM books ive read it is also like this over there) is being a resource for actors. Part of that is also being a safety resource and advocate for actors if need be. Actors do not all get good educations and experiences in "safe spaces"** to learn how intimacy works and how it has developed through really just the last 8 years. Because of this and a sort of not great push back on the idea of intimacy directors/choreographers are a necessary hire on shows where it is needed in the same way a fight choreographer is needed for fights by older vet actors (lost a lot of respect for Sean Bean with his words on that ESPECIALLY with his role as Eddard Stark) a lot of actors dont get them.

It wont be Sean Bean who is hurt emotionally during a challenging sex scene because hes a big enough name to call a stop to it, it WILL be smaller actors who are probably already being taken advantage of on sets or in rehearsal rooms.

It is the moments where I have had to look a Director in the eye as they bitched to me about an actor being scared to use a prop that could genuinely harm them and when I have actors who do not speak as to not cause issues and end up harmed in the process.

One of my directors I worked with last fall said it best when she told our cast of a particularly emotionally heavy show that had scenes that required anger at each other and sexual actions;

"This is a space where I need you to be able to be brave. We [Director and Stage Management team] will do everything we can do to help you get there but that means you have to be brave enough to start talking and let that keep growing. It will be scary and we can take time when you need it but you need to be brave."

the removal of tough scenes rather than continues advocacy to improve upon how these scenes are done technically (as in during the filming or rehearsal/blocking processes) takes away the ability to create better advocacy for safety on sets and to create these needed brave spaces in all types of scenes. Spaces that actors know are safe for them to explore with each other and ask for help when they need it and understand that if help can be given, it will be given.

It makes me sad that so many vet actors push back on this so hard, some of them cite it as a limiter on creativity (bullshit) and others seem to be dealing with it as "I walked on coals, you have to too" issue but that doesn't actually help anyone it just makes more people get hurt.

Conclusion is difficult scenes CAN be done safely. Art should not be stifled to censored safety when it is a matter of if people care enough to make sets/rehearsal rooms safe enough to do daring things in. I do not think attempting to say "NO BAD THINGS IN ART" would actually stop the bad things in art because the hays code ultimately didn't stop shit. It definitely won't stop actors from being hurt in ways making self-advocacy a welcomed and necessary thing would help lessen. You wouldn't take or refuse a harness from/to an actor who has to jump and fall, so why take or refuse them someone who is there to help them in moments of other vulnerabilities? Why are we so upset over the idea of a flesh tone cover for someone vagina or dick when we use floppy knives that retract and fake blood?

Getting rid of difficult scenes is just a bandage over a bullet wound that needs to be addressed and part of addressing that is having better safety measures and advocacy for everything on sets and in rehearsal rooms.

for more information about what can be done in rooms and on sets

Intimacy Directing for Theatre 1st Edition by Dr. Ayshia Mackie-Stephenson (Editor)

Staging Sex: Best Practices, Tools, and Techniques for Theatrical Intimacy Edition 1 by Chelsea Pace

Supporting Staged Intimacy: A Practical Guide for Theatre Creatives, Managers, and Crew By Alexis Black, Tina M. Newhauser

[the-necessary-unnecessary]

Mapi Leon's coming out story: the impact of words.

Being the first professional Spanish women’s footballer playing in Spain to publicly come out she caused waves amongst the media and general public (Laura del Rio had previously given interviews about her sexuality but that only when she had moved to the US to play). I have translated the article in which she came out on this day two years ago below because google translate won’t do it justice, but I also wanted to give a bit of backstory about the impact that her coming out had. Now Mapi isn’t just any Spanish player, although obviously not that well-known, she made headlines for being the first female Spanish player to have a transfer fee attached to her when she moved from Atletico to Barça. The fact that she had a higher profile than most other players makes her coming out so publicly even more of a big deal, because her larger platform meant she had more to lose but also meant she understood the power of her words in influencing her audience. Although people just living their lives on social media and casually mentioning their same-sex partners in interviews without a coming out moment is very important, her doing an interview for the national press openly talking about coming out as well as discussing her footballing career is essential too.

Six months after coming out she did another interview talking about the reception that she got on social media after coming out. She said that ‘she didn’t stop receiving messages: “Thank You”, “I saw you and you gave me strength”, “I’m not alone”. Women and Men from all over Spain recognised her gesture and saw themselves reflected in it. “I read them all, but I wasn’t able to reply. I didn’t think that it would turn into something so important for so many people.”’ Her coming out resulted in her being invited to be part of the opening events of Madrid Pride 2018. “When I came out publicly, I became aware of the significance of the action, and that it was much bigger than a single moment or my private life.” She also recognised how different parts of Spain reacted dissimilarly to her coming out and being a public figurehead: “In Barcelona they said ‘well okay great,’ but maybe in less urban areas like Zaragoza [where she is originally from] it wasn’t all like that”, even if bigger cities are more accepting there are places that needed to hear her words more.

Not only was it an influential moment in many supporters’ lives, she also had an impact within the women’s football community itself. She said that as a result of her coming out she saw “more photos, more nods towards players being in relationships with women on social media… as if now one’s sexuality matters even less [in women’s football]. Before you shied away a bit, at the end of the day we’re footballers, not just people, we represent a club, a country, a supporters base… and maybe that was why there was a bit of shyness online. Now I see that everything is done more naturally, without shouting about it on rooftops, but indirectly doing just that.” Even though she didn’t know how much of an impact her words would have at the time, her coming out story helped so many people and continues to be a beacon in Spanish LGBTQ+ visibility – which isn’t always as holistic as it’s sometimes portrayed to be on here.

I have left the translated version of her initial coming out news article below the cut.

Woso Pride Month 2020 [Day 23/30]

FC Barcelona’s defender is left-footed like Messi, she’s just one the Copa de la Reina and in August she will be called up to the national team. She thinks that it is important to “stand up for everyone’s rights”

“I was never very into dolls. I preferred to play ball with my brother and his friends.” And did you beat them? “Well, if I had been bad at it the boys would have kicked me out.” Maria Pilar León is tenacious and tough, perhaps that’s why she’s a centre-back. This blonde 23 year old woman kicks a ball with her left foot like Messi, has a tattoo sleeve on her arm that reminds one of Sergio Ramos’ and they compare her with Piqué due to the ease she has with playing the ball out of the penalty box… although at first sight she looks more like Shakira. Like them, she steps onto the pitch with the fierceness of a warrior. Only a few weeks ago she won the Copa de la Reina with Barça, a goal in the last 10 seconds of the final gave them the victory over Atletico de Madrid. There’s another trait that makes her similar to those footballing icons: she openly and naturally lives with her sexuality, for she also likes women. “And there’s no issue with that. This is who I am and there’s nothing wrong about it”.

Mapi, like they call her on the pitch, doesn’t want life to catch her offside. In a sporting environment with notoriety of being sexist and chauvinist, she wants to score a goal against homophobia. “When you’re a public figure, you have some sort of responsibility. I think that it’s important to stand up for everyone’s rights, there is no need to hide. We often hear pretty disgusting things in football stadiums, not only homophobic slurs but also racist ones, and I believe that we – as the people in sport – need to send a clear message about tolerance and against hatred.” Fair play was about this.

Here we can return to the first paragraph. Mapi is tenacious and tough, she’s also brave and not only on the pitch. You need a lot of courage to talk publicly about something that male footballers are silent about. “I can understand their silence given how chauvinistic football can be. There are a lot of closed-minded people who would insult them, although that kind of insults tell you more about who says them… There’s a lot of pressure in a match, you have to be extremely concentrated and to stand up to that kind of thing is tough. So, in that sense, I understand why they don’t come out. But, on the other hand, it’s something so natural that it escapes me for as to why they don’t do it, I think if they were open the mentality would change bit by bit. In this sense, we have to move forward and progress.”

Chants such as “Michel, Guti (or whoever else), faggot” are common place in stadiums, but Mapi rests assure that she has never suffered from any homophobia on the pitch. “It’s true that there are players whose parents think that this is an illness, but I’ve been lucky in this respect. My parents told me that they would love whoever I loved. And never have I been insulted by anyone nor nothing like that. Maybe it’s because football is, above everything, chauvinistic and sexist. So the bottom line is that a lot of people aren’t thrilled that we women play. I guess those that come and see our matches a more in favour of equality. They are more open minded. They like seeing us play, they enjoy it.

And it’s true, every year more and more people enjoy women’s football. In other countries, like the US, the sport is clearly booming. 1,500 universities have their own teams and there are stars, like Alex Morgan, who take photos alongside Messi. In Spain the situation is a lot more modest, although it is beginning to change. Mapi, for example, has almost 45,000 followers on Instagram. A lot more than well-known actors like Bárbara Lennie or Emma Suárez. “Yes, one could say that I have fans. There are three girls who always come and see me play. It’s pretty cool when you see them with your shirt on. Thanks to her speed and her tactical intelligence she is one of the leading figures in the Liga [now Primera] Iberdrola. In fact, she was the first female Spanish player to be a paid transfer in women’s football. Barça paid 50,000 euros for her transfer from Atletico de Madrid. A big milestone for women’s sport, and something that felt impossible to this woman who collected Ronaldinho stickers when she was younger.

“I wouldn’t be able to explain to you what I felt when they signed me, I felt complete joy. It meant that I hadn’t be mistaken in choosing football as a career. To be honest I wasn’t a great student, I scraped through. In the 4th year of ESO [Year 11/Grade 10] one of my teachers always said: ‘be careful because next time you might not pass…’ He basically told me that I wasted too much time by playing sports and I should stop playing football. Now I think about him a lot. He didn’t see me having a future, but I stuck with my passion and it ended up being the right decision.”

Mapi has played since she was a young girl, but her career started when she was 17, when Real Club Deportivo Español made her an offer. She was forced to leave her parents, Javier the mechanic and Pilar, a caregiver, in Zaragoza and jump into this adventure head first. “They were sad that I left home, but they always supported me.” The next season she received an offer from Atletico de Madrid. With them she won the league. And from there came the famous signing with Barcelona. Now, having finished the season, the centre-back will meet up with the national team to train for two matches in preparation for the 2019 World Cup in France. They have already qualified and are ready to bring the cup home. “Hopefully the men will also win in Russia”.

QUESTION.- Don’t you fear your club’s or the Federation’s reaction after talking about you being homosexual? You are the first professional player in the league to talk about it publicly…

ANSWER.- I don’t think it will be a problem. My personal life is my own and shouldn’t bother anyone else. I hope that they will support it because football needs to start opening itself up. If there are now people who are openly homosexual even in government, how could there not be homosexual people on football pitches?

Q.- And in the changing rooms? Could that not be weird? Prejudices still exist…

A.- I once talked to a [male] friend about this. He got quite caught up about it, but it’s stupid. Your teammates are like family, like sisters. With the tension you have about a match you aren’t focusing on whether they’re looking at you or that kind of thing. There’s a lot of familiarity between us.

In some ways, Mapi has cracked a glass roof, but the financial figures that women’s football deal with, compared to the ones the men deal with, are still ridiculous. A mediocre player in La Liga can win around a million euros per season, whilst most female players earn around a thousand euros per month. There are agencies, such as Carlos Rodríguez’s UPro, who manages Mapi, that try to improve the situation, but the gap here remains an abyss. “There’s always a lot of talk about the difference in salaries between women’s and men’s football. I understand that they earn a lot of money because they generate that kind of money and I’m not against that. Although it’s also true that the figures are exorbitant, everything has got exponentially higher… In the end, we do the same that they do. We dedicate the same amount of time to the game but few follow us, it may be the case that people like us but what’s missing is more promotion.

Q.- For example Doña Letizia didn’t go to the Copa de la Reina final [this means the Queen’s Cup. Leticia is the Queen of Spain and the men’s tournament called Copa del Rey after the King is always attended by him]

A.- I don’t know why she didn’t attend it. Maybe she wasn’t made aware of it, but if the King goes to the guy’s cup final she should come to ours as it carriers her name. It would really help up as it would attract a lot of attention in the press. Hopefully she’ll go next year [Spoiler: she did!]

Q.- Your male counterparts are currently playing in the World Cup hosted in Russia, a country that has a legislation which contains a crackdown on LGBT rights. What do you think about a competition like this one being played in a country like that?

A.- It’s a mistake. In some way it seems like they’re backing the homophobic legislation. In Chechnya there have been concentration camps for homosexuals and that’s something that Putin tolerates. We shouldn’t look away when presented face to face with such issues. This isn’t only about LGBT rights; these are human rights. That’s not the message of tolerance and respect that sport, and specifically football, should affiliate itself with.

Mapi is very certain about this. The match against homophobia in football can be won. She has scored the first goal. Now what’s left to do is for a lot of other athletes to join the team.

[patrickbrewerisgay]

i love your defense of noah. one reason why i adore him so much is his advocacy for homeless lgbtq youth. I worked at a v large homeless lgbtq youth center for 3 years here in LA, and a lot of celebrities visited (not noah, obviously lol). i hated it because they would just post pics on their instagram and not acknowledge any of our clients. and to see noah, who's not even a member of the community, do the opposite of that? it warms by fucking heart because THAT is how you ally.

❤️ another thing i love about noah, which i know we’ve all mentioned before, is how he knows exactly when to shut the fuck up in interviews when questions are asked about lgbtq issues or representation. he knows those aren’t his questions to answer, & he stays in his lane. he WILL speak from his perspective on seeing fans’ reactions to the show or seeing how it affects people from the lgbtq community, & whatever effects that might then have on him personally. i’m thinking specifically of the pride mtv red carpet interview. the question is, what is it like to be a part of a media landscape which has so recently & rapidly grown in representation of diverse communities? dan fields the part of the question about what the show, & what he as a showrunner, are trying to represent & put out into the world, & how it fits into that overall cultural landscape. then noah describes what they have gotten back & how he has heard, as in directly from fans, that people feel represented & loved (he said loved) by the show, then reflects that putting “something like that out into the world can’t help but feel amazing.” big dumb golden retriever brain says it makes people feel good, & that makes me feel good! also in the sweater interview at the very end (when he mentions patrick being in his “first gay relationship” & i cry softly) he says “to be on a show that is approaching that from such a loving standpoint is really a gift,” as in a gift to him to get to be a part of that. he treats being on sc & getting to play patrick as a privilege which he obviously cherishes.

i also just really love patrick a lot & it makes my whole heart swell up whenever i hear noah talk about how much he loves patrick, he loves patrick. this! whole! interview! about meet the parents is so indicative of the thought & care he puts into this character who means so much to me & who clearly means as much or maybe even more to him.

“I think the relief that I felt personally, in a weird way, when they accepted that or had a positive reaction to what I was telling them about my relationship, it just felt like a huge weight [lifted]. And it’s not even my exact situation. It’s this character, this man who I’m embodying and playing but it’s somebody that I’ve grown very close to and I just wanted the best for him.”

“With the care and the love that had gone into the writing of that situation, it felt very natural to have that conversation. Not in a relaxed or calm way but it felt like all of the necessary tension was there in the writing and I could just relax into Patrick and let him feel what was going on.”

also when he speaks about david:

“[...] it’s really been amazing to play off of with Dan and feel in certain moments particularly how he and David can morph into a caregiver almost. He takes care of Patrick.”

“I’ve loved watching [David’s] heart grow and watching him evolve into somebody who’s in a devoted partnership and still growing aspects of himself too.”

!!!! like!!!! he Gets david & he understands the depth of the character arc so well & he LOVES david too.

“I can’t tell you, as an actor it’s very rare to be on a show that hits in this way for so many people. Particularly people who haven’t seen themselves on television in this way. It’s incredibly meaningful. I didn’t expect this when I joined the show. [...] It really is incredible so I feel very lucky to be a part of something like that.” notice again how he talks about it being a gift to him, not a gift he’s giving anybody else

not to compare him to an incredibly low bar, but in a world where we get all these fucking bullshit quotes about how Brave a straight actor has to be to play A Gay, noah has never been like that or allowed anyone else to be like that in regards to him. he’s never talked about it as somehow especially challenging for him. he’s able to relate to patrick as a human being experiencing human emotions, & he’s able to bring so much to it without any reservation or self-consciousness. he literally just wants to do the writing justice & do justice to this character who he obviously respects & cares for so deeply, & his priority is helping dan’s vision come through because he knows it’s meaningful & important on a very tangible level & on a wider scale.

as @patrickanddavid​​​ would want me to say, it’s the gemini in him that allows him to be a very stupid dumb of ass meme boy while also being an extremely talented & introspective actor & sort of musician. i really admire the commitment he has to this character & this show & i am genuinely so grateful to him for putting his whole heart into this character that has come to mean so much to me.

[disappearinginq]

Hey I was kind of a bitch to you in the past... Holy Fuck I’ve just understood why you hate shippers, ok I’m a shipper but yikes others are worse. I mean so many people who just want their faves to get together quickly, yikes that can ruin a show fast. I mean yes certain characters could be great together but it needs to be done right not in the batshit crazy cheesy cringe way the shippers demand, yikes. And sorry again for being a bitch in the past.

(2/3)Shippers who are like “and now kiss” or “oh that look they are going to become a thing” and a whole bunch of other BS annoy me so much. If the writers of any show are dumb enough to listen to that it would kill it fast (oh yeah ranting about the Magnum fandom). As a shipper (hahaha you probably hate me now sorry) I cringe when I see others behave like that, I think maybe there’s potential but kinda in a slow burn way (though not ultra show because way too slow and it would end like TIVA).1 (3/3) 2. If a ship is being done right the chemistry needs to build more over time and certain aspects need to change about the character. I just hate the “toxic shippers” who act all entitled wanting a relationship to just happen. Like no it needs to build and the characters need to grow and change slightly, though I can see the possibility of a relationship though I could also see one or two other possibilities that would probably make the psycho shippers burst into flames 😂😂

You know, I’ve held onto this for a long while because I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer it. It’s not even the people who basically mash characters together and don’t care about plot (though it does contribute). But I like watching some of my mutuals having their ‘ships that they follow and love and adore and I get these happy little moments of ‘awww, I just love them, look at their faces!’ or even talking with people about ‘oh, wouldn’t it be interesting if so and so wound up together? I think they could be good, etc’. People who have their happy little bubbles, and their happy little ships, and write their fun little coffee shop AUs where everyone gets to be happy....fine. It’s not my deal, just like dark, super angsty whump fic prrrrobably doesn’t fall into their orbit. It’s cool. 

I do not  like the little shitfucks who pop in just to harass people about either 1) preferring a different ship or 2) not liking their ship. I don’t like the people who get so fucking worked up about an imaginary character that they ruin real lives. Clearly, they don’t like getting that sort of hate, so their brave little selves show up on anonymous so I can’t (unless I feel like recalling OPSEC training that I wasn’t really paying attention to the first time around to back track their digital footprint to throw molotov cocktails at their very real front doors, but I am fundamentally lazy, so...). Shippers of that type are the reason why I stopped watching Voltron - you know, a goddamn kid’s cartoon. Because people were heinous and harassing the voice actors and the writers to the point that the creators didn’t want to work on it anymore. 

And the romance thing I hate because it’s quite often lazy writing, and they make it super melodramatic just for the sake of arguing or having something stupid to bring up later. Chloe and Lucifer = I adore. They spend four whole seasons, each character evolving, becoming better, finding out more about themselves, having real life problems and doubts and trying to decide if they even like who they are with their person. Those stories? I love. But that is pretty much the only one I can think of that didn’t make me shriek at the TV “JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET A GODDAMN PLOT”. I hate that media and shipping just ignores any other relationship. I hate that years of friendship are ignored or put on the back burner because ROMANCE. I hate the stupid, awkward ‘oh, well, we once slept together and now we have to work together and this is weird haha’ - no, it’s fucking garbage. I hate that once shippers decide ‘this is what I want to happen’ they don’t care about anything else. I hate that relationships are becoming these awful, horrid things where people just fight and bicker and break up and make up and just become an awful round robin of WHERE THE HELL DID THE STORY DISAPPEAR TO?! 

And it’s not like it can’t be done well. Like I said, Lucifer and Chloe. Danny Rand and Colleen Wing from Iron Fist (WHO I LOVE AND ADORE), Jessica Whitly and Gil Arroyo (talk about a trash fire where the least dramatic thing is almost having a moment with the guy who caught your serial killer ex-husband) in Prodigal Son, Martha and Francis from Mr. Right, Ty and Amy from Heartland, Jake and Leslie from Republic of Doyle, Danny and Lexi from Blood & Treasure, Jules and Shawn from Psych. And that’s just off the top of my head. 

Thomas and Higgins have potential, but not if writing is still bullshit. There are honestly some moments in episodes where I love how Higgins changes. I love the way that she takes one look at Thomas as he considers having to tell a woman that her newly wed husband died and immediately does it for him rather than making him be the one. That is a solid example of character growth and mutual understanding. I hate the constant fake dating, fake marriage, fake whateverflavoroftheweek. I would hate it in any show, but I really hate how they use it in this show because they just...ruin any progress she mad as a character, and any progress they made as writers. The next thing we’re going to have is a fake pregnancy, or a fake shared child, or some other equally awful crap that sidelines Rick and TC to their own spin-off within their own show, doing exactly what they made fun of Robin for doing to them in the pilot episode despite the ‘rolling like Musketeers’. 

And for anyone who thinks I just hate on Higgins, my least favorite episode is actually “Die He Said” which has nothing to do with her, but just...wtfuckery plot holes and shoddy writing. 

Just....ARGH. They’ve proven they can do this story and these characters justice, but then they just keep shooting themselves in the foot. 

[sweetfirebird]

This is for the Voltron anon who left a lot of asks in my askbox, and I don’t really have a better way to answer them all at once. 

I can’t help but feel there was/is a misunderstanding here? At some point? I don’t hate the show. I actually like the show, which is why I watched it. (I was actually considering watching the latest season tonight but right now I have the old Scarlet Pimpernel movie on for whatever reason.) 

I, and any other fan who feels like it, can like a show and yet still want the show to do better. Or to just feel it needs to do better. Or to just want it to do better. And express that on our own blog if we want to. 

I’m sorry that hurts you. It’s not a judgement on anyone else when people critique something. (Well... I will admit I make a judgement if someone says their favorite movie is Lolita or 300. But that’s another issue.) The Voltron fandom as a whole is.... intense. It almost immediately became embroiled in Discourse and Purity Wank in the name of Ship Wars and that is the reason I have never taken part in it other than just watching the show and occasionally reblogging things. Tensions in that fandom were already very, very high by the time this season happened, and it seems to have only exacerbated the ship wars (which in turn exacerbated all the purity wank. Because people use that as an excuse to eliminate rival ships.) 

But seriously. I don’t mind people shipping whatever, even if it’s pairs I don’t actively ship. (I have seen some gorgeous Hunk/Keith fanart, for example, and even reblogged it.) And when people on the show first mentioned LBGTQ rep, I assumed they meant Pidge, and I was delighted. I even kind of thought at the beginning that the show was shipping Allura/Shiro and I wasn’t into it until they revealed she is stronger and bigger than him and then I found that sort of delightful too. So, honestly, I have no stake in the ship war anger and nothing against gay Shiro. I still think gay Shiro (handsome! brave! tortured! disabled! mentally ill! loving! fucking hero with his past trauma and plot arcs independent of his sexuality??? And he’s Japanese?) IS SO GREAT! That in itself is more than pretty much any other mainstream American TV.  

It doesn’t change the fact that I still think the Adam thing could have been handled better. 

I also kind of wonder if you think I am blaming the voice actors or the writers or something? I’m blaming the showrunners and the TPTB, the people who usually hand down these decisions. (The showrunners have less power than TPTB but they do have some authority, usually.) I think, in all good faith, the actual people who run the show did listen to the audience and decide to do this. And I can almost guarantee that the studio is the one who said no, or limited it. I was maybe harsh to the showrunners though (I can’t remember what I said and I doubt I tagged it because avoiding the ire of the Voltron fandom is a good goal.) 

But yeah. Your example was me being limited by my contracts with DSP, and to an extent that is true. I have shown examples and specifically requested non whitewashed covers but well, you’ve seen them. (This is not true, however, on my self-published covers.) (Oh also I meant to do an f/f romantic short this year and my real life work schedule did not allow it. Siiiiigh.) I also don’t get to ask that the audiobook narrators be of the race of the character they are reading/the main character. Ugh. 

But that’s the kind of thing you/I rant about it and discuss, even though we might like the rest of the thing. Because it could be better. I am always working to be better. And there are so many fans who want to see themselves in their beloved shows. 

I do have a quibble with your asks. Well a part of them. From my understanding, Adam was supposed to be either Shiro’s fiancee or *almost* his fiancee. At the very least, they were living together. That’s serious. A serious, loving relationship that I would like to see more of. But you compared it to Clematis and David and, uh, no. Clematis and David is a “friends who fucked around together for a week or so” situation. Not something serious and loving. That should be portrayed differently. 

I also was not aware Voltron was a show for boys, or aimed at boys. Was it? I never got that impression. But writing a show and aiming it at boys and not everyone is... not a good thing. 

Anyway, if they didn’t want to show Shiro actively in a relationship with another man, then they were never going to, and whatever. But killing off his love interest, is, as I said, part of a long history of Bury Your Gays and I still feel people were/are rightfully upset about it. 

The thing about art and fiction is that it does not take place in a vacuum. It’s written and watched by people in our world and is a commentary on our world. So if we lived in a world where representation was accurate to real life and queer characters were onscreen all the time, then they could be good or evil, dead or alive (like straight characters) and it would be fine. But we don’t live in that world and that’s not what we see on TV, and so killing Adam hurt a lot of people. And glad there was an outcry about it, because it means next time maybe a TV show won’t do this. 

We don’t have to agree on this, and I’m not really sure what you are hoping to convince me of. But people can like or dislike stuff for different reasons and still get along. (My coworker, for example, really like Luke Cage, but agrees with me that the show would have been AMAZING with a more charismatic lead. He doesn’t understand why I don’t like Iron Fist, but we still talk about Marvel stuff together.) 

:)

[kikistiel]

100% agree on your analysis of Jimin as a Slytherin!!! I know a lot of people (including myself) are shocked Namjoon put himself in Griffindoor over Ravenclaw though. I'm dying to hear your thoughts on this!!

HELLO and thank you! I’m glad you agree! And if anyone is curious here is a link to my thoughts on why jimin is the perfect slytherin. EDIT: And here is why Jungkook is a Ravenclaw!

//cracks knuckles MY TIME HAS COME

So… Namjoon. I, like you and a ton of other people, was really confused about him being in Gryffindor. But, the more I thought about it, the more I really came to not only accept it, but believe that he is a Gryffindor through and through. And please be advised this is going to devolve in to me gawking over how great of a human being Namjoon is, so if you don’t want to read about that please close your browser and think about why you don’t agree that he’s better than everyone else. okay?

okay.

Namjoon is a Gryffindor to the core, not a Ravenclaw

First of all, Namjoon supposedly sorted everyone else, but I have a small sneaking suspicion that he may not have sorted himself. We know he’s a fan of the movies at least, and he’s fluent in English, so if he’s a fan and he has access to sorting quizzes on Pottermore and other sites, is it so hard to believe that he hasn’t at least tried a few? Seriously, even the most casual of fans have tried getting sorted. It’s not that crazy of a thought. So… What if they put him in Gryffindor over Ravenclaw?

(I mean, when asked to do a British accent the first thing that he quotes was “Shut up Malfoy!”. If that ain’t the most Gryffindor thing…)

Also, Namjoon is a really humble guy. If he DID sort himself, I feel like he’d be the type of person who would shy away from saying “I’m smart, so I should be in Ravenclaw”. He’s always been pretty modest about his intelligence. And just because he is, doesn’t mean we should be. Seriously, Namjoon can be a goof but if you’re ever in doubt about how crazy smart he is, please watch this.

He has no problems recognizing the intelligence of others though – he raves about Jungkook being good at everything he does, and even gave him the nickname “Golden Maknae”,  so is it such a wonder he put Jungkook in Ravenclaw? (It should be noted that Ravenclaws also have a reputation for being eccentric and quirky. Prime example, Luna. If that isn’t a perfect descriptor for Jungkook idk what is)

So let’s look at what the common traits of Gryffindor are, shall we?

Such character traits of students sorted into Gryffindor are courage, chivalry, and determination.They can also be short-tempered. [x]

Okay so, courage. I could go on and on about how brave Namjoon is but like… we’ll be here all day. So let me keep this short and point you in the direction of one thing in particular that he has done. THIS TWEET.

It’s Rap Monster. A song about homosexuality. I heard this song before but I didn’t know the lyrics, now I know them and I like the song twice as much. I recommend Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Same Love. http://hiphople.com/subtitle/619392

I have a lot of feelings about this tweet. And a lot of theories about WHY he tweeted that too – but no one wants to hear about those so that’s for another life post.

First – speaking out in support of homosexuality in Korea is a pretty huge deal, because homosexuality isn’t a really accepted lifestyle there. (It isn’t really accepted anywhere, truly, but you all know that.)

Here’s a pretty recent list on idols who support LGBT communities.  It’s a pretty god damn short list. I use the term ‘support’ loosely bc this article seems to equate ‘having gay friends’ as being a supportive ally. But Namjoon stands out pretty hard in this list because he doesn’t just say ‘i love my gay friends!’, he outright spoke out in support of homosexuality.

But Kiki, you say… Namjoon is hugely popular. He’s one of the biggest stars in Kpop. He could say whatever he wants now, right?

Well yeah, he can. But here’s the kicker! Look at the timestamp on that tweet. He tweeted that before they debuted. 

Namjoon was months away from launching his dream career, something he’d worked his entire life for. He was from a pretty small unknown company whose only claim to fame before that was that group that had two members blackmail an actor over something or another. He couldn’t afford bad press, and yet here comes Kim fucking Namjoon with his balls of steel willing to throw that all down the drain because god dammit he was going to tell the entire world about how much he supported the LGBT community and anyone who wanted to stand in his way of doing so could eat a fuckin dick. He could have kept his heckin mouth shut but he didn’t??? 

????

moving on.

Chivalry.

Chivalry is defined as:

1.the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, esp courage,honour, justice, and a readiness to help the weak

2.courteous behaviour, esp towards women

Courage, honor, justice, what I just talked about describes those things pretty perfectly.

I’d like to talk about honor for a sec though. Let’s look at a pretty famous Gryffindor – Ron. Ron was one of a shitload of children in his family. He outwardly always grumbled about not getting attention or whatever, but as a person, he was all about family. He put his family first, he didn’t gripe too hard about hand-me-downs to his parents because he knew they were trying their best, and he defends people he cares about.

There’s that famous scene (that I’m still salty they changed in the movies) where Hermione wants to answer a question and Snape gets mad at her for it. And he defends her – why ask the question if you’re not looking for an answer?

Ron always, always put his family first. So does Namjoon.

Take this gifset for example. The whole set is great and shows how much he really takes care of his members, his family, but this is what he does when he’s around them and also in front of people. Not all that surprsiing.

But please, please please please pay attention to the first gif. For people who don’t know the context, he was asked if he’d choose going solo or bangtan. He DID NOT KNOW HE WAS BEING FILMED. He could have shown his true colors and said that he preferred a solo career and all the glory, but even when given the chance to be completely open, his heart was still with Bangtan.

Another great example of Namjoon being completely selfless. Everyone here is praising themselves (and they have a right too, don’t get me wrong, you’re all great four for all of you) but when it gets to him, Namjoon says “We’ve always been pretty good.” We. Not I, not me, we. Everyone else is giving themselves some much deserved praise, but Namjoon is stuck on we are good, we’ve always been good.

Also don’t forget how important blood-related family is to him too.

And don’t you dare forget how important you, his extended family, is to him either.

Readiness to help the weak. I mean this goes without saying right?

And if you want to take courteous behaviour, esp towards women, literally, look at their glass-ceiling line in Not Today, that they said they used specifically knowing what it meant. and look who is credited for writing the lyrics! What’s that? It’s Namjoon? Wow, I did not see that one coming.

Speaking of lyrics – talk about having courage. Look at the lyrics he wrote for Reflection and Always.

They can also be short-tempered.

Okay so this doesn’t really apply to Namjoon. But I wanted to include it in there because it fittingly applies to another Gryffindor we know of… Namjoon wasn’t playing around when he sorted these guys. Bonus, here you can observe a hufflepuff and (fond) gryffindor in their natural habitat.

So let’s recap. Namjoon is pretty selfless, extremely caring of his friends and family, a feminist, an outspoken ally for those who are mistreated, and is so god damn intelligent everyone REALLY thought he belonged in Ravenclaw.

Wait a minute, I feel like I’ve heard about this person before… There was another Gryffindor like this, I’m sure of it… it’s on the tip of my tongue…

Ah right. 

I’m not saying Namjoon is our version Hermione Granger, but… that’s exactly what I’m saying.

[camploah]

“Where in the world is Carmen Ejogo?” – a phrase that’s often uttered by anyone who’s ever seen the striking British actor on screen and then swiftly wondered why the hell she isn’t in more films.

“I think my own level of ambition has tended to ebb and flow over time and it’s usually been in correlation to my degree of distaste and disdain for the business,” she tells me in a compact New York hotel room. The words distaste and disdain linger in the air; it’s rare to find an actor who uses such words to describe the film industry, and there’s a refreshing lack of reticence in Ejogo’s candor (this was her first answer, after all).

But how exactly did Hollywood manage to turn off such a talented actor? As a child, Ejogo had already been earmarked for stardom, picking up a kids’ modeling agent, a small part alongside David Bowie in Absolute Beginners at the age of 11 and the opportunity to present a Saturday morning TV show on the Disney Channel. In her twenties, she headed stateside to play Eddie Murphy’s girlfriend in Metro, worked with Michael Winterbottom and Kenneth Branagh in I Want Love and Love’s Labour’s Lost, respectively, and played Coretta Scott King in the TV movie Boycott (a role she later played again in Ava DuVernay’s Selma).

Yet that’s when Ejogo’s roles became less frequent. There were small parts in The Brave One, Away We Go and Law & Order, but the early fast-track to stardom had slowed considerably. Her choice to have children, with then husband and Boycott co-star Jeffrey Wright, was a factor (“Women are perhaps given less of an opportunity to re-emerge and redefine themselves post-pregnancy,” she adds with frustration) but there was something deeper at play. “The industry wasn’t really ready for someone who looked like me, to put me at the helm in any kind of way,” she says. “I mean that racially but I also mean that in terms of age, in the sense that I think I’m being made better use of now as an actor at this age than I ever would have been made use of as a 20-year-old.”

Born in London to a Nigerian father and a Scottish mother, Ejogo’s choice of projects has often been limited by her race (she mentions that significant roles in period dramas and romantic comedies have been out of reach) but she’s embraced her love of genre films, which has led to something of an Ejogossance. The 43-year-old led hit sequel The Purge: Anarchy, played a key role in last year’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and appeared in last month’s Alien: Covenant. Today she’s here to promote her turn in another genre offering, the tough-minded dystopian thriller It Comes at Night. She plays a woman fending off a viral infection with her family, questioning whether to trust outsiders or remain isolated. While she admits the film is careful to not be tied to any specific period, themes of mistrust and division give it a timely resonance.

“I think I probably bought my own sense of why this felt prescient and important to tell now and no doubt, I suspect the other actors felt the same,” she says. “Here’s the thing: what’s happening in America right now is cyclical in so many ways. So if you’re talking about themes like paranoia, becoming tribal in one’s mentality and seeing differences rather than commonalities and not recognizing how we can come together to get through something as opposed to finding ways to divide, that’s been happening cyclically for so long that sadly it’s not even a current affair issue really.”

Ejogo moved to New York permanently in 2001 and has worked exclusively in the US ever since. “I’ve been working so hard to convince everyone I’m American and now, no one knows I’m British,” she says, her London accent still strong enough to offset any recognizably American inflection. She’s one of many British actors of color finding more work in America, a trend that recently led Samuel L Jackson to complain about Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya and all the other roles being taken from African American actors, whose experience of race he believes is very different.

“I don’t know where that came from in him,” she says. “I have all kinds of theories but I think it’s misdirected energy by attacking a fellow black actor. Acting for me, when it’s most fun and when it’s most exciting and interesting, is when you’re really out of yourself and you really are transforming and I think that the idea of stepping into completely different skin or a different culture or different experiences is not a bad thing. I say this having played Coretta Scott King, of course, and taken roles from fellow Americans a few times but without any apology because I think there are many arguments to be made that there is an advantage to being an outsider looking in.”

But while she’s keen to continue working in the US, there’s also a desire to do more back in England. “As I get older I think I’m very keen to re-examine my culture and where I come from, through my art, and that will come with working on material that comes out of the UK,” she says. “I’m very excited to make more of that happen if I can.”

While securing a set of high-profile roles might have taken time for Ejogo, she’s not resentful. As she asserts, it’s a good time to be a biracial female actor in her forties, with ubiquity a role she’s not used to playing. The casting process has become more inclusive (“We’re finally getting to a place that the studios would be stupid not to see the potential now”) but she still remembers when it wasn’t quite the case.

“I remember going up for a role where I was told, ‘You don’t look Spanish enough,’ and then they chose a white British girl who kind of had dark eyes and dark hair and that’s good enough, apparently,” she says. “Or getting very close to a big franchise movie back in the 90s and then a studio head saying, ‘What are we going to do about her hair?’ when I happened to have it really curly at the time. There’s just no vision or understanding of how that could be kind of cool or kind of interesting. I’ve had experiences like that all along the way.”

Fast-forward to 2017 and her winning streak is set to continue. She’s recently wrapped crime drama Inner City with Denzel Washington and Colin Farrell and will next be seen in the second season of The Girlfriend Experience, based on Steven Soderbergh’s film about an escort. The first season was a fascinating, audacious exploration of sexuality and she promises more of the same. “This will be a purely female experience in many ways and although it’s a complete departure in terms of storyline, the same themes do emerge,” she says. “In terms of an exploration of female sexuality on her own terms where there is a sense of empowerment, a selfishness, a sort of antiheroic female that we don’t see very often but can be the most intriguing to watch and to witness.”

It was a role that could have worried a younger Ejogo (she says that she wanted to avoid being oversexualized in her early career) but with age comes a more freeing worldview. She says: “You can start feeling like you’re the representative of all kinds of things – woman, age bracket, race – and to be able to liberate myself from all those shackles from time to time and just do what feels exciting to me in any given moment is something I’ve promised myself to do more of.”

It Comes at Night is now out at US cinemas and will be released in the UK on 7 July

[softplacepod]

Episode 5: Saving What We Love

Show notes and transcript below the cut.

SHOW NOTES: EPISODE 5, “SAVING WHAT WE LOVE”

ACNH: https://www.animal-crossing.com/new-horizons/

“Rewrite the Stars,” The Greatest Showman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO28Z5_Eyls

Rey’s Vision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ib_gszTtig

“You Will Be Found,” Dear Evan Hansen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSfH2AuhXfw

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello, bees. It's me, Sara, sending you light and love, and also a bunch of things I've been super into lately that I think might be your jam. Welcome to A Soft Place to Land.

Item the first: welcome to Apple

Or, shared spaces

Look, okay, in this time, it seems like everyone is playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons and I am nothing if not a follower. At first I thought it would be more like Stardew Valley - the grind of the daily tasks, the deep relationships, ever-evolving, with your town’s citizens, the slow circle of seasons. And it’s not not like that, Animal Crossing. You can play it that way.

My spouse lives on my island, which is named Apple. My daughter named it. We have, now, a museum and a tailor’s, and my spouse and I have found a delicate balance of how we want to play. Where he is the finder of every bug and fish and fossil (and now art, because that’s a thing), the careful checklist of hot items and optimal paths through seasonal events, I am…less so. His house is full of items that bring him delight, a room full of bugs and fish he’s saving to get made into special art items. His front yard is a riotous blooming nest of flowers and lawn ornaments.

My house is smaller, and quieter. I keep only certain furniture and items, and sell the rest, or give them to him if I think he’ll like them. I have more floor space, and less decor. My front yard is nearly empty, aside from a birdhouse and a hammock. Instead, I’ve found a soothing rhythm of my daily tasks: clean up the beaches, pick up fallen tree branches, harvest fruit. I catch a few bugs and fish to sell, knowing they’ve all already been donated to our museum. I don’t bother with turnips or hot items. Instead, I’ve become the island’s infrastructure manager. I built a ramp, a couple of bridges. I arrange plots and buildings, reshape where the fruit trees and flower gardens are.

We share the island, but can never interact - we just have the one Switch Lite - and it’s become a sort of game of telephone. We leave each other items or notes, we might drop an extra recipe on the other’s floor, we make sure the other knows that this or that traveling seller is around today. We’re together but not, on the island. It’s nice.

Item the second: is it impossible?

Or, I Want songs

I think I’ve listened to the soundtrack for The Greatest Showman about thirty times now. While I skip some of the songs more often than not, they are all excellently done. “Never Enough” is a heartbreaker, the theme song is boss, “This Is Me” is the obvious stunner. But for whatever reason (there are a lot of them), I’ve found myself drawn again and again to the duet “Rewrite the Stars.” It’s a love duet, and a breakup song, and a celebration, and also it’s an I Want song with a subversion built into the final lines.

Oh, okay, so “I Want” songs, in musicals, are the song where the character sings about how they’re unsatisfied with their current life, and the song bursts from them to describe the life they want. It’s a really common trope in musicals in general, and it’s especially common in 1990s animated musicals and beyond, because in the 60s, a conductor named Lehman Engel ran a series of workshops and taught an entire generation of people how to write musicals, and he thought the “I Want” song was important, so. You could think of, say, “Just Around the Riverbend” from Pocahontas, “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid, or “Touch the Sky” from Brave. For musical theatre songs, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” from Fiddler on the Roof, “The Wizard and I” from Wicked, or “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret. There are a lot of them, is the point.

I Want songs, by their nature, describe the state of discontent in which the singer lives, and also - and this is important - the steps they’re going to take to fix that. They’ll keep paddling, they’ll swim to the surface, they’ll run into the wilderness, they’ll seek a marriage with someone worthwhile, they’ll prove their worth, they’ll find a love that doesn’t hurt them. The I Want song is also, by its nature, an I Am Going To song.

And at first, “Rewrite the Stars” sounds like that. It’s two people singing about how they’re obviously falling in love, but external factors and fear are keeping them apart. As the song goes on - in the movie, they’re Zac Efron and Zendaya, separated by race, class, everything - the lovers imagine themselves in the world they describe, where they step bravely out and demand the future they want. But then. But then they are brought back to the ground, literally, by one character pointing out that it’s unrealistic, nearly impossible, and leaving.

It’s a broken I Want song. It’s I Want and This Is How I Could, But I Won’t. It is a hope spot, of sorts, that is then dashed to pieces.

Item the third: voices in the Force

Or, no one is alone, again

There is one moment - there were a couple amidst the parts I hated - in The Rise of Skywalker that keeps coming back to me. I should note, before we begin, that I am on record everywhere as absolutely loving The Last Jedi and seeing no reason for 80% of what was in Rise of Skywalker to have happened.

Long story slightly shorter, there is a moment in the Last Jedi (I’m getting to it, hang on) where all hope seems lost, where the heroes look up in despair and begin to accept their inevitable defeat. And then. And then a sky fills with allies come to help. The galaxy answers the call, and everyone with a ship and a blaster shows up. The fight renews. There are several moments like this in that movie, from Luke’s “no one’s ever really gone” to Rose’s astounding description of how they’ll win - “not fighting what we hate, saving what we love“ to Leia’s “we have everything we need” - moments that never fail to bring me to tears. It’s my favorite story element, always: you are not alone. Your fight is not just you against an insurmountable enemy. You have allies, and they are with you, even if you can’t see them right now.

In Rise of Skywalker, among all the many things about it that I didn’t like, there is a moment where Rey hears all the Jedi of times past speak to her, through her, and tell her: we’re with you. We’re here, too. Get up. You’re not alone. And the power of that moment - we hear Luke, of course, and Obi-Wan, both of his actors contributing. We hear Master Yoda and Mace Windu, in thrilling small moments. We hear characters, women especially, who’ve never been heard in a main film but whose lives in animated and EU content are rich and full and inspiring. We hear Qui-Gon Jinn, who sort of started this whole thing, and Anakin, who in death found a path towards being who he once was (and I have issues with that, don’t get me wrong, but it brought me to tears anyway).

The rest of the movie, in large part, is missed opportunities and boring filler. But that moment, regardless of anything else, stands with my favorites in the series. Moments of connection. Moments where someone who feels alone and abandoned finds a hand reaching out to them, a nudge in the Force that connects all life, a smiling face (or a grumpy one) with welcome on its lips.

Item the final: you will be found

Or, a musical I haven’t even seen

I haven’t seen Dear Evan Hansen, and I won’t, probably, unless it gets released on a streaming service or something. What I have seen, over and over, are people singing one or two of the songs from it. “You Will Be Found,” from what I can gather, features pretty heavily in the plot, and from my skimming of the wikipedia page, the plot is based on a set of lies, so that’s suboptimal, but - and this is important - that in no way lessens the power of this song.

Remember how “Rewrite the Stars” is so full of hope and promise only to dash it with the last lines? This song’s rooting in lies doesn’t matter, because it builds and builds into an overt, loud rejection of the idea that anyone is truly alone, that anyone is beyond help, that anyone is left behind. You reach out a hand and you find another. You seek a spark of hope and it’s there, cupped in someone’s palms, and they’ve been reaching out to you, too, and now you’ve found each other.

We’re feeling alone, many of us, right now. Isolated and quarantined, and things may be starting to open up but we’re far from safe, and it’s all just…it’s a lot right now. And while I can’t promise you safety or happiness, an easier way or a hopeful sunrise, I can promise you that you are not, in fact alone. You are apart, you are secluded, you are many things. But alone, you are not. The galaxy is your ally against the enemies at your door. The onus is not on you to call out for help; we are already here, pouring out what light we can into the darkness, seeking your hand with ours. It feels, so much, like grasping in the dark these days, and sometimes we’re too tired or scared, too worn down or afraid, to keep reaching. I understand. We all do it. We all have days when we can’t see or hear or sense anyone with us, anyone on our side, and we feel abandoned.

For many of us, though, those days aren’t all of them. We have days, too, where we can be the hand in the darkness searching for another. We can be the person singing into space, knowing the song will land in ears that need it. We can shine our lights out into the storm and believe that those who seek it will find it. We won’t have those days all the time, and we won’t always be the ones in search of comfort. The way this works is that we all give what we can and take when we need it. Your days of reaching out and mine don’t have to be the same ones. We push and pull together, we find a balance. We’re not alone. Get to your feet. Look around you. Find another person and pull together on the yoke, and we’ll continue to move forward in space and time.

[music]

Theme music for A Soft Place to Land is “Repose,” by Chase Miller, off his album Burnout. Chase’s music can be found at chasemiller.bandcamp.com. Show notes and episode transcripts are at softplacepod.tumblr.com. You can find me on Twitter @cyranoh_ and you can listen to me jabber on as the foil to my very good friend Anna on our parenting podcast, The Parent Rap, at parentrap.net.

I love you very much. Take care of yourselves. See you soon.

[networkingdefinition]

Best Job Quotes

Official Website: Best Job Quotes

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();

• Acting in particular is a fun job when you have a good script. I don’t know about acting when you don’t have a great script. I’m gonna say that’s not a great job, it’s kind of a dumb job. But when you have a good part in a good script, it’s the best job, in a way. – Bob Odenkirk • Acting is the best job in the world. Look at the way they treat you when you turn up for work. They give you breakfast and a cup of tea and ask, ‘Are you all right’ They tart up your face, you say somebody else’s words, then pick up your check and go home. And you get days off. I tell you, it really is the way to live. – Bob Hoskins • Actually, acting turned out to be the perfect job for me, because I had a lot of different interests. I thought about being a priest at one point. I thought about being a teacher. I thought about being a lawyer. But I think acting is probably the best job for me. – John C. Reilly • Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals. – Donald Rumsfeld • Anyone who says they don’t enjoy the Army is mad – you can spend a week hating it and the next week it could be the best thing in the world and the best job you could ever, ever wish for. It has got so much to offer. – Prince Harry • As an actor, you want to do the best job possible, and you want the best scripts possible because it makes life more interesting. – Mark Strickson • At the end of the day, the TV show is the best job in the world. I get to go anywhere I want, eat and drink whatever I want. As long as I just babble at the camera, other people will pay for it. It’s a gift. – Anthony Bourdain

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Job', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_job').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_job img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Being a chef is the best job in the world. – Gordon Ramsay • Being a showrunner is tough, but it is incredibly rewarding and it is, without a doubt, the best job I’ve ever had. – Graham Yost • Big money, big Liberal Party politics and big media are trying to get rid of us, of course, by letting Packer take over Fairfax – a media-only company. But we’re hanging in there and doing the best job we can for our readers while we can. – Margo Kingston • Boxing is the best job in the world to let off steam, and people are in trouble when Tyson wants to let off steam – Michael Spinks • But [Sunday] as you saw, it was obviously [the media] took some more than initiative to try to get me to kind of go down the wrong path. I know the last two teams that I’ve been on, I felt like I left those teams prematurely due to media interviews that I’ve done and things kind of taken out of context and they created sort of a media whirlwind in the locker room and things kind of went downhill from there. I’m just trying to do the best job I can do as far as answering the questions and trying to be a better teammate and not try to throw people under the bus. – Terrell Owens • Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.- Confucius • David Ortiz is an icon. He is one of a kind. But we’ll do our best job to replace the offensive aspect, however we can. – Dave Dombrowski • Directing is a nice job. It’s the best job for me. If I had to pay money to do it, I would do it… Directing is playing. Acting. – William Friedkin • Directing is a nice job. It’s the best job for me. If i had to pay money to do it, I would do itIt’s problematical. It’s disapointing often. It’s very challenging. It’s frustrating as hell. It’s extremely demanding and totally satisfying work. And if I wasn’t doing this, I would have to do legitimate work for a living. There are guys out there really working for a living, cleaning streets or coal mining, teaching. Directing is playing. Acting. – William Friedkin • Directing is probably the best job, but acting is really, really great. It’s like a fun vacation that you get paid for. – Bob Odenkirk • Every little kid that steps on the court or the field has aspirations to go pro. I think being a pro basketball player is the best job. The thing I had to realize was that I can’t do every dream that I have. – Brian McKnight • Every mother I’ve ever met, pretty much without exception, is doing the best job she can ever do. – Jennifer Weiner • Everything I do is unfabulous. Im the most normal person. I love walking everywhere, and going to hole-in-the-wall places, like nail shops, because they do the best job. And I go to vintage stores rather than high-end boutiques, because I like to dress different from other people. – Ashley Benson • For somebody who loves foreign policy, being Secretary is the best job in the world – but it doesn’t happen twice. – Madeleine Albright • I am already experiencing something better than being a pop star and that’s being a father. It’s the best job in the world. A lot of work, but a lot of fun. – A. J. McLean • I am happy with what I do. I’d love to be the manager of the Atlanta Braves, but they hired somebody this week. So I’ll just have to be inordinately happy with one of the best jobs on the planet. – Robert Gibbs • I am positive – determined to move forward with my life, bring up my babies, and do the best job I can as a mother, entertainer, and person. – Jennifer Lopez • I call ‘Community’ the best day job in the world, because between takes, I get to write music. I get to write sketches. I get to write movies. It’s the best job ever. – Donald Glover • I enjoyed the crew. The best part about ‘The X-Files’ has been the crew. This crew is an exceptional family and to go to work with a bunch of people that you really like is great. They’re all the best of the best and they really try to do the best job they can. I’ll miss that – Robert Patrick • I feel like I have to do the best job I can to basically say, “OK, I understand – you have every right to be angry, but anger is not a plan. Here’s what I want to do, and that’s why I hope you will support me, because I think it will actually improve the lives of Americans.” – Hillary Clinton • I felt like I had kind of played it out, and I wanted to see what was next, and then came Mythbusters. You know, it’s the best job I’ve ever had, on its worst day it’s better than anything else, but it’s a huge amount of responsibility, and there are days when just going into work and building something from someone else’s drawing sounds like going back to heaven. – Adam Savage • I grew up thinking the best job in the world would be a Jedi and being a psychologist is the closest thing I could get, so I wanted to be a Jedi and I don’t want to be a Sith, so that is what keeps me on the straight and narrow. – John Amaechi • I had fun pretending to be a sportscaster. People always think that was a down thing for me. I had the best job in sports broadcasting for two years. – Dennis Miller • I have everything that I could possibly want in life, from a gorgeous granddaughter and a wonderful wife, brilliant students, the best job anyone could hope for, and about half of my hair. Not the half I would have kept, but no one consulted me. – Daniel Gilbert • I have talent at playing myself. I don’t have a very broad range, but at playing myself I am a wizard. It’s more than fun; it’s the best job on Earth. – Ben Stein • I have the best job in the entire history of broadcasting. – Willard Scott • I have the best job in the world with the best fans in the world – Jeremy Davis • I have the best job in the world. – Anthony Bourdain • I have the best job in the world. I’m able to express myself, and people attach themselves to it if they identify with it. Music certainly is a driving force in my life. There’s not a moment where I’m not in it. – James Hetfield • I have the best job in the world. There’s not really a lot to moan or whine about. I’ve got the privilege of going out and doing something I absolutely love. – Boy George • I have the world’s best job. I get paid to hang out in my imagination all day. – Stephen King • I hope to focus on what I’m passionate about because I think I’d do them best job on them – education, urban education, women and children’s issues and literacy. – Jenna Bush • I just feel that God gave me a certain gift, and that was to go out, do storytelling and be an actor. And my responsibility with that gift is to do the best job possible and to re-create real life. – Eric Close • I just try to do the best job I possibly can – put the blinders on, go to work and be the best you can possibly be. Once you have done everything that you possibly can – you’ve put forth your greatest effort – then I can live with whatever’s next. – Bill Parcells • I just try to do the best job that I can, as an actor. Hopefully, that carries through. That’s all I can do. – Luke Mitchell • I know that I am my worst critic. I know that if I can walk away from the set at the end of the day and feel that I did the best job I could and feel proud, that’s what will satisfy me. – Emmy Rossum • I learned that when you do the best job that you can do, some people will idolize you, others won’t care, and some will vilify you. – Mike Love • I learned that when you do the best job that you can do, some people will idolize you, others won’t care, and some will vilify you. I believe it is important to remain humble and thankful for the blessings in our lives, for the tremendous opportunities that are a result of our musical success. – Mike Love • I love acting. I think that’s the best job in the world, but I don’t really enjoy the career of it so much. You don’t have as much control over your life or the material as you do, well, certainly when you’re a director or a producer, so while I love acting, I prefer to make my living as a filmmaker, but my rule on acting is if somebody asks me to do a part, I’ll do it. – David Hayter • I love being a mom. That’s the best job I’ve ever had. All the other stuff I love the same, but being a mom trumps all of it. – Tamera Mowry • I mean, I hate when actors talk about how hard their job is. It’s ridiculous, because we have the best job in the world. – Jon Bernthal • I really like writing in English, and it’s the best job I’ve ever had. – Nell Zink • I tell you, ‘Firefly’? Best job I ever had. Heartbroken when it was canceled, but had it not been canceled, I never would have gotten ‘Serenity’. I think ‘Serenity’ is the most incredible thing I’ve ever been able to actually get my hands on and do. I can’t even tell you how much love I have for that project. – Nathan Fillion • I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault. – Paul Ryan • I think I have the best job in the world. Seventy-one percent of the planet is covered by water, we’ve explored less than five percent of the ocean, and there are so many fabulous discoveries that have yet to be made. – Edith Widder • I think it’s a tough road if you’re a stay-at-home mom, a working mom, if you have a partner, if you don’t. It’s the best job in the world, and the toughest job in the world all at the same time. – Angela Kinsey • I think I’ve got the best job around. – Ron Wyden • I wanna do the very best job I can to fulfill the trust and faith that people have in me. – Hillary Clinton • I want to do the best job I can. – Lucas Till • I was shocked by the reaction I got for Bleak House. It was very intensive but one of the best jobs of my life. It was a chance to play a character that grows and develops and I was very enmeshed in it. But I didn’t realise how stylish it was and how much people would love it. – Anna Maxwell Martin • I would never really analyse what I do. I leave that to other people – I’m not a critic. I just want to get on with whatever I have in hand, you know? Just try to make the best job of the available material. – Dylan Moran • I’d love to do situation comedy – it’s the best job in show business. – Patti LuPone • I’m not concentrated or concerned with any other factors rather than just being able to do the best job that I can. – Benigno Aquino III • I’m not saying you need to become a spokesperson for every cause your character goes through, but it’s important to absolutely do the best job we can in portraying a disease, and all the crap that goes with it. – Monica Potter • I’m not trying to put on airs for anybody. I’m only trying to impress myself by doing the best job I can do. – Matthew McConaughey • In 1971, after seven years in college, with that magic piece of paper clutched triumphantly in my fist, the best job I was able to get was night watchman on a sewer project in Babylon, N.Y. guarding a hole in the ground to prevent anyone from stealing it. God bless the American educational system! – Spider Robinson • In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries you have these great nation states hurling their young men at one another. The victory was really going to rest on who could do the best job of bringing up their kids to become efficient and effective soldiers. That’s pretty grandiose, I guess, but I do think that, and thank God it’s been the armies of democracy that have emerged from this as the triumphant armies. – Stephen Ambrose • In the theater we’re like blue-collar workers: It’s a physical job, you don’t make a lot of money, and you’re on the road all the time. It’s worth it in that it’s the best job in the world, but you have to negotiate living in cities that don’t always accommodate you. – Randy Harrison • Inner peace is not found in things like baseball and world championships. As long as I feel I’ve done the best job I possibly could, I’m satisfied. – Sparky Anderson • It’s a form of bullying, in my opinion, to make sure that your kid gets the best grades, the best jobs and all that sort of stuff. I just want my child to be happy. I want him to do his best and trust God in the rest, but I’m not going to bully him. – Nick Vujicic • It’s basically the best job in the world. If you’re fortunate enough – and I consider myself fortunate – you get to work with your friends and you get to work on projects that interest you. – James Franco • It’s just really making sure I am doing the best job I can do as a dad. I do think that is my No. 1 job. – Tony Dungy • I’ve already felt that I want to direct. Being an executive producer is like the best job in the world because you make all these executive decisions and then you leave the money to other people. You don’t have to be on set and counting beans. – Robbie Coltraine • I’ve always thought that, as a romance writer, I had the best job in the world. I sit around all day making up emotion-drenched, conflict-laden stories that push my heroes and heroines to the edge of sanity. Then I give them a happy ending. – Ruth Glick • I’ve got the best job in the world being a senator from the United States, a senator from South Carolina in the United States Senate, representing South Carolina in the United States Senate is a dream job for me, but the world is literally falling apart. And we can’t get anything done here at home. So that drives my thinking more than anything else. – Lindsey Graham • I’ve got the best job in the world, and i meet some of the most amazing human beings on the planet. I’m one lucky guy. – Ty Pennington • Keep your head down. Mind your business and do the best job you can. – Bill Raftery • Keeping your head down and doing the best job you can in the beginning gives you the opportunity to be evaluated on the basis of the contributions you are making. [Then], when you feel strongly about your work or about a position, you’ll be given more attention [than] if you hadn’t done that constantly. – Hillary Clinton • Loving you is a full-time job. It’s a great job, don’t get me wrong. It’s the best job in the universe. But it’s not easy. – Carrie Jones • My goal was to do the best job I could in governing the state of Wisconsin, in some cases making very tough decisions to have to bring our spending in line with the resources we had at the state level. – Scott McCallum • My kids complained about Secret Service as they became teenagers, and Secret Service has done the very best job they could accommodating them, so it hasn’t restricted any of their activities. – Barack Obama • My left brain is doing the best job it can with the information it has to work with. I need to remember, however, that there are enormous gaps between what I know and what I think I know. – Jill Bolte Taylor • My slogan is I’m the least qualified guy for the job, but I’d probably do the best job. – Gary Coleman • People ask me, “How’s Teen Wolf?,” and I tell them it’s literally the best job I’ve ever had. – Shelley Hennig • People tell me I have the best job in the world, which is true, but I also work with some of the best people in the world. – Michael Silverblatt • Perform your job better than anyone else can. That’s the best job security I know. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr. • Random acts of kindness and the desire to do the best job possible lead to trust. – Jeffrey Gitomer • So to the best we can, what we do is focus on creating value for others, and how do we do that? We do it by trying to produce products and services that our customers will value more than their alternatives, and not just their alternatives today, but what the alternatives will be in the future. We try to more efficiently use resources than our competitors, and constantly improve in that, and we try to do the best job we can in creating a safe environment, and environmental excellence, and constantly improve at that. – Charles Koch • Society as a whole is better off when information is available to the public. Whether you are talking about how to prevent disease, or about who does the best job of treating disease, it is useful to provide as much information to the public as possible. – Dave Obey • Sometimes I think I have the best job in the world. – Louis Susman • The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses. – G. M. Trevelyan • The best job that was ever offered to me was to become a landlord in a brothel. In my opinion it’s the perfect milieu for an artist to work in. – William Faulkner • The best verse hasn’t been rhymed yet, The best house hasn’t been planned, The highest peak hasn’t been climbed yet, The mightiest rivers aren’t spanned; Don’t worry and fret, faint-hearted, The chances have just begun For the best jobs haven’t been started, The best work hasn’t been done. – Berton Braley • The companies that do the best job on managing a user’s privacy will be the companies that ultimately are the most successful. – Fred Wilson • The crew, the actors and the writers all work the same way. We always want to do the best job. – Robert Knepper • The last thing I think I am is perfect. I’m just trying to do the best job I can. I’m trying to be the best father I can to my kids. I’m trying to do the best job I can running my business. – James Packer • The man with the best job in the country is the vice-president. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, ‘How is the president?’ – Will Rogers • The only reason to be in politics is public service. There’s no other reason. Frankly, if that’s the best job you can get in terms of money, that’s too bad, you know. Because frankly, it’s not well paid, everyone knows that. So for most people it’s a big sacrifice. – Malcolm Turnbull • The Patriot Post not only does the best job of putting important news, policy and opinion in proper context, but also of cutting down to size the pompous praters and propagandists on the left. – Lyn Nofziger • The thing that I have done throughout my life is to do the best job that I can and to be me. – Mae Jemison • The things you don’t have control over, you don’t worry about. I have control over my attitude, my perception, how I do things, and you do the very best job you can. Other people have control over other things and you let them do their jobs. – Mike Sherman • The voters reward good performance. So, I’m going to go out and focus, if I become the governor, to do the very best job I can as governor. The rest of it will take care of itself. – Dave Heineman • The worst men have the best jobs the best men have the worst jobs or are unemployed or locked in madhouses. – Charles Bukowski • There’s nothing more fun than being out on stage and getting the vibe from the crowd. There’s nothing like being on a set where you are there to make other people happy and to make them laugh. That’s the best job in the world. – Miley Cyrus • There’s such a wide variation in tax systems around the world, it’s difficult to imagine a harmonized CO2 tax that every country agrees to. That’s not in the cards in the near term. But the countries that are doing the best job, like Sweden, are already doing both of these. I think that eventually we’ll use both of them but we need to get started right away and the cap-and-trade is a proven and effective tool. – Al Gore • These days she simply did the best job she could, accepting the good with the bad. – Nicholas Sparks • To get a job where the only thing you have to do in your career is to make people laugh-well, its the best job in the world. – Ronnie Barker • Trump claims he’d be the “best jobs president that God ever created.” But isn’t his claim to fame firing people? – Michael R. Burch • Twin Peaks’ was the best job I ever had as an actor. – Richard Beymer • We started off with a set of objectives for what we needed to communicate with the company’s identity, created several proposals intended to meet those objectives, and picked the one that did the best job. – Gabe Newell • What you realize is that a lot of actors want to be directed. They’re there to do the best job they can for the director. They have a lot of questions, and your job is to have answers. – Jon Turteltaub • Whatever it is, I just loved it and felt at my absolute happiest when I was performing for people. And if that’s what you want from a job, then this is the best job you could ever do. – James Corden • When it is going well, it is the best job [writing] in the world. For those few hours, you are god, in control of everything. However, for me, the great joy of writing is that it has allowed me to travel the world in search of stories. – Michael Scott • When you do something well, this is the best job in the world. – David Thewlis • Women are always being tested … but ultimately, each of us has to define who we are individually and then do the very best job we can to grow into it. – Hillary Clinton • Writing is hard work; its also the best job Ive ever had. – Raymond E. Feist • Writing studio movies is the best job in the world… it’s awesome. – Thomas Lennon • You can’t please everybody. All you can do is really just try to work from the heart and do the best job that you can and hope for the best. – Jackie Earle Haley • You concentrate on what you are doing, to do the best job you can, to stay out of a serious situation. That’s the way the X-1 was. – Chuck Yeager • You do the best job you can. You take it step by step. It’s hard enough to make a movie. If it works, that’s great. If it means something beyond the moment to somebody, they can take it and it lasts through the years, we’ll see. – Oliver Stone • You just go in and try to do the best job you can everyday. – Nick Cassavetes • You just try to get the best jobs that you can get. Sometimes I produce my own movies, so that’s your own sort of vision. That helps things. I don’t know what it is. Probably just circumstance. I’ve definitely been aware of the fact that I want to do different things. – John Cusack • You try to get yourself into a situation where you only have to answer to yourself, where you can ask advice of people and work with your peers and mentors and things to try to do the best job that you can possibly do. – George Lucas

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'a', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_a').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_a img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'e', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_e').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_e img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'i', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_i').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_i img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'o', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_o').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_o img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'u', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_u').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_u img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

[equitiesstocks]

Best Job Quotes

Official Website: Best Job Quotes

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();

• Acting in particular is a fun job when you have a good script. I don’t know about acting when you don’t have a great script. I’m gonna say that’s not a great job, it’s kind of a dumb job. But when you have a good part in a good script, it’s the best job, in a way. – Bob Odenkirk • Acting is the best job in the world. Look at the way they treat you when you turn up for work. They give you breakfast and a cup of tea and ask, ‘Are you all right’ They tart up your face, you say somebody else’s words, then pick up your check and go home. And you get days off. I tell you, it really is the way to live. – Bob Hoskins • Actually, acting turned out to be the perfect job for me, because I had a lot of different interests. I thought about being a priest at one point. I thought about being a teacher. I thought about being a lawyer. But I think acting is probably the best job for me. – John C. Reilly • Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals. – Donald Rumsfeld • Anyone who says they don’t enjoy the Army is mad – you can spend a week hating it and the next week it could be the best thing in the world and the best job you could ever, ever wish for. It has got so much to offer. – Prince Harry • As an actor, you want to do the best job possible, and you want the best scripts possible because it makes life more interesting. – Mark Strickson • At the end of the day, the TV show is the best job in the world. I get to go anywhere I want, eat and drink whatever I want. As long as I just babble at the camera, other people will pay for it. It’s a gift. – Anthony Bourdain

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Job', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_job').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_job img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Being a chef is the best job in the world. – Gordon Ramsay • Being a showrunner is tough, but it is incredibly rewarding and it is, without a doubt, the best job I’ve ever had. – Graham Yost • Big money, big Liberal Party politics and big media are trying to get rid of us, of course, by letting Packer take over Fairfax – a media-only company. But we’re hanging in there and doing the best job we can for our readers while we can. – Margo Kingston • Boxing is the best job in the world to let off steam, and people are in trouble when Tyson wants to let off steam – Michael Spinks • But [Sunday] as you saw, it was obviously [the media] took some more than initiative to try to get me to kind of go down the wrong path. I know the last two teams that I’ve been on, I felt like I left those teams prematurely due to media interviews that I’ve done and things kind of taken out of context and they created sort of a media whirlwind in the locker room and things kind of went downhill from there. I’m just trying to do the best job I can do as far as answering the questions and trying to be a better teammate and not try to throw people under the bus. – Terrell Owens • Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.- Confucius • David Ortiz is an icon. He is one of a kind. But we’ll do our best job to replace the offensive aspect, however we can. – Dave Dombrowski • Directing is a nice job. It’s the best job for me. If I had to pay money to do it, I would do it… Directing is playing. Acting. – William Friedkin • Directing is a nice job. It’s the best job for me. If i had to pay money to do it, I would do itIt’s problematical. It’s disapointing often. It’s very challenging. It’s frustrating as hell. It’s extremely demanding and totally satisfying work. And if I wasn’t doing this, I would have to do legitimate work for a living. There are guys out there really working for a living, cleaning streets or coal mining, teaching. Directing is playing. Acting. – William Friedkin • Directing is probably the best job, but acting is really, really great. It’s like a fun vacation that you get paid for. – Bob Odenkirk • Every little kid that steps on the court or the field has aspirations to go pro. I think being a pro basketball player is the best job. The thing I had to realize was that I can’t do every dream that I have. – Brian McKnight • Every mother I’ve ever met, pretty much without exception, is doing the best job she can ever do. – Jennifer Weiner • Everything I do is unfabulous. Im the most normal person. I love walking everywhere, and going to hole-in-the-wall places, like nail shops, because they do the best job. And I go to vintage stores rather than high-end boutiques, because I like to dress different from other people. – Ashley Benson • For somebody who loves foreign policy, being Secretary is the best job in the world – but it doesn’t happen twice. – Madeleine Albright • I am already experiencing something better than being a pop star and that’s being a father. It’s the best job in the world. A lot of work, but a lot of fun. – A. J. McLean • I am happy with what I do. I’d love to be the manager of the Atlanta Braves, but they hired somebody this week. So I’ll just have to be inordinately happy with one of the best jobs on the planet. – Robert Gibbs • I am positive – determined to move forward with my life, bring up my babies, and do the best job I can as a mother, entertainer, and person. – Jennifer Lopez • I call ‘Community’ the best day job in the world, because between takes, I get to write music. I get to write sketches. I get to write movies. It’s the best job ever. – Donald Glover • I enjoyed the crew. The best part about ‘The X-Files’ has been the crew. This crew is an exceptional family and to go to work with a bunch of people that you really like is great. They’re all the best of the best and they really try to do the best job they can. I’ll miss that – Robert Patrick • I feel like I have to do the best job I can to basically say, “OK, I understand – you have every right to be angry, but anger is not a plan. Here’s what I want to do, and that’s why I hope you will support me, because I think it will actually improve the lives of Americans.” – Hillary Clinton • I felt like I had kind of played it out, and I wanted to see what was next, and then came Mythbusters. You know, it’s the best job I’ve ever had, on its worst day it’s better than anything else, but it’s a huge amount of responsibility, and there are days when just going into work and building something from someone else’s drawing sounds like going back to heaven. – Adam Savage • I grew up thinking the best job in the world would be a Jedi and being a psychologist is the closest thing I could get, so I wanted to be a Jedi and I don’t want to be a Sith, so that is what keeps me on the straight and narrow. – John Amaechi • I had fun pretending to be a sportscaster. People always think that was a down thing for me. I had the best job in sports broadcasting for two years. – Dennis Miller • I have everything that I could possibly want in life, from a gorgeous granddaughter and a wonderful wife, brilliant students, the best job anyone could hope for, and about half of my hair. Not the half I would have kept, but no one consulted me. – Daniel Gilbert • I have talent at playing myself. I don’t have a very broad range, but at playing myself I am a wizard. It’s more than fun; it’s the best job on Earth. – Ben Stein • I have the best job in the entire history of broadcasting. – Willard Scott • I have the best job in the world with the best fans in the world – Jeremy Davis • I have the best job in the world. – Anthony Bourdain • I have the best job in the world. I’m able to express myself, and people attach themselves to it if they identify with it. Music certainly is a driving force in my life. There’s not a moment where I’m not in it. – James Hetfield • I have the best job in the world. There’s not really a lot to moan or whine about. I’ve got the privilege of going out and doing something I absolutely love. – Boy George • I have the world’s best job. I get paid to hang out in my imagination all day. – Stephen King • I hope to focus on what I’m passionate about because I think I’d do them best job on them – education, urban education, women and children’s issues and literacy. – Jenna Bush • I just feel that God gave me a certain gift, and that was to go out, do storytelling and be an actor. And my responsibility with that gift is to do the best job possible and to re-create real life. – Eric Close • I just try to do the best job I possibly can – put the blinders on, go to work and be the best you can possibly be. Once you have done everything that you possibly can – you’ve put forth your greatest effort – then I can live with whatever’s next. – Bill Parcells • I just try to do the best job that I can, as an actor. Hopefully, that carries through. That’s all I can do. – Luke Mitchell • I know that I am my worst critic. I know that if I can walk away from the set at the end of the day and feel that I did the best job I could and feel proud, that’s what will satisfy me. – Emmy Rossum • I learned that when you do the best job that you can do, some people will idolize you, others won’t care, and some will vilify you. – Mike Love • I learned that when you do the best job that you can do, some people will idolize you, others won’t care, and some will vilify you. I believe it is important to remain humble and thankful for the blessings in our lives, for the tremendous opportunities that are a result of our musical success. – Mike Love • I love acting. I think that’s the best job in the world, but I don’t really enjoy the career of it so much. You don’t have as much control over your life or the material as you do, well, certainly when you’re a director or a producer, so while I love acting, I prefer to make my living as a filmmaker, but my rule on acting is if somebody asks me to do a part, I’ll do it. – David Hayter • I love being a mom. That’s the best job I’ve ever had. All the other stuff I love the same, but being a mom trumps all of it. – Tamera Mowry • I mean, I hate when actors talk about how hard their job is. It’s ridiculous, because we have the best job in the world. – Jon Bernthal • I really like writing in English, and it’s the best job I’ve ever had. – Nell Zink • I tell you, ‘Firefly’? Best job I ever had. Heartbroken when it was canceled, but had it not been canceled, I never would have gotten ‘Serenity’. I think ‘Serenity’ is the most incredible thing I’ve ever been able to actually get my hands on and do. I can’t even tell you how much love I have for that project. – Nathan Fillion • I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault. – Paul Ryan • I think I have the best job in the world. Seventy-one percent of the planet is covered by water, we’ve explored less than five percent of the ocean, and there are so many fabulous discoveries that have yet to be made. – Edith Widder • I think it’s a tough road if you’re a stay-at-home mom, a working mom, if you have a partner, if you don’t. It’s the best job in the world, and the toughest job in the world all at the same time. – Angela Kinsey • I think I’ve got the best job around. – Ron Wyden • I wanna do the very best job I can to fulfill the trust and faith that people have in me. – Hillary Clinton • I want to do the best job I can. – Lucas Till • I was shocked by the reaction I got for Bleak House. It was very intensive but one of the best jobs of my life. It was a chance to play a character that grows and develops and I was very enmeshed in it. But I didn’t realise how stylish it was and how much people would love it. – Anna Maxwell Martin • I would never really analyse what I do. I leave that to other people – I’m not a critic. I just want to get on with whatever I have in hand, you know? Just try to make the best job of the available material. – Dylan Moran • I’d love to do situation comedy – it’s the best job in show business. – Patti LuPone • I’m not concentrated or concerned with any other factors rather than just being able to do the best job that I can. – Benigno Aquino III • I’m not saying you need to become a spokesperson for every cause your character goes through, but it’s important to absolutely do the best job we can in portraying a disease, and all the crap that goes with it. – Monica Potter • I’m not trying to put on airs for anybody. I’m only trying to impress myself by doing the best job I can do. – Matthew McConaughey • In 1971, after seven years in college, with that magic piece of paper clutched triumphantly in my fist, the best job I was able to get was night watchman on a sewer project in Babylon, N.Y. guarding a hole in the ground to prevent anyone from stealing it. God bless the American educational system! – Spider Robinson • In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries you have these great nation states hurling their young men at one another. The victory was really going to rest on who could do the best job of bringing up their kids to become efficient and effective soldiers. That’s pretty grandiose, I guess, but I do think that, and thank God it’s been the armies of democracy that have emerged from this as the triumphant armies. – Stephen Ambrose • In the theater we’re like blue-collar workers: It’s a physical job, you don’t make a lot of money, and you’re on the road all the time. It’s worth it in that it’s the best job in the world, but you have to negotiate living in cities that don’t always accommodate you. – Randy Harrison • Inner peace is not found in things like baseball and world championships. As long as I feel I’ve done the best job I possibly could, I’m satisfied. – Sparky Anderson • It’s a form of bullying, in my opinion, to make sure that your kid gets the best grades, the best jobs and all that sort of stuff. I just want my child to be happy. I want him to do his best and trust God in the rest, but I’m not going to bully him. – Nick Vujicic • It’s basically the best job in the world. If you’re fortunate enough – and I consider myself fortunate – you get to work with your friends and you get to work on projects that interest you. – James Franco • It’s just really making sure I am doing the best job I can do as a dad. I do think that is my No. 1 job. – Tony Dungy • I’ve already felt that I want to direct. Being an executive producer is like the best job in the world because you make all these executive decisions and then you leave the money to other people. You don’t have to be on set and counting beans. – Robbie Coltraine • I’ve always thought that, as a romance writer, I had the best job in the world. I sit around all day making up emotion-drenched, conflict-laden stories that push my heroes and heroines to the edge of sanity. Then I give them a happy ending. – Ruth Glick • I’ve got the best job in the world being a senator from the United States, a senator from South Carolina in the United States Senate, representing South Carolina in the United States Senate is a dream job for me, but the world is literally falling apart. And we can’t get anything done here at home. So that drives my thinking more than anything else. – Lindsey Graham • I’ve got the best job in the world, and i meet some of the most amazing human beings on the planet. I’m one lucky guy. – Ty Pennington • Keep your head down. Mind your business and do the best job you can. – Bill Raftery • Keeping your head down and doing the best job you can in the beginning gives you the opportunity to be evaluated on the basis of the contributions you are making. [Then], when you feel strongly about your work or about a position, you’ll be given more attention [than] if you hadn’t done that constantly. – Hillary Clinton • Loving you is a full-time job. It’s a great job, don’t get me wrong. It’s the best job in the universe. But it’s not easy. – Carrie Jones • My goal was to do the best job I could in governing the state of Wisconsin, in some cases making very tough decisions to have to bring our spending in line with the resources we had at the state level. – Scott McCallum • My kids complained about Secret Service as they became teenagers, and Secret Service has done the very best job they could accommodating them, so it hasn’t restricted any of their activities. – Barack Obama • My left brain is doing the best job it can with the information it has to work with. I need to remember, however, that there are enormous gaps between what I know and what I think I know. – Jill Bolte Taylor • My slogan is I’m the least qualified guy for the job, but I’d probably do the best job. – Gary Coleman • People ask me, “How’s Teen Wolf?,” and I tell them it’s literally the best job I’ve ever had. – Shelley Hennig • People tell me I have the best job in the world, which is true, but I also work with some of the best people in the world. – Michael Silverblatt • Perform your job better than anyone else can. That’s the best job security I know. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr. • Random acts of kindness and the desire to do the best job possible lead to trust. – Jeffrey Gitomer • So to the best we can, what we do is focus on creating value for others, and how do we do that? We do it by trying to produce products and services that our customers will value more than their alternatives, and not just their alternatives today, but what the alternatives will be in the future. We try to more efficiently use resources than our competitors, and constantly improve in that, and we try to do the best job we can in creating a safe environment, and environmental excellence, and constantly improve at that. – Charles Koch • Society as a whole is better off when information is available to the public. Whether you are talking about how to prevent disease, or about who does the best job of treating disease, it is useful to provide as much information to the public as possible. – Dave Obey • Sometimes I think I have the best job in the world. – Louis Susman • The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses. – G. M. Trevelyan • The best job that was ever offered to me was to become a landlord in a brothel. In my opinion it’s the perfect milieu for an artist to work in. – William Faulkner • The best verse hasn’t been rhymed yet, The best house hasn’t been planned, The highest peak hasn’t been climbed yet, The mightiest rivers aren’t spanned; Don’t worry and fret, faint-hearted, The chances have just begun For the best jobs haven’t been started, The best work hasn’t been done. – Berton Braley • The companies that do the best job on managing a user’s privacy will be the companies that ultimately are the most successful. – Fred Wilson • The crew, the actors and the writers all work the same way. We always want to do the best job. – Robert Knepper • The last thing I think I am is perfect. I’m just trying to do the best job I can. I’m trying to be the best father I can to my kids. I’m trying to do the best job I can running my business. – James Packer • The man with the best job in the country is the vice-president. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, ‘How is the president?’ – Will Rogers • The only reason to be in politics is public service. There’s no other reason. Frankly, if that’s the best job you can get in terms of money, that’s too bad, you know. Because frankly, it’s not well paid, everyone knows that. So for most people it’s a big sacrifice. – Malcolm Turnbull • The Patriot Post not only does the best job of putting important news, policy and opinion in proper context, but also of cutting down to size the pompous praters and propagandists on the left. – Lyn Nofziger • The thing that I have done throughout my life is to do the best job that I can and to be me. – Mae Jemison • The things you don’t have control over, you don’t worry about. I have control over my attitude, my perception, how I do things, and you do the very best job you can. Other people have control over other things and you let them do their jobs. – Mike Sherman • The voters reward good performance. So, I’m going to go out and focus, if I become the governor, to do the very best job I can as governor. The rest of it will take care of itself. – Dave Heineman • The worst men have the best jobs the best men have the worst jobs or are unemployed or locked in madhouses. – Charles Bukowski • There’s nothing more fun than being out on stage and getting the vibe from the crowd. There’s nothing like being on a set where you are there to make other people happy and to make them laugh. That’s the best job in the world. – Miley Cyrus • There’s such a wide variation in tax systems around the world, it’s difficult to imagine a harmonized CO2 tax that every country agrees to. That’s not in the cards in the near term. But the countries that are doing the best job, like Sweden, are already doing both of these. I think that eventually we’ll use both of them but we need to get started right away and the cap-and-trade is a proven and effective tool. – Al Gore • These days she simply did the best job she could, accepting the good with the bad. – Nicholas Sparks • To get a job where the only thing you have to do in your career is to make people laugh-well, its the best job in the world. – Ronnie Barker • Trump claims he’d be the “best jobs president that God ever created.” But isn’t his claim to fame firing people? – Michael R. Burch • Twin Peaks’ was the best job I ever had as an actor. – Richard Beymer • We started off with a set of objectives for what we needed to communicate with the company’s identity, created several proposals intended to meet those objectives, and picked the one that did the best job. – Gabe Newell • What you realize is that a lot of actors want to be directed. They’re there to do the best job they can for the director. They have a lot of questions, and your job is to have answers. – Jon Turteltaub • Whatever it is, I just loved it and felt at my absolute happiest when I was performing for people. And if that’s what you want from a job, then this is the best job you could ever do. – James Corden • When it is going well, it is the best job [writing] in the world. For those few hours, you are god, in control of everything. However, for me, the great joy of writing is that it has allowed me to travel the world in search of stories. – Michael Scott • When you do something well, this is the best job in the world. – David Thewlis • Women are always being tested … but ultimately, each of us has to define who we are individually and then do the very best job we can to grow into it. – Hillary Clinton • Writing is hard work; its also the best job Ive ever had. – Raymond E. Feist • Writing studio movies is the best job in the world… it’s awesome. – Thomas Lennon • You can’t please everybody. All you can do is really just try to work from the heart and do the best job that you can and hope for the best. – Jackie Earle Haley • You concentrate on what you are doing, to do the best job you can, to stay out of a serious situation. That’s the way the X-1 was. – Chuck Yeager • You do the best job you can. You take it step by step. It’s hard enough to make a movie. If it works, that’s great. If it means something beyond the moment to somebody, they can take it and it lasts through the years, we’ll see. – Oliver Stone • You just go in and try to do the best job you can everyday. – Nick Cassavetes • You just try to get the best jobs that you can get. Sometimes I produce my own movies, so that’s your own sort of vision. That helps things. I don’t know what it is. Probably just circumstance. I’ve definitely been aware of the fact that I want to do different things. – John Cusack • You try to get yourself into a situation where you only have to answer to yourself, where you can ask advice of people and work with your peers and mentors and things to try to do the best job that you can possibly do. – George Lucas

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'a', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_a').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_a img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'e', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_e').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_e img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'i', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_i').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_i img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'o', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_o').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_o img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'u', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_u').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_u img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

[newslegion-blog1]

CONNOISSEUR: DARK TOURIST - NETFLIX TRAVELOGUE 2018

I watched the Netfliix series Dark Tourist. It was mostly enjoyable and certainly interesting. I made some notes on the show which may as well see the light of day here.

Segment on war reenactment and the presenter couldn't get his head around the fact the people there we taking a break from their humdrum lives and playing around Hollywood, all in uniform, with their friends. Mocked the fact they all ate together, Germans and Americans.

The presenter spent the whole time chasing down the "Nazi" subtext and looking to find out if they were all closet fascists. Despite the entire experience being simply people doing silly but communal things, with the war and the tossing about in uniform, without any sinister politics... the commentary throughout treated anything said as if it was suspect, questioning "should this be allowed?" re: World War II reenactment where you have Germans in Nazi insignia uniform. It's not a big leap from this, to censorship - the sort of SJW bullshit that deplatformed everyone.

"And this is, like, your holiday?" asks the Dark Tourist to the mildly autistic ninnies playing war-games in uniform (Nazis included). Last episode, let’s not forget, the Dark Tourist was going on a Jeffrey Dahmer tour, participating in a vigil trying to summon up his serial killer ghost. Hypocrite! The reenactment soldier-actors are all outrage culture savvy though and the technique fails to resonate so we can almost feel the disappointment as the Dark Tourist motions “cut!” to the crew and moves onto the black history museum instead.

Again the same angle, the same presumption of shared values and sensitivities giving the Dark Tourist license to behave like a rude bastard, e.g. questioning the weird curator's motives in running such a macabre museum, insinuating there’s surely something criminal in the acquisition of fascist/racist collectibles. “Isn’t it a proof of something evil? And therefore collectors - let alone those who display them - are revealing themselves as evil sympathisers? SURELY?”

Not only is all this fatuous bullshit but it’s also a hypocritical double-standard that pervades a lot of SJW and now coopted ‘official’ liberal thinking. You see: it's alright to mock and judge-condemn white folks in England or Russia, but if it’s a brown hitman in Colombia he’s a charmer or a Mexican death-cult mistress in Mexico City is treated with reverence, narrated as likeable and enigmatic.

There's a funny blend in Australian (and New Zealander) liberal lefty graduates that's a strident mashup of American idealism and dynamic curiosity and English erudition and quiet complex judgment. Masked by a faux self-effacing attitude that’s alert for triggers that might break out and occupy a moral highground that’ll serve as an injection of confident confrontation. This is a blend that works a lot of the time, while it remains mild and humane and genuinely non-egomaniac, e.g. the soft humanitarian liberalism of a Tim Minchin. When it doesn't work, as sometimes with the Dark Tourist, it becomes an entitled white privilege made palatable to the advocate by a dose of saccharine super-tolerance. See, this tolerance is selective and self-serving. Self-serving as it’s a conceit, a justification for those aggressive moral highground judge and punish indulgences. Selective as it’s a tolerance ‘downward’ (which is itself a conceit) and hostile ‘upward’ not least because the conceit is incompatible with the challenge of facing anyone who’s a cultural “peer”.

All this adds up to something a bit offensive: a cake and eat it syndrome, bleeding lifecontent from weirdos and obsessive compulsives and daft thrill seekers, all the while unconsciously driven by a need to fill a strange void in their own volitions.

I think this is a common complaint among a certain flavour of educated middle class Anglo-white liberals. It’s not entirely about conceit or morality. It’s partly a consequence of the relentless rootless realism - athiesm versus faith is a microcosm. So much hocum has been dispensed with, so much bullshit debunked, it doesn't leave enough that’s compelling (even if that’s a mindscape of neuroses) to make a sufficiently compelling life. Nothing fun or explosive about reductive understanding. Seeing the Emperor is naked and his new clothes are no clothes at all: it’s good and progressive but it’s still a rather bland imperfect nudity in place of rich beautiful diversity of colour!

Titillation, the Dark Tourist reluctantly concludes, when it comes to a lot of the white weirdness. This is quite perceptive "Maybe that's reason enough," he comments to the camera and that's about the sum of it. Vampire fangs for lonely Louisiana misfits, war-games for bored Carphone Warehouse managers, voyeur 'forbidden' collections in Wisconsin and Wiltshire, radiation chasers in Japan, weekender husbands staying off the scag in Kazakhstan: the details don't matter. It’s all titillation and, sure, that’s rather pathetic, but perhaps it’s better than sneering at the world in search of triggers for manufactured outrage.

There was one standout episode in this series though the show didn't mention how the Dark Tourist managed to get into the rocket launch site at Baikonur. But get there he did and though the piece begins with the boring familiar routine - in this case wanting to poke fun at the wealthy American gammons who pay a fortune to merely watch the launch in Russia-leased Kazakhstan or, failing that, gently mock the old Russian space program legacy Soyuz rockets or the weird am-dram of the cosmonauts doing their final press conference. Indeed in this conference the Dark Tourist gets up and asks "what is the point of space?". This is a key point in the show as the astronaut answers with words that - to a cynic - would be taken as platitudes. But here is a guy who is about to risk his life doing something amazing. The Dark Tourist is disarmed, not because of what was said but the contrast of his own agenda - the empty cynicism of a risk-averse middle class tourist - and the brave single-minded practical “child-like” focus of the cosmonauts.

Then the lesson comes to life. The rocket for the astronauts is wheeled out of its warehouse and it is enormous. And then the cosmonauts walk to the launchpad, saying goodbye to their families through the goldfish bowl helmets, pressing handprints together. This is too basic human and 'good' to be mocked. Finally the rocket launches and it's a magnificent brilliant spectacle - just three human beings being sent into space, sitting on top of a million pounds of rocket fuel burning a bright trail into the night sky, passing out of sight into the mesosphere. You know, just three humans trying their best.

It's bricks and mortar (or kelvar and rocket fuel) human endeavour. At the cutting edge, in this case. A dangerous edge, too. It's impossible not to be inspired. Or to find an answer, cutting through the bullshit, to the question "why do we go into space?"

[rachelbrosnahanweb]

New Update has been published on Rachel Brosnahan Web

New Post has been published on http://rachel-brosnahan.org/2018/07/31/press-video-rachel-brosnahan-channels-beyonce-for-the-standup-scenes-in-the-marvelous-mrs-maisel/

Press/Video: Rachel Brosnahan Channels Beyoncé For the Standup Scenes in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

From the time when Rachel Brosnahan first showed up on our screens as Midge, the 50’s housewife-turned-standup comedian in the Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, to when she won the Golden Globe in January for her breakthrough performance, the actress has seemed a natural for creator Amy Sherman-Palladino’s quick-fire one-liners. Which is why it’s a little surprising to hear just how terrified Brosnahan was of her turn to comedy after appearances in deadly serious dramas like House of Cards. Here, catch up with the Emmy nominee as she explains why she some of that Sasha Fierce courage whenever she has to go onstage on Mrs. Maisel, the second season of which is still in production.

Do you remember a time when you did not want to be an actress?

No. There was never a time when I didn’t want to be an actress, I don’t think. Maybe when I was an infant, but probably still then also.

Were you a theatrical child?

I was kind of a shy kid, actually. I read a lot. I had my face in a book all the time, but I had a big imagination.

What was the first job you auditioned for?

My first audition ever was for a voiceover for a rehab facility in central Illinois. I did [book it].

Was there an audition for the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?

There was definitely an audition; there were a few of them. The first one was pretty standard. I came in for just a casting director in a small room not completely unlike this one that I’m in now, and read a couple of scenes. And then a couple weeks later, I went out to L.A. to read with/for Amy [Sherman-Palladino] and Dan [Palladino] and our L.A. casting director Jeanie Bacharach.

And did you dress the part a little bit?

A little bit. I tried not to. I can’t really do my own hair and makeup, so anything in that department was kind of a disaster. But for my first audition, I think I wore this little yellow shirt that I thought was adorable but then they asked me to change for my second audition. [Laughs.] So, it wasn’t as adorable as I thought.

How much do you think the costumes are apart of the character in Mrs. Maisel?

The costumes are a huge part. Midge’s outer appearance is something she takes an enormous amount of pride in, something that makes her feel good and gives her a purpose. It’s the first thing the world sees and it means a lot to her. The costumes are huge on our show and our costume designer Donna Zakowska is a freaking crazy genius lady and everything that falls out of her brain is more brilliant than the last thing. She just continues to outdo herself, and it’s become such an important part of the show, and of this woman.

Do you have to wear a girdle?

I have to wear a corset, but fun fact about the corset: I used to wear a corset that was called the Krakowski because it had originally been designed for Jane Krakowski. And this season, now we have the Brosnahan, which was designed in Paris when we went out to shoot there for a little bit. So I have my very own corset now. I’m in the big leagues. [Laughs.]

How does it feel? Has it changed your posture, your body?

Yeah, at first, when we first started shooting the first couple episodes of the first season, I felt like I couldn’t think about anything but the fact that I was in a corset. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t eat. And I got used to it over time, which is sort of disturbing but also great.

And then, this season, with the new one, it’s a little bit different than the former corset. I like it, it’s supportive and… I’m not wearing a corset to make me smaller. I’m wearing a corset to slightly change the shape of my waist to match the 1950’s. So, the clothes in the 50’s, the waist was a little bit lower than it was in the 40’s and my natural waist is kind of high, so that’s the reason I have a corset on. But I do find it changes the way I stand and sit and walk. And between the corset and the petticoats and the tights and these beautiful, beautiful costumes, and hair and makeup, I feel completely transformed when I walk out of the trailer. That’s my favorite part about being an actor—it always has been. And I’m so lucky to be on a show where I get to do that so completely every day.

Were you nervous about doing the comedy?

Was I nervous? [Laughs.] I’m still nervous every single day. Comedy is horrifying, it’s absolutely terrifying, it’s the worst thing I could possibly imagine anyone doing to themselves. And by the same token, it’s the most thrilling and most exhilarating and most bold and brave thing I could possibly imagine. I can’t claim to have ever really experienced what it’s like to do stand up, because real stand up, you’re out there as yourself and you’re pouring your soul out, or some part of your soul out, for a laugh. And on our show, I don’t have to be me, I’m playing a character.

But she’s pouring her soul out.

She is, yeah, but the lines are written for me. The brilliant jokes are written for me—but it’s still horrifying. It’s stage fright like I’ve never experienced, but one of the cool things about the show is that I get to grow along with Midge on this journey towards becoming a comedian.

I’ve learned a lot through the process, too, alongside her about somethings that Susie says to Midge about listening to an audience and responding with your audience and looking out at the crowd and really taking them in and the way that you carry yourself on stage—the way you walk, when you pause.and I’m learning a lot about the more technical side as we go on.

Do you think you’d ever go up and do stand up on your own?

Absolutely not. Nope. No, no, no, never. No, there are a whole host of things I’d rather do … No. [Laughs.]

But when you do it, do you feel you’re channeling something when you’re onstage doing the stand up scenes? Because they’re very interesting.

Really, I get to channel Midge but it feels like a little bit of a Sasha Fierce thing, you know? I do a lot of power posing in my dressing room in my corset and petticoats by myself, sort of trying to draw the confidence from somewhere. But yeah, it’s so cool, and I get to have so many scene partners in those scenes. Our background actors who are in the club with me, they’re extraordinary. They give everything to me while I’m up on stage and they are equally a part of those scenes either succeeding or falling flat and I’m eternally grateful for every new group of actors we have in those scenes.

So, growing up, what was your favorite TV show?

These answers are going to be very highbrow, but I really loved the Rugrats. I also really loved—there was this show on Noggin called Ghostwriter, and I loved it. It was about a bunch of kids my age solving mysteries. It was like a lot of the books I loved to read.

Did you have a favorite film?

[Laughs.] I really loved Austin Powers.

Your parents let you watch it? How old were you?

Too young, maybe. My dad really loved Austin Powers and… This is so silly, but I have such fond memories of watching Austin Powers with my whole family in the living room. My dad, because my brother and I were maybe a little on the young side, anytime they said bad words or something inappropriate, my dad would sort of go [clears throat] through the whole thing. He just loved it. Couldn’t get enough.

When did you tell your parents you wanted to be an actress?

Formally, probably when I was about 17. Right at that point where you’re in school and everybody starts talking about the SATs and the ACTs and where you want to go to college, and I think that was when I really realized I didn’t have any other interests, or any other viable job options.

Well, you were only 17.

That’s right, yeah. It’s so hard to know… It’s still so crazy to me that at 17 you’re supposed to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life. But I think I was pretty certain about it then, and here we are now. It’s working out okay. [Laughs.]

Who was your cinematic crush then or now?

Oh gosh, now I have so many. Colin Firth. I love Colin Firth. I’ve never seen Mamma Mia, but I loved him in Bridget Jones’s Diary, Pride and Prejudice. And I mean, Frances McDormand is my forever screen crush.

When you were little, who did you have a crush on?

Well, I had kind of obscure taste. Fred Durst. From Limp Bizkit. Yeah, yeah, I had a poster of him that I ripped out of J-14 above my bed. I dug him. [Laughs.]

So you were a bit of a head banger as well?

No, no. I just think I thought he looked cool.

You liked tattoos?

I still love tattoos. I loved tattoos then, I still love them now. I don’t have any, though. There’s still time.

What was the first album you ever bought?

I think the first album I ever bought … Was Samantha Mumba too late? When was Samantha Mumba? I really loved Samantha Mumba. I wish I could remember any of her songs now, but I can remember exactly what the cover of her album looked like. I think that probably was the first CD I bought with my own money. The cover of her album was orange. She had a great outfit on it, that’s all I remember. I remember holding that CD and I kept it with me for such a long time. It meant a lot, the first one you buy yourself with allowance or babysitting money.

Definitely.

I also had a lot of, you know, Backstreet Boys, Aaron Carter, 98 Degrees.

No NSYNC?

I was a Backstreet girl, no NSYNC. That felt like sacrilege. You can’t like them both.

What is your karaoke song?

Well, singing scares the f—ing living daylights out of me, so I don’t karaoke much. “I Will Always Love You” [by Whitney Houston] is really good and gets better the drunker you are. I love “Open Arms.” Journey’s always good. The Spice Girls. Oh, that was another album. I had all the Spice Girls albums. That’s a good karaoke song. Also gets better the drunker you get.

Most karaoke gets better the drunker you get.

That’s true. You get fearless.

Exactly. And where was your first kiss?

Oh my God. My first kiss was… Well, I don’t count this one, but my first actual kiss was in an Embassy Suites hotel room. My cousin and I met some boys and we were playing truth or dare and we sort of had a weird quick little kiss, but I don’t count that one. My first real kiss was in a slide on a playground with a boy that I liked when I was about 12 or 13.

That’s so cute.

We were in the middle of it. We managed to stop somehow in one of those big, tubular slides. It was very cute. It was yellow.

Wow, how romantic. Did he become your boyfriend?

No. [Laughs.] It was just a little crush. I was too young to have a real… I guess, now you’re not too young, but I felt too young then to have a real boyfriend. He was my sort of just my crush, and we kissed a little. I never told anyone that.

What’s your favorite Halloween costume you’ve ever had?

Well, so on the Austin Powers theme, when I was in fourth grade, I went as Vanessa Kensington.

No.

Yeah, and my mom made the costume for me. It was silver and had a little halter neck and some boots, some knee-highs. And I had my hair in like a cute little bump. People had no idea who I was. Nobody has any idea, I was explaining it all day long. It was epic, though.

Source: W Magazine

[amyalicechristensen-blog]

Confiding on Conferences

I think attending conferences is the most important thing one can do for personal growth. Occupational conferences provide the latest information, technology and theory in one’s professional field. Conferences associated with a hobby or special interest spark creativity.  Religious conferences can deepen one’s faith and provide enlightenment. However, for me, I think the most important aspect of the conference environment (and the one aspect all conferences have in common) is that it allows me to connect with other people who share something with me; whether that connection is through my occupation, special interest or religion.  

At nearly every conference I have attended, my mind has been blown wide open with new information.  Or maybe some elusive concept suddenly comes sharply into focus with profound understanding.  There is always something new to be learned, even if you are considered an expert in your field or a guru of your faith.  A conference brings me together with like-minded people who can impart to me their unique and individual perspective towards that passion which we share.  A conference is intensive, and creative education intensified by human connection.

Particularly after attending Paganicon in Minneapolis this March, I’m going as far as to say that in my opinion, no one has any business being an educator or mentor if they don’t attend some sort of conference every few years or so.  In fact, someone truly devoted to their work, special interest or faith maybe should be trying to attend as many conferences as they can afford. I think that a true passion deserves true devotion.  

One of the best examples I can offer as a demonstration of the importance of conferences came from performer Kari Tauring in her Nordic Roots Workshop at Paganicon.  Ms. Tauring is devoted to her Norwegian heritage. She has spent a considerable amount of time researching the indigenous faith practices of the Norwegian people. She believes that religious faith is centered in the music, dances and folklore of the people.  Most of her workshop was spent trying to teach a lot of us awkward pagans how to dance like a Viking.  It went far deeper than dipping and shuffling our feet - we were making the Scandinavian runes with our own bodies as we danced.  Once I let go of whether I was bending my knees at the right time, the act of becoming Mannaz, the rune for community, by being in community, solidified the meaning of this magic symbol for me in a way that goes far beyond words or language.

Ms. Tauring really rocked my spiritual world though with her simple translation of a basic divination with Runes – the three Rune draw.  She explained that each of those three Runes correlates to each of the three Norns of Scandinavian mythology.  The Norns have the responsibility for the Wyrd, which translates most closely to “fate.” Urd is represented by the first Rune draw, Her responsibility is that of the past, what once was.  Verdandi is represented by the second Rune which is commonly associated with the present, but according to Ms. Tauring, Her responsibility is really over “that which is becoming.”  Most people assume (incorrectly) that the third Rune, in the basic three Rune draw represents the future, but Skuld, the final Norn has a responsibility that isn’t quite that easy to articulate.  Really what the great Skuld governs is something akin to “that which is likely.” She represents what is most probable given what was, and what is becoming.  

Ms. Tauring then related the Norns concepts to heritage as a whole.  She related that if you spend time studying where you came from, you can more easily predict what you might become; but more importantly, if you don’t like that direction, you can arm yourself with the tools to change it.    

I have had many spiritual teachers who have stressed the importance of reverence of one’s own ancestors as a cornerstone of pagan faith practice.  I was told time and time again to make space in my home for an ancestor alter and make daily offerings to these dead people.  I didn’t just disagree with my teachers, this idea that my faith depended on my ancestors made me profoundly angry.  I have done extensive research on my family history.  Trust me when I tell you, none of these miserable, abusive alcoholics belong on an alter of any kind.  I will not honor such lives.  Their values do not in any way correspond to the kind of person I am or hope to become.  

Time and time again I was admonished for my refusal to clear space for my family alter.  I repeatedly demanded to know why my faith rested on my ancestors.  I was never given a satisfactory answer.  Ms. Tauring, however, finally made everything expressly clear.  Many, if not most of the living family that I still have continues down a path of misery, addiction and abuse…there is at least one person who is veering from that path – she who keeps the records and knows the past – that one person is me.  There is a new branch on my family tree, one that is strong and healthy, one that smiles and laughs and finds hope.  My son will not be an alcoholic.  He will not abuse his wife or his children.  He will not because he knows his past and his path.  Ms. Tauring gave me the answer I needed:  Know your legacy, know yourself - know your power.

Still not ever going to have an ancestor alter.  My faith is quite strong without one, thanks.

While I may have been ambiguous about my feelings towards ancestor reverence, I did not think I had any ambiguity when it came to the Underworld.  I was so sure that I knew death.  Well, really, it is beyond the scope of the human mind to fully know the mysteries of death and the Underworld; but I did think I had some rather meaningful understanding.  I have after all, been dead, more than once in this lifetime.  That and my devotion to the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, made me think I had acquired a working knowledge of the Underworld and death. However, Michelle Belanger’s Underworld Meditation, Rite of Seven Gates left me speechless.  

I was so profoundly moved by the experience that it took several hours before I resumed to my chatty nature.  I did however, manage to ask Ms. Belanger one question.  “How do I continue this type of work?”  I grunted.  It was so difficult to get those words out of my mouth I do hope she did not find me morose and rude.  She was hesitant to recommend her own book on the subject but I emphatically pressed her to do that very thing.  It was her meditation that had touched me so deeply that it altered my consciousness and my very nature.  She clearly had something to say, and although I didn’t know it at the time I chose her meditation from the conference schedule, I realized that it was exactly what I was craving to learn.  Michelle Belanger showed me a new perspective on a landscape I was so sure that I knew so well.  I learned that it is only when I open myself to experience something new in what is so familiar, that I truly grow.  A conference is a surefire way to that experience.  I bought Ms. Belanger’s book, Walking the Twilight Path, at the Paganicon conference and I had her autograph it.  I am dying to read it…and yes that bad pun was intended.

Not all things at a conference need to be so intense.  Even though I had neglected to bring one of my own elaborate costumes for the ball, I went anyway in a plain black dress.  I enjoy marveling at other people’s creativity in costuming as much as I enjoy making and wearing my own, and maybe perhaps more so.  People are so fascinating to me, I have a hard time designating anyone as “ugly” because all I see is beauty when I look at people. Particularly in a costume ball setting where people are putting all of their creativity and everything that they like about themselves to the forefront.  

And the band!  The band was so good.  The Nathaniel Johnstone Band teams Steampunk with Greek Mythology.  Gods! What is not to love?  

I studied dance for many years.  I know several different styles.  Nathaniel Johnstone had me combine them all and whip my new bob haircut around with reckless abandon.  I drew considerable attention to myself…whether it was positive or negative attention really matters little.  It was the abandon that was important.  I’m now an avid fan of this band (also purchased an autographed CD, thank you very much). Had I not jumped in with both feet and attended Paganicon, and then made myself go to the ball without a costume, I would never have known about them and the joy they have to give to their audience.  

I was nervous about attending Paganicon.  I was mostly attending because I had bravely submitted Accidental Talismans for programming consideration, and to my great anxiety I had been accepted.  My room was filled, all of my handouts were taken, and several people gave me compliments about the affect my work made upon them. Yes! I learned so much from the workshops I attended, but I also learned something during the workshop I presented: my passion has relevance.  

Conferences are where like-minds meet to share relevance.

The next conference I’m attending (I’m not presenting at this one) is in my home city of Chicago. My son and I are super fans of the CW Television show Supernatural (now in its 12 season).  We are going to go meet the actors who play our fictional heroes. I’m not disclosing the amount of the tickets.  The money spent isn’t what is relevant.  But trust me on this, this Supernatural Conference? It isn’t just relevant, it’s significant. And I can’t wait to attend.