#became a Christmas classic due to it being played a lot on tv since it was in the public domain

[random-wiki-articles]

I added the article in case anyone is curious about its public domain status, which is an interesting story.

[gra-sonas]

It’s been just a little over a year since “Liberty Biberty” became a part of our cultural vernacular, but that’s when Tanner Novlan garnered national attention as the tongue-tied, clueless, narcissistic actor in Liberty Mutual’s line of popular commercials. “I had seen the series they were doing of Liberty Mutual commercials in front of the Statue of Liberty,” Novlan relays. “And yes, people do come up to me all the time and say, ‘Liberty Biberty.’ It’s so fun that everyone can relate to that obnoxious actor. He was so much fun to play. When you get BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL, you’re like, ‘Wow, this is a career-changer,’ but for a funny little commercial like that, you never think [like that].”

Novlan auditioned for B&B in March and landed the part but couldn’t start, or even talk about it, until the soap began production over four months later due to the coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t know their old way of filming, so this is my new normal,” the actor relays. “Being the first production in North America to be back, it was amazing. It’s like, ‘This really is the new normal.’ It’s been such a unique process but it’s been amazing how all the producers have come together to figure this out and put forth these groundbreaking guidelines, making things safe and efficient and being able to work around all of this and keep everything alive. They’ve come up with some really creative ways of making shots work, but also feeling natural. Yes, we have to socially distance. We always are wearing our masks so we’re very cautious in that manner, but when you get into the scene and you’re reading opposite Jacqui [MacInnes Wood, Steffy], even if she is off camera, the connection is there, and I think it comes through.”

Novlan is thankful that he had some inside knowledge of how things worked at B&B, since he’s the real-life husband of B&B alum Kayla Ewell (ex-Caitlin). “It’s so perfect to have someone who has already been a part of the family to walk me through this,” he says. “She’s great for advice, and not just on work stuff. She gives me advice all the time on life. Listen to your wife. It’s always a good idea [laughs]. But with this team, I feel like I can ask any questions, and everyone was welcoming and straightforward.” Novlan and Ewell’s real-life love story sounds like it could be part of a soap, too. “It was technically kind of a setup because we both starred in this music video for an Australian band [circa 2009],” he relays. “The band is called Sick Puppies. It was one of their first hit North American releases. The name of the song was called ‘Maybe’ [which can currently be viewed on YouTube]. So, that’s how we met, on this music video at 3:30 in the morn- ing in the high desert [of California], which is where I met the woman of my dreams. We were very professional on set, but there was definitely something special about her — and I held her sunglasses for ransom. We were shooting outdoors and locations were changing and the makeup lady accidentally took our sunglasses home with her. The next day she called and said, ‘I have your sunglasses.’ I went and picked them up. I saw hers sitting there and thought, ‘I’ll give these to Kayla,’ so I snagged them and I said to her, ‘Lunch and your sunglasses?’ Luckily she took the lunch, probably just to get her sunglasses back.”

The rest was history, and the duo has worked to navigate the demands of their chosen profession. “The job sometimes involves distance and being away from one another, and there is also the time away that certain projects can require,” he points out. “It can be difficult sometimes but the trick is, we try very hard to make sure our schedules coordinate so we can be with each other. We have a two- to three-week rule where if one of us is away working for that long, you have to fly out and see the other. It’s almost like a must. And with our new baby, Poppy, we’ll definitely make sure that’s the case. But that’s the beauty of a having a great job like B&B. Luckily, I’m here. I’m local in L.A.” Novlan’s mom, a B&B super-fan, couldn’t be more thrilled about her son’s new gig. “My hometown has 500 people in it,” he explains. “I come from a very small farming community so even just coming home was a shock to her, but she’s cool. Kayla is so down-to-earth that none of that mattered. But believe me, my mother is chomping at the bit to come and visit the set of B&B as soon as COVID [passes]. That may be the real challenge, like, ‘Mom, you can’t wander onto the set. You’ve got to stay over here.’ That’s going to be a great day when it happens.”

Novlan credits his mother’s influence for getting him from Saskatchewan to Hollywood. “My mother was originally from Sacramento so I always thought it would be great to come and work in the U.S.,” he explains. “I started doing some print work in Canada so that’s how I originally came down, but I fell in love with acting as my immigration papers were being processed. I went to acting class here but I never could I have imagined having a career in film. But when I came down here and got a taste of it I was, like, ‘Wow. I’m hooked. This is it.’ ” But he admits he had no idea what he was in for. “My first job was a commercial for T.J. Maxx, back to school,” he recalls. “It was the first audition that I had ever been on and I got it and I thought, ‘Well, this is easy!’ I quickly learned there’s a lot of training that goes into it. So, I came here quite green but over the years, I’ve been able to call it a career.”

Over the next decade-plus, Novlan landed high-profile roles in MODERN FAMILY, ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO, the TV rom-com MY BEST FRIEND’S CHRISTMAS and the upcoming PUCKHEADS. 

He’s up for a ROSWELL comeback, schedule permitting. “There could be a chance that we might see Gregory again,” he notes of playing the caring brother of series regular Tyler Blackburn (Alex; ex-Ian, DAYS et al). “I know ROSWELL has been picked up for a season 3, and the character has been pretty well-received from the fans, as well, which is always amazing and such an honor. You never know. It was a great experience, but right now, everything is about B&B. Even with COVID, we’re finding a really nice groove with maintaining safety while keeping that classic B&B look. It’s been pretty smooth, I’ve got to say. How lucky am I?”

“Sinn” City

B&B fans have dubbed Steffy and Finn “Sinn”, which is just fine by Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy). “I told him this character is his own,” she says. “He’s not a recast, so I told him, ‘Make it your own and have fun with it. Even though we are eight feet away from each other in scenes, feel free to play with me. Let’s connect as much as we can in these scenes.’ He’s been great. He’s been absolutely wonderful on set and taking direction very well — and he’s a fellow Canadian so, of course, we hit it off immediately. He’s a really sweet guy and he can keep up with our pace. I think the fans will really like him.”

Just The Facts

Birthday: April 9 Hails

From: Paradise Hill, Saskatchewan, Canada

My Girls: Married to Kayla Ewell (ex-Caitlin, B&B) since September 12, 2015. They welcomed daughter Poppy Marie on July 16, 2019.

What The Puck? “I grew up playing hockey, and I like to play hockey once a week with a group of actors. We have these really intense games.”

All The Right Steff: “It’s time that Steffy meets a man with a new set of values, and a new version of what passion and love can bring. She just had her daughter and I think she’s ready. Finn seems to have her best interests in mind, and I think that’s a good thing for Steffy.”

Finn In A Nutshell: “Helping people is in his nature but he can get a little too involved, and that can also get him into trouble.”

Grandma’s Boy: “My grandmother is in Canada in a nursing home and the last FaceTime I got was from my mom asking me to help set up grandma’s DVR. They’re very excited about this, and it’s nice to know that my grandma gets to see me every day — and, she’s super-proud that I’m a doctor!”

[donotexterminateupgradepudding]

Why I’m absolutely obsessed with Wilson from “House MD” (part 1)

Seriously, I am obsessed with Wilson. I started watching ‘House MD’, since ‘Hey, I have amazon prime.’ and I was looking for a long series.  I had recalled people mentioning the series in passing over the years, and they seemed to love it.  But it was on air during my great period of no TV and little pop culture knowledge (2003-2014), where I either owned no TV, no internet at home or limited internet at home.   

So into the pop culture TV fandom of ‘House MD’ did I go. . . . and for the most part I overall enjoyed it up through season 6.  My personal feelings are that they should have ended it there, 7 got disjointed and 8 was well, only going through the motions of the previous 7.

What did I get out of this the most? That I absolutely love - Wilson who is House’s best friend from some point after his arrival to the staff of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.  Which happened at some point in the mid-90s. 

But really, who wouldn’t love this?

Really, it is that soft smile that gets me every time and his classic professional look. 

The House timeline is a bit slippy between all the writers and the length of the series, so, I will not drive my anal retentive self to construct a more accurate timeline.  It is clear that yes, they became friends sometime in the 90s, likely early 90s, but that House suggested Wilson apply for his position at some point which he accepted in part, to search for his missing brother.

I quickly became interested in Wilson in the show early on.  The first indication was in the pilot episode when House determined that Wilson lied to him to take the case, even though most of his actions indicated that he appeared to be the ‘model’ compassionate and caring doctor.  

What really got me interested in him though was S1E5 when it is near Christmas and starts out with Wilson and House at the central desk discussing Dante’s Inferno and charting hell.  This is the first episode that Wilson really gets pushy with House and his response to the case as the viewer gets to see a character who tries to understand events though the more emotional response.

The scene is very well shot.  Wilson approaches House alone at the desk, again playing around with a piece of paper, two coffees (or some other hot beverage in hand).

I even like the difference in their outfits, Wilson with warm browns while House is wearing all black.  Their body language here is interesting.  House the normally “I’m right!” is a bit hunched over, while Wilson is the one with his feet up on the desk as he leans back (he’s right this time).  We also get an interesting angle where Wilson appears very closed off to the viewer.

Wilson even asks House what he is doing for Christmas while not even making eye contact with him.  Wilson’s expression is one of trying to convince House to join him at the holiday dinner at his home with his wife and implied other people. Due to House’s immediate rejection of the offer, Wilson has a brief moment of odd facial expressions ending here before he responds.

That perhaps he’ll come over to House’s place.  Which is such a loaded statement.  Unable to get House to join him, he pretty much immediately invites himself over to House’s place.  This indicates several things that we learn about him, i.) House calls him out on leaving his wife alone ii.) Wilson is likely concerned about House being alone.

Which ends their conversation with Wilson clearly stating that he does not want to talk about his wife who is used to being alone.  Highlighted with this expression, a clear, ‘that’s all you get’ House.

He’s obviously not happy with the situation, but even at the cost of it, he’s going to hang out with House instead.  After Cuddy wishes both of them a “Merry Christmas!” it leaves House oddly speechless and Wilson is the one to make the remark that it was “sweet” of her.

The action then shifts to Wilson at House’s apartment (oh yes, that never to be seen after season 1, third (?) floor apartment) where they are clearly enjoying Chinese take out, beer and each other’s company with lots of smiles.

These two scenes were the ones which really caught my attention in regards to Wilson.  It establishes that he must have more in common with House than the show has revealed to date, and that his relationship with him important enough that he’s risking his marriage (or at least putting a major strain on it) to continue his relationship with House.  It also shows that even though Wilson was really keeping House in check during the past few days, that it doesn’t matter once they are away from PPTH.

This also shows us that Wilson is not just this friendly, compassionate character to serve as an exact foil to House as his best friend.  No, Wilson’s character is also going to develop as a character who is just as nuanced and flawed as House, but that they complement each other.

The plot moves this quickly forward with S1E7, “Fidelity” about a patient who cheated on her husband.  The Diagnostics team show their personalities more in this episode in how they respond to the drama surrounding the patient, while Wilson’s image as ‘Mr. Perfect’ continues to be deconstructed.

House calls Wilson out on his new tie, the green polka dot tie.  Apparently, Wilson is as much of a creature of habit as House and he has a preset tie rotation which is his status quo.  House notices that this green tie is not a present from his wife (since he somehow knows she doesn’t like green) and that Wilson wants to look pretty.  At first, he’s simply listening to House.

But as the evidence begins to pile up, Wilson admits defeat with his eyes long before says anything here.  Specifically, this is whenever Wilson doesn’t want to say something or explain further due to the fact that he knows he’s been caught.  He always looks away.

I have to commend RSL as an actor, he’s seriously underrated, but incredibly talented.  The way that he looks like a teenager caught in a lie here is so good as he has no choice but to smirk at House’s line of reasoning.

Even better yet, is how it is so clear that Wilson thinks he looks handsome in this tie.  Cuddy approaches the two of them and House is responding to her.  What is Wilson doing? He’s smiling slightly while he adjusts his freakkin’ tie!  The tie of seduction.

To keep balance in the conversation, they change to a camera angle where Cuddy is facing the camera and Wilson and House have their back/side to the camera.  Clearly, the shots were done in two different takes since it catches Wilson saying something while adjusting his tie again. 

I think that they just wanted one shot of RSL doing the tie adjustment, but he likely did it for both takes on the scene at different points in time.  Either way, I love the shot above where House is too busy speaking with Cuddy to notice Wilson be like “Hey Cuddy, nice tie eh?”.  I think this is pretty clear confirmation that Wilson as early as season 1 shows potential interest in Cuddy, but he can’t do anything about it yet, so he just tests the water by being like “Oh hey.  I look handsome.” [touches tie for emphasis]

The episode continues with House attempting to determine who Wilson is looking good for at PPTH.  He tries to guess someone in accounting just to rile and bait Wilson after seeing his stylish outfit of the day.  I’m personally a fan of Wilson’s stylish outfit which shows again that he’s in a confident mood based on his casual lean into the door frame (if you could call it that, since the glass really isn’t a real door frame).

House insists that his lips may say no, but his shoes say yes.  Yet, Wilson continues to banter back with the idea that French shoes can’t be trusted, and as predicted most of his reply is based on him avoiding direct eye contact with House.

House continues his hypothesis and Wilson at first smiles back at him (first image in this post) as he’s just maintaining his status quo look.  However, he can’t keep it up and he laughs as he looks down.

What is so interesting is how House continues to push him with who it could be, he continues to laugh and look away from House while keeping his hands in his pockets.  Interesting, when Wilson is very emotional, he’ll make strong gestures with his hands.  The fact that he’s keeping his hands in his pockets implies to me that he’s trying to be cool with things.

What gets him in trouble is his admission that he “wouldn’t date a patient’s daughter.”

House points out that most married men don’t discuss dating at all, pushing Wilson to finally retort back that there was no date.

He finally admits that he went out to lunch with one of the nurses in his department.  The interesting part is how honest and sincere he is and adds on that it was to help her through the tough aspect of the position, emotionally.  Which House makes it very clear to the viewer that Wilson has an issue with being nice and implies it gets him into trouble with the ladies.

Wilson makes it clear that he wanted to be nice.

And House points out that his desire to be nice is part of his ‘charm’.  This is such an informative statement as it lets the viewer know that this isn’t some sort of ‘one off’, he has a track record of involving himself with women at the hospital with whom he is not in a committed relationship with.  This also shows us that House is getting amusement out of the situation that Wilson has placed himself in.  It this House being jealous of Wilson’s ability to pretty much pick up anyone?  Or that it makes him feel better to tease him?

The conversation is interrupted by Cuddy and they leave things hanging.  However, this episode is not done with the deep dive into Wilson’s personal life.  Wilson starts off on the offensive about the treatment for the patient who House is certain that cheated on her husband.  Wilson believes that people can be ‘good’ in relationships.

This quickly backfires on him, as House uses his own past and current behaviours to discredit Wilson’s own argument. With House’s own line of “you need to tell me that” again gets that soft giggle/laugh from Wilson.

Of course, Wilson is not making eye contact with House as he smugly looks at Wilson for his reaction. This obviously makes Wilson upset as the right hand is waved quite predominately for emphasis and he even punctuates his statement with a wave of the chart in his left hand.

This entire conversation happens as House has a perpetually smug expression.  I also find it interesting that they are having this rather morally ‘damming’ conversation in the middle of a busy hallway, which also implies that neither of them care about their public images that much.  Or the fact that Wilson is denying his infidelities means it is okay to verbalize it in public.

House is willing to admit that he knows that Wilson loves his wife as he just laughs and sighs back as neither of them can look at each other.

But, the kid gloves come off as House continues the statement that he knows Wilson loves his wife, just like he loved his other wives, providing critical character development and background information.  That Wilson has been married and divorced at least two other times.  If he had only one ex, House would have said something along the lines of ‘your previous wife’.  House pushes it even further to be that Wilson loves all of the women he’s ever loved just like his ex-wives.  I love how this line of dialogue tells us so much about his character, he’s a very compassionate person. He also clearly cares about others and he has always approached romantic relationships in such a way that he was very emotionally involved with the person he was seeing.

But Wilson takes great offense to that and it begins the moral argument between them.  I love how his body language shifts from loose and smiling to a serious furrowed brow.

Wilson is hurt by House mocking him and the fact that he’s cared about the people he’s been romantically involved with and this makes 100% sense - of course he’d love every person he was intimate with.  It is the only way he could connect with them.

However, with Wilson now upset, his entire body language shifts as he tells House that can really be a jerk sometimes. This is interesting as it means that Wilson doesn’t see House as much of a jerk as others do.

Wilson’s argument is that he tries his best to be good so that is what matters and that allows him to ‘get away’ with imperfect behavior in relationships.  he isn’t excusing his behaviours, he’s just rationalizing that at his core, he tries his best.  Of course, House doesn’t think he has the right to claim to be better.

The flip side is the House viewpoint, since he doesn’t care about anyone, he can say whatever he wants to. But Wilson calls him out that he tries to get away with being an ass since he doesn’t even try to care.  House argues back that as long as they both exist it is okay; with Wilson trying to be good, but failing with the right intent and House not giving a damn, but pointing out the truth they could combine their powers.

This joke unfortunately is too much for Wilson and he scoffs at House, sighs loudly and sulks off.

These two episodes are important for establishing the core House-Wilson dynamic as well as their opposing and overlapping parts of their philosophies.  Already, the viewer knows that House doesn’t give a damn for social conventions and pleasantries and that Wilson does his best to follow them most of the time.  As the show continues, it is clear that Wilson follows many societal norms not because he agrees with them, but because he understands the value that they bring and that they make his own life easier. 

The first time House goes to court to fight a patient in S1E9. The only other person who is there to support him is Wilson.  Wilson sits behind the defense and points out to House that his personal passion may get him in trouble with the law.  It will become a reoccurring theme for Wilson to be the only character in the background to support House.  Sure, Cuddy also has his back but Wilson is the constant.

Whenever House digs himself into a deep hole or is at risk of failing at office politics, Wilson is the one to warn him.

The first example of this is with the arrival of Vogler as the new chairman of the board in S1E14.  Again, the way this scene was shot lets us know very quickly that we are to pay attention to Vogler and Wilson.  Specifically, how rapidly Wilson gets a read and feel for the man.  During the opening credits he’s listening to Vogler attentively.

This is a serious neutral expression for him.  As Vogler begins his personal story, Wilson is almost frowning before he switches to what could be described as a customer service smile after this scene below.

The way that he goes from a serious look to a friendly, “Oh haha, I’m smiling with you” is uncanny.  Once Vogler begins to define his vision for PPTH we get several contemplative and concerned expressions from him.  He quickly goes from neutral here:

To a deeper thought of, “hrm, this isn’t sounding too great.”

The shot pans out to the board beginning to applaud the remarks.  Interestingly, he isn’t one of the first members to clap nor is he exactly the last, but he lingers on his decision and claps rather politely but not enthusiastically as he looks at Vogler.

What is more telling is his rapid glance away, and towards Cuddy to his right.  I wish we knew if Cuddy made eye contact with him or not. The best shot though is the final one, his reaction to Vogler’s announcement that there will be ‘big’ changes.  And this is a classic “OH FUCK!”, response from him as he fake smiles as he already knows that it will mean for him, the Oncology Department Head and . . .

. . . more importantly, his best friend, House, is royally fucked with this guy in charge.  Since it is already obvious that House blows at office politics.  This again establishes the push and pull of their friendship as both men have strengths and weaknesses that compliment each other.

Now, before going on any further, I want to stop and pause about how I think the writers were more interesting with this House-Wilson dynamic. 

If “House MD” suffered from lazy writing to meet many of the criteria/elements of a 90s-2000s show, I know exactly what they would have done.  They would have made Wilson a female character.  House’s overly analytical, caustic attitude would have been balanced by a friendly, in touch with her emotions type of character, a Jane Wilson instead.  She’d be outwardly modest, cute, but not sexy.  Her emotional state would be reflected in her dating woes with men, who she’d fall hard and fast for and would be unable to keep them because she’s too attached to House as a friend.  She would be the trope of the ‘saving female who can’t save herself’. 

Thankfully, the creative team did not follow this predictable trope and instead, gave us the Wilson that we see, the sensitive male character who based on sweeping societal norms and generalizations would be seen as a female character.  Furthermore, if you are one of those people who is into the MBTI personality classification, he types out as the rarest of the male types - the INFJ male; both when you look at the 16 personalities website and the writer’s guide to the MBTI.

Links to both here: https://www.16personalities.com/infj-personality

https://mbtifiction.com/2015/09/14/dr-james-wilson/

A subtle nod to the fact that Wilson is ‘filling in’ for a female character is shown in S1E15 when House is ‘gifted’ with the ‘65 Corvette by the New Jersey mafia.  It shows that both of them are morally bankrupt enough to make use of the car with House at the wheel and Wilson giving him a hard time about his driving skills in the passenger seat.

Even more so, House tries to get Wilson to shut up while Wilson is laughing next to him, as his backseat driving is still appreciated by House as we see his subtle smile at the same time.

Again, it leads us to ask why is Wilson enjoying a fun car ride with House, when he could be at home spending time with his current spouse.  No, it isn’t like Wilson is actively avoid marital conflict to hang out with House. . . .

Lastly, Wilson even asks House if he’d be willing to lend him the Corvette with a very excited facial expression that it directed at the back of House’s head as they walk in the hallway.

Wilson may try to do the best that he can, but when something is in proxy to House, he forgets the moral and emotional response and choose the analytical and rational response.  ‘Cause my best friend is the one who gained this car illegally.  So sure, I can rationalize wanting to borrow it, I mean I didn’t get this ‘gift’.

 S1E17 has the introduction of our Barack Obama stand in character.  Wilson is the only person on staff who questions House’s change of opinion on the man’s HIV test results.  This leads to Wilson’s awesome statement that House didn’t just believe him, he believed in him. With the fist pump to match.  House hangs his head in shame since he knows he’s about to get a good teasing from Wilson.

I loved how Wilson realizes it has to do with House’s current team.  The show makes a point that the Diagnostics team of Chase, Cameron and Foreman are unusual in the fact that they complete the full terms of their fellowships.  Chase even seemed to have a longer one since he got fired, but was the most senior of the team members. Sure Cameron quit in protest, but it also is implied to have done at least the full amount of her term.  Wilson knows that this team is important to House.

He knows that they influence him more than other teams as they actually have gotten closer to him than any over team to date.  In this instance, he specifically thinks it is Cameron’s influence which House tries to shrug off.  I love his line of inviting House to come over tonight to watch old movies with him and cry.  Since we know Wilson totally cries when watching movies.  But what unsettles House is the Cameron bit, Wilson states that he may have already put the moves on her and House tries to shrug it off.  This is the dead give away that House likes Cameron on some level and Wilson has won the lotto.  House has some sort of interest in Cameron.  On some level.

He’s too amused that House does have some sort of crush.  Or maybe a “House-crush” as in the type of crush House has.  Either way, Wilson is giggling in delight at a very awkward House escaping into the elevator.

The next great Wilson scene is his reaction to House pissing Volger off by defeating the spirit of the law with the letter of the law.  He gave a speech.  A terrible speech.  First off, Wilson looks at House with curiosity while Cuddy is concerned.  While Cuddy has potential shock, Wilson has bit of awe that House is being, well House.

The best part is when House seals his fate.  Cuddy looks like she could murder him if she could while Wilson is hiding his face in his hand, which if you watch the scene really closely, he’s trying hard to not laugh and smirking.  Sure, he can be like *sigh* House . . . but Wilson is keeping himself professional.  Despite, likely not being too surprised.

Cuddy has a feeling of exasperation while Wilson is smirking as he tries to hold it together.  Yeah, I saw that smirking Wilson.  You are both amazed and concerned that your best friend dug himself into an even deeper hole.

But hey, it was hilarious!

Of course, House’s reckless behavior does catch up to him by S1E18, “Babies and Bathwater”.  The first time Wilson appears he looks worried, pulling House out of the Diagnostics common room with messy hair.  This isn’t his usual cute swoopy/swishy hair, this is true concerned fluff.  This means he’s likely been ruffling his hair in concern with his left hand, since he is left handed (RSL is left handed).  Either way, I like the way that his appearance is just subtly off, but enough to tell us that he’s worried about something.

His concerned face, in combination with the fluffy hair tells us several things.  First off, Wilson knows that Volger will make a move that will be smart.  House blows it off stating that he’s survived all the previous changes in the hospital and since Wilson is on the board, Volger can’t get rid of House. 

Second, unlike House who is banking on Wilson protecting him, Wilson is really worried as he senses this won’t be as easy as House expects.

This then plays out with the emergency board meeting where House is the only item on the agenda.  At first, it looks like everything will be okay.  Wilson is prepared and points out the issue with the vote on House’s dismissal.  I would like to note that in the show itself, Volger does not follow proper protocol, as he brings the item of House to the table and no one actually seconds his motion.  Technically, I’d expect Wilson to point out there was no second to Volger’s motion. He seems like the type of character to know his Robert’s Rules of Order inside and out.  Either way, the way that he fidgets and pretends to not care about Volger’s mini-speech about how PPTH should be a business drives him nuts.  His body language is clear that Wilson does not like him.

After the vote fails, Wilson points out that according to the bylaws there is a 24 hour period before they can bring any issue before the board again.  Several other members of the board are smirking, as they likely support Wilson, but aren’t as confident as he is in his defiance of Volger.  I also wonder if Cuddy and Wilson had an agreement to have Wilson be the one to play interference.  We know that Cuddy bet with House to not take Vicodin for a week was Wilson’s idea, not hers.  He looks a bit confident as he points out that Volger just can’t ask him to leave and have the vote without him.

And even though Wilson is a fairly pragmatic guy and an expert at office politics, he is totally outmaneuvered by Volger.  This shows us that Wilson may be very good at these sorts of things, he lacks the ruthless attitude that Volger has.  This makes sense, Wilson became a doctor because he’s a caring person.  He wouldn’t be as cutthroat as Volger is, willing to remove Wilson (House’s biggest advocate) even though he’s arguably one of the best department heads at PPTH.

He switches from a look here where he’s putting everything together.

To a complete look of sadness, knowing that despite being an excellent doctor and colleague, his friendship with House just cost him his position on the board.  He also knows that not everyone in that room is going to support him and he likely feels betrayed by other members of the board.

The scene has Wilson leave the room and we don’t know what happens until the next day when he is packing up his office.  House isn’t quite sure what is going on as he is emotionally is tossing things in boxes, with an angry pen/pencil toss into a box. 

And we get here, after the pen toss the angry Wilson face.

Which is interesting, since angry Wilson doesn’t look very angry.  His anger towards House isn’t normal; he looks sad and disappointed that he was the target of Volger’s wrath, collateral damage in the quest to fire House.  His sad puppy face shows that he wanted House to do more for him.  We learn that at this point in his life two things matter to him; i.) his job at PPTH and ii.) his friendship with House.  Yet, when he was faced with taking the fall with House, he accepted the chance to resign from PPTH as he was too emotional over things.  Wilson usually is in touch with his emotions and understands them, but when all alone and feeling it, he makes the rash decision to leave.

House confirms to him that Wilson’s actions meant something to him, even though Wilson knows he’d still do what he did regardless of the present outcome.  That’s how well they know each other.

Wilson shows his dark side when he smiles telling House that he’ll be joining him soon enough.

Of course, House wants to still know if there are any clinical trials and asks Wilson if he can still help him out. 

After having his back turned to House he turns around halfway to look at him with a taught facial expression.  The body language here is clear, ever since House walked into Wilson’s office, Wilson has been the one in charge, House has been hunched forward a bit and looks up towards Wilson or even talks to his back.

Now, he’s got his hands on his hips while House asks, but again looking up at Wilson.   You honestly have to give it to Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard, they nail the body language between these two characters, even if he doesn’t verbally say it, House will submit to Wilson and shows it through his more meek postures, letting Wilson know that he’s in charge and the better one at that moment. 

Of course, Wilson will look into things for House.  Because that is the type of person Wilson is.  And their body language in this scene shows that Wilson knows that House is going to want to save his patient.  And Wilson is doing his own job even if it is his last day.

However, Cuddy saves the day and the boys are able to celebrate in House’s office.  Wilson is sitting in House’s chair, while House leans against his side furniture.  Foreman and Chase are sitting at the two chairs opposite of Wilson.  Everything about this shows so much about the Wilson-House friendship.  House has difficulty standing and being comfortable, yet Wilson is sitting in his chair.

I wish we could know if Wilson took the chair knowing that House owed him for almost leaving PPTH or if House let Wilson take the chair for the same reason.  Either way, Wilson has House’s blessing to sit in his chair.

This also allows for an excellent angle of Wilson watching Cuddy chug her drink as he’s the character who makes an audible swallow.  You can tell he’s definitely reminding himself to never piss Cuddy off.

I’d also hazard a guess that he’s still checking out and in awe of Cuddy.  Sure, he’s still married, but Wilson is always looking.  And, I’d like to point out that since the beginning of the season the item that has been absent from Wilson’s hand is a wedding ring.  Not entirely sure if he doesn’t see the need to wear one on marriage number 3 or if he’s just not that kind of guy, or if it keeps him open to other possibilities. 

What are you thinking Wilson?  I’m old enough to know that when I meet new people if there is an interesting guy, to look at his hands.  Again, not all people wear wedding bands, but it is a very obvious signal to people who don’t know you.  It sends a clear signal to people, and Wilson is a character who does not take this easy step to signal that he’s married.

This episode was critical as it really lays down the foundations for the parameters of the friendship between House and Wilson.  It makes it clear that these two men care about each other; I would safely say that they love each other. 

Now, the nature of the love between them is very debatable.  I confidently feel that they at least love each other as close friends do.  That the friend in question is a main part of your life and that you care for and worry about the other person.  That person also lets you show your less than flattering side, which is a really important part of Wilson’s friendship with House.  He doesn’t have to play nice with House.  He can be more open and relaxed without fear for venting his feelings to him.  This comes out in the numerous comments that Wilson will utter over the years during banter with House.  If he were to be as sarcastic as he is with House alone, he’d be in trouble, but he keeps that side separate.

This indicates that as much as House needs Wilson to keep him from getting too crazy, Wilson needs to have House to not explode from staying calm all the time.

But, this is not a meta to deconstruct the House-Wilson relationship, this is just me gushing over how much I like Wilson and how he tries to support House in his own Wilson way.

This happens Wilson figures out that Cameron is coming back due to her date with House. He has such a look of excitement when he figures out the House gave into Cameron’s request.  This means that his observation that House at least finds Cameron attractive has him stoked.  He hops off of the table and turns to face House to confirm things and he’s far to giddy.  Then again, he knows his best friend hasn’t been on a date in over 5 years so he’s rooting for anything.

He knows House well enough that House is attempting to rationalize that he was forced into the date.  It is also interesting to note that the random patient tries to mock House with the ‘old’ if you don’t sleep with a hot girl you must be gay, which clearly doesn’t work on House or Wilson who both roll their eyes, ignoring the comment.  He may give House a hard time about goofing off, but he comes back to steal the portable TV to continue watching the game even though House left feeling embarrassed.  House doesn’t even try to fight back to keep his TV.

He emerges a bit later, starting off by telling House that the ballgame is over, before he sniffs House to determine what was spilled on him.  These guys really are best friends if you are not even bothered by your best friend of any gender getting this up close and personal with you.  Instead, Wilson just tells him to calm down that it is just apple juice.

With the putative Cameron-House date, Wilson springs into action as the overly-protective best friend.  He manages to find Cameron alone and asks her if she is sure about the date with House as he wants to make sure no one gets hurt.  Cameron doesn’t see his expression here, when she says she’ll be fine; Wilson’s look of concern is about how things will go down for House.

Wilson doesn’t want to see House hurt again, since he thinks if he is hurt again, House will give up on dating altogether.  A mindset that I myself have embraced from time to time.  I think at this point, Wilson knows that Cameron is House’s ‘type’ and he wants to make sure that House has a shot at a relationship.

To make sure things will go as smoothly as possible, he is at House’s apartment as House gets dressed and is freaking out in a “House” way about the date.  Wilson’s facial expression here is somewhat annoyed as he knows that House does understand some human interactions.  As House did date Stacy for 5 years though he can’t help but give him shit by saying the last time House dated disco had just died.

Again, instead of being at home, Wilson is laying on House’s couch, skimming the newspaper to give him the moral support he needs for his date.  This leads to his infamous declaration that he has known moves that are guaranteed ‘panty peelers’.  This facial expression says it all, I’m proud of my skills and I have it down to a science; compliment her random items of clothing and move onto the DHA:  dreams-hopes-aspirations.  God, I love this bit, Wilson has things so well thought out that he’s able to distill things down to a quick abbreviation.

This also tells us that Wilson thrives on the ‘possibility’ of a relationship.  That he gets some sort of rush from trying to get a woman into bed. If Wilson had been fired by Volger, he really should have started a career for dating and relationship advice.  Not as one of those sexist male pick-up experts, but as how to pick-up chicks as a respectful dude.  He’d honestly make tons more money, though his lack of House interactions would likely bore him to death.  He also goes onto mention that he has condoms in case House needs him.  This is such a funny statement, as it implies that Wilson has them to be prepared and by extension as a married man should not have them.  Or that Wilson is officially acting like House’s dad in this instance like “Okay, son, we’ve had the talk about the prom tonight.  You’ve got the corsage for the girl, and make sure to use condoms.”  Which is totally how Wilson looks in this scene here.

Hands on hips, big smile, he literally looks like he’s encouraging his teenage son to be a good man for his date.  This is a case where Wilson is the experienced adult in this situation.  Based on his body language, he’s also really rooting for House.  Wilson wants the date with Cameron to go well.  He wants House to get laid and learn how to move on in a relationship.  He wants House to try to be happy.  And Cameron is not a bad starting point.  We know that House likes intelligent women and Wilson seems to suck at not messing around or dating within the workplace so he isn’t going to be against this.

Plus, this really establishes House’s ‘type’ brunettes, he isn’t too picky about the rest of the woman, but he likes brown hair.  Again, one could argue that Wilson is also House’s type.  Or the fact that as the show progresses he makes comments about men who are attractive (but again, not a part of this meta).

It does show that both Wilson and House are romantics at heart, since House went for cheesy knowing that Cameron would like cheesy.  Really, after watching their date scene for a third time, I’d say that House goes for the rejection Cameron approach because he was afraid of what would happen if he did start dating her.  He knows he’s attracted to her, the fact that Wilson knows that he’s attracted to her is really the verification that he needed. 

That’s why the next day, Wilson is so keen to know how the date went.  He has to hope that House gives it a try.  Since Wilson wants House to try to be happy or in this case maybe just content.  He’s tired of watching his friend recoil from social connections and he likely grows tired of being the only link that House has to humanity.

And I’ll have to stop here and pick up with another part since I haven’t even gotten through Season 1 yet.

[winchester90210]

The BH 90210 Rewrite. Bonus #2: The E! True HollyWood Story

Rewrite Masterlist

My work is not to be reposted and/or edited without my expressed written consent. (Reblogging is fine and encouraged!!)

Chapter Summary: E! News has made a documentary on you, following Shannen's. Although it may seem like the full story, remember-- media is still media and there's still things that need to be uncovered. Italics are the narration.

Warnings: mentions of drugs, addiction, sex, adultery, divorce, rumors, tabloids.

Word count: 2,500

A/N: Like the other bonus chapter, this isn't necessary for the rewrite itself, but will supply background knowledge for the reboot! Hope you guys enjoy :)

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July 19th, 2008. E! True Hollywood Stories.

America's sweetheart. The girl who played with fire. An old interview of yours pops up on screen, from when you were promoting season 4 on 90210.

"Shannen's a lot more... headstrong than I am, for sure. She gets me in trouble from time to time," you laugh. Y/N Perry. She blew audiences away with her portrayal of Y/N Y/L/N on Beverly Hills, 90210. But she wasn't always the wholesome 90's starlet.

Jason Priestley, "Y/N was one of my best friends. I've never met anyone with a bigger heart." Her romantic and musical exploits made her a tabloid heavyweight. But her friendship with notorious bad girl Shannen Doherty was what made her a target. This is the story of Y/N Perry. The E! True Hollywood Story.

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Y/N wasn't always the romantic we knew her to be, but that charming sparkle in her eye quickly became a trademark for her.

June 20th, 1972, Y/N was welcomed to James and Carol Clark's upper-class home.

A man, Kevin McLaren comes on screen with the title "Entertainment Journalist." He speaks, "Y/N was born into a catholic family in Columbus, Ohio, and they had her working in commercials by the time she was eight." Her family then located to Encino, California. From there she joined a Children's drama group where a talent agent immediately took notice. Not long after, she was introduced to TV star, Tom Selleck.

Mary Murphy, senior editor of TV guide, "Selleck sort of... discovered her. Her teacher at the theater group introduced them and he seemed to see something in her. He was her mentor, she really looked up to him. He even got her her first major acting job." She had a 3 year stint on Magnum P.I. as Carol Baldwin's spunky and outspoken niece. She later won the role of Diane Court in the 1989 classic Say Anything, opposite John Cusack which was what began her lift to stardom. The buzz from the romantic comedy hit veteran TV producer Aaron Spelling, who was currently auditioning actors for a new series.

Aaron Spelling, 1993, "We went through hell with casting. It took weeks to pick everyone out. Then, Tori came to me one night talking to me about the lead girl in Say Anything, Y/N Clark. She was telling me "She's perfect, you have to hire her." and I told her uh, we'll see." That show was Beverly Hills, 90210. And in February of 1990, Y/N landed the part of Y/N Y/L/N. But she had originally gone for a different part.

You, an Arsenio interview in 1995, "I was called in to read for Brenda at the beginning, Y/N Y/L/N didn't exist. I didn't get the part obviously, and I was totally crushed. But then a few weeka later my agent called me to let me know that they had written a new character, and they wanted me to play the part. This was after they had filmed the two part pilot, which was why I'm in the second episode." The cast included several unknown actors, including Spelling's daughter Tori, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Luke Perry, Jason Priestley, and established actress and Y/N's soon-to-be best friend, Shannen Doherty. The cast bonded immediately. And while Y/N would continue to become closer with the entire cast, she was instant best friends with Doherty, both of them bonding over their similar family lives and careers.

On October 4th, 1990, Beverly Hills 90210 premiered on the fledgling Fox network. The series clicked immediately with teen audiences, and so did the hot young cast. 17 year old Y/N Clark was center stage. She was a magnet for paparazzi, but she didn't understand how wanted she truly was until leaving a night club with Tori Spelling and Shannen Doherty one night, when they were immediately surrounded. The night was heavily publicized-- magazine covers and gossip columns.

You, 1992 at the red carpet with Tori and Shannen for the MTV Video Music Awards, "Just don't believe everything you read, tabloids are nasty and they only want to twist the truth and bring out the worst in people. They'll dig anywhere they can to get something that shows in the worst light possible." 90210 was becoming the most famous zip code in the country. You, 1992, sitting down for a casual interview on Howard Stern, "I don't think anyone expected the show to take off like it did. No one is quite used to it yet, at least I'm definitely not. On one hand, the attention is flattering and I'm grateful for all the love, but on the other... it's definitely a little scary." 90210 originally centered around the Walsh Family as they tackled their new surroundings. But as the show carried on, it turned into an ensemble show.

Mary Murphy, "They all had different opinions about the switch. Shannen was definitely happier when every episode was going to be about Brandon, Brenda, and Y/N. She didn't like the shift in attention at all, and she wasn't afraid to speak her mind. Y/N, though, wanted to keep to herself and was willing to go where the show took her, wherever that was." During the very beginning of the first season, Clark would become infatuated with castmate Luke Perry, but he immediately rejected her, due to her being barely 18 at the time. Things heated up later for her though, when she and Jason Priestley began dating near the end of filming the first season.

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Tori Spelling, for the documentary, "Y/N and Jason were so crazy about each other. It was so sweet. If you ever look at behind the scenes stuff from the show, they're all over each other. I think their chemistry really translates on screen, and that's what made Y/N and Brandon so great."

You, the Today Show, "Our relationship was so wholesome. I was so in love with him. I had been eighteen for a while and he'd just turned 20 or 21, we were total babies back then!"

Jason, "I remember the night we got together. She'd been flirting with uh, Brian-- Brian Austin Green the entire night, it was a cast Christmas party and I was grumpy, unbelievably grumpy. And I couldn't figure out why. Ian Ziering had to pretty much spell it out for me because everyone else knew why and they were pretty fed up. I was head over heels for her from the start."

They would continue to date for almost five years. But romancing Priestley and befriending Doherty would prove to be an unlucky combination for her.

Joe E. Tata, 2001, "When the tabloids got ahold of her and Jason, they had a field day. They followed them on dates, to clubs. Everywhere." Shannen and Y/N continued to fuel the fire with non-stop partying and clubbing.

Kevin McLaren, entertainment journalist, "After working non-stop since she was a child and being 21 and newly exposed to things like drugs, alcohol, sexual freedom, she certainly fell prey to it all." 1993 was just on the horizon. But little did she know it would become her most dramatic year yet.

Charles Rosin, producer of 90210, "We do know, during 90210, when there was a lot of coverage on the tabloids that we had people in our own crew spreading stories and feeding them information."

Jason Priestley, 2001, "It was horrible. We felt so violated. I remember Y/N/N being absolutely destroyed. And that made me feel awful, because there was nothing I could do, nothing she could do. We had to sit there and take it all."

Clark would continue to be slammed with press, her partying habits only elevating as the tabloids became more and more vicious. Rumors of her being pregnant with other castmates babies, cheating on Jason Priestley, sex tapes, and an oxycodone addiction.

You, filming an MTV interview, 1998, "Media loves to make you and break you. They build you up, and they tear you down twice as hard. It's... ridiculous. But it comes with the job description, I guess. For a while I just felt like I couldn't do anything right." Her frequent club nights came to a crashing halt, as Jason Priestley became fed up with it, and managers and agents became worried of her further tarnishing of her good girl image.

Jennie Garth, "Her and Jason were a real fireball together. Jason adored her, so when he saw her start to spin out of control he gave her an ultimatum. Either she settles down and stays away from the party scene, or he leaves. She was crazy in love with him, so she had no other choice." But her image and her drama didn't stop her from bonding closely with yet another co-worker. Luke Perry. Despite being rejected early on, Y/N maintained a friendly close relationship with Luke and as those two became closer, so did their characters.

Heidi Parker, Playboy, "Y/N, Jason, and Luke were very close. Although Y/N got along with everyone, those boys loved her, and she loved them. It was a really strong, intimate friendship. Despite Jason and Y/N being in love, that didn't stop people from insisting Luke and Y/N were seeing each other. I mean, when you saw them on screen, it was completely electric and everyone caught wind of that. It spawned some awful rumors. This girl hadn't done a thing to anyone, but her mere association with Doherty was what dragged her in to begin with. Y/N was known for being a total sweetheart on set, yet she was still getting pummeled. It got out of control. Everyone who knew her loved her and everyone who read about her hated her."

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At the end of 1996, Jason and Y/N parted ways. After almost 5 years of dating, Y/N moved out of their shared condo and into a Beverly Hills apartment with Tori Spelling.

Jill Ishkanian, US Weekly, "Everyone was surprised when they split. They had talked marriage, they had talked kids. But she left him after they had gotten in a fight about Shannen. Jason did not want Shannen around as often as she was and Y/N wasn't willing to let Shannen go that easily. She was Shannen's main support system, especially with all of her relationship struggles. Two failed marriages, a handful of abusive relationships. Y/N was the only stable thing she had. So, she dumped him, packed her things and left." Y/N went on a few dates with Ian Ziering a few months after, but they quickly decided they were better as friends and they kept it professional from there on out.

You, late night with David Letterman, 2000, "Oh, everyone hooked up with everyone. I definitely wasn't one to stray from that. We were so young, everyone was so attractive on that show, I mean it was kind of inevitable."

Clark and Spelling would live together for two years, with Spelling being a shoulder to lean on during the fallout.

You, 1996, "Look, it's not a pretty scene for anyone and I really just need... privacy right now. It would be great if people could stop asking me about it." As the couple fought in real life, so did their characters.

Jennie Garth, "When Jason and Y/N broke up it was chaos. There was a good period where they didn't even want to be near each other, let alone make out all day at work, y'know? They weren't exactly fighting, but they wanted nothing to do with the other, they were miserable. Luke had been gone at that point and the producers were freaking out because they had planned out this whole thing with Brandon and Y/N and they had to scrap it, because with them butting heads it just wouldn't work. So they switched gears and had their characters fight too. I think it was just cathartic enough to get them close again." They repaired their damaged relationship slowly but surely, just in time for things to heat up with Clark and ANOTHER 90210 alumni.

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In the winter of 1997, Y/N and Luke Perry embarked down a romantic path, sharing their first kiss at Tori Spelling's casual New Years Eve party with their friends and families.

Tori Spelling, "When they started dating it was like everything fell into place. It dawned on everyone how perfect they were for each other, I know Jason wasn't thrilled about it, but we were all genuinely happy for them."

Jennie Garth comes onto the screen. "Luke and Y/N/N have always made sense to me. They're both very humble, well rounded people. And they always had this really flirty element to them from the start, I'm surprised it took that long," she laughs. A year and a half later, they tied the knot with a small private ceremony at their shared home in Beverly Hills, California. Costing only $20,000, it was the cheapest wedding of all of the 90210 clan's. And in June of 1999 they welcomed their first child, a baby girl, Sophie. Selling their 3 million dollar home, they moved into a 6 million dollar house outside of Hollywood, accidentally moving in next to none other than Jason Priestley.

Thankfully that caused no serious drama between the two families. But the finale of Beverly Hills, 90210 caused a stir that no one could have expected. Priestley made a surprise guest appearance that reportedly caused more drama off screen than on.

Jennie Garth, MTV, 2000, "It's so ridiculous. Everything was just weirdly timed. Jason being on the show had nothing to do with his divorce and it has nothing to do with Y/N's pregnancy, either. People love to make stuff up and cause drama that wasn't there to begin with and it's probably so exhausting for her."

Shortly after appearing on 90210, Priestley filed for divorce, ending his 8 month long marriage. Around the same time, the Perrys announced their second pregnancy. Tabloids began to say that Y/N had caused the divorce and that she was secretly pregnant with Priestley's baby.

Tori Spelling, "Those were so awful and so fake. Her son is a carbon copy of Luke, I'd be floored if Jason was the father..." "I think that part of Jason will always be in love with her... and that shined through in the finale a little bit and that's what people are picking up on. But her and Luke are soulmates. She has a good head on her shoulders, a lot of integrity."

Shannen Doherty, the Rosie O'Donnel Show, 1997, "Y/N's my best friend in the entire world, we went to Ireland together last summer and everything. Yeah, her and I have always been close."

Jennie Garth, "She's incredibly intelligent, super funny. Easily one of the strongest women I know."

Join us tomorrow when we air Tori Spelling: The E! True Hollywood Story. Only on E!

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Taglist: @be-patient-be-good @mpmarypoppins @bevelyhills90210 @blueoz @harleylilo88 @princess-ghost-alien @hueycat2004 @l4life

[incoherentbabblings]

On the Twelfth Day (2/2)

AO3 Link Here.  TimSteph Christmas Fluff.

-7-

Fancy dinner did not occur. Or rather, they had their starter, but a certain Robin bird crashing through the crystal domed ceiling had put an end to the dinner, and they had rushed out to change and help against Mr Freeze who was having a whale of a time in central Gotham. Stephanie had slipped at one point on a mountain of ice, and had bruised her spine in the fall. She lay on the sofa in the manor, Tim sat on the floor in front of her at quarter to twelve, whilst the family were out cleaning up the mess Freeze had left behind. They watched as the countdown began. Steph jolted as her memory was triggered by the sight of Gotham’s clocks.

“Oh! Tim, my handbag. I was going to give you my present at dinner. Open it before midnight! Hurry!”

He crawled over, having changed from one formal suit to his super suit to his jammies, and tugged over her little brown bag.

She watched, more nervous than she had been with any of the other gifts, worried about what he would think.

“A watch?” His voice wasn’t offended, thank God, but she still felt the need to justify.

“I just thought… I know Bruce gave you one, and you have your dad’s, so okay, maybe you don’t also need one from me, I mean it’s not as fancy…”

He kissed her, long and sweet, using whatever he could to distract her from her worries. “Fancy doesn’t matter. This is one I can wear everyday, tell people my girlfriend bought me it.” He turned just as on the tv the clock stroke midnight. “Ah! Happy New Year.”

Stephanie pressed kisses to the back of his head, his damp hair smelling sweet from the bath they’d shared earlier. “Happy New Year.”

Tim put on the watch, setting it to midnight, and kissed Stephanie again.

-8-

“Not very exciting this time I’m afraid honey.”  Tim mumbled. He was buried under the bed covers, not really wiling to get up and start the day.  He waved vaguely over in the direction of the wardrobe.

“Implying that I don’t love chocolates… false.”  Stephanie shuffled over, settling on the bed next the lump under the duvet that was her boyfriend.  Wincing with her back pain, she began to stuff her face with the selection box.  She looked down at Tim and smiled.

“Timmy, open up.”

Tim poked his head out from the covers, dark hair ruffled with sleep.  She popped a chocolate into his mouth, watching him smile, then disappear back under the covers.

-9-

“Catch!”

In the cave, Stephanie threw a large wicker basket at Tim, which he managed to grab hold of before it hit his head.  He swayed at the weight of it.  Stephanie trotted over, fully in costume, whilst Tim had yet to put in his mask. Tim turned and rested the basket on a nearby table.  Opening the flaps, he went to peer in, but Damian appeared, shoving Tim out the way.

“Honey?  Really Brown?  You raid a farm or something?”

“Damian!” Dick pulled Damian’s judgemental look and stature away from the pair, shooting an apologetic look at them.

“He’s not totally wrong.” Stephanie sighed.  “It is a lot of farm stuff.  Hamper food.”

Tim began rummaging through the tissue, pulling out jars of chutney’s and jams and cheese and dried fruits. Two small bottles of beer were also nestled in.

“Steph…”

“I know the weather has been… pure shit.  And there isn’t really anywhere we can go but…”

“We can go to SanFran.” Tim looked at her, eyes smiling. “Next weekend, before college starts up again.  Conner says it’s been dry.  Not warm. It never really is over there but…” He trailed off and looked at Steph, still facing forwards.  “You’ve never spent more than a night at the tower have you?”

“No.”

“Well you have right to. It’ll be nice!”  He squeezed her hand reassuringly at her nervous look. “This is really sweet Steph, thank you.”

“You can thank Conner and Kara, half this stuff is from Kansas!”

-10-

The Fourth of January was more than a little stressful, Tim had had an awkward conversation with both Crystal and Bruce (and Alfred, hovering like a bee) which had led to Dick swamping Tim in the manor corridors.

“Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii know what you’ve done!  Gonna tell Cass!”  He sang, smiling so broadly that Tim became faintly petrified of Dick’s teeth being put on display.  Immediately alarmed, he began to slap Dick on the arms, legs and gut, as if that would shut him up.

“What do you know?”  Tim hissed.  Dick just laughed and sprinted away.  Tim gave chase, throwing himself onto his elder brother’s back.  He clung tight, and began to tug at Dick’s perfectly curled hair. “How did you find out?  What are you? Psychic?”

“Just nosy!”  Dick spun in a circle bent in half, Tim hanging off his back like a monkey.

“Don’t say anything!” Clinging tight and trying to choke Dick from behind, Tim entered a blinding panic. No-one was supposed to know!

“Oh, come on!  You have so little trust?”

“That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever said, and you know it!”

“Who’s dumb?”  

Steph appeared out of Cass’s room, several strings of strawberry laces hanging from her mouth being chewed obnoxiously, curious at the racket.  Tim leaped off Dick’s back like he was made of fire.

“Nothing!  C’mon, I was grabbing you for your present.”

Stephanie smiled, shoving the rest of the candy into her mouth. Waving goodbye to Dick, who waved glibly back, Tim watched with horror as he snuck into Cassandra’s room, no doubt to gossip.  

Goddammit.

Pulling her into his room, Tim rushed to the bed, then held out a large picture frame, nearly as wide as his arm berth.  She took it gratefully and looked at the collage Tim had compiled.  It was many candids and posed shots of her, Tim, their friends and family.  From them aged fifteen, to photos Tim had taken just the other day with his new camera, it was their lives together compiled into one frame.  There was a gap of about two years in their mid-teens, but otherwise, it was all their history in one frame.

She set it back down on Tim’s bed.  Pointing at one image of them when they were younger, their cheeks pressed together, Tim half out the frame, but they looked so young, so fresh.

“That’s mine.  I had a bunch posted above my bed… Did you take them?”

“I ‘borrowed’ them, made copies for this.  Your mom helped.”

Stephanie nodded approvingly.  “Ahhhh, I see.  Going behind my back now is she?”

“Oh, how the tables have turned.” Tim teased.

Stephanie huffed, then pressed a kiss to his cheek.  “This is unbearably sentimental Tim.  Thank you. But just wait until tomorrow.”

-11-

Tim had been hurt this time. A sprained ankle which had swollen up to an impressive size.  He’d hurt it catching some poor kid jumping out of a building to escape a fire.  The rice treatment had ensued.  Rest, ice, compression and elevation.  It as an old rule, but it was one Alfred stood firmly by. He had dozed off, waiting for Stephanie to return from patrol. Their plans to go to San Francisco had been delayed, since Tim was going to need the week to recover. Stephanie had tired not to let her disappointment leak through. These sorts of things were bound to happen, and it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Not truly.  

She stared at a sleeping Tim, his skin looking warm in the lamp light.  She then looked down at the package in her hand and decided to unwrap it for him.  This one she had been working on for over a month, and it had become increasingly tricky to hide it from Tim due it’s ever growing size.

Unravelling the hand knitted blanket, she sat down on the sofa next to Tim, and spread it over them both. Tucking it under his chin, she settled into his side, and shut her eyes.

When Tim started awake later from a vague and fuzzy nightmare, he woke to the rain on the windows, the room softly lit, and his girlfriend resting at his side.  His foot had flopped down off the table when he had jerked, so wincing he raised it once more to the table.  Noticing then the blanket she had thrown over them, Tim picked absently at the thread, noticing almost immediately that this was a new one, and although it was neat, it wasn’t as uniform as what a machine would do.

He knew she had been working on something.  He’d seen the receipts from different craft shops across Gotham, but he’d assumed it was something for herself, or maybe the other Batgirls.  

The blanket was a deep gem blue, and as large as the sofa.  Not only that, it wasn’t just one large square, she had done different stitches along the rims and even a circular pattern in the centre.  She had worked extremely hard on this, in between college and Batgirl-ing and Stephanie Brown-ing.

Tim shifted his arms, wrapping them tight around Stephanie under the fabric.  She sighed happily in her sleep, and nuzzled into his chest.

“Love you.”  He murmured.

Even in sleep, Stephanie smiled.  

-12-

Taking down the decorations was always intensely depressing.  It meant there was no more twinkling lights or shiny paper to catch the winter light (what little there existed of it in Gotham).  No, now the grim winter had truly begun.

Tim was still sat on the sofa, carefully wrapping the decorations in tissue and bubble wrap. Amongst them was Steph’s first gift of the robins. He stared at the chubby pair hard, then set them aside. They cold stay out until Spring at least.  He occasionally side glanced at Stephanie getting into an argument with two sets of Christmas lights.  One set she was wearing on her head and shoulders, the other tangled around her arms and outstretched legs on the floor.  She huffed and puffed and cursed.  He tried not to laugh, as that might have set her temper off properly, which was the last thing he wanted for today.

“Tim? Change the music? The bass is too much and…”  And she continued to grumble to herself, tugging unnecessarily hard on to lights that had crossed over each other and gotten tangled.

Tim called for his speaker to switch radio stations, flipping to a classical music channel. To his relief, it was playing a soft piano tune, and Stephanie’s grumbling lessened in response.  

They worked in silence for a moment, and Tim was struck by how peaceful it felt, how domestic. Safe.  

Putting the lid on one of the storage boxes, Tim noticed his hands were shuddering.  His nerves were kicking in.

“Stephie?  Can I borrow you for a sec?”

Always weak to him calling her that, and somewhat relieved to be distracted from the lights, she leaped upwards.  “Is it your ankle?  Need a cold press?”

“No, no.  Just, can you swap the boxes for me?  Done with that one.”

She did as she was bid, but before she could replace the box with an empty one on the seat, Tim tugged her down.

Thinking he wanted a kiss, she swiftly leaned in for a smooch.

Not wanting to jostle his foot too much, she clambered onto him, finding she was sorely needing an unscheduled make out session to vent her stress.  

She felt his hands twitch. One held her neck, the other had drifted downwards, fumbling around his hoodie.

“Steph.”  He broke away, bringing his hand up to her cheek. He suddenly looked horrendously nervous, which only served to make Stephanie on edge.  He gulped, then squeezed his other hand in between their chests.  “Steph… your last present… you don’t have to say yes, if you don’t want to, you’re not ready, or… or if you don’t feel the same way…”  The sadness that permeated his expression broke her heart as she began to understand what was happening.  What the point of the twelve days of Christmas gift exchange was for. A ploy really, a stinkingly sweet plot.

Tim popped the tiny black box open to reveal an engagement ring.  It was one of those rings that looked like it were three, crossing over in the middle, one filled with round diamonds, the other rubies, the final a plain band of white gold.  Stephanie had pianist’s fingers, long and thin with bumpy knuckles, and Tim had spent an embarrassingly long time deciding what would look good on Stephanie. When he had spoken to Crystal the other day, to try and be good as ask her permission, Crystal had only pursed her lips at the sight of the ring, face giving nothing away. She did say yes to Tim asking, so that was something. The very same day he had also spoken to Bruce, for whatever reason Tim couldn’t recall.  Just a small part of him that still craved Bruce’s approval, which, to Tim’s utter shock, he had given.

He had done one thing though, which had ticked Tim off at the time.  Bruce had hummed at the sight of the ring and suggested that Tim could have gone bigger.  Tim must have looked so offended that Bruce quietly corrected himself and said it would probably do.  Tim was old enough now to know when Bruce was being deliberately cruel and when he had just put his foot in it.  The guilty look on Bruce’s face suggested the latter and Tim tried to quell his feelings of inadequacy.  

Now, with Stephanie’s eyes growing wet and her mouth smiling, he thought the ring was indeed fit for purpose.

“Will you marry me?” He asked.

Tears dropped down her cheeks, and her eyeliner began to run horribly.

“You want to marry me? For real?”

God they were both insecure as anything.  Tim had been petrified of the concept of her saying no, she had seemingly not expected him to ever ask, to even want to ask.  

“Stephie, I wouldn’t… I do. For real.”

“Me too!”  She sobbed.  She nodded again and again.  “Yes, yes, yes!”

Tim fumbled taking the ring out of the box, sliding it onto her finger.  He struggled a bit at getting it past her lower knuckle, but once it got past it fit neatly around her ring finger.  Stephanie laughed, tilting her hand in the light to see it glitter.  More tears dripped down her face, then she kissed Tim once more, happier than she’d ever been.

“Rubies?”  She asked, pressing their foreheads together

“Thought amethysts might be too on the nose.”

“Red for you then?”

“For Robin.  Both of us.”

Another kiss.  “Utter charmer.”  She murmured, settling in on his lap.  Tim picked up her hand, and began fiddling with her finger and ring, smug as anything that she was wearing it.  That she had said yes.  

“Last day to say it Tim… Merry Christmas.”

“Heh.  Merry Christmas.”

[citizenscreen]

‘Tis the season to spread cheer and I’m doing my part by recommending classic movies, paying them forward in hopes that these memorable distractions take people’s minds off negative goings on. I’m asking that you join me, recommend your favorites and #PayClassicsForward on your blogs, by noting your recommendations in the comments or sharing across social media.

Let’s give the gift of movies.

Here’s the challenge…pick movie recommendations to the “12 Days of Christmas” theme as I’ve done below. Keep in mind that movie choices should be those you think would appeal to non-classics fans. Let’s grow our community and #PayClassicsForward

Have fun!

On the first day of Christmas, etc. etc…

One hat

The “one” listing is always a difficult one due to the fact that classics lend themselves to plenty of choices. That said, I came up with a category that encompasses important decades and several genre of film – the fedora. By following the history of the fedora in film you’ll be made privy to the best gangsters, greatest funny men, and most memorable lovers of Hollywood’s golden age. So here it is, a signature fedora:

Note that in researching my favorite fedora portrait I learned that trilbys are often mistaken for fedoras. Since experts seem to be confused between the two types of classic men’s hats that leaves little hope for me. I can’t say for sure whether Bogart is wearing a trilby in the above image, but he may well be. Descriptions of this type of hat explain the rims are shorter than your average fedoras. Either way, it’s a cool, suave look and Bogie rocks it.

From GQ: What’s the difference between a fedora and a trilby?

Answer: Traditionally a fedora has a wide brim and in the UK a wide ribbon band and bow. A trilby has a narrow brim and narrow ribbon, although there are some American trilbies that still have the wide ribbon.

  Two Fairbanks

Things were not simple between Douglas Fairbanks and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as it is for many families, but the son wore his father’s name proudly. I chose this father and son combination because if you watch their films you’ll get a healthy helping of everything from silent adventure to pre-code delicacies through some terrific television work. These are careers worth following.

  Three Trios

There are quite a few choices for memorable trios in film including Cattle rustlers Robert Hightower (John Wayne), Pedro “Pete” Rocafuerte (Pedro Armendáriz), and William Kearney (Harry Carey, Jr.) in John Ford’s 3 Godfathers. That one is definitely difficult to pass up. That said, I think the following trios are likely to be looked at less by casual fans and they all deserve attention. These are my choices of trios in movies:

They are such a joy to behold. I remember them fondly from my days as a child watching them on TV. It seemed then that they appeared in a million movies, but that wasn’t the case. Still, these siblings are a joy in films like Buck Pirates with Abbott and Costello and their film debut in Albert S. Rogell’s Argentine Nights (1940). The Andrews Sisters made 17 films, more than any other singing group and all are a terrific way to be introduced to the movies. If that record does not impress you, then maybe this one will: LaVerne, Maxene, and Patty garnered 113 charted Billboard hits with 46 of those reaching the top 10. That’s more than Elvis Presley or The Beatles.

  I have nothing against Disney. In fact, I enjoy their classic animated films immensely. Due to that I’m less than enthusiastic about their constant remakes, which – in my opinion – disrespects those wonderful, older film accomplishments. Today I pay tribute to one of them by way of a trio of glorious characters made in the memorable Disney vein we’ve all come to know and love, that combination of warmth and delightful comedy that permeate those wonderful films. These characters are Princess Aurora’s three good fairy godmothers Flora, Fauna and Merryweather in Disney’s 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty. They alone pay tribute to an enchanting legacy.

“Each of us the child may bless, with a single gift no more, no less.”

  The final mention here goes to three Russian envoys who have arrived in Paris to sell a fortune in jewelry, imperial jewelry, the money of which is to go to the Russian government, which is in need of cash. The three, Iranoff, Buljanoff and Kopalski (played hilariously by Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart and Alexander Granach, respectively) who are supposed to be doing work for the Russian government, immediately get caught up in the excesses of capitalism and fail to sell the jewelry.  Moscow then sends a special envoy to Paris to investigate what’s going on with the trio and the jewelry. The envoy is the rigid and humorless, Comrade Yakushova – Ninotchka (Greta Garbo). The charming Melvyn Douglas plays Ninotchka’s love interest in Ernst Lubitsch’s delightful comedy, but it’s the three envoys in the hands of Ruman, Bressart and Granach that make this movie among the greats in the annals of comedy. I just want to get to know them better and so should you.

Ninotchka with Iranoff, Buljanoff, and Kopalski

  Four Skippy Performances

It’s no wonder this wire-haired terrier was the highest paid canine star of his day. Often referred to as “Asta,” thanks to his successful appearances in The Thin Man movies, his real name was Skippy – and we love him to tears. Although I’m choosing only four of his film performances, Skippy never made a bad movie and starred opposite some of Hollywood’s biggest names. If you keep an eye out for Skippy’s filmography on TCM, you will no doubt be introduced to an astounding talent as well as a terrific movie. It’s guaranteed. My Skippy suggestions are:

Skippy as Asta in The Thin Man movies opposite William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles. I can’t imagine you haven’t seen The Thin Man (1934), but may not have given any of the sequels a try. If that’s the case you will be delighted by Skippy in any one of his key performances:

in ANOTHER THIN MAN

in AFTER THE THIN MAN

  Skippy is wonderful as Mr. Smith in The Awful Truth. Worth a custody dispute between Warriner and Warriner played by Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, this time Skippy is required to add straight drama to his repertoire as he is required to choose between his two humans right off the bat. There’s also plenty for him to do on the comedy front, however, so this one is a must-see.

forced to choose between the Warriners in court

front and center in the awful truth

  Skippy as George in Howard Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby opposite Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Another terrific outing for our favorite pooch as he is central to action thanks to his burying abilities.

Holding his own in Hawks’ beloved screwball

  This sequel to Norman Z. McLeod’s 1937 hit Topper lacks some of the charm of its predecessor, but the talents of Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbry, and Skippy make it well worth your time. Here, Skippy matched Bennett’s ghostly wit by ghostly wit in a role that stretches his talents to matters beyond this world and he approaches it with signature enthusiasm.

so famous he made it into this spectacular publicity photo with Constance Bennett

  Five Lords-a-leaping

No explanation needed.

Cagney

Nicholas Brothers

Kelly

Astaire

Six Vivien Leigh GWTW Tests

Gone With the Wind is celebrating its 80th anniversary on December 15 and, as the biggest, most famous movie ever made, it deserves at least a mention here.

On that day in 1939, Atlanta’s Loew’s Grand Theater was buzzing with Hollywood’s biggest names. It was such an occasion for Atlanta that the film’s opening was a 3-day event as Governor Eurith Dickinson Rivers declared a three-day holiday. Other politicians asked that Georgians dress in period clothing. A lot had happened in Hollywood leading up to that premiere though including the famous search for the film’s leading lady, the protagonist of Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 blockbuster novel, Scarlett O’Hara. Every female star it seems auditioned for the part. Among them were Bette Davis, Jean Arthur, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Bennett, Claudette Colbert, Frances Dee, and Paulette Goddard who, as stories go, was close to being chosen. As we all know, however, Scarlett went to the lovely, British Vivien Leigh who possessed an outstanding talent. Leigh made the part her own and, along with the film, became tantamount to Hollywood royalty. To honor Vivien Leigh and her memorable Scarlett O’Hara here are six make-up and wardrobe test stills:

  Seven Justices

Judge James K. Hardy in the Andy Hardy movie series

Judge Margaret Turner in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Judge Taylor in To Kill a Mockingbird

Judge Weaver in Anatomy of a Murder

Judge Henry X. Harper in Miracle on 34th Street

Judge Dan Haywood in Judgment at Nuremberg

Judge Chamberlain Haller in My Cousin Vinny

Eight Serials

Follow the links to watch episodes of these dramatically exciting serials. It might take a few chapters for you to get hooked, but you’ll get hooked.

The Perils of Pauline (1914) starring Pearl White

The Vanishing Legion (1931) starring Harry Carey and Edwina Booth

The Green Hornet (1940) starring Gordon Jones

Zorro Rides Again (1937) starring John Carroll

The Master Mystery (1918) starring Harry Houdini

Flash Gordon (1936) starring Buster Crabbe

The Phantom Creeps (1939) starring Bela Lugosi

Holt of the Secret Service (1941) starring Jack Holt

  Nine Ladies Dancing

Ann Miller

Ruby Keeler

Eleanor Powell

Lena Horne

Betty Grable

Vera-Ellen

Cyd Charisse

Ginger Rogers

Dorothy Dandridge

  Ten Directors

Watch their movies… live, love, learn, and laugh.

Michael Curtiz

Akira Kurosawa

William Wyler

Fritz Lang

Ernst Lubitsch

John Ford

Alfred Hitchcock

Mervyn LeRoy

Ida Lupino

Lois Weber

  Eleven Movies about Millionaires

Since I recommended movies about hobos in a previous year, I thought the time came for millionaires. There are many wonderful movies about the super rich, particularly during the Great Depression when audiences loved seeing the plight of these people play out for laughs. That theme made for some of film history’s best screwball comedies. The super rich, however, have lent themselves for entertaining movie fare ever since the movies began and in every genre. Check out this terrific list from Forbes spotlighting millionaires in movies.

As for me, I have quite a few favorites with millionaire themes that appeal to most others as well. These include such popular titles as The Philadelphia Story, the shenanigans of the Charleses in The Thin Man movies, My Man Godfrey, The Lady Eve, How to Marry a Millionaire, and movies featuring recognizable names like Charles Foster Kane and Bruce Wayne. For this purpose, however, I recommend lesser known, but worthy millionaire movie stories I’ve watched through the years – some in terrible condition, a few greats, and some for plain ole fun. Here are the 11 rich and classic…

Phil Rosen’s Extravagance (1930)

John G. Adolfi’s The Millionaire (1931)

Clarence G. Badger’s Miss Brewster’s Millions (1926)

Frank Tuttle’s Love Among the Millionaires (1930)

Mitchell Leisen’s Easy Living (1937)

Anthony Asquith’s The Millionairess (1960)

Robert Moore’s Murder by Death (1976)

William Asher’s Bikini Beach (1964)

Walter Lang’s I’ll Give a Million (1938)

George Marshall’s A Millionaire for Christy (1951)

Roy Del Ruth’s Kid Millions (1934)

EXTRAVAGANCE (1930_

THE MILLIONAIRE (1931)

LOVE AMONG THE MILLIONAIRES (1930)

MISS BREWSTER’S MILLIONS (1926)

MURDER BY DEATH (1976)

I’LL GIVE A MILLION (1938)

A MILLIONAIRE FOR CHRISTY (1951)

THE MILLIONAIRESS (1960)

KID MILLIONS (1934)

BIKINI BEACH (1964)

EASY LIVING (1937)

    Twelve Feature Acting Debuts

Some of my favorite and/or most memorable film debuts…

Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween – effective after all these years.

Orson Welles in Citizen Kane – although Welles’ performance is what I find hardest to like in Kane, I cannot deny its impact and status among characters in film.

Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday – appropriate introduction for royalty in film and in life. She charms you from the first moment.

Eva Marie Saint in On the Waterfront – exclamation point to begin a stellar movie career.

Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl – a tour de force and a phenomenon

Peter Lorre in M – brilliant, nightmarish, heartbreaking. Described by director Fritz Lang as “one of the best in film history.” I agree.

Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins – Her debut should have been as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but we’ll take this and so did she. Not only did Andrews win the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of the magical nanny, but she won the hearts of the world in the process.

Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People – ordinarily superb.

Angela Lansbury in Gaslight – small part, big impact. Undeniable screen presence.

Edward Norton in Primal Fear – convincing and chilling.

Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips – She wanted a worthy role as her screen introduction. She got it. She killed it – as she did from that moment on.

Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours – I love this performance highlighting the scope of Murphy’s talent.

I gave this final topic a lot of thought as there are many worthy contenders. For instance, I’m sure many would choose James Dean’s turn in East of Eden, as big a legend-ensuring performance as there ever was, but it’s not a favorite of mine. Tatum O’Neill’s performance in Paper Moon is another one I considered as were Marlee Matlin’s in Children of a Lesser God and Lupita Nyong’o heartbreaking Patsey in 12 Years a Slave. Finally, I adore Robert Duvall’s debut appearance in To Kill a Mockingbird. And I could go on and on. We just have an embarrassment of riches.

♥

Phew! There you have this year’s movie recommendations. I hope you enjoyed the list and that – in the spirit of Christmas – you take this challenge and…

#PayClassicsForward

Visit previous year’s lists as shown:

2015

2016

2017

2018

The Challenge: #PayClassicsForward for Christmas ‘Tis the season to spread cheer and I’m doing my part by recommending classic movies, paying them forward in hopes that these memorable distractions take people’s minds off negative goings on.

[aion-rsa]

Christmas Movies: A Complete Holiday Streaming Guide

https://ift.tt/3q2Rba0

So, maybe there isn’t enough Christmas and holiday programming on TV for your liking. We get it. You can’t be stuck at the mercy of broadcasters and cable networks all the time, not when there are so many Christmas movies to watch, right?

Read more

TV

Christmas Movies and TV Specials: Full 2020 Schedule

By Den of Geek Staff

Movies

Christmas Movies: A Complete Holiday Streaming Guide

By Alec Bojalad and 1 other

Well, because we’re a little crazy, we’re working on an index of every Christmas movie and other piece of seasonally appropriate holiday-themed film available on various streaming services. Just bookmark this page, scroll on through the alphabetical list, hit the links, and it can be Christmas whenever you need it to be! And if you spot some stuff that we missed, just let us know in the comments and we’ll see about getting it all added for you.

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Hulu

What is it about the holidays that makes it feel like we’re on the verge of the end of the world? Regardless, if you’re going to capture Christmas season ennui in a movie, you might as well go all out. That’s exactly what British holiday film Anna and the Apocalypse aims to do. Anna is a Christmas zombie musical comedy. Because why have one genre when you can have them all?

Read more

TV

The Best Christmas Movies Available on Hulu

By Alec Bojalad

Movies

Run Review: Sarah Paulson Terrifies as Mommie Dearest in Hulu Movie

By Don Kaye

Ella Hunt stars as Anna Shepherd, a secondary school graduate who plans to embark on a grand travel tour before heading to university. Those plans come to a grinding halt, however, when a zombie infection starts to spread throughout her town. Anna gets together with some friends as they try to survive both the holidays and the encroaching zombie apocalypse. 

Black Mirror: White Christmas (2014)

Netflix

Those looking for Christmas cheer won’t find it here. Black Mirror isn’t necessarily known for its happy endings and it’s 2014 Christmas special, “White Christmas” is no different.

Still, there is an audience out there that definitely wants this level of Scroogery. Plus it stars Jon Hamm! “White Christmas” follows three seemingly disparate stories. Jon Hamm is Matt, a mysterious man with a mysterious job who viewers watch in three different environments: once as a gross pick-up artist helper, once as a digital “cookie” salesman, and once as an occupant in a cozy cabin on Christmas Day.

What do all of these have to do with Christmas? Watch and find out. Then weep for the collapse of humanity.

A Charlie Brown Christmas Special (1965)

Apple TV+ – Arriving Dec. 4

“A Charlie Brown Christmas Special” is one of the most enduring holiday classics in the pop culture canon. Originally airing in 1965 on CBS, it was an experiment from The Coca-Cola Company to see if Charles M. Schulz’s beloved Peanuts characters could carry their charm over to a new medium…and boy could they.

The half-hour picks up with Charlie Brown down in the dumps and unable to capture the Christmas spirit. Thankfully, his friends know just what to do. Soon ol’ Chuck is directing the school Christmas play and nabbing a pitiful Christmas tree with Linus. This is “A Charlie Brown Christmas Special’s” first year as primarily a streaming entity, though Apple TV+ is allowing it to air on PBS on Dec. 13.

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Netflix

If a Christmas movie is only as good as its Santa (surely someone out there abides by this rule), then Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles is one heck of a Christmas movie. This family film produced by Chris Columbus features Kurt Russell ascending to his final form as Hot Santa Claus. 

Read more

TV

New on Netflix: November 2020 Releases

By Alec Bojalad

TV

The Best Christmas Movies Available on Netflix

By Alec Bojalad

The plot follows two children who are struggling to believe in the magic of Christmas after the death of their firefighter father. But the spirit of the season seizes them when they encounter the ultimate stand-in father figure: Kurt Russell Santa. The Christmas Chronicles is your classic, by-the-book family holiday yarn with a fun actor at the center and elevated production quality. Its sequel is also available to stream on Netflix. 

Doctor Who Christmas Specials

HBO Max

If the British know one thing, it’s tea. If they know two things, it’s tea and Christmas specials. Many big-time U.K. television shows have their own excellent holiday specials. Decades-old sci-fi institution Doctor Who, however, takes the cake when it comes to Christmas excellence.

HBO Max has 12 seasons worth of Doctor Who Christmas specials dating all the way back to the modern continuation’s first Doctor, Christopher Eccleston. Each episode is an hour-long treat of Doctor Who and Christmas goodies and should the joy of watching them ever peter out, there are plenty of bonus materials to watch as well.

Frozen (2013)

Disney+

Frozen, an animated movie you might have heard of, technically takes place during summer. But it sure doesn’t feel that way after Queen Elsa freezes the fjord and belts songs about the snowmen she and her sister want to build. Indeed, there is hardly a more festive film for the holidays than this celebration of self-love and familial love. Rather than being the story of a princess falling for a prince, Frozen is about the love between two sisters, Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell), and how that bond can transcend fear, isolation, and lifelong trauma like losing your parents at an early age.

Read more

Movies

Christmas Movies on Disney+ Streaming Guide

By David Crow

Movies

Frozen 2: ‘Show Yourself’ Song Was Almost Cut from Movie

By David Crow

Fairly sophisticated stuff for an animated movie, Frozen became a bona fide classic in large part due to its songbook by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, with “Let It Go” standing out as an anthem for self-empowerment and the realization of identity. And if you overlook the fact you heard that song probably five thousand times, it still has that same resonance, which is why children are drawn to its message, as well as Elsa’ irresistible ice powers brought to dazzling life. When you factor in Anna’s own awkward charm, the power the two radiate together is warming in any season.

Home Alone (1990)

Disney+

Another holiday classic from Fox, Home Alone remains a millennial touchstone for this time of year, and a gift that keeps on giving. Yes, everyone remembers the end where Macaulay Culkin tortures two bumbling goons (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) as if they’re Elmer Fudd, but the movie has a lot more going for it than just slapstick sociopathy. Indeed, when Kevin McCallister isn’t being a sadist, this film has an earnest appeal about celebrating the fantasy of a kid living by himself at home.

When his parents leave Kevin McAllister home alone for Christmas—it was an accident!—he has a luxury house to himself that he lounges about as if it were a giant playground with free ice cream, pizza, and R-rated movie viewing parties. Things go a little pear-shaped though when crooks try to rob the joint, but he handles that in glib fashion, all while sweetly pining for his mother. In fact, as you get older, Catherine O’Hara’s trials and tribulations to get back home to her baby boy in time for Christmas are as amusing as Kevin’s hijinks. (John Candy! Polka music!! Polka Christmas music!?!) But probably the reason this is a real classic has a lot to do with John Williams’ eternally heartwarming score.

Into the Dark: Pooka! (2018)

Hulu

The concept of Hulu horror anthology series Into the Dark is a simple one. Starting in October, every month would see the release of a new horror movie, usually revolving around a theme or holiday within that month. So naturally December 2018’s entry, Pooka!, brings its chills to Christmas. Directed by Nacho Vigalondo from a script by Gerald Olson, Pooka! introduces one of the cutest creepiest critter since Gremlins.

Struggling actor Wilson Clowes (Nyasha Hatendi) takes on a job operating a giant fur suit of a toy company’s upcoming holiday season to, Pookah. Pookah has two modes, naughty or nice. Soon Wilson comes to find that the suit is starting to effect his overall mood and the naughty mode may last outside the confines of the suit.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Amazon

Now if you could only watch one Christmas movie every holiday season, it’s gotta be this one, right? It’s a Wonderful Life has been a winter staple ever since…shortly after its 1946 release. The film infamously took a little while for audiences to catch on they they were in the presence of a classic. And now it lives on Amazon for the time being as the go-to spot for holiday cheer.

If you haven’t watched this movie in a while, it can be surprising just how tenuously tied the whole thing is to Christmas. Though the story of George Bailey begins on Christmas Eve 1945, the movie takes audiences throughout the entirety of his life, Christmas Carol-style. But of course, in the end the angels have gotten their wings and Christmas is in full thrall. Certainly, It’s a Wonderful Life will be all over the traditional TV calendar, but it’s nice to know that it’s on streaming as well for those who just can’t wait.

Klaus (2019)

Netflix

Since the hallowed days of Rankin/Bass stop-motion animated Christmas specials, there hasn’t been much movement or innovation in the realm of animated Christmas movies. Klaus, written and directed by Sergio Pablos, seeks to change all that in Klaus.

This crisply animated feature serves as an alternative history version of the story of Santa Claus. Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) proves himself to be the worst student as a postal academy and is sent to the North Pole where his lack of letter-delivering abilities won’t do anyone any harm. There he discovers Klaus (J.K. Simmons), a mysterious carpenter who lives alone and likes to make handmade toys. Sounds pretty familiar. 

Klaus is both a technical marvel and an effective little Christmas story.

Last Christmas (2019)

HBO Max

Shortly after taking in the cheerful trailer for Emma Thompson and Paul Feig’s 2019 holiday hit Last Christmas, the Internet stood up as one and agreed on an important point: there’s a twist in here, isn’t there? And of course, the Internet was right…as it so often is.

Last Christmas features a very prominent and important twist in its plot that you’ll have to watch the movie (or read Wikipedia) to figure out. But twist or no, this is a perfectly enjoyable entry into the modern Christmas canon. Emilia Clarke takes some time off from torching King’s Landing to star as Kate, an aspiring young singer going through hard times around Christmas. That all changes when she meets the alluring and devastatingly handsome Tom (Henry Golding). What follows is a minor Christmas miracle.

The Santa Clause (1994)

Disney+

Tim Allen really was on top of the world in the 1990s, wasn’t he? The star of ABC’s popular Home Improvement sitcom, and just a year away from becoming a Pixar legend in Toy Story, Allen could get any family entertainment greenlit. Thus enters Disney’s The Santa Clause, a movie that posits “what if Tim Allen became Santa?” That’s pretty much what happens when Allen’s schmo-y Scott Calvin inadvertently is responsible for the death of the previous Santa who slips off his roof.

The consequence of Scott’s mistake is he puts on the red and white outfit to finish Santa’s sleigh ride that night, much to the delight of his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd). Little does he know that by donning the suit, he has entered into a “Santa Clause” which means he becomes the big guy—literally so as he gains 100 pounds of weight and a white beard overnight. It’s still amusing now, but our favorite bit will always be David Krumholtz as the no-nonsense North Pole elf from Brooklyn.

Surviving Christmas (2004)

Amazon

One enduring hallmark of the Christmas movie genre is how bad many of its entries are. Of course, there are some well-executed classics that command one’s attention and respect, but for the most part they all blend together into a pleasant cheerful mush that can be on in the background while one decorates their tree.

Read more

TV

The Best Christmas Movies Available on Amazon Prime

By Alec Bojalad

TV

Amazon Prime Video New Releases: November 2020

By Alec Bojalad

But even by the dismal standards of Christmas movies, 2004’s Surviving Christmas is particularly dismal. This Ben Affleck/James Gandolfini starring vehicle very much earns its 7% Rotten Tomatoes score. In a way, however, that makes it a must-watch holiday classic. Affleck stars as a rich advertising executive looking to reconnect with his past. What better way to do so than to pay the current occupants of his childhood home to spend Christmas with them? Much James Gandolfini grumpiness ensues.

A Very Brady Christmas (1988)

Hulu

A Very Brady Christmas was a 1988 made-for-TV movie that brought together the entire original cast of The Brady Bunch save for Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady). Olsen was on her honeymoon at the time and I cant’ figure out if that’s a great reason or a weird reason to miss a once-in-a-generation TV event.

A Very Brady Christmas centers on a very simple and very relatable concept: getting the whole family back together for Christmas. This is a hard enough logistical challenge for a “normal” family, and a damn near impossible one for a family with six kids. Will the Bradys be able to pull it off? Watch and find out!

Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991)

HBO Max

“Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” is one of the most enduring sentences in Christmas history. It comes from an 1897 newspaper editorial in which The Sun (of New York) editor Francis Pharcellus Church responds affirmatively to young Virginia O’Hanlan’s question about the existence of Santa Claus.

Read more

Movies

Wonder Woman 1984: Does HBO Max Premiere End Theatrical Releases as We Know Them?

By David Crow

TV

HBO Max New Releases: November 2020

By Alec Bojalad

This 1991 TV movie of the same name dramatizes the already-quite dramatic story. Charles Bronson, of all people, stars as Church, who is dealing with the death of his wife and the trauma he endured as a war correspondent during the Civil War. It turns out that one little girls credulous belief in the impossible is all that many adults need to get back into the spirit of the season.

And here’s the complete list, just in case you don’t like our choices!

5 Star Christmas (2018)

Netflix

12 Days of Christmas Eve (2004)

Peacock

12 Dog Days Till Christmas (2014)

Hulu

12 Pups Of Christmas (2019)

Hulu

Alien Xmas (2020)

Netflix

Alone for Christmas (2013)

Peacock

American Rodeo: A Cowboy Christmas (2016)

Amazon

Angela’s Christmas (2017)

Netflix

Angela’s Christmas Wish (2020)

Netflix

Angels in the Snow (2015)

Hulu

Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)

Hulu

Back to Christmas (2004)

Hulu

Barbie: A Christmas Carol (2008)

Hulu

Barbie: A Perfect Christmas (2011)

Hulu, Peacock

Beyond Christmas (1940)

Amazon

Black Christmas (2019)

HBO Max, Peacock

Black Mirror: White Christmas (2014)

Netflix

A Bell for Christmas (2014)

Peacock

Bob’s Broken Sleigh (2015)

Netflix

BoJack Horseman Christmas Special (2014)

Netflix

A Bride for Christmas (2012)

Amazon

Chico Bon Bon and the Very Berry Holiday (2020)

Netflix

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Mid-Winter’s Tale (2018)

Netflix

Christmas, Again (2014)

Amazon

Christmas with the Andersons (2016)

Hulu

Christmas Belle (2013)

Hulu

Christmas Break-In (2019)

Netflix

The Christmas Calendar (2017)

Hulu

A Christmas Carol (1938)

HBO Max

A Christmas Carol (2019)

Hulu

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Netflix

The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two (2020)

Netflix

Christmas in Compton (2012)

Hulu

Christmas Crush (2019)

Hulu

Christmas Cruise (2017)

Peacock

The Christmas Dragon (2014)

Amazon

Christmas in the Heartland (2013)

Peacock

Christmas on Holly Lane (2019)

Amazon, Hulu

Christmas Inheritance (2017)

Netflix

A Christmas Kiss II (2015)

Hulu

The Christmas Lodge (2014)

Amazon

Christmas Matchmakers (2019)

Peacock

A Christmas Movie Christmas (2019)

Hulu

Christmas Mystery (2014)

Peacock

Christmas Perfection (2018)

Hulu

Christmas with a Prince (2018)

Amazon

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018)

Netflix

A Christmas Princess (2019)

Peacock

The Christmas Ride (2019)

Amazon

A Christmas in Royal Fashion (2018)

Peacock

A Christmas Solo (2019)

Hulu

A Christmas Snow (2011)

Amazon

A Christmas Tree Miracle (2015)

Amazon

Christmas Twister (2012)

Peacock

Christmas in Vermont (2016)

Hulu

Christmas in Wonderland (2007)

Amazon

A Cinderella Christmas (2016)

Hulu

Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas (2009)

Hulu

Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker (2020)

Netflix

Dash & Lily (2020)

Netflix

Dear Santa (2011)

Amazon

Deck the Halls (2006)

Hulu

Disney Channel’s Epic Holiday (2020)

Disney+ – Arriving Dec. 11

Disney Channel Holiday House Party (2020)

Disney + – Arriving Dec. 18

Disney Holiday Magic Quest (2020)

Disney+ – Arriving Dec. 11

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square (2020)

Netflix

A Doggone Christmas (2016)

Amazon

A Dogwalker’s Christmas Tale (2015)

Hulu

The Dog Who Saved Christmas (2009)

Hulu

The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation (2010)

Peacock

Dragons: Rescue Riders: Huttsgalor Holiday (2020)

Netflix

Dreamworks Happy Holidays from Madagascar (2005)

Netflix

Dreamworks Holiday Classics (2011)

Netflix

Dreamworks Home For the Holidays (2017)

Netflix

Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas (2014)

HBO Max

Elf-Man (2012)

Amazon

 Elf Pets: Santa’s Reindeer Rescue (2020)

Netflix

Every Other Holiday (2018)

Hulu

Eve’s Christmas (2004)

Hulu

Free Rein: The Twelve Neighs of Christmas (2018)

Netflix

A Flintstone Christmas (1977)

HBO Max

A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993)

HBO Max

Get Santa (2014)

HBO Max

Girlfriends of Christmas Past (2016)

Hulu

A Go! Go! Cory Carson Christmas (2020)

Netflix

The Heart of Christmas (2011)

Hulu

High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special (2020)

Disney + – Arriving Dec. 11

His and Her Christmas (2005)

Hulu

Holidate (2020)

Netflix

The Holiday Calendar (2018)

Netflix

Holiday Home Makeover with Mr. Christmas (2020)

Netflix

The Holiday Movies That Made Us (2020)

Netflix

Holiday Road Trip (2013)

Peacock

Holiday Rush (2019)

Netflix

Holiday in the Wild (2019)

Netflix

Holly’s Holiday (2013)

Hulu

Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012)

HBO Max

Home For Christmas (2019)

Netflix

How to Ruin Christmas (2020)

Netflix

Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2011)

Hulu

Into the Dark: Pooka! (2018)

Hulu

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

Netflix

Klaus (2019)

Netflix

The Knight Before Christmas (2019)

Netflix

Last Holiday (2006)

Peacock

Let it Snow (2019)

Netflix

Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

Hulu

The March Sisters at Christmas (2012)

Hulu

Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special (2020)

Apple TV+ – Arriving Dec. 4

Married by Christmas (2016)

Hulu

Merry Happy Whatever (2019)

Netflix

Miracle on Christmas (2020)

Amazon

Mighty Express: A Mighty Christmas (2020)

Netflix

My Dad is Scrooge (2014)

Hulu

My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas (2005)

Hulu

My Santa (2013)

Hulu

Nailed It! Holiday! (2018)

Netflix

A Nanny for Christmas (2010)

Hulu

Naughty and Nice (2014)

Hulu

A Nasty Piece of Work (2019)

Hulu

Neo Yokio: Pink Christmas (2018)

Netflix

New Year, New You (2019)

Hulu

A New York Christmas Wedding (2020)

Netflix

A Norman Rockwell Christmas Story (1996)

Amazon

Nothing Like the Holidays (2008)

HBO Max

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)

Disney+ – Arriving Dec. 4

The Oath (2018)

Hulu

Once Upon a Time for Christmas (2017)

Hulu

Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas (2016)

HBO Max

Operation Christmas Drop (2020)

Netflix

Pee-wee’s Playhouse: Christmas Special (1988)

Netflix

Power Rangers: Megaforce: The Robo Knight Before Christmas (2013)

Netflix

Power Rangers Super Samurai: Stuck on Christmas (2012)

Netflix

Prince of Peoria: A Christmas Moose Miracle (2018)

Netflix

A Prince for Christmas (2015)

Peacock

A Princess for Christmas (2012)

Amazon

The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)

Netflix

A Puppy for Christmas (2016)

Hulu, Peacock

Rare Exports (2010)

Amazon, Hulu

A Royal Christmas Ball (2017)

Peacock

Santa Buddies (2009)

HBO Max

Santa Pac’s Merry Berry Day (2016)

Netflix

Santa Girl (2019)

Netflix

Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays (2012)

HBO Max

The Search for Santa Paws (2010)

HBO Max

Second Chance Christmas (2017)

Hulu

The Secret of the Nutcracker (2007)

Hulu

The Smurfs Christmas (1982)

HBO Max

So This is Christmas (2012)

Hulu

The Spirit of Christmas (2015)

Hulu

A StoryBots Christmas (2017)

Netflix

Sugar Rush Christmas (2019)

Netflix

Super Monsters: Santa’s Super Monster Helpers (2020)

Netflix

Super Monsters Save Christmas (2019)

Netflix

Super Monsters and the Wish Star (2018)

Netflix

Surviving Family (2014)

Amazon

The Swan Christmas Princess (2012)

Hulu

This Christmas (2007)

Hulu

The Town Santa Forgot (1993)

HBO Max

True: Winter Wishes (2019)

Netflix

The Truth About Christmas (2018)

Hulu

A Very Country Christmas (2020)

Amazon

A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas (2011)

HBO Max

A Very Murray Christmas (2015)

Netflix

A Wedding for Christmas (2017)

Peacock

Wonderoos: Holiday Holiday! (2020)

Netflix

Yogi Bear’s All-Star Comedy Christmas (1982)

HBO Max

Yogi’s First Christmas (1980)

HBO Max

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The post Christmas Movies: A Complete Holiday Streaming Guide appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2KJKSIc

[orangeoctopi7]

My Ducktales History

And now what nobody’s been asking for: My long and sort-of unusual history with Ducktales/Uncle Scrooge comics!

I was born in ‘91, so Ducktales was pretty much done airing new episodes by the time I came around, but Disney and ABC continued to air reruns for a few years, and I watched those as a very lil’ youngn’. So young, in fact, that I really don’t remember it. But my mom does, because she told me when she saw I’d bought the first set of DVDs. But, I didn’t continue watching it for long because my parents are cheap and once we left the college housing where cable was an included utility, they never paid for cable or satellite again! (Except for that one time but it’s not part of this story)

Flash forward a few years later to when I’m about 7 or 8 years old. My grandma bought me and my siblings a few VHS copies of various Disney afternoon shows: 2 Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers, 1 Darkwing Duck, and 1 Ducktales. They weren’t our absolute favorites or anything, but we watched them every once in a while, but it was enough to get the Ducktales themesong stuck in my head for the rest of eternity. This is also about the first time I see “A Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol” and I think at that age I didn’t realize it wasn’t in the same continuity as Ducktales and really confused me.

Flash forward again to when I’m about 15. I’m in High School and in my English class, of all places, we read “Uncle Scrooge and the 7 Cities of Cibola”, the classic Carl Barks comic. It was supposed to be an example of… something. I don’t remember. What I do remember is being confused because ‘This is not the Ducktales I remember!’ but I still really enjoyed it. It was my first exposure to the classic Uncle Scrooge comics. I wouldn’t read any more for a few more years.

Flash forward to college. I was in the dorms and my roommate moved out half-way through the semester, leaving me with a private room and making me even more of a shut-in internet binger than I already was. Somehow all the tvTropes bingeing lead me to start watching ALL of Ducktales, from Episode 1 to Episode 100, on YouTube (We’ve all done things we’re not proud of) It may have been partly due to nostalgia, but I fell in love with the show all over again, and also for the first time, since I’d only grown up watching a handful of episodes. The majority of episodes I’d never seen before, and I loved them. Although it doesn’t have the same ‘slip it in for the parents’ humor many shows today have, it still had a very ageless feel to it. I think that’s partly because it was Disney TVA’s first show, and Disney’s movies have always usually been pretty good at hitting that sweet spot of appealing to all ages. I loved it.

As you’d expect to happen, while I was learning more about the show’s history on tvTropes and wikipedia, I learned about the true origins of Uncle Scrooge in Carl Barks’ comics. I found a link on tvTropes that led me to an obscure European website that had scans of EVERY COMIC BARKS HAD EVER WRITTEN! It took me almost a year to get through all of them, and it’s a good thing I finished when I did because not long afterwards I’m pretty sure Disney’s lawyers discovered the site and had it taken down. But never mind my pirating activities, THESE COMICS WERE AMAZING! It was so cool to see the way Barks developed Donald and the triplets way beyond what they’d ever been in the cartoons, and created a TON of other fun characters. Not just Uncle Scrooge, but Gyro Gearloose, Grandma Duck, Glittering Goldie, Gladstone Gander, and a host of memorable villains like the Beagle Boys, Magica DeSpell, and Flintheart Glomgold. It was cool to see what they changed in comics they adapted to Ducktales, and what stayed the same.

By that point I was pretty much addicted to the Disney Ducks and their entire ‘verse. I watched all of Darkwing Duck and it became my new favorite show of all time. I continued researching the ‘verse on the internet and learned pretty quickly I needed to check out this Don Rosa guy. Luckily for me, the Provo City Library had the entirety of “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck” along with several of Rosa’s other comics, AND a few English re-printings of some of the better Italian comics. Eventually I exhausted every resource I had, and I wasn’t in a position to buy myself any more. Eventually other things came along and took the ‘obsession’ spot in my life, but my love of Uncle Scrooge and the rest didn’t go away. I bought the DVDs when I saw them on sale at Walmart. I wrote a few one-shot fanfics and slipped in references when I had the chance. I watched reviews, played the videogame (Both classic and remastered), and found some good fan-art.

Flash forward to 2016. We get the announcement that they’re rebooting Ducktales. I was cautiously optimistic, because that’s how I usually am, but I also had some doubts. Most reboots are… not very good. But the promo art I saw at the beginning looked promising, and it had Donald in the cast, just like in the comics! I didn’t get much of a chance to build up excitement though, because just a couple of months later, I left on a year-and-a-half mission. I kinda forgot about the Ducktales reboot on my mission, until one day I got an email from my sister Bethany, who’s an illustrator and aspiring animator. She told me she’d just watched the first episode of the Ducktales reboot, and she liked it! David Tennant was the new voice of Scrooge! I was instantly sold! Terry McGovern was no longer the voice of Launchpad! I was instantly unsold!

Finally, in January of 2018, I came home. I decided I’d better at least watch the show and give it a fighting chance. I watched the first episode. I’ll go more into my thoughts on it some other time, but suffice to say, it was epic, it kept everything I loved about all the characters and improved the things I didn’t. The animation was very evocative of the original comics, and I caught several references not only to Barks’ work, but also Rosa and the other Disney Afternoon shows as well! I was pleasantly happy with it. Then we got to the last scene… The one where Dewey finds the picture of Della.

“WHAT!?” I screamed at the TV

“WHAT!?” I screamed at my sister.

“WHAT!?” I screamed at the TV again.

“WHAT!?” I continued to alternate between screaming at my sister and the TV for about 30 seconds before I calmed down.

You gotta understand, in the comics, Della Duck is barely mentioned. I think she appears as a child twice in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck and that’s ALL. And yeah-yeah-yeah, I know there’s those Dutch comics that told her story, but I certainly haven’t read it, and I don’t think it’s been translated into English even (If I’m wrong, feel free to let me know) And that’s a relatively obscure, European story. The idea that they’d address Della’s… basic NON-EXISTANCE in the cartoon, totally sold me. It was crazy. And every episode following I thoroughly enjoyed.

So, some time one of these days I’ll get around to writing a review of the whole show. Because while I love the show, it’s far from perfect. And I could have a lot of fun going through the pros and cons.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Thoughts on Star Trek Discovery after 5 episodes

(Spoilers for Discovery S01E05 and Orville S01E06)

Episode 5 of Star Trek Discovery aired last night in Canada (up here the network Space airs it, so we don’t need to rely on streaming to view it). “Choose Your Pain” was its title and it’s ironic that it aired a few days after The Orville’s surprisingly hard-hitting “Krill” because it actually allows for something very close to an apples-to-apples comparison.

I’m going to go into spoilers, plus this will be a very long post (apologies; this is Exhibit A to show why I’m not on Twitter), so I’ll put a break here. The tl;dr is that, although I’m still willing to give it a chance, I’m still not “feeling” Discovery, which after 5 episodes is a concern; whereas, I find The Orville not only captures the classic spirit of Trek better, it managed in one single episode to make its Klingon analogue more interesting than the real Klingons in their current incarnation.

Before I begin, I wanted to set the scene to explain where I’m coming from. There is a lot of Discovery-bashing going on, and I don’t support that and this essay isn’t intended to be a bash. Although I am very critical of the show and not 100% certain that I’m going to stick with it much longer (though I’ll probably stick with it till its midseason break, at least), it’s not my intent to become a basher because then I’d be a hypocrite. I was a defender of Star Trek Enterprise throughout its entire run, and was upset to see it bashed mercilessly, to the point where I divorced myself from Star Trek and Star Trek fandom after it ended in 2005. Fortunately, Doctor Who had just come back on TV so I switched my allegiances to Who (which I’d been a fan of since the early 80s, but it became more intense). Fast-forward to 2017, and due to a mix of disappointment over what the series has delivered since Christmas 2015, combined with decisions regarding the show moving forward, I'm now divorcing from Doctor Who (as anyone who follows my blog knows). So with Star Trek back on TV the opportunity to move my allegiances back to Trek exists ... but Discovery isn’t doing it for me. Not yet. Instead, The Orville, Seth MacFarlane’s underrated (in more ways than one) homage is the show that is earning my affection. I know I’m not alone in that.

But here’s the thing, and why I don’t really see the need to “bash” Discovery: because The Orville is so much like “proper” Star Trek - the optimism, the crew-as-family dynamic, the introspective and “ripped from the headlines”-inspired stories, and general sense of fun - this actually allows Discovery to seek its own path (even if that means delivering “improper” Trek), allowing both shows to co-exist (which they could regardless - it’s not as if they’re in direct competition).

But Discovery has problems. Before I get into that, though, some positive thoughts.

This week’s episode introduced Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd, a character immortalized by Roger C. Carmel in the original series. And I thought he did a good job. I don’t have the same issues with recasting characters as some others do (I liked the guy they had playing Sarek earlier, too). My only complaint is they made him darker than Carmel’s version, which felt a bit inconsistent. But then again this is 10 years before Kirk encountered him and people change (it could be argued that Carmel’s version is more insane than Wilson’s, and maybe we’re seeing why in Discovery). I loved the reference to Stella, his wife, which was a great call-forward to the TOS episode “I, Mudd”. Trivia: Carmel was supposed to reprise Mudd for an episode of TNG, but the actor died before it was filmed; I believe some aspects of what was planned for Mudd - including a scene where he was supposed to actually pay tribute to his frenemy, Captain Kirk - were later reused when they brought Scotty forward into the TNG era in “Relics”. So having Mudd appear in a modern-day Trek is an idea that’s been kicking around for 30 years.

Obviously, Mudd will be back and I’m looking forward to it. I’d rather he be the recurring baddie than the new Klingons. More on that in a moment.

I also liked the on-screen reference to Jonathan Archer, Christopher Pike and Robert April early in the episode. Robert April was established in the animated series as the very first captain of the Enterprise, predating Pike. Since TAS is not considered canon (or at least it wasn’t considered canon during the pre-2005 era; it might have changed since), this is the first “canonical” acknowledgement of April in live action. I appreciated that.

I also liked Capt. Lorca in this episode. After two weeks of being just “there”, Lorca came into his own with this episode. And his backstory is interesting.

But I have criticisms of this episode, and of the show itself as we hit week 5. Starting with a minor point, after four weeks of keeping a lid on language, the swearing in this episode was awkward and clearly put in there “because we can” - there was nothing charming or cool about the first use of the F-word (twice in the same scene, yet) in the Trek franchise. I’m not one to go “oooh, swearing, bad” (The Thick of It is one of my favourite TV shows, for god’s sake), but there’s a time and place, and it just didn’t work - it came across as vulgar and awkward. If they’re going to have people swear in Discovery, fine, but don’t make it feel like “hey, we can swear now!” Torchwood ran into this same issue - and the swearing during Series 1 felt unnatural as a result. If they want Lorca and his crew to turn the air blue, they should get Armando Iannucci in to show them how it’s done.

What will be the deal-breaker for me is if this show continues to be populated with characters I don’t give a damn about. I like Michael (who was for the first time not the focus of an episode) and Lorca has potential - all the characters have potential - but 5 weeks in they should be further along than they are in terms of establishing them, even taking into account the two-episode prologue and the fact a core character only debuted this week.

Five weeks in, and without cheating online, I still don't remember the names of most of the main characters because they’ve made so little impression on me. Michael is fine, Lorca is fine, and I know the new guy is named Tyler (mainly because I’m curious as to whether he’s related to Jose Tyler of Christopher Pike’s Enterprise in “The Cage”), but the rest - by now they should have made enough of an impression for me to at least remember their names, not just call them “Michael’s roommate”, “the jerk who runs the spore drive and who might or might not be the chief engineer but we can’t tell”, “Odo 2.0”, “the doctor who lives with the spore drive guy and who I thought was the ship’s doctor until he mentioned that he answers to a chief medical officer who we’ve yet to see”, “the incompetent who got herself killed by the spore monster last week in a scene Seth MacFarlane would have rejected as too silly”, “the roboty woman on the bridge who kinda looks like Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy,” and “the woman whose head is half shaved”. In fact I think this was the first episode in which those last two individuals were actually identified by names on screen.

By comparison, I had not just the Orville character names but their functions nailed down by Episode 2 of that show. And I had much more invested in them as characters, even early on (and by “Krill” I find I want to know more about what’s happening with Borus and Klyden and their child, Alara’s love life, and whether Ed and Kelly are going to get back together or not). With Discovery it’s almost as if they’re all being set up to be redshirts. (As it is, I really don’t expect to Michael’s roommate - I looked it up; her name is Tilly - to survive the season. Too much telegraphing about her being naive and having dreams for the future.) Maybe they are if the show is taking the Game of Thrones “anyone can die” approach and if there is a reason why we’ve never heard of Spock having an adopted human sister before now.

When I started writing this very long (sorry!) blog entry, I mentioned an apples-to-apples comparison between Discovery and Orville. This week, “Choose Your Pain” and “Krill” both involved captains boarding enemy vessels and learning more about the bad guys. And it really drove home the fact that the new Klingons are rather boring. Never mind the different make-up and all that - I’m sure they’ll come up with a workaround to explain that the same way Enterprise did back in 2005 with the Augments story arc (and I didn’t miss the fact they name-dropped eugenics this week) - they just don’t have the spark of the Klingons of old, or even the Abramsverse versions. Not saying there aren‘t promising signs - I kind of like the fact the show is shipping cult leader Voq with the female officer L’Rell. Every episode so far has included focus on the Klingons. But in only one episode, The Orville managed to develop a very well-rounded picture of the Krill, making them relevant, interesting, sympathetic, and “villains” we want to see more of. The Klingons on Discovery? I want more Harry Mudd, fewer Klingons. Of course, a big difference between Orville and Discovery is the use of humour. Discovery pretty much has none, while Orville is a dramedy. Which was driven home during the climax of the Discovery episode when we were actually treated to an unexpected piece of Orville-like comedy when the female Klingon captain, who has the hots for Tyler. Encountering him trying to escape, she let off with something like “After all we mean to each other, you’re leaving?” (not an exact quote). It was a funny moment, but poorly timed. Seriously, we’re supposed to see her as a threat (and an ongoing one seeing as Lorca doesn’t finish her off as opposed to every other Klingon he encounters), and she spouts dialogue more appropriate for a spoof? Compare to The Orville, which usually knows when to be funny and when not to be. Having Ed Mercer and Gordon Molloy facing the possibility of having to kill a bunch of Krill children in order to save a human colony, and Mercer saying “If we kill those kids ... we have no souls” was a far more hard-hitting and dramatic moment than anything “Choose Your Pain” offered. And once things got serious, they got serious. The ending of “Krill” was chilling as Mercer realized that instead of saving a bunch of kids, he created a bunch of future enemies instead, instantly giving the series a long-term aspect as the potential is there for it to revisit this fact years from now, if it survives that long. The Avis rent-a-car jokes were funny, and the opening sequence where Bortus does his best Matter-Eater Lad impersonation (Google it) was cute, and I loved the gag where Ed starts talking before Alara can open a channel, but it was the serious moments that made “Krill” stand out. The next episode looks serious as well as it casts a long-overdue spotlight on Lt. LaMarr.So to sum up: I’m not ready yet to say “Discovery sucks” as some have. I don’t think it does, despite all I’ve written here. It has issues, yes, but every Trek series has issues and teething pains. I am concerned that the characters aren’t gelling for me and that’s what’s going to make me decide to keep watching in the long term. On the other hand, The Orville is proving to be a great show that also has had its rough patches and its teething pains, but it managed to hit the ground running a lot faster in terms of establishing characters and stories and tone. I am in the market for a sci-fi show to replace Doctor Who, and so far The Orville is winning the battle against Star Trek Discovery. But I’m not willing to write Discovery off ... yet.

[theatreducation]

Less than ten percent of the American population goes to the theatre. Not award-winning Broadway musical theatre, but regional, not-for-profit theatre. This sad number is not new. We’ve been stagnating here for quite some time, and every year we struggle with: how do we lure in more audience members, and convince people to join us in the dark and listen to our stories?

Honestly, I don’t think that there’s much the theatre community can do to solve this problem because I don’t believe that we are the problem. The problem is that ninety-plus percent of the population loses interest in theatre long before they become part of a target audience demographic. Most Americans get turned off of theatre in high school.

To introduce teens to plays on the page with Shakespeare is akin to teaching calculus to students before they’ve learned algebra, or even multiplication.

Two years ago I started to do an independent study of which plays high school students were reading in their language arts classes. It quickly became clear that the only plays being taught in those classes were classic works, mostly Shakespeare. Every student I surveyed listed at least one, if not three, Shakespeare play. At one school, more than half the kids listed Beowulf as a play. And why wouldn’t they? When the only actual plays they were reading were Shakespeare, why wouldn’t they equate epic poetry with theatre? The most recent works represented at any school were The Crucible, A Raisin in the Sun, and the occasional August Wilson play. When I asked what theatre the students had seen outside of school the answers were inevitably all musicals (plus A Christmas Carol), if indeed they’d ever seen a play outside of school at all.

America’s high school students are being taught that non-musical theatre equals classical theatre, and preliminary results from my study indicate that the vast majority of them don’t like the classics.

“I did not enjoy reading the Tempest; I believe it to be one of the most tedious works of fiction ever to exist.”

“They are old and boring.”

“I was not crazy about Romeo and Juliet due to the fact it was written in old English and kind of hard to understand.”

“Shakespeare plays, they are not from our time and difficult to follow/understand.”

Shakespeare was an incredible playwright, but his plays are dense and daunting. Before the Bard idolaters start bellowing “why should it be easy?” let’s take a moment to consider this: Most kids are never asked to read a play before high school; plays are typically not part of the middle school curriculum. To introduce teens to plays on the page with Shakespeare is akin to teaching calculus to students before they’ve learned algebra, or even multiplication. A few students will somehow have a knack for it, and understand it, (and love it)—most of the folks who subscribe to HowlRound likely fall into this category—but the ninety-plus percent of the population that we’re trying to engage have neither the tools nor the patience to dissect Shakespeare. What they learned from their academic experience is that non-musical theatre is boring, difficult, and makes them feel stupid. Very few people are going to grow up and buy a ticket to something they fear will bore them and make them feel stupid.

A Troubling Lack of Access No other form of literature is taught this way; indeed, no other art form is taught this way. Kids are encouraged to read current, popular fiction in school. Perhaps by the time they reach high school their choices are narrowed, but at least by then they’ve been encouraged to read dozens of contemporary books that they love. Students are assigned novels and poetry by living authors, many of whom are—gasp—not white men. Art class is full of hands-on work where the students create while they study masters both new and old. Even music instructors teach jazz and hip hop alongside classical music. But let’s pretend for a moment that they didn’t. Let’s imagine that schools only taught classical music the way they only teach classical theatre. It’s a fairly even comparison since only about 10 percent of the population goes to classical music performances. Even if students were only exposed to classical music in school, even if they hated it, resented it, felt it wasn’t their thing; they wouldn’t be turned off of all music because they have access to other flavors.

The radio is free. Songs on YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify are free if you have an Internet connection. There is no equivalent to the radio, or Pandora for theatre. There’s not much free access for anyone anywhere. I suppose people could go to the library and read some new-ish plays, but what teenager—who has already been turned off by the classroom offerings— is going to seek out a play at the library? What the school system has created is a society that has no idea that theatre is a living, growing art that is still being created every day. People don’t realize that a significant portion of the folks who write their favorite TV shows have also written plays they would like just as much, if not more. They think of playwrights as an extinct species. When I tell people outside of theatre what my profession is, I am often met with a confused stare, as if I told them I was a blacksmith. They’ve heard of playwriting, but they weren’t aware that anyone did it anymore. This is a problem.

Just this past month, I interviewed audience members as part of Triple Play, a national study of audiences for new plays created by Theatre Development Fund and Theatre Bay Area. We were directed to tell our interviewees that we were theatre practitioners, but nothing more specific than that. We spoke to each person for fifty minutes, asking them if they were able to speak to someone working on a production, who they might want to talk to. These semi-regular theatregoers were not interested in talking to playwrights. Indeed, in my group, three people explicitly stated that they thought playwrights would dislike talking to audiences and would only be doing it under duress. They couldn’t quite imagine what they might ask a playwright aside from where their story idea came from. And yet, at the end of the interviews, when I revealed I was a playwright, they were fascinated and full of questions. So it’s not so much that they aren’t interested in living writers, but they aren’t able to picture an interaction with a playwright until they realize they’re already having one.

Creating Access to New Work If we’re going to increase audiences, we have to figure out how to bring new plays into the high school language arts classroom. We have to create anthologies of new plays (perhaps digital anthologies) that have curriculum tie-ins to historical events, current events, social issues, and science. I know these plays are out there. We need to present these plays to teachers and say, “You can read this play alongside this other book, or these articles.” Teachers don’t have time to look for tie-ins or support materials. We’ll have to provide them. We’ll have to persuade department heads and school boards to let go of Shakespeare and maybe even Arthur Miller. It won’t be easy.

We’re also going to have to provide these anthologies for free to a lot of schools that can’t afford them, but need them most. We’ll have to create new ones every few years so that more voices are heard and the subject matter remains relevant. We’ll also need funding and grant support; again, the plays are already out there. People say that Shakespeare is universal, and anyone can see themselves in a Shakespeare play. Maybe if they try hard enough they can, but girls need more stories about women written by women. People of color need stories about people who look like them, written by people who look like them. The LGBTQIA teen community needs plays that openly acknowledge their existence and their struggles. Shakespeare is not enough. Leave him for senior year, or maybe leave him for college for the truly passionate.

We need to get our plays into these kids’ hands because our plays will engage them; the future of theatre depends on it. Our plays will show them that theatre is alive, that it’s relevant, that it addresses today, that it represents them and their experience, and that they are welcome in our spaces. Once we do that, I have a feeling that more than 10 percent of the population will come to the theatre. We merely have to show people that we’re here, that we exist. Before they’re disenchanted. Before they’re convinced that theatre is dusty and old and only written by dead white men hell-bent on making them feel stupid.

[daleisgreat]

20 Years of Dreamcast: Thinking of Dreamcast’s Legacy for 20 Years!

Where were you for quadruple nine, AKA September 9, 1999? That was the marketing friendly launch date of the Sega Dreamcast in North America, which will make it 20 years old. Such a landmark anniversary inspired me to craft another gaming reflection piece here looking back on my memories with the Dreamcast over the years. If you missed my similar anniversary articles earlier this year for the Genesis and GameBoy please click here to get caught up.

The first thing that comes to mind all these years later of the Dreamcast is that it ended up the first system that released when I had a job and could afford it entirely on my own. I got my first part-time high school job mere days after turning 16 about a half year earlier in 1999 and was fine picking up the occasional new game for our family’s N64 during that timeframe. However, around August of 1999 the first issue of Official Dreamcast Magazine (ODM) hit newsstands and it really popped compared to other gaming magazines. It was the first oversized gaming magazine that I can recall and they crammed in tons of news, special editorial features, previews and reviews in every issue and not a millimeter of page-space seemed wasted. It also had a bright colorful art scheme consistent throughout most issues compared to its competitors and in hindsight it was the ideal color scheme due to the unorthodox lineup of eye-popping bright games like Jet Grind Radio, Space Channel 5, Sonic Adventure and Samba de Amigo to name a few. I will give props to YouTube channel Classic Gaming Quarterly for doing a excellent page-by-page revisiting of that awesome first issue several months ago which was the catalyst for me re-reading the first four issues earlier this year. Those issues hold up splendidly and if you run across scans of any I highly recommend giving them a look-see as they perfectly encapsulate everything that made the Dreamcast as fondly remembered as it is today. That special preview issue of the Dreamcast sold me on the system with its hype of being the first 128-bit system on the market and how Sega would change gaming with its new GD-ROM disc format, interactive VMU memory card and by introducing online play with its built-in 56k modem the following year. It also had thorough previews for nearly the whole launch lineup. If you recall my Genesis write-up, I was not much of a Sonic fan and that issue only had reviews for Sonic Adventure and House of the Dead 2. I had good memories of the first HotD light gun arcade game and that review got me amped up for the sequel. By the time I was done perusing that issue of ODM a few times over I was hell-bent on getting a Dreamcast and a copy of HotD2 at launch. 9-9-99 As the Dreamcast launch approached I was legitimately unaware of being able to pre-order games or it was officially a available service yet at our local Software Etc. in the mall. I inquired there frequently when they were opening on launch day it turned they were opening early that day an hour or two before I was supposed to be at school. I convinced my dad to give me a lift there and arrived there an hour early to secure getting a system. There was only one person ahead of us and I presumed getting a system at Software Etc. in 1999 would be comparable to lining up at any other department store and getting a new product on a first people at the front of the line basis. That turned out to be the case for Dreamcast (though I do remember them instituting pre-orders the next year for the heavily anticipated PS2 launch) and I was thrilled walking out of there as planned with a Dreamcast and HotD2!

Software Etc. did not get any VMUs however and thankfully my dad checked out other stores on his lunch breaks and was able to procure me one from KB Toys. Only other problem was there were no light gun peripherals available for the Dreamcast at launch. Sega did not release their own model in America due to the controversial Columbine shootings earlier in the year, and third party models were still two-to-three months out from being available. I could play HotD2 with a controller, but I refused to accept that as an option and for the first few weeks after the Dreamcast launch I was content on playing the included demo disc and checking out games like Sonic Adventure, Hydro Thunder, Soul Calibur and Power Stone over at a friend’s place. Finally after a few weeks of that I was fed up of waiting for the light gun to hit and I took a chance and picked up Sega’s NFL 2K since I was always into football games and still sticking with older pigskin games on the N64 and playing a ton of Madden NFL ’99 in near weekly sessions on another friend’s PSone. I was instantly blown away by NFL 2K’s revolutionary leap in graphics and gameplay at that point. It had bar-raising production quality with TV-caliber replays, camera angles and insanely impressive announcer commentary which made it feel like the first football game to come off as an actual telecast. I can still pinpoint my mom walking in on me playing and doing a double take and asking if NFL 2K was real or not. NFL 2K got a ton of play in single player and in local multiplayer against friends over the next year.

Sega released five star sports games within the first year of release with hits seen above like NFL 2K, NBA 2K, Virtua Tennis and Virtua Striker For the rest of 1999 I checked out every demo included with each issue of ODM and it lead to me checking out Sega’s other sports offerings and playing a ton of NBA 2K and even a fair amount of NHL 2K. Worms Armageddon ended up being a surprise hit with friends and I loved going nuts with its Banana Bombs and Holy Hand Grenades. For Christmas of 1999 I got NBA 2K and Toy Commander. I eventually came across a light gun too and played through HotD2 several times through with a friend. Toy Commander was another lost gem on the Dreamcast I spent hours with devouring its single player missions and the local vs. multiplayer deathmatch was also fun for its time. I loved using the pressure-sensitive triggers on the Dreamcast controller to shoot free throws in NBA 2K, and speaking of the controller I am surprised there seems to be a lot of widespread disdain for peripheral. Sure, it was a little bulky, but nothing compared to the original Xbox ‘Duke’ controller or the unique ergonomics of the N64 controller. I loved the thumb-stick and directional pad, and the rest of the button layout was nearly identical to a SNES controller. If I should be nitpicking about some of the Dreamcast’s features it would be about the side effects of the painfully low battery life of the VMU. For those unfamiliar, it was Sega’s innovative memory card that also had a mini black and white LCD screen that would display gameplay tips, stats and other options and also could be unplugged from the controller to play bonus mini-games included with supported games. Unfortunately the VMU had an infamously low battery life and within a few weeks the included watch batteries would drain and would result in a notoriously loud beep from the VMU when powering on the system to indicate it was time to replace them. Additionally, the Dreamcast also had a painfully loud hard drive whenever loading game data. After awhile however I got use to the grinding hard drives and perpetual beeps and passed it off as Dreamcast’s catchy marketing slogan ‘It’s Thinking.’ As the years passed and new owners complained about those noises it sort of became a hazing-esque right of passage to them first experiencing the platform. 2000

While I was putting together an outline for this piece I was surprised to find out how much of a bummer a first half of 2000 I had with the Dreamcast. Aside from still getting lots of long-term fun with the aforementioned sports titles, almost every new game I picked up was a letdown. I never played a Resident Evil game before, but friends and classmates loved it and I saw a ton of buzz for the upcoming exclusive Dreamcast title in the series, Code Veronica, in ODM so I got it for my birthday shortly after its release. I popped it in and was completely unprepared for its tank controls the early Resident Evil games were known for and I completely stumbled around like a buffoon and could not get past the first zombie. After several attempts I pleaded with my mom to take it back to the store and exchange it for something else. After that I tried renting games more often and was disappointed with World Series Baseball 2K1 and Sonic Shuffle. The former had excellent past entries on the Genesis and Saturn, but the first Dreamcast baseball game released without the ability to control the fielders and it felt like half the game was missing. I knew Sonic Suffle was developed by Hudson Soft who also made the first couple Mario Party games I played a ton of and was excited for the Dreamcast rendition of the party game, but was stunned it was plagued with countless loading times for every turn and mini-game that soured the experience. The last big disappointment of 2000 for the Dreamcast was WWF Royal Rumble. At the time it was going to be the first exclusive Dreamcast wrestling game and I was nonetheless psyched for it. I disregarded EGM’s low review scores for them not ‘getting’ the game and presumed I would have a fabulous time with it. I came to find out later on it was a port of an arcade game I did not see available anywhere which is why it surprised me with its low amount of wrestlers on the roster and modes of play available when stacked next to other titles. After plowing through all the single player content in an afternoon I was overwrought about how the game turned out. I did wind up getting some decent value out of Royal Rumble down the line with friends in multiplayer Rumble matches, but out of the gates as the sole Dreamcast exclusive wrestling game it felt like a Kirkpatrick-esque punch in the stomach.

After those four disappointments 2000 wound up getting redeemed for the Dreamcast with a flurry of much better titles. I enjoyed playing Soul Calibur over at my friend’s, but was not head over heels for it like many others. A fighting game I did feel that way for however I took a random chance on in the summer of 2000 with Marvel vs. Capcom 2. I instantly loved its unforgettable music, chaotic three-on-three tag battles and the accessible hyper combos that did not require master precision to pull off. The game was a regular in my rotation with friends and for a couple months we held routine tournaments in my first apartment with my roommate and neighbors. It lead me to playing a ton of another Capcom fighter that same summer in Power Stone 2, which was vastly improved over the original and felt like a 3D version of Smash Bros. with simultaneous four player battles and constantly evolving stages. Demolition Racer: No Exit was a surprise hit I put way more time than I should have into it. I love demolition-derby racer games, and No Exit had a ton of tracks, demolition derby events, thrashin’ metal soundtrack and many unlocks that kept me coming back to work my way through its extensive career mode for a good three-to-four years after release. It ended up as my surprise favorite driving game on the system which is absurd compared to other first-party driving hits that did not land on my radar until many years later like Daytona USA 2001, Sega Rally 2 and Metropolis Street Racer. The awesome port of the arcade hits Crazy Taxi and 18 Wheeler had faithful home Dreamcast ports, but I played a ton of both in the arcades and got my fill of them at home with a rental. I think it is safe to say I am not alone in Crazy Taxi turning me onto Offspring and being one of the few games to make product-placement seem cool with driving like a lunatic to escort passengers to get their KFC and Pizza Hut fix. I was so bummed out to see the later 360/PS3 re-release take out the product placement and replace the Offspring’s tall licensing price soundtrack with licensing fee-friendly indie bands.

The other surprise hit of 2000 was Virtua Tennis. I tried it on ODM’s demo disc and it wound up being surprisingly fun and easy to pick up and play. Jim Courier I now associate as being the man who dethroned Jimmy Connors in his last gasp at coming close to winning a major in the early 90s and being the only American character to play as in Sega’s game. The demo wound up being hit and created buzz online about it and a quick fervor spread about it being the cannot miss Dreamcast game of the summer. Virtua Tennis was impossible to find in stores so that caused me to create an account at ebgames.com and how Virtua Tennis was the first game I ordered online. After those two games saved the year for Dreamcast, the next installments of NFL 2K and NBA 2K released which I instantly purchased and played endless hours of with friends. The 2K1 versions of both games added franchise modes and online play finally debuting for the system. I played about several rounds of both sports games online and tried to master typing out ‘good play’ on the keyboard peripheral. The games played decently, but I could not help but notice semi-constant lag over the 56k modem so after several games I stuck with my routine local multiplayer with friends.

What was being advertised as the do not miss hit for the 2000 holiday season was Sega’s much anticipated open world adventure, Shenmue. ODM and websites put a ton of hype for Shenmue leading up to its release and how Sega was putting a huge budget into it and how it was the first part of a mammoth saga, but I was not initially feeling it and that style of game seemed a bit outside my wheelhouse at the time. Shortly after its release however, I saw a used copy marked down surprisingly low at a local rental store and decided to chance it. I was shocked by its quality of graphics and cinema cutscenes for the time and before I knew it I found myself getting immersed in the open-world and having the freedom to talk and interact with nearly any major or minor NPC and their own so-bad-its-good English voiceovers. I understand Shenmue is not for everybody and its unique controls resulted in a polarizing reception for the game, but I burned through that game within a couple of weeks and loved every minute of it. I revisited it last year when Sega released HD ports on the Xbox One and PS4 last year, and after getting used to the controls I instantly got wrapped up in it again.

Dreamcast had a ton of quality fighters in its brief lifespan. Some of my favorites pictured above are Soul Calibur, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Power Stone 2 and Heavy Metal: GeoMatrix. There are several other quality fighters on the system too not pictured above such as the original MvC and Power Stone, Virtua Fighter 3TB, Street Fighter III: Third Strike, Dead or Alive 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Capcom vs. SNK. This console was heaven for fighting game fans! 1-31-2001 2001 kicked off strong for the Dreamcast with ports of PC FPS hits of Unreal Tournament and Quake III both launching around the same time with online play. ODM and websites hyped up 2001 for being a big year for Dreamcast games supporting online play. I tried out those pair of FPS games at a friend’s and had a blast with them and was looking forward to the rest of 2001 for the Dreamcast even though at the time the PS2 was out for a few months and had a lot of people’s attention. Unexpectedly, towards the end of January crazy rumors started popping up about the PS2 slaughtering Dreamcast in 2000 holiday sales so bad that Sega would be discontinuing support for the system early. I immediately dismissed the rumors as ludicrous as it seemed whacked for a publisher to stop supporting a system under a year and a half after release. Sure enough however on January 31, 2001 news broke with Sega stating they would only support the Dreamcast with games for the rest of 2001 and would transition into a third party publisher role in 2002 going forward.

I was devastated with the news as a huge Dreamcast fan and continued to be bummed throughout 2001 as many anticipated Dreamcast games like Half-Life, Rez, Castlevania Resurrection, Headhunter and Tribes got cancelled and/or switched over to becoming a PS2, Xbox and GCN release. Sega and a few loyal third parties like Capcom released a steady stream of games throughout 2001 and I did get a lot of enjoyment from some of them like the addicting arcade-driving sequel Crazy Taxi 2, a decent but forgettable arcade FPS title Outrigger and a few more light gun games like the excellent HotD2 follow-up from the same developers but in a secret agent setting called Confidential Mission, the peculiar Japanese horror themed light gun shooter Death Crimson OX and the delightful surprise remaster of the original Virtua Cop tucked inside Sega Smash Pack to tide me through 2001 for Dreamcast. Sega said they would be porting their next wave of sports games to other systems a few months after their initial Dreamcast release in 2001 so I held off on them that year. I was saving my last surge of Dreamcast fandom for what the gaming press was heralding as the swan song for the Dreamcast in Shenmue II. About a couple month before its American release however Sega stunned its fans by announcing they were cancelling the American version and making it an exclusive to the Xbox a year later with touched up graphics and adding in English voiceovers that were not originally going to make their return. The Shenmue fanboy in me was furious, but I found relief in ebgames.com capitalizing on the situation by offering the European version of Shenmue II that did not get cancelled for sale along with a boot-disc to get it to play on American systems. I spent the first several weeks of 2002 gleefully playing nothing but Shenmue II. I convinced myself it blew the original away due to jumping through extra hoops to acquire the sequel. The follow-up is a noticeably larger and longer experience and contains some noticeable gameplay improvements; upon currently replaying it on the previously mentioned HD bundle on Xbox One/PS4 I am going to have to go back to siding with the original being superior due to its more immersive setting and my love for driving forklifts. I hope to finish replaying the sequel in time for what is one of my most anticipated games ever in the long awaited third Shenmue game currently slated to be released this November a whopping 17 years after the original release of the second Dreamcast game.

Speaking of imports, Shenmue II was the first game I ever imported, and the second game was another Dreamcast game in FirePro Wrestling D. I heard so much acclaim for the FirePro games in Japan about them being the ultimate 2D wrestling games. After tracking down a guide online I relentlessly jotted down detailed English translations of all the menus and discovered a game save that translated all the wrestler’s names and attires into their English counterparts. I wound up playing a ton of that classic entry in the series on the Dreamcast. I am constantly nagging myself to open up my copy of the latest entry, FirePro Wrestling World that recently hit PS4 last year. I regret not importing more Dreamcast titles in the later years because games kept regularly coming out for Sega’s last system in Japan for several more years. Eventually most of them made their way to America on other systems in the following years, but for those that took advantage they got a one-to-three year head start on gems like Ikaruga, Rez, Rent-a-Hero and Capcom vs. SNK 2. Post-2002 I also regret not making time to sink my teeth into the then-exclusive RPGs on Dreamcast. My former podcast co-host Chris picked most of them up so I was able to check them out at his place and play some of them on demo discs. Skies of Arcadia intrigued me with its sky pirates setting and I eventually picked up the GCN re-release. Ditto with the pair of Evolution RPGs that later were bundled together on the GCN. Grandia II I recall having a kind of more involved battle system that popped out to me and if I owned a Switch I would likely be acquiring the HD up-ports of the first two games that just released on there. I did enjoy demos of action RPGs Silver and Record of Lodoss War and finally tracked down both games last year and played about an hour of both way after the fact. The one I did put a lot of time into later on was Phantasy Star Online on the original Xbox. I loved being able to play that game in four player split-screen and I had a few friends over for several marathon sessions of its addicting action-RPG combat into the wee hours of the night.

The Dreamcast unofficially lived on for the next couple years well into the PS2/Xbox/GCN era with some of its key games that got cancelled and sequels getting re-released on those systems. Sega released their 2K sports line for a few years on all three systems before selling sports developer Visual Concepts and the 2K branding to Take-Two in 2005. The heavy duty competition from 2K Sports titles only helped fuel EA Sports to step up their efforts for better sports titles from both companies for the past 20 years. The Xbox got some heavy hitters in the form of Panzer Dragoon Orta, Shenmue II, Crazy Taxi 3, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Gun Valkyrie. The PS2 landed Rez, Headhunter, Half-Life, Tribes, Grandia II and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. The GameCube received the four player port of Phantasy Star Online well before the Xbox version and later an exclusive third chapter in addition to Evolution Worlds, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Ikaruga, Chaos Field and enhanced deluxe versions of both Sonic Adventure titles. Aside from Dreamcast living on with those games on the next wave of systems I still busted out my Dreamcast regularly for the next several years. It was my favorite way to play Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for many years and as mentioned above I kept revisiting titles like FirePro Wrestling D and Demolition Racer for quite a few years too. The homebrew/indie scene was alive and well for the Dreamcast and is still going to this day. Goat Store had a couple high-profile indie releases with Feet of Fury and Irides that I both acquired. The former is the only dance-pad game I know of for the system and while I do not own a dance-pad I did put some time into it with its support for the Dreamcast keyboard. Irides: Master of Blocks is a fun Lumines-inspired puzzler on the system. Since it is the 20th anniversary of the platform, I took a chance a few months ago and Kickstarted an upcoming driving game set to hit at the end of this year that peaked my interest in the form of Arcade Racing Legends. Here is hoping to its success! The End? When I think back to my own personal favorite moments and experiences with the Dreamcast there are a few things I will chalk up to its legacy. I consider it to be the first system to prove that online gaming was viable on consoles and paved the way for it to really take off a couple years later on the PS2 and Xbox. I will also remember it for its local multiplayer games being a big hit with my friends and I for its wide array of fighting and sports games for two players as well as many games taking advantage of the four controllers with quite a few party games and driving games especially supporting four players locally. I consider it the last hurrah for the arcade ports, as the late 90s were the final successfully years of arcades in America and Sega, Capcom, Midway and Konami took advantage of Dreamcast’s Naomi-based hardware making it developer-friendly to convert their arcade titles to the system. A majority of the games I listed above are arcade conversions.

These last two are big ones for me personally. First is how Sega stepped up big time with their blockbuster first party sports games on the Dreamcast and gave the impression of how they scared away competition from EA Sports releasing their games on the Dreamcast. Finally, I will remember the Dreamcast where Sega took chances with a plethora of new, unorthodox IP. It seemed every few months a new original Sega IP hit the system from successes and cult-hits like Jet Grind Radio, Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5, Crazy Taxi, Skies of Arcadia and of course Shenmue to fascinating curiosities such as Floigan Bros., Alien Front Online and the bizzaro-Leonard Nimoy-narrated journey that is Seaman. Combine everything from these last two paragraphs and that is why I feel it is safe to say why I and likely many others revere the Dreamcast as much as we did for the years it was active in its all too short lifespan. I have rambled, ranted and raved for over 4,000 words now and want to thank you dear readers for sticking with me to the very end of this trip down memory lane. I apologize for the length of this piece, but I had to get it all out of my system. If somehow you want more Dreamcast love and want to keep this Dreamcast nostalgia train rolling I will link you to two prior pieces I did on the system. The first is a special 10th anniversary flashback on the Dreamcast where I breakdown 15 forgotten facts about the Dreamcast. I touched on a few of them here, but there are several more obscure factoids you can discover by clicking here. The other is my former co-hosts and I doing a special Dreamcast retrospective podcast on my old podcast you can listen to by clicking here. My Other Gaming Flashbacks GameBoy 30th Anniversary Genesis 30th Anniversary

BONUS OVERTIME: Random Dreamcast quick bits I neglected to include above!

Oh man, I wish I would have remembered to touch on a few more gems I dug on the Dreamcast. I forgot about the oddball arena-based fighters that were fun rentals back then like Spawn: In the Demon’s Hand and Heavy Metal: Geomatrix. There was also the crazy keyboard version of HotD2 that hit in 2001 called Typing of the Dead! It was a super fun way to master your home row skills while massacring zombies! Sega released a remaster of it on Steam a couple years ago so give it a look-see! I remember trying to hunt down the low-quantity released broadband adaptor for the Dreamcast in 2002 on eBay but sellers were marking them up in ‘Dreamcast Online Ready’ bundles for absurd amounts. 56k web browsing with the Dreamcast was admittedly a slog, but it worked and was a slick way to upload and download game saves and made me feel I was swindling William Shatner by not falling for his WebTV commercials from that timeframe. Hydro Thunder I played a bit at a friend’s and to this day even though it was a fun on its own merits arcade boat racer the thing I recall most fondly about it was the over-the-top announcer saying the game’s name on the title screen and exclaiming ‘Dam the Torpedoes!’ at specific moments. I wanted to get Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 so much for Dreamcast after hearing all the GOTY-caliber buzz and wanting to experience it with better graphics, but after spending weeks not finding it in stores around town I wound up settling on purchasing the PSone version even though I did not have that platform at the time and brought it over to my neighbor’s place for many throwdown sessions of Trick Attack multiplayer and HORSE. No regrets! There was something about Next Tetris: Online Edition that was off that did not get it to live up to the fun I was having in multiplayer over on the N64’s New Tetris and Tetrisphere. I wanted to like it, much like I did with launch title Trickstyle because of its futuristic extreme sports nature with a bunch of unique tricks and competitions to take in, but its un-intuitive controls left me getting my fix with solely the demo. Brighter days were ahead for Trickstyle’s developer, Criterion Games.

Apparently sim F1/Indy/Cart games were a hit on the Dreamcast for its brief lifespan with multiple entries from Sega and Ubisoft. Even the notorious LJN publishing label got resurrected after being dormant for several years with its retro F1 game, Spirit of Speed 1937. It is a good thing I never came around to them with the many other stellar driving games available. I remember loving the Ready 2 Rumble Boxing demo and thought that franchise would be around for years, but one quick sequel later and an out of nowhere Wii version years later and it has been AWOL ever since. EA’s Facebreaker seemed like a worthy spiritual successor, but that one came and went even faster. Even though EA did not release anything on the Dreamcast I still checked out a few other third party sports games from Acclaim, Midway and Konami and had great times with NFL Blitz 2000 and digging NBA Showtime and its brilliant use of the NBA on NBC theme song. Crap, I forgot to touch on the last pair of Sega’s polygonal arcade brawler ports that were good weekend rentals for their day in Dynamite Cop and Zombie’s Revenge, but I will forever be a Die Hard: Arcade man for life! I tried to give Sonic Adventure an honest shot, but lost interest quickly after being wowed by its opening stage and that damn whale flipping all over the place after Sonic in its 128-bit glory. I will not get into the details here, but if you are up for an ill-fated timing story, then look up the details on the cancellation on what was supposed to be one of the last Dreamcast games originally scheduled to release towards the end of 2001, Propeller Arena. Ok ok, now I am finally done and think I covered every nook and cranny of my Dreamcast experie….awwww shoot I forgot to tell you guys all about Sega Swirl! Wait, where are you going? Come back, come baaaaaack!

[oscopelabs]

The Arc Of Stanley Kubrick: From ‘Killer’s Kiss’ to ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ by Noel Murray

Stanley Kubrick made just 13 feature films in his nearly 50-year career, and from the ‘60s through the ‘90s—the era in which “a Stanley Kubrick picture” had a meaning—each new project went through more or less the same press-cycle. During production, reports would leak out about the grueling shoot, and how the reclusive Kubrick was testing the boundaries of cinema and propriety. Then the film would come out, and the critical reaction would be mixed to muted, with some declaring the new work a masterpiece and others calling it a disappointment—or even a pretentious fraud. Years would pass, and with time to sink in, each movie would be extensively reevaluated, eventually landing on “best of the decade” or even “best of all time” lists. It was as though each picture had to re-teach the audience how to watch a Stanley Kubrick film.

Eyes Wide Shut is the best case-in-point. Shooting began in the November of 1996 in London, and ended in June of 1998. Throughout that year and a half, there was gossip galore about what Kubrick was up to. The press knew primarily that the film starred Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman—Hollywood’s most popular couple at the time—and that it was going to be sexually explicit. Once filming completed, Kubrick spent nine months working with editor Nigel Galt, fine-tuning. Less than a week after he completed a final cut and showed it to Warner Bros. and his stars, he died.

So when the movie came out that summer, for a good long while the conversation surrounding it was about everything but what Kubrick had actually made. Instead, the press was preoccupied by…

… the decision to digitally obscure the orgy scenes, to avoid an NC-17 rating.

… whether Cruise and Kidman had wasted a year of their careers making stilted softcore porn.

… how American audiences reacted to seeing two of the biggest movie stars in the world in a slow-paced art-film.

… whether the Pinewood Studios version of Manhattan looked real enough.

… whether Warner Bros. was going to make its money back.

… if this was the proper capper to a prestigious career.

By the end of 1999 though, a film that had generally been tagged as a “letdown” was being rehabilitated. Roger Ebert taped a special edition of his syndicated TV series, wherein prominent Chicago critics extensively unpacked Eyes Wide Shut—and thus subtly rebuked the large number of well-known New York critics who’d initially shrugged the movie off. The film made a healthy handful of best-of-‘99 lists (including in New York), and in the decades since it’s generally become regarded as one of the ‘90s supreme cinematic achievements, and indisputably worthy of its maker.

Most of the shift in conventional wisdom was due to Kubrick himself. When artists produce outstanding work throughout their careers, it’s easier to trust that they knows what they’re doing—and that if we don’t “get it” right away, we should look again. It’s also true that once a film is out of the multiplex marketplace, questions like, “Did you like it?” become less pressing. Opinion takes a backseat to analysis. And with Eyes Wide Shut, there’s as much to pick through and puzzle over as in any of Kubrick’s films—even though almost nothing that happens in the picture is left unexplained.

Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle, the movie has Tom Cruise playing Dr. Bill Harford, a successful New York general practitioner who lives in a lavish apartment with wife Alice (Kidman) and their young daughter. The story begins with the couple going to a lavish Christmas party thrown by Bill’s patient Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack), where the pair flirts with other guests before the doctor’s called in by his host to attend to a nude, overdosing woman. The next night, Bill and Alice have a testy argument about sexual desire, during which Alice confesses that she’s recently lusted after another man. Still fuming, he leaves the apartment to go on a house call, and begins a winding two-day odyssey that sees him sexually tempted multiple times. A combination of desperate arousal and burning envy nearly puts him in mortal danger, after he crashes a bizarre masquerade party at a country estate.

For a long time, Bill’s journey into the night feels like an erotic dream that keeps threatening to become a nightmare. (In fact, Traumnovelle is sometimes translated in English as A Dream Novel or Dream Story.) But at the end, Bill meets again with Victor, who offers a different interpretation of the previous 48 hours. Bill’s anxious because the morning after he was ejected from the masquerade, one of his friends went missing and a woman who helped him turned up dead. Victor insists that the friend just left town, the woman was a junkie prostitute, and the masked men at the party weren’t really threatening Bill, they were maintaining the theatrical illusion of an event meant to resemble a decadent, dangerous gathering of some ancient clandestine tribunal.

Victor could be lying. Or more likely he’s acting as Kubrick’s surrogate, telling the audience not to think too hard about shadowy cabals and unsolved murders, because that’s not really what Eyes Wide Shut is about.

For those who prefer to focus only on plot, Eyes Wide Shut is the story of a couple who live comfortably, but only because they offer something of value to those even richer than themselves. Bill’s most embarrassing experience at the masquerade is his discovery that even when he knows the right people, he’s not really in their league. Alice, meanwhile, in one of her few big scenes, admits to a lecherous older man that she’s out of work, as he paws at her and makes promises to reintroduce her to the art world.

According to Kubrick’s closest confidantes though, the real reason he wanted to make Eyes Wide Shut wasn’t to explore class, but to scrutinize marriage. That may seem dubious, given how little screen-time Bill and Alice share. But as far back as the early ‘60s—when he was making his frustratingly neutered version of Nabokov’s Lolita—Kubrick reportedly talked about making a movie that dealt frankly with sex in the context of a committed relationship. The mysteries of married life are mostly covered in one scene, when Alice admits that she feels closest to Bill when she’s attracted to other guys. Her argument makes a perverse sense, but the thought that she lusts after strangers but comes home to him doesn’t comfort Bill, who’s so haunted by her confession that he immediately goes out and spends two days trying (and failing) to have sex with anyone, anywhere. He becomes every husband who’s ever been told “not tonight honey” and then spent the weekend acting really pissy about it.

Critics and audiences in the summer of 1999 didn’t miss any of Eyes Wide Shut’s underlying themes, because again, Kubrick made them pretty plain. The question instead was whether he needed to spend two-and-a-half hours on something so seemingly slight, with performances so… spacey. Whenever Kubrick gets tagged as “detached,” “chilly,” or even “misanthropic,” it’s usually because of his preferred style of acting. His characters tend either to over-emote (like Jack Nicholson in The Shining or R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket) or speak slowly and flatly (like everybody in 2001 and Barry Lyndon). Kubrick also likes to break up the lines of dialogue with long pauses, which slows the pace further and makes reactions seem less natural. Viewers who dislike Eyes Wide Shut—which included the large numbers of 1999 cinema-goers who lined up to see two movie stars get naked—often trash the performances as “bad.” But it takes a lot of skill to maintain poise and charisma while the director’s shouting, “Do it again, but slower.”

***

The discord between the affectless and the over-the-top in Kubrick’s films dates all the way back to his earliest work—though in the likes of Paths Of Glory, the artificiality was disguised by an overall swiftness of pace that Kubrick would later eschew. There was a gradual evolution to the director’s style. What unites Kubrick’s awkward early independent films and his later big-budget studio work is a sophistication and worldliness, far removed from the palliative approach of other movies from their era. As a young filmmaker he’d treat each shot and each scene as a unique creative exercise, in effort to make audiences say, “Well, that’s new.” Early on he wove his preferred stylized acting into images that were strikingly lit but otherwise steeped in photographic realism. Meanwhile, his scripts that make liberal use of narration and time-jumps, suggesting fresh, inventive ways of telling stories through cinema.

Kubrick became a filmmaker as an extension of his day job as a Look magazine photographer. He taught himself how to operate a cheap movie camera in his early 20s, so that he could make some money from a newsreel company that needed shutterbugs. Building off of that experience, Kubrick made the hourlong 1952 fiction feature Fear And Desire, with his family’s money. Though the ultra-low-budget war movie is so ponderous and clumsy that the director later disowned it, it showed enough promise to impress a few critics and get limited theatrical distribution in 1953—rare for an indie. So Kubrick reunited with his Fear And Desire screenwriter, future Pulitzer Prize winner Howard Sackler, to make 1955’s Killer’s Kiss. Kubrick’s second feature film is less of a grand statement on human existence and more of an attempt to show off his eye.

Killer’s Kiss has barely any story. Jamie Smith plays Davey Gordon, a boxer on his last legs, while Irene Kane is Gloria Price, a dancer-for-hire who lives in the apartment across from his window. Like Robert Wise’s classic 1949 noir The Set-Up, Kubrick and Sackler’s peek at urban squalor uses the fighter and the hoofer’s separate preparations for their jobs as an way of exposing city life at its most sweaty, exhausting, and lurid. Then Gloria gets harassed by a mob-connected thug, and when Davey intervenes, Killer’s Kiss turns into a minor-key romance, broken up by long chase scenes. Almost the entire last 20 minutes consists of shots of people on the run, strikingly framed atop and betwixt towering skyscrapers.

On the Criterion Collection Blu-ray of the 1956 thriller The Killing (which contains the entirety of Killer’s Kiss as a bonus feature), critic Geoffrey O’Brien narrates a video-essay about Kubrick’s second film, praising its “tremendous sense of possibility” and its “made up as it goes along quality.” What he’s mainly referring to is how much of the 67-minute running time is dedicated to simple, docu-style New York street scenes. Unlike the studio-shot artificiality of Eyes Wide Shut’s NYC—which was so phony that residents of the city, critics included, griped about all the geographic and architectural inaccuracies—the New York of Killer’s Kiss is almost frighteningly real, depicting a metropolis always teetering on the edge of mayhem. O’Brien and other critics have compared Kubrick’s cinematography to the stark crime-scene photographs of Arthur “Weegee” Fellig.

That shouldn’t be surprising, given Kubrick’s past. He started filing photo essays for Look as a teenager, after catching the magazine’s attention with a staged photograph of a New York news vendor reacting to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's death. As a photographer, he specialized in mocked-up scenes of city life, from paddy wagons to college campuses, all viewed from skewed and cynical perspectives. He frequently arranged his subjects in series of shots to create a narrative—often steeped in irony—but because he couldn’t control the environment, the snaps contain a lot of spontaneity.

Kubrick brings those gifts to Killer’s Kiss, particularly in the scenes that take place in Davey’s apartment, where he peers into a tiny fishbowl while the tight spaces and big open windows behind him reveal him as his own kind of animal trapped behind glass. Killer’s Kiss features a number of standout visual experiments: a graceful ballet sequence; a boxing match playing out in quick cuts (with views from the canvas and the ropes); a nightmare sequence constructed from polarized footage; a special effect that makes the screen look cracked after someone throws a glass toward the camera; a fight in a mannequin warehouse; and an over-the-top corny “letter from home” from the rural northwest, heard in voiceover while the hero rides in a grubby subway car. But what’s most impressive is that—over three decades before Eyes Wide Shut—Kubrick tours through a New York where characters feel like they’re on display, and where they can’t disguise their base desires.

***

By the time Kubrick crossed over to the mainstream with the tough, taut genre pieces The Killing and Paths Of Glory, he’d acquired a distinctive style and tone: a sort of detached disgust. But in all the conversations about Kubrick’s technical mastery and bleak vision of humankind, what often gets missed is that the man had a mischievous wit. He was known to have late-night transatlantic phone calls with his American friends and colleagues where he’d gush enthusiastically about his favorite TV sitcoms and movie comedies. Dr. Strangelove is his most overtly comic picture, but there’s a strong element of wry humor in nearly all of his films, even if it’s just in the contrast between the pretensions of high society and its baser impulses. That’s evident throughout Barry Lyndon, for example, where all the powdered wigs and finery can’t cover up the characters’ greed and cowardice.

Tom Cruise has rarely gotten enough credit for how funny he is in Eyes Wide Shut as Dr. Bill: an earnest man accustomed to winning friends and clients with his skill for saying exactly the right bland, inoffensive thing at the right time. As he investigates the sexual underground of New York—flashing his medical certification like a police detective’s badge—he becomes increasingly pathetic, and comic. Eyes Wide Shut is especially perverse in the way Kubrick keeps undercutting the eroticism and elegance. The film opens with a shot of Alice’s bare backside, then a few minutes later shows her sitting on a toilet. Later, when Bill gets lured by what appears to be a high-class hooker, he steps into an apartment cluttered with dirty dishes and drying laundry. The women in Eyes Wide Shut are impeccably made up and coiffed, but Kubrick subverts the “painted doll” effect by adding a pair of glasses, or putting them in unflattering nude poses. If the movie has one keystone shot, it may be the seemingly random cut back to Alice sitting in her kitchen eating Snackwell cookies while Bill’s out testing his manhood.

That fascination with minutiae ultimately is the best rebuke to the notion that Kubrick sneers at humanity. Again and again in his films the characters are seen in small moments where their guard is down and they’re being endearingly human. Almost as much as its magnificently choreographed battlefield scenes and dark ironies, Paths Of Glory is a masterpiece because of scenes like the one where two French soldiers talk about how they’d prefer to die—sounding like a couple of caffeinated dudes in a dorm, not warriors on the frontline. In Eyes Wide Shut, while Kubrick’s orchestrated gliding camera moves through Bill and Alice’s apartment, he has the two of them talking about the name of the babysitter, and saying that they’ll hold their cab for her when they get home from Victor’s party.

It’d be wrong to say that characters in Kubrick films talk like regular people talk. But they are often preoccupied with the mundane in ways that are conspicuous, given how deep and heavy his movies are so much of the time. The filmmaker may have been short on faith in mankind, but he loved and understood his fellow homo sapiens in his own weird way.

So why did it always seem to take so long for even Kubrick fans to unpack everything his movies had to offer… including the humor, and the subtle empathy? Blame—or credit—his dense and imposing style, which was often the only thing critics could notice about his work on first viewing. It’s much easier to appreciate what’s happening in Killer’s Kiss, where Davey in voice-over openly admits to being turned on by how Gloria is “all smiles and yawns” when she invites him in for breakfast. The fumbling, the fawning, the fear… it’s all right there on the surface in Kubrick’s earliest films. His vision of the world didn’t change much between the early ‘50s and the late ‘90s. He just started wrapping it in layers.

[sanguishq-blog]

the admins of sanguis are proud to present our first task: a character questionnaire !! it’s a long one, but feel free to make your answers as detailed or concise as you see fit. answers can be in third person or in first person if you prefer the interview approach. have fun and make sure to tag as sanguis:task so everyone can learn more about your amazing characters !!

Note: the actual questions are in bold (the questions in brackets are more like prompts to help you expand your answer. feel free to answer as many or as few of them as you want!)

BASIC INFORMATION:

what is your name? (what does it mean? where did it come from? how do you feel about it? what do you actually go by?)

what is your birthdate? (what was your birth like? hospital? home birth? back of a taxi on the side of the freeway? do you enjoy having your birthday on this day? do you even celebrate your birthday? does your appearance reflect your true age? do you identify strongly with your zodiac sign?)

where were you born? (what part of the world? how has that shaped you? do you feel a strong connection to the culture you were born into? do you still live at or visit home?)

what is your gender and sexuality? (do you feel certain or do you question it? do these labels feel like petty semantics to you? are they important to your identity? do you subvert the expectations of your self-identified gender in any way? are romantic or sexual relationships an important part of your life?)

are you a supernatural being? (what kind? are you well-versed in your powers or are they still challenging for you? do you hold a position of power among supernaturals of your kind? if you are human, how does that impact your life?)

PERSONALITY:

what are your personality types? (zodiac? mbti? enneagram? animal type? moral alignment? temperament? cardinal sin/virtue?)

what is your default demeanor? (are you typically stoic? cheery? somber? glib? why do you think this is? are you an optimist, a pessimist, or a realist? is your default setting a defense, or are you an open book? have you always been this way, or did something change you? what can cause a shift in your demeanor?)

how are you intelligent? (what is your level of education? are you street smart? are you socially intelligent? are you skilled in manipulation? what are the gaps in your knowledge? are you arrogant? judgmental? what are you naive about?)

how confident are you? (what about yourself are you confident in? what are insecure about? do you typically consider yourself above, below, or equal to others? do you stifle yourself with self-doubt? are you reckless due to over-confidence? are you flirtatious? are you good at making friends? would you consider yourself popular?)

what do you believe in? (do you subscribe to a certain religion or philosophy? what is your moral code, if any? which causes are close to your heart? what do you pretend to care about to appease others? what do you consider unforgivable? are there situations in which that thing could be justified? do you believe in redemption? what do you live for? what would you die for?)

PHYSICALITY:

how do you dress? (what's your day-to-day aesthetic? do you have a personal uniform? was this a conscious choice or is it just the clothing you gravitate towards? do you use your clothes to project a certain image? what would you wear to a formal event? do you have a favourite piece of clothing or accessory? do your clothes or accessories serve any practical function, ie. a daylight ring, talisman, or symbol of your status?)

how do you carry yourself? (how do you sit, stand, walk? is your body typically tense or relaxed? is your physicality more dominant or submissive? are you more clumsy or graceful?do you take up a lot of physical space with your posture or movements? do you strut? do you slouch? do you seem taller than you are? do you have any physical disabilities?)

do you have any physical or verbal tics? (do you drum your fingers impatiently? chew on your nails when you're nervous? flip your hair when you're proud? do you mumble? upspeak? ramble? are you terminally sarcastic? do you stutter when you're nervous? are there any words you over-use?)

how physical are you with others? (are you a long hugger? do you smack your friends on the arm when they offend you? would you put your legs over a friend's lap without thinking? have you ever fallen asleep on someone's shoulder? do you like to play with people's hair? do you hate to be touched? do you use touch to intimidate people? are you grabby? do you understand and respect personal space?)

HUMAN CONNECTION:

how do you think strangers perceive you? (would they assume you are powerful? weak? vulnerable? are you friendly or guarded? do most people consider you a potential threat, a potential ally, or neither? do these projections come naturally, or are they a calculated manipulation? do you feel unfairly judged?)

how do your friends see you? (what is your value to them? power, love, safety, fun? do you have a particular trait or skill that defines you within your social circles? do you think your friends see the 'real' you? what do you wish they would see? if you have no close friends, do you consider that to be your fault or theirs? or do you even care?)

what is your relationship with your parents like? (are you close? are they still alive? do you resent them or respect them more? do you have a favourite parent? which parent do you feel shaped you more? are your parents your biological parents? if they are not, or if you were raised without parental figures, how do you imagine your biological parents?)

do you have any siblings? (where do you fall in the birth order? what role did you take on among your siblings? has that changed since childhood? do you have a favourite sibling? do you resent any of your siblings? if you have no siblings, do you wish you did?)

what do you look for in a romantic relationship? (emotional intimacy? honesty? unconditional support? physical affection? mind-blowing sex? how do you go about getting it? do you prefer to pursue or be pursued? do you want control? do you want to be controlled? what makes you feel safe? what turns you on? are you unsure of you want/need?)

who are the most important people in your life? (family members? best friend? significant other? do you consider yourself responsible for them, or do they take care of you? how did they become so integral to your life? what sets them apart from other people you are close to? do they know how you feel about them? do you wish anything about them was different?)

BACKSTORY:

if your life were a work of fiction, what would your role be? (hero? villain? love interest? sidekick? henchman? red shirt? background player? something else?)

which events shaped your life? (were they actions you took or things that happened to you? were they predominantly 'good' or 'bad'? how did they alter the trajectory of your life? do you feel life has been unfair to you or have you been lucky? do you believe your life is a result of fate, chance, or your own decisions?)

what is your most cherished memory? (a quiet night in with a lover? christmas morning when you were eight? a great triumph over your enemies? why do you think this memory is so special to you? what does it say about your values?)

which memory keeps you up at night? (is it something you did or something that was done to you? does it plague you with guilt? rage? sorrow? would you undo it if you could? how do you think your life would be different if it hadn't happened?)

what are your goals for the future? (are you seeking something? revenge? redemption? peace? are you happy with your current life and trying to maintain it? do you have a plan in action or do you simply address things as they come?)

PREFERENCES:

what is your taste in music? (do you have a personal theme song? is there a genre you can't stand? who are your favourite artists? do you connect with them emotionally or just like the way they sound?)

what is your taste in film? (period pieces? torture porn? nicholas sparks-style romance? do you have a favourite movie or tv show? do you consider film to be a mindless waste?)

what is your taste in literature? (classics? non-fiction? twilight? or are the gossip rags in the check-out line the extent of your reading? do you prefer to listen to audiobooks while you commute or sink into a novel for the night? which book do you pull from the shelf most often?)

what are your favourite hobbies or activities? (do you have twenty-seven crafts projects in progress? do you run two miles before work every morning? is your space bar wobbly from over-zealous redditing? what are you good at? cooking? dancing? blood magic? or are you too consumed by your all-important work to spend any of your precious time on fun? are your activities a part of your identity?)

this or that: sweet or salty? quiet or loud? midnight or daybreak? cats or dogs? hot or cold? big party or small gathering? bath or shower?  amusement park or art exhibit? ocean or mountains? pen or pencil? passenger or driver? cake or pie? leather or lace?

SUPERNATURAL:

how did you find out about supernatural forces? (have you always known? was it when you or a friend became supernatural? did it shape or change how you look at the world?)

how do you feel about your powers? (are they a curse or a blessing? do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? what is your favourite and least favourite thing about them? if you are human, how do you feel about that? do you wish that you had powers?)

how do you feel about species other than your own? (do you look down on or up to any specific species? do you consider yourself superior to those not of your species?)

if you could, would you re-start with a mundane human life? (do you think you would be happier? weaker? less interesting? at what point in your life would you re-start from? would you eradicate the existence of supernatural beings entirely, or just remove them from your life?)

WILDCARDS:

what would one find in your car, in your garbage can, on your nightstand?

who was your first crush? what attracted you to them?

where do you find yourself dwelling the most: the past, the present or the future?

is it okay for you to cry? when was the last time you cried?

what is the worst thing that can be done to a person?

what is your deepest, most well-hidden kink?

[chronicles-posts]

The Chronicle (Parts 1 and 2)

                                        Part 1

"You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have to say something"

The first time I read this quote by F.Scott Fitzgerald during one of my lectures I rushed to my dorm room and cried my eyes out.

I have always had a plot, a story in my head that I could never convey into words.

Getting  perfect grades and being on the top of your literature department gives  you a sense of superiority and a big uninvited ego.

Before my  first lecture actually started we had to introduce ourselves to the  whole class spontaneously I was the class person to speak hearing about  how they started reading from the ages 5 or younger kind of depressed me  I started reading at 14 which made me feel as tho I had started late so  I did the only thing I could think of I lied.

I said I started when I was 6 I could have gone lower but 6 seemed like a very realistic number.

I  was always watching TV till i discovered a book in my mom's collection  called "Great Expectation" who soon became my ultimate favorite novel we  had a power shutdown we did the usual drill of putting candles all  around the house not having a way of turning on the TV I started roaming  around the house and saw "Great Expectation" by Charles Dickens who  later became my favorite writer.

Before picking it up I sarcastically said

"Oh I expect great things from this books"

And let me tell you it blew my world away I almost gave my mother a heart attack when she walked in and saw me reading.

I  moved from Hokkaido to Tokyo to study university my daily routine was  pretty stable wake up,go for a run,go to school,tutor, go to the bar,  then home and the same thing the next day unless some of the students I  tutor cancel then I just go to the library on my free day hours.

Ever since I came to Tokyo I go to the same bar every day.

It  was August 8'th 1970 it was pretty late and the bar was pretty crowded  there were two guys on my left who barely noticed my existence one who  looked pretty bored but smart and the other pretty drunk I wasn't  eavesdropping but he said something that for some reason changed my view  of life.

"Yeah we all die but it'll take another fifty years and  to be blunt fifty years spent thinking is a helluva lot more exhausting  than five thousand years of living without your brain"

This made me think and think I felt like I used all my fifty years thinking that night.

                                    Part 2

I have over 400 books in boxes back at my dorm room, I didn't need to take all my books with me from home but I felt more comfortable having them with me.

I never take any books from my collection outside my dorm room because a while back some guys in my university found out my father used to write short stories before he died and started a rumor/joke that Literature was in my genes and plus my mother being a French Literature teacher at my old high school added to the fuss so whenever I am seen reading anywhere outside the library guys would come up to me and say.

"You don't need to read just check your genes"

Which wasn't only a tasteless joke but also made it a habit for me to hide my reading fetish from others.

Although I know I owe all my grades success to reading, reading isn't a hobby its a part of my life.

I prohibited myself from not reading during a day.

Usually, when I get home I read until about 3 am, then sleep and wake up at 6.

When I don't feel like I have the energy to read I force myself to read at least 10 pages of anything and then I turn on the radio, I like to listen to a show called "The greatest hits requests show" on a radio stream called NEB at first I hated it all they played were happy and funky music I was more into classical music such as Mozart, Beethoven I also enjoyed listening to violin pieces performed by Ivry Gitlis.

I remember after reading Great Expectations that the time I used to spend in front of the TV had lessened.

I even stopped going to the living room where the TV is and spent most of my time in my mom's office room where I came across another book that later became my favorite as well.

I didn't know if Great Expectation was the only good book in the world or if there were more I didn't even know any more authors than Charles Dickens so I decided to check one of his books and decided which one to read with the titles that seemed interesting and then I found Hard times.

Then my mother recommended Christmas Carol and Tales of two Cities which were masterpieces to me.

Then my father wanted to recommend me some books but since I was still 14 at the time he was very picky on what books were appropriate for me.

Then after I was 15 he finally gave me two books I have been dying to read after my mother convinced him my father gave me my first copy of The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men.

I later discovered writers such as Joseph Conard and Thomas Hardy also William Goulding and Henry James.

By that time I had most probably forgotten we even had a Television due to most of my time being spent reading either in my room or the library until after almost a year of reading.

I wake up on my birthday to find myself completely unable to read not visually but whenever I would read anything I get a headache or get bored very quickly which ended in me starting to watch TV the whole day until 2 month after this incident I suddenly started reading again and this became a two to two month occasion with reading OFF and ON

To Be Continued...

Written by:Tyre Tarweel