#brought to you by reading 3 excellent debuts in a row

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

d'you ever read an author's debut novel and just get really miffed that it's their debut? like cmon man, you're so good! i need to read more of your lovely words!

[aion-rsa]

The Karate Kid: The Real Martial Arts History Behind the Movies

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When it comes to martial arts films, The Karate Kid was a game changer when it came out in 1984. Its lasting cultural impact was a landmark advancement for the western understanding of the martial arts. But was it a genuine representation of Karate?

Den of Geek consulted Dr. Hermann Bayer, an expert authority on Okinawan Karate and the author of the upcoming book Analysis of Genuine Karate―Misconceptions, Origin, Development, and True Purpose. Dr. Bayer remembers firsthand how The Karate Kid stimulated the Karate boom in the mid-eighties because he was a practicing Karateka then. But as a martial scholar, he’s pragmatic about his opinions.

“First and foremost, we have to bear in mind that we are talking about a movie, not about a documentation or a piece of research,” says Bayer. “This means that we need to concede that fascinating viewers by something pretty, amazing, or spectacular to look at is more important than authenticity.”

The Year That The Karate Kid Premiered

When we reflect upon the original, we must remind ourselves that the landscape of martial arts films in the west was vastly different in 1984. There just weren’t that many martial arts movies in western pop culture back then.

Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon came out over a decade before The Karate Kid, and tragically, Lee didn’t live to see it succeed. Many B-movies coat-tailed on Enter the Dragon‘s success, especially in the subgenres of Bruceploitation and Blaxploitation. This comprised the bulk of martial arts for western audiences. Beyond the imported niches of Hong Kong Kung Fu and Japanese samurai movies, there just weren’t that many other martial arts films available. And those were limited to showings in second- and third-run theaters or midnight “Kung Fu Theater” TV broadcasts. Consequently, the genre was considered low-brow entertainment with minimal impact on the box office. 

When The Karate Kid debuted, most of today’s martial arts superstars had no Hollywood presence. Despite starring in dozens of Hong Kong films, Jackie Chan had only led one Hollywood production by that point. That was Battle Creek Brawl, made by the same filmmakers who did Enter the Dragon, however it under-performed and was deemed a failure. His other Hollywood credits in 1984 included a cameo in the sequel ensemble comedy The Cannonball Run II. With only three minor Hollywood appearances, he was still virtually unknown to the Western audience.

Chuck Norris was more prominent having starred in more than a half dozen B-action flicks by then. His 1984 entry was Missing in Action in which Jean-Claude Van Damme had an uncredited role. JCVD didn’t grab any limelight until four years after The Karate Kid, when he starred in his breakout lead role for Bloodsport. Jet Li was only on his second film that year, Kids From Shaolin, but that wasn’t shown outside of Chinatowns in the U.S. It would be another 14 years after The Karate Kid before Jet made his first Hollywood appearance as the villain in Lethal Weapon 4. 

The Karate Kid changed the way martial arts films were perceived. It demonstrated that the martial arts genre could deliver wholesome family entertainment, as well as good box office returns. It ranked fifth among the highest grossing films of 1984, behind Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Gremlins. The Karate Kid was the sleeper hit of the year, and it made Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) into crane-kicking icons. 

The Limitations of the Karate Kid Trilogy

The Karate Kid was a Hollywood adaptation of a common plot device of Kung Fu movies – the training trope. Many of Jackie Chan’s late seventies films were “martial training” stories. Those narratives can be distilled down to three acts as seen in The Karate Kid: the hero suffers an injustice — like the murder of his family (or in Daniel’s case, just getting bullied) — then the hero finds a quirky master who uses obscure, almost non-nonsensical training methods, and finally the hero, armed with these hard-earned skills, takes revenge.

Jackie’s groundbreaking 1978 Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow is a perfect example of this. That was a turning point for Jackie, the launch of his unique style of comedy Kung Fu, back when he was in his physical prime. In that same year, the Kung Fu grindhouse Shaw Brothers studios delivered the timeless classic film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, which is a perfect example of the same formula. “Martial training” stories are even retold in animated films like Mulan and Kung Fu Panda. The Karate Kid just had the ingenuity to set it at West Valley High School in San Fernando, California. 

Today, Daniel-san is enjoying a revitalization through Netflix’s hit series Cobra Kai. Packed with more easter eggs that an April bunny basket, Cobra Kai has been rectifying flaws from the original films with a subtle, yet effective elegance. Despite its time-honored success, the original films fell under tremendous scrutiny from genuine Karatekas who were quick to point out inaccuracies. Frankly, for such a flagship film of the martial arts genre, the martial arts weren’t that good. The main cast of the original film had little or no martial arts background. Kreese (Martin Kove) was the only cast member who studied Karate prior to the films. 

Part of this adds to the charm. Despite being the All Valley Karate Champ twice in a row, Daniel is a newbie to the art. In fact, the original trilogy happens in a little over a year. The Karate Kid takes place in 1984. The Karate Kid III, despite premiering in 1989, depicts events at the following All Valley Karate Championships. Daniel goes from zero to hero in an alarmingly short time.

How could Daniel genuinely master Karate with so little training time? Is “wax on, wax off” deck sanding and fence painting truly that effective? Of course not. If it were, the MMA cage would be dominated by car washers, carpenters, and house painters. That’s the magic of movies. Movie martial arts are no more realistic than movie car chases. 

This still begs the question – how much of Miyagi’s weird training really works?

“Whole floor. Right circle, left circle.”

Traditional martial arts training can take many forms, and the spirit of Mr. Miyagi’s esoteric lessons isn’t too far off the mark. Although few practitioners today carry water up mountains like the Shaolin monks, mundane chores like cleaning and repairing are still implemented in training within a traditional Dojo. Frankly, the repetitive nature of martial arts practice is boring so any way to invigorate enthusiasm is welcome. And the efficiency of multi-tasking is always appreciated, even in modern strip mall Dojos. 

A common training ritual is cleaning the floor before class. This is extremely important because most Dojos practice barefoot. Many old school Dojos require that students push damp rags across the floor with their hands in a low crouch. As anyone who has done it knows, this is harder than it looks and serves as an excellent warm-up exercise. When the Dojo needs repairs, students pitch in where they can because a good Dojo fosters community that way, and variations on training emerge within those tasks akin to Miyagi’s painting and sanding. And if there’s a Dojo fundraising carwash, you know there will be plenty of “wax on, wax off” practice. 

But beyond the waxing, sanding, and painting, how real is Miyagi-Do? 

“Only root Karate come from Miyagi.”

There are two styles of martial arts represented in The Karate Kid, Okinawan Karate and Korean Tang Soo Do. Kreese’s Karate is Tang Soo Do mostly because the choreographer for the original films was Grandmaster Pat E. Johnson, a leading proponent of that style. Although most likely the product of coincidence, it fit Kreese’s character perfectly. Many U.S. soldiers who served in Korea brought Tang Soo Do back to the states when they returned, just like Kreese, including Johnson and his martial comrade, Chuck Norris. 

In Season 3 of Cobra Kai, Kreese’s backstory confirms what martial arts fans have always suspected – that his style of Karate is in fact, Tang Soo Do. Calling it “Karate” was not inaccurate. Few Americans know Tang Soo Do, so even today, some schools market themselves as “Korean Karate.” Tang Soo Do is a predecessor of Taekwondo. Taekwondo is the other Asian martial art in the Olympics alongside Judo, but this is soon to change. 

Read more

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Cobra Kai Season 4: What to Expect

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Cobra Kai and the Debate Around Cultural Appropriation

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Miyagi-Do is derived from a branch of Karate known as of Goju-Ryu. Writer Robert Mark Kamen had learned some Goju-Ryu which inspired him to create Mr. Miyagi. He even poached the name of the founder of Goju-Ryu, Chojun Miyagi, and adapted the history to fit the Miyagi family history for The Karate Kid II where they travel to Okinawa. Goju means “hard-soft.”

“Karate legend Miyagi Chojun gave the name ‘hard-soft’ to the style in the mid-1930s,” explains Bayer.

Bayer finds the contrast between Miyagi’s and Kreese’s philosophies more intriguing than their difference of styles. “I see the first movie of the trilogy as the most important in terms of establishing the two contrasting mindsets of Mr. Miyagi’s ‘Karate approach to life in general’ and John Kreese’s ‘No mercy’ combat-specific attitude. However, both mindsets are essential to and part of genuine Karate.” Bayer claims that fighting in genuine Karate is exclusively reserved for life-threatening situations. “Karateka never start a fight; they always end a fight―and to end a fight ‘no mercy’ is essential.”

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The All Valley Karate Championships and the Olympics

The most unrealistic story element in The Karate Kid is the All Valley Karate Championships. Beyond the controversy about whether Daniel-san’s crane kick win was illegal, Karate tournaments didn’t have the level of production value in the eighties depicted in the movie. Even today, they seldom get that elaborate. A hexagonal ring is hard to make out of the square puzzle mats typically used for local tournaments nowadays. And that spectacular tournament table backdrop was way beyond the budget of tournament promoters. However, Karate will soon be showcased on the global stage, replete with a grand pageantry far beyond what the All Valley Championships imagined.

The Tokyo Olympics will introduce Karate as one of the five new sports in 2021. This will be divided into two categories: Kata, which is a solo form recital akin to gymnastics floor routines but with kicks and punches instead of leaps and flips, and Kumite, which is sparring. Here, Dr. Bayer draws an important distinction between authentic Karate and sport. It’s a critical distinction for what plays out in The Karate Kid. “As long as any kind of rules are implemented, combat changes into some kind of game,” says Bayer. “Life-protecting fighting is pure violence, pitiless full-power action, and has no place in a sport setting.”

Here also is where Bayer sees Kreese’s villainy. A symptom of his wartime PTSD, Kreese is unable to make the distinction between self-defense and sport. “The ‘No Mercy’ combat approach in competition and sports is inexcusably misplaced and represents an ‘Americanized’ misconception of Karate, characterized by ‘winning at all costs’ in combination with the importance of fancy uniforms, of ranks, and of other attributes in an attention-seeking culture.”

According to Bayer, this is also where the authenticity of Miyagi’s contrasting Karate approach shines. “This is the exact opposite of Mr. Miyagi’s humble Karate-Do mindset, where ranks, belts, and other visible signs of competency are irrelevant. His answer to the question what belt he wears was ‘Canvas. JC Penny. Three ninety-eight. You like?’ In spite of its lethality, the purpose of authentic Karate training is not the use of violence, it is gaining self-control, especially in situations loaded with threats and aggression, and where blood pressure and adrenaline levels are off the chart.” 

Despite this separation of killing art and sport, Bayer still sees the role of sport Karate as extremely important, and he can’t wait to see what happens at the Olympics. “Sports Karate canalizes aggression into fun and competition activities, and its training practices are perfect for physical education, for health and fitness purposes. Under a responsible coach, students grow mentally and are guided towards positive values―reflected in modern physical education learning outcomes and their according training designs.” 

“Karate here. Karate here. Karate never here.”

Despite its martial shortcomings, The Karate Kid succeeds in revealing the heart of Karate. The hardships Daniel endures, his loyalty to his sensei, Miyagi’s humility, and the distinctions between the street fights and the championships all play out with an uncommon sincerity, and perhaps that is the secret of its longevity. Even if Miyagi-Do is entirely by Kamen’s design, it’s a clever homage to Okinawan Karate. And even in the martial world, that’s hard to find.

“Authentic Okinawan Karate’s genuine purpose was exclusively self-protection and the protection of someone’s life,” says Bayer. “This genuine Okinawan Karate is hardly to be found in today’s worldwide Karate practice.”

The Karate Kid trilogy is streaming on Netflix now.

The post The Karate Kid: The Real Martial Arts History Behind the Movies appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[makistar2018]

It's a Love Story: The History of Taylor Swift's Fiercely Tight Bond With Her Parents

by NATALIE FINN Aug. 13, 2019

Taylor Swift has gotten a ton of musical mileage out of the romantic relationships that have come and gone in her life, but those guys haven't been the truly essential players in her journey to the top of the pop star pyramid.

Instead, it's Scott and Andrea Swift, Taylor's parents, who have championed their daughter since day one, believing in her so much that they left their palatial house in Reading, Penn., for Nashville, where a determined 14-year-old Taylor felt she had to be to make her dream a reality.

Talking to CMT, she said her parents weren't just indulging her for the sake of being supportive. "My parents actually believed it," she said.

Before her Reputation Tour touched down in Philadelphia last year, she took a few friends to visit her childhood home, a Christmas tree farm in Wyomissing, where the new owners were apparently happy to let the famous former resident in to take a look at her old room.

"I went to the house I grew up in. I got emotional when I went into my bedroom, and there's another little girl's things in there," Swift told the sold-out crowd one night at Lincoln Financial Field. "It's not my family farm anymore. We sold it when we went to Nashville. I've been thinking about how cool it is to be back where I started writing songs."

She told CMT that, back in the day, her parents never pushed her, but "I would not leave them alone."

Taylor was barely out of grade school when Andrea Swift (née Gardner Finlay) first took her to Nashville to drop off the CDs she had made of her singing karaoke with record labels, having seen in documentaries about Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes that Music City, U.S.A., was where she needed to be.

"My mom waited in the car with my little brother while I knocked on doors up and down Music Row," Swift recalled to Entertainment Weekly in 2008. "I would say, 'Hi, I'm Taylor. I'm 11; I want a record deal. Call me."'

Well, the world wasn't ready for it just yet.

"She came back from that trip to Nashville and realized she needed to be different, and part of that would be to learn the guitar," Andrea told EW. "Now, at 12, she saw a 12-string guitar and thought it was the coolest thing. And of course we immediately said, 'Oh no, absolutely not, your fingers are too small—not till you're much older will you be able to play the 12-string guitar.'

"Well, that was all it took. Don't ever say never or can't do to Taylor. She started playing it four hours a day—six on the weekends. She would get calluses on her fingers and they would crack and bleed, and we would tape them up and she'd just keep on playing. That's all she played, till a couple of years later, which was the first time she ever picked up a six-string guitar. And when she did, it was like, 'wow, this is really easy!'"

Swift performed in venues all over Pennsylvania, wherever she could get a gig, and wrote her little heart out.  She went back to Nashville at 13 and got a development deal at RCA Records, which she declined to re-up after a year, wanting to record only songs that she had a hand in writing. At 14 she became the youngest person in the roster at Sony/ATV Publishing.

So, the whole family—Scott, Andrea, Taylor and her brother, Austin Swift—eventually relocated to Hendersonville, about 20 miles outside Nashville, in 2003. But they didn't explicitly put it that way at the time.

"I knew I was the reason they were moving," Taylor later told Self. "But they tried to put no pressure on me. They were like, 'Well, we need a change of scenery anyway,' and 'I love how friendly the people in Tennessee are.'"

"I never wanted to make that move about her 'making it,"' Andrea explained to EW. "Because what a horrible thing if it hadn't happened, for her to carry that kind of guilt or pressure around. And we moved far enough outside Nashville to where she didn't have to be going to school with producers' kids and label presidents' kids and be reminded constantly that she was struggling to make it. We've always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true.

"There would always be an escape hatch into normal life if she decided this wasn't something she had to pursue. And of course that's like saying to her, 'If you want to stop breathing, that's cool.'"

Swift ended up fatefully signing with Big Machine Records, run by Scott Borchetta, who had just left Universal Music Group to start his own label.

"They only had 10 employees at the record label to start out with, so when they were releasing my first single, my mom and I came in to help stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio," Taylor recalled to EW. "We sat out on the floor and did it because there wasn't furniture at the label yet."

Meanwhile, Scott and Andrea—formerly a marketing manager at an advertising agency—had already set up Taylor's website and MySpace page (with Taylor writing her bio, updates and responses to fans herself, of course).

"The mom and dad both have great marketing minds," Rick Barker, Swift's manager at the time, told EW. "I don't want to say fake it until you make it, but when you looked at her stuff, it was very professional even before she got her deal."

Andrea said that her daughter relished the recognition, the selfie requests and the otherwise positive attention from fans of her music, "but she never in her life ever said, 'I want to be famous' or 'I want to be rich' or 'I want to be a star.' Those words absolutely never came out of her mouth. If they had, I would have said, 'Honey, maybe you're doing it kind of for the wrong reasons.'

"For her, the happiest I ever see her is just after she's written a killer song. As a parent, I felt really good about that. If that's where she draws happiness from, she'll have that the rest of her life. She's not always gonna have the awards, or the attention, or the celebrity, but she will always have the ability to write a song."

Swift has credited her mother for instilling in her the importance of maintaining her independence, financial and otherwise, saying, "She raised me to be logical and practical. I was brought up with such a strong woman in my life and I think that had a lot to do with me not wanting to do anything halfway."

Andrea's mother, Marjorie Finlay, was a professional opera singer and a magnetic presence in every room—a quality Taylor shared with her grandma, Scott Swift once said. "The two of them had some sort of magic where they could walk into a room and remember everyone's name," he said. "Taylor has the same grace and physique of Andrea's mother."

Taylor described her dad, meanwhile, as "just a big teddy bear who tells me everything I do is perfect." That being said, she added, "business-wise, he's brilliant."

Once Taylor's career started to take off, Scott, who had relocated his business to Nashville, stayed in town with Austin while Andrea accompanied their daughter on tour, helping her finish high school on the road.

"She was always singing music when she was 3, 5, 6, 7 years old," Scott, an investment banker with Merill Lynch who ran The Swift Group under the company's umbrella, told the University of Delaware's UDaily in 2009. "It's Taylor doing what she likes to do." (When she was quite little, Taylor recalled, she would tell people she was going to be a financial advisor, even though she didn't know what that meant.)

"We had a kid that was really passionate about it," he said. Getting that first deal at 13 "was the confirmation that maybe she wasn't crazy, because her writing is why she got it."

Swift was 16 when her self-titled debut album came out in October 2006. Less than a year later, she opened for Brad Paisley at the Allentown Fair, a big-ticket gig in her home state.

While "Tim McGraw," her first-ever single, eventually drew the most attention, her second single, "Teardrops on My Guitar," was her first top-15 single (peaking at 13) and the next, "Our Song," became her biggest hit on country radio to date, her first No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

Scott Swift hasn't had to do much lately when it comes to Taylor's ridiculously successful career, but he helped out where he could early on (not including the unconfirmed reports that he advised Harry Styles to not rush things when he and Taylor started dating). He told UDaily that he helped arrange Taylor's prime-time gig singing the national anthem during Game 3 of the 2008 World Series, a home game for the Philadelphia Phillies (who went on to beat the Tampa Bay Rays in five games). Scott went to college with the Phillies' facilities manager.

"The reason she sang the anthem is because two University of Delaware alumni kept in touch over the years," Scott told the paper. But as time went on, Taylor's reputation preceded her. "I've heard from a lot of great alumni, and I'm convinced they live in every city, because whenever Taylor's rolling into wherever she is, we'll hear from them," her dad said. "It's really powerful."

Scott and Andrea are hardly the unsung heroes of Taylor's life, though—quite the opposite, in fact.

You'd have been forgiven for assuming that "The Best Day," off of 2008's Fearless, centers on the father-daughter bond (going by the line "I have an excellent father / His strength is making me stronger"), but it's really a sweeping ode to Andrea, the one who waited in the car while tween Taylor knocked on doors.

"'The Best Day' is a song that I wrote without telling my mom," Swift shared in 2011. "I wrote it in the summertime, and I recorded it secretly, too. I had this idea that I wanted to play it for her for Christmas. So, when I got the track I synced up all of these home videos from when I was a little kid to go along with the song like a music video, and played it for her on Christmas Eve and she was crying her eyes out."

She eventually had to stop playing it live because Andrea was always dissolving into tears backstage.

Taylor continued, "Remembering all the times that we had when she was my only friend when I was 13 and I couldn't understand why my friends were being so mean to me. She would just take me on these adventures and we would drive around and go to towns we'd never seen before.

"Those adventures and those days of just running away from my problems—you're not supposed to run away from your problems, but when you're 13 and your friends won't talk to you and they move when you sit down at the lunch table, and your mom lets you run from those problems, I think it's a good thing... My mom was my escape in a lot of ways."

Andrea recalled the days when Taylor's friends seemed to be turning on her, telling Elle Girl she'd have to "pick [Taylor] up off the floor," she was hurting so badly.

When she was 21 she bought her parents a $1.4 million house in Nashville, around the same time she bought her first house in Los Angeles.

By 2011, the Taylor road show ran like a well-oiled machine, in no small part because of Andrea's watchful eye.

"Well, you know, she's just been doing this for so long that, to me, this is just like soccer practice," Swift's mom shrugged to the New Yorker in a 2011 profile.

After which Scott quipped, "I'm not taking her money, if that's what you're saying."

The writer noted that at least either her mom or dad was at every show that she attended, but Taylor said that they were "staying home more" than they used to.

Through the years, Andrea has become a familiar face to everyone who follows Taylor's career, from the Swifties to the paparazzi, but neither mother nor daughter has made a habit of sharing too much personal information about their family—and they, unlike some celebrities' parents, Andrea and Scott haven't been clamoring to share the spotlight.

So it was only under the greatest of emotional strains that Swift shared in 2015 that Andrea was battling cancer.

"Usually when things happen to me, I process them and then write music about how I feel, and you hear it much later," Swift wrote on Tumblr. "This is something my family and I thought you should know about now." She explained how she had encouraged her mom to go to the doctor, "just to ease some worries of mine. She agreed, and went in to get checked. There were no red flags and she felt perfectly fine, but she did it just to get me and my brother off her case about it. The results came in, and I'm saddened to tell you that my mom has been diagnosed with cancer."

Part of the message was to explain why Andrea wouldn't be at as many shows as usual, so enmeshed she was in the Taylor tour fabric.

"I'd like to keep the details of her condition and treatment plans private, but she wanted you to know," Swift explained. "She wanted you to know because your parents may be too busy juggling everything they've got going on to go to the doctor, and maybe you reminding them to go get checked for cancer could possibly lead to an early diagnosis and an easier battle."

A little over a week later, Andrea introduced her daughter at the Academy of Country Music Awards, where Taylor was one of seven being honored with the Milestone Award.

"I've watched this milestone artist from the time she was a tangled-hair little girl...Full of imagination and creativity until right now when she prepares for her next world tour," Mama Swift said. Tears starting to build, she concluded, "I'm a very proud mom."

The whole family gathered a month later to cheer Austin's graduation from Notre Dame.

On Mother's Day in 2015, Taylor personally responded to a message from a fan who had lost her own mom and was understandably having a rough day. The singer wrote back on Tumblr, "I love you so much and can't imagine what you must be feeling today. You've lived through my worst fear. I'm so sorry you can't spend today with her. It's not fair, and there's no reason why you should feel okay about it. No one should ever expect you to feel normal today."

Andrea sightings did become less frequent, but when she was spotted (having dinner with Taylor and Tom Hiddleston in L.A. in the summer of 2016, for instance), she looked like her usual self. And in 2017 she was by Taylor's side in Colorado when her daughter's dueling lawsuits with a D.J. she had accused of groping her went to trial.

Andrea testified that Taylor had told her right away that the D.J.—who sued Swift for $3 million after he was fired over the incident, after which she countersued, alleging sexual assault—had grabbed her butt while they were taking a photo during a meet-and-greet in 2013.

Explaining why they didn't immediately report him to police, Andrea said, "I did not want her to have to live through the endless memes and GIFs and anything else that tabloid media or trolls would be able to come up with...making her relive this awful moment over and over again."

"I was upset to the point where I wanted to vomit and cry at the same time," she added. "We felt it was imperative to let his employers know what happened."

The jury decided in Swift's favor, awarding her the symbolic $1 in damages she had asked for.

Andrea successfully completed treatment, but Swift revealed in March in her "30 Things I Learned Before Turning 30" essay for Elle that the cancer had returned. And, she shared for the first time that her dad had battled cancer as well.

"Both of my parents have had cancer, and my mom is now fighting her battle with it again," she wrote. "It's taught me that there are real problems and then there's everything else. My mom's cancer is a real problem. I used to be so anxious about daily ups and downs. I give all of my worry, stress, and prayers to real problems now."

Still, the now almost 30-year-old artist—winner of 10 Grammys, seller of millions of albums—won't go into too much detail when it comes to her parents' personal lives.

"There was a relapse that happened," Swift told Vogue for its 2019 September issue when asked about her mom's health. "It's something that my family is going through."

And that's a whole other kind of love story.

E! News

[megamikethomson]

Australia vs India Boxing Day Test: Five things we learned

Here are five things we learned from day four of the Boxing Day Test.

Every Test, ODI, T20I, and BBL match live. SIGN UP NOW!

MATCH CENTRE: Live scoreboard, video highlights Upcoming MatchesBrought to you by bet365Cummins' half-century

Cummins' half-century 1:00

PAT CUMMINS IS AN ALL-ROUNDER...

or somewhere pretty close to anyway. He’s the only Australian to raise the bat all Test for starters, and the only one to face 100 balls in the second innings.

He’s also averaging more than 23 with the bat this series, and has faced more than 390 balls. Only Travis Head, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine and Usman Khawaja have faced more.

Australia’s designated all-rounder, Mitch Marsh, averages just over 25 in Test cricket to place Cummins’ series into context.

He brought up just his second-ever half-century late on day four when all designated batsmen crumbled. Cummins’ resistance assured the Australians would see a day five, when they will pray for rain to save them from defeat.

His performances with the bat left Australia legends Allan Border and Michael Hussey endorsing a promotion up the order for Cummins.

“I’m just wondering is he good enough to bat at No.7 for Australia and push Tim Paine up to No.6 and you can bring another bowler in or batsman in,” Border said. “He’s certainly improving all the time with the bat in hand.

“In the current climate, the way things are going for Australia, I think he could do the job at No.7.”

Meanwhile, Hussey lauded Cummins’ technique as the quick exhibited expert drives through the covers and back down the ground against the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

“He’s got an excellent technique Pat Cummins. He’s an all-rounder in my books,” Hussey said.

“He plays very good cricket shots. He’s also smart with the way he plays as well. Choosing his time when to go hard and when to just to try and take the single.”

READ MORE

NEGATIVE TACTICS: Australia hit with obscure law breach

WAUGH: Australia’s top six is the best we’ve got to offer

‘CAN YOU BABYSIT?’ Paine taunts Pant with hilarious sledge AUS v IND: Day 4 wrap

AUS v IND: Day 4 wrap 3:13

NO HIDING FROM BATTING WOES

There’s no knowing how deep the batting woes of the Australian top order run.

But they go deep. And it doesn’t look like they have reached the bottom yet either.

No player to feature in Australia’s top seven against India is averaging more than 40 this series. In fact, Travis Head is the only player from the group to average more than 30 (36.16).

That leaves Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Mitchell Marsh and Peter Handscomb with series averages that make for grim reading.

Finch has the lowest (16.16) out of those who have played in at least two Tests. He may soon be at the end of the line – or at least dropped down the order - due to his consistent struggles and technical deficiencies when facing the swinging new ball.

His opening partner Harris has shown slightly more promise in his debut series, but still lost his wicket in the twenties four times in six innings.

Then there are whipping boys Shaun and Mitch Marsh who have failed to silence their doubters with another poor series. There’s no knowing how deep the batting woes of the Australian top order run, but they go deep.There’s no knowing how deep the batting woes of the Australian top order run, but they go deep.Source: AP

Mitch was only called up for the Boxing Day Test in which he made scores of nine and ten. His older brother Shaun – usually considered to be brilliant or woeful with no in between – was, in fact, somewhere in the middle.

He averaged 29.16 which included middle-of-the-road scores of 60, 45, 19 and 44.

But attempting to find replacements for any of these misfiring batsmen could be a pointless task. With the Big Bash League starting earlier this month, no player is involved in red-ball cricket apart from those in the Test squad.

“That’s the problem with the scheduling. That’s why it’s silly,” Shane Warne said on Fox Cricket.

If you’re dropping some of these guys you’re picking another one that is averaging 35.”

Fox Cricket’s Kerry O’Keeffe echoed his sentiments, saying: “The Australian selectors are caught in dead water.

“All the alternatives are out of form and don’t have a case demanding to get into the team.” Travis Head continues to tease Australian fans with his expansive stroke play and promising starts which he is continuously failing to convert.Travis Head continues to tease Australian fans with his expansive stroke play and promising starts which he is continuously failing to convert.Source: AAP

HEAD STILL NOT LIVING UP TO POTENTIAL

Head continues to tease Australian fans with his expansive stroke play and promising starts which he is continuously failing to convert.

The South Australian is now five matches into his Test career and – in the current climate – is a lock in the middle-order. He’s now scored 339 runs at 33.90 including three half-centuries.

But he continues to frustrate the Australian public by losing his wicket just as he looks settled and poised for a big score.

Part of the frustration falling on Head’s lap has been deflected from those above him in the order who have more serious cases to answer. In fact, Head is the only player in the Australian top six to average more than 29 over the past three Tests.

0:390:55

However, in ten Test innings, Head has lost his wicket between 30-80 runs five times.

Poor footwork and/or shot selection has most often brought about his sudden demise – and it’s something former Test batsman Ed Cowan is sick of.

“That’s the fourth time in four innings he has not moved his feet in any direction towards the bounce of the ball,” he said on ABC Grandstand after he was bowled by Ishant Sharma for 34.

“He played so well with skill and patience but then out of nowhere - a mental error.”

It’s become a recurring theme for Head who will need to rectify the issue to keep his spot once Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are available for selection.

Agarwal takes another jaffer

CONSISTENT PANT HOLDS AUSTRALIA AT BAY

Since the Test retirement of legend MS Dhoni, India have churned through wicketkeepers in order to find the perfect match.

But Rishabh Pant continues to elevate his name as the likely long term option, thanks to his consistent start in Australia after just eight Test matches in his career.

The left hand batsman smashed his way into the spotlight with 684 runs at 162.7 strike rate in the Indian Premier League this year for the Delhi Daredevils.

But his hard hitting approach hasn’t changed over the Australian summer, lifting the ball regularly over the infield and compiling boundaries.

In fact, so much so the Australians have regularly thrown their field back as soon as he arrives at the crease in order to stop the flow of boundaries.

At one stage on Saturday morning, the Aussies had six players gracing the boundary as Pant looked to move India closer to a declaration target.

He has been a consistent scorer between 25 and 39 throughout the series against Australia, peeling off scores of 25, 28, 36, 30, 39 and 33 this summer, claiming the record for the most consecutive scores from between 25 & 39 (embed Tweet).

The aggressive batsman is fearless in his approach and if he gets on top of a side, he won’t be far off raising the bat inside a session – which could come as soon as Sydney.

"The worst possible start"

SPINNER TIES AUSTRALIA DOWN WITH ACCURACY

With first choice Indian spinner Ravi Ashwin out of action through injury, it was left to left arm spinner Ravi Jadeja to pick up the pieces.

After having not recovered in time from an injection for Perth, Jadeja’s inclusion and performance in Melbourne leaves India with a huge question mark heading into Sydney.

The tweaker worked hard from the Great Southern Stand End at the MCG, bowling 32 overs for the innings as India held Australia to 8-258 at stumps.

He was at his damaging best before Tea able to make the most of the rough patches that had begun to appear outside both the left and right handers’ off stumps.

Jadeja got the hard ball to spin out of the rough in just the 10th over of the innings to dismiss opener Marcus Harris, before a slight change of pace deceived Mitch Marsh on the stroke of Tea.

In somewhat tempting Marsh, Jadeja flighted two balls up in a row and Marsh couldn’t resist, chipping the 30-year-old to captain Virat Kohli at cover.

After a short period of rest, Jadeja returned just before the final drinks break and his movement over the wicket led to the dismissal of Australian captain Tim Paine, breaking the dam wall as India begun to charge towards a 2-1 lead in the series.

The clever and cunning bowler finished with two wickets for the day

[dennismumba]

Aquaman Review

Aquaman is a big movie. It has a 143 minute runtime, a 200 million dollar budget, a near 90 person cast, an over 1,000 person crew, and a box office gross currently marching towards 300 million worldwide a week before its home debut. It’s the sixth movie in the DC Extended Universe and the first to emerge from the ashes of 2017's Justice League.

 In fact, I think big is a lacking descriptor. Aquaman--both as a singular film and as an installment within a universe and genre that generates billions in revenue--is monolithic. As such, its analysis requires structure. To that end, this review will be split into the three composites I feel are most vital for cinematic enjoyment: plot, character, and spectacle. My thoughts on the larger context of the film and my wayward observations will be reserved for the closing. This review is spoiler free. Let's dive in... I feel that's the most restrained, water-related pun I can offer.

 PLOT

 'Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to conquer the remaining oceanic people -- and then the surface world. Standing in his way is Aquaman, Orm's half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep'

 This is the official synopsis for Aquaman. The narrative presented within the movie’s runtime does so little to transcend that synopsis that I feel it pointless to describe the plot any further. Aquaman is utterly predictable. This movie will not surprise you at any point.

 To be clear, that in itself isn’t a bad thing. Predictability works extremely well when the foreseen story beats and moments are earned by the time they arrive. We all knew Simba would go back to the Pride Lands and face Scar, but Lion King did such a good job of earning that moment that by the time the prince faces down his uncle beneath a sky of storm clouds, you're so invested in every frame of animation that it doesn't matter that you saw it coming. If anything, it simply reinforces the narrative’s internal logic, making for a stronger experience.  

 Aquaman doesn't earn its moments. As we journey with Arthur Curry from land to sea—from politics to romance, from failure to triumph--everything plays out at a distance. I didn't fear for Arthur's life or well-being during the numerous battle sequences. I didn't buy his love story which dared to imply Jason Momoa and Amber Heard had romantic chemistry. I didn't care for his angst or repressed rage. It all just happened and I simply witnessed it. A movie's plot is meant to carry the viewer through an emotional voyage and Aquaman left me standing still.

 To its credit, however, it wasn’t boring. Perhaps foreseeing a lack of audience investment in the story’s machinations, the filmmakers ensured no matter where you are in the movie, you're never far from a burst of action and/or CGI splendour. Given boredom was my main concern walking into the cinema, I was glad about that.

  CHARACTER

 Jason Momoa's first proper portrayal of the Aquaman character was in Justice League, and in a movie of many calamities, he was one of them. His character was nonsensical, drifting between wannabe lone wolf and moronic dudebro without rhyme or reason. His dialogue was gutter trash and Momoa's delivery did nothing to elevate it. I like Jason Momoa--problematic elements and all--and I feel he’s done decent work in the past, but heading into this movie I was unsure what to expect. What I got was the lone wolf/dudebro act distilled down to its most, shall we say, useful components. He broods, but he also goes ‘woohoo’ when he jumps out of an airplane without a parachute. He’s gripped with near ungovernable anger, but he also makes pee jokes.

 And you know what? It works. This isn't the stoic, empathetic gravity Chris Evans brought to Captain America or the endless charisma Robert Downey Jr. afforded Iron Man, but it is effective and believable character work. Watching the movie, I was convinced that if Momoa were ever stricken with superpowers, he’d be Arthur Curry. His physicality translates into genuine weight on screen and his delivery is natural. He actually made me laugh, which is a feat considering how butchered the vast majority of the comedy in this movie is.

Supporting Momoa is a cadre of capable actors: Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman, Michael Beach, Temuera Morrison. All of them turn in barely serviceable performances which, considering their skill, is shocking. It felt like watching good actors doing a table read. Surprisingly, the standout cast member for me is Dolph Lundgren. He gives a very fine performance as old and battle-hardened King Nereus. As someone who grew up in the era of the trashy, disposable action movies of the 90s, I really enjoyed it.

Side Note: The character of Black Manta and everything surrounding him is fucking stupid. We’re talking grand, fucking stupidity here. He is trash, his backstory is trash, his motivation is trash, and everything adjacent to him is trash. I'd expound further, but I watched the movie two days ago and the rage is still great in me. Fuck Black Manta.

  SPECTACLE

This is the jewel of this movie. If director James Wan poured his all into anything, it was the visuals. This movie is stunning. It has genuine grandeur in its presentation. Atlantis is realised as a glowing, neon metropolis under the sea. Its aesthetic is equal parts fantasy and science fiction with inspiration traceable to Star Wars, Lord of The Ring, and Avatar. I can see some finding it overstuffed, but I found it enchanting. And it's brightly lit, which feels like a stark rebuke of the dim, shadowy, unfocused lighting of previous DCEU offerings.

 This emphasis on radiance bleeds into the action sequences. They’re staged with scope and clarity in mind. The camera works to ensure you’re never lost for perspective as the bodies and energy beams fly. It is so refreshing. I never thought the best action movie of the DCEU would be done by someone other than Zack Snyder, but James Wan delivered a confident and energetic spectacle of a movie.

 The CGI deserves particular note as well. Everything is so well rendered that I wonder how BvS and Justice League could be more expensive movies when they feel so much weaker in how they're visuals are realised. This is a movie I want to own and re-watch for the effects alone. There's a scene early on where Patrick Wilson’s Orm and Dolph Lundgren's Nereus meet with Orm riding some kind of shark/crocodile hybrid and Nereus on a giant seahorse. It's badass in a way it had no right to be.

  CLOSING

 Aquaman is a big movie and it is an okay movie. It excels in nothing, but its failures are also inoffensive. Well, Black Manta is offensive in how shit he is, but his screen time means he's not a deal breaker, at least for me. It's fine. It lacks the vaulting ambition to suffer a great fall and it has enough competence in all departments to not unravel at the seams. For the DCEU, it represents a new start in the post Justice League era. It shows a willingness to forego the heavy-handed mythologizing and weightless symbolism that plagued earlier movies in favour of just making movies about these ridiculous characters and leaving it at that. As an action movie, it's a fun time. You'll enjoy your popcorn.

 But there's something else I found compelling about the movie. A great deal is made of Arthur Curry's parentage. He is referred to as a half breed and a mongrel several times by the people of Atlantis. Being half Atlantean and half human, he is seen as tainted. This takes on greater meaning when you consider that Jason Momoa, a man born of a native Hawaiian father and a Germanic, Irish, and Native American mother, plays this character. A character who for decades has been drawn in the comics as a blond and blue eyed white man. Momoa's actual heritage is incorporated into this version of Authur Curry by way of the tattoos that adorn the character’s upper body. These tattoos take design and influence from Momoa's real life tattoos, chief among them the rows of triangles on his left forearm that he's described as his aumakua, his Hawaiian family’s crest.

 Jason Momoa performed a Haka--a Māori war dance--at the movie’s blue carpet premier and added mannerisms of that dance into his own screen performance. The movie’s box office tracking all but confirms that going forward, in the greater pop culture consciousness, Aquaman will no longer be known as a white person. He’ll be known as a person of colour. This fact didn't increase the movie’s quality, but it made for a much more welcoming movie.

 I give Aquaman a 2.5 out of 5. 3, if you take a bathroom break during all the scenes were Black Manta doesn’t have his dumb, laser shooting helmet on.

[carinbouton290-blog]

Summertime Images. Pexels. Free Stock Photos

The summer season is a good time to enjoy your backyard. The Overwatch Summer seasons Games 2017 begins today, August 8. Jenni Fagan's blistering debut The Panopticon was my story of 2013 and also her subsequent, The Sunlight Pilgrims (Heinemann), concerning a neighborhood in a Scottish campers park throughout a freak winter season, is what I'll read throughout time off in Orkney, an appropriate setting. Summertime, who participates in Hickory Ridge Secondary school in Harrisburg, North Carolina, was being in the school snack bar recently when the school major asked her to put a coat on over her tee shirt. The suitable age for children checking out Moar-Gut would certainly be 3-12, yet tasks suit children of every ages - even infants could be wheeled along in buggies by the pleasant staff - and children are complimentary to dip in and out of the crèche. This year, there's an entire program committed to literary arts and also debating as well as it will include activities as well as occasions with wise organisations such as The Institution of Life and also Guerilla Science joining authors and thinkers such as George Monbiot The music schedule, including London Grammar, is strong, as well. One of the most noteworthy weather of the summer season was the extended heatwave in the middle of July, when temperature levels consistently passed 30C (86F). Include fluid or granular chlorine to the water - in other words, "shock" it with "6 times" the weekly maintenance dose of chlorine your swimming pool needs to extremely chlorinate. Time could be spent doing activities that the academic year's framework doesn't enable, such as reading books, imagining, visiting local websites, hanging around a beach, playing with friends as well as dining with family. The Design and also Design fellows program has been a summer program, where trainees are put in internship-like roles at portfolio companies for three months each time. Most of our summertime programs happen at our university in the lively Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The historic sizzler saw the mercury struck 30C (86F) for 16 days in a row at London's Heathrow, while in July that year thermostats topped 32.2 C (90F) for 15 days. I suppose you spend half your days in those timbers in summer season. They're participants in a weeklong summertime camp of types for adults concentrated on exactly how mathematics and technology can be used making electoral maps a lot more fair, and also to encourage judges and juries when they're not. Netflix has produced programs with talk program hosts It's brought beloved programs as well as people out of retired life As well as currently, with the other day's statement that David Letterman would be creating a longform meeting collection for the streaming platform, Netflix has managed to do both at the same time. They function extra hours throughout the academic year so they could invest the summer seasons with their kids. No have to wait on Abby Bernstein, or your digital copy of Fantasy Camp - it will arrive this summertime in time for a certain show to return on a particular streaming solution. Throughout the cozy days of summertime, Christmas is usually the farthest thing from the majority of people's minds. The initial thing that pertains to any person's mind as summer season hits is leaving the warmth and right into some nice, trendy water, and also swimming is great workout for expanding kids. The ultra-luxe Marbella Club beachside hotel has an excellent, trendy, Scandi-style, Minimec-designed kids' club with its very own shallows pool, captivated forest backyard as well as yoga exercise studio, plus a remarkable array of activities including flamenco dancing and cookery courses. In Finnish Lapland a single summertime day lasts for over two months. A seven-night, complete remain at The Ravenala Mindset (read the full testimonial ), with kids' club and also cooking courses, expenses from ₤ 6,086 based on two grownups and 2 kids aged two to 11 in a household collection, with flights from Gatwick on Might 27. Trips leave daily at 9am in the summer season, heading right into open water for a 2- or three-hour cruise. Tyre manufacturing firms are now producing tyres particular to the season like you have summer tyres, winter months tyres and all-weather tires. If you have any queries relating to in which and how to use http://Zelenifennel.info/, you can speak to us at the web-page. The graphic listed below programs just what the weather condition could be like throughout summer season showing the wettest, warmest, sunniest, driest and coldest summertimes on document. The Hot Summer Days development consists of 21 new summer-themed Battle Cards as well as 54 enjoyable and also playful obstacles on 18 Compensate Cards. BRITAIN is weeks far from a flaming 100F hot summertime with tropical heatwaves driven by Spanish Pluming" forecast with to fall. It was Wednesday night of the first week, when any individual interested could concern a boardroom to brainstorm ideas for a new business product called Challenges." Forty fantastic people between the ages of 14 as well as 70-something, and also me, were all dealt with by Wolfram as equivalent contributors. Absolutely nothing wrong with that - so long as you bear in mind that these charming baby pets will grow up and also endure many more Easter holidays, needing treatment - space, food, and also time. It would not be the holiday without a one-two Jennifer Lawrence punch-- first in an Appetite Games movie, and after that, for the third time in four years, in a David Russell-helmed Oscar grab.

[ryefieldinvestments]

The must reads of the life-10 best books

Books are called as man’s best friend for some reason. They pour emotions, information, knowledge, experiences and what not that too without asking anything in return. Here you can find anything. Books can guide you; they can teach as well as be there for you when you need them. They are not living beings but they do have loads of stories and experiences to share, which can make you, feel connected.

Here is the list of some of those amazing reads which you should have in the top shelf of your library and read at least once. They are not asking anything in return, just your dedication of reading and enjoying it.

1.      The revolution of Marina M. by Janet Fitch: Janet Fitch is a wonderful writer since a very long time. The revolution of marina m. is a sweeping historical based novel. The main character of the novel is Marina Makarova. She joined the marches for the rights of the workers and worked hard to get their rights. She lived the life with loads of constraints. However, she fall in love with a poet during the course and then the story takes a new turn. A lot of things happened after that and the writer describes each thing in a beautiful and wonderful manner.

2.      A Sel-fie as big as the Ritz by Lara Williams: A Selfie as big as the Ritz is the debut novel of the writer. It is a bold novel in which a girl struggles to say good things about her best friend’s abortion. She lives a lonely life which is full of struggle. However after some time she fall in love with a guy and start living together with a family. The situations and circumstances changes abruptly. It is a strong novel which describes the twenties and middle time difference and very beautifully scripted by the writer.

3.      Where the past begins by Amy tan: Amy tan has many vivid stories from her childhood in California which are quiet interesting to listen. When she was just fifteen years old, she lost her elder brother and her father. The story is not related to her imagination, it is too real. She has written the reality in her own amazing manner. She had also written some of its past sequences in the same story line which are beautifully described by her.

4.      Her body and other parties by Carmen Maria Machado: It is a fictional novel which has been shortlisted for national fictional book award. The writer has this amazing power to be inventive which has brought the book to such heights of success. It is a love letter to an obstinate genre. A must read and a must book to buy for all those who love a good fiction book to read.

5.      The power by Naomi alderman: It is a science fictional novel. The story is about women who have an ability to become powerful and to become the best dominating female in the society by using a scientific tool. The power is a feminist work by the writer that enrages, terrifies, illuminates and encourages everyone who reads it. It throws a different light on the will power of women.

6.      Dogs at the perimeter by Madeliene Thien: This book was originally published on 3rd May 2011 but became famous very recently. The main character of the story is Janie and the whole story revolves around her in one or the other manner. She is a medical researcher in Montreal. The writer tells the fragmented childhood story of Jaine and how she gets separated with her husband and her son under some unfavorable circumstances. This novel is very elegant and clear. It is a work of fiction but a very engaging novel.

7.      The six- The lives of the Mitford sisters by Laura Thompson: It is a non fictional book published on 30th September 2015. The story is about a family which gets apart from each other after world war and their story of survival. The six sisters or say children of the family have been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. But after separation with each other, all the family members face many unfavorable circumstances. The writer describes the life of those six sisters in a very amazing manner.

8.      Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan: The novel is the recent one from this year only, published on 3rd October 2017. This is a story in which several people struggles in their lives but at one point they come together and joined their hands. The novel looks like as there are many stories at one place, however it is a single story with several drawing ends. Jennifer Egan is a prize winning writer and this is the fifth novel of her. It is a fictional historical novel during the time of World War II.

9.      The origin of others by Toni Morrison: Toni Morrison is an excellent and legendry writer. The writer has picked up a question which is ruining the lives of today’s people.  As each person want to be win the race whether it is just a race or their own life. The writer tells us that we are the one who gives the origin of others. We always think about the competition and race. The writer questions beautifully about why the existence of other people at the same place afraid us. Why we wish to compete and stay ahead of everyone.

10.  A loving, faithful animal by Josephine Rowe: A loving, faithful animal is a debut novel by Josephine Rowe. It is a story of a family which searches about what they have lost during war. The book has deep meaning with the inheritance of damage. It is very inspirational story to everyone who is still finding things from their past. Everything you lose doesn’t need to be materialistic only, sometimes it includes feelings, emotions and a lot of other intangible things.

[cuckoomagazine]

Five Eclectic Reads for your Summer Holiday

by Justine McGrath

Deciding what to read on your summer break can be as fraught with decision-making tension as deciding what clothes to bring.  At least it is for those of us who love to read! To take the hassle out of one decision making process, I have put together a list of five books which cover a variety of genres, and any one of which should provide the perfect read for your summer break.

1. Love in Row 27 by Eithne Shortall

image via TheCraftyLass

When Marian Keyes describes a book as "Fresh, fun and very charming. I really loved it," you can be sure it is worth a look.  This debut novel has garnered plenty of positive attention since its recent release. The story is based on Cora Hendricks who works at an Air Lingus check in desk at Heathrow. To liven up her own dull love life, she begins to play match maker with the passengers who she is checking on to flights. Row 27 becomes her laboratory of love, and as she helps others, her own love life might just be about to take off! 

Shortall said in an interview with The Irish Times: "I wanted to write a story that was fun and smart and heart-warming." By all accounts she has succeeded. If your favourite genre is romance, look no further! 

2. The Blood Miracles by Lisa McInerney

image via hot press

For something completely different and altogether grittier, this novel is the follow up to the hugely successful The Glorious Heresies which won the Baileys Prize for Fiction last year. Although it may be a help to read it before reading this one, either way, you are onto a winner. The Glorious Heresies was the best novel I read last year. 

The Blood Miracles focuses on the character of the troubled teen Ryan. Told from Ryan's point of view, this is a dark gritty novel about the path not chosen, the consequences of choices made, and the resulting chaos that ensues. 

McInerney writes viscerally and evocatively about her beloved city of Cork and its inhabitants, who we root for despite their numerous and ever-increasing flaws and weaknesses. If you want a novel to really get your teeth into, a gritty, dark, yet at times blackly comic novel, I say this is a must-read novel. It is superb.

3. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

image via google books

If you prefer some intellectual stimulation while relaxing on the beach, then this little book will answer that need.  An unexpected best seller on its release in 2014, Rovelli has brought Physics to the masses.  At only 78 pages long this is a short alternative take on the world of the cosmos, consciousness and quantum mechanics, to name a few of the topics covered. The lessons began as a series of articles in an Italian newspaper, but their poetry and the manner in which they were written was easy to digest, and found a willing audience which led to the book. If you wished you hadn't slept through your physics lessons at school and have an interest in the workings of the universe, then this little book may enlighten you.  

4. A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston

image via google books

For those who don't read much, sometimes a biography is the closest they will come to picking up a book. The choice is endless.  Having listened to Bryan Cranston being interviewed about this book on a podcast, I was immediately hooked. Intelligent, charismatic, and if you have seen Breaking Bad, a superb actor. This book is well worth a look. This autobiography is insightful, riveting and gives the reader a deep understanding of both the man and his complex life and career. Bryan Cranston is a hard-working actor who is not afraid to share not just his successes, but his failures, and explain how he learnt from them. It turns out he is not just a brilliant actor, but a great writer too. An excellent read.

5.The Virgin's Lover by Phillippa Gregory

Historical fiction has become increasingly popular during the last decade.  For a riveting read you need look no further than the queen of the genre - Phillippa Gregory. Her latest novel is about the relationship between a young Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley. It is the latest in her series of Tudor and Platagenet novels. 

The year is 1558. It is a dangerous time for the young queen, with the country in a perilous state. Elizabeth I is advised to marry to secure her kingdom, but the headstrong young queen answers to no-one. As she strings along a series of suitors, the intrigue in court and the affairs of state become ever more precarious. Gregory writes flawlessly about Tudor England. For those who love to lose themselves in an entirely different era, this promises several happy hours of escapism.

[aion-rsa]

How All in the Family Changed the TV Landscape

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

All in the Family is roundly considered a touchstone for television achievement now, but when it debuted 50 years ago, even the network carrying it hoped it would fizzle quickly and unnoticed. CBS put an army of operators at phone lines expecting a barrage of complaints from offended middle Americans demanding its cancellation. Those calls didn’t come. What came was a deluge of support from people hoping this mid-season replacement was a permanent addition to the network’s lineup. The premiere episode contained a considerable list of “television firsts.” One of these rarities continues to remain scarce on network TV: creator Norman Lear trusted the intelligence of the viewing audience. To celebrate All in the Family’s 50th anniversary, we look back at its journey from conception to broadcast, and how it continues to influence and inform entertainment and society today.

Actor Carroll O’Connor, who was a large part of the creative process of the series, consistently maintains he took the now-iconic role of Archie Bunker because All in the Family was a satire, not a sitcom. It was funny, but it wasn’t a lampoon. It was grounded in the most serious of realities, more than the generation gap which it openly showcased, but in the schism between progressive and conservative thinking. The divide goes beyond party, and is not delineated by age, wealth, or even class. The Bunkers were working class. The middle-aged bigot chomping on the cigar was played by an outspoken liberal who took the art of acting very seriously. The audience cared deeply, and laughed loudly, because they were never pandered to. They were as respected as the authenticity of the series characters’ parodies.

Even the laughs were genuine. All in the Family was the first major American series to be videotaped in front of a live audience. There was never a canned laugh added, even in the last season when reactions were captured by an audience viewing pre-taped episodes. Up to this time, sitcoms were taped without audiences in single-camera format and the laugh track was added later. Mary Tyler Moore shot live on film, but videotape helped give All in the Family the look of early live television, like the original live broadcasts of The Honeymooners. Lear wanted to shoot the series in black and white, the same as the British series, Till Death Us Do Part, it was based on. He settled for keeping the soundstage neutral, implying the sepia tones of an old family photograph album. The Astoria, Queens, row house living room was supposed to look comfortable but worn, old-fashioned and retrograde, mirroring Archie’s attitudes: A displaced white hourly wage earner left behind by the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s.

“I think they invented good weather around 1940.”

American sitcoms began shortly after World War II, and primarily focused on the upper-middle class white families of Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. I Love Lucy’s Ricky Ricardo, played by Cuban-American Desi Arnaz, ran a successful nightclub. The Honeymooners was a standout because Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Kramden was a bus driver from Bensonhurst (the actual address on that show, 328 Chauncey Street, is in the Bedford–Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn). American TV had little use for the working class until the 1970s. They’d only paid frightened lip service to the fights for civil rights and the women’s liberation movements, and when the postwar economy had to be divided to meet with more equalized opportunities there was no one to break it down in easy terms. The charitable and likable Flying Nun didn’t have the answer hidden under her cornette. It wasn’t even on the docket in Nancy, a 1970 sitcom about a first daughter. The first working family on TV competing in the new job market was the Bunkers, and they had something to say about the new competition.

Social commentary wasn’t new on television. Shows like The Twilight Zone and Star Trek routinely explored contemporary issues, including racism, corporate greed, and the military action in Vietnam, through the lens of fantasy and science fiction. The war and other unrest were coming into the people’s living rooms every night on the evening news. The times they were a-changing, but television answered to sponsors who feared offending consumers. 

Ah, but British TV, that’s where the action was. Lear read about a show called Till Death Us Do Part, a BBC1 television sitcom that aired from 1965 to 1975. Created by Johnny Speight, the show set its sights on a working-class East End family, spoofing the relationship between reactionary white head of the house Alf Garnett (Warren Mitchell), his wife Else (Dandy Nichols), daughter Rita (Una Stubbs), and her husband Mike Rawlins (Anthony Booth), a socialist from Liverpool. Lear recognized the relationship he had with his own father between the lines.

CBS wanted to buy the rights to the British show as a star vehicle for Gleason, Lear beat out CBS for the rights and personalized it. One of the reasons All in the Family works so well is because Lear wasn’t just putting a representative American family on the screen, he was putting his own family up there.

“If It’s Too Hot in The Kitchen, Stay Away from The Cook.”

Archie Bunker dubbed his son-in-law, Michael Stivic, played by Rob Reiner, a “Meathead, dead from the neck up.” This was the same dubious endearment Lear’s father Herman called him. The same man who routinely commanded Lear’s mother to “stifle herself.” Lear’s mother accused her husband, a “rascal” who was sent to jail for selling fake bonds of being “the laziest white man I ever saw,” according to his memoir Even This I Get to Experience  All three lines made it into all three of the pilots taped for All In the Family. When Lear’s father got out of prison after a three-year stretch, the young budding writer sat through constant, heated, family discussions. “I used to sit at the kitchen table and I would score their arguments,” Lear remembers in his memoir. “I would give her points for this, him points for that, as a way of coping with it.”

All in the Family, season 1, episode 1, provides an almost greatest hits package of these terse and tense exchanges, which also taught Lear not to back away from the fray. He served as a radio operator and gunner in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, earning an Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters after flying 52 combat missions, and being among the crew members featured in the books Crew Umbriag and 772nd Bomb Squadron: The Men, The Memories. Lear partnered with Ed Simmons to write sketches for Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin’s first five appearances on the Colgate Comedy Hour in 1950. They remained as the head writers for three years. They also wrote for The Ford Star Revue, The George Gobel Show, and the comedy team Rowan and Martin, who would later headline Laugh-In.

Lear went solo to write opening monologues for The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, and produce NBC’s sitcom The Martha Raye Show, before creating his first series in 1959, the western The Deputy, which starred Henry Fonda. To get Frank Sinatra to read Lear’s screenplay for the 1963 film Come Blow Your Horn, Lear went on a protracted aerial assault. Over the course of weeks, he had the script delivered while planes with banners flew over Sinatra’s home, or accompanied by a toy brass band or a gaggle of hens. Lear even assembled a “reading den” in Ol’ Blue Eyes’ driveway, complete with smoking jacket, an ashtray and a pipe, an easy chair, ottoman, lamp, and the Jackie Gleason Music to Read By album playing on a portable phonograph. After weeks of missed opportunities, Lear remembers Sinatra finally read the script and “bawled the shit out of me for not getting it to him sooner.”

The creative perseverance Lear showed just to get the right person for the right part is indicative of the lengths Lear would go for creative excellence. He would continue to fight for artistic integrity, transforming prime time comedy with shows like Good Times, One Day at a Time, and the first late-night soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. He brought legendary blue comedian Redd Foxx into homes with Sanford and Son, also based on a British sitcom, Steptoe and Son, which starred Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell, best known for playing Paul McCartney’s grand-dad in A Hard Day’s Night. But before he could do these, and the successful and progressive All in the Family spinoffs The Jeffersons and Maude, he had to face battles, big and small, over the reluctantly changing face of television.

“Patience is a Virgin”

After Lear beat CBS to the rights to adapt Till Death Us Do Part he offered the show to ABC. When it was being developed for the television studio, the family in the original pilot were named the Justices, and the series was titled “Justice for All,” according to a 1991 “All in the Family 20th Anniversary Special.” They considered future Happy Days dad Tom Bosley, and acclaimed character actor Jack Warden for the lead part, before offering the role to Mickey Rooney. According to Even This I Get to Experience, Lear’s pitch to the veteran actor got to the words “You play a bigot” before Rooney stopped him. “Norm, they’re going to kill you, shoot you dead in the streets,” the Hollywood icon warned, asking if Lear might have a series about a blind detective with a big dog somewhere in the works.

Taped in New York on Sept. 3, 1968, the first pilot starred O’Connor and Jean Stapleton as Archie and Edith Justice. Stapleton, a stage-trained character actor who first worked as a stock player in 1941, was a consistent supporting player for playwright Horton Foote. Stapleton originated the role of Mrs. Strakosh in the 1964 Broadway production of Funny Girl, which starred Barbra Streisand. Lear considered her after seeing her performance in Damn Yankees. She’d made guest appearances on TV series like Dr. Kildare and The Defenders.

O’Connor was born in Manhattan but grew up in Queens, the same borough as the Bunker household with the external living room window which wasn’t visible from the interior. O’Connor acted steadily in theaters in Dublin, Ireland, and New York until director Burgess Meredith, assisted by The Addams Family’s John Astin, cast him in the Broadway adaptation of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. O’Connor had roles in major motion pictures, including Lonely Are the Brave (1962), Cleopatra (1963), Point Blank (1967), The Devil’s Brigade (1968), Death of a Gunfighter (1969), Marlowe (1969), and Kelly’s Heroes (1970).  O’Connor appeared on television series like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Fugitive, The Wild Wild West, The Outer Limits, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, That Girl, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He’d guest starred as a villain in a season 1 episode of Mission Impossible, and was up for the parts the Skipper on Gilligan’s Island and Dr. Smith on Lost in Space.

The first pilot also starred Kelly Jean Peters as Gloria and Tim McIntire as her husband Richard. ABC liked it enough to fund a second pilot, “Those Were the Days,” which shot in Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 1969. Richard was played by Chip Oliver, and Gloria Justice was played by Candice Azzara, who would go on to play Rodney Dangerfield’s wife in Easy Money, and make numerous, memorable guest appearances on Barney Miller. D’Urville Martin played Lionel Jefferson in both pilots. ABC cancelled it after one episode, worried about a show with a foul-mouthed, bigoted character as the lead.

CBS, which was trying to veer away from rural shows like Mayberry R.F.D., The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres, bought the rights to the urban comedy and renamed it All in the Family. When Gleason’s contract to CBS ran out, Lear was allowed to keep O’Connor on as the main character.

Sally Struthers was one of the young actors featured in Five Easy Pieces, the 1970 counterculture classic starring Jack Nicholson. She’d also recently finished shooting a memorable part in the 1972 Steve McQueen hit The Getaway. Struthers had just been fired from The Tim Conway Comedy Hour because executives thought she made the show look cheap, which was her job. The premise of the show was it was so low-budget it could only afford one musician, who had to hum the theme song because they couldn’t afford an instrument, and one dancer, as opposed to a line of dancers like they had on The Jackie Gleason Show. Lear noticed her as a dancer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a counterculture variety show which Rob Reiner wrote for with Steve Martin as a writing partner. Reiner’s then-fiancée, the director Penny Marshall, was also up for the role of Gloria, but in an interview for The Television Academy, Reiner recalls that, while Marshall could pass as Stapleton’s daughter, Struthers was obviously the one who looked like Archie’s “little girl.”

Reiner, the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, was discovered in a guest acting role on the Andy Griffith vehicle series Headmaster, a show he wrote for, but had also played bit roles in Batman, The Andy Griffith Show, Room 222, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Beverly Hillbillies and The Odd Couple. Reportedly, Richard Dreyfuss campaigned for the role of Michael, and Harrison Ford turned it down. Mike Evans was cast as Lionel Jefferson, the Bunkers’ young Black next-door neighbor who sugar-coated nonviolent protests with subtle and subversive twists on “giving people what they want.”

“We’re just sweeping dirty dishes under the rug.”

The very first episode tackled multiple issues right away. It discussed atheism, with Michael and Gloria explaining they have found no evidence of god. The family dissects affirmative action, with Archie asserting everyone has an equal chance to advance if they “hustle for it like I done.” He says he didn’t have millions of people marching for him to get his job, like Black Americans. “His uncle got it for him,” Edith explains, with an off-the-cuff delivery exemplifying why Stapleton is one of the all-time great comic character actors. The family argues socialism, anti-Semitism, sausage links and sausage patties. The generation gap widens as Archie wonders why men’s hair is now down to there, while Gloria’s skirt got so high “all the mystery disappears” when she sits down.

All in the Family would continue to deal with taboo topics like the gay rights movement, divorce, breast cancer, and rape. Future episodes would question why presidential campaign funds are unequal, how tax breaks for corporations kill the middle class, and weigh the personal price of serving in an unpopular war as opposed to dodging the draft. When Archie goes to a female doctor for emergency surgery a few seasons in, All in the Family points out she is most certainly paid less than a male doctor. When skyjackings were a persistent domestic threat in the 1970s, Archie suggested airlines should “arm the passengers.” It is very prescient of the NRA’s suggestion of arming teachers to combat school shootings.

But the first showdown between Lear and the network was fought for the sexual revolution. The first episode’s action begins when Edith and Archie come home early from church and interrupt Michael and Gloria as they’re about to take advantage of having the house to themselves. Gloria’s got her legs wrapped around Michael as he is walking them toward the stairs, and the bed. “At 11:10 on a Sunday,” Archie wants to know as he makes himself known. According to Lear’s memoir, CBS President William Paley objected, saying the line suggested sex. “And the network wants that out even though they’re married–I mean, it was plain silly,” he writes. “My script could have lived without the line, but somehow I understood that if I give on that moment, I’m going to give on silly things forever. So, I had to have that showdown.”

The standoff continued until 25 minutes before air time. CBS broadcast the episode, but put a disclaimer before the opening credits rolled, which Reiner later described as saying “Nothing you’re about to see has anything that we want to have anything to do with. As far as we’re concerned, if you don’t watch the next half hour, it’s okay with us.” Lear knew, with what he was doing, this was going to be the first of many battles, because this was the first show of its kind. Television families didn’t even flush toilets, much less bring unmentionables to the table. “The biggest problem a family might face would have been that the roast was ruined when the boss was coming over to dinner,” Lear writes. “There were no women or their problems in American life on television. There were no health issues. There were no abortions. There were no economic problems. The worst thing that could happen was the roast would be ruined. I realized that was a giant statement — that we weren’t making any statements.”

“What I say ain’t got nothing to do with what I think.”

Politicians and pundits worried about how the series might affect racial relations. The country had experienced inner city riots, battle lines were drawn over school desegregation, busing children to schools was met with violent resistance. Did All In the Family undermine bigotry or reinforce racism? Were people laughing at Archie or with him? Was it okay to like Archie more than Mike?

Lear believed humor would be cathartic, eroding bigotry. Bigots found a relief valve. Lear always insisted Archie was a satirically exaggerated parody to make racism and sexism look foolish. Liberals protested the character came across as a “loveable bigot,” because satire only works if the audience is in on the joke. Bigoted viewers didn’t see the show as satire. They identified with Archie and saw nothing wrong with ethnic slurs. Mike and Gloria come off like preachy, bleeding-heart liberal, hippie leeches. Lionel handled Archie better than Michael did.

O’Connor humanized Archie as an old-fashioned guy trying to make sense of a rapidly changing world. Bunker gave bigotry a human face and, because he hated everyone, he was written off as an “equal-opportunity bigot.” Not quite a defensible title. Archie was the most liked character on the show, and the most disliked. Most people saw him as a likable loser, so identifiable he was able to change attitudes. In a 1972 interview, O’Connor explained white fans would “tell me, ‘Archie was my father; Archie was my uncle.’ It is always was, was, was. It’s not now. I have an impression that most white people are, in some halting way, trying to reach out, or they’re thinking about it.” It sometimes worked against O’Connor the activist, however. When he backed New York Mayor John Lindsay’s 1972 anti-war nomination for the Democratic presidential nomination, Archie Bunker’s shadow distanced progressives.

Archie was relatable beyond his bigotry. He spoke to the anxieties of working- and middle-class families. Archie was a dock worker in the Corona section of Queens, who had to drive a cab as a second job, with little hope of upward mobility. He didn’t get political correctness. The character’s ideological quips were transformed into the bestselling paperback mock manifesto The Wit and Wisdom of Archie Bunker. White conservative viewers bought “Archie for President” buttons. 

“If you call me Cute one more time, I swear I’ll open a vein.”

As cannot be overstated, All in the Family set many precedents, both socially and artistically. The Bunker family is an icon on many levels, Archie and Edith’s chairs are at the Smithsonian. But Archie Bunker is also the Mother Courage of TV. The antithesis of the bland sitcom characters of the time, he also wasn’t the character we hated to love, or loved to hate. Archie was the first character we weren’t supposed to like, but couldn’t help it. This phenomenon continues. The next TV character to take on the iconic mantle was probably Louis De Palma on Taxi. Audiences should have wanted to take a lug wrench to his head, but Danny De Vito brought such a diverse range of rage and vulnerability to that part it was named TV Guide’s most beloved character for years.

We shouldn’t like Walter White, especially when he doffs that pretentious Heisenberg hat, on Breaking Bad. And let’s face it, Slipping Jimmy on Better Call Saul isn’t really the kind of guy you want to leave alone in your living room while you grab a drink. Families across the United States and abroad sat down to an Italian-style family dinner with Tony Soprano and The Sopranos every Sunday night. But on Monday mornings, most of us would have ducked him, especially if we owed him money. Even the advanced model of the Terminator guy was scared of Tony.

The best example of this is South Park’s Eric Cartman. While we don’t know who his father is on the series, he’s got Bunker DNA all over him. He’s even gotten into squabbles with Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner. This wasn’t lost on Lear, who contacted creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to say he loved the show in 2003. Lear wound up writing for South Park’s seventh season. “They invited me to a party and we’re partying,” Lear told USA Today at the time. “There’s no way to overstate the kick of being welcomed by this group.”

“I hate entertainment. Entertainment is a thing of the past, now we got television.”

Television can educate as much as it wants to entertain, and All in the Family taught the viewing audience a whole new vocabulary. The casual epithets thrown on the show were unheard of in broadcast programming, no matter how commonplace they might have been in the homes of the people watching. When Sammy Davis Jr. comes to Bunker house in the first season, every ethnic and racial slur ever thrown is exchanged. In another first season episode, and both the unaired pilots, Archie breaks down the curse word “Goddamn.” But a large segment of the more socially conservative, and religious, audience thought All in the Family said whatever they wanted just because they could get away with it.

All in the Family debuted to low viewership, but rose to be ranked number one in the Nielsen ratings for five years. The show undermined the perception of the homogeneous middle-class demographic allowing shows like M*A*S*H to comment on contemporary events.

All in the Family represented the changing American neighborhood. The show opened the door for the working poor to join situation comedies as much as when the Bunkers welcomed Lionel, Louise (Isabel Sanford), and George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) when they moved into Archie’s neighborhood. Lear reportedly was challenged by the Black Panther Party to expand the range of black characters on his shows. He took the challenge seriously and added subversive humor. Sanford and Son was set in a junkyard in Watts. Foxx’s Fred Sanford rebelled against the middle-class aspirations of his son, Lamont (Demond Wilson). Good Times was set in the projects of Chicago, and took on issues like street gangs, evictions and poor public schools.

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Married With Children, The Simpsons, and King of the Hill continued to explore the comic possibilities of working class drama. Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a successful, upwardly mobile television producer. Working-class women were represented on sitcoms like Alice, but didn’t have a central voice until 1988 when Roseanne debuted on ABC, and Roseanne Barr ushered in her brand of proletarian feminism. All in the Family’s legacy includes Black-ish, as creator Kenya Barris continues to mine serious and controversial subject matter for cathartic and educational laughter. Tim Allen covets the conservative crown, and is currently the Last Man Standing in for Archie. But as reality gets more exaggerated than any satire can capture, All in the Family remains and retains its most authentic achievement.

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