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thevalleyisjolly · 4 years ago

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Transpacific Stories Rec List!

Happy Lunar New Year! To celebrate, I thought I’d do a “Top 5″ rec list of creative works that I really enjoy by transpacific Asian creators.

1. diaspora babies by Kai Cheng Thom (poem)

This spoken word poem haunts me to this day. There’s a lot of immigrant (especially Chinese immigrant) emotions mixed up with queer experiences as a child of immigrants, and the vibes are truly just indescribable. It cannot be expressed, only felt, so link is to the 4 minute video with captions.

2. Yellow Peril: Queer Destiny by Love Intersections (documentary)

A documentary about Vancouver drag artist Maiden China, which also features lines from diaspora babies! It is all about that queer Chinese immigrant experience, discussing the nuances of both individually and together. What is it like to be a Chinese immigrant, or the child of Chinese immigrants, in a North American society? What is it like to be queer? What is it like where those two parts of you intersect?

I had the chance to meet one of the directors on this project and listen to his guest seminar, and the story behind this documentary and the production house came from an incident where some members of the local Chinese Canadian community launched a very public opposition to LGBTQ+ policies by the school board. The news media of course went into a frenzy over this, and the producers noticed how the story was framed as “the Chinese community is “traditional” to the point of homophobia” (which...yes, there was homophobia involved, but not because of an innate “traditional Chinese are all homophobic” quality).

The documentary creators wanted to unpack, explore, and challenge this, and also to assert that queer Chinese people exist, which is exactly what the documentary does. It showcases a variety of different relationships and interactions that queer Chinese people have - with their families, their immigrant communities, their heritage traditions, their broader Western society. It’s a really complex and nuanced discussion, and one of the best documentaries I’ve ever watched.

3. Disappearing Moon Cafe by SKY Lee (novel)

Oh, you thought I was done with the queer Chinese immigrant theme? Absolutely never. This is a landmark book in the history of Chinese Canadian publishing - it was the first novel by a Chinese Canadian author to ever be mass distributed by a publishing house (SKY Lee is a lesbian, so first queer Chinese Canadian author as well!) It follows the story of the Wong family across four generations, discussing themes such as settler colonialism and the roles and relationships that Chinese immigrants had and have with that, migration, family, and the nature of queerness in a non-Western context.

(I do have a whole essay talking about how understandings of queerness are frequently grounded in Western perspectives and how SKY Lee challenges and reframes non-heteronormativity in a uniquely Chinese immigrant context. But also, you will totally ship Kae and Hermia. You just will)

A deeply emotional, intense exploration of Chinese Canadian immigration, from its history to its experiences, good and bad and everything in between. Truly, this may be a fictional novel, but the research is so well done, and if not every detail is historically accurate, the emotional truth of it is. An excellent book that gives you so much food for thought.

4. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (novel)

One of the most intense books I’ve ever read, and am still thinking about years later. I can’t speak to the accuracy of the experiences it represents, but it is a book that will make your heart ache and long and wonder.

The premise: Ruth, a Japanese American novelist, discovers debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami washed up on the cost of British Columbia. One of these is a Hello Kitty lunchbox containing the diary of a girl named Nao. Nao is a Japanese American teenager whose family had to relocate back to Japan. She struggles with living in a foreign culture, family struggles and mental health issues, and severe bullying. However, she also meets her great grandmother, a Buddhist monk over a hundred years old who was an anarchist, feminist, and novelist in her youth. In documenting her great grandmother’s story in her diary, Nao comes to tell her own. The novel goes back and forth between Ruth translating the diary and wanting to learn more about Nao, and Nao’s story (and her great grandmother’s) as documented in the diary.

One of my favourite aspects of this book is the way it plays with perspective. What is a story? Who is telling it? How is a story created and changed by every person who touches it? What does it mean for a story to end? Fair warning, there are some very heavy topics dealt with in this book, including depression, suicide, attempted sexual assault, and grooming. It is a very good book, but please look after your own well-being first.

5. M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang (1988 play)

You know the opera, Madame Butterfly? The racist Orientalist story of the white American Navy officer who goes to Japan, marries a Japanese girl for convenience, abandons her and their child for an American wife, and then she kills herself because she’s so in love with him that she can’t bear it? Man, just typing that out pissed me off, and it sure pissed off David Henry Hwang too. So let me tell you what he did about it.

There was a historical incident where a French diplomat, Bernard Boursicot, was caught in a honeypot trap by the Chinese spy Shiu Pei Pu, who was a Chinese opera singer. For those who are unaware, Chinese opera singers are traditionally men. Boursicot was unaware of this. He had a decades long affair with Shiu Pei Pu, who identified themselves as female to him, and they eventually lived together as a family with a child. It wasn’t until Boursicot was caught smuggling documents and put on trial that he found out Shiu Pei Pu was AMAB.

M. Butterfly is a play based off of this story, with explorations of Orientalism and how Song Liling (the play’s Shiu Pei Pu) was able to exploit racist beliefs and tropes such as “yellow fever” to win the heart and confidence of René Gallimard (the play’s Boursicot). There’s a monologue in the original 1988 play (I’m not sure if it’s in the 2017 revision though) that Song delivers in the first few scenes of the play that explicitly addresses and tears apart the original Madame Butterfly story (which makes Song’s later use of it to seduce Gallimard all the more spicy - dude, they literally told you from the beginning why they hate the story, and you still believe that they want to be your docile little Butterfly?) The overall play is a fantastically clever deconstruction of truly so much Orientalism and really challenges how Westerners perceive and depict Asian (especially East Asian) people.

A note on gender in this story: When the play was first performed in 1988, Song Liling’s character is AMAB and largely identifies as a man, with the strong subtext that he enjoys presenting as feminine. Since 1988, Hwang has acknowledged that the gender reveal of the original play reinforces gender binaries, and has expressed the desire to revise his depiction of gender in the play to encompass genderfluid/GNC identities, which he did in the 2017 Broadway revival. I have not seen the new version of the play, in which Song identifies themselves as AFAB and male presenting to Gallimard, so I can’t judge how it was handled. I’ve heard that 2017 Song embraces a more explicitly genderfluid identity, but cannot confirm this. The 2017 revision is based off of new information revealed about the Boursicot case, including that Shiu Pei Pu initially introduced themselves to Boursicot as someone AFAB who was presenting as male.

#rec list #diaspora babies #yellow peril: queer destiny #disappearing moon cafe #a tale for the time being #m. butterfly #gee; would you be able to guess based off of this list that i am a queer chinese canadian? how could you possibly know?#happy lunar new year everyone!#long post

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dustedmagazine · 3 years ago

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Music for Films, Vol. II: Chick Habit

For good and for ill, Quentin Tarantino’s movies have been strongly associated with postmodern pop culture — particularly by folks whose reactions to the word “postmodern” tend toward pursed lips and school-marmishly wagged fingers. There for a while, reading David Denby on Tarantino was similar to reading Michiko Kakutani on Thomas Pynchon: almost always the same review, the same complaints about characters lacking “psychological depth,” the same handwringing over an ostensible moral insipidness. Truth be told, Tarantino’s pranksome delight with flashy surfaces and stylistic flourishes that are ends in themselves gives tentative credence to some of the caviling. Critics have raised related concerns over the superficiality of Tarantino’s tendency toward stunt casting, especially his resurrections of aging actors relegated to the film industry’s commercial margins: John Travolta, Pam Grier, Robert Forster, David Carradine, Darryl Hannah, Don Johnson and so on. There might be a measure of cynicism in the accompanying cinematic nudging and winking, but it’s also the case that a number of the performances have been terrific.

The writer-director brings a similar sensibility to his sound-tracking choices, demonstrating the cooler-than-thou, deep-catalog knowledge of an obsessive crate-digger. Tarantino thematized that knowledge in his break-through feature, Reservoir Dogs (1992). Throughout the film, the characters tune in to Steven Wright deadpanning as the deejay of “K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the Seventies”; like the characters, the viewer transforms into a listener, treated to such fare as the George Baker Selection’s “Little Green Bag” (1970) and Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut” (1971). As with the above-mentioned actors, Tarantino has sifted pop culture’s castoffs and detritus, unearthing songs and delivering experiences of renewed value — and thereby proving the keenness of his instincts and aesthetic wit. “Listen to (or look at) this!” he seems to say, with his cockeyed, faux-incredulous grin. “Can you believe you were just going to throw this out?” And mostly, it works. If the Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling” (1974) has become a sort of semi-ironized accompaniment to hipsterish good times, that resonance has a lot more to do with Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel and Co. cruising L.A. in a hulking American sedan than with the Disney Co.’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

In Death Proof (2007), Tarantino’s seventh film and unaccountably his least favorite, soundtrack and screen are both full to bursting with the flotsam and jetsam of “entertainment” conceived as an industry.

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In just the opening minutes, we see outmoded moviehouse announcements, complete with cigarette-burn cue dots; big posters of Brigitte Bardot from Les Bijoutiers du claire de lune (1958) and of Ralph Nelson’s Soldier Blue (1970) bedecking the apartment of Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier); the tee shirt worn by Shanna (Jordan Ladd), which bears the image of Tura Satana; and strutting under all of it are the brassy cadences of Jack Nitzsche’s “The Last Race,” taken from his soundtrack for the teensploitation flick Village of the Giants (1965). Bibs and bobs, bits and pieces of low- and middle-brow cinema are cut up and reconstructed into a fulsome swirl of signs. And there’s an unpleasant edge to it; the cuts are echoed by the action of the camera, which has been busily cleaving the bodies of the women on screen into fragments and parts. First the feet of Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito), propped up on a dashboard; then Julia, all ass and gams; then Arlene’s lower half again, chopped into slices by the stairs she dashes up (“I gotta take the world’s biggest fucking piss!”) and by the close-up that settles on her belly and pelvis, her hand shoved awkwardly into her crotch.

As often happens in Tarantino’s movies, furiously busy meta-discursive play collapses the images’ problematic content under multiple levels of reference and pastiche. The film is one half of Grindhouse (2007), Tarantino’s collaboration with his buddy Robert Rodriguez, an old-fashioned double-feature comprising the men’s love letters to the exploitation cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. In those thousands of movies — mondo, beach-cutie, nudie-cutie, women in prison, early slasher, rape-revenge, biker gang, chop-socky, Spaghetti Western and muscle-car-worship flicks (and we could add more subgenres to the list) — symbolic violence inflicted on women’s bodies was de rigueur, and frequently the principal draw. Tarantino shot Death Proof himself, so he is (more than usually) directly responsible for all the framing and focusing — and he’s far too canny a filmmaker not to know precisely what he’s doing with and to those bodies. The excessive, camera-mediated gashing and trimming is a knowing, perhaps deprecating nod to all that previous, gratuitous T&A. His sound-tracking choice of “The Last Race” metaphorically underscores the point: in Bert I. Gordon’s Village of the Giants, bikini-clad teens find and consume an experimental growth serum, which causes them to expand to massive proportions. Really big boobs, actual acres of ass. Get it?

Of course, all the implied japing and judging is deeply embedded in the film’s matrix of esoteric references and fleeting allusions. You’d have to be very well versed in the history of exploitation cinema to pick up on the indirect homage to Gordon’s goofy movie. But as in Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino doesn’t just gesture, he dramatizes, folding an authoritative geekdom into the action of Death Proof. In the set-up to Death Proof’s notorious car crash scene, Julia is on the phone, instructing one of her fellow deejays to play “Hold Tight!” (1966) by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. Don’t recognize the names? “For your information,” Julia snorts, Pete Townsend briefly considered abandoning the Who, and he thought about joining the now-obscure beat band, to make it “Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, Tich & Pete. And if you ask me, he should have.”

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It’s among the most gruesomely violent sequences in Tarantino’s films (which do not run short on graphic bloodshed), and Julia receives its most spectacular punishment. Those legs and that rump, upon which the camera has lavished so much attention, are torn apart. Her right leg flips, flies and slaps the pavement, a hunk of suddenly flaccid meat. Again, Tarantino proves himself an adept arranger of image, sign and significance. Want to accuse him of fetishizing Julia’s legs? He’ll materialize the move, reducing the limb to a manipulable fragment, and he’ll invest the moment with all of the intrinsic violence of the fetish. He’ll even do you one better — he’ll make that violence visible. Want to watch? You better buckle up and hold tight.

Hold on a second. “Hold Tight”? The soundtrack has passed over from intertextual in-joke to cruel punchline. It doesn’t help that the song is so much fun, and that it’s fun watching the girls groove along to it, just before Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) obliterates them, again and again and again. The awful insistence of the repetition is another set-up, establishing the film’s narrative logic: the repeated pattern and libidinal charge-and-release of Stuntman Mike’s vehicular predations. It is, indeed, “a sex thing,” as Sheriff Earl McGraw (Michael Parks) informs us in his cartoonish, redneck lawman’s drawl. Soon the sexually charged repetitions pile up: see Abernathy’s (Rosario Dawson) feet hanging out of Kim’s (Tracie Thom) 1972 Mustang, in a visual echo of Arlene’s, and of Julia’s. Then listen to Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) belt out some of Smith’s cover of “Baby It’s You” (1969), which we most recently heard 44 minutes before, as Julia danced ecstatically by the Texas Chili Bar’s jukebox. Then watch Abernathy as she sees Stuntman Mike’s tricked-out ’71 Nova, a vibrating hunk of metallic machismo — just like Arlene saw it, idling menacingly back in Austin, with another snatch of “Baby It’s You” wisping through that moment’s portent.

For a certain kind of viewer, the Nova’s low-slung, growling charms are hard to resist, as is the sleazy snarl of Willy DeVille’s “It’s So Easy” (1980; and we might note that Jack Nitzsche produced a couple of Mink DeVille’s early records, connecting another couple strands in the web) on the Nova’s car stereo. Those prospective pleasures raise the question of just who the film is for. That may seem obvious: the same folks — dudes, mostly — who find pleasure in exploitation movies like Vanishing Point (1971), Satan’s Sadists (1969) or The Big Doll House (1971). But there are a few other things to account for, like how Death Proof repeatedly passes the Bechdel Test, and how long those scenes of conversation among women go on, and on. Most notable is the eight-minute diner scene, a single take featuring Abernathy, Kim, Lee and Zoë (Zoë Bell, doing a cinematic rendition of her fabulous self, an instance of stunt casting that literalizes the “stunt” part). Among other things, the women discuss their careers in film, the merits of gun ownership and Kim and Zoë’s love of (you guessed it) car chase movies like Vanishing Point. One could read that as a liberatory move, a suggestion that cinema of all kinds is open to all comers. All that’s required is a willingness to watch. But watching the diner scene becomes increasing claustrophobic. The camera circles the women’s table incessantly, and on the periphery of the shot, sitting at the diner’s counter, is Stuntman Mike. The circling becomes predatory, the threat seems pervasive.

If you’ve seen the film, you know how that plays out: Zoë and Kim play “ship’s mast” on a white 1970 Dodge Challenger (the Vanishing Point car); Stuntman Mike shows up and terrorizes them mercilessly; but then Abernathy, Zoë and Kim chase him down and beat the living shit out of him, likely fatally. In another sharply conceived cinematic maneuver, Tarantino executes a climactic sequence that inverts the diner scene: the women surround Stuntman Mike, abject and pleading, and punch and kick him as he bounces from one of them to another. The camera zips from vantage to vantage within the circle, deliriously tracking the action. All the jump cuts intensify the violence, and they provide another contrast to the diner’s scene’s silky, unbroken shot. The sounds and the impact of the blows verge on slapstick, and our identification with the women makes it a giddily gross good time.

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So, an inversion seeks to undo repetition. Certainly, Stuntman Mike’s intent to repeat the car-crash-kill-thrill is undone, and predator becomes prey. But, as is inevitable with Tarantino’s cinema, there are complications, other echoes and patterns to suss out. For instance: as the women stride toward the wrecked Nova, while Stuntman Mike pathetically wails, the camera zooms in on their asses. Bad asses? Nice asses? What’s the right nomenclature? To make sure we can put the shot together with Julia’s first appearance in the film, Abernathy has hiked up her skirt, revealing a lot of leg. Repetition reasserts itself. In an exacerbating circumstance, Harvey Weinstein’s grubby fingerprints are smeared onto the film. Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios is credited with production of Grindhouse, but Dimension Films, a Weinstein Brothers company, handled distribution.

When the film cuts to its end titles, we hear April March’s “Chick Habit” (1995), with its spot-on lyric: “Hang up the chick habit / Hang it up, daddy / Or you’ll never get another fix.” And so on. Even here, where the girl-power vibe feels strongest (cue Abernathy burying a bootheel in Stuntman Mike’s face), there are echoes, patterns. Note how the striding bassline of “Chick Habit” strongly recalls the pulse beating through Nitzsche’s “The Last Race.” Note that March’s song is a cover, of “Laisse tomber les filles,” originally recorded by yé-yé girl France Gall. The song was penned by Serge Gainsbourg, pop provocateur and notorious womanizer. The two collaborated again, releasing “Les Sucettes,” a tune about a teeny-bopper who really likes sucking on lollipops, when Gall was barely 18; the accompanying scandal nearly torpedoed her career. Gall refused to ever sing another song by Gainsbourg, and disavowed her hits.

Again, that’s all deeply embedded, somewhere in the film’s complicated play of pop irony and double-entendre and the sudden explosions of delight and disgust that intermittently reveal and conceal. Again, you’d have to know your pop history really well to catch up with the complications, and Death Proof moves so fast that there’s always another reference or allusion demanding your attention as the cars growl and the blood spurts. Too many signs to track, too many signals to decipher — that’s the postmodern. But perhaps we have become too glib, assuming that all signs are somehow equivalent. Death Proof insists otherwise. Much has been made of the film’s strange relation to digital filmmaking, of the sort that Rodriguez has made a career out of. Part of Grindhouse’s shtick is its goofball applications of CGI, all the scratches and skips and flaws that the filmmakers lovingly applied. They are digital effects, masquerading as damaged celluloid. Tarantino cut back against that grain, filming as much of the car chase’s maniacal stuntwork in meatspace as he safely could. Purposeful practical filmmaking, for a digitally enhanced cinematic experience, attempting to mimic the ways real film interacts with the physical environment and its manifold histories. Is that clever, or just more cultural clutter?

Amid all the clutter that crowds the characters onscreen, and their conversations in the film’s field of sound, it can be easy to lose track of the distinctions between appearances and the traces of the real bodies that worked to bring Death Proof to life. Which is why Tarantino’s inclusion of Bell is so crucial. She provides another inversion: Instead of masking her individual presence, doing stunts for other actresses in their clothes and hair (for Lucy Lawless in Xena: Warrior Princess, or for Uma Thurman in Tarantino’s Kill Bill films), Bell is herself, doing what she does best, projecting the technical elements of filmmaking — usually meant to bleed seamlessly into illusion — right onto the surface of the screen. And instead of allowing one group of girls to slip into a repeated pattern, bodies easily exchanged for other bodies, Bell’s presence and its implicit insistence on her particularity (who else can move like she does?) breaks up the superficial logic of cinema’s market for the feminine. She disrupts its chick habit. There’s only one woman like her.

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Jonathan Shaw

#music for films #chick habit #jonathan shaw #dusted magazine #death proof #quentin tarantino #reservoir dogs #grindhouse #Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich

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lokiondisneyplus · 4 years ago

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For his entire tenure as an Avenger, Anthony Mackie had never been the first name on the call sheet.

In a galaxy of stars populated by Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, the actor was aware of his place in the on-set pecking order, but would never miss an opportunity to make his presence felt.

“Number six on the call sheet has arrived!” Mackie would routinely shout on films like “Captain America: Civil War” and the box office-busting “Infinity Saga” sequels, according to Marvel chief creative officer Kevin Feige.

It exemplifies the sort of winning tone that the 42-year-old actor has brought to his superhero character the Falcon, aka Sam Wilson, for six movies from the top-earning studio — wry and collegial humor, with the potential to turn explosive at any moment. Both Mackie and his character are set to burn brighter than ever when the Disney Plus series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” lands on March 18.

On that call sheet, “Anthony is No. 1,” Feige is happy to report, “but it still says ��No. 6.’ He kept it because he didn’t want it to go to his head.” The series is essentially a two-hander with his friend and longtime co-star Sebastian Stan, the titular soldier. All six episodes were produced and directed by Emmy winner Kari Skogland (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Loudest Voice”). The series, for which combined Super Bowl TV spot and trailer viewership earned a record-breaking 125 million views this year, is reported to have cost $150 million in total.

For Mackie, though, the show comes at a critical time for both his career and for representation in the MCU. Sam Wilson is graduating from handy wingman (Falcon literally gets his job done with the use of mechanical wings), having been handed the Captain America shield by Evans in the last “Avengers” film. While it’s unclear if he will formally don the superhero’s star-spangled uniform moving forward (as the character did in a 2015 comic series), global fandoms and the overall industry are still reeling from the loss of Chadwick Boseman, who portrayed Marvel’s Black Panther to culture-defining effect. With this new story, Mackie will become the most visible African American hero in the franchise. And when asked whether he’ll be taking the mantle of one of its most iconic characters, he doesn’t exactly say no.

“I was really surprised and affected by the idea of possibly getting the shield and becoming Captain America. I’ve been in this business a long time, and I did it the way they said you’re supposed to do it. I didn’t go to L.A. and say, ‘Make me famous.’ I went to theater school, did Off Broadway, did indie movies and worked my way through the ranks. It took a long time for this shit to manifest itself the way it has, and I’m extremely happy about that,” Mackie says.

Feige says that, especially with the advent of Disney Plus and the freedom afforded long-form storytelling, the moment was right to give the Falcon his due.

“Suddenly, what had been a classic passing of the torch from one hero to another at the end of ‘Endgame’ became an opening up of our potential to tell an entire story about that. What does it really mean for somebody to step into those shoes, and not just somebody but a Black man in the present day?” says Feige.

Like many comic book heroes, Mackie has an origin story marked by tragedy at a young age — specifically around the loss of a parental figure. The New Orleans native is the youngest of six children from a tight-knit middle-class family, whose trajectory was spun into chaos when his mother was stricken with a terminal illness.

“It was unexpected and very untimely. I was 15 when she was diagnosed with cancer, and a few months later, she was gone. She passed the day before my ninth-grade graduation,” Mackie recalls. “If my mom wouldn’t have passed away when I was so young, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Mackie had already gravitated toward the performing arts before the loss of his mother, having enrolled at the pre-professional school New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Like many young people grappling with trauma, Mackie says he began to act out. A core group of teachers helped get him out of trouble. Ray Vrazel, still an instructor at the school, personally drove the student to a Houston-based audition for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he was accepted for his senior year of high school.

“Everything I did, I did for my mama. The idea of leaving home at 17 to go away to school would have never been an option if she was still around. She was my best friend. Losing her gave me a kind of strength, and a desire to succeed,” Mackie says.

Succeed he did. Spending that formative year as a minor on a college campus helped Mackie find his “tribe,” a misfit crew of artists and performers, which propelled him to acceptance at New York’s prestigious Juilliard School in 1997. There he was part of the breakthrough class of students of color to be chosen for the notoriously selective drama program, which Mackie says was liberating given the institution’s track record.

“Our year was a huge transition. There were hardly any Asian people in the drama program, maybe one or two Black people and hardly any Black women. In our class, we had three black women, two black men, one Native American, one Asian female, out of 20 people. Ever since then, the classes have been wildly diverse,” says Mackie, whose fellow students included stage and film star Tracie Thoms and actor Lee Pace.

Following his training, Mackie launched a staggeringly versatile career. He has played Tupac Shakur and Martin Luther King Jr. to similar acclaim, a juicehead bodybuilder in “Pain & Gain” and a homeless gay teen in the Sundance player “Brother to Brother.” He has exhibited remarkable staying power in an industry that often pigeonholes actors and has a pockmarked soul when it comes to inclusion.

“I was drawn to Anthony because of his electrifying ability to combine intensity with sensitivity, courage with compassion, and all of it comes across as inevitable, as if it could be no other way,” says Kathryn Bigelow, who directed him in the 2009 best picture Oscar winner “The Hurt Locker.”

Samuel L. Jackson, whom Mackie calls a mentor and has played alongside in several films, says he has “an innate quality that first and foremost makes everyone want to cast him.” On a recent idle Netflix search, Jackson came across Mackie’s latest sci-fi film, “Outside the Wire,” and it triggered a memory of sitting in the audience for his performance in the 2010 Broadway production of Martin McDonagh’s play “A Behanding in Spokane.”

“Watching him onstage, I thought, he’s a very adroit actor capable of putting on many hats. He’s fearless and will try to be anybody. Then, on my TV, he’s playing a nanobyte soldier or some shit,” Jackson says.

Though always humble about getting the next job, pre-Marvel Mackie was rarely offered pole position.

“There were certain pegs. My first was ‘8 Mile.’ It was a monumental step at the beginning of my career,” Mackie says of the 2002 Curtis Hanson film that elevated rapper Eminem to multi-hyphenate stardom.

“After that it was ‘Half Nelson.’ It blew up Ryan Gosling, so I was there to ride the wave. Then ‘The Hurt Locker,’ and it blew up Jeremy Renner. It was the joke for a long time — if you’re a white dude and you want to get nominated for an Oscar, play opposite me. I bring the business for white dudes,” says Mackie.

He remembers the sensation “Hurt Locker” caused during its awards season. It was a moment he thought would change everything as he stood on the stage of the Dolby Theatre with the cast and filmmakers, having just sipped from George Clooney’s flask while Halle Berry radiated a few rows away.

“I thought I would be able to move forward in my career and not have to jostle and position myself for work. To get into rooms with certain people. I thought my work would speak for itself. I didn’t feel a huge shift,” he says, “but I 100% think that ‘The Hurt Locker’ is the reason I got ‘Captain America.’”

He’s referring to “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” the 2014 Marvel film that was the first to be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo (the current title holders for the highest-grossing film of all time with “Avenges: Endgame”). Mackie says that blockbuster not only gave him his largest platform to date but changed expectations of superhero movies forever.

“It was the first of the espionage, Jason Bourne-esque action movies at Marvel. After that, the movies shifted and had different themes and were more in touch with the world we live in, more grounded,” he says.

Bolstered by the words of another mentor, Morgan Freeman, Mackie feels no bitterness about his path.

“We did ‘Million Dollar Baby’ together, and when we were shooting this movie, I got offered a play. When you do Off Broadway, it’s $425 a week. In New York, that’s really $75 per week. I got a movie offer at the same time, and it was buckets of money. Three Home Depot buckets of money were going to be dropped off at my door,” Mackie says. “The script was awful; the whole thing was slimy. I went to Morgan’s trailer and asked him what he would do. He took a second and said, ‘Do the play. When Hollywood wants you, they’ll come get you. And when they come get you, they’ll pay for it.’ That blew my mind, and I left him that day with such a massive amount of confidence. He’s been a huge influence on me.”

He used the currency of that first Russo Brothers film and five subsequent ones to do what many creators and performers in Hollywood have done in recent years to help balance the scales of profit and representation in content: make things on his own.

Last year, Mackie produced and starred in “The Banker” — what would be Apple Studios’ first foray into original streaming film distribution and the awards landscape — through his banner Make It With Gravy. The film follows the true story of America’s first Black bankers and the white frontman they deployed to acquire the institution, all while supporting Black-owned businesses and communities in the process. A late-breaking scandal over sexual misconduct accusations involving the real-life family members of the film’s subjects delayed the release, overshooting awards-season deadlines and entangling the fledgling producer.

“It was a good lesson, and gave me a new perspective on the world around us. It’s very important to me that the women by my side are treated equally. It was a valuable lesson learned. I was very humbled by my sisters, for once not being mean to me,” he says.

Mackie is in development on the film “Signal Hill,” about the early days of lawyer Johnnie Cochran and the theater he brought to courtrooms long before the O.J. Simpson trial, and is hoping to secure the life story of civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin as a vehicle for his directorial debut. Raising four sons of his own now, Mackie wants his off-screen work to make them well-rounded men.

“Look at Robin Williams,” he says. “He used to be crass and funny, and then he had kids, and he started doing all these family-friendly movies. Same thing with Eddie Murphy. I’m trying to curate my children’s experience with the things that I’ll be producing, rather than starring in. That’s what is most important. They know my job is my job; they know who I am. I’ve given up the idea of them ever thinking that I’m cool,” he says.

Jokes about the call sheet are among many of Mackie’s filming quirks. Jackson says that sets are often littered with hidden cigar stubs, to be fired up between takes or after long days. Bigelow says his rapport with crew has led to nights where the “clock was ticking but it was impossible to regain composure enough to shoot.” But according to Evans, no Mackie-ism is more famous than the phrase he bellows whenever his directors cut a scene: “Cut the check!”

Evans says this “will be forever associated with Mackie. I find myself saying it on sets all the time. I love it. But I’ll never be able to say it as well as him.”

As the man handing Mackie his armor, Evan says the Falcon’s “role within the Marvel universe has answered the call to action time and time again. He’s proven his courage, loyalty and reliability over multiple films. Sam has given so much, and he’s also lost a lot too. He believes in something bigger than himself, and that type of humility is necessary to carry the shield.”

The question of Sam Wilson’s humanity will be explored at length in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” what Mackie calls a deeper showcase for both himself and Stan and their characters. It was a prospect that at first confused and frightened him.

“I didn’t think we could do on the television what we’d been doing on the big screen. I didn’t want to be the face of the first Marvel franchise to fail. Like, ‘See? We cast the Black dude, and now this shit is awful.’ That was a huge fear of mine, and also a huge responsibility with playing a Marvel character,” Mackie says.

He was quickly assuaged by the level of depth in the scripts from head writer Malcolm Spellman (“Empire,” “Truth Be Told”), especially when it came to the nuances of Wilson — a Black American man with no powers beyond his badass wings.

“Sam Wilson as played by Mackie is different than a Thor or a Black Panther, because he’s not from another planet or a king from another country,” Feige says. “He’s an African American man. He’s got experience in the military and doing grief counseling with soldiers who have PTSD. But where did he grow up? Who is his family? Mackie was excited to dig into it as this man, this Black man in particular, in the Marvel version of the world outside our window.”

Mackie celebrates Sam’s relatability in a universe full of mythological gods and lab-made enforcers. “I’m basically the eyes and ears of the audience, if you were put in that position where you could go out and fight alongside superheroes. It adds a really nice quality to him, that he’s a regular guy who can go out there and do special things,” Mackie says.

While bound by standard Marvel-grade secrecy, the actor confirms there have been no discussions of a second season for “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” As the majority of domestic movie theaters remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, he is equally unaware of the theatrical prospects for his Falcon character — or the Captain he may become by the end of this Disney Plus run. For now, he’s content to take up the mantle left by Boseman, a quietly understood pact of responsibility to Marvel-loving kids the world over.

“For Chad and I, [representation] was never a conversation that needed to be had because of our backgrounds. There was a hinted-at understanding between the two of us, because we’re both from humble beginnings in the South; we have very similar backgrounds. We knew what the game was. We knew going into it,” he says.

Outside comic book movies, Mackie is not done searching as a performer. There is a particular genre he would very much like to cut him a check.

“My team gets mad at me for saying this, but I would love to do a cheesy old-school ‘When Harry Met Sally’-type of project,” he says. “One of those movies where I’m working outside and have to take my shirt off because it’s too hot. I want a romantic comedy. I want to do every movie written for Matthew McConaughey that he passed on.”

#Anthony Mackie #The Falcon and the Winter Soldier #Disney+#interview

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tabloidtoc · 4 years ago

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Us, January 11

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Diets That Work -- Julianne Hough

Page 2: Red Carpet -- Stars flex their right to bare leg in high-slit dresses -- Dua Lipa, Cynthia Erivo, Kristin Cavallari, Bebe Rexha, Sydney Sweeney

Page 3: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, Ariel Winter, Hailey Bieber, Shay Mitchell

Page 4: Who Wore It Best? Olivia Wilde vs. Natalie Portman, Ashley Greene vs. Rachel Zoe

Page 6: Loose Talk -- Barack Obama joking about quarantining with his daughter Malia’s boyfriend, Pink revealing she broke her ankle and had a staph infection in addition to testing positive for coronavirus, Amal Clooney joking to husband George Clooney about the time and effort she put into her new 1000-page legal book, Miley Cyrus on feeling like she really made it after Cher slammed her 2013 VMAs performance, Anderson Cooper on being a dad to 8-month-old Wyatt

Page 8: Contents

Page 10: Hot Pics -- Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani stopped at the music studio together in Pasadena

Page 11: Tiger Woods and son Charlie teamed up for the PNC Championship in Orlando, Vivica A. Fox during a tropical getaway in Tulum in Mexico, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner took a stroll around the village and did some shopping in Mammoth Lakes, California

Page 12: Paris Hilton and Carter Reum in Sherman Oaks, Niecy Nash showed support for Regina King at a drive-in event for her film One Night in Miami in Malibu, Candice Swanepoel in a white bathing suit in Miami

Page 13: Duchess Camilla held a virtual royal engagement in London, Dancing With the Stars couple Sasha Farber and Emma Slater were in a great mood while out and about just days after becoming American citizens in L.A.

Page 14: Stars They’re Just Like Us -- Matt James hit the golf course in Jupiter in Florida, Renee Zellweger with an armload of packages in L.A., pregnant Emily Ratajkowski sipped on a beverage during a beach day in L.A.

Page 15: Molly Shannon hopped on her bike after withdrawing cash from the ATM in L.A., Sandra Lee taking out the trash at her new place just days after moving out of the N.Y. home she shared with her ex Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Malibu

Page 16: Seeing Double -- mom match with their mini-me’s -- Serena Williams and daughter Alexis Olympia Jr., Sutton Foster and daughter Emily, Gabrielle Union and daughter Kaavia, Kylie Jenner and daughter Stormi, Cardi B and daughter Kulture

Page 17: Kourtney Kardashian and daughter Penelope, Tamera Mowry-Housley and daughter Ariah, Eva Longoria and son Santiago, pregnant Kelly Rowland and son Titan

Page 18: Lady Gaga’s hair looks great in all hues

Page 20: Love Lives -- Lauren Burnham and Arie Luyendyk Jr. welcoming twins

Page 21: Kevin Jonas commemorated his 11th wedding anniversary with wife Danielle by sharing a photo of the two posing at the very spot they met, Chrishell Stause is defending her new romance with Keo Motsepe against all of the conspiracy theories, Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest’s love was built to last

Page 22: Just days after Shia LaBeouf was sued by his ex FKA Twigs for sexual battery and assault and emotional distress Shia was spotted making out with Margaret Qualley at LAX airport -- they’re very much in the honeymoon phase and Margaret’s totally smitten and she trusts he’s not the bad guy people say he is but Margaret’s loved ones are concerned about her new beau especially her mother Andie MacDowell who’s keeping an extremely close watch on the situation and if Shia so much puts a foot out of line she’ll come down on him like a ton of bricks -- Shia insists he’s a changed man and that he’ll never go back to those dark days ever again

Page 23: Life behind bars hasn’t been easy for Mossimo Giannulli and he’s having a rough time -- he’s in Covid-19-related protective custody and spending almost all of his time in his cell has been very mentally taxing but he’s doing his best to stay positive by reading, writing letters to his family and planning future business ventures and turning to prayer when he feels weak

* After relapsing in December John Mulaney is hoping to make 2021 a better year and he’s committed to a total change of lifestyle -- John who has been vocal about his decades-long substance abuse struggles and he had been on a really long run of bad habits that had turned his life upside down but his family and friends are standing by his side and they’re proud that he’s finally getting the help he so desperately needed for quite some time

* Keeping Up With Us -- Maren Morris has officially cancelled her upcoming tour due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and is in the midst of working on her third album, Rachel Zoe was scarred for life after her 9-year-old son Skyler fell 40 feet from a ski lift, TikTok star Charli D’Amerlio and her family are getting their own reality series, Wilmer Valderrama and his fiancee Amanda Pacheco are expecting their first child, six months after The Weeknd put his Hidden Hills mansion on the market for $25 million his asking price has been slashed to just under under $22 million

Page 24: A Day in Our Life -- Sistine and Sophia Stallone

Page 25: Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez are engaged -- she’s beyond excited and they are so in love and committed to spend the rest of their lives together and her loved ones approve of the real estate agent

Page 26: What Leah Remini Knows -- actress and Scientology critic Leah is calling out Tom Cruise for his on-set freak-out

Page 28: Reality Bites -- these stars got their first moments in the spotlight appearing on unscripted TV shows -- Lady Gaga, Cardi B, Laverne Cox, Kesha

Page 29: Aaron Paul, Josh Henderson, Emma Stone, Jamie Chung

Page 31: Cover Story -- Survival of the Fittest -- how the hottest stars get and stay in shape -- Halle Berry

Page 32: Julianne Hough, Jessica Simpson, Carrie Underwood

Page 33: Weight Loss Winners -- Rebel Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Adele

Page 34: Jennifer Aniston, Gal Gadot

Page 36: Kaley Cuoco, Jennifer Lopez

Page 37: Power Couples -- Thom Evans and Nicole Scherzinger, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa, Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes

Page 38: My Healthy Routine -- Kristin Cavallari, Miranda Kerr

Page 39: Reese Witherspoon, Vanessa Hudgens

Page 40: Style -- shades of glory -- Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2021 is actually two defining hues -- wear Illuminating Yellow and Ultimate Gray in myriad ways

Page 42: Entertainment -- Gina Torres on her role on 9-1-1: Lone Star

Page 43: 2021 movie preview

Page 46: Fashion Police -- Gwen Stefani, Ashley Roberts, Lily Collins

Page 47: Saweetie, Gavin Rossdale, Bella Thorne

Page 48: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me -- Brian Austin Green

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bookworm555 · 3 years ago

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Sooo, I think the last time I mentioned this story was briefly in my 2018 Summary of Art meme. It’s called Against All Odds, and like...it is a strange mix of genres (fantasy and sci-fi). Basically combine a Shakespearean-level royal drama set on this kingdom on the moon, a superhero story, a fish out of water story, AND scientific experimentation, and you have this story. It’s a lot. (But it’s exciting to outline because I see everything coming together and it’s great.)

My sense of humor is awful; I found this way more hilarious than I probably should. Especially ‘She’s my former best friend’. OUCH XD Even though Tarah and Artyom are in New York, and Line is in Chicago, I guess Line put a listening device on Tarah’s clothes the last time they fought and Tarah didn’t notice, which is why she was able to hear the whole conversation in this? Idk don’t think about the logic of it too much; this was supposed to be a joke comic XD

The main protagonists are Tarah Thomsdottir (the woman in the first and third panels) and Line (pronounced LEE-nay) Lorensdottir. Basically, Tarah is the crown princess of Lunaria (the moon kingdom), and Line has been trained since childhood to be her advisor/right hand woman/woman behind the curtain when Tarah eventually takes the throne. They are opposites in every way, but are very close friends. But then, plot happens. The King (Tarah’s father, Kalle Thomsson) tries to kill Line after she discovers some unsavory things about him and his own advisor--Bør Sorensson, Line’s adoptive father--[mainly, that they murdered her parents and attempted to murder her when she was an infant because Line’s father was the true heir to the throne], but makes it look like Line tried to kill him first. She is branded as a traitor and is presumed dead. But, because of her powers--shapeshifting--she escapes and sneaks to Earth. (Cue fish out of water story.) Meanwhile, Tarah is called to Earth as well, to strengthen their alliance, as well as to be a part of this specialized team (the Supreme Team), made up of highly talented or super-powered people. Cue fish out of water story for Tarah as well. After discovering more of the King’s and his advisor’s evil plans on Earth, Line shifts her appearance and becomes the supervillain Hellraiser in order to bring everything down. (Since Lunaria and therefore the King are allies of Earth, despite her good intentions, she is definitely seen as a villain.)

Honestly...the twenty people Line killed were like...horrible, and kinda deserved it (they were experimenting on people, including children), but Tarah and the Supreme Team don’t know that.

And OOOPS this got really long. And I didn’t even get into some of the other plot points.

The scar on Line’s face was given to her by the King in his attempt to murder her the second time.

Last fun fact: surnames on Lunaria are based on Icelandic surname conventions with a twist. Instead of having the -son or -dottir suffix after the father’s name as surnames, the Lunarian characters in this use those suffixes with the name of a founder of Lunaria who was their ancestor. Which is why King Kalle and Tarah’s surnames are Thomsson and Thomsdottir. Back when Lunaria was first settled in the 1700s (that is another long story for another time), Thoms was the name of one of the founders, and one of Kalle’s and Tarah’s ancestors.

#bookworm555 #my characters #my art #against all odds #tarah thomsdottir #line lorensdottir #artyom azarov

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amphtaminedreams · 5 years ago

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S/S 2020 Fashion Month: A Basic, Uneducated Fashion Heaux’s A-Z of Everything Noteworthy (Part 3/3)

Hi to anyone reading,

I’m finally at the end!

It’s only taken me, like, over 2 months but I’m finally about to review the last 5 shows I wanted to talk about from this year’s RTW offerings for S/S 2020. It’s very frustrating that I couldn’t include them in the last post and make this a nice, neat, equally sized two part thing but Tumblr was being difficult and so here I am. On the plus side, I guess I can also make this post a bit of a round-up of my ultimate favourite collections of this year and some of my absolute favourite looks!

To quickly finish my review though, I’m gonna start this post with Vivienne Westwood’s S/S 2020 collection!

And I hate to start the post on a downer but I wasn’t wild about it. The bridal look worn by Bella Hadid and the similarly structured red dress are the only pieces that I really love. The accessories are beautiful, especially the shell necklace, and the fitted corset upper halves are very flattering, however, there’s just nothing particularly exciting about this collection for me.

As for YSL’s S/S 2020 collection, my opinion is pretty similar. Don’t get me wrong, I personally love the embroidered pieces, and the jewell tones, and the whole art teacher/female Russell Brand vibe (I’m aware this is my second Russell Brand comparison of this review, don't @ me) but why does there have to be SO GODDAMN MANY FUCKING SEQUIN SUITS? I included a couple of the more interesting ones just for reference and can you believe that’s only about 1/10 of the sequin suits that were actually shown. I feel like they genuinely made up a good 33% of the show. It’s so boring and overdone from Saint Laurent, like you really can’t convince me that they didn’t do this exact same thing last year and the Eiffel Tower being in the background and the presence of the goddess that is Naomi Campbell and all the fancy lighting in the world isn’t a distraction enough because they DID THAT LAST YEAR TOO. It’s just disappointing from a brand like YSL who really has the money to take it to any wacky and inventive place that they want, and who has drawn on so many historical and cultural references in the past; the bohemian looks I am here for, everything else can go.

Next is Zadig and Voltaire, which is obviously more of a pedestrian brand than YSL, but still...disappointing.

I guess disappointing is the wrong word really because it’s not as if I had especially high hopes, it’s just that in comparison to a collection like Off-White’s, which was also a lot more of a “wearable” line, this is very Stradivarius/Zara/H&M/any member of the Inditex group. I like the ruffles, but we’ve seen them done in a much more interesting way in pretty much every other show and same with the blazers and suits. Even the styling of the teal faux fur coat, which I adore, is meh. Even Emily DiDonato can’t save it for me and that’s saying something because she honestly might be one of the most beautiful women on this planet.

On a more positive note, Zimmerman was beautiful. In a collection inspired by the ocean, the tranquil colour palette, the ornate, frothy ruffles and the flowing materials are dead on, and indulgently so. I can see most of these pieces having universal appeal and looking good on anyone, and yet this wearability doesn’t make the collection boring by any means; I think it really is a matter of having a clear concept and attention to detail that save more subtle shows from falling by the wayside.

And lastly, Zuhair Murad, which is always a designer I look forward to; I love a good princess dress and on that, he always delivers.

However, whilst there’s a similar feel and colour palette to Zimmerman, I’d say this collection doesn’t have quite as clear a direction. There’s definitely a lot of recurring themes of the ruffles and the high necks and the bohemian prints and suits that we’ve seen throughout fashion month, but this still doesn’t feel like the most relevant or current collection I’ve ever seen from Murad. It goes without saying that the dresses are beautiful but in the context of a red carpet where every dress is a princess dress, I can’t imagine any of these taking my breath away which is usually the case.

I really WANTED to end on a positive note, I’m sorry! And there were so so many amazing moments this season. In general, I’m excited for a lot of the trends that are seemingly going to be coming up: more of the milkmaid thing, peasant blouses, bohemian influences and a shit load of gorgeous suits!

I was going to try and do a top 10 but I honestly have too many favourites so I’m making into a...top 20. It sounds like a cop-out, but when there’s THIS many shows to go through I think a top 20 is perfectly fair.

1. Gucci

It has to be my favourite overall. The clearest concept, the most beautiful colours, and a whole range of interesting accessories and structures. Blew everything else out the water. Might make like Elsie Fisher in Eighth Grade and just start randomly saying Gucci out loud at totally inappropriate moments to express my love.

2. Marc Jacobs

Kooky and in your face but also thoughtful and delicate. Every piece is a statement.

3. Moschino

The intersection where art meets fashion is always my favourite place to lurk and so it’s not surprise that Moschino’s Picasso inspired collection ticked so many boxes for me. Aside from that, the structures are gorgeous and on trend and I love the accessories.

4. Valentino

So. Many. Heavenly. Dresses.

5. Mugler

Definitely the sexiest S/S 2020 collection.

6. Paco Rabanne

I mean, yes, it is a little primary school teacher-y (it’s probably the coloured socks), but a fashion-y, wear-it-to-the-club version of primary school teacher style.

7. Ralph and Russo

A prissy pastel dream that channels the Sandra Dee sleepover scene from Grease in the modern day, the only thing that could’ve added to the Ralph and Russo show would be a more diverse group of models.

8. Brock

There’s never going to be an appropriate moment to wear any of the garments from the Brock collection. Does that mean I’m going to stop thinking about it? Never.

9. Balmain

I know Balmain didn’t go down too well with the fashion critics but the noughties pop girls obsessed child in me loveddddd it.

10. Etro

Not the most high-fashion but I would wear.

11. Dion Lee

Dion Lee took corsets and suspenders and harnesses and turned that whole dominatrix trend on its head by pairing them with androgynous silhouettes, fresh whites and subtle nude tones, and I’m here for it!

12. Alessandra Rich

Eighties presidential candidate’s wife/sorority queen realness.

13. Dilara Findikoglu

Definitely my favourite of the more “avant-garde” shows we saw this year.

14. Oscar de la Renta

These dresses speak for themselves, do I really need to say any more?

15. Christopher Kane

Christopher Kane made galaxy print cool again for the first time since it was murdered by 2013 “hipster” Tumblr and then buried 6ft under by the plethora of £5 and under wholesale retailers who thought it would be a good idea to mass produce leggings with said print on.

16. Loewe

Delicate, purposeful and refined, Loewe put out a practical yet very, very pretty and season-appropriate spring collection.

17. Thom Browne

Thom Browne brought Marie Antoinette onto the runway. ‘Nuff said.

18. Louis Vuitton

I will never turn my nose up at anything 70s influenced and Louis Vuitton’s collection was probably the most authentic (and thus kinda ugly at times) that I’ve seen.

19. Simone Rocha

If I ever became part of some modern day witchy, forest-God worshipping cult, I would expect us all to be wearing Simone Rocha’s 2020 S/S collection and nothing less.

20. Vera Wang

Jenny Humphrey in Gossip Girl for the 2019 e-girl xoxo

SO.

3 parts and 3 months later, this is my review of fashion month 2019 coming to an end. I mean, it’s actually closer to A/W 2020 fashion week now than it is to S/S 2020 buuuut let’s just forget that little detail because I had NO FUCKING IDEA it would take this long.

If there’s anyone out there who read this to the end (and I highly, highly doubt there is and I don’t blame you) or even anyone that looked at the pictures (which is probably what I would do), please let me know! It got a bit long at times but I have generally reallllly enjoyed doing this and more than anything it’s got me sad that I’ll never see these shows in person :( sad times :( oh to be on the benefiting end of nepotism :(

Thank you sooo much!

Lauren x

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cnbluemexicocom · 5 years ago

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[Traducción Completa][Lee Jung Shin on L'Officiel Hommes Magazine S/S April 2020]

"En mis 20 años pensé que sería genial tener 30 años, pero cuando llegué a los 30 no había nada más. Solo quiero hacerlo bien como lo he hecho hasta ahora. Incluso no como la figura más popular, pero quiero ser una buena influencia, que quien me vea pueda sonreír con el tipo de persona que soy".

JS: "Estoy agradecido y quiero elogiarme por no vivir mal. Es un orgullo que hayas soportado con éxito el tiempo de 10 años. Hice mi debut con CNBLUE cuando tenía 20 años y ahora tengo 30 años. Cuando Pienso en mis 20 años, CNBLUE lo era todo ".

(L'OFFICIEL HOMMES)

LH: Pocos días después subes una foto en donde se ve que te encuentras con miembros de CNBLUE. Los fanáticos estaban muy contentos. ¿Cómo están los miembros?

JS: Nos encontramos a menudo. Cuando estábamos en el ejército, hicimos que coincidiéramos a propósito con nuestros días de licencia y nos encontrábamos. El horario militar era similar, por lo que se convirtió en una fuerza mutua. Especialmente con Minhyuk ya que también se alistó en una banda militar.

Yonghwa hyung se alistó y fue dado de baja en noviembre del año pasado, pero Minhyuk se alistó el mismo día que yo. Cuando todos nos reuníamos, hablamos más sobre los militares.

LH: Hace pocos días subiste una foto en donde se ve que te encuentras con miembros de CNBLUE. Los fanáticos estaban muy contentos. ¿Cómo están los miembros?

[2/4] También hablamos sobre cómo queríamos realizar nuestras actividades de ahora en adelante, ya que ahora todos hemos sido dados de alta estamos arreglando los horarios en específico. Cuando me encuentro con los miembros, siento que tengo 18 años. Para mí son más que solo amigos.

Me alisté en una banda militar pero los entrenamientos eran iguales a los demás, excepto cuando había eventos, me llamaron y tuve la oportunidad de aplicar una solicitud, fue una buena experiencia. Fue más divertido de lo que pensaba.

También me animaron cuando me dijeron que si podía hacer buenos cortes de cabello obtendría vacaciones (risas). No existe una técnica específica para cortar el cabello, pero no sé por qué creo que pude hacerlo bien.

JS: En un tiempo, cuando me case y tenga un hijo, quiero cortarle el cabello a mi hijo yo solo. Es como un deseo si lo intento y aprendo bien, seré bueno.

Aprendí bien de un senior esas habilidades, sentí que descubrí inesperadamente un talento en mi. Parece que alrededor de 900 personas tuvieron cortes de pelo hasta el día que fuimos dados de alta. El cabello "estilo ejército" se puede cortar en exactamente 7 minutos.

LH: ¿Cuál es el cambio más grande que has hecho después de experimentar el entorno del Ejército?

JS: En el ejército conocí amigos que no eran celebridades y mucho más jóvenes que compartían sus historias y me di cuenta y pude pensar "mis amigos de esta edad están pensando y preocupándose por este tipo de cosas". Desde mi debut, siempre he estado ocupado, así que solo corrí hacia adelante sin mirar atrás, pero conocerlos me dio la oportunidad de mirar hacia atrás en mis 20 años.

Como estaba en el ejército, sentí que la familia es más preciosa. Mientras estuve allí, hice la promesa de llamar a mis padres todos los días. Al final del día, podía usar mi teléfono celular durante tres horas. Antes (del ejército), también hacía llamadas frecuentes, por supuesto, pero todavía vivía con mi familia. Pensé que era importante saludarlos todos los días mientras estaba fuera. Mantuve bien mi promesa.

LH: Ahora todos los miembros fueron dados de alta juntos (CNBLUE) se encuentra completo después de mucho tiempo.

JS: "Hubo muchas cosas desafortunadas durante el descanso. Estoy agradecido de poder continuar juntos como equipo. Agradecido con los miembros". Por reunirme de manera saludable después del ejército, estoy agradecido por los miembros y espero que CNBLUE gane, trabajaré duro y así espero obtener una buena respuesta para cada actividad individual.

LH: (CNBLUE) trabajó en Japón antes del debut oficial en Corea, luego de realizar actividades como giras mundiales y reuniones de fans.

LJS: "Los fanáticos extranjeros no son diferentes de los fanáticos nacionales, excepto la diferencia del idioma. Cuando tenemos un concierto o una reunión de admiradores, son realmente apasionados y nos apoyan". Solo nos sentimos frustrados a veces cuando nuestra comunicación no es Buena / activa.

LH: En el momento en que debutó (CNBLUE) el nombre "Idol Band" en sí no era familiar. El proceso de actividad tampoco fue fácil porque no eramos alguien en ese momento.

LJS: hubieron muchos nombres por los cuales nos llamaron. Banda idol, banda masculina, solo banda, etc. pero no importa cómo nos llamen. Después de todo, somos solo una banda que hace la música que queremos hacer. No nos importa si ponemos o no un “Idol” al frente. Por supuesto, agradecería que nos pensaran como una "banda de música atractiva, agradable y buena". (risa)

JS: Hemos actuado en muchos países, pero los lugares más distantes y desconocidos de Corea fueron países latinoamericanos como Chile, Perú y Brasil. Los países que están casi en el lado opuesto de Corea, así que me pregunté si nos conocerían.

Sin embargo, sabían y amaban a todos por nuestra música y pude ver que este es el poder de la música mientras miles de personas se reunían en los concierto. Incluso las canciones eran cantadas. Ahora que hay muchos músicos que han trabajado en el extranjero, creo que también deberíamos pensar y tratar de poner más esfuerzo que antes.

LH: CNBLUE es famoso por todos los miembros que escriben y componen.

LJS: Los álbumes coreanos y japoneses se lanzan de manera diferente, pero se han grabado muchos en ambos idiomas. Hay algunas canciones en las que he participado, pero cuando las escucho me siento incómodo/ avergonzado.

Espero que la canción que escriba en el futuro permanezca en el recuerdo de muchas personas y se convierta en una canción que de repente se les venga a la mente. Cuando estoy en casa, siempre toco música aunque sea algo pequeño. Quiero hacer música que no sea gravosa y que pueda fluir cómodamente en la vida cotidiana.

LH: Mientras CNBLUE estuvo en pausa, la industria de la música también cambio mucho.

LJS: En estos días, los cantantes junior son muy buenos para bailar, cantar y tocar (instrumentos). Aún así, nosotros (CNBLUE) estamos seguros de que tenemos nuestro propio color. Queremos ser amados mostrando nuestra buena música y creo que podemos hacerlo. Espero que así sea con las canciones que se escriban en el futuro.

* "En un futuro me gustaría participar activamente en el campo de la moda"

JS: Estoy muy interesado en la moda. Por eso dijeron que debería aparecer en el programa <The Faxhion King>. Fue un concepto de hacer ropa en equipo con un diseñador de moda, fue muy divertido. En el futuro, me gustaría participar activamente en el campo relacionado con la moda.

Me gusta tanto la ropa que a menudo voy de compras. Sé el estilo que más me conviene, así que, si veo un elemento en específico, los compraría independientemente de la marca o el estilo. Aunque me gustan las marcas como CELINE Men, Haider Ackermann y Thom Brown, también disfruto mezclar y combinar marcas de bajo precio. Ah, pero el abrigo debe ser largo. Yo alcanzo los 188 cm de altura. Es realmente divertido y ambiguo usar un abrigo largo, pero incluso si lo hago parece poco atractivo. (risas)

* "En verdad quiero ser un poco mas codicioso en la actuacion"

JS: Personalmente, en verdad quiero hacerlo bien y ser un poco más codicioso (en la actuación) hasta el momento no ha habido muchas oportunidades. Hubo muchos dramas que tuve que dejar debido a las actividades de CNBLUE y fue una pena ver el trabajo cuando era transmitido más adelante. Ahora quiero mostrar variedad en el lado de la actuación. Mi debut como actor fue hace ya bastante tiempo, pero cuando fui a un restaurante me llamaron "Seongjae", que era el nombre del personaje, el cual es más familiar para ellos que CNBLUE. Es algo bueno, ya que el índice de audiencia fue del 50%.

JS: El drama <My First Love> fue el último que filme antes del alistamiento y la primera vez que tuve un rol protagónico así que es un trabajo con mucho apego. También recuerdo <Voice 2> Como una aparición especial (cameo), fue el papel de un asesino psicópata, pero me alegré de que fuera el número uno de búsqueda en internet en ese momento y se convirtió en un tema candente. Fue agradable poder mostrar algo completamente diferente de lo que he hecho hasta ahora.

* Originalmente estaba interesado en la fotografía.

JS: Mi hermano mayor es fotógrafo del mundo de la moda y dirige un estudio conmigo. Originalmente, estaba interesado en la fotografía y estoy aprendiendo de mi hermano mayor. Fui a realizar trabajo como voluntario a Myanmar con mi hermano. De la exhibición de fotos, ventas de bienes, todo lo recaudado dado como becas a niños de Myanmar. En nombre de CNBLUE, donamos anualmente a través de la fundación de nuestra empresa afiliada y proporcionamos las instalaciones necesarias en varios lugares en el extranjero. Fue la primera vez que fui de voluntario con mi hermano y fue genial. Si existe tal oportunidad en el futuro, definitivamente lo haré nuevamente sin dudarlo.

Ing.Valentsia Txt Kr. Leejungshin.com Español. Elizabeth | CNBLUEMexico.com Twitter @CNBLUEMexicocom - POR FAVOR MANTENER TODOS LOS CRÉDITOS DE LA ENTREVISTA 🙂 Y CUIDAR DE NUESTRO TRABAJO.

Txt Kr. Leejungshin.com Español. Elizabeth | CNBLUEMexico.com Twitter @CNBLUEMexicocom

Fotos: leejungshin.com & Official

POR FAVOR MANTENER TODOS LOS CRÉDITOS DE LA ENTREVISTA 🙂 Y CUIDAR DE NUESTRO TRABAJO.

#cnblue #leejungshin #bass #welcomebackcnblue #interview #modahombre #kpop #boyband

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hamilton-one-shots · 6 years ago

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Hamilton High School AU 98

“So, Michael and Rich end up together now?” Alexander asked. “That’s new.”

John nodded. “Yep. Nothing major. Just holding hands in the last song and a kiss in the hospital scene. It’ll definitely be weird, but it’s just acting.”

“Oh.. Cool. I guess I can see that happening,” he commented.

John nodded. “It’s cool.

Lafayette got up. “If we’re done here, I’m going to get food.”

“Yeah, go ahead,” John said, getting up with him to get some pizza.

Thomas stayed with Alexander and the girls, Lucy sitting with him.

“You’re a good actor,” she commented.

Thoms smiled. “You think so?”

She nodded. “You can’t tell that you’re mad about Mr Laf kissing Johnny.”

“Well.. I’m not really mad about it. They’re only kissing in the play. Johnny doesn’t really like him like he likes me and Alex.”

“Oh.” She paused for a second. “You’re still a good actor.”

“Thank you.” He kissed her cheek.

Lafayette and John came out of the kitchen a minute later, John with a plate of pizza and Lafayette with a single slice.

“I’m going to head out,” Lafayette said between bites. “I’ll see you guys at school tomorrow.” He grabbed his stuff and left.

John glanced over at Thomas expectantly and he nodded.

“It can’t be said that I didn’t know when I was unwelcome.”

“You’re always unwelcome,” Alexander joked.

“I know. I just don’t care,” Thomas shot back, Lucy sticking her tongue out playfully at Alexander before she and Susan left with Thomas.

John smiled and locked the door behind them before finally settling with Alexander. “Alright. I have been looking forward to this forever.”

“Why? So I can stop complaining about not getting time with you?” Alexander jokingly asked.

John shook his head. “No. Because I get to spend time with my sweet boyfriend, of course.” And as absolutely true as that statement was, John knew that he also had to really slather on the sweetness that night. He couldn’t let Alexander feel like he was any less to him than Thomas was. Especially because he wasn’t.

And Alexander had no idea what was going through his boyfriend’s head, just being as happy as possible as John showered him with attention.

“What does my amazing boyfriend want to do?” John asked, taking Alexander’s hand in his own.

“Anything, as long as you continue being such a dork,” he laughed.

John smiled and sat up, picking Alexander up bridal style and taking him to his room. “Movie night it is.”

Alexander laughed and held on as John carried him, resting his head against his chest. He really didn’t deserve this sappy dork. “Sounds great, weirdo.”

John, quite literally, tossed Alexander onto his bed and got his laptop before laying beside him. “So, what’s the choice for tonight?”

Alexander hummed in thought before shrugging. “Whatever you want. I’m just glad we’re spending alone time together..”

John smiled at that and pecked Alexander’s lips. “Sounds like a plan.” He chose whatever movie came up and let it just serve as background noise as he focused on Alexander. He pulled his boyfriend down into a kiss, determined to show him just how much he cared about him. And, while John wasn’t exactly the most sex crazed, he had been told that he was one hell of a kisser.

And Alexander could not agree more. He sighed contently and let his eyes fall shut as his lips moved against John’s, falling in love with the feeling just as he did almost every other time. John had this magical way of making everything feel like it was okay, even when things were far from it. And because of it, Alexander could ignore that, he could ignore the fact that things weren’t perfect and just enjoy an absolutely perfect moment with his boyfriend, blushing darkly as the other let out a soft moan.

John pulled away and covered his face, embarrassed. “I’m sorry.. I don’t really want to do anything past kissing, I just-”

Alexander gently grabbed John’s wrists, pulling his hands away from his face and smiling. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not laughing this time and I know you can’t help it.” He knew John was almost embarrassingly vocal and, sure, it was funny in an adorable way, but this wasn’t the time for that. They both wanted nothing but romance.

And Alexander’s ease helped John relax, smiling as he pulled Alexander back into a kiss.

The next morning, Alexander woke up with John’s duvet wrapped tightly around him. He smiled and sat up, the night before still fresh on his mind. They didn’t do much besides kissing and cuddling, but it was magical all the same and he was more than happy with it. He got out of the bed and found John in the kitchen, wrapping his arms around his waist. “Good morning..”

“Good morning,” John replied with a smile. “How did you sleep?”

“Pretty well,” he hummed. “Why can’t I just stay with you all day? Why does stupid school have to be a thing?”

John chuckled and pulled his way out of Alexander’s grip, fixing them both a plate of breakfast. “I don’t know, but at least weekends exist.”

“But it’s not the weekend,” Alexander whined, taking his plate as John offered it to him.

John just shrugged and sat down with him, eating before finishing getting ready and heading off to school.

Lafayette had already gotten there and was looking for Hercules when said boyfriend made his presence known with a light smack on Lafayette’s behind. At least, that’s what Lafayette had assumed until he felt hands grabbing the waistband of his shorts. He yelped and yanked himself out of his attacker’s grasp, unsurprised to see that it was Charles Lee.

“You fucking pervert!” Lafayette cried out, sick of his antics. He balled up his fist and aimed a punch at Lee’s jaw.. Only for the bully to move out the way.

Before Lafayette could stop himself, his fist landed against the brick wall with a painful crack. Shakily, Lafayette dropped to the ground and held his hand painfully against his chest, doing his best not to give Lee the satisfaction of hearing him scream from the pain.

Charles laughed to himself and reached down to grab Lafayette’s ponytail, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He tried to ignore it, but the hand forced him to turn around and look up at it’s owner. Or, rather, down, the sight almost making him laugh.

#hamilton #hamilton fanfic #alexander hamilton #john laurens #thomas jefferson #lafayette #lams #thaurens #mullette #98 #chapter 98

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chicagoindiecritics · 5 years ago

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New from Robert Daniels on 812 Film Reviews: ‘Motherless Brooklyn:’ Rarely Bridges with the Audience

Rating: 2/4

With a wide range of quality, 2019 has been the year of the long gestating passion project: from Ang Lee’s Gemini Man to Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. That includes Edward Norton. Since he read Jonathan Lethem’s eponymous novel in 1999, he’s wanted to adapt the work—and in multiple ways, Motherless Brooklyn is a film of its time, or could’ve been time: portraying a white savant with a disability—in this case Tourette Syndrome—put into a position where he overcomes his malady to become a girl-magnet hero.

Norton plays the film’s genius protagonist Lionel Essrog—a man with a photographic memory carrying the moniker of “freak show” from his co-workers due to his behavioral ticks. He—along with Tony (Bobby Cannavale), Danny (Dallas Roberts), and Gilbert (Ethan Suplee)—work for private investigator Frank Minna (Bruce Willis). On the trail of something big, Minna is gunned down by his employers and it’s up to Lionel to figure out what happened, while contending with a gigantic outside force in Moses Randolph (a searing Alec Baldwin) and a mysterious informant Paul (Willem Dafoe). While Motherless Brooklyn, as a quirky but cliche Neo-Noir entices by presenting a larger socio-economic foil with gusto, Norton as an adaptive screenwriter makes several critical errors in his cinematic rendering.

One applies in the narrative’s character development. In Norton’s effecting performance, especially with regards to representing Tourette Syndrome, there’s little room for anyone else in his burrowing adaption to astonish, especially his Black characters. Laura (Gugu Mbatha-Raw): the against-type dame in this film, initially strides strongly—a soon-to-be lawyer working to expand housing for Blacks and the poor quickly patters into a narrative alley where the streetlight doesn’t shine: diminished into a love interest to Lionel and a pawn for the men surrounding her. Her origins hold the key to the events surrounding Minna’s death, and could carry Motherless Brooklyn—if only Norton realized her full capabilities.

Worse yet, there’s also the Trumpet Man (Michael K. Williams) who initially blows sharp notes at an admiring white fan: “the famed musician learned his trade by sucking off little white boys” he spouts with a sneer. Resentful of a white society: in an explosion of infrastructure and jobs, who tossed away post-war Blacks, shakes the viewer from their sleepy gentrified shuffle, but fades from earshot as the trumpeter becomes relatively mute —unless he’s espousing how similar himself and Lionel are. In fact, one scene still sticks with me. Depicting when Lionel calls to meet with Moses Randolph to talk turkey, in the background hangs a painting, around the sleuth sits the Black characters no more animated than the art behind them. In Motherless Brooklyn, Black characters aren’t the movers and shakers, they don’t write the articles of change, they’re pretty paintings on the wall informing the larger conversation. Adaption, the truncating and expansion of characters can change such, but it doesn’t here.

Moreover, in other narrative regions, Norton’s adaptive fingers transit slower than frozen rail tracks. Frank’s wife Julia (Leslie Mann): minor and forgettable past a floozy portrayal, could’ve been truncated to save time on an already bloated 144 minutes. Motherless Brooklyn also uses weed as a character detail: one of the substances other than gum that calms Lionel, which is mostly inserted to conjoin Thom Yorke’s somber original song “Daily Battles” with the on-screen events. The effect numbs a couple of the sleek match cuts Norton wants to rely on.

Nevertheless, even when Motherless Brooklyn is just a basic accompaniment to A Beautiful Mind —striking a beat too late, Norton’s story of a gumshoe savant working the case does swing. It happens through the middle act, when the gritty Noir-based investigation shoe horns racial and classist housing inequality, grounding its foundation in New York’s infrastructure history; when Moses Randolph—based upon the real life “master builder” Robert Moses—clutches his bulldozing power to parting intentions, when Lionel employs his tricks of the trade to grease intelligence from unsuspecting witnesses: then Motherless Brooklyn forms its connective narrative suspensions: buttressed by quietly sweeping suites of horns and taps of gumshoe high hats that offer soothing splashes of information rather than sticky obtrusive hits.

In any case, Norton does discover a type of rhythm that partly shifts the meandering adaption into a cliche but tuneful Neo Noir, one that makes his long wait to see it on screen somewhat worth it to someone. Which makes Motherless Brooklyn a noble failure, but a failure nonetheless.

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