#even sabatini himself

[theanticool]

Sodiq Yusuff vs Diego lopes is scheduled for UFC 300. How do you see that fight going?

Had to watch and rewatch some recent fights to get to an answer for this one.

It's really hard for me to have a read on Lopes. I've only seen four of his fights, the three that have been in the UFC and his "fight" with Brito that ended due to eye poke. Not much to work with. Obviously he had the competitive fight with Evloev, but he still lost like every round. He managed to rock Evloev early in an exchange, but that came as Evloev stood up from a poor takedown attempt. What little else I saw of Lopes' striking in that one was pedestrian. He was there to be hit when Evloev hopped into range, straight up in the air and getting caught staring at jab entries. Man started round two by throwing an ugly lead uppercut where he essentially jumped forward. Threw it again a minute later. The Tucker and Pat Sabatini fights are even harder to extrapolate from because both are completely different fighters from Yusuff. Tucker got caught trying to shoot on Lopes while Sabatini had some early success and ended up getting knocked out trying to lock up, being hip tossed and then getting KOed in the ensuing chaos.

Yusuff has a lot going for him heading into this one. He's bigger than Tucker and Sabatini. And he's primarily a striker, though he does go for takedowns late in fights. Just an all around sounder striker technically. Has a very powerful, disruptive jab that he uses really well though he can get really heavy footed with it and be there to be countered. While he doesn't pressure for 15 minutes, he showed against Barboza that he can indeed put his opponent on the fence and hurt them there. He's solid in open space, with a really great leg kick game (those straight kicks to the thighs were money).

I don't think Lopes will attack the body with the same commitment as Barboza or challenge Yusuff's pressure. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Lopes backs into the cage himself instinctively with little prompt from Yusuff. This might actually incentivize Yusuff to pressure for longer. If Lopes is going to win, I think he's got to force some tie ups. If Lopes can get to some of the positions that Allen or Barboza got Yusuff to in the clinch, he might be able to hit Yusuff on the break. But thus far, I just don't see it. Lopes seems very reactive rather than assertive and will likely get caught on the short end of a kickboxing match where he struggles to get any off other than a few moments of success.

Yusuff by UD is my guess.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

What Brazil lost after Bolsonaro supporters rioted in Brasilia goes beyond the destroyed buildings and relics

Brazil’s flag has a phrase etched in the middle of its blue, star-studded globe: “Order and Progress.” The same flag was omnipresent as supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the nation’s capital, some donning it like a cape as they attacked government buildings, others using it as a towel to wipe away the tear gas fired by security forces to contain the crowds.

These ideals of order and progress were replaced by disorder and chaos Sunday. The events that unfolded in Brasilia were shocking and terrifying, but not surprising. For months, Bolsonaro’s right-wing supporters have held on to the false belief that the October 30 runoff election was stolen, and that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva didn’t win.

Bolsonaro himself never publicly accepted the election results, left for the US ahead of Lula da Silva’s inauguration on January 1, and has long sown doubt in the legitimacy of the electoral process and the country’s electronic voting machines.

“[Bolsonaro] has been stoking this for a long time, even before the elections. There are audits of the electoral machines, audits also by independent reviewers that confirm there was no chance for theft,” Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House in London, told CNN.

Bolsonaro has condemned Sunday’s riots, but Sabatini argues that the former president still bears some responsibility for the violence. “Quite simply, you cannot give your people the gasoline, the matches and then point them to the house and then claim that arson is not your fault.”

The damage to the broken artworks is incalculable, said Rogério Carvalho, Planalto Presidential Palace’s curator – and the same is true on a political level.

Continue reading.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Eric Hananoki at MMFA:

Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Lara Trump, Trump lawyer Alina Habba, and other members of Trump’s orbit are scheduled to speak alongside antisemitic streamer Jason Dean this week. Dean, who also spoke at a May Trump hotel event with Eric and Lara Trump, has said that he has “NEVER been able to buy the Hilter/Nazi ‘Official Story’” and praised Adolf Hitler for having a “vision” and wanting “to straighten everything out” but “the bankers got him.”   He is at least the third Hitler-promoting antisemite that has appeared on the Trump-backed ReAwaken America tour. Two other tour regulars were set to appear at Trump’s Miami resort in May but were pulled from the event after widespread media criticism.  Dean is a chiropractor, Rumble host, and fringe conspiracy theorist who believes that the Earth is under the “control” of alien reptiles. He has appeared on One America News and Alex Jones’ Infowars network. Dean gained a following during the COVID-19 pandemic by pushing false medical claims and grifting followers by offering his own health “protocol.” 

Trump allies Roger Stone, Kash Patel, and Mike Flynn, and Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers have appeared on Dean’s program. He also posted a video of himself having a “strategic meeting” with congressional candidate and former Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini.  He is a regular speaker on the ReAwaken America tour and is scheduled to speak this week in Las Vegas. (Dean, tour co-founder Clay Clark, and the tour's website have confirmed his appearance.) The tour features QAnon conspiracy theorists and Christian nationalist rhetoric. In April 2022, Dean posted a picture of him meeting with tour co-founder Flynn, who also has a history of making antisemitic remarks, and thanked him for “giving me connections to people to meet with for the future.”

Members of Trump’s inner circle and past Trump administration officials are scheduled to speak at the event along with Dean. They include: Donald Trump Jr., Guilfoyle, Lara Trump, Devin Nunes, Habba, Flynn, and Stone.  Numerous other toxic commentators will be speakers, including Alex Jones sidekick and January 6 insurrectionist Owen Shroyer; far-right conspiracy theorist Lara Logan; COVID-19 conspiracy theorist Sherri Tenpenny, who has promoted antisemitic and Holocaust denying material; and election denier Mike Lindell. 

Streaming host Stew Peters, a white nationalist who is virulently anti-LGBTQ, is also scheduled to speak. He has also repeatedly made antisemitic remarks, including stating that Judaism “is a death cult built on the blood of murdered babies” and writing: “It’s become socially unacceptable and in some cases even illegal to question or critique Jews, Israel, or the Zionist mob. The murder of Jesus (Read Book of Matthew). The attack on the USS Liberty. 9/11 dancing Israelis. Rothschild family. Who controls international banking, Hollywood, and the entire MSM.” He also wrote: “Say what you will about Hitler, but people turned out for his rallies.” 

The tour invited Peters despite his attacks on Trump allies, including calling Trump adviser Ric Grenell “a sodomite ... who finds the meaning of life at the bottom of a shit hole.”  Dean has spoken at prior ReAwaken America events in Post Falls, Idaho; Branson, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; and, most recently, at Trump’s resort in Miami, Florida. While Dean has spoken alongside Eric Trump at those events, the Trump son is currently not on the schedule for Las Vegas. (Eric Trump has been promoted as a speaker for the Las Vegas event and Clark said in an appearance on Stew Peters' program yesterday that audiences would “see Eric Trump,” but he told Clark several weeks ago that he would be in Scotland for a golf tournament and miss the event.) 

Media Matters previously reported that Eric Trump repeatedly appeared alongside streamers Scott McKay and Charlie Ward, two antisemites who have a history of promoting pro-Hitler and Holocaust denying content. (Dean has done streams with both of them.) After criticism, including from MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, CNN’s Jake Tapper, and Trump ally Alan Dershowitz, the tour canceled their scheduled appearances at Trump’s Miami resort. Eric Trump responded by threatening “legal action” against Maddow. 

[...] Dean is also a believer in the “Khazarian mafia” conspiracy theory, which essentially claims that a group of fake Jewish people (the “Khazarian mafia”) stole Jewish identity centuries ago and now hides behind Judaism to control world affairs.  Mike Rothschild, a researcher and author of the upcoming book Jewish Space Lasers, previously told Media Matters that the conspiracy theory is “part of a long line of canards used by antisemites to claim that certain powerful Jewish families are ‘fake Jews.’” (Both Scott McKay and Charlie Ward have promoted the conspiracy theory.) 

Yet another ReAwaken America Tour speaker with a Hitler-loving problem has been detected, and this time, it's Jason Dean.

[ducavalentinos]

“The striking talents of Gregorovius are occasionally marred by the egotism and pedantry sometimes characteristic of the scholars of his nation. He is too positive; he seldom opines; he asserts with finality the things that only God can know; occasionally his knowledge, transcending the possible, quits the realm of the historian for that of the romancer, as for instance -to cite one amid a thousand- when he actually tells us what passes in Cesare Borgia's mind at the coronation of the King of Naples. In the matter of authorities, he follows a dangerous and insidious eclecticism, preferring those who support the point of view which he has chosen, without a proper regard for their intrinsic values. He tells us definitely that, if Alexander had not positive knowledge, he had at least moral conviction that it was Cesare who had killed the Duke of Gandia. In that, again, you see the God-like knowledge which he usurps; you see him clairvoyant rather than historical. Starting out with the positive assertion that Cesare Borgia was the murderer, he sets himself to prove it by piling up a mass of worthless evidence, whose worthlessness it is unthinkable he should not have realized. “According to the general opinion of the day, which in all probability was correct, Cesare was the murderer of his brother." Thus Gregorovius in his Lucrezia Borgia. A deliberate misstatement! For, as we have been at pains to show, not until the crime had been fastened upon everybody whom public opinion could conceive to be a possible assassin, not until nearly a year after Gandia's death did rumour for the first time connect Cesare with the deed. Until then the ambassadors' letters from Rome in dealing with the murder and reporting speculation upon possible murderers never make a single allusion to Cesare as the guilty person. Later, when once it had been bruited, it found its way into the writings of every defamer of the Borgias, and from several of these it is taken by Gregorovius to help him uphold that theory.”

Rafael Sabatini, The Life of Cesare Borgia , Chapter IV. When one scholar so eloquently spills the tea about another scholar's bs:

[kattestrophe]

Hello, I was wondering if there were any movies (?) exploring Frederick and Katte's relationship as a romance.

None that I'm aware of... Some of the documentaries have fruity subtext (and I think some of the movies do too, but the only thing I've seen is the first part of the Trenck miniseries which is... let's just say it's set later, I'm too tired to get into Frederick's romantic moments in that show) but I think one of the most romantic things ever recorded on film was this:

And Katte is in love with Wilhelmine in that (but if you want to subject yourself to the musical you can, i have a fully subbed version).

There are the operas and there is at least one play in English that portrays their relationship as romantic, so possible recordings of that would be a place to start (there is one somewhere, maybe @scribbled-anecdotes can help...?).

Other than that I can only recommend a few books, the newest of which would be Zeithain by Michael Roes from 2017. That one is an 800 page novel following Katte from around age 5 to his death and it's pretty good. Depressing and a little strange, but pretty good. I'd advise for anyone to skip the modern frame story though, I suspect Roes only used it to make sure nobody would ever get the idea that his book is a biography. Zeithain is explicit about Frederick and Katte having a romantic relationship, however, it's angsty as fuck and they both suck at communication and feelings. They have a few cute moments and they both explicitly say that they love the other, but they're both pretty messed up. Also the whole thing happens rather late in the book (but the chapters on Katte's childhood and youth are also very good, especially the one about his time at boarding school) and there is no English version as far as I'm aware.

Another book that's incredibly gay even though it's not explicitly gay is King in Prussia from 1944, written by Rafael Sabatini. I have only read parts of it, but my god, those parts were great. Very campy. Fritz longingly stares at Katte and his cousin fencing and throws himself onto couches dramatically. At some point he wears the most frilly pink and lilac suit imaginable. 1944 King in Prussia Fritz is somehow gayer than 2017 Zeithain Fritz who sleeps with men in the literal text.

And other than that there's always AO3! There's some good stuff in that tag and it's usually in English.

[usergreenpixel]

JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 7: SCARAMOUCHE (1921)

Hello, Citizens, and welcome to the seventh meeting of our lovely Convention!

I deeply appreciate your wishes for my speedy recovery and I assure you that I’m right as rain.

So, with that out of the way, let us begin.

1. Introduction

“Scaramouche” is a historical fiction novel written by Rafael Sabatini, who might be familiar to some of you via works like “Captain Blood”, which was among my favorite novel series when I was growing up as I’ve always loved (and still love) me a good swashbuckling story and I never quite grew out of these tastes in literature.

In the case of this novel, it never was a blip on my radar when I was a kid but my renewed interest in the French Revolution and my research of topics for future reviews led me to this story. Apparently there’s a sequel and I might review it in the future.

I found the ebook readily available in English on Project Gutenberg so it’s pretty much in public domain now.

I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that there’s a swashbuckling novel set in Frev - the setting is like a perfect fertile soil for external and internal conflicts, adventures and drama, so it was only a matter of time before someone came up with an adventure novel in this setting.

That being said, at first I had quite a few fears that this book would be just another propaganda piece, especially since the author was technically Anglophone.

Did my fears come true? Let’s find out.

2. The Summary

The story’s protagonist is one André-Louis Moreau - a ward and godson to a Breton nobleman and a lawyer by education who swears revenge on a Marquis who kills his friend in a duel.

To escape the gallows after landing himself in hot water for igniting the fire of revolution in Rennes and Nantes, André-Louis joins a troupe of traveling actors and performs as a character called Scaramouche, hence the title.

3. The Story

Like I said, I have a soft spot for swashbuckling novels so I actually quite enjoyed reading the book. And, on a pleasantly surprising note, the revolution is NOT demonized. If anything, the protagonist actually becomes an idealistic republican by the end, which is a really uncommon narrative choice in Frev media.

The narrative clearly portrays the nobility as too privileged and corrupt and the people are in the right - at least, this is what the protagonist understands during his arc.

There’s also not that much Thermidorian bullshit, at least no popular stereotypes, which I really appreciate.

That being said, I do have three main issues with the story.

Firstly, sometimes there’s too much filler and it feels like the narrative is barely dragging along, which got tiresome at times.

Secondly, I didn’t like the romantic subplot between André and the niece of his godfather, Aline. For context, the two were childhood playmates and grew up referring to each other as cousins, only to fall in love as adults.

Maybe it’s just me, but I find romance between family members (no matter how honorary) gross even if there are no shared genes involved. I know cousin marriages were more common in the past but personally I think the novel would’ve benefited from Aline and André only sharing a platonic bond and familial love.

(Spoiler alert!)

Thirdly, I highly doubt the “I’m your father” twist was necessary here as I usually dislike such plot points because they’re hard to do right.

Here there was no proper building up to the revelation, at least in my opinion, and the twist itself can (and most likely will) seem predictable to modern audiences.

However, it was resolved in a fairly realistic way. Marquis de la Tour and André don’t immediately reconcile just because they’re father and son but André calls off his revenge quest, grants the Marquis a safe passage out of the country and doesn’t want to see him again, which is understandable considering their prior enmity.

On that note, let’s take a closer look at the characters.

4. The Characters

Right off the bat, the biggest issue the modern readers might have is that the characters are too “black and white”. In the era of “grey morality” and complex characters, these archetypes might come off as done to death and boring but, other than that, the characters were mostly easy to empathize with.

Personally, I didn’t like André himself in the beginning but he grew on me.

He starts off as a stoic almost to the point of coldness, a cynic and a borderline nihilist who believes fighting against the noble class is futile and there’s no point in trying to improve the country.

But when his idealistic best friend is killed, André vows to take the Marquis down by using the volatile revolutionary climate to his advantage. Slowly, André too becomes a revolutionary and an idealist, which is admittedly rare as usually people in stories become cynical by the end.

Seeing this character ark but played in reverse felt quite refreshing to me so even though at times André’s sarcasm and stoic attitude made him insufferable, I think he is pretty well-written and fleshed out as a protagonist.

Next is Aline, and unfortunately she is underdeveloped in the novel, more so than a female lead should be. She is ambitious, which makes her consider marrying the Marquis, prejudiced against actors due to her upbringing and in general is a typical noble ingenue.

Her and André are playfully witty at times and verbally cruel to each other at others and, unfortunately, they suffer from the “misunderstanding” trope which makes them unable to talk things out. I always find this trope annoying and, coupled with prejudice and not being fleshed out enough, it played into my apathy for Aline as a character.

Then there’s Marquis de la Tour, the typical privileged corrupt noble. He loves women, is a master of fencing and has no heart. André even calls him the embodiment of sin various times.

I know despicable people can and do exist, but here it seemed like he was made a bit too evil, to the point of being simply cartoonish and hard to perceive as a threat or, for that matter, take seriously.

At least he wasn’t threatening for me personally as a character and was more amusing than anything else.

Interestingly enough, historical figures don’t feature much in the story but we do get cameos of Marat, Danton, Robespierre and Desmoulins, as well as Mirabeau.

Mirabeau is called a hypocrite by the author but the other four, surprisingly, aren’t portrayed as evil villains. Marat is even called a philanthropist and his pamphlets inspire André! How rare is that, Citizens?!

Anyway, let’s continue.

5. The Setting

Although at times the text is overloaded with descriptions, all of them were vivid enough for me to imagine myself in the story with the characters.

Sabatini sure knows how to convey the images of villages, cities, nature, inns, etc in an exciting and engaging manner. I just wish that the descriptions were a bit shorter.

6. The Writing Style

Seeing as the novel was published in 1921 and I’m pretty good at English, I didn’t have many problems with reading but there were some outdated grammatical structures and vocabulary so be prepared.

Besides, in the version I read didn’t have translations of French and Latin phrases that occasionally pop up in the text, which was a bit annoying but not that much as I could understand the context of the phrases and therefore figure out what they mean more or less.

In general though, despite occasional overload of descriptions and the aforementioned grievances I have with the text, the writing style is engaging, very easy to understand and not too complex.

7. The Conclusion

In short, I can definitely recommend this novel to anyone who loves good swashbuckling stories and hates propaganda. Not the most original story but enjoyable and a good read regardless.

With that, I announce the end of the meeting. Stay tuned for updates and stay safe, Citizens!

Love,

- Citizen Green Pixel

[lover-of-the-starkindler]

Fortnight of Books: 2021

Day 1:

Overall - best books read in 2021?

Piranesi by Suzannah Clarke was good; and I suspect it’ll be even better on rereads. I also enjoyed A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg (part memoir, part cookbook which made a delectable read), The Electrical Menagerie by Mollie E. Reeder, and Moonscript by H. S. J. Williams

Best series you discovered in 2021?

The problem here is that the books I want to use for this answer are not actually a series, nor do they pretend to be one. O. Douglas (pen name of Anna Buchan) wrote contemporary fiction around WWI, and many of her scenes and characters were drawn from her own family experiences and the style is charming and the characters feel like people.

I do have a list of series I liked, but none of them feel like they’re contenders for the title of best.

Billabong by Mary Grant Bruce is from the same era as O. Douglas, so reading the two authors around the same time was a treat. I tried out Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series for the first time (Napoleonic hi-fi), found Tara Grayce's Elven Alliance series (fantasy hurt/comfort romance), Sheila Simonson's Latouche County mysteries (modern small town), the Myrtle Hardcastle mysteries by Elizabeth C. Bunce (middle-grade historical adjacent), and Legendary Magic by Stella Dorthwany (fantasy)

Best reread of the year?

Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini. Highly recommended for anyone wanting a witty protagonist who gets himself into trouble more often than not while living through the French Revolution. Also, I reread the Tales of the Kingdom series by David and Karen Mains and it was just as good as I remembered

(template for this year’s questions can be found here)

[wearethekat]

November Book Reviews: Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini

I had mixed feelings about this one. Sabatini is without doubt very good. But as a swashbuckling novel, this one was a singular failure of swashes and buckling-- although we did get a couple of duels. This is set in Revolutionary France, with a thoroughly unlikeable narrator. Andre-Louis holds himself aloof from everything, up to and including the burgeoning revolution that he scorns. And without the emotional weight of The Hated Rival or the Beloved Love He Is Unworthy Of, the swashbuckler rings a little hollow.

To be fair, Andre-Louis does have both of these people in his life. It’s just that he’s so insincere and detached about them it doesn’t really have an impact. In fact, the Hated Rival is entirely more sympathetic, even though he’s an evil aristo (guillotine) because he’s at least honest about his attraction to the heroine and his political aims.

Anyway. The protagonist swears vengeance after the tragic murder of his friend, and then plunges into various shenanigans, including but not limited to comic acting, running a fencing school, and a little light sedition. But these going-ons, while compelling reading, are absolutely aggravating due to the fact the protagonist is a slime. Not to mention, Sabatini’s interpretation of the French Revolution is dated, and moreover fundamentally incorrect. (I could go on about this, but I shall mercifully restrain myself). 

I did like the ending though. It was very satisfying and fulfilled several tropes neatly.

[wsghweg]

Hay caras largas en la comida previa al segundo partido

29 19 Marc renueva se va a SaS, y veria mejor a Okafor, que es un jugador de los que no hay, la gente va a flipar con él. Entre el y Davis van a dominar la liga los proximos 10 aos. Lo pondria incluso un escalon por encima de Davis. Uno de los que más sufrió los poderes del reverso tenebroso fue José Manuel Calderón. El

pantofi sport cu scai barbati

base espaol no tuvo su mejor noche y terminó su particular batalla galáctica con cuatro puntos (dos de cuatro en tiros de campo), seis rebotes y cinco asistencias. El 'sevillano' Porzingis, por su parte, concluyó el choque con 12 puntos y siete rebotes.. Una lastima que se retirara zattini promoção de botas con tan solo 30 aos en 1991, porqeu Magic tenia para haber jugado minimo otros 5 aos jean coquelinde gran nivel y con los lakers fichando decentemente podria haber vuelto a dominar el basket como hizo en los 80. No pudo ser y Jordan arraso con un equipazo que tenia el tio. Para mi Magic esta infravalorado clarisimamente. Tiene problemas de espalda. Ni siquiera viajó con la expedición. Hay caras largas en la comida previa al segundo partido. Los 12 puntos de diferencia no muestran nada de lo ocurrido. Los Lakers lo hicieron de pena y demostraron que no tienen la mentalidad para ser campeones. Ganarán la serie, sí, pero eso no maquilla las dudas.. Los jugadores, equipo técnico y familiares de los Warriors de Golden State posan para los fotógrafos tras vencer a los Cavaliers de Cleveland en el quinto partido de las Finales de la NBA en el pabellón Oracle Arena de Oakland, California (Estados Unidos). (EFE / MONICA M. DAVEY)Los jugadores,

nike phantom vision academy

equipo técnico y familiares de los Warriors de Golden State posan para los fotógrafos tras vencer

nike phantom vision academy

a los Cavaliers de Cleveland en el quinto partido de las Finales de la NBA en el pabellón Oracle Arena de Oakland, California (Estados Unidos). La verdad que siento un poco de celos de compartir con todos a MCW, pero por otra parte me hace ilusión el no haber equivocado mi adidas stan smith j white tactile blueapuesta por el. Hace mas o menos un ao, ya le tenía en mis listas de recruits y como seguidor y admirador de la NCAA, me vi unos 8 o 10 partidos de los Orange, antes del March madnnes. A mi también me gustó lo que vi de MCW antes del draft, pero creo que hay que bajar un poco a la gente de la burra. La estrella de los Celtics ha emitido un comunicado: "ha habido una gran confusión. A Villanueva le dije que era cancerígeno para su equipo y la Liga. No sería capaz de emplear este tema como un insulto. Pero no sé. No le veía condicions de "megacrack". Como si que le veía a Epi o a Corbalán. Todas las ofertas tendrían una cláusula de salida si se arreglase el 'lockout', y quizá Bryant confirme, o desmienta, este posible fichaje pronto. La estrella de los Lakers estará en Italia la próxima semana para un acto promocional de Nike. Es posible que Sabatini, presidente de la Virtus, o su director deportivo Faraoni, se reunan con él para concretar la oferta.. General manager Billy King, even after the Nets split their first 28 games and even with Williams currently sidelined with a wrist injury, seemed to think the same. No player on this team is fireable, not with those salaries, and King himself surely isn't going to take the blame for the roster that he and Williams and owner Mikhail Prokhorov wanted to put together. As a result,

riduzione dvi hdmi amazon

as it is in the NBA, Avery gets the axe.. That transition attack is dependent on the Nuggets missing shots, though, and this is why most are giving Denver the edge in this series. The Warriors are a mediocre defensive team that struggles to protect the rim even with Bogut in chanel ágynemű full force, and the Nuggets' endless slashing and massive heaps of points in the paint (with or without the addition of fast break layups) could have Golden State scrambling in its playoff debut under Jackson. The Warriors haven't reacted well to quick pass artists all season, and while Denver can't touch Golden State when it kimono long femme grande taillecomes to spacing the floor (the team is 25th out of 30 NBA squads in 3 point percentage), that hardly matters when a turned head

zapatillas estilo valentino

or whiffed defensive assignment leads to yet another lay in.. En particular, Monta Ellis perdió la inasumible cantidad de ocho balones. Hasta Calderón, siempre impecable en cómo guardar el balón con 10 candados, perdió dos balones, contagiado en ciertas fases del encuentro por cierto grado de desbarajuste. Eso sí, quién le dice nada a como se pronuncia aquí en Texas el nombre del extremeo, que sacó el látigo anotador en el último cuarto y se fue a casa con 17 puntos y 4 asistencias en el bolsillo. La trama cuenta como una actriz de Georgetown nota un vamos a llamarlo comportamiento extrao en su hija y no consigue que la medicina más tradicional tenga una explicación racional. Cuando los cambios se radicalizan hasta tal punto que sufre heridas, vomita líquidos extraos y habla con una voz terrorífica ya no hay duda: está poseída y sólo el padre Karras, junto con el experimentado padre Merrin, pueden ayudar a la joven. Escatológica como ninguna película hasta entonces, son varias las escenas que se han grabado en el espectador, pero antes que dar detalles mejor que cada uno decida cuál es su preferida.

[spadotto-ottodespade]

by Rolling Stone and photographer Paolo Ciriello

Alessandro is currently busy on filiming his new movie “Mondocane” (shitty world? I think) first opera of Alessandro Celli and Antonio Leotti, production by Matteo Rovere (Groenladia). The shooting will take place in Rome and Taranto (Puglia) on a 7 weeks schedule.

"On a future not so far away, Taranto is a ghost city surrounded by birb wire where nobody, not even the police, wants to get inside. The poor are the only ones who stay there whom fights to survive, while a criminal gang, le Formiche (the Ants), headed by Testacalda (Hot Head - Borghi) contends the territory with another gang. Two thirteen year old orphans, raised together, dream about to join the gang. Pietro, called Mondocane after having passed the test to join in the gang, forces Christian to the group that starts to bully him calling him Pisciasotto (pee on himself). But something goes wrong on their balance jeopardizing everything they believe in.”

By cinematographe

"Groenlandia Film keeps to bet on movies that want to go over the genere respecting the rules, on a mix of entertainment and quality into the narration, that it’s the continuos high challenge", Rovere explains. "Our job on first operas it’s steady, the looking for new talents it’s the only guarantee for the future of the italian industry, and the meeting with this script it’s been dazzling"

Also starring: Barbara Ronchi, Ludovica Nasti, Josafat Vagni e Federica Torchetti e per la prima volta sullo schermo Dennis Protopapa e Giuliano Soprano

Photography: Giuseppe Maio

Scenography: Frabrizio D’Arpino

Costumes: Andrea Cavalletto

Make up and Prosthetic designer: Roberto Pastore

Hair stylist: Sharim Sabatini

Editor: Clelio Benevento

[royal-despair]

​You watch the scene pass by you. A once daunting sunset is now a beautiful sunrise. ​The ship passes above you, feeling almost like a huge whale in the sky.. ​The pods start to rumble, struggling to find a good landing spot. ​It gives a warning, saying something along the lines of "Potentially rough landing imminent. Please tighten your safety buckles. ​The pods land, and thankfully everything was safe. And everyone was together. ​You all exit the pods, and stare off. ​The ship is the only thing blocking your view.

Sketches and color done by @allyssinian​, lineart by @talentlessartblog​ Epilogue illustration (final image) done by qosic on tumblr and twitter x x

Final words written by their muns; @guitarasaurus-rex​ , @shslchemicalx​, @lucitous​, @jullya-senpai​, @tsoi-sauce​

T a k u m a   M i t s u k u r i

“Y-you're the only thing r-really keeping me going..."

"I... I don't want... I can't lose you... I-I love you... Please don't leave me alone..."

Tears stained his face. His stomach contorted violently, twisting and turning, anxiety flooding his being. Was this the end? Was it a new beginning? It didn’t matter to him. Not now. In time, maybe. But now? Now all he felt was despair, sadness… anger…

He’d need time. Time to recover, time to compose himself, time to… move on? could he move on? Would he ever? He didn’t know. He wouldn’t know for a while.

...Chiyo dedicated her life to saving this earth… this broken, distorted earth… Broken and distorted… just like him… He wouldn’t recover quickly, and it was almost certain the wounds he’d received would never fully heal… but… when the pain eased… he would do everything he could to realize her dream. He couldn’t let her efforts be for nought. He’d fix this broken planet, piece by piece… And when it was all over? He’d maintain it... do his best to bring peace to everyone… And then he’d see Chiyo again… He’d tell her he loved her… And they could be together.

All that would come… He’d make sure it did… But, for now, he just grieved.

D m i t r i   C i e r z o n 

"...." Everyone was being emotionally wrecked, and here he was, not emotionally wrecked. He really was different, it seemed. Even though everything was both a lie and a truth.

How.... Strange.

He walked over to Leon, sliding his hand into the Dollmaker's own. Calluses... Not from fighting, it seemed. But these were the same hands that had supported him on the ship, even though he had lied again and again, and made questionable decisions one after another.

... This, at least, was real. Even if he couldn't trust anything else, he could trust at least this -- them.

L e o n h a r d   V o g e l

Leon blinks and glances down to see Dmitri holding his hand in his, staring out at the wreckage from where they had been mere minutes ago. He parts his lips to say something, though he can't find the words. He had trusted Dmitri, trusted his judgement, and it had all worked out. Maybe not as smoothly as they had all hoped, but they're here. They're here and alive.

With no words to say, his lips slide shut along with his eyelashes. He presses a kiss to his forehead. Hopefully that will express his feelings well enough. He had always found it strange how emotions could be expressed so easily for him through touch. He wanted to convey his affection, his relief, but most of all? His hope for the future.

The end of one story is the beginning of another, and he sincerely hopes they can turn this bittersweet moment into something beautiful. After a few moments, he pulls away and turns his head to look back at the horizon. Not at the airship, but beyond. To the trees and skyline, the chittering birds overhead. It would be up to them to maintain this beautiful world, and he can't say he's too ready for it, unknowing of what that may entail , but he finds himself eager to begin.

R u n a   K n i g h t l y

‘What do we do now?’

"..." Runa... leans her head on Seojun's shoulder, she watches the light of the sun through the filter of the smoke. "...Who's to say... maybe find other people, rehabilitate back into the world's current society... I just," She lifts her head, "I just want to stay close to everyone for the time being..."

J o s e f i n a   D e   B e l a s c o 

Fina stared at the scene in front of her. It was all so intense. So surreal. They made it out. All the people they lost. All the truths they gained. It all came to her in a wave of emotions. So much was going through her head right now. She sat down on the ground and let out a long sigh. "Oh fuck... We actually did it. We made it."

S e o j u n   T s o i

Fifty days.  They were trapped for fifty days on the airship known as the Queen Rose, with the conditions of being involved in a horrendous killing game.  Blood, sweat, and tears were shed almost every single day.  There was an atrocious amount of despondency throughout the entire “trip” they had gone through together.  As the blaring alarms were ringing in his head even now, Seojun found himself recollecting everything that had happened for him.  Not just in those fifty days, no.  What happened overall in the seventy six days that he had been trapped in his two killing games. What had happened in the past two and a half months for him was an absolute nightmare.

Day one. He woke up in the anteroom with seventeen students other than himself, and he found himself forced into a killing game under the treacherous duo of Gekumi and Torimi.  From the first week in, he found something that was quite odd:  Gekumi seemed to take more of the hate, but Torimi seemed to take more of the power instead.  It was something that the supposed Internet Troll had found to be quite the oddity.  Weren’t they working together?  He didn’t say anything about it, however.  He had to keep himself together.  He had to. Everyone around him was panicking like wild animals, so he couldn’t be seen doing the same.  He had to be that one guiding light to everyone.

Day six. That’s when he witnessed his first execution.  Karou was torn apart viciously, and Seojun had to see their demise firsthand.  It was absolutely dreadful, but he had to keep going.  And so, he did.  The second murder passed, as did the second execution.  He would soon find out about his loved ones being captive, about Ae-Joung being captive.  Seojun initially freaked out; he had freaked out when he saw his “sister” inside those bondages of rope, and the blindfold over her eyes.  She was scared of the dark, and in a way, so was he.  He was afraid of the darkness surrounding him, but he had to stay strong, and keep smiling.  He had to be that one guiding light to Ayaka.

Ayaka.

”C’mon, Junie!  Think positive.  Things are going to be okay, alright?  Trust me, I promise.”

She seemed to be just like his sister.  His sister, who had saved his life from his own hands.  The sixteen year old girl wasn’t one he fell in love with, but she was someone that he had grown to wanting to protect.  He had wanted to protect her, because someone just like her had done the same for him.  At least, that’s what he remembered.  The girl was innocent, and he wanted to protect someone that felt like a sister to him.  She was so, so devastated when Karou died.  When Karou was the one who had taken the knife, and stabbed Varian in the back.  She was so devastated, and the girl with the round glasses had went to Seojun for comfort.  Seojun ended up doing the worst thing imaginable though, and he witnessed Antonio killing another poor, innocent girl named Hitomi Kurusaki.  Instead of dying himself, he took it upon his own hands to strike...and he killed the man.

Day twenty six.  That’s when the trial of Antonio de Sabatini and Hitomi Kurusaki occured.  That’s when everyone managed to pin it on Raphael Bernard, the Super High School Level Archer.  That’s when everyone managed to get it wrong, and vote for the wrong person.  That’s when Seojun Tsoi had managed to get away with murder, much to his dismay.  He...He didn’t want to see Ayaka with that look of betrayal on her face.  He didn’t want to see her getting executed horrifically, but here he was, forced to watch all of his shipmates die in gruesome, grotesque fashions.  The sickly green gecko bot was controlled by someone amongst his rankings, but because he had killed another person, Seojun would never know who went through the same fate that he had gone through. He’d never know who the second mastermind really was.

Day twenty seven.  That’s when he woke up in the anteroom for a second time, much to his dismay.  This time, there were eighteen others around him. ��Eigteen people who didn’t know what the hell was going on, or why they were here.  Seojun knew, though - he knew exactly why they were here, and he knew exactly why he was here.  He was here to scounge out for the mastermind, who was amongst all of them.  One of these eighteen students was the mastermind behind his own killing game, and it was his mission to find out who it was.  However, as he went along, things steered into different directions. There was the day where he made his friendship with Leon a thing.  There was the day where he roasted Manobu alongside Dmitri, with Raiden at their side too.  There was the day where he promised to keep Izaya safe, there was the day where he decided to help Cici feel like the princess she always wanted to be.  There was the day of theTruth or Dare game.  There was the day of the King’s Game.  There was the day where he fell in love with Runa Knightly.  Every day made up this path; every day led up to this moment.

Then, they reached to today.  Day seventy six.  The day where they discovered who Sanae Oshiro’s daughter, and heiress of the company behind the purifying machines really was.  The day where they found out that Chiyo Oshiro was the mastermind and first degree murderer of tens, hell, hundreds of people.  Maybe even thousands, if you count those outside of killing games.  This was the day where they achieved something that she despised, that the rest of the world didn’t see could happen.  This was the day where they would restore a concept to planet Earth as they knew it.  As Seojun turned to the five before him, he found himself embracing the tears that were streaking down his cheeks, and looking onto everyone before him. 

Josefina de Belasco.  The tallest person on the ship, but regardless, she was simply a gentle giant that had hopes for the future.  She was innocent, but not pure-hearted either.  She was timid at times as well, and even more so humbling, but nevertheless, she never backed down in her beliefs.  She put her heart into everything she did, and only wanted the best for everyone else.

Takuma Mitsukuri.  A man who was in shambles, broken down, and beaten with despair.  A man who made himself out to be someone that was slightly confident, but more or less snarky.  A man that was more than meets the eye.  Seojun knew he didn’t get along with him at first, but as they were trapped with each other for quite a few days, he had grown to see that he was almost like him, in a way.  He wanted to protect, and he wanted to feel validated by those around him.

Dmitri Cierzon.  Cool, mysterious, aloof at times even.  Hardly did he ever see the man lash out at anyone around him with a raised voice.  Sure, he may have stabbed a man, but he believed it was for the better, with morals or not.  He was blunt, but he was honest.  He was an honest man, and even then, he was underestimated.  Pastry Chef, Spy...whatever he may have been by now, he was still Dmitri.  A boy who loved headpats, sweets, and kicking ass.

Leonhard Vogel. He stepped up to the plate when no one else would.  He spoke up when everyone else stayed silent.  He did his best to protect everyone around him, despite his conditions, despite his mental state.  He put a lot of people before his own needs, and he just wanted to make everyone happy.  He was a damaged man, but he was not broken, and Seojun knew that this man could heal with time, with people by his side.  He would consider him to be one of his closest friends.

Then, there was Runa Knightly.  She was his sunshine, as he was her Hairpins.  If there was one promise he was able to keep, it’s that he was able to protect her.  He was able to protect her, throughout all of this madness and despair.  He was able to protect this beautiful girl, someone who wasn’t perfect, but still magnificent in her own ways.  She wants to improve on herself.  She is determined, and doesn’t give up, no matter what the price may pay for her.  The blonde truly loved this woman, inside and out.

Seojun Tsoi faced everyone once again, and silently, a smile came to his lips.  “...Regardless...we did it, huh?  We...made it out.”  He looks overhead, to meet his gaze with the bright and radiant sun shining over the horizon.  “...We’re...going to start a changing process.  This isn’t...the end, that I can tell.  This is only the beginning of something new.  A new future, not just for us...for us all.  We’re finally going to have it.  We’re going to unlock something that should’ve been given a long, long time ago.”  As the blonde took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, he found the word that he had wished to utter for so long.  They finally have it now.

“Freedom.”

[ducavalentinos]

How would you rate Sabatini's biography on Cesare? I love it, but I wondered if you had any other (English) recommendations? Also take a shot everyone Sabatini interrupts his narrative to talk about how hot Cesare was sfhttjjggj

I think as far as Cesare bios goes, I’d rate his biography 7/10. I have conflicted feelings with Sabatini’s work, because I love his writing style, his sense of humour is great, it matched mine right away, and he has such a genius way of pointing out the hypocrisy and double standards applied to the Borgia family. He cleverly shows how much of the Borgia myths and general accusations thrown their way are connected to politics (shocker!) and to their Spaniard, and less nobly origins. Not to mention how he exposes the historical bias against Cesare, and general dishonesty with him, from primary sources to modern historians such as Gregorovius, that paragraph Sabatini wrote about him was truly a moment in the Borgia historical literature for me, I'm glad he said it. I just wish he hadn't fallen so hard for the Machiavellian Prince archetype about Cesare. The more I re-read his work, the more it becomes clear to me he took Machiavelli’s writings about Cesare at face value, fell in love with the image presented by him, and then proceeded (whether consciously or unconsciously) to apply this interpretation, one that has its limitations and flaws on their own, to all the facets of Cesare’s character, and all the other aspects of his life lol, which resulted in this too strict, robot-like persona. There is no nuance, no deepth to Cesare’s Sabatini, he exists only as the stoic, unscrupulous, unfeeling Machiavellian Prince. It’s a mistake I see being made time and again by most of Cesare’s biographers, many who follow Sabatini too blindly, or just Borgia biographers in general tbh, but Sabatini’s bio acutely illustrates this particular issue better than the other bios I’ve read I think, (with the exception perhaps of Beuf’s “work”, who somehow managed to outdone Sabatini in this Machiavellian presentation of Cesare, taking it to new extremes with super dramatic and misleading writing, for the most part). And you know, I always get the impression Sabatini had his own conflicted feelings in regards to The Prince, and its clear-headed, pragmatic politics. He seemed to admired it and feel repulsed by it at the time. And those mixed feelings sometimes ended up leaking into his view and writing about Cesare and some historical events, and what he believed had happened (e.g., the take of Urbino), and I find that very interesting. In any case, the point is: Sabatini’s Cesare is unrealistic, and it constantly enters into conflict with what Sabatini also presents as evidence for his history. I mean, he insists throughout the book in reaffirming Cesare was a utter egoist, cold man. Only moved by his ambition and thirst for power. He was incapable of kindness, or of being considerate with others, of feeling compassion, without ulterior motives involved. All of his actions were always calculated to only serve his own interests. Everyone around him were pawns to be used and discarded when they were no longer of any use to him. We are to believe he was a cynic, a block of ice, essentially. We are also to believe he never had genuine emotional bonds with anyone, much less with women. Women were interchangeble to him. Sabatini was convinced he was a man incapable of having a sentimental side, of loving or of having any connection with them beyond the physical aspect. But then, in between chapters, sometimes pages, he also tell us how Cesare seems to have deeply grieved the death of his cousin, Giovanni Borgia, whom he refers as Mio Fatre in his letters. He gives an honest, if quick, account about the marriage and relationship between Cesare and Charlotte d’Albret, in which Cesare’s obvious feelings for her can be seen, as well as his kindness and respect towards her. Sabatini admits the evidence shows they may well have loved each other, and that when leaving Charlotte in charge of all his affairs in France, as the governor and administrator of his lands and lorships there, as well as his heiress in case of his death, Cesare shows “his esteem of her and the confidence he reposed in her mental qualities.” And of Cesare’s policies and behavior as its ruler in the Romagna, it reaches a point where his mere self-interest doesn’t quite alone explain his relationship with this romagnese subjects and many of his decisions. It undermines Sabatini’s claim that it was for show and for his political gain. Last but not least, what is one supposed to make of the hypothesis he posits to the what I like to call, the Dorotea affair? This event is the peak of his contradiction and his mental gymnastics, because to be sure, his hypothesis is not far-fetched. I will concede I thought it was the first I read his bio. But over the years, between carefully separating fiction from history and reading other sources, then going back to his bio, I recognized his hypothesis is one of the plausible ones, certainly more plausible than the official sensationalistic narrative of Cesare simply abducting the innocent maiden Dorotea out on a whim, to satisfy his lust, (the fact Borgia scholars  are still repeating this narrative with a straight face is beyond my comprehension), I can see Cesare doing what he proposes, it def. aligns better with my understanding of him, and all the historical material I’ve read about him and his times, however, this hypothesis is completely irreconcilable with Sabatini’s Cesare. So, he says one thing, then he says another that’s incompatible with the first thing he said, and then proceeds to show evidence that either puts into doubt or confirms the opposite of his characterization of Cesare. And that’s only considering the historical info he dedided to include in his bio. If he had included some of the info Alvisi presents in his Duca di Romagna, a work he must have checked out, if not read it all, given one of the languages he spoke was Italian, and Alvisi’s bio is the best and most authoritative historical work made to date about Cesare and his life, I believe he would have struggled a lot more than he did. It just seems like he enters into a trap of his own making. Turning an already difficult task more difficult than it needs to be, honestly. Ironically, his stance is as messy and contradictory as the aforementioned Gregorovius in his Lucrezia Borgia, where you also have two Cesare(s): the one he sees and wants to present versus the one that emerges from the his own writing at times and historical material he himself exposes it. Overall, his work frustrates on some fronts, and I think it could have been better. It has its faults, some the typical faults/vices fond in Borgia biographies, others very much his own, but nevertheless I have a fondness for his bio which I do not share with others bios on Cesare, or the Borgia family. It is the only bio in the English language I find myself reading again and again, and the one I would put it first as better, or more decent, in this language about Cesare. I admire his honesty, and his bravery in challenging a little bit of Cesare’s dark legend, and the baseless accusations attached to his name. I appreciate what he tried to do, the very least of what I expect from a serious historian when dealing with figures as infamous in popular imagination as Cesare and Rodrigo Borgia. There is no denying his work was one of the main works which advanced Cesare’s historical literature, and the approach to his figure. Moving slightly from the literary, colorful, villain-like character of the Italian Renaissance, towards starting to be more seriously studied as a historical figure properly. And oh my god, yes, interrupting the narrative to talk about how hot Cesare was. It’s funny you mentioned that, because I don’t remember him doing that so much (time for a re-read!), but that's one of the characteristics of the Borgian/Cesarean historical literature heh. I’m yet to read a bio where authors do not feel the need to take a moment to talk about how hot he was, some even a poetic way lol, it’s so amusing, and always the one thing I know I will agree with them, if nothing else. Also, I think Borgia bios have huge potential for drinking games! Like: take a shot of tequila every time Cesare gets badmouthed for no reason, or baselessly asserted guilty of questionable murders, fratricide, rape, and abduction. Or when Juan and Cesare envied and hated each other narrative is repeated. Or when Guicciardini, Sanuto, Cappello and Giustinian are uncritically used as credible sources for Rodrigo and Cesare. Every time Lucrezia gets painted as the Good Borgia, the pretty, passive doll who was the helpless victim of the terrible Borgia men. Or when authors get uncomfortably shippy with the Cesare/Lucrezia relationship resulting in exaggerated claims such as: Lucrezia was Cesare’s only exception, or they were unusually close as siblings, etc. And of course, whenever Cesare’s hotness and allure has to be talked about dsjdsjsj, the list is long, and I think it will get you drunk very quickly. I know I couldn’t keep up back when I was reading Sacerdote’s bio, and I was drinking wine so. As for recs in the English language, I would say Woodward’s bio has its value in terms of sources and historical documents. I also think his analysis about politics, about Cesare’s goverment in the Romagna, and also concerning the conclave of 1503 are generally good. His last five, four chapters are the best ones imo, so if you are interested in these points I mentioned, it might be worth checking out. I would just open a caveat saying that as far as a biography about the person of Cesare Borgia is concerned, it is weak and to be read with a grain of salt. I was mostly unimpressive by his work on that front, and I thought about quitting time and again. He likes presenting himself as the impartial historian, (a big red flag that only makes me twice as cautious when reading any historical work) writing in a mostly sober tone, but of course like all scholars, all people, he has his bias, and they do come to surface from time to time. He displays an peculiar antipathy and ill will towards Cesare at times, which leads to harsh, confusing, unsubstantiated claims about his character and some of the events about his life. In contrast, you can see he is more benevolent and fair towards Rodrigo Borgia, and a constant thought I had while reading his bio was that he obviously chose the wrong Borgia to write a bio on. Had he chose Rodrigo as his Borgia subject, I believe we would have had a pretty good bio about him and his papacy.

[yuli-ban]

Sol Yulaan and Galgir Ghojin, two bollois, take a stroll down the ever-seedy Sasha Street, encountering a prostitute on their way to meet someone. Sasha Street has never recovered from the Maddox Depression, making an already slummy place rival 1970s Times Square/Hell's Kitchen in its descent to debauchery, poverty, and primal human lust. Yulaan wishes to meet with Silvio Sabatini, aka "Floyd the Barber," an explosively misogynistic and womanizing middle aged officemonkey whose whole genderpolitik is thrown askew by the very existence of bollois. He used to crave Yulaan's body, and still does to an extent. Before he knew what she was, he wanted to see her sway and swing and fall backwards— and knowing she as a woman would made him want to slit her throat and taxidermy her head as another example of whoredom.   Knowing now that she's a bolloi and coming to terms with the fact he's interacting with a nonhuman from another universe, he's left shook and constantly holds her and her friend Ghojin up to absurd standards that they nevertheless keep well, where a slip into femininity or sexuality for even a moment would cause him to throw himself at them in savage lust. For example, he obsesses himself over menstruation as a particularly wicked thing and freaks out when a battle-scarred Yulaan appears stained in blood along her crotch, joking that she's "finally having one of those cycles like a human" (which in truth is physiologically impossible for bollois to have). His mama, Clara Sabatini, made his own misogyny look cute, as she used to preach and scream about the Satanic evils of women and femininity for hours every afternoon in his childhood, instilling in him a mortal suspicion of women as supposed emissaries of the fiery man below. But the late Clara, the first-generation daughter of profoundly Catholic immigrants, would never have thought females like bollois existed... Bollois, who seem and behave almost like the very antithesis of women, do not fit in the worldview of ultra-misogynists like Sabatini, and this is the height of frustration. He doesn't want to deal with bollois; he wants to swing with Yaban women. ____________ Silvio Sabatini is inspired directly by Ed Gein. Similar deal with their respective mothers— Clara (named after Clara Petacci) is blatantly just Augusta Gein. Because bollois are designed almost specifically as "antiwomen" (at least by traditional patriarchal expectations), I wanted to see how types like the Geins would handle them. Truth be told, after the initial turmoil, they'd easily fit bollois into existing boxes. Sasha Street is inspired by 1970s New York, especially Times Square, Hell's Kitchen, and the Bronx. There's a reason hip hop, punk rock, and heavy metal found such comfy homes here. The place was like Saints Row in real life: obsessed with sex and overcome by violence. Just really raw, an American Weimar.

[kevrocksicehouse]

Marlon Brando the most confounding great actor in history would have been 97 today. A few of his good ones:

Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. D: Elia Kazan (1954). Brando’s justifiably legendary performance pulls against the script’s tough-minded melodrama to get at something stronger, the moment when all the compromises of a life come down on one man’s head and he finds himself in a taxi with his brother Charley (Rod Steiger), who has been tasked with either talking him out of testifying against a corrupt union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), or killing him. The “could’a been a contender” speech isn’t a plea for mercy or even a rebuke against Steiger, so much as the lamentation of a life wasted and limited at a moment when he has no reason to think he’s not about to be killed. Terry Malloy survives and testifies, and Charley is later killed, there is a Hollywood ending where he dramatically triumphs over Friendly. But this is still one of the greatest death scenes in movie history.

Paul in Last Tango in Paris. D: Bernardo Bertolucci (1973). As a new widower who spends three days in an unfurnished apartment with a much younger woman (Maria Schneider) in sexual games that define his aggressive masculinity against her youthful curiosity all in the guise of anonymity (neither knows the others names) outside the flat he runs a flophouse and prepares to bury his wife, raging against her in a long wrenching monologue that might be Brando’s best acting moment. And then he comes back and everything between them blows up.

Carmine Sabatini in The Freshman. D: Andrew Bergman (1990). Brando’s performance as Don Corleone in the Godfather is justifiably famous but this lesser known takeoff about a mafia figure, purportedly the movie’s inspiration, who shanghais a college freshman (Matthew Broderick) into a scheme involving a Komodo dragon and an illicit restaurant scam, shows what a deft comedian he could be. He uses the slightly menacing old-world formality of Vito in the context of a con artist (“This is and ugly word, this, scam”) who’s no doubt been trading on his resemblance to Brando for years. When Broderick wants assurance he won’t get in trouble and asks “You promise?” he says “Every word I say, by definition, is a promise.” 

[multipleservicelisting]

Trump’s Ideas Flourish Among State and Local Republicans

In Cleveland County, Okla., the chairman of the local Republican Party openly wondered “why violence is unacceptable,” just hours before a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol last week. “What the crap do you think the American revolution was?” he posted on Facebook. “A game of friggin pattycake?”

Two days later, the Republican chairman of Nye County in Nevada posted a conspiracy-theory-filled letter on the local committee website, accusing Vice President Mike Pence of treason and calling the rioting a “staged event meant to blame Trump supporters.”

And this week in Virginia, Amanda Chase, a two-term state senator running for the Republican nomination for governor, maintained that President Trump might still be sworn into a second term on Jan. 20 and that Republicans who blocked that “alternative plan” would be punished by the president’s supporters.

“They’ve got Mitch McConnell up there selling out the Republican Party,” Ms. Chase, who spoke at the protest in Washington last week, said in an interview. “The insurrection is actually the deep state with the politicians working against the people to overthrow our government.”

As Mr. Trump prepares to exit the White House and face a second impeachment trial in the Senate, his ideas continue to exert a gravitational pull in Republican circles across the country. The falsehoods, white nationalism and baseless conspiracy theories he peddled for four years have become ingrained at the grass-roots level of the party, embraced by activists, local leaders and elected officials even as a handful of Republicans in Congress break with the president in the final hour.

Interviews with more than 40 Republican state and local leaders conducted after the siege at the Capitol show that a vocal wing of the party maintains an almost-religious devotion to the president, and that its members don’t hold him responsible for the mob violence last week. The opposition to him emerging among some Republicans has only bolstered their support of him.

And while some Republican leaders and strategists are eager to dismiss these loyalists as a fringe element of their party, many of them hold influential roles at the state and local level. These local officials not only serve as the conduits between voters and federal Republicans, but they also serve as the party’s next generation of higher-level elected officials, and would bring a devotion to Trumpism should they ascend to Washington.

The continued support for the president is likely to maintain Mr. Trump’s influence long after he leaves office. That could hamper the ability of the party to unify and reshape its agenda to help woo back moderate suburban voters who play a decisive role in winning battleground states and presidential elections.

At the same time, stepping away from the president could cost the party his supporters — millions of new working-class voters who helped Mr. Trump capture more votes than any other Republican presidential candidate in history.

“It is priority No. 1 to retain Trump voters,” said Harmeet Dhillon, an R.N.C. member from California. “There is no way to do that with rapid change, tacking in a different direction. Voters are looking to the party for continuity and to stay the course.”

An Axios-Ipsos poll released Thursday showed that a majority of Republicans support the president’s recent behavior and say he should be the Republican nominee in 2024.

Already, some from the Trump wing are threatening primary challenges to Republicans deemed insufficiently loyal to the president and fierce opposition to any Republican who works with the new Biden administration. With Mr. Trump barred from prominent social media platforms, they’re immersing themselves in right-wing media outlets and waiting for new conservative social media platforms many say are being set up.

“The party is definitely with Trump,” said Debbie Dooley, a conservative activist in Georgia. “I’m seeing anger but it’s kind of nuanced. There are people that are angrier at these Republicans that have turned their backs on Trump than they are at Democrats.”

That was evident shortly after 10 Republicans joined with Democrats to support impeachment on Wednesday. Within hours of the vote, Drew McKissick, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, blasted out a statement attacking Representative Tom Rice, a Republican from his state who had backed impeachment.

“We completely disagree with this sham and to say I’m severely disappointed in Congressman Tom Rice would be an understatement,” Mr. McKissick said.

Several House Republicans also called for Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a high-profile voice for impeachment, to step down from her leadership position in the party’s caucus.

Anthony Sabatini, a Florida state representative, described Ms. Cheney and other Republicans who voted for impeachment as “artifacts,” saying they were out of step in a party that has embraced a more populist platform opposed to foreign interventions and skeptical of free trade.

“She’s like a fossil,” he said of Ms. Cheney. “The party is completely and totally realigned. Mitt Romney wouldn’t win in a primary today. He would not be able to be elected dogcatcher today.”

For years, opponents to Mr. Trump argued that he would lose his hold on the party after a devastating event — like unrest or violence that would shock the nation. Last week’s breach of the Capitol appears to have presented that opportunity to Republicans who want to refocus the party around Mr. Trump’s policies, and dispense with the polarizing language and divisive unrest that marked his four years in office.

“In this world, I think there’s lots of room for the Republican Party,” said Juliana Bergeron, an R.N.C. member from New Hampshire. “I’m not sure there’s room for the Republican Party of Donald Trump.”

But for many grass-roots Republicans, the episode at the Capitol was not the inflection point that some Republicans in Washington assumed it would be.

“No, Trump does not have any blame, but the Democrats certainly do, along with all the Republicans that follow with them,” said Billy Long, the Republican Party chairman in Bayfield County, Wis., who said he was planning to break away from the G.O.P. to start a local Trump-centric third party. “The Trump movement is not over; like Trump said himself, we are just getting started.”

Republican voters, too, have largely drawn a sharp distinction between the president and those who stormed the Capitol, with 80 percent saying they do not hold Mr. Trump responsible for the riot and 73 percent saying he is protecting democracy, according to polling released by Quinnipiac University this week.

Even in blue states, Republican leaders find themselves still grappling with Mr. Trump’s politics of grievance. In the New Jersey State Senate, Republicans were split on a resolution condemning Mr. Trump for inciting the riot in the Capitol. The majority of Republicans chose to abstain, and many used their time on the floor to try to flip the debate to the protests against racial injustice over the summer, and had to be reprimanded by the Senate president for veering off topic.

Even if Mr. Trump fades from political life, losing his social media megaphone and bully pulpit, his supporters say his message will be carried forward by a party remade in his image and with strong structural support at all levels.

Since Mr. Trump’s 2016 victory, 91 of the 168 positions on the Republican National Committee have turned over, with virtually all of the newcomers elected by Trump-aligned state parties.

The president received widespread praise at a national party meeting held two days after the siege, and was greeted with applause when he called into a breakfast gathering.

Already, battle lines are being drawn between the Trump wing and those who would like to move past the president.

Efforts to mount primary challenges to incumbent Republicans are already underway in several states, with the encouragement of Mr. Trump. In Georgia, potential primary candidates are reaching out to conservative activists about challenging the Republican governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state. Other targets may include Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Thune of South Dakota.

“The election was crooked and Republicans who could have done something did very little,” said Dave Wesener, the chairman of the Republican Party in Crawford County, Wis. “Those Republicans who have not been supportive I affectionately call RINOs. All RINOs should be primaried by conservatives.”

Along with his Green Bay Packers season tickets, which he is giving up to protest the team’s painting of racial justice slogans on its home field, Mr. Wesener plans to give up his role in his local Republican Party next month to demonstrate his disappointment that the party did not fight harder to overturn the results of the election.

In Virginia, Ms. Chase is likely to face a multicandidate Republican field for governor, which will be decided at a convention of party activists this summer. Though state G.O.P. officials opted to avoid a primary in hopes of denying Ms. Chase their nomination at a convention, the party’s activist base is filled with Mr. Trump’s most die-hard supporters.

“I’ve been called Trump in heels,” Ms. Chase said. “The regular grass roots of Virginia who are not part of the Republican establishment elite, they’re supporting me.”

The siege at the Capitol last week has drawn an even brighter line dividing the party. State legislators from more than a dozen states attended the protest, with at least one facing criminal charges for breaching the Capitol as part of the riot. Meshawn Maddock, an activist who is poised to be the incoming Michigan Republican Party co-chairwoman, helped organize busloads of supporters from her state to travel to the Capitol. In the days after the violence, she joined a conservative online group where some participants openly discussed civil war and martial law.

Many continue to defend their role in the event.

“Those who hold sway in Congress today look out on much of the country with disdain. Trump has never done that,” said State Representative David Eastman of Alaska, who attended the protest. “I, along with nearly a million other Americans, was glad to travel to D.C. to hear the president speak and thank him for his four years in office. Those in today’s ruling class will never truly understand why.”

Nick Corasaniti contributed reporting.

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