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writerbuddha · 3 years

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George Lucas on attachment from 1999 to 2021

BILL MOYERS: Do you know yet what, in a future episode, is going to transform Anakin Skywalker to the dark side?

GEORGE LUCAS: Yes, I know what that is. The groundwork has been laid in this episode. The film is ultimately about the dark side and the light side, and those sides are designed around compassion and greed. The issue of greed, of getting things and owning things and having things and not being able to let go of things, is the opposite of compassion--of not thinking of yourself all the time. These are the two sides--the good force and the bad force. They're the simplest parts of a complex cosmic construction.

George Lucas and Bill Moyers 1999, Time Magazine (http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,990820-2,00.html)

GEORGE LUCAS: He turns into Darth Vader because he gets attached to things. He can't let go of his mother; he can't let go of his girlfriend. He can't let go of things. It makes you greedy. And when you're greedy, you are on the path to the dark side, because you fear you're going to lose things, that you're not going to have the power you need.

George Lucas to Time Magazine April, 2002 (http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1002323-3,00.html)

GEORGE LUCAS: In this film, (Phantom Menace) you begin to see that he has a fear of losing things, a fear of losing his mother, and as a result, he wants to begin to control things, he wants to become powerful, and these are not Jedi traits. And part of these are because he was starting to be trained so late in life, that he'd already formed these attachments. And for a Jedi, attachment is forbidden.

George Lucas to CNN, May 8, 2002 (https://edition.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/07/ca.s02.george.lucas/index.html)

GEORGE LUCAS: Jedi Knights aren’t celibate – the thing that is forbidden is attachments – and possessive relationships.

George Lucas to BBC, May 12, 2002 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1989505.stm)

GEORGE LUCAS: Well, a lot of people got very upset, saying he should’ve been this little demon kid. But the story is not about a guy who was born a monster – it’s about a good boy who was loving and had exceptional powers, but how that eventually corrupted him and how he confused possessive love with compassionate love. That happens in Episode II: Regardless of how his mother died, Jedis are not supposed to take vengeance. And that’s why they say he was too old to be a Jedi, because he made his emotional connections. His undoing is that he loveth too much.

George Lucas to Rolling Stones, 2005 (https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/george-lucas-and-the-cult-of-darth-vader-247142/)

GEORGE LUCAS: The core issue, ultimately, is greed, possessiveness - the inability to let go. Not only to hold on to material things, which is greed, but to hold on to life, to the people you love - to not accept the reality of life’s passages and changes, which is to say things come, things go. Everything changes. Anakin becomes emotionally attached to things, his mother, his wife. That’s why he falls - because he does not have the ability to let go.

No human can let go. It’s very hard. Ultimately, we do let go because it’s inevitable; you do die, and you do lose your loved ones. But while you’re alive, you can’t be obsessed with holding on. As Yoda says in this one, [The scene in which Anakin seeks Yoda’s counsel] You must learn to let go of everything you’re afraid to let go of.’ Because holding on is in the same category and the precursor to greed. And that’s what a Sith is. A Sith is somebody that is absolutely obsessed with gaining more and more power - but for what? Nothing, except that it becomes an obsession to get more. The Jedi are trained to let go. They’re trained from birth, they’re not supposed to form attachments. They can love people- in fact, they should love everybody. They should love their enemies; they should love the Sith. But they can’t form attachments. So, what all these movies are about is: greed. Greed is a source of pain and suffering for everybody. And the ultimate state of greed is the desire to cheat death.

J. W. Rinzel - The Making of Revenge of the Sith page 213, published in 2005

GEORGE LUCAS: Anakin wants to be a Jedi, but he cannot let go of the people he loves in order to move forward in his life. The Jedi believe that you don’t hold on to things, that you let things pass through you, and if you can control your greed, you can resolve the conflict not only in yourself but in the world around you, because you accept the natural course of things. Anakin’s inability to follow this basic guideline is at the core of his turn to the Dark Side.

George Lucas to sci-fi online, 2005 (http://www.sci-fi-online.com/Interview/05-11-01_GeorgeLucas.htm)

GEORGE LUCAS: Love is a secret to the universe, which is compassion, which is love others, take care of others, help each other. (…) Struggle in Star Wars is about passion against compassion. Which is greed, against giving and giving up primarily and the whole issue is the flipside of greed is fear of losing. So you are either trying to get things or afraid to lose things that you’ve got and the idea is to let go of those things." - George Lucas, 2007, Devin Kumar Productions (http://www.devinkumar.com/interview-with-george-lucas/)

GEORGE LUCAS: The fact that everything must change and that things come and go through his life and that he cannot hold onto things, which is a basic Jedi philosophy that he isn't willing to accept emotionally and the reason that is because he was raised by his mother rather than the Jedi. If he'd have been taken in his first years and started to study to be a Jedi, he wouldn’t have this particular connection as strong as it is and he'd have been trained to love people but not to become attached to them.

But he become attached to his mother and he will become attached to Padme and these things are, for a Jedi, who needs to have a clear mind and not be influenced by threats to their attachments, a dangerous situation. And it feeds into fear of losing things, which feeds into greed, wanting to keep things, wanting to keep his possessions and things that he should be letting go of. His fear of losing her turns to anger at losing her, which ultimately turns to revenge in wiping out the village. The scene with the Tusken Raiders is the first scene that ultimately takes him on the road to the dark side. I mean he’s been prepping for this, but that’s the one where he’s sort of doing something that is completely inappropriate.

He’s greedy in that he wants to keep his mother around, he’s greedy in that he wants to become more powerful in order to control things in order to keep the things around that he wants. There’s a lot of connections here with the beginning of him sliding into the Dark Side.

(...)

Because of that, and because he was unwilling to let go of his mother, because he was so attached to her, he committed this terrible revenge on the tusked raiders.

George Lucas, Attack of the Clones DVD audio-commentary, 2008

GEORGE LUCAS: It’s fear of losing somebody he loves, which is the flipside of greed. Greed, in terms of the Emperor, it is the greed for power, absolute power, over everything. With Anakin, really, it’s the power to save the one he loves, but is basically going against the Fates and what is natural.

George Lucas, Revenge of the Sith DVD audio-commentary, 2008

GEORGE LUCAS: It’s pivotal that Luke doesn’t have patience. He doesn’t want to finish his training. He’s being succumbed by his emotional feelings for his friends rather than the practical feelings of “I’ve got to get this job done before I can actually save them. I can’t save them, really.” But he sorts of takes the easy route, the arrogant route, the emotional but least practical route, which is to say, “I’m just going to go off and do this without thinking too much.” And the result is that he fails and doesn’t do well for Han Solo or himself. It’s the motif that needs to be in the picture, but it’s one of those things that just in terms of storytelling was very risky because basically he screws up, and everything turns bad. And it’s because of that decision that Luke made on [Dagobah] to say, “I know I’m not ready, but I’m going to go anyway.

George Lucas, Empire Strikes Back DVD audio-commentary, 2008

GEORGE LUCAS: The core of the Force–I mean, you got the dark side, the light side, one is selfless, one is selfish, and you wanna keep them in balance. What happens when you go to the dark side is it goes out of balance and you get really selfish and you forget about everybody … because when you get selfish you get stuff, or you want stuff, and when you want stuff and you get stuff then you are afraid somebody is going to take it away from you, whether it’s a person or a thing or a particular pleasure or experience.

Once you become afraid that somebody’s going to take it away from you or you’re gonna lose it, then you start to become angry, especially if you’re losing it, and that anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering. Mostly on the part of the person who’s selfish, because you spend all your time being afraid of losing everything you’ve got instead of actually living. Where joy, by giving to other people you can’t think about yourself, and therefore there’s no pain. But the pleasure factor of greed and of selfishness is a short-lived experience, therefore you’re constantly trying to replenish it, but of course the more you replenish it, the harder it is to, so you have to keep upping the ante. You’re actually afraid of the pain of not having the joy. So that is ultimately the core of the whole dark side/light side of the Force. And everything flows from that. Obviously the Sith are always unhappy because they never get enough of anything they want. Mostly, their selfishness centers around power and control. And the struggle is always to be able to let go of all that stuff. And of course that’s the problem with Anakin ultimately. You’re allowed to love people, but you’re not allowed to possess them. And what he did is he fell in love and married her and then became jealous. Then he saw in his visions that she was going to die, and he couldn’t stand losing her. So in order to not lose her, he made a pact with the devil to be able to become all-powerful. When he did that, she didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore, so he lost her. Once you are powerful, being able to bring her back from the dead, if I can do that, I can become emperor of the universe. I can get rid of the Emperor. I can make everything the way I want it. Once you do that, you’ll never be satiated. You’re always going to be consumed by this driving desire to have more stuff and be afraid that others are going to take it away from you. And they are. Every time you get two Sith together, you have the master, the apprentice, and the apprentice is always trying to recruit another apprentice to join with him to kill the master. The master knows that basically everybody below him wants his job. Only way to overcome the dark side is through discipline. The dark side is pleasure, biological and temporary and easy to achieve. The light side is joy, everlasting and difficult to achieve. A great challenge. Must overcome laziness, give up quick pleasures, and overcome fear which leads to hate.

George Lucas, explaining the Force to the Clone Wars writing team, 2010 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nFMBBrliyQ&t=41s&ab_channel=StarWarsCoffee)

GEORGE LUCAS: When you start to care about yourself and the things that you own and the things that you have and you’re greedy and you want things all the time and you don’t want to give them up because you’re afraid to give them up, you turn to the dark side. And that’s what happened to Anakin.

George Lucas Q&A: Field Museum, Chicago 5/8/2010 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRaVjM_goKM)

GEORGE LUCAS: The thing about Anakin is, Anakin started out as a nice kid. He was kind, and sweet, and lovely, and he was then trained as a Jedi. But the Jedi can’t be selfish. They can love but they can’t love people to the point of possession. You can’t really possess somebody, because people are free. It’s possession that causes a lot of trouble, and that causes people to kill people, and causes people to be bad. Ultimately it has to do with being unwilling to give things up.

The whole basis here is if you’re selfish, if you’re a Sith Lord, you’re greedy. You’re constantly trying to get something. And you’re constantly in fear of not getting it, or, when you get it, you’re in constant fear of losing it. And it’s that fear that takes you to the dark side. It’s that fear of losing what you have or want.

Sometimes it’s ambition, but sometimes, like in the case of Anakin, it was fear of losing his wife. He knew she was going to die. He didn’t quite know how, so he was able to make a pact with a devil that if he could learn how to keep people from dying, he would help the Emperor. And he became a Sith Lord. Once he started saying, “Well, we could take over the galaxy, I could take over from the Emperor, I could have ultimate power,” Padmé saw right through him immediately. She said, “You’re not the person I married. You’re a greedy person.” So that’s ultimately how he fell and he went to the dark side.

And then Luke had the chance to do the same thing. He didn’t do it.

George Lucas, 2019 (https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace-oral-history)

GEORGE LUCAS: They (the Jedi) trained more than anything else to understand the transitional nature of life, that things are constantly changing and you can't hold on to anything. You can love things but you can't be attached to them, You must be willing to let the flow of life and the flow of the Force move through your life, move through you. So that you can be compassionate and loving and caring, but not be possessive and grabbing and holding on to things and trying to keep things the way they are. Letting go is the central theme of the film."

George Lucas, "Star Wars Archives 1999-2005" p. 72-73 (2020)

GEORGE LUCAS: Luke is faced with the same issues and practically the same scenes that Anakin is faced with. Anakin says yes, and Luke says no. (…) We have the scene when Anakin decides to save Palpatine and join him, so they could learn how to save Padmé. The equivalent scene in VI is when the Emperor’s trying to get Luke to kill his dad so he can save his sister.”

George Lucas, "Star Wars Archives 1999-2005" p. 421 and p. 212. (2020)

GEORGE LUCAS: The secret ultimately like in Star Wars is that you have to not be afraid. Fear is the enemy; fear is the Dark Side. If you afraid, you are going to the Dark Side. The Light Side is compassion. As long as you love other people and treat them kindly, you won't be afraid. So, the secret is to just love everybody - I know that sounds very 60s but that's what I grew up in - but it its fear that cause the problem. So you have to stop being afraid and be kind to everybody.

(...)

The main theme of Star Wars is that compassion is the good side, fear is the bad side.

(...)

I kind of lost control of Star Wars so it’s going off a different path than what I intended but the first six are very much mine and my philosophy. And I think that philosophy sort of goes beyond any particular time because it’s based on history it based on philosophy. (...)

The thing with Anakin is that he started out a great kid he was very compassionate , so the issue was how did he turn bad. How did he go to the Dark Side? He went to the Dark Side, Jedi aren’t supposed to have attachments. They can love people, they can do that, but they can’t attach, that’s the problem in the world of fear. Once you are attached to something then you become afraid of losing it. And when you become afraid of losing it, then you turn to the Dark Side, and you want to hold onto it, and that was Anakin’s issue ultimately, that he wanted to hold onto his wife who he knew, he had a premonition that she was going to die, he didn’t know how to stop it, so he went to the Dark Side to find, in mythology you do to hades, and you talk to the devil, and the devil says ‘this is what you do’ and basically you sell your soul to the devil. When you do that, and you’re afraid and you’re on the Dark Side and you fall off the golden path of compassion because you are greedy, you want to hold on to something that you love and he didn’t do the right thing and as a result he turned bad.

Mellody Hobson, George Lucas - Virtual Speaker Interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRqVdcE5oyI)

GEORGE LUCAS WAS ALWAYS CLEAR ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOVE AND ATTACHMENT, AND HOW "PREQUEL-ERA" JEDI PHILOSOPHY WORKS.

#george lucas #anakin skywalker #jedi culture #jedi order #attachment #love without attachment #star wars prequels #star wars #luke skywalker #light side #canon

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tcm · 4 years

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How Race Prevented Dorothy Dandridge from Being a Star By Susan King

Dorothy Dandridge was the first Black movie star. “She was our queen,” once said African American actress Nichelle Nichols (of Star Trek fame). Dandridge also made history with her full-blooded performance as the femme fatale in Otto Preminger’s 1954 CARMEN JONES. She became the first Black woman to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and the first to grace the cover of Life magazine.

Her achievements were during a decade before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and her nomination would mark five decades before a Black actress, Halle Berry, would win in that category. Berry also won an Emmy for her performance as the Dandridge in HBO’s Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999).

By the time Dandridge landed her role in CARMEN JONES, she had already paid her dues tenfold. She knew how difficult it was to be gifted, young, Black and beautiful in Hollywood. “CARMEN JONES was the best break I ever had,” said Dandridge, who tragically died at the age of 42 in 1965. “But no producer ever knocked on my door. There just aren’t as many parts or a Black actress. If I were white, I could capture the world.”

She was a child singer along with her older sister Vivian as part of The Wonder Children. Her mother, actress Ruby Dandridge, was the ultimate stage mother and so was her companion Geneva Williams, who oversaw their career. She was strict and allegedly was abusive. With family friend Etta Jones, Dorothy and Vivian became The Dandridge Sisters. They came to Hollywood around the time she was four. “I was one of those musical kids you hear about, with parts in pictures like the Marx Brothers’ A Day at the Races (‘37),” Dandridge said.

The Dandridge Sisters performed in Europe, the famed Cotton Club and appeared on Broadway in 1939 with Louis Armstrong in the short-lived Swingin’ the Dream. They also sang with African American band leader Jimmie Lunceford. And besides appearing in A DAY AT THE RACES, they were a specialty act in such movies and shorts as Snow Gets in Your Eyes (‘38), in which they perform “Harlem Yodel” and “Rhythm Rascals.”

Even as a teenager, you can’t keep your eyes off of Dandridge. She had the indescribable “It” factor. And after she went out on her own, she continued to dazzle in short musical films known as “soundies” that were produced for video jukeboxes of the era. She also had tiny roles, often uncredited, in movies, including David O. Selznick’s popular World War II film SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (‘44). Perhaps her most notable performance at this time was in the Sonja Henie musical ice-skating comedy SUN VALLEY SERENADE (‘41) in which she performs “Chattanooga Choo Choo” in a slinky black ensemble with the tap-dancing duo Harold and Fayard Nicholas.

“No film fan has ever forgotten her as a dream girl with the brothers,” said African American film historian Donald Bogle in his book Hollywood Black: The Stars, the Films, the Filmmakers.

She was all of 19 when she married Harold Nicholas, whom she had first met while performing at the Cotton Club. Their only child Harolyn was born in 1943. Nicholas had gone off to play golf the day Dandridge went into labor and he took the car keys, so she was delayed getting to the hospital to deliver the baby. Harolyn was born brain damaged and was never able to speak or even recognize Dandridge.

Dandridge believed the reason she was born mentally disabled was because of the delay in delivery. Dandridge would be haunted by guilt the rest of her life. She provided expensive care for her daughter, but when her finances became grim, Harolyn became a ward of the state. According to the TCM.com overview of BRIGHT ROAD (‘53), in which Dandridge portrays a dedicated young schoolteacher, seeing “healthy African-American children playing on the set proved too much for her, and she fled to her dressing room.”

Dandridge had always wanted to be a dramatic actress and attended the progressive Actors’ Lab in Los Angeles, becoming one of the school’s first Black students. Marilyn Monroe was also one of the students and became great friends with Dandridge. It would be considered a communist organization in the early 1950s with several members being blacklisted and the theater soon closed.

She also worked with noted coach and composer/arranger Phil Moore to develop a nightclub act, which Dandridge performed internationally to great acclaim. Under Moore’s guidance, Dandridge went from the young vivacious singer to a sultry, sexy chanteuse. Time magazine wrote about a nightclub appearance where she “came wriggling out of the wings like a caterpillar on a hot rock.” And according to a 1997 New York Times piece by Janet Maslin, when Dandridge headlined the Mocambo nightclub in L.A. in 1953, the cigarette girls actually sold copies of Alfred Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.

“I think it was really the heartache over my child and the failure of my marriage that forced me to make a success out of my career,” Dandridge explained in 1954. “I had to keep busy. I threw myself into my work. It’s a wonderful therapy. You don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself.”

She landed roles in three low-budget films including TARZAN’S PERIL (‘51). Dandridge is the best thing about the adventure as Melmendi, the young, beautiful and feisty Queen of Ashuba, who is kidnapped and rescued by Tarzan. Bogle notes that Lex Barker’s Tarzan shows a lot more interest in Melmendi than he does in Jane (Virginia Huston). “Here were suggestions of an interracial romance that the studio didn’t explore.” But audiences were titillated. Ebony magazine put her on the cover with the banner: “Hollywood’s Newest Glamour Queen.’’

She would appear in a few more roles, including THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS (‘51) and BRIGHT ROAD opposite Harry Belafonte, who would star with her the following year in CARMEN JONES. The operetta gave her high visibility but few additional film roles. Also, she had fallen in love with Preminger, who didn’t give her the best career advice. They would work together one more time in the film adaptation of PORGY AND BESS (‘59), for which Dandridge was nominated for a Golden Globe.

“But sadly, her decline came soon after her triumph,” notes Bogle in Brown Sugar. “She realized she was a token figure within the movie colony, her position not much different than Lena Horne’s in the ‘40s. There was no great follow-up of roles to sustain her fame. Three years passed before she appeared in another film.” Dandridge once said of racial prejudice: “It is such a waste. It makes you loggy and half-alive. If it gives you nothing.”

Dandridge was drinking heavily and taking antidepressants by the late 1950s. In fact, when Dandridge married a second time in 1959, to the man who was not only abusive but would leave her broke, she was so drugged that she fell asleep at the reception. “Dandridge’s last years were lonely and sad as she struggled to find work,” said Bogle.

#Dorothy Dandridge #Black actresses #Hollywood Black #race #Black representation #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #old Hollywood #classic film #Susan King

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hms-chill · 5 years

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RWRB Study Guide: Chapter 4

Hi y’all! I’m going through Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue and defining/explaining references! Feel free to follow along, or block the tag #rwrbStudyGuide if you’re not interested!

The Willard (75): A luxury hotel just down the street from the White House, where rooms can cost up to $8,000 per night. It hosts the turkeys to be pardoned by the president.

Cornbread and Stuffing (75): Traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Pardoning turkeys are commonly named after foods associated with Thanksgiving, recently including Bread, Butter, Cheese, and Apple.

Pennsylvania Avenue (75): The street that the White House and Willard are on.

Until I pardon them (75): The pardoning of the turkeys is an actual American tradition. Americans began sending turkeys to the president around the same time we started celebrating Thanksgiving, and the tradition of pardoning them began with Clinton in 1999. Only one turkey is officially pardoned, but there is always a backup turkey, and you can read their names here.

En suite (76): A bathroom directly connected to a bedroom.

CNN (76): Cable News Network, a liberal news station.

Republican primary debate (76): A debate between candidates for the Republican (conservative) party, held before the party decides who they will nominate for the presidential race.

Summer home in Majorca (79): Majorca is an island in the Mediterranean, just off the coast of Spain.

Jurassic Park* (79): A movie in which dinosaurs escape from their cages and the main characters have to escape them.

Autoerotic asphyxiation (80): “erotic asphyxiation” is essentially sexual choking; if it’s “autoerotic” it would be Alex doing it to himself.

Silk pillow over my face (80): This may be a reference to the Shakespeare play Othello where (spoilers, though it’s been out for like 500 years) the title character smothers his wife with a pillow after rumors that she’s cheating on him.

Jaffa cakes (80): A British snack with a sponge cake base, a layer of orange jam, and topped with chocolate.

Jabba (81): Jabba the Hutt, a Star Wars character.

Great British Bake Off (81): A famously wholesome baking show that is technically a competition between home bakers from around the UK, though it is far from competitive.

Scandinavian skin care (81): Many luxury skincare brands have come from Scandinavian countries in the past few years.

Chopped (82): An incredibly competitive American cooking show.

The Manson tapes (82): A series of tapes revealing the dealings of the Manson Cult, which was responsible for nine murders in 1969.

David Bowie (82): A famously bisexual British actor and musician known for his bold presentation and stagecraft. He was admitted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. (listen here and here)

Seinfeld (82): An American sitcom from the 1990s. Wayne Knight, who played Dennis Nedry and had a very bad time in Jurassic Park, was also in Seinfeld.

Jeff Goldblum (82): An American actor (and force of chaos) known for his role as Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, a scientist who sees from the very beginning that maybe breeding massive predators is a bad idea.

The Post (84): The Washington Post

Oval Office (84): The president’s office in the White House

Lincoln Bedroom (85): A guest bedroom that is part of the Lincoln Suite in the White House, named after President Lincoln, who used to room as an office.

Chocolate shop on the first floor (85): According to the White House Museum online, there is a chocolate shop on the bottom floor of the White House that prepares the chocolates served in the White house.

The Atlantic (85): An American editorial magazine that covers news, politics, education, science, and more. It targets serious readers and “thought leaders”. (More)

Truman Balcony (85): A balcony overlooking the White House’s South Lawn (in the “back” of the White House).

Mijo (85): For those who haven’t read my fic “Speaking My Language” here, “mijo” is Spanish term of endearment that translates directly to “my son” (Mi hijo)

Washington monument (86): A tall obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, DC, dedicated to George Washington.

Eisenhower Building (86): The Eisenhower Executive Offices Building is a building that houses the executive Office of the President, including the Vice President’s office.

Los Bastardos (86): Spanish for “The bastards”.

Caldillo (86): a spicy Mexican beef stew.

Masa (86): A corn/maize dough used for making corn tortillas, tamales, and other Mexican/Latin American dishes.

Valedictorian (87): A student who ranks the highest in their graduating class in high school.

New Orleans (87): A city in Louisiana known for its vibrant blend of French and Creole culture, its jazz scene, and its Mardi Gras celebration. It is also Casey McQuinston’s hometown.

AP classes (90): Advanced placement classes are high school classes taught at a college level; at the end of the year, students take a test to determine whether or not they will get college credit for it.

Hanukkah (90): A Jewish celebration honoring the second rededicating of the temple in Jerusalem. It is not traditionally a major Jewish holiday, but it has become one of the best-known due to the fact that it occurs near Christmas every year.

“Good King Wenceslas” (91): A traditional Christmas song about a king who braves the cold to give alms to a poor peasant on Christmas.

Jim-jams (91): Pajamas.

Tiger sharks over a baby seal (91): According to my roommate, who loves sharks, tiger sharks are one of the most vicious types of sharks. They’re bottom feeders, so they wouldn’t necessarily get seals too often, but if they got one, they would be all over it.

Bougie (95): Fancy or upper class (from the French “bourgeoisie”).

Real Housewife (95): The Real Housewives of [City] are a string of semi-popular American reality TV shows.

East Room (95): An event and reception room in the White House.

Tramp stamp (96): A tattoo on the lower back, associated with less savory activities and a general air of trashiness.

Zac Posen (97): A gay, Jewish fashion designer from New York, known for his glamorous evening gowns and cocktail dresses.

Middle-shelf whiskey (97): A “middle shelf” alcohol is one step up from the cheapest option; a whiskey is a dark alcohol associated with Texas/the West.

“American Girl” (98): A 1976 rock song that has become a rock classic. (Listen here)

Center for American Progress (98): A liberal public policy research and advocacy organization.

Pez (candy) (99): A type of small, sweet pieces of candy that come from fancy, collectable Pez dispensers.

Sky writers (99): Sky writers use the trails of their airplanes to write things in the sky. It costs at least $3,500 for a single message.

“Get Low” (101): Despite its incredibly raunchy lyrics, this song was a common one at school dances in the early 2010s. I was in middle school in roughly 2010-2012, and I have vivid memories of people being into this song.

The Kid ‘n Play (102): A dance move pioneered by the hip-hop duo of the same name, loosely based on the Charleston. (see it here)

Vato (102): Mexican slang for “friend”, “person”, or “dude”.

Moët & Chandon (102): A luxury French champagne.

New Year’s Kiss (103): At least in the US, it’s traditionally considered good luck to kiss someone at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s.

Peach schnapps (103): Schnapps is a sweet, inexpensive, and very alcoholic drink.

Rookie NFL running back (103): A running back is a football position responsible for running with the ball. Most are either short and quick to avoid tackles or big and stocky to power through them.

Yacht kid (104): Someone rich.

Orion**(105): A winter northern hemisphere constellation of a hunter/warrior. According to Greek mythology, Orion was the only man (or person) the goddess Artemis ever loved, but she refused to give up her life with her huntresses for him. He began burning/destroying her forest in retribution, and she is forced to kill him.

America’s golden boy (105): A “golden boy” is a boy who is favored or put upon a pedestal.

Tequila (106): A type of alcohol that originates from central Mexico.

Bloke (106): British slang for a “regular dude” or everyday man.

Teen Vogue (106): An American magazine aimed at teenagers that used to focus on fashion and celebrity news, but has more recently shifted to dealing with serious social issues.

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*This movie is especially known for its special effects, which are incredible because they actually built animatronic dinosaurs and also got real scientists on the project to help them figure out how dinosaurs would move/act. After it came out, earth and environmental science departments around the world got a ton of funding to see if they could find any dinosaur DNA in fossils, as that’s a central part of the movie’s plot.

**According to a nerd astronomy class I took in like 4th grade, every culture who could see Orion saw a warrior, which is just... really cool to me. That so many people for so long saw the same thing in a set of stars.

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If there’s anything I missed or that you’d like more on, please let me know! And if you’d like to/are able, please consider buying me a ko-fi? I know not everyone can, and that’s fine, but these things take a lot of time/work and I’d really appreciate it! A massive thanks to @lyanna-wilson for the ko-fis the other day; they meant a ton!

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Chapter 1 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 5

#rwrb study guide #not fic #rwrb #rwrb analysis #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry fox mountchristen windsor x alex claremont diaz #bea fox mountchristen windsor #pez okonjo #june claremont diaz #nora holleran #super six #the white house trio #red white and royal blue #casey mcquiston #fic ref #reference

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emerald-studies · 4 years

Photo

The charming Harry Belafonte

Who Is Harry Belafonte?

Harry Belafonte struggled with poverty and turbulent family life as a child. His professional career took off with the musical Carmen Jones, and soon he was burning up the charts with hits like "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" and "Jump in the Line." Belafonte has also championed many social and political causes, and earned such prestigious accolades as the National Medal of Arts.

Early Life

Harold George Belafonte Jr. was born on March 1, 1927, in New York City, to Caribbean immigrants. His mother worked as a dressmaker and a house cleaner, and his father served as a cook on merchant ships, before leaving the family when Belafonte was a young boy.

Belafonte also spent much of his early years in Jamaica, his mother's native country. There, he saw firsthand the oppression of blacks by the English authorities, which left a lasting impression on him.

Belafonte returned to New York City's Harlem neighborhood in 1940 to live with his mother. They struggled in poverty, and Belafonte was often cared for by others while his mother worked. "The most difficult time in my life was when I was a kid," he later told People magazine. "My mother gave me affection, but, because I was left on my own, also a lot of anguish."

Early Career

Dropping out of high school, Belafonte enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1944. He returned to New York City after his discharge and was working as a janitor's assistant when he first attended a production at the American Negro Theater (AMT). Mesmerized by the performance, the young Navy vet volunteered to work for the AMT as a stagehand, eventually deciding to become an actor.

Belafonte studied drama at the Dramatic Workshop run by Erwin Piscator, where his classmates included Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau and Bea Arthur. Along with appearing in AMT productions, he caught the eye of music agent Monte Kay, who offered Belafonte the opportunity to perform at a jazz club called the Royal Roost. Backed by such talented musicians as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, Belafonte became a popular act at the club. In 1949 he landed his first recording deal.

By the early 1950s, Belafonte had dropped popular music from his repertoire in favor of folk. He became an avid student of traditional folk songs from around the world and performed in such New York City clubs as the Village Vanguard.

Movies

During this time, Belafonte was finding success as an actor: Debuting on Broadway in 1953, he won a Tony Award the following year for his work in John Murray Anderson's Almanac, in which he performed several of his own songs. Belafonte also appeared in another well-received musical revue, 3 for Tonight, in 1955.

Around this time, Belafonte launched his film career. He played a school principal opposite Dorothy Dandridge in his first movie, Bright Road (1953). The pair reunited the following year for Otto Preminger's Carmen Jones, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical (itself an adaptation of the Georges Bizet opera Carmen), with Belafonte starring as Joe alongside the Oscar-nominated Dandridge.

Belafonte enjoyed some success through his collaborations with longtime friend Sidney Poitier, including 1972's Buck and the Preacher and 1974's Uptown Saturday Night. He also made numerous television appearances in the 1970s and 1980s, including a guest spot on The Muppet Show, on which he sang some of his most popular songs. Belafonte also worked with Marlo Thomas on the 1974 children's special Free To Be... You and Me.

Belafonte returned to the big screen in the 1990s, first playing himself in the Hollywood-insider flick The Player (1992). White Man's Burden (1995), which co-starred John Travolta, was a commercial and critical disappointment, but Belafonte fared better in Robert Altman's Kansas City (1996), playing against type as a heartless gangster. He later starred in the 1999 political drama Swing Vote, and appeared in 2006's Bobby, about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Music

The success of Carmen Jones in 1954 made Belafonte a star, and soon he became a music sensation. With RCA Victor Records, he released Calypso (1956), an album featuring his take on traditional Caribbean folk music. "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" proved to be a huge hit. More than just a popular tune, it also held special meaning for Belafonte: "That song is a way of life," Belafonte later told The New York Times. "It's a song about my father, my mother, my uncles, the men and women who toil in the banana fields, the cane fields of Jamaica."

Introducing America to a new genre of music, Calypso became the first full-length album to sell 1 million copies, and led to Belafonte being nicknamed the "King of Calypso." The singer also worked with other folk artists, including Bob Dylan and Odetta, with whom he recorded a version of the traditional children's song "There's a Hole in My Bucket." In 1961, Belafonte had another big hit with "Jump in the Line."

Belafonte was the first African American to win an Emmy, for Revlon Revue: Tonight with Belafonte (1959), and the first African American television producer. In 1970, he teamed up with singer Lena Horne for a one-hour TV special that showcased their talents. Belafonte continued to release albums into the 1970s, though his output slowed by the middle of the decade.

Social and Political Activism

Always outspoken, Belafonte found inspiration for his activism from such figures as singer Paul Robeson and writer and activist W.E.B. Du Bois. After meeting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1950s, the two became good friends, and Belafonte emerged as a strong voice for the movement. He provided financial backing for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and participated in numerous rallies and protests. Belafonte helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, in which King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech and met with the civil rights leader shortly before he was assassinated in 1968.

During the mid-1960s, Belafonte also began supporting new African artists. He first met exiled South African artist Miriam Makeba, known as “Mama Africa,” in London in 1958, and together they won a Grammy for Best Folk Recording for their 1965 album, An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba. He helped introduce her to international audiences and called attention to life under apartheid in South Africa.

In the 1980s, Belafonte led an effort to help people in Africa. He came up with the idea of recording a song with other celebrities, which would be sold to raise funds to provide famine relief in Ethiopia. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, "We Are the World" featured vocals by such music greats as Ray Charles, Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen. The song was released in 1985, raising millions of dollars and becoming an international hit.

Over the years, Belafonte has supported many other causes as well. In addition to his role as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, he has campaigned to end the practice of apartheid in South Africa and has spoken out against U.S. military actions in Iraq.

Belafonte has sometimes landed in hot water for his candidly expressed opinions. In 2006 he made headlines when he referred to President George W. Bush as "the greatest terrorist in the world" for launching the war in Iraq. He also insulted two prominent African American members of the Bush administration, General Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice, referring to them as "house slaves." Despite media pressure, he steadfastly refused to apologize for his remarks. In regards to Powell and Rice, Belafonte said they were "serving those who continue to design our oppression."

Awards

Belafonte has achieved some of the highest honors possible over more than a half-century in the public eye. He was a recipient of Kennedy Center Honors in 1989, the National Medal of Arts in 1994 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. Additionally, in 2014 he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Governors Awards.

Personal Life

Belafonte lives in New York City with his third wife, photographer Pamela Frank. The couple wed in 2008. Belafonte had two children with second wife, dancer Julie Robinson, as well as two other children from his first marriage, to Marguerite Byrd. (source)

#harry belafonte #blm #black activists #black artists

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

Text

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/wayne-barrett-donald-trump-rudy-giuliani-peas-pod-article-1.2776357?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true

REMINDER: Trump has relied on Rudy Giuliani as a "fixer" ever since Trump bribed Rudy to kill a mob-related money laundering investigation into him 30 years ago.

The late Wayne Barrett wrote about their corrupt 30-year relationship in 2016:

Peas in a pod: The long and twisted relationship between Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani

By WAYNE Barrett | Published SEP 04, 2016 5:00 AM ET | NEW YORK DAILY News | Posted September 25, 2019 |

Let's start with the fact that Donald Trump's top surrogate, Rudy Giuliani, is on the payroll. In January, he joined a law firm, Greenberg Traurig, that represents Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Last year, the firm handled Trump's suit against the Florida city of Doral so his golf course could override noise regulations that barred him from bulldozing before sunrise. More recently, it handled Kushner's $340-million acquisition of the Watchtower properties in downtown Brooklyn.

When Trump paid a $250,000 fine in 2000 for secretly funding a million-dollar lobbying campaign against an Indian casino in upstate New York, he was represented by Greenberg.

Giuliani brought Marc Mukasey, the stepson of ex-U.S. Attorney General and lifelong Giuliani friend Michael Mukasey, with him to Greenberg; Mukasey is now representing legendary leg man Roger Ailes. Mukasey launched into a tirade recently against New York Magazine reporter Gabriel Sherman, calling the Ailes biographer "a virus" willing to "use any woman" to Weinerize the Trump debate adviser. His dad, who once branded Trump a "peril" to national security, delivered a Republican Convention speech the night after Rudy's screed.

This intertwine may or may not have something to do with why the Greenberg firm lets Rudy, one of its newest partners, hired early this year ostensibly to run a cybersecurity unit, travel the country with Trump, introducing him at rallies and fundraisers, challenging Hillary Clinton's health based on stuff he finds in corners of the internet, declaring her Clinton Foundation troubles worse than Watergate, wearing a "Make Mexico Great Again Also" cap, and helping draft policy speeches diagnosing African Americans for white audiences.

I even watched Rudy on TV, before one joint trip to Ohio, loading suitcases into the back of a Trump SUV in front of Trump Tower, the only baggage that slows him down.

Rudy has actually been more visible in his buddy's campaign than he was at times in his own $50 million presidential attempt in 2008, when he managed to convert the months-long top ranking in the polls into a single delegate. The imperial 2016 candidate who hates losers, especially ones who wind up in Vietnamese prisons, has instead embraced an epic dud, his solitary act of empathy in a campaign of callousness. He could've trashed Rudy like he did John McCain: "I like people who weren't caught with their command center down."

But the onetime comb-over twins just had too much in common. Though bombs-away hawks today, they got multiple draft deferments during the Vietnam War, with athlete Donald citing bad feet as his excuse and Rudy using an ear defect to sidestep his ROTC obligations.

Trump is now warning of a rigged election, invoking the image of Philadelphia blacks cheating at the ballot box and calling for voter suppression squads to "monitor" suspect precincts. Rudy said the 1989 mayoral election he lost was stolen and spent millions on suppression squads, dispatching off-duty white cops and firefighters to minority districts, when he won in 1993.

The two amigos also spark similar antipathy in Mexico, their latest joint destination — Donald for a mantra of insults, and Rudy for a multi-million-dollar anti-crime contract his consulting company won in Mexico City that flopped so badly the police chief declared he was "no fan" of Giuliani's. Rudy even tried to lend credence to the Trumpian fantasy that "thousands" of Muslims in Jersey City celebrated 9/11, quibbling only with the number.

Then there's the wife trifecta. No one in American public life, other than perhaps their kindred spirit Newt Gingrich, has ever mastered the art of a bad divorce like Rudy and Donald, carrying on as if spousal humiliation was the point.

Ask the kids. When Trump married mistress Marla Maples nearly four years after he walked out on Ivana, the three convention stars, Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric, didn't show up. Andrew and Caroline Giuliani made strained appearances at Rudy's 2003 wedding to Judi Nathan, but in 2007, both distanced themselves from their father's presidential pursuit, with Caroline Facebooking her preference for Obama, as close to the ex-mayor's heart as she could plunge the dagger.

Rudy's wife Donna found out he wanted a divorce when he announced it on TV, just as Marla had a couple of years before. Rudy then chose Mother's Day to alert the press that he would be having dinner with his new love and led the cameras on a 10-block walk with her after dinner, kissing her goodbye while his wife and kids simmered. His divorce lawyer declared "we're going to have to pry her off the chandeliers to get her out of" Gracie Mansion. Even Donald Trump was offended, writing an open letter to New York Magazine and urging Donna and Rudy "to sit down with each other in a room, without your lawyer, and see if you can settle this."

But Rudy was only following in the divorce-as-spectacle footsteps of Donald, who'd used the New York Post as his personal hammer a decade before, relishing in Marla's "best sex I ever had" headlines even as they horrified young Ivanka and Don. Trump told Newsweek the scandal was "great for business," and pushed Marla to seize on the opportunities it presented, including half a million to pose in "No Excuses" jeans.

He'd brought his mistress to the same Atlantic City boxing matches he brought his wife to, aboard the same helicopter, just as he'd set up Marla in a sparkling suite on the Aspen slopes while he was vacationing with his family. Young Don told his father then "you just love your money," a line he did not revive in his convention script. Ivanka, shocked by headlines on newsstands during her walk to school, just wept.

Rudy and Donald first got together in the late 1980s shortly before Donald became a co-chair of Giuliani's first fundraiser for his 1989 mayoral campaign, sitting on the Waldorf dais and steering $41,000 to the campaign. A year earlier, Tony Lombardi, the federal agent closest to then-U.S. Attorney Giuliani, opened a probe of Trump's role in the suspect sale of two Trump Tower apartments to Robert Hopkins, the mob-connected head of the city's largest gambling ring.

Trump attended the closing himself and Hopkins arrived with a briefcase loaded with up to $200,000 in cash, a deposit the soon-to-felon counted at the table. Despite Hopkins' wholesale lack of verifiable income or assets, he got a loan from a Jersey bank that did business with Trump's casino. A Trump limo delivered the cash to the bank.

The government subsequently nailed Hopkins' mortgage broker, Frank LaMagra, on an unrelated charge and he offered to give up Donald, claiming Trump "participated" in the money-laundering — and volunteering to wear a wire on him.

Instead, Lombardi, who discussed the case with Giuliani personally (and with me for a 1993 Village Voice piece called "The Case of the Missing Case"), went straight to Donald for two hour-long interviews with him. Within weeks of the interviews, Donald announced he'd raise $2 million in a half hour if Rudy ran for mayor. Lamagra got no deal and was convicted, as was his mob associate, Louis (Louie HaHa) Attanasio, who was later also nailed for seven underworld murders. Hopkins was convicted of running his gambling operation partly out of the Trump Tower apartment, where he was arrested.

Lombardi — who expected a top appointment in a Giuliani mayoralty, conducted several other probes directly tied to Giuliani political opponents, and testified later that "every day I came to work I went to Mr. Giuliani to seek out what duties I needed to perform" — closed the Trump investigation without even giving it a case number. That meant that New Jersey gaming authorities would never know it existed.

It's hard to watch Giuliani invoke his 14-year history as a federal prosecutor when he calls for Clinton's prosecution and square it with the seedy launch of his own relationship with Trump.

When Rudy was mayor, Trump hired the lobbying firm that included name partner Ray Harding, the head of the state's Liberal Party, whose ballot line had provided the margin of difference in Giuliani's 1993 election. Harding's firm quickly went from three lobbying clients to 92, and it steered the controversial, 90-story Trump World Tower, the tallest residential tower in city history, through three levels of Giuliani administration approvals despite loud opposition from community groups led by Walter Cronkite.

Both Harding and his son, a top Giuliani official, wound up felons. His other son, Robert Harding, a Giuliani deputy mayor, has long been a lobbyist at Rudy's current employer, Greenberg.

The Giuliani administration also wrote a 1995 letter of support to HUD for $365 million in mortgage insurance for Trump's Riverside South project, affirming that the Westside Yards site was in a blighted neighborhood, a contention so ludicrous that Donald had to eventually withdraw the application. A board of Giuliani appointees, pushed by Harding's firm, also approved renovations at Trump's 100 Central Park South, where Eric Trump now lives.

Rudy wound up a friend, speaking at Fred Trump's 1999 funeral, doing a grope scene with Donald in a 2000 Inner Circle skit, inviting Donald and Melania to his Gracie Mansion wedding and attending Trump's 2005 Mar-A-Lago wedding.

As aligned as Trump and Rudy appear, there are enough stark differences to make the embrace uncomfortable, at least if the blank-slate broadcast interviewers would do a search or two. When Mitt Romney ran against Giuliani, he said Rudy made New York a "sanctuary city," based on Giuliani's urging undocumented people to settle in the city. PoliFact found the assertion "true."

As mayor, Giuliani was the top Republican champion of the assault-weapons ban, sued the gun industry and called for "uniform licensing" of all guns, contending that the free flow of firearms into the city from unregulated states was killing New Yorkers.

Rudy was also one of the only elected pro-choice Republicans who even supported partial birth abortion. He's recently begun to perform same-sex marriages. He is, in all of these respects, an anti-Trump surrogate.

Yet Trump has said he might name Rudy to chair an immigration commission or to head homeland security. Trump apparently forgets that Rudy already gave us one homeland security secretary, his business partner and former correction and police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who blew up like a land mine before he could take office and wound up sentenced to four years in federal prison, partly for lying to the White House.

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saleintothe90s · 5 years

Text

381. It Came From the Daily Show: one episode from April 1999, and one from May, 1999

(February and March, 1999)

April 28, 1999

“HEADLINES - HEEEERE'S JOHN-JOHN!“

“John-John rollerblades* into yet another cushy gig!” - JFK Jr. might be working on a talk show similar in fashion to his magazine, George. “Like the publication, the talk show should be a huge hit with people who have already watched everything else at the dentist’s office. When starting George, Kennedy said since his dad was in politics, and his mom was in publishing, he was ideally suited to be a political publisher. The same formula for cross-breeding also makes him a horny socialite.” It’s perfect for the syndication arm of USA Networks, who produces Jerry Springer and Sally Jessy Raphel’s shows -- as long as Uncle Teddy “comes on every day, drunk and ready for lovin’!”

* JFK Jr. was known for rollerblading around NYC in the mid 90s, and wearing a dumb hat. I mentioned it years ago.

(see also: No Peking)

Field piece: “XXX-PO '99″ - “Here at The Daily Show, we pride ourselves with our comprehensive coverage of world events. But, since our NATO Summit press passes were misfiled, we sent Beth Littleford and Mo Rocca to report from the Erotica-Con.”

“I’m here with Sharon ... and her implants...” Mo asks Sharon a really stupid ass question, like “if you needed to clean your contact lens, you could puncture these?” Sharon gets fed up and goes “....what show is this for?”

This can’t possibly be Ron Jeremy’s first appearance on TDS. I feel like he showed up at least once in a field piece during the Kilborn years.

“My Day with Billy” - Jon pretends that Billy Joel came by the TDS offices after hearing about how much Jon ribbed him earlier in the month. For a split second, I believed this during Jon’s lead up until I saw those doctored pictures! I had gotten the 30 minute long Billy Crystal interview special Jon did early on during his tenure, and this bit confused.

“coming up, another ridiculous story about that Tyra Banks ... oh Tyra...”

THIS JUST IN - FRUIT BATS - Warner Brothers had plans to produce a Batman musical. “the show is planned to premiere in 2001, making New Yorkers eager to anticipate the destruction of Y2K.”

Shocking, the musical name came to fruition.

OTHER NEWS - SWAMP MEET - “Florida heat wave causes gators to attack humans, just in time for FOX May sweeps.” “Zoologists fear that the gators will drag small children into lagoons and eat them, thus upsetting the delicate ecosystem of the Florida pedophile.”

(audience groans laughs and claps)

“...you’ve been there.”

Back in Black - Lewis Black is mad that this squirrel who rides on jet skis is living a better life than him.

“Tune in tomorrow when we’ll ind out ... Keaton, Kilmer ... Clooney ... Stewart? Nah, too many nipples.”

5/18/1999

Someone in the audience gave Jon some Backstreet Boys trading cards!

Headlines: Guernicut - A crazed man cuts a Picasso painting, Women Nude Before Garden. “Instantly creating two lesser works, “Garden” and “Women Nude”.

“Same *hit, different day” - the Fall season has been revealed for the big five, six and a half networks. Dramedies and West Wing will premiere in the fall.

Oof, the West Wing craze will be brewing at this soon. Did’ja ever notice when people would obsess over West Wing back in the day, it would sound like they were saying, “Wet’ Wing”? I feel like my government teacher, who played favorites, Mrs. Garrity would say it like that.

Jon has some ideas for his Fall TV schedule.

Star Wars: the obligatory coverage - Meanwhile, in movieland, Vance DeGeneres has been in line with Star Wars fans who are waiting for The Phantom Menace, which comes out the next day. Vance didn’t bring enough food so he traded his suit for some Fresca. Boy, that’s pee.

This Just in: the Wonder Fears - Kids are more afraid of snakes, sharks, and thunderstorms than things that go bump in the night. Well, duh.

Other News: Blubber Soul - Macaw Native Americans go back to tradition and kill a juvenile whale, they knew it was juvenile because it laughed at its own blowhole.

Back in Black: Oprah - Our boy Lewis was on Oprah looking cute. The Netherlands flipped out over winning a hubcap in a soccer match. Jon commented that Oprah was all over him. <3

---

ooh, I wanted to share something several TDS related items.

I was at Barnes & Noble last weekend (last weekend of May 2019), and saw that the Daily Show Oral History Book is now on clearance.

I might be heading via train to the Newseum in DC later on in June to see Jon’s last desk on display there. They’re shutting down shop at the end of the year so make it up there if you can.

The Daily Show Weekly podcast brought up two specials I sent them from ‘99: The Daily View and Summer Spectacular.

#the daily show #jon stewart #the daily show with jon stewart #1999 #lewis black #oprah #mo rocca #beth littleford #vance degeneres #billy joel #batman #tyra banks #john f kennedy jr #jfk jr

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celebsbooks · 5 years

Link

English on-screen character Charlie Hunnam is best known for playing Jackson 'Jax' Teller in FX's 'Children of Anarchy.' He has additionally featured in the movies 'The Lost City of Z' and 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.'

Who Is Charlie Hunnam?

Born in 1980, Charlie Hunnam has been acting since he was 17. His first enormous job was in Russell T. Davies' British arrangement Queer as Folk before moving to the U.S. and Furthermore, showing up in movies, for example, Nicholas Nickleby (2002), Cold Mountain (2003) and Children of Men (2006). Hunnam's breakout job came in 2008 when he marked on to play Jax Teller on FX's Crime show Sons of Anarchy, which he featured in through 2014. From that point forward Hunnam has made a convention of encapsulating hyper-manly jobs, including the science fiction flick Pacific Rim (2013), the experience dramatization The Lost City of Z (2016) and the epic dream King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017). Notwithstanding acting, Hunnam is a screenwriter.

Charlie Hunnam goes to the 'Papillon' debut amid the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theater on September 7, 2017, in Toronto, Canada.

Personal Life

After a short romance, Hunnam wedded entertainer Katharine Towne in 1999 yet the couple threw in the towel three years after the fact.

Since 2005, he's been involved with craftsman Morgana McNelis.

Early Life

Charles Matthew Hunnam was conceived on April 10, 1980, in Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, England. His dad, William, worked in the piece metal industry and passed on in 2013, while his mom Jane, an entrepreneur, raised the entertainer and his more seasoned sibling after the couple separated from when Hunnam was a baby.

Motion pictures and TV Shows

'Eccentric as Folk'

Hunnam's first major onscreen job was on Russell T. Davies' British gay arrangement Queer as Folk. On the show he played 15-year-old Nathan Maloney, a defiant school kid who's new to the gay scene, however, is loaded with certainty.

Swinging to film, Hunnam showed up inverse Katie Holmes in the panned suspenseful thrill ride Abandon (2002) however would be wise to karma with the Charles Dickens-propelled dramatization Nicholas Nickleby (2002), in which he assumed the title job, just as the Civil War film Cold Mountain (2003). In the last mentioned, he played the crazy lieutenant Bosie, who duels with the hero Inman (Jude Law).

The youthful entertainer at that point swung to showing up in the romantic tale Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999) preceding advancing over the lake to America, where he got a repetitive job in WB's Young Americans. He additionally had a snappy spell on Fox's Judd Apatow-helmed sitcom Undeclared, yet the acclaimed show was dropped after one season.

'Cold Mountain,' 'Offspring of Men'

Hunnam's pizazz for delineating vexed characters proceeded after Cold Mountain, his subsequent meet-ups being a Cockney-highlighted lawbreaker in Pete Dunham's non-mainstream football show Green Street (2005) and a degenerate pack part in the tragic spine chiller Children of Men (2006).

'Children of Anarchy'

"It was quite enthusiastic for me, living and adoring that person for a long time, to need to at last put him to bed," he revealed to Glamor UK. "I wound up returning to set a ton. I realized the security watches and for a few days stated, 'Gracious, I overlooked something', so they'd let me onto the set, and I'd simply stroll around during the evening since I needed to be in that condition and experience an individual procedure of bidding a fond farewell. Following several evenings I didn't generally require the vindication to get in, and after that sooner or later I just stated, 'alright, enough, this is finished. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

As he kept on featuring in greater undertakings, his rounds in Hollywood satisfied. In 2008 Hunnam was thrown in a standout amongst his most important jobs as group pioneer Jackson "Jax" Teller in the FX wrongdoing show Sons of Anarchy, a tale around a fugitive bike club set in an anecdotal town in California. The arrangement wound up one of the most astounding appraised appears for the system, which ran its course through 2014. All things considered, Hunnam, in fact, experienced serious difficulties bidding a fond farewell to the show and his character.

While on Anarchy, Hunnam likewise featured as the lead job in Guillermo del Toro's blockbuster Pacific Rim (2013), a science fiction show about people working goliath humanoids to fight ocean beasts from another measurement. The on-screen character would collaborate with del Toro again for the gothic blood and gore movie Crimson Peak (2015), which would locate a strong gathering of people and for the most part fared well with pundits.

'Fifty Shades of Gray'

In spite of his troublesome experience turning down Fifty Shades of Gray, Hunnam has discovered another chance to work with the movie's executive Sam Taylor-Johnson: The two are collaborating for the up and coming motion picture A Million Little Pieces, an adjustment of the dubious 2003 novel composed by James Frey.

In the middle of these movies, it was reported that Hunnam was set to star as Christian Gray in the film rendition of E.L. James' sensual novel Fifty Shades of Gray. Be that as it may, because of numerous booking clashes, Hunnam reluctantly bowed out and later called the trial "the most noticeably terrible expert experience of my life."

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); "I called [director Sam Taylor-Johnson], and we both wept hysterically on the telephone for 20 minutes," he revealed to V Man magazine in 2015. "I expected to reveal to her this was not getting down to business… There was a great deal of individual stuff going on in my life that left me on the genuine passionate insecure ground and rationally powerless. I just got myself so f– ruler overpowered and I was kind of having alarm assaults about the entire thing."

In any case, Hunnam ricocheted back playing British geographer Percy Fawcett in the anecdotal show The Lost City of Z (2016). He additionally worked together with Guy Ritchie on the film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), despite the fact that commentators by and large panned the task. In any case, Hunnam had much better gathering playing French sentenced killer Henri Charrière in the praised Papillon (2017), which co-featured Rami Malek.

Screenwriter

After secondary school, Hunnam registered to the University of Cumbria, where he graduated with a film degree.

Outside of acting, Hunnam is a screenwriter. Before he earned the lead job on Sons of Anarchy, he sold a screenplay about Vlad the Impaler to a noteworthy film circulation organization. He is additionally creating movies on American medication ruler Edgar Valdez Villareal and vagabond culture in British society. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: This website is aimed to give the viewers know about their favorite celebrities, their secrets and various other unknown things about them. The content provided here on http://bit.ly/2D2Q971 is based upon the various studies from the web, books, newspaper and various other resources. Neither CELEBS BOOKS nor any person/organization acting on its behalf is liable to accept any legal liability/responsibility for any error/mislead in this information or any information available on the website. This website in no way accepts the responsibility for any loss, injury, damage, discomfort or inconvenience caused as a result of reliance on any information provided on this website.

#IFTTT #Blogger

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aftaabmagazine · 5 years

Text

Goodbye to All That: A Gloomy Vista of a Leading Light

By Idrees Zaman From the 2001 issue of Afghan Magazine | Lemar-Aftaab

[caption: Ahmad Zahir's احمد ظاهر destroyed grave. Kabul June 2001. Photo by Idress Zaman.]

It was a hot sunny day in June this year in Kabul. As a student of history, I had a wish to see historical monuments and the last remnants of historical personas of my country. Obviously, the first preference was none other than Kabul's famous cemetery, Shuhada-e-Saliheen (The Pure Martyrs) شهدای صالحین.

Upon my arrival there, I decided to go straight to the shrine of Tamim-e-Ansar. The shrine lies at the peak of the cemetery and is perhaps the end point of the current endless memorial park. The shrine has not been immune to life's struggle in Afghanistan. Women and men have been separated from each other, even while in prayer. Nonetheless, I was asked to stop at the doorsteps of the century-old monument until some ladies inside finished their prayer. Finally, my turn came, and I was allowed to enter to complete my salutations.

To make the most of that interval, I began to converse with the beggar ladies and their children surrounding the vicinity of the shrine. Most of these women stated that they were not professional beggars, but were rather one-time teachers and office workers. However, they were forced by the undesired economic circumstances of the nation to come out of their homes. For them, this work was once deemed a nightmare ten year ago.

"It is your turn," shouted an old keeper. So, I performed the common prayers and soon left the sanctuary.

It flashed in my memory that once there was a skillfully designed, white-domed tomb of the legendary singer Ahmad Zahir at Shahada-e-Saliheen. It dawned on me that Ahmad Zahir's grave must have been on the left side on my way towards the shrine. If this were so, why haven't I noticed it yet?

Curiosity replaced the wish to see more gravesites. I asked a little; otherwise, school going but now a beggar kid, "Would you show me Ahmad Zahir's grave."

No answer came forth, he just took my finger in his little, dusty hand and started tugging me down towards the gravesite that I vaguely remembered.

Although it was a short walk, it seemed like an eternity as anxiety replaced my curiosity. We were going fast in a zigzag fashion and finally arrived. I only heard Ahmad Zahir sing to me, "Deldar Raseeda" (دلبر رسیده My Love Has Come).

According to Sadat (2000), "From the time of his death in 1979, it had become an annual event to gather at Ahmad Zahir's gravesite and pay homage to the people's fallen friend and favorite musician. This event lasted until 1992 when Kabul finally fell and was engulfed in warfare."

All that was visible were loads of rubble, pieces of broken black marble, plaster and strained iron bars, but no emblem of a legendary singer. Nevertheless, I was made to accept that it was the resting place to the musician of many generations.

Despite a lengthy and detailed search, I could not find any sign of shrapnel or bullets around, which could show the destruction of the site by using explosive ordinance. It was apparent from the degree of damage that the striking of some heavy hammers over the gravel pillars and dome caused its collapse.

The surface concrete of the grave was still in place, though marbles had all been broken and loaded over different sides of the eight-corner, star-shaped monument.

I enquired, "What happened to it?" Silence was the little child's response. Like many other people, the boy was also unwilling to even talk of that disgraceful and cowardly act of bigotry against our nation's fallen nightingale.

I also saw some green ribbons tied around some iron bars of the pillars over the grave. On my query from my companion, the little boy, I learned that many people believe in the spiritual sanctity of Ahmad Zahir as a martyr, eradicated on behest of the rulers of his time. The boy said that every Friday evening, people come and lit candles on the grave and offer prayers for the departed soul of the late artist.

All that I could think about was to fetch my camera from the concealed partition in the car, to document this heinous treachery. Without a second thought, I placed the camera on my chest, and the shutter secretly captured the diaspora of Ahmad Zahir's grave, which was representative of all sites. It seemed that the camera was also aware that photography is a sin nowadays. I questioned myself, "Why is it that Afghanistan's living and dead continue to suffer?"

Ironically, the dome of the grave was still intact but plummeted to the left side. I was unable to find an inscription on the broken marbles tablet.

All writings, most likely poems, were rubbed off from the tombstone before the desecration. I saw many graves around Ahmad Zahir's tomb patterned with the broken marbles of Ahmad Zahir's grave.

I remembered that once, in one of his later songs, Ahmad Zahir had sung, "Then, the winds and rains will tenderly wash down my name from the face of the headstone" (بعد ها نام مرا باران و باد, نرم می شویند از رخسار سنگ).

But it happened that neither winds nor rains desired to rub out his perpetual name and fame; it was another unnamed disaster from which all his fans and fellow Afghans are suffering. For more than two decades, this disaster has been perpetuated by a war of ignorance.

I was so saddened that I could not continue to see the remaining part of the graveyard, but out of the blue, I recall what Ahmad Zahir once sang:

Oh friends, be happy, I am happy and rest in peace شادی کنید ای دوستان، من شادم و آسوده ام

Now I am ever content, Now I am released from the manacles شادم کنون، شادم کنون، از بند آزادم کنون

Now my god-gifted heart hymns for happiness فریادی شادی میکشد، قلب خدا دادم کنون

May his soul rest in eternal peace and his art continue to remind us what good times and country we had. I dedicate this article and photo of his destroyed, yet desecrated tomb to his mesmerizing voice and devoted fans around the world.

- - -

About Idress Zaman

When this article was published, Idrees Zaman was 26-year-old Afghan. He received a BA in history and political science and an MBA in financial management. Zaman worked as an aid worker in an Afghan humanitarian organization and made frequent trips to different parts of Afghanistan. He is now the Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan.

Notes

Between 1992 - 1999, Ahmad Zahir's grave was destroyed. The theory is that he represented art and culture that was considered unacceptable by the Islamist powers in Kabul. Therefore a member of their faction desecrated Ahmad Zahir’s grave. Idress Zaman made a bold attempt by taking a photo of the tomb. Photography was banned by the ruling Taliban regime--being caught led to severe punishment.

#ahmadzahir #AfghanMusic #Travelogue #Afghanistan

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padawanlost · 6 years

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Did any star wars actors ever defend Jake Loyd when he was getting bullied by the "fans"?

Before Isay anything I feel it’s important to remember we are talking about completely differentcontext. Back when the Prequels were being released social media and thecallout culture as we know today didn’t exist, so there were no celebs/fansdefending each other on twitter. It’s also important to remember that the mediaand the public supported the attackson Hayden and Jake. It’s was not a part of the fandom attacking him. It was thefandom, it was online, it was on TV, on newspapers and magazines. It waseverywhere. And no one was interested in hearing the other side of the story.Jake wasn’t just bullied by some fans on the street. It was in his school. Itwas so widespread kids were picking up on stuff their family were saying, stufftheir heard on tv and using it humiliate Jake. It was everywhere and it waseveryone.

I knowright now people are rewriting story to say “the star wars fans bullied JakeLloyd” but the truth is much uglier than that. and the truth is won’t find manypeople involved in TPM defending Jake back in 1999 because themselves were thevictims of it. This fandom has a short memory but I remember that Natalie,Ewan, Liam and Ahmed also tookA LOT of crap from this fandom. Everyone was under attack at some point. Georgecalled people out, Ron Howards wrote that letter and a few years later Markalso defended Jake and the prequels. But back then, saying anything nice aboutthe prequels was asking to bullied by what it felt like an entire planet.

#ask #anon #jake lloyd #padawanlost #sw meta #meta: fandom #txt

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skylorennn · 7 years

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The Emotional Weight of Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker, and Kylo Ren

It’s the year 2001. I was in 4th grade - sitting in the same exact seat that I’d soon find myself sitting in when my teacher explained what had happened on 9/11. Every month, our teacher passed out the TIME for Kids magazine, and I read it voraciously every time. Other kids would casually look at the pictures, but I’d read each article carefully - some even more than once.

In this particular issue, there was an article about Hayden Christensen - the new Anakin Skywalker. I’d seen all of the original Star Wars movies, and The Phantom Menace. I loved them, and I’d sometimes beg my dad to dig out or VHS set so I could watch them on weekends. I don’t remember what my exact thoughts were on Episode I, but I do remember thinking that I loved Padme because she was like Leia - even at that age, I wasn’t content with the way women were portrayed in media. For example, I had months and months of my childhood where I pretended that I was Xena: Warrior Princess, and lived inside of a box in my living room that I pretended was my “lair”, and ate jello because it looked like ambrosia.

Padme and Leia were different - they were so strong, and they didn’t care what anyone else thought. At a New Year’s Eve Party in 1999 (soon to be 2000), I remember playing “war” with a group of my friends who were boys, and their little sister. “You can be a nurse”, they said, and handed me a first aid kit while they ran around with toy guns, shooting one another. I remember picking up one of the guns off of the floor and shooting each of them directly in the forehead before throwing it to the side and walking away, as if to say “amateurs”.

Back to the TIME article. It was introducing Hayden as the adult Anakin Skywalker - we didn’t know much about him at all, but I immediately liked him because fourth grade me thought he was cute. Go me.

By the time Episode II came out, I went to see it with my dad, and I remember him remarking on how interesting the Anakin character was. I told him how he was Canadian, and some of the other facts I’d learned in the magazine. Looking back on it, wonders never cease that little me was also ahead of the Star Wars game - if only I would have known.

By the time Episode III came out, I was old enough to go by myself with my friends. I saw it three or four times, and used my allowance and birthday money to do so. And here’s where things changed for me. 1) That shirtless scene. Oh, yes, we’d had one in Episode II, but I wasn’t old enough to really think about it. By the time 2005 rolled around, I was starting out this whole angst phase where I did nothing but watch Episodes II and III repeatedly, and watch Store Wars on whatever video platform I could find it on at the time. (This was around the same time that the Numa Numa guy was doing all that for those of you that will get that reference.)

2) The FALL. Anakin’s fall. It was the first time I’d ever watched a character go through this before. Right before our eyes, he made decisions that he thought would lead to an outcome he wanted - a better outcome - and he failed. He turned. He became this iconic villain that had always existed, and was EVERYWHERE. And Hayden did it so well. People can scream and cry and laugh at Hayden’s performance all they want, but that boy WAS Anakin Skywalker. He was everything he was supposed to be - if they didn’t like it, then they didn’t like the character - because his portrayal was flaw.less.

3) Padme and Anakin I distinctly remember having some kind of family gathering where my aunt said “and obviously some things happened off screen if she’s having babies now” and I was SCANDALIZED. I was like “how dare you talk about my characters like that? Clearly it happened but they are MY characters, I know their souls, why are YOU talking about them?” I was so oddly territorial, even then. But I’d spent so much time contemplating all of their motives, emotions, and just who they were - that they felt so incredibly real to me.

Even though Anakin and Padme’s relationship eventually led to the creation of Darth Vader, I still wanted what they had in Episode II. The obsession, possession, the passion, the drive. The Star-Crossed lovers.

When I was fifteen, I got that. The height difference. The “I know where you are in the room without having to search for you”. The “I called you just now as you’re walking away from me just so I could watch you pick up the phone”. The strange, unnerving connection. Looking back on it, he even remotely LOOKED like Hayden. He moved like Hayden. He talked like Hayden - but I was the Anakin. I had so much going on in my life - so much baggage, so much angst in my teenage soul, I had never related to a character more than I related to him, and to this day I’m not 100% sure if that was a self-fulfilling prophecy or not. And just like Anakin and Padme, it all went up in flames in a day. Every single bit of it - laced with death and destruction, and that changed me. It split who I was to the core, and I walked into the abyss as everything turned to ash around me. I’m not kidding. That sounds dramatic, but I can’t say any more about what happened because it’s just too much to deal with and explain, but I eventually found solace in Star Wars.

I watched II and III so often I still have every line memorized. I watched every single movie Hayden had ever been involved with, because his acting style and persona were oddly comforting to me even after Star Wars was over. He was familiar.

Flash forward to 2014. Another Star Wars movie is coming out. There’s an image of a character dressed in black, in the snow, with a lightsaber that resembles some kind of crusade weapon. Everyone makes fun of it, makes memes where the cross vents are EVERYWHERE. What an absolutely ridiculous character? Whatever, I’ll see it. But nothing will ever measure up to what Anakin’s character meant to me when I was a teenager.

2015. There’s a trailer. Okay, Darth Emo? Again, who is this ridiculous person?

December 17, 2015: I somehow saw a leak of this ridiculous person stabbing Han Solo with a message that this was his son. Excuse me? Again - not what I expected from Star Wars.

December 19, 2015 4:45pm: I emerged from the theater wanting to cry. Just... 1000% flabbergasted because they’d given me something I never thought I’d find. A character that I’d relate to equally if not more so than I did to Anakin when I was 13 years old.

I was in such a strange place in my life when The Force Awakens came out. A second puberty, if you will. It was awful? Everything felt wrong? I didn’t know my place. I was wrought with anxiety. And here was this character who had this aesthetic that hearkened back to the days when I’d sit in the corner at school and draw on my vans, wear all black, and listen to Panic! at the Disco and AFI like it was my religion, while at the same time relating all-to-well to Anakin Skywalker. This character loved Anakin and was his grandson, and I felt like I’d been given the biggest gift and I had no idea that this seemingly-ridiculous creature from the trailer would have such an impact on my life.

To boot - this character was just plain badass? Everything about him was beautiful and tortured, and dark but laced with fear and possibly - good intentions buried deep beneath the mask? And his actor was beautiful as well. So incredibly stunning, and deep, and carried him so well he felt real.

The lightsaber though - that’s what got me. I felt so unstable at this point in my life - the lightsaber was such a metaphor. Jagged, unfinished, unstable. I too, felt that if I carried one, it would have these characteristics.

I felt belonging again. This character gave me peace by bringing me discord and letting me drown in it.

December 14, 2017, 10:45pm: Peace. i’d waited two years to see what would happen to Kylo Ren - Ben Solo, and once again I feel like our journeys are similar. Although I still have many demons to face, and many lessons to learn, I’m in a better place. A more stable place. Where I felt trauma I now feel at peace, even though I have days where I feel completely out of control.

His trajectory though, is clear. Rey, and redemption. I’m also amazed that it’s all so Byronic and/or Pride and Prejudice-y - what a gift? What an absolutely beautiful gift? How Hades and Persephone? After what I’d been through in those rough years where I felt like Anakin after he’d lost everything, I was amazed at how emotionally invested I was in Rey and Ben, because there’s clearly something there. Snoke, schmoke - that Force Bond is theirs. The idea that they’ll create balance is so freaking beautiful, and it made me want that for myself as well.

I don’t know what form it will take, but I know that in 2 years I feel like I will be so much more at peace with my own life, but also - this time there’s not as much wondering. I was so worried about what they’d do with this character, and the emotional weight he carries in the story and for so many people around the world - other than the concept of the fact that he’s just plain cool to most, or “Darth Millenial” to others.

Anakin and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo) have a strange amount of value to me, I’m aware, but I just wanted to share the power of storytelling, and how it can truly get you through the best of times, the worst of times, and everything in between.

#anakin skywalker #ben solo #kylo ren #star wars #hayden christensen #adam driver #mine #saved

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gayquinn · 7 years

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History of People with Eating Disorders

I was going on a wikipedia deep dive (as you do) and I started reading about the history of anorexia and I thought it was quite interesting the different people afflicted with it and how they shaped societies perceptions. Warning!!! This could be triggering of course!!! I’m definitely not condoning it (quite the opposite, please take care of yourself!!!) But for interests sake and maybe it might help someone, I don’t know.

Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)

Catherine was one of the two patron saints of Italy and one of the six patron saints of Europe. She was a little kooky (sorry to anyone who holds those beliefs) as she believed that she was married to Jesus and had an invisible wedding ring. She first began fasting in defiance when her mother tried to have her marry her sister’s widower. Her sister had also fasted in order to get her husband to have better manners, I don’t know how that was supposed to work. She lived with her family and did not want their food, saying that she had a table laid for her in heaven with her “real” family. When she became a tertiary she practiced strict abstinence, and concerned her associates with her lack of eating. This is a practice know as anorexia mirabilis, religious anorexia, as opposed to anorexia nervosa. She died at the age of 33 after having a massive stroke, most likely due to malnutrition.

Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536)

THIS Catherine was the Queen of England until she was famously by King Henry VIII causing the split between the protestant and Catholic church. After she was divorced, she confined herself to religion and also suffered from anorexia mirabilis from severe fasting. Scientists speculate she died from cancer.

Mary, Queen of Scotts (1542-1587)

This Scottish queen had a mysterious illness temporarily that caused dizziness, fainting, convulsions, and vomiting. This illness was undiagnosed but is thought in modern times to have possibly been anorexia. She recovered and was eventually executed for trying to assassinate queen Elizabeth.

Renee Vivien (1877-1909)

A famous poet and lesbian, she lived a life of sybaritism filled with sadomasochism and affairs. She had unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide in 1908 and began to refuse to eat due to depression. She eventually passed away from pneumonia complicated by anorexia, as well as alcohol and drugs.

Irene Fenwick (1887-1936)

She was a silent film star who had appeared in more than 10 movies and multiple stage plays. She was married to film star Lionel Barrymore who played Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life. She died at age 49 from pneumonia due to complications of anorexia, called “overdieting” at the time.

Jane Fonda (1937-)

This famous fitness guru, actress and activist has been open about her battle with bulimia. She has been active in women’s rights, anti-war efforts, environmental rights, and so many other things she’s really just a boss ass bitch. Her body issues began with her father, who taught her that appearance was the most important thing she had. She said she developed the disorder like three of her father’s five wives. She said that her disorder began when her mother committed suicide at age 12, and she would sometimes purge up to 20 times a day.

Sande Crabb (1937-1957)

The daughter of a famous actor and olympic athlete Buster Crabbe, she died at age 20 from anorexia. It wasn’t an understood disease at the time, she officially died from “malnutrition brought on by an emotional disturbance”.

Dianna Ross (1944-)

This famous diva revealed in her book Secrets of a Sparrow that she had suffered from anorexia in the 60s when with her musical group, and even had collapsed on stage.

Sally Field (1946-)

Sally is an actress who’s been in many prominent works such as Forest Gump, Steel Magnolias, the Flying Nun, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Mrs. Doubtfire. She suffered from bulimia in her 20s because of not feeling attractive enough.

Elton John (1947-)

This absolutely legendary man has stated that admitting he needed help for his addiction and eating disorder was more difficult than coming out. He corroborated with Princess Diana over their shared bulimia.

Richard Simmons (1948-)

The flamboyant fitness guru spoke with Oprah about how he began his weight loss and had trouble stopping when he was a kid. He recovered with a strong positive attitude and help from his beloved fitness routine.

Karen Carpenter (1950-1983)

Possibly the most famous person to die from anorexia, Karen’s death certainly brought much needed light to the subject. She was one of the lead singers and a drummer for the band The Carpenters along with her brother. She had an abusive husband, possibly pushing her towards the eating disorder. She began dieting in high school and was at a healthy weight. When seeing an unflattering photo of herself taken at a concert, she hired a personal trainer and began to have a more specific diet. The personal trainer’s suggestion caused her to gain muscle which made her appear heavier, so she fired him and began to restrict her eating. She contacted Cherry Boone about her illness who suggested she see her doctor. She was treated by a psychiatrist but continued to use thyroid pills to increase her metabolism and laxatives so her condition worsened. She was finally admitted to a hospital where they put her on intravenous nutrition, which was a success, but the rapid weight gain caused damage to her already weak heart. She seemed to be improving tremendously after the hospital, but ultimately collapsed at home and died at the hospital from a weak heart. Her death brought attention to the disease, and her family created a memorial foundation in her honor.

Gelsey Kirkland (1952-)

A very famous and talented ballerina, she joined the New York Ballet at age 15 and danced as Clara Stahlbaum in the 1977 televised production of the nutcracker. She was also on the cover of Time magazine in 1978. In 1986 she published her memoire Dancing on my Grave, which chronicled the struggles with drugs, plastic surgery, abuse and an eating disorder on her rise as a dancer. She had a tremulous disorder, starving herself during the day and then binging and purging during the night and taking multiple pills and supplements to aid in weight loss.

Susan Dey (1952-)

This actress struggled with an eating disorder when she was cast in the show The Partridge Family at only 18. She recovered without too much damage.

Cathy Rigby (1952-)

At first an olympic silver metal gymnast, she retired at only 18 due to an injury. She then went onto acting and portrayed the character Peter Pan for 30 years, including on Broadway. She spoke publicly on her struggle with bulimia in the 80′s, where she said she would consume almost 10,000 calories a day and almost died twice from an electrolyte imbalance. She struggled with the need to maintain a “perfect weight” when she was in gymnastics, and her problems only worsened after she left gymnastics. She attributed her struggles with bulimia to her lack of self confidence, and said that her second husband helped her get the treatment she needed.

Dennis Quaid (1952-)

The actor said in an interview that he had developed anorexia while losing over 40 pounds to portray Doc Holiday in the movie Wyatt Earp. He said while the weight loss was temporary, the mentality stuck with him.

Cherry Boone (1954-)

Daughter of Pat Boone and granddaughter of famous country singer Red Foley, she was also in her own music group with her sisters in the 70s called The Boones. The same year she met Karen Carpenter and the year before she died, Cherry published her book Starving for Attention which detailed her living with anorexia and her recovery. She later published two follow up books on the matter.

Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997)

The famed princess of wales turned to bulimia when she was struggling with her husband’s infidelity. It began the week after her engagement when her then-fiance made a comment about her weight. She spoke out about her struggles in order to encourage others to seek help.

Lena Zavaroni (1963-1999)

Lena was a child star who remains the youngest person ever to have an album in the top ten UK charts. She suffered from anorexia from the age of 13 and depression from the age of 15. She begged for a psychosurgical brain operation which she received and seemed to improve her mood. However she died shortly after from pneumonia from complications from her eating disorder.

Dolores O’Riordan (1971-2018)

The frontwoman for the band the Cranberries. She revealed in an interview in 2013 that she had suffered from sexual abuse which caused her to lapse into anorexia. She has also spoken openly about her bipolar disorder and suicide attempts. She died recently of currently unknown means.

Christy Henrich (1972-1994)

An American olympic silver metal gymnast, a judge in an international meet in 1989 first told her she needed to lose weight. The sport of gymnastics was dominated by very petite girls. Her coach Al Wong also made derogatory comments about her weight, after his pressuring ultimately lead gymnast Julissa Gomez to die from a fatal injury from a move too dangerous. Christy’s efforts to lose weight to maintain her popularity in gymnastics eventually escalated into full-blown anorexia. She weighed only 47 pounds, and died of multiple organ failure. After her death other gymnasts came forward with their stories of disordered eating and the issue was addressed by multiple programs to inform about nutrition, as well as commenters on American gymnastic television programs were no longer allowed to mention a gymnasts weight.

Portia de Rossi (1973-)

Ellen’s wife wrote about her struggle with bulimia and anorexia in her book Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain. Her disorder began at 12 years old when a modeling director told her to lose weight. Her disorder then resurfaced when was working on the show Ally McBeal. She’s said that she would sometimes eat as few as 300 calories a day, and take as many as 20 laxatives.

Hila Elmalich (1973- 2007)

An Israeli model who only weighed 60 pounds when she passed away from heart failure. After her death Israel passed a law in 2012 that models must have a healthy BMI over 18.5 in order to work.

Melanie Chisholm (1974-)

Also known as sporty spice! Melanie has been very open about her depression and eating disorder, talking about how she would spend hours at the gym and restricted her diet to only fruit and vegetables while she was in the Spice Girls. The pressure of being a popstar caused her to be critical of her body image, but she now has a healthy relationship with food.

Victoria Beckham (1974-)

Also known as posh spice. While she has been less open about her disorder than her fellow Spice Girl, she revealed in her autobiography Learning to Fly that she had suffered from appearance issues facing pressure for the Spice girls and began to binge eat in later years.

Hedi Guenther (1975-1997)

A ballet dancer who was first told to lose weight while in dance school. She broke her foot in her first season and refused medical treatment as she was afraid she would lose her contract and just rested when she wasn’t dancing. This caused her to gain five pounds. Although her company told her not to lose any weight as she was already too thin, her artistic director told her that if she did not lose the five pounds during summer vacation she would not get a part. Her company urged her to gain weight, but her mother insisted she lose weight to get better parts. She died at Disneyland from cardiac arrest due to her eating disorder. After her death American ballet companies began to treat the disorder seriously.

Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden (1977-)

This literal princess struggled with an eating disorder in her teenage years before she went to college. The illness was particularly difficult to deal with due to her position in the public eye. She has said that when she had little control in her life, she found control in the foods she was putting into her body.

Daniel Johns (1979-)

The frontman for the band Silverchairs. He developed depression and anorexia while on tour in 1997 for their album Freakshow. He then wrote a song about his experiences, Ana’s Song, which premiered on their next album.

Isabelle Caro (1982-2010)

A model and actress who advocated for the treatment of anorexia. She was featured in the TV show Supersize vs Superskinny and interviewed for the TV documentary The Price of Beauty. Most famously she was featured in an ad campaign with her naked body with the words No Anorexia in 2007. Her gaunt and bony body was very shocking to the public. She hoped to raise awareness to the severity of the disease but the ad was banned in several places if it was determined it exploited the illness. Her disorder was perpetuated by her mother, who had an irrational fear of her growing. She died of an immunodeficiency caused by her disorder.

Billie Piper (1982-)

This Doctor Who darling said that she had dealt with an eating disorder and suicidal thoughts since she was a teenager. It’s said she would do self destructive behaviors such as eating tissues or going up to five days without eating solid food. She discusses her disorder in her book Growing Pains.

Luisel and Eliana Ramos (1984-2006) (1988-2007)

Two sisters were both prominent “Size 0″ models. Luisel collapsed from a heart attack after eating nothing but lettuce and diet coke for 3 months. Her sister Eliana passed away shortly after also from a heart attack brought on by malnourishment.

Ana Reston (1985-2006)

Ana was the reason that eating disorders within the modeling business were brought to light. Like many models, she was told by a casting agent that she was too fat and needed to lose weight. Towards the end of her life she subsisted on nothing but apples and tomatos. She died of a kidney malfunction and became a martyr for the fashion industry.

Troian Bellisario (1985-)

This actress is most notable for her work on the show Pretty Little Liars. She’s spoken about difficulties in high school and having problems with anorexia and self harm. She wrote, produced, and starred in the movie Feed which dealt with the issue of anorexia. She said making the film had helped her heal from her own disorder.

Lily Allen (1985-)

The singer has spoken about her battles with bulimia before, and suffered from major postpartum depression.

Brittney Snow (1986-)

The pitch perfect and hairspray actress has been very open about her experiences with anorexia, depression, and self harm. She’s discussed things she experienced that are common to other people with anorexia, about considering other people worried a good sign, or thinking that she would feel better if she got down to a certain number.

Allegra Versace (1986-)

The daughter of Donatella Versace, and niece of the legendary designer Gianni Versace. Unlike her celebrity family, she is very withdrawn and dislikes the spotlight. Her uncle’s murder traumatized her as a child and left her emotionally stunted. Her mother issued a public statement in 2007 that she was suffering from, and getting treatment for anorexia.

Mary-Kate Olsen (1986-)

One half of the most popular set of twins was committed to an institution following her high school graduation for her struggles with anorexia.

Snooki (1987-)

Yes, Snooki. The reality star talked about how she would starve herself in high school, but returned to a healthy weight with the intervention of her parents.

Evanna Lynch (1991-)

This Harry Potter cutie patootie has worked hard to help people recover from eating disorders after suffering herself. She was in a treatment facility at only eleven years old for anorexia. She found the disorder was a way of getting attention that she could control.

Demi Lovato (1992-)

This singer has been very vocal about her struggles with depression, self harm and eating disorders. She’s become a role model for teenage girls struggling with anorexia and or bulimia.

#personal #anorexia #trigger warning #TW: anorexia #TW: weight loss #history #bulimia #TW:Bulimia

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sleemo · 7 years

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Jedi master Mark Hamill geeks out with Bill Hader

— Interview Magazine Nov 9, 2017

From the time of the ancient Greeks, humanity has been fascinated by the struggle between good and evil, often led by an archetypal chosen one who blazes a path of glory by separating himself from the pack. As a young actor toiling between auditions, Mark Hamill’s moment of destiny came when he took a break from TV fare such as General Hospital to read for a role in a little sci-fi film helmed by a young director fresh off an Oscar-nominated hit called American Graffiti (1973). When Hamill was cast in the original 1977 Star Wars as Luke Skywalker, an orphaned farm boy growing up on a desert planet, no one—chief among them Hamill himself—knew that the film would become one of the most influential and profitable franchises ever made.

When the announcement came a few years back that Hamill would reprise his role as the Jedi Knight in J.J. Abrams’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), along with his original co-stars Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, fans went wild. But while Hamill’s screen time was relegated to a small appearance at the end of that film (Skywalker, in ascetic seclusion on a remote planet, is discovered by a young woman who exhibits strong signs of the Force), the second installment of the new trilogy, next month’s The Last Jedi, is squarely focused on Skywalker’s journey.

On a late September afternoon, the comedian, actor, and Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader (who was a vocal consultant for the droid BB-8 in The Force Awakens) called up Hamill from the Sony lot in Los Angeles to geek out about that iconic galaxy far, far away.

MARK HAMILL: Hi, Bill!

BILL HADER: Hey, man!

HAMILL: I’m a big fan of yours. My kids tell me that you came to my house before you were on SNL.

HADER: Yes! I was a PA on Empire of Dreams, the documentary about the Star Wars movies, and I came over to pick up some pictures of you. I sat in your living room, and I believe it was your wife who brought down the pictures, and I was like, “Oh my god, Mark Hamill’s so rad.”

HAMILL: Was I not there?

HADER: You weren’t. I didn’t want to touch anything, and the whole time I kept apologizing for my existence.

HAMILL: Were any of my kids there? Nathan or Griffin or Chelsea?

HADER: No, but when I first moved to L.A. in 1999, Nathan and I ran in the same circle for a bit. I had a friend who had a massive crush on him. I remember once we had to go to this bowling thing because Nathan was going to be there. [sirens wail in the background] Sorry, I’m robbing a bank right now. Hold on.

HAMILL: [laughs] I saw your tauntaun and Jabba the Hutt impersonations on YouTube. It’s a talent of yours I had never seen. I like that you keep alive the legacy of some of the actors that I love, like Vincent Price. I’ll be talking to people your age and younger, and I’ll mention Lee Marvin [Hamill’s co-star in The Big Red One, 1980] and a lot of them will go, “Who’s Lee Marvin?”

HADER: Oh, my god.

HAMILL: It just goes to show how fleeting fame is.

HADER: I remember I was at Comic-Con once, and I looked over and there was this long line for, I don’t know, the stars of some lesbian vampire series from Mexico, and then all by himself was [stop-motion animation and special effects master] Ray Harryhausen.

HAMILL: Did you go talk to him?

HADER: Yeah! I was like, “Oh my god, you’re Ray Harryhausen.”

HAMILL: He’s always been an icon for me. I was so into that stuff as a kid. I mean, The 7th Voyage of Sin-bad [1958] and Jason and the Argonauts [1963] and First Men in the Moon [1964] and on and on and on. I lived for that stuff. I got to interview him once on the floor at Comic-Con for Comic Book: The Movie—he was the quintessential gentleman of another era.

HADER: Were you always a fan of this stuff?

HAMILL: I was a total freak for these kinds of movies. As for getting the role of Luke Skywalker, I really stumbled into it. Just last year, I saw that they included our audition tapes as a DVD extra, and I saw William Katt’s and Robby Benson’s and Kurt Russell’s tapes, and they were all great. It seems so arbitrary that I was anointed.

HADER: Was it true that they were casting for Carrie [1976] at the same time?

HAMILL: When we auditioned, it was a total cattle call, where they didn’t even tell us about the movie—we just went in and talked for a few minutes. Brian De Palma was looking for actors for Carrie and sitting next to him was George Lucas. Since Lucas didn’t speak the whole time, I thought he was De Palma’s assistant. I didn’t know what he looked like! So I did my thing, and a couple of weeks later, I went to my agent, and there were six or seven pages of audition material for me. By the time I got the part, I assumed that Harrison Ford was the lead, because he’s a traditional leading man. I thought I was going to be his sidekick, you know, like Captain America and Bucky.

HADER: Or Batman and Robin.

HAMILL: Then I opened up the script, and at the time it said: The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as Taken From the “Journal of the Whills,” Saga I: Star Wars. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought, “How are they going to do all this?” Robots, the Death Star, all of it—it blew my mind.

HADER: Did you have confidence that they could do it?

HAMILL: You have to believe. But it’s always a little disconcerting—what you imagine in your head and what you see on set.

HADER: Describe a moment on set when you went, like, “Wait, these are the Sand People?”

HAMILL: The lightsabers, for a start. George referred to it as the most expensive low-budget movie ever made. At one point, Fox screened raw footage to some people, because they needed more money to finish it. Imagine it with no effects, no music, no nothing. The general consensus, because it played so horribly, was that they should just shut it down and take a tax loss. It was only [20th Century Fox executive] Alan Ladd Jr. who saw the potential and gave us his blessing. I think they gave us like a million and a half more. Do you remember seeing it when you were young? Did it scare you, or did you love it?

HADER: I remember going to see Return of the Jedi [1983] on my fifth birthday—the people tearing the tickets were dressed as stormtroopers—but the first image I can remember on a movie theater screen is that close-up from Empire [The Empire Strikes Back, 1980], of Han in carbonite. I flipped out, and my dad had to take me out of the theater. Then he told me the whole thing on the ride back; he was like, “Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s dad!” And that’s how he said it—not his father, his dad. [laughs] What was it like, back then, leading such a massive franchise?

HAMILL: It was kind of like The Prince and the Pauper, where one day you’re nobody and the next you’re partying with Andy Warhol. It was surreal. I came from a big enough family, so I didn’t let it get to my head too much or change my view of the world. The first time I went to the Oscars was like that, too. It wasn’t really me walking the red carpet. It was like watching a movie of a Hollywood premiere. You have to have an intellectual distance from it, because it’s so atypical from your everyday life. I’m sure you feel the same way. You can’t sit in the park and people watch anymore, that ship has sailed. Star Wars ebbed and flowed, but I never expected it to come back, certainly not with this intensity. Carrie and I were in Orlando, with fans. It’s just astonishing the passion and affection that they have for all of this stuff. It’s overwhelming. You can get emotional about it because it’s so personal, the way they relate it to their own lives.

HADER: Batman, too. [Hamill has served as the voice of the Joker in animated series, films, and video games, starting with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992.]

HAMILL: That’s a whole subgenre of comic book nerds who know that I’m a nerd, too. I’m one of them, so they love the fact that I’m not posing.

HADER: What is it like working with [Last Jedi director] Rian Johnson or J.J. Abrams, people who grew up with Star Wars? Is it ever weird to be told things about your character, when you know him better than anyone else?

HAMILL: With J.J. and with Rian, it’s the first time that the fan generation has grown into being in the position that they are. I was surprised in many ways how they saw not just my character, but the overall piece, because you get really possessive over the years. But Rian, what a blessing that guy is. He is unassuming and amiable. I’ve never seen him raise his voice. I’ve never heard him curse. I never heard him humiliate anybody else in front of the entire crew.

HADER: [laughs] When the first trilogy ended, did you feel a sense of relief? I know when I left SNL, it was a big relief.

HAMILL: It was exhilarating. It felt like senior year of high school. You know those last moments when you’re clearing out your locker? You’re going to miss all these people you know, but there’s the exhilaration of what comes next. It’s like jumping out of an airplane and hoping for the best, hoping your parachute opens. I was lucky that a lot of pressure was taken off financially; I didn’t have to do stuff that I didn’t want to do, so I indulged myself. I always wanted to do theater, so I did lots of theater. I got to do a comic mockumentary, and I wrote a comic book, and I discovered that the Joker gave me a whole new career. I didn’t expect to be the Joker, of course, but with voice acting, it liberates you to play characters you’d never do in a million years because you’re physically not right. You can show up looking like hell, you don’t have to memorize your lines because you can read them right off the page, and you get to play the most fun parts. You come in and you kick everyone’s ass and you get your own ass kicked, and then you go home.

HADER: I do animated things, too, and they’re so much fun. But do you get tired after a session?

HAMILL: Oh, yeah. It’s a real workout. But it’s so entertaining. It’s like going to a really great nightclub act and getting paid for it.

HADER: I really liked The Big Red One. What was that like?

HAMILL: I was a huge Sam Fuller fan. Within five minutes of meeting him, I went, “Holy Christ, I’ve been drafted!” He got up on his feet and he started telling me the story of that film, with the explosions and the rat-a-tat-tat, and I was mesmerized. He had such charisma, such magic. He was a firecracker, like Yosemite Sam. I was traumatized when it came out because, even though it got good reviews and takes its place among the great war films, it wasn’t what we all hoped for. They cut it down to an hour and 50 minutes, to the point where it was so incomprehensible. Now, of course, it’s been restored to its proper length. If anybody’s reading this and is thinking about watching the movie: make sure it’s the two-and-a-half-hour version! Not that truncated version. I wish Sam were alive to have seen that because that would have made him happy, and he deserved it. Like any great artist who is ahead of the time, he was not welcome in Hollywood at a certain point.

HADER: There was a great documentary about him called The Typewriter, the Rifle, & the Movie Camera. That was when I first heard about him.

HAMILL: Was I in it?

HADER: You’re not talking in it, but there’s a clip from The Big Red One in it.

HAMILL: Okay, yeah, I remember that one. I hope you and I get to work together some time.

HADER: That would be awesome.

HAMILL: I have been loyal to Saturday Night Live from the very beginning. When it first came on, I said, “We’d better enjoy this because it’s for sure going to be cancelled. This is only going to last one season.” So I started taping them all. I had no idea it would become such an institution. I guess we can both relate to getting lucky and hitting the jackpot.

BILL HADER IS A COMEDIAN, ACTOR, AND WRITER. THIS SPRING HE WILL STAR IN THE HBO SERIES BARRY, WHICH HE CO-CREATED.

— Interview Magazine

#interview #mark hamill #bill hader #star wars #cast #luke skywalker #interview magazine

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ukdamo · 5 years

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Bb is for Book. Cc is for Cleaning

One of mine, just written...

Me and cleaning.

We're acquainted, you know; we meet in the street, there's a nod of recognition - but we don't put our shopping bags down and chat for five minutes. Still less, adjourn to Costa for coffee and tiffin. It's not that I'm dirty. Or lazy. Or enjoy mess. The nexus of our tenuous connection isn't to be found there. 'It's complicated', people inevitably say of irregular relationships. So say I about me and cleaning. If I was pushed to name names, I could legitimately point the finger of blame at mum. Not that she was a slattern, you understand.

Our house was ever spick and span. The ancient hoover used to rumble and clatter from room to room, and clunked on each and every step of the stair (there were thirteen to the landing, then a turn, and another one). The cupboard under the sink was full of relevant paraphernalia. We stocked Lanry, Vim, Brillo Pads, Windowlene, Swarfega, Pledge, and a forgotten tin of ancient lavender funiture polish. Dusters were ever old pillowcases, torn up - but there was a purpose bought floor cloth. And there were always J-Cloths for kitchen messes.

I've mentioned Vim. Now there was a product. It scoured everthing scrupulously clean – and left a film of white residue on every surface it touched. What on earth was that about? I think it was deliberate. You had to use another product and wipe everything over in order to get rid of the residue. In effect, you had to clean up twice. There was the Protestant Work Ethic and the Capitalist Profit Motive writ large, in bold, and underlined. That we were Catholics and Socialists didn't alter the outcome – we still had to clean up twice.

Next to the Brillo Pads (in the old, handle-less, cream and gilt-patterned teacup) were the donkey stones. One yellow, one white. They've been consigned to history now, along with most of the other products and mores of my childhood. God forbid, back then, that your backyard wasn't swilled and your front / back steps not mopped and donkey-stoned. Not to have that chalky white or yellow edge marking on each step was tantamount to admitting you lived in a hovel. Our donkey stones were sourced from the rag-and-bone man (also consigned to history). Periodically, this affable character would jingle along back streets on an old, wooden, flat-bed cart, pulled by a comfortingly-scented horse, and give out a timeless call; “Aag-Bow!”. You could hear him half a street away, which gave your mum time to rummage about and find some booty. You gave him whatever salvageable detritus you had and he'd give you a donkey stone. It was a sort of anti-bacterial barter arangement. Everyone was a winner. He had stuff to recycle, you got rid of clutter, and your mum was not labelled a brothel-keeper.

You might think I'm undermining my assertion that mum is responsible for my ambivalent relationship with cleaning, since I've given a long litany of cleaning products and house-proud moments worthy of an article in Lancashire Life. But no. Not so. She is the prime culprit.

She encouraged me to read. You know – Aa, Bb, Cc: the alphabet, books... She was a reader herself – she'd always have a magazine or book to read in the evening after dad had gone to bed. Her magazines were of the era: the People's Friend (with its watercolours of Scotland); the Reader's Digest; or a slim novel. Later in life, her reading was more devotional and always included the Daily Office for the Secular Franciscan Order. I associate mum with magazines, books, puzzles: word searches, crosswords, arrow-cross. She kept her brain exercised long after she'd allowed her body to take more ease: ever a force to be reckoned with if you watched Countdown together. Switched on to the very last, mum.

So, there was mum with her familiar pile of books and magazines and there was dad, saying goodnight and heading off to bed (being a wagon driver, he had to be up early). Now, as I cast my mind back, I see that he had a hand in my aversion to cleaning, too. Not that he, too, was a reader: I can only recall him reading three books in my lifetime: The Robe, Lloyd C Douglas; Cherrill of the Yard, Fred Churrill: and a book about the Border Regiment's campaign in Burma (that was his war). Dad made a more subtle contrbution: the morning routine at 89 Napier Street was built around his need to be up and out early. That routine was instrumental in binding me indissolubly to books.

But I started the story with mum and the fact that she signposted me to the written word.

Not a sporty child, not interested in sport (except for Wimbledon fortnight), I was a devotee of Hollywood musicals, and books. The literary devotion started early. I was a member of the local public library as soon as I could hold cards in my own right. I held six in my name; I was voracious. I was one of the (few) kids who learned to read using the ITA system – the idea being that you if you taught children to read using a phonetic method, where words were written as they were pronounced, it would speed up learning. Then, at age seven or so, you'd switch to regular spelling and ditch the ITA alphabet. Some adults schooled in ITA, I have read, have never been confident spellers, as a consequence of not using the standard alphabet at the beginning of their schooling. As you can see, that is not my story. But, I digress.

I'd walk down to the library almost every Saturday morning, scooping up books before heading home to devour them through the coming week. When I was eleven I sat the 11+ exam. I was one of the last kids to do that (it was phased out in the late 60's and early 70's as Comprehensive Schols supplanted the Grammars and Secondary Moderns). Having pased the exam, I was enrolled at St Thedore's RC High School in Burnley, and the shape of my life was definitively cast.

Mum and I would sit up and read late in the evening, after dad had gone to bed. Then, in the morning, I'd read before getting the bus to St Ted's. Dad would wake me at about 6:15am, as he left the house. (Thinking about it now, I have no idea why he didn't wake either of my elder brothers. Well actually, I probably do – they would have been unrousable. They didn't need to be up, and would have resisted any attempt to stir them into premature activity. I was more pliable.) My job then, by default, was to get up, light the coal fire, and wake up the rest of the household at the appropriate times. The bus I used to reach school was BCN Transport's 60. It wended its way from Nelson to Burnley via Halifax Road, Hill Place, Marsden Road, Briercliffe Road, and Eastern Avenue. I used to get on at Hill Place:if I left the house at 8:10am, I could reach the stop in good time. I'd be joined there by Andrew Thornton and Keith Haydock - classmates at St Ted's.

So, now you see me - solidly located in the 70's, on any given weekday morning. Dad's up and gone, the fire's lit, and I am aged eleven and I have nearly two hours to fill before I go for the bus. What is there to do but read? No such thing as Breakfast TV back then. Nowadays, when there is breakfast TV, I still prefer to read. In fact, I get up 90 minutes before I'm due at work so that I can read. By doing so, I invite another snag: I can't put the bloody book down! I'm usually 'last minute' or marginally late, arriving at work. But we're talking books... What can you do? The setting conditions for my literary efflorescence were present throughout my adolescence: mum was promoting literary explorations and dad was affording me ample opportunity to stick my nose where it belonged.

All of this may appear to be but tangentally related to my allergy to cleaning up but the two are, actually, inextricably bound. In my universe, Books and Cleaning are binary stars; suspended in the vacuum of space, locked in an eternal embrace.

The incomparable Quentin Crisp had an unique perspective on cleaning. He said, “There's no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years, the dirt doesn't get any worse”. Now, that's a sterling silver quotation – great to deploy if the Aggie and Kims of this world ring your doorbell, step into your home, and proceed to look snootily down their noses at you, whilst pinching their nostrils firmly closed. So, thank you, Quentin.

But don't think this lets you off the hook. I haven't forgotten how you died the night before I was scheduled to see you on stage in Manchester, in November, 1999. You owe me for that lack of consideration. When we meet in the heavenly (diabolical?) Cage aux Folles in the sky, I expect you to obtain a corner table for our exclusive use, with mood lighting. If push comes to shove, we can always drape one of your pink chiffon scarves over the table lamp. I'll stand us drinks but I anticipate, from you, a cavalcade of hilarious and outre anecdotes. Don't disappoint. Though I appreciate Quentin's contribution to the debate, we're not allies. We may both be Friends of Dorothy but I don't subscribe to his philosophy of detergence. I like clean and neat. I like minimalist.

I am my mother's son, after all. She liked elbow grease and order, and knick-knacks were strictly regulated; few in number and of weight and moment. We're similarly constituted, she and I. I readily confess that this outlook on the house beautiful lends itself well to spick-and-span, clean and calming. I sign up to that: I love it when my space is elegantly muted, crisply orangised, dust-free and soft-sheened. But the truth is, my impulse to clean always defers to my impulse to read.

Some people say that when food whispers to them, Eat me, they are helpless to resist. I sympathise. Books, I tell you, are equally invidious.They beckon, invitingly. They murmur, insistently, Read me. I try to be motivated by hoovers and mops. I urge myself to be excited by Mr Sheen. It'd be great if Cilit Bang raised my blood pressure. But it doesn't. I struggle. Even the most jaundiced comentator will acknowledge that Descartes' aphorism states Cogito, ergo sum not Expurgo, ergo sum. Still, I'm no slothful coward. I am not one to admit defeat easily. I've devised a graded cleaning routine to spur me to action.

I'm not one to boast, but the USA has adopted something similar to grade their national preparedness to defend against threats: they call it DEFCON. The Yanks and I share an ordered sequence of alert settings. You can find theirs on the internet. For simplicity's sake, I decribe mine below.

DEFCON 4: There's visible dust on flat surfaces. Response: SCOWL DISAPPROVINGLY OVER THE EDGE OF THE BOOK

DEFCON 3: Visible dust, an assortment of specks / crumbs on the carpet. Response: PAUSE MOMENTARILY IN MY READING. CONSIDER HOOVERING, at some unspecified future date

DEFCON 2: As above, plus fluff balls near skirting boards. Response: SET BOOK ASIDE, WITH ILL-GRACE. QUICK HOOVER and a bit of DAMP DUSTING

DEFCON 1: Imminent arrival of guests (particularly transatlantic ones) or, threat levels as detailed above, plus shower cubicle and bathroom sink clouded by soap scum. Response: BLITZ EVERYTHING

Sometimes, for reasons I don't quite understand, the C-in-C seems to initiate DEFCON 1 without adequate justification. I mean, if book precedes clean in the dictionary, by how much more does it precede deep-clean? Ah well. Fits of absence of mind have been know to happen. Or maybe it's the breath of God blowing through me - a burst of genuine enthousiasm? Of course, it's possible, too, that (in the depest bunker of my brain) there is some unimagined Stellar Intelligence Service that continually monitors the binary stars Book and Cleaning and detects perturbations in their orbit. Once an aberration is discovered, the agency leaps into action to rectify any threat to the creative tension that holds them in equilibrium. A bit like NASA, but with Marigolds and a pinafore. If so, it's effective.

The upshot of DEFCON 1 – however it's triggered - is a mad two hours; every resource is allocated. There's a burst of frenetic activity which I sustain until, sweat dripping off my nose end, I have successfully transformed my homely abode into a showpiece. I must admit, the sense of statisfaction arising therefrom is a natural high. It's lush. I beam, inwardly. And what is it that I do next, when I hit this high? I'll tell you.

I make a pot of tea, get comfy on the sofa, and pick up my current book.

#damian's wiriting #short story #reflection #story #remembering #childhood #cleaning #housework #books #reading #family #autobiography

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janicecpitts · 6 years

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