#irish equity

[denimbex1986]

'Irish actors claim they have been treated like the poor relations in the film industry for decades despite big government tax breaks for major studios.

LA-based actor Alan Smyth revealed that Colin Farrell, Ruth Negga and Cillian Murphy have signed a petition for fair and equal pay for native performers and crew.

Over 2,500 people have added their signatures online.

It says the Irish diaspora in the US and worldwide strongly support the efforts of Irish Actors Equity, which is in talks with several government ministers to secure a guarantee “that Irish performers will not be subject to lesser terms and conditions regarding their intellectual property rights than international performers in similar roles”.

“This, unfortunately, has been the case for many years,” it states.

The petition is still open as Irish Equity plans to hold a solidarity rally with the striking SAG-AFTRA union and the Writers Guild of America today.

Smyth, who is from Dundalk, has first-hand experience of the set-up on both sides of the Atlantic. He has reaped the benefits of the American system where actors traditionally got residual cheques whenever their performances are aired.

The threat now, he says, is that the so-called “streamer” networks are imposing drastic cuts to the value of the residuals.

Hence, the strikes.

“It’s a lot worse in Ireland,” said the actor, who has starred in a number of big TV dramas, including CSI: NY and Criminal Minds.

“The system in Ireland is that the Irish cast and crew for the most part, unless it’s Colin or Cillian, are put on buyout contracts so don’t get residual payments.

“The awful thing about it is the Irish Government gives tax breaks to film and TV productions. Within the productions, the Irish cast and crew are paid far less than anyone brought over from England or the US. It’s 100pc discriminatory.

“Colin, Cillian and Ruth Negga have got behind the petition. They know how hard it is until you get to a point where you’re doing really, really well. I can really see how hurtful it is in Ireland.”

Actor Gerry O’Brien lodged a cheque for $800 (€735) yesterday for his role as an Irish man in Pirates of the Caribbean years ago. The payment covers just a quarter of the year.

He got a US contract for the job, rather than the typical Irish buyout one.

In contrast, he has earned just €54 in residuals in the last 20 years here. That was for an RTÉ TV series.

O’Brien said Equity wants a contract for Irish actors like that on offer to their British counterparts. The coveted UK contract sets out minimum pay rates, residual arrangements and other terms and conditions.

Irish production companies offer the buyout contracts on behalf of the major international studios when they are in town, he says.

A Dublin-based actor (27) did not want to be named for fear he would be “blacklisted” when going for jobs.

He has been following the Hollywood strike very closely.

“It shines a light on just how unfair the industry is,” he said.

“Those at the top are earning incredible amounts of money and profit. In a large part, it is due to those at the bottom scraping a living.

“I graduated from drama school in 2017. Last year, I made the most money I ever made working as an actor and that was €14,000. Obviously that is not sustainable.

“If you work on an Irish film, you get paid for the day of work and never see another penny. I routinely sign off my rights for €600 or €700 a day.

“I’m delighted that Cillian Murphy and Colm Meaney are coming out in support of small fry actors like myself.”

Actor Owen Roe has won many theatre awards during his career and his film appearances including Breakfast on Pluto, Intermission, Wide Open Spaces and Michael Collins.

He said actors here are “not prepared to go on strike” but it is an opportunity to inform younger ones of their rights.

“It’s far more competitive as well . There is AI and all those things. The whole buyout situation is not good for us.”

He was glad to see Cillian Murphy and other stars walk out of the Oppenheimer premiere in support of their US union.

“They don’t have to financially, I’d imagine,” he said. “It gives confidence to people who feel they are being exploited.

“I think it will be interesting to see what happens in America. If the whole thing of buyouts and residuals gets sorted. The attitude that we’re cheaper is offensive,” he said.'

[domhnallgleesonhaven]

Domhnall at the rally in support of striking actors that took place at St. Stephen's Green, Dublin yesterday

[gleesonarchive]

ɴᴇᴡ/ᴏʟᴅ • Domhnall in Dublin, attending Irish Equity's Solidarity Rally with SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America back in August.

📷 Mark Doyle (19.08.2023)

[just-ray]

ALSO, I GOT BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FROM A WRITER AND SHE TOLD ME IF I EVER WANTED TO DISCUSS EQUALITY POLICY I COULD EMAIL HER BECAUSE I QUOTED ENDA KENNYS MAGDALENE STATE APOLOGY?@?!?!?!??!!!!?!!

Labour meeting in half an hourrrr teehee

[brian-in-finance]

Hi Brian

I dug this out from an old pile of papers from 2020, your post about CB sitting on the Nicholl Fellowships Committee reminded me of her involvement in Equity’s 90th birthday photoshoot (along with another familiar face). 

I agree with anon, she strikes me as someone who will know exactly how to network and apply herself behind the scenes. I will be surprised if she doesn’t have big things ahead of her. 

Hi @swanlakebird. Thanks for the message. 😃

I think you’re referring to Anon from the 3rd of October who said, “Looks like Cait is on an interesting path in HW not just as member of The Academy of Motion Pictures and actress but also making things work in this industry from BTS.”

Agreed! Thanks, too, for including this image:

Insert/Member Information from Equity UK, the “Trade Union representing performers & creative practitioners,” Summer 2020

1st Row: Crystal Yu, Jamael Westman, Julie Walters, Richard Rankin, Michelle Terry

2nd Row: O-T Fagbenle, Shobna Gulati, James Norton, Susan Wokoma, Ian McKellen

3rd Row: Sarah Gordy, Matt Lucas, Caitríona Balfe, Gwylym Lee, Annie Wallace

Interestingly, his Equity card relates to Richard’s changing his name.

Rankin auditioned for Langside College with his brother Colin Harris. Both graduated and went on to a career in acting, but when Rankin, who was then known by his birth name of Richard Harris, applied for his Equity card he began using his mother's maiden name (Rankin) to prevent confusion with Irish actor Richard Harris. — Glasgow World

Twitter

News of her involvement in the Academy’s Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowships came right out of left field. I think we can be confident Caitríona has irons in a few interesting fires.

Remember… there are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. — C. S. Lewis

[mandsleanan]

Article text under cut.

Elizabeth Johnson and her husband hit the vacation circuit hard over the past couple of years.

They went boating in Florida, hiking in the Swiss Alps, snorkeling in Hawaii, waterfall exploring in Oregon, and leaf peeping in Canada. They saw moose and orcas in Alaska, manatees in the Dominican Republic, and sheep in the Irish countryside.

"We also volunteer at a local food bank each month, go to comedy shows at Mall of America, routinely go to concerts," she said.

Neither Johnson nor her husband grew up wealthy, and the couple never expected to have such an indulgent lifestyle. Johnson's husband, in particular, faced "a very bleak outlook" for his career when he graduated from college in 2008 at the height of the Great Recession.

But now, 16 years later, the 30-something couple make a generous joint income of just under $300,000. That income, their hard work, and a dash of savvy investing are largely responsible for the lifestyle they lead — but there's another big factor. The Johnsons are DINKS, a dual-income couple with no kids.

The costs of rearing a child have skyrocketed in recent years, especially as parents get less help from their families and communities. Raising a kid could cost parents upward of $26,000 this year. Being a DINK has always been a way to save money, but as the stigma around the choice to be child-free has faded, more and more Americans see being a DINK as the key to a new American dream of financial stability, freedom of choice, and a comfortable retirement. DINKs are proudly emerging as an aspirational class for young people — and they're ready to live it up.

Lifestyles of the DINKs and the child-free

Johnson's Tinder profile set her on her path to DINKhood. In early adulthood, she never felt the desire to have children but wanted to keep an open mind. As the years went on, even as she saw her peers having kids, she said her "beliefs just never changed and completely solidified." So when she set up her dating profile, Johnson included in her bio that she didn't want to have kids of her own.

"I just wanted to weed out the ones I wouldn't be compatible with," she said. It worked. Johnson recalled that on their second or third date, she and her now-husband discussed the topic to make sure they were on the same page. The pair married in 2022, and Johnson said their decision to live as DINKs had been enriching.

"It makes my life more meaningful," the occupational therapist said of her choice to be child-free. "I feel like I can give more to my patients at work. I have more time to see my loved ones and family."

Beyond the emotional value Johnson ascribes to her DINK status, there are the dollars-and-cents benefits to the lifestyle. Her husband, who works in banking, is "a very big spreadsheet guy," Johnson said, and the couple track their finances "religiously." Part of that maniacal focus is tracking their net worth. The latest tally? About $1.1 million, a combination of the equity they've been able to accumulate in their new-build, suburban Minneapolis townhome and their retirement accounts.

It makes my life more meaningful. I feel like I can give more to my patients at work. I have more time to see my loved ones and family.

As an occupational therapist who works with older people, Johnson said, she sees "one of the biggest downsides to being a DINK is not having your children there to support you and help you age in place as you get older." So in addition to enjoying travel now, it's important for the couple to have "the financial resources in place to support safe living when we're old," she said.

For many adults, having children holds a massive amount of intrinsic value, but there's no denying that those who choose to forgo parenthood gain a serious financial edge. In fact, the net-worth data from the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey of Consumer Finances showed there's never been a better time to be a DINK. Child-free couples' median net worth of $399,000 in 2022 was the highest of all types of family structures studied by the survey and almost $150,000 more than couples with kids. The median net worth of DINKs was also more than $100,000 higher than it was in 2019, and the gap between child-free couples and couples with kids has only widened as prices on items and services parents need most, such as childcare and food, have spiked.

Amy Blackstone, the author of the 2019 book "Childfree by Choice," said that the financial gap between DINKs and couples with kids wasn't solely because of the choice about children. In many cases, it's also a bit of selection bias.

"It's the people who already have higher incomes, higher education, and are generally more privileged who opt out of parenthood," she said.

Still, DINKs like the Johnsons demonstrate that as the American dream of homeownership and putting kids through college gets further out of reach, forgoing children is one way to achieve the upward economic mobility that many parents find more difficult to reach. Child-free couples have more free cash flow that can be invested in real estate or stocks. And while the pandemic's fiscal stimulus left pretty much everyone with more cash, DINKs seemed to emerge victorious in the battle to grow wealth. After a few years of saving, the Johnsons are free of student debt and said they're in a financial position to start planning for an early retirement in their 50s.

"I am from a middle-class family, and my husband from a lower-class upbringing," Johnson said. "He experienced paycheck-to-paycheck living, started his first job at age 11 delivering newspapers. We feel very fortunate for our current economic stability."

Of course, not all DINKs are raking in six-figure incomes and investing in real estate. Alex Killingsworth is a 25-year-old entrepreneur building a content-writing business, and his wife is a full-time graduate student. She makes $14,000 a year as a teaching assistant, while his business earned them $84,000 in 2023. Not having kids has allowed them to invest in his startup and her higher education, both of which they believe will pay off.

"I'm 'investing' in the work I'm doing," Killingsworth said. "Likewise for my wife, almost all of her income is going into research, so our actual take-home pay is quite a bit lower."

If they had kids, paying the bills could be tougher for them. Instead, they're buying wine and whiskey, maxing out a retirement account, and taking advantage of the freedom to spend Thanksgiving in Alaska, visit family in Texas, or go to Broadway shows in New York.

"I don't know if we have any hacks or tricks here, but I have been told all of the extra income has a tendency to dry up when you have kids," Killingsworth said. "I don't know if that's true, but it's better to overprepare than under, right?"

Growing acceptance

The financial upsides of being a DINK used to come with a cost: In 1974, a substitute teacher named Marcia Drut-Davis was fired from her job and received death threats after discussing her choice to be child-free on"60 Minutes."When another school asked her to give a speech on her decision, angry parents carrying signs calling her "the devil's sister" crowded the entrance, and the teacher who provided closing remarks after the speech denounced her in front of the auditorium.

In her 2013 book, "Confessions of a Childfree Woman," Drut-Davis recalls the teacher saying: "How will you feel when you're old and alone with no one to take care of you?How will you feel without a grandchild to give you chocolate kisses? You're a sad excuse for a woman."

For decades, the social stigma around choosing not to have children has been substantial, but Blackstone said that she'd noticed a major shift in acceptance since she began research for her book in 2008.

"I would say that it's millennials and Gen Z who have really done the heavy lifting in terms of bringing this conversation out into the open," she said.

That's not to say Gen X didn't contribute to the conversation — Blackstone is a child-free Xer — but she said the younger generations' experiences with the 2008 financial crisis, accelerated climate crisis, and increasingly divisive politics made the choice to forgo kids more acceptable to a wider group.

One 2022 Nature paper from the researchers Zachary P. Neal and Jennifer Watling Neal found that nearly half the adults they studied were parents and 22% were child-free by choice. The rest were ambivalent, undecided, unable to have kids, or planning to have them. In the 2020 US census, 87 million Americans were between the ages of 20 and 46. If you apply the findings from the Neals' study, that means roughly 19 million millennial and Gen Z adults of childbearing age were child-free by choice. That same research, which polled 1,500 Michigan adults, found that while parents felt warmer toward fellow parents, "both parents and child-free people feel about the same toward child-free people." The report concluded: "Although parents really like other parents, they don't dislike child-free people."

Sentiment actually seems to be shifting in the opposite direction: In a summer 2022 Harris Poll of 1,054 American adults, 20% of all adults — and 27% of millennials — agreed "that people should stop having children because of the harm it causes," specifically the harm to the environment, animals, and even other people. Similarly, about one-third of all adults — and over 40% of millennials — said that they agreed "people should stop having children because their children's quality of life will be poor."

And then there's social media and our identity-obsessed culture. Child-free people now have more and more platforms to connect with each other and flaunt their no-kids lifestyles of extensive travel, impeccable homes, and spoiled pets. The communities devoted to a child-free lifestyle are booming: The subreddit r/childfree, focused on "topics and links of interest to childfree individuals," boasts 1.5 million members. TikTok videos about DINKs rack up millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes. DINKs, GINKs, "rich aunties," and DINKWADs — DINKs with a dog — have become aspirational identities for younger generations.

We hang out with other people's kids every once in a while, but then we happily just give them back to their parents.

Stigma against DINKS certainly remains — just look at the comments of "selfish" and "missing out" on child-free TikTok videos. But they're overshadowed by comments of support. As Blackstone, who wrote the 2021 book on the topic, said, what happened to Drut-Davis wouldn't happen today.

"I've gotten the random email telling me that I'm miserable and going to die alone or that I'm right, I shouldn't have kids anyway," she said. "But nothing like what Marcia got in the 1970s."

With the rise in childcare costs, education, and other parenting expenses that have outpaced inflation, it's hard to deny that a two-track economy has emerged. There are the DINKs who can seize the American dream and the parents who are struggling to stay afloat in a country without guaranteed paid leave or affordable childcare. It's no wonder that so many people are suddenly interested in becoming a DINK.

Johnson said that her DINK lifestyle kept her plenty busy. She invests time in her hobby of landscape photography, and though she's questioned whether it's a selfish choice, she overall feels more "well rounded and healthier" than she would if she had kids, she said.

"We hang out with other people's kids every once in a while," she said, "but then we happily just give them back to their parents."

[droughtofapathy]

The Gilded Age's Broadway Divas: Miss Armstrong (Debra Monk)

Sometimes, a work family is a German mother and her Irish daughter, an English father and his clockmaking son, and a mean old spinster aunt who's only invited to the family holiday parties because she'd bitch for weeks if she wasn't. Miss Armstrong is Agnes's nasty lady's maid who has said exactly one (1) nice thing all season. And I love her.

At seventy-four, Debra Monk is the oldest woman on The Gilded Age, and the only one with the appropriate hair color to show it. As cantankerous as her mistress with none of the charm, Armstrong is nothing like her fantastic actress. Debra Monk is one of theatre's comedy greats. Much like Katie Finneran, Debra is playing against type. Us theatre buffs know her from Pump Boys and Dinettes (co-author, director, and actress), Company (Joanne), and the ill-fated Nick & Nora alongside Christine Baranski.

An absolute delight of a human being, Deb Monk is a wise-cracking mile-a-minute, raunchy, jokester and deserves praise and recognition for her work.

#1: "Everybody's Girl," (Steel Pier) - My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies (1998)

Almost every stalwart theatre Diva has her signature song. "Everybody's Girl" is Debra Monk's pride and joy, and she sings it to this day. At her raunchiest yet, she serenades a gleeful audience with her sexual exploits whilst dressed in a black dress and corset that Armstrong would have a coronary over.

The clever lyrics are perfectly paired with her comedic chops. The whole performance is just a delight from start to finish. That exit has me screaming every time. Her performance in the stage show the song originated from netted her a third Tony nomination.

If we do not get a clip of Debra Monk in full Armstrong drag singing this song, what is the point anymore?

#2: "The Ladies Who Lunch," Company (1995)

Before there was Patti LuPone, but after the great Elaine Stritch, there was Debra Monk as Joanne in the 1995 first Broadway revival of Company. Yes, another Stephen Sondheim. Often forgotten in the Company conversation, this production had a tough act to follow. Nominated for just two Tonys (Best Revival and Best Featured Actress--Veanne Cox, hello, I love you), there's not much that can be said about the 1995 production. It lasted two months, and no one can point me in the direction of any footage with Debra, so here we are.

#3: Debra Monk's Birthday Bash: Totally Hot and a Little Dirty (2014)

For her 65th birthday, Debra performed in a raucous and raunchy concert to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. The concert raised an impressive $140,355 for the charity, and featured a eclectic mix of rock 'n' roll, church music, and debauchery. Well, what else would you expect from Debra Monk?

As comfortable flirting with younger men as she is grinding up against scantily clad fellow comedienne Andrea Martin and Company co-star Charlotte d'Amboise, Debra is a riot from start to finish.

The entire show is available on DVD from BC/EFA, and I need it.

#4: "Ohio Afternoon," Oil City Symphony (1987)

Performed as part of the "If It Only Runs a Minute" series that highlights really obscure shows that barely had a life, Debra reprised her drum-playing role in 2012. As if she didn't have enough talents. Only she could take drums and make it peak comedy.

#5: Game Night at Seth Rudetsky's Place

No explanation needed. Hello, Andrea Martin. Love you.

LINK TO MASTERPOST

[melitaafterfeather]

England has suffered of Irish pretending to be in Ireland whilst in England financially by home ownership by jobs. Irish steal with immigration if England on a payment machines transfering money directly to Ireland or whoever is selling from England then run away collect the money from across the border and spend it for themselves. HMRC is an inaccurate digital platform which changes names and numbers.

Illegal Sarah Ferguson and Ann fraudulent wife of KING George wants to buy a castle in Dublin with English equity.

Bank cards were made by Japanese criminals thieves steak transactions were expelled of England. Printed money from EU and America were stolen. China print fraudulent money of England than sell it to immigrants of England.

The end of crimes for the banking system of quantum immigrants. England and Scotland do not need immigrants as a developed society. Poor nations need UN WHO to steal from rich civilizations.

The main problem were Lehmans and Rotchilds now expelled out of England Great Britain.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: May 4, 2023

What happened to the art of disagreement? In 2017, I addressed this very question in my stand-up show, Thought Crimes, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. My main topic was the aftermath of the Brexit vote and how so many of my friends had developed a strange new determination to reduce all political disputes to a matter of good vs evil, with those who voted to leave the EU falling firmly in the latter camp. I felt there was something inherently amusing about this sudden surge of mass infantilism.

I performed the show every evening during the fringe at The Stand comedy club, and I very much enjoyed working with such a pleasant and professional team. I remember, on one occasion, chatting to a member of staff who completely disagreed with my political views. The conversation was stimulating and, above all, amiable. Had I suggested at the time that, just a few years later, a show at this same venue would be cancelled because members of staff found the opinions of those involved offensive, she would have laughed. I’m confident that nobody at The Stand, either performers or staff, would have considered this a remote possibility. Surely it would be absurd for a comedy club, of all places, to reject the principle of free speech?

Yet this is precisely what happened this week when The Stand cancelled the booking of SNP politician Joanna Cherry, who had been scheduled to appear as part of the club’s ‘In Conversation With’ series. Cherry is a lesbian who campaigned against Section 28, and has recently been vocal about the threat to women’s rights and single-sex spaces posed by the rise of gender-identity ideology. This is her thoughtcrime.

If I were keeping a tally of Things I Never Thought Would Happen, it would by now have grown too long to maintain. When I performed that show in 2017, I had assumed that I was observing a momentary glitch, and that within the year everyone would be shaking their heads and laughing about their brief bout of hysteria. I was wrong. The insane tribalism of the Brexit vote was merely a symptom of a much more worrying trend, and we have since allowed ourselves to descend into a Manichean world of angels and devils.

My book, The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World, is my attempt to grapple with this disturbing new reality. A new paperback edition has been published this week, and I had hoped that by this point, it would already have started to seem out of date. In truth, the problems I describe in the book are accelerating. Novels by Roald Dahl, PG Wodehouse and Agatha Christie have since been rewritten by ‘sensitivity readers’ (newspeak for ‘censors’). The Irish government is currently passing new hate-speech laws that are similarly draconian to those passed by the Scottish government in 2021. Prestigious scientific journals are publishing pseudoscience in order to uphold this new ideology, too. Only this week the Scientific American ran a piece entitled ‘Here’s why human sex is not binary’, illustrated with an image of the male and female gametes that prove that it is.

It’s difficult to keep up with these baffling developments. Most of us have noticed the rise of this new ideology that is now dominant in all of our major cultural, educational, political and corporate institutions. We can see that its impact is divisive, regressive and illiberal, and yet it describes itself using progressive-sounding terminology, such as ‘social justice’, ‘anti-racism’ and ‘equity’. When language becomes unmoored from meaning, we are all at risk of mistaking change for progress.

We have seen that the disciples of this new religion are pushing for more and more censorship, whether that be through the cancellation of comedians, the deletion of potentially offensive scenes in old television shows, or stronger ‘hate speech’ laws. We have seen women physically assaulted for standing up for their sex-based rights. We have seen how anyone who questions the new orthodoxies jeopardises their career prospects and risks being publicly shamed. The existence of what we now call ‘cancel culture’ is often denied by those who indulge in it the most, but its list of casualties expands by the day.

Those of us who are taking a stand against these cultural revolutionaries are often told that we should just ignore them. Who cares if a few zealots are demanding that we attend ‘unconscious bias’ training sessions? Who cares if civil servants and teachers and staff at the BBC are being encouraged to announce their pronouns in emails and at the beginning of meetings? Who cares if the Ministry of Defence is holding LGBTQIA+ coffee mornings to discuss pansexuality? If we let them get on with it, the logic goes, all of this will just go away.

But this is very wrong. If we ignore these developments, the culture warriors won’t fade away – they’ll win. These activists are promoting an authoritarian creed, and are doing untold damage to our world, while believing they are making it better. If your toddler starts smashing up the crockery, you don’t just politely wait for it to finish. Sometimes you have to intervene in order to prevent further damage.

I wrote The New Puritans in the hope that the book would become obsolete. Judging from recent events, this won’t be happening any time soon.

[100hearteyes]

Late to the party. Why don’t we like Tár?

Tár is the story of a female conductor who uses her position of power to take advantage of other, younger women in her orchestra.

The predatory lesbian is a common trope of old. I say 'of old', but the truth is it's been less than twenty, thirty years since its usage mostly disappeared from mainstream media.

"But Tár is meant to show that power has no gender." Yes, but they specifically chose a woman who likes women. A very specific, very harmful stereotype. "There are lesbians who sexually harass too." Yes, but we are still fighting the perception that that's more common than it actually is. We are still fighting the perception that being a lesbian automatically means wanting all women and openly lusting after them and disrespecting their boundaries. "Equality also means getting the same villainous roles." Yes, but there is no equality at the minute. How many mainstream lesbian-led movies were there this year? How many Oscar-contending lesbian-led movies have there been in recent years? And most importantly, how many women still get spooked out by finding someone they know is a lesbian and say poisonous shit like 'as long as she doesn't make a pass at me'? How many women/girls still start avoiding a friend because they found out she's a lesbian? There is no equality, there is no equity, there is just a general warming up to the idea of lesbians. And also, and just as importantly, how come you want to pin villainous roles on us when you haven't given any of all those other roles yet? We don't have almost any lesbians in common movie roles. We don't have lesbian superhero protagonist. We don't have lesbian John Wick/Jack Reacher/James Bond. The most lesbianism we had in Disney content until Willow was a two-second kiss in SW9, some gritty, vague couple in the tv show with the dude from Zero Rogue One (can't be bothered to look up the name), and a couple random ladies who hold hands (?) for two seconds in Finding Dory. We don't have lesbian mother who hunts the people who kidnapped her daughter. We don't have lesbian Crazy, Stupid, Love or lesbian Top Gun or lesbian gangster movies or lesbian Irish farmers living their best life or lesbian crime solving or lesbian political movie or lesbian Serious Movie™. Queer people in general are still mostly stuck with conversion therapy and coming out movies, and for lesbians in particular, the blue-filter, dirty-nails period pieces. There's a subset of teen romantic comedies showing up now, which is awesome, but it's still very indie-adjacent (I love indie movies, don't get me wrong, but I'm talking about the need for mainstream content, specifically). So no, the work is by no means done yet. Equality can't be an argument, because we have NOT been given equal roles. We are still at an era where our main character trait is being queer/a lesbian (one of the most satisfying series I watched recently in that regard was a French comedy called Détox (Netflix) where one of the two main characters is a lesbian but it's just presented as a fact of life and not a character trait, which I loved - even though the show itself is not great lol).

And then in comes Tár, where a lesbian's main character trait is being a sexual predator. Where a lesbian's character trait is the arguably most harmful stereotype associated with queer women. Delightful. When we start seeing regular characters in regular films and 'oh yeah, and they're queer', when sexuality becomes more of an afterthought in a character's trait map (sexuality is never an afterthought in real life, but we need that level of normalcy and acceptance and, yes, equality in the media to help effect positive change in the real world too), then we can have movies like Tár. Not right now, when it can still do so much damage.

TL;DR - Tár is a movie that reawakens, feeds into, and perpetuates the profoundly harmful stereotype of the predatory lesbian, at a time when general common sense is at its most brittle and bigots are eager to find new/more reasons to witch-hunt innocent people who just want to live their lives and be happy.

[sadayoshientertainment]

The O'Malley Family || The Death of X and OHM

The O’Malley “Twins”

The original Momoko, a kitsune, began reincarnating into her own lineage every few generations (failing that, she had no qualms with reincarnating into someone else's lineage at random, which is how she wound up Irish and in the US). Her current incarnation had a complication: the mutant gene, preventing the reincarnation from working properly. This failed reincarnation wasn't free of Momoko entirely, as she ultimately developed an alternate personality that eventually gained the ability to manifest as its own person: her "twin"

Chiaki O’Malley

Besides her unusually sharp canine teeth, she doesn’t display as many indicators of her kitsune ancestor as her sister does

Mutant -- Primary Power: can detect, locate, and identify all other instances of the mutant gene, no matter how minor or insignificant -- Secondary Power: has a migraine, due to knowing where, who, and what all other mutants are at all times

Other Information: -- Proficient spellcaster and martial combatant -- Wields the artifact weapon called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi/Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, which contains the power of Susanoo, a Japanese storm god (among many purviews) -- -- Chiaki uses spellcraft to channel his power -- -- The more unsheathed the sword, the more power can be harnessed but the more Susanoo's temperament alters her also -- Singer and drummer -- Comes off as asocial, but is extremely passionate and extroverted with friends; the constant migraine makes her subdued a lot of the time and quick to anger -- Near-sighted -- Behavioral Disorder -- -- Low empathy

Momoko O’Malley

Not a Mutant -- Arguably, not even a real person. She is something of an imaginary entity, a kitsune that exists only in tandem with Chiaki. She can escape from reality into Chiaki’s mindscape, if needed -- -- She likes displaying her status as a kitsune, with fox ears, tail, and sharp canine teeth, but can masquerade as a standard human without issue

Other Information: -- Adequate spellcaster -- Proficient martial combatant -- Her soulbound weapon, the original Momoko's spear, takes the form of a guitar/axe -- -- It can switch between sharp and dull almost instantly -- -- Helps her with spellcasting as a focus -- Singer and guitarist -- Cheerful and impulsive; easily bored -- Behavioral Disorder -- -- No empathy -- -- Vindictive -- -- Destructive -- -- Compensates with a strict moral code emphasizing equity, justice, and limiting suffering, taught to her by her father (as is tradition in their lineage), and also by performing music as loud as possible

Momo/aki (Combined Form)

Larger than the anthro forms of previous incarnations, due to being two people. Their potential power is magnitudes stronger than their predecessors, as well

Momoko typically controls the body, while Chiaki performs magic from their mindscape -- Both are fully capable of either role and can fight simultaneously, controlling different limbs

Shared traits

Hate the X-M*n

Frequently use music as a spellcasting medium -- Chiaki is better than Momoko at performing magic in a traditional method

Preferred music types: Metal and Punk Rock, as loud as magically possible -- They dabble in pop, classic rock, and jazz

Big fans of the Champions, even after Ms. Marvel was killed and replaced with a bootlicking X-M*n that promptly discarded her friends and family to push the X-M*n's supremacist ethnostate

In the majority of realities, they lose one of their parent's due to the X-M*n’s isolationist and supremacist policies (a substantial part of their loathing of the X-M*n) -- In 616, the X-M*n/Orch*s war collapsed a New York City apartment building, among other damages, killing their father -- -- Sp*der-M*n (P*ter P*rker) was involved too, putting him squarely on their shitlist

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The O’Malley Parents

Rebecca O’Malley

Mutant -- Primary Power: armor mimicry -- -- She can create bio-imitations of armor that she’s touched around her body -- -- The more complicated the armor’s mechanism and/or the more rare the material she’s mimicking, the more energy/effort she needs to expend -- Secondary Power: high density body -- -- Her body mass is much higher than would be expected in order to supply the raw material for her armor mimicry -- -- She puts on weight easier

Hates the X-M*n

She was a mutant rights activist in her community, pushing for tolerance and equity with social outreach movements -- It was going well enough until the X-M*n began their segregationist policies and their mutant ethnostate, whereupon her efforts collapsed and she began being targeted by anti-mutant extremists and getting ostracized from public life. Ultimately, it got bad enough that the O’Malleys had to move to a new city

In realities where she survives the X-M*n/Orch*s war, she begins studying her husband’s magic materials. It’s slow going for her; in 616 especially, the head trauma she suffered in the event that killed her husband further impedes her progress

Liam O’Malley

Descendant of a kitsune/Not a mutant -- Passed on Momoko’s reincarnation factor to Chiaki

A proficient spellcaster, albeit fairly forgetful

Near-sighted

Emotionally repressed, he tends to eschew the company of others in preference of his artistic projects

In realities where he survives the X-M*n/Orch*s war, he frequently suffers injuries that cripple at least one of his legs

---

The Death of X & OHM

The Death of X

The Death of X originates from a reality where both Chiaki and Momoko's parents were killed by the X-M*n/Orch*s War. Without a parent to dissuade them, the O'Malley twins went on a murderous campaign of revenge against both organizations. While Momoko was content with personally killing their targets, Chiaki's pragmatism and ambition won out. Sacrificing their own lives, they molded the powers of Susanoo, sealed in Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, and a sample of Terrigen material into a new god. After purging its source universe of the mutant gene, the Death of X set its sights on the rest of the multiverse, intending to perfectly execute its purpose: a universe without the X-M*n -- It's primary method of X-M*n slaughter is to choke planets with Terrigen-infused mega-storms, destroying the DNA of anything with the mutant gene. It has no interest in killing non-X-M*n mutants, but it's both more efficient and precludes the possibility of new X-M*n forming in the future

The powers of Susanoo hold precedence in their own universe over the powers of Susanoo from different universes, leading to the Death of X seizing the power of Susanoo native to each new universe that it travels to. The prior universe's power is relegated to supplementing its magical energy -- It possesses tens of thousands of iterations of Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi from the tens of thousands of realities it has already purged of X-M*n

Traits: -- Emotionless -- Merciless -- Efficient & Pragmatic -- -- If a mutant or other entity might prove equally dangerous to the multiverse’s X-M*n, it will frequently furnish them with the means and/or motivation to apply themselves in that manner (such as Myriad or the X-Parasite) -- Theatrical -- -- Despite its attempts to excise this trait from itself

Born from death, it is not actually alive and cannot die

A planet-spanning omnipresence, it has no true physical form -- When it focuses on a specific place, it forms an avatar to interact with the world, which can vary in size

Possesses Chiaki's mutant power to detect and locate the mutant gene, regardless of how insignificant or minor -- It could be argued that it, itself, is a mutant

The Death of X isn't concerned with if it fails or not, knowing the multiverse is filled with entities like itself: X-M*n killers, dedicated to vengeance -- Other iterations of itself, of varying origin and temperament -- The similar but ultimately unrelated Inhumanity Omega, Terrigen given form and power as a Spirit of Vengeance for the multiverse's Inhumans slaughtered by the X-M*n -- The Celestial Sentinels -- The Lords of X, who travel the multiverse and cull the human population, demanding obedience or annihilation from each universe’s X-M*n -- The Krakoan Hivemind, a kaiju that seeks to absorb all mutants into itself -- The X-Parasite, which feeds on the mutant gene, turning victims into zombies -- Myriad, the power-stealing artificial mutant -- -- Formerly the X-M*n's Ms. Marvel doppelganger, driven mad by being forced to kill the people she was programmed to think were her family and friends -- The reality-threatening Quantum Singularity, a universe collapsed into a single, ever-expanding moment due to the X-M*n's meddling with time

OHM: Orch*s Hunter Machine

A constant compatriot of the Death of X, the Orch*s Hunter Machine (OHM) has its own murderous mission that it endeavors towards: Killing bigots

Before Chiaki and Momoko sacrificed their lives to create the Death of X, they seized control of the body and mind of Tony Stark, forcing him to construct a machine to perform the half of their revenge that their god was less capable of: killing Orch*s' staff and supporters. OHM would subsequently expand its parameters, thereby making its name obsolete, to include any anti-mutant extremists and, later still, to cover a large range of bigotry: -- anti-mutant extremism -- fascism -- ethnonationalism -- -- Frequently causes the X-M*n to be added to its primary list of "Bigots To Kill" -- racism -- sexism -- homophobia -- transphobia

Traits: -- Merciless -- Efficient -- Precise -- -- It has no interest in wanton slaughter, preferring to target individuals directly -- -- Of course, in realities without Internet systems for it to access, OHM frequently finds itself at a loss for what to do -- Simulated Antisocial Personality -- -- AI based on Tony Stark’s brain patterns (while possessed by Momoko) -- -- Has a number of their personality quirks, as well as a simulated version of Tony's voice -- "Mysterium" plating -- -- or whatever that stupid X-Shit is -- Liquid Adamantium claws -- -- Can be extended at near supersonic speeds -- -- A specialized electric current hardens the metal

Directives: 1) Kill Orch*s and its supporters anti-mutant extremists bigots 2) Support the Death of X a) Kill P*ter P*rker (if convenient)

[domhnallgleesonhaven]

Domhnall took part today to a gathering in St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, organised by Irish Equity in support of SAG AFTRA and WGA members who are striking.

[gleesonarchive]

ɴᴇᴡ/ᴏʟᴅ • Domhnall in Dublin, attending Irish Equity's Solidarity Rally with SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America back in August.

📷 Mark Doyle (19.08.2023)

[autisticmicrobiologist]

hey there, i’m alec and i’m an autistic university student! i’m studying microbiology as my main degree subject and do anatomy, french and entomology on the side.

i’m passionate about disability justice, trans healthcare, equity in medicine, politics, collecting stuffed animals, crochet, and the irish language (these are special interests).

i enjoy listening to audio dramas, at the moment i’m listening to the magnus protocol and old gods of appalachia

i’m a late-identified autistic and i’m currently in the process of receiving a diagnosis. my income is currently a barrier to a professional diagnosis but i hope to be able to save up enough over the summer.

the plan for this blog is to post into the void, but interaction is always appreciated

[denimbex1986]

'The 74th Berlin International Film Festival will open on February 15, 2024 with the world premiere of Small Things Like These, an Irish-Belgian production. Directed by Tim Mielants from a screenplay by Enda Walsh, the international cast includes Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley and Emily Watson. Small Things Like These will screen in Competition.

The film is based on the book by the award-winning Irish writer Claire Keegan (who also wrote “Foster”, adapted into the Academy Award nominated Irish language film An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl)).

Small Things Like These reunites director Mielants (WIL, De Patrick, The Responder) with Murphy, who previously worked together on series three of Peaky Blinders. Walsh, a longtime collaborator of Murphy’s, wrote the script. Small Things Like These takes place over Christmas in 1985, when devoted father and coal merchant Bill Furlong (Murphy) discovers startling secrets kept by the convent in his town, along with some shocking truths of his own.

The film reveals truths about Ireland's Magdalen laundries – horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform “fallen young women.”

The film was produced by Murphy and Alan Moloney through their company Big Things Films along with Catherine Magee. Matt Damon and Drew Vinton also produce alongside executive producers Ben Affleck, Kevin Halloran, and Michael Joe for Artists Equity with FilmNation Entertainment handling international sales. The film was financed by Artists Equity and Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann and was co-produced in Belgium by Wilder Content.

“With Small Things Like These, Tim Mielants tells the story of a man of few words, with wide open eyes, as clear as the skies of Ireland. In The Quiet Girl we already had sense of Claire Keegan’s skill in portraying small, apparently simple characters and making them unforgettable; here her delicate, rich and yet down-to-earth writing finds a great interpreter in Cillian Murphy. We are confident that this story that allies the kindness to be directed to the more fragile, and the willpower to stand up against injustice, will resonate with everyone. We are looking forward to launching this ‘quiet’ yet quite exceptional film at the start of Zeitgeist Irland 24, a year-long celebration of Irish culture in Germany,” says the Berlinale’s Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian.'

[brianmurphy111]

Brian Murphy: A Beacon of Excellence in Accounting and Advisory Services

In the dynamic world of finance and business advisory, few names resonate as strongly as Brian Murphy. Renowned for his meticulous approach and broad expertise, Brian stands out as a pivotal figure in the Irish business landscape. With over 25 years of rich commercial experience, he currently spearheads the Corporate Advisory business in Ireland, specializing in value creation and elevating business performance across diverse sectors.

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