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sweetsmellosuccess · 4 years ago

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The Best Films of 2020

The 15 Best Films of 2020

Normally, when I assess a full year of cinematic offerings, I consider both sides of that coin — the outstanding entities, and the least successful — but the year of our lord two thousand and twenty provided more than enough misery for all of us, I do believe. Ergo, in my own small way to bring better vibes into the universe, for this year’s round-up, I’m staying solely on the positive tip, highlighting those films whose unfortunate release date during the Year of the Hex shouldn’t preclude them for being fully appreciated. Let’s take a year off from negativity and schadenfreude, shall we, and just stroll amongst the poppies and bright sunshine of some of the best releases of the year.

15. The Invisible Man

“Leigh Whannell’s film is thoroughly modern in approach and sophistication, but the film it most reminded me of was made back in 1944. George Cukor’s Gaslight starred Charles Boyer as a loathsome husband who attempts to convince his already anxious wife (Ingrid Bergman) that she’s going insane by secretly rearranging things in their house and taking things from her so she thinks she’s always misplacing them. He preys on her emotional vulnerability in order to mask his own pathology and emotional detachment. The effect is absolutely enraging: Onscreen, he’s one of the more hateful villains ever committed to celluloid.”

Full Review

14. The Killing of Two Lovers

“From the opening sequence, with a distraught, estranged husband standing over the bed of his wife and her new boyfriend with malice in his heart, and a gun in hand, the film spirals out into incredibly well structured compositions, taking us inside and outside of David’s recurring psychosis, utilizing a bevy of techniques: The framing shrinks down around him, the sound gets muffled, as if underwater, save for the incredibly unnerving metallic sound of cables being stretched taut, and the sickening kathunk of a heavy car door slamming shut.”

Capsule Review

13. Another Round

“Typically, Vinterberg avoids simple conclusions — and God help us all if this film gets picked up by a U.S. studio and remade with, say, Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, and Chris Rock — providing more or less equal examples of the delirious fun drinking with your friends can be (the film opens with a group of high schoolers gleefully doing “lake races” whereby teams compete to drink a case of beer while running around the nearby body of water; and closes with the same teen crew, and some of their teachers, whooping it up in celebrating their graduation); and the horrorshow it can become (one teacher ends up peeing the bed, and on his wife in the process, another wakes up bloodied and out of it in front of his neighbor’s house), leading to very real and horrible consequences.”

Capsule Review

12. Soul

“Co-director Pete Docter is the creative force behind many of Pixar's best titles, having a hand in the Toy Story franchise, WALL-E, Up, and also directing Inside Out, a brilliantly moving treatise on the subject of emotional upheaval. This film, which he co-wrote and made along with fellow co-director Kemp Powers, is his first film back at the helm since that high-water mark, and he has again dug into the fertile earth of our mortality and come back with a particularly vibrant crop.”

Full Review

11. The Burnt Orange Heresy

“Based on the novel by Charles Willeford, the film briskly moves through its paces, clouding the waters with the schemes of duplicitous men, who have sold out any love of art for their greater obsession of cash and prestige. A literary thriller in the vein of The Talented Mr. Ripley, it’s become a genre all too rare in the era of blockbuster bravado. This film will remind you what a mistake that is.”

Full Review

10. Lovers Rock

“In the course of the party, the fuses blow while the house DJ is spinning Janet Kay's "Silly Games," a fan favorite at the time. Undaunted, the guests continue dancing away, singing the lyrics a capella in delirious unison, as McQueen's camera swirls around the living room as if nothing happened. Such a heartfelt moment of unbridled togetherness, putting into distinct bas relief the sense of community we've been denied as a species in 2020, feels like a benediction, an epitaph for the year, and a salve for what we've all been so desperately missing.”

Capsule Review

9. Time

“Ostensibly, it’s about the strain of incarceration on even the most grounded of families (an experience naturally disproportionate for POCs); but, on a deeper level, it’s also about the manner of our use of the limited number of revolutions we get to enjoy situated on this earth. It is a profound knock-out.”

Full Review

8. New Order

“Meet the new boss, only in Michel Franco’s damning portrait of a society locked forever in cycles of oppression, revolution, and new oppression, it makes no difference who you are, what your belief system is, or whether or not you subscribe to a moral set of ethics.”

Capsule Review

7. Dick Johnson is Dead

“Utilizing stunt people and special effects, Johnson kills her father off a number of different gruesome ways, as a means of softening the blow of actually losing him as his mind slowly slips away. This eventually culminates in a final gambit, both acutely painful and deeply moving, in which our sense of things gets seriously upended. As Johnson put it during the post-screening Q&A, the film serves as a “doomed experiment trying to keep my father alive forever.” This film won’t make him immortal, alas, but it does make him indelible.”

Capsule Review

6. Martin Eden

“Marcello packs the film with offbeat bits and pieces of other films, including strips of what appear to be vintage home movies, sometimes in juxtaposition to what Martin is feeling — a group of kids swinging wildly from the bar of a fence, to a full galley ship taking in water and suddenly sinking like an iron ingot – which adds a more winsome, timeless element to the narrative. It’s clearly set in the past, but avoids being too dependent on that particular sense of place and time. Martin is a young man, at first, just coming into himself, and the actions he takes, what he goes through, the film seems to suggest, would be similar in any age.”

Full Review

5. Minari

“The film is certainly charming, but that’s not to diminish its straightforward approach to its characters’ plight. It doesn’t shy away from their difficulties, and as a result, it doesn’t cheat towards smarmy emotional closure.”

Capsule Review

4. Collective

“The breath of hope in the film, when the inept Minister of Health resigns, leading to the placing of a new, emboldened director who works quickly to clean the quagmire left by his predecessors, is just as quickly expelled after the next round of elections, in which the Social Democrat party — the very ones in charge of this catastrophe in the first place — gets re-elected with an even greater majority than what they had before. A perfect reflection of what happens when a government is allowed to exist without any meaningful oversight, other than from a bedraggled press and a disenchanted electorate.”

Full Review

3. First Cow

“Reichardt, a naturalist at heart, is not known much as a humorist, but there is a lightness to her screenplay -- co-written by Jonathan Raymond, her frequent collaborator, who wrote the original novel upon which its based -- that keeps it as sweetly airy as one of Cookie's fried confections. The two friends are so out of step with their surroundings -- the party of men Cookie initially travels with are little more than brutish thugs, and the fort upon which they end up is no better -- they almost had to find each other. They are reunited in the local bar of the fort only because literally every other patron runs out to egg on a brawl between two loutish combatants.”

Full Review

2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

“Hittman’s eye for detail and emotional complexity — her characters can rarely articulate anything they’re experiencing — is incredibly acute, and she pulls tremendously understated performances out of her two leads.”

Capsule Review

1. Nomadland

“Perhaps no American director since Terrance Malick has made more of the collapsing light of dusk and twilight than Chloe Zhao. Much of her new film, which stars Frances McDormand as a transigent woman (“not homeless, houseless”), who traverses back and forth across the west in her beat up live-in van, doing seasonal work, takes place in that particular kind of vibrant half-darkness that shrouds the desert and its mountains with a magic kind of mystery.”

Capsule Review

Other Worthy Mentions: 7500; Assassins; Bacurau; Beanpole; Beginning; Black Bear; Bloody Nose Empty Pockets; Boys State; Come Play; Emma; Gunda; His House; Horse Girl; I Am Greta; Jacinta; La Llorona; Let Him Go; Limbo; Mangrove; Mayor; MLK/FBI; One Night in Miami…; Palm Springs; Possessor Uncut; Red, White & Blue; Relic; She Dies Tomorrow; Shirley; Shithouse; Shiva Baby; Some Kind of Heaven; Spring Blossom; Swallow; Tenet; The Dissident; The Invisible Man; The Nest; Sound of Metal; The Vast of Night; The Viewing Booth; The Way I See It; Vitalina Varella; Welcome to Chechnya

Inexplicably Underrated: 7500; Shithouse

Biggest Welcome Surprise(s): The Vast of Night; His House; She Dies Tomorrow

The Best Two Films I Saw This Year, Period: Satantango (1994); Harlan County, USA (1976)

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disneyat34 · 4 years ago

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The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad at 34

A review by Adam D. Jaspering

The 1940s were a troubled time for Disney Studios, financially. Through deal-making, patience, and budgeting, Disney Studios endured a dark age and righted themselves. By 1949, they were free to return to the path established at the decade’s beginning.

Abandoned interpretations of Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland started up again. Production began on Disney’s first completely live-action film, Treasure Island. True-Life Adventures, a series of documentary shorts, were a surprise hit. The 1950s were going to be very kind to Walt Disney and his company. But they weren't there yet. There was one final task before Disney could shut the door on the 1940s.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was to be the final package film from Disney, closing out this era. The movie is comprised of two shorts: The Wind In the Willows, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The two shorts have no thematic link besides being literary adaptations. For much of its development, it had the working title Two Fabulous Characters.

The Wind In the Willows is an adaptation of the 1908 children’s book by Kenneth Grahame. The story centers around a quartet of animals living in Edwardian England. The sensible MacBadger, Ratty, and Moley try their best to help their outlandish and boisterous friend, Mr. Toad. Basil Rathbone narrates the short.

At various points of its production, Disney Studios intended to adapt the book into a full-length movie. The troubles at Disney Studios and a string of creative blocks impeded its completion. At the insistence of Walt Disney himself, it was finally scaled back to a half hour short.

The Wind In the Willows has a level of appreciation in its native Britain, but in the United States, it’s a somewhat obscure novel. Much of its substance relies on a knowledge of British customs and sensibilities. This cultural disconnect makes it relatively inaccessible to American children. For a book featuring talking animals, a runaway locomotive, and a prison break, there is a large focus on manners and dignity.

Being an American production company, Disney Studios had an uphill battle. They not only had to produce the ostensibly British work, they needed to deconstruct it. They couldn't just deliver the story, they needed to present it in a way that could be understood by children internationally. A comedy of manners doesn't work if one doesn't understand the setting and society. Disney does not deliver in this regard. Everything comes across as British for British sake.

The character MacBadger is voiced by animator Campbell Grant. Grant had been working with Disney since the Hyperion Studio days. He was born in Berkley, California, and never lived in Scotland. His talents as a voice actor reflect the fact. He provides an incredibly forced and painful Scottish brogue.

On the other hand, Ratty has such a perfect English accent, it’s almost a parody. Ratty is voiced by Claud Allister, an actual British actor. Allister seems determined to perform the most stereotypical British character ever witnessed by an American audience. Ratty has a stuffy London accent, smokes a pipe, wears a deerstalker cap and wool suit, has a bushy mustache, aristocratic mannerisms, and regularly hosts tea. Is English his nationality, or his personality?

The other characters (minus the Scottish MacBadger) are English as well, but allowed other traits. Is Ratty a joke? Is he meant as an object of ridicule? Is this Disney's attempt at societal farce? His characterization is confusing and doesn't help the story.

The main character, touted as ‘fabulous’ by the film’s working title, is Mr. Toad. Mr. Toad is an individual of great wealth. Old family money, to be specific. He has no work ethic, no discipline, and is intent on spending his fortune and his days as recklessly as possible. MacBadger, Ratty, and Moley spend their days cleaning up Mr. Toad’s messes and curtailing future mistakes.

The relationship between these four is something of a mystery. Ratty and Moley appear to be roommates. MacBadger operates as accountant of Mr. Toad’s estate, apparently a long-time employee. But how all four came to meet is never fully explained or implied. For the purposes of the film, they are burdened with Mr. Toad and his antics. This is their lot in life.

Mr. Toad is a vivacious individual who’s quick to jump on frivolous trends, indulging his whims at a moment’s notice. He spends way too much money on ostentatious displays of conspicuous consumption. We’re introduced to him, rampaging down the road on a horse-drawn carriage. Ratty and Moley beg and plead for him to stop, as he is causing an alarming amount of property damage. Mr. Toad scoffs at their request.

But Mr. Toad's interest in his wagon is halted by another method. Seeing an automobile, his appreciation for wagons disappears. He becomes maniacally obsessing over owning a car. Ratty and Moley intervene again, locking Mr. Toad in his bedroom as though he were an addict detoxing. Mr. Toad's fits are a nice piece of visual humor, but don't endear the viewer to his selfish behavior.

Mr. Toad escapes out his window, finding a tavern full of literal weasels ready to sell him the stolen car. The weasels are stock criminals. Their purpose is to distract the viewer. To trick them into not suspecting the true villain of the feature. The deceit is ineffective, not from a narrative standpoint, but an animation standpoint.

The bartender is one of the most on-the-nose designed characters in the history of animation. His treachery is supposed to be a surprising plot twist, as though we could not see it coming from miles away. The man practically has "villain" tattooed on his forehead. With his squinty eyes, malicious grin, hunched posture and arched eyebrows, the animators did not give their audience any credit. Anyone who could not come to the independent conclusion that he is a con man deserves to be ripped off.

Mr. Toad's friends are forced to intervene again, testifying on his behalf. To no avail. Mr. Toad is arrested, but escapes from prison in an effort to prove his wrongful conviction. MacBadger, Ratty and Moley are tasked one final time to reverse Mr. Toad's fortune and prove his innocence. It is a very one-sided friendship.

Mr. Toad eventually clears his name. He doesn’t learn any lesson, immediately returning to his old imprudent lifestyle. Mr. Toad experiences no consequences, and suffers no losses. His friends don’t think any less of him. They receive no reward for their faithfulness. Our heroes end up exactly where they had started.

The Wind In the Willows is an adventure where somehow nothing happens. There’s no moral, no journey, no change, no growth. It’s a chapter from the characters’ lives. It feels immaterial.

Perhaps Disney Studios expected to reuse the characters in the future. Only a portion of Grahame's book is represented in the cartoon. The Wind In the Willows could conceivably be a franchise. Story elements cut from the original feature-length script could be repurposed into one or two additional shorts.

If this was the plan, of course the writers needed to hit the reset button. Viewers wouldn't understand a follow-up cartoon if they hadn't seen the predecessor. The shorts would need to operate independently as well as part of a series. The characters end here unaffected, consequence free, but primed for another outing later.

If this was the plan, nothing came to fruition. As Disney presents it, The Wind In the Willows is an abandoned pilot. It's the pointless story of an unlikable amphibian and his overburdened friends. A good story makes you glad you went on the journey. The Wind in the Willows is the equivalent of walking into a room and forgetting why.

The production of The Wind In the Willows continued off and on beginning in 1938. Walt Disney himself was rather indifferent to the source material. He only optioned the film rights for financial opportunity. Ironic, as the production was a complicated, eight-year boondoggle.

At various times, it was intended to be paired with Mickey and the Beanstalk or Pecos Bill, and released as early as 1946. For varying reasons, it wasn’t released until 1949, when it was paired with another short entirely.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow had a much simpler production history. There was no logical way to adapt the 24-page short story to a full-length feature. From the beginning, it was intended to be a short. Production began in 1946. In 1947, Disney decided it would accompany The Wind In the Willows to the big screen.

Why pair these two unrelated shorts together? There’s no official justification, but one can deduce their intention. Disney Studios was sick and tired of package films. They wanted to move on. They didn't want to spend a single extra minute supporting them. They had two shorts completed, ready for distribution. It didn't matter how disconnected they were in subject. Sometimes art is a labor of love. Sometimes you want to end the creative process as fast as possible.

Referred to as Ichabod Crane by the film, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is based on the 1820 short story by Washington Irving. The story centers around a superstitious schoolteacher, Ichabod Crane. New in town, he vies for the romantic attention of a wealthy heiress, Katrina van Tassel. Crane is impeded by local townsman Brom Bones, also courting Katrina. As the contest grows to a head, a mix of animosity and local legend decides the fate of Crane.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is one of the earliest pieces of American literature to be regarded as a classic. It remains a staple of the gothic horror genre. The featured monster, The Headless Horseman, remains a chilling figure in the horror pantheon. What's more, the Disney version is considered the definitive adaptation and a Halloween staple.

With such an established holiday association, it’s easy to forget that all mentions of Halloween don’t occur until halfway through. More than that, the iconic ride of the Headless Horseman lasts seven minutes. The first half of the story is nothing more than a typical love-triangle. Just set during the Washington administration.

It’s a testament to great storytelling and memorable characters. Half the picture is establishment and foreshadowing, but never feels plodding or pointless. It all builds, shapes the world, and pays off spectacularly at the end.

The physical appearance of Ichabod Crane is a master stroke of design. Crane is tall, rail thin, with long legs, and a large nose. He looks every bit like the bird he shares a name with. He looks odd, comical even, but not out of place among the other citizens of Sleepy Hollow.

It’s part of his charm that such a gangly, awkward fellow is depicted as a classy, desirable man. Him being voiced by Bing Crosby is a large element of this attraction. It’s not stunt-casting. The disconnect between a major celebrity’s charisma coming from the mouth of a laughably ungainly character is fantastic. It’s just one great element of an intricate character.

Every time we think we understand who Crane is, we learn something new to smash those conceptions. He’s a man of letters, but also superstitious. He’s a romantic, but also deviously wants to marry Katrina for her money. He’s a disciplinarian, but easily swayed by his own interests. A running gag demonstrates he values food over everything. Crane is an enigma.

In contrast, Brom Bones is an archetype. There’s not much to comment on. He’s a burly man, popular with the townsfolk, prone to violence when challenged. He's singularly focused on a specific woman who barely gives him attention. We’ve seen this archetype already with Lumpjaw in Fun and Fancy Free, and we’ll see it again in Beauty and the Beast.

And yet, Brom Bones surprises us by transcending his himbo personality. He displays a precisely-executed bit of cunning. Brom takes advantage of Crane’s superstitions, reciting the story of the Headless Horseman at a Halloween party. With perfect delivery and cadence. He captivates the townsfolk with his tale, but leaves Crane paralyzed by fear.

The final climax features a sense of ambiguity outshining Irving's original story. It’s strongly implied that the Headless Horseman is truly a myth. That Crane experiences no supernatural entities. Instead, it's Brom Bones in disguise who terrorizes Crane on his way home. It's the second half of his scheme, causing Crane to flee town, leaving Brom alone to marry Katrina.

It's strongly implied, but not definite. One may also choose to believe the Headless Horseman is real. That Crane did indeed meet his doom on Halloween night. It’s open for interpretation, and both are viable. Even if one is slightly more credible than the other.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a fantastic short. Ichabod Crane is interesting and complex. The environments are lush and evocative of a New England autumn. The story is fun and engaging. Its final act is atmospheric and chilling. It's the perfect introduction for children to the horror genre, and holds up to adult sensibilities. It deserves to be watched once a year. But just like with Disney’s other package films, a great short is better enjoyed separated from a crudely assembled movie. And The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is as crude as they come.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was the last in a long march of frugal package films. Mandated by financial constraints, everyone knew they were low-effort affairs. Thankfully, Disney Studios could pursue ambitious productions once again. Disney would not produce another package film until 1977, when the studio encountered similar financial problems. But in 1949, the era was finally behind them. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad wasn’t meticulous, wasn’t neat, and wasn’t even coherent as a feature. But it was a film. Disney shut the door on the era with a resounding slam.

Fantasia Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Pinocchio Bambi The Three Caballeros Dumbo Melody Time Saludos Amigos The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad Fun and Fancy Free Make Mine Music

#The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad #The Wind in the Willows #The Legend of Sleepy Hollow #Disney #walt disney #Walt Disney Animation Studios #disney studios #Film Criticism #film analysis #movie review #Disney Canon

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maddie-grove · 4 years ago

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Little Book Review: Woman of Fury

Author: Constance Gluyas.

Publication Date: 1978.

Genre: Romance (late medieval/early Tudor).

Premise: Feisty Shalada Lorne believes herself to be the daughter of Matthew Lorne, a prosperous witch-finder known for his cruelty and charisma, but really she’s the child of his ill-fated ex-fiancée and her one-time lover. Consumed with hatred for his ex, disgust for his wife and biological children, and anger/lust for his adoptive daughter, Matthew isn’t a great parent. When Shalada runs into Sir David Medway, a gentleman with his own reasons to hate Matthew, it kicks off a maelstrom of violence in the dysfunctional Lorne family and the surrounding village. Also, there’s a romance, I guess.

Thoughts: People throw the term “trashy romance novels” around a little too freely, in my opinion.* I don’t say this primarily as a defense of a genre I love, but because there’s a wide range of classiness vs. trashiness in romance. Not every romance novel is trashy; hell, not every romance novel with explicit sex scenes, unimpressive prose, and/or a shirtless man on the cover is trashy. And if one uses the “trashy” too loosely, it dilutes the power of the word, and could possibly mislead innocent people who want to read honest-to-God filth, not a sweet story with somewhat candid descriptions of a dude named Reginald going down on his sweetheart in a horse-drawn carriage. To my mind, a trashy romance doesn’t just describe a boob during a sex scene; it salaciously thrusts that boob in your face, whether you’re reading a sex scene, a torture scene, or a shopping-for-hats scene. It’s not enough that it includes content that’s best left to adult readers; it turns that content into spectacles of bad taste.

By that definition, Woman of Fury is the trashiest romance novel I’ve ever read. It’s hardly the most offensive--it never tries to justify slavery, for one thing--and it’s certainly not the worst-written. But it’s 100% a book you read mainly to see some sick shit--the literary equivalent of “dude, I found a dead squirrel on the sidewalk.” Rape, incest, torture, public shaming, private humiliation, voyeurism, filicide, historically dubious depictions of the persecution of witches...this book has it all. I can’t admire this book’s goals, but, honestly, I do respect how thoroughly and efficiently Gluyas delivers the goods (or, rather, the bads). You don’t have to wade through a bunch of boring scenes to get to the really messed-up parts; even the “downtime” in the book is unpleasant and ominous. There is also some genuine sweetness here, specifically in the heroine’s relationship to her long-lost mother, who has been driven mad by Matthew’s torture but has hope of recovering. The hero’s friendship with a poor young mother punished for stealing milk is also cute.

If the hero and heroine’s relationship had been one of the sweet spots of the novel, it would probably be a genuine guilty pleasure for me. Instead, they’re one of the most ridiculously antagonistic couples I’ve seen in the genre. It’s not so much that he tries to rape her and half-assedly uses her as a pawn of revenge against her father; it’s really bad, but I’ve seen worse. No, the thing that makes them stand out is that their reasons for fighting are so stupid. To summarize their relationship...

David: I hate your dad for killing my dad! I’d like to kill him, but I won’t do it.

Shalada: Why not? My dad fucking sucks.

David: *gasps* You’re a bloodthirsty bitch!

Like, way to antagonize someone who’s on your side, David.

Hot Goodreads Take: Pretty much everyone who reviewed this book on Goodreads is funny as hell. I am disturbed by the person who wished that Matthew were the hero of the novel, though. Even for a 1978 romance novel, that’s hardcore.

*Some people use this term ironically; I’m not talking about them.

#little book review #romance novels #woman of fury #constance gluyas #tw: rape #tw: incest

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yespoetry · 5 years ago

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Caolan Madden: Counterfactual

FRIGID BITCH

Uhhh I prefer sex-negative feminist?

The guy who scoffed it’s easy to be bisexual if you have zero sex drive

The idea I had of a kiss when I had never been kissed, the idea of like a fountain/and like a field of flowers/and like/settling your heels and shoulderblades into the floor/the idea of surface tension

My dad’s friend Phil, when I was fourteen, in the car, I can’t remember the joke. I watched my lipsticked disapproving mouth in the rearview mirror

I asked J, do you think I’d be a slut if I had the chance. J said, I think slutty from the waist up

They must be picking up on something

Kaleidoscope of hormones, the strangest flowers, double blooms, inversions, every time you shake the cylinder, recombinant, call them frostflowers, those blue crystals, snowflakes. Call it clinical. What burst into bloom when I stopped/when I started. My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around. How hot are yours? Your orange lilies, orange blossoms, you blushing brides, my bad science: Schrödinger’s sex drive, we can’t know until we take each other’s temperature, but. Killing frost. Check the evidence of architecture: have you ever put your fist through the wall? Wallflower, wallpaper, stay in bed, diagnose yourself, try to raise your core temperature

At the conference I found myself making small talk about Taylor Swift, how the best thing about her is that all the boys complain that she only wants to kiss. She buys all those houses for kissing in, overlooking the sea.

Cold shower, dead drop. Your heart beating, the only heat signature for fathoms.

COUNTERFACTUAL

those days when gentlemen used their own thoughts as evidence, experimented on their brains by thinking, then wrote a treatise and kids still have to read those and write papers about them: this table here and smack it the color blue is a quality but not I can hold the color blue in my mind separate from or like my friend’s husband who used to stop breathing until he had visions Is that different? It’s in the tradition

I use my body to feel the history of sexuality & you use your mind & we talk about it the physical revulsion, the revulsion that’s protecting something I love to theorize about my body as a microcosm in the absence of medical knowledge or supervision its millions of stars bearing debris from real stars If I had really been straight I would have felt but on the other hand if I had settled down in Providence feels very much like if I had slept with this guy junior year if I had married. but also if I had a bike & waited tables if I had been blonde. The stars in my body reveal that high-school boys are decorative, or grace, or power. If you had seen me first wanting to be looked at, against cobblestones Desire is different, weirder, declares my body, a coming-closer, or a shudder thirty-six hours later, then years later, in the park where no one actually would have wanted to lose her virginity at twilight in a linen dress

QUIETING MUSE

I shall never get out of this said Plath in plaster, a yellow rose in a stiff white vase. But I think you don’t miss her ’til she’s gone: at eighteen, sweating in my dorm, I scribbled doppelganger elegies, remembering our doubled bones, our doubled fat bright in the cauldron of a summer-long half-nelson. Sister soup, I wrote, the only sisterless girl on my floor. I must have meant it. I must have missed her. When her shape filled up with flecks of talk, like tin confetti, high and thin and cold, her opposite. There was an absence. Who was she? What was she for? Reading my diaries? Listening behind me on the sidewalk. De Beauvoir said that Diderot said you all die at fifteen and I really felt it then at seventeen The one who died. I only know her from that doppelganger poem and from the caught breath at the double, at the hinge, the horn, the heroine in someone else’s. Even the tumor with its eyeballs. Even Emily-in-the-glass. Wallpaper. Why say divided. Why not doubled, why not luxury. She has her nails done in some strip mall in the South. She waits ’til I'm alone again. Some weekend. Some other life. She’ll stir a little, say hello. I'm not afraid.

from Dazzling Dresses: A Princess Activity Book

Uriel at Yale 1

In Physics for Poets, Ursula twirling her ankle-socked foot leaned over the aisle and murmured about the Velvet Underground and sucked her pencil expectantly. O how the auditorium filled up at that very moment, and the glittering ink spilled out of Uriel’s pen nib! Under the ground the velvet corridors were plush with newts and stalactites like staghorn sumac (another class she took with Ursula was “Local Flora.”) Under the water Uriel’s sisters embroidered their names on the delicate edges of manta rays; in her dorm room she lifted them from Fed Ex boxes, stroked their velvet coats absently, bent over a villanelle. The refrain was, “If you had seen my face above a wave”; her word processor had shorted out when she spilled a cup of beer on it one Friday early in the term, so now she wrote in longhand. Outside the second spring-term snow was falling.

MOTHERGLUT

It’s all coming back to me like I whistled and those rats came running white foaming pattering their backs undulating screaming stat screaming code white

I gained all those pounds on purpose I poured them on me like milk I put them in a jar and weighed them on a scale and stood beneath the scale and POURED

Until I was the white queen of fat Umbrella of leaf-lard Rat-queen redolent of lard Pelt of a thousand rats yawning Wicked stepmother luxuriously padded with the milk of with the blood of virgins

O medical establishment we are sorry to have been so sedentary We are sorry about our bad memories I am sorry that I poured the leaf lard on my memory I am sorry that I do nothing nothing nothing but make this enormous baby to fill up my hungry cradle Sorry the baby’s made of a thousand fat rats teeming over the ward and swallowing the tinies Sorry about its thousand mouths full of seed pearls Sorry that I forgot and made a blowjob baby out of swallowing If you could just lie down and do it the normal way just remember to just lie down but also do some light cardio swimming for example, maybe some journaling

If there were more poems more dissertation more candies there would be less baby there would be less marvelous mantle creamtop mantle, glorious mantle, gluttonous mantle

I veiled the two of us the thousand-and-one-of-us in my supreme gorgeous idleness

These poems originally appeared in our ebook The Queer Body.

Caolan Madden holds an MFA from Johns Hopkins and a PhD in English literature from Rutgers. Her poems have appeared in Iron Horse Literary Review, Bone Bouquet, Black Warrior Review, Posit, Anthropoid, Split Lip, and Supplement. Her chapbook VAST NECROHOL was published last spring by Hyacinth Girl Press; as a member of the feminist poetry collective (G)IRL, she’s also a co-author of the collaborative chapbook GIRL TALK TRIPTYCH (dancing girl press, 2016).

#Caolan Madden #poetry #special feature #the queer body #chapbook

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the-bookworm-chronicles · 5 years ago

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“new normal”

On March 9, 2020, Phil Murphy announced a state of emergency, and I transformed staying home and watching TV from a hobby into a full-time occupation. Since then I have watched dozens of hours of not just Netflix but a variety of on-screen content. But only Netflix has a clear list.

So, I am going to review the best/worst/most interesting movies I’ve been watching on a possibly weekly basis for your enjoyment! You may be wondering, why just movies, why not shows? Well, you will see that I watch kind of a lot, and I had to draw the line somewhere, especially since I rewatch show episodes over and over. But I will throw shout-outs to Anne With An E, Alias Grace, Kim’s Convience, Self-Made, End of the F***ing World, and Never Have I Ever as the shows I remember getting up-to-date on over the past couple months.

So anyway, the fun thing about movies I watch is that I choose them for really arbitrary reasons, and a lot of times I get to the end like why did I watch that? But sometimes I’m like thank you Netflix for bugging me until I watched it even though I didn’t think I would enjoy. Here’s what I’m going to pick from

March (FORTY-SEVEN MOVIES can you believe):

The Danish Girl

The Theory of Everything

My Week with Marilyn

The First Wives Club

Limitless

The Croods

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Always Be My Maybe

Mute

Nappily Ever After

Burlesque

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Philadelphia

Outbreak

John Carter

Joseph: King of Dreams

Julie & Julia

Saving Mr. Banks

Chappaquiddick

Open Season

Super Dark Times

Barry

Death at a Funeral

The Platform

Valentine’s Day

The Rainmaker

Rounders

Christopher Robin

The Other Guys

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle

Jerry Maguire

Olympus Has Fallen

The Hateful Eight

War Machine

The Siege of Jadotville

The Kindergarten Teacher

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile

My Girl

The Hundred-Foot Journey

Ex Machina

Race to Witch Mountain

Semi-Pro

Batman Begins

The Dark Knight

Kill Bill (1&2)

April (Down to 38, mostly because I got roped into watching this REALLY LONG series with my friend):

The Laundromat

The Irishman

The Fundamentals of Caring

Young Adult

Hell or High Water

Secret Obsession

The Players Club

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Sleeping With Other People

Minority Report

All the Bright Places

True Grit

Miss Americana

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Hancock

Bad Boys

Miracle

Taxi Driver

Murder Mystery

Steve Jobs

Obvious Child

Frances Ha

Spring Breakers

The Incredible Jessica James

Get Him to the Greek

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle

War Horse

Dolemite is My Name

Pan’s Labrynth

Nacho Libre

Don’t Think Twice

Cadillac Records

The Breaker Upperers

The Adventures of Tintin

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Place Beyond the Pines

Deadline: Sirf 24 Ghante

The Dirty Dozen

Blade Runner? Kind of? Netflix removed it from their catalog before I finished but I WANTED TO FINISH!

May (38 again, with a shout-out to the show Crashing for being a mini-series the length of a movie, and Avatar for being the greatest thing to grace any screen anywhere):

Good Time

The Willoughbys

Molly’s Game

As Good As It Gets

Salt

Promised Land

Mary Poppins Returns

Road to Perdition

Tootsie

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

The Half of It

Fun With Dick and Jane

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

For Love or Money

Mud

There Will Be Blood

Spenser Confidential

The Money Pit

Mystic River

Coffee & Kareem

The Score

Swiss Army Man

Menashe

Mudbound

The Last Thing He Wanted

The King

The Two Popes

Turbo

First They Killed My Father

Babel

Knock Down The House

Mirror Mirror

Becoming

The Iron Lady

The Last Samurai

Beasts of No Nation

The Florida Project

Okja

June (Only 17, but shows of the month was The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Jeffrey Epstein, The Politician, 13 Reasons Why, and Hollywood—quite a few!):

Roma

The Sapphires

Casper

Uncut Gems

Malcolm X

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Lincoln Lawyer

The Lovebirds

Jersey Boys

The Longshots

First Match

Roxanna Roxanne

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Extraction

Trumbo

See You Yesterday

Juwanna Mann

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a-baleful-howl · 6 years ago

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I’m about to go full-on petty mode. So if you don’t care about my personal gloating and back-patting, scroll on by lol

This post contains spoilers for episode 1 of season 8, and also spoilers for my fic The Lone Wolf Dies.

I recognize this post is really only for me. I’m a salty bitch.

This is fanart the wonderful and lovely @cathcacen drew for me when I was at my lowest and receiving the most hate I’ve ever gotten for a fic.

I ranted about it for a bit, deleted the worst of the flames I could off of FFN, and I haven’t actually been back to FFN since this all happened. Don't think I havent noticed the love and support I got from the JonsaFam, either. I very much appreciated it, and I know many people enjoyed my fic (and are begging me to finish it...).

Here’s some highlights of the comments I received on FFN accusing me of being “unrealistic” or of committing “character assassination” (sad thing is, these aren’t even the worst reviews I got):

“Arya would never let Sansa or the Northern Lords do that to Jon[...]This story is making Jon a bit of a wimp and Arya willing to betray him even though she loves him more than Sansa.” [saphirablue25 on chapter 1]

“Another story about Jonsa, and Anti-Dany, and pro-norte and pro-stark? these crap stories are becoming common since season 7.[...]and this kind of stories, without any artistic or literary value, just deserve to be vilified. is just another excuse to be myopic and criticize character without reason, especially when it is already something practically canon that Jon / Daenerys will be in the books too, as one producer of the HBO series said, who was told George Martin. waste of time.” [flayjunior15 on chapter 1]

“this story is rubbish, more crap without sense…” [guest on chapter 1]

“This is character assassination. Arya Stark would never betray Jon Snow; no matter what;[...]Of course now it’s a Jon and Sansa pairing ignoring everything that happened in season 7 b/c why not?[...] The leaps you Jonsa writers take to mischaracterize daenerys just b/c you’re not getting the ending you want in the show or the books is a little ridiculous. You can’t write a story that’s based on show-canon and then ignore all obstacles presented in said canon just to put your two favorite characters together. That’s not how good storytelling works.” [FanofLogic (lol) on chapter 1]

“I don't think Arya would ever betray Jon, it's just not plausible.[...]There are gaping plot holes, that need to be seriously addressed, the writing and the punctuation are fine, it’s well spaced and makes sense in a linear sense, but in terms of plot and story, it crumbles to dust before you even finish reading the chapter in its entirety.[...]I don’t want to stop you from writing, that’s not my intention, you just need to sit back and ask yourself, if it really makes sense.” [carpenoctem20 on chapter 1]

“Well, I read your story. It is sad really because your writing style is good and enjoyable but the stupidity of your character's actions[...]Too bad, your writing is promising but the story lacks logic…[...]Also, thank you for butchering Arya’s character - she is my favourite and you completely ruined her.” [malb901 on chapter 1]

“I realize that this story is an AU because our characters are written not how they are portray in television or books…” [GUEST VIII on chapter 1]

“If your goal was to write Arya completely out of character and Sansa as a short sighted idiot with the northern lords as her peanut gallery...then good job. Otherwise your characterization needs a lot of work.” [guest on chapter 1]

“Arya...well how she is written is so absurdly offbase from canon you would have been better off write my that part as an of to avoid having preconceived about the character.” [guest on chapter 1]

“What a load of complete garbage. So much character assassination across the board is an injustice to GRRM’s work!” [guest on chapter 1]

“Another junk Jonsa story, I see that many of these losers, are very salty, because their crackship (because that’s the Jonsa, a crack) shipwrecked last season.[...]The author of this story is another salty loser with no sense, just like all the Jonsa fans of this crack ship.[...] even Arya has a stronger relationship with Jon than with any member of her family, she would care less about the North, even threatening to kill the Northern Lord, if they hurt Jon. Only two idiots of Jonsa, defend this story.” [JonsaSucks on chapter 1]

“Highly questionable characterization and plot holes big enough to fly a dragon through...pass” [guest on chapter 2]

“With Arya, she's so OC in this that it would have made more sense to make her a new character. She would never choose Sansa over Jon.” [saphirablue25 on chapter 2]

“So disappointing! This story is a complete disservice to anyone who is not a blind Sansa worshiper.[...]The plot holes don't do you any favors either.” [Zmrzlina763 on chapter 3]

“Poorly written, plot holes, unrealistic” [guest on chapter 3]

“What a pile of crap. So many plot holes and character assassination. You should be ashamed to publish such garbage.” [guest on chapter 4]

“I hated this story...thought it was really ridiculous.” [guest on chapter 4]

“I would highly recommend rereading GRRM’s work as it’s obvious you are basing your characterizations on contrived reimaginings with no basis in the work you claim to be a fan of. Please do us all a favor and quit polluting the fandom with this nonsense.” [guest on chapter 4]

And finally, for the piece de resistance!

“Oh boy that story became retarded real quick” [guest on chapter 1]

Now, I might be biased but my brain kept pointing out similarities to the first episode of season 8 and my fic - which I never claimed to be writing what I thought was really going to happen, but that this what I wished in a best case scenario would, my interpretation of all the info we got from Season 7, and it was always only ever supposed to be a Jonsa one-shot but it kept growing.

Now, one of the biggest complaints I got was “character assassination” - saying that the characters would never behave the way I wrote them to. This is mainly what I want to focus on as clearly the fic is not exactly the same as the episode - and I never expected it to be. Fanfic is fanfic for a reason. For one, Sansa and the North refuse Jon and Dany, and that's kind of the catalyst to everything else that happens in the fic. Thats a big change - so I’m not saying “My fic was exactly like the show!!” I just wanted to point out all the moments while watching the show I was like “See! I didn’t assassinate anyone’s character!” since that’s apparently a crime I was committing against all of fandom.

If you haven’t read the fic, I highly suggest you do since many of these quotes are small snippets taken from a bigger context.

All the text is from my fic, the pictures are the moments I thought were similar from the show.

Daenerys had chosen to forgo her dragons to mount a horse instead, as a show of equality and peace to the Northern people.

The Hound, Sandor Clegane, rode beside them, seemingly reluctant to be there, in his own way.

“Greetings,” she announced. “How gracious for you to meet us.” Though her words were not sweet - they never were - and she measured the air between the two parties cautiously.

“You’ve traveled very far,” Sansa responded, her horse shifting impatiently under her. Her voice did not waver, and it carried loud and clear across the void. “It would be rude of me to not turn you away personally.”

Daenerys remained silent.

“We know no King, but the King in the North whose name is Stark.” Lyanna Mormont bellowed from her own steed. Her eyes were glowering, stern and furious. Not little Lyanna…

“First the Wildlings, and now a foreign whore,” Lord Glover spat, his horse just as wide as he was. “You’re not a Northerner. You’re anything but.”

He looked to Sansa for an answer. Surely Sansa would not leave him to the wolves. Yet she avoided his eye.

“I missed you too, Jon…” she called back, and his heart knew that she meant it. “But Starks stick together. I know that now. What would Father think?” His heart broke. If only they knew…

Jon had warned her. He knew before heading to Dragonstone that the Northerners were not likely to kneel to a foreign ruler. Sansa had said so herself many times. He resisted the urge to gloat, to remind the Dragon Queen of his words.

“Sam?” he whispered. Surely he must be imagining it. Sam was here? In Winterfell? The round man came stumbling towards him, his arms waving madly by his sides to catch Jon's attention.[...] The two clasped each other in a strong embrace for a moment before Jon pulled back. [...] “Gilly?” Jon asked absently. “And the baby?” “They're fine!” Sam answered, finally with a dim smile. “They’re here.”

Arya . Oh, Arya! She’s safe. He frantically grabbed her, sweeping his hands over her hair and face, feverishly kissing the top of her head, thanking the old gods that she was here. Thank the gods his little sister was alive. She had wrapped her arms so tightly around him he could barely breathe.

“You leave him alone!” Arya barked, running swiftly down the hall towards them.

“Don’t you understand what this means, Jon?” Sam insisted. “You’re the heir to the Iron Throne.”

Jon didn’t care about that. Not now. Suddenly everything he thought he knew was a lie. His father- no, his uncle... had lied to him his whole life. This meant that Daenerys was his aunt by blood. And Sansa was his…

He suddenly felt very ill.

[...]Everything tasted bitter to him now. Everything he had ever known was a lie, but oddly, it made sense. Eddard had gone south to save his sister and had returned with a child. It made sense. How - how - had he not seen it before?

[...]People die and stay dead. That was a fact. Unless he had believed more lies than the one his uncle had told him his whole life.

He had traveled on horseback many times, but never alone. [...] When he drew nearer to Winterfell, the snow and winds were so strong he was forced to cover every inch of skin but his eyes.

“You look like you’ve seen the seven hells.”

“You don’t look any better,” Sandor replied. Jaime tried to ignore the slight. It was true he was unshaven, unwashed and frozen to the bone.

“It’s too late,” Bran interrupted. Jon’s blood ran cold at the words.

“What do you mean it’s too late?”

“The Wall is gone. Eastwatch is gone. There is a dragon that breathes blue fire.”

Now, I’m not trying to say “I’m Nostradamus and I guessed the entire first episode.” No. That is absolutely not what I’m saying. I thought I made an informed guess into how the characters might react to the events in season 7 and amongst each other, and used my own opinions on the characterizations to write a story based around one thing: Jon realizing he loved Sansa because she died. Everything else was secondary to me.

It’s only because I got such immediate and hostile push back to something I saw as obvious foreshadowing that made me feel so vindicated when the first episode had so many similarities to what I wrote. Anyone could have come up with these same lines as I did - because the evidence was there and the Jonsa fam was pointing it out the whole time.

I just reallllly hate how fanfiction, especially in ASOIAF and on FFN, has the default accusation of “character assassination” to use when you just hate a story, when all fandom characterizations are just opinions. Only the author of the original source material can decry character assassination. Fanfiction is everyone’s personal choices when it comes to things like this, and it appears that a whole shitload of Dany Stans descended on my story, and instead of saying “I hate Jonsa and Dany can do no wrong” they personally attacked me for horrible writing - when in fact I was the one more on point than they were. I never expected Sansa and the North to literally turn Dany and Jon away at the gates - but thats why I wrote a fanfic about it. Because that was the only way I was going to see it told.

I was so upset by this (can’t you tell? lol) that seeing this episode really made me feel good and feel more proud in what I wrote.

okay. rant over.

#original #text post #s8 #8.01 #my fics #the lone wolf dies #long post

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eckleburgreview · 6 years ago

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Uniform: Fitting In(to Clothes) in North Louisiana

I know what fat girls look like. There are a few fat girls in our grade, the grades below us, like the round girl who always wins the talent show because her mother is always a judge. I do not categorize myself as a fat girl, not in fifth or sixth grade, but I do know my clothes don’t fit right, have a history of fitting poorly no matter what. Part of the problem, I am convinced, is my mother:…

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#Adolescence #Body Shapes #Iron Horse Literary Review #Middle School #Pants #Pep Squad #Sailor Moon #Texas Tech University

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sfsucw · 2 years ago

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Iron Horse Literary Review.

Chapbook Competition. Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry. Entry Fee.

For the 2023 Chapbook Competition, we will select a winning collection of poetry. Manuscripts should be 28 - 36 pages with each poem starting on a new page.

The published chapbook will look like the single-author book that it is. The winner also receives a $1,000 honorarium and 15 copies.

https://www.ironhorsereview.com/chapbook

#submissions #chapbook #contest #chapbook contest #fiction #nonfiction #poetry #flash fiction #creative nonfiction #manuscripts #genre

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architectnews · 4 years ago

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Madrid Architecture News: Spanish Buildings

Madrid Architecture News 2021, New Building, Construction Design, Spanish Capital Built Environment

Madrid Architecture News

Arquitectura España: Major New Buildings + Architectural Developments in central Spain

post updated 25 June 2021

Madrid Architectural News

Madrid Architecture News – latest additions to this page, arranged chronologically:

Madrid Architecture Design – chronological list

25 Jun 2021 Plaza Ruiz Picasso Building News

MERLIN Properties, the Madrid-based largest and most technologically advanced REIT and a leading developer and operator of green assets, announced today a long-term strategic partnership with EDGE Next.

The project will begin with the last major project of the Landmark plan, Plaza Ruiz Picasso in Madrid, with a total GLA of 36,899 sqm. Plaza Ruiz Picasso plans to incorporate the latest in smart technology, including EDGE’s own platform – EDGE Next – to optimise the office building’s performance, and to make it smarter, healthier, and more sustainable.

The platform uses multiple sensors and data sources to not only gather information, but also to deliver valuable and actionable insights to enable buildings, companies, and people to thrive. Tenants can also make use of a building app, which enables users to efficiently control basic features of their work environment, such as light and temperature. The asset is set to achieve LEED Platinum and WELL Core & Shell Gold certifications. In addition, it aims to become one of the first buildings in Spain to obtain both the WiredScore and the SmartScore certification, a certificate that represents the smart connectivity of the building

Furthermore, EDGE Next will help MERLIN implement sustainable and technological initiatives in their office portfolio, rolling out a multi-year project that will optimize their developments through the use of EDGE Next’s smart technology. As part of this strategy, the EDGE Next platform will be piloted in one of MERLIN´s existing buildings starting in 2021, with further rollouts expected in the near-term future.

ABOUT MERLIN Properties MERLIN Properties SOCIMI, S.A. (MC:MRL) is the largest real estate company trading on the Spanish Stock Exchange. Specialized in the acquisition and management of commercial property in the Iberian region. MERLIN Properties mainly invests in offices, shopping centers and logistics facilities, within the Core and Core Plus segments, forming part of the benchmark IBEX-35, Euro STOXX 600, FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate, GPR Global Index, GPR-250 Index, and MSCI Small Caps indices.

ABOUT EDGE EDGE puts the people and planet first when developing and redeveloping buildings for global companies. Our buildings are developed with the highest levels of sustainability using the best solutions offered by modern technology. EDGE continues to learn from the people who work in our buildings, ensuring the most healthy and productive work environments in today’s market.

17 May 2021 REE Campus Tres Cantos Technology Park – news

30 Apr 2021 Norman Foster Foundation Centre Of Excellence

18 Mar 2021 Torre Azca Skyscraper Building, Paseo de la Castellana photograph : Javier Bravo Torre Titania Madrid Financial District Torre Titania, also known as Torre Azca, has already become a landmark building within Madrid financial district. Located in Paseo de la Castellana, this architecture built on the remains of Torre Windsor (destroyed in a fire in 2005), houses a shopping centre and office spaces in 27 floors raising 103.7m from the ground.

12 Mar 2021 Acciona Ombú Madrid office building

1 Mar 2021 La Maruca de la Castellana

8 Dec 2020 Valcotos Madrid Compound

10 Nov 2020 BUS House

4 Nov 2020 Freshly Cosmetics

30 Sep 2020 La Vaca Y La Huerta, Recoletos Street Architects: Zooco Estudio photographer : Imagen Subliminal. Miguel de Guzmán – Rocío Romero Rivasz La Vaca Y La Huerta Restaurant The name means “The cow and the orchard” and it talks about the main product of the restaurant and the starting point for us to start with the project.

26 Jun 2020 K House in Parque Conde Orgaz

9 Jun 2020 6House in North West Madrid

17 Apr 2020 REE Campus Architects: IDOM photo : Aitor Ortiz REE Campus Red Eléctrica de España has commissioned IDOM for the comprehensive rehabilitation of two buildings in the Tres Cantos Technology Park (Madrid). The action includes a comprehensive adaptation to the new training and technological needs of the company, modernizing the set of buildings through an envelope that enables compliance with energy efficiency requirements.

19 Mar 2020 University of Navarre Clinic Architects: IDOM photo : Aitor Ortiz University of Navarre Clinic The project for the new University of Navarre Clinic in Madrid follows a high specialization, teaching and research hospital model, in which the patient is at the centre of all care.

18 Feb 2020 Complete Apartment Renovation in Madrid Design: OOIIO Architecture image Courtesy architecture practice Complete Madrid Apartment Renovation The key to the comprehensive reform project would now be to bet on natural light.

24 Nov 2019 Miski Restaurant in Malasaña District

20 Nov 2019 Studio in the Woods by selgascano – refreshed post on this amazing Spanish architecture office

3 Jun 2019 B&B hotel in Getafe, Madrid metropolitan area Architect: CuldeSacTM Custom photo : David Zarzoso Getafe Hotel Building

17 May 2019 Castellana 77, AZCA district Architects: luis vidal +arquitectos photo © luis vidal + arquitectos. All rights reserved Castellana 77 Building The original 1977 tower is now a 62-metre-high office building and has received the prestigious LEED Platinum certification.

28 Apr 2019 SOM’s Exhibition, Calle de Hortaleza Architects: SOM Beyond the Structure Exhibition

10 Apr 2019 Atletico Madrid Wanda Metropolitano Stadium Architects: Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos image Courtesy architecture office Wanda Metropolitano The new Club Atlético de Madrid Stadium results from the expansion of the old Athletics Stadium of the Community of Madrid, completed in 1994.

28 Mar 2019 Bala Perdida Club, Calle de Atocha, 49 — 28012 Architects: EL EQUIPO CREATIVO photo © Bala Perdida Club Hidden in the underground of the Madrilenian neighborhood “Barrio de Las Letras” (today a neuralgic point of the city), under a refurbished palace of the eighteenth century where Hotel Axel Madrid is located, we find two vaulted spaces built in brick.

18 Mar 2019 Las Chicas, Los Chicos y Los Maniquies Restaurant, AXEL Hotel, Calle de Atocha Architects: EL EQUIPO CREATIVO photo © Paco Montanet Las Chicas, Los Chicos y Los Maniquies Restaurant in Madrid The design of the AXEL Hotel on Atocha Street superposes a series of historic references forming a complex and explosive tandem. Firstly, the privileged location in the very midst of Madrid’s literary neighborhood. Secondly, the palatial 19th-century building in which it is located.

5 Feb 2019 A House for Contemplation Design: Ramón Esteve La Finca

5 Feb 2019 Casa Miga

24 Jan 2019 Norman Foster Foundation Madrid

Madrid Building News 2018

15 Oct 2018 MAX&Co. Flagship Store, Calle de Serrano 18 Design: Ciszak Dalmas, Andrea Tognon, Studio Pepe and the Max Mara design office photograph : Ciszak Dalmas MAX&Co. Flagship Store The first flagship store in Spain for the Italian fashion brand Max Mara Group opens at Calle de Serrano 18 – featuring the firm’s new store concept.

24 Sep 2018 Vinoteka Ardoka Madrid Bar

20 Jun 2018 Axis Madrid – Plaza Colón Building Refurbishment Architects: Foster + Partners image Courtesy architecture office Axis Madrid The comprehensive refurbishment of the Plaza Colón building, at one of the most major intersections in the city, the project seeks to completely transform and revitalise the existing structure to create a new iconic landmark that reflects the prestige and importance of the site.

9 May 2018 Horse Riding Field in Cattle Farm Design: OOIIO Architecture images : OOIIO Architecture, Josefotoinmo Horse Riding Field in Cattle Farm The architects task consisted of integrating a horse riding field into a large traditional country house and reforming old stables to bring them up to date, so the new group of buildings will become first class riding horses facilities, at the service of some beautiful competition horses.

16 Jan 2018 Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Calle de Serrano Design: Frade Arquitectos photo © ERCO GmbH, www.erco.com, photography: Frieder Blickle National Archaeological Museum of Spain The contextual focus of the Archaeological Museum in Madrid is placed on Iberian art – such as the Lady of Elche. Precise accent lighting from ERCO lends the historical exhibits an expressive and contemporary appearance.

Updated Images added 15 Jan 2018 Caixa Forum, Paseo del Prado, 36 Architects: Herzog & de Meuron photo : Simon Garcia | arqfoto.com Caixa Forum This major building in the Spanish capital was opened in 2008 by King & Queen of Spain. The museum and cultural center was designed by the world-famous Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. The building combined an old abandoned electrical station with new construction of floors which are encased with oxidized cast-iron.

8 Jan 2018 The Norman Foster Foundation presents its annual Digital X Workshop photo © Luis Asín © Norman Foster Foundation Norman Foster Foundation Madrid The first Norman Foster Foundation Digital X Workshop – explore the kinship of Architecture and the Digital World in a week-long event -will take place on 15-19 January, supported by Future Planet Capital. After reviewing applications submitted by hundreds of candidates from around the world, the selection committee awarded ten scholarships to students from various universities and institutions. This year’s Atelier mentor is Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder and former director of MIT Media Lab.

More Contemporary Madrid Architecture News online soon

Building Updates 2017

14 Nov 2017 Blue Building, Alcobendas, north of Spanish capital Design: Rafael de La-Hoz Arquitectos photographer : Alfonso Quiroga Blue Building in Madrid

20 May 2017 New OOIIO Office in Madrid Rio Design: OOIIO Architecture picture from architecture office New OOIIO Office in Madrid Rio OOIIO, an emerging architecture studio based in Madrid with projects in Spain and Latin America, decided to move its headquarters because the team is growing thanks to a series of new commissions and some competitions won.

16 Feb 2017 La Finca House Architect: Ramon Esteve Estudio photo from architecture office House in La Finca

24 Jan 2017 Camarines House, Aravaca Design: A-cero, architects photograph : Luis H. Segovia House in Camarines

1 Jan 2017 Espacio Miguel Delibes in Alcobendas – approx. 13 km north of Spanish capital Design: Rafael de La-Hoz Arquitectos photograph : Alfonso Quiroga Espacio Miguel Delibes Building in Madrid The new building hosts the Universidad Popular, the headquarters of the PhotoEspaña International Centre in Alcobendas, as well as a media library and a citizen’s advice service of the City Council.

More New Madrid Architecture News online soon

Building Updates 2016

13 Dec 2016 COAM exhibition – “The Why Factory: Research, Teaching and Public Engagement (2006-2016)” picture from architecture firm Why Factory COAM Exhibition The Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) in collaboration with The Why Factory and TU Delft announce the opening of the exhibition “The Why Factory: Research, teaching and public engagement (2006-2016)” reflecting on a decade’s research on the future of cities.

28 Nov 2016 Museo del Prado Madrid Design by Gluckman Tang Architects Design: Gluckman Tang Architects – Estudio Álvarez Sala – Arquitectura Enguita y Lasso de la Vega image Courtesy Gluckman Tang Architects Museo del Prado Building Design by Gluckman Tang Architects After an international architecture competition, the only American firm on the final shortlist of eight teams has released its design for the Museo del Prado’s new expansion. The design teams were asked to reimagine this former wing of a 17th-century palace, which was acquired by the Prado in 2015.

25 Nov 2016 Museo del Prado – Salón de Reinos, Salón de Reinos, Museo del Prado Design: Foster + Partners with Rubio Arquitectura image from architects Prado Museum in Madrid Foster + Partners and Rubio Arquitectura have won the international competition to revitalise and refurbish the historic Hall of Realms (Salón de Reinos) as a new addition to the Museo del Prado campus in Madrid.

Mariturri School in Vitoria-Gasteiz

Not Only a Carwash

23 May 2016 New York Burger Restaurant, Almagro Design: Isabel Lopez Vilata + Asociados photography : Alejo Bagué New York Burger Restaurant Madrid

Cultual Center La Gota – Tabacoo Museum in Navalmoral

Guidelines for a Greener City

Cultural and Leisure Center in Getafe Village

Madrid Rio Landscape Design

Restaurant Orgaz

More Madrid Architecture News online soon

Location: Madrid, Spain

Madrid Architecture

Madrid Architecture Walking Tours by e-architect

Madrid Architect – design office listings

Madrid Houses

Madrid Architecture Photos

Madrid Buildings

Madrid Office Buildings

Madrid Architectural Photos

School of Architects of Madrid – Montevideo Biennial

Moka House, Pozuelo de Alarcón Design: A-cero Architects photo : Luis H. Segovia Moka House Madrid

B&N House, Madrid Design: A-cero Architects photo from architects B&N House Madrid

Repsol Headquarters Design: Rafael de la-Hoz Architect photo from architects Repsol Madrid Building

Idom Office, north west Madrid Design: ACXT Architects Idom Office

Madrid Architects’ Association Design: Gonzalo Moure Madrid Architects’ Association

Casa C Design: ABIBOO Architecture Casa C Madrid

Buildings / photos for the Madrid Building News page welcome

Website: Madrid

The post Madrid Architecture News: Spanish Buildings appeared first on e-architect.

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margaretemmabrandl · 9 years ago

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Scholarly Activity

Selected Editorial Work

Suspension Undergraduate Literary Journal, Austin College Sponsor, Fall 2020-present Co-Sponsor, AY 2019-2020

Acumen Undergraduate Research Journal, Austin College Sponsor, Spring 2023

Arlington Public Library Flash Fiction Contest Review Board, Spring 2023

’RooWrite: A Fiction Contest, Austin College Organizer, Spring 2021

Best of the Net Fiction Reader, 2019 & 2020

Iron Horse Literary Review Associate Editor, 2014-2019 Single-Author Chapbook Competition Preliminary Judge 2015 & 2017-2019

Harbinger Undergraduate Literary Journal, Texas Tech University Graduate Advisor, AY 2015-16 & 2017-18

Notre Dame Review Editorial Assistant, 2011-2013

Hachette Book Group Editorial Intern, Grand Central Publishing, Summer 2012

Slash Pine Press Undergraduate Intern, 2010

Selected Readings

Process and Publication: New Books by Faculty Writers 20 April 2022, Austin College, Sherman, Texas

The Burning Plain Reading Series 23 November 2019, Denton, Texas

MARTIN (Medieval And Renaissance Troupe of Itinerant Novices) Second Annual Spring Symposium 16 April 2018, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

Graduate English Society Stories by the Cup Reading 20 October 2017, Lubbock, Texas

Iron Horse Literary Review 4th Annual FilmFest 7 April 2016, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Lubbock, Texas

MFA Final Thesis Reading 26 April 2013, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana

Slash Pine Press Guerilla Reading 23 October 2010, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Hawk & Tide 22 January 2010, University of Kansas, Lawrence

Conference Panels [as Organizer/Moderator]

Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference 27-30 March, 2019, Portland, Oregon “When Harry Met Hermione: Fan Fiction in the Creative Writing Classroom”

Selected Conference Presentations [as Presenter]

Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers Conference 15-17 September, 2022, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas “Getting Crafty: Exercises to Engage Students from Beginner to Beyond”

25th ASU Writers Conference in Honor of Elmer Kelton 3-4 March, 2022, Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas “Clock-Based Events”

Conference on the Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community and the Natural World 19-21 April, 2018, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas “West Texas: A Letter to Walt Whitman”

Conference on the Sowell Family Collection in Literature, Community and the Natural World 20-22 April, 2017, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas “On Keeping Notebooks”

Texas Tech Comparative Literature Symposium 22-23 April, 2016, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas “Failing Ovid: On Translating Heroides”

Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference 11-14 February, 2015, Albuquerque, New Mexico “A New Sailor Moon? The American Magical Girl in Bee and PuppyCat!”

Austin College Scholars Conference Panels [as Organizer/Moderator/Sponsor]

Translation: Literature, Music, and Culture (organizer and moderator, Spring 2024)

The Craft of Writing (organizer and moderator, Spring 2024)

Writing in Community: A Reading and Conversation (organizer and moderator, Spring 2024)

Raise Your Voice: Lost in Translation (sponsor, Spring 2024)

Raise Your Voice: First Generation (sponsor, Spring 2023)

Raise Your Voice (sponsor, Spring 2022)

Craft Talks: Tips for Creative Writers (organizer and moderator, Spring 2022)

Culture and Creativity (sponsor, Spring 2021)

Flash Fiction (organizer, Spring 2020) (cancelled)

Selected Talks and Workshops

The Dinosaurs are a Pedagogical Choice: Notes on Writing, Publishing, and Values (Austin College Johnson Center Research and Pedagogy Talks Series, November 2023)

Something Brilliant: Crafting Flash Fiction that Shines (instructor, Writers’ Studio Corpus Christi, January 2023)

“A Time to Write” Violence Prevention Workshop (workshop facilitator, University of Notre Dame Gender Relations Center, February 2013 and February 2012)

Scholarships, Fellowships, & Awards

Longlist, Fractured Literary Chapbook Contest 2024

Roy F. Melugin, Jr. Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Humanities (AC) 2022

Finalist, Dream Pop Press Chapbook Contest 2018

Dissertation Completion Fellowship (TTU) 2018-2019

George T. Prigmore Scholarship (TTU) 2017-2018

Texas Tech TEACH (Teaching Excellence And Career enHancement) Program Fellow 2016-2017

Helen DeVitt Jones Graduate Fellowship (TTU) 2014-2016

Finalist, Colgate University Olive B. O'Connor Fellowship 2013

Sparks Summer Fellowship (ND) 2012

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