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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 years ago

Text

Pluralistic: 14 Mar 2020 (Free audio of Masque of the Red Death and When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, Ada Palmer on censorship, Women of Imagineering, Glitch unionizes, Tachyon/EFF Humble Bundle, Canada Reads postponed, data-caps and liquid bans paused, Star Wars firepits)

Today's links

Masque of the Red Death: Macmillan Audio gave me permission to share the audiobook of my end-of-the-world novella.

When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth: A new podcast audiobook of my 2005 end-of-the-world story.

Ada Palmer on historical and modern censorship: Part of EFF's Speaking Freely project.

Glitch workers unionize: First-ever tech union formed without management opposition.

Women of Imagineering: A 384-page illustrated chronicle of the role women play in Disney theme-park design.

Tachyon celebrates 30 years of sff publishing with a Humble Bundle: DRM-free and benefits EFF.

Honest Government Ads, Covid-19 edition: Political satire is really hard, but The Juice makes it look easy.

TSA lifts liquid bans, telcos lift data caps: Almost as though there was no reason for them in the first place.

CBC postpones Canada Reads debates: But you can read a ton of the nominated books online for free.

Star Wars firepits: 750lbs of flaming backyard steel.

This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Masque of the Red Death (permalink)

Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Masque of the Red Death" in 1842. It's about a plutocrat who throws a masked ball in his walled abbey during a plague with the intention of cheating death.

https://www.poemuseum.org/the-masque-of-the-red-death

My novella "The Masque of the Red Death" is a tribute to Poe; it's from my book Radicalized. It's the story of a plute who brings his pals to his luxury bunker during civlizational collapse in the expectation of emerging once others have rebuilt.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250242334

Naturally, they assume that when they do emerge, once their social inferiors have rebooted civilization, that their incredible finance-brains, their assault rifles, and their USBs full of BtC will allow them to command a harem and live a perpetual Frazetta-painting future.

And naturally – to anyone who's read Poe – it doesn't work out for them. They discover that humanity has a shared microbial destiny and that you can't shoot germs. That every catastrophe must be answered with solidarity, not selfishness, if it is to be survived.

Like my story When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, the Masque of the Red Death has been on a lot of people's minds lately, especially since this Guardian story of plutes fleeing to their luxury bunkers was published. Hundreds of you have sent me this.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/disease-dodging-worried-wealthy-jet-off-to-disaster-bunkers

I got the message. Yesterday, I asked my agent to see if Macmillan Audio would let me publish the audiobook of my Masque of the Red Death for free. They said yes, and asked me to remind you that the audiobook of Radicalized (which includes Masque) is available for your delectation.

I hope you'll check out the whole book. Radicalized was named one of the @WSJ's best books of 2019, and it's a finalist for Canada Reads, the national book prize. It's currently on every Canadian national bestseller list.

There's one hitch, though: Audible won't sell it to you. They don't sell ANY of my work, because I don't allow DRM on it, because I believe that you should not have to lock my audiobooks to Amazon's platform in order to enjoy them.

Instead, you can buy the audio from sellers like libro.fm, Downpour.com, and Google Play. Or you can get it direct from me. No DRM, no license agreement. Just "you bought it, you own it."

https://craphound.com/shop/

And here's the free Macmillan Audio edition of Masque of the Red Death, read with spine-chilling menace by the incredible Stefan Rudnicki, with a special intro from me, freshly mastered by John Taylor Williams. I hope it gives you some comfort.

https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/13/the-masque-of-the-red-death/

(Here's the direct MP3, too)

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_332/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_332_-_The_Masque_of_the_Red_Death.mp3

Ada Palmer on historical and modern censorship (permalink)

My EFF colleague Jillian C York's latest project is Speaking Freely, a series of interviews with people about free expression and the internet, including what Neil Gaiman memorably called "icky speech."

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/12/why-defend-freedom-of-icky-speech.html

The latest interview subject is the incomparable Ada Palmer: historian, sf writer, musician, and co-host of last year's U Chicago seminar series on "systems of information control during information revolutions," which I co-taught with her. Ada's interview synthesizes her historian's distance from the subject ("yes, this is my subject, and these people are terrible, and it's kind of fun in that way") with her perspective as a writer and advocate for free speech.

"One of the victims of censorship is the future capacity to tell histories of the period when censorship happened….. It renders that historical record unreliable… makes it easier for people to make claims you can't refute using historical sources… It's similar to how we see people invalidating things now—like 'that climate study wasn't really valid because it got funding from a leftist political group"—they're invalidating the material by claiming that there has to be insincerity its development.

"Pretty much every censoring operation post-printing press recognizes that it isn't possible to track down and destroy every copy of a thing…An Inquisition book burning was the ceremonial burning of one copy. The Inquisition kept examples of all of the books they banned."

Fascinating perspecting on whether nongovernmental action can really be called "censorship."

"The Inquisition wasn't the state – it was a private org like to Doctors Without Borders or Unicef, run by private orgs like the Dominicans and it often competed with the state." As she points out, everything the Inquisition did would be fine alongside the First Amendment, because it was entirely private action.

Next, Palmer talks about market concentration and how it abets this kind of private censorship. This is something I've written a lot about, see for example:

https://locusmag.com/2020/01/cory-doctorow-inaction-is-a-form-of-action/

"If you have a plural set of voices, then you're always going to have some spaces where things can be said, just like you have a plurality of printers printing books, and some will only print orthodox things and some will only print radical ones."

And while the internet could afford many venues for speech, in practice a concentrated internet makes is plausible to accomplish the censor's never-realized dream: "You can make a program that can hunt down every instance of a particular phrase and erase it."

Tiny architectural choices make big differences here ("Architecture is politics" -Mitch Kapor). Amazon can update your Kindle books without your permission, Kobo can't. Amazon could delete every instance of a book on Kindles, but Kobo would need cooperation from its customers.

Palmer is just the latest subject of Jillian's series. You can read many other amazing interviews here:

https://www.eff.org/speaking-freely

When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth (permalink)

Over the past two weeks, hundreds of people have written to me to draw comparisons between the pandemic emergency and my 2005 story "When Sysamins Ruled the Earth" – an apocalyptic tale of network administrators who survive a civilizational collapse.

https://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-Overclocked-_When_Sysadmins_Ruled_the_Earth.html

I started writing this story in the teacher's quarters at the Clarion Workshop, which was then hosted at MSU. It was July 6, 2005. I know the date because the next day was 7/7, when bombs went off across London, blowing up the tube train my wife normally rode to work. The attacks also took out the bus I normally rode to my office. My wife was late to work because I was in Michigan, so she slept in. It probably saved her life. I couldn't work on this story for a long time after.

Eventually, I finished it and sold it to Eric Flint for Baen's Universe magazine. It's been widely reprinted and adapted, including as a comic:

https://archive.org/details/CoryDoctorowsFuturisticTalesOfTheHereAndNow/mode/2up

I read this for my podcast 15 years ago, too, but the quality is terrible. The more I thought about it, the more I thought I should do a new reading. So I did, and John Taylor Williams mastered it overnight and now it's live.

https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/13/when-sysadmins-ruled-the-earth-2/

There's a soliloquy in this where the protagonist reads a part of John Perry Barlow's Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace. Rather than read it myself for the podcast, I ganked some of Barlow's own 2015 reading, which is fucking magnificent.

https://vimeo.com/111576518

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. I've spent a lot of imaginary time inhabiting various apocalypses, driven (I think) by my grandmother's horrific stories of being inducted into the civil defense corps during the Siege of Leningrad, which began when she was 12.

You can subscribe to the podcast here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

And here's the MP3, which is hosted by the @internetarchive (they'll host your stuff for free, too!).

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_331/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_331_-_When_Sysadmins_Ruled_the_Earth.mp3

Glitch workers unionize (permalink)

The staff of Glitch have formed a union. It seems to be the first-ever white-collar tech-workers' union to have formed without any objections from management (bravo, Anil Dash!).

https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/tech-workers-app-developer-glitch-vote-form-union-and-join-cwa-organizing-initiative

The workers organized under the Communications Workers of America, which has been organizing tech shops through their Campaign to Organize Digital Employees.

https://www.code-cwa.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIovDRsc-S6AIVCuDICh0rFQCMEAAYASAAEgJb1PD_BwE

"We appreciate that unlike so many employers, the Glitch management team decided to respect the rights of its workforce to choose union representation without fear or coercion."

Women of Imagineering (permalink)

Next October, Disney will publish "Women of Imagineering: 12 Careers, 12 Theme Parks, Countless Stories," a 384-page history of a dozen pioneering woman Imagineers.

https://thedisneyblog.com/2020/03/13/new-book-highlights-stories-from-the-women-of-walt-disney-imagineering/

Featured are Elisabete Erlandson, Julie Svendsen, Maggie Elliott, Peggy Fariss, Paula Dinkel, Karen Connolly Armitage, Katie Olson, Becky Bishop, Tori Atencio, Lynne Macer Rhodes, Kathy Rogers, and Pam Rank.

When I worked at Imagineering, the smartest, most talented, most impressive staff I knew were women (like Sara Thacher!). It's amazing to see the women of the organization get some long-overdue recognition.

Tachyon celebrates 30 years of sff publishing with a Humble Bundle (permalink)

For 30 years, @TachyonPub has been publishing outstanding science fiction, including a wide range of stuff that's too weird or marginal for the Big 5 publishers, like collections of essays and collections.

https://tachyonpublications.com/

Now, they've teamed up with Humble Bundle to celebrate their 30th with a huge pay-what-you-like bundle that benefits EFF. There are so many great books in this bundle!

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/celebrating-25-years-scifi-fantasy-from-tachyon-books

Like Bruce Sterling's Pirate Utopia, Eileen Gunn's Stable Strategies, and books by Michael Moorcock, Thomas Disch, Jo Walton, Jane Yolen, Nick Mamatas, Kameron Hurley, Lauren Beukes, Lavie Tidhar and so many more!

I curated the very first Humble Ebook Bundle and I've followed all the ones since. This one is fucking amazeballs. Run, don't walk.

Honest Government Ads, Covid-19 edition (permalink)

Good political satire is hard, but @thejuicemedia's "Honest Government Ads" are consistently brilliant.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKRw8GAAtm27q4R3Q0kst_g

The latest is, of course, Covi9-19 themed. It is funny, trenchant, and puts the blame exactly where it belongs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hks6Nq7g6P4

If you like it, you can support their Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/TheJuiceMedia

TSA lifts liquid bans, telcos lift data caps (permalink)

Your ISP is likely to lift its data-caps in the next day or two. @ATT and @comcast already did.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v74qzb/atandt-suspends-broadband-usage-caps-during-coronavirus-crisis

And TSA has decided that 12 ounces of any liquid labelled "hand sanitizer" is safe for aviation, irrespective of what's in the bottle.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21179120/tsa-hand-sanitizer-liquid-size-airport-screening-coronavirus-covid-19

What do these two facts have in common? Obviously, it's that the official narrative for things that impose enormous financial costs on Americans, and dramatically lower their quality of lives, were based on lies. These lies have been obvious from the start. The liquid ban, for example, is based on a plot that never worked (making binary explosives in airport bathroom sinks from liquids) and seems unlikely to ever have worked, according to organic chemists.

Keeping your "piranha bath" near 0' C for a protracted period in the bathroom toilet is some varsity-level terrorism, and the penalty for failure is that you maim or blind yourself with acid spatter.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/08/on_the_implausi.html

And even if you stipulate that the risk is real, it's been obvious for 14 years that multiple 3oz bottles of Bad Liquid could be recombined beyond the checkpoint to do whatever it is liquids do at 3.0001oz.The liquid ban isn't just an inconvenience. It's not even just a burden on travelers who've collectively spent billions to re-purchase drinks and toiletries. It's a huge health burden to people with disabilities who rely on constant access to liquids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m12mLXgO1A

And as we knew all along, the liquid ban was a nonsense, an authoritarian response to a cack-handed, improbable terror plot. It embodies the "security syllogism":

Something must be done. There, I've done something.

Think of all those checkpoints where all confiscated liquids were dumped into a giant barrel and mingled together: if liquids posed an existential threat to planes, they'd dispose of them like they were C4, not filtered water. No one believed in the liquid threat, ever. TSA can relax the restrictions and allow 12oz of anything labeled as hand-san through the checkpoints. There was no reason to confiscate liquids in the first place. But don't expect them to admit this. The implicit message of the change is "Pandemics make liquids safe."

Now onto data-caps. Like the liquid ban, data-caps have imposed a tremendous cost on Americans. In addition to the hundreds of millions in monopoly rents extracted from the nation by telcos through overage charges, these caps also shut many out of the digital world. They represent a regressive tax on information, one that falls worst upon the most underserved in the nation: people in poor and rural places, for whom online access is a gateway to civic and political life, family connection, employment and education.

We were told that we had to tolerate these caps because of the "tragedy of the commons," a fraudulent idea from economics that says that shared resources are destroyed through selfish overuse, based on no data or evidence.

https://thebaffler.com/latest/first-as-tragedy-then-as-fascism-amend

(By contrast, actual commons are a super-efficient way of managing resources)

https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons

Telcos insisted that if they didn't throttle and gouge us, their networks would become unusable – but really, what they meant is that if they didn't throttle and gouge us, the windfall to their shareholders would decline.

What's more likely: that pandemics make network management tools so efficient that data-caps become obsolete, or that they were a shuck and a ripoff from day one, enabled by a hyper-concentrated industry of monopolists with cozy relationships with corrupt regulators?

So yeah, maybe this is the moment that kills Security Theater and data-caps.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/12/coronavirus-could-force-isps-to-abandon-data-caps-forever/

(Image: Rhys Gibson)

CBC postpones Canada Reads debates (permalink)

The folks at the @CBC have postponed next week's televised Canada Reads debates, so we're going to have to wait a while to find out who wins the national book prize.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canada-reads-2020-postponed-1.5497678

Obviously, this is a bummer, though equally obviously, it's a relatively small consequence of this ghastly circumstance.

And on the bright side, the CBC have just released a ton of excerpts from the nominees:

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/read-excerpts-from-the-canada-reads-2020-books-1.5496637

If you're looking for some Canada Reads lit for this moment, my novella "Masque of the Red Death" appears in my collection Radicalized, one of the finalists. I put up the story as a free podast last night (thanks to Macmillan Audio for permission).

https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/13/the-masque-of-the-red-death/

Star Wars firepits (permalink)

West Coast Firepits went viral when they produced a Death Star firepit, though of course, I lusted after their Tiki Firepit.

https://www.westcoastfirepits.com/shop/tiki-firepit-69825

But now they're really leaning into the Star Wars themed pits, with an Interceptor pit ($2500):

https://www.westcoastfirepits.com/shop/interceptor

Or, if you prefer a post-apocalyptic version, there's a Crashed Interceptor pit, also $2500.

https://www.westcoastfirepits.com/shop/crashed-interceptor

If those prices seem high, consider that they're hand-made onshore, and contain 750lbs of 1/4" and 1/8" steel.

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago How DRM will harm the developing world https://web.archive.org/web/20050317005030/https://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/itu_drm.php

#5yrsago Anti-vaxxer ordered to pay EUR100K to winner of "measles aren't real" bet https://calvinayre.com/2015/03/13/business/biologist-ordered-to-pay-e100k-after-losing-wager-that-a-virus-causes-measles/

#1yrago A massive victory for fair use in the longrunning Dr Seuss vs Star Trek parody lawsuit https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190313/09554041791/big-fair-use-win-mashups-places-youll-boldly-go-deemed-to-be-fair-use.shtml

#1yrago A detailed analysis of American ER bills reveals rampant, impossible-to-avoid price-gouging https://www.vox.com/health-care/2018/12/18/18134825/emergency-room-bills-health-care-costs-america

#1yrago Ketamine works great for depression and other conditions, and costs $10/dose; the new FDA-approved "ketamine" performs badly in trials and costs a fortune https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/03/11/ketamine-now-by-prescription/

#1yrago Facebook and Big Tech are monopsonies, even when they're not monopolies https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-not-monopoly-but-should-broken-up/

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: EFF Deeplinks (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/), Waxy (https://waxy.org/), Slashdot https://slashdot.org).

Currently writing: I've just finished rewrites on a short story, "The Canadian Miracle," for MIT Tech Review. It's a story set in the world of my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I've also just completed "Baby Twitter," a piece of design fiction also set in The Lost Cause's prehistory, for a British think-tank. I'm getting geared up to start work on the novel next.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/13/when-sysadmins-ruled-the-earth-2/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

#pluralistic

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aspiestvmusings · 5 years ago

Text

TMS S3: GROUP A

THE MASKED SINGER SEASON 3 GROUP A/ GROUP 1: (contestants 1 - 6)

EP 3x01: CLUES & MORE: RECAP for remaining 5:

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

KANGAROO

CLUES:

Location: Outdoors: “Australia”

Location: Next to a /in a yard of a “peach coloured” building with arch/vault-style architecture

VISUAL CLUES:

Sign: OUTBACK (with the U being in the shape of horseshoe)

Sign: Yellow “road sign” with an arrow pointing down (”spiraling down”)

MIB as papparazzi/press following her - taking pics, media attention (for “the wrong reasons”)

Gramophone on a tree branch

Boxing bag - the kangaroo boxing/hitting the boxing bag

Jump rope - the kangaroo jumping over a jump rope (made of a vine...held by MIB)

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

”Like most of you watching, I’m a survivor.”

“I recently lost a person, who held my familys heart together. Then, by my own admission, I found myself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.”

“But I’m here to do what kangaroos do best - bounce back.”

“I have to fight for my family. And show them that bullies never win.”

“I am beyond terrified - I’ve never done anything like this before. But I’m not about to lose the chance to realize the dream I’ve always had.”

“To all the survivors out there -- This one’s for you.”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn

Look/Costume: The kangaroo has a pouch (indicates female), but also has a red/silver boxing outfit & gloves (indicates male). Outfit colours: red & silver. Important: there is a crown on the back of her robe.

Stage: hexagon-shaped mirrors (5 of them) surrounding her/behind her [if my other guess is correct, then that stage design is a “clue”]

Height: Tall-ish...almost the same height as host Nick. A bit shorter, around 175cm, probably.

Mic hand: Right

Talking: “One of my greatest fears is being vulnerable. And this year I’ve had no other option than to be vulnerable. But...with this kangaroo costume I feel like I can get my superpowers back.” + [breathes in/sighs heavily before the song starts]

GUESSES:

I HAVE NO NAMES OF MY OWN. -- I thought she was this certain female artist, because the voice kinda seemed familair (sounded like hers to me), but none of the clues and other things seemed to fit. And after checking the clues it seems to confirm it cannot be her, cause nothing matches. Also... to me she doesn’t sound like any of the singers I thoughts she could be based on the clues, so... I havent actually figured her out...

I think people online are correct, and it’s a certain “reality star” (gramophone = reference to her dad being a sound engineer on a well-known past TV show) Though I am considering a few more options - mostly other reality stars/youtubers/family members of celebs... particularily one name. If my guess here is correct, then just like Llama, she would have a connection to a previous TMS contestant...but since I am not that familiar with her singing voice, I cannot be sure. But she has lost family members in the past few years, she has been in a media scandal, and you can even explain the australia thing kinda... so...until I hear more of her, I’ve got one name mainly in mind. But I wont name it until I’ve heard her sing at least once more.

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

Survivor = the title of a “Destiny’s Child” hit song

Lost a family member recently = either her family member (parent, grandparent?) died or they parted ways (were cut ouf of each others lives)

Gramophone = possibly a reference to a Grammy nomination/win. Or just music/sound/audio

Outback = possible connection to Australia

“spiraling down” road sign + papparazzi following her = she’s been in a media scandal “recently”

Crown = King/Queen

LLAMA

CLUES:

Location: Radio station/Mixing studio - mixing console (close up)

Location: Pottery making “class”

VISUAL CLUES:

Mixing console - close up of a studio/radio station mixing console

23.3 The Wool (name of the radio station/show)

Red lightbulb in the studio

Photo of a bull (the animal)

Playing cards: Ace of Spaces & Jack of Spades). Two black suit cards showing (Jack Black)

Sounds of Seattle - title of a vinyl album

Romancing a llama: pottery

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

"Mi-Mi-Mi-Mi-Mix it up!”

“Good morning, Nerd herd! You’re listening to The Wool. Where we’re all cool. No Bull.”

“I’m here for one reason only - to have a laugh. And what’s funnier than a Llama? (laughs at his own joke)”

“You may call me a joker. But I’d like to get serious for a minute. The song I’m singing tonight is my favourite track for celebrating love with that... special someone. There’s nothing like being swept up by it’s deep, profound lyrics. It’s a tune that really gets me in the mood for romance. I can’t wait to sing it for you tonight.”

“Llama out!”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “She Bangs” by Ricky Martin

Look/Costume: Dressed as a tourist - “hawaiian” style shirt,, photo camera around his neck. Llamas tongue out of his mounth, on the side.

Height: he is around 180cm - about the same height as host Nick (their shoulders are on about the same height)

Mic hand: Left

Talking: “umm.. This whole costume just spoke to me... My vibe... I wear digs like this in real life.” (answering the question about his costume & it’s looks)

GUESSES:

Drew Carey (TV host/comedian/actor...)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

23.3 Wool = His show (The Drew Carey Show) had, during it’s 9-season long run, a total of 233 episodes.

Photo canera prop = His hobby is photography. Actually, it’s more than just a hobby - he has been accredited press photographer during many (sports) events.

Radio = He was a radio operator during the time he served in the Marine Corps. Also..he’s hosted a radio show (radio DJ) during his later career

Red light in the room = photography reference. In the DarkRoom red light is used when developing photo film/photographs.

Buddha figurine (Dalai Lama/Llama joke) = He is a buddhist.

Joker = he is a joker aka comedian

Seattle = He is the co-owner of a Seattle Football Club.

Playing cards = He took part in the celebrity poker game in 2003, where he did better than Jack Black did (played against Jack Black)

Nerd herd = He did take part in Zack levis (Chuck) “Nerd herd” lightsaber race one time at a Comic-Con convention.

Nerd herd = his show (DCS) & character were/was about nerds/was a nerd

Llama’s side tongue = early in his stand-up comedy days he had a joke with a side-tie (it looked visually very similar to what the llama’s tongue looks like - he just added some wires & tape to do “the trick” of swinging the tie to the side)

BONUS: He knows last years winner, “The Fox Mask” - they did “Whose Line is it Anyway” together, so... connection...

SPOILER ALERT: Llama is the mask who will be voted off next - in ep 2 (on Wed, Feb 5th). But while his voice might not be as trained as some other contestants, I loved his stage energy, and the comedy/fun he brought! One more song coming from him! And no, I am not sharing some secret info - they “accidentally” revealed the first two contestants, who get unmasked, so it’s been revealed by the network...for those, who notice small details...

MISS MONSTER

CLUES:

Location: Lady’s restroom/bathroom. The moster getting ready (coming hair, applying hairspray...)

Location: school hallway - lockers

VISUAL CLUES:

Sign: (image) ladies restroom

Itmes on the counter in bathroom/dressing room: Furspray (hairsray) can, pink bottle of some beauty product, three crystals (stones), a piece of sequin fabric

Key/Keychain: a single (old style) key with a keychain that says “FUN” #FUN #KEY = FUNKY = “QUEEN OF FUNK”

Purple furry diary/good luck charm/cosmetics bag/pencil box (with a face + kitty ears & unicorn horn) + a glittery pen

Lockers: Lockers numbered 10 (the ones she opens) & 11 (the one next to it)...with no other lockers having numbers on them

Miss Monster Locker: filled with images of S1 Monster, scrapbook flowers..etc...

Piece of paper on the locker door: Monster Hits.

Photograph of a cityscape (skyline with many skyscrapers) on the locker door [if I could only see the image better to know which city it is on it, that’d be one more clue]

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

“When you become famous, people want you to look or act in a certain way. They forget that you started off as just a shy little monster.”

“It didn’t take long for me to be misunderstood. So I’m here to set the record straight. Just like my favourite creature in Season 1 did. The Monster. He made me feel. He re-wrote his story. It was fire!"

“And now this performer in pink wants to follow in his furry footsteps, But darlings... I’m nervous. Will you still love me without knowing my name?”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Something to Talk about” by Bonnie Raitt

Look/Costume: pink & purple/violet furry costume with a bowtie

Height: she is short-ish (shorter than host Nick). She looks very short (barely 5 feet - more Dolly P. height 152cm than Chaka K height 162cm)

Mic hand: Right

Talking: NO ON-STAGE TALKING!

GUESSES:

Chaka Khan

Dolly Parton (since the total number of Grammy noms that the 18 contestants have in combined in 69 & Robot as the first revealed one has had 24-25 of them, that leaves only 44-45 for everyone else, that rules out this person, because she alone has had 46 nominations...compared to C. Khan’s 22 noms)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

Number 10 = She has 10 Grammy Awards/wins. (interestinly: both D. Parton & C. Khan have 10 Grammy wins!)

Monster Hits = she has had (many) hit songs during her career

He made me feel = She has a song by the title “I Feel You” (1984 hit)

It was fire = She has a song by the title “Through the Fire” (1985)

Will you love me - that is (word for word) the title of of her her hit songs, “Will You Love Me?” (2007)

It was fire = She wrote the hit song “Fule to the Flame” (1967 hit) for Skeeter Davis.

Will you still love me? = She has/wrote a song titled “I will always love you”

Furspray/Hairsray = he was/is known for her big hair/haircut (managing that probably takes lots of hairspray)

FUN = FUN(K) #FUN KEY [FUN:KI] - she’s kinda the “queen of funk” (one of her albums is titled “FUNk This” (btw: Pun intended by her!)

TURTLE

CLUES

Location: school’s track & field event (Balzano Track Field) - contestants getting ready to run. The slow turtle surrounded by fast bunnies, all preparing for the event. [Slow & steady (turtle) wins the race]

Location: Schools track & field event - BANG! The race begings. The three other contestants (MIB as bunnies - wearing pink bunny ears - starting the race with a head start, all jumping on their blue bouncy balls)

VISUAL CLUES:

Turtle vs bunnies

BANG! in comic style - to mark the start of the race

The others (three bunnies) bouncing on blue balls whe n the race begins

Surf board - the turtle poliching/cleaning his poink & blue surf board

Pins on the track...popping the blue jumpy balls

Grilling burgers on an (outside) grill...on the track field.

Turtle crossing the finish line first (bunnies just going in circles, being stopped by pins on the way, or other reasons), as he has time to do other things & take it slowly, and then still get there first...with a burger in hand & winning the golden medal.

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

"At the starting-line of my career I was surrounded by other hungry new-comers. It felt like everyone around me was fighting tooth-and-nail for the dream. And I watched as many of those stars burned too brightly, too quickly, and then fizzled down”

“I’m a turtle, because I’m always taking it step-by-step.”

“Slow and steady wins the race. But now I feel like I’m ready to break out of my shell. After years of preparation I would love to make a big splash. So I don’t want anyone to cross that finish line before me.”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal

Look/Costume: Punk/Rock-style, dressed in leather (pants, jacket), has a spike (hair)

Height: Short-ish (shorter than host Nick) - seems around 175cm. Small in size.

Mic hand: Right

Talking: “It’s hot. It’s really hot. And it’s heavy!” (when answering how doesn it feel to be in that costume and perform in it)

GUESSES

Jesse McCartney

Joey McIntyre PS. I tried connecting the voice to any boy-bands (of 1990s & 2000s), but I coukdnt. Even after some “research” - listening to each possible candidate...and IMO it’s none of them. The voices dont match, the heights doesn’t match---But it did sound like someone, who for me was a one-hit-wonder. Yeah, I only know that one song (and one more) from him... but voice seemed familiar.

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES:

Surf board = that he is a surfer; that he is from Cali/Australia/somewhere which is known as being popular among surfers; that he has won Teen Choice Award(s) (this award in in the shape of a surfboard)

being surrounded by other new-comers at the start of his career = either he got his start through a (singing) competition and was one of many contestants fighting for the win AND/OR he got his start in a “boy-band” and was one of the youngsters looking for fame...

Surf board = Teen Choice Awards - winning several TCAs for his first/biggest hit song/album in 2005, and more. And he’s played a surfer character on a TV show

BSB references/connection - he was the opening act in 2005 for BSB during the European part of the tour.

Dream = he started in a boy-band with the name “Dream Street”

on stage presence/body language (movements) = very similar to J.M.

WHITE TIGER

CLUES:

Location: Football field. Tiger striking a power/winners pose.

Location: School hallway, lockers. Tiger walking in, shoving everyone out of his way.

Locatrion: School library (sitting behind a table, with his legs on the table)

Location: School hallway, lockers. MIB trying to get him to audition for TMS. MIB (fans) taking selfies with him.

VISUAL CLUES:

Golden plate/sign with text: Ultimate champion for clam shucking: 51 clams” (next to a golden clam shell)

Sign/ad on the wall: “Masked Singer tryouts 5/3.” + images of three past masks included: Eagle, Lion & Raven. Plus the text: “Hurry. Not for long" also written on it.

Sign on the all with images of past US presidents, including Abe Lincolns & the text/quote “Four Score and Seven Years Ago...”

The TMS golden mask throphee shown next to the lockers (as Tiger says “let’s party!”)

AUDIO CLUES/VOICEOVER:

“Ready to meet your next champion? My entire life I’ve sought out perfection, so choosing a mask with unlimited power like the White Tiger was a no-brainer.”

“I’ve had a giant career full of accomplishments. But when I imagine being on stage (and) singing, I’m a big old scared cat.*

“It’s been a while since I did something that scared me, so I’m here to concour yet anither challenge.”

“What’s my motivation? My fans! I don’t wanna let them down."

“So now I’m ready to get in that ring and smash the competition.”

“Let’s party!”

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice

Look/Costume: Dressed in “Egyptian style"

Height: very tall & big (much taller than host Nick) - over 190cm, looks about 2m tall

Mic hand: R & L (alternates)

Talking: “It’s the most powerful I’ve ever felt. Like I can concour anything. I never wanna take it off” (when answering what did it feel like when he first put on the costume/mask)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES:

He played during the 51st (51 clams) & 53rd (5/3) Super Bowl games.

The three past TMS masks shown are all animals that are parts of names of existing football teams: Ravens, Eagles, Lions. Meaning he is an athlete & specifically plays american football (NFL)

The Lincoln quote translates to “87 years ago...”, so number 87 is the clue here. This could be a reference to player No. 87.

He has had a very succesful career in his own field (sports). Singing is not his main job.

IF the voice-overs were done later, not during initial filming, then it’s possible that “smash” relates to the person smashing a lego-statue of a TV host during 2019/2020 New Years. Which in itself was supposed to be about his famous “Gronk Spike” during football games.

A tiger (albeit “regular”, not white) was one of the characters & costumes + name of the sports team in the Katy Perry video “Swish Swich”, where this athlete also appeared.

The Golden (Golden Mask) trophe - most likely a reference to his many wins (the trophees he/his team has won)

GUESSES:

Rob Gronkowski (Gronk, athlete, 198cm) = 99% certain it’s him

Because of the height alone (seems to be around/almost 2m = 6 feet 5) there are not that many possibilities at all. Even if we don’t listen to that voice or consider the clues. Based on height alone it can basiclaly be only one of these names: Dave Bautista (198cm); The Rock (196cm); Hulk Hogan (201cm); Tyler Perry (196cm); Brad Garrett (204cm); Joe Manganiello (196cm); Jeff Goldblum (194cm); Jason Mamoa (193cm); Tom Brady (193cm)..or the likes...

Even other possible names, like the ones listed by the panel, are not valid guesses, because of their height: John Cena for example is actually only 185cm tall. Also... several of these tall men are bigger/more muscular, so that makes it even easier to determine the name based on only the physical appeance...without even listening to the clues.

ROBOT

First mask to be voted out in ep 1

Havent listed his clues, cause there’s no use for them anymore, as he was voted off.

With his 86 tattoos he makes up for about half of all the 160 tattoos the 18 contestants have combined. With his 24-25 Grammy nominations he makes up about 1/3 of all the 69 noms the 18 contestants have combined. And quite many of the 88 gold records the 18 contestants have combined, belong to him (I don’t know the exact number, but most/all of his 10+ albums have gone gold, I think) - exact number depends on how they count it for this list.

<<<<< THIS IS WHAT GOES ON IN MY HEAD AFTER EVERY TMS SHOW/EPISODE. THIS IS HOW I CATEGORIZE THE INFO I HAVE INTO FOLDERS IN MY MIND. THIS IS HOW SPECIFIC I AM, AND HOW INTO DETAILS I GO. THIS IS HOW MUCH I PAY ATTENTION (while, most likely, missing a ton of more hints that I’ll only notice during re-watch) I JUST DECIDED TO WRITE IT DOWN...FOR ONCE.

BUT... unless I decide to cut some sleep time to do this again, I am probabky not gonna do this after every episode. Possibly for the first episode of every Group (so beside ep 1, also ep 4 & ep 7)

#THE MASKED SINGER #TMS #SPOILER #TMS SPOILER #TMS US #THE MASKED SINGER USA #THE MASKED SINGER SEASON 3 #TMS S3 #TMS SEASON 3 #THE MASKED SINGER S3 #MASKED SINGER

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checkoutafrica · 5 years ago

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CheckOutAfrica Highlights: Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu Presents Award-Nominated Theatre Piece ‘Sweet Like Chocolate Boy’

Written and directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, and produced by Play Back Drama, the 2-time Off West End Theatre Award (The Offies) nominated ‘Sweet Like Chocolate Boy’ is the latest must-see theatre piece.

Described by critics as “nothing short of a modern masterpiece”, “a captivating storyline with brilliantly realised, often hilarious, interpretations”, and “a remarkable animated and innovative play, ” the piece is named after Tristan’s favourite song, and one of the biggest UK Garage records of the ‘90s, ‘Sweet Like Chocolate Boy.�� First created as Tristan’s final year piece at Roehampton University, before being further developed via scratches at The Kiln, Rich Mix, and Cockpit, before its 5-star rated run at the Jack Studio Theatre, we recently caught up with Tristan to find out more about the man behind the piece. See what went down below:

So let’s start on the title “Sweet like chocolate boy”. What is it about the title of a 90’s record you like so much? Honestly, it reminds me of the times when I was 6 and the excitement of going to new estates because I honestly thought they were like castles. So that’s the nostalgic reason. But being almost 25 now, it is listening to the lyrics feeling they spoke to me as a black person in a multitude of ways. 1. We are saucy. 2 My blackness is both unique, ever-changing and beautiful 3. This is how the oppressive powers-that-be view us. We are a delicacy to them. They don’t hate us, they want to devour us. You grew up in the ’90s, what is it about your upbringing and surroundings that inspired you to write “sweet like chocolate boy” I feel that I am now coming into truly appreciating the multitude of black British culture that has grown around me. Music, Food, Fashion, Language. I want to make sure that – in my lifetime – I wrote a piece that was dedicated to that. I also feel the 90s is a decade widely enjoyed but seldom explored so wanted to delve into that more. Lastly, I wanted to the people of the estate – which includes neeky little Cartoon-Network mad me – a voice that was infused with all the joy we experience as well as our troubles. We are multi-layered, intercultural treasures that are to be cherished (but not devoured or diluted).

You studied at Roehampton University where you first wrote the script for your final piece. What is it that led you to take a degree in English and drama? And what would you say to the people considering what they are going to do at university?

I studied English & Drama because I made a decision to further my knowledge in both areas as much as possible. I knew that was where my future career lay. Playwriting wise, I wanted to ensure I understood the mechanics of words from the supposed greats and how to make them bang as a Director. To all who consider, I was very sure of what I wanted to do BUT IT IS NOT THE ONLY WAY TO DO IT. As far as I am concerned University is best for those who can already identify themselves as intrapersonal and audio learners PLUS already have a desire to speak on a critical, academically articulate, intellectual level. And with all those words, that does not make you better than anyone else – cos there is an argument that you can just go to talks & the library more often. Unless your a doctor, lawyer or teacher (even then) do not go to university to solely secure yourself your dream job. Go there for the access to be more widely read and delve into semantics of your craft OF YOUR OWN FREE WILL. The debt is not a joke and mental health pressures of keeping up with joneses can be a lot. How do you feel the show has been received so far? Did you have any expectations and have you met them so far? The show has been very well received. Many laugh, holler and cry. Some see it and need a few days to digest and enter into new conversations with it – which I love too. My biggest thing was making sure it reaches as many people as possible and start as many convos as possible about culture, revolution and what is the right act in this politically charged times we have (and still do) live in. I know my play does that. What message do you hope to convey and what can the audience expect? When you see this play, get ready to say ” I remember that tune!” Get ready to 2-step in your seat whilst watching poetic, physical storytelling coming at ya at blistering speeds. The message I want to convey is: Look at the multiplicity of us. We are the seasoning & the sauce. And we have had it, hard man. But let’s not forget what we created. And when we remember, lets treasure and start conversations how we keep ourselves sane whilst trying to rebuke centring our lives on eurocentric oppression in the meantime.

Who would you say has been your biggest inspiration through your journey and why? Well, I ain’t leaving here without saying Nyame (God), My Mum and my Dad for constantly telling me I have the ability to reach higher. Specifically, on an artistic level, I would say is fellow Ghanaian Michaela Coel. Her journey writing the incredible play Chewing Gum Dreams – based on her archiving the transformative power of her schoolyard days – as unapologetic bold and tender. Furthermore, she took that everywhere to the point it became a TV series. Her work crosses form & place. I need to do that too. And finally, what can we expect next from you? I’m still writing, got a couple of new plays cooking. In terms of directing, I recently won this year’s JMK award and will be directing the G.O.A.T – Arinzé Kene’s – seminal piece Little Baby Jesus at the Orange Tree Theatre. And tickets for that are out now!

Check out Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu’s Award-nominated “Sweet Like Chocolate Boy” piece as it hits Theatre Peckham, London this Saturday. Pick up your tickets here.

The post CheckOutAfrica Highlights: Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu Presents Award-Nominated Theatre Piece ‘Sweet Like Chocolate Boy’ appeared first on CheckoutAfrica.

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#Art #Culture

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dweemeister · 6 years ago

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2018 Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song (final round)

TAGGING: @cokwong, @dansmonarbre, @dog-of-ulthar, @emilylime5, @fredsbarandgrill, @halfwaythruthedark, @ideallaedi, @introspectivemeltdown, @itsjustangc, @loveless422, @maximiliani, @memetoilet, @mindo80, @monkeysmadeofcheese, @myluckyerror, @nazur, @phendranaedge, @plus-low-overthrow, @saucy-witch, @shadesofhappy, @somequeerdistortion, @stephdgray, @themusicmoviesportsguy, @umgeschrieben, @underblackwings, @yellanimal

Also TAGGING older followers/friends/supporters who I really haven’t been in touch with lately, have done the final before, or are on the inactive side. And also some newcomers who have been supporting the blog a lot: @astorytellertothestars, @babeltwo, @celibatemachine, @classwarhooligan, @dakotarosie, @emergencyhugs, @haveyoubeentobahia, @ineedanumbrella, @jayb3, @justtheguest, @mundi41, @nudehearth, @sadisticsunglasses, @shootingstarvenator, @thenarddog, @thethirdman8, @thewolfofelectricavenue, and @voicetalentbrendan!

And now the grand finale. For those of you who have never seen this before, I have an Oscar-like ceremony on my blog celebrating all the movies of that year’s Movie Odyssey (all the movies I saw for the first time in their entirety) at the year’s end. For the last four years, I have asked family and friends to help out with the Best Original Song category - because in all other categories, you'd be forced to watch entire movies to decide it. This is a musical thank-you to all of you, who have contributed, in your ways, to support the Movie Odyssey and me. Please do not feel like you have to do this; there are no hard feelings if you do not participate, and you have my thanks either way. But if you are, I hope you enjoy this 2018 edition!

This final round has the largest chronological spread we have ever covered: eighty-eight years. Songs in English, German (making its debut), Hindi, Japanese are all involved. A Vietnamese-language song made its debut for MOABOS, but was eliminated in the preliminary.

INSTRUCTIONS Please rank (#1-16) your choices in order. The top ten songs will receive nominations. Be warned, there is a new tabulation method for this year's final (described in the "read more" at the bottom). There is no minimum or maximum amount of songs you can rank, but because of the nature of this new tabulation system, it is highly recommended to rank as many songs as possible, rather than only one or two. Those who rank fewer songs run a greater risk of their ballots being discarded as I am counting the ballots. Again, this is all described in the "read more". Why not implement at a minimum number of songs to rank? Well, I believe in giving you folks as much freedom as possible.

Please consider to the best of your ability: how musically interesting the song is, its lyrics, context within the film (if you've seen it - this factor also includes integration into the film's score), choreography/dance direction (if applicable; not many song-and-dance numbers this year), and the song's cultural impact/life outside the film (if applicable, and by far the least important factor). Imperfect audio and video quality may not be used against any song, as this disadvantages older and non-English language songs. You may absolutely send in comments and reactions with your rankings - it’s always fun to read reactions to individual songs, and it usually makes the process (for everyone) more enjoyable!

The submission deadline is Sunday, December 31 at 6 PM Pacific Time / 4 PM Hawai'i / 5 PM Alaska / 8 PM Central / 10 PM Eastern. If you're across the Atlantic, that's New Year's Day at 2 AM GMT / 3 AM CET / 4 AM EET / 7:30 AM IST. There will be no deadline extensions.

And now the sixteen finalists in this category, for your listening pleasure (contextual blurbs are provided, and I hope they are informative; if links do not work there are most likely alternatives across the Internet but please inform me if that does not apply to you):

“Bless Your Beautiful Hide”, music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Performed by Howard Keel

The opener to Seven Brides; its melody is used as the main orchestral theme throughout (most memorably in the barn dance scene). Oregonian backwoodsman Adam Pontipee (Keel) has little experience with society (let alone women), as he looks for a bride to take care of him and his six brothers in this satirical musical of gendered misbehavior - which pokes fun of, never endorses, said misbehavior.

“'Bout Time”, music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968)

Performed by John Davidson and Lesley Ann Warren

In this Disney musical, Joe Carder (Davidson) has convinced the Bower family to move to Dakota Territory. Joe is suitor to Alice Bower (Warren), their relationship complicated by her grandfather's politics. This song takes place on the first day in their new hometown, and before her first day at work at the schoolhouse.

“Candle on the Water”, music and lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, Pete's Dragon (1977)

Performed by Helen Reddy

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song

Nora (Reddy) has just tucked Pete in, not before describing the story of her long-lost fiancé (missing sea for over a year) to him. After being scolded by her father for clinging onto the past, Nora goes up to the lighthouse balcony to sing this.

“Chaar Kadam”, music by Shantanu Moitra, lyrics by Swanand Kirkire, PK (2014, India)

Performed by Sushant Singh Rajput (dubbed by Shaan) and Anushka Sharma (dubbed by Shreya Ghoshal)

Lyrics in Hindi (song ends at 16:20)

In Bruges in Belgium, an Indian Hindu woman named Jaggu (Sharma) has met a Pakistani Muslim, Sarfaraz (Rajput) - both are students. This is their love duet before her family objects due to nationalistic and (especially) religious reasons. Don't worry about the dude at the end - he's the one who got them together.

“Charade”, music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, Charade (1963)

Performed by orchestra and chorus; conducted by Mancini

Used as main theme throughout this romantic comedy/mystery/suspense film. This song is more famous for its instrumental version without lyrics.

“Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)”, music and German lyrics by Friedrich Hollaender, English lyrics by Sammy Lerner, The Blue Angel (1930, Germany)

Performed by Marlene Dietrich

(English-language version... excuse the badly-edited video) / (German original)

A college prep school professor is angry at his students for passing around photos of cabaret singer, Lola Lola (Dietrich), in class. In hopes to catch the boys at the club, he goes to the cabaret and is overcome with lust for Lola after seeing her perform this song. Their relationship will become toxic, based on his groveling and humiliations.

“Gunfight at the O.K. Corral”, music by Dimitri Tiomkin, lyrics by Ned Washington, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Performed by Frankie Laine (the above was re-recorded in the 1980s when Laine was in his mid-70s, so those familiar with Laine's voice will notice it sounds weaker)

Played in the opening credits, with additional verses sung during montage scenes across the film. Used as main orchestral theme in the film's score. This version of the song contains additional lyrics that can't be found online.

“Hooray for Hollywood”, music by Richard A. Whiting, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, Hollywood Hotel (1937)

Performed by Johnnie Davis, Frances Langford, and Benny Goodman and His Orchestra

Considered an unofficial anthem of Hollywood. Usually played at least once in every Oscars ceremony and other movie awards ceremonies worldwide.

Small town saxophonist Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell) has just won a contract with a major Hollywood studio. His friends and former employer, Benny Goodman, arrive at the airport to send him off. The lyrics are meant to satirize what people do to become famous as actors.

“Hum Aapki Aankhon Mein”, music by Sachin Dev Burman, lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi, Pyaasa (1957, India)

Performed by Guru Dutt (dubbed by Mohammad Rafi) and Mala Sinha (dubbed by Geeta Dutt)

Lyrics in Hindi

Broke poet Vijay (Guru Dutt) encounters his university ex, Meena (Sinha), who is now married to a hotshot publisher who won't publish Vijay's work. Vijay then has a flashback, and within that flashback is this foggy fantasy song-and-dance sequence. Flashback-ception?

“It's Not Easy”, music and lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, Pete's Dragon (1977)

Performed by Sean Marshall and Helen Reddy

Pete (Marshall) and his dragon, Elliott, are on the run from his abusive foster family. The lighthouse keeper and his daughter, Nora (Reddy), take Pete in. Nora has not met Elliott yet, and believes that he is Pete's imaginary friend.

"Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing", music by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

Non-film version performed by Nat King Cole; film version performed by chorus (and is unavailable)

Used as main orchestral theme throughout this romantic drama's score; version with lyrics sung by chorus first appear at the end of the film.

"Mystery of Love", music and lyrics by Sufjan Stevens, Call Me by Your Name (2017)

Performed by Stevens

(single version) / (use in film; song isn't played in its entirety)

This song appears as the film's main characters, Elio and Oliver, take one of their many day trips in this Italian summer.

“Rain”, music by Shin'ichi Nakajima, Saori Fujisaki, and Satoshi Fukase, lyrics by Saori Fujisaki and Satoshi Fukase, Mary and the Witch's Flower (2017, Japan)

Performed by Sekai no Owari

Lyrics in Japanese (rough translations)

Appears in the end credits; this song is not referenced in this anime fantasy's score (but like the score, there's a prominent and unusual use of a dulcimer).

“Shallow”, music and lyrics by Mark Ronson, Lady Gaga, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt, A Star Is Born (2018)

Performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

Aspiring singer-songwriter Ally (Lady Gaga) has fallen for declining artist Jackson Maine (Cooper). At one of his concerts, he begins to put music to a song she sung to him in a parking lot, inviting her onstage.

“This Is Me”, music and lyrics by Justin Paul and Benj Pasek, The Greatest Showman (2017)

Performed by Keala Settle and company

After being shunned from a dinner including P.T. Barnum’s wealthy sponsors for his circus, the circus "freaks" sing this ballad which eventually becomes a montage, refusing to put up with those harass and put them down.

“You're the One That I Want”, music and lyrics by John Farrar, Grease (1978)

Performed by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

At the post-graduation high school carnival, greaser and bad boy Danny Zuko (Travolta) is stunned to see his relatively restrained, somewhat prudish, girlfriend, Sandy (Newton-John), committing to change herself for him to win him over.

Well, have at it! And thanks for your time and consideration! You may submit your responses in any way, as long as they come in before the deadline. I am free to answer any questions about anything you have about the process. The 2018 Movie Odyssey has been a rewarding one, and I have been glad to share it with you.

TABULATION Like the preliminary... a respondent’s first choice receives 10 points, the second choice receives 9, the third choice receives 8, etc. HOWEVER, the points system is used only for tiebreaker purposes.

The way the winner will be decided is through a process called instant-runoff voting (IRV; the Academy Awards uses this method to choose a Best Picture winner, visually represented here - you should really watch this video if the below doesn't make sense... which it probably won't):

All #1 picks from all voters are tabulated. A song needs more than half of all aggregate votes to win (50% of all votes plus one... i.e. if there are thirty respondents, sixteen #1 votes are needed to win on the first count).

If there is no winner after the first count (as is most likely), the song(s) with the fewest #1 votes or points is/are eliminated. Then, we look at the ballots of those who voted for the last-placed song(s). Their votes then go to the highest-remaining (non-eliminated) song on their ballot.

This process (in #2) repeats until one song has secured 50% plus one of all votes. We keep eliminating nominees and transfer votes to the highest-ranked, non-eliminated song on each ballot. NOTE: It is possible after several rounds of counting that respondents who did not entirely fill in their ballots will have wasted their votes at the end of the process. For example, if a person voted the second-to-last place song as their #1, ranked no other songs, and the count has exceeded two rounds, their ballot is discarded (lowering the vote threshold needed to win), and they have no say in which song ultimately is the winner.

A song wins when it reaches more than fifty percent of all #1 and re-distributed votes.

Tiebreakers: 1) first song to receive 50% plus one of all #1 and transferred votes; 2) total points earned; 3) total #1 votes; 4) placement on my ballot; 5) placement on my sister’s ballot; 6) tie declared

Previous years’ results for reference: 2013 final 2014 final (input from family and friends began this year) 2015 final 2016 prelim / final 2017 prelim / final

#2018 Movie Odyssey Awards

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earlyandoftenpodcast · 7 years ago

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(From here, an illustration of Green Spring, the plantation home of William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, long since torn down.)

A discussion of life in the Chesapeake in the mid-1600s, from local government to election practices to the origins of slavery and a new upper class.

>>>Direct audio link<<<

(Wordpress) (Twitter) (Libsyn) (Podbean) (iTunes)

Transcript and Sources:

Hello, and welcome to Early and Often: The History of Elections in America. Episode 7: Berkeley’s Virginia.

Last time, we talked about the unwinding of the English Civil War, as the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell failed and was replaced by a restored monarchy under Charles II. Both Maryland and Virginia were largely returned to the status quo. Lord Baltimore had successfully fended off numerous attacks on his control of Maryland and in Virginia the Royalist William Berkeley had been restored to the governorship. Things will become unsettled again soon enough in the Chesapeake, but since the region is calm for the moment, I thought it would be a good idea to step back from the narrative and talk about Virginia’s development during the second half of the 17th Century, with a bit of an emphasis on its political culture. In particular, I’d like to show how both the geography of the region and a developing social hierarchy affected Virginia’s political system. I think the most important thing to note is that as the colony matured, it became not more but less democratic, just like in Maryland last episode. In its early years Virginia had been open, both economically and politically. But as a new elite formed and as the class of indentured servants was slowly replaced by a caste of slaves, Virginia reverted to more restrictive norms like in England.

Note that as we talk about life in Virginia, it’s safe to assume that life in Maryland was in most ways quite similar. Maryland was smaller and it had had a later start, plus it was politically unstable at the top, but that didn’t affect daily life so much. At least not most of the time.

Tobacco was at the center of everything in the Chesapeake. The needs of planting, harvesting, and curing set the pace of daily life. Repeated attempts over the last several decades by the government to diversify the economy into such commodities as “Silk, Flax, Hemp, Iron, Rice, Pitch, [and] Tar” had all failed more or less completely. Tobacco was the Chesapeake’s comparative advantage. There was just way more money to be made in planting it than in doing anything else. And no other reason to risk Virginia’s high death rate. So tobacco plantations kept springing up all across the region, further and further up the rivers.

Settlements in the Chesapeake were extremely spread out, for a number of reasons. Obviously a big plantation needs a lot of space. But also important was the fact that the Chesapeake Bay is fed by 48 different navigable rivers, from the James to the Potomac. It was far easier to get around on water than on land, so there was less of a need for towns to act as central hubs for transportation and communication. If you had a plantation it was often simpler and cheaper for you to just build a dock on your land and have traders come upriver to you. Also, no doubt, settlers were looking for the most fertile land, wherever that was. Add to that people buying up extra land in the hopes of farming it later, or moving to a more remote location in the hopes of buying more land later, and you can see why the Chesapeake was as rural as it was. In fact, the Native Americans were more urbanized than the English settlers at the time.

Jamestown was the only settlement that could plausibly be called a city, and while I couldn’t find a good population estimate for it at this time, it couldn’t have held more than a few thousand people at best. Remember that the population of Virginia only reached 40,000 in the 1670s. And Maryland had maybe some 10,000-plus people on top of that.

As a result of this geographic dispersion, county governments wound up responsible for most of the day-to-day administration in the colony. Local justices of the peace could pass laws pretty much as they wished. Courts were established in the counties, although they weren’t just “courts” in the modern sense. In addition to judicial functions, they also had executive/administrative responsibilities. They handled most routine legal matters, from recording land ownership to the care of orphans to the regulation of taverns. Basically all of the features of local government were rolled up into a single body. It was all quite simple and unspecialized, relative to the complexity of modern government. And remember, none of these men were elected.

The militia was run at the county level, except in times of emergency.

Sheriffs handled many of the basic functions of local government. Serving warrants, collecting taxes, things like that. They were given a cut of the revenue they brought in, so it could pay quite well. Most importantly for us, they were responsible for running elections. So let me take a moment to go into a bit more detail about how elections were held in practice. Of course Governor Berkeley didn’t call for elections from 1661 to 1676, so it’s a moot point for now, but this should give you an idea of how things went before and after that interlude.

The process began when the governor decided to call for an election. Orders were then issued and given to the sheriff of each county. It was his responsibility to inform the populace of the upcoming election’s time and place. In the early decades of the colony he would literally go door to door around the county. But this was unwieldy and ineffective, and people kept complaining that they didn’t actually find out about the election until it was too late. So in the 1660s the process was changed. Now sheriffs were required to have the minister in each county read an announcement in church two Sundays in a row before the election, since that was the one place everyone would be.

The exact time and place of elections wasn’t specified by law. The sheriff could choose as he thought best, although elections had to be held at least 20 days after the writ was delivered, to make sure everyone could be informed in time. Generally, the elections would have been held in whatever the typical meeting place of the county was. At the courthouse, most likely. It probably varied by county, but the standard practice may have been to hold one voting session in the morning and one in the afternoon. To make sure that people weren’t afraid to attend, it was forbidden for the sheriff to arrest people on election day, except for felonies or immediate breach of the peace. (Incidentally, sheriffs were also forbidden from arresting people at church, to keep attendance from dropping.)

There was no formal method of nominating candidates. People just announced that they were in the running. And remember that at this time each county sent two burgesses to the Assembly, so you could still vote twice in each election. Sometimes candidates campaigned, sometimes not, depending on how secure they felt. Back in Episode 3 I talked about the increasing political awareness in England, as voters became more informed and candidates learned to get votes by campaigning on issues. This was only slowly becoming the case in the Chesapeake. For now, such political factions as there were were more about personal conflicts and competition for lucrative offices than about policy.

I think it’s safe to say that the atmosphere at these elections may have been, if not always festive then at least convivial. It would have been as much a social occasion as a political one. Sometimes candidates tried to bribe voters by offering them “meat, drink, entertainment [and] provision”, which we know because the Assembly had to ban the practice in the early 1700s. So this would have been an occasion quite unlike most elections today. I can only imagine how drunk people got.

I mentioned back in Episode 3 that both in England and in Virginia the custom was to vote by voice or by a show of hands, rather than by ballot, and that was still the case. As elections at this time weren’t so fiercely contested, it was possible for voting to be so informal, with no proper counts taken. Later on, if there was a closely fought election the sheriffs would record formal vote tallies, but that wouldn’t be for another few decades. For now, I suspect that at most, if there was some dispute sheriffs or their clerks simply marked out rough counts -- tally marks, perhaps -- and left it at that.

Once the sheriff had determined who the winners of the election were, he sent word back to the General Assembly. And that was that. Any complaints about the election could be sent to the Assembly as well, and it was they who would decide the issue.

It was a very simple system, one quite vulnerable to abuse and manipulation. Obviously without a secret ballot everyone knew who you voted for. One of the reasons given for restricting the franchise to men who owned land was that they were the only ones with enough independence to not just vote how someone else wanted them to. And there were no real procedures in place to prevent cheating. But I’m not at all sure certain that that was a problem for the leaders of Virginia. They preferred a system that was predictable and controllable. And while they believed that representation was a useful feature of government, it wasn’t of foundational importance.

Seats in the House of Burgesses weren’t too highly coveted yet either. Not all seats were campaigned for, as I mentioned. And turnover was very high still, partly due to the high death rate. For instance, in a given Assembly in Maryland, almost half of the members that year would be first-timers. This only changed after around 1689 or so. So inexperienced Burgesses often came and went without having much of an impact.

I should reemphasize that the burgesses were the only elected officials in Virginia for its whole colonial history. Every other position was appointed. In practice, however, the appointees needed to be approved by the notable men of a given county. And the Burgesses themselves now tended to come from the higher ranks of society. So government, both local and central, was hardly going to be too responsive to the needs of the average indentured servant or even freeman. Instead, it was all about the growing upper class.

During the English Civil War Governor Berkeley had invited well-born Royalists displaced by the conflict to settle in Virginia. A few of these Cavaliers came, and more upper-class Englishmen trickled in over the next few decades. Most of these men hadn’t actually been proper Cavaliers, that is supporters of the King during the Civil War, but they came to call themselves Cavaliers anyway, and their self-image would turn into the self-image of Virginia’s upper class as a whole. They understood themselves to be dashing aristocrats and superior men.

It wasn’t a large migration, but it had an outsized impact on the highest levels of Virginia’s social ladder. “Of seventy-two families in Virginia’s high elite whose dates of migration are known, two-thirds arrived between 1640 and 1669.” That’s from Albion’s Seed, by David Hackett Fischer, a fascinating book that contrasts the various cultures of settlers in colonial America. I’ll be drawing on it for this episode.

These immigrants were often second sons of important families who stood to inherit nothing and so left for the New World to start new lives for themselves. They were in general richer than the migrants who had come before, and so they were able to purchase larger estates. In the 1630s, a typical member of the Council had from 300 to 500 acres of land. And remember that you could get 50 acres of land just by showing up. So back then the wealthier were certainly wealthier, but there was no immense gulf between the top and everyone else. The new Cavaliers, however, came from much richer stock. They could easily control estates of tens of thousands of acres. They didn’t totally displace the old elite, but they did tend to dominate it.

This new elite heavily intermarried and turned itself into somewhat of a de facto aristocracy. For generations to come, it would be these men and their descendants -- called the First Families of Virginia, although they weren’t actually first -- who would dominate Virginia politics. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and several other presidents all came from these families. So did Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general.

The First Families established themselves quickly and they came to dominate the government. According to Fischer, “Of 152 Virginians who held top offices in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, at least sixteen were connected to aristocratic families, and 101 were the sons of baronets, knights and the rural gentry of England. Seven more came from armigerous urban families, with coats of arms at the college of heralds. Only eighteen were the sons of yeomen, traders, mariners, artisans, or “plebs.” None came to Virginia as laborers or indentured servants”.

Indeed, the Governor’s Council itself became almost hereditary. Again, according to Fischer, “As early as 1660, every seat on the Council was filled by members of five related connections. As late as 1775, every member of that august body was descended from a councilor who had served in 1660.” From 1680 to independence, two thirds of the seats were held by members of just 25 families. And remember, these were the men picking all the other officeholders in the colony. It never became a genuine hereditary aristocracy, but it came close enough. I think you can start to understand why Virginia was shifting towards restrictions on voting around this time.

On the other hand, politics in Maryland were generally less hereditary. Only 26 out of 137 Assemblymen from 1661 to 1689 had sons who went on to be elected themselves. And even at the higher levels of government, only two councilors out of 28 had sons who became councilors themsleves. However, even if Maryland’s politics were less hereditary, they did reflect the growing inequality in the colony. Fewer delegates were illiterate and fewer were simple planters. Lawyers, merchants and entrepreneurs became more common in government. The upper class still dominated, but there were fewer members, so the process was just more muted than in Virginia. And the voting restrictions in both colonies were very similar.

This new elite in Virginia had a rather earthy culture, filled with farming, animal husbandry, gambling, hunting, cockfighting, sex, and ever-present death. It was a peculiar mix of liberality and harsh discipline, looseness and self-control. If you think about the lifestyle of a Roman aristocrat before total decadence set in, you wouldn’t be too far off, and the Virginians themselves noticed the parallels. They aspired to a Roman sort of liberty, that of the leisured gentleman who was free to make demands of his social inferiors, but also free from social superiors who could make demands of him. This hierarchical sort of freedom could by definition only be enjoyed by a few, wealthy men. In the words of one Virginian, “I am an aristocrat. I love liberty; I hate equality.”

The society of the First Families was hierarchical, patriarchal, and honor-bound. It was not too concerned with education. Most high class men could read and write, but few few men from the lower classes and few women from any class were literate. Massachusetts had set up Harvard in the 1630s, but Virginia hardly had any primary schools. Virginia didn’t even have a printing press until the 1730s.

At one point Governor Berkeley wrote in a letter, “I thank God there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these [for a] hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy... into the world, and printing has divulged them... God keep us from both!” Needless to say, the betterment of the lower classes was not a high social priority.

So what about those lower classes? How did the rest of Virginia live? Not that well, as it turns out. Fischer divides Virginia into three main social classes. The first, the elite planters I’ve been describing, made up perhaps 10% of the population and according to him “owned 50 to 75 percent of productive assets” in the colony. Within this group, the First Families were the elite of the elite.

Below them were the yeomen, farmers who owned their own land and maybe had a servant or two. This group was 20-30% of the population, and would have made up a majority of the voters. A yeoman family might be rich enough to own a few books, if that. Life for a yeoman could be precarious. A bad year could land them permanently in debt to a wealthier neighbor.

The rest of the colonists, the majority, were landless. These men were tenant farmers, or below them indentured servants, or below them slaves. From people who had no property down to people who were property. More than three quarters of immigrants came to Virginia as indentured servants. Of these servants, more than three quarters were men between the ages of 15 and 24. And immigration to Virginia overall was over 80% male. Most of these men were illiterate and unskilled farmers from the somewhat lower class in England, just a few rungs up from the bottom.

At this point most of the good land had been bought up, so it was no longer possible to just claim your 50 acres of land once you’d finished your indenture. You could head out to the frontier, but that was risky. So most new arrivals remained landless.

These young and avaricious men created about the sort of society you’d expect. In my research for the podcast, I’ve seen Virginia at this time described as a Wild West town, a boom town, and a logging town. In other words: young, male, violent, and unsettled.

Conditions in Virginia weren’t conducive to forming families, even apart from the skewed sex ratio. Only half of babies would survive until adulthood, and of those children who did reach 18, over three quarters would have lost one or both parents. So there were few families, few children, few old people. And the population kept expanding thanks to new arrivals who kept the gender and age balance out of whack.

These young men were, of course, not likely to be too politically active, even if servants had been allowed to vote. And in fact, basically no servants became politicians. “[N]ot a single indentured servant who arrived after 1640 appears to have won a seat in the assembly before 1706.” Even more remarkably, “apparently none of the burgesses from 1660 to 1706 was descended from indentured servants who emigrated after 1640.” That’s from Fischer quoting historian Martin Quitt. So even if servitude was better than life in England, it was no longer a route to high status in Virginia. That path was closed.

I’d like to end this episode by discussing the origins and legal underpinnings of both indentured servitude and slavery. Obviously slavery will become extraordinarily important to the history of Virginia and the United States as a whole, but I’ve avoided talking about it so far. While there were African slaves in Virginia from a very early date, for many decades the number was quite small, and their legal status somewhat uncertain. In the first half century of English settlement indentured servants were far more important. And slavery in large measure grew out of the tradition of servitude in the Chesapeake.

Indentured servitude has its origins in the apprenticeship system in 16th Century England. Under this system, an apprentice would contract with a master, offering him some years of service without pay in exchange for being taught a trade. However, this wasn’t a simple internship. The master had nearly total control over the apprentice’s personal life. Apprentices couldn’t marry and they had to follow all their master’s orders. They were more servants than employees.

And importantly, apprenticeship contracts could be bought and sold, so an apprentice could wind up working for a different master than the one he’d signed up with. But this was a regulated process and there was no big market for the labor of apprentices. The arrangement was temporary and apprentices could get out of their contracts if their master was abusive or if he wasn’t fulfilling his end of the bargain in teaching them a trade. No doubt the system was quite biased in favor of the master, but it was less openly mercenary than servitude in Virginia.

From the start, things in Virginia were different. For one thing, rather than working in exchange for learning a trade, indentured servants worked for several years in exchange for free passage to Virginia and for the hope of getting land in the future. So while an apprenticeship was an unequal and unfree relationship, it was one with traditional norms and expectations that regulated behavior. And the apprentice and the master had to live and work side by side. None of that was true with indentured servitude. Servitude was much more purely economic and it was crueler as a result. Servants who ran away repeatedly were branded. Female servants who got pregnant were lashed and their indenture was extended by two years to compensate their master for the time lost by having a child. Some masters would try to impregnate their servants just to get the extra years of labor.

Masters had no incentives or obligations to treat their servants well. They were disposable. And so abuse was rife. In one particularly extreme case, two servants, a woman named Elizabeth Abbott and and a man named Elias Hinton, were beaten repeatedly and savagely by their masters, a husband and wife, until they both died. At one point the woman was lashed five hundred times in a row. When she ran away her neighbors promptly returned her to her masters. (There were laws against aiding runaway servants.) After her death her body was examined and found to be “full of sores and holes very dangerously raunckled and putrified both above her wast and uppon her hips and thighes.” And yet there is no record that their masters were ever punished.

That was an unusually cruel case -- masters generally wanted their servants alive, at least -- but it was still an indicative one. Servants were property, for as long as their indenture held. According to Warren M. Billings, servants were “exchanged as commodities, were used as security in debt proceedings, and frequently formed portions of marriage settlements or inheritances.” According to Edmund S. Morgan, when a Dutch sea captain came to Virginia in the 1630s, he was shocked to see “planters gambling at cards with their servants as stakes.” I think it’s very, very easy to see how this mindset led quite easily and naturally to full-on slavery. Virginia was culturally prepared for slavery well before slavery began in earnest. Workers no longer owned their own labor. Workers were now a commodity.

There wasn’t a free market for labor, I should point out. The General Assembly passed regulations mandating minimum terms of service and things like that, so as to keep the servant class more dependant and less mobile by weakening their ability to bargain.

So why did people keep coming to Virginia as indentured servants, if the mortality was so high and the working conditions so awful? Well, the truth is that if you survived, there was real money to be made. After your contract was up you’d be your own man again. Many people did in fact decide that coming to Virginia as a servant was a worthwhile gamble. Few became rich planters, but many wound up doing better in Virginia than they would have in England, at least.

The same could not be said of the slaves, however.

Slavery has been a recurring feature of civilization for thousands of years, but the form it took in the Americas, race-based and transmitted from generation to generation, was unique. When the Europeans began conquering the Americas, they had at first relied upon native labor but that proved insufficient. Not enough Europeans wanted to come, and so the conquistadors turned to Africa to fill the gap. There had long been a small slave trade in West Africa, mainly selling off prisoners of war. The Europeans began buying these slaves and shipping them to the Americas. As the demand for African slaves increased, the supply rose to match and slave raids began to consume West Africa, destabilizing the region. By the time Jamestown was settled there were already a quarter of a million black slaves in Spanish and Portuguese America.

Slavery in British America began in the Caribbean and from there slowly spread to what would become the United States. Not only to the Chesapeake, but to New England as well. So the development of slavery in Virginia and Maryland should be no surprise, since all the other Europeans in the Americas were already importing black slaves.

The first recorded shipment of slaves to Virginia arrived in 1619, a decade after its founding. John Rolfe, husband to Pocahontas and the first grower of tobacco in the colony, noted that a Dutch ship had brought “20. and odd Negroes” to Jamestown. It’s likely, though not certain, that there may have been a handful of Africans in the colony before that date.

In the beginning the importation of slaves was haphazard. A shipment here, a shipment there. The English weren’t dominant in the slave trade at the time, and there were too few buyers in the Chesapeake to make a regular trade in slaves worthwhile. Indentured servitude made more sense on the small plantations of the time, and there was a more ready supply of them.

In 1625 there were only 23 blacks in Virginia. And in 1640 there were only 20 in Maryland. From there, the slave trade slowly accelerated, surpassing the flow of indentured servants only towards the end of the 1600s. According to Bernard Bailyn in his book The Barbarous Years, “By 1650 there were 300 blacks in Maryland; in 1660, 758; and in 1670, 1,190 (9 percent of the population), by which time Virginia’s black population had reached 2,000”, which was maybe 5% of the population.

Not all Africans who came to the Chesapeake were slaves, though probably a large majority were. Some were more like indentured servants, and were given their freedom after a few years of service. A few may have even been free. However, blacks were considered slaves until proven otherwise.

Slaves could sometimes win their freedom. And when free they could own property and even sue in court with a chance of winning. Bailyn gives the example of Northampton County, Virginia, where “In 1668 nearly a third of the fifty-nine blacks…, all of whom had arrived bound in unlimited servitude, had acquired freedom”. But that was atypical.

In general, slaves and other blacks occupied an ambiguous legal position in those first decades. Slavery wasn’t clearly distinguished from servitude yet, but it was by no means prohibited. Slaves were essentially just indentured servants whose contracts were unending.

There were some laws that discriminated along racial lines, but nothing systematic yet. For instance, the General Assembly didn’t explicitly ban free blacks from voting until well into the 1700s. There’s apparently no evidence that any black freeholders did in fact ever vote in Virginia, but it’s not actually impossible. We do know, for instance, that later on in South Carolina a few free blacks voted, even after they had been banned from doing so, so it’s at least possible that in Virginia at least a few blacks voted at one time or another. We just don’t know.

But racial prejudice definitely did exist in Virginia at an early date, if not in any fully thought out way. For instance, in 1630 a white man was “soundly whipped, before an assembly of Negroes and others for abusing himself to the dishonor of God and shame of Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a negro.” The antipathy went beyond mere distrust of foreigners. Africans were seen by the English as savage and lesser. A separate people you shouldn’t mix with too closely. Hence the abhorrence of interracial sex from so early on. Not that that stopped people from intermingling in practice, of course.

While racism encouraged legislators to sharpen the distinction between white and black, economic motives encouraged them to sharpen the distinction between servant and slave. Quite simply there was a lot of money to be made if you owned the right to someone else’s labor for life. And slaves were hardly in a position to fight for their rights in a culturally alien land. So step by step, law by law, the Chesapeake turned itself into a slave society.

In 1664 the Maryland Assembly passed a brief bill titled “An Act Concerning Negroes & Other Slaves”, which made explicit that all blacks were to serve for life and that their children would be enslaved as well. Even mixed-race children were to be enslaved. The legal reasoning underlying slavery would be refined over time, but the basic logic is already clear to see. Slavery was becoming the heritable status of a new racial caste. Ambiguities like mixed race children were dealt with in a way that preserved the long-term interests of the planters.

In 1667 the Virginia Assembly made it clear that baptising slaves wasn’t enough to free them. Later, violence by a master against a slave was legalized, up to and including murder. Interracial marriage between both whites and blacks and whites and Native Americans was banned, on pain of expulsion from the colony. I’ve already mentioned that aiding runaway servants was a crime, so that was easily extended to slaves.

Full-on slave codes didn’t really appear until the 1700s, but the progression towards them was straightforward and was never really challenged. In the words of Warren Billings, it happened “[G]radually but not haphazardly”. I suppose it wasn’t inevitable for the American South to become a slave society in the way it did, but it’s also hard to see how it could have been avoided. There was money to be made in slavery, and there was a visible racial divide on which you could build a caste system. There was a pre-existing Transatlantic slave trade. Moving from a system of apprenticeship to one of servitude and then of slavery was natural; the Virginians were merely expanding the market in unfree labor as far as it could go. And racism was present in the Chesapeake from the beginning, making the whole process easier.

So right as Virginia was gaining a new overclass it was also gaining a new underclass. And its political structure evolved to match. The new upper class marginalized everyone else. Most Virginians were barred from voting, and few could rise high enough to dream of running for office. The earlier, more egalitarian, period can be seen in hindsight as an anomaly, just an artifact of a colony that was still developing politically. Now that Virginia was growing and stabilizing, it was coming to more closely resemble England’s lesser political openness. And lurking below everything, ever more important and ever more threatening, was slavery. William Berkeley himself wasn’t the main cause of all this, but it is the legacy of his time in office.

On the next episode of Early and Often, that time in office will come to a dismal end. All of the tensions that have been building in Virginia will explode into open revolt. By the end, Jamestown will be in ruins and the government nearly overthrown. This episode will wrap up our time in the Chesapeake for now, so join me next time as everything comes crashing down in the tumult of Bacon’s Rebellion.

And if you like the podcast, please rate it on iTunes. You can also keep track of Early and Often on Twitter, at earlyoftenpod, or read transcripts of every episode at the blog, at earlyandoftenpodcast.wordpress.com. Thanks for listening.

Sources:

The Colonial Period of American History Volume I by Charles M. Andrews

The Barbarous Years by Bernard Bailyn

The Causes of Bacon's Rebellion: Some Suggestions by Warren M. Billings

The Law of Servants and Slaves in Seventeenth-Century Virginia by Warren M. Billings

Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia by Warren M. Billings

History of Elections in the American Colonies by Cortlandt F. Bishop

The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century 1607-1689 by Wesley Frank Craven

Albion’s Seed by David Hackett Fischer

Cavalier Culture? The Social Development of Colonial Virginia by James Horn

Foundations of Representative Government in Maryland, 1632—1715 by David W. Jordan

Elections in Colonial Virginia by John G. Kolp

American Slavery, American Freedom, by Edmund S. Morgan

The First American Boom: Virginia 1618 to 1630 by Edmund S. Morgan

The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century Volume III by Herbert L. Osgood

The Origins Debate: Slavery and Racism in Seventeenth-Century Virginia by Alden T. Vaughan

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mobiline-app-blog · 6 years ago

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weekendwarriorblog · 6 years ago

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEEKEND MARCH 8, 2019 – CAPTAIN MARVEL!!!

This is a big weekend for Marvel Studios, as they release their first superhero movie with a female protagonist -- not counting Elektra (thanks for the laugh, Max Evry!) -- and the question is not whether it will make $100 million this weekend but how much MORE than $100 million it will be making this weekend. But that’s a question to be answered over at my gig at The Beat and it will be answered in about an hour...

CAPTAIN MARVEL (Marvel Studios/Disney)

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson, Sugar, Mississippi Grind) Written by Boden, Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dworet Cast: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Annette Bening, Gemma Chan, McKenna Grace, Lashana Lynch, Clark Gregg MPAA Rating: PG-13

I’m not sure how much more I have to say about the latest Marvel movie after writing about it extensively for The Beat. (You are reading my Box Office Preview there for all the stuff you used to read in this column about the wide releases, right?)

I am greatly looking forward to seeing this on Thursday night for a number of reasons and none of them are due to “old white man hater” Brie Larson, who I used to have respect for until she decided to attack me and my livelihood and ability to get work.

That said, I’ve been waiting for directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck to break out and do a big studio movie for many years, as I’ve been a fan of theirs since Half Nelson and have spoken to them a number of times including one of my favorites of theirs, the road trip movie Mississippi Grind, starring Ryan Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn, who played a much nicer and more sympathetic role in that then he has portraying the villain in many studio movies since then.

I’m also looking forward to Captain Marvel since it introduces to the MCU the idea of the alien races, the Kree and the Skrulls, who have played such a large part in some of my favorite Marvel Comics storylines, including the “Kree-Skrull War” from The Avengers, which certainly could be something being set up in the MCU. I also loved the Skrulls as Fantastic Four villains, and here’s hoping that with the new Disney-Fox merger, we might actually see a GOOD Fantastic Four movie one of these days (or a crossover with Avengers even!)

Anyway, we’ll see whether I feel like writing a review for this on Friday after seeing it on Thursday night, but it’s really tough to be fair and impartial when the star of a movie has already gone out of her way to write you off, due to your gender, race and age.

More importantly, let’s get to some…

LIMITED RELEASES

One of the best movie out this weekend is Oscar-winning Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Lelio’s new movie GLORIA BELL (A24), starring Julianne Moore. A remake of his 2013 Spanish language film Gloria, the filmmaker behind A Fantastic Woman makes his English language debut with Moore playing the title character, a lonely older woman dealing with family issues who goes out dancing on Friday nights in hoping of meeting men. On one such night she meets John Turturro’s Arnold, and the two of them fall into a romance that runs into issues when he finally meets her kids and ex-husband (Brad Garrett). Although I never did see Gloria, I was pretty blown away by how Lelio told this story, and Moore gives one of the best performances of her career – YES, MUCH better than her Oscar-winning turn in Still Alice. I know that A24 brought the movie to TIFF last year, but for whatever reason, they decided to hold it until March… just like Brie Larson’s Free Fire, ironically enough. Personally, I think Moore has a real chance at another Oscar nomination, but having a movie released so early in the year will make it tough, sadly. I was really able to relate to this movie more than I thought I would but mainly to Turturro’s character.

Another film worth seeking out is Vincent D’Onofrio’s second film as a director, the Western THE KID (Lionsgate), as in “Billy the Kid,” played by Dane DeHaan. The “kid” in the title is also teenager Rio, played by Jake Schur, who is on the run with his sister (Leila George) trying to get away from their abusive uncle (played by Chris Pratt!) Along the way, they meet Billy the Kid, as well as Sheriff Pat Garrett, who has been sent to capture and try Billy. It’s opening in 250 theaters on Friday, so it won’t be too hard to find, and I’d love to say more wonderful things about it, but I’ve been embargoed. I hope to have an interview with D’Onofrio soon over on The Beat!

Another film worth seeking out is 3 FACES (Kino Lorber), the new film from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (The Circle, Offside), who has been banned from making films in his home country but continues to find a way to make films anyway. This one received an award for Best Screenplay at Cannes last year and has played Toronto and New York Film Festivals before opening at the IFC Centeron Friday. Panahi also stars in this drama along with Iranian actor Behnaz Jafari, as they go on a road trip to help a girl whose family has forbidden her from attending a drama school in Tehran, encountering various people along the way. The film continues Panahi’s exploration of combining his personal life with dramatic storytelling in the real world, which I haven’t really enjoyed as much as his straight dramas.

Opening at Metrograph is Black Mother (Grasshopper Films), the new cinema verité doc from filmmaker and photographer Khalik Allah (Field Niggas), which combines portraits of denizens of Jamaica shot on 16mm and HD with audio recordings of them talking about life in Jamaica. It’s a really beautiful film, and this is from someone who generally doesn’t care for cinema verité docs, but this really is a compelling film that’s worth seeing.

Oscar winner J.K. Simmons stars in his wife Michelle Schumacher’s second film I’m Not Here (Gravitas Ventures) playing Steve, as a lonely man who is haunted by memories of his past locked into the objects and sounds around his house. The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Mandy Moore, Max Greenfield, David Koechner and Harold Perrineau, and it opens at New York’s Village East, Los Angele’s Laemmle Monica and in other select cities this Friday. (Simmons and Schumacher will be at the Laemmle for a QnA on Sunday evening.)

Opening at New York’s Quad Cinema Friday is Giacomo Durzi’s doc Ferrante Fever (Greenwich) about novelist Elena Ferrante, who has made waves both in Italy and in America, thanks to a few independent publishers.

Gabrielle Brady’s directorial debut Island of the Hungry Ghosts, winner of Best Documentary at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, will open at Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image. It focuses on the residents of Christmas Island off the coast of Indonesia where asylum seekers are held in a high-security detention center and counseled by trauma therapist Poh Lin Lee.

Since I haven’t had a chance to see JC (All Is Lost, Margin Call) Chandor’s new movie Triple Frontier, starring Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal (Narcos) as Special Forces operatives planning a South American heist, I don’t have much to say about it, although I’m sold based on the premise alone. It’s opening In New York and L.A. on Wednesday in single theaters in both places (Sorry, Steven Spielberg!) but it will stream on Netflix a week later on March 13. Maybe I’ll write more about it next week. Maybe not.

Opening at the Film Society of Lincoln Center is the late Hu Bo’s An Elephant Sitting Still (KimStim) which played at New Directors/New Films in 2018. It involves a teenager who accidentally injures a bully and interacts with various people who are dealing with their own burdens. Actor Zhang Yu will be making appearances before and after screenings including a reception before the 6:30pm screening on Friday.

This week’s Bollywood offering is Sujoy Ghosh’s BADLA (Reliance Entertainment), starring Taapsee Pannu as a young entrepreneur who is locked in a hotel room with the body of her deadl lover, so she calls upon a prestigious lawyer (Bollywood vet Amitabh Bachchan) to figure out how she ended up in that predicament.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Ringo Lam X3 continues through the weekend, while Raul Peck X2continues with a screening of Murder in Pacot (2014) on Saturday. This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph is Fassbinder’s Love is Cooler than Death (1969), and the weekend’s Playtime: Family Matinees is 1982’s The Last Unicorn, an animated film from Rankin and Bass that was co-created by the Japanese anime studio Topcraft, who went on to form Studio Ghibli – you’ve probably heard of them. The voice cast includes Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, Angela Lansbury and Christopher Lee, and it’s probably a bit of a lost classic.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Weds and Thursday is the Billy Dee Williams cop double feature The Take (1974) and Nighthawks (1981), and then on Friday and Saturday, the Bev double features One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Arthur Hiller’s The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder (1974) (a movie I’ve never even heard of!). Sunday and Monday’s double feature is two Paul Wendkos films, The Case Against Brooklyn and Tarawa Beachhead, both from 1958. On Saturday and Sunday, the Kiddee Matinee is the Australian horse movie Phar Lap (1983) while the midnight offerings this weekend are Kill Bill Vol. 2 on Friday and The Groove Tubeon Saturday. Grindhouse Tuesday is back with the “Bruce Li” double feature of Soul Brothers of Kung Fu (1977) and The Image of Bruce Lee (1978), movies made after Bruce Lee’s death. (If I lived in L.A., this is where I would be on Tuesday night.) The high school comedy classic Clueless (1995) will screen on Tuesday, as well.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Starting this weekend, the Greenwich Village theater presents a new 4k restoration of Jack Clayton’s 1959 film Room at the Top, which won Oscars for screenplay and actress Simone Signoret and was nominated for Picture, Director, Actor and Supporting Actress (for Hermione Baddeley’s 2.5 minute appearance in the film). It’s about a working-class guy who sets his sights on the daughter of the boss.The weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is Joe Dante’s 1993 film Matinee, starring John Goodman. Also, author David Thomson will present a screening of Joseph Losey’s 1963 film The Servant on Sunday.

MOMA (NYC):

New month, new Modern Matinees series and for the next two months, it’s a doozy with Modern Matinees: B is for Bacall, showcasing the fabulous filmography of Oscar-nominated actor Laure Bacall. This week, they’re screening the 1954 film Woman’s Worldon Wednesday, Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep (1946) on Thursday and 1947’s Dark Passages on Friday. (Note that most of these movies will be rescreened later in the series in case you miss them this week.) Also this week is the series William Fox Presents More Restorations and Rediscoveries from the Fox Film Corporation, which features lots of movie from the ‘20s and ‘30s, many of them accompanied with live piano. Wednesday is Hangman’s House from 1928 and 1920’s Just Palsand Friday is 1929’s The Cock-Eyed World and Me and My Gal (1932), and there’s more on Saturday, Sunday and next week. This is a busy time for MOMA as they’re also presenting Carte Blanche: Mariette Rissenbeek on German Women Cinematographers, which mostly features films from the last 15 years but many which never have received U.S. theatrical releases.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA)

Big weekend for Albert Finney fans as Albert Finney Remembered presents a few fantastic double features including Two for the Road (1967) and Alan Parker’s Shoot the Moon (1982) on Thursday, the Coens’ Miller’s Crossing (1990) and John Huston’s Under the Volcano (1984) on Friday and Tom Jones (1963) and Tim Burton’s Big Fish (2003) on Sunday. The Egyptian’s big event for the weekend is the 7-movie day-long Boris Karloff-Bela Lugosi Movie Marathonon Saturday, which will include Frankenstein, Dracula but some lesser-seen classics like The Raven (1935) and more. If I lived in L.A., this is where I would be on Saturday.

AERO (LA):

The AERO continues its Hitchcock, Truffaut and Jones series with double features Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Truffaut’s 1968 film The Bride Wore Black (which I’ve actually seen fairly recently!) on Friday, and Rear Window (1954)and Mississippi Mermaid (1969) on Saturday. The theater will also have an all-day screening of Sergey Bondarchuk’s 7-hour epic adaptation of War and Peace (1967) in four parts with two brief intermissions.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The Quad’s still a month away from its 2-year restoration anniversary, but they’re reshowing Bertrand Blier’s Going Places and Luis Bunuel’s Tristana this coming weekend. The former is also part of Amour or Less: A Blier Buffet, a retrospective of the French filmmaker who I’m not even remotely familiar with. (Sorry!) They’re showing eight of Blier’s films before the new 40thanniversary restoration of his 1978 film Get Out Your Hankerchiefs opens on Friday, March 15.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

While Weekend Classics: Early Godard seems to be taking a weekend off, Waverly Midnights: The Feds is screening the Wayan Brothers’ White Girls (2004) in a 35mm print! Late Night Favorites takes a break from showing Ridley Scott’s Alien (which celebrates its 40th anniversary this month!) to show David Lynch’s Eraserhead (1977).

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Premiering at BAM on Friday (as well as the Laemmle Glendale in L.A.) is the U.S. premiere of a restoration of Franco Rocco’s 1980 film Babylon, which was banned from the New York Film Festival and never released in the United States. Written by Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia), it stars Brinsley Forde from reggae group Aswad as a dancehall DJ who fights again racism and xenophobia in Thatcher-era London.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

See It Big! Costumes by Edith Head concludes this weekend with screenings of Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964).

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

The Nuart’s Friday midnight screening is George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome Edition (2015).

STREAMING AND CABLE

Season 1 of Ricky Gervais’ new series After Life will debut on Netflix starting Friday, but there are also a few new movies including Clark Johnson’s Juanita, starring Alfre Woodard as the mother of three who goes on a trip to Montana, plus there’s Conor Allyn’s Walk. Ride. Rodeo., an inspirational drama that tells the true story of Amberley Snyder, played by Spencer Locke from the Resident Evil series, a 19-year-old rodeo rider who barely survives a car crash that leaves her paralyzed from the waist down. So yeah, Netflix is even trying to sidetrack Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel rerelease with other female-led films just like they’re going to try to derail Warners’ Shazam! with Brie Larson’s directorial debut Unicorn Store next month. The struggle continues.

Now available for digital download is Joe Eddy’s Steve McQueen biopic Chasing Bullitt (Vertical), starring Andre Brooks as the legendary actor who in 1971 makes a deal with his agent to let him choose his next acting gig if he finds his Ford Mustang GT 390 from Bullitt. Also available digitally is Dallas King’s action-thriller Kiss Kiss (Cleopatra Entertainment) that follows four strippers who go to a wine tasting that turns into a female fight night. I didn’t make this movie up, but apparently, it’s counter-programming to Captain Marvel.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

On Thursday, the Museum of the Moving Image is presenting the 6thannual Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival with two programs of short films. Also on Thursday, the IFC Center will kick off Canada Now 2019 with Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky’s new doc Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, another globe-crossing from the duo behind Manufactured Landscapes. There will also be other Canadian films that have played in various film festivals north of the border.

Oh, yeah, also South by Southwest is happening in Austin, but I’m not going, so…

That’s it for this week. Next week, Captain Marvel will probably be #1 again, but there are a few other movies hoping at least for second place.

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend CaptainMarvel GloriaBell Movies Reviews

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chuckisgod · 8 years ago

Text

Deals With the Devil (Lin x Reader) Part 2

Pairings: Lin x Reader

Warnings: Angst, lots of it.

Word Count: 3525... This is the longest thing I’ve ever written.

AN: This is it! It’s the end of my Supernatural-based fic. I’m probably going to go cry for hours now. I hope you like it!

Tags: @the-and-peggy @hamiltrashtothemax @plamspringsdancingontables @piercethemarti @fandomsinabookshelf @beautifulfound @hamil-tonn-of-trash @hamlltvn @barnesgasm @superwholockbooknerd526

Part 1

February 22, 2016 (366 days before) Catching a cab three streets up from the warehouse, Lin rode to the hospital, his heart racing a mile a minute. God if what that man, Crowley, had said was true, you’d be alive, but he’d also have a timer on his life. If what Crowley said was true, in precisely a year. He’d be gone.

As they arrived, his heart in his throat, he pictured you awake, hell even you being alive would be good enough for him. Pulling out his wallet he paid the driver and tipped him generously before walking back into the place he had raced out of earlier. “Mr. Miranda!” The lady at the front desk called him over, “We’ve been trying to get in contact with you for the past hour. Something happened. She’s awake and asking for you. Room 372.” The race down the hallway seemed quicker than last time he had completed it, and he realized that it because he knew you were okay, that you and the baby were okay. God, there was a little human he had created that was going to eventually live, and he would only be around to see it for four months. Four months that he would treasure his daughter or son. The door of the hospital room was ajar, and he could hear the humming of various machines. You might be alive, but you were still hurt. It wasn't even your fault. You had the right of way, and so you attempted to cross the street, but a cab had hit a patch of ice and couldn't stop in time before it plowed right into you.

Lin pushed the door open the rest of the way, and suddenly he was by your side. “I can’t believe you're okay,” he whispered, crying into his hands. “Last time I was here I thought you were dead.”

“I’m okay, just a little banged up.” He grabbed your hand, trying to be careful around the IV set in your arm.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” he asked rubbing his thumb on the skin on the back of your hand, his red eyes staring into yours like he was looking for an answer.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“The doctor found something interesting in one of your tests that I thought you might already know.” Seeing the confused look in your eye, taking the hand he was holding he gently set it on your lower abdomen.

May 28th, 2016 (270 days before) The vows Lin had written felt like a weight in his pocket as he fumbled with tying his tie. The room he was getting ready in seemed smaller than when he had entered it.

“Woah, Lin. Take it, steady man.” Suddenly Chris’s fingers were at his neck, retying the tie that Lin’s nervous fingers had mangled. “I don’t understand why you’re so nervous. It’s not like you haven’t been planning this for months.”

“I just- What if she doesn’t want to marry me.”

“Are you being serious right now? Because honestly if it’s even possible that girl loves you almost more than you love her.”

In the room you were getting ready in, you didn't have the same doubts. You knew Lin loved you. Lin had been so great with helping to plan the wedding and dealing with you being pregnant that obviously, he did.

And so as you walked out of the room to walk down the aisle, you weren’t worried about Lin being at the end of it; you were terrified of falling on your face. You only stumbled once, but thankfully it was right into the arms of the love of your life and knew that life your life was going to be fine if Lin was in it.

June 12th, 2016 (255 days before) Trying to find a dress for the Tony's while five months pregnant was about as difficult as you would have imagined but knowing you had to be there to support your husband and his act of creation, but you powered through.

You might have been cutting it a little close, but the dress you had decided on with Pippa and Jasmine's help was worth it.

When Lin finally saw you in your dress the night of the awards, he gasped before moving over to you and swinging you around. “Careful,” you warned.

“You look beautiful,”

During the limo ride, Lin must have been nervous, his leg bouncing and his hands balled into fists.

“Hey,” you whispered, pulling one of his hands into both of yours. “Hamilton's nominated sixteen times. If you don't win something, it must have been rigged.”

The limo was pulling onto the road, and suddenly Lin was opening the door into the chaos and pulling you across the seat and into the craziness.

You wished you could avoid the red carpet, but Lin's hand on your arm kept you steady and sure that you would be okay, while he chatted with the press.

You watched later as the ‘little musical’ your husband had written won awards for almost every category it was nominated in. You weren’t surprised when your husband even ended up taking home 2 of the awards for himself.

July 9th, 2016 (228 days before) Lin’s last night as Hamilton started out as most days in the Miranda household do, with Lin waking you up by singing whatever song was stuck in his head. Today it was Helpless, and as soon as he saw that you were up, he pulled you out of bed and swung you around the apartment.

After making a breakfast fit for an entire royal family, you were eating for two, after all, you and Lin took the A-line farther into the city and parted ways close to the Richard Rodgers where you took a turn that led you deeper into the city towards work. “I’ll see you at the show,” Lin whispered, kissing the hand he was holding before letting you go.

Throughout the day as Lin was saying not goodbye but so long for now to some of his coworkers, some of his best friends. He tried to picture himself anywhere other than where he was, and he couldn’t even imagine it.

He felt more energized during the night’s performance almost as though him knowing you were in the crowd watching him made him two hundred times better than the perfect he already was, and when he was making his final bow he sought out your eyes in the crowd.

As you waded through the crowd of people in the lobby of the Richard Rodgers after the show, you made your way backstage. Stopping into the girl’s dressing room, you watched Pippa’s teary goodbye with the girls who played her sisters, and you almost began crying when she turned her attention to you in the doorway.

“There you are!” A breathless Daveed exclaimed almost pulling you out of your embrace with Pippa, ��Lin’s been looking for you everywhere, and he was too scared of being mobbed to go out into the lobby.

“Bye Pippa! I’ll see you for pie in a couple of days. Right?” She nodded and let you go. Knocking at the door to his dressing room, you heard a muffled, “Come in,” before you pushed open the door. You almost burst out laughing when you did. Lin was stuck. One of his arms out of the top of his Hamilton costume, but his other arm and his head were hopelessly tangled in the fabric.

“Geez Lin, What am I going to do with you?”

October 12th, 2016 (133 days before) The day his daughter was born, Lin was very busy. He had been writing the intro for a talk show he was appearing in the next week while you slept in the next room. Little did he know that within his next few hours his whole life was going to change or that you would end up breaking his hand in the process.

Aria Grace Miranda was born on a partly cloudy Wednesday in the middle of October kicking and screaming with all ten fingers and all ten toes. But later as friends and family stopped by to see the new little one they would remark on how she was the sweetest, most well-behaved baby they had ever seen, her parents would smile at each other and know that they were possibly never going to get a full night’s sleep ever again. November 2, 2016 (112 days before) Lin walked briskly, his coat flapping in the cold winter’s breeze. Ducking inside the open door of a nearby bookstore he decided to roam through the sections, as usual, when he came to the children’s section, he ran his fingers across the spines, picturing his baby girl hopefully asleep in her crib. He would only ever know her as a baby, but you would be there for everything, her first word when she started walking.

In 10 years, his little princess wouldn’t be able to determine his voice from the next guy’s. Taking out his phone, he grabbed the closest book on the shelf, “Goodnight Moon,” and flipping to the audio recorder, started reading.

After he had done 3 or 4 books, an employee of the bookstore came over and just watched him for a couple of minutes. “Is there a reason why you’re reading children’s books into your phone, sir?”

“I’m-” how was he going to explain that he was reading children’s books into his phone because in a little under four months he’d be dead. “-I’m sick and I only have a few months to live, and I want my daughter to be able to hear my voice reading a bedtime story to her every night for as long as she wants one.”

“We actually have better recording equipment in the back, if you'd like to use it. I could talk to my boss and see if she'd let you.”

Lin ended up recording almost every children's book in the store in the 3 and a half months that he had left, keeping them on DVDs that he kept hidden in a box in the back of the closet that you shared.

When he got home that night though he kissed you on the cheek and set the baby on his lap to watch the Little Mermaid, wishing that he'd have forever, he snuggled closer to your side, hoping for a miracle but knowing it probably wasn't going to come.

December 25th, 2016 (59 days before) When you were little, you remembered waking up as early as you could to open your presents, but as you grew older, it became nicer and nicer to sleep in as late as possible. Usually, you could, Lin was someone who liked his sleep, but this Christmas, Ari had kept you both awake all night with a fever and a cough and since you were already up you decided to do Christmas early before the rest of the world was awake.

For hours it was just you, Lin, and the baby, watching Christmas movies together on the couch while outside the sun began to rise over the George Washington Bridge.

Later when your house was filled with rowdy nephews and both pairs of parents, the opening of the actual presents began while everyone munched on the cookies that were made with loving care by Abuela the night before.

And as everyone sat around the Christmas tree Lin realized that this might be the last time his whole family was together like this before what was probably his death. Lin hugged the nephew sitting on his lap a little tighter, and as everyone was leaving, he made sure to let them know how much he loved them.

December 31st, 2016 (53 days before) The clock ticked steadily closer to midnight on New Year's Eve, and for the first time in years, Lin wasn’t drunk out of his mind. Instead of the loud music and dancing, the tone was decidedly quieter, but the apartment was still filled with some of your closest friends. Lin, Chris, and Tommy were out on the balcony watching the sky for the fireworks that were sure to come later, while you and Chris’s wife were trying to get the baby back to sleep because the noise of the ‘party’ had woken her up. Javi, Anthony, and Lac were just talking in the kitchen with a couple of beers, while “the Schuyler sisters” were playing a card game at the folding table a couple of feet away from you.

When you finally got the baby to sleep you placed her back to sleep in the crib, kissing her forehead before turning off the lights and shutting the door.

“Did you finally get her to sleep?” Lin asked out on the balcony after you walked out to join him. Staring up at the night sky, he tried not to imagine what New Years next year would be like. Last year he had enjoyed making resolutions for what his life would be like in this new year. He would never have imagined it would lead to 2 Tonys and a Grammy and his marriage to you and a baby. This year he just wanted to live longer than the time he was given.

As the time ticked closer to midnight, everyone from inside filtered out onto the balcony. Counting down the seconds, he pulled you closer to him and as the clock struck midnight he pressed a kiss to your lips.

February 20th, 2016 (2 days before) “You haven’t been to your parent’s house in ages, y/n,” Lin spoke, coming up behind you and wrapping his arms around you. “I’m sure they miss you and the last time they saw Aria was Thanksgiving. She has a tooth now, and she can roll over. When they were here last, she couldn’t really do much.” “What’s brought this on honey? Are you trying to get rid of us.”

“Your mom called me and told me she missed you. She was so used to getting to see you all the time before we got married. Now she says she sees you maybe once a month.” He smiled at you before leading you over to the couch and taking your hands in his. “I won’t mind if you go, you know. I know you miss her too. Plus Chris and I were going to have a guy’s night out, so you wouldn’t be missing anything.” In Lin’s mind, he was torn between begging you not to go, because he didn’t want to die alone, and hoping that you would leave because he didn’t think he could live with the fact that you would watch him die.

Picking up the baby off the floor where she was lying on her back, he smiled at her as she reached over and tried to grab a handful of your hair. “Hi Ari,” you cooed at her.

“What if we leave tomorrow, early, and then maybe Ari and I will stay there for another day or two so that you and Chris can have that man day you’ve been talking about lately.”

Lin gave a sad smile, that ‘man day,’ you were talking about would probably just be him and Chris eating dinner and him trying to let Chris know how much he thought of him as a brother.

That night Lin held you as you slept, trying not to think of it as being the last time he would see you sleeping. One of the last times he would see you ever.

February 21st, 2016 (1 day before) Lin may have been the one who was trying to send away his wife and infant daughter away before what may as well be his death, but that doesn’t mean saying goodbye to them didn’t hurt. It was so very painful.

Your bags were packed and in front of the door before Lin had gotten out of bed in the morning, which wasn’t surprising. Lin hadn’t been sleeping very well as the months got closer to the end of his deal.

Before you left, he made sure to kiss both of you, you on the lips, Ari on the forehead, and told you exactly how much he loved you. “More than from here to the end of the universe and back.”

The rest of the day Lin spent getting his affairs in order. He took the box of DVDS that he'd hidden in the back of the closet and placed them on the dining room table along with his will and a note that as Lin had written, he’d burst into tears.

Y/N, I feel like knowing this was going to happen beforehand should have prepared me for the thought of never seeing you again. After all, I did this for you and Ari without this the both of you would have been in a grave and I just couldn’t live with that. My heart doesn't want to believe it's true, but no matter what my heart believes, know that I love you with every fiber of my being and that as my time grows closer that it's the only thing keeping me from falling apart. I love you from the end of the universe and back. Lin

Lin tried as hard as he could to be the person who no matter the circumstance was always smiling, but eating lunch with his best friend hours before was something that he couldn’t quite shake.

Chris noticed that Lin was acting strange around halfway through lunch and started watching him, making mental notes on how he was acting to talk to you about later. Something was wrong with Lin and although it was probably due to what happened to you last year he needed to know what was wrong with him so the both of you could fix it. Lin telling him that he loved him like a brother as they were leaving the restaurant made alarm bells go off in his brain but by the time he had processed what he’d said Lin was too far away to go after.

As the day went on Lin grew more and more fidgety, and if someone on the street had happened to bump into him, he probably would have snapped.

He found himself in Central Perk in the minutes before midnight, the howls of dogs close by. Taking out his phone as the sound moved closer, he called you, but it went straight to voicemail. “I love you and Ari more than anything in this life. Please. Please don’t do anything stupid.”

As the clock ticked over to midnight, the howls increased all of a sudden and then there was the pain. So much more than he would’ve imagined before and then he felt nothing.

February 22nd, 2016 You got the call telling you something had happened at 3 in the morning, and before you knew it you were on the way to the hospital though when you arrived and spotted Chris you knew something had happened.

"No." you whispered, hanging onto Chris because at this point he was the only thing keeping you upright.

"What happened?" you heard Chris ask as you dissolved into sobs.

"It looks to be some sort of animal attack, certainly something we've never seen before this far into the city."

Of course, it would be Lin's luck that the week you were visiting your parents would be the week that there'd be a pack of wild animals roaming the city.

As the minutes passed the tightness in your chest refused to let up. It would probably never let up. For the rest of your life, you'd be dealing with the grief of your husband dying.

Your mother called a couple of minutes later having heard you rush out the door in a frenzy after you had gotten the call. You couldn't talk to her, so Chris took over. He guided you to a chair and then explained what had happened to your parents trying to stop himself from crying in the process. When he was done, he took you home, neither of you noticing the box or papers on the dining room table.

Curling up in bed with one of Lin's shirts you cried until you fell asleep and then cried some more, barely eating.

February 27th, 2016 (5 days after) It had been almost a week since what had happened to Lin, and it was as if a fog had descended on your life and your daughter was the only thing that let you breathe. Even at four months her smile and personality was so much like her fathers, and you knew that eventually the two of you would heal together.

Masterlist

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topweeklyupdate · 8 years ago

Text

TØP Weekly Update #28: “What’s a Blurryface?” (3/5/17)

The US Roadshow wrapped up this week as the TØP Hiatus looms ever closer. Let’s celebrate all of the fun stuff from this week first before we get too bummed out about it. Catch you guys under the ‘Read More’.

This Week’s TØPics:

Recapping Performances, Trees Speeches, and Some Amazing (and Amazingly Bad) Interviews

The American Roadshow Comes to an End (Kinda)

Two Community Spotlights: Listen to the Pop Song Professor Interview a Church Youth Group That Uses Blurryface to Help Kids Struggling with Depression, and Hear About AndySign’s day with Twenty One Pilots

Major News and Announcements:

Really nothing big in news, other than maybe them getting nominated for Best Group by Radio Disney. So... that’s cool, I guess. Sure ain’t no Kids Choice Awards. Next!

Interviews, Performances, and Other Shenanigans:

Whoof, another very busy week on the “not really news but still need-to-know” front. Let’s just go down the list city-by-city. Someone bloody proposed at Charleston during “Tear In My Heart”, and the video is so perfectly done that my shriveled heart believed in love. The Tampa show was attended by a lot of the boys’ family members (who Tyler humorously acknowledged before “WDBWOTV” in order to get some folks on the upper floors to stand up- I can’t imagine a Twenty One Pilots concert where anyone would need to be asked, I’m so shook). The band’s long-running relationship with the city was acknowledged in the Trees Speech. After the Tampa concert, the boys hung out around Florida with buddies, riding bikes with Mark at night, hitting up the beach, and, in Josh’s case, swinging by Orlando to hit up Disney World again.

They continued their Southern vacation in New Orleans, taking the chance to walk around and absorb the music of the city (and also allegedly hitting up a Gamestop for the midnight release of the Nintendo Switch). The New Orleans show had some technical difficulties before the encore that led to an extended delay and the cutting of “Goner” from the setlist, but that just gave Tyler a chance to dish on One OK Rock apparently getting a massage before their encore at the show they opened for them. (Also, Jon Bellion got to hop in the ball.)

As for interviews... man, there was a great crop this week. Lots of in-depth, thoughtful, funny sit-downs with they guys. ...And, you know, the other one (sort of).

107.5 KZL, Greensboro

They discuss the general admission line and how people have been camping out for four days. Tyler acknowledges that they’re fans are tough and he would have tapped out after a few hours.

They can respect someone who prefers the Kidz Bop version of “Stressed Out”.

The interviewer talks about the age range of their fans and mentions someone outside who’s “70 years old, wearing an “I Am Twenty One Pilots” shirt and crocs”, and I just immediately laugh so hard crapping my pants because that could literally only be one person. Tyler and Josh both burst out laughing when they see the picture, because that’s their bud David the Dad and he’s definitely not 70 years old.

Hot 101.5, Tampa

The first of three really great interviews from Tampa, these hosts are simply very fun and accomodating. One of the interviewers is from Ohio and shares some chocolate buckeyes with the excited Columbus boys, and the two pairs laugh and joke through the whole thing.

Josh got rejected from one of the post-Grammy parties (actually, the party got shut down by the fire marshall and he eventually got in, but the story’s funnier the other way).

Tyler and Josh never got near anyone “really important” at the Grammys because they’re usually surrounded by bodyguards and they “don’t want to hurt them”.

Tyler misses his own shower and towel- he’s stepped in a lot of people’s hair, while Josh misses knowing where a microwave is at all times. They still recognize that they have it pretty darn good, because they’re at least not sleeping in a van (and also living the dream).

The only things Tyler and Josh really disagree on are the little things like where to eat. Tyler says that and their quality legs are the main reasons for their success.

93.3 FLZ, Tampa

Scotty Davis is one cool dude. He is so passionate about the band, so dang supportive. He possibly(/plausibly) talked a little too much, but he clearly respects them very much, not just in a fanboy manner, but as a huge fan of music, particularly live music.

His first question conveys his passion for their craft: he asks about how they stay in shape to maintain their athleticism and consistency of sound. Tyler responds with a very detailed answer about how their growth as a band has correlated with a steady growth in the runtime of their shows, and how that has allowed them to figure out how to conserve their energy (and, in Tyler’s case, his voice) throughout the day so that they have enough to make it, down to needing to avoid drinking water to keep himself from burping and putting on a good poker face to cover up being out of breath.

When asked about the technicality of his drumming, Josh says that his goal is more to inspire people like his younger sister to be inspired to make their own craft more than just be technically proficient.

The next technical question goes to Tyler about songwriting. Tyler confesses that, while the intimacy of making music with someone is truly great, he hates having people be in the room when he’s working on something. He’s talked before about tailoring songwriting to the live show, but the bit about even getting the bpm to try to match the jumping in the pit is really cool.

Tyler still has the numbers of fans from Columbus from the early years when they were hustling to get people to shows and my heart is on the floor look at it I’m dead.

Mix 100.7, Tampa

This interview isn’t quite as passionate/in-depth as the other one from Tampa, but it’s still very, very good.

The interviewer opens with some standard basic Grammy stuff, but he starts to get real after that with some questions about what their goals as artists were, which is appreciated even if they answers are stuff we’ve heard before.

The next question is very interesting: it regards their competitive spirit. I’m not certain just how much research/knowledge the interviewer brought to the table, but he seems to recognize from how Tyler and Josh hold themselves that they have a pretty unique drive to be the best that not all artists really have. Tyler even calls their competition the band’s “biggest kept secret”. Tyler calls the musician community a “we’re all in this together” lovefest. “And that’s fine. But I want to win. I want to destroy.” More than just winning, Tyler hates losing, and that has played a big role in pushing them as far as they’ve gone.

Continuing on the theme of competition, Tyler firmly blames it on his parents; he claims that they called him after winning the Grammys and asked what was up with them losing four of them. “We’re competing against his parents’ band,” Josh jokes.

Mix 100.7 is an iHeart affiliate, they were talking about awards, the iHeartRadio Music Awards are coming up this weekend... makes sense that they were asked about their eight noms for the ceremony, specifically which award they most want to receive. Tyler knows off the top of his head the answer, without even having to go through the noms- Best Fanbase.

Next question involves the question of genre, specifically which they most identify with. Tyler says that he doesn’t always feel like he belongs in the pop world, while the alternative (he makes a point not to call it rock) road of making your own music, connecting to fans, and emphasizing live shows is more them (though the exposure of pop is always nice).

Tyler says that their next goal is just to succeed with the next album. “Anyone can do it once.”

B97, New Orleans

Whoo boy.

So... this one had some controversy because the hosts tried to be... cute, I guess? The interviewers both asked demeaning and even hostile questions (”How old were you when your mother stopped singing you to sleep?”, “Let’s go back to talking about Arthur Miller, that’s exciting.”), ignored and shouted over responses, and lightly tossed around insults (”you’re sassy”, “you’ve got a mouth on you”, etc.); one interviewer even spent the whole thing lying down on a table. It was obviously supposed to be funny, and the boys might even have been in on it, but it just wasn’t funny at all. It took me nearly an hour to watch barely four minutes.

Regardless of whether they were in on it or not, Tyler and Josh’s solid “no” reactions were great. Tyler just refusing to answer a question about Blurryface while the interviewer was laying on the table was great, as was his his sarcastic rebuttals to their ‘humor’ (“You guys are killing it”, “You can just keep saying lyrics I wrote all day”).

The best fire, however, was easily Josh’s response to the male interviewer asking if Tyler ever got on his nerves. Josh stared him dead in the eyes, with as little humor as I think I’ve ever seen from him. “Never.” I’m dead.

It was so bad the station took it down. Dayum.

Finally, there’s this nifty interview with Brad Heaton, the photographer who has so blessed us these last few years with countless concert shots. I really hope the guy comes back for the next tour- he delivers some incredible photos, and he’s generally just a rad dude. There’s also this one from New Orleans, which has pretty bad audio and is just the interviewer telling dad jokes.

Upcoming Shows:

Tonight marks the end of the American leg of the Emotional Roadshow. It’s been a heck of a ride with a great crew of people, but it’s not the end just yet; the band has just under three weeks of a break before they venture out for the final leg of the Roadshow in Australia/New Zealand (more on that next week). It's not even the last chance for Americans to see them, as they've still got at least three summer festivals across the country lined up. But then... well, again, let's tackle that subject when we get there, this update's gone on long enough.

As a result of tonight's show, the band sadly will not be able to attend the iHeartRadio Music Awards in L.A., but I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be seeing at least one video message from them. They’ve already won a few Alternative awards, it just remains to be seen if they’ll take home the big ones. We’ll also just have to see if they attend the Kids Choice Awards on Saturday (please, Lord, I know we haven’t talked in quite some time, but make it so).

Show 33: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky, 3/5

Capacity: 17,500

The final stop on the Roadshow is in the great state of Kentucky, the home of bourbon, Muhammad Ali, and great baseball bats. The boys have played the city twice before, but both of those shows were in 2014. It's always a good thing when cities that tend to get overlooked by bigger neighbors (in this case, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville) get direct service. The KFC Yum! Center (which is definitely in the Top 3 Worst/Best Named Arenas on this tour leg) is used by the sports team of the University of Louisville, so the show should attract a sizable college crowd.

Community Spotlight:

Today’s community spotlight will be cast on the Pop Song Professor, a YouTube channel that, surprise surprise, analyzes the lyrics of pop songs. The guy loves Twenty One Pilots and has multiple videos about their tracks, but I regardless hesitated to put him in the Community Spotlight because his opinions could potentially be polarizing- the guy’s an outspoken Christian, and thus usually interprets the songs in the most God-centered way possible. However, I don’t think that should be a reason to ignore his channel: the guy presents substantial textual evidence to back up his interpretations, and I think we can all agree that it can be both fun and fulfilling to find new ways to think about our favorite songs. Furthermore, he’s really passionate about thinking critically about the music we consume for both the listener’s benefit and the proliferation of more thoughtful music in the future, which is definitely TØP as frick.

The thing that really pushed me to include the Professor on this week’s spotlight, however, was this podcast I discovered on his website in which he interviews some youth pastors who study pop music lyrics with their students to teach Biblical messages, including an entire series where they went through every song on Blurryface. While, again, that might alienate people who may have bad experience or personal opposition to organized religion, I really think that the interview is worth a listen and some serious consideration. I, for one, can’t think of anything that would make Tyler and Josh happier than knowing that there is an organization that supports kids dealing with depression, self-harm, drug addiction, and personal pain by directly using the rhetoric of acknowledging your own Blurryface to help them see how much they really matter.

Finally, following up on a story we’ve followed for a couple of weeks, here’s Andy’s full testimony about meeting Twenty One Pilots, signing “Ode to Sleep” with them, giving the guys their sign names (apparently, Jenna took ASL classes in college and Tyler gets to brag about getting a name first), and having to host his own impromptu meet-and-greet now that he’s super Clique famous. He’s an amazing person, and I’m so glad the Clique has helped him get a bigger platform to make art.

That's all I got in me during finals season. Check back next week for one last interview round-up and a look at what might be to come, which will hopefully be enough to get us through a brief hiatus. Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

#twenty one pilots #tyler joseph #josh dun #emotional roadshow #iheartradio music awards #top weekly update

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astrologista · 8 years ago

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Acceptable Losses

for @starspatter

“Imagine Bruce confronting Clark over his son's death though... And Clark being so far gone at this point that he's all "sacrifices must be made for peace" and Bruce being like "You really have gone insane" and storms out.”

---

((( This ficlet references events from the Justice League episodes “A Better World Pt 1 and 2″ and the Batman Beyond 2.0 issues 17-24, and the Justice League Beyond 2.0 issues 17-24. If you haven’t seen/read them, the Justice Lords AU may not make sense to you... I guess... sorry ‘bout it :^) )))

---

A day after Wally was taken from them, Bruce had started work on what he was tentatively calling the “bat-bunker”.

It existed miles below the Cave, accessible by elevator only, in a natural cavern that had sat barren since he first began this mad game of cops and robbers.

The bunker was outfitted with sensors, with cameras, a complex ventilation system that promised fresh air for many years (none too simple to design), fresh water from an underground spring, and everything else needed to sustain life, for years, as necessary. It also happened to contain several of Tim’s favorite video game consoles, stores of shelf-stable snacks and canned food, stacks of comic books and a cabinet full of DVDs (mostly superhero movies). It was designed to be nothing less than a gilded cage for a bird. A place where his child would be totally safe from the traumas the world had yet to endure.

Wally West had been too young to die. Bruce wouldn’t see it happen to Tim. He’d lock him away and throw away the key first, no matter the misery or frustration it caused. Tim would thank him someday.

The plan, while well-intentioned (he thinks), never comes to pass. Lord Batman needs his soldiers, he needs everyone he can muster - and his family, most of all. The bat-bunker sits forever dormant, another awkward symbol of care that it’s better Tim never sees.

---

“We’re fighting a new kind of war, Tim.”

The new suit is safer, in some ways. The reinforced cowl (there will be no bullets in the brain), the bandoliers crossed over the chest (there will be no shrapnel in the heart), nominally treated against the worst effects of heat vision (not completely heatproof, but what else can he do against five-thousand-degree alien heat vision?). Multiple tracers, hidden in the lining, woven into the cloth. Every feature seems to be motivated by a fear, a worry - there’s love, there, too. Bruce had input into every Robin costume yet devised - but this was the first he had designed without input from a cheerful child, instead crafting it to his whims and catering to his neuroses in the process.

Bruce hands him the costume with an expression that brooks no argument. “You’re not Robin anymore. We’ll call you Red Robin from now on.” he tells him.

Tim takes the costume into his arms, holds it as if it’s fragile, something sacred. “Okay, dad.” he whispers reverently.

Lord Batman only nods, sharply. “Good boy.”

---

It’s easier to control Tim now, than it was before everything. With the onset of global war, Tim learns to be quiet, to be stealthy - as he always was, but in a somber way, in Bruce’s shadow, always, now.

They are the only resistance against Clark’s - Superman’s reign of terror, his iron grip upon the world. Those who do not agree can expect to be lobotomized at up to one hundred yards - or more - that is, if Superman decides that they deserve to live.

Dick and Barbara can no longer tolerate the stress, can no longer tolerate Bruce. They promise they don’t agree with Lord Superman, but that they can no longer remain on the side of the resistance. It’s a safety issue. Barbara is carrying Dick’s child, and it is safer for them to outwardly support the regime. Dick becomes a Commander, and Bruce is not allowed contact with their child outside of the photos and vids Barbara occasionally sends.

Oddly, the only one who stays - other than Alfred, of course - and Tim, now his good right hand - is Diana, but she is not the Diana he knew. This is the Diana from the other universe, the one where Wally did not die. She brings the strength they need, mother-hens Tim, and Bruce marvels at her undying determination in the face of total war.

He’s already fallen in love with her.

---

“Can I go?” The time had come - their tight knit group had begun to unravel. Perry White had been speaking against the regime through his underground newspaper for too long, and Superman, who had long since lost his mind in Bruce’s eyes, was prepared to deal with him once and for all. They had to put a stop to it - a man’s life was in danger simply for speaking his mind.

The new costume fits Red Robin perfectly, but Bruce had been so sure that Tim had outgrown pleading and whining for inclusion.

In his mind’s eye, he can see Luthor aim the gun - BAM - gone is the Flash, that bright, quippy young streak of red that lightened the burden in their hearts, hell, even made him smile just a few -

“No.” It’s a final no, an end-of-conversation no. Tim should know by now that this is all for his safety. They live in a world where Clark has decided that the world’s citizens are his wayward children, not knowing what is best for themselves. Therefore, he appointed himself to be their savior, whether they want it or not.

Maybe he and Clark aren’t that different after all.

“Tim, I have another job for you, and it’s to be done right here.”

That earns him a pointed look, rebellion brewing low but buried deep under layers of loyalty, of love. As Bruce steps into the car, he prays that Tim knows better now, after all the close calls they’ve had, he should know to follow Bruce’s orders without question. The last thing they want is to lose another -

---

They were too late to save Perry.

As per usual, Superman addresses the television cameras as what’s left of Perry is led out of the small shack that now constitutes the Daily Planet. He’s in cuffs, but there’s no need for them - he won’t be fighting back any time soon. “Mr. White will be cared for at a secure facility. We must do our best to keep our world safe, all of us. Spreading lies and defamation is poor stewardship, and will not be tolerated. Nor will a bad attitude... remember to report all incidents of poor sportsmanship, jaywalking, or misplaced aggression to the police. We will handle the perpetrators as necessary. ...There is no reason for anyone to be hurt. Citizens, good day.” Dispassionate, as usual. Robotic. (It may as well be one of his doppelgangers delivering the speech. Perhaps it is.) It’s a script Bruce has only heard a thousand times. And as the crimes listed become more and more trifling, he becomes more and more sickened by the Orwellian horror their world has become - and even more so by the part he played.

Diana comforts as always. “We gave it our best, Bruce. Someday, we’ll put a stop to this.”

As they retreat, Bruce keys his communicator. “Red Robin, report.”

“Eh? Yeah, Batman. I’m here at the Batcomputer... checking those samples... like you told me...!”

Clear sounds of a fight echo in the background audio and Bruce’s stomach clenches painfully. This is how it started with Dick, too - the lying.

“No... you’re not.” Bruce breathes, quickening his pace to a run while Diana flies beside. “You’re not...!”

---

Bruce has at least five main methods of tracking Tim. His boy is never hard to find. In the worst case scenario (and there is always a worst case scenario), he can even track Tim’s biosignature within a radius of twenty miles. Lucius is already overworked, but Bruce had insisted that that number be boosted to forty by week’s end. Tracers fail; and some methods are unreliable. He laughs at the days when he used to slip a mini-GPS into Dick’s utility belt and call that “safe”.

“Batman, listen to me. I’ve been working on this for months. I couldn’t tell you and you know why. I’m going to rescue Emil Hamilton and the researchers - we already know they want to join the resistance - that way Lord Superman will have a way harder time with R&D, as you know. He’s got a lot of scientists on his side, but only Hamilton’s team are the experts on Kryptonian technology -”

The words go through Bruce, as he pushes the car to its limit, honing in on Tim’s location. The boy is babbling - this shouldn’t be happening - he thought Tim had learned to be quiet - to work in the shadows - to keep himself safe.

Maybe there would be a use to the bat-bunker, after all. His heart couldn’t take much more of this.

“I can do this. I’m going into the central lab now where me ‘n the scientists agreed to rendezvous. Maybe I kept this secret for more than the fact that I knew you’d try to stop me. Maybe I wanted to make you proud.” Tim’s voice is small, sad. “But you’ll see. And you said I couldn’t do this all on my -”

The communication feed cuts and Bruce is running, full tilt, into the research facility. Heedless of alarms, of sensors set off. Diana follows, “Bruce! Wait!” Cursing quietly, she covers his back against the stream of guards that respond to their entry. This is the only situation in which Batman can’t remain quiet, stealthy.

Wally was killed in cold blood, and it could happen again. The youth, the brashness, the color red. The symmetry. And now, it was only red swirling in Bruce’s vision. Red, at the world, the Hell that Superman had constructed for them to live in.

It doesn’t take him long to find the lab.

“We knew Red Robin wanted us to join the Resistance.” Hamilton explains. “But we know what Superman does to dissenters.” The professor looked genuinely afraid. “We turned him over as soon as he showed.”

Bruce growls and throws the man aside, throws him to the floor. A disgusting coward. But he knows.

He knows the worst fears have now been realized. The world opens up, as if to swallow him.

“Batman, I’m sorry.” the scientist gasps. “He fought. So they dealt with him.”

---

There is no such thing as safety.

“It was unfortunate, wasn’t it?”

Clark is there, but Bruce wishes he weren’t. For the first time, Bruce wishes the man were dead. For doing this to him, to their family.

It’s their only ceasefire. Ever. Clark brings him his son’s body and places it - places him - into his arms. Now that Bruce looks, the costume is too big on Tim.

It never should have been made.

Diana can’t hide her tears. Bruce is unable to look - instead, he looks to Superman; his friend, more than just a coworker, but a brother - they grieved together, when they lost the Flash. The old Clark would know what to say, would try and fail to ease his pain, but he would try.

“Acts against the government are intolerable and damage the integrity of the public order.” The same, mechanical voice of Lord Superman. As if he’s reading off cue cards. His face, a stony mask. No indication that he cares what Bruce has lost. “To discourage further criminal activity, we have a zero-tolerance policy. His sacrifice was necessary to keep everyone living here safe and sound.”

“Safe and sound?” Bruce hisses, his voice low and growling but tight with the fresh pain of grief. “Who are you protecting? Who are you really protecting, Clark?”

All the trackers and tracers in the world can’t save him. Tim is lifeless in his arms.

At some point Bruce thought that there might still be a chance. That the real Superman still remained somewhere within, knowing that his actions were capricious, unfair, and ultimately unjust. That maybe Tim’s death really would be a sacrifice, a catalyst, to save the world from tyranny. (And still it was too high a price to pay.)

The only indication that the real Clark still existed is the fact that he didn’t kill them where they stood.

Tim’s body is heavy, so heavy in Bruce’s arms. He grew so much, since everything changed. But now...

“Madness, Clark.” Bruce can finally look down now, at the slack jaw, the pale face (pale like an old joke) - the rigor of death setting in, he can feel it. Tim was always too brave, too determined to prove himself - and now he never could again. “It’s madness.” He can shed his tears later. Alone. Maybe in the bat-bunker.

“Stop this.” he begs Clark. Before anyone else gets hurt.

If there was a hole in Lord Superman’s armor, it’s been patched long ago. The red uniform on Tim is just as red as the one on the Flash. Bruce can tell this doesn’t go unnoticed by Clark.

Diana is silently mouthing a prayer. A prayer of her people, most likely, a prayer for Tim.

Clark looks to the East, where the Sun is just rising. For half a second, he looks like their friend once more. The spell broken.

But it’s too late for that. They’ve already gone too far, the wedge driven too deep. In a year, Lord Superman would arrange for Batman to die, and succeed. And with a horrible sense of foreboding, Bruce even felt that he knew. Deep in his bones, he knew Lord Superman was now on a collision course with him. Set to destroy him... destroy them both.

“I’m sorry, Bruce.” And it’s Clark’s voice they hear, at last. Low. Ashamed. But there. Broken through the layers of contention between them, moved by the loss of the Robin he knew.

His final gift is to depart quietly, leaving them - physically - unharmed.

For all that’s worth.

---

Dick weeps when Diana tells him, and Barbara does too. Their son John is not told exactly what happened to his Uncle Tim, but it doesn’t matter. He’s too young to fully understand.

Bruce dresses the mannequin in the case in his son’s costume. It fits the mannequin quite well. This is where it will stay, where he can always see it.

“You made no mistakes, raising him, Bruce.”

Diana’s words are soft, but to Bruce (and only to him), they feel somehow accusatory. Especially when he feels he has done everything wrong.

“You kept him safe.”

“Diana... there’s no such thing as safe.”

Not in this world. Not in this life.

Tomorrow he’d go to the bunker and sit among all of Tim’s belongings that he’d meticulously picked out for him, especially for an extended period of time, books carefully curated into a variety of genres such that he would be in no danger of going mad down there, alone, constantly watched, fresh air provided so he would not suffocate, food so he would not starve, every need attended for. An absolutely... safe... area.

An area, he would tell himself, was decidedly not a larger and fancier grave, nor the tomb of an Egyptian prince, taking his worldly possessions with him into the afterlife.

It was safety.

Safety that Clark wanted to bring.

Safety, that Lord Superman had taken away from them.

An anguish that would never stop, born of a war that would never end.

#dcau #specs fic #jeeeez it feels good to write #yeah this one's dense #probably not easy to understand if you haven't read the issues #i would recommend watching the episodes of justice league and then reading the issues and THEN reading this #you might enjoy it more iunno #and yes... i wrote another story about the bat bunker and tim's reaction to it #but it's on my external hard drive at home so #yeah maybe one day ill get back to that one

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imagitory · 8 years ago

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D-Views: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Good day, my followers, and welcome to another installment of D-Views, my written review series that focuses primarily around Disney-owned and/or produced films! Feel free to comb through my “Disney Reviews” tags for reviews on films like The Great Mouse Detective and The Muppets (2011) and even occasionally “Disney-look-alike” films like Dreamworks’ The Prince of Egypt! And of course, you can always submit suggestions for future subjects – here is my current list of upcoming reviews.

On December 27, 2016, the world mourned the loss of a blazing star in human form. Her name was Carrie Fisher, and today I’ll pay some tribute to her by reviewing the film that made her a household name – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope!

The Star Wars franchise was the baby of film director George Lucas. In the 1970’s, George Lucas was a young, bright-eyed director who dreamed of making his own films outside the studio system. The idea of Star Wars started as early as 1971, at which time all Lucas knew was that he wanted to tell a “Space Western,” in the tradition of the old Flash Gordon serials he’d loved as a kid. In fact, in the very beginning, he thought to make a Flash Gordon movie, but he couldn’t get the rights. Lucas proposed two films to different studios with the hopes of getting them made – The Star Wars and American Graffiti – and although all the studios passed on Lucas’s “Space Western,” Universal picked up American Graffiti. When that film did well, it gave Lucas enough leverage to try to produce Star Wars at 20th Century Fox. In 1973 the screenwriting for Star Wars began. Many aspects of the story were retooled and edited over the next few years – for example, the very first draft of the film originally centered on an old general named “Annikin Starkiller” and featured Han Solo as a large, gilled, green-skinned alien. The single biggest influence on Lucas’s finished product, however, is unquestionably the work of Joseph Campbell, a mythologist who researched and wrote books about the different tropes commonly found in folklore around the world, most notably the Hero’s Journey. Over time, Lucas edited his story to follow these tropes more closely – changing his old hero into a young man, introducing the difficult relationship between father and son, and rewriting the tale to be about temptation and redemption. As Lucas refined the story, he soon realized that his tale could not be told in one film…and so the idea of splitting the script into three “acts” was born. The script for the first film, which at that time was just called Star Wars rather than Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, was not completed until 1976.

The production of Star Wars is an adventure unto itself. Not only were the effects needed for this kind of a film completely uncharted territory for the time; not only were the desert locations very difficult to work in; not only was the production constantly straining the small budget they had; not only was the production constantly behind schedule due to glitches in machinery and bad weather; not only was Lucas not very good at directing his actors (which apparently he has never really improved in); not only was 20th Century Fox’s board of directors looking down their noses at the project and constantly one foot away from pulling the plug on it; not only was the first cut of the film so bad that Lucas had to re-shoot a lot of footage after the fact and Lucas’s wife ended up re-editing it; but also nobody – and I mean nobody – believed that this film would do well. George Lucas was so convinced that this film would fail that at the very beginning, he’d put it in his contract with Fox that he had to be allowed to produce all three Star Wars films, even if they did badly at the box office.

In short, the production of Star Wars Episode IV was a true underdog story…and boy oh boy, was the finished result the perfect ending for such a story. We all know how big Star Wars became. Episode IV earned over a million dollars in its opening weekend alone – globally it earned $530 million and is, when box office profits are adjusted for inflation, the third highest-grossing film of all time. It also won six Academy Awards, won a Golden Globe for Best Score, was nominated for six British Academy Film Awards, received twelve nominations at the Saturn Awards, and won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Both critics and audiences adored this film; at Rotten Tomatoes it has a comfortable 93% Fresh Rating. Episode IV also paved the way for its sequels, Episode V and Episode VI, as well as two spin-off TV series, a whole bunch of comics and books, a terrible holiday special, a popular ride at the Disney theme parks, a prequel trilogy that likewise inspired its own spin-off TV series, and lots and LOTS of toys. Today the franchise, now owned by Disney, is still making movies (the most recent of which is a direct prequel to Episode IV), and there are even plans to build a full “Star Wars Land” in Disneyland Park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Star Wars became a phenomenon, and even with its ups and downs through the years, it still is one. Disregarding all the hype, however…let us now venture into this movie and review it properly.

…GAH, I CAN’T – THAT OPENING THEME MUSIC JUST MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME NOT TO BE COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY EXCITED – CURSE YOU, JOHN WILLIAMS, YOU’VE ALREADY REDUCED ME TO SQUEEING LIKE AN IDIOT –

Okay, okay, gather your composure, Tory. Remember, that music has preceded some stupid stuff. Get it together. (takes a breath) All right…let’s continue.

GODDAMN IT, THAT OPENING SHOT – THAT TOO-PERFECT, AMAZING OPENING SHOT THAT WITHOUT ANY DIALOGUE COMPLETELY SUMS UP BOTH THE MIGHT OF THE EMPIRE AND THE HOPELESSNESS OF THE REBELLION’S CAUSE AND GETS US COMPLETELY SUCKED INTO THE DRAMA AND –

OKAY, ENOUGH. Use your big, intelligent words, Tory – for goodness’ sake. I know it’s cool. It’s very cool. It’s cool from a filmmaking perspective and it’s cool from a dramatic perspective. It’s so cool that The Force Awakens knew that it had to evoke that kind of scale when portraying the First Order.

Anyway, the soldiers on Leia’s ship try hopelessly to fend off the Stormtroopers; laser blasts are everywhere, and smoke obscures the halls. Admittedly I’ve always found it weird and kind of hilarious that both the Rebels and the Stormtroopers’ aim is so awful that R2D2 and C3PO can just walk right through the battle and not suffer any damage. But I am fortunately distracted from that by the door to the hallway opening behind the Stormtroopers, announcing the arrival of…

VADER!!! THE SITH LORD OF MY HEART! THE CHOSEN ONE – AS IN THE ONE I HAVE CHOSEN TO LOVE WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING – !

Yeah, I think those of you who’ve followed me for a while expected this. Darth Vader is my favorite character in the Star Wars films, no contest. The reason behind this I sadly will have to go more into when I talk about Return of the Jedi, but fortunately I’ve already talked about Revenge of the Sith, so perhaps in that review, you can get a hint of my thoughts regarding my bae. What I’ll say for now, however, is that the film introduces its primary antagonist perfectly. You don’t even need that much screen time with this character to know you don’t want to mess with him. The foreboding chord of music announcing his entrance; the way he silently looms over the dead Rebel soldiers; the mechanical breathing; the fact that you can’t see his face and therefore can’t know what he’s thinking or feeling at any particular time; and then finally his low, dark voice when he speaks – Good GOD, James Earl Jones. It’s funny when you remember that David Prowse, the man who actually acted in the Darth Vader suit, had no idea that his voice was going to be dubbed over, but thank whatever God there is that he was. The people who worked on all the folly, sound effects, and other post-production audio of Star Wars I think were some of the most unsung heroes of the film – without their contribution, this film would’ve fallen flat on its face, and Darth Vader wouldn’t be half as memorable and menacing as he is.

It is after the entrance of Darth Vader that we finally see our princess, Car – I mean, Leia Organa. God, she looks so young…it’s kind of surreal, really, looking back at Carrie in this film after only just starting to get used to a much older Carrie portraying Leia in The Force Awakens. It had been surreal first seeing her play that older Leia, too. You forget sometimes how very mortal these people are, when you associate them with a certain character for so long, particularly when the character is in a live-action film as opposed to an animated one.

Back to the plot, though. Leia passes the plans to the Death Star off to R2, and R2 and 3PO sneak into an escape pod that drops them off on the desert planet Tatooine, while Leia and the other Rebels are captured. The Stormtroopers pursue the droids (without Vader in tow, because of course not – HE HATES SAND!), and R2 and 3PO end up in the hands of Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker.

LUUUUUUKE, WOOK AT THE WITTLE LUUUUUKE, I JUST WANNA PINCH HIS CHEEKS.

Yeah, sorry, I can’t get over how young these guys look. I have since fallen in love with Mark Hamil for his career in voice acting and his overall awesomeness, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t also adore him as Luke. Even though Mark, like the rest of the cast, did not think this film would succeed, and I would argue Hamil’s performance in this film isn’t half as good as in Empire and Jedi, he still just conveys such likeability. And before any of you try to say that this kid is whiny just because he wanted to go get some power converters rather than do his chores…dude. It’s called an arc. A character has to start off with some flaws if he is to grow over the course of the story. There are plenty of “Hero” characters that have had whiny or angsty moments toward the beginning of their arc too – Sailor Moon and Bilbo Baggins, for example. And that supposedly whiny aspect of Luke is only really expressed in one scene – Anakin was a hell of a lot worse in Attack of the Clones, and considering that Luke is his son, I think Luke’s more than entitled to a little bit of drama. It’s practically in his blood – his mother Padme ended up being melodramatic a few times in Clones and Sith, Leia gets plenty of opportunities to be totally bossy and obnoxious…and I’m not even touching Kylo. (In short? Skywalker family = drama queens all.)

Luke stumbles upon the transmission of Leia and is intrigued by this strange, beautiful girl asking for help. R2, however, goes about his mission of locating Obi-Wan Kenobi by leaving the Lars home that morning, and Luke and 3PO are forced to give chase to find him before Owen discovers that R2 has gone missing. The three get attacked by Sand People (goddamn it, Anakin, your bad karma is going to get your son killed! Honestly!), and Obi-Wan comes to their rescue.

I have to admit...as soon as Alec Guiness takes off his hood, I can’t stop myself from grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Obi-Wan as a character I have such a complicated relationship with (hewasyourbrotherObihowDAREyouevenTHINKofleavinghimbehindtoburntodeathyoulovedhimandyou’rebetterthanthatandwaaaaaaaah), but I still love him so. Alec brings so much likeability to this character that we will see more and more flaws from as the series goes on. Apparently on set, all the younger actors greatly respected Alec’s professionalism – even despite the ridiculousness of the script, he took his performance so seriously that he ended up rubbing off on some of the fresher faces on set. Honestly, I’m not surprised. Even when he’s talking to a little blue and white robot, Alec acts alongside it like he would any other actor. Speaking of R2, though, it’s very strange to think of R2’s role in the prequel trilogy and the Clone Wars TV show when Obi-Wan says things like, “I don’t recall ever owning a droid.” I know that R2 was originally Padme’s and ended up belonging more to Anakin than Obi-Wan, but Anakin and Obi-Wan worked together a lot, and R2 accompanied them on missions. R2 didn’t have his memory wiped like 3PO did, and even if he had, Obi-Wan should definitely still remember him. Moments like this show that R2 and Obi-Wan were not originally meant to have any history – otherwise Obi-Wan would’ve been like, “This little droid and I are old friends…aren’t we?” and R2 would’ve been like, “Beep-beep boooop~!”

Obi-Wan and Luke go back to Obi-Wan’s place with 3PO and R2 in tow, and Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father. There are a couple of other lines in this exchange that don’t ring true, when one looks at the prequel trilogy. This one sticks out the most to me –

“[Your uncle] didn’t hold with your father’s ideals, thought he should’ve stayed here and not gotten involved.”

Owen and Anakin have no relationship in the prequels at all. Anakin only meets Owen – the son of the man who bought and later married his mother Shmi while he was off training with Obi-Wan – when he and Padme go back to Tatooine in Attack of the Clones. In that time, they spend almost no time together – Owen barely gets any screen time that isn’t devoted to exposition or Shmi’s funeral. There’s no time for Anakin and Owen to learn anything about one another in Clones, and I don’t think that dynamic is changed at all in the Clone Wars TV series, since Anakin has no desire to return to Tatooine after what happened to his mother. Even if Owen cared for Shmi as a mother and therefore felt sour that his stepmother’s first son sort of just left her behind on Tatooine (which I think is totally legit) and later left a son behind too, I have trouble seeing that as evidence of Owen “not holding with Anakin’s ideals.” If anything, I think it’d be more likely Owen would just think of Anakin as a deadbeat son and father (again, pretty justifiably, given his limited knowledge base). This particular relationship is one that I wish had been delved into more in the prequels, but I suppose I should hold off on talking about this fully until any future review I do of Attack of the Clones.

Then of course in this scene you also have Obi-Wan giving Luke Anakin’s lightsaber, which apparently Anakin would’ve wanted Luke to have, when he was old enough. …Right. I’m sure he would have, Obi-Wan – was that edited out of his wrathful, screaming speech at the end of Revenge of the Sith? “I HATE YOU! Also, please give Luke my lightsaber when he’s old enough. ARGGGGGHHHH!” But regardless, I’d like to think that Obi-Wan is saying this because he thinks Anakin would’ve wanted Luke to become a Jedi like him, if everything hadn’t gone so bad in Sith. I’d like to think that – even if he’s lying through his teeth. After all, who’s to say that Anakin wouldn’t have expected Luke to build his own lightsaber, like all the other wittle Jedi did? I would rant more on this, but…my fangirling over the coolness of the lightsaber sound effects is kind of making it hard for me to be cohesive again.

Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father, pointedly leaving certain things out and manipulating his words in a way that is so totally not lying (o hai sarcasm), and then comes across Leia’s full transmission. Obi-Wan tries to enlist Luke to train with him in the Force and accompany him to Alderaan, but Luke, in classic Hero’s Journey fashion, “rejects the call.” He’s too focused on his life on Tatooine and his responsibilities to his aunt and uncle to immediately jump ship and go off on an adventure. This all changes, however, when Luke discovers that the Stormtroopers traced the droids to the Lars moisture farm and slaughtered his aunt and uncle. It is only then, when Luke has nothing left, that he accepts Obi-Wan’s request and starts his journey.

Meanwhile, on the Death Star, we return our focus to the Sith Lord of My Heart, talking over the threat of the Rebellion with Moff Tarkin and the other Imperial officers. Something really fun to do while watching this scene is to try to imagine Anakin’s facial expressions under Vader’s mask – when that one Imperial officer insults Anakin’s “devotion” to his “ancient religion,” I can’t help but picture Anakin’s eyes glinting a very cold yellow and, as he Force-chokes the officer, Anakin looking down his nose at him like he’s some lowly insect. I also just love Peter Cushing as Tarkin – his screen presence is so strong that he really only needs a few short scenes to assert himself as a villain on the same level as Vader, even though he doesn’t have the power to crush someone’s throat with a thought.

Luke, Obi-Wan, 3PO, and R2 go to Mos Eisley to find themselves a ship to Alderaan, where we first meet Chewbacca and our handsome rogue Han Solo. Now, of course, since I’m watching the special edition DVD of this film, I sadly have to watch Greedo shoot first as well as that thoroughly unnecessary scene with the horrifically rendered CGI Jabba the Hutt, but this doesn’t change the fact that Han is a total bad ass. His snarkiness and streetwise air are just so inherently charming. It also creates a great contrast between him and naive, idealistic Luke, which makes for some very amusing banter between them. And if that wasn’t enough, Han has the coolest spaceship ever – even if it looks like a giant pizza pie.

On the Death Star, Leia is brought before Tarkin by Vader and, in true Skywalker fashion, sasses Tarkin’s face off. (Oh Leia, how I love you.) Unfortunately Tarkin is in no mood to be merciful, and he demonstrates the Empire’s new might by using the Death Star’s lasers to blow up Leia’s home planet, Alderaan. One of the major criticisms I have for the Star Wars films in general is how much this scene could’ve been devastating, either by having the prequels or just A New Hope show more of the planet and its people (therefore making us see how much we were losing) or by actually showing Leia mourn the loss of her people. A New Hope, however, completely sidesteps this. I didn’t need to see Leia break down in front of Tarkin and Vader, but I still think it would’ve been nice to have a scene afterwards of Leia breaking down in her cell or referencing the loss of her family and people in a later scene. I also think that it would’ve been interesting to show more scenes with Vader and Leia that could’ve hinted more to their true relationship – like maybe Vader greatly detests Leia because she reminds him of his dead wife visually and, on an even deeper level, she subconsciously reminds him of the man he used to be. I almost could read this meaning into when Vader coolly tells Tarkin that he knew Leia would never betray the Rebellion – Leia, like Anakin, would’ve seen betraying his friends as the ultimate dishonor. But again, this is a head-canon, more than a theory based on any actual canon. And before any of you try to correct me, yes, I know that Lucas was still rewriting stuff in the second two volumes of the trilogy while and after working on A New Hope, and that Leia, Luke, and Vader all being related may or may not have been fully planned by Lucas from the beginning. I’m just pointing out how this film doesn’t set up for the major plot developments that happen later, since most people know all about these twists, many before even seeing the films, and so will notice where plot elements don’t match up.

While en route to the now-destroyed Alderaan, the Millennium Falcon gets stuck in a tractor beam from the Death Star, pulling Luke and the others into the Empire’s grasp. Luke, Obi-Wan, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids sneak off the ship, trying to find a way to escape, and in the process find out that Leia is on board. When investigating the Falcon, Vader senses something that he hasn’t sensed in a long time – and as I know other people have pointed out, it may not have been Obi-Wan, as we are led to believe, but his son, Luke, who had just started learning the ways of the Force a few scenes prior. Couldn’t the Force, so like his own and his wife’s, have called out to Vader? But admittedly, he never sensed any bond to Leia and Vader speaks of sensing Obi-Wan to Tarkin, so it’s nothing more than a fan theory. Han, Chewbacca, and Luke go to save Leia, while Obi-Wan goes to turn off the tractor beam and the droids try to stay hidden in the control room. And in traditional Hero’s Journey fashion, as soon as our three major characters come together, sparks fly and fun ensues. Just like other Heart-Body-Brain trios like Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, Luke, Han, and Leia’s personalities bounce off each other perfectly and balance out each other’s flaws. Something else I also love about this rescue scene is Leia completely dismantling the idea that she is the damsel in distress by snatching Luke’s blaster away and shooting the Stormtroopers up herself. (Hellz yeah! Hail to the princess, baby!) Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca jump into the garbage chute to escape the Stormtroopers, right before having to escape a monster living in the slowly closing garbage chute, and then run back toward the Falcon. Even as they’re doing that, though, Leia can’t help but sass it up some more.

(grins like an idiot)

Obi-Wan and Vader confront one another, and I must admit, after watching Revenge of the Sith pretty recently, I find this duel a million times more engaging than that one. I think part of it, admittedly, is that the Sith duel was so long and this one is not as drawn-out, but I also think a lot of it comes from the fact that there is actual suspense. In Sith, Anakin and Obi-Wan’s duel is highly choreographed and challenging, but it’s also done mostly in CG environments and with a lot of cuts. We don’t really see them getting tired or struggling that much, and it’s so intricate and well-timed that it looks more like a dance than a fight. But in this duel, we see that both of these characters are not invulnerable…and really, considering that we’ve seen Vader Force-choke a dude a few scenes prior, I think that Vader choosing not to do that and instead to simply lightsaber-duel with Obi-Wan says something. It’s like he’s trying to evoke their last battle – the one where he lost his limbs and his ability to breathe on his own. Vader has enough honor left in him that he will kill Obi-Wan in a duel, not with Sith tricks. Admittedly the lightsaber battles get much better in future films from a choreography standpoint, but from an emotional standpoint, I still think this one holds up pretty well.

The most powerful point, of course, is at the end when Obi-Wan, catching sight of Luke, knows he has won…and so stops fighting, raises his lightsaber to his face, and accepts his death. In a demented way, Obi-Wan knows that Luke watching him die at Vader’s hands will give him the motivation needed to kill Vader and “bring balance to the Force” – because of course, being Vader’s son, Luke would be the only one powerful enough to defeat Vader. Obi-Wan may be a manipulative little so-and-so…but one cannot deny that he went out with style. And now that he’s one with the Force, he can be with Luke wherever he goes.

Han and Chewbacca fly Leia, Luke, and the droids to the Rebel base, but unfortunately the Empire cleverly put a tracking device on the Falcon, which allows the Imperial forces aboard the Death Star to find them. The Death Star gets into position to destroy the base, and the Rebels try to use the plans inside R2 to counterattack. Han bails, fully intending to go back to smuggling, and Luke bitterly scolds him for his selfishness. Even so, they wish each other the best before they part. (And honestly, the entire audience knows that Han is going to come back later -- that kind of plot thread was hackneyed even back in the 70′s.) Luke, meanwhile, joins the Rebel fighter pilots, and while there meets up with an old friend from Tatooine, Biggs Darklighter. Biggs’ and Luke’s friendship is not really explored that much in the movies, and I frankly would’ve liked to see more of it, since he ends up dying not long after we meet him and so it’s sort of hard to care that much.

The Battle of Yavin begins, with the Rebel Squadrons trying to take down the Death Star. At first they’re able to avoid the Death Star’s blasts, but as soon as Darth Vader takes his own Imperial Squadron into the fight, the Rebel ships are shot down en masse. True to Obi-Wan’s words, Vader in this battle proves that he was “the best star pilot in the galaxy” by shooting the Rebel pilots down with precision. Luke is almost taken out as well, but in the nick of time, Han (of course) comes back in the Millennium Falcon and shoots down Vader’s ship, making it spin off into distant space. Luke finally has the chance to fire at the Death Star’s weak point and decides, upon hearing Obi-Wan’s advice in his head, to turn off his navicomputer. He will not trust the machinery – instead he’ll trust his instincts, and it’s his instincts that help him take down the Death Star and save the Rebel Alliance. And so our film ends triumphantly, with our heroes reunited and looking to the future with optimism.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, despite its shortcomings (bad CG updates, dialogue that doesn’t make sense with the films that came later, the lack of development for certain characters), perfectly encapsulates its title. By the end of the film, my heart is completely full of hope. Even though I know everything to come – even if I know that Star Wars as a franchise created a lot of bad along with the good – it’s close to impossible for me to look at this first installment with anything other than fondness. It reminds me of how much this film, and the original trilogy in general, was lightning in a bottle, unable to be replicated again. There will never be another performance like Mark Hamil’s of Luke Skywalker. There will never be another performance like Peter Cushing’s of Moff Tarkin.There will never be another performance like Alec Guiness’s of Obi-Wan Kenobi. There will never be another performance like James Earl Jones’s of Darth Vader. There will never be another performance like Harrison Ford’s of Han Solo. Most relevantly, there will never be another performance like Carrie Fisher’s of Leia Organa. We can try to pick apart Star Wars as a franchise, but I truly think that this first chapter was the best one it could’ve possibly started with. A New Hope is not a perfect film by any means. The effects, both in the original and updated versions, do not always hold up; the loss of Alderaan and of Luke’s friend Biggs don’t leave much of an impression; sometimes the acting can be stilted; and the strict adherence that this film and its sequels give to the Hero’s Journey formula makes their stories almost comically predictable. But I almost think the little foibles and flaws make the film that much more human and authentic, as well as interesting to examine from a filmmaking perspective. After all, when this movie came out, nobody really cared about the flaws we can pick apart today – audiences just got so invested in the story, the characters, the effects, and the drama. And that says something about film in general – even the most standard story in a flawed, imperfect film can touch people so much that it becomes an icon, if it mixes the old with the new.

#d-views #disney reviews #star wars #a new hope #opinion #reviews #analysis #carrie fisher #rest in peace #rip #in memoriam

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monkeypressde · 4 years ago

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THE MISSION veröffentlichen “Tower Of Strength” neu

Ein absoluter Klassiker-Song wird neu erschaffen. Unter dem Deckmantel eines Charity-Projekts mit dem Namen ReMission International wird Tower Of Strength der Band The Mission als TOS2020 von über 20 musikalischen Gästen zusammen mit Wayne Hussey neu aufgelegt. Mit darunter sind Musikergrößen wie Martin L. Gore von Depeche Mode, Lol Tolhurst von The Cure, Midge Ure von Ultravox, Gary Numan, Andy Rourke, Billy Duffy, Budgie, Evi Vine, James Alexander Graham, Jay Aston, Julianne Regan, Kevin Haskins, Kirk Brandon, Michael Aston, Michael Ciravolo, Miles Hunt, Rachel Goswell, Richard Fortus, Robin Finck, Steve Clarke und Trentemöller. Für das Abmischen sorgt Tim Palmer, der schon David Bowie und andere Hochkaräter produziert hat.

Lass Dir den Beitrag vorlesen:

/wp-content/TTS/144482.mp3

Veröffentlichungsdatum ist der 28.08.2020 für die digitale Version und alle Harddisk-Freunde können die Schallplatte oder CD ab dem 02.10.2020 käuflich erwerben. Der Erlös dient zur Unterstützung aller Key Worker, die weltweit mit COVID-19 zu tun haben. Die Gelder gehen dann an wohltätige Organisationen, die von allen Beteiligten persönlich ausgewählt wurden.

Wayne Hussey: “Als Covid-19 zuschlug, erhielt ich viele Nachrichten, in denen ich gefragt wurde: “Warum veröffentlichst du Tower Of Strength für all die Arbeiter an der Front nicht neu? Das Lied war anscheinend von einigen National-Health-Service-Mitarbeitern als ihre Hymne angenommen worden, und es brachte mich auf den Gedanken, dass ich in dieser beispiellosen Zeit etwas für die größere Sache beitragen könnte – und das Einzige, was ich wirklich beitragen kann, ist Musik. So kam ich zusammen mit meinem guten Freund Michael Ciravolo auf die Idee, eine neue Version von Tower Of Strength für wohltätige Zwecke aufzunehmen, indem ich die Hilfe von Musikerfreunden und -bekannten in Anspruch nahm. Tower Of Strength wurde erstmals 1988 und dann 1994 von The Mission als Single veröffentlicht. Die Single schaffte es zweimal in die britischen Top 40 und erwies sich als unser wahrscheinlich größter Song und es ist dieser Song, mit dem wir im Allgemeinen unsere Shows abschließen. Es ist eine Hymne. Ich fragte mich, ob die Neuaufnahme eines bekannteren Liedes vielleicht eine größere Reichweite hätte, aber weder Michael noch ich konnten Vorschläge machen, die textlich zu passen schienen, ohne zu kitschig zu wirken. Also wurde es ‚Tower Of Strength‘.”

“Normalerweise verabscheue ich Dinge, die für wohltätige Zwecke getan werden, die gleichzeitig auch selbstsüchtig sind, aber ich habe mir einen Plan ausgedacht, der mein Gewissen befriedigt hat. Ich sprach mit meinen Bandkollegen von The Mission, die den Song mitgeschrieben haben – Craig Adams, Mick Brown und Simon Hinkler – und wir kamen überein, alle durch die neue Version erzielten Verlagseinnahmen an nominierte Wohltätigkeitsorganisationen abzutreten, einschließlich mechanischer und Aufführungslizenzen sowie 100% aller Einnahmen aus Verkäufen. Der Song wurde in ‚TOS2020‘ umbenannt, um diese Gelder von der ursprünglichen Version abkoppeln zu können – und die Wohltätigkeitsorganisationen wurden alle persönlich von den an Aufnahme und Veröffentlichung beteiligten Personen nominiert. Da es sich bei den musikalischen Beiträgen um globale Spenden handelt, gehen wir davon aus, dass die Einnahmen gleichmäßig unter allen Begünstigten aufgeteilt und verteilt werden.”

Die Mitwirkenden über TOS2020:

“Being given the chance to do some good to raise money for people and animals struggling in these frightening times by singing one of the best songs ever written was such an easy thing to say yes to. An absolute honour to be involved.” Gary Numan

“Today as we face an unprecedented crisis with COVID 19, we have to be united in purpose to help humanity and especially the disenfranchised and impoverished among us, survive. Music can be a powerful way to join us all together and help those that need it most now.” Lol Tolhurst

“I’ve seen and heard Tower of Strength played often and I’ve experienced its effect and the impact it has on others. It’s an anthemic song of hope, comfort and joy, with a message that now seems more relevant than ever. I hope this project, in which I am privileged to be involved, brings a little light into the shade, and allows us all to, albeit momentarily, focus on an ‘afterwards’.” Julianne Regan

“You get a message from Wayne Hussey asking if you can put a vocal (alongside a great list of singers, musicians and friends) on a reworking of a massive track in the repertoire of The Mission to aid COVID-19 charities around the globe – you say yes and get it done as well as you can.” Kirk Brandon

“I did it coz Wayne asked me to and I love Wayne.” Billy Duffy

“Being asked to contribute to making a piece of music isn’t overly taxing for a musician. I’m just pleased Wayne didn’t ask me to perform brain surgery or fly a jumbo jet, something which takes some form of skill.” Midge Ure

“My positive of the pandemic has been connecting to kindred spirits. Honoured to lend a hand.” Budgie

“I would like it known that, if asked, I would do absolutely anything for Wayne Hussey. Tower Of Strength is utter perfection: it is daring in its intent and supremely executed in both its original recording and every single time I have seen it performed live. To be asked to contribute to this new version was a very emotional experience for me. So many intense memories came flooding back as I sang, there were tears, I can assure you of that.” Miles Hunt

“Direct Relief is an organisation that helps people in times of emergency like natural disasters or in times of poverty by getting medical equipment and supplies to where they are needed most. At the moment they are obviously heavily focused on Covid-19.” Martin Gore (on Direct Relief, his nominated charity)

“Love and gratitude.” Robin Finck

“I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of this project – I always loved this song and asked Wayne if I could take a crack at John Paul Jones’ string arrangement, which I have always admired. Hopefully my take on it does it justice.” Richard Fortus

“The power we have collectively is transformative … I love and admire Wayne and the band and the warmth and intention behind this release. I know the power of this song and I feel so honoured to have been invited to join so many celebrated artists, this is a beautiful star in the darkest of times and I know the difference it will make.” Evi Vine

“To be amongst these amazing artists that I’m a huge fan of and have so much respect for is a true honour, especially for such an important cause. The sacrifice that all the amazing NHS staff and key workers have made is truly humbling and inspiring. To be part of an incredible group of people that want to give something back and show their gratitude is something I’m extremely proud of.” James Alexander Graham

“When I was asked by Wayne to be part of this fantastic charity project, I immediately said yes! If I could contribute to supporting the hard work fighting Covid 19 by making a remix of Tower Of Strength, that was a way for me to make a small difference. I’m very honoured to be a part of this.” Trentemøller

“I signed on for this project because I felt that it would be a great way to raise a lot of funds for those in need at this time. When I heard all the names of artists who were collaborating, I knew that it would turn out very special. I’m very grateful to be given the opportunity to contribute to this marvellous project.” Kevin Haskins

“When Wayne emailed me with the idea of contributing vocals to this project I jumped at the chance. Tower of Strength is such an anthemic song it’s only fitting that this has been done to support the various charities. It’s an honour for me to be a small part of the process and what a stellar line up of people involved.” Rachel Goswell

“Not every day do you get the chance to play on one of your favourite songs with some of your favourite artists, and to have it be for all the right reasons and for an amazing cause.” Michael Ciravolo

“So honoured to be part of this wonderful project. It’s also interesting that three of the original performers on our – Gene Loves Jezebel – very first recording, ‘Shaving My Neck’ are reunited by chance some 37 years later: Julianne Regan, J.P, and myself. Hats off to Wayne and the Mission for giving this rendition for charity during this pandemic.” Michael Aston

“Absolutely buzzed and honestly flattered to be asked to not only add my voice to this wonderful recording, but also give something back to our much loved and beleaguered NHS. The perfect song for these difficult and challenging days.” Jay Aston

Zu den nominierten Wohltätigkeitsorganisationen gehören derzeit:

NHS UK St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital Memphis Music Venue Trust UK Covenant House New Orleans Disasters Emergency Committee MusiCares Plan International Direct Relief Alzheimer’s Scotland Liberty Hill Foundation The Shrewsbury Ark Memorial Sloan Kettering Center NYC Prostate Cancer UK The Teddy Bear Clinic For Abused Children The Anthony Walker Foundation Crew Nation Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MSK Kids Venice Family Clinic

Weblink THE MISSION:

Facebook:

Den kompletten Beitrag findet Ihr hier: THE MISSION veröffentlichen “Tower Of Strength” neu

#THE MISSION veröffentlichen “Tower Of Strength” neu #Musiknews #Carity #Covid-19 #Gary Numan #martin

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cinephiled-com · 5 years ago

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New Post has been published on Cinephiled

New Post has been published on http://www.cinephiled.com/interview-directors-powerful-doc-linda-ronstadt-sound-voice/

Interview: Directors of the Powerful Doc ‘Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice’

Since bursting onto the music scene in 1967, Linda Ronstadt has been an icon for more than half a century. Her extraordinary vocal range created iconic songs across rock, pop, country, folk ballads, American standards, classic Mexican music, and soul. As the most popular female recording artist of the 1970s, Ronstadt filled huge arenas and produced an astounding 11 Platinum albums. Ronstadt was the first artist to top the Pop, Country, and R&B charts at the same time. She won 10 Grammy Awards on 26 nominations and attained a level of stardom the Tucson native never could have imagined.

In Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, Ronstadt guides us through her early years of singing Mexican canciones with her family, her folk days with the Stone Poneys, and her reign as the Queen of Rock throughout the 70s and early 80s. She was a pioneer for women in the male-dominated music industry and a passionate advocate for human rights. Even more attention was heaped upon her when she had a long-term and high-profile romance with California Governor Jerry Brown. In recent years, her incredible voice has been lost to Parkinson’s disease, something she accepts with a dignity and grace that is inspiring, but her music and influence remain as timeless as ever. With incredible performance footage and heartwarming appearances by friends and collaborators such as Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, and Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice celebrates an artist whose desire to share the music she loved made generations of fans fall in love with her.

It was a thrill for me to sit down with the award-winning directors of this film, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Times of Harvey Milk, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, The Celluloid Closet) and producer James Keach (Walk the Line, Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me, David Crosby: Remember My Name) to discuss this deeply moving and joyously entertaining film.

Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman

Danny Miller: Your previous documentaries are legendary. Did you feel this film was a natural progression from the kinds of things you were doing?

Jeffrey Friedman: I think so. This is ultimately a story about a woman’s empowerment, and that’s thematically not very far from other themes that we’ve taken on.

Did it take a while to earn Linda Ronstadt’s trust before she agreed to do the film?

Oh God, yes. It took about a year to convince her to let us do it!

Yeah, she doesn’t seem like someone who would necessarily be down for a film about herself.

Rob Epstein: Fortunately, she had just seen my film The Times of Harvey Milk and really liked it, so the timing of that was fortuitous. But as Jeffrey said, she was very reluctant and it took a long time to get her to come around. She basically told us that she thought we were deluded and that nobody would want to see the film and if they did, they’d be bored to tears.

Oh, Linda, Linda. That’s totally insane!

Jeffrey Friedman: But after a while, a couple of things conspired helped her to change her mind. The people who were still working with her were rooting for us — her longtime assistant and good friend Janet Stark and her manager John Boylan were encouraging us behind the scenes to keep going. We told Linda that we wanted to use her wonderful book as source material but we wanted to amplify it by having an audience actually experience the music that’s only described in the book. She finally started to allow herself to imagine that.

Did she have any ground rules about what she didn’t want you to put in the film?

Rob Epstein: Linda is a very private person and she didn’t want us to get into her personal relationships which we totally understood.

With the exception of Jerry Brown?

Jeffrey Friedman: Yes, well, that’s in her book and anything she talked about in the book was fair game. Linda and Governor Brown are still friends.

Rob Epstein: We really just wanted to help make her musical journey come alive in the film. But she also said she wouldn’t be interviewed for the film.

Are you saying that all of her voiceovers in the film are taken from other interviews?

We did use dozens of different sources but in the end she finally agreed to sit down for an interview.

Jeffrey Friedman: But that one was only an audio interview, we didn’t film it.

And yet she does appear on camera at the end of the film, and it’s such a beautiful, poignant scene. Was it always the plan that we wouldn’t see her until the end?

Rob Epstein: It was always our intention to somehow bring it to the present tense. We were very frank with her about that, we told her that the audience would want to see her today. We talked about the possibility of having her come into a recording studio and read passages from her book but she thought that was just too artificial. And then all of a sudden, she had this trip planned to Mexico with her family and she invited us. But that happened way at the end.

Jeffrey Friedman: By that time we had interviewed so many people that she was very close to and they were like her spies telling her everything that happened — they all assured her that we were doing a very respectful portrait.

I found the entire film so incredibly moving. I could tell you that I cried at points but it’s more like tears were pouring down my face during every single song. I can’t even fully understand why it affected me so much. Something about the purity of her voice and the purityof her relationship to her music and the way she navigated through her superstardom without ever getting sucked into the negative aspects of that.

Rob Epstein: I think it was surprising to all of us how humble she is and self-deprecating. She never had much interest in being a celebrity and she managed to maintain her authentic personhood throughout all of the different iterations of her fame and career. She certainly never tried to create any persona around “Linda Ronstadt,” she was always just herself, the same person that she is to this day.

Jeffrey Friedman: Yeah, she’s very real, no bullshit. I think that’s part of what makes watching her sing so touching, because it’s really just her and the music coming through her. It was never about showmanship or flash and dazzle, just an authentic artistic expression. I think that’s why audiences have responded to her with such enthusiasm and emotion throughout her career.

James Keach

James Keach: But I’m not sure she was never “sucked into” the fame part, I think she was sucked into it many times. The difference was that she always pushed back. She would get pulled into things like those big arena concerts and then come realize that it wasn’t what she wanted to do. But I would speculate that your emotional reaction to the film might also be because those were better days for a lot of us in many ways. I feel like they were better days in my life, a lot more simple and fun! They were certainly the best days of my life in terms of music. I also tear up now when I hear Linda sing and some of the other performers from back then because it brings back that different part of my life even though so much time has gone by. I find it very touching.

Right. And yet Linda herself was going through a lot of insecurities at the time and trying to figure out what she wanted. I remember going to see her in The Pirates of Penzance on Broadway in the 1980s and wondering how they “let” one of the most famous singers in the country do that. I so admired her determination to branch out in areas that were hardly as lucrative as what she could’ve kept doing for the rest of her life.

Rob Epstein: There was an article I read about her from that time where she was speculating on whether she would ever be happy. The truth is she just wanted to sing. For her it wasn’t about being a huge rock star or the girlfriend of George Lucas or Jerry Brown, she just wanted to be in the living room with her friends singing. But she also knew there were dues she had to pay in order to be Linda Ronstadt.

I love all the interviews in the film. Was it challenging to get all of those amazing, busy people to be in the film?

Jeffrey Friedman: Well, Linda is very loved so it wasn’t that hard to get people to say yes. And James was a great producer along with his partner Michele Farinola, and they just never gave up until we got all the people we wanted.

I was especially glad to see Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton in the film, their collaborations with Linda were pure magic.

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Did you consider getting Jerry Brown to appear in the film?

James Keach: I think he would have done it but Linda resisted, she didn’t want him to be interviewed even though they are very close friends today. She was a little nervous about all of the people, to be honest, because she didn’t want people to feel obligated to do it and say nice things about her. She’s so humble she didn’t think anyone would be interested in a film about her life and career.

Jeffrey Friedman: She knows that there are young people who have never heard of her, which is kind of astonishing. That was one of the reasons we wanted to make the film, to make sure that her legacy wasn’t lost. But she’s not someone who lives in the past and just thinks about her own career. She listens to all types of music.

Rob Epstein: Yeah, she was just telling us the other day about some Korean pop group that she wanted us to check out, that’s what she’s interested in right now.

Was it hard to figure out how to navigate through the topic of her Parkinson’s disease?

Jeffrey Friedman: She definitely didn’t want to be seen only through that lens, but on the other hand, she’s been very upfront and open about her current condition.

I think the loss of her voice is one of the great tragedies of our lifetime. I felt the same way when Julie Andrews lost hers. Do you think it’s painful for Linda to listen to her own old songs from when her voice was so powerful?

Rob Epstein: No, I don’t think so, she does listen to herself when she needs to, certainly in the context of putting this film together. She has always been very careful about making sure that the sound was just right. One of her big concerns with the film was that somehow we might include a bad performance but honestly, we never found one in all of our research!

Getting to hear her sing at the end was so exquisite even though she says that wasn’t really singing. How did that come about?

James Keach: That was when we went with her to Mexico. We wanted to go to her grandfather’s hometown and at one point we were having lunch at this little mom and pop place on the way down there. Some of her family members started playing music for everybody. Jackson Browne was there and he started singing and then I could hear Linda humming and she started singing along with the rest of them. I was sitting next to her and I thought, wow, that’s really good and I said, “Linda, I thought you said you couldn’t sing, I think it sounds great!” The next day at lunch she said that when we interviewed her that night she would try it again but nobody else could be in the room in case she screwed up. So she did it, and talk about tears! Everyone was crying and we couldn’t believe she was doing it because she had stopped singing years ago. We all just choked up.

It is so inspiring to see how she is dealing with the challenges of her disease without a shred of self-pity. It’s really made me look at certain things in my own life in new ways.

Rob Epstein: She sees it as just a circumstance of her life and she’s adjusted accordingly. She’s still completely engaged with the world.

youtube

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice is currently playing in various cities around the country.

#James Keach #Jeffrey Friedman #Linda Ronstadt #Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice #Rob Epstein #Interviews #What's Hot

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campfiresandsandcastles · 6 years ago

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A Travel Guide for the Triangle Tour of East Texas: Dallas, Waco, Austin, Houston, and Fort Worth

We recently visited east Texas and travelled to 5 cities in 8 days. Our trip took us to Dallas, Waco, Austin, Houston, and Fort Worth, essentially making a large triangle on the map of Texas. Here I recount our whirlwind tour and provide some helpful hints for your future travels to these major cities of Texas.

Itinerary

Day One - Dallas

Day Two - Dallas

Day Three - Waco

Day Four - Austin

Day Five - The Woodlands, Houston

Day Six - Fort Worth

Day Seven - Forth Worth

Day One - Dallas

Arriving late the first day we spent the night near the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport at Dallas Marriott Las Colinas in Irving, Texas. The hotel had a perfect location given it was so close to the airport, but it was also across the street from the Toyota Music Factory, which provided lots of options for eating establishments, especially dinner. Plus, we came across the first of many larger-than-life bronze statues of western scenes that we soon learned are common across Texas. A square near the hotel had these beautiful stallions traversing a fountain. The area was under renovation when we visited, but the statues were still so majestic to see.

Meander Among 90,000 Pumpkins

We rented a car for our entire trip since we had a lot of driving ahead of us, and we spent the first full day in Dallas. The amount of attractions that Dallas has to offer is impressive. We spent the day at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, and since we visited in autumn, they had their Halloween and Thanksgiving display of over 90,000 pumpkins. The arboretum is beautiful and huge, spanning 66 acres. It is a popular spot to take wedding and quinceañera photos.

Plus, we paid to enter the children’s area named The Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden. I recommend visiting this section of the park, it has tons of environmental and science interactive displays including water cannons, a life-size tree to climb, and a maze.

The food options in this area are a bit slim, there’s a food spot advertised but it’s really only vending machines with tables for picnicking. Your best bet if you plan on staying in this section for any length of time with the kiddos is to bring a lunch. The main body of the arboretum has a stand to buy a quick lunch, plus a higher-end restaurant with linen tablecloths (it didn’t really look like a great place for young kids). We also saw a kiosk which looked like it served some yummy grilled cheese near the main entrance too.

Entrance to the arboretum was $15 for adults and $10 for children, plus an extra $3 for the children’s park.

We rounded out our first day with some very Americana activities including a trip to the arcade Dave and Buster’s, a visit to Half Price Books bookstore, and dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. The bookstore was so cool. It was huge and sold both used and new books. Plus, it had a large display of vinyl records, which just added to its retro vibe.

One observation I had about Dallas is that Dallasites (i.e., people from Dallas) do not stay home on Sundays, instead they go into the city. Every place we went to was packed with people. Strangely, the roads were not congested, but every place we visited – the arboretum, arcade, bookstore, and restaurant – was completely full of people. You go, Dallasites, way to take advantage of all your city has to offer!

We spent the night closer to the city of Dallas at Towneplace Suites Dallas Mesquite to be able to take full-advantage of time. This hotel was really lovely, but it ended up not being as close to downtown Dallas as we originally thought. But, we did get to park our rental car in the parking lot for free, which is difficult to find when you stay in the city of Dallas itself.

Day Two - Dallas

Feel Small Among Giants

As I said earlier, Dallas has a lot of attractions. We spent the second day in the Perot Museum of Nature and Science ($20 admission for adult, $13 for child). Such a cool place. First, the building itself is remarkable. It somewhat looks like the side of a limestone slab or cliff with cavities of blue glass in it which serves as an escalator. You actually start at the top level of the building and work your way down through the exhibits.

Plus, it’s full of these amazing life-size displays of dinosaur skeletons. You feel so minuscule standing under the skeleton of a brontosaurus-type dinosaur or realizing just how huge prehistoric turtles actually were. Plus, for fun, they periodically turn off the lights and project colored lights across the dinosaur bones creating a disco-type atmosphere.

Also, there are a number of just plain clever displays. One of our favorites was an interactive topographic map. It was a box of sand that showed the topography, by color, as you moved and piled the sand.

My son’s favorite display was a screen where you danced or moved around and dinosaur avatars mimicked your movement, so you can make breakdancing dinosaurs!

There was an additional temporary dinosaur exhibit at the museum that cost extra to attend ($10 for adult, $8 for child). However, we did not feel that the additional exhibit was any more spectacular than just their normal dinosaur display, and it wasn’t worth the additional cost. Also, the museum has a cafeteria, but unfortunately the food was not good. My husband’s hamburger, for example, was a shrunken charcoaled piece of meat, and it was overpriced, so I would not recommend eating at the museum.

Stand Among a Historic Must See

It seemed that it would have been a travesty if we visited downtown Dallas without stopping at Dealey Plaza, the site of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. It was such an impactful experience to actually stand on the grassy knoll and on the whited painted “X” on the street which indicates where the motorcade was positioned when the bullet killed the former president. Places we’ve only seen in grainy films from that day or television specials since then became hauntingly real. We simply walked around the historic area and read the various plaques and displays, but there is also a Sixth Floor Museum of the Texas School Book Depository and gift shop. Plus, there are plenty of willing tour guides and conspiracy theorists around this area if you want to “learn” even more.

Before we left Dallas for the night, we stopped at Pioneer Plaza to climb among the famous life-size bronze sculptures of 50 long-horned steers located at the corner of Young and Griffin Streets. Interestingly, if you climb up to the top of the hill that the steers are navigating down, there is a historic pioneer graveyard located there.

I was simply surprised to learn all of the attractions that the city of Dallas had to offer. Our two days there did not even scratch the surface of the various venues we would have liked to have visited. So, here’s a list of additional attractions that may be of interest to you, and be sure to let me know about your experience when you visit any of them:

Texas Theatre in the Oak Cliff neighborhood where Lee Harvey Oswald was found and arrested

Dallas World Aquarium

Galleria – Shopping mall with an ice rink in the center

NorthPark Center – High-end shopping mall, with notable sculptures.

Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park

Texas Discovery Gardens – Ten themed gardens and they release butterflies at noon.

Fountain Place – 5th largest building in Dallas and home to Ewing Oil in the TV show “Dallas” with 172 fountains. Located at 1445 Ross Ave.

Dallas Museum of Art – Eclectic display. Free to enter. Plus, Klyde Warren Park located across the street has food trucks.

This night we spent the night in Waco at Waco South Towneplace Suites to be ready for our next day in this famous Fixer Upper town. Just a short walk from the hotel was Saltgrass Steak House, which provided a hearty Texas meal with plenty of red meat and the most delicious pumpkin cheesecake.

Day Three - Waco

Waco, the city made famous by just two events, the Branch Davidian raid with David Koresh in the early 90s, and the more recent hit HGTV show Fixer Upper which reveals the life of the sweet Christian family of Chip and Joanna Gaines as they flip houses from outdated 70’s-style ranches to shiplap laden gorgeousness. Just to note, we visited because of the latter, not the former.

In preparation for visiting this city, I even listened to the audio version of Chip Gaines’ then-recently published book “Capital Gaines” during the flight. It provides good insight into how this couple turned a small, home decoration store and construction business into the major enterprise it is today, while sharing some honest truths about running a small business. Surprisingly though, for all of Chip’s charisma and antics on the show, his voice was pretty monotone on the audio book and I have to admit did lull me to sleep a few times.

Come Hungry and Eat Well

We started our morning of the third day eating breakfast at the diner that Chip and Joanna Gaines recently opened named Magnolia Table where they serve Texas-size portions of French Toast, pancakes, eggs, and housemade tater tots. The employees at the restaurant are plentiful and beyond friendly. We were even greeted in the parking lot by an employee stationed there just to say hello to everyone who got out of their car. The diner also has a gift shop and an outdoor café where you can order coffee and such while you wait to be called for your table. Be prepared though, this places is popular, and for that reason they have a well-oiled machine of Disneyland-esque employees that politely redirect you if you attempt to (heaven forbid) try to walk into the restaurant. Thou shall not peak behind the curtain until your name is on the waiting list and you’re called inside to be seated. No looky-loos.

Visit a Paleontological Dig

With our bellies full, we journeyed to the north side of town to see a very cool place, the Waco Mammoth National Monument. For a nominal entrance fee of $5 for adults and $4 for children, you take a guided tour down a short path to this active paleontological site where they have discovered the nation’s only recorded discovery of a nursery herd of Columbian mammoths. This place was well worth the stop. You can actually peer down on real dinosaur bones that are still encased in the ground. Our guide was so knowledgeable and entertaining, it was such a pleasant and educational experience. I highly, highly recommend it.

The Real Reason for Staying in Waco

We then visited the Mecca of Waco, Texas, that is Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Market at the Silos. The property consists of a bakery, a home goods store, a garden center, a grassy area for romping around and playing lawn games, and a slew of food trucks. We stood in the line for the bakery that wrapped around the corner for their famous cupcakes, ate lunch from the food trucks, and wandered through the store picking up small items that would fit in our suitcase. The Market has free parking that is connected to the property off of 8th Street plus there is street parking, so feel free to skip the lots that offer parking for a mere $10. And like any good Christian store, the Market is closed on Sundays. They also have a discount store called the Warehouse Shop located on Bosque Blvd.

There are three other attractions in Waco that we did not visit but are worth mentioning. Again, if you check these, please let me know what you find:

Dr. Pepper Museum – I mean, why not?!

Harp Design Co. shop – The carpentry and now home good store made famous by Joanna Gaines’ devotion to the work of Clint Harp in Fixer Upper.

Baylor University

Overall, I was surprised that the city of Waco did not take more advantage of the fame that Fixer Upper brought to their city. The Market brings tens of thousands of people to Waco every day, but the city doesn’t seem to have capitalized on these visitors. The areas around both Magnolia Table and the Silos appear to be exactly the same as they were before the attractions existed. The shops and businesses are few and mostly look older and a bit rundown. There are no attractions in these areas of the city other than these two establishments. I guess I just expected the area to be bustling with boutique shops and restaurants, but none were to be found.

We finished the day by traveling to Austin to spend the night. We stayed the night at the boutique hotel called Hotel San Jose located in the South Congress area. The hotel is clean and hip and a refurbished two-story motel with polished cement floors in the rooms, a small outdoor bamboo-lined siting area, and tiny rectangular pool. We really liked it and it is a nice alternative to the sometimes sterile large-chain hotels.

We grabbed dinner at a burger place on South Congress in Austin called Hopdoddy Burger Bar, which is a chain restaurant, but they made some outstanding burgers.

Day Four - Austin

Pay Homage to the Lone Star State

We started our day in Austin at the Texas State Capitol. This is such a beautiful building. Rather than disrupt the charm of the original building when they needed to renovate for additional space, they decided to tunnel underneath the land to create underground offices for the expansion. You are welcome to enter the building, peer up at the ceiling of the rotunda, and find your way through the underground labyrinth with its skylights that allow natural light in from above.

Walk 6th Street

From there we walked the famed 6th Street that is lined with nightclubs and bars. When my husband and I visited Austin a decade ago we loved the evening we spent at Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar, but we had to pass this time given we had underaged kids in tow. I have to say that 6th street also seemed a lot grittier since the last time we visited. I know it’s best visited at night, but I was surprised by the amount of filth. We did manage to snag some donuts from the famous VooDoo Doughnut which serves crazy donut concoctions 24 hours a day…but cash only, no credit cards accepted.

Travel by Scooter

The real fun we had was when we visited the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail which is a paved trail along Lady Bird Lake (a.k.a. the Colorado River) in downtown Austin. We walked the area of the trail by The Long Center for the Performing Arts. The area is resplendent with rentable scooters and my kids each rode one around the trail. It is this amazing phenomenon that is happening around some of the larger cities (sorry if you’re already aware of this scooter invasion…we’ve been living out of the country for a bit). Rentable scooters are simply ditched in various popular areas, you activate and pay for them by using an app, ride them around for however long you choose, and then drop them wherever you choose. The scooters available in this park belonged to Bird and Uber. The kids had the most fun scootering while my husband and I enjoyed a peaceful walk.

Do Not Miss the Bats’ Mass Exodus

From the trail, we walked under South Congress Avenue Bridge and watched the massive amounts of bats that roost there during the day take flight at dusk from under the bridge. Just a constant stream of black little beings fly out together in mass and disperse into the night. It’s a major attraction of Austin and a definite must-see.

We ate dinner at Lucy’s Fried Chicken on South Congress which is obviously famous for its yummy fried chicken, but also its oysters. The décor is Texas retro with plenty of neon signs. We enjoyed sitting outside in their area with picnic tables lighted by string lights. Oh, and you’re encouraged to leave your mark on the walls of the restaurant too, so bring a Sharpie.

Overall, Austin has changed since our visit 10 years ago. It used to have a funkier vibe and was awash with food truck parks, but the vibe is now more business and the parks are virtually non-existent. Instead, they’ve been replaced by paved parking lots and high-rise buildings that employ the tech influx from Silicon Valley. Most troubling is that my favorite restaurant in Austin, Frank, which served the most delectable melt-in-your-mouth pork butt sandwich I have ever eaten, was shuttered. A notice on the door stated they had not paid their taxes. Beer steins still lined the bar and empty chairs sat around tables with their place settings intact, as if all of the patrons and staff had simply left mid-service. It made us wonder if the major migration of Californians to Austin had changed the atmosphere of the city, and just simply made it too expensive for the funky, homespun haunts of the past. I hate to think that another Googleplex will be standing in this spot during my next visit to Austin, but I would not be surprised.

Day Five - The Woodlands, Houston

I’m hesitant to even say we visited Houston, because we really did not. Instead, we traveled from Austin to the northern area of Houston called The Woodlands. Part of the purpose of this trip was to explore potential areas that we may be interested to live in in the future, hence The Woodlands. The Woodlands is a beautiful area in northern Houston that has done a very good job of doing what the name implies, maintaining the woods. All of the streets in this area are tree-lined, and even the strip malls are placed a good distance from the street and hidden behind stretches of trees.

This master-planned community has a central area with a town green, lined with high-end stores. Think Tiffany and Rolex-type stores. It is a really beautiful area, but we ultimately wondered if we may not have the income level or age level to fit in with the other patrons. It seemed like a great community if you’re retired, drive a high-end car or SUV, and enjoy passing your afternoons having lunch at an outdoor cafe on the green talking about your golf club membership. In contrast, we lunched at Potbelly Sandwich Shop, which is a chain sandwich and soup shop that I frequented during my college days in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

From The Woodlands we journeyed back through Dallas and ultimately landed in Fort Worth for the night. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott at Fort Worth’s Historic Stockyards which had the coolest Texas cowboy decor. It was by-far the nicest Courtyard we’ve ever stayed at. And…wait for it…they even have a Starbucks inside.

Day Six - Fort Worth

I LOVED Fort Worth! What a pleasant surprise. First of all, the Fort Worth Visitor Center website is full of useful, clear information on the city and things to do in it. It is probably the best and most organized tourist bureau website I have ever seen. I highly recommend visiting their website before traveling to Fort Worth.

Watch a Long-Horn Cattle Drive

Our hotel was located in the area of the famed Fort Worth Stockyards. The Stockyards is a multi-block area of old-time saloons, western wear shops, the rodeo, and typical western-type things. I loved every bit of it. Twice a day they do a long-horned cattle drive right down the center of the street.

We also watched an entertaining old-time shootout complete with a stern Sheriff and his comical deputy side-kick. The area also has plenty of BBQ restaurants and stores selling cow hides, saddles, and spurs.

Plus, the Stockyards Championship Rodeo is held every Friday and Saturday at 8pm. Our hotel gave us free tickets and we had a blast. I sure do love my rodeos and this one did not disappoint. It had all of the traditional competitions including bull riding, barrel racing, and team calf roping. Plus, it had some fun activities for kids of different age groups to come down in the arena and run around for a prize, and they had a hilarious audience participation game that I won’t share anything else about because I don’t want to spoil the surprise ending…

Walk Among a Waterfall in the Middle of Downtown

We also drove and walked around downtown Fort Worth and visited Sundance Square. It is a cool area with water fountains, an outdoor area with chairs for sitting, and shopping. In the south area of downtown, we stopped at the Fort Worth Water Gardens. The Water Gardens are these large water displays that you can walk around and interact with right in the middle of the city. One is a waterfall feature where you can walk down large steps to reach the bottom by the rushing water. Another is a large tranquil man-made pond that is sunk 20 feet below ground.

Fort Worth is also home to:

TCU (Texas Christian University) – Beautiful grounds with a huge football stadium. The horned frogs and purple banners are displayed everywhere throughout the city.

Kimbell Art Museum

Fort Worth Museum of Science and History – An interactive museum

Texas Ballet Theater

Panther Island Pavilion – A beach where everyone sits in inflatables to see a band playing on the side of the river. So unique and cool.

Fort Worth Zoo – With a splash zone.

Day Seven - Fort Worth

Our second day in Fort Worth was spent driving around the city and outlying areas looking for potential areas to live in the future, just in case. We really loved this city and were so impressed with the city’s cleanliness. The roads, sidewalks, parks, and buildings were all so clean and well maintained. It was remarkable and impressive. The citizens definitely take pride in their city, and it shows.

We spent the final night back in Irving at the same hotel where it all began (Dallas Marriott Las Colinas in Irving, Texas) to be near the airport for our very early flight out the next morning.

Helpful Hints

Location: Dallas, Waco, Austin, Houston, and Fort Worth are located in the eastern side of Texas, forming a large triangle between Dallas, Austin and Houston.

Accommodations: We are avid Marriott Rewards members, so this trip we stayed at Marriott accommodations that best suited us and our every growing teen-age kids, except in Austin where we chose a boutique hotel in a popular area of town.

Tolls: Be prepared to pay lots of tolls as you navigate through Texas. However, you cannot pay cash for the tolls, they are all automatic tolls charged via your license plate. So, if you rent a car, be sure to read the fine print on how the rental car company handles the tolls or you may be hit with a large toll charge when you’re done, which will amount to mostly fees charged by the rental car company itself. Ask me how I know.

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