#jim davis’ grand design

[nyatimesthree]

daaamn!!!!! this cat !!!!!!

[abirpothi]

Top 11 Castles in the United States

Exploring the United States reveals a surprising array of castles, each with its own unique charm and history. Whether nestled in scenic landscapes or standing proudly in bustling cities, these castles captivate visitors with their architectural grandeur and storied pasts. Here are the top 11 castles in the US that are a must-see for any castle enthusiast:

1. Biltmore Estate

Located in Asheville, North Carolina, the Biltmore Estate is America’s largest privately-owned home. Built by George Washington Vanderbilt II, this grand chateau features stunning architecture, expansive gardens, and a winery.

Biltmore Estate | Courtesy: Wikipedia

2. Hearst Castle

Perched atop a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean in San Simeon, California, Hearst Castle is a masterpiece of opulence. Built by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, it boasts lavish interiors, impressive art collections, and panoramic views.

Hearst Castle| Courtesy: Wikipedia

3. Castello Di Amorosa

Napa Valley’s Castello Di Amorosa transports visitors to medieval Tuscany. This authentically styled castle features a winery within its walls, offering tours and tastings amidst its impressive architecture and scenic vineyards.

Castello di Amorosa| Courtesy: Tripadvisor

4. Cinderella Castle

An icon of fantasy and magic, Cinderella Castle is the centerpiece of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. This fairy tale castle is beloved by visitors of all ages for its enchanting design and role in Disney storytelling.

Cinderella Castle| Courtesy: Tripadvisor

5. The Breakers

Located in Newport, Rhode Island, The Breakers is a symbol of the Gilded Age’s extravagance. This Vanderbilt mansion dazzles with its Italian Renaissance-inspired architecture, luxurious interiors, and oceanfront location.

The Breakers| Courtesy: Wikipedia

6. Iolani Palace

Situated in Honolulu, Hawaii, Iolani Palace is the only royal palace in the United States. Built in the 19th century, it served as the official residence of the Hawaiian monarchy and now stands as a National Historic Landmark.

Iolani Palace| Courtesy: Wikipedia

7. Montezuma Castle

In Camp Verde, Arizona, Montezuma Castle showcases remarkable ancient cliff dwellings. Built by the Sinagua people over 600 years ago, this well-preserved structure offers insights into Native American history and architecture.

Montezuma Castle National Monument| Courtesy: Wikipedia

8. Boldt Castle

Located on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands of New York, Boldt Castle is a testament to a tragic love story. Built by George C. Boldt as a tribute to his wife, this castle features romantic gardens, intricate stone masonry, and a captivating narrative.

Boldt Castle| Courtesy: Wikipedia

9. Bishop Castle

A remarkable feat of one man’s vision and determination, Bishop Castle in Colorado is a unique and evolving creation. Hand-built by Jim Bishop over several decades, this castle continues to grow in size and complexity, showcasing whimsical architecture and breathtaking views.

Bishop Castle| Courtesy: Wikipedia

10. Lyndhurst Mansion

Set amidst Tarrytown, New York’s picturesque landscape, Lyndhurst Mansion is a Gothic Revival masterpiece. Designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, it boasts elaborate interiors, scenic grounds, and a rich history dating back to the Gilded Age.

Lyndhurst (mansion) – Courtesy: Wikipedia

11. Bannerman Castle

Located on Pollepel Island along the Hudson River in New York, Bannerman Castle is a striking ruin-turned-tourist attraction. Built by Francis Bannerman VI as a private arsenal, it now offers guided tours showcasing its mysterious past and stunning riverside views.

Bannerman Castle | Courtesy: The New York Times

These 11 castles represent a diverse culture of American history, architecture, and culture. Each offers a unique glimpse into different eras and styles, from medieval-inspired wineries to grand Gilded Age mansions and even a fairy tale castle straight out of Disney. Whether you’re drawn to the opulence of Hearst Castle or the rugged charm of Bishop Castle, these destinations promise unforgettable experiences for castle enthusiasts and history buffs alike. Plan your visits to these remarkable sites and immerse yourself in the enchanting world of American castles.

[f1]

Fast facts about the Dutch Grand Prix

Fast facts about the Dutch Grand Prix By Balazs Szabo on 27 Aug 2023, 10:00 Formula One returned after its traditional summer break, albeit this time it is not the Belgian Grand Prix, but the Dutch Grand Prix to kick off the second half of the season. F1Technical's senior writer Balázs Szabó picks out the trivia and stats about today's Zandvoort F1 race. Long history – Today’s Zandvoort race will be the 33rd FIA Formula One World Championship Dutch Grand Prix. The race joined the calendar in 1952 and was a fixture on the schedule until 1985 with the exception of several years – 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1972. The inaugural race was won by Alberto Ascari who led a one-two-three finish for Ferrari. Construction - Situated on the Dutch North Sea coast, the town of Zandvoort already hosted motor racing on its streets as early as the 1930s. After World War II, the permanent venue used today was constructed among the sand dunes, making use of roads laid out by occupying forces. Dutch designer John Hugenholtz is often credited with creating the circuit alongside his work at Suzuka. But while Hugenholtz became circuit director at Zandvoort, it's actually ‘Bentley Boy' Sammy Davis from England – winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1927 – who is said to have advised the Dutch Automobile Racing Club on the layout. Banking - Formula One returned to Zandvoort in 2021. Ahead of its return, the track was modified to aid overtaking opportunites: Turn 3 and the last one, Turn 14 (named after former circuit director John Hugenholtz and Dutch driver Arie Luyendyk respectively), were reprofiled and they now sport a 19 and 13 degree banking respectively, which allows the drivers to go through them at much higher speeds. Short layout – Zandvoort is a relatively short track on the current F1 calendar. The circuit sports a lengths of 4.259km which means that drivers need to complete 72 laps to cover the race distance of 306.648km. Overtaking – Due to its tight nature, overtaking has never been easy in Zandvoort. Two DRS zones have been mandated to aid overtaking opportunities with the first one placed 50m after Turn 10 and the second one installed 40m after Turn 13. The first DRS zone has its detection point 50m after Turn 10 and the second one 20m after Turn 12. The most successful ones - Ferrari is the most successful constructor at the Dutch Grand Prix with eight victories. The Scuderia won twice with Alberto Ascari at the wheel with Wolfgang von Trips, Jacky Ickx, Didier Pironi and René Arnoux also having clinched a win with the Maranello-based outfit. The most successful driver is Jim Clark who won the Dutch Grand Prix four times, followed by Jackie Stewart and Lauda, who won three races apiece. The other repeat winners are Ascari, Jack Brabham, James Hunt and Alain Prost with all of them having two triumphs in the Netherlands to their names. Harder compounds – The banked corners at Turn 3 and Turn 14, and the proliferation of of high-speed turns mean that Pirelli arrived at Zandvoort with compounds from the harder end of its range. The C1 compound is nominated at the Dutch Grand Prix as P Zero White hard, C2 as P Zero Yellow medium and C3 as P Zero Red soft. This is the same choice as the last two years (since Zandvoort returned to the calendar) with the difference being that the current C1 compound is softer than its predecessors. Reduced speed – Due to the tight nature of the pit lane, the speed limit is set at 60kph during every on-track action of the weekend. Modifications – The Zandvoort track has gone trhough a few changes since last year. New, upgraded fencing has been installed on the right-hand side at Turn 7and Turn 8 , and in the run-off at Turn 12 to protect marshals. A bump has been removed on the start/finish straight just before the first corner. Furthermore, bumps on the right-hand side between Turns 5 and 6 have also been removed. via F1Technical.net . Motorsport news https://www.f1technical.net/news/

[natromanxoff]

(x)

JOHN DEACON of Queen, and musician/engineer Henry Crallan are partners in a new recording studio venture — Milo Music, a 24-track recording facility in North London, which is part of a complex that also houses video and design studios plus other related businesses.

Here, Deacon and Crallan, a former keyboards player with the Kevin Ayres band, talk about the project which is now up and running and open for business.

MW: Is this your first venture into the commercial studio world?

JD: Yes, for me it is. As a group we've been involved with Mountain Studios in Switzerland for quite a few years now, but unlike a lot of bigger UK bands where the individual members have their own studios at home and that sort of thing, none of us has ever really got into that before, got involved with a 24-track professional studio, though I used to have a 16-track at home. Henry and I first discussed this project about two years ago.

How did the partnership come about?

HC: We've known each other for about eight years. I used to work with Edwin Shirley, the trucking company, and worked on a number of Queen tours which used to have a reputation among all the crews as being a bit special, which, retrospectively, I think they were. For three years I managed the staging department at Edwin Shirley and did further Queen tours including Mexico and South America. To build a studio was an age-old dream that I had. I think I first discussed it with John on a flight to Japan, and it's grown from there.

How does Mountain Studios fit into the scheme of things?

JD: Montreux is something we got involved with some years ago, at a time when UK taxes were quite crippling. It was a group investment we made. Jim Beach (Queen's management) basically runs that studio, and the four of us don't really have a lot to do with it, though we have recorded there, and Roger did a lot of his solo projects there.

In a way, we began to find it was becoming very difficult to do group investments — all four of us have got such different ideas about what we want to do. We've really started venturing out, doing more things individually, whereas in the old days we all used to work solidly on Queen 52 weeks a year. We have actually slowed down the work rate now so it gives us all time to work on other projects.

I have always enjoyed studios and that side of the business - I did electronics at college and have always wanted to learn. That's why I got a 16-track at home — but it was only a back-bedroom sort of affair. It was a development from this that Henry and I started this project really. Henry had said he wanted to build a studio, and I said I had the equipment which would be better suited to a proper studio than to a bedroom...

[Photo caption: JOHN DEACON and Henry Crallan take stock of the newly-completed studio area at Milo. The studio measures 24’ x 14’ and is fully isolated with hard and dead ends. There is also a 7’ x 7’ isolation booth. The resident piano is a Steck Baby Grand. A number of instruments are available for hire at discount subject to availability, including Linn Drum, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Korg CX-3. Yamaha DX-7 keyboards, Fender and Gibson guitars.]

[Photo caption: FEATURES OF Milo's control room (14’ x 15’) include 24-track Studer A80 Mk IV. Studer 810 1/4" and Sony F1 digital, an Amek Angela 28:24 console in-line with extended patch-bay. Monitoring is Sean Davies 3-way LS 841, power amplifiers by BGW, Turner and Quad. Mini monitors are Auratones and Visonik Davids. There is the usual range of microphones, compressors and limiters, reverberation & delay effects and processors.]

[mtaartsdesign]

Celebrating the #MTAArts projects completed in 2021 and the incredible artists and fabricators who made them happen!

Slide One, 2021 Permanent Art, left-right:

Marcel Dzama, “No Less Than Everything Comes Together,” glass mosaic, NYCT Bedford Av (L) Station, fabricated by Mayer of Munich.

Damien Davis, “Empirical Evidence,” aluminum, MNR Mount Vernon 3rd Ave Bridge, fabricated by KC Fabrications, Inc.

Armando Veve, “Boat House Buggy,” laminated glass, MNR Port Jervis Station, fabricated by Tom Patti Design.

Amy Bennett, “Heydays,” glass mosaic, NYCT 86 St (R ) Station, fabricated by Mayer of Munich.

Jackie Ferrara, “Grand Central: Arches, Towers, Pyramids,” ceramic mosaic, NYCT Grand Central – 42 St (S,4,5,6,7) Station, fabricated by Colorco Ltd.

Katherine Bradford, “Queens of the Night,” glass mosaic, NYCT 1 Av (L) Station, fabricated by Mayer of Munich.

Nick Cave, “Every One,” glass mosaic, NYCT 42 St Connector, fabricated by Mayer of Munich.

Jim Hodges, “I dreamed a world and called it Love,” mirrored-glass, NYCT Grand Central-42 St (4,5,6,7,S), fabricated by Walla Walla Foundry.

Amy Pryor, “Day Into Night Into Day,” glass mosaic, NYCT 138 St (4,5) Station, fabricated by Mayer of Munich.

Josué Guarionex, “CROSSCUT,” aluminum, MNR Mount Vernon 6th Ave Bridge, fabricated by KC Fabrications.

Mark Fox, “40˚54’37.9”N 73˚50’33.5”W,” aluminum, MNR Mount Vernon 10th Ave Bridge, fabricated by Milgo/Bufkin.

Slide Two, 2021 Temporary Art, Clockwise:

Simona Prives,"EVEN WHILE THE DUST MOVES" Digital Art at Fulton Center.

Jaye Rhee,"Handcrafted Reality" Digital Art at Fulton Center.

Karine Laval, "The Great Escape" Lightbox Photography at 42 St-Bryant Park station.

Ruben Natal-San Miguel,"Last Stop: Coney Island" Lightbox Photography at Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr station.

Paulo D. Campos, "Urban Delights," poster commission for stations.

Sija Hong, "Midtown Magic," poster commission for stations.

Cleonique Hilsaca, "A Small Big World," art card commission for subway cars.

John Parra, "Birdhouse Subways," art card commission for subway cars.

Vanessa Brantley-Newton, "Redbird Reef," art card commission for subway cars.

[bm2ab]

Big Boy’s Toys 25 December 2021 The Norman Timbs Special

The Norman Timbs Special is a homebuilt Sport Custom built by Norman Timbs over a span of three years. Norman's streamlined custom was supposed to be a prototype for a limited series of cars reflecting advanced concepts in performance and aesthetics. Being an automotive engineer working with Preston Tucker on his Tucker Automobiles and on several Indy cars, Norman made comprehensive chassis drawings that led to 1/4 scale clay models of several body ideas. The models led to a wooden model incorporating the favored elements. Norman handmade an aluminum body for the car by forming panels on the wooden pattern. The panels were then welded together. The chassis was made of welded aircraft tubing. The car was 17 1/2 feet long with a 117 inch wheelbase, 56-inch thread, and a weight of 2 500 pounds. It was powered by a 1948 Buick Straight 8 engine located just behind the driver's seat. Steering, brakes and other equipment were standard Mercury. The rear body on the car was hinged to raise hydraulically for access to the engine compartment, fuel tank and spare tire. The fuel tank was placed between the wheels. The front hood covered a luggage compartment. In the rear, taillights from a 1939 Ford were installed. Without the windshield the car stood 39 inches tall. Total height with the windshield was 47 inches Total cost of the build was $10,000 according to Mechanix Illustrated September 1949. Once completed, Norman's Buick Special was featured on the cover of Motor Trend October 1949, the second issue of Motor Trend.

In 1954 the Norman's Buick Special was featured in Motor Life February 1954. By then the car had been painted white. it was currently owned by Air Force Officer Jim Davis of Manhattan Beach, California. The article stated that the car was the brain-child of former aircraft manufacturer Larry Timm. According to the story Larry designed and built the car over a three year period ending in 1948. Davis bought the car in 1952 and was, according to the story, the first person to have the car registered for road use. Norman's Buick Special was featured in an episode of Buck Rogers.

For several years the car was parked away in the hot California desert. In 2000 it was featured briefly in the Nicholas Cage movie Gone in 60 Seconds. 2 years later, In 2002 it was auctioned away by Barret Jackson at the Petersen Museum Classic Car Auction. The sales price was $17,600.00 USD. Collector Gary Cerveny was the lucky bidder. Gary began to restore the car himself, before he decided to hand it over to Custom Auto of Loveland, Colorado, and let them complete it. Before Gary handed the car over to Custom Auto he repaired the wheel wells, grille opening and drive train. The car was about 90% original when Gary acquired the car. The body halves had been bolted together, and access holes had been cut in for the rear wheels and the engine bay. In March of 2012 the restored version of the car made its debut at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in Florida. At the show it won "The RM Auctions Trophy For the Best Open Car". Later on in 2010 Norman Timbs' Buick Special was hand picked to be part of the prestigious Customs Then and Now exhibit at the 2011 Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California, an elite gathering of the most historically significant customs in the world. In August of 2012 the car will also be competing in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the world's premier celebration of the automobile. In 1997 the Pebble Beach Hot Rod Class was started. The Hot Rod Class has been featuring roadsters, coupes and pre-war customs in the past. The 2012 Hot Rod Class will be dedicated to Sport Customs and one offs such as the Arthur Bentas' Raven, the 1950 Saturn, the 1947 Kurtis Omohundro, the Maverick sportster, the Coachcraft Special and Vince Gardner's 1947 Studebaker.

[ironxkid]

((although it’s common to see Carter constantly moving about or doing something engaging, she does take time to read, and if she’s interested in the book, she can easily sit still for hours doing nothing but. She tends to read more nonfiction astronomy books, but does branch out into other genres as well - though, she tends to avoid romance books, and usually goes for sci-fi

some titles that can be found on her bookshelf are listed below!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So long, and Thanks for All the Fish; and Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams, as well as And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer (all sci-fi)

Star Lore: Myths, Legends, and Facts by William Tyler Olcott (her copy is well-worn, but not falling apart) (nonfiction)

The Last Stargazers by Emily Levesque (nonfiction)

Imagined Life by James Trefil and Michael Summers (nonfiction)

Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin (nonfiction)

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (nonfiction)

Stars & Planets: The Complete Guide to the Stars, Constellations, and the Solar System (updated and expanded edition) by Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion (nonfiction)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (fantasy)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians 1-5 by Rick Riordan (young reader fantasy)

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer (sci-fi)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (it was a joke gift and she refuses to read it, but hasn’t gotten around to donating it) (young adult fantasy/romance)

A Darker Shade of Magic; A Gathering of Shadows; and A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab (fantasy)

First Light: The Search for the Edge of the Universe by Richard Preston (nonfiction)

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (nonfiction)

Cosmos by Carl Sagan (nonfiction)

The Science of Star Wars: The Scientific Facts Behind the Force, Space Travel, and More! by Jon Chase and Mark Brake (nonfiction)

Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe by Brian Greene (nonfiction)

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield (nonfiction)

Catching Stardust: Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System by Natalie Starkey (nonfiction)

Finding Our Place in the Universe: How We Discovered Laniakea -- the Milky Way’s Home by Hélène Courtois (nonfiction)

The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack (nonfiction)

A Brief History of Time; Brief Answers to the Big Questions; The Grand Design; The Theory of Everything; A Briefer History of Time; and The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking (all nonfiction)

How to Die in Space by Paul M. Sutter (nonfiction)

Hubble Legacy: 30 Years of Discoveries and Images by Jim Bell (nonfiction)

Celestial Atlas: A Journey in the Sky Through Maps by Elena Percivaldi (nonfiction)

Written in the Stars: Constellations, Facts and Folklore by Alison Davies (nonfiction)

Fire Bringer; The Sight; and Fell by David Clement-Davies (young adult fantasy)

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe (nonfiction)

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (nonfiction)

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean (nonfiction)

The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens -- and Ourselves by Arik Kershenbaum (nonfiction)

Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars by Lee Billings (nonfiction)

The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence by Paul Davies (nonfiction)

Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space by Kevin Hand (nonfiction)

The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World by Peter Ward (nonfiction)

The Living Cosmos by Chris Impey (nonfiction)

Women Spacefarers: Sixty Different Paths to Space by Umberto Cavallaro (nonfiction)

Faint Echoes, Distant Stars: The Science and Politics of Finding Life Beyond Earth by Ben Bova (nonfiction)

Firestarter by Stephen King (horror)

The Martian and Artemis by Andy Weir (both sci-fi)

Red Rising; Golden Son; Morning Star; Iron Gold; and Dark Age by Pierce Brown (all sci-fi)

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (fiction)

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh (nonfiction humor/biography)

The Fire Within; Icefire; Fire Star; The Fire Eternal; Dark Fire; Fire World; and The Fire Ascending by Chris d’Lacey (all young reader fantasy)

The Hunger Games; Catching Fire; Mockingjay; and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (young adult fantasy)

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (young adult fiction)

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (both sci-fi)

Aurora; Red Mars; Green Mars; and Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (all sci-fi)

Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton (both fiction)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (nonfiction)

Wonders of the Solar System by Professor Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen (nonfiction)

[extrabeurre]

MANK part en tête d’une course aux Oscars bien bizarre

Je me suis réveillé tantôt, j'ai parti la cafetière, puis en checkant Twitter, je me suis dit: "Ah oui, c'est vrai, les nominations des Oscars ont été dévoilées." 

 C’est la première année depuis une éternité où je ne suis pas au poste au moment où les nominations des Oscars sont annoncées. Je l’ai déjà dit, mais je suis assez désinteressé cette année par cette course aux remises de prix où sont honorés des films que presque personne n’a pu voir sur grand écran, pandémie oblige. 

Oui, il y a d’excellents films en lice, comme Nomadland, Sound of Metal et Promising Young Woman. Il y en a aussi que je vais essayer de voir prochainement, Minari notamment. Mais je n’ai pas l’impression qu’il y ait de gros titres qui ont enflammé la planète cinéma comme par exemple Parasite, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood ou même le divisif Joker l’an dernier.

J’ai vu Mank de David Fincher sur Netflix, j’ai trouvé ça correct, mais c’est loin d’être un film marquant pour moi. Je reviens quand même sur Nomadland, un de mes préférés de 2020 (même s’il ne sortira techniquement pas en salle au Québec avant avril 2021) - ce sera un bon moment de voir Chloé Zhao probablement remporter l’Oscar de la Meilleure réalisation. Il y a plein d’actrices et d’acteurs talentueux qui sont en nomination. Je serais content que Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross soient récompensés pour la musique de Soul. Je trouve ça plate que TENET de Christopher Nolan ait presque été complètement ignoré.

Mais dans l’ensemble, je suis assez indifférent face à tout ça. Je vais sûrement regarder le gala quand même, en espérant que ce ne soit pas un désastre avec des fenêtres Zoom comme les Golden Globes...

Best motion picture of the year

“The Father” David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne, Producers

“Judas and the Black Messiah” Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler, Producers

“Mank” Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski, Producers

“Minari” Christina Oh, Producer

“Nomadland” Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao, Producers

“Promising Young Woman” Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey McNamara, Producers

“Sound of Metal” Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche, Producers

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Marc Platt and Stuart Besser, Producers

Achievement in directing

“Another Round” Thomas Vinterberg

“Mank” David Fincher

“Minari” Lee Isaac Chung

“Nomadland” Chloé Zhao

“Promising Young Woman” Emerald Fennell

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Riz Ahmed in “Sound of Metal”

Chadwick Boseman in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Anthony Hopkins in “The Father”

Gary Oldman in “Mank”

Steven Yeun in “Minari”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Sacha Baron Cohen in “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Daniel Kaluuya in “Judas and the Black Messiah”

Leslie Odom, Jr. in “One Night in Miami…”

Paul Raci in “Sound of Metal”

Lakeith Stanfield in “Judas and the Black Messiah”

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Viola Davis in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Andra Day in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”

Vanessa Kirby in “Pieces of a Woman”

Frances McDormand in “Nomadland”

Carey Mulligan in “Promising Young Woman”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Maria Bakalova in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”

Glenn Close in “Hillbilly Elegy”

Olivia Colman in “The Father”

Amanda Seyfried in “Mank”

Yuh-Jung Youn in “Minari”

Adapted screenplay

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Peter Baynham & Erica Rivinoja & Dan Mazer & Jena Friedman & Lee Kern; Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Nina Pedrad

“The Father” Screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller

“Nomadland” Written for the screen by Chloé Zhao

“One Night in Miami…” Screenplay by Kemp Powers

“The White Tigers” Written for the screen by Ramin Bahrani

Original screenplay

“Judas and the Black Messiah” Screenplay by Will Berson & Shaka King; Story by Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas

“Minari” Written by Lee Isaac Chung

“Promising Young Woman” Written by Emerald Fennell

“Sound of Metal” Screenplay by Darius Marder & Abraham Marder; Story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Written by Aaron Sorkin

Best international feature film of the year

“Another Round” Denmark

“Better Days” Hong Kong

“Collective” Romania

“The Man Who Sold His Skin” Tunisia

“Quo Vadis, Aida?” Bosnia and Herzegovina

Best animated feature film of the year

“Onward” Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae

“Over the Moon” Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou

“A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley

“Soul” Pete Docter and Dana Murray

“Wolfwalkers” Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants

Best documentary feature

“Collective” Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana

“Crip Camp” Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder

“The Mole Agent” Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez

“My Octopus Teacher” Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster

“Time” Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn

Achievement in cinematography

“Judas and the Black Messiah” Sean Bobbitt

“Mank” Erik Messerschmidt

“News of the World” Dariusz Wolski

“Nomadland” Joshua James Richards

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Phedon Papamichael

Achievement in film editing

“The Father” Yorgos Lamprinos

“Nomadland” Chloé Zhao

“Promising Young Woman” Frédéric Thoraval

“Sound of Metal” Mikkel E. G. Nielsen

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Alan Baumgarten

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“Da 5 Bloods” Terence Blanchard

“Mank” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

“Minari” Emile Mosseri

“News of the World” James Newton Howard

“Soul” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

Achievement in production design

“The Father” Production Design: Peter Francis; Set Decoration: Cathy Featherstone

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Production Design: Mark Ricker; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton

“Mank” Production Design: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale

“News of the World” Production Design: David Crank; Set Decoration: Elizabeth Keenan

“Tenet” Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas

Achievement in costume design

“Emma” Alexandra Byrne

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Ann Roth

“Mank” Trish Summerville

“Mulan” Bina Daigeler

“Pinocchio” Massimo Cantini Parrini

Achievement in sound

“Greyhound” Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman

“Mank” Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin

“News of the World” Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett

“Soul” Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker

“Sound of Metal” Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

“Emma” Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze

“Hillbilly Elegy” Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson

“Mank” Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen LaBaff

“Pinocchio” Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti

Achievement in visual effects

“Love and Monsters” Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox

“The Midnight Sky” Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins

“Mulan” Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram

“The One and Only Ivan” Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez

“Tenet” Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher

Best documentary short film

“Colette” Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard

“A Concerto Is a Conversation” Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers

“Do Not Split” Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook

“Hunger Ward” Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman

“A Love Song for Latasha” Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan

Best animated short film

“Burrow” Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat

“Genius Loci” Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise

“If Anything Happens I Love You” Will McCormack and Michael Govier

“Opera” Erick Oh

“Yes-People” Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson

Best live action short film

“Feeling Through” Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski

“The Letter Room” Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan

“The Present” Farah Nabulsi

“Two Distant Strangers” Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe

“White Eye” Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas

“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7” Music by Daniel Pemberton; Lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite

“Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” Music and Lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson

“Io Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)” Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini

“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami…” Music and Lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: What Makes a Great One-Off Character?

https://ift.tt/2ZLI4i2

Some Doctor Who characters are intended for greatness; some are intended to be killed off at the end of their first episode. Writers have a lot more control over the second than the first. What remains true for all characters, is the tension that exists between their function in the story and their potential to affect it. Even a guard who simply runs into a room to get shot could have dragged the story in another direction, should they be allowed (this stock background character was the inspiration for Terry Pratchett’s City Watch novels).

Successful one-off characters aren’t necessarily those who break away from their function, (or even those who aren’t strictly required, for example Binro the Heretic in ‘The Ribos Operation’), but those who make a story soar to another level entirely. More often, what makes them work is when their function in the story is disguised. There are plenty of ways to do this and most of them intersect: casting, costume, dialogue, performance…

Let’s first address the latter. Does the actor need to get under the skin of the character to create a nuanced and layered take that resonates utterly with the audience?

Nope. Doctor Who frequently embraces camp. Sometimes camp holds Doctor Who at gunpoint and sings piano ballads at it. The results vary. Richard Briers’ possessed Chief Caretaker in ‘Paradise Towers’ undermines the production (while not a production striving for kitchen sink realism, Briers’ parody-like performance still cuts against its Brechtian leanings) whereas Graham Crowden’s Soldeed is heightened and ridiculous among similar performances.

Other great examples of this stock character, which I am calling Ham-Err Horror without apology, include Professor Zaroff in ‘The Underwater Menace’ (intended to be driven mad by the death of his family, only for this to be cut from the script, rendering the character inexplicably inexplicable) and John Lumic from ‘Rise of the Cybermen’ (inspired to create the Cybermen by a fear of death, with actor Roger Lloyd-Pack citing Dick Cheney as an inspiration for the performance, but remembered mainly for the ripe delivery of lines such as ‘And how will you do that from beyond the grave?’).

Sometimes you don’t even need dialogue. Christopher Bowen, as Mordred in ‘Battlefield’, commits to a maniacal laugh so long that there’s a cut to another scene in the middle of it.

And yet there are places where camp or over-the-top villains work unironically, and some of the most hospitable are the Tom Baker stories of 1975-1977. Harrison Chase, Magnus Greel, Morbius, the Master… these characters fit into the Grand Guignol tradition of heightened and melodramatic performances (Just because something is dark and morbid doesn’t stop it being ludicrously tragic). As the tone of these stories is pitched at gothic melodrama though, the characters and setting cohere.

Returning to ‘Battlefield’, while there are some great individual performances from one-off characters, they’re not quite pulling in the same direction (Jean Marsh as Morgaine is playing an inter-dimensional sorceress as if it’s real, Marcus Gilbert as Ancelyn is saying ‘This is ridiculous, and that’s great’ and pulling along Angela Bruce’s Bambera in that direction too). ‘Battlefield’ is fun, but also disjointed.

Read more

TV

Doctor Who: Ranking Every Single Companion Departure

By Andrew Blair

TV

It’s a Sin’s Doctor Who Crossover Pays Tribute to Remembrance of the Daleks Actor

By Louisa Mellor

Some characters get by on the strength of costume or make-up, such as the Destroyer (also from ‘Battlefield’) or the Zygons. Broton, the latter’s leader, is a successful character who operates purely as a function rather than an individual. Played with haughty relish by John Woodnutt, Broton is a visual triumph, with the costume a collaboration between costume designer Jim Acheson, visual effects designer John Friedlander and director Douglas Camfield. At its best, ‘Terror of the Zygons’ oozes with tension and atmosphere, with some fantastic design work and enjoyable pulp runaround. This all distracts the viewer from Broton being a colossal idiot. Indulging in clichés such as explaining his entire plot, putting characters in easily escapable situations and assuming the Doctor is dead without proof, Broton has to do these for the story to unfold according to Doctor Who’s format. Fortunately few people watch ‘Terror of the Zygons’ for Broton’s unique take on planetary subjugation.

Some clichés exist specifically because that character has worked well in previous stories. Frequently in Doctor Who somebody would sacrifice themselves to save the day, someone else would comment on this, and everybody would look solemn for a few seconds before immediately moving on with their lives. ‘The Ark in Space’ features two people sacrificing themselves to save humanity, one with a quip about his union and the other fighting possession, and in 1975, a single line noting these acts was enough.

In 2005, TV had changed, and so Doctor Who threw more weight behind these deaths (boosted by Russell T. Davies’ seemingly effortless ability to generate a whole human life by adding three adjectives per character to the scripts). Jabe in ‘The End of the World’, Gwyneth in ‘An Unquiet Dead’, Pete Tyler in ‘Father’s Day’… these sacrifices were dwelt on, their weight became cumulative. From this, a subgenre of Almost Companions emerged with Lynda in ‘The Parting of the Ways’, Astrid in ‘Voyage of the Damned’ and Rita in ‘The God Complex’: all too doomed to step on board. Eventually the show acknowledged this with the Eleventh Doctor standing over the body of Lorna Bucket and observing “They’re always brave.”

Doctor Who was commentating on itself as early as its second series (in ‘The Rescue’ David Whittaker created Koquillion, a monster in a rubber suit that turned out to actually be a man in a rubber monster costume). In the 1980s, Doctor Who had become increasingly continuity-heavy, but what its final few series managed successfully was to comment on Doctor Who without making the stories’ success dependent on this. Characters such as Captain Cook offer up twisted reflections of the Doctor, with the Chief Clown, Josiah Samuel Smith and Commander Millington all tapping into the historical influences on the show, but crucially the stories still work if you’re not familiar with all this.

‘Ghostlight’, the most densely packed version of this approach,is still entertaining even if you don’t know what is going on. It’s played with such conviction and unity, with each character managing to feel both heavily symbolic but with a sense of inner-life. This is generally true of the Seventh Doctor’s era supporting characters, especially the guy who snaps “I can’t do anything without my list now can I?” in ‘The Happiness Patrol’.

But as we’ve seen, a standout character doesn’t have to be multi-faceted. Not every henchman can be Packer from ‘The Invasion’ (he’s not only sadistic and cruel, but Peter Halliday really commits to the undignified flapping when things go wrong), but most stock characters in Doctor Who work by being given ‘a bit’.

Usually this stems from their plot function. Harrison Chase, in ‘The Seeds of Doom’ is a plant collector and obsessive because the story is based around aggressive plant-creatures, and needs a simple way to bring the main human antagonist into the adventure. Here though it’s more than that. Lesser examples of this trick can be seen with Tarun Capel in ‘Robots of Death’, where his obsession with robots isn’t as unsettling as Chase’s obsession with plants (and then further down the line we have Magnus Greel in ‘Talons of Weng-Chieng’, who is evil because the story needs a bad guy). In ‘Seeds of Doom’, time is devoted to the idea of a man who considers plant life superior to humanity, and the script and actor Tony Beckley really commit to the comedy and horror of this idea. That’s his ‘bit’.

Perhaps the finest example of turning a character’s basic function into pure entertainment is Duggan in ‘City of Death’. Douglas Adams and Graham Williams, rewriting David Fisher’s scripts about aliens in Monte Carlo, took a Bulldog Drummond-inspired detective character and realised his primary function in the script was to be the muscle for the Doctor and Romana.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

There are other elements of of ‘City of Death’ that poke fun at television’s contrivances (The guard’s throwaway line saying Captain Tancredi will “be here instantly” just before the door opens, for example) and Duggan’s repeatedly punching people unconscious to move the plot along is not only revealed to be an example of Chekhov’s Gun, whereby it’s the solution to the whole story, but also the source of the best sight gag in Doctor Who when Duggan opens a wine bottle by simply smashing it open off the bar. Without providing him with much in the way of depth or backstory, by leaning into the character’s story function to almost absurd levels, ‘City of Death’ creates one of the most memorable supporting characters in Doctor Who history.

The post Doctor Who: What Makes a Great One-Off Character? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3aUbT6u

[architectnews]

Beverly House For Sale, Southern California

Beverly House For Sale, Luxury Southern California Home, Real Estate, US House Photos

Beverly House For Sale in Beverly Hills

Apr 13, 2021

Beverly House For Sale

Historic Hearst Mansion Back On Market At Reduced Price!

Location: Beverly Hills, Southern California, USA

Source: TopTenRealEstateDeals.com

Located in the heart of Beverly Hills, the fabled Beverly House, the showplace of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, is back on the market at a reduced asking price of $89.75 million – down from $185 million in 2016.

One of California’s most historic homes, Marion Davies, Hearst’s girlfriend, purchased the house in 1946 as a gift for Hearst. The couple moved there from the Hearst Castle, where they had been living in another historic California mansion, and stayed until William’s death in 1951.

Beverly House is most well known for its memorable movie scenes in The Godfather, where Hollywood movie producer Jack Woltz woke up to a bloody horse head in his bed, and the glamorous estate where Whitney Houston’s character lived in The Bodyguard.

The mansion was also a favorite of the Kennedy family, where John and Jackie spent part of their honeymoon in 1953, and later became the West Coast presidential election headquarters for JFK’s 1960 presidential campaign. In 2018, Beyoncé filmed part of her groundbreaking visual album Black Is King on the grounds, and in 2019, Adel held her 31st birthday party there.

Designed in 1927 by Gordon Kaufmann, the architect who did the Hoover Dam, Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles Times building and the Santa Anita Racetrack, Hearst’s Beverly House is the quintessential emblem of Hollywood’s Golden Era.

The estate is well known for its H-form architecture characterized by long colonnades, wide balconies, arched floor-to-ceiling windows and its spaciousness.

Some of the spaces include a stunning two-story library with hand-carved paneling and a wraparound walkway; a formal living room with its 22-foot-high, hand-painted, arched ceiling; a state-of-the-art spa; a billiards room with herringbone parquet floors and an intricately designed ceiling and carved fireplace – both from the Hearst Castle in San Simeon.

The main-level hallway is a staggering 82 feet up to the 32-foot billiard room, which is open to the main hallway for a total of 114 feet visible upon walking into the entry. The grand upstairs hallway is more than 102 feet long and features a 40-foot wide, nearly 9-foot-tall Dennis Abbe mural that was commissioned by Hugh Hefner. The gardens, designed by landscape architect Paul Thiene, are a focal point including cascading waterfalls to the pool. The main house and two guest houses sit on 3.5 acres.

The Beverly House listing agents are Anthony Marguleas of Amalfi Estates in Los Angeles, Gary Gold of Hilton & Hyland in Beverly Hills and Zizi Pak of Rodeo Realty in Beverly Hills. The property is listed by order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

YouTube Credit: Sean Evans, @evvo1991 backtothemovies.com/

Photography: Jim Bartsch

Beverly House For Sale, Southern California images / information received 130421

Location: Beverly Hills, California, USA

Beverly Hills Property

Beverly Hills Houses

Oak Pass House Architects: Walker Workshop photograph : Joe Fletcher Oak Pass House in Beverly Hills

Luxury House in Beverly Hills Design: Whipple Russell Architects photographers : William MacCollum, Art Gray Photography House in Beverly Hills

Trousdale Residence in Beverly Hills

Benedict Canyon Residence in Beverly Hills

Mirror House in Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills Buildings

Gardenhouse in Beverly Hills, LA

Yojisan Japanese Restaurant in Beverly Hills

Wallis Annenberg Arts Center, Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills Mixed-Use Campus by Frank Gehry

Summit House in Beverly Hills

New Californian Houses

New Californian Homes

Los Angeles Houses

Orum Residence, Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, USA Design: SPF:architects photo © Matthew Momberger New Residence in Bel-Air

Los Altos Hills II House, CA Design: Feldman Architecture photograph : John Linden Los Altos Hills Residence in California

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Website: Beverly Hills, California

Comments / photos for the Beverly House For Sale, Southern California page welcome

The post Beverly House For Sale, Southern California appeared first on e-architect.

[thebuckblogimo]

"You gotta keep moving," she would say.

August 14, 2022

I went to yet another funeral for a close friend this weekend. I was asked to write yet another obituary. I was honored to do it. Colleen McKerracher, the dear wife of my close friend Howard, was one of the most genuine people I have ever known...

Colleen McKerracher

Colleen McKerrarcher of Westland, Michigan, died at Livonia’s Angela Hospice on August 6, 2022, after a courageous battle with brain cancer. She was 72.

Born on January 23, 1950, to the late John and Doris Hanley, Colleen was the third of the Hanley family’s 10 children. She attended St. Scholastica grade school in Detroit and graduated from Redford High School in 1968.

Colleen’s lifelong mantra was “You gotta keep moving,” and she did just that from the time of her teenage years when she competed in artistic roller skating at the Dearborn Rollerdrome, to adulthood on the long hikes she took with her husband, Howard, through over 40 parks of the U.S. National Park System.

It was at the roller rink that she first met Howard, a competitive speed skater, at age 14. More than a decade later they married, in 1978, but only after her sense of independence took her to Long Beach, California, where she resided for over a year, and his took him traveling through Europe. 

Married for 43 years, they attended the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid before starting a family. Colleen was the mother of two children, Amy and Jeff, and the family traveled extensively throughout the country for Amy’s dance competitions, as well as to Canada for Jeff’s hockey tournaments.

Throughout it all Colleen worked a variety of part-time jobs at Daly’s, Toys R Us, a video store, and at home preparing auto parts for a chroming-like process. After her children left home for college, she began to work full time on engine assembly at Detroit Diesel until her retirement in 2010. She was a proud member of the UAW. 

It was around the time of her retirement that Colleen and Howard purchased a “fifth wheel” that they trailered to national parks, state parks and warm weather destinations with close friends and relatives. Also, there were vacation trips to Alaska, the Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu and other destinations. Moreover, they hiked together to the bottom of the Grand Canyon where they spent several days at a ranch. In 2012 they began spending winters at Siesta Bay RV Resort in Fort Myers, Florida, where Colleen “kept moving” every day with attendance at daily exercise-to-music classes, as well as frequent walks through Fort Myers area parks and along the beach on the Gulf Coast of Mexico.

In her spare time Colleen made over 50 scrapbooks featuring cherished photos and colorful designs, many of which she presented as gifts to family members and friends on special occasions. She also collected and assembled an estimated 170 boxes of jigsaw puzzles. However, the thing that gave her the most joy was interacting with her grandchildren, Davis and Leah. Again, seemingly always on the move, the image persists of Colleen getting down on the floor to play football with Davis or running through the grass at play with Leah.

It is difficult to adequately convey the authentic “who” of an individual, but perhaps the following comes close for Colleen McKerracher: She was a humble, genuine and selfless person, someone who was always there, always in the corner of dispirited, ailing or grieving friends and family. And, she could light up a room by simply walking through the door with her radiant smile and saying, “Hi.” She will be forever missed.

Colleen is survived by her loving husband, Howard; daughter Amy (Eric) Bower; son Jeff (Kyla) McKerracher; grandchildren Davis and Leah Bower; sister Marty Stafford; brother Mike (Diane) Hanley; sister Shauna Palmer; sister Pat (Jim) Dunn; and brothers Tim, Kevin, Brian (Tonya) and Terry Hanley. She is also survived by dozens of nieces, nephews, and close friends. She was predeceased by her sister Kerry Hild.

[kicksaddictny]

New Balance Opens Doors to a World-Class Multi-Sport Facility, The TRACK at New Balance

According to New Balance

 New Balance announced the launch of The TRACK at New Balance, a new world-class multi-sport facility where Team New Balance, professional and community athletes will train and compete year-round. The grand opening event today will celebrate the intersection of style, sport, and culture with a special performance from brand ambassador Jack Harlow along with appearances from Storm Reid and several New Balance brand athletes. Poised to break records, the athletic center will include a dual terrain indoor track that can be converted to a field, flexible basketball, soccer and volleyball courts, a sophisticated Sports Research Lab, the Roadrunner music venue operated by Bowery Presents, and a Beer Hall named Broken Records where visitors can take in the action happening throughout the facility.

Located across from New Balance’s global headquaters at Boston Landing , The TRACK at New Balance joins the Auerbach Center -- the official practice facility for the Boston Celtics, the Warrior Ice Arena -- the official practice facility for the Boston Bruins, and the Boston Landing MBTA commuter rail stop as the premier destination for sports in New England. The development of Boston Landing including The TRACK at New Balance speaks to New Balance’s long-standing commitment to Boston’s  Allston-Brighton community and the brand’s continued investment into world-class sport innovation and excellence.

“Fifty years ago this month, Jim Davis purchased New Balance and together with Anne, they have led the tremendous growth of our brand into the global athletic leader we are today, while still maintaining our unique company culture,” said Joe Preston, President & CEO of New Balance.  “Jim also had the bold vision to completely transform the area around our global headquarters in Boston into a vibrant world-class sports hub for athletes and fans including the debut today of The TRACK at New Balance.  The TRACK at New Balance offers the optimal training and performance venue for athletes of all abilities while driving New Balance innovation and technology insights through our new state-of-the-art New Balance Sports Research Lab.”

In designing The TRACK at New Balance, maintaining valuable sustainable practices was very important. Not only did New Balance  redevelop a brownfield site in order to build this facility that ultimately obtained a LEED Silver certification, but the roof houses a solar array of 2,491, 405-Watt modules that will cover approximately 72,956 square feet (or 1.67 acres).

The team of Beynon Sports Surfaces, Weems Mechanical, Elkus Manfredi Architects, John Moriarty Associates, and Paige Design Group designed and built the indoor track for speed, competition, and daily training. The track itself features hydraulically banked turns, the widest allowable oval lanes at 42 inches wide and the maximum number of 6 oval lanes. As a result, runners experience a smooth transition from turns to straights and help maximize athlete acceleration.

[3thurs]

Third Thursday December 16

The next Third Thursday — the monthly evening of art in Athens, Georgia — is scheduled for Thursday, December 16, from 6 to 9 p.m. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. This schedule and location and hours of operation information for each venue is available at 3thurs.org. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia Yoga in the Galleries, 6 p.m. — Join us via Zoom for a free yoga class surrounded by works of art in the galleries. Led by instructors from Five Points Yoga, this program is free and open to both beginner and experienced yogis. This program is available both in-person and via Zoom. Email gmoa-tours@uga.edu to reserve an in-person spot or join us on Zoom. On view: “Collective Impressions: Modern Native American Printmakers” — Examines the individuals, communities and institutions central to elevating printmaking as a medium among Native American artists during the second half of the 20th century. “Inside Look: Selected Acquisitions from the Georgia Museum of Art” — With more than 17,000 objects in its collection, the museum cannot show everything all the time. This exhibition features new gifts and purchases across our curatorial departments that have filled critical gaps in the permanent collections. “In Dialogue: Views of Empire: Grand and Humble” — Two sets of Russian prints: sweeping cityscapes and small hand-colored lithographs of working-class occupations “Jennifer Steinkamp: The Technologies of Nature” — A video installation by Jennifer Steinkamp consisting of her work “Mike Kelley” “Contemporary Japanese Ceramics from the Horvitz Collection” — This exhibition presents Japanese pottery and porcelain created by three generations of master ceramic artists. Made with both ancient and modern materials and methods, their works are exceptionally diverse. They share the exceptional craftsmanship and sophisticated design characteristic of Japanese contemporary ceramics. “Power and Piety in 17th-Century Spanish Art” — Works by premiere Spanish baroque painters such as Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Murillo, Pedro Orrente and others, on loan from Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery. The museum’s days of operation are Tuesday – Sunday. Reserve a free ticket and see our policies at https://georgiamuseum.org/visit/. ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art ATHICA@675, Pulaski St., Suite 1200 Closed until January 2022. ATHICA@CINÉ Gallery “Entropic Cinema: Video Art by Eddie Lohmeyer” — Using deconstructive approaches such as glitch, physical modifications to hardware and assemblage, Lohmeyer’s installations, sculpture and video have been exhibited both nationally and internationally, most recently at 1308 Gallery at the University of Wisconsin, Ground Level Platform (Chicago, Illinois), the Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and the 2021 Milan Machinima Festival. Lyndon House Arts Center 4 – 6 p.m. — Opening Day: “Dignos y Sin Barreras (Dignified and without Barriers),” curated by Maria Elias. Artists and curator will be in attendance. 4 – 6 p.m. —Holiday Market: Artists include Amanda Burk, Sara Parker, Leslie Grove, Bee Natural, Jim Talley, Lily Smith, Jadin Fielteau, TinkerWagon, Suzanne Reeves, Creations by Rise, William Stephanos, Leslie Litt, Ciel Rodriguez, Denise Burns, Will Langford, Hannah Jones, Camren Gober, Will Eskridge, Abigail West and others. On View: “Figure Ground” includes the work of artists investigating the lens of an art lesson as a metaphor. This exhibition plays on the interchangeableness of positive and negative space and figure and ground. The exhibition suggests that positive and negative are interchangeable and that perception may be learned but can be shifted. Artists included are Kevin Cole, William Downs, Phil Jasen, Susan Nees, Terry Rowlett, Kate Windley and Sunkoo Yuh. “Follow Like Friend,” an exhibition of art that comments on issues surrounding social media: connection, disconnection and surveillance. Artists include Alyssa Davis, Kimberly Riner and Stephanie Sutton. “Curation of Self,” guest curated by Kendall Rogers, features works by Parawita Staumm, Anjali Howlett, Lauren Schuster, Monsie Troncosco, Emmie Harvard and Alan Barrett. “Chants/Chance: Tinctures, Totem and Charms” by George Davidson. A self-taught jazz saxophonist, artist, poet, blues musicologist, author and tinkerer extraordinaire, George Davidson exhibits a selection of assemblages of choice found miscellany. “Collections From our Community: Bill Raines Pond Boats” — Bill is a photographer and while traveling throughout Georgia he’s come to know all the junk shops along his routes. He’s picked up these antique toy vessels along the way.

tiny ATH gallery “Amanda Jane VS Amanda Jane Show” —  This exhibition by Amanda Jane Burk (@ourladyofprints) and Amanda Jane Crouse (@amandajaneartist) includes prints, paintings and a sculpture or two. Safety precautions in place for tiny ATH gallery:

Face masks are required in the building

Please consider parking up Pulaski/Cleveland to alleviate parking issues  

If you feel unwell, or have been in touch with anyone who has been sick, please stay home

Enter through front porch door

Hotel Indigo, Athens ArtWall@Hotel Indigo: “All or Nothing” — Considering the intersection of natural and industrial beauty, “All or Nothing” juxtaposes organic abstractions and lush landscapes with historic structures and decimated buildings. Featured artists include Alexa Rivera, Christina Matacotta and Zahria Cook. Glass Cube: “Aurora,” an installation by multimedia artist Zane Cochran featuring changing light and geometric lanterns based on occurrences of the Northern Lights. Open 24/7. Creature Comforts Brewing Co.’s CCBC Gallery “The Doors of Athens” — Featuring sixteen new silk paintings of unique Athens business entryways by international artist René Shoemaker, on view 5 –10 p.m. on Third Thursday.

Lamar Dodd School of Art Galleries, University of Georgia No programming for this month’s Third Thursday. The Athenaeum No programming for this month’s Third Thursday. BARBAR No programming for this month’s Third Thursday. The Classic Center No programming for this month’s Third Thursday. The Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum at the Center for Art and Nature Not open on this Third Thursday. — Third Thursday was established in 2012 to encourage attendance at Athens’ established art venues through coordination and co-promotion by the organizing entities. This schedule and venue locations and regular hours can be found at 3thurs.org. Contact: Michael Lachowski, Georgia Museum of Art, mlachow@uga.edu.

[aion-rsa]

The Suicide Squad Character Guide, Easter Eggs, and DCEU References

https://ift.tt/3ywaJGW

This article contains major spoilers for The Suicide Squad. We have a spoiler free review here.

The DCEU is alive and well and dividing its time between Corto Maltese and Belle Reve prison. James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad gives us the most DC characters in live action in any one movie ever assembled!

OK, fine, the vast majority of them die. And a fair portion of them most folks have never even heard of. But it still counts!

And yes, there are DC Comics Easter eggs in the movie, but perhaps not as many as you might expect. So we’ve decided to split the difference. We’re gonna give you the lowdown on all the characters, especially the obscure ones, and talk about what their existence in this movie means (or could mean) for the wider DCEU. And we’ll still give you all the DC Easter eggs we were able to spot. A real bargain, even though this article didn’t cost you anything! 

Let’s take it from the top (cue the Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died”)

HARLEY QUINN

What else can be said about Harley Quinn that we haven’t already said a thousand times? You know who she is, you know where she’s from, and you know all about Margot Robbie’s iconic, for-the-ages performance. 

And while the DCEU is pretty loosely connected these days, this is definitely the same Harley from the 2016 movie, although somewhat less male gaze-y in her attire, and one who has definitely moved on from her relationship with the Joker (who doesn’t even get mentioned in this film!). Harley already knowing Rick Flag, Captain Boomerang, and Amanda Waller is all the proof you need that this is a sequel to that film, however loose it may be.

Harley’s relationship status and attitude means that the events of 2020’s Birds of Prey movie also definitely happened, and they’re even referenced (albeit in passing). Hell, you could even say that Harley’s grand escape and the “Harley-vision” that accompanies it comes right out of some of the weirder moments of Birds of Prey. But that’s basically it. We’d like more of Robbie as Harley on our screens, though.

Read more

Movies

The Suicide Squad: Margot Robbie On the Enduring Appeal of Harley Quinn

By Kayti Burt

Movies

Margot Robbie Wants Poison Ivy to Join Harley Quinn in the DCEU

By Kayti Burt

What does Harley Quinn mean for the DCEU? Harley’s intro in 2016’s Suicide Squad helped establish that of all the characters kicking around the DCEU, Batman was the most experienced, as she, Joker, and Bats shared a history dating back several years. At this point, Harley is practically the linchpin of old DCEU continuity, and one of the last remaining cinematic ties to Ben Affleck’s portrayal of the Dark Knight.

BLOODSPORT

The version of Bloodsport we meet in this film bears very little resemblance to his comic book incarnation. The comics version of Bloodsport first appeared in 1987’s Superman #4 by John Byrne, and while elements of the comics character made it to the film, the guy Idris Elba is playing is quite different from his comics counterpart. Let’s start with the similarities…

The name, both the codename and his real name of Robert Du Bois? Check. The thing about him shooting Superman with a Kryptonite bullet? Also check. The rest? Ummm…it’s a loose interpretation.

Read more

Movies

The Suicide Squad: How Idris Elba Brings Bloodsport to Life

By Stephanie Williams

Movies

How The Suicide Squad is Different from Guardians of the Galaxy

By Mike Cecchini

Here, Bloodsport has a seemingly never ending arsenal of high tech weapons, which fold and collapse out of each other, meaning he’s seemingly always got the exact tool for the job. But in the comics, Bloodsport was equipped with a tiny teleporter (thanks Lex Luthor!) which allowed him to seemingly “materialize” whatever weapon he needed at any given moment. The comics version of Bloodsport was much less of a “purely competent badass” and much more of a tragic, traumatized, and deluded figure…and a mass shooter, to boot.

This isn’t quite a comics thing, but when Bloodsport throws his earpiece in disgust near the end of the film after having enough of taking orders from Waller and company, it’s vaguely reminiscent of the final shot in the first (and by far the best) Dirty Harry movie, when Clint Eastwood’s Harry Callahan, disillusioned with the constraints of the system, flings his badge and walks away.

What does Bloodsport mean for the DCEU? It’s a little frustrating to know that Henry Cavill’s DCEU Superman is still out there having adventures that we’ll probably never get to see. Cavill deserves another chance in the cape, damn it! Alas, Warner Bros. seems to have different (and very cool) plans for Superman on the big screen these days.

PEACEMAKER

Peacemaker is a weird character, folks. The character first appeared back in 1966, and wasn’t a DC character…he was published by the now defunct Charlton Comics, whose characters like the Question, Blue Beetle, and Captain Atom were later acquired by DC and folded into their own continuity. And you know what else those characters have in common? They became the inspirations for the main characters in Watchmen, with Watchmen’s Comedian functioning as a kind of adaptation of Peacemaker.

Comics Peacemaker is pretty different (except in looks) to the guy we meet in this film, though. Initially a pacifist using non-lethal weapons, he was reinvented by DC in the ‘80s as a bloodthirsty character with some serious mental issues. Namely, he believed that the souls of the people he killed were then trapped in his distinctive helmet and talking to him. Uhhhh…

Read more

Movies

The Suicide Squad: John Cena and the Secrets of Peacemaker

By Nick Harley

Movies

The Suicide Squad: Inside James Gunn’s DCEU Supervillain War Movie

By Mike Cecchini

He’s popped up a handful of times in DC continuity over the last 35 years, but there’s no version of the character you could safely consider definitive. He’s appearing in the current (and very good) run of DC’s Suicide Squad comics, as well. Like Bloodsport, the origin explained for him onscreen here has nothing to do with his comics counterpart.

What does Peacemaker mean for the DCEU? Well, he’s still alive (as we see in that post-credits scene) for starters. He’s also getting his own HBO Max series, which James Gunn is showrunning, writing, and directing quite a bit of. And since he’s still loyal to Amanda Waller, it would seem that any future Suicide Squad sequels will rest firmly on John Cena’s broad shoulders. 

RICK FLAG

Ah, Rick Flag, we hardly knew ye. Joel Kinnnaman gives Flag a much more likeable makeover in this film, and the character is even rocking a yellow t-shirt in honor of the John Ostrander-written Suicide Squad comics of the 1980s that influenced so much of this film.

In the comics, Rick was a career military man, like his father before him (we assume this is also Rick Flag, Jr. just like in the comics). Screen Rick’s sense of duty and honor would seem to indicate that’s the case here, too. 

What does Rick Flag mean for the DCEU? Well…unfortunately, he’s dead, so not much. Unless it turns out that Task Force X has been cloning Rick Flags for use on Suicide Squad missions for years or something, we don’t expect to see him again. In any case, that sure was an epic way for him to go out!

KING SHARK

Whoever thought that a ‘90s Superboy villain would become one of the most beloved characters of the blockbuster season? The Suicide Squad isn’t King Shark’s first foray into live action (that would be The Flash TV series) but this is easily his biggest stage yet.

Since his first appearance in 1994, King Shark has been a Superboy baddie, an Aquaman villain, has fought for the bad guys in assorted Crises, a kinda ally to a different version of Aquaman, and our personal favorite, a member of the Squad-adjacent team of antiheroes and mercenaries known as the Secret Six, where writer Gail Simone delivered some of the character’s most memorable and delightful moments.

Read more

Movies

The Suicide Squad: How King Shark and Starro Were Brought to Life

By Don Kaye

Oh, and when we first meet him he’s trying to read William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience. But it’s upside down.

What does King Shark mean for the DCEU? Well…we would very much like to see him show up in Aquaman 2, known as Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. It would be a tremendous missed opportunity if not, even if it’s just for a cameo. Don’t those weird/adorable/scary Clyrax just look like they were designed for James Wan’s Aquaman world?

 And c’mon, James Gunn’s next DC movie should absolutely be Secret Six, where King Shark is really most at home!

AMANDA WALLER

Viola Davis is a national treasure, and her Amanda Waller performance makes the character perhaps the most malevolent of all these kind of not-quite-good guys. Sure, we’ve had other live action Amanda Waller performances, but nobody captures the no-nonsense, morally gray Waller like Davis has here. 

What does Amanda Waller mean for the DCEU? At the end of the first Suicide Squad movie, we had that little tease of Amanda dealing with Bruce Wayne and General Wade Eiling. While the DCEU as a whole isn’t terribly connected these days, it would be great if we could see more of Davis’ Waller lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings, and maybe even putting events in motion that ultimately lead to the formation of that aforementioned Secret Six team…

That being said, we’re not holding our breath for it, either. Then again, it’s quite easy to imagine a world where Waller is taking a pronounced interest in someone like Black Adam coming out of hiding. 

STARRO

The villain of The Suicide Squad actually began life as…a Justice League villain! And not just any Justice League villain, the FIRST Justice League villain! Yes, Starro has been kicking around DC Comics since 1960 and the very first appearance of the JLA.

While kaiju-sized from the start, Starro’s very creepy ability to spawn spores that are essentially facehuggers didn’t come around until a post-Alien world. This suddenly made Starro a much cooler, and more in-demand threat, and despite there being 17 years between their first and second appearance, since then, Starro has become a regular pain-in-the-face for the entire DC Universe.

Thinker naming the creature “Starro the Conqueror” as a derisive nickname is a reference to how the character is referred to in the comics…and it was literally the text on the cover of its first appearance.

We get lots of imagery of group shots of “Starro zombies,” folks wearing the ol’ Starro facehugger. That’s a recurring image in the comics, and one that comes to mind is the cover of Justice League Europe #26.

Oh, and that’s Taika Waititi voicing Starro, in his second role in the film! (more on the other one in a moment)

What does Starro mean for the DCEU? Well, aside from the fact that we’ve been robbed of a Justice League vs. Starro movie now, there’s no reason to believe that we couldn’t potentially have Starro back. A spore could have escaped. Starro themself could be a giant spore of its own hivemind. 

And while it’s unlikely that we’ll get Starro as a primary antagonist ever again in a DCEU film, it would be pretty cool to see the creature or the species referenced in something like the upcoming HBO Max Green Lantern Corps TV series.  

CAPTAIN BOOMERANG

One of the few returning characters from the first film, Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang…dies pretty early in the movie. He’s even more gleefully over the top here than he was in 2016, which is pretty appropriate. Boomer was a founding member of the comic book version of the Squad (reluctantly of course) where he was always portrayed as the most dislikeable and abrasive of all the characters.

What does Captain Boomerang mean for the DCEU? His death here is a genuine surprise, though. Captain Boomerang has always been a pretty high profile Flash villain. And yes, we had that little cameo of him and Ezra Miller’s Flash in the theatrical version of Justice League, Courtney seemed destined to appear one day in at least a small role in some version of The Flash movie for WB. Alas, that now appears to be off the table. Ah, well…

THE THINKER

There have been so many different versions of Thinker in DC Comics history and…Peter Capaldi is playing none of them. Not a one. 

This is a brand-new (sorta) version of the character named Gaius Greeves. He looks like an unnamed version of Thinker who appeared in DC’s post-New 52 continuity in 2014, though, and that character definitely had a Squad connection.

What does Thinker mean for the DCEU? Historically, Thinker in various incarnations has been a Flash villain. Hell, a version of the character was the primary baddie on an entire season of The Flash! But like our pal Captain Boomerang, any hope of seeing Thinker match wits with the DCEU Flash are now over.

Although wouldn’t it be kinda cool if the DCEU gets around to introducing Jay Garrick and we learn that ol’ Gaius once had a beef with him? OK, fine, we’re not counting on it, either.

POLKA-DOT MAN

Poor Abner Krill couldn’t be more different than his comic book version…despite his remarkably accurate costume. Polka-Dot Man is a Batman villain dating all the way back to 1962, except there, he wasn’t the unfortunate recipient of an alien virus with grotesque polka-dot mutations and vomiting and…oh you get the picture.

Comics Abner Krill just had a costume full of trick, high-tech polka-dots. He um…he was not a major villain.

What does Polka-Dot Man mean for the DCEU? Other than the STAR Labs connection, and we believe this is the first mention of STAR Labs since the “Snyderverse” collapsed, not a hell of a lot. Abner is dead, and he ain’t coming back. Although it’d be pretty awesome if it turns out that it was Batman who put Abner away, since we know that in DCEU continuity Bats has been punching bad guys longer than anyone else.

RATCATCHER

Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2 is a brand new character created for this movie. We think she rules. However, if you’re looking for a comic book connection, we need to go back to her “dad” played in that cool Taika Waititi cameo.

Ratcatcher first appeared in a 1988 issue of Detective Comics, where he was a disgruntled former murderer who was kidnapping everyone responsible for putting him in prison, and holding them prisoner in the sewers. Oh, and he controlled rats. He was far less sweet and charming than either of our DCEU Ratcatchers. Oh, and that story has a panel where Batman vomits sewage because he nearly drowns in it. Good times.

But even that pretty malevolent comics Ratcatcher probably isn’t quite the Ratcatcher of the DCEU. After all, Ratcatcher 2 is named Cleo Cazo, and comics Ratcatcher was Otis Flanagan, and Otis didn’t seem nearly as sympathetic as Taika’s performance here.

What does Ratcatcher mean for the DCEU? Other than the possibility that this was someone else Batman put in Belle Reve? Not a lot. Although since Ratcatcher 2 lives on, we’d love to see her in another Suicide Squad movie, or make her a cornerstone of a live action Secret Six or something.

SAVANT

In the comics, as in this film, there isn’t a heckuva lot to say about Savant. What’s interesting is that he was a key player in one of Gail Simone’s earliest Birds of Prey storylines. Michael Rooker looks remarkably like his DC Comics counterpart in that wig, though.

What does Savant mean for the DCEU? Going forward? He’s dead, so not much. But in the past? Is it possible he ran afoul of Birds of Prey’s Huntress or Black Canary and that’s how he ended up in the Squad? We’d like to think so.

Also, one interesting bit about ol’ Savant. He started off as a guy who thought he could be a costumed vigilante. Of course, he was in it for all the wrong reasons and got a stern talking to from Batman and that set him on his life of crime. We’d like to imagine Ben Affleck’s Batman telling Michael Rooker’s Savant “you’re not morally equipped for this job,” just like he did in the comics!

TDK

“The Detachable Kid” is actually a riff on an obscure Legion of Super-Heroes and Legion of Substitute Heroes character named…Arm-Fall-Off Boy. I couldn’t make that one up if I tried, folks. His powers are identical, although his comics look is pretty different.

What does TDK mean for the DCEU? OK, so bear with me for a moment…what if TDK is actually from the 31st Century and ended up back here somehow before he found himself stuck with the Squad? Until they say otherwise, this is my headcanon. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go write up a headline called “How The Suicide Squad Confirms the Legion of Super-Heroes in the DCEU” which will get me hate mail for the rest of the summer.

BLACKGUARD

Blackguard is a pretty minor DC villain, mostly notable for being the baddie in the very first Booster Gold comic! He’s a much beefier, more heavily armored character than the guy we get on screen here, but honestly…not much more interesting. And yes, his name really is Dick Hertz.

What does Blackguard mean for the DCEU? Look, if Blackguard exists, Booster Gold exists. I’ve been waiting for a Booster Gold movie forever now, and it’s long overdue. It’s time. Come to think of it, this would also be perfect for James Gunn to direct.

WEASEL

Weasel was a Firestorm villain from the 1980s who…was actually a dude in a weasel suit. A disgruntled college loser who took revenge on people later in years for uh, calling him a weasel back in their younger days. The character was later revamped as a more kind of, well, traditionally animalistic/weaselly figure, but the version we meet in this film has more in common with Bloom County’s Bill the Cat than any of his DC Comics incarnations.

What does Weasel mean for the rest of the DCEU? He’s still alive! Count your children! Bring on Firestorm! OK, but in all seriousness, Firestorm would look pretty cool on a big screen budget.

JAVELIN

Javelin was a Green Lantern villain, believe it or not. See, back in the day, Green Lantern was powerless against the color yellow, hence this guy’s color scheme. Flula Borg has a remarkably accurate translation of Javelin’s comics costume in this film, and the character is pretty much exactly as he was portrayed in his early comics appearances, cool accent and all. 

Amazingly, this is the second Watchmen connection of this piece (wait, what?). You see, Javelin was created by Len Wein (editor of Watchmen) and Dave Gibbons (co-creator and artist of Watchmen). So, not quite as direct a connection as Peacemaker, but a connection nonetheless.

What does Javelin mean for the DCEU? As far as I’m concerned, this is proof that Earth has a Green Lantern, despite the fact that we haven’t seen a modern day, human Green Lantern Corps member in official DCEU continuity yet. But someone had to put him in Belle Reve, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s Hal Jordan.

MONGAL

Mongal is a member of a warlike, and immensely powerful alien race. She’s also the daughter of Mongul, the ruler of Warworld and the villain of one of the greatest Superman stories ever told, “For the Man Who Has Everything” by the Watchmen creative team of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Mongal um…didn’t live long in the comics, either.

What does Mongal mean for the DCEU? If Mongal exists, then this is proof that Mongul and Warworld exists. And once again, I am annoyed that Henry Cavill isn’t getting another shot as Superman. An adaptation of “For the Man Who Has Everything” would actually be a brilliant move for the DCEU, albeit a weird one. 

If Warner Bros. wanted to do something more traditional with the character, the Superman “Exile” story would also make for great big screen fodder, taking Superman offworld and into Mongul’s gladiatorial contests. Anyway…there’s two more DCEU Superman movies that should have happened for ya!

CALENDAR MAN

That’s Sean Gunn in a cameo as Calendar Man (yep) shouting “You fucking pussy” in Belle Reve.

What does Calendar Man mean for the DCEU? Hey, maybe we’ll get a live action adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween one day! On second thought, maybe that’s not such a great idea.

DOUBLE DOWN

And right behind him? That would be Double Down, a playing card themed villain perhaps “best” known as a minor Flash villain.

What does Double Down mean for the DCEU? Pretty much exactly what you’d expect. Feel free to imagine he was locked up by Ezra Miller’s Flash, though.

JOTUNHEIM

The fortress known as Jotunheim here does indeed have a comics connection. It was the site of the comic book Squad’s very first mission in 1987’s Suicide Squad #1. That being said, the nature of the mission itself and even the location couldn’t have been more different than what we got in the movie, but it’s a nice little callback. 

It isn’t the only reference to that famed first issue, either! The yellow shirt Rick Flag wears throughout this movie (minus the logo) was also pioneered in that comic, and there’s also…

JOHN ECONOMOS

Steve Agee’s non-King Shark motion capture performance is as John Economos, one of Waller’s flunkys. In the comics, Economos is the warden of Belle Reve, and he also first appeared in Suicide Squad #1 which was written by…

JOHN OSTRANDER

Wait, John Ostrander isn’t a DC character! No, but he IS the person most responsible for the Suicide Squad as we know them. He has a cameo in the film as “Dr. Fitzgibbon.” This isn’t a DC Comics character, but it IS the second time Gunn has snuck a “Dr. Fitzgibbon” into his films…the other was in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie when a Dr. Fitzgibbon was treating Meredith Quill as she was dying.

SENATOR CRAY

A throwaway line in the film refers to “Senator Cray,” and this is no accident either. Senator Joseph Cray was indeed a minor Suicide Squad character, who only appeared in three stories. He was corrupt, so the idea that anyone is playing golf with him in the DCEU doesn’t say great things about them.

CORTO MALTESE

DC fans will recognize the fictional nation of Corto Maltese from its central role in Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley’s incredible The Dark Knight Returns. From there, you’ll know it from its mentions in Tim Burton’s Batman movie and various namedrops on assorted Arrowverse TV shows. The Suicide Squad marks the first time we’ve spent significant time there on the big screen.

But the Corto Maltese name goes back further than The Dark Knight Returns. Miller named the fictional country after Hugo Pratt’s beloved comic book series featuring a sailor of the same name.

It doesn’t appear that Silvio Luna, Matteo Suarez, or the Herrera family depicted in the movie have any additional comics connections, though.

What does Corto Maltese mean for the DCEU? Well, if we ever get that live action Dark Knight Returns adaptation with Ben Affleck, this place will be a movie hotspot once again!

GBS

It’s always a nice touch when we see a TV broadcast coming from a GBS network. GBS is the Galaxy Broadcasting System, one of the biggest fictional news conglomerates in the DC Universe. It’s owned by Morgan Edge, who depending on what version of the character you’re looking at has connections to Darkseid and Apokolips (paging fans of Zack Snyder’s Justice League) or Krypton (hello Superman & Lois!).

What does GBS mean for the DCEU? Not much, but it’s popped up in several movies now, and it’s one of the few pieces of worldbuilding connective tissue still holding the DCEU together. 

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Spot anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post The Suicide Squad Character Guide, Easter Eggs, and DCEU References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Image courtesy of Five Car Garage. 

PLAN ForYourArt: January 25–31

Thursday, January 25

MORE ART HERE, Santa Monica Airport (Santa Monica), 12–6pm. Through January 28.

Teen Hip Hop Workshop with DJ Survive and the Inner City Dwellers, Cypress Park Branch Library (Cypress Park), 4–5pm.

Botany Bay Series: Plant Science for Gardeners & Citizen Scientists - January, The Huntington (San Marino), 4:30–5:30pm.

designLAb Public Reception: Italian Style: 1930s - 1980s, Pacific Design Center (West Hollywood), 5–9:30pm.

Kim Schoen: The Hysteric's Discourse, Young Projects (West Hollywood), 5–9:30pm.

Suzanne Wright, Pomona College (Claremont), 5–9pm.

Rap on Border: A Public Conversation, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego), 5–8pm.

Reilly Rhodes on Winslow Homer, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 6pm.

Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb: On Cuba and Collaboration, Annenberg Space for Photography (Century City), 6:30–8pm.

Guided tour: Edgar and Norma Coronado, Self Help Graphics & Art (Downtown), 6:30pm.

Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Santa Monica Airport (Santa Monica), 7–9pm. $65. Through January 28.

Talk: Curator Walkthrough of "A Universal History of Infamy" with Pilar Tompkins Rivas, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 7pm.

At land’s edge presents Set Hernandez Rongkilyo, Revolutionary Autonomous Communities Los Angeles (Koreatown), 7–9pm.

Gifts of the Spirit: Prophecy, Automatism and Discernment, Vibiana (Downtown), 7 and 9pm.

Charlemagne Palestine: CcornuuoorphanossCcopiaee  

aanorphansshhornoffplentyyy, 356 Mission (Downtown), 7–10pm.

LECTURE: Thomas Hutton, MOCA Grand Avenue (Downtown), 7pm.

Film: Free Screening | The Chi, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 7:30pm.

FeM Synth Lab How-To: Humanize Your Synths, Women’s Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 7:30–9:30pm.

Suzanne Hudson presents Vija Celmins, ArtCenter College of Design (Pasadena), 7:30pm.

​Twin Engines Performance Series: Brian Getnick and Christy Roberts, PØST (Downtown), 8pm. $5–10 suggested donation.

Friday, January 26

RUSSELL TYLER: Altered State, Richard Heller Gallery (Santa Monica), 5–7pm.

Combat Shock, 4864 W Adams Blvd (West Adams), 6–9pm.

Le château des destins croisés, Château Shatto (Hollywood), 6–9pm.

In Conversation: Alternative Art Spaces with Brooke Kellaway and Libby Werbel (PMOMA), SBCAST (Santa Barbara), 6–7pm.

stARTup Art Fair LA, The Kinney (Venice), 7–10pm. Through January 28.

The Pain of Others, Ghebaly Gallery (Downtown), 7–10pm.

Hayden Dunham: Canary for the Family, Club Pro Los Angeles (Downtown), 7–11pm.

Together We Plan!: Community Activism In 2018, Women’s Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 7–9:30pm.

Joseph Holtzman: Seven Recent Paintings, Bel Ami (Chinatown), 7–10pm.

2018 PEN Emerging Voices Welcome Party, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) (Hollywood), 8–10pm.

GUIDED TOURS with Davie Blue, Human Resources (Chinatown), 8pm. Through January 28. $10 suggested donation.

The Music of WADADA LEO SMITH, Automata (Chinatown), 8pm. $18.

Judith Butler: The Materiality of Mourning in the work of Doris Salcedo, REDCAT (Downtown), 8:30pm. $10–20.

Saturday, January 27

Talk: Gallery Course: Italian and Northern Renaissance Art, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 8:30am.

Ranch Clinic - Container Gardening, The Huntington (San Marino), 9–10am.

Talk: Responding to Sarah Charlesworth: Creative Writing Workshop with Karen Holden, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 10am.

Basic Auto Care Clinic, Women’s Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 10am–1pm. $20–25.

Finding Autonomy and Connection through Contact Improv: Jen Hong, Pieter (Lincoln Heights), 12–3pm. $30.

BEND, BLOW & GLOW I, Museum of Neon Art (Glendale), 12–7pm.

Johanna Breiding: The Rebel Body and Making Social, Angels Gate Cultural Center (San Pedro), 1–4pm.

Native Seeds: Food Preparation / Sun Cookies, Women’s Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 1:30–4:30pm. $60–75.

Pascual Sisto: INSIDE OUT, Five Car Garage (Santa Monica), 2–5pm.

SYMPOSIUM: PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, UCLA (Westwood), 2–5pm.

Cassils | Nik Kosmas | Lesley Moon | Elliot Musgrave: The Language of the Body: Art, Physical Practice & Intersectional Action, ltd los angeles (Mid-City), 2pm.

Live Free or Die: Artist Talk with Soyoung Shin and Juliana Wisdom, The Huntington (San Marino), 2pm.

Demystifying Dim Sum with Chefs Susan Feniger and Kajsa Alger, The Huntington (San Marino), 2pm.

Women’s Center for Creative Work: Live Free or Die, The Huntington (San Marino), 2–4pm.  

Ruben Ochoa Artist Talk, Art + Practice (Leimert Park), 2:30–5:30pm.

Vija Celmins, Matthew Marks Gallery (West Hollywood), 3–5pm.

Beyond the Ordinary: A Conversation with Three Conceptual Artists from Argentina, Getty Center (Brentwood), 4pm.

Tokens of Affection: Valentines by Corinna Cotsen, Craft in America Center (Beverly Grove), 4–6pm.

Lyle Ashton Harris Book Signing + Discussion with Walead Beshty, Charles Gaines, and Amelia Jones, Arcana Books on the Arts (Culver City), 4–6pm.

Origins, Downtown Labs (Downtown), 4–7pm.  

Joan Horsfall Young: Cottages, Anne M Bray: Road Trip, and Fielden Harper: Continuum, TAG Gallery (Santa Monica), 5–8pm.

Simone Forti: Time Smear, The Box (Downtown), 5–8pm.

The Gallery @ Michael’s, Michael’s (Santa Monica), 6–8pm.

PETER WU: Or, the Modern Prometheus, Held & Bordy Gallery, Windward School (Mar Vista), 6–9pm.

MELTING POINT: MOVEMENTS IN CONTEMPORARY CLAY, Craft and Folk Art Museum (Miracle Mile), 6–9pm. $12.

Martin Soto Climent: Temazcal, Michael Benevento (Koreatown), 6–8pm.

Chad Attie: The Last Island, The Lodge (East Hollywood), 6–9pm.

Closing Reception for Aztlan: A Sense of Place, dA Center for the Arts (Pomona), 6–8pm.

Right at the Equator and Relax Shadeans, Depart Foundation (Malibu), 6–9pm.

Art Event 2018: Enter the World of Warhol, Palm Springs Art Museum (Palm Springs), 6pm.

ANNEX, M+B (West Hollywood), 7–9pm.

Closing reception: Cell, Share, Swivel Chair, Monte Vista Projects (Downtown), 7–10pm.

Closing Reception for Taking Up Space, Tiger Strikes Asteroid Los Angeles (Downtown), 7–10pm.  

Music: The Music of East L.A., LACMA (Miracle Mile), 7:30pm.

ALARM WILL SOUND: 1969, CAP UCLA (Westwood), 8pm.

Winter Exhibitions Opening Celebration, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 8–11pm.

Life's not fair and people don't act right, BBQLA (Downtown), 8pm–12am.

Centennial Bash, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 8pm. $25–45.

Sunday, January 28

Stories of Almost Everyone, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 11am–5pm. 

Skip Arnold: Truffle Hunt, ICA LA (Downtown), 11am–6pm; The Act of Doing: A Conversation with Skip Arnold, 3–4pm.

Brought to Light: Revelatory Photographs in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Collection and Crosscurrents: The Painted Portrait in America, Britain, and France, 1750–1850, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara), 11am–5pm.

Pelotas Oaxaqueñas/Oaxacan Ball Games: Photographs by Leopoldo Peña, Fowler Museum (Westwood);12–5pm;  talk, 2pm.

Cecily Brown: Rehearsal and Midori Hirose: Of The Unicorn (and the Sundowner Kids), Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara), 12–5pm.

Grin & Bear It!: Decorate your very own handmade bear workshop, 356 Mission (Downtown), 1–4pm.

Dan Levenson: SKZ Monochrome Diptychs, American Jewish University (Bel Air), 2–5:19pm.

I can call this progress to halt book launch and screenings, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) (Hollywood), 2–6pm.

Around The Table:Recipes and Stories from The Lark in Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara), 2pm.

LECTURE: Rebecca Matalon: Welcome to the Dollhouse Walkthrough, MOCA Pacific Design Center (West Hollywood), 3pm.

Miguel Gutierrez // I am sitting on my aura, we live in space (Mid-City), 3–6pm.

Nina Könnemann: Que Onda, Gaga (MacArthur Park), 3:30–6pm.

TALK WITH CULTURAL ACTIVIST TASOULA HADJITOFI, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 4pm.

Closing reception: Pouya Afshar: En Masse, ADVOCARTY's THE SPACE (Downtown), 4–7pm.

Robert Irwin: Site Determined, The University Art Museum, CSULB (Long Beach), 4–6pm.

Latin Jazz - LIVE !, dA Center for the Arts (Pomona), 4–5pm.

Music: Crossroads School EMMI Chamber Ensembles, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 6pm.

Monday, January 29

Window Dressing, Cerritos College Art Gallery (Norwalk), 4–6pm.

This, Not That Lecture: Sarah Whiting, UCLA (Westwood), 6:30pm.

Talk: Wu Bin's Ten Views of a Lingbi Stone, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 7:30pm.

Stranger Landscapes: Films by Pia Borg, REDCAT (Downtown), 8:30pm.

Tuesday, January 30

Outcasts: Prejudice and Persecution in the Medieval World, Getty Center (Brentwood), 10:30am–5pm. 

Family Day - Word Play, The Huntington (San Marino), 11am–3pm.

JIM MORPHESIS artist lecture, Kellogg University Art Gallery (Pomona), 12–1pm.

Dance Girl Dance, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 1pm.

After Concretism: Audiovisual Experiments in Brazil, Getty Center (Brentwood), 7–9pm.

How To Have Hard Conversations: Step 2, Constructive Conflict Communication at Work, Home and Everywhere In Between, Women’s Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 7–10pm.

READINGS: Some Favorite Writers: Viet Thanh Nguyen, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 7:30pm.

Talk: Conversation with Award-winning Costume Designer Mark Bridges, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 7:30pm.

Camille Henrot, ArtCenter College of Design (Pasadena), 7:30pm.

Wednesday, January 31

Christodoulos Panayiotou: The Paradox of Acting, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 7:30pm.

Skip Arnold | Stanya Kahn | Kalup Linzy Jumana Manna | Mickalene Thomas Film screening organized by Mariah Garnett and Aimee Goguen, ltd los angeles (Mid-City), 8pm.

[gregthecoolnerd]

Okay, I don’t normally do this sort of thing, but I’m gonna say it for this. Ya’ll need to watch OK K.O.: Let’s Be Heroes! It’s one of the absolute best cartoons I’ve ever seen. You want some examples of its goodness? Okay, here’s some examples:

The characters are all really funny and dynamic. Their character designs are unique and really stand out and despite having super powers, they act and behave in believable ways.

It is packed to the gills with little references to 90′s cartoons, anime, comic books and video games.

They had an episode where the whole thing was a parody of the typical YouTube videos of the mid to late 00′s, including a parody of shipping AMVs with angsty mid-00′s rock music.

The animation is really unique and satisfying. It’s kinda hard to explain, but it’s just aesthetically pleasing.

The great Jim Cummings voices the main antagonist of the series. So it’s pretty awesome to hear the dude who voiced Darkwing Duck voice the goofball bad guy.

There was literally an episode featuring a bad guy who was based on nu metal singers from the 90′s who was voiced by Jonathan Davis of KoЯn.

Steve Ogg, aka Trevor Philips from Grand Theft Auto V, is a recurring voice actor on the show.

For that matter, so is Chris Niosi, a dude who started out doing flash animations on Newgrounds and has his own Tumblr, @kirbopher. I highly recommend his stuff as I’m a big fan of his and I’m happy to see how far he’s come.

The creator has come a long way, too. Ian Jones-Quartey, who also has a Tumblr, @ianjq, started out making a webcomic I loved in the 00′s called, “RPG World.” After that he went on to work on two other of my favorite cartoons, Adventure Time and Steven Universe. Like Chris, I’m super happy and excited to see how far he’s come.

Speaking of RPG World, they even did an episode of OK K.O. featuring the protagonist of RPG World, Hero. As a fan of the comic, I loved that episode.

Then there’s the opening animation that plays during the theme song, which was directed by the great Hiroyuki Imaishi, the man who gave us anime like FLCL, Gurren Lagann, Panty and Stocking and Kill La Kill.

There are a bunch of other reasons to watch it, but those are the most major ones I can think of. Seriously, watch this show. It’s funny, cute, exciting and just plain awesome! Thanks Ian and crew!