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moneyque · 9 months ago

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— monique mitchell, task OO3: p1.

𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝟷: 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙱𝙰𝚂𝙸𝙲𝚂

What is your full name?

Monique Ella Mitchell.

Where and when were you born?

May 23rd, 2000 in Canarsie, Brooklyn.

Who are/were your parents? (Know their names, occupations, personalities, etc.)

Michael Mitchell is an infamous drug distributor who owns several clubs throughout New York City. He can be described as stoic, over-protective, and intimidating. Monica Mitchell was a registered nurse before she passed away but was described as nurturing, loyal, and had a lot of sass & cheek.

Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like?

Monique is an only child.

Where do you live now, and with whom? Describe the place and the person/people.

Monique lives in her penthouse condo in Los Angeles, California by herself.

What is your occupation?

Monique is currently a socialite, influencer and a model.

Write a full physical description of yourself. You might want to consider factors such as: height, weight, race, hair and eye color, style of dress, and any tattoos, scars, or distinguishing marks.

Standing at 5’4 and a half, Monique has dark brown eyes as well as dark brown hair that runs past her shoulders. She identifies as black, race-wise, and weighs around 145 lbs. She has numerous tattoos scattered around her upper body— a symbol on the back of her neck, ‘MUSE’ underneath her collarbone, her ex-boyfriend’s name tracing her ear, & another small tribute to her former relationship on her hip, ‘get money or get lost’ on her forearm, the outline of a diamond on her finger, and ‘new york’ on her left hand. Her style of dress is definitely trendy/ahead of the trend, fly, anything and everything designer, flashy, revealing, and anything to show off her curvy figure.

To which social class do you belong?

She belongs to the upper class.

Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses?

None.

Are you right- or left-handed?

Monique is right-handed.

What does your voice sound like?

Monique has a distinct New York accent mixed with her somewhat high-pitched tone.

What words and/or phrases do you use very frequently?

‘Stop playing with me.’ ‘Ode.’ ‘Girl.’ ‘Cute.’ ‘Weird.’ ‘Real.’ ‘Likeee.’

What do you have in your pockets?

Dior Addict Lip Maximizer in the color ‘Holographic Pink’ with a matching compact mirror to go with it.

Do you have any quirks, strange mannerisms, annoying habits, or other defining characteristics?

Monique has a habit of flipping her hair or touching it. She also rolls her eyes constantly throughout a conversation and is overall very expressive with her facial features to a fault. Monique is very vain, so any time she gets a chance to look at herself or admire herself, she takes it. Monique makes it a point not to wear the same purse/handbag two days in a row. Another defining characteristic about her would be the color pink being incorporated into every single aspect of her life in almost a childish manner.

𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝟸: 𝙶𝚁𝙾𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚄𝙿

How would you describe your childhood in general?

Monique’s early childhood was a rough start for her. At the time, her father was still dealing with the loss of his wife/her mother as well as being a dope boy on the corner trying to bring in a steady income for his new born daughter. Initially, they struggled, living in the projects, surviving off of food stamps and a necessity-only lifestyle. Despite that, Michael always made sure Monique never wanted for anything. So, the transition from the projects to their penthouse in Brooklyn in her late adolescent years was somewhat smooth for her.

What is your earliest memory?

Monique’s earliest memory would be opening presents on Christmas at Sakari’s house, where she celebrated with both Sakari and Josiah’s family. Her father had just gifted her a Barbie DreamHouse, which sparked up her love for the doll/franchise.

How much schooling have you had?

Monique has been in school her entire life up until now, the highest point she reached being her B.S in Business and B.A Communication.

Did you enjoy school?

The only aspect Monique enjoyed about school was meeting up with her friends, or hanging out with them afterwards. She viewed school as mandatory and experienced a lot of pressure from her father to be a straight A/B+ student throughout her years in school.

Where did you learn most of your skills and other abilities?

Monique learned a lot from her best friend Josiah, as far as street smarts, gang life, and how to make money.

While growing up, did you have any role models? If so, describe them.

Monique’s father was her biggest role model. As well as Josiah. She also considered Barbie a role model to her, in the sense that she was perfect, very feminine, had it all, and could be whatever she wanted.

While growing up, how did you get along with the other members of your family?

Monique got along with her dad very well, he was one of her best friends up until she reached high school. Which is when she started to take note of how overbearing, overprotective, controlling, and stubborn he was, which ultimately led her down the path of deceit and dishonesty.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Monique wanted to be rich.

As a child, what were your favorite activities?

As a young girl, Monique loved gymnastics, exploring the city and watching classic movies with her dad.

As a child, what kinds of personality traits did you display?

Monique displayed traits of resilience, sass, being outspoken, very saddity, and very adventurous.

As a child, were you popular? Who were your friends, and what were they like?

Monique was popular amongst her peers, throughout her childhood, mainly because she was always in the latest, had the best clothing, and appeared to live a lavish lifestyle. However, she always kept her friend group short. Her main friends were Josiah Reeves and Sakari Vaughn, but they grew to be like family to her. She kept very few close friends in school and mainly hung around the older crowd that she was introduced to.

When and with whom was your first kiss?

Her first kiss was from one of the boys in her neighborhood at the age of six.

Are you a virgin? If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity?

Monique isn’t a virgin. She lost her virginity to her first boyfriend when she was 15.

𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝟹: 𝙿𝙰𝚂𝚃 𝙸𝙽𝙵𝙻𝚄𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴𝚂

What do you consider the most important event of your life so far?

Monique considers moving out of the projects the most important event in her life so far.

Who has had the most influence on you?

Herself.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Monique considers establishing herself as a brand, a household name and being able to make money off of just being herself one of her greatest achievements.

What is your greatest regret?

Monique has no regrets.

What is the most evil thing you have ever done?

Monique sold her ex-boyfriend’s social security number and pushed a girl down a flight of stairs causing her to sprain her wrist.

Do you have a criminal record of any kind?

Monique has been to jail for stabbing a woman in the arm, but her father got her record expunged.

When was the time you were the most frightened?

Monique was most frightened during her first car accident during a speed race.

What is the most embarrassing thing ever to happen to you?

Her ex boyfriend’s mom walked in on them having sex when she was 16.

If you could change one thing from your past, what would it be, and why?

Monique would change how fast she grew up. Monique feels like she rushed into being a grown up, and faced harsh realities very early on. She feels as though she didn’t get to experience ignorance and innocence for long.

What is your best memory?

When her dad bought her a G Wagon, her first car, when she was seventeen.

What is your worst memory?

Being in school and finding out her best friend had gotten shot, and was in critical condition at the time.

𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝟺: 𝙱𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙴𝙵𝚂 & 𝙾𝙿𝙸𝙽𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂

Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic?

Monique tends to lean towards the pessimistic side, even though she’s working on it, she finds it easier to see and expect the worst.

What is your greatest fear?

Monique’s greatest fear is her father passing away and letting her guard down and then being hurt by someone she loves or trusts.

What are your religious views?

Monique isn’t spiritual at all but believes in God.

What are your political views?

Monique shares liberal political views.

What are your views on sex?

Monique sees sex as something somewhat sacred to her but fun. She doesn’t have sex with just anyone, she’s very calculated with whom she shares her body but she’s also accepting of people who think differently when it comes to sex, and sex work in general.

Are you able to kill? Under what circumstances do you find killing to be acceptable or unacceptable?

Monique isn’t a killer but when she’s pushed to the limit, it’s no telling what she’ll do or is capable of doing. Killing is acceptable when it’s to protect one’s self or someone else, and is unacceptable when it’s senseless.

In your opinion, what is the most evil thing any human being could do?

The most evil thing a human being could do is maliciously harm the harmless.

Do you believe in the existence of soul mates and/or true love?

Monique does believe in true love and soulmates.

What do you believe makes a successful life?

To Monique, having a successful life is accomplishing what they want/set their mind on and acquiring wealth while doing so.

How honest are you about your thoughts and feelings (i.e. do you hide your true self from others, and in what way)?

Monique is usually very honest with how she feels or thinks, especially if she feels like she has the right to be or is justified in her thought process. If she has any doubts in her mind, she’ll keep it to herself and deliberate amongst her trusted friends and loved ones before communicating it.

Do you have any biases or prejudices?

Monique is biased & prejudice against men, in general.

Is there anything you absolutely refuse to do under any circumstances? Why do you refuse to do it?

Monique absolutely refuses to do anything that 100% comprises her self-respect or whatever she considers beneath her. She holds herself to a certain standard and any time that standard or boundary is pushed, she’s quick to attack the situation or retreat.

Who or what, if anything, would you die for (or otherwise go to extremes for)?

Monique would die for her father, only.

𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝟻: 𝚁𝙴𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙿𝚂 𝚆/ 𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁𝚂

In general, how do you treat others (politely, rudely, by keeping them at a distance, etc.)? Does your treatment of them change depending on how well you know them, and if so, how?

Monique is very standoffish and keeps everyone at a distance but still is polite/kind and considers herself approachable. Her treatment of them changes depending on how she perceives them, if they are friends or closer, or if she wants to get to know them romantically/financially.

Who is the most important person in your life, and why?

The most important person in Monique’s life is her father because time after time again, he’s proven to be the most genuine, solid and stable person in her life.

Who is the person you respect the most, and why?

Monique respects her father the most, because of all the things he has risked and done for her to be where she’s at today. He could’ve just given up after his wife/her mother passed and stayed stagnant, and hindered her, but he’s put everything on the line to make sure she had what she wanted at all times and nothing/no one could supersede that.

Who are your friends? Do you have a best friend? Describe these people.

Monique’s friends are Asiah Porter, Josiah Reeves, and Sakari Vaughn. She views Josiah as her best friend.

Josiah is an older brother figure in Monique’s life, the second man in her life who took care of her, protected her and introduced her to the street life, fast money, and everything she’s known growing up. Monique sees Josiah as selfless, reliable, solid and loyal.

Sakari is the older sister figure in her life who’s always stuck by her side growing up. Sakari and Monique share similar home situations and upbringings which only brought them closer, as well as their fathers being close friends, and former business partners. Monique would describe Sakari as nurturing, soft-spoken, and not quick to express how she really feels.

Asiah Porter is Monique’s former roommate, she met Asiah through Sakari and once Monique moved to L.A., they formed a strong bond. Monique views Asiah as her partner in crime and a listening ear whenever she needs one. To Monique, Asiah is often the voice of reason, has juvenile tendencies, and is very friendly.

Do you have a spouse or significant other? If so, describe this person.

Monique is single.

Have you ever been in love? If so, describe what happened.

Monique has been in love three times. The first time was with her first boyfriend, rapper Artist Dubose, who she dated for five years consecutively and thought she was going to spend her life with but they broke up due to both sides taking things too far and being disrespectful. The second time was with an on and off again situationship that ended up becoming more serious than she had originally intended it to be. She realized she was in love as she broke things off with him, due to internal issues. Lastly, Monique was in love with her ex-boyfriend of nine months, which also started off as harmless but eventually turned into something deeper. However, towards the end of the relationship, fights broke out that revealed issues with their relationship, resulting in her ending things with him.

What do you look for in a potential lover?

Monique looks for a provider, someone who's consistent, with a charming personality. Someone who shares similar traits to her father, someone who will defend her blindly whenever need be, someone who will cherish, reassure her, and exercise patience with her and not give up on her. She also looks to see if they trick.

How close are you to your family?

Monique is extremely close with her father, being that he’s the only family she’s ever really known or had. Monique is familiar with her mother’s side of the family but doesn’t have a close bond with them due to them not being as fond of her father and his occupation.

Have you started your own family? If so, describe them. If not, do you want to? Why or why not?

Monique hasn’t started a family and doesn’t wish to at the moment, simply because she’s currently too selfish to have kids at the moment. Pregnancy scares her.

Who would you turn to if you were in desperate need of help?

Monique would turn to her father or her best friend.

Do you trust anyone to protect you? Who, and why?

Monique trusts her father or Josiah just because they have shown her things in the past that make her feel comfortable with them doing so. Her father’s shielded and protected her, her entire life, treating her as if she was fragile and Josiah has fought for her many times before.

If you died or went missing, who would miss you?

Monique believes the entire world would miss her.

Who is the person you despise the most, and why?

Monique despises her entire block list, and people who don’t like her in general because she feels as though they’ve picked unnecessary problems with her.

Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict?

Monique would 100% argue with someone and by no means avoids conflict.

Do you tend to take on leadership roles in social situations?

Monique leads herself in social situations, she wouldn’t try to control the crowd unless she’s being paid to host. Amongst her ‘peers’, she does her own thing or keeps her distance.

Do you like interacting with large groups of people? Why or why not?

Monique doesn’t mind interacting with large groups of people, she’s used to entertaining a large crowd because of her social position what she does for work, and who she is. She doesn’t necessarily like being around a lot of people, and if she had the choice, she’d stay by herself.

Do you care what others think of you?

Monique cares about how she's perceived, not necessarily about what others think of her. This means she cares about the impression she gives and the vibe she projects, but she doesn't necessarily care about how people personally interpret it.

@la-resources

#— ‘task.#— ‘character dev.#L.A task100

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tunglo · 1 year ago

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repost of an old blog post for my new Ken era...

Today [March 13th] is Ken Day! Kenneth Sean "Ken" Carson first hit store shelves in 1961 and, in a move that preceded reality TV by a decade or three, we all got to watch as Barbie met the man of her dreams.

Since then Ken has gone through almost as many incarnations as Barbie herself and had over 40 different careers. In celebration of all that fantastic plastic, here are just ten of the top Ken dolls produced over the years...

The 'fun' of shaving Ken has been a staple of his repertoire over the years; there are versions from 1996, 1999, 2010, and 2019.

But, as ever, it's the original that's best. Here is 1979's Sport & Shave Ken. Not only did he come with this spiffing tennis outfit, he also had a shaving mug, two 'razors', and a marker pen of your very own to draw on Ken's facial hair...

According to the brochure: "It's Ken with a whole new look for the 1980s. He's athletic. He's all man."

Indeed.

Cool Times Ken.

Never has a name been quite so misleading.

There's a reason Pixar went with this Ken era for the Toy Story movies, and it certainly wasn't because of Ken's close relationship with the concept of cool.

Sometimes your problem is not that Ken has too much facial hair. It's that he just doesn't have enough. Luckily 1972's Mod Hair Ken had you covered. The same idea was utilised again in 1975 for The Now Look Ken, except this time around his hair was longer to capture the true essence of mid 70s cool.

Ken has been a doctor many times - 1963, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2011, 2018 - but 1987's offering beats the rest hands down. Not only is Ken a doctor, but you can fold the lapels of his shiny nylon medical coat down and he's ready for a night of wining and dining!

What a doll.

What more can I say?

According to Keeping Ken, this shot with Wedding Day Alan was an official Mattel postcard

In 1993 Mattel redesigned Ken to fulfil little girls' requests that Barbie's beau be cooler. Ken was now so cool he was attracting interest from all quarters, including the US gay community who were sure Ken's cock ring necklace came straight - heh - from the club scene. As a result Earring Magic Ken sold out for Christmas '93, and remains the best selling Ken doll of all time in spite of Mattel discontinuing and recalling the doll once they realised Ken's secret was out of the closet...

In 2010 Mattel released Sugar Daddy Ken, so named - they say - because he owns a little dog called Sugar.

Hmmm.

Back in 2004, just in time for Valentine's Day, Barbie ditched Ken in favour of Australian surfer dude, Blaine. Blaine O'Hare - or at least his face sculpt - began life in 1998 when Totally Yo-Yo Skipper was initially set to gain a new friend called Zach. Though he never actually made it into production, his features were used for 1999's Generation Girl Dance Party Blaine.

The Generation Girl line followed Barbie's time at high school in NYC, introducing a variety of new friend dolls and spawning another Blaine in 2000. When he returned in 2004 Blaine had wisely dropped the 'curtains' hairstyle and traded in New York for California. In this continuity the pair met through Blaine's younger sister, Summer, who was good friends with Barbie.

In fact, voting was held through the Barbie.com website to determine who Cali Girl Barbie ought to go for - Ken, Blaine, long time pal Steven, another newcomer named Diego, or stay single. We all know how that went. Ken went away to lick his wounds for a couple of years, but in 2006 he was back with a new look. It wasn't enough for Barbie to take him back though and the pair remained 'just good friends' until another PR campaign saw them get back together in 2011.

The Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse webseries is awesome.

Launched in May 2012, it pokes fun at the entire Barbie mythos and did more to give Ken a personality than any other Mattel project. We learn that Ken loves inventing, is addicted to sherbet, and suffers from Hyper Cuteness Sensitivity Disorder...

This year Ken is finally taking control of his own destiny. Well. His own laundry, at any rate...

#ken #barbie

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denimbex1986 · 1 year ago

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'1. BARBIE VS. OPPIE

Barbie was easy. The movie was playing everywhere, and there was no sense that it had to be seen in any of the special branded formats that movie theaters now offer: Dolby Cinema, Laser at AMC, RealD—let alone the bespoke analog formats that Christopher Nolan had commanded for Oppenheimer. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was playing in Standard, and despite record presales and a massive, successful, vertically integrated and authentically viral marketing campaign for the film, I was able to get same-day tickets to a Friday showing and slip in among a crowd dotted with pink.

Getting into Oppenheimer, though, was an ordeal. There are only thirty theaters in the world playing the film in 70mm IMAX, a format that costs millions extra to shoot in and introduces major technical complications, but that produces an image of incomparable beauty and power, unmatched, for now, by digital. Nolan is the only director who still uses it—the only one who is allowed, as it were, to use it, because he can still make what used to be Hollywood’s main product but what is now a rare and treasured thing: high-concept blockbusters that always earn back their budget. All this lent a weird aura of scarcity to what is, after all, mass media. Weeks before the film’s premiere I spent hours trying to reserve a seat at the AMC in Lincoln Square, booking three different early-morning Monday screenings for successive weeks and in various questionable seat locations whose viewing angle I would later spend more time trying to decipher. When the day finally came, there was a line out the door of New York’s seventies-era and now-dingy marquee multiplex, and the ticket-taker was saying, “That’s good, that’s good—anything in seventy millimeter is gonna be good.”

Hype is its own art, and indeed has replaced art as the ineffable quality that the gurus of culture are paid to conjure. But “Barbenheimer,” the social-media-christened double-premiere, on July 21st, of these two seemingly contrasting films, had the increasingly rare sense of being a genuine event. A lot of people were talking about it, and it didn’t feel like they were being paid to. Something was happening, not exactly organically but in spite of all the artificiality and planning. These films were two Hail Marys for the two fronts of an ailing twentieth-century mass culture: prestige drama and bubblegum ubiquity, the atom bomb and the plastic doll. I doubt that Universal and Mattel, or Nolan and Gerwig, coordinated this. But neither did the Little Boy bomb, dropped on Japan in 1945, and the Barbie “Teen-Age Fashion Model” doll, manufactured for Mattel in Japan in 1959, have to coordinate with each other to give birth to a sublime and monstrous era. Barbenheimer promised to bring us all back to the origin story of the American century, that most fantastic of recent inventions. Would we still believe in it?

Barbie’s premise is as wonderfully simple as the doll herself. Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, lives in Barbieland, a utopian world where everything is made of plastic and every day is like the previous one and the next one: “perfect.” But one day, inexplicably, things start to go wrong. Barbie trips, has a bad hair day, discovers cellulite on her thigh. The invisible water in her shower is the wrong temperature; in the middle of a slumber party in her Dreamhouse, she even has “thoughts of death.” It turns out that when someone playing with Barbie in the Real World is troubled, the problems are transferred to Barbieland. So Barbie (along with a stowaway Ken) must travel to the Real World—where among other things, she discovers the Mattel Corporation and a mysterious phenomenon called the Patriarchy—in order to restore Barbieland to its original, plastic perfection.

Barbie gives a postmodern twist to the quest narrative, in which the protagonist must visit the fantastical realm to win order back for the real world and return a hero. Here it is the imaginary world that is the rightful order. Gerwig describes the look of the film as “authentic artificiality”: the plastic houses, painted sunsets, and depthless scale of Barbieland are what make it a genuine home for the Barbies and the Kens. Unlike in The Truman Show, they’re fully aware of what’s going on: the problem isn’t that they don’t notice they are living on a set, but that the set is malfunctioning, and the goal, rather than breaking out of it, is to fix it.

This is where the film’s “subversive” appeal is supposed to lie, running parallel with what Gerwig calls its “feminist” politics. Over the course of her quest to restore Barbieland and its second-and-a-half-wave-feminist matriarchy where women spend all their time primping and looking pretty while simultaneously performing neurosurgery and space missions, Barbie realizes that she wants to become human. “I don’t want to be the idea,” she tells Ruth, the woman who designed her, in the film’s climactic scene. “I want to do the imagining … I want to be part of the people that make meaning.” But it turns out that when it comes to being human, wishing is enough to make it so. Barbie bootstraps her way to a soul: there is no inner substance to be unveiled, no self that yearns, like the Little Mermaid, to rise from the depths. What we realize is that Barbie, played perfectly by Margot Robbie, is already human. Her plastic affect and Instagram vibes seem actually quite normal. The film insists that dreaming and imagining are what make us human, but it also suggests that these are activities that happen automatically. Barbieland is a utopia that governs itself, or rather, is governed by our toys.

We are supposed to play with dolls: they are figures for the projection of our desire, complex and ambivalent objects that allow us to play out our feelings of aggression, love, hate. You can torture Barbie or you can have tea with her, but when you start going to her for philosophy lessons, you’re in trouble. The film’s narrative thrust and emotional tone frame Barbie’s depthlessness as an achievement, indeed, as the truth of being human. The thing to be saved is not the real world but the fake one, which, in true dime-store-postmodern fashion, contains the truth that redeems the real one. The film’s lesson is that desire is all on the surface, and thus without limit or goal: like America, Barbieland is a dream that magically realizes itself, spreading outward until all the world has remade itself in its image.

When she says she wants to “do the imagining,” “be part of the people that make meaning,” we understand that Barbie wants to become like her creator—to become an artist. What would that look like? Judging from this movie, it would look like nothing more than an extended advertisement. Barbie distills the bleak, decadent current state of the culture industry, the world of zombie Marvel remixes and movies about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, where everything new must be spun off from already-existing so-called “intellectual property.” The truly dystopian reality that Barbie depicts is ours, one in which, no longer capable of imagining anything new ourselves, we look to the products we have already created and ask: What would their inner lives look like—what would they dream of?

Like Barbie, Oppenheimer tells the story of a person of seemingly fantastical accomplishments. Barbie, in addition to having a seemingly impossible figure, has been president, fashion model, astronaut, microbiologist, doctor, firefighter, and UNICEF ambassador, among other achievements. Oppenheimer—who was perhaps even thinner than Barbie—was a physicist who led the Manhattan Project, which resulted in the development of the atomic bomb. The book on which Nolan’s film is based, by Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird, is called American Prometheus, and although the Manhattan Project involved hundreds of other scientists and half a million workers, there is something mythic about Oppenheimer himself, an embodiment of the human drive to harness and redirect the fundamental forces of nature. Oppenheimer, of course, was a real person before he became a myth. But everything in a Christopher Nolan film is Epic, Cinematic, and so while Oppenheimer is a biographical drama composed mostly of scenes of dialogue, each moment is a crescendo, and our understanding of the man’s life becomes completely suffused with the sense of overwhelming historical importance. The film is absolutely riveting, and in some sense this is due simply to Nolan’s craftsmanlike mastery of cinema on the grandest Hollywood scale. He pulls out all the stops, and, in an inversion of Gerwig’s “authentic artificiality,” marshals incredible technical and logistical resources to create a realistic and immersive illusion. (Barbie and Oppenheimer both were budgeted over $100 million; Gerwig’s film seems to have cost slightly more.)

But the deployment of all this armature to tell this particular story is not an accident. Nolan’s cinematic effects overwhelms the human story, and what this means is that in the film, Oppenheimer becomes a cipher too. The simplest conversation is drowned out by highly processed strings blasting at ear-splitting volume. Fifty feet tall, sensuously detailed in 70mm, Cillian Murphy’s haunted, skeletal face resolves almost into abstraction. What was going on in the mind of the man as he transformed into, as he put it, quoting the Bhagavad Gita, “death, destroyer of worlds”? How did he justify pursuing the initial A-bomb, and then later speaking out against the more powerful H-bomb? How did he reconcile his leftist politics and desires for international governance with helping the generals select targets in a nearly-defeated Japan? Other characters seem mystified, too: “But what do you think, Robert?” he is asked again and again. What, for that matter, does Nolan think? The film never really tells us: or rather, what it shows us is that it doesn’t really matter. When, halfway through the film, we see the Trinity test on screen, we don’t need to know what it means to Oppenheimer because, like him, we can feel it obliterating meaning itself. After the bomb is dropped, Oppenheimer predicts, nuclear war will become “unthinkable.” What we realize, along with Oppenheimer, is that this doesn’t mean it’s not possible. What has been unleashed is something sublime, something precisely beyond the human scale: something that no one can truly imagine, and therefore something that can never be truly controlled.

2. THE AVENGERS

On the night of the London premiere, Oppenheimer’s cast walked out of the screening in support of the just-announced Screen Actors Guild strike, which joined the Writers Guild in stopping work. This was the first time both unions had been on strike together since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was SAG president. The dispute circles largely around how actors and writers will be compensated in the new landscape of entertainment dominated by streaming services and algorithmic intelligence, both of which hand studios greater power to manipulate and monetize the “content” that actors and writers ��generate” without their input, and further the automation of cultural production (which has, of course, been underway for a long time). With AI, studios can pay an actor once and then permutate her indefinitely, like a real-life Barbie; large language models, bombarded with enough scripts, break into narrative’s atomic structure and recompose it, generating infinite “content” for free.

It has been suggested (partly because of the strikes) that Barbenheimer should be seen as a swan song for Hollywood—the last Big Pictures conceived and executed according to coherent and distinctive visions. But these are also, whether they know it or not, films about this ending of an era, and how it got started. It was not just nuclear power, but a new and fantastically abstract consumer desire, a power hidden in images and objects, that marked the postwar era of American hegemony. Neither power has proven possible to control. “She’s everything,” Barbie’s tagline reads. We shape our tools, and then they shape us; art is also one of these tools, with the distinction that (if we are ready to look) it can show us its human form, reflecting back to us our own role in making it and reminding us that we could, therefore, do things differently. Both of these films are myths about the technology that shaped the American century. One of them is the best film of the last ten years; the other is just another product. But the story they both tell is of a world where the distinction no longer makes a difference.'

#Barbie #Oppenheimer #Greta Gerwig #Christopher Nolan #The Truman Show #Margot Robbie #American Prometheus #Kai Bird #Martin J. Sherwin #Cillian Murphy

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laresearchette · 1 year ago

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Sunday, July 16, 2023 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: 90 DAY FIANCÉ UK (discovery +) BARBIE DREAMHOUSE CHALLENGE (HGTV Canada) 9:00pm KIDS IN A CAGE (A&E Canada) 9:00pm THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY (Slice) 9:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: THE CHOSEN (CW Feed) GOLIATH (TBD - Crave) NIGHTMARE SCHOOL MOMS (TBD - Lifetime Canada)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

CBC GEM THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW (Season 13) MOONSHINE (Season 3) RACE AGAINST THE TIDE (Season 3)

CRAVE TV LAST CALL (Episode 1)

WIMBLEDON TENNIS (TSN/TSN5) 9:00am: Gentlemen’s Championship (TSN) 12:00pm: Ladies’ Doubles Championship (TSN4) 4:30pm: Primetime

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 1:30pm: Diamondbacks vs. Jays (SN Now) 3:00pm: Yankees vs. Rockies (TSN/TSN5) 7:00pm: Astros vs. Angels

HONDA INDY TORONTO (TSN4/TSN5) 1:30pm

NBA SUMMER LEAGUE (TSN2) 3:30pm: TBD (TSN2) 5:30pm: TBD (TSN2) 7:30pm: TBD

CALGARY STAMPEDE (SN1) 3:30pm: Rodeo - Day 10 (SN/SN1) 10:30pm: Rangeland Derby - Day 10

GLOBL JAM (SN/SN360) 5:00pm: Women’s Final (SN) 8:00pm: Men’s Final

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW (CBC) 7:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): A dozen hopefuls whip up gorgeous, gooey mini cakes and a classic red velvet before adding a new layer to their status as home bakers.

FARMING FOR LOVE (CTV) 7:00pm: As tensions build, an escape to wine country uncorks pent-up feelings and hard truths; the farmers must choose their final one-on-one dates.

RACE AGAINST THE TIDE (CBC) 8:30pm (SEASON PREMIERE): A rough and tough sand sculpting tournament kicks off in the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick when the first six teams show off their signature style.

MOONSHINE (CBC) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): When a mysterious package arrives at the Moonshine, it makes the Finley-Cullens question their fates and whether the road to their destinies begin -- or end -- at the Moonshine.

HOUSE HUNTERS (HGTV Canada) 10:30pm/11:00pm/11:30pm (SEASON 236 (!) PREMIERE): A Texas woman looks for a vacation home near family in Orlando, Fla.; her real estate agent sister helps search for a place on the water, but since she prefers saving to spending, she hesitates to spend the money.

#cdntv #canadian tv #cancon #canadian tv listings #great british baking show #farming for love #race against the tide #moonshine #tennis #mlb baseball #indycar #nba basketball #calgary stampede #globl jam basketball

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buzzfeedlolnews · 1 year ago

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From New York To Texas, Here's What Barbie's Dreamhouse Would Look Like In Each State

http://dlvr.it/SrV8YZ

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spoilertv · 1 year ago

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#SpoilerTV

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rainsmediaradio · 1 year ago

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Ice Spice & Nicki Minaj - Barbie World (with Aqua) Lyrics

Ice Spice & Nicki Minaj - Barbie World (with Aqua) Lyrics Intro: Lene Nystrøm & Ice Spice I'm always yours, ooh woah (Stop playin' with 'em, RIOT) Chorus: Ice Spice & Nicki Minaj And I'm bad like the Barbie (Barbie) I'm a doll, but I still wanna party (Party) Pink 'Vette like I'm ready to bend (Bend) I'm a ten, so I pull in a Ken Like Jazzie, Stacie, Nicki (Grrah) All of the Barbies is pretty (Damn) All of the Barbies is bad It girls (It girls) and we ain't playin' tag (Grrah) Verse 1: Nicki Minaj Rad, but he spank me when I get bad I'm in LA, Rodeo Drive I'm in New York, Madison Ave I'm a Barbie girl (Girl), Pink Barbie Dreamhouse The way Ken be killin' shit got me yellin' out like the Scream house (Woo) Yellin' out, we ain't sellin' out We got money, but we ain't lendin' out We got bars, but we ain't bailin' out In that pink Ferrari, we peelin' out I told Tae bring the Bob Dylan out That pussy so cold, we just chillin' out They be yellin', yellin', ye-yellin' out It's Barbie, bitch, if you still in doubt (Oh) Chorus: Ice Spice & Nicki Minaj And I'm bad like the Barbie (Barbie) I'm a doll, but I still wanna party (Party) Pink 'Vette like I'm ready to bend (Bend) I'm a ten, so I pull in a Ken Like Jazzie, Stacie, Nicki (Grrah) All of the Barbies is pretty (Damn) All of the Barbies is bad It girls (It girls) and we ain't playin' tag (Grrah) Verse 2: Ice Spice Barbie ain't nothin' to play 'bout He wanna play in the Playhouse (Playhouse) The fuck they gon' say now? (Grrah) I'm washin' these bitches, I'm rubbin' the stain out Like I'm ready to bend (Grrah) All the fake Barbies just wanna pretend (Hey) Like hold on, let me go find me a pen (Grrah) Look where it led, now I'ma put it to bed She a Barbie bitch with her Barbie clique (Grrah) I keep draggin' her, so she bald a bit (Damn) And I see the bread, I want all of it (Damn) And I want the green, so I olive it (Grrah) And I throw it back, so he losin' it (Like) And I give the box with no shoes in it (Damn) Yeah, I know the trick, so I got him bricked (Damn) Yeah, they know who lit, me and Barbie, bitch Chorus: Ice Spice & Nicki Minaj And I'm bad like the Barbie (Barbie) I'm a doll, but I still wanna party (Party) Pink 'Vette like I'm ready to bend (Bend) I'm a ten, so I pull in a Ken Like Jazzie, Stacie, Nicki (Grrah) All of the Barbies is pretty (Damn) All of the Barbies is bad It girls (It girls) and we ain't playin' tag (Grrah) Outro: Lene Nystrøm I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world Life in plastic, it's fantastic You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere Imagination, life is your creation Read the full article

#IceSpice #NickiMinaj

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kidsgamingchannel1998 · 2 years ago

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Finally New Update New York City ! Fun Barbie Game - Barbie Dreamhouse A...

#youtube

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valentinahq · 1 year ago

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[cisfemale and she/her] Welcome to Aurora Bay, [VALENTINA DE LUCA]! I couldn’t help but notice you look an awful lot like [LILY COLLINS]. You must be the [THIRTY-ONE] year old [WAITSTAFF AT OASIS NIGHT CLUB]. Word is you’re [VERSATILE] but can also be a bit [DECADENT] and your favorite song is [OFF TO THE RACES BY LANA DEL REY]. I also heard you’ll be staying in [AURORA BAY DRIVE]. I’m sure you’ll love it! / @aurorabayaesthetic

CHARACTER BASICS

NAME: valentina de luca NICKNAME: val, ina AGE: thirty DATE OF BIRTH: november 14, 1992 ZODIAC SIGN: scorpio GENDER & PRONOUNS: cisfemale, she/her ORIENTATION: heteroflexible STATUS: single HEIGHT: 5′4″ OCCUPATION: waitstaff at oasis night club/social media influencer NEIGHBORHOOD: aurora bay drive

BIOGRAPHY

valentina was the product of a love affair between a young starlet and a sotto capo back in italy. her father comes from generational wealth and because of this, she grew up as a spoiled brat. she’s daddy’s little princess and pretty much got everything she wanted. she wanted a pony, her father got her a whole ranch. she wanted a barbie dreamhouse, her father had her built one instead which was better than the ones being sold commercially.

when she was ten years old, she caught her mom kissing their driver and told her father about it. her mom didn’t get a single penny after the divorce and a restraining order was filed against her so she never contacted valentina. what val didn't know was that her father has been cheating on her mom long before she caught her mom--his pride simply just couldn't allow his wife to do the same to him and for him to be the laughing stock of their family. after all, he was supposed to inherit their empire.

even if val is a spoiled brat, she was actually pretty sweet during the start of her high school years. she enjoyed spoiling her friends and didn’t realize that some people were just using her for her money. she got pregnant at sixteen by a senior, who said that he didn’t want anything to do with the baby and even called her out saying that it might not even be his kid. and when she told her father about the pregnancy, he sent her to their vacation house in aurora bay away from prying eyes and had her deliver the child there.

however, he wasn't going to let his daughter taint their reputation so the moment her baby was born, she was taken away from her. this definitely did a number on her and she's heard from her friends back in italy that the father of her child also mysteriously disappeared before his graduation. rather than moving back to italy, val was forced to stay in aurora bay drive in the care of her nanny while her father visited them from time to time.

she continued her studies in aurora bay high school and had the realization that people will just use you, so before they do that, you gotta have the upper hand. she was still sweet when needed, but she can also be pretty mean to people who went against her. she masked her insecurities with arrogance and pretended like nothing ever hurt her anymore. definitely the queen bee in aurora bay highschool during her time and won prom queen during her senior year.

she went to college in paris to study fashion, but she never really applied for work in that field once she graduated and just went to travel all over the world. although she still sketch from time to time, she’s never been confident enough with her designs to actually put them out there. instead, she was just living off of her father’s wealth. this went on for a few years and she’s never even worked an hour of her life unless one considers traveling to new york and paris for their fashion week as work and having some brands sponsoring her since she does have a hefty followers in social media.

when her father got married two years ago, her boyfriend of three years also proposed to her in public, which caught valentina completely off guard and she just walked away instead of giving them an answer. they’ve always opened the thought of marriage to her, wherein she always changed the topic because for starters, she has been unfaithful to them and she believed that they actually deserve better than her. when they ran after her, she told them the truth that she has cheated on them before. the thought of committing to one person scared her because of what happened to her before, so she ended up hurting them before they could hurt her. she hated herself for doing that to them, but she also knew that she still has a lot of work to do on herself before she could even consider settling down with someone.

a year later, her father gave her an ultimatum to join the family business back in italy or actually find a job to support herself, since being a social media influencer isn't a real job according to her father even if she does make a good amount of money with her content. she chose the latter and since then, her father stopped paying for her things and only paid for the necessities in their house. val jumped from one job to another before landing a gig as a waitstaff in oasis night club, which seemed easy enough of a job for her to do.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

the ex she cheated on (0/1)

the person she cheated on said ex with (1/1)

her ex from high school who refused to believe that the baby was his (0/1)

a ride or die/best friend (0/1)

friends/acquaintances

sibling like friends

frenemy but they actually care about each other (0/1)

childhood friends who are still in good terms

childhood friends who are now on bad terms

friends who have fallen out

long lost half sibling (her dad had an affair before her mother even did, but she wasn’t aware of that)