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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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Random Reads 2/18/21

Are You in the House Alone? by Richard Peck Are You in the House Alone? came out in 1976 and though I totally could’ve read it when I was a teen—and thus still a member of its target audience—I never did.

Gail Osburne is a sixteen-year-old high school junior and native New Yorker who’s not at home in the quaint Connecticut village her family relocated to several years back. I knew that the plot involved Gail receiving menacing anonymous notes and phone calls, and I was expecting these events to get started quickly and the suspense to remain high throughout. But that doesn’t happen.

Instead, the story is told retroactively, so we know Gail survives. Also, obvious culprit is obvious. (I hope the reveal wasn’t intended to be a surprise, but perhaps readers were less savvy about such things in 1976.) Initially, much more of the focus is on Gail’s relationships with her parents, boyfriend, and best friend, and in particular how the latter two are in the slow process of dissolution. Eventually she receives some threatening notes and creepy phone calls, gets scared, is let down by people in positions of authority, and comes face-to-face with said obvious culprit. That happens halfway through this slim novel. The rest of the book is about Gail’s recovery from her ordeal.

I thought Are You in the House Alone? was going to be fun, suspenseful fluff, but it turned out to be fairly serious and occasionally (intentionally) infuriating. I really appreciated how Peck was able to weave in a couple of threads that seemed very random at first and make them integral to the denouement, too. Ultimately, I didn’t love the book, but I kind of… respect it, if that makes sense. It didn’t go the cheap route.

The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez Mack Megaton is a hulking robot who was created to destroy. He developed self-determination, however, and went against his programming. Now, he’s a probationary citizen of Empire City, where mutagens and pollution have created a very diverse population. While some “biologicals” are still “norms,” others have been physically transformed (like rat-like Detective Alfredo Sanchez) and others have been changed in not-so-visible ways (like Mack’s friend, Jung, a talking gorilla with refined literary taste). Mack works as a cab driver and is trying to keep a low profile, but when his neighbors are abducted, he can’t help but try to rescue them. This gets him into all sorts of trouble, of course.

Despite its name, The Automatic Detective isn’t really much of a mystery. I suppose it’s more… sci-fi noir. Mack meets various thugs, beats some of them up, gets beat up himself, etc. Slowly, he makes progress on uncovering a huge conspiracy. At times, I felt like Martinez was a little too enamored of the gimmick he created, and places in the middle dragged a bit as a result, but the ending is pretty satisfying and overall the book was enjoyable enough, even though it’s quite far from the sort of thing I usually read.

As a final note: I really liked that Martinez limited himself when it came time to invent universe-specific profanity. Instead of the text being liberally sprinkled with words like “frell” or “frak,” the phrase “Oh, flurb” appears but once (during a moment where the meaning is 100% apparent) and made me laugh out loud.

I don’t know if I’m necessarily eager to read more by Martinez, but I’m glad I read this one.

The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse When I read My Man Jeeves back in 2010, I was somewhat disappointed because so much of it was repetitive. While there are some common elements that recur within the eleven stories that comprise The Inimitable Jeeves, it is still so very much superior that I’d now say… forget about that first book. Start here. Go back and read My Man Jeeves for completist purposes, if that’s your inclination, but start here for the best introduction to these characters and Wodehouse’s uniquely charming and amusing writing.

First published in 1923, The Inimitable Jeeves contains a linked set of stories that typically involve affable Bertie Wooster being imposed upon by either his eternally lovesick friend Bingo Little (who is “always waylaying one and decanting his anguished soul”) or his mischief-making younger cousins, Claude and Eustace. One plot thread involves convincing Bingo’s uncle (who provides him with an allowance) to agree to Bingo marrying a waitress. Jeeves comes up with the idea to ply the uncle with romance novels featuring class differences to soften his heart, and it ends up that Bertie is compelled to go visit the old fellow and claim to be the author. In addition to containing the most elegant description of sweat I’ve ever seen—“The good old persp was bedewing my forehead by this time in a pretty lavish manner.”—this situation is referenced a few times in subsequent stories until Bingo succeeds in getting married to a different waitress who really is the author of those romance novels.

So, even though you’ve got episodic happenings, it’s rather a satisfactory conclusion. Bertie is endearing, Jeeves is competent, the writing is excellent, and it made me laugh. (I especially liked when a character was described as resembling “a sheep with a secret sorrow.”) I’m so glad that I didn’t give up on the series after the first book; now I feel as though I finally see what the fuss is all about. I’d also like to give credit to the fabulous narration by Jonathan Cecil. I’m not sure if it’s deliberate, but I hear echoes of Fry and Laurie in his performance, and I heartily approve. I will certainly seek out more unabridged versions read by him.

The Murders of Richard III by Elizabeth Peters This is the second in the Jacqueline Kirby series of mysteries. I haven’t read the first, and wouldn’t normally begin with the second, but the book promised an English country mansion plus “fanatic devotees of King Richard III” so my usual routine flew right out the window.

Even before university lecturer Thomas Carter likened himself unto Watson, I’d noticed the similarities between how this tale is told and the Sherlock Holmes stories. We are never permitted inside Jacqueline’s head. Instead, we see her how Thomas, hopeful of one day securing her romantic affections, views her. It’s fairly interesting, actually, because Thomas’ opinion of her fluctuates, sometimes peevishly. “You drive me crazy with your arrogance and your sarcasm and your know-it-all airs,” he says at one point. And though he soon after claims “I’m no male chauvinist; I don’t mind you showing off,” the fact is that earlier he was grumbling inwardly about her feigning “girlish ignorance” to reel in mansplainers and then walloping the “unwitting victim” with a cartload of knowledge. It’s true that Jacqueline isn’t especially likeable sometimes, but for remorselessly trouncing the sexist louts she encounters throughout the book, I must commend her!

The mystery itself is somewhat bland, unfortunately. The leader of a Ricardian society has received a letter purportedly written by Elizabeth of York, which would exonerate Richard of the deaths of her brothers, the “princes in the tower.” He calls a meeting of the society, with each attendee costumed as one of the historical personages involved, and summons the press, planning to unveil his find with much fanfare. But someone begins playing practical jokes on the Ricardians reminiscent of the fates of the people they are pretending to be. The book isn’t a long one, and soon the pranks start coming right on the heels of one another. Because of the swift pace—and some shallow characterization—the solution is rather anti-climactic.

Still, while I’m not sure I’ll seek out any more Jacqueline Kirby mysteries, this was overall a decent read.

A Perfect Match by Jill McGown The series of books featuring Detective Inspector Lloyd (whose first name is a secret for now) and Detective Sergeant Judy Hill begins with a short yet enjoyable mystery in which a wealthy young widow is found dead in a small English town on property she’d just inherited from her recently deceased husband. Unlike some mysteries of which I am fond, there’s no preamble where readers get to know the victim or the circumstances of their life. Instead, immediately there’s a policeman discovering the body and then Lloyd turns up to question the victim’s next of kin. This same lack of character development hampers the romantic tension between Lloyd and Hill, leaving me with no idea what motivated Hill to finally decide to act on her feelings for him, betraying her marriage vows in the process.

The mystery itself is interesting enough, however, involving long-married Helen and Donald Mitchell who have ties to both the victim, Julia—her late husband was Donald’s older brother and Helen thinks they were having an affair—and chief suspect, Chris, originally a friend of Donald’s who has fallen in love with Helen. I can’t claim to have mustered anything more than a mild curiosity as to what the outcome would be, but neither did I guess the specifics, so that was good. I liked the interrogation scenes, too.

McGown’s writing had some fun moments. I loved the super-evocative imagery of Lloyd telling Hill that her new perm makes her look like Kevin Keegan. I also really appreciated a recurring bit where each chapter ends with the point of view of wildlife. When Chris is eventually brought in by the police, his arrest is depicted from a bird’s perspective, for example. There are also ducks, a moth, a fly, a cat… I don’t know if this device recurs in later books in the series, but I look forward to finding out.

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight This is the second mystery/thriller I’ve read in which a single mom who is a lawyer with a cold and unfeeling mother of her own attempts to work out the mystery of what happened to a family member (the other being Girl in the Dark by Marion Pauw). Is that some kind of trend these days?

Kate Baron has a demanding job at a swanky firm, but she’s trying her best to be a good mom to her fifteen-year-old bookworm daughter, Amelia. She’s shocked to get a call from Grace Hall, the prestigious private school Amelia attends, saying that her daughter has been accused of cheating, and by the time she makes her way to the school, Amelia has evidently jumped to her death from the school roof. The police are only too happy to classify her death as a suicide, but when Kate gets a text that says “Amelia didn’t jump,” she starts trying to put together the pieces of what happened.

Reconstructing Amelia has quite a few problems. Despite her better judgment (and a promise to her best friend), Amelia joins a clique of bitchy girls at school who end up publicly humiliating her and trying to get her expelled when she falls in love with someone deemed off-limits. It’s hard to muster sympathy for what she ends up going through when one remembers the cruel prank she was willing to pull on someone else as part of the initiation process (largely kept off-camera to keep us from disliking her too much, I guess). We’re repeatedly told about the great relationship Amelia and her mom share, but never shown it. The subplot about Amelia’s dad is the literary equivalent of wilted lettuce. And the fact that the new detective who gets assigned to the case allows Kate to question suspects is absolutely ludicrous.

And yet, I couldn’t hate the book, largely because of Amelia’s friend, Sylvia. For much of the book she comes across as shallow and self-absorbed, but when Amelia really needs her, she’s there. She gives Amelia this tour of “great moments at Grace Hall” to cheer up her impressive pal, right before breaking down about her own legitimate pain. I never would’ve thought at the outset that I would have such immense sympathy for Sylvia, but I do. I find myself hoping that she’ll be okay.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane It sure is nice going into a book unspoiled, particularly one as twisty as Shutter Island. I was quite happy with the book as it began, with U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule taking the ferry to Shutter Island to track down a patient missing from Ashcliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. It’s late summer 1954, and these guys are manly but accessible, and surprisingly funny. Consider this relatiely early exchange that cracked me up:

Pretentious Doctor: *makes remarks on the lives of violence the marshals must lead* Chuck: Wasn’t raised to run, Doc. Pretentious Doctor: Ah, yes. Raised. And who did raise you? Teddy: Bears.

For a while, all seems straightforward. Then Teddy confides to Chuck that he’s actually come there looking for a patient named Andrew Laediss, who was responsible for setting the fire that killed Teddy’s wife two years before. Gradually, one starts to doubt everything (and there was a point where all of the uncertainty got to be a little much for me) but the ultimate conclusion is a very satisfactory one.

Why Did You Lie? by Yrsa Sigurdardottir Set in Iceland, Why Did You Lie? starts out with three different storylines taking place a few days apart. The first involves a photographer on a helicopter journey to take pictures of a lighthouse on a rock in the middle of the ocean, the second is about a policewoman whose journalist husband has recently attempted suicide, and the third is about a family who returns from a house swap with an American couple to find some of their stuff missing and weird footage on the security camera. Of course, as the book progresses, these storylines converge, and it’s pretty neat when the police activity the helicopter flew over in chapter one turns out to be almost the culmination of the policewoman’s plot thread.

For some reason, I can’t help wondering how Ruth Rendell might’ve written this book. I think Rendell would’ve done a lot more with characterization, for one thing. There’s certainly some here, especially for the anxious husband who struggles to make his wife admit something really has gone wrong with their houseguests, but the primary concern seems to be getting on with the suspenseful action. Quickly, each plot features some kind of creepy lurker and then ominous notes (variations on the “why did you lie?” theme) figure in to all three, as well. Nina, the policewoman, digs around and talks to people and works out that everything connects to a supposed suicide from thirty years ago.

The result is certainly an entertaining book, but not one I could really love. One major issue I had is being able to predict something very significant. The number of characters who could’ve been angry enough about the 30-year-old lies in question to terrorize people in the present is very small. And once the existence of a certain person is oh-so-casually mentioned two-thirds through the book, I thought, “Oh, well, it’s them, then.” And then a little later, I figured out which of the characters it must be and I was right. This made for an anticlimactic ending that was clearly meant to be a shocking one. Also, I would’ve liked to have cared more that one character ends the novel poised to move on with life but, in reality, still in jeopardy.

I still would read more by this author, though.

By: Michelle Smith

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archinform · 4 years ago

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Cinema moderne: The Punch and Judy Theatre, Chicago, 1930

“The graceful functionalism of the Punch and Judy;” drawing by Nicolas Remisoff. The Western Architect, November 1930, p. 175.

The cinema unique

The Punch and Judy Theatre was a cinematic remodeling in the modern style of an older theater space. Originally the second-third floor Recital Hall of the 1896 Steinway Hall [see Steinway Hall article here], the new cinema space was a complete reimagining, on an intimate scale, of the experience of moviegoing. The Punch and Judy’s design was the work of Eugene Fuhrer, architect, Nicolas Remisoff, theatre designer and consultant, and Edgar Miller, designer of the lobby's relief decorations.

Edgar Miller “Punch” relief

The Punch and Judy was “an extension of the ventures of Louis Machat,”[1] who had built on the “little theatre” movement in America with his version of “little cinema,” first in the eastern U.S. and then in Chicago’s Towertown [the area off N. Michigan Ave. near the Water Tower].

The “little theatre” movement has courageously invaded the Loop and the result, architecturally, is a most interesting transformation of the one Chicago’s oldest “legitimate” theatres into a motion picture house not only modern but vigorously modernistic, and as such, it is probably one of the most successful examples of this manner that we have in America.[2]

The Western Architect, November 1930, p. 182.

The existing theater was square-shaped, of late-Victorian design, and with “objectionable features throughout” including two balconies, view-obstructing columns, bad acoustics, improper ventilation, and badly-arranged seats. It was judged “utterly impossible for the present-day theatre, while the general design was of such poor taste that a complete remodelling had to be considered.”[3]

Interior views from “The unconventional PUNCH and JUDY,” Exhibitors Herald-World, October 25, 1930, pp. 35-40:

The designers’ task was to turn an “antiquated playhouse,” by then “the product of another architectural period,” [4] into the cinema unique, with every modern design feature and convenience. Modern and modernistic were how the designers’ work was described, in terms both of technology and of style. Eschewing the historical trappings of grand movie palaces, the new style was stripped down, almost devoid of ornament, and based on smooth, curving surfaces. Streamline moderne[5] or Depression Modern[6] would later define this style; in France, it would be called at the time Style paquebot, or "Ocean liner style," referring to the classic ocean liner Normandie.[7] Indeed, one description noted “The columns rising like pylons or the stacks of a great ship” (which actually covered the four columns of the earlier theater), as well as “the plain surfaces and strong lines that mark the entire design.[8]

This is modernism in the mood commonly referred to when this style of design is mentioned. For those who like the severer note…it is probably one of the most honest creations in the motif that we have in this country… [one would] be reminded of several of the finest examples of the manner erected in Germany.[9]

Interior views from Remisoff, Nicolas, “The Punch and Judy Theatre,” The Western Architect, November 1930, pp. 182-191:

The cinema’s broadly-curved walls and domical ceiling, as well as the color scheme – touches of red and blue in reference to Punch and Judy, “faun” or “honey-brown” walls, and bold accents of black – characterized its modern style. A hallmark of this new mode, in addition, was its use of lighting. In the Punch and Judy, illumination was almost all from reflected light. Its principal source was from a light cove set into an elongated proscenium arch, from which the indirect lighting would be reflected off the curtain, softly illuminating the whole room. The lighting allegedly had the same faun tint as the walls.[10]

The new theater was illustrated in The Western Architect of November 1930, one article penned by Nicolas Remisoff, design consultant. The theater had been transformed from a squarish space into one “circular in feeling.” Its design, the specialized sound-absorbing seats made by the American Seating Company, the color scheme, the acoustics, and even the free demitasse coffee and cigarettes offered in the lobby, reflected the idea that “the whole theme of the theatre is comfort - comfort to all the senses.”[11] A sense intimacy was achieved by reducing the previous space’s 890 seats to just 354.[12]

Main floor and loge plans

The new Punch and Judy offered seating on the main floor and in a second-level loge; the loge featured metal trays where patrons could comfortably rest their demitasses or ashtrays. Its small lobby, with plaques of Punch and Judy by Edgar Miller, was reached by a stairway from the ground floor; the entry was through the space originally occupied by the Lyon & Potter Steinway showroom, to the right of the building’s central entrance.

“Thus by a harmony of forms, colors, sounds, service, that restful result which we have long sought in theatre design has at last been achieved.”[13]

1934 handbill

The “Little Cinema” Movement:

The Little Cinema or art house movement sought an alternative to commercial films, the huge public that supported them, and the huge movie palaces in which they were displayed. Discernment, or the need for something different, was the key. It had similar aims to the Little Theatre movement, which had started in the late 19th century, whose goal was to create experimental centers for the dramatic arts.

Starting in 1925, a chain of small theaters was proposed, designed to provide an "intimate" alternative to the large commercial movie houses of the day, and dedicated to showing "art films that appeal to the intelligent and sophisticated.”[14]

Design features encouraged patrons, in the words of one early promotional brochure, to “Sip delightful Java and smoke cigarettes of your own choosing." Created for comfort and quiet, interiors offered sumptuous lounges appointed with deep carpets, velvet, drapes and soft lighting to encourage rest, relaxation, and "intimate chat."[15]

“Sure seaters” was a nickname given to these art house cinemas, since patrons were always assured of finding a seat, due to the films’ lack of broad appeal.

The sure-seater has a subtle snob appeal that helps at the box office. You go into a theater that has a few tasteful paintings in the lobby and a maid serves you a demitasse of coffee. You’ve just paid top admission prices, but the coffee creates a pleasant aura. Then you’re shown to a comfortable seat in a well mannered audience…. You see a picture that assumes you have average intelligence and it’s such a refreshing switch that you are flattered to be among such perceptive folks who are sharing the experience.[16]

Chicago’s first “art house,” the Playhouse, formerly a legitimate theater, opened on September 11, 1927. Managed by Michael Mindlin, the 602-seat theater had a top ticket price of $1.10, and successfully premiered with Battleship Potemkin.[17]

The Cinema Art Theatre, 151 East Chicago Avenue, Armstrong, Furst and Tilton, architects, opened on December 26, 1929 with the film Shiraz.[18] This cinema, with 299 seats, was presumably one of “the ventures of Louis Machat” in Chicago’s “Tower town” referred to earlier. Like the Punch and Judy, the cinema was decorated in soft and contrasting color schemes that downplayed its small size, and both featured works of art in the lobby or lounge, “objects embodying distinctive cultural values,”[19] sometimes exhibited on a rotating basis.

Foyer and auditorium, Cinema Art Theatre, 151 E. Chicago Ave., from The Western Architect, April 1930.

The Punch and Judy opened September 18, 1930, with D.W. Griffith’s Abraham Lincoln, with a policy of presenting American-made pictures “of the type regarded as appealing to the socalled ‘discriminating’ portion of the citizenry.” The opening-night ticket price was $11 a seat [about $170 at today’s prices]. The Griffith film was then shown three times a day at a top evening price 0f $2.[20]

Punch and Judy marquee, announcing D.W. Griffith’s Abraham Lincoln, 1930. Photo: Cinema Treasures

An item in the December 20, 1930 Exhibitors World-Herald announced that “We understand that Max Ascher has taken over the defunct, as it were, Punch and Judy theatre on Van Buren street.”[21] Whether the cinema had fallen on hard times in its first three months or simply changed management is not known; the Playhouse had felt the effects of dwindling ticket sales soon after its opening, and perhaps this was also the case with the Punch and Judy. The stock market crash of 1929, as well as a scarcity of quality foreign silent films and the advent of talking pictures, played their role as well.[22]

The Punch and Judy would change its name to the Sonotone in 1935; it would be known as the Studio 1940-1952, the Ziegfeld 1952-1958, and finally the Capri 1958-1968. The Capri would exhibit adult films until it closed in 1968;[23] the Steinway Hall building, which housed this succession of cinemas, was demolished in 1970.

Movie ads for (top) the Ziegfeld 1950 and (bottom) the Capri March 15 1963. Source: Cinema Treasures

In retrospect, The Little Cinema Movement seems to have been destined to engage in a rearguard action against the incursion of what must have seemed the vulgar aesthetic tastes represented by the mass-appeal talkies. Early literature…alludes to the physical layout, atmosphere, and programs as exuding elegance, refinement, intelligence, and repose as an antidote to the helter-skelter pace of the Roaring Twenties.[24]

The Designers

Information about Eugene Fuhrer, architect, is scarce. From a 1956 American Architects Directory (American Institute of Architects) he was born February 2, 1902, in Wallendorf, Austria-Hungary. He earned a B.S. in Architecture in 1923 from the Armour Institute of Technology, where he earned a Huntchinson Medal and AIA Student Medal. He received a Traveling Scholarship from the Chicago School of Architecture in 1923, and traveled to Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Holland, German, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy.

Fuhrer was employed as a draftsman and designer for A.S. Alschuler, Inc., Chicago, 1923-26; as a designer for Walter Ahlslager 1926-27, and by Rissman & Hirschfield in 1927. He and his brother Max (b. January 31, 1901, studied at Cane College and Armour Institute) organized the firm Eugene & Max Fuhrer in 1927. The firm received commissions in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Among these were the Women’s Dormitory and additions to a power plant at Northern Illinois State Teachers College, DeKalb, as well as large construction projects in the Chicago area. Eugene co-authored the book Chicago Building Costs in 1936. The firm’s address was 120 S. LaSalle St. [now the CIBC Building], No. 3, and Eugene’s home was at 5228 S. University Ave., Chicago.[25]

Women’s Dormitory, Northern Illinois State Teachers’ College, DeKalb IL; postcard

Helsing’s Restaurant and Bar, 166 N. State St., matchbook cover

More details are gleaned from a 1946 Architects’ Questionnaire to gain qualification for federal public works. To his prior practice, Eugene added H. Clyde Miller 1920-21, draftsman and tracer, and Root and Hollister 1922-23, draftsman and designer, as well as brother Max’s prior qualifications. A third brother, Martin (b. December 12, 1912) is listed, who commenced practice in 1933. The firm’s large commissions included the Teachers College dormitory referred to ($1,200,000) and Stickney Hospital, Stickney, Illinois ($1,000,000). Smaller commissions included Helsing’s Washington Street Restaurant, Chicago; the Goodman Company, Cleveland; and the McNeill Building, Chicago. Further representative works from 1936 to 1947 are also listed in the questionnaire.[26]

A couple of drawings by Eugene Fuhrer in the Ryerson and Burnham Archive, Art Institute of Chicago, represent his sketching and presentation drawing skills.

Nicolai (or Nicolas) Remisoff (1887-1975) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia; in 1910 he began studying at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1918. He and his family fled Russia, and eventually arrived in Paris in 1921. In Paris, he became the artist director of the famed theatre company Chauve-Souris (the Bat), which traveled the world and brought Remisoff to the United States. In New York, Remisoff began designing covers and doing illustrations for Conde Nast publications; he was then asked by Elizabeth Arden to design her famed “Red Door” salon and spa. In 1924, Remisoff opened a Russian-themed night club in New York called Club Petrushka, but the club burned in 1925.

Remisoff headed to Chicago, where he taught stage design at the Art Institute 1925-1926. While in Chicago, where he stayed until 1935, he designed sets and costumes for the Adolph Bolm and Ruth Page ballet companies. He created murals for the Casino Club, the Chicago Club, the Graceland Cemetery Chapel, and the Lake Forest Public Library, among other buildings. He had one-man shows at The Arts Club of Chicago in 1925 and the Art Institute of Chicago in 1938. He also exhibited at the Century of Progress Exhibition in 1933.

Remisoff left Chicago in 1938 for Hollywood, where he would serve as art or production designer for 31 movies.[27]

Portrait of Nicolas Remisoff painted by Ilia Repine in 1917

Nicolas Remisoff, Winter Scene Design for a Ballet; Art Institute of Chicago

Edgar Miller (1899-1993) was an American self-taught artist and master craftsman, “a creative virtuoso of the modern era—who applied his skills to a multitude of projects in art, design and architecture.”[28] He was a designer, painter, craftsman, master woodcarver, and stained-glass designer.

Edgar Miller’s genius reached its apex in four fully realized artistic studios that he built on Chicago’s North Side in the 1920s and ‘30s. Miller marked almost every inch of the studios with daring and surprise. He took rustic brick, crude stone, salvaged tile, found glass and recycled steel and wood and “Edgarized” the homes, packing them with stained-glass windows, frescoes, murals, mosaics and woodcarvings.[29]

These studios include the Carl Street Studio (1927) and the Rudolph Glasner Studio (1928), both in Chicago’s Old Town area.

Edgar Miller painting a mural, 1957

(Left) Edgar Miller interior and stained glass, Architecture, August 1932, p. 66; (right) Carl Street Studio, www.edgarmiller.org

In his younger years Miller was called everything from “the blond boy Michelangelo” to “a new luminary.” In 1919 he had been was hired as an apprentice in the studio of Alfonso Ianelli, spending five years working on advertising, design, packaging, ink drawings, mural posters, stained glass, and cut stone. Through Ianelli, Miller met important studio clients like Marshall Field & Company and Holabird & Root, developing a network of future employers.[30]

Of Miller’s plaques for the lobby of the Punch and Judy, Nicolas Remisoff wrote:

In some respects I consider these among the most clever things done by Miller. They are beautifully composed in diagonal compositions, perfectly done. Edgar Miller has, with his usual fine sense of fitness, captured something characteristically theatrical of the old time theatre. This is the one spot where tradition enters boldly, but up the stairway and toward the lounge one sees another plaque that expresses its fitness for its setting and carries out the circular form and motifs of this new theatre.[31]

The Punch and Judy, which has “…introduced a new form for moving picture theatres, free from any kind of style and scenery,”[32] had offered an innovative and more intimate experience for the discerning movie patron of the 1930s. Its concept was realized by some of the most renowned designers and decorators of their day. Its forms evoked an age of speed, machines, and sleek new “modern” design that in retrospect would come to be called streamline moderne.

The Punch and Judy would end its existence as the Capri Cinema, which closed in 1968. Photo: Cinema Treasures

Links to PDF documents of works cited:

Edgar Miller Designer-Craftsman, Architecture, August 1932

Finding Aid for the Nicolas Remisoff Papers

Fuhrer & Fuhrer Questionnaire for Federal Public Works

“The Cinema Unique,” The Western Architect Nov. 1930

Matsoukas, Nick John, “The unconventional PUNCH and JUDY,” Exhibitors Herald-World Oct. 25, 1939

Remisoff, Nicolas, “The Punch and Judy Theater,” The Western Architect Nov. 1930

Notes:

[1] Matsoukas, Nick John, “The unconventional PUNCH and JUDY,” Exhibitors Herald-World, October 25, 1930, p. 35

Louis Machat started in 1910 with an early talking apparatus, such as it was…. Louis Machat was then connected with the old Sixth Avenue Playhouse in New York…. It failed and with the failure of the cylinder film followed the importation of foreign productions from Sweden, France and Italy. This importing business let him into the “Little Theatre” movement and resulted in the opening of the Wardman Park hotel theatre in Washington, D.C. in 1926. Similar theatres followed in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Rochester and Chicago, with still others projected.

Shortly after the Punch and Judy was opened, Machat said to me, “It is high time for the motion picture industry to take cognizance of the fact that the whole population of the United States does not care for gilded walls…. There is a lot of room in America for some native theatrical architecture….”

Ibid. p. 129

Louis Machat would later be listed as the Producer for the 1943 short film Wasted Lives. IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7956280/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

The article’s author, Nick John Matsoukas, was a theater manager, film press agent, and journalist. Limited information about him is available at:https://www.myheritage.com/names/nick_matsoukas#col_a_10220http://cinematreasures.org/photos/229126

[2] Ibid.

[3] “The Cinema Unique,” The Western Architect, vol. 29 no. 11, November 1930, p. 175.

[4] Matsoukas, Nick John, “The unconventional PUNCH and JUDY,” Exhibitors Herald-World, October 25, 1930, p. 35.

[5] “Streamline Moderne,” Archetypical. https://www.archetypical.us/streamline-moderne/

[6] Greif, Martin, Depression Modern, The Thirties Style in America. New York: Universe Books, 1975.

[7] “Streamline Moderne,” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamline_Moderne

[8] Matsoukas, Nick John, “The unconventional PUNCH and JUDY,” Exhibitors Herald-World, October 25, 1930, pp. 37 and 39.

[9] “Notes on Writers and Subjects in this Issue,” Exhibitors Herald-World, October 25, 1930, p. 19.

[10] Matsoukas, Nick John, “The unconventional PUNCH and JUDY,” Exhibitors Herald-World, October 25, 1930, p. 38.

[11] “The Cinema Unique,” The Western Architect, vol. 39 n. 11 Nov. 1930, pp. 175-76.

[12] Matsoukas, Nick John, “The unconventional PUNCH and JUDY,” Exhibitors Herald-World, October 25, 1930, p.36.

[13] “The Cinema Unique,” The Western Architect, vol. 39 n. 11 Nov. 1930, p. 177

[14] “The Little Cinema Movement,” The Little; https://thelittle.org/history

[15] Ibid.

[16] Wilinsky, Barbara, Sure Seaters: The Emergence of Art House Cinema. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001, p. 1. Accessed at https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uJp_B8lN0iIC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=little+cinema+movement&ots=a5AX92LnoG&sig=kzefPGtf9xbHDWuhPlMhja8CCyg#v=onepage&q=little%20cinema%20movement&f=false

[17] Guzman, Tony, “The Little Theatre Movement: The Institutionalization of the European Art Film in America,” Film History. Vol. 17, No. 2/3, 2005, p. 274.

[18] “Cinema Theater, 151 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611,” Cinema Treasures. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/980

Once a popular art house located off N. Michigan Avenue on E. Chicago Avenue on Chicago’s Near North Side, the Cinema Theater opened on December 26, 1929 with “Shiraz”.

The Cinema Theater closed September 13, 1981, and was demolished and replaced a few years later by the Olympia Centre tower. A Neiman Marcus store is also situated on the former theater site.

The theater was illustrated in The Western Architect, April 1930, p. 60 ff.

[19] “The Cinema Unique,” The Western Architect, vol. 39 n. 11 Nov. 1930, p. 177.

[20] Matsoukas, Nick John, “The unconventional PUNCH and JUDY,” Exhibitors Herald-World, October 25, 1930, p. 35

[21] Little, Jim, “Chicago Personalities,” Exhibitors World-Herald, December 20, 1930, p. 62.

See also: Schiecke, Konrad, Downtown Chicago's Historic Movie Theatres. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2011, p. 178; “Ascher Brothers, Wikitia. https://wikitia.com/wiki/Ascher_Brothers

[22] “History of the Reel World,” https://thelittle.org/history

[23] Schiecke, Konrad, Downtown Chicago's Historic Movie Theatres. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2011, pp. 75-76.

“On July 3, 1940, the theatre emerged as the Studio, with new management dedicated to public service and single, first-run features, newsreels and comedy shorts. French without Tears started off Studio’s program. In 1952 the theatre was renamed the Ziegfeld, operated with Tom Down as manager until 1958 when M. Down became owner.

The newly redecorated “art” theatre, now renamed the Capri, opened on July 3, 1958, with a controversial adult French film, Nana, based on an Emile Zola novel…Adult films were shown until the theatre closed in 1968.”

[24] “History of the Reel World,” https://thelittle.org/history

[25] American Institute of Architects, 1956 American Architects Directory. Accessed at https://aiahistoricaldirectory.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AHDAA/pages/20644319/1956+American+Architects+Directory

[26] “Questionnaire for Architects’ Roster and / or Register of Architects Qualified for Federal Public Works,” May 10,1946. Eugene and Max Fuhrer, 160 N. LaSalle St.

[27] Richard Norton Gallery, Nicolas Remisoff biography, no date. http://richardnortongallery.com/artists/nicolai-remisoff

Remisoff’s decor for the New York home of Elizabeth Arden is illustrated here: https://thepeakofchic.blogspot.com/2016/04/an-early-thirties-set-piece.html

[28] “Edgar Miller, the Artist,” https://www.edgarmiller.org/terra-3

[29] “Edgar Miller Legacy,” https://www.edgarmiller.org/history/

[30] Cahan, Richard and Williams, Michael, Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home. Chicago: City Files Pres, 2009, pp. 18–93.

[31] Remisoff, Nicolas, “The Punch and Judy Theatre,” The Western Architect, November 1930, p. 183.

[32] Schiecke, Konrad, Downtown Chicago's Historic Movie Theatres. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2011, p. 75.

#punch and judy #theatre #cinema #art deco #moderne #streamline moderne #steinway hall #Nicolas Remisofff #edgar miller #Eugene Fuhrer #capri cinema #chicago #van buren st.#1930s #little cinema #little theatre

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skimblyshanks · 4 years ago

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Ok, my thoughts on first viewing:

First, this is something that I always have to remember when watching his videos: A singer/Dancer/actor he is not. While he will vouch for performers against poor direction, he is acquainted with the orchestral side of things first and foremost. This is a glaring flaw in Part V which is probably the most muddled part of the video. While I’ve yet to see him full-on go after an actor alone, he got close this time w/ Corden and Sir Ian, though this was mixed with his general issues about how orchestration was run, I wasn’t a fan of that aspect of this.

I have comments on Part V toward the end of this post.

It might feel like a “Not 1998, so movie bad” argument, but this is based on the score and decisions in music direction

that said, 98 was clearly his primary reference. He didn’t really look at M+R for this reason which I feel was a bit of wasted potential bc if he looked a bit more into the OLC’s score it would highlight how much they screwed Danny over

He used the CATS wiki during his research for this

A lot of small jabs aat the show, but they’re small, scattered, and he doesn’t let his own personal distaste for the show taint his analysis of the score

Very hostile to the film’s musical direction, and calls the vocal performances p bad, but he isn’t knocking the actors on that so much as hooper’s continued decision to put the actors’ performances in control of the orchestra’s tempo to the point they had to set up a 5 track audio system during shoots

I’m forever going to be aware now of the orchestra in Memory and the off-beat cockroaches

related to the above, There is a claim made that most of the singers didn’t properly know the music, due to the level of score mismanagement, and says that the two cleanest numbers tempo-wise, Tugger and Skimbleshanks, are likely so because they are carried by ppl very actively dancing/moving for the most part to the beat of the original piece. He isn’t 100% on that claim, but it’s still one that I wouldn’t give all the weight in the world to.

Personally, I’d say it was more likely that ensemble dance-heavier numbers got away mostly unscathed bc the cast rehearsed those at tempo and came in for shoots knowing them at tempo. He says this himself, bc he talks abt how awkward some of the numbers are for dancing in this portion of the video. so yes, there is still room for his argument, and he was also mostly directing it towards Corden, Wilson, and Sir Ian than all the numbers, but I think it’s worth considering how much of that is also just. You can know a piece, and know it at tempo, but when you’re thrust into a situation where the accompaniment follows you and the click track isn’t the first and p much only line of action while performing this live and seperate from the orchestra like how Hooper does it, the first instinct is to drag, speaking from similar experience.

Still very mad at Hooper

Inadvertently and absolutely unintentionally gave me music-theory tuggershanks justifications

All in all:

Parts I-IV were pure catharsis. He managed to break down and analyze the narrative outline of CATS superbly, and provided it in a way so the unexperienced could understand it beyond “Lol cat ppl cult try to die” and even if he doesn’t care for the show, he clearly understands the story beats and the strengths of the score. I can sit through his negative tone for that. He attacks the writing of Victoria as protagonist, but not because there could never possibly be a protagonist, rather because in introducing her as the protagonist they undermined Jemima’s role in the original story, and saw Victoria touching Grizabella as special because it was Victoria, and not bc for the first time, no one stopped her (All of the younger cats tried to get close to Griz in act I, Vic included, and were stopped. While she is the most visually striking choice, he argues that the impact is meant to be in the fact that this time, she’s allowed freely. Her acceptance is facilitated by the tribe’s acceptance at large). There’s also discussion on Beautiful Ghosts’ placement making her seem unsympathetic, and her generally confused character writing. He addresses how multiple instances of blocking and choreo are directly in opposition to proper breath support. He does a mahor takedown on the way Hooper runs his audio for his movies; having the orchestra follow actor, always.

Part V is the weakest section of the video, bc he ends up spending time arguing that the actors didn’t know the music even when explaining that Having the orchestra submit to the actor was detrimental to all parties back in Part IV. Part V is named dance rehearsal, and you’d think then that he would adress the number of dance rehearsals vs the number of vocal rehearsals, which is where I thought the part was going, but it wasn’t. Good points were raised thru Tugger and Skimble’s numbers; both being fast-paced, dance-intensive, and dancer-led all likely contributed to their objective musical quality being maintained, but there really is a lot to examine in the way of vocal rehearsals, bc for all we know solo actors could have been told to learn their songs at their own pace and not fret the tempo so much, in which case it is ultimately a failing moreso on the director than them.

Part V really highlights Sideways’ distance from the performers’ side of things. While it’s true that when Orchestra enters rehearsal, you should already know the score by that point, this is where an examination of the rehearsal process for this movie would have been most needed, bc for actors there are vocal rehearsals before orchestra is introduced, and if Hooper didn’t have them rehearsing with set click tracks, if he or the vocal director weren’t advising them to practice at tempo, there’s only so much blame to be laid at the actors’ feet. After establishing in Part IV how very muddled the audio system was during shoots, it might also have been good to mention the utter crunch everyone involved in the movie was under, including actors. He ignores that the cast is largely made up of dancers, and in doing so implies that Francesca was unprofessional and didn’t properly learn her song when she had almost no time to learn it. It was a section of wasted potential, basically. He talked in the Les Mis video abt the danger Hooper put his cast in with his directorial practices, but we don’t get a condemnation of the utter lack of proper prep time actors were given before being sent to shoot with a piano and orchestra that weren’t allowed to follow the set tempo.

A reminder that p much all active production for this movie, including dance and vocal rehearsal was done within the year. Times where that works: the 1998 film, where the cast was made of alumni and current cast members, working with largely universal choreography by Gillian Lynne, and all having prior stage experience.

Times that doesn’t really work: When you have a cast with several new ppl, alumni from various casts who learned different choreography, and an entirely new set of choreography to be learned on top of that, along with not casting any alumni in parts that carry large numbers, save for Dame Judi Dench, who instead of playing the role she was once slated for, instead had to manage a role usually played by an operatic Baritone. Francesca and Steven both learned to sing FOR this movie. a good handful of the performers have not been in stage productions before. With the production schedule of this movie, and the convoluted setup for live performances while shooting, it wasn’t fair of Sideways to position it like the actors ought to have known better and shown up with the songs all at tempo, especially when he himself established earlier on and in his Les Mis video that Hooper assumes his actors know what they’re doing and won’t step in.

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thestangossip · 4 years ago

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I think PP will be fine, his BFF is Oscar Isaac and he’s so level headed and humble. A family man too. Maybe he’ll introduce P to someone who wants nothing more than the man himself. Not money, not press. Not people who want to be more famous because they’re friends with Mando.

I hope he won’t do the whole fake dating pap walk though. And like us fans wouldn’t buy it lol, we know he prefers men! At the very least he should stand his ground and come out. Or stay single and unproblematic. Both is good, both is fine.

I’m skeptical of ANY celebrity friendship, also why the fuck should it be up to Oscar to fix him up. He’s 45 he can find someone. Oscar’s got a wife, two kids, and a career. He’s got no time to be worried about the sex lives of his friends.

I mean we don’t know he prefers men, personally, I don’t see any evidence of it either way. I typically go off closested relationships when deciding if a person is closested. I don’t see any closested relationships. Luke Evans-Jon K. (early days), Lee Pace Richard Armitage, Taylor Swift Karlie Kloss/Dianna Agron, Oprah Winfrey- Gayle King, Dolly Parton- Judy Ogle, etc.

Closeted people typically have relationships that you can pinpoint. They have a close “friend”. You don’t just like weird tweets. I do not see AT ALL a close “friend” that Pedro has. And he has been romantic looking with women... so it’s really odd.

#mod belle #anonymous

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aurore-dupin · 5 years ago

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Every Goddamn Sand Movie.

A post that might be a long time coming! Riffing on my other GS post for @pilferingapples here it is! The films are rated from least to most strange. Literally, all of these movies have adult content so don’t say I didn’t warn you. I might've forgotten one or two foreign ones so just like lemme know if I've missed your favorite : )

La valse de l'adieu - Can’t do anything too heinous if you are a silent film from 1928! I haven’t found a copy of this anywhere but the promotional materials and screengrabs are stunning. This George looks sophisticated and downright intimidating and I really want her to step on me.

Impromptu - This is my favorite movie so I am very biased. But, Judy Davis does a wonderful job as George, she’s got the banter, the tenderness, and can turn out the looks. There is some discontinuity with the timeline of the film with like when some Chopin pieces were written and such, and how they portray Sand’s pursual of Chopin. Overall hilarious and from this list, this is probably the one you should see. And I do have this movie if anyone wants to watch it with me lemme know

A Song To Remember - This movie is war propaganda, As well, completely changes both the terms of Sand’s relationship with Chopin and also how they broke up. Probably of the bunch this one tried too hard and failed miserably. But Merle Oberon is stunning. Hands down. The costuming for this one is questionable (1940 will do that to you). Ayn Rand made a review of this one if that interests anyone at all.

Un Invierno En Mallorca - In Spanish, but nonetheless a good movie, still, too much adult content for a Sand/Chopin doc of realistic measure. But Solange is p valid in this one. Also, it is filmed in Valdemossa so that's pretty cool. There’s some tender scenes and also angry pacing, and rain, and George being a hippie feminist in a vest.

Chopin: Desire For Love - An actually pretty decent representation of the trip to Majorca but they really hone in on the Solange/Chopin thing which is very icky (and also did not happen and some people need to get that through their skulls) I’m NOT about that.

La Note Bleue - Riffing on Desire For Love this one a bit more surrealist and still ends with that awful Solange/Chopin bit so it is lower in my book. George does turn a few looks in this one though.

Les Enfants Du Siècle - Sex, sex, sex. But this one was with Alfred which is rare among Sand films. Still, I don’t enjoy this one.

George Qui? - Imagine you smoked three joints and read a biography on George Sand. This is what you get. Some full nudity, time-traveling omnipotent narrators, random pieces of modern technology, and did I mention nudity? There’s some aesthetically pleasing bits but it really is not my favorite one.

Lisztomainia - Imagine you took an acid trip and read about the Romantic era in the arts. Don’t watch this movie. Please don’t. If you need a reason to not watch this movie read the plot summary on Wikipedia <- that's a link to do that

#george sand #jackie talks #this was wild #DONT LET MEN WRITE MOVIES ABOUT THIS WOMAN #george sweetie im sorry men would do this to you

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theboywhocriedbooks · 5 years ago

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Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

[Goodreads]

It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing.

Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He's terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he's gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media's images of men dying of AIDS.

Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance...until she falls for Reza and they start dating.

Art is Judy's best friend, their school's only out and proud teen. He'll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs.

As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won't break Judy's heart--and destroy the most meaningful friendship he's ever known.

Thoughts:

Spoiler-Free Thoughts:

This was a book that I instantly became excited for when I learned what it was about. It discusses queer love, HIV/AIDS, NYC, the late 80’s, and those are all right up my alley. I’ve personally spent a lot of time educating myself about this history, be it in classes such as the one I took that focused on QPoC and HIV/AIDS specifically, or online, so you can say I’m pretty invested. I even wrote my own short story that focuses on similar themes (more on that some other time). Those parts of this book were so great, to an extent. One of my favorite historical moments is the St Patrick's Cathedral protest in the late 80’s, the die-in, where an individual can be heard screaming ‘You’re killing us!” and that made it into this book. So many other important historical moments made it into this book and I think that is its strongest aspect.

I was also excited about this book because it discusses this topic AND is by a person of color, an Iranian American specifically and one of the main characters is Iranian American as well. I felt like, ‘who better to explore themes of love and friendship during this time than someone who was alive during that time and also is a person of color’, aka, a voice I don’t hear enough of when discussing this topic. So much of this book is important! The queer Iranian representation, the queer youth rep during this time in history, queer sex + safe sex, the iconic activism, and even just some of the general references. I respect this book for that alone, for attempting to tackle it all and doing some of it very well.

Unfortunately, I had a lot of problems throughout the book. I know one or two might be very biased and personal things, but I know there are some I would like others to know or talk about. This includes: love triangle/melodrama?, general pacing, Madonna, the white characters, cis-normativity, privilege, the pov’s, and more. I will discuss that below, so run to read the book (if you want) or continue to read my spoiler-ful thoughts!

Spoiler-ful Thoughts:

I feel like some of what I have to say might be controversial so bear with me. For context, I am a young queer Mexican-American writer from Los Angeles, and that’s where I’m coming from with this, identity wise.

I was so stoked to hear this history told in a PoC perspective but aside from the author being of color, I don’t actually think I got a PoC perspective??? Let me break that down. First of all, the story is a multi-pov that alternates each chapter from Reza, Art, and Judy. Realistically, 1/3 of the story is told from the Iranian American character’s eyes. Then the other two are white characters. That itself is where I began being a little iffy (because, again, I was excited about a young PoC pov on this topic) but I was open, especially because I enjoyed them all in the beginning. I just didn’t understand why we needed a straight ally’s point of view? Overall her arc fell flat, aside from the cute moments of fashion design or that moment with Reza’s brother surprisingly. I would have been okay/would have preferred if it was just Reza and Art’s pov though.

In relation to Judy, the whole romance between her and Reza and then Reza and Art was so overblown and unnecessary. Reza didn’t need to date her, though that is a valid and relatable gay teen feels. I wish it ended in that “oh!!! you’re gay, wait!! lol let’s be friends then!” thing. Instead, she’s in love with him for half the book, super pushy with sex and gets extremely upset with Art for… liking Reza, and then you don’t ‘see’ her much throughout the rest of the novel anyway? It just felt so unnecessary, and so love-triangle-y. I did really like Art’s “you don’t understand how it is to like someone and be gay” speech cos felt valid to gay teen vibes, but that could have just been said in a way less dramatic argument? It really made no sense to me.

Before we leave Judy, lets touch on privilege, specifically white privilege and class privilege. Reza’s family, was once poor but now filthy rich. Art’s family, filthy rich and white. Judy’s family, allegedly shown to not be ‘rich’ by the two lines that say “my friends’ rich parents gifted us that cos we’re not as rich as my rich friends” and yet there is really no discussion on that any deeper than that. Like why are her parents not shown working, her mother especially? And her uncle? He lives alone in an apartment in the upper east side or whatever, and doesn’t work anymore? I might have missed that but I shouldn’t be able to just ‘miss that.’ Like, how did they pay to go to PARIS. It just didn’t at all feel like a story I could relate to or one that this history could relate to entirely. Like, even them having a whole ass wake/party thing for her uncle in a night club? Most people who died of AIDS complications didn’t get that, especially not ones who aren’t from ‘not-rich-families’. It was subtle and yet the smell of privilege was everywhere.

Then even Art and Reza’s relationship was also weird? It was forbidden then it immediately wasn’t and they were in love, due to one or two time jumps that really did not help to build their relationship at all. Okay though, some teens love easily, especially gay teens who don’t know many other gay teens so it could slide? Then, however, there is this really real and valid fear ingrained in Reza regarding AIDS and gay sex. He is terrified, and I loved (and hurt) for how terrified he was because it felt reasonable. What I didn’t love was, knowing this, Art was also super pushy sexually? Do you realize he, at multiple times, tried to pressure Reza into sex and once even got naked and pushed his body against him? Doing this after full well knowing how uncomfortable Reza was? No, thank you. From the author’s note in the book, I felt like MAYBE this could have been intentional and not meant to be an extremely positive? While that could be a stretch, it also doesn’t at all criticize or directly address this toxic behavior so boop.

This brings me back to not feeling like I get a QPoC perspective. Reza is our main queer person of color, and really the only prominent one (Jimmy was a rather flat character). Yet, everything else revolves around whiteness. I already addressed Judy taking up space as a narrator. Then there is Art, the super queer activist teen. He is mostly where Reza learns all the queer things from, and he is mostly the perspective where we see the queer action/activism from. Then, who is the elder HE learned everything from? Stephen, the gay white poz uncle of Judy. THEN, who do they frame EVERYTHING around? Madonna, the straight white woman.

Sure we hear about Stephan’s deceased Latino boyfriend and, as I said, Jimmy didn’t have much character to him aside from wearing a fur coat, saying “my black ass,” and helping move Stephan’s character along. He also has one of the few lines that directly addressed qpoc, where he says qpoc are disproportionally affected by AIDS but no one is talking about it. Ironic. It almost rarely addressed PoC throughout the rest of the novel. Heck, it almost never addressed trans characters either. What about the qpoc and trans woc who were foundational to queer rights movements that take place before this book? Sure he name drops Marsha P. Johnson, in passing, on the last page of this 400 page book, but why not mention them in depth even in one section?

Someone asked me, why does the author HAVE to do all of this. Why do they have to representing everyone, like Black trans women. Isn’t that unfair? My answer is no, it’s not unfair in situations like this. This author isn’t writing just a casual romance/friendship story. No, he is heavily touching on so much literal queer history and yet leaving out so many key players that are so often left out because of white-washing that happens in history. He didn’t even have to name these people, but just addressing that they are there as a community. Instead we get two or three throwaway lines about Ball culture after they “went to a ball that one time,” a random line from Jimmy, and a Marsha P. Johnson name drop at the end. It is honestly disappointing.

Even framing everything in the words of Madonna was a bit much for me. Sure, I know of her history and importance to queers so this is one of the more biased parts of this review. I just don’t think we needed several references to her every other page. I then screamed when, not only did we time jump like 20+ years (gays don’t do math, sorry) and the last quote is Lady Gaga! Oh, my god. I won’t linger on the white popstar allies because it’s not worth it. In regards to that time jump, though. It felt unnecessary as well, just trying to tie it all up with a bow. It’s reference to Pulse seemed random, and honestly felt a bit cheap, but so did lots of the things I’ve referenced.

Lastly, why did Art abruptly lick Reza’s lips out of nowhere, or when he was angry it was shown by saying “ and his brow sweats”? Anyway, I’m bummed out. I haven’t been reading as much this year or writing reviews but here I am, writing a novel-sized review basically dragging this book. I liked it enough to finish, and I think it’s important. I know some queer kids reading this will love it and learn from it but I just couldn’t help but realize that right under the surface, this book was sort of a let-down.

Thanks if you read all of this, and also sorry at the same time. Share your thoughts!

#this is a pretty blah review - the book was just a bit disappointing #2019 #Like a Love Story #abdi nazemian #the boy who cried books #3/5 #review

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lboogie1906 · 3 years ago

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Judy Lenteen Pace (born June 15, 1942) is an actress known for her roles in films and television shows. She portrayed Vickie Fletcher on Peyton Place (1968–1969) and Pat Walters on The Young Lawyers (1969–1971), for which she won an Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 1970. She attended Los Angeles City College, majoring in sociology. She made her film debut as one of the title characters in 13 Frightened Girls (1963). In 1968, she was singled out for praise by noted film critic Roger Ebert, for her performance in the popular youth-oriented film, Three in the Attic: The find in this movie, for my money, is the young black actress Judy Pace, who is terrific. Variety calls her "the most beautiful black actress in Hollywood," which is debatable since beauty is in the eye of the beholder, etc., but she's a quick, funny actress who can put an edge on a line and keep a scene sparkling. She became a familiar face in the 1970s on both the big and small screens, appearing in popular movies and popular television shows. Television shows on which she appeared include Batman, Tarzan, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, Days of Our Lives, I Spy, Ironside, Peyton Place, The Mod Squad, Medical Center, That's My Mama, O'Hara, US Treasury, The New People, Insight, Kung Fu, Shaft, Caribe, Sanford, and Son, What's Happening!!, and Good Times. She had a key supporting role as Gale Sayers's wife, Linda, in the critically acclaimed 1971 ABC-TV movie Brian's Song. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce0rVSFu6zT_qOswMg-vY7YjK435qY8iyjsQZY0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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mdsc951 · 2 years ago

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Judy Pace is an actress known for her roles in films and television shows, particularly blaxploitation films. 💯💫 Pace portrayed Vickie Fletcher on the TV series 📺 Peyton Place (1968–1969) and Pat Walters on the ABC drama series The Young Lawyers (1969–1971), for which she won an Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 1970.💦 (at West Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CohTzv9LtUk/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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gs2197 · 6 years ago

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#GS Movie Review: Halloween (2018) ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2 #Consensus "While its production values are remarkable, the overall film makes for an intense and shiver-inducing ride and Jamie Lee Curtis remains a powerhouse, Michael Myer's return to the silver screen falls short of greatness due to an ultimately uncompelling narrative and often crossing the line when it comes to violence. Enjoyable no doubt, but somewhat lazy and overtly reliant on shock value. " #Highlights (👍🏾) + Jamie Lee Curtis, newcomer Andy Matichak and Judy Greer deliver strong performances (in that order). + Score is sure to bring shivers down your back in the best possible way. + Michael Myers remains an iconic, threatening and down-right terrifying antagonist. + Ocassionally effective horror elements and emotional beats. #Downsides (👎🏾) - While understandably gory and brutal, an over-reliance on jump scares and a particularly tasteless moment detract from the experience. - Interesting themes are introduced but quickly dismissed. - Pacing in 2nd and 3rd acts comes across as rushed. #Warnings (⚠️) * Death scenes and violence in the film are extremely graphic. NOT suited for audiences younger than 18. Teenagers and children are murdered implicitly in the film. Please, DON'T take children to see this film, what the f*ck? #Halloween 🔞😲😥😨🙈🙊🤔👍🏾 #LaurieStrode #YouBadass 💪🏾 https://www.instagram.com/p/BpYNpdHgWQR/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=c464lywmmgfl

#gs #consensus #highlights #downsides #warnings #halloween #lauriestrode #youbadass

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wolfwhiteflowers · 7 years ago

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s9 filming spoilers and speculations..... TWD RANTS

Timejump-capital /twd parade pics and Caryl-the skybound thing, & other-richonne. (this post is meh and confusing)

*twd spoilers, comic spoilers, anti C/E

k so writing this long weird speculation and thoughts-post. I wanna like move on from the show. Like as usual it’s on hiatus ykno? But the s8 finale messed me up so much. And I wonder a lot about Carol and the ships. Unanswered questions. I guess I’m saying I’m gonna rant a lot...or I go big in this post.

Now we’re getting filming spoilers. bits and pieces but s9 premiere is a big deal like because of the time jump. The time jump changes the story a lot right? So... just from spoilery things, I realized, it’s hitting me a lot that it’s so 50/50 on me for if I still like the show or not (with timejump, ships, different showrunner/writings, and who knows how TWD ends).

I really don’t like how 50/50 that is. So shock value way? Anyways, this hiatus I guess is gonna be a really big roller coaster ride. :\ I feel more doubtful than hopeful about s9. ....I just want Carol to be in character (the way i see it) and I want Carol (anyone) to interact with team family more. Idk if I can trust the writers during the hiatus with some bits of spoilers because some arcs start off frustrating and end well. It’s like I also have to wait till they film the finale to know if I wanna watch s9. or it’s like I wait till s10 for an arc to end. Idk I’m bummed that it’s at that point for me to decide to quit or not. sigh stories.

Yeah so this reminds me of s8, where the biggest change to the show happened with Carl’s death for me and the fandom. So I(and like most people too apparently...show is still going) keep watching TWD because Carl’s death doesn’t bother me that much, I feel the writing is still fine, and I see it as Rick’s show. So ..idk what im saying. I just think if they screw up Carol’s character and her interactions, then I feel it’s pointless to keep watching the show. I want charactery bonds, interesting arcs, and parallels. I know TWD can still be fine, but s8′s bad finale ep made me doubtful on the writing (or editing...there were good deleted scenes in s8 finale).

Time jump

Wow those pics of the cast at the capital and on horses. “twd parade” The pics also tells a lot or so what 9x01 will be like/time jump. It’s overwhelming. It got me excited and then I worry the show will suck and mess up my faves.

The time jump in 9x01 looked like not like Carl’s dream/5 years(?) where Rick had a cane, white hair, 6 yo Judy, and Negan gardening with TF. This time jump in s9 so far looked like one year went by. Also looked like the characters got one thing changed on them. Rick-short hair, Carol-hat, Jesus-manbun, etc.so it’s like it’s not that much of a time jump.

Oh man, I can’t help it but I want to compare TWD and The 100. (They’re different ofc, one’s pace is fast and more violent/survival-like. It’s also like it’s ok to watch more than one show even tho one is better or whatever. It’s frustrating tho T100 have way more interactions/girl power.) Both current survival-shows. Right now, The 100 just had a six year time jump(I think) and TWD in s9 there will be a time jump too. So The 100′s current season, I really liked how they did set up the time jump and informing us how the characters are doing and see the changes in them and their looks. Even their previous season, there was a good understanding foreshadowing to the time jump plot. ...TWD didn’t, I mean Idk why, it’s like easy writing they should’ve done..to keep fans interested to what’s next on the show. I noticed in The 100, is that there were flashbacks and bottled/centered episodes. It’s also quick but partly because The 100 have a short season too and the writers want to focus on the upcoming different plot.

Anyways, so now that I think it’s been like a year later in TWD story. My theories are like everywhere and changed. I’m also like being an annoying comic fan..wants to be exact way but it’s a show and they can remix stuff. Whatever, we all want good stories! It’s kinda following the comics like usual. ok. Time jump and whisperers are coming. Idk why, I’m really excited for ‘old man Rick’ hair cut and horses, when I’m like wtf Rick’s curls tho. lol Also just..9 seasons...and do I still like the show and will I like what’s next based on comics? (I actually figured AOW in s7-8 would be boring or come off different in the show. It’s all battle scenes and comics goes quicker..Idk I figured it would be boring but I think the war story on show and comics did alright. It wasn’t like a boring action movie that I see most of the time with action movies :P So I think this arc in s9 people will like this. More charactery stuff, well based from the comics. But we don’t have Carl and Maggie(for certain)?... Yeah usual tv flaws.)

So, I think it’s just one year later and that’s it. Also, I don’t mind seeing flashbacks and bottle episodes, as long it’s done well and entertaining. I think in s9 bottle episodes are needed.

kids

So since I think it’s one year later, then we probably get the same Judith girl in s8, as 3 yo?, Hershel Jr as -months old, and I don’t think there will be a Richonne-baby...unless Michonne got pregnant right after the war and Hershel Jr and Richonne-baby are about the same age.

Skybound mailbag/Caryl/ E&Z

I read some speculations and from C/E shippers, just to get more info on Carol. (I gotta stop that. I’ll know about Carol when I do and they’re really anti-Caryl. It’s annoying. ugh ship wars.) I realized from the spoilery pics and speculations, I just don’t want Carol with anyone or C/E in s9/s9A. I just want to know what’s up with Carol again. Unless Carol being with E is a very minor thing. Like in The 100 show where two times fans suddenly learn Bellamy has a gf. There was a time jump and the relationship’s build up and being canon was all offscreen. The relationship didn’t last or some other thing important was gonna happen. I just want to know what’s Carol’s thinking and feeling. Idk I just feel if C/E happens,I just feel like Idk Carol anymore. :\ Idk what Caryl is anymore. They’re best friends (crushes) right...and still is? I really don’t like in s8 finale where Carol didn’t talk to any TF member/Daryl about why she wants to stay at Kingdom. Just any moment to see TF knows too. Also, Idk if Daryl is staying at ASZ or Hilltop and does Rick knows Daryl doesn’t agree with his decision on Negan.

(lil post on twdzone. carol/and show stuff)

‘If C/E happens like a - a surprise ship in s9. I find it bad writing because they didn't set it up in s8 or should add more romantic tone in it and obviously put a C/E moment in the finale. But they didn't. So..bad writing. Or just idk maybe it's for plot reasons (E’s death). Maybe there will be a love triangle? It makes Carol out of character or strange for me. Who/What does Carol care about and why? Idk.

It’s also something that TWD has to do too...from s8 finale and time jump/season premiere it means s9 premier ep gotta be a very well written episode to explain to everything and well reasons. But man...the s8 finale was so wacky and frustrating. It made me lose hope on the writers. I did like s8B but wow finale wtf. And finale is important ep of the seasons..and also it was before the big time jump. sigh. //It reminds me something, it’s kind of TWD’s style or Gimple’s, that premieres are more important than finales. So I hope s9 premiere is good. So yeah if Caryl is just gonna be friends and also just gonna like nod at each other like they don't have that special (continuity) bond anymore. Then that show is over for me. It's also not Caryl’s connections too, I miss Carol’s connections with Team family so much! OMG just looking at Carol and Rick edits, I just sigh.. I know some don't like their relationship. But I like theirs and they got that history, interesting dynamic. I don't wanna see Carol and Rick like they're just acquaintances now. (um like remember their history and trying to save Sophia. etc.) I want Carol or anyone to interact and be team family. The show gotta focus on their main characters and interact them. Too many side characters...too many separations.’

Other

Once I thought about this idea, I’m like gaaah I really hope TWD does this. I really want and hope Rick have these moments to remember Carl by and to do it every season. I really like this idea I have where Rick could write a letter to Carl or talk to Carl’s grave in every season premier/finale. It’s something that merge the old TWD and the new TWD story...even though it’s Rick’s show, it’s still a father and son show.

Richonne!

I have some speculations and thoughts. I just wanna say that I hope Richonne in s9 is more interesting than comic R&A in the comics in the point of the story. Just be like on the show, power couple and all. I really like how in s8 finale, they were like co-leaders. Together. Idk I’m curious how Richonne will go in s9 and on. It’s seems real different than in the comics/R&A are doing.

So, in the comics, Andrea was like focusing on protecting Carl and co-leading etc. and then she dies at the end of Whisperer war. I find her death and end of her journey boring and disappointing. So Idk, I hope Michonne’s journey is interesting and I have no clue how this comic-Michonne and/or Andrea remix thing works out since Carol is using comic-Michonne’s too. %) Anyways, so I don’t think Michonne will die like comic-Andrea because tv-Carl got the death. After the Andrea’s death, Rick bonded and grieved with Mikey (Carl’s friend) while Carl is at Hilltop adulting. From the comics, I felt like Kirkman wished he had Rick and Andrea to have a child together but he didn’t so he got Mikey more into the story and w/Rick. So I’m like maybe we will get a Richonne-baby? But, then I also thought maybe Judith is like comic-Mikey. Grimes 2.0 grieving and missing Carl. So yeah.. I’m suspecting Richonne won’t have child together or at least in s9. From the twd parade pics, Idk, I don’t think there will be a baby. I really hope they do someday though.

Another thing is, I really want Judith to call Michonne “Mom” and Rick to point out to people that Michonne is his wife.

So yeah, roller coaster.

#*twd #twd speculations #carol peletier #caryl #richonne #twd s9 #the fumbling dead twd #twd writing

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