#reading gambit 1999 and thinking my thoughts

[ludi-ling]

hey i’m sorry for bothering you with this question but i can’t remember where i read this scene… it’s one where remy is in jean-luc’s study after he k*lled belladonna’s brother; jean-luc is very mad breaking the news to remy he’s being exiled. then remy asks what he would do if he couldn’t find a way to survive — something like that — and jean-luc replies something along the lines of “then my son… you steal from faith”. i thought it was from HOC trilogy but i can’t find it! maybe it’s in coda? (i’ll definitely reread everything when i have the time)

Okay, I had to check this one too! It's in chapter 20 of Arrow of Time, The Reconciliation. It's on p. 347 of the print version. And the quote is 'you steal from fate'. Which is... I know I got that from somewhere, but I can't remember where. Was it from Gambit (1999)? Or from X-Treme X-Men? For the life of me, I can't remember now. Anyway, I think Remy says to Rogue, 'Let's steal another one from fate', and I took the line from there, but it all escapes me now. 🤔

And can I just say how wonderful it is that you connected with all Remy's childhood moments, the ones with his father. I'm so happy they resonated with you. I have ... thoughts and feelings about father/child relationships. They always touch me in some way. Glad you felt the same way too, through my words. 🫶🏼

[wolvertooth]

Sorry for spreading #misinfo i too am part of the Many Many Disorders club and I thought I remembered reading a comic abt gambit and sabretooth in the 90s that implied it but I was probably mixing it up with that 2003 issue u mentioned!!!!!! I hv read. So many x-men comics but all out of order LOL. And there r still so many to read but im looking forward to the sabrevine in my future u can be sure of that!!!!

dw about it!! i skimmed thru some of the 90s sabes n gambit comics i knew of(gambit 1999 #9, xmen 1991 #33, uncanny xmen #326) and didnt see any mention of assault, so it was likely from the 2003 one

tbf, different writers are gonna say different shit about characters. espeically with wolverine comics, im often like ‘well, i actually dont think he’d do that, cuz this other writer said he wouldnt, and i’ll take their word over yours’ theres a fuck ton of contradicting lore n claims to work thru abou these guys, every runs got a different take on em

the out of order thing is also a pain in the asssss esp with the older runs fr. they had wolverine 1988 + uncanny xmen + xmen 1991(technically volume 2 of uncanny, yet uncanny was STILL GOING for some reason, set in the same timeline) and those plots would also often cross over with other series, like xfactor and xforce etc etc, and im pretty sure the official marvel site doesnt even include a proper full comic list for reference(or at least it doesnt for sabretooth)(not like anybody likes that guy anyway…..kicks rock……)

hopefully we get some slight sabrevine action this wednesday👍

[dancingsalome]

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

120.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

328404. Which makes my fics 2736,7 words long, on average.

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

 26.

Agent Carter, All About Eve, Angel, The Borgias, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Chronicles of Narnia, Doctor Who, both classic and new series, Dracula/The Historian, Emily of New Moon, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell , Harry Potter, Ivanhoe, Labyrinth, The Man in the High Castle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Mummy Series, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Penny Dreadful, Peter Pan, Piranesi, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Queen's Gambit, Sleepy Hollow (1999), Timeless, Versailles (TV 2015) and Victoria 

 4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Ghosts (The Mummy Series. Evy/Rick, Evy/Ardeth, Evy/Imhotep)

The Number of Vices (The Queen’s Gambit, Beth/Borgov)

The Might of His Strength (The Mummy Series. Evy/Rick, Evy/Ardeth/Imhotep, Evy/Imhotep)

The Black King (The Queen’s Gambit, Beth/Borgov)

A Moment (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Midge Maisel/Lenny Bruce)

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do. However, it can take me forever to get around answering them. And if the comment is just an emoji, I will probably not answer.

 6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Considering I have written a lot of angst, this was really hard. But if I have to choose one, I’d say a Sleepy Hollow-fic called Hell.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Crow’s Feet On the Prettiest Eyes (Doctor Who, Sarah Jane Smith/The Doctor) or The Black King (The Queen’s Gambit, Beth/Borgov)m which both are about lovers who are reunited after many years apart.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really  I’ve borrowed a character from Pan Am for a The Queen’s Gambit fic, but that wasn’t much of a crossover, really. And I have one Piranesi/Chronicles of Narnia crossover, but that one isn’t particularly crazy either, given how many Narnia-references Piranesy contains.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. A couple of years ago a person read some of my explicit, and very well-tagged fics only to give me several comments on how disgusting the found explicit fics in general, and the tags i used in particular. Personally I would say that the easiest way to not be disgusted by that would be to NOT READ THOSE FICS!

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do. Quite a lot, actually. Mostly F/M, but sometimes also threesomes. As for kind of sex it ranges from fluffy vanilla to BDSM.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, though one I’m currently writing is certainly co-conceived. 

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

I honestly can’t say; I have so many. My current favourite shup is Beth Harmon/Vasily Borgov from The Queen’s Gambit. Before that I burned for Fabien Marchal/Sophie de Clermont from the TV show Versailles. No, wait, my favourite ship must be the OT3 Rick/Evy/Ardeth from The Mummy series, as that ship precedes the other, and is still around.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I currently have 5 WIPs posted on AO3  3 of them I’m writing actively on and plan to finish in the foreseeable future. Then I have two WIPs that’s over 10 years old. An extremely dark Sleepy Hollow-fic about Lady Van Tassel, and one humorous Harry Potter-fic about Dudley Dursley. I like them both, and have the plot properly mapped out, but I have yet to find it in me to finish them. I would still like to do that, though! However, I have one Peter Pan fic that I actually removed from AO3 because not only is it a 15 year old WIP, I have also completely forgotten how I wanted it to end. That one I doubt I will ever touch again.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Emotions. I’m good with emotions, and nowadays I think my dialogue flows quite well too. I’ve been told I write good sex scenes too.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Plots! Most of my fics are one-shots with few characters, mainly dealing with emotions. I used to be very bad at being descriptive, but I’m actively working on improving that. I can be brief to a fault, too.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

So far it’s something I have glossed over in the few cases it has been somewhat relevant for the fic. If I did, however, I would probably write the foreign language in italicized English. Unless it was a language no one else in the fic underwood- then I would write it in the original language.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Peter Pan, back in 2004, after seeing a promo pic of Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Another one of those impossible questions. How can I choose. I’m sorry, It has to be my favourite fics, in plural.

A Place in the Shadows (Penny Dreadful, Vanessa Ives & Sembene), because it turned out exactly as I envisioned it. And I really like the themes of friendship, and cake.

Professor Keller (Doctor Who, Delgado!Master) because it’s my most ambitious fic to date- I even rewrote it completely. I really think I managed the escalating horror of two completely normal people getting their lives destroyed by the Master.

Homeward (The Borgias, Cesare/Micheletto, Lucrezia & Micheletto). I’m not sure why, but I just really, really like this one, and it’s one of my fics that I reread regularly.

A Conversation in the Yellow Drawing-Room, And Other Letters To Mrs Strange (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell, Lady Pole/John Childermass). In most of my fics the female protagonist saves herself, and this is probably the prime example. I really enjoyed writing Lady Pole making her life the way she wants it for a change, and, ultimately, saving herself, with a little help from her friends.  I also really enjoyed making use of a few fairy tales tropes.

[twobitmulder]

On Spider-Man, Reboots, and the Future of the X-Men

A while ago I made a post called “Thoughts on MCU Peter Parker and Reboots” which ended up being mostly an examination (or rant) on why MCU Peter doesn’t work for me and was kind of soft on the analysis of reboots. Now, with the announcement that Sony and Marvel’s Spidey deal has fallen through, I thought I’d take another crack as examining why reboots lead to less than stellar versions of characters, and why it’s got me scarred for the X-Men to join the MCU.

Now, right off the bat I feel I should say that I’m not against reboots and re-imaginings. I think The Incredible Hulk is broadly better than the Ang Lee Hulk. I think the 1999 Mummy is better than the 1932 classic. Reboots can be a radical re-imagining, a second draft, or even an examination of different facets of the character (like how Lettier’s Hulk focused more on the lonely wanderer in search of a cure, while Lee’s focused on the father issues). This works especially for long running characters who have a lot of material to work with.

I think my problem with MCU Spidey starts with the way that Sony and Marvel approached the idea of the reboot. The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield felt the need to be radically different from the Rami films. The Rami films played all the silver age comic book tropes gleefully straight. An old fashioned news room, his start in wrestling, and the campy villains. It exists in a sort of anachronism stew to borrow the TVTropes term, much like Burton’s Batman.

Webb’s films tried to find their own voice by pushing Peter back into high school and making them a little more deliberately modern. They used a more modern incarnation of Peter as opposed to the good natured Silver Age doofus that Tobey Maguire played. Garfield’s Peter is probably my favorite, and the one who feels closest to my ideal comics Peter, but that’s not really the point here. The point is, he HAD to be different otherwise people would accuse it of being the same thing over again.

So there we were with (in my opinion) someone who acted a little more like the Peter I knew growing up, who occupied a more familiar world, but we also had to gloss over his rivalry with Osborne because it had already been done. This was a criminal waste of Chris Cooper and Dane Dehaan, who were fantastic choices for those characters, but more to the point, it shows how this could not just be a second draft. It had to be different, which meant that even if it fixed some things that Raimi might not have hit the mark on, it also got rid of things that he had done right. The Osborne’s, the Bugle, and Mary Jane (well, he didn’t quite to MJ right, but the fact that she had already been used probably spurred the switch to Gwen).

Then when those flopped Peter joined the MCU. I remember reading that in my dorm room my first year of undergrad and whooping with joy. I thought about his relationship with Daredevil, who we knew was coming, and Captain America. Having Osborne be an Avengers level threat who battles Peter on the lawn of the White House while the Sinister SIx hold the Avengers at bay (Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man was the saving grace of the Ultimate Universe). Feige promised Peter would have a “non-stop wit.” It was all coming together.

Civil War came out and he seemed a little tacked on but it didn’t matter because he was there. Sure Stark gave him his suit, but he had designed the prototype and there was no way they’d make Peter the science genius dependent on Tony Stark.

“Weary sigh.”

I want to like the MCU Spider-Man so bad, Everyone else likes him. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. I already went over why I don’t care for him, so I’ll skip that*. Once again, the point is, this one HAD to be different. Because he was back with Marvel we had been given the implicit promise of a fully realized comic accurate Spider-Man, fixing everything Webb and Raimi (read Sony) had gotten wrong.

The problem was that Webb and Raimi had gotten a lot right. So MCU Spidey glossed over Uncle Ben “because it had been done before.” He never clashed with Oscorpe or the Goblins “because it had already been done before.” There was no selling pictures to the Bugle “because it had already been done before”*. 

He didn’t make quips because everyone else was funny and he had to be the wide eyed kid, played younger and less mature than Garfield or Maguire. And (okay a little bit of whining from me) he had to rely on Tony Stark because we had to be reminded that now he was part of the MCU. 

The MCU Spidey got a lot right and some of their updates worked for the better. I love that Peter and May live in a small apartment instead of a house because they’re poor and New York is expensive. I like that his school feels like a real high school, with kids who basically act like kids. I like that he has a confidant (Ned Leeds was a weird choice, I’d have gone with Hobie Brown, Deb Whitman, or Kenny Kong, but I like the character anyway). I love love love their takes on Vulture and my favorite Spidey Rogue Mysterio. But, in their drive to be different from the past iterations they changed the character a little too drastically. It wasn’t a third draft to get Spider-Man right, it was a bottom up reimagining that (my opinion only) jettisoned a lot of what makes the character compelling.

Now he’s apparently gone from the future of the MCU and honestly, personally, I’m kind of relieved. I’m glad he’s indelibly a full fledged part of the MCU narrative, and he got to see the Infinity Saga through to the end, but I don’t think I could have taken another movie of Peter becoming Stark’s Robin just to be different from what came before.

This all brings us to the X-Men. I love the X-Men. I love Gambit, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Cyclops and all the rest (but them first and foremost). I love the place Mutants have in the Marvel Universe and the potential for clashes with other heroes and compelling stories to be told about the nature of marginalization and identity. The problem is, the previous X-Men movies covered those bases from a lot of different angles and my fear is that when they join the MCU they’ll be so concerned with being different that they’ll forget what makes them the X-Men*.

In the end, we still have years of comics and alternate universes, cartoons and canon that we can pick and choose from. It’s just so frustrating because we were so close to a perfect unified cinematic universe like we’d only ever dreamed of. We all have different bits of it that we wish had been done better, but I suppose the mere fact that it exists in any form is pretty damn cool.

*Except to say that, as Gail Simone so eloquently put it in an otherwise positive review of Far From Home, Holland’s Spider-Man isn’t the everyman who mocks the rich and powerful, he worships them and wants to be their friend.

*While I was happy to see the Jameson, Simmons, and the Daily Bugle return, and while I can’t deny that turning him into a lunatic pundit makes sense for the character as he’s portrayed in Spider-Man, I think that modern superhero stories have a problem with the old school journalist characters. Yes in real life print journalism isn’t what it used to be, but if we can accept superpowers, alien warlords, and good hearted billionaires surely we can accept the fantasy of a newspaper that still functions like they used to.

*I don’t have this worry for Fantastic Four (my first favorite superheroes) because while the Tim Story movies were close (and Trank’s reboot is emblematic of this whole issue on a massive scale) they haven’t been in the public consciousness and had a continued presence like Spidey and the X-Men so there’s less need to “be different” and more opportunity to actually get to the core of the FF the way they did with Captain America and Thor.

[sethnakht]

sw fics i love (vader + leia-centric)

because it’s helpful to organize one’s thoughts. a work in progress. 

long post is long.

old but memorable (written before 2013)

ebony and jade by brendon j. wahlberg, with illustrations by ian mcintosh (gen, vader + mara). lord vader & the emperor’s hand team up against a jedi and his psychedelic plants, and it’s glorious.

father’s heart by fernwithy (gen, vader + leia, series). vader befriends young princess leia. the fic that shaped me as a child. politics, corruption, betrayal, handmaiden culture, unspoken affinities, and fire.

the penitent by bellebayard, fernwithy, jediskysong (mostly gen, some anakin/padmé). begun in 1999 and now only available in its original form*, it seems - the jedi council forums, where so much fic was written back in the day - and only incompletely, this post-rotj anakin redemption story is the sprawling product of collaborative authorship (and a follow-up to “father’s heart”). ymmv on some of the plot devices and characters as a result, but it had an enjoyable take on skywalker family dynamics and a riveting, fully-realized trial for vader. *if you find a better copy of this, please message me!

the smart one by fernwithy (gen). written in 2002. excellent outsider pov on vader, who has taken especial interest in a particular piece of naboo art. a meditation on art and politics.

by the grace of lady vader by fernwithy, ami-padme and alderaan21 + the ascension of the queen by fernwithy, ami-padme (vader/dark!padmé, han/leia). written from 2000 until right after aotc on the jedi council forums (original posts + comments here & here). this story has remained with me as a set of unforgettable scenes and images - amidala in blood-red veils, praising schoolchildren for their talents and services to her empire, luke the obedient child, leia the freedom fighter, vader at once gratified and disturbed by what they’ve all become. 

dark labyrinth pt 1 | 2 | 3 by Shayne1 (luke, han, chewie, vader). luke’s in trouble. vader kills the best lead on his whereabouts, and has to team up with han to find him. terrific voices all around.

various one-shots (also here and here) by MjMink (gen, mostly luke + vader). these were incredibly influential back in the day, and still manage to surprise and delight.

tamarisk by Arco (vader gen). splendid little vader adventure with memorably gory imagery and one hell of a bizarre twist

about turn by Mina / Mina1 (gen, vader + leia, vader + luke, luke + palpatine, background han/leia). written in 2001. vader & leia work together to save luke from the emperor. creepy luke-emperor interaction plus some nice scenes on tatooine. see also: legacy (vader + leia), a lovely short where vader survives rotj and leia has to come to terms with him, and in plain sight (vader, luke, leia), a variation on the theme.

deep as you go by @garnettrees / Meredith Bronwen Mallory (vader/padmé). written in 2002. vader creates a clone of his wife. a terrifying glimpse into his psyche - and the ethics of cloning. “but she’s not the painting, she’s just the print – no texture.”

return of a jedi by JHMLYNDALE (gen, vader + leia, rotj-legends cast). written in 2005. luke, han, lando and mara jade all die in the attack on jabba’s barge. leia, vader, and their allies take on the emperor. if you can stomach the character deaths, this is one hell of a ride.

equally cursed and blessed by Mina / Mina1 (gen, vader + luke, rotj-legends cast). written between 2005 and 2008. epic luke + vader story with a vividly-portrayed full cast, particularly leia, lando, chewie, piett and palpatine.

the protege by jedinemo (gen, vader, luke, obi-wan, leia). written in 2007/8. vader discovers a familiar clone skulking around the imperial palace. vader’s personality issues are on full display.

missing in action by cwbasset (gen, vader + luke). written in 2008. my favorite take on the ‘luke and vader crash-land together’ trope. includes grade-a vader-artoo bickering. fantastic author, see also: shattered (wip, luke + legends & prequel cast, time travel AU)

omelas by Deja Vu (vader, luke, xixor). short story from 2009 that packs quite a punch. 

interregnum by PlaidButterfly (clone trooper + vader). written in 2011. short and chilling story showcasing just how desperate vader is to believe he’s still the hero.

canon-compliant

and there I shall find by ambiguously. lovely take on post-TFA General Organa in a whump/survival scenario, speaking - listening - to her father’s hated ghost for the first time. Anakin is insufferable, jealous, smug and sullen and somehow still unable to understand why his children were kept from him - and yet also knowingly deploying his worst traits to keep the daughter so like him alive. Leia has no reason to forgive but is listening, and not only to his engineering advice. Hopeful, with flashes of humor, and crawling with sorrows that would never end

the black buzzard by @jerseydevious (vader + luke). sweet, sweet body horror and father-son banter. see also gleaming in the wreckage

bursts of stardust by @redrikki (anakin/padmé, assorted cast). set of insightful shorts, including AUs, that lend shade and nuance to anakin, padmé, the jedi order, even palpatine.

the funeral pyre by anendda_rysden (gen, vader, piett). superb story showcasing vader’s struggle with his own body from an outsider pov. vivid, powerful writing. contains sci-fi/horror elements.

liberation by redone (gen, vader + luke). vader’s walk with luke from the throne room to the end. written in 2002, as lovely now as it was then.

PRojects IN Controlled Environments, version Sith by Beth Winter (vader, ocs). clever imperial outsider pov on vader, showcasing his engineering skill. ketha, the female protagonist, picks up on fascinating little details, my favorite being: “The handwriting was atrocious, a combination of two different styles - one with romance holo titles flourishes, one absolutely primitive - and cramped enough that she needed to zoom in.”

the sith who brought life day by ophelia_interrupted (vader, ocs). vader is often at his best when one has to guess at what’s going on behind the mask, a job all the harder for imperial underlings without access to the force. very nice outsider perspective made all the richer for how believable it remains while mixing the serious and humorous.

speak to me by @cyberdyke-industries (kylo ren, anakin/vader’s force ghost). read this now. this gets what makes kylo and vader monsters, what makes them pull at us - a way of being vader both understands and condemns. cinematic, mythical, chilling down to the level of syntax. the ending is less a cliff-hanger than an image to think through, a powerful allegory..

AUs

everything, including in the valley, by @darth--nickels (many wip, vader-centric, be aware that you need to be logged into AO3 to see them). gems, all of them, even if some may never be finished. my go-to for insights into vader’s psyche. vader is hilariously and horribly unstable–suicidal in one moment, megalomanic and full of bluster in the next, and yet deeply compelling through it all. 

> timetravel / parallel universe

of queens, knights and pawns (wip) by @chancecraz (vader + leia, han/leia on the horizon, full cast). tfa!leia ends up reliving her life as anh!leia, and comes to terms with both her past and future. this story is currently my life. come for leia yelling at vader, stay for the lovingly realized cast, their constant miscommunication, and deep-seated psychological trauma. see also scenes from the middle game, encounters in queens told from the perspectives of other characters, starting with a harrowing vader pov, and of dreams and other whims, a au re-write of chapter seven with old man luke!

queen’s gambit by @bedlamsbard (anakin/padmé, padmé/obi-wan, tcw!cast), sequel to wake the storm. this swept me away. ymmv on the pairing(s), but the opening scene alone deserves an essay, and there’s so much to love here: incredible world-building, a full and well-realized cast of characters, political intrigue, media critique, and finger-biting tension.

out of the dark valley by @irhinoceri (anakin/padmé, eventual luke/mara, leia, ahsoka, cast). riveting au where vader is able to return to his rots!self with his consciousness intact, and make slightly different choices. things still go downhill, and the author is unafraid to explore those dark and frightening places, especially with leia.

stand the hazard of the die (wip series) by KeelieThompson1 (anakin/padmé, vader + luke, TCW!cast). young luke is sent to the past, but his mind is marked by a sith lord’s magic and the trauma of what he’s seen. anakin and padmé have to deal. lovely exploration of a situation where anakin does not fall (yet), but vader is still a factor and palpatine still at loose. leia’s story here is at once highly tragic and highly amusing.

edges of the world (wip) by @glompcat (leia, vader, ahsoka, anakin/padmé). leia organa and leia skywalker switch places, de-stabilizing anakin and shocking vader. a brave and important story about the struggles of identity, growing up, what family means, and finding acceptance.

reflected legacy (wip) by DAsObiQuiet (han/leia, anakin/padmé). legends!leia and han are sent back in time to when anakin still dreams of his mother. terrific characterization. see also hindsight is not perfect + the dangers of foresight (wip series), where vader’s consciousness is sent back to his tpm!body, and his emotional stuntedness is both a boon and a problem.

old man luke (wip) by @scarletjedi (luke, obi-wan, anakin). tfa-era!luke - and possibly his sister - ends up in the middle of the clone war. enjoyable exploration of how age contributes to perspective.

> canon divergence before ROTJ

afterimage (wip) by @garnettrees (vader/padmé). vader pursues the promise of resurrection. for those who enjoy clever metaphor, games with myth, linguistic invention, and a shot of gothic horror. “The first word she says is, ‘Help’. ‘I am here,’ says the thing in the dark.”

betrayal of the finest sort (wip) by @cadesama​ (vader/padmé, vader/obi-wan, ahsoka). relentlessly bitter, spiteful dysfunction at its best. fantastic author, see also: if blood be the price (padmé/anakin, obi-wan, AOTC!AU) and lost things that are never found (adult!ahsoka/anakin, leia, rebel!AU).

echoes of mortis by @sunshinedaysforever (anakin/padmé, cast). powerful what-if with palpable, believable character growth. see also time to change the road you’re on (wip; anakin + ahsoka, timetravel).

flesh of my flesh by @igrockspock (vader + leia, gen) - when precocious eleven-year old Leia is taken from her home on Alderaan to live with her birth father in his lava castle, both understandably have to adjust. An absurd situation that the author mines for its humor and the humanity it can reveal while never forgetting what Vader is and what he ultimately wants.

how the other half lives (series in progress) by @reedroad​ (luke + leia + vader, OT + Rebels + comics cast). gorgeously written switched!au, with prince luke and jedi leia. and while much remains the same, the devil’s in the details. vader steals his scenes: angry and awful.

in loco pirates + palpatine ad portas (wip) by @izzythehutt​ (gen, vader, palpatine, luke, leia, aphra). vader, driven by his fear of weakness, and luke, who sees right through him. lovely father-son interaction offset by an utterly compelling and terrifying palpatine. leia’s in for the ride, too. also: hondo!

in which vader discovers he’s a father by @glompcat (gen, vader + luke + leia). vader kidnaps or discovers one or both of his children, in situations varying between the harrowing and humorous. 

the light you leave behind (wip) by @laventadorn (anakin/padmé, anakin/obi-wan, ahsoka, tcw!cast). great author in many fandoms. this particular story features vivid action and even lovelier domestic scenes - wonderful characterization especially of the female characters, from padmé and ahsoka to ventress.

masquerade (wip) by PlaidButterfly (gen, vader-centric). vader is forcibly taken out of the suit, only to find that the emperor has his hands on luke. memorable for the physical description of vader as a kind of grey-haired shaggy bear, his chilly interactions with leia, and his attempt to survive unnoticed in the lower levels of Coruscant by returning to what he knows best: fixing things.

on the day ... by @cacchieressa (vader + leia, series in progress). vader discovers his daughter and comes to an agreement with her parents

the tyranny of kinship (wip) by @amarielah​ (mostly suitless!vader + leia, cast). vader and anh!leia come to an understanding. leia shines in particular, bringing across that astuteness and political savvy she’s often said but not shown to have. see also precious illusions (wip; vader/vision!adult!ahsoka), an unsettlingly lovely take on vader’s contradictory impulses.

slipping by radioboca (gen, vader, leia, luke, bail, breha, han, etc.). leia gives in to her hatred for her biological father. leia is so, so young in this story, and painfully, palpably afraid. vader just thinks he’s doing the right thing.

violence in the library (wip) by @radioactivepeasant​ (gen, vader + luke). alien meets star wars. a heady mix of uncompromising gore and father-son shenanigans, with a great supporting cast and lots of humor.

> canon divergence after ROTJ, i.e. vader!lives 

wounds by @azalea-scroggs (han/leia, vader + leia). luke dies in the battle of endor - vader acted too late to save him. leia is left with her grief. mesmerizing take on vader and leia, their struggles to hold on to reason despite overwhelming emotion. a powerful statement on mourning. see also: black squadron (wip, vader + luke), a take on the ‘luke becomes an imperial pilot’ scenario where luke is faced not only with vader, but also his own morality.

love thy enemy (series in progress) by @threadsketchier (vader + luke, leia, cast). vader survives rotj, but luke may not. body!horror, angry!leia, lovely prose and quality angst.

the trial of darth vader by The Librarian (ocs, vader, luke, leia). brilliant examination of vader’s crimes and legacy from the perspective of his prison interviewer, the kind of man vader would not have hesitated to kill. while this might seem like the lead-up to a trial rather than the trial itself, the reader is invited to be a juror of sorts. vader is dispassionate and alert, reciting information with cold precision, warming only to artoo and luke in his prison cell as his suit wastes away, unsure if he can use the force again - some incredibly memorable scenes here.

the smell of burning by deaka (luke + vader). luke saved vader, but at what cost? short but searing conversation between luke and vader about selfishness, about the costs of getting what one wants, about forgiveness, about whether we change so much in a setting as telling as it is metaphorical.

unvadering (wip) by @cadesama (vader, ahsoka, luke, leia, cast). vader loses the suit and works for the alliance now, but what does that really change? a conundrum nicely played-out in a scenario where ahsoka hadn’t known what he became. features glass-smashing leia.

untitled by @jerseydevious (vader + luke). vader survives rotj and is subjected to probing questions from an alliance doctor. poor luke plays interference

untitled by @sith-shame-shack (vader + luke). vader survives rotj and surgery, slipping in and out of consciousness. panic over loss of the suit, consuming awareness of touch, exhaustion tempered by luke’s presence.

[westphotolukedas]

Production Journal - Being John Malkovich

210220

Being John Malkovich (1999) is a haunting film that asks viewers to surrender to a fantastically absurd premise. It was Spike Jonze’s directorial debut and he received an Academy Award nomination for such a bold undertaking. The plot follows Craig Schwarz, a struggling street puppeteer, his affectionate wife Lotte and his office infatuation Maxine. Relations between them cycle between attraction and repulsion when they discover a portal into the brain of John Malkovich. Its intrepid moments of comedy were met with praise and fascination from critics. ‘Put simply, Being John Malkovich just has to be one of funniest, cleverest films of the year, a Fabergé egg of comic delight,’ were Peter Bradshaw’s closing remarks in his review. (Bradshaw, 2000)

Director of Photography Lance Acord (Born 1964) is Jonze’s long term collaborator. Between them they have the hipster credentials to deliver trendy music videos, independent films and Hollywood blockbusters. With Being John Malkovich (1999) they developed a visual language which was darker derived from traditional set ups and framing. ‘We shot most of the scenes very simply. We didn’t have that much time to do them, and instead of breaking down each scene into ten setups, I wanted to spend my time getting performances from the actors,’ Jonze explained in interview. He continued, ‘That was a conscious decision, but I thought it worked for the movie - not to make it big, flashy and overly into technique. Lance can confidently and quickly work with little equipment. And, also, he doesn’t care so much what his peers are going to think.’ Given that the film explores such abstract concepts, it is largely due to Accord’s efforts that the viewer is able to suspend disbelief and lose themselves in the cinematography. (Macaulay, 2019)

Being John Malkovich (1999) has philosophical appeal for its portrayal of same-soul theory - a model of Cartesian dualism that suggests individuals identify with a consciousness unique to them. In essence, a person may be themselves within the vessel of someone else. The functionality of the portal may be likened to a cerebroscope - a fictitious device capable of relaying the contents of someone’s brain to another individual. The film addresses this phenomenon by switching to an occluded camera view analogous to peering through a periscope. The feeling of voyeurism is elevated by drawing attention to Malkovich’s bodily processes akin to the auditory effect of an isolation chamber. In a comically pedestrian scene, he orders a bath mat and scours his kitchen for Chinese food; however, the cinematography makes the act seem supernatural. Several levels of this interaction are explored when Maxine has a date with Lotte as Malkovich and Malkovich enters the portal to witness his own conscious mind in a perverse paradox loop. The filmmakers breech the fourth wall and meander either side of it to the point that it is accepted these characters are familiar with the real actor John Malkovich and his friend Charlie Sheen. (Koch, 2011) (Shaw, 2006) (Weinstein, 2008)

Summary

Jonze’s classic film takes time to develop layers of reality that act as a platform for facets of philosophy and science. In comparison, my film will be minutes long and undertaking anything of the same magnitude would be ambitious. I would like there to be a change in the rhythm of the footage that I will create with my own production technique. During an email conversation with lecturer Teemu Hupli, we discussed this issue and the potential avenues that I may partake.

‘Something has been ringing in my head since we spoke last Friday, and I want to voice it. You said a sentence in our chat to the effect that ‘the toil’ behind finished pieces of dramatic art (by which I understand films, plays, TV performances of various kinds) is ‘often not seen’ and your proposed project would expose that side of things. I am not saying it is often seen, but I would suggest you research the basis of this assertion. We do have films / representations of the work that goes into making pieces of dramatic art - cinema by now has a lot of them e.g. Synecdoche, New York, Being John Malkovich, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, and theatre has messed around with the fourth wall at least since the modernist times. In general, the idea of exposing the structures ‘behind’ finished products of art falls under the broader rubric of self-reflexivity, which has become a relatively widely used strategy for slightly more experimental dramatic art. I did mention structuralist film in our chat, which was based exactly on that idea, although it was not always about exposing the toil of actors alone, but often focused on the materials and editing structures of film e.g. Michael Snow’s Wavelength, which is essentially one very long inward zoom with marginal - literally in the margins of the frame - events occurring in the room.

I believe it would be important for you to acknowledge that your project might be operating in the context of such experiments in film / theatre. This is not to say that you should not follow your idea, but that you need to ensure that you are as fully cognisant as possible about the art / film historical context in which you work, in order to develop a clear sense of where you might be doing things similarly and / or differently from the context.’

Production Notes

An original musical score by György Englert provides some clue that Natalie might be an actor playing an actor. Lady Gaga’s Shallow (2018) and Joseph Arthur’s In the Sun (2003) were the inspiratory prompts that I gave him. I like the way both songs become more upbeat as they progress; however, melancholic accents are apparent throughout. Englert’s gypsy jazz roots contribute a playful quality that is also implicit of these shifting intentions.

After the title fades the film begins with a conventional shot seen in television interviews - framing tight to the subject and emphasising facial gestures. There is a second shot positioned further away to add some variation and then photographs from Natalie’s career roll across the screen. Momentum is broken for the first time when she slips and I encourage her to recuperate her thoughts. In the last scene of the interview there is an inaudible background comment from me, although this might be too elusive for the viewer to notice. These remarks were left in the final edit to break the fourth wall - the actor and the director are aware that they are part of a fictional narrative. In the scenes that follow, I added extracts from the scratch audio that are revealing of the filmmaking process. A focusing error while Natalie drinks tea was also left in. An early commercial cut of the film had these parts removed. It had a more mainstream tone and the intentions of the piece were lost. My peers encouraged me to be bolder with my post-production choices and this was the right direction for the project.

Being John Malkovich’s (1999) cerebroscope is recreated in the line reading sequence. The audience has a first-person view of Natalie’s performance as if they are me. There is a familiar fluidity to the play that she exudes. She waits in anticipation of her opening gambit and then launches into the role. Glances down to the paper script and then back to camera were the exact nuances that I wanted to capture. Scratch audio of me monotonously rattling off lines is heard at the start and then there is a fade away to a voice over. I selected the passages about her acknowledging nerves prior to a performance and method acting to superimpose over the visuals. Both give insight into the feelings that she may be experiencing in real time. Various edits exist where the scratch audio was omitted or faded out at a later frame. Feedback from these versions led me to believe that my speech was needed to frame the situation. Finally, I am pleased with the way that Natalie’s staring eye dominates the closing shot before the next scene.

Bibliography

Bradshaw, P. (2000). Bonkers but Brilliant. The Guardian. Available from www.theguardian.com/film/2000/mar/17/1 [Accessed 10/04/2020]

Koch, C. (2020). Consciousness Redux - Being John Malkovich. Scientific American, 22 (1), 18-19

Macaulay, S. (2019). I’m In You - Director Spike Jonze and Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman Talk Being John Malkovich. Filmmaker. Available from www.filmmakermagazine.com/107755-im-in-you-director-spike-jonze-and-screenwriter-charlie-kaufman-talk-being-john-malkovich [Accessed 10/04/2020]

Shaw, D. (2006). On Being Philosophical and Being John Malkovich. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 64 (1), 111-118

Weinstein, L. (2008). The Perverse Cosmos of Being John Malkovich - Forms and Transformations of Narcissism in a Celebrity Culture. Projections, 2 (1), 27-44

Final Cut, Manual Mode, 25 fps, WB Natural Light

[theonyxpath]

Today we go a little further back. The Beast Within Revised dates back to December 2000, but Onyx Path recently recreated it for ebook formats. This story is Gherbod Fleming’s The Inquiry.

[From the interview of Archon Theo Bell, Clan Brujah, on 14 November 1999, conducted by Justicar Mme. Guil, Clan Toreador.]

MG: And so, in your estimation, Archon Bell, at the point at which you lured Prince Vitel to the warehouse, he remained unaware of your harmful intent toward him?

TB: Do you think he’d have got in that car if he’d thought I was gonna blow his [expletive deleted] head off?

MG: I’m interested in your opinion, Archon. [pause; rattling of cellophane] I’d prefer that you didn’t smoke in here.

TB: [barely audible muttering.]

MG: Excuse me, Archon?

TB: Yes. In my estimation, he remained unaware. Hell, we spent weeks briefing him and the others, telling them that the Sabbat could bust through any night. Which was true. And the scenario we constructed for Vitel was credible. When they did attack a week later, they came along the same routes I told him they were using that night.

MG: But you knew he was in communication with the enemy. Shouldn’t he have known that the assault was not happening that night?

TB: From everything that Pieterzoon and Colchester had scraped together, we thought his communication with the Sabbat was sporadic. We hoped he didn’t know the exact details of whatever attack was coming.

MG: You “thought” his communications were sporadic. You “hoped” he didn’t know?

TB: Look. That whole operation in Baltimore was built on hope and speculation. If anybody had bothered to tell us that there was a plan underway to take New York, it would’ve helped. As it was, I say we were damn lucky that the plan Pieterzoon and I came up with dovetailed with what was already going down in New York.

MG: I believe had your plan not coincided with our wishes, Lucinde would have guided you in a more convenient direction. As it was, your actions bore out our predictions to a signifcant degree, so you were left to operate independently. But we were, I believe, discussing Marcus Vitel.

TB: Right. And you’re interested in my lowly opinion. Well, it seemed most likely to me that the Sabbat high command wasn’t going to keep Vitel completely informed. If your spy gets bagged and spills his guts, you’re screwed.

MG: You seem to accept this theoretical Sabbat policy of parceling information on a need-to-know basis more whole-heartedly than our own similar practice — at least as far as you are concerned. Would not our New York gambit have been threatened had a combatant such as yourself been aware of every detail and captured?

TB: Different situation, lady.

MG: That would be “Madame,” or “Justicar,” thank you.

TB: Hmph.

MG: Let us skip ahead, Archon. Once you were in the warehouse — you and your driver, the prince and his retainer—your frst interaction there with Vitel was…

TB: I shot him in the face.

MG: Indeed. Before or after extracting a confession?

TB: This wasn’t no interrogation. It was a hit. We already knew what we needed to know. We were there to take him out of the picture, not ask questions.

MG: And Mr. Pieterzoon concurred with your assessment?

TB: Yeah.

MG: And Lucinde?

TB: Couldn’t tell you for sure. But since you’re so interested in my opinion, I assumed Pieterzoon was keeping her informed. I don’t think she would’ve had it any other way. Look. We were trying to hold Baltimore till the last second and pull off a screened withdrawal to another city. If you folks are unhappy about how we did it, then just have Pascek give me my pink slip, and I’ll be on my way.

MG: I am merely attempting to ascertain the facts.

TB: Bullshit. We were cut loose, and I bet that for every justicar who hoped we’d pull it off, there was another hoping we’d fall on our ass. And now that we did pull it off, you’re gonna second guess me to death because you, or somebody, can’t stand for the credit to go to Pascek or Lucinde or who-the-hell-ever.

MG: Archon Bell, I am not unaware of this and other services you have rendered the Camarilla, but I will not be addressed in that tone. [pause] Now, in your experience, the shot you fred at Prince Vitel — that would have incapacitated many Kindred?

TB: I gave him a burst, four shots, of dragons breath — that’s white phosphorus incendiary rounds — square in the face. Many…hell, most Kindred that’s gonna take their head clean off. At the very least he should have been incapacitated for a long [expletive deleted] time.

MG: But he was not.

TB: No. Not for long.

MG: What other force did you bring to bear against him?

TB: Besides me, we had thirteen ghouls plus Pieterzoon with sub-machineguns, and four more of my people, Kindred, three with side arms, the other with a sword.

MG: I see. And your losses?

TB: Eleven ghouls dead, one Kindred destroyed, another completely fucked up, and the rest of us banged around pretty good.

MG: From just Vitel and his retainer?

TB: No. That’s just from Vitel. Lydia blew the ghoul’s [expletive deleted] head off right after I shot the prince the frst time.

MG: [pause] I see. [pause] Was that the type of encounter you were expecting, Archon Bell?

TB: [derisive laughter] No. Not exactly.

Read the rest of the inquiry into Theo Bell’s encounter with the creature calling itself Prince Marcus Vitel in The Beast Within Revised, available now in ebook and print formats from DriveThruFiction.

[thisdaynews]

Pelosi defends impeachment delay, warns of Senate ’cover-up’

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/pelosi-defends-impeachment-delay-warns-of-senate-cover-up/

Pelosi defends impeachment delay, warns of Senate ’cover-up’

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the precise timing of when the two impeachment articles would be sent over has not been determined. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday defended her decision to temporarily delay the Senate’s impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, despite securing no promises from GOP leaders to allow witness testimony.

“What we think we accomplished in the past few weeks is that we wanted the public to see the need for witnesses,” Pelosi said on ABC News’ “This Week,” marking her first public comments since ending thelengthy standoffwith Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday.

“Now the ball is in their court to either do that or pay the price,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi’s remarks on Sunday came days before the House is expected to formally hand off articles of impeachment to McConnell, launching a weeks-long spectacle in the Senate that will almost certainly result in Trump’s acquittal.

The California Democrat once again hedged on questions of timing, declining to say when House Democrat would take next steps to name their team of “managers” who will prosecute Trump in the trial.

“What I did say is that I would be consulting with my members this week,” Pelosi said, referring to a caucus-wide meeting on Tuesday morning. “We’ll determine in our meeting when we’ll send them over.”

If the House sends its slate of impeachment managers to the Senate on Tuesday, it would trigger the trial the following day, once again catapulting Trump’s conduct in Ukraine to the national stage. This time, it will happen just as Democratic presidential contenders, including several sitting members of the Senate, make their final push ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

Top Democrats had waged a three-week pressure campaign against McConnell to allow new testimony from first-hand witnesses on Trump’s withholding of military aid in Ukraine. That includes former national security adviser John Bolton, who had refused to testify in the House trial but said recently he would be willing to appear before the Senate.

Pelosi’s delay tactic was also intended to ramp up pressure on potential GOP swing votes: Democrats would need four Senate Republicans to call for witnesses to force McConnell’s hand on the floor.

The California Democrat announced Friday that she would relent in the three-week impasse, which began Dec. 18 when she refused to formally transmit the articles across the Capitol in a bid for what she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called a fairer process.

McConnell and his GOP allies have argued that the gambit backfired, with some Democrats in both chambers breaking with Pelosi and urging her to let the Senate begin. But the majority of Pelosi’s own caucus stood behind her as she argued that McConnell was attempting to block witnesses from testifying to help acquit Trump.

Asked if she had second thoughts about delaying the articles, Pelosi responded: “No, no no, we feel that it has produced a very positive result.”

Pelosi pointed to a spate of new details on Trump’s aid freeze in Ukraine — includingunredacted emailsthat show the Pentagon’s deep anxiety with the move — that have been released since the House’s impeachment vote,

“More importantly,” Pelosi said, “raising the profile of the fact that we need to have witnesses and documentation, and if we don’t, that is a cover-up.”

McConnell has said he will base Trump’s impeachment trial on the process used by the Senate during former President Bill Clinton’s 1999 trial, in which the prospect of witnesses was considered at the end. But Democrats have pointed out that Republicans controlled both chambers during Clinton’s trial, and, therefore, did not need to agree on witness parameters up front.

Democrats have zeroed in on Bolton — who once apparently called Trump’s dealings in Ukraine a “drug deal” — as a key witness in the Senate.

House Democrats have not ruled out subpoenaing Bolton themselves, reviving their investigations even as the Senate has begun its trial. But House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) made clear on Sunday that he would prefer the Senate to call in Bolton.

“There’s little sense in bringing Bolton in to the House and not allowing senators to see his testimony,” Schiff told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“They should hear from Bolton directly,” Schiff said of the Senate.

At least one Senate Republican is still working to secure witnesses behind the scenes. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a pivotal swing vote, took Washington by surprise on Friday when she disclosed that she was working with a “small number” of GOP senators to make sure there is first-hand testimony.

“I don’t expect anything, but I don’t think it’s impossible,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Col.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And I hope my Republican colleagues will be open to having witnesses.”

Read More

[theindustrialphotography-blog]

The Urban Lens: See the last photographs of the abandoned Domino Sugar Factory

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Paul Raphaelson takes us through the Domino Sugar Factory before its redevelopment got underway. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at tips@6sqft.com.

The term “ruin porn” was born out of generations of street photographers venturing into neglected, decaying, and off-limits spaces, but today it’s become more of a mainstream trend to fluff one’s Instagram feed. So when Brooklyn-based artist Paul Raphaelson received the chance in 2013 to be the last photographer allowed into the then-abandoned Domino Sugar Factory, he knew he didn’t want his project to simply “estheticize surfaces while ignoring the underlying history.”

His stunning photos of the 135-year-old structure still “capture the sublime sense of spectacle,” but they also accompany archival maps, newspaper clippings, corporate documents, and even interviews with former Domino Sugar Factory employees, all of which come together in his new book “Brooklyn’s Sweet Ruin: Relics and Stories of the Domino Sugar Refinery.” Raphaelson shared his stunning images with us and also shared his thoughts on “urban exploration,” his process in compiling a comprehensive history of Domino, and his thoughts on the recently approved plans for the site.

How did you get into photographing abandoned spaces?

I’ve photographed desolate places, but this is my only real abandoned space project. It came about because for me, living in New York has been closely connected to old factory buildings. When I moved here in 1995, I joined friends living on the Brooklyn waterfront in repurposed victorian millhouses. I loved the architecture, the rawness, the sense of history, the sense of possibility … that you could do anything you dreamed of in these big old spaces.

Several years ago I started photographing spaces like the ones I’d turned into studios. But they weren’t abandoned spaces in the way you’re probably thinking. And they weren’t dramatic—they felt more like painted-over canvasses, waiting for their next incarnation.

Had you always been interested in Domino? How did you gain access?

When I was in the middle of my empty industrial space project, I read that Domino was going to be demolished. Domino had been in my peripheral vision, but I hadn’t thought about photographing it. It then seemed like maybe it would fit my project—and that it would definitely be gone soon. So I started writing emails, asking for access.

I considered sneaking in, but those days seemed over—the refinery was humming 24/7 with asbestos abatement crews and demolition engineers. And it’s hard to do a serious project when you’re looking over your shoulder the whole time.

After around six months of emailing back and forth, the developers agreed to let me in. I was in for some surprises. The insides of the refinery were nothing like the empty industrial spaces I’d been photographing. It was a whole different experience and quickly became its own project.

At first, the developers gave me one day’s access. They said they’d been flooded with requests and narrowed it down to five photographers. They gave us each a day in August 2013. That day I worked harder than I’d ever worked, but I barely scratched the surface.

I knew the developers wouldn’t want to give me more time—they had little incentive to take on the liability or to delay their development plans. So I had the idea of proposing a book. I used the pictures from that first day, did research, and put a team together with a well-known photography editor and an architectural historian. The developers said yes to my proposal. Which was amazing—I’d have a full week in October to photograph. But it also meant I had to do the book. So that little gambit ended up rewriting the next four years of my life.

Would you consider yourself an “urban explorer?”

I have friends who do this, including ones who wrote a book on the topic (Invisible Frontier). I admire their adventures but think they’re doing something rather different from what I do.

Urban exploration photography seems to be about documenting the adventure itself, as much as it’s about anything else. I think it has a connection to street art and also to the survey photography of the American West (the expeditions used the photographs to publicize themselves and to raise funds). Like street art, urbex photos often have an element of performance, and of showing that “I was here.”

My work isn’t about that, although sometimes we share subject matter, and I’ve done my share of trespassing and wandering into precarious places. My work is more about the thing photographed. It’s also about broader ideas beyond the photograph, and about problems in formal picture-making.

Your book is more than just photos; you worked with architectural historian Matt Postal to provide a comprehensive, historic overview of the factory, including archival maps, newspaper clippings, and corporate documents. Why was it important to you to include these materials, rather than just presenting a “ruin porn” photo series?

Well, the phrase “rather than just presenting a ‘ruin porn’ photo series” hints at the answer. As I researched the project, I discovered just how much contemporary ruin photography there was. It’s practically ubiquitous. I’m not used to working in a genre that’s trendy, and this one might be trendy to the point of being overdone.

Beyond that, it’s come under sharp criticism from many groups. People in Detroit, especially, call it out for being a kind of hipster imperialism. They see wealthy, mostly white, tourists with expensive cameras stomp across their lawns and gleefully photograph fossils of their former homes and livelihoods. Photographers often do this without a hint of serious interest in what they’re looking at. They estheticize surfaces while ignoring the underlying history and suffering.

So here I was, taking on this huge new project, discovering that I was walking into a thicket of clichés and exploitation. How to make it more than just a ruin porn photo series became the central problem I had to solve.

I was able to address some of this problem through the photography and the photo editing, but much of my solution came with the supporting materials and the overall structure of the book. I still wanted the photographs to be beautiful and evocative—to capture the sublime sense of spectacle I experienced while inside Domino. But I wanted to place the pictures in the context of history and personal stories, so viewers could get a sense of the richness and weight of what they were seeing.

There’s also an essay where I look my own connections to these old spaces. And I address some of the more philosophical and art-historical questions about our attraction to contemporary ruins. I think this attraction is symptomatic of some interesting and troubling elements our culture. So it was necessary, in my view, to make the book this expansive and complex. It’s a testament to Christopher Truch’s art direction that it holds together at all.

You also included interviews with former factory employees. How did you track them down?

Facebook! At first, I looked for names in newspaper articles about the strike in 1999/2000 but didn’t get anywhere. Then I discovered the workers had a thriving Facebook community. So finding them got easy. But finding ones who wanted to talk was hard. Most just had no interest. I was surprised because journalists had almost all taken their side and treated them fairly during the labor disputes. But for whatever reason, I only found a handful who wanted to be in the project. That said, I was lucky—the ones who talked with me were awesome. They could have talked for days. And they remembered everything.

I also talked to a bunch of current workers at the Domino Yonkers refinery, who had previously worked at the Brooklyn refinery. I learned tons from these guys about the technical side. But since they still worked for for the company, and had been in management back in Brooklyn, they were not as forthcoming with interesting stories as the other guys.

What was the most surprising thing you learned from the interviews?

That for most of their careers, the workers loved their jobs. More than I’ve ever loved a job. The place was their life and their community. The history shows that for most of Domino’s existence, particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was an industrial hell hole. But the workers I talked to came from a golden era when union contracts were strong and management was benevolent, up until the last few years, when new owners brought back Industrial Revolution attitudes toward management.

I learned some other things that are so surprising I can’t repeat them. About connections between the Domino’s parent union (the Longshoremen) and several of the NYC crime families. One reason the union was able to negotiate such great contracts is that everyone was terrified of it. This gave the workers leverage, but also led to some Tarrantino-esque drama for workers who unwittingly wandered into the middle of union business.

How do you feel about the recently approved plans for the site?

In my personal utopia, the site would be left alone, like a Roman ruin, for people like me to run around in and make art of all different kinds. But this is just a selfish delusion. My number-two fantasy would be some kind of public space that preserves much of the site, with buildings converted to museums, galleries, libraries, and other kinds of public spaces, parks, and possibly also live/work studios and commercial space for non-profits and carefully curated businesses. But with the value of the waterfront, this wasn’t going to happen either.

Considering that high-end architecture was inevitable, I think that the current plans (designed by SHoP architects) are pretty nice–way better than the horror shows you see elsewhere on the Williamsburg and Greenpoint waterfront. And better than the plans proposed by the previous developer (CPC). I especially like the new plan for the glass-domed interior of the main refinery building. I’d probably like the towers more if they weren’t so tall and were more in scale with the refinery and the bridge.