#robert martin carroll

[waste-it-on-something-useful]

Sonny Boy (Robert Martin Carroll, 1989) Cinematography by Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli

[rainingmusic]

CHIC - Le Freak 

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have North by Northwest 1959

[hotvintagepoll]

THE TOURNAMENT IS OVER! Eartha Kitt lounges in her deck chair in the sun, dipping her toes in the pool with Toshiro Mifune and sipping a brightly colored fruity something with an umbrella in it.

Far below in the shadow realm, however, the fallen hotties dance in the dark—let's take a minute to look back at them under the cut.

PRELIM PRETTIES:

Claude Gensac, Silvia Pinal, Ewa Aulin, Rita Tushingham, Annette Funicello, Norma Bengell, Catherine Spaak, Brigitte Auber, Micheline Presle, Nanette Fabray, Libertad Lamarque, Vera Miles, Martha Raye, Catherine McLeod, Virginia Mayo, Elizabeth Allan, Belle Bennet, Virginia Cherill, Mary Brian, Ruth Chatterton, Agnes Ayres, Merna Kennedy, Marie Prevost, Corinne Griffith, May Allison, Virginia Brown Faire, Alice Brady, and Jetta Goudal

ROUND ONE WONDERS:

Angie Dickinson, Thelma Ritter, Geraldine Chaplin, Evelyn Preer, Vanessa Brown, Betty Blythe, Susan Hayward, Mae Clarke, Sally Ann Howes, Ossi Oswalda, Adrienne La Russa, Hermione Gingold, Barbara Bouchet, Melina Mercouri, Anna Karina, Edwige Fenech, Charmian Carr, Pina Pellicer, Marlène Jobert, Tsuru Aoki, Alice Roberts, Leila Hyams, Lady Tsen Mei, Geneviève Bujold, Dolores Hart, Anita Berber, Bonita Granville, Vonetta McGee, Claire Windsor, Zizi Jeanmaire, Tuesday Weld, Grace Darmond, Carol Channing, Deanna Durbin, Laraine Day, Mariette Hartey, Wendy Hiller, Candy Darling, Hermione Baddely, Valeria Creti, Ella Raines, Ann Miller, Dana Wynter, Dalida, Martine Beswick, Gale Storm, Simone Signoret, Cristina Gaioni, Mabel Normand, Stéphane Audran, Ruth Weyher, Anna Wiazemsky, Ann Sheridan, Sandhya Shantaram, Alice White, Anne Francis, Gena Rowlands, Lyda Borelli, May Whitty, Cathleen Nesbitt, Jessica Walter, Virna Lisi, Barbara Shelley, Iris Hall, Heather Angel, Anne Shirley, Joanna Pettet, Virginia O'Brien, Joan Collins, Greer Garson, Gracie Allen, Peggy Ryan, Frances Dee, Shirley Maclaine, Geraldine Farrar, Kathleen Byron, Margaret Hamilton, Eva Gabor, Francesca Bertini, Julie Adams, Olga Baclanova, Misa Uehara, Yvette Vickers, Milena Dravić, Jenny Jugo, Madeleine Carroll, Benita Hume, Olive Borden, Shirley Jones, Miyoshi Umeki, Dorothy Lamour, Gale Sondergaard, Mary Anderson, Charlotte Greenwood, Sybil Seely, Mona Barrie, Kathryn Grayson, Katharine Ross, Madge Bellamy, Rhonda Fleming, Sally Gray, Jana Brejchová, Debra Paget, Madame Sul-Te-Wan, Evelyn Brent, Zelma O'Neal, Marie Laforêt, Türkan Şoray, Beatriz Costa, Irene Zazians, Eleanor Powell, Susan Luckey, Patsy Kelly, Lil Dagover, Norma Talmadge, Dorothy Mackaill, Madge Evans, Virginia McKenna, Amália Rodrigues, Mamie Van Doren, Valerie Hobson, Isabel Jeans, Beata Tyszkiewicz, Claire Luce, Aleksandra Khokhlova, Nieves Navarro Garcia, Janet Leigh, Carmen Miranda, Jean Harlow, Aud Egedge-Nissen, Nina Foch, Jean Simmons, Piper Laurie, Katy Jurado, Jayne Mansfield, Anita Garvin, Frances Farmer, Lizabeth Scott, Joan Greenwood, Una Merkel, Arlene Francis, Ethel Merman, Doris Day, Suzanne Pleshette, Ruta Lee, Carolyn Jones, June Richmond, Eva Nil, Diana Dors, Anna Chang, Colleen Moore, Alexis Smith, Yvette Mimieux, Ruby Keeler, Viola Dana, Dolores Grey, Marie Windsor, Danielle Darieux, Jean Parker, Julie Christie, Acquanetta, Leatrice Joy, Ghita Nørby, Julie Newmar, Joanne Woodward, Sandra Dee, Eva Marie Saint, Simone Simon, Katherine Dunham, Birgitte Price, Lee Grant, Anita Page, Flora Robson, Martha Sleeper, Elsie Ames, Isabel "Coca" Sarli, Glenda Farrell, Kathleen Burke, Linden Travers, Diane Baker, Joan Davis, Joan Leslie, Sylvia Sidney, Marie Dressler, June Lockhart, Emmanuelle Riva, Libertad Leblanc, Susannah Foster, Susan Fleming, Dolores Costello, Ann Smyrner, Luise Rainer, Anna Massey, Evelyn Ankers, Ruth Gordon, Eva Dahlbeck, Ansa Ikonen, Diana Wynyard, Patricia Neal, Etta Lee, Gloria Stuart, Arletty, Dorothy McGuire, Mitzi Gaynor, Gwen Verdon, Maria Schell, Lili Damita, Ethel Moses, Gloria Holden, Kay Thompson, Jeanne Crain, Edna May Oliver, Lili Liliana, Ruth Chatterton, Giulietta Masina, Claire Bloom, Dinah Sheridan, Carroll Baker, Brenda de Banzie, Milú, Hertha Thiele, Hanka Ordonówna, Lillian Roth, Jane Powell, Carol Ohmart, Betty Garrett, Kalina Jędrusik, Edana Romney, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Kay Kendall, Ruth Hussey, Véra Clouzot, Jadwiga Smosarska, Marge Champion, Mary Astor, Ann Harding, María Casares, Maureen O'Sullivan, Mildred Natwick, Michèle Morgan, Romy Schneider, Elisabeth Bergner, Celeste Holm, Betty Hutton, Susan Peters, Mehtab, Leslie Caron, Anna Sten, Janet Munro, Nataša Gollová, Eve Arden, Ida Lupino, Regina Linnanheimo, Sonja Henie, and Terry (what a good girl)

ROUND TWO BEAUTIES:

Evelyn Nesbit, Thelma Todd, Tura Satana, Helen Gibson, Maureen O'Hara, Rocío Dúrcal, Mary Nolan, Lois Maxwell, Maggie Smith, Zulma Faiad, Ursula Andress, Musidora, Delphine Seyrig, Marian Marsh, Leatrice Joy, Sharon Tate, Pina Menichelli, Teresa Wright, Shelley Winters, Lee Remick, Jane Wyman, Martita Hunt, Barbara Bates, Susan Strasberg, Marie Bryant, Diana Rigg, Jane Birkin, Rosalind Russell, Vanessa Redgrave, Brigitte Helm, Gloria Grahame, Rosemary Clooney, Bebe Daniels, Constance Bennett, Lilian Bond, Ann Dvorak, Jeanette Macdonald, Pouri Banayi, Raquel Welch, Vilma Bánky, Dorothy Malone, Olive Thomas, Celia Johnson, Moira Shearer, Priscilla Lane, Dolores del Río, Ann Sothern, Françoise Rosay, June Allyson, Carole Lombard, Jeni Le Gon, Takako Irie, Barbara Steele, Claudette Colbert, Lalita Pawar, Asta Nielsen, Sandra Milo, Maria Montez, Mae West, Alma Rose Aguirre, Bibi Andersson, Joan Blondell, Anne Bancroft, Elsa Lanchester, Nita Naldi, Suchitra Sen, Dorothy Van Engle, Elisabeth Welch, Esther Williams, Loretta Young, Margueritte De La Motte, Ita Rina, Constance Talmadge, Margaret Lockwood, Barbara Bedford, Josette Day, Stefania Sandrelli, Jane Russell, Doris Dowling, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Donna Reed, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Billie Burke, Kyōko Kagawa, Françoise Dorléac, Hend Rostom, Monica Vitti, Lilian Harvey, Marjorie Main, Jeanne Moreau, Lola Flores, Ann Blyth, Janet Gaynor, Jennifer Jones, Margaret Sullavan, Sadhana, Ruby Myers, Lotus Long, Honor Blackman, Marsha Hunt, Debbie Reynolds, Michèle Mercier, Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Judy Holliday, Tippi Hedren, Susse Wold, Vera-Ellen, Carmelita González, Nargis Dutt, Purnima, Harriet Andersson, Yvonne De Carlo, Miroslava Stern, Sheila Guyse, Helen, Margaret Dumont, Betty Grable, Joan Bennett, Jane Greer, Judith Anderson, Liv Ullman, Vera Zorina, Joan Fontaine, Silvana Mangano, and Lee Ya-Ching

ROUND THREE ELECTRIFIERS:

Jean Hagen, Sumiko Mizukubo, Mary Philbin, Ann-Margret, Margaret Rutherford, Claudia Cardinale, Eleanor Parker, Jessie Matthews, Theresa Harris, Brigitte Bardot, Alla Nazimova, Faye Dunaway, Marion Davies, Anna Magnani, Theda Bara, Myrna Loy, Kay Francis, Fay Wray, Barbra Streisand, Bette Davis, Hideko Takamine, France Nuyen, Claudine Auger, Miriam Hopkins, Maylia Fong, Samia Gamal, Maude Fealy, Machiko Kyō, Sharmila Tagore, Lucille Ball, Ginger Rogers, Juanita Moore, Anna Fougez, Waheeda Rehman, Ruan Lingyu, Nina Mae McKinney, Ethel Waters, Nadira, Olivia de Havilland, Abbey Lincoln, Louise Beavers, Agnes Moorehead, Lana Turner, Norma Shearer, Maria Falconetti, Reiko Sato, Marie Doro, Clara Bow, Margaret Lindsay, Catherine Denueve, Madhabi Mukherjee, Rosaura Revueltas, Hu Die, Mary Pickford, Fredi Washington, Louise Brooks, Leonor Maia, Merle Oberon, Paulette Goddard, Vivien Leigh, Francine Everett, Savitri, Tita Merello, and Meena Kumari

ROUND FOUR STUNNERS:

Judy Garland, Dorothy Dandridge, Yoshiko Yamaguchi, Marilyn Monroe, Irene Papas, Lupe Vélez, Pola Negri, Gene Tierney, Barbara Stanwyck, Gina Lollobrigida, Lena Horne, Nutan, Jean Seberg, Kim Novak, Gladys Cooper, Tallulah Bankhead, Linda Darnell, Julie Andrews, Carmen Sevilla, Gloria Swanson, Glynis Johns, Anne Baxter, Angela Lansbury, Anita Ekberg, Toshia Mori, Deborah Kerr, Hazel Scott, Chelo Alonso, Cyd Charisse, Nancy Kwan, Devika Rani, Shima Iwashita, and Anouk Aimée

ROUND FIVE SMOKESHOWS:

Setsuko Hara, Pearl Bailey, Joan Crawford, Madhubala, Marpessa Dawn, Keiko Awaji, Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake, Ava Gardner, Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly, Xia Meng, Suraiya, Natalie Wood, María Félix, and Mbissine Thérèse Diop

ROUND SIX SEXY LADIES:

Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Vyjyanthimala, Jane Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Josephine Baker, Elizabeth Taylor, and Ingrid Bergman

QUARTER FINALIST GLAMAZONS:

Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong, and Lauren Bacall

SEMIFINALIST ICONS:

Rita Moreno, Diahann Carroll

FINALIST FABULOSITY:

Hedy Lamarr

ULTIMATE CHAMPION OF THE HOT & VINTAGE MOVIE WOMAN TOURNAMENT:

Eartha Kitt

[themerelypersonal]

Books I’ve consumed so far in 2024:

The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong

Something Deeply Hidden by Sean Carroll

How to Read Nature: An Expert’s Guide to Discovering the Outdoors You Never Noticed by Qarie Marshall

Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution by Carlo Rovelli

The World According to Physics by Jim Al-Khalili

How Not To Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind by Clancy Martin

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

A Series of Fortunate Events: Chance and the Making of the Planet by Sean B. Carroll

Listen: On Music, Sound and Us by Michel Faber

The Art of Communicating by Thich Nhat Hanh

I am a Strange Loop by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman by Leslie Feinberg

Spectrums: Autistic Transgender People in Their Own Words by Maxfield Sparrow

All the Flowers Kneeling by Paul Tran

Supporting Transgender Autistic Youth and Adults by Finn V. Gratton, LMFT, LPCC

Nisa by Marjorie Shostak

Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will by Robert M. Sapolsky

21 Lessons for the 21st History by Yuval Harrari

The Book Of Secrets by Deepak Chopra

The Joy of Science by Jim Al-Khalili

The Rock Warriors Way by Arno IIgner

The Pursuit of Endurance by Jennifer Pharr Davis

Quantum Mechanics, Technology, Consciousness and the Multiverse by Martin Ettington

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

Connecting with the Autism Spectrum by Casey “Remrov” Vormer

Light Falls: Space, Time, and an Obsession with Einstein by Brian Greene

A Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson

10 Days in Physics that Shook the World by Brian Clegg

On Being a Therapist by Jeffrey Kottler

Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the language of the human experience by Brene Brown

What do you really want? By Cayla Craft

The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee

Chemistry for Breakfast by Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

A Molecule Away from Madness by Sara Manning Peskin

Quantum Wonder: How the Tiny Drives Our Immense Reality by Carl AL-Khalili

Building a Life Worth Living by Marsha Linehan

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply by David Brooks

Speed Reading by Kam Knight

Being You: A New Science of Consciousness by Anil Seth

You Are Not an Imposter by Coline Monsarrat

You are the Placebo by Dr. Joe Dispenza

Welcome to the O.C.: The Oral History by Alan Sepinwall

Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey by Florence Williams

DBT Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide to Dialectical Behavior Therapy by Sheri Van Dijk MSW

Move on Motherf*cker: Live, Laugh, and Let Sh*t Go by Jodie Eckleberry-Hunt, Emma Bryne PhD

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Real and proven strategies for managing anxiety by Charlie Norman

CBT Workbook: 7 Strategies to Overcome Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Panic, Worry, Intrusive Thoughts by Mind Change Academy

Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A comprehensive guide to DBT and using Behavior Therapy to Manage Borderline Personality Disorder by Christopher Rance

Somatic Psychotherapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Theoretical and Practical Considerations by Hale Boyd

Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Regulate Emotions, Panic, Anger. Guide for BPD by Dustin Drig

How Confidence Works: The new science of self belief by Ian Robertson

Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm by Thich Nhat Hanh

The God Equation by Michio Kaku

Dialectical Behavior Therapy by Cindy Crosby

Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed by Jim Al-Khalili

Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh

Einstein in Time and Space: A Life in 99 Particles by Samuel Graydon

Reality is Not What It Seems by Carlo Rovelli

Resurrecting the Body, Reinventing the Soul by Deepak Chopra

A Brief History of Intelligence by Max Bennett

What the Future Looks like by Jim Al-Khalil

Retirement 101: From 401(k) Plans to Social Security Benefits to Asset Management by Michele Cagan

Still the Mind by Alan Watts

Anchor System Thinking by A.I. Shoukry

Finance Basics by Harvard Business Review

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

A Brief History of Earth by Andrew Knoll

The Physics Book by DK

Investing for Beginners by David Cohne

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Drink? The New Science of Alcohol and your Health by Professor David Nutt

Unique: The New Science of Human Individuality by David Linden

Psychedelics by Professor David Nutt

What do you need? By Lauren Wesley Wilson

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

Endure by Cameron Hanes

Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh

Die with Zero: Getting all you can with your money and your life by Bill Perkins

How Humans Evolved by Robert Boyd and Joan Silk

No Bad Parts by Richard C. Schwartz,PHD

The Matter of Everything: How Curiosity, Physics, and Improbable Experiments Changed the World by Suzie Sheehy

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

Bumpin: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy by Leslie Schrock

Choose Strong by Sally McRae

Outgrowing God by Richard Dawkins

Can We Talk about Israel? By Daniel Sokatch

Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays by Stephen Hawking

Hal Koerner’s Field Guide to Ultra Running by Hal Koerner

The Science and Art of Running by Cooper Barton

Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by Scott Jurek

North: Finding my Way While Running the Appalachian Trail by Scott Jurek & Jenny Jurek

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Securities Industries Essentials by Kaplan

Above the Clouds by Kilian Jornet

What is Life? by Paul Nurse

What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Mastering Logical Fallacies by Michael Withey

This is why you Dream by Rahul Jandial,MD,PHD

The Tao of Running by Gary Dudney

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson

The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins

Parallel Worlds: A Journey through Creation, Higher Dimensions and the Future of the Cosmos by Michio Kaku

Dance of the Photons by Anton Zelinger

Quantum Body by Deepak Chopra

The Heart of Understanding by Thich Nhat Hanh

Annuity 360 Learn All You Need to Know About Annuities by Ford Strokes

Quantum Entanglement by Jed Brody

Relationships by Ram Dass

The Way of Zen by Alan Watts

Ultimate Confidence by Ralf Aabot

101 Essays that will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest

The Science of Happiness by Brendan Kelly

Fighting for our Friendships by Danielle Bayard Jackson

One Day My Soul Just Opened Up by Iyanla Vanzant

K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs and David Roberts

Know that I Am by Eckhart Tolle

Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller

Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships by Dr. Sue Johnson

Girls that Invest by Simran Kaur

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle

Retroactive Jealousy by Vincenzo Venezia

Right Thing, Right Now by Ryan Holiday

The Best American Essays 2022 by Alexander Chee & Robert Atwan

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

Insecure in love by Leslie Becker-Phelps PHD

Codependent No More by Melody Beattie

Be Here Now by Ram Dass

Reality, Art, and Illusion by Alan Watts

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

List of Books I Consumed in 2023:

The Last climb by David Breashears, Audrey Selkeld, and Audry Salkend

What is Life by Schrodinger

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Beyond Feeling: A Guide to Critical Thinking by Vincent Ryan Ruggiero

Furniture by Kevin Sheetz

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Relativity by Albert Einstein

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

An Immense World by Ed Yong

Quantum Supremacy by Michio Kaku

White Holes by Carlo Rovelli

A Separate Reality by Carlos Castaneda

Outlive by Peter Attia

Until the End of Time by Brian Greene

Tribe by Sebastian Junger

Ghosts of Everest by Jochen Hemmleb

Attached by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller

Mind and Matter by Schrodinger

Wired for Love by Stan Tatkin

Grit by Angela Duckworth

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a fuck by Mark Manson

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Ethical Slut by Janet Hardy and Dossie Easton

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell

The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

Homo Deus Summary a Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Harari

Alone on the Wall by Alex Honnold

Why we Believe in God (s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith by J. Anderson Thomson

Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution of Modern Science by Werner Heisenberg

The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Chopra

Sacred Woman by Queen Afja

Everest: The West Ridge by Thomas Hornbein

Tracks by Robyn Davidson

The Ink Dark Moon by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikoku

Einstein by Walter Isaacson

Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman

[dweemeister]

Whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you. And so will I.

Born to a turbulent family on a Mississippi farm, James Earl Jones passed away today. He was ninety-three years old. Abandoned by his parents as a child and raised by a racist grandmother (although he later reconciled with his actor father and performed alongside him as an adult), the trauma of his childhood developed into a stutter that followed him through his primary school years – sometimes, his stutter was so debilitating, he could not speak at all. In high school, Jones found in an English teacher someone who found in him a talent for written expression, and encouraged him to write and recite poetry in class. He overcame his stutter by graduation, although the effects of it carried over for the remainder of his life.

Jones' most accomplished roles may have been on the Broadway stage, where he won three Tonys (twice winning Best Actor in a Play for originating the lead roles in 1969's The Great White Hope by Howard Sackler and 1987's Fences by August Wilson) and was considered one of the best Shakespearean actors of his time.

But his contributions to cinema left an impact on audiences, too. Jones received an Honorary Academy Award alongside makeup artist Dick Smith (1972's The Godfather, 1984's Amadeus) in 2011. From the end of Hollywood's Golden Age to the dawn of the summer Hollywood blockbuster in the 1970s to the present, Jones' presence – and his basso profundo voice – could scarcely be ignored. Though he could not sing like Paul Robeson nor had the looks of Sidney Poitier, his presence and command put him in league of both of his acting predecessors.

Ten of the films James Earl Jones appeared in, whether in-person or voice acting, follow (left-right, descending):

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) – directed by Stanley Kubrick; also starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, and Slim Pickens

The Great White Hope (1970) – directed by Martin Ritt; also starring Jane Alexander, Chester Morris, Hal Holbrook Beah Richards, and Moses Gunn

Star Wars saga (1977-2019; A New Hope pictured) – multiple directors, as the voice of Darth Vader, also starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, and Frank Oz

Claudine (1974) – directed by John Berry; also starring Diahann Carroll, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Tamu Blackwell

Conan the Barbarian (1982) – directed by John Milius; also starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sandahl Bergman, Ben Davidson, Cassandra Gaviola, Gerry Lopez, Mako, Valerie Quennessen, William Smith, and Max von Sydow

Coming to America series (1988 and 2021; original pictured) – multiple directors; also starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, John Amos, Madge Sinclair, Shari Headley, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, and KiKi Layne

The Hunt for Red October (1990) – directed by John McTiernan; also starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, and Sam Neill

The Sandlot (1993) – directed by David Mickey Evans; also staring Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna, Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Brandon Adams, Grant Gelt, Shane Obedzinski, Victor DiMattia, Denis Leary, and Karen Allen

The Lion King (1994) – directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, as the voice of Mufasa; also starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, Moira Kelly, Niketa Calame, Ernie Sabella, Nathan Lane, and Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings, and Madge Sinclair

Field of Dreams (1989) – directed by Phil Alden Robinson; also starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, and Burt Lancaster

[thewarmestplacetohide]

Dread by the Decade: The Monster Maker

👻 You can support me on Ko-fi! ❤️

0 Stars

Plot: Desperate to blackmail a woman into marrying him, a man gives her father a rare condition.

Review: With an incoherent plot, undeveloped characters, and rampant ableism, this film commits the ultimate B movie sin: it isn't even fun to mock.

Year: 1944 Genre: Sci-Fi Horror, Bio Horror Country: United States Language: English Runtime: 1 hour 2 minutes

Director: Sam Newfield Writers: Lawrence Williams, Pierre Gendron, Martin Mooney Cinematographer: Same Newfield Editor: Robert E. Cline Composer: Albert Glasser Cast: J. Carrol Naish, Ralph Morgan, Tala Birell, Wanda McKay, Terry Frost

-----

Story: 0/5 - Appalling. A jumbled mess of empty characters and cliche concepts, most of which appear to be forgotten as soon as they're introduced.

Performances: 2/5 - Not awful, though Naish is a knock-off Lugosi.

Cinematography: 2.5/5 - The strongest element, with some decent lighting and shadow use.

Editing: 1.5/5 - Certainly doesn't help the story's poor pacing.

Music: 2/5

Effects & Props: 2/5 - The gorilla suit is fairly well articulated considering the year and budget.

Sets: 1.5/5 - Limited. Set pieces are obviously reused.

Costumes, Hair, & Make-Up: 2/5 - Morgan's makeup is passable (though ableist and inaccurate), working best when obscured by shadows.

Trigger Warnings:

Very mild violence

Sexual harassment (mild; criticized by film)

Ableism (uncritical)

Xenophobia (uncritical)

Medical abuse

Mild animal abuse

[wanderingmind867]

I made a Fancast for a Batman TV series in the 80s a while ago, but I only revisited it yesterday. It's almost fully complete (at least, I've filled nearly all the roles I added). Let me list them:

Batman: Pierce Brosnan

Robin I (Dick Grayson): maybe Matthew Broderick?

Robin II (Jason Todd): Not Sure Yet

Batgirl: Molly Ringwald

Alfred: Jon Pertwee

Commissioner Gordon: John Astin

Harvey Bullock: John Candy

Renee Montoya: Rachel Ticotin

Lucius Fox: Not Sure Yet

Leslie Thompkins: Betty White

Jack Ryder: Richard Belzer

Vicki Vale: Dana Delany

Jason Bard: Andrew McCarthy

Aunt Harriet: Doris Roberts or Rue McClanahan

Thomas & Martha Wayne: Adam West & Julie Newmar

The Joker: Willem Dafoe

The Penguin: Danny DeVito

The Riddler: Robin Williams

Catwoman: Mary Steenburgen

Two-Face: Not Sure Yet

Poison Ivy: Kathleen Turner

The Scarecrow: Christopher Lee

The Mad Hatter: Martin Short

Mr. Freeze: Patrick Stewart

Killer Croc: Not Sure Yet

Black Mask: Not Sure Yet

Rupert Thorne: Carroll O'Connor

Ra's Al Ghul: Ricardo Montalban

Talia Al Ghul: Demi Moore

I missed a few here, because the list was getting too long to put on one thing. But you get the picture. For all those I can't yet figure out, suggestions are currently open. I do desperately need help putting the rest of this together. I mean, I've only got 3-4 left. It'd be nice to say I'd completed a cast list (I usually never do). Here's the link if you want to help:

[dannyreviews]

Veteran British born/based film/TV actors born before and including 1936 still alive:

With the recent death of Dame Maggie Smith, I thought I'd detail the legendary actors of UK cinema and television that are still living as of the date of this post:

Eileen Bennett (b. 1919)

Arnold Yarrow (b. 1920)

Beulah Garrick (b. 1921)

Elizabeth Kelly (b. 1921)

Elisabeth Kirkby (b. 1921)

Sara Luzita (b. 1922)

Annabel Maule (b. 1922)

Paul Harding (b. 1923)

Vincent Ball (b. 1923)

David Lawton (b. 1923)

Anne Vernon (b. 1924)

Donald Pelmear (b. 1924)

Thelma Ruby (b. 1925)

Pete Murray (b. 1925)

Michael Beint (b. 1925)

Shelia Mitchell (b. 1925)

Kerima (b. 1925)

David Attenborough (b. 1926)

Elizabeth Benson (b. 1926)

Margaret Barton (b. 1926)

Terry Kilburn (b. 1926)

Stanley Baxter (b. 1926)

David Frankham (b. 1926)

William Glover (b. 1926)

Josephine Stuart (b. 1926)

Patricia Davidson (b. 1926)

Barbara Clegg (b. 1926)

Glen Michael (b. 1926)

Araby Lockhart (b. 1926)

Eileen Page (b. 1926)

Rosemary Harris (b. 1927)

Cleo Laine (b. 1927)

Lee Montague (b. 1927)

Genevieve Page (b. 1927)

Neville Phillips (b. 1927)

Jean Lodge (b. 1927)

Barbara Ashcroft (b. 1927)

Jill Freud (b. 1927)

Jean Southern (b. 1927)

Antonia Pemberton (b. 1927)

Peter Cellier (b. 1928)

Jeanette Landis (b. 1928)

Sheila Ballantine (b. 1928)

Dorothea Phillips (b. 1928)

Jeannie Carson (b. 1928)

Hazel Ascot (b. 1928)

Brenda Hogan (b. 1928)

Philip Guard (b. 1928)

Raymond Llewelyn (b. 1928)

Pauline Brailsford (b. 1928)

Leonard Weir (b. 1928)

Kevin Scott (b. 1928)

Tony Hughes (b. 1928)

Joan Plowright (b. 1929)

Patricia Routledge (b. 1929)

Colin Jeavons (b. 1929)

Michael Craig (b. 1929)

Thelma Barlow (b. 1929)

Peter Myers (b. 1929)

Paul Williamson (b. 1929)

Kevin Miles (b. 1929)

John Gale (b. 1929)

Phillip Ross (b. 1929)

Jimmy Fagg (b. 1929)

Hazel Phillips (b. 1929)

Mignon Elkins (b. 1929)

Margaret Stallard (b. 1929)

Maya Koumani (b. 1929)

Clive Revill (b. 1930)

Charles Kay (b. 1930)

Roy Evans (b. 1930)

Una McLean (b. 1930)

Roddy Maude-Roxby (b. 1930)

Ruth Trouncer (b. 1930)

Cyril Appleton (b. 1930)

Vera Frances (b. 1930)

Gary Watson (b. 1930)

Keith Alexander (b. 1930)

Libby Morris (b. 1930)

Pauline Jefferson (b. 1930)

Claire Bloom (b. 1931)

Leslie Caron (b. 1931)

Carroll Baker (b. 1931)

Virginia McKenna (b. 1931)

Vivian Pickles (b. 1931)

Stanley Meadows (b. 1931)

Gerald Harper (b. 1931)

Patricia Greene (b. 1931)

Ellen McIntosh (b. 1931)

Elvi Hale (b. 1931)

Maureen Connell (b. 1931)

June Laverick (b. 1931)

James Martin (b. 1931)

Denyse Alexander (b. 1931)

Arthur Nightingale (b. 1931)

Eileen Derbyshire (b. 1931)

Carl Held (b. 1931)

Shelia Bernette (b. 1931)

George Eugeniou (b. 1931)

Corinne Skinner-Carter (b. 1931)

Tusse Silberg (b. 1931)

Petula Clark (b. 1932)

Prunella Scales (b. 1932)

Phyllida Law (b. 1932)

Ray Cooney (b. 1932)

Brian Murphy (b. 1932)

Edward De Souza (b. 1932)

Alan Dobie (b. 1932)

John Turner (b. 1932)

Roland Curram (b. 1932)

Gabriel Woolf (b. 1932)

Johnnie Wade (b. 1932)

Eileen Moore (b. 1932)

Laurie Leigh (b. 1932)

William Roache (b. 1932)

Athol Fugard (b. 1932)

Carmen Munroe (b. 1932)

Norman Bowler (b. 1932)

Marcia Ashton (b. 1932)

Thelma Holt (b. 1932)

Antony Carrick (b. 1932)

Sally Bazely (b. 1932)

Michael Caine (b. 1933)

Joan Collins (b. 1933)

Sian Phillips (b. 1933)

Sheila Hancock (b. 1933)

Elizabeth Seal (b. 1933)

Shani Willis (b. 1933)

Patrick Godfrey (b. 1933)

Caroline Blakiston (b. 1933)

Donald Douglas (b. 1933)

Ann Firbank (b. 1933)

Vera Day (b. 1933)

Tsai Chin (b. 1933)

Geoffrey Frederick (b. 1933)

Marla Landi (b. 1933)

Monte Landis (b. 1933)

Mary Germaine (b. 1933)

Ruth Posner (b. 1933)

Barbara Archer (b. 1933)

W.B. Brydon (b. 1933)

Robert Gillespie (b. 1933)

Brian Patton (b. 1933)

Arthur White (b. 1933)

Barbara Archer (b. 1933)

Sally Bazley (b. 1933)

Madhur Jaffrey (b. 1933)

Jeanette Sterke (b. 1933)

Ann Rogers (b. 1933)

Barbara Knox (b. 1933)

John Boorman (b. 1933)

Derek Martin (b. 1933)

Michael Aspel (b. 1933)

Bill Edwards (b. 1933)

Judi Dench (b. 1934)

Eileen Atkins (b. 1934)

Tom Baker (b. 1934)

Alan Bennett (b. 1934)

Timothy West (b. 1934)

Jean Marsh (b. 1934)

Annette Crosbie (b. 1934)

Wendy Craig (b. 1934)

Richard Chamberlain (b. 1934)

Millicent Martin (b. 1934)

John Standing (b. 1934)

Vernon Dobtcheff (b. 1934)

Nanette Newman (b. 1934)

David Burke (b. 1934)

Christopher Benjamin (b. 1934)

Mary Peach (b. 1934)

Geraldine Newman (b. 1934)

Renny Lister (b. 1934)

Priscilla Morgan (b. 1934)

Audrey Dalton (b. 1934)

Leila Hoffman (b. 1934)

Simone Lovell (b. 1934)

Magda Miller (b. 1934)

Robert Aldous (b. 1934)

Ram John Holder (b. 1934)

Jamila Massey (b. 1934)

Margaretta D’Arcy (b. 1934)

Leslie Saeward (b. 1934)

Maurice Podbrey (b. 1934)

Steve Emerson (b. 1934)

Peter Bland (b. 1934)

Michael Darlow (b. 1934)

Barbara Archer (b. 1934)

Joy Webster (b. 1934)

Jacqueline Ellis (b. 1934)

Jacqueline Jones (b. 1934)

Julie Andrews (b. 1935)

Julian Glover (b. 1935)

Jim Dale (b. 1935)

Anne Reid (b. 1935)

James Bolam (b. 1935)

Christina Pickles (b. 1935) 

Judy Parfitt (b. 1935)

Wanda Ventham (b. 1935)

Amanda Barrie (b. 1935)

Derren Nesbitt (b. 1935)

Nadim Swalha (b. 1935)

Gary Raymond (b. 1935)

Janet Henfrey (b. 1935)

Melvyn Hayes (b. 1935)

Susan Engel (b. 1935)

Amanda Walker (b. 1935)

Delena Kidd (b. 1935)

Derek Partridge (b. 1935)

Allister Bain (b. 1935)

Derry Power (b. 1935)

Phyllis MacMahon (b. 1935)

Rowena Cooper (b. 1935)

Derek Partridge (b. 1935)

Jill Dixon (b. 1935)

Des Keough (b. 1935)

Barbara Angell (b. 1935)

Lucille Soong (b. 1935)

Anita West (b. 1935)

June Watson (b. 1935)

David Daker (b. 1935)

Shirley Cain (b. 1935)

Bobby Pattinson (b. 1935)

George Roubicek (b. 1935)

Brian Blessed (b. 1936)

Richard Wilson (b. 1936)

Tommy Steele (b. 1936)

Edward Petherbridge (b. 1936) 

Ursula Andress (b. 1936)

John Leyton (b. 1936)

Jess Conrad (b. 1936)

Elizabeth Shepherd (b. 1936)

Sandra Voe (b. 1936)

Doug Sheldon (b. 1936)

John Golightly (b. 1936)

Peter Ellis (b. 1936)

Andria Lawrence (b. 1936)

Jon Laurimore (b. 1936)

Tony Scoggo (b. 1936)

Barry MacGregor (b. 1936)

Frank Barrie (b. 1936)

Kenneth Farrington (b. 1936)

Eileen McCallum (b. 1936)

Frederick Pyne (b. 1936)

Philip Lowrie (b. 1936)

Marian Diamond (b. 1936)

Anthony Higginson (b. 1936)

Elsie Kelly (b. 1936)

Ann Taylor (b. 1936)

Heidi Erich (b. 1936)

Keith Faulkner (b. 1936)

Ruth Meyers (b. 1936)

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

JOKER: FOLIE Á DEUX (2024)

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Harry Lawtey, Steve Coogan, Ken Leung, Bill Smitrovich, Jacob Lofland, Leigh Gill, Sharon Washington, Gattlin Griffith, Mac Brandt, Tim Dillon, George Carroll, Mike Houston, John Lacy, Sam Wren Vincent, Troy Metcalf, Jimmy Walker Jr., G.L. McQueary and Brian Donahue.

Screenplay by Scott Silver & Todd Phillips.

Directed by Todd Phillips.

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. 138 minutes. Rated R.

I know I’m kind of in the minority on this point, but I can’t even start to tell you how much I hated Todd Phillips’ 2019 movie Joker.

Five years later, here comes the follow-up, and it’s like Phillips said to himself: Hmm… how can we make this story even more annoying? I know! Let’s make it a musical. Better yet, let’s not even completely commit fully to the genre and make it sort of a stealth musical. The cast will start singing inappropriately, but mostly in a relatively subdued manner. None of the other trappings of the style – the dancing, the frenetic movement, the wild visuals, the boisterous chorus lines – need to be used. And we won’t even write our own music, we’ll just dust off some 60s and 70s pop songs and overly familiar standards from the Great American Songbook.

On the plus side, this time around, I don’t think I’ll be all that lonely in hating Joker: Folie à Deux. Because I really, really did hate it. If possible, this sequel is even more unbearable than the original. Imagine that.

I can’t imagine anyone actually liking Joker: Folie à Deux – then again, I felt that way about the first one, too, so maybe I’m not the best judge. Nonetheless, early buzz on the sequel seems pretty negative, so hopefully it’s not just me.

I take no joy in saying that. I actually was rather looking forward to the original Joker movie until I saw it. Because the truth is, Batman is a relatively dull superhero, but the one thing he always did have going for himself were the best villains. And a movie about arguably the most interesting of Batman’s villains could be amazing.

It’s just not this series.

At least the first Joker had something of a storyline. Granted, it was a pretty blatant rip-off of Martin Scorsese’s 1983 cult favorite The King of Comedy – they even cast that film’s star Robert De Niro in a major supporting role to make the connection even more obvious – but it was something of a plot.

Joker: Folie à Deux, on the other hand, is nearly two and a half hours (!!!) of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) being psychoanalyzed and mistreated in an insane asylum. (Like we didn’t know he was mentally deranged from the first time he appeared on screen in the first film.) Then it switches to being a courtroom drama about Arthur’s criminal trial for the mayhem he committed in the first film, although it plays out like an episode of Law & Order: Super Villains Unit.

While in the asylum, he meets his one true love, Lee Quinzel, who becomes Harley Quinn. (Of course, in the first Joker movie, Arthur imagined Zazie Beetz’ character – who reappears here as a witness for the prosecution – was his one true love, so Arthur isn’t too reliable in matters of the heart.) Lady Gaga is okay, if way too subdued, as the future Harley. She certainly won’t make anyone forget Margot Robbie’s powerhouse performances in the same role.

My biggest problem with Joker: Folie à Deux is the same as my problem with the first film. In both of these films, the Joker is played as a sad, pathetic, miserable loser who has life take a massive dump on him throughout the entire running time. Is this really supposed to be the guy who is going to be Batman’s greatest nemesis?

At least in the original film, Arthur eventually snapped and went on a violent killing spree, which was not a great, moral or relatable storyline, but at least he did something. In Folie à Deux, any violence or mayhem which he commits is mostly done in fantasy sequences, which just makes him seem even sadder and more impotent in real life.

After it was over, someone who apparently enjoyed the movie much more than I did tried to convince me that Folie à Deux is a movie that shows the depths a man will go to for love. However, his relationship with Lee is so dysfunctional, so toxic, so driven by mania, that it’s hard to root for a happy ever after for these two crazy kids. They – and the world – are probably better off with them separate. We know that is not the case from the comics, although the ending does put that in doubt.

As I said in the original review five years ago, Joker has been known to inspire many complicated emotional reactions. Pity has never really been one of them.

However, even more than I pitied the Joker in these two movies, I mostly pity myself because I have now wasted about four and a half hours of my life watching this sad saga.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: October 3, 2024.

[flameswallower]

Hey I loooove your stuff! What are some other artists, visual, audio, and text based, who inspire you? I hope to be able to create something as evocative as your work one day myself <3

Thank you!! There are so many! In terms of really direct and really significant, enduring influences on my writing style, or approach to subject matter & narrative, or overall "aesthetic" what springs to mind is:

The short stories of Kelly Link, Clive Barker, M. Rickert, Elizabeth Hand, Joyce Carol Oates, Tanith Lee, Steve Rasnic Tem, Melanie Tem, Karen Russell, and Ray Bradbury

The early 1990s horror novels of Kathe Koja and Poppy Z. Brite/Billy Martin

Shirley Jackson's entire body of literary work

Porpentine's 2010s twine games & fiction from the same time

Junji Ito's comics

Emily Carroll's comics

Lynda Barry's fiction and comics

John Darnielle's music/songwriting with the Mountain Goats

Sarah Manguso's poetry

The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

In terms of artists/works I only encountered within the past few years, but am already feeling as "big influences" on my work in a similar way to the above:

Sayaka Murata's fiction, particularly her novel Earthlings

Samuel R. Delany's short fiction (I hope to tackle Dhalgren sometime in the next year!)

Max Graves' comic What Happens Next

Hal Schrieve's fiction and comics

Leo Fox's comics and art

Never Angeline North's fiction

Robert Aickman's short stories

Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi

I listen to a lot of music while writing. Recent favorites include Uyarakq, Guided By Voices, Nascent by Alexander Panos, Big Thief, Owen Pallet, and my sister Louise.

[waste-it-on-something-useful]

Sonny Boy (Robert Martin Carroll, 1989) Cinematography by Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

‘Scrublands’ Season 2: Luke Carroll, Debra Lawrance & More To Join Returning Luke Arnold & Bella Heathcote In Stan Mystery Drama; First Look Here

EXCLUSIVE: Luke Carroll (The Artful Dodger), Debra Lawrance (Please Like Me) and David Roberts (Please Like Me) are among the new stars of Australian drama Scrublands, which is gearing up for its second season on Stan and 9 Network.

Also starring alongside returning leads Luke Arnold and Bella Heathcote in Scrublands: Silver are Tasma Walton (The Twelve), Luke Pegler (Hacksaw Ridge), Caroline Brazier (Year Of), Joel Jackson (Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door), Toby Truslove (La Brea), Sarah Roberts (Home and Away), Hamish Michael (The Twelve), Radek Jonak (The Surfer) and Damian De Montemas (Hounds of Love).

Above you can see an exclusive first-look image of season 2, with filming now underway in Augusta, Western Australia.

The season is being adapted from author Chris Hammer’s novel ‘Silver’, and here are some new plot details: A year after the life changing events of season 1, investigative journalist Martin Scarsden (Arnold) has returned to his coastal hometown, Port Silver, to set up a new life with partner Mandy Bond (Heathcote). When he arrives to find his childhood friend Jasper brutally murdered and Mandy the prime suspect, Martin struggles with doubts – about Mandy and about his own ability to recognise the truth. As he pushes forward to find the real murderer and absolve Mandy, Martin confronts secrets about Port Silver and his long-buried past.

The series comes from Easy Tiger and Third Act Stories as a co-production for Stan and 8 Network. Martha Coleman, Ian Collie, Rob Gibson and Felicity Packard are the producers. Ben Young is the director, and the writers are Felicity Packard, Fiona Kelly and Jock Serong, with Michael Healy and Andy Ryan from the 9 Network and Cailah Scobie and Alicia Brown for Stan the executive producers. Major production investment came from Screenwest, Lotterywest and the WA Regional Screen Fund, and the season was developed with the assistance of Screenwest and Lotterywest. Abacus Media Rights is the international distributor.

We revealed the official confirmation of season 2 in March when we had news of Stan’s 2024 slate. The reorder had been widely expected with sources within the streamer talking glowingly about its performance.

“Following the immense success of Scrublands, we look forward to working with Easy Tiger and Third Act Stories, alongside lead cast Luke and Bella, as we bring audiences another thrilling season,” said Stan Chief Content Officer Cailah Scobie.

9 Network Head of Drama Andy Ryan added: “Set in the stark coastal beauty of Western Australia, Scrublands: Silver will wow audiences with a gripping crime mystery in a unique environment. With the outstanding Luke Arnold and Bella Heathcote returning along with the creative maestros at Easy Tiger and Third Act Stories, viewers should strap in for another emotional rollercoaster of world class premium drama.”

Easy Tiger co-chief Ian Collie said it was “great to step back into the world of Mandy and Martin, played perfectly by Luke Arnold and Bella Heathcote. Like the first season, we are witness from the get-go to a violent tragedy that implicates both our heroes.”

The series is the latest to film in Western Australia, which is being with other states such as Victoria and New South Wales to attract local and international projects, with production credit schemes and other soft money readily available in most. “This is Stan’s fourth project in Western Australia in the last twelve months, and shows our commitment to collaborating with local cast and creatives so that we can deliver fresh and exceptional Originals for Australian and global audiences,” said Scobie.

“We are pleased to welcome Stan and Easy Tiger back to WA and are excited to see Luke Arnold and Bella Heathcote reprise their roles, this time in our stunning South West,” said Screenwest CEO Rikki Lea Bestall. “Augusta is abuzz with activity with WA producer Martha Coleman and WA director Ben Young heading up a fantastic Western Australian crew.”

Source: Deadline

[bookquest2024]

100 Books to Read Before I Die: Quest Order

The Lord Of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

Under The Net by Iris Murdoch

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

A Passage to India by EM Forster

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

1984 by George Orwell

White Noise by Don DeLillo

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Oscar And Lucinda by Peter Carey

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré

Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Ulysses by James Joyce

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Are You There, God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Herzog by Saul Bellow

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes

A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul

A Dance to The Music of Time by Anthony Powell

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Little Women by Louisa M Alcott

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth

Watchmen by Alan Moore

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Money by Martin Amis

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

[princesssarisa]

The Mad Hatter for the character ask

These answers are all about the character from the original book and its traditional adaptations – not about Tarrant Hightopp from the Tim Burton films.

Favorite thing about them: What a funny, memorably insane character he is, whose kooky logic and literal-minded remarks include so much clever wordplay and use of double meanings. This combined with his unique appearance in his oversized top hat and bowtie (courtesy of John Tenniel, never strayed from since) makes it only natural that he's the most iconic and beloved Wonderland character next to Alice herself.

Ironically, he wasn't even in the original story that Lewis Carroll told to the Liddell girls on their famous rowboat outing, or in the book's original manuscript: the Mad Tea-Party was a later addition when Carroll expanded the book for publication. But once the Hatter came into being, he understandably stole the show.

Least favorite thing about them: How rude he is to Alice, and the way he and the March Hare both casually abuse the Dormouse. It's no surprise that adaptations often tone these things down.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I can be literal-minded.

*I enjoy tea parties.

*I usually look good in hats.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I don't have any talking animal friends.

*I don't have a watch that tells me what day of the month it is.

*I'm not mad.

Favorite line:

From the book:

His famous riddle:

"Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"

When Alice says that "I mean what I say" is the same thing as "I say what I mean":

"Not the same thing a bit! You might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same as 'I eat what I see'!"

When Alice says she can't take "more" tea because she's had none yet:

"You mean you can't take less. It's very easy to take more than nothing."

And his long speech about Time and why "he" never does what the Hatter wants anymore.

From the Disney version:

"Mustard?! Don't let's be silly!"

brOTP: The March Hare, for sure, and possibly the Dormouse too.

OTP: None in the book, but in some adaptations, the March Hare.

nOTP: Alice or the Dormouse.

Random headcanon: Even if Time were to release him from his perpetual six o'clock, he would still have endless tea parties with the March Hare and the Dormouse. He likes it.

Unpopular opinion: I don't see him as a potential love interest for Alice whatsoever. Nothing against people who ship them, but I just don't get it.

Song I associate with them:

"The Unbirthday Song" from the Disney version.

"The Pun Song" from the 1972 film.

"Laugh" from the 1985 TV version.

Favorite picture of them:

The classic illustration by John Tenniel:

This illustration by Robert Ingpen:

This creepy illustration by Angel Dominguez:

Disney's animated Hatter:

Edward Everett Horton in the 1933 Paramount film:

Sir Robert Helpmann in the 1972 British film:

Anthony Newley in the 1985 TV version:

Martin Short in the 1999 TV version:

John Hoffman in the '90s Disney Channel series Adventures in Wonderland. A very fun, different spin on the character: a wacky inventor and jack-of-all-trades, who shares an especially cute friendship (and possibly more than friendship – both actors are gay and it shows) with his March Hare.

[kwebtv]

Burke’s Law -  List of Guest Stars

The Special Guest Stars of “Burke’s Law” read like a Who’s Who list of Hollywood of the era.  Many of the appearances, however, were no more than one scene cameos.  This is as complete a list ever compiled of all those who even made the briefest of appearances on the series.  

Beverly Adams, Nick Adams, Stanley Adams, Eddie Albert, Mabel Albertson, Lola Albright, Elizabeth Allen, June Allyson, Don Ameche, Michael Ansara, Army Archerd, Phil Arnold, Mary Astor, Frankie Avalon, Hy Averback, Jim Backus, Betty Barry, Susan Bay, Ed Begley, William Bendix, Joan Bennett, Edgar Bergen, Shelley Berman, Herschel Bernardi, Ken Berry, Lyle Bettger, Robert Bice, Theodore Bikel, Janet Blair, Madge Blake, Joan Blondell, Ann Blyth, Carl Boehm, Peter Bourne, Rosemarie Bowe, Eddie Bracken, Steve Brodie, Jan Brooks, Dorian Brown, Bobby Buntrock, Edd Byrnes, Corinne Calvet, Rory Calhoun, Pepe Callahan, Rod Cameron, Macdonald Carey, Hoagy Carmichael, Richard Carlson, Jack Carter, Steve Carruthers, Marianna Case, Seymour Cassel, John Cassavetes, Tom Cassidy, Joan Caulfield, Barrie Chase, Eduardo Ciannelli, Dane Clark, Dick Clark, Steve Cochran, Hans Conried, Jackie Coogan, Gladys Cooper, Henry Corden, Wendell Corey, Hazel Court, Wally Cox, Jeanne Crain, Susanne Cramer, Les Crane, Broderick Crawford, Suzanne Cupito, Arlene Dahl, Vic Dana, Jane Darwell, Sammy Davis Jr., Linda Darnell, Dennis Day, Laraine Day, Yvonne DeCarlo, Gloria De Haven, William Demarest, Andy Devine, Richard Devon, Billy De Wolfe, Don Diamond, Diana Dors, Joanne Dru, Paul Dubov, Howard Duff, Dan Duryea, Robert Easton, Barbara Eden, John Ericson, Leif Erickson, Tom Ewell, Nanette Fabray, Felicia Farr, Sharon Farrell, Herbie Faye, Fritz Feld, Susan Flannery, James Flavin, Rhonda Fleming, Nina Foch, Steve Forrest, Linda Foster, Byron Foulger, Eddie Foy Jr., Anne Francis, David Fresco, Annette Funicello, Eva Gabor, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Reginald Gardiner, Nancy Gates, Lisa Gaye, Sandra Giles, Mark Goddard, Thomas Gomez, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Sandra Gould, Wilton Graff, Gloria Grahame, Shelby Grant, Jane Greer, Virginia Grey, Tammy Grimes, Richard Hale, Jack Haley, George Hamilton, Ann Harding, Joy Harmon, Phil Harris, Stacy Harris, Dee Hartford, June Havoc, Jill Haworth, Richard Haydn, Louis Hayward, Hugh Hefner, Anne Helm, Percy Helton, Irene Hervey, Joe Higgins, Marianna Hill, Bern Hoffman, Jonathan Hole, Celeste Holm, Charlene Holt, Oscar Homolka, Barbara Horne, Edward Everett Horton, Breena Howard, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Arthur Hunnicutt, Tab Hunter, Joan Huntington, Josephine Hutchinson, Betty Hutton, Gunilla Hutton, Martha Hyer, Diana Hyland, Marty Ingels, John Ireland, Mako Iwamatsu, Joyce Jameson, Glynis Johns, I. Stanford Jolley, Carolyn Jones, Dean Jones, Spike Jones, Victor Jory, Jackie Joseph, Stubby Kaye, Monica Keating, Buster Keaton, Cecil Kellaway, Claire Kelly, Patsy Kelly, Kathy Kersh, Eartha Kitt, Nancy Kovack, Fred Krone, Lou Krugman, Frankie Laine, Fernando Lamas, Dorothy Lamour, Elsa Lanchester, Abbe Lane, Charles Lane, Lauren Lane, Harry Lauter, Norman Leavitt, Gypsy Rose Lee, Ruta Lee, Teri Lee, Peter Leeds, Margaret Leighton, Sheldon Leonard, Art Lewis, Buddy Lewis, Dave Loring, Joanne Ludden,  Ida Lupino, Tina Louise, Paul Lynde, Diana Lynn, James MacArthur, Gisele MacKenzie, Diane McBain, Kevin McCarthy, Bill McClean, Stephen McNally, Elizabeth MacRae, Jayne Mansfield, Hal March, Shary Marshall, Dewey Martin, Marlyn Mason, Hedley Mattingly, Marilyn Maxwell, Virginia Mayo, Patricia Medina, Troy Melton, Burgess Meredith, Una Merkel, Dina Merrill, Torben Meyer, Barbara Michaels, Robert Middleton, Vera Miles, Sal Mineo, Mary Ann Mobley, Alan Mowbray, Ricardo Montalbán, Elizabeth Montgomery, Ralph Moody, Alvy Moore, Terry Moore, Agnes Moorehead, Anne Morell, Rita Moreno, Byron Morrow, Jan Murray, Ken Murray, George Nader, J. Carrol Naish, Bek Nelson, Gene Nelson, David Niven, Chris Noel, Kathleen Nolan, Sheree North, Louis Nye, Arthur O'Connell, Quinn O'Hara, Susan Oliver, Debra Paget, Janis Paige, Nestor Paiva, Luciana Paluzzi, Julie Parrish, Fess Parker, Suzy Parker, Bert Parks, Harvey Parry, Hank Patterson, Joan Patrick, Nehemiah Persoff, Walter Pidgeon, Zasu Pitts, Edward Platt, Juliet Prowse, Eddie Quillan, Louis Quinn, Basil Rathbone, Aldo Ray, Martha Raye, Gene Raymond, Peggy Rea, Philip Reed, Carl Reiner, Stafford Repp, Paul Rhone, Paul Richards, Don Rickles, Will Rogers Jr., Ruth Roman, Cesar Romero, Mickey Rooney, Gena Rowlands, Charlie Ruggles, Janice Rule, Soupy Sales, Hugh Sanders, Tura Satana, Telly Savalas, John Saxon, Lizabeth Scott, Lisa Seagram, Pilar Seurat, William Shatner, Karen Sharpe, James Shigeta, Nina Shipman, Susan Silo, Johnny Silver, Nancy Sinatra, The Smothers Brothers, Joanie Sommers, Joan Staley, Jan Sterling, Elaine Stewart, Jill St. John, Dean Stockwell, Gale Storm, Susan Strasberg, Inger Stratton, Amzie Strickland, Gil Stuart, Grady Sutton, Kay Sutton, Gloria Swanson, Russ Tamblyn. Don Taylor, Dub Taylor, Vaughn Taylor, Irene Tedrow, Terry-Thomas, Ginny Tiu, Dan Tobin, Forrest Tucker, Tom Tully, Jim Turley, Lurene Tuttle, Ann Tyrrell, Miyoshi Umeki, Mamie van Doren, Deborah Walley, Sandra Warner, David Wayne, Ray Weaver, Lennie Weinrib, Dawn Wells, Delores Wells, Rebecca Welles, Jack Weston, David White, James Whitmore, Michael Wilding, Annazette Williams, Dave Willock, Chill Wills, Marie Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sandra Wirth, Ed Wynn, Keenan Wynn, Dana Wynter, Celeste Yarnall, Francine York.