#star wars italia

[persephone-nymph]

Natalie Portman for Vogue Italia, Feb. 1998, photographed by Bruce Weber

[wildcitychild]

R-2 of the lab

[bonbonsandbeskar]

Trek with Tech: Day 2 - The Heart of Rome (Part 1)

Hiya everyone! Boy, today was absolutely jam-packed, we haven’t stopped!

So glad I had this Italian latte blend this morning with my breakfast, it was lovely being able to sip on this whilst overlooking the Colosseum!

Afterwards, we jumped straight into exploring. We hiked our way to the wonder of the world and Tech clambered his way up to get a view of the Arena ⚔️✨

The view from the edge was lovely too - luckily there was still plenty of shade in some places!

Examined and read up on some ancient wonders - @phee-spirited would be jelly! 😂

Striking a pose whilst taking a quick rest 💅

Then we were off to stroll around the Vatican. Lord it was immense. We had no idea it was so big! Couldn’t explore it all in the time we had left in the end, but the gardens and the artwork displays were so beautiful…

Then we headed to the Basilica. Due to religious reasons, we were not allowed to take any pictures once inside the building (Tech switched his goggles off). But we were still able to take some brilliant shots of the impressive outside architecture! ✝️💫

Our day carried on right into the evening! Head over to part 2! ✨

[yohanpasindu]

🍀 Good morning guys.. What a beautiful day 💐..

[crazygirl-in-a-redshoes]

[shxbh]

on this note, i shall make a list of series that play this role in my life—

bbc sherlock

sense8

skam (+ all remakes)

all of star wars at once

one day at a time

b99

mo dao zu shi

haikyuu

druck (special mention)

euphoria s1

feel good

be careful with what series you watch/read during emotional points in your life because they will forever contain a ghost of your past self within it now

[downtobaker]

Tutti i misteri del cosmo con l'astrofisico Amedeo Balbi

da redazione Il bellissimo ed esaustivo canale YouTube di Amedeo Balbi che svela tutti i segreti dell’astrofisica. L’immagine più bella che gli astronauti hanno colto dalla Luna è stata quella della Terra. Fulgida e azzurra nel buio più nero, delicata, come vivente. Qualcosa di unico nello Spazio sconfinato. Eppure noi umani siamo spesso inebriati dal sogno di lasciarla per trasferirci su altri…

[multiverseofseries]

Rebel Moon - Parte 1: figlia del fuoco, Zack Snyder ha il suo Star Wars

Rebel Moon - Parte 1: figlia del fuoco, film di Zack Snyder che apre le porte a una nuova saga ispirata all'universo di Star Wars. Su Netflix.

Zack Snyder è uno di noi. Con lo slow motion facile e un piano di allenamento sicuramente migliore, ma è comunque uno di noi. Perché anche lui, quando ha visto il primo Star Wars da bambino, ha detto: un giorno voglio fare un film di Guerre Stellari tutto mio. La differenza è che Snyder non si è fermato alla collezione di action figures: lui ce l'ha fatta sul serio. Nato proprio come storia facente parte dell'universo creato da George Lucas, con l'acquisizione di Lucasfilm da parte di Disney il progetto è stato modificato, diventando un mondo a sé stante. Questa è la versione in carne e VFX dei giochi immaginati da un bambino che sognava una galassia lontana lontana.

Rebel Moon - Parte 1: figlia del fuoco, disponibile su Netflix, è la prima parte di una saga che si articolerà su più media. Il secondo capitolo, girato back to back con questo, è arrivato questo aprile, sempre su Netflix, ma Snyder ha già dichiarato di voler fare anche un terzo film. Arriveranno poi un videogioco, una serie prequel a fumetti, dal titolo House of the Bloodaxe, e un corto animato. Le potenzialità sono quindi elevatissime. Non solo: Rebel Moon è, per ammissione del regista, ambientato nello stesso universo di Army of the Dead, altra saga, di stampo più horror, che sta sviluppando sempre insieme a Netflix. Chissà quindi che le due prima o poi non si incrocino.

Rebel Moon si poggia sulle spalle di Sofia Boutella, ballerina che nel cinema d'azione ha trovato una seconda vita brillante. L'attrice interpreta Kora, che potremmo definire una Darth Vader sotto coperta: ha fatto intatti il percorso opposto a quello del personaggio immaginato da Lucas, passando dal Lato Oscuro al Lato Chiaro. Era una delle più potenti guerriere al servizio dell'Imperium, ma poi ha preferito abbandonare la lotta, scegliendo una vita semplice in mezzo ai coltivatori di grano. Quando l'ammiraglio Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) porta terrore nel suo villaggio, decide però che è arrivato il momento di ribellarsi e di mettere insieme una squadra dei migliori combattenti della galassia per contrastare il Motherworld.

Rebel Moon - Parte 1: Figlia del Fuoco, Sofia Boutella in una sequenza

L'universo muscolare di Snyder

In un'altra vita Zack Snyder probabilmente era uno scultore nella Grecia classica: tutto il suo cinema è infatti basato sulla plasticità dei corpi. È stato così in 300, lo è stato nel suo viaggio con i supereroi DC e continua in Rebel Moon. Le parole a Kora non servono: il suo strumento è il suo corpo, che esprime una chiara e netta volontà. Nessuno può decidere per lei. È con questo spirito indomito e libero che si affianca e conquista i suoi compagni di avventure.

Con lei c'è Gunnar (Michiel Huisman), contadino che decide di seguirla per aiutarla. Sul cammino si aggiungono poi il mercenario Kai (Charlie Hunnam); il nobile Tarak (Staz Nair), diventato un fabbro; il generale Titus (Djimon Hounsou), caduto in disgrazia, ma formidabile stratega; la spadaccina Nemesis (Doona Bae) e infine uno dei capi dei ribelli contro l'Imperium, Darrian Bloodaxe, interpretato da Ray Fisher, che torna a collaborare con Snyder dopo il travagliato Justice League.

Un gruppo vario e dalla fortissima presenza scenica, che per Snyder sfoggia tutto il carisma di cui è capace, dando vita a intense scene di combattimento. Le interazioni tra questi interpreti sono tra i momenti più interessanti del film e, come si intuisce, saranno fondamentali nei capitoli a venire.

Una lunga preparazione

Rebel Moon, proprio come Star Wars, è fantascienza piena di vento e sabbia ed è anche un western tra Sergio Leone e Kurosawa. I riferimenti non finiscono qui però: ci sono anche influenze da Matrix e Il Signore degli Anelli. Insomma, praticamente il meglio che il genere fantasy e sci-fi abbiano offerto negli ultimi 40 anni. Il regista non rinuncia ai suoi tratti distintivi, ovvero fotografia desaturata e scene in slow motion, ma sembra aver trovato un equilibrio nel loro utilizzo rispetto ad altre opere più recenti. Trattandosi di un lungo prologo, il film risulta però decisamente frammentato, perché è un susseguirsi di introduzioni dei vari personaggi e pianeti.

Le premesse però per un universo che lascia la curiosità di continuare a essere esplorato ci sono tutte. Infine il desiderio di Snyder di mettere in piedi squadre numerose di protagonisti che lottano per uno scopo comune è quasi commovente: in questo momento storico pensare a eroi che agiscano insieme per il bene della collettività e non come agenti del caos solitari è qualcosa che fa piacere vedere.

Conclusioni

In conclusione Rebel Moon - Parte 1: figlia del fuoco, la nuova saga creata da Zack Snyder si ispira dichiaratamente a Star Wars. Al centro di tutto c'è la guerriera Kora interpretata da Sofia Boutella: passata dalle forze oscure dell'Imperium a una vita semplice in mezzo a dei contadini, quando questa comunità viene minacciata decide di ribellarsi e mettere insieme una squadra dei migliori combattenti della galassia per reagire al potere. Cast dal carisma muscolare, Rebel Moon è un primo assaggio di questo nuovo universo creato da Snyder, che risulta molto frammentato perché è un continuo susseguirsi di introduzioni di personaggi e luoghi. Le basi per un mondo che si fa guardare con curiosità sono però gettate.

👍🏻

Il carisma della protagonista Sofia Boutella.

Il cast dalla forte presenza scenica.

Le scene di combattimento.

La costruzione consapevole di una nuova mitologia.

👎🏻

Dovendo introdurre molti personaggi, il film è frammentato.

Gli elementi caratteristici e divisivi di Snyder, slow motion e fotografia desaturata, ci sono: nel bene e nel male.

[withnofreetime]

HETALIA ☆ WORLD STARS (515)

America really likes to... to be himself (please, admire the car and a "Thank you very much" to my sister, somehow she did it!)

Translation notes at the end: ‘cuz I took a lot of “creative freedoms(?)” and sometimes I forgot the meaning of words (“kanji”). Warning: I don’t know Italian (thanks Reddit), German (my sister knows), French (a bit) and Chinese (ref. Chinese friend).

T/N:

Page 1.

Italia + Pikachu, Itachu or Pikalia, but the last sounds horrible.

"Il faut que jeunesse se passe", the literal and no literal meaning is: "Youth must have its fling", in other words, "let America be America, let him have fun".

"后生可畏". I wasn't sure whether to add Chinese, but if others can, why not China? I really love this Chinese proverb, and I also like to study Confucius (little story) so it's a double prize! A friend of mine told me that in her school they make them read the teachings of Confucius, so… he's pretty popular!

"The hero always arrives late!", this is pretty obvious and well-know, but to be a little more academic: The Hero's Journey. After overcoming the "abyss/defeat", the hero returns transformed to save the day! At the very last minute! Like… the format that all cliché Hollywood movies use.

Page 3.

"Mitico": "great", "fantastic", "brilliant", etc.

"The specified Cost":

France: 1.94% less, I searched, but I couldn't find how much of France's PIB is spent on tourism.

Page 4.

Italy's PIB, it's in euros, but, as in France's case, it has to be converted into dollars to be considered as approximation.

In 2023, the Italian government spent between 40-60 million dollars on tourism, which coincides a little bit with the "-41 in cost" in the letter, I guess.

Page 5.

"Ungeheuer", "monster". I agreed to translate Hetalia with the condition that I have fun, no matter if the words come out of nowhere.

In tourism: America (3) and Italy (4).

Page 6.

"1st Place, America". So I assume his cards will have something to do with that:

1) Technology. Japan (1) and America (2) are the most technologically advanced countries by far.

2) Wall Street. Who doesn't know the place? It is the economic centre of the world... for now.

3) Film Industry. Hollywood is the largest, richest and most important "corporation".

4) NASA. And the other private American companies. I wouldn't say they are number one, but they are well-known.

5) Army. China (1), India (2) and America (3), by number of soldiers.

Against Germany, Italy and Japan (technology):

1) Cars, but unlikely. In order of revenue: (1) Volkswagen, Germany, (2) Toyota, Japan and (3) Stellantis, Netherlands.

2) Engineering. Most of them are either Japanese or German companies.

3) Germany is good and top 5 in 2.

America is really the number one, although most of them are for not-so-good things. It must be its size and diversity, I think, and the two world wars.

"Non è vero?", "It's not true?" or, in this case, "Isn't it?"

Is there a problem/error? Please say so! And thank you for your support!

[emtotheworld]

Emma Myers: entre mundo de fantasias e aventuras reais.

Emma Myers gosta de interpretar a nerd na série de sucesso -Wednesday-. Ela vê o fato dela mesma ser uma nerd como uma vantagem. Pois lhe deixa mais forte - e pode ser divertido.

Realidade ou fantasia? “minha cabeça está cheia de naves espaciais,” diz Emma "Mas eu sempre estarei disponível para uma viagem ao centro da terra." Não existem dúvidas: ficção cientifica e fantasia são os mundos os quais a atriz americana mais se sente em casa.

"Eu amo ser uma nerd," ela diz, "É ótimo." Mas esse fato nunca fez a vida ser fácil para a jovem de 22 anos.

Emma Myers é uma das atrizes mais procuradas de Hollywood. Não é de admirar que tenhamos experimentado sua versatilidade. Combinado com seu amor por fantásticos universos paralelos, isso a faz se destacar entre muitos atores e atrizes. Não se trata apenas de sua carreira: “Você sempre tem uma experiência melhor com um papel maluco e esquisito”, diz ela.

Nas telas, Myers frequentemente interpreta "excluídos". Ela pode facilmente simpatizar com eles, simplesmente porque ela mesma era um deles.

Ela ganhou bastante fama por interpretar a loba radiante na série Wednesday produzida por Tim Burtom. O spin-off da Familia Addams foi uma das produções de mais sucesso da netflix mundialmente. Na série, ela interpretou Enid Sinclair, que ama cabelos coloridos e looks extravagantes, Enid é diferente da tímida Myers. "Eu sou bastante introvertida," ela diz, "mas me de uma espada, uma tarefa, e eu a cumpro!"

Isso nem sempre foi bem recebido por seus colegas. Myers e suas três irmãs foram educadas em casa; ela nunca frequentou uma escola tradicional.

Ao invés de sair com amigos, ela mergulhava em filmes e mundos de fantasia. Felizmente, o pai de Myers entendia sua paixão: "Ele é um fã de todos os tipos de mundos de fantasia. Então eu assisti Star Wars e O Senhor dos Anéis quando era bem nova." Ela até visitou as locações reais dos filmes: "Eu escalei a montanha onde eles filmaram as cenas do Mount Doom em Mordor. Durou exatamente 8 horas e foi muito divertido."

Ser diferente não quebrou Myers, mas lhe tornou mais forte e lhe deu uma boa dose de autoconfiança: “Se as pessoas acham que nerds não são legais, isso é estúpido. Cada um tem o direito de gostar do que quiser e de fazer o que quiser. O que os outros dizem não importa, desde que você esteja se divertindo e não se machucando."

Na primavera, Myers vai estrelar a adaptação do game Minecraft para o cinema. Atualmente ela investiga um caso de assassinato que a policia engavetou como uma estudante na série de 6 episódios A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. Ela divide a mesma motivação que a personagem: "Nós sabemos o que é certo e é isso que gostaríamos de fazer."

Mesmo a atriz se perdendo dentro de mundos virtuais, ela também tem curiosidade em viver experiências reais. "Eu sempre estou pronta para uma aventura," ela diz, especialmente se isso a leve para viver uma boa história. Como uma vez, quando ela estava viajando em um trem na Italia com sua irmã mais velha. Alguém borrifou spray de pimenta na ventilação: "Eram batedores de carteira que pensaram que iriamos fugir e eles iam levar nossas coisas." O que os ladrões não esperavam: A irmã de Emma é faixa marrom em karate.

"Experiências como essa fazem você crescer como pessoa," diz Myers, "quando eu tiver netos, quero que eles digam: a minha vovó é a mais legal de todas."

Até hoje, Myers as vezes não sabe como reagir com a atenção que recebe, especialmente se o limite é excedido: "Quando uma pessoa descobriu qual hotel eu estava hospedada, foi assustador. Ou quando as pessoas pagam para saber em qual voo eu vou estar." Mesmo nesses casos, a atriz tem uma certa compreensão: "Quando eu era mais nova, eu era uma fã girl. Nessa óptica, eu consigo entender eles. Eu também me sinto lisonjeada em ser admirada por muitas pessoas.

Myers, a nerd, se tornou um exemplo para muitas pessoas mais jovens. Como uma nerd, Myers aprendeu a constantemente seguir seu próprio caminho - e imaginar uma vida além de atuar: "Eu amo viajar e amo animais. Eu posso me imaginar apresentando um programa que combine os dois: eu ao lado de pinguins, seria algo incrível."

[knightlikestowrite]

𝐒𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚 ⋮ ⌒ Such is the way to the stars

𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ ⋆·˚ ༘ * 🔭 ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ

□ sleeping

Oliver/Percival -- Insomniac, avid tea drinker and musician

Italia || Italian/Czech - ₊❏❜ ⋮🇮🇹/🇨🇿

Studyblr, Langblr, Writeblr - Looking for mutuals

Physics & Philosophy Major

Multilingual ──── ˊˎ

↳ Main languages (in order): Italian, French, English

Writer/Artist blog - Horror/Gothic writer, but I dabble in a lot

✩°𓏲⋆🌿. ⋆⸜ 🍵✮˚ About Me:

Randoms: My favorite colors are dark/soft greens and browns, physically and mentally disabled, cat and dog lover but I would love to have rats, insomniac - I will be on here whenever I can't sleep (basically all the time), my best subjects have always been literature and science and my worst mathematics, I can't eat many things because of arfid, I have dogs, a ball python, a rabbit and a guinea pig all of whom are very spoiled

Likes: Tea, music, the rain, animals, nature, plants and mushrooms, rocks and geology, bones, oddities, fashion, reading, going on walks, autumn and winter, board games (chess most of all but I very much enjoy playing any board game), drawing and painting, dinosaurs and other paleontology, history - especially Ancient Greece and Egypt

Dislikes: Bugs (I like them, but they're my biggest trigger), stigma/stereotypes, blueberries and pineapple, honestly not a lot just rude people in general

Films: Avatar, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Star Wars, Star Trek, Scream, Twilight, Interview with a Vampire, Dracula, Silence of the Lamb, Ghostbusters, Halloween, Horror Classics

Series: Haikyuu, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bungou Stray Dogs, The Queen's Gambit, Supernatural, How I Met Your Mother, Arcane, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Tacoma FD, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Saiki K., Grey's Anatomy, Lucifer, Hannibal, House MD, Buzzfeed Unsolved, True Crime, and Watcher

Music: Bastille, Portugal. The Man, Tchaikovsky, AJR, Pinguini Tattici Nucleari, Lana Del Rey, Iniko, Type O Negative, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Hozier, The Crane Wives

Books/Authors: Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Sherlock Holmes, The Odyssey, The Art of War, War and Peace, Doctor Zhivago, Robert Frost, Fahrenheit 451, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Timon of Athens, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Brontë, The Da Vinci Code

DNI: Homophobes, Racists, Facists, basic DNI criteria. Anyone above 25 or below 15

lıllılı.ıllı.ılılıılıı.lllııılı. Now Playing — Feel It Still - Portugal. The Man 01:43 ━━━━●───── 03:50 ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮ 🎧

╰─▸ ❝ @⦗nevlikestowrite⦘ has . . . . logged off

[bonbonsandbeskar]

Trek with Tech: Day 1 - Jetting off to Rome

Here it is! After much buildup, the first instalment of our Mediterranean journey! And boy, was the weather on our side right from the get go:

Not as dynamic as space travel, granted, but it was a lovely experience with a clear day that allowed for some breathtaking views of the French alps…

Treated myself to some duty-free perfume, which Tech then tried chatting up 😂

We got a bit nervous on the way up though… 🍸🍸🍸🍸

We finally made it to Italy!!!! 🇮🇹

Tech was very eager to explore the landmarks. I was a bit too drained from the early start and the airport runs to do too much walking about today though, so most of that will come tomorrow ✨

We had a lovely meal in a little local Roman restaurant…

Aperol spritz went down a storm!! 🍹

And the desert was gorgeous. “Gelato drowned in whiskey”. Though very boozy, I think Tech’s out for the count in that last one 😆

All’s well, we sobered up with some limonata on the balcony afterwards 😂

Tomorrow we hope to have a very thorough travel into the heart of Rome, exploring the Colosseum and the Vatican! Can’t wait!! ✨✨

[yohanpasindu]

🍀🍀🍀

[deepspaceboytoy]

Imperial History

On the 21st of September, 454 CE, the Roman Emperor Valentinian III attempted to murder Flavius Aetius while he delivered an account in Ravenna. With an audience of nobles and senators, the Emperor interrupted Aetius and declaimed him, drawing his sword so that he could strike him down. Instead, Aetius killed the Emperor. Perhaps Valentinian had feared Aetius’ growing power and influence, perhaps he felt resentment over Aetius’ allegiances in the civil wars of decades prior. Regardless of the reason, a fearful emperor had tried to strike down the man called the last true Roman, and failed.

To empire-wide acclaim, Aetius was declared emperor, and immediately set about fixing the almost unfixable situation the Western Roman Empire found itself in. To the Germanic tribes flooding across her borders, Aetius offered alliance and citizenship. To the slave rebellions wracking the empire’s provinces, he offered freedom. To the plebes, so beleaguered by hunger and poverty, he offered land and wealth redistribution. To the military, he offered leadership and salvation. Across all sectors of empire, he tore down the foundations and built them anew.

By his death in 534, Rome was reborn, stronger, wealthier, smarter than before. The Imperial Highways stretched across every corner of the empire, the legions were rebuilt and cities expanded. Under the firm, even handed leadership of the Aetian Dynasty, the empire flourished.

Starting under Emperor Gaulterius, Rome sought a closer relationship with the nations of Africa. First with the Umayyad Caliphate and their successors, and later the Empire of Mali, Rome and Africa would develop rapidly. In 1634, Roman and Malian engineers would begin construction on the Continental Causeway, building a road and rail bridge from the lower tip of Italia through Sicily and into Roman Carthage on the coast of North Africa. Together, the two continents would embark on several other massive projects, including Terra’s first megacity of Damascus. Dagbon shipbuilders built the steamships that carried the first imperial explorers across the Atlantic, and Benin engineers helped design the underground Imperial Railway that spanned all across Europe.

In 1791, an alliance of African states signed the Sahel Accords, creating the Pan African Coalition. The same day, the Imperium Europum, as Rome had come to be known, declared them a permanent ally, equal, and partner.

This golden age would last until September 25th, 1933, when the Roman ambassador to the Qing Dynasty, Iolanus Vorenus, deliberately sabotaged a series of diplomatic communiques, and sparked a war between Rome and the Qing. As the series of border skirmishes between Roman legions and Qing troops escalated into a full blown war, the rest of the Pan-Asia Defense Initiative was drawn into the conflict, which soon spilled over into the PAC and Western Economic Union of the new world. The war would last until 1943, when Qing sued for peace, economically devastated by the war. The empire would not escape unscathed, as the regional capital of Triers was destroyed in a WEU nuclear strike.

After the war, the WEU and PADI would be folded into the empire, which declared itself the Imperium Terra. In 1991, Outpost Sapiens was established on Luna, marking the creation of humanity’s first off-world settlement. The outpost would serve as a fuel depot for further exploration of the solar system under the joint Imperial-PAC Global Aerospace Administration, although imperial zeitgeist for space development would die off following the ISV Mare Tyrrhenian Disaster in 2101 when a cargo launcher exploded over Celtiberia, spreading fallout across the entire province. It would take a miracle for the Imperium to restart its expansion to the stars.

This miracle would come in the form of Emperor Valerius Illurius Laerio and his adopted son, Herius Victus. Emperor Valerius was elected by the Senate in 2303, breaking the uninterrupted reign of the Aetian Dynasty for the first time in imperial history. Valerius was not a popular emperor, and ruled mostly from afar for the early years of his reign. It wasn’t until August 1st, 2314, that his image would be rehabilitated when an orphan was mysteriously left in his antechamber. Naming the child Herius, Valerius adopted him as his son and heir, and groomed him from that day forward to be his successor.

Herius would prove to have the charm and warmth his father lacked, and proved immensely popular at state functions, so when his coronation day arrived in 2332, massive crowds gathered to cheer. This was when three massive ships appeared in orbit over Terra, utterly immense in dimension and scale. The largest of them, measuring fully 43.7 kilometers in length, would soon be nicknamed the Invictus, in honor of the prince. Valerius, his interest clearly piqued by the ships, gathered a team of scientific, military, engineering, and cultural advisors, and boarded the Invictus along with his son.

For a year, cadres of experts shuttled back and forth from Terra to the ship, frequently accompanied by the crown prince. And then, suddenly and without warning, Victus stole the ship. He and a selected team of loyalists absconded with the Invictus, disappearing into the reaches of space.

The Imperium surged after him. Reverse engineered technology from the two other ships, christened the Harbingers, was used to develop humanity’s first interstellar vessels, and from there, the Imperium Humanum, as it was now known, spread through the stars. After the disaster of the 1st Aberinian War, it would meet the vast galactic community.

It is now 2762. The Imperium is the pinnacle of stellar civilization. Numbering over 4000 settled systems and nearly 13 trillion citizens, it is the largest spacefaring nation in galactic history. Gargantuan macro-engineering projects are a daily endeavor, and entire stars are rendered down to their raw materials to feed the needs of the growing populace. Massive Imperial warships ply its borders, and its proud Navy remains undefeated through the many attempts to conquer the nascent power. But on the eastern fringe of the Imperial Frontier, whole worlds are going dark, early warning beacons are being silenced, and disquiet grows. Rumors are spreading of something terrible in the deeps of space, spreading like a cancer. And amidst all this, the Dark Prince Herius Victus has been seen for the first time since the apocalyptic Unification Wars of the 2670s. No one knows what is coming, except maybe the once favored first son of the Empire.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

I never admitted to anybody during my entire military service that I had been an actor. I was terrified that I would be put in charge of Ensa [Entertainments' National Service Association]. Not even my closest friends knew I was an actor. I told them I was reading English at St Andrews University.

- Richard Todd

In his heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Richard Todd was Britain’s leading matinee idol. If you love old movies, you’ll have seen Todd in one of his starring roles in “The Virgin Queen” opposite Bette Davis, “Stage Struck” with Marlene Dietrich, or “The Dam Busters” for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He was the tough little Scotsman in the wartime weepie “The Hasty Heart” and had audiences madly hunting for hankies.

Those were the days when Todd streaked across North American film screens as virtually every romantic hero from Rob Roy to Robin Hood. Ian Fleming chose him to play James Bond in “Dr. No” in 1962, but a schedule clash meant Sean Connery stepped into the role.

Little less known is the fact that he was also among the first British soldiers and the first Irishman to land in Normandy on D Day. More specifically, he participated in Operation Tonga during the D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944.

So it must have been surreal for Richard Todd the hearthrob actor to find himself playing Major John Howard in the epic movie ‘The Longest Day’ (1962) based on Cornelius Ryan’s book. Not least because he served with Howard and took part in the fighting at Pegasus Bridge that Major John Howard was tasked to secure on D Day.

Richard Todd was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1919. His father was a medic in the British Army and, as his posting required, the early years of his life were spent in India. The family settled in Devon upon their return to England, and Richard was educated at Shrewsbury Public School, in Shropshire. The theatre was his first love, and he furthered his dramatic skills at the Italia Conti school, thereafter moving to Scotland where he helped to form the Dundee Repertory Theatre. When War was declared, Todd went to St. Andrew's University on the following day to volunteer. He was not a member of the University, but he not only convinced the selection unit that he was, but also added that he had been reading English there for six months, and that he had obtained a Cert A in his school cadet corps; a key point to being accepted as an officer. Despite success in passing off this invented career, Todd was to be disappointed by a lack of interest in him thereafter.

Becoming increasingly desperate to get into the War before it ended, he sent numerous letters to the War Office to press his case, which, in June 1940, was finally noticed.

Accepted by the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, Todd went to Sandhurst to receive his officer training. He had a very lucky escape here when he was in a corridor on the second floor of a building when it was hit by a bomb, and he was blown into the garden outside by the blast. He got to his feet in the darkness and did not feel particularly affected by it, but an examination by torchlight revealed that his whole body was covered in blood from numerous small wounds.

A spell his hospital delayed his passing out from Sandhurst until early 1941. Celebrating in London, he narrowly avoided death again when he found his usual haunt, the Cafe de Paris, was too crowded to admit him and so he went elsewhere; it was hit by a bomb that same night and 84 people were killed.

His Battalion, the 2nd/4th Battalion The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was posted to XII Corps in defence of Kent, where a German invasion if it came would almost certainly land. Todd was given command of the infantry in the Dymchurch Redoubt, a fort of the Napoleonic era mounting two six-inch guns.

In the event of an invasion, this would certainly have been a primary target for the enemy, and those manning it were told that, with the main defensive line far to their rear, they would be left to fight to the end. General Montgomery commanded XII Corps at this time, and his characteristic emphasis on training and preparedness led to the formation of the first Battle Schools. Richard Todd attended one of these, and the experience allowed him to run his own School when, in December 1941, he was sent to Iceland with the 1st/4th King's Own Light Infantry to be trained in arctic and mountain warfare. Returning to England in September 1942, he eventually ended up in the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion of the 6th Airborne Division. He was among troops of the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion who, at 00:40 hours on 6 June 1944, landed behind the Normandy beaches in a cornfield, perilously close to tracer fire.

Todd scrambled into a wood and with 150 other paratroopers reached Pegasus and Ranville bridges, vital crossings to allow Allied forces to break out from the beachheads into Normandy. They had been seized by a glider force from the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry under the command of Major John Howard, who needed reinforcements to fend off ferocious German attacks.

In his memoirs, Caught in the Act, Todd would write of the carnage, “There was no cessation in the Germans' probing with patrols and counter-attacks, some led by tanks, and the regimental aid post was overrun in the early hours. The wounded being tended there were all killed where they lay. There was sporadic enemy mortar and artillery fire we could do nothing about. One shell landed in a hedge near me, killing a couple of our men.”

Todd would go on and see action at the Battle of the Bulge and push into the Rhine into Germany. After VE day, his division returned to the UK for a few weeks, then was sent on counter-insurgency operations in Palestine. During this posting he was seriously injured when his Jeep overturned, breaking both shoulders and receiving a concussion. He returned to the UK to be demobilised in 1946. 

In 1962, Todd was given the part of Major John Howard in the film adaptation of Cornelius Ryan's book about the D-Day landings, ‘The Longest Day’ (1962). Due to the nature of cinema, it was impossible for the film to give a thorough reflection of the role of the 6th Airborne Division during the Invasion, and as such their activities were solely represented by a reconstruction of the capture of Bénouville Bridge by Howard's coup-de-main force. Although briefly mentioned, the role of the 7th Battalion in the defence of the western bridgehead was largely ignored, and so it appeared as if the defence of the bridge rested only on Howard's men.

Naturally, the omission of their fierce defence of Bénouville caused some resentment amongst veterans, not least because one of their own was championing this re-working of history. Todd, however, regarded ‘The Longest Day’ (1962) as a film rather than a documentary, and his part in it was simply that of an actor doing as he was told.

Richard Todd would never have guessed, that in 17 years since he was on Pegasus Bridge as a paratrooper that he would standing there again as an actor portraying Major John Howard who was given the order: 'Hold,… until relieved'. It had to be Richard Todd’s 'twilight-zone' moment.

The ‘relieve’ for Howard had to come from Lord Lovat and his troops, who had landed on SWORD Beach, and were legging it towards Pegasus Bridge.

Before the shooting of the scenes were started at Pegasus Bridge, the film producer of The Longest Day, Darryl F. Zanuck, had the real life Lord Lovat and Major John Howard brought over to meet the men who were going to portray them (Peter Lawford portrayed Lord Lovat). The men had not seen each other since 6 June 1944.

Photo (above). From L-R: Peter Lawford, Lord Lovat, Richard Todd, Major John Howard.

[kaletastrophes]

Pedro Pascal: A Life in Movies

Categorizing every film Pedro has mentioned in public.

Notes and Sources:

He mentions the 1979 film Caligula here in this interview but it’s so in passing I didn’t feel I could fully include it above.

He talks about Last Tango in Paris in that same interview but its…in relation to Marlon Brando’s dick size hahaha so again I didn’t feel this was enough to warrant inclusion. I'm sorry, I would have loved to include it! But alas.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have given so much space to Kramer vs. Kramer because it’s mentioned in passing in his funny Superman story, but I made the executive decision to put it in there anyway. 

So I didn’t include it in the graphic above but Superman was actually the film the Pascal family was watching in the theater when young Pedro wondered off and got lost. 

When Pedro Pascal was roughly 4 years old, he and his family went to see the 1978 hit movie “Superman,” starring Christopher Reeve. Pascal’s young parents had come to live in San Antonio after fleeing their native Chile during the rise of dictator Augusto Pinochet in the mid-1970s. Taking Pascal and his older sister to the movies — sometimes more than once a week — had become a kind of family ritual, a way to soak up as much American pop culture as possible. At some point during this particular visit, Pascal needed to go to the bathroom, and his parents let him go by himself. “I didn’t really know how to read yet,” Pascal says with the same Cheshire grin that dazzled “Game of Thrones” fans during his run as the wily (and doomed) Oberyn Martel. “I did not find my way back to ‘Superman.'” Instead, Pascal wandered into a different theater (he thinks it was showing the 1979 domestic drama “Kramer vs. Kramer,” but, again, he was 4). In his shock and bewilderment at being lost, he curled up into an open seat and fell asleep. When he woke up, the movie was over, the theater was empty, and his parents were standing over him. To his surprise, they seemed rather calm, but another detail sticks out even more. “I know that they finished their movie,” he says, bending over in laughter. “My sister was trying to get a rise out of me by telling me, ‘This happened and that happened and then Superman did this and then, you know, the earthquake and spinning around the planet.'” In the face of such relentless sibling mockery, Pascal did the only logical thing: “I said, ‘All that happened in my movie too.'” (Source)

Poor baby hahaha 

He also mentions Paper Moon here around the 3 minute mark, as a film that the Mando team asked him to watch to inform the Mando character and his relationship with the child.

Chinatown and Dog Day Afternoon are mentioned as two of his all time favorite films in both his Reddit AMA and this Buzzfeed interview. The Reddit AMA is also where he mentions Solaris, Alien, and Superman.

Alien being is mentioned AGAIN in his Variety interview here. The interviewer of this really annoys me but that's truly here nor there.

Dog Day's Attica! scene is named as his favorite movie scene in this interview. That interview is also where he speaks about Alien, and The Omen.

The story about his father taking him to see Watership Down can be found here.

Jaws is mentioned briefly is his Vogue Italia interview.

Star Wars is mentioned in his Esquire Spain interview.

Masterlist