#the comedic potential of an alien president....

[pigeonplaysgod]

it's honestly so funny to me that i don't see more people running with the great Quintessentially Sims setup of having a scientist sim get knocked up with an alien baby for their NSB challenge

[aion-rsa]

Did The Dark Knight Really Influence the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

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In 2008, there were two seismic events in the superhero movie genre so close together that you’d be forgiven for thinking they signaled the same thing. Over the span of a few months, Marvel Studios launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) via Iron Man, and director Christopher Nolan changed the perception of how seriously to take these movies with The Dark Knight. Both are credited as watershed moments for how audiences and (more importantly) the industry approached such stories; and The Dark Knight is specifically singled out as the gold standard by which all other masked crimefighter films are measured.

However, was Nolan’s haunting vision—one in which a lone avenger is the last, best hope for a major American city on the verge of collapse—really that influential on its genre? The Dark Knight certainly had a monumental impact on the culture, then and now. You saw it when Heath Ledger’s searing interpretation of the Joker made him only the second actor to win a posthumous Oscar, as well as when the film’s exclusion from the Best Picture race changed the way the Academy Awards handled its top prize. And just last year, The Dark Knight became only the second superhero movie inducted into the National Film Registry.

Yet when a friend watching last week’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiere told me Marvel was returning to the “realistic” approach of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and by extension The Dark Knight, I couldn’t help but disagree. The new Disney+ series may have a slightly more grounded aesthetic than the last time we saw these characters (back when they were fighting space aliens over magic stones in Avengers: Endgame), but the medium-blending existence of the series belies the idea that Marvel took anything significant from the insular and self-contained Dark Knight Trilogy.

The Dark Knight vs. Iron Man

It’s interesting to look back at just those 2008 films since at face value they bore minor similarities. They both were focused on fantastically wealthy billionaires using their fortunes to fight wrongdoing on a potentially global scale; each movie was directed by filmmakers with indie cred thanks to Nolan helming Memento (2000) and Jon Favreau writing and starring in Swingers (1996); and each starred unexpected casting choices with Ledger as the Joker and Robert Downey Jr. jumpstarting a career comeback as Tony Stark.

But their goals and approaches were worlds apart. The obvious thing to note, besides The Dark Knight being a sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and Iron Man being an origin movie, is that Iron Man had an slyly hilarious sensibility, and The Dark Knight fancied itself an allegory about post-9/11 America. The former’s success was engineered in large part by Downey’s gift for comedic improvisation and freestyle. Indeed, co-star Jeff Bridges said in 2009 that he, Downey, and Favreau were essentially improvising their scenes from scratch every day during primitive rehearsals. “They had no script, man,” Bridges lightly complained with his Dude diction.

By contrast, The Dark Knight appears at a glance to be an exercise in self-seriousness and lofty ambition. Every scene, written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan, appears like a chess move, and each character a pawn or knight who’s been positioned to put contemporary audiences in a state of pure anxiety with War on Terror imagery and dialogue. Of course this clocklike presentation is itself another Nolan illusion, as smaller players like Michael Jai White, who portrayed gangster Gambol in the movie, have been quite candid about. As with almost every film, there is still a level of fluidity and workshopping on Nolan’s set.

Ultimately, the bigger difference between the Nolan and eventual Marvel approach is what each is hoping to accomplish with the film they’re currently making. More than just offering a “realistic” vision of Batman, The Dark Knight attempted to tell a sweeping crime drama epic that would stand alone, separate from its status as a Batman Begins sequel. Rather than being “the next chapter,” The Dark Knight was meant to be a cinematic distillation of Batman and Joker’s primal appeals writ large. With this approach, the film also broke away from the superhero movie template Batman Begins followed three years earlier, and which nearly all superhero films still walk through the paces of.

In essence, The Dark Knight showed that superhero movies could be dark and mature, yes, but they can also be subversive, unexpected, and genuinely surprising. Nolan’s previous superhero movie, as good as it is, followed the beats set down by Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie nearly 30 years earlier. They’re the same beats trod by Iron Man and pretty much every other superhero origin movie, including a large bulk of Marvel Studios’ output. The Dark Knight, by contrast, reached for a cinematic vernacular separate from its specific genre. The movie’s not subtle about it either. The opening scene of Nolan’s epic wears its homages to Michael Mann’s Heat on its sleeves, and the story’s structure has more to do with Jaws than Jor-El.

The approach shook audiences in 2008 after they’d come to expect a certain type of movie from masked do-gooders. In The Dark Knight, superhero conventions could be subverted or obliterated when love interest Rachel Dawes is brutally killed off mid-sentence, or stalwart Batman is forced to claim a pyrrhic victory over the villain by entering into a criminal conspiracy and cover-up with the cops. The thrill of novelty was as breathtaking as the movie’s allegorical elements about a society on edge.

And even with The Dark Knight’s open-ended finale, it stood as a singular cinematic experience, complete with then-groundbreaking emphasis on IMAX photography. Nolan was so adamant about making this as self-contained an experience as possible that he jettisoned his co-story creator David Goyer’s idea of setting up Harvey Dent’s fall from grace for a third movie. Dent’s fate, as that of everyone else’s, would be tied strictly to the events of the movie you’re now watching.

“We Have a Hulk”

In Iron Man, and then more forcefully in Iron Man 2 (2010) and the rest of its “Phase One” era, Marvel Studios demonstrated a wholly different set of priorities. Similar to how Batman Begins paved the way for Nolan to do what he really wanted with that material, Iron Man 2 came to encapsulate Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige’s grander designs for the type of movies he was making. Where The Dark Knight was singular, unconventional, and two steps closer to our world than its comic book origins, Iron Man 2 was episodic, entirely crafted around audience expectations for a sequel, and even more like a comic book world than our own.

In other words, the first Iron Man gently submerged audiences into the fantasy by beginning with contemporary images of Tony Stark in a Middle Eastern desert; Iron Man 2 then made sweeping strides in defining what that MCU fantasy is as quickly as possible: Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is introduced solely to establish the superspy who will be vital to The Avengers two years down the road, and the central narrative about Tony Stark fighting an old rival is put on pause to reintroduce the character Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as a supporting, and superfluous, side character. The post-credit scene even arbitrarily introduces literal magic with a glowing hammer that has absolutely nothing to do with the story you just watched. Still, it’s a hell of a teaser for Thor which was due in theaters a year later.

With the release of Iron Man 2, Marvel Studios’ emphasis became diametrically opposed to the driving concept behind The Dark Knight Trilogy. Rather than each film being an insulated, standalone cinematic experience like the Hollywood epics of old, Marvel’s movies would be interconnected episodes in an ongoing narrative saga that spanned multiple franchises and countless sequels. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unlike Nolan after The Dark Knight, Feige and his stable of writers always know where the next movie (or five) is going, and have a better idea of what the overall vision is than any single director working within this system. Ironically, this returns power to the studio and producer as the seeming authorial voice of each movie. Like in the Golden Age of Hollywood, directors are more often hired hands than influential auteurs.

However, this means the aspects Nolan really valued on The Dark Knight beyond a gritty “realism”—elements like spontaneity, subversion, and a distancing from superhero tropes—became antithetical to the type of movies produced by the MCU. For at least the first decade of its existence, the Marvel Cinematic Universe flourished by creating a formula and house style that is as predictable for audiences as the contents in a Big Mac.

When you go to a Marvel movie, you more or less you’ll get: an ironic, self-deprecating tone, a story that often revolves around a CG MacGuffin that must be taken from the villain, and a narrative in which disparate heroic characters come together after some amusing, disagreeable banter. In fact, more than Iron Man, it was Joss Whedon’s The Avengers (2012) which refined the Marvel formula into what it is today.

There are of course exceptions to this rule. Black Panther became the first Marvel movie since Iron Man to arguably tackle themes significant to the real world, in this case specifically the legacy of African diaspora. It also became the first superhero film nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture as a result; James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies might follow the narrative formula of most MCU movies, but they’re embedded with a cheeky and idiosyncratic personality that is distinctly Gunn’s; and in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Captain America: Civil War (2016), directors Joe and Anthony Russo, as well as screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, attempted to inject a little bit of that “realistic” aesthetic from The Dark Knight. But only to a point.

Particularly in the 2014 effort, there was a push by the Russos to rely on in-camera special effects and cultivate what they often described in the press as a “1970s spy thriller” style. Ostensibly, the hope may have been to make The Winter Soldier as much a spy thriller as The Dark Knight was a crime epic. In this vein, there were even attempts to graft onto the story very timely concerns about the overreach of a government surveillance state, which had only grown in the decade since the U.S. PATRIOT Act was passed, despite a change in White House administrations. However, all of these ambitions had an invisible ceiling hovering above them.

Despite having overtones about the danger of reactionary if well-intentioned government leaders, like the kind personified by Robert Redford’s SHIELD director in the movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier couldn’t become too focused on the espionage elements or too far removed from the Marvel house style. The story still needed to interconnect with other Marvel films, hence Redford’s character turning out to be a secret HYDRA double agent, and it still needed to give audiences what they expected from a Marvel movie. Thus how this “1970s spy thriller” ends in a giant CGI battle with citywide destruction as Captain America inserts MacGuffins into machines that will blow up HYDRA’s latest weapon for world domination.

It’s easy to wonder if the movie was developed a little longer, and didn’t have to play by a certain set of rules and expectations, that instead of backpedaling into comic book motivations, Redford’s character would’ve been a well-intentioned patriot amassing power “to keep us safe,” and in the process destabilized the institutions he claimed to revere.

Read more

Movies

What Did Batman Do Between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises?

By David Crow

TV

WandaVision: The Unanswered Questions From the Marvel Series

By Gavin Jasper

A Universe Without End

The Marvel method breeds a heavy need for familiarity and comfortable predictability, as opposed to disorientation and discomfort. Yet both methods are valid. While Nolan achieved near universal praise for The Dark Knight, his attempt to replicate it with the even more ambitious The Dark Knight Rises—an unabashed David Lean-inspired epic that took more from A Tale of Two Cities and Doctor Zhivago than DC Comics—left fans divided. It also was a narrative dead end for the corporate/fanbase need of an ongoing franchise. Nolan instead reached a final, artistic, and emphatic period for his cinematic interpretation of Batman mythology. By comparison, Marvel Studios has created a new cinematic vernacular that only ever uses dashes, semicolons, and commas. There is always more to tell.

Nolan reflected on these changing circumstances for superhero movies in 2017 when he said, “That’s a privilege and a luxury that filmmakers aren’t afforded anymore. I think it was the last time that anyone was able to say to a studio, ‘I might do another one, but it will be four years.’ There’s too much pressure on release schedules to let people do that now, but creatively it’s a huge advantage.”

This lines up with what Jeff Bridges said about the evolution of the Marvel method way back in ’09 after the first Iron Man: “You would think with a $200 million movie you’d have the shit together, but it was just the opposite. And the reason for that is because they get ahead of themselves. They have a release date before the script [and they think], ‘Oh, we’ll have the script before that time,’ and they don’t have their shit together.”

Bridges’ unhappiness with the new process notwithstanding, Marvel was rewriting the playbook about how these types of movies were made. Nolan’s approach of one at a time and years-long development processes created three distinctly different and relatively standalone Batman movies. But Marvel has shifted the idea of not just what a franchise can be, but also what cinematic storytelling means.

Instead of three movies, their rules and structures have generated dozens of well-received and adored entertainments, that when combined can produce experiences as unique as Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019): two movies that were more like a two-part season finale on TV than individual stories. And the latter became the highest grossing film of all time.

The success of this approach is further underlined when one considers competitors that tried to emulate both Marvel and Nolan’s approaches, relying on a lone auteur to build a shared cinematic universe—while also arguably taking the wrong lessons from the “dark” in The Dark Knight title. In the case of the DC Extended Universe, that approach collapsed on itself after three movies, leaving the interconnected “shared” part of its universe in tatters, and fans and studio hands alike divided on how to proceed with the franchise.The Marvel Cinematic Universe took a narrower road than that of The Dark Knight. But it turned out to be a lot smoother and much, much longer.

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[superdorkcat]

Upcoming Disney+ Originals (TV Shows)

One Day at Disney (December 3, 2019) - The documentary follows employees across the various divisions of the Walt Disney Company, taking a look at a day in the life of their jobs.

Diary of a Female President (2020) - The series is told through the narration of a Cuban-American 12-year-old girl’s diary, as she navigates the ups and downs of middle school and her journey to becoming the future president of the United States.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2020) - Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes deal with the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, in which Wilson was handed the mantle of Captain America.

Monsters at Work (2020) - Six months after the events of Monsters, Inc., the city of Monstropolis is now fueled with the sound of laughter. Tylor Tuskmon, a mechanic on the Facilities Team, dreams of working alongside his idols Mike Wazowski and James P. “Sully” Sullivan.

Earth to Ned (2020) - The comedic half-hour series follows Ned, a blue-skinned alien and his lieutenant Cornelius, who were sent to scout Earth for an eventual invasion - but instead became obsessed with our popular culture. Now, they host a talk show, broadcast from the bridge of their spaceship hidden deep underground, where they interview our most precious commodity, celebrities, to talk about Ned’s current pop culture obsessions. Ned will be bringing real-life celebrity guests to his ship from across the known universe and interviewing them, late night talk show style, in hopes of producing the ultimate talk show - making Ned a celebrity and putting him further off mission. And the more Ned learns about our human culture, the more obsessed he becomes.

Short Circuit (2020) - A program where anyone at the Walt Disney Animation Studios can pitch an idea and potentially be selected to create an original short film with the support of the Studio and their fellow artists.

Muppets Now (2020) - An unscripted series, the premise is unknown. The show will feature celebrity guests.

Be Our Chef (2019-2020) - The series invites families from diverse backgrounds to join a Disney-inspired cooking competition at Walt Disney World that’s positive and playful in tone. In each episode, two families will participate in a themed challenge based on their family traditions and the magic of Disney. The finalists will apply what they’ve learned to create a dish that represents their family through a Disney lens.

Cinema Relics: Iconic Art of the Movies (2019-2020) - An anthology series that takes a unique look at beloved films through the props and costumes that made them unique - from the craftspeople who created them, the actors who interacted with them, and the collectors/archives who own and cherish them

Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 (2019-2020) - As never before in its near-century long history, Walt Disney Animation Studios is opening its doors, allowing cameras to capture in intimate detail how the voice cast, directors, and team of artists come together to create “Frozen 2”. This multi-episode documentary series shows the hard work, imagination, heart, fun, and intensity that go into making one of the most anticipated Disney Animation features of all time.

Magic of the Animal Kingdom (2019-2020) - In the heart of Central Florida, a team of more than 1,000 highly respected animal care experts, veterinarians, and biologists perform groundbreaking work at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park and Epcot’s SeaBase aquarium. Now for the first time, National Geographic will offer viewers an all-access pass into the 24/7 world of the incredible animal caretakers running one of the most advanced veterinary facilities in the world.

Marvel’s 616 (2019-2020) - An anthological documentary series from Marvel New Media in partnership with Supper Club that explores the intersection between Marvel’s rich legacy of stories, characters and creators and the world outside your window. Each documentary will dive into the rich historical, cultural and social context that has become inseparable from stories of the Marvel Universe.

On Pointe (2019-2020) - The series will follow a year in the life of students at the New York City school as they go through rigorous training, auditions and preparations for the New York City Ballet’s annual performances of “The Nutcracker”.

(Re)Connect (2019-2020) - In each episode, a family will disconnect from their busy lives, devices and outside influences in order to address a relatable issue that’s driving a wedge between them. With the help of a specialized expert, each family will go on a unique journey to confront the family’s dilemma head on. 

Rogue Trip (2019-2020) - Renowned journalist Bob Woodruff travels the world with his 27-year-old son, Mack, and visits all of the places your average tourist is least likely to venture - the roguish, often misunderstood and frequently overlooked corners of the world whose hidden corners surprise, amaze and inspire.

Shop Class (working title) (2019-2020) - A new competition series featuring teams of inventive students, who are tasked with designing, building, and testing new contraptions. In each episode a panel of experts will rate their work based on engineering, design, and the final test of the build.

Untitled Chip ‘n’ Dale series (2019-2020) - Plot unknown, the series will feature “classic style comedy”.

Loki (2021) - The series will follow the Loki who stole the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame. Additional plot details are unknown, but the series will tie in to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

WandaVision (2021) - The series will be a take on a superhero sitcom. Additional plot details are unknown. Similarly to Loki, the series will tie into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

What If...? (2021) - The series explores what would happen if major moments from the Marvel Cinematic Universe occurred differently.

Hawkeye (2021) - The series will focus on Clint Barton passing the mantle of Hawkeye to Kate Bishop.

Untitled Cassian Andor series (2021) - The series is billed as a rousing spy thriller that will explore tales filled with espionage and daring missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless Empire.

Ink & Paint (2020-2021) - The documentary series, based on the book of the same name, tells the story of animation at Disney, and how an unsung workforce of trailblazing women helped create some of the greatest animated films of all time.

Earthkeepers (working title) (2020-2021) - The series is a cinematic documentary series that enters the adventurous lives of the people changing the way we see the animal kingdom. The episodes focus on conservationists and the animals they’ve devoted their careers to studying, diving deep into the personal trials and professional breakthroughs of protecting the planet’s most endangered species.

Big Shots (TBA) - The series follows a temperamental college basketball coach who gets fired from his job and must take a teaching and coaching job at an elite all-girls private high school.

Lizzie McGuire revival (TBA) - An update of the classic Disney Channel series that will follow the title character as a 30-year-old millennial navigating life in New York City. 

Love, Simon (TBA) - The series is set in the same world as the 2018 film and focuses on a new student at Creekwood High School, Victor. The series follows his journey of self-discovery: facing challenges at home and struggling with his sexual orientation. He reaches out to Simon when it seems too difficult for him to navigate through high school.

Moon Knight (TBA) - The plot is unknown, but the series will introduce Moon Knight (Marc Spector) into the MCU.

Ms. Marvel (TBA) - The plot is unknown, but the series will introduce Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan).

She-Hulk (TBA) - The plot is unknown, but the series will introduce She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters).

Untitled Obi-Wan Kenobi series (TBA) - The series will take place eight years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. The rest of the plot is unknown.

Becoming (TBA) - Each episode of the documentary-style series, shot in vérité, will visit a celebrity’s hometown, touring important locations that were central to their upbringing. A supporting cast of family members, coaches, teachers, mentors, and friends will also be interviewed, sharing anecdotes and insight into the star’s “becoming” story.

Behind the Attraction (TBA) - The series takes viewers into the history of how popular Disney attractions and destinations came to be, how they have changed over time, and how fans continue to obsess over them. The series will feature interviews with fans as well as Disney Imagineers and other people behind the scenes.

The Big Fib (TBA) - In this game show, two grown-ups claim to be experts on a topic and one of them is lying. It’ll be up to a kid contestant to try and figure out which one is telling “the big fib”.

Marvel’s Storyboards (TBA) - This series will follow Joe Quesada, Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, as he explores the origin stories and creative drives of storytellers of all mediums, backgrounds, and experiences.

People & Places (TBA) - The series will present true stories from all around the glob about real - and extraordinary - people who embody the Disney ethos. A mix of up-and-coming and established filmmakers will be featured.

Explorer Academy (TBA) - The series will be “fact-based fiction”. The plot is unknown.

Life and Deaf (TBA) - The series is a comedy about a kid growing up in the ‘70s with deaf parents - and the mischief that ensues when, as their ears and mouthpiece, he’s given the “keys to the kingdom”.

The Proud Family revival (TBA) - The series will be revived according to the VA of Oscar Proud, Tommy Davidson. What the premise will be is unknown.

Untitled Mighty Ducks series (TBA) - The series focuses on a 13-year-old boy when he gets kicked off the junior division Mighty Ducks team, his mom decides to start their own team, finding players, a coach, and a place to play.

Untitled The Sandlot series (TBA) - Plot unknown, the series will be set in 1984 and focus on the kids of the original.

Untitled True Lies series (TBA) - Plot unknown. Mostly a reboot.

Untitled Willow sequel series (TBA) - Plot unknown.

[nickgerlich]

Washes Whiter Than

I don’t have to tell you that these are tense times. You are either abiding by the law and staying home as much as possible, or flouting it and doing whatever you damn well please. Social media is a battleground for diverse ideologies, a place where numbers can be made to produce lies and damn lies with reckless abandon. Fake news is the soup of the day, served by the gallon.

And don’t get me started on confirmation bias. It’s like a belief system searching for justification.

Worse yet, it is a time when our President’s words are being parsed, minced, sliced, diced, and spit out for either comedic relief or argumentative support. His latest words have spawned a response from a major cleaning product brand, and resulted in everything from ridicule to praise.

At a press conference on Thursday 23rd April, President Trump said these words: “And I then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute, and is there a way you can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it'd be interesting to check that.”

It is these words that caused a firestorm of controversy. The full text of his remarks is available online, and should be compared before making a decision. Suffice it to say, though, that many folks ran with this, created a zillion memes, and even caused a major conglomerate, Reckitt Benckiser, to issue a bold statement urging people never to ingest their disinfectant products.

Now I am not going to waste time or space arguing here what the President really said, or meant, or whether it was mere sarcasm. That’s for you to decide. I am more concerned about Reckitt Benckiser seizing the moment to quickly issue a public statement about accidental or even intentional ingestion of its primary product, Lysol, especially since the word “Lysol” was not exactly mentioned in the President’s statement.

The question is thus whether they were picking sides in the debate and using the opportunity to make a very unsubtle dig at the President, or were they sincerely concerned that someone might actually do the unmentionable? After all, there is precedent, given that an Arizona man died after intentionally swallowing chloroquine phosphate shortly after the President had mentioned it as a possible treatment for COVID-19. It could thus be argued that Reckitt Benckiser’s quick response was a pre-emptive measure.

But there is a big difference between a generic chemical substance and a branded product. Chloroquine phosphate is used around the world as a treatment for malaria, and its efficacy against COVID-19 has yet to be proven. Think about all of the news stories, memes, and other brand exposures that Lysol has received in the last two days, and all for free.

Yep. Somebody at that company is thinking like a publicist, but sometimes it is just best to step away from controversy. Remember, the President never specifically said “Lysol,” so this company was reaching for something that wasn’t exactly there.

Worse yet, there are risks whenever companies either implicitly or explicitly choose sides, because they can wind up alienating existing and potential customers. Given the wild fire that social media are these days, that is a fury all companies best avoid. Why give folks on the opposing side any reason at all to form boycotts?

Reckitt Benckiser would have been better off leaving this one alone, unless the brand name were to suddenly wind up in the conversation. But like in any debate, domestic or otherwise, unless the other party mentions it, just shut up.

Dr “Present Tense“ Gerlich

Audio Blog

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: Violet Evergarden

Ugh, I hate writing about good shows. It’s always so difficult to find something to talk about. With bad or average material, it’s so much easier to point at weak points and say ‘Yes, that wasn’t good. Here’s what I would do.’ Which is my favorite exercise when watching things.

But Violet Evergarden is good. Real good. The only complaint I could imagine lobbying is that Netflix didn’t simuldub it stateside. The villains.

I mean, it’s a show with a blonde protagonist who, out of love, lost limbs and had them replaced by mechanical prosthetics, with the actual story happening in a quasi-european setting approximately after a WWI analogue. Somehow, it’s not Fullmetal Alchemist, nor does it try to be. Freaking Magnus Bride had less superficial similarities, and it still fell into that trap.

It’s laudable.

What Violet Evergarden does do is done amazingly.

Spoilers, by the way. Go watch the show now, it’s that good.

I don’t cry for fiction. This isn’t a macho claim, I honestly view it as a minor failing of mine. I can identify sad and tragic parts of a piece, and I have emotions,[1] but when it comes to fiction, there’s just too big of a separation for me. I can see the strings.

This remains true for Violet Evergarden, but there are some real strong attempts to coax tears. Strong and original.

I like the ‘Girl learning to be Human’ trope.[2] Well, Person learning to be human, but, well, cute girls make everything better.

Point is, there’s a charm to watching someone who, through their personal circumstances, has zero idea how to operate in society, and approaches everything with naivety and a hunger to learn.[4] It’s a good character premise that gives ample comedic potential (Faux Pas, satire, general oddity), dramatic potential (lost time, awkwardness, satire again), and fanservice if you feel the need to provide it. It’s a great tool for side stepping ‘As You Know’ exchanges and still actually teach your audience about your fantastical world![5]

Violent is given this status by, initially, being raised as a tool for war. She doesn’t know her family, her age, nor have a name when she’s gifted to The Major by his brother, and from there begins her journey to learn to be a human.

It’s not until she’s finally removed from the context of war and loses the man she devoted herself to that she can truly begin learning the hardest part: empathy.

And you thought my ‘don’t cry at media’ tangent was unrelated! Ah-ha!

Up until Violet begins her job as an Auto Memory Doll[6] people existed in one of three categories: Enemy (people to kill), Allies (people not to kill), and The Major (Person to take orders from). Sure, The Major gave her a name, and taught her to read and write, but on the battlefield, where most people have to be broken down into a state of “Kill or be Killed”, it’s hard to teach a young girl to be a person.

We begin the story right at the point of transition: Violet has lost both her arms, hasn’t heard from The Major since their last operation, and the war’s pretty much over. And her broach is missing. A lot’s happening suddenly, and she’s being taken off by a retired officer turned postal company president, Claudia Hodgins. It’s a confusing time for those involved.

Here’s a fun trivia fact I had to have explained to me: you may ask yourself ‘Why does Violet bite things? It sure helps make her seem alien, but why did she develop the habit?’ Well, Violet doesn’t have hands anymore, so that leaves her sensitive lips to feel things with![7]

Anyways, per The Major’s wishes, at first Hodgins attempts to leave her with some of The Major’s relatives (The Evergardens), the matriarch of which expresses hope that she and Violent can help comfort the other after losing family to the war.

Violent, of course, misreads the intent and explains she won’t be able to replace to Ms. Evergarden’s son. Violet is also generally uncomfortable with this prospective life of not doing anything or receiving orders, so runs after Hodgins, rejecting the Evergarden home.

She does, apparently, have no qualms taking the surname, which seems like a weak justification for it. She’s closer to The Major, shouldn’t she have adopted that complex noble name instead?

Speaking of which, an anime trope grosser than Student/Teacher relationships: The Usagi Drop![8] It’s a romantic relationship where one of the participants (literally or essentially) raised the other! Ah-ha, what a disgusting abuse of a power structure.

Now, to the anime’s credit, there’s at least ambiguity to Violet and The Major’s exact feelings towards each other. The Major isn’t around to clarify if he views Violet Paternally or Romantically, and Violet’s still working through being emotional stunted. However, it’s ambiguous enough to make both options equally likely.

During the first couple of episodes, the meaning of The Major’s ‘I love you’ being a romantic confession could’ve been kosher, and even expected. But as Violet’s backstory is revealed, and we learn that The Major pretty much raised Violet, romance ceases to be charming and instead shifts into worrying.

This isn’t helped when a parallel is drawn with a diplomatic engagement between a 14-year old princess and a prince at least 10 years her senior.

Surprisingly, when it comes to royal pairings, I find myself a bit more forgiving about more squickier elements. Yes, the massive difference in ages isn’t an ideal depiction, and the princess being underaged by modern standards doesn’t help, and the fact it always seems to be an older man courting the younger woman is troublesome.

However, what the situation does have is extenuating circumstances. It’s not just a precocious crush being exploited; it’s years of bad tradition, diplomatic planning, and the fact that it’s two individuals obviously trying to make the best of a bad situation.

The princess is going to get married off to someone for diplomatic gain, might as well be to someone who’s shown empathy for the princess and the situation.

But for Violet and The Major, I would hope the final call comes down on The Major viewing Violet as an adopted daughter

There’s a second major point of ambiguity surrounding The Major to drive the plot: is he dead? Most of the cast accept that his Missing in Action status after a major bombing of the building Violet was found in means the man’s likely dead, but Violet holds out hope.

In most stories, if The Major was still alive, there’d be more hints than provided by the anime, or they’d just accept he was dead and continue forward.

The Major being dead provides a stronger break and arc for Violet. Not only has the war she’d been existing for ended, but the man she’d been devoted to entirely is also gone. At the start of the series, Violet has nothing and must rebuild herself. To deny closure of that chapter by letting The Major be in hiding would just undermine the entire opening premise.

So, of course, the last shot of the series is an ambiguous shot of Violet arriving at the house of an unseen client and stumbling with her well rehearsed introduction, giving the audience a winking ‘Is he?’.[9]

If he is alive, it’d be a massive jerk move because it’s not just Violet’s life he’s derailing and introducing tragedy to. Major Gilbert Bougainvillea has a family, after all, including a mother who mourns him and a brother with undirected rage over the loss of his younger brother. Also friends probably. We’re not given any real reasons for The Major to crawl out of that final battle, put his fists on his hips and say ‘Sweet. I’m gonna abandon my old life!’ Admittedly the backstory of The Major is very light in the anime adaption, but that lightness also paints a lack of past tragedy.

The rules of ‘show don’t tell’ and ‘write the story about the most interest point in the character’s life’ also implies that which is not depicted is not interesting.

Thus, The Major should be dead and should stay dead.

Which concludes my… review of a single character…

Let’s talk about the show proper.

Much like Isle of Dogs, it ticks off a few items on my favorite things list, but more of the narrative devices.

It’s a series of vignettes with a reoccuring protagonist acting as bridge, set in a light fantasy world that is much closer to modern day than is traditional, and has major emphasis on writing as a narrative device. And alsi fantasy prosthetics, a fondness that will go unexamined today!

Also, one of the other Auto-memory Dolls wears glasses.

It’s produced by Kyoto Animation, which I think is tying with Studio BONES for my favorite studio (based solely on the works they produce), which is a major plus.

The individual episodes are very character-driven, including one about a playwright that made me really want to get back into writing plays myself.[10]

Most episodes explore Violet from the perspective of the episode’s client, while offering some world building. Episodes one and two, as a pair, exist to introduce Violet and the world, and thus don’t have much for Hodgins (who gets his development through the rest of the series) and Erica (who doesn’t actually get much besides explaining the origins of typewriters and the term ‘Auto Memory Doll’).

Episode three is when the series rolls up its sleeves and says “Ah, we’re learning what it means to feel emotions? Get ready to choke!” and sends Violet to school, where everyone’s soul goes to die!

While trying to earn a coveted accreditation, Violet meets Luculia, who lost both her parents in the war while her brother returned home with an injured leg and a chip on his shoulder. During the course, Violet shows she can get the practical skills down easily enough, but when it comes to putting any actual soul into her letters, she turns in only tense reports.

Luculia graduates top of the class while Violet does not. Still, Luculia has decided she’s friends with Silver Arms, and sets to help Violet do better. Luculia’s attempts fail, and instead the two have a short heart to heart. Luculia’s brother has fallen to drink and hasn’t come to terms with coming home from war to find his parents gone, and Luculia doesn’t know how to tell him that it’s nice that they still have one another.

Violet takes that in, writes a letter for the brother, and repairs the relationship! Yay!

But that’s the formula. Everyone knows those beats! Got to earn the heart-wrench.

Episode four, Violet escorts her co-worker Iris back to Iris’s hometown for a surprise birthday party. Iris isn’t happy about this turn around, due to a rejection of her feelings and her parents not really supporting her life path.

Again, Violet writes a letter, makes everyone feel better. As you do.

But we also learn the origins of names: Iris got hers from the flowers blooming when she was born, and Violet… got hers at the training center when The Major awkwardly realized Violet didn’t have a name. Thus strengthening the parent/child relationship of The Major and Violet and they better not make this gross, I swear!

Then we reach the royal engagement. I mostly discussed that in the relationship dissertation, but episode five is a strong examination of making a relationship work, despite distance, age, obligations, and other fragile matters. The episode also gently nods to the fragile state the continent’s in after the war, with dissidents to the results of the war still out there, waiting to take center stage.

Episode six is fine. It is. Massive library, Violet meets a reclusive nerd scared to follow the path of his parents. Reclusive nerd crushes on Violet. Violet is ignorant of his feelings because of course, and she accidentally inspires him to change jobs from researcher to Action Archivist! Roaming the world searching for lost texts! Good world building, not heavy on the emotions.

And so we come to Episode Seven: probably the closest I’ve arrived at crying in years.[11]

Violet is hired to transcribe a famous playwright’s newest play. He’d been out of the public eye for a while, but he’s much lauded. However, his house is a mess, he’s slow to get the work started with Violet, using her as a maid for a bit and inspiring her to try cooking.[12]

Anyways, Oscar Webster is writing a children’s play. His first, I believe.  Which is a dead give away for his emotional problems.  Still, the snippets we get really showcase the creative writing process and hit me with nostalgia for the Theater for Young Audience class I took once, and the child’s theater summer camp I worked for.

Then we get flashbacks to Oscar and his daughter moving into a new place after his wife’s passing,[13] then watching his daughter progress through what is one hundred percent cancer as we get the snippets of what inspires the play.

And Violet meets him living alone in his ill kept house.

Which is where I’m ending my summary.

Violet Evergarden is a good anime. Beautiful visuals, distinct characters, strong world building, and amazing writing.

Go watch it now.

Though, on your way over, consider supporting my Patreon. Then, after you watch all of Violet Evergarden, come talk to me about it. And maybe check out the other things I’ve written and drawn and otherwise created. Especially since I’ve decided I’ve procrastinated long enough on a certain project.[14]

After all, August 1st is coming. Sounds like a good day to go camping and/or catch a wave.

Kataal kataal.

[1] Often strong ones! [2] A specific variant of the Fish out of Water trope that, unfortunately, TV Tropes doesn’t seem to have an entry for, as it hasn’t been applied to Violet.[3] [3] Wait, found a video essay. “Born Sexy Yesterday”. Which, admittedly, examines the trope’s problemsome aspects, but,eh, I stand by its strengths. [4] This is why Starfire is the best character on Teen Titans. fight me. [5] I keep meaning to use it myself, but the concept I have would spoil a major setting secret for my current project. [6] A scribe with a typewriter. Anime has an ability to give fanciful names to things at a level I hope someday to emulate. [7] Why she did it during the flashback when The Major got her the broach is anyone’s guess. Maybe it relates to that anecdote about a kid eating a letter from Maurice Sendak. [8] Named for a manga that was apparently pretty cute until it suddenly really wasn’t. At all. I haven’t read it, but reputations do flourish. [9] The light novel isn’t as ambiguous, but I won’t spoil it. Also, totally looking forward to picking it up once it gets translated. [10] I guess I do have that play about tabletop rpgs that needs another draft with a better plot… [11] Since I came downstairs after bedtime at exactly the wrong time of a medical drama show. Was like, four or five. Saw a man coughing up blood. Good times. Before my soul froze up and withered to the merry husk I have now. [12] I really like seeing cooking used as a narrative device. [13] Moving after a spouse dies is a very sad and subtle trope. [14] Though a Three Leaves, Three Colors review may pop up first. It’s the current bedtime anime.

[lesbianreginageorge]

if supergirl was smart or as woke as they thought they are then they could have easily had one of the best seasons in TV history (warning this is a long ass post but i loved writing it)

imagine this:

they’ve set up an alien infiltration, which feels like it could be a certain alien race searching for world alien domination (that shapeshifter who’s disguised as the president) — but obviously kara + crew don’t know that, only the audience does.

mon-el is in the pod. doesn’t wake up until wayyy later. so ignore him right now.

so, now imagine mimicking reality rn — the government is awful and we see it coming from a state level at first. national city’s governor is this huge fucking asshole who starts declaring anti-alien rights and so there’s rumors brewing (and here’s where we introduce maggie, and she becomes this link to the alien demographic in a time where alien hatecrime is rising but so is anti-human crime. it’s slowly becoming a war, but maggie stays set that aliens are refugees and they’re here after planets getting destroyed, this is maggie/alex angst bc alex despite knowing good aliens, is still reeling off alien takeover/distrust from astra, etc. but then the closer she gets to maggie, the closer she starts to realize her own prejudice)

now, cat grant leaves. what kara doesn’t know, is that cat grant got a tip from someone in DC that there’s been alien infiltration and she doesn’t tell kara or supergirl bc cat knows that kara can be a little reckless. but she does entrust james with the company and lets HIM know what she’s “diving” for. but also because she does care about kara, she tells james to keep an eye on her and supergirl and tells james she knows, but for the sake of dramatics, let’s kara pretend she doesn’t. and she tells james that when they’re ready to attack, she’ll get supergirl’s help. but “somethings only human can do, james. somethings don’t require super strength, just a desire for the truth and a big heart.”

so she’s in DC trying to discover this gigantic alien infiltration that is presumedly going on underground, and so we do still get glimpses of her in newspaper titles. like, cat grant lands in DC. potential entry into politics? and so she does, she gets involved in government but WE know. and so does james. and that’s james “guardian” secret in an essence, you feel me? he’s keeping that away from kara, and that becomes his new storyline. 

back to national city, the rise of a new governor who got elected entirely through anti-alien rhetoric. (he’s our trump character) but it sets the mood for the season. where season 1 was appreciative of aliens (the city liking kara) this season, the city isn’t turning on supergirl (bc of course people are dumb and they like what supports them) but they’re very much starting to hate aliens, and kara does feel it. but she doesn’t know how to stop it.

now james again, cat grant is sending him information about plausible alien infiltration at the state level in smaller states where (they’ll make the joke bc season 1 cbs didn’t care lmao) rednecks run wild and group think is big and stupid, so alabama, mississippi, tennessee etc... but then she says national city. so james starts disappearing a little bit from on screen, but not while becoming “national city’s guardian” and voice of reason. 

for every anti-alien rhetoric that this governor throws out, james and kara introduce alien support. and they starts it by running an article on kara’s journey, reaches out to people by showing her pain. very emphatic. (and james and kara work so cutely together in this, there’s scenes of them at home looking up funny alien conspiracy sites and kara’s telling james about the aliens she did meet, and they’re sort of handpicking aliens to profile and feature on the article. james takes pictures and kara writes them hehe)

second article, j’onn, and he talks about his life and what similarities they hold to american culture (aka valentine’s day) on mars and what he does now as a “human.” so james is helping build empathy and understanding. then we get m’gann who (tbh to be honest i want as a love interst for j’onn i dont care sorry only straights i want after kara/james) talks about overcoming her government and finding j’onn on america and love. and starting a new life in a world they find safe now, together. 

they can keep the cadmus storyline, too. we’ll work that into the storyline bc if lex is anything to go by, we can say his mother had very similar attributes too. she may hate aliens, but if it means that she can get a throne when the world is taken over, then who cares if she’s working with aliens. plus, she’s been told by the alien president person that she can dissect aliens and thus she’s making alien weapons to use against humans.

so this is kara centric obviously, we’ll see kara doing what she always does. fighting aliens with the help of the DEO and winn now. and it’s just her bc she’s fucking supergirl she doesn’t need no fuckign superboy or even a guardian (love u james, clearly but)

and then we get lena. and her storyline stays very similar to the show, because she’s a GOOD PERSON. and if y’all want to add some love interest to kara, then cool we’ll do that too. but i want some more action and i want kara to bring lena in to introduce to everyone, and so when she does that shit to save all of them at the party, james gears in his head start turning and she knows she wants to get her to help but not yet....... 

so where’s mon-el, you guys ask? well ideally he would be dead but if we have to use him ok we’ll start maybe around episode 13. james gets a REAL fat tip from someone about possible alien activity in city council. (they’re meeting at someone’s house in the outskirts of national city.) 

this is where we get the james/winn team up. james is a little scared, bc duh he’s a fucking HUMAN and not stupid to think he can go up against aliens lol. and asks winn if he can help him with some drones and maybe get him some more protective outerwear if he does face anything. and maybe a gun, bc who doesn’t want a gun? so winn starts doing his techy stuff, and builds james a lesser guardian suit (nothing too dramatic, more stealth) and together they go out into this pinpointed location and set up cameras/infiltrate the base and that’s when james sees it:

mon-el’s big ass fucking mug on the wall where cadmus/alien government infiltration thing are meeting (look i’m not a screenplay writer so my description is lame but y’all get where this is kinda going. imagine like a stalker having a wall of people up, and mon-el’s face is in the middle.) and then in red print is DAXAM PRINCE. 

so now winn/james/and cat are talking and scrambling together to meet up but cat says she hasn’t gotten sufficient info yet to stage anything with the DEO. but she can 100% admit that there are ALIENS walking among us (and winn snorts bc lol duh) and cat gives them a glare through webcam and she tells james to tell kara who mon-el is and that he got a scoop about alien infiltration in national city’s government, but not about DC yet. and that she’s got something brewing...

so mon-el still isn’t awake but kara’s telling all this shit about how daxam is a hedonistic country and how they were awful, and they were old krypton settlers and blah blah. so she calls in clark for some help about getting him out of his coma and what not. and so clark isn’t too much of a big entity just sort of smartly helps alex and eliza bring him out of his dormant stage. so mon-el attacks clark instead of kara bc we don’t support abuse out in this country and kara gets to train him but it’s not that important. lmao

he becomes a new comedic relief, and him and kara do bond a little bit about being from dead lands and he talks about how he was a prince but he hated it and he sucked at it blah blah. and when he says he doesn’t want to be a hero because he doesn’t know, kara lets him go because kara isn’t going to force anyone into doing something they don’t want to. but kara takes care of him and shows him about earth and we get the headcanon that someone said here that every week mon-el has a new job. and he’s not important to the plot YET. but we start getting inklings of how important he was, because people will bow down to him at the bar.... so hm... and he does date eve and they’re a cute little annoying couple

then KARA and alex and maggie check out this secret house out in the outskirts and boom boom they find alien fucking weaponry and they see that they’ve been stalking out aliens and taken them to cadmus, so they ask LENA for some help in dismantling the weaponry and she and winn work together to find the coordinates of cadmus.

 and they do, but then mon-el gets kidnapped and so everyone is working together to really get him out of cadmus and they do. w/e i’m emitting details but when kara gets to mon-el he points something out like “there was a lady here, kara. and she looks.. she looks like the lady you said was kind of like the queen of here??” 

and kara’s like ?? “you saw beyonce HERE?” and mon-el’s like “no!! i love beyonce i would know who SHE is anywhere, but no... the president, i think that’s what you called her.” 

and so kara’s first thought is CAT bc cat’s been dealing with the president a lot and i’m sorry for bringing this in too late, but there’s been “alien terrorists” attacks recently and that’s part of kara’s storyline is fighting off these aliens like in s1 when we see that, you know?

so she manages to rescue mon-el but not before getting CAUGHT and that’s when she meets lena’s mother and so she’s in this cell and everyone’s trying to rescue her but we start to see how STRONG aliens are. so there’s like this weird alien group fighting the DEO and then JEREMIAH saves her!!! and gets kara out!!!

so now we’re back at the DEO and kara is telling everyone what’s happening and she mentions lena’s mother and kara comforts lena and lena comes clean about knowing what her mother was up to but was scared of ratting her out bc it’s her mother and kara gives her a hug and says she understands what it means to feel disappointment about parents and tells her bout her mom. so we get a cute lena/kara bonding moment and then kara whizzes off to DC to see cat. 

and she lands on cat’s balcony and they have a nice little banter and then kara tells her what she knows about the alien infiltration and the president blah blah, very much like when kara told her about myriad. but cat sighs, sits down and tells her “i know.” and there’s a little bit of a fight and cat comes clean about everything, but doesn’t mention james bc she ain’t no SNITCH. about how she left bc she got hints and blah blah. and kara like is so MAD bc she put herself in DANGER!!!!!!!!!!! and they get through it bc duh kara knows who cat is and what she’s after, and so she asks what she knows and eventually cat says she misses national city, she misses her family and she misses.... “even that silly little, awfully dressed assistant kiera.”

and kara finally comes clean, but not without a scoff. and then cat just laughs and says I’ve always know, you silly little awfully dressed superhero.”

AND BOOM!!!!! KARA GETS A CALL ABOUT NATIONAL CITY BEING UNDER ATTACK AND SHE LOOKS AT CAT, LOOKS AT HER LIPS, BUT THIS IS A NO ROMANCE STORYLINE RN JUST EVERYONE GETS A LIL BIT OF KARA AND SHE GIVES CAT THE BIGGESTH UG EVER AND SAYS “I’ll come back... Cat.” AND SHE GOES AND NATIONAL CITY IS GETTING FUCKED UP BY ALIENS!!!!

and so humans are TERRIFIED and people are calling for anti-alien stuff again!! and aliens who aren’t the murderers are getting hurt and attacked and they’re getting mad!!!!!!! and it’s like a small war has broken out and the media is going crazy!!

but kara stops the attack with the help of lena’s super weapon (like imagine the dinner thing again) and james and winn come clean about knowing about cat and kara feels so betrayed but kara’s a generous person and she understands but she’s MAD AGAIN BC WHY IS VERYONE IN THE WORLD LYING

and i’ll give y’all some supercorp bonding, after everything kara says THANK YOU FOR HELPING and they bond about parents and kara brings lena donuts.

and look i’m running a little bit out of steam so i’ll just end it around here but point is

EVERYONE teams up to bring the end of the infiltration and expose the alien both via brute strength and the media. kara, james and cat speak to the humans via catco media about having hope and loving one another, including aliens.

and mon-el, kara and m’gann and j’onn talk to the aliens about overcoming prejudice not only with humans, but with each other (daxam vs krypton and mars)

and season 2 ends with a huge new years party, to signify the start of a new year. and EVERYONE is at kara’s house, and they’re toasting. and the big twist at the end (don’t worry i didn’t forget) is a BREAKING NEWS broadcast and jeremiah’s destroying the town as CYBORG SUPERMAN

ok there’s some plotholes but w/e still better than this season 2 lmao

[lauren-oliver]

Sundance Women in Film

This week brings about two hugely important events in our nation’s history: the transition of a new president into power and The Women’s March, a country-wide event organized largely in opposition to that new president and his attitudes toward women.

The Women’s March is a reflection, too, of solidarity, community, and strength. Once again, I fear that women will be called to do what they have done throughout history: build bridges across broken spaces of abuse and discrimination; knit community from the fragments of alienation; find hope in a landscape of opposition and difficulty.

And we will. Because, to quote from the fabulous television series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt--a celebration of strength, resilience, femininity, and the power of hope--females are strong as hell.

I am proud that I will be walking with my unbreakable females on Saturday at Sundance, and proud, too, that we will be premiering Before I Fall--a movie that celebrates female complexity and female friendship, starring four women, written by a woman, and directed by a woman--only a few hours later.

 And to further celebrate the kick-ass women who more than ever will need to be championed, I’d like to highlight some of the awesome films premiering at the festival that are written and/ or directed by women. Popular art has always been a critical place on which to write a narrative of social progression and, in certain cases, resistance. The movies below resist ideology in favor of exploration; they resist easy answers in favor of complex understanding; they resist the status quo in order to bring to life a future ideal. Here are some of the other films, premieres and otherwise, that are on my watch list: 

(Descriptions from Sundance.org)

BEFORE I FALL (Sorry, had to put it first!!)

Directed by Ry Russo

Premieres

“Sam is one lucky teenager. She’s beautiful, rich, and popular, with the hottest boyfriend and the most loyal friends. But she and her posse can be cruel and heartless; since elementary school they’ve relentlessly bullied one of their classmates. On Friday, February 12th, driving home from a party, Sam is in a dramatic car crash. She should be dead, but wakes the next morning to find the date hasn’t changed. In a Groundhog Day–like time loop, Sam must unravel the mystery of why the last day of her life keeps repeating again and again. Along the way she realizes that every little deed has a consequence, and every action can change another person’s future.

Based on the bestselling young adult novel, Before I Fall features a fluid, riveting performance by Zoey Deutsch as Sam—a girl learning to disentangle her values from high school’s rigid social strictures to discover her true self. Director Ry Russo-Young smartly and lushly layers high school drama with chilly noir and suspense genres to deliver a thrilling, profoundly moving ride.”

BAND AID

Written & Directed by Zoe Lister-Jones

U.S. Dramatic Competition

2016 Women In Film Finishing Fund Grantee

“Married couple Anna and Ben fight constantly. It doesn’t help that they’ve each come to a standstill in their careers, or that, together, they’ve suffered a heartbreak neither wants to face. But one day they come up with a brilliant idea they actually agree on: Why not start a band and use their arguments as songwriting inspiration? Almost as soon as they dig out their old electric guitars from the garage, their musical partnership starts to jell, but it soon becomes apparent this is only a temporary distraction from their real problems.

Debut feature director Zoe Lister-Jones, who also writes and stars in Band Aid, offers an honest, intelligent, and hilarious perspective on modern relationships. Carefully observed and cleverly conceived, the film hinges on the undeniable chemistry between Adam Pally and Lister-Jones—not to mention they make a delightful indie pop duo (along with Fred Armisen on drums). Together they create a moving and comedic portrayal of a couple in denial of their pain, and who have to heal separately in order to move forward.”

THE POLKA KING

Written & Directed by Maya Forbes

Premieres

“This exuberant tragicomedy recounts the remarkable but true story of the rise and fall of Polish ��migré Jan Lewan (Jack Black), from striving tchotchke shop owner in the ’70s to the undisputed “King of Pennsylvania Polka” in the early ’90s. Lewan pursued the American Dream by any means necessary, fleecing investors and bribing officials to build a personal musical empire in what became the world’s only known Polka Ponzi scheme. Swept up by Lewan’s charismatic charm are his devoted wife, Marla (Jenny Slate), and his neurotic sidekick, Mickey (Jason Schwartzman).

Co-writers and directors Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky, who previously teamed up for Infinitely Polar Bear (2014 Sundance Film Festival), infuse The Polka King with an infectious energy and fill the frame with kitschy period detail, taking us through two accordion-fueled decades of grift and glory. Throughout, producer/star Black breathes life into the eccentric Lewan, finding pathos beneath his cockeyed optimism and showbiz hustle.”

THE BIG SICK

Written by Emily V. Gordon

Premieres

“Based on the true story of the film’s writers (and real-life couple), Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, this modern culture clash shows how Pakistan-born Kumail and his American girlfriend, Emily, have to overcome the expectations of his family and their 1,400-year-old traditions. As his parents relentlessly set him up with potential brides for an arranged marriage, Kumail navigates treacherous waters in the worlds of both dating and stand-up comedy.

Produced by Judd Apatow, The Big Sick features a sterling collection of comedy talent in front of and behind the camera. Having acted in numerous previous Sundance Film Festival selections, Michael Showalter returns this time as a director with a hilariously insightful film that shrewdly puts the spotlight on its writer/star Kumail Nanjiani (HBO’s Silicon Valley). A revered comedian, Nanjiani shines in the lead role, bringing his singular voice to center stage. Mining his personal stories for comedy gold, he shares his experiences that are uniquely Pakistani but will resonate for everyone who has ever fallen in love.”

DOCUMENTARIES

WINNIE

Directed by Pascale Lamche

World Documentary Competition

“Supremely controversial, Winnie Mandela has been labeled a woman condemned for her radical role in the liberation of her South African people under apartheid. While her husband, Nelson Mandela, remained securely jailed for 27 years, Winnie brushed the patriarchy aside to fight on the front line and take uncompromising steps to inspire an uprising. While Nelson was remembered as a hero, Winnie was demonized in the global media.

Filmmaker Pascale Lamche paints a complex portrait of Winnie Mandela: the woman, the paradox, both exalted and villainized in the eyes of history. Using rich, unseen archival footage and interviews with intimate comrades, Lamche unravels the tale of cause and effect by which Winnie was taken down.

Loved by South African people for her grace and unflinching leadership, Winnie Mandela is situated at the center of her own narrative by Lamche in this groundbreaking film which asks us to question how—and why—history has intimidated and silenced women because of their political power.”

 WHOSE STREETS?

By Sabaah Folayan

U.S. Documentary Competition

“Told by the activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising. When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the residents of St. Louis, Missouri. Grief, long-standing racial tensions and renewed anger bring residents together to hold vigil and protest this latest tragedy.

Empowered parents, artists, and teachers from around the country come together as freedom fighters. As the national guard descends on Ferguson with military grade weaponry, these young community members become the torchbearers of a new resistance.

Filmmakers Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis know this story because they are the story. Whose Streets? is a powerful battle cry from a generation fighting, not for their civil rights, but for the right to live.”

TRUMPED

Directed by Mary Robertson

Documentary Premieres

In a behind-the-scenes look at the biggest political upset in recent history, Mark Halperin, John Heilemann, and Mark McKinnon offer unprecedented access and never-before-seen footage of candidate Trump, from the primaries through the debates to the dawning realization that the controversial businessman will become the 45th President of the United States.

 FUN MOM DINNER

Directed by Alethea Jones ; Written by Julie Rudd

Premieres

“At some point, Emily stopped being “Emily”—high-powered lawyer, strong woman, sexual being—and became, simply, “Mom.” It’s like, her kids and husband are great, but there’s got to be more to life than diapers, playdates, and fingerpaint, right? RIGHT?!?

When some of the other moms at school propose a Chardonnay-soaked night out, Emily is IN. She even drags her reluctant friend Kate along for the ride. But what starts as gossip and tapas quickly turns into a night that these ladies will never forget (even though they’re all super duper high).

Deftly infusing zany hijinks with real feeling, director Alethea Jones and writer Julie Rudd deliver a riotous comedy that spares no rods and spoils no children. The titular moms (Katie Aselton, Toni Collette, Molly Shannon, and Bridget Everett) make a truly formidable ensemble, dispensing dick jokes and tearful revelations with equal aplomb. Together, they prove that “mom” is more than a dirty word—it’s a badge of honor.”

THIS IS EVERYTHING

Directed by Barbara Kopple

Documentary Premieres

“In 2008, Gregory Lazzarato, a young, nationally ranked Canadian diver, walked away from the pool and began a YouTube channel focused on makeup tutorials. Unwilling to be intimidated by bullies either online or in high school, Lazzarato became the fierce, outspoken Gregory Gorgeous, amassing a loyal following who found strength and inspiration from his public coming out as a gay male.

Despite this success, the internet personality harbored a secret—one that was revealed in a December 2013 video titled “”I Am Transgender.”” Motivated by the death of her mother, the YouTube star took on the new name Gigi Gorgeous. Gigi, supported by her loving father and brothers, offers a candid look at her transition, sharing its hallmarks online with her legion of fans as she embraces a new world of possibilities.

In capturing Gigi’s moving transformation, two-time Academy Award–winning director Barbara Kopple (Harlan County U.S.A., 1976; American Dream, 1990) puts a spotlight on her subject’s uplifting, empowering message of self-acceptance, as Gigi blossoms into a self-assured, happy—and, yes, gorgeous—young woman.”

[truemedian]

Quarantine is a weirdly good time for animation

The creators of the surreal animated series Tooning Out the News had Rudy Guiliani on the show multiple times during their first week on air. They also had a six-year-old hang up on the former New York City mayor. Like many people around the world, the people behind Tooning Out the News are working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. For RJ Fried, that involved turning an iPad over to his young son while the showrunner sat in his bedroom, calling Guiliani every hour to see if he’d pick up, computer at the ready to record on short notice. What he didn’t realize was that, through the vagaries of the cloud, Guiliani’s calls were being routed to the iPad his son was using, and that his son had hung up on him (and also Stephen Colbert).“I tried to explain the enormity of hanging up on the attorney of the president, who the president was, that this was his good friend,” Fried says. The explanation didn’t really take—his son just became convinced that he himself was now famous—but for Fried, the story has become emblematic of his bizarre-yet-productive time in quarantine.Were Tooning Out the News a live-action series, neither the gaffes nor the triumph of luring Guilani onto the show in the first place would have been possible. It’s basically impossible to film a conventional television program while social distancing, which is why so many have paused production. Animated shows, however, from newcomers like CBS’ Tooning Out the News and Hulu’s Solar Opposites to veterans like The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, Big Mouth, and Family Guy, along with Hollywood animation studios like Paramount, have been able to keep working, largely thanks to innovative technological workarounds. “All of us feel incredibly fortunate that we’re in this industry at this time,” Fried says.Of course, the animated shows you’re watching now weren’t built for quarantine, not even shows like Tooning Out the News and Solar Opposites which have premiered during the quarantine period. Solar Opposites, a sitcom about aliens from Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, was largely finished before lockdown went into effect. Tooning Out the News, however, had to change strategies abruptly when they were told they’d no longer be able to work in the studio they’d built inside the Ed Sullivan Theater equipped for motion capture and high-speed, fast-turnaround animation. “Now we have this virtual animation studio that exists somewhere in the atmosphere,” Fried says.Nobody’s virtual animation studio is running seamlessly. Fried and others have noted that one of the toughest challenges to overcome is also one of the most mundane: large file sizes. Studios are experimenting with ways to boost remote staffers’ internet connections and further compress files, but Fried says that they’ve also worked to simplify characters and backgrounds as much as possible, and accept that sometimes, file transfer is just going to be glacial. Tooning has added an extra hour onto their day just to allow for it. “We’re working a 20-hour day, minimum,” Fried says. “It’s super fun.” The other major difficulty beyond computing power is one anyone working remote should be familiar with: Zoom-induced awkwardness. While shows like Big Mouth have found comedic success doing virtual table reads and video conferencing is better than nothing, there’s no denying that it’s harder to create chemistry through a screen.Still, going virtual has also afforded animated shows with new opportunities. The relative speed of voiceover work has always been a benefit for actors, but now voiceovers can be done not just quickly, but without leaving one’s home. “There are a lot of newsmakers sitting at home who can, by pressing a button, hop on and do a live interview with us,” Fried says. “We can get guests from anywhere. We can take talent from anywhere in the world as long as they have a good internet connection, and a lot of people are looking for work right now because live-action shows have pressed pause.” Previously, Tooning Out the News had been largely limited to New York-based guests and staff who could come to the Ed Sullivan Theater on short notice. For some people, this could be a career-making proof of concept that helps geographically democratize an industry usually clustered tight in two coastal cities.Quarantine has also been the perfect testing ground for new animation experiments that shows were already working towards. This Friday, Twitter hosted a live-animated Solar Opposites Q&A as part of the show’s promotional rollout, a first for the platform. On the same day, Tooning Out the News aired its second-ever live-animated show. According to a Hulu spokesperson, the Solar Opposites Q&A was barely even impacted by the limitations of social distancing, apart from having the voice actors recording from home. “End of the day, we don't ever have a lot of time to interrogate what we do. It's like a late-night show,” Fried says of Tooning. “I can’t imagine the lawyers love it, but live animation is the next frontier.” It doesn’t seem to matter much that the people marching out to settle that frontier are virtual.More Great WIRED StoriesThe info war over chloroquine has slowed Covid-19 scienceThe rise of a Hindu vigilante in the age of WhatsApp and ModiNewly unemployed, and labeling photos for penniesSci-Fi has a somber lesson for this crisisThe pandemic could be an opportunity to remake cities👁 AI uncovers a potential Covid-19 treatment. Plus: Get the latest AI news📱 Torn between the latest phones? Never fear—check out our iPhone buying guide and favorite Android phones Read More Read the full article

[robgrayofficial]

HAPPY SATURDAY CENTIPEDES 🐛💖🐛💖🐛💖🐛I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful afternoon! It's your girl /u/Ivaginaryfriend back at it again with another DANK Presidential recap!So sit back, relax, and let us BASK IN THE GLORY OF THIS TRANSPARENT ADMINISTRATION TOGETHER!!!As always, if you happened to miss any past recaps you can catch those at this link here!Sunday, April 29th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Proclaims April 29 through May 5, 2018, as Small Business Week🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Join me LIVE in Washington, Michigan at 7:00pmE on @FoxNews! #MAGAGreat evening last night in Washington, Michigan. The enthusiasm, knowledge and love in that room was unreal. To the many thousands of people who couldn’t get in, I cherish you....and will be back!While Washington, Michigan, was a big success, Washington, D.C., just didn’t work. Everyone is talking about the fact that the White House Correspondents Dinner was a very big, boring bust...the so-called comedian really “bombed.” @greggutfeld should host next year! @PeteHegsethJust got recent Poll - much higher than President O at same time....Well, much more has been accomplished!“Trump’s Triumphs are driving his critics Crazy!” Thank you Steve Hilton @NextRevFNC, just want to do what is right for our wonderful U.S.A.The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a failure last year, but this year was an embarrassment to everyone associated with it. The filthy ���comedian” totally bombed (couldn’t even deliver her lines-much like the Seth Meyers weak performance). Put Dinner to rest, or start over!Headline: “Kim Prepared to Cede Nuclear Weapons if U.S. Pledges Not to Invade” - from the Failing New York Times. Also, will shut down Nuclear Test Site in May.SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Trump Brings Up North Korea — The Audience Erupts In Chants Of ‘Nobel! Nobel!’Kanye West Hanging Out With Candace Owens Today!Watch "ILLEGALS CLIMB THE FENCE ON BORDER TAUNT US OFFICIALS"THIS IS CNN: Hiring of Suspected Leaker Clapper Raises Ethical Questions | Do paid analysts Brennan and Clapper still have access to top intelligence?🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Presented without commentWe know she lingers amongst us. Let’s show the face of the Trump Train some well deserved appreciation. Thank You SHB for representing us with poise and dignity in the midst of rats and weasels!“Mediocre white boy”Monday, April 30th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Meets with President Buhari of the Federal Republic of NigeriaPresident Trump Hosts a Joint Press Conference with President BuhariPresident Trump Welcomes Chancellor Merkel of Germany to the White HouseBring Your Kids to Work Day 2018Bring Your Kids to Work Day Press Briefing 2018President Donald J. Trump Proclaims May 2018 as Jewish American Heritage MonthPresident Donald J. Trump Proclaims May 1, 2018, as Law Day, U.S.A.Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Energy🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is DEAD as we know it. This was a total disaster and an embarrassment to our great Country and all that it stands for. FAKE NEWS is alive and well and beautifully represented on Saturday night!Numerous countries are being considered for the MEETING, but would Peace House/Freedom House, on the Border of North & South Korea, be a more Representative, Important and Lasting site than a third party country? Just asking!I recently had a terrific meeting with a bipartisan group of freshman lawmakers who feel very strongly in favor of Congressional term limits. I gave them my full support and endorsement for their efforts. #DrainTheSwampThe migrant ‘caravan’ that is openly defying our border shows how weak & ineffective U.S. immigration laws are. Yet Democrats like Jon Tester continue to support the open borders agenda – Tester even voted to protect Sanctuary Cities. We need lawmakers who will put America First.During Small Business Week, we celebrate the great, hard-working entrepreneurs across our country who have started and operate a small business!The Fake News is going crazy making up false stories and using only unnamed sources (who don’t exist). They are totally unhinged, and the great success of this Administration is making them do and say things that even they can’t believe they are saying. Truly bad people!The White House is running very smoothly despite phony Witch Hunts etc. There is great Energy and unending Stamina, both necessary to get things done. We are accomplishing the unthinkable and setting positive records while doing so! Fake News is going “bonkers!”SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Moon calls for trump to win Nobel PrizeRob Schneider on SNL: "Much late night comedy is less about being funny and more about Indoctrination by comedic imposition. People aren't really laughing at it as much as cheering on the rhetoric. It no longer resembles a comedy show, it's more like some kind of liberal Klan meeting"Boom: Netanyahu reveals verifiable proof Iran has lied and continued to build Nuclear program despite 2015 deal.🤣 🤣That's Right, Bitches!!! DOJ files charges against 11 'caravan' members for illegal border crossing🤣🤣IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME! John McCain: I’m retiring — so now I can speak my mindDems losing support from Millennials, Poll shows🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Kanye still red pilling. Tweets: "republicans were the ones helping black people. Democrats protected the rights of the slave owners"This week, our President made major progress towards wiping a fanatic, tyrannical regime supported by lies and propaganda off the face of the Earth. If he does nothing else, he has advanced humanity just by this one act.Was looking at pics of the invading caravan when I noticed.... Can someone explain to me why we need to grant asylum and inevitable lifetime financial support to a “refugee” with a newer model iPhone than me?Tuesday, May 1st:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Welcomes the President of NigeriaPresident Trump Presents the Commander in Chief Trophy to the U.S. Military Academy Football TeamPresident Trump Presents the Commander in Chief Trophy to the U.S. Military Academy Football TeamPresident Trump Welcomes the Crew and Passengers of Southwest Airlines Flight 1380🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were “leaked” to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see...you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!Delegation heading to China to begin talks on the Massive Trade Deficit that has been created with our Country. Very much like North Korea, this should have been fixed years ago, not now. Same with other countries and NAFTA...but it will all get done. Great Potential for USA!It would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened! Witch Hunt!Yesterday, it was my great honor to welcome President @MBuhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the @WhiteHouse!🇺🇸🇳🇬Today I had the great honor of awarding the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, for the first time in 21 years, to the @ArmyWP_Football Black Knights at the @WhiteHouse. Congratulations!Congratulations @ArmyWP_Football!Today, it was my great honor to thank and welcome heroic crew members and passengers of Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 at the @WhiteHouse!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Mystery donors ponied up $50M to keep phony dossier team at work well beyond electionThe DNC Wants A Refund From Hillary Clinton. Keeping the DNC in debt says a lot about the Clinton organization.Kanye West: More Outrage over Me Wearing a Trump Hat than Black-on-Black CrimeICE chief: Illegal Alien caravan stealing spots from deserving refugeesPRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:Press Beating🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:If you don't fight tooth and nail for what you have, you will be like Britain.The Left is losing their minds over Trump bringing peace to KoreaTruth to cultural powerRoseanne asking a good questionWednesday, May 2nd:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Participates in the Swearing-In Ceremony of the Secretary of StatePresident Trump Delivers Remarks at the Swearing-In Ceremony of the Secretary of StateSwearing-In Ceremony for the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American StatesPresident Trump Delivers Remarks at the National Teacher of the Year Reception🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup & trap). What there is is Negotiations going on with North Korea over Nuclear War, Negotiations going on with China over Trade Deficits, Negotiations on NAFTA, and much more. Witch Hunt!“The questions are an intrusion into the President’s Article 2 powers under the Constitution to fire any Executive Branch Employee...what the President was thinking is an outrageous.....as to the President’s unfettered power to fire anyone...” Joe Digenova, former US AttorneyNEW BOOK - A MUST READ! “The Russia Hoax - The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump” by the brilliant Fox News Legal Analyst Gregg Jarrett. A sad chapter for law enforcement. A rigged system!A Rigged System - They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress. What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal “justice?” At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!Congratulations @SecPompeo!I have been briefed on the U.S. C-130 “Hercules” cargo plane from the Puerto Rico National Guard that crashed near Savannah Hilton Head International Airport. Please join me in thoughts and prayers for the victims, their families and the great men and women of the National Guard.“This isn’t some game. You are screwing with the work of the president of the United States.” John Dowd, March 2018. With North Korea, China, the Middle East and so much more, there is not much time to be thinking about this, especially since there was no Russian “Collusion.”As everybody is aware, the past Administration has long been asking for three hostages to be released from a North Korean Labor camp, but to no avail. Stay tuned!Ainsley Earnhardt, a truly great person, just wrote a wonderful book, “The Light Within Me,” which is doing really well. She is very special and so is her new book...bring it to number one!Our great financial team is in China trying to negotiate a level playing field on trade! I look forward to being with President Xi in the not too distant future. We will always have a good (great) relationship!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:North Korea releases U.S. detainees, bows to another Trump demand"18 House Republicans nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize"Paris Burns as May Day Protests Turn to Riots'Stand for the Second': Students across USA plan 16-minute walkout to back Second AmendmentNorth Korea starts pulling cables from tunnels at nuclear test siteBREAKING: NJ Teachers Union President Will “Bend the Truth,” Cover Up Child Abuse in Schools, Protects Drug-Using, Shoplifting Teachers🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Before and after joining the Democratic PartyDress Code or Being LazyNobody wants to hear about Australia again for the millionth timeGuys... it actually happened.Thursday, May 3rd:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Attends the National Day of PrayerNational Day of Prayer 2018Vice President Pence Participates in the Swearing-in Ceremony of the U.S. Ambassador to Germany🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are ... very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair, ... despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.Today, it was my great honor to celebrate the #NationalDayOfPrayer at the @WhiteHouse, in the Rose Garden! Proclamation: http://bit.ly/2KDL7A7 spring marks 4yrs since the Phoenix VA crisis. We won't forget what happened to our GREAT VETS. Choice is vital, but the program needs work & is running out of $. Congress must fix Choice Program by Memorial Day so VETS can get the care they deserve. I will sign immediately!#NationalDayOfPrayerSIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:11-Year-Old has the audacity to support his PresidentFOX Moves to Revive Tim Allen Comedy Series 'Last Man Standing' PEDES PLEASE SHOW SUPPORT: Tim Allen: "They heard all your voices people!! LMS just might be a reality. Keep it up."BREAKING: Feds tapped Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's phones... SHUT IT DOWNAdidas CEO Dismisses Calls to Drop Kanye WestPRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:Press Beating🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:[OC] LIBERALS IN A NUTSHELL4D CHESS: Kanye says "Don't tell me how to think becuase my skin is a certain color" then white liberals, tell him how to think because of his skin color. Black community see this obvious racism and liberal anger backfires.“But muhh feelings!”"You have no idea how many african americans and minorities really support Donald J. Trump."Friday, May 4th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Delivers Remarks Upon DeparturePresident Trump Makes a Statement Prior to Boarding AirForce OneVice President Pence Delivers Remarks at the National Riffle Association Leadership ForumPresident Trump Gives Remarks at the National Riffle Association Leadership Forum🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Our Southern Border is under siege. Congress must act now to change our weak and ineffective immigration laws. Must build a Wall. Mexico, which has a massive crime problem, is doing little to help!Because Jobs in the U.S. are doing so well, Americans receiving unemployment aid is the lowest since 1973. Great!Andy McCarthy will be on @LouDobbs tonight. 7:00 P.M. , @FoxBusiness.NBC NEWS is wrong again! They cite “sources” which are constantly wrong. Problem is, like so many others, the sources probably don’t exist, they are fabricated, fiction! NBC, my former home with the Apprentice, is now as bad as Fake News CNN. Sad!Going to Dallas (the GREAT State of Texas) today. Leaving soon!JUST OUT: 3.9% Unemployment. 4% is Broken! In the meantime, WITCH HUNT!All of us here today are united by the same timeless values. We believe that our liberty is a gift from our creator, and that no Government can ever take it away. We believe in the rule of law - and we support the men and women of law enforcement. We have pride in our history...Democrats and liberals in Congress want to disarm law-abiding Americans at the same time they are releasing dangerous criminal aliens and savage gang members onto our streets. Politicians who put criminal aliens before American Citizens should be voted out of office!We are going to demand Congress secure the border in the upcoming CR. Illegal immigration must end!I want to thank all of our friends and patriots at the @NRA. We will never fail, and we will always protect your Second Amendment! God Bless you, and God Bless America!Great book just out by very successful businessman @AndyPuzder. Always known as somebody who knows how to win, “Capitalist Comeback” will be a big hit!Just returned home to the beautiful White House, from Dallas, where the Arena was packed to the rafters with the great fans and supporters of the @NRA. It was so wonderful to be there!Our high level delegation is on the way back from China where they had long meetings with Chinese leaders and business representatives. We will be meeting tomorrow to determine the results, but it is hard for China in that they have become very spoiled with U.S. trade wins!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Over the last year, CNN’s ratings have dropped 30% while r/The_Donald has grown 50%. WHO’S RUNNING OUT OF STEAM?So much for “Mike Pence hates gay people.”John Kerry violates Logan Act in his effort to negotiate with Iran without authorization. Add another to the list of "Lock them up!"Unemployment Falls to 18 Year LowDonald Trump: Date and Place Set for Summit with Kim Jong-un🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Russia delusionHoly Shit this is spicy (and true)!They shut up quick about the DNC lawsuit, didn't they??Snoop Dogg loved Trump, until his master told him to hate Trump. Snoop Dogg is a weak little bitch. Don't be like Snoop Dogg.Saturday, May 5th:SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Russia investigation isn’t really about Trump, but giving cover to Obama and HillaryCiti: U.S. To Become World’s Top Oil ExporterWTF we hate employed people! Trump's nonsense is ruining America.U.S. CYBER COMMAND NOW OFFICIAL! “The next 10 years, will look significantly different from the last 10,” he said. “The Department of Defense will ensure our military is ready to fight and win against any adversary across any domain, dominating the cyber domain at the speed of relevance.”🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:President Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Diamond & Silk...what a FANTASTIC picture !!!Crooked Spotted Celebrating Sinkhole De Mayo!Intelligence foundPresented without comment.I have never seen Bill Clinton this angry.MAGIC WAND CONFIRMED!!!! We just NEVER stop winning!Of course, some tunes to help you go through all this winning!!Afternoon SoulGot The LoveGoldFeelin' FineOdyssey Pt. 1MAGA ON PATRIOTS! #robgray

[theliterateape]

American Shithole #0 — Introductions

by Eric Wilson

I am penning this introductory screed on a weekday afternoon with CNN squawking at me in the background. The White House press secretary, Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders — looking like a confused and punch-drunk prizefighter — has taken one too many left hooks from the press.

I have grown accustomed to this angry, misshapen science experiment from The Island of Doctor Moreau — today draped in blinding fluorescent magenta — as she answers a daily barrage of questions from incredulous journalists. This is day seven (eight?) of Shithole-Gate, and what Sanders and her team have come up with is that sometimes Donny uses tough language.

Thanks Mrs. S.

Shortly after, I watched Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, straight up commit a felony, by lying in her testimony to Congress (including Senator Dick Durbin, who was with her in the Oval Office), culminating with a fiery Senator Cory Booker taking the fibber to task. We don’t see that every day. We didn’t used to, anyway.

Also, lying to the American people to protect this president, who has repeatedly demonstrated that if the roles were reversed, he would joyfully throw just about anyone under the bus, will not end well for her. Jesus, it’s like that fucking scene out of The Omen.

Some porn star named Dusty Windows or something, was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about what I imagine to be the world’s worst sex that she has ever been paid to perform. This sex was with the president, by the way. News that would lead during anything other than the apocalypse.  

Later still, Senator Orrin Hatch (congressional lamppost and patient zero for the aforementioned coming zombie apocalypse), took off his imaginary pair of glasses.

Let me repeat that. A sitting U.S. Senator took off his fucking pair of imaginary glasses.

Then, White House medico and disturbingly enthusiastic space alien, Dr. Ronny Jackson (whose nickname in medical school I imagine to be “McDolty”) answered questions cheerfully for far too long about the president’s health — again, to an incredulous press corps that could barely keep straight faces.

This is only a handful of the stories developing in one afternoon, now any afternoon in America. Every fucking day we are inundated with this madness. For the past year, I wake up like far too many Americans: my bones hurt, the colors are drab, and without fail I’m mortified to load my news feed.

Anywhere other than Bizarre-O-World (or whatever alternate universe, fucked-up, 12 Monkeys-meets-Hee Haw nightmare timeline we’re stuck in) these kind of events would dominate the news cycle for months.

The shelf-life for a news story these days, even a bombshell, is 48 hours, 72 tops. Less if another, larger story breaks. And now one always does, jamming up my feed, keeping the assembly line of atrocity rolling along so fast, I often struggle to do anything but watch it all go by. At this rate, in a year I will be writing about something two days old, that has already been completely forgotten.

That’s where we’re at.

Here’s where I’m coming from:

The now long-defunct Rykodisc Bill Hicks Message Board, where I cut my teeth writing short, comedic posts back in the mid-90s, seems born of a different internet. One where opinions were discussed, even argued without calamity. We enjoyed a regular news cycle, where major political events were infrequent at best. The community felt insular and remote. It was an island of misfit toys that had little in common other than their love for Bill, where no one was paying much attention and everyone was having fun.

Cut to the internet today, where every sparrow-fart tweet from Kommandant Bonespur jackknifes across the now orange-tinged information superhighway, like some sort of intelligence-dampening 18-wheeler spilling out propaganda like so many soiled Depends.

Welcome to the adult diaper days of American democracy, where Idiocracy is starting to look more like wishful thinking.

We are experiencing the dog days of late-stage capitalism and potentially the end of the Rule of Law. Today, if allegations of misconduct are leveled, the casket for your career (if you even have one) or for your life’s value, is a one-size-fits-all affair where sexual transgression is binary, and due process is the real crime. A pat on the butt and child-fucking are indistinguishable and identifying their differences only outs you as an enemy of the movement.

Republicans have ushered in the billionaire cash-grab part deux — the second fleecing of the masses in as many decades. The filthy rich literally stole everything from every struggling American they could. Twice.

I cope the same way I always have. I make fun.

One of my first stories at the Hicks board back in 1996, was about farting myself awake on an Amtrak train. As you might imagine, it was a high-brow narrative describing in great detail the hours of entertainment that event provided for young Jeremy — an idiot-child sitting behind me — who proceeded to mercilessly ridicule me the entire trip, much to the delight of the other passengers. It was one of those pieces that wrote itself.

Today, that same story would likely be scanned for offensive material, regarded with scorn for including a negative portrayal of a very young, possibly borderline mentally retarded child, then summarily dismissed as juvenile, puerile word-garbage. Does it offend? Shame it. Does it not offend? Ignore it. America has an almost clinical distrust of comedy developing and it fucking pisses me off.

For the past 20 years, I have written stories; about my own misadventures, mostly. These predominantly self-deprecating, embarrassing tales that made my friends laugh (which is surely one of the best fucking feelings you could ever have) also became the template for my writing style.

This kind of humor — the personal, self-reflecting kind — is perhaps the only safe comedy left. You would think a smart person would stick with that, if that’s what they already do, especially in today’s political and social climate.

But not this dumb-fuck.

Instead, I have foolishly (bravely?) offered to write a column where I will tackle all manner of nightmarish behavior and dark deeds contributing to our American Shithole.

Don Hall has welcomed me into the Literate Ape fold, and I look forward to connecting with my Chicago roots. My thanks to Don. Many of my happiest moments are Windy City moments, so an opportunity to rekindle my love affair with a city that was once so good to me, is much appreciated. (Also, if you haven’t seen Don laughing as if Patton Oswalt were the cure for aging and bad backs, then you should check out Patton’s most recent Netflix special, Annihilation. Don’s the one in the front row, center, reacting like a comedian’s wet fucking dream.)

I fully understand I am signing up for something that will likely offer as a return, many self-righteous kicks to my junk, public shaming, little remuneration and probably additional junk punches for a closer. For example, I am sure I will rue the day I write about Al Franken, but you know, fuck it, I’m definitely going to write about Franken.

Of course, at the breakneck speed this country is barreling toward an inescapable permanent shithole event horizon, perhaps that article will be met with an “Al who?”   

I also intend to find some humor winding its way through this cacophonous din of greed, stupidity, cruelty, misconduct, abuse and suffering. Not in a dismissive manner, nor needlessly derisive, or overly critical. I hope I have provided, but you know, pilot episodes are a bitch.

In an effort to facilitate, I have doubled my THC, CBD and TMZ intake, as well as my TLC personal happy time regimen.

A bit more about the author My language can be offensive, but my ideals are rooted in Scandinavian-grade socialism, and that means I’m nice, goddamn it. My core tenet is to always begin from a place of empathy. I fail miserably at this, because too many people are dicks. I am an off-the-scale leftist by American standards, a moderate liberal by Canadian, and a fairly typical middle-aged Chicagoan — if we are judging the city by my friends who still happen live there. I like dogs, funny people, the Clash and sobbing uncontrollably to Pixar films.

Mission Statement American Shithole promises to at least occasionally make you laugh like a middle-aged doofus sitting front row at a Patton Oswalt show. OK, not that hard. American Shithole also promises to stop with the third-person bullshit real fucking quick, just give American Shithole a fucking second. Finally, American Shithole promises to reserve the most vicious critique for the creator of American Shithole — that wanker.

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

How Smashville was born (and died, and lived again) in Nashville

NASHVILLE – It’s on the hats and the shirts. It’s on the banners that hang around the arena. It’s the nickname that encapsulates the jubilant mania that exists around Nashville Predators home games, and the community of fans that have crowded their bandwagon for the last several years.

It’s one word: SMASHVILLE.

And it’s everywhere.

“It’s amazing to come back here and see everything. Although my first thought was, ‘why didn’t I copyright this?’” said Tom Ward, with a laugh.

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Ward was the executive vice president of business operations for the Predators when the franchise was born in 1997. He was there when Smashville was born, and he helped deliver it. Twenty years later, it’s come to define a team that’s redefining what a hockey town looks like.

Which is to say that Smashville has come a long way from Ward trying to sell a team that barely existed, without a name or a mascot or players, to a market that approached hockey like an alien concept.

***

There was a moment around 1997 when Ward realized how difficult this sales job was going to be – thanks to David Letterman.

“The Late Show” was on Ward’s television in his apartment, and Dave had been informed that Nashville was getting an NHL team. “Letterman’s like, ‘you’re kidding? Hockey in the deep south? They don’t know anything about ice unless it’s what they’re putting in their sweet iced tea,’” recalled Ward.

“But the punchline was that Letterman says, ‘That’ll be the only arena in the country where the fans have less teeth than the players.’”

(rim shot)

“I’m like, ‘oh my god,’” recalled Ward. “We’re getting humiliated on national television, and we don’t even have any players yet!”

Ward arrived in Nashville from the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA. The task at hand was an arduous one, and there wasn’t a moment to lose. “We had to get this thing up and running because we had to sell 12,000 season tickets. The team was a conditional franchise, like Atlanta and Minnesota at the time. We had about six months to really sell the 12,000 tickets to become a full-fledged franchise,” he said.

The expedited schedule for the hockey team was due to the fact that the Houston Oilers were relocating to become the Tennessee Titans, and they wanted to get a jump in the market.

So Ward and the team’s executives had to figure out, fast, how to sell a sports team that didn’t really have anything to sell. “We had no name, no logo, no players, no nothing,” he said.

What he did have was Nashville, which provided everything his team currently didn’t possess – marketable faces, from the city’s country music scene.

So the team decided to ask some of the biggest names in country music to sell hockey to their fans through a series of print ads ad billboards. “We got folks like Garth Brooks and Martina McBride, and Vince Gill and Laurie Morgan to really be the faces of the franchise when we had no players,” he said.

There was one condition: The team wanted them to black out their teeth in the print ads, to create a “hockey smile.” It was going to be a comedic spin on the “Got Milk?” ads, as someone like Amy Grant would smile with a gap-tooth grin next to the words “Got Tickets?”

They obliged.

“Suddenly, one of them does it, and we’re in USA Today and Sports Illustrated and everywhere else,” said Ward. “They all agreed to do it with getting any money for it. That’s how the country music community really embraced this team today.”

It’s also where the seeds for SMASHVILLE were planted.

“It’s always going to be Music City, but Music City and Smashville are actually joined at the hip thanks to our early marketing,” said Ward.

With the franchise secured thanks to season-ticket sales, the task turned to marketing the Nashville Predators to the community.

“We were a non-traditional market, and so we had to do some non-traditional marketing,” said Ward.

That included a building-length banner of enforcer Stu “The Grim Reaper” Grimson when he joined the team in 2001. That meant dressing sales associates in full hockey uniforms and sending them to local businesses as a stunt. Ward recalls one getting thrown out of a bank once. “It made The Tennessean,” he said.

That also meant finding the right marketing slogan to captured the fans’ imagination, because interest was waning. The Predators’ attendance dropped from 15,985 in 2000-01 to 14,838 fans per game in 2001-02.

They tried several of them out in the early years, none of them all that memorable. (Many of them centered around the word “fangs,” from their logo.) So in 2002, the Predators decided to ask the fans what slogan would resonate with them. “We sent it out to the fans in a contest. Send in your favorite slogan. If we pick yours, you’ll win season tickets,” said Ward.

Frank Glinski was one such fan.

Glinski actually came up with the term “Smashville” during a conversation with the Predators’ then-vice president of marketing, who like Glinski had a child playing youth hockey locally. When the fan contest for a new slogan was announced, Glinski was informed that his friend entered “Smashville” into it.

Ward still recalls seeing the “Smashville” entry cross his desk, and having an epiphany.

“I said ‘that’s it.’ Out of the thousands, that’s the one,” he recalled.

Glinski is now known as “Mr. Smashville” locally. True to the team’s word, he’s had free season tickets every year since winning the contest.

“What’s even better is when you’re watching ESPN or NBC and you hear it nationally, when they say the word Smashville. That’s when it really kind of perks you up a little bit,” he told WKRN.

So why Smashville?

Ward saw it as a connection between the country music roots of the previous marketing campaigns and the brutality of hockey. “It was where the big hits of hockey met the smash hits of country music. That was the theme that was percolating,” he said.

But the concept of Smashville was as a place “where anything can happen.”

“Smashville was this crazy little town. Population 17,113. Because that was the attendance,” said Ward.

The TV ads for the team “introduced a mythical town ruled by the love of hockey, where speeding is encouraged, shootings are a common occurrence, offensive behavior is embraced and disturbing the peace is a way of life,” said Ward to Sports Business Daily in 2002.

So Smashville was born in 2002, giving the Predators and their fans a unique identity.

And then it died around 2004.

Ward had left the Predators for the Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA. He said the new marketing regime for the Predators tossed “Smashville” aside for their own campaign.

“It went away, and that was devastating to me,” said Ward. “To me, it was like Hockeytown in Detroit. That became our identity, and we really needed the continuity to build on it. But new people come in, they change the marketing and they did.”

But Smashville would rise again.

***

In Sept. 2009, the Predators surprised fans with a new commercial that aired during Monday Night Football. It wasn’t centered on the ice, it wasn’t using the slogans and marketing hooks of the last few years.

Smashville was back.

“Smashville is the place to be,” Predators President of Business Operations Ed Lang said at the time. “The Smashville spirit is what fuels our pursuit of the Stanley Cup year after year. It is what compels us to put on the best game for our fans. From high-speed playmaking to an exhilarating come-from-behind win, anything can happen in Smashville. ”

With attendance still struggling, the marketing firm GS&F was hired to find a new way to attract fans. They find a new way to do it, through an old slogan.

“GS&F recognized the potential of the word ‘Smashville’ to capture the new extreme entertainment experience, as well as the need to bring it back to life and give it meaning that would resonate with a whole new generation of potential fans,” said the firm on its website.

From GS&F:

“From our perspective, the challenge wasn’t to sell hockey. Too many locals were unfamiliar with the sport. And you certainly couldn’t educate an audience that wasn’t interested in learning about a sport they didn’t know. For us, the solution was to change the whole dynamic. So instead of looking at hockey as a game, we portrayed it as entertainment—on steroids. We knew hockey was the most intense form of entertainment possible: flashy, noisy, visceral and unforgettable. A night with the Predators was more than a couple of hours at a hockey game. Because you didn’t just watch a game. You celebrated on Lower Broad beforehand. You met in clubs, bars and restaurants afterwards. You were invited to a party downtown whenever the Predators played. And sitting in the arena above the ice, every fan became part of the game itself.”

Anyone that’s experienced the playoff party around Bridgestone Arena knows how the fans here live, breath (and drink up) all of that.

For more than a decade, the Predators tried to figure out how to be a hockey team in Nashville, until it finally figured out that it needed to be Nashville’s hockey team. It was that moment when the promise of Smashville became fulfilled.

When one walked through the 50,000 fans that partied all night outside of Game 3, or listened to the deafening chants and cheers inside the arena, or looked around the city at the gold flags and banners draped around every downtown business and bar, or felt the joyous mania of a Stanley Cup Final game finally arriving in here after nearly 20 years of trying, there was really only one way to describe it:

This Is Smashville. And it always has been, even when it wasn’t.

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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