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blackswaneuroparedux · 4 years ago

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Anonymous asked: Thoughts on Jane Birkin? - Talented elegant actor-musician-model? Overrated at everything but she was pretty? Or, never thought about it, but she did design a nice bag for Hermes?

My thoughts about Jane Birkin is that she is and will always remain an all round feminine icon. Plain and simple.

That’s not just my contrarian view because she was an icon that overlapped into my grandparents’ and parents’ generation of the late 60s and 70s but it’s also the view of many French today too. I knew of her because her songs alongside Françoise Hardy and other French chanteuse were always playing on my parents stereo system growing up overseas. Indeed so well-documented is the love affair between Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, that to picture it retrospectively is to watch a flickering series of film stills in one’s mind. Enter the young British actress in 1970s Paris, basket swinging nonchalantly from one arm, baby daughter clasped carefully in the other, dancing down Boulevard Saint-Germain with the thoughtful French musician’s adoring figure at her side. They loved, smoked and fought fervently, their ten-year-long affair an archetype of that between musician and muse in bohemian Paris, and 40 years after its dissolution, the French still can’t get enough.

As you allude to in your question, she has famously said of herself and Serg Gainsbourg that, “He was a great man. I was just pretty.” Which has led a small minority - especially those in her native England - to be dismissive of her as a long forgotten pretty face of the 70s and who was over-rated because she was nothing without riding on the coat tails of the crooning bad boy, Gainsbourg. On the face of it it was a very disingenuous remark to make because Gainsbourg was indeed a great man (as a musician and French cultural male icon) but she was so much more than a pretty face. I strongly suggest that she was just being her usual self-deprecating Anglo-self and one who remains to be a tad embarrassed at 73 years old to be continued to be lauded as a genuine timeless French style and chanteuse icon.

No one can doubt that Jane Birkin has always had some talent as an artist. Birkin has enjoyed a long career in the arts as a singer, songwriter, actress, and director. Her longevity is one proof of her staying power. Arguably though, it is her reputation as a style icon, and more specifically being the namesake of the iconic Hermès Birkin bag for which she is best known today. She might well have been Gainsbourg’s baby doll (his words) but she was very much her own popular muse and actress.

This may surprise many but Jane Birkin has appeared in over 70 films over several decades. As an actress it is often forgotten how good she is because most of her films were made in France and she rarely did films outside of France.

She was already known even before she hooked up with Gainsbourg. She was born in 1946 to an actress mother, Judy Campbell, and her Royal Navy lieutenant-commander and spy, David Birkin. Her mother was an acclaimed actress of her generation and muse to the older Noel Coward. She had a typical upbringing that one might call comfortably posh upper middle class. She was already married at 17 to film composer, John Barry (yes, the same John Barry who composed all the music for the James Bond films and other Hollywood films (Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, Cotton Club etc) in 1965 but divorced in 1968 with custody of their daughter. Birkin quickly became part of the swinging London scene in the 1960s and appeared briefly in a handful of films.

Birkin was already well known but it was her nude turn in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow-Up that really put her on the map. Even today it’s seen as one of the iconic films of the swinging sixties.

She famously arrived in Paris unable to speak French with her newborn daughter in her arms. The story goes that she was offered the lead role in the 1968 French film Slogan alongside Gainsbourg after sobbing through her screen test. Starring alongside Serge Gainsbourg, Birkin performed with him on the movie’s theme song. It was on that film set that they would begin their truly passionate relationship as well as artistic collaborations throughout the 1970s.

Indeed a year later in 1969 they both released the song that has forever defined them both to non-French people around the world, the duet “Je t’aime…moi non plus” which was met with scandal and disapproval by the Vatican and banned in many countries.

It may have solidified Birkin’s status as the British-born emblem of French chic but in all honesty it also drowned out her notable acting talents. Although Birkin took a brief hiatus from acting to return as Bardot's lover in the 1973 film Don Juan or If Don Juan Were A Woman (for which she got rave reviews because she held her own against Bardot),

it was only until 1975 in Gainsbourg’s own first film Je t’aime…moi non plus that her acting was properly honoured. Again, because of the damn song, people forget that she was nominated for Best Actress César Award (The French version of the Oscars or the Brit’s version of the BAFTAs). To be nominated for a César as best actress in a culture of truly talented actresses is saying something.

This wasn’t a flash in the pan. She was nominated again in 1984 for Best Actress César Award for her role as Alma in La Pirate - directed by her then partner, Jacques Doillon with whom she did another critically acclaimed film La Fille Prodigue (1981). Her work led her to work on stage with critically acclaimed directors such as Patrice Chéreau. She worked with director Herbert Vesely on Egon Schiele Exzess und Bestrafung in 1980, appearing as the mistress of Austrian artist Egon Schiele, played by Mathieu Carrière. Jacques Rivette collaborated with her in Love on the Ground (1983). The jury of the 1985 Venice Film Festival recognised Birkin's performance in Dust as amongst the best of the year, but decided not to award a best actress prize because it was decided by the jury that all of the actresses they judged to have made the best performances were in films that already won major awards - Dust won the Silver Lion prize so she lost out.

In 1991 she was again nominated for a César Award but this time as best supporting actress in the classic La Belle Noiseuse directed by Jacques Rivette and starring Michel Piccoli and Emmanuelle Béart.

She did of course English films but much more sporadically. She put in a famous turn in both the delightful Hercule Poirot movies starring Peter Ustinov, Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun. She also appeared in Merchant Ivory's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998) (which also used her song "Di Doo Dah”). In 2016 she had the lead role in La femme et le TGV, a short film directed by Swiss filmmaker Timo von Gunten. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. I believe after it was widely reported that she had no plans to return to acting.

I think it’s the parochialism of the Anglo cultural world that has led to this misconception that she wasn’t an actress of note when in fact she has always been up there with the best of French actresses of her generation.

As a singing icon she has been frozen in time. Her fame for one song have clouded a proper critical appraisal of her singing talents. And I think here I have to be honest and say that her critics - from a purely singing technical point of view - might have a point her being over hyped. Not that Jane Birkin ever said she was a great singer as she described herself self-deprecatingly as singing through more keys than a locksmith.

As a singer, Birkin is of course is known for that song that cheekily and perhaps even enviously reinforces the tropes the non-French world have about the French and amour. In 1969, she and Gainsbourg released the duet "Je t'aime... moi non plus" ("I love you ... me neither"). Gainsbourg originally wrote the song for Brigitte Bardot. But Bardot famously declined to sing the track because she found it "too erotic" and she was married at the time.

Although Birkin started out in films, she preferred to focus more on singing than acting. This was primarily because of Serg Gainsbourg who saw Birkin as his muse and wrote songs for her. She released an album in 1975 entitled Lolita Go Home and in 1978 called Ex Fan des Sixties, with the help of Gainsbourg's songwriting. Her music was successful in France, but not in her home country of England. She has made more than a dozen albums, nearly all in French and perhaps one or two in her native English.

One cannot escape the nagging feeling when I listen to some of her albums - really the later ones - that if she had attempted a career as an English recording artist, she would have stayed a minor singer. If fished out of her small pond and dropped into the music ocean, then Birkin would surely in the words of one music critic, “be engulfed by the plankton of mediocrity”.

And so the troubling truth that must be faced is that because she has been granted access to the ranks of the iconic, it is more because of our interest in the intriguing liaison she had with the maverick Gainsbourg more than anything else.

There is no doubt that her marshmallow accent, reedy voice and modern look made Jane Birkin a singing idol. She has a sense of discretion that is inversely proportional to her dazzling repertoire, which is studded with such astounding masterpieces as ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’, ‘Swimming Pool’, ‘The Pirate’ and ‘Les dessous chics’. But her later recordings such as Le Symphonique, in which she is accompanied by a 90-piece orchestra - are mostly re-worked recordings of her songs with Gainsbourg who had died in 1991. Or take her 1996 album Arabesque which featured re-workings of Gainsbourg’s music, along with instrumentals backed by five Arabic musicians. Nearly all her later albums are quite mediocre.

This isn’t her fault so much as it is the musical artistry of Gainsbourg. He was the puppeteer behind the promulgation of this 'veule aesthetic', this aesthetic of weak plaintive croaking. But he was perhaps the first French singer who knew that manipulating the media would lead to manipulating record sales. Gainsbourg once had a job punching holes into métro tickets on Paris' underground before this ‘poinçonneur de lilas’ went on to almost single-handedly drag France's chanson tradition into the postmodern age. He sat in the opposite corner to the great chanson Musketeers: Leo Ferré, Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel. Gainsbourg is known in France for having cast himself in twin roles: Gainsbourg the musician and Gainsbarre the provocateur.

But there is also a definite divide in his musical production with a pre-1971 period that has a foot in chanson with driving melodies and Boris Vian narratives and the other foot in the fledgling pop tradition, and a post-1971 period that was driven more and more by dodgy electronic drumbeats, tiresome perpetual punning, and repetitive allusions to la femme enfant and Lolita-esque love (his last partner, Bambou, was 30 years his junior).

It remains difficult, therefore, to see how anyone with an ear for melody could think that much of Gainbourg's non-chanson output is melodiously pleasing. Much of his production seems so excruciatingly the work of an ageing pervert with personal hygiene issues.

My French friends, including one of my apartment neighbours in particular - of an older generation with whom I’ve grown close to - will put me through the wringer for saying anything bad about Gainsbourg and Birkin as singers. I just feel no one should be above a critical appraisal. Worse, it becomes very difficult to say anything critical for fear of being told that you just have not understood Gainsbourg's genius (surely Jarvis Cocker and Portishead can't be wrong!) But in reality there is very little to understand. He gave up trying to sing early on - the songs I really do like and find interesting - and quickly became the one-trick pony until his unfortunate death in May 1991 at 62 years old: a suggestive lyric about a questionable relationship here, a pun on every other word as an excuse for poetics there, slurred together with the voice of a sneering old man. The man stood out, broke away from troubadour-like folklore, but ultimately a tad mediocre.

The truth is Birkin without Gainsbourg was never much of a truly great singer. Combined with their public spats, Birkin reportedly grew tired of Gainsbourg's drinking and melancholy habits, so much so it became impossible to live with. They separated in 1980 despite never being married, despite reports of the contrary. Birkin later said that their friendship and his songwriting improved after they split. “You could talk back to him for once,” she said. “You were not just his creation any more.” As much as she was his muse, she was Pygmalion to his Prof. Henry Higgins. But the sad and prosaic truth is that without his unique style of songs to carry her limited singing range she was dreadfully exposed outside of Gainsbourg’s repertoire.

This was brought home to me when I listened to her cover version of Cohen’s iconic song, ‘Hallelujah’. Cohen's lyrics tell of David composing a song in praise of God, he describes the euphony that 'hallelujah' forms in his prayer, "the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift." Birkin on the other hand warbled her way through. As she said once of her singing, she went through more keys than a locksmith.

Does Jane Birkin fare better as a style icon? Yes, she does. Absolutely.

To understand the Birkin bag one has to understand how Jane Birkin a Parisienne fashion style icon without her necessarily wanting to be one.

The quintessential trope of Parisienne woman is a conflation we likely owe to the framing of the 1950s and ’60s mavens of French popular culture like Françoise Hardy, Catherine Deneuve, and Brigitte Bardot as French icons, but who remain eminently tied to Parisian mythology - their reverence to a billion-dollar fashion archetype (thank you LVMH) is as reductive to the real women of Paris as it is to the women aspiring to be them. Of course this kind of Parisienne chic exists - a walk down the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement of Paris should satisfy the many star struck ‘American Emily’s’ coming to Paris (what a God awful Netflix drama it is).

But like London or New York or even Rome and Milan, there is no such thing as one Parisian style. There’s a plurality of Parisian styles and personalities - that’s obvious from walking the different arrondissements of Paris.

Jane Birkin in her day brought her own style to fit her British personality that was a far cry from the elegantly and expensively dressed mavens. From her laissez-faire fringe, to her layered necklaces, vintage denim, peasant blouses and white t-shirts, she wowed Parisienne women.

Today if you ever wander around Paris looking at the younger girls - or look at French young girls sporting their Paris street chic style on instagram or other social media - they call it Paris street chic. It’s not fashion, it’s a street style.

It’s really bunch of every day clothing items and accessories stylishly thrown together. So it’s not surprising to learn that the original source of French street chic started with Jane Birkin. It was Birkin who ‘pioneered’ the kind of off-duty dressing you now see all over the streets of Paris. I say pioneered but the truth is she dressed for herself without even wanting or trying to become a French style icon.

Still as fashionistas will tell you, Birkin was always several decades ahead of the style curve (easy for them to say). It was stylish but above all it was timeless. It amuses me no end that when one sees doe eyed American girls who are so enamoured by French girl fashion but don’t realise they owe their thanks to an English girl.

I’m sure it amuses Birkin too because she always thought her Haute-hippie style and free spirit was her way to insulate her personal insecurities about how well dressed and stylish haute bourgeois Parisian women were in their Chanel and YSL clothing. Her style is her own, as she said to Vogue, “I buy things often, but I sleep in them for two weeks, and then they really look quite rough.”

If there is common ground between the elegantly dressed mavens of high end brand fashion houses and the ultra casual minimalist street wear it is around the very simple Parisian quality of simplicity. Simplicity - not necessarily in colour or print but in the total look. Simple but important enough for a younger generation of Parisienne women should be free to express themselves free from the grips of a generations-old myth.

In a nutshell if Birkin’s style and influence endures it’s because her style is about simplicity.

Nevertheless her place as a style icon rests upon a simple straw basket (or wicker basket). However, in 1981 a chance encounter on a plane would result in the straw basket’s replacement by the world’s most desired leather bag - the Hermès Birkin bag.

In the 70s she was mainly known for her use of a straw/wicker basket which she used instead of a regular handbag. She was famous for her straw basket as she went everywhere with it, even dancing at the most exclusive of clubs or eating at the finest dining places. She carried all kinds of bits and bobs, including baby milk bottles, diapers, and baby change wear as well as collecting trinkets on her journeys around Paris. It was seen as a stylish English eccentricity by the Parisians.

There is famous story about Jane Birkin and her straw basket that has entered into legend. The straw basket bag’s anonymous shape and generous size lent it to concealment, so when, during a lavish Christmas evening spent at the famous Parisian Bistro Maxim’s with Gainsbourg, the young English actress slipped a few pieces of the institution’s fine monogrammed crockery into it, nobody batted an eyelid. It was only later, when the basket slipped from her wrist while signing an autograph and sent her stash of china flying across the floor, that she was found out. In a perfect act of Parisian discretion a kindly waiter collected it up for her and replaced it in the basket. “A gift from Maxim’s,” he is reported to have whispered to her. “If you require more, you only have to ask.”

In 1981, Birkin was on a short flight from Paris to London. Carrying her famous straw basket, she placed it in the overhead compartment of her seat. However, the lid of the basket opened, and the contents spilled all over the floor and on the seats around her. Sitting next to her and assisting her in retrieving the contents of her basket was the late executive of Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin complained to Dumas that she was unable to find a suitable leather weekend bag that she liked. According to folklore, the remainder of the flight consisted of the pair designing a bag together and sketching ideas on an air sickness bag.

Fast forward three years and a prototype handbag was developed and presented to Jane Birkin – the Hermès Birkin bag. The bag, crafted from supple leather and handmade in France by a single, highly trained artisan, and takes up to 24 hours to complete. Designed specifically to provide ample room for jet-setting women, the bag quickly became a fashion icon and status symbol for women worldwide. The Birkin bag comes in a range of sizes, leathers, exotic skins, and hardware, with new colours introduced each season and limited edition versions of the bag crafted occasionally.

Since the creation of the very first Birkin bag, Jane Birkin had always carried one. However, true to her unique style and fashion, she continually customised her bags with beads, trinkets, protest stickers, and other titbits to create a unique look. Birkin even defaced her namesake’s bag on Japanese TV in 2008. The fashion icon repeatedly stamped on a tan-coloured Birkin bag to make it look “unique.”

Not surprisingly, the customisation of the Birkin bag caught on quickly and “defacing” Birkin bags is now a modern and trendy pastime practiced by D list celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Tamara Ecclestone, and many of today’s so-called fashion icons and social media style influencers.

Commendably Birkin auctions off her complimentary Birkin bags from Hermès for charitable causes. She often works with Amnesty International on humanitarian issues and donates her yearly royalties for the Birkin bag (approximately $50,000 per year) to a charity of her choice. Jane Birkin has said she now rarely uses the famous handbag that bears her name. In an interview with the BBC she told the BBC that if, like her, she used to fill the bag with "junk... and half the furniture from your house, it's a very, very heavy bag. Now I fill my pockets like a man, because then you don't actually have to carry anything."

In typical Jane Birkin style, she doesn't own one.

Jane Birkin will always be France’s favourite “petite Anglaise” as she was often known. And therein lies the clue why she remains beloved French icon despite her being English for two main reasons that come to mind.

Firstly, I suspect it’s because of her remarkable quality to be down to earth and cheerfully optimistic in public. Above all she displays a wonderful talent for mocking herself and not taking herself seriously. When for instance she was invited to take a role in a theatre production of a play by the 17th-century French writer Marivaux, she thought she was in a play by Marie Vau! The French have always been beguiled by her because of the stardust of the Sixties.

Despite Birkin being diagnosed with leukaemia in 2002, she said she conducted her life and love affairs with “an absolutely unfounded optimism”. That is not in doubt. With the recent publication of her diaries (Munkey Diaries 1957-1982 - a fantastic read) a more fuller picture has emerged that have further endeared her to the French.

Birkin was always riddled with insecurities, “I think I’m nothing, I’m persecuted by women who I love more than myself... Oh for the face of Nastassja Kinski, of Fanny Ardant, oh, the talent, the courage, the qualities. I have nothing interesting to say...” Above all she was convinced she was “suffering from mediocrity and no personality”, and wanted above all was to be loved. England never gave her that love, France did so happily. Even today France openly loves her.

Secondly, the French, especially the Parisians, love her because she embraces the French way of life with gusto and gaeity. Birkin speaks French fine but she stumbles in her heavily accented French. But she doesn’t mind and neither do the French. She was schooled in England into a culture where it’s okay to stumble, to try and fail, to be less than perfect. However, the old, rote, didactic, shame-based French schooling system dies hard. French people are often afraid to speak English unless they can feel assured it is impeccable at the same time - alomost in contradiction - they feel put out by foreigners who simply speak English to them without even having the courtesy to speak a little French, they think it rude and respond accordingly. But Birkin is so transparent and open to falling flat on her face that I think the Parisians find it strangely endearing.

Birkin is that living truism that you don’t have to be French to be a Parisian icon of style and especially when beauty pertains to age.

Outside of native born French women, Brigitte Bardot, Françoise Hardy, Catherine Deneueve, Jeanne Moreau, Fanny Ardant, Juliette Binoche, Inés de la Fressange and one or two others (Isabelle Huppert is an outlier of arthouse chic style), there have been other non-French women besides Jane Birkin who have personified Parisian chic and style: Sylvia Vartan, Charlotte Rampling, Nastassja Kinski, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Carla Bruni, to name but a few. Each has come to embody ‘Parisian style’ without ever being raised here but now very much live and breathe the Parisienne spirit.

Just as importantly Paris, like French culture as a whole, values beauty especially as it ages. There are many seasons to women as there are to make fine wine. This is one reason why Jane Birkin endures even at the age of 73 years old. Style icons like Jane Birkin and others like Inés de la Fressange (who was the face of Chanel for so long and is now going strong at 63 years old) have given a well deserved middle finger to the notion that there is a codified set of rules for fashion and beauty for women over 50 years old.

Indeed this is one of the secrets of living in Paris, it knows how to renew and refresh itself without losing its unique identity e.g. the model and actress Jeanne Damas, is arguably this current generation’s Jane Birkin and all power to her.

The stylish contributions of all these iconic women, and especially Jane Birkin, is a testament of why the allure of Paris as a cultural centre will continue to endure seamlessly because it values the aesthetic truth that true style is beauty that timelessly matures.

Birkin said once she was in no doubt she would always be best known for her erotic record Je t'aime, moi non plus. Of course she under sells herself as she has always done because she is so much more.

Compare her to modern style icons. Kim Kardashian would be the nearest but her fame as a style icon rests on one cynically contrived (and boring) sex tape, a narcissistic family TV reality show, and being married to a grossly deluded rap singer. I don’t think the modern day airheads are true style icons but fashion victims because as Yves Saint Laurent once memorably put it, “Fashions fade, style endures”.

Jane Birkin will endure. Her contribution to French cultural life has been immense. The gap-tooth smile that looks irrepressibly cool, the messy fringe, the long string bean legs, the ability to elegantly wear denim for any and every situation, the reason she made a lowly wicker basket her bag of choice all year long. We may never know why, but honestly it’s not worth questioning at this point because it was so seriously chic - is one even allowed to say the word chic again? When it comes to Birkin, it’s a word that bears repeating.

Birkin might cheerfully be accepting of the fact that for an older generation much of her fame still rests on one scandalous song but for the contemporary generation it will be the Hermès Birkin bag.

"It's a rather extraordinary record," Birkin said once. "Perhaps more interesting than the bag." I daresay Serg Gainsbourg would agree about the song and the bag.

Ah yes that bag. The Birkin bag. To me it’s not a fashion item but a life saver.

From mothers juggling diapers and milk bottles whilst chasing after their toddlers in stores to busy career women hurriedly scooping up and stuffing in reams of files, phone and lap top while rushing off their feet to their next meeting all can thank ‘la petite Anglaise’ for her Birkin bag.

I know I do. I use mine for a work lap top, mobile phone, work files and folders, pens, chewing gum, girls stuff (make up kit and tampons), a spare pair of knickers, sun glasses, gloves, an apple, a bottle of water, playing cards, a cigar case (and cutter and lighter), and a few books to read when I fly on a business trip.

Thanks for your question.

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brian-in-finance · 3 years ago

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Dónall Ó Héalai and Jamie Dornan pose together

‘A better deal than the Oscars’: the party celebrating the Irish in Hollywood

Jamie Dornan and Kenneth Branagh were honored at this year’s Oscar Wilde awards amid excitement over Belfast

Ireland could see big victories at the Academy Awards this year, with Irish actors nominated in key categories including best supporting actor and actress. Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, inspired by his own childhood during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, secured seven nominations, including for best picture and best original screenplay.

At Ireland’s own Oscar party, the Oscar Wilde awards, in Los Angeles on Thursday, the mood was optimistic, with Belfast cast members and other celebrities excited about the film’s nominations and the power of seeing broad recognition for an Irish story.

With his critically lauded role as a Northern Irish father in Branagh’s film, actor Jamie Dornan is throwing off the shackles of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, in which he played an insipid sex maniac who seduces a woman who wears cardigans. Dornan literally threw off those shackles as he accepted an Oscar Wilde award for his work on Thursday, producing a pair of handcuffs from inside his jacket and then casting them aside.

In a tearful speech, Dornan honored his father, a renowned Belfast doctor who died of Covid-19 a year ago, and thanked Branagh for taking a chance on him by casting him.

Dornan holds the handcuffs he produced from inside his jacket. Photograph: Alberto E Rodríguez/Getty Images for US-Ireland Alliance

Dornan, himself a Belfast native, said in his speech that he proudly identifies as Irish.

“Where I come from identity is very skewed. If you’re from the North, how you identify yourself gets you gets you into a whole heap of trouble, maybe thirty years of trouble, and it’s constantly going to be a source of conflict, sadly.”

“I’ve always been told that I’m Irish, it’s all I’ve ever known. I’ve been proud of that since the day I was born,” Dornan said, pledging to continue to try to tell Irish stories.

“If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, then you are lucky enough.”

Glenn Keogh said there was a ‘close-knit’ Irish community in Hollywood. Photograph: Alberto E Rodríguez/Getty Images for US-Ireland Alliance

Branagh himself, who also received an Oscar Wilde award, appeared only by video, amid reports that he had tested positive for Covid-19. He said he felt “fighting fit” but that he wanted to respect awards protocols.

The Irish Oscars party, now in its 16th year, is hosted by the US-Ireland Alliance, founded by Trina Vargo, a former foreign policy adviser to Senator Edward Kennedy. The non-profit aims to introduce rising Irish talent to Hollywood, as well as to celebrate established Irish and Irish American stars. This year, the award for a new talent to watch went to actor Dónall Ó Héalai, a central figure in a new ascendancy of Irish-language films.

Four years ago, Ó Héalai gave a popular Ted Talk about the beauty of the Irish language. After years of struggling to build an acting career, he starred in Arracht, a 2019 drama that was the first Gaelic film about the potato famine, and Foscadh, a contemporary Gaelic film about a neurodivergent man from Connemara trying to find love after his mother’s death. Both films were chosen as Ireland’s official selections for the foreign language Oscars.

“I’m really happy that I’m able to act in my own language,” Ó Héalai told the Guardian in an interview on the party’s Green Carpet. He said the blockbuster success of other foreign language films and television, such as Parasite and Squid Game, had created new opportunities for foreign language films with streaming services like Netflix, but that he also believed the rise of Gaelic film was driven by a renewed interest among the Irish in looking inward at their own history.

Sallay Garnett of Loah & Bantum performs at the event. Photograph: Alberto E Rodríguez/Getty Images for US-Ireland Alliance

In filming Arracht, he said in his award speech, “the dignity of our ancestors was with us for that entire shoot”.

There are more promising Irish-language films in the works: Ó Héalai said he was excited about Tarrac, a forthcoming Gaelic film about women’s traditional boat racing in West Kerry. But it’s likely that Ó Héalai will soon be playing some roles in English-language films, as well. Reinaldo Marcus Green, director of the best picture nominee King Richard, called Ó Héalai a close friend and said they met in New York when he was a struggling student film-maker with $300,000 of student loan debt, “looking at Uber applications”. Ó Héalai convinced him not to give up, telling him: “Just keep going. You’re so close,” Green said.

Green hailed Ó Héalai’s “brilliant work” as he presented him with his award, saying that soon everyone “will know his name”.

Fig O'Reilly, an Irish American model and TV presenter. Photograph: Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock

Dornan called Ó Héalai’s work on Irish language film “vital and necessary” and said he was “so excited” to see the next steps in his career.

Glenn Keogh, a film and TV actor who has appeared in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Sons of Anarchy, said there had long been a “fantastic” and “close-knit” Irish network in Hollywood, and one that had been crucial to his own career. When he had arrived in Los Angeles 15 years ago, Keogh said, he had joined an Irish football team, the Santa Monica Celtics, which had helped him make entertainment industry connections. The Irish-Hollywood network was thriving today, he said, with established Irish professionals always happy to offer advice and help in securing day jobs to their newly arrived comrades.

That wide Irish network was on display on Thursday, with Oscar Wilde guests ranging from Fig O’Reilly, an Irish American model and television presenter who was crowned Miss Universe Ireland in 2019, to Donie O’Sullivan, the beloved Irish CNN reporter who covers politics and disinformation, to the Star Wars director JJ Abrams, who has emceed the Oscar Wilde awards for years and was named an “honorary Irishman” at the event in 2010.

Abrams said he was gearing up to film part of his new sci-fi series, Demimonde, in Ireland in the coming months, and credited Vargo, the event’s host, with helping him film parts of Star Wars in Ireland. In a speech, Abrams called the Oscar Wilde awards “so much of a better deal than the other Oscars” because they’re shorter, there are no losers, and almost everyone is Irish, meaning “100% of the winners are going to be gorgeous and want to party”.

Terry George, left, and Rina Kara on the Green Carpet. Photograph: Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock

Terry George, who was nominated for best (adapted) screenplay for (In the Name of the Father, 1994), has devoted much of his career to making films about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. “I’m excited for Belfast. It’s my hometown,” he said on the Green Carpet.

George’s work is deeply personal: he was imprisoned in the mid-1970s after being accused of carrying weapons for the Irish Republican Army.

…George told the Guardian he was already at work on a new script exploring these themes: “I’m trying to tell the story of the Good Friday peace agreement,” he said. “Just a little, small story.”

Note: Terry George - text in parentheses and the ellipsis are Brian’s. Somehow the story had Terry writing Belfast’s original screenplay and being nominated for a 2022 Oscar. 😳 I won’t tell Sir Kenneth if you don’t.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/27/oscar-wilde-awards-irish-ireland-hollywood

Remember… Dornan honored his father, a renowned Belfast doctor who died of Covid-19 a year ago, and thanked Branagh for taking a chance on him by casting him. — The Guardian

#Tait rhymes with hat #Good times #BelfastMovie #Oscar Wilde Awards #The Guardian #27 March 2022 #Worldwide 2022 #Campaign To Shorten Awards Season

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felicia-cat-hardy · 3 years ago

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20 Asian American Musicians To Add To Your Playlist Now

Over the past several years, the K-pop industry in the U.S. has grown exponentially. The fan enthusiasm behind bands like BTS has drawn parallels to The Beatles, and so many K-pop groups have received the same passionate reception. The attention is well-deserved, but Asian artists represent a multitude of musical genres (even just within the K-pop industry) — a fact that should not be overlooked. Whether you're a fan of indie rock, R&B, hip-hop, or dance music, you won't want to sleep on these Asian American musicians.

Asian artists have recently received some long-deserved recognition in the entertainment industry, primarily in film. In 2020, Bong Joon-ho's Parasite won big at the Oscars. The following year, Youn Yuh-Jung won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Minari, which also scored The Walking Dead alum Steven Yeun a nomination for Best Actor. However, there's still plenty of work to be done within the music landscape to ensure equal representation is achieved.

BTS, most notably, has seen unprecedented success in the U.S. Still, despite being invited to attend the last three Grammys, they've yet to take home an award, highlighting the discrepancy between their immense success and the Recording Academy's willingness to acknowledge it. Additionally, Asian artists have a harder time landing record deals. As American Idol alumni Paul Kim explained to The New York Times, he was blatantly told by industry execs he would have been signed to a label faster had he not been Asian.

By streaming these artists, you're not only supporting them and their art, but you're subsequently showing industry insiders just how valuable they are. Consider this list sonic proof Asian artists are making exceptional, diverse music that can't be boxed into one genre or sound. Each of these artists prides themselves on breaking boundaries and creating their own rules. You may have heard of a few, but many have been flying under the radar for far too long. Your ears will thank you soon enough.

Melissa Polinar

Polinar got her start in the late 2000s when viral YouTube covers paved the way for success. While artists like Justin Bieber and Lennon & Maisy were sharing music covers, Polinar focused on posting her original music — and her soulful vocals were a hit. In 2019, the Filipino-American songwriter actually re-recorded one of the songs that propelled her career forward, "Try," on its 10-year anniversary.

Eric Nam

Born and raised in Atlanta, Nam moved to Korea to pursue music because he felt he had a better chance of succeeding there. “Even if you look at American Idol, or X-Factor, or The Voice or anything, it was always difficult to see an Asian or an Asian-American make it to a certain point,” Nam told TIME in November 2019. Today, Nam is a highly visible and respected name in the K-pop industry. While he's very proud of his K-pop success, he considers himself a pop singer first. He hopes to grow his success stateside and told TIME, "I want people to hear my music and say, 'I don’t know who this person is,' and I could be Black, white, Latino, Asian — it doesn’t matter, but it’s just a great pop song."

Clinton Kane

Kane's got every making of a great singer-songwriter, and his lyricism will make a fan out of loyal Ed Sheeran or Sam Smith listeners. The Filipino-American singer's impressive vocal range captivates, and his emotion-driven lyrics will melt your heart. One of his more popular tracks, "Chicken Tendies," has upwards of 2 million views and is a must-add to your heartbreak playlist.

Jhené Aiko

As a mixed-race Japanese, Creole, Dominican, and European woman, Aiko has proudly championed her diverse roots throughout her accomplished career. The R&B singer is a six-time Grammy-nominated artist and is well respected within the industry for her philanthropic endeavors. She launched the WAYS foundation in 2017, an organization dedicated to helping cancer patients and their families.

Steve Aoki

Steve Aoki is hardly a newcomer to the EDM scene, but as one of the most prominent DJs in the industry, and one of the biggest Japanese DJs ever, it would be a crime to leave him off this list. Aoki even has his own record label and, in 2016, Netflix released I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, a documentary about his career.

Karen O

As the lead singer for the rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Karen O has solidified her spot as a rock music legend. Not only is the Korean-American singer's discography with the band a must-listen for any rock music fan, but her 2019 album with Danger Mouse, Lux Prima, earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance.

H.E.R.

Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, H.E.R. (aka Gabi Wilson) has become one of the most prominent names in R&B. At just 23 years old, the singer-songwriter already has four Grammy wins and 13 nominations. Along the way, she's never shied away from praising her Filipino mother and Black father, Agnes and Kenny Wilson, for giving her the unique perspectives that propelled her musical success.

Toro Y Moi

Toro Y Moi is actually one person (Chaz Bear) and he's become the unofficial king of chillwave. Born to a Filipino mother, the South Carolina native later relocated to California to further his music career. If you need some chill vibes on your playlist, Bear's got you covered.

Ruby Ibarra

Ibarra is a Filipino-American rapper from San Lorenzo, California who also dabbles in spoken word poetry. Her music is meaningful in more ways than one. A number of her songs touch upon her experience as an Asian American woman. In April 2021, she released a powerful song and video called "Gold" with Ella Jay Basco, which exposed the harmful effects of the skin whitening industry.

Ella Jay Basco

You may recognize Basco from her appearance in Birds of Prey, but her music is not to be slept on because it's making major waves. Her song "Gold" with Ruby Ibarra highlights her Filipino heritage. As she told People, "From top to bottom, we wanted to make sure that our Asian-American community was represented with this project."

Mitski

Meet your new favorite alt-rock queen. Mitski's dreamy melodies appeal to the indie-rock crowd more than anything, and, if you're a sucker for a sad bop, this Japanese-American songstress has plenty of those stacked up.

Yaeji

Yaeji was born in Flushing, Queens in 1993 and grew up between the U.S. and Korea. Since she moved around so much as a kid, she found friendship on the internet, where she first connected with the bossa nova, jazz, and Korean indie music that drove much of the Korean DIY scene. She soon returned to the States to attend college, where she discovered a love for producing and DJing. Now, she meticulously blends hip-hop elements with her house-driven sound for a listening experience that is unlike anything else.

Hayley Kiyoko

Kiyoko has been given the nickname Lesbian Jesus since she’s so outspoken about LGBTQ+ representation in the music industry. The Japanese-American singer is a true trailblazer and her pop music genius has landed her hits with Kehlani, MAX, and AJR.

Jay Park

Park is an industry heavyweight. The Seattle native got his start in the K-pop industry as part of the band 2PM, but he went solo in 2009. Today, not only does the star have dozens of hits under his belt, but he has two record labels of his own that specialize in R&B and hip-hop music: AOMG and H1ghr. Park uses his superstar status to give others the spotlight, and he's put his support behind other artists like GOT7's JAY B and Yugyeom, and Raz Simone. Whether you're a self-proclaimed K-pop stan, or you're just recently getting acquainted with the genre, Park's discography is required listening.

Jin Au-Yeung

Born and raised in North Miami Beach, Florida, the Chinese-American rapper, aka MC Jin, has some seriously impressive accolades under his belt. After becoming popular among his musical peers for his epic freestyles, he was signed to Ruff Ryders in 2002 at just 19 years old, becoming the first Asian American solo rapper to be signed to a major record label in the U.S. He's since parted ways with the label and now travels back and forth between the U.S. and Hong Kong, seeing success in both places. In May 2021, the rapper released a single called "Stop the Hatred" with Wyclef Jean to raise awareness about hate crimes toward Asian Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Olivia Rodrigo

Rodrigo needs no introduction, but I'll do it anyway: This Filipino-American actress-turned-singer-songwriter's mega-hit debut single "drivers license" was unavoidable in January 2021. Its heartbreakingly relatable lyrics about a crush moving on with someone else struck listeners to their core and immediately soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also went viral on TikTok, before making its way into a Saturday Night Live sketch. Rodrigo's songwriting skills have fans likening her to industry heavyweights like Taylor Swift, so it's no surprise her debut album, Sour, is one of the most highly-anticipated albums of summer 2021.

Run River North

Run River North is not just one musician, but three. The band formerly known as Monsters Calling Home is an indie rock band from Los Angeles. The group has an eclectic sound that draws inspiration from each member: Daniel Chae, Alex Hwang, and Sally Kang.

ZHU

When ZHU first entered the electronic music scene, he used an alias and remained anonymous. By 2014, the artist also known as Steven Zhu was ready to share his identity with the world. ZHU got his start in San Francisco, California, but has made his mark on the EDM scene globally.

Darren Criss

Criss rose to fame starring on the television series Glee and he's since proven himself to be a true triple threat. His work can be seen across TV, film, and music. In September of 2018, Criss became the first Filipino-American to win an Emmy in the lead actor category for his portrayal of Andrew Cunanan in FX's The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. He’s also got several full-fledged EPs under his belt.

Amber Liu

Amber Liu (also known mononymously as Amber) is of Taiwanese descent and grew up in Los Angeles. She made a big splash when debuting as a member of the K-pop girl group f(x) in September 2009, but has since gone solo. Her 2019 solo track "Other People" racked up millions of streams, and she’s gearing up to drop her first album of 2021, called y?, very soon. In the meantime, she’s continuing to grow her superstar following on social media, where she has 5 million Instagram followers and over 2.3 million on Twitter.

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barbara-stanwyck-1907-1990 · 4 years ago

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Barbara Stanwyck (born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film and television star, she was known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional for her strong, realistic screen presence. A favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra, she made 85 films in 38 years before turning to television.

Stanwyck got her start on the stage in the chorus as a Ziegfeld girl in 1923 at age 16 and within a few years was acting in plays. She was then cast in her first lead role in Burlesque (1927), becoming a Broadway star. Soon after that, Stanwyck obtained film roles and got her major break when Frank Capra chose her for his romantic drama Ladies of Leisure (1930), which led to additional lead roles.

In 1937 she had the title role in Stella Dallas and received her first Academy Award nomination for best actress. In 1941 she starred in two successful screwball comedies: Ball of Fire with Gary Cooper, and The Lady Eve with Henry Fonda. She received her second Academy Award nomination for Ball of Fire, and in recent decades The Lady Eve has come to be regarded as a romantic comedy classic with Stanwyck's performance called one of the best in American comedy.

By 1944, Stanwyck had become the highest-paid woman in the United States. She starred alongside Fred MacMurray in the seminal film noir Double Indemnity (1944), playing the smoldering wife who persuades MacMurray's insurance salesman to kill her husband. Described as one of the ultimate portrayals of villainy, it is widely thought that Stanwyck should have won the Academy Award for Best Actress rather than being just nominated. She received another Oscar nomination for her lead performance as an invalid wife overhearing her own murder plot in the thriller film noir, Sorry, Wrong Number (1948). After she moved into television in the 1960s, she won three Emmy Awards – for The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1961), the western series The Big Valley (1966), and miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983).

She received an Honorary Oscar in 1982, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1986 and was the recipient of several other honorary lifetime awards. She was ranked as the 11th greatest female star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute. An orphan at the age of four, and partially raised in foster homes, she always worked; one of her directors, Jacques Tourneur, said of Stanwyck, "She only lives for two things, and both of them are work."

Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens on July 16, 1907, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the fifth – and youngest – child of Catherine Ann (née McPhee) (1870-1911) and Byron E. Stevens (1872-1919), working-class parents. Her father, of English descent, was a native of Lanesville, Massachusetts, and her mother, of Scottish descent, was an immigrant from Sydney, Nova Scotia. When Ruby was four, her mother died of complications from a miscarriage after she was knocked off a moving streetcar by a drunk. Two weeks after the funeral, her father joined a work crew digging the Panama Canal and was never seen again by his family. Ruby and her older brother, Malcolm Byron (later nicknamed "By") Stevens, were raised by their eldest sister Laura Mildred, (later Mildred Smith) (1886–1931), who died of a heart attack at age 45. When Mildred got a job as a showgirl, Ruby and Byron were placed in a series of foster homes (as many as four in a year), from which young Ruby often ran away.

"I knew that after fourteen I'd have to earn my own living, but I was willing to do that ... I've always been a little sorry for pampered people, and of course, they're 'very' sorry for me."

Ruby toured with Mildred during the summers of 1916 and 1917, and practiced her sister's routines backstage. Watching the movies of Pearl White, whom Ruby idolized, also influenced her drive to be a performer. At the age of 14, she dropped out of school, taking a package wrapping job at a Brooklyn department store. Ruby never attended high school, "although early biographical thumbnail sketches had her attending Brooklyn's famous Erasmus Hall High School."

Soon afterward, she took a filing job at the Brooklyn telephone office for $14 a week, which allowed her to become financially independent. She disliked the job; her real goal was to enter show business, even as her sister Mildred discouraged the idea. She then took a job cutting dress patterns for Vogue magazine, but customers complained about her work and she was fired. Ruby's next job was as a typist for the Jerome H. Remick Music Company; work she reportedly enjoyed, however her continuing ambition was in show business, and her sister finally gave up trying to dissuade her.

In 1923, a few months before her 16th birthday, Ruby auditioned for a place in the chorus at the Strand Roof, a nightclub over the Strand Theatre in Times Square. A few months later, she obtained a job as a dancer in the 1922 and 1923 seasons of the Ziegfeld Follies, dancing at the New Amsterdam Theater. "I just wanted to survive and eat and have a nice coat", Stanwyck said. For the next several years, she worked as a chorus girl, performing from midnight to seven a.m. at nightclubs owned by Texas Guinan. She also occasionally served as a dance instructor at a speakeasy for gays and lesbians owned by Guinan. One of her good friends during those years was pianist Oscar Levant, who described her as being "wary of sophisticates and phonies."

Billy LaHiff, who owned a popular pub frequented by showpeople, introduced Ruby in 1926 to impresario Willard Mack. Mack was casting his play The Noose, and LaHiff suggested that the part of the chorus girl be played by a real one. Mack agreed, and after a successful audition gave the part to Ruby. She co-starred with Rex Cherryman and Wilfred Lucas. As initially staged, the play was not a success. In an effort to improve it, Mack decided to expand Ruby's part to include more pathos. The Noose re-opened on October 20, 1926, and became one of the most successful plays of the season, running on Broadway for nine months and 197 performances. At the suggestion of David Belasco, Ruby changed her name to Barbara Stanwyck by combining the first name from the play Barbara Frietchie with the last name of the actress in the play, Jane Stanwyck; both were found on a 1906 theater program.

Stanwyck became a Broadway star soon afterward, when she was cast in her first leading role in Burlesque (1927). She received rave reviews, and it was a huge hit. Film actor Pat O'Brien would later say on a 1960s talk show, "The greatest Broadway show I ever saw was a play in the 1920s called 'Burlesque'." Arthur Hopkins described in his autobiography To a Lonely Boy, how he came to cast Stanwyck:

After some search for the girl, I interviewed a nightclub dancer who had just scored in a small emotional part in a play that did not run [The Noose]. She seemed to have the quality I wanted, a sort of rough poignancy. She at once displayed more sensitive, easily expressed emotion than I had encountered since Pauline Lord. She and Skelly were the perfect team, and they made the play a great success. I had great plans for her, but the Hollywood offers kept coming. There was no competing with them. She became a picture star. She is Barbara Stanwyck.

He also called Stanwyck "The greatest natural actress of our time", noting with sadness, "One of the theater's great potential actresses was embalmed in celluloid."

Around this time, Stanwyck was given a screen test by producer Bob Kane for his upcoming 1927 silent film Broadway Nights. She lost the lead role because she could not cry in the screen test, but was given a minor part as a fan dancer. This was Stanwyck's first film appearance.

While playing in Burlesque, Stanwyck was introduced to her future husband, actor Frank Fay, by Oscar Levant. Stanwyck and Fay were married on August 26, 1928, and soon moved to Hollywood.

Stanwyck's first sound film was The Locked Door (1929), followed by Mexicali Rose, released in the same year. Neither film was successful; nonetheless, Frank Capra chose Stanwyck for his film Ladies of Leisure (1930). Her work in that production established an enduring friendship with the director and led to future roles in his films. Other prominent roles followed, among them as a nurse who saves two little girls from being gradually starved to death by Clark Gable's vicious character in Night Nurse (1931). In Edna Ferber's novel brought to screen by William Wellman, she portrays small town teacher and valiant Midwest farm woman Selena in So Big! (1932). She followed with a performance as an ambitious woman "sleeping" her way to the top from "the wrong side of the tracks" in Baby Face (1933), a controversial pre-Code classic. In The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), another controversial pre-Code film by director Capra, Stanwyck portrays an idealistic Christian caught behind the lines of Chinese civil war kidnapped by warlord Nils Asther. A flop at the time, containing "mysterious-East mumbo jumbo", the lavish film is "dark stuff, and its difficult to imagine another actress handling this ... philosophical conversion as fearlessly as Ms. Stanwyck does. She doesn't make heavy weather of it."

In Stella Dallas (1937) she plays the self-sacrificing title character who eventually allows her teenage daughter to live a better life somewhere else. She landed her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress when she was able to portray her character as vulgar, yet sympathetic as required by the movie. Next, she played Molly Monahan in Union Pacific (1939) with Joel McCrea. Stanwyck was reportedly one of the many actresses considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), although she did not receive a screen test. In Meet John Doe she plays an ambitious newspaperwoman with Gary Cooper (1941).

In Preston Sturges's romantic comedy The Lady Eve (1941), she plays a slinky, sophisticated con-woman who falls for her intended victim, the guileless, wealthy snake-collector and scientist Henry Fonda, she "gives off an erotic charge that would straighten a boa constrictor." Film critic David Thomson described Stanwyck as "giving one of the best American comedy performances", and its reviewed as brilliantly versatile in "her bravura double performance" by The Guardian. The Lady Eve is among the top 100 movies of all time on Time and Entertainment Weekly's lists, and is considered to be both a great comedy and a great romantic film with its placement at #55 on the AFI's 100 Years ...100 Laughs list and #26 on its 100 Years ...100 Passions list.

Next, she was the extremely successful, independent doctor Helen Hunt in You Belong to Me (1941), also with Fonda. Stanwyck then played nightclub performer Sugerpuss O'Shea in the Howard Hawks directed, but Billy Wilder written comedy Ball of Fire (1941). In this update of the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs tale, she gives professor Gary Cooper a better understanding of "modern English" in the performance for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

In Double Indemnity, the seminal film noir thriller directed by Billy Wilder, she plays the sizzling, scheming wife/blonde tramp/"destiny in high heels" who lures an infatuated insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) into killing her husband. Stanwyck brings out the cruel nature of the "grim, unflinching murderess", marking her as the "most notorious femme" in the film noir genre. Her insolent, self-possessed wife is one of the screen's "definitive studies of villainy - and should (it is widely thought) have won the Oscar for Best Actress", not just been nominated. Double Indemnity is usually considered to be among the top 100 films of all time, though it did not win any of its seven Academy Award nominations. It is the #38 film of all time on the American Film Institute's list, as well as the #24 on its 100 Years ...100 Thrillers list and #84 on its 100 Years ...100 Passions list.

She plays the columnist caught up in white lies and a holiday romance in Christmas in Connecticut (1945). In 1946 she was "liquid nitrogen" as Martha, a manipulative murderess, costarring with Van Heflin and newcomer Kirk Douglas in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Stanwyck was also the vulnerable, invalid wife that overhears her own murder being plotted in Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) and the doomed concert pianist in The Other Love (1947). In the latter film's soundtrack, the piano music is actually being performed by Ania Dorfmann, who drilled Stanwyck for three hours a day until the actress was able to synchronize the motion of her arms and hands to match the music's tempo, giving a convincing impression that it is Stanwyck playing the piano.

Pauline Kael, a longtime film critic for The New Yorker, admired the natural appearance of Stanwyck's acting style on screen, noting that she "seems to have an intuitive understanding of the fluid physical movements that work best on camera". In reference to the actress's film work during the early sound era, Kael observed that the "early talkies sentimentality...only emphasizes Stanwyck's remarkable modernism."

Many of her roles involve strong characters, yet Stanwyck was known for her accessibility and kindness to the backstage crew on any film set. She knew the names of their wives and children. Frank Capra said of Stanwyck: "She was destined to be beloved by all directors, actors, crews and extras. In a Hollywood popularity contest, she would win first prize, hands down." While working on 1954s Cattle Queen of Montana on location in Glacier National Park, she did some of her own stunts, including a swim in the icy lake.[49] A consummate professional, when aged 50, she performed a stunt in Forty Guns. Her character had to fall off her horse and, with her foot caught in the stirrup, be dragged by the galloping animal. This was so dangerous that the movie's professional stunt person refused to do it. Her professionalism on film sets led her to be named an Honorary Member of the Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame.

William Holden and Stanwyck were longtime friends and when Stanwyck and Holden were presenting the Best Sound Oscar for 1977, he paused to pay a special tribute to her for saving his career when Holden was cast in the lead for Golden Boy (1939). After a series of unsteady daily performances, he was about to be fired, but Stanwyck staunchly defended him, successfully standing up to the film producers. Shortly after Holden's death, Stanwyck recalled the moment when receiving her honorary Oscar: "A few years ago, I stood on this stage with William Holden as a presenter. I loved him very much, and I miss him. He always wished that I would get an Oscar. And so, tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish."

As Stanwyck's film career declined during the 1950s, she moved to television. In 1958 she guest-starred in "Trail to Nowhere", an episode of the Western anthology series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, portraying a wife who pursues, overpowers, and kills the man who murdered her husband. Later, in 1961, her drama series The Barbara Stanwyck Show was not a ratings success, but it earned her an Emmy Award. The show ran for a total of thirty-six episodes. She also guest-starred in this period on other television series, such as The Untouchables with Robert Stack and in four episodes of Wagon Train.

She stepped back into film for the 1964 Elvis Presley film Roustabout, in which she plays a carnival owner.

The western television series, The Big Valley, which was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1969, made her one of the most popular actresses on television, winning her another Emmy. She was billed in the series' opening credits as "Miss Barbara Stanwyck" for her role as Victoria, the widowed matriarch of the wealthy Barkley family. In 1965, the plot of her 1940 movie Remember the Night was adapted and used to develop the teleplay for The Big Valley episode "Judgement in Heaven".

In 1983, Stanwyck earned her third Emmy for The Thorn Birds. In 1985 she made three guest appearances in the primetime soap opera Dynasty prior to the launch of its short-lived spin-off series, The Colbys, in which she starred alongside Charlton Heston, Stephanie Beacham and Katharine Ross. Unhappy with the experience, Stanwyck remained with the series for only the first season, and her role as "Constance Colby Patterson" would be her last. It was rumored Earl Hamner Jr., former producer of The Waltons, had initially wanted Stanwyck for the role of Angela Channing in the 1980s soap opera Falcon Crest, and she turned it down, with the role going to her friend, Jane Wyman; when asked Hamner assured Wyman it was a rumor.

Stanwyck's retirement years were active, with charity work outside the limelight. In 1981, she was awakened in the middle of the night, inside her home in the exclusive Trousdale section of Beverly Hills, by an intruder, who first hit her on the head with his flashlight, then forced her into a closet while he robbed her of $40,000 in jewels.

The following year, in 1982, while filming The Thorn Birds, the inhalation of special-effects smoke on the set may have caused her to contract bronchitis, which was compounded by her cigarette habit; she was a smoker from the age of nine until four years before her death.

Stanwyck died on January 20, 1990, aged 82, of congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. She had indicated that she wanted no funeral service. In accordance with her wishes, her remains were cremated and the ashes scattered from a helicopter over Lone Pine, California, where she had made some of her western films.

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itcameuponamidnightqueer · 5 years ago

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a happier 2019 wrap-up

every year for new year’s, my mom gets everyone one-a-day calendars tailored to their interests. for 2020, she got me a calendar of funny/stupid answers people have written on tests.

but for 2019, she gave me a calendar with a different trivia question every day. i had two rules for this calendar: 1) i had to write down an answer for each question, even if what i wrote down was the dumbest shit in the world, and 2) i wasn’t allowed to look at the answer until the day after.

i saved up all of the ones that i got right bc i like to quantify things, so if nothing else, i know 93 things—

january 18: many musicians have recorded and performed the song “hallelujah.” who wrote it?

january 29: thurl ravenscroft was an accomplished voice actor who sang “you’re a mean one, mr. grinch.” however, ravenscroft was best known for voicing which TV commercial icon?

february 7: who was the first african american appointed to the US supreme court?

february 12: mount rushmore features the giant carved faces of george washington, abraham lincoln, thomas jefferson, and which other US president?

february 13: what is ninjitsu?

february 26: mae c. jemison went into space in 1992 aboard the endeavor, earning her what distinction?

february 27: who wrote and first recorded the song “big yellow taxi”?

march 2: what is the longest running show in broadway history?

march 5: what is the largest library in the world?

march 8: what two novels did the lesser-known brontë sister, anne, write?

march 12: which reptile can breathe through its rear end?

march 16: the winner of best picture at the 2017 oscars was moonlight—but, in an historic mix-up, the announcers initially declared which other nominee to be the winner?

march 21: which is the smallest planet in our solar system?

march 22: why is a pound cake called a pound cake?

march 23: the hit musical wicked is based on a 1995 novel by which author?

march 24: billy eichner, comedian and host of billy on the street, once had a role on which beloved NBC sitcom?

march 27: name the star who plays offred in the hulu series the handmaid’s tale?

april 6: the 2015 song “fourfiveseconds” was a collaboration between rihanna, kanye west, and which other legendary musician?

april 8: why do apples turn brown when sliced?

april 16: what is a pooh-bah?

april 19: what is the belgian town of duffel’s claim to fame?

april 29: what ancient babylonian king created a compendium of 282 laws to guide society in 18th century BCE?

may 2: what is the name for the condition in which a dog’s feet smell like corn chips?

may 5: in mary shelley’s frankenstein, which character is named frankenstein?

may 7: name the australian pop star whose debut studio album blue neighborhood included hits “youth” and “wild”.

may 10: which superhero did british actor benedict cumberbatch play in a 2016 film?

may 16: which american film tradition began this day in 1929?

may 17: in science, what does “triple point” refer to?

may 26: what function do cats’ whiskers serve?

may 27: where is the tomb of the unknown soldier located?

june 1: which cult classic film popularized the red swingline stapler?

june 3: who is barbie (the doll) named after?

june 4: eid al-fitr is an annual muslim festival that marks the end of what?

june 10: which actor was offered a role on the o.c. but turned it down for a role on one tree hill?

june 11: the sport that americans call soccer is known as football in many other countries. where did the term “soccer” originate?

june 17: there is a species of horsefly known as bootylicious. which celebrity inspired the nickname?

june 18: the amc series the walking dead is based on a series of comic books penned by which accomplished writer?

june 24: which actress played wonder woman in the 2017 film of the same name?

june 27: what makes chili peppers hot?

june 28: which architectural engineering feat allowed the ancient incans to cross canyons and rivers with ease?

june 29: the word “scuba” is an acronym. what does it stand for?

july 3: who is the bestselling fiction writer ever?

july 5: which animated film was the first to be nominated for best picture at the oscars?

july 9: which item did women living in the dust bowl during the great depression commonly fashion into clothing?

july 16: in nintendo’s mario video games, the nefarious wario is mario’s foil. who is luigi’s foil and archrival?

july 18: pop stars taylor swift and zayn malik teamed up to record the song “i don’t want to live forever” for which 2017 film soundtrack?

july 22: which is the only letter that doesn’t appear on the periodic table?

july 23: which novel is considered frank herbert’s masterpiece?

july 25: name the three women who were cast in the first season of SNL in 1975.

july 26: during which years did the olympics award official medals for the arts, including painting, architecture, sculpture, music, and literature?

july 28: what are the ingredients of a moscow mule?

august 2: which “luxury” music festival was supposed to take place in the bahamas in april 2017 but dissolved into chaos and was eventually canceled after attendees began to arrive?

august 3: what is the claim to fame of anchor bar in buffalo, NY?

august 8: the la brea tar pits are a popular tourist attraction and fossil excavation site. what does “la brea” mean in spanish?

august 9: the popular board game clue goes by which other name in the UK, where it was invented?

august 11: what is earth’s largest ocean?

august 12: who wrote johnny cash’s “a boy named sue”?

august 13: what were the original 3 pokemon that players could choose from at the start of pokemon red and pokemon blue, the first pokemon video games released internationally?

august 14: what kind of music did katy perry release as a teenager before she became a pop star?

august 20: philip k. dick’s novel do androids dream of electric sheep? inspired which 1982 film with a different title?

august 30: batman is to gotham city as superman is to what?

september 6: what is the hottest planet in the solar system?

september 9: the first book of the “his dark materials” trilogy is known as the golden compass in the US, and what in the UK?

september 15: one of the classic monopoly player tokens is a dog. what breed is it?

september 16: why are spiders technically not considered insects?

september 22: on her debut album, lily allen included a song called “alfie” about her little brother. alfie allen is best known now for his role on which TV show?

october 2: a killer whale isn’t technically a whale. what is it?

october 8: name the breed of large domestic cats native to new england

october 10: which company uses the slogan “because we’re worth it”?

october 12: which female pop star had a brief stint in an R&B group called basic instinct in the 1990s?

october 16: if you ordered a berliner in a cafe in wisconsin, what would they serve you?

october 21: in 1943, when many NFL players were drafted for service in WWII, which two teams combined forces and formed a team called the steagles?

october 25: virginia was the birthplace of 8 US presidents. which state follows close on virginia’s heels as the birthplace of 7 US presidents?

october 28: bram stoker’s legendary vampire dracula is widely thought to be inspired by which real-life romanian prince?

october 30: in european folklore, what is a familiar?

november 1: what does nanowrimo stand for?

november 13: name the movie that imagines how playwright j.m. barrie came to write peter pan.

november 14: which US state has the smallest population?

november 16: who technically owns all of the unmarked swans in england?

november 19: which entertainment icon was offered the role of phoebe in friends but turned it down?

november 22: robert louis stevenson’s novel treasure island features a cast of colorful characters, including the infamous long john silver. what is the name of the novel’s young protagonist, an innkeeper’s son who ends up serving as a cabin boy on a sea adventure?

november 23: where is dollywood?

november 28: not surprisingly, americans eat more food on thanksgiving than they do on any other day of the year. which day boasts the second-highest food consumption?

november 29: “swish swish”, a song on katy perry’s 2017 album witness, was rumored to be a diss track about which other pop star?

november 30: which actor wore a hairpiece every time he played james bond?

december 2: in greek mythology, perspehone was the goddess of the underworld and the wife of hades. who were persephone’s parents?

december 3: which prominent magazine declined to run an excerpt of the catcher in the rye on the grounds that the characters were unbelievable and the writing was “show-offy”?

december 12: which comic book series featured batman’s first appearance?

december 14: what was elvis presley’s natural hair color?

december 21: a 16th century da Vinci manuscript known as the codex leicester sold for over $30 million. who was the wealthy buyer?

december 23: ancient egyptian queen cleopatra had relationships with both julius caesar and mark antony. which of the two men was she buried next to?

december 27: which of the following hollywood stars did not get their start on the disney channel—shia labeouf, hayden panettiere, keri russell, ellen page, ryan gosling

december 29: technically, peanuts aren’t nuts. what are they?

#i thought about including the answers but then no one else could play along #anyway no surprise that most of the ones i knew are pop culture but #oh well #idk what purpose this serves other than to satisfy me

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thatsnotcanonpodcasts · 6 years ago

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Movies, Smells & CRISPR

Movies coming in May - https://comicbook.com/movies/2019/04/30/movies-arriving-may-2019/#6

Bad sense of smell predicts early death - https://www.newscientist.com/article/2201021-a-bad-sense-of-smell-predicts-early-death-but-we-dont-know-why/

CRISPR storing GIFS - https://www.alphr.com/bioscience/1006302/scientists-have-used-crispr-to-store-a-gif-inside-the-dna-of-a-living-cell

Games currently playing

Buck

– Assassin’s Creed Unity - https://store.steampowered.com/app/289650/Assassins_Creed_Unity/

Professor

– Minecraft - https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/

– Mortal Kombat 11 - https://store.steampowered.com/app/976310/Mortal_Kombat11/

Other topics discussed

A Dog’s Journey (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dog%27s_Journey_(film)

Isle of Dogs (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Dogs_(film)

The Professor (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Professor_(2018_film)

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wick:_Chapter_3_%E2%80%93_Parabellum

Clara (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_(film)

The Professor & the Madman (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Professor_and_the_Madman_(film)

Aladdin (2019 disney film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_(2019_film)

Sonic the Hedgehog (2019 film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(film)

Tolkien (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_(film)

Rock of Ages (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_of_Ages_(2012_film)

Bohemian Rhapsody (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Rhapsody_(film)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019 film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla:_King_of_the_Monsters_(2019_film)

Plucking nose hairs is not a good idea

- https://www.businessinsider.com.au/why-you-shouldnt-pluck-your-nose-hairs-2016-7?r=US&IR=T

How to pronounce GIF

- https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/battle-over-gif-pronunciation-erupts/

Ways to add CRISPR into the body

- https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608898/five-ways-to-get-crispr-into-the-body/

A New World Order podcast

- https://thatsnotcanon.com/anewworldorder

Big Fat Liar (film)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Fat_Liar

Y2K of GPS

- https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-04-05/gps-rollover-global-positioning-system-receivers-satellites/10966218

Gal Gadot’s stunt double in Wonder Woman movie

- http://www.espn.com/espnw/culture/article/19510724/stunt-double-caitlin-dechelle-wonder-woman-real-life-superpowers

Maxwell Klinger (M*A*S*H character)

- https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Maxwell_Q._Klinger

Shoutouts

27 Apr 1922 – Record breaking Sheila Scott was born, she later in life went on to become an accomplished female pilot. In 1966, Sheila made her first around-the-world flight, covering about 31,000 miles in 189 flying hours. It was the first such solo flight by a British subject, the longest-distance solo flight, and only the third around-the-world flight by a woman. Then records began to tumble: between London and Cape Town in 1967; across the North Atlantic the same year; across the South Atlantic in 1969; from equator to equator over the North Pole in 1971, becoming the first woman to pilot a flight circling the world by way of the North Pole in a light aircraft. After her record polar flight, she made a third around-the-world flight, earning her 100th world-class record, including a new time from Darwin, Australia, to London of three and a half days, beating the previous record by one and a half days. In 1967, she set 23 world records in just one year. - https://www.onthisday.com/articles/record-breaking-sheila-the-high-flying-aviator

29 Apr 2019 - Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama has been nominated in the "Voters Choice" category for the Eisner Hall of Fame awards - https://comicbook.com/anime/2019/04/29/dragon-ball-akira-toriyama-eisner-award-nomination-2019/

30 Apr 1888 – 1888 Moradabad hailstorm: hail stones allegedly as big as oranges kill 246 people and some 1600 sheep and cattle in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888_Moradabad_hailstorm

30 Apr 1989 - World Wide Web (WWW) is first launched in the public domain by CERN scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee - https://www.onthisday.com/people/tim-berners-lee

Remembrances

29 Apr 2019 – John Singleton, American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was best known for directing Boyz n the Hood (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, becoming, at age 24, the first African American and youngest person to have ever been nominated for that award. Singleton was a native of South Los Angeles, and many of his films, such as Poetic Justice (1993), Higher Learning (1995), and Baby Boy (2001), had themes which resonated with the contemporary urban population. He also directed the drama Rosewood (1997) and the action films Shaft (2000), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), and Four Brothers (2005). He co-created the television crime drama Snowfall. He died of a stroke at 51 in Los Angeles, California - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Singleton

29 Apr 2019 – Les Murray, Australian poet, anthologist and critic. His career spanned over 40 years and he published nearly 30 volumes of poetry as well as two verse novels and collections of his prose writings. His poetry won many awards and he is regarded as "the leading Australian poet of his generation". He was rated by the National Trust of Australia as one of the 100 Australian Living Treasures. He died at 80 in Taree, New South Wales. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Murray_(poet)

30 Apr 1792 - John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, a British statesman who succeeded his grandfather Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich as the Earl of Sandwich in 1729, at the age of ten. During his life, he held various military and political offices, including Postmaster General, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Secretary of State for the Northern Department. He is also known for the claim that he was the eponymous inventor of the sandwich. He died at 73 in Chiswick,England - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Montagu,_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich

30 Apr 1974 - Agnes Moorehead, American actress whose 41-year career included work in radio, stage, film, and television. She is best known for her role as Endora on the television series Bewitched, but she also has notable roles in films, including Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Dark Passage, All That Heaven Allows, Show Boat, and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Moorehead rarely played lead roles, but her skill at character development and range earned her one Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards and six Emmy Awards. She was the first woman to host the Oscars ceremony. Her transition to television won acclaim for drama and comedy. She could play many different types, but often portrayed haughty, arrogant characters. She died of uterine cancer at 73 in Rochester, Minnesota - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Moorehead

Famous Birthdays

30 Apr 1921 - Roger L. Easton, American scientist/physicist who was the principal inventor and designer of the Global Positioning System (GPS), along with Ivan A. Getting and Bradford Parkinson. He was born in Craftsbury, Vermont - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_L._Easton

30 Apr 1985 – Gal Gadot, Israeli actress and model. At age 18, she was crowned Miss Israel 2004. She then served two years in the Israel Defense Forces as a combat instructor, and began studying law and international relations at IDC Herzliya college while building up her modeling and acting careers. Gadot's first international film role came as Gisele Yashar in Fast & Furious (2009), a role she reprised in subsequent installments of the film franchise. She went on to earn worldwide fame for portraying Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe, beginning with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), followed by the solo film Wonder Woman and the ensemble Justice League (both 2017). In 2018, Gadot was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and was listed among the highest-paid actresses in the world. She was born in Petah Tikva, Israel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal_Gadot

1 May 1738 - Kamehameha 1, Hawaiian conqueror who united the Hawaiian Islands and formally established the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi in 1810. He was born in Kohala, Hawaii

- https://www.onthisday.com/people/kamehameha-i

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamehameha_I

1 May 1923 - Joseph Heller, American author of novels, short stories, plays and screenplays. His best-known work is the novel Catch-22, a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for an absurd or contradictory choice. He was born in Brooklyn, New York - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller

Events of Interest

1 May 1786 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera "Marriage of Figaro" premieres in Vienna with Mozart himself directing - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mozarts-le-nozze-di-figaro-premieres-in-vienna

1 May 1840 - The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system was first issued. It was not valid for use until 6 May. The Penny Black features a profile of Queen Victoria. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black

1 May 1994 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ayrton_Senna

1 May 1999 - SpongeBob SquarePants premiere on Nickelodeon after the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards. It has received worldwide critical acclaim since its premiere and gained enormous popularity by its second season. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spongebob_squarepants

Intro

Artist – Goblins from Mars

Song Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)

Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJ

Email - [email protected]

Twitter - https://twitter.com/NAmalgamated

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6Nux69rftdBeeEXwD8GXrS

iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/top-shelf-nerds/id1347661094

RSS - http://www.thatsnotcanonproductions.com/topshelfnerdspodcast?format=rss

#movies #nerd #pop culture #aladdin #minecraft #movie news #events of interest #biology #internet #science and tech #human biology

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sexydeathparty · 3 years ago

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Ariana DeBose Is First Openly Queer Woman Of Colour To Win An Oscar: 'There Is A Place For Us'

Ariana DeBose continued her stage-to-screen success streak at the 2022 Academy Awards with a history-making win.

Ariana won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story. She is the first queer woman of colour and Afro-Latina to receive the award.

The actor became visibly emotional as she acknowledged the historic significance of her win in her acceptance speech.

“Imagine this little girl in the back seat of any white Ford Focus,” she said. “Look into her eyes. You see an openly queer woman and Afro-Latina who found her strength in life through art. And that’s what I believe we’re here to celebrate.”

Ariana DeBose is the first openly queer person of color to win an acting Oscar. https://t.co/YILAwH0cbkpic.twitter.com/8o5MzcyKyp

— Variety (@Variety) March 28, 2022

Alluding to the song Somewhere from West Side Story, she added, “So to anybody who’s ever questioned your identity ever, ever, ever, or you find yourself living in grey spaces, I promise you this: There is, indeed, a place for us.”

Interestingly, actor Rita Moreno also won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1962 for playing Anita in the original West Side Story, which starred Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood. Rita is the only cast member from the original film to appear in Spielberg’s remake in a newly written role.

Ariana, a North Carolina native who appeared in Hamilton and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway prior to making the transition to film, previously described her Oscar nomination as “a monumental moment.”

“It’s exciting,” she told Variety last month. “But I feel every ounce of hard work and determination that I’ve had to employ throughout this journey. Every rejection — or, as I like to say, redirection. Every choice I’ve made. Every risk I’ve taken.”

20 Funniest Moments From Oscars 2022 Hosts Amy Schumer, Regina Hall And Wanda Sykes

Here's The Full List Of Winners At This Year's Oscars

30 Must-See Moments From This Year's Oscars (Yes, Including That One)

from HuffPost UK - Athena2 - All Entries (Public) https://ift.tt/uIb9ylN via IFTTT

#IFTTT #HuffPost UK - Athena2 - All Entries (Public)

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hoynovoy · 3 years ago

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20 Asian American Musicians To Add To Your Playlist Now

Melissa Polinar

Eric Nam

Clinton Kane

Jhené Aiko

Steve Aoki

Karen O

H.E.R.

Toro Y Moi

Ruby Ibarra

Ella Jay Basco

Mitski

Yaeji

Hayley Kiyoko

Jay Park

Jin Au-Yeung

Olivia Rodrigo

Run River North

ZHU

Darren Criss

Amber Liu

Get More Dating Advice Here

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gretagerwigarchive · 7 years ago

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Greta Gerwig Q&A

By Mark Halverson

source: http://www.sactownmag.com/April-May-2010/Greta-Gerwig-Q-A/

We talk to Hollywood star and Sacramento native Greta Gerwig as she dishes about dancing with the Sacramento Ballet, her first walk down the red carpet and how it feels to be called the Meryl Streep of “mumblecore”

Known for her charming, offbeat performances in micro-budget indie films, Sacramento native Greta Gerwig breaks out this spring starring with Ben Stiller in Greenberg. The 26-year-old actress and writer, who now lives in Manhattan, talks about dancing with the Sacramento Ballet, her first walk down the red carpet and how it feels to be called the Meryl Streep of “mumblecore”

Let’s jump right into Greenberg [which opened March 26]. Ben Stiller plays the title character, a sort of lost soul who strikes up a relationship with your character [aspiring singer Florence Marr] while house-sitting for his brother in L.A. First of all, this isn’t your typical Ben Stiller outing. No. It isn’t. When I said to my friends and family that I had gotten a Ben Stiller movie, it was prefaced by saying, “But don’t bring the kids.” It’s not Night at the Museum. It’s very different.

What would you say the film is about? I think the film is a love story. But a real love story, meaning that it’s about real people, not a fake love story where everybody looks perfect and does 180 degrees of transformation. Greenberg is a little too delicate for the world he finds himself in and a little bewildered as to how he became who he is, and he has built up a lot of defenses so he doesn’t hurt himself—even though he is getting hurt anyway. Florence is someone who chronically puts other people before herself to the point where it’s not only destructive to her but maybe a little destructive to the other person. But she leads heart before head, and gives other people as many chances as they need.

The movie was written and directed by Noah Baumbach, who made The Squid and the Whale. It’s the most high-profile film you’ve done. What were your feelings during production? I wanted the part so badly when I auditioned for it, but just didn’t think there was any way that I could ever get it. My first audition was actually with Noah and [his wife] Jennifer [Jason Leigh] in their apartment in New York. When I got the part, I kept expecting somebody to call me and tell me “Never mind. We went with Natalie Portman. You can go home.” Working on the film was everything that I hoped. Even though the anticipation was almost more than I could bear, the actual making of the film with the most talented people you’ve ever been around made me want to be a better actress every day. It was exciting to feel like I had to raise myself to the level of those around me. And not just Noah and Ben, but costume designer Mark Bridges designed the costumes for There Will Be Blood. [Cinematographer] Harris Savides shot Milk. These people are the best of the best and you just pray every day that you are delivering half of what they can.

You studied English at Barnard College, have had several of your plays produced and co-wrote the films Hannah Takes the Stairs and Nights and Weekends. As a writer, how was it to work with Baumbach, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter? It was a huge thrill. The script [for Greenberg] was one of the best things I’ve ever read, period. He chooses very beautiful, specific words that evoke worlds in a very short space and the dialogue is letter-perfect. As a writer, I’m jealous; as an actress, I’m thankful.

When you were cast for the film, The New York Observer referred to you as the Meryl Streep of “mumblecore.” Can you explain the term a little? Sure. I think “mumblecore” is a press term. It’s not like anybody in the mumblecore world thinks of themselves as mumblecore or ever did. The unifying thread seems to be that it’s done very low budget. [The movies also often feature semi-improvised, naturalistic performances and twentysomethings in tangled romantic relationships.] Another thing I’ll say is that the movies I’ve done that are considered mumblecore, like Hannah Takes the Stairs, Baghead and Nights and Weekends, those were all shot within a six-month period in 2006, so it’s like talking about something that happened very quickly if it happened at all. It’s a little embarrassing to be called the Meryl Streep of anything.

Embarrassing in what way? Meryl Streep is her own sentence as a woman. She doesn’t need another person’s name in that sentence. Meryl Streep always stands alone.

Greenberg premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February. What was it like to walk the red carpet for the first time? It was the thrill of my life. I think you are supposed to sort of think that it’s a drag, and isn’t it weird, but I just had the best time. I just kept thinking to myself that I’d wanted to be an actress for so long, and that my 12-year-old self would be so psyched to be here right now. I tried to just be in it with all the excitement and not freak myself out or feel like I didn’t deserve to be there. It was also the first time I had seen the movie with an audience. As an actress you become your character but then you also protect your character, and it was really gratifying to talk to some people afterwards and they said they also wanted to protect Florence. That was so nice that the movie made people empathetic.

You’ve done quite a few odd things in your films: played trumpet duets naked in a bathtub, had your head blown off, had rock icon Iggy Pop cast as your father. What kind of feedback do you get from family and friends about your films? I think there is a lot of confusion. They are all very proud, but I don’t make films that are necessarily crowd pleasers so I think there’s some desire from family and friends that I do something that is a little bit more accessible.

Speaking of your family, do your parents still live in Sacramento? They do. My mom’s a nurse and my dad does small business loans for First U.S. [Community] Credit Union. They live in River Park. I think they moved [there] in 1980 and I was born in ’83. I grew up in the same house my whole life. I went to Phoebe Hearst, Sutter Middle School and St. Francis.

Were you interested in theater and film growing up? [I was] involved in dance and theater. I took ballet from Pamela Hayes, who a lot of girls still take ballet from. I took tap and jazz from Ron Cisneros, and I did his summer theater [camp] for kids. I was in the Sacramento Ballet’s Nutcracker for three years. I played Clara one year, in fifth grade. I thought that was the pinnacle of my life. In high school, I got more involved in theater with [drama teachers] Cheryl Sigl at St. Francis High School and also Ed Trafton at Jesuit High School because St. Francis and Jesuit did a lot of theater together. I also did a lot of shows out at the Woodland Opera House. I did A Chorus Line when I was 15 or 16. But nobody knew I was that young because I always kind of looked old. It was all adults, and they were like, “But you’re how old?”

What do you like to do for fun when you’re back in Sacramento? It’s always nice to be home. I spend a lot of time with my best friend Connor Mickiewicz, who went to Jesuit. He started a theater company in Sacramento called the New Helvetia Theatre. So I hang with him and look at theater spaces and watch plays he wants to do. I’m really proud of him. And we spend a lot of time eating Burr’s ice cream in East Sacramento.

Sounds like you keep busy on both coasts. What’s next for you? Well, I’m figuring out what’s next right now. A lot of doors have been opened for me because of [Greenberg], which is really exciting. I just hope to make something that I’m at least half as passionate about.

#2010 #Interview #Greta Gerwig #Greenberg

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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Oscar award: Is it the gold standard or a statuette of limitations? - art and culture

It’s not just that the Oscars are long. It’s that they’re dull. No one takes fashion risks anymore — women put on well-behaved gowns and save the shenanigans for the Met Gala. Young actresses gush over Meryl Streep, even if she’s playing a terrible singer, terribly, in a terrible film. Everyone’s practised their speech/gracious-loser expression. The host’s one-liners will land somewhere between celebratory and critical.And in India, by the time you wake up on Monday, the whole thing’s over. The red-carpet styles are already funnelled into hit-and-miss who-wore-it-better listicles. The gold statuettes handed out. The tears, zingers and highlights clipped into digestible bits on YouTube. You’ve missed nothing.via GIPHYEven Americans don’t watch the Oscars any more. Viewership was highest in the year 2000. Some 46.3 million watched American Beauty win Best Picture, and a young Angelina Jolie pick up Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted. Last year, only 29.6 million Americans tuned in. The Oscar ceremony, it seems, is going the way of the variety shows of the 1970s and the Top-10 music countdowns of the 1990s. Its glory days seem to be in the past.Ratings aren’t where the prestige lies. Since the awards were instituted in 1929, the draw has been the prizes. That’s where the plot gets complicatedIt doesn’t help that the ceremony, carpet to credits, is more than three hours long — and so repetitive that it feels much longer. You could watch this year’s Oscar-nominated The Irishman in that time; or the 1977 winner, Annie Hall, twice.To be fair, the body that hands out the awards, has been trying to liven up the telecast. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences have dropped the host. Awards for minor categories have been handed out in the aisles. The Lifetime Achievement segment is staged separately. For the 2019 edition, they even tried to add a category called Achievement in Popular Cinema. It was dropped amid confusion and criticism.But it’s not just about how many people are catching the Oscars live. Ratings aren’t where the prestige lies. Since the awards were instituted in 1929, the draw has been the prizes. And that’s where the plot starts to get a little complicated. via GIPHYJUDGE AND JURYThink of the Oscars as a sort of annual State of the Union address for Hollywood. Nominated and winning entries represent not just the best of the best, but the American film industry itself. The 9,000 lifetime members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vote within their categories. Actors nominate actors, editors nominate editors, and so on. Peer approval matters. So even if Meryl Streep is playing a terrible singer, terribly, in a terrible film, someone’s noticing that the costume design is exceptional.Actors nominate actors, editors nominate editors. Even if Meryl Streep is playing a terrible singer, terribly, in a terrible film, someone’s noticing that the costume design is exceptional.And yet, despite stellar work from dozens of women directors this year, not one has been nominated. Of the nominated actors, only one is black. Four very white, very male films (Joker, 1917, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and The Irishman) have ten or more nominations each. It’s not so much a reflection as a distortion.Here’s why: Of those 9,000 Academy members, only 32% are women and only 16% are people of colour. The Academy is largely white and male. Many members haven’t worked in years, are out of sync with Hollywood’s own global market, and their bias is now driving young movie watchers to other metrics of excellence, like the Baftas, the relatively low-key British equivalent; and crowdsourced resources like IMDb. via GIPHYThe Emmy and Grammy awards have accommodated reality television and electronica. MTV’s acting awards are gender-neutral. The Academy is still struggling to squeeze in a stunt category. It’s changed Best Foreign Language Film to Best International Feature Film this year, adding more confusion than clarity. It just won’t let the rest of the world in; even British filmmakers and actors rarely win. And it’s still too long.To update the Oscar ceremony, they’d need to first reboot the Academy. Especially now, when new platforms, new markets and a political upheaval around gender and colour are fragmenting the audience.For an overwhelming majority of film lovers, an Oscar nod is still the first spark of interest in an otherwise unknown film, genre or actor. It needs to share those nods more equitably, so that more of us have a reason to stay up and watch the awards again. via GIPHYSnubs and snubbedSince the Oscars were instituted in 1929, only six black men have been nominated for Best Director. John Singleton in 1992 for Boyz n the Hood, Lee Daniels in 2010 for Precious, Steve McQueen in 2014 for 12 Years a Slave, Barry Jenkins in 2017 for Moonlight, Jordan Peele in 2018 for Get Out and Spike Lee in 2019 for BlacKkKlansman. No black director has won. No black woman has even been nominated for directing.Marlon Brando, knowing he would win the acting Oscar for The Godfather in 1973, sent Apache actress, Sacheen Littlefeather, instead to accept it for him, and deliver a speech about Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans. via GIPHYEddie Murphy, when presenting an award in 1988, said he hadn’t wanted to attend, because the Academy had not recognised the contributions of blacks. He then counted Oscar-winning black actors on one hand. “I’ll probably never win an Oscar for saying this, but... I gotta say it,” he said.Only five women have ever been nominated for best director: Lina Wertmüller in 1977 for Seven Beauties, Jane Campion in 1994 for The Piano, Sofia Coppola in 2004 for Lost in Translation, Kathryn Bigelow in 2010 for The Hurt Locker and Greta Gerwig in 2018 for Lady Bird. Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to have won. Read the full article

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