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ultrahpfan5blog · 3 years

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Rewatching TDK Trilogy

Easily my favorite superhero trilogy and arguably one of my favorite trilogies of all time. I think in terms of superhero trilogies, Captain America is the one that comes closest because I love all three movies, but they aren’t a trilogy in the normal sense in that Civil War is essentially Avengers 2.5 and neither Civil War nor Winter Soldier can be understood without having watched Avengers and Age of Ultron. But even putting that aside, I adore TDK trilogy and it still ranks as my favorite superhero movies. The trilogy, obviously starting with Batman Begins, is what put introduced me to Nolan. I hadn’t seen Memento and Insomnia till then so Batman Begins was literally my first introduction to him.

I was always a big Batman fan as a huge follower of the DCAU cartoons with Kevin Conroy voicing a really badass Batman throughout the 90′s and into the early 2000′s. While I enjoyed the first 4 Batman movies as a kid, yes even B&R, I always wanted to see the more somber version from the cartoons. Batman Begins hit me at the perfect time where I started to have longer attention spans and wasn’t just looking for the next action scene. Rewatching the movie, it amazes me that Batman doesn’t show up for half the movie. I think that was a really brave call given pretty much all previous Batman movies introduced Batman almost immediately. I genuinely love all the prelude to Bruce becoming Batman. I liked that we got to see his training extensively and we are introduced to the city and see the dynamics of the rich and the poor, the police, the mob, the lawyers etc... It really gives Gotham a very grounded personality. I think Nolan really killed it at the casting level. By getting Caine as Alfred, Freeman as Fox, and Oldman as Gordon, he created a superbly acted support structure around Bruce/Batman, so we aren’t just always waiting for Bruce to show up. On top of that, they had Liam Neeson as Ra’s, who is effortlessly compelling, as well as other strong supporting actors like Cillian Murphy as a scene stealing Scarecrow, Tom Wilkinson as Falcone, Rutger Hauer as Earle etc... All giving personality to a difference facet of the city and Bruce’s life. But this truly is Bale’s movie. I didn’t know him at all prior to this film, but I have been a fan ever since. He carries the movie on his shoulders and he delivers the ferociousness of Batman and the humanity of Bruce Wayne effortlessly. If there is someone who doesn’t make a big impression, its Katie Holmes. I didn’t find her terrible, but rather the character isn’t exactly well written which bleeds into the next movie with Maggie Gyllenhall as well. My favorite Batman performance. Rewatching, what surprised me the most is the amount of humor in the movie. This is actually reflective of the entire trilogy. The movies deal with darkness and death, but there is actually plenty of humor sprinkled throughout these movies which prevent it from being dour. There have been a lot of superhero origin stories, but this still remains the gold standard of superhero origin stories. A 9/10 for me.

There is nothing I can say about The Dark Knight that hasn’t been said a 100 times over. It quite literally is the best comic book movie of all time. But it basically is at heart a drama about Gotham. Whereas BB acts as a character centric piece, this film is about all the characters living in Gotham. Arguable, the character that has the biggest arc in the film is Harvey Dent. Again, the casting department knocked it out of the park with the casting of Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. Unfortunately, Eckhart never really capitalized on his performance here because he really was terrific in the film, both as Harvey and as Two-Face, to the point where you wished you had more of Two-Face. Gary Oldman gave his best work in the trilogy in this movie. The desperation as the situation spins out of control is fabulous. Freeman also has a very meaty role in the movie and continues to add a lot of weight to the scenes as well as plenty of humor, as does Michael Caine. Christian Bale continued to be terrific. There were some complaints about his voice, which I feel have been overexaggerated over the years. I definitely think his Begins voice is better, but barring one or two scenes, I never really had an issue with Bale’s voice in this film. He delivers a very nuanced performance. Maggie Gyllenhaal took over from Katie Holmes in TDK and while I think she is a far better actress than Katie Holmes, I think the character itself is not very well written. In both movies, Rachel comes off as very judgmental. Whereas in BB I can understand her reason in being so, given Bruce was ready to commit murder and later was out being a playboy in front of her for the sake of appearances, in this movie she is judgmental towards Bruce even though she knows what he has been doing to help the city. Also, she did come off a bit flaky in the whole Bruce/Rachel/Harvey triangle. And then there is Heath Ledger. There are very few performances that I consider perfect. This is one of them. I think every choice Ledger makes in this movie, be it intentional or unintentional, works amazingly well. Like him licking his lips to keep the make up on. It just adds a creepy quality to his character, even if it is completely unintentional. There are so many ticks and quirks in Ledger’s performance that make this a phenomenal performance. I don’t see any villain performance having matches that since 2008. I think the closest I have seen prior to that is Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs. It really is a performance that adds such a big extra edge to the movie. I love that Nolan sticks to certain details such as Bruce never actually drinking alcohol and throwing it away at the part and then Joker showing up and taking a glass and him spilling almost all of it. It gives a lot of personality to the characters. If I have any complaint about the movie, it is that Bruce does at times feel like a stationary character as he does not have as big of an arc as a Harvey Dent. And if you want, you can pick apart the holes in the series of events that happen that cause the chaos. But the drama of the film is just so intense that you forget all of that behind. I give it a 9.5/10

The Dark Knight Rises to me is the film that gets often maligned just because it isn’t TDK. And that is a crazy yardstick to compare it to. But as a movie on its own, its pretty damn awesome. TDKR is where the film truly steps away from being a version of the comics to being an Elseworld story with Batman having been absent for 8 years and then Bruce retiring and leaving Gotham at the end of the movie. But I don’t think there was any way for Nolan to close out his trilogy without it becoming an Elseworld story and it really didn’t matter because I always figured that as long as Bruce is out there, if Gotham needed him, he would come back. Its not as if there aren’t existing comic book stories of Bruce having retired or left being Batman behind. Again, there is some superb new casting. JGL ends up being surprising integral and he is terrific. Tom Hardy is awesome as Bane. He manages to provide a terrifying presence. I actually loved his voice. I love that a terrifying brute of a man has a polite, gentlemanly sounding voice. It gave him a unique personality. Marion Cotillard is pretty good as Talia/Miranda. She has an awkwardly filmed death scene but she’s good throughout the rest of the film, particularly during the reveal scene. But the casting of the movie for me was Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. I knew Anne Hathaway mostly from the Princess Bride movies till then even though she had gotten an academy award nomination by then. But I really didn’t envisage her as Selina Kyle but she blew me out of the water with her performance. She was seductive, yet very likable. I love the clever costume design of her goggles looking like cat ears when she puts them up. I also love Nolan’s version of the Lazarus Pit. Certainly Bruce’s climb out of the pit is one of the most compelling scenes of the movie. You truly feel the emotion. The film also has one of the best acted scenes I have scene between Michael Caine and Christian Bale in the hallway. Its the scene I remember first whenever I think about TDKR. Oscar quality acting by both in that scene. The returning cast is all terrific but Michael Caine has a few gut wrenching scenes, including this one and the scene at the funeral at the end. Oldman and Freeman continue to be stalwarts throughout the movie, I really admire that Nolan did not waste these actors and given them very substantial roles in all the movies and all these actors really respected the material to not sleep walk through the roles. I think Bale’s performance here rivals his performance in Begins. Particularly in the scenes in the Pit. You get to see a full range of emotions, from pain, to despair, to anger, to hope. Its a superb performance. The film isn’t flawless. Its just a tad too long and there is some clunky editing at times. None of the three films can be said to contain very memorable action sequences because Nolan is not known to have great action sequences in his film until more recently, but the drama in the action negates that. Like, the Bane vs Batman fight where Bane breaks Batman, isn’t the greatest action scene in terms of fight choreography, but there is a lot weight to these characters which is what makes it incredibly compelling. Same is true to an extent for the climax at the end. When Batman beats Bane, I felt a sense of satisfaction after what I had witnessed in the previous fight. Overall, I genuinely feel that I love the last act of TDKR the most out of all three films. The Batplane, Batpod, and Tumbler chase scene was thrilling and it was cool to watch all three Bat vehicles in operation. The ending montage also ends the movie on a real uplifting note for all characters, which is very satisfying. I really love the movie. A 9/10.

It has to be said that Zimmer’s score across all three films contributes enormously to these movies. All in all, these set of movies are still my favorite superhero movies and my favorite Nolan movies till date.

#batman #batman begins #the dark knight #the dark knight rises #christopher nolan #christian bale #michael caine #heath ledger #morgan freeman #gary oldman #anne hathaway #tom hardy #joseph gordon levitt #liam neeson #cillian murphy #hans zimmer #katie holmes #maggie gyllenhaal #aaron eckhart

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movienotesbyzawmer · 3 years

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August 30: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

(previous notes: Mission: Impossible III)

I bet the powers that be at the Mission: Impossible movie factory didn't lose any sleep over the stupid colon in the title that screws everything up. I mean, just look at that up there with the colon after my date, then the colon in the middle of the OG title, and then it's like, well, you can do whatever you want with punctuation but we're adding a subtitle after it now and you just have to deal with it. On posters and stuff it's just "Mission: Impossible" and then underneath those words they put "Ghost Protocol" so they don't have to deal with it. What a mess. I tell you it is a damn mess is what it is.

Anyway, we have arrived at the M:I movie that, more than any of the others, just really hit the spot for me when I saw it upon its original release. I saw it at the end of a frustrating and tiring work day and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. At some point in the middle I realized that I was enjoying it thoroughly without having to tolerate the kinds of flaws that were apparently part and parcel of this kind of movie. Maybe there were flaws that I just wasn't registering. We'll soon see.

Continuing the tradition of making very hip choices for the directing duties, here we have the live-action directorial debut of Brad Bird, who started off directing episodes of The Simpsons before moving on to no less than The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. Dude had two Oscars on his mantle by the time he showed up for this. Press play already!

Um Sweet Christ those opening shots look gook in 4K like HOO boy

Whoa, neat opening where Sawyer from Lost is chased off the top of a building in Budapest but his jacket deploys an air mattress right as he almost-hits, but then he's shot by Lea Seydoux in an alley, rat-a-tat-tat with the action here, like what is up

Simon Pegg is back, and he's being tricksy with the tech in a prison! He's opening cell doors and the prisoners are surprised and delighted with that twist! He plays them a jazz standard on the intercom and Ethan Hunt suavely emerges from one of the cells. Fun silly things ensue involving Ethan's rebellious and confident independent strategy and a small riot that seems kind of like a bar fight.

He has made a pal in the joint and he's breaking him out. Some kind of cool tech creates a really sweet vortex-y hole in the floor and they are swooped up by their helpers, it's fun.

We're introduced to Paula Patton who is a new team member, and then the credits roll, and they are spirited in a way that recalls the first movie, also showing real scenes from later in the movie.

Flashback to the thing that was happening with Sawyer shows how that botched operation, something about a file and a courier, got Sawyer killed because lots of bad guys were all over the place there. AR contact lens technology figures prominently, and that is a good idea (plus we totally might have those soon, right?).

0:18:16 - Once again we begin the movie without the leading lady from the previous one, but we're starting to get an explanation here. Or just a tease of one I guess.

And quickly we get a sneaky-style self-destructing message that sets up that Ethan has to disguise himself as a specific Russian and sneak into the actual Kremlin. This movie 100% gets what a Mission: Impossible movie is supposed to be.

This time, they aren't using fancy masks or voice shifter things, just costumes and a fake mustache. They comment about that in the dialogue but don't explain why.

0:24:52 - Dialogue mixed SO QUIET here I have no idea what SP just said. It seems like you're supposed to have heard it.

But that is quickly forgotten when they use the coolest spy gadget of them all - a screen that is placed in a corridor that makes the guy at the other end of the corridor think it’s the corridor, but it's a screen and SP & Ethan are hiding behind it and it is super super neato I love it

Then just when it's cool that that is going well, it's suddenly cool how NOT well it's going because someone is spying on their spycraft! The thing they were going to heist isn't there, and someone deliberately makes their comms thing be heard by the bad guys!

And THEN we see something we really didn't think we'd see and it is kind of mind blowing - Ethan escapes from the Kremlin with a very smooth quick-change of his disguise that we see him do in all one shot… but then the Kremlin totally explodes and it explodes all over Ethan as he's running away! It looks amazing!

Right after that there is some fun with subtitles - Ethan is in the hospital all damaged and concussed and stuff, and the news is talking about the obvious big story, and the subtitles are in Russian. At first I was like, "hey is my home theater tech busted?" but no, the subtitles become gradually more in English as Ethan starts to come out of it. Then we see with subtitles that Ethan is reading lips about the police people that want to be bad guys to Ethan.

After Ethan escapes, we shift to a wholesome-looking Russian family we haven't seen before. The scene is a nice little piece of drama about how the dad sees the Kremlin news and wants to get the family out of there, and very quickly that goes south and thugs have them all at gunpoint, it's nicely done

Ethan is being extracted by two new characters played by accomplished, Oscar-nominated actors Tom Wilkinson and Jeremy Renner… the conversation is dire and I don't want to type during it gahhh gah gah gah I am watching because holy shit this goes south too! TW informs Ethan that the DoD is going to frame him for blowing up the Kremlin and his only choice is to escape. He's telling him HOW to escape in a funny way, but they are attacked and it's visually very interesting and TW is headshot and they are in the water and it is such bad news for Ethan and his new colleague played by Mr. Renner, I probably typoed a lot during that because it was so hard to look away.

So Ethan is on the hook for the terrorist attack of the century and he's being chased by a little battalion of thugs who just shot that important spy boss, and he's in Russia. It is very not good for Ethan.

He's with JR and JR is playing a different character for him. He's a bookish analyst guy who feels very out of place in action-land.

We're learning about the main bad guy, Hendricks, who was the guy that screwed everything up in the Kremlin. He's a super-smart theoretical physicist or something who has big, well-thought-out ideas about destroying the world with nukes, and he took nuke codes from the Kremlin. So things are just really really hairy and it's effective storytelling is what I'm saying.

Also effective is that they met up with SP and PP on a neat secret train car thing that is well appointed with spy gear

And VERY VERY EFFECTIVE is what happens next, which is a series of establishing shots of Dubai which KILL ON MY TV. I am glad I have a 4K panel, kids. This begins what I recall as being an extended sequence of sweet-ass suspense. Ethan has to break into a server room by climbing the outside of the 130th floor of the Burj Khalifa using glove-gadget tech that will hopefully work. There is at least some actual Tom Cruise clinging to the side of that building. It's so cool looking. And to make matters worse, a dust storm approaches! Or should I say "to make matters even cooler looking". Yes I should. Please read that part.

Paula Patton's character seems underdeveloped so far, especially compared to her teammates Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner.

Jeez you guys, if you like suspenseful action scenes about barely surviving climbing a skyscraper this movie is for you.

1:05:34 - In the middle of a tense conversation we see that they were using the maskmaker but it wasn't working. They just don't want us to have mask fun in this movie. They hate mask fun. Why does Brad Bird hate mask fun.

Oh then this scene which is neat - bad guys are meeting with LS… but Ethan and JR are taking their place, and PP is taking LS's place for the real bad guys one floor down. The movie explains it better than me, but it is pretty exciting, the two meetings happening at the same time with opposite trickery.

Hah, SP does a sweet fake-hand trick to get the diamonds from the bad guys so he can get them to Ethan and JN, and JN is doing the thing where he uses the contact lens tech… gosh why are you even reading this, just watch the movie. I really like the tricksy espionage.

It all falls apart because LS spots the contact lens in JR's eye. The plot is moving along in a way that, I'm once again noticing, would normally require more half-assed-ness. It's just a solid spy plot. Which probably makes these notes more boring. Poor you.

LS dies by getting kicked out of the open window of the Burj Khalifa with a brewing sandstorm in the background! Neat looking!

And then a thing where Ethan is in a thick dust cloud and he's tracking the important paper thing with his tracker device, and it starts moving quickly at him and we realize just as it's too late that it's in a car that's gonna run him over! Then that mechanic gets used in a car chase in a dust storm, which we don't see very often outside a Mad Max movie, and that climaxes in a really cool looking collision, followed by the reveal that one of the nuclear code bad guys was Hendricks in a supermask. So we DO like mask fun after all! Except why do we care that it was Hendricks?

A scene where JR is confronted for maybe being a double-crosser has a beautifully choreographed gun-get-grabbity-grab thing that was probably super fun for the actors.

1:27:05 - JR tells a story that at first we think is that family we saw briefly almost scramming, but no, he's talking about Ethan, and what seems to be a story about Ethan's wife (Julia from the last movie) getting killed in Croatia, and Ethan killing six Serbians for revenge, and that's why he was in prison in the beginning? It's still a little mysterious and kind of complicated. It doesn't quite fit with what we think we know.

Dubai imagery is pretty. I have been to Dubai. I am standing by for your marriage proposals now.

I didn't really follow how we got to this point, but Ethan went for a walk and met with some underworld Dubai person and made a deal the ended up with a huge cache of spy gear and a private plane to India. I went to India like right after Dubai. I have my own car and a job kind of so you might need to calm your hormones at this point.

A probing exchange with PP establishes that indeed Ethan's story is that he killed the men who killed his wife. Doesn't really seem legit, though. There's more to the story, clearly.

One of the tech things they play with on the plane is the most magic-seeming one. It is a suit that looks like tight chain-mail, and it floats over a cart, like a magic carpet that you wear.

We're introduced to Brij Nath, whose name I had to look up so I could tell you how it is spelled. He has an access code that they need, which seems like they just kind of simplified the situation, and he's one of those only-kinda-bad bad guys that's really just a pawn, for our heroes as well as for these storytellers.

The wearable magic carpet gadget is fun and funny! SP has to remote control JR wearing the floaty-suit and JR is trying not to freak out too badly, and maybe on purpose it recalls the scene from the first movie where Tom Cruise hovers parallel to the floor.

Hendricks is now in a secret room in the place where they all are, and he has a bad-guy briefcase computer and orders some subordinates to do something with a virus, and I don't actually understand what's really happening but am I to believe that Ethan et al are thwarting literal nuclear terrorism here in Mumbai? Right here at this pleasant party at the palace of an only kinda-bad bad guy?

1:48:30 - Ha, the climax of the wearable magic carpet thing involves JR barely surviving by doing an acrobatic stunt that seems oddly intuitive and satisfying. You'll just have to watch the movie to know what I mean.

The spy-tech car they have is rad.

They fail to prevent the launch of a nuclear missile! We see it come out of the sub and start missiling toward its destination which we have learned is California! Hendricks mutters things about how that should get the ball rolling making world powers hate each other and nuke each other and may there be peace on Earth, he also, yes, says that.

A chase on foot has Ethan and Hendricks suddenly brawling on an exotically elegant robotic parking ramp. Platforms move around mechanically and transfer unmanned cars to different areas, and it is against that video gamey backdrop that Ethan and Hendricks struggle to get that sinister suitcase which is all bouncing around that environment. Unexpectedly, Ethan's hope of grabbing it is thwarted by Hendricks suicide-jumping down several stories! We see it! He definitely does that! Ethan drives a car off a thing to follow him, plummeting down hood-first, and the airbag saves him! He gets the briefcase and barely saves the day in time!

Again a denouement making it very clear that everything is really shockingly okay and tidied up. Even the thing with Ethan revenge-killing Serbians and the thing with his wife is cleaned way up, but with an elegance and sweetness that elevates this movie above the others. She's not dead after all, just fake-dead for her protection. And they're only where they are in Seattle so he can glimpse her lovingly across a marina.

So! I feel strongly that this is the best Mission: Impossible movie! It is an extraordinarily deftly-constructed spy thriller! It's got all the funnest types of things that are in the other movies, and other fun spy thrillers, but with so much less garbage! They did a great job and they should be proud.

#Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

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glassesstories · 5 years

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Sense and Sensibility (1995)

It all started with Mr. Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) telling his son, John (James Fleet) from his first marriage to take care of his father second wife and his three daughters because they will only get 500 pounds a year from Mr. Dashwood. John promise to help them but John’s wife, Fanny (Harriet Walter) thought the opposite, in the end, the ladies got nothing financially from him and he took their home. Elinor (Emma Thompson) prepare the staff and all to greet the new Mrs. Dashwood while Marianne (Kate Winslet) plays a mournful song on the piano and their little sister, Margaret (Emilie Francois) hiding in the treehouse. At dinner everyone is silent, Elinor tries to start a conversation but all Fanny talked about is her brother that will come to the estate later.

When Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant) comes to the estate, enter the living room (?) and all of them are in there except Margaret. There is a constant battle of who is the lady of the house between Fanny and the Late Mrs. Dashwood (Gemma Jones). Edward is humbler than Fanny and they fall into an argument for a while with Edward supporting the Dashwood ladies. In the library, Edward found Margaret hiding under the table and then inform the Dashwood ladies about it. Edward got an idea to talk about atlas to make Margaret out from the table. As Edward stay in Dashwood estate, he becomes more familiar with the Dashwood ladies especially Elinor. Elinor and Edward start seeing each other. Fanny dislike how close Edward and Elinor are then told The Late Mrs. Dashwood that Edward will be disinherited if he married someone below their mother standard. It makes The Late Mrs. Dashwood announcing that the Dashwood ladies will move to a small cottage own by Sir John Middleton sooner.

Sir John Middleton (Robert Hardy) and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs) are very friendly and warm they invited the Dashwood ladies to every event. Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman) arrived late yet, finding himself attracted to Marianne. Colonel Brandon knew that Marianne doesn’t like him still, he tries to pursue Marianne. One day Mrs. Jennings invited the Dashwood ladies to have lawn bowl with Colonel Brandon. Mrs. Jennings thought that Marianne and Colonel only needs a little push but somehow Marianne looks upset and rudely rejected Colonel. When the ladies come home, Marianne talks about how annoyingly Mrs. Jennings is while the other ladies noticed there is a package arrived. It turns out from Edward, the Atlas that he promised to bring directly to them. Marianne who feel the tense in the atmosphere ask Margaret on a walk even though it almost rain. The rain comes and Marianne falls over the hill and twisted her ankle. Margaret comes back with a man that brings Marianne home. He is John Willoughby (Greg Wise), a nephew and the heir of Lady Allen. On the next day, the ladies are so excited to meet with Willoughby due to Marianne fall in love with him yet, Elinor finds him a little bit strange and suspicious but Marianne denies it by replying rudely to her.

Marianne and Willoughby spent a great deal of time together and it makes Colonel Brandon feel heartbroken but Marianne is too spoilt to ever think about other people feeling rather than her own. One day Colonel invites the Dashwood ladies, Mrs. Jennings, Sir John Middleton and Mr. Willoughby to a picnic. There Elinor meet Ms. Lucy Steel (Imogen Stubbs) and Mr. (Hugh Laurie) and Mrs. Palmer (Imelda Stanton) (Mrs. Jennings daughter and son-in-law). A letter comes for Colonel Brandon and Colonel Brandon need to go to London hurriedly and left the ladies of Dashwood with accompany of Willoughby to have a picnic of their own, Willoughby shows how he dislikes Colonel Brandon in the picnic. After the picnic end, Willoughby tells Marianne that tomorrow they should talk together alone. Marianne was so happy but, turns out Willoughby only saying that he must go to London immediately. After that day, all Marianne do is watching the outside hoping Willoughby to come back. On the other side, Elinor get to talk with Lucy Steel and Lucy tell her that she’s been engaged with Edward for 5 years. Mrs. Jennings thinks it is her job to make sure Elinor, Lucy, and Marianne to get married so, she invites the three ladies to go to London with her.

Arrive at London Marianne doesn’t stop sending Willoughby letter in hope he will reply and see her yet, the letter nor his presence never came. Due to John Dashwood and his wife, Fanny is in town, Marianne and Elinor obligate to see them which later makes them being invited to a ball that Fanny’s held. Because of forces from Mrs. Jennings, Elinor has to dance with the younger brother of Edward, Robert (Richard Lumsden) which later give Elinor the presence of Willoughby. Marianne see it and yell his name which they exchange greeting but Willoughby dismissed himself quickly and goes to a wealthy lady, Ms. Grey (Lone Vidahl). Turns out Willoughby seduced and abandoned Colonel Brandon ward, Beth, the illegitimate daughter of his former love and marrying Ms. Grey for the sake of money due to Lady Allen disinherited him. Meanwhile, Fanny and Lucy grow closer together, Lucy thought that she can tell her about her secret but it didn’t go well. Edward’s mother refuses to agree on the engagement but Edward stays true to Lucy and got disinherited. Colonel feels sympathy about it and gives Edward the parish on his estate through Elinor. Edward is so grateful yet guilty for he chose Lucy instead of Elinor.

Elinor and Marianne are going back to Devonshire but have to stay one night in the country estate of the Palmers that reside near Willoughby estate. Marianne takes a stroll in the garden even though it almost rain. She goes to the hill nearby Willoughby estate and the rain come heavily. Colonel Brandon goes to search for her and found her but she is in an unfortunate state. On the morning she is diagnosed to have an infection fever so, the Palmers goes away from the estate leaving Elinor, Marianne and Colonel Brandon alone. Colonel gets so anxious and asks Elinor what he needs to do, Elinor asks him to bring their mother here. On the next day, Marianne awake and in a better state when Colonel Brandon come back along with the Late Mrs. Dashwood. Marianne then has a new appreciation to Colonel Brandon and begin spending time together with him until one day Colonel must go away not for long but he can’t tell Marianne where he goes because it is a secret which reality, he goes to buy her a piano. Later, Marianne admits to Elinor that even if Willoughby choose to marry her, Love would not be enough for him anymore. One day the Dashwood ladies heard the news that Lucy already married to Mr. Ferrars and its broke Elinor’s heart because she assumed that Edward is already married but turns out Lucy is married to Robert Ferrars and Edward come directly to Dashwood cottage to propose Elinor. On the last scene, there is a wedding between Colonel Brandon and Marianne that Willoughby watches from afar and then rides away.

For your information, this movie is based on one of Jane Austen novels. More fact, I see the resembles between Jane Austen novels, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. They both did have the scene of the male character happens to go directly to Ladies house and the Ladies try their best to behave and then the proposal happens. Every time I watch this movie and that scene come up, I always get mixed up with the scene from the Pride and Prejudice but, maybe it is only me who does that. Anyway, Emma Thompson who played Elinor is one of the writers of the screenplay. Compare to the novel, the movie shows us more of Edward and Brandon character while in the novel the only male character that springs out is only Willoughby. The story is very good due to the fact that it did explaining the error of the novel like making Edward and Brandon character more visible so that the viewer can actually feel the love process between the couples. The actor and actress also being selected in a very excellent way with the evidence that they did a great job in portrait their character of the movie. I like Colonel Brandon character and Elinor so much because they act really mature in handling their love problem while I very dislike Marianne character. She is very rude to Elinor and also, she is rude to Colonel Brandon for if she is rejecting him, she should be clearer about it and politely. She also judges Colonel too quickly, for me what happened to her is worth it and she actually not worthy for Colonel Brandon but still at that time and place, Marianne character is acceptable due to the custom of the era and how the ladies need to be discreet and mainly dependent on man for a living. In conclusion, even though I like the actors and actresses a lot, I prefer to watch Pride and Prejudice than Sense and Sensibility because of the story and character. I didn’t say that Emma Thompson writes it poorly but, more about the real novel story that the movie based on.

-GlassesNerdy

#1995 #Sense and Sensibility #Jane Austen #Jane Austen Novel #Emma Thompson #Kate Winslet #Hugh Grant #Alan Rickman #Drama #Historical #Love #Family #Betrayal

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laicomptalci1984-blog · 5 years

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deadcactuswalking · 3 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 13/03/2021 (Drake, Silk Sonic, Justin Bieber, AJ Tracey)

Look, there are tons of new arrivals for this week, mostly in the top 50 and a third of them being Drake. Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license” is still #1 for a ninth week despite the aforementioned Drake. Let’s just run through this as quickly as is possible. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

We have quite a few notable dropouts from the chart here, particularly the UK Top 75 which I cover, including “Siberia” by Headie One featuring Burna Boy, “Apricots” by Bicep, “Afterglow” by Wilkinson off of the return, same with “ROCKSTAR” by DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch and then some pretty massive dropouts, some of which might return, most will not. These include “willow” by Taylor Swift, “What You Know Bout Love” by the late Pop Smoke, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo, “Looking for Me” by Diplo, Paul Woolford and Kareen Lomax and finally, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles. I’m surprised there weren’t any Drake songs dropping out because he debuted three tracks, the most he could possibly debut, but apparently there weren’t any Drake songs on the chart in the first place. Naturally, as it’s a busy week, we had quite a few notable fallers for songs already on the chart, like “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd at #16, “Streets” by Doja Cat at #19, “Up” by Cardi B at #21, “Anyone” by Justin Bieber at #23, “Afterglow” by Ed Sheeran at #27, “Bringing it Back” by Digga D and AJ Tracey at #31, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd at #33, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK at #36, “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence at #37, “Money Talks” by Fredo and Dave at #38, “We’re Good” by Dua Lipa at #39... okay, maybe “quite a few” was an understatement. Regardless, we still have more fallers outside of the top 40, like our biggest fall for “Bluuwuu” by Digga D at #42, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa and remixed by DaBaby at #43, “Love Not War (The Tampa Beat)” by Jason Derulo and Nuka at #45, “Sweet Melody” by Little Mix at #46, “Toxic” by Digga D at #47 and “34+35” by Ariana Grande at #48... as well as “Ready” by Fredo featuring Summer Walker at #50, “Mood” by 24kGoldn and iann dior at #51, “Good Days” by SZA at #52, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #53, “You’re Mines Still” by Yung Bleu and remixed by Drake – apparently that doesn’t count as Drake – at #54, “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I at #55, “you broke me first” by Tate McRae at #56, “Regardless” by RAYE and Rudimental at #57, “Whoopty” by CJ at #58, “Pierre” by Ryn Weaver off of the debut to #63, “Be the One” by Rudimental, MORGAN, TIKE and Digga D at #65, “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus at #66, “Mixed Emotions” by Abra Cadabra at #67, “Lemonade” by Internet Money and Gunna featuring Don Toliver and NAV at #68, “Roses” by SAINt JHN and remixed by Imanbek at #69, “positions” by Ariana Grande at #71 and finally, “Didn’t Know” by Tom Zanetti at #73. You’d think it was Christmas with all of this, except in this case there aren’t returning entries or even many gains other than “SugarCrash!” by ElyOtto up to #59. That’s literally it for any notable gains, so apparently only hyperpop can withstand Drake. God help us.

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 – “Don’t You Worry About Me” – Bad Boy Chiller Crew

Produced by Tatics

The “Bad Boy Chiller Crew” sounds exactly like a 2000s UK garage collective from London, and thankfully, I’m pretty much right, except these guys were actually formed in 2018 and see themselves more of a “bassline” group, even if they were formed a decade after the fact. Bassline was big in Yorkshire in the mid-2000s, and I guess the BBCC – subtle – are here to bring it back? I mean, I’d rather it go this way than having rappers lazily sample bassline classics like a couple weeks back so, what have the Bad Boy Chiller Crew got to say? Well, not much clearly, but they’ve never had to. UK garage groups weren’t ever hardcore rap collectives in reality, at least in the mainstream, and their primary purpose was to make bouncy music for the clubs and, yes, it worked. Does this work? Well, no, because it’s not really UK garage or bassline, going for a sampled piano-house chorus and percussion that never really goes full on with the “bassline” or has that much of a breakbeat. These rappers are definitely a presence and whilst I may not know what they’re saying because Genius.com gave up two lines through, at least they’re not more boring, just settling for mildly obnoxious in how everything sounds like double-tracked gang vocals. I can definitely see the mid-2000s influence in some of these synth patterns and absolutely the vocal tone on the chorus, which, by the way, is an incredible chorus that deserves a more subtle rap presence. Hell, I think KSI did a similar track like this with Nathan Dawe... he could have worked here. When I’m saying I’d prefer KSI over your own song and your own beat, you’ve got a problem. As it is, this is a really promising bassline-adjacent song with some really nice string flourishes and an infectious chorus, that falls flat in its attempts to keep me interested when the chorus isn’t playing because it serves more to repulse during instead of keeping its momentum. I’m praying for a remix that takes these guys off, honestly. AJ Tracey? Please?

#74 – “The Bandit” – Kings of Leon

Produced by Markus Drays

Ah, Kings of Leon, that indie rock band who hasn’t made anything good ever. Okay, maybe that’s a blunt, over-the-top statement but as little as I care about modern mainstream indie rock in the first place, I care even less about Kings of Leon, who I’ve yet to hear anything worthwhile from in singles. Regardless, they have a new album, which meant their lead single could finally chart, and I don’t know what a non-fungible token is and I’m not doing research for an album that my friend’s dad – read: Kings of Leon’s main demographic – thought was boring, so how’s this new single? Well, there’s an acoustic guitar strum I swear I’ve heard before, followed by a riff that admittedly sounds okay, a steady drum beat you can see replicated in rock songs of this tempo... the vocalist here is covered by everything in the mix, it feels, and even when I can hear him clearly, the lyrics feel overly cryptic to the point where nothing really sticks, and the guy’s delivery at least used to be commanding. Here, he’s fully checked out and I’m convinced everyone in the band stopped bothering. Whoever does the left-channel electric guitar wankery feels like he’d be more fit on a slower, lo-fi indie rock project and he’d really work in that context. Here, I couldn’t care less about this nothing of a song that just does not move. It chugs along through odd mixing and a “get this over with” guitar solo, and just chugs and chugs for four minutes. I honestly do not see a reason to seek this out, let alone an entire album... but it still went #1. That’s sales for you.

#70 – “What Other People Say” – Sam Fischer and Demi Lovato

Produced by Rykeyz

This song was released last month and hasn’t reached any chart in the US outside of the Bubbling Under yet, even with a video, which is just concerning for Demi, but I know she’s been struggling to reach any kind of further success recently, which is unfortunate as she always came off as one of the most interesting singers to come out of that late-2000s Disney star cast. To be fair, she did collaborate with professional nobody Sam Fischer, so I guess it’s partially her fault. That said, I like this song quite a lot, actually. Lyrically, it focuses on how both singers feel like they’ve left behind your individuality as a result of becoming famous and ending up distancing themselves from people they actually love and care for, with it being heavily implied in Demi’s verse that this is a result of not wanting people like her mother to see where she is now: taking the same drugs she was taught to say no to, with that pre-chorus of her realising she felt she was “better than” all of the people that she mirrors to. You can tell this comes from a real place from Demi, and it’s kind of heartwrenching, even if this instrumental is mostly piano-ballad fluff that does work for such a lyrically heavy song by casting off all attention away from the weak acoustic guitars and the finger-snaps that add more of a soul or gospel element to this production, which is pretty apt for some of the references to separating yourself from the religious practices you grew up on in the chorus. Demi’s vocals are pretty powerful here, and there are some really interesting backing vocals and ad-libs in that last chorus from both of them... oh, yeah, Sam Fischer is on this song too, but he’s such a lack of presence in comparison, even lyrically, that it probably doesn’t matter. Regardless, this is a good song and I hope it becomes a hit past the chaos of this week.

#60 – “Heartbreak Anniversary” – Giveon

Produced by Maneesh and Sevn Thomas

I figured this guy would finally chart here in the UK eventually, “Chicago Freestyle” notwithstanding, which was a top 10 hit for him and – guess who? – Drake. Anyway, this guy’s from California yet he totally sounds British sometimes, but that’s all I’ve really paid attention up until this point, and, yeah, I like this quite a bit too. Giveon has a really unique voice and the intro with those distorted vocal samples is a real Kanye touch to the whole song. The song is about Giveon finding it really hard to cope with a break-up of a relationship he thought had a lot of potential, through the odd and janky metaphor of “heartbreak anniversary”. The really cavernous mixing does accentuate how the percussion feels very stunted and the song as a whole feels kind of rough around the edges, but the desperate tone in Giveon’s voice and those pretty excellent backing vocals in the post-chorus sound pretty excellent, especially over these subtle pianos, and there are certain moments in the song that, like all good R&B, you remember for the vocal run or the harmonies, really rather than the chorus, so, yeah, this is good and I hope it sticks around. Huh, maybe sleeping a lot does make you more of a positive person... or maybe the music’s just good for once.

#49 – “Ferrari Horses” – D-Block Europe featuring RAYE

Produced by Da Beatfreakz

Ah, “Ferrari Horses”, from the same album as such gems as “Mr. Mysterious”, “Only Fans”, “Gulag” and my personal favourite, “Perkosex”. Maybe I’m just happy whenever I know a D-Block Europe song’s debuting because these guys are very rarely all that great but just consistently hilarious... and this one’s no different. It starts with reverb-drenched Auto-Tuned moaning from both RAYE and Young Adz that reminds me of Charli XCX if anything, because... sure, before it’s drowned out by acoustic guitar loops and a drill-adjacent trap beat... and, yeah, it’s really badly-mixed, especially the bass mastering, but, it’s a really satisfying drop, I’m not going to lie. The chorus’ melody is way too infectious for its own good, and you’d be surprised with the chemistry that Adz and RAYE seem to have, as she shares a verse with Adz where they bounce off of each other’s flow quite smoothly, both going into pretty funny falsettos – one that genuinely made me laugh out loud when I heard Adz’ attempt – but she really sells the melodic trap angle, I’m really surprised. Why is she still doing EDM? The double-tracking on her last few lines is beautiful, and I love how she comes in when it’s unexpected to awkwardly interrupt either Adz’s chorus or where Dirtbike LB’s verse would be... until he does actually come in and he kind of kills it, not as much as RAYE of course, but I think his delivery here is pretty great, especially when he slides in his Auto-Tuned flow from the more fast-paced cadence to the melodic drawl afterwards where I’m convinced he interpolates Weezer. Sure, the mixing is still bad, with the reverb percussion in the last chorus being really unnecessary, and the sequencing generally being off, and the content is really nothing interesting at all, except with a couple fun lines from RAYE, like when she says how she feels like she’s in Prince’s house because there’s purple all around her (we can infer what that “purple” is) or how she’s “so lit” that she can see two Young Adz, before realising it’s actually Dirtbike LB. I don’t think either member of D-Block Europe realises the layers to that line, but it’s probably best to keep them in the shadows, especially if it’s as unintentional as it sounds. Yeah, this is genuinely really great, and whilst I doubt it’ll last, I’m honestly shocked to the quality of this. Maybe D-Block Europe are just... good? Okay, I won’t go that far, but check this out.

#41 – “Medicine” – James Arthur

Produced by Red Triangle and Matt Rad

British daytime television and news rarely cover the Top 40, but at some point Lorraine Kelly did bring up new music releases expected to smash the charts, those being this song, Justin Bieber’s new track and that Joel Corry song we discussed last week. They did not mention the three new Drake songs or even the new track with Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, both of which out-charted this guy intensely. Regardless, this has the foundation of a good song somewhere. It starts with a really nice-sounding pop-punk guitar riff that James Arthur could really sound good on. The song’s about being overly dependent on a woman who really helps with maintaining his mental health... but then instead of being a rock song, it goes straight into a generic, boring trap ballad with too much in its cluttered mix for its own good. The lyrics feel increasingly lacking in self-awareness, asking the woman to not let him “spiral” when he becomes suicidal, which seems like an obligation the woman does not need to take up unless she really cares enough. In the second verse, he starts rapping, full-on triplet flow, and I realise that this is James Arthur trying to do emo-rap and lose all hope. Then he says, “Everything gonna be Gucci today”, and the hope goes into negative numbers. If we’re going to bring back some essence of rock on the charts, please don’t let it be whatever the hell this is.

#34 – “Anxious” – AJ Tracey

Produced by Remedee

I guess he heard my pleading a couple songs ago. Anyway, it’s pretty bad that I could vision how this song goes by looking at the lyrics... and I was pretty accurate, but that’s partially because of how he uses Drake flows all over this song, directly referencing his songs “Life is Good” and “POPSTAR”. Regardless, this song is pretty alright, actually, especially with that bassy ambiance that serves the drill-adjacent trap beat with a lot of tension, perfect for his checked-out delivery about gunplay and flexing. It’s a British trap-rap song that does what it does in very little interesting fashion, but has good production and a vaguely charismatic vocalist. It also sounds a lot less fun than the lyrics will make you think, but it does have some energy in this fast-paced beat and by the second verse, AJ Tracey is saying some funny stuff, like how he’s “recession proof” and seems to know his exact UK Singles Chart statistics. Please, just do my job, I think people would be genuinely interested in reading what AJ Tracey thinks of Kings of Leon. I never really like AJ Tracey when he’s on a dark vibe, anyway, I think he really shines on more sugary production, but I think that’s just my preference when it comes to trap anyway. The song’s fine, but I can’t say it’s anything more.

#25 – “Hold On” – Justin Bieber

Produced by Louis Bell and watt

I’m pretty sure Bieber is still pushing “Anyone” and in the US, “Holy” is still doing pretty well to my knowledge, so I guess it makes sense to drop an album but not really another single before it, especially since now it seems to start underperforming. Regardless, I’m a bit more willing to enjoy this one because of that washed-out acoustic guitar pick-up and a definite groove in the bass and percussion during that chorus. I mean, Justin Bieber still isn’t interesting at all, but I like the guitars in the chorus and I guess that’s something. The content? Condescendingly holding his hand out to a woman he only vaguely describes, whilst pushing out the “we all make mistakes” narrative he wants to continue from “Lonely”. By the time the guy has any genuine rock energy he’d need for this song, it ends, so I’m just going to say that this is mid-tier Maroon 5 and move on.

#20 – “Leave the Door Open” – Silk Sonic, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak

Produced by D’Mile and Bruno Mars

When Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak revealed a collaborative album was to release soon under the band name “Silk Sonic” – an incredible name by the way, how did no-one in the 70s copyright that? – I was immediately overjoyed and excited. Not only would this probably be a great album but it would be that one last boost that pushes .Paak into a mainstream context and for the record, he’s one of my favourite artists working today. His last three albums are all great and he’s made some of my favourite music ever, and has never been able to get that final reach into the charts until now, where riding on the coattails of Bruno Mars – who, by the way, is a fantastic artist in his own right nowadays – they’ve made a massive retro-soul cut that debuts at... #20. Okay, well, I know this style is bigger in the US but I did expect a top 10 debut here. Huh, well, that doesn’t take away from the fact that this song is absolutely incredible from the moments it starts with that drum fill and that distorted bass flowered by the jingling keyboards, with .Paak delivering some angelic intro vocals, and that’s before the first verse, where .Paak trades off with Bruno Mars really smoothly about simply picking up a girl yet making it sound like the most wonderful thing in the world. Bruno Mars almost sounds like he’s imitating .Paak at times, especially when he says that he just shaved and is “smooth like a newborn” in a really funny harmony. You could call Mars’ chorus cheesy but it’s just as cheesy as 70s funk was back in its day, and the way the instrumental builds up the tension with the rising pianos and smashing percussion just to cool down for the perfect pay-off in the chorus proves that even a song trying its best to imitate a live, jam-band recording and doing it very well can sound this intricate and perfectly crafted. .Paak’s second verse – he handles all of the verses here, probably because he’s ostensibly a rapper – has even more of a smooth, comedic charm as he offers the girl weed before also offering her filets, whilst also referencing some classic, iconic songs by three artists, namely Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson and... Anderson .Paak himself, and somehow it does not seem either forced or too unsubtle of a flex. The harmonisation in the background vocals in the chorus convince me that angels have been dropped down from Heaven and are currently living in Bruno Mars’ recording studio. Even at points where Bruno Mars is serenading you with “la-la-la’s”, its ridiculousness is undercut with .Paak’s ad-libs, and each chorus is so different that it never feels like Bruno is meandering or repeating himself... until the outro, which just of fades out because it goes nowhere. Honestly, I would rather prefer to see how the song really ends, and I think we will when the album comes out, but as a single, it definitely still works, and hell, a lot of those 70s soul and funk cuts faded out on the single edit anyway. I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a project in ages so, yeah, I have high hopes for Silk Sonic and this song alone keeps me fed well enough. Also, .Paak isn’t just a vocalist here, he’s on the drums too. Just saying.

#10 – “Wants and Needs” – Drake featuring Lil Baby

Produced by Cardo, Dez Wright and 40

At this point, after I’ve mentioned Drake a couple times and said he had three debuts this week, you’re probably wondering where they all are. The answer to that is that every single song from his triple-barrelled single release, Scary Hours 2, debuted in the top 10, with this being – to my surprise – the lowest, only hitting #10, which is still nothing to scoff at. Even for Drake, this is doing really well, which I imagine is because of how he had to delay his album so people are really craving for some new Drake that isn’t “Laugh Now Cry Later”. Now, I for one am not, and honestly I’m probably craving for less Drake if anything. That’s just my personal bias, though – I didn’t really like this project and haven’t liked much of Drake since 2015 or even earlier, but I still think the guy’s talented. I’m just pretty sick of the formula at this point. This particular single-EP thing doesn’t stray that far away from it either, with one song for the clubs, for the radios and for the fan. This one I think is for the clubs, even though they’re not even open so it’s really just for anyone to stream, and hence, we have Lil Baby on his third song with Mr. Graham. I wasn’t a fan of Baby until recently, and I’m not sure being a “fan” is really all that sincere as it’s really just hope and good will, but he absolutely kills his verse here and is the only reason could possibly be worth for me to revisit. The beat has vague squelchy synths and a boring trap pattern, heavy bass and some admittedly cool strings in the background that are cut out and drowned out by Drake being pretty blatantly off-beat. The chorus is monotonous and just stalling time until we get a brief escape from Drake for around 50 seconds of Lil Baby ranting rapidly in his typical frog-throat delivery and it left me kind of astonished on first listen because of how unexpected it was, and it’s still a great verse, even if the content is just flexing. “I’m not a GOAT, but I fit the description” is a bar, and I like the reference to betting his Ferrari off in a Las Vegas casino, which I hope he did not actually do. Hey, it’s more interesting than Drake wasting time with Kanye subliminals that aren’t even subliminals anymore, and a reference to how people grow on his albums, which I don’t think is even true, at least for his recent work. Ah, well, it could be worse. For example:

#6 – “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” – Drake featuring Rick Ross

Produced by Austin Powers, FnZ, Keanu Beats and Boi-1da

I refuse to believe this many people listened to Drake ramble for six and a half minutes. I refuse to believe there was a need for four people to make this lazy, unchanging beat that can’t even mix its sample correctly. I refuse to believe Rick Ross washed Drake on his own song for... you know, being vaguely clever and not a waste of time? Maybe I just love that “M-M-Maybach Music” tag, who knows? I definitely like it more than Drake, who handles the last five or so minutes with his monotone delivery and taking breaks to let the beat play because apparently, he can’t think of a flow that means he wastes less of the listener’s time. I’m sick of Drake’s more lyrical tracks nowadays where he goes on and on about how everything goes wrong for him despite him being so rich and famous and that’s the plot of this verse. It does not make you likeable or “real”, Drake, it makes you much more distanced and honestly just coming off as boring and kind of a dick. He starts his verse on a melancholy boom-bap beat by flexing that he’s a war hero – even though the last “war” he was in, he thoroughly lost – whilst also saying he’s doing all this expensive stuff in foreign countries when really, he should be staying in Canada or wherever he is during a pandemic. He then says, “These days, fame is disconnected from excellence”, which first of all, has always been the case and second of all sounds rich as hell coming from Aubrey Drake Graham, the most famous rapper, singer and musician currently alive, and far from the most “excellent”. That’s before he does his typical click-bait female-name-dropping and brags about his child whilst also side-eyeing the child’s mother for no reason, saying he had brunch with the judge he’s appearing before in court for child custody – you know, bribery – and that he doesn’t like how when he pays child support, she sends her the heart emoji in response. What else do you want, Drake? She’s the one raising this child, you have no right in telling her what emojis to use when you brag about sending child support to her, and then in your song which gets millions of plays. I’m not going to make assumptions about the mother here but it sounds like a really bad move, especially when you continue to talk about how the mothers at parent-teacher meetings flirt with you and ask if you know celebrities, whilst also bringing Secret Service-level security to the humble French school in Toronto your kid goes to. Something feels really icky about putting so much pressure on your son and their mother through rap lyrics, not even giving them much of a limelight other than through condescending references in a snoozefest of a single. Oh, yeah, and then he boasts about being friends with the corrupt, human-rights-violating royal family of Dubai, before mixing lines about how his house looks bigger through his son’s eyes with how his penis looks bigger when the woman is drunk. Yeah, no, you can’t really redeem this especially when the beat is unchanging and dull. I’m not a fan, and honestly, Drake’s pushing into his late 30s and yet I still think it’s applicable to tell him to grow up. I can’t say as much for this next track, however.

#3 – “What’s Next” – Drake

Produced by Maneesh and Supah Mario

Okay, for our final Drake track, we have the only solo cut and surprisingly easily my favourite of the three, and the reasons why are pretty subtle. The trap beat relies on a really bassy trap knock over a chiptune-sounding beat that goes really hard, and even if Drake’s vocals are mixed... just straight-up incorrectly, being so far in the left channel for no reason and that being kind of inexcusable for a big artist, he still has a lot more energy here than he does on any given Drake track. His flow is faster-paced, and he references a lot of his older work through pretty slick lines, mostly based on delivery, and there are really subtle counter-melodies in the beat that creep into the mix and sound really great. Drake himself actually brings one of his best verses in the second verse, which is probably his best flow in years and some pretty nice bars, none I can quote here because of how long that stream of bars goes for. The sequencing is somewhat off and Drake’s vocals seem to cut off really abruptly a lot of the time but for Drake, this is as good as it gets in 2021, and I’m pretty happy to have a genuinely good Drake song on the chart. Hopefully, it won’t be eclipsed by those two other tracks as time goes on, but we’ll see.

Conclusion

It may sound odd after dunking on Drake for a while at the tail-end of this episode but this is a damn good week all things considered. I think I only dislike the Worst of the Week here, going to “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” by Drake featuring Rick Ross, with a Dishonourable Mention for Kings of Leon’s “The Bandit”, though it’s not really that bad of a song, just pales in comparison to some of the absolute gems we have this week, particularly Best of the Week, which obviously goes to “Leave the Door Open” by Silk Sonic, whilst Honourable Mention is a bit more of a toss-up. I’d give a tied Honourable Mention to both “Ferrari Horses” by D-Block Europe featuring RAYE and “What Other People Say” by Demi Lovato and Sam Fischer. Sorry, Giveon, it was really close. Here’s our top 10 for the week:

Thank you for reading. You can follow my Twitter @cactusinthebank but I’ve actually been permanently locked out of that, so I probably wouldn’t bother. Regardless, next week, in the words of Drake, we’ll see what’s ‘bout to happen next. See you then!

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deddyinfo · 3 years

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How to create a cottage garden – tips and ideas

Hi there, it’s Alexandra from the Middle-sized Garden YouTube channel and blog and I’m talking about cottage garden style, and whether there are any tricks or tips that you need to know in order to make your cottage garden look fabulous. Cottage garden style means a colorful mix of flowers, packed in together with herbs and edibles, it’s relaxed and pretty, and I think it’s having a bit of a moment at the moment and the reason for that is that although we gardeners don’t really follow fashion as such, we can’t help being inspired by the great shows, and this year there haven’t been any great shows to be inspired by. On top of that it’s been quite difficult to get plants – we haven’t been able to get exactly the plants we want always and we’ve had to make compromises, so I’ve had friends saying

things like ‘I’d never usually buy red pelargoniums but they were the only ones I could get.’ So we’re having to put up with a bit less control and a bit more of a mix, and thirdly, we’re all much more local we’re going down the same streets, day after day, and while a nicely designed path, a nicely clipped hedge or a beautiful gate is a pleasure to see, what really gives us joy is when we suddenly see

that flower pop up, that marigold or that bee buzzing around the flower or bulb we haven’t seen before and that’s really given everyone so much joy, so I think we’re all thinking ‘just let’s get more flowers into our lives.’ So what are the rules of cottage garden style?

Well, the great thing is that aren’t any.

However, up to a point, I think it’s quite a good idea if you make your own rules. For example Julie Quinn writes the London Cottage Garden blog and she champions the cottage garden style in small urban spaces. For her, cottage gardening is about making it easy. She grows plants which are easy and robust and common.

She says that she doesn’t want to have to do any growing from seed, any pricking out, any planting out and no staking no propagating, she doesn’t do pest control, she doesn’t have topiary and doesn’t have a lawn, she just have lots of easy, common, robust greenery packed in tightly.

The other thing she does is that she excludes certain colors, for example, no black flowers or black foliage, and she also finds white very difficult place as well. And at the opposite end of the spectrum is Sue Oriel who with her partner Stephanie runs Country Lane Flowers and she grows her flowers for sale in her garden, but there’s a part of her garden that she’s just hedged off just for her, and that’s the cottage garden, and it’s a riot of color and it’s got loads of plants like roses and cat mint and delphiniums and phlox and fruit trees it’s absolutely beautiful. Sue says you can put anything you like in a cottage garden and then she adds ‘but I never put yellow or orange in there’. And of course having a few of those I don’t grow rules makes it an awful lot easier to know what you do grow I think it can help when you’re establishing your own cottage garden style to know where cottage garden style came from and the theory is that he had originated with farmworkers who grew food to eat and herbs around in their little plots it’s likely that really however that cottage garden style actually

started when people had a bit more time a bit more space and a bit more money to grow flowers and to grow flowers for something they really wanted to enjoy there’s a theory that plants would have been divided from the big house gardens and then they would have been passed on to locals and that people would have got perhaps the extra seedlings and I think that probably is very true and it really contributes to this idea that you need to get plants that are easy to divide easy to propagate easy to seed and that grow well in your area in the Victorian times the grand gardens were very very formal they had very strict color schemes in the bedding they had topiary they had huge vistas they had exotic plants brought in from all over the world and William Robinson and subsequently Gertrude Jekyll very much kicked against this style and started to introduce the idea of naturalness and wildness and growing plants that actually stayed in the ground all year round because instead of quaking the bedding out and then putting in new bedding you actually grew plants

in your garden and of course this is a much easier garden style for people to copy because the very formal bedding schemes really don’t work in smaller spaces William Robinson’s own garden which was very influential in this movement is still available to see today it’s grave time manor hotel and it’s been beautifully updated by Head Gardener Tom coward and there’s a video about that in the description below along

with links to the designers and companies and bloggers that I’m mentioning in this video so what are the key elements you must have in the cottage garden well number one is a fruit tree if you go back to the cottage garden roots cottages would have grown fruit tree for their fruit but equally it gives you blossom to enjoy in the springtime it starts their pollinators off early and what’s more important is that you always need some vertical presence in a small space and cottage garden style is small space gardening fruit trees also give you some more vertical space to grow up and indeed fences and hedges will do that as well sue Oriole has two climbers both roses going up through her fruit trees and Julie Quinn says that she once again chooses the easiest climbers which for her is sunny suckle there’s a video on climbing plants which you can see in the description below showing you what you need to take into account if you’re going to great rhyming plants in your garden and another very big cottage garden style element is no lawn if you’ve got a large ish cottage garden but they are mostly small spaces you probably would have a bit of lawn but otherwise you would have paths and a terrace and somewhere to sit and maybe a practical working area but on the whole a cottage garden is about growing as many plants as possible so what are the best cottage garden plants you’ll often see lists top 10 cottage garden plants but as I said if it’s local to you if it’s easy to grow if you love it it’s a cottage garden plant but there are some classics and these include foxgloves hollyhocks cap mint delphiniums phlox lupins cosmos sue is also on a self-declared mission to get garden Pink’s back into the garden because she says they’re so easy to care for and they have such glorious colors anything that sells seeds easily is definitely a cottage garden plant so that could be a richer on Nigella fennel poppies forget-me-nots Nicholas coronary or rose Campion and of course all the semi wild flowers might be a weed such as wild carrots and poppies are definitely cottage garden flowers here at Hampton Court Palace Garden festival garden designer Pollyanna Wilkinson has designed something called the matrix aft garden and all the garden plants in it are edible or can be used for a purpose and there’s lots of wild carrot in here but they can be used for a purpose like dying or medicines or something like that and that’s what makes this garden very cottage garden and also at Hampton Court is another garden called the therapeutic garden by garden designer Tony Wagstaff and that’s very cottage garden because it’s actually filled with medicinal plants such as geraniums and eucalyptus and plants that we’ve actually forgotten about as having a use or a reason so you’d also in a cottage garden need a wide range of flowers all year you would start with the primulas and the bulbs in spring then there’s the midsummer madness which is always gorgeous and after that you might have salvaged dahlias perennials like persik area really anything that you love and grows well in your garden and of course there are all the herbs they are a key part of a cottage garden fennel and jelica saved chives rosemary lavender and any herbs that are local to you you can also treat cottage garden style gardening as a way of learning about gardening friends will give you a plant and you’ll put it in and maybe it’ll survive maybe it won’t but don’t feel too bad about it because not all plants enjoy being in a cottage garden they have to be pretty was robust and resilient and Saguaro has discovered that she can often find plants that grow well in the cottage garden that she then does go on to grow for country lane flowers for selling for example she discovered that if she grows corn flowers from seed and transplants the seedlings from the greenhouse into the borders they do go very floppy but if she direct sews them into the borders the corn flowers grow up much straighter so she’s taking that lesson into the country named flowers beds and growing corn flowers for picking so what about furniture and garden ornaments for cottage garden style well obviously recycled and upcycle is a big thing and the nature craft garden at Hampton Court it’s very much an example of this and also here’s another show garden at BBC gardeners world live designed by Peter Cowell and that uses entirely upcycle materials for its hard landscaping while having a very much cottage garden palette so it’s a kind of contemporary version of the cottage garden using things like scaffolding boards and pallet wood and recycled bricks and also the fire which is a recycled and carved up gas canister the other cottage garden trend for furniture and ornaments is to be handmade here at the Abbey physik garden in Faversham they have lenss shed movement and they make quite a lot of things for the garden so you’ll get homemade benches like this and also it can be a question of just adding a link of paint to something you’ve got already or something that you’ve bought quite cheaply in the chain store here at Hampton Court Palace they’ve painted old children’s bicycles to go with the flowers and while I wouldn’t quite go that far I do think you can use colour in a cottage garden to achieve a great deal for example Julie Quinn uses a terracotta bright terracotta parasol and Mediterranean blue pots and it gives so much color to the garden to be able to use furniture and pots in that way if you’re interested in more design tips for garden as a garden design playlist at the end of this video and I’m also doing a video on English country garden styles so if you want more tips ideas and inspiration for your gardens then do subscribe to the middle size garden YouTube channel thank you for watching goodbye

Read More: How To Plant: Planting Perennials – Everything You Need To Know

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daydreamer0078 · 4 years

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10 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time You Must Watch

Space, Future, Technology, Apocalpyse. These all come to the Scifi genre. Every movie lover likes a particular genre. Some people like action thrillers, some people like rom-coms, some special people like the SciFi genre. Scifi genre has a special place for every movie lover even if they like other genre. Perhaps, it's because of complexity that SciFi movies have. Sometimes, we may not understand what we are watching. Suppose, let's take Inception movie. A lot of people in their first watch didn't understand what they are seeing. But, when you start perceiving the film, you're gonna go into a different world. That's called SCI-FI. Sometimes, we want to experience how the future could be. We want to know how technology is gonna explore in the future and we want to know how space looks like and how it works. That's why we all have sci-fi movies. Scifi movies give us an opportunity to go into a different new world and experience for 2 hours. Scifi is always special and let's discuss what are the best SciFi movies you must watch if you haven't seen. 2001: A Space Odyssey - 1968

2001 A Space Odyssey is one of the old space sci-fi movies that represents the epic adventure in the space. The movie was released in the year 1968 which is too old. But, still it is one of the greatest SciFi films you have to watch. Keir Dullea did a phenomenal performance in this film and well-directed by Stanley Kubrick. The Climax is very ambiguous that has several meanings to the film. You may need to adjust with the quality of the movie. But, still a great watch :) IMDb Rating: 8.3/10 Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, and more.. Plot: After discovering mysterious remnants underneath the lunar surface, humanity sets off on a quest to find the origins with the help of artificial intelligence. WATCH NOW Blade Runner - 1982

Blade Runner 1982 was released in 1982 with a new great future concept. It is one of the well-made sci-fi movies of all time. The movie depicts the future and blows our minds with the concept of the movie. Recently, this movie has got a sequel in 2017 as Blade Runner 2049. The sequel has received positive reviews from people liking the movie. However, this is the first scifi movie that introduced how future could be. We may not recognize the difference b/w humans and robots ( known as replicants ) in the future. These kinds of movies still scare us that the world would completely be controlled by artificial intelligence eliminating the freedom for humanity. Although, if you haven't watched this epic sci-fi film, watch this film right away. IMDb Rating: 8.1/10 Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and more. Plot: A man who is an ex- retired officer assigned to work again known as ( blade runner ) to track down four replicants ( robots ). WATCH NOW Back to the Future Series - 1985- 1990

Back to the Future Trilogy is one of the greatest SciFi movies released in 1985. I guess this is the first sci-fi movie has made in the cinema world. In 1985, this trilogy had an immense impact on cinema, and people have watched this film curiously to know the specialty. I think this movie is also the first time movie that introduced the concept of time travel. Many time-travel movies may come and go but, this series is a masterpiece classic that have a separate fan base. Even I'm a huge fan of this series as a sci-fi movie lover. I've enjoyed the whole trilogy with twists, comedy, thrilling, and eagerness to watch what happens next. Though, If you're still haven't watched this fantastic series, Don't call yourself as a sci-fi movie lover. You will understand why I'm saying this after you finishing the trilogy. IMDb Rating: 8.5/10 Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and more. Plot: Marty Mcfly, high school students accidentally sent back to 30 years back in time travel machine invented by his old friend Doc. The trilogy is about how he confronts the consequences and corrects them for a better future. WATCH NOW The Matrix - 1999

The Matrix is one of the greatest Scifi movies released in 1999. But still, it stands out one of the best Scifi movies you can watch right now. I think, a lot of people ignoring this excellent movie saying it is an old movie released in 1999. But believe me guys, you should watch this film if you haven't looked at this yet. Keanu Reeves has done a fantastic performance along with Lana Wachowski and others. In 1999, this movie made a huge impact on movie lovers and has a separate fan base for this series. IMDb Rating: 8.7/10 Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and more.. Plot: The matrix is about "A computer hacker learns mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and he fights many enemies to set humanity free. WATCH NOW Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - 2004

Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind is one of best romantic Scifi movies made in 2004. If you're both rom-com and sci-fi movie lover, this film is perfect choice for you to watch it right away. The film has a unique concept that will remain in our minds for a long time. Especially, the way Michel Gondry brought to the climax is extraordinary. You'll never expect how the ending would be. I was amazed with the climax and screenplay narrated by him. I think this is the first sci-fi movie that I have watched and loved the genre. Don't miss this beautiful Scifi movie. IMDb Rating: 8.3/10 Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, and more.. Plot: When a couple decides to end their relationship, they undergo a medical method that allows erasing both each other memories from their brain. WATCH NOW Avatar - 2008

Of course, Everyone knows Avatar film. But, still few people haven't watched this epic sci-fi film. Avatar was released in 2008 directed by one of the creative directors - James Cameron. He is best known or his works- Terminator and Avatar. Avatar had made a huge impact on box office numbers shattering all records and made the top 1 film on the list. Of course, Avengers Endgame recently has overtaken this great film which had remained the top 1 movie for 10 years. So, you can understand the greatness of the movie. James Cameron currently working on Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 as well. Avatar movie is well known for the visual effects produced by Cameron and how he introduced a new experience to the audience. This is the greatest achievement for James Cameron producing this epic film and bringing to people in 2008 where there are low technological resources. Though, if you haven't watched this epic sci-fi film. What the heck are you doing then? IMDb Rating: 7.8/10 Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and more. Plot: A disabled Marine dispatched to Pandora planet on a mission. Apparently, he feels pandora as his home and becomes conflict b/w humans and pandore species. WATCH NOW Inception - 2010

Inception is also one of the greatest sci-fi movies made by Christopher Nolan. Just like he did with interstellar, he killed this movie with his unique concept. This movie has a separate fan base and admires Christopher Nolan for his brilliant work in this film. It's because of the reason that it has distinctive concept that you didn't see in any other movie. Leonardo DiCaprio did a phenomenal performance and other major roles did the same. If you're looking for a really different sci-fi film. You're highly recommended to watch this excellent movie. IMDb Rating: 8.8/10 Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, and more.. Plot: Inception movie is about A thief who steals secrets through dream-sharing technology is given the task of inserting an idea into CEO'S mind for business purposes. WATCH NOW SnowPiercer - 2013

SnowPiercer is also one of the greatest sci-fi films directed by one of the greatest visionary directors - Boon Joon hoo who is well known for Parasite. The movie sets in post-apocalypse depict the politics and discrimination between the humans. I was amazed and thrilled while I was watching with the ambiguous climax. I thought Boon Joon hoo decided to put that ending referring to the early story in the bible. However, if you haven't watched this fantastic post-apocalyptic sci-fi film. Watch this film right away. Chris Evans did a great role in this film which is completely different from Captain America we've seen in Marvel. Ps. Despite of negative reviews, this film is so good that you can watch it. Don't know what's wrong with the reviewers. IMDb Rating: 7.1/10 Cast: Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, and more.. Plot: In the post-apocalyptic future, the lucky humans who boarded the train that travels around the globe emerge class groups. WATCH NOW Her - 2013

Her is one of the best Scifi movies made in 2013 depicts the role of artificial intelligence in the future and how it could destroy the nature of humanity. Joaquin Phoenix did a fantastic performance in this film. Her movie tells us how artificial intelligence influences relationships in the future and how it works. It is one of the unique and well-made sci-fi movies you should watch if you haven't seen yet. Spike Jonze, the director of this movie perfectly represented and narrated the storyline to the audience. IMDb Rating: 8.0/10 Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, and more. Plot: In the future, a writer develops a relationship with artificial intelligence. WATCH NOW Interstellar - 2014

Interstellar is one of the best sci-fi movies that has made in Hollywood. It is directed by one of the greatest directors - Christopher Nolan. He is very well known for scifi genre movies. Lot of scifi movie lovers admire and adore his work. Personally me, he is one of my favorite directors. He is one of the best directors in Hollywood who have not won oscar yet. The specialty about movie is the way he represents time, space, and relativity concept. Matthew McConaughey had done an excellent job with other leading roles. You may not comprehend what you're watching for the first time. But, once you start grasping the film, you're gonna enjoy the whole movie. It's one of my favorite sci-fi movies. If you're a sci-fi movie lover, I would highly recommend you to watch this. IMDb Rating: 8.6/10 Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and more.. Plot: Interstellar is about a team of astronauts travel through a wormhole to explore the survivability of mankind on earth. WATCH NOW

Honorable Mentions for Best Scifi Movies :

The Martian Gravity Mad Max: Fury Road Arrival Blade Runner 2049 Annihilation Source Code Although, these are the best scifi movies you can watch and enjoy. Let me know what is your opinion and your favorite movie. You can drop down your suggestions if you would like to. If you're looking for the best thriller movies : 10 Best Thriller Movies of All Time You Must Watch if you haven’t watched some best 2019 films and want to finish them. Check out : 10 Best Movies in 2019 that You Must Watch If You Haven’t Seen If you're looking for Netflix series : 10 Best Netflix Series of All Time If you love the genre of action and adventures : 5 Best Action Movies and Franchises of All Time You Must Watch I think this is the perfect time for you to start MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE : MCU Timeline – Watch Every Marvel Movie in Order Read the full article

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noble-pro · 4 years

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Ultra Trail Mont Blanc (UTMB) - The journey that took 18months of long mountainous races

The journey for this race most definitely started months ago. Accumulating points in order to be eligible to enter took 18months of long mountainous races. I used the points from the CCC 100km, Laverado 120km and Translantau 100km in Hong Kong. The journey has just ended. It’s ever so anti climatic. Where did those 30hours go? All that hard work and focus and I crossed the finish line feeling so flat and devoid of emotion it surprised me. I wanted to write this as soon as I finished but we travelled back late on Sunday night. I was tired when my head hit the pillow at 2am and to be honest I’m still pretty tired. We collected the dog who then decided to be ill/ have a melt down which took a trip to the vets and an anti-sickness, a painkiller and a sedative to settle. I was then back at work. It’s only been today that I’ve felt emotional. I was cycling to feed a neighbours cat and got knocked off my bike. The shock made me cry for a good long while. I’m now done with feeling sorry for myself. There are lessons to be learnt for next year! Yes I need to go back! Training essentially started 12 weeks out where I shifted focus to gaining elevation from just getting some runs and miles in. I like to run fast so it was difficult for me to drop all my speed sessions so I kept a few in along with the odd park run. I cross trained on the bike. I slept in an altitude tent to acclimatise to the elevation gain at the top of the hills. I visited the area twice – once for the Mont Blanc Marathon (a great race) and then again for a recce which didn’t quite go to plan. I sprained my ankle at the end of the first day so had to limp it back to a bus and travel back to Chamonix. This meant I missed essential long training days at a key moment. I couldn’t run for 10days which in itself wasn’t too bad as cycling can be used as an alternative but the timing 4 weeks out was far from ideal. The rest of the training went well. Lots of uphill running on a treadmill or reps of a local hill. Probably could have got some fast hiking practice in but I didn’t. I would rather run! I tapered sensibly wanting to fully respect how long and hard the race would be. Being tired on the start would not be an excuse. Jon and I got out to Chamonix late on Tuesday. Wednesday was number collection. I felt pretty stressed for some reason – ok you may say well of course you would be with what is ahead but that is not really like me. Then my hormones kicked in a week early so that explained that (sorry but this is a real life blog). Thursday and Friday kit preparation and relaxing. They enforced the cold weather mandatory kit as it was forecast to be minus 10 and wind chill. My crew was Pete from SCOTT Running and Jon, my husband. They were brilliant. It was so good to see their friendly supportive faces at the permitted checkpoints, saying all the right words of encouragement and providing me with all I needed. As the race went on I really felt like I was letting them down. The runner is just the person on show- none of these ultra races can be achieved without support on and off course. The race departed Chamonix in the rain at 6pm. I was ready for this beast. Well I thought I was! Photo Credit: Tom Wilkinson Photo credit: irunfar.com (Bryon Powell) I started off doing what I felt was a comfortable pace. It was difficult to judge as the first 10km is essentially road and flat trail to Les Houches. I climbed well but never pushed. The first check point was 31km in. It was manic as everyone was still really close together. I could not find Jon so started to fill my pockets with apricots/ cheese/ cake etc from the aid station. Then I did one more check and he spotted me. Rubbish out and more food in (komfuel selection of gels, chews and Tailwind mainly). I was smiling and enjoying it immensely. It was properly dark when I left and with 650 lumens (Ledlenser NEO10R) on my head I had complete vision so headed up the road happy in my tunnel of light. It was wet and cold. I had my warm gloves on and some waterproof ones over the top. My buff on my head and of course a waterproof jacket. In my pack was all the mandatory kit so I knew I had another 2 warm layers top and bottom if things really were bad at top of Col de Bonhomme (2329m). In hindsight maybe I did keep pace here but I honestly didn’t feel like I was pushing it. I caught up with Cat Bradley and then tried to stick with her but I probably should have asked myself what am I doing this far up the field. People told me running 100miles is like a lifetime lived in one day. But what I learnt is that you don’t get a second chance. I was cautious descending Bonhomme as this is where I sprained my ankle. Running at night was magical. I could see ice flake patterns forming on the rocks. The moon was so bright when it appeared from behind the clouds. The clouds were keeping us warm because when the wind picked up it was very much chillier. I sailed through the compulsory kit check at Chapieux. On leaving there my stomach decided to let me know that 52km of running into the night was not the right thing to be doing. However, energy felt good so being a tad lighter as I ascended Col de la Seigne (2516m) wasn’t so bad. I was pleased to be running this bit as I’d had to hobble it on the recce.

The top was shrouded in mist and it was hard to see where to go but I figured this was good as it made the pace steady. I was soon running on a track as the bad weather has re routed us around Col des Pyramides Calcaires. My focus was Courmayeur. However, I could sense I was descending into the town not feeling as I wanted to be. My stomach was still complaining but the odd stop here and there was no real excuse for such a slow pace. I had been running for 11hours and it was 5am. I swopped my tights for shorts and ditched my extra clothes thinking as the daylight arrives so will the warmth. What a stupid error! The wind picked up and it was freezing. Unbeknown to me many dropped out due to the cold weather. I left the aid station only to return as I had forgotten my poles. Doh! I ate and replenished my pack but as I write this I have read what other runners ate and I’m beginning to think I did not eat enough properly food. I was still on gels and chews and eating a bit of rice pudding. On leaving Courmayeur it was the climb up to Bertone which really highlighted how lethargic I felt. I wrapped up at the top as the wind whistled around me.

Photo credit: Reme Fabregue As I climbed towards Grand Col Ferret (2490m) my little legs turned pink and my fingers lost their feeling. I didn’t hang about it was up and over. I could not collapse my poles as my thumbs could not apply enough pressure to the button. Descending into La Fouly should have been enjoyable but I was getting frustrated with my performance. I kept willing my legs on. I remember a runner asking me as they passed if I could not push on through the discomfort of my quads but I really couldn’t. I shouted out loud but still no response. I felt deconditioned, I guess. Missing out on my recce and its long days was taking its toil now. I was passed by many. I kept recollecting my pace throughout this part of the course when I did the CCC in 2016 and the contrast was really demoralising. Heading to Champex Lac was a case of putting one foot in front of the other. It was pathetic. I didn’t feel the need to hang around for too long at the aid stations. I just wanted to keep going. Jon has finished UTMB in 40hours so what excuse did I have? Photo credit: Yann Audouin At Trient I hiked in and hiked out. I’m not a strong hiker but it was faster than my shuffle! At Vallorcine I changed my shoes and Injinji socks. I had badly stumped my toe (and then obviously again and again) and torn my Tibialis Anterior (shin muscle) so thought it might help reduce the pressure to go half a size up in shoe and it did. Amazingly for me I finished with no blisters either (just massive bags under my eyes!). Night arrived again and I began to hallucinate. I saw people having a bath and rocks turning into animals. Vallorcine, via La Flegere took forever. I enjoyed the journey of training and I felt the race end should have been a journey of euphoria but it wasn’t. I felt nothing. 170km, 10,000m of elevation. 30hours 16mins, 19th female. 128th overall out of 1778 finishers (783 dropped out). Next year I’ll feel more! I’ll achieve more!

Photo credit: Jon Meek Lessons learnt: Condition legs with more long days of training- get a good week in about a month out preferably in the mountains or just don’t sprain your ankle whilst trying to! Eat more proper food. Ideas I’ll try include peanut butter and jam sandwiches and potatoes. Go slower at the start…really slow. Ducktape works well to prevent blisters. WD40/ lubricate my poles so the button to fold them isn’t so stiff with cold hands. Be pleased to have finished as many didn’t and a DNF is hard to make peace with. Be grateful- the body is a wonderful thing especially considering what I put it through. I am recovering well although my torn shin muscle may take sometime yet. A massive thank you to all those who helped me through training and the race. I had the best kit (SCOTT Supertrac Ultra RC shoes and waterproofs etc; socks from Injinji); a great choice of nutrition from Komfuel; no sprained ankles due to careful footfall, diligent rehab and Rocktape; no altitude sickness courtesy of SportingEdge; great night vision from Ledlenser; great daily support from Symprove, Coffee Buddies, and Bounce Balls; inspiring crewing from Jon and Pete, great Rufus- dog care from my Mum, and during training Anne and Di; and finally great support from all those lovely people who cheered me on online and on route! Read the full article

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seosamhmooney · 7 years

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My Top 10 Favorite Musical Movies

I love top 10 lists for no legitimate reason, and I really don’t understand why they’re a thing other than the fact that they’re somewhat pleasing in some inexplicable way. So here’s one of my “Top 10s” lists. Enjoy

10. Into the Woods

Honestly, this one just makes this list because I enjoy shitting on it. Although it was decently cast, I’m still not sure what Johnny Depp was doing as the wolf (or even why the wolf was present? Does he actually serve a purpose to the ultimate story? Didn’t think so). Anna Kendrick is always charming, and frankly, her “On the Steps of the Palace” song was just fabulous. And sure, intertwining fairytales sounds like a cool or innovative idea, but seriously, it’s been done so many times (re: abc’s Once Upon a Time, Cornelia Funke’s Reckless books, etcetera)--and perhaps Sondheim did do it before it became a “thing”--but the movie comes across as tacky, boring, and generally pointless. Next.

9. Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Also known as, What Happens When Tim Burton Directs a Musical. It’s almost so gaudy it works, but not quite. Helena Bonham Carter does some good work in this one, but certainly not her best. It’s almost a shame to see someone who has done such beautiful movies as A Room with a View and The Wings of the Dove fall into this constant cycle of playing these borderline goofy characters (see Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Dark Shadows, etc.--none of which I did not enjoy, by the way; I absolutely loved all three of these mentioned films, but HBC plays such one-dimensional characters it’s f r u s t r a t i n g. Johnny Depp was actually nominated for a Golden Globe for this movie, which I don’t think was necessarily called for, but did he win? Nope. Wasn’t going to. When the kid and the mostly mute prison girl are the best parts of the cast, something isn’t working right. Plus, the movie was just so gray. I get it, London is no pretty city, but--oh, wait, yes it is. London’s beautiful, shut the fuck up.

8. La La Land

Oh, La La Land. So right, but so, so damn wrong! I adore this movie, although it took me three times to watch the full movie to get to this point of appreciation. When I first left the cinema, I was livid. I had gone with my aunt and uncle for my birthday, and we all left just frustrated. Damien Chazelle had given us such a visually stunning and cinematically innovative film, but he also gave us a shit excuse for a love story. Honestly, Mr. Chazelle, please don’t write another script. Leave that to actual writers. You stick with cinematic brilliance, hun. Thanks, x. Justin Horwitz, however, ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT. The music is astounding. Simply astounding. I had the privilege of seeing La La Land at the Hollywood Bowl with a live orchestra, and damn, it was good. It was so good. Ryan Gosling is nothing special (unfortunately!), and as much of a bitch as Emma Stone’s Mia is, she absolutely deserved that Oscar. Now about the singing: frankly, I didn’t mind it. I have friends who hated it (because they’re trained singers so they have a bit of a superiority complex about these kinds of things), but as someone who cannot particularly sing well myself, I enjoyed seeing two more realistic characters thrown into a musical world and pull it off more than adequately well.

7. The Phantom of the Opera

I want to rank this higher. I really, really, really do. But for obvious reason, I cannot. The singing is mediocre, and the acting is even worse. I don’t know who cast Gerard Butler, but yikes. A lot of the editing is rather shoddy, and as much as I do love Minnie Driver as Carlotta, they should have chosen an actual opera singer instead of choosing a decently known Hollywood name. Also, the deformity is literal horse shit. Just horse shit. But now the good things: 1. Patrick Wilson; yes! I absolutely love his Raoul. He’s tragic and a little girly and a bit of a pussy but so in love that he steps up when he needs to. And his voice is arguably the best in comparison with his coworkers’. 2. The cinematography and set design are stunning, absolutely stunning. I get the chills every time the chandelier is raised during the “Overture”, and although the Phantom’s lair isn’t exactly a house on a lake, I thought it was very reminiscent of the stage production, which I appreciated greatly. 3. The costumes! Jesus! Although Christine’s “Think of Me” dress does not go with the time period of the opera she’s supposed to be performing and the Phantom’s last few costumes are waaaaay too hot, I thought the costume department did a fabulous job creating dazzling costumes that just worked with the whole “pretty” feel of the film. 4. They nail the story. I remember watching Phantom as a child and sobbing every time I finished it. The Phantom doesn’t deserve Christine, but he deserves to know what love is just like any other man, and in telling this, the story succeeds.

6. Grease

I’m not one for teen movies, I’m just not. Clueless is nice, and Heathers has a special place in my heart, but I’ve never been into the whole high school drama film thing. Still, I must admit that I loved Grease. I refused to watch it for the longest time because I had a friend who literally based his entire look on Danny Zuko, and it was so obnoxious I refused to watch the film. Plus John Travolta has always sort of creeped me out. But I gave in, and I was so surprised. Olivia Newton-John is just darling as Sandra Dee, John Travolta isn’t unbearable as Danny Zuko, and Frenchy is such a charming character, but the one person I think gets so overlooked but could be such a show-stealer is Rizzo. Stockard Channing set the bar high for this character, as she does a fantastic job conveying the too-cool-for-school but has-a-heart-of-gold-kinda Rizzo. My favorite player on the Chicago Cubs is Anthony Rizzo because of this movie (Can you tell I’m not a huge sports fan?).

5. Chicago

Many people call this the best musical movie ever made, and really, it’s very, very well done. I mean, it is. A movie doesn’t get six Academy Awards just because. The dancing is actual fire, Richard Gere is one dazzling bastard, and Catherine Zeta-Jones absolutely steals the show as Velma Kelly. Sorry, Renée Zellweger. Zellweger's Roxie is charming, sure, but she comes off as so weak a character and a person that it’s difficult to even enjoy most of her scenes. The set designs are nothing spectacular, but what makes everything come together is the musical numbers (somewhat ironic, because almost every musical number physically departs from the story’s setting). “All That Jazz” is a killer opening, Queen Latifah’s “When You’re Good to Mama” is too much fun, “Cell Block Tango” practically changed the game for musical movie choreography, and where do I even begin with “Roxie”? Spoiler: it was Zellweger’s most convincing scene, but that’s almost completely due to the choreography and set design. Chicago will certainly be studied in film schools in years to come. As much as there is on the surface of the film, there is so much more than meets the eye, and for all these reasons, Chicago is a fabulous, fabulous film.

4. Les Misérables

I actually considered ranking this between Phantom and Chicago but ultimately decided to move it up. Victor Hugo’s novel is a challenge for a number of reasons, but chief among them being the massive span of time his novel covers. So a musical version obviously has to fit this all within three hours, and say what you will, I do believe Les Mis does a good job. The story is obviously cut down tremendously, but it really does not lose much (if any) of the message it has to offer. Now, the film is not perfect. For instance, I absolutely hated Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. I really did. A lot of people hated Amanda Seyfried, but I really loved her portrayal of Cosette (but maybe just the acting part, her singing is a bit shaky). Samantha Barks and Eddie Redmayne are class-acts, and HBC does a fine job as Mme. Thenardier. I almost have nothing to say about Anne Hathaway. Her performance speaks for itself. I sob every time Fantine dies. She is so, so, so, so good. And three cheers for Colm Wilkinson. He’s just a great guy and a great performer. The film’s direction is often debated, whether it is good or bad, but I really thought it was quite good and quite different from what others might have done. Tom Hooper took advantage of the screen in ways the stage cannot be taken advantage of, offering the audience a chance to look closely at the faces of the actors, to really appreciate the emotional tolls the characters endure.

3. Cabaret

Liza Minelli embodies Sally Bowles. I mean, never have I ever believed so strongly that an actor was born for a role, but Minelli was born for Sally, and as the soul of the show, she breathes life into the film and somehow manages to carry the story on her shoulders. Joel Grey is a fantastic Emcee, and the supporting characters are great as well. Although I don’t care for several of the subplots, I thought the primary storytelling was borderline flawless (except for the ghastly ending; Lord help me, I have so many qualms with the ending; the level of vague is off the charts and unnecessarily so). But the singing is splendid and the dancing is spectacular. The way the Kit Kat Club fits into the story almost as a character itself is subtle and brilliant, and just about every single set is exactly how I imagine it should be. Again, Liza Minelli was born for this, and she rightly won the Oscar for Best Actress. Go you, Liza. Lots of love, x.

2. Moulin Rouge!

Usually, I would consider Moulin Rouge! my favorite movie of all time, but I’ll explain in the next entry why this is not the case for this list. Like I said, this is my favorite film of all time, and for a plethora of reasons. 1. It is unique and innovative; Moulin Rouge! made the 21st-century musical possible, and everything from Chicago to La La Land owes much to Baz Luhrmann. 2. Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman’s chemistry is everything. They work well together, they sound good together, and they carry Luhrmann’s admittingly wild storytelling techniques with grace and fun. 3. The sets and general production design. This entire movie was filmed in a single room (granted, a very, very large room), but Luhrmann creates a world so vivid and so alive that it hardly feels claustrophobic. 4. The music is different but familiar and well-orchestrated. Luhrmann did something most people wouldn’t even think twice about doing because it’s “tacky” or “unoriginal”, but he instead takes familiar and beloved songs, sets them all to a beautiful story about love and loss, and creates a new musical so vibrant, it changed the face of the musical genre.

1. The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music. Arguably the greatest musical of all time, The Sound of Music is a timeless story of faith, love, war, family, and hope. The only musical on this list based on the actual events of Maria Kutschera and her life as the governess and step-mother of the von Trapp children, The Sound of Music embodies everything a musical (and a good story!) should be. Life is no fairytale--it is full of hard times and beautiful times and times when it seems the whole world will collapse upon itself. Life is no fairytale, and as beautiful as this film is, it relates to its audience real life morals and real life messages that should be taken to heart by anyone in search of a happy life. Julie Andrews is the only person to embody a character more than Liza Minelli embodies Sally Bowles, and her Maria is a sweet, powerful, kind woman, who, though unsure of the direction her life will go, stands for what she believes in and positively changes the lives of so many along the way. Christopher Plummer is the perfect Captain von Trapp, and the children are perfectly cast as well. Actually, fuck it, the whole cast is perfect. Governess Elsa Schräder, Max Detweiler, and the Mother Abbess are flawless secondary characters, who come and go throughout the film flawlessly. I would also like to note how it stayed in cinemas for FOUR YEARS after its release. Now that’s a bloody good film. The sets and cinematography are fabulous, the script is so well done it’s unreal, and the songs--the songs!!!--are as good as they are iconic (and damn, are they iconic).

So here is my first (second, actually) post on Tumblr. Cheers. x

#musicals #film #musical movie #top ten list #the sound of music #moulin rouge #cabaret #les miserables #chicago #grease #the phantom of the opera #la la land #sweeney todd #into the woods

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filmista · 7 years

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Girl With A Pearl Earring

The reason everyone is fascinated with the Mona Lisa is her eyes. Those eyes that follow you wherever you go and of which you don't know what goes on behind them. Other paintings, less famous yet widely loved, have the same quality. 'The girl with the pearl' by Johannes Vermeer is one of them:

Vermeer was a painter from Delft (Holland) born in the second half of the seventeenth century, who was almost forgotten after his death, but at the same time, there was a kind of rediscovery. He left only 36 paintings, but each of them testifies to a rigorous discipline in composition, use of light and space.

'Girl With a Pearl Earring', based on Tracy Chevalier's book, tries to find out who the mysterious girl that modelled for Vermeer's work was. On the canvas, she looks over her shoulder, a peculiar look, her mouth almost unnoticeably parted and opened, quietly sensual. In the shadow thrown by her neck, we see a single earring sparkle. Who is she, what did she feel, what relationship did she have with Vermeer?

And why did that girl look the way she looked, with that mix of exploratory curiosity and discrete intensity? And what could the matt-glossy pearl on her ear mean? Johannes Vermeer's life and work have not been explored that much, we don't know much about him. And then Tracy Chevalier answered in her way to all those questions. That eventually became a book, a huge bestseller in the US and Britain and beyond. Up to now over a million copies have been sold worldwide. And then there's the movie.

The girl is called Griet (Scarlett Johansson), a maid at the Vermeer family - we meet her as a pale girl who says little, but apparently lives on top of an inexhaustible source of sadness. The household is ironically ruled by Maria Thins (Judy Parfitt), Vermeer's tyrannical mother-in-law, who only insists on finances and her son-in-law continuously delivering jobs that they can sell.

Catharina (Essie Davis), his wife, is little more than a baby factory with a production rate of about one piece a year, who has nothing to do except sit in self-loathing and misery and yelling at the staff. Vermeer himself (Colin Firth) is a shadow figure between those women.

Vermeer is the obsessively accurate observer of light and shades, the painter of mostly stunning scenes. From her side, Griet is clearly fascinated and intrigued by the work of her silent, somewhat eccentric and scatterbrained boss. For example, if Griet informs whether she should clean the windows of his studio, that is not just a practical question, because at the same time Griet notes that the light in the room will change. Her attention to such details brings again the interest of Vermeer.

When Griet consciously moves something at a certain moment, that was part of an arrangement that Vermeer was painting, we see how the master himself also finds that the composition of the painting (of the woman with the pitcher) without that seat becomes better. Radiographic research had previously revealed that Vermeer indeed had a seat in the painting. That is just one example of the fascinating way in which the book, and now the film, with such little 'historical' details, tells its own, though fictional but not, therefore, less credible story.

Griet appears to be good at mixing colours, the practical side of the painting and soon we see Vermeer's interest in her growing. When Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson), his patron, orders a portrait of Griet for his private collection, painting must happen in secret to avoid the raging jealousy of his wife.

Not that something happens between them - 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' is a film about what's not happening, what's not said and done. We see the painter and his model grow closer to each other, they clearly have the same artistic sensibilities, but as he is a painter and she's just a maid, it will never be possible, a fact that neither of them ever forget.

As the film progresses, we feel the tension between the two rise, with as the only peak a moment when he watches her as she takes off her head cap - her long red hair flows along her body and as a public, we feel as if he were staring at her naked. The scene has the same intense intimacy - Vermeer penetrates into her private space and if she objects, she does not say anything about it. A little later in the film, he puts a hole in her ear, gently wiping the blood away. Whoever does not understand the symbolism should perhaps read a little Freud (who’d no doubt say :(*read in heavy German accent) it symbolises the penis) just kidding...

'Girl With a Pearl Earring' is not at all about Vermeer - the painter is just a sideline, it's his model, the girl with the pearl herself, that is central. And together with her the other women of the family. Catharina is constantly being excluded by her husband from an important part of his life - his work.

Not that he wants to hurt her, he just has the feeling that she does not understand what he's doing, so why should he involve her? When he meets Griet and feels that kind of understanding it is understandable that Catharina becomes jealous. Where does that maid get the privilege of communicating with her husband on such a level while she herself can not? No wonder the bitterness strikes. Give her another twenty years in that way, and she's as big a bitch as her mother.

In essence, the film is a women's portrait - a girl who has everything to become a painter but will be a maid until the end of her life. An affair that will never happen because the class system does not allow it. A wife who does not get enough love from her husband and a mother who has become bitter a long time ago, and now is as cool as a freezer. It's the kind of theme that high-end Hollywood dramas are crazy about, but that's not the case here. Director Peter Webber evades all melodramatic drama and chooses here for an oh so quiet, calm approach to his subject.

Dialogue is scarce in "Girl With a Pearl Earring" - where Webber can clear up his point in a visual way, he will not fail to do that without using dialogues. That kind of productions require a very specific acting talent, and Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth deliver all the necessary intensity and more. Just think of a certain scene in which Vermeer and Griet mix colours in the studio. Their bodies are so close together that they almost touch each other. Almost.

Their hands slide over the same material, they couldn't be more intimate. You get the feeling that if there were no conventions, no other people in the world they would like nothing more but to remove one another's clothes from their bodies. But no, nothing happens at all. That's just the tragedy of the movie. And that the actors can make it clear without saying a word is their great achievement.

Webber shows exceptional visual control over his film - each shot is clearly well thought out in composition and exposure. Every now and then, I even saw a little 'Barry Lyndon', in the sense that you can take almost any shot out of the movie and frame it. 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' begins from beginning to end feels like a living Vermeer painting which is an impressive sight.

Still, the fact remains that the movie appears to drag from one scene to another regularly - it only takes 100 minutes, but the pace is so static that you feel it a little in the end. Perhaps this is inevitable, given the kind of movie it is and the visual style that Webber is up to, but as a viewer, you have to learn to watch and breathe on the rhythm of the film. You have to find your way in, and that's not always easy. But good movies do not always have to be easy.

Catharina: Why don't you paint me? Vermeer: Because you don't understand. Catharina: And she does?

“How hard is it to paint a pretty girl?”

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cinephiled-com · 7 years

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New Post has been published on Cinephiled

New Post has been published on http://www.cinephiled.com/interview-jessica-brown-findlay-beautiful-fantastic-ophelia-death-lady-sybil/

Interview: Jessica Brown Findlay on ‘This Beautiful Fantastic,’ Ophelia, and the Death of Lady Sybil

I had the chance to chat with Jessica Brown Findlay today minutes before she left for the theater to play Ophelia in the current critically acclaimed production of Hamlet at London’s Almeida Theater. That production stars the wonderful Juliet Stevenson as Gertrude and, as the Danish prince, Andrew Scott, who is also Findlay’s co-star in Simon Aboud’s film This Beautiful Fantastic. The film is a true starring vehicle for the actress, best known in this country as the beautiful, kind, and headstrong Lady Sybil on Downton Abbey. In This Beautiful Fantastic, Findlay plays a reclusive woman named Bella Brown, who suffers from the need to have total order in her life. She lives next to a cantankerous widower and horticulturist named Alfie (Tom Wilkinson) who is appalled at how Bella has let her own garden go, and his hapless servant Vernon (Scott) who ultimately goes to work for Brown as she begins to come out of her shell. Along the way, Bella meets Billy (Jeremy Irving), someone who appreciates her very unusual way of looking at the world.

Danny Miller: Thank you for talking to me when you’re about to go on stage in such a demanding role.

Jessica Brown Findlay: Yes, I’m about to get on my bus to head to the theater!

I so enjoyed your chemistry with Andrew Scott in this film. Is it just a coincidence that you two are reunited as Hamlet and Ophelia right now?

Yes, I guess I would call it a happy coincidence. I think Andrew saw my performance in our director Robert Icke’s previous play Oresteia, and I think that helped, too. But it’s wonderful to be working with him again.

When I talked to Simon Aboud about this movie last week, I admitted that I was a little fearful going in, knowing that the film was being described as “whimsical” and “like a fairy tale.” But none of my fears were realized thanks to your performance that didn’t have a trace of “preciousness” about it. Was that a concern you had going into that project as well?

Yes, definitely. I think when something stops being honest and goes too much into a certain kind of fantasy, you run the risk of becoming quite saccharine. But Bella struck me as someone who is a kind of no-nonsense type of person. She doesn’t really have time for any silliness. She’s quite aware that her real life is not anything like a fairy tale and yet that awareness frees her to express that kind of fantasy in her own writing. I was so interested in the balance that she displayed with that.

I so appreciated the way Bella channelled her OCD in a way that works for her while still recognizing her own fears and issues.

We wanted that to be very much a part of how she is, but not who she is, we didn’t want it to be her sole defining element. There are parts of how she lives that will always be with her, and yet, by slowly letting people in, she was able to relinquish certain parts of those fears and that need for total control. If I think of Bella going forward, it’s the connecting to people and the gardening that will help her from staying too much inside of herself.

The outward expression of her OCD in the way she set up her house was fascinating. Were there any parts of that incredible set that were your favorites?

I love the toothbrushes thing, I thought that was brilliant! And I found her kitchen absolutely amazing. The color of all those tins, the different types of tinned fruits lined up in the cupboard, it looked so beautiful. I wanted to have that in my own home, but I guess you’d have to commit to a whole cupboard full of tinned fruit and I’m not sure I’m ready for that! (Laughs.)

The costumes, too, said so much about her identity and were gorgeous.

All of the clothes were made for the film which was amazing. We wanted it to represent another way that she coped with her life. She’s sort of grown up in institutions so we decided that there would be comfort in a kind of uniform for Bella, that speaks to her. So we went with pieces that I think were beautiful but that had that element to it. It was all good fun, I especially loved the hats.

Did you get to keep any of those clothes since they were made especially for you?

Oh, I so wanted to keep the coat, it was amazing. Alas, no!

As a moviegoer I always find myself resonating with certain characters based on my own life experience and what I project into them. If you had to draw threads from your own life to Bella, and for that matter, Ophelia, would that be easy for you to do?

Oh, absolutely, I can certainly relate to both! It’s interesting, for me, I’ve always had to find parts of myself that make sense for the characters I’m playing. Then, when I’m performing, it can sometimes feel more honest than I feel in my regular life. I always have to find a way to connect to the characters — it never feels like an “escape,” it’s more like a “tuning in.”

Which always makes me wonder about the physical toll certain roles must have on actors. Your body doesn’t know the difference when you’re playing an intense scene, does it? It doesn’t know you’re “only acting.”

Right! It takes me a while to settle down when I come off stage, especially as Ophelia. It’s true that my body doesn’t know the difference, it feels quite real in the moment. The idea of just waking into that and then walking off and feeling absolutely fine, that just doesn’t happen, at least not for me.

It was a joy to see you opposite Tom Wilkinson in this film, he’s such a great actor. Had you ever worked with him before?

No, I had never worked with him, I’ve just always admired him from afar and thought, “You are brilliant!” I loved his character in this. He seems very cynical but it’s such an interesting performance because you can’t really be a cynic and grow a garden since that automatically means that you believe in life. Things have happened to his character to make him more closed off than he used to be, but in other ways he’s an open book even though he doesn’t know it. I so enjoyed working with him.

I also told Simon, a bit guiltily, that this was the film that finally killed off Lady Sybil for me once and for all! Is it strange to be so identified with a role you did years ago when you were so young? Or do you think we Americans are more obsessed with your past on Downton Abbey than people over there?

I do, actually, I think it really touched the imagination in America. Of course I totally appreciate what that character meant to so many people. It’s funny — the other day a woman was waiting by the theater to ask me to sign something and it it was a picture of me as Sybil. I looked at it and thought, “Oh God, who is this young girl?” It was a photo from the first series and I looked so terribly young and earnest!

I think a lot of us projected a lot of our own stuff into Lady Sybil’s death, there was some real grief there about it. To the point where even now as I talk to you there’s a certain relief to just realize that you’re alive after all! It’s kind of crazy.

I can understand that. She was so kind and so good, and she helped bring together people who really didn’t get along. I realize that she really had a strong effect of people.

I promise that if I ever interview you again, I won’t bring up Sybil Branson!

(Laughs.) That’s quite all right!

But speaking of great television roles, I’m very excited about what I’ve heard about your new series, Harlots. That’s coming here very soon, right?

Yes, the 29th of March. It’s fantastic, I’m so proud of it! It’s a brilliant feminist piece, and to work with all those women and to be able to go to work every day and do that job, it was just amazing, that’s what it’s all about for me, to be able to do stuff like that.

I can’t wait to see it. And if you ever get the chance to bring this production of Hamlet to the States, I would love to see it!

That would be so amazing!

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#Andrew Scott #Jeremy Irving #Jessica Brown Findlay #Simon Aboud #This Beautiful Fantastic #Tom Wilkinson #Interviews #What's Hot

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whatareyoulikeincapslock · 7 years

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Fire In The Hole

Shan walks into work with his head bent and his eyes on the floor, muttering 'hello' as if the commitment to the word is something he's not capable of. "You okay?" "Yeah, went out last night" His head springs up momentarily and I notice his eyes look like he's been dropping pills for 4 days straight. Bloodshot and black. " how was surgery? You're all good now?" "I'm in pain. I have painkillers, though" "Healing time?" "4-6 weeks. Hopefully" I say dubiously. I ask him whether he's alright. "Not really" he says. He doesn't look alright. I wonder what he did last night. He wanders off. I think about how, every time I move, my body reminds me, sharply, that my ass is on fire. They wheel me out of surgery, and the first thing I do is ask to go to the toilet. There is an intense pressure where my sphincter was. I feel like someone has shoved a hot poker up my ass. My eyes, foggy, clear to a twenty something, bespectacled nurse with blue hair. "There's nothing in there, they cleaned it all out to look in you. It's probably just because they were poking around in there; a bit of extra pressure". Oh yes. That's right. I just had butt surgery. 28 hours of damn near starvation and an awkward room full of placement nurses staring at me and asking after my back tattoo, like it would make me more comfortable with ten people about to see the literal contents of my asshole, before drifting off at exactly 10, 9, 8. Thank God I didn't have to stay awake for that. My burning, aching insides are making themselves very fucking felt, and, as if by some strange post surgery magic, the nurse asks me at this exact point whether I would like some pain killer in my drip. Yes, I fucking would, thanks. Tom would be so intensely thrilled at this. The last time he told me I had ruined his life was almost exactly seven years after we'd broken up and four years after he had shoved his unwelcome finger drunkenly in my butt whilst we were rangling doggy style on my white satin sheets. Those sheets saw a lot of ugly bits. I wish I still had them. We had locked eyes an hour earlier across the dancefloor at Electric Dolphin, pupils like dishpans, music thumping. Walked across and kissed each other like we hadn't ended on the "im never speaking to you" terms a whole three years before. The taxi could have been a flying burrito and I wouldn't have remembered it. All I remember was the succinct, sharp pain of his fingernail catching on the inside of my dentate line. It bled after that and he wasn't there in the morning. In hindsight it could have been like, a ghost of boyfriends past coming to give me my just desserts for breaking his heart. After that, my asshole was never the same. And four years later, here I am with an backside full of hemmhoroids and a skin tag that's just been physically burned off my asshole. Tom would absolutely love the idea that he had ruined me for everyone after him, for every time I had to take a dump when I was dehydrated I had to figure out whether my ass was going to bleed this time. He would call it 'karma' and have a glass of wine to celebrate. Good thing he blocked me on Facebook then. The blue haired nurse hands over to an impossibly attractive male nurse that I am instantly relieved by. He and his soft face and soft voice and soft hands gives me another three shots of fentonil between my post anaesthetic banter, I'm talking about eidetic memory and peritoneal dialysis and how I have four jobs and Jesus I should stop talking now, he needs to see miss "wilkinson" next to me, who was supposed to have a growth removed from the back of her tongue but they couldn't get far enough back so they took her out of anaesthesia and are going to have to "try again another time". What a fucking disappointment. If I had gone under with ten people about to stick a tube up my ass and they hadn't fixed the problem, I would be pissed. Cute nurse boy and my new doctor "Belinda", who has introduced herself by suggesting more painkillers (I like her) wheel me into an after-care unit. As we are wheeling around corridors in my moving bed, Belinda changes course and expresses that we should "go in the back way". "Ironic", I say. "That was exceptionally quick for someone that just came out of anaesthesia", says cute nurse. I impressed cute nurse. I am in. In my delusional state I wonder if he likes to make blanket forts and listen to Foreign Fields. He seems like that kind of guy. Next door to me there is a foul mouthed woman who's swearing about her cannula, saying she's going to "rip it out" because "no one has fucking seen [her] in fucking 48 hours man, this is fucking bullshit". The nurse ignores her. I think she's on drugs. I hear a plastic bag rustling in the curtained off area next to me and then I hear her grabbing at a tissue box. "Fuck this", she says. I imagine this is the moment where she is pulling her cannula out. By my calculations, I am correct, and she storms off wearing a dirty bomber jacket and her ugg boots. Belinda organizes me an endone pill after I wriggle and garner some tears for her. The Fentonil isn't really doing it. I suspect it's a really low dose that they've been giving me. Earlier, the anesthetist asked me if I did 'meth'. I lied and said I only smoked pot. He then asked me to stick out my tongue as far as it could go. He kept asking me to stick it out, so I continually poked it out but he kept repeating himself firmer and firmer, and, confused, I kept poking my tongue out like some deformed lizard. I realized, too late, that he was asking if I could take my tongue stud out. Jesus. Cute nurse comes back past and gives me a little wave. He is fucking adorable. He looks young, but i suspect he's older than he looks because he says he used to be a paramedic. I tell him my ex was a mental health nurse and that he saw some "mental shit". I need to stop talking now. I keep thinking about how we can overcome the fact that he knows and I know that I just had surgery on my butt. Does he see a lot of post butt surgery patients? Does he feel weird talking to me, knowing I have had a few people's hands in my asshole today? I wonder if he's seen many butts in his life. After the doc gets me another endone prescription and my ride comes to drop me home, I look up hot nurses Facebook profile. He is easy enough to find, we have four mutual friends. Still, it is terrifying how easy it is to find someone in this city. I am overcome by a stagnant malaise. Mutual friends: two people I barely know, my best friends' girlfriend (winner) and Shan. Weird combo. I send off a text to the girlfriend telling her I am a complete and unashamed stalker, and resolve to ask Shan next time I see him. Shan wanders in at about quarter past seven after being missing for an hour, tells me he's been hiding out the back because he feels "very, very bad". He looks wired as fuck. He's told Rachel that he had a big night and she's told him to take it easy, and that it's okay if he just relaxes, we aren't going to be busy. "Dude, have you been smoking meth?" There's that word again. Anesthetists skinny English face pops up in my minds' eye. I'm glad I said it that way, it makes me look like I have no idea what I'm talking about. Shan looks like he's deliberating, and then nods. "You need citrus" I say, and pour him an orange juice with lime. He starts to tell me about his career in dancing, and the intense pressure he feels there. His boyfriend and he live together but communication is hard because his boyfriend is very "productive and driven" and "doesn't understand addiction". There it is. Are you fucking kidding me. Is everyone in this fucking town addicted to ice?! He stops, corrects himself. "Well, it's not an addiction, but it is... A problem." Well, shit. I tell him if he ever needs to talk to anyone, I'm around. I'm starting to understand more about the notion that the opposite to addiction is connection. He doesn't seem like he has anyone to talk to. The profile fits. The shame, the pressure, the lack of feeling understood. God, we are all just babies, crawling around, wondering where the nipple is. He says he really would like to talk to someone. I tell him when he comes down a little bit we can go for coffee. I take this opportunity to ask him if he knows hot nurse. "Oh yeah! That's my boyfriend!" He says. The muscles around my sphincter contract suddenly and my face contorts into a grimace, momentarily. "What?" Shan asks. "Nothing. Have you ever heard of Foreign Fields?"

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actutrends · 4 years

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FanSided’s 12 Days of Christmas

Image by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

No one desires birds. Here are FanSided’s 12 Days of Christmas, in accordance with the presents our preferred sports and films have actually given us this vacation season.

As Andrew Bernard learned the difficult method, many of the gifts given up the popular “12 Days of Christmas” are simply birds. In truth, if there are any wealthy bird enthusiasts out there who could manage it, providing your loved one the actual 12 Days of Christmas would total up to 184 birds in total. Nobody desires 184 birds for Christmas.

Because of this indisputable reality, our FanSided personnel decided to get together and analyze the real gifts our preferred sports and films have actually offered us this vacation season.

From college football to the NFL and NBA to the home entertainment industry and beyond, we happily present FanSided’s 12 Days of Christmas!

On the very first day of Christmas, college football offered to me: a qualified LSU quarterback

LSU quarterback Joe Burrow came out of nowhere this year to win the Heisman Prize and lead the Tigers to the College Football Playoff. He’s the SEC record-holder for yards and goals in a season and quickly the best quarterback in LSU history. However, the bar was so low you might reach it without standing. LSU quarterbacks have actually constantly held the team back and got Les Miles fired. This year was different, as Burrow was the finest present LSU fans might have requested.– Patrick Schmidt

On the 2nd day of Christmas, the UFC offered to me: two Baddest Motherf– kers in the video game

We have been so excellent this year and as a delicious reward, the UFC offered the fans something it wanted so much: a genuine Baddest Motherf– ker title, complete with its own belt at the most significant fight card of the year. Jorge Masvidal faced off with Nate Diaz to crown the official BMF in the UFC and when the dust finally settled, we saw Masvidal with the strap around his waste and a prospective second BMF defend next year … and his opponent may be none other than Nate’s huge sibling, Nick.– Amy Kaplan

On the 3rd day of Christmas, the NFL offered to me: an understanding of what a catch is

The NFL has long been flummoxed when trying to describe what a finished catch remains in the guideline book. No NFL fan or expert might be given a much better gift than making this a simple guideline that was obvious in real time. Commissioner Roger Goodell comes through.– Matt Verderame

On the 4th day of Christmas, college football provided to me: 4 playoff groups

4 is the magic number when it pertains to the college football postseason. LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and TK make the field this year. It’s the very first time Alabama has actually not made the College Football Playoff, so that’s a present right there if you have actually suffered from Alabama fatigue the last couple of years.– Patrick Schmidt

On the fifth day of Christmas, the NHL offered to me: 5 head coaches fired

The NHL remains in a bit of turmoil as the holiday rolls around. In between poor efficiencies and a coaching abuse scandal that is rocking the structure of the sport, the NHL has actually seen five head coaches alleviated of their duties in just a few weeks. Beware, your group may be next!– Mary Clarke

On the 6th day of Christmas, Hollywood offered to me: 6 feet of Adam Chauffeur.

With The Report and Marital Relationship Story already out, fall 2019 has been Adam Driver season and all of it culminates in the release of Star Wars Episode IX: The Increase of Skywalker The internet enjoys discussing Motorist– Is he a good star? Is he hot? Or is he just distractingly tall? From motion pictures to memes, all six-feet(- two) of Adam Chauffeur is the gift that continues providing.– Shea Corrigan

On the seventh day of Christmas, Luka Doncic offered to me: seven( ty-seven) marks of excellence

7 is thought about the ideal number, so it’s no surprise Luka Doncic uses 2 of them on his jersey. No. 77 on the Dallas Mavericks was already pleasant, and precisely nobody ought to be shocked what he’s doing given how much he achieved as a professional abroad prior to concerning the NBA, but his production at age 20 is actually unprecedented. Averaging 29.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.9 helps per video game is flirting with triple-double territory that only Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson have actually ever ventured into for a full season, but he’s doing it on 61.8 percent real shooting as the primary factor the Mavs own the very best offense in the league and a 19-10 record. Likewise, think how numerous triple-doubles he had on the season? Not seven, however eight, actually one-upping perfection. Luka Doncic is exceptionally fun to view, easy to root for and right now, he’s the spirit of Christmas embodied on a basketball court. That spirit is perfect, and it uses two No. 7s across the chest.– Gerald Bourguet

On the 8th day of Christmas, in my nightmares Tom Hooper offered to me: 8 stars as felines in Cats

There are more than eight cats in the movie Cats (I Googled it) however there are eight genuine stars– full-on award-winning, chart-topping movie and/or pop stars– donning the most psychopathic catsuits/fur technology you will ever see in Tom Hooper’s “musical dream” adjustment. (They are Idris Elba, Taylor Swift, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson, James Corden, Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson and Jason DeRulo.)– Shea Corrigan

On the ninth day of Christmas, the Phoenix Suns provided to me: (ideally!) turning the corner on nine years of misery

The Phoenix Suns haven’t been to the playoffs because 2010 (the second-longest active playoff drought in the NBA), they have not won 30 video games given that 2015, and even discussing the names of draft whiffs like Josh Jackson, Marquese Chriss or Dragan Bender is enough to make the most diehard of fans wince. But for the very first time in Devin Booker’s career, he’s got NBA-caliber colleagues and a genuine head coach. The result? Career-best performance for Book, a Suns team that’s 11-19 in spite of dealing with among the league’s hardest schedules and missing Deandre Ayton for all however two video games, and a shot at lastly taking the first step in an extended reconstruct. This fanbase has continuously been put through the ringer, but in between having an actual point guard in Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre’s Valley Boyz wave and Aron Baynes substituting the suspended Ayton, the Suns are taking their primary step towards legitimacy by simply competing. Maybe the playoffs won’t happen after a hot start raised expectations, specifically during a seven-game losing streak, however even breaking 30-35 wins would be encouraging.– Gerald Bourguet

On the 10 th day of Christmas, soccer provided to me: a 10- point lead that Liverpool surely can’t let slip this time, right?

Sure, it would be good for our true love to provide us an engaging Premier League title race like we saw last season, but in the lack of that, we get to see a buzzsaw Liverpool team that looks definitely identified to snap the storied club’s 30- year league title dry spell. The Reds lead the Premier League by 10 points (with a game in hand) at Christmas. Of all teams though, Liverpool won’t be assuming it’s over, after they blew a Christmas lead last season. And the Ghosts of Christmas Past run even deeper because, through Opta “each of the last 3 sides to fail to win the title after being leading at Christmas have all been the Reds (2008-09, 2013-14 and 2018-19).” For Liverpool fans, this might be the year they finally win the Premier League, and for us neutrals, we get to see them hold their breath and see if possibly they can end up being the next Invincibles while doing so.– John Wilkinson

On the 11 th day of Christmas, the NFL offered to me: awesome young quarterbacks

After what feels like a century of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger, the league is finally churning the mix. Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson and others are blazing a trail, introducing what need to be the requirement for 15 years moving forward. More athleticism, more enjoyment and more possibilities. Excellent stuff.– Matt Verderame

On the 12 th day of Christmas, MLB offered to me: So, so, many presents since totally free agents are really getting signed prior to Christmas

After a freezing market last winter left the leading totally free representatives anonymous through the holidays (and well beyond), it was refreshing to see big-ticket products Stephen Strasburg, Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon go off the board this December. Now, as we wait to see if contending groups open the checkbook for mid-level totally free representatives too, let’s hope we can discover a way onto the gift-giving list of those three.– John Wilkinson

The post FanSided’s 12 Days of Christmas appeared first on Actu Trends.

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networkingdefinition · 4 years

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Sports Quotes

Official Website: Sports Quotes

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• A game of chess holds many secrets. Fortunately! That is why we cannot clearly state whether chess is science, art, or a sport. – Garry Kasparov • A sports expert is the guy who writes the best alibis for being wrong – Jimmy Cannon • According to the American Psychological Association, the most effective stress-relief strategies are exercising or playing sports, praying or attending a religious service, reading, listening to music, spending time with friends or family, getting a massage, going outside of ra walk, meditating or doing yoga, and spending time with a creative hobby. The least effective strategies are gambling, shopping, smoking, drinking, eating, playing video games, surfing the Internet, and watching TV or movies for more than two hours. – Kelly McGonigal • After I went through two years of not winning an event, what kept me going was winning one more major. Once I won that last U.S. Open, I spent the next six months trying to figure out what was next. Slowly my passion for the sport just vanished. I had nothing left to prove. – Pete Sampras • All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none. So when the fighter is through, he is through. While he was fighting his management was very excited for him, but now that he is done, that management team is moving on. – Gerry Cooney • Although they only give gold medals in the field of athletics, I encourage everyone to look into themselves and find their own personal dream, whatever that may be – sports, medicine, law, business, music, writing, whatever. The same principles apply. Turn your dream into a goal and learn how to attack that goal systematically. Break it into bite-size chunks that seem possible, and then don’t give up. Just keep plugging away. – John Naber • An athlete must have a sound and trained body, and only after, indulge in sport he prefers. – Albert Azaryan • As a passionate sports fan, as well as an athlete, I am excited to be a part of CBS Sports Network’s historic sports-focused program hosted entirely by women, especially at a time when the influence of women in sports has evolved to where it is today. – Swin Cash • As far as the gambling debts on there, not one cent was any type of sports betting. It’s just something obviously I’m not proud of because it drags a lot of other people into this than I’d want. It’s something I’m continuing to deal with. – Darren McCarty

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• Baseball was my first sport. I wish I would have stayed with it. – Reggie Bush • Biography, like big game hunting, is one of the recognized forms of sport, and it is as unfair as only sport can be. – Philip Guedalla • Boxing was not the sport that I thought is was due to all the politics. • But baseball was different… You stood and waited and tried to still your mind. When your moment came, you had to be ready, because if you f****d up, everyone would know whose fault it was. What other sport not only kept a stat as cruel as the error, but posted it on the scoreboard for everyone to see? … You could only try so hard not to try too hard before you were right back around to trying too hard. And trying hard, as everyone told him, was wrong, all wrong. – Chad Harbach • By sports like these are all their cares beguil’d; The sports of children satisfy the child. – Oliver Goldsmith • Chess and boxing have a lot in common, as both sports rely on the right strategy. – Vitali Klitschko • Chess will always be in the doldrums as a spectator sport while a draw is given equal mathematical value as a decisive result. – Michael Basman • Children’s plays are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions. – Michel de Montaigne • Cricket is battle and service and sport and art. – Douglas Jardine • Dancing was my sport when I was younger. So I chose that over everything. And then, I just had to keep going because it became a competitive thing. But I’m not trying to impress anyone anymore. Dancing is more like my art, now. – Heather Morris • Design truly is a contact sport. It demands that we bring all of our senses to the task, and that we apply the very best of our thinking, our feeling and our doing to the challenge that we have at hand. – Tom Wujec • Don’t sell yourself short because without that you can’t go far in life because after sports the only thing you know is sports and you can’t do anything else with that. – Bo Jackson • Everyone I know who is successful has issues with their father, regardless of whether it was sports or business or entertainment. – Bret Easton Ellis • Everything I have in this world, I owe to the sport of boxing, and I won’t ever forget that. – Oscar De La Hoya • Exploration is the sport of the scientist – Auguste Piccard • Extreme sports tricks are becoming increasingly complex, the courses ever more challenging and crashes all too common. – Lucy Walker • Fear has been a big battle, it runs rampant in my sport so I love to overcome that, to challenge it head on, because there is nothing that feels as accomplished as overcoming a fear, and something that has blocked you in such a big way. – Laura Wilkinson • Femininity and sport can go together. – Rebecca Lobo • Following Emporer Nero’s command, “Let the Christians be exterminated!:” . . . they [the Christians] were made the subjects of sport; they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses or set fire to, and when the day waned, burned to serve for the evening lights. – Tacitus • Football is a sport of emotions, and we have to capture that in our films. – Steve Sabol • Football: A sport that bears the same relation to education that bullfighting does to agriculture. – Elbert Hubbard • For me sport was a religion… with religious sentiment. – Pierre de Coubertin • Giving the cat a name, like marriage, is not an easy thing. Soon I experienced the selection of name for a baby, a dog, a book, a warship, a sports team, even the king, the pope or a hurricane is just child’s play compared to the selection of the cat’s name. – Cleveland Amory • Guitar playing, as currently understood, has more to do with sports than it does to do with music. It’s an Olympic challenge type of situation. The challenges are in the realm of speed, redundancy, choreography, and grooming… …clouds of educated gnat-notes. – Frank Zappa • He loves to sit and hear me sing, Then, laughing, sports and plays with me; Then stretches out my golden wing, And mocks my loss of liberty. – William Blake • How many young girls there are who do not see any wrongdoing in following certain shameless styles like so many sheep. They certainly would blush if they could guess the impression they make and the feelings they evoke in those who see them. Do they not see the harm resulting from excess in certain gymnastic exercises and sports not suitable for virtuous girls? What sins are committed or provoked by conversations which are too free, by immodest shows, by dangerous reading. How lax have consciences become, how pagan morals! – Pope Pius XII • Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they’re in the game. – Paul Rodriguez • I always think street but train sport. – Conor McGregor • I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures. – Earl Warren • I am the person you’ll see everyday training when everyone else has gone home. I live for the one moment of glory when I save that goal or sink that 3-point shot and score the winning basket. I am the sport, I am the glory, nothing can change that. I am an athlete, no one can forget that. – Alexa Wilkinson • I believe the reason for my early independence is sport, through which I learnt at an early stage to take care of myself and be disciplined. – Blanka Vlasic • I call tennis the McDonald’s of sport – you go in, they make a quick buck out of you, and you’re out. – Pat Cash • I come from a sports family and my husband is a rugby player. – Kirsty Gallacher • I do not see any reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet when there are so many substitutes. After all, man can live without meat. It is only some carnivorous animals that have to subsist on flesh. Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventures, and for hides and furs is a phenomenon which is at once disgusting and distressing. There is no justification in indulging in such acts of brutality . . . Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures. – Dalai Lama • I do sport at the gym a few times a week, but I hate it. Work is my only remedy. I feel so twisted and horrible in the morning, but then I go to the office and I start feeling better. Work is my Tylenol. Extra-strength. – Alber Elbaz • I do, have done and always will believe that I am very capable of performing and thriving at any level of the sport. – Jonny Wilkinson • I don’t play sports. The only sports I play is shopping. But there is a lot of walking involved in that… running sometimes if there’s a sale. – Jessica Simpson • I don’t play the sport for fame. I don’t try to win tournaments for fame. I don’t do any of that. It’s just me. I’m just Bubba. I goof around. I joke around. I just want to be me and play golf. – Bubba Watson • I don’t put anything in front of taking ski racing and sports seriously. – Bode Miller • I don’t think there are many larger lessons to be found in sports. – Gregg Easterbrook • I feel like as a linebacker or a D-lineman, any cut, it’s a man sport — be a man, hit me up high, Hit like rams. You don’t see a ram going and cutting another ram’s legs. They hit head to head, pad to pad. – Patrick Willis • I feel this pang of regret whenever I watch sport; this sense that I will never play a big match again. – David Beckham • I have accomplished everything I set out to accomplish when I started playing the sport at 7. And probably even more. – Sheryl Swoopes • I have my parents to thank for that, they raised me to be active and play all sports. They taught me the importance of staying healthy, being focused and setting goals in whatever I do. – Kiana Tom • I just wanted to defend football, which is not always easy to do. Those of us who have been in the sport so many years now realise we must protect it and look after it. I was speaking about football, what it means. It is our profession, it has been our lives, and we must take care of it a little. – Vicente del Bosque • I look at myself, and how much I’ve gotten just because I play a sport well. – Angela Ruggiero • I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer, and pizza are all good enough reasons for living. But living an honest life – for that you need the truth. – Ricky Gervais • I strongly believe the black culture spends too much time, energy and effort raising, praising, and teasing our black children about the dubious glories of professional sports. – Arthur Ashe • I think a big part of our attraction to sport movies are the stories contained within the sports. – Rachel Griffiths • I think boxing is an incredible sport and I would like to see it really become regulated because I think it could bring back a lot of the past.Dom Irrera • I think it is high time that Europe starts to understand that we do not rule the world anymore, and that some former European imperial powers can no longer impress their will on to others in far away places, and we must accept that football has moved away from being a European and South American sport: it has become the World Sport that billions of fans are excitedly following every week, everywhere in the world. – Sepp Blatter • I think that the two of them have been doing this for a really long time and it is more like sport. Yes, they would love to find a lasting relationship, but it’s not likely to happen the way they are going about it. – Jennifer Beals • I try to think about positive things – how great my form is, how my arms are swinging, my breathing, how loud people are cheering. My sports psychologist taught me there are a million things telling you you can’t keep going, but if you find the things that say you can, you’re golden. – Kara Goucher • I wanted to use sports for social change. – Billie Jean King • I was fortunate enough to have baseball to teach me the values relative to success. The sport gifted me with leadership and team building skills that translate in a relatable way in the world. – Willie Wilson • I was very sporty at school, and sport was probably the thing I was best at, but my real passion was for fashion. – Kirsty Gallacher • I would like to apologize to Brock Lesnar, his family, the UFC and the UFC fans for my stupid remarks. I respect Brock, all the other fighters, and the sport of mixed martial arts. I’m sorry that I stepped out of line. – Frank Mir • I’d had 35 professional fights and mentally I was tired of it. I’d sort ot fallen out of love with the sport. – Barry McGuigan • If the Bible has taught us nothing else, and it hasn’t, it’s that girls should stick to girls sports, such as hot oil wrestling, foxy boxing, and such and such. – Dan Castellaneta • If we are to elevate the game of chess to a popular sport, grandmasters must become gladiators, otherwise the game will languish on the periphery, a voice crying in the wilderness, condemned to live and die on a cold arctic shore. – Michael Basman • If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would. – Wayne Pacelle • If you’re studying for an exam you’re not thinking about the results. If you’re always worried about the results, you can’t study a lot. So to be engaged and detached from the outcome is excellent. Excellence is behavior. I mean, isn’t that what martial arts is about? And that’s what meditation is about, that’s what, in many ways, sports are about. – Deepak Chopra • I’m fanatical about sport: there seems to me something almost religious about the fact that human beings can organise play, the spirit of play. – Simon Gray • I’m from West Virginia. If you didn’t know what was happening in NASCAR, you were on the outside. NASCAR is a big league sport, but it’s still also country and redneck. – Randy Moss • I’m in the perfect position. It’s a sports position and a political position where I can help better the lives of athletes around the world. – Angela Ruggiero • I’m proud of the fact that besides being known as a successful former football player, I’ve also worked hard to establish myself as a successful businessman, network broadcaster, sports & entertainment executive and philanthropist. – Warren Moon • I’m trying to set out the passion and complexity of this sport. Many people think it’s a dumb activity: stand on the gas and turn left. In fact, it’s probably one of the most complex sports in existence. – Janet Guthrie • In chess the most unbelievable thing for me is that it’s a game for everybody: rich, poor, girl, boy, old, young. It’s a fantastic game which can unite people and generations! It’s a language which you’ll find people “speak” in every country. If you reach a certain level you find a very rich world! Art, sport, logic, psychology, a battlefield, imagination, creativity not only in practical games but don’t forget either how amazing a feeling it is to compose a study, for example (unfortunately that’s not appreciated these days but it’s a fantastic part of chess!). – Judit Polgar • In chess the most unbelievable thing for me is that it’s a game for everybody: rich, poor, girl, boy, old, young. It’s a fantastic game which can unite people and generations! It’s a language which you’ll find people “speak” in every country. If you reach a certain level you find a very rich world! Art, sport, logic, psychology, a battlefield, imagination, creativity not only in practical games but don’t forget either how amazing a feeling it is to compose a study, for example (unfortunately that’s not appreciated these days but it’s a fantastic part of chess!). – Judit Polgar • In digital world, sport provides opportunity to bring people together. – Edwin Moses • In fact, theres a lot to legitimately hate about pro sports and the way they are conducted.- Chad Harbach • In football, it’s the ultimate team sport. You have to have good people around you as a quarterback for things to happen. – Warren Moon • In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won’t be able to do this. – Willie Mays • In sports as in child rearing, marital arguments, or tantrums, the same laws of learning apply; when an emotion is encouraged and the rules permit it, it is perpetuated, not ‘drained.’ … An emotion without social rules of containment and expression is like an egg without a shell: a gooey mess. – Carol Tavris • In The Art and Aesthetics of Boxing, David Scott addresses the daunting task of establishing a groundwork for the aesthetics of boxing-and succeeds with consummate authority. . . . In Scott’s incisive blend of art history, sociology, and sports writing, he makes a daring and original statement about fighters and the artists who enshrined them. – Robert Anasi • In the field of sports you are more or less accepted for what you do rather than what you are. – Althea Gibson • In the seventies we had to make it acceptable for people to accept girls and women as athletes. We had to make it okay for them to be active. Those were much scarier times for females in sports. – Billie Jean King • It is almost better to be an impulse shirt-buyer than an impulse shoe-buyer. I have worn shirts that made people think I was a retired Mafia hit-man or a Yugoslavian sports convener from Split, but I have worn shoes that made people think I was insane. – Clive James • It is said that courage isn’t the absence of fear but the fortitude to confront fear. And as long as homophobia continues to be an accepted element of the locker room culture and homophobic language a coach’s motivational tool, we can never dismiss the courage it takes for an athlete-on any level-to be openly gay. Bobby Blair may not be a household name, but his journey-from frightened collegiate athlete to empowered advocate-is one that has an important lesson for anyone who believes in the unifying power of sports. – LZ Granderson • It isn’t hard to be good from time to time in sports. What is tough, is being good every day. – Willie Mays • It’s called the pursuit of perfection. The pursuit is the idea that you’ll never be perfect in gymnastics but you can continue to pursue it as long as you’re doing it. I don’t think it’s possible to be perfect in gymnastics. It’s just one of those sports that you’re always trying to improve and pursue that perfection. – Jonathan Horton • It’s a little bit in the genes because my brother is a journalist and my father was a sports writer. – Patricia Heaton • It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling. – Mark Twain • It’s kind of ironic that the two sports with the greatest characters, boxing and horse racing, have both been on the decline. In both cases it’s for the lack of a suitable hero. – Dick Schaap • It’s not just self defense, it’s about…self control, body discipline, and mind discipline…and breath techniques. It involves yoga. It involves meditation. It’s an art, not a sport. – Elvis Presley • It’s so much fun! Girls just think that it is all about popularity, but it’s not. You have to work really hard if you want to be good at cheerleading. It’s just like any other sport! – Stephanie • I’ve always thought that my exposure to competitive sports helped me a great deal in the operating room. It teaches you endurance, and it teaches you how to cope with defeat, and with complications of all sort. I think I’m a well-coordinated person, more than average, and I think that came through my interest in sports, and athletics… Playing basketball you have to make decisions promptly, and that’s true in the operating room as well. – Denton Cooley • I’ve won a medal, but that’s nothing compared to the crown I’ll get in Heaven. I see a lot of people in sports who think when they reach a certain level they’ve got it made, but really, you can only find happiness in the Lord. – Cindy Klassen • Kids tend to look up to sports figures and entertainers, probably more than they should, but I’ve tried to use that in a positive way. – Warren Moon • Let’s face it, gossip is one of the world’s most destructive habits, and we’re exposed to it practically everywhere we go and in much that we see – work, recreation, sports, home, in magazines, on television. There is absolutely nothing beneficial about gossip – it hurts everyone involved – Lori Palatnik • Life magazine ran a page featuring me and three other girls that was clearly the precursor of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues – Esther Williams • Mathematics is not a spectator sport! – George Polya • Men forget everything; women remember everything. That’s why men need instant replay in sports. They’ve already forgotten what’s happened. – Rita Rudner • Men’s competitive team sports focus on the balance between individual achievement and team achievement with the emphasis on team achievement. – Warren Farrell • Motor racing’s less of a sport these days than a commercial break doing 150 mph. – Peter Dunne • My definition of a sport is that it’s a physical activity that involves competition. Since bodybuilders certainly train and then compete, we are certainly a sport. – Arnold Schwarzenegger • NASCAR racing provides more brand awareness and interest than any of the other major sports. The opportunities to build business-to-business relationships within the racing community are endless. – David Fricke • No outdoor sports can be more elegant than throwing stones at autocracy; no melees can be more exciting than those in cyberspace. – Ai Weiwei • Oh, this absolute loneliness and the game – loving to play the game, loving to go and tell stories to men that certainly weren’t true, just for the sport of it, just to see how they would react. – Jennifer Beals • One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it. – Knute Rockne • Ownership is not limited to material things. It can also apply to points of view. Once we take ownership of an idea – whether it’s about politics or sports – what do we do? We love it perhaps more than we should. We prize it more than it is worth. And most frequently, we have trouble letting go of it because we can’t stand the idea of its loss. What are we left with then? An ideology – rigid and unyielding. – Dan Ariely • Pain? Yes, of course. Racing without pain is not racing. But the pleasure of being ahead outweighed the pain a million times over. To hell with the pain. What’s six minutes of pain compared to the pain they’re going to feel for the next six months or six decades. You never forget your wins and losses in this sport. YOU NEVER FORGET. – Brad Alan Lewis • People in the States used to think that if girls were good at sports their sexuality would be affected. – Martina Navratilova • People look at black pride in America and sport’s impact on it. In the major cities it took off the first time Jackie Robinson stole home. In the deep South, it started with Eddie Robinson, who took a small college in northern Louisiana with little or no funds and sent the first black to the pros and made everyone look at him and Grambling. – Jerry Izenberg • People who think they know what they are talking about when they talk about baseball include the announcers and all of the sports press – no matter how much evidence you present them to the contrary they will continue to think that what they think is right. – Michael Lewis • Pro sports are a tough business–whether you’re in baseball, football, or something else. But when you’re running around the bases after hitting a home run or jumping up and down after a touchdown, a little boy comes to the surface. – Roy Campanella • Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting. – George Orwell • Slow parents understand that childrearing should not be a cross between a competitive sport and product-development. It is not a project; it’s a journey. Slow parenting is about giving kids lots of love and attention with no conditions attached. – Carl Honore • Sometimes people think that if you’re always helping people up and never hit someone with a hard foul, you’re automatically a good sport. I don’t believe that. – Sue Wicks • Sooner or later a rider will emerge who will win more Tours. In every sport we have seen how the records eventually get broken and cycling is no exception. – Miguel Indurain • Sport is a preserver of health. – Hippocrates • Sport is an international phenomenon, like science or music. – Avery Brundage • Sport is how poor kids from poor countries pass through the eye of the needle to riches and recognition. – A. A. Gill • Sport is singularly able to give us peak experience where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential. – George A. Sheehan • Sport strips away personality, letting the white bone of character shine through. Sport gives players an opportunity to know and test themselves. – Rita Mae Brown • Sport, that wrinkled Care derides, And Laughter holding both his sides. Come and trip it as ye go, On the light fantastic toe. – John Milton • Sports are a microcosm of society. – Billie Jean King • Sports create a bond between comtemporaries that lasts a lifetime. It also gives your life structure, discipline and a genuine, sincere, pure fulfillment that few other areas of endeavor provide. – Bob Cousy • Sports do not build character. They reveal it. – Heywood Broun • Sports for me is when a guy walks off the court, and you really can’t tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way. – Jim Courier • Sports is human life in microcosm. – Howard Cosell • Sports is like a war without the killing. – Ted Turner • Sports is, somehow, a religion. – Michael Novak

• Sportsmanship is the ethical and moral dimension of sports. It is demonstrated by a number of attributes and attitudes such as fair play, respect for the rules and traditions of the sport and various traits of good character including integrity (abiding by the letter and spirit of the rules and concepts of honor); demonstrated respect for others including teammates, opponents, officials and spectators; accountability, self-control, and graciousness in victory and defeat. – Michael Josephson • Squash has the credentials to become an olympic event and our goal is to see the sport in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We are working towards this and will keep trying even if our bid is not successful. – Jahangir Khan • Swimming is one of the hardest sports. – Stephanie Rice • Tennis can be a very frustrating sport. There is no way around the hard work. Embrace it. You have to put in the hours because there is always something you can improve. [Y]ou have to put in a lot of sacrifice and effort for sometimes little reward but you have to know that, if you put in the right effort, the reward will come. – Roger Federer • That’s the beauty of this great sport (track), though-it’s such a fine line between success or not, which makes the sweet moments that much more worth savoring. – Nick Willis • That’s why men need instant replays in sports. They’ve already forgotten what happened. – John Wayne • The 1992 US Olympic basketball team is the best sports team ever, the equivalent of rounding up the greatest American writers of the last century or so and watching them collaborate: ‘OK, Twain, you do the dialogue and hand off to Faulkner. He’ll do the interior monologue. Hemingway will edit – no, don’t make that face, you know you overwrite. And be nice to Cheever. He’s young, but he’s got a good ear. Wharton and Cather can’t play – they’re girls.’ – Anna Quindlen • The airline business is the biggest team sport in the world. When you’re all consumed with fighting among yourselves, your opponents can run over you every day. – Gordon Bethune • The appetite for more instant replay in the sport is very low. – Bud Selig • The APR provides a real-time snapshot of what is happening with our individual student-athletes today. However, it does not address some of the realities that exist in sports played during the spring semester, where student-athletes accept professional opportunities before graduating or before exhausting their eligibility. – DeLoss Dodds • The art of angling, the cruelest, the coldest and the stupidest of pretended sports. – Lord Byron • The biological factors underlying race differences in sports have consequences for educational achievement, crime and sexual behavior. – J. Philippe Rushton • The essence of sports is that while you’re doing it, nothing else matters, but after you stop, there is a place, generally not very important, where you would put it. – Roger Bannister • The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun. – P. G. Wodehouse • The five S’s of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit. – Ken Doherty • The greatest owner in professional sports history is Eddie DeBartolo. – Ronnie Lott • The hardest skill to acquire in this sport is the one where you compete all out, give it all you have, and you are still getting beat no matter what you do. When you have the killer instinct to fight through that, it is very special. – Eddie Reese • The human spirit sublimates the impulses it thwarts; a healthy sex life mitigates the lust for other sports. – Piet Pieterszoon Hein • The idea that so many kids eat rubbish and sit on computers all day long appals me and getting them into sport is a major way of getting them off computers and leading healthier lives. – Kirsty Gallacher • The players are too serious. They don’t have any fun any more. They come to camp with a financial adviser and they read the stock market page before the sports pages. They concern themselves with statistics rather than simply playing the game and enjoying it for what it is. – Rocky Bridges • The sentimentality of baseball is very deeply rooted in the American baseball fan. It is the one sport that is transmitted from fathers to sons. – Michael Lewis • The sportsman knows that a sport is a recreation, a game, an amusement and a pastime, but his eyes are fixed on a higher goal, on the most important thing in his life, which is his education or his vocation. – Avery Brundage • The ultimate would be to compete in a couple more Olympics, hopefully break some world records and wind up my sports career with a couple of years in the WNBA. – Marion Jones • The world of extreme sports is also one of the big businesses. Kids might think that snowboarding is the ultimate freedom, but this freedom is being marketed to them by commercial sponsors. – Lucy Walker • There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship. – Ai Weiwei • There is a terrific apprehension among some people that blacks will take over the sport… It will create problems because their behavior, speech and dress is just a completely different culture. – Arthur Ashe • There is certainly an underrepresentation of Asian Pacific Islanders in professional sports/athletics. – Nathan Adrian • There is no physical punishment in chess; suffering goes on inside the mind. You defend a bad position for hours, you suffer. You lose, you suffer like in any other sport. Suffering euphoria comes when the opponent blunders in a winning position, but it is undeserved. – Lubomir Kavalek • There’s nothing masculine about being competitive. There’s nothing masculine about trying to be the best at everything you do, nor is there anything wrong with it. I don’t know why a female athlete has to defend her femininity just because she chooses to play sports – Rebecca Lobo • These days the temptation to use steroids in sports has become too great for many young athletes. – Jim Sensenbrenner • They read their sports pages, know their statistics and either root like hell or boo our butts off. I love it. Give me vocal fans, pro or con, over the tourist types who show up in Houston or Montreal and just sit there. – Mike Schmidt • Versatility is one of the few human traits which are universally intolerable. You may be good at Greek and good at painting and be popular. You may be good at Greek and good at sport, and be wildly popular. But try all three and you’re a mountebank. Nothing arouses suspicion quicker than genuine, all-round proficiency. – Dorothy Dunnett • Volleyball is a Jewish sport. It’s fun, and nobody can get hurt. – Gail Parent • We’re all doing it for the love of the sport. We want to make Canada proud. I’m so fortunate to skate in a country like Canada. – Cindy Klassen • We’ve finally told the world that this is sports entertainment, and I think one of the best forms of entertainment is anything that’s fun or funny, something that you really enjoy watching or listening to – Jerry Lawler • What delight To back the flying steed, that challenges The wind for speed! – seems native more of air Than earth! – whose burden only lends him fire! – Whose soul, in his task, turns labour into sport; Who makes your pastime his! I sit him now! He takes away my breath! He makes me reel! I touch not earth – I see not – hear not. All Is ecstasy of motion! – James Sheridan Knowles • When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity. – George Bernard Shaw • When it comes to sports I am not particularly interested. Generally speaking, I look upon them as dangerous and tiring activities performed by people with whom I share nothing except the right to trial by jury. – Fran Lebowitz • When they take surveys of women in business, of the Fortune 500, the successful women, 80% of them, say they were in sports as a young woman. – Billie Jean King • When you are a professional sportsman all the guys are great competitors in the top 50. – Guy Forget • Which I think is great. I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they’re run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they’re run by Jewish. It’s not a knock, but they are some crafty people. – Michael Ray • Why has slamming a ball with a racquet become so obsessive a pleasure for so many of us? It seems clear to me that a primary attraction of the sport is the opportunity it gives to release aggression physically without being arrested for felonious assault. – Nat Hentoff • With sports, you get the results back right away. With life, it’s not always so black and white. – Rebecca Twigg • With the Cardinals everybody would be reading the business section to see what their stocks were doing. You get to this locker room (Pirates) in the morning and everybody is looking at the sports page to see if Hulk Hogan won. – Andy Van Slyke • With the Special Ops Warrior Foundation’s help, we put 266 kids through college last year. And that’s what keeps me going. I’ll be honest, I don’t like running. I don’t like biking. I don’t like swimming. I do it to raise money. But, now that I’m in this sport, I want to see how far I can push myself. What makes me tick is that pain you feel when you do these ultramarathons. I love knowing that everyone’s suffering because I know I can suffer just a little bit more. I can take a lot of pain. – David Goggins • Women’s sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women’s sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships. – Billie Jean King • Wrecks are going to happen in this business, that’s just a risk of the sport. If you can’t keep from worrying about it, then you’re in the wrong line of work. – Coo Coo Marlin • Writing is like a sport. If you don’t practice, you don’t get any better. – Rick Riordan • Yeah, handsome, great big guy, seven feet tall! Name is Rick Miller – Portland, Oregon. And he started a business. Of course you know it was in basketball. But it wasn’t in basketball! I mean, I figured he had to be in sport, but he wasn’t in sport. – Mitt Romney • You can be a little lonely because it’s an individual sport. – Guy Forget • Your enemy wants to strip you, make sport of you, and merchandise your body, but your heavenly Father wants to clothe you with beauty, strength, dignity and honor that will endure. – Nancy Leigh DeMoss

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