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lottiebagley · 3 years

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Cardigan- Cedric Diggory

Vintage tee, brand new phone High heels on cobblestones When you are young, they assume you know nothing

She would never forget the very first time she spoke to Cedric Diggory. She had been sorted into Gryffindor and he had been sorted into Hufflepuff, they'd seen each other around and even shared some classes but it was February of first year by the time they ever actually spoke.

She was best friends with George Weasley, she spent every waking moment with the twins, Angelina and Lee. The whole year knew of the little group and how inseparable they truly were, they'd gained the reputation of being funny pranksters and seemed to light up every room they went in.

To Cedric though, it hadn't been the group that lit up the rooms, it had been her. Her bright smile, her loud laughter. There was something about her that Cedric found impossible to ignore and he loved it. He was in an internal battle, on one hand he desperately wanted to speak to her, to know her, to be the reason she was laughing. On the other he was an 11 year old with a crush and was nervous.

He had decided automatically he was glad to talk to her though.

It was Saturday morning and he had been minding his own business, walking through the corridors to go and meet some friends after having been up to library to finish an essay and she had ran straight into him.

"Sorry, oh my merlin, I am so sorry," She speaks quickly, bending down to pick up the papers that she had knocked from her hands

"It's no bother," He smiles politely, his stomach full of butterflies when her hand brushes his. "I'm-"

"Cedric, sorry I'm not a creep I swear, we are in the same Charms class, you sit behind me" She cuts him off, he blushes brightly at her even acknowledging his existence.

"And Herbology," He smiles

"I'm-"

"Y/N, I know," it's her turn to blush and Cedric can feel his heart flip in his chest, she opens her mouth to say something but is interrupted by loud footsteps sprinting towards them

"LET'S GO Y/N! FILCH IS COMING!" Cedric isn't sure which twin it is, but they grab her hand and continue running, the girl is quick to join in turning back to shout over her shoulder

"Sorry again Cedric!" she calls, he stands dumbstruck with a look of awe in his eyes as he listens to her laughter grow faint as she rounds the corner.

Sequin smile, black lipstick Sensual politics When you are young, they assume you know nothing

Cedric doesn't work up the courage to speak to his crush again for a while. She simply isn't interested. At 11 years old she cared more for having fun with her friends, by 12 she's beginning to notice boys and sure enough she realises the Hufflepuff boy is cute but thinks nothing of it. At 13 she gets her first boyfriend, he's a Ravenclaw and her best friend hates him.

Cedric has his first kiss, he has girls that admit to fancying him and a few even catch his eye. None last though, because for every time he sees them he also sees her. Smiling and laughing with her friends and looking utterly ethereal.

It's when they're 14 that they next speak. It's their fourth year and Cedric is on his way back from quidditch practice when he hears a faint crying coming from an empty class room. Being kind to his very core he doesn't think twice about poking his head round the door to see if whoever is in there is okay. It's only the second day of the school year and he expects to find a scared first year.

His heart breaks though at the sight of her. She's crying into her hands and sniffling loudly, seeming to not even notice someone come in.

"Hi," he speaks gently, not wanting to startle her. She look up immediately and the sight twists the knife in his chest. Her eyes are puffy and red rimmed, her makeup streaking on her cheeks. She immediately pulls her hands to her face, trying to wipe her tears away with her hands.

"Hi Cedric," she tries to smile but it comes out more like a grimace

"Can I sit?" He questions softly, she nods and he sinks onto the floor next to her, his back against the wall.

"Sorry, I look all gross and snotty," she sighs, he chuckles a little

"You're beautiful," not one part of him is lying or trying to make her feel better. He truly believed her to be the most beautiful thing on the entire planet. "Do you want to talk about it?" he offers

"I-you- we don't know each other I'm not going to make you sit through all my problems,"

"Hey, I offered," He assures, gently placing a hand on her knee and giving it a little squeeze.

"You sure? it's a lot and-"

"I am certain,"

"My boyfriend, well I guess not anymore. He broke up with me because he started talking to Ella McKinley over summer and I really liked him and we've ben together for like seven months and I thought he liked me but obviously not and I can't even talk to my friends about it. Freddie and Lee would find the whole thing hysterical, not because they don't care, they just wouldn't get that it feels like I will never be good enough for anyone. Angelina is friends with Ella and I don't want to make things awkward for her. And Georgie, he's the best friend on the planet and he would do anything to make me happy but he was right the whole time and I can't bare the look of pity and he will just know that he was right but he won't say it because I am a pathetic, crying mess. Plus, Fred and George will go and try and fight him and everyone will talk about it and I just wish that I was enough cause I really liked him," She rants with tears streaming down her cheeks and Cedric wants nothing more than to take her pain and put in on himself a 1000 times before she ever has to feel it.

"Hey, you look at me," He prompts, gently moving her face from where she's staring at her lap to face him. "You are so much more than enough. You're beautiful, truly I mean that. And you are so funny and kind, I've never heard a soul speak badly of you, plus I'm in half your classes and you are at the top of all of them so clearly you are smart. Alex Mayfield is stupid for ever letting you go and I promise you he will regret it,"

She doesn't even think twice before diving into his chest to hug him, his heart warms in his chest as he holds her to him, stroking her back gently.

But I knew you Dancing in your Levi's Drunk under a streetlight, I

"Cedric?" Her voice sounds shy, three days later as she approaches his large friend group as they all laugh and chat in the courtyard. His friends all make loud 'oohs' at the girl approaching their friend, knowing he has had a crush on her forever.

He jumps to his feet immediately, only making his friends tease him more. "Hey, is everything alright?" He asks, it's been two days since he found her crying and he hadn't seen her around since.

"Yeah, yeah everything is fine. I just wanted to say thank you for the other day," She smiles gently and his heart melts that she had seeked him out rather than just saying it in whatever class they next saw each other.

"Oh of course, it was nothing," He smiles

"Well, i just, sorry that I cried all over you and- I- well it's embarrassing and you were so sweet so thanks," she blushes madly under his gaze

"It's fine, if ever I can do anything just let me know. Or if you need someone to talk to, I'm always around,"

"Thanks, and the same to you of course," She smiles and he nods. Neither of them can pull their eyes away from each other until Fred and George, who are waiting a small distance away let out loud barks of laughter at their friend's clear crush. "Right, well I should get going, have a good day," She smiles politely before turning around. He isn't quite sure what comes over him when he calls out to her

"Wait!" she turns immediately at his shout "You, uh, wouldn't want to be partners on that new Care of Magical Creatures assignment would you?" They had been assigned it on the first day, and it was a partnered essay and research task on Mooncalf's due in at the end of the month.

"Yeah I'd love that,"

"Great, I'll meet you in the library. Could you do tomorrow night right after classes finish?"

"Yeah, I'll see you there," She agrees, blushing slightly as she turns to walk back to the twins. Both Cedric and Emily's friends immediately begin to tease them but when she turns back to look at him and catches him already staring after her neither of them seem to care.

I knew you Hand under my sweatshirt Baby kiss it better, right

'You know, now that we have completed this ridiculously long essay we should celebrate. Hogsmeade? this Saturday?'

He had asked so casually, like it was easy. When in reality it had taken him a week to build up the nerve. She nodded, acting like her heart wasn't hammering inside her chest.

But now, as he waits at a table in the three broomsticks, he feels more anxious than he can even explain. She walks in, smiling brightly when she sees him, sat at a table with two butterbeers, and she seems so calm it puts his jittery leg at ease.

"Hey Ced,"

"Hi darling," He grins, watching her slide into the booth seat opposite him

"Am I late? Fred forced me to go to Zonko's with him, swore it'd only be two minutes but it was a lot longer," she explains

"No, I was early is all," He smiles, pushing the drink lightly in her direction

"Thanks," She grins, planning in her head to buy the next round. "So, good day so far?"

"Made better by you," he returns, he'd expected to feel awkward and nervous but in reality something about her felt so right, so natural.

"Well of course, clearly I am the highlight of your day every time you see me," She teases lightly

"Well I'm the same for you,"

"You are," She confirms. He beams at her and her heart somersaults in her chest. "How have we only just become friends this year?" She ponders

"I don't know, it feels like I have known you forever," He smiles

"Yeah it does. I guess that's just how it is with some people,"

"You know what they call those people? Soulmates," He teases and smiles a little when her cheeks flush a bright red

"If you are my soulmate Diggory, I could do a lot worse,". It was true, she felt like he could so easily be that one person she was supposed to meet. He was natural, he was charming, he was funny, he made her feel so at ease. She never had to be someone else, never had to think for a second about what she said. Cedric just got her and it was the best thing she had ever experienced.

And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed You put me on and said I was your favourite

"Ced!" She's positively beaming as she stands on Hogsmeade platform after the Christmas holiday's. Pushing her way through the crowd towards the boy and leaping into his arms, he catches her with ease, rearranging his hands a little to hold her up better, her legs wrapping around his waist. His friends pay them no mind as they walk towards the carriages knowing they will see him at dinner and he would much rather have a minute alone with her.

"What're you doing here?" he chuckles

"I missed you," she shrugs

"I missed you too, but I could have just seen you at school, you didn't have to come and pick me up from the station," He smiles at her and she blushes a little. She had spent her holiday at school with the Weasley's as Molly and Arthur were in Bulgaria with Charlie and she hadn't wanted to miss out on her friends antics.

"Yeah, but if I had done that then I would have had to wait until after the welcome back feast and it would have been ages," She explains

"Well in that case, I'm glad you came. I really missed you darling," He smiles, gently placing her back onto the ground

"I missed you too, I was actually thinking a lot when you were gone-" she admits

"That's dangerous," he teases, laughing when she gently swats his arm

"I was thinking that I think I like you, as in more than a friend. No. I know, I like you as more than a friend and I have for a while now and I just wanted you to know that I do. You don't have to like me back and if you don't then I don-"

She's cut off when he slams his lips against hers. Pulling her flush against him. He kisses her with so much passion and longing that she doesn't doubt for a second that he likes her just as much. He smirks when he pulls away and her lips chase his to press another quick peck to them.

"I like you too, I have for an embarrassingly long amount of time, I just didn't want to rush you after what happened with Alex,"

"You could never rush me, it's you," she smiles and he feels his heart leave his body and fall right into her hands.

"So, you wanna go on a real date?" he questions, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as he begins to lead her towards the carriages back up to school.

"I would love that," She grins

"In that case, I will pick up tomorrow at 8," He announces, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as they walk.

A friend to all is a friend to none Chase two girls, lose the one When you are young, they assume you know nothing

"I have just had the most awkward interaction of my life," She announces, walking into his dorm to find him sat at his desk. She drops onto his bed as he turns to look at her

"Hi darling," He smiles

"Hey," she grins back, eyes unable to pull away from his

"None of this romantic gooey shit, what happened?" Cedric's best friend, Justin, questions from his own desk. The pair clearly having been doing work before she arrived.

"Right," she nods, pulling her eyes away from Cedric as she tugs her Gryffindor tie off her neck and settles more comfortably on his bed. "So, i'm walking with George, Fred and Lee out of detention, planning on coming here and they were heading into town to pick up some supplies from Zonko's so we are walking, minding our own business and then out of literally no where Alex pops out,"

"As in your ex-boyfriend?" Justin question, fully immersed in her story. She glances at Cedric who's jaw is a little tight, but softens when their eyes meet.

"Yeah so he comes over and asks to talk to me, and you can imagine Lee and Fred think it's fucking hilarious and George looks ready to pummel the boy, which is nothing new he's always hated him,"

"Likes me," Cedric comments slightly cockily, he knew from the off that it was important George liked him.

"He does. So anyway, I'm like Sorry I am in a rush to meet my boyfriend, which only seems to make him want to speak to me more. So he's all like how long have you and Cedric been together and I'm like officially 2 months. And he asks like a million questions about us and then tries to invite me to Hogsmeade and I was like obviously not, at this point George hits him and then we just kinda ran away. It was just very uncomfy and awkward,"

Cedric looks like he is absolutely fuming, Justin on the other hand is laughing at the awkward situation. Cedric is, of course, glad that she immediately told him but was ready to hunt the stupid boy down and finish what George started. He stands up to do just that but stops when she grabs his hand and pulls him to sit next to her, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He sighs, his thumb stroking the back of her hand, knowing that she's asking him to leave it be.

But I knew you Playing hide-and-seek and Giving me your weekends

"Hey, do you guys know where y/n is?" Cedric questions Angelina and Lee when he sees them sat in the library

"Thought she was with you," Angelina shrugs, looking to Lee who looks equally surprised to see Cedric without his girlfriend wrapped in his arm

"She was, we were playing hide and seek but it's been like forty minutes and I can't find her,"

"She'll be in the broom cupboard next to Filch's office. She always hides there when we play," Lee comments

"Great, thanks," with a grin Cedric disappears out of the library and in the direction of Filch's office. He sends polite smiles and waves to friends he passes but doesn't stop for a chat, missing his girl's presence and wanting her back by his side.

He arrives at the cupboard, pulling the door open and stepping in. It was a deep cupboard filled with clutter and her giggle sounds through the air when he trips on a bucket, hand reaching out from the darkness to steady him.

He reaches out and pulls her into his chest, arms wrapping around her and pulling her into him.

"Found you,"

"Took your precious time," she smirks,

"It's a big castle," He reminds, pressing his lips down onto hers, she kisses back immediately, arms looping around his neck as his grip her waist, tucking slightly under the jumper she's wearing that clearly belongs to him and is too big for her, his thumb stroking gently on the skin of her hips.

She pulls away, breathless and grinning up at him and if he had thought he was in love before he was certain of it now. When she looked so pure, so beautiful, so ethereal how could he not be? the truth was he had been falling for her since first year but his five months with her made it all the more real. He wasn't just in love with an idealistic version of her he had made up in his head, it was the real her. The her that only he knew.

"Which of my friends told you?"

"You underestimate my seeking skills," He feigns offence, and she laughs at his dramatics

"It was Angelina right? The boys would never help you cheat,"

"It was. Now, given I've found you I think I am entitled to a reward, winners choice," He smirks and she grins brightly

"At what might that be?"

"Cuddles," He announces

"We need to study," she counters

"Nope, not on a weekend. Cuddle me in my dorm please. You can't say no, I found you," He grins, he knows though, that she wouldn't say no anyway.

I, I knew you Your heartbeat on the High Line Once in twenty lifetimes, I

They lay under the stars in the astronomy tower Cedric was certain that this, this very moment, was the highlight of his life. When all was said and done she would be it. She would be what made it all worth it.

"You okay?" She asks, nudging her head into his chest gently as she lay on him

"I'm perfect. Are you?" he questions, looking down at her laid on her front between his legs, arms wrapped around his waist and head on his chest

"I am," she grins, moving her head to rest her chin on his chest and look up at him "you're quiet," she comments

"I'm thinking," He returns gently, eyes holding hers and arms wrapping around her, holding her tightly too him

"and here I was thinking you were just a pretty boy," she teases, he laughs and she would swear on anything that lit up by the moonlight Cedric Diggory was a god amongst men. "So pretty boy, what are you thinking about?"

"You," he grins

"Nothing new," she jokes, he rolls his eyes but says nothing, after all she isn't wrong.

"Do you think everyone gets to feel like this?" he questions, she tilts her head to the side silently asking him to explain what he means. "I just- it sounds crazy but this feels so much bigger than just love. Like I can't even describe, it doesn't even feel once in a lifetime it feels once in a million lives. I can't put into words how I feel for you, I more than love you, I so much more than love you,"

"I so much more than love you too," She smiles, leaning up to press her lips against his, he kisses back and it's so soft and so gentle yet somehow needy and passionate all at once. Every kiss they share felt amazing but they would both swear that was the best. "And no, I don't think everyone gets this, I think we are incredibly lucky to have found each other,"

He smiles pulling her closer to him pressing a kiss to the top of her head and his heart has never been more full.

And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed You put me on and said I was your favourite

"So, tell me how your summer was?" She grins at him as they make their way down the train in search of her friend's compartment

"I was with you for most of it," He teases. They had spent the first two weeks at her house and then second two at his before she had gone to spend the final two at the burrow.

"I haven't seen you in 14 whole days Ced," she reminds

"My life is entirely boring without my favourite person," he smiles, chuckling at the blush that overtakes her cheeks. She presses a kiss to his cheek before pulling open the compartment door

"There they are, we were starting to think you were never coming," Angelina smiles, jumping up from her seat to pull her friend into a hug

"Sorry, we got caught up talking to Justin," The girl explains

"Ah, so that's what the kids are calling it," Fred jokes, laughing at the bright blush that over takes both of their faces. "Well, I was kidding but-"

"Shut up Fred!" She groans, dropping into a seat as Cedric settles down next to her, talking happily with George about their summer breaks.

To kiss in cars and downtown bars Was all we needed You drew stars around my scars But now I'm bleeding

Their fifth year passes insanely quickly. It's full of laughter and happiness. They don't have drama like most of their friends in relationships, they understand each other on such a level that truly there's no need to argue because no matter what the other does they understand. Understand exactly why the other has behaved in the way that they had so there was no point in getting mad.

From trips to Hogsmeade, parties, studying and evenings in the prefects bathroom they saw each other every day. Adopting each other's friends as their own. All they needed was each other and they were having a good time. They were connected at their very cores and the whole school seemed to know it.

"Okay, never have I ever lost my virginity in the prefects bathroom," Angelina smirks, the Gryffindor friends are sat around the boys dorms with bottles of fire whiskey on the final evening of term, joined as was common now, by Cedric and Justin.

Cedric sits next to her, his hand resting on her thigh and her head on his shoulder as they both blush a little before drinking.

"You told me it was in your dorm cause you were classy!" Lee exclaims, pointing at her with wide eyes.

"If you believed she was classy it's on you Lee," Fred teases, laughing loudly when she launches a pillow across the room and it hit's him with ease.

"Never have I ever said I love you just to get laid," Justin states, smirking when both Fred and Lee take sips of the drinks.

"Mum will be disappointed," George teases

"Would be, will makes it sound like you plan on telling her,"

"I'll have it up my sleeve for if I need to redirect the rath on someone else,"

"Hey, we always put it on Ron," Fred whines, the rest of the group laughing as they didn't doubt for a second that was true.

"Never have I ever skinny dipped in the black lake," George grins, the group erupting in laughter when Fred drinks

"Okay 1 it was a dare and 2 you aren't allowed to target people, in this game"

"Oh, because never have I ever accidentally grabbed the wrong person's hand wasn't targeted," George quips back.

'Cause I knew you Stepping on the last train Marked me like a bloodstain, I

"I just think that you're being stupid," she admits, she is sat cross legged on his bed as he paces his dorm

"This is something I really want to do, it means a lot to me. The money could really help my family out and I really think this is something I could excel in," Cedric explains, he isn't mad. He knew that she was only concerned because she cared and therefore he would never be mad at her for it, he also knew she loved and supported him unconditionally and that wether she agrees with him or not that wouldn't waver.

"It's reckless Ced, people die in this tournament and I just hate the idea of you doing this cause all your friends have told you how cool it'll be and something happens to you,"

"Hey, nothing will happen to me. I'm not stupid and I know my own limits, you can pull out of any round at any time and if I think I can't do it I won't stay in a dangerous situation," he assures her, sitting down next to her and taking her hands in his.

"I know, I just want you safe,"

"Darling, you don't have to worry for a second. I promised you forever and I am going to give you it," he assures her, pulling her hands to his mouth and pressing kisses on her knuckles.

"Okay. If it means a lot to you then obviously I support you, just promise me you aren't going anywhere,"

"I promise," He agrees.

And so, with his friends behind them and wrapped up in his arms, his promise of forever fresh in her mind she goes with him to drop his name into the goblet of fire, pushing away the feeling in her gut that this was the worst mistake they'd ever make.

I knew you Tried to change the ending Peter losing Wendy

Cedric feels his breath stop when he sees her. She looks like an angel, standing at the top of the stairs beaming down at him. The pale blue satin of her dress pooling delicately around her feet and her hair curled and pinned back.

"You look so beautiful," he smiles as she reaches for his arm at the bottom of the stairs

"So do you," She smiles, and she meant it, in his black dress robes she wonders how she's supposed to breathe when he looks so good. "Ced?"

"Yes, darling?" he looks down at her as they stand in the line with the other victors. His smile so pure and delicate and a look of adoration in his eyes, not one person looking at them would question the love he held for her.

"These heels are really high, please don't let me trip and fall and make an idiot of myself,"

"I've got you darling, I promise," he smiles, pressing a kiss to the side of her head as the doors swing open and along with the rest of the victors and their dates they parade to the dance floor.

And he did have her. They danced and he made sure she was okay the whole time. They danced the whole night, wether the song was fast or slow, they were attached in someway and staring at each other so purely and utterly in love. It was the best night of either of their lives and although they didn't say it, both of them thought as they slow danced about the day they would get to do this at their wedding.

I, I knew you Leaving like a father Running like water, I When you are young, they assume you know nothing

Cedric is panting and red from the cold water as he collapses onto the platform, having pushed her onto it first. He feels for the first time since he saw her floating lifeless at the bottom of the lake that he can breathe again as he sees her appear fine.

He blocks out the screaming crowds, his victory although exciting, nowhere near as important to him as the girl.

She however, seems utterly over the moon, pouncing on him and tackling him on the pier in the tightest hug he'd ever received.

"You did it Ced! You won!" She grins brightly, he's vaguely aware of the twins wrapping them both in towels but doesn't care. Nothing else in the world matters as he grabs her face in his hands, pressing his lips to hers and the whole world floats away, and it's just her and him.

She pulls away eventually, seemingly remembering the crowd's of people watching, he doesn't care though, wrapping his arm around her as his friend's push through the crowds to congratulate him. He doesn't let go of his grip on her for even a second, he wanted her to be a part of this, without her he could never have won, seeing her lifeless and floating had triggered something in him he didn't even know existed. He'd have done whatever it took to save her.

but I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs The smell of smoke would hang around this long 'Cause I knew everything when I was young

The day of the last trial she woke up with a gut feeling something bad was going to happen. She said nothing though, not wanting to panic Cedric.

She woke up wrapped in his arms and she almost asked him to stay in bed for just five more minutes. Just to hold her for a little while longer, looking back she would always regret not asking for that. Instead, she had sat wrapped in his duvet, watching as he got ready and listening patiently as he spoke, muttering every spell he could think of in a mindless preparation, no idea what he would actually need when he started.

She sat next to him at breakfast, holding his hand under the table in an attempt to calm him down, he was trying to act confident for his excited friends but she saw right through it. She only left his side for a brief moment all morning, to wish Harry Potter, a young boy she knew well due to her close relationship with the Weasley's, good luck.

"You should go and meet your dad to walk to the victor's area," she speaks softly, they're in an empty corridor, wanting a moment of privacy.

"You'll be down there?" he questions

"Of course I will," she assures. He nods, wrapping his arms around her waist as hers wrap around his neck. He nestles his face in her as her fingers comb gently through his hair.

"I'm scared," he whispers

"I know," she replies gently, pulling away only enough to look him in the eyes "Whatever happens, wether you come first or drop out after a minute, I am so beyond proud of you Ced,"

"Thankyou," He hums gently

"You be safe alright, you promised me forever,"

"I never break my promises," he assures her, his lips find hers in a final passionate kiss.

"I so much more than love you," she whispers against him

"I so much more than love you," he returns, pressing a quick peck to her lips, squeezing her tight one last time before letting go.

She sits next to George, her leg bouncing and hands shaking as she leans on his shoulder. She watches as he talks to his dad. It feels like the world is going in slow motion as he stands outside the entrance to the maze, eyes scanning the crowd until they fall on her. She can see from a mile away that he seems to ease slightly at the sight of her, sending her a smile before turning and entering the maze.

I knew I'd curse you for the longest time Chasing shadows in the grocery line I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired And you'd be standing in my front porch light

She knew she would never forget the moment it happened. The pure joy and adrenaline, the excitement because he had won. Cedric had won. Followed by the panic, because he isn't moving and why isn't he moving? why is Harry crying and-

The world stopped. Right there. Right then. The world stops spinning on it's axis.

She would never forget the feeling of George's hands pulling her back and into his chest, refusing to let her turn and see it. See his limp body on the ground and lifeless. She'd never forget the sound of Amos's cries. She would never forget Harry's screams.

Her very world stopped.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak.

George Weasley would never forget the moment either. The ache in his chest that his friend had died. The sound of her sobs, so guttural and heart wrenching that they take over her whole body. The feeling of his best friend shaking in his arms and the pained scream that leaves her mouth.

She was vaguely aware of the feeling of George lifting her off the ground and carrying her away from the crowds. Vaguely aware of him placing her on her bed. Without thinking she moved to grab one of Cedric's jumpers from her wardrobe, crying even harder when his smell takes over her as she pulls it on, dropping to her knees unable to even stand. George drops down next to her, pulling her into his chest in a tight hug as she cries into his chest.

And I knew you'd come back to me You'd come back to me And you'd come back to me And you'd come back

George Weasley had felt his heart drop when he had read the letter from his old head of house, a desperate plea to come to the school immediately and he had dropped everything to do just that.

His best friend was never the same after Cedric. Not even 10 years after at the age of 27. He wasn't who he used to be either, he had lost his second half. But he worried more for her. Her smile hadn't met her eyes since she was 17. He hadn't heard her laugh since she was 17.

Despite it all she never spoke to George, to anyone, about it. She left a room when he was mentioned. She refused to open up. It was clear even now he was the only thing she thought about. She refused though, to talk about him.

She hadn't dated again until she was 25, settling for a quiet boy who didn't get the chance to fall in love with her, because truly she wasn't her. She was numb, a shadow of herself and he didn't even know it.

As George pushed open the door to the prefects bathroom, he knew it would be another moment he would never forget. Like her scream, his Fred's body on the ground, like Angelina telling him we would be a father.

She was sat, fully clothed, in the large bubble bath. Silent tears streamed down her face and George could only describe the look on her face as numb.

"He proposed," She announces. George doesn't know how to react. He knew she would never fall in love again, that in reality she would never want this. Because it wasn't him.

"What did you say?"

"No," She whispers out, George lets out a sigh, he doesn't think twice as he climbs into the water next to her, ignoring that it's ruining his suit as he pulls her into him.

"George, I can't do this. He promised me forever, it was supposed to be him," She's crying into his shoulder and George knows nothing he says will take the pain away. "He was the love of my life. I didn't just love him, it was more than that. It wasn't once in a lifetime it was different it was special it was-" she cuts herself off, not knowing the words to describe it. She had never needed them before, Cedric had known without her having to say.

"I know. We all know. Everyone could see it,"

"I know what people must think. He was my high school boyfriend and I should move on but Georgie- I can't. It was him and it is him and he promised he would come back,"

"No one thinks that. You were young but the heavens know you were in love,"

"He was everything. He still is. He always will be,"

And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed

You put me on and said I was your favourite

Masterlist

#cedric x y/n #cedric diggory #cedric diggory x reader #cedric x reader #cedric diggory x y/n #hogwarts #harry potter #weasley #gryffidnor #hufflepuff

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brokehorrorfan · 3 years

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Book Review: Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made

For every movie that makes it to the screen, there are countless others that never see the light of day. In Abrams Books' Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made, author Joshua Hull chronicles the ill-fated history of 50 movies that failed to come to fruition. The unique journeys - some were mere pitches, others were developed to varying extents, and a few even entered production - coupled with the reasons why they failed to come to fruition - from creative differences to budgetary concerns - provide a fascinating look at the challenging world of filmmaking.

It's frustrating that many of these promising projects came so close to reaching viewers (case in point: Guillermo Del Toro's $150 million adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror opus At the Mountains of Madness starring Tom Cruise), although there are a few that are probably best left unseen. (Did we really need The Lord of the Rings starring The Beatles or A Clockwork Orange starring The Rolling Stones?) Many of the movies were highly publicized in the internet age (like Neill Blomkamp's Alien legacy sequel), while others are more obscure (such as William Friedkin's Jack the Ripper with Anthony Hopkins or a David Lynch comedy starring Martin Short and Steve Martin). But in all cases, the "What if?" of it all is fascinating.

Underexposed would be a worthy addition to any cinephile's bookshelf regardless, but the addition of original artwork makes it worthy of a coveted coffee table display. With the assistance of PosterSpy, a different artist was commissioned to create a full-page poster for each of the 50 essays. The impressive and diverse lineup of talent includes Scott Saslow, Matt Talbot, Liza Shumskaya, Sam Coyle, Tom Coupland, Ben Turner, Mark Levy, Bella Grace, Julien Rico Jr, Si Heard, Chris Garofalo, and more.

Filmmaker Fred Dekker (The Monster Squad, Night of the Creeps) provides a foreword in which he gives a glimpse into his first unmade movie: a Johnny Quest adaptation. He also discusses Shadow Company (detailed later in the book), an action-horror film he wrote with John Carpenter on board to direct and Kurt Russell in mind to star. His takeaways are that most movies don't get made, and if they do they bear little resemblance to the original vision. Hull also pens a brief introduction in which he explains that, as a no-budget filmmaker in Indiana, the book is the result of the old adage "write what you know."

It may not offer any new insight, as the content is gleaned from public information, but Underexposed is a convenient resource with concise overviews that span only a few pages. The essays are broken down into four screenplay-inspired sections: Fade In (setting up the background), Flashback (providing context on the project and filmmaker), Action (detailing on the development), and Cut (exploring why it failed and what became of it). Far from reading a Wikipedia entry, Hull's casual, snark-tinged tone makes the 252-page book an easy read.

Horror fans will be delighted - and heartbroken - to read about a sixth Nightmare on Elm Street installment written by Peter Jackson (which could still work as a revival of the franchise); Alfred Hitchcock’s boundary-pushing Kaleidoscope told from a serial killer's point of view; Quentin Tarantino's remake of the Lucio Fulci giallo The Psychic; a concept for Jason vs. Cheech and Chong from the director of Friday the 13th Part VI; Joe Dante's surreal tribute to Roger Corman with Colin Firth as the B-movie maven; an attempt at Batman vs. Godzilla in the wake of King Kong vs. Godzilla’s success; and more. They're not all horror, but a large percentage of the 50 films covered are genre titles.

Several of the essays are accompanied by sidebars that touch on related unmade films, either by the same filmmaker or based on the same property. Hull smartly relegates two unmade films that each have a documentary's worth of information readily available - Tim Burton's Superman Returns and Alejandro Jodorowsky's June - to the sidebar, but many others are worthy of their own essays and artwork. With no shortage of material to pull from, I would love to see Hull, PosterSpy, and Abrams re-team for a sequel.

Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made is available now in hardcover and e-book via Abrams Books.

#underexposed #posterspy #horror #fred dekker #book #gift #article #review #book review #joshua hull #john carpenter #alien #a nightmare on elm street #friday the 13th #godzilla

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next-genpotterweasleys · 4 years

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What would be the best face claims for all the next generation kids in your opinion?

Ohhh let me see if I remember what I faceclaimed people as. Tbh I’m sure a lot has changed so see below for a fresh redo of next gen face claims! :) These will be them when they’re all grown up, let’s pretend my old face claims are then when they’re young!

Teddy: Logan Marshall-Green (random I know but he gives me Remus Lupin vibes!)

Vic: Sarah Gadon (she gives me elegant and delicate vibes)

Dom: Margot Robbie (she plays cheeky really well!)

Louis: Charlie Hunnam (perfect mix of Delacour and Weasley)

Molly: Rose Leslie (no words, she’s a perfect Molly for me)

Lucy: Rachel Weisz (perfect older Lucy in my mind)

Fred: Michael B Jordan (the best looking man to ever exist lol, his smile is all Fred too)

Roxanne: I’m still in love with my Kat Graham face claim I’m sticking with that, or Candice Patton!!

Rose: Same as before, Jane Levy is Rose for me :)

Hugo: I’m going a different route for grown up Hugo, making him hot and muscly in his 20s and Ken Bek is perfect in my mind for him

James: Aaron Taylor Johnson (did we even think for a second this would change??)

Albus: Logan Lerman (same as James and Logan has been looking goooood lately)

Lily: Still my fave, played by the lovely Sophie Skelton (Her look in Outlander with her vibrant red curls is a real-life Lily for me it’s insane)

Scorpius: Hmm this is hard, actually no it’s not. Let’s go with my old faves either Alex Pettyfer or Lucky Blue Smith (with hair)

Lorcan: Ben Barnes, same as before

Lysander: Avan Jogia, same as before

And there we have it! An updated and aged up facelaim list :)

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wild-aloof-rebel · 5 years

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Do you know how they decide which writer(s) get credit for each episode of SC? I was under the impression that Dan wrote them all (with the help of the other writers) but sometimes he's not even listed as a writer on an episode. Then there are other times that he's the only writer. Any idea why?

so as you obviously know, writing for tv is a group process. how that process exactly shakes out varies from show to show, so i don’t know what that exactly looks like for sc, but we can cover the basics of how it works, which i think makes it clearer how the credit process then works.

the showrunner is the head of the writing staff, so that would be dan obviously. as showrunner he has final and ultimate approval over what’s being written, and knowing dan, i’m sure he contributes plenty to the actual brainstorming and writing processes as they’re happening. (some showrunners don’t participate as much in that and the writers pitch ideas to them once they’ve already been fleshed out more, but i just don’t see that being a very dan way to do things. anyway…) so in that sense, yes he is part of the process of writing all the episodes, but so are all the other writers on their staff.

as a whole, that process would generally look something like this: they talk about the overall arc of the season and where they are planning to end up (with the ideas for that presumably coming from dan). then they start to come up with ideas for episodes within that arc, eventually working their way down to individual story points and sometimes even specific jokes/lines they want to include, etc. that’s all generally a pretty collaborative process amongst all the writers, with the showrunner getting to say yay or nay to everything along the way. then a particular writer (or two) will be assigned specific episodes to draft up. it’s pretty common for showrunners to do premieres and finales, and we do see that happen with dan quite a bit, but he also clearly takes responsibility for particularly important episodes, too. the rest are probably divided up based on seniority (that’s pretty common). so those writers all then individually go and draft up their episode scripts. they then come back together as a staff to talk about it more, the actual writer does another draft, etc. back and forth. so while one writer is typically the one putting everything together into an actual script, the general ideas for that and the feedback are all part of that collaborative process amongst the whole staff.

to bring it back around to your question about who gets credit, the person who actually writes out the script is the one who gets listed as the writer for that episode. however, the other people on the writing staff also get credit for their contributions; they’re just credited in less obvious ways, if you don’t know what to look for. the showrunner is going to be listed as an executive producer, and sometimes other senior writers will be as well. working down the writer totem pole from there, you get co-executive producers, supervising producers, producers, co-producers, executive story editors, story editors, and finally staff writers at the bottom of the pecking order (who sometimes aren’t even credited at all). i should note here that not every person listed as a producer of some sort is a writer, but for television, the large majority of them are.

to see how that actually plays out, let’s look at the credits on “dead guy in room 4″ as an example.

Dan Levy … written byRebecca Kohler … executive story editorMonica Heisey … story editorMichael Balazo … story editorAndrew Barnsley … executive producerColin Brunton … producerBen Feigin … executive producerRupinder Gill … co-producerDan Levy … executive producerEugene Levy … executive producerFred Levy … executive producerCatherine O'Hara … consulting producerMichael Short … co-executive producerDavid West Read … co-executive producerKevin White … consulting producer

so in this case, dan was the one who actually put the script together, which is why he gets the “written by” credit, but we can see all the other writers in here as well. the people who wrote the other s4 episodes are all here under various titles (that would be david west read, monica heisey, michael short, rupinder gill, rebecca kohler, and kevin white) as well as one other story editor (michael balazo) because they’re all part of the writing staff that worked on this whole season, even if they weren’t the ones who put this particular script together.

so tldr: the writing staff comes up with the ideas together, and they all get some kind of credit for that, but only the one who puts the script for that episode together gets the actual writing credit. and dan gets final say on everything because he’s the showrunner. i hope that makes sense…

#final say as far as the writers go i mean #because obviously the network has FINAL final say #anyway this has been today's lesson in how tv is made lol #anon #replies

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wiccanarchived · 5 years

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CHARACTER SHEET .

BASICS . full name . sally elizabeth mcknight pronunciation . sa - lee , ih - liz - uh - beth , mik - night nickname . thorn , honey ( father ) , rosebud ( mother ) , sal ( other family , occasionally band mates ) height . 5'8" age . 23 zodiac . sagittarius spoken languages . english , spanish , french ( self taught because they're some of the most commonly used languages in the world & made touring easier ) , novice knowledge of welsh .

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS . hair color . black with red highlights , lower back length . it's naturally wavy & tousled but usually straightened eyes . smokey turquoise skin tone . white , almost quite literally aside from her slight pink undertones . doesn't tan in any way shape or form , only burns body type . classic hourglass . full bust , slender waist , wide hips accent . none in particular , perhaps a slight bostonian one when in boston as it rubs off from the locals . her voice is more often than not stays in its consistent breathy , warm , & sultry tone . dominant hand . right posture . straight & reading confidence often , though when nervous can slope her shoulders & fiddle with fingers scars . none ( verse dependent ) tattoos . thorns & roses across lower back , triple goddess symbol on inner right wrist , horned god symbol on inner left wrist ( additional tattoos verse dependent ) most noticeable feature . her mysterious , bedroom eyes & sweet , dimpled smile

CHILDHOOD . place of birth . salem , massachusetts hometown . oakhaven birth weight . 5 pound , 5 ounces birth height . 8 inches , 3 cm manner of birth . born at william griggs hospital on december 1st at 3am first words . " no ! " ( because it's what she mostly heard followed by ' -- sally , don't play with that ! ' ) siblings . one older brother , levi mcknight parents . father , arthur mcknight & mother , emily mcknight parental involvement . thorn's parents were & are incredibly involved in their daughter's life . not to an unhealthy measure by any means but they're supportive endlessly & are immeasurably proud of their daughter . thorn's incredibly protective of her parents , even to the point where she still holds a mild grudge on the mayor for trying to pin the whole witch's ghost scheme on her father . there's a definite softness that come out of her from her parents , addressing both as ' mommy & daddy ' , her mom packing lunches for her when she's in town , helping at her father's pharmacy & mother's vet clinic . there's a very clear , very loving bond among them

ADULT LIFE . occupation . musician ( lead singer / guitarist of the hex girls ) , entrepreneur ( owner eco-friendly cosmetics , skin , & hair care line , ' midnight forest ' ) , editorial & runway alternative model for freak beauty modeling agency , student at salem state university current residence . salem , massachusetts ( oakhaven ) close friends . kimberly " luna " moss , muffy " dusk " st . james , fred jones , daphne blake , velma dinkley , norville " shaggy " rogers , scooby - doo relationship status . single ( verse dependent ) financial status . millionaire . has the potential to be wealthier but is quite generous when giving to charity . driver's license . yes , for both basic automobile & commercial ( personal car & the hex bus ) criminal record . ( oh boy ... ) trespassing , illegal protest , disturbing the peace , resisting arrest , assaulting a police officer , & arson . all done during her late teens - freshman year at uni . all charges aside from arson were done out of protest against animal testing , fashion industry use of threatened & endangered animals , & destruction of natural resources . arson was accidental . vices . ben ravencroft's past works before his mysterious disappearance , very mild jinxes more played off as pranks on people that annoy her

SEX & ROMANCE . sexual orientation . bisexual romantic orientation . biromantic preferred emotional role . switch preferred sexual role . switch libido . very healthy . she's a stressed woman & it's a good way to work it all out with or without a partner . although it can be swayed come the time of year , come the spring / summer months the sun is at its all time high , her ruling goddess , the mother , is at her sexual peak & so is thorn . the autumn & winter months tend to slow her down though since she's not nearly as powerful but if given the right partner with enough stamina to tap into she's more than fine . turn ons . adventurous , intelligent , romantic , sense of humor , a take - charge attitude ( or at the very least having the guts to stand up to her & put her in check ) , soulful eyes , probably the ability to kick her ass , any kind of musical talent turn offs . uncommunicative , selfish , distant , dishonesty , close - minded , a quick sense of over familiarity ( ex. calling her ' sally ' FAR too soon , the assumption anyone knows her only based on media depiction ) love language . when in a serious enough relationship she's openly physically affectionate to the point where she actually won't realize she's even doing it . reaching out to hold hand / arm , playing with fingers , with hair . she's not particularly shy about leaving her mark behind by means of her lipstick along lips , cheeks , forehead if the time feels right . more subtle means conveying her affection usually come by batting lashes & / or a soft , dreamy sort of look in her eye . relationship tendencies . she's ... had it rough . for starters she never had a real love interest until she went to college as as a child / teenager she never felt comfortable in her own self / skin enough to even bother . & at the time no one was exactly beating her door down to ask her out as she was deemed ' the weird girl who talks to trees . ' come college when she fully filled out things went fast & she was became so occupied with the band that she needed someone who would understand she's extremely serious about where she wants to go with her life & hadn't managed to find that person . so it was a string of people who just didn't care too much about what she did & were distant but able to catch her long enough to fill the void . she WANTS someone to care but allows her her freedoms , trusts & respects her

MISCELLANEOUS . character's theme song . i'm a hex girl ( obv ) , witchy woman - eagles hobbies to pass the time . reading , exercising ( yoga , dance , hiking ) , journaling , gardening , listening to music left or right brained . right brain with left brain influences . right obviously leads with her career as a musician having to be creative & imaginative , however left takes influence when it comes to her professional side & logical thinking to solve problems in a manner that would get the job done . feeling takes much influence in her magick , being an empath & having deeply rooted emotions , but on the other side a love of science ( namely biology & the make - up of plants , animals , & medicine ) lean left brain heavy . fears . ghosts , being trapped , inadequacy self confidence level . it's HEAVILY dependent on what area of her life we're talking about . if we're speaking music , it's a solid 10 / 10 . she KNOWS her & the girls are damn good & won't be told otherwise . on a personal level it's quite poor . she has trust issues & doesn't doubt that aside from people that've been there for a long time , people will take the opportunity to do her dirty . while she's getting better on the magick front of things she still has a lot to work through because aside from her work , her confidence does need a lot of repair , which is probably why she's a bit of a workaholic . only thing she feels fully comfortable with vulnerabilities . her family ( the girls included ) , her large heart , insecurities , & stubbornness

TAGGED BY : @lxdrlappen TAGGING : @yunhuntress @baddeleyite @bloomshops @sclskinn & you ♥

#*:･ﾟ♫ ✧ ❛ ѕнe loved мyѕтerιeѕ ѕo мυcн ѕнe вecaмe one ⁽ headcanons. ⁾#*:･ﾟ♫ ✧ ❛ a wιтcн'ѕ тrιalѕ ⁽ dashboard memes. ⁾

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Upcoming Horror Movies in October 2020: Theaters, Streaming, and VOD

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

October is here, which means it’s the time of the season for getting scared. With Halloween gradually becoming a month-long celebration over the past few years — even if the coronavirus has put a damper on many activities such as trick-or-treating — one thing we can always look forward to during these 31 days is a deluge of horror movies old and new, whether via streaming, cable network marathons or even fleeting theatrical releases.

Horror is already a reliable genre both at the box office (under normal circumstances) and in the digital space, so it’s no surprise that even in these compromised times, scary movies are coming at us hard and fast in October. Below is a round-up of fresh horror releases arriving either at your local multiplex (and we urge you to keep the risks of going to the theater in mind) or right in your living room. Ironically, even in decidedly unnerving times, scary movies can still be a hell of a lot of fun.

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Shudder

Scare Me

Available on Shudder on October 1

The October genre onslaught gets underway right at the sound of the starting gun with this Shudder original. Josh Ruben writes, directs and stars as Fred, a frustrated copywriter who retreats to an isolated cabin to write a novel and meets a successful horror author named Fanny (Aya Cash) while out jogging. She challenges him to a scary storytelling contest, and the spooky games begin. Ruben makes his feature directorial debut on what is billed as a “metafictional horror comedy” with social underpinnings.

Magnet Releasing

12 Hour Shift

Out on VOD and in theaters on October 2 (US only, UK TBA)

We reviewed this dark-as-pitch comedy at September’s Fantasia Festival and enjoyed its macabre humor immensely. Angela Bettis (May) stars as a night nurse in a Texas hospital running a side business in organ harvesting with her supervisor and her dumb-as-rocks cousin. Grisly mayhem and gooey twists ensue, with Bettis delivering a fantastic deadpan performance at the center of it. Writer/director Brea Grant allows herself a few self-indulgent moments, but overall this is a lot of fun.

Neon

Possessor

Out in theaters on October 2 (US only, UK TBA)

Eight years after his debut, 2012’s Antiviral, Brandon Cronenberg again proves why he could be a natural heir apparent to his father David’s body horror crown. Andrea Riseborough (Mandy) stars as Tasya Vos, an assassin who is employed to take out high-level corporate clients by implanting her mind in the brain of someone close to the target. But Tasya’s increasing instability might threaten her latest mission. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Christopher Abbott co-star in this grisly tale of murder, vengeance and violation that does not pull any punches.

Saban Films

Death of Me

Out in theaters, on VOD and digital October 2 (US), VOD November 23 (UK)

Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II – IV) directs Maggie Q (Fantasy Island) and Luke Hemsworth (Westworld) as Christine and Neil, a couple who awaken hungover during an island vacation with no memory of the previous night. But things take a turn for the bizarre when footage on Neil’s camera apparently shows him murdering Christine. Bousman’s stint with the Saw franchise makes him perfect to helm this sort of horror mystery — which will no doubt take some mind-bending twists and turns before it’s over.

Epic Pictures

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw

Out in theaters October 2, on VOD and digital October 6 (US), VOD November 16 (UK)

Folk horror is one of our favorite subgenres, which is why The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw immediately caught our eye. Writer/director Thomas Robert Lee has apparently set out to capture that sweet spot of religious paranoia, occult folklore and supernatural terror as a young woman and her mother are suspected of witchcraft when an unknown pestilence descends on their remote Protestant town. The film world premiered to strong reviews earlier this month at Fantasia Fest 2020.

Amazon Prime

Welcome to the Blumhouse

Available on Amazon Prime on October 6/October 13

Leave it to terror factory Blumhouse to give you more horror than you can handle. The mini-studio is developing a slate of genre entries that it will premiere on Amazon Prime, with four of them making their debut this month. Black Box and The Lie launch on October 6, while Nocturne and Evil Eye turn up on October 13. All four look promising, so we’ll see if this is the start of a whole new anthology franchise for producer Jason Blum and his team.

Hulu

Books of Blood

Available on Hulu on October 7 (US Only, UK TBA)

Inspired by author Clive Barker’s groundbreaking 1984 collection of short stories, this anthology film from writer/director Brannon Braga (FlashForward) features three mostly original stories (one is loosely based on the tale that kicked off Barker’s collection, “Book of Blood”). All three tales weave in and out of each other, incorporating both human depravity and supernatural malignancy even if they’re not right out of Barker’s text. Britt Robertson (Tomorrowland) and Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies) lead the cast.

Saint Maud

Out in theaters on October 9 (UK only, US TBA)

This feature debut from Brit director Rose Glass is an absolute tour de force which ran the festival circuit in 2019 and was initially planned for release in the Spring. Morfydd Clark plays Maud, a pious young nurse who believes she talks directly to God and who thinks her mission is to save the soul of former dancer Amanda (Jennifer Elhe) who is dying. Body, mind and soul are in conflict in this haunting and terrifying elevated horror which boasts terrific performances and has picked up many plaudits on its long road to release. We’ve seen it and we loved it, check out our five star review.

Orion Classics

The Wolf of Snow Hollow

Out on VOD and in theaters on October 9 (US only, UK TBA)

Like Scare Me, this is mostly another one-man-band type of movie, this time from writer, director and star Jim Cummings (Thunder Road). He plays John Marshall, a small-town sheriff and recovering alcoholic who faces a series of gruesome murders that keep occurring on the full moon and seem to be the work of a werewolf. But werewolves don’t exist — or do they? The film is also notable for being the final screen appearance of the late, legendary Robert Forster (Jackie Brown).

Carmilla

Out in theaters on October 16 and VOD from October 19 (UK only)

This reimagining of the Sheridan de Fanu classic vampire story is a coming of age tale which sees a young girl (Hannah Rae) brought up in isolation and beginning to explore her sexuality become enchanted by the mysterious stranger (Devrim Lingnau) who enters her life after a carriage crash. From writer-director Emily Harris, this adaption strips back the supernatural elements and focuses more on a forbidden love made harder by Lara’s strict governess (Jessica Raine).

The Other Lamb

In theaters and on MUBI on October 16 (UK only)

An all female cult headed up by a solitary male leader is the setting for this horror starring Raffey Cassidy as a young woman raised from birth in this strange sect. All of the women in the group are either ‘wives’ or ‘daughters’ of Michiel Huisman’s Shepard and Selah (Cassidy) is about to transition between the two. A coming of age story set against a rural backdrop, this is the English language debut of Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska – released in America in the Spring it’s now coming to the UK via MUBI.

Paramount

Love and Monsters

Available on digital and VOD on October 16 (US only, UK TBA)

Originally titled Monster Problems, this project has been in development since freakin’ 2012, with Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) producing it all along. Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) stars as Joel, who has been living underground with the rest of humanity for seven years after an event called the Monsterpocalypse. With giant creatures roaming the land, Joel starts out on an 80-mile quest to reunite with his high school girlfriend (Iron Fist’s Jessica Henwick). The movie bounced around several release dates this year before Paramount Pictures settled on a VOD arrival.

Netflix

Rebecca

Available on Netflix on October 21

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 version of the classic Daphne du Maurier novel won Best Picture. Can iconoclastic British filmmaker Ben Wheatley’s new vision of the material do the same? Um…maybe not, but we applaud Wheatley for putting his own stamp on this intensely Gothic story of jealousy and obsession. The cast is aces too, with Armie Hammer as Maxim de Winter, Lily James as the second Mrs. De Winter and, best of all, Kristin Scott Thomas as Mrs. Danvers.

Well Go USA

Synchronic

Out in theaters and on VOD on October 23 (US only, UK TBA)

The indie horror writing, directing and acting team of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, creators of the striking Spring and The Endless, have come up with perhaps their most ambitious film yet in Synchronic. More sci-fi than horror, the movie still has plenty of unnerving touches as it unspools the story of new drug that causes its users to disappear — and sometimes come back dead or mutilated. Anthony Mackie is superb as a paramedic who literally races against time to stop the spread of the drug and save someone close to him. This one comes strongly recommended.

Hulu

Bad Hair

Available on Hulu on October 23 (US), in cinemas on November 27 2020 (UK)

Dear White People writer/director Justin Simien takes a wide left turn into the genre space with his second feature, a horror satire set in 1989. Elle Lorraine plays an ambitious young woman who learns that the hair weave she gets to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television may have a mind of its own. This looks like bizarre fun, with a sparkling cast that includes Vanessa Williams, Lena Waithe, Laverne Cox, Jay Pharoah, Kelly Rowland, Blair Underwood, James Van Der Beek and Usher.

Blumhouse

The Craft: Legacy

Available on premium VOD on October 28 (US) and in cinemas October 28 (UK)

You can read more here about this long-awaited sequel to/remake of the formative 1996 teen witch movie, but the basics are that this is set in the universe of the first film while essentially retelling and expanding upon its original premise. Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone and Zoey Luna star as the quartet of young women who find a book of spells and begin wielding its power. Originally slated for theatrical release, it’s premiering as a PVOD offering just in time for Halloween.

Netflix

His House

Available on Netflix on October 30

Remi Weekes directs this unsettling tale about two South Sudan refugees (Wunmi Mosaku and Sope Dirisu) who escape their war-torn nation but unwittingly bring a supernatural presence with them as they try to resettle in London. Matt Smith (Doctor Who) also stars in the film, which combines real-life and unreal horrors while tackling the continuing geopolitical and social plights of people unwittingly displaced from their homes.

Focus Features

Come Play

Out in theaters on October 30 (US only, UK TBA)

Gillian Jacobs (Community) and John Gallagher Jr. (Westworld) play the parents of a lonely young boy (Azhy Robertson) whose tablet and smartphone are the means by which a mysterious creature attempts to break into our world — unless the boy’s parents can stop it. Will writer/director Jacob Chase go for simple thrills or use the horror genre as a way to comment on young people’s ever-increasing addiction to their screens? And by the way, we’re done here, so get off your screen and go get some fresh air.

Relic

Out in theaters October 30 (UK only)

Dementia is at the heart of this very eerie chiller where three generations of women convene in an old family home which seems to be rotting from the inside. Robyn Nevin, Emily Mortimer and Bella Heathcote star in a slow build drama which delves into the horror of losing your sense of self, as Nevin’s matriarch goes missing for days and can’t remember what happened while her house is filled with odd notes, black mold and snippets of a life slipping away from her grasp. This is the feature debut of Australian-Japanese director Natalie Erika James and it’s a stylish, chilling and confident first feature with a final act that veers into full blown horror. Out already in the States on VOD it has a UK theatrical release in the UK.

The post Upcoming Horror Movies in October 2020: Theaters, Streaming, and VOD appeared first on Den of Geek.

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dweemeister · 7 years

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My alternative 89th Academy Awards

And so here, as I do every year, is my alternative Oscars ceremony. This is what would happen tonight if I - and I alone - stuffed the ballots and decided on all of the nomination and all of the winners. Non-English language films are accompanied by their nation of origin (in FIFA three-letter code).

89th Academy Awards – February 26, 2017 Dolby Theatre – Hollywood, Los Angeles, California Host: Jimmy Kimmel Broadcaster: ABC

Best Picture: LA LA LAND

Arrival, Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder, and David Linde (Paramount)

Fences, Todd Black, Scott Rudin, and Denzel Washington (Paramount)

Hell or High Water, Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn (CBS Films/Lionsgate)

La La Land, Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, and Marc Platt (Summit)

Moonlight, Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner (A24)

O.J.: Made in America, Ezra Edelman (ESPN)

Our Little Sister (JPN), Kaoru Matsuzaki and Hijiri Taguchi (Toho Company)

The Red Turtle (FRA/BEL/JPN), Toshio Suzuki, Vincent Maraval, Pascal Caucheteux, Grégoire Sorlat, and Léon Perahia (Wild Bunch/Toho Company/ Lumière/Sony Pictures Classics)

The Salesman (IRN), Alexandre Mallet-Guy and Asghar Farhadi (Filmiran/Cohen Media Group)

Toni Erdmann (GER), Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, and Michael Merkt (Komplizen Film/Sony Pictures Classics)

It’s a little disconcerting that only two major studio films are here. The mid-budget drama used to be the major studios’ bread-and-butter, and now that is gravitating ever more to the mini-majors and smaller studios. La La Land, Moonlight, O.J.: Made in America, and The Red Turtle all received 9/10 ratings from me. We essentially have a four-way tie for first, and I have to elevate one above the rest.

Some of my followers are gonna fume at my decision, but it’s La La Land for me. I approached that decision from a well-documented bias for musicals - fully aware of the film’s artistic, technical, and societal problems - the fact of the film’s cultural impact (I sometimes have a populist streak in how I see film history, and that’s a part of my personality), and personal taste (it came down to Moonlight and La La Land for me... I love both, but which movie would I not mind to waste 30 minutes on if nothing was on?).

If you ask me this question again in ten years’ time, my answer might very well change. I don’t have the luxury of hindsight right now.

Best Director

Damien Chazelle, La La Land

Michael Dudok de Wit, The Red Turtle

Ezra Edelman, O.J.: Made in America

Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

Hirokazu Koreeda, Our Little Sister

In my alternative Oscar universe, Koreeda nabs the latest of several nominations for Director, but he just can’t manage to break through in this category. It’s Jenkins for me, for crafting a story that I could not imagine having been filmed even five years ago.

Best Actor

Joel Edgerton, Loving

Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge

Ryan Gosling, La La Land

Sunny Pawar, Lion

Denzel Washington, Fences

Sunny Pawar has to hold up that first half of Lion, and he does so spectacularly. I also introduce Edgerton here as well. Garfield had a career performance in Hacksaw Ridge, and Gosling is a bit underrated. But it’s the one fellow nominated here who I would call a genuine movie star - a term that is thrown about too often these days, but I think he embodies it - in Denzel Washington. It’s a difficult performance, that, and he has perfected it to a tee.

Best Actress

Taraji P. Henson, Hidden Figures

Isabelle Huppert, Elle

Lâm Thanh Mỹ, Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass (VIE)

Ruth Negga, Loving

Emma Stone, La La Land

You’re scratching your heads on that nomination for Lâm Thanh Mỹ, I know. She gave the child performance of the year for me in a dizzying display of a range of emotions. But in the end, it’s Huppert. I sneak in Henson and Negga as well.

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water

John Goodman, 10 Cloverfield Lane

Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea

Issey Ogata, Silence

Did you expect anything else?

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis, Fences

Naomie Harris, Moonlight

Suzu Hirose, Our Little Sister

Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures

Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

See above. Yet another child actress in Suzu Hirose, gets nominated... that’s three kids getting nominations in my alternative ceremony!

Best Adapted Screenplay

Park Chan-wook, The Handmaiden (KOR)

Eric Heisserer, Arrival

Barry Jenkins and Tarell McCraney, Moonlight

Hirokazu Koreeda, Our Little Sister

August Wilson, Fences (posthumous nomination)

Really, really tempted to give this to Wilson. So I hope, wherever he is, he didn’t mind this.

Best Original Screenplay

Stephen Chow, et al., The Mermaid (CHN)

Asghar Farhadi, The Salesman

Efthimis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster

Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water

Makoto Shinkai, Your Name (JPN)

Best Animated Feature

Kubo and the Two Strings (Laika/Focus)

Long Way North, France/Denmark (Maybe Movies/Sacrebleu Productions)

My Life as a Zucchini, Switzerland (Gébéka Films/GKIDS)

The Red Turtle, France/Belgium/Japan (Wild Bunch/Toho Company/ Lumière/Sony Pictures Classics)

Your Name, Japan (Funimation/Toho Company)

Zootopia was the second-best Disney film of the year, and it wasn’t even among the top five animated features of the year. Little-seen Long Way North and widely-seen Your Name (everywhere except North America, apparently) are in there instead. But The Red Turtle - a true transnational effort - is the best animated feature of the year.

Best Documentary Feature

I Am Not Your Negro (Velvet Film/Magnolia Pictures)

Life, Animated (A&E/The Orchard)

O.J.: Made in America (ESPN)

13th (Netflix)

Weiner (Motto Pictures/Sundance Selects)

I have to award ESPN’s ambitious 30 for 30 entry here. And it’s easily the best of the 30 for 30 films as well.

Best Foreign Language Film

Fire at Sea, Italy

The Handmaiden, South Korea

Our Little Sister, Japan

The Salesman, Iran

Toni Erdmann, Germany

Best Cinematography

Roger Deakins, Hail, Caesar!

James Laxton, Moonlight

Rodrigo Prieto, Silence

Linus Sandgren, La La Land

Bradford Young, Arrival

Best Film Editing

Tom Cross, La La Land

John Gilbert, Hacksaw Ridge

Bret Granato, Maya Mumma, and Ben Sozanski, O.J.: Made in America

Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders, Moonlight

Blu Murray, Sully

Best Original Musical

Gary Clark, Sing Street

Justin Hurwitz, La La Land

Mark Mancina, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Opetaia Foa’I, Moana

Best Original Musical is a category that must be activated by the Academy’s Music Branch, given that there are enough movie musical submitted for consideration. As I felt like there were enough movie musicals to warrant the activation of this category, I put these three films here (also, I wanted La La Land out of Original Score to preserve the category’s intent - to honor a film’s score, rather than its soundtrack). It has not been given under its current name; the last recipient of this award was Prince for Purple Rain (1984).

Best Original Score

John Debney, The Jungle Book

James Newton Howard, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Dario Marianelli, Kubo and the Two Strings

Laurent Perez Del Mar, The Red Turtle

John Williams, The BFG

Best Original Song

“Another Day of Sun”, music by Justin Hurwitz, lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, La La Land

“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)”, music by Justin Hurwitz, lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, La La Land

“Drive It Like You Stole It”, composed by Gary Clark Sing Street

“How Far I’ll Go”, composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Moana

“No Wrong Way Home”, music by Alexis Harte and JJ Wiesler, lyrics by Alexis Harte, Pearl

Yes, I have the audacity to nominate a song from a short film in here - “No Wrong Way Home” from Pearl. And “City of Stars” shouldn’t have been nominated, despite it being the earworm.

Best Costume Design

Colleen Atwood, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Madeline Fontaine, Jackie

Mary Zophres, La La Land

Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh, Love & Friendship

Dante Ferretti, Silence

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Daniel Phillips, Florence Foster Jenkins

Jean Ann Black and Cydney Cornell, Hail, Caesar!

Eva von Bahr and Love Larson, A Man Called Ove (SWE)

Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo, Star Trek Beyond

Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini, and Christopher Nelson, Suicide Squad

Best Production Design

Patrice Vermette and Paul Hotte, Arrival

Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh, Hail, Caesar!

Ryu Seong-hie, The Handmaiden

David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, La La Land

Guy Hendrix Dyas and Gene Serdena, Passengers

Best Sound Editing

Sylvain Bellemare, Arrival

Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli, Deepwater Horizon

Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright, Hacksaw Ridge

Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood, Rogue One

Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman, Sully

Best Sound Mixing

Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye, Arrival

John Midgley, Tom Johnson, and Juan Peralta, Doctor Strange

Kevin O'Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie, and Peter Grace, Hacksaw Ridge

Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee, and Steve A. Morrow, La La Land

David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio, and Stuart Wilson, Rogue One

Best Visual Effects

Craig Hammeck, Jason Snell, Jason Billington, and Burt Dalton, Deepwater Horizon

Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli, and Paul Corbould, Doctor Strange

Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones, and Dan Lemmon, The Jungle Book

Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean, and Brad Schiff, Kubo and the Two Strings

John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, and Neil Corbould, Rogue One

Best Documentary Short

Extremis (Netflix)

4.1 Miles, Greece (University of California, Berkeley/The New York Times)

Joe’s Violin (Lucky Two Productions)

Watani: My Homeland (ITN Productions)

The White Helmets (Netflix)

You can read my omnibus write-up for the nominees in Best Documentary Short Film here.

Best Live Action Short

Ennemis intérieurs, France (Qualia Films)

La Femme et le TGV, Switzerland (Arbel/ Jacques à Bâle Pictures)

Silent Nights, Denmark (M&M Productions)

Sing, Hungary (Meteor-Film)

Timecode, Spain (Juanjo Giménez Peña)

You can read my omnibus write-up for the nominees in Best Live Action Short Film here.

Best Animated Short

Blind Vaysha (National Film Board of Canada)

Borrowed Time (Quorum Films)

Pear Cider and Cigarettes (Massive Swerve Studios/Passion Pictures)

Pearl (Evil Eye Pictures/Google/Passion Pictures)

Piper (Pixar/Walt Disney)

You can read my omnibus write-up for the nominees in Best Animated Short Film here.

Academy Honorary Awards: Jackie Chan, Anne V. Coates, Lynn Stalmaster, and Frederick Wiseman

MULTIPLE NOMINEES (28) Twelve: La La Land Seven: Moonlight Six: Arrival Five: Our Little Sister Four: Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, O.J.: Made in America, The Red Turtle Three: Hail, Caesar!, The Handmaiden, Hell or High Water, Kubo and the Two Strings, Rogue One, The Salesman, Silence Two: Deepwater Horizon, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Hidden Figures, The Jungle Book, Loving, Manchester by the Sea, Moana, Pearl, Sing Street, Sully, Toni Erdmann, Your Name

WINNERS 5 wins: La La Land 3 wins: Moonlight 2 wins: Fences, O.J.: Made in America 1 win: Elle, Ennemis intérieurs, 4.1 Miles, Hacksaw Ridge, The Handmaiden, Hell or High Water, Jackie, The Jungle Book, Kubo and the Two Strings, Our Little Sister, Piper The Red Turtle, Star Trek Beyond

17 winners from 25 categories. 47 feature-length films and 15 short films were represented.

#89th Academy Awards #Oscars #La La Land #Moonlight #31 Days of Oscar #Arrival #Our Little Sister #Fences #O.J.: Made in America #The Red Turtle #Hell or High Water #The Salesman #Toni Erdmann

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movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/la-la-land-wins-big-baftas-2017-politics/

'La La Land' wins big at Baftas 2017 with some politics

It's just two weeks before the Oscars hit, but the BAFTA's took center stage (well right before the Grammy's) Sunday night with "La La Land" winning five awards. Not bad as it had eleven nominations and won for Best film, best actress and best director. "Manchester By the Sea" continued its winning streak for Casey Affleck as best actor and Ken Loach won the best British film award for "I, Daniel Blake." Emma Stone, who won for Best Leading Actress in "La La Land" took her acceptance speech as a moment for her political statement. It was obvious how emotional this was for her as she stumbled slightly giving her message. “It feels like the world is going through a bit of a time right now… “Sorry, I’m losing my words, this always happens… “I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but right now this country and the U.S. and the world seems to be going through a bit of a time. Just a bit,” she said. “In a time that’s so divisive, I think it’s really special that we are all able to come together tonight thanks to BAFTA to celebrate the positive effect of creativity and how we can transcend borders and how we can help people to feel a little less alone.” Emma also acknowledged the BAFTA community for voting for her, telling them: “Thank you so much for this, this is an unbelievable honor.” Viola Davis, who won best supporting actress for "Fences" had a message supporting Meryl Street, whose impassioned speech at the Golden Globes resulted in a nasty Donald Trump tweet tantrum. “Anyone who labels Meryl Streep an overrated actress obviously doesn’t know anything about acting. That’s just the way it is. And that’s not even just directed towards Donald Trump. That’s directed towards anyone,” she told reporters in the press room following her win. “This is someone who is the master at her skill and she has lasted for 40 years — in a very difficult profession might I add. She continued: “I have never met anyone who has been in her presence who she has not made feel like a star in their own lives. That is a rock. Very humble, very gracious human being.”

2017 BAFTAs Winners List (winners are bolded):

BEST FILM ARRIVAL Dan Levine, Shawn Levy, David Linde, Aaron Ryder I, DANIEL BLAKE Rebecca O’Brien LA LA LAND Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, Marc Platt – WINNER MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Lauren Beck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Kimberly Steward, Kevin J. Walsh MOONLIGHT Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adele Romanski OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM I, DANIEL BLAKE Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty – WINNER AMERICAN HONEY Andrea Arnold, Lars Knudsen, Pouya Shahbazian, Jay Van Hoy DENIAL Mick Jackson, Gary Foster, Russ Krasnoff, David Hare FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM David Yates, J.K. Rowling, David Heyman, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram NOTES ON BLINDNESS Peter Middleton, James Spinney, Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison, Steve Jamison UNDER THE SHADOW Babak Anvari, Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill, Lucan Toh OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER The Girl With All the Gifts: MIKE CAREY (Writer), CAMILLE GATIN (Producer) The Hard Stop: GEORGE AMPONSAH (Writer/Director/Producer), DIONNE WALKER (Writer/Producer) Notes on Blindness: PETER MIDDLETON (Writer/Director/Producer), JAMES SPINNEY (Writer/Director), JO-JO ELLISON (Producer) The Pass: JOHN DONNELLY (Writer), BEN A. WILLIAMS (Director) Under the Shadow: BABAK ANVARI (Writer/Director), EMILY LEO, OLIVER ROSKILL, LUCAN TOH (Producers) – WINNER FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE DHEEPAN Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux JULIETA Pedro Almodóvar MUSTANG Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Charles Gillibert SON OF SAUL László Nemes, Gábor Sipos – WINNER TONI ERDMANN Maren Ade, Janine Jackowski DOCUMENTARY 13th Ava DuVernay – WINNER THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK- THE TOURING YEARS Ron Howard THE EAGLE HUNTRESS Otto Bell, Stacey Reiss NOTES ON BLINDNESS Peter Middleton, James Spinney WEINER Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg ANIMATED FILM FINDING DORY Andrew Stanton KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS Travis Knight – WINNER MOANA Ron Clements, John Musker ZOOTROPOLIS Byron Howard, Rich Moore DIRECTOR ARRIVAL Denis Villeneuve I, DANIEL BLAKE Ken Loach LA LA LAND Damien Chazelle – WINNER MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Kenneth Lonergan NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Tom Ford ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY HELL OR HIGH WATER Taylor Sheridan I, DANIEL BLAKE Paul Laverty LA LA LAND Damien Chazelle MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Kenneth Lonergan – WINNER MOONLIGHT Barry Jenkins ADAPTED SCREENPLAY ARRIVAL Eric Heisserer HACKSAW RIDGE Robert Schenkkan, Andrew Knight HIDDEN FIGURES Theodore Melfi, Allison Schroeder LION Luke Davies – WINNER NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Tom Ford LEADING ACTOR ANDREW GARFIELD Hacksaw Ridge CASEY AFFLECK Manchester by the Sea – WINNER JAKE GYLLENHAAL Nocturnal Animals RYAN GOSLING La La Land VIGGO MORTENSEN Captain Fantastic LEADING ACTRESS AMY ADAMS Arrival EMILY BLUNT The Girl on the Train EMMA STONE La La Land – WINNER MERYL STREEP Florence Foster Jenkins NATALIE PORTMAN Jackie SUPPORTING ACTOR AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON Nocturnal Animals DEV PATEL Lion – WINNER HUGH GRANT Florence Foster Jenkins JEFF BRIDGES Hell or High Water MAHERSHALA ALI Moonlight SUPPORTING ACTRESS HAYLEY SQUIRES I, Daniel Blake MICHELLE WILLIAMS Manchester by the Sea NAOMIE HARRIS Moonlight NICOLE KIDMAN Lion VIOLA DAVIS Fences – WINNER ORIGINAL MUSIC ARRIVAL Jóhann Jóhannsson JACKIE Mica Levi LA LA LAND Justin Hurwitz – WINNER LION Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Abel Korzeniowski CINEMATOGRAPHY ARRIVAL Bradford Young HELL OR HIGH WATER Giles Nuttgens LA LA LAND Linus Sandgren – WINNER LION Greig Fraser NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Seamus McGarvey EDITING ARRIVAL Joe Walker HACKSAW RIDGE John Gilbert – WINNER LA LA LAND Tom Cross MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Jennifer Lame NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Joan Sobel PRODUCTION DESIGN DOCTOR STRANGE John Bush, Charles Wood FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock – WINNER HAIL, CAESAR! Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh LA LA LAND Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, David Wasco NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Shane Valentino, Meg Everist COSTUME DESIGN ALLIED Joanna Johnston FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Colleen Atwood FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS Consolata Boyle JACKIE Madeline Fontaine – WINNER LA LA LAND Mary Zophres MAKE UP & HAIR DOCTOR STRANGE Jeremy Woodhead FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS J. Roy Helland, Daniel Phillips – WINNER HACKSAW RIDGE Shane Thomas NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Donald Mowat, Yolanda Toussieng ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Nominees tbc SOUND ARRIVAL Claude La Haye, Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Sylvain Bellemare – WINNER DEEPWATER HORIZON Mike Prestwood Smith, Dror Mohar, Wylie Stateman, David Wyman FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Niv Adiri, Glenn Freemantle, Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Ian Tapp HACKSAW RIDGE Peter Grace, Robert Mackenzie, Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright LA LA LAND Mildred Iatrou Morgan, Ai-Ling Lee, Steve A. Morrow, Andy Nelson SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS ARRIVAL Louis Morin DOCTOR STRANGE Richard Bluff, Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM Tim Burke, Pablo Grillo, Christian Manz, David Watkins THE JUNGLE BOOK Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, Adam Valdez – WINNER ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Neil Corbould, Hal Hickel, Mohen Leo, John Knoll, Nigel Sumner BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION THE ALAN DIMENSION Jac Clinch, Jonathan Harbottle, Millie Marsh A LOVE STORY Khaled Gad, Anushka Kishani Naanayakkara, Elena Ruscombe-King – WINNER TOUGH Jennifer Zheng BRITISH SHORT FILM CONSUMED Richard John Seymour HOME Shpat Deda, Afolabi Kuti, Daniel Mulloy, Scott O’Donnell- WINNER MOUTH OF HELL Bart Gavigan, Samir Mehanovic, Ailie Smith, Michael Wilson THE PARTY Farah Abushwesha, Emmet Fleming, Andrea Harkin, Conor MacNeill STANDBY Charlotte Regan, Jack Hannon EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public) TOM HOLLAND – WINNER ANYA TAYLOR-JOY LAIA COSTA LUCAS HEDGES RUTH NEGGA

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#BAFTAs #Casey Affleck #Emma Stone #Featured #Fences #La La Land #Manchester By the Sea #Viola Davis

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lodelss · 5 years

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Bryce Covert | Longreads | April 2019 | 13 minutes (3,374 words)

“The American work ethic, the motivation that drives Americans to work longer hours each week and more weeks each year than any of our economic peers, is a long-standing contributor to America’s success.” Thus reads the first sentence of a massive report the Trump administration released in July 2018. Americans’ drive to work ever harder, longer, and faster is at the heart of the American Dream: the idea, which has become more mythology than reality in a country with yawning income inequality and stagnating upward economic mobility, that if an American works hard enough she can attain her every desire. And we really try: We put in between 30 to 90 minutes more each day than the typical European. We work 400 hours more annually than the high-output Germans and clock more office time than even the work-obsessed Japanese.

The story of individual hard work is embedded into the very founding of our country, from the supposedly self-made, entrepreneurial Founding Fathers to the pioneers who plotted the United States’ western expansion; little do we acknowledge that the riches of this country were built on the backs of African slaves, many owned by the Founding Fathers themselves, whose descendants live under oppressive policies that continue to leave them with lower incomes and overall wealth and in greater poverty. We — the “we” who write the history books — would rather tell ourselves that the people who shaped our country did it through their own hard work and not by standing on the shoulders, or stepping on the necks, of others. It’s an easier story to live with. It’s one where the people with power and money have it because they deserve it, not because they took it, and where we each have an equal shot at doing the same.

Because for all our national pride in our puritanical work ethic, the ethic doesn’t apply evenly. At the highest income levels, wealthy Americans are making money passively, through investments and inheritances, and doing little of what most would consider “work.” Basic subsistence may soon be predicated on whether and how much a poor person works, while the rich count on tax credits and carve-outs designed to protect stockpiles of wealth created by money begetting itself. It’s the poor who are expected to work the hardest to prove that they are worthy of Americanness, or a helping hand, or humanity. At the same time, we idolize and imitate the rich. If you’re rich, you must have worked hard. You must be someone to emulate. Maybe you should even be president.

* * *

Trump has a long history of antipathy to the poor, a word which he uses as a synonym for “welfare,” which he understands only as a pejorative. When he and his father were sued by the Department of Justice in 1973 for discriminating against black tenants in their real estate business, he shot back that he was being forced to rent to “welfare recipients.” Nearly 40 years later, he called President Obama “our Welfare & Food Stamp President,” saying he “doesn’t believe in work.” He wrote in his 2011 book Time To Get Tough, “There’s nothing ‘compassionate’ about allowing welfare dependency to be passed from generation to generation.”

Perhaps. But Trump certainly knows about relying on things passed from generation to generation. His self-styled origin story is that he got his start with a “small” $1 million loan from his real estate tycoon father, Fred C. Trump, which he used to grow his own empire. “I built what I built myself,” he has claimed. “I did it by working long hours, and working hard and working smart.”

It’s an interesting interpretation of “myself”: A New York Times investigation in October reported that, instead, Trump has received at least $413 million from his father’s businesses over the course of his life. “By age 3, Mr. Trump was earning $200,000 a year in today’s dollars from his father’s empire. He was a millionaire by age 8. By the time he was 17, his father had given him part ownership of a 52-unit apartment building,” reporters David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner wrote. “Soon after Mr. Trump graduated from college, he was receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year from his father. The money increased with the years, to more than $5 million annually in his 40s and 50s.” The Times found 295 different streams of revenue Fred created to enrich his son — loans that weren’t repaid, three trust funds, shares in partnerships, lump-sum gifts — much of it further inflated by reducing how much went to the government. Donald and his siblings helped their parents dodge taxes with sham corporations, improper deductions, and undervalued assets, helping evade levies on gifts and inheritances.

If you’re rich, you must have worked hard. You must be someone to emulate. Maybe you should even be president.

Even the money that was made squarely owed a debt to the government. Fred Trump nimbly rode the rising wave of federal spending on housing that began with the New Deal and continued with the G.I. Bill. “Fred Trump would become a millionaire many times over by making himself one of the nation’s largest recipients of cheap government-backed building loans,” the Times reported. Donald carried on this tradition of milking government subsidies to accumulate fortunes. He obtained at least $885 million in perfectly legal grants, subsidies, and tax breaks from New York to build his real estate business.

Someone could have taken this largesse and worked hard to grow it into something more, but Donald Trump was not that someone. Much of his fortune comes not from the down and dirty work of running businesses, but from slapping his name on everything from golf courses to steaks. Many of these deals entail merely licensing his name while a developer actually runs things. And as president, he still doesn’t seem inclined to clock much time doing actual work.

That hasn’t stopped him from putting work at the center of his administration’s poverty-related policies. In the White House Council of Economic Advisers’ lengthy tome, it argued for adding work requirements to a new universe of public benefits. These requirements, which up until the Trump administration only existed for direct cash assistance and food stamps, require a recipient not just to put in a certain number of hours at a job or some other qualifying activity, but to amass paperwork to prove those hours each month. The CEA report is focused, supposedly, on “the importance and dignity of work.” But the benefits of engaging in labor are only deemed important for a particular population: “welfare recipients who society expects to work.” Over and over, it takes for granted that our country only expects the poorest to work in order to prove themselves worthy of government funds, specifically targeting those who get food stamps to feed their families, housing assistance to keep roofs over their heads, and Medicaid to stay healthy.

* * *

The report doesn’t just represent an ethos in the administration; it was also a justification for concrete actions it had already taken and more it would soon roll out. Last April, Trump signed an executive order that ordered federal agencies to review public assistance programs in order to see if they could impose work requirements unilaterally to “ensure that they are consistent with principles that are central to the American spirit — work, free enterprise, and safeguarding human and economic resources,” as the document states, while also “reserving public assistance programs for those who are truly in need.”

The administration has also pushed forward on its own. In 2017, it announced that states could apply for waivers that would allow them to implement work requirements in Medicaid for the first time, and so far more than a dozen states have taken it up on the offer, with Arkansas’s rule in effect since June 2018. (It has now been halted by a federal judge.) In that state, Medicaid recipients had to spend 80 hours a month at work, school, or volunteering, and report those activities to the government in order to keep getting health insurance. And in April 2018, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson unveiled a proposal to let housing authorities implement work requirements for public housing residents and rental assistance recipients. Trump pushed Congress to include more stringent work requirements in the food stamp program as it debated the most recent farm bill, arguing it would “get America back to work.” When that effort failed, the Agriculture Department turned around and proposed a rule to impose the requirements by itself.

These aren’t fiscal necessities — they’re crackdowns on the poor, justified by the idea that they should prove themselves worthy of the benefits that help them survive, that are not just cruel but out of step with real life. Most people who turn to public programs already work, and those who don’t often have good reason. More than 60 percent of people on Medicaid are working. They remain on Medicaid because their pay isn’t enough to keep them out of poverty, and many of the low-wage jobs they work don’t offer health insurance they can afford. Of those not working, most either have a physical impairment or conflicting responsibilities like school or caregiving.

Enrollment in food stamps tells the same story. Among the “work-capable” adults on food stamps, about two thirds work at some point during the year, while 84 percent live in a household where someone works. But low-wage work is often chaotic and unpredictable. Recipients are more likely to turn to food stamps during a spell of unemployment or too few hours, then stop when they resume steadier employment. Many of those who are supposedly capable of work but don’t have a job have a health barrier or live with someone who has one; they’re in school, they’re caring for family, or they just can’t find work in their community.

Work requirements, then, fail to account for the reality of poor people’s lives. It’s not that there’s a widespread lack of work ethic among people who earn the least, but that there’s a lack of steady pay and consistent opportunities that allow someone to sustain herself and her family without assistance. We also know work requirements just don’t work. They’ve existed in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cash-assistance program for decades, yet they don’t help people find meaningful, lasting work; instead they serve as a way to shove them out of programs they desperately need. The result is more poverty, not more jobs.

If this country were so concerned about helping people who might face barriers to working get jobs, we might not be the second-lowest among OECD member countries by percentage of GDP spent on labor-market programs like job-search assistance or retraining. The poor in particular face barriers like affordable childcare and reliable transportation, and could use education or training to reach for better-paid, more meaningful work. But we do little to extend these supports. Instead, we chastise them for not pulling on their frayed bootstraps hard enough.

We also seem content with the notion that a person who doesn’t work — either out of inability or refusal — doesn’t deserve the building blocks of staying alive. The programs Trump is targeting, after all, are about basic needs: housing to stay safe from the elements, food to keep from going hungry, healthcare to receive treatment and avoid dying of neglect. Even if it were true that there was a horde of poor people refusing to work, do we want to condemn them to starvation and likely death? In one of the world’s richest countries, do we really balk at spending money on keeping our people — even lazy ones — alive?

We also know work requirements just don’t work. They’ve existed in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cash-assistance program for decades, yet they don’t help people find meaningful, lasting work; instead they serve as a way to shove them out of programs they desperately need. The result is more poverty, not more jobs.

Plenty of other countries don’t do so. Single mothers experience higher rates of destitution than coupled parents or people without children all over the world. But the higher poverty rate in the U.S. as compared to other developed countries isn’t because we have more single mothers; instead, it’s because we do so little to help them. Compare us to Denmark, which gives parents unconditional cash benefits for each of their children regardless of whether or how much they work, on top of generously subsidizing childcare, offering universal health coverage, and guaranteeing paid leave. It’s no coincidence that they also have a lower poverty rate, both generally and for single mothers specifically. A recent examination of poverty across countries found that children are at higher risk in the U.S because we have a sparse social safety net that’s so closely tied to demanding that people work. It makes us an international outlier, the world’s miser that only opens a clenched fist to the poor if they’re willing to demonstrate their worthiness first.

Here, too, America’s history of slavery and ongoing racism rears its head. According to a trio of renowned economists, we don’t have a European-style social safety net because “racial animosity in the U.S. makes redistribution to the poor, who are disproportionately black, unappealing to many voters.” White people turn against funding public benefit programs when they feel their racial status threatened, particularly benefits they (falsely) believe mainly accrue to black people. The black poor are seen as the most undeserving of help and most in need of proving their worthiness to get it. States with larger percentages of black residents, for example, focus less on TANF’s goal of providing cash to the needy and have stingier benefits with higher hurdles to enrollment.

* * *

The CEA’s report on work requirements claimed that being an adult who doesn’t work is particularly prevalent among “those living in low-income households.” But that’s debatable. The more income someone has, the less likely he is to be getting it from wages. In 2012, those earning less than $25,000 a year made nearly three quarters of that money from a job. Those making more than $10 million, on the other hand, made about half of their money from capital gains — in other words, returns on investments. The bottom half of the country has, on average, just $826 in income from capital investments each; the average for those in the top 1 percent is more than $16 million.

The richest are the least likely to have their money come from hard labor — yet there’s no moral panic over whether they’re coddled or lacking in self reliance. Instead, government benefits help the rich protect and grow idle wealth. Capital gains and dividends are taxed at a lower rate than regular salaried income. Inheritances were taxed at an average rate of 4 percent in 2009, compared to the average rate of 18 percent for money earned by working and saving. When investments are bequeathed, the recipient owes no taxes on any asset appreciation.

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In fact, government tax benefits that increase people’s take-home money at the expense of what the government collects for its own coffers overwhelmingly benefit the rich over the poor (or even the middle class). More than 60 percent of the roughly $900 billion in annual tax expenditures goes to the richest 20 percent of American families. That figure dwarfs what the government expends on many public benefit programs. The government spends more than three times as much on tax subsidies for homeowners, mostly captured by the well-to-do, than it does on rental assistance for the poor. The three benefit programs the Trump administration is concerned with — Medicaid, food stamps, and housing assistance — come to about $705 billion in combined spending.

While the administration has been concerned with what it can do to compel the poor to work, it’s handed out more largesse to the idle rich. Its signature tax-cut package, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, offered an extra cut for so-called “pass-through” businesses, like law or real estate firms. But the fine print included a wrinkle: If someone is considered actively involved in his pass-through business, only 30 percent of his earnings could qualify for the new discount. If someone is passively involved, however — a shareholder who doesn’t do much about the day-to-day work of the company — then he gets 100 percent of the new benefit.

Then there’s the law’s significant lowering of the estate tax. The tax is levied on only the biggest, most valuable inheritances passed down from wealthy parent to newly wealthy child. Before the Republicans’ tax bill, only the richest 0.2 percent of estates had to pay the tax when fortunes changed hands. Now it’s just the richest 0.1 percent, or a mere 1,800 very wealthy families worth more than $22 million. The rest get to pass money to their heirs tax-free. Those who do pay it will be paying less when tax time comes due — $4.4 million less, to be exact.

Despite the Republican rhetoric that lowering the estate tax is about saving family farms, it’s really about allowing an aristocracy to calcify — one in which rich parents ensure their children are rich before they lift a single finger in work. As those heirs receive their fortunes, they also receive the blessing that comes with riches: the halo of success and, therefore, deservedness without having to work to prove it. Yet there’s evidence that increasing taxes on inheritances has the potentially salutary effect of getting heirs to work more. The more their inheritances are taxed, the more they end up paying in labor taxes — evidence that they’re working harder for their livings, not just coasting on generational wealth. Perhaps our tax code could encourage rich heirs to experience the dignity of work.

* * *

Trump’s CEA report is accurate about at least one thing: Our country has a history of only offering public benefits to the poor either deemed worthy through their work or exempt through old age or disability. An outlier was the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, which became Temporary Assistance for Needy Families after Bill Clinton signed welfare reform into law in the ’90s. But the 1996 transformation of the program took what was a promise of cash for poor mothers and changed it into an obstacle course of proving a mother’s worth before she can get anywhere close to a check. It paved the way for the current administration’s obsession with work requirements.

Largesse for the rich, on the other hand, has rarely included such tests. No one has been made to pee in a cup for tax breaks on their mortgages, which cost as much as the food stamp program but overwhelmingly benefit families that earn more than $100,000. No one has had to prove a certain number of work hours to get a lower tax rate on investment income or an inheritance. They get that discount on their money without having to do any work at all.

We haven’t always been so extreme in our dichotomous treatment of the rich and poor; throughout the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, we coupled high marginal taxes on the wealthy with a minimum wage that ensured that people who put in full-time work could rise out of poverty. The estate tax has been as high as 77 percent. As Dutch historian Rutger Bregman recently told an audience of the ultrawealthy at Davos, we’re living proof that high taxes can spread shared prosperity. “The United States, that’s where it has actually worked, in the 1950s, during Republican President Eisenhower,” he pointed out. “This is not rocket science.” It was during the same era that we also created significant anti-poverty programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. In fact, this country pioneered the idea of progressive taxation and has always had some form of tax on inheritance to avoid creating an aristocracy. But we’ve papered over that history as tax rates have cratered and poverty has climbed.

Instead, as Reaganomics and neoliberal ideas took hold of our politics, we turned back to the Horatio Alger myth that success is attained on an individual basis by hard work alone, and that riches are the proof of a dogged drive. Lower tax rates naturally follow under the theory that the rich should keep more of their deserved bounty. And if you’re poor, coming to the government seeking a helping hand up, you failed.

The country is due for a reckoning with our obsession with work. There are certainly financial and emotional benefits that come from having a job. But why are we only concerned with whether the poor reap those benefits? Is working ourselves to the bone the best signifier of our worth — and are there basic elements of life that we should guarantee regardless of work? It doesn’t mean dropping all emphasis on work ethic. But it does require a deeper examination of who we expect to work — and why.

* * *

Bryce Covert is an independent journalist writing about the economy and a contributing op-ed writer at The New York Times.

Editor: Michelle Weber Fact checker: Ethan Chiel Copy editor: Jacob Z. Gross

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benrleeusa · 5 years

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[Sasha Volokh] Emory Academic Freedom/Free Speech on Campus conference this week (3/21-3/23): CLE credit available

All are welcome to this week's conference at the Emory Conference Center in Atlanta, Ga., with a selection of nationwide experts on the First Amendment, free speech, academic freedom, and university policies, from both the academic side and the student-affairs professional side.

Hi all, this should be my last announcement for a conference on Academic Freedom and Free Speech on Campus, to be held from March 21 to March 23, 2019, at the Emory Conference Center (Atlanta, Ga.) -- brought to you by the office of Emory's provost, Dwight McBride, Emory Campus Life, and the Emory University Senate's Committee for Open Expression (which I'm the chair of).

If you're a lawyer, you should be aware that we're offering three credits of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit if you attend the conference on Friday, March 22. Ordinary registration fees are $100 (but free for Emory staff and faculty, and for students anywhere); it's an extra $15 if you want the CLE credit.

You can register at this link, but please come even if you haven't registered and stay for as long as you can.

Here's what the conference is about:

Academic Freedom and Free Speech on Campus

Join Emory University for its conference Academic Freedom and Free Speech on Campus March 21-23, 2019 to discuss what academic freedom and free speech mean in the life of higher education institutions today.

The conference is an opportunity to showcase how public and private institutions of higher education continue to be on the forefront of debate, deliberation, and knowledge creation. Emory University is committed to this through its strategic framework, which states that "we practice the values of intellectual rigor, integrity, risk taking, and collaboration. Our faculty and students pursue open inquiry across disciplines—guided by evidence, committed to critical inquiry, fueled by the creative spirit, and dedicated not only to discovery in its own right but to solving problems and serving society." This conference was created to demonstrate this commitment.

The goal of the conference is to generate conversations on ideas, laws, policies, and practices related to academic freedom and free speech on college campuses. It will provide opportunities for faculty, scholars, student affairs professionals and students to interrogate ideas ranging from academic freedom and free speech to safe spaces, and to discuss campus protests and dissent in order to develop practices and policies that promote free speech.

Please join the conversation by attending the conference.

Who's participating? A mix of academics, student-affairs professionals, and others. Here is a (not necessarily complete) list, in no particular order:

our own co-blogger David Bernstein of George Mason,

our former co-blogger Jacob Levy of McGill,

Jonathan Holloway, provost of Northwestern,

Sigal Ben-Porath, professor of education, philosophy, and political science at Penn,

Nancy Leong, law professor at Denver,

Eric Segall, law professor at Georgia State,

Alex Tsesis, law professor at Loyola University Chicago,

Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education,

K.C. White, vice president for student affairs at Kennesaw State,

Bobby Woodard, senior vice president for student affairs at Auburn,

In addition, we have several participants from Emory, including:

Deborah Lipstadt, professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies,

Pamela Scully, vice provost for undergraduate education,

Michael Shutt, senior director of Campus Life,

Michele Hempfling, associate dean of Campus Life, Oxford College of Emory University,

Ed Lee, senior director for debate, deliberation, and dialogue,

Christa Acampora, deputy provost for academic affairs,

Steven Sencer, Emory's general counsel,

Lisa Garvin, acting dean of the chapel and spiritual life,

Courtnay Oddman, assistant director of residence life,

Nancy Seideman, vice president of academic communications,

Bert Buchtinec, captain of Emory Police Department,

Fred Smith Jr., law professor,

Julie Seaman, law professor,

Frank Lechner, sociology professor,

Karen Andes, professor of global health,

Dabney Evans, professor of global health,

Henry Bayerle, classics professor,

Zach Raetzmann, student,

and me.

Please come represent the readership of the Volokh Conspiracy, and say hi to me when you're there!

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tinymixtapes · 5 years

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Feature: Favorite 25 Films of 2018

Once upon a time, Derek Smith wrote: “2017 was a year endured rather than lived.” But all due respect to the past, because here we are creeping into this new 2019 and things are so much better than we thought they’d be! True, the year probably felt like 37 years or whatever removed from Rick Deckard’s squared-off tie and malfunctioning memory. And truth be told, the political crisis unfolding in the gray hallways might seem more honest if it resembled the light-starved, gnarled noir of Blade Runner. At least Schwarzenegger and The Running Man promised that 2019’s only choice would be “hard time or prime time,” even if its presentation of a neon capital, corporate-owned world seemed, you know, subtle. And for all the (dead) kids in cages and bodies bleeding out on street corners here and abroad, Michael Bay and The Island had a perfectly-drooped Buscemi diagnosing our humanist crisis: “I mean, you’re not human. I mean, you’re human, but you’re not real. You’re not a real person, like me.” A lot of people were told they weren’t humans in 2018. This isn’t a writerly evasion or poetic epithet designed to elicit righteous ire/compel you to read another year-end list. Because what else could you call the concentrated attempt by some humans to discourage the freedoms of other humans? Our narrative didn’t turn science-fiction to let us off the hook: these non-humans weren’t clones or replicants or estranged Atlantean denizens returning to claim their kingly right. They just weren’t human enough (or the right kind of human) to matter in the eyes of louder, more powerful humans. All of our past’s proposed images of our worst futures pale in comparison to this denial of basic humanity that we see out our windows. It is unsurprising, then, that cinema, our most volatile cultural mirror, began to show the stretch and strain in its images of our species. But what is surprising is that cinema in 2018 retained nuance and compassion as it mediated the cruelties and depravities of its age. Unlike this slab of prose, movies in 2018 moved beyond mediating good and evil in simple, monolithic terms. They attempted to sketch the boundaries of real freedom in an unjust world (BlaKkKlansman). They investigated, more acutely than ever before, the responsibilities of what it meant to keep (Shirkers) and tell (Madeline’s Madeline) another human’s story (If Beale Street Could Talk), especially in remembrance (Roma). They presented distorted genealogies (Hereditary) and fisheye-lens histories (The Favourite) to track the human body’s motion (Suspiria) in and out of comradeship (Support the Girls) and trauma (Burning). In 2018, we hurled our betrayed humanities up against foreign corpses (Zama), scorched country (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), alien twins (Annihilation), and incongruent voices (Sorry to Bother You). We began to see, in everything, something like a way through the darkness. Why else keep watching the past (The Other Side of the Wind) if not to plot something we’d never imagined before (The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl)? Our moving images in 2018 proposed that real love (Eighth Grade) and genuine care (Lazzaro Felice) could stretch impossibly across time to add up to a life steeped in both nuance and compassion (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?). Our love would not look the same (Leave No Trace) nor could it resound in strictly-feasible tones (Mandy), but we would recognize its absence; we could see that sometimes humanness looks like something we’ve never seen before (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse). More than anything, as one derelict theory proposed, “Through the negative you could see the real, inner, demonic quality of the light.” In laying the responsibilities of the filmmaker and artist at the feet of a murderer, The House That Jack Built came perilously close to endorsing our worst demons. Those demons shook and raged and hissed at us, urging us to give in to despair and make a world in their image. How did we let it stand? Thomas Merton was a central figure in a figurative, feral lens for our year, and he wrote that “despair is the absolute extreme of self-love.” To levy our humanity so close to inhumanness, suggesting that our better angels are distortions, is dangerous. To know, as these 25 films know, that there can be nothing without despair until there is love is to actually be human. To look, as we did, through our ruinous year and resist the despairs of all our oppressors and lowest urges, to shout, in image and montage and light and shadow, that this is how I deny you is to attain, beyond our humanity and into the future, a new kind of prayer. –Frank Falisi --- 25 Roma Dir. Alfonso Cuarón [Netflix] Roma was Alfonso Cuarón’s excursion into simplicity, a self-imposed challenge that drew back from his earlier, more extravagant films. Cuarón told his simple allegory in a monochrome treatment, but while wearing multiple hats — he also produced, shot, and edited the film. The choice to go black and white not only focused the elements of filmmaking to its barest essentials, but it also emphasized its nostalgic underpinnings. Though it made use of elaborate staging for its more chaotic events, Roma paradoxically found fascination in the quotidian and the mundane. The film was dedicated to the maid that the Cuarón’s family employed when he was a child — realized as the previously unknown Yalitza Aparicio, who brought an indelible humanity to her role — but the story itself was secondary. It was presented more as a series of tableaus, culminating in a climactic sequence at the beach. Here, Cuarón’s camera lingered, unedited, in a harrowing scene that illustrated Aparicio’s undying devotion to the family and revealed the film’s true heart. –Tristan Kneschke --- 24 Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Dir. Morgan Neville [Focus Features] With no dirt to dig up on his subject, director Morgan Neville tended to accent the blue-tinged notes heard throughout the Neighborhood in his Fred Rogers documentary. The director’s seamless cardigan scene-weaving stitched together instances of cluster chords and doubting puppets into a portrait of vulnerability that reinforced one of Rogers’s core motifs: It takes a person, not a hero, to protect children. Not a pie-in-the-face kind of guy, we watched Fred McFeely Rogers ponder in the tall grass in between changing shoes and tackling hard topics like grief, death, and terrorism. Demonstrations of his honesty, inclusivity, kindness, patience, listening skills, and unconditional love revealed the subject as the archetype for a timeless paternal figure. Although his ministry athwart sensationalism took place in the era of broadcast television, we imagined that any younger generation in the history of the world could connect with and feel empowered by his carefully worded and well-tempered mission. –Rick Weaver --- 23 Leave No Trace Dir. Debra Granik [Bleecker Street] Few directors are as curious about or sensitive to alternative modes of existence as Debra Granik, who followed Winter’s Bone and the documentary Stray Dog with this tale of a father and daughter willfully attempting to live off the grid in the present-day Pacific Northwest. Leave No Trace was quiet and deliberate, but not remotely uneventful: Granik showed Will (Ben Foster) and Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie) moving through a handful of makeshift, scrappy, and industrialized communities. With minimal embellishments, Granik made each change of scenery feel at once seismic and utterly authentic. Moreover, she guided her two lead actors through agonizing psychological arcs without a whiff of cliché, as a daughter gradually discovered that her life and well-being will be enriched by community, while her PTSD-afflicted father confronted the fact that he can’t abide by the obligations and niceties of modern civilization. Granik’s film had a Bressonian bleakness, but it was entirely heartfelt and so convincing in its particulars that it couldn’t help but realign our sense of the world. –Christopher Gray --- 22 Support the Girls Dir. Andrew Bujalski [Magnolia Pictures] Your workdays don’t end with you back home ready to decompress; they are your back-home and your decompress. Maybe you slept or something like that (scrolled? drank? had a crisis?), but you aren’t really awake till the first table is seated, and you better leave everything else at the door (lol). Your customers are guests, your wage is nil, and your smile is forced by uninvisible hands. Your coworkers are either No Face or your own flesh and blood, the only ones keeping your head from falling off and bursting into flame at the foot of the heat lamp. They get it! They get you. Or they get the gist, which is about as much of you as you get anyway. Because if you actually stopped to think about… No need to pretend: You hate this place, and you find yourself doing anything for it, for each other, because you all know the conditions are absolutely fucked and fuck that. Your favorite regular is here; you’re in a good mood for some reason. You act certifiable, you scream, you screw your head back on. The POS is down. You’re short. You make it. Your coworker says, “[That manager] can suck my dick.” Or, “I am going to murder this couple.” Or, “Y’all come back now!” You loved her for that. This movie loved her for that, through all of it, and it loved you too. A double whammy: Regina Hall et al. returned the workday to life itself and transformed working class unity into grace (laughter), something we could use. You have nothing to lose. –Pat Beane --- 21 Eighth Grade Dir. Bo Burnham [A24] In an interview with NPR, former YouTube star Bo Burnham said he wanted to make a story about the internet and how it feels to be alive right now. OK, sure, he succeeded in doing that by having 13-year-old Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) create and upload vlog entries on how to best navigate the social anxieties of being a young teen. However, by the end of the film, what this angle really emphasized with great nuance (perhaps unintentionally?) is that children of every generation — regardless of the gap — suffer from the same anxieties, sexual insecurities, and self-blame. Identity has always been a fluid performance; the internet has simply made it more permanent. To star a young girl currently living the same age IRL that she portrays brilliantly in the film is in large part what made Eighth Grade not only one of our favorite films of 2018, but also one of the most genuine coming-of-age films, period. This casting decision made it impossible for Burnham to project his experiences and memories onto the story, which fortunately meant it was not biographical or about nostalgia. Rather, Eighth Grade was simply a present-day story about a complex experience that has always transcended the outlets through which they’ve been mediated. –NB [pagebreak] 20 Suspiria Dir. Luca Guadagnino [Produzioni Atlas Consorziate] In 1980, during Italy’s “years of lead,” Bologna Station, built in neoclassical style during the Fascist era, was bombed by neofascist terrorists — 85 died. Today, despite the coffee-drinking herds pouring through it, the station retains a bleak and melancholy atmosphere. Luca Guadagnino captured something of this in his remake of Suspiria. Set in the German Autumn of 1977 (the release date of the original), the poisonous and paranoid atmosphere of Cold War Berlin, when Leftists turned to violence in the face of failed denazification and a conservative establishment, bubbled in the background. To its cold occult decadence, the film added stylized and unforgettable body horror. The whole built to an over-the-top conclusion, which was perfect both as a nod to the campiness of the original (and the giallo genre) and because Guadagnino’s deft melding of physical and emotional horror was a slow-burn that demanded combustion. It was a wyrd companion piece to surreal works grappling and playing with similar legacies, from Bruce LaBruce’s The Raspberry Reich (a.k.a. The Revolution Is My Boyfriend) to Syberberg’s Hitler: A Film From Germany. The personal was also political: the original was a masterpiece of style and ambiance marred by subtle misogyny, but in Guadagnino’s vision, this became an exploration of the fraught heat and darkness of dynamics between women in their exercise of power and community. Dakota Johnson lacked fire in the belly, as did Thom Yorke’s anaemic soundtrack, but a subplot some thought needless served up the film’s most appalling moment: a sickening portrayal of the pain of lost love regained, then once more ripped away with casual malice. This was more than a memorial suspiria; it was a wholly worthy rebirth of the Mater Suspiriorum. –Rowan Savage --- 19 Lazzaro Felice Dir. Alice Rohrwacher [Netflix] Alice Rohrwacher’s third feature, the Cannes-celebrated Lazzaro Felice (Happy as Lazzaro), was built on the many tensions it engendered &mdash namely, between a humanistic premise and the layers of dejection it was buried underneath, the timeless aspirations of a fable and a cynically bitter view of modernity, and the rustic realism of its form and the story’s fantastic detours. The film followed the threadline that, like the wolf, men will exploit men in all spaces, times, levels, and situations: A Marquise keeps a group of peasants working for her in near slavery; they in turn abuse and overwork the titular Lazzaro, a young peasant whose innocence and goodness paint him into the archetype of the “holy fool.” He roams through the story in a perplexity recalling the Christ-like dispossessed of classic Italian cinema. His mission on this earth, it would seem, is to prove that even the lowest of the low, the wicked and the perverse, are capable of gestures of kindness. How enduring, truthful, and integral these were to their characters, to the essence of their humanity, was something Lazzaro must discover at his own expense, paying ever higher costs in this beguiling yet disturbingly recognizable modern parable. –jrodriguez6 --- 18 Night Is Short, Walk On Girl Dir. Masaaki Yuasa [Toho] You wake up after a long night out. You aren’t hungover at all — it’s a miracle, truly a miracle. What do you remember from last night? Not names, certainly. Maybe not even places. It’s all like a strange fairytale, one of glowing neon and drinks that tasted better because you didn’t pay for them, of hilarious characters and absurd triumphs. Did that bouncer really let you in, even though you were $9 short of cover? You feel fantastic. This feeling was alive in Night Is Short, Walk On Girl: an insensible, overwhelmingly jubilant, and optimistic perspective on “a night on the town.” Pulling trade tactics from films like Amélie, El Futuro, and A Town Called Panic, the movie was full of humor, bliss, and no pulled punches (friendship punches or not) when it came to devilish winks. With not a single frame lacking in humor or joy, the film left us feeling like hangovers are something we’ve never experienced, like each night is full of mystery and romance, like our next big moment is waiting just around the corner. Perhaps we’ll make this a big weekend — go out on Friday and Saturday? — who knows… –Lijah Fosl --- 17 If Beale Street Could Talk Dir. Barry Jenkins [Annapurna] Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel was perhaps the most aesthetically accomplished and jaw-droppingly beautiful American film in years. It’s difficult to avoid hyperbole or rampant name-checking when confronted with an opening crane shot and a sumptuous autumnal wardrobe straight out of Douglas Sirk, or with a bracingly musical, time-shifting sense of montage that conjured numerous titans of contemporary Asian cinema, or with a swelling score by Nicholas Britell that exquisitely captured the film’s oscillating currents of unabashed romanticism and great melancholy. Despite the film’s sweeping, sexy, earnest depiction of the bond between pregnant teenage shopgirl Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), a sculptor in jail accused of rape, Jenkins’s adaptation was clear-eyed and anguished about how they have to navigate lives of subjugation, a theme brought to the fore in alternately haunted and agonized performances by Brian Tyree Henry and Regina King. As such, Jenkins remade Baldwin in his image, trying with all his might to conquer fury with love. –Christopher Gray --- 16 Burning Dir. Lee Chang-dong [CGV] Deep under the delicate melodrama of a love triangle, the noir-ish mystery of a disappearing woman, and the moody male rivalry that plays out in its final act, Burning was charged with the same currents that power our defining social divisions: rural against urban, men against women, working class against dubious wealth, connected against isolated. Director Lee Chang-dong’s comeback thriller was a Trojan horse stocked heavy with political anguish, a dense, angular ballet of themes erupting just out of sight under a sensitive character drama that forced three young people of clashing identity and privilege into a pressured environment of overlapping interests and dark secrets. What stood out about Burning was how it probed not these ideological struggles themselves, but the existential uncertainty they inspire, as well as the insidious psychological toll they take on the individual. In all its discomfort and beauty — aided by subtle performances and distinctive cinematography — Burning served as both a careful portrait of a quietly revolutionizing South Korea and an uneasy study of the antagonisms and paranoia gradually tyrannizing the youth of today’s globally tainted age. –Colin Fitzgerald --- 15 Madeline’s Madeline Dir. Josephine Decker [Oscilloscope] From the very start, Madeline, and by extension the audience, was told that performance is not identity, that the emotions an actor renders are borrowed from someone else. This warning was not heeded. We met the eponymous 16-year-old (Helena Howard) as she shuffled through roles: a cat, an actress, a daughter, a sea turtle, an assailant, a pig on the run, a prisoner, a confused young woman of mixed race. Some of these identities played out on the stage of her experimental performance troupe, managed by maternal — and directorial — surrogate Evangeline (Molly Parker), though they inevitably bled through to her “real” life and back onto the stage, forming a tight, indiscernible tangle as this feedback loop began to dominate the production. Driven by the tension between the neurotic, controlling impulses of her mother Regina (Miranda July) and the haphazard psychic excavation spearheaded by Evangeline, the film, cut to the rhythms of a psychological thriller and as improvised as the troupe’s performances, unreeled with disorienting, balletic, colorful, and oftentimes invasive cinematography. Madeline’s Madeline was a complex film of blurred and appropriated identities, one concerned, reflexively (as it is in some sense a retelling of how Decker and Howard came to collaborate and make this very film), with self-authorship, self-ownership, and the power dynamics inherent in representation. “I’m really interested in people who are out of control of their circumstances,” stated Evangeline at a dinner party. But what do we owe these lenders of emotion and what does it mean to tell a story that is not ours? As we move through psychic strata leaving our own fingerprints everywhere, inhabit or direct bodies that look and experience differently than our own, what are our responsibilities? Where is the ethic of storytelling? Of course, no film could satisfactorily answer such questions, but Madeline’s Madeline grappled with them in a dense, dizzying, hyper-expressive, sometimes frustrating, and self-castigating manner that spoke to the immense trust between actor and director. –Cynocephalus --- 14 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Dir. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman [Sony Pictures Releasing] In an arena that seems to be getting more overstuffed with each passing year, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse surprised us just by being the most fun superhero movie we’ve seen in ages. From the second it revved its engines, Into the Spider-Verse hit a breakneck speed as exhilarating as a web-slinging joyride through the city, its mesmerizing 2D/3D graphics illustrating each thought, sound effect, and surreal set piece with an eye-popping neon panache. Each character was sketched with just the right mix of sympathy and self-awareness, whether it was our immediately relatable hero Miles Morales, the cynical, sweatpant-clad Peter B. Parker, or the wounded, monstrously gargantuan Kingpin. Even down to the music, Into the Spider-Verse kept its pace relentlessly fresh, washing us in waves of Swae Lee and Juice WRLD as we journeyed across alternate Spider-Man histories and dimensions in search of a way to once again save the world from destruction. It all somehow added up to a movie as unexpected and experimental as it was unabashedly pop — a classic, trope-skidding superhero tale that you’ve got to see to believe. –Sam Goldner --- 13 BlacKkKlansman Dir. Spike Lee [Focus Features] In BlacKkKlansman, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) was a man caught between two worlds. Too black to be taken seriously as a police officer, too loyal to his duties as a police officer to be taken seriously as a proponent of Black Power. Naturally, Stallworth did what anyone would do in this situation: become the first black detective in Colorado Springs, infiltrate his local Ku Klux Klan chapter by posing as a disgruntled white supremacist on the phone, enlist his Jewish colleague (Adam Driver) to pose as him at Klan meetings, catfish David Duke himself, and foil a deadly bomb plot. The KKK, as portrayed in this Spike Lee Joint, could be best described as a gang of bumbling idiots. Just literal morons who blow themselves up. If the events of the film weren’t based on a true story, they would seem almost too absurd to be true. As racism today threatens to tear the country apart from the inside, BlacKkKlansman did all it could to call out white supremacists and serve them a modicum of justice. But the film also recognized just how dangerous the ideas of these people can be and how imperative it is to keep fighting to bring them down. –Jeremy Klein --- 12 Annihilation Dir. Alex Garland [Paramount/Netflix] There is a common fundamental misconception that Nirvana is either a place, like Heaven, or a state or period, like Peace. In reality, Nirvana means something like “blowing out” or “extinguishing.” Attaining Nirvana, then, isn’t an attainment at all, because it isn’t a summit or a destination or really even a “thing.” It is not, however, synonymous with Annihilation, but just as Gravity housed symbols that could be appreciated as “Buddhist,” Annihilation beckoned us into life’s terrifying glimmer of impartial consequence so that we could assess our way out of it. In The Shimmer, karma accrued, leaving behind not moral threads, but matter in forms as disparate as flowering corpses and a bear made of screams. Locating Buddhist imagery in film is often a sign of clumsy analysis, but witnessing these women worn by this violence of culmination grapple with their own threads of being was like witnessing a hierophany, a horrifying refraction of sacred DNA in a profane plane. It’s enough of a reminder of why we even started making existential art. Awfulness irrupted through Annihilation in that old-school religious studies sense, because it refracted what many of us associate with being human: self-destruction. And whether or not we could explain what we saw when we faced ourselves in that lighthouse, we left changed in a way that only prayer or film could catalyze. –Jazz Scott --- 11 You Were Never Really Here Dir. Lynne Ramsay [Amazon] Adapting a book by Jonathan Ames, writer/director Lynne Ramsay upends the thriller/character study by making a brilliant film about violence without showing the actual violence onscreen. It was a choice born of necessity — the filmmaker didn’t feel comfortable shooting action sequences — but it was completely within the spirit of this bold and haunting look at a man (Joaquin Phoenix) whose sole gift of violence and pain followed him like a heavy shadow. By focusing more on the consequences of violence that weighed deeply on him as he navigated a path of righteousness, Ramsay depicted a compromised world, shattered long ago by a trauma that reverberated louder with every new transgression. The film was angry, mournful, and frightening, but it also pierced through the oppressive darkness without sugarcoating the ordeal. Propelled by Jonny Greenwood’s incredible score, You Were Never Really Here was a gorgeous movie that waded into bleak territory without feeling like tragedy porn, a beautiful tale — even amongst the grotesque — about the inherent need for salvation that drives us forward. –Neurotic Monkey [pagebreak] 10 Hereditary Dir. Ari Aster [A24] Hereditary, the first feature from writer-director Ari Aster was more than just the spiritual descendant of The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, and Psycho. It was not just the latest addition to the A24 family of slow-building, well-crafted horror films. Hereditary was about the unavoidable legacies that our families leave us, and for this it bore an uncanny resemblance to the bleak family dramas of Bergman or Haneke. Annie (played by Toni Collette in a career performance) said and did unforgivable things to her son and husband (Alex Wolff and Gabriel Byrne), and we squirmed. First out of angst, then disgust, and finally fear. And after being emotionally worn down with 90 minutes of this, the film fully committed to its supernatural heritage and delivered some of the best frights of the year. We loved it because it was an assured first step from a new director and a further commitment to excellence from an exciting young distribution company. We loved it because if the first two-thirds were painful to watch, then the last third offered us the voyeuristic release of a horror film. But most of all, we loved it because it married the visceral and the cerebral, giving birth to an unholy experience that stuck with us, like a tick. –Jeff Miller --- 09 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Dir. Ethan Coen & Joel Coen [Annapurna] The last two decades have had their share, but 2018 was a proper trifecta of spirited, inventive Westerns. Audiard’s Sister’s Brothers was the bitter pill rendered unexpectedly sweeter; Damsel was a triumphant anti-romance (a nice thematic companion piece to 2015’s Slow West); and this anthology gave us a perfectly-blended fun, dark, and heartbreaking (namely the beautiful, merciless “Meal Ticket” segment) genre classic. The tone shifted wildly, well heralded by the eponymous opening tale (cartoonishly musical and silly, but cleverly undermined with graphic violence and grim meta-commentary). We had our requisite rich characterization native to a Coen Bros. film, with strong turns from Zoe Kazan, Stephen Root (natch), Harry Melling, Grainger (“DOG HOLES!”) Hines, and Chelcie Ross, for a start (Brendan Gleeson almost does “The Unfortunate Rake” as well as Ian McShane, but not quite). But there was also a curious, world-weary current fusing the episodes, one of exhausted sadness and a dread-dodging sort of hindsight. Life and its lore as a turgid tangle we’re a little too anxious to leave behind. A long goodbye to the “the meanness in the used to be.” –Willcoma --- 08 The Other Side of the Wind Dir. Orson Welles [Netflix] For all the excitement that it stirred, there was a fear among cinephiles that Orson Welles’s final film, completed 33 years after his death, wouldn’t live up to the story of its own production. These fears were unfounded. Suffused with moments of staggering brilliance, The Other Side of the Wind was a dense, multivalent, sometimes maddening film, one that we are lucky to have in any form. Much like Henri-George’s Clouzot’s Le Prisonniere (and its ill-fated precursor Inferno), The Other Side of the Wind evidenced a master filmmaker pushing himself in his late period to fully explore the visual representation of aberrant psychology through abstraction, deconstruction, and exaggeration. Both Clouzot and Welles amplified color to impressionistic, oversaturated heights, but whereas Clouzot’s experimentation was primarily formal, Welles upended narrative, creating a mise en abyme that was at once hagiography and self-assassination. Even what was clearly intended as pastiche (Hannaford’s film, also titled The Other Side of the Wind, was essentially the De Düva of Antonioni’s then-recent work) was utterly riveting, with balletic mise-en-scène that presaged and rivaled the best of Brian De Palma and Dario Argento. Most impressive, however, was the juxtaposition of the aggressively stylized film-within-the-film and the faux-vérité surrounding it — Hannaford’s film was all propulsive jump-cuts on action in a self-consciously auteurist mode, while the frame story comprised a messy collage of film stocks, focal lengths, and framing styles meant to suggest a polyphony of perspectives, or perhaps a fracturing of one’s psyche; editor Bob Murawski, working from Welles’s extensive notes and workprint, sutured it all into a kinetic rhythm both jarring and cohesive. This was absolutely essential viewing, an invigorating testament to the medium itself and a reminder of how much further it can still go. –Christopher Bruno --- 07 Shirkers Dir. Sandi Tan [Netflix] Shirkers was, among other things, a portrait of young creativity, folklore, fragile egos, self-discovery, DIY practices, and the cultural impact that a film can have on a country. The documentary told the story of Sandi Tan, a Singaporean teenager who set out to make the country’s first notable road movie in 1992. With the help of the “established” Western director Georges Cardona, a gang of dreamy-eyed college kids put their lives on hold for the film (also named Shrikers) in an attempt to write their country’s film history. However, in the final stages of the process, the footage disappeared with Cardona. What followed was a decades-long search for a rebellious movie that was supposed to blow Singapore wide open, its creator, and the man plagued with an imperialistic obsession for fame. It was a real-life story that could only happen in a movie. –Sam Tornow --- 06 Zama Dir. Lucrecia Martel [Strand Releasing] Look: Don Diego de Zama has come unstitched in time. He stands at the edge of earth and sea. Waves are undertow, proof that the future is unfolding somewhere. But time has ripped itself up and away from him. He turns from the waves and walks up the shore, still in frame. He pauses, walks back, trapped. He is not entitled to languish; his days are spent running ruined bureaucracies. He appeals to a succession of fat governors to be sent away or home or anywhere else. But he is here. He is casually cruel and pathetically hopeful that he will be rendered reverence. He will not be. Lucrecia Martel, the master, adapted the fevered anti-history of Antonio Di Benedetto’s prose into transformative euphoria. Her cinematography was for freeing bodies. Zama didn’t represent colonialism so much as it canceled the notion that belonging has a place anymore. By pinning her hero to the same useless hope as he decayed through the years, Martel created a world of unwavering indigenous bodies and mocking llamas. She papered over Zama like an unmoved fungus, reducing him back to ephemera to be fertilized. She said no to his hopes. The corregidor, the man who can’t be king, remained in frame. –Frank Falisi --- 05 The House That Jack Built Dir. Lars von Trier [IFC] Lars von Trier’s movies are not easy to watch, but past the gruesome violence, the fucked-up interpersonal relationships, and the heady themes, there’s always something there. Case in point: The House That Jack Built, a pitch-black film in which a serial killer explains five “incidents” from his life to a mysterious companion. And unsurprisingly, with its aggressive depictions of the macabre, the film enjoyed about as divisive a public response as Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring did at its riotous 1913 premiere. At Cannes, von Trier’s film reportedly moved over 100 people to walk out; yet, when it ended, it was met with thunderous applause and, indeed, a standing ovation from those who remained. Yes, it was shockingly violent, but it was also incredibly funny, and as its protagonists traveled through their Dantean hellscape, they offered profound and unique meditations on art, time, and history. In other words, the film’s brutality was in service of something, not just an end in itself. Today, people are obsessed with talking about how everyone should and should not behave, what people should and should not think and say. But they’re far less interested in examining the pathological reasons why we have those urges to say or do the “wrong” thing in the first place. Some would argue that this is the exact reason art exists, to examine ourselves at a deeper level. And this film asked big questions: Can destruction be art? Can murder? Is depicting something the same as validating it? If you don’t want to subject yourself to this movie, my opinion is that that’s exactly why you should watch it. If you get through it, you may learn something about yourself. I did. Lars von Trier isn’t afraid to channel and complicate humankind’s darkest, most sadistic desires, and that’s a good thing. In fact, isn’t that one of the essential roles of the artist? –Adam Rothbarth --- 04 Mandy Dir. Panos Cosmatos [RLJE] Words like psychedelic, hallucinogenic, revenge, rage, and insane got tossed around liberally by those attempting to summarize Mandy, the sophomore directorial effort by Panos Cosmatos (Beyond the Black Rainbow) starring Nicolas Cage in all his nouveau-shamanic glory and then some. But those were understatements. Mandy was a maximalist assault, a new death yarn whose title screen didn’t even arrive until an hour and 15 minutes in, when protagonist Red went hunting for Lysergicenobites and Jesus freaks. Like antagonist Jeremiah Sand, Cosmatos, Cage, cinematographer Benjamin Loeb, and late scorer Jóhann Jóhannsson all weaponized complete sensory overload to mesmerize and capture their audience. But unlike the Mandy character, we could hardly muster a laugh past “Erik Estrada from CHiPs” — we merely watched in wide-eyed, slack-jawed awe at the un(adulte)rated, undefinable phantasmagoria — the bathroom scene, the chainsaw scene. OK, so maybe that wasn’t what Roger Ebert had in mind when he rightly called Nicolas Cage one of the greatest actors of his generation, but then Ebert probably also wouldn’t have imagined the actor spending two nights in his underwear, tied to a fence in a Belgian forest to prep for a scene (apparently, yes, that happened). That’s the point, though. The hype was realer than real. Mandy was a masterpiece beyond what any of us could ever have imagined. –Samuel Diamond --- 03 Sorry to Bother You Dir. Boots Riley [Annapurna] Every day, they take a little bit more. For months, we’ve heard about how Amazon runs its warehouses like sweatshops. A couple weeks ago, it was Facebook selling your private messages. If WorryFree were to step forward tomorrow with a unique, 21st-century approach to living debt-free, would any of us be surprised? For all its detours into the surreal and the absurd, Sorry to Bother You never felt that far removed from the world we inhabit. The questions it asked and dilemmas it presented touched on everything from the changing face of corporate power in the age of tech startups, the challenges of navigating predominantly white spaces for non-whites, and the complicity of individuals in larger systems of oppression. Moving through the world today is an act of gliding from one outrage to the next, and Riley shares our outrage, but he coupled it here with a sense of playfulness and hope that rendered Sorry to Bother You one of the most important films of 2018. –Joe Hemmerling --- 02 The Favourite Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos [Fox Searchlight] Early on, Duchess Sarah admonished her lover, Queen Anne, that love has its limits — to which the queen replied, “Well it shouldn’t.” The story proceeded through a delicious series of political and bedroom maneuvers to prove the queen utterly and tragically wrong. Yorgos Lanthimos has always taken a perverse glee in sticking his movie knife into the banal, received wisdom of Western right-thinking. His trajectory from Dogtooth forward had increasingly tightened the thumbscrews on his audience; The Killing of a Sacred Deer was as muscle-bound and torturous to watch as it was incisive. But The Favourite turned that sensibility inside out, exploding with bright and colorful production design, brilliantly mining 18th-century courtly fashions for visual comedy. Rouged, powdered, and highly wiggy men ponced about like overbred poodles through all the absurd ornamentation, as a raging battle of wills played out among the film’s three towering female protagonists. The script was nastier than Dynasty and invented a patois of 18th-century Queen’s English and contemporary colloquialisms that somehow felt organic, but it had a Shakespearean heft at its core that played out in a perfectly odd and dissonant finale. –Water --- 01 First Reformed Dir. Paul Schrader [A24] 2018 was filled with days when hopping from one social media platform or news network to the next resembled a modern-day Stations of the Cross, with each subsequent click offering something that was somehow more terrifying, depressing, and enraging than the last. With the massive sprawl of readily available information, staying informed was more effortless than ever, yet it could easily, almost imperceptibly, transform from a desire to remain dutifully cognizant of our ever-shifting global landscape into a form of unabated and isolating self-flagellation. In Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, it was this hyper-awareness of earthly perils that plagued Michael (Philip Ettinger), a young environmental activist who believed it immoral for his pregnant wife Mary (Amanda Seyfried) to bring a child into this crumbling world, when he desperately met with Ethan Hawke’s already jaded, world-weary Reverend Toller for counsel. Despite telltale signs of suicidal thinking, Toller found their discussion not troubling, but “invigorating.” And when Michael blew off his head with a shotgun, the good reverend reacted not with sorrow or regret, but by taking on Michael’s all-too-real concerns of potential global disaster, bearing them like a cross upon his shoulders as he confronted the duplicitous evils that have infiltrated both his tiny, sparsely attended church and the superchurch that funds the relic he was keeping alive after 250 years. In this year’s cinema, there was perhaps no greater metaphor for the failure of American institutions to serve the public in any meaningful way (as many have slowly been reduced to thinly veiled money-laundering schemes for the wealthy) than the fact that Toller was stuck in a historically famous church with a broken organ, forced to hawk cheap souvenirs merely to keep the doors open. First Reformed deftly tackled this notion of the individual vs. implacable global forces, with an acute focus on the unsettling merging of ecclesiastical forces with those of an unbridled and amoral capitalist system. Schrader’s ascetic vision, informed most explicitly by Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Light, Robert Bresson’s Diary of a Country Priest, and Yasujiro Ozu, offered the perfect aesthetic framework through which traditional systems of belief could collide haphazardly with the ruthlessly unfeeling, profit-hungry, hyper-modern business models that dominate both corporate and institutional cultures. Schrader’s camera was almost exclusively immobile, yet this stillness presented a deeply perceptive gaze and compositions as stark as the cold New England winter. It was a vision of the world as unwavering as that of Toller, who lived a life virtually sealed off from the real world, indulging himself with the sort of small rituals we all tend to hold onto to provide a semblance of order and meaning in an increasingly chaotic world. But for all of Toller’s pain (often self-inflicted), First Reformed offered a vision of grace and tenderness in the heavily symbolic Mary, who prevented the film from tipping into the complete and utter despair that Toller found himself in. In one of the year’s most remarkable sequences, Mary arrived at Toller’s office and together performed a ritual that she often did with her now-deceased husband. As she laid on top of the priest, making as much body-to-body contact as possible and matching his breathing patterns, the two achieved a temporary sense of communal transcendence, slowly rising from the floor as they began to travel over vast mountains and beautiful oceanside vistas. But Toller’s thoughts couldn’t remain fixed on utopic ideals for long before visions of city life and landfills of untold sizes took over. Such incessant and uneasy wavering between hope and despair, sensuality and violence, love and rage, faith in the future and the fatalistic acceptance of our environment’s demise filled First Reformed, which stands as the most eloquent yet soul-shattering microcosm of the world that we saw all year. –Derek Smith http://j.mp/2H7Z1Nd

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douchebagbrainwaves · 6 years

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LIKE NUCLEAR WEAPONS, THE MAIN ROLE OF BIG COMPANIES' PATENT PORTFOLIOS IS TO THREATEN ANYONE WHO ATTACKS THEM WITH A COUNTER-SUIT

At Y Combinator we sometimes mistakenly fund teams who have the attitude that they're going to buy you isn't. Zooming out and seeing his current position on the ladder. Gradually it dawned on us that instead of trying to make Web sites for galleries—that's the ticket! Every thing you own takes energy away from you. Partly because I'm a writer, and writers always get disproportionate attention. Both further increase economic inequality. Once a product gets past the stage where YC invests, there is often neither a product nor any numbers.

DH3. And in any case, competitors are not the ones you have to choose the right number, because only they could focus on what customers wanted? And pow, more stuff. It's kind of ironic, considering all the dire things experts say about software patents stifling innovation, but when one looks closely at the software business, startups beat established companies by transcending them. You must not use the word algorithm in the title of a patent application, just as you must not use the word algorithm in the title of a patent application, just as you must not use the word essays in the title of a book. There is no such thing as better, it doesn't make any difference what Larry Page's net worth is compared to yours. But really the two cases are not as different as they look in economic statistics. They cut off all the crap the manufacturer had bolted onto the car to make it look fast. I'm better at some things than Jessica, and she's better at some things than Jessica, and she's better at some things than me. Plus people in an audience are always affected by the reactions of those around them, and despite years of experience I'm still not always sure I'm giving the right advice. You'll find more interesting things by looking at the world than you could ever produce just by thinking.

And as pros they do this more than you. I'd like to believe Viaweb succeeded because we were afraid of the lions. Most of the stuff I accumulated was worthless, because I haven't had any time at all to practice the new bits. You don't expect photographic accuracy in something that looks like a Formula 1 car but felt sheepish because it didn't look like a car was supposed to look. But the breakage seems to affect software less than most other fields. But after the interview, the three of us would turn to Jessica and ask What does the Social Radar say? If you found people who'd never seen an image of it and sent them to a museum in which it was hanging among other paintings with a tag labelling it as a single phenomenon.

A woodworker creates wealth. But there were moments when he was optimistic. Art is man-made. So it is in business. The Louvre might as well replace it with copy; no one would be able to. This could explain why clutter doesn't seem to be a very big deal, and it's hard to say exactly what. They've applied for a lot of people in the startup world, there are a lot of convincing to see their merits. Not even investors, who are supposed to be able to work with Rtm and Trevor again.

But it was the first thing we thought of. The most obvious advantage of classifying the forms of disagreement, though. I thought was a huge fleet of toy cars, but they'd be dwarfed by the number of people who want to meet him. So when people compare patent trolls to the mafia, they're more likely to make it look fast. She also hates fighting. Well, the professor replied, we're interested in different questions now. You can measure this in your growth rate. It's not only economic statistics that ignore the value of safe jobs.

It can't be easy. Nor will most competitors. Magnates still have bodyguards, but no smarter than you; they're not as motivated, because Google is not going to go out of business if this one product fails; and even at Google they have a lot of things practically all humans have in common. I don't think we should discard plunging. It was like having a new mother. You should compete against what someone else could be doing, not just what you can do the initial intros knowing that if you and a couple friends decide to create a new web-based application. What else can we give developers access to?

For example, the good china so many households have, and whose defining quality is not so much that founders now have the upper hand over investors. This site isn't lame. I'm not going to happen. No idea for a product could ever be so clever as the ones you can discover by smashing a beam of prototypes into a beam of prototypes into a beam of users. Meaning that unpleasant work pays. Frankly, it surprises me how small a role in software? Hackers can learn to make things customers want.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Geoff Ralston, Trevor Blackwell, Chris Dixon, Carolynn Levy, John Collison, Ben Horowitz, Paul Buchheit, and Fred Wilson for sparking my interest in this topic.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #advantage #interview #ones #china #things

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lissted · 7 years

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Y Combinator Community’s Top 300 Influencers

On the recommendation of Andrew Smith, I’ve been reading Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez. It’s a great read about startups, Silicon Valley and in particular, Facebook.

Antonio’s own startup, Adgrok, was backed by Y Combinator. For anyone who doesn’t know, Y Combinator (YC) is a seed accelerator programme, arguably THE seed accelerator programme. YC has been described as “a spawning ground for emerging tech giants”. YC has invested in over 1,000 companies with $bn successes including Airbnb, Dropbox and Stripe.

Its network of alumni and investors therefore includes a significant number of influential members of the tech community. Search in LinkedIn and you will currently find 6,632 results.

So I thought it would be interesting to see who Lissted ranks as influential in relation to this community.

Y Combinator Top Influencers

I suspect the top few results are boringly predictable to anyone who knows YC. If that’s true it also means they must be accurate, and so likely to be immediately of use to someone who doesn’t.

#1 Sam Altman has been Y Combinator’s President since 2014.

#2 Y Combinator’s own account. Obvious you might say, but then I tried searching in a competing tool and it didn’t even appear in the top 40.

#3 Paul Graham, YC’s (probably best known) co-founder.

#4 Justin Kan, founder of Twitch (another YC success story) and partner at Y Combinator.

Influencers with a range of affinity to YC

In the full list of 300 below, accounts shown in blue are rated as having a strong affinity to the Y Combinator community.

These are often YC founders, team members and partners such as Jessica Livingston, Aaron Harris, Paul Buchheit or Kat Manalac and YC alumni including Airbnb’s Brian Chesky, Stripe’s John Collison and Mattermark’s Danielle Morrill. Antonio himself appears in this group.

The other influencers within the community rated as having a lower specific affinity range from celebrities and politicians such as Barack Obama, Donald Trump and the New York Times, technology ViPs including Elon Musk, Tim Cook and Bill Gates, required startup reading like Techcrunch and high profile investors like Chris Sacca, Hunter Walk and Mark Suster.

So, without further ado, here’s the full list. You can view full details on the Google sheet here.

Rank Name Username Community Score Insider Score 1 Sam Altman sama 100 80 2 Y Combinator ycombinator 100 77 3 Paul Graham paulg 96 77 4 justin kan justinkan 96 92 5 Naval Ravikant naval 95 76 6 Chris Dixon cdixon 95 77 7 Elon Musk elonmusk 95 59 8 Garry Tan garrytan 94 95 9 Jessica Livingston jesslivingston 93 95 10 Harjeet Harjeet 93 97 11 Kat Manalac KatManalac 92 95 12 Michael Seibel mwseibel 92 93 13 Yuri Sagalov yuris 91 100 14 Brian Chesky bchesky 91 78 15 Aaron Levie levie 90 67 16 Adora Cheung nolimits 90 95 17 Alexis Ohanian 🗽 alexisohanian 90 84 18 Paul Buchheit paultoo 90 93 19 Reid Hoffman reidhoffman 89 72 20 Josh Elman joshelman 89 78 21 Benedict Evans BenedictEvans 89 68 22 Chris Sacca sacca 89 63 23 Bill Gates BillGates 89 48 24 Ryan Hoover rrhoover 88 74 25 Daniel Gross danielgross 88 95 26 Hunter Walk hunterwalk 88 71 27 Aaron Harris harris 88 96 28 Dalton Caldwell daltonc 88 92 29 TechCrunch TechCrunch 88 48 30 John Collison collision 87 92 31 Gustaf Alströmer gustaf 87 90 32 Barack Obama BarackObama 87 38 33 Alexia Tsotsis alexia 87 71 34 Danielle Morrill DanielleMorrill 87 82 35 Kim-Mai Cutler kimmaicutler 87 80 36 Ilya Sukhar ilyasu 86 91 37 David Lee davidlee 86 80 38 dustin curtis dcurtis 86 77 39 Patrick Collison patrickc 86 90 40 Keith Rabois rabois 85 75 41 Emmett Shear eshear 85 95 42 Drew Houston drewhouston 85 75 43 Tim Cook tim_cook 85 50 44 Dave McClure davemcclure 85 68 45 Edward Snowden Snowden 85 50 46 Mark Suster msuster 85 65 47 Fred Wilson fredwilson 84 76 48 Balaji S. Srinivasan balajis 84 74 49 Max Levchin mlevchin 84 80 50 Tim O'Reilly timoreilly 84 56 51 Geoff Ralston gralston 84 95 52 Whale askwhale 83 72 53 Ali Rowghani ROWGHANI 83 79 54 Anu Hariharan anuhariharan 83 85 55 Michael Arrington arrington 83 69 56 Semil semil 83 70 57 Rick Morrison morrisor 82 96 58 jack jack 82 54 59 Chamath Palihapitiya chamath 82 73 60 Bret Taylor btaylor 82 75 61 Chad Etzel 🎷🚶 jazzychad 82 85 62 Paul Stamatiou 📷 Stammy 82 74 63 megan quinn msquinn 82 75 64 Ben Horowitz bhorowitz 82 76 65 Kevin Hale ilikevests 82 94 66 Ev Williams ev 81 60 67 Parker Thompson pt 81 73 68 Steven Levy StevenLevy 81 73 69 Albert Wenger albertwenger 81 69 70 Alex MacCaw maccaw 81 74 71 Product Hunt ProductHunt 81 55 72 Kathryn Minshew kmin 81 67 73 Joe Gebbia jgebbia 81 84 74 Dropbox Dropbox 81 44 75 DAVE MORIN davemorin 81 59 76 joshua schachter joshu 81 76 77 Eric Ries ericries 81 66 78 John Lilly johnolilly 81 63 79 Hiten Shah hnshah 80 65 80 Jared Friedman snowmaker 80 95 81 Max Roser MaxCRoser 80 61 82 Ivan Kirigin ikirigin 80 84 83 Nate Silver NateSilver538 80 48 84 Dan Primack danprimack 80 71 85 Om Malik om 80 52 86 Joel Spolsky spolsky 80 66 87 Ben Thompson benthompson 80 66 88 Tracy Chou 👩🏻‍💻 triketora 80 70 89 Elad Gil eladgil 80 83 90 Sam Stokes samstokes 80 86 91 Cadran Cowansage cadran_c 80 92 92 immad immad 79 95 93 Ricky Yean rickyyean 79 85 94 The New York Times nytimes 79 27 95 Grace Garey gracegarey 79 84 96 Chase Adam ChaseAdam17 79 84 97 Jason M. Lemkin 🦄 jasonlk 79 67 98 Adam Smith asmith 79 83 99 Robert Scoble: VR/AR Scobleizer 79 57 100 Jason Kincaid jasonkincaid 79 74 101 Dan Siroker dsiroker 79 94 102 Mark Cuban mcuban 79 37 103 Jason Fried jasonfried 79 61 104 Finbarr Taylor finbarr 79 87 105 Matt Cutts mattcutts 79 59 106 ⚔ Siong siong1987 79 87 107 Ron Conway RonConway 79 78 108 Stripe stripe 79 62 109 pm pm pm pm pm 79 77 110 Tikhon Bernstam tikhon 79 84 111 Donald J. Trump realDonaldTrump 79 28 112 Jessica Mah JessicaMah 79 90 113 Eric Florenzano ericflo 78 75 114 Tim Ferriss tferriss 78 50 115 Katelyn Gleason katgleason 78 71 116 AngelList AngelList 78 57 117 John Carmack ID_AA_Carmack 78 54 118 David Rusenko drusenko 78 95 119 Andrew Chen andrewchen 78 77 120 Kara Swisher karaswisher 78 51 121 Bret Victor worrydream 78 71 122 Andrew Mason andrewmason 78 81 123 Nabeel Hyatt nabeel 78 76 124 Trevor Blackwell tlbtlbtlb 78 93 125 Matthew Ocko mattocko 78 74 126 dick costolo dickc 78 50 127 Bijan Sabet bijan 77 64 128 Matt Krisiloff mattkrisiloff 77 91 129 Aston Motes __aston__ 77 81 130 Tracy Young Tracy_Young 77 85 131 Leah  WWDC leahculver 77 67 132 David Tran dtran320 77 82 133 Bill Gurley bgurley 77 66 134 Bored Elon Musk BoredElonMusk 77 47 135 DHH dhh 77 63 136 tylercowen tylercowen 77 62 137 aileenlee aileenlee 76 73 138 Colleen Taylor loyalelectron 76 84 139 Wall Street Journal WSJ 76 29 140 steve blank sgblank 76 64 141 michael_nielsen michael_nielsen 76 67 142 Kevin Lacker lacker 76 78 143 SpaceX SpaceX 76 42 144 Stewart Butterfield stewart 76 75 145 jason Jason 76 59 146 Sequoia sequoia 76 58 147 Ashley Mayer ashleymayer 76 65 148 fred fredbenenson 76 74 149 Darshan Shankar DShankar 76 71 150 a16z a16z 76 65 151 Bryce Roberts bryce 76 66 152 Roelof Botha roelofbotha 76 78 153 Tony Fadell tfadell 76 59 154 Christopher Mims mims 76 58 155 🍪Steven Sinofsky ॐ stevesi 76 66 156 Zach Holman holman 76 66 157 Avi Bryant avibryant 76 75 158 Pierre Omidyar pierre 76 53 159 Josh Constine JoshConstine 76 61 160 Vinod Khosla vkhosla 75 63 161 Roy Bahat roybahat 75 68 162 Siqi Chen blader 75 75 163 ಠ_ಠ MikeIsaac 75 56 164 Michael Dearing mcgd 75 70 165 Charlie Cheever ccheever 75 82 166 Kyle Russell kylebrussell 75 66 167 Parker Conrad parkerconrad 75 79 168 Adam D'Angelo adamdangelo 75 76 169 Patrick McKenzie patio11 75 72 170 John Freddy Vega freddier 75 52 171 travis kalanick travisk 75 67 172 Brian Armstrong brian_armstrong 75 67 173 Josh Kopelman joshk 75 70 174 David Sacks DavidSacks 75 74 175 Kevin Rose ⛩ kevinrose 75 55 176 Solomon Hykes solomonstre 75 70 177 Jennifer 8. Lee jenny8lee 75 68 178 M.G. Siegler mgsiegler 75 67 179 Seth Bannon sethbannon 75 65 180 The Economist TheEconomist 75 29 181 Farhad Manjoo 💰 fmanjoo 75 53 182 🚀 Saku 🚀 sknthla 75 70 183 500 Startups 500Startups 75 48 184 Startup L. Jackson StartupLJackson 74 71 185 Apoorva Mehta apoorva_mehta 74 75 186 John Gruber gruber 74 52 187 Mathilde Collin collinmathilde 74 78 188 Ryan Lawler ryanlawler 74 67 189 Jessica Verrilli jess 74 52 190 Tina Roth Eisenberg swissmiss 74 45 191 marissamayer marissamayer 74 54 192 David Petersen typesfaster 74 82 193 Nick Bilton nickbilton 74 54 194 Werner Vogels Werner 74 56 195 brian pokorny brianp 74 79 196 Hacker News newsycombinator 74 67 197 Sean Parker sparker 74 61 198 Eric Schmidt ericschmidt 74 52 199 tristan walker tristanwalker 74 51 200 John Resig jeresig 74 64 201 Airbnb Airbnb 74 45 202 luke iseman liseman 74 94 203 Marco Arment marcoarment 74 56 204 David Hornik davidhornik 74 66 205 Kulveer Taggar kul 74 84 206 Rahul Vohra rahulvohra 74 81 207 Antonio García Mtez. antoniogm 74 70 208 Anthony Ha anthonyha 74 61 209 Casey Newton CaseyNewton 74 62 210 Dustin Moskovitz moskov 74 67 211 Jonathan Abrams abrams 74 72 212 Ryan Petersen typesfast 74 86 213 Ellen K. Pao ekp 74 65 214 Sriram Krishnan sriramk 74 62 215 Vitalik Buterin VitalikButerin 74 56 216 Nick Szabo NickSzabo4 73 60 217 Ezra Klein ezraklein 73 41 218 How Things Work ThingsWork 73 46 219 Mitch Kapor mkapor 73 67 220 Wade Foster wadefoster 73 73 221 Elizabeth Iorns elizabethiorns 73 84 222 Susan J. Fowler susanthesquark 73 60 223 austin chang angryaustin 73 92 224 Sarah Tavel sarahtavel 73 65 225 Brad Feld bfeld 73 62 226 ACLU National ACLU 73 43 227 Nir Eyal nireyal 73 58 228 Matt Mullenweg photomatt 73 67 229 Ian Hogarth soundboy 73 81 230 Medium Medium 73 50 231 Kyle Vogt kvogt 73 86 232 Ethan Herdrick herdrick 73 92 233 Thomas H. Ptáček tqbf 73 60 234 tom robinson tlrobinson 73 85 235 Bill Clerico billclerico 73 83 236 Craig Cannon CraigCannon 73 73 237 Cyan Banister cyantist 73 61 238 Blake Scholl bscholl 73 78 239 OpenAI OpenAI 73 66 240 zach sims zsims 73 78 241 Sahil Lavingia shl 73 64 242 Mark Linsey mlinsey 72 91 243 Erik Torenberg eriktorenberg 72 63 244 Tomasz Tunguz ttunguz 72 69 245 Richard Branson richardbranson 72 41 246 Danny Dumas dannydoom 72 72 247 Anil Dash anildash 72 45 248 Kevin Carter carterkev 72 84 249 dj patil dpatil 72 58 250 Mike Maples m2jr 72 71 251 💃🏽Arianna Simpson AriannaSimpson 72 69 252 Chris Anderson chr1sa 72 53 253 Ryan Lackey octal 72 81 254 Peter Fenton peterfenton 72 70 255 Chris Messina 🦅 chrismessina 72 57 256 Euwyn euwyn 72 89 257 Susan Hobbs slh 72 81 258 Gabor Cselle gabor 72 79 259 Andrew Levy AndrewMLevy 72 89 260 Tom Preston-Werner mojombo 72 71 261 Caterina Fake Caterina 72 64 262 Ryan Junee ryanjunee 72 83 263 BrendanEich BrendanEich 72 50 264 Savraj Singh savraj 72 85 265 Techmeme Techmeme 71 46 266 Simon Lu simonlu 71 85 267 Jeff Bezos JeffBezos 71 60 268 John Battelle johnbattelle 71 46 269 Gary Vaynerchuk garyvee 71 40 270 The New Yorker NewYorker 71 30 271 SwiftOnSecurity SwiftOnSecurity 71 44 272 Joshua Wilson makanikai 71 88 273 Suhail Suhail 71 75 274 mark pincus markpinc 71 66 275 Niko Bonatsos bonatsos 71 68 276 Guillermo Rauch rauchg 71 59 277 Ray Grieselhuber raygrieselhuber 71 84 278 Arthur Chang art_chang 71 79 279 Aydin Senkut asenkut 71 68 280 Watsi watsi 71 69 281 President Trump POTUS 71 29 282 Bill Clinton billclinton 71 41 283 Laurene Powell laurenepowell 71 63 284 Eric Rosser Eldon eldon 71 73 285 Slava Akhmechet spakhm 71 77 286 Mike Butcher mikebutcher 71 48 287 Des Traynor destraynor 71 58 288 Nick nicholasbs 71 82 289 Mattermark Mattermark 71 59 290 Tim Urban waitbutwhy 71 51 291 Jamie Quint jamiequint 71 83 292 Dan Di Spaltro dispalt 71 87 293 Jeff Jordan jeff_jordan 71 72 294 Arianna Huffington ariannahuff 71 32 295 Neil deGrasse Tyson neiltyson 71 40 296 Liz Wessel lizwessel 70 68 297 Palmer Luckey PalmerLuckey 70 53 298 Jeff Weiner jeffweiner 70 54 299 Greylock Partners GreylockVC 70 49 300 Evan Stites-Clayton the_esc 70 86

Methodology

Lissted selected around 500 Twitter accounts assessed as relevant to Y Combinator from its database of 4.1 million potential influencers. It then analysed their network relationships and recent interactions, applying its own community algorithm, to establish the individuals and organisations that appear to matter most to this group.

#lissted #Twitter #ycombinator

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thefrogginbullfishblog-blog · 7 years

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89th Academy Awards Predictions

It’s that time of year again, the Academy Awards are on February 26, 2017. After going 8/10 last year, I will be making some predictions for the same major categories. Here we go!

Best Supporting Actor

This year’s nominees are:

Mahershala Ali – Moonlight as Juan

Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water as Marcus Hamilton

Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea as Patrick Chandler

Dev Patel – Lion as Saroo Brierley

Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals as Detective Bobby Andes

I’ve seen all of the movies in this category. Great list of nominees, all well deserving of the nod, but Mahershala Ali is the clear frontrunner. His performance in Moonlight was so powerful, even with minimal screentime.

Best Supporting Actress

The nominees for this year are:

Viola Davis – Fences as Rose Lee Maxson

Naomie Harris – Moonlight as Paula

Nicole Kidman – Lion as Sue Brierley

Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures as Dorothy Vaughan

Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea as Randi

I’ve seen all but Hidden Figures in this category. Michelle Williams was brilliant in Manchester by the Sea but I think the Academy will be looking to Viola Davis and her fantastic performance in Fences.

Best Actor

The nominees for this year are:

Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea as Lee Chandler

Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge as Desmond T. Doss

Ryan Gosling – La La Land as Sebastian Wilder

Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic as Ben Cash

Denzel Washington – Fences as Troy Maxson

I’ve seen 3 of the 5 films on this list. While early on I’d have given Casey Affleck the win by a landslide, his current ongoing charge for alleged sexual assault on set of a different film puts a big shadow on his phenomenal performance in Manchester by the Sea. That being said, if he were to lose, I imagine the award would go to Denzel Washington for his role in Fences. My prediction will still be for Casey Affleck to win, however, in a much closer race than it otherwise would have been.

Best Actress

The nominees are:

Isabelle Huppert – Elle as Michèle LeBlanc

Ruth Negga – Loving as Mildred Loving

Natalie Portman – Jackie as Jackie Kennedy

Emma Stone – La La Land as Mia Dolan

Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins as Florence Foster Jenkins

I’ve not seen any of the films in this category. Look for Emma Stone to win.

Best Director

The nominees are:

Denis Villeneuve – Arrival

Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge

Damien Chazelle – La La Land

Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea

Barry Jenkins – Moonlight

Seen 4 of 5 on this list. I would LOVE to see Denis Villeneuve win. His past three films have been superb, and Arrival was no different. Easily one of my favourite directors in the business today. However, Damien Chazelle is my prediction to win for La La Land.

Best Cinematography

The nominees are:

Arrival – Bradford Young

La La Land – Linus Sandgren

Lion – Greig Fraser

Moonlight – James Laxton

Silence – Rodrigo Prieto

I’ve seen Arrival, Moonlight, and Lion. My prediction is for Bradford Young to win for Arrival. The film was so beautifully shot and constructed. Every scene felt right. The shot was always right where it needed to be.

Best Animated Feature Film

The nominees are:

Kubo and the Two Strings – Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner

Moana – John Musker, Ron Clements, and Osnat Shurer

My Life as a Zucchini – Claude Barras and Max Karli

The Red Turtle – Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki

Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Clark Spencer

My prediction is for The Red Turtle to win.

Best Adapted Screenplay

The nominees are:

Eric Heisserer – Arrival from Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang

August Wilson – Fences from Fences by August Wilson (posthumous nomination)

Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi – Hidden Figures from Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Luke Davies – Lion from A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley and Larry Buttrose

Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney – Moonlight from In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney

My prediction is for Moonlight to win.

Best Original Screenplay

The nominees are:

Mike Mills – 20th Century Women

Taylor Sheridan – Hell or High Water

Damien Chazelle – La La Land

Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Fillippou – The Lobster

Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea

Hell or High Water is the clear winner in my opinion.

Best Picture

The nominees for Best Picture are:

Arrival – Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder, and David Linde

Fences – Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington, and Todd Black

Hacksaw Ridge – Bill Mechanic and David Permut

Hell or High Water – Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn

Hidden Figures – Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams, and Theodore Melfi

La La Land – Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, and Marc Platt

Lion – Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, and Angie Fielder

Manchester by the Sea – Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck, and Kevin J. Walsh

Moonlight – Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner

Another great category this year. I’ve seen all but La La Land and Hidden Figures. I believe Hell or High Water was the best film to come out in the past year, with Moonlight a close second, and Manchester by the Sea in 3rd, look for La La Land to take home the biggest prize of the night.

So, there we have it. Those are my 10 predictions for the 89th Academy Awards.

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lodelss · 5 years

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The American Worth Ethic

Bryce Covert | Longreads | April 2019 | 13 minutes (3,374 words)

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If you’re rich, you must have worked hard. You must be someone to emulate. Maybe you should even be president.

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Kickstart your weekend reading by getting the week’s best Longreads delivered to your inbox every Friday afternoon.

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Bryce Covert is an independent journalist writing about the economy and a contributing op-ed writer at The New York Times.

Editor: Michelle Weber Fact checker: Ethan Chiel Copy editor: Jacob Z. Gross

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#IFTTT #Blogger

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