#ah the casual racism of the 50s >> | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nopoodles · 1 year

Text

I posted 834 times in 2022

That's 717 more posts than 2021!

185 posts created (22%)

649 posts reblogged (78%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@nopoodles

@emelkae

@ren-c-leyn

@avrablake

@asher-orion-writes

I tagged 496 of my posts in 2022

Only 41% of my posts had no tags

#guardian cadet series - 50 posts

#writing - 46 posts

#fiction - 44 posts

#short story - 40 posts

#fantasy - 39 posts

#lgbt characters - 32 posts

#hi there potential friend - 31 posts

#merry arlan - 31 posts

#lgbtqia+ - 29 posts

#merry arlan: breaking the curse - 26 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#sometimes i regret naming commander whitclé what i did because i have no accented e on my keyboard so i have to search and copy every time

My Top Posts in 2022:

My wife told me that when she first read Dracula she read it at a very measured pace, as if she were someone reading Jonathan Harker's journal and wondering if what he out down was truth or simply a reaction to sleep deprivation. Until the 12 May entry where the belief is suddenly ingrained in the sheer inhumanity of the action.

She told me she finds it interesting that, when I've been reading it aloud to her through the course of Dracula daily, I read it like Jonathan Harker experiencing it immediately, and desperately trying to parse out what happened. As if my reading is happening sometime between the events themselves and when Jonathan writes them down. It's a little frantic, it's at speed, it's with emotional emphasis that she never would have included.

This is not to say that either reading is better or worse, I am inclined to believe I read in a more immersed way because I'm an author so I'm used to putting myself in characters shoes, but it could just as easily be that my wife can't picture things in her mind and I can, or the age at which we have each read it, or my dyslexia, or a whole host of other possibilities.

I just thought it was interesting

24 notes - Posted May 14, 2022

I've been reading Dracula Daily aloud to my wife (who read the novel around 14 years ago and remembers the overall plot and key moments but not much else) and we met Quincy today so I did my best attempt at a Texan accent (you know, from someone who has never been to the continent Texas is on let alone to Texas itself) during Lucy's letter* for 24th.

And then we get to 25th and I read John Seward's diary (audio-note?)° and I scroll down and go "Quincy? Is that the — ah shit I have to do the cowboy voice for a whole entire letter!?" And my wife offers me a grin filled with such schadenfreude-esque glee that tells me she will accept nothing less than my pre-established I-don't-know-what-Texans-sound-like accent.

*am I going to address the painfully casual racism and misogyny in Lucy's letter? Probably only in so far as this note acknowledging it exists and that I was very put off by it but not going into detail I don't currently have the nuance or spoons to handle

° Yeah, also not diving into Seward and his asylum here

45 notes - Posted May 25, 2022

Had an argument with my wife (argument is a strong word) while reading Dracula Daily because I pointed out the Bram Stoker uses an apostrophe-s after names that end in S (Morris's) but she insisted I edit out all my apostrophe-s on names ending in S in Merry Arlan: Breaking The Curse (eg Larrings) to just be an apostrophe.

When I pointed this out with words along the lines of "why can Bram Stoker do this and you made me not do it!?"

She said, "because Bram Stoker is wrong."

The boldness. The certainty. (Also everyone else also said edit out Larrings's and replace it with Larrings' so, like, not just my wife.)

91 notes - Posted June 9, 2022

Dracula Daily thoughts 22 September

My wife said in passing as we finished todays entry: I am enjoying it better this time [compared to when she read it 15-odd years ago]. I think it benefits from being older when you read it.

And it got me (Will) thinking. I've seen someone comment on it before and I've shared ideas similar to this in reference to other pieces but, we really don't have the lived experience required for a lot of classic novels when we have to study them, and, ironically enough, the reason is because they're written for people with more lived experience than us.

Most novels will centre their protagonist's age (or ages) around that of their intended reader (obviously there's leeway here, especially in adult novels) and the age of our primary protagonist's in Dracula? Marriageable age. (Which is somewhere in their twenties by approximation).

So when my wife read this as a teen, she didn't have the lived experience of adulthood and relationships to formulate a real connection with the characters the way she does now. She's married now, and an adult, and only a little older than our main cast (maybe not older than all of them). Her link is stronger because that experience is designed to bond you to the characters.

But we read classic novels in school, before we gain these experiences, and we don't connect with the characters because they were never designed with teenagers in mind. And people decide they don't like classic literature. And there's nothing wrong with not liking classic lit, but we're not setting people up for success with them in the first place so.... How can we be surprised?

Anyway, if you've been enjoying Dracula Daily despite not having enjoyed classic lit before, don't be afraid to embark on another trial (whether it be through an e-mailed format or just picking up a copy), find a piece of classic lit you're interested in and just give it a go. If it's still not for you and Dracula Daily is an exception, that's totally cool, and if it's not the exception, you've opened up a whole avenue of literature you might have otherwise avoided because teenage you was too young to find any enjoyment*

(feel free to ask for suggestions, my wife is a font of classic lit knowledge and I can ask my bibliophile mum too)

*also don't at me about how you liked classic lit as a kid/teen. I know there's plenty of you out there. Good for you, that's not what this is about but feel free to share your fave classic lit and why you like it to help other people find the stuff that's good for them.

160 notes - Posted September 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Not me coming into the Daily Dracula thing late so trying to catch up with the backlog of journal entries and reading it aloud to my wife (who has read Dracula before but not for about 14 years) and coming across a new and strange word: goitre.

So I do what any logical person reading on a tiny pocket computer would do. I look it up.

And I tell my wife, "according to the NHS website it's a medical condition characterized by a swelling if the throat and most cases (90%) are because of a lack of iodine and thyroid issues."

Then idly wondering as I swap back to the text of Dracula, "why do all these people living near Dracula have Iodine deficiencies?" Piecing things together for sure, just not the right things.

"So," I summarise aloud for my wife, "they've all got swollen throats." Relocate myself in the text and freeze.

"Ohhhhhhhh!" With dawning realisation about the fact that peasants living near Dracula's castle all have swollen throats and knowing what I know, that Jonathan Harker does not know, about Dracula and his penchant for necks.

And my wife smiles that slow smile, the one she does when she's proud and amused all at once. A smile that reads like "I think it's hilarious that it took you so long but I'm also really glad I got to see you figure it out, you smart little oblivious bean."

And maybe I'm a bit like Jonathan Harker actually...

232 notes - Posted May 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #I'm apparently my own number one fan

1 note · View note

ill-skillsgard · 4 years

Note

HiI’m the anon your wrote that great Roman x black reader drabble for a while back. I came to say that I really appreciate you taking a stand on BLM! I sunk deep into Bill stuff and started watching Vikings. I was hoping I could ask you for a bit about one of Bill’s characters or maybe AHA? whatever you feel like standing up against racism directed at the reader? Something like that would help me get through this and mean a lot

Hi! So I know this came in a while ago, but I just couldn't think of anything to write because I've never experienced racial discrimination, and didn't have a scenario potent enough to write about. I didn't want to just shuck out something without really thinking about it and knowing what I was writing about. I asked a few friends of mine about times they had experienced racism in a public setting, how it made them feel, what they did and if they ever wished they had somebody to stand up for them. After I got a better picture, I felt more comfortable writing an imagine! I also have slacked on the AHA content. I hope you like it!

The day had been perfect. Too perfect. Alex took you to all your favourite places, and a couple of his as well. He footed the bill for ice cream after explaining to you in excruciating detail how this ice cream parlor wasn't your typical run-of-the-mill Mom and Pop shop. The ice cream was made from scratch, by the hand of a couple who had been making homemade treats for their entire 50-year marriage. In truth, it was exceptionally delicious--the best you'd ever had. Alex was right.

Your day trip took you to the local mall, where you took turns leading each other into stores, mostly to window shop and enjoy getting in the steps together. You had no intention of buying anything, until you found a t-shirt you loved. The catch was, it hung too high on the wall rack, and you required an employee to get your size down for you. There were two women in the store; one occupied with another couple across the floor and another on her phone. You didn't want to interrupt, so you walked away from the shirt, set on looking at other items that caught your eye.

"Hey, I thought you wanted the shirt?" Alex asked.

"Nah, it's okay," you waved your hand.

"Aw, come on. It'll look great on you. I'll pay for it."

You narrowed your eyes on the charming Danish man, knowing if you challenged him, it would only instigate him further. Once he offered, Alex would not be satisfied until you accepted. Instead of declining, you sighed, melting a little from the warm grin he have you.

"Go on, babe," Alex urged.

"Fine," you said, buckling easily. It was a beautiful top, and you knew if you didn't get it now, you'd come back without Alex to buy it yourself.

Walking up to the counter, your smile emerged. Alex watched from a clothes rack, casually browsing with his own sly smile stuck on his face.

"Excuse me? Could I get your help getting something down?" You asked.

The girl looked up from her phone. "Oh, uh... I'm on break."

"Oh, sorry," you said, cocking your head to one side.

You backed away. Now you really didn't feel like getting the shirt, but the woman across the store looked a little friendlier and was most definitely on the clock. With a touch more reserve, you approached the employee once she was finished with the other customers.

Demure and more than a little cautious, you spoke up. "Um, sorry to bother you, but could I get something off the wall?"

"The one that's on sale? Yeah. One second. I'll be right over."

Half-satisfied, you made your way back to Alex, the smile you'd worn all day suddenly gone.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing... Can we please just go?"

Alex scanned the store, looked up at the top, then back at you. "What do you mean? I thought you wanted that top?"

Shaking your head, you sighed. "Nah, it's all right. Let's just go to Footlocker."

Alex wasn't dim, not in the slightest. He detected the unrest in you, and pressed it out. "Tell me what's going on."

You looked across the store and saw the woman you'd asked for help from greeting a clutch of girls sporting designer purses, heels and long, blonde hairstyles. Her face lit up, so unlike how she looked when you'd asked for assistance. The thumping in your chest hurt, but you couldn't let Alex know.

He stared between the girl behind the desk on her phone and the employee who had conveniently forgotten about you. His dark brows came down.

"Did you ask her for help?" He asked, getting ready to approach.

You grabbed his arm, but he wouldn't stay. "Alex, please. I don't want it that bad. Let's leave."

"No. This isn't right. You shouldn't be getting ignored. We've been here for twenty minutes, and neither of them have even approached us."

Locking your lips together, you watched in mounting horror as Alex approached the check out. The girl smiled at him.

"How can I help you?"

"Yeah, my girlfriend asked for help a couple of times. Is three times the charm or something?"

The girl pocketed her phone, taken aback by Alex's brash tone. "Sir, I told her I'm on break."

"She asked the other girl too, who's now neck-deep with that gaggle of Karens over there. All we wanted was a shirt, and you've snubbed her multiple times. Why is that?"

A flush crept up her neck. She stammered over a reply, but Alex hadn't finished.

"You know, I can't believe there are still people like you who exist. Why would you ignore one customer and help another? Hm?"

"Sir--"

"Are you racist? Are you under strict policy to only help people that look like you? Is that it?"

"No," she squeaked.

You thought about sneaking away, but watching Alex go off on the woman was almost too good to be true. Out of anyone you'd ever dated, all your girlfriends and even some of your family members, nobody had ever stood up for you the way Alex did.

"Ah, whatever. I can't be bothered with people like you. You're a sad excuse of a human."

Alex scowled, took you by the hand and pulled you away.

"Let's get out of here. This store smells like ignorance anyway."

You stuttered, trying to slow Alex down by leaning away from his grip. When you rounded the corner, he stopped and grabbed your forearms.

"You are the most beautiful and kind thing I've ever met and it kills me to watch people just being so blatantly..." He trailed off, fury in his blue eyes.

"Racist?" You finished his sentence.

"Yes! How do you do it? How do you not lose your mind?"

You touched his shoulder, soothing him with a gentle squeeze. "Alex... We have to pick our battles. If I got angry at every Karen who ignored me or straight up pretended I wasn't there, I'd have a hernia."

"I'm about to blow a disc out myself," he said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have caused a scene."

"No, no. That was kind of... Awesome? The world needs more people like you."

"What? Decent, level-headed human beings? It baffles me to think that's some radical statement!"

"Exactly."

He pulled you closer, kissed your head, then rested his cheek there. You could feel his heart still slamming in his chest.

You'd found a good one.

#alex h stuff #alex h x black reader #tw racism

12 notes · View notes

staticespace · 4 years

Text

Hey kids, overpopulation is a myth and Thanos was a little b*tch.

(Links are integrated into the text cause this ain’t done in APA or MLA, but still, do some searches and come to your own opinions. That’ll help you practice researching on the web and having critical thinking skills. And some articles are hidden behind pay walls, but I wanted to make sure you guys could at least read the first page for your own eyes.)

Don’t let the greedy rich or big corporations fool you into thinking that impoverished people around the world and in your local ghettos having babies is why world hunger/thirst exists.

We have shizltons of food. According to this 2018 report from the World Hunger Education Service, we’re already producing enough food in the world to support every person living in it. Additionally, according to this article in the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture that was written by Eric Holt-Giménez, et al., the world’s food production is on par with providing sustenance for about 10 billion people (an abridged version of the JoSA article is here on HuffPost, thank you Mr. Holt-Giménez). As of, aboooout...5 hours ago when I first started writing this post, the world population was at 7.77 billion, and that’s rounding up. We have another 2.23 billion people that need to be born right this second for that fear to be actual Danger Zone levels that common media is insisting we’re getting close to (a whole 28.7% population jump right at this moment, when we’re only increasing by about 1% per year at the moment). That, and our methods for food production increases the amount of food at a higher exponential rate than the human reproduction rate.

Ah, actually, according to Dr. Doug Boucher on the Union of Concerned Scientists blog, human reproduction hasn’t been exponential for a while. Reproduction rates have been in roughly a straight line since the last exponential curve that occurred and ended in the 1960s... Hm. Everyone remember baby boomers? There’s a reason that generation is called baby boomer—all the post-war survivors were very, very interested in passing on their genes and continuing the human race after such a drastic event caused them to believe that they would not survive long. That high of an increase was never going to be constant, so the idea that the world’s population is still increasing in the same rate as a post World War generation is shortsighted at best and flat out stupid at worst. As of the 1960s, worldwide birth rates have been on a gradual decrease, with some countries now complaining that it is decreasing too much (Yeah, I’m looking at you China...and, surprisingly, Europe’s looking a little worried, too). Still, we will still need to continue food production in order to stay above the need line since we’re at about 1% general world population growth each year now, however, as The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations states, the main issue among others regarding food production is not to provide more for already wealthy nations or that there would be too many people to provide food for, but to efficiently distribute food to developing and/or impoverished countries or poor communities, as noted in their 2002, 2006, and 2012 reports.

Now, that was just food. Water’s a similar yet different story. Even though only 2.5% of the water on Earth is fresh and only about 1% of that is usable because the ice caps are big chunks of freshwater, the Earth is pretty dang big. For example, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) states in an estimate that freshwater lakes make up about .26% of our freshwater amounts...which is about 21,830 cubic miles of water. The average U.S. shower head lets out 2.5 gallons of water per minute. If you take a 10 minute shower....nah, let’s go further—if you take a 20 minute shower, that’s 50 gallons of freshwater for cleaning your body. Terrible, right? Well, the conversion between gallons and cubic miles is to divide the gallons by 1.101e+12. For those of you who don’t like letters in math or scientific notation, that “e” indicates how many times the “point” needs to move forwards or backwards.

So, let’s do the math. To convert 50 gallons to it’s needed amount in cubic miles, we have to divide 50 by 1.101e+12, or, 50 / 1,101,000,000,000. What’s that Johnny? Looks like your 20 minute shower just used up about 4.5408e-11 cubic miles of freshwater!! Still don’t like letters in your math? That’s 0.000000000045408 cubic miles of water! Just for funzies, if all 7.77 billion people took a 20 minute shower at the same time, each one using 0.000000000045408 cubic miles of water, everyone would use about 0.35282016 cubic miles of water at the same time. But what about baths? In the U.S., a common bathtub holds about 80 gallons (302 liters) of water. That’s not counting the small bathtubs that only hold 40 gallons, but I’m going for the larger denominator here. So, once again, we have to use that equation to get some cubic miles: 80 / 1,101,000,000,000 = 0.000000000072653 cubic miles per 80 gallon bath. But really, who uses the whole bathtub when taking a bath? But again, for funzies, if all 7.77 billion people, including infants, took a full, 80 gallon bath all at once, that would be using about 0.56451381 cubic miles of water. How many cubic miles of freshwater rivers do we have? 21,830? You mean we haven’t broken a single cubic mile of water yet even with everyone having a spa day? That’s craaaazy.

Does food/water production loss occur? Yeah, it does. The average loss occurs at all points of production, but you see a bigger impact of loss at consumer levels, according to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). I’m not talking about a dad cooking a few too many hash browns for breakfast, I’m talking about major chain restaurants that buy up large amounts of food and end up not using them before expiration. The same for water—while sometimes usable water is not always accessible, more would be had it not been for water pollution caused by major corporations and governments who don’t take the time to clean and replace their city pipes to make water usable IM F*CKIN LOOKING AT YOU, FLINT, MICHIGAN. Additionally, water goes through a constant recycling process, thus the Earth never runs out of water. So we really don’t need or have to dig and construct through Native American burial grounds to make pipelines, all while using resources that pollute and cause further issues with the environment—casual reminder that clean energy is ready to go at any time and some places have already started the move to 100% renewable energy and it could potentially start with the right planning—we just need to redistribute the water in ways that make a bit more sense. The same with the food; the major issue is making sure that the people who needs it gets it, not how much is currently being produced.

Ah, speaking of other resources, all of this stuff is interconnected, you know. As you might have read in the previously provided articles, food and water production is integrated with other resources, whether it is in the production of those resources or the resources are used to produce food/water. Corporations use high amounts of freshwater to provide energy for our crops while sometimes mixing the water with harmful pesticides or feeding the animals with water and food pumped full of harmful drugs (not all the drugs are bad, but some are), then other corporations use and waste tons of food that end up getting dumped into landfills and producing enough methane to give cow farts a run for their money. “Overpopulation” has been attached to hunger, climate change, economic deficits, poverty, etc., but what it really looks like for the food issue at least is that it’s an issue with misplaced distribution and a waste of resources at the usage level on a macroeconomic scale. I would hazard to state that, considering the interconnected nature of different living necessities, the lack of adequate distribution is the cause for the other issues as well. In fact, it is proven by several articles and studies listed that it is not “overpopulation” but poverty that is the Number 1 cause for hunger and a lack of access to water. But that’s another rabbit hole.

So then, if it’s not an individual person issue or because of more babies being born each year, especially to people in certain *coughnonwhiteand/orcolonizedcough* countries, I guess you could say it’s... corporate lies.

Yep. Corporate lies + alternating between microaggressive and macroaggressive racism combo. You know, considering “who’s having the babies.”

Not saying that you’re a fool if you want to help the environment in your little ways, like monitoring personal food waste and taking shorter showers to keep the world well fed and watered. In fact, doing so is good in their own little way for personal mindfulness and beliefs as long as you don’t do that thinking your micro-action is having the macro-impact of a big industry.

I’m saying maybe shake your fist at your favorite restaurants and corporate leaders before looking at your local ghetto or across any borders and wondering if you should reenact that part of slavery and/or colonization where people were forcefully sterilized.

#static speaks #overpopulation #world hunger #water crisis #myth #i was listening to a YT video and this guy started going on overpopulation and I got peeved #so i decided to write a whole essay about it #it's been nearly 5 hours since I watched that video #if only i had this same motivation for my personal writing lmao

10 notes · View notes

hanzi83 · 5 years

Text

Probably The Best Blog I Have Ever Written But Then Again Probably Not... so fuck my life

I have debated writing a blog instead of writing one irrationally and calm down a bit. I am sure the same results will occur, where people read this with their group chat and dissect it, while completely ignoring it on the surface since I can have limited praise, and to further illustrate that no one cares about me, even though people are clearly monitoring me write this shit, and moving my cursor and even post it on sub reddits before I even posted it onto the site, so that is why I have this delusion grandeur. You know what else I am bound to think? That people within industries are secret fans of mine and pay attention to every meltdown, every stutter, every grotesque noise that comes from my horrendously shaped body.

I tend to try and practice writing just to see if I have the skill to construct jokes. The mistake I made was I have absorbed everything with all this consumption of television, podcast, movies, news, etc just because you have to know what is going on and always figured my mind was the best aspect but I have so much coming at me, that I am barely able to retain anything anymore, and barely even able to come up with any witty comebacks and because of my limited vernacular I go for the meanest comebacks back at people who I presume have been paid to troll me, since everyone online is practically some sort of agent, whether it is for a good side or an evil side, but either way the narratives are limited, at least that is what I like to tell myself.

So I have to jot down thoughts to write about and have some opinion on it and I have coasted by compiling a huge list that goes back a week or so that I have not gotten out of my head, so it is a lot more aggressive with my mind because I have not gotten old thoughts out of my fucked up brain, and more keep piling up and I have no structure to how I think. I am afraid of going out because the social anxiety reaches another level, also if I go out with friends, and it always seems they let me out for a limited event so it is like they are doing me a favor, even though they make it seem like it is another event that is casual, everything is timed out, and if I ask questions and try to have some discussion with it, maybe because my friends and others know I write down what is on my mind to get it off my chest so I can’t know about certain things, but it feels like the socializing is pretentious, and even if things go well with people I don’t know too well, I wonder if they expect me to be more social, and then I have to worry about being on and not going into my conspiracy territory because that is all on my mind.

People in my life don’t want to hear about how I am being fucked with potentially and it feels because they are guilty in helping with it, potentially they would rather not talk to me if I am going to complain and since they know what I write, they know how to act based off what I write. Even people who I have loose affiliation with, through the show or something. Either way I am afraid of even being creative or even criticizing because the world is being censored, like if you don’t agree with the collective of something in the system or a personality/celebrity it feels like people are employed to talk about them at parties or on certain shows you can notice the disdain they have for your opinion, even not liking something online.

I already had something structured just to get this off my mind but I am unsure if I want to post this blog up because I don’t know if it is good enough to be out there, and if it is good enough did I just give away more creativity for free that people with no souls will take and use it for themselves and then I have to continue to look like a fucking crazy asshole proclaiming myself importance onto the world that no one will ever care about. Why do you think I feel the need to drop that I was on the Stern Show because that is where I peaked essentially and I never thought I would be alive this long because I will never belong, I will piss people off and people have control over my life and then I have to hear pretentious pep talk from people in higher level of notoriety give a limited answer of hard work but never ever specifying what exactly is the hard work because it is more than just doing what you are told and hoping you go up in the ranks, there is severe initiations and politics that go into all of this

See I made the mistake of doing the worst thing for people who have complete hatred for me. I can write this blog and no one will care or at least pretend not to care so why not just say it right. The horrible thing I made the mistake of doing was actually going out to have a fun time because being happy for a time being is a big no in my existence. Whenever you suspect that, you have to work extra hard to bring me down and make me feel like shit and this is why these paid trolls are assholes, and then when I become a little aggressive and become offensive, they reverse it like they are the victim like they weren’t purposely instilling more paranoia in my head. They use my mental illness to dismiss me from having credibility and then when I point out why these people would try to fuck with someone who is a manic asshole, because they want me to reply irrationally so I can then get in trouble in the future because we will take it out of context, even though the system already watches everything you do and know when you write some fucked up shit, but part of that initiation is getting in trouble,

I had an amazing time at the Impact tapings and the PPV itself and met with so many cool fans there. I don’t know if I can do this often but apparently being happy that RVD heard of me or that I fist bumped Don Callis, that was enough to anger anyone who wants me to feel miserable so of course there had to be news that I supported ISIS because they have to go with the hacky stereotype and intellectualize it like I support what happened on 9/11. These trolls know that people will search this stuff one day and seeing this without any knowledge of who I am, people will just pretend to be offended by this and as I wrote this, the cursor moved once again.

I personally think because I have this knack to speak up for people I feel are being piled up on has something to do with it as well. I don’t know if it is a work but speaking out about WWE’s treatment of talent and what kind of stuff they would exploit the last several months has gotten them to punish me and even using people in my life to do it a bit too since everyone behind the scenes are connected. I still suspect these people to push me further so I self destruct, I just welcome them to try and murder me because they will do that eventually. They have to, and again this is all hypothetical, no one will care anyways, because I am just a deranged shit head in his mother’s basement, where they purposely put me because the powers that be control that and have limited me so much that it has to humiliate me for not fully committing to selling my soul. So When I see talent within industries being fucked with, and sometimes it could be a marketing tool or maybe it represents something, I just lose it because so many token minorities are going along with the system’s narrative and the sick part is that sometimes they will call out limited things about racism out but still going to bat with more systemic type of racism that continues to go on. It can go beyond that too, but defending Lio Rush has left people to fuck with me more and because Mark Henry and Booker T have sided with the system, now the WWE shills will use that as an excuse why those guys could be wrong because they are black and they are the nicest people, but here is the thing, as much as I respect those guys, they are still being employed by a company that has been doing deals for blood money and also partly responsible for normalizing Trump to some degree and also being in his cabinet, so I think they have to be limited. Maybe Mark would have given Lio advice legit, but I also can’t blame Lio for not trusting Mark because he is in the inner circle to some extent after having to deal with paying his dues. Even though the tasks did not seem horrible, you’re a billion dollar company where the top office has jets, you can afford someone to hand out water and carry bags if you need that. Lio pays his dues by wrestling and working his way up the ranks and still being respectful, he is not contracted to do people’s tasks and if you are going to justify it with “Everyone has to do it” then maybe you should have spoken up because you were conned. Don’t act like the punishment wouldn’t result into some horrific shit based on the past in what this company has covered up, and what they are capable of. I have a problem with how it is portrayed in the media as well, because at most it just comes off like it is just petty control freaks that are incapable of writing good television. So when you have had a business that has been built on people doing scum bag things, someone not wanting to hand out water or carry bags is not on my top 50 list of offensive shit that a performer has done.

There is other ways to do team building and trying to organize some teachable moments for people who are on the come up so these hidden rules these people are expected to know and if they don’t, the company will fuck with them and make them miserable, It does not just pertain to what happens in that place of employment but I also suspect that in social media era, the company can have interns or paid trolls go online and get their alternate accounts to fuck with these people, and then it becomes bestowed upon the fans for being cruel, and I am not denying there aren’t asshole fans (Is it denying there are or aren’t I am confused and too lazy to check, ah fuck it) but I think the way these corporations and institutions organize it, it comes across like more of the shills are tearing down these people and then you are not supposed to feel bad for them because they make it seem like the celebrity life is this amazing dream of a existence and really easy, and while it might seem easier than what the oppressed face, due to them having money, people in these industries have to go through fucked up shit where they eventually self destruct, that is why I hate when they present it like celebrities or public figures are just like regular people, and they aren’t because they play by entirely different rules, doesn’t mean they aren’t oppressed in their own way and not being able to have the freedom to explain the rules, and having to talk in code.

I have been afraid to sell my soul because I know they will put it in the script for me to have to rape someone or do some domestic type of violence, or do something that discredits me, and then my career continues, and then when it is finally supposed to be put to an end, then something else will happen where you correlate with what has happened in the past when I initially get in trouble. I could never do that to someone, and you wonder why all these celebrities become scumbags, and they don’t even give you the proper context of what the entire system is, maybe you can call it out to some extent but not fully and even someone like me I am not taken seriously so who is going to pay attention to this blog. Most people act like I don’t exist. So when I see talent piling up on someone who might have an attitude but they collectively say nothing about what their employers are doing and who they sold their soul to, then it comes across a little pretentious. Maybe if these bosses would legit let their people have freedom and not put a hindrance in their lives, like they have done to me while letting everyone else make the connects and then never take accountability for everything they have done that is bad and expect me to take the full blame. Sorry I don’t play by your fucked up rules.

I would rather die than ever do that, and maybe I should be gone because I am tempted to wanting to be part of the club so badly and I know it is not what I want because I am just irrational of never getting what I deserved for the work I did put in behind the scenes, and stuff I will never get credit for so when I state it, it just comes across as someone being delusional and have to be reminded that “Imran Khan lives with his dad and mom” like it is supposed to fucking trigger me. If I don’t call into certain shows or if I call out people from certain shows, the trolls show up to instill paranoia and try to get me to snap, so much so I don’t have people in a group chat helping me out with witty comments, and don’t have the presumed illuminati microchip that most people must have, and I can assume that because if there is steroids for the body to get stronger, there has to be some kind of advancement in pill form to make you become a sharp thinker and I think people would have that. I don’t and I have to be a regular human being with no gift and no will to live. People have to accept this is a game we are playing and at least be transparent of the rules instead of presenting the system like it is this innocent place, and the most evil thing they do is just become negligent over matters instead of explaining how they have fucked up shit going on, allegedly.

So I knew when I had a good time, and felt kind of cool that I got to speak to RVD or fist bump Don Callis, that it would anger trolls because me being any kind of happy is not good. I call into Busted Open to support Lio Rush, and then Mark Henry explains why I am wrong about it, then suddenly military vets who are white are tagging me and saying the most clichéd type of shit, and I lose it and as soon as you try to come for me and say I was not good enough to be a whack packer based off an opinion that racism might exist, I assume there is an agenda and I will snap and say whatever mean thing comes to my fucking head and make you feel like shit. I will pay for it when someone brings it up but I am already black balled and I really don’t intend on going anywhere.

It could be wrestling trolls, Stern Show trolls, people in my life personally who will try to insinuate they are watching me and misrepresent everything I say and then be expected to have a conversation with them. I see this pep talk of talking to people face to face about these things, but what is the point when these people will never take accountability and make me have to humble myself when I have already taken my lumps and paid dues by being mentally tortured from one of the most powerful people in showbiz. I have contributed more than enough, while also being denied any type of credit or any type of advancement when I was a fucking loyal soldier. I used to be dumb idiot, probably still am but I was naïve and went a long with neoliberalism and some form of conservatism in my life and did not realize I was being brainwashed because I was too afraid to think for myself and went with whoever sounded cooler whether it was saying ignorant shit, or saying some preachy shit to some extent and now I had to retain myself and how to think because I never knew how to use my brain. I waste these thoughts on blogs but maybe if others read them, secretly, maybe it helps someone else, maybe it will help another wrestler to barrow from my blog and then I can claim it, while there being no confirmation on it. Who gives a fuck?

So I get defensive when this shit because I don’t know what people in my life had to do to become part of the elite and then lie to my face and am I being associated with people who are scummy and I have no idea, and if I let certain people into my life will they try to take over and try to take from me if I am ever vindicated and sometimes it seems I am supposed to be with how obvious people are with wanting to be part of my life but then still continue to lie to me, and think because I am not going to be confrontational at that moment, that I will suddenly stop thinking about it.

I feel loved ones in my life have set me up and have gotten what they needed and just sacrificed me to be prostituted while people profit off appearances I make at places since this entire game is run like an exploitation camp and people have no idea they are part of some larger game while they get all the fucking perks for that and only reason they need me is for some kind of secret social points you can cash in underground and this will eventually make its way to the surface and we will act like “ERMA GURD ISNT IT LIKE BLACK MIRROR” when Black Mirror was essentially showing us what has been going on for a while, and I am one of the people in the game you have to interact with. No one will admit it though. I will never see any of the money I helped people make.

They won’t even give me the satisfaction of dying because these sick soulless human want me to endure this and be fucked with until I find the urge to kill myself eventually. They needed me to fucking do that and they will continue to lie and keep secrets from me and I am sure when they do it one more time they are trying to get me to snap even more because I am supposed to self destruct when they could just destroy me. No one of importance will ever truly investigate any of this because the excuse will be “Why would people be after you? LOL YOU’RE NOT THAT IMPORTANT BRO” when these same people saying that have been monitored willingly or unwillingly.

I want to say this is probably my best blog but I am still unsure if I am going to post this shit and if I do I will then regret it because no one will care I wrote this and maybe it is middle school drivel and it is just not good, fine I am a mediocre piece of shit. Okay you happy? You don’t need to get in a discord chat and come up with more gimmicks to fuck with me and try to make me uncomfortable.

#Hanzi Illuminati 2019 Howard Stern Show Trolls WWE Trolls Wrestling Lio Rush Mental Illness depression exploitation harassment racism system #reflective organizing thoughts expressing freedom of speech paranoia

1 note · View note

mrmichaelchadler · 5 years

Text

The Ten Best Films of 2018

As one of our greatest poets once sang, the times they are a-changin'. While certain film institutions seem intent on defying the incurrence of streaming cinema, Netflix had their best year to date, releasing three of what we consider the greatest movies of 2018, and landing the top two spots. How this will impact moviemaking going forward isn’t clear yet, but it almost certainly will. Once again, our list is a wonderful blend of new voices like those of Boots Riley and Sandi Tan, alongside that of established veterans like Spike Lee and Alfonso Cuarón. We chose films from around the world this year, including entries from Korea, Poland, Mexico, and an anthology about the Old West. From documentary to comedy, drama to Western, Paul Schrader to James Baldwin—this may be our most diverse list to date, indicating the breadth of great art we saw in 2018.

About the rankings: We asked our regular film critics and assistant editors to submit top ten lists from this great year, and then consolidated them with a traditional points system—10 points for #1, 9 points for #2, etc.—resulting in the list below, with a new entry for each awarded film. We’ll publish each critic’s individual list as the week goes on. Come back for more.

10. “Cold War”

Inside the Iron Curtain of the 1950s, a rising composer named Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and his producer, Irena (Agata Kulesza), scour the Polish countrysides and mountaintops for folk songs to bring back to Soviet bloc cities. While auditioning peasant singers to perform these folk numbers on tour, Wiktor’s eyes meet those of a confident and mysterious blond, Zula (Joanna Kulig). He’s quickly taken with her bold presence, and she soon follows his lead into a tempestuous relationship that will stretch years, borders and other partners.

There may only be a handful of times in life you lock eyes with someone like Wiktor and Zula do in Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War.” You remember where you two met in that moment, what that person wore, who else was there and how you hung on their every word as you tried to hide how intensely you both looked at each other. Some details of the day fade, others grow sharper as you replay the scene over and over—even if that person is no longer in your life.

Beyond its lovestruck appeal, the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography of “Cold War” enchants viewers with dazzling compositions, bringing intimate moments to an epic scale. Almost every note of the movie’s eclectic soundtrack—which ranges from forlorn Polish folk tunes to sultry French jazz—aches as much as the lovers’ wistful stares. They are echoes of the way Humphrey Bogart looked at Ingrid Bergman in “Casablanca,” how Omar Sharif looked at Julie Christie in “Doctor Zhivago” and the glances Maggie Cheung gave Tony Leung during “In the Mood for Love.”

Under the lens of an unromantic reality, it’s possible to view these two lovers as mere hopeless mismatches. But in Pawlikowski’s film, there is a tragic beauty in Wiktor and Zula’s doomed-to-fail love. "Cold War" sympathizes with those who know it is a blessing and a curse to have feelings outlive an affair. (Monica Castillo)

9. “Burning”

Cats. Wells. Borders. Victims. Killers. There is a lot that’s indistinct and even invisible in the discomforting thriller “Burning” from South Korean director Lee Chang-dong. Loosely based on Barn Burning, a short story by Haruki Murakami, “Burning” rises from the ashes of unspoken battles and deeply held grudges between friends, genders and those that dwell on the opposite sides of the socio-economic tracks so casually that you wonder for a while where this devious suspense, co-written by Lee and Jungmi Oh, might take you. Trust me when I say, it will neither escort you somewhere commonplace nor answer your burning questions like an ordinary movie would—this elegantly calibrated chiller led by a pitch-perfect ensemble is more about the search amid blurring boundaries than reaching an orderly conclusion.

It all begins by a chance encounter that unfolds as uneventfully as any pivotal occurrence that would follow it. Working as a promo rep handing out raffle tickets, the young, bouncy Hae-mi (Jong-seo Jeon) spots and greets the aspiring writer Jong-su (Ah-In Yoo), a guy she knew from childhood. He doesn’t remember her, so she randomly mentions she’s had plastic surgery for beauty. Boyish to an extreme, awkward and clearly taken by Hae-mi, Jong-su follows her into her tiny rental room where the two have sex after Hae-mi (again, abruptly) reminds him he once called her ugly. Taking care of his burdened father’s farm close to the North Korea border, Jong-su finds his bliss cut short when Hae-mi leaves for an overseas trip, asks him to feed her cat Boil in her absence and comes back with the handsome, wealthy and enigmatic Ben (Steven Yeun) who seems to be everything Jong-su is not. Ben lives in an expensive apartment, drives a Porsche and (to Jong-su’s intense distaste) listens to music while cooking pasta.

A virtuoso of slow-burns (“Secret Sunshine” and “Poetry” among them), Lee Chang-dong patiently folds in mysteries as well as themes around gender and social class into “Burning,” while occasionally playing up a comedic tone that strengthens the unclassifiable nature of the film. Is the arsonist womanizer Ben a version of Patrick Bateman driven to insanity by capitalism? Does Hae-mi really have a cat or is she settling scores with the boy who was once cruel to her? Does Jong-su suffer from an overambitious writer’s imagination or is Ben’s uncanny smile really as condescending as it looks? When Jong-su acts upon his justified instincts on a bitterly cold, snow-covered day, you will inhale the frosty air with shivers down your spine, feeling only certain that “Burning” is one of those all-timers that begs to be re-watched repeatedly; a true one-of-a-kind with a lot on its mind. And Steven Yeun? His dismissive yawning is the stuff of (alleged) villains for the ages. (Tomris Laffly)

8. “BlacKkKlansman”

Every scene in “BlacKkKlansman” is practically watermarked with “A Spike Lee Joint” in the bottom right corner. This true story is the perfect vehicle for Lee's penchant for hilariously pitch black humor and it also allows him to settle an old score. Taking Godard’s advice about using a new movie to criticize another movie, Lee aims squarely at D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation,” ridiculing it relentlessly wherever appropriate. Not only does the film appear as a snarky punchline during a Klan rally, Lee also uses Griffith’s own devices against him by structuring Ron Stallworth’s last reel race against time as a thrilling, Klan-centric montage that serves as a corrective to Griffith’s racist imagery. This sequence deviates from the real-life story Lee is telling, so it was deemed controversial. Surely Lee relished the thought of this perception. Because when Griffith dabbled in propaganda, it was “history written with lightning.” When Lee mocked that dabbling, it was heresy written with politics. And it was just as effective!

John David Washington and Adam Driver give stellar performances, though the latter is surprisingly the film’s biggest proponent of identity introspection. While Washington hides his identity behind a telephone and a voice, Driver hides his in plain sight, thereby incurring more collateral damage. And though the plot comments on racism and anti-Semitism, Lee builds a reality-based trap door into his cinematic contraption, one that opens as soon as he invokes his trademark people mover shot. Suddenly, we’re thrust into the terrifying, present day fate that befell Heather Heyer, whose appearance at the Charlottesville protest ended with her death. This real-life footage is a provocation, but it’s one bursting with truth about the state of racism in America and is therefore not exploitative. Lee dedicated “BlacKkKlansman” to Heyer, and the film’s rise in the award season coincides with the recent guilty verdict delivered to the man who killed her. This is one of Lee's most urgent and timely films. It's also one of his best. (Odie Henderson)

7. “Annihilation”

In 2018, Stanley Kubrick’s landmark science fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey” turned 50. That same year, writer-director Alex Garland released “Annihilation,” a rare film that lives up to the totality of what made “2001” so revered and valuable, rather than merely imitating certain aspects of its design, structure, or tone. It’s one of the great science fiction films of recent years, easily the equal of “Ex Machina,” “Arrival,” “Under the Skin” and “Blade Runner 2049,” and superior to all of them (except “Under the Skin”) in one respect: it encourages multiple interpretations and deeply personal responses, while waving off any attempt to simplistically “explain” what the audience has seen. Adapted from the first of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach novels, the movie structured as a series of discrete set pieces, complete with Kubrickian chapter titles (a la “The Shining” as well as “2001”). If you watch it more than once—as you should; it deepens with every viewing—you start to see it as a set of thought prompts rather than a traditional narrative, though one that’s anchored to strong, simple characterizations and full performances.

The heroine is Army soldier turned biologist Lena (Natalie Portman), whose husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) went missing for a year during a top secret mission, then briefly, miraculously returned to her shortly before puking up blood and being rushed to the intensive care unit at a top secret research facility in a swamp near the Florida coastline. The area was impacted by a meteor that created a “Shimmer”—a demarcated zone where the rules of evolution seem to have gone haywire, integrating the DNA of plants, mammals and reptiles that were thought incompatible, and killing off all the members of expeditions sent to explore the place (Kane is the only survivor, though we immediately sense that the person returned from the Shimmer isn’t actually Kane). Lena joins up with four other women—Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez), Radek (Tessa Thompson), and Sheppard (Tuva Novotny)—to journey into the Shimmer and attempt to understand it.

But there are limits to understanding, and the key to the excellence of Garland’s film is its determination to pose questions without supplying answers. I hosted a screening of the film back in March—my third viewing—and discussed it with the audience afterward, and together we came up with at least nine different answers to the question, “What is this movie about?”

It’s possible to piece together what happened, event-wise, to everyone in the expedition, and how one event might’ve led to another, culminating in the finale, an audacious two-character confrontation that feels like a cross between a modern dance performance and a spectral assault. But once you’ve done that, you’re still left with the question of what it all meant, and you’re on your own. Which is as it should be, because in life, you’re on your own, too. (Matt Zoller Seitz)

6. “Shirkers”

One indication of why this is a near-great film: although it is a relatively straightforward and coherent narrative account—albeit one so surprising as to be, weirdly, equally exhilarating as it is upsetting—almost everyone who watches it has a different idea of its theme. Is it about toxic males holding women down? The challenges facing a female artist? The difficulty of making art in Singapore?

Sandi Tan’s documentary memoir/detective story cannily maintains a core pose of modesty while insinuatingly exploring a series of big ideas. Serving as her own narrator, Tan tells of her 1990s time as an artistically ambitious teen in Singapore, under the spell of maverick filmmakers like David Lynch and believing she had found a cinematic partner in crime with an older man from the States, a teacher and self-styled would-be auteur named Georges Cardona. Sandi forges alliances with the smaller-than-a-handful number of like-minded conspirators on her not-yet-economically-booming island to make her film. A film that Cardona absconds with, leaving behind no explanation or apology.

The rediscovery of the footage in 2010 made this movie possible. But it didn’t determine this movie’s power. Even if it took Tan several decades to realize it, “Shirkers” proves her a born moviemaker. (Glenn Kenny)

5. “If Beale Street Could Talk”

When I interviewed writer/director Barry Jenkins about “Moonlight,” we talked about the movie’s haunting score, composed by Nicholas Britell. “Many directors would use songs of the era to place the audience in the film’s three time periods,” I said. “Two things,” he replied. “First, we could not afford the rights to those songs. But more important, I believe these characters deserve a full orchestral score.”

I thought of those words as I watched Jenkins’ latest film, “If Beale Street Could Talk,” based on the 1974 novel by James Baldwin. Or, I should say, it did not feel like I was watching the film. It was more like I was immersed in it. The entire theme of the movie could be, “These characters deserve a full orchestral score” along with the highest level of every other creative and aesthetic element available to a filmmaker, from Baldwin’s lyrical words to the luscious cinematography of “Moonlight’s” James Laxton, another gorgeous score by Britell, and performances of infinite sensitivity and humanity.

“If Beale Street Could Talk” succeeds brilliantly at one of cinema’s most central functions: a love story with sizzling chemistry between two impossibly beautiful people. Stephan James (“Race”) and newcomer KiKi Layne are 2018’s most compelling romantic couple. Their relationship is in every way the heart of this story, the reason we feel so sharply about the injustice that befalls James' Fonny, the film's most undeniable signifier of generations of institutional racism. We see that most powerfully when Regina King, as the girl’s mother, looks in the mirror as she prepares like a matador entering the bullring for a meeting that could make all the difference for the couple. She cannot expect much, but she has to try. Throughout the movie, there is resignation and there are diminished hopes but there is also resilience. And “Beale Street” reminds us that there is also undiminished and imperishable love: romantic love, the love of parents and siblings, even an unexpected encounter with a warmhearted landlord. There is the love Baldwin and Jenkins have for these characters. And, most of all, it reminds us that this is a story that deserves to be told with the best that movies have to offer, including a full orchestral score. (Nell Minow)

4. “First Reformed”

Ethan Hawke just gets better with age, as he casts aside the boyish good looks and swaggering sense of rebellion that made him both a superstar and an indie darling in the 1990s for more mature, fascinatingly flawed characters. He's well into his 40s now and letting the passage of time show on his face, in his demeanor and in the complicated men he's choosing to play on screen. In Paul Schrader, Hawke is ideally matched with a filmmaker whose own work has only grown deeper and more resonant over the past several decades. "First Reformed" feels like a culmination of sorts for both the writer/director and his star. It has echoes of past efforts from both while it also wrestles with bracingly contemporary themes of personal responsibility, stewardship and activism.

Hawke stars as Reverend Ernst Toller, a country priest in upstate New York whose involvement in the lives of a married couple in his congregation steadily causes him to lose his grip. With heavy shades of the iconic character he created in Travis Bickle, Schrader vividly presents a man who's grappling with reality and his perceived role within it. He says so much within the film's quiet stillness and precise austerity as well as with masterful narration that offers a glaring contrast between Toller's journals and the truth. "First Reformed" represents the best work of Hawke's lengthy and eclectic career, and it's a welcome return to form for the veteran Schrader. But it also allows Amanda Seyfried to show a dramatic depth we haven't seen from her before as the woman who could be Toller's salvation or his undoing. That sense of ambiguity only becomes more gripping as the film progresses, leading to an ending that's boldly open for interpretation but is undeniably daring and haunting. (Christy Lemire)

3. “Sorry to Bother You”

Like many good dark comedies (ex: "Office Space," "Bamboozled") the hysterically caustic "Sorry to Bother You" feels like a full-blown panic attack. The film's class conscious anxiety (and mordant sense of optimism) is also contagious, as it is in movies like "Starship Troopers" and "Putney Swope."

With "Sorry to Bother You," writer/director Boots Riley takes credible, if pointedly exaggerated sources of social, racial, and economic tension and exaggerates them beyond the realm of our known experiences. At the same time: Riley's thrillingly inventive conception of the rise-fall-rise-fall-and-rise-again character arc of call center worker drone Cassius "Cash" Green (an incredible Lakeith Stanfield) always feels real enough, even when it takes a hard turn into (what is currently) the realm of science-fiction.

In that sense: "Sorry to Bother You" is also a great American social critique (ex: "A Face in the Crowd," "Idiocracy") since it teaches viewers how to watch it. Riley handily realizes Francois Truffaut's goal of introducing four ideas per minute—and they're each fully-realized and easily understood. That's a major talent when your film essentially weaponizes audience surrogate Cash's relatability. We grow more and more aware of the unbearable heaviness of Cash's existence as a young, black, and talented man. First he stops thinking of himself as a barnacle on an unfathomable ship of industry and starts to see himself as a major player. Then he stops letting himself be seduced by the trappings of his newfound financial success and starts to focus on the application of his talents. Finally, Cash stops fooling himself into thinking that he's just a messenger of utilitarian progress and becomes a victim of his own self-deluded progress. But by then it's too late.

Or not. It's late, but it ain't never. (Simon Abrams)

2. “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”

Like so much of the best work of Joel & Ethan Coen, their latest film is a tough one to describe. On the surface, it’s an old-fashioned anthology piece, a reworking of what was once an idea for a TV series into a collection of Old West vignettes, playing out like a storybook. But that sells it short. It sells short how each narrative feels like it flows into the next. It sells the short the mastery of tone both within each individual story and tying together the overall piece. It sells short the way the Coens intertwine their vision of the Old West with a dissection on the very practice of storytelling and their roles as beloved storytellers themselves. And it sells short the incredible individual pleasures within each of the six short films, all of them bursting with gorgeous cinematography, memorable performances, and fascinating subtext. It’s the best western in years because it’s both completely knowledgeable about the tropes of the genre and able to subvert them at the same time.

Take the opening short, the one that gives the film its name. A singing cowboy plods through the desert, warbling a tune to the rhythm of his horse’s footsteps. He speaks directly to the camera, showing us that he’s been labeled a misanthrope—a title that has been incorrectly applied to the Coens’ dark sense of humor on more than one occasion. This leads one to presume that what follows is designed to defy or subvert that label. But that’s not really what happens. “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is constantly going left when you expect it to go right—and then making you feel dumb for thinking it would ever go right.

It’s also a fascinating dissection of death—from enemies, former friends, and even by one’s own hand. Death comes for everyone. It’s a theme woven through all six vignettes, and it’s telling that the final piece is about a pair of men who distract their targets with stories. If filmmakers have ever put themselves on screen more bluntly, I can’t think of when. While the story is unfolding, there’s something else happening underneath or off to the side. Joel and Ethan Coen are two of our most impressive cinematic magicians. You’re so carefully enjoying what one hand does that you don’t realize how much they’re doing with the other one until it's over. And then you just want to watch it all over again. (Brian Tallerico)

1. “Roma”

Alfonso Cuarón's "Roma" takes place in the Mexico City neighborhood where he grew up in the 1970s. Filmed in vivid black-and-white (Cuarón shot it himself), "Roma" features long long takes, the camera moving horizontally through a house, across fields, into the sea, down city streets, creating a sense of reality so intense it almost tips over into dream. The film's central figure is Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a Mixtec woman working for an upper-class family as a nanny and a maid (she is based on the woman who raised Cuarón). Surrounding Cleo is a world of political upheaval, seething student protests, marital strife, economic stresses, and cops in riot gear. In another film, these events would be center stage, but in "Roma," they drift in the background, seen through windows, heard through open doors, as Cleo strolls by, or around, trying to manage her own life, enduring stress and doing her best. "Roma" is pierced with issues of class, privilege, ethnicity, and resurrects a time and place, a whole era, with details that sometimes overwhelm, like a wave roaring into shore. Swarms of extras live out their lives in complicated vignettes unfurling behind the action, seen briefly as the camera moves by, gone in a flash. The city, the house, the village, all bristle with life. This is a very personal film for Cuarón, and "Roma" is both a determined act of memory and a work of powerful tribute. (Sheila O’Malley)

from All Content https://ift.tt/2Pwqszd

0 notes